CFFL Week 14 and Playoff Preview!

What a wild ending to the 2018 CFFL season for some teams.  Dragons....what the hell happened?  Crush and Ferrets...make my preseason prediction a reality...Cocktails just couldn't over throw the Krauts yet again...

Key Games from Week 14:

The South had the most drama of any division to end the season.  The Dragons had been sitting at the top of the division for the entire season, literally.  Since Week 1! Only to find themselves at home in December. 

Titans 29  Dragons 19 - Just win Dragons.  Just win and you are in.  Easier said than done when you your starting RBs are Peyton Barber "Distant cousin of Tiki and Ronde" and Tevin Coleman.  Philip Rivers had a disappointing day throwing for only 1 score as well.  That would spell doom as the Titans roared back in the second half with 2 TDs from "Aunt" JuJu!  The win, amazingly enough would propel the Titans into the playoffs as the Division winner of the South as the game below unfolded.

Aunt JuJu came up big for the Titans!

Mayhem 49  Killer Bees 31 - Things were looking pretty bleak for the Mayhem after the Killer Bees took an early 31-13 lead not to mention the Mayhem had left 24 points on the bench from Derrick Henry!  Yes 24 points!  This game would have been over before the 4:00 games even kicked off if that was the case... But be that as it may the Mayhem had to look else where for the points.  They looked no further than Dallas.  Where Dak Prescott and Amari "Former Stiff" Cooper connected for not one, not two, but three 10 point connections giving the Mayhem the victory after all was lost.  Their win knocked out the Killer Bees and put the Titans into the playoffs.  Mayhem was certainly everywhere.

You are looking at 30 points!

In the East the Cocktails were looking for their first Eastern Bloc Division title and had been neck and neck with the Krauts all season, despite having a much superior offense.  But it all came down to the final game of the season....

Roulette 42  Cocktails 35 - The Cocktails certainly have seemed to slow down somewhat as their high flying Chief offense has fell on some difficult times.  First with the cutting of Hunt and then Hill's tweaked ankle.  I mean if slowed down means scoring 35 total points...But that was enough slowing down for the Roulette who took advantage of the situation.  They still needed to get scores out of almost every player, including 12 from Carson Wentz.  It was enough to defeat the Cocktails, but not enough at the time to prevent them from winning the East.  The Krauts still needed to win and it wasn't looking good for those crazy Germans...

Wentz threw for 12 points in his final game of the season

Krauts 18  Juggernauts 16 - In a low scoring defensive battle the Kruats appeared to be on their way to a loss giving the Cocktails their first division crown.  It was reported the Cocktails had the champagne already on ice before the game was even over.  A little premature maybe?  The Kraut / Bear Defense would get a safety that would prove to be the difference.  With the game 16-14 in favor of the Juggs time was running out.  Only a minute was left in the game.  The corks were ready to pop for the Cocktails...until...suddenly Kraut QB Kirk Cousins tossed a TD pass for the victory 18-16 giving the Kruats their 7th division crown 4th out of the last 5 years. 

Cousins tosses the game winning TD!

And in the Wild Wild West the Crush roared back into the thick of things with 3 straight wins to end the season, but the last one would not be easy.  This while the Sinistars saw their division title slip through the fingers of their QB Russell Wilson, who failed in the final game. 

Crush 45  Killers 39 - This game was a shoot out with the Killers team finally hitting on all cylinders.  It only took them 14 weeks to figure that out as three players put up double digits, Brees (10), Julio Jones (12), and kicker Hauschka (11).  It wouldn't be enough though as the "Good ole Tom" Brady's 12 points led the team to victory.

Good ole Tom

Bums 28  Sinistars 23 - Just win Sinistars.  Just win!  Well team leader and 2017 CFFL Player of the Year Russell Wilson was set to show the world why he should be the 2018 league MVP once again by bringing the Sinistars from behind to win the division.  Down 28-22 late in the game, just 2 TD passes from Wilson would seal the victory.  Wilson scored 1 point.  ONE point!  Not gonna do it son. 

Wilson had a rough day

Don't worry, nothing mattered in the North.  Chislers and Animals had playoffs locked up and the Ferrets had little trouble defeating a Crew team that had completely given up on their coach and owner...

Playoffs - Round 1

Well here we go!  Onto the playoffs (what is that like anyway???)  Will it be the Cocktails and the Chislers in the Fantasy Bowl?  Or will it be the Ferrets and Crush as predicted in preseason?

Sinistars at Chislers (-13)
The 7-7 Sinistars travel to Chicago to take on the 12-2 Chislers.  The Chislers bring their Ram attack offense that lately hasn't been as potent as it was earlier.  The Rams take on the Eagles Sunday night so this game will be determined late.  The Sinistars are no easy out for the Chislers.  Earlier in the year they continuously posted multiple players with 12 points.  However with the injury to Conner they have taken a step back.  Look for the Rams/Chislers offense to get it back into high gear and win.  But it will be closer than you think.

Chislers will be looking for a lot of these two guys

By the way..Chislers 25th playoff appearance.  Since 1998 only missed the  playoffs twice.  Makes me sick.  This leagues Patriots.

Bet: Sinistars +13

Ferrets at Krauts (-7)
The 8-6 Ferrets make the long trip to Berlin to take on the 11-3 Krauts in a Fantasy Bowl XXIII rematch.  Krauts defeated the Ferrets 38-28 in that game.  This will be a tough one for both teams as they wonder which version of their QB will show up.  Ferrets will have "Home" Ben and Krauts will have Cousins at home as well.  RBs are pretty even too with a slight edge maybe to the Krauts.  Ferrets have been somewhat disappointed by their duo of Elliott and Johnson, while the Krauts have been pleasantly surprised with Fournette and Mixon. 

Ferreets hope for Home Ben

Gonna be a close one.  Going to go out on a limb here and say the Ferrets win outright.

Bet: Ferrets +7

Animals at Crush (-2)
The defending champ Animals at 10-4 travel west to sunny southern California to take on the red hot 7-7 Crush.  Its going to depend on if it will be a Happy Cam or a Sad Cam this week.  Cam Newton takes on the Saints but at home...could be a Happy Cam Day.  That game is Monday night with the Crush having Michael Thomas that night.  Could very well come down to the final game of the week.  The Animals better be tied or only behind slightly to make sure they have the chance to sustain a Thomas TD.

Thomas plans on flexing his muscles Monday Night

Another close one that should come down to MNF.  Unfortunately for the Animals their quest for back to back championships ends here.

Bet: Crush -2

Cocktails at Titans (+13)
The 10-4 mighty Cocktails will travel to Northwest Ohio to take on the 7-7 Toledo Titans in the Glass Bowl.  This game could be over before the weekend with the Chiefs playing Thursday night.  They are at home facing the Chargers.  It appears the Cocktails will go all in on the Chiefs and try to end this game early going with 6 Chiefs in their starting lineup including Mahomes, Kelce, Ware and Hill if he is good to go.  The Titans will need a huge game from Watson to make this even a game.

Cocktails = Chiefs, Chiefs = Cocktails

Not even close.  Cocktails roll as the Titans don't have the offense to keep up.

Bet: Cocktails -13

RIP George H.W. Bush

CFFL Week 13

One more week to go!  Week 13 is in the books and its onto the final week of the regular season.  It's been a shitshow for me starting 4-2 then losing every game since as my players forgot how to score any freaking points...but I digress... 

Locked into the playoffs are the Chislers, Cocktails, Krauts, and Animals.  That's really it.  There potentially could be 5 teams at 7-7  fighting for the last 2 playoff wild card spots.

Last weeks 2 key games:

Allen scores the game winner for the Crush

Killer Bees 26  Dragons 16 - The Killer Bees stunned the Dragons making this weeks games in the South very interesting.  Philip Rivers did throw for 10 points for the Dragons, but got little help elsewhere.

Crush 20  Bums 14 - Crush kept their playoff hopes alive in thrilling fashion as Keenan Allen scored a game winning TD and 2 point conversion late in the game .  The Crush could win the West still as they are only 1 game behind the Sinistars and could finish with a better division record.

Player of the Week:  Ka'imi Fairbairn, Kicker, Animals - 17 points

Honorable mention:  Patrick Mahomes, Cocktails and Russell Wilson, Sinistars - 16 points

Playoff Picture:

Division Winners:

North - Chislers once again are Kings of the North

South - Dragons have lead the South pretty much all season but could blow it in the last week.  But its simple Dragons.  Beat your brother the Titans and the South is yours.  Lose and hope the Bees lose to the Mayhem, because if they win and Dragons loose,  the South belongs to the hated Bees.

East - The Cocktails quest all season was to win their division.  They stand tied with the Krauts but all they need to do is win and they have their Eastern Bloc Title due to the sweep in
the head to head series. 

West - It's simple, Sinistars win they win the West.  Crush win, they need the Sinistars to lose to win the West.  Both split the season series but are currently have same division records. 

Wildcard:
This is a bit more complicated.  The top wild card seed will go to either the Krauts or the Cocktails.  the defending Fantasy Bowl champs Animals have the 6th seed locked up.  7th and 8th will between a plethora of  7-7 teams that could be a combination of any 5 of the following teams:

Sinistars 467 pts
Ferrets 438 pts
Juggernauts 419 pts
Dragons 408 pts
Crush 375 pts
Bees 368 pts
Titans 329 pts

Crush, Juggs, Bees and Titans need to win this weekend to be considered above.  Teams with the most points certainly are in driver seat as that is the tie breaker when more than 2 teams are tied.  Ferrets clinch the number 7 spot with a win.  if they loose they will be in the mess above. 

CFFL Week 12

With only two weeks to go, a lot could still happen to determine the final playoff spots and division winners.  Only the Chislers have their division locked up.  Here is how the playoff picture stands today:

Division Leaders:                      Wild Card:                  In the Hunt:
1. Chislers 11-1                         5. Cocktails 9-3          Crush 5-7
2. Krauts 10-2                           6. Animals 8-4            Bums 5-7
3. Dragons 7-5                          7. Ferrets 7-5               Bees 5-7
4. Sinistars 6-6                          8. Juggernauts 6-6      Titans 5-7

No Chance:
Crew 4-8
Roulette 4-8
Mayhem 2-10
Killers 2-10

Player of the Week: Drew Brees, QB, Killers - 16 points

Brees threw for 4 TD passes in the loss against the Animals.  Too Bad the Killers don't have anything to go along with Good Ole Drew.

Game of the Week:

Titans 47  Juggernauts 41 (OT) - In a titanic comeback, the Titans stormed back late with 14 points from QB, Watson on Monday night to tie the game!  In overtime Jared Cook hauled in a 16 yard TD catch to win the game!

Bees 38  Roulette 31 - In a game that had a lot of late game heroics, the Bees would prevail.  Roulette got it started late with a TD run from Aaron Jones to take the lead 31-26.  However Monday night saw a resurrected Demaryius Thomas haul in 2 TDs to give the Bees the victory!

Other stuff:  The bye week bit the Cocktails this week.  With the Chiefs on bye, all of the fire power the Cocktails typically have was stifled as they lost to the Dragons  33-29.   It looked like it wasn't going to matter as they got a quick TD from Adams on Sunday night, but needed that second one that would never come.....

On the other hand the Chislers laughed in the face of the bye week defeating the Sinistars easily 35-24.  Chislers owner continued to have the Midas touch, picking up Lamar Jackson to start for Goff and he scores 10 points.  This along with Cubb "chubb, chubb, cubb" scoring twice sealed the deal.

Only two more weeks.  Dragons play the Killer Bees and can clinch the South with the victory.  Crush and Bums will battle it out in basically a playoff game. Winner still in and loser done. 

CFFL Power 5:  Same 5 teams, different order

1.  Cherry's Chislers 11-1: Even a bye week couldn't stop the Chislers

2.  Molotov Cocktails 9-3:  With the bye week over, they should roll on into the playoffs

3.  Kretz's Krauts 10-2:  Offense starting to hum, could give the top two some trouble.

4. Alex's Animals 8-4:  Don't count the defending champs out yet

5.  Stamm's Sinistars 6-6:  Still have lots of talent, but lately scoring down.

(Dragons get no respect.  Have yet to be named in the Power 5, but have lead the South each week)

CFFL Week 11

The Playoff Picture is really taking shape as outside of the wild card teams as of today the rest of the teams are sub .500 and 5 teams are 4-7 facing basic elimination this coming week.  Getting that 8th loss is truly a playoff death sentence. 

Player of the Week:  Patrick Mahomes QB, Cocktails - 24 points!

In an incredible Monday Night Football game between the Rams (Chislers) and the Chiefs (Cocktails), Mahomes lead all players with 24 points.  Even though the Chislers and Cocktails were not playing each other, they both had eyes on each other with the Chislers scoring 60 in their win against the Bums and Cocktails 57 in their win against the 2 point Titans. 

Playoff Picture

Division Leaders                Wildcard                       In the Hunt
1. Chislers 10-1                   5. Krauts 9-2                Bums 5-6
2. Cocktails 9-2                   6. Animals 7-4             Crew 4-7
3. Sinistars 6-5                    7. Ferrets 6-5                Roulette 4-7
4. Dragons 6-5                    8. Juggernauts 6-5        Crush 4-7
                                                                                 Bees 4-7
                                                                                 Titans 4-7

No Chance:
Mayhem 2-9
Killers 2-9

CFFL Power 5:

Goff scored 22 points

1. Cherry's Chislers - The first team to 10 wins ensures that the Chislers have clinched a playoff spot for the 25th  season and their 10th double digit win season.  They have the number one offense and as long as the Rams keep lighting it up so will the Chislers

2.  Molotov Cocktails - Right behind the Chislers are the Cocktails with their super powered Chief offense.  They continue to be a threat for multiple 11 point connections and like the Chislers, as long as the Chiefs keep lighting up so will the Cocktails.  Look for a Chislers/Cocktail Fantasy Bowl

3. Stamm's Sinistars - Leading the West, the Sinistars still have a potent offense with running backs Conner, Ingram and Peterson.  Too bad they can't run the wish bone...

Ingram pointing the Sinistars to the playoffs

4.  Alex's Animals - They closed the gap in the Power 5 with the win against the Sinistars 53-28 as everyone of their players scored except for the defense. They will once again rely on Happy Cam and could give some people trouble in the playoffs.

5.  Kretz's Krauts - I know.  Why is a 9-2 team behind two teams that are 6-5 and 7-4?  The Krauts offense has some limitations and while they keep winning, in the playoffs you have to score points consistently. 

USA! USA!

CFFL Week 10

Cherry Fantasy Football League Week 10 Player of the Week, Playoff Picture and the Power 5

Player of the Week:  Ben Roethlisberger, QB, Ferrets - 20 points

(Honorable mention: "Bitch" Trubisky, QB, Krauts - 19 points )

Playoff Picture:

Division Leaders:                       Wild Card:                          In the hunt:         
Chislers 9-1                                 Krauts 8-2                          Ferrets 5-5
Cocktails 8-2                               Animals 6-4                       Wrecking Crew 4-6
Dragons 6-4                                Bums 5-5                            Bees 4-6
Sinistars 6-4                                Juggernauts 5-5                  Titans 4-6
                                                                                                Crush 4-6
                                                                                                Roulette 3-7
Not a Chance:
Killers 1-9
Mayhem 2-8

Ebron scored 18 points for Crush in their loss to the Chislers

18 points from Brees wasn't enough to help Killers 

However 18 points from McCaffery did help the Bees defeat the Juggs

CFFL Power 5:

1.  Cherry's Chislers - With only one loss and a powerful offense with only one week scoring below 30 points the Chislers seem to be a favorite to reach the Fantasy Bowl.  Gurley looking like league MVP

2. Molotov Cocktails:  Second in scoring with the threat to score multiple 11 point connections with their Chiefs, Cocktails may be the only team to give Chislers problems.

3.  Stamm's Sinistars: While only 6-4, they hold the number 3 offense and the emergence of Conner they seem to be the team to represent the West. 

4.  Kretz's Krauts:  Tied with the Cocktails in the East at 8-2 seem to just keep winning, unless they play the Cocktails.

5. Alex's Animals:  The defending Fantasy Football champs finally have shaken off the the hang over and appear to be ready to make a run.  Despite their minor set back last week, don't count out the champs.

CFFL Week 9

CFFL Salute to Service 

Already through 9 weeks.  The regular season will be over before you know it.  Chislers continue to roll to 8-1 but with the Animals on a 4 game win streak hold only a 2 game lead...Dragons comfortably perched on top of the South by 3 games...Cocktails and Krauts still tied, but who really thinks the Cocktails won't win this division...Sinistars up 1 on the Crush after Crush drop two in a row...

We might as well just only talk about the Chislers and Cocktails for the rest of the season just like real sports shows that just talk about the Patriots and Cowboys.  The difference here is that the Chislers and Cocktails are BOTH good teams...

Chislers 52  Killers 43 - The Killers gave the Chislers all they could handle.  Old Brees vs. Young Goff.  Well head to head Old Brees out scored him 16-13 but Goff and the Chislers had too much fire power for the Killers.  Chubb "Chubb, Chubb, Chubb" managed to score even though Killers countered with "It was the" Duke Johnson who tallied 2 scores.

Brees congratulates Goff on the Chisler win 

Cocktails 55  Killer Bees 47 - More of the same from the Cocktails.  This time three of their Chiefs were in double digits.  "Side show" Mahomes had a down game scoring only 12 points.  "Rocket" Hunt banged in 3 TDs and Kelce caught 2 TDs.  There were 3 11 point plays in this game for the Cocktails.  All the Killer Bees needed to do was to have one more 10 point connection between Rodgers and Graham to win the game, but it was not to "Bee". 

Hunt and Kelce combined for 30 points for Cocktails

Around the league...

Bums 49 Crew 24 - The Crew couldn't even beat a team that had 3 players in their starting line up that weren't even playing.  When Bums QB Ryan and RB Kamara combine for 34 points and Crew QB puts up a big goose egg you can see why...

Ryan explaining why he doesn't need a full line up

Animals 27 Crush 16 - Animals handed the Crush their second loss in a row, 27-16 behind another performance from "Happy" Cam...

Sinistars 30 Ferrets 19 - Well this week no Sinistar player scored more than 8 points.  Unfortunately for the Ferrets it was one of those only QB / Kicker scored games.  Sinistars prevailed 30-19...

Curly Joe Howard

Mayhem 36  Roulette 20 - The Mayhem might have found a potent 10 point connection between Prescott and Cooper "Coop-a-loop" as they connected for one against the Roulette beating them 36-20...

Dragons 45 Juggernauts 20 - Dragons had little trouble with the Juggs, 45-20.  They got 12 big points from Jordan "Curly Joe" Howard and 6 points form K.I. "TT boy" L.E...

TT Boy of the Dragons...

Krauts 38 Titans 15- Krauts keeping pace with the Cocktails, beating the Titans 38-15 behind 2 defensive scores from their Bear Defense. 

Players of the Week:  Alvin Kamara, Bums and Kareem Hunt, Cocktails - RBs - 18 points.