Finally, we got us some digits! Triple digits, that is.
After last week's embarrassing league showing all around, the responsibility for this week's embarrassment falls squarely on the shoulders of just one team: Team Hahne, who beat his own record for lowest points in a single week (53) with a 50-point day.
The rest of the group, though, did well. We averaged 109.1 points even with Hahne. Take him out of the equation, and our average is 115.7. Nice!
Last week, seven of the 10 teams finished with double digits. This week, seven of the 10 teams finished with triple digits. Another improvement.
A look at the
playoff chances tells us that this week's wins for Trees and When put them in great positions. Both teams are 6-3, meaning they hold the keys to their playoff destinies.
In fact, if When and Trees win this week, they're guaranteed a playoff spot.
But even with a win in Week 10, the playoff seeding will be far from locked up. Every playoff team should be gunning for the first two seeds, because those positions mean a bye in the first round and a guarantee that both of your playoff games will have money on the line.
How so? Well, a first-round bye gets you into the semifinals automatically. Win that game, and you're in the championship where the winner gets $100 and the loser gets $60.
Lose in the semifinals, though, and you still get a chance to win some cash. You'll fall to the third-place game where the winner snags $40.
Lose that game, and, well, sorry. Good luck next year.
For some teams, though, just making the playoffs is the goal. Get in, and anything could happen, right? Teams like Hahne, Practice, Ants, Republic, and Explosion have at best a 5 percent chance of making one of those top two seeds. So the goal is getting in any way they can.
For Hahne, that task gets tougher each week he forgets to set a lineup. He's dropped six of his last seven, and those two dominant performances in the first two weeks of the season seem so far away now.
Hahne has looked good in his three wins, scoring 133, 143, and 131 points. But it's those pitiful losses that have to be frustrating for him. In his six losses, he's averaging just 70.7 points.
And then there's the fascinating story of Practice. He's the league's second-best team in terms of total points scored. He trails the leader in that category, Trees, by just one point. But he's also the worst at defense, apparently. Opponents have scored 117.6 points per game against him, on average.
Somehow, though, his average points scored is still higher than his average points allowed: 118.2 to 117.6.
There are five teams whose points scored total exceeds their points against, and Practice is one of them. But, as you can probably guess, he's the only one of the five who wouldn't make the playoffs if the season ended today.
I've been using that whole "if the season ended today" bit for several weeks now. But heads up, people. There are only four games left in the season. That means that there's precious little time for you to turn this boat around.
Practice 133, Republic 125
Though he's tied for the worst record in the league, Practice is one point away from being tied for the league's best team
statistically. That last word makes all the difference.
Practice did what he do this week: he scored a lot of points. And his opponent did what Practice's opponents typically do: also score a lot of points.
In fact, Practice's opponent was the highest-scoring losing team from Week 9, something all too familiar for Practice.
Also, it's hard not to mention Brett Favre's return to the Practice lineup after his recent time spent in free agency. That shakeup must've been just what Favre needed, because he scored 23 points (a season high). The problem? He did it on Practice's bench.
Republic's bench scored exactly 0 points. He had five players on bye week and a sixth (Reggie Bush) who was injured. That makes his 125-point day even more impressive, considering that the only players on his team who actually scored points were the 11 he started.
Still, Republic finished as the Hard Luck Loser. (That's the Jea Football League designation for a team that loses while scoring in the top 4 for the week.) Tough luck for Republic, who now sits in 7th in the league standings.
That was really the only close game. The rest were blowouts. Plus I'm also busy at work, so there's not too much time to write more...
But three other things, quickly:
- Hahne has gone missing again. I already mentioned his 50-point showing, but the reason behind that poor showing was that he started a bye week TE, D/ST and K. Not good, Hahne, not good. But the Screeches thank you for the free win.
- Two teams going in opposite directions: When and Steeles. Steeles, once a 5-1 powerhouse, has fallen down to earth after three straight losses. Meanwhile, When was 2-3 at one point and has rattled off four straight wins, catapulting him into second place.
- Want An's digits? Then look at his stat page.
