So Lame!

 

Beats The Hell Outta Me!... We just had the worst scoring week (84.75 PPG) since Week 1 of 2023 (84.05 PPG) and only the third overall sub-85 PPG week since we switched to an eight-player lineup in 2018. Oh, and Week 1 of '23 was the last time we only had one team break 100 points. I knew there wasn't much chance of the Nats not going over 100 on Monday night, but I've watched enough of the Cowboys this year to know there was a remote possibility. 

Normally, I'd blame the bye week for the dip in scoring, but it was just a two-team week. Of course, the Colts were one of those two, which explains why the Sticks (no JT) were held to 82 points and barely avoided an upset. 

The blame falls mostly, I believe, on injuries. Just look at how many NFL teams are starting QBs who began the year on the bench, and add in two (or three guys that were KO'd early in games this week and you have a lot of your answer. 

That's not even taking into account the number of backs and receivers falling out. A week or two back, the Legends had Kraft and LaPorta. Poof, now they are starting Luke Musgrave at TE.  Hopefully, scoring picks back up as our season runs down. 

The State of Things... Week 12 is the start of division games and the home stretch. Put that together, and it means BIG games are coming up. The biggest this week is one that a month ago looked like it would be a clash of titans. Now it features the league's top team (the Sticks) looking to end the misery of the former top team (the Blizzard). After a 7-0 start Paz' crew is spiraling downhill with a four-game losing streak. A loss to the Sticks ends their chance to win the Kuhlmann Division and may even cast some doubt on their playoff hopes. As Ellis likes to tell me, "Papa, that's crazy talk!" 

I'll keep my other eye on the Nats and Giants. The Nats have low-key crept into a tie for the Barenholtz lead with the Holes. Okay, maybe a five-game win streak isn't 'low-keying' it, but they snuck up on me at least. And don't discard the Gaints. Rick has them at 5 wins, and my handy Playoff Calculator says that while their chances to win the division are about the same as me opening for George Strait, they are a toss-up to make the playoffs. Keep hope alive, Rick.

The Lombardi guys keep stumbling to the finish line. I'm gonna just ignore them for now. 

Talking Trading (again)... Continuing our (rather one-way) discussion from last week. As I've mentioned many times, I really prefer not to 'get my hands dirty' with 'governing' this league. I'd rather things ran smoothly within the MFL system. I think I made my point very poorly. Bottom line, I'm likely to move the trade deadline forward next year. Maybe to where it was back before we had keepers, which was around Week 10 or 11. 

Waivers, OTOH, are strongly encouraged. Maybe it's my imagination, and I have no way to verify this, but I feel like there have been fewer bids being made this year. And that seems weird considering the number of guys getting sidelined. I'm a fairly conservative bidder normally (the exception being late in years when I'm in contention), and I lose a lot of $11 bids, but this season I've had more success. Maybe I'm just imagining that, but in any case, get out there and use that cash whether or not you are contending or not. /rambling

I'm an Idiot, Part ???... it took me 11 weeks to realize that the dots next to the team names in the Playoff Projections correspond to Divisions. Red=Lombardi team; Green=Barenholtz; Blue=Kuhlmann. I'd notice those dots every week and wonder WTF they were for. Sheech. Does anyone have some extra Prevagen?

I'm an Idiot, Part ???+1... I won two free agents last week, and they combined for almost 60 points... on my bench. Yeah, I won, but still...

Here's a new 'old' feature...

1. Sticks (1)
2. Nationals
3. Holes
4. Blizzard
5. Legends

• Also receiving votes: Bombers, Manchester United, Shohei Ohtani
• Not receiving votes: Flyers, Cristiano Ronaldo, 610 Loop westbound @ I-45
• First place votes in parentheses. 

Agree? Disagree? Lemme know in the comments.