The Syndicate

Yeah, if Epi can't win this week with MM relying on one offense (the other offense and his defense cancel each other out), then there's something seriously wrong.

Another prediction:

DH v. TH
OFFENSE:
Baltimore has a soft opponent this week, which should help DH considerably. However, Chicago faces another solid defense in Arizona, so DH will rely heavily on Baltimore blowing Oakland out in order to put up good numbers. Unless Chicago shakes the sloppy play, DH is effectively handicapped to 1.5 offenses instead of 2. On the other side, TH has Indy, which is looking to rebound in a big way. They're more than capable of rebounding here because they're up against the Jets, who may struggle to keep their offense on the field against a better team. Pittsburgh is up against the 49ers, which is hard to predict. It depends on whether you think San Fran's takedown of the Vikings says more about the strengths of San Fran or the weaknesses of Minnesota. I see Pittsburgh putting up about the same number of points as last week.

Slight advantage to TH.

DEFENSE:
TH's Rams play the Redskins. Major plus for TH there. DH has the Jets who looked great last week but that's because they were playing the hapless Cleveland Browns. On top of it, DH's Jets defense takes on TH's Indy offense, so for every point scored by Indy for TH, DH is losing the same number of points. I say big advantage for TH.

OVERALL:
Baltimore needs to light Oakland up like Las Vegas at night in order for DH to win. Seeing as Flacco is overrated, I'm inclined to favor Turnip Head in Week 2.

PREDICTION:
Turnip Head by a touchdown or more.

DharmaHelper wrote:Classic Mistake.

We'll see. I am, after all, no football expert. I'm extremely wary of my chances of winning after the Chiefs inability to close the deal last night.

Epi lost. Even though two of MM's teams canceled each other out, MM had Arizona, who scored 48 points. I am stunned.

I also see that my match against MP boils down to the final score of the Dallas-Philly game. If Dallas wins by a touchdown, we tie. Any more, MP wins. Any less or is Dallas loses, I win.

MP07 wins by three points. Golden needs Green Bay score a ton of points on Seattle tonight while holding Seattle to almost no points in tonight's game to win. DH v. TH will conclude on Monday night. If Indy can score 19 points tomorrow night, TH will win.

It''s been an interesting start to the season so far, no doubt!

Game recaps.





WEEK 3 MATCHUPS:
DharmaHelper (2-0) v. G-Man (1-1)
Epignosis (0-2) v. Golden (0-2)
MovingPictures07 (1-1) v. TurnipHead (0-2)
Leggyorlyb (2-0) v. Metalmarsh89 (2-0)

Here's a link back to who has which teams.

Predictions:

DH v. G-Man
Both of DH's offenses have tough opponents this week. My Eagles offense also plays his Jets defense. That doesn't inspire much confidence in my ability to cost him a lot of points and me gaining them at the same time. The Eagles are a wreck right now and I don't trust the Chiefs defense to do any better this week against Green Bay. New England might bail me out against the Jaguars but I'll need a 50+ point game from them to make up for the Eagles and the Chiefs. I just don't see that happening, so DH gets the win.


Epi v. Golden
Epi's defense plays one of his offenses (Carolina v. New Orleans) so that leaves him dependent upon Minnesota to win the week for him. Golden has Green Bay against Kansas City (who just choked all over the Broncos, who aren't looking all that sharp on offense), the Giants against the Redskins (hard to predict the outcome there), and the Bills defense going up against Miami, who haven't shown any indications of being the offensive threat they were branded as in the pre-season. A lot is up in the air for Golden, but the fact that Epi is relying entirely on the Vikings means Golden should walk away the winner.


MP v. TH
Man, this one has toss-up written all over it. Both of them have two teams cancelling each other out. MP has his Houston D going against his Tampa offense. TH has his Pittsburgh offense against the St. Louis D. That means it boils down to whoever scores more points on their remaining offense. MP has Dallas, who parted ways with their best RB in the off-season and are now down their starting QB and their #1 WR. They're also taking on the Falcons who might actually be pretty good this year. TH has Indy, who plays Tennessee. Which Titans team shows up? If I had to pick a winner, I'd lean toward TH only because the Titans looked bad Week 2.


Leggy v. MM
Leggy's Detroit D plays her Denver offense, leaving her with Seattle to win the game for her. Seattle plays the inept Bears, so she might have a chance if the Seahawks get their crap together. MM has San Diego offense against Minnesota and the Arizona offense against the 49ers. Both of those are favorable for MM. His Cincy defense would have to get blown out by the Ravens to keep this one close. MM by a mile.

Turnip Head wrote:DH vs G-Man: Clausen at Seattle? Riiiight. Patriots vs the Jags on the other side? This is the week that DH loses.

But you have to keep in mind that Philly is playing the Jets and the Chiefs are playing the Packers. I'm pretty sure the Chiefs are going to cost me a lot more points than the Eagles score. New England should kill the Jags but they'll have to dig me out of a hole. DH will probably get enough combined points to edge me by a touchdown or more.

Turnip Head wrote:I beat MP by 1 touchdown

I was watching for the Indy and Dallas game scores all through the 1:00 games. It was tense! Tough break for you with Big Ben. Unless he's 100% next game, that injury is going to seriously limit the Steeler's offense.

I have to draft a bye-week replacement for New England next week. Now I have to decide whether I want to try to win or tank it to possibly get a better team in a later bye-week draft. We'll see how the rest of Week 3 turns out before I make that call.

I'm suddenly feeling very confident about beating DH.

Metalmarsh89 wrote:After tonight's game, I'll be 1-7-1 in my regular fantasy leagues, but 3-0 in G-Man's EZ fantasy league.

I know Arizona has a better offense this year, but I didn't expect them to lead the league in scoring thus far.

True that but then again, they've only played the Saints, the Bears, and the 49ers. All three of those teams look to be bottom-feeders this season. Their next few games should be considerably more challenging. Even so, I don't look forward to playing against you one bit.

Hey all, sorry I forgot to post this on time. Game summaries here.






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


Also, I have to draft a one-week supplemental team this week because the Patriots are on bye-week. The undrafted Tennessee Titans are also on bye-week, so I have to pick an offense from the following list:

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

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.

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.

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.

I should have picked Atlanta instead of Oakland.

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 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.

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

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?

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?

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

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!

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.

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

ebwop: scratch that, Chargers punting now.

Both streaks are over! Epi won a game.

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)

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.

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

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

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)

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?

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

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

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

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?

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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. 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 (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.