NEWS

2011 Highlights & Lowlights

Nick Wood, Backyard Sports Icon


December 07, 2011


2011 was a wild season filled with staggering scoring, amazing performances and out-of-nowhere surprises. Nick Wood takes a look at some of the high (and low) points of the season that was:

HIGHLIGHTS

Crazy Team Scoring

4 teams (Chickens: 707, Dragons: 700, Merry Men: 653, Mallards: 634) scored enough points this season to rank them in the top 25 of all-time.

Romo Coaster The Orangutangs' trip on the Romo-Coaster paid off with their first AFC East title since 2004

Trade of the Year

The Orangutangs Acquire Tony Romo - How thankful are they to have a real QB? Romo's production of 148 points drove this team to the playoffs after getting an average of 43.6 points per season out of their starting QBs over the last 5 seasons prior.

Chris Davidson's Draft for Bri

Cam Newton, enough said. However, other notable names taken by Chris in the 2011 draft include DeMarco Murray, Titus Young and Jordy Nelson (in the 5th Round!).

The Merry Men's Lack of WR Production

The Merry Men did not have a WR rank in the top 20 in scoring (Maclin is 22nd among WR with 44 points), yet the team still had the 16th highest scoring season of all-time.

The Chickens Silence the Doubters

The Chickens posted a second consecutive year scoring in the top ten of all-time. Where was that "lack of depth" and eventual "down year"?

Bad Luck Brothers

The Brothers are the first team since the league expanded to 16 teams to not make the playoffs with 8 wins. At least they can look forward to a stable of RBs who should be healthy by 2012. Is this a highlight or lowlight?

Top Waiver Wire Pickups

Boys - Scott Chandler, Chickens - Victor Cruz, Llamas - Jackie Battle, Buddies - Doug Baldwin, Mallads - Jake Ballard, Poop - Marion Barber, Beans - David Nelson

David Nelson David Nelson didn't outscore Miles Austin this season, but he might have out-girl-eyed him

Balanced Scoring Mallards

Can you choose the two best players on this team after Calvin Johnson? It's quite an accomplishment to secure the bye with only one Pro Bowl selection.

Participation of Aceto and Bri Davidson

I have to give both of them a great deal of credit for their efforts to communicate with the league. Aceto's voice was heard in the forum (perhaps a direct correlation to the fact that he's settled into married life?) and Bri was quick with his responses on trades and even had a chance at Owner of the Year until recent weeks.

Incredible Individual Performances*

Aaron Rodgers accounted for just under 44% of the Dragons total scoring, paving the way for a possible back-to-back MVP.

Rob Gronkowski enjoyed the greatest season by a TE ever, totaling 110 points, good for 21% of his team's scoring from a position often overlooked by many. It made up for weak QB play and he could be the YFFL's playoff MVP if he continues his current tear.

Lesean McCoy accounted for 23.3% of the Chickens total scoring, highest among non QBs by nearly 2%.

Calvin Johnson finished 7th all-time among WRs with 102 points scored. Can you imagine if he kept up the pace he started on during the first 5 games? At his average of 13.2 points per game thru the first five, he would have scored over 158 points, destroying Randy Moss' regular season record of 134 points. He's the main reason the Mallards have the bye in the NFC.

* All calculations ignore team scoring from (idiot) kickers

LOWLIGHTS

Peyton Hillis Remember when Peyton Hillis almost won an MVP Award? That was hilarious!

2010 World Champion Thugs

From Super Bowl to Stupor Bowl. After a 2010 filled with good fortune, 2011's only highlight was the guarantee of at least the #2 overall pick in the 2012 draft.

The 1-Win Beans

We've heard enough about this team. Perhaps they should be relegated to the other YFFL...

The Decline of Mike's Voice

Mike only spoke out two times in the forum if you exclude his over-the-forum waiver wire transaction. It has been far too long in YFFL-ville since we last heard a good rant or Steve-bashing from the most feared voice in the forum from 2001-2010.

However, (based on his production) Joe Flacco more or less did in fact tear his ACL in Week 4 just as Mike predicted.