The first month of the season has passed.
After three weeks, one team remain unbeaten
(Tomcats) and two are without a win
(328's and Lake Show). This marks the
second time that the Tomcats franchises
finished the month of September unbeaten.
The last time was 2001, a year in which
they ultimately won the American League
title before being defeated by Lightning
in the Semifinals of the postseason.
Like as we saw last year with H, the
defending Loser Bowl Champions have
started the year on a tear. Tormenta
is 2-1 and leads the league with 318
points scored (106 points per game).
328's end September with a losing streak
of 11 games dating back to the 2005
KC Whoa team. This is the first time
the franchise ended the month of September
without a win. September can often be
an early indicator on the teams to beat
for the season, but September has never
determined a league champion. There
still a long road ahead, and every team
remains in the hunt entering October.
October will be the time teams must
start making a move and setting themselves
in position to reach the Prestige Playoffs.
Top Performers
The Player of the Month is from the
O's... and it's not Peyton Manning or
Torry Holt or Jeremy Shockey... it's
Brian Westbrook! With 69 points over
the first three games, Westbrook is
well ahead of the position lead in scoring.
Westbrook has improved his scoring each
week this season, with 15, 18, and then
the huge 36 points this past week. His
consistency is often overlooked. In
26 career starts, Westbrook has reached
double digits 21 times. That is a pretty
remarkable feat that very few (if any)
players can match... United qb Donovan
McNabb has had yet another impressive
month of September scoring 117 points,
but Lightning's Eli Manning leads all
qb's with 119 points. Brett Favre's
two starts resulted in wins for A II
P as he scored 49 and 50 points in Weeks
2 and 3... At rb and wr scoring has
not been all that explosive thus far
(with the exception of Westbrook). O's
Torry Holt leads all wr's with 39 points,
and Javon Walker (38), Larry Fitzgerald
(35), Anquan Boldin (34), Marvin Harrison
(33), and Roy Williams (33) are not
far behind. Walker's 26 points in Week
3 stands as the highest individual output
of the season... The te position has
also lacked the explosive from last
year, as only 328's LJ Smith (36 pts)
and United's Heath Miller (34 pts) are
averaging over 10 ppg. Miller earned
most of his points in one week, when
he opened the year with a 30-point performance.
A II P's Kellen Winslow has made a nice
early comeback story, as he has scored
19 pts in his first two starts.... Last
year Neil Rackers had a remarkable near
record-setting year (he got injured
at the end of the year), and now H kicker
John Kasay appears poised to match it.
Kasay has scored 42 pts over the first
three weeks, which puts him nearly 20
pts ahead of any other kicker in the
league. If Kasay were to keep this pace,
he would finish the season with 182
pts, which is well ahead of 149 point
season record... Speaking of records
Tormenta Ravens d/st is on pace to shattered
the 1999 Chiefs season scoring record
of 199 points. The Ravens are on a pace
to score 277 pts this year. They have
reached double-digits in all three starts
this season. Also producing is the 69ers
d/st Bears, who have scored 51 points
in September.
Poor Performers
When you open a season 0-3, obviously
there are some players lacking production.
For Lake Show and 328's it is coming
at the qb position. While Tom Brady
has his best season last year in leading
the Lake Show to division title and
finals, so far this season he has been
mediocre. Certainly not poor, as he
is averaging 26 points per game, but
Brady has yet to some any of the explosiveness
he's accustomed to. For 328's it's been
a combination of Daunte Culpepper and
Aaron Brooks, both of whom have been
a major disappointment so far this year.
Together the have scored just 56 points
which rates last in the league at 19
points per game... At the wr position,
the usual steady production of 69ers'
Hines Ward, Lake Show's Joe Horn, and
Lightning's Joey Galloway has not been
evident this month as all three players
are averaging under 5 points per game...
H te Jason Witten saw a drop in overall
numbers last year, but so far this year
they've taken an even more significant
drop from 9 to 4 points per game...
Last year, A II P k Neil Rackers was
setting records while this this year
he's been one of the leagues most under-performing
kickers, averaging just 5 points per
game and scoring 3 and 2 points in the
months final two starts.
Additional Notes
According to the 10-year history of
our league there is an 88% chance that
5 of the top 6 scoring teams after week
3 (regardless of record) will make the
prestige Playoffs. Currently the top
scoring teams in the league are: Tormenta,
O's, United, A II P, Lightning, and
69ers. If history holds true at least
5 of those 6 teams will reach the Prestige
Playoffs.... Week 4 may still be early
in the season, but if history says anything
it could be a must win situation for
Lake Show and 328's. Only once before
in league history has a team began the
season 0-4 and still clinch a Prestige
Playoff berth (1998 Condors). If Lake
Show were to not make the Prestige Playoffs,
they would join Lazer Light (1999),
Flying Pigskins (2000), and United (2005)
as the forth team to not reach the Prestige
playoffs after losing in the Championship
the previous season.... Though Shaun
Alexander has not been the player he
was last year so far this season, his
steady production is already making
a difference for the Tomcats. Last year
the Tomcats scored a league low 140
points (10 ppg) from the rb position
all season. This year they already have
59 (20 PPG), which has doubled their
production and is one of the reasons
they are off to a 3-0 start.... How
hot has Tormenta been the past 9 weeks
dating back to last year? Over that
span they are 7-2, are averaging 109
points per game and have reached the
100 point mark seven times (their low
score over this stretch was 91 points)....
On a larger scale, the O's have been
the league most steady scoring team.
Since the start of the 2004 season,
the O's have reached the 100 point mark
24 of 31 games, which puts them comfortably
above the next best team, Lightning-
who has reached 100+ points in 19 times
over that timetable... For the second
straight year scoring is down from the
previous September. At this points last
year, 2854 points were scored as opposed
to the 2699 points scored this year
(a 155 point difference).
