Championship Time!

And we are down to two!  In the most unlikeliest of matchups, the Championship game will feature the top seed (Sofa King Great) versus the sixth seed (Big Sack No TD’s).  Looking back, and at least through 2007, we have never seen those two seeds face off in the finals.  King James advanced to the finals in the most glorious of fashion, by also claiming the Week 16 Weekly High Score Prize!  He had big games from Kyler Murray and Mike Evans who both scored 20, followed by Christian McCaffrey with 18 and his kicker, Jake Elliott, added 17 giving Sofa King Great a 97-93 victory over Joe’s Pats.  This marks the first time all season where the highest score is under one hundred.  It also marks James’ 4th Weekly High Score Prize this season!  Well done Major General Captain sir!!!

In the other semi-final, Jens got enough from Lamar Jackson (22 pts), Justin Jefferson (20 pts) and his kicker, Justin Tucker (16 pts), to pull out an 87-79 victory over the Coors Light Drunk Guys.  For Jens, this is the first time since 2012 to make it to the Championship game, and for James it is the first time since 2014.  James has two previous championships (2005 & 2014), and Jens has one (2012).  In the two meetings between these two teams this season, James won both by a combined score of 223-158.  Now as a reminder, if there is a tie in the Championship game, the following tie-breakers will be used:

1) Team with the highest scoring quarterback wins

2) Team with the highest scoring running back wins

3) Team with the highest scoring wide receiver wins

4) If still tied at that point, co-Champions will be declared and the prizes split.

Also, as a reminder, here are the prizes for this season:

Champion = $400

Runner-up = $175

3rd Place = $125

So that means there is a lot still riding on the 3rd/4th matchup between Joe’s Pats and the Coors Light Drunk Guys.  In this game, since the Drunk Guys are the higher seed, they will win in the event of a tie.

Alright this week we’ll take a look at pre-season rankings compared to actuals and give out a big ol’ Best Bench (2nd highest of the season!!).  Lets go!

BIG TIME FOOTBALL

• Amari Cooper, WR – Joe’s Pats – 43 pts – Cooper had an amazing day, hauling in 11 catches for 265 yards and 2 TD’s, plus adding a 2-point conversion.  In terms of fantasy scoring, this performance ties Cooper with Andre Johnson for the 4th best score from a wide receiver all time! (Tyreek Hill holds the wide receiver record of 47 points in a game, Week 12-2020).
• George Pickens, WR – Attack of Mahomes – 34 pts – On just four catches, Pickens managed to rack up 195 yards (!!) plus two TD’s.  Imagine if they had thrown it to him like 10 times..
• Breece Hall, RB – Sofa King Great – 30 pts – Hall led the Jets in both rushing and receiving yards (95 & 96 yards, respectively) plus added 2 TD’s.  
• Joe Flacco, QB – Free Agent – 27 pts – Hard to believe the highest scoring QB this week was the lumbering 38-year-old Flacco who threw for 368 yards and 3 TD’s (2 ints) against the Texans.  

COME ON MAN!!

• DJ Moore, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – Three catches for 18 yards is all Moore was able to put up.
• Will Lutz, K – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – He missed on his only field goal attempt (57 yards), and made his only PAT.  
• Sam LaPorta, TE – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – A week after catching 3 TD passes, Sam caught just 3 balls for 18 yards.
• Cincinnati, DEF – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 0 pts – In what should have been a favorable matchup, the Bengals got lit up by Pittsburgh for 34 points, while getting no turnovers and only recording one quarterback sack.
• Davante Adams, WR – Sofa King Great – 0 pts – Yes Adams did play, and no he wasn’t hurt.  He was just shut down to the tune of one catch for 4 yards.  That’s it.
• Ja’Marr Chase, WR – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 0 pts – Chase was on the list of inactives, yet was still on the starting roster for WAM.  
• Indianapolis, DEF – Young Guns – 0 pts – The Colts recorded just one sack and gave up 29 points in a loss to Atlanta.

PRE-DRAFT vs. ACTUALS (FANTASY vs. REALITY)

As of September 3rd, here is what the top ten rankings were on Yahoo! based on average draft position, and I’ve added their current rank and points scored:

Rank	Name	Team-Pos	Rank	Points
1	Justin Jefferson	Min - WR	144	106
2	Ja'Marr Chase	Cin - WR	49	156
3	Christian McCaffrey	SF - RB	3	304
4	Austin Ekeler	LAC - RB	131	113
5	Tyreek Hill	Mia - WR	10	244
6	Nick Chubb	Cle - RB	368	18
7	Stefon Diggs	Buf - WR	57	149
8	Bijan Robinson	Atl - RB	56	150
9	Travis Kelce	KC - TE	115	121
10	A.J. Brown	Phi - WR	32	175

After 16 weeks of reality, only TWO of those players are in the actual top 10…Christian McCaffrey who is oddly ranked #3 in actuals just as he was in pre-season, and Tyreek Hill who is currently ranked 10th (down just a few spots from his #5 pre-season rank).  The rest of the players have fallen well back of expectations, either due to injury or just poor playing.

Dak Prescott, Brock Purdy and Jordan Love (currently ranked 4th, 6th and 7th in actuals) were not even ranked in the top 125 in the preseason.  The season’s top two scorers, Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts, were ranked #33 and #23.  The player with the biggest positive difference between pre-season rank and current is Raheem Mostert, who was ranked 98th in the preseason and is now ranked 17th.  On the other end of the spectrum, J.K. Dobbins was ranked 38th in the preseason and is currently ranked 432nd.  He was injured in week 1, but it still just goes to show how wildly off these pre-season rankings can be.  

(A few other notable players:  Mike Evans, pre-rank=71, current=23 (+48); Geno Smith, pre-rank=99, current=26 (+73); Garrett Wilson, pre-rank=14, current=146 (-132); Davante Adams, pre-rank=16, current=106(-90)). 

WORST PLAYER IN FANTASY (so far)

There is still one more week to go, but right now the worst player in all of fantasy this season is a tie between Blaine Gabbert and Gunner Olszewski who have both scored -3 points this season.  Gabbert is currently the back-up quarterback in Kansas City, and has only played in Week 3 where he threw for 31 yards and 2 interceptions.  Oof.  (He also rushed twice for -1 yards).  Olszewski is a wide receiver for the Giants, who had fumbles in Weeks 2 & 5, but did add 1 point on return yardage in Week 8. Also oof.

BEST BENCH

Only one more Best Bench to award after this week and there are still two teams who have avoided snagging one this season.  The week 16 Best Bench was a good one as the winner had a 50-point-improvement possibility on just three roster moves.  That total is second to only the Week 2 Bestie of 57 points scored by yours truly.  But snagging his third Best Bench this year, the Week 16 winner is… Attack of Mahomes!  Timmy needed to only swap his receivers, G. Pickens for R. Rice +29, T Higgins for C. Kupp +15, and D. Montgomery for I. Pacheco +6 to get there.  The three Best Benches ties Attack of Mahomes with Young Guns for the most this year.

Get those rosters set for the final week of the season!!  Good luck Jens and James!!

Playoffs?!?

Playoff matchups are set!  In the South Division, Sofa King Great claimed the top seed thanks to a league best 10-4 record, and in the North Division the Coors Light Drunk Guys came out on top to snag the 2nd seed.  American BadAss and Joe’s Pats were division runner-ups… BadAss by having a better record at 9-5, and Joe’s Pats by tying OH YEAH! at 8-6 and having a better division record (6-2 vs 4-4).  OH YEAH! takes the first wildcard spot (5th seed) by having a better record, and Big Sack No TD’s claims the final wildcard spot by having the best record of the remaining teams (7-7).  No head-to-head or point tie-breakers needed.  Good luck to all playoff teams!  

Team-by-team breakdown:

Seed #1 – Sofa King Great (James)

2023 Record/Points = 10-4 / 1,336 pts

2022 Finish = 6th

Best Finish = Two championships (2005, 2014)

Best Recent Finish = 3rd Place (2020)

Yahoo! Draft Grade = C+

Seed #2 – Coors Light Drunk Guys (Shawn)

2023 Record/Points = 8-5-1 / 1,159 pts

2022 Finish = 9th 

Best Finish = Champion (2011)

Best Recent Finish = Runner-up (2021)

Yahoo! Draft Grade = D+

Seed #3 – American BadAss (Jason)

2023 Record/Points = 9-5 / 1,206 pts

2022 Finish = 5th

Best Finish = Four championships (2004, 2007, 2008, 2013)

Best Recent Finish = 2nd Place (2019)

Yahoo! Draft Grade = D+

Seed #4 – Joe’s Pats (Joe)

2023 Record/Points = 8-6 / 1,195 pts

2022 Finish = 2nd 

Best Finish = Four championships (2015, 2017, 2018, 2021)

Best Recent Finish = Runner-up (2022)

Yahoo! Draft Grade = D-

Seed #5 – OH YEAH!! (Jerry)

2023 Record/Points = 8-6 / 1,290 pts

2022 Finish = 8th 

Best Finish = Two championships (2010, 2019)

Best Recent Finish = 4th Place (2021)

Yahoo! Draft Grade = D

Seed #6 – Big Sack No TDs (Jens)

2023 Record/Points = 7-7 / 1,149 pts

2022 Finish = 7th 

Best Finish = Champion (2012)

Best Recent Finish = 3rd Place (2014)

Yahoo! Draft Grade = B+

Here is a reminder on the playoff prizes this season:

Champion: $400

Runner Up: $175

Third Place: $125

Weekly High Score Prizes continue to run each week and all teams are eligible to win.  For the four teams who did not qualify for the playoffs, here is how the standings finished:

7th – Young Guns – John

8th – sprouts – Russ

9th – Attack of Mahomes – Timmy

10th – Wyld Ass Monkeys – Rob

There are weekly matchups Yahoo! will have for these teams, but those won’t factor in to our final standings.  Those four will have the first picks in next year’s draft, in reverse order:  Rob, Timmy, Russ and John.  Rest of the order of picks is to be determined.

Before we go any further, we need to take a moment to hand out congratulations to the 7th different team claim a prize this season!  It was once again the sole team able to score in triple digits taking home the crown.  This week’s winner was American BadAss who finished with a cool 102-75 victory.  Jason got there in the most unorthodox way possible… with his Kicker and Tight End leading in scoring!  Brandon Aubrey was his top scoring player with 22 points (the dude made 3 50+ yarders), followed by tight end Evan Engram with 21 points.  Then a bit more conventionally, he had Derrick Henry with 16 and Travis Etienne and the 49ers defense both adding 12 each.  The 102 points scored is the second lowest Weekly High Score of the season, two points better than the 100-point winner in Week 11.  Nice work bro!

This week I wanted to hand out a few ‘Regular Season’ awards, and of course, give out the week’s Best Bench.  Onward!

Regular Season Awards

With the regular season in the books here are a few notable awards.

• Best Utilization – The team who left the lowest amount of total points on the bench
• Winner = Joe’s Pats, Utilization rate = 89.4%
• Runner-up = Coors Light Drunk Guys, Utilization rate = 87.9%
• Most Points – Most prolific point scorer in the league
• Winner = Sofa King Great, 1,336 points
• Runner-up = OH YEAH!, 1,290 points
• Punching Bag – Team with the most points scored against them
• Winner = Wyld Ass Monkeys, 1,328 points against
• Runner-up = sprouts, 1,246 points against
• Most Waivers – Churning that roster!
• Winner = Big Sack No TD’s, 30 waiver claims
• Runner-up = Attack of Mahomes, 29 waiver claims
• Best Keepers
• Winner = Attack of Mahomes, 342 combined points from Patrick Mahomes & Travis Kelce.
• Runner-up = Young Guns, 338 combined points from Tua Tagovailoa & Saquon Barkley.
• Worst Playoff Predictions
• Jerry – This season I was correct on only 3 of 6 playoff teams.  50%.  With 10 teams, I think I could randomly draw names from a hat and do better than 50%.  Really weak showing on my part, as I predicted Wyld Ass Monkeys, Attack of Mahomes and sprouts to all make the playoffs, and failed to predict Coors Light Drunk Guys, American BadAss and Big Sack No TD’s.  Back to the drawing board…

BEST BENCH

Only three weeks left for Best Benches and still three teams have avoided the honor.  For Week 14, with a very solid 42-point-improvement possibility, the Best Bench goes to… Big Sack No TD’s!  Jens needed just three roster moves to get there:  New Orleans for Green Bay +28, L. Jackson for B. Purdy +8 and T. Lockett for J. Jefferson +6.  This is the second Best Bench for Jens, as he shared one back in Week 8.

Get those waivers in and get ready for the playoffs!

Wyld Ass Monkeys set fire to Week 13!

The points make a comeback!  For the first time since Week 8 there were multiple teams to score in the triple digits.  All four of the teams who did it (Big Sack No TD’s, Joe’s Pats, American BadAss and Wyld Ass Monkeys) all won their games, bucking the trend we’ve seen this year.  For the season the winning percentage for scoring over 100 points has improved to 81.3%, but it is still trying to catch up to the historical average of 86.7%.     The big congratulations this week go to Rob and the Wyld Ass Monkeys who soared to a dominating victory and captured a second Weekly High Score prize!  Rob had huge games from Tyreek Hill (30 pts) and Geno Smith (29 pts), plus had Jamar Chase score 20, and four other players score in the teens to finish with 132 points!  This score ties for the 3rd highest score of the season.  Also, and I’m not sure I’ve ever seen this before, but Rob got this score while also scoring 0 points on his bench.  Not just a zero point improvement, I mean ZERO points on his bench. Nice work sir!

In playoff standings, American BadAss and Joe’s Pats have both secured a playoff spot by winning in Week 13.  Also due to losing in Week 13, sprouts has been eliminated from playoff contention.  It leaves just two teams fighting for the final playoff spot:  Defending Champion Young Guns and Big Sack No TD’s.  And wouldn’t you know it, those two play each other in Week 14.  So the playoff scenarios for this week literally hinge on the winner of that game.  In the North Division, the Coors Light Drunk Guys can claim the top seed with a win.  Joe’s Pats can claim the 2nd seed with a victory over OH YEAH!.  In the South Division, Sofa King Great has the top seed wrapped up and American BadAss will be #2.  Even if American BadAss wins and Sofa King loses so they tie for overall record, the King holds a better divisional record.  

In player’s scores this week, it was wild as the top three scorers were wide receivers… Deebo Samuel (32), DK Metcalf (31) and Tyreek Hill (30).  Those three were followed by two quarterbacks, Jake Browning (29) and Geno Smith (29).  What kind of topsy turvy season has this become where receivers are leading in scoring, and the best quarterback performance comes from a guy only on 10% of Yahoo! rosters?!  Not only that, the highest scoring running back this week was Derrick Henry who ranked 11th overall with 23 points.  There were 5 wide receivers who outscored him this week.  Just crazy…

Just a short update this week, but as always we conclude with the week’s Best Bench.  From 2017 thru 2022, James only received one Best Bench.  One through 96 weeks of games.  An impressive feat which may never be matched.  But then there is the 2023 season, which coming into this week had already seen Sofa King Great with 2.5 Best Benches.  But since I’m talking about him, you can probably guess where this is going as the King claimed yet another Best Bench this week with a solid 33-point-improvement possibility!  Needed only three roster moves to get there… J. Mixon for B. Hall +19, D. Hopkins for A. Thielen +11 and K. Murray for J. Herbert +3.  Sofa King Great now leads the league with 3.5 Best Benches this year.

Only four weeks of games left!  Get those waivers in and get your rosters ready!