I watched the new Wonder Woman last night. Other than it being a waste of time, I made note of the most prominent theme since the movie was playing while Yaron was announcing his season ending injury. SPOILER ALERT: The theme of the movie is that a magical wish granting stone also takes from you what you currently have that is most valuable. Although I am 100% sure that Jewball is not a fictional magical wishing stone, I could not help but feel both blessed and cursed this season. We are halfway through – and it has been one of our best seasons. The positive storylines are overwhelmingly great. Incredible interest in the game. The battle with the soccer guys. The best talent we’ve ever had. EVER. BY A LOT. The return of Marino (and Klink as a “regular”). The addition of a great rookie class. Dobs engagement. The League Weeks. I really could go on. At the same time…..we are missing guys because of Covid. We are losing guys because of injuries.  We went from eliminating BOTH to likely needing it. It’s football – injuries happen – but in the past few weeks it has been one after another. I starts to weigh on you. I’m just hoping everyone heals up, rehabs up, and comes back.
WEEK 11 was a League Week and there was a lot of anticipation going in, with the undefeated Ass Men taking on a Feit Club at full power in Game 1. And In Game 2, we had the rising Birds of Pray taking the winless 193 – a team looking to get right. Yaron promising a win and putting his money where his mouth is.
The Ass Men came out with a lot of confidence, with all their talent on both sides of the ball – only Logan missing, but that is a big loss – he is their beating heart. Despite what you may have heard from Gronk, Feit Club is a team loaded with talent, but on Sunday  – when it came to offense, they were nearly a one dimensional team – Mighty being the ultimate weapon X on the field.
Ass Men started fast. Opening play was a 40 yard completion to Singer which eventually set up a 4th and short at the Feit Club 32. But Rabin overthrew Munch on the TE rollout and turned the ball over. It would be a while before the Ass Men would sniff the end zone again.  Feit was moving the ball easily with Gronk over the middle and screens to Mighty and the O Bros. He did have one receiver struggling to make catches, but I forgot that dude’s name. Feit Club was just picking apart the Ass Men zone. Although it did not always result in a score – as our fearless leader always commands us: BEND (over)! DON’T BREAK! Unfortunately, even with Bin barking at his team from the sidelines, they broke a few times. Mighty got into the secondary deep twice in the first half and both times, Feit found him. On the first of his 3 TDS, Mighty tipped a ball to himself with Singer right on him – Singer looking for the pick – but as Singer committed, the Rat adjusted – and wound up with the ball and no one behind him and the end zone. A few possessions later on the Ass Men 30, Feit sent two WRs deep and Mighty was all alone at the 10. Easy TD. 2-0 Feit Club at the half.
Ass Men made adjustments to start the second half on defense by putting MK in man coverage on Mighty. It proved to stifle Feit’s offensive scheming and the FC started the second half with a number of 3 and outs. Meanwhile Rabin was having some luck with his passing game, hitting Singer down the sideline for 37 yards, which set up a Jordan 40 yard run with great blocking out front to put the Ass Men on the board. It really felt like a momentum shift. But it all fell apart on the very next play. Feit and his pet Rat drove a stake through the Ass Men’s crack. With MK truly draped on Mighty who was flying down the right hash, Feit threw an incredible pass and Mighty made a catch that perhaps only he could make. In traffic between MK and Singer, the ball drops in to Mighty who maintains his throttle and focus to not only catch the ball, but avoid the collision with Singer….and wind up the last man standing, ball in hand…and the field in front of him. A score with twenty minutes left on the clock and Feit Club with a 3-1 lead.
The good news for Ass Men was the defensive really was clicking. Munch and O started bringing tons of pressure and Feit was getting sacked. Outside of a miracle Rat TD, FC had been held down for over 40 minutes. The only question was, will time run out.
Rabin got his team downfield with a Storm run followed by  42 yard Jordan jump ball over Steveo. The drive was capped by a Singer out – stiff arm – and TD. 3-2. But now only 5 minutes left on the clock and Ass Men behind.
Feit Club – who would get final possession regardless – drove the field methodically – but it stalled at the Ass Men 20 yard line. The clock had already run out and FC walked off the field with a hard fought and well-earned W. Ass Men take the L and by the end of the day, 3 teams were 2-1.
Considering the dynamic year he is having already, it is a surprise that Mighty has not gotten a Jewball yet, but today he gets one. 3 scores – 2 of them the kind of plays that only Mighty really makes. None bigger than the most difficult one – that destroyed the momentum AM had built.
Game 2 turned out to be not much of a game. Yaron looked unreal for the time he was in. 3 beautiful passes thrown. One turned into a TD with Sting. The other 2 – quite fittingly and sadly – were dropped. It has been a rough season for Yaron on many levels – none rougher than the most recent twist (no pun intended) – but he has been completely snake bit by inexplicable drops. No matter what team or what time – guys are dropping his passes. He does throw harder than any other QB in the league, but still….WRs need to catch passes. Period.
Until Yaron went down – the 193’s issue was less offense and more defense. Pray and his Birds looked unstoppable on offense. Literally, anything and everything they were trying worked. With weapons like Prime, Ross, Salem, Vegh PJs….he was using them all – completion after completion after completion. The 193 defensive scheme looked lost. And then their season looked lost. There was a party on the sideline trashing Yaron no matter what he did – even though he was doing great – but the party ended….when Yaron was writhing on the ground gripping his knee. He would eventually hobble off the field and head to the Urgent Care. There would be no miracle return this time. No popping back in. This would be a season ender. Wishing you, Yaron, and all our injured players – speedy and full recoveries! The rest of the game was a joke. Ross had a bunch of picks and scores. Same with Vegh. At one point Vegh was so disgusted by the one sided victory, he curled up into the fetal position and rolled around on the turf instead of catching a TD pass. Once again – I will keep the Jewball from Pray – who has his designs on Jewball MVP anyway – due to the standout performance by one of his weapons. That would be Ross. Ross is like Megatron, but likeable.
Who wants WEEK 12? Early, Late, or Both.