Late Season Look: Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses

Battle Angel (5-4)
For a winning team, Vu sure hates playing at home. Battle Angels are 1-3 at home and 1-4 on the road. After a trip to last year’s Super Bowl, Vu was likely hoping for another shot at a championship. Technically, they are in great position as leaders of Spunky Misunderstood Geniuses, but the advanced stats tell us that they could just as easily fall out of the playoff picture. They aren’t notably better than any of the other four teams in the division — according to PF — but could be reigning simply due to facing the softest schedule so far.

Drew Brees has fallen a notch behind the top quarterbacks, but he’s still one of the better QB fantasy options. The real lifesaver this year has been Golden Tate, who has stepped in for Calvin Johnson in Detroit admirably, and has found himself putting up 85% of what Megatron averaged. T.Y. Hilton has also been spectacular, with some huge numbers recently. Both have clearly supplanted Andre Johnson as the most effective receiver Angel. What this team is lacking is a running game. Ryan Mathews is injured, Reggie Bush was cut, Shane Vereen was picked up off the scrap heap, and it’s been Darren Sproles “leading” the way. Sproles has been an occasional special teams delight but he hasn’t put up double digit points since WK2. At least that’s better than Vernon Davis, who has all but disappeared since WK1. Still, maybe Brees and Tate is enough to give Angels another division title?

Gang Green (4-5)
The Greenies was feeling great after two big wins to start the season, until a five game losing streak brought them back to reality. However, a two game winning streak was enough to bring them right back into the playoff hunt. Gang Green is scoring just as much as Battle Angel, 98.4 ppg, but they’ve just had the misfortune of playing the second toughest schedule in the league so far at 106.4 points against. Interesting note: Outside of Battle Angel, every team in Spunky Misunderstood has a higher PA than PF.

Peyton Manning has been a one man army for Greg’s team. He’s the one averaging 33.0 ppg, he’s the one tossing the ball to Julius Thomas, and he’s basically carrying this “gang.” Alfred Morris has been erratic, as has Brandon Marshall, and they’re the #3 and #4 point scorers on this team so far. Mohamed Sanu has been coming on of late, and he could give this team another good target for Peyton to throw to. The recent return of Mark Ingram has been promising too, as Ingram has come out of nowhere to become a fantasy force when healthy. Overall, this team is going where Peyton goes, and if just a few players can step up, Green’s first post-season berth since 2009 could be in the cards. Four years! Has it really been so long Greg?!

Philadelphia Phreaks (4-5)
The lowest scoring team in Spunky Misunderstood hasn’t been the worst, as coach Ping has managed to scrap together a decent record despite a lack of firepower. Phreaks haven’t cratered during any week this season, which is good, but they also have only had a few weeks of timid explosiveness. That’s okay though, as slow and steady can take them into the playoffs in this division. A big WK10 matchup with Gang Green could go a long way toward determining if Ping will make the post-season for the third time in a row. Once there, anything can happen!

Of course, losing starting quarterback Nick Foles to a broken collarbone could really hurt the Phreaks. Then again, while Foles was leading this team in scoring, there are literally three free agent QBs out there right now who have averaged more points than him this season. So, losing Foles could actually lead to an upgrade! The running game is in good hands, as Marshawn Lynch and Ahmad Bradshaw are both top seven RBs. Denard Robinson has even been coming on recently for a potential three-back attack. What this team desperately needs is someone to pair with DeSean Jackson on the outside. Jackson has been dynamite as advertised, but Keenan Allen has regressed this season, and Brandin Cooks is proving to be only an every other week option. Also, RIP for Doug Martin, his days of fantasy relevance are officially over. Despite all this, we predict coach Ping will ride his strong stable of running backs and a long ball passing game into the post-season.

Fobsters (3-6)
The Fobs stumbled out of the gates with three straight losses but have managed to go 0.500 since. They are only one game out of a playoff spot and have the chance to face all four of their division foes over the last month of the regular season. They might have to win three of those matchups though, which could be a tall order. The good news is they had a five week run where they consistently scored 94+ ppg, with three century games. The Fobs can do this…

After a difficult start, Tom Brady is back to being terrific. It looks like he’s gearing up to talk down all his critics and he’s got Jordy Nelson and Dez Bryant ready to help him. Heck, even fat Eddie Lacy is rounding into shape finally, and rookie Kelvin Benjamin has taken over Steve Smith Sr.’s early season starting position. That’s five quality players, enough to make a strong push. It would be nice if Zac Stacy wasn’t undergoing a sophomore slump/collapse, but GM Jimmy had the foresight to grab Tre Mason. Of course, this was supposed to be the time when 2015 first overall pick Bishop Sankey should step in. But Sankey hasn’t even hit the field for the Fobsters, which has to make him one of the least productive #1 picks we’ve ever had. Still, angry Brady has enough weapons to push for a post-season appearance, or he’ll be tasked with giving Fobsters back-to-back Toilet Bowl wins.

Fat Jubas (1-8)
Wow, two years ago this team was our champions, after coming off repeat Super Bowl appearances, and four straight Division Finals showings. Have Fat Jubas ever suffered through a season this bad? They’re on a five game losing streak, their lone win was a 85.0 - 83.4 WK4 victory over Battle Angels, and they have the worst record in the league. Digging a little deeper though, it just seems like this is a cursed season for Jubas. They haven’t been awful at scoring, but they’ve lost by margins of 3.4, 4.3, and 1.1. That’s just bad luck. Still, Jubas should prepare for their first Toilet Bowl apperance, as they haven’t missed the playoffs since 2009, a year before the Toilet Bowl was instituted. Exciting!

Most one win teams can point the finger at injuries or underperforming stars. That hasn’t really been the case as Jimmy Graham, Vincent Jackson, and Alshon Jeffery have mostly maintained their status. All three haven’t been as good as last season, but no abrupt drop offs happened. Eric didn’t have any keeper running backs and early rounders Joique Bell and Shane Vereen haven’t exactly worked out. The latter was cut early and now it’s down to seventh rounder Jeremy Hill to fit the one back offense. Cam Newton and Colin Kaepernick have mostly split QB duties, with neither getting the starting edge, despite Kaep outscoring Newton two-to-one so far. The undisputed gold lining in this lost season has been Emmanuel Sanders, who not only leads Fat Jubas in scoring — only two other teams have a non-QB lead scorer, the other is Fobsters — but justified his keeper status and then some.