Liberty and Peace? The Thanksgiving Beat Down

"You are hereby pardoned!"

As you may have gathered from today's news, Liberty and his understudy Peace were pardoned by the President of the United States of America for release from captivity to live out a life of tranquility at Mount Vernon. But for some Brothers Keeper fantasy football players it will be anything but peace and liberty this weekend. Only three teams have clinched a playoff birth while the seven remaining teams haven't.

Just when you thought you had heard the last of the 3 - 7 teams, ThePunchin Munchkins and Points ON the Bench, we were all surprised to see their new lease on life. These turkeys were given their own pardon when they won their week 11 contests. In conjunction with their wins, the two 4 - 6 teams, Simba's Buttkicker! and Yer X-MOM lost. Plus, both 5 - 5 teams lost, that is, Rmmm's Golden Eagle and Forever Tide.



If the past two weeks weren't exciting enough in Brothers Keeper they will now become a distant memory to the excitement of the next two weeks when the regular season standings are finalized for playoff placements. Every single one of this week's games/matchups features a team vying for entrance into the playoffs. No one is mathematically eliminated yet and the race is even tighter than last week. Even MOTHERSHIP RUSH has yet to clinch despite his 6 - 5 record. He could continue his second half collapse and with two more losses he could miss the playoffs like three others.

Let's look at this week's matchups to see the potential standings going into the final week. The first matchup of importance is between Rmmm's Golden Eagle and Yer X-MOM. If Yer X-MOM wins he will have a tied record with Rmmm's Golden Eagle. As of now, Rmmm's Golden Eagle is leading in total points scored this year by 63.64 FP. Yer X-MOM's poor week 11 performance put him at a further disadvantage in that category. But the win is important first for these two teams. Without a winning percentage tie the total FP scored is of no concern at the end of the regular season.

The second most important game is the matchup between MOTHERSHIP RUSH and Forever Tide. While both are currently in a playoff spot they both could easily lose it. Both teams are the lowest scoring teams of the current playoff contenders. Two of the  4 - 7 teams have comparable fantasy point totals and will be difficult to overcome if MOTHERSHIP RUSH or Forever Tide loses this game. It is more important that Forever Tide wins than for MOTHERSHIP RUSH due to the one win more advantage.

The final three matchups this week will pit one team that has clinched a playoff spot against a team that is 4 - 7. Simba's Buttkicker!, Points ON the Bench, and ThePunchin Munchkin all have the difficult position of being on the fence against formidable foes. If they all three lose their chances will be diminished significantly. If this scenario plays out and Rmmm's Golden Eagle and Forever Tide both win all four of the 4 - 7 teams will be mathematically eliminated. So it is still important to the 4 - 7 teams to see one or both of the 5 - 6 teams falter this week to their foes. If all the 4 - 7 teams win and Forever Tide loses to MOTHERSHIP RUSH we could have 6 teams all at 5 - 7 once week 12 ends. All teams will still have to fight on for the last two playoff seeds.

Seven of the ten Brothers Keeper teams have yet to learn this year's fate. As of now, there is no telling which turkeys will be set free to roam the playoffs or which ones will suffer a life threatening beat down. Hopefully it will be less convoluted after the Thanksgiving weekend games. Happy Thanksgiving.