Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Semi-Finals: Show Me The Money!

Old English (9-4) vs babysrus (6-6-1)
If Gene runs the table this post-season and wins a championship, he will officially have the greatest season ever. Actually, he might already have that title. By toppling the Dirty Birds 129.50 to 111.50 -- mainly behind Brandon Marshall's 29 points -- babysrus comes from behind for yet another upset. This week, they'll face off against a well rested Old English team.

Aquino's team has been on a tear all season and they have undoubtably the best quarterbacks in the land. Put it this way, Derek Anderson, a surprise fantasy star, hasn't even made it into the lineup (except for bye weeks) for Old English. There's just no way Tony Romo and Peyton Manning can be displaced. Heck, on the season, Anderson has only socred six points less than Peyton.

Eric doesn't need much more from the lineup when he has two outstanding QBs but Jamal Lewis, Kellen Winslow, Tony Gonzalez, and Bobby Engram have contributed mightily too. With the injuries to Laveranues Coles and Travis Henry, depth is an issue but hey, who cares? It's Romo and Manning all the way! The only person who is way underperforming here is superstar WR Steve Smith, who has just been horrific all season long, scoring even less than say, Derrick Mason.

Gene's quarterbacks, Kurt Warner and David Garrard,lack the star power of Eric's team but they have three quality WRs to throw to. Terrell Owens and Reggie Wayne are standouts. Brandon Marshall is explosive and peaking at the right time. And how about the decision to sit Rudi Johnson and Willie Parker last week? Daring. It's doubtful that Chester Taylor, Marshawn Lynch, and Brandon Jacobs will get the starting call again so look for Johnson or Parker, or both, to slide into the lineup. It's a classic battle of star power versus depth and we'll have to see if Gene can keep up his Cinderella season.

RazoRamon (8-5) vs Fobsters (8-5)
In what was touted as a potential slugfest with the Jedi Knights coming on strong, Jimmy's Fobsters handled their business and won by nine points (124 - 114.5). They needed everything they could get from Marion Barber (33), Ryan Grant (22), and Brian Westbrook (20.5) because Jeff Garcia and Steelers defense couldn't score a point and Chad Johnson and Hines Ward were near useless. With Tom Brady tossing another four touchdowns (35 pts), Jimmy had his hands full. In the end, Lum couldn't get Adrian Peterson or Roy Williams on the board so lost by a handful.

That sets up a huge week as defending champion Jimmy will face off against Ryan, who is traditionally a post-season choker. This time around, they're loaded up with a deep and talented roster though, headed by the resurgent Drew Brees. Ramon had a great week last week despite being on bye and Brees, Joseph Addai, Randy Moss, and Jason Witten will enter the semi-finals all fired up. Let's not forget about Big Ben Roethlisberger, Edgerrin James, Clinton Portis, Chris Henry, Roddy White (and maybe Marvin Harrison). The Razors easily have the deepest team on paper -- they lost Ronnie Brown early on too -- the question is, can they win in the playoffs?

Jimmy's hoping the answer to that is a big fat "No." With a running game that must rank as the best in the league, Jimmy will have to play ball control. Chad Johnson needs a huge game one of these days but his QB hasn't been cooperating. To be honest, Jimmy's team is deep too, with Shaun Alexander and Calvin Johnson being mid-season casualties. The difference though, is quarterbacking. Jimmy has Rivers and Garcia (or Trent Edwards), Ryan has Brees and Ben. Might someone need a stronger second QB for this matchup?

This game will be too close to call but I'm going to go with Ryan winning, just to make him feel better.

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