Got it done on Wednesday Again!…Maybe the losing is giving me nothing else to look forward too…We get a slate of multi-time award winners…including 3 going back-2-back…Like clockwork (yeah…bad pun…I know) Big Ben re-writes recordbooks…Beast Mode returns…The Sanchise returns…Kickers are playing Defense…Hurricanes calls their shot…Shannon needs a shot…New Blood in the Survivor Final…Brady is better than Manning…Shawn is no Chump…and the Playoff standings are already being shaken up…lets go…
Ben Roethlisberger (WAR)
4 Quarterbacks hit 30 points in Week 9…Ryan Tannehill was supremely efficient going 24 of 34 (70.6%) for 288 yards and 3 Touchdowns while dismantling the Chargers…he addded another 47 yards rushing to reach his career high of 245 yards on the season getting to 30 points…TDQBITU™ moved on to 11-5 against Peyton (more on that below) with his 4th 3+ Touchdown game since being dumped by the Warriors to reach 31…Andrew Luck continued his assault on the Season Yardage (3,085) and Touchdown Leads (26)…adding an additional 354 yards and 4 Touchdowns against the Giants to reach 33 points…Big Ben created a new NFL Record category that never previously existed…He is now the 1st player to throw 6 Touchdown passes in consecutive games…25 of 37 (67.6%) for 340 yards gave him the highest Passer Rating on the weekend (136.3) and 40 points to claim this award in back-2-back weeks…It is the 8th trophy on the year for Warriors…
Marshawn Lynch (RNT)
5 Running Backs battled for the title in Week 9…apparently a 2 Touchdown minimum requirment was established to claim it with all 5 getting 2 scores…Ronnie Hillman had the fewest yards from scrimmage with 63…but he added 7 catches to keep up with the 120 yards from scrimmage put up by Mark Ingram and Alfred Morris…all 3 end tied at 24 points…Jeremy Hill led all rushers on the day with 154 yards…he added a single 9 yard catch to reach 28 points against the Jaguars…but balance proved to be the difference again in this race…Marshawn Lynch led the Seahawks in both Rushing (67 yards) and Receiving (76 yards) against the Raiders…his 5 catches making the difference to reach 30 points…it is the 2nd Player of the Week award for Lynch (Week 3)…and the 6th trophy on the year for Runs N Throses…
Jeremy Maclin (XFA)
No 40’s this week in the Wide Receiver race…30’s will have to do…Antonio Brown took advantage of Matt Forte’s bye week to build on his lead in Season Receptions…11 Catches on a league leading 16 Targets brought his total to 71 Receptions on the season…13 ahead of Forte…who still holds 2nd place over every other Wide Receiver in the League…he totaled 144 yards including a 54 yard Touchdown strike to end the day at 31 points…Even with a 59 yard Touchdown pass in the 1st Quarter…Jeremy Maclin’s chances looked dire when Nick Foles left the game and was replaced by The Sanchise…but Mark’s first pass was a 52 yard gainer to Maclin…Jeremy pulled in all 3 of his remaining targets including a 2nd Touchdown with 3:55 to play to total 33 points and claim this award in back-2-back weeks…it is the 4th trophy on the year for X-Factor…
Adam Vinatieri (WAR)
4 Kickers reached the Spinal Tap score in Week 9…Steven Hauschka had 7 Kick Opportunities…nailing 3 Field Goals and 3 Extra Points…but the 4th Field Goal was no good leaving him at 11 Points…Caleb Sturgis got 8 Kick Opportunities while blowing out the Chargers…He hit on 4 Extra Points and 3 Field Goals…then missed his own 45 yard try to end 1 point ahead at 12…Stephen Gostkowski proved he is still the best Kicker in football going perfect on 4 Extra Points and 3 Field Goals to reach 13 Points…he is the 1st Kicker to reach 100 points for the season…but not good enough to win this week…Adam Vinatieri matched Gostkowski’s 4 and 3 performance…but added 1 more Field Goal to reach 16 points…it is his 3rd Player of the Week award on the year (Weeks 3 & 7)…and the 9th trophy overall for the Warriors…
Miami Dolphins (AND)
4 Defenses found 2-digit scores in Week 9…and only 1 Defense gave back points (SD…negative in back-2-back weeks)…The Patriots only sacked Manning 1 time…but had 2 picks…and an Edelman 84 yard punt return Touchdown to reach 11 points…the Seahawks only sacked Carr 1 time…and had 2 picks including a Pick-6 Touchdown…but also got a true Mike Black play (look him up…if you can) when Steven Hauschka…the Kicker…recovered a Fumble off his own Kick Off to reach 13 points…The Texans gave up a point allowing 31 to the Eagles…but they got 2 Sacks and a Pick-6 off of Foles before knocking him out of the game…then got 2 more Sacks and 2 more Picks off of the Sanchise…a Fumble Recovery off their own Interception ended them at 17 points…and then there was that shutout…the Dolphins must have taken their scrimmage against the Jaguars last week seriously as they turned up the heat on the Chargers…they forced 3 Picks and a Fumble Recovery while sacking Philip Rivers 4 times…shutting out the Chargers for the 1st time since Halloween 1999 (KC Chiefs) to reach 27 points and secure this back-2-back award…their 3rd for the season…it is Armed N Dangerous 4th trophy on the year…
Team of the Week
“I’m still playing to win games. Some people might like 0-13 but I don’t.”
–John Torres
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is…Minus the 131 Week 4 outlier…that still went for a loss…Hurricanes had averaged only 88.9 points per game for the rest of the season…Even though he is already eliminated from the Buccaneer Division title race…John took his 8 game losing streak and shoved it aside…he responded in the best way possible…nailing 100% roster efficiency on his way to scoring 144 points to upset Division leader Runs N Throses title run…and to pass Warriors again on the All-Time list claiming his 16th Team of the Week award…
“I kept (Graham) so I can maybe play spoiler in my division and so I can win the Empire Cup.”
No “Maybe” about it…
Chump of the Week
Well this blows…After the 1pm games…my 3 starters had already scored 34 points below their per game average for the year…and none had cracked 2-digits…4pm games saw Russell Wilson tie his career low in Fantasy Points with 0 Touchdown passes and more 1-digit scoring from Doug Baldwin…Sunday Night action saw only 3 Kick Opportunities for Justin Tucker and I sat in a 21 point hole behind Playground Legends 42 to 63…Monday Night only served to tease me as Ahmad Bradshaw slowly crept toward 2-Digits…and the Colts Defense kept the Giants held at 10 points…I actually climbed out of the hole to reach 64 points…Only to have Eli Manning kick me in the teeth with a 4th Quarter strike to Larry Donnell with 9:01 to play…The Colts then only ran Dan Herron to finish the clock for the rest of the game…And to rub it in my own face…with only 55.9% efficiency…the game is still a Coulda Won with the 102 possible score from my bench…This is the 1st Back-2-Back Chump Score ever for The Army…and my 1st time ever taking this title 3 times in 1 Season…the 17th Overall Chump Score for a career…
Chump Survivor
Average scoring in the League fell 16 points to a more normal level of 102 in Week 9…Money Inc and Throser both stayed above that line…and the race was on among the rest to try and stay in the Final-4…1pm saw Thrashers end on only 28 points with their Chargers being stufffed by the Dolphins…and 4pm brought them to only 41 as Husslers and Fudgie Whales ended their weekends at 98 and 95…Bell and Brown did their usual thing combining for 47 to bring them to 88 on Sunday Night…with final flex slot Reuben Randle to go Monday Night…he was targetted 8 times in the 1st half…managing to pull in only 3 for 31 yards to reach 94 points…he saw 0 targets in the 3rd Quarter…but finally got 1 more 18 yard catch with 9:34 to play to let Thrashers edge Fudgie Whales out 96 to 95…It is our 2nd team to exit without a crushed helmet (you’re welcome!)…and it is the 1st time that Fudgie Whales have failed to reach the Chump Survivor Final…
Notes & Numbers
Bubba Army’s loss to Fudgie Whales in Week 9 makes them the 2nd team to reach 50 Losses in Division Games…taking 101 games played (48-50-3) to reach the Milestone…
UO Grandmasters 115 Points Scored in Week 9 brings their All-Time Points Scored total to 20,007…they are the 4th team to reach 20,000 All-Time Points…taking 220 games played (90.9 Average) to reach the Milestone…
Warriors extend their Win Streak to 6 games…while Playground Legends extend their Loss Streak to 5 games…
While researching my Chump Record…I put together this chart showing the total Chump Scores for all current teams…Warriors has the most with 20…and Hurricanes the least with 6…but most impressive was comparing the totals against the number of Regular Season games played by each team…Shawn has only had 7 over a career of 204 Regular Season games…that is 3.43%…less than half of the 8.95% average of the the rest of the League…
Peyton Manning vs TDQBITU™ #16 was a face off of the 1st ever game between starting Quarterbacks with at least 150 Career Wins…and the 1st ever game with opposing Quarterbacks throwing at least 50 passes each…
Brady got his 11th victory in the series with his 4th straight game of 3 Touchdown Passes…extended his streak to 42 straight Home Victories against AFC opponents…and passed John Elway with 51,451 career passing yeards…
Manning had 3 new NFL records with his 14th game with 400+ Passing Yards…his 14th straight game with 2 Touchdown Passes…and led the Broncos to their 29th consecutive Regular Season Game scoring at least 20 Points…breaking the Rams previous NFL record of 28 straight games over the 1999 and 2000 seasons…
DeMarco Murray Watch – The Unstoppable Force met the Immovable Object in Week 9 as Murray put his 8 Game 100+ Yard Streak against the Cardinals 15 Game Streak of not allowing a 100 yard rusher…The Object wins this time as Murray was held to only 79 yards…but that is still more than 2x the 38 yards posted by Eric Dickerson (Did you know he also wore #29?) in Game 9 of his 1984 campaign…Murray enters the Bye Week with a 170 yard lead…
Playoff Picture
1 Week into the Playoff Picture and we already have some shake ups in the standings…
If the Playoffs started today:
#1 Seed - BAT (7-2-0) - Div Champion #2 Seed - RNT (6-3-0) - Div Champion (by H2H win over WAR) #3 Seed - MNY (5-4-0) - Div Champion (by H2H Win over HUS) #4 Seed - WAR (6-3-0) - Wildcard #5 Seed - HUS (5-4-0) - Wildcard (by H2H Win over UOG) #6 Seed - UOG (5-4-0) - Wildcard (by Div Standing over AND)
Money Inc beating Husslers in Week 9 gives them the Head-2-Head tiebreaker to take over the lead for the Bandit Division title and the #3 Seed…Runs N Throses loss to Hurricanes moves them into a 6-3 tie with Warriors atop the Buccaneer Division…they retain the #2 Seed solely on their Week 3 Head-2-Head win…Warriors owns every other tiebreaker against Throser and has outscored them now for 6 straight weeks (749 to 623)…Bay Area Thrashers now have a 1 Game lead for the #1 Seed…Kevin still has the Head-2-Head tiebreak cushion against Shawn…but the Week 10 game against Warriors could change everything…Riley winning could give him the Buccaneer lead and a tiebreak cushion of his own…Kevin winning could give him a 2 game lead with tiebreaks over both Buccaneer Division challengers…and would mathematically guarantee him a Playoff slot…
For Wildcards…Warriors maintains the #4 Seed with their win streak intact…UO Grandmasters win over Playground Legends combined with the Armed N Dangerous loss to Thrashers creates a 3-Way tie at 5-4 for the last 2 slots…with no outright Head-2-Head winner…Miller is removed from the tiebreak by Division Standing with Eric…Husslers defeated the Grandmasters 144-93 in Week 8 to claim the #5 Seed…Grandmasters have Head-2-Head and Divison Record advantage over Armed N Dangerous to claim the #6 Seed…
On the outside looking in:
AND (5-4-0) PGL (4-5-0) (H2H Win over XFA) XFA (4-5-0) FUD (3-6-0) (Div Standing over BBA) BBA (3-6-0) HUR (1-8-0)
Money Inc and UO Grandmasters jumping into the Pool has forced Armed N Dangerous and X-Factor out…For this week anyway…X-Factor actually falls behind Playground Legends due to their 2 Point loss in Week 4 from starting a Negative Defense (-8)…but with 5 wins as the current target…all of these teams are technically still alive to reach the Wildcard…The Empire Cup will have to wait another week to see its 1st official participant…