Projected Keepers

(note this is my opinion on who is keeping who. obviously i have no idea who people are really keeping yet. i'm using my forces of divination to figure out who i like best. then again, i didnt make the playoffs last year so what do i know right?)

Buffy
With Torry Holt, Rod Smith and David Boston, one could make a case for Buffy possessing three of the top five WRs in all of football. Add this in with the best running back in the game, Marshall Faulk, and Buffy has a dominant lineup. And not to overlook Rich Gannon, who is a top ten QB year in and year out. This team could sleep walk through a season and still end up with the best regular season record. Here's praying for major career threatening injuries. Buffy will be coming off a disappointing basketball season, looking to repay some debts and gather another championship. PROJECTED KEEPERS: R Gannon, M Faulk, T Holt, R Smith, D Boston [grade:A+]

Chunky Monkeys
The Monkeys are poised for dominance. Young RBs Shaun Alexander and LaDainian Tomlinson are the bright young talents from last year. Combine super cool QB Peyton Manning and two good #1 WRs (Jimmy Smith and Joe Horn) and this team is looking great for years. PROJECTED KEEPERS: P Manning, S Alexander, L Tomlinson, J Smith, J Horn [grade:A]

Tiiite End Jammers
The expansion team from last year is now a second year behemoth. With super QB Kurt Warner and a whole stable of RBs (Ricky Williams, Priest Holmes, James Stewart, Terrell Davis), managment will have to decide which route to. Priest Holmes had a spectacular year to say the least, but he could be a one year wonder. And Ricky Williams is typically fragile. The WRs are a good, but question marked bunch. Underachieving Muhsin Muhammed, old and freshly injured Ed McCaffrey and maybe even mercurial Terry Glenn. Some tough choices will have to be made this offseason for the Jammers. PROJECTED KEEPERS: K Warner, R Williams, P Holmes, M Muhammed, E McCaffrey [grade:B+]

Battle Angels
Despite being a little long in the tooth, this team is well balanced. RBs Curtis Martin and Jerome Bettis keep on chugging along and old hand Tim Brown combines with Randy Moss to form a dynamic duo on the receiving end. If QB Brian Griese can return to his previous consistent form, this team is a world beater. PROJECTED KEEPERS: B Griese, C Martin, J Bettis, R Moss, T Brown [grade:B+]

Flaming Shrapnel
The only team heading into the season without a QB, the Shrapnel are chock full of questions. RB Eddie George and Jamal Lewis are both coming off injuries, but the addition of rookie sensation Anthony Thomas means only of them has to return to pre-injury form. Look for Eddie George to become a top five back again. (Garrison Hearst could also replace Jamal Lewis' place on the roster) Dominant receiver Terrell Owens will pair with underachieving Eric Moulds to form what could potentially be the best young WR corps this side of Buffy. The Shrapnel could be ready to make a huge leap this season from the cellar to contender. PROJECTED KEEPERS: E George, A Thomas, J Lewis, T Owens, E Moulds [grade:B]

Skool
After a miraculous season, Skool will be hoping that young RB Deuce McAllister can step up and produce on the ground after the departure of Ricky Williams. The other RB position could be manned by versatile Tiki Barber, unless he is cut for a wide receiver. The WRs are a decent bunch (Isaac Bruce, Tony Gonzalez, Kevin Johnson) and quite solid. QB Daunte Culpepper might be in for a down year but then again, with his rushing-passing repertoire, he is still a top QB. PROJECTED KEEPERS: D Culpepper, D McAllister, T Barber, I Bruce, T Gonzalez [grade:B-]

TAGHeuer
TAG had a disappointing season last year. To say the least. Stephen Davis, Emmitt Smith and Keyshawn Johnson combined for less than five TDs the whole season. Emmitt will probably be cut do to age, providing room for Michael Bennett. QB Donovan McNabb is a world killer but he'll have to work hard to get his talented WRs (Keyshawn, Chris Chambers, Plaxico Burress) to produce. RB Stephen Davis is the rock in the backfield, but he had a horrid first half last season before re-establishing his numbers in the second half. PROJECTED KEEPERS: D McNabb, S Davis, M Bennett, Key Johnson, C Chambers [grade:B-]

DIRTeByRDeeZ
A young and proven RB core powers this team. Both Ahman Green and Corey Dillon are coming off career years and they hope to continue to pile up the numbers. Marvin Harrison is still a top WR and with any luck Johnnie Morton can become a top WR in Kansas City. QB Michael Vick has the starting job but nobody is sold on him as a #1 option. The Birds will look to ground it out this year, unless Morton and Vick can both emerge. PROJECTED KEEPERS: M Vick, A Green, C Dillon, M Harrison, J Morton [grade:C+]

Green Team
In a season when all of Green's early round prospects went bust (Trent Green, Duce Staley, Mike Anderson), the roster has been gutted and re-patched. A mid-season trade for QB Brett Favre was a life saver and he will serve as the franchise player. Troy Brown, Marty Booker and Darrell Jackson all had great years and could form a solid WR core. The backfield is in disarray however. Michael Pittman looks to be the likely lead back, unless Duce Staley is given another chance. Both backs could be kept if one of the young WRs are moved. The Green Team managed to recover from a horrid 2001 Draft by mining FAs. In fact, the whole team is composed of FA pickups, aside from Mr Favre. PROJECTED KEEPERS: B Favre, M Pittman, D Jackson, M Booker, Tr Brown [grade:C+]

Ante Up
Ante Up is a team full of holes and potential. Jeff Garcia has proven that he belongs as one of the top fantasy QBs, but everyone else is in doubt. RB Edgerrin James is coming off a torn ACL. Lamar Smith is in Carolina. Warrick Dunn is in Atlanta, Ante Up will have a hard time picking a second feature back to keep. The reciever corps is all a roll of the dice. Derrick Alexander is playing second fiddle to Randy Moss in Minnessota after a disappointing year. But he might be the standout from a pack consisting of P Price, D Mason and A Freeman. This team needs to unearth some quality prospects and hope for the Edge's healthy return. PROJECTED KEEPERS: J Garcia, E James, W Dunn, D Alexander, P Price [grade:C]

Buffy Leads the Way

Weeks after the actual victory over the Battle Angels in the SuperBowl I, analysts are still shaking their heads in disbelief as they look back at team Buffy's accomplishments this past year.

Winning its last 10 games to clinch the championship trophy, GM Roger Cheng took over the league while showcasing the most dominant, explosive, and consistent lineup the league will probably see in quite a long time. Averaging over 115 points/game in the regular season (the Chunky Monkeys were the only other team to average over 100 points/game during the regular season), Buffy was truly unstoppable in the latter half of the season.

Anchored by the best passing game in the league, Buffy relied on an explosive offensive scheme similar to the St. Louis Rams. With veteran QB Rich Gannon at the helm, standout receivers David Boston, Rod Smith, Torry Holt and Quadry Ismail all had banner years. Accompanied by the incomparable Marshall Faulk, there was no apparent weakness to this juggernaut.

Monkey's GM Evan Shiue commented after the season, "Roger did a spectacular job over there. While most teams had a few holes somewhere in their lineup, Buffy had none." Commissioner Jon Yang was one of the first into the locker room to congratulate the team after their championship victory. "This game was just an example of what Buffy had been doing all season -- dominating. I certainly don't look forward to playing them next year."

With a strong nucleus going into next season, Buffy will certainly be a leading contender once again. Owners around the league will have their hands full as they go back to the drawing board for next year.

In other news, TSN analyst Dan Pompei released his end of year Catch-the-Damn-Ball league awards.

GM of the Year: Roger Cheng
MVP: Marshall Faulk
Rookie of the Year: LaDainian Tomlinson
Bust of the Year: Eddie George

Super Bowl I

Weeks after the actual victory over the Battle Angels in the SuperBowl I, analysts are still shaking their heads in disbelief as they look back at team Buffy's accomplishments this past year.

Winning its last 10 games to clinch the championship trophy, GM Roger Cheng took over the league while showcasing the most dominant, explosive, and consistent lineup the league will probably see in quite a long time. Averaging over 115 points/game in the regular season (the Chunky Monkeys were the only other team to average over 100 points/game during the regular season), Buffy was truly unstoppable in the latter half of the season.

Anchored by the best passing game in the league, Buffy relied on an explosive offensive scheme similar to the St. Louis Rams. With veteran QB Rich Gannon at the helm, standout receivers David Boston, Rod Smith, Torry Holt and Quadry Ismail all had banner years. Accompanied by the incomparable Marshall Faulk, there was no apparent weakness to this juggernaut.

Monkey's GM Evan Shiue commented after the season, "Roger did a spectacular job over there. While most teams had a few holes somewhere in their lineup, Buffy had none." Commissioner Jon Yang was one of the first into the locker room to congratulate the team after their championship victory. "This game was just an example of what Buffy had been doing all season -- dominating. I certainly don't look forward to playing them next year."

With a strong nucleus going into next season, Buffy will certainly be a leading contender once again. Owners around the league will have their hands full as they go back to the drawing board for next year.

In other news, TSN analyst Dan Pompei released his end of year Catch-the-Damn-Ball league awards.

GM of the Year: Roger Cheng MVP: Marshall Faulk
Rookie of the Year: LaDainian Tomlinson
Bust of the Year: Eddie George

Article origianlly posted January 25, 2002

Bow Down

New Orleans, LA -

Two teams that took completely opposite paths during the regular season took the same route out of the playoffs--their nemisis, Kurt Warner to Isaac Bruce, times three. The Monkeys stormed through the regular season with an 8-5 record, riding running back sensations LaDanian Tomlinson and Shaun Alexander. TAG stumbled and bumbled their way through the regular season, riding on the back of Donovan McNabb while their RBs and WRs struggled to find the endzone.

However dissimilar their paths may have been, the TAG and Chunky Monkey fates became intertwined in the first weekend of the playoffs. The Monkeys demise came at the hands of Kurt Warner's 4TD, 40 fantasy point explosion, while TAG suffered at the other end of Warner's game, as Isaac Bruce had his best game of the year, catching three of Warner's four touchdowns.

Their championship hopes ended, the TAG and Monkey players headed home for what promises to be a long offseason pondering their losses at the hands of the offensive juggernaut that is the St. Louis Rams.

Record Book: Season 1

Winning % Regular Season- Buffy (76.9%)*
Lowest Winning % Regular Season- Flaming Shrapnel (23.1%)*
Hardest Schedule- 102.5 (Ante Up)*
Easiest Schedule- 90.8 avg (Buffy)*
Largest Margin of Victory- 68 (Tiiite End Jammers 129- Skool 61 WK13)
Most Wins Regular Season- 10 (Buffy)*
Least Wins Season- 3 (Flaming Shrapnel)*
Longest Winning Streak- 8 (Buffy)*
Longest Losing Streak- 4 (Flaming Shrapnel)
Highest Individual Score- 50 Peyton Manning (Chunky Monkeys WK2)
Highest Team Score- 146 (Buffy WK9)
Lowest Team Score- 45 (DIRTeByRDeeZ WK3)
Most Century Games- 10 (Buffy)*
Least Century Games- 1 (Skool)*
Longest Century Streak- 9 (Chunky Monkeys)*
Longest Streak between Century games- 9 (Skool)*
*- new season record

ALL PRO Team- In a crazy year, turnover among the top players was perhaps more than in any of the past few seasons. Only 25% of the players from last year's ALL LEAGUE team remained on this year's list and three of those were wide receivers (R Smith, M Harrison, R Moss and M Faulk). Most surprising was the FIRST TEAM performance put forth by Priest Holmes, who ended up with 219 points after being drafted in the last round with the last pick.

ALL LEAGUE FIRST TEAM QB- Jeff Garcia (298) Marshall Faulk (235) Priest Holmes (219) WR- Terrell Owens (221) Marvin Harrison (213) Rod Smith (206) K- John Carney (98) D- Cleveland (139)

ALL LEAGUE SECOND TEAM QB- Kurt Warner (285) Ahman Green (214) Curtis Martin (201) WR- David Boston (200) Randy Moss (179) Jimmy Smith (178) K- Jason Elam (92) D- San Diego (138)

GM of the Year- Buffy
Buffy- A record setting team can't just be put together through luck and Buffy has proven that with a smart draft and a few key acquisitions, a good team can become a dominant one. With a good but not great draft (K S Janikowski in the 6th round and lack of a third WR) Buffy parlayed his early choices (M Faulk, T Holt, R Smith, R Gannon, C Dillon) into a solid lineup. The keys to Buffy's season however was the Free Agent unearthing of WR Qadry Ismail (who had 150 points and was a top 15 WR). Indeed, the Rocket actually outperformed perennial star Torry Holt. The other great move by Buffy was the mid-season acquisition of talented WR David Boston (for mercurial RB Corey Dillon). After being acquired by Buffy, Boston positively exploded (20+ points in last 4 of 6 games) and was the best WR the second half of the season.

GM Runner Up- Tiiite End Jammers- Rookie GM Lei Pan showed that he had the stuff that contenders are made of by starting off with a great draft. With what looked like a solid quartet of stars in RBs R Williams, J Stewart, QB K Warner and WR E McCaffrey, the Jammers spurted out to a 5-0 record. As injuries started to hit (top WR E McCaffrey was lost for the season and M Mohammed was banged up all season), the team stumbled but recovered nicely with three straight wins to end the season. While the receiving corps never fully recovered from the loss of the pale colored McCaffrey, serviceable replacements were found in J Rice and C Conway. But, the biggest coup that the Jammers pulled was drafting Priest Holmes with the last pick of the draft. Holmes went on to a breakout season and literally pulled the Jammers into contention in the last few weeks.

League MVP-
This year's MVP could go to a wealth of players. In a league full of surprises, victories often came down to which player was the most explosive or the most underrated. Superstar caliber numbers were coming in all directions and from unpredictable players. Nine of the top scorers were QBs and only 4 WRs (TO, Rod, Marvin, Boston) and 3 RBs (Faulk, Holmes, Green) cracked the top 20. Great players made a case for MVP consideration but due to injury or late season fall out, some of those were weeded out (D Culpepper, P Manning, R Smith, C Martin). Some players had explosive second halves (R Gannon, R Moss, D Boston) and could be considered but an MVP produces in the clutch and all season long. And wins. A MVP must lead his team to victories that matter (thus eliminating J Garcia and B Favre). A MVP must be a big reason for victories. And with that criteria set, lets look at our MVP candidates.

MVP RUNNER UP #2- Donovan McNabb. While McNabb may not have had the greatest season, he did have a most influential season. Finishing fourth in the league in scoring, McNabb led his team to victories down the stretch when it counted. With a dearth of talent on his team, McNabb led TAG with 268 points and that helped push TAG into the playoffs. Hobbled by the lack of a running game (RBs S Davis and E Smith were disappointments, to put it mildly) and a superstar WR (the best WR was Keyshawn who was inconsistent), McNabb put the team on his back and took TAG to the playoffs.

MVP RUNNER UP #1- Marshall Faulk. The first pick in the draft, Marshall Faulk disappointed no one with a stellar 235 point season. The only non-QB to crack the top ten in scoring, Faulk was explosive and consistent all year long. Even with a few games missed in the middle of the season, Faulk continued his reign as the greatest offensive threat in football. As Buffy mowed down the competition, Faulk led the way with nine 20+ games. Marshall was the main cog in a churning offense and his success was helped by the consistency of his teammates but without him, the deadly Buffy run-and-shoot attack would of never materialized.

LEAGUE MVP 2000- Kurt Warner and Priest Holmes. Once again, co-MVPs will have to awarded for two deserving candidates. This time, the co-MVPs are from the same team because it is hard to distill the team's success down to just one player. Without the contributions of QB Kurt Warner and RB Priest Holmes, the Tiiite End Jammers wouldn't have been able to late push into second place in their division, thus securing home field advantage. In a neck and neck race to the end of the season, Warner and Holmes took turns alternating 40+ points in the last two weeks. Both players were undervalued and underappreciated as the season started. K Warner slipped to the second round, behind four other QBs and Mr Holmes was nearly not drafted at all. Both players notched two 40+ games and also contributed a combined 7 20+ games. While they may not have been the most consistent players all year, they were the most important when the chips were down and a victory was needed. To this year's co-MVPs, Kurt Warner and Priest Holmes!

SUPER MOJO AWARD- Skool. Introducing a new award for this year and possibly only for this year, the SUPER MOJO award goes to the team that defies all expectations. Lambasted all year by critics and league experts, Skool proved the doubters wrong by finishing at 6-7 despite going past the century mark only once (103 in WK10). The amazing year put together by Skool wasn't even due to a weak schedule because they faced the fourth toughest schedule in the league. Despite some huge blowouts (61-129 in WK13 and 87-146 in WK9) Skool remained undaunted and forged ahead, never losing more than two games back to back. We may see more dominant teams but this observor would go out on a limb and say that we may never witness a season as intriguing as the one put into the record books by Skool in 2001.