SuperBowl XIII

Chunky Monkeys vs Battle Angel, 93.3 - 79.7
A championship match up defined by peaks and valleys.  There really is no other way to describe what we saw this past weekend in the thirteenth CTDB super bowl with a match up between long time Mt. Carmel friends, Vu's Battle Angels and Evan's Chunky Monkeys.

Similar to their last win, the Monkeys seemingly had etched out a smoothly paved win to their third title. The Dirty Birds found a way to beat the Jammers, who at the time, was one of the hottest teams in the league.  However, the victory came at a high price and the Birds found themselves severely handicapped with Adrian Peterson and Rob Gronkowski out. The number one ranked Monkeys found themselves matched up against a very undermanned Dirty Birds.  As expected, the Monkeys cruised to an easy victory mostly on the back of your 2013 fantasy MVP, Jamaal Charles.

The same could be said for the Super Bowl.  The Jubas were the number one team on the SMG division but somehow found  themselves on the losing end against the Angels. This left the Angels matched up against the goliath Monkeys. Adding insult to injury, Angel's quarterback, Drew Brees had a really tough road match up against Carolina (who the Angels also had on their roster) and the Angels had to scramble to find viable starters for BenJarvus Green Ellis and Brian Hartline -- both were barely startable.

Then came the extreme makeover. Battle Angels tabbed free agent running back Dennis Johnson as his flex player; Johnson was named the Texans starter just three days before the match up. Then Angels promoted Greg Jennings over Hartline, and followed that up by signing Andy Dalton and the Rams defense off the street. The insertion of Johnson and Jennings was just the beginning. Coach Vu then showed the hairiest set of cojones you'll see this side of Mississippi. Despite Brees and Carolina being the second best QB and DEF all year, coach Vu decided to bench both in favor of the Red Rocket, Andy Dalton, and Rams defense. This meant half of the starting roster was new, just in time for the big game.

The last two calls were brilliant. Commissioner Jon called the moves "genius." Dalton went on to throw for 366 yards and 4 TDs, good for 43 points. On the bench, Brees was pedestrian with only 17 points. This is the single best Super Bowl pick up ever. The Rams put up seven sacks and two fumbles good for another 15 points.

Then the Angels peaked. Dalton and the Rams were nearly 75% of the Angels production. No other player scored over 9 points. Despite this mediocrity, the Angels had a strong chance going into Monday Night Football -- coincidentally the last game ever at Candlestick Park -- needing less than 14 points from Vernon Davis.  The same VD who was the third best TE all year. Instead, Coach Vu got a big fat zero from Vernon. Three targets, no catches. Unbelievable.

And that's how it ended for the Angels; needing 14 to win, the Angels got the the bagel.  43 points from the free agent quarterback and zero points from the veteran starting tight end who's been on the Angels keeper list the past two years.

On the flip side, it was another successful rebuilding year for the Monkeys.  After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in team history in 2011, the Monkeys made it to the division championships in 2012 and found themselves in a familiar position this year with a shot at the ring.

The highest scoring team this year averaged nearly 120 points per week and was led by Jamaal Charles, far and away the best non-QB this year.  However, we shouldn't forget that the Monkeys also had the #1 and #2 receivers with Megatron and Josh Gordon (who the Monkeys signed off the street in WK2 after the Angels cut him!). Charles finished the fantasy season with 1,287 rushing yards, 693 receiving yards and 19 combined touchdowns.  That is LT-esque if you ask me.  Through the air, Megatron and Gordon combined for 164 catches for 3,056 yards and and 21 touchdowns.   No other combination was close.

The team overcame season ending injuries to Julio Jones and Randall Cobb, Shane Vereen was basically was on IR all year, and Trent Richardson basically should've been injured.  The rest of the team was supported by quarterback Russell Wilson -- who performed more than admirably -- and a rotating cast of receivers ranging from Torrey Smith, to Harry Douglas, to Michael Floyd. All of them got a couple starts and while none were able to show sustained success, it was more than enough.  In the flex, we saw the emergence of Shane Vereen and Giovani Bernard.  Pundits suspect we'll see one of the two on the keeper list next year.  It's important to note the success of the Monkey's 2013 supplemental draft. Bernard, Vereen and Smith were the first draft picks.  All of them stayed with the team the entire year and all three contributed significantly all year.

Looking ahead, the future is bright for the Monkeys.  The Monkeys survived without three keepers in Julio Jones, Randall Cobb and Trent Richardson.  If things go as expected, a receiver core with Megatron, Julio and newly found superstud Josh Gordon will form the strongest receiving core the Monkeys have featured yet.  Jamaal Charles will likely be the #1 overall pick in drafts next year and the flex we suspect will go to a young rising star in Gio Bernard.  If all goes well, this may be the best keeper roster we've seen from the Monkeys -- even better than the 2007 roster which included Peyton, LT, Larry Johnson and Terrell Owens.

The Monkeys will earn their third ring -- second in four years -- which ties them with Buffy.  This certainly re-establishes the Monkey as the team to beat in CTDB.  All hail the Monkeys!!

Playoffs: Super Bowl Preview

Here we are, our thirteen championship game! These two opponents last met in 2008 during Super Bowl VIII, when Battle Angel snuck out a 113-104 victory. Since then they've both been to the conference championships a few times, with Chunky Monkeys winning a title in 2010. (Fun fact: Monkeys went to five of six Super Bowls between 2005-2010, winning two.) After ceding dominance of the division to Buffy the past two years, Chunky is back in a heavily favored game to go for a third ring, which would tie them with Buffy. As for Battle Angel, if they can pull off the upset here, they'd join Fat Jubas, Dirty Birds, and Gang Green as two time champions. Let’s take a quick look at those match ups.

Chunky Monkeys (10-3) vs Battle Angel (8-5)
QB: Drew Brees versus Russell Wilson. We have it on good authority that Evan tried to move for another QB prior to the playoffs starting, wary of Wilson’s performances. It looks like he won’t have to worry as Wilson has been steady if not always spectacular. As for Brees, Mr. Always Spectacular has bounced back fully from a few under-20 point games. Brees always has the potential for a huge game, something Vu has to be praying for. EDGE: Battle Angel

RB: Is Jamaal Charles worth two other running backs? Yes! While his amazing weekend won’t likely be duplicated, Charles has been spectacular so far and will continue his post-season success.  It looks like Reggie Bush is semi-healthy again but he can’t match Charles’ explosiveness. It looks like Chunky Monkeys is going with rookie Giovani Bernard over Shane Vereen, and it’s hard to say if that’s the proper move. What we do know is that BenJarvus Green-Ellis will be lucky to eclipse double digits, making RB#2 at worst a wash. Historical note: Jamaal Charles led Monkeys to their last championship, in 2010. EDGE: Chunky Monkeys

WR/TE: Vernon Davis caught a devastating bomb last week to continue his solid past month of the season. However, can Brian Hartline and BenJarvus Green-Ellis give this team something more? Andre Johnson will certainly need to give more than 3.8 points for Battle Angel to win. They’re going to face off against Calvin Johnson, Josh Gordon, and Torrey Smith, who pretty much all outclass anything Angel have at their disposal. However, Megatron is coming off a week of the big dropsies, and Gordon and Smith could be semi-neutralized. Or they could blow up in an explosive game clinching powder keg. Chunky Monkeys have a much better receiving crew but Battle Angel could surprise with the right combination. EDGE: Chunky Monkeys

DEF/K: Panthers defense and JUSTIN TUCKER! combined for 36 points last week. They’re not going to match those numbers again but we’d still like to give them the spiritual advantage. Evan will have Bills defense (or Browns or Jaguars, so many DEFs on this team) and Matt Prater lining up but it doesn’t seem like a huge advantage either way. Vu may want to think about subbing Panthers with the newly picked up Rams though, as Carolina faces off versus New Orleans, making it a weird issue of wanting Brees to do well at the cost of Panthers defense. EDGE: Battle Angel, mainly for Tucker

Prediction: Battle Angel has won seven of their last eight while Chunky hasn't lost since WK9. Of course, Battle Angel took revenge on Fat Jubas last weekend and their worst lost of the season was a WK7 blow out by Monkeys. All signs point to Chunky Monkeys capturing their third championship but we’d like to call for an upset. Mainly because the person writing this article lost to Chunky last weekend, and is fearful of what it might mean for the CTDB universe if Evan wins again. Go Battle Angel, go!

Playoffs: Division Championship Recap

We had two wild games this past weekend.  The Monkeys cruised to an expected victory over the hobbled Dirty Birds while the Jubas suffered a season-ending choke-job against the Battle Angels.

Fat Jubas vs Battle Angel (109.7 - 77.3)
For the Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses division, the Jubas entered the match up as the prohibitive favorite.  The Jubas owned the best record in the SMG and had scored the most points averaging over 100 points per week. However, teams knew that the Jubas could be inconsistent.  Prior to this match up, the Jubas had two games where they stunk up the joint scoring 80 points or less.  In fact, the first game was against the Angels in Week 4 where the Jubas lost 72-133.  The week started ominously with the Jubas leading off with two Broncos, Eric Decker and Knowshon Moreno.  Knowshon had averaged over 20 pts per game in the 3 games leading up to this matchup while Decker was just 1 week removed from a ridiculous 4 touchdown game and was averaging over 30 points per game the last two weeks.  Then Thursday night happened. The Broncos threw up a dud against the Chargers on TNF and the two pair was only able to muster up 13 points. The rest of the weekend almost went as poorly.  Cam Newton was fairly pedestrian with 20 points on 270 yards passing and a TD.  Unfortunately, he was the high point man for the Jubas.  The only other touchdowns came from Alson Jeffrey and Vincent Jackson though both were held to under 80 yards. The nightmare was punctuated with a Saints D that produced negative 2 points.

For the Angels, there was little question going into Monday night that they would take the victory. Despite a 0.4 performance from Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis who failed to grab the lead for good on Sunday afternoon, the Angels had Reggie Bush and Justin Tucker on Monday to make up five points. They scored 37 points.  Tucker kicked a ridiculous six FGs to put up 20 points while Reggie scored a quick touchdown in the first drive to end the game up front.  The Angels are on quite the hot streak and have won seven of their last eight games. On to the Super Bowl!

Chunky Monkeys vs Dirty Birds (132.3 - 78.0)
For the Inscrutable Drama Kings divisional matchup, it was the Jamaal Charles show.  Jamaal had one of the best fantasy scoring days in history with five touchdowns.  JC had a relatively strange day as he only had twenty yards rushing -- though he did have one touchdown rushing -- but made up most of his days in the air with 195 receiving yards on eight receptions and a ridiculous four touchdowns.  JC's 55.5 points put him in the top ten fantasy scoring days in the last fifty years. Wow.

On the flipside, the Birds came in as severe underdogs. With Gronk and AP suffering catastrophic injuries the week before, the Birds came in extremely hobbled with very limited weapons.  Luck and LeSean were steady and posted 22 and 13 points respectively.  We did see an explosion of sorts from Kendall Wright who pulled down twelve grabs for 150 yards.  However, the rest of the team was putrid and scored an aggregate of 78 points.  It's worth noting that the Monkeys didn't have anyone score over 20 points besides Jamaal.  Something to keep an eye on....

Toilet Bowl IV

#3 Fobsters (4-9) vs #4 Athena Nike (2-11)
After both pulling off upsets to get to the Toilet Bowl finals, it was a smack down as old Chinese school foes Jimmy and Frank faced off for the chance at next year’s #1 pick. The game was over within the first few minutes as Fobsters came out of the gate strong and never let up. Tom Brady, Eddie Lacy, Dez Bryant, and Zac Stacy all went for over twenty-plus points on the way to a 140.4 to 65.9 beatdown. If only Fobsters had shown this kind of cohesion earlier on in the season, they would have been dark horse contenders. Instead, they’ll get to select high in next year’s draft — after being #1 last year, and selecting the useless Lamar Miller — and this Toilet Bowl win is their first win of anything in CTDB. We’re hoping this is the turnaround for Jimmy, as his team seems to be well stocked with valuable pieces after a long and arduous season. Congrats!

After last week’s season redeeming win, Athena Nike ran out of gas and played pretty much to the lows they’d experienced all season. Only Philip Rivers eclipsed double digits, and pre-season big guns CJ Spiller, Alfred Morris, Roddy White, Steve Smith, and Cecil Shorts combined for less than twenty points total. Heck, Ray Rice, the franchise RB on the team, wasn’t even on the starting lineup. The good news is that Michael Crabtree had a good game on the bench, and it’s possible he could be a keeper next year. It was a horrific 2013 season for Athena Nike, and they’ll hope to turn their fortunes around next year.

Playoffs: RD2 Preview

Well, that was a hell of a first week of post-season games wasn’t it? All four games were decided by ten points or less, and nearly everyone had a shot going into the late games. In the end, it was an upset win for Dirty Birds over Tiiite End Jammers, and a business-like dispatching of Philadelphia Phreaks by Battle Angels. We were hoping to see some fresh faces in the hunt for the Super Bowl but it seems like this wasn’t the year for Lei and Ping. Now our round one winners face off versus the heavily favored favorites, Chunky Monkeys and Fat Jubas. Let’s take a look.

Chunky Monkeys (10-3) vs Dirty Birds (7-6)
The Birds got a first round win but at a great cost: both Adrian Peterson and Rob Gronkwoski were injured and it looks increasingly like neither will be available for action. Jon’s team was saved by a huge LeSean McCoy performance last week — especially since Andrew Luck and his 43.5 points were on the bench — but it’ll be hard for McCoy to pull that trick off again. Can Peterson and Gronkowski’s replacements (likely Toby Gerhart and Jordan Cameron) help the Birds to another upset? It could be a tall order.

For the Monkeys, a week off was perfect as Calvin Johnson can avoid another snow game, plus Josh Gordon continues to be on absolute fire. And oh look, Giovani Bernard is now getting carries! Will Jamaal Charles still playing strong, Evan has a wealth of stars available. It would be a shock if they can’t get out of the conference finals and into another Super Bowl. An absolute shock. #reversejinx These two teams saw each other three times in a row during the divisional finals from 2007-2009. The Monkeys won the last two matchups (once on a tie-breaker) and they could make it three in a row with a win this weekend. #morereversejinx

Fat Jubas (9-4) vs Battle Angel (8-5)
In a rematch of 2011, Battle Angel faced off versus Fat Jubas coming off a bye in the division playoffs. Eric’s team won in one of the closest and best divisional games of all time, 119.65-117.4, and we’re hoping for a similar affair. Cam Newton versus Drew Brees is obviously the marquee matchup and it looks like Vu will enjoy a minor edge there. The problem is, his running backs are dinged up — Reggie Bush didn’t even play last weekend — while Eric’s Knowshon Moreno and Chris Johnson are guaranteed to play, and to likely play well. Even though BenJarvus Green-Ellis is on a bit of a touchdown streak (three in two games), he has only had three double digit games this year and can’t be counted on as a lead back.

Where does that leave Battle Angel? Well, frankly, it leaves them outmatched. Even the strength of their roster, Andre Johnson, Vernon Davis, and the suddenly hot Brian Hartline pales a bit in comparison to Jubas’ trio of Vincent Jackson, Jimmy Graham, and the man on fire that is Alshon Jeffery. Plus, Eric is possibly electing to go run-and-shoot, subbing in Eric Decker for Chris Johnson, to create even more of a powder keg. What we're saying is that Jubas should be a firm bet to make it to their third Super Bowl in a row, and it’s all looking like a setup for a monster championship game that could (once again) determine the rightful owner of “best franchise ever.” Well, unless Vu’s team wins. Then there will be silence everywhere except in Angel-land.

Toilet Bowl Recap
Over in the high scoring losers round, Athena Nike and Fobsters both pulled off upsets to advance to the Toilet Bowl finals. Athena Nike withstood Peyton Manning's 43.8 point barrage by having Chiefs DEF put up 25 points of their own on the way to a close win over Gang Green. As for Fobsters, they had 21 points from their Cardinals DEF and needed every one of them -- plus Tom Brady's 31 points -- to take out Buffy. Both Jimmy and Frank could use the #1 overall pick, but it was a minor victory just to even get to the Toilet Bowl finals from the underdog positions.

Playoffs: Bye Teams

Let's not leave out the two bye teams this season. Both will be resting this week but they'll have their scouting departments carefully deployed to analyze eventual matchups.

Chunky Monkeys (10-3)
Lets's start with the accolades. Highest scoring team in the league with 118.8 points per game -- an incredible 9.2 more than the next closest PF team. Eleven weeks with 100+ scores. The best RB in the game: Jamaal Charles. The best WR in the game: Calvin Johnson. The hottest WR in the game: Josh Gordon, coming off two 200+ yard efforts. Plus perfectly played FA additions of Torrey Smith, Harry Douglas, and Michael Floyd. All of this amidst major injuries to Julio Jones and Randall Cobb, plus weathering the extreme craptasticness that was Trent Richardson 2.0. Oh, on top of that, a promising rookie running back, Giovani Bernard, unearthed through the draft.

Armed with surging Russell Wilson at the helm, Chunky Monkeys are our favorite. Again. The Monkeys haven't won a championship since 2010, but it looks like their days of being regular season frontrunners / postseason chokers could be over. The league is on high alert: Beware Monkeys! (Sidenote: How did the highest scoring team end up facing the leagues' softest schedule? That's just unfair.)

Fat Jubas (9-4)
Our defending champs are perfectly poised to return to their third Super Bowl in a row. Led once again by Cam Newton and Jimmy Graham, this team is full of familiar faces. Big play threats Vincent Jackson and Eric Decker can now add Alshon Jeffery to the mix, and in what could have been the highest scoring game of all time, Eric had the chance to have two 40+ point WRs starting last week. He still put up 161.7 points in a drubbing of Fobsters but it would have been cool to see him eclipse 200+ points. Chris Johnson has quietly become a dependable top back again, and the story of the season is how Knowshon Moreno eclipsed all expectations and became the #3 ranked RB this year. He more than took over Darren McFadden's role in the lineup and now gives Jubas one of the best RB duos in the land.

Eric's team wasn't too shabby in the century games department either, putting up ten of them this season. Also, they are wrapped up the season on a 7-2 and are clicking at just the right time for a long playoff run. With a strong chance to become the first repeat champion in CTDB, look for Eric to be glued to the television every Sunday in December.

Playoffs: RD1 Preview

Round One is the round of rematches.  Both games were featured last week and we'll see if history wants to repeat itself.

Inscrutable Drama Kings
Tiiite End Jammers (8-5) vs Dirty Birds (7-6)
Jammers versus the Dirty Birds. We welcome both teams back into the playoffs after both missed last year.  For the Birds, Jon's team has had one measly playoff appearance since 2009 while this is Lei's first since 2008.  In fact, Lei has finished with the worst record in the IDK division an embarrassingly four times since 2009.  2013 is a new year. The Jammers are obviously locked and loaded and represent one of the top three teams in the league this year. With one of the deepest receiving cores, the Jammers have two of the top six receivers this year with Demaryius Thomas and Antonio Brown. On top of that, Pierre Garcon is a top fifteen receiver to boot.  A solid run game is led by Demarco Murray and anchoring the number two scoring offense this year is the the #3 ranked QB this season, Matt Stafford -- who was a free agent pick up! The Jammers are just a solid team evidenced by their current six game winning streak punctuated by four straight weeks of 100+ points.

On the flip side, the Dirty Birds are a model of inconsistency.  With their longest winning streak at three games, Jon has scored under 90 points four times as they've stumbled through the year. The Birds' starting roster is littered with glittering stars like Gronk, Fitzgerald, LeSean McCoy and of course, Dirty Bird stalwart, All-Day Peterson.  However, the maddeningly inconsistent play of Matt Ryan and other fringe starters like Kendall Wright and rookie disappointment Tavon Austin have made the Birds one of the least dependable teams in the league. Also, was Jordan Cameron just a shooting star? Sure looks like it.

These two teams have already met twice this year with a match up just last week where the Birds lost by 20+ points.  The Jammers are consistent and on a roll -- scoring 121 in both match ups -- and we think the Jammers will take this one again.
Predicted Score: 121 to 105

Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses
Battle Angel (8-5) vs Philadelphia Phreaks (7-6)
This is a repeat of last year as well as last week. Last postseason, the Phreaks ran into the Angels in the wildcard round in 2012 and blew them out early. The Phreaks destroyed the Angels with a 40+ point beat down. This year may be different as home field advantage has swapped.  The Angels started off the season mediocre but ended up back on top, anchored by veteran players like Drew Brees and Andre Johnson. Starting running backs Reggie Bush and Pierre Thomas are not your typical bruising backs but both are top fifteen backs this year. While Johnson continues to be a top flight receiver, the Angels need their TE, Vernon Davis to score big if they are to have any chance. Interesting tidbit: this team is one of the most top heavy in the league, with Brees, Johnson, Bush, and Davis being the only players to contribute more than 4.5 average points per game.

As for the Phreaks, it's all about the youngsters. A surprising Nick Foles -- there's quite a bit of intrigue whether the Phreaks will stay with Foles or RGIII next year -- combined with super rookie Keenan Allen and an improving T.Y. Hilton really have the Phreaks in a strong position. Even losing Doug Martin and Steven Jackson to injuries, plus Justin Blackmon to multiple suspensions, hasn't slowed the Phreaks down too much. Marshawn Lynch cemented his status as a franchise caliber running back and old stalwart DeSean Jackson finished just outside the top ten receiving ranks. GM Ping was forced to adjust his roster on the fly a lot this season, but the results have been very good, with plenty of free agent success stories and a roster filled with both promise and competitiveness.

The Phreaks have won both H2H matchups this year but enter the matchup in quite a slump with a three game losing streak while Battle Angel is currently riding a very strong 5-1 winning streak. Could this be a vulnerable week for the Phreaks?
Predicted Score: Phreaks over the Angels, 110-87

Toilet Bowl Matchups

Another regular season in the books! Let's talk Toilet Bowl before we move onto the playoffs. Remember, we reseed for the Toilet Bowl. Okay, let's find out who'll get next year's #1 pick! [2012 Toilet Bowl preview]

#1 Gang Green (6-7) vs #4 Athena Nike (2-11)
Gang Green was just one win short of the playoffs and actually was the highest scoring team in Spunky Misunderstood — and second overall. After coming out of the gates 1-3, they found themselves at 0.500 by WK8 but then stumbled to three losses in their last five games to slide out of the postseason. All of this with the otherworldly Peyton Manning at the helm. Manning had four 40+ point games this season, a 64.9 point WK1 showing, and was far and away the best fantasy player at 35.4 points per game. On top of that, Brandon Marshall was a top five WR and for most of the season Frank Gore approximated the numbers of a low end #1 RB. Unfortunately, that’s about it for the stuff that went right.

Mike Wallace and Hakeem Nicks got a lot of playing time and they each had a few moments but neither were consistent contributors. TE Julius Thomas could actually be quite the find, but he's been suffering from injuries of late. Stevan Ridley returned from early season injury to provide temporary relief in the backfield for a few games but he’s fallen off again. And it’s an extreme understatement to say that Greg’s top draft pick, David Wilson, was a total bust as he only contributed -2.1 points on the season. The silver lining for this team is that they won the Toilet Bowl last season and are favored to do so again. Gang Green hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2009, when they snuck into the playoffs with a 5-8 record but upset their way to a Super Bowl win. Unfortunately, they won't have that chance this year.

As for Ante Up aka Athena Nike, aka Frank who refuses to change his franchise's name on ESPN, it’s been a horrific first season as owner. They started off 1-5, lost their last six regular season games, and their two wins were against 4-9 Buffy and 4-9 Fobsters. With a roster that was bursting with talent pre-season, Athena Nike totally collapsed when it came time to strap on the helmets. The failures started from the top with Aaron Rodgers, who was mostly lukewarm this year until he started heating up, only to fall victim to injury. In fact, his backup, Philip Rivers, led Athena Nike in points scored, even if Rivers managed to pick up no wins as an Athena man.

The three headed rushing attack of Ray Rice, CJ Spiller, and Alfred Morris was a who’s who of disappointments as Rice and Spiller were both huge busts this season, and Morris hasn’t broken twenty points in a game yet this season. And he’s been the good one! Forced to juggle receivers all season long due to Roddy White’s injury, Frank was able to rely on Cecil Shorts and Steve Smith, while adding in a dash of Emmanuel Sanders and Jordan Reed, but none of these guys would be described as game changers. On top of all those disappointments, Athena Nike got smashed by easily the toughest schedule in the league, and since they were the lowest scoring team, they ended up with a PF/PA differential of -34.6 points per game. Basically Frank just wants this season to be over. And it should be soon.

#2 LA Buffy (4-9) vs #3 Fobsters (4-9)
Coming off two glorious seasons, Roger didn’t expect his team to collapse quite so fast. Buffy only suffered ten regular season losses the last three years combined but racked up nine just this season. They haven’t had a losing season since 2008 and it seems like this was just a down year for our three time champions. It was brutal to finish the season 1-6 though, so hopefully can turn around quickly here. A Toilet Bowl win could be a nice panacea to a painful year for Roger.

The lone bright spot from Buffy’s horrific season was Matt Forte, who averaged 18.1 points on his way to being a top two ranked RB. His backfield mate, Arian Foster, lost out on major IPO money and also only posted three double digit games before getting his season wiped out from injury. Roger also lost Reggie Wayne around mid-season, although that injury didn’t hurt too much, as A.J. Green, Wes Welker, and Victor Cruz were an ideal three man unit. It would have been nice if Danny Amendola stepped in there somehow, but we all know how Amendola’s health has been. A minor surprise was the work of Ryan Mathews, who has been semi-decent this year, although he only got into a few games for Buffy, and wasn’t of much use. Eli Manning was erratic all season, and the QB position wasn’t one of much strength, and perhaps Ben Roethlisberger could have been inserted into the lineup more often. At the end of the day, Buffy has a shot for a high draft pick, and that could salvage his disappointing season.

As for the Fobsters, they've been horrible since the beginning of the year and they lost the H2H seeding matchup to Buffy but could be better positioned to take a Toilet Bowl win. Sure they finished off the year 1-4 but they’ve also had some explosive moments this season — as evidenced by 135.3 points in WK8 and 127.8 points in WK12. Jimmy’s team had three and a two half standout players this season. Dez Bryant and Jordy Nelson were top ten-ish WRs, rookie Eddie Lacy has proved to be a bonafide fantasy star, and the juggling act of Tom Brady and Tony Romo worked out pretty well. After those guys though, the roster dropped off pretty fast.

Dwayne Bowe, Antonio Gates, Zac Stacy, Kenbrell Thompkins, Joique Bell, Lamar Miller, and Doug Baldwin were all erratic and/or disappointments. None of them contributed more than 66.7 points (Bowe) to Fobsters’ bottom line. With a roster that bereft of depth, it was no wonder Jimmy’ squad suffered the second lowest PF and will go into the yet another Toilet Bowl. It wasn’t that long ago — 2011 on a 6-7 record — that Fobsters were in the playoffs, with a good offseason, they could be back again. First step: Take out Buffy. Second step: Stop sucking.

Final Standings 2013

Full Standings Breakdown