NBD - Week 12 Review B

For all intents and purposes, this post will wrap up the NBD regular season. Sure, there is still some jostling for position among the playoff teams to be done; and the bottom half of the league still has some work to do determining their draft lottery odds, but that's about it in terms of suspense. So before the write-ups, I thought it might be fun to look back at some things I observed back at the beginning of the season and see how they turned out.
In Round 1, I wondered about Derek's decision to take LaDainian Tomlinson with the third pick, bypassing Maurice Jones-Drew and Frank Gore. I actually called it "ballsy" at the time, because of the potential shit Derek would take if LDT didn't pan out. Well, LDT clearly did not pan out, and I feel like Derek hasn't really taken any shit! I totally let him down. Sorry, Derek. Allow me to make up for it now: the LDT pick was moronical, and as such was emblematic of your drafting skills. In the first draft in years where the fantasy elite was available, you had the third choice and chose someone who was clearly no longer elite. You suck.
I disliked almost everyone picked in Round 3, and it turns out that I was more or less right. Some of the talent to come out of that round: Larry Johnson (now 50th among RBs), Marshawn Lynch (55th among RBs), Darren McFadden (65th among RBs), Antonio Bryant (58th among receivers), and Braylon Edwards (55th among WRs). That is some hideous drafting, boys.
Here's what I said about Round 4: "I disliked the fact that Koehler took Cedric Benson, and that Cedric Benson is even a reasonable pick here. This dude just isn't a very good football player, I don't think." Whoops!
After Round 6 I wondered if Elliott would get by with Kevin Smith as his "top" running back. Well, it turns out that didn't even matter because Ricky Williams decided that age 32 was a good time to become a kick-ass football player again. Kevin Smith wasn't great, but he was alright as an RB2. And now, heading into the playoffs, he's relegated to flex duty because Haller gave Elliott Joseph Addai (who I will note has the 10th most points of any fantasy RB this year!) for god damn Chester Taylor! I'm still not over this! It's absurd!
Moving on.
Considering DeYoung's 5th Round pick of Willis McGahee and 9th Round pick of Le'Ron McClain, I wondered I would hate him for vulturing touches from my boy Ray Rice. Well, early on, it certainly looked like McGahee would be hoovering goal line touches, but that trend has faded, and McClain was never a factor. No, I don't hate DeYoung's team, but I do look forward to Double-R running all over them at some point the playoffs. 
After seeing the losers drafted in Rounds 11 and 12, I wondered which would emerge as this year's version of Steve Slayton, Chris Johnson, or Philip Rivers, guys who were drafted in those rounds in 2008 and emerged as studs. The only actual break-out from those rounds this year? Brett Favre. That sucks.

Now that we've taken that trip back three months in time, let's return to the more recent past and finish up the Week 12 slate.

Mental Errors (102) defeat Burke City Giants (79)
This match-up of the Toobins did not turn out as exciting as I had hoped, but it certainly was entertaining getting to watch the Sunday games along with both combatants at Glory Days in Burke (and, later, back at the ol' Toobin Ranch itself). It has been my experience when guys watch games together when they're playing each other in fantasy, there's a lot of shit-talking, a lot of crowing when one or another of your guys scores a touchdown, and a lot of car bombs (again, that is my experience). In the case of the Toobins, there seemed to be a continuing argument in which each argued that the other was going to win. Elliott would update us on the Colts comeback and point out that Michael's Peyton Manning (20) was racking up scores. Michael would counter that Elliott's Thanksgiving stud, Donald Driver (20), had already set that bar. Elliott would shake his head and roll his eyes as Jamaal Charles (19) ripped off yet another large run, conceding victory to his father. But Michael was too busy to notice, as he looked on anguishedly as his son's running back, Ricky Williams (17) taking over the Dolphins offense. Both were shaking their heads in disgust as we left Glory Days, but ultimately Michael would win the argument, while Elliott won the game.

Harry Lance Hannibal (68) defeats Vag Secretion Parfait (67)
Ugh. I hope that all of Ray's complaining about how unfair his first two years in NBD were, because the fantasy gods have paid him back and then some this year. This is the fourth ugly win of the season for Harry Lance Hannibal, who've had victorious scores of 85, 80, 71 and now 68 points. Papkin's team is not very good to begin with, then this week their quarterback didn't even play (Ben Roethlisberger, 0), and Ray still could only top him by (<) one point. HLH's offensive outburst was helmed by kicker Ryan Longwell (13), and that is the only player I'll deign to mention. Papkin really should have won with Chris Chambers (13) delivering once again since his move to Kansas City, and Vernon Davis (13) proving that he is the best tight end in the league since the day I traded him away for nothing. But zero points from the QB position hurts, and nobody else really overachieved in a way that could fill that void. Ray could now conceivably get a bye in the playoffs while slightly less than the team in last. Amazing.

Wild Stallions (97) defeat Matt Ryan Loves Dogs (94)
I love Steven Jackson. This week he had back spasms all week long, but played through pain and with a patchwork offensive line on Sunday to carry the ball 23 times for his shitbag of a team. His 18 points continued the streak of success he's been on since Week 8 (23/24/18/18), which is seemingly about when he switches on every season. But like with the Rams, all his efforts are often wasted in forgotten losses for Matt Ryan Loves Dogs such as this one. This week, Jackson actually got some pretty solid support, especially from Defense/Special Teams (32 total), and Tim Hightower (14) played decently, but that wasn't quite enough to overtake the Stallions. DeYoung's gang was paced, as ever, by Aaron Rodgers (24), but were really saved by Percy Harvin's 21 points out of the flex, picking up the slack left by his receiver brethren (Fitzy and Sims-Walker combined: 8). With the running game producing moderate gains - Pierre Thomas, 15; Rashard Mendenhall, 12), the Stallions put together just enough to down the Dogs.