Week 9 Recap

OK, I've finally gotten around to this.  It's gonna be good, I promise.

Interesting as always.  From the top!

NORTHERN QUILTERS (Wendy) @ SLC SOVIETS (Shane)

Woooooo, mama!  Shane had one of his luckiest, if not the luckiest game of his season.  T.Y. Hilton went insane in Megatron's absence, racking up 30 points.  Mom could have come back from the deficit that made, but Aaron Rodgers left the game early with an injury and left her with just 1 point.  Which is too bad (not really) because Mom had some great performances from the Panthers D/ST and Desean Jackson.

Shane could have played his Chiefs D/ST for 14 more points.  That's what he gets for listening to "expert advice."  Such is life in the fantasy league.  Gronk also finally returned to form and yanked 20 points from Pittsburgh's cold dead hands.

With this result, Mom drops to 6-3, having lost 2 in a row.  FIRE EVERYONE.  TRADE EVERYONE.  ABANDON SHIP.  No not really.  Mom is still a big threat moving forward, even without Rodgers.

Meanwhile, Shane advances to 6-3, having WON HIS LAST 5.  Yeah, that's right.  Best win streak in the league now.  SOVIETS ROLL ON!

WEBER COUNTY JACKALS (Jake S) @ MINNEAPOLIS MARAUDERS (Jake)

It's the battle of the Jakes! ...and this result really pisses me off.  Jake (of the H variety) puts a lot of time into his team.  He stays up to date on player news, keeps his lineup nice and set, and knows plenty about football.  He loses to Schlegel (of the Jake variety) WHO DOESN'T HAVE A DEFENSE, HAS ONE GUY ON BYE STARTING AND A GUY ON IR STARTING.  What. The. Hell.  If this isn't a case of fantasy injustice, I don't know what is.  Schlegel even had ANDRE JOHNSON ON HIS BENCH SCORING 40 POINTS.  Man.

Jake's team just imploded it seems.  Colts D/ST got -4 and only 2 players scored over 10, and none over 13.  It just hurts to see.  Then Schlegel had Tom Brady go all retarded (thanks for the Gronk passes, though) and Jimmy Graham be Jimmy Graham.  There wasn't much Jake could do either, with his whole bench posting only 18 points.  It all just sucks, bro.

With this "win" Schlegel advances to 4-5 and Jake drops to 4-5 with the defeat.  Man.

PROVO CRUNCH TIME (Spike) @ PROVO BEGINNER'S LUCK (Rachel)

It's a lovers quarrel!  How cute.  EXCEPT FOR THERE IS NO LOVE IN FANTASY FOOTBALL.

Spike showed he's still top dog in points production even with some major starters on bye.  AP, Eddie Lacy, and Matt Forte all had 20+ each.  Wow.  With scores like that I am surprised this was as close as it was.  Rachel posted a solid score, but just couldn't quite edge Spike.

I think I said this before, but if Spike had a solid D/ST he'd be really scary.  Er, scarier.  Because his points are already pretty scary (spoiler alert: he leads the league).  Rachel can beat just about anyone on any week, but it's not very easy to predict what her score is gonna be.  Her players seem to just do whatever they want.

With this win, Spike advances to 6-3 and leads the west division.  He has a 4 game win streak which is 2nd best in the league.  Rachel drops to 4-5 with the defeat and has lost 2 in a row.

OGDEN CATS (Heidi) @ CENTERVILLE PSYCHOS (Scott)

You see dad?  You took out Austin Collie and you won.  Well, that and Heidi had a piss all week.  Very similar to Jake's game above, Heidi had only 2 players over 10 and none over 13 and 0 points on her bench to play with.  Yowza.  Meanwhile Dad had solid performances from Romo, Garcon and Gonzalez.

Dad could have played Luck for a handful of more points and also the fact that ANDREW LUCK IS AWESOME AND A SHARKS FAN.  How could you not play that wonderful neckbeard?  Dad's crusade against facial hair continues, clearly.  Plus the guy's name is LUCK.  I mean c'mon!  That's just asking for good fantasy juju!  

With this win, Dad improves to 4-5 but is still at the bottom of the west.  With the defeat, Heidi drops to 6-3, and has lost her last 2.  MOUNT HUBRIS IS COLLAPSING!

CHICAGO CLOVERS (Holly) @ C-VILLE SLAYAS (Kyle)

PLAN THE PARADE.  HOLLY HAS WON 2 IN A ROW.

This was a close one.  On Monday night, Kyle only needed a little more from Brandon Marshall and he could have taken the win, but it was not to be.  Holly had a bunch of players just do great this week.  Four players posted 16+ including Chris Johnson posting a huge 29.  Kyle had plenty of solid players this week as well, especially his Flex RB Steven Ridley with 21 points.

What's crazy is Holly had 2 players on her bench that she definitely could have started for an extra 28 points.  That would make her the biggest scorer this week by FAR.  Is Holly's team finally coming into form?  I guess we'll find out next week.

With the win, Holly improves to 2-7 (whoa, nelly) and has won her last 2.  Kyle's loss knocks him down to 3-6 and the poor guy has lost his last 3.  Which is really too bad, because he does have a pretty solid team.  But alas, SUCH IS LIFE IN THE FANTASY LEAGUE.

STANDINGS 

So after all that, here are the standings.

Storylines

Spike and Shane lead the league in total points with 901 and 895.  Mom and Jake are tied for 3rd at 838 points.  Let that sink in.  Spike and Shane have scored pretty much a whole game's worth more than the the next guys.  In fact, 895-838=57, which is more than Jake and Heidi scored this week.

Dad has the least total points scored with 662, but has still won two more games than Holly who has 747 points and one more game than Kyle who has 784.  Crazy.

Speaking of Kyle, he has got to be the unluckiest dude in the league.  He has 905 points allowed.  The next in line is Holly with 848.  Holy. Balls.  It's no wonder he is only 3-6.  

Least points allowed is Shane with 723, though Rachel is close with 728.  Shane has the 2nd most points for and least points allowed.  The fantasy gods smile on him, clearly.  

Which probably explains the streak.  Shane has won 5 in a row, Spike has won 4 in a row, and Kyle has lost 3 in a row.

Shane is 2 games ahead of the next place in the East, while the West is still hotly contested with three teams at 6-3.

FOR MOTHER SLC!

Week 8 Recap

So yeah, I'm lazy and I didn't do recaps for week 8.  Whatever.

Alright, week 8 had some interesting results.  Things definitely got mixed up.  From the top:

CENTERVILLE PSYCHOS (Scott) @ SLC SOVIETS (Shane)
112-69

Megatron, sweet Megatron.  36 points for Shane in one of the best fantasy performances by a receiver ever.  Shane's roster had otherwise "meh" performances.  Usually solid Chiefs D/ST recorded a season low 4 points.  Meanwhile, Dad's "play Austin Collie because he is cool" strategy didn't work again, much to the surprise of nobody ever.  Good players under-performing was the theme here.

MINNEAPOLIS MARAUDERS (Jake) @ PROVO BEGINNER'S LUCK (Rachel)
79-62

Pretty close matchup here, especially considering Rachel had Jordy Nelson and Emmanuel Sanders on her bench scoring 24 and 16 respectively.  If she had shuffled things around, it could have easily gone the other way.  Interestingly, Jake's backup QB Andy Dalton scored a whopping 31 points on his bench, which was 9 more than Peyton Manning.  I'd say other than swapping players for her benchwarmers, Rachel's biggest problem here was an underperforming QB and D/ST.

CHICAGO CLOVERS (Holly) @ NORTHERN QUILTERS (Wendy)
119-88

THE QUEEN IS DEAD!  Holly got her first win in a HUGE way, being the first one to beat Mom since week ONE.  Drew Brees and the Bengals D/ST had big performances for Holly, while Mom suffered from poor RB and WR performances.  Interesting note, Holly's bench scored a whopping 1 point.  How's that for starting your studs?

WEBER COUNTY JACKALS (Jake S) @ OGDEN CATS (Heidi)
57-74

Ok.  Seriously.  Heidi got on board the luck express (not the Andrew variety) once again.  She could have done just about anything and won this one.  Jake had 3 players out that week whom he left on his starting lineup and didn't even play a defense.  A bold strategy or just plain neglect?  Probably don't have to call Toronto to figure that one out.

C-VILLE SLAYAS (Kyle) @ PROVO CRUNCH TIME (Spike)
60-123

Wow.  Dat Crunch Time.  Spike had a huge game thanks to Matthew Stafford and solid RB and WR performances.  Even his kicker had a huge game.  Meanwhile Kyle has another off-week, this time thanks to Michael Vick getting injured and leaving him with an awesome -1 point.  Told ya to play Cam, bro.



Ok yeah, I know this one is short.  I'll try and have a full week 9 recap up soon, hopefully before the weekend.  BUT NO PROMISES.

So where do you get your blue jeans?

A little bit of football humor, because I am too lazy to post the matchup recaps.

Breaking Madden: Brett Favre returns to the Rams, and brings Quincy Carter and friends with him

Jake's FF Mid-season Suggestions

Entering Week 8 of the NFL, 6 different teams head into their bye week. This week is crucial from a fantasy standpoint, as most leagues are halfway through their seasons, and owners are trying everything in their power to ensure that their team is victorious. With so many holes in your line-up, it will be critical to look at the waiver wire to see what is available to pick up. Let me give you a few suggestions as you prepare for Week 8 of your fantasy league:

Suggestion #1: STAY AWAY FROM ANY VIKINGS PLAYERS. Minnesota has been in shambles this whole season. The team is not playing anywhere near their potential. Even their best player, RB Adrian Peterson, has only got 12 points in the last two weeks. This is a guy who last year scored 307+ points in the standard 15 week league, (over 20 points per week). His team is struggling. The offensive line is struggling, they have started 3 different QB's this year (and announced two different starters this week). Don't pick up a MN QB. Don't pick up a MN WR. Stay the heck away from the defense. This team has no momentum, and even NFL Analysts are making fun of them. Not to mention, they are killing their most loyal fans one by one. If you Skol Vikings this week, you will Skull Vikings this week.

Suggestion #2: Look at players with increases in carries and receptions over the last two weeks. In the middle of the NFL season, there are a ton of injuries. Sometimes, it get tough to keep track of all teh injuries and what player is replacing who. I suggest that you pick up a few back-up players who have begun to get more looks on the field at this point in the season: Riley Cooper has had 4x the amount of receptions and yards in the last two games, and I don't see his contributions slowing down for the Eagles; Jarrett Boykin is a number 3 receiver for the Packers who had more targets by Aaron Rogers last week then any other Packer, and with Cobb and Finley out again, he will put up large numbers against a struggling Minnesota defense; Chris Ivory rushed the ball 34 times last week! That's over 3 times his average this year. While he only averaged just over 3 yards per carry, he will continue to get the majority of the carries this week, as the Jet's have no other options at RB.

Suggestion #3: While this suggestion won't necessarily help you this week in your match-up, this suggestion will help you get your team ready for the upcoming fantasy playoffs. Look for players that are currently injured or are not playing that your fantemies (Fantasy Football Enemies or opponents) have dropped this week! Barreling down the last half of the season, everyone wants to win NOW. However, lots of owners overlook upcoming schedules, player projections, and real time injury updates from around the league. This could be very valuable, especially if you are able to pick up guys like Percy Harvin, Randall Cobb, or Andre Brown who may be playing in the next week or two. Be a smart owner who thinks ahead in the chess match of the season. FF is a marathon, not a sprint!

Week 7 Scores and Standings

Well, as always, we had a crazy week.  A few close games as well as some... not so close ones.

Here are the scores:

SLC Soviets (Shane)  @ Weber County Jackals (Jake S)
94-43

This one wasn't even close.  And while it certainly didn't help that Jake DIDN'T SWITCH OUT HIS TIGHT END FOR A BYE WEEK (UGH), there was still almost no hope for his roster.  Even if he added all the points scored on his bench to his total, he would have still lost by 24 points.  In fact, just Shane's bench could have beat Jake's starters and bench.  Now there's a scary thought.

I just think Jake doesn't care at this point.  This isn't the first time he's not switched for byes, and I have a feeling it won't be the last.  (Prove me wrong, dude, please)

Megatron had a monster week for Shane (as he should, dammit) with 27 points, and Jake's highest scorer was his KICKER, Stephen Gostkowski with 10.  This game could have been even more one sided if Shane had switched out Gordon or Blackmon for VJax, who recorded 25 points on his bench.

Shane continues his win streak and improves to 4-3, while Jake continues the 2nd worst losing streak in the league (4 games) and is now 3-4.  Soviets march on!

Provo Beginner's Luck (Rachel) @ Centerville Psycho's (Scott)
88-50

With the 2nd most lopsided contest of the week, the continuously surprising Rachel soundly bested Dad.  There isn't much depth to Dad's roster at the moment, with his bench only posting 31 points.  That doesn't sound too bad for a bench until you realize Andrew Luck scored 29 of those points.  Dad played Romo instead of Luck, which isn't necessarily a bad call.  Romo can certainly produce monster numbers.  But Luck and his Colts were in a crazy shootout against Manning and the Broncos.

The Detroit D/ST certainly didn't do any favors for Dad either giving him a sweeeeet -2 points.  Awesome job, bro.  Meanwhile, Rachel's combo of Frank Gore at RB and AJ Green at WR gave her some very nice points this week.  She could have also played Matt Ryan instead of Sam Bradford at QB and gotten 10 more points (22 vs. 12).  I've said it before... Rachel has one of the hardest to predict teams in the league.

Frank Gore was Rachel's best this week, with 22 points, and Demaryius Thomas was Dad's best with 14.

Oh, also, side note.  DAD, JUST STOP.  Seriously, Gronk is back.  Brady has better targets.

With her win, Rachel moves up to 4-3 and Dad drops to 3-4.  Dad has lost his last 3.

Northern Quilters (Wendy) @ C-Ville Slayas (Kyle)
70-70 (52-15 bench)

This is easily the most interesting outcome of the week.  Because we don't use fractional points, Mom and Kyle tied at 70.  What this means is the team with the most bench points takes the win.  Here were the benches:

Aaron Rodgers alone could have won this one for Mom.  What sucks with a game being this close, is just about any different starter set up could have changed it one way or another.  For instance, Kyle could have played Greg Jennings instead of Larry Fitzgerald at WR or Antonio Gates at Flex, and he would have won.  Of course, on the other hand, if Mom had played Rodgers instead of Cutler at QB, she would have soundly defeated Kyle.

Also of note, is the Carolina D, which had a very solid game for Mom with 17 points.  Much better than Mom's usual go to, Chicago, which only got 1 point this week.

Mom's top player this week was WR Eric Decker of Denver, with 21 points.  Kyle's best was RB Marshawn Lynch of Seattle, with 15 points.

Mom snuck away with this win, really.  This wasn't a great week for her.  I mean Jay Cutler got her -1 points for crying out loud!  If she had been playing anyone else other than Dad or Jake S, she would have lost, easily.  But such is life in fantasy football.

Mom continues UNMITIGATED DOMINANCE or whatever, and improves her win streak to 6 and her record to 6-1.  Kyle drops to 3-4.

Mom is still top dog.  MY MOM IS WINNING, DAMMIT.

Ogden Cats (Heidi) @ Chicago Clovers (Holly)
85-79

I really thought this was Holly's week.  Honestly.  Going into the game on Monday, Holly had 59 points, with Eli Manning and Reuben Randle still left to play.  Heidi had her final score already, with 85.  I totally thought Eli and Reuben could connect enough against a very soft Viking's D to get Holly the 27 points she needed.  I was obviously wrong.  (But I guess that's Eli and the Giants for you.)

Only real big change Heidi could have made was swapping Kaep for Alex Smith, but it would have only meant a difference of 4 points (19 vs 15).  Reggie Wayne was injured during the game on Sunday, which obviously Holly couldn't predict, but she could have played Terrence Williams instead for a gain of 7 points.  (5 vs 13)

QB Alex Smith was Heidi's best player this week, with 15 points, and Holly had two players, RB Chris Johnson and Kicker Adam Vinatieri, score 16 points for her best scores.

With this win, Heidi has the 2nd best record in the league at 5-2, and Holly, poor Holly, continues her season long losing streak and moves down to 0-7.  Man.

Provo Crunch Time (Spike) @ Minneapolis Marauders (Jake)
101-87

Honestly, this was a low scoring game for Spike.  Which is crazy for a couple reasons, which I will point out in a minute.  Even with Peyton Manning's awesome 25 points, Jake just couldn't finish.  There wasn't a whole lot Jake could do about it, either.  His bench only posted a total of 13 points (12 of which came from 2 players).  His WR corps seem to be his biggest problem, with 3 players combining for only 11 points.  Meanwhile, Spike had two players, Stafford and Forte post monster weeks, with a combined 54 points.

OK, and remember how I said this was a low scoring game for Spike?  He broke 100 points even with a Browns D/ST which gave him -1 point and a low scoring Adrian Peterson which gave him a very below average 4 points.  If AP had a more normal week and Spike got an actually decent D/ST, there wouldn't even be any competition.  Hell, his bench scored a respectable 66 points, so he even has depth.  Scary.

Spike's best this week was Matt Forte with 28 points, and Jake's best was Peyton Manning (of course) with 25 points.

Both teams were 3-3 coming into this week, so Spike moves up to 4-3 and Jake drops to 3-4.

And after all that, here are the league standings:

Interesting to note, Shane was the only one in the East who won a game this week.  

Jake, Spike and Shane lead the league in total points, with 706, 673, and 672 respectively.  Mom and Heidi are close behind with 667 and 665, respectively.

Another interesting fact:  Dad has 7 total points less than Holly, but has won three games while Holly hasn't won any.  Her points allowed isn't even the worst in the league.

Crazy.

Week 7 - League Standings and Implications

Sup, readers - Jake here. Wanted to give you a good picture of what our current league looks like. Remember, this is a Higgins League, meaning that only family and close friends (my college buddy and his wife) are in this league. The Higgins family is the most competitive family you will ever meet. EVER! If you say your family is, you are lying. My family screams during games of cards, and doesn't know how to use their "inside" voices when speaking amongst themselves. Yea, its that bad.

As we are now at the halfway point to the season, every week from here on out will have HUGE playoff implications. Everyone is gunning for that first-round bye, and at this point in time, there is no clear cut guarantee as to which team will finish first place in their division.

Dat HIGGINS FFL Standings (after Wk 6 of 11)

In the Eastern Conference, we have a 4-way tie for first place. FOUR DIFFERENT TEAMS are (3-3) and each have an equal shot at gaining the playoff first round bye. Every team this week will be gunning for a win in order to have sole possession of first place. The biggest match-up in this conference this week is easily SLC Soviets (Shane) vs. WCJ (Jacob S) as this is the only division game for the Eastern Conference this week. Whatever team wins will be a full game ahead in the standings, and will be sitting in great position heading into the most important part of the season.

Embarrassingly enough, my mom (Northern Quilters; Wendy Higgins) is in sole first place in the Western Conference. She is 5-1. She only needs to win 4 more games in order to guarantee that she has that first round playoff bye. Her match-up with Kyle this week will be critical. Kyle needs a win to put him into first place in his conference, and Mom needs a win to stay in front of the pack.

It will be very interesting to see how these games pan out this week. Very interesting indeed.

Week 7 Match-ups

Week 7 Match-ups:

SLC Soviets (Shane 3-3) @ Weber County Jackals (Jake S 3-3)

Shane had a rough start to the season, winning his first game but then dropping the next 3.  Some luck finally came his way starting week 5 and he's looking to expand his current win streak to 3 against Schlegel.  Jake S was a powerhouse the first 3 weeks, but has dropped his last 3.

Ogden Cats (Heidi 4-2) @ Chicago Clovers (Holly 0-6)

Holly's season has been rough to say the least.  As far as projections are concerned, she is always poised to well, but her players seem to always fall short.  Look for her (and by her I mean Jake) to make some moves to try and get her first win against Heidi, who has caught a lot of luck so far this season but hasn't been consistent the past few weeks.

Provo Beginner's Luck (Rachel 3-3) @ Centerville Psychos (Scott 3-3)

Both of these teams are about as inconsistent as you can get.  Dad looked pretty strong to begin the season, but has floundered a few matchups.  Rachel on the other hand looked weak at first, but then had a couple huge games.  This one could go either way.

Provo Crunch Time (Spike 3-3) @ Minneapolis Marauders (Jake 3-3)

Jake had a really rough week last week.  If the projections were to be believed, he should have scored well above everyone else in the league with Manning and the Broncos' D/ST vs. Jacksonville.  But the fantasy gods said "No way, bro" and Jake just couldn't produce.  Meanwhile, Spike "SET YOUR FREAKIN' LINEUP" Gatten has AP and Jordan Cameron and has huge potential every week.  That is when he SETS HIS FREAKIN' LINEUP.

Northern Quilters (Wendy 5-1) @ C-Ville Slayas (Kyle 3-3)

And last but certainly not least we have probably our most interesting matchup this week.  Mom is on top of the league after a very lucky win against Jake last week.  Kyle, same as Shane, has won his past 2 after having a very rocky season start.  This game should be a nail-biter, as both teams are projected to score the same amount.  If Mom can win, she will solidify a very good lead in the standings.

Projected standings from Fantasy Pros: