Regular Season is in the books... now PLAYOFFS!

 It’s PLAYOFF time!!

And just like that, 14 weeks of football have been completed and we find ourselves with Christmas right around the corner and playoffs set to begin!  What a wonderful time of year…

Before we get into the playoff qualifiers and seedings, there have to be some big props to John and the Unlucky Irish.  In Week 14, the Unlucky Irish posted the highest score we’ve had all season… 140 points!  John got there with four players scoring over 20 points (Jahmyr Gibbs 29, Michael Wilson 26, Dak Prescott 21 and Christian Watson 20), along with three other players in double digits (Houston D 17, Jason Myers 14, and Brocker Bowers 10).  Impressive way to finish out the season!  Not only that, Unlucky Irish have been on an absolute tear the last three weeks, posting an unbelievable 378 points across that span.  That is 84 points higher than the next closest team (Scottish Rebels with 294), and is a whopping 206 points more than Big Sack No TDs posted the last three weeks!  Amazing run, John!  This marks John’s second Weekly High Score prize this season.

PLAYOFFS?!  DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

As expected the final standings ended up super close and we had to go deep into the tie-breakers.  Here is how it all shook out:

Division winners – Receiving first round byes:

NORTH – sprouts (Russ) – Best record in the North division.  Top seed in the playoffs by virtue of having defeated Worst to 2nd in Week 10.

SOUTH – Worst to 2nd (James) – Best record in the South division.  Seeded #2.

Division runner-ups – 

NORTH – Scottish Rebels (Jerry) – 2nd best record in North division.  Seeded #4.

SOUTH – Joe’s Pats (Joe) – 2nd best record in the South division.  Seeded #3 by virtue of defeating Scottish Rebels in Week 10.

Wild Cards – 

First wild card – 5th seed – Unlucky Irish (John) – Best remaining record.  Seeded #5 by virtue of being even on head-to-head matchups with American BadAss and Mahomes Alone, but having the most points of those three.

Second wild card – 6th seed – American BadAss (Jason) – Best remaining record.  Seeded #6 by virtue of being even on head-to-head matchups with Unlucky Irish and Mahomes Alone, but having the 2nd most points of those three.

(For the wild card spots, on head-to-head matchups Unlucky Irish held the advantage over American BadAss, American BadAss held the advantage over Mahomes Alone, and Mahomes Alone held the advantage over Unlucky Irish.  So it was basically a round robin with no definitive advantage to any team.  So it went to points scored.  Unlucky Irish led with 1,371 points, and American BadAss and Mahomes Alone were literally separated by 4 points!  BadAss had 1,162 and Mahomes had 1,158.  Unbelievably close finish!!)

For the standings of teams not qualifying they are:

#7 – Mahomes Alone (Timmy)

#8 – Wyld Ass Monkeys (Rob)

#9 – Big Sack No TDs (Jens)

#10 – J LUV U LONG TIME (Shawn)

Yahoo! will have some final matchups with these teams, but the 7-10 standings shown here are what will be the official standings.  Those will be the first four teams picking in next year’s draft (in reverse order).

PLAYOFF MATCHUPS AND RULES FOR TIES

Seeds #1 and #2 will have a bye in the first round.

Seeds #3 and #6 will play each other in the first round.

Seeds #4 and #5 will play each other in the first round.

There are no tie games in the playoffs.  In any round prior to the Championship game, ties go to the higher seeded team.

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 runningback wins.

3) Team with the highest scoring wide receiver wins.

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

All teams are still eligible to win the Weekly High Score throughout the playoffs.

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

Here is a reminder on the prizes we are playing for this season.  We increased the entry fee this year to $200 per team, and the payouts are as follows:

Weekly High Score Prize = $50/week (17 weeks)

Playoff Prizes:

4th place = $150

3rd place = $200

2nd place = $300

Champion = $500

PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

My Week 5 playoff predictions went 4 for 6, with sprouts, Worst to 2nd, American BadAss and Scottish Rebels making it, but missing on Mahomes Alone and Big Sack No TDs.  

The random drawing from a hat also went 4 for 6, being correct on sprouts, Worst to 2nd, American BadAss and Joe’s Pats, but missing on Mahomes Alone and J LUV U LONG TIME.  

So ultimately my highly scientific analysis was exactly the same as randomly drawing teams from a hat.  We’ll see if I can do any better next season.

ODDS & ENDS FROM THE REGULAR SEASON

• The season ended with no tie games, in spite of Yahoo! predicting there would be 7 ties, with my team ending with a record of 5-5-4.
• The lowest draft grade awarded by Yahoo! was a D- to sprouts, who ended up being the top team in the league.
• The top Kicker for the regular season is Jason Myers-SEA who was undrafted and picked up by Unlucky Irish in Week 4.
• The top drafted Kicker, Harrison Butker, currently ranks as the 18th kicker in fantasy.
• The top scoring player overall is Josh Allen who has scored 301 points so far.  In 2nd place is Jonathan Taylor who has scored 273 points.  
• Of the top ten highest scoring players, 7 are quarterback and 3 are runningbacks.
• The highest scoring non-QB or RB is, surprisingly, the Seattle Defense who ranks 17th overall with 204 points scored.

BEST BENCH

Only three more weeks of Best Benches after this week, and three teams are still holding on with not having claimed a crown this season!  But this week, it went back to one of the teams who has dominated the Best Bench this year.  For a FOURTH time, and with a 34-point-improvement possibility, the Week 14 Best Bench goes to… J LUV U LONG TIME!

Shawn needed only three roster moves to get there:  S. Darnold for J. Hurts +22, J. Jeudy for D. Smith +10 and J. Mason for J. Cook +2.  Shawn is now tied with Joe for the most Best Benches, so far.

Get your rosters ready for the playoffs!!

Only One Week To Go!!

The big push to the finish was a bit of a dud this week as we saw the lowest total scoring since Week 1.  In all only 803 points were scored, just 31 points more than were scored in the first Week of the season.  Only two teams managed to break into triple digits, and wouldn’t you know it, those teams were matched up against each other.  In that matchup, my Scottish Rebels outlasted Unlucky Irish for a 116-103 victory, to move my record to 7-6 and claim my second Weekly High Score of the season.  In spite of my tight end posting zero points (freaking loser!), I got some unbelievable performances from the Seattle defense (34 points) and A.J. Brown (25 points).  The 34 points by Seattle was the most points scored by any player this week, outscoring Patrick Mahomes by 5.  Crazy!  I join Russ and Joe as the only teams this season to secure multiple High Scores.

The overall standings are super close, as sprouts lost their game and both Joe’s Pats and Worst to 2nd won their games, so the division championships are still way up for grabs.  Speaking of league standings, lets jump right into playoff scenarios…

PLAYOFFS?!  DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!

The standings are unbelievably tight, with the top spot still up for grabs in both divisions.  I can’t remember a season where there are this many teams still alive to make it in.  Joe’s Pats, Worst to 2nd and sprouts are all in, but haven’t secured a definite spot, and Mahomes Alone, Wyld Ass Monkeys, Scottish Rebels, American BadAss, and Unlucky Irish are all vying for spots.  Below are scenarios I’ve worked out for each team, but there are likely many more ways this could all shake out.  Bottom line is there will likely be multiple tie-breakers used to determine everything this year.  Our tie-breakers are different from the Yahoo! ones, so I’ll send out the final results.

Here are some scenarios:

• sprouts – To secure top seed in North Division: WIN final game, or LOSE plus losses from Scottish Rebels and American BadAss.  Will lose the division record tie-breaker if finishes in a tie with either Scottish Rebels or American BadAss.
• Scottish Rebels – To secure top seed in North Division: WIN final game plus a LOSS from sprouts.
• American BadAss – To secure top seed in North Division: WIN final game plus LOSSES from sprouts and Scottish Rebels.
• Unlucky Irish – To secure a Wild card spot: WIN final game plus a LOSS from Wyld Ass Monkeys.  (Unlucky Irish holds the head-to-head tie breaker over American BadAss and Wyld Ass Monkeys).
• Worst to 2nd – To secure top seed in South Division: WIN final game, or LOSE plus a loss from Joe’s Pats.
• Joe’s Pats – To secure top seed in South Division: WIN final game plus a LOSS from Worst to 2nd. 
• Mahomes Alone – To secure 2nd place in South Division – WIN final game plus a LOSS from Joe’s Pats.  (This will tie division records with Joe’s Pats, and Mahomes Alone holds the head-to-head tie-breaker.)
• Wyld Ass Monkeys – To secure a Wild card spot: WIN final game plus LOSSES from Mahomes Alone and Scottish Rebels.  (WAM holds head-to-head tie-breakers against both Mahomes Alone and Scottish Rebels).
• Big Sack No TDs and J LUV U LONG TIME – No current paths to the playoffs.  Shawn, you are on the clock for the first pick in next year’s draft.

Lastly, as a reminder here are the teams I picked to make the playoffs after Week 5:  American BadAss, Worst to 2nd, Big Sack No TDs, Scottish Rebels, sprouts and Mahomes Alone.  The teams randomly drawn from a hat were:  Worst to 2nd, Mahomes Alone, Joe’s Pats, sprouts, American BadAss and J LUV U LONG TIME.  We’ll see which one did better next week.

BEST BENCH

This season seven teams have taken home a Best Bench crown, led by Joe’s Pats with four and J LUV U LONG TIME with three.  The three teams to avoid it so far are the Wyld Ass Monkeys, Big Sack No TDs and American BadAss.  There were two teams really duking it out for the crown this week, as Mahomes Alone posted a very solid 34 point-improvement-possibility, but that couldn’t top this week’s winner who tied for the fourth highest Best Bench, a 37 point-improvement-possibility!  Taking home a second Best Bench on the season, the Week 13 crown goes to… Unlucky Irish!

John needed a half roster swap to get there:  New England for Houston +13, K. Monangai for J. Gibbs +12, T. McMillan for M. Wilson +7 and C. Watson for L. McConkey.

Okay get those rosters ready for the final regular season game of the season!!

The Luck has Turned!

This season has been crazy!  Not only are the standings the closest they’ve ever been, but we just had our 9th different team claim a Weekly High Score Prize.  Only two other times have we had nine teams claim High Scores, back in 2021 and 2022.  In 2021 the 9th team claimed the prize in Week 10, and in 2022 the 9th team didn’t claim the prize until Week 14. So there is still a lot of time to have all ten teams claim a prize.  Never before have we had a season where all ten teams did it, so Jens the time is now to make some history!

The big congratulations this week go to Unlucky Irish who posted the highest score we’ve seen this season, 135 points!  John had an epic game from Jahmyr Gibbs (46 pts), plus got 21 from Caleb Williams, 16 from Ashton Jeanty, 14 from the New England Defense, 13 from his Kicker and 11 from Michael Wilson.  This was also the 4th win in a row for John, which puts his Unlucky Irish squarely in the playoff hunt!  Excellent work sir!

Just a quick update this week as I’ll be traveling to the Oregon Coast for Thanksgiving week…

PLAYOFFS?!?

If the playoffs started this week, the top two seeds would be sprouts and Worst to 2nd, with the other two automatic qualifiers being American BadAss and Joe’s Pats.  That would leave four teams tied for the wild cards:  Unlucky Irish, Scottish Rebels, Wyld Ass Monkeys and Mahomes Alone.  There would be a lot of tie-breakers to sort through with those teams.

But we still have two more weeks to play, and here is what we know for sure:

Already qualified: sprouts

Already eliminated: J LUV U LONG TIME

For the three teams with 7 wins (American BadAss, Worst to 2nd and Joe’s Pats):  One more win will earn a playoff spot.  

For the four teams with 6 wins (Unlucky Irish, Scottish Rebels, Wyld Ass Monkeys and Mahomes Alone): Winning out with 2 games will secure a playoff spot.

For the one team with 5 wins (Big Sack No TDs): two wins will put you in the tie-breakers for a playoff spot.

Scenarios still exist where we could end up with three teams at 8-6 and five teams at 7-7.  This season seems destined for multiple tie-breakers to determine the playoff positions.  It is simply unprecedented at this point in the season for the standings to be so close.  Since 2020 when I first started doing playoff scenarios, I’ve never seen it be this close this late in the season.  Honestly, there are just still so many possible outcomes it is hard to even try to figure out specific team-by-team scenarios.

(For a listing of all the tie-breakers we will use to determine seeding, look to last week’s write-up.)

BEST BENCH

Three teams have yet to score a Best Bench this season:  American BadAss, Big Sack No TD’s and Wyld Ass Monkeys.  Those teams continued their avoidance streaks this week.  But one team has really taken a liking to the Best Bench crown, as they nabbed their 4th one of the season!  With a 26-point-improvement-possibility, and taking the lead for the most Best Benches this season, Week 12’s goes to… Joe’s Pats!!

Joe needed just three roster moves to get there:  H. Henry for M. Andrews +17, T. Tracy Jr. for J. Taylor +7 and C. Olave for N. Collins +2.  This goes along with Joe’s crowns in Weeks 2, 7 and 9 for this season.  

Okay, get those waiver claims in and get ready for Thanksgiving week football!!

TURKEY!!!

Week 11 Was the Worst!!

What a crazy week!  In just a dominating performance, James (Worst to 2nd) not only won his game by 51 points, but beat the next highest scoring team (Unlucky Irish) by 33.  This was the largest difference between the top two scoring teams in a week this season!  James finished with 130 points (3rd highest total this year), in spite of having a wide receiver post a goose egg.  He did it thanks to his runningbacks combining for 52 (Bijan Robinson 25 and TreVeyon Henderson 27), his defense posting 24 (Pittsburgh) and his QB/TE combo combining for 38 (Brock Purdy 20, George Kittle 18).  This was James’ first Weekly High Score Prize this season, and Worst to 2nd is the 8th different team to snag a prize this year.  Well done, Cap’n!!

This week we will take our first look at playoff standings and scenarios, which may well be some of the tightest standings we’ve ever had.  Let’s do this!

BIG TIME

• Josh Allen, QB – Scottish Rebels – 42 pts – Just a man among men!  Dude even had two interceptions yet still scored over 40 points!  Perhaps you heard his line of 3 passing TD’s plus 3 rushing TD’s, which is the first time any quarterback has done that in the history of ever.  Wow, just wow.
• Bryce Young, QB – Free Agent – 34 points – Young had an astounding 448 yards passing on 31 of 45 throws, for three touchdowns plus added a two point conversion.  In this one game he literally scored more points than he had in his previous three.
• Sean Tucker, RB – Free Agent – 31 pts – Tucker came out of nowhere to post 106 rushing yards and 2 TD’s plus 34 receiving yards and another TD.  Let’s keep that shit going!
• Christian McCaffrey, RB – sprouts – 30 pts – Another runningback with 3 TD’s (2 rushing, 1 receiving) as CMac found all kinds of room to roam against the Cardinals.

COME ON MAN

• Ashton Jeanty, RB – Unlucky Irish – 2 pts – Going up against one of the worst run defenses in the league (Dallas), and all Jeanty managed was 7 yards on 6 carries and 27 yards on 6 catches.  Barely over 2 yards for each time he touched the ball.  Not good man.
• Ladd McConkey, WR – Unlucky Irish – 1 pt – McConkey did make 3 catches, but he only gained all of 13 yards.  Weak.
• Kyle Pitts, TE – Big Sack No TD’s – 1 pt – Pitts lived up to his name catching only 2 passes for 14 yards.
• Quentin Johnston, WR – Worst to 2nd – 0 pts – No catches for QJ as the Chargers got thumped by the Jags.
• Devonta Smith, WR – J LUV U LONG TIME – 0 pts – Although he was targeted 5 times, he only secured 1 pathetic catch for 8 pathetic yards.

PLAYOFFS?!  DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!!

This may well be the tightest the standings have ever been after 11 weeks.  Currently there are three teams at 7-4, two teams at 6-5 and four teams at 5-6.  That is nine teams who all have a legitimate path to make it into the playoffs.  It looks like 8 wins should be enough to at least secure a spot, so Russ, Joe and James need just one win, Jason and I need 2 wins, and Jens, Rob, Timmy and John need three wins.  But that is just to definitely secure a spot.  For each of those teams, there are likely still multiple paths to get in, even without getting to 8 wins.

There is one scenario where three teams can finish with the best record at 8-6 and the other six teams can finish at 7-7.  I’ve never seen anything like it.  Under this scenario, the South Division would have two at 8-6 and the other three teams at 7-7.  No team with a losing record.  It appears almost inevitable that we are going to have tie-breakers come into play this season.

Speaking of which, here is a reminder on the tie-breakers which will be used to determine playoff teams.  (These are different from the Yahoo! defaults, so refer to these to know how it breaks down).

The top two teams in each division qualify, with the top team receiving a first round bye.  Divisional rankings are determined using these criteria in order:

• Overall record
• Division record
• Head-to-head record
• Points scored
• Coin flip

The next two highest ranked teams receive Wildcards.  Wildcard rankings are determined using these criteria in order:

• Overall record
• Head-to-head record
• Points scored
• Coin flip

Teams which do not qualify for the playoffs are still eligible to win Weekly High Score prizes during the playoffs, but will not be in any head-to-head games.  The final standings at the end of the regular season will determine the teams finishing in 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th place.

I’ll have actual team by team scenarios next week… as mentioned there are just so many ways things can go at this point it is hard to even begin to sort it out.  Bottom line is: Win your games if you want to get in!

ESOTERIC JOKE OF THE WEEK

Two chemists walk into a bar.

Chemist 1: I’ll have H2O please.

Chemist 2: I’ll have water also.

Chemist 1 walks away frustrated as his assassination attempt failed.

BEST BENCH

Not a whole lot of points on benches this week, as it was the 3rd lowest total overall bench points of the season.  In fact, five teams had only single digit improvements this week.  But with a 25-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 11 Best Bench goes to… NASCAR Café Honey Mustard!  

Timmy needed only two roster moves to get there:  T. Etienne Jr. for Q. Judkins +14 and J. Williams for R. Rice +11.  This was Timmy’s first Best Bench this season, and his first since Week 12 last season.  (He had the 2nd longest active streak of avoiding the Best Bench.)  Only three teams have not had a Best Bench this year…we’ll see how long they can hold out!

Alright, Week 12 is upon us!  Only three more weeks of regular season!!!

Joe's Pats and sprouts leading the league!

Ten weeks in and standings are pretty tight across the board.  Especially in the South division where the top and bottom teams are only separated by 2 games!  Joe’s Pats and Worst to 2nd have the best record at 6-4, while NASCAR Café Honey Mustard is at the bottom at 4-6.  With four weeks to go in the regular season, it is still wide open!  There is a bit more separation in the North division with sprouts leading the way at 7-3, and J LUV U LONG TIME at the bottom at 2-8.  The North is interesting because wins totals are literally 7, 6, 5, 4, 2 for sprouts, American BadAss, Scottish Rebels, Unlucky Irish and J LUV, respectively.  I have not run any playoff scenarios yet, but I’m guessing even J LUV could still have a shot to get in by closing out the season with wins.

Several congratulations to hand out… first to sprouts who has been absolutely dominating this season!  In Week 9, Russ’ team was the only one to break into triple digits with a 102-63 victory over Joe’s Pats which secured his fourth Weekly High Score Prize this season!  Sprouts currently leads all teams in scoring with 1,026 points, 83 points higher than the next closest.  Well done senor!

Week 10’s congrats go to Joe’s Pats who logged the second highest single week score this season with 131!  Joe actually holds the top two single week scores this season, as he took home Week 8 with 134 points.  Amazingly, Joe got the high score this week in spite of his tight end (Hunter Henry) laying an egg.  But you hardly need any tight end points, when you have a runningback like Jonathan Taylor who put up a mind-boggling 49 points!  Taylor’s total is the highest single week score from any player this season, and ties for 10th highest single week score in Sacred Sundays history!  Taylor leads all fantasy scorers currently, and it seems like the only thing to slow him down will be his bye week in Week 11.  By claiming the Weekly High score this week, Joe becomes only the 2nd team to claim multiple high scores this season.  Great work man!

BIG TIME

• Jonathan Taylor, RB – Joe’s Pats – 49 pts – As mentioned this is the highest single week score from any player this season, and Taylor leads all fantasy scorers by 47 points!  This marks the sixth time this season he has scored over 25 points.  Truly impressive!
• De’Von Achane, RB – American BadAss – 37 pts – Achane found the endzone twice to go along with 174 rushing yards and 51 receiving yards.  He is currently the 3rd ranked rusher in fantasy, trailing only Taylor and CMC.
• Jahmyr Gibbs, RB – Unlucky Irish – 35 pts – Nice week for runningbacks!  Gibbs had a 3 TD day (2 rushing, 1 receiving) to go along with 142 yards on the ground and 30 through the air.  He is now the 4th ranked runningback in Fantasy.
• Seattle, DEF – Scottish Rebels – 28 pts – The Seahawks put the beat down on the Cardinals, racking up 5 sacks, 2 fumble recoveries, 3 fourth down stops and 2 defensive TD’s!

COME ON MAN!

• A.J. Brown, WR – Scottish Rebels – 1 pt – Everyone thought after a week off plus a bye week Brown would be ready to go off.  Yeah, not so much as he only caught 2 balls for 13 yards.
• Michael Pittman, Jr., WR – 1 pt – The good news: Pittman caught every pass thrown to him.  The bad news: it was only 2 passes for 19 yards.
• Eddy Pineiro, K – American BadAss – 1 pt – No field goals, and he went 2-for-3 on extra points.  That sucks.
• Hunter Henry, TE – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – He was on the field for 87% of plays, and had four passes thrown his way, but all he managed was 1 catch for 9 whole yards.
• T.J. Hockenson, TE – J LUV U LONG TIME – 0 pts – Another guy who caught 2-for-2 passes thrown his way, but he only went for 8 total yards.  Oof.
• Joshua Karty, K – J LUV U LONG TIME – 0 pts – Hard to score points as a kicker, when you aren’t even in the game.  Karty was demoted to 2nd string in favor of Harrison Mevis prior to the game. D’oh!  (Side note - how bad do you have to be to lose your kicker job to a guy named Harrison Mevis?)

KICKERS AND TIGHT ENDS

Kickers and Tight Ends continue to be enigmas.  Kickers especially.  Of the 11 kickers drafted this season, the only ones currently ranked in the top 10 are Brandon Aubrey (2nd kicker drafted with the 108th pick, currently ranked 5th), Cameron Dicker (4th kicker drafted with the 125th pick, currently ranked 1st), and Ka’imi Fairbairn (8th kicker drafted with the 140th pick, currently ranked 3rd).  Other kickers drafted were Harrison Butker (1st one picked with the 103rd pick, currently ranked 18th), Jake Bates (3rd drafted, ranked 12th), and Jake Elliott (5th drafted, ranked 25th).  Freaking kickers man.

Among Tight Ends, the first one drafted, George Kittle (21st pick) currently ranks 24th among tight ends.  Trey McBride was the 2nd one picked, and he is currently the top ranked tight end, so nice pick on that one Shawn!  But then the 3rd one picked, Sam LaPorta, is currently ranked 8th and the 4th picked, T.J. Hockenson, ranks 28th!  The last tight end drafted, Isaiah Likely, picked by Big Sack with the 148th pick, currently ranks as the 62nd tight end in fantasy.  Not 62nd player, the 62nd tight end! In the 10th round, sprouts drafted Tucker Kraft, and he is currently the 2nd ranked tight end.  Then even later, James drafted Jake Ferguson in the 12th round, and that guy is currently the 5th best tight end.  It’s all random!

BEST BENCH(es)

Two Best Benches to award this week...  In Week 9 there were two strong competitors for the crown, with Unlucky Irish leaving 37 points on the bench.  But besting them by 1 point, with a 38-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 9 Best Bench goes to: Joe’s Pats!  Joe needed only two roster moves to get there:  D. London for R. Odunze +29 and M. Andrews for H. Henry +9.  This was Joe’s 3rd Best Bench this season, having also claimed it in Weeks 2 and 7.

In Week 10 there was really only one team in contention, as we had the 3rd fewest total bench points of the season.  Thus with a solid 30-point-improvement possibility, the Week 10 Best Bench goes to… Worst to 2nd!  James needed three roster moves to make it happen:  T. Henderson for B. Robinson +18, Z. Charbonnet for K. Walker III +8 and W. Robinson for C. Sutton +4.  This was James’ first Best Bench this season, as the last time he took the crown was in Week 11 last season.  

Alright, get those waiver claims in and get ready for Week 11!  Next week we’ll start running playoff scenarios!!

MID-TERMS!!

Eight weeks in and we have five teams tied for the best record!  Yes, five!  Looking back and the only season which comes close to this was 2022 when there were four teams tied at the top with a 5-3 record.  So we are in some uncharted parity territory!  Also, eight weeks in and we’ve had 7 different teams snag a high score (or at least half of one).  That ties the 2021 and 2016 seasons for the most teams to be on top thus far.  Six more weeks of regular season games to go, so everything is still way up in the air.

The big congrats this week go out to Joe’s Pats who ran away with the high score, racking up 134 which is the highest single week score we’ve had this season!  Joe had huge games from his runningbacks, with Jonathan Taylor scoring 38 and Breece Hall tallying 30, plus his QB, Drake Maye, rang up 26.  That’s 94 points from just three players, which would have beaten six other teams right there.  This is Joe’s first Weekly High Score since Week 3 of last season.  Great work sir!

Alright, we’ve got a lot to get to this week, with two Best Benches and of course MID TERMS!  Let’s do this!

BIG TIME

• Jonathan Taylor, RB – Joe’s Pats – 38 pts – Absolutely massive season for Taylor, as he has now scored 14 touchdowns on the year.  Week 8 was the third time this season where he had 3 TD’s in a single game!  He added 153 yards rushing and 21 yards receiving as well.  He leads all fantasy scorers with 192 points, four points ahead of Patrick “Points Machine” Mahomes.  (In terms of overall points, Taylor is the only non-QB in the top 10.  Impressive!)
• James Cook III, RB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 36 pts – Cook gained 216 yards on just 19 carries (11.4 yard average), plus added 2 TD’s.   
• Saquon Barkley, RB – Big Sack No TD’s – 32 pts – Look at all these runningbacks putting up these big numbers!  What is this 2015?  After a couple low scoring weeks (5 pts and 4 pts), ‘Quon ran all over his former team, racking up 150 yards rushing and 24 yards receiving, plus added both a rushing and receiving TD.
• Jordan Love, QB – sprouts – 31 pts – Love had his best game of the season so far in a dominating win over the Steelers.  He finished with 360 yards and 3 TD’s, while completing 78.3% of his passes.  He did end up have -1 yards rushing, but that was only due to kneel down at the end of the game.  
• Breece Hall, RB – Joe’s Pats – 30 pts – Another 30-point-scoring runningback! How about that?! Hall had two rushing TD’s, plus threw a pass for a score!  

COME ON MAN

• Eddy Pineiro, K – American BadAss – 1 pt – Pineiro came in to this week averaging 15.3 points per game over the last three games.  But the Texans held the 49ers to just 15 points, and all Eddy got was one extra point.
• Quentin Johnston, WR – Scottish Rebels – 0 pts – QJ exceeded 70 receiving yards in each of the first four weeks this season while scoring 4 TD’s, but in his last 3 games he has just 70 yards total. TO-TAL.  He wasn’t even targeted this week, finishing with a big ol’ nothing burger.
• Jordan Mason, RB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 0 pts – The Vikings had Aaron Jones return from injury which basically relegated Mason back to a limited role.  He had just 4 carries for all of 3 yards.  Yuck.
• Jake Ferguson, TE – Worst to 1st – 0 pts – As part of the Cowboys goal to make every team they play look like Superbowl contenders, Ferguson played his part perfectly.  He was targeted only once, and it fell incomplete.

MID-TERM GRADES

We’ve reached the midpoint of the season, so it is time to hand out midterms!  Midterms grades have been given out since 2017, and the same grading criterion has been used since 2019.  Teams are graded across eight different categories, with points awarded for how each ranks in each category.  A top ranking in a category earns 10 points, and a bottom ranking earns 1 point. (Three categories are scored at half this rate… more details below).  Ties in ranking earn a split amount of points across the tied teams.

The categories each team is ranked on are:

• Overall Record: This season there are five teams tied for the best record at 5-3, with each of those teams earning 8 points.
• Points For:  sprouts has scored the most points this season with 838, while J LUV U LONG TIME has only scored 660.
• Points Against:  (Max points = 5).  J LUV U LONG TIME has had the most points scored against them this year, with 769, while sprouts has had the least with only 620.
• High Scores: sprouts is the only team with multiple Weekly High Scores this season (3), four teams have snagged one, and Wyld Ass Monkeys and NASCAR Café Honey Mustard split one.
• Best Bench: (Max points = 5).  Fewer Best Benches earns more points, and this season there are five teams who have yet to snag a Best Bench.  J LUV U LONG TIME leads with the most so far, 3.
• Waivers:  (Max points = 5).  Unlucky Irish and NASCAR Café Honey Mustard are tied for the most waiver claims with 17, while J LUV U LONG TIME has the fewest with only 4.  
• Keepers:  The one change this season is this category is based on ‘Keeper Value’, not just the points scored.  ‘Keeper Value’ factors in the round used for the keeper, thus a later round keeper is more valuable than an earlier round keeper if both have scored the same amount of points so far.  Joe’s Pats is dominating with a keeper value of 375, well ahead of NASCAR Café Honey Mustard in second place with 254.
• Utilization:  This awards the most points to the team who has left the fewest points on the bench.  Wyld Ass Monkeys lead the way with a 91.4% utilization rate, with American BadAss close behind at 91.3%.  NASCAR Café Honey Mustard has the lowest utilization rate so far at 81.7%.

As always, midterm grades are doled out on a strict curve, with 2 A’s, 2 B’s, 2 C’s, 2 D’s and 2 F’s.  It’s all scientific…there are no gut feelings.  Now, without further ado, here are the 2025 Midterm grades:

The last two seasons, the team who received the A+ midterm grade went on to win the Championship (my Rebels last season and Sofa King Great in 2023).  In 2022, Joe’s Pats received the A+ and finished 2nd, while Luck of the Irish received a “D” and won the championship.  So top graded teams do tend to finish well, but it is hardly a set conclusion.  Still a lot of football left to be played!

CONTRANYMS

English is such an odd language, that we have words which can mean one thing, and mean the exact opposite.  These are called contranyms.  Some examples:

-Dust: To remove dust or to add fine particles (e.g. powdered sugar).

-Garnish: To add as a decoration or to take away (as in a deduction from a paycheck).

-Oversight: Supervision or failure to notice something.

-Sanction: To approve or to penalize.

-Seed: To sow seeds or to remove seeds.

-Wind up: To end or to start up.

History dodged

BEST BENCH(es)

The highest total on a Best Bench was in Week 2, when Joe’s Pats tallied a solid 50-point-improvement possibility.  Basically if Joe is gonna take the crown, he likes to go big!  Thus last week, claiming his 2nd Best Bench and the 2nd highest total so far, the Week 7 Best Bench goes to… Joe’s Pats!  Joe could have improved by 48 points this time, and needed a half roster swap to get there:  C. Olave for N. Collins +19, D. Adams for D. London +17, R. Stevenson for B. Hall +10 and Houston for LA Rams +2.

This week there were not nearly as many points on benches, plus three teams had optimal line ups.  But with a 24-point-improvement possibility, the Week 8 Best Bench goes to… sprouts!  Russ needed only two roster swaps:  C. Brown for C. McCaffrey +16 and J. Love for B. Nix +8.  This was the 2nd lowest Best Bench total of the season, and is Russ’ first crown since Week 16 last season.

Okay just four teams on byes for Week 9, so get those waiver claims in and get your rosters ready!

Sprouts dominates again!

Welcome to the Year of the Sprouts!  In another impressive showing, Russ’ sprouts finished as top dog for the 3rd time this season with a solid 124 point Week 6 performance!  Russ seems to dominate on the even number weeks, as he has now snagged the Weekly High Score in Weeks 2, 4 & 6.  (Looking ahead to Week 8, and he’ll be playing against American BadAss, so good luck with all that bro. Ha!)  This week sprouts’ top performers were Josh Jacobs (26 pts), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (25 pts), Cameron Dicker (17 pts), Denver Def (17 pts) and Christian McCaffrey (16 pts).  The 124 points posted was also the highest point total we’ve seen this season!  On the week’s where Russ has been tops, he is averaging 121 points, and in the odd number weeks he’s averaging 85.  So a bit of a roller-coaster ride going on.  But nice work once again senor!

In other games around the league, the winless are no more as Unlucky Irish pummeled my hapless Rebels 86-63 to move to a 1-5 record.  In the South Division, three teams are tied for best record at 4-2, Worst to 1st, Joe’s Pats and Big Sack No TD’s.  In the North Division, American BadAss sports the league’s best record at 5-1 after a convincing 114-73 victory over J LUV U LONG TIME.  Interestingly, sprouts leads everyone in scoring by a big margin (618 points scored versus 550 for next closest), but only has a 3-3 record.  

Injuries are really starting to mount up as well, as we see big name players like Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr., Mike Evans, CeeDee Lamb, Bucky Irving, Chuba Hubbard, Brock Bowers, and others not in action.  You can tell there have been a lot of injuries, because there have already been 42 waiver claims processed so far this season, along with 35 free agent pick-ups!  That’s over half the number of players drafted at the start of the year… insane!

Just a quick update this week, but no week is complete without a Best Bench…

BEST BENCH

There were not a lot of points on benches this week, as the league average was just 10.8.  Wyld Ass Monkeys even had an optimal line up!  But, with a 21-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 6 Best Bench goes to… my Scottish Rebels!

Shawn avoided setting the four-week-in-a-row record by only having 10 points on his bench this week.  For me, it is my first Best Bench since Week 6 last season.  I needed only two roster moves to get there… D. Swift for T. Etienne Jr +18 and T. Lawrence for J. Allen +3.  My Rebels had the longest streak without a Best Bench, and now that record shifts to the Wyld Ass Monkeys who last had a one in Week 7 last year.  We’ll see how long Rob can hang on.

Get those waivers in and get ready for Week 7!  Mid-terms are only two weeks away!!

  

American BadAss Takes Week 5!

The last two weeks have been crazy!  In both weeks, four of the games were single digit victories and the fifth game was an absolute blow out.  In Week 4, the first four games were decided by: 7 points, 5 points, 4 points and 4 points, while the last game was a 72 point domination!  This week, the first four games were decided by: 8 points, 5 points 1 point and 1 point, and the last game by a 41 point difference!   

Last week’s big congrats go to Russ’ sprouts who were on the winning side of the 72 point victory, besting not only his opponent (Wyld Ass Monkeys) but also everyone else in the league.  Russ had big performances from Josh Jacobs (27 points), Bo Nix (25 points), Amon-Ra St. Brown (19 points) and Christian McCaffrey (19 points).  (The 72 point victory tied for the 12th largest margin of victory in league history).  Russ also became the first team to snag two Weekly High Score prizes this season!  Nice work sir!

This week’s big congrats go to Jason’s American BadAss who pulled out a 1-point victory over Wyld Ass Monkeys 98-97.  (Rob seems to be bringing out the best of his opponents, having played the top scorer for the last two weeks.)  Jason got there courtesy of a big game from Baker Mayfield (29 points) and having five of his other players score in double digits.  Nice work bro!  This is Jason’s first Weekly High Score Prize this season, and his first since Week 16 last season.

Week 4 saw the last of the undefeated teams go down, as Big Sack No TD’s lost in a nail biter to American BadAss.  And unfortunately there is still one winless team, Unlucky Irish, as John has lost two close ones the last two weeks, losing by just 4 points in Week 4 and 8 points in Week 5.  There’s still time to turn it around, as we still have nine weeks of the regular season to go!

Now since we are five weeks into the season, it is time for my Way Too Early Playoff Predictions!  Plus one team has been absolutely DOMINATING the Best Bench.  So let’s get to this!

WAY TOO EARLY PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

Last season 5 of the 6 teams I predicted to qualify for the playoffs made it in, with only Wyld Ass Monkeys not coming through.  Luck of the Irish made it in, even though my prediction model had them finishing 9th.  Looking back through the years, and only twice have I been perfect in my predictions, most recently in 2020.  The worst I’ve done was in 2023 when I only got 3 of 6 picked correctly.  I mean, I could probably randomly draw names out of a hat and do better than 3 out of 6.  In fact, I’ll do that this year along with my normal picks and see if all my analysis actually does any better than just random draws.

In determining playoff qualifying picks, there are several categories being considered: Overall Record, Points Scored Rank, Remaining Schedule Difficulty, and Utilization Rate.

Among these categories, there are two sure bets: the team who has scored the most points through the first five weeks has qualified for the playoffs every time, and the second highest scoring team has qualified 88.9% of the time.  With 494 points scored, sprouts leads all teams in scoring and are thus my first pick to make the playoffs.  Not too far behind is Worst to 1st who has scored 475 points thus far, and is my second pick to make the playoffs.  (Those two teams are also ranked #1 and #2 in Utilization Rate so far this season, which also bodes well for making it in.)

The next team I’m picking to make it in to the playoffs is American BadAss, as they are currently tied for the best record in the league (which qualifies 80% of the time), plus are the 4th highest scoring team and rank #3 in Utilization.

The fourth team I’m picking is my Scottish Rebels, for two reasons.  1) I currently have the easiest remaining schedule for the regular season, and 2) I’m currently the 3rd highest scoring team.  But recent performances from my team, plus injuries have me concerned to say the least.

The fifth team I’m picking to make it is, Mr. What Do You Know?! himself, Jens’ Big Sack No TD’s!  Jens is tied for the best record in the league and is tied for 4th in points scored.  He does have the 8th hardest remaining schedule, and is 6th in Utilization, so it could still be a tough road.

The final team I’m picking is NASCAR Café Honey Mustard.  This was a very close pick between several teams, but Timmy gets the nod due to having the 2nd easiest remaining schedule, and bearing the name of the greatest condiment ever created.

So those are my six picks for this season:  sprouts, Worst to 1st, American BadAss, Scottish Rebels, Big Sack No TD’s and NASCAR Café Honey Mustard.  If I picked your team, go out there and make me proud!  If I didn’t, go out there and prove me wrong!  

Now for the random picks out of a hat… in no particular order, they are:

    Worst to 1st (James)

    NASCAR Café Honey Mustard (Timmy)

    Joe’s Pats (Joe)

    sprouts (Russ)

    American BadAss (Jason)

    J LUV U LONG TIME (Shawn)

We’ll see if my deep analysis or random chance does a better job picking.

ESOTERIC JOKE OF THE WEEK

6:30 is the best time on a clock.

Hands down.

ALL UNWANTEDS

After the hot start to the season, the All Unwanteds have really cooled off.  In Week 4, they had a decent showing putting up a total of 90 points, but that would have only defeated three teams in the league, so it goes down as a loss.  

Here is their line-up for this week:

Again, a decent showing, but zeroes from Trey Benson and Zach Ertz did not help the cause.  Also, the AU’s will be going with Slye as their kicker for the remainder of the season after Spencer Shrader got injured.  Overall for Week 5 they would have beaten only 4 teams in the league, so this goes down as another loss, making their record 2-3 for the season.

BEST BENCH(es)

Before we get into the Best Bench(es), just wanted to point out that we have had only 1 Optimal Line-up so far this season, which was American BadAss in Week 4.  The 97 points ABA posted could not have been improved upon with any roster changes.  Last year through the first 5 weeks there had been 2 Optimal Line-ups and we finished the year with it being accomplished 11 times.

On the other end of the spectrum, the team with the most points on the bench is making my job really easy because I've only have to write one name for a while.  With an unbelievable third week in a row, the Week 5 Best Bench goes to… J LUV U LONG TIME!

This week Shawn could have improved by 30 points with three roster moves:  C. Ridley for J. Jeudy +12, D. Montgomery for J. Cook +12 and J. Fields for J. Hurts +6.  Last week Shawn could have improved by +21 points with three roster moves: D. Goedert for TJ Hockenson +12, J. Fields for J. Hurts +8 and J. Jeudy for C. Ridley +1.  Since 2019, there has only been one other time where a team has snagged 3 Best Benches in a row, so we are in rarified air.  Four in a row would be an all-time record!

Get your rosters set and get ready for Week 6!!

J LUV-ing IT!!

Three weeks in and we have our third different Weekly High Score winner!  It is amazing how frequently we have had a multi-week winner within the first 3 weeks of the season.  Since 2009, there has been a team to win 2 Weekly High Scores by Week 3 six times, nearly 38% of the time.  By Week 4, that percentage jumps to 75%, meaning we have a repeat high scorer in 3 of 4 seasons by the 4th week. Three times we've had the season start with back-to-back high scores by the same team (2010, 2015 and 2020).  The 2009 season set the record by opening up with 7 different Weekly High Score winners for the first 7 weeks.  Last season was one of the 75%ers, where American BadAss won the high score in Week 1, then did it again in Week 4.

The big congratulations this week go to Mr. Shawn Martin whose J LUV U LONG TIME was the only team to score in triple digits, putting up an impressive 114 points!  Shawn did it in spite of virtually no help from his wide receivers who combined for only 2 points.  But who needs wide receivers when you have Jalen Hurts (29 pts), Jordan Mason (23 pts), the Indianapolis defense (19 pts), James Cook (17 pts) and Matt Gay (14 pts).  This is Shawn’s first Weekly High Score since Week 8 last season.  Nice work muchacho!

In other games this week, we are down to only one undefeated team, Big Sack No TDs, and one winless team, Luck of the Irish.  Jens got a win in spite of only scoring 78 points, and John lost despite scoring 87 points, as he has had the misfortune of playing the top scoring team for the last two weeks.  The South division leads in number of wins (8 to 7), while the North division leads in points scored (1267 to 1230).  And boy are the injuries starting to pile up… CeeDee Lamb, James Conner, Mike Evans, Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels… lot of significant players have already missed time or will continue to do so.  Make sure you double check your starters each week.

BIG TIME

• Minnesota, DEF – Worst to 1st – 33 pts – The last time a defense was the top scorer in a given week was in Week 1 2023 when the Dallas Cowboys scored 41 points.  That one and this one were the only instances I found in the last five years.  The Vikings humiliated the Bengals this week, logging 5 turnovers, 4 sacks, 2 TD’s and only giving up 10 points.
• Tre Tucker, WR – Free Agent – 32 pts – The guy was only on 5% of rosters heading into Sunday.  I’m guessing we’ll see that number jump after he went off with 145 yards and 3 TD’s.  This was the highest single game score for a wide receiver so far this season.
• David Montgomery, RB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 31 pts – Montgomery ran through the Ravens defense as if they were just out there doing blocking drills.  On just 12 attempts, he had 151 yards and 2 TD’s.
• Jalen Hurts, QB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 29 pts – Hurts just does so much damage on the ground.  Already this season he has 117 yards rushing and 4 TD’s, after adding 40 yards and a TD this week on the ground.  Add to that 226 yards passing and another 3 TD’s, and well, you’ve got a solid week of fantasy.
• Jonathan Taylor, RB – Joe’s Pats – 29 pts – Nothing like following a 30 point week with a 29 point week.  Mr. Taylor is now the top ranked runningback in fantasy, a solid 11 points ahead of 2nd place James Cook.
• Caleb Williams, QB – Luck of the Irish – 28 pts – Best way to boost a young QB's confidence?  Have him play the Dallas Cowboys.  He didn’t get sacked or turn the ball over, while racking up 298 passing yards and 4 TDs.

COME ON MAN

• Calvin Ridley, WR – J LUV U LONG TIME – 2 pts – Ridley was targeted 7 times, but only managed one catch, which he took for 27 yards.  Not great.
• Tee Higgins, WR – Big Sack No TD’s – 1 pt – One catch for 15 yards.  One lowly catch.
• Zay Flowers, WR – Big Sack No TD’s – 1 pt – The 20 point game in Week 1 feels like a distant memory at this point.  All he got this week was 13 yards on 2 catches.  Eck.
• Malik Nabers, WR – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 1 pt – If you average his last two weeks, he has scored 16 points per week.  31 points followed by 1 point.  What in the heck?
• Baltimore, DEF – Wyld Ass Monkeys – -2 pts – The lowest point total for any player so far this season.  The Ravens defense provided little resistance to the Lions, recording no sacks, no interceptions, no fumble recoveries, and no blocked kicks, while giving up 38 points.  Yeah, that’s pretty bad.

KEEPER CHECK

Three weeks in so it seemed like a good time to check in to see how everyone’s keepers are performing.  The way these were ranked was by taking the total scores of each team’s keepers, plus adding the rounds which were spent on the keepers, for a “Total Keeper Value” metric.  

Here is the current list:

Joe’s Pats leads the way with Jonathan Taylor and Drake Maye as 2nd and 15th round keepers.  Worst to 1st had the highest round keepers (Jayden Daniels - 7th, and Brian Thomas Jr - 13th), and is currently 7th overall.  Wyld Ass Monkeys loaded up on the Bengals (Ja’Marr Chase – 1st, Joe Burrow – 7th) and so far it has not panned out.  Ultimately this shows, at least to this point in the season, there is really no correlation between the rounds spent on keepers and how well they will do.  I’ll continue to track this and will check in periodically through the season.

ALL UNWANTEDS

No roster moves for the Unwanteds this week, and it was their weakest showing so far this season:

With an average league score of 84.3, the 73 points posted would have only defeated two teams this week.  So this goes down as the first loss of the season, moving their record to 2-1.

BEST BENCH

One year and one week ago, J LUV U LONG TIME accomplished the rare feat of snagging the Weekly High Score and taking home the Best Bench.  And wouldn’t you know it, Shawn Martin has done it again!!  With a solid 32-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 3 Best Bench goes to J LUV U LONG TIME!  The Best Bench in Week 2 last season was Shawn’s last time taking the crown, which was also the longest active streak without one.  

JLULT needed three roster swaps to get there:  D. Montgomery for J. Cook +14, D. Smith for C. Lamb +12 and D. Moore for C. Ridley +6.  Time to change out those wide receivers Shawn.  (The team now with the longest non-Best Bench streak is yours truly…my Scottish Rebels.  I probably just jinxed myself… d’oh.)

Alright get those waiver claims in and get your rosters ready for Week 4!!