Week 3 Results

Another week is in the books but there is still a lot of season left. There were certainly some surprising results in the NFL but only one real surprise in our league this week. Here are the scores and game summaries:

DharmaHelper 0 - G-MAN 37
This is the surprise of the week. DH's team laughed in the face of our bets against him in Weeks 1 and 2. This week, however, some tough match-ups stood in his way of going 3-0. DH's Jets defense played G-Man's Eagles offense. This game opened a 48-point divide in G-Man's favor but DH's Ravens offense scored as many points as the Jets gave up, reducing G-Man's lead to 24. G-Man's Patriots offense put up an insane 51 points against the Jaguars (but was anyone really expecting the Jag to keep it anywhere near close?). Heading into the afternoon games, G-Man led 75-0. DH still had two games to help him out- his Bears offense and G-Man's shaky Chiefs defense. After the Bears finished with zero points scored, DH's odds of a victory were virtually nil. Though the Chiefs would have needed to let up the most points ever by an NFL team, they only squandered just over half of G-Man's lead.

Epignosis 31 - GOLDEN 56
In the battle of the 0-2 teams, Epi found himself short-handed. His Panthers defense played his Saints offense, forcing him to rely on the Minnesota Vikings offense to bring home his first win of the season. Minnesota showed up to play this week, amassing 31 points- more than their first two weeks combined. Unfortunately for Epi, Golden's New York Giants offense put up similar numbers and his Buffalo defense held strong against a Dolphins team caught in a perpetual identity crisis. That left Golden needing just two touchdowns out of the Green Bay Packers, who complied and then some. The Packers shoved 38 points down the throats of the Kansas City Chiefs, giving Golden a solid win.

MovingPictures07 28 - TURNIPHEAD 35
This was the nail-biter of the week because both MP and TH were dependent upon only one of their teams for the outcome. MP's Houston defense took on his Tampa offense, leaving him with the Dallas Cowboys to move him to 2-1. TH's Steeler's offense collided with his Rams defense, leaving him to look to the Indianapolis Colts to prevent him from dropping to 0-3. Both the Cowboys and the Colts played early games on Sunday but the scores remained close. This match-up went down to the wire and even looked like it might end in a tie, but the Colts got one final touchdown, giving TH a much needed win.

Leggyorlyb 26 - METALMARSH89 37
This was another game where the result wasn't much of a surprise but the score was closer than anticipated. Leggy was yet another team hampered by team schedules, with her Detroit defense playing her Denver offense. But if you have to rely on one team for a weekend, the Seattle offense against the hapless Bears offers quite the silver lining. The Seahawks didn't put up as many points as the Bears Week 1 and 2 opponents, which held Leggy back in the end. MM's early games left him with a score of -10. His Chargers offense struggles for a second week in a row and his Cincinnati defense let the Baltimore Ravens back into the game. Heading into the afternoon games, MM needed his Arizona Cardinals to work their offensive magic once more and they did so in spades. The Cardinals lit up the 49ers, pushing MM into first place in both the Civvie Conference and the entire league.

Here are the current league standings:

With Week 4 of the NFL season comes bye-weeks. This week, G-Man's New England Patriots offense has the week off. This means G-Man needs to select a supplementary team to fill the void on offense from the eight teams that went undrafted at the start of the season. Week 4 also brings us to our first non-conference games.

WEEK 4 MATCH-UPS:
DharmaHelper (2-1) v. Epignosis (0-3)
G-Man (2-1) v. Golden (1-2)
Leggyorlyb (2-1) v. MovingPictures07 (1-2)
Metalmarsh89 (3-0) v. TurnipHead (1-2)

Week 2 Results

After another intriguing Monday night showdown, the dust has cleared on the week. Here are the scores for Week 2:

If it's true that defense wins championships, then DharmaHelper may be thinking championship right now. Once again, his Jets defense held strong enough to clinch him the victory. Despite TurnipHead having one of the highest-scoring teams in the NFL on offense this week, his St. Louis defense proved porous enough to put him in a bind. TH needed the Colts to score just 19 points to walk away with the win (a seemingly easy task for one of last season's better offenses) but it wasn't to be.

Elsewhere this weekend, Epignosis had a great chance at winning. Metalmarsh's team was limited, as he had an offense and a defense playing against each other, resulting in a wash. The smart money seemed to be on Epi taking advantage of MM's weakness. But it seems that MM's Arizona offense is not to be underestimated. They single-handedly won the game for MM. Epi's team got the job done and scored enough points to beat five of the other six teams playing this weekend but he fell victim to a schedule working against his favor.

G-Man v. MovingPicture07 came down the the Dallas-Philly game. That game was a close affair but not close enough for G-Man to hold on for the win. Defense was once again a key contributor, as G-Man's Kansas City defense choked big time throughout the Thursday night game. MP07 benefited from a stronger game from Tampa Bay, though he has to be concerned about Dallas losing both their top wide receiver and the starting QB. For now though, he gets to bask in the glory.

Golden v. Leggyorlyb came down to the Sunday night game between Green Bay and Seattle. Golden's Buffalo defense let him down in a big way this week, leaving him in a hole that just couldn't dig out of. He needed a Green Bay blowout of the Seahawks of epic proportion but it was not in the cards, sending Leggy to 2-0.

The standings now tell an interesting story. The Baddie Conference shows signs of parity, with DH at 2-0, two 1-1 teams, and an 0-2. The Civvie Conference is less balanced. MM and Leggy sit at 2-0 while Epi and Golden are on the outside looking in at 0-2.

A new feature to not in the standings are the Top O's and Top D stats. These will note when a player had one of the top two offenses of the weekend and if they had the best defense for a weekend (fewest points allowed). In Week 1, nobody had the top two offenses or the top defense. These stats will be used as a tie-breaker if necessary later down the road.


WEEK 3 MATCHUPS:

DharmaHelper (2-0) v. G-Man (1-1)
Epignosis (0-2) v. Golden (0-2)
MovingPictures07 (1-1) v. TurnipHead (0-2)
Leggyorlyb (2-0) v. Metalmarsh89 (2-0)

Week 1 Results

Week 1 is in the books!  The first week of the NFL season held several surprises and it was no different in our EZ Fantasy Football League.  Here's a look at how the Week 1 games turned out:

DharmaHelper saw all of his teams play early on Sunday.  With his Ravens locked in a tight defensive battle, DH turned to the Bears for victory.  They put up decent numbers against the Packers and his Jets defense held strong against the scrambling Browns.  MovingPictures got off to a rough start with his Texans defense giving up a pile of points that turned out to be too great to overcome.  His risky pick of Tampa Bay, last year's bottom-feeders, turned out to be a bad gamble this week.  He entered the Sunday night game needing more points that his Dallas offense was capable of producing.

Epignosis v. Leggorlyb was the nail-biter of the week.  Epi's Carolina defense held the hapless Jaguars to only 9 points while Leggy's Lions defense seemed full of holes, costing her 33 points, erasing any gain her Seattle offense built for her early on Sunday.  That tight Denver-Baltimore game made things even more uncomfortable for Leggy.  Epi entered Monday night's game between San Francisco and his Minnesota offense needing only 8 points to steal a win in Week 1.  Sadly, the Vikings stole defeat from the jaws of victory by only putting up a field goal in a dismal opening week performance.

G-Man v. Turnip Head opened the season for us on Thursday night.  Their offenses put up respectable numbers, making their remaining offensive and defensive performances critical to their success.  When the dust settled on Sunday, Turnip Head was hanging his head in disappointment.  His Indy offense underperformed and his St. Louis defense gave up a lot of points against Seattle despite their thrilling overtime win.  G-Man's Kansas City defense was the difference maker, leaving him assured of the win even before his Philadelphia offense took the field Monday night.

Golden v. Metalmarsh was a battle of too offensive titans.  They're defenses were excellent as well.  Golden's Green Bay offense cancelled out MM's Arizona offense but Golden's New York Giants just couldn't keep pace with MM's San Diego Chargers, clinching a Week 1 win for the marmot.  One team had to win in the end but perhaps everyone should take notice of their potent offenses.  These two might ruin plenty of competitors days as the season rolls on.

Interestingly enough, neither of the two top offenses nor the top defense in the NFL this weekend were active in our fantasy league.  The top two offenses were the Tennessee Titans (undrafted) and the St. Louis Rams (who are being used as a defense).  The top defense in the league turned out to the be undrafted San Francisco 49ers.

Here are the standings after Week 1.  I will post a listing of our tie-breaking procedures in a future post.

WEEK 2 MATCHUPS:

DharmaHelper (1-0) v. Turnip Head (0-1)

Epignosis (0-1) v. Metalmarsh89 (1-0)

G-Man (1-0) v. MovingPictures07 (0-1)

Golden (0-1) v. Leggyorlyb (1-0)

Conferences and 2015 Schedule

Since this first season is being run for member of The Syndicate mafia game community, I named our conferences after the two factions in almost every mafia game. Click the image to see the whole thing:

 


Next up are our season schedules.  Here is the schedule for the Baddie Conference:

And here is the schedule for the Civvie Conference:

Draft Results

Here are the results from the draft, round by round.

ROUND 1:
1. Turnip Head- INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (offense)
2. DharmaHelper- BALTIMORE RAVENS (offense)
3. Golden- GREEN BAY PACKERS (offense)
4. Epignosis- CAROLINA PANTHERS (defense)
5. Leggyorlyb- SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (offense)
6. MovingPictures07- HOUSTON TEXANS (defense)
7. G-Man- NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS (offense)
8. Metalmarsh89- SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (offense)

ROUND 2:
9. Metalmarsh89- CINCINNATI BENGALS (defense)
10. G-Man- PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (offense)
11. MovingPictures07- DALLAS COWBOYS (offense)
12. Leggyorlyb- DENVER BRONCOS (offense)
13. Epignosis- NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (offense)
14. Golden- BUFFALO BILLS (defense)
15. DharmaHelper- CHICAGO BEARS (offense)
16. Turnip Head- PITTSBURGH STEELERS (offense)

ROUND 3:
17. Turnip Head- ST. LOUIS RAMS (defense)
18. DharmaHelper- NEW YORK JETS (defense)
19. Golden- NEW YORK GIANTS (offense)
20. Epignosis- MINNESOTA VIKINGS (offense)
21. Leggyorlyb- DETROIT LIONS (defense)
22. MovingPictures07- TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (offense)
23. G-Man- KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (defense)
24. Metalmarsh89- ARIZONA CARDINALS (offense)

Remember that when selecting a team, you must also declare whether you will use them for offense or defense!


UNDRAFTED TEAMS:

ATLANTA FALCONS
CLEVELAND BROWNS
JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
MIAMI DOLPHINS
OAKLAND RAIDERS
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS
TENNESSEE TITANS
WASHINGTON REDSKINS

2015 Season Participants and Draft Order

Only eight people signed up, so there will only be two conferences. Maybe next year we'll get enough interest to have divisions.

So here are the competitors this year:

DharmaHelper
Epignosis
G-Man
Golden
Leggyorlyb
Metalmarsh89
MovingPictures07
Turnip Head


THE DRAFT:

There will be three rounds of the draft.  I randomized the player list and we'll spend the next week selecting our teams.  Remember- when you must select two teams for your offense and one team for your defense.  When you make your draft choice, you must declare how you will use the team you select.

Once you make the selection, you are stuck with that team for the whole season.  You cannot switch a team between offense and defense.  The two teams you select for offense will be your offense for the whole season.  The team you select for your defense will be your defense for the whole season.  That's why it's called EZ Fantasy Football- you pick teams now and don't have to worry about making any changes the rest of the season.

There will be three rounds of the draft.  Once the first round is over, we will proceed backwards through the list in the second round.  The third round order will be identical to the first round order.

Here is your 2015 draft order:

ROUND 1:
1. Turnip Head
2. DharmaHelper
3. Golden
4. Epignosis
5. Metalmarsh89
6. Leggyorlyb
7. MovingPictures07
8. G-Man

ROUND 2:
9.  G-Man
10. MovingPictures07
11. Leggyorlyb
12. Metalmarsh89
13. Epignosis
14. Golden
15. DharmaHelper
16. Turnip Head

ROUND 3:
17. Turnip Head
18. DharmaHelper
19. Golden
20. Epignosis
21. Metalmarsh89
22. Leggyorlyb
23. MovingPictures07
24. G-Man

As of right now, Turnip Head is on the clock (figuratively speaking).  Please try to get your picks in as soon as possible.  We have a week before the first game of the season but will need a little time to get all of our selections entered into my spreadsheet and make a few formatting adjustments.

Post your selections in the thread.  Make sure you list both the team you are selecting and whether you will use them for offense or defense.

Draft Tips

Greetings all! Here are a few charts to help you with the draft process. This first chart shows each teams average Points For and Points Against for the last three seasons.

This second chart shows each team's rank in terms of Points for and Points Against for the last three seasons.

And here is the Bye Week Schedule. Try to avoid drafting offensive teams that share a bye week!

WEEK 4 
New England
Tennessee  

WEEK 5
Carolina
Miami
Minnesota
NY Jets  

WEEK 6
Dallas
Oakland
St. Louis
Tampa Bay  

WEEK 7
Chicago
Cincinnati
Denver
Green Bay  

WEEK 8
Buffalo
Jacksonville
Philadelphia
Washington  

WEEK 9 
Arizona
Baltimore
Detroit
Houston
Kansas City
Seattle  

WEEK 10
Atlanta
Indianapolis
 San Diego
San Francisco  

WEEK 11
Cleveland
New Orleans
NY Giants
Pittsburgh