The completion of NFL’s Week 7 marks the midway point of the XN Sports League of Champions season. The league playoffs will be held in Weeks 15 and 16 with only the top four teams advancing out of the regular season. As is stands through the first half, one team has six wins and one has five. There is a logjam of teams with four, and everyone, even the cellar dweller, is within three games of fourth place. So anything can happen the rest of the way. Here is how the first half came to an end.
@BRYKNO RHINOS (Bryan Knowles) 141, COCONUT PETE (Tom Fitzgerald) 75
Well, this is one way to get his first win. The Rhinos, winless through the first six weeks of the season, stampeded to his first victory on the year by putting up the highest point total of the week. Thirty-one and half from Calvin Johnson, 17 from Ryan Mathews, and 15 from Marshawn Lynch got him off to a great start. And the returns of Jake Locker and Rob Gronkowski, who combined for 36 more, gave Knowlesy his first sense of optimism all year.
Up 37 points, with Freeman, Wayne, Hillman, and Vinatieri left to play against Broncos D. Could this be my first @XNSports league win?
— Bryan Knowles (@BryKno) October 20, 2013
Heading into Monday night, it was all but wrapped up for him. But he still wouldn’t put the cart in front of the horse.
I’m 136-75 in the @XNSports league, I have Josh Freeman, and my opponent is out. …still not calling it.
— Bryan Knowles (@BryKno) October 21, 2013
Cautiousness was probably the right move at that point because if there was any player who could lose 62 in a single game, it might just be Freeman. As badly as he played that night, though, he still managed to pick up five points. And the @Brykno Rhinos had their first win of the year. It’s too bad he had to waste such a good team effort on a week that he didn’t really need it. The Cocos went loco in Week 7, setting a new mark for futility. The 75 points were the lowest of the year by anyone. Robert Griffin III’s 25 points were a full third of his team’s output. Ben Roethlisberger’s 12 was the only other double-digit mark for his squad. Arian Foster, Larry Fitzgerald, Tony Gonzalez, Bilal Powell, and the Denver DEF all combined for seven points. Just seven. This week, Coconut Pete turned into a Bahama Mama.
MY BUDDY AND ME (Dave Major) 133, THE WINTER CLASSICS (Chris Blanchard) 126.5
At 2-4 and desperate for a win, The Classics looked to be heading there. He held an eight-point lead with only the Monday night laugher between the Giants and Vikings left. Blanchard still had Minnesota kicker Blair Walsh remaining, who would surely be able to pick up at least a couple field goals against an awful New York team. Meanwhile, Major was left with the desperation play of Peyton Hillis. There was no way Chris could give this one up. Well, Walsh managed just a singular extra point, and Hillis produced 81 total yards and a touchdown. As ugly as Hillis may have looked, it still added up to 15.5 points and a win for The Cronies.
10 days ago, Peyton Hillis was a volunteer high school football coach. Last night, he was the top performer on Monday Night Football.
— ESPN (@espn) October 22, 2013
Ouch. That’s going to sting for Chris for a while. Losing because of a volunteer high school football coach? Good luck getting over that one. Actually, it wasn’t just Hillis that did in Jack Frost. Peyton Manning, A.J. Green, and Harry Douglas combined for nearly 75 points themselves. Blanchard, meanwhile, had seven players hit the double-digit point mark, led by Andy Dalton’s 26. Now sitting in 10th place, he’s got some work to do if he wants to get back into the playoff picture.
BLURRED GOAL LINES (Tony Consiglio) 123.5, FANTASY FOUNDATION (Rich Hribar) 114
I was going to do whatever it takes to win this one because, much like Kramer in karate class, I take no mercy on children. Rich and his son were in a position to win, too. I jumped out to an early lead thanks in large part to the fact that most of my starters played in the 1:00 games and everyone had finished before the Sunday night game began. With Rich getting 22.5 from Roy Helu, I thought he was in great position to knock me down a peg.
@LordReebs @XNSports Great start. It’s looking good for you. Close so far, but you have too many good players left. I’m drowning!!!
— Tony Consiglio (@TonyConsiglio12) October 20, 2013
Heading into the Denver-Indianapolis matchup on Sunday night, I held a 29.5-point lead. With his Wes Welker, Trent Richardson, and Victor Cruz left to play, I thought I was finished for sure. Even with a one-point dud from Richardson, Welker’s 12.5 still got him to within striking distance for Cruz. I was already chalking this one up to another loss, but I didn’t let on, even when Mini Hribar tried to get into my head.
@LordReebs Well I’m hoping for a mild salsa type of night. It’ll be close. Good luck to you and the little man, too! pic.twitter.com/ua2DYNT34U
— Tony Consiglio (@TonyConsiglio12) October 22, 2013
You’d better believe I taunted the House of Reebs with literal weak sauce. And it worked. Cruz’s 7.5 weren’t enough to get him the win and I took home another W. I have two new additions to thank for that. While Matthew Stafford led my team with 26 points, my newly-acquired Aaron Rodgers and my waiver wire pickup Jarrett Boykins contributed 43. Thank you, Packers, for allowing me to continue to crush 8-year-old dreams.
FIFTY SHADES OF CATS (Felipe Melecio) 121.5, 4TH AND GOAL (Neil Parker) 121.5
This one became the Sister-Kissing Bowl. Ties are always awful. Especially in fantasy football. And even if it’s not your own team involved in one. Just being in a league in which a tie occurs is terrible. And we can all blame it on Hakeem Nicks. He needed a mere 3.5 points to give Felipe the win. His teammate Hillis, who was out of football shape and was just hunting on his Tennessee ranch a few days earlier, picked up 15.5. Nicks was getting nothing done, and it was getting to Fifty.
PASS IT TO NICKS, GODDAMMIT! #FantasyFootballProblems #ViKingsvsGiants
— Felipe M (@pathological_h8) October 22, 2013
Nicks finished with two catches for 28 yards and three points. The exact amount needed for a tie. One more catch or two more yards and there would have been no tie. Even one fewer catch or nine fewer yards and there would have been no tie. Instead, there was a tie.
A tie in #fantasyfootball is the worst. I thought this was America? When did #soccer start messing with my sport? #FantasyFootballProblems
— Felipe M (@pathological_h8) October 22, 2013
Seriously. Wrong football. Andrew Luck was the high scorer in this matchup with 29 points for Neil. Frank Gore led the way for Felipe with 23. But the story of this one is that there was a tie. They should both be ashamed.
KEEPIN HEADS RINGIN (Michael Clifford) 121.5, MAKE IT WAYNE (Igor Derysh) 108
What’s the deal with the 121.5-point total this week? Heads would have been ringing, all right, if there was a way that a three-way tie would have occurred this week. Clifford escaped, though, thanks to lucking out with a matchup against the Wayne Makers. Sitting at .500 through the first four weeks of the season, Igor has steered his ship straight down with three straight losses. It was a pretty disappointing week all around for him. Adrian Peterson picked up just five points, Tom Brady and Eli Manning combined for only 19 from the quarterback position, and his Panthers DEF scored nearly a fifth of his team’s points. Eric Decker was The Heads’ standout on Sunday, with eight catches for 150 yards. They are still managing to win even after having drafted the disaster that is David Wilson and the peanut brittle that is DeMarco Murray. Fred Jackson and Le’Veon Bell have helped Mike adequately fill those spots. But this week, they nearly contributed to a tie if the schedule had been a bit different. So he just decided to rub it in since he was on the outside looking in.
@naparker77 nice tie in the @XNSports LoC by the way. First I’ve seen this season in any of my leagues.
— Michael Clifford (@SlimCliffy) October 22, 2013
I can only assume calling it a “nice tie” was sarcastic. I know it gets cold in Canada, but I thought the brain freeze comes a little bit later on in the season. I’m sure he wouldn’t have been so pleasant about it had he been the one with the “1” in the “T” column.
STUDFELDSVILLE (Salvatore Stefanile) 120, DERWOOD #DEGENERATES (C.D. Carter) 110
The hits keep coming for Sal and his band of studs. By taking down the #Degenerates, the Villagers won their sixth in a row after an opening week loss. He should probably be thanking C.D. for playing a part.
@CDCarter13 Thanks, Denny.
— Salvatore Stefanile (@2QBFFB) October 22, 2013
Even if he was thanking him for something else, it should be reiterated here. That’s because there were some Degenerative quarterbacks in Derwood this weekend. C.D. got -1 from the two quarterback spots. Jay Cutler was knocked out of the game with the -1 points, and C.D. was also forced to start Terrelle Pryor, who was on his bye week. Such can be the perils of a 12-team, 2-QB league.
I must admit that 2-QB leagues are an entirely different animal. Much respect for @2QBFFB for analyzing a very different game.
— C.D. Carter (@CDCarter13) October 23, 2013
So even some great fantasy football analysts can still run into speed bumps in 2-QB formats. And even with all but one of his non-QBs posting 7.5 points, including Vincent Jackson’s 30, he still came up short. Sal nearly matched Jackson’s 30 with 29 of his own from Matt Forte. It helped make up for the disappointing performances from DeSean Jackson, C.J. Spiller, and Stephen Hill, who combined for 7.5 points. It was still enough for the Steffies to earn a league-high sixth win.
CURRENT STANDINGS
