The Nittany Conference is getting very interesting and will be an amazing race to follow over the next three weeks. With the second round of division matchups kicking of this week, we should start to see the playoff picture become clearer in the Nittany Conference.
It's fairly clear in the Liberty Conference.
The Jimmy Jammers clinched his fifth consecutive division title with his big win over Houserville and with the tie-breaker over Houserville and Fear and Loathing, all the Jammers needs is one win (or one loss by both Houserville and Fear) to clinch the No. 1 seed and the BYE in the first round of the playoffs.
At 5-5, Houserville and Fear hold two-game leads on playoff berths.
One of them will clinch this weekend, barring a tie.
They will square off for the second playoff berth in the Liberty Conference. With Fear having won their first matchup, all he needs is a win this week combined with a win in Week 12 or 13 to clinch the division title.
World of Noise and the Sunday Slackers are mathematically still alive in the playoff race, but they would need to win out and have Houserville or Fear not win another game.
That's very unlikely.
And lastly, the Jawz Attack was eliminated this past weekend in heartbreaking fashion, losing a high-scoring affair with T-Money.
T-Money and the Toasters are tied for the Nittany North lead at 6-4, a game head of Boyer.
The Thieves and News Team are tied up at the top of the Nittany South at 7-3.
In all likelihood, both divisional matchups will be for the division title, and in the Nittany North, the loser may be the odd man out of the playoffs.
The Organ Thieves hold the inside track to the No. 1 seed and the BYE in the first round, however, the Toasters and T-Money have both beaten the Thieves, so if they tie for the top spot, they'll get the No. 1 seed.
Jimmy Jammers 124.1, Real Houserville 52.5
It was said that a good 60-70 points on Thursday by the Jammers' three big dogs — Matt Ryan, Roddy White and Ray Rice — was going to be needed to defeat Houserville.
Who would have thought that's all that was needed.
That's right, the Jammers could have benched the rest of his lineup and still won.
And in actuality, he could have benched Ray Rice, too.
Matt Ryan scored 34 and Roddy White had 28.2 points, and Ville had just 52.5 amongst nine players — and that includes the two-point home-field advantage.
As Dawson said to me, my joke prediction of 134-0 was closer than my real prediction. (He's all about predictions being right. That's why Nostradamus hates Dawson.)
Peyton Manning had his worst fantasy outing of the season with just nine points, and as a result, Ville's Indy receivers were equally as unimportant. All three RBs combined for less than 10 points and Bucs defense scored a team-high 12 points.
It wasn't a good day.
Peyton Hillis continued to surprise the fantasy world with another 15.7 points. He has eight touchdowns and has yet to score less than 10 points. Hillis is ranked fourth in fantasy football, and he's the reason the Browns almost pulled off another upset win this past weekend.
The Browns have a good foundation, and if Colt McCoy continues to progress, I don't see how the organization get get rid of Mangini. But if they do, it will be for one coach only and that's the guy who fires him, Mike Holmgrem. This team could be on the mend and ready to compete legitimately in 2011.
Kind of like Dawson. Maybe 2011.
Dottsville Toasters 143.8, Organ Thieves 97.6
What's the key to beating the Organ Thieves?
Well, one is to have Phillip Rivers on the BYE week.
Two is to have five players score 18 or more points on your team.
The Toasters got that with Matt Schaub, Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Chris Johnson and the Bears all did that.
Speaking of Chris Johnson, it's time to check in on Mr. CJ2K.
He said he'd get 2,500 rushing yards this season. Nine games in and he has just 838. In case you didn't bring your calculators to Jimmy's Jargon this week, he needs 1,662 yards to reach that goal and that would mean he'd have to average 237 yards per game over the final seven games.
Just like the Slackers making the playoffs, I don't think that's happening.
Still, he's a great fantasy option, especially with the fantasy matchups coming up. If the Toasters make the playoffs, he's in good shape with Johnson.
... And Johnson. Calvin Johnson, that is. The other CJ. He's no closer to 2,500 yards, either, but he's been on a decent tear. With 20-plus-point fantasy weeks in three of the last four weeks, Calvin has been one of the best options at WR recently.
As long as Matt Schaub can get consistent, the Toasters look to be in good shape for another playoff run.
The Thieves are obviously ready for such a run. I feel like these two might see each other in Week 15 for a shot at the big game.
Fear and Loathing 141.6, Sunday Slackers 116.8
After Sunday, Fear might have been kicking himself for not starting Jay Cutler.
Or maybe, he was kicking himself for dropping Jon Kitna who actually had 32 fantasy points this weekend.
But after one quarter Monday night, he was well on his way to YET another Monday night comeback.
I told you, if you play the Fear and he has a Monday night player, just put up the white flag.
This comeback was epic and historic.
A new JFL record 64.5 points by Michael Vick, absolutely shattering the old record set by Tom Brady of 53.5, was all he needed to win this.
It made up for a rather uneventful weekend by Danny Woodhead, Randy Moss, Steve Smith (CAR) and Mike Williams, who all combined less than 20 points. That's two Michael Vick drives.
It's a shame, too. The Slackers had such a good Sunday, getting two late touchdowns from Mike Wallace to take the lead.
But before I could get my third order of wings at Wing Night, the Slackers was looking at the TV in disbelief. He left before halftime and I don't blame him.
Now he needs to win out and get some help.
Fear, on the other hand, is in great shape. With a victory next week over his arch-rival Houserville, he should be well on his way to a home first-round matchup.
Channel 4 News Team 142.4, Boyer 80
No Aaron Rodgers? Boy, what would one do.
How about start Kyle Orton? That should be worth 40 points.
If I said that a week ago you would have laughed at me and Dawson would have called me out on the message board.
But it happened. Knowshon Moreno had similar success against the Chiefs, scoring 22.2 points.
So Orton and Moreno go crazy leading the Broncos in a huge win over the Chiefs.
What happened to the Broncos? The Chiefs are a fairly good team, or so they appeared to be a few weeks ago, and the Broncos were just destroyed by the Raiders.
What changed here? When 49 points are scored, it's hard to say that the Broncos didn't turn things around, but then again, it's hard to believe with a coach who hasn't overseen a good move since he's stepped foot in Denver.
First he inquired about Matt Cassel, causing Jay Cutler to want out.
Then a rift between him and Brandon Marshall caused the WR to be traded.
Then he traded Peyton Hillis, who would have been a perfect change of pace back with Moreno. And for who? Brady Quinn? Really?
They would have been better off drafting Tim Tebow.
... Oh wait. They did.
The mistakes by the Broncos date back further than Josh McDaniels. The decision to fire Mike Shanahan and go with McDaniels would have been mistake No. 1.
McDaniels was on the hot seat a week ago, and this win cools it a bit, but he will not be off of it until some consistency is shown. After last season's great 5-0 start, the Broncos haven't been the same. Plus, they were lucky to be 5-0. Remember that fluke TD against the Bengals?
T-Money 142.9, Jawz Attack 139.7
Oops.
At 2-8, it really doesn't matter too much, but Jawz made an Oops. Had he started Big Ben, he would have won. But it's hard to blame him for the move.It's not like the guy he started was a dud.
Mark Sanchez scored 31.9 points, a decent amount for anyone, but Big Ben had 37.2. That would have been enough to win, but at this point, what's the difference between 2-8 and 3-7.
Now, it's time for the Attack to take a look at his team and figure out who's going to be around in 2011. Maurice Jones-Drew looks like a keeper for sure, although he is getting older now. Still, there's no signs of him slowing down in 2011. The bigger question he has to solve — and this battle will be fought over the last couple weeks of the season, even well after his fantasy season is over — is who will be keeper No. 2.
The obvious answer would be a QB and Big Ben and Sanchez will be battling or that position.
T-Money wishes he had such a battle, especially because he is in a playoff race and he's without a quarterback.
Now he got 24.5 points from Matt Hasselbeck, but it was one of only three 20-point performances. He's been inconsistent and he cannot be trusted.
And with Tony Romo out and Jason Campbell equally as inconsistent as Hasselbeck, it's easy to see that T-Money is going to be relying on guys like Fred Jackson and Dwayne Bowe — who combined for more than 60 points. Frank Gore added 22 and Ahmad Bradshaw had 14.7. It was a big week for T-Money, and he should get Antonio Gates back next week. The players are there to make a run without a true QB so he and the Toasters should have a fun time deciding a division champion.
World of Noise 108, Graybill's Generals 95.9
This would have been a big win for the Generals. It would have kept him in the playoff race, but now he's really behind the eight-ball.
Noise is, too, but that has been long determined. But with David Garrard in the lineup, the Noise is 2-0. It was his 36.5 points that spawned this 13-point win. Andre Johnson helped with 22.4.
Now, the Noise can play spoiler. He has matchups coming up against three potential playoff teams. He can dash his division rivals' hopes of a division title, and he can do the same thing with the News Team this week.
And with that, I don't have much else to say about this matchup.
It's fairly clear in the Liberty Conference.
The Jimmy Jammers clinched his fifth consecutive division title with his big win over Houserville and with the tie-breaker over Houserville and Fear and Loathing, all the Jammers needs is one win (or one loss by both Houserville and Fear) to clinch the No. 1 seed and the BYE in the first round of the playoffs.
At 5-5, Houserville and Fear hold two-game leads on playoff berths.
One of them will clinch this weekend, barring a tie.
They will square off for the second playoff berth in the Liberty Conference. With Fear having won their first matchup, all he needs is a win this week combined with a win in Week 12 or 13 to clinch the division title.
World of Noise and the Sunday Slackers are mathematically still alive in the playoff race, but they would need to win out and have Houserville or Fear not win another game.
That's very unlikely.
And lastly, the Jawz Attack was eliminated this past weekend in heartbreaking fashion, losing a high-scoring affair with T-Money.
T-Money and the Toasters are tied for the Nittany North lead at 6-4, a game head of Boyer.
The Thieves and News Team are tied up at the top of the Nittany South at 7-3.
In all likelihood, both divisional matchups will be for the division title, and in the Nittany North, the loser may be the odd man out of the playoffs.
The Organ Thieves hold the inside track to the No. 1 seed and the BYE in the first round, however, the Toasters and T-Money have both beaten the Thieves, so if they tie for the top spot, they'll get the No. 1 seed.
Jimmy Jammers 124.1, Real Houserville 52.5
It was said that a good 60-70 points on Thursday by the Jammers' three big dogs — Matt Ryan, Roddy White and Ray Rice — was going to be needed to defeat Houserville.
Who would have thought that's all that was needed.
That's right, the Jammers could have benched the rest of his lineup and still won.
And in actuality, he could have benched Ray Rice, too.
Matt Ryan scored 34 and Roddy White had 28.2 points, and Ville had just 52.5 amongst nine players — and that includes the two-point home-field advantage.
As Dawson said to me, my joke prediction of 134-0 was closer than my real prediction. (He's all about predictions being right. That's why Nostradamus hates Dawson.)
Peyton Manning had his worst fantasy outing of the season with just nine points, and as a result, Ville's Indy receivers were equally as unimportant. All three RBs combined for less than 10 points and Bucs defense scored a team-high 12 points.
It wasn't a good day.
Peyton Hillis continued to surprise the fantasy world with another 15.7 points. He has eight touchdowns and has yet to score less than 10 points. Hillis is ranked fourth in fantasy football, and he's the reason the Browns almost pulled off another upset win this past weekend.
The Browns have a good foundation, and if Colt McCoy continues to progress, I don't see how the organization get get rid of Mangini. But if they do, it will be for one coach only and that's the guy who fires him, Mike Holmgrem. This team could be on the mend and ready to compete legitimately in 2011.
Kind of like Dawson. Maybe 2011.
Dottsville Toasters 143.8, Organ Thieves 97.6
What's the key to beating the Organ Thieves?
Well, one is to have Phillip Rivers on the BYE week.
Two is to have five players score 18 or more points on your team.
The Toasters got that with Matt Schaub, Calvin Johnson, Dez Bryant, Chris Johnson and the Bears all did that.
Speaking of Chris Johnson, it's time to check in on Mr. CJ2K.
He said he'd get 2,500 rushing yards this season. Nine games in and he has just 838. In case you didn't bring your calculators to Jimmy's Jargon this week, he needs 1,662 yards to reach that goal and that would mean he'd have to average 237 yards per game over the final seven games.
Just like the Slackers making the playoffs, I don't think that's happening.
Still, he's a great fantasy option, especially with the fantasy matchups coming up. If the Toasters make the playoffs, he's in good shape with Johnson.
... And Johnson. Calvin Johnson, that is. The other CJ. He's no closer to 2,500 yards, either, but he's been on a decent tear. With 20-plus-point fantasy weeks in three of the last four weeks, Calvin has been one of the best options at WR recently.
As long as Matt Schaub can get consistent, the Toasters look to be in good shape for another playoff run.
The Thieves are obviously ready for such a run. I feel like these two might see each other in Week 15 for a shot at the big game.
Fear and Loathing 141.6, Sunday Slackers 116.8
After Sunday, Fear might have been kicking himself for not starting Jay Cutler.
Or maybe, he was kicking himself for dropping Jon Kitna who actually had 32 fantasy points this weekend.
But after one quarter Monday night, he was well on his way to YET another Monday night comeback.
I told you, if you play the Fear and he has a Monday night player, just put up the white flag.
This comeback was epic and historic.
A new JFL record 64.5 points by Michael Vick, absolutely shattering the old record set by Tom Brady of 53.5, was all he needed to win this.
It made up for a rather uneventful weekend by Danny Woodhead, Randy Moss, Steve Smith (CAR) and Mike Williams, who all combined less than 20 points. That's two Michael Vick drives.
It's a shame, too. The Slackers had such a good Sunday, getting two late touchdowns from Mike Wallace to take the lead.
But before I could get my third order of wings at Wing Night, the Slackers was looking at the TV in disbelief. He left before halftime and I don't blame him.
Now he needs to win out and get some help.
Fear, on the other hand, is in great shape. With a victory next week over his arch-rival Houserville, he should be well on his way to a home first-round matchup.
Channel 4 News Team 142.4, Boyer 80
No Aaron Rodgers? Boy, what would one do.
How about start Kyle Orton? That should be worth 40 points.
If I said that a week ago you would have laughed at me and Dawson would have called me out on the message board.
But it happened. Knowshon Moreno had similar success against the Chiefs, scoring 22.2 points.
So Orton and Moreno go crazy leading the Broncos in a huge win over the Chiefs.
What happened to the Broncos? The Chiefs are a fairly good team, or so they appeared to be a few weeks ago, and the Broncos were just destroyed by the Raiders.
What changed here? When 49 points are scored, it's hard to say that the Broncos didn't turn things around, but then again, it's hard to believe with a coach who hasn't overseen a good move since he's stepped foot in Denver.
First he inquired about Matt Cassel, causing Jay Cutler to want out.
Then a rift between him and Brandon Marshall caused the WR to be traded.
Then he traded Peyton Hillis, who would have been a perfect change of pace back with Moreno. And for who? Brady Quinn? Really?
They would have been better off drafting Tim Tebow.
... Oh wait. They did.
The mistakes by the Broncos date back further than Josh McDaniels. The decision to fire Mike Shanahan and go with McDaniels would have been mistake No. 1.
McDaniels was on the hot seat a week ago, and this win cools it a bit, but he will not be off of it until some consistency is shown. After last season's great 5-0 start, the Broncos haven't been the same. Plus, they were lucky to be 5-0. Remember that fluke TD against the Bengals?
T-Money 142.9, Jawz Attack 139.7
Oops.
At 2-8, it really doesn't matter too much, but Jawz made an Oops. Had he started Big Ben, he would have won. But it's hard to blame him for the move.It's not like the guy he started was a dud.
Mark Sanchez scored 31.9 points, a decent amount for anyone, but Big Ben had 37.2. That would have been enough to win, but at this point, what's the difference between 2-8 and 3-7.
Now, it's time for the Attack to take a look at his team and figure out who's going to be around in 2011. Maurice Jones-Drew looks like a keeper for sure, although he is getting older now. Still, there's no signs of him slowing down in 2011. The bigger question he has to solve — and this battle will be fought over the last couple weeks of the season, even well after his fantasy season is over — is who will be keeper No. 2.
The obvious answer would be a QB and Big Ben and Sanchez will be battling or that position.
T-Money wishes he had such a battle, especially because he is in a playoff race and he's without a quarterback.
Now he got 24.5 points from Matt Hasselbeck, but it was one of only three 20-point performances. He's been inconsistent and he cannot be trusted.
And with Tony Romo out and Jason Campbell equally as inconsistent as Hasselbeck, it's easy to see that T-Money is going to be relying on guys like Fred Jackson and Dwayne Bowe — who combined for more than 60 points. Frank Gore added 22 and Ahmad Bradshaw had 14.7. It was a big week for T-Money, and he should get Antonio Gates back next week. The players are there to make a run without a true QB so he and the Toasters should have a fun time deciding a division champion.
World of Noise 108, Graybill's Generals 95.9
This would have been a big win for the Generals. It would have kept him in the playoff race, but now he's really behind the eight-ball.
Noise is, too, but that has been long determined. But with David Garrard in the lineup, the Noise is 2-0. It was his 36.5 points that spawned this 13-point win. Andre Johnson helped with 22.4.
Now, the Noise can play spoiler. He has matchups coming up against three potential playoff teams. He can dash his division rivals' hopes of a division title, and he can do the same thing with the News Team this week.
And with that, I don't have much else to say about this matchup.
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