American BadAss dominates Week 12

Only one team was able to cross the triple digit threshold this week.  Heck, only one team scored over 87 points this week!  With a dominating score of 118, and taking home a second Weekly High Score Prize this season, Week 12 goes to American BadAss!  After the 118 points, the next closest score was two teams with 87 (Attack of Mahomes and Young Guns).  The 31-point gap between the top two scores is the largest (by far) we have seen all season.  ABA was led by Joe Mixon with 31 points and Dak Prescott with 28, but also had solid games from the Cincinnati defense (19 pts) and Stefon Diggs and Justin Tucker both adding 13.  American BadAss is now the second team to win multiple High Score prizes, having last won back in Week 6.  (Oddly enough, the 2nd largest gap between the top two scores was back in Week 6, when Jason won his first prize.)  Nice work bro!

Five playoff teams are now known, with 3 teams still vying for the 6th and final playoff spot.  Playoff seedings are still TBD, especially in the South division.  American BadAss has been tops in the South since Week 7, but still needs a win in Week 13 to secure the top seed.  (Or a loss paired with losses by sprouts and Young Guns will also secure the top spot.)  But if American BadAss loses and just sprouts wins, thus making both finish at 8-5, sprouts takes the tie-breaker due to the head-to-head record (both would have the same divisional record, 3-3, but sprouts’ won both head-to-head matchups).  If American BadAss loses and just Young Guns wins to make both finish at 8-5, Young Guns takes the tie-breaker with the better divisional record (4-2 vs. 3-3).  If American BadAss loses and both sprouts and Young Guns win, thus causing 3 teams to be tied at 8-5, Young Guns would take the top spot with the better divisional record (4-2 vs. 3-3 vs. 3-3), sprouts would finish second (based on the aforementioned head-to-head record) and American BadAss would finish 3rd and take the first wildcard spot.

In the North Division, the Scottish Rebels have the top spot secured.  Joe’s Pats can tie for best record (8-5), but the Rebels' division record is better (6-0 vs. 4-2).  The intrigue really centers around the game between Joe’s Pats and the Coors Light Drunk Guys.  If the Drunk Guys win, they will secure a wild card finish and tie Joe’s Pats for 2nd best record.  (Joe’s Pats will take the 2nd seed due to a better divisional record).  If Joe’s Pats wins the game, and Attack of Mahomes and Vandelay Industries all win, three teams could end up tied at 6-7 for the final wild card spot.  In that scenario, all three of those teams (Coors Light Drunk Guys, Attack of Mahomes, and Vandelay Industries) all have wins and losses over one another in head-to-head so it would likely come down to total points scored.  Through Week 12 those three teams are within 33 points of each other (Attack of Mahomes=1,060, Coors Light Drunk Guys=1,058, Vandelay Industries=1,027), so that could be tight!

Remember the tie-breakers for divisional standings are (in order): Overall Record, Divisional Record, Head-to-Head record, Points Scored, Coin Flip.  For wildcard it is: Overall Record, Head-to-Head Record, Points Scored, Coin Flip.  These are different than the tie-breakers Yahoo! uses, so I'll send out an update on Monday night confirming who makes it in and in what seeds.

BEST BENCH

Well it would appear the Best Bench is back to normal this week as there were quite a few points to be had.  Six teams had a bench improvement which would have won or tied either of the last two weeks.  Joe’s Pats had a solid total with a 27-point-improvement possibility, and sprouts did even better with a 36-point-improvement possibility.  But none were better than the back-to-back week champion, Big Sack No TD’s, with a 49-point-improvement possibility!  Jens took home the crown last week, with a single player swap, but this week needed 3 players to get there:  Miami for Carolina +22, C. Patterson for M. Pittman Jr. +19 and K. Cousins for R. Tannehill +8.  What.  Do.  You.  Know?!

Get those waivers in and get ready for Week 13!!!

Thrice is Nice!

This crazy and unpredictable season continues to deliver!  The scoring finally returned after a 3 week dip (946 total points scored with four teams scoring triple digits), and my Scottish Rebels barely edged sprouts by one point to claim the Week 11 Weekly High Score Prize, 122-121!  How my team did it is one of the oddest I’ve seen, as my scoring leader was my tight end, Zach Ertz, with 20 points, and my lowest scorer, Arizona Defense, had 11 points.  The rest of my players scored 18, 17, 15, 14, 14 and 13.  No outstanding performances, just solid all around production.  Sprouts was on the other end of the spectrum with an amazing 81% of his 121 points (99 points to be exact) came from just three players: Jonathan Taylor (52), Justin Jefferson (31) and Diontae Johnson (16).  This is a crazy season indeed!  The Week 11 High Score Prize marks my 3rd one for the season, and my Rebels are still the only team to claim multiple prizes so far this season.

The other games this week clarified the playoff picture a little bit… there is one team in for sure and one team out for sure but the other 8 teams are still alive and vying for a spot.  Much more on that below.  Plus this week we hand out a team’s first Best Bench in over a season and a half.  Let’s go!

BIG TIME

• Johnathan Taylor, RB – sprouts – 52 pts – Taylor had an absolute gem of a game, going for 185 yards and 4 TD’s on the ground, plus 19 yards and another TD receiving.  He joins an elite group of players who have surpassed 50 points in a single week.  Prior to this week, there were only six other players since 2007 to accomplish the feat, and this is the highest single week score since Derrick Henry had 50 back in Week 14, 2018.
• Justin Herbert, QB – Young Guns – 37 pts – Herbert had a great day, throwing for 382 yards, 3 TD’s and 1 interception, plus also ran 9 times for 90 yards!  Herbert now ranks as the 5th highest scoring QB in fantasy.
• Aaron Rodgers, QB – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 35 pts – The crotchety one is still getting it done, throwing for 385 yards and 4 TD’s, albeit in a losing effort against the Vikes.  This moves Rodgers to 9th place among QB’s in scoring this season.
• Austin Ekeler, RB – Joe’s Pats – 35 pts – What a night for Ekeler, racking up 4 total TD’s (2 on the ground, 2 through the air) and 115 total yards (50 rushing, 65 receiving).  
• Justin Jefferson, WR – sprouts – 31 pts – Jefferson was a monster on the field, gaining 169 yards plus two TD’s!  He should have had a 3rd TD, but was ruled down at the one.  
• Jalen Hurts, QB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – In the “I Didn’t See This One Coming” category, we have Jalen Hurts-#1 scorer in all of fantasy.  He has 242 points on the season, 2 more than Tom Brady.  (To be fair Tom has had his bye week and Hurts has not, but still.)

COME ON MAN!

• Brandin Cooks, WR – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – When you start a Houston wide receiver, you are really only hoping for 3 points, so actually this wasn’t that bad.
• Tyler Bass, K – Sofa King American – 1 pt – A lone extra point was all Bass had to offer this week.  Oof.
• Tee Higgins, WR – Young Guns – 1 pt – Bad day for Higgins, catching just 2 passes for only 15 yards.
• Younghoe Koo, K – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 0 pts – Falcons were shut out by New England, so Koo never even had a chance.
• Randy Bullock, K – sprouts – 0 pts – Made an extra point and missed an extra point.  Double oof.
• Buffalo, DEF – Young Guns – 0 pts – The Bills were absolutely worked by the Colts, giving up 41 points while recording only one defensive stat: a single 4th down stop.

PLAYOFFS? DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

Only two weeks left of regular season play and nine teams are alive in the playoff picture.  The magic number for making it in for sure is 7, with three teams already at or above that number and another four teams capable of reaching that number.

Already Secured:

• Scottish Rebels – The top spot in the North Division has been secured by my Scottish Rebels with 8 wins. Joe’s Pats is the only team capable of also getting to 8 wins in the North Division, but the division record tie breaker would go in my favor.

In Control of Own Destiny:

• American BadAss – Win 1 game to assure a Top 2 spot in the South Division.
• sprouts – Win 1 game to assure a Top 2 spot in the South Division.
• Joe’s Pats – Win 1 game (especially the Week 13 showdown with Coors Light Drunk Guys)
• Young Guns – Win 1 game to qualify, or there’s even still a path to the top spot in the South with 2 wins plus 2 losses from American BadAss and 2 losses from sprouts.
• Coors Light Drunk Guys – Win final 2 games, or win 1 game and it will come down to tie-breakers.
• Vandelay Industries – Win final 2 games, or win 1 game and it will come down to tie-breakers.

Needing Some Help:

• Attack of Mahomes – Win final 2 games plus 2 losses from Coors Light Drunk Guys and two losses from Vandelay Industries and one loss from Sofa King American.  Would still probably come down to tie-breakers.
• Sofa King American – Win final 2 games plus 2 losses from Young Guns and two losses from Coors Light Drunk Guys and two losses from Vandelay Industries and 1 loss from Attack of Mahomes.  And again, it would probably come down to tie-breakers.

The Way Is Shut:

• Big Sack No TD’s – Unfortunately, there is no path to the playoffs.

With as tight as the standings are, there is a scenario which could play out where six teams finish with a record of 6-7, which would make for the most epic tie-breaking of all time.  Here is a reminder of the tie-breakers used in determining final regular season standings:

Divisional standing ranking
Overall record
Division record
Head-to-head record
Points scored
Coin flip

Wildcard standing ranking/tiebreakers
Overall record
Head-to-head record
Points scored
Coin flip

Division record doesn’t matter for wildcards so both wildcard teams can come from the same division.  Also, the final standings of teams in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th will be determined at the end of Week 13.

BEST BENCH

In 2019 the lowest Best Bench winning total was 30, while the average was 39.8.  Last season, the lowest total was 25 and the average was 38.6.  But this season prior to this week there were already five Best Bench winners with totals lower than 25.  And this week’s winner is another historic low at only a 17 point improvement possibility!  There were four teams this week with optimal line-ups… crazy!
But, there always has to be a winner, and for the first time since Week 4 of 2020, claiming his first Best Bench this season, Week 11 goes to… Big Sack No TD’s!  Jens needed to make just one roster change to get the 17 points – K. Cousins for R. Tannehill +17.

Get those waiver claims in and get ready for Week 12!  Happy Thanksgiving!
TURKEY!!!

On the Attack in Week 10!

This season truly is one for the ages!  The record for the most number of different teams to win a Weekly High Score Prize before this season was eight, set back in 2013.  (Well, technically there were 9 teams to get a share of a Prize in 2008, but one of those was only a half win.)  Most seasons we will see 6 or 7 teams claim the prizes.  (Last season, 2020, there were seven different WHSP winners).  But now this season, in just 10 weeks of play we already have our ninth different team to win a Weekly High Score Prize!  

The Week 10 honor goes to Attack of Mahomes, who finished with 117 points thanks to big Sunday and Monday Night games.  Timmy got big performances on Sunday from Mahomes and Kelce (39 and 11 points, respectively), then on Monday night had a breakout game from Deebo Samuel (24 points) to edge the next closest team by 5!  The win also moved Timmy’s record to 4-6 keeping him alive in the playoff hunt.  Nice work Tim-MAY!!  The only team in the league now who has yet to take home a Weekly High Score Prize is the Coors Light Drunk Guys.

Across the rest of the league there are no clinched playoff spots yet, but American BadAss and Scottish Rebels are close.  Probably one more win or a couple key losses by other teams will secure spots.  For everyone else, it is still wide open and all teams still have a chance to make it in.  From the scenarios I’ve run, it appears getting to 7 wins should secure a playoff spot for any team who gets there.  There is even a scenario I’ve run where Big Sack No TD’s (currently with a 3-7 record) makes it in with a record of 6-7.  So everyone is alive and it is crunch time!  Make sure to have your best roster in every week, and remember all teams are eligible to win a Weekly High Score Prize through Week 16 regardless of playoff qualification.

Just a few items to get to this week, including a record-setting Best Bench!

BIG TIME

• Patrick Mahomes, QB – Attack of Mahomes – 39 pts – After a couple lackluster weeks, Mahomes had his shine back completing 35 of 50 passes for 406 yards and 5 TD’s!  This moves Mahomes back into a tie with Brady for the top spot in fantasy scoring this season (221 points).
• Dallas, DEF – Big Sack No TD’s – 27 pts – Yes, a defense was the 2nd highest scoring player this week… crazy!  The Cowboys were all over the Falcons, getting 3 interceptions (1 run back for a TD), 2 sacks, a blocked kick, 2 4th down stops and only gave up 3 points.  

COME ON MAN

• DK Metcalf, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 2 pts – He was targeted 8 times, but only mustered 2 catches for just 26 yards.
• AJ Brown, WR – Big Sack No TD’s – 1 pt – Nothing doing for Brown this week, catching just 1 of 4 balls thrown his way for 16 yards.
• Dalton Schultz, TE – Young Guns – 1 pt – Schultz hasn’t found the endzone since Week 4, and this week caught a lone pass for just 14 yards.
• TJ Hockenson, TE – Vandelay Industries – 0 pts – No injuries or anything, just simply no production from ol’ TJ this week.  

TOP 5 CHECK IN

Here are how the top fives by position are shaping up after 10 weeks:

Notable highlights –

• Derrick Henry is still the 2^nd highest scoring running back in spite of not having scored any points for the last two weeks (and only 6 points in Week 8 before getting injured).
• Travis Kelce is still the best tight end in Fantasy.
• Two undrafted defenses are in the Top 5 (Arizona and Dallas).
• Kyle Pitts, TE for the Atlanta Falcons is the fourth highest scoring tight end and was actually selected in the 4^th round by American BadAss.  That is not a typo.

 

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Boss - How good are you at Power Point?

Me - I excel at it.

Boss – Was that a Microsoft Office pun?

Me – Word.

 

BEST BENCH

The Bestest Best Bench we’ve ever seen happened back in Week 2 2009 when sprouts had an 89-point improvement possibility.  The Coors Light Drunk Guys have come the closest to breaking that record with an 88-point improvement possibility back in Week 8 2014.  But now Shawn has finally done it and broken a Best Bench record, but not for most points ever…rather for the least!! 

Four weeks ago, Joe’s Pats went low on the Best Bench with an just an 18-point improvement possibility (tied for 3^rd lowest ever), but this Week the Drunk Guys did even better by taking home the Week 10 Best Bench with just a 14 point improvement possibility!

In an amazing testament to everyone’s roster selections this week, there were simply not many points to be had.  All other teams had just single digit improvements from their benches.  Unbelievable.  For the 14 points, Shawn needed to only make two roster changes:  H. Henry for T. Higbee +7 and R. Anderson for DK Metcalf +7.  This is the 3^rd Best Bench for the Drunk Guys, having also taken it home in Weeks 2 and 9.  Four teams have avoided a Best Bench so far this season.

 

Get those waivers in and get ready for the last 3 weeks before playoffs!!!

Week 8 means MIDTERMS!!

 

That's a big sack

What a scoring drop off!  Since Week 1, the average score across the league has not been below 90 points.  Scoring peaked in Week 5, with 1,105 total points scored, but even the last two weeks have had 977 and 947, respectively.  Then this week saw five teams score in the 60’s, two in the 70’s, one in the 80’s and just two teams scoring in triple digits.  And in this week’s example of how much matchups matter – two teams scored 69 points this week, one won and one lost, and two teams scored 73 points this week, and again one won and one lost. 

But the congratulations this week go to Mr. What Do You Know? Himself… Jens and his Big Sack!  In a preview showdown of Week 9’s “What Do You Know Bowl”, the two highest scoring teams came down to Big Sack No TD’s and the Coors Light Drunk Guys.  The Drunk Guys posted a very respectable 108 points, and Big Sack trailed by 7 points going into MNF with only a Kicker left to play.  Harrison Butker managed to knock home 2 field goals and 2 extra points for 8 points giving Big Sack a total of 109 to take the Weekly High Score Prize!  Jens also had big games from A.J. Brown (24 points) and Ryan Tannehill (20 points), and got 25 total points from his running back duo (Alvin Kamara 13, and Cordarrelle Patterson 12).  This marks the first Weekly High Score prize for Big Sack No TD’s and is the 7^th different team to win a prize so far this season.  Nice work Jens!

Eight weeks of the season are in the books so it is time for mid-term grades!  Years ago when I first starting giving out these mid-term grades, it was mostly just a gut feeling about each team and whether I thought it was any good.  Now it has grown into a full blown scientific analysis where teams are scored across eight categories and grades are awarded on a strict curve (2 A’s, 2 B’s, 2 C’s, 2 D’s and 2 F’s).  Much more on that below, plus we have two Best Benches to give out this week… onward!

BIG TIME

• Mike White, QB – Free Agent – 29 pts – Yes a free agent quarterback was this week’s top scorer.  Check this out, filling in for Zach Wilson he goes for 405 yards, 3 TD’s and 2 interceptions and leads the Jets to a victory over the Bengals.  Amazing!
• Tom Brady, QB – Sofa King American – 28 pts – Brady had 375 yards and 4 TD’s, but also tossed 2 INT’s and lost a fumble.  However, he still leads all fantasy scorers so far this season by 25 points.
• Josh Allen, QB – Scottish Rebels – 28 pts – Just 249 yards passing and 2 TD’s, but managed to also rumble for 55 yards on the ground and get a rushing TD.  He currently ranks as the 2nd highest scoring quarterback in fantasy, just behind Mr. GOAT.

COME ON MAN

• Kyle Pitts, TE – American BadAss – 1 pt – After scoring 17 & 19 in his last two games, Pitts managed just 2 catches for a whopping 13 yards this week.
• Dalton Schultz, TE – Young Guns – 1 pt – With Prescott out, Schultz only managed to catch 2 balls for a measly 11 yards.
• Mike Williams, WR – Vandelay Industries – 1 pt – After a 31 point explosion in Week 5, Williams has now scored only 3 points in his last two games.
• Emmanuel Sanders, WR – Scottish Rebels – 0 pts – He did not manage to catch any of the four balls thrown his way. Yuck.
• Travis Kelce, TE – Attack of Mahomes – 0 pts – After dominating fantasy scoring early in the season, Kelce has scored in double figures only once since Week 4, and has just 1 touchdown in the last 5 weeks.  This week he caught four passes for 27 yards, but lost a fumble wiping it all out.
• David Johnson, RB – Sofa King American – 0 pts – Yet another player who at one time was a sure fire 1^st round pick reduced to fantasy irrelevancy.  Johnson had just 2 carries for 4 yards and appears destined for even less work going forward.  Alas.
• Noah Fant, TE – Sofa King American – 0 pts – Just a bad day for Fant who caught only 2 passes for 8 yards. 

 

MID-TERMS!!

Here are the categories all teams are scored on for mid term grades:

-Win/Loss record – Higher points go to teams with better records – Scottish Rebels currently have best record at 7-1;

-Points scored – Higher points go to teams who have scored more total points – Scottish Rebels currently have most points scored at 794;

-Points against – Higher points go to teams with more points scored against them – Attack of Mahomes has had the most points scored against with 854;

-Weekly High Score Prizes – More points go to teams with more High Score prizes – Scottish Rebels are the only team with multiple (2) so far this season.

-Best Benches – More points go to teams with fewer Best Bench awards – American BadAss and Attack of Mahomes each have 2, while Big Sack No TD’s, sprouts, Vandelay Industries and Scottish Rebels have not had a Best Bench this season so far.

-Waiver Moves – More points awarded to teams more active on the waiver wire – Young Guns currently has the most waiver moves with 20.

-Keeper Production – More points awarded to teams whose keepers have scored the most points.  Vandelay Industries is tops in this category with 336 points from keepers.

-Utilization – More points awarded to teams with higher utilization.  Sprouts has the highest utilization rate this season at 93.2%.

Here are the report cards for each team:

So the big question is whether these mid-term grades mean anything… here is a recap of the last four year’s top three finishers and what their mid-term grades were:

The grade which has been in the top 3 in each of the last four seasons is A+, followed, oddly, by C+ with three appearances.  We’ve not had a grade lower than C+ finish in the top 3 since mid-terms have been calculated this way. 

 

PLAYOFFS?! DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!!!

Only four more weeks of the regular season which means it’s almost time to start talking about playoff scenarios.  At this point, with only three teams with records better than .500, it is still literally wide open.  Any team which wins their last four games is a virtual shoo-in to make the playoffs.

 

BEST BENCH(ES)

Two weeks of Best Benches to hand out this week… man whether it’s due to bye weeks, injuries or just good ol’ team management, there have not been many points left on the bench the last two weeks.  Across the last three weeks, there have been 16 instances of only single digit improvement possibilities, with 7 of those being ‘optimal lineups’ (i.e. Zero bench improvement points!).  And oddly enough, the last two week’s Best Benches both tied with just 22-point improvement possibilities.

In Week 7, it was a lone player swap to get the 22 points for… Attack of Mahomes!  Timmy needed to only swap J. Chase for D. Moore (+22).  This is the second Best Bench this season for AoM, having also earning the distinction back in Week 1.

This week was a bit more work to get there, as it required 4 roster swaps to get the 22 points.  Snagging a 2^nd Best Bench this season as well, Week 8 goes to… American BadAss!!  Jason needed the half-roster swap:  J. Burrow for J. Winston +10, M. Gordon for E. Elliott +8, T. Boyd for S. Diggs +3, and J. Cook for K. Pitts +1.  This is also the second Best Bench for ABA, having earned it back in Week 4 as well.

 

Okay get those waivers in and get ready for the final push to the playoffs!  Bring on Week 9!!