DFL Week 12: Call it a come back!

Woo!!!  Another week for the books, lads!  One hell of a week if I do say so myself.  Before we get into the heart of things, lemme just say:

Yep... Happier than a fat kid in a golf shirt!  So much good stuff.  In fact, if you were to ask me how well this  last week went, I would be tempted to say:

So, what's got me in such a good mood.  All y'all!!  (I figure that I have to get the happy vibes out there this week since this is about as good as it will get for me this season.)

First off, pickem.... OK yeah, I crapped my pants here.  But on the plus side everyone did this week.  Crutch was the only one who hit more than 50% correct, and he only went 4-2.  And yeah, I lost second place. But here's the good news.  Kookie, on the verge of being untouchable in the regular season went 0-6. That's a big old goose egg.  I mean I only went 2-3 (not sure how I missed Joy versus Patrick's game, but there you go..), but getting 0 right?  Ouch, Kookie!

So, Kookie is now tied with Crutch in first place, I'm in third (and only 2 picks behind), and Ben is only two picks behind me.  And looking a little lower in the league, RA Dave was able to sneak ahead of Terri and be just behind Mike.  So, now, RA Dave is betwixt the Gs.  RA Dave, you'd best be doing some either really good or really bad picking this week to get out of that mess...

Two more weeks, everyone.  This is going to be a tight race!

And speaking of two more weeks...  Week 12 is keeping the league honest...  Both Melanie and Patrick, who had locked up the playoffs last week took looses this week.  Joy, on the other hand locked up a playoff birth this week, and stormed into second place overall.  Meanwhile, a little farther down the totem pole, we have a real slugfest going for the rest of the playoff slots.  We have 4 teams that are fighting over the bottom three playoff spots (Missy, Mike G, Phil, and Crutch).  OK, so it's pretty unlikely that Missy and Mike G are going to fall out of the playoff race, but it is theoretically possible.  So, really, it's just Crutch and I scrapping for the last playoff birth.  And really, these are the two teams to watch...  Same record, within 4 points of the over points scored (and oddly enough only 12 points difference in points scored against).  Granted, neither of these teams is going to be going anywhere in the post season, but a little drama at the end of the regular season never hurts.

(OK, OK, Kookie... Technically, you're not out of contention yet, but Crutch and I would both have to lose both of the next two games AND you'd need to win both of your next two games and that's a long shot, even for you...)

And speaking of records...  Has anyone noticed something odd with the points this year?  The top three teams are all crazy high on the overall point scoring, but the interesting thing is that they are lowest points scored against them.  Like, by far.  And looking at the bottom of the league, they have scored easily the lest points in the league and they've really had the points against them pile up.  That being said, the statistical anomaly is RA Dave.  He's got the most points in the league, the second most points scored against him, and the second most moves in the league.  And he's sitting squarely in 4th place.  I'm not sure about your mojo, RA Dave, but I like it....

All that being said, I'm not sure that there's all that much to say about the individual games, but I'll throw a few interesting tidbits out there:

• Holy cow!!  The SF DEF shut down Brees to hand the Melanie versus Phil bowl to me.  On the plus side, I picked up a win against the #1 team in the league.  On the minus side, I benched the SF DEF since they were playing Brees, and that cost me 20 points.
• Yes, yes, I picked up the Miami DEF to fill the spot, but desperate times, fellas....
• And for those of you keeping track, that puts me at 2-0 aganist Melanie this season.  Yay!
• And more bad news for Philly fans.... Now, not only is McCoy (from my team) out, but Melanie Jackson is officially on the IR.   Ugh...
• The Phil versus Melanie bowl was the first of two shut outs for pick 'ems this week.(Any given Sunday, right?)
• Skoot snapped his 6 (count'em - 6!) game losing streak against Missy.  As this puts her (minorly) in danger of missing the playoffs, I say "Right on!"
• This was the second pick 'em shut out.  
• Really, not much going on in this game.  Skoot didn't so much win it, as Missy steadfastly lost it.  Though really, it seemed like she made the smart starters calls across the board.
• Joy smacked Patrick down in spectacular fashion.  In all reality, I don't know what happened to Patrick's #2 ranked team... Just seems to have fallen apart here last week.  
• But man, neither of the QBs in this game showed up.  Neither got above 10 points...
• Kookie fumbled in winning streak when Mike G just dominated him. 
• And Mike G didn't even need a TE to do so.  
• In fact, if it weren't for Kookie's stellar defense, he might have been a contender to pull in the lowest game of the year...
• Beat down of the week goes to Ben against Terri this week.  Not record breaking, but certainly painful.
• Ben was the only one to break into triple digits this week.  (You keep that up, you might just get yourself a ring this year, son.)
• Another shocker (7 people voted against RA Dave), Crutch put the hurt on RA Dave this week.  Though to be fair, RA Dave's team just keeps getting knocked out of the game.  Stop hurting your players, RA Dave.
• And Crutch - yeah, just keep riding Brady.  He's your only hope these next few weeks.  Sure hope that the PAts don't lock up a playoff birth and start protecting their players...

And Ben helpfully pointed out that there is now another way for Yahoo! to tell you that your team sucks (his words, not mine).  Now, there's a little green, yellow, or red icon next to each player.  So, in addition to the projected stats and the Game Day Decision, there's a little light too.  Does this feel like a psychic's cold reading to anyone else?  Yahoo! is throwing out so many signals that one of them is bound to hit the actual result right on the head, right?