Sacred Sundays: Week 13 - Playoff Teams are Set!

Thirteen weeks of play in the books, and for the first time in a long time, playoff participants are set before the final week of the regular season. Coming in to Week 13, there were four teams already qualified for a playoff spot: Scottish Rebels, American BadAss, J LUV U LONG TIME, and sprouts. There was still a battle for the wild card spots, with Big Sack No TDs and Luck of the Irish holding a fairly strong advantage. Luck of the Irish won their game, moving to a record of 7-6 and thus securing one of the wild card spots. The final wild card spot could come down to a tie between Big Sack No TDs and NASCAR Café Honey Mustard, who could both finish with a record of 6-7-1. This would happen if BSNTDs loses and NCHM wins in Week 14. In this scenario, the tie-breaker would come down to the head-to-head record between those two where Big Sack holds the advantage (1-0). (Jens also has a big lead in points scored: 1,288 – 975). So this means Big Sack No TDs will also qualify for the playoffs, meaning the only thing left to decide in this final week will be the seeding. It also means both wild card teams will come from the South Division.

The seeds in the North Division are set, but the South Division is still open with a battle for first between American BadAss and sprouts, and final wildcard seeding between Big Sack and Luck of the Irish. ABA holds the advantage for the top spot, but if they lose and sprouts wins, sprouts would claim the top spot. Same goes for the wildcard seeds: Luck of the Irish holds the advantage for 5th seed, but if they lose and Big Sack wins, they will switch spots. So still quite a bit to play for and remember, all teams are eligible to win the Weekly High Score Prize every week.

Speaking of high scores, there are two Weekly High Score Prizes to give out! First, in Week 12 Big Sack No TDs absolutely thrashed everyone with the highest score this season at 144 points! The next closest score was 46 points away, not even in triple digits. Jens was simply en fuego and had a monster game from Saquon Barkley (44 points) plus had Lamar Jackson and Courtland Sutton score over 20 (22 and 21, respectively.) In spite of having a 6-6-1 record, Big Sack is the highest scoring team in the league this season! What do you freaking know!?!? Well done Jens! This makes it 2 ½ Weekly High Scores this season.

In Week 13, there was also only one team able to crack the triple digits as Luck of the Irish led the way with 112 points! John had solid performances all around with six players scoring in double digits, led by tight end Brock Bowers with 20. Bijan Robinson was close behind with 19 and Jordan Love added 18. This marks the second time John has snagged a Weekly High Score Prize, but this time it is a full one! (He had a split high score back in Week 11). Nice work señor!

Lastly this week, we have two Best Benches to hand out. First, back in Week 12 we saw the fourth highest bench improvement-possibility posted, with a solid 36 points. That one belonged to NASCAR Café Honey Mustard! Timmy needed just three roster moves to get there: J. Waddle for D. Samuel +17, B. Irving for K. Hunt +13 and J. Meyers for J. Williams +6. This was Timmy’s 2nd Best Bench this season, having also captured it back in Week 4.

The Week 13 Best Bench was an impressive one, not for the point-improvement possibility but for the number of players to get there. For the first time this season, we have a five player swap Best Bench! With a 32-point-improvement-possibility, Week 13’s Best Bench goes to… Joe’s Pats! Here is the laundry list of players Joe needed to swap to get there: N. Harris for K. Walker III +14, Pittsburgh for Kansas City +6, S. Darnold for K. Murray +5, S. LaPorta for H. Henry +5, and D. Hopkins for A. St. Brown +2. This was Joe’s third Best Bench this season, having claimed it Weeks 10 and 11 as well.

Two teams have yet to win a Best Bench this season, those being the two wildcard teams. Can they hold on through the remainder of the season??