Week 12 Report. The penultimate week of the regular season:
Sheriff (6-6) 85.22 - Horneris (7-5) 137.26 - Thank you Bryce Brown! No, not for being the only bright spot in another turgid Eagles performance, but for ensuring that I could have no regrets about picking the wrong team in this matchup. After he padded Horner's winning margin by another 27 points on MNF, I could take comfort in knowing that my entire team + bench wouldn't have been enough in this crucial matchup. Of course I could point to the injuries - Austin got injured early on and got nothing, waiver pickup Parmele was named starter this week and promptly ran himself onto IR in his first start - but there was also the last minute swap to bring Fred Jackson in at flex ahead of Reggie Bush (that went well) and the fact that Colin Kapearnick decided to throw balls to Delanie Walker this week instead of Vernon Davis. In the end it was all irrelevant as Horner's team compiled a massive score of 137 points with 3 players (Brown, RG3 and the Pats D) each scoring over 25pts. Horneris should be good for a play-off spot now (more on that later), whilst Sheriff sits nervously in 6th place looking over his shoulder. Gratz on the win, Brent!
LeKnave (10-2) 128.94 - Jek187 (7-5) 111.42 - The nominee for game of the week lived up to expectations, and LeKnave was the one still standing at the end to claim win number 8 in a row and end Jek's 5 game winning streak. It was a quality matchup all round. LeKnave came agonisingly close to the holy grail of double digit scores throughout the team (Brandon Marshall's 9.20 points being the exception, whilst he had two other WRs on the bench who would have done the job). Jek also managed to get double digits from 7 of his team, and the difference in the matchup came, ironically, from his TEs, which is theoretically supposed to be his strongest position. However Jimmy Graham (surprisingly) and Antonio Gates (no longer surprisingly) had disappointing returns. LeKnave is still being frustrated in his attempt to top the league, but both teams demonstrated why they're in the top 3 in this matchup.
ChipRich (6-6) 96.50 - Marky/sharplea (4-8) 82.50 - ChipRich took full advantage of his Trade-Rape bonus and a timely pickup of, back-from-the-dead, Knowshon Moreno to prevail over Taco Style and stay in the play-off hunt. Plenty of double-digit contributions throughout his team on the day, including some on the bench, means his only area of concern in the team looks to be at TE. Taco Style's season ran out of steam at the wrong stage and they now only have the consolation play-offs to look forward to, and the loss of Gronk was apparent in the final score in this matchup. The 14 point gap was just the sort of gap that a typical Gronk outing would fill.
Linux (2-10) 80.06 - Bobby1 (7-5) 107.98 - New addition Aaron Rodgers made no difference whatsoever to Linux's fortunes. He lost again, nuff said! Bobby1 should make the playoffs, Linux has secured 12th place.
TightEnd (4-8) 93.16 - WPIL (4-8) 129.74 - Contrary to previous reports, this didn't turn out to be the record-setting massacre that appeared possible early on. Due to a bizarre mis-match in schedules, WPIL's team scored early, and heavily, whilst Tighty's points game largely in the Sunday Night and MNF games. He eventually rattled up a respectable 93 points, but that was eclipsed by WPIL's 130pt total which gave him his 3rd win in a row and sees him overtake Tighty in the standings. WPIL looks like he'll be the form team going into the consolation playoffs, so could well end up securing 7th place. Imagine what could have been achieved with a manager!
Nakor (10-2) 105.60 - Camel (5-7) 98.64 - An important result in two aspects. The narrow win for Nakor keeps him out in 1st place, holding off LeKnave for another week, and the loss for Camel keeps him relying on others with regard to making the playoffs. Among the players in the starting line-ups, the most decisive factor in the result was Forte's injury, which restricted him to only 2.6 pts for Camel. Both teams left points on the bench, and both achieved respectable scores. As has been his way for much of the season, Nakor just had that bit extra at the end.
So as we hit the remainder of week 13 games, the play-off scenario is fascinating. Nakor and LeKnave are in, and have secured byes, which we've pretty much known for weeks. Behind them, there are 3 teams on 7-5, 2 on 6-6 and Camel on 5-7, all of whom can make the playoffs and who, theoretically can still miss out. The uncertainty is down to the fact that the first tie-breaker in the standings is head to head record, so this throws up all sorts of scenarios depending on who's involved in the ties. The
really interesting one would come from wins for Sheriff, ChipRich, Linux, and Nakor, which would leave 5 teams on 7-5 battling out for 4 places (I haven't looked at who would come out on top, so it's possible that some 7-5 teams are already safe. Jek's good at that sort of thing, as he takes the time to figure things out in his leagues!) Another intriguing one is if Camel can get on level terms with Sheriff and ChipRich on 6-7, as he holds the tie-breaker over both teams.
I checked the setting on the site a couple of days ago, and it's not clear what the 2nd tie-breaker is if teams can't be split on H2H. I wanted to set it at the start of the season as total points scored, but there's no option to choose, so it remains a mystery. However, as Commish, I will vet the final standings after the league is settled, and if it's not clear how two equal teams have been split then I may have to manually intervene on the tables. I'm desperately hoping this doesn't prove necessary, but H2H followed by total points scored is the obvious and most transparent way to split ties, and I'll revert to that if I can't figure out what's been used. I really hope the inner workings of the site agrees with me, as I absolutely don't want to go down this route, but am declaring it now for transparency as I'm potentially involved in the shake-up! If it does end up proving to be messy then I'll post in the thread and canvass votes if necessary.
Don't forget that, regardless of final position, this isn't the end of things for any team, as there are still fixtures for everyone in the playoffs and consolation playoff. Some teams will get a week off next week, but as is the American way, final standings are determined by a play-off lottery rather than a season-long grind, so everyone has a chance to improve their positions. Yes, even you Linux!
Good luck to everyone, apart from LeKnave who I obviously need to lose tonight (FML at having to play him again when I desperately need a win!) Only kidding Dave
YTD Records:
Highest Team Score:1) 166.80 - B Side's (Week 5)
2) 154.44 - Siberian Alcoholics (Week 10)
3) 149.94 - Sheriff's Stars (Week 2)
Lowest Team Score:1) 40.28 - Ruxin's Ravens (Week 8 )
2) 47.90 - WeHateDallas (Week 5)
3) 51.00 - Ruxin's Ravens (Week 10)
Lowest Winning Team Score:1) 64.76 - B Side's (Week 11) vs PancakeBlock
2) 77.00 - Carisbrooke Chodes (Week 7) vs Dr Mantis Toboggan MD
3) 80.20 - Siberian Alcoholics (Week 5) vs Taco Style FF
Highest Losing Team Score:1) 137.52 - Bobby1's Broncos (Week 10) vs Siberian Alcoholics
2) 114.02 - Taco Style FF (Week 11) vs Dr Mantis Toboggan MD
3) 113.48 - Robbies Gould en Shower (Week 5) vs Middleton Tyas Mayhem
Largest Winning Margin:1) 86.50 - Dr Mantis Toboggan MD (Week 8 ) vs Ruxin's Ravens
2) 73.34 - B Side's (Week 5) vs Ruxin's Ravens
3) 64.96 - Carisbrooke Chodes (Week 5) vs WeHateDallas
Narrowest Winning Margin:1) 0.16 - Robbies Gould en Shower (Week 10) vs B Side's
2) 0.38 - B Side's (Week 3) vs Siberian Alcoholics
3) 0.60 - Siberian Alcoholics (Week 7) vs Robbies Gould en Shower
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