It’s a pivotal week in the JFL as the four front-runners all
square off in conference battles that could have huge impacts on the No. 1
seeds for the JFL Playoffs.
In the AFC, it’s the division-leading Jerkin’ My Kirk
Herbstreit (6-2) going up against the division-leading Fear and Loathing (8-0),
while in the NFC, we’ll see the East’s top dog, Dottsville Toasters (5-3) meet
up with the King of Spackling himself, Team Boyer (6-2).
For Fear, this could be it. He still is slated to enter Week
10, Andrew Luck’s bye week, without a backup QB, and with the well dry, he may
find getting to 10-0 impossible. So, if he’s going to make his mark in the JFL
record book, it’s going to be nine straight wins to start the year.
Right now, he’s already won 11 straight regular season games
dating back to 2013, and he’s 15-2 dating back to Week 7 of 2013.
Fear is red hot.
But so is the Jerk, who after starting 1-2 has rambled off
five straight wins to sit at 6-2, one game ahead of his division rival Jammers.
A key cog in that five-game winning streak has Matt Forte,
and unfortunately for the Jerk, in the week that he faces the dynamic trio of
Andrew Luck, DeMarco Murray and Le’Veon Bell.
He’s also without Randall Cobb, leaving him with Ronnie
Hillman and Lorenzo Taliaferro to man the RB and RB/WR positions. It’s not a
bad backup plan at all; it just doesn’t measure up to the numbers Murray and
Le’Veon Bell have put up.
The Jerk will also roll with a new tight end, Tim Wright,
who will take over for Jordan Cameron. I love Wright, don’t get me wrong, but
this just feels like one of those moves where you bench a high-powered tight
end like Cameron and he scores three TDs on your bench.
And, with me playing the Shark Attack who has The Gronk,
trust me, I’m rooting for Wright. Actually, I’m more so rooting for Brandon
LaFell.
But this preview isn’t about me. It’s about the Jerk. And
for him, it will all be about Monday night when his QB, Eli Manning squares off
against Fear’s QB. Here it is again — a key JFL matchup where the two teams’
QBs are going up against each other. The odds have to be higher than my mind
can comprehend because it happens so often.
If the Jerk is trailing heading into Monday, it’s a safe bet
that the Fear will move to a JFL all-time best 9-0.
In the NFC matchup of the week, there isn’t a JFL record on
the line, but a two-game lead in the conference is for Boyer. With a win, he
can move to 7-2 and all-but lock up a playoff spot. A loss for the Toasters
could potentially drop him into a three-way tie for first if both the Cheese
Steaks and T-Money win.
So, as you can see, there’s a lot on the line for these two
squads.
The Toasters will luck out a bit as Boyer has to roll
without his top wideout Jordy Nelson, who is on the bye. In steps Andre
Johnson, and against the Eagles defense, he could get a big pass play because
the safeties don’t know how to stop the big play in the final minutes of a
game. (Yes, I’m still a little bitter about last week.)
The big thing for Boyer will be Tom Brady against his arch-rival
Peyton Manning. Will we get a shootout? Both QBs have been throwing TDs left
and right, and a shootout would be huge for Boyer.
The Toasters, however, could still survive a shootout
because his QB, Russell Wilson, heads up against Oakland. If the Seahawks, at
home, do not roll all over the Raiders, I will seriously question their chances
to repeat. There’s no reason for Wilson and Marshawn Lynch to have bad fantasy
days.
Still, the difference to me could be Jeremy Hill. Against
the Jaguars, the Bengals should be
routing them, and I could see Hill finishing with 12 touches for 70 yards and
two TDs. That’s about 20 fantasy points and all Boyer will need to continue his
run to an NFC West title.
Other key matchups include a trio of games that feature .500
teams or teams hovering just below .500.
The biggest one may be 4-4 Philly Cheese Steaks at the 4-4
Channel 4 News Team. In their divisions, falling to 4-5 could be a death wish,
especially if the other teams they’re tied with win. I expect a high scoring
affair in this one with the slight edge going to the Cheese Steaks. It all
depends on what Arian Foster can do against the Eagles. Cheese Steaks will be
in a pickle again!
In the AFC East, Choo Big TeeDees and Sunday Slackers are
both 3-5 and they both head up against 4-4 teams from the AFC Middle East. With
the division title slipping out of reach for the two of them — they’re both 3
games back — it’s going to be all about getting the Wild Card. And right now,
the first Wild Card is owned by the Jammers who is 3-0 in the division, which
means they’re also three games back of him for the first Wild Card.
In translation, there’s a good chance they’ll battling the
Noise and Houserville for that final Wild Card.
In order to get it, you have to beat them.
Choo will head up against Noise, and with 23.2 points in the
bank thanks to Mark Ingram, things are looking pretty good — especially
considering the fact that the Noise got only 10.8 points out of DeAngelo
Williams and Greg Olsen. It’s a bad bye week for the Noise and it’s looking
like he’ll drop his fourth straight game.
The Slackers will take on Houserville, and he too has 24.7
points in the bank thanks to Drew Brees. The Ville is in a bit of trouble, too,
with Aaron Rodgers shooting new State Farm commercials this weekend. I believe it's rumored that Rodgers is working with Jake from State Farm. Sounds hideous.
Julio
Jones and Sammy Watkins are also on the bye. For the Slackers, A.J. Green is
back against Jacksonville and Martavis Bryant gets a start. It’s looking good
for the Slackers.
The other matchups not mentioned are T-Money vs. Graybill,
Jammers vs. Shark Attack and Organ Thieves vs. Chalupa. All three teams
mentioned first are playing teams with two or fewer wins, so they expect wins
this week.
The Thieves-Batman matchup should be pretty sweet — not
because of the idea that Batman goes up against crooks nightly — but because
there should be some serious points scored on both sides. This could be the
matchup where a team scores 110 points and loses.
T-Money can expect the win, but the projections favor the
Generals. We’ve seen this before and the Generals remain 0-8. Can a JFL owner
get a win? With 15.8 points from Cam Newton on Thursday, I’d say it’s not
looking good.
And lastly, it’s Blake Bortles week for me, a.k.a., I’m
relying on the rest of the team to put up some big points. Jimmy Graham started
it out with 15.7 to the Attack’s 2.2 from Kelvin Benjamin. Just a few more of
those, and I’ll catch that Jerk.
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