Packers-Ravens game blog

We're 2o minutes from kickoff and I haven't been able to keep my mind off this game all day. This kind of suspense is what the FFOC bracket cut lines do to a person. To think that one lucky and skillful person will become a millionaire because of fantasy football!

As of now, the Vegas bracket cut line is 105.42. The top 362 scores this week advance to week 14. I have two teams alive, Jager Meister and Jim Beam. I'm confident that the Jager Meister team will make the cut, but Jim Beam is in a lot of trouble unless Jermichael Finley gets at least 9 points for me.

Predictions for the game:
FINAL SCORE: Green Bay 21 Baltimore 19 (originally predicted 19-14 Baltimore, but no Ed Reed means one more TD for Green Bay)

Aaron Rodgers: 16.27 pts
Donald Driver: 9.4 pts
Ray Rice: 19.74 pts

I'm ready for some football!

***All times are CDT

7:42 pm - Finally! The ball is in the air at Lambeau Field. GO PACK GO!

7:55 pm - Packers take the opening kickoff and march down the field for a short field goal . Cutline has jumped up to 107.22 in part due to the defenses getting max points. No Punt intended, Baseballmafia.com-3 and Boston Crabs are happy as they are below the cut line and have only Crosby playing tonight.

8:13 pm - Who needs Ed Reed? Zbikowski gets an easy pick as teams hoping the cut line doesn't move much are happy. Both Rice and Rodgers have lost a point for turnovers. Cut line is currently 107.56

8:23 pm - A pretty uneventful first quarter filled with turnovers and minimal yards. Baltimore appears to have good holes in the running game and Green Bay has been able to get Jones and Finley matched up on linebackers, so I anticipate the scoring to pick up soon. Cut line is now 107.60.

8:52 pm - I don't even get to sulk about Finley losing his balance and not being able to get into the end zone as Rodgers goes right back to him the next play. The Rodgers to Finley touchdown gives me some hope for the Jim Beam team as I am no up to 91.46 pts. I figured that I needed at least 9 out of Finley to have a chance and he already has over 11 pts. Let the scoring begin! Cut line is now 109.44.

9:09 pm - Arodge to Driver for a TD makes a lot of nervous owners very happy. The cut line has now crept up to 110.36 as a few more dead teams have now been eliminated (pending teams going backwards). My Jager Meister team is now safely up to 257th place and over 118 points. I will still be alive next week with at least 1 team!

9:15 - Green Bay leads 17-0 at the half. Flacco to Heap was a popular combo for garbage yards at the end of the half. As expected, Woodson has all but shut down Derrick Mason. Flacco owners are happy not to get a cheap interception by Flacco on the hail mary. Half time cut line is 112.14. I noticed that Chad S lost one of his teams this week as Cocktails and Dreams is done with 109.6 pts.

9:42 pm - Not much happening in the 3rd quarter. Finley hurt his knee blocking and I'm guessing he's done for the game, so that's bad news for me. I believe I was the only team in contention that had him. Now it's up to Rice and Rodgers to get me 20 more points this half and over the hump. Cut line is up to 112.26. So far 39 dead teams have been passed by the cut line tonight.

9:52 - Ravens get their first good drive of the game and a touchdown. The biggest impact the TD has is to lower the GB defense points a few notches. Two big plays on the drive that could have been. First, the Packers got away with a pass interference at the 1, which could have led to a much needed Ray Rice TD. Later in the drive, Flacco had Mason wide open for what probably would have been a TD, but pressure caused an off target throw and Washington got a TD on the next play. Cut line is currently 112.64. A few teams (Baby need new shoes, West Coast Wise Guys 6, and Glens 1st and goal) dropped below the cut line after losing 3 points from the Packers D.

10:04 - Rodgers throws an interception that bounced off Driver's leg. If I were Donald T, I probably would complain that I shouldn't lose a point because it wasn't the quarterback's fault. However, I've played long this game long enough to know that sometimes the breaks go your way and sometimes they don't. An interception is an interception. The good news is that with the Ravens TD, the game is close and the Packers will start airing it out again. McGahee came in and vultured the TD from Rice as usual. One reason why I haven't played Rice much this year as I have other good options at RB. Cut line: 112.20 It keeps dropping and giving some owners false hope.

10:14 - End of the 3rd quarter. Cut line 112.60
Some side notes...Finley is back in the game which gives my Jim Beam team a better chance. I'm at 104.66 at the moment so I could use one more TD out of any of my 3 players. Looks like the cut line will end up around 115. Congrats to FFOC rookie Pete (maddawgs) as a few Jennings catches has allowed him to comfortably get over the cut line at 115.72.

10:17 - Crosby misses a chip shot for -3 pts moving Batnchucker, Thundering Herd 2, Endzone Dance, JadgTigerVI, and KaHoona below the cut line which is now 112.28. Somewhere Donald T is smiling.

10:28 - Just as I was beginning to feel less comfortable about my Jim Beam team making the cut, I felt the adrenaline rush that the live cut line brings to the FFOC contest. My my Jermichael Finley caught a pass at the 3 and broke through for a touchdown. 12 more points for my team and now I'm at 118 and feeling safe! The cut line has moved up to 114.50 with 10 minutes left in the game.

10:52 - The game is all but over, but people can still get garbage points from Flacco, Mason, Rice and the Packers defense. The Crosby field goal makes up for his earlier miss and with 2 minutes left, the cut line has risen to 115.18. As a result, 57 teams who were above the cut line before tonight are now below it and hoping the Packers give up more points and lower the cut line.

11:02 - Rice had a 21 yard run to start the garbage points and that got at least 6 players over the cut line. The game ended with a sack to give the Packers D another point. I'm too tired to review who this helped and who it hurt. I will write about it tomorrow.

All I know is that both my teams are through to week 14 and are a few points ahead of the unofficial cut line of 115.72 so I don't have to worry about stat changes or live scoring errors. My friends Pete and Kalen also advanced to next week. Hopefully at least 2 of our 4 teams can keep the dream alive for the last cut week. I haven't looked at any match ups so I don't know how my teams look. I just want to celebrate this weeks victories for a few days before worrying about it.

Congrats to all who advanced. I'm out!