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. :-)