BIFL - Week 7 Review A

Due to a combination of travel, family time, the Redskins playing on Monday night, the start of the NBA season, job interviews, the arrival of Bill Simmons' basketball book to my season, and the onset of fantasy b-ball season, I've been a bit derelict in my duties of late. I'm going to try to plow through three game re-caps today and three more tomorrow. Here goes:


Pet Monkey (105) defeats Charm City Murder (67)
Billy had two important #2's this week (maybe more - I failed to track his bowel movements). This victory was his second of the season, turning last week's sole win for the season into a "streak." This was also his second victory in a row over Andre, which is also his second victory ever over Andre, who beat him the first seven times they played. Does this mean that the good ship Monkey, long listing to starboard, is righting itself? Maybe so. Michael Crabtree (5) has finally taken the field, and although he didn't blow the doors off the barn this week, his 56-yard performance after only a short time with the team hints at the possibility of things to come. Aaron Rodgers (27) continues to shine as one of the top fantasy quarterbacks in the league, currently trailing only Peyton Manning in average scoring. As a result of Rodgers' excellence and Greg Jennings' seeming disappearance, Donald Driver (16) has been surprisingly productive. Ronnie Brown (10) didn't do great this week, but he's been solid this season. Could the Monkey, after starting 0-5, squeak their way into the playoffs? I'd like to see a run. Charm City shows no evidence of making such a run. They've lost five of their last six, and have yet to score more than 93 points in a game this season. In the past two weeks, they're averaging 65, which is not playoff-caliber football. This week's lowlights included Brandon Jacobs (15) leading the team in scoring and being the only player in double-digits. This team eats.

Cholish Chachfaces (131) defeat Chip Lohmiller (105)
It's telling that in a week when his top two running backs, Maurice Jones-Drew and Ray Rice, were playing golf, Dekker's team still posted over 100 points. Their powerful receiving corps delivered as usual, with DeSean Jackson (30), Reggie Wayne (14), and Percy Harvin (10) combining to out-score their Chachface counterparts by 18 points. Unfortunately for Dekker, fantasy games are not judged by receivers alone, and the rest of the line-up was firmly in Chalski's favor. Philip Rivers led the way with 25 points, but the magic number for the Chachfaces this week was 22, a total achieved by four players. Ryan Grant did it with 148 rushing yards and a touchdown; Vincent Jackson did it with 142 receiving yards and a touchdown; and Owen Daniels did it with 123 yards and a touch. How Daniels matched Jackson despite having twenty less yards is a mystery to me. Do we have big play bonuses in this league? I can never remember what the scoring is from league to league. Whatever the case, this onslaught from the Chachfaces was enough to drive them to the second-highest score of the week and a victory over the team that had previously been alone atop the Western Division.

Juse and the Argonauts (107) defeat Ass-Ramming HotCocks (63)
Uh-oh. Things are starting to look grim in HotCockland. We've lost our last three in a row, averaging 75 points over that span. Our wide receivers, historically the strength of the franchise, are looking questionable at best. Anquan Boldin, who I drafted ahead of Reggie Wayne to be my top guy, has been abysmal, and he didn't even start this week due to an up-in-the-air injury situation (he ended up scoring seven points, five more than either Kevin Walter or Pierre Garcon, who replaced him). I had thought that the running back trio of Michael Turner, Chris Johnson, and Pierre Thomas would be enough to overcome that weakness, but with Johnson on bye, Turner (11) and Thomas (4) were far less than impressive. Something's got to change around here. The Argos, meanwhile, are on their way up, with this week's win representing their highest point total of the season. A couple of Bengals led the way, as Cedric Benson (26) and Chad Ochocinco (25) continued their improbably good seasons. While his team continues to suck, Steven Jackson (15) is still churning out yard after yard every week. If the Rams could just keep a drive alive long enough to get him in the end zone, Juse would have a real stud on his hands.