I checked and rechecked the calendar before putting pen to paper for this recap. And it is confirmed: Last Sunday was not Thanksgiving or Christmas or New Years. It was just a plain old Week 11 in this 2021-2022 season. So why did it feel so much like a Bowl Game? Why didn’t it seem to matter?

Could it be that the schedule got the better of us? A Week 11 sandwiched between the intensity and pageantry of League Game 3 and League Game 4. Did our players decide to hold back while looking forward?

It’s tough otherwise to explain another Week of Jewball that was just competitively imbalanced.

It was cold, sure, but this is football. It was a gray morning, but see above. We had good players show up. Many of our stars and power rankers checked in. No reason not to have two close games with the vitcor going home feeling accomplished. Yet, once again it was a one sided affair. Make that three one sided affairs. And to be a-fair to the players that showed, this was an example of a day where QB play determined the outcomes. Absolutely, individuals could have tried harder or fought fiercer, but Week 11 showed the unpredictability of Jewball and sports in general. Our power rankings would have you believe that Yaron and Gronk are unstoppable forces. Gronk, all the way at the top! Yaron, not far behind!

And yet….the same Gronk can’t put up a single point in Game 1 or Game 2 and throws picks galore. And yet again, the same Gronk ravages Yaron in Game 3. The same Gronk who got shut out just minutes earlier goes for 9 scores. The same Yaron who has been ascending to the status he deems himself worthy (as do most of us) looks befuddled from the first snap.

Legs tries to call in sick. Then he tries to play GM with 25 minutes to go before kickoff. He ends up coming a bit late but Game 1 is already in tatters. Pray runs for 88 yards to start the game and Gronk throws a P6 to Ernie on his first possession. By the time Legs checks in, the Game feels very much out of hand. Once Pray scored again, and due to the rough “inequitable” start, we run this one back. Everyone gets a reset and a chance to make right. But there was no right to be made by Gronk and co. The QB with the heretofore golden touch looked rusty and tarnished. He couldn’t score a single point. And – prognosticators be damned – there was Pray on the other side living his best life, pumping his fist and celebrating pinpoint hookups with Singer and OBJ receptions by Klink on his way to 4 scores. One of them being a throwback P6 by Klink where he looked as spry and fleet footed as back in 2007 when the Chipmunk could cover anyone. So that’s Game 1 in an acorn shell. Klinky gets the honorable mention for the aforementioned, but Jewball to Pray. He had the numbers. Check the website. You’ll see.

I was worried about Game 2 because  Yaron was loaded with all the players close to his heart and he had been on a winning a streak, looking extremely sharp. He was poised to shine in every way and make the day as memorable as he has had on the Jewball field. He was joined by all the players he had brought to Jewball, including the return of showstopper Flash, plus Rabin whom he uses incredibly effectively out of the TE position. And Gronk was picking himself up off the ground.

But, like Daveo while the cameras are rolling, Yaron was mucho distracted. Jordan picks him on the second pass of the game. Jordan gets stopped at the 1. Gronk to Ivry for the score. On the day, Yaron got picked 4 times, Jordan got stopped at the 1 yard line 4 times, and Gronk threw a TD to Ivry 4 times. This is how it went. It was tough to watch Yaron have such a miserable day with all his very talented players from back in the day surrounding him. Storm had two TDs late to keep his stat train moving, but the game was never close. Gronk wins 9-3. Normally a 4 TD game would get u a Jewball, but all of Irv’s TDs were the same. Crosses from the 6 yard line. He made the plays. He leads the league in TDs and he is definitely an MVP candidate. But Jewball to Gronk for the equally gaudy numbers and the lesson to all of us out here about bouncing back. He had 3 games on Sunday. Fail, Fail, and Great Success. A less mentally tough person would have given up on themselves and the day. A lesson for all our League QBs. In the end. There can be only one.