Week 11 is done, there are two weeks left before the playoffs, and only one team has guaranteed a spot so far: well done Dermy (I can hear the gritted teeth - Ed). The Wombats, Otters and Spartans are in for the final two north spots but the big Spartans/Otters match up might have all but settled that.

In the South, the Seahawks won the Oxford derby and keep up the pressure on my Eagles to claim the South’s bye week. Only the Sandslashers are out of playoff contention, because the Pythons and the Packers play each other in week 12.

Worst Line-up Decision

One team made two decisions that were a little questionable but it cost them dearly. The Spartans decided to play Alex Smith, who was cooling down before the bye week, rather than Big Ben on a Thursday night. It is a little understandable as Smith was facing the terrible Giants with Andy Reid usually winning after his bye and Roethlisberger was facing a tougher Titans, but maybe fraudulent Titoons, team. Either way the score was 29 vs. 7.9.

The other decision was to play James White in the flex rather than Danny Amendola. Personally I’d much rather trust a Patriots WR than a Patriots RB but both positions have a high degree of variance. As you can tell by the weak nature of the mistakes, there weren’t too many this week as most things went as predicted.

Chippenham Packers – 1
Irish Flyers – 1
Oxford Seahawks – 1
Oxford Pythons – 1
Wigan Wombats – 2
Andover Sandslashers – 1
Gateshead Spartans – 1

Most Impactful Injury

Team IR vs. another team that has had their season ruined by injuries: you just knew that someone on one of their starting teams was going to suffer a gruesome injury. And so it happened to the Packers’ Chris Thompson. A fractured leg means he joins David Johnson, Dalvin Cook, Tyler Eifert, Aaron Jones, Ty Montgomery, Jordan Reed and Jake Butt in the Packers’ treatment room. I’m sure the loss of D’Onta Foreman will hit the Flyers hard!

Oxford Pythons – 1
Nottingham Bandits (Invalids) – 2
Andover Sandslashers – 1
Bradford Championz – 1
Derby Otters – 1
Coventry Eagles – 0.5
Chippenham Packers – 1.5

Closest Matchup

It was already billed as one of the best matchups of the week to go along with the Oxford derby, and the Spartans and Otters wildcard race match lived up to expectations, ending up being decided by fewer than 5 points. If Nelson Agholor had just caught one of the Eagles TDs instead of Jeffery then the Spartans would have blown the North league’s playoffs wide open, but the silent Otters instead all but seal their playoff place, as both they and the Spartans have to play the undefeated Flyers.

Andover Sandslashers – 2
Oxford Pythons – 2
Gateshead Spartans – 3
Wigan Wombats – 1

Unluckiest Loser

This week kind of went with form. If you were a top 6 scorer then you won your matchup. Highest beat 2nd lowest, 2nd highest beat 3rd lowest etc… That is apart from the Spartans who had the 5th highest score but faced the 4th highest score in the Otters. Sometimes this game comes down to the luck of the draw.

Wigan Wombats – 2
Coventry Eagles – 3
Hereford Chargers – 1
Derby Otters – 1
Gateshead Spartans – 1

The Buzzsaw

The Sandslashers smelt blood in the water with my Eagles on a 3 game losing streak and my best running back out with a concussion, but big games from Kamara, Brown and Cooks meant that they faced the highest score of the season so far (hat tip to Jason for his stats sheet) and in reply they put up the 2nd worst score of the week.

Irish Flyers – 3
Wigan Wombats – 1
Oxford Seahawks – 1
Bradford Championz – 1
Gateshead Spartans – 1
Coventry Eagles – 1

Highest Individual Player Score

Antonio Brown kicked off week 11 with the highest score of the week, a nice 37.4 points. If you add his last 3 games’ point totals together, you still wouldn’t hit his score this week, even if you gave him another TD! The Keenan Allen trade worked out this week for the Wombats with him getting a second-highest 34.2 points, but that was against a Bills team that didn’t want the football.

Shout out to Nathan Peterman with a fantastic -7 points last week in just 1 half of football, that is next level talent!

Irish Flyers – 3
Wigan Wombats – 1
Oxford Seahawks – 1
Oxford Pythons – 1
Bradford Championz – 1
Coventry Eagles – 1