Really up against the deadline this week…We have a 4-Timer…Cowboys Defense gives it up to some Backs…Buccaneers know Receiving…Runaway Kicker…Defensive Stand-Off…Perfection…Blanks on T&A Night…Chump Survivor Final 3…and our Playoff Scenarios…
Drew Brees (PLA)
3 Quarterbacks reached the 30 point mark for Week 10…not a name frequently seen this season…RG3 went 24 of 37 (64.9%) for 281 yards…3 Touchdowns and 0 giveaways (114.8 QB Rating)…he lead all signal callers in rushing getting 44 yards on 7 carries to top out at 30 points…The Not-So-Dreamy-1 came off the bye week with something to prove going 25 of 36 (69.4%) for 330 yards…he added 4 more Touchdowns to his season with 0 picks for an astounding 135.2 QB Rating….but coughed up a Fumble to end on 31…Since winning this award in Week 1…Peyton has been Runner-Up 4 times (Weeks 3,4,5, & 7)…make it 5…The new Dreamiest Quarterback In The Universe continued his reign on this award going 34 of 41 (82.9%) for 392 yards and 4 scores of his own…0 turnovers left him with an even higher 139.0 QB Rating and his 4th Player of the Week award on the year…It is the 11th trophy on the year for Playground Legends who are very quietly (as in still NOTHING from Danny…) making a late run in the Storm Division…
Pierre Thomas (BBA)
5 Running Backs reached 20 points in Week 10…Adrian Peterson was the only back to score 2 times on the ground capping out at 21…Giovani Bernard led all starters with 8 catches ending on 22…& Marshawn Lynch reached his highest rushing total of the year with 145 yards to hit 24…but the Final 2 would both come from the same team (Because the Cowboys Defense sucks ass)…Pierre Thomas got things started getting 8 1st Quarter touches for the early lead…he then combined with Darren Sproles for 15 combined touches and 3 Touchdowns in the 2nd Quarter…Mark Ingram saw the bulk of the 3rd Quarter work (He would have finished 4th with 23 points if started…) while Sproles saw his last touch topping out at 27 points…Thomas trailed but matched his 1st Quarter production getting 35 more yards on 8 carries including a 1 yard Touchdown plunge to edge ahead to 29 points…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Thomas…the 10th player in 10 weeks to win the title…and the 7th trophy on the season for Bubba Army…
Demaryius Thomas (HUR)
In a united display of understanding PPR…the Top-8 Wide Receivers all came from the Buccaneers Division…No other Division even had 8 in the Top-24 this week (Bandit 7, Storm 6)…Unfortunately for the rest of the Division…3 of the Top-4 were all on Hurricanes roster as he attempts to lock up the Buccaneer Division title…2 players topped the 30 point threshold…Brandon Marshall pulled in 7 of his 12 targets (58.3%) for a season high 139 yards and his 2nd 2 Touchdown outing on the year to reach 32 points…Demaryius Thomas matched the 7 catch total on only 10 targets (70.0%) for his first 100+ yards game since Week 1…but he edged ahead by getting his 1st 3 Touchdown game in his career to end on 35 points…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Thomas…the 3rd different Receiver from Hurricanes roster to win the title…and their 5th overall trophy on the year…
Steven Hauschka (HUR)
Just as definitively as Hurricanes dominated the TBFL competition this week…so did Steven Hauschka dominate the kicking contest…3 Extra Points and 4 Field Goals were made including a 53 yard distance bonus earner to end the night at 16 points…The score doubled up the next 2 best starters (Zuerlein & Henery)…it was 6 more than the Falcons managed to score against Seattle…tied David Akers (Week 4) & Matt Prater (Week 5) as the highest Kicker score on the Season…and set a new Team Record for Hurricanes (14, Mason Crosby – 2008 Week 11)…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Hauschka…the 2nd Kicker award this year for Hurricanes…and their 6th overall trophy on the year…
Carolina Panthers (HUR)
It was a technically a 3-Way contest for our Top Defense award this week…The Arizona Cardinals started quickly with a 1st Quarter Fumble Recovery for a Touchdown…they Blocked a Field Goal before the half…then Sacked rookie Case Keenum 3 times and forced 9 incompletions in the 4th Quarter to win the game ending on 13 points…but the real competition was in the head-2-head defensive showdown between the Panthers and 49ers…The 49ers held Cam Newton and company in check…getting 4 Sacks and 3 Turnovers before DeAngelo Williams finally broke through for a 27 yard Touchdown run…The Panthers were applying equal pressure on Colin Kaepernick matching the 4 Sacks and 2 Turnovers and allowing only 3 Field Goals on the scoreboard…The Panthers managed a 53 yard Field Goal to go ahead 10-9…and then sacked Kaepernick 2 more times in the final minutes to secure the victory and this award 13 to 16…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for The Panthers…the 7th overall trophy for Hurricanes…who are now only a Running Back award away from hitting for the cycle…
Team of the Week
Perfection…100% efficiency is what it took for Hurricanes to finally break through and claim their 1st Team of the Week award on the year…as detailed above…3 of the top 4 Wide Receivers on the Week started for John’s team…and the 90 points they combined for were enough to beat 5 teams outright…3 Players of the Week and all starters in Double Digits let them hit 169 points…it ties as the 8th highest score in a TBFL game and the 5th different team to have a 160+ game this season…Playground Legends also managed 100% efficiency as the 2nd Highest scorer in Week 10 but were still left 41 points behind with only 1 POTW on their roster…
Chump of the Week
After Sunday games completed…Green Bay being taken to the woodshed by the Eagles left a Packer-Powerless ANDGB in the hot seat with…an oddly appropriate…69 points in their T&A Night matchup with Runs N Throses…the good news was that although UO Grandmasters managed to be the 3rd team to hit 100% efficiency this week…they only had 78 points…and Miller still had Vincent Jackson and his 15.8 ppg average to climb out of the hole…the bad news ended up being that the Buccaneers abandoned the passing game against the Dolphins…instead running the ball down their throat 37 times leaving Armed N Dangerous at only 74 points…It is the 1st Chump Score for the proud franchise since Week 7 of the 2010 Season…They are the 3rd team this year to earn a Chump Score after earning a Team of the Week award earlier in the year…
Chump Survivor
And then there were 3…Armed N Dangerous falls out of the competition with their Chump Score leaving us with 1 team left from each division…This is the furthest Bay Area Thrashers has made it into the contest while Hurricanes and Fudgie Whales both made the Finals in last year’s inaugural event…Average scoring in the league fell 13 points to match the Season low of 101 from Week 3…with only Hurricanes scoring above that mark…
Notes & Numbers
UO Grandmasters have extended their losing streak to 6 games…
Hurricanes win over Husslers is their 3rd Straight against Justin and their 50th Regular Season win…they are tied with Dookie as the fastest to reach the Milestone with 75 games played (66.7% Win Rate)…
Since their streak of 24 100+ point games ended in Week 7…Hurricanes has 3 straight games of 130+ and is averaging 149 over those games…22 points per game better than the next hottest team…Playground Legends…who have 3 straight games of 120+ since Week 7…
Drew Brees exteded his NFL record by throwing at least 2 Touchdowns in 21 straight regular season home games…all of them occuring in the Superdome makes it the longest streak of games with multiple TD passes by any player at any venue in league history…the 2nd longest streak belongs to Peyton Manning who has thrown 2 or more TD passes in each of his last 15 games at Sports Authority Field in Denver…including 2 as a visitor…
The Cowboys Defense gave up 40 1st Downs in the game against the Saints…an NFL Record…
Playoffs
If the Playoffs started today:
#1 Seed - HUR (8-2-0) - Div Champion #2 Seed - BAT (7-3-0) - Div Champion #3 Seed - BBA (6-3-1) - Div Champion (By H2H win over FUD) #4 Seed - FUD (6-3-1) - Wildcard (By 30 points over RNT) #5 Seed - RNT (6-3-1) - Wildcard #6 Seed - MNY (6-4-0) - Wildcard
Hurricanes domination this week locked up their playoff spot…and brought them 1 step closer to the Buccaneer title…Shawn sits 1½ back with 3 to play as the only competition…A win this week by Hurricanes in their head-2-head game would give them the title…after that it will be up to the Riley brothers to play Spoiler for someone…
Thrashers took a 2nd step back this week keeping the door open in the Storm Division…Playground Legends took down their 2nd Division Leader in 2 Weeks to move up into a tie with Armed N Dangerous who remain 1½ back after the Pseudo T&A Night defeat…Eric will get 3 more chances to ruin someone’s playoff run…
Fudgie Whales were Danny’s 2nd Victim and fell into a tie at the top of the Bandit Division heap…The Week 3 loss to Bubba Army is currently the decider here…with Money Inc only a ½ game back…Husslers is our only team removed from Division contention from our Week 9 breakdown…now sitting 4 back with 3 to play…
In addition to the tight race for the Bandit title…FUD and RNT tied in Week 1…they have the same Division Record at 2-1-0…and their tiebreak for Wildcard seeding comes down to a 30 point scoring differential…
On the Bubble:
PLA (5-4-1) (By Div Record over AND) AND (5-4-1) WAR (3-7-0)
6 wins is the current cutoff for a Wildcard Slot…this makes Warriors still mathematically in contention for at least 1 more week…The Week 3 tie between Danny and Miller takes us to Division Record between them…but the Gauntlet Run will ultimately decide their Wildcard Fates along with the fallout from the Bandit Division…
In the Empire Cup:
HUS (2-7-1) XFA (2-8-0) UOG (1-9-0)
Husslers and X-Factor are now both 4 games behind the last Wildcard slot with 3 to play and have officially joined UO Grandmasters as entries in the 2013 Empire Cup field…