Wide Right

To most watching the monday night football game, John Carney's miss of a 37 yard chip shot appeared to be a meaningless miss because the Saints were ahead by 3 touchdowns with 4 minutes to go. But for the millions of people who wagered on the total being over 57 points and for the 7 people who had Carney as their kicker in the Vegas bracket and missed the cut by less than 6 points, the miss was very costly!

Personally, I like having negative points for kickers and defenses. Why not penalize players for playing poorly? However, that's a debate for another blog. This blog is about 7 teams who saw their chance at becoming a million dollar team go wide right. In the FFOC, a made 37 yard FG is worth 3 points where as a miss is -3. That's a 6 point swing for these teams who unofficially missed the cut by less than 6 points.

Krejci XII - 100.72 pts**
Danmar - 100.68 pts
Captain Marvel #23 - 98.94 pts
Gun Flavored - 98.88 pts
SFV Matadors - 97.04 pts
Showmethemoney12 - 96.86 pts
mnm 95.84 pts

As of tonight, the unofficial cutline is 101.72.

Upon further review, we have a development just as heartbreaking as Carney's missed field goal. Krejci XII got a 10 yard run from Pierre Thomas on the Saints last play of the game to put them ahead of Reeces Team XI by 1 tenth of a point! Had Mike Bell not gotten hurt on the play before or had Thomas only gained 8 yards, Reeces would still have a chance at a million dollars!

It's endings like this which make the FFOC a great contest! Each week there are hundreds of stories about the triplets...woulda, coulda and shoulda. The adrenaline rush of watching your team move above the line after a big play or waiting to see if your team can hold off the ever increasing cut line on Monday night is quite exciting.

Last year my one and only team was eliminated after the 2nd week. This time 2 of my 6 teams are still alive in the Vegas bracket after 12 weeks. Only 3 more cut lines to go! I now have a 1/401 chance at becoming a millionaire.

Some teams sitting at or near 101.72 will probably check the cut line scoring daily to see if any stat changes make the line move up or down. Reportedly there's an error in the scoring for Arizona's defense. Some may gain or lose a point due to a stat change if it's made by Wednesday.

If I have time this week, I'll note other heart breaking stories of those missing the cut line by having Matt Ryan and his whopping .6 points or having an injured player that was a late scratch such as Kurt Warner or Cedric Benson.