Week 6 Preview, 2009

Division Battles, By Jesse Kizima 
Today is the start of week six in the eSFL and several teams are playing in must win games. The Boot Hill Balut is in a situation where a loss basically sends them to the Gunner Bowl tournament planning table. The Perdew Pulverizers are not in such a terrible situation since they are only one game out of the final Appalachian playoff spot, but a win is needed to build ownership confidence. This is the opening week of intra-division play, and we will get a good idea of how each division stands as far as overall division supremacy.

The 2-3 Texan Bruisers will face the defending champion Boot Hill Balut for the first time in their brief history. The Balut are the worst team in the league this year after a disappointing performance in last weeks loss to the Frost Furrious Flurries. The Balut have been decimated by the injury bug all season, and their lack of depth has shown each and every week. You know a team is bad when their bench has 80 percent zeros each week. On the other hand, the Texan team hope they have rebounded from a slow start and are expected to win their second straight contest. With Mike Turner, Matt Scaub, and Anquan Boldin they should have no trouble in their quest. Lets look at a few position match ups and their projected performance:

QB-Mcnabb vs Schaub-will be the leagues top quarterback this week with around 31 points. Schaub probably will land around the number four ranking for that position with 26 points.
EDGE-Balut

RB-Moreno/Wolfe vs Turner/Thomas-This is a no brainer and will be the difference in this contest. Turner will rank 26th overall for the week with 24 points and Thomas will even higher at around 15th with 26 points. The Balut runners will rank 21 with Moreno gettting around 19 points while Wolfe will rank in the 100's with around 9 points.
EDGE-Bruisers

WR-Boldin/Burrelson/Jennings vs  Massaquoi/Walker/Johnson-With Massaquoi you don't know what you will get. Mike Walker will put up his guaranteed 15, and Johnson will be the leagues leading wideout of the week with 7 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown. The Bruisers will have solid play from all three players with Burleson having the teams best score of the three. Boldin should put up solid numbers and will rank 13th for WR points this week. Jennings will rank 37th with only three catches but a touchdown or two most likely could catapult him up the scale.
EDGE-Bruisers

Special Teams-EVEN

Defense-Larry Foote will lead all IDP with three sacks and 7 tackles this week for the Balut. The Bruisers will get enough points from the crew to win, but nothing remarkable.
EDGE-Balut

Overall-The edge has to go to the Bruisers. The Balut team simply doesnt have enough players to reach the 136 points that will be needed to win this game. 

Prediction- TEXAN-136  Boot Hill-123

In the other games this week:
Zima vs Big D-The Zima team in all rights should be 0-5. This team was given a week 3 win and a miracle win in week 4 have them looking like a contender. Don't be fooled. The new acquisition of wideout Owens will not help.
Prediction- Big D-156  Zima-118  

D at Whitmore-The Workehorse have been living the high life this season, getting great play from a bunch of bad players. This week they will find the loss column as the Crownholders show them what the Global division is all about. I expect this to be the leagues biggest blowout of the week.
Prediction-Crownholders-176  Workehorse 118

Pardue vs Fields-In what will be the game of the week the Fields Fanatix will taste the agony of defeat in a close nail biter. The Bruisermakers are on their way to their first ever Ballistic Bowl and the Fanatix will not be in their way this week. The Bruisermakers' Peterson and Roddy White will make Fields sick to his stomach with 50 plus games.
Prediction-MFIC-184 Fanatix- 179

Kav vs Frost-The Kavanators have performed slightly better than most would have thought at season beginning. The Frost team has rebounded from a disappointing '08 campaign and looks to go to 4-2 and solidify a playoff spot. The Flurries have to much firepower for the Kavanators who will be wearing the special uniforms this week. The helmet with the man eating the women is amusing, but it wont be enough to deter the Flurries' Drew Brees and DeAngelo Williams.
Prediction-Frost 142 Kav-133

Perdew at Temp-The Pulverizers will begin to see numbers add up in their win column and it starts this week. The Texas Boy's from Temp have a solid team and are a real contender for the title, but this week belongs to the desperate Pulverizer squad. Eventually luck has to turn their way and their third overall point ranking will finally get them some wins.
 Prediction- Pulverizers 155 Texas Boy's 142

Good luck to all this week, because we know thats what its all about.

2010 Draft Lottery!

The eSFL is considering a 'Lottery' for the 2010  year draft, similar to the NBA style Lottery. All non-playoff teams from the previous year will be entered. If a team finished last they get four 'balls', finish 11th three 'ball's, 10th two 'balls', 9th 1 'ball'. All expansion teams will get two 'balls' and the league champ will get two 'balls' as a reward for winning. This "Lottery will be recorded and shown live on the eSFL website. If the lottery is not used, the regular draft order drawing will be broadcast live over the Internet.. I am not yet set on doing this, and welcome your input.

Against the Odds (2009) - Week 6 2009

Against the Odds (2009) - Week 6
Oct 14, 2009




Philadelphia Eagles @ Oakland Raiders (+14.5): Philly looked extremely good with Donovan McNabb back at the helm, in Week 5. Vinnie has more confidence in the Eagles, here, than in the midst of picking other games quite simply because Oakland is ... that bad right now. Whereas DeSean Jackson, Jeremy Maclin, Brian Westbrook, and Brent Celek might all hit pay dirt this week, the Raiders offense has become so stagnant that it's difficult to imagine this becoming a competitive game.

Gimme the Eagles minus the points.

St. Louis Rams @ Jacksonville Jaguars (-10): Things were clicking in most phases of the game for the Jaguars, leading up to Week 5, then came the 41-to-0 hammering in Seattle. Some of that had to do with Mike Sims-Walker being a healthy scratch from the lineup, some of that had to do with Jacksonville's vulnerabilities in pass defense. With Sims-Walker back and Maurice Jones-Drew doing his thing, David Garrard - playing quite well in home games, thank you very much - will do everything in his power to propel Jacksonville toward the .500 mark it needs to avoid falling too far behind in the AFC playoff race. Now Steven Jackson, Donnie Avery, even Marc Bulger could make a little something happen when St. Louis has the ball. But I plan on the Jaguars putting a ton of points on the board, keeping the visiting Rams off balance all afternoon.

Gimme the Jaguars minus the points.

Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks (-3): With San Francisco falling to a 3-2 record against Atlanta a week ago, the NFC West is a wide open division. What we have here is a juicy match-up between rival teams, each of whom would love nothing more than to catapult past the 49ers down the stretch, on the way to clinching a coveted home game to open the postseason. It's a battle of seasoned quarterbacks, Kurt Warner versus Matt Hasselbeck. I like what I see in Seattle's case, though, given their home field advantage and the Cardinals ineptitude defending against the pass.

Gimme the Seahawks minus the points.

Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers (-14): I am aware that the Steelers have won 11 straight games against Cleveland. And that the Browns defense has nary an answer for Ben Roethlisberger and the match-up problems that Santonio Holmes, Hines Ward, Mike Wallace and Heath Miller present. And that Rashard Mendenhall has been on a roll, here lately, and Willie Parker may be healthy enough to give it a go this week. I am also aware of how dramatically the absence of defensive end Aaron Smith affected Pittsburgh's overall effectiveness on defense, the last time he was inflicted with a serious injury. With the recent news that Smith is shelved for the year and safety Troy Polamalu trying to get back to 100% himself, I see enough potential in the Browns to predict a closer game than advertised.

Gimme the Browns plus the points.

Week 5 Recaps-2009

Frost beats Balut 

In a week 5 eSFL Fantasy Football League divisional match up, Frost Furrios Flurries squeaked by a pathetic Boot Hill squad by a score of 136.34 to 122.86, behind the support of 66,487 faithful fans.
The Furrious Flurries were led to their 14 point victory by a 26.4 point effort from Joseph Addai, who got by the Titans defense for 10 catches and 53 receiving yards and a touchdown. With this performance, Addai was the number four ranked running back for week 5.
The Boot Hill team were led in a losing cause by a 36.46 point effort from Donovan McNabb, who tore apart the Buccaneers defense for 264 passing yards and 3 passing touchdowns. With this performance, McNabb was the number three ranked overall fantasy quarterback for week 5. They also got help from a 30.1 point effort from wide receiver Andre Johnson. "Our defense was a non-factor," Balut coach T. Rhodes said.

 Temp Downs Ruskies

The Texas Boys sent the Ruskies to their third loss of the season with a 135.34 to 127.38 win in front of 61,543 fans. The Texas Boys extended their winning streak to four games thanks to the outstanding play of Larry Fitzgerald (24.9) and Carson Palmer (20.24) who led the team. Their was no "Miracle on Monday" this time by the Ruskies, who were led by James Harrisons 30 points. The Ruskies drop to 2-3 while the Temp team sits atop the Globl division at 4-1.

 

Crownholders Continue To Surprise

The Pardue Bruisermakers lost their second straight game as the surprising D Crownholders beat them 173.68 to 140.82. The D club was led by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's 32.58 points and defensive end Demarcus Ware threw in 21.5 points.  The MFIC team posted their fifth straight week of 140 points or more and seemed of little concern in the loss, "we did what we had to, just didn't win. We will be alright and expect to continue our strong play all the way to the Ballistic Bowl", head coach Ron Pardue said. The Bruisermakers were led by running back Adrien Peterson's 25 points.

 

Texan Bruisers Take Down Pulverizers

In the leagues most viewed game of the week 211,876 raging fans watched the home team Pulverizers lose another heartbreaker to the expansion Texan team 167.44 to 150.38. The Perdew team posted their fourth 140 plus game of the season but lost despite the effort. "I am doing about all I can do....maybe I will get lucky and hold on to win a few games and get back in the race", head coach Josh Perdew said. The Bruisers were led by Matt Schaub's 33. 64 points  while Austin Collie (29.7) and Nate Burelson (27.8) were right behind him as the team moves to a 2-3 record.

 

Whitmore Remains Undefeated

The White Workhorse from Whitmore went into Kav's home field with a mission, embarrass the guy. His team laid a 200.86 on the defenseless Kavanators who posted a 130.88, 70 points shy of the mark.

"Coach Kav, it's not a big deal I only beat you by 52, oh wait never mind I still have Ronnie Brown playing! Can you say ASS WOOPIN", screamed Kunta as he was leaving the field.  He then issued an apology for his childish actions during his post game press conference,  "I would like to publicly apologize for the comments I made about the score to Coach Kavanaughs and myselfs game. I talked to Mr Goodell last night and we came to a mutual understanding. I did not mean in any way to embarrass the Kavanators, they are just in a rebuilding year and with the Workhorses on such a roll this season, we just don't want to let up on the intensity. WE play four quarters whistle to whistle. Next time when we play one of these weaker teams we will try to show restraint with the score board". he was quickly reminded by the league office that Mr. goodell is not the commissioner of the eSFL.

The Workehorse were led by Peyton Manning's 37.56 and a group of other players who all brought their "A" game.

 

Fanatix Roll Over Big D

The Fields Fanatix went to 3-2 as they beat the 2-3 Big D team 162.64 to 127.52. The Fanatix  rebounded from a disappointing week 4 loss to their rival Pulverizers with a strong week five performance from Thomas Davis (24.5) and wideout Hines Ward (21.5).

 

Global vs. Appalachian

At first glance most would say the toughest division is the Global Division and for a long time I believed the same. Why not when the Pardue Bruisermakers are in second place in Global while posting an amazing 832.66 points so far this year, averaging just over 166 points per game but yielding a record of 3-2. Now lets move to the Appalachian Division, first and foremost you have the undefeated Whitmore Workhorses. The workhorses have no losses and has the second most total points just behind the Bruisermakers. To show the true toughness of the Division we have to look at the last place Perdew Pulverizers. When you think last place you think lowest points, worst players and anything else that could be wrong with a team, but if thats what you think you would be dead wrong. The Pilverizers have 777 total points which is the third highest total points of any team, but has a record of 1-4. Two of his loses he posted over 150 points. He has lost the four games by a total of 38 points which is less than half of what the Kavanators just got beat by the Workhorses. Talk about a tough Division. But is was to close to call which division is the toughest so I went to total points. The Global Division has a point total of 4215.88 but the Appalachian divisions point total is 170.52 higher at 4386.4 points. Which means math wizzes on an average week an Appalachian Division team outscores a Global division team by an average of 5.684 points. The real test will be this Sunday when the two divisions clash for the first time all year.