Participants,

Well, the home teams made for lost ground by going 4-0 this weekend.  And, Pete the Terp maintained his impressive lead with the help of a perfect game (i.e., zero variance)!  He is now sporting an 8-0 overall record (perfect!) and a sizable, but fragile, lead.  Let’s get down to the highlights of the 4 games played this past weekend:

New England 27, Kansas City 20
No matter how banged up they are, the Patriots always find a way to look good, and pull out a victory.  The Chiefs kept it interesting and had a chance at the end to even it up, but the offense that looked so good in Houston a week ago reminded us that Alex Smith is not Tom Brady (or any other top QB).  HenricoFiveOh finally wins one with a variance of 3, while JTB racks up his first goose-egg of the season.

Arizona 26, Green Bay 20 (OT)
The weekend thriller, without a doubt.  Hope you forced yourself to stay up and watch this classic.  Pack QB Aaron Rodgers ties it on the last play in regulation with another Hail Mary of over 50 yards.  The coin “toss” went under review and it was determined that the coin never flipped during the toss.  Re-toss and the honors went to the Cardinals, who took all of 2 plays (both by WR Larry Fitzgerald) to score the winning TD.  Comeback Kid wins this one, with a near-perfect variance of 1 (too bad they don’t kick extra points in OT).

Carolina 31, Seattle 24
Before you were settled into your easy chair, the Panthers were up 14-0.  Then it was 31-0 at half.  Who was wearing the Seahawk D uniforms?  In spite of Russell Wilson’s heroics towards the end, the deficit was too large to make up.  Panther QB Cam Newton is looking pretty good right now… This was Pete the Terp’s perfect game while Ben the Butler ended up on the opposite end of the scale.

Denver 23, Pittsburgh 16
Give the Steelers a lot of credit for playing as well as they did, with all the injuries.  And they almost pulled it out against a surprisingly lackluster Bronco team.  Peyton Manning’s ratio of tight spirals to wounded ducks was 51:49.  Not impressive, but a win is a win.  2016 Winner was in the winner’s circle in this one, while Ben the Butler finished up Sunday with no points.

So, this is where things stand with 3 games (and 56% of the total points left, based on historical averages):

• Pete the Terp (now 8-0) – 503 points and making sure he has a prominent place to display the trophy
• Buffalo Bill – quietly sneaking up with 421 points (and a 7-1 record), but the noose tightens starting next weekend
• Comeback Kid – 403 points and the 2^nd most points last weekend; could this be trophy #6?
• 2016 Winner – 353 points and perfectly positioned for the last 3 games
• HenricoFiveOh – 352 points after a much better weekend than last; keeping pace (which is bad news for the other participants)
• Greg the Great – 228 points and this weekend was not up to his standards, but he’s been here before
• JTB – a sub-par effort with 223 total points, but he has Carolina on His Mind… Look for a big weekend
• Ben the Butler – with 148 points, some interesting picks will be coming

Look for my expert analysis and predictions this weekend.  Picks will be due on Sunday afternoon before the 3:00pm (EST) kickoff of the AFC Championship game.  Study up – this is looking like a close battle for the trophy.

~ The Commish