Week 13 - CRUNCH TIME!!!

[Sex Panther]

For the vast majority of us fantasy footballers, week 13 marks the end of the fantasy football regular season.

I'm lucky enough to have clinched a playoff spot in all 4 leagues I play in - and I, like a lot of you (I'm sure), play in cash leagues...

I know I have a shot to lock up some form of payout in at least 3 of the leagues I'm in this weekend.

Payouts or not, week 13 has serious seeding implications in all the leagues I'm in.

Enraged Mel Gibsons are sitting at 7-5, 3rd in total points, currently the 4 seed. I'm -78.95 down from total point crown, and only -17.6 for 2nd in points. This week I play the current 2 seed, sitting at a soft 8-4 (5th in points, 11th in points against). The current 3 seed shares the same 7-5 record & has the aforementioned +17.6 point lead on me. EMG's have won their last 3, putting up no fewer than 132 & change & 5 of last 7. If I win this week & the current 3 loses (or I out score him by +17.7) - 2 seed is mine. Foster/AJ/White are the studs on this squad, but I have pretty solid depth w/ Moreno/Felix/Blount/Ryan/Akers & the San Diego defense fell into my lap last week & Britt has been taking up a bench spot drooling over the prospects of Houston/KC weeks 15/16 as a possible flex start... If I can make it through week 14, I LOVE my week 15/16 matchups.

Sex Panther is sitting at 8-4, middle of the pack in both points for & against, currently 2nd seed, playing a squad out of playoffs, have a chance at shared best record & 1 seed in playoffs. Been hit by injury the last couple of weeks - Nicks/Britt/Floyd all need to get healthy ASAP to have a shot at winning in the coming weeks. Built around Vick/McCoy/SJax/Nicks, Blount/Britt/Floyd/Crabtree round out roster.

Ride Majestic is sitting at 7-5, 3rd seed, but in a free fall - lost 4 of last 5 and have fallen off the pace for points. A month ago, I had championship aspirations, team has fallen off dramatically - Peyton/AJ/White/Bradshaw/LT haven't been getting it done. Playing a squad that's fighting for final playoff spot & has been riding Vick/Hillis/Tamme. Need Manning to get extrodinarily and 1 of my RB's to start putting up RB 1 numbers to have a shot here.

Lord Vader is 9-3, 1st in points, 2nd in points against. Win or lose, no worse than 2nd seed & week 14 bye, +127.36 in total points, going for tri-fecta in payouts - best reg. season record, most reg. season points, league championship. AP/Foster/White/Wayne/Austin/Gates w/Schaub or Eli at QB, NYG D/ST & Akers at K w/ Felix & BJGE, Ward (Foster HC) in tow & a claim in for Gerhart just in case as insurance. I will be legitimately suprised if I don't win it all.

So, how are your teams & playoff pictures shaping up?

Good luck to all, & hopefully you're still fantasy footballing it up well into Decemeber.

[default01]

I'll join in to brag since this is my best (regular season) team yet.

Through 12 weeks, I'm sitting in first at 11-1, also first in points with about a 9 point lead over the 2nd place team who is at 10-2. I've got a great chance to wrap up the number 1 seed this week and would really like to get that seed so I can keep the 2nd and 3rd place teams on the other side of the bracket. This year, my league has a larger gap than normal between the top 3 teams and the rest of the pack. There are currently 2 teams at 6-6 and 4 at 5-7, all with a shot at the last 3 playoff spots.

We start 2 flex and my strength is at RB with Foster/Charles/SJax/Forte. I've got Peyton at QB and Wallace/Williams(TB)/Pettigrew round out my starters. My bench, which I thought was solid, has been decimated recently with injuries (Floyd/Torain), uncertain roles (KWilliams), and under-performance (Moss), so I'll be looking to make a few upside pickups off of waivers this week. Last week, I picked up Burleson and Mathews but they may be the first to go for Choice/Stewart/Ford/Dixon.

[Flyn high again]

You guys are doing well. 4-0 getting into the playoffs is an accomplishment. 11-1 isn't bad either.

I have two teams. Purple Cobras just won their division which pays 20% of the league fees or a little over $200. I have a bye and best seed in my division for the playoffs. I made a mistake draft day and took Brandon Marshall instead of Roddy White but my free agent pick ups (Vick, Hillis, Tamme, Tolbert, Westbrook) have made my team a solid contender for the $700 first place prize.

The Kamikazes just locked up 2nd place in my non-divisional league. This is worth a bye and good seed. Once again I grabbed Vick, Hillis and Tamme and added Goodson, Steve Johnson and Westbrook. My teams were strong week 1 but they are much stronger week 13. I believe a key to fantasy football wins is aggressively getting to free agents before other teams even realize they are soon to be valuable. I take chances and grab guys, sometimes dropping them a week later if they don't pan out. When they do blossom, my team benefits.

In the first league which I joined last year, I have won my division each year. Time to win it all this year. In the second, I have won the SuperBowl 3 out of 5 years.

[011472]

I'm proud to say the Damn Dirty Apes are 11-1 with the number 1 seed clinched. The playoffs don't begin until week 15, so I'm in the middle of a three-game stretch of meaningless games. It's an auction keeper league and I set up for this year's success with a rebuilding effort last season. I targeted backups who could shine at the auction, and my $4 bid on Mendenhall turned into a gold mine when he became a stud. Moreno also came at a bargain price and I rolled the dice by keeping him and betting that he'd produce. I put my Moreno money where my mouth is by spending big bucks on White and Jennings to lead my WRs while sacrificing at RB3.

I picked up Schaub for $1 when he was hurt back in 2008, so I had a cheap and solid option at QB. After his 497 yard game week 2, I traded him and Bowe for Rodgers and Garcon. This obviously turned out to be a huge hit at WR, but Rodgers has been a rock at QB and I believe my team wouldn't have the same record if the deal didn't happen. Garcon's disappointed, but I've currently got Hines as my WR3.

I survived Moreno's injury with cheap waiver investments in BJGE and Torain, but both are now gone and it's time for Moreno to continue to reward my faith.

The only problem all season has been at TE. I firmly believe in spending no more that $1 at that spot, so I started the year with Carlson. This led to Keller, Hernandez, Gresham and now a shot on Thanksgiving with Graham. So this week I'm targeting free agents like Dreessen, Olsen or Heap (can't believe he got dropped) to round out the roster. Just looking at who's got the best playoff schedule.

[LMack]

Mostly good, some bad mixed in. In order from best to worst, here they are.

Straight Haterade is 10-1 in a 14 team league. Playoffs started last week, and I clinched the overall seed and am currently riding out a 2 week bye. First in points by around 100. Some good trades were made (Ryan Grant, Matt Ryan, Malcom Floyd for Aaron Rodgers and LeSean McCoy) and some trades that I thought would be good turned out to hurt me a bit (Dwayne Bowe and LeSean McCoy for Roddy White, this of course transpiring on week 5 right before Bowe went on his ridiculous stretch) I think I have a solid chance of bringing home the title in this league.

Kibbles and Vick sits at a perfect 12-0. Its a 12 team league, PPR, 6 IDP positions, HC slot, and some crazy defensive scoring. I'm in first in scoring by a margin of about 350 points. The reason why I rank this achievement below Haterade is that this league is full of shmucks and know-nothings. I've done no trades, but made some good WW pickups (Hillis etc) while playing the WW's for defenses, as defenses average mid to high teens each week. I fully expect to win this championship and anything less would be a disappointment.

Gore No More, formerly The Inconvenient Truth, sits at 7-5. I need a win this weekend and an 8-4 team to lose for a playoff spot. The injury bug bit me a bit here (Romo, now Gore) My least favorite thing about this league is that it is a family league, and as such is filled with a bunch of my uncles. To keep it easy, we had an autodraft (bleh) and only have 4 bench slots (bleh) It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Rowdy as Roethlisberger rests at 5-7, in 9th place out of 12, firmly out of the playoff picture. RB busts and under performing wideouts stymied me a bit in this league. Lets just say starting a draft off with DeAngelo Williams and Beanie Wells is not an enviable RB tandem. Reggie Wayne, Mike Crabtree, and Mike Sims-Walker have all left me a bit short. I drafted Kolb as my QB1, but took Roethlisberger as a backup, so I only had to scramble a couple weeks with WW Derek Andersons and Matt Hasselbecks. Without a doubt one of my most competitive leagues, and they got the best of me this year.

[B3N1ZJAM1N]

I'm in 1 league with 9 other buddies playing for a huge pot, winner take all. I'm pretty tired of this year even though I'm in 1st at 9-3. I clearly have the best team by a huge margin but I have perfect timing of playing the worst teams when they happen to have a good week. Last week I played the last team who has only won 2 games, he beat me by scoring 161 points.....his last 3 games added up equal 158. So I play the man in 2nd place in my division this week who is 8-4 so I can lose if its not by about 90 lol, so I should have 1st clinched.

[biju]

I commish a league that might very well have the most exciting finish to a regular season ever:

The tiebreakers for the playoffs are as follows:

1. Head to Head
2. Most Points Scored (this is as far as it's gone)
3. Division Record
4. Most Points Scored Against
5. Coin flip

The teams in question will likely end in a tie. They are 35 points apart (the equivalent of about 15 points in a "normal" scoring league). They will have the same division record. They are only 35 points apart from having the same points scored against.

I'm not saying it will happen, but even putting it at 1% that it will come down to a coin flip is about the most exciting thing I've come across with tiebreakers!

[Dawinner127]

In my league, I lead the league in points and am currently sitting at 8-4, but have two owners ahead of me (both sitting at 9-3). Need both of them to lose (I play the last place team and they both play teams who have won 4 in a row) -- If both of them lose, definitely looking at the tri-fecta for cash this year Clinched a playoff spot, but seeds 4 - 6 are all up for grabs. The teams (4) sitting at 5-7 can move all the way up to 4th seed, but there are also three teams sitting at 6-6. Anything is possible


The team that's carrying me this year is definitely due to the pickup of Vick, Tamme, and Mike Williams (West).

QB - Vick/Ryan
RB - Charles/LdT/Ahmad/Torain
WR - Andre/Jennings/DeSean/Mike Williams
TE - Tamme/Keller
K - Carpenter
DST - Pittsburhgh
12-Teamer - .5 PPR - 35 passing/1pt, 10 rushing/receiving/1pt, all TDs are 6 and fumbles/INTs are -2

[u_fig_eater]

My best team record-wise is this one:

QB: Michael Vick, Tom Brady
WR:Mike Wallace, Terrell Owens, Santonio Holmes, Pierre Garcon, Mario Manningham
RB: Chris Johnson, Jamaal Charles, Ahmad Bradshaw, Mike Tolbert, LeGarrette Blount
TE: Greg Olsen
K: Adam Vinatieri
DEF: Stream

2nd in a 10-team Yahoo! league.

[Dan Lambskin]

i'm in danger of missing the playoffs in every league. out of 6 leagues i'm definately out in 3, need a miracle in the 4th and have a decent shot at sneaking in the other 2 (need to win out and get some help in both cases though)
oh well...

the one that kills me is a 10 team keeper...somehow this is a 5-7 team
QB - Brees
RB - Chris Johnson
RB - Ray Rice
Flex - McFadden
WR - Wayne
WR - Floyd
TE - Tamme

B - Best, Greene, Felix, Ward, Moore

i'm only 5th in points though, a few injuires and playing the wrong guy here and there did me in