Fantasy recap week #10

Time for everyone’s favorite game



     Think you know the NFL? See if you can identify whether the following people are starters from the undefeated Tennessee Titans or characters from the movie “Remember the Titans”
-- Ray Budds: Titan or Titan? Answer
-- Stephen Tulloch: Titan or Titan? Answer
-- Chris Hope: Titan or Titan? Answer
-- Ken Amato: Titan or Titan? Answer
-- Ronnie Bass: Titan or Titan? Answer
-- Michael Griffin: Titan or Titan? Answer
-- Bill Yoast: Titan or Titan? Answer
     Scoring key: If you actually knew any of them, and didn't guess, you win. Or lose at having a life, as the case may be.





Top performers



QB: Jay Cutler, 36.78 pts – started by Paul
RB: Thomas Jones, 32.90 pts – started by Ant
WR: Anquan Boldin, 27.03 pts – started by Paul
TE: Tony Gonzalez, 29.53 pts – started by Neal
K: Jay Feeley, 21.50 pts – sitting on the wire
D: Julius Peppers, 14.00 pts – sitting on the wire
DEF: NY Jets, 28.00 pts – started by Heidi
     Just missing the cut: Kansas City QB Tyler Thigpen, the third-highest player of the week with 31.24 pts. Yes, that Kansas City. No, not Bobby Thigpen. Never Bobby Thigpen.





Worst Performers, veterans edition



3rd place (tie): Cleo Lemon, -0.30 pts – sitting on the wire
3rd place (tie): Kellen Clemens, -0.30 pts – sitting on the wire
2nd place: Marc Bulger, -1.40 pts – sitting on Neal’s bench
1st place: Amhard Hall, -2.10 pts – sitting on the wire
     Yes, I’m celebrating veterans day by highlighting the miserable week of Hall, a retired Marine and a frequent visitor to VA hospitals all over the country. I think somebody wrote a story about his trip to the NFL a while back…





Andy Reid Blown Call of the Week Award



     I was gonna give this to Jim for starting someone on a bye again, but then Andy Reid threw a red flag to challenge my decision.
     Even after that I was gonna give it to Jim, but then Andy threw a second challenge, so I had no choice but to give the award to him. Who am I to question two pointless challenges?





Stupidest thing I heard this week



     Before the Penn State game on Saturday, genius commentator Bob Griese said that it was going to be a tough but not impossible task for Iowa to defeat the Nittany Lions.
     “Their main goal today is to keep the chains moving,” he said. “That’s going to be the key.”
     Standard football understatement, right? In order to win the game you’re gonna have to gain some yards? No duh?
     Only he immediately followed that with a lecture about how Iowa has been able to move the ball but not finish drives with points. He brought that point up again early in the game, when Iowa had the ball just a few yards from scoring. So Griese’s “main goal” was for the Hawkeyes to keep repeating the mistakes that have made all year long.
     Iowa won, by the way. They could have gone for a first down on the last play of the game and kept the chains moving, like Griese wanted, but instead they kicked the game-winning field goal.



Funnest game of the year since last week’s funnest game of the year



    In case you missed the Vikings/Packers game on Sunday it featured:
-- Two safeties by the Minnesota defense in the first half;
-- An interception returned for a TD by GB in the third;
-- A punt returned for a TD by GB in the third;
-- A combined 17 penalties for 153 yards;
-- A missed 52-yard field goal at the end of the game, allowing Minnesota to win 28-27.
    Sure, Vikings RB Adrian Peterson rushed for 192 yards and grabbed another 33 receiving yards, but the real fun was seeing a major screw-up every three minutes in this game. If there were any justice in the world it would have ended in a tie.





Dallas anagram insult of the week



     I’m a little conflicted this week because the Dallas/Maryland Racial Slurs game could have big implications for the Iggles. A Dallas loss leaves them squarely in last, but a Maryland loss makes it easier for Philly to climb back into the playoff race. And when I looked to “A Cowboys/Redskins NFL game” for guidance it didn’t get any easier:
     ** A rag fleck mess. Nobody wins **
     Maybe I’ll watch my World Series recordings again Sunday night.





Our standings so far



1st place: Cougar in Chief, Mike – 1276.84 pts
2nd place: Awesomenicity, Heidi – 1215.81 pts
3rd place: Madden hearts NY, me – 1211.96 pts
     Sorry to everyone who checked in Monday morning and saw me in sixth place – my QB and top WR still hadn’t played yet, and after Warner’s three TDs I’m just a hair behind Heidi. And the difference between second place and ninth is still just 114 points, meaning just about anyone could make a late run.
     OK, not Jeff and Neal, but just about anyone else.





News and notes



-- The bye weeks are finally done, but the trade deadline is looming. If you want to pass any good players my way, you only have a few more weeks.
-- If you don’t get the Eli bullet pics on the left, just keep scrolling down to Sunday’s post.
-- Phils are still world champions, by the way.