We've just officially passed the mid season point in the 2008 PAFFL regular season, so I thought it was a good time to highlight some of the interesting developments to date. A few of the squads many of us thought were going to be terrible are leading their respective divisions and others who folks expected to be competitive have fallen off the wagon so to speak due to injuries and/or poor performances.
Who are the surprise teams?
- Isotopes (4-3) - They entered '08 looking like a rebuilding squad with most of the KC position players (that's a bad sign to start, right?) and no starting QB. However a deal to pick up turnover prone but highly productive fantasy QB J.T. O'Sullivan & the more mature version Kurt Warner's ascension to the starter's role has them looking like a playoff contender in the AFC South.
- Pomona (5-2) - The stoners entered '08 with a lot of future potential but no superstars at any position, so in short they had the look of an average squad. But Aaron Rodgers has been better than anybody could have guessed, Greg Jennings has been a top 3 fantasy WR and Felix Jones & Tim Hightower have provided enough punch to make them a near playoff lock.
Who are the disappointments?
- Firefighters (1-5-1) - Any back to back Jankster Cup Champion is due for a fall but not with Carson Palmer & Peyton Manning as your studs. Unfortunately Palmer's career is, at least temporarily, in the toilet (along with all the Bengals) and Peyton has suddenly turned into his former younger brother's self, inconsistent. The true reason for the Firefighters fall though is a lack of production from the RB spot where they've gotten virtually nothing outside of Brandon Jacobs. The nucleous of this squad is strong so they'll be back soon but the core of this team will be different.
- Team Kitty (1-6) - Kitty's performance isn't really a surprise, they entered '08 with aspirations to go winless but its a disappointment following one of the best seven year runs in PAFFL history that culminated in four (4, is that right?) straight Jankster Cup losses. They've finally started to build for the 'future' but done so in a way that virtually guarantees they're uncompetitive in the near term - which is why they deserve to be on this list.
What are the important dates coming up?
- PAFFL Trade Deadline (Prior to PAFFL Week 11) by 4:59 PM PST
- Free Agent / Contract Settlement / DS Assignment Deadline - PAFFL Week 16
The detailed post about this from last month is here.
No disputes here...I figured Team Kitty would provide some sort of explanation for their demise...
Posted by: Beavercats | October 23, 2008 at 09:59 PM
To be fair to TK only his charisma and constant trading has kept his team good for the past couple of years.
If they had attended the auction then I would be disappointed by their performance. Since they didn't attend, I'm not shocked to see a less savvy person fuck his shit up. I'm looking forward to the 2009 TK squad because if anyone can turn it around its their owner.
Posted by: Jibaholic | October 29, 2008 at 11:13 PM