2015 Champion: US Forces

Congratulations to the General and his US Forces for winning the 2015 VP3 Championship Game.

VICTORY!

Celebration parade 30/12/2015 - VP3 Images

It started well for the General with his free-agent QB Cousins posting a hefty 32 and putting up about 53 points in the first two games. The pre-game speech must have really been something.

"Today is the end of the Bradyless Brothers..."

As the military rolled through BB through Sunday's games it was the Texans D that really stood out and said, "General, we've got your back."

And they did, 22 points. The Texans star WR was not to be left behind, a tidy 17.7 points, the same to RB Murray. After that, a few 10s iced it and the rest didnt matter. The General had taken the battle, the sixteen week war and the 2015 VP3 Championship. Congratulations, sir.

In the game that BB needed a solid effort from his core players, it was them that let him down, possibly shock-and-awed by the opposing force. Roethlisberger was woeful, 3.8 points in a loss that makes it hard for the Steelers to make the play-offs. Starks: negative. The two Falcons players both did very well, 15 to Freeman and 23 to Jones. And that proved me wrong: the game did not rest entirely on their shoulders like I predicted. Instead, they needed help. Help that was not forthcoming. On the bench, Fitzpatrick had a solid 23 points, but that would not have been sufficient to take down the blitzing General.

In the other games, Marcy defeated Farns for third place, Agent P defeated Endless for fifth and Breesus defeated the Lighties for seventh.


Postscript:
And that brings us to the final note of 2015. Congrats to the General, and also the other Coaches that made the play-offs in a competitive, fun season: Marcy, Farns and BB. Thanks to the rest: Breesus, Agent P, Endless, Lighties and Zim.

VP3 will return in 2016 - I hope to see you all again in August.

-Dan

Wash-up - Semi Finals

The Championship Game is set: US Forces v Bradylessbrothers. Congratulations to you both!

Now, how did that happen?

US Forces (66) nudged Farnsworths (65)

Super-close, low scoring game that featured a bevy of players that didnt perform. I'm going to chalk the Forces winning this one down to the Farns QB: Mariota put up -0.72 points. He was injured early and didnt play the game out. The Farns second QB, Ryan, put up 12 points. There are plenty of what-if, what-if the Farns had played anyone but Clay who posted 0? What if the General had played Austin (19) and the Falcons (5) instead of the Bills (-1)? But when the QB goes -0.72 you're pretty messed up. And in the semis: completely messed up. So the General takes the field and progresses and the Farns finishes a stellar season with a 10-4 record. Farns also gets my vote for Coach of the Year.

Bradylessbrothers (129) def Marceline (108)

Big win for BB this week that no doubt few predicted, myself included. We don't have to play what-ifs here, the scores speak for themselves. And I think we can look at the two Falcons players as being the key pieces: Freeman (16) and Jones (17). When they have played well this year, so has BB. BB's hot-start to the season mirrored the Falcons, but when the Falcons declined, so too did BB. The Patriots D (18) didnt hurt of course. And the last minute Free Agent pick-up of Bell (16) was the icing on the cake. Although the 30 points to Woodhead on the bench would have topped that.

Marcy had three big play makers do their best: Brown (30), Walker (18) and Evans (15). But Rogers again didn't do well, Panthers D failed with 0 and Gore was very unhelpful with 6. This is obviously a disappointing end to the season for Marcy, but going from 10th to 1st with a 10-4 record is a huge effort.

Week 14 - End of regular season

Ok, this is waaay late, and waaay short. But I am so tired it hurts right now after about three hours sleep last night from rockin the midnight Star Wars session. Totally worth it!

Congratulations to Marcy for placing first at the end of the Regular Season! First in the standings and the most amount of points scored for the season. What a turn-around from last year when she finished last. Epic season. Marcy swore last year 2015 would not be like 2014 but I don't think even she saw this coming.

Huge kudos to Farnsworth for placing second - wow! Second place, but equal first on wins and only in second because of some weird formula I don't understand - that could be the sleep talking. But what a way to end the regular season, a four game winning streak AND beating Agent P who was on her own streak. The Farns is my sworn nemesis, but I have enjoyed watching him having an up-season.

The General ends the season in third place, a game behind Marcy and Farns, and ends on a three game losing streak. To really rub salt in the wounds the final loss was to long-time nemesis Illuminators. Ouch!

BB rounds out the final four. The first 6 weeks were epic and set BB up for the play-offs but he has been down in the latter parts of the season.






Finishing off the standings we have Breesus, Agent P, Lighties and Endless. Over the next two weeks these four teams will face-off for some additional prestige and bragging rights. Doof and Zim complete the set, but in finishing last their Fantasy season is over for 2015. The misery is over.

Week 12 - Wash-up

Week 12 is over and although there were some big losses at the top of the table the Top 4 is now set. There are only two games left to play in the Regular season but there is a three game difference between 3/4 and 5/6/7/8. Yep, Breesus, Agent P, Doof and the Lighties are all tied up at 5-7, not enough time left to break into the 8-4 crew.

Congrats to the top four: the General, Marcy, Farns and BB. Only one game separates them so the final positions are up for grabs.

Which is the most surprising:
a) Marcy from last to Top 2, with the chance for Top spot;
b) Farns for a break-out season;
c) Breesus missing out after winning the last two Championships?

For me it's between b) and c). Marcy is too competitive for a repeat of last season.

Endless (123) def Breesus (73)

Big win for Endless this week off the back of another big Wilson game - 35 points. Lacey and Landry also did well. Amazing how different the score is when the big players actually play like big players. Cf, Breesus King of the Drews. WTF happend to Brees? And the Saints in general? Rawls and Ivory showed up, but no one else did and Endless won by a lot. The loss keeps Breesus out of play-off contention for the first time and ensures we will have a different League Champion in four weeks time.

Lighties (85) v Zim (63)

The Lighties did their job by winning to have a sniff of the Post-season, but wins to BB and the Farn's shut the door. Big games to Rivers, again (but this time in a win for the Chargers) and Green cover over the twin-donuts. The horror season continues for Zim with, once again, Brady having a good game and everyone else completely meh. Strange game-plan by the Patriots in the cold Denver snow to only run the ball about 30% of the time. Cold + Snow usually = run-first. The pass-first mentality gave Brady 23, but Blount a measley 2.

BB (93) def The General (75)

Two streaks were snapped in this game, BB snapped his losing streak and in doing so snapped the General's winning streak. The win to BB also keeps him only 1-game behind the two leaders with two-games left to play. BB also continued his streak of taking out players, Roethlisberger was big for the Steelers but suffered a concussion that forced him from the game, next week is uncertain. And our favorite Gronk has a serious/minor knee injury that may keep him out for 1-4 games. The General finally suffered the same fate as most of us have, a slow player day. No one really stood up and did anything. Anderson, on the bench, had 27 for the Broncos that sunk the Patriots. Well, that and the horrendous officiating that was painful to watch, and provoked much shouting at the tv.

Agent P (128) def Marcy (77)

Take a bow, Agent P! Take down one of the top dogs, post the highest points for another week, cruise into a four-game winning streak to activate the Gardner Award, and jump into equal 5/6/7/8th. Marshall and Watkins had big games, the Bengals were dominant and Newton did just enough (and the Panthers roll to 11-0 on the season). Marcy, like the Forces before, had a quiet one where the Kicker was the highlight. Never a good sign. The Panthers D stands out on the Bench, but would not have been near enough to keep up with Agent P anyway. Marcy stays in equal first/second place, only one game ahead of Farns and BB.

Farnsworths (104) def Doof (93)

A second loss this season to my Nemesis, and once again it's Peterson, Beckham and Williams scoring big. Ryan had another miserable game at QB and, strangely, the rookie Mariota would have been a much better starter. Interestingly, Mariota is only 17 points behind Ryan on the season, 153 v 170. Time to change? With the win the Farns goes into his first VP3 Playoff series and is a serious contender - especially with AP going nuts (in a good way). It was both awesome and terrible watching Stafford throw 5 TDs for 35 points on Thanksgiving, great for the Lions and awful for Doof. Paradox strikes again. I could take some solace in Megatron finally posting big numbers, too bad Murray stunk it up (again), Johnson went off injured, Diggs was quiet and Watson plays for the Saints.

Week 11 - wash-up

Exciting week of games!

Both The General and Marcy had wins this week and stay neck and neck. BB's third loss in a row puts him further behind the two leaders and is now equal 3rd/4th thanks to the Farns inching past the Lighties.  Agent P's run puts her even with the Lighties, and overtakes him in the Standings!

Farnsworths (70.7) scraped past Lighties (70.62)

Wow! Another super-close game, only 0.08 points in it. Point-oh-eight. Insane. Both teams had a player with a 0, so that is nice and symmetrical. The Farns took some pity on the Lighties starting Phil Rivers by playing the Eagles D, who posted -1. That is brotherly love, from the City of Brotherly Love - Philadelphia.

The General (102) def Breesus (70)

The General stormed his way through another game, six on the trot now and still equal first place. Palmer had a tidy 24 points and is crazy hot, Hopkins came back from a down week with 23. The rest were nice contributors. For Breesus, Romo's back baby, with a Cowboys Win and a semi-respectable 13 points, and shared the love with Bryant with 10. The Chiefs D monstered up 20 points, and everyone else was too busy getting ready for Thanksgiving.

Marcy (79) def Zim (57)

Low scoring game, but Marcy did enough to take the W. Rogers had a reasonable game fantasy-wise, but an important RL game beating the Vikings and getting the Packers win. Three so-so contributors did enough to combat Zim's total lack of contributors. Benching Graham this week was worth it, not by much but Suck It Graham! Didn't see Lynch getting pulled, that 0 hurts. And the Patriots struggled to get anywhere in their Monday Night game - which just kills Zim.

Agent P (106) def BB (57) 

The highest score of the week is Agent P's 106, which shows just how hard Week 11 was. Not that Cam Newton knows anything about that, 31 points and Carolina's 10th Win of the season. Martin also had a day out, 235 rushing yards for 23 points. BB broke another QB, this time Joe Flacco who did his ACL on the last drive of the day - done for the season. That's three he's broken, if memory serves? Did we count Peyton in that list, too? It could be 4 QBs. Julio Jones tried hard for the Falcon's with 16 but they lost another and keep my prediction of tanking the rest of their season alive. Everyone else? Gone Fishin'?

Endless (96) def Doof (65) 

Endless had a very tidy day out, Wilson showed up with 25 for the first for ages, Lacey was ok with 10, Gurley had a poor day with 10, DJax got some love in Washington with 14 and Hill posted 16. See Endless, they could do it, they just chose not to the last 10 weeks. Like my players. Dalton came alive in the last half of the last quarter and somehow ended with 22. The rest were off hanging with BB's and Illuminators's players I think. Hmmm, I thought that the trade with Breesus totally sucked for me and he would have rocked it, but West only did 6 points after injuring himself in the 2nd quarter. I benched Jones (6) for Diggs(6) and Johnson (6). I think the trade was well-balanced this week. If West doesnt play next week then it could well have gone in my favour. Which is ace, but I hate to see any player get injured, so that sucks.

Week 10 - wash-up

A day late again, but again I spent some time at home this week and was, obviously, far too busy playing Fallout 4 to write this up (I can confirm, Jebus is cleaning up the Wasteland just fine). Back at work today and with no access to Fallout 4 (*shakes*) I have ample time.

Week 10 was a big week in football: The Patriots and the Panthers stay unbeaten at 9-0, the Bengals drop their first game for 8-1, and the great Peyton Manning breaks the all time passing record, throws 4 interceptions and then gets benched. Will we ever see him throw another shaky pass? Post game, another coach was fired this week, one our favourites, Rob Ryan. He was the Saints defensive coach and after giving up something like 1 million points in the last three weeks heeeee's outta there! Good riddance, I would have fired him after last season. I had my Firin' Glove all polished and everything.

Big movements locally, too, of course. The General and Marcy are running together, BB drops a rung, Doof climbs a rung and the Lighties... let's see what happened there*:

*drop mic*

The General (119) def Endless (117)

A close one for the General who was so pleased with this win and the elevation to the top of the Standings he texted me Tuesday to gloat. That is one happy General! And why not - a five game winning streak, top perch, a team of classy players. Endless was so close, the pick-up of TE Rogers this week was a good one, Cooks had a stand-out game and if Gurley had continue his rampaging this would have been in the bag.

Marcy (100) def Farns (98)

Not even close to the projected 135, but Marcy did enough to keep Farns down and herself in equal first place, second in the Standings. Jeffrey and Eifert had miserable games but Brown loves having Big Ben at QB and posted a fine 28 points. Rogers came alive again in the 4th quarter for a good 22. The Farn's gambled it all on Marcus Mariota, the rookie QB, but caught him on a down week. A fair gamble with the primary QB on a Bye. AP was brilliant with 28 points, over 200 rushing yards on the day. AP is back and the Vikings have taken over their division, a game up on Green Bay. No one saw that coming.

Agent P (87) v Breesus (82)

Agent P is riding high on a 2-game winning streak while Breesus drops to a 5-5 record. MVP Candidate Cam Newton tops this game for Agent P, 21 points and a 9-0 record. Another middling team for Breesus, Brees had another downer, Bryant and his Cowboys look done for the season, rookie sensation Cooper was kept low by the Vikings. Barnidge is having a fine season as TE for the Browns, a good free-agent pick-up several weeks ago.

Zim (90) def BB (56)

Just how badly did Peyton Manning do? Minus 6.6 points. It didn't get much better for BB this week, the bright spot being the Gronk with 17. But 17 for Gronk means points for opposition QB Tom Brady, so it's one of those Fantasy Paradoxes: Cheer-Boo-Head Explode. Zim's Patriots had a good game, except poor Edelman who broke his foot and is out 6-8. The loss drops BB from equal first and now sits a game behind the leaders.

Doof (76) v Lighties (42)

Two big fat donuts and three more players under 2 points - I pocket the WIN and the Standings. You could make the case that a score of 76 is not worth bragging about - you know, if you're going to be petulant about it-  but screw that! Let's see it again - wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo:

*Thanks to the trolling Farnsworth's for this excellent work, you brought a big old smile to my face while a tear ran down my cheek. But I won't tell the Lighties Head Coach who trolled his desk, it's our secret *tap nose*.

Week 9 - Wash-up

Some monster scores put up this week and some rather woeful performances to balance it out. We have a three-way tie for first place in the Standings, with BB, Marcy and the General all sharing top honours. The Farns is in outright fourth place and only one game behind the leaders.

Marcy (146) def Lighties (96)

No scores were bigger than Marcy's this week who rode high a huge fourth-quarter performance by Aaron Rodgers and a Steelers Wide-Receiver record breaking Antonio Brown. AB caught for 287 yards, but surprisingly no TDs. But that didn't matter to Marcy, Eifert, the TE, caught 3 in his 24 point haul. The Lighties posted a reasonable squad and point spread this week but had no heavy hitters like Marcy.

Agent P (75.18) def Endless (75.02)

A closely projected game turned into a stupidly tight finish, 0.16 points. Agent P can, again, thank Cam Newton for another good score, 33 points. Big drop from there to Marshall with 10. Endless can point the finger squarely at Eddie Lacey who has been letting her down all year and this week lost her the game with a -1 score. The Packers are also sick of Lacey and have demoted him in their roster, too. Agent P

Farnsworths (124) def BB (90)

The Farn's knocks BB down out of outright first place and in in doing so takes outright 4th place himself. Williams put up 36 points, filling in for Bell nicely in both Farn's and the Steelers line-ups. A lazy 20 to AP helped. The once on-fire Falcons have been struggling and BB felt that this week, 13 to Jones and 13 to Freeman. Manning struggled against his old team and BB didn't start an active Kicker.

Breesus (130) def Zim (76)

A second big game to Drew Brees in a row, but the Saints still lost in OT (Saints D: 1 point). Not so for Breesus, who took advantage of a depleted Zim. The Patriots players all did their job, and the Jets recovered from last weeks rubbish, too bad about the others.

The General (102) def Doof (63)

The projection was embarrassing and the final score was worse. My god, what happened? Langford put up 22 for the General. Who is Langford? Great pick-up. Same with Crabtree, 22. A big win, the fourth in a row and tied in first place - the General has activated the Gardener award. Someone, please cut him back down to size!