One BOOM to rule them all...

Boom-shaka-laka!!  It was a boom heard ‘round the world… literally.  Jens was in Germany for the Christmas holiday as his team BoomGoesTheDynamite continued their winning ways and bested American BadAss by 12 points to become the 2012 Sacred Sundays Fantasy Football Champion!  Congratulations Jens!!  In an interview, he had this to say:

“I would like to thank Shawn for his inspiration in my preparation technique with which I entered on draft day.  Which is to say, very little.  I knew my team was a team of destiny from the beginning.  I feel my team is ready to become a dynasty in this league.  What the expletive do you know biatch?!”

Always classy… But hey, as the champion you can say whatever you want because at the end of the day, the scoreboard is the only thing that matters!  BoomGoesTheDynamite finishes as the top scoring team, having posted 1,573 points this season, and also won the most Weekly High Score Prizes with 4 ½.  Well done, sir... well done indeed.

Speaking of the Weekly High Score, have to give some big props to Jamie George and the Midnight Maulers for being the highest scoring team in this, the final week of the season.  Jamie had big performances from Matt Ryan, Reggie Bush and the Chicago Bears to give him 129 points this week!  Well done sir!  This was Jamie’s 2nd Weekly High Score prize this season, and was the 4th highest score posted this season.  That gives Jamie $100 total in prize money won.  See below for a full recap on the prize money won this year.

The fantasy season has come and gone in what feels like the blink of an eye, but before we go we still have some items to discuss.  So let’s get to it!!...


BIG TIME FOOTBALL
-Dez Bryant, WR – SOFA KING GOOD – 37 pts – Dez needs to break a finger more often!  He went off for 224 yards and two touchdowns in his best performance of the season, all with a broken finger.  Nice!

-San Diego, DEF – Frito Pie – 36 pts – The Chargers really poured it on the Jets… 17 pts allowed, 11 sacks (yes ELEVEN sacks!), two turnovers and one kick return touchdown.  Did you know that the Chargers are 6-9 this season?  Sounds like too little too late…

-Tony Romo, QB – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 35 pts – Romo was pretty much perfect in this game, throwing 414 yards and four touchdowns.  Over the final five weeks of the season, he has averaged 24.6 points per game.

-Aaron Rodgers, QB – American BadAss – 32 pts – Rodgers had his second best game of the season to close it out… 342 yards passing, 3 touchdowns and he also added a rushing touchdown.  For the season, Rodgers finishes as the third highest scoring QB, behind only Brees and Brady.

-Drew Brees, QB – CL Drunk Guys – 32 pts – Brees had the Cowboys’ number on Sunday, thrashing them for 446 yards and 3 TD’s.  He finishes as the top QB in all of fantasy (and top player overall) with 323 points.

-Chicago, DEF – Midnight Maulers – 31 pts – After slumping for three weeks and not scoring more than 12 points, the Bears roared to life against the Cardinals!  They allowed only 7 points, got 4 sacks, had three turnovers and added two defensive touchdowns.  The Bears finish as the top defense in fantasy, and the 9th overall player with 274 points this season.

-Roddy White, WR – Scottish Rebels – 30 pts – White nearly matched his season-high total from Week 4, by going for 153 yards and two touchdowns.  He finishes the season as the 7th ranked wide receiver with 171 points.

COME ON MAN
-Aaron Hernandez, TE – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 1 pt – Against two tough teams (HOU and SF), Hernandez puts up 17 and 15 points, respectively.  Then against a lowly opponent (JAX), he only catches one pass for 13 yards.  Think he might have been overlooking this game?

-Mike Wallace, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – An up-and-down season for Wallace comes to an end with him only catching one ball for 13 yards.

-Tony Gonzales, TE – Frito Pie – 0 pts – Tony only had one catch for 9 yards on Sunday.  What a way to finish the season.  Doh!

-Hakeem Nicks, WR- Gotham’s Reckoning – 0 pts – Nicks’ season started off so promising with a 28-pt performance in Week 2, but he never came close to that number again (13 was his next highest in Week 12.)  In this final game, he didn’t even catch one of the three passes that was thrown his way.

-Beanie Wells, RB – Frito Pie – -2 pts – Wells had a four-carry, one fumble, three-yard dud in Week 16.  No other way to describe it.


FINAL STANDINGS
Here are the final standings for the 2012 season.
1) BoomGoesTheDynamite – Jens
2) American BadAss – Jason
3) Coors Light Drunk Guys – Shawn
4) sprouts – Russ
5) Midnight Maulers – Jamie
6) Joe’s Pats – Joe
7) Frito Pie – Rachel
8) SOFA KING GOOD – James
9) Gotham’s Reckoning – Timmy
10) Scottish Rebels – Jerry
Teams that did not qualify for the playoffs are ranked based on their regular season standings.  The draft order for 2013 will be the reverse order of these standings.

EVERYONE NEEDS MONEY; THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT MONEY
Here is a final count on the prize money winnings this season:
1) BoomGoesTheDynamite – Jens - $300 – Champion/4 ½ Weekly High Score/Playoff Qualification
2) sprouts – Russ - $140 – 3 Weekly High Score/Playoff Qualification
3) Joe’s Pats – Joe - $140 – 3 Weekly High Score/Playoff Qualification
4) Midnight Maulers – Jamie - $100 – 2 Weekly High Score/Playoff Qualification
5) American BadAss – Jason - $90 – Runner-up/½ Weekly High Score/Playoff Qualification
6) Coors Light Drunk Guys – Shawn - $60 – 1 Weekly High Score/Playoff Qualification
7) Gotham’s Reckoning – Timmy - $40 – 1 Weekly High Score
8) SOFA KING GOOD – James - $40 – 1 Weekly High Score
Congratulations to everyone!  I’ll send separate emails to everyone to confirm addresses for paying out winnings.


TIGHT END NOTE
Rob Gronkowski finishes the season as the second highest scoring tight end in all of fantasy, in spite of scoring his last points in Week 11.  Tony Gonzales, who finishes as the top tight end with 131 points, passed him in Week 15.  (Gronk was only 2 points behind, with 129).  So in only 10 games, Gronkowski outscored the season output of Jimmy Graham by 2, Heath Miller by 8, Jason Witten by 22 and Greg Olsen by 26.  Next season he might have to be classified as a wide receiver or something, because he is absolutely dominating the tight end position.


KEEPERS
As always, everyone will be able to keep two players from this season’s final roster for next year’s team.  Here is a quick recap of the keeper rules:

• Players selected as keepers will count as the draft pick for whatever round they were taken in this year’s draft. 
• Players that were a keeper going into this season will count as a first round pick. 
• Players that were not drafted this season will count as 15th round picks. 
• If two players are kept that both have a first round value, they will count as the first two picks for that team.  If two players are kept that both have a 15th round value, they will count as the last two picks for that team.
• Any questions or disputes about keeper value will be settled by the commissioner.

Rosters will be considered final as of Friday, December 28th.  I will send out a sheet with all final rosters and keeper values after that.


FANTASY vs. REALITY
The New England Patriots have been dominating teams scoring-wise this entire season.  In fantasy scoring, they have been the top team since Week 5 and have never looked back.  So it seems only right that they finish the season at #1 in reality scoring (529 pts) and #1 in fantasy scoring (1,589 pts).  Denver is second in reality with 443 points, and third in fantasy scoring with 1,450 points.  New Orleans ranks third in reality (423 pts) and second in fantasy (1,463 pts).  The Redskins are 4th in reality (408 pts), but only rank 7th in fantasy scoring (1,295 pts).  As promised, here is the full list of the teams ranked by fantasy points scored: (Reality points and rank in parentheses)
1) NE-1589; (1- 529)
2) NO-1463; (3- 423)
3) Den-1450; (2- 443)
4) GB-1361; (7- 399)
5) Atl-1354; (5- 402)
6) Hou-1332; (6- 400)
7) Was-1295; (4- 408)
8) Bal-1295; (10- 381)
9) Dal-1289; (14- 358)
10) Det-1277; (16- 348)
11) NYG-1268; (9- 387)
12) Cin-1262; (12- 368)
13) Sea-1251; (8- 392)
14) SF-1222; (11- 370)
15) TB-1219; (13- 367)
16) Ind-1171; (18- 329)
17) Chi-1163; (15- 349)
18) Min-1122; (17- 342)
19) Car-1120; (21- 313)
20) Pit-1119; (22- 312)
21) SD-1111; (19- 326)
22) StL-1110; (26- 286)
23) Oak-1083; (29- 269)
24) Cle-1076; (23- 292)
25) Buf-1074; (20- 316)
26) Mia-1058; (25- 288)
27) Phi-1052; (27- 273)
28) Ten-1027; (24- 292)
29) NYJ-937; (28- 272)
30) Jac-913; (31- 235)
31) Ari-899; (30- 237)
32) KC-849; (32- 208)


TITLES UNLEASHED
There is an odd trend in the NFL where on the backs of jerseys, several players are choosing to denote that they are a “senior”, such as Titus Young Sr.  Using designations such as “Jr.” or “III” are perfectly acceptable, because the person using it is obviously younger than their father and may not be as well-known, so this distinction helps to differentiate them.  But in the case of Titus Young, his son can’t be more than 6 years old (unless he got a girl pregnant when he was 15, and even then the kid would only be 8), so there is no risk of him being confused with a 1st grader.  Can you imagine?  “Uh, when you say Titus Young, do you mean the wide receiver for the Detroit Lions or the kid in Mrs. Richardson’s class over in Room 15?”  Unless you’re a five-year-old, odds are that you are talking about the wide receiver.


YEAR IN REVIEW
Here are a couple of the notable records set this season and other interesting tidbits:

• Highest single game score by a player – Doug Martin, RB, Frito Pie – 54 pts (Week 9 vs. Oakland) (Sets new all-time record)
• Most points scored in a single week – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 148 pts (Week 14) (Ties for all-time single week record)
• Least points scored in a single week – Midnight Maulers – 25 pts (Week 11)
• Largest margin of victory – 44 (Week 11 – Boom defeated Maulers 69-25)
• Highest scoring week in total – Week 4 (976 total points scored by all teams)
• Lowest scoring week in total – Week 11 (785 total points scored by all teams)
• Longest win streak – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 8 games (including playoffs)
• Highest Best Bench – sprouts +61 (Week 2)
• Most Best Bench Awards – Coors Light Drunk Guys - 5 (Weeks 1, 3, 7, 12, 13)
• No Best Bench Awards – Gotham’s Reckoning, Midnight Maulers, BoomGoesTheDynamite
• Most waiver moves – Gotham’s Reckoning (21)
• Least waiver moves – Coors Light Drunk Guys (1)

BEST BENCH – 2012 FINALE
The winner of Best Bench this week could have done it with a single roster move, but three roster moves actually netted a solid 45-point improvement.  That team is… SOFA KING GOOD!!  James only needed to swap Dez Bryant for Victor Cruz (+35 pts) to win the crown this week, but could have also added Atlanta Def for NYG Def (+7 pts) and RG III for Eli Manning (+3 pts) to really walk away with it.


So that is all she wrote for the 2012 season… it is truly amazing how quickly 16 weeks can fly by.  Honestly being a part of this league makes the football season just that much better…even though my team laid a giant egg this year.  I hope everyone had as much fun as I did!  Also, just so everyone knows, there was only one team in the league that scored over 100 points for the final six games of the season, that team being my Scottish Rebels!  So expect that to carry over into next season, when my Rebels are going to rise from the ashes and dominate everyone!!  Oh yeah!!

 Last note: At final count, I posted 14 weekly updates this season, so I kept the pledge that I made to Shawn on draft day!  What do you know?!?!

Championship Time!!

Only two left to duke it out for the title!  BoomGoesTheDynamite and American BadAss both proved that they rightfully deserved the top two seeds going into the playoffs, as they vanquished their opponents by a combined 29 points.  Jens also notched his second Weekly High Score Prize in a row (and 4 1/2th overall) by posting 114 points, which just bested a strong performance by the Midnight Maulers (113) and my Scottish Rebels (111).  Not to brag too much, but only one team has scored over 100 points for the last five weeks in a row, that team being my Scottish Rebels.  If only the season went for another 10 weeks, I might have a shot at this thing!

The Championship game will pit the only two teams this season that do not have a win or a loss against one another.  In their Week 2 meeting, American BadAss and BoomGoesTheDynamite tied at 63 points.  So the game this week will determine once and for all who is the best this season!   As a quick refresher, here are the tiebreakers that will be used should the Championship game end in a tie:

    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 at that point, co-champions will be declared.

These tiebreakers will supercede any that Yahoo! tries to impose…

It is the holiday season with Christmas less than a week away, and the Mayan Apocalypse even sooner!  So just a couple quick items to note for this week…

YOU NEED A KICKER!

The feature on the best kicker of the week has been in hiatus for a couple weeks, but I had to bring it back this week.  In a truly unprecedented performance, Blair Walsh (MIN) scored 25 points in the Vikings game against the Rams.  He did it by kicking one 30-yard field goal, one 40-yard field goal, three 50+ yard field goals(!!), and 3 PAT’s.  To be honest, I have not kept a good record of kicker performances, but I cannot recall one better than that!  So here are a couple quick facts about the amazing Mr. Walsh:

• In high school as a senior, he twice kicked field goals from 59-yards.

• With his performance this last week, he broke the Minnesota team record previously held by Randy Moss for most points scored by a rookie in a season.

THE RESULTS OF OUR STUDY SHOW THAT WE NEED TO CONDUCT A STUDY

The U.S. Mint has been engaged in a two-year study with an outside consulting firm, in order to determine new metal compositions for the penny and nickel.  Since 1983, the penny has been comprised of 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper, but still costs about 3 cents to manufacture and distribute.  The nickel is comprised of 75% copper and 25% nickel, and costs the mint about 11 cents to manufacture and distribute.  So due to this negative seignorage (coin costs more to manufacture than the face value), Mint officials and politicians want to debase these coins like they did with the silver coins in circulation in 1965.

After this two-year study the conclusions reached were, and I’m not making this up, that they need to continue researching and looking into options.  That’s government work for ya!

EVERYONE NEEDS MONEY, THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT MONEY

As we approach the season finale, I wanted to give an update on the money won this season:

BoomGoesTheDynamite - $200 (4.5 Weekly High Score prizes, Playoff qualification)

sprouts - $140 (3 Weekly High Score prizes, Playoff qualification)

Joe’s Pats - $140 (3 Weekly High Score prizes, Playoff qualification)

Coors Light Drunk Guys - $60 (1 Weekly High Score prize, Playoff qualification)

Midnight Maulers - $60 (1 Weekly High Score prize, Playoff qualification)

Gotham’s Reckoning - $40 (1 Weekly High Score prize)

SOFA KING GOOD - $40 (1 Weekly High Score prize)

American BadAss - $40 (0.5 Weekly High Score prizes, Playoff qualification)

Remember that all teams are still eligible to win the High Score Prize this week!

FANTASY vs. REALITY

The New England Patriots continue to set a blistering pace in both the fantasy world and in reality with the number of points that they are scoring.  In reality, they have scored 506 points which is 97 points more than the next closest team (Denver).  In fantasy, they have scored 1,510 points, with the next closest team trailing by 174 (New Orleans).  New Orleans ranks fourth in reality scoring (389 pts), and Denver ranks third in fantasy scoring (1,333).

As I hypothesized this season, the teams’ rank in reality correlates closely to their rank in fantasy scoring, with most teams rank being only 2 or 3 spots different.  The largest deviations are the Green Bay Packers who rank 13th in reality scoring but 7th in fantasy scoring (6 spots different), and the Oakland Raiders who rank 26th in reality and 20th in fantasy (also a 6-spot difference).  Not surprisingly, the bottom three teams in reality scoring are also the bottom three teams in fantasy:  Arizona (30th in both), Jacksonville (31st in both) and Kansas City (32nd in both).

BEST BENCH

There were a decent amount of points left on the benches this week, with several teams having possible improvements in the 25-point range.  But when you have a kicker on your bench score 25-points, you are well on your way…  so the Best Bench for Week 15 goes to:  American BadAss!!  Jason could have improved his point total by 33 this week with only two roster moves:  B. Walsh for J. Tucker (+19 pts) and S. Johnson for D. Thomas (+16 pts).

Only one week left!  My oh my how it flies by…  hey that rhymes!

Money Round!!

And the dynamite goes boom!  In a blistering display, BoomGoesTheDynamite exploded for 148 points, which ties the highest score in Sacred Sundays history.  SOFA KING GOOD set the mark back in Week 3 of 2011.  Jens accomplished his point total by getting 25 points from Brandon Marshall, 19 from Ray Rice, 17 from Aaron Hernandez, and 45(!!) from the Seattle defense.  Not one of Jensy's offensive players scored less than 12 points...the only weakness was his kicker who only posted 2 points.  Well done, Jens!  That is one for the record books!

In the playoff match-ups, we had two close games, with sprouts just edging the Midnight Maulers 68-66 and the Coors Light Drunk Guys knocking off Joe's Pats 88-75.  Two teams are left from each division, and amazingly, we will have a third round of the "What Do You Know?! Bowl" to determine a spot in the Championship game!  Now that is just fun!  The Coors Light Drunk Guys won the first meeting 76-64 and BoomGoesTheDynamite dominated the rematch 120-59, so it should be interesting to see who prevails this time.  In the other semi-final game, it will also be the third meeting between sprouts and American BadAss.  Sprouts won both of the regular season meetings so we'll see if Russ can make it a clean sweep.

This week, we'll look back a the Yahoo! Pre-Season Predictions for our league, and see which player had the worst fantasy performance of all time!  But first, some observations...

THAT IS HOW YOU DO THAT!

-          Seattle, DEF – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 45 pts – It is rare to see a defense lead all players in scoring.  Especially when that defense is not named the Chicago Bears.  But what the Seahawks did to the Cardinals on Sunday was nothing less than a shellacking.  Get this – 8 total turnovers (4 picks and 4 fumbles), 3 sacks, 2 defensive touchdowns, and zero points allowed.  According to my records, this is the highest point total for a defense in a single week ever.  (The previous record was held by Philadelphia who scored 43 in Week 1 of 2009).  Amazing.

-          Cam Newton, QB – Scottish Rebels – 36 pts – Newton combined for over 400 yards (287 passing, 116 rushing), and had three touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing).  These are the days that make a player a keeper!

-          Nick Foles, QB – Free Agent – 34 pts – Foles threw for 381 yards and 2 touchdowns, and added 27 yards and a touchdown on the ground.  Who needs Michael Vick?

-          David Wilson, RB – Free Agent – 32 pts – Wilson had the Saints number on Sunday… he had 100 yards rushing with 2 TD’s, but really gouged the Saints on returns where he had 227 yards and another touchdown.  He’s fast.

-          Adrian Peterson, RB – Scottish Rebels – 31 pts – AP made the Chicago Bears defense look like UNM's.  He absolutely dominated them for 154 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Over the last 5 weeks, AP has scored over 30 points 3 times, and has averaged 27 points per game.

-          Marshawn Lynch, RB – SOFA KING GOOD – 30 pts – In case you are wondering, no, the NFL does not have a mercy rule.  The Seahawks lambasted the Cardinals, with Lynch doing much of the damage… 128 yards and 3 touchdowns.  And I don’t think he even played much in the second half…

COME ON, MAN

-          Dallas Clark, TE – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – One point?  One goddamn point?

-          Bryce Brown, RB – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – I don’t understand how a guy goes from scoring 29 and 30 points in the prior two weeks to zero points this week.  He didn’t get injured, and still seemed to have plenty of playing time; he just went on the field and spread his cheeks to everyone in attendance.  He finished with 6 yards on 12 carries (yuck) and 6 receiving yards on four catches (double yuck).

-          Brandon Myers, TE – sprouts – 0 pts – Over Myers' last six games his point totals have been:  4, 17, 5, 11, 3, 19 and 0.  Down, up, down, up, down, up, down.  So if this trend holds, he should have a big game next week.

-          ---empty---, K – SOFA KING GOOD – 0 pts – James has apparently forgotten that all teams are still eligible to win the Weekly High Score Prize, so he’s battling without a kicker.  Really James, you want to hold onto a backup defense or Cecil Shorts over an active roster spot? :-)

-          Larry Fitzgerald, WR – Frito Pie – 0 pts – Does anyone remember how the Cardinals started 4-0 which included a win at Foxboro over the Patriots?  Yeah, that seems like it was eons ago.

-          Beanie Wells, RB – Frito Pie – 1 pt – See note above.

PRE-SEASON PROJECTIONS

Before the start of the season, here was how Yahoo! had projected the final regular season standings for our league:

North

 1. SOFA KING GOOD - 11-2

 2. American BadAss - 10-3

 3. sprouts - 8-4

 6. Joe's Pats - 6-6

 7.  Scottish Rebels - 5-8

South

 4. Gotham's Reckoning - 7-5-1

 5. CL Drunk Guys - 7-5-1

 8.  Frito Pie - 4-9

 9. Midnight Maulers - 4-9

 10. BoomGoesTheDynamite - 1-12

So out of the six teams that qualified for the playoffs, Yahoo! correctly projected four.   They correctly pegged my Rebels to finish dead last in the North Division.  But they had BoomGoesTheDynamite as the worst team in the South, who actually finished as the best team. 

And speaking of projections, after 6 weeks I had projected the playoff entrants to be: Joe’s Pats, American BadAss, sprouts, SOFA KING GOOD, Frito Pie and Gotham’s Reckoning.  So I only got three right… I think I need to tweak my projection tool just a little bit…

WORST PERFORMANCE EVER

Arizona quarterback John Skelton finished with 74 yards passing, 2 yards rushing, 4 interceptions and 1 fumble lost in the game Sunday against Seattle.  All this added up to a final score of -8 points.  That actually takes a lot of work to do that bad.

FANTASY vs. REALITY

The New England Patriots continue to dominate fantasy scoring, having scored 1,328 points as a team through Week 14.  Next closest is Denver, who has scored 1,187.  In contrast, the lowest scoring team is the Kansas City Chiefs, who have only scored 707 points as a team this season.  After Week 16, I will post a complete listing of each team's fantasy scoring. 

One final note about the NFL team fantasy scoring…The lowest point total by a team was in Week 8, when the New York Jets only posted 14 points as a team.  Or at least that was until this past week's shellacking of the Arizona Cardinals.  As a team, the Cardinals posted 8 points.  Wow.  I mean, wow.

BEST BENCH

It is rough to leave a lot of points on the bench when you’re playing in a playoff game, which is exactly what happened to this week’s winner of the Best Bench.  With a 33-point improvement, the Best Bench for Week 14 goes to… Joe’s Pats!!  With only three roster moves Joe could have ended with 108 points and easily moved on to the semi-finals:  K. Moreno for B. Brown +21, R. Cobb for M. Colston +7, Patriots for Steelers +5.

Money round this week!!  Get your rosters ready!!

PLAYOFFS!!!

It’s playoff time!!  Teams that made it in:  American BadAss, BoomGoesTheDynamite, Joe’s Pats, sprouts, Midnight Maulers and Coors Light Drunk Guys.  Congratulations to all of you!  Each of you has earned a $20 bonus for qualifying.  Now you are playing for the big bucks, with the Champion taking home $100 and Runner-up getting $50.

But the big congrats this week go to American BadAss and BoomGoesTheDynamite, who tied for the Weekly High Score prize with 120 points!  This is the first tie for the Weekly High Score Prize that we have had all year, and it only seems fitting that it was between the two division winners.  The last time we had a tie for high score was back in Week 15 of 2008, when Jason and Timmy tied with 98 points.  But well done Jason and Jens!  Let’s see if you can carry that scoring into the playoffs…

I’m gonna be swamped this week at work with 2013 budgeting, so just a few quick notes:

•  Two teams have scored over 100 points in each of the last three weeks:  SOFA KING GOOD and my Scottish Rebels.  How is it that two teams peaking at just the right time are out of the playoffs?  Just doesn’t seem right.

• SOFA KING GOOD was the top scoring team for the regular season (1,223 points) but also had the most points scored against them (1,345).  In terms of the points scored lead, KING outscored the next closest (Boom) by 26, but in points against, KING had 99 more points against than the next closest (Scottish Rebels).  That there is just some bad luck.

• Rob Gronkowski has not scored a single point for the last 2 weeks due to injury, but is still the top scoring tight end in all of fantasy. 

• All teams are still eligible to win the Weekly High Score Prize, so make sure you have your line-up set each week!

• If you need a refresher on the playoff tiebreakers, read any of the past couple weeks articles, or refer to the email that I sent out this week.

Now, no week would be complete without a Best Bench being awarded.  This week it wasn’t even close… with a big 50-point improvement, the Best Bench goes to: the Coors Light Drunk Guys!  This is Shawn’s 5^th Best Bench of the season!  He just really loves leaving points on the bench!  Lol!  This time only three roster moves were necessary:  A. Luck for D. Brees (+28), Arizona for Green Bay (+12) and A. Boldin for M Wallace (+10).  But don’t feel too bad Shawn, even with your optimal line-up, you still would’ve lost Round 2 of the What Do You Know?! Bowl.

Get ready for Week 14!  Man this thing sure flies by…

Final push to the playoffs!

Scoring over 100 points just isn’t what it used to be…  This week four teams managed to break into the triple digits, and all were matched up against each other!  In the highest scoring game of the season (236 total points scored), BoomGoesTheDynamite edged SOFA KING GOOD 123-113, and in the other matchup Joe’s Pats defeated my Rebels 126-103.  These scores marked the 28th time teams have scored over 100 points this season, with only 4 of those occurring in a losing effort.  Going back to 2007, scoring over 100 points means victory 88.4% of the time, so to have two teams lose with over 100 points in the same week is not a common occurrence, having happened only three times prior.  In fact, SOFA KING GOOD’s 113 points is the 3rd highest score ever posted in a loss.

The congrats for the High Score this week go to Joe’s Pats who as mentioned above scored 126 points, largely due to three players: Tom Brady, Bryce Brown and the New England Defense.  Those three combined for 87 points, or 69% of Joe’s total score!  And it was a good thing too, because Joe’s tight end (Vernon Davis) had zero points this week.  So Joe essentially took the high score with only seven players!  This is his third high score prize of the season, tying sprouts for the most high scores this year.  Also, for the second week in a row, the high scoring team was playing against my Scottish Rebels.  So something that I’m doing seems to be bringing out the best in teams…lol!  (Sprouts might well be poised for their fourth Weekly High Score Prize next week as they are my opponent to close out the season.)  But congratulations, Joe!  The win has secured you a spot in the playoffs!

Speaking of the playoffs… with only one week left, there are four teams in and still 5 teams alive to make it in!  It doesn’t get much better than that!  See below for scenarios on what it will take to qualify.  But first, some observations…

OH YEAH!

-Cam Newton, QB – Scottish Rebels – 37 pts – After a roller-coaster start to the season, Cam has looked good over the last four weeks, averaging 22.25 ppg.  Monday night was his best performance of the season, where he threw for two touchdowns and ran for two.

-Tony Romo, QB – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 30 pts – Romo attempted 62 passes on Thanksgiving, completing 37 for 441 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  This was Romo’s best performance of the season, in spite of losing to the Redskins.

-Tom Brady, QB – Joe’s Pats – 30 pts – The Patriots thumped the Jets on Thanksgiving, led by Brady who had an immaculate stat line – 323 passing yards, 3 passing TD’s, 0 interceptions, 5 rushing yards and 1 rushing TD.  Brady has scored 30 or more points twice this season, and has never scored less than 14.

-Bryce Brown, RB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – Out of nowhere, this guy went off for 178 yards and 2 touchdowns while filling in for LeSean McCoy.  And he did this on only 19 carries…an incredible 9.37 yards/carry!  However, he did lose two fumbles so that hurts, and could hurt his playing time down the road.  Side note- this guy is so new and unknown, that Yahoo! doesn’t even have a picture for him on his player profile.

-Matthew Stafford, QB – Gotham’s Reckoning – 28 pts – With 441 yards on Turkey Day, Stafford surpassed 11,000 yards for his career.  (His career has only been 40 games).  Kurt Warner is the only quarterback who reached 11,000 yards in fewer games.  Stafford’s 441 yards also set a record as the most yards thrown by a Lion’s QB on Thanksgiving.

-RG3, QB – SOFA KING GOOD – 28 pts – Pretty sure the Rookie of the Year voting is a foregone conclusion.  RG3 lit it up again, throwing for 311 yards, 4 touchdowns and 1 interception.

COME ON, MAN

-Green Bay, DEF – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – The Packers surrendered 38 points, and only managed 1 sack against the Giants.  They did get 188 return yards, which was the only thing that kept them in the positive numbers this week.

-Vernon Davis, TE – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – After a big week last week scoring 14 points, Davis was held without a single catch this week.

-Mike Wallace, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 0 pts – Wallace had one catch for 9 yards and it came on the final play of the game against Cleveland.  That just sucks.

-James Jones, WR – Midnight Maulers – 0 pts – It is hard to record any catches when your quarterback doesn’t even throw the ball your way.  That’s exactly what happened to Jones… not one single target in Green Bay’s loss to the Giants.

PLAYOFFS

Only one week to go, and we now officially have four teams that have qualified for the playoffs!  American BadAss, sprouts, Joe’s Pats and BoomGoesTheDynamite are all in, and have earned the extra $20 bonus for qualifying.  Only one team is officially out… that would be my Scottish Rebels.  The remaining five teams all still have a shot to make it in.  In a crazy scenario, we could end up with all five of those teams (SOFA KING GOOD, Coors Light Drunk Guys, Midnight Maulers, Frito Pie and Gotham’s Reckoning) finishing with records of 6-7.  So before we get into the individual team scenarios, let’s take a look at who would qualify if that were to happen…

 

For that scenario to happen, BoomGoesTheDynamite would need to beat the Coors Light Drunk Guys, SOFA KING GOOD would need to beat American BadAss and Frito Pie would need to beat the Midnight Maulers.  That would leave the Drunk Guys, Maulers, Frito Pie and Gotham all in a tie for runner-up in the South Division.  By virtue of division record, the Drunk Guys and Gotham would come out ahead with division records of 4-3.  The Drunk Guys defeated Gotham in both of their meetings this season, so they would take the runner-up position.  That would leave four teams tied for the final wild card spot: SOFA KING GOOD, Midnight Maulers, Frito Pie, and Gotham’s Reckoning.  In head-to-head matchups, none of these teams have swept the other three, so it would come down to points scored.  SOFA KING GOOD currently has an 82-point edge in points scored, so more than likely they would qualify, but with the way things have gone this season that is no sure thing.

Here are the individual team scenarios for the five remaining teams:

In Control of Own Destiny:

-Coors Light Drunk Guys – Win “What Do You Know?! Bowl” part 2.

-Midnight Maulers – Win final game against Frito Pie.

In Need of Some Assistance:

-SOFA KING GOOD – Win final game PLUS loss by Midnight Maulers.

-Frito Pie – Win final game against Midnight Maulers by a margin of 68 points AND losses by SOFA KING GOOD and Gotham’s Reckoning.

-Gotham’s Reckoning – Win final game PLUS losses by SOFA KING GOOD and Midnight Maulers AND outscore Midnight Maulers by 3 points.

 BEST BENCH

Across the board there were not many points left on the bench this week, and this week’s Best Bench had the lowest improvement total of the season.  But this is also the fourth time this season that this week's winner has taken the crown for Best Bench… and that team is the Coors Light Drunk Guys!!  Shawn could have had a 20-point improvement this week by making three roster moves:  M. Bush for C.J. Spiller (+8 pts), Cardinals for Packers (+8 pts) and A. Boldin for M. Wallace (+4 pts).

Next week we’ll know who is in and who is out!  Get your rosters set!!!

The King Has Returned...

That is one for the record books!  After posting only 25 points in their Week 11 game, the Midnight Maulers own the distinction of having the third lowest weekly point total of all-time.  The only lower totals are held by yours truly (when my Rebels only scored 23 in Week 15, 2007) and American BadAss who scored a paltry 21 points in Week 4, 2008.  Pretty much everything went wrong for Jamie in this game… Matt Ryan threw 5 (yes, 5) interceptions, and had no touchdowns, Jeremy Maclin never touched the ball, Reggie Bush and Frank Gore combined for only 98 yards of rushing, and not one of his offensive players found the endzone.  Add to that, the Chicago Bears defense, which has been absolutely dominating all season, only scored 5 points.  (The Bears were averaging 18 ppg coming in, and had not scored in single digits all season).  Just last week, the Midnight Maulers were the top scoring team, posting 118 points, so this week’s score represented a decline of 78.8%!  You would think that with that big of a drop-off Jamie had started a lot of different players because of injuries or bye weeks or something.  But in fact only one player was different from last week’s highest scoring roster, wide receiver James Jones playing in place of Sidney Rice.  This was literally the confluence of every player’s worst game occurring at the same time.  Don’t worry Jamie, it can’t get much worse…

The congratulations this week, however, belong to SOFA KING GOOD, who was way better than everyone else and posted the second highest score of the season, 130 points!  James got big time performance from RG3 (32 points), Dez Bryant (20 points), Calvin Johnson (18 points) and Marcel Reece (19 points).  Also, he had five players on his bench who were on their bye week, and the other two players on his bench scored zero points.  James actually had no points scored on his bench, so this was another Optimal Line-up Weekly High Score!  Way to go, CAP’N!!

Now with only two weeks left in the regular season, the playoff race is really heating up!  Below I have worked out playoff scenarios for teams that are still alive.  (Spoiler alert – If your team name rhymes with Rottish Scebels, you can skip this section).  Also, I check out an obscure Monday Night stat and give out a big-time Best Bench Award.

Let’s get to it!!

THESE ARE THE PLAYERS YOU WANT

Matt Schaub, QB – BoomGoesTheDynamite – 40 pts – I mean, wow.  Schaub threw for 527 yards and 5 TD’s, but did have 2 interceptions.  That is the most passing yards in a single game this season.  (Eli Manning had 510 back in Week 2).

 Andre Johnson, WR – sprouts – 36 pts – Just over 50% of Schaub’s yards went to Andre Johnson, who finished with an awesome 273 yards and a touchdown.  Pretty good game for a guy who hadn’t scored more than 17 points since Week 1, and came in only averaging 6.4 ppg.

Chad Henne, QB – FA – 33 pts – Apparently Jacksonville players can score points!  Henne looked really good, going for 354 yards, 4 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Justin Blackmon, WR – FA – 32 pts – Blackmon accounted for 67% of Henne’s yardage, going for 236 yards and a touchdown. I’m going to go ahead and classify this as a breakout game, considering his best game this season prior to this one was 9 points in Week 9.

Robert Griffin III, QB – SOFA KING GOOD – 32 pts – RG3 got back on track this week against Philly throwing 4 touchdown passes on 200 yards passing and added 84 yards rushing.  He’s slipped from the top spot in Fantasy, but is only 10 points behind the overall leader Drew Brees (214 to 224).

Rob Gronkowski, TE – sprouts – 25 pts – Gronk continued to dominate (137 yards and 2 TD’s), but it came with a hefty price.  He broke his forearm, and will likely be out for the remainder of the fantasy season.

COME ON, MAN!

Michael Bush, RB – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – Five rushes for 9 yards, and one catch for 18 yards.  That’s what you get from a back-up runningback.

Larry Fitzgerald, WR – Frito Pie – 1 pt – Larry should have had a touchdown catch, as his QB missed him when he was wide open.  But other than that, he really didn’t have many opportunities and finished with only 11 yards.

Dustin Keller, TE – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – Keller’s production is going in the wrong direction over the last four weeks:  15 pts, 6 pts, 4 pts, and now 1 pt.  By next week, my prediction is -3 pts.

Mike Wallace, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 0 pts – Wallace would have finished with 2 points, but his 26 yards were wiped out by a fumble.  Yuck.

PLAYOFFS?! DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

Only two weeks left of the regular season, and there are only two things that we know for sure:  American BadAss is in, and my Scottish Rebels are out.  All of the remaining eight teams are still alive to make the playoffs!  Amazingly too is that even though BoomGoesTheDynamite is in the lead in the South Division, there is a scenario where they do not make the playoffs.  That just shows how tight we currently stand.  Below are the scenarios for teams to qualify for the playoffs.  Bear in mind that with such tight standings there are very likely multiple scenarios for teams to qualify, and not all tie-breakers have been considered.  These scenarios just represent one or two possible paths to a postseason berth.

In Control of Own Destiny:

• sprouts – Win one game, OR two losses from Joe’s Pats.

• Joe’s Pats – Win one game PLUS two losses from sprouts, OR win two games.

• BoomGoesTheDynamite – Win next two games, OR win one game PLUS one loss from Coors Light Drunk Guys.

• Coors Light Drunk Guys – Win Week 12 game versus Midnight Maulers, OR win Week 13 game PLUS one loss from Midnight Maulers.

In Need of Some Help:

• Frito Pie – Win next two games PLUS one loss from Midnight Maulers and one loss from Coors Light Drunk Guys.

• SOFA KING GOOD – Win next two games PLUS two losses from Joe’s Pats AND one loss from Midnight Maulers and Frito Pie.

• Midnight Maulers – Win next two games PLUS two losses from Coors Light Drunk Guys, OR win next two games PLUS two losses from BoomGoesTheDynamite.

• Gotham’s Reckoning – The longest shot to make it in, but there is still a chance – Win next two games PLUS losses from SOFA KING GOOD, Coors Light Drunk Guys, Frito Pie and Joe’s Pats, and it will come down to tie-breakers.  (In this scenario, I believe that Timmy will grab the final wildcard spot on tiebreakers, but a lot of pieces have to fall into place.)

OBSCURE STATS

The Monday Night crew loves to throw out obscure stats that make you think “Who in the heck keeps track of that stuff?”  Things like, “This is the first time a runningback has scored three touchdowns on less than 10 carries with the kickoff temperature below 40 degrees, playing west of the Mississippi, in an NFC-AFC matchup game in the month of November.”  Stuart Scott had a great one after Monday’s thrashing of the Bears by the 49ers, speaking about Colin Kaepernick:  “This is the third highest margin of victory ever for a quarterback making his NFL starting debut on Monday Night Football.”  Third highest huh?  Nice.

YOU NEED A KICKER!

This week’s top kicker was Josh Scobee of the Jacksonville Jaguars, who finished with 15 points.  He did it by going 3-for-3 on field goal attempts (1 from 30+, and 2 from 40+) and making 4 extra points.  Scobee’s career long field goal is 59 yards, and he is tied for the NFL record of most 50+ field goals in a single game with 3.  Good for you, Josh!

FANTASY vs. REALITY

The Houston Texans had the highest single week point total this season.  In all, Texans players combined for 156 points, thanks to Matt Schaub (40 pts), Andre Johnson (36 pts), Garrett Graham (20 pts), Shayne Graham (14 pts), and everyone else pitching in some as well.  Also, the Jacksonville Jaguars roared to life this week, combining for 127 points mostly thanks to Chad Henne (33 pts) and Justin Blackmon (32 pts).  Here is how the top five scoring teams in reality rank in fantasy:

1)      New England Patriots – 358 pts (Fantasy rank – 1; 1042 pts)

2)      Denver Broncos – 301 pts (Fantasy rank – 2; 943 pts)

3)      Houston Texans – 293 pts (Fantasy rank – 3; 932 pts)

4)      Tampa Bay Buccaneers – 287 pts (Fantasy rank – 8; 848 pts)

5)      New Orleans Saints – 287 pts (Fantasy rank – 5; 898 pts)

Speaking of the Jaguars, and thanks to their scoring this weekend, they no longer rank at the bottom of the scoring lists.  They jumped three teams to move to 29th in reality scoring (164 pts), and climbed one spot to 31st in fantasy scoring (593 pts).  The new cellar dwelling team in both categories is the Kansas City Chiefs, with only 152 reality points and 562 fantasy points.

BEST BENCH

There were quite a few teams that left a good amount of points on the bench this week… BoomGoesTheDynamite could have improved by 30, Frito Pie by 32 and sprouts by 35.  But none could top this week’s winner of the Best Bench… Joe’s Pats!!  Joe only needed three roster moves to achieve a 46-point improvement!  Patriots D for Steelers D (+26), V. Davis for D. Keller (+13) and R. Cobb for M. Colston (+7).

No more bye weeks!  Get ready for Week 12 and the final playoff push!  And eat lots of turkey and have a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

 TURKEY!!!

Midnight Maulers March!

There are always a lot of obstacles to overcome to achieve victory… you have to pick the right match ups, deal with player injuries, manage around player bye weeks, and hope that the website hosting your league isn’t down on Sunday morning when critical game-time decisions need to be made.   Shawn took an interesting approach this week on dealing with byes, by merely acting as if they don’t exist.  And it paid off!  In a rarely seen move, the Coors Light Drunk Guys started two players on their bye week (the Packers Defense and Mason Crosby) and still managed to pull out a victory!  You must be doing some clean living, Mr. Martin!

The big congratulations this week go to Jamie George and his Midnight Maulers, who smashed the competition, scoring 23 more points than the nearest team and being the only team to break into the triple digits this week with 118!  This was also one of those extra special high scores because it was done with an optimal lineup!  Well done Jamie!  Six different teams have now claimed a Weekly High Score Prize this season…

This week we’ll start talking about the playoffs, see which NFL team is in the lead in fantasy scoring, and I give a salute to one of the greatest American athletes of all time.  But first, some player observations…

THAT IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!

-Denver, DEF – Scottish Rebels – 36 pts – Denver straight up Chicagoed the Panthers.  (That is the new term for a defense that humiliates an opponent by scoring over 30 points).  In all, Denver had 7 sacks, 2 interceptions (1 returned for a touchdown), plus a punt return touchdown and 169 return yards.  Oh yeah, and just for good measure they added a safety.  Boo, yah.

-Joe Flacco, QB – Midnight Maulers – 29 pts – Flacco put on a show against the Raiders, throwing for 341 yards, 3 TD’s, and 1 int, and also adding a 1-yard rushing touchdown.  Apparently he really loves playing at home this season where he has scored 114 total points (22.8 ppg), versus on the road where he has scored only 32 total points (8 ppg).

-Matt Ryan, QB – Midnight Maulers – 29 pts – Good to get in a shootout with the Saints!  Ryan finished with 411 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Falcons first loss.

-Adrian Peterson, RB – Scottish Rebels – 28 pts – Over the last four weeks, AP is averaging 25.5 points per game, and is the current NFL rushing leader with 1,128 yards.

-Dallas, DEF – Free Agent – 28 pts – This was just fun to watch, wasn’t it?!  Three defensive touchdowns?  You kidding me?!  Oh yeah!!  Love it!!  How ‘bout them Cowboys?!?!

-Calvin Johnson, WR – SOFA KING GOOD – 27 pts – Nerve damage…concussion…knee problems… it doesn’t matter.  Megatron looked like his old dominant self in this one.

-Jimmy Graham, TE – SOFA KING GOOD – 26 pts – Graham went for 146 yards and two TD’s against an undefeated Atlanta team.  Should be even easier next week going against the Raiders defense.  Look out!

COME ON, MAN!

-Rashad Jennings, RB – Scottish Rebels – 2 pts – I should know better than to start a Jaguar on my team.  What has my ‘Fantasy vs. Reality’ analysis been showing all year?  That freakin’ Jacksonville DOES NOT SCORE POINTS!  Do not forget this when setting your own roster…

-Eli Manning, QB – SOFA KING GOOD – 2 pts – Not sure what is going on with Eli and the Giants.  He has only scored 10 points over the last three weeks (with no touchdown passes).

-Victor Cruz, WR – SOFA KING GOOD – 2 pts – If Eli’s not throwing touchdowns, Cruz ain’t catching them.  So yeah, the Giants are having some problems.

-Eric Decker, WR – sprouts – 1 pt – Quite a drop-off after scoring 15, 16, and 21 points in the weeks leading up to this game.  But with Peyton looking good, I would think he’ll rebound nicely.

-Michael Bush, RB – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – I guess scoring only one point shouldn’t be too much of a surprise considering the guy hasn’t scored more than 4 points since Week 3 when he somehow scored 12.

-Michael Turner, RB – American BadAss – 1 pt – This looked like a dream match up going in with New Orleans giving up the 3rd most points to runningbacks, and Turner coming off a 16 point performance from the week before.  But he never got going in this one, gaining a measly 15 yards on 13 carries, and even got stuffed from the one-yard line on his only opportunity to score.  Ouch.

-Reggie Bush, RB – Midnight Maulers – 0 pts – Reggie only got four carries and was benched for fumbling.  Not a good development.

PLAYOFFS?  DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

There are three regular season games left before playoffs start.  Four teams in the South Division have 5 wins, and Gotham’s Reckoning is only one game behind that.  So, the South Division is wide open.  There are two inter-divisional matchups in the South this week (BoomGoesTheDynamite vs. Midnight Maulers and Gotham’s Reckoning vs. Coors Light Drunk Guys), so we should know a lot more next week.  But for now, I’m just going to say that all teams in the South Division control their own fate to make it in to the playoffs.

The North Division has the team with the league’s best record (American BadAss, 7-2-1) and the league’s worst record (Scottish Rebels, 2-8).  My Rebels have officially been mathematically eliminated from making the playoffs, and it looks like American BadAss should be in.  For sure if American BadAss gets one more victory in the next three games they will definitely be in.  The remaining three teams in the North (sprouts, Joe’s Pats and SOFA KING GOOD) are all still alive to make it in.  Joe’s Pats and sprouts control their own destiny, while SOFA KING GOOD will still need some help.  I’ll have full scenarios for each team next week.

Playoffs Note #1: Don’t forget, this season there is a $20 bonus to each team that qualifies for the playoffs.

Playoffs Note #2:  I just wanted to mention that in Week 6 the teams that I predicted to make the playoffs were: Joe’s Pats, American BadAss, sprouts, SOFA KING GOOD, Frito Pie and Gotham’s Reckoning.  So it looks like I’m on track to be 100% correct!

Playoffs Note #3: Round 2 of the “What Do You Know?! Bowl” (BoomGoesTheDynamite vs. Coors Light Drunk Guys) will occur in the final week of the regular season.  How sweet will that be if the winner of that game makes it in and the loser is out?  What do YOU know!?!?!?

GREAT AMERICAN HERO

Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his Tour de France titles because he allegedly used steroids or something.  Frankly, I don’t care.  I am so tired of athletes getting in trouble for using “performance enhancing drugs”, when the drugs they are using are just the most effective drugs.  Every sporting league has lists of “approved” drugs, and “non-approved” drugs, with the main difference being how well the drug works.  But let’s take a look at the reality of the Lance Armstrong situation.

Lance Armstrong was a guy who had cancer, and had it bad.  By all accounts, his prognosis was bleak.  But, miraculously, he beat it.  And he didn’t go on to just live a regular life.  He went and won the toughest bicycle race in the world.  Then he won it again.  Then he won it again.  Then to prove it wasn’t a fluke, he won it again.  Then again.  And again.  And to top it off, again.  Just think about that…he not only beat cancer, he emerged from cancer as one of the strongest, most remarkable human beings that the world has ever seen!

Now, let’s assume that he did go through some sort of doping regiment throughout his recovery.  If he did, humanity better hope that he took extensive notes on exactly what he did, because apparently he stumbled on the cure for cancer.  Instead of crucifying him for cheating, we should all be thanking him for his enormous gift to all of us.  Every cancer patient should be following whatever alleged regiment he was on, because that shit works.  Thank you, Lance Armstrong.  You are an outstanding human being, and I will forever salute you.

I have the same sentiment for athletes like Roger Clemens who ridiculously got called in front of Congress for using drugs.  Once again, here is a guy who at age, what, like 50 was able to pitch at the Major League level!  I don’t give two craps about what he was on, how about we give everyone some of that?! I mean, I can go out and play tennis for a couple hours and still be sore three days later.  And I’m just playing against old white dudes, not young Cubans in their prime.  The fact that Clemens was able to do that is beyond remarkable.  It’s time to stop persecuting these athletes, and start revering them as pioneers in the science of curing diseases and enhancing human peak performance.

FANTASY vs. REALITY

The top team remains unchanged in Fantasy and Reality, the New England Patriots.  They have scored 299 points in reality and 906 in fantasy.  The Denver Broncos have taken over the 2nd spot in reality scoring (271 points), and have moved up to 3rd in fantasy scoring with 848.  The NY Giants are 3rd in reality (267 pts) and 2nd in fantasy (855 pts).  In fourth place, surprisingly, is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 260 reality points, but they currently rank 9th in fantasy points with 765.  In fifth place for reality is Baltimore (254 points, up from 12th place last week), and they currently rank 7th in fantasy scoring with 784.

The bottom five teams in fantasy scoring are:

28th – Carolina Panthers – 579 pts (Reality= 27th)

29th – New York Jets – 568 pts (Reality= 24th)

30th – St. Louis Rams – 560 pts (Reality= 28th)

31st – Kansas City Chiefs – 527 pts (Reality=30th)

32nd – Jacksonville Jaguars – 466 pts (Reality= 32nd)

TIES ARE FOR SOCCER AND CHURCH

It is comical to have football players argue with refs or rant after games about bad calls when they don’t even know the most basic rules of the sport that they are playing.  Donovan McNabb made an idiot of himself in 2008 when he famously stated that he didn’t know that games could end in a tie.  You would think that after that, and after all the finagling that has been done with overtime rules recently, that all players would know this by now.  But you would be wrong.  At the conclusion of overtime on Sunday, with San Francisco and St. Louis still tied, Niners’ safety Dashon Goldson said, “I didn’t know you could tie.  When I saw both sides walking onto the field, I was like “Where’s everybody going?”  Same for Danny Amendola (STL, WR), who was actually a member of the Eagles in 2008 when they tied, he told Peter King after the game that he thought there was going to be a second overtime.  Hilarious.

Speaking of ties, here are the tiebreaker rules that will be used in determining which teams qualify for the playoffs:

Division Champions and Runner-ups: (One Division Champ, and one Runner-up from each division)

1) Overall record

2) Division record

3) Head-to-Head record

4) Points scored

5) Coin flip     

Wild Cards: (Two wild card teams, regardless of division)

1) Overall record

2) Head-to-Head record

3) Points scored

4) Coin flip

Once we are in the playoffs, here are the tiebreakers that will be used in the event of any tie game:

-In any round prior to the championship game, ties go to the higher seeded team.

-In the championship game, if there is a tie, it will be broken in the following manner:

                -Team with the highest scoring quarterback wins,

                -Team with the highest scoring runningback wins,

                -Team with the highest scoring wide receiver wins,

                -If still tied at that point, co-champions will be declared

BEST BENCH

When you can’t win high scores, or regular games for that matter, it is nice to still win something!  So for the second week in a row, the Best Bench goes to…. my Scottish Rebels!  With a roster overhaul of over half my players, I could have improved my point total by 41 this week.  Broncos for Ravens (+14), A. Gates for O. Daniels (+11), C. Palmer for C. Newton (+8), L. Moore for B. Lloyd (+5) and B. Green-Ellis for R. Jennings (+3).

The playoff push is on!  Thursday night games continue, but this is the last week of byes…