Monday Armchair QB

Well, it was another great week of triumph for the Miami Dolphins.  The unprobable season is two weeks from completion.  After a one win season, Miami has become the third team in NFL history to win at least 9 games following a season with only one win.  This win came with the formula for a loss.  Miami’s goal was to run the ball well, control the time of possession, not turn the ball over, and play good defense.  Only one of those four components came together.  Miami did not turn over the ball.  As a matter of fact, Miami has only had 10 turnovers all year.  The stat line yesterday from yardage to time of possession pointed to a dominating win by San Fran.  Thankfully, Miami decided to lock down the defense in the red zone leaving San Fran with no TD’s and 3 fieldgoals.  For the third straight game, Miami did not allow a TD.  Miami did have a chance to increase the lead to 8 points with a little more than 2 minutes but the 49 yard fieldgoal bounced off the crossbar.  San Fran proceeded to drive the ball down the field as they had all game, but a Joey Porter sack on 4th down with San Fran in the red zone threatening to take the lead and win the game with a TD sealed the deal for Miami.

The Jets squeaked out a lucky win against Buffaloe.  Miami could have really used that extra game in the standings.  With less than 2 minutes to play and a 3 point lead, the Bills freaked out and attempted to pass the ball.  The result was a fumble and TD for the Jets, game over, Jets win 31-27.  As of today, there is a 3-way tie for first place in the division.  Miami finishes with KC (no easy game since it will be cold @ KC) and then the Jets.  Miami must win that game to win the division, regardless of what the Jets do since the Jets have already beaten Miami and will own the tie breaker.

Tebow was not able to repeat as the Heisman winner, but was part of a three man race in one of the most competitive Heisman selections I’ve seen.  Sam Bradford of Oklahoma won the trophy with some absolutely sick statistics.  Colt McCoy of the Texas Longhorns was second and Tebow third.  The margin of points was about 150 from first to third with less than 100 seperating 1st and 2nd.  The drop off from 3rd to 4th was huge; Graham Harrell of Texas Tech only received 213 points, about 1360 points fewer than Tebow in 3rd.

In Fantasy Football, this was a rough week for me.  My season is now over.  Joseph Adai was ruled out for the game sometime just before it started.  I had picked up Dominick Rhodes who had a great game in anticipation of Adai’s absence, so he scored a ton of points for me on my bench.  If you combine that with Boldin and Owens absolutely disappearing yesterday, and the fact that Ritz picked up Bush’s replacement and squeezed 25 points out of him, the result is an absolutely embarrassing playoff defeat to a rook.  Tomorrow you will get the full results of all the game including the season’s first tie.  The finals will be Ritz vs Mark’s Dead Skins.  Pastor Trav will not finish in last, so that’s a positive.

Fantasy Football Report

More big news in LPC fantasy football. Two teams have now clinched playoff spots. Fuzzy’s Dead Skins clinch with his win over Ritz, and I clinched with a win over Paul’s Skins. That leaves two spots open with one game to play. By far this has been the most competitive league I have been in. Bachrach is one game out of first with the league’s highest point total. If the Fuser’s or Ritz lose combine with a Bachrach win, Bachrach makes the playoffs and either Ritz or Jesse would be out. What a great run by Bachrach to finish the season regardless of the last week.

The new league standings are:

#1. Dead Skins 8-4 (clinched)
#2. Citizen Cane 8-4 (clinched)
#3. Ritz 7-5
#4. Fusers 7-5
#5. Bachrach 6-6
#6. Trav’s Big Dogs 5-7
#7. Skins (Paul) 4-8
#8. Turkey Buzzards 3-9

In Second Chance LPC Alex is in first place by one game, Chris Day trails by 1 in second, Paul is back 3, and I am in 4th by 4 points. With a couple good weeks, I could take over first, or I could drop behind James H with a bad week.

Monday Armchair QB

What a wretched week/weekend for South Florida sports, especially football.

The Hurricanes were downgraded to a mere Tropical Depression by the Yellow Jackets running attack. Prior to the game, a GT fan said that Miami was going to be runn all over Thursday because of two coaching mistakes Shannon was making. #1. He instructed the players to swarm to the ball. Against this offense, it’s important to play assignment football, and the swarm mentality will leave players out of position, in overpersuit, and susceptible to misdirection. #2. Shannon instructed the players to tackle high in order to create turnovers. This mistake would cause players to be run over by the large RB HB/FB, QB, and WR’s who are operating this triple option. Miami needed to get lower than the O-Line and ball carriers to keep from getting run over, through, or having tackles broken. Both of these predictions came true and Miami gave up the most yards on the ground since 1944, the second most in school history. You just cannot give up 450 yards total, much less on the ground and expect anything less than a complete embarrassment. Strangely enough, the Canes are still in contention for an ACC championship depending on the outcome of VT’s upcoming match up, GT’s next game, and their own game against NC St.

As for the Dolphins, it was a fun game until late 3rd/early 4th Quarter. The Wildcat was tamed overall, but Pennington had a fine game scoring 3 passing TD’s. NE is now in second place in the division at 7-4, Miami falls back to 6-5 and has a tough road to a possible playoff birth.

In pickem, I was the only picker to pick the greatest pick of the week. I called NY Jets to beat the Titans, thank you very much.

In fantasy football, there will be another shake up. Unless Mason Crosby scores 30 points for me tonight (hahahaha), I am going to lose due to my own trade. It’s ok, I would still have traded Turner, but this week his 36 points beat me. I hit a buzz saw named the Turkey Buzzards who just a few weeks ago were winless. Now the Buzzards are going to have 3 wins in a row and have the week’s high score. I also made a mistake starting Denver on D and benching Thomas Jones who also had a big week.

Stand by until tomorrow for the Fantasy Football Report.

The Fantasy Football Report

There are big changes this week in the Life Pointe Fantasy Football leagues.

The Ritz has been dethroned by yours truly (on points and tied record) after he lost to the ghost of The Fuser Heads. Jesse’s unmanned team is winning despite his absence of a starting quarterback. Pastor Trav dropped his second in a row, this time to Bachrach after winning 4 straight. Now his record stands at 4-6 and he is behind in points to both Bachrach and the Fuser Heads. The Turkey Buzzards have now taken two in a row, this time convincingly beating Paul’s Skins. That makes the Buzzards the second hottest team in the league.

This week, my team was up against the best team in the league on paper. The Dead Skins have scored the most points this year and despite the record has been the most consistent scorer. Thanks to monster games from Boldin, T Jones, H Ward, Adai, Elam, and Carolina Defense, I had one of my best games of the season and won the game by over 30 points. The standings have been shaken up in a big way.

The new improved standings are now:
#1 Citizen Cane 7-3
#2 Ritz 7-3
#3 Fuser Heads 7-3
#4 Dead Skins 6-4
#5 Bachrach 4-6
#6 TJ’s Big Doggs 4-6
#7 Skins 3-7
#8 Turkey Buzzards 2-8

Due to the new league developments, we now have a clear picture of the playoffs. The Citizen Cane Blog can now project the following teams to make the playoffs: The Citizen Cane, Ritz, and the Ghost Rider Fuser Heads. In all likelihood, The Dead Skins will make the playoffs. However, if The Dead Skins loses his last 3 games, and either Bachrach or Big Doggs wins 3 straight, either one of those could make the playoffs. Technically, by math only the Turkey Buzzards are eliminated since they cannot win more than 5 games and the 4th place team already has 6 wins.

In Vegas Pickem, it appears Pastor Trav has given up because this is the second week he has not completed his picks. That leaves the race between Paul and yours truly, though I currently have a pretty strong lead in the race.

In Second Chance, Alex drew even with Chris (The Manxiacs) for first place, and I was able to gain on the first place by one point (now 8 points back of first) on my 11 of 16 correct picks. The big winner was Paul who got only 1 incorrect pick (and one push since Philly and Cincy tied) and 14 correct picks. RacerX (James) had a great week as well with 12 correct picks.

Fantasy Football Report

The big surprise of the week… The last place and 0-fer Turkey Buzzards defeat the tied-for-first-place Fuser Heads.  There are no more teams without wins.  Congratulations.  This really stirs the league up.  I garnered the high score of the week by almost 30 points beating Bachrach on the power of Thomas Jones (NYJ) huge 32 point game, Pastor Trav’s Big Doggs dropped a very important game in blow out fashion against the first place Ritz, and Fuzzy topped the Skins.  That leaves the league standings:

1. Ritz 7-2

2. Dead Skins 6-3

3. Citizen Cane 6-3

4. Fuser Heads 6-3

5. Big Doggs (Pastor Trav) 4-5

6. Bachrach 3-6

7. Skins 3-6

8. Turkey Buzzards 1-8

Right now, Pastor Trav is the only legitimate team that is not currently in the top 4 who has a shot at the playoffs.  It will be a tough road, but he must at least win 2 of his last 4 combined with one of the 6-3 teams going 0-4.  If he goes 0-4, he will need one of the 6-3 teams to go 2-2 and to outscore them overall.  Not a very good possibility, but it is still open.  None of the bottom 3 teams have a legitimate shot at the playoffs though they are not mathematically eliminated.  The playoffs start in week 15 (4 weeks are left in the regular season).

In Second Chance, Chris Day and Alex are still at the top fighting it out with Chris holding to a slim 1 point lead.  I am 8 points back with 7 games to go.  I will need some great picks from here out to make up the ground.  Due to the Thursday night game and some people not paying attention to the schedule, some picks were not made or were missed.

In LPC Vegas Style, I am strongly in first place due to an incomplete pick set by Pastor Trav, Paul is back 10 points, and with 7 games left he still is in the hunt.

The Monday Armchair QB

Another great weekend of football has gone by the wayside.  College and NFL games really turned out some big upsets, and some great finishes.  Due to my whirlwind schedule on Saturday and Sunday, I didn’t get to watch a single game, with the exception of the second half of last night’s Patriots/Colts game.
The U pulled out an incredible drive to finish regulation in a tie against UVA.  After penalties and a negative play, the final drive was 99 yards led by Jacory Harris and capped by a 30ish yard prayer of a TD pass and chewed up over 7 minutes of the clock to tie the game.  UM then missed a game winning fieldgoal with 4 second left.  In OT, UM quickly scored a TD with another pass from Harris.  UVA, in their possession, ran the ball and looked like they would be plowing in quickly.  After 11 yards, the Virginia RB fumbled the ball and the game away.  UM wins 24-17 in a great win for Miami.

The Dolphins pulled out yet another unexpected win against a favored team on the road.  This time, the victim was the Denver Broncos.  The defense, particularly Will Allen, turned up huge in this game.  The Ronnie Brown show continued to be a driving force as well.  At 4-4, and with a weak AFC, it is not crazy to think about the possibility of a playoff run.  The Houston game could have and should have had a different result.  We would be talking about a 5-3 team right now.  As of now, it is a vastly different season than last.

Here is a great game, Texas vs Texas Tech matchup.  Did anyone actually expect the Red Raiders to beat the Longhorns?  I know any team with an offense as good as TT’s can do something special, even against some of the best teams in the nation.  But the way TT played defense was the biggest surprise.  There were several series straight for the Longhorns that had negative yards.  They were at the most crucial points of the game, in the second and third quarter.  But then the WR from Texas (Williams) made some great plays to put Texas right back in the game late and then even take a lead.  Then with a few seconds left, the Red Raiders showed their steel.  TD, game over, Texas Tech pulls the big upset.  This year is not over at all in the Big 12, considering TT has to get past very good OK State and Oklahoma teams in 2 of their last 3 games.  That south division looks to be very strong!

UF beat Georgia like a rented mule.  They were short one point of the greatest margin of victory in the series history.  That’s impressive considering how long this series has been running.  Tebow accounted for 5 TD’s, 3 on the ground and 2 through the air to become the all time TD rushing leader in UF history surpassing Emmitt Smith who was actually a running back.  Tebow is by far the best player in football this year, much less the best QB.  I do not like the Gators, but I am a fan of this guy!

On to fantasy football.  Let me touch really quickly on a few things.  I will likely hand Ritz his second loss of the year (I beat him in game one and he has not lost since) yet he will remain in first.  Jesse‘s Fuser Heads will lose as well, and he will remain in 2nd place.  Pastor Trav is looking at his 4th win in a row, as he makes a serious push for the playoffs.  I am going to hold on to first place in the Vegas style LPC league, and I  will capture the best week of all the members in the second chance league, but I will not even come close to the  lead.  I have a lot of work to do in the second chance league.  But things are really heating up!  More tomorrow on the fantasy football report.

Fantasy Football Report

One after another the turnovers kept coming. Denver’s RB rb Hall fumbled twice, then Cutler threw three interceptions. Four of the five turnovers occurred in field goal range and any TD or field goal by Denver would mean a win. One sack, one interception, one fumble does not occur or if one field goal or Denver TD does happen, I win easily. The result of the 5 turnovers was 10 points for Fuser’s defense, Denver’s 7 points was 4 points for Fuser’s defense, and NE’s sack was another point for Fuser. Prater got one point for a PAT, and the final score of that our match up was 55-54 for Jesse’s Fuser. In my starting lineup I got almost nothing from what was left of my team. I had Adai, Parker, Romo, and Chambers out injured, D Jackson and Michael Turner on bye, and Reggie Bush sustained an injury during play. Harrison did nothing, Cooley did nothing, Prater did nothing, NYJ defense… NOTHING!

In related news, Ritz the rook is now in first place thanks to a late Welker TD, and Pastor Trav’s Big Doggs are coming on strong at 2-4 with a major league whipping of Paul’s Skins. The first place Fuzzy’s Dead Skins dropped an epic battle against Bachrach who is now also 2-4. That leaves the abandoned Fuser Heads tied with Ritz for the league lead at 5-1.

In LPC pickem, we had status quo as I went 8 for 14 against the Vegas spread. In Second Chance, status quo also as just about everyone had 9 wins against 14 picks. Chris maintains his first place status with a great call of St. Louis Rams over the Boys and my prognosticators are still dragging up the rear.

Monday Armchair QB

It was a second week of disappointment for the Dolphins.  Last year, the fins managed one solitary win in 16 tries, and that win came against the Ravens.  The result of the season was a pink slip for Cam Cameron.  Baltimore gambled and hired Cameron as their own coach.  Cameron showed his appreciation to the Dolphins by strolling in town and taming the “wildcat”.  Ronnie Brown’s 4 consecutive game touchdown streak was haulted as Cam and the Ravens won 27-13.

In St. Louis, Steven Jackson finally had his big break out game of the season as the Rams destroyed the Cowboys.  Jackson accounted for 160 yards and 3 TD’s.  My fantasy stud receiver TO came up with a spectacular 30 yards.

How bout them Tampa Bay Devil Rays?  In game 7, they disposed of the Red Sox and are now headed to the Super Bowl of Major League Baseball, known as the World Series.  I predict record low viewership between the Rays and the Phillies.

There is a strong possibility that yours truly, a guru of fantasy football will lose to a team missing three players in his line up.  How embarrassing.

Monday Armchair QB

Why?

I am distraught, downtrodden, deeply saddened, and discombobulated after yesterday’s loss to the lowly Houston Texans. I didn’t get to watch the game, but I did listen to the radio as Houston made the final drive. With a 4th down and 10 with about one minute to play, Andre Johnson (one of my favorite Hurricanes) made a great catch for a first down taking the ball away from the Dolphin defender. A fumble which would have ended the game was overturned by replay, an interception which would have ended the game was overturned by replay, and after all was said and done, Houston had one last chance to win on the 4 yard line with a few ticks left on the clock. My first thought was “watch out for the draw.” But then I thought, “No, that’s a college call.”. After all, no NFL team would not keep a spy on the QB with the field spread and no) in the backfield. Well, no NFL team except Miami, apparently. Schaub took the snap and ran the old QB draw. He was untouched to the endzone for the score and a Houston win.

This one really hurts. Miami had this game won, so it seemed, on two or three occasions. But, it also appeared that the game was lost, too.

In college ball, the #5 Longhorns shocked us all by beating the #1 Sooners and taking over the 1st place position in the polls while Time Tebeaux’s Fleauxrida totally demolished the Tigers. Neither UF nor LSU are out of the title picture in what has been a crazy year thus far.

Miami had to struggle to beat a lousy UCF team. One week, the defense is off and the offense is on, the next week it’s reversed. If we could put together a complete package, this team would be pretty dern good. Well, there’s always next year (I’m going to start sounding like a Gator or Seminole if I’m not careful).

Tomorrow’s fantasy football report will be pretty big. If everything holds, there will be a pretty major shake up in the league, and a 4 way tie for first place. Pastor Trav looks solid for his first win, Ritz the Rookie continues his winning ways, Paul needs 17 from Jamal Lewis to beat me (possible but unlikely), and The Fuser Heads look solid for their 4th win as well.

Chris Day is kickin some tail in the 2nd Chance pickem league.

Monday Armchair Quarterback

Following the Canes disappointing loss the Criminoles on Saturday, I have downgraded my expectation for the Canes the rest of the year.  Starters Colin McCarthy LB and Eric Moncour DE will miss the rest of the season with injuries.  Does it really matter?  There isn’t a team left on the schedule that we cannot beat, and there aren’t very many teams on schedule that we cannot lose to either.  Recruiting cannot afford another finish the season without a trip to the post season.  The locals would forgive it once with the coaching transition, but twice??  Also, do you honestly think we would have lost to UNC or FSU this year in the OB?  I am sick about it.

At least the Dolphins did something right.  Ronnie is once again showing that he is the real dead.  They ran the single wing (or wildcat formation) yesterday 11 more times.  While it had more success against the Patriots, it was still very successful yesterday.  Ronnie is now leading the league in TD’s and the Dolphins are at .500 with wins over both teams in last years AFC finals.  Why is the wildcat so successful?  When a QB hands the ball to a RB, you lose a blocker, so it’s basically 10 vs 11.  When Ronnie is taking the snap directly, you have an extra blocker so it’s now 11 on 11, so that makes up any defensive perception that every play will be a run.  If I was a D Coordinator, and I saw Ronnie lined up at QB, I would send a run blitz every time.  Ronnie is also making great decisions at the helm, running powerfully, smoothly, and with great agility.  He is the real deal at RB.  Can he throw?  YUP.  This is going to be the surprise in the future of the wildcat formation, Ronnie is going to throw a few more passes.  The defense looked great with Porter and Roth constantly up in Rivers face.  The way these guys are playing, you could see them with a solid record at the end of the season.  Check out this article where the Chargers are saying that they were screwing up, and it wasn’t actually the Dolphins beating them as much as them beating themselves.

I had a great day in the LPC fantasy football, more on that tomorrow.  Not doing so great in the second chance LPC pickem, but I am leading in the pro football vegas style pickem.