Week 14 Recap

With four Your Mom teams in the playoffs, and none of them playing each other, there was a serious possibility that the league's toughest division would either sweep the post-season, or be swept out. Instead, only one of those four teams advanced, thereby ensuring that all four divisions will be represented in the second round.

Let's go to the tape!

Turns out that stumbling into December football riding a five-game losing streak is not the ideal formula for success. As with their regular season play, The Hooligans started strong, logging 24.2 points from WR Vincent Jackson in the Thursday night game. But when facing the defending league champion, you need to keep punching all weekend long, and The Headbangers responded with over 20 points from four separate positions -- including an astonishing 27 points from the Indianapolis D/ST. The Irish-men just couldn't keep up with them, and move down to the "winner's consolation" bracket next week.
     Final Score: The Headbangers 129.6 -- The Hooligans 86.2.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Oak Ridge Trinities finished the regular season strong, winning their final six contests. This was shaping up to be a real coaching duel, as The Pantywaists lead the league in Belichick trophies, earning three during the regular season, and have never been awarded a Prothro. But to win in the post-season you need to put up points, and stankow collected the SHT Memorial Trophy for most points scored during the season. Sadly, real life intervened in the contest, as a sick child had mule too distracted to tidy up his roster. Lucky for Oak Ridge, as it turned out -- the only team who scored fewer points in Week 14 than they did was their opponent. RB Brian Westbrook provided nearly 40% of their total scoring, logging 31.2 points against the New York Giants.
     Final Score: The Pantywaists 42.9 -- Oak Ridge Trinities 82.3

In all the drama surrounding the Your Mom division this season, one team has stood apart, quietly handling their business. While the Pacific Coast Pirates and The Hooligans battled for the divisional crown and The Pantywaists struggled just to make the post-season, it was the Great Lakes Steamers who had engineered a situation that made it impossible for them to be left out of the playoff picture by the end of Week 12. Facing down the Chicago Rhyparogphers, who finally won their own divisional crown after a long struggle that came down to tie-breakers, Josh's boys had to cope with the absence of RB Marion Barber, the most productive part of their ground game. But the rest of the team stepped up, with QB Drew Brees, WR Wes Welker, and the Pittsburgh D/ST contributing over 20 points apiece. The bounce-back season for our 2005 Plastic Fantasy Football league champions thus comes to an end.
     Final Score: Great Lakes Steamers 107.9 -- Chicago Rhyparographers 83.

As one might expect, the clash between the #4 and the #5 playoff seeds was our tightest of the week, decided by less than six points. Both the Edgewater Fustigators and the Pacific Coast Pirates were riding win streaks coming into the contest, but in the end it was the second-place team that came in first. And what made Bo's narrow victory even more impressive was the fact that he logged a total of zero points from WR DeSean Jackson and TE Antonio Gates -- luckily, WR Steve Smith pitched in with 23.4, and QB Matt Cassel and the Miami D/ST contributed 18 apiece.
     Final Score: Edgewater Fustigators 89.5 -- Pacific Coast Pirates 83.6.

Tune in next week for the semi-final results!