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In the upper bracket, it was clearly advantageous to get that first-round bye, as the #1 and #2 seeds have advanced to face each other in the Championship game.  On one side, we had the #1 seeded PMak Attack taking on the #5 Angry Dragons.  The Dragons had players that played exclusively in Sunday’s early games, and had built up a 6.9-point lead going into Monday night’s game between Chicago and Green Bay.  However, a strong performance by Bears’ running back Matt Forte put the PMak Attack over the top, and they won by a final score of 88.55 – 79.35.  The Dragons, inexplicably, started Dan Orlovsky at quarterback in this one. . .Orlovsky put up a blistering 2.25 points against the Saints.  Meanwhile, Chad Pennington (23.55) and Tyler Thigpen (29.7) were riding the pine.

On the other half of the bracket, the #2 seeded UBB’s Bombers played host to the #3 Space Monkey Mafia.  In a game that really wasn’t even as close as the final score indicates, the Bombers got jump-started thanks to Visanthe Shiancoe’s huge. . .er, afternoon. . .and coasted on to an 84.85 – 57.3 victory over my team.  I actually started a guy that got 0 points (T.J. Houshmanzadeh), but it really wouldn’t have made a whole lot of difference.

So, the two best teams in the league will battle it out for the championship.  Based on their rosters, here are my projected starting lineups for both teams.  (These won’t necessarily be the lineups. . .just my projections.)

Well, it should be interesting.  On paper, it looks like the PMak Attack has a significant advantage in terms of star power, but as we all know. . .the games aren’t played on paper.  (Except for fantasy football, which pretty much IS played on paper.  Man, that saying doesn’t really work at all here, does it.)  These two teams met once in the regular season, and the PMak Attack won in rather convincing fashion to the tune of 73 – 41.9.

In the consolation bracket, getting the week off proved to be not beneficial at all, as both the #7 seeded whodat and the #8 seeded Garnet & Gold lost their matchups last week against the lower seeded teams.  In the first game, despite a strong performance from Jay Cutler, whodat simply couldn’t withstand the huge game put together by the Tennessee Titans’ defense, and fell to the #10 seeded Hamburglars by a score of 94.5 – 78.45. . .and it would have been much worse had the Hamburglars started David Garrard at QB (28.35 points) instead of the Kurt Warner Experience (1.5 points).  whodat left a big performance from LeRon McClain on his bench, but I won’t fault him for not starting McClain over Adrian Peterson.

On the other side, the Rabble Rousers, the #12 seed, have an opportunity to get as many victories in the playoffs as they got through the entire regular season, as they advanced to the Consolation Championship in a thriller over the #8 seeded Garnet & Gold by a score of 95.1 – 92.8.  G&G had the combination of Dallas Clark and Peyton Manning to help them jump out to a huge lead, but after the Sunday late afternoon games, their lead over the Rabble Rousers was a mere 3.7 points.  It was then up to the performance of the Carolina defense, and by sacking Eli Manning three times, they got enough points to put the Rabble Rousers over the top by that final 2.3 point margin.

So, the matchups for the season’s final weekend, once again, look like this:

League Championship Game – #2 UBB’s Bombers @ #1 PMak Attack
Third Place Game – #5 Angry Dragons @ #3 Space Monkey Mafia
Consolation Championship – #12 Rabble Rousers @ #10 The Hamburglars
Consolation. . .er, Consolation – #8 Garnet & Gold @ #7 whodat

It’s been a great season, folks, and it finishes up tomorrow!  Good luck to everybody that’s got a game tomorrow!

The closest game of the week came from the winner’s bracket, as my Space Monkey Mafia played host to the defending league champions, Packers Suck.  Going into the Monday night game between Cleveland and Philadelphia, I trailed chadly0102′s bunch by 19.5 points, and had to rely on Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb to have a good game against the Browns’ woeful defense.  Luckily for me, McNabb did just enough by putting out 22.5 points, allowing me to escape with a 67.5 – 64.75 victory over Packers Suck, ensuring that there would not be a repeat champion this season.

The other winner’s bracket game matched the #5 seeded Angry Dragons against #4 dvikings1.  While Philip Rivers and DeAngelo Williams put together big games for dvikings1, they couldn’t withstand the balanced attack of the Angry Dragons, and the Dragons came away with a 109.2 – 86.4 victory.

The next round of the winners bracket will see the Angry Dragons taking on the top seeded PMak Attack, while the Space Monkey Mafia will battle with UBB’s Bombers.  While the Mafia/Bombers game is still scoreless, Maurice Jones-Drew has helped the Dragons to take an early 15.2 – 0 lead over the PMak Attack, but there’s obviously a lot of football left to be played.

In the bottom bracket, there was one mild upset.  In a game that was, literally, all over by the time the early Sunday games had finished, the 12th seeded Rabble Rousers knocked off #9 Elvis Budweiser VIII by a count of 74.1 – 69.1.  Nobody in the Rabble Rousers’ lineup notched more than 11 points on Sunday, but they had enough balance to knock off EBVIII, and that’s what counts.

The other game saw the Hamburglars lay a pretty sizeable whooping on Dani’s Purple Team.  The Hamburglars recorded the biggest margin of victory of the wild card round by winning by a score of 76.8 – 34.6.  Having three guys in your starting lineup is not what one would consider to be an optimal fantasy football strategy, but that’s what the Purple Team did, which would probably explain their relatively low point total.

Both of the second-round games in the bottom bracket have gotten the scoring started, as the Hamburglars have already jumped out to a quick 14.9 – 0 lead over #7 seed whodat, thanks to the exploits of Indy’s Dominic Rhodes (and no thanks to Marvin Harrison, who was in the Hamburglars’ starting lineup but didn’t play Thursday night).  On the other side, the combo of Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark has allowed the 8th seeded Garnet & Gold to jump out to a big 51.8 – 18.8 lead over the Rabble Rousers, who got themselves some points from Reggie Wayne this past Thursday.

Two more weeks to go, folks. . .who will come out on top?  We’ll have to wait and see!

No one team has really separated themselves from the pack to this point in the season, which should make for an exciting final weekend.  The teams that currently occupy the top 2 spots in the league, the #1 PMak Attack and #2 UBB Bombers, both have 9-4 records, and the next four teams behind them are all at 8-5, with one 7-6 team lurking behind them.  If the playoffs started today, the brackets would look like this:

First round byes:  #1 PMak Attack (9-4), #2 UBB’s Bombers (9-4)
First round games:  #6 Packers Suck (8-5) @ #3 Space Monkey Mafia (8-5), #5 dvikings1 (8-5) @ #4 Angry Dragons (8-5)

The consolation bracket shakes out this way as of right now:

First round byes:  #7 whodat (7-6), #8 Garnet & Gold (6-7)
First round games:  #12 Dani’s Purple Team (2-11) @ #9 Elvis Budweiser VIII (5-8), #11 Rabble Rousers (3-10) @ #10 The Hamburglars (5-8)

I’m not 100% sure how the tiebreakers will work as far as whodat potentially jumping up into the winner’s bracket, but that’s the only team that can make the jump.  Here are the matchups for this weekend, along with any scoring that any teams got from the Thursday night game between Oakland and San Diego:

dvikings1 41.7, Angry Dragons 0
Packers Suck 10, Space Monkey Mafia 0
Rabble Rousers 0, Dani’s Purple Team 0
Garnet & Gold 0, whodat 0
The Hamburglars 0, UBB’s Bombers 0
PMak Attack 0, Elvis Budweiser VIII 0

How will it all shake out?  We’ll know in a couple of days!

One of the more amazing stories of the past few weeks has been the blistering comeback by FSUViking’s Garnet & Gold.  Having languished at the bottom of the league standings for much of the season, the erstwhile Florida Staters have put together an amazing five-game winning streak to put themselves back at .500 and in the hunt for a playoff berth.  Their most recent victory came at the expense of my Space Monkey Mafia, who put up what might be the lowest total of any team this season in Week 13 as they fell 77.65 – 39.65.  When nobody on your roster scores more than 10.9 points and your QB puts up negative points before getting benched, you know it’s going to be a bad day.

The only team in the league thus far that HAS assured themselves of a playoff spot is UBB’s Bombers.  They put a licking on Dani’s Purple Team by a score of 111.75 – 76.95 to clinch the Page Division title and assure themselves of a place in the post-season.  None of the other three Page Division teams are eligible for the post-season.

If the playoffs were to start today, here’s what the brackets would look like:

Winner’s Bracket

First round byes – #1 PMak Attack, #2 UBB’s Bombers

Wild-card round matchups – #6 whodat @ #3 Packers Suck, #5 dvikings1 @ #4 Angry Dragons

Consolation Bracket

First round byes – #7 Space Monkey Mafia, #8 Garnet and Gold

Wild-card round matchups – #12 Dani’s Purple Team @ #9 Elvis Budweiser VIII, #11 Rabble Rousers @ #10 The Hamburglars

But, there are still two weeks for all of those things to be determined, so stay tuned and see what happens!  Again, only the bottom four seeds listed are ineligible for the winner’s bracket thus far, and only one team has actually sewn up a spot.  It’s going to be a fun last couple of weeks!

I generally don’t do this, but I’m going to start with my team.  Why?  Because my team knocked off UBB’s Bombers, and UBB deserves to hear about it right up front, that’s why.  (-:  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the Space Monkey Mafia knocked off the reeling Bombers by a final score of 95.25 – 41.75.  The Mafia was led by strong performances from Donovan McNabb and the Steelers’ defense, while the only double-digit scorer on the Bombers’ side was the Tampa Bay defense.  The Mafia and the Bombers are two of the six teams that find themselves with 6-3 records.

None of this week’s games were particularly close.  In fact, the closest game this week was contested between Dani’s Purple Team and the league’s new #1 squad, the PMak Attack.  In the end, the Attack defeated the Purple Team to the tune of 94.3 – 77.55.  The PMak Attack was led by Gus Frerotte and the Dallas defense.  The Purple Team, unfortunately, missed out on big performances by Jeff Garcia and Anthony Gonzalez, which played a part in their downfall.  The PMak Attack moved their record to 6-3, while Dani’s Purple Team entrenched themselves in the league basement by dropping to 1-8 on the year.

This week’s honors for highest scoring team go to dvikings1.  They’re now another of the league’s 6-3 teams, as they took out the Hamburglars this week by the score of 108.8 – 76.  As you’d expect, dvikings1 got a lot of big performances, as Chris Johnson, the Giants’ defense, Donald Driver, and Matt Ryan all put up at least 17 points.  Kurt Warner fought valiantly for the Hamburglars, but it wasn’t quite enough to keep them from falling to a mark of 3-6.

The other two teams that now find themselves at 6-3 are whodat, who took out the Rabble Rousers by a final tally of 102.65 – 71.2, and the Angry Dragons, who defeated Packers Suck 79.45 – 55.35.  The final game of Week 9 saw the Garnet and Gold rack up their second consecutive win, as they defeated Elvis Budweiser VIII by the count of 87.1 – 59.6.

So, here now are the current Power Rankings after nine weeks of play:

1) PMak Attack (6-3, 1st place, Tarkenton Division)
2) Space Monkey Mafia (6-3, 2nd place, Carter Division)
3) dvikings1 (6-3, 3rd place, Tarkenton Division)
4) Angry Dragons (6-3, 2nd place, Tarkenton Division)
5) whodat (6-3, 1st place, Carter Division)
6) UBB’s Bombers (6-3, 1st place, Page Division)

7) Packers Suck (5-4, 3rd place, Carter Division)
Elvis Budweiser VIII (3-6, 4th place, Tarkenton Division)
9) The Hamburglars (3-6, 2nd place, Page Division)
10) Rabble Rousers (3-6, 3rd place, Page Division)
11) Garnet & Gold (3-6, 4th place, Carter Division)
12) Dani’s Purple Team (1-8, 4th place, Page Division)

The league is getting even more interesting, folks. . .I can’t wait to see what happens next week!

To do things a little differently from what we usually do, we’ll start down at the bottom of the standings.  Right now, the team that’s ranked #12 in the league is FSUViking’s Garnet and Gold, and they had another rough week in Week #7.  Of course, that’s happened to most teams that have faced UBB’s Bombers this season, but the erstwhile Florida Staters actually gave the league leaders a run.  Looking at the league scoreboard, only one team scored fewer points than the Bombers in Week 7. . .unfortunately for the Garnet and Gold, they were that team, as they dropped their third straight to the tune of 56.55 – 43.25.  The loss dropped them to 1-6 (the Bombers went to 6-1), and ties them for the worst record in the league to this point.

The team they’re tied with is Dani’s Purple Team, led by VikingEric64.  But while the Garnet and Gold’s losing streak reached 3 this past week, the Purple Team ran their streak to 5 with a 99.55 – 90.65 loss to the Angry Dragons.  The Purple Team’s biggest mistake was having Jeff Garcia (23.3 points) on the bench with Kerry Collins (5.95 points) in the starting lineup.  The Purple Team couldn’t hold up under the onslaught of Calvin Johnson, Ryan Grant, and Chad Pennington.  The Angry Dragons went to 5-2 with the win, and into the #2 spot in the overall league standings.

We got a new owner in the league this week, as TheKing took ver the group formerly known as Gonzo’s Friend’s Team.  Yes, the newly christened Elvis Budweiser VIII got themselves off on the right foot, as they got their second straight victory by defeating the Hamburglars 123 – 70.  Those 123 points gave ElBudVIII the high score for the week.  ElBudVIII got not one, but TWO 30+ point performances from Mewelde Moore and Steven Jackson. . .and had LenDale White sitting on the bench on top of that.  Having the Bears defense helped them as well.  Both teams now currently have records of 3-4 on the season.

The other games in the league this week saw a balanced attack from Packers Suck (4-3) take down the Rabble Rousers (3-4) by the final score of 88.75 – 78.25, whodat (4-3) blowing out the PMak Attack (4-3) 102.8 – 76.55, and the Space Monkey Mafia (4-3) defeating dvikings1 (4-3) to the tune of 94.2 – 69.9.

The current Power Rankings look like this:

1)  UBB’s Bombers (6-1, 1st place, Page Division)
2)  Angry Dragons (5-2, 1st place, Tarkenton Division)
3)  PMak Attack (4-3, 3rd place, Tarkenton Division)
4)  Space Monkey Mafia (4-3, 1st place, Carter Division)
5)  Packers Suck (4-3, 2nd place, Carter Division)
6)  dvikings1 (4-3, 2nd place, Tarkenton Division)

7)  whodat (4-3, 3rd place, Carter Division)
8)  Elvis Budweiser VIII (3-4, 4th place, Tarkenton Division)
9)  Rabble Rousers (3-4, 3rd place, Page Division)
10)  Hamburglars (3-4, 2nd place, Page Division)
11)  Dani’s Purple Team (1-6, 4th place, Page Division)
12)  Garnet & Gold (1-6, 4th place, Carter Division)

Next week’s games feature the following matchups:

Space Monkey Mafia @ Rabble Rousers
whodat @ UBB’s Bombers
Garnet & Gold @ Angry Dragons
Packers Suck @ Elvis Budweiser VIII
Hamburglars @ PMak Attack
Dani’s Purple Team @ dvikings1

Yes, the reign of terror of UBB’s Bombers has officially come to an end in an exciting duel against the Packers Suck, owned by defending league champion chadly0102.  And it, literally, doesn’t get any closer than this.  Packers Suck pulled out an incredible victory by the final score of 84.3 – 84.25.  Each team could have made a roster move to give their teams more points, but in the end, the Bombers just didn’t have enough on the field to stay undefeated all season.  Of course, now the Bombers have bigger problems to worry about, as they’ve lost #1 QB Tony Romo for the next few weeks.

The next closest game of the week involved two of the week’s three highest-scoring teams, as the Space Monkey Mafia played host to the PMak Attack.  This was also the second-closest contest of the week, and when the smoke cleared, the PMak Attack pulled out a narrow 103.9 – 98.1 victory over my team.  PMak Attack got big games from Drew Brees, Andre Johnson, and Matt Forte, and the Mafia’s trio of Marion Barber, Donovan McNabb, and Roddy White just couldn’t quite match it.

The biggest blowout of the week pitted the team that scored the most points in the league this week against the team that scored the fewest.  (Yeah, that’s usually how blowouts work, I know.)  The Hamburglars found themselves on the wrong end of the thumping, as they felt the wrath of the Angry Dragons to the tune of 114 – 43.7.  The Dragons got big games from Chad Pennington and Maurice Jones-Drew, while the Hamburglars got big performances. . .from their bench.  Namely Derek Anderson and Marvin Harrison, who combined for more points than the Hamburglars’ entire starting lineup put up in Week 6.

The other games this week saw the the Rabble Rousers prolong the misery of the Garnet and Gold by the score of 98 – 64.15, dvikings1 knocking off whodat 84.1 – 56.4, and Gonzo’s Friend’s Team triumphing over Dani’s Purple Team by a final of 79 – 58.5.

So, here’s the current Power Rankings for the league at this point:

1)  UBB’s Bombers (5-1, 1st Place, Page Division)
2)  PMak Attack (4-2, 1st Place, Tarkenton Division)
3)  dvikings1 (4-2, 3rd Place, Tarkenton Division)
4)  Angry Dragons (4-2, 2nd Place, Tarkenton Division)
5)  Space Monkey Mafia (3-3, 1st Place, Carter Division)
6)  Packers Suck (3-3, 2nd Place, Carter Division)

7)  Rabble Rousers (3-3, 3rd Place, Page Division)
8)  The Hamburglars (3-3, 2nd Place, Page Division)
9)  whodat (3-3, 3rd Place, Carter Division)
10)  Gonzo’s Friend’s Team (2-4, 4th Place, Tarkenton Division)
11)  Garnet & Gold (1-5, 4th Place, Carter Division)
12)  Dani’s Purple Team (1-5, 4th Place, Page Division)

UncleBillyBonz is still the owner of the league’s only undefeated team, as his Bombers have run their record to 5-0 after the season’s first five games.  They did get their biggest test of the season this past week, though, and only two teams in Week 5 scored fewer points than the Bombers.  Fortunately, one of those two teams was the Angry Dragons, who went down to the Bombers by a final score of 63.3 – 53.3.

While the Bombers have a 5-0 record, nobody else in the league has better than a 3-2 record at this point.  Six of the league’s twelve teams have that mark thus far, including three of the four teams in the Tarkenton Division.  Also, the league’s last winless team, Garnet and Gold, finally notched their first victory of the year, as they got a 99.45 – 92.05 victory over the PMak Attack back in Week 4.

As of right now, the teams are ranked as follows in the “Power Rankings.”

1)  UBB’s Bombers (5-0, 1st place, Page Division)
2)  PMak Attack (3-2, 1st place, Tarkenton Division)
3)  Space Monkey Mafia (3-2, 2nd place, Carter Division)
4)  dvikings1 (3-2, 3rd place, Tarkenton Division)
5)  The Hamburglars (3-2, 2nd place, Page Division)
6)  whodat (3-2, 1st place, Carter Division)
7)  Angry Dragons (3-2, 2nd place, Tarkenton Division)
8)  Packers Suck (2-3, 3rd place, Carter Division)
9)  Rabble Rousers (2-3, 3rd place, Page Division)
10)  Gonzo’s Friend’s Team (1-4, 4th place, Tarkenton Division)
11)  Garnet and Gold (1-4, 4th place, Carter Division)
12)  Dani’s Purple Team (1-4, 4th place, Page Division)

No, I’m not sure how teams in second place in their divisions can be ranked ahead of first place teams.  That’s just the way that Fleaflicker has the teams ranked.  I’m pretty sure that points scored plays a big part in that.

We’ll start, like we did last week, with the Page Division, as that’s the home of the league’s only undefeated team after the season’s first three weeks, UBB’s Bombers.  Led by Julius Jones’ big afternoon, the Bombers put a pretty good beating on Dani’s Purple Team by the score of 73.6 to 45.45.  Dani’s Purple Team had the misfortune of starting Joe Flacco at quarterback (1.25 points) instead of Carson Palmer (21.6 points), but even that substitution wouldn’t have been enough to overtake the Bombers this week.

The other Page Division matchup saw the Hamburglars take on the Rabble Rousers.  The Hamburglars came into this game at 0-2 and desperate for a win, and they got it by defeating the Rabble Rousers by the tally of 98.95 to 73.65.  The Rabble Rousers had a decent all-around game with nobody in particular standing out, but the Hamburglars got 20+ point performances from Reggie Bush, Joseph Addai, and the Tennessee defense it procure the victory.

The Page Division now has UBB’s Bombers at 3-0 and the top overall seed in the DN Fantasy Football League, while the other three teams in the division all sit at 1-2.

On to the Tarkenton Division, which gave us the highest-scoring team of Week 3, that being Gonzo’s Friend’s Team.  GFT was also looking for their first victory of the 2008 season and, like the Hamburglars, they got that victory by defeating dvikings1 by the score of 113.5 to 85.1.  GFT was led by Brandon Marshall and Aaron Rodgers in achieving the biggest point total of Week 3.  Phillip Rivers and Larry Fitzgerald did all they could for dvikings1, but to no avail.  Unfortunately, Ronnie Brown and his 5-TD performance was found this week sitting on dvikings1′s bench.

The other Tarkenton Division game pitted the Angry Dragons against the PMak Attack in a battle for the division lead.  In what ended up being the closest game of the week, the PMak Attack was victorious by the final count of 81.85 to 72.7.  The Angry Dragons got a big game from Frank Gore, but they were no match for PMak’s 1-2 punch of Drew Brees and Michael Turner.  Both teams missed opportunities to score some big points in the running game, as the Dragons had Maurice Jones-Drew inactive, while the PMak Attack benched Matt Forte.

As of now, the Tarkenton Division has the PMak Attack and the Angry Dragons both with 2-1 records, with PMak having the tie-breaker for the division lead, while Gonzo’s Friend’s Team and dvikings1 both sit at 1-2.

Finally, we move to the Carter Division, and the only team in the DN Fantasy Football League that is still without a win, the Garnet and Gold.  Try as they did, the erstwhile Florida Staters couldn’t get off the proverbial schnide against my Space Monkey Mafia, as the SMM took this week’s matchup by the final score of 107.4 to 69.2.  T.J. Whosyourmomma, Marion Barber III, and Roddy White all put up pretty solid performances for my squad, while the Chargers’ defense fought valiantly for the Garnet and Gold on the other side.

The final matchup of the week involved Packers Suck and whodat.  After a rough first week, chadly has the defending champs back on track, as they picked up their second straight victory with a win over whodat by a count of 93.85 to 67.6.  The Philadelphia defense’s sack buffet of Ben Roethlisberger paced Packers Suck, with supporting roles played by Eli Manning and Marshawn Lynch.  Jay Cutler and the Vikings’ defense did their best for whodat, but it wasn’t enough this week.

The Carter Division standings have Packers Suck, the Space Monkey Mafia, and whodat all tied at 2-1, and Garnet and Gold at 0-3.

The current power rankings look like this:

1) UBB’s Bombers
2) PMak Attack
3) Packers Suck
4) Space Monkey Mafia
5) Angry Dragons
6) whodat
7) dvikings1
The Hamburglars
9) Gonzo’s Friend’s Team
10) Rabble Rousers
11) Dani’s Purple Team
12) Garnet and Gold

This week, teams will step out of their divisions for the first time all season.  Here are this week’s matchups:

The Hamburglars vs. Space Monkey Mafia
Garnet and Gold vs. PMak Attack
Packers Suck vs. dvikings1
Dani’s Purple Team vs. whodat
Angry Dragons vs. Rabble Rousers
Gonzo’s Friend’s Team vs. UBB’s Bombers

That’s the update, folks.  Hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you keep following the league!