Joe's Pats is the 2021 Champion!!

"2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate? Joe!"

For the fourth time in the last 7 seasons, Joe’s Pats is the Sacred Sundays Champion!  Joe did it with a 2 point victory over the Coors Light Drunk Guys (83-81), thanks to Terry McLaurin (WR) equaling Tony Pollard (RB) with 4 points on Monday Night Football.  The Pats now join American BadAss as the only teams in the league to win FOUR titles.  This also marks the first time since 2016 the #4 seed has won the championship.  Congratulations senor!!  Fantastic season!  For the Drunk Guys, the championship game capped an amazing run of getting into the playoffs as the sixth seed and nearly winning it all in spite of no Weekly High Score prizes this season.  Congrats on the 2nd place finish Shawn!

Other congratulations go out to American BadAss for taking home the final Weekly High Score Prize of the season with a solid 121 point performance!  Jason got huge games from Dak Prescott (31 pts) and Joe Mixon (25 pts), plus had Zeke chip in 15 and Stefon Diggs add 14.  This was the 3rd High Score for BadAss this season, tying the Scottish Rebels for the most.  Nice work bro!

Lastly, in the only other significant game this week, Young Guns defeated my Scottish Rebels to finish in 3rd place.  It really ended up being a race to the bottom, as my Rebels produced their lowest total of the season (46), and the Young Guns tied their second lowest total of the season (69).  Congratulations on finishing 3rd, John!  This marks John's second 3rd place finish, having also finished 3rd in 2018.  For me it is the fourth time I've finished 4th, having also claimed it in 2020, 2018 and 2014.  No other team dominates the 4th spot like I do!

Okay, just tying up some odds and ends this week, the final money tally, and we hand out the final (and highest!) Best Bench of the season.  Let's do this!

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

The 2021 season is the first time in league history (18 seasons) where every team won a prize!  What an amazing stat!  Here is a recap of the prizes won by each team:

TOP FIVE – FINAL TALLY

Here is how the top five players for each position played out this season:

Couple interesting points to note:

• “Undrafted” players (7) outnumber players drafted in the 1st & 2nd rounds combined (6).
• Derrick Henry only played in 8 games yet finished with 175 points, ranking him 8th--only 8 points out of 5th place and making this list.
• Of the Top 10 Kickers, only 3 were draft picks… 7 of the top 10 were undrafted.
• The highest ranking undrafted running back was Tony Pollard, finishing as the 22nd ranked RB with 113 points.
• The highest ranking undrafted wide receiver was Cordarrelle Patterson, finishing as the 7th best WR with 168 points.  (Already calling this as Jens’ first keeper.)
• The highest ranking undrafted quarterback was Kirk Cousins, finishing as the 9th best QB with 273 points.  (And there’s Jen’s second keeper.  What do you know?!?!)

DRAFT ORDER AND KEEPERS

The draft order is the reverse of the final standings, so here it is for 2022:

1 Jens

2 James

3 Rob

4 Timmy

5 Jason

6 Russ

7 Jerry

8 John

9 Shawn

10 Joe

The keeper rule will be the same as it has been previously.  Each team can designate up to 2 players as keepers for next year’s roster.  The player will count as a draft pick for where they were drafted this season.  Players being re-kept will count as a first round pick.  Undrafted players will count as 15th round pick.  Keepers will be due by Aug. 28, 2022, one week prior to the draft.  Fingers crossed on making a triumphant return to Vegas for the draft…more details coming later on that.

BEST BENCH

Since 2019 the average Best Bench improvement has been on a steady decline.  In 2019, the average was 39.8 points per week, last year the average dropped to 37.8, and going into this week the average was just 29.6!  This season has seen some amazingly low weeks, with the record low score being set and the 3rd lowest total ever also being set.  However, there is always the yang to the yin, or the other side of the coin.  This week’s Best Bench winner was the highest for this season, and the highest since Week 6 last season.  Needing four players for an impressive 56- point- improvement-possibility the final Best Bench of 2021 goes to… Young Guns!  John needed to swap: T. Higgins for K. Allen +31, R. Penny for S. Barkley +16, J. Waddle for A. Brown +5 and Green Bay for Seattle +4.   This is the second Best Bench this season for the Young Guns, having also claimed it back in Week 5.  Sprouts was the only team to avoid snagging a Best Bench this season (nice work Russ!), and the Coors Light Drunk Guys led the way with 4.

Wow!  Congrats to everyone on the prizes!  I’ll reach out with a separate email to dole everything out.  Rosters will be considered final by the end of this week, and I’ll send out a listing with all draft pick values.

It’s crazy how another season can draw to a close yet seem like it only just started.  September to December really does fly by.  Now, as we head into the New Year, some toasts:

“Here’s to staying positive and testing negative!”

“Here’s to our sons… may they have beautiful mothers and rich fathers!”

“Here’s to lesbians, because they have good taste.”

And finally to Jens, specifically, – “To your very good health.  May you live to be as old as your jokes.”

Happy 2022 gentlemen!!  May it be filled with wealth and health for you all. :-)

The Final Showdown of 2021!

And then there were two… We are all set for the final showdown for the 2021 Sacred Sundays Champion – Joe’s Pats versus the Coors Light Drunk Guys!  Shawn had a Tuesday night comeback victory (don’t hear that very often) over Young Guns and Joe thumped my helpless Scottish Rebels.  The Coors Light Drunk Guys have played in the Championship game twice before, having won a championship most recently in 2011.  Joe’s Pats has been in the Championship game four times, having won championships in 2015, 2017 and 2018.  Congratulations and good luck to both teams!

The other big congratulations this week go to Attack of Mahomes, who racked up a mighty fine 118 points to snag a second Weekly High Score Prize for the season!  Over half of Timmy's points this week came from just two players, Travis Kelce (34 points) and Patrick Mahomes (32 points), who absolutely killed this week!  Timmy even had a goose egg from a wide receiver (Jamarr Chase), yet still had enough to be tops this week.  Well done sir!!

Just a quick update as we head into the final week of the season and Christmas...

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

Recap on the prizes for this season… Weekly High Score Prizes are $50/week, and here is the current tally:

For the playoffs, here are the prizes this season:

• 1st = $325
• 2nd = $150
• 3rd = $100
• 4th = $75
• 5th = $50

In the Championship game, in the event of a tie the following tie-breakers will be used.

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 and prize money split evenly.

DRAFT & KEEPERS

Same keeper rules will apply for next season… each team can designate up to 2 players from this season’s final roster as keepers for next season.  The players will count as a draft pick from the round they were drafted this season.  Keepers being re-kept will count as a 1st round pick.  Undrafted players will count as a 15th round pick.  I’ll send out the final rosters and draft values a week or so after the season concludes.

Draft 2022 will be on Labor Day Weekend… plans forthcoming…

BEST BENCH(es)

Time to get caught up on Best Benches… three to award this week.  Weeks 13 and 14 went to the two teams who had the longest streaks without a Best Bench.  In Week 13 it was my Scottish Rebels with a 23-point improvement possibility taking home the honor.  It was the first Best Bench I’ve won since Week 14 2020.  In Week 14 the Best Bench went to Vandelay Industries with a 30-point improvement possibility.  For Rob, that was his first Best Bench since Week 5 2019, which was the longest active streak.  The current longest streak now belongs to sprouts, who has not had a Best Bench since Week 16 last season.

For last week (Week 15), it was a familiar face taking home the honors, as the Coors Light Drunk Guys won their 4th Best Bench of the season!  Shawn needed just a two player swap to improve by 21 points this week… H. Henry for T. Higbee +19 and T. Pollard for J. Connor +2.  The Drunks last had a Best Bench in back-to-back weeks, 9 & 10 of this season.

Only one more week to go!  Get any final waiver claims in!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you guys!!