We're half way there without a dominant team and wide-open races in each division. Through Week 7, Dah Commish asked each owner to submit a mid-season report card on their team's progress with each owner providing a letter grade.
Here are the report cards from those owners that submitted one in order of the standings from best to worst:
BRAWLERS
I would give my team an A. It has changed a lot since draft day, but the pick up of LT and Hillis have been great additions for me.
NEWT
The RB and WT positions have been strong but the QB has beem as unsettled as the Bears O-line.
With Stafford in the fold the area could be in for a shot in the arm. If not.....heads will roll in the coach and upper management positions.
With the disappointment of last year's playoffs still fresh, a Finger Bowl title is the only acceptable goal. GRADE: C
EGGERS
Once again, I might be the unluckiest Finks League owner in the league's history. A 3-1 start now smothered by three straight losses of 9, 2 and 2 points. All three losses could have easily been wins. I succumbed to Josh Scobee hanging a 27-point outing on me in one of the losses. This past week, Romo breaks his collarbone before the half. Kitna comes in and throws two more scores. If Romo could have waited to break his collarbone until after he threw his second touchdown, I would have won. Instead, I waste a 17-point kicking effort from Akers (making his first HNE start of the year due to Kaeding being hurt)
I've been hampered by Chris Johnson's ineffectiveness (I believe 3 games of 0 points this year), Tom Coughlin's insipid insistence in using Brandon Jacobs on goal line situations (I have Bradshaw, who has been a 100-yard machine this year but no touchdowns) and poor WR play/poor selection of WRs by the HNE owner (I knew it would be a weakness going into the season), but if I play SF TE Davis this past week, I win. If I start Green-Ellis instead of Bradshaw, I win. Both moves I thought about right up until kickoff.
I thought I had made two hideously bone-headed transactions involving IND WR Collie (the week after I cut him he went off for 200 and several scores at Denver) and SD WR Floyd. I feel a little better with Collie being hurt in recent weeks. And now Dallas Clark is fried for the rest of the year, so that's 33 percent of the starting lineup out the window, 50 percent if you count Kaeding, who had started the previous 6 HNE contests and had numerous double-digit efforts.
The good news I can't set a new low for HNE wins in a season (I've already tied the low-water mark of 3).
Hopefully a little luck will be on my side in the second half and I can turn it around. But I see I play my wife this week and that will end up being a loss, just because I have no luck and just so she'll be able to rub it in (I believe she leads the all-time series 2-1 or something like that).
But as always, I'm having a blast playing.
GRADE: C-minus
BARRELS
Would have invested in a case of Dramamine if I knew my team was going to be this up-and-down. Queasy feeling started on draft day when I emerged with an RB core that had similar (and unreliable) talents and injury histories. While Darren McFadden has emerged for the Raiders, his injury history (which was the reason why I didn't start him this week when he had FOUR TOUCHDOWNS and 165 YARDS RUSHING, costing me a victory) makes him an unreliable every-week starter, Forte is used at the whim of "Mad Genius" Mike Martz and Beanie Wells was last seen on the back of a milk carton, which means I am flipping coins, rolling dice, consulting palm readers, reading tea leaves (pick your favorite sign of desperation) to come up with an RB tandem every week (though Torain has been an astute free-agent signing so far).
It's the same story for my receivers, with not even Anquan Boldin a reliable every-week starter, Giant Steve Smith used at the whim of the flighty Eli Manning, Panther Steve Smith looking increasingly old and slow (and quarterback-less) and Brandon Lloyd sure to crash and burn eventually. But when I look at the players available, nothing gets the pulse racing. My QBs have been "blah," with Brady resorting to dink-and-dunk in the absence of Moss and Palmer looking to have lost it before this weekend's explosion against Atlanta. I signed Ryan Succop (had two PKs on bye) so he could kick six PATs this week (at the expense of not signing Dan Carpenter or Olindo Mare and their five FGs) and Neil Rackers is made redundant when the Texans fall behind 31-7 every week and need to score TDs to win.
Still, I stand 3-4 with some nice wins (58-31 to hand the Brawlers their only loss) and some horrible losses (70-14 to vb5ds and 52-23 this week to Eye of Newt, which--I remind you again--I would have won if I had played McFadden!!!) and somehow I've managed to have three POWs (though Boldin in Week 3 came in a loss). I even stood third overall in points scored entering Week 7, though I had by far "allowed" the most points of any team (287), a tally that increases greatly again after this week's shellacking. (Note to self: Ask Commish why Points Allowed is a tiebreaker, when WE HAVE NO FREAKIN' CONTROL OVER HOW MANY POINTS THE OTHER TEAM SCORES!)
In the end, being in the pathetic Elway Division still gives me a shot at the playoffs, which will probably afford me nothing more than a chance to upset Stan and his posse of Cowboys and Texans in the first round.
GRADE: C-minus/D-plus
QUAGS
The Hurricanes only play bi-weekly: winning on odd number weeks and losing in each of the even number weeks. They could kick themselves for their poor draft at kicker. Both have been cut by their respective NFL teams. Over because of a better than .500 record the Grade is a C-plus.
CYMBE
It doesn't get much worse than an 0-5 start. The auction provided few impact RBs and WRs. Only RB S. Jackson STL remains from that group. It's hard to believe my other opening week starters were P. Thomas, Sims-Walker and Colston in those spots. The numbers are grim with a total of 25 players that have been on the roster, including a numbing six alone at QB. GRADE: F-minus.
POSSE
The former Las Vegas Posse are the Finks League version of the NFL's San Diego Chargers as both currently sit a 2-5. It seems very appropriate then that Las Vegas owner Matt Simo is gambling big on San Diego's Philip Rivers and Ryan Mathews to turn things around in the second half. Simo has already replaced 75 percent of his opening-week roster through a trade and several free-agent moves, with only Mathews, LeSean McCoy and Matt Bryant remaining from the original squad. His is also in the process of filing a team name change with the league to be called "The Replacements" from here on out in hopes of jump-starting his player and duplicating last year's success. Stay tuned... GRADE: F
