I can honestly say this has never happened before. We’re
heading into Week 12, and we have 14 teams fighting for the playoffs.
Only two teams are not battling for a playoff bid, and one
of those teams isn’t because he is the Slackers and he is the ONLY JFL team to
have clinched.
Let me say that again: With two weeks to go, only one team
has clinched; only one team has been eliminated.
It’s insane.
It’s so crazy, I’m not even going to bother with scenarios
because there are five teams within one game of each other — either 6-5 or 5-6
in the AFC — and there are four teams in the NFC in the same situation.
That's quite the traffic jam.
In each conference, there’s a 4-7 team that has life, but
barely. They in fact, may be eliminated, but there’s just so much out there, I
can’t tell if they’d squeak in at 6-7.
Certainly, the Steaks and Creeks need two wins and a lot of
help. Steaks, in a conference where only one of his foes has a 6-5 record.
We should see this clear up a bit more heading into Week 13,
at least enough where I can put together a list of playoff scenarios. If I were
to even try to do it this week, it’d look like Trump’s first 100 days to-do
list — numerous statements, most of which won’t happen.
LOCKED IN JAWZ
Jawz has won four straight to get into the playoff hunt, which
seemed unfathomable five weeks ago when he woke up on a Tuesday sitting at 1-6.
Aaron Rodgers has played a key role in that having scored 44, 35.8, 37.2 and
38.8 in the last four weeks. If that continues, he may sneak on into the
playoffs. He does own the tiebreaker over a couple of the teams he’d have to go
up against to sneak in, too.
TOAST TO RUSSELL
The Toasters have won three straight and he, too, can thank
his QB who had another 29.1 points in a Seahawks win. At 7-4, the Toasters look
to be in really good shape. That will certainly continue if Wilson keeps up his
hot play.
WHAT’S THE POINT?
It didn’t show this week, but my team is leading the points
title by more than 50 points. Without my top two scorers — Melvin Gordon and
Julio Jones — it’s no wonder why I lost this week, but 6-5 as the JFL’s
top scorer? This seems to happen to me a lot. Perhaps I should start drafting
players who don’t score a lot of points. Although, I tried that low-score
tactic this week without Jones and Gordon this week, and it almost worked,
until the newly owned Hershey Snowflakes got 25 points in the final 5 minutes
of Monday Night Football to hand me my fifth loss of the season.
BUH BYE!
The Jerk left. He did so on his own, for what reason, I
honestly still can’t even understand it, but whatever, he’s gone.
But let this be my warning to everyone. If you start a BYE
week player or a player who is clearly out after being warned once, you’re
gone. JFL waiting list has owners who are willing to start players in your
stead. T-Money gets his second warning — but counts as a first because I’m
making this “official” statement now. Dawson’s Creek gets his first.
And he’s one lucky man. He stayed in contention for the
playoffs — barely — with a narrow win over Fear. It would have been an easier
win had he started his second-round pick T.Y. Hilton over Mohamed Sanu, who was
on the BYE. He also should have started anyone over Gronk who was out with an
injury. Two big zeros. Had Fear won, and moved within one game of that No. 1 seed,
the Slackers would have driven to Center Pa. to kick in your door, steal your
laptop and litter its pieces on highway the entire drive home — a.k.a., the
version of Hansel and Gretel that an I.T. dad tells to his kids before bed.
“Look, Hansel,” said Gretel. “An ‘A.’ And here’s a ‘Z.’ And
here’s a ‘Q.’ Oh, we’re getting closer to that ‘D’ near ‘P’-‘S’-‘U’ who didn’t
give an ‘F’ about his roster.”
At 3-7 or 1-9 prior to this week, you may think the season
is over, but you effect playoff battles by flat out not taking care of your
roster — whether it’s intentional tanking or just not caring. In either case,
it won’t fly. So, let’s make sure we take care of our rosters, even if we’re
clearly out of the race.
GREEN MEANS STOP?
Could this be the end for the Slackers? He was 9-1 with the
No. 4 WR in the JFL, but A.J. Green’s hamstring tear will keep him out for the
remainder of the JFL season. His zero points were part of the reason he lost to
Choo this week, and now he could be in some serious trouble.
Not only does this impact his WR slot, but it also hits him
hard at QB with Andy Dalton. A weapon like that drastically changes the point
totals that Dalton will put up. Green was a home-run threat on every pass play
and without that, Dalton will have to look to make up the points elsewhere.
So will Parker.
That said, the impact at QB will be minimal. Maybe a few
points here and there — which we know can make a huge difference in the JFL.
The biggest problem the Slackers face is who to insert in
his stead? Jordan Matthews appears to be the candidate, but his 9.3 points per
game are short of what we’d expect from a 9-2 potential No. 1 seed.
Comments