Evans World 2011–Week 12

And so we’re down to one last weekend before the playoffs.  How many of you predicted that we’d be here the way it is now?  Looking back on my posts, certainly not me that often.  LOL.  Ah well, the art of predicting and blogging is as much exercise as using the remote control quickly or memorizing street names … it’s tedium but it comes in time.  So, I’ll keep blogging, you keep reading and we’ll see what happens.

NOTHING TO LOSE
Well, with all the excitement of last weekend’s matchups, this week is pretty much a doozer of a week.  Most of the teams have nothing to lose this weekend.  With Ritchie, Nathan and Berk locking up playoff spots, the only real tension this weekend is whether Rob or Kevin makes the last spot for the money.  Too bad the matchup between them couldn’t have been next weekend with the money on the line, but Kevin’s team stepped up and put Rob in the spot to lose.  But now, Kevin is in the most dire of positions: he needs Tom’s help to get into the playoffs.  Kevin’s matchup with Gary isn’t a sure thing, but it’s a good bet.  He needs the Cowboys and Saints to have another strong weekend, and no guarantees there.  Then, Tom needs to beat Rob, something he failed miserably in week 2 losing the matchup by 51 points.  Rob’s ace in the hole is Arian Foster, now the only offensive weapon the Texans seem to have left.  Tom/Kevin, as Commish I hereby permit you to help each other so that Tom starts a full and appropriate lineup this week.  No leaving Fred Jackson in the starting lineup this week, and no starting Owen Daniels with a rookie QB.  Good luck to Rob and Kevin!  Everyone else, enjoy a week of not caring as much.  Oh, I guess we could talk about the battle between NewT and Berk for the #2 spot and the bye week, but who really cares about those two anyway?

HE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY
A funny thing I noticed in my matchup with Nathan this week.  Both our RB’s, Blount and Chris Johnson, had 100+ yard rushing games.  And yet, neither of them scored more than 10 points.  Granted, they each had fumbles lost (idiots), but even still it bothered me that Johnson’s 190-yard game didn’t earn him more points than most kickers got this weekend.  That seems really, really wrong to me.  So, how about next season we start issuing awards?  I had thought Yahoo! allowed us to do it, but maybe I was thinking of a different program.  I’m just thinking of 2 points for 100+ yard rushing games, or 1 point for game-winning FG or something like that.  Thoughts?

RANDOM THOUGHTS

• My parents gave Mindi and I an iPad2 for Christmas this year.  The Yahoo! Fantasy Football app on it is awesome!  It’s so easy to change from team to team, matchup to matchup.  Totally worth looking into if you own a tablet.
• Ritchie’s got to feel good about his team heading into the playoffs.  Nate Burleson has proven to be a good FF WR with all the receptions he’s stealing from Calvin Johnson (sorry, Mike) and Roddy White finally showed up to the party.  Totally ruined Mike’s monster weekend and killed his chances for a playoff spot.
• Andy Dalton is going to be a very good FF QB.  That’s weird for me to say considering I thought the Bengals were going to be a FF black hole this season.  As always, I’ll admit when I’m wrong.  But, thanks to AJ Green and a really good offensive scheme designed around the players they have (hello, Vikings?), they’ve managed to put up plenty of points for Rob and Gary.  I was very impressed to watch Dalton play, and Green’s long reception late in the game was the kind of catch you expect from a seasoned veteran, not a green rookie.  Now the Bengals just need a consistent running game.  Rex Burkhead, anyone?
• Speaking of Burkhead, don’t you think he’d make an excellent NFL RB?  I think so.  Maybe for the Bengals or Seahawks or Lions.  Helu had a great weekend sitting on Berk’s bench.  As expected, he’s developing into the kind of RB that Mike Shanahan likes to use (i.e. Terrell Davis, Clinton Portis, etc.).  If Washington can strengthen up that O-line in the off-season, look for Helu to be a solid #2 RB next year.  Then let’s see who takes Burkhead.
• Funniest thing I saw this weekend?  Dwayne Bowe losing his pants on the first long catch of the game.  Hilarious!  He did manage to catch the pass close to the ground and not lose his pants completely.  They almost went down again later in the game.  Don’t see that one everyday.
• Speaking of catches, DeSean Jackson deserved to get benched for missing those two catches.  The boos aside, those are the kind of catches a clutch WR makes.  It’s what makes contract negotiations that much easier.  Better practice a lot this week.  Not that it will help much … the Eagles are imploding.  Andy Reid will be able to find another job easily.
• Another funny highlight I missed from last week … Torrey Smith getting tackled by his long hair!  Exactly what I always thought would happen to players like him.  Cut the damn things!  Sheesch.
• I don’t know about you, but I enjoyed watching a Nebraska game without Chris Spielman calling it.  What an idiot!  Maybe Urban Meyer will hire him so we never have to listen to him talk about his Rose Bowl team again.  Yeah, they interrupted afternoon programming in Columbus yesterday to broadcast the Urban Meyer press conference.  No surprise there, I’m sure.
• I’ve said it before … I’m a big fan of Jack Del Rio.  It sucks that he got let go today, but it was predictable.  I look forward to seeing where he lands next.  I also see Reid, Turner and Soparano getting fired soon.  Not sure about Marvin Lewis … we’ll have to see if they make the playoffs or not. 

WEEKLY AWARDS

• MVP – This one goes again to Jimmy Graham who helped lift Kevin to a win (as he has many weeks this season) and got him one last shot at a playoff spot.  Anyone disagree that he’s the #1 TE draft pick next year?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.
• Honorable Mention – This is painful.  I scoured the lists and couldn’t find any players that had as significant an impact on their matchup as … God, I can’t even type it … Tebow for Tony.  Sure, he started him to piss us off (success), but it’s starting to pay off!  I can’t stand that!  So, I’ll give the award to Tony Gonzalez just so Tony still gets the award but Tebow doesn’t.
• Best Owner Choice – Everyone kept it pretty simple this week, so no huge winner.  But, I’ll give the award to Mike for starting Jermaine Gresham.  He’s posted huge points for Nathan and now Mike on a team that shouldn’t gave gotten any points at all.  Nathan may not regret dropping him much with Hernandez in his lineup, but it probably aches a little.
• Unfortunate Bench – No real winners this week since most of the players who qualify for this were on teams that won their matchup.  I’ve already berated Tom for starting Jackson (check your lineups on Sunday, Tom!) but I doubt anyone could have predicted DeAngelo Williams would have done as well as he did.  NewT might think twice about keeping Robinson on his bench now.  Berk with Nelson too.  So, I’ll give it to Kevin for Fitzpatrick, not that I blame him at all for benching him.  But, will he play him this week????
• Lawrence Phillips Award – I think you can all predict who wins this week.  I watched the game and couldn’t believe my eyes.  Even at his worst as a Husker, Suh was ruthless and dogged and got the tackle, but he never sunk that low.  I loved when he threw Gabbert and McCoy to the ground as a Husker.  LOVED IT!  But what he did on Sunday was bad sportsmanship, if not the first really dirty thing he’s ever done on the field.  I believe his statements after the game (showing no remorse or regret) over the scripted apologies issued since then.  Whatever.  He doesn’t regret it, so he’ll have to pay the price for it.  Anger management sessions would be a joke and a mistake.  I prefer Rex Ryan’s response (check it out if you haven’t seen it).  Anyway, a suspension is warranted because we just don’t play like that at this level.  Just ask LP.

Enjoy the last weekend of irrelevance and then off to the playoffs!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Mindi and I made it to Columbus with few problems and I’m really enjoying the sunny and warm weather … oh, wait … the dreary, wet, cold weather here just couldn’t be better.  Even still, football is still pretty big around here, so I’m enjoying that.  Plus, being in the same house as my wife for more than 5 days is a bonus.  See you all in a week when I round up the regular season awards/performances!