Week 13: Not Much Left to Decide

Straight Ballin' didn't have to win anymore to be in the playoffs, but they didn't let up against the Conicals. Ballin' got off to a slow start with Favre scoring -2, but still managed 80 to win by 28. Steven Jackson has turned out to be a good acquisition leading the team along with T.O. and Braylon Edwards who each had 14. Gonzo also had 10 for Straight. Clovis' QB finally did play again since Brodie was injured. Leon Washington and Dallas Clark did some damage combining for 33, but nobody else got more than Hobbs' 5.2 in the Conical's 4th straight loss.

The Cushions held on to second place and secured their playoff spot in a tight game with the hard luck Hillbillies. AP was back with 19. Sebastian, Jamal Lewis and Derek Anderson combined for 35 and Patrick Willis was tackling out of his mind with 17 points to get 87 for the Woopiecushions. The Hillbillies put up quite a fight starting with Crayton's 14 on Thursday, then LT put up 22. The difference was Carson Palmer's TD pass to Chris Henry in the Steeler game which was ruled out of bounds and the Bengals had no timeouts left to challenge with. The 12+ points would have put Harmony over the top easily, but it was not to be.

Cali (BOB) pulled out a comeback to seal his playoff spot and send the Ogres to the consolation bracket. Urlacher, the Viking D, and Brady each had 15 for Cali. It was Brady's final TD pass that completed the come back and gave them the 2 point victory. Obispo got 18 from Big Ben in the rain. Ryan, Kris Brown, Chester and Jennings had 10-12, but only 1 from Fumble Willie Parker and the Denver D were heavy anchors that prevented the victory. Fumble Willie lost 2 of 3 fumbles. He had 2 more that were lost, but he was ruled (barely) down by contact to save him from losing 4 on the day. If you were watching, it was ugly.

Big Red backs into the playoffs (not quite mathematically sealed, but darn close) losing to the surging Raiders. Peyton Manning is back on track (28) and the Charger D looked like last year's team again with 20. Merriman also scored 14 for the Raiders who have finished their 3rd two game wining streak. They also had 3 two game losing streaks. Big Red got solid efforts from Wayne, Hasselbeck, and Holt, but that -2 from the Packer D was painful as was a combined 7 from RBs Addai, and Marion Barber. Of course the Raiders only got 2.3 from their backs.

Ghostriders defeated Reavers in a game that pretty much ensured the winner of being in the consolation bracket. Romo was insane with 29 to lead the white ones. Curtis finally had another solid game with 13 and Andre Johnson is back to his regularly scheduled season with 12. Portis and MJD combined for 18 as the Gostriders had 93, the top score of the week. Reavers by no means laid down, but Kitna has really taken a tumble not breaking 10 again. Roddy White was a nice start with 13 and Westbrook has his requisite 14. The Dolphin D had 12 (how did they do that and give up 40 points???) and Crowell also had a dozen.

The Scuds may make the consolation bracket as they down David! who is having another late season tumble with Eli. David! had 3 Toomer, LenDale White and Jon Beason (who???) have 9 and 10 points, but only 2 more over 5 was just not much. The Scuds on the other hand have really come around having won 5 of the last 6. Fargas (15) is solid weekly now as is Warner (13). The Ram D was a sneaky start with 11 and Justin Gage was a nice surprise with 10. Look out consolation bracket. Don't underestimate the PE teacher from Sacto. His missiles have been landing and doing damage. (Unlike Eli's passes.)

The Fighting Illini are finally Fighting again and the Homies... well... they didn't. Brees (16) showed up .....again as did Hines Ward (17). Packer Kicker booted 14 as well for the Chicago man to bring the team to 83 points in spite of sub-par games by the backs (9 points together). The Homies had Ernest Graham and the Bear D play well and leader Garrard has another solid game with 15, but Lineman Howard's 9 was the only other player to score more than 4 for A-town. The Illini can't escape the cellar unless they have an unreal game next week, but they have pretty much destroyed the Homies shot at the consolation bracket, so they can feel a sense of purpose. They might be able to do it again against Reavers next week.