RFL'01 Week 10 in Review |
| Receive Forehead Lightning | Week 10 | November 20, 2001 |
| **** RFL WEEK IN REVIEW **** | ||
RFL Commish #2 Wang was invited to participate in the ceremonial coin toss before Sunday's Charger-Raider game - establishing RFL as more of a ''player'' in our nation's sporting world. After winning the toss for the Raiders (''Tails for Wales never fails''), Commish Wang headed up to the Raiders' coaches box to call plays for QB Gannon. After an afternoon passing for 300 yds and 4 TDs, Gannon was forced to come clean regarding sliding (feet first) at the Charger 3 yd line - when a head-first dive clearly would have gotten him into the endzone. Said Gannon, ''Despite being liberated from the HaHT bench by Wang, I still owe a debt of gratitude to Joebob for turning my career around back in the early-90s. Few people know this about Joebob... I mean... if you just look at him, you'd never suspect it. But Joebob has a brilliant football mind. He taught me all about the passing game from the WR's perspective AND the CB's perspective. Joebob's unique insight into the passing game has directly led to my huge numbers of late.''
IN 'N' OUT PROJECTIONS
IN: Wang 13-1, Joebob 12-2, Clark 11-3, Kevin 11-3
Stan 8-6, Cals 8-6, Vesh 7-7, John 7-7
OUT: Richard 7-7, Ali 6-8, Gary 6-8, JoePa 5-9
Brodz 4-10, Shivan 3-11, Brad 2-12, Adam 2-12
Vesh-John-Richard 3-way tie: Richard lost to John. Richard will not face
Vesh. Vesh is projected to beat John this week.
Clark and Kevin will not play each other in the regular season.
Stan beat Cals.
Ali and Gary will not play each other in the regular season.
QUIDDITCH!
The Hufflepuff (21 team wins) division took 3 of 4 games against the Slytherin (21) division, while the Gryffindor (19) division also won 3 of 4 against the Ravenclaw (19) division.
Highest scoring team: Mahatma's Minions - 49.4 ppg
Lowest scoring team: Blue Collar Workers - 25.4 ppg
Toughest defense: Dude - 29.9 ppg
Softest defense: Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids - 46.9 ppg
League scoring average: 37.1 ppg (last year 38.7)
JoePa *still* has gotten the 3 bonus QB pts every week (9 Aaron Brooks starts - and 1 for Chris Chandler).
Getting to the bloody point... on to WIR #10!
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**** GAME OF THE WEEK ****
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Mahatma's Minions 40
Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant 50
When Commish Wang saw that Lord Byron was listed as ''questionable'' on the injury report, he researched TEs far and wide. At the end, the decision came down to Dwayne Carswell and Boo Williams. With Boo going up against the hapless Colts D, Wang was totally leaning in Boo's direction. But when Wang noticed that Boo had yet to score a TD this season, he took the ''safe'' route and went with Carswell. Boo now has 2 TDs. Carswell didn't catch a single ball. Joebob's star-studded lineup had Wang shaking in his boots this week. Despite the 50-16 lead heading into Sunday Nitro action, Joebob had Minions Brady, Faulk and Bruce primed to bust up the scoreboard in Foxboro. Faulk ran circles around the NE LBs, but miraculously NE only allowed him to hit paydirt once. Isaac put up the big yards, but Warner's other 2 TD tosses went to Holt and Hodgins. And former BUBE QB Brady showed where his true loyalties still reside. Then on Monday night, Dayne was awful.
brady 3 mfaulk 15 dayne 0 rod 6 isaac 6 walls 6 elam 4
gannon 18 cmartin 3 duce 6 keyshawn 3 boston 15 byron 0 cortez 5
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Other games:
Blue Collar Workers 58
Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids 31
The artillery fire was flying around even more intensely than usual following Brad's most recent trades. ''How could he give up a superstar like Priest Holmes back to Richard for so little?!?'' and ''How could he get so much from Wang for a mere Duce Staley?!?'' were the general opinions. Well, Brad accomplished his objective in taking an emphatic step back towards contending for a playoff spot. With the Rappin' Rabbis adrift at sea, Brad seized the opportunity to earn his 2nd win. Blue Collar Workers had not scored more than 31 in the previous 9 weeks, so obviously his moved paid off - this week. Adam's #1 Rabbi, JGarcia, continues to excel under less-than-ideal conditions. Rabbi Tiki apparently has regained his health to give Adam a one-two punch. Rabbis Freddie and Erron gave way to Harry Potter at TE this week. Catching TDs is clearly more difficult than nabbing a golden snitch.
batch 18 rand'son 0 lamar 3 heinz 12 morton 9 pollard 12 gand'son 4
jgarcia 16 tiki 12 chapman 0 hakim 0 moulds 3 potter X mare 0
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Having a Hard Time 44
Invasive Species 18
Despite trading away 21 Marvcus Pollard and JMorton pts (and the team rules violator C-Buck), Richard didn't even need the 6 Bradford pts (plus the Robert Parish from JAllen and FWycheck) in those 3 vacated spots to defeat Invasive Species this week. After running off 6 straight wins following their 0-3 start, Stan's Species clearly were caught in a non-invasive mood. Richard now has Priest back in the fold for the stretch run. At 6-4, Having a Hard Time still might have a bumpy road to hoe. Brad (Week 13) can no longer be taken for granted, and the other 3 regular season matchups (Clark, Kevin, Joebob) will be most challenging. Stan also sits at 6-4, but with Ali and Adam (along with Kevin and Vesh) remaining on the schedule... Invasive Species should win at least 2 of those 4. Not even Ki-Jana Carter could help Stan's RB situation this week.
favre 9 jallen 0 tom'son 9 b'ford 6 w'brook 12 wycheck 0 v'jagt 8
flute 0 ogary 0 maurice 3 towens 9 gardner 0 dclark 0 richey 6
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Boobies! 51
Cleveland Steamers 20
RFL Words of Wisdom #1611: ''An RFL team will usually lose when there is a 13 pt differential in the PKs.'' Even with 3 of Cals' starters getting shutout, Vesh's club really mailed it in this week - dropping to 4-6. Cleveland Steamers are still on track to make the playoffs as long as they win 3 of 4 against John, Brodz, Wang and Stan. The Steamers' starting 7 still must be considered potent - even with Emmitt and JJax splitting time at RB #2, so expecting a finish at 7-7 is still most reasonable. Cals has climbed back to .500 after 3 straight losses had dropped Boobies! to 3-5. Look for Cals to take 3 of his last 4 regular season games to finish with a titillating 8-6 record. However, this most unhealthy obsession with TPinkston just might drag Cals down to depths from which he cannot recover. It just doesn't makes sense - with talent such as Art Monk, Andre Rison and Jake Reed available.
c'pep 18 hearst 6 antowain 0 tholt 9 pinky 0 bubba 0 akers 18
greasy 3 emmitt 3 ahman 3 jsmith 3 trb'n 3 conwell 0 stover 5
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Black Knights of the Charles 39
Pimps de la Nast 44
Shiv managed to avoid a record tying 10th consecutive defeat (JoePa in '97) by conjuring up some Monday night magic. Trailing by 1 with Cris Carter going up against JoePa's MBennett, Shiv was sitting pretty. However as the 4th quarter began, Sir Michael was closing in on 50 yds for JoePa while Pimp Carter was watching TD after TD go to Bastard Moss. But on 4th-and-goal from the 1 fbrunntp line, Culpepper finally tossed a 0-yd TD pass to Cris. Pimps de la Nast has now entered the building! After their big win last week over Vesh to rekindle their playoff hopes, this loss to Shiv has most likely left Black Knights of the Charles one nail short of a closed coffin. With Bennett's comeback, JoePa is merely FTaylor short of his intended squad coming out of the Draft. JoePa's going to need his ''A'' game against Joebob this week - as the Minions can't be too happy about falling short of scoring 100 pts against BUBE.
brooks 15 bennett 0 kfaulk 0 sch'der 9 qadry 3 riemer 6 wilkins 6
warner 18 jamel 6 h'brick 0 chrebet 0 cris 6 chad 6 l'well 8
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Dude 52
Jersey Juggernauts 21
Here we go again. After recent big wins against Cals, Ali and Richard, Jersey Juggernauts are obviously trying to setup at least one more big payoff by influencing the bookies with this most recent underwhelming performance. 3 pts combined from Thrash and Harrison? C'mon... you've got to make it more believable than that! Another TD-less game (7 of 9) for Bettis? Only Keyshawn is sandbagging more. John is now 5-5, but should make the playoffs at 7-7. Clark's powerful Dude club won this one handily - even after leaving MBooker's 27 pts on the bench. With Kevin looking to run the regular season table and a couple of testers remaining on Clark's schedule, those bench pts could determine playoff seeding in favor of Uffdalators. A big question coming down the stretch... will Shaun Alexander be able to hold off MFaulk to claim top RB honors for the season?
kerry 6 eddie 3 shaun 12 djax 0 conway 9 sloan 12 j'kow 10
vINTy 3 wdunn 9 bus 3 thrash 0 mhar'son 3 ej'son 2 hollis 1
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Short-Changed Bastards of Persia 48
Uffdalators 55
Hmmm... who are we to 2nd-guess last season's RFL GM of the Year? But
starting THE GREATEST WR OF ALL TIME Jerry Rice (against the depleted SD
secondary) over Laveranues Coles (against MIA's DBs) would have gotten
Ali a net of 18 pts - not to mention the all-time record of 51 WR pts in
one game! The Short-Changed Bastards of Persia are now 5-5. And with
Cals, Stan, JoePa and Clark coming up... 6-8 might be the best Ali can
hope for. Ali's draft strategy of picking RBs backing up injury-prone
starters (MAnderson-TDavis, CGarner-TWheatley) hasn't panned out as well
as Ali was hoping for. Kevin, tired of the weekly QB controversies
surrounding Hasselbeck-Dilfer and JMiller-SMatthews, finally divested -
turning to the Bills' latest savior, Alex Van Pelt. (son of former Giant
LB great Brad). With the resounding win over Ali, Uffdalators are
sitting pretty at 7-3 - fully expecting to finish the regular season at
11-3.
Scrub loss for Ali (2-2)
mcnabb 3 ma'son 0 garner 6 rmoss 27 lcoles 6 kbrady 0 hall 6
v'pelt 12 rw''ms 15 dillon 3 tibrown 9 amani 3 sharpe 3 cahney 10
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Fighting Poopy Diapers 28
Everyone Go Deep 41
Peyton, Thomas, Ike and Antonio were 4-of-a-kind for Everyone Go Deep
this week. Throw in Dominique's 9, and Gary's record is now 6-4. If
James Stewart can come back healthy on Turkey-day (or if TJones can
bumble his way into another TD), EGD might have just enough to take down
BUBE this week. Carlester's bro is due, Peyton should bounce back from
his worst week of the season, and Gary seems to have his WR rotation
setup properly. Baby Brodz sent in Harry Potter's love interest,
Hermione (her-MY-oh-knee, for those of you not in the know) Granger, to
take TGonzalez' spot in the lineup. With this loss, Fighting Poopy
Diapers (3-7) have essentially been eliminated from the playoffs - a
most inglorious end to the 1st season of what should be a most glorious
tenure for Isaac Brodz in RFL. Mort Isaacson led Brodz' attack this week
with a perfect 10.
Scrub win for Gary (3-0)... jeez!
elvis 9 sdavis 3 kevan 0 graham 0 horn 6 hermione X mort 10
peyton 6 tjones 6 dominic 9 ike 6 freeman 6 alge 0 nedney 8
Having completed 10 of 14 weeks of the regular season, let's take a look at how the RFL'01 Awards Ballot is shaping up. If you feel that someone has been left out unfairly, please feel free to speak up!
RFL'01 AWARDS FRONTRUNNERS
RFL MVP:
Shaun Alexander (Clark) - #1 in RB pts, but only 9 pts ahead of a recovering M Faulk; stepped up huge for Clark when needed most (early-season injuries to Duce and EGeorge).
Daunte Culpepper (Cals) - Who wouldn't want to be QB of the Vikings?!? Absence of Robert Smith has held Daunte back from perhaps the best RFL QB season ever. #1 overall in pts scored.
Marshall Faulk (Joebob) - Key driving-force for the last 2 Aglione Bowl-winning teams (Ali and Wang); driving long and straight for Joebob this year.
Jeff Garcia (Adam) - #2 in QB pts (and #2 overall) and clearly the most valuable single player to his team, but can a player on a non-playoff team win the MVP?
Terrell Owens (Stan) - #1 in WR pts, but only 7 pts ahead of R Smith. Still opens his pie-hole more than he should, but apparently top-notch WRs all have this sort of ''quirkiness.''
Steal of the Draft:
Shaun Alexander (Clark, 9th round) - Leading RFL in RB pts (3rd overall); picked AFTER Moe Williams, Shawn Bryson, Travis Prentice and Skip Hicks.
John Carney (Kevin, 11th) - 15th PK drafted; 2nd in PK scoring; aside from 1 bad week (week 8's scrub loss to BUBE)... has been rock steady for Kevin.
Bill Schroeder (JoePa, 11th) - Read that he is considered the most talented WR in GB, but that he has a bad attitude that rubs his fellow Packers the wrong way; but does attitude matter in RFL?
Anthony Thomas (Wang, 11th) - Took a while to snatch the starting job away from James Allen, but has been productive since that day. Will be called upon down the stretch.
Hines Ward (Ali, 12th) - More yds/game than Rice; 3 more TDs than Keyshawn; should flourish under Steelers-loving Brad.
Bust of the Draft:
For purposes of this discussion, players knocked out due to injury were not considered.
Mike Anderson (Ali, 3rd round) - Hasn't seized opportunities with TDavis out for extended periods of time.
Trent Green (John, 3rd) - Was supposed to bring Warner-like numbers to KC.
Keyshawn Johnson (Wang, 3rd) - More turf stuck to his face than TDs. Keyshawn is a perennially listed in this section of the RFL ''awards'' ballot.
Eric Moulds (Adam, 3rd) - Got big $, suffered bigger drop in stats.
Emmitt Smith (Vesh, 3rd) - Yes, he was hurt for a few weeks. But Vesh had given Emmitt's starting job to a rookie RB on the Browns *before* the injury anyway.
Pickup of the Year:
Marty Booker (Clark, before Week 3) - #17 in WR pts (but would be tied for 5th if he'd been started this past week)
Tom Brady (Joebob, before Week 5) - Wang showed no patience with this fellow UMich flunkie. Brady did sabotage the Minions against BUBE, though.
Dominic Rhodes (Gary, before Week 8) - Will he be like Mike Anderson stepping in for Terrell Davis last year? Or this year?
Alex Van Pelt (Kevin, before Week 10) - 12 ppg would have him just ahead of PManning for 3rd - if he'd been starting for the Bills all along.
Jamel White (Shivan, before Week 8) - Without Jamel's TD this past weekend, Shiv would be 0-10.
GM of the Year:
The talents that make an RFL GM of the Year include being a strong drafter, having a keen eye for talent in the free agent pool, making FAIR trades that benefit his team, and demonstrating his team's studliness by posting big numbers and Ws between the white lines.
Brad (Blue Collar Workers) - Has molded team of 12 leftovers into a very competitive club through shrewd free agent pickups, LOTS of trades and boundless energy - all the while letting most of the negativity coming from certain GMs (like Joebob!) roll off his back. Brad has traded with 5 different GMs so far (Richard, Ali, Wang, Clark and Stan)!
Clark (Dude) - Foge thought Clark had a strong Draft (#4 in preseason), and Clark's post-Draft GM skills were immediately put to the test with McCaffrey's Week 1 injury. MarTay Booker pickup has plugged that hole. Late picks Shaun Alexander and Stacey Mack helped plug holes when E George and D Staley got hurt. A win over Wang in Week 12 could earn Clark the Steamroller.
Joebob (Mahatma's Minions) - Survived hostile working environment when Wally muscled his way into the front office. The Minions were drafted well, late pick R Huntley could take over for an ineffective Dayne, pickup Canidate was crucial during Faulk's injury, and no one trash talks like the Brown Wonder.
Kevin (Uffdalators) - Picked 10th and 14th by Foge and Cals, but had Uffdalators contending for Steamroller until getting knocked off-track by Wang and Cals in Weeks 8 and 9. Very well-balanced roster at every position except QB. Perhaps pickups AVanPelt and/or JMiller will be able to step in - where Hasselbeck failed.
Wang (BUBE) - Picked 12th and 7th by Foge and Cals thanks to a draft
that included Lamar Smith instead of TOwens, and underachiever picks
Keyshawn and JGeorge. But Wang apparently struck gold with his 3rd and
4th RBs drafted (LTomlinson and AThomas). Traded LaDainian for a QB
(Gannon) and has taken the lead in race for Steamroller.
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SEASON POINTS LEADERS
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QB
116 Daunte Culpepper (Boobies!)
115 Jeff Garcia (Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids)
107 Peyton Manning (Everyone Go Deep)
RB
111 Shaun Alexander (Dude)
102 Marshall Faulk (Mahatma's Minions)
90 Ricky Williams (Uffdalators)
84 Corey Dillon (Uffdalators)
81 Priest Holmes (Having a Hard Time)
81 Ahman Green (Cleveland Steamers)
WR
105 Terrell Owens (Invasive Species)
98 Rod Smith (Mahatma's Minions)
93 Marvin Harrison (Jersey Juggernauts)
66 David Boston (Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant)
63 James Thrash (Jersey Juggernauts)
60 Tim Brown (Uffdalators)
60 Randy Moss (Short-Changed Bastards of Persia)
TE
41 Tony Gonzalez (Fighting Poopy Diapers)
39 Wesley Walls (Mahatma's Minions)
36 Bubba Franks (Boobies!)
PK
80 Sebastian Janikowski (Dude)
78 John Carney (Uffdalators)
73 Jeff Wilkins (Black Knights of the Charles)
73 David Akers (Boobies!)
be sure to check:
The Season Points Leaders Page
...for a more complete listing of scoring leaders.
| Brad | Advantage | Brodz |
| CBatch | | EGrbac |
| LSmith | | SDavis |
| BGay | | MPittman |
| HWard | | JHorn |
| KevJohnson | | JGraham |
| MPollard | | TGonzalez |
| GAnderson | | MAndersen |
**** Brodz switches from disposable to cloth, Diapers by 3 ****
2-Mahatma's Minions (8-2, 49.4) by 6 over 5-Black Knights of the Charles
(3-7, 32.9)
Joebob needs to address Dayne's suckiness and Rod's gimpiness. If JoePa
gets FTaylor back, there just might be a HUGE upset here.
6-Dude (8-2, 44.3) by 7 over 3-Having a Hard Time (6-4, 39.3)
Clark's big advantage is in the WRs. Richard will unleash Favre,
Tomlinson and Priest - together for the 1st time.
4-Boobies! (5-5, 42.2) by 2 over 7-Short-Changed Bastards of Persia
(5-5, 33.1)
Cals has started to address his WR shortcomings. The ''real'' Moss is
back for Ali, but Cals has Culpepper.
9-Pimps de la Nast (1-9, 33.0) by 5 over 13-Rabbis Rappin' on 'Roids
(2-8, 31.2)
Shiv needs healthy Wheatley and productive CCarter. Adam needs more
scoring than just Garcia and Tiki.
16-Brooding Unicorn Blithe Elephant (9-1, 46.1) by 4 over 10-Everyone Go
Deep (6-4, 33.1)
Wang is missing CMartin - and must keep Strahan away from Gannon. If
JStewart can't go for Gary, he'll rely on WR advantage.
11-Uffdalators (7-3, 43.7) by 14 over 15-Invasive Species (6-4, 35.0)
Kevin has HUGE RB edge with RWilliams and CDillon. Stan needs big games
from TO and WR #2 or DClark.
12-Jersey Juggernauts (5-5, 34.9) by 1 over 14-Cleveland Steamers (4-6,
38.3)
John will press WDunn-Emmitt matchup and hope for an explosion from
MHarrison and/or JThrash. Ahman is due for Vesh, and his WRs could stand
to produce more, as well.
©1999-2001 RFL Inc.
All rights reserved.
Revised: November 20, 2001