Football Contest: Week 11

The playoff picture is starting to get a little clearer and teams can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  For some teams, that light is a train, so they better change their direction soon.

This week is made up of a bunch of random packs:

There were 2 of the Bowman Draft packs, 2 of the 2012 Bowman, 3 of the Threads, and 1 each of the rest.

For the Bowman Draft cards, some were college cards with no NFL team declared.  I gave points to the teams that drafted or signed those players (though it may count negatively in tiebreaks). Same goes for dual player combine cards, such as this one:

+2 for Bengals, +2 for Giants

 

 

The Bowman Draft packs, also had red parallels, which worked well for the Chargers and Jags:

 

The Vikings, Giants, Seahawks, and Titans have bye weeks this week.

Let's do some games:

BUFFALO BILLS 4, MIAMI DOLPHINS 1
>>> The Bills pull off the big in-division upset with just base cards.

ARIZONA CARDINALS 4, ATLANTA FALCONS 0
>>> The Cardinals didn't need much as the Falcons fell flat.

CAROLINA PANTHERS 7, TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS 5
>>> The Panthers come up big for their second win of the season thanks to 3 RCs.

DALLAS COWBOYS 3, CLEVELAND BROWNS 3
>>> The first of several ties this week. The Cowboys take the win because one of the Browns cards was a college card.

GREEN BAY PACKERS 8, DETROIT LIONS 4
>>> The Lions didn't really have a chance in this one as the Packers pulled a gem.  Jones had a breakout year this season with 14 TDs.  That helped make this red parallel a hot card to get right now.

James Jones Red Parallel RC

HOUSTON TEXANS 7, JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS 7
>>> The Jags came to ball in this one with 2 base cards, the red Garrard above, and a gold Bowman RC,

but the Texans take the tie break for two reasons:

Sure, Foster is in his college gear, but he's been a stud for the Texans, and this is a great card.  The Casey mini, is just plain sweet.

CINCINNATI BENGALS 12, KANSAS CITY CHIEFS 1
>>> The Chiefs had one base card.  How cute.  The Bengals had 3 base cards, 2 RC, and part of the Combine card above.  Their real big hitter though, was a Gridiron Kings Houshmandzadeh.  I especially love that he appears to be holding some fast food and a Gatorade.  You don't see many of those Gatorade bottles on cards.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS 4, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 3
>>> Both teams had 3 cards, but the Colts hit a RC to give the Pats just their second loss of the season.

ST. LOUIS RAMS 1, NEW YORK JETS 1
>>> One card apiece, but the tie goes to the Steven Jackson card, for these two reasons:

 

WASHINGTON REDSKINS 5, PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 0
>>> The Iggles just plain got Orakpo'ed

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS 3, OAKLAND RAIDERS 0
>>> Saints grab the easy win with a few base cards.

DENVER BRONCOS 3, SAN DIEGO CHARGERS 3
>>> Each team had 1 base card, and while the Chargers had the red Rivers above, the Broncos get the win because this Terrell Davis Legendary Champions card is really nice:

BALTIMORE RAVENS 5, PITTSBURGH STEELERS  1
>>> One base card apiece, but the Ravens get 2 RCs.

CHICAGO BEARS 2, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS 2
>>> This was a tough tie break.  I looked at several options but couldn't decide.  I ultimately went with the best looking card, which was a Jay Cutler Chicle card. Congrats, Bears.


Bye teams: Vikings 5, Giants 8, Seahawks 2, Titans 6.  I'm sure the Seahawks are the only team who are really excited this was their bye week.  The Titans also hit one of the nicer cards this week, though its value isn't quite what it was in 2009:

Let's take a look at the updated standings and playoff picture:

AFC
1. Patriots (8-2)¹
2. Broncos (8-2)
3. Ravens (7-3)²
4. Texans (7-3)
5. Dolphins (7-3)
6. Bengals (5-5)<sup>3

1</sup>Patriots def. Broncos in Week 5.
²Ravens def. Texans in Week 7.
³Bengals def. Jaguars in Week 4.

NFC
1. Rams (9-1)
2. Lions (7-3)⁴
3. Giants (7-3)
4. Falcons (6-4)
5. Bears (6-4)^5,6
6. Cowboys (6-4)

⁴Lions, Giants tied. Lions are 5-3 in-conference. Giants are 4-3 in-conference.
⁵Bears, Packers tied.  Bear def. Packers in Week 2.
⁶Bears, Cowboys, 49ers tied. No head-to-head sweeps. In-conference: Bears (4-2), Cowboys (5-3), 49ers (4-4).

Compared with Week 8, the 8 divison leaders are the same, though the playoff seeding has changed a little.  The Dolphins are still the AFC #5, and the Bengals are still the AFC #6 thanks to their Week 4 win over the Jags.  In the NFC, though, four teams sit at 6-4 with hopes of snagging the two Wild Card spots.  The Packers are held out of the conversation due to their Week 2 loss to the Bears.  The remaining three teams are sorted by their in-conference schedule.  Unfortunately for the 49ers, that means they are on the outside looking in.

With division rivalries on the docket for the next few weeks, this should get interesting.