The most exciting time of the year, this coming weekend: huge rivalry games in the NFL to determine the Play-offs AND the VP3 Championship Game. What could be better? Maybe if Championship weekend also included, for some reason, a load of brightly coloured presents raining down from the sky. But that just sounds fanciful for no reason. Let's take what we can get.
Ingoldstadt Illuminators v Bradylessbrothers
The Lighties go into the Championship Game on a 5-game streak having dispatched Doof, the General, Agent P, Zim and Farns. Most of those games were close, two of them within a couple of points. And all had variable scores, from 66 through 122 this week. The semi-final win was punctuated by Drew Brees having a game with 29 points and Freeman putting up 32 on the ground.
Bradylessbrothers progresses to the Championship Game for the second year in a row. All it took was defeating the two-time-Champion Breesus twice in two weeks, 85-81 and 75-70. BB had a 1-2 record for the prior three games, with a win over Agent P and losses to the General and Endless. BB scraped through both games against Breesus with no stand-out players but lady-Luck was clearly on his side; Breesus players were even less inclined to win.
Interestingly, Aaron Rodgers, QB for BB, is the highest-scoring QB this year with 308 points. Drew Brees is third with 296.
NFL games start on Friday this week with a load of games on Sunday, a couple on Monday and the final game Tuesday lunch time. If the teams remain as-is we'll have a winner late Monday afternoon.
Playing for bragging rights: Doof v Breesus. Can Doof finally win against Breesus?
To all the VP3 Coaches, Happy Championship Weekend!
Congrats to the Ingolstadt Illuminators the 2016 Regular Season Champions!
The end of Regular Season came down to the final week with five teams vying for four places and four teams with a shot of finishing on top of the Schedule. In the end, the Lighties won their fourth straight game and finished a game ahead of the pack with a 10-4 record.
The other three teams heading to the post-season - BB, Breesus and Doof - all end with 9-5 records.
Marcy dropped the last two games of the season falling to 8-6 and misses out on play-off football this year.
Last year's World Champion, the General, finishes the season in sixth place at 7-7.
The Lighties fought office-rival the US Forces this week. A win for the General would have been too late for his post-season, but could have dented the Lighties run. Instead the Lighties took the game, and the top of the Standings, by a measely 1.2 points.
Breesus had a chance to possibly knock BB out of the play-offs with a win and take first place - instead BB took the win and second place in a close 75-70 game. BB and Breesus will play each other again in the first round of the play-offs: winner heads to the Championship game.
Doof is the last finalist, posting the highest score of the round with 114 over Zim. If only Le'Veon Bell could post 48 points every week! Doof and arch-rival Lighties will meet next week for a chance at Championship-glory.
I missed it last week: in Week 13 Breesus cut Doof down to size, 114-97. That snapped my winning streak at 5, earning Breesus the coveted Gardener award. Also of note from that game, I still have not beaten Breesus. Ever.
That win also put Breesus at a streak of 4. Thankfully Bradylessbrothers cut that tall poppy down straight away and earns a Gardener award!
Marcy, the General, Agent P and Endless all have games lined up next week for final positions. The Farns and Zim can hang up the body armour and pads for 2016.
A new leader, a new slump, a new tall-poppy and a whole lot of competition for those final-four spots. With only three weeks left in the season there are six teams with strong play-off potential.
Bradyless Brothers sits alone atop the Schedule this week, a game ahead at 8-3 on a three-game winning streak. A big game by Aaron Rodgers wasn't enough for the Packers, but was plenty for BB against Agent P who is out of play-off contention this year with a 4-7 record.
Anyone confused by Doug Baldwin's stats? 104 receiving yards normally tallies to 10 points, not 15. BB isn't cheating, it was from a very non-traditional play. The wide-receiver threw the ball to the quarterback who ran in for a touchdown - reversal of the traditional state of affairs. Baldwin, and BB, is credited 4 points for a TD throw.
Four teams huddle behind BB with 7-4 records. Marcy and the Lighties have both been at the top and have sunk down a bit, Breesus and Doof are making their runs now putting together long winning streaks.
A game behind, the General sinks to 6th place, with a loss to 5-6. Another loss will make it hard for the General to make the play-offs, three sudden-death games.
On a 5-game losing streak the Farn's are now out of play-off contention, sitting at 4-7 with Agent P. A further game behind, at 3-8, both Endless and Zim.
Breesus posted a superb 138 this week, totally pummeling the reeling General. 48 points? With a complete team in which there were no donuts posted, just a whole lotta almost nuthin. Breesus is rollin' with Brady, Murray, Johnson, Bryant and Cooper all looking the goods. Tough competition.
The Lighties take a win over the falling Farns to keep their play-off hopes alive. No outstanding performers and a donut, but still a solid 96 points. The Farns posted two donuts, one to star WR Green who was injured at the very start of the game. Tough starting three Bengals players when the team is sucking.
Marcy suffered a loss to Zim, bad week for Jones and Forte to be on the bye. Newton has had an up-down season, with more down than up lately. Zim brought in some new players to accommodate the byes who did their job, Mariota and Matthews from the Titans, and Prosise from Seattle. Prosise will be a one gamer, injured and out for the rest of the season.
Doof is on a 4-game winning streak and is now considered a tall-poppy! The Farn's will have first shot at cutting Doof down to size in week 12 - given the long-term Doof-Farns rivalry (arch-nemesis) anything could happen. In Week 11, Bell happened: 26 points. A whole lot of <10 for Endless - failures!
The 2016 game of Snakes and Ladders continues this week, no doubt heavily affected by a heavy bye week:
Breesus, Endless and Agent P are all on 2-game winning streaks
Marcy, Farns and Zim are on 2-game losing streaks
Lighties, BB, the General and Doof have no idea what the long term plan is.
Agent P got the W in a low-scoring affair, even with her two best players left on the bench. Luck v Ryan is a tough call at the QB position, I would have though Ryan the better starter but it look like Luck has a higher floor. Gurley, on a bye this week, was supposed to be a gun RB this year, hasn't turned out that way at all. Still, with a 9-10 average its hard not to start him.
The General also had his best player on the bench, and took a -1.5 from his RB Ingram. Ingram fumbled early in the game and was sent straight to the dog-house. RB Charles has surgery on his knee this week and wont be back for the fantasy year. Brown needs his Big Ben QB back, probably won't happen this week but how can you not start him?
The Lighties took a solid win over BB, led, as usual, by Brees. Gore, Freeman, Miller and the Chiefs D were all helpful contributors. BB didnt start a Defense, which is never a good idea. Ok, not always never, we've seen D's go negative before. Starting Stafford (13) instead of Rogers (33) also not a good idea. But it looked like a good idea on paper.
Endless started one of the rookie sensations in Carson Wentz, who struggled and posted only 11. His game looked better than 11. The Broncos D put up 20, with 3 interceptions and a TD. Strong stuff. Zim made some changes that, like BB, looked good on paper. Ty Montgomery was pulled at the last minute by the Packers, Smith played well until a head injury forced him from the field, Beasley (5) has been putting up solid teens, and Amendola (9) nothing. Jacquizz Rogers, replacing the injured Martin, now needs replacing due to an injured foot.
Breesus is marching towards the top with his second win in a row and a league high 113 points. Tom Brady is again amazing with 30, Murrary tore it up on the ground with 18 and Cooper ran riot with 23. In worrying news for everyone else, Breesus left 73.2 points on the bench, which would have beaten the Farns who put up 73.16. After Dalton (19) the rest of Farn's team didnt even bother.
After going 6-0, Marcy has crashed back to earth with the second loss in a row. Don't feel too bad, while her team was losing the Head Coach was sipping cocktails in Fiji. Rookie sensation Dak Prescott led the way for Doof with 27 points, other rookie RB Elliot put up 15 along with Nelson, and Jeffrey had a good day for the Bears positing 12.
Marcy plays the Lighties this week in an unenviable match-up as she looks to return with a vengeance. Endless and Agent P both look to ruin each others run. Farns and BB look to get back on the winner podium and stop the losses. Breesus and Zim duke it out and the General and Doof look for separation from 4-4 records.
Well, that was some weekend of gardening action! Both Marcy and Farnsworths got trimmed back down to size. Marcy is now only one game ahead of the galloping BB, who did the trimming, and Farns slid two places into 5th place, getting pruned by Endless.
Marcy put up a low 87 points, being failed by LeSean McCoy who was injured, Fuller who has a woeful QB and Fleener who just wasn't targeted. On the other side, BB got a good game out of Rogers, finally; Blount and Gronk had great games.
Marcy can start again in Week 7 by defeating the poor Doof (likely), BB can keep the pressure on top-spot by turning off the Lighties (also likely).
For the second week in a row the rookie RB for the Dolphins posted over 200 rushing yards, putting up 27 points. Both games against top-rated defenses. A solid game to Anderson, Lambo and Crabtree were enough for Endless to cut Farns down. Anderson is now injured, at least for one week, and Manning is, well, Manning. Maybe starting Wentz this week would help the QB stats?
Farns had great games from three players and garbage from the rest. If you missed it, check out the AJ Green catch at the end of the second quarter. Wow!
Farns takes on the equally rated 4-3 Breesus and Endless takes on Zim in Week 8.
The General stays in 6th place with a tidy win over Zim, who sinks back to 10th. Antonio Brown, the General's number 1 draft pick, had a down game, and that will probably continue until Roethlisberger returns from injury. Replacements QB Landry Jones was adequate, but not Big Ben. Starting Spencer Ware in the Flex spot was a smart move, Ware posted 19 points.
Zim made a couple of moves at QB and RB, which paid off, but Barnidge, Beckham and Graham all suffered from poor offenses, and Amendola just wasn't used by the Patriots.
Breesus posted a week high 121 points, beating the Lighties - which is karmic given the Lighties didnt even bother to start QB Drew Brees against his fantasy namesake, who he stole in the draft! Gordon posted a high 30 points, Brady, Murrary and Johnons 17+ each for Breesus. A season high game for Evans and a solid game from Hilton wasn't enough to beat back the bad karma.
Agent P picked up her second win of season, trouncing Doof in a low-scoring affair that rivalled only the equally bad Cardinals v Seahawks in Sunday Night Football. The game finished at the end of the fourth quarter with a 3-3 tie - on to overtime. Overtime finished with a 6-6 scoreline, with both teams Kickers making a field goal and then both of the missing easy setshots. Bizarre game that was somewhat enjoyable to watch in its ugliness, both teams defenses played well and the offenses couldn't match it. Contrasted against the Eagles v Vikings game that was unwatchable in its crappiness with both teams playing bad football.
Victory would have been Doof's with a simple Defense switch, I left 24 points on the bench with the Eagles. But Agent P could have countered in the battle of what-ifs by swapping QB's Ryan and Luck. A games best left in the rear-view mirror, all the players were pretty terrible.
Marcy extends her lead, six teams are 3-2 or 2-3 and Zim jumps two places with her first win of the season. Welcome to Week 6.
<<intro video ending with two football helmets crashing into each other resulting in a massive explosion>>
<cue over-excited fantasy football commentator>
Over a three week period Marcy has defeated both the General and the King by sizable differences and sits atop a throne made of red, laughing at her conquered foes. This week, a buck 34 over Breesus 111. Six players over 11 points, including Cam Newton with 27 and LeSean McCoy, the little RB that could, with 32. Those Buffalo Bills are a hot team this year. Speaking of hot, Julio Jones for the Falcons - wow.
Next up, Marcy stares down at Bradylessbrothers who has been handed the pruning shears, and Breesus lines up against the Lighties.
Speaking of, the Lighties sit in the 4-2 group after sending Endless to her fourth straight loss. Drew Brees had another day out, clocking up 32 points in a spectacular display of QBing. Awesome to watch. Too bad Endless started Riddick instead of Ajayi, who had a monster game with 200 rushing yard and 2TDs.
Bradylessbrothers is part of the 4-2 club after beating yours-truly by 2 points. This even with a donut from WR Smith. It is good to see Gronk back in town with 22 points. Surprising everyone is Rodgers, a paltry 12 points in a baaaaad loss to the Cowboys (who are looking amazing with Tony Romo on the field).
The Farns rounds out the 4-2 club, four wins in a row and has just qualified for the Gardener award! That right, this tall poppy started an 11 point QB and a DEF that scored minus 1 beat the reigning world champion! Golden Tate showed up for the first time this season with 22. Endless has the first chance to prune the latest 'big thing' down to size.
Zim had another good game and this one finally paid the W. 32 points to Beckham who had over 200 receiving yard and 2 TDs. She joins the 1-5 club and jumps over the other two in the standings.
For this weeks losers, Breesus sits at 3-3, grateful for Tom Brady being the biggest QB Boss in the world and RB Johnson being a beast. The General and Doof are also 3-3, with neither team fielding any player of significance. Agent P and Endless reside at 1-5 with teams full of low-scoring chumps that never did anything for anyone. Booooo!
Finding it really hard this season to keep up with the blogging. Last week I was yucking it up in Byron Bay and this week I'm back to just so much work. Pitiful excuses, I know.
Byron last week
After five, Marcy is way out in front with a 5-0 start to the season, although the scores and wins are getting narrower. Five wins in a row means its Tall Poppy time. This week the Vampire Queen suits up against Breesus. Can the King of the Drews net the first Gardener award of the season?
Breesus had a fine Week 5 putting up over 131 points and getting the highest score of the week. Welcome back Tom Brady to own the QB position.
The Farns are on a three-game winning streak, taking care of Agent P this week. Farns started four players form the Bengals who somehow did better for Farns than they did their own team who sucked hard against the Cowboys!
Both Endless and Agent P have struggled to get it going this year, but both teams left their run late last year, so she shouldn't be concerned yet. Especially with so many teams at 3-2. Which makes the Week 6 games vs Lighties and vs Zim respectively quite interesting. Zim has been posting better scores week-on-week all season and is poised for a break-out win.
A few weeks of low scores for both BB and the General is keeping them in the 3-2 pack. BB is Cleveland Browns-heavy, which looked ok pre-season but the Browns have been awful with a 0-5 record. Last week the General had problems all over the board, with three players posting 0. Simply Bye issues or something deeper?
For tips and ideas be sure to check out the weekly fantasy pages:
Well after a rocky start to the season the Lights are starting to hit their stride .... we're coming for you all .... just you wait till we "put your lights out™"
Week 3 is done and I feel absolutely no closer to knowing what is going on this year. Case in point, the Illuminators. Their scoreline goes 78, 82, 150. A buck fifty? And lets look at two additional things in that buck-fifty: i. the flex position gave zero points and ii. the Chiefs defense left 35 points on the bench. Defense. 35 points.
And the other big winners this weekend: Farns with 87, Breesus with 81, and US forces win with a score of only 80. The Lighties scored more than Breesus v Endless combined!
I'm at a loss.
Marcy is sitting at the top of the table after 3, tied with the General at 3-0. Agent P and Zim provide perfect mirrors at 0-3. Everyone else is somewhere in between. Which all mirrors the actual NFL which is just as messed up as this League.
Week 4 presents a new round of interests and challenges:
Marcy v the General - a clear leader will emerge next week
The start of the Bye weeks. That's right, some of the players won't be available. So check your line-ups and adjust accordingly.
This week really got away from me, and still doing so. A quick update on Weeks 1 and 2.
Breesus was the big winner with a very tidy 131 points; Marcy's Cam Newton came through and she won her game; US Forces started their title tilt with a win; BB got the W and Doof beat arch-rival Illuminators.
For the five losing coaches, what can you take away from it? Who knows. Players slated to do well failed miserably, Zim feels this pain the most with Beckham and Barnidge MIA on the field and Ivory being rushed to hospital before the game. Players projected with average scores totally burned it up: DeAngelo Williams for Breesus for example.
Week 2 is a new week with a new set of projections and a new set of hopes, not just for us coaches but also the players.
Well, technically it is already upon us with a rather spectacular game yesterday between the Broncos and the Panthers. Marcy will be pleased, Cam returned to 2015 heroics with a fine game. I'm ecstatic, my man Kelvin Benjamin returned from an ACL with a good game and 16 points. Whoever had CJ Anderson is thrilled - 20+ points in the opener.
For those that missed it, the last few weeks in USA-NFLland has been crazy. Our friend, 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick, chose to *sit* while the national anthem played a couple of weeks ago. That created a massive maelstrom of "Kaep hates America" articles and what-not - including Trump claiming Kaep should leave the greatest fucking country in the world. The QB explained his action as an open protest against the social inequalities and racism in America: Black Lives Matter. Except when sports people speak up - then the public/journalism/twitter response it is more like "shut up and play sport". Let's just say the response has been less than pleasant. Maybe black lives don't matter?
But it is important. And Kaep's stand is important. But it gets so sidetracked by the meta-arguments of "should be protest", "is he anti-america?", etc. The entire point of the protest, social injustice, is not discussed. It's so typical, and so sad.
Kaep is donating $1m to charities in the bay area.
In the opening game, Brandon Marshall of the Broncos took a knee during the anthem, adding his star power to the protest. So this happened: he lost a sponsorship deal from a military peak body. Because not honouring the flag means you hate America. Obs.
In the '70s people in the crowd at games chose not the stand during the anthem in protest of the Vietnam War. They were also anti-America. Also obs.
If you'd like to read more about how weird (bat-shit crazy) America can be:
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/09/09/brandon-marshall-knee-national-anthem-broncos-panthers-nfl
http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2016/08/27/colin-kaepernick-national-anthem-san-francisco-49ers-nfl
I'm taking a knee with Kaep: Black Lives Matter. Locally, Aboriginal Lives Matter.
I wish everyone, except the anti-American Illuminators, a good week 1.
The draft didn't quite go to plan today with technology and distance creating some new divisions for us: iOS v Android v home-schoolers. The iOS'ers (+ Surface) were able to draft fine today, the Androiders struggled with some Android coaches not able to draft at all and relying completely on the auto-pick. And then there were the two home-schoolers rocking it off-campus sitting at their computers in their underwear. I assume. Not judging; jealous. And people in Canberra sitting at their computers in their underwear sipping slushies helps explain the census. Amiright!
Illuminators hard at work drafting
The League did reach out to NFL Fantasy Tech Support for assistance at lunchtime, a message has only just been received and it seems to be less of a reply and more of a botched email.
The exciting thing about the draft is it is just the start. Which is great if you've received a post-draft report card like mine:
I think that translates into something like "Could the coach of the Playinators please report to the Principals office for reassignment to a lesser school."
Projected finish 10??? Sigh.
I admit to possibly making a mistake drafting Dez Bryant instead of DeAndre Hopkins. But I have a player called Sterling.
Sterling effort!
And I have a Snead. Everyone needs a Snead.
Farnsworths shocked at my Snead!
Look out history, here comes the Doof!
In other news:
How did the 2015 Championship winner score the first draft pick?
The Illuminators stole Drew Brees. The league and Breesus King of the Drews prays for his safe return
Marcy rolled back to 2014 by taking Cam Newton, hopes for 2015 performance.
Farnsworth's requires physical restraints to limit Kickers to 2, still drops a player immediately post-draft, sends strong message to RB: Fuck you Giovanni Bernard!
Breesus reduced to playing pokemon at quarterback while waiting for safe return of Drew Brees
Blake Bortles, QB
Agent P has been hanging around her little girls for too long, drafts Gurley
Agent P has been hanging around her little girls for too long, drafts drug-addled Bell
Zim unable to draft thanks to Sloth Support, auto-drafts Philip Rivers:
Endless unable to draft thanks to Sloth Support, auto-drafts Not-Peyton Manning
Bradylessbrothers starts to establish Little New England: Gronk, Edels, Blount and Woodhead (ex Patriots)
Mark "butt-fumble" Sanchez knows football is back on
The Melbourne sun is shining. Spring is poking it's head around the grey winter and whispering sweet nothings in our ears. The last six-month of Fantasy-Football-less life are finally coming to a close. That's right:
The 2016 NFL Fantasy Season is just over three weeks away!
Our VP3 League is primed and ready to roll us into another season of breathtaking-ups and WTF-downs.
Can US Forces go back-to-back? Will BB, Farns and Marcy repeat their stellar seasons? When last we met both Agent P and Endless were rolling - will the roll continue? Can Breesus, Lighties, Zim and Doof turn it around? What stories will be written in 2016?
Season start:
Football starts Friday 9th September with a rematch of the Superbowl: Broncos v Panthers.
Live Draft:
The Live Draft is proposed for 12:30pm Monday 5 September at The Fringe - same as last year.
It worked well arriving around the 12 mark, setting up and then Drafting over lunch. If Monday is no good for enough people then we can move it around a little. It can't be done later than the 8th. Let me know.
If you can't make the draft location maybe you can make it online? We all missed Breesus at the pub but having him draft with us online was ace.
If you cant make it for either then, like always, you can preset your draft preferences online and the Computer will draft for you. The "downside" of the Computer is you probably won't end up with three Kickers (looking at Farns) and instead end up with an entirely functional team (did anyone draft a functional team last year?).
Community:
Like usual I will be blogging the season at the usual places - everyone is welcome to blog or read along. I will also reinvigorate the Facebook group that FB closed due to lack of activity during the Long Dark.
End of the road:
If you don't want to play this year please log in to the system and remove yourself from the League. Or, email me and I'll carefully remove your carcass. It'd be ace if you can do this before 1 September to give us time to find replacements.
