Hey, at least we still got a league! Now that 90% of the league is not at Omnis anymore, we can only hope that the next few weeks will yield an exciting end to the season. Let's take a quick look at what our teams ended up doing for the season; our first and last?
PRETENDERSStickIT2Em (2-12)After roaring out of the gates to a 2-0 record, Ben's team went 0-12 the rest of the way. Bravo? It probably had something to do with never setting his lineup. Just maybe. MVP? Nobody.
Ask About Me (5-9)Will started off with five straight losses before ripping of four wins to get back in contention. Sadly, the loss of Ronnie Brown (among other things) doomed them to a 1-4 finish and second to last place. They did finish with the fourth highest scoring in the league though, if that's any consolation.
Call Me Mr G (6-8)Jermaine sure liked pairs this year. Two losses, one win, two losses, one win, two losses, two wins, one loss, two wins. Add it all up and it's a losing record despite the awesomeness that was Adrian Peterson. Terrell Owens, Greg Jennings, and Tony Gonzalez was nice (plus Marvin Harrison) but nothing could overcome the up and down quarterback play of Philip Rivers and Jeff Garcia.
Redskins (6-8)Chris was looking pretty good at mid-season, with a 4-3 record, before the wheels came off and 2-5 followed. Peyton Manning wasn't good enough to carry dead weight -- Vince Young, Alex Smith, Anquan Boldin, Antwaan Randle-El, Julius Jones, the list goes on -- and the recent find of Ryan Grant was too little too late.
Team Rich (6-8)The self proclaimed best team in the league right after our draft instead finished in the bottom half of the standings. Despite the presence of all world Tom Brady and the stellar Carson Palmer, Rich couldn't get his team on track all year. Would you believe Kellen Winslow was the third best player here? He's a tight end! RB Kenny Watson outscored Shaun Alexander this season (2181 to 1542).
Renegadez (7-7)Rene had a chance to squeak into the playoffs but there were a few weeks there when his lineup was less than prepared (WK 8 and 9). He even had a chance to beat Thomas at one point. Alas, three straight wins to close out the season couldn't overcome the four losses before that. With a nice QB tandem at the end there, Drew Brees and Derek Anderson, and a good running game (Maurice Jones-Drew, Edgerrin James, Jamal Lewis), this team wasn't too bad.
CONTENDERSDog Whisperers (7-7)The Dog Whisperers, now renamed to "23 Months," stumble into the playoffs closing the regular season with a 2-4 record. While still outfitted with the best receivers in the game -- Reggie Wayne, TJ Houshmandzadeh, Andre Johnson, Plaxico Burress -- the 23s will need RBs Frank Gore and Marshawn Lynch to step up, especially with Reggie Bush out. Can Matt Hasselbeck and David Garrard lead this team to a huge upset over Thomas?
Bad News Bruins (8-6)Tae's team might have earned their original "Gutsy Little Bruins" name back. Finishing 5-2 and fired up for the playoffs, Tae has the red hot Marion Barber, the mummified Brett Favre and Kurt Warner, and not much else. Their top three draft picks, Larry Johnson, Laurence Maroney, and Steve Smith have been near useless all season so Tae's efforts have been qutie incredible indeed. Someone needs to step up to avenge the high scoring loss to Hong in WK12 and get to the next round, who will it be?
El Nino's (9-5)The mojo that is Hong shows itself again with a great record. With four wins against just one loss (plus a season high 2967 points last week), they are churning coming into the playoffs. Looking over this roster, nobody has any idea how Hong's doing it. Actually, the Nino's seem to have quite a good stable of skill position players. Willie Parker, Brian Westbrook, and Fred Taylor run the ball well. Larry Fitzgerald, Wes Welker, Marques Colston, and Antonio Gates are all top tier receivers. And Seattle defense has been astounding (fantasy wise). The only problem is the horrific quarterback duo of Eli Manning and Kyle Boller. Still, Hong's got aces up his sleeve!
Vultures (14-0)Thomas should retire. There, I said it. He should retire because he just did the unthinkable. A perfect (regular) season. Anybody else would have gotten a championship belt for himself already. But Thomas is humble. The last few weeks were fraught with peril as they won by just 134 versus Rene and 81 against Chris. They averaged 2369.93 points a game this season (over 200+ to their closest competitor). Led by Tony Romo and Ben Roethlisberger, Thomas has been unstoppable. Randy Moss, best receiver in the game. LaDainian Tomlinson, best running back in the game. Tack on Chad Johnson and Hines Ward and that's all she wrote. Two more wins for a real perfect season, unbelievable...
League MVP: Tony Romo
GM of the Year: Thomas
How did the Vultures lose in their biggest game of the year? Well, it was mainly a failure of the passing game. While Big Ben Roethlisberger threw for 425 points, Tony Romo was only average with 275 points. Randy Moss, Chad Johnson, Hines Ward, and Owen Daniels combined for only 597 points total. In addition, the run game was solid but not spectacular as LDT (298), Jerious Norwood (196), and Kevin Jones (47) all came up with average performances.
