The article is ready on Wednesday 2 Weeks in row…must be an anomaly of some sort…HOLY FUCKING POINTS BATMAN!…Go Big or Go Home seemed to be the lesson in Week 8…NFL records fell…TBFL records fell…50 is the new 30…If you want to win the RB award you need F…O…R…T…& E in your name…40’s all around in the WR contest…Kickers Score…Defenses Score…Warriors End another Streak…The Army falls hard…Chump Survivor…Streaks…Records…and our 1st look at the 2014 Playoffs….lets go…
Ben Roethlisberger (WAR)
Aaron Rodgers & Andrew Luck both threw for 400 yards and scored 30+ Points again…pfft…child’s play…TDQBITU™ threw 5 Touchdowns against the Bears…give it up Tom…not good enough…Big Ben Roethlisberger wrote himself into the recordbooks with 522 yards against the Colts…the 4th Highest total in NFL history…He beat his own Steelers record of 503 yards (2009 Week 15) making him the only Quarterback in NFL history with 2 games over 500 yards…40 of 49 passing (81.63%) and 6 Touchdowns secured a 150.6 Passer Rating and brought him to 50 Points on the weekend…It is the highest score from any Player this season…tied as the 3rd Highest Quarterback score in TBFL history…and is a new Warriors team record (40…Drew Brees 2009 Week 1)…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Big Ben…the 7th trophy on the year for Warriors who are only a Defense award shy of hitting for the cycle…
Arian Foster (BAT)
After winning this thing 3 times in a row…Matt Forte took the week off for a well deserved vacation…right?…Of course not…I’m not that lucky…After being the definition of balanced attack for the past few weeks…Forte leaned on the ground game in Week 8 piling up 114 yards on 19 carries (6.0 ypc)…ONLY 6 receptions for 54 yards and a Touchdown ended his day at 30 points…and now 2 catches shy of the Reception lead…Arian Foster took 20 carries for 151 yards (7.6 ypc) and 2 Touchdowns…but it was the 4 catches for another 22 yards and a 3rd Touchdown that got him over the hump to take home the prize at 39 points…The highest score from any Running Back this season…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Foster…but it is the 3rd time this award has gone to Bay Area Thrashers (Bell Week 1…Sproles Week 2) this Season…and is their 6th trophy on the year overall…
Jeremy Maclin (XFA)
Emmanuel Sanders got us started on Thursday Night with the 1st Multi-Touchdown (3) game of his entire 62 game career to set the bar at 39 points…Not Good Enough…We got 40’s this week…Rob Gronkowski decided to use the Bears as a calling card to the fact that when healthy he is the best Tight End in the NFL…he tied his career high by catching all 9 of his Targets for a career high 149 yards (16.6 ypc) and career high tying 3 Touchdowns before taking off the entire 4th Quarter to celebrate his 41 points…the most ever scored by a Tight End in TBFL history…but while he partied on…Jeremy Maclin played a full game into the 4th Quarter…he pulled in the Week’s most Receptions (12)…on the Week’s most Targets (16)…for the Week’s highest yardage total (187)…and 2 Touchdowns of his own to just edge Gronk out with 42 Points…tied with DT from Week 5 as the most from a Receiver this season…and a new X-Factor Team Record (41…Steve Smith 2007 Week 2)…It is the 1st Player of the Week award for Maclin and the 3rd trophy on the season for X-Factor…
Dan Carpenter (MNY)
5 Kickers hit 2-Digit scoring in Week 8…Matt Prater needed only 4 Kick Opportunties to reach 10 points…hitting on 3 Field Goals and 1 Extra Point in early morning action in London…Week 7 award winner Adam Vinatieri needed 6 for the same result with 2 Field Goals and 4 Extra Points…Mason Crosby followed our Golden Path with 3 Field Goals and 2 Extra Points to reach the Spinal Tap 11…but in a week with this much scoring…you know you have to go bigger…Justin Tucker got to 12 Points on only 4 Kick opportunities hitting a lone Extra Point with 3 Field Goals…including Bonus Earners from 50 and 53 yards out…Dan Carpenter had to double those Kick Opportunities to come out on top…He hit 4 out of 5 Extra Point tries…then added 3 Field Goals including a 53 yard bonus earner to end the day at 13 Points…good enough to claim his 2nd Player of the Week Award on the season (Week 2)…it is the 4th trophy on the year for Money Inc…
Miami Dolphins (AND)
4 Defenses hit 2-Digit scoring in Week 8…only 1 of those went into the Negative Zone…but we had 3 Defenses cost their teams points…The Patriots pressured Jay Cutler into an Interception…Sacking him 3 times…including him coughing up a Fumble that was returned for a 15 yard Touchdown…they end the day on 13 Points…The Vikings kept Mike Glennon on the run…getting an early Interception and then Sacking him 5 times…only 13 points were allowed before getting the game winning Fumble Recovery for a Touchdown on the opening play of Overtime…they end at 17 points…The Dolphins took 2 Blake Bortles Interceptions back 103 yards for Touchdowns…enough to win the game outright with the 13 points allowed to the Jaguars…they also took a Fumble off of him…sacked him 4 times…and Blocked a Field Goal on their way to 26 points…it is the 2nd Team of the Week award for the Dolphins…but they have now won the award for a 2nd Team (RNT…Week 2)…it is the 3rd trophy on the year for Armed N Dangerous…
Team of the Week
With points being thrown around everywhere…we had some great races for this award…with early action across the pond…Husslers players were all done after 1pm action and he had ridden Warrior’s cast-off Tom Brady and his 5 Touchdowns to 144 Points…good enough to claim this prize in 5 previous weeks…Money Inc was the next closest at 101…In the 4pm games…Thrashers used LeVeon Bell and Antonio Brown to edge Husslers out at 145…while Warriors rode Big Ben and his 6th Touchdown pass on the day to Heath Miller to go ahead at 148…8 more points from Travis Cadet against the Packers set the final Sunday total at 156…Thrashers had Dan Bailey left to play…needing the Spinal Tap score of 11 to tie…or to go 1 louder for the win…ultimately the Cowboys fell apart and Warriors held on 156 to 150…It is Warriors 15½ time winning the award…and ends a 46 Week drought going back to Week 1 of 2011…
Chump of the Week
While those teams were fighting to come out on top…another battle was taking place on Monday Night to keep off the Scoring Floor…After Sunday Action…Playground Legends (Murray) held the bottom slot at 60 Points…followed by Bubba Army (Bryant) at 71…Demarco Murray continued chasing Eric Dickerson early…piling on 54 yards on the ground…and adding a 34 yard catch before Dez even had a Target…Bryant found the End Zone on a 2nd Quarter scoring drive building the gap back up to 13 points…but another 24 yard catch and run from Murray made it 83-73 at the half…Bryant was targetted only 2 more times in the 2nd Half…both falling incomplete…while Murray added 71 more Rushing Yards…then had another 23 yard catch and run to tie it up…Dallas started the Overtime with an 8 yard run bringing Playground to 84…and a catch for a loss to reach 85…Romo threw his final pass on 4th and 3 to Bryant but it was knocked away…Bubba Army now holds the 2 highest Chump Scores on the season…they are the 1st Chump Team to play the Team of the Week since Week 12 of last year (PLA 135 – UOG 57)…and the 1st team to fall from Team of the Week to the Chump Score since X-Factor in Weeks 5 & 6 last season…
Chump Survivor
Armed N Dangerous (133)…Money Inc (134)…Husslers (144)…and Warriors (156) all set Season High scores for themselves in Week 8…Those point explosions allowed Average Scoring in the League to skyrocket 21 Points to 118…the 2nd Highest Scoring Average of All-Time (124…2013 Week 1)…with The Army claiming their 2nd Chump Award for the Season…UO Grandmasters failure to reach 3-Digits let them become the 1st team eliminated from the 2014 competition without getting their helmet crushed…They set a new Team Record for lasting till Week 8 (2012 Week 6)…Runs N Throses and Fudgie Whales are currently the remaining bottom dwellers of our Final 5…
Notes & Numbers
Bay Area Thrashers victory over Runs N Throses is their 110th Regular Season Win…
Hurricanes continues their slide to 8 straight losses to start the season…Still the 2nd Longest Streak to Start a Season…now tied for the 4th Longest Streak in a Single Season…and tied for the 6th Longest Streak of All-Time…
After their 0-3 start…Warriors have now won 5 straight games…posting the 2nd highest Points Scored (740…vs BAT 777) over those weeks…It is their longest streak since the 2003 TBFL Season (9 Wins)…
After their 4-0 start…Playground Legends have now lost 4 straight games…posting the 2nd lowest Points Scored (362…vs HUR 335) over those weeks…Still no podium speeches since Septmeber 22…
Even with the losses by Playground Legends and UO Grandmasters…the entire Storm Division extended last week’s record by having All 4 teams sit at .500 or better after 8 Weeks of play…
Demarco Murray Watch…Murray extends his record with his 8th Straight 100 yard rushing game to start the season…he now has 1,054 yards (131.8 per game average)…which is 129 yards ahead of Eric Dickerson’s 1984 Record Season after 8 Weeks…Dickerson added 1,180 yards in his last 8 games…including a game of only 38 yards in Week 9 of that year…
Peyton Manning threw 3 Touchdowns to extend his streak of Consecutive Games with at least 1 Passing Touchdown to 46…it is the longest active streak and the 4th Longest streak in NFL history…1 game behind Johnny Unitas…It also ties his own record shared with Aaron Rodgers…Tom Brady…and Don Meredith at 13 Consecutive Games with at least 2 Touchdown passes…
Phillip Rivers threw 3 Touchdowns in the loss to Denver…extending his streak of 7 Consecutive Games with at least 2 Touchdown Passes…braking the Chargers franchise record set by Dan Fouts in 1981…
Playoff Picture
The 2014 TBFL Playoffs are fast approaching…and here is our 1st look at how they are shaping up…
If the Playoffs started today:
#1 Seed - BAT (6-2-0) - Div Champion (by H2H Win over RNT) #2 Seed - RNT (6-2-0) - Div Champion #3 Seed - HUS (5-3-0) - Div Champion #4 Seed - WAR (5-3-0) - Wildcard (by Div Record over AND) #5 Seed - AND (5-3-0) - Wildcard #6 Seed - XFA (4-4-0) - Wildcard (by H2H Win over UOG and MNY)
Thrashers Week 8 win over Runs N Throses gives them the tie-breaker edge for the #1 Seed…Throser’s lock on #2 is not secure either as they hold it only based on a Week 3 win over Warriors…who have since outscored Throser each of the last 5 weeks…Husslers hold the last Champion slot but still have 2 games to play against Money Inc who sits 1 game back…
For Wildcards…Warriors and Armed N Dangerous do not play each other this year…so their Division Records will be all important…WAR currently edges AND out of the #4 Seed 1-1 vs 0-2…which leaves XFA…UOG…PGL..& MNY at 4-4 looking for the #6 Seed…Eric and Danny have yet to play…so Grandmasters 2-0 Division Record puts them ahead of Legends…currently eliminating Danny from the tie-break by Division Standings…X-Factor defeated the Grandmasters and Money Inc Head-2-Head in the opening 2 Weeks to currently claim the last slot…
On the outside looking in:
UOG (4-4-0) (Div Standing over PGL...H2H Win over MNY) MNY (4-4-0) (H2H Win over PGL) PGL (4-4-0) BBA (3-5-0) FUD (2-6-0) HUR (0-8-0)
Hurricanes are officially eliminated from the Buccaneers Division title sitting 6 back with 5 to play…But they are technically still alive for the Playoffs while 4 Wins remains the bottom rung of the Wildcard ladder…We probably get our 1st Empire Cup participant in Week 9’s write up…
Strength of Schedule Remaining
I changed this up this year using the actual All-Play Records for every team (giving ties to the runner) to calculate remaining schedule strength…This means Bubba Army is actually the worst team remaining with the fewest overall points scored…Fudgie Whales is the toughest team remaining in the Bandit Division despite their 118 points scored against…and Thrashers have a 20 Win advantage on Warriors…who actually lead Runs N Throses by 2 games…
All 3 Division Champions have sub-.500 opponents remaining…while all 3 current Wildcards still have tough roads ahead of them…Money Inc has the best opportunity to climb the Playoff Ladder with only Hurricanes remaining out of Division and 2 chances to take down current Division Leader Husslers…On the other end of the spectrum…Miller still has to look forward to 2 Games against Thrashers and a potential Wildcard Knock-Out game with X-Factor…