Week 11: The Wheat and the Chaff

Separations can be a difficult thing or a good thing. Oil and vinegar...shaken up and combined can make your boring lettuce concoction dance off your plate. Separated...you have bitter taste in one bite and oily, soggy, tasteless lettuce in another. Another separation is Wheat and chaff. I'm not exactly sure what chaff is but I'm sure it's not good and you can't spread JIF on it. As it goes with salad and wheat, so it goes with the JV Development, but it's good for some and not so good for others.

We start off with the biggest output of points this season. Team Kat is asserting its dominance as we enter the last couple of weeks of the fantasy football season. Buoyed by a huge victory over previously undefeated Team Jeter, Kat showed no mercy to JStein, who had worked its way out of the cellar with 2 big wins over the last two weeks. Kat rolled up G-Style and blitzkrieged poor JStein with Chester the Molester Taylor's 35 points and Randy Moss' 38 points. Throw in LT's 21 and Jon Kitna's 13 and you can pretty much chalk up the "W". With those performances, Kat scored a season-high 149 points. JStein didn't stand a chance this week. 15's from Mo Morris and Larry Fitz were decent, but 50 from these guys wouldn't have done the job. Kat moves into sole possession of 1st place with 2 weeks left because....

Team Jeter was licking its wounds after a tough loss against the aforementioned Kat last week and was hoping to rebound against Ya Mo Better, who was hoping to solidify its playoff position. Solidify it did. Despite a -1 from Donovan "Frail" McNabb, Ya Mo showed that this week it was "better" due to TO's 45 points. (Isn't it like old teammates to help each other out when the other is down? This team is like Sybill with Donovan and TO playing. The Eagles were probably wishing they could have worked out this well.) TO's 45 F-ing points, along with the resurgent Action Jackson's 11 and BIG points from the Pats D and Matt Stover pushed Ya Mo to victory. Team Jeter, in the midst of a two game losing streak now, got its typical big game from Tom Brady (Has there been a better season from a QB ever? I don't think so.), and "What you Talkin' about" Willis McGahee got 18 big ones, but got mostly disappointment from everyone else. Jeter scores a solid 88...good enough for Dance Fever, but not enough to beat Ya Mo. Ya Mo goes to 6-5, Jeter drops to 2nd with a 9-2 mark.

Team Mortadella had a tough weekend. For Team Mort, it was one of those weeks where you thought you made all the right decisions based on the match ups, but unfortunately, it didn't happen as H&V predicted for you. (Those prognosticating bastards!) Team Mort had 5 players on its bench with more points than the WR/RB Mark Clayton and it hurts. Mort's bench almost beat the starters...which sucks when it happens to you. When it happens against a team that has struggled like dumpdorrell, dumpdorrell is grateful for the help. DD.com had 4 players over 10 points, but no one over 15. Anquan Boldin had 15 with 3 11's provided by Brees, Colston, and James. Team Mort only had two players, Ernest Graham and Kris Brown over 10. Jamal Lewis scored 18 from the pine, but it doesn't count here. Neither does 15 from Stokley or 10 from the Niners D. A tough loss for Mortadella who has struggled since Ronnie Brown when Down. Mort drops to 6-5 in a tie with Trojan Busters and Ya Mo. Dump Dorrell moves up to 5-6 and is getting into playoff contention.

In a make or break game for Big Giant Bunnies and a kind of make or break game for Trojan Busters, BGB came up a little short. BGB had 20 from Cutler, 10 from the Colts D and 10 from Roy Williams, but little help from other positions. Trojan Busters continued a streak of scoring over 80 points with 99. Defense does win games as the Buc's D scored the most points for Trojan Busters with 19. 6 other players scored in double figures to help secure the win. Trojan Busters moves into a third place tie with Mortadella and Ya Mo. Bunnies goes to 4-7 with slight playoff hopes still alive.

People are talking about the New England Pats being a Dynasty. Well, the JV Dev League has its literal Dynasty of the Soul Crushing sort. This week's Soul Crushing victim came in the form of Team Buckman. Both teams were tied for the 6th and last playoff spot with 3 others and had the opportunity to solidify their chances. Soul Crush put the hurt on, despite having 72 points on the bench. (5 players scored double figures, but it didn't matter this week.) Matt "Boring as Nickleback" Hasselbeck had 19 big ones, Joe Addai and Donald Lee had 16 to help Dynasty to 87 points. Team Bucks put its faith in Phillip "Cry Me a" Rivers, who got 15 points and Cedric Benson, who has been disappointing for most of the year but got 16 points this week. Andre "Money" Johnson was hurt since week 2, but reward Buck's patience with 20. However, the rest of the team scored less than 7, which wasn't enough this week. Soul Crushing Dynasty goes to 5-6. Bucks drops to 4-7.

Team Duggan was in a 6th place tie heading into this weekend's battle vs. Team Keith. In the Battle for Santa Maria, two Santa Maria High alums and good friends squared off in an important game for both. Team Keith took it to Team Duggan early with 29 from All-Pro Tony Romo. TJ House and Brandon Jacobs added 14 and 13 respectively to take a strong lead. Duggan's faith in Bulger is disturbing (to quote Darth Vader), but Bulger scored 10. Unfortunately for Team Duggan, Vince Young decided to put up 300 yards and 25 points on the bench. Those 15 extra points, who no one could have seen coming, would have put Team Duggan close to beating Keith, but not quite enough. Santana Moss got 18 points for TD, but not much else happened for Team Duggan. Team Duggan and Team Keith are both 4-7.

So, at this point, who are the wheat and who are the chaff? Team Kat and Team Jeter are the cream of the crop and have already secured byes. In a 3 way tie at 6-5 for 3rd are Team Mortadella, Trojan Busters, and Ya Mo Better. Soul Crushing Dynasty and dumpdorrell.com are tied for 6th. 4 teams are tied for 8th and within striking distance at 4-7 while JStein is holding on to the faintest hope at 3-8.

Remember to set your schedule 3 days ahead with the Turkey day games this week.

See you next week,