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?!?!