Championship belongs to Longshanks!!

Nearly a decade has passed since I last hoisted the fantasy football trophy and assumed the righteous throne atop Sacred Sundays.  After the tough regular season, I somehow conjured up my best winning streak for the year, winning three in a row when it counted the most.  And what a way to do it, by taking the Week 16 High Score Prize as well!  I had 7 players score in double digits led by the Chiefs defense (17 points) and 3 players who all had 16 (Tom Brady, Christian McCaffrey and Philip Lindsay), giving me a final tally of 111 points!  Since 2007, this marks this 6th time the winner of the championship game also won the Weekly High Score Prize.  Joe’s Pats has done it twice (2017 and 2015), as has American BadAss (2013 and 2007), and Vandelay Industries (under the managership of Louis Biad) did it once in 2016.

American BadAss is the most decorated team in Sacred Sundays, with this runner-up finish marking Jason’s 3rd time to finish 2nd and the league-leading 10th time to finish in the top 4.  For me, it is the 2nd time I’ve won the championship (last won in 2010), and the 6th time to finish in the top 4.

In the 3rd/4th matchup we had a Sacred Sunday’s first… a tie game!  Attack of Mahomes and Coors Light Drunk Guys finished with a score of 99-99.  The tie-break rule for the championship game applies in this situation, so the winning team is the one with the highest scoring quarterback.  Patrick Mahomes scored 25, while Drew Brees scored 23, so Attack of Mahomes finishes in 3rd place and Coors Light Drunk Guys takes 4th.  For Tim, this marks his first 3rd place finish and the 7th time to finish in the top 4.  For Shawn, this is the 2nd time to finish in 4th place and the 6th time to finish in the top 4.

Here are some final notes on this season:
Highest Scoring Player:  Lamar Jackson, QB, BAL – 403 points.  Jackson’s best game was in Week 15, when he scored 36 points, and he scored over 30 points 7 times this season.  He had only one game below 20 points (11 points in Week 4). It was really Lamar Jackson and then everyone else, as he led the next closest player (C. McCaffrey) by a staggering 72 points.  (In 2018, Patrick Mahomes was the overall points leader, who oddly also scored 403 points).  Truly remarkable season. 

Top 10 Scorers Overall – Consisted of 8 quarterbacks, 1 running back and 1 defense. 

Best Overall Single Week Performance – Aaron Rodgers, QB, GB – Week 7 – 46 points.  Rodgers threw for 429 yards and 5 TD’s in this epic performance.

Tight End vs. Kicker – Kickers proved to be a more valuable position than Tight Ends this season, with the top two Kickers scoring more than the top Tight End (Wil Lutz, NO – 156, Harrison Butker, KC – 155 vs. Travis Kelce, KC – 148).  Also, the 10th ranked kicker (Josh Lambo, JAX – 117) was only outscored by 4 Tight Ends. 

DE-FENSE – The New England Patriots Defense this season was amazing.  Through the first half of the season, they were averaging 24.5 points per game.  They were in Lamar Jackson-type territory, with no game less than 14 points plus a 41-point gem in Week 2.  (On pace to score 392 points.)  There was a bit of a drop-off in the back half of the season, where they averaged just under 10 points per week over their final 8 games.  But they still finished the season with 263 points which is 74 points more than last year’s top defense (Chicago – 189 points).  The Patriots Defense was a 15th round draft choice of American BadAss… not a bad late round find!

Undrafted Production – The highest scoring undrafted player was Josh Allen (QB, BUF) who scored 274 points and finished as the 8th highest scoring player overall.  Excluding QB’s, the highest scoring undrafted player was the Pittsburgh defense, who finished as the 2nd highest scoring defense (29th overall) with 202 points.  For all other positions (WR, RB, TE, K), the highest scoring undrafted was DeVante Parker (WR, MIA) who finished with 156 points, ranking 8th out of wide receivers and 62nd overall.

EVERYONE NEEDS MONEY, THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT MONEY
Here is the final breakdown of prize money won this season:
Jerry - $350 (Champ = $225, 2.5 WHS = $125)
Jason - $275 (2nd = $125, 3 WHS = $150)
Timmy - $175 (3rd = $75, 2 WHS = $100)
Russ - $150 (3 WHS)
Rob - $125 (2.5 WHS)
James - $100 (2 WHS)
Shawn - $75 (4th = $25, 1 WHS = $50)
Congratulations to all winners!  I’ll send you a separate email to settle up.

2020 DRAFT
The 2020 draft order will be the reverse of final standings:
1) Young Guns – John
2) Joe’s Pats – Joe
3) Big Sack – Jens
4) sprouts – Russ
5) Vandelay Industries – Rob
6) Golf and Fishing – James
7) Coors Light Drunk Guys – Shawn
8) Attack of Mahomes – Timmy
9) American BadAss – Jason
10) Longshanks – Jerry

Keeper rules will be the same… each team can keep two players from this year’s final roster as a keeper for next season.  The player will count as the draft pick for whatever round they were drafted this season.  Keepers being “re-kept” will count as a first round pick.  Undrafted players will count as a 15th round pick.  If two players with the same draft value are kept, they will count as that round and the following round.  (Exception – If the two players being kept are both 15th rounders, they will count as a 14th and 15th round pick.)  I’ll send out a final roster listing shortly.
The keeper declaration deadline will be one week before draft day.  Draft day is set to be Saturday, Sept. 5th.  There is already talk of changing it up and doing the draft in Lake Tahoe this year, and I’m all for it!  I’ll strictly be the hype man for the trip and not do any of the booking, as James will certainly attest to my ineptness on booking reasonably priced hotel rooms.  So anyone is welcome to book up some rooms if you have the connections!!

BEST BENCH
Here are some stats for Best Bench in 2019:
Only two teams avoided a Best Bench this season.  (To be revealed below).
Highest Best Bench this season: 49 points – Big Sack Week 10
Lowest Best Bench this season: 30 points – Young Guns Week 3
Team with most Best Benches: Young Guns (4 – Weeks 4, 11, 13, 15)
Team with fewest Bench points: Coors Light Drunk Guys (153 points for the season)
Team with the most Bench points: Big Sack (340 points for the season)

Going into the final week, there were three teams who had not claimed a Best Bench, and two of those managed to keep a clean record.  The two teams with no Best Benches this year were:  Golf and Fishing and the Coors Light Drunk Guys.  This means the final Best Bench of the season goes to… American BadAss!  Jason could have improved his point total by 37 points with four roster moves:  K. Drake for E. Elliott (+25), J. Goff for D. Prescott (+9), B. Cooks for T. Hill (+2) and Minnesota for New England (+1).  But don’t worry too much about it bro… you still would’ve come up 2 points short.  ;-)

Another season has come and gone… hard to believe how quickly these flutter by.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous and happy new year! 

Until next time…

It's the FINALS!!

After a long and hard fought season, we are left with two final competitors standing atop the heap of injury reports, failed trades and broken dreams.  On one side is American BadAss, who entered the playoffs as the #2 seed and has led the league in scoring.  This marks the 7th time Jason has made it to the title game, where he has won a league record 4 titles.  On the other side is my Longshanks boys, coming in as the underdog with a 5th seed, and ranking 5th in scoring this season.  This marks the fourth time I have made it to the finals, with only one glorious championship to show for it, back in 2010.

Before we go any further, big props to the Coors Light Drunk Guys for bringing the heat last week and knocking off the hottest team in the league, Vandelay Industries, by a score of 129-96!  Shawn had an amazing performance from Drew Brees, who finished with 39 points, along with four other players to score in the double digits!  This was Shawn’s first Weekly High Score Prize of the season, and marks the 7th different team to claim a prize.  Nice work Shawn Martin!!

This week it was all about Golf & Fishing, who had solid all around performances (6 in double digits led by Julio Jones and Chris Carson who both each posted 25), on his way to 120 points!  This was James’ second Weekly High Score Prize of the season, and by defeating Vandelay Industries puts him officially in 5th place.  Nice work MAJOR!!

Just a quick update this week, to give a recap on money winnings so far and get caught up on the Best Benches.

EVERYONE NEEDS MONEY, THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT MONEY
Here is a check in on the prizes won so far and what is at stake for this week:
Weekly High Score Prizes (so far):
Jason 3 $150
Russ 3 $150
Rob         2.5 $125
Timmy 2 $100
James 2 $100
Jerry 1.5 $75
Shawn 1 $50
Playoff Prizes:
Champion = $225
Runner-up = $125
3rd Place = $75
4th Place = $25
As always, all teams are eligible to win the high score prize for the final week, so make sure you have your best line-up in.

BEST BENCH
Two Best Benches to award this week… In Week 14, it was the lowest scoring team who took home the Best Bench (with an impressive improvement total).  With a solid 45 point improvement possibility, the Week 14 Best Bench goes to… Big Sack!  Jens needed to swap J. Winston for A. Rodgers (+27), A. Robinson for T. Lockett (+12), D. Johnson for R. Jones (+5) and L. Murray for P. Laird (+1).  This was Jens’ 3rd Best Bench this season.

This week’s Best Bench was the second lowest point improvement possibility of the season, but went to the team who has now had the most Best Benches.  So, with a 33 point improvement possibility, and for a league-leading fourth time, the Week 15 Best Bench goes to Young Guns!  John needed only two roster swaps to get there:  T. McLaurin for R. Woods (+18) and C. Hyde for M. Gordon (+15).
This leaves just three teams who have not had a Best Bench all season:  American BadAss, Golf and Fishing and the Coors Light Drunk Guys.  Unless something weird happens in the final week, looks like we will see at least two teams make it through the season Best Bench-less.

Hard to believe we only have one week left!  Get those waivers in and get ready for Week 16!!

PLAYOFFS!!

Vandelay Industries coming alive at the right time!  Rob has his team performing at an amazing pace, averaging nearly 112 points over the last 3 weeks.  The next closest team is only averaging 86 points over that same timeframe.  This week Vandelay was once again the only team in triple digits, finishing with 108 points!  The big performances came from Lamar Jackson (22 pts), New Orleans D (20 pts), Derrick Henry (19 pts) and 17 points from kicker Will Lutz.  Nice work Rob!

As far as the playoffs go, it was a finish like I’ve never seen before.  In an unprecedented sequence of events, every single team factored in to the final playoff qualifications.  Five teams finished tied with records of 5-8 for the last wild card spot, which sets the record for a) the most teams tied in the standings, and b) the lowest win total ever to qualify for the playoffs.  More on how the final spot broke down in just a bit, but first the easy ones…

Playoff Seeding

(1) Attack of Mahomes – Timmy = Best overall record (9-3-1)

(2) American BadAss – Jason = Best record in South Division (8-4-1)

(3) Vandelay Industries – Rob = 2^nd best record in North Division (9-4)

(4) Golf and Fishing – James = 2^nd best record in South Division (7-6)

(5) Longshanks – Jerry = Best record of remaining teams (6-7)

Now is where it gets interesting…  Wild card tie-breakers go overall record, then head-to-head record.  Of the five remaining teams all tied at 5-8, here are their head-to-head records:

Joe’s Pats – Joe = 2-5 (victories over sprouts & Young Guns)

sprouts – Russ = 2-4  (victories over Big Sack & Joe’s Pats)

Young Guns – John = 3-3 (victories over sprouts, Big Sack & Joe’s Pats)

Big Sack – Jens = 4-3 (victories over Joe’s Pats, Coors Light Drunk Guys & Young Guns)

Coors Light Drunk Guys – Shawn = 5-1 (victories over sprouts, Big Sack, Joe’s Pats and Young Guns)

Thus, the sixth and final seed goes to Mr. Shawn Martin with his Coors Light Drunk Guys, who somehow managed to get all five of his season victories against the four teams he was tied with at the end.  (He had two victories over sprouts, and one over each of the others).  Crazy!!  Congratulations Shawn!!  Definitely one for the record books.

Here's Shawn just saved from going in the the trash bin.. or wait is she throwing that bottle away?  I guess it doesn't matter... just look at that... I mean, wow...

Playoff matchups in the first week will be Golf and Fishing versus Longshanks and Vandelay Industries versus Coors Light Drunk Guys.  Attack of Mahomes and American BadAss have first round byes.

The remaining standings finish as follows (based on the head to head records):

(7) Big Sack – Jens

(8) Young Guns – John

(9) sprouts – Russ

(10) Joe’s Pats – Joe  (Joe-You are on the clock!)

In the playoffs there are no tie games!  In any game prior to the championship game, a tie game will go to the higher seeded team.  If there is a tie in the championship game, victory will go to the team with the higher scoring QB, then higher RB, then higher WR.  (If still tied, co-champs will be declared).

BEST BENCH

There were not a whole lot of points left sitting on the bench this week, which was good to see given that no NFL teams were on byes.  This week’s Best Bench needed just two roster moves for a 34 point improvement.  Taking home the Week 13 Best Bench, and his third of the season, is Young Guns!  John only needed to swap J. Allen for N. Foles (+26) and Baltimore for NY Jets (+8).

Remember, everyone is still eligible to win the Weekly High Score Prize so make sure you have your best roster in each week!  ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?!

Split Decision!!

For the first time since Week 6-2016 we have a shared top spot, with two teams tying for the Weekly High Score Prize.  In 2016 it was my Scottish Rebels tying with Jens’ “Joe Blows” at 111.  Prior to that there was a tie in Week 13 of 2012 with Jen’s BoomGoesTheDynamite tying American BadAss at 120.  Prior to that the only other instance of a tie for the Weekly High score I found was a crazy one back in Week 3-2008 when there was a three-way tie between Sofa King Good, American BadAss and Midnight Maulers at, get this, 88 points!  So ties at the top are not a common occurrence, and this week it’s Vandelay Industries tying me at 109!  Rob had a great performance from Lamar Jackson (32 points), along with Saints players coming in big (Michael Thomas 17 pts and Saints D 19 pts).  For my team, there was nice all-around scoring with 5 players posting double digits, led by D.J. Chark with 22 points and Christian McCaffrey with 19.  This mark’s Vandelay Industries first Weekly High score prize this season, and they become the 6th different team to take home a prize so far.  Nice work Rob!  This is my 1&halfth prize as I had the top spot in Week 5.

In league standings, it has become a three spot race as three of the playoff spots are already claimed by Attack of Mahomes, American BadAss and Vandelay Industries.  Joe’s Pats is the only team mathematically eliminated so far.  It leaves six teams competing for the final three spots in the playoffs.

One Win & In = Golf and Fishing; Just need to win one of the next two games to assure a playoff spot.  It appears likely even two losses would still result in a playoff berth depending on the outcome of other games and tie-breakers.

Two Wins & In = sprouts and Longshanks; Winning the next two games assures a playoff spot.  Splitting the next two games may still result in a playoff berth depending on the outcome of other games and tie-breakers.  Two losses will most likely result in elimination, although there is a slim chance.

Two Wins & Some Help = Coors Light Drunk Guys, Big Sack and Young Guns; Each of these teams needs to win both of their remaining games plus have two losses from either sprouts or Longshanks.  Not winning both of the final two games will result in elimination from playoff contention.

In running through the analysis this week, there were multiple scenarios where five teams finished with records of 6-7.  So I suspect it is highly likely we will be using multiple tiebreakers to determine the playoff spots. 

Remember that throughout the playoffs all teams are still eligible to win the Weekly High Score prize, so make sure to check your roster every week.  This week (Week 12) marks the last of the bye weeks, so that should help keep those rosters full. 

Just a short one this week, but it’s never complete without the…
BEST BENCH
There weren’t a whole lot of bench points out there this week, and several teams gave a valiant effort… Joe’s Pats had 27 and sprouts had 31, but none were better than this week’s winner… Young Guns!  With a half-roster swap, Young Guns could have improved by 38 points!  C. Hyde for D. Williams +12, Baltimore for Minnesota +8, D. Moore for J. Smith-Schuster +7 and T. Williams for T. McLaurin +2.  Young Guns joins three other teams, Attack of Mahomes, Longshanks and Joe’s Pats, as a two-time Best Bench winner this season.

These next two weeks will determine everything for the playoffs!  Get those waivers in and get ready for Week 12!

Attack of Mahomes back on top in Week 10!

The bar has been raised to new heights!  Attack of Mahomes went where no team has ever gone before with an unbelievable 160 point performance!  This beat the previous record of 158 points set by American BadAss last year in Week 10.  AoM’s line-up was something to behold… all players scored in double digits with four scoring in the twenties (Amari Cooper-20, Dalvin Cook-23, Aaron Jones-27), and the man himself, Patrick Mahomes getting back to his old ways and scoring 32 points!  Boo-freakin'-yah!  In the process, Timmy also set another record for the largest margin of victory with a 99-point drubbing of Big Sack.  (The previous record was a 96-point margin of victory, also set by Tim back in Week 6, 2013 when Channel 4 News Team defeated BoomGoesTheDynamite 140-44.  Something about Jens brings out the best in Tim’s teams.)  This is Attack of Mahomes 2nd Weekly High Score prize this season, and the victory puts their record at 9-1 and in firm control of the top spot in the league.  Well done Timmy!

For the rest of the league, standings really did not get any clearer this week as now only three other teams have winning records (American BadAss (7-3), Vandelay Industries (6-4) and Golf and Fishing (6-4)) and four teams sit at 5-5 or 4-6 (sprouts, Longshanks, Big Sack and Coors Light Drunk Guys).  That’s eight teams who are all still legitimately battling for a playoff spot.  Young Guns at 3-7 is probably still alive as well, as we have had teams qualify in year’s past with a 6-7 record.  More on the playoffs below along with a check in on this season’s ‘All Unwanteds’ and we have another first timer Best Bench to award.  Let’s go!

BIG TIME
-Derrick Henry, RB – Vandelay Industries – 33 pts – Following a 21-point performance last week, Henry went even bigger this week with 188 yards and 2 TD’s versus the Chiefs.  This moves him into being the 4th ranked runningback in fantasy this season.
-Lamar Jackson, QB – Vandelay Industries – 32 pts – Do you realize Lamar Jackson is currently the 11th ranked rusher in the NFL (with 702 yards) and is on pace to have over 1,200 yards for the season?! 
-Patrick Mahomes, QB – Attack of Mahomes – 32 pts – Back to his old tricks and putting up 446 yards and 3 TD’s. 
-Christian Kirk, WR – Golf and Fishing – 31 pts – In a single game, Kirk nearly doubled his point production for the season thus far.  Coming into Week 10, he had only 16 points and no TD’s, but he went off for 138 yards and 3 TD’s against the Bucs.
-Baltimore, DEF – Young Guns – 30 pts – Utter domination of the hapless Bengals… 2 sacks, 1 interception, 2 fumble recoveries and 2 defensive TD’s.

COME ON MAN
-Frank Gore, RB – American BadAss – 1 pt – Gore has not scored more than 6 points since Week 4 and is averaging just 1.6 ppg over the last three weeks.  Weak sauce.
-Vance McDonald, TE – Vandelay Industries – 1 pt – Not much for Mr. McDonald as he had just 3 catches for 11 yards.
-Cooper Kupp, WR – sprouts – 0 pts – Kupp had zero catches on just four targets.
-David Johnson, RB – Big Sack – -2 pts – Here’s a stat line to be forgotten:  5 rushes, 2 yards and a lost fumble.  Deleted.

ALL UNWANTEDS
Here is the best line-up I put together using only undrafted players:

Pos	Player	Team	Season Pts
QB	Matthew Stafford	Det	169
RB	Ronald Jones II	TB	76
RB	Jamaal Williams	GB	75
WR	DJ Chark Jr.	Jax	106
WR	DK Metcalf	Sea	83
TE	Darren Waller	Oak	74
K	Zane Gonzalez	Ari	97
DEF	San Francisco	SF	150
	Total		830

The fact that these players are the best of undrafted 10 weeks in, shows we did a pretty good job on drafting all of the productive players.  Matt Stafford is the 8th ranked quarterback, and DJ Chark is the 8th ranked wide receiver, but the runningbacks are ranked 25th and 27th.  The two brightest spots are the kicker and defense, as Zane Gonzalez and San Fran both currently rank 2nd in their respective positions.   

PLAYOFFS?  DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!
Only three more regular season games, then it is playoff time!  Here is a quick refresher on playoff qualification:
-Top two teams in each division automatically qualify.  The top team in each division receives a first round bye.
-Next two highest ranked teams receive Wildcards.
-Wildcards are not division specific. Both can come from the same division.
-Teams that do not qualify for the playoffs are still eligible to win the Weekly High Score prize, but do not compete in head-to-head games
-Final standing at end of regular season determines the teams that finish in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th place.
Divisional standing ranking
1 Overall record
2 Division record
3 Head-to-head record
4 Points scored
5 Coin flip

Wildcard standing ranking/tiebreakers
1 Overall record
2 Head-to-head record
3 Points scored
4 Coin flip
Next week I’ll have playoff scenarios worked out for each team, so you will know where you stand.

BEST BENCH
Under normal circumstances, the weekly Best Bench winner either would have won their game, or would have at least come pretty close had they had in their optimal line-up.  Under abnormal circumstances, the Best Bench winner would have still lost by 50 points.  This week fell into the latter category, as for the first time this season the Best Bench goes to… Big Sack!  Jens could have improved his score by 49 points with an unprecedented 6-player roster swap: R. Jones II for D. Johnson +15, J. Winston for A. Rodgers +12, J. Landry for T. Lockett +12, T. Cohen for T. Johnson +8, G. Everett for J. Graham +1 and A. Robinson II for C. Godwin +1.  With 49 more points, Big Sack would have still lost 110-160.  What do you know? ;-)

Playoffs just around the corner!  Get your waivers in and get ready for Week 11!

Midterms! (+1 week)

We are already nine weeks into this season!  Just four more weeks of the regular season until the playoffs begin!  Right now, there are two things I would bank on as it pertains to the playoffs:  1) Attack of Mahomes will most likely be in, and 2) Joe’s Pats most likely will not.  Other than that, everything else seems pretty wide open. 

Congratulations this week go to sprouts, collecting a third Weekly High Score Prize as the only team to break triple digits this week!  Russ had big games from Mike Evans (27 pts) and Kyler Murray (22 pts) along with a 15-point kicker (Brett Maher) to finish with 107 points.  This is the lowest high score this season (you get that? It was the lowest high score, in that it is the lowest score to win a high score prize this season), and the win ties Russ with Jason for the most Weekly High Score Prizes won this season.  Nice job sir!

Okay, I’ve teased it for about four weeks now, but at long last, and without further ado, I present the 2019 Midterm Grades.  I’ve added a new category this season, which I will get to in a second.  But the same process was used as before, where points are awarded in each of the eight categories below. The team with the highest overall score gets an A+, the team with the lowest overall score gets an F, and the rest of the teams fall in between.  Here is a description of each of the grading categories:

• Overall Record – Overall W/L record. Teams with better records get more points.  Attack of Mahomes (Timmy) leads this category with an 8-1 record.
• Points For – Total points scored.  Higher scoring teams get more points.  American BadAss is best in this category with 966 points scored this season.
• Points Against – Total points scored against.  Teams with more points scored against them get more points.  Joe’s Pats has the dubious honor of having had the most points scored against them with 922.
• Weekly High Scores – Number of Weekly High Score prizes won this season. Teams who have not won a high score prize receive no points in this category.  American BadAss and sprouts are tied for the lead with 3 a piece.
• Best Bench – Number of Best Benches won this season.  Teams with more Best Benches get fewer points.  So far this year, Longshanks, Attack of Mahomes and Joe’s Pats are tied for the most this year with 2.
• Waiver Moves – Total number of waiver moves this season.  Teams with more waiver moves get more points.  Young Guns has had the most waiver moves with 18, while Golf & Fishing has only had 3.
• Keeper Production – Total points scored by team’s keepers.  Teams with higher scoring keepers get more points.  Longshanks is first in this category (Christian McCaffrey 203 pts, Philip Lindsay 98 pts) and Big Sack is second (Tyler Lockett 118 pts, Aaron Rodgers 177 pts).
• Utilization – *New category*  This season I’ve been tracking the weekly bench improvements of every team.  The Utilization score looks at how close scores have been to an optimal lineup.  Golf & Fishing leads this category with a 91.8% utilization so far.

Factoring – The ‘Waivers’ and ‘Best Bench’ categories were weighted with half as many points available as the other categories.

Jason		Pts
Record:	6-3	8.5
Points For:	966	10
Pts Against:	785	6
High Scores:	3	9.5
Best Bench:	0	4.25
Waivers:	7	2
Keepers:	180	4
Utilization:	88.3%	9
Total Points:		53.25
Grade		A+

American BadAss – Gets a lot of points for being the highest scoring team, with 3 Weekly High Score prizes and an 88.3% Utilization rate.

Russ		Pts
Record:	5-4	6.5
Points For:	872	8
Pts Against:	793	7
High Scores:	3	9.5
Best Bench:	1	2.5
Waivers:	8	2.5
Keepers:	232	8
Utilization:	85.7%	7
Total Points:		51
Grade		A

sprouts – Good keeper production, 3 Weekly High Score prizes and 85.7% Utilization.

James		Pts
Record:	6-3	8.5
Points For:	795	6
Pts Against:	760	4
High Scores:	1	7
Best Bench:	0	4.25
Waivers:	3	0.5
Keepers:	186	6
Utilization:	91.8%	10
Total Points:		46.25
Grade		B+

Golf and Fishing – Top Utilization rate at 91.8%, plus a strong record.

Timmy		Pts
Record:	8-1	10
Points For:	896	9
Pts Against:	718	1
High Scores:	1	7
Best Bench:	2	1
Waivers:	5	1
Keepers:	226	7
Utilization:	82.2%	3
Total Points:		39
Grade		B

Attack of Mahomes – Have the fewest points scored against them so far this year, and have scored the 2^nd most points overall.

Jerry		Pts
Record:	4-5	4
Points For:	794	5
Pts Against:	745	2
High Scores:	1	7
Best Bench:	2	1
Waivers:	11	3.5
Keepers:	301	10
Utilization:	84.3%	5
Total Points:		37.5
Grade		C+

Longshanks – Top keeper production helps the score along with snagging 1 Weekly High Score Prize in Week 5.

Jens		Pts
Record:	4-5	4
Points For:	785	4
Pts Against:	773	5
High Scores:	0	0
Best Bench:	0	4.25
Waivers:	13	4
Keepers:	295	9
Utilization:	84.7%	6
Total Points:		36.25
Grade		C

Big Sack – Second best keeper production, and one of only four teams to not have a Best Bench in the first 9 weeks of the season.

Rob		Pts
Record:	5-4	6.5
Points For:	834	7
Pts Against:	900	9
High Scores:	0	0
Best Bench:	1	2.5
Waivers:	6	1.5
Keepers:	183	5
Utilization:	82.6%	4
Total Points:		35.5
Grade		D+

Vandelay Industries – Second most points scored against and rank as the 4^th highest scoring team, but lower on keeper production and Utilization.

Shawn		Pts
Record:	4-5	4
Points For:	705	2
Pts Against:	813	8
High Scores:	0	0
Best Bench:	0	4.25
Waivers:	10	3
Keepers:	133	2
Utilization:	88.2%	8
Total Points:		31.25
Grade		D

Coors Light Drunk Guys – Strong scores in Utilization and Pts Against, but weaker scores in Keeper Production and Points Scored.

Joe		Pts
Record:	1-8	1
Points For:	710	3
Pts Against:	922	10
High Scores:	0	0
Best Bench:	2	1
Waivers:	14	4.5
Keepers:	178	3
Utilization:	78.2%	1
Total Points:		23.5
Grade		F+

Joe’s Pats – It has been a rough go for the defending champ… Joe’s only bright spot is having the most points scored against him.  Other than that he’s got the worst record, tied for most Best Benches and is lowest on the Utilization rating. 

John		Pts
Record:	2-7	2
Points For:	603	1
Pts Against:	751	3
High Scores:	0	0
Best Bench:	1	2.5
Waivers:	18	5
Keepers:	126	1
Utilization:	79.9%	2
Total Points:		16.5
Grade		F

Young Guns – Well its not for lack of trying, as Young Guns leads the league in Waiver moves, but unfortunately has the lowest keeper production, and lowest point total for the season so far.

‘WHAT DO YOU KNOW?!?’ BOWL

Week 9, 2019 brought us the closest game ever in the history of the ‘What Do You Know?!?’ Bowl.  Some background – Matchups between Jens and Shawn have been dubbed the “What Do You Know?!? Bowl” due to Jens’ penchant for shouting said phrase and for Shawn’s extreme annoyance in said act.  I’ve tracked every fantasy game between those two since Week 13, 2007 until now.  There had never before been a 1-point game until Shawn won this past weekend 80-79.  This now puts the all-time record at 12-8 in favor of Jens.  But get this, through those 20 games total points are 1,639 to 1,628 with Jens holding only an 11 point lead.

BEST BENCH(ES)

Two Best Bench awards to give out this week.  Week 8 was a first timer Best Bench winner, and they only needed two roster moves to do it.  With a solid 43 point improvement possibility, the Week 8 Best Bench goes to… sprouts!  Russ needed only swap his running backs, T. Coleman for L. Bell +32 and D. Montgomery for N. Chubb +11.

Week 9’s Best Bench needed a half roster overhaul to get it done.  With a four-roster-spot-swap and 41 point improvement possibility, Week 9’s Best Bench goes to… Joe’s Pats!  Here is the laundry list of changes Joe needed:  M. Jones Jr. for A. Thielen +18, R. Tannehill for P. Rivers +11, E. Sanders for D. Hopkins +7 and J. White for M. Mack +5.

Hard to believe we are only two weeks away from me posting playoff scenarios, but yeah, here we are!  Get those waivers in, and get ready for Week 10!!