The Kitchen Sink

We've had some blockbuster trades in our history, but has there ever been in four-for-one?! Fueled by missing the playoffs, Dirty Birds' GM Jon moved quickly to blow up his team. After firing off multiple emails, he found a willing trade partner: Ante Up. Searching for another franchise caliber player, Jon and Jae quickly agreed on a trade. LeSean McCoy for Roddy White, C.J. Spiller, Alfred Morris, and Cecil Shorts.

Immediately a firestorm of controversy arose as the commissioners were called in to evaluate the fairness of such a transaction. On paper, it definitely seemed lopsided, as McCoy was not only currently injured, but engaged in a somewhat subpar season. In fact, both Spiller and Morris, at the time of this writing, were ranked higher than McCoy on the running back charts -- numbers six and tenth respectively. In addition, Roddy White has been a top ten receiver all season, while Shorts has been a free agent revelation, especially as he's been heating up with four straight games of 15+ points.

Digging a little deeper though, it was revealed that the trade was an ideal win-win for both sides. Ante Up needed to flank Aaron Rodgers and Ray Rice for a deep playoff run, something that having four new productive players will help with. The mega-trade immediately makes Jae a dark horse contender for the championship.

Meanwhile the Dirty Birds had a lot of extra talent on their roster, despite suffering from inconsistency and pathetic showings all season. Moving four players for one was no problem, as long as that returning player was someone like McCoy. An opposing GM, who wasn't against the trade, summed it up thusly: "McCoy's twenty four, he's the centerpiece of a franchise, and I have been trying to pry him away from Ante Up for years." The move will allow the Dirty Birds to pair McCoy with Adrian Peterson, potentially formed the best backfield tandem in the league.

The opposing view on the trade noted that C.J. Spiller is up-and-coming himself, so a trade with perhaps just him and Roddy would have sufficed. "Not even draft picks? Why couldn't the trade be consumated over the off-season? This upsets competitive balance for the playoffs! Conspiracy theorists could point fingers at the owners who now fear Ante Up, or perhaps at Dirty Bird's management, who has griped privately about "doing everything in our power to insure that Buffy and Chunky Monkeys don't win another title!"

Time will tell if this trade was indeed lopsided, but until then, we here at CTDB TV will be on the lookout for more blockbusters. Rumors are that this will be a wild off-season!

Who's In, Who's Out

Inscrutable Drama Kings Division

What We Know: This late in the season, bunch of seats are usually up for grabs but we have unusual clarity going into this last week. Buffy has locked up the top seed with a first week bye (probably did that like two weeks ago) while the Monkeys will be playing Ante Up in the first round of the playoffs.  The Monkeys are clearly peaking and will look to carry that momentum over against a depleted Ante Up team who will barely eek out a win this week despite scoring less than 80 points.

What We Don’t Know: Not much. The seeding might change between the Monkeys and Ante Up but besides draft positioning, there’s little that matters here. The Dirty Birds might’ve figured into the playoff picture but a loss to the Phreaks in Week 12 knocked them out of the race.


Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses Division

What We Know: This is where the story gets saucy. We know that the Jubas, Phreaks (the Phreaks?!), and the Battle Angels are all in.  Gang Green and Fobsters are now just trying to figure out draft order.

What We Don’t Know: Who gets first round bye? The Jubas had a stranglehold on the top seed until a two game slide really put  them in a pickle. We know the top spot will go either to the Phreaks or the Jubas at this point.  Depending on how much the Phreaks score tonight with Brown and Jackson, the two could be neck and neck in terms of points scored entering week 13 (points scored will be the tie break between the two as they are even in head to head and overall record).  Both the Jubas and Phreaks are playing struggling IDK teams and so both have a shot at winning which means this will come down to points scored in Week 13. The Battle Angels will be the third team in the playoffs.

Playoff Push: Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses

Three weeks left in the regular season and let's take a quick look at where everyone is headed shall we? The playoff spots are pretty much locked in on the Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses division but there's an outside chance for a wild card battle over in Inscrutable Drama Kings. Let's go!

Fat Jubas (7-3)
Already matching their win total from last season with seven victories, Eric's team is poised to double up in division crowns. They have a team game lead and is the highest scoring team in Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses by a wide margin. After shooting out of the gate with four wins, they stumbled a bit before recovering with another three win streak. With Cam Newton a bit shaky this season, much of the heavy lifting has been on the deep speed of Vincent Jackson, Eric Decker, and Torrey Smith. Chris Johnson is finally back but there is literally non one behind him as Darren McFadden is still hurt and nobody else has stepped up. The good news is that the incredible Bears defense has been a huge advantage and are one of the primary reasons for Eric's march to the top this season. The big question will be if the Fat Jubas can avenge last year's Super Bowl loss to Buffy…

Philadelphia Phreaks (5-5)
Last year this team had only four wins total but now they are poised to enter the playoffs. In fact, Ping's squad is a little bit on fire. Four century games and four wins from weeks six through nine, and also home to the new belle of the fantasy ball: Doug Martin. Having rookies Martin and Robert Griffin III on board has rejuvenated this franchise and they are dark horse contenders, perhaps for the first time in their history. RB Marshawn Lynch has been a top six performer and if DeSean Jackson, Mike Wallace, and Jeremy Maclin can inject some explosiveness to the air game, the fans in Phreak land could have a lot to celebrate soon. We wish Justin Blackmon had emerged some this season, as that could be one of the best QB-RB-WR rookie classes in CTDB history. Still, what a haul!

Battle Angel (5-5)
Vu's team got into second place in this division despite being under 0.500 and it's possible they -- or someone else -- could do it again. They have righted the ship by going 3-1 in recent weeks and will now let Drew Brees lead them to the post-season. It's troubling that Brees has nobody supporting him, as the rest of the roster is devoid of firepower. For example, young Andre Roberts is leading a WR corps in points, despite having Andre Johnson, Sidney Rice, and Mike Williams around -- and Greg Jennnings out. It's true that Rice has come into his own again recently but not one of these receivers has cracked the top twenty at their position. Same thing with the running backs. Fred Jackson and DeAngelo Williams have not been the answer. Still, Brees has clearly been good enough to get this team to five wins and Vu is will see how far he can get in the playoffs with almost literally no running game.

Gang Green (3-7)
This team is in freefall. After mustering only five wins last year, the Greenies are headed toward a similar fate this season. All this after winning the championship in 2009. Has Greg finally lost the magic touch? With a five game losing streak this year, it's possible. The good news is that while one Manning brother (Eli) has slumped, the other has been outright amazing recently. Brandon Marshall has also been a revelation, reunited with Jay Cutler. He the second best WR this year, by a wide margin. Frank Gore has had a bounce back year too, and Stevan Ridley has totally eclipsed sad sacks Ahmad Bradshaw and Shonn Greene. And Steve Johnson and Hakeem Nicks should be fine as the second and third receivers -- if healthy. Here's the kicker: during that five week losing streak, Gang Green faced century opponents each time, and four of those games were against opponents who scored 120+ or better. Heck, Greg even lost 137.2 - 137.8 to Chunky Monkeys in WK5, likely our closest and highest scoring matchup ever. That's something to hang his hat on, right?

Fobsters (3-7)
Jimmy's squad snuck into the playoffs last year with a losing record but a 0-3 cold open following by their current four game losing streak has dashed this year's post-season hopes. Much like the Battle Angels, this team has one star quarterback - Tom Brady -- and a bunch of lesser lights. Willis McGahee and Michael Turner are erratic at best, and McGahee hasn't even played much for Fobsters. Losing Jordy Nelson to injury has hurt a lot, and while Dwayne Bowe, Steve Smith, Antonio Gates, and Dez Bryant have had their explosive games, they're hardly sure things week to week.  The Fobsters made a surprise run to the Super Bowl in 2010, so they've had some success recently. Perhaps they can get back to those glory days with a Toilet Bowl win, as a way to salvage another lost season?

Playoff Push: Inscrutable Drama Kings

Buffy (9-1)
To be honest, it would be tough to stomach a year where Buffy came off a championship and then went undefeated during the next season. That dystopia came very close to happening. After ripping off nine wins, it took a Herculean WK10 from Chunky Monkeys just to stop the streak. Whew! Buffy has been this year's top scoring team, gone over the century mark every week save one, and features the best RB and WR in the game: Arian Foster and A.J. Green. On top of that, there's a ton of depth with Matt Forte, Victor Cruz, Wes Welker, and Miles Austin. Quarterback could be a semi-weakness, but really, Joe Flacco, Jay Cutler and Andy Dalton have been good enough all year. So, Roger is poised to become the first back-to-back CTDB champion ever. Who's scared?

Ante Up (6-4)
Ante Up was second place in this division last year and they're headed toward the same fate this year. Clearly they have regular season success on lock with Aaron Rodgers, Ray Rice, and LeSean McCoy leading the way. However, Ante Up can be a bit erratic as they've been subject to a crop of receivers that are serviceable but tend to be a bit up and down. James Jones, Denarius Moore, Brandon Lloyd, and Lance Moore are mainly B-level WRs but as a fleet, they should be good enough to get Jae's team to the conference finals. The question is if they'll be able to fight through and get some post-season success this year. This top heavy team is too good not to challenge for a championship soon.

Chunky Monkeys (5-5)
After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history last season, the Monkey are poised to return, albeit as a lower seed. Surprisingly, the traditional strong ground game has been eclipsed by the passing game of Matthew Stafford, Reggie Wayne, Calvin Johnson, and Julio Jones. But it's not like the running game has disappeared completely. Trent Richardson and Jamaal Charles are both in the top dozen overall RBs -- although Charles has faded badly recently. Ryan Mathews is proving not to be a franchise caliber player, and he will now cede top back of the future status to Richardson, who looks like a genuine stud. Evan's team is on a streak of three century games -- and just ruined Buffy's undefeated season -- so he's building good steam for a post-season upset or two.

Dirty Birds (4-6)
We've already documented the travails of the Dirty Birds this season. Great on paper, terrible in reality. Matt Ryan and the passing game are fantastic, with Roddy White, Rob Gronkowski, and Tony Gonzalez all performing as top ten WR/TEs, and Adrian Peterson has been hot like fire recently. Despite all that, Jon only has an outside shot of making the playoffs -- if they can keep winning. It's safe to say that this season has been disappointing after management began the year with championship aspirations. The Birds have gone over 100+ in each of the last five weeks but that has only resulted in three wins. Tough times. The trade lines are humming as the Dirty Birds contemplate their future.

Tiiite End Jammers (3-7)
After going 5-8 last year and dwelling in the cellar, Lei could repeat that performance this year. Four straight losses from weeks six through nine doomed them. There's an ultra strong receiving group here with Percy Harvin, Marques Colston, and Demaryius Thomas, but the lack of a ground game has weakened Lei's offensive attack. DeMarco Murray, Reggie Bush, and the injured Maurice Jones-Drew haven't cut it. Despite contributing the most points so far at the QB position, the Jammers just cut Ben Roethlisberger, clearing the way for Tony Romo to start again. After a mid-season slump, Romo has posted 20+ points in four of his last five games so he'll stabilize the team post-Big Ben. If they pull it together fast, the Jammers can aim for a rousing victory in the upcoming Toilet Bowl!