The Source

It’s Thanksgiving week! Now, I love Thanksgiving. I mean, it’s an entire day devoted to eating, how can you not love that? And usually, there is so much food, it takes at least through the weekend to finish off the leftovers. On top of that, we get football! And nowadays we get three games on Thanksgiving, not just two like our fathers and grandfathers had to be content with. No measly two games for us! If that isn’t progress, I don’t know what is.

So, I would like to start this week off by listing some of the things I am thankful for both in the real world and in the world of fantasy football. I hope everybody takes the time to make their own list, and if you feel like it, go ahead and attach it as a comment here.

I’m going to save everybody a little bit of writing time by saying I am pretty sure all of us are thankful for our health. It’s a pretty rote answer, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

Another one that is pretty common, but even more so today, I am thankful for my job. With the economic climate the way it is, the fact that I still have a job that I enjoy doing, and I get paid to do it, is quite high on my list!

Finally for the most common reasons for giving thanks, family and friends. I have a fairly small immediate family, mother and father, two younger sisters, two nephews and a niece. No children of my own, oh yeah, no children of my own, thankful for that as well. I’ve also never been the kind of person who needs a whole bunch of people around him, so I have a pretty small, extremely tight group of friends, all of which I am thankful for.

I’m thankful for my best friend, Karen, who is also my attendant. I have muscular dystrophy and require help with a number of daily tasks, Karen helps me with all of those tasks as naturally as if I were doing them myself. She does so out of friendship, we were friends before she ever began assisting me and I can’t imagine what things would be like without her.

I am thankful that the Steelers are in first place in our division and that we are in control of our own destiny for the playoffs. I am thankful Ronnie Brown was available for me to pick up in the sixth round in so many leagues. I am thankful that all of my teams have been competitive this season, and while I will not make the playoffs in the LiveWorld league, I am thankful for every one of the points I have scored in this league. I am thankful that I am in good position to make the playoffs in my other three leagues, and in the running for points in all of them. I’m thankful for the patience I have learned over the course of the season watching Santonio Holmes consistently NOT score touchdowns. I am thankful for Matt Forte, Clinton Portis, the NFL network, Dan Rooney, Heinz field, Hines Ward (even though I do not own him in any of my leagues), James Harrison and all of the Pittsburgh linebackers, Big Ben, Merwelde Moore, Troy Polamalu and Mike Tomlin.

I am thankful that I did not have the first overall draft choice in any of my leagues and therefore was not tempted to draft Tomlinson this season. I am thankful for everybody who drafted Tom Brady in the first-round. I am thankful for touchdown only fantasy leagues, good trades, good single malt Scotch, people who THINK they can play Texas Hold’em and last but not least, everybody who has taken the time to read any of these blogs this season.

Now, let’s see if I have anything to be thankful for while reviewing how I did last week.

In quarterbacks I went with Big Brother Manning and Jay Cutler. Manning had over 250 total yards and two touchdowns, that should qualify as a good call/push combo. Cutler was a double bad call. Brevity, another reason to give thanks.

In running backs I went with Willie Parker and Warrick Dunn. I did warn against possible injury on Willie Parker, but I’m not going to take that out, so that’s a double bad call. Dunn had a touchdown and added 127 total yards, so that’s a double good call.

In receivers I went with T.O. and Reggie Wayne. Owens had a monster game, easily a double good call while Reggie was more than held in check, a double bad call.

That’s a total of 5-6-1, season total = 66-52-18. Time to get back to improving that record.

Going to go with good and bad selections this week and using the same criteria as last time except there will not be any doubles. We will use the same criteria for the bad selections as well, just reverse it.

Quarterbacks who will feast upon turducken.

Tony Romo. The golden boy, at-home, on Thanksgiving against Seattle, the announcers already can’t wait to give him player of the game.

Chad Pennington. I went with him earlier in the year and I think he burned me, but I’m going with him again this week against St. Louis

Quarterbacks who will try to make do with chicken

Donovan McNabb. Maybe Andy Reid really does know Donovan McNabb better than anybody else as he claims. As I’ve said before, Donovan has never struck me as a kind of guy who responds well to pressure (see the puking highlights from his Super Bowl). I think playing at home in front of the notoriously harsh Philadelphia fans (see the highlights of Santa Claus being pelted) is actually a detriment for him this week.

Matt Ryan. He has been playing a lot better than pretty much everybody predicted, but I think San Diego has a little bit of fight left in them and will be able to minimize his production

Running backs who will sop up the gravy.

Ronnie Brown. I gave thanks to him earlier, so I feel compelled to feature him here. Plus, you know, playing St. Louis

Chris Johnson. The rookie gets to play on Thanksgiving in his very first season, and he gets to do it against Detroit. Have you looked at Detroit’s schedule by the way? 0-16 is looking more possible.

Running backs who will just have a light salad with dressing on the side

Lendale White. This kid is an idiot. He’s got practically everything going for him, scoring touchdowns left and right, was unbeaten before last week, he has one game where he doesn’t get the ball a bunch (because he missed several practices), his team loses and what does he do? Starts crying and complaining and saying “I have no idea what was going on, I was paying attention. I don’t care”. I hope Jeff Fisher uses the national audience that they will have on Thanksgiving to set this kid down and not give him the spotlight. It’s a risky choice because they are going against Detroit, but I have faith the universe will make things right.

Anybody on Cincinnati. I am sure everybody in Cincinnati is giving thanks to Detroit for being the worst team in the NFL.

Wide receivers who see no reason in choosing between apple and pumpkin pie when you can have both

Wes Welker. I really hope I am wrong on this one as they are playing the Steelers, but the Pittsburgh secondary is pretty banged up and Wes is the kind of guy who finds the openings in the zone coverage.

Lee Evans. He has been having a decent but far from outstanding season, he might be able to have his first real breakout game of the year this week, at home against San Francisco.

Wide receiver who go with the fruit cup as desert

Randy Moss. He had a big game last week, most of that is because his quarterback had the time to go deep. I am hoping that they don’t have that much time against Pittsburgh.

TJ WhoseyourDaddy. The Cincinnati wide receiver has been the only guy on the team having a decent year, but he had a rough stretch with Pittsburgh last week and Baltimore this week. I would look for numbers similar to what he did against Pittsburgh rather than the rest of the year.

And now on to your power rankings.



http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/standings?leagueId=293451



1. size7 poopShooters. (1) that firm hold on all of the major titles slipped some this week. It doesn’t take long in fantasy football for things to switch up. All of a sudden they only have a 20 point lead in overall scoring, there is no guarantee they’re going to make the playoffs and the number one spot in the power rankings looks a lot closer than it did just a few days ago.

2. Dreaded Mercenaries. (3) they get back on the winning track, but it’s too late for the playoffs now. However, their performance this week moves them up the power rankings and the overall points title is within sight.


3. Damaged Denial.(2) they used their voodoo magic to juxtapose the loss/tie results from last week, but there was nothing they could do to remain unbeaten this week. They are in the playoffs, but anybody who has ever read Harry Potter knows that eventually those dark powers catch up with you. Is that what is starting to happen now

4. Evil Midnight Bombers.(7) they go absolutely crazy with points this week, shooting up the power rankings as well as the overall scoring standings. They have also locked themselves into the playoffs. The playoffs might be coming around at just the perfect time as right now I believe that the lineup of the Bombers can compete with anybody


5. Twittering Witty Wombats. (4) fantasy football is a strange world, most players know that. This week the Wombats win their game, but dropped from third to fifth in overall points, slide down the power rankings and are still out of the playoffs. Based upon this year, I believe they should change their team name to the Twilight Zone Shatners next season

6. Team Fenix. (8) they burst into the top half of the power rankings, locking up a playoff spot and are now just a little over 100 points out of first-place overall in scoring. If they perform the same way they did this past week, there’s not many rosters which could defeat them a majority of the time


7. Cowering Code Monkeys.(5) they have a bit of a poor performance this past week, but they should be locked into the playoffs now. Still, they slide down the power rankings as they lose ground in the overall scoring department.

8. The Flood. (9) I believe the Flood are now officially eliminated from the playoffs, assuming I understand the tie breaking scenarios. If so, there will definitely be a new Super Bowl champion this season! The Flood lose their game, but move up the overall power rankings and are forth in overall points.


9. San Hosers. (6) well, I moved them up last week and they totally tank this week, so they drop back down. I believe there might still be a scenario where they miss out on the playoffs. Either way, they need to perform better than they did this past week if they have any hope of going far into the postseason

10. The Bloodsuckers. (10) they have another good week of scoring and keep their playoff hopes alive. I think they are too far behind to make any kind of legitimate run at the overall scoring title, so they have to hope things fall appropriately for them to get into the postseason. They might still move a couple of notches up the power rankings as well, but I think that the bottom four teams in the power rankings are almost officially eliminated from any hope of getting the number one spot



11. Team Jackie. (11) one of two teams to not yet break 1000 points

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) 527 points out a first-place.


Happy thanksgiving everybody!

Ever have one of those weeks that, for no apparent reason, gets away from you? I’m not talking about those weeks right around the holidays, or vacations or your birthday. This is just one of those weeks where everything appears normal on the surface, but next thing you know it’s Thursday, there’s a game starting in about four hours and you’re wondering how that happened.

Speaking of wondering how that happened. Did anybody else see the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers versus San Diego Chargers game? I’m going to assume that if you are a football fan, you’ve seen it since it’s been on various sports centers, NFL game days and highlights since Sunday night. Now, fortunately, the outcome of the game was unaffected by that last play. At least, the outcome of the actual football game was not affected. I would imagine dozens of fantasy football games WERE affected by what can only be described as the ineptitude of the officials.

For those who did not see it, Philip Rivers is losing the game 11-10 with no time left on the clock. He passes the ball forward somewhere around 7-10 yards to Tomlinson, Tomlinson apparently laterals it to I believe Chris Chambers. Chambers then proceeds to throw another crazy lateral to somebody a good 12 yd. behind him, which is deflected by Steelers safety Troy Polamalu. The ball is then scooped up by Troy and returned for a touchdown. The play is automatically reviewed since it is under two minutes. After the regular review time, the official comes out, says there was an illegal forward pass, Pittsburgh declines the penalty, the play stands as called, it’s a touchdown. Next thing you know, there is some kind of huddle with the officials before the extra point attempt, the referee makes a statement something along the lines of “because of the illegal forward pass, the play is dead at the spot of the foul, no touchdown, game over” and then the teams are running off the field with the scoreboard showing 11-10 as the final.

Huh?

On Monday, the league releases a statement that there was a mistake made, the touchdown should have been counted, but they will not be changing the final score of the game.

Double huh??

Here’s the official word from the league on what happened. According to the head of officials, the referee only focused on the “lateral” between Tomlinson and Chambers. It was determined, correctly, that this was actually a second forward pass. A second forward pass does not stop the action, rather the play continues to its end and then the opposing team can make the decision on whether or not to accept the penalty based on the outcome of the play. If the penalty is accepted, then the play returns to the spot of the the penalty and I believe is moved back 10 yd.. If it’s declined, then whatever the result of the play was becomes official. Supposedly, after making the correct call that there was a second forward pass, Pittsburgh declined penalty, so the touchdown stands, another official said “but wait a minute, the ball hit the ground”.

At this point the head referee seemed to get so confused over when the ball hit the ground, he is convinced by the rest of his crew that the ball hit the ground during the illegal forward pass, not a few seconds later during the obvious 12 yd. backward lateral. Any forward pass, legal or otherwise, that hits the ground and the play is over. So the referee convinces himself that the illegal forward pass, the only section of the play that he supposedly watched over and over again, somehow hit the ground rather than actually being completed to Chambers and then fumbled a few moments later during the obvious lateral.

Now, I have seen some fairly crazy things happen in both the NFL and fantasy football. The score wound up 11-10, that’s the first score with that final in the NFL ever. 12,837 games, that’s the first one that finishes 11-10. But the important thing is, the proper team won, right?

Well, like I said, I’ve seen some crazy things happen. Overall points scored is actually the seventh tiebreaker in the NFL. I don’t remember when it was, I believe it was around 10-12 years ago, where there were so many close teams for the playoffs, there was a reasonable chance the seventh tiebreaker would actually wind up counting. But, if that would somehow happen to be the case this season, Pittsburgh does not get credit for those additional points.

Why not? The NFL commonly adjusts sack totals, or completions, or rushing totals or total yards, or any number of things during the week following a game because they have no effect on the actual outcome of the game. Well, this would not have affected the actual outcome of the game either. So what could possibly be the reason why the touchdown would not count? Oh, by the way, sports books wound up winning an extra $32 million because that touchdown didn’t count and it was the difference between covering the spread or not, but that obviously didn’t have anything to do with it.

Anyway, let’s jump into how I did last week, roll right into my predictions, and then take a leap of faith into the power rankings

For quarterbacks I liked Donovan McNabb and Kurt Warner. McNabb fell directly into the double push category with one touchdown and barely over 340 total yards. Warner also only had one touchdown, but had over 390 total yards and only one interception compared to the three for McNabb. We will divide that up into a one good call/one push decision

For running backs I went with Frank Gore and Clinton Portis. Two opposite ends of the spectrum here, Frank went over 100 yd. and got 2 touchdowns while Clinton was under 100 yd. and no touchdowns. A double good call and a double bad call.

On receivers I went with Boldin and Colston. The first had a monster game yardage wise but could not get into the end zone, that’s a double push. The second was a subpar performance all-around, so that’s a double bad call. I think I am setting the bar too high for receivers.

Overall its three good, four bad and five push. Season total 61-46-17.

Going to stick with just the positives again this week, but let’s try and level everything out as far as criteria goes. I will give the high-end and the low end of the projection criteria, the vast gray area in between will be determined on an individual basis

Quarterbacks.

Three touchdowns or a 300 yd. game is a double good call
No touchdowns or less than 200 yd. is a double bad call

Running backs

Two touchdowns or a 150 yd. game is a double good call
No touchdowns or less than 100 yd. is a double bad call

Wide receivers

Two touchdowns or a 100 yd. game is a double good call
No touchdowns or less than 100 yd. is a double bad call.

These predictions will be as much psychically picking up on universal trends as they will be actual advice as there is a little less than two hours to kick off right now and I won’t be doing as much research as usual.

Quarterbacks who will not feel rushed

Big Brother Manning. Going against the very lowly rated San Diego defense, I’m expecting this week to be what Big Brother owners have been expecting all season.

Jay Cutler. At home, against Oakland, it’s a divisional game and Denver needs to keep winning to control their playoff destiny.

Running backs who will rush all day long

Fast Willie Parker. Barring some sort of injury before the game, look for Parker to have a good game in the cold at home against Cincinnati.

Warrick Dunn. I know, that guy is still playing?? Yes, he is, and he is back in Tampa Bay. Graham is now done for the season with an injury, but Warrick has shown he is still able to get the job done, and against Detroit it shouldn’t be all that difficult.

Wide receivers who enjoy feeling the rush

Reggie Wayne. See big Brother Manning above

Terrell Owens. The guy is naturally gifted, always has been. Works out hard, plays hard and is a total head case. One thing he has never had problems doing is focusing on shoving it in the face of teams who did not give him what he wanted. He gets to play against his original team San Francisco in Dallas this week.

And now the power rankings! On a side note, I’m hoping that the league will schedule head-to-head matchups throughout the rest of the regular NFL season so we can easily keep track of overall points scored through the entire 17 weeks of the NFL season. I know the Super Bowl championship is important, but overall points is such a huge factor for me and I hope we are able to schedule throwaway games for everybody not in the playoffs and for the 17th week so that we can get an accurate reading at the end of the season


http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/standings?leagueId=293451



1. size7 poopShooters. (1) they are firmly in control of their own destiny in the playoffs as well as the power rankings. The team has been one of the top if not the top scoring roster the last five weeks. They have not scored less than 100 points since week six. The entire league is theirs to lose

2. Damaged Denial.(2) they get the first mark in the loss column. But, even that was actually a tie which was decided by bench points. In my opinion, there should be regular-season ties, with the bench points only being used to determine a winner in the playoffs. Regardless, they are locked into the playoffs and still have a shot at overall points and the number one spot in the power rankings


3. Dreaded Mercenaries. (3) Romo returns to the lineup but they still lose another game. That makes six losses in a row! That has to be tough for the second-highest scoring team in the league to swallow. Still, they hold steady at number three and all of the important titles are still possible for them

4. Twittering Witty Wombats. (5) they move up in the overall power rankings. This team must be cursing at least some of the football Gods. They are third in overall points and really have not had an abnormally large amount of points scored against them overall for the season, and yet they are completely out of the playoffs. However, an overall points title or number one power ranking is still not out of the question

5. Cowering Code Monkeys.(6) they are hanging on to their wild-card spot and the playoffs are looking good. The entire top part of the overall points standings has really been tightening up the past few weeks, so while the Shooters seem to be solidifying their grasp on everything, nobody is out of it yet, least of all the Monkeys

6. San Hosers. (7) there just wasn’t anyway I could justify not moving a number of teams up again this week. Things are so close in overall points and standings that sometimes an adjustment is required. The Hosers are in control of their destiny for the playoffs and are only a little more than 100 points out of first place overall. This season more than any other, it would take a lot for me to count somebody out of either of the two main title chases or the top of the power rankings

7. Evil Midnight Bombers.(8) there’s only two points that separate this team and the Hosers in overall points for the entire season. That’s a pretty good example of the majority of the league. Virtually every week has been competitive and the Bombers are all but locked into a playoff spot. They are another team that has a shot at all of the main titles

8. Team Fenix. (9) they follow-up the outstanding performance from last week with a huge victory and solid points. They are a little under 200 points out of first-place overall, so the overall points title is unlikely, but not impossible especially if we track points for the entire 17 weeks. Another victory or two and they can hit the playoffs running.



9. The Flood. (4) this was another one of those situations where I just could not stop the slide. Even though my team is fourth in overall points right now, there’s no denying that they just have not been performing in recent weeks. While the five spot drop might be too much overall, I think that it adjusts the overall rankings so that the movement of more teams is accurately reflected. The Flood are not yet out of the playoffs and they are right in the thick of the overall points chase, but right now there was no choice but to drop down to number nine

10. The Bloodsuckers. (10) they are unable to follow up with a third consecutive week of good scoring and miss out on the opportunity to remain tied for first place in the division. Overall points is most likely out of the question for the rest of the season, and the playoffs are still possible, but they have to contend with Flood, Hosers and Shooters in order to qualify as either a division winner or wild card. Again, I am not ready to pronounce this team finished for the season as there is a lot they can pull off in the remaining time



11. Team Jackie. (11) I am ready to pronounce this team finished. It’s apparent that they gave up a number of weeks ago, which is unfortunate as they had a lot of opportunities to make the playoffs and make some noise. They can still play spoiler, so I would not be surprised with another victory somewhere, but overall there will have to be some off-season reconsideration as the owner of the team decides whether they are ready to regroup for another season.

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) 512 points out a first-place.

And there we have it. Sliding in under the wire for another week. Looking forward to what never before seen events can happen again this week in the NFL.

So, there is a new president of the United States. Regardless of which side you voted for, I think both men gave fantastic speeches, one in concession and the other in celebration. Rather than go off on a political rant, I’m going to take a few brief moments to talk about something else completely not football related.

I’m sitting here watching the new version of Knight Rider on NBC as I write this. Has anybody seen this?? I had no idea that they still made television shows this bad! From what I can tell, the first 12 minutes has been nothing but various people making out. Making out in the garage. Making out in the shower. Making out by the car. Making out on some sort of security camera. I mean, I’m not saying that the original 1980s version was some kind of miracle captured on film and broadcast into our homes on a weekly basis, but holy cow this is bad. Sure, a lot of stuff that is put out on television today is bad, the short-lived series Cavemen based on the Geico commercials is an excellent example of a truly horrible television show. But, that was a half-hour comedy and it was, after all, based on a commercial! What did anybody expect? Knight Rider is an hour long action based show. You would think there would be some, oh I don’t know, action? Maybe a car chase or something? I am 48 minutes into this thing and so far, nothing.

Anyway, they say that which does not kill you makes you stronger, and with a little over 10 minutes left I think I’m going to make it and be a stronger person for it. I have a feeling I might need it going into the stretch drive of this football season.

Let’s take a look at how I did on my set of all positive predictions.

Quarterbacks who I said would either throw three touchdowns or two touchdowns while going over 300 yd.

Drew Brees. This winds up being a good call because he threw for over 400 yd. and two touchdowns. I’m sure the three interceptions did not make a lot of people happy, but in fantasy football land that is a fairly small price to pay for two touchdowns and that much yardage

Brett Favre. Well, I said St. Louis versus the Jets had the feelings of a shoot out, the problem was only one team had any bullets. Between Thomas Jones running and the Jets defense scoring, there wasn’t enough reason for Brett to throw the ball so this is a bad call

Jake Delhomme. What the hell was that?? 7 out of 27 for 72 yd., one touchdown and four interceptions, against Oakland? OAKLAND?!

Philip Rivers. Managed to get 315 total yards and two touchdowns, so that is right in line with a good call

Running backs who I said would score at least two touchdowns or one touchdown while going over 100 yd.

Jamal Lewis. He made a good effort, getting 86 total yards and a touchdown. On any other week I would probably consider that a good call, but he didn’t come close enough to either of the requirements so it’s a bad call

Michael Turner. This one makes me cry. Not cry like an episode of the new Knight Rider, but cry nonetheless. Michael gets 96 total yards and a touchdown, that’s about as close as you can get to one of the requirements without actually making it, but I’m going to go with a bad call on this one anyway.


Ronnie Brown. He manages 66 total yards and a touchdown, but Ricky Williams had the big day for Miami, so this is a bad call

Tim Hightower. Have you ever seen the movie A Fish Called Wanda? Remember that scene where Kevin Kline’s character is opening the safe with Jamie Lee Curtis, only to discover that the money has been moved and the safe is empty? The only thing Kevin Kline can say is “okay… okay… (long pause)… DISAPPOINTED!” Well, that pretty much sums up my feelings on this performance

Wide receivers who I said would get at least two touchdowns or go over 100 yd.

Steve Smith. What the hell was that?? One catch for 9 yd. and no touchdowns against Oakland? OAKLAND?!

Roddy White. This one is tricky because Roddy got 68 total yards and a touchdown, which is pretty much exactly between the two requirements I gave as a good call.. In most scoring system’s there’s really no difference between two touchdowns, one touchdown and 60 plus yards or going over 100 yd.. Have to go with a good call.

Laverneaus Coles. Another victim of the shootout where only one side had bullets. Definitely a bad call

Antonio Gates. This is another tough one as Antonio got 66 yd. and a touchdown I think this one has to qualify as a good call since it is virtually identical to the statistics for Roddy

The results are a disappointing 4-8. I was very close to going 6-6 or better, but the fact that I did not go with Thomas Jones or Mojo this past week gives me a certain comfort in the acceptance that I deserve that record. Overall, things stand at 58-42-12

We are past all of the off weeks, so there is a full slate of NFL action from here on out. Going to go with something new again this week for the predictions. Going to pick a couple of players at each position that I think should be near the top of scoring for their position this coming week. I will create three separate sections giving requirements for that player. The top one will of course be a double good call, the bottom one will be a double bad call, the middle one will be a double push. Any statistics winding up right in between the various requirement levels could either be a bad call and a push or a good call and a push. Regardless, each player will wind up being worth two points for a total of 12 like any other week.

Quarterbacks who will be part of the A-team

Donovan McNabb. Philadelphia had a tough loss last week against the Giants, but they have a great chance at bouncing back this week on the road against Cincinnati.

Kurt Warner. The old man just keeps on scoring. I picked him as a positive just a couple of weeks ago, but he’s definitely the best available option remaining to me this week.

Criteria for both quarterbacks:

Three touchdowns or two touchdowns and more than 300 yd. = double good call
Two touchdowns with more than 200 yards or one touchdown and more than 300 yd. = double push
One or fewer touchdowns and less than 200 yd. = double bad call

Running backs who will be as smooth as Remington Steele

Frank Gore. At home against St. Louis, after what Thomas Jones did to them last week how could you not go with Frank this week

Clinton Portis. I think his last game against Pittsburgh left a bad taste in his mouth, then he had to live with it during the off week. Now, he is coming back for a big game against Dallas.

Criteria for both running backs.

Two touchdowns and over 100 yd. or one touchdown and more than 150 yd. = double good call
One touchdown and over 100 yd. or no touchdowns with more than 150 yd. = double push
No touchdowns and less than 100 yd. = double bad call

Wide receiver who will strike through the air like Airwolf

Anquaan Boldin. He never got that contract renegotiation that he wanted and has now been back for a couple of weeks after recovering from that helmet to the face. He has a good matchup against Seattle and was pretty quiet last week, I think that will change this week.

Marques Colston. He had a good game yardage wise last week, I think he has at least that kind of game again this week against Kansas City, but should be able to get into the end zone

Criteria for wide receivers

Two touchdowns and over 100 yd. or one touchdown and over 150 yd. = double good call
One touchdown and over 100 yd. or no touchdowns and over 150 yd. = double push
No touchdowns and under 100 yd. = double bad call

And now onto the power rankings! Most of the playoff spots are still completely up for grabs and the overall points race is impossible to predict. Let’s see how the power rankings shakeout.

http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/standings?leagueId=293451



1. size7 poopShooters. (1) there are only a couple of sure things in the rankings this week, and one of those is that the Shooters are definitely the number one team in the power rankings right now. They are first in overall points, have a solid lineup at all of the important positions and, even though it doesn’t really matter in the power rankings, they now control their own destiny for the playoffs. Approaching the three quarters mark, the Shooters show no indications that they want to give up the number one ranking

2. Damaged Denial.(3) they move up another rank even though they are only fifth in overall points. However, I’ve decided that the Power Rankings must begin to consider more things than just overall points and the perceived strengths of any given roster to score said points. Even though mathematics and physics can explain why planets rotate around a star, there is still approximately two thirds of the universe made up of the theoretical “dark matter” which, so far, no amount of mathematics or physics has been able to prove even exists. Much like the dark power of voodoo, there is much in this universe that we as mere mortals do not understand. That is the power that Damaged Denial has working for them


3. Dreaded Mercenaries. (6) they lose another game but they bounce right back up to the number three spot with a strong showing. More importantly, it was a strong showing without Tony Romo. Word is Tony is back and ready to play, and the Mercenaries could really use him. Even though they are second in overall points, their playoff destiny is no longer in their own hands




4. The Flood. (2) another team that loses control of their own destiny as far as the playoffs go. They are still third in overall points, but they lose another game and have too many injury questions at too many important positions. They can certainly still make the playoffs or take the overall points title, but the road looks a lot more difficult than it did three weeks ago

5. Twittering Witty Wombats. (4) they suffer a tough loss that I believe ends their chance at the playoffs. There is still an outside shot that they could wind up finishing tied for first in their division, and I’m not sure where the tiebreakers stand, but it’s unlikely that they will be participating in the playoffs this season. Regardless, they are still forth in overall points, and who needs the playoffs anyway, right? As long as you have a good Power Ranking, the season is a success!

6. Cowering Code Monkeys.(5) this is where things started really getting tricky in the power rankings. The Monkeys actually have fewer overall points than a number of the teams ranked below them, but this was the first week in a while where they lost their game and didn’t score some fantastic points. I think that the Monkeys are still on their way up and this is just a bump in the road, but they dropped a spot this week.



7. San Hosers. (7) I really wanted to move the Hosers up the rankings this week. But, if they moved up at all, then I would be forced to move the Bombers, Fenix and the Bloodsuckers up as well as all four of these teams had very good weeks. That would have meant a significant drop for the Monkeys or possibly the Wombats. Now, those drops might still be coming, but if so it’s going to take another week of similar performances by all involved, and what a shake up that will be! And, having just now checked the overall points, I see that the Hosers are actually 7th in overall points, so this ranking can’t be too far off base



8. Evil Midnight Bombers.(8) again, another team that probably should be moved up. They control their own destiny for the playoffs and actually have a few more points overall than the team ranked directly above them, but if I moved them up a spot, it would have only made sense to move Fenix up and then the drop for the Hosers would have been out of line. Everybody from 6-10 is extremely tight, so it’s probably best to just consider these estimations until one team or another separates itself in either direction

9. Team Fenix. (9) what a difference a week makes! Last week things were looking bleak with only 50 points scored and the possibility of the playoffs slipping away. This week, over 120 points scored and now they are somehow in control of their own destiny! If you’re looking at just this week, then there would be no doubt this team would be moving up, but after last week it’s really just a equalizing performance




10. The Bloodsuckers. (10) this team is beginning to threaten the Monkeys as my favorite team to watch. They are 10th in the power rankings, 10th in overall points but somehow find themselves in a three-way tie for first place with some of the highest scoring teams in the league! They have their second straight week of good scoring and are now firmly a part of that extraordinarily close pack that is squeezed between number 6 and number 10



11. Team Jackie. (11) THREE players who were off last week and one who is on injured reserve. The bad news for the other teams in the league is, there are no more off weeks and this team is primed to play spoiler

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) well, it was good while it lasted, but the winning streak ends at one and those of the fresh smelling breath find themselves 448 points out a first-place


Lots of excitement still remaining in this NFL season, both for fantasy and casual fans… but I may not see another Sunday night game the rest of the season as I’m considering boycotting NBC until they cancel Knight Rider

Going to keep this fairly brief today as most of my day will be spent watching one form of political coverage or another. If the polls are still open wherever you are when you are reading this, then stop reading this and get out and vote! Otherwise, I hope you were able to vote without too much difficulty and enjoy.

Let’s jump right into recapping how I did last week.

Quarterbacks that I liked were Kurt Warner and Jay Cutler. Cutler was subpar once again, so that’s a bad call. But, I said Warner would get at least two, he got those 2 and went over 300 yd., so that’s a good call.

Quarterbacks that I warned against were Jason Campbell and Matt Schaub. I was right on the money about the Steelers defense, Campbell was sacked seven times, threw his first two interceptions of the year and no touchdowns, that’s a really good call. Matt got hurt and was playing terribly before that with no scores and an interception, so another really good call.

I liked Matt Forte and Brandon Jacobs at running back. Matt went over 120 yd. while Jacobs went over 100 and scored a touchdown, that’s close enough for two good calls.

I did not like Thomas Jones or anybody running the ball for Houston. I predicted Jones would end his touchdown scoring streak, and I was wrong so that’s a bad call. However, only one guy ran the ball for Houston, he did not score a touchdown or go over 100 yd., so that’s a good call.

And then those pesky receivers! I liked Larry Fitzgerald and Reggie Williams, no touchdowns and under 100 yd. combined, that’s a double bad call.

I went with a double bad against any receivers on Tampa Bay or Kansas City, while only two of the four touchdown passes went to wide receivers, that’s too many so this is a double bad call.

So, after a good start on quarterbacks and running backs, I missed every one of the wide receiver predictions to go 6-6 for the week, bringing me to 54-34-12 overall. Now, for the newest set of predictions.

Going to do something a little different this week. Looking over the schedule, I think this is going to be an extremely high-scoring week, possibly the highest overall scoring week this season. Because of that, I’m going to pick 4 players that I think are going to do very well, and set criteria for each one’s position. If they don’t meet that criteria, it is a bad call, if they do, it’s a good call, no room for pushes.

Quarterbacks who will either throw three touchdowns or two touchdowns while going over 300 yd.

Drew Brees. This is one guy who you just cannot set this season. I warned against him one week and he went crazy, they have a big game in Atlanta and it would appear that Drew is up to any task this season

Brett Favre. St. Louis going to the Jets just has the feel of an old-fashioned shootout. I make no promises about how many interceptions Brett may throw, but I expect copious amounts of yardage.

Jake Delhomme. Man was Oakland terrible last week! There’s a chance that Carolina will just wind up running all over Oakland, but I think there will be plenty of opportunities for Jake.

Philip Rivers. San Diego has to be getting desperate, they are 3-5 and LT just has not been able to play like LT all season. They are at home against Kansas City this week, so looking for a big game from Rivers

Running backs who will score at least two touchdowns or one touchdown while going over 100 yd.

Jamal Lewis. Cleveland is not very good and they are going with Brady Quinn this Thursday. They will want to protect the young quarterback by running the ball frequently, and Denver has shown that there are plenty of weaknesses in their defense. Seems like a good recipe for Lewis

Michael Turner. Remember that thing I said about Michael Turner playing at home versus playing on the road? He’s at home this week and New Orleans does not necessarily have the best run defense in the league.

Ronnie Brown. Miami finds itself right in the thick of things as we pass the midseason point. There is a sense of excitement and a lot of it is because of the running back duo. Ronnie has been a pleasant surprise for anybody who drafted him this season. They are at home against Seattle this week, which should mean more points.

Tim Hightower. He was anointed the new starter in Arizona last week and responded with a great game. He gets to play on Monday night this week, at home against San Francisco. I think he takes the opportunity and convinces the nation Arizona is for real.

Wide receivers who will get at least two touchdowns or go over 100 yd.

Steve Smith. The Carolina version of Steve Smith is probably salivating at the opportunity to go up against Oakland. I’m not sure if there’s anybody on Oakland who can cover Steve one-on-one, and they won’t be able to double cover anybody if they plan on trying to stop the run, so I think Steve is the obvious target for a good game.

Roddy White. He has established himself as the main go to guy for Matt Ryan. The New Orleans at Atlanta game just has all of the makings of a game where 60 + combined points might be scored. If so, Roddy will get his fair share

Laverneaus Coles. Every gunslinger needs his favorite target, and it looks like Coles and Brett are starting to develop some of that chemistry that was lacking in preseason and early on.

Antonio Gates. A first, well a first for me anyway. Antonio is a tight end, but he might as well be a wide receiver most of the time. Normally I would not include a tight end, but I think Antonio is going to be the most frequent target for Philip Rivers and should have a big game at home

And now on to the increasingly controversial and yet always accurate power rankings!


http://games.espn.go.com/ffl/standings?leagueId=293451
1. size7 poopShooters. (2) they were ranked number two last week, they played the number one ranked team and they beat them, so how could I not move them into the number one spot? Well, actually, there are couple of ways that might have happened, but none of them did. They are extremely thin on the bench and if Cutler would pick it up, they would have a solid hold on the number one spot. Their starting lineup is as dynamic as any team in the league, but can everybody stay healthy enough?


2. The Flood. (1) they lose the showdown of the top-ranked teams and fall into second place. It is still a big ball of dust trying to sort out the top of the power rankings. The Flood have plenty of questions regarding injuries, including their starting quarterback, but there is also good news on the roster with Tim Hightower now being the main guy in Arizona. They are far from securing a playoff spot, but right now they control their own destiny and are in the fight for overall points title

3. Damaged Denial.(4) oh great! I get to play the machine that they call Damaged Denial. The force of nature continues plowing through opponents regardless of previews, predictions or prognostications. Along the way, they’ve once again begun racking up points and reinserted themselves into the fight for overall points title. I believe that they are very close to mathematically locking up some sort of playoff berth and have to be the odds-on favorite to take the championship game if not the overall points title as well

4. Twittering Witty Wombats. (5) they score more points than anybody in the league this past week and scream to the world “we will not go quietly into the night! We intend to fight!”. Despite the horrific start, they still have a legitimate chance at the playoffs. There’s plenty of time left in the season for them to make a run, both record wise and in overall points. They showed this past week that it’s not all Drew for them. I’m not sure exactly what a Wombat on the war path looks like, but I’m thinking it’s best to stay out of their way.

5. Cowering Code Monkeys.(6) they keep on winning, keep on scoring and keep on moving up the rankings. A playoff spot is theirs to lose. They are on the very outskirts of the overall points title, but right now even that would not be out of the question..


6. Dreaded Mercenaries. (3) ouch! Last week had to be one of those weeks where the owner of the Mercenaries was asking herself “why do I play this game again?”. They are now in a true, all out dogfight for a playoff spot. They are still in extremely good shape as far as overall points go, but this team has not been able to recover from the injury to Romo. That, combined with a painful loss this last week and they find themselves dropping three spots




7. San Hosers. (7) not much movement in the bottom half of the power rankings this week. The Hosers are still poised to move into the top half of the rankings, and that can happen easily if LT comes back from his off week looking like the LT of past seasons..



8. Evil Midnight Bombers.(8) they hold steady this week as Addai returned to the lineup and looked fairly good. They’ve balanced out a little bit in their scoring when compared to the first few weeks of the season, but I’m sure they would rather have balanced out on the high end of things. Overall, I’m not sure if they can compete for the overall points title, but they can definitely earn a playoff spot and still have plenty of opportunities to move up the power rankings.

9. Team Fenix. (9) well, that wasn’t good. They only manage 50 total points and miss out on a great opportunity to take control of their playoff destiny. They need to rebound in a big way next week or all of their opportunities for this season might start to fadeaway




10. The Bloodsuckers. (10) they have a really good week scoring points, and you would think when compared with the week of the team directly ahead of them in the rankings, they would move up. But, the power rankings are not based on just one week. Still, that performance moved them a lot closer to number nine than I thought they were going to get the rest of the season. They still have as good of a shot at the playoffs as anybody, and better than some. They might even be able to move a few spots of the power rankings, but I would be surprised to see any kind of overall points run



11. Team Jackie. (11) well, they started two players on a bye and one player who is on injured reserve this week. They have lost their last four games and are now 4-5. Yes, that means that at one time they were 4-1. It’s not too late yet to make the playoffs, but it doesn’t look like this team has the passion required for that stretch run

12. Pavlov’s Altoids. (12) They win! . They win! . They win! . They win! They win a game! They only start 8 out of a possible 10 players, but they win! There are over 360 out of first place in points, but they win!


All in all, a very exciting week. Now I am off to watch a variety of news teams cover the election. Enjoy all!