Every Nelson League owner has to steel himself for the emotional vacillations of the fantasy football season. This year, we’ve had teams chubbin’ all season (Garvey’s Gangsters), teams that have been booming and busting all year (Dangerous Minds and Northboro), and teams that have experienced the emotional turmoil of an off season (Northern Spies.)
In the long run, we all have moments to remember and moments we most definitely want to forget. This week, as we glance at the current state of the league, we glance backwards to the recent past for those moments when fortune shined upon us.
- Garvey’s Gangsters – They’re now 6-1, after registering yet another come-from-behind Monday night victory. In their six wins, the average margin of victory is 8 points per game – a razor – thin margin for a team so successful. They have won only one game by more than 10 points.
One more note from the “Everything’s BS except wins and losses” file: In the eight weeks played so far in 2010, they have outscored Northboro exactly once – and that was week 2 when they played head-to-head.
Looking back over the last few years, two games stand out as high points for the Mob squad. The first was 2009 week 11 – a 72 -45 thrashing of the Nelson Bowl bound Phitin Camels that broke a 3 games losing streak and propelled Rich to a playoff appearance. The second was this year in week 5 with their 1 point win over undefeated Georgia. The Gangsters have been in first place ever since. - Dangerous Minds – This team is playoff bound, and someone is going to have to score a boatload of points to stop them from winning the Nelson Bowl this year. So far, Mike has three losses, and his opponents have scored 220 points or 73 ppg. In Mike’s five wins, he has averaged 423 points, or a whopping 85 points per contest. On Mike’s club, even the kicker is an impact player.
Mike has had a few high points in the last few years. One critical win came last year in Week 12, when the Minds, regrouping after a tough loss to Rocky Brook, squeezed out a 57-55 win over eventual Nelson Bowl champion Midwest. This was especially important after John found a way to beat Mike in 2009 Rice Bowl II by one point in week 13. Beating Midwest allowed the Minds the breathing room to secure a playoff spot by spanking Garvey’s Gangsters in week 14. - Georgia Satellites – John got to 6-2 by beating Tony on bench points last week. His minions are piling up the ugly wins and are almost a lock to make the playoffs. Drew Brees is now #2 in scoring among quarterbacks – a fact that seems surprising given how much New Orleans has struggled this season. This week, The Space-meister has all three of his A-list running backs available, although he heads into Sunday’s contest with his two top scoring receivers – Austin Colle and Percy Harvin – nursing injuries.
John’s best moment in the last few years came when he won the 2007 Nelson Bowl championship. It should be pointed out that John’s club was not playing well heading into the playoffs that year. He lost 3 of 4 games on his way to the dance, and he was outscored in the three losses 267 – 119. The week 14 loss was by 55 points to the Northern Spies – the exact same team that he beat in round 1 of the playoffs on his way to his seventh Nelson Bowl title. - Northboro – Last week, The Phoenix had no answer for Dan Carpenter (19 points). Carpenter outscored the usually terrific Rod Bironas by 14 points, which accounted for the entire margin of victory for the Minds. Northboro will try again against the Gangsters with a full contingent of running backs, and Phillip Rivers ready to roll against Houston.
The high point of the last three years for the Phoenix was the 2008 Nelson Bowl championship, where the Flaming Birds rolled 81 – 46 behind quarterback Jay Cutler, who scored 20 points without throwing a touchdown pass. - Rocky Brook – They got to three wins by stopping a radioactive Midwest club dead in their tracks, 45-37. Tom’s brilliant spot play of Tampa Bay battering ram LeGarrette Blount (18 points) secured the win over Midwest and kept Rocky Brook’s slim playoff hopes alive.
Tom’s big moment came when he shocked a 12-2 Dangerous Minds club in the first round of the 2008 playoffs. This was one of the biggest upsets in League history – Mike’s club was an absolute juggernaut all year – but 18 points from Pierre Thomas and 14 points from Carolina’s Steve Smith laid the wood to the Commish, and gave Tom his first Nelson Bowl appearance. - Midwest Marauders - The Marauders blew a tire last week against Rocky Brook after looking briefly like a team on the move in weeks 6 and 7. Benjarvis Green-Ellis has suddenly emerged as a consistent scoring threat in the backfield, which makes the absence of Stephen Jackson (on the bye) a little less painful this week.
The high point for the Marauders is easy. After a terrific regular season when they piled up 9 wins, the Chicago boys got double-figure performances from all three running backs (Chris Johnson, Beanie Wells and Ladanian Tomlinson) to wrest the 2009 Nelson Bowl title from Tony. - Tony’s Phitin Camels - Tony heads into this week’s tilt against Midwest with DeAngelo Williams hurt, and Ronnie Brown facing Baltimore, so Mike Tolbert and Willis McGehee will be flanking Adrian Peterson in the Camel back field. Matt Schaub comes into this week as the number 15 ranked QB in our league in scoring, and this has really hurt Tony this year.
Tony’s best day in the last three years came when they shaved Northboro 62-61 in Week 13 of the 2009 season. This was Tony’s only win in the last month of the year, but it was enough to get him to the playoffs and eventually a date with Hugh in the 2009 Nelson Bowl championship. - Northern Spies – They came within a hair of rising off the matt to smite the rampaging Gangsters, but Peyton Manning was terrific last week, as he has been all season. Rich has Ryan Turain, his best running back for the last month, injured and on the bye. So, he dusts off Fred Jackson and send him out against the Dangerous Minds this week.
It’s been a few years since Rich has won a title, but he had a tremendous week managing in week 13 of 2007 that vaulted his team into the playoffs. He made two spot plays that week in his game against Rich Garvey. First, he sat Drew Brees and played Derek Anderson (14 points) who lit up Green Bay. Then, he played Patrick Crayton, who was Dallas’ third wide receiver at the time. Crayton, who had scored a donut in four of the five previous weeks, went for 14 as well, an
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