Last Sunday morning, I was trying to remember Saturday
night.
This Sunday morning, I’m trying to forget last Sunday.
Week 11 wasn’t a great one for me and several other teams
that were in position to make the playoffs a reality in Week 12.
Instead, the 12th week of the JFL season is filled with
mystery.
Right now, Fear and Loathing and Team Boyer are officially
in. Chalupa Batman and Graybill are officially out.
That means 12 teams are fighting for the final six playoff
spots.
In the JFL, this is how it looks:
 |
| Layaway PlanFinally, it's Week 12. I made it. I held out long enough to get my boy Josh Gordon in. He was the No. 1 wide receiver in the JFL last season and a late-season surge was just what the News Team needed to run away with his second JFL title. Of course, I have those dreams, too. Amazingly, though, when I drafted him, I thought that his return in Week 12 would be a nice addition because I'm sure the Browns would be OK enough to use him in the offense. But the fact is, the Browns are far better than most thought. Yes, if you look at the standings, they're exactly where you would think they would have been — last place. But at 6-4, they're a half-game out of first place. That means, Gordon is going to be more of a necessity than a nice commodity. They're going to look to him to give them that boost to the playoffs. Today, I'll look for that same thing agains the Jerk. I know Justin Brown is happy. |
AFC East
Jimmy Jammers (7-4),
needs a win to earn a playoff bid, while at the same time, clinching the No. 2
seed.
Jerkin’ My Kirk
Herbstreit (6-5), needs to win out, or win just one game while having both
the Choo and Slackers go at best 1-1 in the final two weeks.
Choo Big TeeDees
(5-6), can clinch playoff spot if he wins out and Jerk loses just one game.
Can also clinch with a win this week, a loss next week and two losses by the
Jerk. (Cannot be the other way around because that would put the Slackers in
play. Unless, of course, Houserville and Noise tie and lose their Week 13 game.
Then, we have a mess.)
Sunday Slackers (5-6),
needs a lot. Winning out is the lone scenario. That would clinch it for him. He
has tiebreakers in that scenario. If he gets into a situation where he only
wins one game but still finds himself in a three-way tie at 6-7 with the Jerk
and or Choo, he would not have the tie-breakers to do it (and in that scenario,
it would go all the way to the fifth tiebreaker.)
If the third place
team in the AFC East lands at 7-6 or even 6-7, they’ll have a chance to beat
out the AFC Middle East second place team. Way too many scenarios right now.
Just a reminder, we break divisional placement ties before resetting the table
and breaking conference ties.
AFC Middle East
Fear and Loathing
(10-1), clinched and confortable at No. 1.
World of Noise (5-6),
is listed at No. 3 by ESPN, but with the win over Houserville earlier in
the season, he’s actually in second. With a win this week over Houserville, he
will guarantee that he will be the AFC Middle East’s second-place team. A loss
this week could create a Week 13 mess.
Real Houserville
(5-6), not holding the tiebreaker is key, so with a loss in the books to
Noise, Houserville just needs to win out. Two wins would keep Noise at bay,
because even if he were to win this week, lose the next and be in another tie
at 6-7 with the Noise, we’d have to go to the third tiebreaker (division
record) and that would go to the Noise.
Shark Attack (4-7),
there once was a time when the Eagles had an offensive coordinator named Dana
Bible and the fans took a huge banner to the stadium that read: “We have a
bible, but we don’t have a prayer.” Right now, that’s the hopeless feeling in
Shark camp. He needs to win out and he needs the Noise and Houserville to tie
this week and lose the next. That would put him at 6-7 and the other two teams
at 5-7-1. He could get in if: he wins out, Houserville beats Noise, and both
Houserville and Noise lose Week 13. That would create a three-way tie and the
division record would be Shark Attack 3-3 and both Noise and Houserville at
2-4.
NFC East
Philly Cheese Steaks
(6-5), a win today over the Toasters and a T-Money loss clinches the
division. If T-Money wins, it would mean that the Steaks would have to win over
T-Money in Week 13 to clinch. It’s worth
noting that if he doesn’t get the division and finishes second in the division,
he does hold the tiebreaker at over the News Team, not the Thieves; so he is
rooting for the Thieves to remain in that AFC West second position, so he can
edge out the News Team if it comes to that.
Dottsville Toasters
(6-5), needs to win today for sure because of the fact he lost the first
time around to the Steaks. He’d likely have to win next week, too, because he
wouldn’t have the division record to take the division title. The Toasters also
own the tiebreaker of the News Team and not the Thieves, so same thing applies
here for the wild card.
T-Money (5-6), winning
out and a Toasters loss today will give T-Money the division title. He’s also
in good shape if he doesn’t get the division title, but ties with one of the
NFC West teams because he has the tiebreaker over both the News Team and Organ
Thieves.
Chalupa Batman (3-8),
eyeing up a run in 2015 ( or a JFL Postseason Challenge title!)
NFC West
Team Boyer (8-3),
he’s spackling today. Though he needs a win today or next week to get that No.
1 seed because the Thieves can still win the division, he’s sitting pretty.
Chinese Organ Thieves
(6-5), a win today and a loss by the News Team should guarantee him a
playoff spot, but the tiebreakers and scenarios against the three teams in the
East are too much to list right now. He can win the division with two wins and
two Boyer losses. Of course, if the Thieves win this week and Boyer loses this
week, it will create a virtual NFC West championship game next week between the
two teams.
Channel 4 News Team
(5-6), win, win and watch losses. The News Team has to get to 7-6 and watch
the teams around him in the NFC fall apart. And when they’re all playing each
other, that’s tough. There’s a chance that Nikish will look over at the JFL
Trophy and start thinking about where he’ll be shipping it in January.
Graybill’s Generals
(2-9), he’s still playing? Oh, yeah. JFL Postseason Challenge, baby!
So there you have it, there are a good number of scenarios.
There are truly still way too many to list, but this is the best I can do.
The biggest thing to look at today is the fact we have some
monumental matchups. In the AFC East and NFC East, we have battles between the
top two teams vying for the division titles.
At the same time, we have teams in must-win situations
facing each other — like the Choo and Slackers and Noise and Houserville.
Four of the loudest players on the planet clash there and
together, the four of them may be fighting for the same one final playoff spot.
Imagine that. If the Jerk loses today to the Jammers, that will make it five
teams going for two spots; and if the Attack win, make that six vying for two.
Wow.
I think no matter what happens, there’s no way to lock up
the field this week.
The NFC is different in that we could know the four teams by
the end of Week 12, but with the way things have panned out thus far, I imagine
we’re heading for a bit of a Week 13 scramble in the NFC, too.
Either way, this is going to be a great Week 12.
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