GUNNERS FLINCH
Here Come All the Surface Skimmers?
Week 11 in the Subsim Fantasy Football League, and a week after we thought that there's only one team that can dominate everyone, we find that fall from grace leaves two divisional titles open.
We'll find out what happened in the middle of our second week of international games, when one teams was "shaken, not stirred" and we'll talk about the yet again missing coach and what the season could have been had they shown up.
But before we do any of that, let's just put this out there. You can't win it without a nomination.
NOMINATE SUBSIM FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE FOR BEST OF SUBSIM.
Our Match of the Day was the Who Dat Nation hosting the Drunk Monkeys. Coach Gargamel and half of his team missed the plane flight out and started the game short a WR, a RB and a DEF. They had them, they were sitting on the bench drinking generic colored flavored water as the Who Dat Nation gets one of the easiest wins of the year. It's not that the Nation didn't score, but it was apparent on Sunday, everyone will want to play the Monkeys going forward. Who Dat Nation stay in the mathematical hunt to the Championship Division, 127 - 105 but they had some help.
In the biggest surprise blow out of the year so far, the Helmand Nighthawks proved that their 200+ points last week was no accident as they put another 170+ points on the scoreboard again. In just two weeks, the Nighthawks have distanced themselves from the bottom of the ladder to become one of the four highest scoring teams in the league. Until last week, the Nighthawks were on the outside but have shown a right royal British thumping of their opponents, including this week, the league leading Guns of Hochuli. The Gunners are on easy street needing just one win to secure the #1 berth in the Championship for the second year in a row. Gunners playing at home must have been caught up in some of that wild weather the States saw as they struggled to convert within the Red Zone. Gunners only had one TD from the entire team with Demarco Murray (RB). Nighthawks just decimated the Guns of Hochuli 171 - 95. The faltering of the Gunners opens the door for the other teams within the Sub Simmers Division, if, there was a favorable result in New Zealand.
New Zealand? Yes, the Australian Taipans were hosting the second of the Foreign Expansion Games at Eden Park, Auckland. Despite being late Spring, the conditions were frigid, but things got warmed up when near the end of the first quarter, a 4.5 earthquake struck the area. The lights briefly went out during a Tapians 3rd and 24 on their own 2 yard line, only to find themselves 1st and Goal when the lights came back on. The Black Cats, who had lead to this point, couldn't even get on site before the next play, and the Taipans just ran away with the game. Final score Taipans 142 Black Cats 92.
So after 11 weeks and before we get into the longest football week of the year, there were some results this week that change the entire complexion of the league.
#1 Guns of Hochuli. Gunners have clinched a Championship berth and are trying to wrap up the top seed. The loss by the Gunners doesn't confirm their top seeding. Gunners at 9-2 will need at least one more week before they can rest their starters.
#2 Helmand Nighthawks. The win by the Nighthawks elevate them to 6-5 in the division. On the count back they are also 2-2 within the division, but they steal the #2 seeding with their dominating scoring of the last two weeks. However, their hold on the division is at best, precarious.
#3 Black Cats. In the same division as the Nighthawks, the Cats loose their tie breaker on the second element and drop to the # 3 seed. However, their hold on the division is equally precarious at 6-5 because their biggest threat is just half a game behind them.
#4 At 5-6, but also 2-2 within the division, the Australian Taipans dominance of scoring this season has slowed. Taipans currently occupy the "cut off line" with compatible points score for and points scored against.
#5 the Who Dat Nation sit just outside the Championship bracket, but, are still in a position to secure the #3 seeding. While the three teams in the Surface Skimmers Division battle each other of the remaining weeks, the Nations just have to put a couple of wins together and wait for the dominoes to fall to find themselves in the easier path to the Torpedo Bowl.
#6 As bad as they are, and poorly if they show up, the Drunk Monkeys at 3-8 could be so much better off had their Coach showed. They run just out of the Championship bracket but can still make it - if they show up. In fact, they could probably play spoiler over the entire Surface Skimmers Division and cause the biggest upset by being the third team from the Surface Skimmers Division in the Championship bracket. And we're heading into Week 11 and they can still come back?
So now we have to look at match ups for next week and flex in the correct game. It's no contest as we go back to Carolina to watch the Black cats host the Helmand Nighthawks. The winner of this game will take over outright ownership of the division and the crucial divisional count back. The loser could drop as far back as 4th and be in danger of missing the Championship all together. It promises to be one of the wildest weeks in the longest weeks of football.
Each week, the Associated Subsim Writers (ASW) will nominated their Most Valuable Torpedo (MVT) of the week, the single player who proved decisive in their teams performance.
For the effort of 15 passing yards for one touchdown, and 4 receptions for 104 yards, for a total of 27 points, the Associated Subsim Writers are pleased to present Wide Receiver Doug Daldwin of the Helmand Nighthawks the Week Eleven MVT.
