The Syndicate

I must admit that I was feeling pretty confident when Tampa was being held to only six points. Their final score makes me a little nervous. Tonight's Dallas game will go a long way in telling me how much to worry.

DH's turn now.

Epignosis wrote:What am I picking and why?

We're picking teams to use as tie-breakers for the playoffs. Offensive stats only. Don't pick a team based on defense.


1. Metalmarsh89- Miami Dolphins
2. G-Man- Jacksonville Jaguars
3. Leggyorlyb- Atlanta Falcons
4. Turnip Head- Oakland Raiders
5. Epignosis
6. DharmaHelper
7. Golden
8 MovingPictures07


Cleveland Browns
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins

Leggy has picked Atlanta. It's Turnip Head's turn!

I'll keep refreshing and re-posting this list as we move through the draft. Leggy is up next.


1. Metalmarsh89- Miami Dolphins
2. G-Man- Jacksonville Jaguars
3. Leggyorlyb
4. Turnip Head
5. Epignosis
6. DharmaHelper
7. Golden
8 MovingPictures07


Atlanta Falcons
Cleveland Browns
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Golden wrote:I have the second best net and I come 7th.

I have the worst PA, but I'm in first.

I'll pick the Miami Dolphins.

I feel like a paper tiger, what with the weakest strength-of-schedule behind my #1 seed and my insane net points.

I will take Jacksonville. After what they did against Indy, I think they'll do well against Atlanta.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Are we picking offenses?

Yes. When drafting your tie-breaker teams, you should have offense in mind.

Interesting scores for the final week. Three of the match-ups saw negative points.



And here are the final standings for the season. I held a head-to-head tie-breaker over DH and Epi had a head-to-head tie-breaker over Golden.



Here is the playoff bracket and some expanded details as we roll into the playoffs.


2015 Quarterfinals:

1. G-Man (8-6; NE/PHI/KC) v. 4. Moving Pictures07 (2-12; DAL/TB/HOU)

2. Turnip Head (8-6; IND/PIT/STL) v. 3. DharmaHelper (7-7; BAL/CHI/NYJ)

1. Metalmarsh89 (9-5; SD/ARI/CIN) v. 4. Golden (GB/NYG/BUF)

2. Leggyorlyb (8-6; SEA/DEN/DET) v. 3. Epignosis (NO/MIN/CAR)



TIE-BREAKER DRAFT:
Everyone gets to draft a new team but those finishing with a higher seed draft first. There has to be some advantage to a better record, right? There were ties with the #2 and #3 seed teams' records, so I used NFL draft tie-breaker rules and seeded those slots by strength-of-schedule. Here is your draft order:

1. Metalmarsh89
2. G-Man
3. Leggyorlyb
4. Turnip Head
5. Epignosis
6. DharmaHelper
7. Golden
8 MovingPictures07

Just to refresh your memory, here are the eight undrafted teams we have to pick from:

Atlanta Falcons
Cleveland Browns
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins

There will be a new draft each week of the playoffs. I'm changing up the order of tie-breaking methods. Here they are now:

1. Points For
2. Net Points
3. Total Yards For
4. Passing Yards For
5. First Downs
6. Total Turnovers (fewest wins)

I highly doubt we'll need more than the first two tie-breaking methods, so keep those in mind when picking your tie-breaker teams. We haven't had any ties all season, which makes me doubt we'll have any in the playoffs but you never know.

Metalmarsh89- you're up first! None of the undrafted teams are playing Thursday night so we have plenty of time to make our selections.

Any predictions on those quarterfinal match-ups?

DharmaHelper wrote:I came here to fuck bitches and win playoff games, and I don't see any bitches.

Found some for you:

Here are the scores for last week's games. There were two games that were decided by just one point.



Here are the standings heading into the final week of our regular season.



I hold a three-way tie-breaker over DH and TH. I had to go all the way to common games records to break the tie between TH and DH. Barring a tie this weekend, I won't have to go so far to break any more ties. Epi has a head-to-head tie-breaker over Golden.

WEEK 14 MATCH-UPS:

DharmaHelper (7-6) v. Turnip Head (7-6)
Epignosis (6-7) v. Metalmarsh89 (9-4)
G-Man (7-6) v. MovingPictures07 (2-11)
Golden (6-7) v. Leggyorlyb (8-5)

MM89 and Leggy have locked up the top two seeds in the Civvie Conference, while MP07 has the #4 seed of the Baddie Conference all to himself. This final weekend determines all the pairings for the first round of the playoffs next week.

A few more details on the tie-breaker draft. Unlike the bye-week draft, the playoff draft will be in order from high seed to low seed. This means the #1 seeds from each conference will pick first and second and the rest of the draft goes from there. If two teams in the same seed position have the same record, then we use strength of victory to determine who picks first in that round. MM89 is guaranteed to hold the #1 overall pick.

For the playoffs, our tie-breaking teams will be used only if a tie occurs. In the event of a tie, the net score for the tie-breaking teams will be added or subtracted from your scores. If that doesn't break the tie, we'll use total points scored. Should that still not break the tie, I'm open to suggestions on what other game stats we can use (total yards, turnovers, etc.).

DharmaHelper wrote:

G-Man wrote:Hey all, I keep forgetting to bring my flash drive home, hence no pics of the scores and standings. Basically, there's a three-way tie right now between myself, TH, and DH. Epi and Golden are tied for 3rd over in the other conference.

There will be another draft coming. We'll be picking teams from our undrafted list to use as tiebreakers in case there are ties in the playoff games. That draft will possibly start on Monday. One more week of games. Who will finish where?

My comeback is legendary.

Don't get too cocky. I hold a head-to-head tie-breaker over both you and TH. All I need to do is win this weekend and I get the #1 seed. Interestingly enough, if that happens, then the first round of the playoffs for our conference will be the same matchups as this weekend.

Hey all, I keep forgetting to bring my flash drive home, hence no pics of the scores and standings. Basically, there's a three-way tie right now between myself, TH, and DH. Epi and Golden are tied for 3rd over in the other conference.

There will be another draft coming. We'll be picking teams from our undrafted list to use as tiebreakers in case there are ties in the playoff games. That draft will possibly start on Monday. One more week of games. Who will finish where?

Score update after the late afternoon games:

DH 13, MP07 -7
Epi 7, Leggy 28 (FINAL)
G-Man 43, TH -27
Golden 26, MM89 27 (FINAL)

MM89 needed a field goal out of the Chargers and they gave him exactly that. MM89 locks up 1st place in the Civvie Conference and Leggy locks up 2nd place (MM89 has a head-to-head tie-breaker in hand).

MP07 has to wait until tomorrow night to see if he gets another win. TH needs a combined 71 points in tonight's Steelers-Colts game in order to win.

Here are the scores after the 1:00 games (not taking the late afternoon scores into account):

DH 13, MP07 -7
Epi 7, Leggy 11
G-Man 0, TH -27
Golden 26, MM89 24

Epi will lose now because his Panthers defense plays his Saints offense, which prevents him from scoring any more points. MM89 just needs a field goal from San Diego to snag the win and clinch 1st place. All of my teams play the late afternoon games today and both of TH's offenses play tonight in Sunday Night Football. MP07 needs 21 points out of the Cowboys to beat DH.

Here are the scores. All fairly close games this time around:



Here are the standings. Only two weeks left on the regular season!


I hold a head-to-head tie-breaker over DH (beat him 2 out of 3 times) and Epi holds a head-to-head tie-breaker over Golden (again, 2 out of three wins). With MP07's loss, he is officially locked into 4th place in the Baddie Conference. MM89 isn't looking so invincible these days. The next two weeks should be exciting.

Week 13 Match-ups:
DharmaHelper (6-6) v. MovingPictures07 (2-10)
Epignosis (6-6) v. Leggyorlyb (7-5)
G-Man (6-6) v. Turnip Head (7-5)
Golden (6-6) v. Metalmarsh89 (8-4)

Here are the scores after the 1:00 games have all ended:

DH -3, G-Man -8
Epi 12, Golden -3 (Final)
MP07 20, TH -6
Leggy -14, MM89 24

Here are the scores from last weekend. The Baddie Conference almost got its revenge this weekend after last week's Civvie Conference sweep. Turnip Head took advantage of a weakened Metalmarsh (his Bengals defense played against his Cardinals offense). MP07 also finally broke his losing streak at Epi's expense.





I'm barely holding onto a strength-of-victory tiebreaker over Turnip Head. Leggy holds a significant head-to-head tiebreaker over Golden as well.

Now we're heading into the last three weeks of the season. They're all conference games, which could have an impact on tie-breakers and seeding for the playoffs.

WEEK 12 MATCH-UPS:
DharmaHelper (5-6) v. G-Man (6-5)
Epignosis (5-6) v. Golden (6-5)
MovingPictures07 (2-9) v. Turnip Head (6-5)
Leggyorlyb (6-5) v. Metalmarsh89 (8-3)

Metalmarsh89 wrote:G-Man / 5-5 / 332 PF / 175 PA
leggylorlyb / 5-5 / 143 PF / 174 PA

This league is nuts!

It's weird. When I've won, I've won by huge margins. When I've lost, it hasn't been by much. The most I've lost by is 13 points.

Golden wrote:It's not that leggy has had good luck. It's just that obviously karma shines favourably on the civvies. Thats what you get for being baddies.

We'll see if karma shines favorably on cowards this weekend.


It's Golden the Coward's turn to pick.

Like I said, all of the Civvie Conference teams won:


Which means the standings didn't change:



WEEK 11 MATCH-UPS:

DharmaHelper (5-5) v. Leggyorlyb (5-5)
Epignosis (5-5) v. MovingPictures07 (1-9)
G-Man (5-5) v. Golden (6-4)
Metalmarsh89 (8-2) v. Turnip Head (5-5)


It's still Epi's turn to pick a substitute team.

Epignosis wrote:What are the available teams?

Now that Atlanta has been claimed, the remaining choices are:

Jacksonville
Miami
Oakland
San Francisco
Tennessee
Washington


Cleveland is on bye this week.

Quick check in- I'll post the images of the scores and standings later tonight. Long story short, all four Civvie Conference teams won.

Here is the final supplemental draft order:

1. Turnip Head (already used Miami & Oakland)
2. Epignosis (already used Atlanta & Cleveland)
3. Golden (already used Cleveland & Tennessee)

All three of you need an offense for the weekend.

Any other week I'd be thrilled with Kansas City only giving up 13 points. This week, however, not so much. They hadn't let up a single point during the first three quarters for crying out loud. Epi edged me out by one stinking point.

You guys are awesome. Thanks for taking care of your supplemental picks on your own. As MM theorized, I have not had much time for extra-circulars lately. Baby is doing well. Mommy is dealing with post-delivery high blood pressure though, so we've had a week's worth of doctor's appointments between both ladies. Here are the scores and standings from Week 9:





Once again, I used NFL tie-breaking rules to determine the standings. It's getting close!




WEEK 10 MATCH-UPS:
DharmaHelper (5-4) v. Metalmarsh89 (7-2)
Epignosis (4-5) v. G-Man (5-4)
Golden (5-4) v. MovingPictures07 (1-8)
Leggyorlyb (4-5) v. Turnip Head (5-4)

I didn't count on winning this week, what with subbing in a defense, but if the Colts don't slow down, I may finally get buried. The Chip Kelly Experiment cannot be counted on to bail me out of a hole much deeper than the one I'm currently in.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:I've been meaning to ask, what do the last two columns in your charts mean, G-Man?

The "Top O's" column shows how many times each of us had one of the two highest-scoring offenses from the NFL weekend as our active offense. The "Top D" column shows how many times each of us had the best NFL defense active as our defense. I think I originally was going to use them as tie-breakers but then I came to fully understand all the NFL tie-breaking rules and don't really need them anymore.

Game summaries here.





Supplemental Draft picks:

1. MP07: San Francisco 49ers defense
2. DH: Oakland Raiders offense
3. Leggyorlyb: Miami Dolphins offense
4. G-Man: Jacksonville Jaguars defense
5. Metalmarsh89: Atlanta Falcons offense
6. Leggyorlyb: Washington Redskins defense


WEEK 9 SCHEDULE:

DharmaHelper (4-4) v. MovingPictures07 (1-7)
Epignosis (3-5) v. Leggyorlyb (4-4)
G-Man (5-3) v. Turnip Head (4-4)
Golden (4-4) v. Metalmarsh89 (7-1)

Predictions?

DH has selected the Oakland Raiders for his offense. It is now Leggyorlyb's turn to pick.

MP07 selected the San Francisco 49ers defense. Now it is DH's turn to pick.

I just PM'ed this to everyone in this week's draft, but here's the lowdown:

Draft order:

1. MovingPictures07
2. DharmaHelper
3. Leggyorlyb
4. G-Man
5. Metalmarsh89
6. Leggyorlyb

Here is a chart showing who we have already picked and which teams are still available to us. All eight undrafted teams are playing this weekend.



Either PM me with your pick or post it here.

Recaps, scores, and standings coming at lunchtime.

Also, here is what everyone needs to pick this week:

MP07: Defense

DH: Offense

Leggy: An offense and a defense (please specify which function you draft your first team for)

G-Man: Defense

MM89: Offense

Metalmarsh89 wrote:If my math is correct, I edged G-Man this week 40-36. That was close.

You got the right margin of victory. You beat me 50-46. I'm surprised I was able to do that well against you with a substitute offense. I was expecting to get blown away. I have to pick a substitute defense for next week, so I can see myself losing two weeks in a row.

The next supplemental draft is going to be pretty crazy. Five players picking a combined six substitute teams. I know MP07 has the first pick but #2 and #3 is up in the air between Leggy and DH. The NFL uses strength of schedule to determine draft order and I need to wait until MNF is over to calculate their respects SOS's. DH beat Leggy this weekend though, so do I use the head-to-head or SOS? I think DH's SOS may be weaker due to Leggy playing against MM89. What do you think?

No recaps this week, just scores and standings:



Now that Epi has won two games, last place has a new face. Tough break, MP.



WEEK 8 MATCH-UPS:

DharmaHelper (3-4) v. Leggyorlyb (4-3)
Epignosis (2-5) v. MovingPictures07 (1-6)
G-Man (5-2) v. Metalmarsh89 (6-1)
Golden (3-4) v. Turnip Head (4-3)

Golden picked the Tennessee defense. I am selecting the Atlanta offense. Still looking for my flash drive.

Hey all,

Sorry for the delay. At various points this week, I've either forgotten about this entirely or have just been too busy with baby prep to get to it. Now I seem to have misplaced the flash drive that all my league data is on. I probably left it at work. Here's a link to the schedules. Just look up Week 8. It's a non-conference week. Golden and I have to draft supplemental teams this week. Golden drafts first and needs a defense. I need an offense. I'll send him a PM.

A few quick notes on the Week 7 results:

-I beat DH
-Turnip Head beat MP07
-Epi beat Golden
-MM89 beat Leggy

Metalmarsh89 wrote:Nobody wanted Miami offense this week.

I guess I'll just make do with their defense.

Methinks you spoke too soon. They really let the Texans back in that game. Leggy finished with only 2 points for the week though, so you need four touchdowns from your offenses to tie. It's most likely a win for you as long as Arizona doesn't fall flat again this week.

Game recaps here.





Week 7 Supplemental Draft Order:
1) DharmaHelper (3-3)- needs an offense
2) Golden (3-3)- needs an offense
3) Leggyorlyb (4-2)- needs an offense
4) Metalmarsh89 (5-1)- needs a defense

Remember that you can only use an undrafted team once all season. Here is a chart of who we've drafted so far. I will update it every week.



WEEK 7 MATCH-UPS:
DharmaHelper (3-3) v. G-Man (4-2)
Epignosis (1-5) v. Golden (3-3)
MovingPictures07 (1-5) v. Turnip Head (3-3)
Leggyorlyb (4-2) v. Metalmarsh89 (5-1)

Both streaks are over! Epi won a game.

ebwop: scratch that, Chargers punting now.

Just 12 more now, with quite a bit of time left on the San Diego game. Chargers are on the move too.

Some quick updates- there's some intrigue afoot this week!

DH is up by 1 point over TH after the 1:00 games. It comes down to who scores more- Baltimore or Indy.

After the 1:00 games, Epi is up by 55 points over MM89. Epi's defense needs to avoid screwing up and he can get his first win by dishing out MM89's first loss. MM89 still has San Diego earning him points in the 4:30 game.

MP07 is done for the weekend. I need four touchdowns from New England and Philly to beat him.

Both Leggy's defense and Golden's defense left up 34 points, so it's all about their offenses.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

Golden wrote:

Metalmarsh89 wrote:That's because it's EZ!

That must also be why Epi is terrible at it. He only succeeds at things which actually require skill.

He's actually still 5th out of 8 in points scored. He's just been a victim of unfortunate scheduling. Same could be said for his fantasy team.

Scheduling is a big difference-maker. Epi scored at enough points each week to beat at least one team each week. He just wasn't playing that team. I think it's been a bit of a fluke that I've won big and lost small so far. That's the crazy part about this setup- you don't know who is going to continue to excel/suck for another year. Case in point- the Lions. Holy cow what a change from last year!

Also- here's the order for Week 6's supplemental draft:

1. MovingPictures07
2. Turnip Head
3. MovingPictures07

MP needs 2 offenses and TH needs a defense. One of the undrafted teams plays Thursday night, so hopefully you guys can make your picks quickly.


Also, the Oakland Raiders are on bye-week, so there are only seven teams to pick from in the supplemental draft:

Atlanta Falcons
Cleveland Browns
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins

Color commentary on the games here.





WEEK 6 MATCH-UPS:
DharmaHelper (3-2) v. Turnip Head (2-3)
Epignosis (0-5) v. Metalmarsh89 (5-0)
G-Man (3-2) v. MovingPictures07 (1-4)
Golden (3-2) v. Leggyorlyb (3-2)


Predictions?

Game recaps here.





Oops. Looks like I forgot to add the "Streak" heading on the Civvie Conference standings. Oh well. You get the point.

WEEK 5 MATCH-UPS:
DharmaHelper (3-1) v. Golden (2-2)
Epignosis (0-4) v. Turnip Head (1-3)
G-Man (2-2) v. Leggyorlyb (3-1)
Metalmarsh89 (4-0) v. MovingPictures07 (1-3)

Predictions?

Metalmarsh89 wrote:

G-Man wrote:Epi has the weaker record, so he gets to select first. Since he needs two substitute teams, he has to wait for a 'second round' of sorts. This gives us a selection order of:

So not only did I have to pick last twice in the pre-season draft, but I (presumably) have to pick last in the supplementary draft as well?

First place problems, MM. First place problems. #sorrynotsorry :P


Epi is up again for the third and final pick of the supplementary draft. I'll post the scores and standings at lunch. Here's who is left for Epi to select for his defense.

Cleveland Browns
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins

I can't post the full standings until tomorrow but all of our match-ups are officially over for the week. Leggy has one her offenses and her defense playing to night, which is just a wash.

Winners for Week 4:
DharmaHelper over Epignosis
Golden over G-Man
Leggyorlyb over MovingPictures07
Metalmarsh89 over Turnip Head


Since both teams playing tonight were drafted, we can start the Week 5 supplementary draft process now. Epignosis and DharmaHelper both need to make supplemental picks this week. Epi needs to pick both an offense to sub in for Minnesota and a defense to sub in for Carolina. DH needs to pick a defense to sub in for the Jets. Remember that you may only use an undrafted team once to substitute for one of your own. For example, I used Oakland this past weekend for a substitute offense. I cannot use Oakland again for either of my remaining bye-week sustitutes.

Epi has the weaker record, so he gets to select first. Since he needs two substitute teams, he has to wait for a 'second round' of sorts. This gives us a selection order of:

1. Epignosis
2. DharmaHelper
3. Epignosis

Here are the undrafted teams available for Week 5:

Atlanta Falcons
Cleveland Browns
Jacksonville Jaguars
Oakland Raiders
San Francisco 49ers
Tennessee Titans
Washington Redskins

The Miami Dolphins are on bye-week this week. Try to make your picks before Saturday if you can.

I've been thinking more and more about the playoff format for this league. I've made a poll to get a feel for where you folks are at. We can either have everyone make the playoffs and have the #1 seed play #4 and the #2 seed play #3 in the first round, or we can give the #1 seed a bye, have the #2 and #3 seeds play each other and not let the #4 seed in the playoffs. Which way makes more sense to you all?

I should have picked Atlanta instead of Oakland.

I'm going to select the Oakland Raiders as my supplementary offense for the weekend. I don't want to drag out my decision. I just hope the Bears are even worse on defense now that they've traded away some of their more expensive defensive players. That was a hard decision but I think Houston's defense will keep Atlanta from running up the score. Oakland put up big numbers against Baltimore's defense, so I hope they can do just as well against Chicago. I just need my other teams to step it up this week.

Epignosis wrote:I didn't think the Saints would be as bad as they've been, I thought Adrian Peterson would be more explosive, and I didn't count on Luke Keuchley being hurt.

The Saints were disappointing last year, so I guess I tempered my expectations for them this year. I still wish the Dolphins had signed Brees instead of Daunte Culpepper.

The Vikings looked a lot better last week, so they may be turning it around. The Panthers are pretty consistent on defense still. They're averaging only 16 points against per game, which is really good. As long as your defense holds up, you just need that offense to step it up another notch.

Epignosis wrote:God, I suck.

You didn't draft yourself any favors with the Saints, Vikings and Panthers, but it all depends on who those teams play each week. You may be able to snag a few wins during the stretch of bye-weeks. That should lead to some very interesting results. I'm torn between using the Atlanta Falcons this week (their hot but they play the Texans and their formidable defense) or the Oakland Raiders (who may have a their best shot at a blowout this week against the Chicago Fire Sale Bears).

There aren't very many diamonds in the rough lurking in those undrafted teams. A few of us thought the Dolphins would be much better than they've been. I haven't had the heart or stomach to put my Dolphins garden flag outside yet. It may stay in storage for yet another year.