Yeah it’s Thursday again…but we have lots of Extra last minute goodness to digest…There is nothing wrong with a lot of Luck…20 point Running Backs get Lynched in the Red Zone…JJ takes off and never looks back…The Jaguars Suck…New Team of the Week…Old Chump of the Week…Chump Survivor…BAT and Powers of 3…lets go…
Andrew Luck (UOG)
For the 2nd Week in a row…we had a Real Life/Fantasy Face-Off as Nick Foles and Kirk Cousins played Head-2-Head in both their NFL and TBFL matchups…Cousins threw for the most yardage in Week 3 (427 v 325)…and they both had 3 Touchdowns…but Foles was more efficient (65.9% vs 62.5% completions)…and had 0 Turnovers…allowing him to win both games…while finishing behind in Fantasy Points 29 to 32…But as Luck would have it (yes cheesy pun intended)…none of that matters…After suffering close losses in Weeks 1 & 2…Luck must have been jumping to play the Jaguars…Luck went 31 of 39 (79.5%) for 370 yards and the 3rd 4-Touchdown game of his career…No give-aways resulted in a 140.4 Passer Rating and topped out the day at 35 Points…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Luck and for UO Grandmasters…
Marshawn Lynch (RNT)
4 Running Backs cracked the 20 Point plateau in Week 3…After getting only 23 touches in the 1st 2 Games…Reggie Bush re-established himself as the Lions #1…getting 20 opportunities and ending at 21 Points…DeMarco Murray finished with 100 Rushing Yards for the 3rd Week in a row…the 1st time he has ever accomplished the feat…however he has also lost a Fumble in 3 straight games now and ends the day at 22 Points…Rashad Jennings took the most Carries of his career (34) for the most Yards of his career (176) to carry both the Giants and Husslers to Week 3 Wins ending at 23 points…While posting his lowest YPC of the year (3.38)…Marshawn Lynch still managed 128 Yards from Scrimmage in the Super Bowl rematch…and had the most Red Zone opportunities (8) of any Running Back resulting in 2 Touchdowns to take the lead at 25 Points…it is the 1st Player of the Week award for Lynch…and the 2nd trophy on the year for Runs N Throses…
Julio Jones (FUD)
This race was over before it even began…Julio Jones started the week on Thursday night by torching the hapless Buccaneers…pulling in 9 of 11 Targets for 161 yards and 2 Touchdowns in only 38:30 of game time…he then basically took a nap in the locker room as the Falcons instituted Pee Wee rules and pulled all the starters for the rest of the game ending him on 37 points…Pierre Garcon benefitted from being the most Targetted Wide Receiver (16) to pile on 11 Receptions for 138 yards and a Touchdown against the Eagles to end at 30…and Antonio Brown was the most efficient pulling in all 10 of his Targets for 90 yards and 2 scores of his own against the Panthers..but still finishing a Touchdown short at 31 Points…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Julio Jones and the 1st trophy on the year for Fudgie Whales…
Adam Vinatieri (WAR)
Only 3 Kickers hit 2-Digit scores in Week 3…Steady Stephen Gostkowski came up an Extra Point short of our Spinal Tap goal getting only 4 Kick Opportunities against Oakland…Dan Bailey got 6 Kick Opportunities…but 4 of them were Extra Points in the Dallas comeback…he added 2 Field Goals to reach just 10 Fantasy Points…but set a new Cowboys Franchise Record with 28 Consecutive Field Goals made…Adam Vinatieri got to enjoy 8 chances against the Jaguars…following the 3 Field Goal…2 Extra Point path to 11…then adding 3 more Extra Points to get to 14…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Vinatieri and the Warriors…
Indianapolis Colts (BBA)
The only 2 Defenses to post 2-Digit scores tied each other in Week 3…The Bengals harrassed Jake Locker…Sacking him 2 times and getting 2 Interceptions…then forced an Endzone Penalty for a Safety…They kept the game scoreless till 6:09 to play…finally giving up a 1-yard plunge for an 8 point bonus to reach 16…Following the mantra of “Grab a Defense that is playing Jacksonville”…Bubba Army’s Colts sacked Chad Henne 4 times in the 1st Half…forcing a Fumble Recovery on the last 1 that began the Blake Bortles era in the 2nd Half…they then picked off the Rookie 2 times including a 47-yard Pick-6 to also end at 16…MyFantasyLeague voters love Touchdowns and award the Colts their 1st Player of the Week award…the 1st trophy on the year for Bubba Army…
Team of the Week
Danny came out from behind his Podium to coach the Legends to an early lead at 108 points after the 4pm games on Sunday…with a solid 40 point lead over Armed N Dangerous…they were certain to advance to their 2nd ever 3-0 start to a Season (2010)…but would have to wait till Monday Night to see if they had a shot at a Team-of-the-Week trophy…UO Grandmasters topped out above them at 114 in their slump-busting outing against Thrashers…and Runs N Throses rode Giovani Bernard past them to top out at 126 for the lead after Sunday Night action…guaranteeing Shawn’s 3rd ever 3-0 start to a Season (2001 & 2011)…Brandon Marshall’s 23½ PPG Average seemed certain to lock this one up for Danny…but an ankle injury sent him to the sideline after only 1 Reception…and the Throsers held on to the title…It is the 1st Team-of-the-Week on the year and 18th lifetime for Runs N Throses…
Chump of the Week
After bouncing up from this position in Week 2 to take a victory from Bubba Army…Armed N Dangerous finds themselves falling back down to the bottom slot in Week 3…Reggie Bush posted a competitive stat line…but Aaron Rodgers was held to only 12 points for the 2nd time this year…and Eddie Lacy is proving to be one of the biggest busts of the 1st Round…averaging just UNDER 6 Points a game (tied for 218th best? position player)…68.0% was the lowest efficiency of the weekend…and it comes off the lowest potential points (100) on the weekend as well…
Chump Survivor
Average scoring rose 2½ Points to 100.3 in Week 3…just 1 Point off the pace from last Season…but Armed N Dangerous has been averaging 29 Points below that…Hurricanes…Money Inc…and Yours Truly have the next lowest averages among active teams and will look to improve in Week 4 to stay above water and not be flushed out…
Notes & Numbers
Runs N Throses win over Warriors is their 115th Regular Season (Already #1) and 120th All Time Win…now tied with…Bay Area Thrashers for #1 overall…
X-Factor’s victory over Hurricanes is their 50th Regular Season Win…with 94 games played to reach the Milestone (53.2% Win Rate)…they are tied with…Bay Area Thrashers…as the 7th Fastest to reach the mark…
UO’s victory over Bay Area Thrashers ends their Regular Season losing streak at 11 Games…ending tied for 3rd longest streak with…Bay Area Thrashers (née Monster Mash 2000 Weeks 2-12)…
3 Different Quarterbacks caught passes in Week 3…(well technically 2 because Johnny Manziel and the Browns used dirty illegal trickery)…The others were Russell Wilson…and Andy Dalton who had a receiving Touchdown…and did not throw any himself during the game…
Mohamed Sanu is now 4-for-4 as a passer in his 3 seasons in the NFL…his 18-yarder to Dalton was the shortest of those 4 completions…He previously connected with A.J. Green (73-yard TD)…Giovani Bernard (25 yards)…and Brandon Tate (50 yards)…
Over the last 30 Seasons…only 1 other player completed each of his 1st 4 passes in the NFL…each for more than 10 yards…and he wasn’t a quarterback either…Frank Wycheck…a Tight End did it for the Titans (1999-2001)…
The Seahawks tied the NFL record for the longest Overtime Touchdown drive…measured by the # of plays…in a Regular-Season game…2 other teams drove 13 plays to an OT TD…Broncos at Kansas City in 1978…and the Giants at Philadelphia in 2006…
The loss dropped the Broncos to 0-3 in Overtime games with Peyton Manning as their Quarterback…The year before Manning’s arrival…Tim Tebow went 4-0 in Overtime for the Broncos…
Speaking of 0-3…
More 0-3 Stats
I was already considering working on this from an Elias Sports NFL note that I found…
Of the 288 teams to make the Playoffs since the Wild Card was introduced in 1990, only 3 (1.01%) started 0-3 (1992 Chargers…1995 Lions…1998 Bills)…No team has made the Playoffs after starting 0-3 in the last 15 years…
Then Kevin posted this to the Message Board…
I’m sure Shannon will have some stats for us and those 0-3 teams chances of making the playoffs…
Challenge accepted…
194 teams have made the TBFL Playoffs since 1998…of those only 4 (2.02%) have started with an 0-3 record (1998 South Park Cows…1998 Shaft Daddy Kools…2003 Warriors…2004 UO Grandmasters)…2 of the 4 went on to the Fantasy Bowl…with South Park Cows winning the 1st Fantasy Bowl (I also won the other Fantasy Bowl against a previously 0-3 Warriors)…No team has made the TBFL Playoffs after starting 0-3 in the last 10 years…
Every Season played has had at least 1 team start 0-3…but 2014 is the 1st Season to ever have 3 teams reach that mark (FUD…HUR…WAR)…
Of the 23 Teams to do so previously…6 never got to 3 Wins…and 3 managed to turn things around to end with a .500 or better record…
Among current teams…UO Grandmasters leads everyone with 4 0-3 starts…followed by Warriors with 3…then Playground Legends and Fudgie Whales tied with 2 apiece…
Absent from that list are Bay Area Thrashers…Runs N Throses…and Husslers…who have never had an 0-3 start…
Just to add fuel to the fire that sparked this discussion (Husselnomics Logo on the way…by the way)…In Husslers 1st 4 Seasons…he has had 0 0-3 starts…while Warriors had 2 0-3 Seasons from 1999-2003…