Final push to the playoffs!

Scoring over 100 points just isn’t what it used to be…  This week four teams managed to break into the triple digits, and all were matched up against each other!  In the highest scoring game of the season (236 total points scored), BoomGoesTheDynamite edged SOFA KING GOOD 123-113, and in the other matchup Joe’s Pats defeated my Rebels 126-103.  These scores marked the 28th time teams have scored over 100 points this season, with only 4 of those occurring in a losing effort.  Going back to 2007, scoring over 100 points means victory 88.4% of the time, so to have two teams lose with over 100 points in the same week is not a common occurrence, having happened only three times prior.  In fact, SOFA KING GOOD’s 113 points is the 3rd highest score ever posted in a loss.

The congrats for the High Score this week go to Joe’s Pats who as mentioned above scored 126 points, largely due to three players: Tom Brady, Bryce Brown and the New England Defense.  Those three combined for 87 points, or 69% of Joe’s total score!  And it was a good thing too, because Joe’s tight end (Vernon Davis) had zero points this week.  So Joe essentially took the high score with only seven players!  This is his third high score prize of the season, tying sprouts for the most high scores this year.  Also, for the second week in a row, the high scoring team was playing against my Scottish Rebels.  So something that I’m doing seems to be bringing out the best in teams…lol!  (Sprouts might well be poised for their fourth Weekly High Score Prize next week as they are my opponent to close out the season.)  But congratulations, Joe!  The win has secured you a spot in the playoffs!

Speaking of the playoffs… with only one week left, there are four teams in and still 5 teams alive to make it in!  It doesn’t get much better than that!  See below for scenarios on what it will take to qualify.  But first, some observations…

OH YEAH!

-Cam Newton, QB – Scottish Rebels – 37 pts – After a roller-coaster start to the season, Cam has looked good over the last four weeks, averaging 22.25 ppg.  Monday night was his best performance of the season, where he threw for two touchdowns and ran for two.

-Tony Romo, QB – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 30 pts – Romo attempted 62 passes on Thanksgiving, completing 37 for 441 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  This was Romo’s best performance of the season, in spite of losing to the Redskins.

-Tom Brady, QB – Joe’s Pats – 30 pts – The Patriots thumped the Jets on Thanksgiving, led by Brady who had an immaculate stat line – 323 passing yards, 3 passing TD’s, 0 interceptions, 5 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD.  Brady has scored 30 or more points twice this season, and has never scored less than 14.

-Bryce Brown, RB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – Out of nowhere, this guy went off for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns while filling in for LeSean McCoy.  And he did this on only 19 carries…an incredible 9.37 yards/carry!  However, he did lose two fumbles so that hurts, and could hurt his playing time down the road.  Side note- this guy is so new and unknown, that Yahoo! doesn’t even have a picture for him on his player profile.

-Matthew Stafford, QB – Gotham’s Reckoning – 28 pts – With 441 yards on Turkey Day, Stafford surpassed 11,000 yards for his career.  (His career has only been 40 games).  Kurt Warner is the only quarterback who reached 11,000 yards in fewer games.  Stafford’s 441 yards also set a record as the most yards thrown by a Lion’s QB on Thanksgiving.

-RG3, QB – SOFA KING GOOD – 28 pts – Pretty sure the Rookie of the Year voting is a foregone conclusion.  RG3 lit it up again, throwing for 311 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception.

COME ON, MAN

-Green Bay, DEF – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – The Packers surrendered 38 points, and only managed 1 sack against the Giants.  They did get 188 return yards, which was the only thing that kept them in the positive numbers this week.

-Vernon Davis, TE – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – After a big week last week scoring 14 points, Davis was held without a single catch this week.

-Mike Wallace, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 0 pts – Wallace had one catch for 9 yards and it came on the final play of the game against Cleveland.  That just sucks.

-James Jones, WR – Midnight Maulers – 0 pts – It is hard to record any catches when your quarterback doesn’t even throw the ball your way.  That’s exactly what happened to Jones… not one single target in Green Bay’s loss to the Giants.

PLAYOFFS

Only one week to go, and we now officially have four teams that have qualified for the playoffs!  American BadAss, sprouts, Joe’s Pats and BoomGoesTheDynamite are all in, and have earned the extra $20 bonus for qualifying.  Only one team is officially out… that would be my Scottish Rebels.  The remaining five teams all still have a shot to make it in.  In a crazy scenario, we could end up with all five of those teams (SOFA KING GOOD, Coors Light Drunk Guys, Midnight Maulers, Frito Pie and Gotham’s Reckoning) finishing with records of 6-7.  So before we get into the individual team scenarios, let’s take a look at who would qualify if that were to happen…

 

For that scenario to happen, BoomGoesTheDynamite would need to beat the Coors Light Drunk Guys, SOFA KING GOOD would need to beat American BadAss and Frito Pie would need to beat the Midnight Maulers.  That would leave the Drunk Guys, Maulers, Frito Pie and Gotham all in a tie for runner-up in the South Division.  By virtue of division record, the Drunk Guys and Gotham would come out ahead with division records of 4-3.  The Drunk Guys defeated Gotham in both of their meetings this season, so they would take the runner-up position.  That would leave four teams tied for the final wild card spot: SOFA KING GOOD, Midnight Maulers, Frito Pie, and Gotham’s Reckoning.  In head-to-head matchups, none of these teams have swept the other three, so it would come down to points scored.  SOFA KING GOOD currently has an 82-point edge in points scored, so more than likely they would qualify, but with the way things have gone this season that is no sure thing.

Here are the individual team scenarios for the five remaining teams:

In Control of Own Destiny:

-Coors Light Drunk Guys – Win “What Do You Know?! Bowl” part 2.

-Midnight Maulers – Win final game against Frito Pie.

In Need of Some Assistance:

-SOFA KING GOOD – Win final game PLUS loss by Midnight Maulers.

-Frito Pie – Win final game against Midnight Maulers by a margin of 68 points AND losses by SOFA KING GOOD and Gotham’s Reckoning.

-Gotham’s Reckoning – Win final game PLUS losses by SOFA KING GOOD and Midnight Maulers AND outscore Midnight Maulers by 3 points.

 BEST BENCH

Across the board there were not many points left on the bench this week, and this week’s Best Bench had the lowest improvement total of the season.  But this is also the fourth time this season that this week's winner has taken the crown for Best Bench… and that team is the Coors Light Drunk Guys!!  Shawn could have had a 20-point improvement this week by making three roster moves:  M. Bush for C.J. Spiller (+8 pts), Cardinals for Packers (+8 pts) and A. Boldin for M. Wallace (+4 pts).

Next week we’ll know who is in and who is out!  Get your rosters set!!!