Hi all,
What a good day for the Bay.
The 49ers and Raiders both came away with wins, and the Giants are going to the World Series. I bet good money that ESPN will find a way to bring up the Schwartz-Harbaugh handshake from last year in the context of the Detroit-San Francisco World Series. I know that some people who read this email happen to be Dodgers fans, so let’s end this thought on a note we can all agree on: Fuck the Yankees.
Let’s not forget about football though. We’re at the midpoint of the fantasy regular season and we’re getting more clarity about how awful some teams are: The Jaguars are the only team through seven weeks to not have broken 100 total points. Meanwhile the Saints have allowed 2,793 yards in their first 6 games, the most since 1940. Man, these teams really need to play each other.
Dick Knuckles: 140.23 (Ryan)
Romophobic: 138.46 (Barriger)
Forgetting Brandon Marshall: 135.82 (Justin)
This week’s FAAB Bonuses
($2) Brad: Highest score without winning matchup
($2) Barriger: Highest scoring defensive unit
($2) Evan: Highest scoring bench player, Randall Cobb
($2) Ryan: Score leader for the week.
($2) Nich: Weekly leaders in points scored against.
($2): Aaron and Brad: Lowest in divisional standings
($3): Aaron: Lowest overall seed of those trailing in divisions
Waivers run until the Wednesday the 24th
Teams on bye next week : Bills, Bengals, Ravens, Texans
Standings:
North:
- Ryan (5-2)
- Evan (4-3)
- Geezers (4-3)
- Ross (3-4)
- Nich (2-5)
- Aaron (1-6)
South
- Galen (5-2)
- Chris (5-2)
- Justin (5-2)
- Gray (3-4)
- Barriger (3-4)
- Brad (2-5)
Damn’t Galen, his team put up a hell of a fight against me even with most of it on bye. The South Division comes out of the interdivision schedule with three teams tied for first. There are six weeks left in the fantasy regular season, a lot can change. Meanwhile Ryan is starting to create some distance of his own in the North, coming out of the interdivison games on a 2 win streak. He and I sport the two lowest points-against totals in the North. Still, nothing will rival Galen’s ludicrous 683.50. Teams are averaging less than 100 points against him per week.
A NOTE ON THE TRADE DEADLINE: I currently have the deadline set for November 9th, which is coming up. My rationale behind this is that now that we’re a keeper league I’d prefer not to have people unloading their teams for draft picks or the like when they realize they’ve been eliminated from playoff contention. Remember.. six teams makes the playoffs! If people really want this date moved back let me know.
Top Fives!
QB
- Josh Freeman: 29.70 (Waivers)
- Drew Brees: 29.18 (Barriger)
- RG3: 26.22 (Rick)
- Aaron Rodgers: 25.68 (Nich)
- Carson Palmer: 21.32 (Evan)
There are definite limitations to judging player performance according to fantasy stats. The fact that Carson Palmer and RG3 are only separated by 5 points is almost criminal. RG led one of the most spirited and impressive series of drives I’ve seen in a while– Palmer and the Raiders stumbled bassackwards into a comeback defeat of the Jaguars. Seriously Raiders fans, fire Greg Knapp into the sun. Freeman and Brees played a spirited divisional game in the NFC South, a magical place where you don’t have to field a defense.
RB
- Chris Johnson: 31.80 (Chris)
- Adrian Peterson: 22.90 (Ross)
- Arian Foster: 22.30 (Chris)
- “LaRod” Stephens-Howling: 20.90 (Barriger’s bench)
5a. Frank Gore:18.20 (Brad)
5b. Doug Martin: 18.20 (Gray)
Goddamnit Buffalo you are the worst defense. Chris Johnson? Almost 200 yards and 2 tds?. All that Buffalo has to show for Mario William’s $100 million contract is 13 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Losing to the Titans is a fitting punishment I think Adrian Peterson’s knee is feeling ok. Meanwhile Frank Gore put da team on his back, gaining 131 yards on only 16 carries against one of the best run defenses in the NFL. The 49ers second half adjustment mainly involved preventing Alex Smith from throwing the ball. Doug Martin had a good day, but he was playing the Saints defense. A brief 2012 history of runningbacks vs the Saints:
Doug Martin: 18.20
Ryan Matthews: 19.90
Cedric Benson: 10.60
Jamaal Charles: 34.80
DeAngelo Williams AND Jonathan Stewart: 12.90/12.80
Alfred Morris: 21.60
Somewhere on Bourbon Street men are cutting eye holes in paper bags.
WR
- VJax: 27.60 (Justin)
- Randall Cobb: 23.75 (Evan’s bench)
- Victor Cruz: 19.10 (Aaron)
- Jordy Nelson: 18.20 (Ryan)
- Santana Moss: 16.70 (Brad’s bench)
Listen everyone, this is how you write football analysis professionally: If a slot receiver is good and white, he’s “Showing flashes of Wes Welker”. If he’s black he’s “The next Percy Harvin”. It doesn’t really matter who Randall Cobb is, he’s really good and he’s come to make your linebackers look stupid in space. VJax did a lot with his fourteen targets, piling up 216 yards and a TD. Santana Moss managed to haul in two touchdowns and lose the game for the Skins with a 2 minute drill fumble, which is a fairly good metaphor for the Redskins season thus far.
TE
- Bobby Granooski: 19.80 (Justin)
- Dustin Keller: 15.30 (Waivers)
- Heath Miller: 13.30 (Brad’s bench)
- Owen Daniels: 11.90 (Barriger)
- Dallas Clark: 11.10 (Waivers)
Hey cool, Dustin Keller, I remember him. He’s healthy again and feasting on the abysmal Patriots pass defense, which is somehow worse than last year– when they were starting slot receiver Julian Edelman at corner. CB Kyle Arrington is giving up a perfect passer rating to opposing QB’s when they throw at him. Meanwhile Brad has 3 startable TE’s and a mint-condition Tebow– someone trade the man.
Defensive Units
- Barriger: 46 (Pierre-Paul, Timmons, Tillman, Greenway)
- Rick: 38.1 (Smith, Bowman, Harper, Urlacher)
- Ryan: 37 (Watt, Wright, Verner, Mayo)
Pierre-Paul had the sort of day that Barriger was hoping for when he drafted him in the sixth round, tacking on three tackles to a sack and forced fumble. With old-ass Justin
Tuck no longer able to keep contain on his side, it’s a wonder anyone ever runs the ball at Pierre-Paul anymore.
Tillman managed to force two fumbles against a snakebitten Lions offense on monday night. Go bears. Charles Tillman has always been a viable player, which has a lot to do with the scheme he plays in. The Bears are one of the few teams left who run a true “Tampa 2”, a scheme Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy developed with the Bucs around the turn of the century. In that scheme the corners cover the flats and keep contain on the edges, playing physical and making a lot of tackles. The Vikings also run the Tampa 2 under the other Dungy protege, Leslie Frazier. Unsurprisingly Vikings corner Antoine Winfield is also a high scoring corner.
In sad news, JJ Watt didn’t get a sack this week. Aldon Smith and Navorro Bowman did though. I can’t believe Urlacher is still making plays, he basically doesn’t have knees anymore.
Next week’s games:
- Thursday night sucks, Bucs at Vikings
- Falcons at Eagles Sunday Early
- Giants at Dallas Sunday Late
- Saints at Broncos Sunday Night
- 49ers at Arizona Monday Night
Have a good week everyone.
PS: The Chiefs still suck. And it’s about to get a lot worse. The Chiefs are gonna move forward with Brady Quinn at QB. Not even Tebow liked the guy,
“”I had a teammate at Denver who played the same position as me and he went to the University of Notre Dame,” Tebow told Florida backers at an event, via GatorZone.com. “He would brag about his university, how great it was. Most of us in the locker room were like, ‘C’mon, we all had opportunities. We chose not to go there.’ … But he talked so much about his university that it became easy. I’d say, ‘Your whole team had one guy who ran under a 5.0 40 (yard dash). Our kicker ran under 5.0.’ “
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