Game of the Week
ChamPeons vs. Naj Davenport's Poop (-22)
We may have touched on it here before, but these two teams usually play a pretty close game...Historically, both teams have identical 5-5 records from Week 10-Week 14...Neither of these teams has lost consecutive games this season; one will finally experience back-to-back defeats this game...After a 0.75 win in Week 1, Champ is 4-1 lifetime against Andy, the only team with a winning record against Viano.
News and Notes, CHM
Champ's QB carousel stops on Original Snake this week, as he takes on the hapless Raiders. Champion has done a nice job since Daunte Culpepper died, not making any blockbuster deals, but rather finding decent options with great matchups on the wire. It's worked well so far. Corey Dillon replaces Laurence Maroney this week, which is the right call as long as Dillon gets the goal line looks. Both Julius Jones and Dillon have good matchups on the ground. Joseph Addai is questionable. I also love that Champ's smack talk is a relatively obscure Sports Night reference.
News and Notes, NDP
I couldn't be any more sold on Viano's team an elite squad. Has averaged a robust 116 points since a subpar week one, and has been the most consistent team through that time frame. The 4th overall pick in this year's draft, Mike Bell, gets his first start since week 3 in our league, and as long as Tatum doesn't sneak up and steal 14 carries, has the potential for a monster game against the Raiders. Chris Henry gets his first start for NDP, replacing the questionable Greg Jennings. Todd Heap is also questionable.
On Deck
Madd Skillz vs. Tice's Partyboat (+23)
The teams come into play winning their last 6, combined...SKL has averaged 159.31 points over the last four weeks, and has a history of big games against the Wolfman...TPB has won 5 of their last 6, bringing them over .500 for the first time all season...Schillinger is 5-2 against Wolf through their careers, Schillinger winning the last five.
News and Notes, SKL
Ran into some WR depth issues last week, forcing a last second pickup into the lineup, and this week acquired some insurance with both Terry Glenn and Joe Horn on the injury report again. Got Reggie Brown from Baron for a draft pick, and Brown is in the WR3 spot as of now vs. WAS. A lot of attention will be paid to the SD-CIN game with 4 major players going in that one, a good matchup for the Chargers, but less so for the Bengals. Chester Taylor and Horn are questionable, while Glenn is probable.
News and Notes, TPB
One of the hottest teams in the league over the past four weeks heads into a major Week 10 clash with Maurice Jones-Drew as their highest scoring RB. MJD and Ruben Droughns have good matchups on the ground; Michael Vick and Mike Furrey also go against weak opponents. The Partyboat is pretty much in do-or-die mode as any loss from here on out is extremely costly. Kellen Winslow is questionable.
The 3 Spot
Who is Ron Mexico vs. The Slumpbusters (-22.5)
WIRM comes in after a career high score last week and has won 2 of 3 since starting 0-6...Eli averages 131 points in week 10, and has a 1-1 record...The Willis McGahee bowl is off, as this would have been Willis' first game against his former owner, who hates him. McGahee fell victim to one of Eli's famous voodoo dolls last week...5 players take the field in the STL-SEA game, with SLM owning three Rams and WIRM fielding two Seahawks...Eli is 2-1 vs. Dave all-time, winning the last two.
News and Notes, WIRM
Tony Romo has earned it; his first VUFSA start comes this week against the Cardinals. Maurice Morris had a very nice game last week, and gets another good matchup this week against STL as his window as a starter closes. Just once, I would like to see Marques Colston occupy a starting spot other than TE, preferrably when I next play Tomke. Kevan Barlow, Reggie Bush and Muhsin Muhammed are all probable this week.
News and Notes, SLM
What was once the unquestioned best WR corps in the league is now in a state of flux with Santana Moss' injury and Randy Moss' uncertainty. Antonio Bryant has a good matchup against Detroit, while Torry Holt and Roy Williams also have nice matchups and make up for the uncertain WR3. Warrick Dunn and Steven Jackson also have nice opponents this week. Tatum Bell and Santana Moss are questionable this week, and neither is in the starting lineup as a result.
Batting Cleanup
Father Abraham vs. Fresh Legs (-9.5)
Baron is just 3 wins behind Lincoln on the VUFSA's all-time list, and can creep even closer to 8th with a win here...After averaging 118 points in the previous three weeks, FL put up just 91.50 in a week where 97 would have netted a win...The two teams have lost a their last 7 games, combined...Baron and Lincoln are 1-1 vs. one another after Souzek notched a 105.75-99.75 win in Week 1.
News and Notes, FA
Donovan McNabb and Anquan Boldin return to a lineup that was good without them. Leon Washington will also get added back to the RB rotation, where Jamal Lewis and Fred Taylor have been very, very good the last two weeks. I don't know if there's a streakier WR in the league than Joey Galloway right now, but when he's on he's really, really good. Taylor has a good matchup with HOU, and McNabb will likely throw all over the WAS secondary. Outside of the season-ending injuries from Domanick Davis and Amani Toomer, this team is healthy. Fred Taylor is listed as probable, and will play.
News and Notes, FL
Baron is seriously looking towards the future from here, and the potential to harvest his stable of solid, veteran backs and turn them into a stud is there. Deuce McAllister, Ahman Green and Thomas Jones should all be looked at by contenders looking to solidify the RB corps, as long as they're willing to give up some young talent and/or a top three draft pick. A move like that with Champ (has young talent and could use a boost) makes sense for both sides, to me. Doug Gabriel could have a big game as Tom Brady looks to rebound against a weak Jets defense, while Alge Crumpler should stay hot against CLE. Baron has four offensive starters on the injury report, most notably Brian Westbrook, but he should be fine coming off the bye.
The 5 Hole
The Nihilist Marmot vs. Cellar Dwellers (+32)
Both teams enter the game on four game streaks, TNM a winning, CD a losing...Last week, Eli and I picked the spread on the TNM win perfectly, a first for the rookie handicappers...Week 10 is far and away Andrew Stem's best week- recording 138.13 points with a 2-0 record through 2 seasons...Radcliffe is similarly conistent in Week 10s, going 1-1 with a 109.50 and a 109.25 in 2 seasons...JR holds a commanding 4-2 career edge over Stem, including a 27.50 point win in Week 1.
News and Notes, TNM
The ever-attentive Radcliffe swooped in and snatched up Anthony Thomas last Sunday, and now the A-Train could be a starter through the VUFSA playoffs. He brings added stability to a team that was tiring of Travis Henry and is still leery of DeShaun Foster now that DeAngelo Williams is healthy. A few weeks ago, I had throw dirt on JR's QB situation, claiming it stable with Rex Grossman, and now I'm not so sure. The Colts sisters have a nice matchup this week. JR's team is 100% healthy.
News and Notes, CD
Should get Larry Fitzgerald back this week, although that good news is tempered by the Bitchass Burress' injury. Shaun Alexander could be back as early as next week, pushing Mewelde Moore and Justin Fargas back to the bench. Red-hot Kevin Jones gets to play agains the 49ers this week and is primed for another big game. Tom Brady should also register a positive number this week. Most of Stem's injuries on the bench, although LaMont Jordan is probable again.
12 comments:
Just to clarify - Champ's smack talk is not a reference to Sports Night, I'm pretty sure. It's instead a reference to this guy (#20), a player for the Brockport hockey team I stumbled across during some game prep for the big Manhattanville-Brockport game, and who I had confused with Gordon Bombay of Mighty Ducks fame.
Doing so, I texted Champ to tell him of the coincidence, what with Champ being the Mighty Ducks fan he is. Of course, I blew the reference and it turns out that I had the wrong Gordon which Champ quickly pointed out to me, again, being the Mighty Ducks fan he is.
Only then last week I was watching Old School on a bus trip back from upstate New York and noticed this guy, the real Gordon Pritchard and the man I was thinking of while prepping for the Brockport-Manhattanville game and texting Champ. Is there a Gordon Pritchard in Sports Night? Maybe, but who really watched that show anyway?
Wow.
Hello, Andy Viano. How's Manhattan?
Sports Night was the out and out Balls. Gordon from Sports Night was played by the immortal Ted McGinley. However, upon further research, I found his last name was not Pritchard, and I'm assuming that I had him confused with the Dean Cheese.
As bad as it feels to be so very, very wrong, it's good to know that at least on person outside of Drew, JR and Eli read the blog.
Have I ever been out of the five-hole for two consecutive weeks before?
Also, I'm convinced that the two greatest songs of all-time are "How Can We Be Lovers If We Can't Be Friends" by Michael Bolton and the cover of "Holy Diver" by Killswitch Engage.
Dammit, Tomke. How can you ignore Breaking Benjamin's stirring rendition of Queen's "Who Wants To Live Forever?"
Also, "Always" by Saliva and "Quicksand" by Finger Eleven. And probably "Just Like A Pill" by Pink. And "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" by Puff Daddy and Ma$e.
I almost killed myself while reading your post, J.R.
But the dollar sign in Ma$e brought me back with laughter.
Any idiot that thinks can't "Can't Hold Me Down" was Puff Daddy's best work has never listened to the Godzilla soundtrack.
Hello to you as well Eli.
New York's a fine area, although to be technical I live in the Bronx and work in Westchester. Honestly, no one cares I'm sure, but I'm going to leave that part in there to seem like I know more about things and look important.
Bronx.
I feel more impressive every time I type it.
Ooops, there's an erection.
Still, I live in a nice neighborhood filled with Jews (not that there's anything wrong with that) and I had two Dominicans come hook up my cable, internet and phone yesterday and just throw shit all of the place and make a general mess. So, I've begun a blood feud with the Dominicans. We'll see how that goes.
Hope all is well in Gaelsburg and wherever the hell the rest of you bums are living. And yeah, I read the blog, I'm just not proud of that.
JR, your music taste is such total shit. Awful. Breaking Benjamin? FINGER ELEVEN!??!
That's my line, The Gun.
Also, I called Viano's office from mine like three times today. And I got his voice mail all three times.
Seriously, he thinks he can big time me now that he's in charge of Manhattanville.
When did all our leagues start using first names? Now how am I supposed to pick up defenders without ever having heard of them and not even knowing their first names?
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