Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Turkey Time

It has been a long time since the last blog posting, this is unacceptable. Anyway, The Double Ent-Andres have reached a pivotal point in the season. No playoff spots have been sealed with several teams still jockeying for playoff position; the bottom of the league is undecided as well. Since it is the season of saying thanks, many teams have something to be thankful to be thankful for: 

FatGuyInALittleCoat: They, perhaps, have the most to be thankful for. They have made several wavier wire moves that have paid off...Jordan Cameron (for about 8 weeks), the Chiefs Defense (for about 11 weeks), and Marvin Jones (a 36 point game!!!!). However, FatGuyInALittleCoat has one team to thank in particular: 4th and God. 4th and God gifted them with Knowshon Moreno and then later on with Nick Foles. The addition Moreno has been able to shadow the void that is their wide receivers (starting LaFell and Hartline this week). Currently, FatGuyInALittleCoat is sitting at first place and looks to be in a good position to defend their title. 

DomPaolinos Pregnant: Started the season at 1-5 and somehow are now 6-6, and are currently competing for a playoff spot. Why the turn around? Who knows? The emergences of Russell Wilson as a top 10 fantasy quarterback, Golden Tate as a dependable receiver, and the consistent use of the St Louis Rams have brought DomPaolinos Pregnant out of the carnage of the cellar. Many questioned some of their moves, but clearly they saw something in these players that no one else saw. Congraulations, DomPaolinos Pregnant you have had a great first season. 

J Train: J Train makes the list because they pulled out a huge win last week. To be honest, they had what was in essence their JV squad on the field. The typical saying is, "when the JV plays the varsity, the varsity always wins" well not this week gentlemen. J Train's B Squad was able to squeak out a narrow win over a Call Me Daddy team that brought their "A" game. They got huge performances out of Alex Smith, Kendall Wright, and the Steelers defense. With the win J Train was able to jump all the way up to second place. 

Along with giving thanks there are turkeys during Thanksgiving. The Double Ent-Andres are not without their fair share of turkeys. Two stand out in particular: 

WineEm DineEm 69Em: This team is the opposite of DomPaolinos Pregnant, they started the season at 5-2 and now find themselves in a free fall at 5-7 (in the midst of a five game losing streak). Early in the season they were able to ride the strong outings of Matt Ryan, Arian Foster, and Jaquizz Rodgers. Now Arian Foster is on IR, Rodgers is splitting duties with Stephen Jackson, and Ryan has lost any major weapons he thought he had. WineEm DineEm 69Em doesn't have the depth to fill those positions, at running back they are stuck with C.J. Spiller (maybe the biggest bust of the season) and Pierre Thomas. Now they reach a critical point in the season where they play 4th and God, and the loser may have their spot sealed in the cellar. 

4th and God: 4th and God could be the biggest turkey of the season. Gave up Moreno for Randle (gave up on Randle and then he makes it big), lost a game where they needed five points from Frank Gore and only got three, lost two consecutive games when they had the second highest points in the league only to play the highest scoring team, and more. 4th and God again has had a fairly unlucky season: Randall Cobb went on IR, Reggie Wayne went on IR, Doug Martin was a bust, and Darren McFadden was a waste. For awhile 4th and God were the highest scoring team in the league, but also had the most points against (they no longer have this distinction. 4th and God is fighting for their lives week to week now, and have a crucial matchup this weekend. 

There are massive games going on this Thanksgiving and many of our teams need top performances from their players. Hopefully they can live up to their potential.

Many things need to be discussed before the season concludes, such as does the league expand the championship playoffs to 6 and/or how is the last place team actually decided. The league needs answers soon. 

Anyway, have a Happy Thanksgiving and be sure to eat up!

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Fire Island

We have finally passed the quarter mark in the season. After five weeks there is still not a clear favorite in the league: six teams are at the top with 3-2, three more at 2-3, and just one at 1-4. A recap has not been written in awhile, so this seems to be the time to get one down. We'll go team by team and see where they are at this point in our still (fairly) young season: 

LastCupChris
On fire. Fire Island. Balls Back. Say what you want, but LastCupChris has certainly put their money where their mouth is. After being called out three weeks ago, this team has rattled off three straight wins. They went from the bottom of the league all the way to first in a short time span. As of right now there seems to be no holes with this team (maybe WR 3, but that's tiny). This is the first place team and the highest scoring team, and for the foreseeable future there is no end insight, with DomPaolinos Pregnant coming up LastCupChris should be seeing another W this weekend. 

*The Recap/Commissioner's office would like to apologize to LastCupChris and yes the (temp) can now come off* 

WineEm DineEm 69Em
The Comeback Kids. In back-to-back weeks WineEm DineEm 69Em has found themselves losing going into the Sunday Night game, and in both weeks has won the contest. And each time it was Matt Ryan and Jacquizz Rodgers leading the comeback. Consistency has been this team's game plan all season long. WineEm DineEm 69Em is the league's third highest scoring team and has accomplished this without consistent play from A.J. Green and Stephen Jackson sidelined by an injury. This week they have an intriguing matchup with Two Pump Chump that can create some separation in the standings. 

FatGuyInALittleCoat
This team is in a familiar spot: at the top of the standings (though they hit a hurdle this past week with a loss). Once again FatGuyInALittleCoat is shrewdly using the free agency market to construct a winner. They were able to pick up Jordan Cameron (a top 3 tight end) and Kansas City (hasn't scored less than 10 pts) from the scrap heaps of free agency. It is still unclear if they are a great talent evaluator or they just have the quickest trigger when it comes to signing players. Nevertheless, they have a compelling contest this weekend against 4th and God which has numerous story lines (which will be mentioned more later). 

Call Me Daddy
Call Me Daddy also finds themselves in a familiar spot: at the top of the leader board. They did suffer a setback this past weekend but they are still in good position. They have a roster full of potential with Giovanni Bernard and Le'Veon Bell possibly emerging into fantasy studs. They also have the return of Danny "Don't call me Darren" Amendola and resurgence of Tony Romo as a fantasy quarterback. Interestingly, Call Me Daddy has negotiated a trade with joseb's Team who they happen to be playing this weekend. Cecil Shorts (the town bicycle of The Double Ent-Andres) was the prominent part of the trade. Still, Call Me Daddy likes their future and proclaims that they will be 5-2 in two weeks. Is the self-proclaimed "Guru" back then? 

Two Pump Chump
A surprising addition to the Top 5, but Two Pump Chump has been clawing out the wins. Despite having nearly all of their receivers underperforming or injured they still have a winning record. They are currently being carried by Drew Brees-us and Darren Sproles (who is having a surprising season himself). Two Pump Chump is clearly confident with their team by the fact they have not made any free agency or trade moves with their team. They have an extremely tough matchup with WineEm DineEm 69Em, which may tell the rest of the league if they are for real or not. 

Orocopiche 
Despite being outscored for the season, Orocopiche finds themselves with a winning record at the quarter mark. They have recovered well from their 49 point showing in Week One. They also have upgraded their team with the additions of DeMarco Murray and DeSean Jackson. They currently might have the best receiving corps in the league. There is no trade that Orocopiche is afraid to talk about or offer, as evidence by the colossal trade they made with joseb's team (by far the biggest in league history). They are certainly a team to look out for in the future based on the trades they are willing to make and if players like MJD step their game up. 

4th and God 
2 wins. One more and 4th and God will match their point total from a year ago. Even though they are second highest scoring team in the league they find themselves with a losing record (however this can be seen as a misleading stat because their two victories have come behind monster scoring outputs). Still they are carrying themselves by the historic season Peyton Manning is having. They have a monster matchup with FatGuyInALittleCoat this week. A lot of stories come into this one: 4th and God dropped Knowshon Moreno and now he is one of the best running backs in the league on FatGuyInALittleCoat and these two teams executed a trade, which for the second year in a row involved Michael Vick. At the moment it seems that 4th and God has gotten the better side of trade gaining two starters in Reggie Wayne and "Orange" Julius Thomas; while the other two players involved Vick and Owen Daniels are now hurt. This matchup will most likely have ramifications on the standings for weeks to come. 

J Train 
J Train has seen themselves on the wrong end of some tight games, with their Points Against only being 10 more points than their Points For. One has to assume that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense steps up and looks like them old selves. J Train appears to be in good position with a team that has a ton of depth in a variety of positions. Also, it seems that they will be getting a majority of their bye weeks out of the way early. They are not out for the count yet, especially with Demaryius Thomas, Matt Forte, and the resurgence of Tony Gonzalez. 

joseb's Team
Where to begin? After two weeks it seemed that joseb's Team was going to be a juggernaut, but then they had that monster trade. It is still early to determine what kind of effect the trade will have on them for the rest of the season. They are still in good shape with one of the higher scoring teams in the league. And their constant tinkering and trades will always keep them in contention. They still have LeSean McCoy and Dez Bryant carrying the load. I still would not sleep on joseb's Team. 

DomPaolinos Pregant 
At the quarter mark this team still finds themselves where they started in week one: last place. However, they did pull off their first win last week to avoid the most losses to start season record (in case you did not know, 4th and God holds this mark with 0-6). Their victory was impressive, they received huge performances by T.Y. Hilton and Russell Wilson. Still, this team has a tough road ahead of them especially with Julio Jones out for the rest of the season. Hopefully, they can use some of this momentum and knock off a few more wins. It has been a rough introduction into the league for them. 


Wednesday, September 18, 2013

108.08-105.98

It became another exciting week for the Double Ent-Andres, with even more close games, exciting finishes, and much more. The parity in the league is astounding: with only two teams at 2-0 and only two others at 0-2. It remains unclear why the league is so even this far into the season. Is it because the expansion to a 10 team has leveled out the league? Or has everyone gotten their shit together and learned the ins-and-outs of fantasy football (highly unlikely)? Granted, it was week 2 but if the league keeps going at this pace then it should on of the greatest seasons of ALL TIME! 

Last week, there were some murmurs of some bias in last week's recap (it couldn't be) so hopefully this one will be fairer. We'll briefly go through the match ups from the past week: 

Joseb's Team (124.78) vs DomPaolinos Pregnant (91.98) 

Just to quote Yahoo's recap: "Joseb's Team puts the Kibosh on DomPaolinos Pregnant." See I am not the only one to use the word "kibosh." This seems to be an apt analysis in this match up, Joseb banished them into the cellar of the league...ask 4th and God, the cellar is a cool, dark, damp, and musky place (though he did do some renovations to the place). After two weeks Joseb's Team appears to be one of the most formidable teams in da league. So far this team has been carried by the career renaissances of DeSean Jackson and LaSean McCoy, who are thriving in the revamped Eagles's offense. His team was still able to win by a wide margin despite another dismal performance by David Wilson and Colin Kaepernick looking like a frightened child in the thunderous (pun intended) CenturyLink Field. At least for the next few weeks Joseb's Team will be a very tough out. 

It has also been a rough introduction to league for DomPaolinos Pregnant. They're sitting at 0-2 and have dealt with an unfortunate string of bad luck. They are plagued by the cancer that is Chris "No Longer CJ2K" Johnson, Ray Rice just got injured, and they carry not one but two Jets running backs. Really, the only alarming decision made by the team this week was parking Sam Bradford on the bench, because he had nearly 30 points. With a roster move or two DomPaolinos Pregnant should be able to dust some of early dirt off their shoulders and be competitive in the league; though there is a ruff Week 3 match up against the defending champs: FatGuyInALittleCoat. 

LastCupChris (temp) (110.30) vs Orocopiche (117.06)   

Maybe LastCupChris needs to keep the "temp" with his team name for another few weeks, since he still hasn't knocked the first cup down. LastCupChris is one of two teams that are 0-2. However, this week he ran into some bad luck: his kicker, Phil Dawson, only got 3 points because the 49ers forgot that they were playing football and not Hot Potato. And that Orocopiche was able to catapult themselves to victory on the shoulders of the hard-hitting Seattle Seahawks defense. LastCupChris does have a lot of potential on his team: Tom Brady should get back on track any day now and there is also fantasy stud Jimmy Graham. 

Orocopiche was able to ride high on the team name change, and erase a 12 point deficit to come back to win. They were bolstered by the come back game of Megatron who had over 20 points. Orocopiche is a favorite in their matchup with WineEm DineEm 69Em and with the potential return of Rob Gronkowski they could be shaping up for a run in the league. 

WineEm DineEm 69Em (97.46) vs J Train (102.90) 

The J Train express has not stopped at the start of this young season. They are one of the two undefeated teams in the league. With the Platinum arm of Aaron Rodgers they were able to hold off their opponent. J Train's quiet pickup of Fred Jackson so far appears to be an early steal; and potentially gives them a lethal one-two punch with Jackson and Matt Forte. Interestingly, J Train was able to win despite pitiful performances from all three receivers (imagine if one or two actually shows up every week!). J Train's next stop is a battle with Call Me Daddy who suffered a setback this past week. The match up, based on projections, appears to be dead even. 

WineEm DineEm 69Em had a solid performance and does not seem to be in any danger...yet. They would probably appreciate the Ravens getting back on track so Justin Tucker can actually get some points; they would also like the 49ers to get back on track (which seems to a desire by a few of our teams this week). WineEm DineEm 69Em is a sizable underdog against Orocopiche this week and they're smelling upset. 

Call Me Daddy (104.92) vs FatGuyInALittleCoat (130.70) 

This week also featured two rematches from the previous season, the first being a rematch of our championship game. Call Me Daddy was not able to get their revenge, as they were beaten fairly decisively. Call Me Daddy was crippled (too rough a phrase?) by weak performances of their running backs. AP did not have an AP performance and none of the others were able to pick up the slack. On the plus side they have James Starks and Giovanni Bernard on the bench so there is a ton of potential with their running backs. This minor set back should not be any trouble for Call Me Daddy, they've been here before. 

FatGuyInALittleCoat were able to rebound from their first loss since God-knows-when. This team also appears to be loaded with potential. Imagine when RG III gets back on track and Roddy White gets healthy?! FatGuyInALittleCoat's presence's on the wavier wire always make them a factor as evidence by the pickups of Julian Thomas and Knowshon Moreno. FatGuyInALittleCoat is hoping to feast on the remains that are DomPaolinos Pregnant. 

Team Wumbo (108.08) vs 4th and God (105.98) 

Hey Team Wumbo where's the name change? Anyway this was other rematch of last season. A rematch of the two last place teams. For some reason Team Wumbo has had 4th and God's number the past two match ups winning both of them. Team Wumbo was able to hold on for the win despite the weak play of Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald. They used a surprise game by Pierre Garcon to pick the team up. At the moment Team Wumbo is the other undefeated team and they hope to see their team actually play up to their projections this week against Joseb's Team, though that may be tough with Andre Johnson hurt. 

Where to begin with 4th and God? Maybe it is the bench which they left about 95 points there rotting. Look at it this way if they started any other receiver besides Ruben Randle they would have won the match up this week. 4th and God was hampered by some over thinking and got burned by the moves of starting the Eagles and of course the infamous Ruben Randle. Despite those mistakes 4th and God was still in a position to win the week! It all came down to Frank Gore, the most reliable player in the history of 4th and God. Pack it up and call it day right? Not so fast! There was not one last gasm for Gore, San Francisco got behind early were not able to establish the running game. This loss was all to familiar for 4th and God, they hope to rebound with a fairly even matchup with LastCupChris this week. Rest assured, there will not be over thinking with them this week. 

*Don't expect this every week, gentlemen. I spent too much time on this one, hopefully I can figure out a way to streamline this. I hope that this one is better than the one from last week. Keep up the good work!   

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Has Hell Froze Over!?

Have Pigs Flied? Has the Fat Lady not yet sang? Has Hell, in fact, frozen over? Who Knows? It is probably too soon to tell, however it was a hell (maybe pun intended) of a first week for the Double Ent-Andres. Two new expansion teams, fairly compelling match ups across the board, disappointing performances, and much more. Of course (since I may be a tad bit bias), our last place team from just one season ago currently has their first winning record and is LEADING the league in points. Yes, I know it is only Week 1, but it is interesting to point out.

This was a good first week back for the league with a few interesting games, I would like to point out a thing or two. In the game I am sure everyone had their eye on: 4th and God defeated Joseb's Team in what may look like a sizable margin, but it was anything but a cake walk. 4th and God got off to a blistering start with Peyton Manning (god?) nearly putting up a 50-spot and most of their players reaching/exceeding their projections. Joseb's Team was certainly hampered by the disappointing performances of Dez Bryant and David Wilson (who actually received negative points, kind of reminds you of this doesn't it? Check it Out). They appeared to be Dead Men Walking, but then Monday night happened...LeSean McCoy and DeSean Jackson wanted to join the party and brought Joseb's Team within 20 points! Sure no one probably cared, but 4th and God have had one too many disappointments and they expected the worst. Thankfully, Robert Griffin III remembered how to play football for a quarter and opened the door for a 4th and God win.

The quiet sleeper game of the week was between The Burgersons and our defending champions: FatGuyInALittleCoat. For awhile The Burgersons appeared to have the game under (in the words of the great Stephen A. Smith) wraps until Victor Cruz got a bad taste in his mouth and had a MONSTROUS game. He had nearly 30 points and 3 TDs! This set the stage for a crucial Monday Night. FatGuyInALittleCoat received a good game from RG3. For a long time it looked like there would be an upset, but then Arian Foster remembered that he was on a national stage and salvaged the win for The Burgersons.

So all and all a great first week for the league. A tough time for the newcomers, but the expanded league should further even out the league. Hopefully, in the weeks to come there will be more than two players with a 100+ rushing yards (one of them being a quarterback,   Guess Who? ), receivers will actually show (ahem Megatron), and much more.

Buckle Up Gentlemen

*I'll try to do these as often as possible, but ideally I will do this every four weeks.