The King has Returned!

All hail the KING!!  James is the 2023 Sacred Sundays champion after pulling out a close victory in the championship game 110-103 over Big Sack No TD’s.  Jens put up a valiant effort with Lamar Jackson scoring 35 and the Jags Defense putting up 24, but in the end it was Sofa King Great coming through with five players scoring in double figures led by Davante Adams (24), Kyler Murray (23) and Breece Hall (18).  This was only the second time where both teams in the championship game scored over 100 points, and it tied for the 3^rd smallest margin of victory (7 points).  (Both of those records were set back in 2020 when Attack of Mahomes narrowly edged sprouts 122-120.)  This is James’ third Championship which puts him in solo third place for most championships (Jason and Joe are tied for the record with four).  James, congrats on the phenomenal season!  It will also go down as the highest single payout ($) in league history!… more on that below.

Big congrats also have to go out to Shawn and the Coors Light Drunk Guys who scored a double win this week, claiming both the Weekly High Score Prize and the 3^rd Place finish!  The Drunks literally saved their best for last as they defeated Joe’s Pats 121-66, which was Shawn’s highest score this season.  Six players scored in double digits, led by CeeDee Lamb (29), DJ Moore (24), James Conner (24), and Jalen Hurts (18).  This was the first Weekly High Score Prize for the Drunk Guys this season, and marked the 8^th different team to claim a high score.  Nice work Shawn!  F n A!

 

BIG TIME

• Lamar Jackson, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 35 pts – Big day from Lamar, notching 315 passing yards and 5 TDs(!!) to go along with 35 rushing yards.  Jackson finishes as the 3^rd highest scoring player in fantasy with 319 points.
• CeeDee Lamb, WR – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 29 pts – Lamb was a workhorse on Saturday, catching 13 passes for 227 yards and a TD.
• Jordan Love, QB – American BadAss – 28 pts – Solid game from Love to close out the season, racking up 256 passing yards and 3 TD’s plus adding a rushing TD.  He finishes as the 7^th highest scoring player in fantasy with 288 points.
• Kyren Williams, RB – Attack of Mahomes – 27 pts – Williams didn’t rack up a ton of yardage (just 87 yards on 20 carries), but found the endzone three times!  He scored in double digits in each of his last six games, averaging 20.6 ppg in the process.  He finishes as the 3^rd highest scoring runningback (21^st overall) with 220 points scored.

 

COME ON MAN

• Dalton Schultz, TE – OH YEAH!! – 1 pt – Two catches for 19 yards.  Yuck.
• Travis Kelce, TE – Attack of Mahomes – 1 pt – Three catches for 16 yards.  Kelce only scored 7 points in his last 3 games this season. Yikes.
• Cole Kmet, TE – Young Guns – 0 pts – Kmet only played on 13 offensive snaps and was not targeted even once in the passing game.
• Amari Cooper, WR – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – Cooper was declared inactive prior to the game, but was still active.  I mean a guy scores 43 points last week, it’s hard to bench him, I get it.
• Kyle Pitts, TE – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 0 pts – He only managed 1 catch of the five thrown his way, and it only went for 5 yards.  Oof.
• Miami, DEF – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 0 pts – The Ravens rolled the Dolphins 56-19, so not surprising to see this weak score here.  The only thing keeping it from being negative was Miami had 1 sack and 1 fumble recovery.

 

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

Now for what everyone has been waiting for, here is the final money tally for 2023:

Owner	Weekly High	Playoffs	Total
James	$200	$400	$600
Jerry	$200	$0	$200
Jens	$0	$175	$175
Shawn	$50	$125	$175
Joe	$150	$0	$150
Rob	$100	$0	$100
Jason	$50	$0	$50
Russ	$50	$0	$50
Timmy	$50	$0	$50

The $600 won by James this season sets the record for largest payout in Sacred Sundays history!  The previous record was set in 2017 by Joe’s Pats who pulled in $525 that season.  Congratulations to everyone who won a prize.  I will reach out separately to settle up.

DRAFT ORDER & KEEPERS

Same rules will apply for keepers next year, each team can keep up to two players from this year’s roster and those will count as a draft pick for whatever round they were drafted this season.  Keepers being re-kept will count as a 1^st round pick and undrafted players will count as a 15^th round pick.  I’ll send out a final roster sheet with all player’s keeper values listed in the next couple days.  Rosters will be considered finalized as of the end of this week, so get any final waiver claims or add/drops done before then.  Keepers will be due on 8/25/24, as we will plan to draft on Labor Day Weekend. 

Here is the 2024 draft order:

1              Rob        Wyld Ass Monkeys

2              Timmy  Attack of Mahomes

3              Russ       sprouts

4              John      Young Guns

5              Jerry      OH YEAH!!

6              Jason     American BadAss

7              Joe         Joe's Pats

8              Shawn  Coors Light Drunk Guys

9              Jens       Big Sack No TDs

10           James   Sofa King Great

Rob - you are on the clock!

 

TOP FIVES

Here is a recap on the top fives for each position for the 2023 season:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Josh Allen	QB	Buf	357	OH YEAH!!
2	Jalen Hurts	QB	Phi	342	CL Drunk Guys
3	Lamar Jackson	QB	Bal	319	Big Sack No TDs
4	Dak Prescott	QB	Dal	309	OH YEAH!!
5	Brock Purdy	QB	SF	289	Big Sack No TDs

Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts ranked #2 & #3 at the end of last season.  Mahomes (last year’s point leader) finished this year as the #7 ranked QB with 270 points.

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Christian McCaffrey	RB	SF	312	Sofa King Great
2	Raheem Mostert	RB	Mia	230	OH YEAH!!
3	Kyren Williams	RB	LAR	220	Attack of Mahomes
4	Travis Etienne Jr.	RB	Jax	200	American BadAss
5	Derrick Henry	RB	Ten	185	American BadAss

Raheem Mostert was an 11^th round pick, and Kyren Williams was a waiver wire pick-up in Week 2.  McCaffrey ranked 4^th in overall fantasy scoring, the highest of any non-QB.  Josh Jacobs was last season’s top runningback after amassing 266 points, but this year he finished ranked 25^th after scoring literally half last year's total, 133 points.

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Tyreek Hill	WR	Mia	251	Wyld Ass Monkeys
2	CeeDee Lamb	WR	Dal	246	CL Drunk Guys
3	Mike Evans	WR	TB	201	Sofa King Great
4	Amon-Ra St. Brown	WR	Det	187	sprouts
5	DJ Moore	WR	Chi	183	CL Drunk Guys

Tyreek Hill was the #3 WR last season, and Lamb was 6^th.  Last year’s top two were Justin Jefferson (finished ranked 35^th this season with 111 points) and Davante Adams (finished ranked 16^th this season with 148 points).

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Sam LaPorta	TE	Det	136	Joe's Pats
2	George Kittle	TE	SF	128	sprouts
3	Travis Kelce	TE	KC	122	Attack of Mahomes
4	T.J. Hockenson	TE	Min	117	American BadAss
5	David Njoku	TE	Cle	112	Sofa King Great

Look at that—LaPorta finishes as the top scoring tight end!  He was a Week 4 waiver wire pickup.  Hockenson finishes in 4^th in spite of being on IR for Week 17.  Kelce led all tight ends last year when he scored 200 points… this season, I guess he saved some of that scoring for Taylor.

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Baltimore	DEF	Bal	213	Young Guns
2	Dallas	DEF	Dal	200	OH YEAH!!
3	Miami	DEF	Mia	178	Wyld Ass Monkeys
4	Cleveland	DEF	Cle	175	Joe's Pats
5	New Orleans	DEF	NO	173	W (Jan 3)

Dallas was the top defense for the first 15 weeks of the season, but Baltimore came through with big games the last three weeks to take over the top spot.  Last season’s top two defenses, New England and San Francisco, finished ranked 24^th (128 points) and 6^th (170 points).

 

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Brandon Aubrey	K	Dal	168	American BadAss
2	Justin Tucker	K	Bal	155	Big Sack No TDs
3	Jason Myers	K	Sea	151	sprouts
3	Jake Elliott	K	Phi	151	Sofa King Great
5	Dustin Hopkins	K	Cle	147	Young Guns

Last year’s top kicker, Justin Tucker, finished 2^nd this year to the Dallas rookie, Brandon Aubrey.  Last year’s 2^nd highest scoring kicker, Daniel Carlson, dropped way off finishing 24^th this year with only 111 points.

Every team had players represented in the Top 5's above, with American BadAss, Sofa King Great and OH YEAH!! tying for the most with four a piece.  Lot of expected names, but also quite a few surprises in how everything finished.

BEST BENCH

Before I announce the final Best Bench for the 2023 season, here are a few quick Best Bench stats:

-The average point improvement for the Best Bench winner this season was 36.6 points.

-The highest improvement this season was 57 points, by my team, OH YEAH!! in Week 2.

-The lowest improvement (prior to this week) was 27 points, set by Young Guns in Week 7.

-There were 7 Optimal Line-ups this season, which is where a team has no points to be gained from their bench. 

-The most Best Benches was 3.5 by Sofa King Great (Week 5, 6, 8 (tied) and 13).

-The team with the most Bench improvement points was Young Guns, with 349.

-The team with the fewest Bench improvement points was Wyld Ass Monkeys, with 188.

 

Coming into this week there were two teams who had not claimed a Best Bench all season, and I’m proud to announce Joe’s Pats as the only team to make it all year without one!  It’s actually been two and a half seasons now since Joe has held the honor (last one he snagged was way back in Week 6, 2021).  That is some top quality roster management sir!  Well done!!

Things weren’t quite as lucky for this week’s winner, but it was a Best Bench with the lowest improvement possibility this season.  With just a tiny 20-point-improvement-possibility, the final Best Bench of 2023 goes to… the Wyld Ass Monkeys!  It had been since Week 9 last season for the last time Rob took home a Best Bench, but all streaks come to an end.  Just three roster moves were needed:  J. Taylor for R. White +11, D. Kincaid for K. Pitts +8 and D. London for J. Chase +1.

 

It’s another season in the books!  Congratulations to James and good luck on the title defense.  As John can certainly attest, it’s not easy to defend the title.  And thanks to everyone for being in this league and keeping it going for so long.  This concluded the 20^th season of Sacred Sundays, and is the 8^th season with all of the same 10 managers.  Truly remarkable! 

 

Here’s to a happy, healthy and joyful new year!