Lots of Face Offs for award competitions in Week 10…Saints vs Falcons…A former #1 makes a comeback…More Saints vs Falcons with a Transformers twist…Kickers fight for the Buccaneers Division…Defenses decide our Game of the Week…Hurricanes are good…Husslers not so much…Chump Survivor…and the Playoff Picture….
Matt Ryan (PLA)
Apparently Armed N Dangerous secret sauce has lingering effects…their former Franchise Player Andy Dalton managed the best efficiency on the weekend going 21 of 30 (70%) for 199 yards…4 Touchdowns and 0 Interceptions…good enough for 25 points…AND’s current signal caller Drew Brees matched the 25 points in his victory over the Falcons…he extended his NFL record to 52 Consecutive Games with a Touchdown…it is also his 45th consecutive game throwing at least 20 completions…But it was his Week 10 opponent that reached 31 points and took the title…Matt Ryan’s 34 pass completions was 4 more than Dalton attempted…his 21 1st Downs matched Brees completion total…and the 411 yards thrown is his new personal best…He is now the 4th Quarterback in 4 weeks to win this award 2 times on the year…it is the 4th trophy earned by Playground Legends…
Adrian Peterson (MNY)
After proving he was back from injury with a 2 Touchdown effort in Week 1…Adrian Peterson then became an afterthought for the next 5 weeks…averaging a respectable 83 yards…but never finding the end zone again…Then as trade rumors started swirling in Week 7…and Frank Gore found his way into the Money Inc backfield in Week 8…Peterson sprang back to life…Over the past 4 weeks he has almost doubled his output on the ground…leading the league with 629 yards (157.3 yards per game)…His 5 trips to the end zone over that span trails only Week 9’s back-2-back winner Doug Martin (6)…and he has helped Money Inc continue on a Franchise Best ever 8 game Win Streak…It is his 1st Running Back of the Week award on the year…the 2nd Running Back award for Money Inc…and their 4th trophy on the season…
Calvin Johnson (HUR)
Hurricanes was almost a lock to win this award with 3 of the top 4 Wide Receivers on the weekend…but only 3 players cracked the 30 point plateau…Just like in our Quarterback battle…2 Tight Ends went head-2-head in the Saints/Falcons game…Jimmy Graham proved the most efficient pulling in 7 of his 8 targets for 146 yards (20.8 yards per catch)…getting a 1st Down (5) or Touchdown (2) on every grab to finish at 33 points…his best performance on the year…Warriors Tony Gonzalez had fewer yards (122) but more opportunities (15 targets)…after matching the 2 Touchdowns…he pulled in 4 more completions than Graham to cap out at 35 points…also a season best performance…But Megatron had more to prove…after finding himself on the Hurricanes bench in Week 9…he rebounded in his Week 10 opportunity landing 12 of his 13 targets (92.3%)…he ends with only 1 Touchdown…but also as the only Receiver to crack the 2-Century mark at 207 yards…37 points is also his season best performance…good enough to earn his 1st Player of the Week award on the year…and the 4th trophy for the Hurricanes…
Blair Walsh (XFA)
Our Kicker contest featured 2 former Award winners…and had the biggest effect on the TBFL standings this week…Hurricanes Stephen Gostkowski knew his leg would be needed to try and claw back to the top of the Buccaneers Division…Blair Walsh was equally determined to hold the lead for X-Factor…while also facing off with the Storm Division leading Armed N Dangerous…Both kickers followed the Spinal Tap formula nailing 3 Field Goals and 2 Extra Points to get to 11…Gostkowski went beyond that…adding 2 more Extra Points to his total…taking the lead at 13…But Blair Walsh was not to be stopped…he managed 1 more Field Goal to carry himself to 14…Good enough to beat out Gostkowski by 1 point…It is the 2nd Player of the Week award for Walsh and the 5th trophy on the season for X-Factor…
Denver Broncos (AND)
With the Chicago Bears apparently taking a break from their TBFL dominance this week…it opened the door for 2 Defenses who faced each other in our Game of the Week between Division Leaders…Armed N Dangerous Broncos squad found the weak link in the Panthers O-Line and mercilessly sacked Cam Newton [grumble…] 7 times…the pressure forced him to throw 2 Interceptions…1 of which went for the Pick-6…X-Factor’s Cowboys unit fought hard to match them…After planting Vick in the dirt with a season ending concussion…they then got after replacement Nick Foles…sacking him 2 times and forcing him to cough up a Pick-6 of their own…Both squads managed to score again on 70+ yard punt returns…Already sporting an 8 point advantage…AND’s Broncos added on 1 Safety and 1 more bonus point for allowing only 14 to reach 26…X-Factor’s Dallas squad would not die however and managed to force a Fumble from Nick Foles in the end zone for a 3rd Touchdown with only :49 seconds left to play…They came up short in the Defensive Award battle 24-26…but that last second effort was enough to win the War…as that 9 point play gave X-Factor the 1 point victory over Armed N Dangerous 125-124…It is the Broncos 1st award on the year…the 2nd Defensive Award for Miller’s Squad…and their 10th trophy on the year…
Team of the Week / Chump of the Week
3 Weeks in a row with the same 2 teams winning these awards?…Really?…I’m just as sick of writing about them as you are reading about them…so I am combining the 2 posts and just hitting the facts…It is the 1st time the Team of the Week has played the Chump of the Week since Week 4 of the 2011 season when Armed N Dangerous beat the ultimate Fantasy Bowl champs 133-72…167 points from Hurricanes ties as the 9th highest score of all time and is the 4th 160+ score this season…The 111 point victory is the Largest Victory Margin of all time…beating the only other triple digit win by Thrashers over Marauders in Week 11 of 2005 (146-42)…3 Chump Scores in a row was last accomplished in the 2011 Season by UO Grandmasters in Weeks 7, 8 & 9…4 Chump Scores in 1 Season was ironically last accomplished by Hurricanes in 2009 (Weeks 1, 4, 6 & 7)…We have to go back 5 years to Weeks 2, 3 & 4 of the 2007 Season for the last time Team of the Week was won 3 weeks in a row by Armed N Dangerous…This is Hurricanes 3rd Team of the Week on the year…their 7th time winning it in the last 15 weeks (46.7%)…and their 11th time in team history…
Chump Survivor
Husslers taking the Chump Spot for a 3rd Week in a row means we lose our 2nd team on the year that never actually earned the Chump Award…Warriors has slid by under the league average for the last 3 weeks…With the average league score rising this week to 99.8…he finishes just shy again and goes out with the highest elimination score of the year (99)…2 Division Leaders and Fudgie Whales make up the Final 3 as we make our run for the Week 12 Finish Line…
Notes & Numbers
In the Buccaneers Division…X-Factor and Hurricanes are both on 3 Game Win Streaks as they prepare the run the Gauntlet…meanwhile in the Bandit Division…Bubba Army has dropped 3 in a row while Husslers has dropped 5 in a row…
Money Inc extends their Franchise Best Win Streak to 8 Games – tieing for the 6th longest streak of all time and the 3rd longest in 1 season…
Runs N Throses 4 point victory over Fudgie Whales snaps their Franchsie Record losing streak at 8 games…the 2nd streak this year to end on 8…(Hint Hint Tim…End on 8…End on 8…)
With only Divisional Gauntlets still to run…we know that the Buccaneers Division will finish with the most wins (27) and be the A Division for 2013 Scheduling…Storm (26) will be the B Division…and Bandits (25) will remain the C Division…closest race we have had in a few years…
My Favorite Stat of the Week:
1-10-DET25 (7:38) C.Ponder pass short right to C.Ponder to DET 40 for -15 yards (C.Avril).
That was -1 point for X-Factor…who still managed to win by 1 over AND…
Playoffs
Money Inc’s win eliminates Fudgie Whales from Bandit Division contention…Bubba Army’s 3 game slide now puts them 3 back with the 3 Divisional Gauntlet Games to play…1 loss by Shannon or 1 win by Tim gives the Division title to the Money Men…
X-Factor’s 1 point victory over Armed N Dangerous in our game of the week also keeps them up by 3 over the surging Hurricanes with 3 to play…1 win by Josh or 1 loss by John will secure the title for X-Factor…
Miller’s loss is the rest of the Storm Division’s gain…All teams are within 2 games of the leader with the 3 Gauntlet Games to go…
If the Playoffs started today:
#1 Seed - XFA (9-1) Div Champ - Someone gets 10 wins this year...
#2 Seed - MNY (8-2) Div Champ - End on 8...End on 8...
#3 Seed - AND (6-4) Div Champ - Just trying to hold on...
#4 Seed - HUR (6-4) Wildcard - Hottest team going right now...
There are 3 teams tied at 5-5 (BAT, BBA, and UOG)…Just like last week UOG eliminates BAT due to Division Standing…BBA and UOG do not play each other this year…They both have the same Division Record so we go to points again…UOG has closed the gap by 20 this week…but BBA still takes the #5 seed by 82 points…
BBA (5-5) (2-1) 1063 pts
UOG (5-5) (2-1) 981 pts
UOG then takes the #6 Seed and final Wildcard slot by a Week 6 head-2-head win over Thrashers…
#5 Seed - BBA (5-5) Wildcard - By points over UOG
#6 Seed - UOG (5-5) Wildcard - By head-2-head over BAT
On the Bubble:
BAT (5-5)
FUD (4-6) By head-2-head wins over PLA and WAR
PLA (4-6) By head-2-head 2 pt win over WAR
WAR (4-6)
RNT (2-8) (0-3) 939 pts
HUS (2-8) (0-3) 840 pts
Yes…with 3 of last Week’s Wildcard teams losing…and the unexpected win by Runs N Throses…no team is more than 3 back from the last Wildcard slot with the 3 Gauntlet Games to play…but Husslers 3-game futility run now puts them on the ladder’s bottom rung waiting to be shook off into the Empire Cup…