Rebels Reign Supreme!!

Wow! In 7 years of this league we have never had a Championship game end in a tie. In fact, we didn’t even have playoff tiebreakers in effect until 2007. If you remember, that was the year where in the semifinal round, Jens defeated his opponent but Joe and Jason tied in the other game. Ultimately, all three of those teams battled for the title with Jason coming out the victor. Tiebreaker rules for the playoffs have been in effect since then, but have never been used. Until now…

In a bizarre decision, Philadelphia decided to postpone their Sunday Night game until Tuesday due to a snowstorm. By random happenstance, four players in the Championship game were involved in this game: Michael Vick, DeSean Jackson and David Akers for the Scottish Rebels, and Jeremy Maclin for sprouts. Sprouts led by 18 points going into the Tuesday night game. Akers ended up posting a deuce by only kicking two extra points and coming up about 12 yards short on a 54-yard kick. DeSean Jackson posted a measly 3 points, while Maclin logged 7 by gaining 74 yards. So it all came down to Michael Vick. Coming in he was averaging 28 points per game, so it seemed likely he could put up a good total against a struggling Vikings team. The only thing that struggled though, was Vick. He lost two fumbles, threw one interception (and should have had at least two other passes picked) and just looked bad all night. Somehow he managed to throw and run for a touchdown, finishing with 20 points, his second lowest point total of the season. This left my Scottish Rebels and sprouts knotted at 87 points.

The first tiebreaker in the Championship Round is to the team with the highest scoring quarterback. In spite of his less than stellar performance, Vick outscored sprout’s QB Matt Schaub who had scored 14 points against the Denver Broncos. So the 2010 Sacred Sundays Champion is the Scottish Rebels!!! I must say, it feels good to take my spot at the top of the Fantasy Football Mountain. :-)

Congrats also need to go out to Joe’s Pats this week who was the only team to break into triple digits (and just barely!) with 100 points! Way to go, Joe!! With that, six different teams took home Weekly High Score Prizes this year. Here are the final standings:

1^st – Scottish Rebels – Jerry

2^nd – sprouts – Russ

3^rd – Joe’s Pats – Joe

4^th – SOFA KING GOOD – James

5^th – Lords of Lumberg – Timmy

6^th – Midnight Maulers – Jamie

7^th – Tailgate Approved – Jens

8^th – Coors Light Drunk Guys – Shawn Martin

9^th – American BadAss – Jason

10^th – Frito Pie – Rachel

(Next year’s draft will be the reverse order. More on the draft and keepers below.)

Here are the final money payouts:

Scottish Rebels - $220 (3 Weekly High Score Prizes plus Championship)

sprouts - $210 (4 Weekly High Score Prizes plus Runner-Up)

SOFA KING GOOD - $160 (4 Weekly High Score Prizes)

Lords of Lumberg - $120 (3 Weekly High Score Prizes)

Tailgate Approved - $40 (1 Weekly High Score Prize)

Joe’s Pats - $40 (1 Weekly High Score Prize)

Checks will be going out this week!

DRAFT AND KEEPERS

The same rules will apply for keepers this year as last year: You can keep up to two players from your team’s final roster for next year. For any player that you elect to keep, you will forfeit a draft pick equivalent to the round the player was drafted in the previous draft. Any keeper being kept again will count as a first round pick. Any player acquired through a waiver wire pick-up or as a free agent will count as a 15^th round pick. Keepers must be declared no later than one week after the 2011 NFL Draft. Also, as mentioned earlier, the draft order will be the reverse of the final standings.

HISTORY AND RECORDS

As I was researching the tiebreaker rules this week, I ended up spending some time looking back at past seasons for Sacred Sundays. It’s amazing that this league has been going now for 7 years! Here are the past champions:

2004 – Bad Ass – Jason (I believe he defeated Jamie in the finals, but I kept really crappy notes and records back then.)

2005 – Sofa King Cool – James (Defeated Bad Ass in finals)

2006 – Midnight Maulers – Jamie (Defeated Coors Light Drunk Guys in finals)

2007 – American BadAss – Jason (Defeated Jens & Joe in three-way battle)

2008 – American BadAss – Jason (Defeated Scottish Rebels in finals)

2009 – Lords of Lumberg – Timmy (Defeated Midnight Maulers in finals)

Also, here are some records that I have been keeping since the 2007 season:

Highest Weekly Point Total – Shawn – 145 pts, Week 16-2008

Lowest Weekly Point Total – Jason – 21 pts, Week 4-2008

Highest Weekly Total Score (all teams combined) – Week 2-2007 (993 total pts)

Lowest Weekly Total Score (all teams combined) – Week 16-2007 (644 total pts)

Best Bench Improvement – Russ – 89 pts, Week 2-2009

Highest Single Week Player Points – TIE – Adrian Peterson – 49 pts, Week 9-2007, and Michael Vick – 49 pts, Week 10-2010

BEST BENCH

There was a real battle to see who was going to grab the final Best Bench of the season… Joe’s Pats and Frito Pie put up good efforts, with 35-point and 36-point improvements, but the final crown for this year goes to last year’s champion…. the Lords of Lumberg!! Timmy could have improved his point total by a solid 42 points with three roster moves: J. Freeman for M. Ryan (+20 pts), M. Austin for W. Welker (+14 pts) and Kansas City for the New York Jets (+8 pts).

So another season has gone by in what seems like the blink of an eye. I have certainly had a blast this year, as I do every year with you crazy assholes! I’m already looking forward to next year!

Happy New Year!!!

It's Playoff Time!!

This marks the 3^rd time in the history of the Sacred Sundays Fantasy Football league that four of the six playoff teams will come from the same division. All of the scenarios and tie-breakers in the end did not matter, as Jamie’s Midnight Maulers pulled out a narrow victory over sprouts to snag the 2nd Wild Card spot and final spot in the playoffs.

The Maulers finished with a win-loss percentage of 0.500 courtesy of their tie with Frito Pie in Week 2. It’s funny how tie games always end up mattering in the end. Also, it was fitting that on the day Jamie made it in because of a tie, he once again tied with Frito Pie at 77 points. In an even closer game, Joe’s Pats took the South Division title over the Lords of Lumberg with a 1-point victory, 95-94. It ultimately came down to Monday Night’s game with the Jets playing the Patriots. Joe scored 31 points in that game (T. Brady-29 pts, D. Keller-2 pts) and Tim only scored 5 points (NYJ D-5 pts). The NY Jets, last year’s top-ranked defense, look average this year and currently sit ranked 15^th among defenses.

Remember that although the playoffs start this week, all teams are still eligible to win the Weekly High Score Prize. Speaking of that, big congratulations to the Cap’n who was SOFA KING GOOD this week! James held off a strong charge from the Coors Light Drunk Guys and took home his fourth Weekly High Score Prize of the year! Well done, sir!

So lets get ready for some playoffs!!! Oh yeah!!! First, some observations…

THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!

Reggie Wayne, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 29 pts – Wayne was tied for tops in fantasy this week, as he notched his highest point total of the season.

Tom Brady, QB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – In spite of the cold, Tom Brady was hot and threw for 326 yards and four touchdowns! Bang.

Adrian Peterson, RB – Lords of Lumberg – 28 pts – I’m actually surprised that the Bills managed to hold AP to only 107 yards and 3 touchdowns. That should be considered a victory for them.

Michael Vick, QB – Scottish Rebels – 28 pts – What other wonderful things can I say about Vick that haven’t already been said? He is a class act all the way, and will hopefully retire from the game as a Scottish Rebel.

Marshawn Lynch, RB – Scottish Rebels – 27 pts – Before we give too much credit here, it must be noted that Lynch was playing against the Carolina Panthers…a team that should probably be competing in the NAIA, not the NFL.

Aaron Rodgers, QB – American BadAss – 26 pts – Rodgers could be nicknamed “Captain Consistency” because this guy always puts up big points. Out of 12 games this year, Rodgers has scored over 15 points 10 times, five of those times going for 25 points or more! The only two times he failed to score more than 15 points were in Week 1 and 8, where he scored 11 points and 6 points respectively.

TRY AGAIN

Reggie Bush, RB – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 2 pts – Bush’s average over the last two games is half a point per game.

Visanthe Shiancoe, TE – Tailgate Approved – 1 pt – My research was pretty brief, but I believe this guy may be the only person in the world named ‘Visanthe’. I did however find a pretty close match on Google with ‘Vasanti’ which is Sanskrit for “from springtime”.

Dwayne Bowe, WR – sprouts – 0 pts – Bowe was held without a catch for only the second time in his career. He was averaging 31 ppg over the last three weeks before laying this egg, so we can probably cut him a little slack.

Greg Olsen, TE – Midnight Maulers – 0 pts – Olsen has posted more than 10 points only once this year (Week 3), and has now been shut out three times. Not a good trend.

NORTH DIVISION DOMINANCE

The North Division was the powerhouse this year, sending four teams to the playoffs and leading in every meaningful category.

Categories won by the North Division:

Points scored: 5,542 to 5,304

Points against: 5,354 to 5,492

Wins: 33 to 31

Ties: 2 to 0

Good looks: 5 to 0

Categories won by the South Division:

Losses: 34 to 30

Waiver Moves: 75 to 61

PLAYOFFS? DON’T TALK ABOUT THE PLAYOFFS!!

Here are the final regular season standings and seeds for the playoffs:

North Division Champion – SOFA KING GOOD (first round bye)

South Division Champion – Joe’s Pats (first round bye)

North Division Runner-up – sprouts (will play 2nd wildcard team in first round)

South Division Runner-up – Lords of Lumberg (will play 1st wildcard team in first round)

Wildcard #1 – Scottish Rebels (by virtue of best overall record of remaining teams)

Wildcard #2 – Midnight Maulers (by virtue of 2nd best overall record of remaining teams)

Remember that there will be no tie games in the playoffs. Ties will be broken in the following manner:

• Ties in any playoff game prior to the Championship Game will automatically go to the higher seeded team.
• If there is a tie in the Championship Game, the following tiebreakers will be used:

1) Team with the highest scoring quarterback wins

2) Team with the highest scoring runningback wins

3) Team with the highest scoring wide receiver wins

4) If still tied, co-Champions will be declared

WHO NEEDS A DRAFT?

As of Week 13, there are only four players on my roster whom I actually drafted (Steven Jackson, Arian Foster, Chicago and Kyle Orton) and one of my keepers (DeSean Jackson).

BEST BENCH

No one really even came close to the winner of the award for Best Bench… sprouts!! Russ could have upped his point total by 36 points with three roster moves: V. Davis for J. Tamme (14 pts), B. Green-Ellis for C. Johnson (13 pts) and C. Ochocinco for D. Bowe (9 pts).

That’s all I’ve got… Let’s play some football!!!

One week to the dance!

After 12 weeks of games, we know five of the six playoff-qualifying teams, but only one of the playoff spots is settled. Last week, I prematurely labeled SOFA KING GOOD as the North Division Champ, but after the Week 12 results, that spot is still up for grabs. In the South Division the championship will be between the Lords of Lumberg and Joe’s Pats. As luck would have it, those two teams play each other this week! Could not be better!

As far as the wildcard slots go, one has already been wrapped up by my Scottish Rebels. It doesn’t matter if I win or lose this week, I’m in. Four teams remain in contention to nab the second wild card slot: Midnight Maulers, Coors Light Drunk Guys, American BadAss and Tailgate Approved. Read on for the full breakdown of the playoff scenarios.

But before we get to that, I must give big congratulations to Russ for taking his third Weekly High Score Prize, which was also his second one in a row! Well-done sir! To say that Russ has dominated these past two weeks would be quite the understatement… Over the past two weeks, sprouts has scored a total of 246 points, which is 60 points ahead of the next closest team. Also, sprouts has averaged 123 points during that time, which is 42 points higher than the average for the rest of the league. Russ – “sprouts” may need to be renamed to “Redwoods” if you keep playing this big!!

So let’s get into this!!

GOOD

Dwayne Bowe, WR – sprouts – 38 pts – The “D. Bowe Show” is in full effect! He notched 170 yards and three touchdowns against a non-existent Seattle defense.

Peyton Hillis, RB – sprouts – 37 pts – All I can say is that I would hate to be a defender who has to tackle this guy. He just looks like he hurts.

Tom Brady, QB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – The Patriots vs. the Lions? Does the NFL have a mercy rule?

Matt Cassel, QB – Tailgate Approved – 27 pts – Someone had to throw all those TD’s to Bowe…

Jacoby Ford, WR – Free Agent – 27 pts – Kudos to any fantasy owner who played Jacoby Ford this week… that’s gotta be a lonely group.

Aaron Rodgers, QB – American BadAss – 26 pts – Just another day at the office for Rodgers… 344 yards passing, 51 yards rushing and 2 total TD’s.

BAD

Terrell Owens, WR – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – Palmer was shut down and T.O. only managed 3 catches for 17 yards.

Nate Washington, WR – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – Joe had both of his wide receivers score 1 point and he still won his game. Crazy.

Dez Bryant, WR – American BadAss – 1 pt – After a nice stretch, Dez has now gone 2 weeks without reaching the endzone.

Tim Hightower, RB – Frito Pie – 0 pts – Hightower finished with no yards on Monday night, but not for lack of trying. He actually had five carries for zero yards.

Chris Johnson, RB – sprouts – 0 pts – Johnson finished with five yards on seven attempts. How can the Tennessee Titans, playing against the Houston Texans, with a rookie quarterback under center, only give the ball to Chris Johnson SEVEN TIMES?!?!

Rob Bironas, K – Tailgate Approved – 0 pts – Bironas was a victim of Tennessee’s horrible play calling as well, notching his first shutout of the year.

UGLY

Reggie Bush, RB – Coors Light Drunk Guys – -1 pt – Bush had been hurt and out for eight weeks. In his first week back, he actually did worse than not playing by only gaining 17 yards and losing a fumble… finishing with minus one point.

Stay on the bench Reggie! You’ll do less damage there!!

PLAYOFFS!!!

A lot was settled this week as far as the teams that made it into the playoffs, but the final standings are far from set. Here is what we know:

- Teams that are in for sure: SOFA KING GOOD, sprouts, Lords of Lumberg, Joe’s Pats and Scottish Rebels.

- Both divisions are still up for grabs: In the North Division, if SOFA KING GOOD loses and sprouts wins, it will come down to total points scored to determine the champion. In the South Division, the winner between the Lords of Lumberg and Joe’s Pats will be the champion.

- Teams that are on the bubble: Midnight Maulers, Coors Light Drunk Guys, Tailgate Approved and American Bad Ass.

Here are the scenarios for the bubble teams:

Midnight Maulers – Jamie is in control of his own destiny. A win and he is in.

Coors Light Drunk Guys – Shawn needs to win PLUS have the Midnight Maulers lose AND outscore Tailgate Approved.

Tailgate Approved – Jens needs to win PLUS have the Midnight Maulers lose PLUS have the Coors Light Drunk Guys lose, OR win PLUS have the Midnight Maulers lose AND outscore the Coors Light Drunk Guys.

American BadAss – Jason needs to win PLUS have the Midnight Maulers lose PLUS have Tailgate Approved lose.

MINING FOR RUNNINGBACKS

Who would have ever guessed at this stage of the season that the top five runningbacks would be: Arian Foster (227 pts), Peyton Hillis (194 pts), Adrian Peterson (186 pts), Jamaal Charles (154 pts) and LeSean McCoy (153 pts). Only one of those players was a keeper (Peterson), two were second round picks (Charles and McCoy), one was a fifth round pick (Foster) and one was a Week 4 waiver-wire pickup (Hillis). Who needs a draft when you can get the second best runningback off the waiver wire?!

BEST BENCH

Frito Pie and Tailgate Approved posted solid bench numbers this week, but didn’t come close to this week’s Best Bench…. SOFA KING GOOD! James could have improved his point total by a solid 46 points(!) with four roster moves. J. Cutler for P. Rivers (19 pts), F. Jackson for D. McFadden (15 pts), A. Johnson for M. Wallace (8 pts) and Giants for Eagles (4 pts). Had James made all of those moves, he would have just edged sprouts for the high score this week with 126 points…

Okay, there’s a lot at stake this week with eight teams either playing for a spot in the playoffs or a first round bye! Get your team set…and don’t forget about the Thursday Night Game!!