Worst Line-up Decision

This has to focus on Olly’s decisions, because they had the biggest impact on the playoffs. The biggest point difference was between the QBs with Keenum getting 17 points and McCown getting 31.1 but, it would be very harsh to criticise the choice of Keenum there.

The one that must hurt the most is playing Orleans Darkwa and Tyler Kroft ahead of Derrick Henry. Either one of those players would have got the win needed to get the Pythons into the playoffs against the Seahawks, at the expense of the Packers. Kroft has been very TD dependent and was going up against a Steelers D that was 3rd against TEs, while Darkwa plays for the Giants. On the flip side, Henry hasn’t exactly been lighting it up in recent weeks with scores of 5.2, 3.2 and 9.4. It isn’t the worst decision of the season but was the most costly!

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

Most Impactful Injury

The importance of the bye is demonstrated by the fact that this week the Flyers could be without Mixon and Ertz due to concussions, but the next time the Flyers set a meaningful roster, they should be back on the field and ready to welcome Zeke back for the Britannia Bowl (if they get past the Otters/Wombats).

The Gronk suspension means that the Wombats have to play Engram against Dallas rather than Gronk against the Dolphins, which is probably some lost points. Gronk scored 22.7 points against the Dolphins 3 weeks ago and Engram’s last 2 games with Eli got him 1.4 and 3.3 points. In a game with a 9.4 point line, the Otters may fancy their chances of revenge after losing the 2 previous meetings this season.

But this is injury not suspension talk, so the most impactful injury is probably the Packers’ Matt Stafford who injured his throwing hand on Sunday. Stafford has a favourable matchup in week 14 against the Bucs, and if he doesn’t play, the Packers would have to start either Bortles vs. Seattle, Kizer vs. Green Bay or Siemian vs. the Jets. The projected line for the matchup is currently only 5.5, so this could be huge.

Oxford Pythons – 1
Nottingham Bandits (Invalids) – 2
Andover Sandslashers – 1
Bradford Championz – 1
Derby Otters – 1
Coventry Eagles – 0.5
Chippenham Packers – 2.5
Oxford Seahawks – 1

Closest Matchup

Technically, the Wombats and the Otters had the closest matchup, but that was just a rehearsal for the playoffs, and the Championz and the Bandits had the 2nd closest matchup this week with the Championz winning by 3.6 points. However, seeing how Josh is probably happy with that loss as it gets him 1.01 next March, I’m not going to count it. Sorry Hamza. Sorry Jonathan.

Back to Olly, as I promised him some awards. He missed the playoffs by 4.1 points! His season came down to Tyler Kroft getting at least 8.1 points on MNF but he only managed 2 catches for 30 yards. It looked like Tyreek Hill was going to single-handedly carry the team to victory over the Sandslashers, but a fourth loss in a row means 9 months of ifs and buts til the new season begins.

Andover Sandslashers – 3
Oxford Pythons – 2 (honourable mention)
Gateshead Spartans – 2
Wigan Wombats – 1
Oxford Seahawks – 1

Unluckiest Loser

Once again I’m going to briefly mention the actual ‘winner’ - the Otters with the 4th highest score of the week losing to the Wombats - but all in all the result didn’t matter too much. If the Pythons had played either the Championz, Invalids, Flyers (yes, Flyers!), Chargers or the Packers, then they would be in the playoffs, as their 7th best score of the week would have been those teams. Instead, they lost to the 6th highest scoring team of the week.

Wigan Wombats – 2
Coventry Eagles – 3
Hereford Chargers – 1
Derby Otters – 2
Gateshead Spartans – 1
Irish Flyers – 1
Oxford Pythons – honourable mention

The Buzzsaw

The Spartans did the hard bit and put up the week’s highest score against the league-leading Flyers, but the week 11 loss to the Otters made it irrelevant apart from some bragging rights against Dermy for the summer. Lev Bell, Larry Fitz and Big Ben led the scoring to soundly beat the Flyers by over 40 points.

Irish Flyers – 3
Wigan Wombats – 1
Oxford Seahawks – 1
Bradford Championz – 1
Gateshead Spartans – 2
Coventry Eagles – 2

Highest Individual Player Score

Another highest point scorer is found on the bench, and this time it is Alex Smith for the Spartans. He managed 37.6 points, helped by that 70 yard run and 2 long TDs to Hill. Because of those long TDs, Hill was 2nd on the week with 33.5 points, and Josh McCown was 3rd for 31.1. Those 2 players on their own would have got 65% of the total Olly needed to make the playoffs this week, leaving 7 other plays to just get 35 more… (Are we done yet? - Ed)

Irish Flyers – 3
Wigan Wombats – 1
Oxford Seahawks – 1
Oxford Pythons – 1
Bradford Championz – 1
Coventry Eagles – 2
Gateshead Spartans – 1