What the heck is going on in this league?  Have you looked at the standings?  Week ten is done.  The bye week nonsense is over.  Pat’s “I love a short bench” theory of fantasy league management has worked its evil voodoo.  The best team over the last three weeks?  Rebound!  I don’t have a problem with that; I am just saying, three weeks ago, Rebound was 2-5 and not even in the running for a playoff spot.  Now, after going on a three and 0 run, she has the number four spot lockedup!  Five, count them, FIVE teams have a 4-6 record.  That means five teams are tied for the last two playoff spots…not that there is anything wrong with that.  Scary part, even Chris (how the mighty have fallen) at 3-7 still has a chance to make the playoffs.  Athony’s BL hasn’t just played spoiler, but a. has the second best win streak going behind Rebound, and, AND, get this, has played Giant Killer knocking off Curt and Brian respectively in the last two weeks!

So let’s take a look at the playoff picture…

Each Division winner makes the playoffs and gets a first week bye.  Curt, despite suffering a loss, leads the Meat Division by three games, and at 9-1 is still comfortably in first.  Brian, despite yet another loss, leads the Pie Division by three games, and at 7-3, can probably hold on to the bye, but there are no guarantees.  Jonathan’s Heelers had been making a really nice run, and then had the rug pulled out from under him when he went head to head with the two guys ahead of him on this list.  Still, at 6-4, he seems a lock for the number three spot.  At the moment, Rebound, at 5-5, is fearlessly fending off all comers in an attempt to now hold onto the number four playoff spot.  Technically, the following teams are tied at 4-6:  Saddle, BL, State, TBOL (yes the whole pie division other than Brian) and Thunder.  Looking at our tie breakers, Saddle, BL and State are the three most viable candidates for those last two playoff spots with each being tied with 3-3 divisional records.  State has beaten Saddle twice and BL once, moving him into the 5th spot; BL squeezes into the sixth spot at the moment.

This week’s matchups:

Chris at Noblesville Migraines

Will Romo play?  Will that be enough to swing the tide?  For the Skins sake, I hope he stays on the bench.  Even if Chris can take a page from BL, I don’t think it makes any difference in the playoff picture.

iwantpie at Blazing Saddles

Saddle desperately needs a win.  Worse case scenario, a win puts him in a four way tie for the last four spots, but would finally move him and at least one other piece of Pie to only two games behind the division leader.

Statesboro Blues at TBOL

Does State hold onto its playoff spot?  A TBOL win gives him an overall and divisional record advantage.  Don’t count on this, Blue has been wracking up points without making changes for byes.  A loss by TBOL ends his playoff run.

Thunder at BL

The Spoilers meet and someone’s run ends this week.    A BL win and Thunder is done.  A loss by BL may remove both teams from playoff contention.  Guru’s initial estimate has this as a tie and both have nearly the same amount of bench points.  Too bad its taken these two so long to hit their stride.

Rebound at Heelers- Let’s call this game of the week

Can Rebound move up?  If Rebound (the number four team on the power rankings) can win, she would move up to the second spot in the league because of her division record.  A loss and she may again be fighting for a playoff spot.  Look for Heelers to pull a Bill Russle-like rejection of Rebound.  Bold prediction:  Heelers win and score the most points of the season a perfect storm of matchups for his players.  That’s right, I think he breaks his own scoring record this year and tops 157 points.

Wish I had time this week to do more because this week certainly had more than its share of storylines:  scoring error uncovered; two of the worst teams play spoiler to two of the best; Curt’s undefeated run ends; the two longest win streaks come to an end; Pie eeks out a win over Heelers; TBOL moves into a three way tie for forth; Rebound has made her run and sits in a three way tie for the last three spots.  I mean, its amazing!  But I have no time…so here is the stats

Week 8…what I said and what happened

BL at Rebound

Spoilers or Runners? That is the question for these two bottom dwellers. BL found a lineup that will score points. Rebound has been bottom feeding for gems all season taking solace in her loses which grant her first or near first picks in the waiver wire cess pool. This week she snagged a Deuce. Will he complete a flush or be another discard? Personally, I Think Kelly has the better matchups this week and I think Deuce puts her over the pond…but will the other meats drop through the grill so she can use a win to gain some distance?

Did you watch this? This was like a ping pong match with the score going back and forth. In the end Rebound managed to pull off a four point win. With this Rebound pulls into a four way tie for the last two playoff spots. BL seems to have found his groove in the waiver wire and can be expected to pull off a spoiler or two before the season ends.

TBOL at Heeler

The last piece of the Pie…division that is. I think Heelers win and that knocks TBOL out of the playoff picture. Like Rebound, he needs some help, if he has any hope of snagging that bye.

Heelers cruise. TBOL though continues to cling to that four way tie for the last two playoff spots.

Pie at Thunder

Pie is frantically combing through the spice rack, and be assured, Mace and habenero are on the menu this week. Truth is, Pie’s guys are hurting and can’t wait to be done with these bye weeks. Thunder on the other hand is just getting healthy. Don’t be too surprised at the end of the weekend to find that Thunder has continued his spoiling run.

Brian would like to thank S. Holmes for being a dumb ass and Pat for not subbing a kicker; those two things combined so that Pie was able to manage a win.

Noble at State

Can you say “trap game?” I think Thunder beats Pie to start a late push for that last playoff spot. And I think Blues makes a statement this week, giving Heelers the help it had hoped to get last week from Pie. That is right, I am calling it now, Blues will upset Noble giving him his first loss of the season.

Note to self…before predicting a major upset make sure the underdog is actually going to set his lineup. Noble rolls; somehow State remains in the running for that final playoff spot.

Chris at Saddle

The three previous games add weight to the importance of this game. Saddle appears to have an outright victory in five of the nine starting positions this week based solely on matchups. Chris has at best three. Saddle’s projected win with Pie’s projected loss means Saddle finally puts himself in position to run for the Pie Bye. Chris, with this projected loss will give hope to Rebound and Thunder for one final push. And with States win, allows State to Move up into that fifth playoff spot instead of being stuck fighting for the last spot.

Saddle won, but I was way off on every other projection. Saddle remains firmly entrenched in the forth playoff spot. Chris has dropped into a four way tie for the last two playoff spots.

Week Nine matchups and BOLD predictions:

Please oh pleas or please oh please let the bye weeks end soon!

BL at Noblesville Migraines

This won’t be pretty. Migraine goes to nine and oooooooh MY!

Thunder at Blazing Saddles

This won’t be pretty either…Saddle wins. With his win, Saddle will keep pace with Migraine and Heelers, finally take a step closer to Pie, and maintain a precarious advantage over the two winners of the next two games.

Chris at TBOL

Two of the four teams vying for those last two playoff spots. TBOL has the early point lead and some advantageous matchups. Winner moves into the number five playoff spot. I think these are two strong teams that none of the top four really want to matchup against. And I have no idea who is going to win this game.

Statesboro Blues at Rebound

Two of the four teams vying for those last two spots. Blue has the personnel to win, but lineup changes and some waiver wire action is necessary. Winner moves into last playoff spot. For preparedness and action, go with Rebound.

Heelers at Iwantpie

The only reason this is the game of the week is because these two teams are tied with the second best record. In reality this is a just a cake walk for Jonathan as he adds to his five-game winning streak.

Best Player for each Team

(Teams listed in playoff order if playoffs started today)

* - Currently has bye in first week of playoffs

** - Currently has bye in first week of playoffs, but doubtful this will last much longer.

***- Currently tied at 3-5; ranking made according to tie breakers outlined in the League Constitution: In case of a tie, divisional record will be the first tie breaker; best record in head to head competition between tied teams will be second tie breaker and points for will be the third tie breaker.

****-Would not make the playoff cut off is the season ended today.

I would like to point out that we all passed up on Drew Brees, to date the best player in the league, at least twice (Ed passed up on him three times!). Chris’ Romo is still the third highest scoring player despite having been out the last few weeks…kinda explains his recent fall. And on a personal note, while thrilled that I took Gore when I did, I do acknowledge that Portis would have been a better pick, but at the number five slot I was unwilling to take a player on a team with a rookie coach and an inexperienced QB and an owner by the name of Dan Snyder. One other note, Head to Head was the determining factor for ranking of the top three 3-5 teams. Only one Head to Head match up has occurred amongst these three with TBOL beating State. These two match up once more and Chris gets a shot at both (Chris and TBOL match up this week; Chris and State in week 12 after Romo returns).

Week 7...what I said and what happened

Blues at BL
This game will not be televised.  BL has preformed well
against other teams in its division.  Blues has a slightly higher power
ranking, so I will give them the nod.  Winner moves out of the basement
of the Pie division

What got into these two this weekend?  BL overhauled his team and had his best point production of the year.  Unfortunately for him, all of Blues Players showed up and outscored him at nearly every position.  With this win, Blues puts himself back in the playoff hunt, currently slipping into the last playoff spot.

Rebound at TBOL 
Both teams are having disappointing seasons, and
despite multiple adjustments are only 2-4.  Rebound must win to stay in
playoff contension in the tough meat division, taking her wins where
she can find them.  TBOL, needs a win to stay out of the basement.  I
am going with power rankings this week…Rebound pulls out a close one.

And the disappointments continue to mount for Rebound.  This one went down to the wire and TBOL eeked out the narrow victory.  Like a custard pie to the face, Rebound lets two pies slip in front of her for that last playoff spot.

Thunder at Chris
Chris needs the win to stay in the top six and keep pace
with both the Heelers and Migraine in his own division, and to try to
sneak ahead of Saddle, with whom he is currently tied for forth.  The
only question in Meat is when will Thunder start playing spoiler?
Chris moves up; thunder starts mixing bacteria in his lab in the
basement.

Did I call this?  Thunder started his spoiler run a week earlier than expected and Chris was his first victim.  While Chris has still has a solid hold on the fifth playoff spot, the misfortunes of the cowboys are dragging him down.  And Thunder, well he is only a game out of the four way tie for the last three playoff spots.

Blazing Saddles at Heelers
This game is huge, and I could argue more important than
the 1 v 2 matching that is the game of the week.  Heelers puts his
three game win streak (second only to Migraine’s six) on the line this
week  A win soldifies his second place standing in meat and potentially
puts the two best teams in at the top of the Meat division.  Saddle has
second in Pie wrapped up, but at only .500, despertly needs a win to
keep up with the other top four teams.  Heelers has three key positions
on bye this week with his remaining starters looking at advantageous
matchups.  Saddle has a bye free week, but a WR to replace, and some
tough matchups.  I think Saddle puts up the same kind of numbers he did
last week, and the Heelers (with a far better power ranking) to put up
lower numbers than last week but at least 12 more than Saddle for the
win.

Heelers, as predicted ran wild over Saddle.  Heeler has risen to a strong second while feasting on a steady diet of pie.  For the Heeler the questions are mounting:  Does he have enough mojo to make it through the end of season division matchups (he has only played four divisional matches)?  And can he get just a little help from someone, anyone in taking a notch out of kingpin Curt.

Migraine at Pie
Welcome to our game of the week, where the teams with the
two best records look to collide this week.  Migraine brings his
perfect record and perfect power ranking to the game, even if his team
has been scoring more pedestrian numbers the last couple of weeks.
Pie,  appears to being living the charmed life and is benefitting from
the lowest PA (points against) number in the league and the least
difficult schedule.  Neither Noble nor Pie have the greatest matchups
this week and will have to do some overhauling through the waiver wire
to fill in   starters.  The Guru currently has them locked at 100 each,
but that is before line up and waiver wire adjustments.  This game will
come down to weather conditions during the games and who pieces
together the better team through the wire.  Want a prediction?  When in
doubt, go with the power ranking which means Migraine will head into
the second half of the season undefeated…hmmm, is this a potential poll
question?

OUCH!
The only thing that makes this bearable is that Pie did not get
completely doubled up like Saddle did by Heeler.  Unfortunately for
Pie, the Red Cross wagon has set up camp in Pie’s roster.  In addition
to still frantically trying to cover his bye weeks, now he needs a
starting RB.  And Noble, well, he just continues to roll along.

Week Eight matchups and BOLD predictions:

When do the byes end?

BL at Rebound

Spoilers or Runners? That is the question for these two bottom dwellers.

BL found a lineup that will score points. Rebound has been bottom feeding

for gems all season taking solace in her loses which grant her first or

near first picks in the waiver wire cess pool. This week she snagged a

Deuce. Will he complete a flush or be another discard? Personally, I

Think Kelly has the better matchups this week and I think Deuce puts

her over the pond…but will the other meats drop through the grill so

she can use a win to gain some distance?

TBOL at Heeler

The last piece of the Pie…division that is. I think Heelers win and that

knocks TBOL out of the playoff picture. Like Rebound, he needs some help,

if he has any hope of snagging that bye.

Pie at Thunder

Pie is frantically combing through the spice rack, and be assured, Mace

and habenero are on the menu this week. Truth is, Pie’s guys are

hurting and can’t wait to be done with these bye weeks. Thunder on

the other hand is just getting healthy. Don’t be too surprised at the

end of the weekend to find that Thunder has continued his spoiling run.

Noble at State

Can you say “trap game?” I think Thunder beats Pie to start a late

push for that last playoff spot. And I think Blues makes a statement

this week, giving Heelers the help it had hoped to get last week from

Pie. That is right, I am calling it now, Blues will upset Noble giving

him his first loss of the season.

Chris at Saddle

The three previous games add weight to the importance of this game.

Saddle appears to have an outright victory in five of the nine

starting positions this week based solely on matchups. Chris has

at best three. Saddle’s projected win with Pie’s projected loss

means Saddle finally puts himself in position to run for the Pie

Bye. Chris, with this projected loss will give hope to Rebound and

Thunder for one final push. And with States win, allows State to

Move up into that fifth playoff spot instead of being stuck fighting

for the last spot.

Week Six matchups and what I said:

Migraine at Thunder

Expect a repeat of last week.  Curt goes to 6-0; Pat to 1-5

Pat had a chance, but his Giants left him 12 points shy.

Chris at BL

Go with the meat:  Chris

Even with the cowpokes dropping a load of manure, Chris pulls out the win.

Heelers at Blues

Go with the meat:  Heelers

Three huge players and Heelers nearly double up the Blues.

Rebound at Pie

Go with the meat:  Rebound.

What?  Really?  ok.  Jones and Owens combine for only seven points?  Me loves it lots when them boys fall off their high horse.

TBOL at Saddle

Game of the week bc its the only game that the Pie division puts up a winner.  Saddle will blaze through TBOL, even his record, pull into second place in the pie division and move within a game of first place.

The results were predicted, but thanks to Pie’s win, Saddle stays two games back.

Week Seven matchups and BOLD predictions:

Four more weeks of byes…can we survive?

Blues at BL

This game will not be televised.  BL has preformed well against other teams in its division.  Blues has a slightly higher power ranking, so I will give them the nod.  Winner moves out of the basement of the Pie division.

Rebound at TBOL

Both teams are having disappointing seasons, and despite multiple adjustments are only 2-4.  Rebound must win to stay in playoff contension in the tough meat division, taking her wins where she can find them.  TBOL, needs a win to stay out of the basement.  I am going with power rankings this week…Rebound pulls out a close one.

Thunder at Chris

Chris needs the win to stay in the top six and keep pace with both the Heelers and Migraine in his own division, and to try to sneak ahead of Saddle, with whom he is currently tied for forth.  The only question in Meat is when will Thunder start playing spoiler?  Chris moves up; thunder starts mixing bacteria in his lab in the basement.

Blazing Saddles at Heelers

This game is huge, and I could argue more important than the 1 v 2 matching that is the game of the week.  Heelers puts his three game win streak (second only to Migraine’s six) on the line this week  A win soldifies his second place standing in meat and potentially puts the two best teams in at the top of the Meat division.  Saddle has second in Pie wrapped up, but at only .500, despertly needs a win to keep up with the other top four teams.  Heelers has three key positions on bye this week with his remaining starters looking at advantageous matchups.  Saddle has a bye free week, but a WR to replace, and some tough matchups.  I think Saddle puts up the same kind of numbers he did last week, and the Heelers (with a far better power ranking) to put up lower numbers than last week but at least 12 more than Saddle for the win.

Migraine at Pie

Welcome to our game of the week, where the teams with the two best records look to collide this week.  Migraine brings his perfect record and perfect power ranking to the game, even if his team has been scoring more pedestrian numbers the last couple of weeks.  Pie,  appears to being living the charmed life and is benefitting from the lowest PA (points against) number in the league and the least difficult schedule.  Neither Noble nor Pie have the greatest matchups this week and will have to do some overhauling through the waiver wire to fill in   starters.  The Guru currently has them locked at 100 each, but that is before line up and waiver wire adjustments.  This game will come down to weather conditions during the games and who pieces together the better team through the wire.  Want a prediction?  When in doubt, go with the power ranking which means Migraine will head into the second half of the season undefeated…hmmm, is this a potential poll question?