5 Games In: Uncanny X-Men

Heading into Week 6, we're about a third of the way through the regular season and while every team is technically still in the playoff race, some of the bottom feeders are going to have to pick up their game if they want to make it into the lucrative post-season. Let's take a quick look at how our divisional fights are shaping up.

The Dirty Birds have vaulted to the best regular season record in our young season by way of a four game winning streak. Since getting blasted in WK1, they've racked up three 100+ point weeks and four easy wins. The Birds found a ground game behind Browns RB Peyton Hillis, who is averaging 18.0 points a game. The Birds can continue their ascent if QB Ben Roethlisberger's return to action strengthens an already strong receiving game.

Nipping at the Birds' heels is Team Johnson, who is outscoring the entire league by a wide margin (almost a hundred points more PF than the next closest competitor). Two of their losses have come despite scoring over the century mark and in their past two games, both wins, the Johnsons have scored 140+ in each matchup. They've been powered by the explosive receiving trio of Miles Austin, Brandon Lloyd, and Hakeem Nicks. Add in multi-faceted Frank Gore -- not to mention Darren McFadden -- and this is a serious contender.

Balancing good offense with a very easy schedule, Six to Midnight started off 3-1 but lost last week to his cousin Oliver in a low scoring yawner (70-76). The running game has fantasy sensation Arian Foster but neither Shonn Greene nor DeAngelo Williams are performing up to their draft status. The possible season ending loss of TE Jermichael Finley could really hurt too. Still, mojo could be on Andy's side as only eleven total points have kept him from being undefeated. Raise your hand if you knew Antonio Gates was the best WR/TE so far this season?!

Team H and Inglorious Basterds have been pretty similar this year and are currently both at 2-3. Tough schedules, low scoring games, and losing streaks of two and three games respectively have sunk them to middle of the pack. Mark's Team H has the incredible Philip Rivers and erratically explosive Ravens Ray Rice and Anquan Boldin. The problem is, there's not a lot of depth here and they've swung wildly from great highs (125-121 vs Inglorious Basterds in WK3) to putrid lows (55-88 vs Snake Eyes in WK4).

Mike's Basterds are in a tailspin and haven't won a game at home yet. The last two weeks have brought big time beat downs and that pretty much coincides with when Michael Vick went down. RB Adrian Peterson and Wes Welker are around to steady the ship but Vick's replacements -- either Kolb or Mark Sanchez -- need to pick up the slack. Oh and Mike's team photo link is broken, another reason he's probably losing.

Rollen's Ro.Bots have faced the easiest schedule in the league and have mostly been unlucky. A seven point loss in WK1 and a four point loss in WK3. Still, it would be nice to see them put together more consistent efforts as their recent outings have been pretty bad (46 and 75 points, the latter resulting in a win). After clearing a tough week of byes, RoBots will have Tom Brady and Rashard Mendenhall back in WK6. This team desperately needs another RB to pair with Mendenhall.

It's been El Nino season around here but Hong's El Ninos have lost all four of their home games and been crsuhed by one of the hardest schedules in the league. Without much offense to compensate (no century games to speak of yet), it's meant that the El Nino's are going to turn things around pretty quickly to get back into contention. There is a lot of depth here, and some good second half breakout candidates, but for now LaDainian Tomlinson has been their best player at 16.8 points per game. That's great and all for LDT, but its' probably not a good sign when he's outperforming Donovan McNabb, Michael Turner, and Larry Fitzgerald.

5 Games In: Justice League

There's a glut of three win teams in this division, four of them to be exact, but Fobulus sets themselves apart due to a tie in WK3. Amazingly, Jimmy's team is thriving despite not having one century game so far this season. They have only 33 more PF than PA but have managed to pick up strategic wins by having a winningly mediocre team. Every starter and main bench player scores in the low to mid teens and nobody tops 15 points per game (led by WR Calvin Johnson). Weird but hard to argue with its effectiveness.

There's a case to be made that Brian's Howler Monkeys are the actual cream of the crop here, as he sports a healthy plus PF/PA differential and is one of the highest scoring teams in the league. With LeSean McCoy and Austin Collie leading the way, the Monkeys have even more upside as QB Drew Brees has been a bit underwhelming. There is a lot to like about this team, especially its consistency, as they've only scored under 90 points once and are coming off two wins and two century games.

The other 3-2 teams are both in incremental decline. Snake Eyes has been scoring less and less each week after a WK1 explosion, and Antoine Dodson Hide Your Wife has been doing the exact same thing, except his decline has been after WK2. Of the two, Oliver's Antoine Dodson is in better shape as he has been a tiny bit steadier (Ryan's team put up a sterling 45 points last week) and his under the radar trade for RB Michael Bush will give him a ground game to go along with his impressively balanced passing attack of Indianapolis receivers Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark. Snake Eyes has the opposite problem: No consistent receivers and someone named Aaron Hernandez starting at TE. Chad Ochocinco's 12.2 point average is deceiving as he's yet to break double digits after a 33 point opening week. Peyton Manning has been great but he can't do it all by himself. Rumors swirl that either Matt Forte or Ahmad Bradshaw could be on the move.

Canadian Bacon (2-2-1) and Gangsta Wangsta (2-3) have both have been pounded by rough scheduling. Adam's team is actually a team to keep an eye on as they've scored three century games and are coming off a great win last week. Featuring the fastest running back tandem in the game, Chris Johnson and Jahvid Best, the Canadians also have deep threat DeSean Jackson to stretch the field (well he's only great when Vick is behind center). If Randy Moss can help Brett Favre's numbers, we see this team on the rise. It's actually a shock that there's no backup QB to Favre on this roster, as he's been pretty bad so far this season.

How about that Kyle Orton! The Denver QB is the third best in the land and he's outperformed his thirteenth round draft position by about fifty country miles. Orton throws to Brandon Marshall, Steve Smith, and Donald Driver, who have all been very solid this season. What Victor's team is desperately seeking is another running back to complement Steven Jackson, as Jerome Harrison and Brandon Jacobs are pretty much waiver wire fodder. Still, the Wangstas are facing off with the two worst teams in the league in successive weeks so they could vault themselves back up to respectability soon.

One of those worst teams is Team Olivia, who isn't technically the worst, but it's pretty close. Franchise QB Aaron Rodgers has been quite good and there is some erratic explosion in the passing game but what plagues this team is the gaping hole at the second running back position. Jonathan Stewart, Felix Jones, Willis McGahee, and Clinton Portis have been all but invisible and although ploughhorse Cedric Benson has been dependable, he's still just one man. A good WK5 from Cedric Benson, Michael Crabtree, and Jeremy Maclin point to better things, hopefully. Actually there's a possibility that Olivia isn't even paying attention as her transaction history shows no movements whatsoever, lineup changes or otherwise...

Helping Hands

Straight from ESPN News, Canadian Bacon and Antoine Dodson Hide Your Wife have exchanged RB Michael Bush and TE Jason Witten.

For Canadian Bacon, the addition of Witten means that they'll have the first tight end on their roster and a nice middle of the field complement to speedster DeSean Jackson. For Oliver's Hide Your Wives, a serviceable running back was a must as their current backfield options (Ricky Williams, Tim Hightower, Thomas Jones, Brandon Jacobs) are pretty much unuseable.

Proving his value, Bush scored got 26 carries and scored 22 points in WK5 during Darren McFadden's absence. Jason Witten was no slouch himself as he catch five balls for 84 yards and a touchdown last weekend. It seems like a great trade all around!

The League

There's a whole TV show centered around fantay football. Yes I know this sounds like the stupidest thing ever, but after watching all six episodes in marathon form over the weekend, I can heartily recommend The League to any fan of fantasy sports. While the humor isn't exactly my cup of tea, even I have to admit that the fast paced jokes about balls, penises, and pubes are kind of hilarious. Also, The League makes quite the statement about the modern emasculated man. Created by the team behind Curb Your Enthusiasm, the show is semi-scripted and heavily improv-ed. You should probably at least watch the pilot from Season 1 on Hulu before moving onto Season 2, which premieres this week on FX.

"The show centers around a group of buddies, all in their 30’s, best friends from high school, some of them now married, some with kids, others still single. The laughs come from the interactions between this tight group of guys, and the token cool chick who is actually the wife of one of the guys. The topics of discussion are pretty male-centered; toilet humor, references to sex, football trades, and one-upmanship. It’s far smarter than other shows and movies that have tried this formula."
-Here's why you need to be watching The League-

• New York Times review
• Miami Herald review
• The League's Hulu page

I choose you, Pikachu

Our first day of free agent auction is over and I for one was excited to see what the results would be. As it turns out, ESPN doesn't tell you the winning bid, nor how many owners bid on a particular player. I guess that's the point of a "blind auction" isn't it? But because I'm Asian and have a solid grounding in basic math, I think we can figure out how much people bid on particular players.

Here's the add/drops from September 15th. Discounting the moves for kickers and head coaches, there were a few free agents that were snapped up after a stellar weekend. RB Brandon Jackson, QB Michael Vick, QB Sam Bradford, WRs Mark Clayton and Eddie Royal. By combining that information with the Free Agent Auction Summary page, we can determine what prices these players likely went for.

Oliver used $58 total on Jackson and Clayton. The bulk of that has to be toward Jackson, who was the premier pickup of the week as he'll be entering next week as the new starting running back for a potent offense. Let's assume he went for around forty or fifty bucks. We'll never know if that was overkill but a starting RB doens't come along very often on the waiver wire.

Victor and Mike both picked up guys to shore up their shoddy depth at QB. It looks like Mike paid $20 for Vick and Victor paid $10 for Bradford. Which one would you rather have at those prices? I think Kevin Kolb's days are numbered and Vick will start most of the rest of the way so this could be a steal for Mike. As for Bradford, it's hard to envision a rookie QB doing well but Bradford seems to have all the tools and more than enough opportunity. A possible steal at ten dollars if he can at least be serviceable.

Jon scooped up Royal for $3 and again, there's no telling if there was no demand or if he outbid someone by a few bucks. I wish we could tell how many owners bid but since we don't have that information, we'll just have to guesstimate. Some people have already voiced their displeasure at the system but to that I say, "tough!" It's the fairest way to acquire free agents and it's also fun and strategic. If you aren't sure how the auction system works, you should probably have a better idea now. Just remember that the auction runs daily Wednesday through Sunday, at 11am EST.

Update [9.16.2010]
Oliver pointed out that you can see how much people bid. The link for the daily Free Agent Auction Report is at the bottom of the transactions box. Along with that, if you look at the expanded Transaction Report, you can see the winning bids for each player too. Below is the auction report from September 15th. From the looks of this guy, it looks like the next closest bid for Brandon Jackson was only $25!

Justice League Team Previews

While this certainly wasn't the smoothest draft I've ever been a part of, at least it finished quickly right? Sure there were some issues with the auto-picking and my mess up with the tight ends, but all's well that ends well they say. As an apology, here are some team previews. That or I'm just really excited for football. Oh and if you didn't have a team name, I just named you. So some of the names are unofficial obviously.

1. Canadian Bacon (Adam)
With the first overall pick, Adam took all of a minute and a half to cue up Chris Johnson. It looks like the token Canadians in the league will swing for the fences with home run hitters like Johnson, DeSean Jackson, Steve Smith, Johnny Knox, and Jacoby Jones. They have Jahvid Best and Michael Bush (injured) in the backfield but until one of them steps up, this team will run and shoot, with his venerable highness Brett Favre at the helm.

3. Fobulous (Jimmy)
It was hard to decide which player to take at #3 but UCLA alum Jimmy selected bowling ball running back Maurice Jones-Drew. He'll have another LA college product by his side in Reggie Bush but if rookies CJ Spiller or Kareem Huggins start their careers off right, Bush could be relegated to the bench. We rather like Fobulus' air attack of QB Joe Flacco and WRs Calvin Johnson, Marques Colston, Joey Galloway, and the rookie Mike Williams. You know, the non-bust one.

5. Gangsta Wangsta (Victor)
Despite frantically racing home due to not knowing the draft time was changed, Victor's squad should be quite solid with yardage machine Steven Jackson leading the way. In a PPR league, Brandon Marshall could be a superstar, and fellow receivers Steve Smith and Donald Driver have seen better days but they are still quite productive. The big question here is at the quarterback position. Are Matthew Stafford or Kyle Orton enough?

7. Howler Monkeys (Brian)
The team that stole Drew Brees out from under me. The Howler Monkeys are actually a little light in the personnel department for Brees to throw to. Percy Harvin is the number one here but he might be in and out with migraines, Dez Bryant is a rookie and Austin Collie and Eddie Royal might not be productive right away. The backfield is steady though, with Ryan Grant, LeSean McCoy, Justin Forsett, Steve Slation, and Larry Johnson.

9. Tom Brady is Hot (Olivia)
QB Aaron Rodgers is being touted as a NFL MVP after his outstanding season last year -- and was highly coveted by Olivia. The question is if Michael Crabtree, Jeremy Maclin, Braylon Edwards -- and eventually Sydney Rice -- are up to the task fantasy wise. There are certainly lots of good RBs on this roster: Cedric Benson, Jonathan Stewart, Felix Jones, Clinton Portis, and Willis McGahee. We smell a possible trade if the receivers don't pan out.

11. Kings of Convenience (Oliver)
This is a team ready to run and shoot behind QB Tony Romo, who might be a steal in RD3. He'll have plenty to players ready to catch his passes, starting with Randy Moss and Reggie Wayne on the outside and in the slot, and then TEs Dallas Clark and Jason Witten as safety valves. Someone will have to emerge from the three headed backfield trio of Ricky Williams, Kevin Smith, and Tim Hightower though. Or maybe it'll be Keiland Williams. Who? I dunno either.

13. Snake Eyes (Ryan)
Charger fans love Ryan Mathews and Razor Ryan's no exception as he took Mathews at the top of the second round. If the Bolt rookie falters, there's a stable of so-so running backs behind him: Matt Forte, Ahmad Bradshaw, Correll Buckhalter, and Marshawn Lynch. It looks like it's Mathews or bust! With all world Petyon Manning pacing the passing attack, you only need a few steady WRs and that's what Ryan drafted with Chad Ochocinco, Steve Breaston, Tony Gonzalez, and Visanthe Shiancoe. None of them will be stars but they'll be quite serviceable.

Uncanny X-Men Team Previews

2. Dirty Birds (Jon)
With the trade down to in the first round, the Dirty Birds committed themselves to the air. They selected six receivers projected as the main pass catcher on their NFL teams: Andre Johnson, Roddy White, Dwayne Bowe, Malcolm Floyd, Laurent Robinson, and Jabar Gaffney. The problem is there's no real running back here, with Jamaal Charles, Marion Barber, and Cadillac Williams all filled with some question marks. And more importantly, can QB Matt Ryan evolve into a good fantasy player or will Ben Roethlisberger be called upon to save the day?

4. Department H (Mark)
We actually kind of really like the mysterious Department H's core of Philip Rivers, Ray Rice, and Anquan Boldin. They are all going to be top tier players and the 2010 Ravens are said to be an offensive team finally. There a lot of WR potentials on the roster with Mike Wallace, Santonio Holmes, Devin Aromashodu, and Legedu Naanee but we think TE Vernon Davis will still be the best receiver after Boldin. The backfield is thin though, as Darren Sproles, Rashad Jennings, and Brian Westbrook aren't full time players and would be cause for concern if Rice goes down.

6. The Johnsons (Kevin)
This roster seems like a very complete one as there are quality backups and prospects at every position. Frank Gore is a stud, and Knoshown Moreno, Darren McFadden, and/or Fred Jackson should complement him well. The Johnsons are strong at receiver with Miles Austin, Hakeem Nicks, Kenny Britt, and Kellen Winslow. Matt Schaub won't likely ever need to come out of the lineup but Vince Young is a very capable backup. While some of these guys won't work out, enough of them should to emerge to give Kevin a very flexible team that might depend heavily on week to week matchups.

8. Inglorius Basterds (Mike)
Rolling the dice and trading up to nab Adrian Peterson was a calculated gamble but it could work out well. Behind Peterson is a large handful of timeshare RBs in Pierre Thomas, Laurence Maroney, Thomas Jones, and Chester Taylor. Mike did manage to draft a good selection of receivers to take the pressure off All Day (Greg Jennings, Wes Welker, Lee Evans, Chris Cooley) but who'll throw them the ball? Is Kevin Kolb as good as he's been touted, or will sophomore Mark Sanchez have to come off the bench and save the day? Can a Bruin really rely on a Trojan at any point in the season? Probably not I say.

10. Alberto's El Nino's (Hong)
That's two possessive apostrophes in one team name; it's a Mexican joint in Poway's crazy weather's something basically. Hong's team is devoid of tight ends or John Carney but he's assembled quite the crew. Running backs Michael Turner and Joseph Addai are solid starters. QBs Carson Palmer and Donovan McNabb are fading but could still have one more good season. And Larry Fitzgerald, Hines Ward, Pierre Garcon, and Derrick Mason let the El Nino's go run-and-gun if they want. There's even a LaDainian Tomlinson sighting here! And who doesn't fear Devin Hester as a kick returner?

12. Ben Coates All-Stars (Andy)
Basically I wrote all these team synopses so that I could get to Andy's. There's going to be three TEs on this roster and while that may sound crazy, it's hard to argue with Antonio Gates, Jermichael Finley, and Brent Celek. Okay, maybe Celek. But we're hoping Andy drafts another TE so he can go run-and-tight sometime this season. There is a really strong running game here with DeAngelo Williams, Shonn Greene, Arian Foster, and possibly Donald Brown. It may sound crazy that Eli Manning is actually good but in 2009 he was a 4000+ yard passer and may have hit a new tier as a fantasy quarterback. Oh right, and he has a championship. Gag.

14. Ron Artest Was Lucky (Rollen)
A fellow Wolverine, either Rollen or I were destined to draft Tom Brady. We'd like to see him drop David Garrard for Chad Henne to really commit to school pride. Rollen does have WR Mario Manningham as a sleeper though, and he might sneak into the starting lineup alongside Mike Sims-Walker, Santana Moss, Bernard Berrian, Josh Cribs, and Devery Henderson. We don't see a lot of difference between most of those guys so it could be Mario time soon. We think Rollen got the two next big things in RBs with Rashard Mendenhall and Beanie Wells. If one of them can't break out in a feature role, Ronnie Brown is on hand to lend his veteran presence.