Nov 12 2008
State Of The Regulators (Dynasty League Edition)
OK, so I had promised that I would be putting together some reviews on my team to see where they stack up as we head into the stretch run of the fantasy regular season. First off, my keeper team…
Rockaway Regulators: 5-5 (3rd place, The Bad Division)
This team has had a very up and down year, and lately it’s been down as the Regulators have had trouble making up for the loss of Tony Romo to injury and Plaxico Burress’ inability to become involved in the Giants offense again after serving his one game suspension for insubordination. 3 losses in its last 4 games have dropped the Regulators in 3rd in an ultra hard division where the last place team is at .500. Luckily, the two teams tied atop the division are 6-4, so this team still holds its own destiny with 3 divisional games coming up in Weeks 12-14.
What needs to happen for this team to succeed: a win against the last place Statutory Suitors (2-8) should help things this week, but the divisional games will be key to establish head to head and points tiebreakers. The key will be Ladanian Tomlinson, as his remaining schedule aside from this week (Ind, Atl, Oak, at KC and at TB) is not only manageable, it will really give an indication of whether or not he’s finished as a viable RB1 in fantasy. Romo and Burress also need to contribute heavily down the stretch. Romo is aiming to finish the season strong and salvage what has been a terrible season for the Cowboys, and Burress may be looked upon more often in the 2nd half as the Giants schedule turns difficult and the G-Men may be forced to play from behind some weeks.
Roadblocks to the playoffs: The Foot Clan (6-4) has been the best team on paper all year, boasting a lineup of P. Manning, Gore/Lynch, S. Smith/Marshall/Coles and Scheffler. With Thomas Jones also lurking some weeks, this would be my favorite to win the division. So what’s to stop my gaining the wildcard? The Huntington Beach Bad Boys (6-4), who held a firesale earlier in the year to produce a nice crop of cheap young talent including the likes of D’Sean Jackson, Anthony Gonzalez, Michael Turner, Chris Johnson and Aaron Rodgers. Leapfrogging the Bad Boys (and evening the season series at one apiece) will be crucial. In addition, 2 other teams throughout the league are also at 6-4 and vying for wildcard spots.
Overall: If I had the guys to pitch for a firesale to rebuild for next year, I would, but the values for guys like LT and Plax are at an all time low right now. I think I’m going to have to just sit on my current team and hope that they can sneak into the playoffs. 4 straight wins and possibly even a 3-1 finish would do it, but certain guys are really going to have to start producing a lot more than they have recently in order for it to happen. It’s a lot of teams to leapfrog, but the separation between the division crown/wildcard and where my team sits right now is really not that far.
Current teams in the hunt:
1) Hurricane Ditka (7-3, 1230.5 PF, division leader)
2) Matt Leinart’s Beer Bonging Bitches (7-3, 1172 PF, division leader)
3) The Foot Clan (6-4, 1080.5 PF, division leader)
4) Rockaway Rockets (6-4, 1120 PF, wildcard)
5) Huntington Beach Bad Boys (6-4, 1069 PF)
6) $75 Donation (6-4, 1028 PF)
7) Those Guys (5-5, 1086 PF)
Rockaway Regulators (5-5, 1076.5 PF)
9) Corporate Americans (5-5, 1066 PF)
