by
Rick Reitz
But the big story this week was the discovery of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which continued its upward climb and made its first appearance in the money positions this week.
However, the news was less favorable for Tom's Fightin' Goobers, who plummeted from 3rd to 5th on the heels of a 50-point week.
Let's take a team-by-team look at the week, in the order in which they finished:
Turd Burglars: Even before Marc Bulger took the field last Monday, Todd had a virtual lock on the top slot this week, thanks to an over-the-top performance by Derrick Mason and a strong showing by the Ravens D. The rest of the squad posted fair to decent numbers, but Bulger put the finishing touches on, and helped the Turds wipe out the field. This also gave Todd a commanding lead overall. Uh, this guy is going to be very tough to topple, folks. And remember, he picked 12th in the draft.
Nic-Rae Mystery Machine: Get this. Nick got one point from his kicker, 10 points total form both of his WRs, 9 points from one RB and 8 points from his TE. With 28 points from 5 of his players, he destroyed nearly everyone, collecting 80 points from three other positions: 34 points from Steve McNair, 30 points from Ahman Green, and 16 points from his Titans Defense. It's no mystery anymore; Nick knows exactly what he's doing in this league, and has commanded everyone's respect and attention. Not for his spelling or sentence structure skills, but neither of those are required for Fantasy Football Excellence.
Cloning Scott Baio: (Written in the interest of being fair and balanced, following criticism levied at Steve last week.) Rick had a 3rd place-type week, so it is understandable that he finished in 3rd place for the week. His team did better than Andy, who finished in 4th, though not as good as Nick, who finished in 2nd. He did much better than Tom, scoring 45 more points than him, but much worse than Todd, who scored 32 more points than him. Trent Green had a breakthrough day, scoring 34 points, and Priest Holmes had a respectable 19 point day. But his aspirations for greater things this week were dashed when his two wide receivers, Terrell Owens and Darrell Jackson, playing in the Sunday evening game, scored a total of 8 points. He needed each of them to score 11 points in order to win his head-to-head. His week solidified his 3rd place standing overall.
Glazed Fasnachts: 34 was the lucky number for QBs this week, posted by Trent Green, Steve McNair, and Andy's Brad Johnson, filling in admirably for the soon-to-return Daunte Culpepper. He got a great game from William Green, and a good one from Baio cast-off Marcel Shipp, as well as a decent game from Rod Smith to post his strongest week yet. It was more than enough to help Andy beat Grandpa's Meat (that's disgusting!) Still, Andy wallows near the bottom of the field, and will need quite a few more of these types of games if his Glazers are to be seen as a threat.
Weapons of Mass Destruction: A decent week from Keith was enough to give his team quite a boost (despite losing his head-to-head matchup to Nick). An outstanding show from Torry Holt and the rediscovery of Tony Gonzalez masked otherwise dismal performances from Tim Cough, Warrick Dunn, Ike Hilliard and the Bills Defense, who combined scored as many points as Gonzalez. This was likely Tim Couch's farewell as Keith's starter, so expect bigger scores from future QBs.
Grandpa's Meat: Not the kind of week he needed. Mediocre to lousy scores across the board, save for his strong Patriots defence, kept this team continuing its fall from grace. No doubt, with his league fee finally paid, we will start to see some lively action from this never-say-die owner.
Spring Chicken Toughskins: Jakegate was the most interesting aspect of this week's team, which scored an underwhelming 69 points - though still more than enough to win his head-to-head. Two of his pickups last week - Delhomme and John Kasay - also happened to be his top two scorers. So that may have been the best spent free agent dollars this year. Maybe. Somehow, this team doesn't feel like a contender with Delhomme on the mound. Perhaps his pickup of Steve Beurlein will cure what ails him.
The Pez: Had an even worse week than Eric, and still won his head-to-head. His reliance on Donovan McNabb will have to end soon, as he registered another unacceptable performance. Other than Zereoue putting up an extra point in his score column, the rest of his team didn't do badly. But without a stud star to carry the workload, it simply wasn't enough. It might be a tough season for Bruce unless he can shake things up a bit.
Gang Green: Uh, he started Todd Pinkston. What more do you need to know?
Brickyard Bullies: Oh yeah, that he still beat Dave in the head-to-head. Why? Uh, he started Quincy Carter. And Mike Cloud.
Lancaster Raiders: Peyton Manning fell to earth this week, though he still put up 17 points. But with 11 points from your stud RB (Alexander), and single digits from everyone else - including a total of 7 points from his 3 receivers, this team dropped faster than the barrel Troy is apparently riding in over Niagara Falls.
Fightin' Goobers: How do you know if you're team is struggling? A. Not a single player in double digits. B. Your kicker is your high scorer. C. You lose in head-to-head to a guy that scored 69 points. D. Your defense scores a goose egg. E. All of the above. If you said, E, you understand why Tom had a rough go of it last week. This may have been an anomaly, but considering he had a similar fate two weeks ago, the erratic scoring has to be unnerving for Tom. Michael Vick, where are ye?
There you have it. Sorry for the delay. But it looks like Week 6 may have been a defining point for the league, as trends between the haves and have nots seemed to be more distinct, with a few exceptions (i.e. Tom will probably climb, Andy will probably drop.) But we'll just have to wait and see.
*****
Rick Reitz is the evil genius behind Cloning Scott Baio. His "Mop Up" column will appear every three weeks.
Next week: Keith Schweigert provides his analysis of Week 7 in this space.
In two weeks: Steve Seeber chimes in with his thoughts on the league in Week 8.
This column is written on alternating weeks by Keith, Steve and Rick.
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