Jimmy's Jargon

BB: Top Prospects in the JimmyJam Baseball League

2012-02-08T00:13:00.001-05:00

Rays pitcher Matt Moore

MLB.com released its list of Top 100 prospects in Major League Baseball in late January, so I decided to use it to see which fantasy owners have the brightest future according to MLB.com.

I looked at the top 25 prospects and assigned them each a point value; No. 1 prospect gets 25 points, No. 2 gets 24 points, etc.

Five fantasy teams earned points and here’s how they panned out. Interestingly enough, four of the five teams were in the 2011 playoffs.

5. Sex Panthers: 14 points
The Panthers may finally have this prospect come through. She thought that Jesus Montero would make his mark as a Yankee last season, but Russell Martin came through for Yankees GM Brian Cashman and Montero lay in the shadows.

Now, after a blockbuster deal that will likely have Montero cracking the everyday starting lineup in Seattle very soon, the Sex Panthers will have a fantasy stud at catcher.

But after that, her minor league system is in need of some work.

4. JimmyJam Slammers: 21 points
Last season, the Slammers would have been at the top of this list with guys like Erik Hosmer, Mike Trout and Jeremy Hellickson, the AL Rookie of the Year.

But Hosmer and Hellickson are no longer rookies, so they do not receive MLB prospect rankings; and Mike Trout, ranked No. 3 on MLB’s prospect list, was part of a trade to the Big League Choo that sent back current Phillies pitcher Jonathan Papelbon.

So, all that’s left is the No. 5 prospect, Shelby Miller, a young Cardinals pitcher, who is a strikeout stud. He was your typical Texas fastball hurler, but he’s developed a full arsenal of pitches and he could see action in the Major Leagues as soon as this year.

3. Big League Choo: 23 points
The only team on this list not to make the playoffs is Big League Choo, and considering what he took over less than a year ago, he has to be happy to at least be on this list.

It’s a sign that he made the moves to get ready for the future. Mike Trout is the player garnering all 23 points, being ranked No. 3 in fantasy baseball. He’s a five-tool player who had a chance to play in the majors last season with varied success. He should pan out to be a the Choo’s starting center fielder for many years to come.

2. N.J. Bombers: 33 points
The Bombers has four players cracking the top 25, with Arizona pitcher Trevor Bauer pulling in the highest ranking at No. 9. Drafted in 2011, the right-handed starting pitcher could make it to the Majors as soon as this season.

So can his 13th-ranked prospect, Yankee Manny Banuelos. Drafted in 2008, the lefty has been the prized possession of the Yankees. They’ve been sent offers, but they have held on to Banuelos no matter what. He could make his debut in 2012, too, giving the Bombers’ key starter, Jered Weaver a counterpart.

The Rockies future starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz, who came to Colorado in the Ubaldo Jimenez trade, also may figure into the mix. He’s ranked No. 24 on the prospect list.

The fourth prospect for the Bombers isn’t a pitcher, it’s a catcher, and one of the top catching prospects in baseball. Travis D’Arnaud could supplant the Blue Jays current starter J.P. Arencibia.

D’Arnaud, who was part of the Roy Halladay trade, batted .311 with 21 HRs and 78 RBs in the Eastern League (Double-A) last season. He will be a stud for the Jays, and of course, the Bombers.

1. You’re Freaking Out: 97 points
Yeah, 97 points spread out amongst six players.

Ridiculous, and yet, very cool.

I think we know the Outs’ minor league keepers this season. With six players in MLB’s top 25 prospects, the Outs future is looking bright.

Clearly the best on this list is the No. 1 overall player, Rays pitcher Matt Moore. He’s got it all and the Outs made sure he picked him up last season. Moore was 12-3 in the minors with a 1.92 ERA and 210 strikeouts. He pitched in three games in the Majors, too, including one amazing start where he struck out six and allowed just two hits in seven scoreless innings, leading the Rays to a 9-0 win in Game 1 of the ALDS.

He will have a great chance to give the Rays back-to-back Rookie of the Year award winners after Jeremy Hellickson won it last season. And for the Outs, that would be huge.

If No. 1 wasn’t enough, the Outs have the No. 2 player, too. The Nats’ prized bat, Bryce Harper, slugged his way through Single-A last season, but struggled a bit in Double-A. Still, some say that Harper could make the Opening Day roster.

Harper is part of the No. 1 minor league system in baseball, the Nationals, so it’s only appropriate that he’s also part of the JLB’s top minor league system, the Outs.

Moore and Harper are among several prospects on this team, and even outside this top 25 list, you’ll find young guys like Jordan Zimmeran, Mat Latos, Yonder Alonso, Freddie Freeman and Ike Davis on the Outs roster.

Cracking the top 25, are Orioles shortstop Manny Machado, Reds catcher Devin Mesoraco, Tigers pitcher Jacob Turner and Diamondbacks pitcher Tyler Skaggs.

Machado has struggled in the minor leagues, but he is still considered a great prospect at shortstop. Mesoraco may have a brighter future for the Outs after his strong 2011 season in the minors, batting .289 with 15 HRs and 71 RBIs. The Punxsutawney, Pa., native, who I actually covered when he was in high school, should crack the Reds starting lineup this season. He should be part of the Reds return to the top of the NL Central.

Turner and Skaggs also should arrive in the Majors this season, and alongside Moore, they will complement the Outs already strong pitching staff that includes Dan Haren, Jon Lester, Roy Oswalt, Justin Masterson, Mat Latos and Shawn Marcum. Only Mat Latos qualifies for the minor league program (2 years of experience or less), so only three players out of Haren, lester, Oswalt, Masterson and Marcum will return for the Outs in 2012 via keepers.

That means the three prospects could play a key role to sustaining the Outs pitching staff that accumulated 114 wins (ranked third in JLB), and 1,676 strikeouts (fourth).

New idea for DH: Break tradition while keeping tradition

2012-01-25T23:08:00.000-05:00

Two big bats have officially left the National League for long-term deals that certainly will end with them being designated hitters.

It’s a scary thought for the National League, which has been holding off from adding the designated hitter for many years.

For the American League and the Players Association, it’s a win-win — big contracts for Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols, and the guarantee that the DH will not be leaving the American League anytime soon.

That’s what these deals did. There’s no way the Players Association would allow the DH to disappear at this point.

So, that leaves only two other options: Leave it as it is or make a universal DH in both leagues.

Leaving the system alone is the easiest thing to do because it has been in place for so long, but there has been an outcry for symmetry between the two Leagues. The American League fans want a universal DH and the National League traditionalists cannot bear the thought of a DH creeping into their lineups.

I know because I’m one of those fans who enjoy the strategy of having the pitcher holding a bat at some point during the game.

That’s why I have a novel idea that I haven’t heard anyone discuss, and it’s a win-win for both sides.

Let’s make the DH universal in both Leagues, but at the same time, let’s keep the pitchers in the batting lineup.

I know, I know. The math doesn’t work out. That’s why we’ll have to change the numbers in the lineup.

Instead of the traditional nine-man lineup, make it 10.

This will keep the strategy in the game, while at the same time allow for players to become DHs when they can no longer play the field on an everyday basis.

I believe it is important to keep guys like Vladimir Guerrero and Johnny Damon in the game because they can still hit. Guerrero batted .290 last season when everyone thought he was done.

The DH allowed both Guerrero and Damon to keep going, along with many others.

Just as it will allow Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols to keep playing through their incredibly long contracts.

Now 10 batters in the lineup may seem drastic, and of course the traditionalists will be upset, but if the DH becomes universal, what’s the difference? In both scenarios, traditionalists are upset.

But only in one does the traditional National League strategy remain.

FB: Rodgers, Brees named Co-JFL MVPs

2012-01-12T22:59:00.000-05:00

I've been torn over this for a while, but I'm going to go the route that the NFL will likely do.

The Sunday Slackers dethroned the Jimmy Jammers from his reign of division titles and he did it with an excellent season from Drew Brees. His best season in the JFL, the Slackers won the No. 1 seed in the Liberty Conference, but fell short of the Super Bowl.

And it wasn't Drew Brees' fault. He scored 53 fantasy points in the conference final loss.

The Channel 4 News Team got the No. 1 seed as well and battled back from a tough start to get it — and it was all because of Aaron Rodgers. His high point totals gave him a huge advantage over his opponents on a weekly basis.

So, as much as I hate co-MVPs, I'm going to do it for this year because I'm certain the NFL will do the same thing.

And it just so happens that the NFL MVPs may coincide with the JFL MVPs.

2011: Aaron Rodgers, News Team; Drew Brees, Slackers
2010: Arian Foster, News Team
2009: Chris Johnson, Toasters
2008: DeAngelo Williams, Generals
2007: Tom Brady, Team Boyer
2006: LaDainian Tomlinson, Jammers

Matthew Stafford also was an interesting consideration, especially because he was so strong late in the season and during the fantasy playoffs, but the Jammers used Eli Manning and Matt Ryan throughout the season, so there's no way he can be the JFL MVP when he was on the bench for a few weeks, including a couple of his bigger performances.

FB: Jammers win Super Bowl VI, defeats Boyer 138-100

2012-01-12T22:02:00.001-05:00

The trophy is coming home.

After winning the inaugural JFL Super Bowl in 2006, the Jimmy Jammers are the JFL Champions once again.

Using 40.7 points on Monday night, the Jammers powered past Team Boyer for a 138-100 win in Super Bowl VI.

The Jammers becomes the first two-time Super Bowl champion, getting double-digits from six players, including Matthew Stafford, who out-dueled Tom Brady 37-34.7.

Boyer, who became the second team in JFL history to compete in more than one Super Bowl, jumped out to an early lead in what started out as a low-scoring affair.

Tom Brady struggled mightily in the first half against the Dolphins, but he rallied in the second half, scoring three TDs, including two rushing scores to finish with 34.7 points.

But in the 4 p.m. slate of games, Matthew Stafford had a fast start, scoring 21 first-half points and finishing with 37 points.

The Jammers also benefited from a late Cardinals rally which helped Larry Fitzgerald finish with 17.7 points. He had just 1.5 at halftime.

Leading on Christmas, the Packers Ryan Grant had just 8.2 points and that meant it was a seven-point lead for the Jammers heading into Monday Night football, where Darren Sproles and Julio Jones combined for 40.7 points, while Michael Turner had just 8.3.

Boyer made the choice to go with LeGarrette Blount over Marshawn Lynch, which turned out to be a bad call in terms of points. Blount made a mistake on the first play and was benched for the rest of the half. He came back in the second half but had just 11 yards in a lopsided game.

Lynch had 19.5 points on the bench, going for 107 yards and a TD. It was understandable why he benched him, though, as the 49ers had not given up a rushing TD prior to Saturday. Although, as I said the week before, it's better to lose with your big dogs than it is to wonder.

Nevertheless, even if he started Lynch, there was nothing that was stopping the Jammers.

For the Jammers, it was all about the draft.

He went into the season keeping Matt Ryan and Larry Fitzgerald.

He then drafted Matthew Stafford, Greg Jennings, Darren Sproles, Ryan Mathews, Reggie Bush, Antonio Brown, Julio Jones and Brandon Marshall.

The latter — Marshall — scored a lot of points on the bench, but the other six guys were huge.

Darren Sproles has clearly been one of the biggest parts of this team, entering Week 16 ranked No. 5 in the JFL at RB.

He's hit double-digits in every week, but one. He hit 20 points five times, including twice in the fantasy playoffs, and 15 or more points nine times. Drafted in the 10th round, Sproles was a great pickup, just as he is being considered in the NFL by the Saints. The Chargers let him go and the Saints turned him into the ultimate fantasy weapon.

Catching Drew Brees' record-breaking pass for a TD on Monday gave him nine TDs on the season.

He wasn't the only great RB pickup for the Jammers. Ryan Mathews finished ranked No. 7 in the JFL and Reggie Bush was 12th. Bush started a bit slow after his big Week 1 performance, but from Week 8 on, he scored double-digits every week. He scored 56 points during the Jammers playoff run alone, including 28.1 in the conference finals. His 14.3 this past week was a part of his four straight 100-yard rushing week.

Antonio Brown and Ryan Mathews each had poor Week 16s, but they were huge throughout the year finishing in the top-10 at their respective positions.

And Julio Jones was off and on, but he was on in the Super Bowl, scoring 18.4 points in place of an injured Greg Jennings.

Lastly, there's Matthew Stafford, who may get the franchise tag by the Jammers, who has been better than Aaron Rodgers over the last couple weeks. He scored more than 110 points int he playoffs for the Jammers and if he wasn't in a timeshare with Matt Ryan and Eli Manning, he would be in consideration for the JFL MVP.

News Team 152, Sunday Slackers 142.3

Well, I took much longer than I wanted to write a recap and at this point, it doesn't make sense to write it. So, News Team won by 10 despite a big Brees performance on Monday night.

News Team is going to the bank with an extra $10, primarily thanks to the same two guys who won the Super Bowl for him last year — Aaron Rodgers and Arian Foster.

Money details for our League:

News Team, $70 ($10 Third-Place, $10 division winner, $50 points title)

Slackers, $10 (division winner)

Boyer, $60 ($10 division winner, $50 Super Bowl runner-up)

Houserville, -$15 ($10 division winner, but he still owes his $25 League fee)

Fear and Loathing, -$25 (still owes League fee)

Jimmy Jammers, $150 (Super Bowl Champion)

2012 JFL Draft Order
1. World of Noise (2-11)
2. Jawz Attack (4-9)
3. Chinese Organ Thieves (4-8-1)
4. Dottsville Toasters (5-8)
5. T-Money (6-7)
6. Fear and Loathing (7-6)
7. Graybill's Generals (6-8)
8. Real Houserville (7-7)
9. Sunday Slackers (10-5)
10. Channel 4 News Team (10-5)
11. Team Boyer (11-5-1)
12. Jimmy Jammers (12-4)

FB: JFL Super Bowl VI kicks off tonight

2011-12-22T16:59:00.001-05:00

Super Bowl VI kicks of tonight.

It's a light night to start, but the Jammers and Boyer begin their battle to get their named etched on the JFL trophy.

Boyer is looking for his first inscription on the trophy, while the Jammers is looking to do it for the first time since 2006.

But it will take some time to get it done. I'll have to do some research, but this may be the longest Super Bowl of all time. With the Jammers having the Texans going on Thursday and potentially three players going on Monday night, it will be a while before we know who is champion.

The end is near, though, which is great news for my wife who rolls her eyes every time I answer "Working on fantasy recaps/previews" when she asks, "What are you doing?"

This is the best time of year for her. The end of the fantasy football season.

One more recap to come, and for my sake, I hope it's not another recap about how I lost.

For Boyer, I wish him good luck. We have good teams and both having to knock off No. 1 seeds to get here has been a great accomplishment. No matter what, for Boyer and I, it has been a successful season.

Super Bowl VI
Jimmy Jammers (11-4) vs. Team Boyer (10-4-1)
Series History: Jammers leads 6-1.
Playoff Series History: Jammers leads 1-0, defeated Boyer 96-89 in Super Bowl I.
Playoff History: Jammers (8-4, Super Bowl I Champion, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 conference champion); Boyer (4-3, 2006, 2011 conference champion)
Last Meeting: Jimmy Jammers 141, Boyer 109.7 (Week 9)

The lights will be shining bright on Monday night, hopefully.

I imagine the Saints will have less trouble with their lights than San Francisco.

The scoreboard should light up a bit more, too.

That 49ers-Steelers game had just 23 points in it. The Falcons and Saints should easily surpass, and this matchup weighs heavily on that matchup.

The Jammers will have Darren Sproles and Julio Jones going for sure, while Boyer has Michael Turner.

The Jammers may also have Matt Ryan, but he's a game-time decision as Matthew Stafford could make the start, too. That decision can wait until Saturday when the majority of the NFL slate kicks off.

The Bears-Packers game is on Christmas night on NBC and Boyer has Ryan Grant going in that game, so both teams should have at least six starters in the book before you open gifts on Christmas morning.

For Boyer, he has Tom Brady going against the team that sparked the great season he is having. Brady opened the year with a 51.8-point fantasy performance, throwing for 517 yards and four TDs, including that 99-yard TD to Wes Welker.

It was quite the way to start the season.

But the Miami Dolphins have been much better since then. They've only allowed three 300-yard passers since Brady's epic day (Philip Rivers, Eli Manning and Ryan Fitzpatrick).

It's safe to assume Brady will be able to get back to 300 yards and he'll likely punch a few scores in, too.

So we need not talk about Brady. He can score 50 points, but as we saw last week, it takes more than a QB to win a matchup, and that's where the troublesome matchups come in for the RBs. Turner has the best matchup against the Saints, who have been OK against the run and that's primarily because their offense gets the out to huge leads forcing teams to pass. I expect the Falcons to just come out and attack.

LeGarrette Blount actually has the best matchup, defensive-wise, but I am troubled by his lack of production. The Bucs have been a mess and I'm wondering if this man has checked out. He had just 19 yards on 11 carries against this poor run defense in Carolina. I think this will be a similar situation where the Panthers will build a decent lead early, forcing the Bucs to work from behind.

And then there's Ryan Grant against the Bears, who should get some yards, but if he doesn't break a long run for a TD, he's not scoring. John Kuhn gets the ball on the goal line.

You'll notice that Marshawn Lynch wasn't mentioned. He's on the bench, and rightfully so. The 49ers have not allowed a rushing TD all season. They've been so impressive on defense that the projections are extremely low for Lynch. He's a beast, but the 49ers aren't going to let him score, so Boyer is making the smart decision to sit him. No one can blame him. Just ask any Rashard Mendenhall owner in the nation who missed out on a trip to the Super Bowl because of the 49ers defense.

Boyer's going with his usual at receiver with Dez Bryant, Steve Johnson and Antonio Gates. All have favorable matchups and they can easily get to double-digits.

Defensively, it's the Giants for Boyer and this is his best move. His Bears have to deal with the Packers and nobody wants to put a defense in that is facing Aaron Rodgers, especially a week after a tough loss in Kansas City. Rodgers is going to throw the ball all over and score at will this week.

So, the Giants it is. The Jets Mark Sanchez is a turnover machine, and they've let defensive teams score TDs in five games this season. They are a turnover machine, but that's when they lose. When they win, they're pretty damn tough to defend.

That means we have to find out which Jets team is going to show up. I have a good feeling the "winning" version is going to show up, and it's not just because I'd like to see the Giants lose for the Eagles' playoff hopes. And it's also not because I'd like to beat Boyer.

I know, I have a lot of biases here with this, but I've been saying all week that the Jets were going to beat the Giants — and that's before I knew Boyer had them starting. I just saw that right now as I started writing the preview.

The Jets are coming off a tough loss in Philly and they need to win to keep they're playoff hopes alive. I know the Giants need to do the same thing, but Rex Ryan has the knack for doing this winning thing even when his team doesn't look that great.

They've had bad losses and bad losing streaks over the years, yet they still have made conference championship games. You can't deny that Rex Ryan knows how to get it done when it needs to be done.

He'll get it done this week.

The Jammers defense doesn't have to worry about such a squad. The 1-13 Colts will not present many problems for the Texans. The Panthers had a good week against the Texans defense last week, but that was primarily because of starting field position.

I guarantee that the Texans offense will not set up the Colts offense for three first-half short drives, like they did last week. Donald Brown will find it tough to run wild like he did last week and Dan Orlovsky will come down from the winning high of last week. The Colts will get back on track for the Luck parade. They can't win this week. If they do, they let the Vikings and Rams into the Luck Bowl.

Not that they'd take Luck with first round QBs already on they're roster, but they'd gladly trade that pick away to teams not named the Colts.

The Texans will make sure the Colts don't have to worry about that.

The Jammers will rely heavily on his RBs again, which is surprising considering the way this team was constructed.

Two years in a row, the Jammers has been able to makeshift a RB corps after securing a top wideout contingent.

Reggie Bush, Darren Sproles and Ryan Mathews all had 20-point performances last week and they're in line for double-digits again. Mathews has the toughest matchup at Detroit, while Sproles should get enough receptions and special teams points to reach double-digits.

Bush had a career week last week against the Bills, going for 203 yards and a TD. He will not go for 200 again, but the Pats defense has allowed a lot of yards and points all season. Bush will get enough dump-off passes and rushes to get to double-digits, too.

That being said, the Jammers is surprisingly shaky at WR.

Larry Fitzgerald is hit-or-miss, especially if Kevin Kolb somehow gets back into the lineup.

Antonio Brown has been his best WR, ranked No. 8 in fantasy, averaging 12.7 points per week, but he'll be trying to put up the points without Big Ben, who will sit this weekend.

And the third WR will be Julio Jones, because Greg Jennings is done and out for the fantasy season. Jones' targets have rose, but he's been a bad luck charm for the Jammers. He's 2-3 when he puts Jones in the lineup, and only once did Jones hit double-digits when he's got the start.

He'll get the start for the first time since Week 12 and the Jammers will need him to do much better this week than he did that week when he scored zero points. Nada. Nothing. He was worthless.

We won't know if he's worthless this week until Monday night.

As I said earlier, it's going to be a long weekend.

Inaugural Third-Place $10 Game
News Team (9-5) vs. Sunday Slackers (10-4)

Hey, look at this. A second preview on Super Bowl weekend? My wife is going to be pissed.

I can't let a game that has money on it go unnoticed.

These two teams worked hard all season to win No. 1 seeds and it just didn't work out for them in Week 15.

So, in Week 16, they get to play for $10 in the inaugural Third-Place $10 Game. (No, I'm not creating a trophy for this, although, I'm sure they'd love it if I did.)

They'd also love it if they could go back and change last week's outcome to make this the Super Bowl matchup.

After 13 weeks, this is what we thought we'd have for the Super Bowl. Rodgers vs. Brees. Ray Rice vs. Arian Foster. Victor Cruz vs. Jordy Nelson. All in the top 10 in their positions, they should have squared off.

They both have candidates for JFL MVP, Rodger and Brees, and it would have been amazing to see them in the Super Bowl together, but I guess this Third-Place Game will suffice, especially since a Super Bowl matchup between the two may have been tainted.

Rodgers could potentially be sat early against the Bears. I wrote above that he should go nuts against the Bears — and I'm not changing that statement because I believe he SHOULD — but it is worrisome that he may sit down early.

The Saints need to keep winning so I expect Brees to just keep throwing — hopefully to Sproles — and he'll be worth 40 points again this week in what I expect to be a 34-31 kind of game.

Ray Rice will have a dominant day against the Browns, too. Just look at the facts. When the Ravens get out of their element and lose, they come home a run like crazy.

Rice had five carries at Seattle in a loss and the Cam Cameron bounced back with a heavy dose of Rice (20 carries, 104 yards and 2 TDs) the next week. Rice also has a good history against the Browns (29 carries for 204 yards and a TD in Week 13) so after getting just 10 carries last week, Rice will have a huge day Saturday.

With Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley taking away Aaron Rodgers points and the Steelers playing the hapless Rams, I like the Slackers to walk away with the $10 cash prize.

This game will, for the first time in JFL history, be an official game, so the Slackers will get the chance to pick up his 11th win of the season. The winner also will push themselves into the 10th position of the draft. (I had the draft order set up, accidentally. I forgot at that time that I had set up an official third-place game.)

Jammers' Prediction: Slackers 145, News Team 131

FB: Super Bowl I rematch set between Boyer, Jammers

2011-12-20T23:27:00.000-05:00

REMINDER: Waiver Wire moves will lock following Week 16. I cannot personally lock them, so you'll be able to make moves, but they will be illegal moves and I will reverse them.

I'm not sure what to get Boyer for our five-year anniversary.

Five years ago, he and I battled for the first JFL Super Bowl title, and with a 96-89 win, my Jammers won its first and only title.

Since then, I've been the Buffalo Bills of the 1990s, losing three Super Bowls.

For Boyer (10-4-1), it has been a much different story. He hasn't been back since Super Bowl I.

And revenge has to be on his mind.

The Jammers (11-4) won the low-scoring affair thanks to Fred Taylors' backup running back Maurice Jones-Drew who scored 31 fantasy points, rushing 19 times for 131 yards and two TDs. He was a back-up and kick returner for much of the season until Fred Taylor went down, giving the Jammers a nice back to go with the 2006 JFL MVP, LaDainian Tomlinson who scored 13 points in a Chargers' 20-17 win over the Seahawks.

Marvin Harrison also had a big day with eight catches for 112 yards for two TDs to score 23 points.

That was enough to beat Tom Brady and crew.

Yep, that's right. Boyer drafted Tom Brady in 2006 and he's been there ever since.

And now, Brady is looking to give Boyer his first Super Bowl title, making him the sixth JFL owner to win a Super Bowl title.

If the Jammers wins, he would become the first JFL owner to have won two Super Bowls. He'd also push his JimmyJam Fantasy League title total to five (2 football, 2 baseball, 1 hockey). Parker and Schiavo are tied for second right now with two JimmyJam League titles. Parker has won two baseball titles and Schiavo has a football and hockey title to his name.

I'll get recaps for this week's games later. It's late enough after all these damn power outages. As Jawz Attack said on Facebook Monday night, can't San Francisco pay its power bill?

News Team will play the Slackers in the third-place game worth the final $10 prize.

Team Boyer 117.9, Channel 4 News 107.9

News Team did everything right, outside of defense.

The key to surviving the fantasy playoffs is starting your big dogs. You do that because you don't want to bench a top star and watch him go nuts. Then it's an offseason of regret.

News Team did just that, starting his top stars — the No. 1 QB, the No. 3 RB, the No. 6 WR and the No. 3 TE. He had them all in the lineup, but it just didn't work out.

Aaron Rodgers had a sub-par day — to his standards — with 26.7 points, which is 10 points fewer than his weekly average.

That just happened to be the margin of victory for Boyer, who takes down the reigning champion with six double-digit performances. News Team had just four.

Tom Brady was the biggest key to victory for Boyer, going for 34.2 points, defeating the mighty Tim Tebow. Finally, a formidable opponent for Tebow. Yeah, we have to be amazed at what he did during that six-game winning streak, but we also have to remember that he never faced a Tom Brady.

So now the Broncos are in quite the predicament. They have a QB who has officially ruined their draft status to get a better QB.

Neither one of these fantasy teams have that problem. Brady and Rodgers will certainly be back on their respective rosters next year.

For Boyer, the second keeper isn't as clear and that's because Marshawn Lynch has really turned into a beast, as he is nicknamed. He led the RBs for Boyer again this week with 17.1 points. He's hit double-digits, scoring more than 15 points, in seven straight weeks. During that stretch he has scored eight of his 10 TDs. He missed a game in Week 7, but outside of that, he's scored every week since Week 4.

His two scores Sunday helped put the News Team in a big hole that he couldn't climb out of.

News Team had a chance to pull off the comeback Sunday night, but Vincent Jackson only scored 9.9 points.

There were points on the bench that could have won this, but there's no way Nikish could have expected the performances the bench players had.

Especially Mr. Peyton Hillis. He was on my squad last season and he was the reason my team was almost good enough to beat Nikish last season, but I didn't keep him because I thought this season was going to be bad for Hillis. I actually thought it was going to be so bad I didn't even try to pawn him off for draft picks.

But I have to admit, I didn't think this season would be this bad for Hillis. He's scored two TDs in Week 2, missed Week 3, was awful in Weeks 4 and 6, and then missed five straight weeks. His return in Week 12 wasn't much better, and it wasn't until Week 15 that he scored double-digits again. He wan't just a bad on the field. He's passed on a chance to do a charity function for kids, too.

Greg Little and Toby Gerhart also had big double-digits weeks, but again, you have to start you main guys because there's no way you can count on those two to do something like this.

And because News Team wasn't the risk-taker in Week 15, he's heading home for the holidays. He'll keep his trophy until the 2012 JFL Draft, but he knows that the trophy is going North. Now it's just a question of whether it's going to Bally, Pa., or Allentown, Pa.

Jimmy Jammers 151.6, Sunday Slackers 118.5

This was a case of "No so fast."

Drew Brees was beyond ridiculous on Sunday, throwing for more than 400 yards and five TDs. He wouldn't stop passing, even after the Saints were clearly in control of the game. It was like Drew Brees knew that he had to help the Slackers out.

Unfortunately, for the Slackers, the rest of his team wasn't feeling the same motivation.

Five players were in single-digits, and his big dog RB Ray Rice stumbled to scores just 13 points on Sunday night.

By that time on Sunday night, the Slackers were all of a sudden in trouble.

Things looked great after Brees went for 51.9 points, but as the 1 p.m. games were closing, Reggie Bush busted loose for a 76-yard TD and his low-teen performance turned into a huge 28.1 day. That run alone was worth 16.6 points as it earned the two-point bonus for the 40-plus-yard TD and pushed Bush over the 200-yard rushing mark, earning him an extra bonus point.

Sproles almost had a late TD, too, but it was reviewed and overturned. Still, he finished with 23.7 points.

And the 51.8 points from the backs nearly equaled Drew Brees.

So then it was up to Matthew Stafford to hold up his end of the bargain. The Jammers made the right move benching Eli Manning, who was widely popular on fantasy shows all week. All the experts said start Manning despite his poor numbers against the Skins.

Forget that. Stafford was drafted to lead this team and he did just that, leading a second-half comeback against the Raiders while simultaneously leading the Jammers back to take a 29-point lead into Monday Night Football.

Stafford was almost as good as Brees, throwing for 391 yards and four TDs.

The Slackers had to be beside himself. He had the performance of the lifetime and the Jammers got 44 points from Stafford. Together, the QBs combined for a staggering 95.9 points. That's nearly 25 more points than World of Noise averaged throughout the season.

What? I can't help but get a dig in on my brother as we head into Week 16. I won't get to do it much more before we break for the offseason.

The Jammers had some high point totals on the bench, too, as has been the case for a couple weeks now so all cylinders are clicking as he heads to his fifth Super Bowl.

For the Slackers, 2011 was a step in the right direction, but things fell apart when Matt Forte went down. He was a little weak at WR and that weakness was exposed when his trio of Brees, Rice and Forte just became a duo.

The Slackers won't be dealing for players in the offseason; and maybe, he'll be dealing players for draft picks.

He may not have had the last laugh, but he accomplished a lot. He won a division title, ending the Jammers' five-year streak.

Next year, he'll look to start his own streak.

So far, here are the money details for our League:

News Team, $60 ($10 division winner, $50 points title)

Slackers, $10 (division winner)

Boyer, $10 (division winner)

Houserville, -$15 ($10 division winner, but he still owes his $25 League fee)

Fear and Loathing, -$25 (still owes League fee)

$150 due for the Super Bowl Champion

$50 due for the Super Bowl loser

$10 due for the third-place game winner between News Team and Slackers.

2012 JFL Draft Order
1. World of Noise (2-11)
2. Jawz Attack (4-9)
3. Chinese Organ Thieves (4-8-1)
4. Dottsville Toasters (5-8)
5. T-Money (6-7)
6. Fear and Loathing (7-6)
7. Graybill's Generals (6-8)
8. Real Houserville (7-7)
9. Sunday Slackers (10-4)
10. News Team (9-5)
11. Super Bowl VI Loser
12. Super Bowl VI Champion

FB: Week 15: Conference Championships Previews

2011-12-18T09:34:00.000-05:00

We're down to four teams.

Three have been to the Super Bowl before.

Two have won it.

And one, well, is just trying to get his first playoff win.

It's a nice little countdown as we head into conference championship weekend, and it starts early for the News Team and Boyer. They each have a Falcon going tonight — I should have got a Falcon — and they each have a Cowboy WR going on Saturday, so both teams will be heading into Sunday with a good old 7-on-7 matchup.

And there's no better matchup in 7-on-7 than Aaron Rodgers vs. Tom Brady.

Oh, this is going to be exciting.

The Jammers and Slackers also bring in top quarterbacks to Sunday's matchups. The Slackers has Drew Brees and the Jammers will either go with Matthew Stafford or Eli Manning.

Liberty Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers 158.2, No. 2 Real Houserville 146.5

Liberty Conference Championships Game
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers (10-4) at No. 1 Sunday Slackers (10-3)

Nittany Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 2 Team Boyer 170.4, No. 3 Graybill's Generals 128.8

Nittany Conference Championships Game
No. 2 Team Boyer (9-4-1) at No. 1 Channel 4 News Team (9-4)

No. 2 Team Boyer (9-4-1) at No. 1 Channel 4 News Team (9-4)
Series History: Boyer leads series 5-3; first playoff meeting.
Last Matchup: Boyer 140.5, News Team 95.4 (Week 6)
Playoff History: Boyer (3-3, 2006 conference champion); News Team (5-2, Super Bowl V Champion)

Denver's defense is good, I'll give you that.

Against an average QB, I'll take the Broncos any day.

Against an elite QB, I'm taking the QB.

Insert Tom Brady. The Patriots QB is no Caleb Haine. He's no Matt Moore. He's definitely not Mark Sanchez and he's way ahead of Philip Rivers, especially this season.

So come Sunday, there will be a no Tebowing. There won't be an onside kick to save them. There will be no Marion Barber blunders.

It will be just Patriot domination, and Boyer getting another 30 to 40 from his QB.

Now, take away Tebow and all the magic, and insert Rodgers for the QB and Kansas City as the victim, and you'll see why this week's matchup between Boyer and the News Team is going to be a great one to pay attention to.

I expect both QBs to pace each other, although, there is one troublesome spot for either QB, it would be the rise of the running game for the Packers. Rodgers had his lowest fantasy total last week, all be it 25 points, and it was because Ryan Grant stole the show, scoring twice and rushing for 85 yards.

The Jets ran all over Kansas City and the Packer may be more inclined to try the same thing, especially with Greg Jennings out for a couple weeks.

That's not to say Rodgers isn't going to throw the ball. Hell, Mark Sanchez also scored more than 30 fantasy points on the Chiefs defense, so Rodgers definitely is in line to do the same.

But I just wanted to point out the area of concern.

I had to, because if it comes true and Grant does have a big fantasy day, Boyer will benefit. Grant has been on the bench all season since Boyer drafted him — and appropriately so.

This week, though, Grant is getting the start, along with Michael Turner — who goes tonight against the Jags — and Marshawn Lynch.

Lynch, who is a walking Skittles advert, will have the tough task of going up against the Bears defense that hasn't allowed a 100-yard rusher since Week 5.

That matchup may be rough, but there are points to be had at the receiver position for Boyer. He got plenty from the trio of Dez Bryant, Steve Johnson and Antonio Gates last week, and he has to stick with them this week, even though Gates is going against the Ravens.

The interesting thing about this matchup is that both teams have teammate battles going on.

Boyer has Dez Bryant and News Team has Miles Austin. Boyer has Gates and News Team has Vincent Jackson. Even tonight, Boyer has Turner and News Team has Tony Gonzalez. The likelihood that all six of those guys score is very low, so touchdowns will be at a premium for these guys. Whichever teammate gets the first TD, the other teammate's owner has to worry a bit — especially if he's losing out on two or all three of these teammate battles.

I've kind of rambled through the starters here, so let me get down to who I think is going to win here.

Even though I created a reason for Rodgers to have another "bad" week, I can't believe it would ever happen. I like Rodgers to score close to 45 fantasy points this week, and I'm excited to watch Arian Foster go for about 30 against Carolina.

Carolina has dealt with linebacker issues since the season started and the run-heavy Texans will provide a nice dose of Foster and Tate on Sunday. I can see Yates dumping off to Foster for some big pass plays, too.

I also love Victor Cruz this weekend. He's busting free for a long TD, we'll go with 67 yards as my guess, and Tony Gonzalez scores tonight.

And if Beanie Wells is healthy and gets at least 15 touches, I like him for about 15 fantasy points.

I think Boyer has the potential to put up big points here base on what his team has done all season and in recent weeks, I just see a few tough matchups that will limit those double-digit point totals needed to take down the mighty News Team.

Jammers' Prediction: News Team 158, Boyer 128

No. 3 Jimmy Jammers (10-4) at No. 1 Sunday Slackers (10-3)
Series History: Jammers leads 6-2; first playoff meeting.
2011 Matchups: Slackers 103.3, Jammers 79.3 (Week 11); Jammers 136.3, Slackers 122 (Week 3)
Playoff History: Jammers (7-4, Super Bowl I Champion, four-time conference champion); Slackers (0-1).

Writing the initial preview on Wednesday, I couldn't help but think about how easy it was to two previews a week when playoffs start, and what do I do? Forget to get the second preview up before Saturday.

I actually forgot more than that. I picked up Felix Jones to block the Slackers from getting him. Not that I envisioned a big week from the back, but the fact that the Slackers was missing out on Forte meant that Jones could be a threat to me.

So I made the move.

And then, because he was projected to score 18.6 points — ridiculous projection if you ask me — I put him in to push my projection total up and play mind games with my opponent.

But 9 p.m. rolls around on Saturday night and I'm having fun at a Christmas party when all of a sudden, it dawns on me that there's Thursday Night Football on Saturday. (That whole concept of networks being persistent on calling it a Thursday Night Football special on Saturday, or, NBC, a Sunday Night Football Special on Thursday annoys the hell out of me. Just call it freaking NFL on NFL Network, a special Saturday game.)

I logged onto my not-so-smart phone to see 4.3 points, second quarter, next to Jones' name.

My strategic ploy turned to a strategic eff-up.

But then Jones busted loose for a big one, got 21 carries and finished off at 13.7 points because Romo was a ball-hog in the red zone. Not bad, but not the plan.

So that sets the table for Sunday.

The conference-leading Slackers have a lineup primed and ready to score at will. Everything looks great. ESPN is projecting 151. The teams his players are going against are named the Vikings, Rams, Chiefs, Seahawks and Giants.

It's going to be a good week.

For the Jammers, well, who knows. Stafford is the quarterback of choice and with a 4 p.m. kick after Eli Manning's 1 p.m. tilt, we'll know by the time Stafford throws his first pass how many points he'll need to make the decision the right one. (Unless of course, someone changes my mind between now, 9:32 a.m., and 1).

The Slackers never had to worry about his QB slot. It's Drew Brees all the way. In a dome against a banged up secondary, all the Jammers can hope for is a few tosses to Darren Sproles and limited passing TDs.

Ray Rice is the other big dog for the Slackers, so you can imagine if he gets his usual 50-60 points from that duo, he's Super Bowl bound.

The only major battle here will be the receiver battle in Green Bay. The Slackers won this battle in Week 11 to set him up for this No. 1 seed, as Jordy Nelson went for 27.5 and Jermichael Finley had 3.2. The Jammers' wideout, Greg Jennings, had just 1 point.

It was very disappointing. It was even more disappointing to see Jennings go down for the rest of the fantasy season last week, so the Jammers went ahead and picked up Donald Driver, who should take over a key role in the passing game.

Nelson is clearly the best WR on the team right now and all the Jammers can hope for is that Nelson gets the secondary attention that Jennings used to draw, and Driver will find the seams.

Winning over Aaron Rodgers' love is going to be big in this matchup.

And the two other matchups that will be key will be the battle of rookie WRs. The Jammers' Antonio Brown is ranked No. 9 in fantasy while the Slackers A.J. Green is ranked 13th. A few injuries have kept Green from doing more and neither the injuries or the St. Louis Rams are going to stop him Sunday.

Brown will have the chance to best Green on Monday night in San Francisco, who one would think is a bad matchup, but the 49ers are ranked 19th against the pass. They gave up 47.4 points to receivers last week and when they've faced teams that actually can play offense, they've allowed yards and points.

I fully expect the Steelers to dominate Monday night.

Which is why the final matchup I wanted to talk about — the defenses — is going to be key for the Slackers. I think the Steelers offense is going to put up 20 to 30 points, but I also think the 49ers are going to score some, too, so don't look for the Steelers to put up the defensive point totals that they have in past weeks against teams like the Chiefs and the Browns.

The Jammers has the Texans going on Sunday in a great matchup. It's the No. 1 defense in football against the No. 1 rookie QB, Cam Newton. Wade Phillips has taken the Texans defense from worst to first in less than a year's time, but he won't be on the sideline this weekend. He had major surgery and he'll miss two games.

But he's been scheming and NFL Sirius/XM Radio host Pat Kirwan, former NFL GM, believes that won't change anything. The defenders have been in this system all season, they know what Wade wants and they've been prepared for this game.

Being at home helps greatly, and I'm going to make my prediction. The Texans scored a defensive/special teams TD. If that happens, it's the Jammers matchup to win. If not, the Slackers will defend his No. 1 seeding and move on to his first Super Bowl.

Jammers' Prediction: You know I won't pick this game, but you know I think Parker is going to lose.

2012 JFL Draft Order
1. World of Noise (2-11)
2. Jawz Attack (4-9)
3. Chinese Organ Thieves (4-8-1)
4. Dottsville Toasters (5-8)
5. T-Money (6-7)
6. Fear and Loathing (7-6)
7. Graybill's Generals (6-8)
8. Real Houserville (7-7)
9. Conference Finals Loser
10. Conference Finals Loser
11. Super Bowl VI Loser
12. Super Bowl VI Champion

FB: Jammers, Boyer move on after huge Week 14 wins

2011-12-13T21:21:00.000-05:00

It was a high scoring week of fantasy football for all fantasy teams in the playoffs, except for the two that had the bye weeks.

They would not have had a chance against the Jammers and Boyer, who combined for more than 300 points in divisional playoff wins in Week 14.

That's right, the News Team and Slackers clinched the bye week on Week 13 and they were lucky to get it considering the weeks they would have had had they played.

Especially the News Team. Only 97 points. Arian Foster had just 6.2, Beanie Wells was good for just 3.2 and Vincent Jackson had just 6.5. Waiver wire gem Victor Cruz was also held below double-digits with 9.7. Hell, even Aaron Rodgers had his worst fantasy day of the year with 25 points, and that's hard to believe considering there were 46 points scored by the Packers.

And that kind of point total has to make the News Team worry a bit because here comes Team Boyer after dropping 170.4 points on the Graybill's Generals, who didn't have a bad week, but it wasn't enough to handle Boyer.

The Slackers has to be thinking the same thing.

His upcoming opponent, the Jammers, also had a big playoff weekend, scoring 158.2 points.

It will be a fun Week 15 of conference finals for sure. Two conference championships featuring former roommates going up against each other.

The recaps from Week 14 will come later Tuesday and the previews will come soon thereafter.

Liberty Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers 158.2, No. 2 Real Houserville 146.5
Liberty Conference Championships Game
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers (10-4) at No. 1 Sunday Slackers (10-3)

Nittany Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 2 Team Boyer 170.4, No. 3 Graybill's Generals 128.8
Nittany Conference Championships Game
No. 2 Team Boyer (9-4-1) at No. 1 Channel 4 News Team (9-4)

Jimmy Jammers 158.2, Real Houserville 146.5

This matchup was as crazy as can be.

The Jammers won the Thursday battle after Antonio Brown busted loose for a 79-yard touchdown catch on third down when all the Steelers had to do was run out the clock. But they went for the dagger, moving Brown from about 9 fantasy points to 25.1.

Houserville had Mike Wallace going that night too, and before a replay review, Wallace had the big touchdown, but replay showed his knee was down at the 2-yard-line. Four Mendenhall runs later, the Steelers turned the ball over on downs.

This was huge in many ways because had Wallace scored, or even Mendenhall, the likelihood that the Steelers would have aired it out with a 14-3 lead is much less. Instead, leading just 7-3 with enough time on the clock for the Browns to try, and we have to emphasize try, to come back, Big Ben threw an out-pattern, Brown caught it, made the move and sprinted down the sideline as the Jammers sprinted through his house.

The Jammers did the same thing at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday after Larry Fitzgerald broke a tackle after making an incredible catch and running 46 yards for a touchdown.

That gave the Jammers a legitimate chance at pulling off the comeback because as soon as the 1 p.m. games started, the Jammers was in a hole.

The Dolphins defense remained around 19 points all afternoon, finally finishing with 19.5. But as the Fins were hovering at the same point total, Shonn Greene and Rob Gronkowski went wild.

Greene had 20 points before halftime, as did Gronkowski who scored another two touchdowns. He was beastly against the Skins. If you haven't seen the highlights, you should definitely check them out. They're ridiculous.

He's ridiculous.

Cam Newton also had a big day going for another 29.1, winning the battle of QBs as the Jammers only got 25.4 from Matthew Stafford. The Jammers would have been better off starting Matt Ryan (42 points) or Eli Manning (33.8), and had he started one of them, the Monday night comeback would have been given.

Instead, the newly acquired Seahawks defense scored 31 points, fueled by a blocked punt returned for a touchdown — which, yes, resulted in another Jammers lap around the house.

Team Boyer 170.4, Graybill's Generals 128.8

Boyer was a cruel killer. You know, the kind who fires another bullet into clearly dead man who he just shot several times.

Marshawn Lynch was that final unnecessary bullet, worth 18.7 fantasy points. It was one of eight double-digit performances for Boyer.

And can you believe the biggest slacker on this team was Michael Turner? He had just 7.6 points.

Tom Brady torched the Redskins for 35.3 points — thanks goes out to the Gronk for his YAC — to set the pace early for Boyer.

In the 4 p.m. games, Boyer got huge performances from Antonio Gates (20.2) and Ryan Grant (24). The surprising one there is Ryan Grant who hadn't reached double-digits all season, and that's because he hadn't scored a touchdown until Sunday.

So what's he do? He scores two.

Showoff.

Still, even if he didn't score at all, Boyer would have won. Dez Bryant and Steve Johnson also had double-digits to spoil Graybill's return to the playoffs.

And it was a great season for Graybill. He started off strong with strong play by LeSean McCoy and that continued Sunday with another 19.7 points by McCoy, but his lackluster receiving corps let him down again. The newly acquired Demaryius Thomas scored 15.7 points in his Generals debut, but the rest of the receivers — Johnny Knox, Lance Moore and Vernon Davis — combined to score less than Thomas.

The Generals made a step in the right direction in 2012 and certainly has the building blocks in place to enter the 2012 JFL Draft with a pair of fantasy stars.

The same applies for Houserville who could find himself in a interesting situation where he has three potential QBs worth keeping in Peyton Manning, Cam Newton and Ben Roethlisberger.

He also may be in a situation where he might have to use some World of Noise strategy — stick with me here — and keep a tight end. Rob Gronkowski may be keeper worthy just because he's so dominating. If not keeper worthy, he may be the first tight end to be drafted in the first or second round of the JFL Draft. I'll have to do some research to clarify that because who knows what stupid thing World of Noise has done in the past.

2012 JFL Draft Order
1. World of Noise (2-11)
2. Jawz Attack (4-9)
3. Chinese Organ Thieves (4-8-1)
4. Dottsville Toasters (5-8)
5. T-Money (6-7)
6. Fear and Loathing (7-6)
7. Graybill's Generals (6-8)
8. Real Houserville (7-7)
9. Conference Finals Loser
10. Conference Finals Loser
11. Super Bowl VI Loser
12. Super Bowl VI Champion

FB: Road to Super Bowl VI begins Thursday

2011-12-07T21:49:00.001-05:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

You can sing that first line if you want to. I did as I typed it, because it's true.

And it's not because the News Team's boy, Aaron Rodgers, has these three bikini babes cheering for him.

It's because it's playoff time, and the road to JFL Super Bowl VI begins Thursday.

The two top seeds, Sunday Slackers (10-3) and Channel 4 News Team (9-4), have earned byes and will wait to see who emerges from the divisional series.

For the Slackers, it's the return to the playoffs for the first time since 2009 when he lost to World of Noise in the divisional round. That season, he went 7-6 to just sneak into the playoffs. That's why 2011 is clearly the breakout year for this franchise that had just 13 wins in three seasons. If he wins the Super Bowl, he'll have 12 this season alone.

Drew Brees has been absolutely huge for the Slackers, who took down the five-time divisional champion Jimmy Jammers (9-4). Averaging better than 30 points a game, Brees combined with Ray Rice to lead the Slackers to the title. It's why Drew Brees will is a candidate for the JFL MVP, which I will choose and announce after Super Bowl VI. (Remember, there's no money associated with this award anymore.)

The News Team had the MVP last season in Arian Foster last season, who was big in games this season, but no where near as good as Aaron Rodgers. He also is a candidate for the JFL MVP and he has three more weeks to secure his bid.

And that shouldn't be hard if he keeps doing what he's been doing. For News Team, Rodgers has been a huge part of all nine wins. Averaging nearly 40 points a week, Rodgers helped the News Team score a JFL record 1,775.2 points this season. The record was nearly 150 points better than the Chinese Organ Thieves' 2010 record of 1,626.3. Also, to compare some more, the second-best point total in the JFL was nearly 200 points away — the Jammers had 1,608.9.

It was a superb regular season for the News Team.

But ask the Thieves, being the highest scorer doesn't equal a Super Bowl title. It didn't last season.

Then again, the Jammers (2006), Thieves (2007) and Toasters (2009) did lead the JFL in scoring en route to titles. So it can be a sign, too.

So should we give the trophy to Nikish right now, and by that, I mean, tell him he can keep it?

I'd say not so fast. He's got some obstacles to get by before he can call himself a two-time champion. Three of the five playoff teams he could face have beaten him this season. That includes Team Boyer, who beat him in Week 6.

But that was the last time the News Team has lost. He rolled off seven straight wins to close the season to win the division.

The Slackers are on a similar run. After losing to the News Team in Week 8, the Slackers have won five straight. He's 4-2 against teams in the playoffs and is in good shape to give either Houserville or the Jammers a fight in Week 15.

For now, though, he has to do one of the toughest things in fantasy football — in my mind — and that's sit through the bye week. It's one of the reasons we eliminated the bye week in 2008 and 2009, because it's a big bummer to watch your players play and not have it matter. But there is something to be said for having the bye. You may have some great performances go to waste, but it is nice to have that week of not worrying about losing.

The fact will remain, no matter what happens Sunday, the News Team and the Slackers will be playing Week 15. That's something two of the four teams playing in Week 14 won't get to do.

Liberty Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 3 Jimmy Jammers (9-4) at No. 2 Real Houserville (7-6)
No. 1 Sunday Slackers (10-3), bye

Nittany Conference Divisional Playoffs
No. 3 Graybill's Generals (6-7) at No. 2 Team Boyer (8-4-1)
No. 1 Channel 4 News Team (9-4), bye

Jimmy Jammers (9-4) at Real Houserville (7-6)
Series History: Jammers leads 4-3. Jammers leads playoff series 2-1.
Last Matchup: Houserville 104.2, Jammers 97.9 (Week 6)
Playoff History: Jammers (6-4), Super Bowl I Champion, four-time conference champion; Houserville (2-3).

You can basically mark it in your calendar; the Jammers and Houserville meeting in the playoffs is becoming a holiday season tradition. We could get ahold of the JFL marketing department to find us a sponsor for next year.

The reason why the two franchises have met in the playoffs the last four years is because neither franchise has ever missed the playoffs. The Jammers have made the playoffs six straight years and Houserville has made it all four years it has been in existence.

The Jammers has sent Houserville packing twice en route to Super Bowl appearances in 2008 and 2010, while Houserville's win in 2009 was short-lived after World of Noise shocked the world with a conference title in 2009.

So it's been a frustrating couple of years for Dawson.

But 2011 is a new year for the Ville.

The fourth-ranked QB who was a complete shock. The fourth-ranked WR who has lived up to his first-round status. And a No. 1 tight end in JFL has nearly as many points as the No. 1 WR, who Houserville could have had on his roster.

Now let me fill in the blanks.

That QB is Cam Newton who is ranked fourth in the JFL behind Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady. The four QBs are the only QBs in fantasy averaging better than 30 points per week. That's not bad company.

It's also not a bad replacement for Peyton Manning.

That's right. On Sept. 1, Houserville looked to be in deep trouble. Peyton Manning was listed as out for the foreseeable future, which we now know is the entire season. He had Kevin Kolb, but he wasn't ready to let his franchise be led by him. The Cardinals are now in a situation where they wished they would have talked to Houserville at the start of the season.

So with Kolb, an injured Manning and an unknown in Newton, Ville pulled the trigger on a three-player trade, sending Kolb and Wes Welker to Jawz for Ben Roethlisberger.

At the time, it looked like a good deal, but Newton and Welker exploded and the regret settled in.

But fortunately for him, he made a great free agent move. picking up tight end Rob Gronkowski, who is averaging 16 points per game, which is 0.9 points less than Welker's average.

A shining star arose out of Gronkowski who was a late offseason free agent addition. The Ville added him after the draft and what a move it was. He has 13 touchdowns, including eight in the last five weeks. When the Patriots are in the red zone, Gronk is scoring. It's pretty much a guarantee.

That's why he's slated to score again against the Redskins the week.

In fact, ESPN is projecting a lot of TDs for Houserville this week, and who can blame the four-letter network. Houserville scored 13 touchdowns. That's 78 points just from straight-up touchdowns. Forget the yardage, the Ville was putting up points.

But this week should be a little different. Newton is going against the Falcons defense, which has been a tough squad to go against. Newton has done it once already and had one of his sub-20-point performances. This may be a tough week for Newton, but a tough week for him is not like a tough week for other quarterbacks. For Newton, it means he'll score 20 to 25 points — and for the Jammers, that will be a victory.

Houserville's week should hinge on his running backs. Last week, he got 30 fantasy points from Shonn Greene, who prior to Week 13 had only cracked double-digits three times and never got close to 20. Last week, he scooped up a pair of garbage TDs in the final couple minutes of the fourth quarter against the Redskins. Kansas City may be a pathetic team, too, but with their secondary being so beat up, this looks like a game where the Jets will give Mark Sanchez the chance to pass. Basically, I'm saying Greene will not reach 20 fantasy points this week.

Another key to this playoff matchup will be the Steelers' WR tandem of Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown. Wallace scored a pair of TDs last week to bring his season total to eight, which is seven more receiving scores than Brown, but the two have similar averages. Wallace posts 13.7 points per game, while Brown is up to 11.8 per game; and in the last six weeks, Brown has five double-digit performances (he missed by 0.6 points in the sixth week), while Wallace has just three.

Defenses are clamping down on Wallace, which has allowed Brown to get more action. Cleveland will surely do the same thing this Thursday. That's right, this matchup of WRs will be decided before we get to Sunday.

For the Jammers, it comes down to Matthew Stafford vs. a completely decimated Vikings secondary. Minnesota has five defensive backs on IR, and we saw Tim Tebow find great success last week against the inexperienced and less-talented defensive backs last week. Stafford will surely find Calvin Johnson, Nate Burleson, Titus Young and the tight ends often. For the Jammers, he just has to hope that he finds all the receivers not named Burleson more often.

Houserville will look to steal as many points as he can with Burleson.

But other problems matchups are there for Houserville. Ryan Mathews has a golden matchup against Buffalo, the 28th-ranked defense against the run. We all saw what a scat-back like Mathews (Chris Johnson) did last week against the Bills. In San Diego, Mathews should be getting plenty carries after going for back-to-back 100-yard weeks.

The Jammers other two RBs, Reggie Bush and Darren Sproles also have decent matchups, so expect double-digits from all three RBs.

Jammers' Prediction: I do not predict playoff games involving my team.

Graybill's Generals (6-7) at Team Boyer (8-4-1)
Series History: Boyer leads 5-2. Boyer leads playoff series 1-0.
Last Matchup: Team Boyer 131.6, Generals 97.2 (Week 4)
Playoff History: Generals (4-1), Super Bowl III Champion, 2008 conference champion; Boyer (2-3), 2006 conference champion.

The Boyer franchise started out on fire. Going 11-2 in 2006, Boyer cruised to Super Bowl I where he lost to the Jammers. In 2007, he went 8-5 and was one win away from going to the Super Bowl for a second straight season.

After that, Boyer was in a tail spin. Three straight seasons of missing the playoffs, including two losing seasons, followed. But Boyer stuck with his key players, Tom Brady and Michael Turner, and the two have led him back to the playoffs as a divisional champion.

The Generals had been in a similar downward spiral over the last two seasons after winning Super Bowl III in 2008. He went 5-8 and 4-9 in the seasons that followed his title, he recorded his third straight losing season since the title, but a tie-breaker over T-Money got him back into the playoffs.

In order to get past Boyer, he's going to need a little of what Houserville would call, "Luck."

And he may get it in the form of injuries. Two of Boyer's big four RBs — Michael Turner and Willis McGahee — are questionable for Sunday and that could give the Generals a chance in this one.

The Generals also lucks out in that the schedule lines up in such a way that his QB Joe Flacco gets the inept Colts. Flacco hasn't had many huge games — definitely not as many as Brady — but if there ever was a perfect matchup, this is it. The Colts have the 27th ranked defense against the pass.

But aside from that, there are some trouble spots for Graybill, especially with his team's own MVP. The only reason he was in position to make the playoffs is the No. 1 RB in the JFL, LeSean McCoy, who averages 20.1 points per week. The trouble is, he's going against the second best run defense in the league.

Only three teams have hit 100 rushing yards on the Dolphins and it was New England and Houston in Weeks 1 and 2, and since then, it was just Denver in Week 7, and we all know how Denver ran for more than 100. It's easy to see that the Dolphins haven't allowed a 100-yard rusher since Week 2. Even more impressive, they've only given up more than 70 yards rushing once in the last three weeks. They've stopped Ahmad Bradshaw, Roy Helu, Fred Jackson, DeMarco Murray and Michael Bush. So they're not afraid of McCoy. Oh, and with only two rushing TDs allowed and none since Week 4, McCoy is in serious trouble.

And so when I look at that, added with the inconsistent receivers and the fact he's facing Brady, I have to go with Team Boyer in this matchup. The Bears-Broncos game will be big for both of them, as the both have the defenses. The Broncos defense could wind up being the better pick here, so Graybill will be able to pick up some points there, but I just don't see it being enough.

Jammers' Prediction: Boyer 131, Generals 115

2012 JFL Draft Order
1. World of Noise (2-11)
2. Jawz Attack (4-9)
3. Chinese Organ Thieves (4-8-1)
4. Dottsville Toasters (5-8)
5. T-Money (6-7)
6. Fear and Loathing (7-6)
7. First Round Loser
8. First Round Loser
9. Conference Finals Loser
10. Conference Finals Loser
11. Super Bowl VI Loser
12. Super Bowl VI Champion

FB: Week 13: Division titles, top seeds on the line

2011-12-04T11:32:00.001-05:00

Slackers can win first division title with a win. ... Jammers can win title with a win and a Slackers loss. ... Houserville and Fear battling for division title. Playoffs start for them this week. ... News Team should roll Noise and win No. 1 seed in Nittany Conference. ... Boyer can steal No. 1 seed with win and a News Team loss, so lock Team Boyer in for the No. 2 seed. ... Generals can win and get in. If T-Money loses, they can get in no matter what. ... Toasters need a miracle.

I feel great.

I didn't watch Thursday's Eagles game. It's not that I didn't want to, but I'm glad I didn't now.

I was at the Preston and Steve Camp Out for Hunger volunteering my time to collect food. Filling box after box with cans since 9:30 a.m., I wanted to quit at 8 p.m. when the Eagles kicked off, but I felt like the rest of the volunteers were counting on me to keep going.

I couldn't quit on them, so I kept going. I could hear from inside the big tent where Preston and Steve were signing autographs that Marshawn Lynch was having a beast of a first half, but that's all I knew. I didn't know a score, nor did I care at that point. I was too busy helping my "teammates."

That's why it was funny to come home and read about DeSean Jackson quitting on his teammates. He was jogging on routes, not looking for the ball and just being an annoyance. An unnamed Eagle was quoted as saying, "He's just [messing] around." I assume that the [messing] was covering up everyone's favorite swear word, the F-bomb.

Either way, it says something.

DeSean Jackson has quit; and I've quit on him. I cannot cheer for this man anymore. After his alligator arm disaster against the Pats and this supposed quit-job against the Seahawks, he has lost my support. And I hope the Philadelphia fans who can afford to go to games, unlike me, will let him hear it.

He should get the Philly boo-bird treatment.

Forget the "Fire Andy Reid" chants. Let's start the "Cut DeSean Jackson" chants.

Reid should not be fired. It's hard to find a winning head coach, and that's what Reid is. There was a huge push in Pittsburgh to fire Bill Cowher after a tough season in 2003 when they went 6-10, but they kept him on board. He then drafted Ben Roethlisberger, went 15-1 in 2004 falling in the AFC Championship game to the Patriots before going 11-5 in 2005 en route to a Super Bowl title.

The Eagles are looking like a 6-10 team this season and who knows, it could lead to the drafting of a quarterback like Matt Barkley out of USC, who could lead the Eagles to where we want them to go.

It's time for a new franchise QB. The Vick experiment is a failure. Vince Young is not our future and Mike Kafka is destined to be a journeyman backup.

Andy Reid built his coaching career around a franchise QB in Donovan McNabb. Now, he must start the next era. It's time to draft a new QB and build anew.

…

You know, build anew, like what World of Noise is going to have to do in 2012, because Sunday is going to be yet another awful day for the Noise, who will be destroyed by the News Team.

The News Team and Boyer are set to score a lot of points Sunday and with wins, News Team will seal the No. 1 seed, while Boyer will knock T-Money out of the playoffs.

Meanwhile, Houserville, Fear and the Toasters all look to lock up bids. For the Toasters, it's a slim chance, but they do have one.

For Fear and Houserville, it's as simple as, win and you're in. They will be the No. 2 seed and host the Jammers, unless somehow the Slackers fall and the Jammers win. That would then push the Jammers into the No. 1 seed.

So, it's an exciting final weekend of regular-season fantasy football.

Fear and Loathing (7-5) at Real Houserville (6-6)

Houserville is hoping that Fear doesn't get lucky, again.

You know, Fear made some waiver wire pickups earlier in the season in Tim Tebow, DeMarco Murray and Roy Helu, so if they somehow score decent fantasy totals, Fear is lucky. There's no way there was any skill involved in those moves.

Well, that's if you follow the Houserville Free Agent Logic.

No matter what you call it, who ever has more "luck" this week will be in the playoffs.

That's what Sunday means to these two, and possibly Monday.

And this matchup features a pair of running QBs — Fear's Tebow and Houserville's Cam Newton. In the fantasy world, you'd rather have Newton, but in the real world, all Tebow does is win.

Maybe today, that Tebow magic will translate over to fantasy. He's playing Minnesota and there are points to be had. I'm personally thinking that he'll get close to 30. Newton should do much of the same, so the rest of this matchup will rely on the other players.

And when you look at the running backs, you can see where this matchup will be won. Rashard Mendenhall and DeMarco Murray are going to combine for nearly 40 points, while Michael Bush and Shonn Greene will struggle to combine for 20. I was going to say 15, but if Greene's injury doesn't limit him, I could see him scoring a TD. Still, Bush is going up against the NFL's second-ranked defense against the rush — the Dolphins. I know, it's hard to believe.

Fear also has a third RB going in Roy Helu, who has a tough matchup against the Jets defense, but after getting the full workload last week and going for 108 yards and a TD, Helu should get enough touches to produce double-digits.

Mike Williams also has come alive in the last two weeks, scoring TDs in back-to-back weeks. This was supposed to be one of the steals of the draft, but for 10 weeks, he did nothing. Against the Panthers, he should pick up some decent fantasy points.

Brandon Lloyd also should be a decent play, even though the Rams are going up against the 49ers. San Fran is giving up passing yards and TDs, and Sam Bradford will be looking for his prized target first. Five catches for 75 yards and a TD isn't a stretch.

Jason Witten is a good play, but not as good as good as the Ville's Rob Gronkowski, who should see some targets against the horrific Colts.

But he might be the only receiver on the Ville having a big day. Mike Wallace always has that potential, but he's been targeted by defenses and bottled up as Antonio Brown, Hines Ward and Emanuel Sanders have flourished.

This matchup may not finish today with the Chargers going on Monday Night, but I could see a scenario where Fear holds a couple-point lead over the Ville at midnight tonight, allowing him to bench the Chargers and advance to the playoffs as the Eagle Division Champion.

Jammers' Prediction: Fear 138, Houserville 120

Sunday Slackers (9-3) at Jawz Attack (4-8)

This is it. The moment the Slackers have been waiting for. A division championship is within reach.

And boy does he have the favorable matchups, to my dismay.

Drew Brees should be involved in a shootout tonight, while Ray Rice and Matt Forte should run wild against awful teams, Browns and Chiefs.

Why he's still starting Marion Barber, I have no clue. So, who knows what will happen there.

A.J. Green has possibly the toughest matchup against the Steelers, but he scored the last time the two played, so double-digits is possible again.

And we all know what Jermichael Finley and Jordy Nelson will do.

Jawz has a chance, though, but he's going to need a week like he had last week.

It helps that he'll have Jimmy Graham to steal points from Brees, while Wes Welker is going up against an awful Colts defense. The Pats hate the Colts and I can see them hanging 50 points on them today, and 12 catches for two TDs is a nice projection for Wes Welker. The yardage could easily approach 200, too.

However, Roddy White should struggle against Houston's defense, though, Matt Ryan has targeted White much more lately.

This matchup will conclude on Monday with Jones-Drew going against the Chargers, but I think the Slackers should have a decent enough lead heading into that matchup, barring any outstanding performances.

The ESPN projections tell the Slackers not to worry, but looking at the players on the Attack, you have to know that any one of them can explode for 20 points. Five of them did last week.

Jammers' Prediction: Slackers 131, Attack 126

T-Money (6-6) at Team Boyer (7-4-1)

I have to be honest, ESPN is flat-out wrong.

It has this matchup projected to be 155.8-151, in favor of Boyer.

There is no way T-Money is making a game of this. There, I said it.

And I think 155.8 might be low-balling it for Boyer.

Tom Brady vs. the Colts should be worth 40, maybe 50 fantasy points. He's going to rock today.

LeGarrette Blount will go for 100 and a TD against the Panthers. McGahee will will get similar numbers against the Vikings, and we all know what Marshawn Lynch has already done (28.8 points).

Dez Bryant will steal away any points that Tony Romo may get Sunday (I'll touch on this more later) and Steve Johnson will not shoot himself in the leg today — metaphorically speaking and literally, when he gets into the end zone again.

The Bears defenses should force several turnovers against the Chiefs and and Devin Hester may return one today to give the Bears 30 fantasy points. I don't have my calculator at my side, but ball-parking what I just said, I could easily see 170 points from Boyer today.

Now, why should T-Money worry?

Well, it's December. That's Tony Romo's hangover month. He always has a huge November, but then he hits the Christmas wall. This year he's trying to break out of that, but until he does, I can't possibly give him my support. Frank Gore is dealing with an injury, so expect Kendall Hunter to get more carries, while Dwayne Bowe will be smothered by Bears defenders.

And as for Brandon Jacobs? He'll get a few carries early, but as soon as the Packer score two TDs — which should be in the first quarter — the Giants will have Ware in the game because it will be passing time.

Boyer has Gates going Monday night, but this matchup should be decided long before then. T-Money's lineup is done playing at about 7:30 p.m., when I believe we will see the end of the T-Money playoff era. Five straight seasons, tied for a JFL record coming into the season, will become second-best.

Jammers' Prediction: Boyer 167, T-Money 123

World of Noise (2-10) at Channel 4 News Team (8-4)

The Channel 4 News Team, winners of six straight, play the team that is 0-10 against teams not named Fear and Loathing.

Three of the Noise's players combined for 10.7 points on Thursday. He's down to six.

Aaron Rodgers may outscore this squad, so if you want to watch a car run into a curb, over a fountain and into a tree, just like Ndamukong Suh did the other night, watch this matchup.

Andrew Luck, say hello to the World of Noise. … Luck is going to wish he left college early.

Jammers' Prediction Aaron Rodgers 42.4, World of Noise 38.6 (News Team 148)

Jimmy Jammers (8-4) at Dottsville Toasters (5-7)

It's the battle of two teams that had division titles in their hands, but losing streaks pushed them out of the top spot.

For the Toasters, a four-game skid has him on the outside looking in for the playoffs, and he needs a lot of help today to get there. So much so, his scenario for getting in eluded me earlier in the week.

The Jammers, on the other hand, clinched a playoff berth a few weeks ago, but two straight losses has allowed his division rival to come back and take control. Today, he'll need a win and a Slackers loss to get the division title.

And things look pretty good for the Jammers.

The Toasters had a bad break when Matt Schaub went down with an injury a few weeks ago, and then his backup Matt Leinart falls early, making it three weeks in a row that he's been without decent QB points. That's a big reason why he's lost all three of those matchups.

With Colt McCoy going up against the Ravens today, it won't be any better.

Chris Johnson has had a few good games lately, but the Toasters' other star, Calvin Johnson will be catching passes from the Jammers Matthew Stafford, so the point total there will be a virtual wash.

I do like Kendall Hunter to get more carries today, and Owen Daniels could be a good target for rookie QB T.J. Yates, but I'm not sure it will be enough points to get above 100 today.

The Jammers, on the other hand, has good matchups with Antonio Brown and Greg Jennings, and his new good luck charm DeAngelo Williams should get 15 carries again today against the Bucs, who have allowed a bunch of rushing yards.

Still, this matchup will be decided Sunday and Monday night.

The Jammers has two players going Sunday night (Stafford and Darren Sproles) and two more on Monday (Ryan Mathews and Nick Novak).

If all goes well, the Monday night players may be playing just for fun.

Jammers' Biased Prediction: Jammers 131, Toasters 101

Graybill's Generals (6-6) at Chinese Organ Thieves (3-8-1)

Well, this is it for the Organ Thieves. He's got nothing to lose, so Philip Rivers gets a seat on the bench. Time for Ryan Fitzpatrick. And it's a big day for him, because this could be an audition for the starting QB position on the Thieves next season.

OK, maybe not, but he could at least make the Thieves feel good about Week 13, the week he spoiled Graybill's playoff hopes.

Or, not. I think the Thieves could win this matchup, but because I'm also predicting at T-Money loss and a Toasters loss, Graybill should sneak in at 6-7 thanks to tie-breakers.

The bad news for Graybill would be that a loss would mark his fourth straight.

So, he can't be content with losing to get into the playoffs.

A win is a must, and the only way I see it happening is if Joe Flacco has a game like he had against the Steelers in Week 1 or the Rams in Week 3.

The rest of the Generals lineup has players who have had good games, but not as consistently as he would like.

Injuries have been the Thieves' problem, as Donald Brown gets the start for Adrian Peterson and Reggie Wayne is in for Jeremy Maclin. It's been that type of season for the Thieves. He's lost twice to the News Team despite combining for 288 points in the two matchups (News Team combined for 313).

Today, he plays spoiler if T-Money wins.

That, or he locks up the No. 2 draft pick.

Jammers' Prediction: Chinese Organ Thieves 122, Graybill's Generals 118

Playoff Scenarios

Eagle Division

Fear and Houserville will play for the division title this week. Fear will win the division with a win or a tie. Houserville will claim the division title with a win. The division winner will be the No. 2 seed and will host either the Jammers or the Slackers in the first round of the playoffs.

Patriot Division

If the Slackers beat Jawz Attack, they're the No. 1 seed and the division winner.

If the Slackers lose and the Jammers win, the Jammers will win the division if he remains ahead of the Slackers in point total. If that flip flops in that scenario, the Slackers would win the division.

Nittany North Division

Boyer has clinched the division with a win in Week 12. He can clinch the No. 1 seed with a win this week and a loss by News Team. Otherwise, he's the No. 2 seed.

T-Money can get the No. 3 seed with a win and a Graybill's Generals loss.

The Toasters actually have a shot. I said they were eliminated, but I missed something. If T-Money and Graybill both lose, and if he scores 37 more points than T-Money, he'll overtake T-Money in the division via points tie-breaker, and he'd own the head-to-head tie-breaker against Graybill. Sorry for missing that.

Nittany South Division

News Team clinched the division title with the win in Week 12. He can clinch the No. 1 seed and the bye with a win over the Noise or a Boyer loss or tie.

News Team will be the No. 2 seed with a loss and a Boyer win.

Graybill can clinch the Wild Card berth with a win in Week 13. The Generals own the tiebreaker over T-Money. The Generals also can clinch the Wild Card with a loss and a T-Money loss.

FB: News Team, Boyer clinch divisions; Slackers, Fear next?

2011-11-30T00:04:00.001-05:00

Victor Cruz changed things in a heartbeat.

At one moment, the News Team was in danger of not making the playoffs (if T-Money had won and the News Team lost, a Generals win and a News Team loss in Week 13 would have eliminated him from the playoffs) but a 72-yard TD catch later, the News Team sits just one win (or a Boyer loss) away from owning the No. 1 seed.

That's how tight the Nittany Conference is this season. And it's for that reason I'm surprised that it's the conference that has two division titles already. I really thought the Liberty Conference would settle its division titles before the Nittany Conference, but no. Both the Patriot and Eagle divisions are up for grabs in Week 13, while Team Boyer and the News Team will settle the No. 1 and 2 seeds this week after winning division titles.

The rest of the scenarios are below the Week 12 recaps.

Channel 4 News Team 148.8, Chinese Organ Thieves 130.1

If News Team were to bench his squad in Week 13 and score zero points, he'd still hold a decent lead on the points title.

So congratulations, Nikish. You basically have got $50 in your pocket. Add the $10 you earned for winning your division and things are looking pretty good for the baby Nikish fund.

News Team pulled off a mega comeback to win again and move to 8-4, the fourth time in four years Nikish has won at least eight games during the regular season. News Team has won six in a row — nothing new for Nikish as its no where close to his personal record for consecutive wins — and with the division title, he's in control of the No. 1 seed right now.

And he has to thank Victor Cruz.

His waiver pickup of the year scored another 31.5 points as he came alive in the second half Monday night. News Team was trailing to the rival Organ Thieves, but a 72-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Victor Cruz changed everything. Another Cruz TD minutes later was just News Teams way of shooting himself in the leg, flying like a jet and crashing in the end zone.

OK, that may be a little too much. I'm not trying to call him Steven Johnson. I am trying to say his team just continues to pile on the points.

Rodgers, yes, he was himself again with 28.9 points. Or was he? He did have 307 yards and two scores, but the 28.9 points was the first time the QB had scored fewer than 30 points this season.

Oh, no! Sound the alarm! News Team is in trouble.

Who are we kidding. Can you imagine? Don't we all wish we could close down our browsers and shout, "Only 28.9 points?!"

Must be nice.

It was just as nice to see Beanie Wells play like the back we all know he can be. Still, he's very fragile — he actually left the field injured on Sunday twice, but he returned to finish with 228 yards and a TD (27.8 points).

Double-digits from Arian Foster, Toby Gerhart and the Seahawks were enough to make the Thieves pull a Cole Hamels and say, "I wish this season was over."

Just one more week for the Thieves. Then it's back to the drawing board. Kind of like where the Chargers are going to be heading when they finally let Norv Turner. It's been the worst thing for Philip Rivers and that crew.

A new coach in San Diego, one that advances Rivers, not causes regression, will certainly be a welcoming move for the Thieves. For him, 2012 can't come soon enough.

Real Houserville 84.3, World of Noise 68.2

It wasn't pretty, but Real Houserville survived to create a virtual playoff game in Week 13.

A win over Fear and he's in.

And what's amazing is that if it weren't for Andre Johnson returning to the lineup this week for the Texans, he would have been eliminated.

That's right, starting Andre Johnson hurt the Noise. Johnson had just 2.6 points in his first action since Week 4.

Had he remained injured this week, Noise would have started either Jason Avant (18.6 points) or James Jones (18). That would have been enough to eek out a win over the Ville.

Instead, the Ville got just enough points from Cam Newton, Michael Bush and Rob Gronkowski to win. Heading into Week 13, the Ville must be worried after such a lackluster week.

Fear and Loathing 114.9, Graybill's Generals 72.9

Fear took care of business.

He had to win to keep the pressure on Houserville, but the Ville remained within a game to create a playoff game between the two in Week 13.

And despite all the injuries, Fear and Loathing keeps ticking. Tim Tebow scored 19.7 points and DeMarco Murray had 13.6.

Two guys who were not drafted by Fear and Loathing.

That's been the case for Fear all season.

His supposed stars at the start of the season, Michael Vick, Mike Williams and Jamaal Charles have either been injured or busts.

Still, he's been able to win with his waiver gems and guys like Brandon Lloyd and Cedric Benson.

They have tough matchups next week, so it will be an interesting battle for the division title.

Graybill had a chance to win a division but three straight losses have pushed him out of contention. Now, making the playoffs is a question. For him, it's win and get in, but winning has been a problem of late. LeSean McCoy has been solid and Steven Jackson had been prior to the last two weeks, but that's been it.

Joe Flacco has been disappointing yet again, which begs the question to whether he can ever be a viable fantasy starter. He has a few huge games, but he has many more low-scoring game which have cost Graybill.

The receivers also have cost Graybill. Just 6.8 points from three receivers this week, leading to a Noise-like point total. Johnny Knox had 27.8 points and newly acquired Lance Moore had 18.4 points on the bench, but who can blame Graybill for not starting them. Knox has had just three double-digit weeks, and last week was a fluke with four catches for 145 yards. And Moore is so unreliable, he can't trust him to score double-digits, let alone score a single point some weeks.

I imagine Knox, with back-to-back double-digit performances, will make his way into the lineup next week, but Moore should remained benched unless there aren't any better options.

Jawz Attack 140.2, Jimmy Jammers 123.1

Jawz can finally say that he has beaten the Jammers, and boy did it come at a bad time for the Jammers.

Needing a win to stay ahead of his division rival Slackers, Jammers fell short with an awful day from Julio Jones. The rookie WR was probable with an injury coming in — the last time he was probable, he scored 33 fantasy points on the bench — so the Jammers had to start him.

This time, he stayed in the game, played all the way through, including on the final drive, and he got no catches. Hell, he didn't have an official target. He had one early in the game, but he was called for pass interference, so it didn't count as a target. Ryan didn't throw his way again. Even when he was wide open. Trust me, I watched the game and saw him running wide open.

Larry Fitzgerald didn't have a good day either, scoring just 6.1 points. Boy does Arizona need a QB in the worst way. Those two lackluster performances let the Jammers down because the five other players scored double-digits.

Their point totals, however, could not match the output that Jawz got from Maurice Jones-Drew, Roddy White, Wes Welker and Jimmy Graham. The latter three all went over 20 points, with Welker scoring a team-best 26.2. (Thanks, Houserville, for making that stupid trade.)

I can't blame Houserville, though. I have to blame Juan Castillo. What kind of defense are they running in Philly? Who the hell plays a soft zone against the Patriots. It's like the Eagles watched the game film of the prior three teams to shut down the Patriots and threw it out. If you use press coverage and pressure Tom Brady, you have a chance to slow them down.

Instead, the soft zone allowed the receivers to run free all game. That, and the coverage mistakes that let Welker run free to the end zone.

This isn't the first mind-boggling decision Castillo has made.

Go back to the Cardinals loss. Larry Fitzgerald, who I benched that game, had seven catches for 146 yards and two TDs. You want to know why I benched him? Because Fitzgerald struggles against physical corners who play press coverage, namely Nnamdi Asumough. I know this. The world knows this.

So why not scheme your defense to have Asumough on Fitzgerald the whole game? It would make sense, wouldn't it?

I guess not to Castillo. He only had him cover him half the time. You want to know the stats?

In the 20-some times that Asumough covered Fitzgerald, he had zero catches. When someone else was covering him, namely Hanson or Rolle (really, a LB was in charge of covering Fitzgerald), he had 146 yards and two TDs.

Makes you sad to hear that, doesn't it.

So now you can see why Welker had a field day, because Castillo is not a defensive genius. Far from it.

Which brings me to the next Eagles topic, DeSean Jackson. Jawz could have completely blown me out of the water with Jackson, but DeSlack, as I like to call him, had just 8.1 points.

If it weren't for his alligator-arm attempts at two TD catches, he would have scored much more. He was avoiding hits like a Rams WR from the Fastest Show on Turf years —but those WRs would at least catch the ball before curling into the fetal position.

Jackson's lame efforts led to him getting benched.

What's he trying to prove by not giving it his all? Other teams are watching and other teams are not going to pay Santonio Holmes money for a wideout with alligator arms and a bad attitude. He's just hurting himself.

And it's a shame. He has so much talent and I really like him initially when he came to Philly. I read articles and heard him speak and it seemed like Jackson was really going to move ahead from his immature college days.

But here we are, and he's acting like a baby.

The Eagles organization has made some bad decisions, but there's one thing they've been good at and that's standing strong against players who rebel like this.

It's why I think it's time to give Avant a chance. I know, I sound like my brother, but I'm serious. This guy makes some unbelievable catches, and he does it without the drama.

Boy did I get way off topic here. See what happens when Dawson makes a stupid trade that hurts me.

Sunday Slackers 111.4, T-Money 101.4

If Aaron Rodgers is a QB God, what is Drew Brees? Answer: A Saint.

That's right, cheese joke. Hope you enjoyed it.

What's not a joke is the fact that the Slackers pulled this win out of his ass. Seven single-digit performances and he still wins. Drew Brees scores 48.8 and the Steelers defense gets 22.5. The other seven players combined for just 40.1 points.

It was ugly, but it was a win for the Slackers, and he's now one win away from winning his first division title, pushing his rival, the Jammers, to the Wild Card.

T-Money is in search of the Wild Card in the other conference, and this week's loss made it very tough for him to get it. He'll need a Generals loss and a win over Boyer to get into the playoffs. It's not looking good.

He'll have some tough decisions to make this week after several bench players went for double-digits in the loss.

The Slackers had a few of the same issues, but with Drew Brees on fire, it's hard to complain. He's well on his way to a No. 1 seed and a bye week.

Team Boyer 132.6, Dottsville Toasters 106.6

I'm not advocating giving up, but man, I could sure make a case for why the Toasters should.

I mean, can it get any worse?

Jahvid Best, out for the season. Chris Johnson, MIA until this past week. Mario Manningham, inactive Monday night when the Toasters needed 28 points to come back. Matt Leinart, broken collar bone, leaves game after scoring just 8.5 points. This comes a week after Matt Schaub goes down with a season-ending injury.

Things just keep getting worse and worse for the Toasters who have now lost four straight. At one point, they were 5-3 and in charge of the division. Now, the Toasters are out of the playoffs and locked into a top-half draft pick.

It's amazing what a few weeks can do.

For Boyer, it's been the opposite. Three weeks ago, he was 3-4-1 and searching for something to get him started. Now, after another huge Tom Brady weekend, he's won three straight and has clinched the division. Currently holding the two-seed, Boyer will host the first round of the playoffs unless he can get a win and have the News Team lose. News Team is playing Noise, so that's highly unlikely.

So Week 13 will not mean anything to Boyer, just a week to get ready for Week 14.

And man, does the schedule work in his favor. Brady faces these four teams over the next four weeks leading up to Fantasy Super Bowl VI: Colts, Redskins, Broncos and Dolphins. Denver's defense is the toughest, but I can imagine Brady being held down. That will feasibly be the week that he faces News Team in the conference finals, so he will need me to be right about Brady. For comparison, the News Team's Aaron Rodgers plays Kansas City that week.

But don't let me get too far ahead. First thing is first for Boyer. Win this weekend and hope he doesn't have to face News Team in Week 15.

Playoff Scenarios

Eagle Division

If the Slackers beat Jawz Attack, they're the No. 1 seed and the division winner.

Boyer has clinched the division with a win in Week 12. He can clinch the No. 1 seed with a win this week and a loss by News Team. Otherwise, he's the No. 2 seed.

T-Money can get the No. 3 seed with a win and a Graybill's Generals loss.

News Team clinched the division title with the win in Week 12. He can clinch the No. 1 seed and the bye with a win over the Noise or a Boyer loss or tie.

News Team will be the No. 2 seed with a loss and a Boyer win.

Graybill can clinch the Wild Card berth with a win in Week 13. The Generals own the tiebreaker over T-Money. The Generals also can clinch the Wild Card with a loss and a T-Money loss.

FB: Week 11 Previews: VY missing piece for Dream Team?

2011-11-27T10:51:00.001-05:00

I'm upset the Har-Bowl didn't have a sponsor, like the FedEX Har-Bowl or the Meineke Car Care Har-Bowl. So many possibilities. ... Tony Romo wins another game in November. Too bad December is right around the corner for Romo. ... Suh stomps on Packers lineman, suh-spesion pending.

Thanksgiving brought out some fun games. The Packers-Lions game wasn't as exciting as most thought it would be and the Dolphins-Cowboys game was more competitive than originally thought.

The 49ers-Ravens game was as expected and the Ravens showed what you have to do to beat the 49ers, play defense.

I didn't get to watch as much football as I wanted to on Thursday, so today's slate of game interests me greatly.

There will be some bum games, and most are in the 1 o'clock hour. Atlanta should stomp Minnesota, Cincinnati should handle Cleveland, Carolina will toast Indy, the New York Jets will nip Buffalo; Arizona and St. Louis will put people to sleep and Tennessee should show up and beat Tampa.

The Red Zone Channel will be fun to watch during the first seven games.

Then, it's Eagles-Patriots. I'm obviously interested in this game because I'm an Eagles fan, but I'm also interested for a few other reasons. Vince Young gets another chance to start and I have to say I was very impressed after the win over the Giants. Young didn't show me much for the first three quarters, but that 18-play game-winning drive was amazing. Converting third downs and keeping the clock running. Young was efficient.

The Eagles have to win out to finish 10-6 and have a shot of the playoffs. ESPN had some kind of interactive beta projection model for the final six weeks of the NFL, and I picked the Eagles to win out and get to 10-6. I then, with the rest of the league, projected it out as I saw it panning out — which doesn't mean a lot, but I'm not too bad at picking NFL game — and with my honest objective take on the rest of the League, the Eagles actually got the fourth seed by winning the division. By beating the Cowboys on this win-out stretch, the Eagles would have the tie-breaker if the Cowboys finish 10-6 which I think they will.

I had the Bears finishing 10-6 and the Falcons, so it was a bit of a mess there, but I think it's possible.

But, will it happen?

I have to doubt it as an objective NFL fan.

But as an Eagles fan, I have to think it's possible, but it all lies on today. This is the toughest matchup the Eagles will have from here on out. Fortunately for the Eagles, it's at home where the Patriots have struggle of late. The secondary is a bit beat up but I can see Jason Babin and Trent Cole creating some real trouble for Brady today.

So, I'm putting it all on the line today. If the Eagles win this one, they're making the playoffs. If they don't, they're done.

And yes, I know we've heard "win or they're done" for about seven weeks now, but I feel like this week is the week that actually warrants it. This season has been marred by the awful preseason statement by Vince Young, "Dream Team."

If he doesn't say that, this failure — to this point — isn't as publicized as it has been.

Now Young has the chance to make up for that awful statement, and I have to say that after hearing his interview on NFL Sirius Radio, I feel like he could do that. I cannot believe how composed he was in the interview and I have to say, I became an instant fan.

If he wins today, I may personally break a few more Michael Vick ribs to keep Young in the starting lineup.

Ah, a QB controversy. It's like the mid-90s all over again for the Eagles organization. Every year it seems like the next best option is on the bench.

It would be nice to just find one QB and stick with them. When the contract was given to Vick, the Eagles were aiming for that, but everyone knew that Vick wouldn't play 16 games. Injuries and poor play has made that contract look like a mistake. The numbers were staggering in the contract, but the Eagles included several out-clauses and I wouldn't be surprised to see them come into play here if Vince Young rises.

Sunday Slackers (8-3) at T-Money (6-5)

T-Money has a very nice lead heading into Sunday, but unfortunately, he only has three players left.

Tony Romo (20.8 points) and Laurent Robinson (21.3) each had big days on Thanksgiving, but Frank Gore, Torrey Smith and the 49ers defense let him down.

The Slackers didn't get much help from his three players on Thanksgiving just scoring 16.5 points from Ray Rice, Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley. The Slackers was averaging 35 points a week from Nelson and Rice coming into the week, so to only come away with 12 points from them, it wasn't a good day.

It leaves a little bit of pressure on the rest of his lineup, and which three players from the Bears offense, the Slackers are really going to need a big day from Chicago.

And Sunday will not solve anything. Both have players going on Monday night. The Slackers will certainly be in comeback mode Monday night with Drew Brees, while T-Money will look to fend of the Slackers with Brandon Jacobs.

T-Money will really need a big day out of Steve Smith to keep the Slackers at bay. Against Indianapolis, I think he'll get just that and squeak out a close win over the Slackers.

Jawz Attack (3-8) at Jimmy Johnson (8-3)

The Jimmy Jammers pulled out 48.2 points on Thanksgiving and that's a great number considering how bad Stafford was playing for three quarters. He had single-digits heading into the fourth but two TD drives, including a TD pass on the final drive with 11 seconds left lifted Stafford to a respectable 21.6 points. But his four turnovers cost the Jammers eight points.

The Jammers also missed out on 17.3 points from Brandon Marshall. After his one catch for five yards doomed the Jammers last week, Marshall earned a seat on the bench and exploded. He's only been benched twice, and both times have been his biggest point totals of the season. Not good for the Jammers.

Good for Jawz (and the Slackers).

Jawz got 15.5 points from his Cowboys defense and he's primed to get some points according to ESPN projections, but I think Maurice Jones-Drew and C.J. Spiller with struggle to get to 100 yards, and if they don't score, they will be single-digit busts.

I like Roddy White, DeSean Jackson and Wes Welker on Sunday, and Jimmy Graham should give the Jammers a bit of a scare on Monday night, but if all of those players cannot get Jawz above 115 points, I don't think he'll have a chance.

The Jammers should get to 115 with his patched up lineup. Julio Jones is in the lineup now, but he's a game-time decision. The last time he was probable, Jones played one quarter and left, so it's going to be tough to start him.

DeAngelo Williams has a great matchup against the Colts, while Larry Fitzgerald has caught four TDs in the last three games. And against a banged up Rams defense, the Jammers should get some points from Fitzgerald.

Antonio Brown also should go way over his ESPN projected 8.1 points.

Browns double-digits in the Sunday night game should create enough cushion for the Jammers to pull out the win and virtually clinch the division title — if T-Money holds onto his lead. I say virtually because the Slackers would only be able to tie the Jammers at the end of the season and that tie-breaker would go all the way to points where the Jammers have a 50-point lead.

Team Boyer (6-4-1) at Dottsville Toasters (5-6)

The Toasters are in survival mode. After losing three straight, he needs to stop the bleeding and get this win to have any chance at making the playoffs. A loss will undoubtedly end his season.

So, it was good to get 61.1 points on Thursday. It was the start he needed.

But now he has to finish and that could be tough.

Eric Decker doesn't have a QB throwing to him; he basically has a RB who every now and then lobs up a halfback-option pass. Mario Manningham is questionable for Monday night, so that also is a tough start because you could run into a situation where he goes from questionable to out and then you're out of options. He also doesn't have many options on the bench with Jahvid Best and Jacoby Ford inactive, which means he could IR them and get some new players, but he hasn't done it yet.

He had to do it with Matt Schaub and he picked up Texans backup and new starter Matt Leinart.

Leinart makes is 2011 debut for the Toasters, and who knows what will come out of this. I always personally believed that Matt Leinart would some day come back and get a chance to start and surprise people. He's been sitting for a while in a good offense learning. Rust will definitely be an issue — he hasn't started since Week 12 in 2009 — but Leinart has something in Houston that he didn't have in Arizona — a run game. With two solid backs, Leinart should be able to build off of the run game and benefit from the return of Andre Johnson, who will be running routes against two inexperienced cornerbacks, including one cornerback who wasn't in the NFL a few weeks ago.

You see where I'm going with this. I can see 200/250 passing yards, a TD or two from Leinart. If he limits the mistakes, which I think he will because of the run game, I can see Leinart being effective enough to lead the Toasters to victory. He'll just need some of those yards to go to tight end Owen Daniels.

The other player the Toasters will rely on is Chris Johnson. He disappeared last week after his best week of the season. Against Tampa Bay today, with a QB coming of an injury, I expect to see Johnson get the touches and with the Bucs being ranked 31st against the run, it should equal a big fantasy day. Should.

Big fantasy days also are in line for Tom Brady and Michael Turner, but the rest of the matchups are iffy at best. Marshawn Lynch has the best chance to get to double-digits out of the other starters based on what he has done over the last could weeks. Still, with decent point totals coming from Leinart and Johnson, this 40-point hole will be tough to dig out of.

I think the Toasters will end his streak and keep his playoff hopes alive, and by that I mean, he will have a chance if the rest of the matchups in the JFL go his way, too.

Graybill's Generals (6-5) at Fear and Loathing (6-5)

Here are two 6-5 teams that desperately need to win this week. For Graybill, he's lost two straight games and the playoffs are slipping away. A win will keep him in the hunt.

For Fear, he's just hanging onto the division lead and could set himself up for a division title with a win today. Fear had a double-digit day out of DeMarco Murray on Thursday and owns a 6-point lead heading into Sunday.

And it's Sunday for Fear, so that means it's Tebow Time. Fear will look for Tebow to out-play Joe Flacco, who had just 14.2 points on Thursday.

The Chargers have been awful against opposing QBs, but Tebow isn't necessarily a QB. Still, the Chargers have been equally as bad against the run, so I could easily see a 25/30-point day out of Tebow.

Rashard Mendenhall will hit double-digits tonight, as will Cedric Benson and Brandon Lloyd. Given the amount of big days I have predicted for Fear, I can see him slipping past the Generals who can only count on LeSean McCoy and Steven Jackson today.

Fear moves one step closer to the playoffs.

Real Houserville (5-6) at World of Noise (2-9)

World of Noise has won two games and he's 2-1 in the division. He's going to try and do the improbable and finish with a winning division record despite being the worst team in the JFL.

He'll have a great chance to do so with some interesting matchups, but I can't go against Cam Newton, Michael Bush, Mike Wallace and Rob Gronkowski. Those four players should score enough points to take down Noise, so Houserville remains in the playoff hunt with a win today.

That's all.

Chinese Organ Thieves (3-7-1) Channel 4 News Team (7-4)

No Adrian Peterson. No Jeremy Maclin. No way.

Not against Rodgers and the News Team, who enters Sunday with a 30.9-3.5 lead. It will only get worse. I can easily see double-digits from six of eight starters remaining on the News Team's roster.

Arian Foster should have a huge day and he'll get in the end zone with long runs. Vincent Jackson, Tony Gonzalez and Victor Cruz also should provide double-digit performances.

Sorry, Thieves. This is just not your year. Feel free to cut and paste that on your fantasy league's main page and replace Thieves with Jammers. We are polar opposites.

In my league, I'm 8-3 and in Schiavo's I'm 3-8.

In his league, Schiavo's 7-4 and in mine he's 3-7-1.

In a Super Fantasy Standings, I have a half-game lead on him because of the tie. Nikish is in the same boat, he's 2-9 in Schiavo's league and 7-4 here.

I don't know what he's going to do in Schiavo's league today, but I can tell you what he will do here: win.

News Team clinches the division title today.

FB: Thankful for a Delicious Serving of Games

2011-11-24T10:49:00.001-05:00

John Elway clearly doesn't like Tebow, which proves that Broncos fans were wrong when they thought John Elway was God. ... Bill Parcells is among 26 semifinalists for the Hall of Fame, which means that he needs to get an NFL coaching gig soon to push off his eligibility. ... DeAngelo Hall told his team that he deserved to be released after the Redskins loss Sunday. It's too bad they didn't cut him. The Dream Team could use another cornerback.

I'm going to be driving a bit today, which is kind of upsetting. I have about an hour-and-a-half drive to West Chester which I'll be making at about halftime of the Lions-Packers game, and then I imagine I'll be heading home around halftime of the 49ers-Ravens game.

Sirius/XM Radio, you are my friend today.

It's the best NFL Thanksgiving slate that I can remember, especially since going to a three-game schedule. The day the Eagles played the Cards was a great day, but that was solely because the Eagles hadn't played on Thanksgiving since 1989 — which doesn't make sense because you think the Eagles-Cowboys game would be a fun one to play every couple of years.

I guess cause the Cowboys lost 27-0 in 1989 to the Eagles. Did Jerry Jones push for the Eagles to be banned from Thanksgiving? Would surprise me, especially since they keep playing the Dolphins.

Today's Cowboys-Dolphins game is the only game that doesn't involve winning teams, but the Dolphins have won three straight games and could really give the Cowboys a game. It should be fun because we all know when it comes to big games, Tony Romo tends to not show up.

So that's an interesting game just because an upset is very possible, but still, you can't beat the other two games.

The Lions have a great chance at handing the Packers their first loss in a game that should be a shootout. I honestly cannot imagine either team having fewer than 20 points. If they do, I'll be absolutely shocked.

I'll also be one of several fantasy owners upset, because there are some major points to be gained today.

Three games, six teams, all with viable fantasy options. How many Thanksgivings have had that lately?

Four of the six QBs are key starters, and Alex Smith could be if anyone needed him. Running backs include DeMarco Murray, Reggie Bush, Ray Rice, Frank Gore, and there really isn't a RB in the Packers-Lions game that matters. Wide receivers include all the entire Packers contingent, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Torrey Smith, Dez Bryant, Laurent Robinson, possibly Miles Austin, and Brandon Marshall.

I listed Brandon Marshall because I benched him and that means he'll scored 17 fantasy points, like the last time I benched him.

Include the defense and kickers and there are a lot of points to be had today.

In all, 31 players/defenses are in lineups today. T-Money leads the JFL with five players going (if I counted right), including three in the 49ers-Ravens game.

Below are the playoff scenarios I had posted earlier in the week. There's a lot on the line and today may put a few teams in great shape heading into Sunday where they'll look to clinch divisions and playoff spots.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. Enjoy all the games. I won't be in the chat room but I'll be Tweeting, so you can follow me there to see what I have to say about today's action.

Playoff Scenarios
I think I cover all of the most likely scenarios. If there are any interesting ones I missed, please let me know.

Nittany Conference scenarios

News Team clinches division and playoff berth with a win. He can also clinch the No. 1 seed with a win and a Team Boyer loss.

Boyer can clinch the division with a win and a T-Money loss.

Graybill Generals can clinch a playoff berth with a win and a loss by both T-Money and the Toasters.

Toasters needs to win out and have T-Money and Graybill Generals lose at least one game. Toasters holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Generals; and since the Toasters is trailing in points to T-Money, he'll need T-Money to either lose two games or lose in Week 13 to Team Boyer so that way the Toasters finish 2-2 in the division and T-Money finishes 1-3 to keep the tiebreaker from going to points.

T-Money can win the division with two wins and at least one Team Boyer loss. With T-Money playing Boyer in Week 13, it means I can say, win out and you're in. With Boyer carrying a tie, there aren't any tie-breaking scenarios that will come in play here, unless, T-Money ties the Slackers in Week 12.

Chinese Organ Thieves. See you next year.

Liberty Conference scenarios

Jimmy Jammers can almost seal the deal with a win and a Slackers loss. In all likelihood, this division is going to come down to a tiebreaker that involves points, which the Jammers holds a decent lead at this point. Still, the Jammers with a win this week will move to 3-1 in the division. If Jawz Attack can defeat the Slackers in Week 13, the Jammers clinch in No. 1 seed and the division.

Just insert Slackers in for everything above and change the weeks and forget about the points tiebreaker part. If the Slackers beat Jawz Attack in Week 13 and the Jammers loses to Jawz Attack in Week 12, the Slackers win the division and the No. 1 seed.

Jawz is packing. And looking to spoil.

Fear and Loathing is in a world of hurt right now after losing to World of Noise for the second time this season. This was the best thing for Houserville. Fear needs to (1) beat Houserville in Week 13 or (2) win in Week 12 to move to 7-5 and have Houserville lose in Week 12 to lock up the No. 2 seed and host the first round of the playoffs.

Houserville is back in the race. He needs to win out in most cases. Simple as that. There are many scenarios to how he would win the division if he does so, but all give him the same result. (1) If he beats Noise this week and Fear loses, they'll be tied at 6-6 and the winner of Week 13 would obviously take the division. (2) If Fear wins and Houserville wins in Week 12, Houserville would have to beat Fear in Week 13 to knot their records at 7-6, but the Ville would be 3-1 in the division, opposed to 1-3 for Fear. (3) If both lose in Week 12, then Houserville would need to beat Fear in Week 13, and with a tie at 6-7, the Ville would own the tiebreaker with a 2-2 division record and Fear's 1-3 record. (4) If any one of them ties… well, I'm not worrying about that tiebreaker scenario in Week 12.

Noise is way outta here, but he does have a great shot at finishing 3-1 in the division with a win this week. Bragging rights! (A loss does lock him in for the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft.)

FB: Week 11 Recap: All four divisions titles still available

2011-11-23T00:13:00.001-05:00

News Team clinches division and playoff berth with a win. He can also clinch the No. 1 seed with a win and a Team Boyer loss.

Boyer can clinch the division with a win and a T-Money loss.

Graybill Generals can clinch a playoff berth with a win and a loss by both T-Money and the Toasters.

Chinese Organ Thieves. See you next year.

Liberty Conference scenarios

Jawz is packing. And looking to spoil.

Noise is way outta here, but he does have a great shot at finishing 3-1 in the division with a win this week. Bragging rights! (A loss does lock him in for the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft.)

What an interesting week. Noise wins, the Slackers upend Jammers, Jawz loses again on Monday night and the News Team wins his fifth straight.

Two divisions titles were attainable in Week 11 but neither were clinched, which means we're set for a wild final two weeks. All four divisions could go down to the final weekend, as may the No. 1 seeds.

Sunday Slackers 103.3, Jimmy Jammers 79.3

It's been a long time since the Slackers has woken up on a Tuesday knowing that he has defeated the Jammers. Three years to be exact.

But the feeling has returned after a big win in Week 11 keeping the Jammers from winning the division — this week, at least.

It was a very rough week for the Jammers, who got just 1.7 points from Brandon Marshall and Greg Jennings combined. It was an ugly week.

For the Slackers, it wasn't much better. He had to go with Matt Hasselbeck because Drew Brees was on the bye. It should have been the perfect scenario for a win for the Jammers, especially after Hasselbeck left early with an injury.

But Ray Rice, as I predicted, was ridiculous (27.7 points), and Jordy Nelson was the better Green Bay receiver again with 27.5 points — a disturbing trend for Jennings owners all over the fantasy world.

Nelson is now the fifth-ranked WR in the JFL, one ahead of Jennings.

The rest of the Slackers' receivers weren't much Sunday. The combined 55.2 points was enough for the Slackers to set up a wild ending of the season.

World of Noise 115.5, Fear and Loathing 107.2

All Fear had to do was win and he would have clinched a division title, but the World of Noise did it again.

I'm just guessing that the 2012 JFL Draft at my house next August is going to be fun when these two meet up again.

So how did Noise do it?

Well, he dipped into the Fear and Loathing bag of tricks and found a waiver-wire gem in Kevin Smith.

The Detroit Lions back scored 38.9 points and Jay Cutler had 32.1, which if you do the math is 71 combined points. That's more points than he scored in Week 4 and Week 5.

In fact, this is only the fourth time this season that Noise has hit 100 points.

It's been that kind of year for him and even though his draft wasn't the greatest, he has been plagued by injuries and misfortune.

Sam Bradford went down early and hasn't been the same, so it was good that he drafted Jay Cutler. But now Cutler is out for the season.

Andre Johnson is a great WR but he has continually had injury issues over the years and it's been another disappointing season from him. He hasn't played since Week 4. And Marques Colston missed a few games early.

It's just been a mess of a season.

Fear has had similar trouble, notably with Jamaal Charles. He really could have used Michael Vick this week, too, because he likely would have gotten 25-28 points, enough to beat Noise. Instead he had to use Tebow (17.8 points).

It's really hard to believe that Noise won this despite getting zero points from two WRs. It's just unimaginable.

About just as hard to believe that Fear lost to Noise. The good thing for Fear is, he won't have to face the Noise in the playoffs — if he makes it.

Channel 4 News Team 142.9, Graybill's Generals 119.2

The Generals had more players reach double-digits, but it's hard to go up against the News Team when he roles out four players who score 20 or more points, including a 30.5-point performance from the Seahawks defense and 36.3 points from Aaron Rodgers.

I guess this is where Dawson thinks I should make some sort of "I wish I didn't trade him" comment.

News Team easily survived a week without Arian Foster. Vincent Jackson had 23.9 points and Victor Cruz had 20.

The News Team, winners of five straight, has scored nearly 480 points in the last three weeks.

At 7-4, the News Team is close to winning the division for the second time in franchise history. Nikish has really created a stable power in the Nittany Conference. He was 8-5 in 2008, 8-5 in 2009, 9-4 in 2010 and two wins away from being 9-4 again. He's 37-20 in the last four years with a 5-2 playoff record and a Super Bowl title.

For comparison, the JFL's winningest franchise, the Jammers, is 36-20 in the last four years.

So, this is the News Team's chance to officially take over as the powerhouse of the JFL. If he can run through the playoffs and win the Super Bowl, he'll be the first to get his name on the trophy twice.

Scoring at this rate should make it hard for others to stop him.

T-Money 136.3, Toasters 58.8

Woah, woah, woah. T-Money, take it easy. You've made your point.

You could have held up. You know, pulled a Brian Westbrook or a LeSean McCoy and stop short of the goal line in the waning minutes to not run up the score.

You must subscribe to the Book of Belichick.

Of course, I'm kidding. But man, did you whoop your division rival.

The Toasters managed a World of Noise-like 58.8 points and never really contended.

Tony Romo was just as good as I thought he would be and T-Money made a late change to put in Torrey Smith over Laraunt Robinson, and it was a good move. Smith went for 23.7 points. The 49ers defense also scored 25.5 points to fuel the blowout.

T-Money's RB situation is a bit scary as he aims for the playoffs, but he's still getting a good amount of points from other positions and that's why he's contending.

He needs to beat Team Boyer to get in the playoffs for the sixth time in franchise history. T-Money is only one of three franchises to never miss the playoffs (the Jammers has gone five times and Houserville has gone in all three years of his tenure in the JFL).

So a lot is on the line her for T-Money. It's an expectation for him to make the playoffs and he controls his own destiny. Win and he's in. It's as simple as that.

Team Boyer 125.9, Jawz Attack 116.6

It's mind-boggling.

Wes Welker averaged nearly 17 points coming into his Monday night matchup against the Chiefs, but he had only 2.6 points. Tom Brady, who belongs to Jawz's opponent this week, scored 24.5 points, throwing for 234 yards and two scores. Only 22 of those yards went to Welker.

As I said, it's mind-boggling, because it's crap like this that has plagued Jawz all season. Just look and see:

Week 1: Jawz scored 126.3 points and loses because the Slackers gets 92 points from three players.

Week 2: Jawz scores 107.5 points, but is no match for the Jammers 160.2.

Week 3: Jawz scores 149.1 and wins.

Week 4: Jawz scores 131.7, but loses because Pierce Garcon has the game of all games (31 points) and Michael Vick gets 40 in an awful loss to the 49ers.

Week 5: Jawz scores 130.3 points, but loses because Jahvid Best and Calvin Johnson scored 48 points on Monday night to complete a comeback.

Week 6: Jawz scores 124.1 points, but loses because Ahmad Bradshaw has a career game with 104 yards and 3 TDs for 31.4 points points.

Week 7: Jawz edges out Houserville.

Week 8: Jawz squeaks out win against Noise.

Week 9: Jawz scores 101.2 points and deservedly loses because of poor performances.

Week 10: Channel 4 News Team scored 168.8. Need I say more?

And of course, we're back to this week where another Monday night comeback doomed Jawz.

I don't think snake-bitten does it justice. At this point, the Attack's season is over. He's playing for draft position now, and pride. He has two divisional matchups coming up to finish off the regular season.

He can affect the outcome of the division with wins over either one of his rivals. If he beats one of them, the other is almost guaranteed to win the division — unless, of course, he beats both of them. Then, it's a real mess.

And after the kind of season Jawz has fought through, I'm sure he's rooting for "causing a mess."

He won't be an easy win and I expect him to upset one of the two division rivals. I just hope it's not me.

Houserville 130.5, Chinese Organ Thieves 72.5

Houserville needed a win in the worst way and he got it. He's hanging on to hope here, and he can make the playoffs for the fourth straight season if he wins out and Fear loses out. Check the scenarios above for all the details.

But he needs help and he needs to continue to make moves like he did this week. Starting Michael Crabtree was a great move, getting double-digits from the wideout. It also was a good move to stay with Rob Gronkowski who has been an absolute beast. He's scored eight TDs on the season including five in the last three weeks. He's really turned it on and the upcoming schedule for the Patriots includes Philadelphia, Indy, Washington, Denver and Miami. That's up until Fantasy Super Bowl VI where Houserville is hoping Gronkowski can lead him to.

Things will only get better in Week 12 as Mike Wallace returns from the bye and Darren McFadden returns from injury. The way it looks, it may be smart for Houserville to just roll with both of the Raider backs because his other backs haven't done much. Mike Tolbert has had some good games but he, like the Chargers, have been very inconsistent.

The Thieves know this all too well. Philip Rivers had 24 points, but that's still disappointing for where everyone thought he'd be this season.

I guess the same could be said for the Organ Thieves. This team looked like it'd be one of the top teams in the League, but instead, the Thieves are a World of Noise deletion away from being worst team in the League.

But the Thieves have been here before. In 2009, the Thieves finished 4-9 for what was then the only losing record in franchise history, only to bounce back with a 9-4 record and a division title the next season.

So, I have all the faith in the world in the Thieves turning things around in 2012.

Houserville has never had a losing record, but if he losing another game, he'll be guaranteed to have one.

With the way the schedule looks for Cam Newton the next two weeks, I'm guessing that won't happen and he'll be hosting a Wild Card playoff game.

FB: Week 11 Preview: Two division titles up for grabs

2011-11-22T09:30:00.001-05:00

Hello, Week 11. Very nice for you to finally get here.

Why am I so happy to see Week 11?

I'll tell you why. It's what college football typically terms separation Saturday. This week, the teams that want to win divisions step up.

Two divisional matchups feature the first- and second-place teams, while T-Money and Toasters both play with the chance to take over first place if Boyer loses as only a half-game separates the three teams in the Nittany North.

The Jammers and Slackers play in the matchup of the week, a matchup we could see again in the playoffs as both teams clinched berths last week. The Jammers can clinch a division title with a win. Fear and Loathing can do the same thing if he defeats World of Noise and Houserville loses or ties.

The other divisional matchup features the Graybill's Generals and the Channel 4 News Team, who are tied for first in the Nittany South.

It should be a great Sunday of football. Unfortunately, I will be covering the Patriot League volleyball championships in Washington, D.C., so I'm hoping for a 3-0 sweep and a quick return to my rental car where I will immediately turn on my Sirius Radio and drive three hours home listening to Matt Ryan throw more TDs than Matt Hasselbeck (I hope).

Jimmy Jammers (8-2) at Sunday Slackers (7-3)
Series History: Jammers leads 6-1.
Playoff Scenarios: Both have clinched playoff berths. The Jammers can clinch the division and No. 1 seed with a win. The Slackers can only move into a tie for first place with a win.

This is where planning in August comes into play. You have to look at your bye weeks and your schedule be sure you will be ready.

The Slackers knew that the Saints had the late bye week and he drafted Donovan McNabb.

Well, that didn't work out.

So he added Andy Dalton and Matt Hasselbeck as the season went on and now he's left with the decision, who to start for Brees in quite possibly the biggest matchup in the Slackers' franchise history.

That's right. It's that big. To key his rival from winning a division title in Week 11 means a lot. Plus, it gives him a chance to end the Jammers' run of division titles. With a win, it could come down to points if the two finish with the same record at 10-3. Both would have the same division record, a split decision in the season series, tied in conference record and separated by about 70 in points.

Now, do you see why it's so big?

The Slackers made the decision to go with Matt Hasselbeck, which means there should be an interesting battle at 4:15 p.m. Sunday. The Jammers' Matt Ryan will be going up against Hasselbeck as the Falcons play the Titans. Both are similar in fantasy rank and both have decent matchups as their defenses have been giving up passing yards.

Ryan, who is ranked 12th in the JFL has come on strong of late, will be a key factor in this matchup, especially if he can connect with Julio Jones — if he plays. Hasselbeck is ranked 13th, but has had just one big week — against the Cleveland Browns.

Another interesting matchup lies in the Packer receivers as the Jammers will send out Greg Jennings and the Slackers will use Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley. Garnering Aaron Rodgers' attention has never been more important for these two fantasy owners.

But the biggest thing to watch this week will be the running backs. We all know what Ray Rice and Matt Forte have done. This week works out nicely for the Slackers as the Ravens are coming off a tough loss on the road where they were criticized for throwing too much.

So what do you think the Ravens are going to do at home against the Bengals? That's right. Run, run and run some more. Rice is projected to get 18 points, but I think that is grossly underestimating what he's going to do. I feel a 30-point week coming for Rice.

And then there's Matt Forte who benefited from the offense being criticized for throwing too much earlier in the season, and since then, he's had double-digits every week. This week should be nothing different for Forte, especially against a weak San Diego defense.

On the other side, teams have struggled running against the Bears, so it will be unlikely that the Jammers with Ryan Mathews will find much success in the run game. So, points will be limited. Heck, it may even be worth it to start Daniel Thomas and have both Reggie Bush and Daniel Thomas going, because Mathews has been disappointing recently and there's no guarantee that Tolbert would steal touches and TDs.

Either way, the Jammers is at a clear disadvantage at RB.

I see this matchup being close, but in the end, I see Rice and Forte making the difference.

Jammers' Prediction: Slackers 128, Jammers 122

Channel 4 News Team (6-4) at Graybill's Generals (6-4)
Series History: Series tied 5-5.
Playoff Scenarios: Neither team can clinch a playoff spot this week. The winner will need another win in Week 12 to do so.

After the News Team scored nearly 320 points in the last two weeks, the Generals has to be a bit worried heading into this matchup.

But there is good news. Arian Foster is on the bye week.

The bad news. Aaron Rodgers is not — and he's going up against the hapless Bucs. Ah, it's nostalgic to say something like that. It's been a while since we could describe the Bucs as hapless, but that's what they are, and Rodgers will take advantage of them. Probably for 40 points. And, that's a low estimate.

I think this matchup will be rather close heading into Monday night when the News Team's Danny Woodhead goes up against the Generals Steve Breaston. In all likelihood, News Team will have a lead at that point because I like Victor Cruz, Vincent Jackson and Tony Gonzalez this week to get double-digits. I didn't include Denarius Moore because I like him for another 20-plus-point week.

Jammers' Prediction:Channel 4 News Team 131, Generals 120

Dottsville Toasters (5-5) at T-Money (5-5)
Series History: T-Money leads 6-5.
Playoff Scenarios: Neither team can clinch a playoff berth but a loss for T-Money would greatly hurt his playoffs chances because he will not own the tiebreaker against the Toasters, Channel 4 News Team and the Graybill's Generals.

Thursday was a rather disappointing night for the two of these playoff hungry teams. This matchup is huge considering one of the two teams could be in first place after the weekend if Team Boyer losses.

The Toasters got a big zero out of Denver's Eric Decker Thursday night, which is what most Denver WRs get if they're not getting handoffs. Decker had double-digits last week, but that was because he caught a 56-yard TD pass. One catch. That's it. This week, it was less, and that's why it's dangerous to go with any receiver that Tim Tebow will try to complete a pass to.

The same could be said for Mark Sanchez targets. Santonio Holmes only scored 4.7 points for T-Money, so it wasn't all that bad for the Toasters. He only has to make up 4.7 points.

The bad news is, he's going to have to make up some more points at QB. With Matt Schaub done for the season, the Colt McCoy era begins in Dottsville, and against Tony Romo, I'm not sure how much success he'll have fantasy-wise.

I see Romo having a huge week — yeah, can you believe that; a late-season big game by Romo — because the Cowboys have found a reliable every-down back in DeMarco Murray and their offensive line has come together to protect their QB. Romo hasn't been sacked since Week 8. Not taking any sacks in the last two weeks has allowed him to scored great fantasy points. More importantly, he's had no turnovers.

Where T-Money has to worry is at RB where Frank Gore was a waste last week, getting just one point before leaving the game with an injury. Backup Kendall Hunter came in and ran for 40 yards and a TD in his stead.

It just so happens that the Toasters have Hunter on his squad and he will be starting him, hoping that Gore is limited. That would be a huge help for the Toasters. It will also be huge if Chris Johnson can manage a second straight 100-yard rushing week. Last week, he got 27 carries and went above 100 yards for just the second time this season. The Toasters also will need Calvin Johnson to get back on track.

If both Chris and Calvin can reach 20 points, I have to think the Toasters will get enough help to win this matchup, but because I cannot trust Chris Johnson and because I really like Romo this week, I'm going to go with the home team — just by a few.

Jammers' Prediction: T-Money 120.4, Toasters 119.3

World of Noise (1-9) at Fear and Loathing (6-4)
Series History: Fear leads 7-4.
Playoff Scenarios: Fear and Loathing can clinched a playoff spot as well as the division with a win. A loss gives Houserville hope.

So, after reading the playoff scenario, it seems that Fear and Loathing is a lock to win the division now. All he has to do is beat World of Noise. How hard is that?

Well, I guess for Fear, it's a bit harder, considering of the 10 games Noise has played, only one win has come and that was against Fear and Loathing.

Avenging that loss was a little scary early Thursday, but Tim Tebow had the drive of drives this season to lead the Broncos to a win and give Fear 17.8 points. It's not ideal, but it's better than what Vick will get now that he's been ruled out for Sunday's game. That's why Fear had to make the move to Tebow.

Now he needs to get a big day out of DeMarco Murray, which shouldn't be hard. I think he'll continue to get the touches, despite the return of Felix Jones. Murray has the organization's support and will be seeing the bulk of the carries.

Noise can't say that about any of his backs.

Even though his backs aren't in the greatest shape to score fantasy points, Noise actually has a chance because of Jay Cutler, who has had some big games this year. He's also had some really bad games, like last week's 5.8-point performance and Week 4's 4.2-point day. But against the crappy Chargers, Cutler should have a big day. Most other QBs do.

A big game will certainly give Noise a chance because this is going to be a low-scoring fantasy matchup.

Still, I have to be smart and go with the better team, and that's Fear. Murray scores 30 points, and the Packers defense and Brandon Lloyd have decent games to give Fear the division title, his first since 2008.

Jammers' Prediction: Fear and Loathing 101, World of Noise 89

Jawz Attack (3-7) at Team Boyer (5-4-1)
Series History: Boyer leads 1-0.
Playoff Scenarios: Jawz is eliminated. Boyer cannot clinch a berth, but a win will keep him in first place. He's guaranteed to fall out of first place with a loss.

It's spoiler time for Jawz Attack, and that's a shame.

The reigning champion Nick Nikish sat next to Jawz Attack last weekend and said, "You have a good team."

He wasn't just being nice. The Attack has a pretty damn good team, and if he were in the Nittany North, he'd probably be 6-4 or 7-3 right now.

But he's not.

Still, I like him to fulfill his role as the spoiler this week as I like Carson Palmer, MJD, Fred Jackson, Roddy White…. OK I'm going to stop listing. I like his entire lineup this week.

Whereas I can see good days for Tom Brady, Michael Turner and Dez Bryant. Outside of that, I think Marshawn Lynch should get low double-digits, but Antonio Gates is a liability with his injury and Steve Johnson is potentially going to miss the game.

That's why I'll give the edge to Jawz.

Jammers' Prediction: Jawz Attack 145, Team Boyer 130

Chinese Organ Thieves (3-6-1) at Real Houserville (4-6)
Series History: Houserville leads 3-0.
Playoff Scenarios: Playoffs?!? Playoffs?!? Hell, these two teams are just trying to win a damn game. Hello? You play to win the game.

Lose and you're eliminated.

Win, and well, you still may be eliminated.

That's what these two squads are dealing with now. At this point, both teams need a lot of help to make the playoffs, but winning is the only thing that is going to allow that help to actually matter.

The biggest part of this matchup will be the QBs. Philip Rivers has been a bit of a mystery this season, and Cam Newton was solved last week. Detroit should cause him issues, and Chicago should make it tough for Rivers.

So, I'm going to leave this matchup down to who gets the better QB play.

To me, I think it should be Rivers, but I can't help but think about how Newton rushing the ball will factor in. And for that reason, I'll give Newton the 30-point week. I'll also give Michael Bush another 20-plus-point week. And that should be enough to overcome Shonn Greene's poor performance.

Jammers' Prediction: Houserville 124, Thieves 113

FB: Week 10 Recap: Jammers, Slackers clinch playoff spots

2011-11-16T12:54:00.001-05:00

A nurse walks over to a clipboard to see the list of patients sitting in the waiting room.

Listed there is, Ben Roethlisberger, broken thumb. He's next.

But before the nurse shouts out Big Ben's name, she notices the rest of the list.

Matt Schaub, Lisfranc injury, out for the season.

Matt Cassel, hand surgery, out for season.

Knowshon Moreno, torn ACL, out for season.

Michael Vick, broken ribs, questionable.

And that's just a taste of how bad Week 10 was to NFL players.

It was like Disc 6 on Band of Brothers, Bastogne. People were dropping like flies.

Some of us avoided trouble with this, but the Toasters, Houserville and Fear and Loathing are affected by this.

The worst injury in the JFL is clearly Matt Schaub. The Toasters are lucky that they're first in line on the waiver wire because he'll need to pick up Matt Leinart considering his backups are Colt McCoy, who is underperforming, and Jake Locker, who hasn't gotten his chance yet and won't for a bit because the Titans keep winning games.

Kind of like John Beck and Vince Young on the News Team. They're never taking a snap for the Super Bowl Champs, who brought the offense on trophy day.

Channel 4 News Team 168.8, Jawz Attack 110.2

Here he comes with trophy in hand.

The News Team is cruising again. With Aaron Rodgers and Arian Foster both piling up the points — they combined for 72 points in Week 10 — it's going to be tough to beat this team from here on out.

His 1,345.9 points this season is leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of us and it doesn't look like it will be slowing down anytime soon.

And he showed no mercy for Jawz, who got decent performances out of Maurice Jones-Drew, Jimmy Graham and the Cowboys defense, but it was no where near enough.

News Team started the week strong with 26.8 points from Denarius Moore, added Arian Foster's 33.4 points on Sunday and closed it out with Aaron Rodgers' 38.6 on Monday. It was a long weekend for Jawz, who was officially eliminated from playoff contention.

The News Team has now won four straight and sits in a tie for first place with the Generals, who of course he plays in Week 11.

Ah, praise the schedule maker once again.

Well, News Team can't just praise me. He must praise the NFL schedule makers. Will you take a look at Aaron Rodgers' upcoming slate: Tampa Bay, Detroit, New York Giants, Oakland, Kansas City and then Chicago, if the News Team can get back to the Super Bowl.

There are some great matchups for Rodgers, and certainly, in such a big divisional contest next week, Graybill cannot be happy. But, I'll talk more about this in the preview.

Sunday Slackers 133.5, Houserville 126.7

With every Rob Gronkowski catch on Sunday night, the Slackers saw his Monday night getting more stressful.

All night long, all he could do was pray for Jordy Nelson TDs. But, Randall Cobb scores first. Then Greg Jennings. Nelson finally gets into the act with a third-quarter TD, but that still left him three points short of taking the lead.

Then, and we've seen this before in other matchups, the Packers are still pressing up 31-7 in the fourth and another Rodgers drive results in a 4-yard TD pass to Nelson. Comeback complete.

With the win, the Slackers clinch the franchise's second playoff berth, and with the Noise guaranteed not to make the playoffs, there won't be an embarrassing first-round loss.

And (I know, I say it every week) with the trio of Brees, Rice and Forte, there shouldn't be any kind of first-round loss. Brees scored 28 fantasy points and Rice and Forte each hit double-digits to lead the Slackers. A.J. Green, Jordy Nelson and John Kasay also had double-digit weeks, something only five of Houserville's players could claim.

Cam Newton was the week link this week, falling well short of my personal expectations. Just 15 points works out to be his worst performance of his short NFL career. He's been in the high teens two other times, but on the other weeks, he's posted 30 or more points. Against Tennessee, one of the most Jekyll and Hyde teams I've ever seen, Newton ran into Jekyll. Or would it be Hyde? I don't know. Whichever one is the one who scores points and plays defense. That's who Newton ran into.

And it clearly hurt Houserville this week. Even a 25-point week gives Houserville the win. Maybe next week.

Fear and Loathing 120.8, Dottsville Toasters 119.7

In one of the closest matchups of the season, Fear and Loathing survived a week where he should have started Tim Tebow.

Wait, really?

That's right. Michael Vick only had 11.9 points. Tebow, on the other hand, had 21.3. Both are considered running QBs, but Tebow takes it to a new extreme. Completing just two passes, one for a TD, he out-performed Vick, which is hard to believe because Vick should have schooled the Cardinals.

But, so we find out a day later, Vick broke two ribs on the second play of the game and never told anyone. I guess secrecy is OK in Reid's camp, but missing special teams meetings isn't.

And it looks like Fear missed my preview before the game started, because I did point out that benching Brandon Lloyd was not smart. "But I'm not so sure that Brandon Lloyd deserves the benching. Lloyd will score 18 points on the bench this week," says my preview.

So, 18 points was a little much, but he still scored a TD and had double-digits. Much more than Josh Cribbs.

Still, Rashard Mendenhall and DeMarco Murray both were huge on Sunday, combining for 43.5 points, and as soon as Randall Cobb returned his punt for a TD, the Packers defense had enough points to beat the Toasters.

But the Toasters continued to inch his way closer with James Starks runs and Mason Crosby extra points.

All the Toasters needed was for the Vikings to score another TD or gain another 70 yards and the score would have flipped the other way. Or perhaps if the Packers didn't commit a 5-yard penalty on Mason Crosby's made 40-plus-yard field goal before the half. Instead, he had to try again from 50-plus yards where he came up just short.

This was key because the Toasters really needed this win. With Matt Schaub going down, it's not looking good for the rest of the season at this point and a QB will need to be picked up for sure.

But if there is one good thing coming out of this week, it was that Chris Johnson finally showed up to the party with 27 carries, 130 yards and a TD. His 24.2 points were a season high and a welcoming sight. The Toasters will need more performances like that if he has any hopes of winning the division.

Team Boyer 86.5, World of Noise 81

Almost. So freaking close and so freaking sad. After the 4 p.m. games on Sunday, Noise had a 28-point lead, and through a good part of the first half of the Sunday night game, it didn't look like Tom Brady was going to score enough to avoid the upset.

But 329 yards and three TDs gave Brady 34.2 points and Boyer the narrow win.

He's lucky, too, scoring just 86.5 points and winning. Somewhere Jawz Attack is cursing and drinking a couple gallons of Pepsi Max (it's his thing).

Other than the comeback, there isn't much I want to say here because I hate wasting my time on a Noise recap, or preview for that matter. It's so pointless. It's like playing defense against the Packers. Why try? Aaron Rodgers is just going to school you.

T-Money 99.9, Chinese Organ Thieves 82.1

I can't win in Schiavo's league, he can't win in mine. That's how it's been this season.

This was just another example.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis was a complete bust, just 0.8 points. Reggie Wayne was a waste, just 1.9 points. Jeremy Maclin was just plain worthless, 1.5 points.

Most of T-Money's roster was in the same boat, and if it weren't for Tony Romo's day, the Money many would have ended up on the wrong side of this battle. Instead, Romo threw for 270 yards and three TDs, two of the touchdowns went to Laurent Robinson, who also is on T-Money's roster. It was the perfect connection for Week 10 — especially because Dwayne Bowe and Steve Smith were big busts on Sunday. They had great matchups and couldn't cash in. I really expected more out of these guys.

But, at least I was right about the 49ers players. Gore was good for just 1 point and the 49ers defense got just 8.5 points.

Still, I have to go back and touch on what I said in the preview. I just wasn't buying into the 49ers at that time, and even though I'm still a little iffy about that team, I have to give them credit. They are 8-1 and they're beating teams that I think are good. So, I have to finally recognize that Schiavo's favorite squad is looking like a lock for the No. 2 seed.

At least something good is going on for Schiavo.

Jimmy Jammers 111, Graybill's Generals 79.4

It was another week of big bench points for the Jammers, and yet it was still another win.

The big switch minutes before the 1 p.m. games kicked off was a big help, as Matt Ryan was moved into the lineup for Matthew Stafford. The other late switch, Julio Jones for Larry Fitzgerald was not such a great move. Jones' hamstring flared up and he left the game early. Fitzgerald, who has struggle over the last couple years against physical corners like Nnamdi Asomugha, but for some reason, the Eagles allowed linebackers and Hanson to cover him. Had I know that, I would have left Fitzgerald in the lineup.

And it's those linebackers on the Eagles defense who are going to allow Jake Ballard to have a big week next week. Much bigger than he had this week. All four of the receivers for Graybill did fare well, as predicted. They combined for 12.7 points, and with LeSean McCoy having his second-lowest point total of the season (15.9), the Generals were in trouble.

Heading into the Sunday night game, the Generals needed the Jets defense to come up big, but New York managed just 4.5 fantasy points, giving up 37 points to the Pats.

Greg Jennings added on 9.8 points Monday night as the Jammers locked up a playoff berth. With a win next week, the Jammers can lock up his sixth division title.

FB: Week 10 Preview: Trophy day for Channel 4 News Team

2011-11-13T11:04:00.001-05:00

DeSean Jackson missed a team meeting and will be inactive today. They could have suspended him for not showing up to games, too. ... Kolb's out against the Eagles. I guess that's good for him; he'll get some time to learn how to play QB before he can come back and really stuff it to the Eagles.

It's that time of the football season again. The time where Thursday night football returns and teams head into Sunday with decent leads.

Or in the case of Boyer and I, crappy leads.

That's right, Ryan Mathews and Antonio Gates were big fantasy busts on Thursday. Rivers couldn't connect with Gates and Mathews was heavily involved in the first drive that saw the Chargers go all the way down the field and fall short near the goal line where they inserted Michael Tolbert. In all, Mathews had nine touches (6 runs, 3 receptions).

It was another loss for the Chargers whose offense under Norv Turner isn't improving, it's regressing.

Philip Rivers is a prime example of that. He's been a solid QB over the last couple of years and it was thought by many — not just myself — that he was actually going to have a better year than Aaron Rodgers this season.

At the beginning of the season, you take a look at what he has around him, plus a full season of Vincent Jackson, something he didn't have last year, and it just screamed MVP.

But no. The Organ Thieves' star is ranked just 12th. He had a huge fantasy total two weeks ago against Green Bay, but his struggles on the field continued, turning the ball over four times. In all he has 15 interceptions and eight fumbles — 23 turnovers — to his 13 touchdowns.

Ouch.

This offense is stale. It's falling apart. The offensive line can't block and even when it does, Rivers looks so indecisive that he holds on to the ball so long that he takes a sack or makes a poor decision (you know, a Brett Favre).

We all know Rivers has the talent so the problem lies elsewhere. The seat is burning under Mr. Norv Turner and it's only going to get hotter. He's taken a 14-2 team and turned it into a complete mess.

Only Josh McDaniels could do more damage in less time. Right, Broncos?

Jawz Attack (3-6) at Channel 4 News Team (5-4)
Series History: Jawz leads 1-0.

Today, is a special day.

Not only will the Jawz Attack and the Channel 4 News Team owners be in the same living room when the 1 o'clock games kick off, the one will be holding the JFL Championship Trophy.

Yes, that's right. Consider this the day the banner is raised to the roof. Appropriately, the News Team is home. Let's call it homecoming weekend for the News Team.

The trophy will be presented to Nick Nikish today in front of a crowd of about, oh, I'd say six if my dad happens to walk downstairs before the Eagles kick off.

It will be a special moment.

For Jawz, it will be a chance to once again lay eyes on the trophy — he saw it on draft day — and think, someday.

I mean it. Someday, because it's not happening this year.

On the brink of elimination is a tough situation to face. It's even worse when you're playing the guy with the trophy.

The News Team already got 26.8 points from Denarius Moore, but it doesn't work out to be a lot of points from Thursday's game considering he also had Vincent Jackson who scored 2.4 points.

All told, it could have been worse for the Attack, especially if Jackson would have, you know, turned around and looked at the pass coming his way.

Jawz has issues at WR, too. DeSean Jackson is listed as an inactive after missing a team meeting. That means, the Attack will need huge days out of Josh Freeman, MJD, Roddy White, Wes Welker and Jimmy Graham.

I'm just listing names because really, honestly, I only have to say one name to complete this preview.

Aaron Rodgers.

Jammers' Prediction: Channel 4 News Team 156, Jawz Attack 125

Jimmy Jammers (7-2) at Graybill's Generals (6-3)
Series History: Jammers leads 5-3.

Ah, former division rivals in the early years of the JFL. The two battled like nothing else in that first season, combing for a 22-4 record during the regular season.

Now, the two are in similar situations, record-wise, and they're facing off in what according to records, is a what NFL media would hype up to be a "Super Bowl Preview."

We all know a lot can happen in the next couple weeks, but when the best record in the Liberty Conference goes up against the top record in the Nittany Conference in Week 10, there is some meaning to it.

There's also a lot on the line for these two as the Jammers looks to lock up a playoff spot and fend off his division rival Slackers, who is just one game behind him. The Generals can't grab a playoff spot, but he can keep the dangerous News Team at least one game away with a win.

The one-game leads are crucial this late in the season and both of these teams would love to hold onto their's.

The Jammers didn't start well in his mission to achieve that.

Just 6.3 points from Mathews, 3.5 coming of the initial drive, made for a rough Thursday night. Nick Novak only kicked one field goal and ended with four points. He missed a 40-yarder, too.

So with a 10.3-2 lead, we head into Sunday with the Generals deploying a full field of nine players.

We can assume LeSean McCoy and Steven Jackson are going to be money today, so where the Generals are going to need to pick it up is at QB and at the WR position.

Joe Flacco seemingly has a good matchup against the Seattle defense, but Flacco has been presented with these opportunities before and he has failed. I know because I traded for his bum ass in Schiavo's league.

His only great game of the season was a 41.7-point performance against St. Louis, so maybe the Generals can hope for some of his NFC West magic. But with a road game after a big Steelers win, I'm going to look at what Flacco did the last time that happened — 13.5 points. I don't expect a big day from him. This game will feature more Ray Rice and Ravens defense.

So that leaves the WR/TEs, three of whom had double-digit efforts last week. Those three — Steve Breaston, Jerome Simpson and Jake Ballard — have combined for just seven double-digit performances all year, so with Simpson going up against Pittsburgh and Jake Ballard against San Francisco, I'm betting that repeat performances are going to be hard to come by. The fourth WR, Sidney Rice, who had just 7.5 points last week, is running into the aforementioned Ravens' defense.

Basically, this matchup then comes down to the Jammer scoring his average. Substituting Julio Jones — last week's bench hero — for Larry Fitzgerald is the only move that is not usual for the Jammers this week. His usual big guns include Darren Sproles, Reggie Bush and Greg Jennings. Brandon Marshall also is starting, but he doesn't deserve the label "big gun." Not yet.

The Jammers' biggest key will be at QB where at the 10 o'clock hour is listed as Matthew Stafford, but he's a game-time decision with Matt Ryan.

Jammers' Biased Prediction: Jammers 128, Generals 111

Sunday Slackers (6-3) at Real Houserville (4-5)
Series History: Houserville leads 2-1.

Houserville just put the pressure on.

The Slackers, looking for their second playoff berth in franchise history, is trailing by a few heading into Sunday's slate.

Houserville did one of the smartest thing a fantasy owner can do at the start of the season and that's draft your star running back's handcuff. With Darren McFadden as a keeper, Houserville made sure to grab Michael Bush for insurance. And it has paid off.

In his two weeks replacing an injured McFadden, Bush has torn up the AFC West to the tune of 253 yards and a TD. He's also had 118 yards receiving and a TD. In our world, we call that 50.1 fantasy points. Graybill, five years ago spinning around in his desk at the Lewistown Sentinel would declare it, "Championship," in a high pitched voice.

At 4-5, I can't say a championship is in Houserville's sights yet, but a win this week would certainly help his chances. A win would single-handedly keep alive all three playoff spots in the Liberty Conference. No one can clinch if he wins.

So, Jawz Attack is wearing a Houserville hat today.

On that hat is pictured Cam Newton, who returns from the bye with a matchup against a Tennessee defense that has been so bad on many occasions and it looks like they'll be primed to watch another fantasy QB score more than 30. With his rushing ability, I do not see why Newton can't go for 40 points today. He may even go for 50.

Add in a big day from Mike Wallace and Rob Gronkowski and Houserville should be well on his way to victory.

That's factoring in the fact that I feel Drew Brees and Ray Rice will combine for 60 points and one if not both of the Packer receivers will hit double-digits. I see Matt Forte being held to low teens and Earl Bennett not repeating his heroics of last week — you only play the Eagles once.

Jammers' Prediction: Houserville 156, Slackers 128

T-Money (4-5) at Organ Thieves (3-5-1)
Series History: T-Money leads 5-3.

Seemingly, I would say there hasn't been a more pivotal battle of third-place teams in a while.

In divisions that are extremely close heading into the final weeks (T-Money is 1GB and the Thievesr are 2.5 GB) this is a good chance for both teams to make a move.

The fact that the Money Man can actually go third to first today is incredible for Week 10.

His chances of doing so, however, are based upon how many more 20-point performances the Thieves can get. After Thursday, the Thieves have notched two and I can easily see one more from Adrian Peterson who will go up against a Packers defense that does not much defending.

I can also see decent days from Hakeem Nicks, if he's healthy enough to play, and Jeremy Maclin, if he can manage to hold onto the ball. The Eagles will be without DeSean Jackson and Maclin may be the man moving forward here. So he's going to have to learn how to be clutch. So far, he's dropped a few catchable balls on potential game-winning drives, and he's fallen down short of the first down another time.

BenJarvus Green-Ellis is questionable, but if he can go, he had 27 points against the Jets earlier in the season and he'll surely get the chance to put up similar numbers.

For the Money Man, I like some of his matchups, too, so I can see him taking this game based on that. I think Tony Romo coming off the bye should have a good week against Buffalo, but we are getting late in the season where Tony Romo tends to fade.

Steve Smith should have a huge day and Dwayne Bowe is due for one of his 30-point explosions. Denver is a team that certainly is capable of allowing such an explosion.

I'm going to go with the Thieves in this one, although this is one of the toughest matchups to pick in a while. The reason I'm going with the Thieves is because I actually feel like the Giants are going to beat the 49ers today. I know the 49ers have been really good, but for some reason, I'm just not completely sold on this team yet. If they can shutdown Eli and the Giants this week, then, I'm sold.

But for that reason, T-Money will lose points from Frank Gore and the 49ers defense, and in turn the Organ Thieves will get some action from Hakeem Nicks. (I'm not sure what to expect out of T-Money's Brandon Jacobs).

Jammers' Prediction: Chinese Organ Thieves 128, T-Money 125

Team Boyer (4-4-1) at World of Noise (1-8)
Series History: Boyer leads 4-2.

And this week's lucky winner is … Boyer.

Congratulations, you're the next contestant to play the horrid Noise.

I mean, geez, how bad is this team?

You know it's bad when opponents of the Noise have a better chance of beating him than winning something at McDonald's during their Monopoly contest. Doesn't it seem like everyone wins a free cheeseburger or McFlurry?

If the lottery were only this easy. Everyone would be guaranteed to win once a year.

Boyer can forget the fact that Antonio Gates was a bum Thursday. Tom Brady, Michael Turner, LeGarrette Blount and Willis McGahee will almost double the World of Noise total by themselves. End of story.

Jammers' Prediction: Boyer 144, Noise 72

Fear and Loathing (5-4) at Dottsville Toasters (5-4)
Series History: Toasters lead 3-2.

I've just been plowing through these previews this morning without really analyzing the week as a whole and now that I'm on preview No. 6, I have to say, we have a hell of a week here.

Fear and Loathing vs. the Toasters is yet another battle of first-place teams. We have two of those this week. We have the trophy ceremony game for the News Team. We have a huge playoff implicating battle between the Slackers and the 'Ville. And then we have the World of Crappy Noise losing. What a week.

I see that Fear and Loathing has deciding to switch it up and go with a few of his bench players who scored big points last week. And that is good because DeMarco Murray and Rashard Mendenhall should be in the lineup. But I'm not so sure that Brandon Lloyd deserves the benching. Lloyd will score 18 points on the bench this week. Cedric Benson also tends to have good games against the Steelers, so that's a bit of a shocking move, too. I wouldn't be surprised to see 100 and a TD from Benson.

But let's talk about who is actually starting and looking at the Toasters, he was a Calvin Johnson away from winning the week. The 20 points that C.J. will score this week will be huge, because we all know the other C.J. on the Toasters' roster has been unreliable. Carolina, however, provides the matchup that should allow Chris Johnson to have a huge day. Cross your fingers, Toasters.

No matter what, this first-place matchup is going to come down to Monday night when Fear deploys the Packers defense and the Toasters send out James Starks and Mason Crosby.

I have no faith in Michael Vick or the Eagles, but against the Cardinals, Vick should go crazy, emphasize should. But who knows with that Nightmare Team. A 40-point day from Vick is a great possibility and that will obviously put the Toasters in a hole, especially if Schaub has another 10-point day.

I like the Toasters in a squeaker, as in the Vikings scoring some late points and yards to allow the Toasters to win by a few points.

Jammers' Prediction: Toasters 130, Fear and Loathing 124

FB: Week 9 Recap: Jammers, Slackers on verge of playoff berths

2011-11-13T09:27:00.001-05:00

After nine weeks, all six playoffs spots are still up for grabs and all four divisions are not settled.

The only thing we know for sure is that World of Noise, possibly the worst team in JFL history, is not going to the playoffs. At 1-8, the Noise was eliminated with his loss last week.

Heading into Week 10, only two teams can clinch a playoff spot. The Jammers can do it with a win and a Houserville loss. The Slackers can do the same and with him playing Houserville, he controls his own destiny. With a win, The Slackers would be 7-3 and at worst could finish 7-6. With that loss, Houserville would be 4-6 and at best could finish 7-6 and would lose the tie breaker with the Slackers. The Jammers doesn't own the tiebreaker against Houserville, so he'll have to move to 8 wins to clinch a spot. If the Jammers and Slackers both win, Jawz Attack will be eliminated as the Wild Card team would be guaranteed to be either the Jammers or the Slackers. Houserville would still be alive for the playoffs because he can still win the division.

As for the Nittany Conference, nothing is decided and nothing can be decided this weekend. There's 2.5 games separating the No. 1 team and the No. 6 team.

Graybill's Generals 123.7, Jawz Attack 101.2

Both these squads made offseason trades to acquire Eagles.

One got the best of the Dream Team; the other got the most disappointing player on it.

The Generals' acquisition has been harped on over and over by me, so there's no need to talk about it. LeSean McCoy is just ridiculous.

DeSean Jackson used to be ridiculous. This this, he's been a bum. … And he wants a new contract?

He'll be lucky if he remains a member of the Attack next season. At this rate, he's already on the ditch list. Five single-digit fantasy weeks, bottoming out at a season-worst 1 point this past weekend. Only two catches for 16 yards, and then he added that horrible back-breaking fumble for the Eagles.

The Attack also had poor performances from Knowshon Moreno (1.2 points) and Roddy White (8.4 points).

The Generals also got some good points from some unexpected players — Jake Ballard (13.5) and Steve Breaston (12.9). Breaston managed to do it in an awful 31-3 loss, too.

The win was big for the Generals, keeping him in first place of the Nittany Division, as well as first in the Nittany Conference. For Jawz, it ends a good run and puts his season on thin ice — kind of like DeSean Jackson and the Eagles.

Sunday Slackers 111.8, Dottsville Toasters 98

Well, I was right. Ray Rice and Matt Forte weren't going to have 20-point weeks, making this matchup close.

And I said in order for the Toasters to get past the Slackers, he'd have to get a good day out of Chris Johnson, and believe it or not, Johnson reached double-digits. But, it was only 11.8 points. His season-high is 13.1. Still not good enough.

But that's not where the Toasters lost this matchup.

It was lost at QB where Matt Schaub scored even fewer points than Johnson with 10.5. He threw for a season low 119 yards and no TDs. It wasn't that his team wasn't playing well. It's just that they weren't passing. Both Arian Foster and Ben Tate ran for more than 100 yards.

The Texans are one of the few teams that run more than the pass (313 runs to 277 pass). And it's been working for them; not for the Toasters. He can't wait for Andre Johnson to come back.

The Slackers got big performances from his Green Bay receivers — Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley — but who didn't have good performances from Packer wideouts?

Jimmy Jammers 141, Team Boyer 109.7

Who would have thought that starting Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blount would have been the wrong move? Not me. They are the reason that I picked Boyer to win. But the two combined to score 22.4 points.

On his bench, he two RBs that he had to start in Week 8 combined to scored 50.8 points. Can you believe that Willis McGahee was a 30.3-point back this week and Marshawn Lynch was worth 20.5? It boggles the mind. And going forward, they may be more deserving of starts over Roy Williams who has just one double-digit week.

The Jammers had some big point totals on the bench, too, but it was one of those weeks where he couldn't go wrong, other than starting Jon Baldwin over Julio Jones who had the best game of his career with 33 fantasy points.

Larry Fitzgerald also had his first TD since Week 3 and it may be because he had a QB not named Kolb throwing to him — or trying to. John Skelton (out of Fordham, shoutout Patriot League) threw a strike to my old classmate Fitzy. (I didn't call him that in class. In fact, I never called him that to his face.)

And, in what may have been a blessing in disguise, Ryan Mathews was inactive Sunday, forcing the Jammers to start either Reggie Bush, Ben Tate or Daniel Thomas. Bush was the winner, scoring 20.8 points.

Darren Sproles also had another big week, scoring 19.9 points, to take over No. 3 in fantasy back rankings. Not bad for a 10th-round pickup. Yeah, I'm bragging. So what?

T-Money 122.8, World of Noise 84.8

There wasn't much doubt about this one. The World of Noise and the Indianapolis Colts aren't so different this year. Both are in disarray and you can't tell me they're one player away from being good.

And now it's official. The Suck for Luck campaign has begun in the World of Noise.

Then again, I'm not sure drafting the "next great quarterback" is going to help the Noise. I think there's a front office issue here. Maybe he should start studying up for the 2012 JFL Draft now, planning on who he should take. Because whatever strategy was used to assemble this collection of dimwits isn't worth trying again. Time to go back to the drawing board.

I feel like Noise fans are acting like this guy:

Time for the Noise fans to rise up and demand for a change.

As for T-Money, I'm sorry I didn't talk about you much here, but you did just beat World of Noise which is not news. It's just something that seven other teams (three more coming) have done. Welcome to the party.

Channel 4 News Team 167.8, Real Houserville 120.8

I'm surprised Houserville hasn't hit the message boards yet to complain.

Last week, it was "home-field advantage is boo-boo."

This week, I expected: "Having Aaron Rodgers is unfair. Teams shouldn't be allowed to have such a good player.

And can you believe how good he has been? He had 41.2 points this week which was second to his Week 4 performance of 61.6 points. But the most amazing thing is, Rodgers hasn't had a week where he has scored less than 31.8 points, and he's averaging 38.4 points per week.

Despite that, this was just the News Team's fifth win of the season. The key for the News Team has been running back Arian Foster. The News Team is 4-1 when he scores 18.6 points or more.

Foster has done that for three straight games and that's why the News Team has won three straight. Foster went for another 22 points this week with his third straight 100-yard performance.

Rodgers and Foster each got help from Vincent Jackson and the Cardinals defense who both scored 33.5 points.

For Jackson, it was only his third good week, but two of them were so good that it makes him the sixth-ranked receiver in fantasy.

His 15th-ranked waiver pickup wideout, Victor Cruz has been much more consistent as he notched his fifth double-digit outing in his last five games. Clearly, Eli Manning has found a go-to WR in Cruz.

For Houserville, there wasn't much he could do this week. Facing 167.8 points, he needed his boy Cam Newton in the lineup, and he was on the bye.

I'm sure he'll make a return to the lineup this week. His return, plus the fact he won't be playing the News Team, will make things better next week.

Chinese Organ Thieves 83.7, Fear and Loathing 56.7

Well, crap. World of Noise could have beaten both of you.

And that means you two should be ashamed of yourselves, especially you Mr. Fear. I warned you about Kevin Faulk, and you started him anyway. DeMarco Murray, my suggestion, went for 19.4. Faulk, he had zero points and that was a big hit.

In fact, Fear had 124.3 points on the bench. That's like the bench point totals he used to accumulate when he ousted Chad Johnson from the starting lineup.

I can criticize the Faulk move, but I cannot criticize any of the other moves. I can't believe that Tebow scored more than double the points of Michael Vick.

Or that the Chiefs couldn't stop the Dolphins? They gave up 31 points to a Matt Moore led team?

That's more than half the points Fear scored.

And now I just found out JoePa was fired. I'm done writing recaps. Crazy. I definitely though the World of Noise coach would go first.

FB: Week 9 Preview: Big matchups between Nittany North & Patriot divisions

2011-11-06T02:27:00.002-05:00

Chris Johnson says "It can't get any worse." What fans and fantasy owners really want to know is will it get better. ... Browns say they'll be OK with letting Peyton Hillis walk after this season. No official word from the News Team organization, but sources say that they're looking to do the same thing. ... Rob Ryan says that he "is the best." Funny, he's not even the best in his family. I rank him third behind his dad, Buddy, and his equally loud-mouthed brother, Rex.

For as upset as I was last week, I have to be happy about this weekend's slate of football games.

Unfortunately, I'll be on the road covering Patriot League Championships, but I should be in the car and drive home during the 4 p.m. games and home in time for the big Steelers-Ravens game.

That game was a lopsided decision in favor of the Ravens last time, and I guarantee that it will be nowhere near the blowout it was last time. It may not be the low-scoring battle that has happened in the past, though. I have a feeling this could be a nice little shootout.

Then of course, I'll be home for the big Eagles-Bears game on Monday night which should be a lot of fun to watch.

Other games that I will enjoy listening to on the radio will be the Packers-Chargers, Bucs-Saints and Bills-Jets.

The Bills-Jets game to me is only going to be good because I think the Bills are going to rout those awful Jets. I've said it all year. This Jets team is no good, and I can't wait to see the Bills dispose of them.

In our own league, we have a few big matchups that will be fun to watch this week. The top two in the Nittany North and the Patriot Division will be going up against each other this Sunday. The first-place Jammers will play second-place Boyer and second-place Slackers will play the first-place Toasters.

Another interesting matchup pits the tough-to-beat News Team, even when Aaron Rodgers is out, and Real Houserville. Both squads are 4-4 and a game out of first place in their respective divisions, so a lot is on the line this week for them.

This weekend features a lot of key inactive players, some still not announced but will be soon, and that will mean there should be some surprise performances that will affect matchups.

Jimmy Jammers (6-2) at Team Boyer (4-3-1)
Series History: Jammers leads 5-1.

It's not a good week to play Boyer.

The backs are back.

Michael Turner returns from the bye week and LeGarette Blount returns from injury.

Turner is going up against an awful Colts defense, while Blount gets a crack at the Saints defense that gave up more than 150 yards to Steven Jackson last week.

Both should get a good amount of yards and fantasy points this weekend.

The Jammers, who will be without Matt Stafford this week, will go with Matt Ryan and that means Ryan will have to take points away from Turner. The Jammers is rooting for a passing game.

And that will have to happen early because it is very unlikely that this game will turn into a shootout. So early fantasy points from Ryan will be key, because as soon as the Falcons take a big enough lead, it's just going to be a heavy dose of Turner.

If that doesn't work, the only way the Jammers can make up the points is at WR, where Boyer is at the disadvantage. Dez Bryant is the most talented wideout, but he's been inconsistent, and Steven Johnson has the chance to have a good day, but he'll likely be going up against Darrelle Revis, and my boy from Pitt should shut him down.

The other key matchup in this game will be Darren Sproles against the Bucs. The Jammers has gotten a lot of great production from Sproles this season, and it should continue this week with Mark Ingram down.

It's going to be close, but I'm going to lean toward Turner getting his points.

Jammers' Prediction Boyer 131, Jammers 126

Sunday Slackers (5-3) at Dottsville Toasters (5-3)
Series History: Toasters leads 2-1.

I'd like to say that this matchup will come down to the Sunday night game because they both have the defenses going in that game, but I just can't with the lack of productivity from the running backs.

I imagine that Kendall Hunter will be replaced by James Starks, but who knows. Both are shots in the dark.

Kind of like Chris Johnson.

Wait, what am I saying? He's not a shot in the dark. We know what he's going to do. Nothing.

But the fact that he could do something ridiculous is why the Toasters has to keep starting him.

This has to be one of the most frustrating things in fantasy football.

Trust me, I know. In a way, I deal with the same thing each week when I start Larry Fitzgerald. I know Kevin Kolb is absolutely awful and his chances of getting Fitz the ball for big fantasy points are slim, but the fact that he could at any time go nuts leaves him in the lineup.

That's what Johnson is. A huge threat. But he's been a huge disappointment.

The only way I see the Toasters winning this matchup is if he gets a huge day from him, because someone has to pick up the slack with Calvin Johnson on the bye.

That's right. Mr. 20 points is on the bye. Let's hear Dawson complain about that. Calvin on the bye is like the other team having at least a 10-point home-field advantage.

I do think the Slackers' big RBs — Ray Rice and Matt Forte — will be limited in points, and by that, I mean they are not going to have big 20-point days. I think Rice will be bottled up for about 90 total yards (50 rushing, 40 receiving) and Forte will get close to 100 and possibly a TD, but still, it's not the big fantasy days that have given the Slackers five wins.

But even with that, he'll still pull out the win.

Jammers' Prediction Slackers 125, Toasters 112

Real Houserville (4-4) at Channel 4 News Team (4-4)
Series History: News Team leads 3-0.

Houserville is in a bit of trouble this week.

The News Team is primed and ready to put on a clinic this weekend, and Houserville is going without Darren McFadden.

I do think replacement Michael Bush will fill in nicely, but I cannot see him getting enough points to make up for the kind of days Aaron Rodgers, Arian Foster, Miles Austin and Victor Cruz will have.

Beanie Wells also has the potential if he can play Sunday. He's questionable, but he'll try to play. Unlike Peyton Hillis, who when he has a question, immediately decides he's out — that, or his agent does.

Can you believe how far he has fallen? I heard many people in the preseason say — and I was in agreement — that Hillis was going to take a step back this season. We all saw him fade down the stretch last season and then, of course, he was selected to be on the cover on Madden 12.

Yes, the curse strikes again.

This continues to get more interesting each year.

I think the News Team is going to have to worry a bit this offseason. Aaron Rodgers has to be on the Madden franchise's radar. And if the Packers win another Super Bowl, which looks very promising at this point, he'll be heavily pursued for the cover.

So, News Team, you need to start sending letters, emails, Tweets, care packages, whatever you can give him, to keep him from doing this.

On my blog, I begged Tomlinson in 2007 to not be on the Madden cover and fortunately he didn't.

Perhaps start a blog?

That, or win another Super Bowl before it's too late.

A win over Houserville will get the News Team over the hump after starting 2-4. It will be his third straight win and depending on the Generals performance Sunday, this could put him in a tie for first place, where we all thought he would be at the start of the season.

For Houserville, it will be the complete opposite. It will be a third straight loss and it could push him two games behind Fear.

The Ville does have a chance in the matchup because I personally believe Big Ben is going to have a big day, but I feel like points will be tough to find from Shonn Greene, Michael Crabtree and Anquan Boldin this week.

Jammers' Prediction News Team 142, Houserville 130

Fear and Loathing (5-3) at Chinese Organ Thieves (2-5-1)
Series History: Organ Thieves leads 4-1.

Fear and Loathing has made some interesting choices for Sunday.

Mendenhall, benched.

DeMarco Murray, benched.

Jackie Battle, benched.

Who's in at RB? Kevin Faulk and Cedric Benson.

Benson makes some sense, but I'm not so sure about Faulk. He's fresh off the PUP list and caught five passes and ran six times for 6.2 fantasy points last week. Against the Giants in what should be a back-and-forth contest, he could see a good amount of touches, but at this point, it's hard to count on him fantasy-wise.

Then again, Fear is the king of the waiver wire, so that means Faulk will score 20 fantasy points this week. Another one of his waiver-wire gems, Michael Vick, will have a huge night Monday, completing this victory for Fear. The Thieves have Jeremy Maclin going that night, but by then, Fear should have a good enough lead to just pad it and remain in first place.

Jammers' Prediction Fear and Loathing 129, Organ Thieves 110

Graybill's Generals (5-3) at Jawz Attack (3-5)
Series History: Generals leads 1-0.

It's the battle of the best running backs in fantasy football — Generals' No. 1-ranked LeSean McCoy and Jawz' No. 3-ranked Fred Jackson.

McCoy, as we all know, was an offseason trade acquisition.

Jackson was a fourth-round draft pick, 56th overall. Take this time to kick yourself. Fred Jackson had another 20 points last week, his fifth 20-point outing of 2011. He ran for 120 yards and caught three passes for 74 yards. He's been excellent and he should continue that strong play this week. The yardage may not be as high as it was last week, but a pair of TDs will certainly help him get to 20 points again.

The player Jawz took three rounds ahead of Jackson, Roddy White, hasn't been worthy of the No. 1 pick, but he's got the chance to score his fourth TD of the season Sunday. Maybe even a fifth, too. Against the Colts, I expect Roddy to have a big day. Jimmy Graham, Wes Welker and DeSean Jackson should all be good for decent point totals Sunday.

The Attack's weak spot with be Knowshon Moreno, although, if he can somehow get double-digit touches, I think he'll have a chance to make the loss of Maurice Jones-Drew (on the bye) not that big.

The Generals will run into trouble with his WRs and Steven Jackson. Jackson has been pretty good this season and is coming off of his best outing of the season, but he's got the Cards this week. And that sounds like a good matchup, but Jackson has only scored three TDs in 11 games against the Cards. I'm going with the stats. He'll stay out of the end zone and will fall well short of last week's performance.

Jammers' PredictionJawz Attack 130, Generals 102

T-Money (3-5) at World of Noise (1-7)
Series History: T-Money leads 4-1.

In this week's "Who the heck cares?" matchup, World of Noise faces T-Money.

Let me set the record straight, I'm in no way slamming T-Money. This is all about World of Noise. No matter who he plays, we don't care about the matchup. Chalk it up as a win. And if you happen to lose to this bum squad, shame on you.

I am hoping this matchup comes down to a couple points, though. Not because I want to see T-Money sweat it out, but rather, because I want Plaxico Burress to make the difference.

World of Noise shot himself in the leg the other week when he dropped Burress right before he scored three TDs. Now, he's hoping he doesn't shoot himself in the other leg. … I'm talking about World of Noise, of course.

Jammers' Prediction T-Money 110, Noise 88

Week 8 Recap: Sorta. Sunday the way I saw it.

2011-11-04T08:45:00.001-04:00

Chris Johnson says "It can't get any worse." What fans and fantasy owners really want to know is will it get better. ... I don't have any more funny notes at this point. Just read the recaps.

Well, lunch hour at work has turned into write recaps hour. And Thursday night turned into the night I finished them.

Still, it was tough. I felt like a Jaguars fan, who can't watch games on Sunday due to local blackouts.

But can you believe it? Five days without power.

It's just my luck.

The same luck that Houserville had this past week.

He brings up the whole home-field advantage "issue," finds out that it affects less than 5 percent of matchups in the decimal era, and then he goes and loses by 0.8 points as a road team.

Should have just kept his mouth shut.

That or just kept Cam Newton in the starting lineup.

Dottsville Toasters 111.9, Real Houserville 111.1

Why did you bench Cam Newton? Was there a big billboard in Houserville pushing for Big Ben to get the start?

And if so, why did you listen to it?

Crazy. Now, you missed out on a chance to be tied for first place.

Still, I can't take anything away from the Toasters, who now sits in first place in his division. It wasn't just Newton who lost this matchup for Houserville.

It was Calvin Johnson going for his sixth 20-point fantasy week. What a beast. I wish I could have seen this game. I didn't even know he had a big game until now. Thanks, snowstorm.

Toasters can thank Johnson.

If it weren't for him, and the double-digit performances of Matt Schaub, Mario Manningham and Eric Decker, he would have been ruined by his RBs. Chris Johnson has turned into the biggest fantasy bust I've seen in a long time. Only 5.7 points on a team that isn't all that bad. The Titans aren't the worse team in the league, and hell, I have them ranked second in their division ahead of the awful Colts and the pitiful Jags — and Johnson still can't get going. It's too bad the Titans didn't include a clause in the contract for such a crappy performance. I think this should seal the deal for any other team that deals with a holdout. If they miss the preseason, don't sign them.

The Toasters will get James Starks off the bye next week and maybe Jahvid Best back from injury. He'll sure need it because it doesn't look like Johnson is going to help the Toasters stay in first place.

Jimmy Jammers 129, Chinese Organ Thieves 115.7

Where in the world is Philip Rivers? And who is this alien that replaced him for the 2011 season?

I saw a funny Tweet that read that Philip Rivers dressed up as Tony Romo for Halloween. His fumble on the final drive of regulation with a minute left doomed the Chargers who needed just a field goal to win.

For the Thieves, the fumble didn't matter much in the fantasy matchup, because had he held onto the ball, the Chargers would have likely kicked a game-winning field goal giving the Jammers another three points.

Nick Novak's 15 points and Ryan Mathews 10.4 points on Monday night staved off the 16.1 points from Rivers and the 18 points from the Chargers defense. The matchup was close early, but with every field goal, the Jammers pulled away.

And it's a good thing, too, because the decision to go with Eli Manning over Matthew Stafford was a poor one, as was the idea to go with Ben Tate over Reggie Bush and Ted Ginn over Antonio Brown.

About the only smart decision the Jammers made was starting the Lions defense against crappy Tebow, a move that won the matchup. Going with the Texans would have doomed the Jammers.

Graybill's Generals 130.1, T-Money 103

Don't look now, but the Generals are still in first place. Take that preseason pollsters.

And who to thank for this?

Well, we can talk to Schiavo. He's the one who traded LeSean McCoy away to a division rival. He's now ranked No. 1 in fantasy after scoring 32.4 points with a career day. He's now had double-digits in all seven games, and he's scored 20 points five times.

Add that to what Steven Jackson has been doing the past couple weeks, and the Generals are looking to be in good shape at 5-3. Jackson had one of his best days in years, going for 159 yards and two TDs and 31.9 fantasy points. Together, the RB duo went for 64.3 points.

With Joe Flacco's inconsistency and the shaky WR corps, the Generals will need McCoy and Jackson to continue to put up their great numbers.

Fear and Loathing 111.8, Boyer 91.3

Boyer had to know this was going to be a rough week. Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blount both on the shelf for the bye week.

And Marshawn Lynch and Ricky Williams did not take care business, nor did Davone Bess, Dez Bryant, Steve Johnson and Antonio Gates. All were in the single-digits.

Fear wasn't much better, but 30.5 points from Michael Vick helped secure the win and the move into sole possession of first place.

Not sure what else to say. I completely feel lost writing these recaps because I didn't see any of the games and didn't get the chance to watch highlights.

I'm already on to Week 9.

Jawz Attack 88.2, World of Noise 84.6

Now I have something to say.

The Jawz are on fire.

OK, well, I guess scoring 88.2 points isn't necessarily on fire, but two straight wins have the Attack in a position where the playoffs are finally back on their radar.

This matchup was ugly because both teams had to replace their starting QBs who were on the bye. Their answers were former Eagles' QBs: A.J. Feeley vs. Kevin Kolb, and both scored 13 fantasy points. For Feeley, it was in a big Rams win. For Kolb, it was just another ugly day. The Cards jumped out to a big lead, but it was not his doing. A punt return for a TD and an interception return for a TD were a reason why the Cards had a lead.

Not Kolb.

When will that mistake be forgotten? At least not until after the Eagles use the draft pick to pick up something nice.

An unknown player at this point, but surely expected to be a member of the World of Noise in the future. We know this because we know him all too well.

That's why we all left Jason Avant on the waiver wire, just so he could pick him up like he did last week.

He didn't start him, and that's a shame, because had he started him over Devery Henderson, he would have won.

Channel 4 News Team 107.2, Sunday Slackers 99.9

John Beck won a matchup.

Well, let me rephrase that. He was on the winning team.

And defense was the name of the game. The Bengals scored 42 fantasy points thanks to eight sacks and two touchdowns. They've now had four TDs in the last three weeks. Not a bad waiver wire pickup.

It kind of makes the Slackers look like a fool for drafting a defense so high.

… OK, so the Steelers haven't been that bad. In fact, they had six sacks Sunday and a safety. Not bad.

Still, it wasn't enough to overcome the Bengals, Arian Foster and Victor Cruz.

And this was a prime week to defeat the News Team. Aaron Rodgers was on the bye. This should have been an easy win.

But for some reason, the Saints looked like the worst team in the world after going all NCAA on the Colts the week before.

Drew Brees was nothing like the QB he was the week before and that was one reason they lost. And Alfonso Smith and Ryan Torain were non-existent. Just 15 yards between the two of them. Smith just had one carry for 1 yard. I'm not sure what kind of scouting report the Slackers read about Smith, but I'd suggest he'd not subscribe to that fantasy newsletter.

Might I suggest listening to me?

Home-Field Advantage? Is It Real?

2011-11-03T23:55:00.002-04:00

Week 7 Recap: Need 5-hour energy? Sunday required it

2011-10-26T22:16:00.000-04:00

Asante Samuel says that the Eagles are playing fantasy football. Maybe World of Noise is the new GM of the Eagles because he used to play fantasy football with Eagles players all the time. He, too, got lucky one year and led them to a Super Bowl. ... T.O. gets unexpected offer to play Arena Football. He'll probably say no because there's less room in the end zone to celebrate. ... Jason Campbell says "I'm a starter." The rest of the world says, "Not anymore." ... Bill Cowher is rumored to be in conversations with the Dolphins for the coaching job. Success will only come if more of the CBS crew comes with him — like Dan Marino.

Boy, did the Red Zone Channel let us down this week.

Well, actually, it wasn't the channel.

It was the games.

This week was especially boring. The Dolphins continued to kick field goals, and their five should have been enough, but then Tim Tebow worked some magic and scored 15 points in the final couple minutes to tie the game. It was the only exciting part of the game.

Then there's the Browns-Seahawks game. It was funny that I actually saw a couple glimpses of this game considering it featured just three field goals amongst the two teams.

And then there was the Monday night game, which I'm so glad I missed while I was at the Flyers' game. Four field goals by the Jags was all they needed to beat the Ravens. How boring was that game? No, I'm really asking. How boring was it?

I think it's a shame that two winning teams (Browns and Jags) — could have been three had the Dolphins either stopped Tebow or kicked a sixth field goal in OT — had the same amount of touchdowns as all the teams on the bye week.

Scary.

The lower scores this week — minus the Saints college-like blowout — translated over to fantasy football. Seven teams cracked 100 points this week and only two had more than 120. You know, a light week in the JFL.

And it figures that two of the lower scores paired up against each other as the Thieves and Boyer tied at 88.3-88.3. I waited until Wednesday night to write the recaps just in case there was a minor stat adjustment, but there wasn't one that affected their matchup.

So, we have our first tie since implementing the decimal system. One tie in three years sure beats the two ties we had in 2008 without the decimals.

Both the Jammers and the Slackers didn't need decimals, although, it was looking like they would as the Jammers needed a fourth-quarter comeback Sunday night and the Slackers survived a few rough outings thanks to 46 points from Drew Brees.

The two division rivals move to 5-2 and make it even harder for the Jawz Attack to mount a comeback.

As a note, World of Noise also will be affected by the division rivals — Slackers and Jammers — as if both win and Noise loses, he will be eliminated from Wild Card contention and will have to win the division to make the playoffs. Good luck with that.

Jimmy Jammers 119.4, Fear and Loathing 112

Not sure what the Colts ever did to upset the Saints, but I thank them for pushing the right buttons.

Because whatever caused the Saints to go out there with 48 points on the board and say, let's keep our three starting RBs — Mark Ingram, Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles — in the game, made the Jammers extremely happy, trailing 112-111 at that point.

It was early in the fourth quarter and at 48-7 surely, Sproles, who had already surpassed 100 all-purpose yards and had a TD reception, wouldn't find his way onto the field.

Ingram started drive with two big runs, but came up a bit injured.

That got my hopes up. Maybe Sproles will come out and get 11 yards.

But no, Thomas came out and ran for the 11 yards I needed.

And then, it was Sproles.

First carry, 2 yards. Not enough.

Second carry, run right, breaks through the line. It looks like he has enough yards to win it and then at the 5-yard-line, he breaks a tackle and scampers into the end zone for a 16-yard TD.

There was still a need to worry with Pierre Garcon going for the Fear, but on the Colts very next play, Curtis Painter threw a pick-six to make it 62-7 with 12:12 left.

At that point, both teams had seen enough.

The Colts only attempted four more passes for the rest of the game and only one was completed.

At this point, the comeback was complete — and the comeback was necessary because Tim Tebow managed 28.5 points in that crappy Dolphins-Broncos game, and DeMarco Murray broke Emmitt Smith's single-game rushing record with 253 yards and a TD for 34.3 fantasy points.

It was yet another great waiver pickup for Fear.

His other waiver-wire gems were less than stellar. Jackie Battle, who we're all familiar with now had 7.6 points, Pierre Garcon had 3.7 points and Doug Baldwin had a big zero.

Even with those poor numbers, he still was in contention because Ryan Mathews and Daniel Thomas combined for 13 points, and Brandon Marshall and Larry Fitzgerald weren't much better. Both those WRs are dealing with QB problems. I watched Kevin Kolb bounce passes in the general direction of receivers. How awful is that?

Well, I guess it's not as bad as Tebow. He wasn't even getting his bounces close enough to hit receivers.

Sunday Slackers 123.1, World of Noise 102.9

Noise should give up. I mean, when you drop Plaxico Burress and he scores three TDs — 18 points that you desperately needed this week — it means it's time for you to give up.

Especially when elimination is around the bend.

So, maybe it's time to start thinking about 2012. I'd say trade some of your good players, but, you can see where I'm going with this joke.

For the Slackers, it was an ugly week. Drew Brees and Matt Forte scored more than half of the team's points — 70.7 of 123.1 — Ray Rice was a dud, Earnest Graham and Santana Moss each left early with injuries, and Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley were not Rodgers' favorite targets this week.

Still, as it has been all season, the Slackers wins with his trio — Brees, Rice and Forte — even though two had to pick up the other.

Chinese Organ Thieves 88.3, Boyer 88.3

Sounds like a lame FM station you don't want to land on: 88.3.

But that's the number stuck running through Schiavo and Boyer's heads for the rest of this week.

It's quite amazing to think about this. Either team has to be thinking, "Really? One more yard? Couldn't one of my guys get one more yard?"

To make it even worse to think about, as a knowledgable statistician in many sports, the one not-common fact about yardage is that one a player crosses the yard line, the statistical spot is actually the next yard. For example, when they say the ball is at the 45 and a half yard line heading toward midfield, it's actually statistically placed at the 46. So if the RB ran the ball 5 1/2 yards, he gets 6 yards in the stat book.

So if any of these guys would have pushed forward a few inches, they may have earned that extra decimal point.

I'm sure this is all making these two teams feel better.

For Boyer, the tie doesn't work out to be such a bad thing. Leading the division at 4-2-1, he'll actually have the chance to finish with the same amount of wins as someone in his division or conference and still move ahead of them because he'll have one fewer loss — unless we somehow have another tie.

The low scores were made possible thanks to a slew of players missing because of the bye week. Boyer was missing Tom Brady, and then took a big hit when Marshawn Lynch was scratched from the lineup just before the game and Boyer missed it, which was good for the Thieves because Ryan Grant or Willis McGahee both scored points and would have won it for Boyer.

Still, for how unlucky Boyer was with Lynch, he got lucky that Roy Williams finally showed up for a game. He does that from time to time. We expect to see him play a football game again in November of 2013.

The Thieves were also unlucky in that Philip Rivers was rather disappointing with 12.4 points, the second time this season he hasn't reached the teens. Rivers has had four 24- to 27-point games, but he's ranked 17th in the JFL in QB scoring. It's not been the great year many thought he could have. There's still plenty of time to turn that around, but when the Thieves have to seriously consider starting guys like Mark Sanchez (ranked 10th) and Ryan FItzpatrick (11th) you know there's trouble.

It will be a tough decision to make, but any more 12-point weeks will certainly lead to change — and hopefully, no more ties.

Dottsville Toasters 117.3, Graybill's Generals 67

Joe Flacco wants a new contract.

The Ravens are unlikely to give him one when guys like Ray Rice are more deserving of the pay raise.

He still has another year after 2011 on his Ravens contract, so he's not leaving Baltimore if his struggles continue, but there's got to be some questions to whether or not he'll return to the Generals.

I don't want to go all Redskins on you here and call for Flacco's head when the Generals are 4-3 and leading the division, but there is reason to worry when he's had four performances of 17.9 or fewer points (13.5, 10.9 and 4.7). His two big weeks of 29 and 41.7 were so long ago that one has to wonder if they will happen again.

The Generals certainly hope so, especially with LeSean McCoy returning from the bye. And he could certainly use him when Dexter McCluster, Sidney Rice, Johnny Knox, Donald Driver and Steve Breaston all combined to score 23 points, which is just 2.4 more points than McCoy averages per week. The good news is that Steven Jackson had his fourth double-digit game of the season.

That's more that the Toasters can say about Chris Johnson, Mr. CJ2K, who got paid and decided to take a vacation. Only two double-digit weeks with his highest point total being 13.1, the week he scored his only TD of the season.

Calvin Johnson had another 20-point week, and I have to admit that I was wrong about James Starks. He got the same amount of carries as he normally does, but he actually averaged more yards per carry, thus giving him a decent 10.5 points.

It wasn't necessary this week, but it was promising for the Toasters who need someone at RB to step up with Jahvid Best dealing with concussions and Chris Johnson dealing with TMMD (Too Much Money Depression)

Channel 4 News Team 136.4, T-Money 100.3

I know the feeling, T-Money. I do.

Aaron Rodgers goes for 37.3 points and Arian Foster posts 44.4. It's exactly what the News Team did to me Week 1 last season. Foster had his best week of the season, and it looks like he's back from his injury. If you look at his numbers, he's progressively getting better, and the Texans have been using him in a bit of a different way. He had well over 100 receiving yards last season, and he continues to be a speed option while the Texans use Ben Tate, who had 100 yards rushing in this same game, to take care of the hard yards in the center of the field.

With Foster healthy, it gives me hope that the Texans may actually win their division after all. It was a slow start, but they're looking like they're turning it around.

The same may apply for the News Team, who easily won thanks to Foster. If these two keep it up, it could be night-night for the division-leading Generals.

It was for T-Money this week as he got just four double-digit efforts, and if you do that when the defending JFL champs have two guys score a combined 81.7 points, you're pretty much done.

Jawz Attack 97.9, Houserville 89.2

It was a big win for the Jawz, but unfortunately, the remaining road isn't easy. But he does have the players to pull off the kind of winning streak needed to get back into the race.

But, to be as cliche as every athlete and coach out there, he just has to take it one game at a time.

This one was a great victory under the circumstances. DeSean Jackson, Fred Jackson and Wes Welker were all on the bye — that's 54.9 points per week on the bench.

He'll get all three back this week, although he'll lose Josh Freeman for the bye.

Dawson has to worry about getting Darren McFadden back period. He got 0.9 points Sunday and left the game early. He had three other RBs who scored enough points to win the matchup, but of course, there was no way he could have predicted McFadden's early departure.

It was a little bit of luck for Jawz who had been one of the unluckiest teams in the League. We'll see if that luck has permanently changed this week.

FB: Week 7 Previews: New QBs to affect matchups this week

2011-10-23T11:59:00.000-04:00

Tim Tebow starts today, as he gets his second chance to be "Cam Newton." The big thing will be, will he get a third chance after this one? .... Asante Samuel says on Philly sports talk radio that he "knows he's not wanted" after trade talks. Funny, I thought he would get that feeling after bouncing off ball carriers game after game. Learn how to wrap up if you want to stay.

It's a new day in the NFL for several teams as new QBs are taking over in several places — and some are hanging on for dear life.

Christian Ponder, Jon Beck and Tim Tebow will make their first starts of the season, as will A.J. Feeley because of an injury.

And then there's either Kyle Boller or Carson Palmer. No matter who starts, I imagine Palmer will see some snaps either way.

Jawz Attack was able to snag Palmer off the waiver wire in what could be a big move for him, as Josh Freeman has been so-so thus far this season. Freeman had a lot of hype — and even I was buying into it — so much so that I was about to draft him to back up Matt Ryan when I saw they had the same bye week, so I went with the No. 2 QB on my personal draft board, Matthew Stafford.

Well, that worked out for me and it hasn't for Jawz.

Points galore for the Attack, and had Josh Freeman been 10, 15 points better each week, we could be talking about a 4-2 Jawz Attack.

Instead, he's 1-5 and trying to make the long trek back into playoff contention.

We officially pass the midway point this week, and this could be a big separation week with teams with better records playing teams with worse records in all matchups but one — the Jammers (4-2) vs. Fear and Loathing (4-2).

That's our matchup of the week and its first up on the docket for LIVE UPDATE SUNDAY, here on Jimmy's Jargon. Keep refreshing.

Jimmy Jammers (4-2) at Fear and Loathing (4-2)
Series History: Jammers lead 6-1.

Fear was written off weeks ago when he lost Jamaal Charles, but he's done a great job at patching up his squad and winning games.

Three straight wins have placed him in position to take the Liberty Conference lead this week with a win.

Meanwhile, the Jammers have lost two in a row and the tough stretch is just beginning. These next couple weeks will really tell us if the Jammers is for real. Falling to 4-2 Real Houserville last week, the Jammers has 4-2 Fear this week, 2-4 Organ Thieves next week and then three straight matchups against Boyer, Generals and Slackers who are all 4-2. There are five other teams in the JFL that are 4-2 right now, and the Jammers plays all five in a span of six weeks. Already at 0-1 during this stretch, the Jammers have to go 3-3 during this stitch to put himself in line to win the division.

So, to say today's matchup is big for both teams is an understatement.

And remember when I said "patching up his squad?" — if you don't, just scroll up and read again — Fear certainly has done that again this week.

At the beginning of the season, only three of these players could conceivably been considered fantasy starters — Rashard Mendenhall, Jason Witten and maybe Pierre Garcon.

The rest of the Week 7 Fear roster has Tim Tebow, Jackie Battle, DeMarco Murray and Doug Baldwin; the latter three names being players that would have sent my Aunt Stacy scrambling to find to cross off for my Uncle Jason as he drafted.

That's right, the 1-5 Jawz needs draft help — among other things.

But Fear can't be written off just because of the unknowns on his roster. We were introduced to Battle two weeks ago as he score 14.4 points, and Doug Baldwin had a WR party last week with 21.2 points. DeMarco Murray hasn't really done anything this season, but he's in line to start for Felix Jones, and during the preseason, he was one of the NFL's more interesting story lines.

Against St. Louis, he should have a decent party, going for more than 100 yards.

This will certainly make this matchup close, but what will win this matchup is the play of Tim Tebow.

Can the Bow go home to Florida and beat the horrid Dolphins?

My answer is no on that one. I have the Dolphins winning this one and this will be the matchup to watch in this one: Tebow vs. Daniel Thomas and Brandon Marshall. The points out of this game should decide this matchup.

Marshall will finally hold onto a TD pass today and stay in bounds when he catches it, and Thomas will rush for more than 100 and a TD. Tebow will throw three picks, one returned for a score, and Denver fans will finally get what they wished for. Their savior. The savior who has no NFL skills.

Jammers' Prediction: Jammers 134, Fear and Loathing 118

Chinese Organ Thieves (2-4) at Team Boyer (4-2)
Series History: Thieves lead 5-3.

I could sit down and call every matchup an important one, so it's kind of old hat when I do say it, but I have to label this one as an "Important Matchup."

The Organ Thieves have won two straight and a third straight would announce to the JFL world that the Thieves are back.

For Boyer, a win with Tom Brady on the bye would be huge and could kick-start a division title run.

Boyer turns to Christian Ponder against Green Bay, an interesting choice to say the least. He also has to turn to Marshawn Lynch with LeGarrette Blount still sidelined with an injury. Lynch has had double digits in back-to-back weeks, and another week like last week could be just want the Boyer ordered.

But again, Boyer will hang his hat on Michael Turner. A few weeks ago, the Lions defense would have created a little anxiety for RB owners, but they've struggled against the run lately and Turner should only further those troubles. After a big two-TD game last week and 139 yards, Turner should have a decent week again with more than 100 yards and a score.

The Thieves get Philip Rivers off the bye, but loses a few WRs and a RB, leaving some patchwork for this week with Tashard Choise, Devin Hester and Mohamed Massaquoi.

I think Rivers and the Chargers defense are going to score enough points to put the Thieves in a good position to win the game, so it will be up to one of the patches to come up with a double-digit week. Choice should score on the goal line and Massaquoi should get some looks against a really bad Seattle secondary, so I'm going to lean toward the Thieves in this one because I cannot fathom Christian Ponder scoring enough points to make equal the Rivers is going to have.

The Jets are awful. Mark Sanchez is awful. And today should be a disappointing day for the fans in green. I expect at least 35 fantasy points for Rivers and another 25-30 points for the defense.

That will do it for the Thieves.

Jammers' Prediction: Chinese Organ Thieves 111, Boyer 98

Real Houserville (4-2) at Jawz Attack (1-5)
Series History: Houserville leads 1-0

Coming off a big win, Houserville has to be worried about a letdown, especially when traveling on the road to face the 1-5 Jawz Attack.

Well, maybe in the NFL he would.

Not in the JFL.

There will be no letdown this week.

Cam Newton should have plenty opportunities to score this week because Jon Beck is going to be producing a lot of three-and-outs and turnovers. Newton will turn those possessions into a big day.

Also in for a big day are Darren McFadden against Kansas City and Mike Wallace at Arizona. I easily can see 90 combined points from those three players, and the rest will be elementary.

For Jawz, it will be another week where he scores 120 points and loses.

I like Josh Freeman at home against the Bears, and when I say at home, I mean in London. The Bears flew in late on Thursday to play today, whereas the Bucs have been there all week. Freeman will throw for 250 and three scores, as Mike Williams will finally get in and be a part of this offense — which will be upsetting for Fear since he benched him this week. (I hope he doesn't read all the previews or at least waits until after 1 p.m. to read this one.)

I also, believe it or not, like Knowshon Moreno this week. I honestly thought about crafting a trade for him. I think the Broncos will rely on him to help an inaccurate Tebow. Darius Heyward-Bey could be a decent start too, depending on how much time Carson Palmer sees this week.

But it won't be enough.

There isn't much he could do about this week with Fred Jackson, Wes Welker and DeSean Jackson all on the bye.

And that's a shame, because it looked like Houserville's reactionary trade of Wes Welker to get Big Ben was a bad move, and it still does in many ways, but it won't hurt him this week.

Houserville takes advantage of that.

Jammers' Prediction: Houserville 141, Jawz 121

Dottsville Toasters (3-3) at Graybill's Generals (4-2)
Series History: Generals leads 4-1.

The projection has a lop-sided battle favoring the Toasters, but I have to say that this will be a lot closer than ESPN has it. Still, the Toasters should come out on top as a few matchups favor him.

I like Chris Johnson to have a big day — a day that reminds of the man that led the Toasters to the Super Bowl in 2009. Matt Schaub should also be his normal 25-30 points and Calvin Johnson will find the end zone again after being kept out of it last week.

In fact, dare I make a bold prediction and say he gets there three times.

Did I just blow your mind? I guess not. It isn't that big of a bold prediction.

But if it doesn't happen, the Generals will have a chance because the rest of the Toasters' lineup is shaky.

James Starks has steadily gotten 11-14 carries a week, but the Vikings have been tough against the run, so the Packers will go to Rodgers and the ariel attack, leaving Starks' touches to less than 10 this week.

Jacoby Ford is an unknown with Boller and Palmer; although, I think he has the potential to have a good week against KC.

Erin Decker also is an unknown this week since Tim Tebow is now trying to throw the ball for the Broncos.

In order to take advantage of this, the Generals will need one of his five WRs (Dexter McCluser, Sideny Rice, Johnny Knox, Donald Driver or Steve Breaston) to have a big week — that or, have all five go for low double-digits which would equate to one having a big week.

Another key will be having Steven Jackson go for double-digits again, which he has done in all five starts this season.

This matchup will come down to Monday night, too, when the Generals Joe Flacco goes up against the Toasters' Ravens defense.

Against Jacksonville, that should be a fun back and forth battle to watch on Monday. The Toasters will get the initial 17 points to start and the two will watch each other get closer together. If rookie QB Blaine Gabbert turns it over and the Ravens defense scores, the Generals will be in trouble.

I'm betting on trouble.

Jammers' Prediction: Toasters 122, Generals 111

T-Money (3-3) at Channel 4 News Team (2-4)
Series History: Series tied at 5-5.

T-Money has some great matchups for Tony Romo, Mark Ingram, Steve Smith and Dwayne Bowe, but unfortunately, it's not going to be enough against the News Team.

The News Team has Miles Austin so he can steal some Romo points there, and of course Aaron Rodgers will outscore Romo by himself, so there's an advantage for the News Team.

Also, whereas the Money man has two backs who get carries on the goal line, the News Team has three volume backs who can all rush for 100 yards this week. I expect Montario Hardesty to run hard against Seattle and get to double-digits, as will Arian Foster and Beanie Wells.

But the key will be Vincent Jackson. If he's healthy, Rivers is going to find him early and often to shut Rex Ryan up. Two scores are very possible for Jackson this week — especially with Antonio Gates back in the lineup — and that would seal this matchup for the News Team — if Rodgers doesn't do that himself.

Jammers' Prediction: News Team 145, T-Money 120

World of Noise (1-5) at Sunday Slackers (4-2)
Series History: Noise leads series 3-1

The Slackers have an awful history against the Noise, so that has to be scary. It also has to be scary that the Slackers are projected to score nearly 80 more points than the Noise.

Still, the Noise hasn't been much of a matchup for many teams this season, and the Slackers should score enough with Drew Brees, Ray Rice, Matt Forte and Earnest Graham in the lineup. Who cares what the receivers do, but he has a good chance to get double digits with either Jordy Nelson or Jermichael Finley — or both — because of Aaron Rodgers.

So, with that, it's time for the prediction.

That's right, why should I waste my time for a Noisy team that scores 80 points if he's lucky.

Jammers' Prediction: Slackers 125, Noise 90

FB: Week 6 Recap: Six sit at 4-2 after Week 6

2011-10-18T22:30:00.002-04:00

Carson Palmer goes to the Raiders for a first round pick in 2012. Good thing they lost a third-round pick for Terrelle Pryor in the supplemental draft. ... Eagles trade away little-used garbage back signed in offseason for Jerome Harrison. Wait, didn't we have this headline last season? Yeah. We did. ... McNabb benched again. Maybe it's time for him to sign a one-day contract with the Eagles and retire.

Fantasy football takes skill.

And, then, it also takes luck.

And many times, it seems so unfair.

"I hear you, brother," says Slackers, who lost by 4 yards.

That's right, just 4 yards.

"Can I catch a break," says Jawz Attack, who was in the top five in scoring again this week, and lost again.

It's a cruel sport sometimes. Trust me, I know. In the other league I compete in. … Let me rephrase that. There's no competing going on for me. In the other league that I have a roster that I set weekly, I drafted Carson Palmer late just hoping, praying for a miracle.

Well, after five and half weeks, I decided that the miracle wasn't coming, so I dropped him for Curtis Painter because I needed a QB.

Of course, Palmer is now a Raider and I could really use him, but I'm fifth in the waiver order because it resets itself each week and I'm just bad enough to need him but not bad enough to get him.

Ah, fantasy football. Got to love it.

And right now, there's six teams loving it, sitting pretty at 4-2. Two other teams are at .500 and that means there are a lot of teams in the hunt right now.

Here's how we got six 4-2 teams.

Fear and Loathing 106.5, Sunday Slackers 105.9

This is why the Slackers should have run to the bank, took out a small loan and gave Matt Forte the contract extension he wants badly.

Maybe, just maybe, that would have helped him rush for five more yards.

That's all Parker needed to capture the best record in the JFL this season. It also would have matched his franchise-best start of 5-1 in 2009.

Things went wrong during the 4 p.m. games for the Slackers after Felix Jones left the game early following an injury. That left the Slackers with just 3.7 points from Jones. This after Santana Moss had just 4.2 and Jermichael Finley had 2.2 — all while Jordy Nelson had 18.8 on the bench.

It also didn't help that on fourth-and-2 on the Tampa Bay 4, Drew Brees threw his third pick of the game. The other two picks didn't matter as much as the third one was unnecessary. With it being fourth down, defenders are told to just knock it down, but it was picked anyway.

Two points taken away. Two points that were desperately needed as it would become clear later that evening.

For Fear, it was all about Michael Vick and Rashard Mendenhall, who combined for 42.5 points. Mendenhall had his first 100-yard rushing day, and he added a score to give Fear a boost.

And he needs it because inconsistent play and injuries have been an issue for Fear. Still, at 4-2, he'll take it.

Real Houserville 104.5, Jimmy Jammers 97.7

I wish Brandon Marshall would have gotten himself kicked out in the second quarter.

That would have saved me a night of watching football, having to cheer for a guy named Matt Moore who is more frustrating than Andy Reid in the final two minutes of a half.

It also would have saved me from having to watch Marshall drop two easy TDs on two different drives. That would have been the points needed to beat Houserville.

The Dolphins even had the ball with four minutes left as the Jammers trailed by just three points. All that was needed was 40 yards or a TD to win it, and Matt Moore threw a pick on the second play. Shonn Greene, then pushed his fantasy points up to 7.9 with 35 yards on the ensuing drive.

Of course, when the Dolphins got it back with 1:49 left, there was Moore throwing incomplete passes and getting sacked. This guy, earlier in the game, actually ran a bootleg right out of bounds for a 7-yard loss. I guess it never dawned upon him to just throw the damn ball away.

Houserville made all the right moves, sticking with Cam Newton, who outscored Big Ben again, and scored just enough to move Houserville to 4-2. Double-digits from Darren McFadden, Mike Wallace, Anquan Boldin and Aaron Hernandez also helped.

Chinese Organ Thieves 119.8, Dottsville Toasters 84.3

Don't look now, but the Thieves have won two in a row — and he did it without Philip Rivers. We looked at this week in the season preview when I discussed how he'd have the choice of Ryan Fitzpatrick and Mark Sanchez, and his choice of Fitzpatrick was the right choice. I said back then that he was the better of the two, and that has held true — only by two points this week, but it counts.

And those two points would not have made a difference.

Calvin Johnson was held without a TD for the first time this season and the RB tandem of Kendall Hunter and James Starks were busts this week. So was Owen Daniels who had just 1.7 points.

There really wasn't anything special for this matchups. Just a bunch of average performances and not much for me to really break down.

It is worth noting that the Toasters will likely lose Jahvid Best for a bit after suffering another concussion.

T-Money 140.1, Jawz Attack 124.1

Again, the Jammers to the rescue here. A late Facebook post to change the roster helped T-Money win this one. He had Jason Campbell in the lineup and nobody at No. 2 WR, and after a roster change, Tony Romo and Torrey Smith made it into the lineup — a 31-point swing.

You're welcome.

For Uncle Jason, I'm sorry.

Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut, and not because you're my uncle, but rather, because you've been the unluckiest team in the JFL this season.

More than 800 points allowed, a stat you can't control, is rough, especially when you're ranked third in scoring.

That's where Jawz stands. No. 3 in scoring, No. 11 in points allowed. Thus a 1-5 record.

It's just unfair sometimes.

But it means that if any team is primed to pick up some wins over the final seven weeks, it's Jawz.

A seven-game winning streak is unlikely — a very hard feat to accomplish in the JFL — but Jawz is in a situation where winning at least six of the final seven is necessary to make the playoffs. With four 4-2 teams in the conference, he's already three games behind four teams — and only three of those teams can make the playoffs.

Insert Jim Mora rant right here. "Playoffs?"

Jawz is just trying to win a game.

For the second Monday night in a row, he thought he may have it, but again, a MNF comeback was had. Santonio Holmes and Dustin Keller combined for 18 potions to put T-Money in front.

It wasn't as painful as the 40-some points the Toasters scored last Monday to beat Jawz.

It wasn't Monday, but Ahmad Bradshaw's performance was just as deflating. Three touchdowns on Sunday to score 31.4 points, added with Frank Gore's 21 really put this one away for T-Money.

If he can get that kind of offense from his RBs for the rest of the season, he can make some noise in the Nittany Conference.

Team Boyer 140.5, Channel 4 News Team 95.4

Aaron Rodgers does it again. Another 310 yards, three TDs and 36 fantasy points.

It's so easy to see why the News Team won again. …

Wait. What's that?

I'm being told they didn't win.

How?

Oh, the rest of this team scored just 59 points, and 26 of that came from the Bengals' defense?

Ouch. That really hurts. And now, after working their way back to .500 after an 0-2 start, the News Team has lost two in a row to fall to 2-4.

This was supposed to be the best squad in the JFL. The News Team should be winning this division and keeping the trophy that he will pick up in a few weeks, but at this juncture, I don't know.

Arian Foster has been nothing like he was last season. Peyton Hillis was actually brought up in trade discussions and has been dealing with illnesses and injuries all year. It's just been a disappointing year so far for the News Team.

On the other side, things are looking good for Boyer. He got a lot of help from the Bears defense (34.5 points) and kicker Billy Cundiff (20 points), while Michael Turner scored two more TDs Sunday and ran for 139 yards.

Boyer is still a little shaky at WR, but who needs WRs when your kicker is scoring 20 points?

Graybill's Generals 125.1, World of Noise 113.6

I think it's official. The Retarded Firetrucks are back. Forget this World of Noise crap. This team resembles the team that went by the name Engine 49. The Little Firetruck That Couldn't.

This week, Mr. Fireman actually scored 113.6 points — Marques Colston had one of his three good games a season and Noise won the game "Start the Right Jones" getting 14.4 points from Jacoby Jones.

Still, it wasn't enough as the Generals continue to shock the JFL world with his 4-2 record and two-game lead in the tough Nittany South. The Jets defense was key this week, scoring 32.5 points on Monday night to seal the win.

It also helped that LeSean McCoy had his fourth 20-point performance and sixth double-digit. LeSean McCoy is ranked No. 2 in fantasy — only Fred Jackson has been better — and the offseason trade from the Thieves is looking like a steal for the Generals.

Like Boyer, the Generals' WRs are shaky, but at this point, who cares. The backs are taking care of business.

That and David Akers. Take that World of Noise. Shunning the prized Akers for the new Eagles kicker wouldn't have turned around this matchup, but Akers has three 50-yard kicks this season. Makes you wonder what the Eagles could have if they still had him — and of course, that would mean the Noise would have him.

Oh, and one last comment for Week 6.

Anyone else shocked that Jason Avant wasn't scooped up by the Noise after 139 yards in Week 5?

FB: Week 6 Preview: Jammers, Slackers looking to move to 5-1; Thieves look to take Step 2

2011-10-16T11:47:00.000-04:00

Week 6 brings out two great matchups in the Liberty Conference, and if the Eagle Division can beat the Patriot Division, we'll have four 4-2 teams in the conference.

The Jimmy Jammers (4-1) will host Real Houserville (3-2), while the Sunday Slackers (4-1) will travel to Fear and Loathing (3-2).

The Slackers has his entire lineup back after a bye week benched his top back, Ray Rice, and as you will see in my preview, he should be in good shape to win again this week.

The Jammers, however, is hit by the bye this week with his top RB Ryan Matthews and WR Larry Fitzgerald both sitting out, and this should be a very close matchup that does finish up until Monday night.

Dottsville, Graybill and Team Boyer will all have the chance to move to 4-2, too.

Enjoy Week 6. I'll be in and out of the chat room throughout the day.

And the previews will be posted one-by-one this morning, as I have done for the past couple weeks.

Real Houserville (3-2) at Jimmy Jammers (4-1)
Series History: Jammers leads 4-2

This matchup will in all likelihood come down to Monday night. Houserville has Shonn Greene going, but it's looking like it will be a matter of the Jammers needing some points from his two Dolphins, Daniel Thomas and Brandon Marshall — the Jammers are just hoping that they're not losing by more than 100 points.

And with what Brandon Marshall said earlier in the week, the Jammers better hope it isn't a 30-point deficit. Marshall came out and said that he plans on going crazy this week — literally — and getting kicked out in the second quarter.

Tell me he's joking.

He's joking, right?

I hope so. That would be an early night for me then.

But then again, just maybe, this could be the week that Cam Newton looks like a rookie.

It could. But it won't. The Falcons have been awful on defense, and people would be making more of this if it weren't for the fact that the Eagles were so vocal and have been so bad. The Falcons were supposed to be good, but they didn't come out and say that, and so their struggles have been less publicized.

So Newton should have a decent 30-point game again, but so should Matthew Stafford, leaving the scoring up to the rest of the lineups, which in this week, oddly mirror each other.

I've already pointed out the QB situation, but the RB situation is similar, too.

McFadden and Sproles are both top-10 backs, while Thomas (injured) and Greene (inconsistent) have been good starts some week and bad starts in other weeks.

At the FLEX, both are starting lesser-known WRs — Jammers with Randall Cobb and Houserville with Greg Little.

At No. 1 WR, Greg Jennings and Mike Wallace both have that explosive characteristic, while the Jammers' Brandon Marshal and Houserville's Anquan Boldin both have that inconsistent characteristic, yet they remain must-starts because they have that ability to explode.

Both teams are going with tight ends in the WR/TE spot and Brandon Pettigrew is ranked 11th, Aaron Hernandez is ranked 12th.

I don't talk defenses and kickers, but I must note that the Jammers' Lions and the Ville's Vikings are going up against QBs who have a history of turning the ball over. I think both the Lions and VIkings will win their big games today, too.

So you can kind of see what I mean. This is a crazy matchup and should be fun to watch.

The Jammers, with six 1 p.m. games to Houserville's three, will jump out to the early lead. Houserville will come back in the 4 o'clock games with McFadden, Boldin, Little and Hernandez all playing against the Jammers' Sproles. The Vikings defense plays Sunday night and I've already mentioned the Monday night game where everything should be decided.

Now, I say should there, because that's what the NFL projections and experts tell us, but I have to say that I feel like this could be the week that Newton struggles. Atlanta should run the ball a lot, especially with Julio Jones out, and they'll do whatever they can to limit Newton's touches. It's a divisional battle so I expect a 24-21 kind of game, if that.

Because I'm personally predicting the Dirty Birds stomping on Newton's parade, that is why my biased prediction will have me winning. Of course, if Newton goes for 30-plus points in the 1 p.m. game, you can note that I'm saying that Houserville will be on his way to a win.

Jammers' Extremely Biased, Yet Stat-Backed Prediction: Jammers 134, Houserville 122

Sunday Slackers (4-1) at Fear and Loathing (3-2)
Series History: Fear leads 2-1.

At 4-1, this might explain why the Slackers owner, the Dunbar Fantasy Organization, lost the World Series this season. He was looking ahead to his fantasy football season.

The powerful trio of Drew Brees, Ray Rice and Matt Forte have been key parts in getting him to 4-1 and they should be the reason he gets to 5-1.

Forte should get points tonight, but don't expect the big 20-point night. The Vikings defense will be tough tonight and they will be getting after Jay Cutler all night — Jared Allen will be baking several batches of cookies in Cutler's kitchen.

The Vikings are going to win that, according to Jimmy Jammers Predictions, LLC., so Forte will have to get his points in the passing game — which is not a problem for him. Still, I expect a lesser performance.

And despite that, there should be anything that should stop the Slackers from winning this matchup. Felix Jones is primed for a big day, so are Rice and Brees. A.J. Green will have an opportunity to put up points against an awful Colts defense, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about.

Right?

Oh, wait.

Oh, no. This can't be. How did this happen. How did the randomness of which the Jammers sets the non-league schedule do this matchup happen now?

Last season, Week 10, Fear and Loathing traveled to the Slackers for their yearly rendezvous. On that same week, Michael Vick rolled into Washington and rolled out with a JFL record 64.5 points.

Well, here we are, Week 6 and Vick's going back to D.C. where Vick threw for 333 yards, four TDs and ran for 80 yards and two more scores.

the Dunbar Fantasy Organization remembers this well, because he was at wing night, watching his beloved Skins fall badly. He also saw his fantasy team lose and fall to 3-7 on the season.

It was at that point he said something to the extent of, "Well, at least I've won the last two World Series."

He doesn't have that to fall back on today, so he better hope that Vick doesn't go crazy again.

I think he's safe.

Jammers' PredictionSunday Slackers 141, Fear and Loathing 119

Channel 4 News Team (2-3) at Team Boyer (3-2)
Series History: Boyer leads 4-3.

We circled this matchup before the season as a potential key matchup in the Nittany Conference. The two division favorites matchup in Week 6 under circumstances that were not expected.

Boyer is 3-2 and holding up his end of the bargain, but at 2-3, the News Team has struggle early.

But he's only a few points away from being 4-1.

And this week presents some challenges for him, too, with Vincent Jackson and Beanie Wells on the bye.

Wells will be missed, but I love the Victor Cruz pickup. I thought about it but I can't bear to start a Giant. It's bad enough that I've purposely made Eli Manning a bench-warmer on my team — but I'd rather he warm my bench than beat me on another team.

Back to the topic. Cruz. He's ridiculous. Have you seen those fingertip catches? Against the Bills today, he should cruise (see what I did there, Cruz-cruise. Oh, I'm a genius.)

Back to the topic. Cruz. Against that Bills defense, he's going to torch them for another big day. But, will that be enough?

I don't like the matchups that Arian Foster and Peyton Hillis have, so the News Team will be really pushing for Aaron Rodgers to destroy the Rams and Miles Austin to be part of a shootout in New England.

But if there's a shootout, that mean's Boyer's Tom Brady should be part of that. So will Dez Bryant, who has outperformed Austin when he has been in the lineup. Back from injury, Bryan is a red zone favorite for Romo, so Austin win need to catch some long TD passes to steal TDs from Bryant.

As I said in the Cam Newton prediction, Michael Turner is going to rumble all day long. Is it crazy to predict a near-200-yard rushing day? I feel like Turner will be close to if not over 200 yards today with two or three TDs. I'll throw a number out for fun — 189 yards rushing.

Despite those big numbers, I feel like Boyer's weak link will be Ryan Grant, Hines Ward and Austin Collie this week. If any of those guys jump up and have an above average day, then the prediction below can easily flip to Boyer winning.

But in my estimation, the News Team should Cruz. … See what I did there?

Jammers' Prediction News Team 141, Team Boyer 137

Dottsville Toasters (3-2) at Chinese Organ Thieves (1-4)
Series History: Toasters leads 4-3.

Last week was Step 1 for the Thieves.

He went to the meeting, walked in and said, "Hi, my name is Eric Schiavo and I'm Oh-and-four."

The room greeted him with a warm, "Hello, Eric."

And from there, the healing process was well underway.

He used a big win, thanks to great RB performances by Adrian Peterson and BenJarvus Green Ellis, to end the losing streak.

Step 2 is going to be a tough matchup against the Toasters, and he's going to have to take this next step without his franchise QB, Philip Rivers, who is on the bye.

Instead, he has to use Sanchise, who has had four good weeks and one negative-1.2-point week. Miami should not bring a defense that will hold Mark Sanchez to a negative performance, but to expect anything more than 20 points would be a little much. I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's still scary to put your hopes on that.

So that's why Adrian Peterson will have to take care of business, like he did last week.

The Bears defense is a mess and you saw that last week. Jahvid Best had his first 100-yard game and Peterson has to be looking at those 12 carries for 163 yards and thinking, "What can I do?"

I'm thinking he'll have a huge day, and add in points from Hakeem Nicks, Jeremy Maclin and David Nelson — I like Nelson today — this should be enough to push the Thieves over the Toasters.

And the reason for that is because Matt Schaub will struggle against the Ravens, Kendall Hunter is still second fiddle to Frank Gore and James Starks doesn't get enough carries in that pass-happy offense. I also think Mario Manningham is in trouble with Victor Cruz stepping up.

Of course, Calvin Johnson will be a great play, and I expect at least two TDs from him today, but Best should drop drastically from last week's performance. He's not going to be able run like he did last week, so his points will have to come through the air.

So believe it or not, it will be Monday night when Mark Sanchez, known for his comebacks, will lead the Thieves to a comeback of his own.

And then, at that point, the Thieves can draw a check mark on his list and move on to Step 3.

Jammers' PredictionOrgan Thieves 128, Toasters 117

World of Noise (1-4) at Graybill's Generals (3-2)
Series History: Generals lead 5-3.

I'm starting to wonder how the Noise ever won a game this season.

Last week, his current opponent was called a bunch of amateurs, but clearly, the Noise fits that profile.

The Noise will continue to give the rock to Jonathan Stewart and LaDainian Tomlison, while WRs Plaxico Burress and Marques Colston will continue to be mediocre. Jay Cutler has been OK, but he'll be under a lot of pressure again this week.

Look at those names.

I've never seen a fantasy owner so desperately in need of a hot tub time machine. Not to go back and redraft, but to go back with this team and compete in 2008.

Jacoby Jones would be just as ineffective in that era as he is now.

Ugh, I can't talk about this squad anymore. It gives me a headache.

Let's look at the squad that will school him today.

Or he should school him, but the Generals have to be a bit scared this week. With severa WRs on the bye week, the replacements are going to be a bit scary.

The entire WR corps of Jerome Simpson, Johnny Knox and Donald Driver have combined for two double-digit weeks, and they were low-teen performances.

I don't see that getting any better this week.

No sir.

That's why, the Generals have to get a lot out of Joe Flacco and LeSean McCoy.

Flacco has been iffy, but should be good for 20 points, and McCoy can get 20 points if Andy Reid digs into his playbook and finds the running play. Steven Jackson is healthy, but he's going up against a tough run defense in Green Bay.

This matchup will come down to Monday night where the Generals will need the Jets defense to score more than LaDainian Tomlinson and Plaxico Burress.

That should be attainable — especially if Brandon Marshall gets himself kicked out in the second quarter.

Jammers' Prediction Generals 102, Noise 92

Jawz Attack (1-4) at T-Money (2-3)
Series History: T-Money leads 1-0.

It's hard to do this preview because T-Money hasn't set his roster this week. He should be starting someone in place of Dwayne Bowe who is on the bye, and Jason Campbell should be on the bench in favor of Tony Romo.

This should be what happens, but right now, it's not.

And so Jawz is in good shape if Josh Freeman can ever show up to the game.

He was awful last week and in the prior four weeks, he was rather mediocre.

Still, I like the main guys for Jawz, Fred Jackson, Wes Welker, DeSean Jackson and Roddy White. Those guys should have a big week, as they've had in past weeks.

Jawz has just run into unlucky matchups.

He lost on Monday night after a pair of players scored more than 40 points.

This week, T-Money has Santonio Holmes and Dustin Keller on Monday night, and they have the potential to do the same thing.

So, with TE Jimmy Graham in the lineup, it's time for the Jawz to build a 50-point lead heading into Monday. That would be nice.

And with the lineup as it is, Jawz should be just fine to have that kind of lead.

Jammers' Prediction: Jawz 137, T-Money 106

FB: Week 5 Recap: T-Money cashes in; Slackers roll; Toasters come back on Monday Night Football

2011-10-11T23:23:00.002-04:00

Eagles look to bring in defensive consultant. I say, forget the consultant and just bring in 11 guys who can play defense. ... Colts have no plans to put Peyton Manning on IR. Anyone want to trade Houserville for him? ... LeBron James to the NFL? Better start saving your waiver claims. ... Now view the recaps on your mobile devices on www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com with my new mobile view application. Enjoy.

We've seen this happen a few times in life.
The picture is starting to develop now that we're five weeks in.

It's clear that Jawz Attack, World of Noise and Chinese Organ Thieves — all 1-4 — need some serious help to get back into the race.

The Thieves did their best to do just that this week, destroying the World of Noise 129-58.5 — the Noise have scored less than 60 points in back-to-back weeks.

Meanwhile, there's a major battle brewing in the Patriot Division as the Slackers moved to 4-1 and the Jammers was tagged with his first loss. Five teams either improved or dropped to 3-2, creating a situation where we have seven teams with winning records.

That will make next week a lot of fun with winning records on the line.

This week in the NFL was not a crazy as most. The Eagles still suck; so do the Colts; Cam Newton rocked again; and Matt Schaub doesn't know when to run for a game-winning TD.

If he did, well, the Toasters' comeback Monday night would not have been as cool.

Dottsville Toasters 144.7, Jawz Attack 130.3

This seems to be the story of the Jawz Attack.

He's so unlucky he might have the best chance to draft Andrew Luck next season — and he might definitely do that because the Eagles are, in my mind, now in the running for the Luck Bowl.

OK, that all may be a stretch, but Jawz could certainly use some luck, whether it is the man or the good fortune.

The Toasters pulled off one of his Monday Night comebacks as Jahvid Best and Calvin Johnson combined for 46 points to put him on top.

Things were looking OK for Jawz for a while, but as soon as Best broke free for his 88-yard TD in the third, the Attack was finished.

Matt Schaub also had a big week for the Toasters, because that's all Schaub is — a good fantasy QB. When it comes to real life, he lacks that certain clutch factor that for some reason, crappy QBs like Mark Sanchez have. God only knows why this is. God, and his new football guru Al Davis.

The two of them would both agree that it's time for the Attack to get Jimmy Graham into the lineup. Another 14.5 points this week — it wouldn't have won the matchup, but it would have made it even closer — for the tight end who is easily Drew Brees' favorite target. When his wideouts aren't open, Brees goes to either Graham or Darren Sproles, and since Sproles is one of about five RBs who see playing time, the chances are, Graham will catch a few passes a week, especially in the red zone. Three TDs already and he's got to be pushing Percy Harvin to the bench soon.

Of course, with the luck Jawz has had, that would be the day Percy Harvin decides to go "nuts," also known as pulling a "Calvin Johnson."

T-Money 157, Jimmy Jammers 103.7

No one can say that the Jammers is a unfair commissioner. T-Money had a nice Facebook post alerting him to the fact that he was missing players in the lineup; he added them, and then he proceeded to pummel the Jammers.

You're welcome.

Dwayne Bowe chose Week 5 to break out — remember, I said he's the kind of WR who will have low-scoring weeks, but then he'll have that big week that wins you a matchup. He had one of those weeks. As did the 49ers defense, who scored 33.5 points in a huge win over the Bucs.

This could have been worse for the Jammers had T-Money not dropped Eli Manning for Jason Campbell.

Manning, the sixth-ranked QB in fantasy, scored another 37.5 points and has had multiple TD games in four straight weeks. With Matt Stafford ranked No. 5, the Jammers find himself in a situation that he was in once before — two good QBs and an itch to try and trade.

Can't possibly make the same mistake twice. Not saying that one of these QBs is Aaron Rodgers, but it is a familiar situation.

Losing, however, hasn't been familiar to the Jammers this season.

Four straight wins to start the season, and T-Money was the man to end the streak.

And it was a bad week for a few players, particularly in the WR corps where the Jammers places so much emphasis. Julio Jones was a dud, missing parts of the second half due to injury, and Larry Fitzgerald is doing all he can, but when Kevin Kolb is struggling mightily, it's hard for him to be successful.

Kevin Kolb. Man, there have to be some pissed off Arizona fans.

A high-level corner back and a second-round pick for this bum. It's almost makes the 1-4 Eagles look good. Almost.

Graybill's Generals 135.7, Real Houserville 95.1

Houserville called the Generals "an amateur squad."

It's quite the comment for a team that just thoroughly beat you.

The "amateur" Generals used another great performance from LeSean McCoy, still ranked No. 2 in the JFL at RB, and a pair of surprise performances from Matt Cassel and Steve Breaston, who connected for a pair of TDs Sunday — double points for the amateurs.

OK, so Johnny Knox and Sidney Rice were worthless, as was Leon Washington — and that will be scary for the Generals going forward during the bye weeks. He's going to need a few of them to step up because Cassel and Breaston are not destined to do this every week.

The one destined to do this weekly seems to be Cam Newton. I made the poll, jesting at the fact that Newton's Law states that what goes up must come down — but I have to be honest, Cam Newton doesn't look like he's coming down anytime soon. Another 32.7 points in fantasy — his fourth 30-plus-point week — and he's ranked No. 3 in the JFL among QBs.

Peyton Manning who?

About nine weeks ago, the Ville was trying to work his way out of his keeper selection of Manning, but at the time, there was no way under the rule that he could do so. The Colts were optimistic that he would start the season and we know now that they were smoking more peyote than the Eagles front office folk who decided to put the O-Line guy in charge of the whole defense. (Red team go! Red team go!)

And Mike Tolbert continued to hurt the Ville. He's a vulture, pure and simple. If he doesn't score a TD, he's worthless. For the third time in five weeks, Tolbert was head without a touchdown and was limited to single digits. It's for that reason that DeAngelo Williams, who has had back-to-back decent weeks, may earn himself a start for the Ville.

Unless, of course, the Ville plans to keep on losing to "amateur squads."

Chinese Organ Thieves 129, World of Noise 61.5

OK, so if there is any squad that can be called amateur, the Noise has earned it.

The Thieves easily won this week, and when you need a win, hope for the Noise.

Easy win almost guaranteed.

The Noise had just 61.5 points in another disappointing week. He blames injury, but the different between winning and losing isn't Andre Johnson. He will help the Noise get to 80 points, but not to the 110, 120 level that he needs to be at to compete.

There's more than just an injury problem.

This team could be worse than some of the Noise squads that were forced into starting Jason Avant.

On the other side, the Thieves finally pushed through. A nice 30.2 points from Adrian Peterson helped, as well as another 27.1 from BenJarvus Green Ellis. He even survived a negative-3-point performance from the 11 guys who wore Tampa Bay jerseys when San Fran had the ball.

Now, the key will be, catching up to the division leaders without another Noise on the schedule.

Fear and Loathing 121.3, Channel 4 News Team 117.8

It came down to the final seconds on Sunday Night Football, but the Fear held on.

Had the Packers defense not come up with an interception on that final drive, it was looking like the Falcons were going to do enough on offense to lift the News Team to a one-point win. After two completions to Tony Gonzalez on the final drive, the News Team was within striking distance — either another 15 yards from Gonzo or a total of 49 yards of offense from the Falcons, which would have dropped Fear's defensive total by three points, thus propelling the News Team in front.

It was a close battle, and homefield advantage almost came into play, but the deflected pick sealed the deal for Fear, who has made some excellent moves to remain in contention. He rolled the dice and went with Pierre Garcon, hoping Week 4 wasn't a fluke and it appears it wasn't. Another 125 yards and two TDs gave him 58.5 fantasy points in the last two weeks, including 27.5 this week. Added with Michael Vicks 32.5 in another loss and 14.4 points from the RB I introduced the JFL world to in the previews, Jackie Battle, Fear had just enough to edge the defending Super Bowl Champs, who were a little short-handed this week.

Peyton Hillis and Miles Austin were on the bye, and Vincent Jackson was dealing with an injury, scoring just four points.

Worth noting is the fact that the News Team has Victor Cruz who put up his third straight double-digit week and should start to become a popular target for Manning. This Cruz kid, despite making a poor play on a devastating INT for TD, has made some incredible catches and his speed makes him explosive like DeSean Jackson. If he keeps this up, this could be the fantasy piece that puts everyone in the League to shame.

Because we all know that piece can't be Jackie Battle. It just can't be. … Right?

Sunday Slackers 118, Team Boyer 90.6

I saved the best for last.

Or did I just make the Slackers wait the longest?

Probably the latter.

The Slackers made a statement Sunday, showing that they are for real, winning with one of his best players on the bye, along with two other starters. Ray Rice, Felix Jones and Santana Moss — a combined 39 points per week — were on the bye and the Slackers still scored 118. Drew Brees and Matt Forte held up their ends, and A.J. Green and Deion Branch rose for the occasion.

Boyer has a good team, and though Boyer had a tough week, this still works out to be a great win for the Slackers. He gets a win over a team that someone else in his division may not be able to get — and that will mean a lot down the stretch.

Other than that, there's not much more to talk about in this matchup. Brady was pedestrian for Boyer, and his WRs were awful, so that's the main reason he lost. He'll be much better when he gets Dez Bryant back from the bye week.

For the Slackers, he just needs to survive two big bye weeks: Week 8 when Forte is off against the News Team, and Week 11 when Drew Brees is gone against division rival Jammers. The latter will bye week could prove to be pivotal in winning the division.

FB: Week 5 Preview: Davis honored, as he should be

2011-10-09T12:19:00.002-04:00

We've seen this happen a few times in life.

A man who was ragged on — chewed up and spit out — dies and then, he's lifted up on everyone's shoulders.

Raiders fans have been ragging on Al Davis for years — if you don't believe me, go into the Sirius/XM NFL Radio archives and listen to the Raider callers.

"Al Davis must go."

"Davis is washed up."

"Davis has no idea what he's doing."

And those are the clean versions.

Then, the NFL legend — and I actually mean that when I say it — passes away at age 82 Saturday, and the callers call with their condolences and praise — as they should.

I was driving to a wedding when the breaking news came across Sirius/XM NFL Radio, and I was absolutely shocked. There are those people that you just don't expect to hear the phrase "…passed away earlier today" after their names.

It's not like Amy Winehouse, where most everyone shrugged it off as in, "Knew it."

For Al Davis, even though he was 82, it was a shock, because he was still a vivid part of the Raiders organization. And it's a shame, too, because the Raiders are having a very good season.

Now, they will continue their season and I'm sure it will be with a little added push of one Al Davis.

He helped change the game of football into what it is today. If you haven't heard all the stories or read about the NFL legend, take some time today to read some Al Davis stories.

It will be worth it.

Raiders fans will morn today, and tomorrow.

And the franchise may even move to Los Angeles in the future.

But one thing remains certain: Al Davis will always be a part of the Raiders.

Team Boyer (3-1) at Sunday Slackers (3-1)
Series History: Boyer leads series 2-1.

The only matchup this week to feature two winning teams is this one, and for that, I have to give credit to the Slackers for making this possible. This is what the poll predicted, that these two teams would be division leaders and therefore, this matchup would be a great one to watch.

Well, it's Week 5 and they're both 3-1. The Slackers are not the division leaders as they were predicted to be, but at 3-1, that tells you that he still has his eyes set on a division title.

But today, there will be a setback.

Yes, here I go again, picking against the Slackers.

Call me biased, but it's hard to like the Slackers on a week where Ray Rice is resting on the bye. Rice is averaging 20.3 points per week, and in his place is Earnest Graham, who is averaging 6.1 per week.

Graham is a good start, though — I will give you that — because Boyer will be going with his dogs, Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blount, and if Graham can be a vulture and steal some TDs from Blount, the Slackers could turn the tables on this matchup.

This also is another great QB matchup with Tom Brady against Drew Brees, but I have to give the edge to Brady on this one. He's at home against the hated Jets and there's nothing Brady wants more than to toss a few big passes over that overrated Jets defense.

Boyer has a good WR going in Steve Johnson, and I have to think he'll score because the Eagles are just so bad — and you know if I'm saying that, it has to be true.

But I have to give the edge in WRs to the Slackers because of two guys, Jordy Nelson and Jermichael Finley. The Falcons defense has been shaky, and I could see one of these guys getting a TD, if not both. I'd put my money on Nelson because he's the kind of guy who can sneak out and run a big post pattern past the safeties for like a 40-some-yard TD.

For the Slackers, this matchup really hinges on Matt Forte. Last week, he busted out with 205 rushing yards, but to be fair, running against the Panthers is a lot different than running against the Lions. The Lions are ranked fourth against the rush, and part of that has to do with the fact that Stafford has helped the Lions take big leads in Weeks 1 and 2, and another part has to do with the fact that the Vikings and Cowboys decided not to run when they were up by 20 points.

The main part, though, has to do with that interior defensive line. It's not easy to run in between the gaps because there are not many gaps.

Forte will have to be used on screen passes out in the flat, where he also excels.

If Forte can catch about eight passes for 80-some yards and a TD, I'd say the Slackers win this matchup.

But — of course I am — I'm not seeing that happening against my new favorite team, the Lions.

Monday night's game is going to be an excellent one to watch and it will have many of us on the edge of our seats.

The Slackers will be there, teetering on the cushions hoping for explosive plays, but it's not going to happen.

Jammers' Prediction: Boyer 129, Slackers 122

Graybill's Generals (2-2) at Real Houserville (3-1)
Series History: Houserville leads 2-1.

The Ville's new QB is back with another big test, and while he may not win the game for the Panthers, he will certainly help win it for the Ville.

New Orleans has been suspect against the pass, and the versatile Cam Newton will run, pass and run some more against the Saints. He will give them a bit of a scare, but in the end the Saints will prevail in a high-scoring game.

And, of course, Houserville will benefit from all the points. Newton should go for another 30, if not 40 points today, giving him a great chance to move to 4-1.

Even more interesting will be what Darren McFadden will do. The inspired Raiders should play a little bit harder today, but it will be tough against the revamped Texans defense. Still, that new-look defense has given up points to the RBs, and McFadden will be a beast again today. Look for about 150 yards and two scores.

Mike Wallace and Rob Gronkowski are great starts this week, and their performances added with Newton's and McFadden's should seal this matchup.

And Mike Tolbert may get one of his goal line TDs, but the Ville has to worry about a drop in touches since Tolbert has put the ball on the ground twice in the last three weeks. With Ryan Mathews solidifying his position at the No. 1 starter, Tolbert will continue to be a change-of-pace and a give-Mathews-a-breather kind of back.

On the other side of the ball, the Generals have to go with Matt Cassel because Joe Flacco is on the bye — and technically, after last week's pitiful Flacco performance, he's on the bye for the second week in a row.

Cassel has steadily improved from Week 2, and against Indy, you think the Chiefs would be able to get some big passing plays. And the Generals is hoping this happens, because that means that Steve Breaston will likely get some love.

Sidney Rice has had double-digits in both of his games since returning from injury, and will look to make it three straight against the Giants today.

But I'm not sure that Rice, Breaston and Johnny Knox, added with Leon Washington and Vernon Davis, have enough firepower to beat the Ville.

It will take a couple extraordinary performances to do so, and I do not see too many of those happening today.

Jammers' Prediction: Houserville 130, Generals 111

Channel 4 News Team (2-2) at Fear and Loathing (2-2)
Series History: News Team leads 3-2.

It's hard to go against the News Team.

No, I mean seriously, how can you go against him when the other side is starting a guy named Jackie Battle?

Who the hell is Jackie Battle?

Well, let me introduce you: Battle is a 6-2, 238-pound back out of Houston, who has been in the NFL for four years. And he makes his JFL debut today after gaining 37 yards on 10 carries for the Chiefs in 2011. He has 155 yards and two TDs in his four years.

Not exactly your fantasy starter, but when you lose Jamaal Charles and now Rashard Mendenhall — who will dress today, but will be limited — you're in need of a running back.

And Battle is the Fear's man this week, and he'll need a huge surprise from him to pull off a win against the News Team, because as we all know, Aaron Rodgers is the man.

Interestingly enough, after scoring 61.6 points last week, ranked second in JFL history, Rodgers is going up against the man who owns the JFL record at 64.5 points, Michael Vick.

Vick is going up against the Bills, who haven't been that great on defense, so the Rodgers vs. Vick matchup should be fun to watch, and since Rodgers is going at 8:20 p.m. Sunday, it could be a big comeback performance tonight.

Ha, what am I saying?

Comeback? There will be no comeback needed for the News Team.

When Rodgers takes his first snap, it will be the start of the rout. He will pile on the points and put the nail in the coffin.

Arian Foster, Beanie Wells and Vincent Jackson — to name a few — will take care of business during the day.

The News Teams RBs, WRs and TE are far better than Fear's and this should be no contest.

Jammers' Prediction: News Team 155, Fear 110

Jimmy Jammers (4-0) at T-Money (1-3)
Series History: Jammers leads 5-2.

T-Money has lost many matchups to the Jammers, and a few heartbreakers in the playoffs, so there's some bad blood here for the Money man.

Unfortunately, there's not much he's going to be able to do on Sunday to win this one.

He may be leading after Sunday, but the Jammers has Matthew Stafford, Brandon Pettigrew and the Lions defense all going Monday night, which should equate to about 50-60 points (30 for Stafford, 15-20 for the Lions defense and 10 for Pettigrew).

It will be an big night Monday for this matchup, unless the Jammers can get some big points from the rest of his squad.

The No. 6- and 7-ranked RBs, Ryan Mathews and Darren Sproles, should be good for double-digits again Sunday, and the WRs should pull out some grabs, and combine for two TDs — at least.

T-Money does have good matchups for Steve Smith, Dwayne Bowe and Dustin Keller, but with Campbell going against Houston, in a game where the Raiders should run more than they pass, it will be tough go for the T-Money.

Jammers' Biased Prediction: Jammers 148, T-Money 113

Chinese Organ Thieves (0-4) at World of Noise (1-3)
Series History: Thieves lead 4-1.

It's the worst team in JFL history World of Noise vs. the worst team in the JFL this season, according to records, Chinese Organ Thieves.

And when it comes to this matchup, I have to go with history.

The Noise have been notoriously bad — despite that random Super Bowl run — and when Andre Johnson is out, I find it hard to believe that he'll beat the Thieves.

And boy did this matchup come at the right time.

The Thieves have been devastated by matchups where the other team just exploded for ridiculous points. He's given up 595.4 points, which is a shame because its a stat you can't personally control, but this week, he's going against the lowest scoring offense, a stat you can control.

Only 357.6 points for the Noise, which is 70 points fewer than the next lowest, and that will be just what the doctor prescribed for the Thieves.

And let me break away for a second here. Only four teams have given up more than 500 points in the first four weeks, and three of them are in the Nittany South. Even the high-scoring News Team has given up a next-to-last 580.1 points.

Tough schedule for what was deemed to be the toughest division in the JFL this season.

The Thieves should get out of the doghouse this week in that stat category.

I'd go player-by-player on his team, but I do that every week, and I've been disappointed a few times — as has Schiavo — so I'm going to just be quiet and pick him to win again.

Jammers' Prediction: Thieves 134, Noise 75

Dottsville Toasters (2-2) at Jawz Attack (1-3)
Series History: Toasters lead 1-0.

I just mentioned how unlucky the Thieves have been. If there is a runner-up to the unlucky power standings, the Attack would be right there. A few big weeks have been washed out by even bigger weeks on the other side.

I think that should change this week, and that's because of four guys. I'd pick a fifth guy, but I don't want you to think I'm saying a burger joint is going to decide this matchup.

1.) DeSean Jackson will find the holes in the Bills defense and go for better-than 100 yards and TD.

2.) Fred Jackson will find the even bigger holes in the Eagles defense and go for better-than 100 yards and maybe two TDs in the Eagles-Bills shootout.

3.) Percy Harvin will be a favorite of McNabb's today as the Vikings will put up the points against the Cardinals defense.

4.) Wes Welker. Do I need to explain anything more other than the fact that the No. 1 WR in the JFL is averaging 26.1 points. Chalk him up for another 20 this week.

And that will be enough to do away with the Toasters, who have a few good matchups and will need an epic Monday Night performance from Calvin Johnson to come back.

And since Johnson has scored two touchdowns a week to total eight — I told you that he was going to challenge Randy Moss for the NFL WR TD record — something epic is going to have to be more than two TDs.

If there's anyone who can do that, it's Johnson.

But he won't this week. He'll score just one TD this week.

Jammers' Prediction: Jawz Attack 129, Toasters 117

FB: Week 4 Recap: Aaron Freaking Rodgers

2011-10-05T22:46:00.000-04:00

Now view the recaps on your mobile devices on www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com with my new mobile view application. Enjoy.

Dream no more.

I'm really getting tired of the Giants fan in my office calling the Eagles the "Dream Team."

I guess I can't blame him though.

If a backup QB for the Giants said something as stupid as that, I'd make the same, jest-filled comments about them.

Needless to say, I'm very upset about this whole situation. I'm upset that Vince Young ever showed up in Philly to give them the nickname that may forever haunt them.

I'm very upset that the decision to let the linebacker corps was neglected and left to waste. That decision has now cost the Eagles three games, and who knows how many more from here on out. And that will be the reason why the Vince Young verbiage will haunt them forever.

It's a shame. A team with so much promise has been so horribly put together. At 1-3, the season isn't over yet, but it's hard to believe that this team will turn it around.

It's not out of the question, because there have been worse performances that have led to Super Bowl runs. Even the Giants in 2007, started 0-2 with a 45-35 loss to Dallas and a 35-13 loss to Green Bay.

And the Eagles had a horrible start to 2003, staring 0-2 and eventually 2-3 before rolling off nine straight wins.

So, it's not over for the Eagles, as history would state. But if history doesn't repeat itself, it will be a waste of a year. It will be like the 2011 Red Sox (too soon?). Boston was deemed as the "Best Team Ever Assembled." And the season started bad and ended worse for the Red Sox. A "Dream Team" in their own way, their season was a failure.

The Eagles have 12 weeks to prevent that from happening.

In fantasy, the Attack, Noise and T-Money are in similar situations this week after falling to 1-3, and the Organ Thieves are in even worse shape at 0-4.

I'm not saying that any of them had "Dream Team" monikers attached to their fantasy teams.

Channel 4 News Team 179.4, Dottsville Toasters 145

News Team did it again.

For the second time in 2011, News Team gave watched the opposition score at least 145 points and he shrugged it off, this time with a JFL record 179.4 points.

Arian Foster returned to his 2010 form, scoring 25.2 fantasy points on 155 rushing yards and a TD — and believe it or not, that was a low-light for the News Team.

Aaron Freaking Rodgers threw for 408 yards, four touchdowns and rushed for two more to score 61.6 points, which is a JFL record for QBs not named Michael Vick (Vick scored 64.5 points in that big Redskins win last season).

What a day. I said on the Gamecast wall, it would have been hilarious if News Team was playing World of Noise this week. He could have beat Noise with Rodgers alone. The final scored would have been 61.6-54.1.

News Team also got 31.8 points from Beanie Wells — which has to make the Slackers a bit upset since Wells didn't do anything like that last season.

Vincent Jackson and Tony Gonzales both added double-digit outings for the News Team, but that was it. The Toasters were actually more consistent across the board with seven double-digit scorers, while News Team only had five. But when three combine for about 120, you don't care about that.

It goes down as a big win for the News Team and a tough loss for the Toasters. Don't count the Toasters out. His team can score and could easily be 3-1 right now.

Jimmy Jammers 137.5, World of Noise 54.1

We've never had bye weeks in the JFL, but this was as close as it gets to having one.

The Jammers got double-digits from seven different players and really only needed that kind of effort from five of them.

At one point, this matchup was a bit scary for the Jammers as the Detroit Lions defense had 3.5 points and his benched Texans had 28.5. Ten minutes later — and two horrible Tony Romo INTs later — the Lions had 19.5 fantasy points. It was quite the swing. They actually finished with 21 points, just short of Matt Stafford's team-high 22.9 points — who was like the Lions defense, sitting in single digits until the Lions began their comeback.

Well, that's pretty much it for this one. I don't want to shovel any more dirt over Noise.

Sunday Slackers 129.6, Chinese Organ Thieves 116.6

I guess the Slackers are looking for some kind of apology. Or maybe some kind of praise for winning his third game of the season.

Maybe next week.

I will give him mad props for starting Matt Forte after his horrible Week 3 performance. The Bears said they were going to run the ball this week after there was a lot of criticism for not running it in Week 3.

Well, they took it to a whole new level. The Bears only threw 17 times and ran 31 times. Forte got 25 of those carries and went for 205 yards and a TD.

It's nearly the same outcome after the Bears "re-committed" to the run in 2010.

Now, the Slackers just hope that they stick with that game plan.

Drew Brees and Ray Rice had big days again, carrying this team to victory because the rest of the team was very pedestrian — again. Right now, for the Slackers, it's live or die with Brees, Rice and Forte.

On the other side, I'm left scratching my head. Every single player in the starting lineup, aside of maybe Reggie Wayne because of the QB situation, was an coveted player in most fantasy drafts.

I find it hard to believe that this team is 0-4. Yes, the News Team nipped them with one of his mind-boggling point totals, but still, 0-4? Really. This cannot continue. Can a Thieve get a Noise on the schedule, please.

Real Houserville 123.3, T-Money 117.8

One key to fantasy football — or any fantasy sport for that matter — is to never overreact.

If someone on your bench or a player you just acquired on the waiver wire had a huge week, you shouldn't throw that player into the starting lineup right away — unless it all you got.

Case and point, Torrey Smith. Three catches for 133 yards and three TDs last week, acquired on waiver wire, scores 0.3 points for T-Money this week.

Stick with your guns. Brandon Jacobs has been a constant scorer, more so than Torrey Smith. His eight points this week would have done the trick.

If Torrey Smith goes for 130 and three TDs on the bench again this week, then, you start thinking about it.

Just look at Houserville. Cam Newton goes for 40-some points in Week 1, but he leave him on the bench. He would have been stupid to react and start him in Week 2. Newton puts up similar numbers in Week 2, and Houserville now has a reason to start him.

Another 39 points for the fantasy star, who could be the draft pick of the year in the JFL. It's just too bad that Houserville over-reacted after Week 1 and shipped off the potential WR of the Year in Wes Welker.

Fear and Loathing 153.5, Jawz Attack 131.7

Well, at least Fear and Loathing is winning.

Was anyone else shocked to see Michael Vick score 40 fantasy points? Did he get an extra 20 points for finishing the game?

Wait, he threw for 416 yards? And he ran for 74 yards? How the hell did they lose this game?

Fear doesn't care. As a Steelers fan, he's got his own issues with his favorite NFL team.

Still, his fantasy team may have gotten back on track. This was a big win, keeping him close to the now-division-leading Real Houserville.

For Jawz, it's just another unfortunate loss. With 131.7 points, what can you do? We seem to be saying this a lot. QBs need to simmer down here. These 40-point weeks are getting ridiculous.

Jawz doesn't need to panic yet. At 1-3, with his squad, he's bound to even out here and get going and battle the Slackers and Fear for the Wild Card — basing this on the current division leaders being the Jammers and Houserville.

The Slackers would have something to say about that, but who's listening to him.

Team Boyer 131.6, Graybill's Generals 97.2

Joe Flacco was a bust Sunday night, and when you're QB scores just 4.7 points in a week where you're matching up against Tom Brady, you're in trouble.

Brady bounced back nicely from his four-interception performance in Week 3, scoring 22.9 points, one of three players to reach 20 points for Boyer. Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blunt — as predicted by yours truly — ran wild against their opponents.

With Dez Bryant getting healthy and looking like Calvin Johnson in the red zone, scoring two TDs, Boyer's squad is shaping into a viable playoff contender. Barring injury, this should be a team that competes for a trip to the Super Bowl.

Obviously, Brady makes you a competitor, but Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blunt are turning into one of the better duos in the League, and they will certainly be a pair that wins Boyer several more matchups this season.

The main reason is because the two backs are among the few backs who see the majority of the workload. There are so many timeshares right now that there are only two kinds of backs you want — the big bruisers who can pound the rock like Turner and Blunt, and the multiple threat backs, like a Darren Sproles who gets a few carries, a few receptions and returns punts.

Because Boyer has two of the bruisers, I'm making him the frontrunner to score 150 points in the Nittany Conference Championship game against the News Team.

Unfortunately, News Team will score like 180, so it won't matter.

FB: Week 4 Preview, Jammers looking for 4-0

2011-10-02T12:26:00.002-04:00

Now view the recaps on your mobile devices on www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com with my new mobile view application. Enjoy.

Well, the people have spoken — if I count the five people who voted as "the people" — and they have selected the Dottsville Toasters at Channel 4 News Team as the game of the week.

Or, as I so nicely put it, the "It's Gotta Be Force Bowl."

If you don't know what I'm talking about, well, then you have to see the video. Maybe you guys should put that on YouTube so that Daniel Tosh can give you guys a Web redemption.

Not that you guys need it, but it'd still be funny to see another way for Mr. Tosh to get naked.

But enough about the oft-naked Tosh.

Let's talk about Week 4.

The Jammers will have the chance to move to 4-0 for the first time since 2006 when he started 5-0. In fact, a start like this is not common for the normally slow-starting Jammers, who is 5-7 over the first three weeks in the last four seasons.

So, this is a big week for the Jammers.

It's also a big week for Houserville, Graybill, Toasters, Slackers and Boyer who all will look to move to 3-1.

The Generals and Boyer square off against each other, so one is pretty much guaranteed to move to 3-1.

And lastly, it's a big week for the Chinese Organ Thieves who cannot steal a kidney or a win. One of the best franchises in JFL history, the Thieves entered 2011 with a 41-29 record. At 0-3, the Thieves are off to their worst start in franchise history. In fact, the earliest he had ever reach three losses was Week 6.

So when he matches up against the Slackers, a lot is on the line. Teams have started 0-5 and made the playoffs (twice), but the Thieves would certainly like to circle the wagons before he reaches 0-5.

Dottsville Toasters (2-1) at Channel 4 News Team (1-2)
Series History: Toasters lead 6-2.

Maybe it's the post-Super Bowl hangover. The News Team is 1-2 heading into a big conference game against the Dottsville Toasters, a team he hasn't quite figured out over their eight matchups.

The Toasters will continue to have the upper hand this time if the injury issues continue.

Arian Foster is finally upgraded to probable after being questionable week and week, missing two games and rushing for just 33 yards in another.

The Texans expect him to play this Sunday, just as the Browns expect Peyton Hillis to return from his strep throat that kept him out of last week's matchup.

Beanie Wells is still questionable, as is Vincent Jackson.

With all these issues, this is the type of matchup that Las Vegas wouldn't even put a line on.

Whereas injuries have plagued the News Team at running back, it's just been consistency on the Toasters' side. Jahvid Best has been the best of the three, and James Starks was average in Weeks 1 and 2, but Chris Johnson has been a bust.

If Chris Johnson cannot get it going this week, there is something seriously wrong with him. The Cleveland Browns are ranked 20th against the run and Johnson should be able to get going this weekend.

The key to this matchup is going to be Matt Schaub. We all know what Aaron Rodgers will likely do for the News Team against Denver, but we don't know what Schaub will do.

He's been pretty good, topping out at 35.5 points last week after 23.7 in Week 2. This week, we find out a lot about the Steelers' defense.

They were awful against the Ravens, and then a little better against the Seahawks and the Colts. Still, they faced Joe Flacco and they got rocked. They face Tavaris Jackson and Kerry Collins and they do better.

Schaub and his offense is far better than that of what the Seahawks and Colts have, and I expect a pretty good game from the Texans. ESPN is projecting just 239 yards and a TD. The history of the Steelers defense has definitely affected this. I will predict more, like 310 yards and two to three TDs.

But that won't be enough if all of the News Team's questionable or probable players play. That is why I have two predictions below.

Jammers' Prediction: Injured players play: News Team 134, Toasters 129; Injured players miss action: Toasters 129, News Team 119.

World of Noise (1-2) at Jimmy Jammers (3-0)
Series History: Jammers leads 6-1.

The World of Noise has not had much luck against the Jammers. The franchise has only scored more that 100 points in one of the seven matchups, and that still ended in a loss.

If things pan out the way ESPN projects, it will be yet another sub-100-point game for the Noise.

Noise will send out nine players playing in five games including LaDainian Tomlinson and Plaxico Burress in the night game Sunday, but by then, the Jammers should have put this matchup out of reach.

Matthew Stafford should continue his assault, as I expect the Lions to upend the Cowboys in Dallas. Stafford should have another big day and that will propel the Jammers past his poor brother whose roster looks so 2008 — or maybe, two-thousand-and-late.

You know, before Plax was in jail and when Tomlinson was a fantasy stud and when Colston was like the best seventh-round draft pick ever. You know, when Noise — then Engine 49 — actually beat the Jammers.

Not happening in 2011.

Jammers' Prediction: Jammers 144, Noise 88. "Easy like Sunday morning."

Fear and Loathing (1-2) at Jawz Attack (1-2)
Series History: Fear leads 1-0.

It took seven weeks for the Attack to get two wins in his inaugural season in the JFL.

In 2011, it will take just four.

He's upending Fear this week — easily — and moving in position to re-establish himself as a playoff contender. With his dynamic WRs and emerging RB tandem, I cannot see how he can't contend.

I like all four WRs this week for the Attack. Percy Harvin, DeSean Jackson, Roddy White and Wes Welker will all scored double-digits, and tw will be above 20 points this week.

Fred Jackson, ranked third in the JFL, and Maurice Jones-Drew, ranked 10th, both have great matchups and they should manage double-digits.

That means Josh Freeman will just have to have an average QB day — about 20 points — to complete this rout of Fear.

His three WRs had double-digit performances in Week 1, but all have since struggled and posted mid-to-low single digits since.

RBs Rashard Mendenhall and Cedric Benson have bee equally as inconsistent.

The Texans front seven is strong and I suspect that Mendenhall will have trouble running — plus, the Steelers should be battling from behind so I expect Mewelde Moore to score before Mendenhall does.

Benson's production has waned since Week 1, too, and with the Bengals playing the high scoring Bills (I can't believe that is a true statement), I expect the Bengals to be forced to turn to the pass.

And who the hell knows what Michael Vick will do? Really? I can't predict this guy. You think there is going to be a good matchup for him, and then, he breaks his hand, or just bruises, or whatever. The fact is, he's finished only one game this season. He's turned the ball over nine times and scored only four TDs. It's not a great ratio, especially for fantasy players.

So, Attack will easily win this.

Jammers' Prediction: Attack 143, Fear and Loathing 105

Chinese Organ Thieves (0-3) at Sunday Slackers (2-1)
Series History: Thieves lead 2-1.

Projections tell us that it's another unlucky week for the Thieves.

Common sense tells us, it's time for the Slackers second straight loss.

All of the Slackers' position players are predicted to scored TDs this week, and I find that hard to believe. You're telling me that a week after only one of them — tight end Jermichael Finley — scored TDs, that they're all going to breakout?

No. No way.

And besides, they're all going to have to match the day that Phillip Rivers and Adrian Peterson have.

Rivers will pick apart the Dolphins for the tune of 350-400 yards and at least three scores, while Peterson will run ALL over the Chiefs. He's been underused in the second half of all of their games when they have led by 10, 17 and 20 points and lost all three.

Trust me, when the Vikings lead the Chiefs at halftime Sunday, they will certainly use Peterson over and over again to end the game, especially since McNabb's completion percentage is much worse in the second half this season.

I also like Reggie Wayne this week with Curtis Painter playing. Painter wasn't all that bad and the thing is, he knows the offense much better than Kerry Collins. Yeah, Painter will make some mistakes, but I guarantee you that he'll find Wayne often.

More often than the Bengals will find A.J. Green, and more often than Rex Grossman will find Santana Moss.

Oh, and Finley won't score three times like he did last week. I'm actually going to say that he doesn't score this week.

Boy, Slackers must be pissed at this. I'm sure I'll read about it when I join the Gamecast Chat.

Jammers' Prediction: Chinese Organ Thieves 141, Sunday Slackers 116

Sorry, guys. I tried to get back in time for the games but it's 12:30 and by the time I expand these, kickoffs will have already happened. So, I apologize for giving you four the shaft.

Real Houserville (2-1) at T-Money (1-2)
Series History: Houserville leads 2-1.

T-Money's QB situation is a bit shaky right now, as is his RB situation. Barring big days from Steve Smith and Dwayne Bowe, I'm not sure how competitive the Money Man will be this week.

Houserville is deploying both Darren McFadden and Michael Bush this week against the Pats. It's a move I like during most weeks, but this week, it may be a tough go. New England hasn't allowed a 100 yard rusher and it should be hard to believe that the two will score enough points to justify both getting the start. Still, starting both guarantees points, and it may be just enough to beat T-Money.

Mike Wallace and Anquan Boldin each score, and McFadden posts double-digits once again to lead Houserville.

Jammers' Prediction: Houserville 123, T-Money 111

Graybill's Generals (2-1) at Team Boyer (2-1)
Series History: Boyer leads 4-2.

Boyer has a few injury issues, but it's hard to go against Tom Brady this week. After throwing four interceptions in a game, Brady is 3-1 in the following weeks with just one INT. He'll bounce back in a big way this week, and add in the points that RBs Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blount will post, and it will be a decent win for Boyer.

And it might be in comeback fashion. Blount is going on Monday night against the Colts, who have been suspect to big, strong backs — Ben Tate in Week 1 and Peyton Hillis in Week 2. Blount will roll — no pun intended — over the Colts defense.

Jammers' Prediction: Boyer 130, Generals 115

FB: Week 3 Recaps: Jammers to 3-0; Generals control South

2011-09-28T22:07:00.000-04:00

Arian Foster plans to finally return "for good." I'd trust him, but he hasn't Tweeted MRI proof yet. ... Michael Vick says there's a 100 percent chance he'll play this Sunday. There's also a 100 percent chance that he and the Eagles will lodge a complaint to the NFL for late hits on Monday.

My brother asked me the other day if the changes to roster positions was why the point totals seemed higher.

I responded with "There were no changes. This is the same as it was last season."

Point totals seem higher because QB plays has been much better. Defenses haven't played well — and it may have to do with the lockout — and thus QBs have been taking advantage of it.

The QBs averaged 24.8 points per matchup last season in the first three weeks. This season, the average is 26.4 over the first three weeks. That doesn't seem like that much, but if you think about how the higher scorers have to account for the lower scorers, that's a decent jump.

Add in the fact that there have been some wild WR totals, too, and it's easy to see why some of the point totals have been higher — for some.

This week, six QBs scored better than 30 points. Two of them were in head-to-had matchups, so two unfortunate owners had QBs lead the way only to watch their team lose.

Graybill's Generals 124.2, Channel 4 News Team 111.9

I think Murphy's Law applied for the News Team this weekend — and heck, he still scored 111.9 points. Had he been playing a few other teams in the JFL, he would have shockingly won.

Arian Foster, out. Peyton Hillis, out. Beanie Wells, out. Miles Austin, out. All of their NFL teams missed them this week, but for the News Team to lose the four starters, that was huge — and new to me. I've never seen a team have four starters of that caliber all be declared inactive in the same week.

It's just unheard of. It's just unlucky. And for the Graybill's Generals, it was huge, pushing him to a 2-0 lead in the division.

And as it been in his first three matchups, his big star has been LeSean McCoy, posting his third straight 20-point week. Joe Flacco came through with another big week, posting 41.9 points in a big win over St. Louis.

Flacco has been solid two out of three weeks, and if he does what I think he will this season, he'll have more weeks like this.

And the Generals will need that now that he lost Kenny Britt for the season. No more suspension worries. He tore both his ACL and MCL (ouch) early in the game Sunday and will be out for the season. That is a huge blow to the Generals, who really doesn't have a big-time wideout now. That position will let him down for the rest of the season, and should make it tough to string together a bunch of wins.

Nevertheless, at 2-1 with a nice pad in the division, the Generals are in the right spot.

The News Team's injuries shouldn't be as serious and he should get things going here soon, and with his rival Organ Thieves in the cellar at 0-3, he at least knows there's a chance to dig out of his 1-2 hole.

Dottsville Toasters 144.1, T-Money 85.5

Well, the running backs let the Toasters down — including Chris Johnson again — with a combined 40 yards rushing from three backs, but fortunately Matt Schaub, Calvin Johnson and the Ravens defense took care of business.

Can't say I didn't tell you about Calvin Johnson — mainly because it's well documented in my blog posts. Johnson is having a helluva year. Six touchdowns in three games, and finally he got his first 100-yard game. I don't expect this to stop as long as Stafford is in the lineup.

Schaub should continue to put up the numbers, too, so if the Toasters can get Chris Johnson on track, he'll be in good shape.

The problem is, Johnson hasn't done anything worth talking about this season. He's rushed 24 yards, 53, and 21 yards in his first three games of the season. (Maybe he should have showed up to camp. Or, maybe the Titans shouldn't have paid him.

Right now, the Toasters have to be wondering whether or not he should have kept him. The good thing was, his other keeper option was Calvin Johnson, and fortunately for him, he drafted him.

He'll need Jahvid Best to take off if Chris Johnson doesn't, and with just 9.8 points this week, consistency may be an issue with the speedy back. He had only 14 yards rushing, but he caught enough passes to get close to double-digits.

T-Money can only hope to get more consistency from his RB Frank Gore, too. Only 2.2 points Sunday and he hasn't cracked 60 yards rushing in a game this season. It's been a very rough go for the 49ers back, and one has to wonder if it's over for Gore. He's been around for a long time and it's about that time for him to fade and let the new back take over. It might be Kendell Hunter or Anthony Dixon in San Francisco very soon.

It's also going to be Tony Romo time again next week. T-Money had to start Jason Campbell due to the questionable status of Romo for Monday night's game, but even had he known that Romo would have started, it wouldn't have made a difference. He would have trailed by about 70 points, and Romo didn't and will never get that.

He certainly won't get that the next time these two teams meet, when the Toasters should be in a heated battle with Team Boyer for the division title.

Real Houserville 145.6, Team Boyer 114.7

Houserville is flexing his muscles after this weekend. Darren McFadden is making him look like a genius and Mike Wallace is living up to his No. 1 pick. That, and Week 1 and 2 backup bench high scorers Cam Newton and Rob Gronkowski kept it going.

Yeah, Big Ben scored more, but Newton still had 18.2 points and may of had more if the game wasn't being played in a monsoon. Gronkowski scored his fourth and fifth TDs of the season and he's proving to be a very valuable fantasy piece for Houserville, who appears to have his team cruising toward a division title — an unexpected title according to the preseason poll.

Wallace continues to break big plays, going for 144 yards and a TD Sunday night. He just tells Big Ben to throw it and says he'll catch up to it and grab it — no lie. That's what he did again Sunday, and now he's had 10 100-yard games since the start of last season.

For Boyer, it was Brady again doing most of the work, scoring 39.5 points in yet another high-yardage game. Brady is actually on pace to pass for 7,000 yards, which is crazy. It won't happen, but the fact that he's on pace for it after three games is ridiculous.

Losing some paces this week were Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blount. Both had great Week 4 starts, but combined for just 11.6 points this week. Add that with Antonio Gates being declared inactive at the last second on Sunday, and Boyer was in trouble.

Especially after Darren McFadden went for 171 yards and two TDs. What a keeper selection this has been. Ranked No. 1 in fantasy backs with 73.9 points in three games, including his 32.4 from last week, McFadden has surprised me to say the least. It's not that I never thought he was a good back; it's just that the Raiders have always had this knack to time-share. But now, McFadden is getting points, even when Michael Bush is playing vulture and scoring a TD like he has done the past two Sundays.

But it hasn't hurt Houserville because McFadden has been over 20 points in both of those weeks.

Time will tell if this remains true after 16 weeks, but for right now, Houserville proved me wrong.

Jimmy Jammers 136.3, Sunday Slackers 122

parker dunbar (Sep 25 1:07 PM): Branch is in the RED ZONE
parker dunbar (Sep 25 1:07 PM): Green, 18 yards, He's going to have a HUGE day

Well, that was pretty much it for Parker. Green finished with 29 yards and 3.7 points, and Deion Branch didn't catch a single pass. His other wideout, Santana Moss — his potential saving grace on Monday Night Football — came up with just 8.0 fantasy points.

If it weren't for TE Jermichael Finley catching three TDs and having 85 yards, it would have been a rather disappointing day for the Slackers.

Matt Forte rushed for two more yards than I did sitting on my couch, leaving Drew Brees and Ray Rice to do all the hard work. They tried their best, but Rice was kept out of the end zone for 17.4 points, and Brees posted a big 38.4 points to make the matchup close heading into the 4 p.m. games.

But Matthew Stafford closed the gap even more with his overtime points — completing a huge pass to Calvin Johnson — and Larry Fitzgerald Ryan Mathews combined to tack on 40 points to give the Jammers a decent lead heading into Monday Night.

Mathews has been rather impressive and worth his first-round selection, ranking No. 5 in fantasy backs with 60.1 points through three weeks. With Darren Sproles ranked No. 6 with 58.9, the Jammers is one of three teams to have two backs ranked in the top 10 — go figure.

Oddly enough, the other two teams with top-10 backs are his division rivals, Slackers (Rice and Forte) and Jawz (Jones-Drew and Fred Jackson).

The Slackers' backs were predicted to be a top tandem in the JFL, but the other two pairs were not.

It's certainly a big reason why the Jammers is sitting happy at 3-0. And this week, it's the reason he quelled Parker's early Sunday rants.

World of Noise 124.1, Fear and Loathing 71.2

You are what you eat. Or, in fantasy, you are what your QB does.

For Fear, a 1-2 mark is representative of his QB. Vick plays well Week 1, he wins. Vick leaves the game early in Week 2 and 3, he loses.

This is a rollercoaster everyone is jealous of when Vick plays and it's one that every is happy they're not a part of when he's injured.

Even still, the 10.6 points from Vick this week was one of the higher point totals on his team. His two RBs, three WRs and TE all scored less than 7.2 points.

It was a rough day.

And now, it may be a rough road ahead because of injuries.

Injuries have made it tough for World of Noise, too. He managed 124.1 points, but it was thanks to a surprise performance by LaDainian Tomlinson — my good, ole pal. (Boy I miss 2006).

Tomlinson went for 22.4 points, which would have been a down day in 2006, and really gave the Noise a lift. He may also get a lift this weekend with Marques Colston reportedly ready to return to the lineup after breaking his collarbone. That will be a big help.

Still, it won't help his RB situation. He only has two on the roster, and that will have to be fixed very soon.

Otherwise, this will be one of the few wins Noise gets.

Jawz Attack 149.1, Chinese Organ Thieves 75.1

I said that Jawz could win this matchup if Maurice Jones-Drew had a big day, and I was right about that.

But who knew that Wes Welker, Fred Jackson and Roddy White would all be studs this weekend, especially Welker who had 16 catches for 217 yards and two TDs. It's lines like that that make me happy that when I decided to got to a PPR that I made it 0.2 points per catch. You know, a little reward for making catches. In actual PPRs, Welker was worth better than 50 points. Ridiculous.

This was a big win for Jawz, who had decent weeks, but couldn't outscore his opponent.

This week, he had no trouble doing that.

The Thieves put up just 75.1 points, not that an extra 50 points would have helped him. So far, he's been unlucky in that he's faced point totals of 157.1, 165.6 and 149.1. Ouch. That's just unfair.

And there's no end in sight either with the high scoring Slackers coming to town.

…. And let's talk about the Houserville trade. Oh has that worked out for the Attack. He gives up Big Ben and gets a WR who has two huge weeks.

It translated into a win this week and the way things are going, it will likely translate into a few more wins for the Attack. Especially with dynamic guys like D-Jack, Roddy White and Fred Jackson on the roster.

Watch out Slackers.

FB: Week 3 Previews: Former Roommates in Divisional Battles Today

2011-09-25T11:54:00.002-04:00

Peyton Hillis is out, so is Arian Fosters. Backup RBs galore today. ... Join me in the Gamecast Chat.

Now view the recaps on your mobile devices on www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com with my new mobile view application. Enjoy.

It's Week 3 and that means its the final week of divisional matchups until we come around to the rematches in Weeks 11, 12 and 13.

So there will be some key battles, namely to between former roommates, and another between a surprise division leader and the reigning Super Bowl Champion.

I will be on Gamecast all day, as long as ESPN allows me, so join me as we watch the games and the fantasy matchups.

Sunday Slackers (2-0) at Jimmy Jammers (2-0)
Series History: Jammers leads 5-1.

There are several rivalry matchups going on this weekend in the NFL, so it is only fitting that the Slackers and the Jammers meet up in Week 3.

There really hasn't been much to this rivalry for the Slackers. Just one win in three years, and if it wasn't for the great 40-point Monday night posted by Drew Brees in 2008, the Slackers would be 0-6 against the Jammers.

It seems that any time these two meet, it's just another win for the Jammers. As News Team would say, "85 percent of the time, the Jammers win every time."

I'm not quite sure that stat makes sense, but … when in Rome.

And the Slackers feel like they're in Rome, or some other great vacation spot. Things are going great on Slacker Island. Two wins, and two big wins at that.

The Slack posted 133.3 points in Week 1 and then added 151.6 in Week 2.

It's been touchdown heaven for him with Drew Brees, Ray Rice and Matt Forte.

But, the Jammers is no slouch. His squad has put up even better numbers, scoring 157.1 points and 160.2 points to start the season.

Houserville says that the Jammers won't kept it up, but things are looking good this weekend, matchup-wise.

Stafford and Brees should equal out so this matchup is the Jammers WRs vs. the Slackers RBs.

So it will be up to the rest of the rosters to decide this one, and I'm not going to sit here and break them down, because quite honestly, I could make arguments for why every single one will have a good week.

The prediction has this matchup being a News Team-Thieves kind of game — so it should be fun to watch.

It is interesting that the Slackers have moved on to A.J. Green and Deion Branch. They've had good weeks and it's going to be one of those moves that could be too reactionary.

If Gamecast doesn't go down this weekend, you'll surely be able to follow this rivalry all day.

Jammers' Biased Prediction: Jammers 155, Slackers 102 … OK, you are right. That was mean. …. I'll give him some more points… Jammers 155, Slackers 102.5

T-Money (1-1) at Dottsville Toasters (1-1)
Series History: T-Money leads 6-4.
In another matchup of former roommates (Jammers and Slackers were roomies at Kutztown), the Toasters host his good friend T-Money.

And that means it's time for T-Money to meet Calvin Johnson.

What a keeper pick this was. Calvin Johnson is going to be an amazing fantasy star this season. I predicted that he'd have a 2007 Randy Moss-like season, and so far, he's looking like he might get it. Moss had 23 TDs that season and Johnson has four already. He hasn't posted a 100-yard game yet this season and that's because he's being doubled and that's forcing Matthew Stafford to go elsewhere.

That is why other Lions have been great options, and the Toasters have one in Jahvid Best. He had 12.2 points in Week 1, which included four receptions for 42 yards, and 25.5 points in Week 2, which included six receptions for 66 yards and a TD.

Against Minnesota, I do not see these options dying down. This Lions team is a very interesting team. It's crazy to think, after watching the Lions play like the Slackers for so long, that they have one of the best teams in the NFL. I know they destroyed a horrid Chiefs team, but I bought into the hype before the season and I'm going to keep buying into it today. They'll put up another 30 points today in a win at Minnesota, and the Toasters will get at least 40 combined points from Best and Johnson.

And that may be all he needs if Tony Romo can't go.

Romo has been great fantasy-wise this season, but he was limited in practice and is questionable for Monday's game against the Redskins. T-Money picked up Jason Campbell to counteract the injury, but he'll have to make a decision at 4:05 Sunday (or earlier if the ESPN Fantasy Games go down again at 3 p.m.) because he cannot go into Monday needing points only to watch Jon Kitna start.

It actually might be a good idea to pick up Kitna for T-Money if he's going to roll with Romo.

T-Money may do some damage with his four receivers this week, though. Steve Smith has re-emerged as an elite WR thanks to Cam Newton, and I like Dwayne Bowe to actually score this weekend. He's been limited in his first two games.

The other two receivers, Santonio Holmes and Dustin Keller, are going up against a Raiders defense that let Ryan Fitzpatrick throw for two scores last week, so I'd expect crappy Sanchez to be able to get two this week, and he has a man-crush on Keller.

However, this game is on the West Coast, so I could see some struggles for the Jets.

Where things could go wrong for the Toasters is with Chris Johnson, who has been awful. I'm going to save my rant on him until after this matchup. So C.J. has one more game before I take him down with my prose.

I think he'll avoid that with a big day and the Toasters will emerge with a big divisional win.

Jammers' Prediction: Toasters 133, T-Money 117

Graybill's Generals (1-1) at Channel 4 News Team (1-1)
Series History: News Team leads 5-4.
Here it is. It's the Generals chance to tell all the pollers to go … well, I don't need to finish that sentence, for the sake of keeping my blog worthy of being seen by all Internet users.

Nonetheless, Graybill can stick it to us with a win. He can show everyone that his team is worthy of winning this division.

And today, he has a good chance to do that thanks to the decimation of the News Team's RB corps. Both Arian Foster and Peyton Hillis are reportedly out, and Beanie Wells is a game-time decision, an iffy one if that.

That leaves the News Team with little to work with. C.J. Spiller and Pierre Thomas may have to carry the rock for the News Team, which could be a serious problem.

To make matters worse, Aaron Rodgers is going up against Chicago, which isn't a good matchup for him.

He had only two TDs passes in three games against the Bears last season. The Bears defense hasn't been that great against the pass this season, so it's hard to believe that they'll hold him down today, but still, the history doesn't look so great.

If he does throw a TD, the Generals will hope it goes to his boy Donald Driver, one of five receivers to start Sunday for him. Kenny Britt has been huge, posting 100-yards games and three TDs to start the season. He's not in jail today, so he'll probably pass go and make it to the end zone again.

So will LeSean McCoy who has been worthy of the draft pick swap he did in the offseason to make McCoy his keeper (28 and 24 points).

Joe Flacco also will throw for a pair of scores against the Rams, so I'm going go with the Generals here in a squeaker. A game that may win that silly GMC award that ESPN has on the frontpage.

Jammers' Prediction: Generals 121, News Team 119

Team Boyer (2-0) at Real Houserville (1-1)
Series History: Boyer leads 2-1.

Ooh wee, what a QB matchup we have here. The No. 1-ranked fantasy QB, Tom Brady, vs. the No. 2-ranked QB, Cam Newton.

… Really? Can we believe this?

As amazing as it is, it's true. Brady has 92.1 points and Newton has 79.6 points after two weeks.

Houserville is 1-1 heading into this matchup against the undefeated Boyer, but he would be 2-0 if he could have predicted Newton's early-season explosion.

Now that he has two straight big games in his belt, Houserville is going with Newton. Sorry Big Ben. Enjoy the bench. And he may stay there for a bit. Against the Jaguars, I don't think Newton is going to be stopped. I'm going to predict that he won't score his eye-popping 36 or 42 points, but I think he'll get to 25 or 30 which will be enough to justify the start.

The only problem I could see is the linebacking corps of Jacksonville keeping his running game in check, but I still think he'll hit Steve Smith for a big play or two.

That all sounds great, but the issue could be that Brady should outscore him greatly. … Notice I wrote, "Should."

Brady is at Buffalo in a game that is expected to be the shootout of the week. Many times when a shootout is expected, we get a 24-21 kind of game. So, I'm going go with that and say Brady won't be Superman this week. Maybe just 25-30 points, you know, Cam Newton range.

Hold on, I need to absorb that statement. Now I just feel like I'm writing fiction.

A key part of this matchup will be Boyer's RBs. With Michael Turner, LeGarrette Blount and Willis McGahee in the backfield, I think they should get 60 or more points, but if they don't do that, he's in trouble because Dez Bryant is questionable still and Antonio Gates is ruled out for Sunday's game already. (Can Gates ever stay healthy? So good when he plays, yet he never plays.)

That is why a TE like Houserville's Rob Gronkowski is the guy you want to have. He has as many TDs at Kenny Britt and Houserville would love to steal some points away from Brady this week.

Add in TD catches for Anquan Boldin, Nate Burleson and Mike Wallace — plus another big day from Darren McFadden — and Cam Newton's team will take down the mighty Brady, handing Boyer his first loss.

Jammers' Prediction: Houserville 135, Boyer 123

Fear and Loathing (1-1) at World of Noise (0-2)
Series History: Fear leads 7-3.

Can things get any worse for these two squads?

They came in with so much promise and after two weeks, they have fallen flat on their face.

Fear lost his star back last week in Jamaal Charles and then had Vick leave the game early, preventing him the chance of moving to 2-0.

Noise hasn't won a matchup yet and has a team that was good in 2008. Jay Cutler, Plaxico Burress, LaDainian Tomlinson are all in the lineup today and that means trouble. Jonathan Stewart also is there, and he's had 13 carries for 31 yards in two weeks. The only guy that has been consistent is Andre Johnson.

Jay Cutler is starting this week against Green Bay, and that's probably the better start over Sam Bradford against Baltimore.

Put it this way, Fear should easily win this matchup.

Vick is back, and Rashard Mendenhall and Cedric Benson are still good options at running back. Maybe Ocho will get involved in the passing game today, and Mike Williams has to score more than the negative-0.2 points he scored last week.

So, Fear will get his eighth franchise win over the Noise and move to 2-1 to keep his share of the division lead.

Jammers' Prediction: Fear 103, Noise 88

Chinese Organ Thieves (0-2) at Jawz Attack (0-2)
Series History: Organ Thieves lead 1-0.

Well, someone has to win, right?

The 2011 season has not started out the way these two pictured it would. The Thieves are coming off of a division title and now finds himself down two games to division opponents. Jawz also is down two games after two divisional losses, so this week is a big week for these two. It's the first step in getting back on track.

And for both teams, falling to 0-2 has been a little on the unfair side for them. The Thieves should be 1-1 after scoring 155 points last week and losing, and the Jawz Attack has had to deal with 133 points from the Slackers and 160 points from the Jammers.

It's tough to win when you face offenses like that.

So it's fitting that both are predicted to post 145-plus points today.

The loser today may be sitting at 0-3 wondering who the hell made the schedule? (It was me. Send your complaints to jimmyjohnson3434@yahoo.com.)

With all the great matchups, I'm not going to break this down completely, but rather, point out the few players who I think will make the difference.

For the Thieves, Adrian Peterson will be key. He's going up against a very tough run defense in the Lions, who have given up just 116 yards all season. Peterson, however, is at home where he is a much better back, so it will be key for the Thieves for A.P. to get into the end zone.

It also will be key for Jeremy Maclin to outscore DeSean Jackson as he did last week. Jackson outscored him in Week 1, so who will do it this week. This could be the decider. Whoever has the more productive Eagle will win this matchup.

Because the Giants fear DeSean Jackson like nothing else, I'm going to assume they're going to blanket him all day. And it's for that reason that Maclin will be the deep threat and he will catch a long TD pass.

Whereas I am going to go with the Thieves to win this, I could see this matchup swinging the Attack's way if Maurice Jones-Drew does what I think he could do. With a rookie QB getting the start, MJD should get a lot of touches against Carolina. A huge day for MJD will flip this matchup, or at least it should.

Jammers' Prediction: Organ Thieves 141, Attack 129

FB: Week 2 Recap: News Team, Jammers explode; Fear implodes; Boyer can be glad that he drafted Brady

2011-09-21T23:56:00.002-04:00

Matt Forte is apparently not happy with his contract situation with the Bears, but he's still happy to be a Sunday Slacker ... McNabb tells his teammates that there's no need to panic. He teammates should have told him there's no reason to lie. ... Fred Jackson is upset that what the Bills are paying him doesn't match the production on the field. Funny. Bills fans over the last 10 years haven't seen equal production for the ticket prices they're paying. … Go to www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com for all the division previews if you missed them.

Detroit and Buffalo are 2-0, Arizona still can't win on the East Coast and Michael Vick is injured.

Ah, the NFL.

There's isn't anything quite like it.

Every week brings several new story lines that just make the game ever-more exciting — and for some, ever-more aggravating.

Like for Fear and Loathing, who lost his starting QB — the aforementioned Vick — and his starting RB — Jamaal Charles ran into a Lion (mascot) on the sideline and tore his ACL.

Or for the Chinese Organ Thieves, who would have tied for 10th in the JFL record books for points scored with 155.5 points if it weren't for the fact that the Channel 4 News Team scored 163.6 to push his mark to No. 11. Oh, and to make matters worse, they were playing each other.

"Can we both get wins?" asked Nikish on the Gamecast Smack Board.

I wish, dude. I wish.

And speaking of Gamecast, what the heck ESPN? Your fantasy games shut down at 3 p.m. and don't come back until after the 4 p.m. games kick off? I really hope no one had any strategy moves to make at 4.

Fortunately, it came back and saved my afternoon because you all know me and how I can't live without my live updates. It was too much work to add up the points in my head.

I only work hard during the week, like I am right now to produce the Week 2 recaps. Here they are.

Channel 4 News Team 163.6, Chinese Organ Thieves 155.5
I thought the NBA was locked out.

No defense. All scoring.

This matchup was like a Lakers-Suns game.

It was nuts.

Aaron Rodgers scored 32.3 points and Peyton Hillis had 22.5 in the early games, but Adrian Peterson countered for the Thieves with 26.5 points.

In the 4 p.m. games, the Thieves added another 27.7 from Rivers, but the News Team seemingly put the matchup away with a combined 67.1 points from Vincent Jackson and Miles Austin. The two scored touchdown seconds apart on the RedZone Channel to make me text Nikish with a "Wow."

With 163.6 points, it was over, right?

Nope. Jeremy Maclin exploded for 31.8 points Sunday night, putting the Thieves within striking distance with Hakeem Nicks going Monday night. And in the first quarter Monday, the News Team had to of watched in disbelief as Nicks scored the first TD of the game to cut the fantasy matchup to less than 10 points.

Really? Could the News Team lose with 163.6 points?

But that was it. Just three catches for 15 yards and a TD for Nicks, leaving the Thieves less than eight points behind.

It also makes him the highest scoring winless team in the League. The Thieves now face an uphill battle, down 0-2 in the division with both losses coming to divisional opponents. He's virtually three games out at this point and will have to turn things around.

Ha. Turn things around. He scores 155.5 points and he needs to turn things around. What has this League come to?

Jimmy Jammers 160.2, Jawz Attack 107.5
What can I say?

I feel like a genius right now.

And, yes, I can gloat.

Why? Because I've made a few well-documented mistakes since my last Super Bowl title (2006). That's a drought that would cause a Steinbrenner to clean house yesterday.

So, with Matt Ryan already on the books, I could afford the risk of grabbing a Matthew Stafford, and boy has it paid off.

He scored 32 points last week and another 37.6 points this week to lead the Jammers to a huge victory over the Jawz Attack.

Stafford has been one of the better quarterbacks in the NFL and a lot of it has to do with Calvin Johnson, who scored another two TDs Sunday.

The rest of the Jammers' draft paid off Sunday, too, as Ryan Mathews (20 points), Darren Sproles (14.6), Greg Jennings (13.9) and Brandon Marshall (15.1) all came through. As did keeper Larry Fitzgerald, who led non-QBs with 22.7 points, thanks to Kevin Kolb finally throwing a long pass to him.

The Lions defense, a higher than normal pick in the draft, also came through for the Jammers with 28 points.

It was a fulfilling day for the Jammers.

For Jawz, it was one of those, forget it weekends.

Roddy White had his second straight poor week and DeSean Jackson was limited to just 2.5 points. Both those positions really hurt him this week as Fred Jackson held up his end of the bargain and Josh Freeman rallied late to get his 18.6 points. (It was funny, the fantasy guru John Hanson said on NFL Radio "If you want Josh Freeman to score 19 points, he'll score you 19 points. If you want him to score you 29 points, he'll score you 19 points."

I guess that's why he's the guru, and we're not.

Kevin Kolb outscored Freeman again for the second straight week, which creates a QB controversy for the 0-2 Attack. We'll have to wait and see if Coach Weston makes the change to spur up some momentum now that the Attack have lost two divisional games.

For the Jammers, the QB situation could be a question, too, with Matt Ryan scoring 32.1 points last weekend, but at 2-0, that's a good problem to have.

Sunday Slackers 151.6, Graybill's Generals 114.7
Graybill was smacked off his high-scoring pedestal and there wasn't much he could do to stop it.

After scoring 157.1 in Week 1, the Generals returned to Earth and managed 114.7 points. And it wasn't like he made any bad roster choices. With only 3.9 points on the bench, Graybill was in trouble no matter what he did.

To make it worse, his second highest scorer from the first two weeks — Kenny Britt — hurt his quad in practice on Wednesday and is questionable for Week 3.

With all these issues, he might want to hide Week 3.

Oh, did I mention he lost to the Sunday Slackers? Must have slipped my mind. He's all jacked up after his Week 2 performance that he thinks he owns the world. He was predicted to win three games this season and he's won two already.

So, that means he has one left. He better save it for later, because 10-game losing streaks blow. He should know. He had one in 2008.

In fact, the Slackers already have as many wins as the franchise had in its first 17 games in the JFL, so of course he's excited. It's a new — well, newer than the rest of us — franchise.

It's taken a while to get off the ground, but we saw the same thing happen to the News Team. Two years of losing and now one of the most successful teams in JFL — the News Team, of course.

So be glad you're not owned by Al Davis, because your ass would be fired by now.

Instead, you're able to send your franchise QB Drew Brees out there for 30-plus points a week. That's why you were able to make the moves to put together one of the better RB tandems in the JFL — Matt Forte and Ray Rice. That's why you were able to assemble the great WR group of … well, that's still a work in progress. But hey, you're fourth-round defense scored 29 more points (30) than it did in Week 1, so that's a positive.

I'm sure he'll fire back at with me about how his bench scored 80 points thanks to great WR performances, but there's a reason why he has five WRs on his bench.

You might be asking yourself, "Why is Jimmy being so mean to Parker? Normally he's like this with Dawson."

The answer is simple. I'm writing this while watching my DVR recording of the "Roast of Charlie Sheen."

I'm in the Roasting mood, and well, Parker was the man of the hour.

Real Houserville 137.4, World of Noise 92
World of Noise pledged that he was back.

After making the Super Bowl in 2009, the 2010 season was forgettable for Noise. But he wasn't around to take care of his team, so now that he's back, he was ready to take on the world.

Well, the world is still out there for him, but his fantasy football team isn't.

He had another player go down this week with Jacoby Jones — not as big of a loss as his other three injuries to Marques Colston, Dallas Clark and Knowshon Moreno — and he's running out of luck right now.

In fact, he might be on a similar path as the Colts — gunning for the No. 1 pick to draft Andrew Luck.

Houserville doesn't need the No. 1 pick of next year's NFL Draft. He has this year's No. 1, and he's been on the bench both weeks.

Cam Newton scored 42.8 points on the bench last week and 36.8 this week. Ouch.

But do not by any means think that I'm judging Houserville. I've thought it over and even with my fantasy team in the other league I'm in where I'm a dreadful 0-2, if I had drafted Cam Newton, I can't say that I would have started him — and we start two QBs in that league! So to judge Houserville would be hypocritical.

The bench points didn't hurt him this week, but it certainly opens the door for future starts on his team. Will it be next week? I don't know. It's hard to believe that Newton will remain at this level, but it's not just big plays leading Newton to success.

He's making some great passes and moving the offense unlike anyone could have thought.

Still, we're talking about a bench guy right now. Let's talk about the guys who posted the 137.4 points that Houserville put up this week against his most hated rival, Noise.

Big Ben came through after a horrible Week 1, scoring 21.3 points, but it didn't come without a scare. Roethlisberger was hit low in the legs and looked to have suffered a Tom Brady-like injury, but a few plays later, he limped his way back into the lineup.

He also got 25.7 points from Darren McFadden, who as the No. 4 back in fantasy, is proving to be a solid keeper — much more than I thought he would be. If he can keep that up, Houserville can turn this division upside down — especially now, after the division favorite lost his star running back Jamaal Charles.

Mike Wallace also will be a part of that division title run, now posting two straight 100-yard receiving performances to start the season.

It's a scary site for Fear, but the Ville may be primed and ready to make a run here.

T-Money 110.3, Fear and Loathing 93.4
I just want to say, "T-Money, I'm sorry."

I've dogged you for keeping Tony Romo year after year, and Sunday, I have to say, I gained some respect for Captain Clutch Cluster-eff. I mean, I instantly became the biggest Donovan McNabb fan the day he broke his leg and continued to throw for 255 yards and four TDs. I didn't even have to look up those stats because I was completely blown away by the performance.

So Romo, known for choking and coming off of one of his biggest late-game gaffes in his career, goes out and throws for 345 yards and two touchdowns, and set up the game-winning overtime score with his huge pass play to a guy all of us had to look up and think about for waiver possibilities (he's a wideout, so I'm sure the Slackers will take a crack at him).

Oh, and I forgot to mention, he did most of that with a broken rib — known at the time of the comeback — and a punctured lung — not known.

He had a punctured lung and he continued to play. Move over hockey players, you've got some competition for the title of "tough guy." (In all seriousness, hockey players are still the toughest. See, NHL Playoffs.)

But Romo gained some respect. That was a hell of a performance, and without it, T-Money nor the Cowboys win.

T-Money got 31 points, many coming after the injury, and winning by 17 points, it certainly helped that he came back and added several passing yards and a TD to his fantasy line.

It also helped that Jamaal Charles tore his ACL and took out the Lions' mascot. If you ask me, he went low on the Lion and should expect a call from the commissioner and a nice fine, thanks to the Brady rule. We have to protect our mascots.

In all seriousness, this is a huge blow to Fear. Michael Vick also went down, but he'll be back. Charles won't. His big play potential was going to win Fear a couple matchups this season. This is clearly going to change his win total — maybe that's where the Slackers get that third win he's expecting to get — unless Fear gets so stellar play elsewhere.

Fortunately, Fear is in a situation where he had three 1,000 yard backs and now he'll run with Rashard Mendenhall and Cedric Benson.

But he's also going to need more consistency out of Mike Williams — negative 0.2 points this week, and something more than 4.9 points from Ochocinco. Days like that get you benched — especially with Fear. He's shown that he's not afraid to bench Ocho. When backup options are Pierre Garcon, Jerome Simpson, Jason Hill and Jabar Gaffney — all four bring up the question "Who?" for the very casual football fan — Fear may have to stick with Ocho no matter what.

That's something no one wants to hear.

Team Boyer 129.7, Dottsville Toasters 122.2
Would you expect anything less from Tom Brady? Ranked No. 1 out of fantasy QBs, Brady has 92.1 points in two weeks. Mind you, QBs are predicted to score on average, anywhere between 280 to 380 fantasy points. He's a quarter of the way toward the upper echelon after two games. Just two games!

Can you believe this guy was the 25th overall pick in the inaugural 2006 JFL Draft? Yes, three of you were not in the League when this happened, but everyone else, shame on us.

But who could blame us. The No. 1 pick was Larry Johnson. Reggie Bush was selected one spot before Brady. Boyer's first two picks were Tiki Barber and Cadillac Williams.

Hell, even Fear and Loathing drafted then-Chad Johnson at No. 18 — and he hates Chad Johnson.

If we all knew what this pick would have brought us.

Boyer at 2-0 is in great shape, and Brady isn't alone on this team. Michael Turner, LeGarrette Blount, Willis McGahee and Steven Johnson all scored more than 15 points last week.

Going forward, there are a few injury questions, but nothing that should hold Boyer back — especially now that he has two divisional wins in his pocket heading into the non-divisional slate.

If he gets another 40, 50 points from Brady, I'm thinking about delivering him the trophy that I have to get into the News Team's hands soon.

BB: Slammers win 2011 World Series title

2011-09-18T23:17:00.000-04:00

It was nowhere near as close as the last World Series that the Slammers and Gamblers matched up in, but for a while, it looked like it could have been.

Heading into the Friday, the matchup was tied at 9-9 and the horrors of the 2009 World Series started to come up again — the year that the Slammers and Gamblers battled for 16 days before the Gamblers won their first of two straight titles.

It ends at two.

The Slammers controlled the weekend and ran away with a 17-6-1 win.

For the Slammers, it's title No. 2 and his first since 2007, the first year the JLB was in action. The first title occurred when there were only eight teams in the League, and many of whom were not very interested in staying around. Only four teams from the original eight remain. So, this title in a way can be considered the first of its kind for the Slammers.

Still, the Slammers becomes the second two-time champion in baseball and wins his fourth JimmyJam Fantasy League title, having won once in football (2006) and once in hockey (2009). Eric Schiavo is also has multiple JJFL titles, winning titles in football (2007) and hockey (2010). Parker Dunbar has two titles, both in baseball.

The Slammers rolled to the World Series title after a Wild Card win over the NL East Champion, Outs. The 14-5-5 win in the first round spurred an 18-6-0 win over Ronald Duncan, the second-best team during the regular season, and a 17-6-1 win over the Gamblers, arguably the best team in baseball over the last three seasons — until this week.

Behind strong pitching, the Slammers posted ERAs of 2.05, 2.28 and 2.72 in the playoffs. Overall, the Slammers finish the season with a 3.14 ERA with a record of 145-103. The next closest win total was the Gamblers' 129, but he had a League-worst 130 losses to go with it. The Slammers also finished second with 1,706 strikeouts, second with 171 quality starts, third with 15 complete games and first with eight complete game shutouts.

The eighth came from Javier Vasquez in the World Series on Friday night, changing the complexion of the matchup.

The power was never there for the Slammers all season, finishing last in homers with just 157. And that showed in the World Series, with the Gamblers winning the HR category 12-6. But, where the Slammers were strong on offense during 2011 was singles (League-best 1,099), doubles (League-best 338) and RBIs (second-best 831).

The Slammers won all those categories, including RBIs, to take down the Gamblers.

It was a make or break season for the Slammers, who set up his squad in 2010 to be great in 2011. Many of his minor league keepers from 2010 into 2011 will not be eligible going into 2012. There will be some tough decisions to make if the Slammers hope to do what the Gamblers did in 2010 — repeat.

It was a fun season, and I look forward to February when we activate the 2012 edition of fantasy baseball. Until then, all waiver moves are off. Trades can be discussed but cannot be made until the game is reactivated in 2012.

Keeper rules will remain the same. If you have forgotten them, check out the blog archive.

We will be moving to a pay league next season. It will be $25 to play next season with $150 going to the World Series champion, $50 to the World Series Runner-up, and $25 to each of the Division winners. If you do not wish to continue, please let me know. I've spoken with most of you and I believe all of you are OK for $25 buy-ins.

Week 2 Preview: Big divisional matchups highlight slate

2011-09-18T22:37:00.001-04:00

Apparently, ESPN can't handle fantasy live scoring. Everything is down as off 3:10 p.m. Hopefully will come back soon. Started with chat troubles, now, nothing is updating. … Go to www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com for all the division previews if you missed them.

It's Week 2, but it's a big week for a few teams.

Two divisional contests feature teams that are both 0-2 and then there's a great divisional matchup between a pair of 1-0 teams.

No matter what, there's going to be some separation in the divisions and an early lead can go a long way.

A battle between two of last season's hottest teams, Chinese Organ Thieves and Channel 4 News Team, highlights the schedule. The two were the toughest to beat in 2010, and heading into this Week 2 matchup, they're both 0-1. I'm definitely looking forward to watching this matchup unfold.

Another pair of 0-1 divisional mates squaring off is Real Houserville hosting World of Noise. This should draw some attention on the message boards because these two are the kings (or Queens) of talk.

The other divisional matchup of interest is the undefeated (way too soon to call someone undefeated) Team Boyer at the undefeated Dottsville Toasters.

Last week's matchups featured several great QB performances in a week where all QBs combined for an NFL record of more than 7,000 passing yards.

When Chad Henne throws for better than 400, it's a wild week.

We were told over and over again how offenses were going to struggle early on due to the lockout. As it turns out, it was the defenses, who struggled the most.

We may see similar numbers this weekend, and if you have a premier QB, you should be in great shape.

World of Noise (1-0) at Real Houserville (0-1)
Series Record: Houserville leads 5-2.
Well, for as boisterous as the Noise is whenever he plays Dawson, he hasn't shown up many times. Only two wins in seven games, leaves Houserville just pointing at the scoreboard.

Both teams struggled mightily in Week 1. Houserville's problems were well-documented in the Week 1 recap, and Mike Tolbert is in this week's lineup, but who knows if that is the answer.

The likelihood that Tolbert scored three TDs this week is highly improbable. And based on his stats from prior seasons, the likelihood that he scores again this week isn't high.

Still, Dawson reacts and throws him in the lineup.

Wisely, he didn't over-react at QB and he stuck with Big Ben (13.9 points last week) and left Cam Newton (42.8 points last week) on the bench. This is a smart move. Newton will not throw up 40 points this week. I think he could get 20 or so, but not 40.

On the other side, Big Ben should go wild this week. You want to see and angry team? The Steelers are going to pound the Seahawks.

Big Ben has a huge fantasy day today. So big, it will completely devastate the Noise — especially if he connects with Mike Wallace on several plays.

The Noise should get good point totals from the Andre Johnson and Jay Cutler, but that will be it. McFadden, Boldin and Burleson will all get double-digits to lead Houserville to a win.

Which will allow him to just send a text to the Noise stating one word: "SCOREBOARD."

Jammers' Prediction: Houserville 134, Noise 105

T-Money (0-1) at Fear and Loathing (1-0)
Series Record: Series tied at 3-3.
I have to say, I was wrong about two players early on: Dwayne Bowe and Jamaal Charles.

I loved both of these players heading into the season.

After Week 1, I'm scared. The Chiefs were so bad that I was completely turned away from two of my favorite 2011 fantasy stars.

Both T-Money and Fear have one of them.

For T-Money, he could have been 1-0 if Bowe would have just caught a few more passes and scored.

Fear won his matchup, but his running backs certainly could have done better. Charles did reach double-digits, but he was held to 56 yards rushing. He caught a 9-yard TD pass to help his point total out, but that was it. His other back, Rashard Mendenhall, was awful. He had just 45 yards and he fumbled to make his point total 2.5 points.

Charles' should be around the same point total this week, but Mendenhall will rush for 100 and score at least once against the Seahawks, who are going to get run out of Pittsburgh with a 40-plus point loss.

Add in Cedric Benson against the lowly Broncos, and Fear should be well on his way to victory.

I did mention earlier that I like Romo to rebound this week against the 49ers, so T-Money will get points there, but Fear's QB will do better. I expect Michael Vick to have another explosive game. I feel like he'll have a great first drive, slow down for a few possessions and then take off. It will be at this point that Fear and Loathing puts the nail in the coffin of this matchup.

Jammers' Prediction: Fear and Loathing 142, T-Money 122

Jimmy Jammers at Jawz Attack
Series Record: Series tied at 1-1.
Eagles games are always fun, but nerve-wracking for myself and my Uncle Jason.

Tonight, the game will be a little more nerve-wracking.

By the time the Eagles-Falcons game kicks off at 8:20 p.m., the Jammers should have a decent lead after Matthew Stafford rocks KC and after Larry Fitzgerald and Greg Jennings show why they're among the NFL's best.

But that lead will be in jeopardy when two other wideouts look to prove the same thing.

Jawz has Roddy White and DeSean Jackson going in the late game and they certainly have the potential to pull off the comeback and beat the Jammers.

Jawz is going with almost the same lineup that he had last week, except he added in Fred Jackson and sat Joseph Addai, and that's a toss-up to whether it will matter or not.

The key for Jawz will be to have the rest of his team score enough points during the day to make it manageable come Sunday night.

He nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback Monday night with Wes Welker's huge night, but it wasn't enough. The deficit was too big to start with.

That may again be the case this week.

I —of course I do — really like Stafford, Jennings and Fitzgerald this week, and I think I may have a few last-second changes that may spin this matchup out of reach.

No matter what, I feel like this could be the most exciting matchup of the week due to the impact the Sunday night game can have.

Jammers' Prediction: In a squeaker, Jammers 142, Jawz 139

Team Boyer (1-0) at Dottsville Toasters (1-0)
Series Record: Series tied at 6-6.
It should be a good thing for the Toasters' Matt Schaub, but then again, it could spin into a bad thing.

Schaub had to have watched Tom Brady's performance against the "best secondary" in football — says Dolphins CB Vontae Davis — and dreamt about this week's matchup between his Texans and the Dolphins.

Tom Brady, who happens to be who the Toasters is going up against this week, threw for 517 yards last week against the Dolphins. This week, it's Schaub's turn.

Not so fast.

It would be easy to assume that everyone is going to have similar passing success, but I wouldn't jump to that conclusion yet. We could only do that for the 2010 Texans defense. With Arian Foster starting today, the Texans will be cautious with giving him too many carries, so I think this could be a pretty good day for Schaub and Toasters' TE Owen Daniels.

I'm not predicting 517 yards, but I don't think a 300-yard, three touchdown day is too much of a stretch.

Brady should be in a similar area against the Chargers.

So, it will be up to the rest of their teams to decide this matchup.

Both the Toasters and Boyer have banged up star wideouts who had nice Week 1 performances. Calvin Johnson is questionable on a day where he has a great matchup against a banged up KC defense. If he starts, I see another two TDs and 100 yards. A healthy year for Johnson could rival Randy Moss' big year with Brady.

For Boyer, it's Steven Johnson, who is probable against the Oakland Raiders, another good matchup in my mind. I see no reason why FItzpatrick won't find him.

With that matchup fairly even, let's look at the RBs, where I think this matchup will be won. Both are deploying three this weekend and both have a back who I think could completely end the matchup.

For Boyer, Michael Turner is going up against the Eagles, who clearly have had trouble with running backs and look like they're going to struggle all season.

Tonight's game will be pivotal for Boyer, and because it's his final player of the week, it could be the dagger.

The Toasters, who only have one player going after the afternoon slate of games (Mario Manningham on Monday), could have a decent lead if Jahvid Best has the kind of day I think he will. I like him for 20-plus fantasy points today. I think he'll get some rushing yards, and possibly a rushing TD, but I also see him busting a big screen pass for possibly a TD.

Also worth noting is Chris Johnson's attempt to make up for his pitiful fantasy week in Week 1. It's too bad he's going up against Baltimore's defense, who the Toasters also have. Talk about a predicament.

Jammers' Prediction: Toasters 129, Boyer 121

Graybill's Generals (1-0) at Sunday Slackers (1-0)
Series Record: Slackers leads series 2-1.
In another 1-0 battle in the JFL, the Generals are doing what I thought about doing: Picking up Dexter McCluster and deploying five receivers because the KC wideout happens to have RB eligibility. (How awesome is that?)

If you figure that his only RB in the lineup, LeSean McCoy, is also like a wideout in many ways, the PPR points are going to be coming the Generals way.

But this matchup will be decided on how well the Slackers RBs do, not on how well the Generals aerial arsenal does.

Ray Rice was huge last week and I think he'll have a similar day against Tennessee. Matt Forte was equally as big, leading the Slackers to a win.

The thing that the Slackers will have to worry about is that if it weren't for three huge point totals, he would have lost.

The same could have been said for the Generals.

Both head into Week 2 hoping that one or two of those big scorers are going to be consistent fantasy stars in 2011. If you have that 2010 Arian Foster or 2006 LaDainian Tomlinson kind of star, you can easily go on to win the Super Bowl. Just ask the fantasy owners of those two RBs in those seasons.

I think both McCoy and Rice have the chance to have those types of seasons.

McCoy is in such an explosive offense and Rice is benefiting from the addition of fullback Vonta Leach. You might be asking yourself, how the hell does a FB addition help Rice?

Well, Arian Foster would not have been the fantasy MVP he was last season if it weren't for the fact that he was rushing behind the blocks of Leach. Now a Raven, it's Rice's turn to have a "Foster" season.

And for that reason, I'm giving the Slackers the slight edge this week.

Jammers' Prediction: Slackers 121, Generals 114

Channel 4 News Team (0-1) at Chinese Organ Thieves (0-1)
Series Record: News Team leads series 6-5.
Who would have thought this? In Week 2, the winless News Team will take on the winless Organ Thieves.

The two teams were highly favored in the preseason poll, and both stumbled out of the gates. Well, after Week 2, one of these teams is going to be scratching their heads at 0-2 with a shovel in their hands. The hole they're digging is getting deeper.

Of course, when these two get together, we talk about Aaron Rodgers vs. Phillip Rivers — both QBs that I use to have on my roster (traded one, kept LaDainian Tomlinson over the other one).

That matchup is always key, and I think both have favorable defense to throw against. Kevin Kolb found holes against Carolina and that tells me that Rodgers will find major gaps. The same applies for Rivers, who is going up against a Patriots defense that Chad Henne picked apart.

So it's hard to say that this is the most pivotal roster spot this week.

I'm going to say the key to this matchup is the three RBs that both teams are starting.

And when you look at the matchups, I have to sway to the News Team's side. Peyton Hillis got off to a slow start last week, but against a soft Indy defense that allowed the Texans to rush for 167 yards and two TDs, Hillis will bowl over that.

Beanie Wells emerged last week and last season's MVP Arian Foster should return to the roster this week. As of right now, reports say he'll start. Obviously, if he doesn't start or if he has an early-game setback, the Thieves will easily steal the edge in this matchup.

But even if that is the case, I still like the News Team's wideout.

I think everyone piled on the Cowboys after a horrible fourth quarter and forgot what they did for three quarters. Dallas will play four quarters this week and Romo will silence the 49ers fans who think they're all-of-a-sudden the greatest team after beating the Seahawks thanks to special teams.

Romo will find Miles Austin for several passes today which will sway this matchup the News Team's way.

The other factor that will play into this is Vincent Jackson (News Team) stealing points from Rivers.

News Team suffered from this last week when the Jammers' Greg Jennings scored 18 points, taking away from Aaron Rodgers' 33-point day.

I also like Robert Meachem this week. Saints WRs are tough to predict, but I just have a feeling. It's like one of those days where he catches one pass for a 72-yard TD. … Just one of those days where one catch equals about 15 fantasy points.

I do have to note that the Thieves made a great move and picked up the Cowboys defense this week, a defense that will stifle Alex Smith and probably force in a backup — a backup who I don't feel like Googling right now to spell his name right.

Jammers' Prediction: News Team 140, Thieves 120

FB: Week 1 Recap: Generals, Jammers roll to big wins

2011-09-14T17:24:00.002-04:00

What a wild week! Jaws says "Shit" nonchalantly on live TV, then has to apologize. Yet, Cartman can say "shit" all show long. Does that make sense? … First round picks evaluated: (1) Jammers, Greg Jennings (16.3 points), (2) Generals, Steven Jackson (13.6 points), (3) Jawz, Roddy White (7.7 points), (4) Noise, Sam Bradford (5.5 points), (5) Toasters, Calvin Johnson (22 points), (6) Team Boyer, Antonio Gates (9 points), (7) Fear and Loathing, Rashard Mendenhall (2.5 points), (8) T-Money, Frank Gore (8.4 points); (9) Houserville, Mike Wallace (12.3 points); (10) Organ Thieves, Hakeem Nicks (13.6 points); (11) Sunday Slackers, Matt Forte (24.8 points); (12) News Team, Vincent Jackson (3.5 points). …… Are the Bills for real? Fastest show on turf that sucked last season? … Go to www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com for all the division previews if you missed them.

Last season, my puppy, Nala, predicted the Super Bowl champion. I got her pick by putting two treats on the ground, designating which one stood for which team.

She chose the Super Bowl champion Packers. Yeah, I know, it was a 50-50 chance.

So, for fun, in my dad's NFL picks league, I pulled out a bag of treats and did the same thing for all 16 games on the NFL Week 1 schedule. How did Nala do? Well, she got 11 right — much more than I did. I think next week I'll have my wife do the same thing for me when I select my picks, but instead of dog treats, perhaps she can use M&Ms or beer.

Nevertheless, something will have to be done if this is how the NFL season is going to pan out.

You know, if the Bills are going to go into the most hostile stadium in the NFL and win 41-7.

Or if the Cardinals and Panthers are going to play the most exciting game on a Sunday.

Or if Rex Grossman is going to throw for 300 yards in wins.

If stuff like that is going to happen all season, I'm going to have plenty to complain about.

Week 1 Recap
It's always nice to win Week 1, but a loss doesn't end anyone's season. It can certainly put a damper on it, especially if you worked so hard to prepare and then watch your starters swing and miss Week 1.

It happens.

You just hope it doesn't happen again in Week 2.

In the Super Bowl rematches, the Jammers exacted his revenge in a big way against the News Team and Noise came up just short in his attempt to beat the 2009 Super Bowl Champion Dottsville Toasters.

The Organ Thieves faltered as the Generals rolled to a huge win, and Boyer provided the big Monday Night comeback. The Sunday Slackers also picked up a big divisional win, defeating the team he couldn't defeat in 2010, Jawz Attack.

And Houserville stunk up the house before the games started with a trade that may haunt him forever — kind of like the haunting I feel when I think back to my trade of Joseph Addai for Aaron Rodgers.

Jimmy Jammers 157.1, Channel 4 News Team 105.6
The News Team was sitting pretty after Thursday, but then Sunday hit him hard.

First, the early morning news that Arian Foster was indeed going to be inactive for the week, so News Team scrambled to get backup Derrick Ward into the lineup in his place.

The Jammers did the same thing by shifting his lineup to sneak uber-backup Ben Tate in.

After one drive, it looked like the News Team had made the right choice when Ward scored, but Tate took over, rushing for 116 yards and TD, outscoring Ward 15.6-9.9.

Outside of Beanie Wells' 17 points (90 yards, TD) and Miles Austin's 16 points (90 yards, TD), the rest of the day was frustrating. The Chiefs defense, which one would think against the Bills at home would be a great matchup, turned into a nightmare.

The Jammers countered with the Texans defense, which dominated the Colts to the tune of 31.5 fantasy points.

It was an early morning addition for the Jammers, as he sat down at 8 a.m. and watched AFC Playbook on TV. Jammers didn't want to be awake at that time, but his wife needed a ride to her relay marathon, and thus, the TV was on. Already thinking about picking up the Texans' defense, AFC Playbook broke down the new 3-4 scheme and sold the move. Seconds later, the Texans were in both of his fantasy teams' lineups.

It was that move and the QB decision that led to the Jammers win over the News Team. On the bench was Matt Ryan, last year's QB who led the Jammers to the Super Bowl. In is a healthy Matthew Stafford, who threw for 305 yards and three TDs for 32 points, just 1.6 points less than Aaron Rodgers, who seemingly put the Jammers in a big hole.

But then Sunday came.

And Monday. Reggie Bush added 17.2 points and Brandon Marshall had 15.3 points as the Dolphins got destroyed by the Pats. Which in turn, helped the Jammers destroy the News Team. Too bad that statement came nine months too late.

Sunday Slackers 133.3, Jawz Attack 126.3
The Sunday Slackers woke up Monday with better-than a 50-point lead.

That meant no sweating whatsoever Monday night, right? It was time for him to focus on his fantasy World Series matchup against the JimmyJam Slammers.

…But the Jawz had Wes Welker and the Patriots' defense, and that combo put up a hell of a fight. As the night went on, both continued to add points, but it didn't get scary until the Patriots lined up on their 1-yard line. Tom Brady drops back and threads the needle to Welker, who breaks a whimsy tackle to score a 99-yard touchdown. That's 18.1 points, the most points you can get on one play in fantasy. All of a sudden, Welker has 31.6 points and the Slackers went from comfortable and talking baseball to praying for Chad Henne not to throw and interception. An INT for a TD would have won it for Jawz, but that never happened, and the Slackers held on.

His big lead was thanks to a duo of backs who had great Sunday performances.

A lot of people saw the preseason trade for Ray Rice and scratched their heads.

"Why trade for a guy you can draft with the No. 1 pick?"

Well, the Slackers showed everyone why.

Ditching Steven Jackson — who is now injured, again — he traded for Rice (27.7 fantasy points Sunday) and then drafted Matt Forte (24.8 points Sunday) with the 11th pick in the draft, which he traded down to get Rice.

Not a bad deal. Add that with the 39.8 points from Drew Brees and you have Slackers' team.

And by that I mean that was his whole team this week. About 92 points came from those three players. Felix Jones added 11.2 and the rest of his team was in single-digits.

The WRs were an area of concern leading up to the season and they proved to be that Sunday.

Oh, and the Steelers defense was a bit of a bust. Fourth-round pick, 1 point.

Ouch. Let that be a lesson to you defense drafters, myself included. Only pull the trigger on a move like that if you're sure they're going to be good. The Steelers defense is the oldest in football and they got pounded Sunday.

Jawz falls to 0-1, despite having a great week. He really needed Roddy White to have a good week, but the Falcons absolutely blew in Chicago, leaving White with just 7.7 points.

Things may not get any easier for Roddy next week as he'll be guarded by either Nnamdi Asomugha (spelled that right without looking it up), Asante Samuel or Domonic Rodgers-Cromartie — take your pick.

They'll surely get their pick.

Even still, if White struggles next week, there's still enough talent on this team to win games. Josh Freeman was OK Sunday, scoring 19.7 points and newly acquired Kevin Kolb had 28.9 on the bench. QB starts may be a key decision on a weekly basis, although this week, it didn't matter who Jawz started; the Slackers were winning this one.

Fear and Loathing 123.8, Real Houserville 97
You ever do something and then regret it a couple days later?

Well, Houserville knows the feeling.

He traded away 60.4 points for 13.9 points. Ouch.

Ben Roethlisberger should be a good QB at some point this season — maybe as soon as this week against the Seahawks — but that doesn't mean we can't look back at what could have been for the Houserville.

Plug Wes Welker (31.6 points) in for free-agent pickup Lance Kendricks (2.0) and Houserville upends division favorite Fear and Loathing.

To make matters worse, sitting on the bench for Houserville is Mike Tolbert, who scored three TDs and 29.1 fantasy points, and Cam Newton, who threw for 422 yards, tying a rookie record, and scoring 42.8 points. Had Houserville not traded and started Newton, he could have had 103.8 points from three players: Newton, Tolbert and Welker.

Ah, what could have been.

Instead, Houserville struggles and falls short of 100 points, while Michael Vick leads Fear and Loathing to a win.

Which is funny because all preseason, we heard how the Eagles were going to be the greatest team, and several publications put them in the Super Bowl and some had them winning it.

Then, the days before Week 1 came and most experts were saying the Rams were going to beat the Eagles because Philly isn't a real team — just a bunch of stars on the same team.

So much for that. Vick struggled in the passing game, but did just enough to get the Eagles the win.

Team Boyer 142.5, T-Money 119.8
We've seen this before with Team Boyer.

He trails heading into Monday night with Tom Brady getting ready for a primetime start, and what does he do? He goes nuts.

On a week where nearly every quarterback threw for 300-plus yards, Brady raised the bar with his Patriots' record 517 yards, scoring 51.8 fantasy points. His 99-yard touchdown pass to Wes Welker put a nail in the coffin for T-Money and the Dolphins at the same time.

There wasn't anything T-Money could do to avoid this loss. Brady added with the Bears' defense's 31 points pretty much sealed the deal.

And it was a shame because Steve Smith (CAR) looked like the old Steve Smith for a day, you know, back when there was only one Steve Smith. Sunday, he had 178 yards and two TDs. He was Cam Newton's favorite target and if this tandem keeps it up, this could be the steal of the draft. Add him to Santonio Holmes, who had just 70 yards, and Dwayne Bowe, who had 17 yards, and this WR group could be key in some future wins for the Money man.

The key will be Bowe. A performance like he had Sunday will not be tolerated. Just 17 yards? Bowe was a keeper for the Money Man and this does not help his cash flow. Matt Cassell better start to get him the ball, or else, the Chiefs better find someone who will.

(Can you tell that I'm angry? I have him in my other league and his measly 17 yards doomed me. If he had 70 yards and a TD, like a normal star WR, I would have won. Damn him and the Chiefs.)

So, 70 yards and a TD would not have made a difference for T-Money, but still, if he wants to go somewhere this year, he'll certainly agree with my KC Rant.

Graybill's Generals 157.1, Chinese Organ Thieves 115.5
Who picked the Generals to finish last?

Wait, what's that? Almost everyone?

Well, think again.

Graybill had a helluva first day, blowing out his division rival Chinese Organ Thieves. It was a little payback for last season's Week 1 debacle, where the Thieves stomped the Generals 123-38.5.

That's right. Graybill scored better-than four times as many points than he did last season.

Quite an improvement if you ask me.

The big help came from his two keepers and a pair of top picks. Joe Flacco had a huge day against the Steelers, and I can't say I saw this coming this week. I had faith in Flacco rolling out a lot of big fantasy point totals this season, but I didn't see it against the Steelers.

Makes you wonder what kind of season the Steelers are going to have. Houserville mentioned that the Steelers have horrible seasons after competing in the Super Bowl the year prior. Maybe we're due for another Steelers letdown in 2011. Graybill, a Ravens fan, would certainly take that.

He'll also take more great performances from LeSean McCoy and Kenny Britt.

McCoy came to the Generals in an offseason trade that has paid off in Week 1. McCoy scored 28.1 points and looks to be a key part of the high-powered Eagles offense. I expect more big days for LeSean.

The other key to continued success would be Britt. He had one fluke 80-yard TD Sunday that inflated his stats to 28.6 points, but that's the kind of player Britt was last year. He'll explode for big points and disappear. Graybill needs him to not play David Copperfield in the following weeks.

That, and he also needs him not to play the role of Pacman Jones. Stay out of jail, stay out of cars when drunk, stay out of shady nightclubs, stay out of…. hell, Graybill, can you use your powers to just put this guy in federal protective custody for the next 16 weeks?

The other big point total came from the Jets defense, which scored 25 more points than Parkers fourth-round pick Steelers defense.

Dottsville Toasters 109.6, World of Noise 91.4
The hospital is a bit noisy after Week 1.

World of Noise lost Marques Colston for a couple weeks and both Sam Bradford and Knowshon Moreno went down with injuries Sunday. Those injuries maybe just put the two out of their miseries.

Bradford was a mess against the Eagles defense, finally getting to 5.5 points midway through the fourth quarter before hurting his finger.

Moreno wasn't any better, fumbling and going for just 22 yards and 4.1 fantasy points.

His other RB, Jonathan Stewart, did not suffer an injury but you would think he did according to his stats. Only 26 yards and 4.4 fantasy points for the Daily Show, left the Noise in a serious hole against the Toasters, who powered through this matchup with big performances from the Ravens' defense and Calvin Johnson. Johnson caught two TD passes and had 88 yards for 22 points, and the Ravens had seven turnovers for 29.5 points.

All in all, 109 points isn't a great week, but it was enough this week and the win is all that matters.

I must note that Chris Johnson had just 24 yards rushing in his first game back. It will be interesting to see how long it will take for him to get into the game and return to his 2009 form. The less-rich Titans hope the more-rich Johnson does it very soon.

It's Officially Back: Predictions, Previews, Football!

2011-09-08T19:05:00.001-04:00

Kickoff tonight, baby! Go to www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com for all the division previews if you missed them.

Can you believe it? The Packers and Saints are playing tonight!

It wasn’t too long ago where we were wondering if we would be able to say something like that at any point this season.

And, I’m not going to lie.

Back in March, when the lockout began, I could have cared less. I was in a mode where I thought about how nice it would be to have a season off.

A year without worrying about the Eagles.

A year without having to type weekly previews and recaps.

A year without having to deal with Real Houserville.

A fall where I could focus all my attention on the playoff-bound Phillies.

In March, I had accepted the NFL’s fate and assumed the worst — and it didn’t faze me one bit. The 2011 NFL Draft came and went — I watched the first 10 picks on TV and then read about it later online — and still, I didn’t feel the need to have football this season.

April, May, June; all went by without a care.

Then, July hit. Rumors of a labor deal being signed soon peaked my interest. Lehigh University started setting up for training camp.

And, then it hit me.

I needed football. I began listening to NFL Radio every day and reading every labor negotiation story. I wanted it back in the worst way.

All I wanted to do was have a season of worrying about the Eagles.

I was anxious to write my first preview and weekly recap.

And I was excited to … well, OK, I could still do with a season without Dawson, but you get the point.

I wanted football back, and I got it back.

And tonight, this long, rollercoaster offseason comes to an official end with a great game: Packers vs. Saints. Brees vs. Rodgers.

What a great game to start the week.

And it’s one of many great games to kick off this weekend. The Ravens-Steelers contest is going to be a bruising, slugfest, and I can’t wait to watch. The Texans-Colts game is going to be interesting to follow because we could be watching the new AFC South champs beat up on the old AFC South champs.

The Falcons-Bears game is another great game, featuring the two top seeds in the NFC from a year ago. Both lost to the Packers in the playoffs, and both are in need of a fast start to show they’re back and ready to contend against the Packers.

And then there’s the Lions-Bucs game. Yeah, can you believe that this game is going to be a great game to watch? Matthew Stafford vs. Josh Freeman. Jahvid Best vs. LeGarrette Blount. Calvin Johnson vs. Mike Williams. The matchups in this game go on and on. And I look forward to following it on Gamecast because the NFL won’t start an NFL.tv like MLB (which is a whole other story).

Nevertheless, I still will get to see a great amount of games. One tonight, at least four on Sunday, and two more on Monday. It’s the second longest fantasy week, starting Thursday and going early into Tuesday with the late, West Coast start on Monday for the Broncos-Raiders.

So let’s enjoy the long weekend and be thankful that football has return.

No breaks needed this year.

2011 Predictions
Before I get to the Week 1 Previews, I have to do my annual flawed/biased predictions for the League.

And, in case you have missed any of the previews, they’re all up on www.jimmysjargon.blogspot.com.

Nittany Conference
Nittany North Division
Team Boyer………………………9-4
Toasters………………………..…5-8
T-Money…………………..………4-9

Nittany South Division
Channel 4 News Team………..10-3
Chinese Organ Thieves………..8-5
Graybill’s Generals………………5-8

Liberty Conference
Patriot Division
Jimmy Jammers………………….8-5
Jawz Attack………………………..7-6
Sunday Slackers………………….3-10

Eagle Division
Fear and Loathing………………9-4
World of Noise…………………..6-7
Real Houserville…………………4-9

Wild Card Round
Jammers over Jawz
Boyer over Organ Thieves
News Team, Fear, BYE

Conference Championships
Fear over Jammers
News Team over Boyer

Super Bowl VI
Fear over News Team

Now the pressure is on. I’ve selected Fear and Loathing to edge out last season’s Super Bowl Champion for the 2011 title. I’m sure he’ll be happy. He also must be happy that I have him easily winning the division title. He could gain ground early and hold a three-game lead on the division for most of the season. (Go ahead, Houserville. Hit the message boards.)

And now, without any further delay, the Week 1 previews.

Fear and Loathing (0-0) at Real Houserville (0-0)
Series History: Houserville leads series 4-3.
These two Pennsylvania rivals will kick start the season as the top matchup of the week. Both are Steelers fans, who coincidently also have a big rival matchup to start the season with the Ravens.

And, of course, these two have a bunch of Steelers and Ravens involved in this week’s matchup.

Houserville has the most, adding to the numbers after he pulled the trigger on a trade that could change his season.

Destined for the cellar — and maybe still heading there — with Peyton Manning out, Houserville read the reports, saw the preseason poll and reacted. And he made a decent deal, sending Kevin Kolb and Wes Welker away for Big Ben. Kolb is a fantasy unknown at this point because no one really knows if he’ll succeed in the desert, and Welker depletes his WRs a bit. Now, he’s going with an unknown tight end, Lance Kendricks, at the WR/TE slot.

With the news breaking today that Manning underwent another surgical procedure and could miss 2 to 3 months, the deal seems worth it now. Houserville, however, has to be feeling like every Colt fan, who was strung along to believe that Manning would be there for opening day.

In my mind, this was handled all wrong. The Colts barely had a chance to adjust. Had this surgery been taken care of earlier — and I’m not talking about the most recent procedure, but rather the initial one that Manning waited until mid-offseason to have — the Colts could have prepared better, maybe by drafting a quarterback, or by trading for a decent backup. Kerry Collins may do, but he’s probably not going to lead them to the playoffs.

So, everyone was hung out to dry on this one. Houserville had to keep him for the outside chance that he started, and after he selected him as his keeper, the Colts continued to toy with the fact that he’d be ready for Game 1.

It’s no wonder why Houserville made this deal. He was fed up, I’m sure.

And though he loses a good receiver in Welker, he gets a great QB in Big Ben. A quarterback who seems to have great seasons after his team is in the Super Bowl. We’ll see if that trend continues.

If it is going to continue, I don’t foresee it happening right away with the first game being against the Ravens. We’re talking about a 13-7, 19-13 kind of game. Not your fantasy juggernaut.

That’s why Fear should win this matchup easily and even their series at 4-4.

And it’s not just Big Ben. Both of Houserville’s wideouts are playing in the Steelers-Ravens game, with Anquan Boldin and Mike Wallace going. Wallace was held without a TD in both meetings last season, and Boldin had a decent game late in the season going for 118 yards and a TD. I’m not expecting a shootout here, so in all likelihood, points will be at a premium.

I think one of the guys who will get them is Rashard Mendenhall, who Houserville in the offseason chose to let go. Fear wasted no time scooping him up and between him and Jamaal Charles, the RBs should be primed to score a good amount of points this weekend — especially Charles against the Bills defense.

Jammers’ Prediction: Fear 131, Houserville 110

Channel 4 News Team (0-0) at Jimmy Jammers (0-0)
Series History: News Team leads series 4-2
Here we go again.

The 2010 season started with the Jammers falling hard to the News Team and it ended in similar fashion.

If it happens again to start 2011, the Jammers might need to pull a 49ers-Raiders and cancel any future matchups. No one has been shot outside a Jammers-News Team matchup yet, but if Arian Foster goes for another 43 points to start the season, the Jammers is packing heat and for the safety of JFL fans, we cannot have this happen.

All kidding aside, this matchup looks like it’s going to be fun.

News Team has two major injuries going into Sunday with Arian Foster questionable and some sources say he might sit out. The other is Miles Austin who is questionable, too.

So that may be why the News Team is looking for a big night out of Aaron Rodgers tonight. A lot of points could ease the pain if one or both of those guys are out. He also needs to make sure Rodgers is throwing away from Greg Jennings. The less points for Jennings, the better — for News Team, of course.

No matter what, the points gained tonight will mean nothing until the Monday Night Football games are complete. The Jammers has three players going, Reggie Bush and Brandon Marshall in the 7 p.m. game, and Matt Prater in the 10:15 game.

If this matchup is close after the Dolphins-Pats game, it may be a few Prater field goals from giving the Jammers the win.

So, it will be a long matchup, but it should be an exiting one to follow. I’m sure I’ll write something more after tonight’s game.

I really think I may have a chance to finally beat the News Team, but I have to go with what’s on paper, and that’s…

Jammers’ Prediction: News Team 139, Jammers 124

Team Boyer (0-0) at T-Money (0-0)
Series History: Boyer leads series 6-4.
You remember how Boyer was picked to win the division?

Well, this is a story about how T-Money can steal Game 1.

Many times, it’s not about the players you have, but who they’re playing.

This week, T-Money’s lineup is serving up cupcakes. Frank Gore is going against Seattle, Ahmad Bradshaw vs. Washington, and Dwayne Bowe vs. Buffalo. I think there’s a chance for some big points here.

I also — gasp — like Tony Romo against the Jets. I think the Jets are going to be nowhere close to what they were last season. Romo should put up some decent numbers and keep this matchup close.

On the other side, Boyer’s two big backs — Michael Turner and LeGarrette Blount — are running into tough defenses. Chicago and Detroit both have strong defensive lines and may make it tough to run. Still, a goal line TD isn’t out of the question for either one of these guys, and that would make the start all worth it for Boyer.

It’s all laid out for this to be a close matchup, which is why I’ll return to a player I mentioned before — Dwayne Bowe. Matt Cassel is expected to start, which is good news for Bowe owners, and that means a pair of TDs could be in order for Bowe.

A day like that could easily swing the verdict in favor of the Money Man.

And it is for that reason that Boyer will surely be battling from a deficit heading into Monday Night, but with Tom Brady going, we all know that anything’s possible with him. Not many deficits are large enough to keep Brady at bay.

However, against the Dolphins defense, a top 5 squad last season that only improved in the offseason, could make it tough for Brady. This could be one of those 24-21 type of games, which means Boyer better hope there isn’t a sizable gap between himself and the Dollar Sign.

Jammers’ Prediction: T-Money 129, Boyer 119

Jawz Attack (0-0) at Sunday Slackers (0-0)
Series History: Jawz leads series 2-0.
Jawz could have had the No. 1 pick in the draft this year, but he had to go and use two of his four wins on the Slackers.

That’s right. This year’s division favorite couldn’t get past the Attack.

I’m not so sure he’s going to do it this time.

The wideout corps for the Attack is predicted to scored five TDs and 300 yards. The Slackers four players in the WR slots (includes a TE and a RB), are slated to have a little more than 200 total yards and two TDs.

Now, I can’t even begin to say those projections are going to be true, but they do tell the story of where this matchup will be won.

Josh Freeman and Drew Brees will be a wash, in my mind, and Slackers has the slight edge in RBs; however, his pair is going up against some decent defenses.

That’s why the quartet of Percy Harvin, Wes Welker, DeSean Jackson and Roddy White (let’s call them “Roddy and the three Speed-Amigos”) will lead the Attack to victory here. I especially like Jackson to have a huge week against the Rams.

Jammers’ Prediction: Attack 125, Slackers 99

Organ Thieves (0-0) at Graybill’s Generals (0-0)
Series History: Organ Thieves lead 6-3.
I can’t butter this one up at all.

The Thieves have a great cast going this week, and outside of LeSean McCoy and perhaps Steven Jackson, the Generals are in a bit of trouble when it comes to getting points. Nightmares of last season come to mind for the Generals in Week 1. Sidney Rice is questionable (health-wise and production-wise), and Joe Flacco has to go up against the Steelers. That could make for some smaller point totals this week.

Meanwhile, I like Phillip Rivers to throw for at least three scores, Adrian Peterson to have a so-so week (maybe 12 fantasy points), BenJarvus Green-Ellis to score at least once, and Hakeem Nicks to have a big week against the Redskins.

When finished, the Generals will be happy to move on and know that they don’t have to see the Thieves again for several weeks.

Green-Ellis is the only guy in this matchup playing Monday Night, but I’m predicting that the Thieves will have this matchup in hand after six of his nine players finish their 4:15 games on Sunday.

Jammers’ Prediction: Chinese Organ Thieves 140, Graybill’s Generals 101

Dottsville Toasters (0-0) at World of Noise (0-0)
Series History: Tied at 3-3.

Two games I talked about in my column above are going to decide this matchup — the Lions-Bucs game and the Colts-Texans game.

I’ve already gone over the Peyton Manning issue, so you just have to wonder how effective will Dallas Clark be this season. It could be a tough go for the Noise.

Also in that game, the Noise has Andre Johnson, and anything he does will be nearly wiped out by the Toasters’ Matt Schaub. If things go the Toasters way, Johnson catches a few passes, but stays out of the end zone and sets up Toasters tight end Owen Daniels for a pair of scores. That would be the prescription for victory right there.

He also could use an explosive output by the Lions, including Jahvid Best and Calvin Johnson. The two should catch several passes Sunday and by the time the 4 p.m. game kicks off, Mario Manningham, the Toasters lone late Sunday starter should be padding his lead — a lead that not Plaxico Burress (Sunday night) and Knowshon Moreno (Monday night) shouldn’t be able to erase.

A big reason that a comeback will be needed is that Sam Bradford should struggle to get the passing game going against the trifecta of cornerbacks for the Eagles. Bradford threw picks in 11 games last season, and he’ll throw a few more Sunday.

I guess it’s good that the Noise has the Eagles defense. Still, two plus negative-2 equals zero. Math so simple, even a Craig-man can do it.

Jammers’ Prediction: Toasters 121, Craig-man 112