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by Alf

Week 2 Edition

Week three preview by Alf
Week two analysis by Alf

Week three preview

by Alf

As it takes me some time to do that preview, I will only focus on the top matchups this week ( combined teams with 3 or more victories). I will however make my predictions for all the games.

Halas League

Brigantine 69ers (0-2) versus Lincoln Assassins (2-0)
I like Brigantine 69ers to win (Michael asked me to pick his team to lose ;-).

Oklahoma OhNos (0-2) versus Shek Republic (2-0)
I like Oklahoma OhNos to win.

Weapons of Love (0-2) versus Kiwi Air (2-0)
I like Kiwi Air to win.

Meat Weasels (1-1) versus Sportin' Life (1-1)
I like Sportin'Life to win.

Thundering Gerbils (1-1) versus Wayne Fontes (1-1)
I like Wayne Fontes to win.

Pigskinned Monkeys (1-1) versus Kardiac Kids (1-1)
I like Pigskinned Monkeys to win.

Rooney League

MediaBLITZ (2-0) versus Boston Swarm (2-0)
Highlight game of the week. The only matchup between two undefeated teams.
Boston Swarm will surely start QB Rich Gannon vs Chicago (other QBs are Stoney Case first snap this year and Dan Marino on bye week). His RBs will be Terry Allen, Edgerin James and Duce Staley). The WRs will be Marvin Harrison and maybe Tim Brown.
MediaBLITZ will start QB Favre vs Vikings secondary, RBs Means and James Stewart (Fred Taylor might not play) and maybe Alstott, WRs Isaac Bruce and Bill Schroeder.
I like MediaBLITZ to remain undefeated (I just saw Stoney Case and Tim Biaka starting for Swarm.

Class Dismissed (1-1) versus European 99'ers (2-0)
OK, Class Dismissed lost QB Steve McNair to injury, then QB Blake, then RB Jamal Anderson and RB Thurman Thomas and then he pulls a trade with Titan Traders who piles up injured players. The trade sends RB Anderson and Thomas + 7 FA$ to Traders and Class receives RB Byron Hanspard and WR EG Green. Too bad I have to face them on Class Dismissed starting lineup....
Class Dismissed will start QB Brad Johnson, RBs Robert Smith, Byron Hanspard, WRs EG Green, Shawn Jefferson and Carl Pickens. He also has RB Emmitt Smith and WR Michael Irvin on bye week.
The 99ers (yes it's my team) will start QB Peyton Manning, RBs Stephen Davis and Curtis Martin, WRs McCardell, Jermaine Lewis and Andre Reed. Rod Smith is still injured.
OK, this week I am projecting my European 99'ers to win.

Hoosier Tornados (1-1) versus The Lewinsky Swallows (1-1)
I like Hoosier Tornados to win.

Wisconsin Z-Force (1-1) versus Four Horsemen (0-2)
I like Wisconsin Z-Force to win.

D.S. Dolphins (0-2) versus Tianemen Tanks (1-1)
I like D.S. Dolphins to win.

Molino FFL (1-1) versus Titan Traders (0-2)
I like Molino FFL to win.

Brown League

Atlanta Jackhammers (2-0) versus Connor's DawgPen (1-1)
I doubt that Atlanta Jackhammers remain undefeated.
Jackhammers starts QB O'Donnell, RBs Huntley, Levens, WRs Kevin Johnson, Jermaine Lewis, Hines Ward.
DawgPen starts QB Batch, RBs Hanspard, Murrell, Stewart, WRs Keyshawn Johnson, Ricks.
I like Connor's DawgPen to win.

Degeneration X (1-1) versus Cleveland Browns (2-0)
It is an air game. Only RB to start is Duce Staley for Degeneration X.
Degeneration X starts QB Favre, RB Staley, WRs Tim Brown, Connell, Moulds, Simmons.
Cleveland Browns start QB Brunnell, WRs Bruce, Dyson, Harrison, Morton, J Smith.
I like Cleveland Browns to win.

Ebola Zaire (0-2) versus Maho Marauders (2-0)
I like Maho Marauders to win.

Predators (1-1) versus Huntley Hackers (1-1)
I like Predators to win.

daUCBcat (0-2) versus Gridiron Dominators (1-1)
I like Gridiron Dominators to win.

Starfleet Academy (0-2) versus Austin Powers International Team of Mystery (1-1)
I like Austin Powers to win.


Week two analysis

by Alf

10 out of 18, that's much better than my first week predictions :-)

Halas League : 2 out of 6

Shek Republic (78 pts) defeated Meat Weasels (63 pts)
My first correct predition.
Meat Weasels has some trouble at the QB position (Griese, Brister and Mitchell). RB Kimble Anders is out but Meat Weasels is fortunate enough to also have Bam Morris. On the other side, Manning to Harrison is a sure tandem, week after week.

Kiwi Air (102 pts) defeated Wayne Fontes (90 pts)
Wrong prediction.
High scoring game of the week. Wayne Fontes scored the second best total points and managed to lose. Needless to say it was against the week highest scoring team...

Lincoln Assassins (89 pts) defeated Oklahoma OhNos (70 pts)
Wrong prediction.
RB by committee in Miami leads to RB Jabbar and RB Collins to get 4 points each (one for OhNos, and one for Assassins). QBs and star RBs do their duty (although Rich Gannon outscored Steve Young). The differnce comes from the WRs where Keith Poole and Randy Moss outscored Jerry Rice, Darnay Scott and Sean Dawkins.

Thundering Gerbils (83 pts) defeated Pigskinned Monkeys (82 pts)
Wrong prediction, but close one.
Gerbils lost RB Jamal Anderson but managed to win anyway. Top scorers are QB Cunningham (22), RB Stephen Davis (30) and WR Johnnie Morton (17). On the other side, the Monkeys relied on QB Beuerlein (20), RB Terrel Davis (14) and WR Muhammad (16). Dallas D added 17 more points,

Sportin' Life (63 pts) defeated Brigantine 69ers (55 pts)
My second correct prediction.
QB Stewart (16) and WR Thigpen (1) for 69ers vs QB Brunnell (10) and RB George (23) for Sportin'Life. Not a very exciting game.

Kardiac Kids (78 pts) defeated Weapons of Love (50 pts)
Wrong again.
RB Means (14) and Oakland D (12) for Weapons of Love vs QB Graham (14), RB Watters (12), WR J Smith (11), WR Hilliard (17) for the Kids who earned their first victory.

Rooney League : 3 out of 6

European 99'ers (72 pts) defeated Molino FFL (51 pts)
I was wrong here, but to my great and happy surprise.
What a difficult week for star receivers (and quaterbacks) ! Freeman, Carter, Rice, McCaffrey and Connel combined for a total of zero touchdowns and 25 FFL points. It really is bad luck for Air Molino FFL. Don't expect a repeat next week ! On the other side the 99'ers surf the Stephen Davis wave as he becomes the #1 fantasy scorer.

MediaBLITZ (78 pts) defeated Tianemen Tanks (76 pts)
I was right on this one, although it is close.
A close game where any roster adjustment could have changed the decision. MediaBLITZ ground game got 54 points while Brett Favre only got 11 in what might be his worst game in a long time. On the other side the Tanks started Skip Hicks (Stephen Davis is still the #1 RB in Washington) and Keyshawn Johnson who hasn't been found in the end zone. A good move here was the start of TE Ben Coates who got two late TDs.

The Lewinsky Swallows (72 pts) defeated Class Dismissed (43 pts)
I was wrong here.
Class Dismissed lost two more players this week (Jamal Anderson and Jeff Blake) after losing Steve McNair last week... RB Emmitt Smith scored 22 FFL points and half of the Class total points. Lewinsky Swallows had scores from Terrells (Davis and Ownes) and Kicker Stoyanovich. They also left 46 points on the bench (118 potential points).

Boston Swarm (98 pts) defeated Four Horsemen (74 pts)
I was correct here.
I didn't like Horsemen lineup in RB Dunn, RB Sean Bennett, WR McDuffie and WR Rison and they managed to make me look alright in my prediction here. Boston Swarm scores from all positions even with a bad Dan Marino performance.

Hoosier Tornados (82 pts) defeated Titan Traders (29 pts)
I was definitely right here.
Traders highest scorer got 6 points (EG Green). The best overall player they had this week was rookie WR Kevin Johnson (from the low scoring Cleveland Browns) with 12 points. The team got one more injured guy with RB Fred Taylor. Only good news for Steve is that he already has Byron Hanspard who will start in Atlanta now that Jamal is out. I was saying that Tornados would outscore Traders at every position, thanx for making me look like I was right here.

Wisconsin Z-Force (102 pts) defeated D.S. Dolphins (78 pts)
I was wrong here.
Eddie George did as previewed against the browns, but only Charlie Garner managed to put up over 10 points for DS Dolphins. For Z-Force, everything seems to go back on track with a big game from Dorsey Levens. Antowain Smith had a big game, and I still don't like him...

Brown League : 5 out of 6

Maho Marauders (98 pts) defeated Degeneration X (49 pts)
Correct predictions here.
Degeneration X top scorer was Brett Favre in what might be his worst game with 11 FF points. On the contrary Maho Marauders got points from QB Manning, RB George and James and Titans D who looked good against Cleveland (what Defense would not...)

Atlanta Jackhammers (69 pts) defeated Huntley Hackers (27 pts)
My only bad guess in the Brown League.
The lowest scoring game so far in all NGFFL leagues. Dorsey Levens himself could have outscored the whole Hackers team. Too bad for Hackers who didn't have a starting QB (Jeff George backing up Cunningham, Chris Chandler injured, and Kurt Warner on bye week).

Cleveland Browns (76 pts) defeated Starfleet Academy (71 pts)
Right here.
Starfleet NFL starters were good but RB Leroy Hoard and WR Jerome Pathon are not NFL starters and therefore did not score this week. The Browns can say thank you to WR Marvin Harrison who got a high 28 FF points.

Gridiron Dominators (94 pts) defeated Connor's DawgPen (38 pts)
Correct prediction.
WR Mikhael Ricks (11) highest scorer for Dawgpen, no need to add a comment. Dominators RB Stephen Davis (30) and QB Drew Bledsoe (27) would have been enough this week.

Austin Powers International Team of Mystery (91 pts) defeated Ebola Zaire (68 pts)
Right.
Too bad Zaire started QB McNair (QB Brad Johnson with 22 was on the bench). Anyway that wouldn't have been enough.

Predators (88 pts) defeated daUCBcat (61 pts)
Correct.
WRs Rob Moore, Ed McCaffrey, Darnay Scott and TE Shannon Sharpe combined for 21 points. Bench QB Tim Couch outperformed starter QB Dan Marino, too bad for daUCBcat. On the other side, Predators nearly fielded their best possible team.