First Round Playoffs Fireworks!

What a way to start the playoffs!!  The two wild card games were decided by just 7 points combined, and both had players playing all the way through the final Monday Night game!  In the first matchup, J LUV U LONG TIME managed to hold on for a 113-109 victory over Luck of the Irish.  Such a tight matchup where both teams had 30 point scoring wide receivers (Davante Adams with 36 for JLULT and Mike Evans with 30 for LOTI).  It really looked like it could go either way all the way down to the wire.  In the second matchup, Big Sack No TDs held on for the upset with a 102-99 victory over sprouts.  BSNTDs had a big MNF performance from the Atlanta defense who rattled off 21 points (they had a safety and 2 blocked kicks, along with 4 sacks and 3 turnovers), plus Lamar Jackson laid down a cool 35 points.  Again, this one could have gone either way, and I was watching it intently all the way up to the end.  So close on both finishes!  Congrats Jens and Shawn!  Big Sack No TDs will face American BadAss in the second round and J LUV U LONG TIME will face my Scottish Rebels.

Speaking of my Scottish Rebels, thanks to some amazing managerial work, and one guy named Josh Allen, my Rebs have snagged the last two Weekly High Scores!  Last week was just insane as I had my second highest score ever with 144 points.  That score was made possible by Josh Allen scoring 51 freaking points, and Isaac Guerendo (yeah, who’s that guy?) scoring 24.  This week Josh Allen did his thing again by dropping a cool 43 points, plus the Denver defense stepped it up and logged 25.  All told I ended this week with 117 points and my 5^th Weekly High Score this season.  The record for the most Weekly High Scores in a season is 6, which is held by the 2017 Joe’s Pats team.  Three other teams have snagged 5 in a season, Timmy’s Ch. 4 News Team in 2013, Joe’s Pats in 2018 and most recently, James’ Sofa King American in 2020. 

This week we’ll check in on the Top Fives and I’ll present the first three nominees for ‘Worst Fantasy Player of the Year’.  Plus we have two Best Benches to give out!  Onward!

 

BIG TIME FOOTBALL

• Josh Allen, QB – Scottish Rebels – 43 pts – To say Allen has dominated recently wouldn’t do justice to what he has done.  The man has scored 94 points in the last two games he has played. And add in his last 3 games and he is at 120 points! (40 ppg average).  Do you know how long it takes most players to score 120 points?  Heck, only 87 players in all of fantasy have scored more than 120 points all season so far, and Allen has done it in just three weeks.  This week he had 2 passing and 2 rushing TD’s, and last week he had 3 passing and 3 rushing TD’s, to go along with 704 yards passing and 150 yards rushing in those two games.  Man is on a mission.
• Jared Goff, QB – American BadAss – 43 pts – Goff did all his damage through the air, in the shootout against Josh Allen, throwing for 494 yards and 5 TD’s!  This is Goff’s best performance this season and moves him to 8th ranked among quarterbacks.
• Davante Adams, WR – J LUV U LONG TIME – 36 pts – These are the kind of games you’ve been hoping to see since Adams was back with Rodgers.  Davante torched the Jags this week for 198 yards and 2 TD’s.
• Lamar Jackson, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 35 pts – The Lamar Jackson point machine just keeps on keeping on.  Just a ho-hum 290 yards and 5 TD’s passing.  He is the top scoring player in fantasy with 344 points, leading Josh Allen by 10 points.  (Think about that, even with Allen’s two monstrous games, he still hasn’t caught Lamar!)
• Mike Evans, WR – Luck of the Irish – 30 pts – Big week for Evans making 11 catches for 159 yards and 2 TDs!  In spite of missing time with an injury, Evans ranks as the 9^th highest scoring receiver in fantasy.

 

COME ON MAN

• Najee Harris, RB – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – Six carries for 14 yards and 1 catch for 7 yards.  Oof.
• Amari Cooper, WR – 1^st to Worst – 0 pts – More like D.B Cooper, as he just disappeared out there.  Get this, Cooper played in 32 of the Bill’s 70 snaps (nearly 46%), yet didn’t even catch a pass, and wasn’t even targeted!  What in the wha… 
• Evan Engram, TE – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 0 pts – Engram was put on IR earlier this week and Mark Andrews was just sitting on WAM’s bench.  Check your rosters!
• David NJoku, TE – 1^st to Worst – 0 pts – Njoku was ruled out earlier in the week, and T.J. Hockenson was just sitting on the Captain’s bench.  Come on guys, Check. Your. Rosters!
• Detroit, DEF – NASCAR Café Honey Mustard – -4 pts – Detroit posted no defensive stats, and provided no resistance to the Bills as they gave up 48 points, and lost 48-42.  Can you imagine an offense scoring 42 points and still losing by a touchdown?!  Detroit can still be Detroit sometimes I guess.

 

TOP FIVES

Through 15 weeks of play, here are the top five scoring players by position:

Quarterbacks:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Lamar Jackson	QB	Bal	344	Big Sack No TDs
2	Josh Allen	QB	Buf	334	Scottish Rebels
3	Joe Burrow	QB	Cin	302	Wyld Ass Monkeys
4	Jalen Hurts	QB	Phi	297	J LUV U LONG TIME
5	Baker Mayfield	QB	TB	279	American BadAss

-Jackson has held the top spot in Fantasy since Week 5.  The fact that Allen has scored 94 points in two weeks and hasn’t caught him just shows how big a of a lead Jackson had, and just how monstrous a season he has delivered.  Baker Mayfield holding on to the 5^th spot has also been a surprise this season.

 

Runningbacks:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Saquon Barkley	RB	Phi	274	Big Sack No TDs
2	Derrick Henry	RB	Bal	247	Scottish Rebels
3	Jahmyr Gibbs	RB	Det	215	Luck of the Irish
4	Josh Jacobs	RB	GB	212	sprouts
5	Bijan Robinson	RB	Atl	195	Luck of the Irish

-In Week 10, Barkley trailed Henry in scoring by 45 points.  In the last five weeks, Barkley has scored 112 points while Henry has posted just 40.  (Henry did have a bye week, but still…)

Josh Jacobs has surged up the leaderboard in the last five weeks as well, as he has posted 104 points across that span, and is now the 4^th overall runningback.

 

Wide Receivers:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Ja'Marr Chase	WR	Cin	236	Wyld Ass Monkeys
2	Amon-Ra St. Brown	WR	Det	169	Joe's Pats
3	Justin Jefferson	WR	Min	166	American BadAss
4	Terry McLaurin	WR	Was	156	Joe's Pats
5	Brian Thomas Jr.	WR	Jax	143	1st to Worst

Chase, Jefferson and McLaurin have been on the top five leaderboard all season.  The surprise this week is Brian Thomas Jr., coming in at the 5^th spot and bumping Ceedee Lamb off the list this week.

 

Tight Ends:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	George Kittle	TE	SF	132	Scottish Rebels
2	Brock Bowers	TE	LV	114	Luck of the Irish
3	Jonnu Smith	TE	Mia	104	sprouts
4	Trey McBride	TE	Ari	101	sprouts
5	Mark Andrews	TE	Bal	94	Wyld Ass Monkeys

Sprouts is killing it on the tight ends with not one, but two in the Top Five.  Who would’ve thought Brock Bowers, Jonnu Smith and Trey McBride would be up here at the start of the season?  Last season’s top scoring TE, Sam LaPorta, currently ranks 7^th with 79 points, and Travis Kelce ranks 9^th with 75 points.

Defenses:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Minnesota	DEF	Min	188	J LUV U LONG TIME
2	Denver	DEF	Den	184	Scottish Rebels
3	Houston	DEF	Hou	153	W (Dec 18)
4	Green Bay	DEF	GB	151	American BadAss
5	Pittsburgh	DEF	Pit	149	Joe’s Pats

While positions ranked #2-5 have shifted around all season, Minnesota has been the steady leader since Week 4.  And check out the free agent Houston Defense coming in as the 3rd highest scoring defense this season. 

 

Kickers:

	Name	Pos	Team	Total	Owner
1	Chris Boswell	K	Pit	173	Luck of the Irish
2	Ka'imi Fairbairn	K	Hou	158	J LUV U LONG TIME
3	Brandon Aubrey	K	Dal	156	American BadAss
4	Cameron Dicker	K	LAC	134	1st to Worst
4	Wil Lutz	K	Den	134	W (Dec 18)

Chris Boswell is having himself a season, as he has scored 173 points through Week 15.  You have to go all the way back to 2017 to find a kicker who scored more points than that in a full season (Greg Zuerlein scored 180).  Last season’s highest scoring kicker was Brandon Aubrey who scored 168 points in 17 games.

 

WORST PLAYER IN FANTASY NOMINEES

There have been some pretty bad fantasy performances this season, and at the conclusion of the year, I will give out an award to the “Worst Player in Fantasy”.  Here are some nominees:

Nominee #1 - Dee Williams, WR, NYG – -2 pts (season) – Dee Williams point total for the season would make you think he’s just played one time and lost a fumble one time.  You’d be wrong.  He has scored -2 on three occasions, but has somehow offset that with four single-point outings.  So this means there have been three times where this guy got on the field, caught a pass and fumbled it without gaining even 10 yards.  Three times! 

Nominee #2 – Will Levis, QB, TEN – -5 pts (Week 15) – Levis and the Titans have not been good this season, and it really showed in Week 15.  Levis was benched in the game after going 8-12 passing for just 89 yards and 3 interceptions, plus losing a fumble.  Oof!  This is the lowest single week score of any player this season.

Nominee #3 – Cincinnati, DEF – -4 pts (twice!) – Overall Cincy ranks 24^th in fantasy scoring so they are not the worst defense, but here is why they are a nominee.  In our scoring system, the absolute lowest score a defense can achieve is -4.  This is the penalty to the team if they give up 35 points or more.  Defenses have plenty of ways to score points: sacks, interceptions, fumble recoveries, blocked kicks, 4^th down stops, safeties, touchdowns and even return yards.  For a defense to score -4 means that they gave up 7 or more touchdowns and recorded no meaningful defensive stat including return yards.  Cincinnati has done this not once, but twice this season…first time in Week 8 versus Philadelphia, and again in Week 10 against Baltimore.  Man that’s bad.

We’ll see if we have any additional nominees by the end of the season, and I’ll award a crown to one of these pathetic losers.  I think I’m going to call it the ‘Skelton Crown’ in honor of John Skelton (QB, ARI) who was the first player to ever score -8 points in a game by throwing 4 interceptions PLUS losing a fumble, while gaining only 74 yards passing.  That was way back in Week 14, 2012, and was matched in Week 11 of 2017 by Nathan Peterman (QB, BUF) who threw an incredible 5 interceptions while gaining only 66 yards passing and 4 yards rushing. 

 

BEST BENCH(ES)

The Week 14 Best Bench was interesting because it was the lowest bench improvement possibility we’ve seen this season, and was the team who had the 2^nd longest streak of avoiding the Best Bench.  With just an 18-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 14 Best Bench goes to… Big Sack No TDs!  Jens needed just a single roster move to get there:  Z. Charbonnet For D. Achane +18.  This was Jens’ first Best Bench this season and his first since Week 8 last season.

The Week 15 Best Bench winner did not have a matchup, so their failure to put forth their best team did not cost a victory.  But with a solid 38-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 15 Best Bench goes to… American BadAss!  Jason needed three roster moves to get there:  J. Conner for J. Mixon +20, J. Goff for B. Mayfield +16 and J. Reed for T. Dell +2.  This is Jason’s 2^nd Best Bench this season, having also snagged it back in Week 1.  Only one team remains, who has not gotten a Best Bench this year… can the Luck of the Irish hold through the end of the season?

Just two more weeks of fantasy football!  Get those waivers in and get ready for Week 16!!