Gobble Gobble! Or should I say...grumble grumble. The reason for that slight modification of the usual Thanksgiving mantra will become apparent later in the post. We have much to be thankful for in MIISFFL-land, unless of course you're at the bottom of the barrel in the standings, then you just have to be thankful that the season is almost over.
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Time to spend too much money, sit in holiday traffic (while cursing your fellow driver), eat and drink way too much and watch your football teams (both real and fake) break your hearts yet again.
Dewey and JP have a lot to be thankful for. Their Bucs are amazingly relevant. Dewey is in first place in the NFC. JP is...let's not go there.
Sean has a lot to be thankful for. The Giants are on their longest winning streak in 8 years. His fantasy team is...maybe I shouldn't.
Nate has a lot to be thankful for. The Chargers are right in the thick of it in the AFC west, and they're going to move to LA next year with all the glitz and glamour therein. His fantasy team...not worth the time.
Tom has a lot to be thankful for. The Ravens tried their best to blow it to Cincinnati, but somehow they found a way to win and the Ravens are in first place. His fantasy team....just shut up now.
Jeff has a lot to be thankful for. He finished a prediction run and came within 23 seconds of hitting the time exactly. See the line about the Ravens too. His fantasy team is...we're gonna stop right there.
As far as the rest of the gang, they have to be thankful for the fact that their fantasy teams are going to finish at or above .500. Will that be enough to make the playoffs?
How did the current leader do? Patrick's loss to Nick 2 weeks ago is looking more and more like an aberration. While a 113-105 win over Tom is not exactly going to rewrite the record books, consistent play and taking advantage of favorable matchups currently has Patrick still in first place in the AFC and in line for the #1 seed in the playoffs. Patrick got the scoring started on Turkey Day with 26 from Jordan Reed, who scored twice despite a sprained AC joint. He finished the job on Monday night as Rodgers dropped the hammer with 313 yards and 2 scores of his own, dispatching the Eagles (which we are ALL thankful for). Tom is back to the draft board as the ripple effect of Andrew Luck's short week concussion was felt across the league, Frank Gore's 3.6 being the most noticeable on Tom's ledger. Patrick can lock up a playoff spot next week with a win.
Game of the Week With first place in the NFC on the line, both Nick and Dewey under-performed their projections by large margins, with Nick feeling the biggest blow from Scott Tolzien on Thanksgiving. However, this game came down to the prime-time games amazingly as a season sweep by Nick over Dewey would have flipped the script in this division with 2 weeks to go. Had Brandon McManus hit that (impossibly) long kick Sunday night, who knows what would have happened? As it stood, Nick held a tenuous 8 point lead with Jordy Nelson looking to gobble up some targets on Monday night. His game was not spectacular (8 for 91), but more than enough for Dewey to steal an 103-97 win, putting him firmly in the drivers seat with 2 weeks to go. It would take a monumental collapse for Dewey to miss the playoffs, and win next week will lock up the division mathematically. Nick is relegated to the wild card chase, where his favorable tiebreaking scenarios are pretty much no more. He will pretty much need to win out and get some help.
Blowout of the Week Zach channeled his inner Cam Newton circa 2011 and put the hurtin' on Chris 167-95. The 72 point margin of victory is the largest in MIISFFL this season. Somebody might have been watching just a little too much video tape at Thanksgiving dinner this week. Four scores of 20 points or more were pretty much all that Zach needed as Ben the Rapist and a kicker showed up for Chris...and pretty much nobody else. Chris is still very much alive for the last wild card at 7-5, but I think it's safe to say that his streak of division titles is all but over now. As for Zach, he is all alone at 8-4, with an outside chance at the division title should Patrick falter down the stretch, but still in excellent position to nab a wild card.
The Futility Bowl This time of year, our Futility Bowl nominee will generally be between 2 teams that have zero chance of making the playoffs, and this week is no exception. JP won (STOP THE PRESSES!). He is now 2-10 (cue the laugh track). Nate opened the season with a win over the 2015 champ, which at the time seemed like a monumental upset. With this result, perhaps it's the other way around, as JP can at least take a modicum of solace in effectively ending Nate's playoff chances with the 96-73 win. Dak Prescott put up some feasting numbers on Thanksgiving, and JP may very well have himself a merry little Christmas when he pulls the lever to keep the rookie going into 2017.
This Week's Other Results:
Sean (4-8) defeated Eddie (7-5) 100-98
Kent (7-5) defeated Jeff (4-8) 120-100
Weekly pot winner: Zach (167 points)
MIISFFL Playoff Picture: If the season ended today.....
With 2 weeks to go in the regular season, the division titles are all but wrapped up.
#1: Patrick (AFC, 9-3) #2: Dewey (NFC, 9-3)
Again, Patrick gets the #1 seed due to his win over Dewey in week 4.
At least one of the wild cards is easy this week.
#3: Zach (8-4) #4: Eddie (7-5)
With 4 teams at 7-5, once again the first tiebreaker is head to head record among the tied teams. This is still subject to change of course, but Eddie is 2-0 against the tied teams with wins over Nick and Chris. Kent is 1-0 having only played Chris once and winning. Chris is 1-2 and Nick is 0-2. So the playoff matchups as we stand right now are:
#1 Patrick vs. #4 Eddie
#2 Dewey vs. #3 Zach
Since there is still lots of sorting out to do among the 7-5 teams, there is still so much that needs to be decided, but it is looking like down the stretch that there will be 4 teams fighting it out for 1 playoff spot. In Week 13, Nick plays Eddie and Chris plays Zach. In Week 14, Chris plays Kent.
No comments:
Post a Comment