NAPOLEON'S MINIONS - Week #10

by Chris Ryan

With the weeks waning, now is the time to make a final push if anyone hopes to catch Necessary Roughness, as they've been the class of the Napoleon's Minions in 2010. Roughness has scored the most points in the league, and hold a 32 point advantage over second place Happy Ending Boy. Three other teams are within 141 points of the top spot, with six teams likely out of contention unless they receive some miraculous performances over the next few weeks. 

Key Performances Last Week:

-Necessary Roughness actually entered Week 9 trailing Happy Ending Boy by 31 points, but got monster games from Ben Roethlisberger, Dwayne Bowe and Roddy White to post 171 points, the highest total by 17. As a result they moved into first place and now hold a 32 point lead.

-Happy Ending Boy couldn't keep pace, scoring only 123 points, good for the 7th best mark in the league. With Aaron Rodgers back off bye and a solid supporting cast, they should be able to stay in contention till the final week.

-Green Geckos were last week's biggest movers, jumping from 6th to 4th in the standings thanks to unbelievable games from Tom Brady and Michael Vick. With those two, plus Adrian Peterson, Brandon Lloyd, and Jacob Tamme, Green Gecko's has to have Necessary Roughness and Happy Ending Boy shaking in their boots.

-Sarge's 13 entered the week in 5th place and within striking distance, but a 101 point performance dropped them down into seventh place and 185 points out of first, a fairly insurmountable margin. Sarge can blame the lackluster receiving corps and a goose-egg from Jason Witten as his downfall.

-Aging Alcoholics actually finished third in overall point total in Week 10 with 140, but still dropped from fourth to fifth in the standings thanks to Green Geckos high total. Making up 141 points over the final six weeks isn't impossible, but the QB duo of Shaun Hill and Matt Schaub will have to consistently put up 20-plus points for it to happen.

PREDICTIONS:

Necessary Roughness showed how quickly a 30 point deficit can be erased last week, and Happy Ending Boy will look to return the favor in Week 11. Though there's still plenty of time left in the season, it's becoming more and more clear these are the two teams likely to battling it out for first place right up until the final week. No other team is within 104 points of the lead, but if there're any wildcards in the field, it's Chunga's Revenge and Green Geckos. Both are powered by excellent QB play (Eli/Rivers for Chunga and Brady/Vick for Geckos), and when you have elite quarterbacks, points can be accumulated quickly, and in big bunches (see: Mike Vick on Monday night). Both squads, along with AA, can't afford any more mediocrity if they hope to catch up to the top two teams.