Evans World 2012 – Week 12

WOW! What a weekend of Fantasy Football!  Close matchups!  Great lineup choices!  The playoffs on the line!  This is the kind of weekend that gets me jazzed up to enjoy FF each season.  Sure, I lost, but my season was over anyway.  I don’t know if you were as excited as I was, but I hope it helped to round out a fun Thanksgiving weekend.  Let’s get right to it.

RANDOM THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

• Aside for an actual tie (which would then use your total bench points to determine the winner, in case you forgot), I don’t expect to see the new record for the closest matchup getting broken any time soon.  I’m sure Berk’s frustration equals the intensity of Gary’s excitement.  Congrats to you, Gary, for making your first EW playoffs with your close win.  A nail biter right up to the last minute of that lopsided, Monday night game.  We’ll give an award to Berk later, but thank you both for such an entertaining matchup this weekend for the rest of us.
• I think you can all relate to this.  It happened to Tony P. in weeks 2 and 7, Mike in weeks 3, 6 and 8, Jason in week 4, Tony G. in week 5, Ritchie in week 8, Berk in week 10 and Nathan in week 11.  Not sure what I’m referring to?  Simple.  In each case, including me in week 12, we scored enough points to defeat every other team in the league EXCEPT for the one team we were matched up against.  Perhaps one of the most frustrating losses there is in FF (except for maybe losing by 0.03 points).  I feel good about it as it rekindled some confidence in myself and my FF abilities to score that many points in a week with such a flimsy lineup.  Good win, Nathan. 
• Marshall and Ritchie both declared they’re not going quietly into the losers’ playoff bracket, each with big wins this weekend.  Marshall officially knocked Jason out of the playoffs and Ritchie made it a little harder for Tony G. next week.  We’ve been here before, folks.  Ritchie made a big push at the end and won it all last season.  Will it happen again?  I think Gary gets the final say on that one.
• Wow.  Did you ever think there would be a time when Larry Fitzgerald would absolutely need to be benched?  Jason did it this weekend.  I don’t blame him one bit.  It’s just sad to see it happen.
• Gary made the right call starting Julio Jones.  Every news report I read said that he was going to see limited action in the game.  I benched him in my other league.  Yeah … career day.  Great call, Gary.
• I thought is was a very classy thing that the Colts’ cheerleaders shaved their hair for charity to support cancer research and show support for Colts coach Pagano.  There are a lot of good things happening in that organization this year, things you’d never expect to see from a team that barely managed to win three games last season.  There’s a team and organization that takes care of their own, supports their own and wins/loses together.  Impressive.
• Hey, Broncos … what the hell was that game against KC all about?  That was supposed to be a MONSTER FF game for us this weekend.  What a huge let down. 
• Tony P. has made it to the #2 spot on the all-time record list for most points during the regular season with one week left.  He needs to score 100.27 points against Berk this weekend to take the top spot away from Nathan and his Patriots-led 2009 monster year.  Good luck, Tony!

PLAYOFF DEATHMATCH 2012!!!

• With one week left, here’s a look at the playoff implications of the coming weekend.
• Tony P. and Nathan can sit back and relax having locked up tight the #1 and #2 seeds respectively.  I guess that means Nathan will only drop 1 player this week instead of his average 3.
• Gary can secure the #3 seed by beating Ritchie.  I expect it to be a very close matchup this week.  It sucks that Gary might have to rely on the Oakland Raiders of all teams to eek out the victory there.
• Marshall has a tricky path as he must beat Tony G. to secure a spot. Marshall lost to Tony in a close matchup back in week 4 when Drew Brees and Jimmy Graham had a day against the Packers.  I don’t see them posting those same numbers against the Falcons defense.  If Marshall loses I think his point total will keep him under too many other teams to make the final cut.  Tony G. definitely needs a win and a big point week in order to make it.
• Right now Mike and Berk have the best chances at getting the outside chance of getting in.  Of course they need both Marshall and Ritchie to lose first, but should that not happen Mike will have the advantage based entirely on total points.  Don’t worry, Mike.  I’ll try to beat Berk this weekend and assure you that last playoff spot. 
• Jason and I will be watching from the sidelines cheering on only those people we like.  Having been beaten by most of you, no guarantees who that will be.  All I know for certain is that I will finish 10th.  Jason has a least a shot at finishing above 9th should the right team lose and he scores enough points.

WEEKLY AWARDS

• MVP – Before the game last night I’d planned on giving this award to Berk’s entire lineup which was a very good selection of players.  BTW, I think any team that gives up a first down on a 4th and 29 deserves to lose the game (nice job, Ray Rice).  I still wince at the memory of the Eagles getting a long first down against the Packers in the NFC playoffs almost 10 years ago when McNabb rushed up the middle just like Ray Rice did.  It’s just wrong.  Instead, I’m going to give this award to … and I never once in a thousand years planned on giving him an MVP … to Jonathan Stewart who scored just enough points to give Gary the 0.03 point edge he needed to beat Berk.  God, that even hurt to write.
• Honorable Mention – Gotta give this one to Calvin Johnson whose 21 points kicked my ass this weekend, thanking me properly for trading him away for a song a few weeks ago.  Nathan, you can buy me a drink any time to thank me for my generosity.
• Best Owner Choice – Another week, another slew of good choices.  I love this league!  I’d love to give it to me for picking up Beanie Wells, but I lost plus I have to give credit to a website which suggested I pick him up even before he was officially off the IR list.  I could also give it to Nathan for picking up the Rams DEF whose 2 pick-6 INT’s helped seal the deal against me, but I’ve already given him enough kudos for one week.  So, I’ll give it to Tony P who somehow correctly predicted that Ryan Broyles would have a huge game on Thanksgiving day.  Very impressive choice from the guy who’s only made 5 changes to his lineup in 12 weeks.
• Unfortunate Bench – I for one don’t blame Tony P for benching the 49ers DEF since we both expected Denver to walk all over KC, but that’s a lot of points that could have gotten him closer to the record.  I could also give it to Tony G for benching Torrey Smith, but no harm no foul there.  Instead I’ll give it to Berk for a second time for benching Kyle Rudolph.  No idea why you do it, dude, even as sketchy as your Vikings’ QB is today.  But I do know that he scored more than 0.03 points than Myers.  Just sayin.
• Lawrence Philips Award – I’m giving out two awards this week.  Kinda sad that things are so sad that that’s possible.  The first award goes to the Miami Dolphins grounds crew who somehow allowed the sprinklers on the field to go off DURING A GAME.  It’s right out of a BW3 commercial, and a bad/overplayed one at that.  Guaranteed someone lost their job for doing the one thing you never, ever, ever want to have happen.  Dumb like LP.  The second award goes to NY Jets fans.  Yes, they’re rowdy and scary and rude and borderline psychotics each week.  But this week they turned cannibal, beating down Fireman Ed to the point where he’s quitting.  I’ve seen him on the TV during multiple games, and rightfully so.  He embodies the passionate but considerate Jets fan, focusing on the positive, rooting for the team even during the bad times, and above all remaining a dedicated fan.  He’s quitting because other Jets fans have berated and condemned him so much that he doesn’t enjoy being a fan any more.  That’s sad, just sad.  Are Jets’ fans so banal that they can’t recognize enemy from ally?  Apparently so, as they lost one of their best through friendly fire.

WE’LL SEE

It’s always possible that there will be enough of a statistic correction by the end of the week to erase the 0.03 point difference between Berk and Gary.  Keep your eyes on the site.  For now, let’s enjoy that lovely, lovely matchup.

Good luck to all of you in your last week of the regular season!