Well, that was a short-lived stay at the top for Dr. Lowe. They say a football team makes it's greatest improvements between the first and second games. This doesn't speak all that well for Larry's (or Auburn for that matter...but we'll discuss that later) JLM 2005 prospects. As can be expected from a brilliant scientist Larry made logical picks that made great sense on paper but due to unforeseen circumstances (South Carolina growing a defense, Brandon Cox forgetting his wide receivers are allowed to touch the ball, a holding call negating a touchdown catch) and a typical engineer oversight (if you didn't spend so much time working and you goofed off a little and ready SEC scouting reports you would know that Alley Broussard tore his ACL in practice and is gone for the year) his final score looked like he had a retarded monkey (not his dog, the hyperactive Monkey) make his picks. While Larry did manage to have three players score in double figures (compared to James and Matt with four) his high scorer only accumulated 17 (again compared to James' 35 and Matt's 30). Combine this fact with his two 0's (the aforementioned gooseegg for Courtney Taylor and streetclothes for Alley Broussard) and it adds up to a paltry 54.
So the battle waged once again between the North and the South for fantasy gridiron primacy. Of course James does live in southern Wisconsin and I live in North Georgia, so I don't really know if the whole directional thing matters or if it cancels itself out. James took his usual week two modus operandi and stole from the previous winner's playbook. This time it meant choosing Chris Leak, who appears to be the early frontrunner for JLM 2005 MVFP. Leak didn't put up huge passing numbers like he did last week, but he was able to get into the end zone twice with his legs, pushing his touchdown total to four for the week and eight on the season. James then jumped on the Peyton Hillis bandwagon (that would be Arky's back up RB, a 220 lb. white guy who I thought had hands of stone) for a solid 15 points. Hillis didn't light up the world rushing but he did haul in sixty passing yards and a touchdown in a losing effort to Vandy (Vandy for crying out loud...a losing effort to Vandy. So much for the West closing the gap and passing the East for conference bragging rigths. We'll address this a little later when I go through the rest of Auburn's schedule and examine our chances at reaching a decent bowl game). James' other forays into the land of double figures included a wide receiver from Kentucky named Burton and Auburn's defense, which recorded the first JLM shutout of the year. Unfortunately for James he chose the wrong starting wide receiver for Auburn (Taylor caught zero passes, Obamanu caught one pass for nine yards, and Aramashadou caught one pass for five yards, but a precious touchdown), the wrong receiver for LSU (Early Doucet would have been the pick there), and bama couldn't run the ball against Southern Miss (Darby only got seven points). That all adds up to a respectable 86 points.
This brings us to...well, to me actually. In a marked improvement from last week (see second sentence in first paragraph above) Team IGottaGetOuttatheHouseMore dropped a solid 104 points on its JLM opponents. D'shawn Wynn made a big splash in his debut with the Gator's Urban Renewal Project (he was suspended last week), getting to the end zone three times. Wynn's 30 points coupled with the consistent numbers of Brandon Cox (got tight ends and running backs involved in the passing game) brought me to 53 points (or one less than all of Larry's team) with my top two guys. Wynn was also joined in the All Apostrophe backfield by De'arrius Howard who churned out 19 points for the pigs in, say it with me, A LOSING EFFORT TO VANDY. My team pod picking system worked out pretty well with the Florida duo scoring 34 (30 for Wynn, 4 for Caldwell), the Arky contingent netting 30 (19 for Howard, 11 for Monk), the Auburn boys combining for 29 (23 for Cox, 6 for Devin), and the Kentucky tandem going for 11 (5 for Begley, 6 for the win).
Week 3 brings us some intriguing match ups. Florida and Tennessee tangle in the Swamp. Can Leak, Wynn, Jackson, et al continue to put up gaudy stats against a real defense? Will Rick Clausen and the stable of UT wideouts open up the Gator D and allow Riggs to run wild? Bama heads to Columbia with grilled chicken on their minds. But the Cock D pretty much shut down the explosive and versatile D.J. Shockley. Will the Cocks be able to penetrate and spank a stationary target like little Crodie? On the flip side, Georgia was able to run at will on the Cocks. Will Darby find the Cocks D flaccid or hard as a rock? Can I work any more sexual entendres into a preview of a South Carolina Cocks game? Vandy and Ole Miss square off in yet another opportunity for the SEC West to look bad. Vandy is looking for it's first 3-0 start since the last SEC Scholar Bowl Season and might actually be favored at home. Auburn and Georgia should pad the stats against a couple of sacrificial lambs in Ball State and UL-Monroe, but will the starters stay in long enough to pile up the JLM points? Mississippi State and Kentucky also step outside of conference play to battle Tulane and Indiana.
Good luck fellas. Pick 'em well.
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6 comments:
Wow, if we could do some advertising people would pay money to read you work. Keep it up! I check here before going to espn, cnnsi, or any other publications. Not that any of those comment on MJL, but they should.
I don't know what my deal is with WR's. It's always been my weakest area, and usually costs me a couple of wins.
Thanks man.
I love this time of year, just to rtead Boners post game comments.
Man I sucked this week.
Matt, how did the suicide NFL pool thing go?
Well, James and I will just have to wait until everyone else is out so we can start a second chance pool!
Phil...feel free to submit a JLM team this week. Points are awarded as follows: 1 point for every 20 passing yards, 1 point for every 10 rushing yards, 1 point for every 10 receiving yards, 6 points for a touchdown (pass, run, or catch), and negative 2 points for a pick. Kickers get 1 point for a PAT, 3 points for a FG less than 39 yards, 4 points for a FG 40-49 yards, and 5 points for a FG longer than 50 yards. Defenses get 6 points for a win, 6 points for a shutout, and 3 points for allowing 10 points or less.
Sweet. PMLJ Fantasy draft.
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