NFL – Page 28 – MorganWick.com

Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling Watch: Week 7

October 23, 2012 by Morgan Wick

NBC’s Sunday Night Football package gives it flexible scheduling. For the last seven weeks of the season, the games are determined on 12-day notice, 6-day notice for Week 17.

The first year, no game was listed in the Sunday Night slot, only a notation that one game could move there. Now, NBC lists the game it “tentatively” schedules for each night. However, the NFL is in charge of moving games to prime time.

Here are the rules from the NFL web site (note that this was written with the 2007 season in mind, hence why it still says late games start at 4:15 ET instead of 4:25):

Begins Sunday of Week 11
In effect during Weeks 11-17
Only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window.
The game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night during flex weeks will be listed at 8:15 p.m. ET.
The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 p.m. ET during flex weeks except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed at 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.
No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce as early as possible the game being played at 8:15 p.m. ET. The announcement will come no later than 12 days prior to the game. The NFL may also announce games moving to 4:05 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET.
Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications.
The NBC Sunday night time slot in “flex” weeks will list the game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.
Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
NFL schedules all games.
Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible for a move to Sunday night.
Rules NOT listed on NFL web site but pertinent to flex schedule selection: CBS and Fox each protect games in five out of six weeks, and cannot protect any games Week 17. Games were protected after Week 4 last year as well as the first year of flexible scheduling, because NBC hosted Christmas night games those years and all the other games were moved to Saturday (and so couldn’t be flexed), but are otherwise protected after Week 5.
In the past, three teams could appear a maximum of six games in primetime on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network (everyone else gets five) and no team may appear more than four times on NBC. I don’t know how the expansion of the Thursday Night schedule affects this, if it does. No team starts the season completely tapped out at any measure; eight teams have five primetime appearances each, but only the Broncos and Bears don’t have at least one game that can be flexed out. A list of all teams’ number of appearances is in my Week 5 post.

Here are the current tentatively-scheduled games and my predictions:

Week 11 (November 18):

Tentative game: Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
Prospects: 5-2 v. 3-3; one of the hottest rivalries in the NFL, but the Steelers look like they might be decidedly mediocre. Still, that might be enough for the tentative game bias to sustain it, especially given the alternatives.
Likely protections: Cardinals-Falcons (FOX) and Chargers-Broncos (CBS).
Other possible games: Colts-Patriots and Eagles-Redskins are the main possibilities, but only Colts-Patriots is better than the tentative and then only marginally so. Jets-Rams is a dark horse.

Week 12 (November 25):

Tentative game: Green Bay @ NY Giants
Prospects: 4-3 v. 5-2; a pair of name teams and both over .500 to boot. Time will tell if the Packers have become suddenly mediocre, though.
Likely protections: Vikings-Bears or Rams-Cardinals if anything (FOX) and probably nothing (CBS) as Ravens-Chargers was their only real protection-worthy game and both teams have listed two protected games each, neither of which was this one.
Other possible games: Normally Thanksgiving Weekend means a paucity of good games, but here we have Seahawks-Dolphins, Ravens-Chargers, and the game Fox didn’t protect, plus Bills-Colts as a dark horse. Vikings-Bears is an especially strong game that, if it’s unprotected (a big if), just might steal the flex if the Packers continue to struggle.

Week 13 (December 2):

Tentative game: Philadelphia @ Dallas
Prospects: Very iffy at 3-3 v. 3-3, but never count out an NFC East showdown.
Likely protections: 49ers-Rams or Vikings-Packers (FOX) and Steelers-Ravens (CBS).
Other possible games: Seahawks-Bears and, if unprotected, Vikings-Packers are both waiting if Eagles-Cowboys stumbles too far. Pats-Dolphins is also strong, while Cardinals-Jets, Bengals-Chargers, and, if unprotected, 49ers-Rams are dark horses.

Week 14 (December 9):

Tentative game: Detroit @ Green Bay
Prospects: 2-4 v. 4-3. Hard to say how much of Detroit’s record has to do with their schedule, but right now this game isn’t looking good.
Likely protections: Bears-Vikings or Cardinals-Seahawks if anything (FOX) and Chargers-Steelers (CBS).
Other possible games: Fox’s unprotected game is the favorite; Dolphins-49ers is good but lopsided, while Ravens-Redskins and Cowboys-Bengals are dark horses.

Week 15 (December 16):

Tentative game: San Francisco @ New England
Prospects: 5-2 v. 4-3, pretty much in the same shape as Packers-Giants, replacing the Packers with the Patriots and noting that the Niners aren’t quite all the way back to being that much of a name team.
Likely protections: Broncos-Ravens (probably not), Colts-Texans, Steelers-Cowboys, or nothing (CBS) and Giants-Falcons (FOX).
Other possible games: Packers-Bears (or if it’s protected, Giants-Falcons) is in the best shape, while CBS’ potential protections are either lopsided or, in the case of Steelers-Cowboys, simply too far behind to matter, and Vikings-Rams is a dark horse.

Week 16 (December 23):

Tentative game: San Diego @ NY Jets
Prospects: 3-3 v. 3-4; somewhat mediocre, but who knows if the Jets will be driving the Tebow bandwagon by this point.
Likely protections: Giants-Ravens (FOX) and Bengals-Steelers if anything (CBS).
Other possible games: One of the better slates of possibilities makes for possibly the likeliest flex, with only Week 14 challenging it: Vikings-Texans, Bears-Cardinals, and 49ers-Seahawks all pit two teams above .500, waiting to pounce if either the Chargers’ or Jets’ season collapses. Redskins-Eagles and Bills-Dolphins are dark horses.

Week 17 (December 30):

Playoff positioning watch begins Week 9.

Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling Watch: Week 6

October 17, 2012 by Morgan Wick

NBC’s Sunday Night Football package gives it flexible scheduling. For the last seven weeks of the season, the games are determined on 12-day notice, 6-day notice for Week 17.

Here are the rules from the NFL web site (note that this was written with the 2007 season in mind, hence why it still says late games start at 4:15 ET instead of 4:25):

Begins Sunday of Week 11
In effect during Weeks 11-17
Only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window.
The game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night during flex weeks will be listed at 8:15 p.m. ET.
The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 p.m. ET during flex weeks except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed at 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.
No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce as early as possible the game being played at 8:15 p.m. ET. The announcement will come no later than 12 days prior to the game. The NFL may also announce games moving to 4:05 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET.
Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications.
The NBC Sunday night time slot in “flex” weeks will list the game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.
Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
NFL schedules all games.
Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible for a move to Sunday night.
Rules NOT listed on NFL web site but pertinent to flex schedule selection: CBS and Fox each protect games in five out of six weeks, and cannot protect any games Week 17. Games were protected after Week 4 last year as well as the first year of flexible scheduling, because NBC hosted Christmas night games those years and all the other games were moved to Saturday (and so couldn’t be flexed), but are otherwise protected after Week 5.
In the past, three teams could appear a maximum of six games in primetime on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network (everyone else gets five) and no team may appear more than four times on NBC. I don’t know how the expansion of the Thursday Night schedule affects this, if it does. No team starts the season completely tapped out at any measure; eight teams have five primetime appearances each, but only the Broncos and Bears don’t have at least one game that can be flexed out. A list of all teams’ number of appearances is in my Week 5 post.

Here are the current tentatively-scheduled games and my predictions:

Week 11 (November 18):

Tentative game: Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
Prospects: 5-1 v. 2-3; one of the hottest rivalries in the NFL, but the Steelers had better get off the schnide right quick if they don’t want it to become lopsided.
Likely protections: Cardinals-Falcons (FOX) and Chargers-Broncos (CBS).
Other possible games: Colts-Patriots, Eagles-Redskins, Packers-Lions, and Jets-Rams are the main possibilities, but all are iffy at best; Eagles-Redskins and Jets-Rams are the best ones at 3-3 v. 3-3, and even if the Steelers just continue to hover near .500 that won’t overcome the tentative game bias. (Unless maybe Tim Tebow is starting under center…)

Week 12 (November 25):

Tentative game: Green Bay @ NY Giants
Prospects: 3-3 v. 4-2; a pair of name teams, but both look a little questionable so far, especially the Packers.
Likely protections: Vikings-Bears or Rams-Cardinals if anything (FOX) and probably nothing (CBS) as Ravens-Chargers was their only real protection-worthy game and both teams have listed two protected games each, neither of which was this one.
Other possible games: Thanksgiving Weekend, paucity of good games, though Vikings-Bears is actually a rare matchup of two teams above .500 (assuming it was left unprotected of course). Besides Ravens-Chargers and whatever game Fox doesn’t protect, Seahawks-Dolphins is a possibility, and Bills-Colts is a dark horse.

Week 13 (December 2):

Tentative game: Philadelphia @ Dallas
Prospects: Very iffy at 3-3 v. 2-3, but never count out an NFC East showdown.
Likely protections: 49ers-Rams or Vikings-Packers (FOX) and Steelers-Ravens (CBS).
Other possible games: Seahawks-Bears might actually be stronger than either of Fox’s potentially protected games (leaving aside the Hawks’ iffy national name), and Cardinals-Jets is about as strong. Pats-Dolphins, Bucs-Broncos, and Bengals-Chargers are all dark horses.

Week 14 (December 9):

Tentative game: Detroit @ Green Bay
Prospects: 2-3 v. 3-3. I’m going to take Bill Simmons’ advice and see if the Lions “are who we thought they were”, as Dennis Green would say; as it stands this isn’t really any worse than some of the other tentatives.
Likely protections: Bears-Vikings or Cardinals-Seahawks if anything (FOX) and Chargers-Steelers (CBS).
Other possible games: Fox’s unprotected game is the favorite, followed by Ravens-Redskins and Dolphins-49ers. Cowboys-Bengals, Rams-Bills, and Eagles-Bucs are dark horses.

Week 15 (December 16):

Tentative game: San Francisco @ New England
Prospects: 4-2 v. 3-3, which might still make it the tentative game in the best shape, or at least tied with Packers-Giants. Every single tentative has a team at 3-3 or 2-3; I wouldn’t be surprised by two flexes this year, or none at all. That’s how crazy the league is this year.
Likely protections: Broncos-Ravens (probably not), Colts-Texans, Steelers-Cowboys, or nothing (CBS) and Giants-Falcons (FOX).
Other possible games: Vikings-Rams, Packers-Bears, Seahawks-Bills, and the games CBS doesn’t protect, with Lions-Cardinals as a dark horse.

Week 16 (December 23):

Tentative game: San Diego @ NY Jets
Prospects: 3-3 v. 3-3; somewhat mediocre, but who knows if the Jets will be driving the Tebow bandwagon by this point.
Likely protections: Giants-Ravens (FOX) and Bengals-Steelers if anything (CBS).
Other possible games: One of the better slates of possibilities: Vikings-Texans, Bears-Cardinals, and 49ers-Seahawks all pit two teams above .500, waiting to pounce if either the Chargers’ or Jets’ season collapses. Redskins-Eagles and Bills-Dolphins are outside possibilities, while Rams-Bucs is a very dark horse.

Week 17 (December 30):

Playoff positioning watch begins Week 9.

FF50 Challenge Power Rankings – Week 6

October 16, 2012 by Morgan Wick

So I eventually did decide to go the no-frills route in doing the power rankings, and only do that information that’s easy for me to collect in the process of resetting the rankings anyway.

I’m starting to reach the point of the season where I’m more comfortable with abandoning teams. So my one remaining winless team, Trips Wide, will be abandoned after this week. Incredibly, no matter how low it goes it’s still assured of a playoff spot, because Fleaflicker allows you to run half-full leagues even with horribly unbalanced divisions, including, in my case, a division with exactly one team – not even when it’s a two-division league that could just be consolidated into one. Seriously, Fleaflicker, WTF? With six remaining 1-5 teams, including the Shark League team, any of the other 1-5 teams who remain so after next week and are behind the Shark team in the power rankings will be abandoned.

Rk	LW	Name	Identity	Rec	Str	Lg Rnk
1	6	The Blue Eyes	CBS 2	5-1	W 2	1^st of 12
2	2	Terrible Trios	Yahoo 3	5-1	W 2	1^st of 10
3	8	Morgan’s Team	Fox 8	5-1	W 4	1^st of 10
4	3	The Experiment	NFL 2	5-1	W 4	1^st of 10
5	12	Team Wick	ESPN 2	5-1	W 2	1^st of 10
6	11	Morgan’s Team	Fox 2	5-1	W 2	2^nd of 10
7	14	Single Wing	Flea 1	5-1	W 4	3^rd of 12
8	1	Morgan’s Team	Fox 6	4-2	L 1	2^nd of 10
9	15	Morgan’s Team	Fox 4	4-2	W 2	2^nd of 10
10	5	Team Wick	ESPN 9	4-2	L 1	3^rd of 12
11	18	Morgan’s Team	Fox 1	4-2	W 1	3^rd of 10
12	7	Morgan’s Team	Fox 5	4-2	L 1	3^rd of 10
13	9	morganwick	NFL 6	4-2	L 1	3^rd of 10
14	19	Team Wick	ESPN 3	4-2	W 2	3^rd of 10
15	4	Split Backs	Flea 2	4-2	L 1	2^nd of 6
16	21	Team Wick	ESPN 5	4-2	W 2	4^th of 12
17	16	Team Wick	ESPN 6	3-3	L 1	3^rd of 10
18	24	morganwick	NFL 1	3-3	W 1	4^th of 10
19	20	Team Wick	ESPN 10	3-3	W 1	5^th of 12
20	17	Morgan’s Team	Fox 3	3-3	L 1	5^th of 10
21	10	Morgan’s Team	Fox 7	3-3	L 1	5^th of 10
22	23	Evil Twins	Yahoo 2	3-3	W 1	5^th of 10
23	29	Team Wick	ESPN 8	3-3	W 2	7^th of 12
24	13	The Lucky Ones	Yahoo 7	3-3	L 1	6^th of 10
25	30	Single Bound	Yahoo 1	3-3	W 1	6^th of 10
26	25	morganwick	NFL 4	2-4	L 1	6^th of 10
27	31	Team Wick	ESPN 4	2-4	W 1	7^th of 10
28	26	morganwick	NFL 5	2-4	L 3	7^th of 10
29	32	Team Wick	ESPN 1	2-3-1	W 2	8^th of 10
30	22	Nickel Package	Flea 5	2-4	L 1	9^th of 12
31	28	Team Wick	ESPN 7	2-4	L 1	9^th of 12
32	27	Quarters	Flea 4	2-4	L 1	6^th of 8
33	34	Fantastic Fifteen	Yahoo 4	2-4	W 1	8^th of 10
34	37	morganwick	NFL 3	2-4	W 1	9^th of 10
35	39	The Green Eyes	CBS 3	2-4	W 1	11^th of 12
36	33	All-Star Squadron	Yahoo 5	1-5	L 1	9^th of 10
37	41	The Infinite	Yahoo 8	1-5	W 1	9^th of 10
38	42	Headed for the End Zone	Flea 6	1-5	W 1	11^th of 12
39	35	Number of the Beast	Yahoo 6	1-5	L 4	10^th of 10
40	36	Green Lantern Corps	Shark	1-5	L 3	12^th of 12
41	38	The Red Eye	CBS 1	1-5	L 3	12^th of 12
42	40	Trips Wide	Flea 3	0-5	L 5	5^th of 5

The FF50 Challenge Power Rankings, and why I’m not posting them

October 10, 2012 by Morgan Wick

When I started the FF50 challenge, I was thinking I would perform weekly updates on the state of the 42 teams I was playing, finding a way to rank all of them. I decided against it, both because of time constraints and because I had no way to rank them that early in the season, especially given my draft strategy.

So why did I decide to do it now, as I posted on Monday? Because even without the power rankings and even with the number of teams downsized to 42 from my original intention of 50, I have never been able to set starting lineups or submit waiver claims for all teams without running out of time. I had said that I would abandon 0-4 teams after four weeks, but only four teams started the season 0-4, three of them towards the end of the order for me to set lineups and thus more likely to have malformed lineups, meaning I had next to no teams that were completely lost causes. (I may have better luck with the 1-5 checkpoint this week.) And if I’m going to leave some teams behind, I should be doing it with the teams with the least need for it anyway. So waiver claims will start moving from the bottom up, and lineup setting will occur from the top down. But I’m still not going to post the rankings, because this project is monopolizing too much of my time already, and putting together everything I’d want for a post would eat up way too much of my time. I may decide to post them in no-frills fashion later, though.

There were a few other things that I’ve noticed. For one, I often ended up with the same players on the same teams on the same site, and even when I didn’t, the running back/wide receiver balance was often out of whack in the same way on the same site. For example, nearly every single Yahoo team has Garrett Hartley on the roster, because Yahoo’s rankings absolutely buried him. Right now he’s only the 16th best kicker under Yahoo’s scoring system, but he’s remained high enough on most other week-to-week rankings I haven’t had reason to replace him, though that may change this week with him on bye. Also, most Yahoo teams ended up drafting entire benches of running backs with very few wide receivers, which may have something to do with Yahoo’s starting lineup of three wideouts, two running backs, and no flex. For another, there were some teams that, for one reason or another, were almost entirely autopicked instead of picked by me, and those teams have a strong tendency to be the strongest ones, especially after factoring out Fox teams. (I have eight Fox teams; every last one is in the top half, placing fourth or better in their 10-team league, with five in my top 12. The players there aren’t very good, is what I’m saying.)

This convinces me to make a few rule changes for drafts next year should I continue with this. For one, I had been considering limiting my options to the top 25 available players in ADP, but couldn’t find a universal list I was confident in; now I think I’m definitely going to limit myself to the top 25 ADP for that site (possibly top 20 for leagues with 10 or fewer teams). I’m also going to give a site’s native rankings an increased role in determining who I pick.

The median is right where you’d expect, in the middle of the pack for each league… but considering how much I’m dominating the Fox leagues, that just shows how far I have to go everywhere else.

Sunday Night Football Flex Scheduling Watch: Week 5

October 9, 2012 by Morgan Wick

NBC’s Sunday Night Football package gives it flexible scheduling. For the last seven weeks of the season, the games are determined on 12-day notice, 6-day notice for Week 17.

Here are the rules from the NFL web site (note that this was written with the 2007 season in mind, hence why it still says late games start at 4:15 ET instead of 4:25):

Begins Sunday of Week 11
In effect during Weeks 11-17
Only Sunday afternoon games are subject to being moved into the Sunday night window.
The game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night during flex weeks will be listed at 8:15 p.m. ET.
The majority of games on Sundays will be listed at 1:00 p.m. ET during flex weeks except for games played in Pacific or Mountain Time zones which will be listed at 4:05 or 4:15 p.m. ET.
No impact on Thursday, Saturday or Monday night games.
The NFL will decide (after consultation with CBS, FOX, NBC) and announce as early as possible the game being played at 8:15 p.m. ET. The announcement will come no later than 12 days prior to the game. The NFL may also announce games moving to 4:05 p.m. ET and 4:15 p.m. ET.
Week 17 start time changes could be decided on 6 days notice to ensure a game with playoff implications.
The NBC Sunday night time slot in “flex” weeks will list the game that has been tentatively scheduled for Sunday night.
Fans and ticket holders must be aware that NFL games in flex weeks are subject to change 12 days in advance (6 days in Week 17) and should plan accordingly.
NFL schedules all games.
Teams will be informed as soon as they are no longer under consideration or eligible for a move to Sunday night.
Rules NOT listed on NFL web site but pertinent to flex schedule selection: CBS and Fox each protect games in five out of six weeks, and cannot protect any games Week 17. Games were protected after Week 4 last year as well as the first year of flexible scheduling, because NBC hosted Christmas night games those years and all the other games were moved to Saturday (and so couldn’t be flexed), but are otherwise protected after Week 5.
In the past, three teams could appear a maximum of six games in primetime on NBC, ESPN or NFL Network (everyone else gets five) and no team may appear more than four times on NBC. I don’t know how the expansion of the Thursday Night schedule affects this, if it does. No team starts the season completely tapped out at any measure; eight teams have five primetime appearances each, but only the Broncos and Bears don’t have at least one game that can be flexed out. NBC appearances for all teams: DAL 3 (1 flexible), NYG 3 (1 flexible), PIT 3 (1 flexible), DEN 2, DET 2 (1 flexible), SF 2 (1 flexible), NE 3 (1 flexible), BAL 2 (1 flexible), PHI 2 (1 flexible), SD 2 (1 flexible), NO 2, GB 3 (2 flexible), HOU 2, CIN 1, ATL 1, CHI 1, NYJ 2 (1 flexible). All primetime appearances for all teams: DAL 4 (1 flexible), NYG 5 (1 flexible), PIT 5 (1 flexible), DEN 5, DET 4 (1 flexible), SF 5 (1 flexible), NE 4 1 flexible), BAL 4 (1 flexible), PHI 5 (1 flexible), SD 5 (1 flexible), NO 4, GB 5 (2 flexible), HOU 4, CIN 3, ATL 4, CHI 5, NYJ 4 (1 flexible), OAK 2, SEA 2, ARI 2, KC 2, CAR 2, TEN 2, all other teams 1.

Here are the current tentatively-scheduled games and my predictions:

Week 11 (November 18):

Tentative game: Baltimore @ Pittsburgh
Prospects: 4-1 v. 2-2; one of the hottest rivalries in the NFL, but are the Steelers more like those two losses than those two wins?
Likely protections: Cardinals-Falcons (FOX) and Chargers-Broncos or Jets-Rams if anything (CBS).
Other possible games: Colts-Patriots and the unprotected game(s), with Eagles-Redskins as a dark horse.

Week 12 (November 25):

Tentative game: Green Bay @ NY Giants
Prospects: 3-2 v. 2-3; a pair of name teams, but both look a little questionable so far, especially the Packers.
Likely protections: Vikings-Bears or Rams-Cardinals if anything (FOX) and Ravens-Chargers (CBS).
Other possible games: Thanksgiving Weekend, paucity of good games. Besides whatever game Fox doesn’t protect, Seahawks-Dolphins is a dark horse.

Week 13 (December 2):

Tentative game: Philadelphia @ Dallas
Prospects: Very iffy at 3-2 v. 2-2, but never count out an NFC East showdown.
Likely protections: 49ers-Rams or Vikings-Packers (FOX) and Steelers-Ravens (CBS).
Other possible games: Seahawks-Bears and whatever game Fox doesn’t protect, with Bengals-Chargers a dark horse.

Week 14 (December 9):

Tentative game: Detroit @ Green Bay
Prospects: The Lions look to have fallen back into their old morass at 1-3, and the Packers may not be that much better. This may be the likeliest game to lose its spot.
Likely protections: Bears-Vikings or Cardinals-Seahawks (FOX) and Chargers-Steelers or Ravens-Redskins (CBS), with either network possibly leaving the week unprotected.
Other possible games: Basically, whatever games aren’t protected.

Week 15 (December 16):

Tentative game: San Francisco @ New England
Prospects: 4-1 v. 3-2, possibly the tentative game in the best shape.
Likely protections: Broncos-Ravens, Colts-Texans, Steelers-Cowboys, or nothing (CBS) and Giants-Falcons (FOX).
Other possible games: Vikings-Rams, Packers-Bears, and the games CBS doesn’t protect.

Week 16 (December 23):

Tentative game: San Diego @ NY Jets
Prospects: 3-2 v. 2-3; somewhat mediocre, but who knows if the Jets will be driving the Tebow bandwagon by this point.
Likely protections: Vikings-Texans, Giants-Ravens, Bears-Cardinals, 49ers-Seahawks, or nothing (FOX) and Bengals-Steelers if anything (CBS).
Other possible games: Besides the unprotected games, Redskins-Eagles is a dark horse.

Week 17 (December 30):

Playoff positioning watch begins Week 9.

Update on my school year

October 2, 2012 by Morgan Wick

Okay, I’ve clearly completely failed at managing my projects vis-a-vis actual schoolwork, because I’m tired all day and I’m falling horribly behind on it, despite the fact that I was trying to make one of my projects into schoolwork.

Obviously the FF50 challenge is a major timesuck, but there’s one or two other projects as well, which are actually starting to crowd out one another, and I’m not sure how to weed them out. I can’t abandon leagues much faster than I’m already doing; if I’m in contention for a playoff spot, let alone the championship, for me to then abandon my team would cause utter chaos. Already down to 42 leagues before I even started, I was thinking of dropping to 32 next year, and now I’m thinking even lower, because I have never put in all the roster moves I would have liked to before deadline.

Thoughts on the new baseball contracts coming Wednesday.

Why not even the Debacle in Seattle will bring the real refs back

January 1, 2016September 25, 2012 by Morgan Wick

By now you’ve heard all about the controversial play at the end of Monday night’s Packers-Seahawks game, the nadir of the NFL’s ongoing Replacementgate. With the entire country blowing up around it, surely this is the incident that forces the NFL’s hand and gets them to finally bring the lockout of the real refs to a conclusion. Surely with the replacement refs backfiring so horribly, Roger Goodell has egg on his face and is desperately trying to end this before the replacement refs do any more damage, right?

Meanwhile, as many people are watching the games as ever.

The replacement refs backfired? On the contrary, everything is going exactly according to plan. Roger Goodell knows that the refs have zero impact on whether or not you watch. People don’t watch the NFL because the “integrity of the game” is so strong; hell, people watch pro wrestling knowing that it’s all staged. The NFL is first and foremost entertainment, the ultimate reality show; people watch for all the football action they’ve come to love, for the drama the sport brings, because their sense of self-worth is bound up in the fortunes of their favorite team, because of their fantasy players. Those things would have been affected by the arrival of replacement players, but with replacement officials the action is all the same, only the outcome is different. And ultimately, we don’t really care that much how the outcome is derived. It’s just one more thing for us to talk about around the watercooler.

And ultimately, that’s what the replacement refs debacle comes down to, and why Roger Goodell couldn’t be happier. It’s one more thing for the massive ecosystem of shows debating the NFL to discuss ad nauseam, one more way for the NFL to be at everyone’s lips at watercoolers around the country, a way that doesn’t involve the word “concussions” (a far bigger threat to the long-term viability of the NFL). That’s why all the wailing and gnashing of teeth for the real officials to come back simply leads Goodell to lean back in his chair, twiddle his fingers, and mutter “Excellent” like Mr. Burns.

Perhaps what happened in Seattle will cause some owners to start revolting and wondering whether the issues the NFL is holding its ground on in the lockout negotiations are really that big a priority that they justify what the league has turned into. But if it isn’t enough of them, the lockout will end when the real officials start feeling the very real pain of not collecting their checks, and not a moment sooner.

The Super Bowl XLVI lineal title was on the line in Monday night’s game. The Packers could very easily say they have a claim to it.

My picks for every NFL game this season

September 5, 2012September 4, 2012 by Morgan Wick

That’s right: I may not be doing the NFL schedule this season, but I am picking all 256 games, plus all 11 playoff games, before the season even starts. Winning teams are listed in bold. Lineal title holders are in italics.

Week 1:
Cowboys @ Giants
Colts @ Bears
Eagles @ Browns
Rams @ Lions
Dolphins @ Texans
Falcons @ Chiefs
Jaguars @ Vikings
Redskins @ Saints
Bills @ Jets
Patriots @ Titans
Seahawks @ Cardinals
49ers @ Packers
Panthers @ Bucs
Steelers @ Broncos
Bengals @ Ravens
Chargers @ Raiders

Setting the stage for the next week

September 1, 2012August 31, 2012 by Morgan Wick

My laptop is on its way to HP. Under the circumstances, it looks like I’m probably going to be working off Mom’s computer for all of next week, and maybe into the week after that.

The FF50 challenge looks to be in good shape. I may have to either move Tuesday’s drafts later, or move at least the noon one to 9 AM PT, due to various commitments, but other than that everything should proceed swimmingly, aside from Mom’s attempts to get me to do other, more productive things.

Naturally, after my promises to keep webcomic posts to a minimum while my laptop is getting fixed, next week may prove to be a rather webcomic-heavy week. QC and Homestuck definitely, Gunnerkrigg Court maybe. The HS post will be rather general in nature; I’m going to hold off on posting on Act 6 Intermission 3 probably until it’s over, intentionally this time, partly because of the three daisy-chained exploration non-flashes that either start or consist the intermission that are probably intended to form one long non-flash, partly because of how buggy it is still; even in the preferred Chrome browser on Mom’s computer, sometimes the sound will spontaneously shut off for no reason, so I’m going to wait until my computer comes back to go through the other non-flashes.

Between webcomics and other things, I have plenty of ideas to fill out the next week of posts already.

As if I wasn’t having enough trouble getting anything done this summer…

August 29, 2012 by Morgan Wick

So, the frame of the screen of my laptop has become disconnected from the screen itself in one corner, AND one hinge has come loose, so I’m going to have to send it in to be repaired and that could take over a week.

The timing on this could not be worse as it jeopardizes the FF50 competition; I will probably have to do the drafts on my mom’s computer, if I do as many as I had planned at all, as Mom’s probably not going to be happy about me monopolizing the computer for large chunks of the day, especially when I could be doing more productive things.

Also, I’m going to be keeping my webcomics posts to a minimum over the course of the week. It’s unfortunate with the current events in Gunnerkrigg Court and Questionable Content that could become post-worthy soon, but it’s probably necessary.