AFL Quickplay Week 10

Andrew Nordmeier
Friday May 24, 2013

 "Whoa, we're halfway there. Whoa-oh! Living on a prayer. Take my hand and we'll make it I swear. Whoa-oh! Living on a prayer." --Bon Jovi

We're halfway through the AFL season and is your Quickplay team going to make it or is it living on a prayer?

Last week, we had a three-way tie with 241 points for the highest score of the week. The Cosmo Cougars, Dundalke Golden Owls and So. Phoenix Bombers all racked up the high score. The Short Bus Kids and Roch Rush tied for fourth with 235 each while the Unemployed Punters and SF Valleys each rang up 234 to tie for sixth. Arenabowlbound (233),
Polster (230) and The Voice Says... (230) round out the top ten.

Overall, the top five teams are separated by 37 points. Chillin' N Winnin leads the way with 1966 with the Bombers one point behind them. Skillet sits third at 1960 while arenabowlbound holds the fourth spot at 1950. The Unemployed Punters still have the fifth spot with 1929.

Everyone plays this week so all options are on the table. Here's this week's schedule: Spokane at San Antonio, Cleveland at Pittsburgh, Jacksonville at Orlando, Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, Iowa at Arizona, Utah at San Jose and Chicago at New Orleans.

Per usual, we'll walk through setting the lineup for Unemployed Punters as a guide for this week. We'll also give some sleepers that could be worth a roll of the dice.

QUARTERBACKS (3)

By now the first one should be obvious. ADRIAN MCPHERSON of the Storm has shown he can play anyone in this league and have success as a dual threat. He also has JOE HILLS back after his short stint the Buccaneers and those two have a great rapport. Yes, McPherson will have a tougher matchup with a Soul team that allows a league-best 14 yards per game on the ground. It still doesn't deter me from putting him on the lineup.

The second quarterback will be NICK DAVILA of Arizona. Davila has been delivering throwing 33 touchdowns in his last five games without an interception. He's been distributing the ball well through the entire Rattler offense and is just on fire as of late. He's thrown for 2401 yards, 58 touchdowns and just three picks this season. Get @LatinLaser in your lineup and set your phaser to maximum points.

Arizona takes on an Iowa team with a very stingy defense so there is some risk involved.

The third quarterback spot is always tough and this week is no exception. ERIK MEYER of Spokane has averaged more than 300 yards per game. AARON GARCIA has come back and breathed new life into Orlando while TOMMY GRADY and DAN RAUDABAUGH are each having good seasons.

Meyer is going to get the call as he leads the league in completion percentage (69.3%), touchdowns (63) and passing yards per game (296.8). Plus with Spokane having the league's worst defense, Meyer has to put up big points as the Shock try to get back in the win column for the second straight week.

SLEEPER: Raudabaugh. Tampa Bay averages 57.7 points per game and Philadelphia averages 57.2 per game. This game smells like a shootout looking for a place to happen and Tampa Bay could be the spot it does. The Soul offensive line also does a great job giving him time to throw and he's only been sacked a league-best twice this season in eight games.

FULLBACK (1)

Yet again, it's DERRICK ROSS of the Soul getting the call here. With his 235 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns this season, it would be very hard to pass him up.

SLEEPER: ODIE ARMSTRONG of the Rattlers is having a great season but gets buried by the talent in his division. If you want to play him, what other Western Division star do you put on the bench? Tough question indeed.

After Armstrong, the cookie jar is kind of empty here. You start finding guys who haven't found the end zone very much (six times or fewer) or a couple of other dual threat quarterbacks (JORDAN JEFFERSON of the Power and BERNARD MORRIS of the Sharks).

Barring injury, Ross should get the call the rest of the way with Armstrong being a bye-week fill in if needed.

WIDE RECEIVERS (3)

The first wide receiver for this week is TIGER JONES of the Soul. He's picking up 126 yards per game and has scored 18 touchdowns this season. He also fills out the divisional requirements. And if you need any other reason Jones and the Soul have some of the best touchdown celebrations in the league.

The other part of that picture is Cleveland and Pittsburgh haven't been putting up the points this season. The Gladiators average 45.4 points per game while Pittsburgh is dead last at 36.2 points per game. It becomes difficult to put your fantasy team's fate in teams that score that little. That tips the field towards the Soul and it's why Jones keeps getting the call each week.

The second wide receiver will be REGGIE GRAY of the Rush. Besides filling a divisional requirement, Gray has been one of the best receivers in the league this season. He leads the league with 1136 receiving yards and has 27 touchdowns, one behind ADRON TENNELL of Spokane who leads the league with 28.

The third wide receiver is always going to be a tough spot to pick. I've used both of my Western Division spots on quarterbacks so Tennell has to take a seat this week. Both of my Eastern Division spots are taken so it's down to a Central or Southern Division player to fill the last wide receiver spot and the kicker spot as well.

It's a hard decision between players like Hills, GREG ELLINGSON of the Storm, TT TOLLIVER and PRECHAE RODRIQUEZ of the Predators, JEFF HUGHLEY of the Sharks and even DONOVAN MORGAN of the VooDoo. Morgan had a breakout game last weak but it's hard to say if that was a one-off or the start of a streak of hot play for him. The Central Division gives
the option of MARCUS HARRIS of Iowa who's third in the league with 172.6 all-purpose yards per game (786 receiving, 418 kick return in seven games).

So many good options and just one slot. It's going with Hills. Philly-Tampa looks to be a high-scoring affair and Hills should light the board up.

SLEEPERS: ROD WINDSOR of Arizona is putting together a nice season with 20 touchdowns and 843 yards. Hughley would give your team a boost with kick return yardage (761 yards this season). MARCO URRUTIA of Utah is fourth in the league in receiving with 890 yards and 22 touchdowns. Tolliver and Rodriquez would make solid options as well.

KICKER (1)

There's a spot left in the Central Division and we'll take San Antonio kicker MARC DEMOS to round out the roster. Demos and Talons have a great matchup against a Shock team that gives up a ton of points. Demos should be able to put a few of them on the board.

Week 10 Lineup for the Unemployed Punters

Eastern Division
1 Tiger Jones WR PHI
2 Derrick Ross FB PHI

Central Division
1 Reggie Gray WR CHI
2 Marc Demos K SA

Southern Division
1 Adrian McPherson QB TB
2 Joe Hills WR TB

Western Division
1 Nick Davila QB ARI
2 Erik Meyer QB SPO