Bayou Babe and the “Women Only Leagues”
My good friend Jill in Atlanta brought to my attention that Bayou Babe in the Bras NOT Bros League also has both the Saints and the Colts. The downside for the rest of the members of that league is that the Super Bowl becomes a bit less interesting (more time to focus on the ads I guess). A big congrats to Bayou Babe for what must be a very profitable year!Â
The biggest growth category for JHB Sports this year without a doubt was the female only league. Many women watch their husbands, boyfriends, platonic gay friends, etc just disappear on Sundays to watch their fantasy teams.  This version of “franchise fantasy football” kept a lot of these women interested in games all year long without the headache of figuring out who to start. Even better, they are getting their significant others to play along too because with zero weekly maintenance, it’s easy to add JHB to their traditional fantasy football.
Super Bowl Matchup Set
The top seeds in each conference advance to the Super Bowl in thrilling fashion! In the 1st half, the Jets looked like they were going to steamroll the Colts like they did in week 16 only to have Manning blow through their defense like it was swiss cheese in the 2nd half. Ironically Manning didn’t play much at all in the 2nd half the first time they met this year. The Saints Vikings game was one for the ages. For the 2nd time in 3 years the NFC Championship ends in overtime and a Brett Favre interception plays a key role.
Super Bowl 44 -Â Sunday, February 7th
New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts
If you have one of these teams you are probably making a killing in your league.Â
We want to give special shout out to Bill The Thrill in the original “Big Money” JHB Sports league (this is their 8th season). Bill has never lost in 8 years of playing in these leagues and this year was no exception….he actually has Indy AND New Orleans - unbelievable! Congrats Billy!
Divisional Playoff Weekend Update
Congratulations to those who drafted the Jets, Saints, Colts, and Vikings. If you have any of these teams you got 2 points per win this weekend.  You can see how quickly the points/dollars add up in these later rounds.
The NFL is down to it’s final four and they look like incredible matchups. Will the Colts regret having let the Jets into the playoffs in week 16 only to have them end their season?  Are the New Orleans Saints becoming “America’s Team” right before our eyes? Will Brett Favre play into his 50’s?
Here are the Championship Game matchups:
AFC ChampionshipÂ
3:00 EST Sunday, January 24th
New York Jets @ Indianapolis Colts
NFC Championship
6:30 EST Sunday, January 24th
Minnesota Vikings @ New Orleans Saints
A win in this next round is worth 3 points. If you have one of these teams you are probably “in the money”…if not then you are getting seriously bailed out of the hole you were in earlier this year!
An interesting note: of the final four teams left here is the average draft pick location for each:
Vikings = 5th out of 32
Colts = 6th out of 32
Saints = 14th out of 32
Jets = 26th out of 32Â
Wild Card Wrap Up
Congratulations to those who drafted the Jets, Cowboys, Ravens, and Cardinals. Most of the games this weekend were absolute snoozers. That is until the 4th quarter of the game between Arizona and Green Bay. WOW! As a guy who has Green Bay in my Big Money league I must say I was ready to throw in the towel when the Cards scored the 1st TD in the 3rd quarter. The comeback in this game was unbelievable and although I would consider it one of the biggest teases in my life, it was probably the most exciting 4th quarter and overtime I’ve ever seen. For an early round game it was reminiscent of the Bulls/Celtics 1st round series from last year’s NBA playoffs all condensed into 18 minutes of playing time. And come to think of it the Packers and Cards scored about as many points as an NBA game too.
Many people consider the Divisional Round to be the best in all of the playoffs. It puts all the winners from the Wild Card weekend against the teams that were so good during the regular season they earned bye weeks.
Next weeks games are:
Arizona @ New Orleans
Baltimore @ Indianapolis
Dallas @ Minnesota
New York Jets @ San Diego
It should be a great playoff weekend. If you have any of these teams congratulations for making it this far! The points start really adding up in these rounds so if you are “in the red” right now and still have a playoff team alive you could end up “in the green” by this time next week.
Wild Card Playoff Round Matchups
Its a weekend of rematches. All 4 Wild Card games feature teams that already played each other this year. 3 of the 4 games just happend last week. My guess is they won’t be blowouts like we had in Week 17.  Here are some good links to the matchups:
Jets @ Bengals: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=300109004
Eagles @ Cowboys: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=300109006
Ravens @ Patriots: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=300110017
Packers @ Cardinals: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/preview?gameId=300110022
Week 17 Power Rankings
Here are some of the best links for up to the minute power rankings going into Week 17. There are some interesting games this weekend where many teams will be sitting their starters - hopefully your teams are playing those teams.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings
http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/powerrankings
http://walterfootball.com/nflpowerrankings.php
Also, be sure to check out Walter’s take on the Colts resting their players in the above link - classic!
Good to Have the Jets
Sunday’s Jets/Colts game was a pretty low moment for NFL fans….not to mention those that have Denver, Baltimore, Houston, or Pittsburgh in their JHB Sports leagues.  If you don’t already know, the Jets were down 15-10 midway through the 3rd quarter when Colts coach Jim Caldwell pulled most of his starters and basically fielded an entire team of 2nd stringers. Naturally, the Colts were outscored the rest of the way 19-0 (ironically that’s the exact win/loss record they should have been striving for this year and actually had a chance to achieve).
Of course Indy’s position on the whole thing was to preserve the health of their players and the ultimate goal is a Super Bowl win, not a perfect season. Ok, fine. But let me ask Jim Caldwell these 4 questions…in this order please - 1. How many starts has Peyton Manning missed in his entire career starting with college in Tennessee? (answer = none), 2. How many times in the history of the NFL has their been a Super Bowl winner? (answer = 43), 3. What is the end result of a perfect 19-0 season? (answer = a Super Bowl win), and 4. How many 19-0 perfect seasons have their been in the history of the NFL? (answer = none).  It’s really that simple. If the Colts were 13-1 then all of the above is moot but I say screw the risk of injury when you have a legitimate shot at creating history. You can tell by the look on the players’ faces not to mention the fans that had to watch (and pay for) that debacle on their home field that everybody thought they should “go for it”.
The domino effect here is that the Jets have to play Cincinnati in the regular season finale. The Bengals, like the Colts, already have their playoff ticket punched and are locked into a #3 or #4 seeding. One might argue the #3 vs. #4 seeding gives Cincy something to play for - but that’s not really true and here’s why. If they get the #3 seed that means they beat the Jets and the Pats lose at Houston. All sounds great, except that means the Texans are likely to get that playoff spot and they crushed Cincy this year AT CINCY. And if it’s not Houston that gets the spot it would likely be Pittsburgh and although the Bengals beat the Steelers twice this year, they probably don’t like their odds of winning 3X against the defending champs in a single year.
What makes perfect sense for the Bengals is to literally play 2nd stringers for the whole game. Have the Jets show you their game plan with their starters at New York, then use what you learn about the Jets on Sunday and apply that to the playoff game the following week against the Jets in Cincy.  If that’s not reason enough to sit his starters all Marvin Lewis has to do is think back to the last time they won their division (2005 season). That year they played the Steelers in the Wild Card round. Carson Palmer got knocked out in the 1st half thus ending their post season. There is almost no circumstance whatsoever for Lewis to play a single one of his players against the Jets on Sunday night. In fact, he shouldn’t even try to win the game with his 2nd stringers (rather they should try to LOSE the game) because if they happen to win it increases the chances of Houston and Denver making it to the playoffs and both of those teams already beat Cincy at home.
What makes this even worse is that the NFL moved the Cincy/Jets game to Sunday night so the afternoon game results will be in. The Bengals will know exactly who they’d play the following week in the playoffs (and it likely will be those same New York Jets). Having Marvin Lewis field a team of no-names is not going to make NBC very happy. If I’m NBC I’m pretty pissed at the NFL right now.
Bottom line, the only people happy about this situation are those that drafted the Jets in their JHB Sports leagues and die hard J!E!T!S!, JETS!, JETS!, JETS! fans.
Anyway, here is a good link for playoff scenarios. If you have Denver, Pittsburgh, Houston, or Baltimore you are probably not too happy with Jim Caldwell right now…
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8147d1c0&template=no-right-rail-with-comments&confirm=true
Playoff Positioning
NFL.com has some great playoff “what ifs” here. It’s amazing how many AFC Teams still have a shot at making the playoffs. What’s interesting is that Houston (2X), Jacksonville (2X), Denver, and Baltimore who are all still fighting to get in the playoffs each played perfect Indianapolis very close. So basically if any of these teams get into the playoffs they will have every reason in the world to think they can beat the Colts….  Â
http://www.nfl.com/news/story?id=09000d5d8147d1c0&template=no-right-rail-with-comments&confirm=true
Week 16 Power Rankings
Here is the usual list of links for power rankings - with 6 AFC teams at 7-7 and some of them playing each ther this week it’s anybody’s guess who will get the last 2 wildcard spots.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/powerRankings
I love what this guy does in breaking down players and teams:
http://walterfootball.com/nflpowerrankings.php
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2009/12/22/week-15-power-rankings/
Your Week 15 Power Rankings
The playoff picture is starting to take shape. The NFC is a bit clearer than the AFC where there are 8 teams still in the hunt for 2 Wild Card spots. Check out some of the best power rankings right here:
http://espn.go.com/nfl/powerrankings