Newsletter

 

 

Week 6

 

This is an amendment to the rules:

With regards to lineups, if an owner mistakenly submits a lineup that has players not currently on his roster, the league is not responsible to determine what that owner meant.  Such a lineup will give that team a N/A with regards to that roster spot for that week.

 

This cannot be called the ‘Peter Rule’ since a lot of these rules are brought about by Peter to begin with.

This past week saw Miami inadvertently  ask to put Ken Dilger in their lineup at TE.  Dilger does not play for that team.  As a result, no TE will be played for Miami for Week 5. 

 

Let’s get this edition of the SFL Newsletter underway:

 

Week 6

AFC

 

Kansas City is atop this division with another solid week, blasting Dallas 105-82.  The roster is deep, with many players score double-digits on a consistent basis.  Being 3-1 in the division is a nice way to enter the cross-divisional games.  Averaging 87.2 points a game, this team looks like it has all the makings to go the distance this regular season:  a solid QB, 2 good RB’s, and decent WR’s, and special teams that compete.  This coming week, they play Seattle.  The last time KC played a team from the NFC, they squashed Cleveland 88-47.  It will take a more complete effort on the part of opponents to try to take down this consistent squad.I

 

Cincinnati’s locker room is a bit somber and quiet this week, following their 1 point loss to Chicago.  It turned out that a last minute play gave this team their defeat.  Starting out 3-0, Cincinnati has lost 2 straight games.  The team is not pushing the panic button, but owner Dale Shulmistra is making sure that everyone knows what is at stake:  you have to stop a losing streak early, or else it could ruin the season.  The good thing is that next up on Cincinnati’s schedule is Miami.  Cincinnati almost protests playing Miami:  it isn’t much fun to play someone apparently so disinterested in the SFL, and who fields such a sloppy team.  We’ll see if Miami can cure Cincinnati’s ailments.

 

Detroit is bitter.  Anyone who speaks with owner Shannon Rowe will feel this.  Check the message board, and you’ll see some angry words.  Detroit feels angry that everyone they play seems to have record scoring weeks.  SF put up a nice 125 this week, keeping Detroit 2 games back of the leader.  However, Detroit only put up 51 points themselves, and barely missed adding $5 of their own to the pot.  Favre was benched this week in favor of Elvis, and it seemed to be a bad choice.  James Stewart finally stepped up, but the rest of the team missed their wake up call at the hotel.  You can be sure Shannon Rowe has those wake-up calls properly set for this week’s matchup against Chicago-they always come to play against Chicago!

 

San Fransisco moved up into a tie with Detroit this week, and actually moved ahead of them in a tie-breaker.  It is nice to see, since the last newsletter edition was written after a horrible loss to Miami!  Since then, they beat Dallas and Detroit.  Garcia and Owens have been fantastic, scoring 80 points between the two of them this week!  The RB carousel may have ended with this team, as they have dropped and picked up several players the past few weeks, sometimes dropping and acquiring the same player multiple times!  This week, they face Cleveland.  Without Garcia and Owens, who have a bye.  Will they have enough depth to compensate?

 

Dallas is last in this division, and they can’t figure it out.  They have been scoring some decent points at times, but coming up short.  Griese and Williams have been their most consistent players, and adding an apparent revived Antonio Freeman can only help.  But a 1-4 record is tough to recover from, but the 0-4 Divisional Record is even more daunting.  This week, they face a powerful Buffalo squad, so it doesn’t look too easy for Dallas.  The next few weeks could make or break this team:  if they don’t put together a decent run, they could be out of the picture early.

 

NFC

 

Chicago leads this division, and has a 2 game lead on Cleveland.  A little bit of luck never hurts!  This week, a big game against Cincinnati was settled by 1 point!  The players put up their usual effort, but the WR spot is still a concern.  Last week, Chicago dropped underachieving Freeman, only to watch him score 19 points for Dallas!  Jerry Rice, Marty Booker, and Todd Pinkston fill the roster spots, and the owner is looking for one or two of these guys to step up and get it done.  This week, we’ll see Chicago battle Detroit.  This is always a heated battle.  The AFC owners love to beat the NFC in every match, and Cincinnati and Detroit especially love these battles.  We’ll see how it turns out!

 

Cleveland won a big game against Seattle this week, 78-63.  In a battle for second place, Cleveland came to play.  It was the nice play of Eddie George that has this manager feeling good.  Greg Wietholter has felt that George has been playing poorly, and it has been hurting his team.  This is the kind of game they expected from George on a weekly basis.  If they continue to get decent production at all spots, they feel they have a shot at the post-season.  Dunn and George just might carry them there.  This week, Cleveland plays SF.  With SF having their studs out with a bye, Cleveland has been talking like it is a ‘gimme’ game, and that they should easily walk away with this one.  Oh, security and confidence…

 

Buffalo has moved into the middle of the pack, with a cheap win against Miami this week:  64-56.  It was decided by a clerical error on Miami’s part.  At this point, Buffalo will take the wins any way they can get them.  Kurt Warner was shut down for one of the rare weeks he doesn’t score 30 points, and Buffalo still got a win. Look out.  This team is capable of blowing the doors open each and every week, and win their share.  When they are shut down, and they still win, this team can make a serious run at repeating.  This week, Buffalo plays Dallas in a rematch of last year’s SFL Bowl.  Buffalo won that game, and they are a 14 point favorite again this week.

 

Seattle dropped a weak game against Cleveland this week, putting up a meager 63 points.  That isn’t going to win many games, and certainly isn’t a showing of a playoff team.  Shaun Alexander showed some real strength this week, but the rest of the team put in ho-hum efforts.  Trent Green didn’t put up any numbers, and certainly has his ability to lead a team called into question.  How will he respond?  We’ll find out as they battle a strong KC team next week in the beginning of their mid-season crossover run. It is interesting to note that the next few games are against teams from the other division for every SFL franchise.  If Seattle, who is already 0-1 against the AFC, doesn’t emerge from this stretch with a positive record, they might have to write off their season.

 

Well, well, well.  Miami is at the bottom of the newsletter.  I hear some ‘no way’s out there.  Yep, hard to believe.  The painful point is that they should have won their game this week.  Miami spent the week mired in turmoil:  several other owners were saying that Miami seems disinterested.  It is hard to argue that Miami has shown the same passion as some of the other franchises.  After the week, Miami submits a lineup in which they attempt to play a player not even on their roster.  It is hard to make any kind of argument that Peter Olsen knows what is going on in football when he doesn’t even know his own players.  As a result of this error, in which they intended to play TE C.Cleeland, Miami has another divisional loss.  Not only are they 1-4 overall, but being 0-4 in the division is hard to come back from.  With their RB situation in their current state, it is hard to imagine this team making a run.  Duce Staley has been injured, Michael Bennett is disappointing, and James Jackson is not consistent.  Marvin Harrisson is solid, but Peter Warrick and Derrick Alexander are keeping this team down. We’ll see how many wins this team manages this season:  at this point, Wietholter’s Line on Miami’s win total for the year is at 3. 

 

Ending

 

I would be interested in seeing Greg Wietholter publishing weekly lines on games, for fun, of course! 
It is a shame what happened this past week with Miami:  get your lineup in on time, and correct.  The league office cannot determine what an owner intended, only what they typed. 

Miami is now on CBS, however, so hopefully things will run a bit smoother.

Gentlemen, I am owed some serious money by some owners.  Dan Quesnelle is owed some money.  I would like that to be settled soon.  Please mail me a check at

Richard Shulmistra

150 Rosalia Circle

York, PA 17402

 

That is it for this edition:

Don’t forget to check the schedule, and get your lineups in on time!

Good luck to all!

 

Richard Shulmistra

 

SFL Commissioner