Midterms are here!!

Eight weeks of football are in the books, which means it is time for midterm grades!  (Actually last week was time for midterms, but between traveling home from Boise and the Blazers season starting, I had no time to get it done.)  I’ve enhanced grading this year by applying weighting factors to the various criterion, and grades are once again on a curve.  The categories analyzed for grading are:

• Win % - Teams with higher win % awarded more points. (3x factor)
• Points Scored – Teams with more points scored awarded more points.  (2x factor)
• Weekly High Score Prizes – Teams with more high score prizes awarded more points. (2x factor)
• Points Against – Teams with more points scored against them awarded more points.  (This means they have played a tougher schedule).  (1x factor)
• Best Benches – Teams with no or fewer Best Benches awarded more points.  (1x factor)
• Keeper Production – Teams with higher production from keepers awarded more points.  (Teams who did not have two keepers will have their first round picks factored here.) (1x factor)

For each category, points received are multiplied by the associated weighting factor.  Points are awarded as follows:  the top team receives 10 points, 2^nd highest receives 9 points and so on down to 1 point for the bottom team.  Full scoring and grades below.

Before we get into that, I’ve got double duty on handing out congratulations.  Last week, Young Guns came out shooting and posted 108 points to take top honors!  They did it with great performances from the wide receiver position (AJ Green 25 pts, Julio Jones 20 pts), plus had Marcus Mariota and CJ Anderson each tack on 16 points.  This was John’s first Weekly High Score Prize, although technically this is the third high score from this group this season.  The win also extended the Young Guns undefeated start to the season.  Well done John!

This week’s congrats go to sprouts!  Team sprouts had six players score in double digits, led by Matt Ryan with 23 and the Denver Defense with 22.  This was Russ’ second Weekly High Score Prize of the season (the most of any team so far), and with the win he leveled his record at 4-4.  Great work Russ!

Now…onward!

BIG TIME

• Derek Carr, QB – American BadAss – 38 pts – The Raiders set a couple records on Sunday.  The first was Carr setting a Raiders’ team record with 513 yards passing (to go along with 4 TD’s).  The second was an NFL record 24 penalties assessed against the Raiders during the game.  That means the Raiders were called for a penalty every 2 ½ minutes.
• Aaron Rodgers, QB – American BadAss – 33 pts – Jason cornered the market on Week 8 QB’s!  Rodgers looked like Rodgers this week, tossing 4 TD’s, 246 passing yard, 60 rushing yards and getting a 2-pt conversion.
• Blake Bortles, QB – sprouts – 29 pts – In spite of posting a good point total, Bortles received no love this week from Yahoo.  Here is a direct quote: “Bortles was utterly horrendous, and frankly, lucky not to get benched.  His motion has become a cross between side-armed Matthew Stafford and Tim Tebow.  At times it looked like he was trying to toss a fully-baked turkey.  All of Bortles ‘production’ came in garbage time.”  Dang, but tell me how you really feel about him.
• Tom Brady, QB – Bubble Craps Bandits – 29 pts – In the four games since Brady has been back, he is averaging 27 ppg which is the highest of any player across that time span.
• Jordan Howard, RB – Scottish Rebels – 28 pts – Howard was huge on Monday night, piling up 202 total yards and a TD against a tough Minnesota defense.
• Kirk Cousins, QB – Joe’s Pats – 27 pts – This was Cousin’s best game of the year, finishing with 458 yards, 2 TD’s and 1 INT.  Cousins is now the 8^th ranked QB in fantasy.

 

COME ON MAN

• Buffalo, DEF – Bubble Craps Bandits – 2 pts – Giving up 41 points to the Patriots is not going to get the job done.
• TY Hilton, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 2 pts – Tyrone’s Youngin’ only managed to catch 1 of 6 passes thrown his way. 
• Julio Jones, WR – Young Guns – 2 pts – Julio has bounced back from bad performances well this season… 39 points (in Week 4 after scoring only 1 point in Week 3), and 19 pts (in Week 6 after scoring 2 points in Week 5).  We’ll see if he can do that again this week.
• Greg Olsen, TE – Young Guns – 1 pt – Off the bye week, Olsen has his worst game catching only one pass for 11 yards.
• Tyrell Williams, WR – Vandelay Industries – 0 pts – One stinking catch for 4 stinking yards.
• LeSean McCoy, RB – Vandelay Industries – 0 pts – Shady was officially inactive prior to the game, yet remained in Vandelay’s active lineup.
• Mark Ingram, RB – Young Guns – -2 pts – Here’s the opposite of a good stat line… 3 carries for -9 yards and a lost fumble.  Yuck.

 

MIDTERMS!

Once again this season, instead of giving out boring ol’ letter grades, I’m giving each team a much more exciting (and nebulous) stock grade.  If you’re unsure what your stock grade means, you are on par with about 99% of the country.  Now, as mentioned earlier, there are six categories in which teams were graded on.  Before getting to each team’s score and grade, I would like to highlight the top scoring team in each category:

Win % - Young Guns.  With a 5-1-2 record, Young Guns have the highest win percentage at 75.0%.

Points Scored – Scottish Rebels.  In spite of being 9^th in the standings, my Rebels have been putting up the points this season having scored 740 so far.

Weekly High Scores – sprouts.  Russ has taken 2 of 8 Weekly High Score Prizes thus far.

Best Benches – Joe’s Pats, Young Guns, SofaKingHorrible and ThatsAllIGotJerry all have not had a Best Bench this season.

Keeper Production – American BadAss.  Keepers Aaron Rodgers and David Johnson are averaging nearly 40 points combined per week.

Young Guns	Points
Win %	30
Points Scored	16
Points Against	1
Weekly High Score	14
Best Bench	7
Keeper Production	8
Total	76

Notes - Young Guns get a big boost by having the best overall record in the league, and being 2^nd in total scoring.

Grade = Strong Buy

ThatsAllIGotJerry	Points
Win %	21
Points Scored	12
Points Against	10
Weekly High Score	10
Best Bench	7
Keeper Production	3
Total	63

Notes - Jens has the third best win percentage in the league, and has the most points scored against him.

Grade = Buy

Coors Light Drunk Guys	Points
Win %	12
Points Scored	18
Points Against	5
Weekly High Score	14
Best Bench	2
Keeper Production	9
Total	60

Notes - The Drunks have scored the second most points this season, and have the 2^nd most production from keepers (when including first round pick Andrew Luck as a keeper along with Devonta Freeman).

Grade = Moderate Buy

Joe's Pats	Points
Win %	21
Points Scored	10
Points Against	6
Weekly High Score	14
Best Bench	7
Keeper Production	2
Total	60

Notes - Joe has the third best win percentage, but also the second worst keeper production (Jordan Reed and Jeremy Langford).

Grade = Moderate Buy

American BadAss	Points
Win %	27
Points Scored	14
Points Against	2
Weekly High Score	2
Best Bench	2
Keeper Production	10
Total	57

Notes - BadAss has the second best win percentage (62.5%) and has the best keeper production.

Grade = Hold

sprouts	Points
Win %	12
Points Scored	8
Points Against	4
Weekly High Score	20
Best Bench	2
Keeper Production	7
Total	53

Notes - Sprouts gets a boost for having snagged two weekly high scores, but ranks 7^th in overall scoring.

Grade = Hold

Scottish Rebels	Points
Win %	6
Points Scored	20
Points Against	8
Weekly High Score	10
Best Bench	1
Keeper Production	6
Total	51

Notes - My Rebels have scored the most points in the league, but have the 2^nd worst win percentage (37.5%).

Grade = Hold

Vandelay Industries	Points
Win %	12
Points Scored	4
Points Against	7
Weekly High Score	2
Best Bench	2
Keeper Production	5
Total	32

Notes - Vandelay ranks 9^th in total scoring and is tied for 5^th in win percentage (50.0%).

Grade = Weak Hold

Bubble Craps Bandits	Points
Win %	9
Points Scored	6
Points Against	3
Weekly High Score	2
Best Bench	2
Keeper Production	4
Total	26

Notes - The Bandits rank 8^th in win percentage, 8^th in points scored and 8^th in points against. 

Grade = Sell

SofaKingHorrible	Points
Win %	3
Points Scored	2
Points Against	9
Weekly High Score	2
Best Bench	7
Keeper Production	1
Total	24

Notes - The King ranks last in win percentage (18.75%), last in points scored and last in keeper production (Le’Veon Bell and Jamaal Charles).

Grade = Strong Sell

BEST BENCH(ES)

Week 7’s Best Bench was the lowest point improvement possibility of the season at only 28 points.  The winner was…sprouts!  Russ needed only two roster moves to make it happen: J. Hill for T. Gurley (+19) and M. Jones for A. Robinson (+9).

This week’s Best Bench was won by a team who is dominating this section this season.  No, not the Coors Light Drunk Guys (I’m as shocked as you are)…claiming a third Best Bench this year is, my Scottish Rebels!  This time I had a 36-point improvement possibility with 5, yes 5!!, roster moves:  J. Howard for R. Mathews (+21), D. Prescott for D. Brees (+6), A. Hurns for B. Cooks (+5), M. Crabtree for M. Evans (+3) and L. Miller for C. Michael (+1).

 There are only five weeks of the regular season left, then it will be time for playoffs!  Let’s do this!!