Studio711.com – Ben Martens

For a while I thought that all three #1 teams were going to lose but Andy ended up winning pretty easily. He now stands along on top of the leaderboard and there are three people tied for second. Andy has 100 points more than his nearest competitor so I feel like he has a pretty good chance at making the playoffs. As for the rest of us, well it’s anybody’s guess.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Logan had 151.53 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: Jim had 77.85 (Record, Week 6: Jim had had 72.17)
• Biggest Blowout: Andy beat Jim by 44.04 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: Tim beat Austin by 4.41 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Josh Gordon had 36.70 for Dad (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Mr. Consistency:  Luke is on a 4 game winning streak and Jim has lost 4 in a row.

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• Ryan Tannehill has been sacked 44 times.
• Ohio native Ben Roethlisberger is 16-1 versus the Cleveland Browns.
• The Houston Texans have followed a 13-4 streak with a 2-10 streak.
• The Kansas City Chiefs, who a month ago led the league in sacks by/against ratio, are on a minus-12 streak for sacks by/against.
• Tom Brady is 24-5 when the kickoff temperature is freezing or below; Peyton Manning is 2-6 in those conditions.

After my pathetic low score this week, first is now a three way tie between Andy, Dad and myself with Andy claiming the top spot with his big point total. We’re 11 weeks into the season and 8th place is only 3 games behind first place. There are three games left in our regular season to decide the top four teams who will advance to the playoffs.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Dad had 146.27 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: I had 80.73 (Record, Week 6: Jim had had 72.17)
• Biggest Blowout: Dad beat Jim by 33.62 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: Luke beat Austin by 3.23 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Ben Roethlisberger had 39.88 as a free agent. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Mr. Consistency:  Luke is on a 3 game winning streak and Jim has lost 3 in a row.

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• The Philadelphia Eagles won at home for the first time in more than a year.
• New Jersey quarterbacks Eli Manning and Geno Smith have combined to commit 39 turnovers.
• The Detroit Lions have not won at Pittsburgh in 58 years.
• At the half versus Cleveland, the Cincinnati Bengals had more touchdowns (four) than first downs (three).
• Geno Smith finished with a 10.1 passer rating. If every attempt hits the ground incomplete, under the NFL formula a quarterback receives a 39.6 passer rating.

All of the scores this week were very similar. The standard deviation was only 11.82. All of the visiting teams won in our league and when the dust settled, I was alone in first place. Andy and Dad are tied for second. Logan is alone in 4th and then everyone else is tied for 5th. Yahoo thinks that Andy, Austin, Dad and I will make it into the playoffs, but then again, on draft day they predicted Andy would end up last in the league. We have four games left in our regular season and I think we’re probably four weeks from deciding most of the playoff spots.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Logan had 134.33 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: Tim had 98.26 (Record, Week 6: Jim had had 72.17)
• Biggest Blowout: I beat Jim by 22.14 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: Dad beat Andy by 8.7 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Drew Brees had 39.68 for me. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Mr. Consistency:  Luke and I are on 2 game winning streaks. Andy and Jim have 2 game losing streaks.
• Crystal Ball: No perfect rosters, but Jim was within a couple points of it.

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• Jacksonville is on a 2-0 streak against Tennessee and an 0-20 streak against all other teams.
• Stretching back to halftime of their playoff meeting, the Seahawks have outscored the Falcons 61-20 in their past six quarters.
• Nick Foles has 16 touchdown passes versus no interceptions.
• New England will enter its meeting with red-hot Carolina on a 10-1 streak on “Monday Night Football.”
• The Giants are 3-6, have committed a league-worst 28 turnovers and are a game and a half out of first.
• Denver is on a pace to score 660 points; the NFL record is 589 points. Peyton Manning is on a pace to throw 59 touchdown passes; the NFL record is 50. The Broncos’ 219 points in the second half exceed the total points scored in all quarters by 17 teams.

Fantasy football is great for math geeks because there is always something interesting in the numbers each week. This week, in each matchup, the lower ranked team won. Also, all winning and losing streaks came to an end.

I challenged Andy’s hold on first place and it came down to the final minutes of the Monday night game. A touchdown from any of his remaining players would have tipped the scales in his favor. In the end, it appears that a late injury scratch of Marques Colston from his starting roster was probably the difference in helping me win. Andy still has top spot because of points though. Dad has third place to himself and then spots 4-8 are separated by only one game.

We have five weeks left in our regular season so everyone has a good chance. The league seems pretty even this year.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Ben had 155.11 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: Jim had 74.94 (Record, Week 6: Jim had had 72.17)
• Biggest Blowout: Austin beat Jim by 59.39 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: I beat Andy by 5.87 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Nick Foles had 59.64 as a free agent. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Mr. Consistency:  All winning and losing streaks were broken this week.
• Crystal Ball: Logan started a perfect roster for the second week in a row.

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• At Oakland, Philadelphia scored 39 more points than in its previous two games combined.
• The Dolphins are 6-0 on Halloween.
• The Cowboys’ defense allowed 1,016 yards in eight days.
• At 1:39 Eastern on Nov. 3, St. Louis scored its first rushing touchdown of the season.
• Six weeks ago, Seattle came back from a 20-3 deficit to win in overtime; Sunday, Seattle came back from a 21-0 deficit to win in overtime.
• Kansas City has six touchdowns on defense; Jacksonville has seven touchdowns on offense.

I only got to watch one game this week, but it was Monday night and what a game! It was a low-scoring, ugly affair, but the ending was terrific. Fourth and goal from the 2 and the Rams have 4 seconds to win the game. Do they run it like they’ve been running over the Seattle defense all night? Nope, they take their backup QB who has looked terrible all night and try to get him to throw against one of the best pass defenses in the league. I was also watching hoping that Tate would have 30 points to give me a win over my Dad. He did manage a season high 24 points (and a ridiculous taunting penalty, but what do you expect from a Notre Dame grad?) So I got the second highest score in the league and still lost. Booo!

Congrats to Andy who now has the top spot all to himself! Dad and I are in second and Logan and Jim are tied for the last spot in the playoffs. We still have a few weeks left before we have to start getting too concerned about that. Everyone still has a chance.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Dad had 154.62 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: Tim had 91.02 (Record, Week 6: Jim had had 72.17)
• Biggest Blowout: Logan beat Tim by 36.92 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: Dad beat me by 5.51 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Calvin Johnson had 43.90 for Dad (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Mr. Consistency:  Luke is on a five game losing streak.
• Crystal Ball: Austin, Luke, Logan and I all started perfect rosters.
• Deadbeats: None!

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• With 329 offensive yards, Calvin Johnson outgained 15 entire teams: Atlanta, Buffalo, Carolina, City of Tampa, Dallas, Jacksonville, Jersey/A, Jersey/B, Miami, Minnesota, New England, Oakland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Seattle. He also outgained all his Detroit teammates.
• The Buccaneers and Eagles have combined to lose 17 straight at home.
• NFL teams from Florida are 0-10 in the month of October.
• Geno Smith of the Jets threw more touchdown passes to Cincinnati defenders (two) than to his teammates (zero).
• The Broncos are on a pace to score 686 points; the NFL season record is 589 points. Denver has outscored opponents 115-52 in the fourth quarter. Peyton Manning is on a pace to throw 58 touchdown passes; the NFL record is 50. Jacksonville has six PATs; the Broncos have 43.

Andy continued to stretch his first place lead with another win and scoring the most points in the league. He won the league back in 2011. Maybe this is his year again?

When I looked to see what my perfect roster would have been, it suggested that I should have started Drew Brees… who was on a bye week. Instead, I had picked up Jay Cutler as that matchup seemed really good to me. Unfortunately he got injured after one pass and an interception leaving him with negative points.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Andy had 145.10 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: Tim had 78.71 (Record, Week 6: Jim had had 72.17)
• Biggest Blowout: Andy beat Luke by 34.68 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: Dad beat Austin by 7.02 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Andrew Luck had 36.02 for Luke  (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Mr. Consistency:  I’m on a four game winning streak, and Luke is on a four game losing streak.
• Deadbeats: None!

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• Stretching back to last season, Kansas City has followed a 1-12 streak with a 7-0 streak.
• The Jets broke a streak of five straight losses to the Patriots; Tom Brady broke a streak of nine touchdown passes against the Jets without an interception.
• The Bears have more touchdowns on kick and turnover returns (five) than victories (four).
• Buffalo won on the road for the first time in more than a year. Six of the Bills’ nine remaining contests are on the road.
• Denver is on a pace to score an all-time-record 681 points and is second in its division.
• Philadelphia has the league’s No. 2 offense but is averaging just 13 more yards gained than allowed.
• The Cowboys, who entered with the league’s 30th-ranked defense, held Philadelphia 25 points under its scoring average.
• Against Oregon, Washington State had 557 yards passing and 2 yards rushing.

We’re back to having a little diversity in the standings. Andy is currently sitting in the top spot at 4-2. The game of the week for me was Jim vs. Tim. Not only did it rhyme, but they were battling it out to see who could win with the least amount of points. Tim eventually won with a score that, if not for Jim, would have qualified for the lowest score of the season. On a side note, Tim is the only player in our league who hasn’t made a roster move yet. Wonder how long he can keep that up? On a side side note, the two top scorers in our league were free agents!

Austin and I have been doing the league pick ‘em each week and he turns out to be pretty good at it, or at least he’s slightly better than guessing with a 9-7 record. Somehow I’m doing worse than blind guessing.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Ben had 144.05 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: Jim had had 72.17 (Previous Record, Week 5: Jim had 85.01)
• Biggest Blowout: Ben beat Austin by 40.76 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: Tim beat Jim by 11.1 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Cam Newtown had 36.68 as a free agent.  (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Mr. Consistency:  I’m on a three game winning streak.
• Deadbeats: Dad and Luke both started injured players, but since they were playing each other I guess it cancels out? We haven’t had many deadbeats this year which is good but we’re getting into injury and bye times.

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• Houston has given up a pick-six in five consecutive games.
• In the Kansas City-Oakland game, there were 32 completed passes versus 13 sacks and three interceptions.
• At one point, Oakland faced fourth-and-48.
• The Giants are 0-6, have committed 23 turnovers, and are three games out of first place.
• At 2:49 Eastern on Oct. 13, the Steelers’ defense recorded its first interception of the 2013 season.
• Tom Brady had gone eight quarters versus New Orleans without a touchdown pass — until five seconds remained.

The massive 8-way tie for first place is over, but I think it’s going to be a long time before this season is decided. Andy, Austin, Logan and I were all winners. Logan could have topped 200 this week with a perfect roster. A big chunk of that was due to Tony Romo who had over 50 points… on his bench. He didn’t need the points to pull out a win though.

Now on to the weekly awards. I’m adding a new one that goes to our longest active streak, either winning or losing.

• Highest Team Score: Logan had 154.59 (Record, Week 4: Tim had 195.50)
• Lowest Team Score: Jim had 85.01 (Record, Week 3: Tim had 85.40)
• Biggest Blowout: Logan beat Dad by 58.82 (Record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: I beat Luke by 27.08 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Tony Romo had 50.94 points for Logan. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Crystal Ball: Jim started a perfect roster.
• Mr. Consistency: Austin with 3 wins in a row.

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• Peyton Manning is on a pace to throw 64 touchdown passes. The NFL season record is 50, by Tom Brady in 2007.
• Drew Brees won at Chicago for the first time.
• The Saints are 5-0 for the first time since 2009, when they went on to victory in the Super Bowl.
• The Giants are 0-5, have committed 20 turnovers, and are two games out of first place.
• Denver is on a 5-0 streak versus Dallas, and 16-1 overall.
• Detroit has lost 23 consecutive games in the state of Wisconsin.
• The past two Baylor-West Virginia games have resulted in 248 points and 2,765 yards of offense — an average of 62 points and 691 yards of offense per game per team.

This was another interesting week for our league. Tim almost broke 200 points, Andy was on the wrong end of the biggest blowout for the second week in a row, and all teams are now tied at 2-2! It’s really difficult to predict who’s going to win any given game. But if you want to try to make guesses, go to the “League Pick’em” page. A few of us are making picks each week.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Tim had 195.50 (Previous record, Week 3: Dad had 173.00)
• Lowest Team Score:  Jim had 104.05 (Record, Week 3: Tim had 85.40)
• Biggest Blowout: Tim beat Andy by 55.98 (Previous record, Week 3: Dad beat Andy by 63.83)
• Closest Win: I beat Logan by 14.71(Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Drew Brees had 40.72 for me. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)
• Crystal Ball: Andy, Tim, Dad and I all started perfect rosters!

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• Tom Brady, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers have combined to start 402 consecutive games.
• In two home losses, the Jaguars have scored 5 points.
• Against Dallas and then San Francisco, the Rams allowed 412 yards rushing in five days.
• Matt Schaub has thrown interceptions returned for touchdowns in three consecutive games.
• The Giants have been outscored 69-7 in their last two games.
• Trindon Holliday has six kick-and-punt return touchdowns in 21 games with Denver.

UPDATE: Accidentally wrote that Dad had 195 instead of Tim. I corrected the mistake.

How’s this for league parity? We’re going into week 4 and everyone is either tied for first or only one game out of first. Both undefeated teams lost to the teams with no wins in spectacular fashion. Austin beat Logan by 50.02 points and Dad beat Andy by 63.83. At one point Dad was up on Andy by 100 points! Here’s how Yahoo summed up that game: “EndOverEnd registered the highest point total this season to put a drubbing on RAAAWWWRRRRR!!! 173.00 – 109.17. This was a legendary beating, with the 63.83-point margin of victory being the highest recorded in the league this season.” Sorry Andy, I guess Dad didn’t get you a wedding present! If you guys aren’t reading the Yahoo league recaps, they can be interesting. Here’s the one for week 3. They point out that only 65 points separate first and last place.

Now on to the weekly awards:

• Highest Team Score: Dad had 173.00 (Previous record, Week 2: Tim had 154.46)
• Lowest Team Score:  Tim had 85.40 (Previous record, Week 2: I had 87.42)
• Biggest Blowout:  Dad beat Andy by 63.83 (Previous record, Week 1: Ben beat Dad by 62.37)
• Closest Win: Jim beat me by 6.42 (Record, Week 1: Logan beat Tim by 0.89)
• Highest Scoring Player: Drew Brees had 37.78 for me. (Record, Week1: Peyton Manning had 60.28 for Andy.)

Stats mostly via TMQ:

• DeMarco Murray has rushed for 428 yards in his last two games against the Rams.
• The Washington defense is on a pace to allow 7,808 yards; the NFL’s all-time season worst is 7,042 yards.
• In the first half at Carolina, the Giants had 1 net yard passing.
• The Patriots and Bengals are a combined 28-4 when BenJarvus Green-Ellis scores a touchdown.
• Alex Smith is on a streak of 26 touchdown passes versus five interceptions.