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!!

Sprouts comes to life in Week 2!

What a roller coaster season…and it’s only week 2!   Last week, the top two highest scoring teams (Scottish Rebels and American BadAss) combined to score 207 points, but this week only combined for 148.  A drop-off of 59 points (-29%).  On the flip side, this week’s top two scoring teams, Wyld Ass Monkeys and sprouts combined to score 240 points, after combining for only 137 points last week... a 103-point improvement (+75%)!  On an individual team basis, seven teams saw double-digit score changes from last week, led by Wyld Ass Monkeys who scored +59 more points this week.  The only consistent performers were NASCAR Cafe Honey Mustard, Big Sack No TDs and American BadAss, who saw point changes of +8, +4 and -6.  Brace yourself for a wild ride this year!

The big congrats go to Russ, where his sprouts dominated the competition and finished with a solid 121 points!  Russ’ roster was great from top to bottom, with six players scoring in double digits, led by Amon-Ra St. Brown with 29, Bo Nix with 20 and Christian McCaffrey with 16.  His tight end, Tyler Kraft, killed it too, adding in 18 points of his own.  Great work señor!  This is Russ’ first Weekly High Score Prize this season, and his first since Week 10, 2023.

In other games around the league we are seeing parity kick in, as we are down to only two undefeated teams (American BadAss and Big Sack No TD’s) along with only two winless teams (Luck of the Irish and Joe’s Pats).  Everyone else is 1-1, right in the middle of the pack.

BIG TIME

• Russell Wilson, QB – Free Agent – 33 pts – Continuing with the up and down results this year, Wilson went from scoring just 10 points last week, to being the top scorer this week with 33.
• Jared Goff, QB – Luck of the Irish – 33 pts – Similar story for Goff who only scored 11 last week, but then piled on Bears this week for 33.
• Malik Nabers, WR – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 31 pts – What a game!  Nabers caught nine passes for 167 yards and 2 TDs.  He is currently the top scoring wide receiver in fantasy.
• Jonathan Taylor, RB – Joe’s Pats – 30 pts – This is what you look for in a keeper.  Twenty five carries for 165 yards, plus 50 yards receiving (on just 2 catches) and a TD.  Taylor is now the 2nd highest scoring RB in fantasy, just 1 point behind James Cook.
• Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR – sprouts – 29 pts – St. Brown had an unbelievable day, hauling in 9 catches for 115 yards and 3 TDs!  And expect to see this again this season, as the Lions get to play the Bears again in Week 17.
• Lamar Jackson, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 26 pts – At last a consistently scoring player.  Jackson followed his 29 point performance last week with 26 this week… much better.  He now leads all fantasy scorers with 55 points.

COME ON MAN

• Derrick Henry, RB – Scottish Rebels – 2 pts – Dude scores 30 points in the opening week, then barely manages 23 yards on 11 carries, versus the Browns.  Up and down.
• T.J. Hockenson, TE – J LUV U LONG TIME – 1 pt – The Vikings offense was pretty weak, putting up only 6 points.  Hockenson contributed to the weakness, logging just one catch for 12 yards. D'oh.
• Hunter Henry, TE – Worst to 1st – 0 pts – In spite of being on the field for 50 of 60 offensive plays, he had just 3 passes thrown his way, catching 1 for 9 yards. Oof.
• Mark Andrews, TE – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – Just not a good week for tight ends or something… Andrews has been less than impressive so far this season, having just 2 catches for 7 yards through the first two games.  Yuck.

ALL UNWANTEDS

Only two roster moves needed this week for the Unwanteds, swapping in Michael Pittman Jr., and the Jacksonville Defense.

Pos	Player	Wk 2 Pts
QB	Daniel Jones	22
RB	Javonte Williams	18
RB	Trey Benson	4
WR	Quentin Johnston	13
WR	Michael Pittman Jr.	4
TE	Zach Ertz	12
K	Spencer Shrader	18
DEF	Jacksonville	10
	Total	101

With 101 points, that would have outscored all but two teams this week (sprouts and Wyld Ass Monkeys), and was well above the league average (88.2).  So I’m calling this a win for the Unwanteds, moving their record to 2-0.

WHAT IN THE KICK IS GOING ON?!

My disdain for kickers has been well documented over the years, and this season is shaping up to be no different.  Through the first two weeks of the season, the top kicker is Spencer Shrader-IND, who I'd never even heard of, and in Yahoo! draft stats literally shows a 0 for % drafted.  Second is Brandon Aubrey, who was expected to be good because the Cowboys can't score touchdowns.  Third is Joey Slye, who's kicking for Tennessee this year, and who was also 0% drafted according to Yahoo.  Fourth is Matt Prater, who wasn't even on a team until 2 days before the season.  Kickers, man... what in the hell?!

BEST BENCH

There were some pretty solid bench scores this week, with three teams posting 20 or higher (Worst to First +20, NASCAR Café Honey Mustard +23 and Scottish Rebels +29), but none could come close to this week’s winner.  With a crazy impressive +50 point-improvement-possibility, the Week 2 Best Bench goes to… Joe’s Pats!  This was the highest Bench total since Week 16 of 2023!

Joe needed a half roster swap to get there:  R. Odunze for D. London +22, D. Maye for K. Murray +13, J. Johnson for M. Andrews +10 and D. Adams for N. Collins +5.  This was Joe’s first Best Bench this season, and his first since Week 13, 2024.

Get your rosters set for Week 3!  We are only three weeks away from my early season playoff predictions!!

Rebels Tops To Start the Season!

After all the anticipation and hype, 2025 starts with a bit of a whimper.  Or at least a subdued bang.  With only 772 total points scored, this was the lowest scoring Week 1 since 2017 (when only 706 points were scored), and is a full 144 points lower than Week 1 last season.  Last season five teams opened up starting the year in triple digits, and this year only one team managed the feat.

That one team, was my Scottish Rebels.  Really not even a team effort though, as it was more like two stud superstars and then some other random dudes.  With 62% of my production coming from just two players, my Rebels claimed the Week 1 High Score with 114 points.  Josh Allen was an absolute beast, logging 41 points, and Derrick Henry led all runningbacks with 30 points.  Didn’t really need much after that, as my third highest scoring player was my kicker, Tyler Loop, who scored 12 points.

In other games this week James, Jason, Jens and Tim all logged victories, with Russ, John, Joe and Rob starting out 0-1.  Somehow Tim overcame zero wide receiver points to still win his game 67-55.  The best and worst starting and losing records both stand at 6 games (i.e. 6-0 and 0-6), so everyone is on their way to setting some kind of record!

BIG TIME

• Josh Allen, QB – Scottish Rebels – 41 pts – Josh went off for a total of 394 yards and 2 TD’s through the air, plus 30 yards and 2 more TD’s on the ground.  He was fortunate a few of his passes didn’t get picked off, but overall just an unbelievable start to the season.
• Derrick Henry, RB – Scottish Rebels – 30 pts – An otherwise dominating performance, Henry gave up a crucial fumble which allowed the Bills to come back and win.  Still a fantastic way to start the year with 182 total yards and 2 TD’s.
• Lamar Jackson, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 29 pts – Jackson had as good of a game you can have in a losing effort.  Finished with 209 yards and 2 TD’s passing, plus 70 yards and 1 TD rushing.  He literally averaged over 11 yards per rush, and nearly 15 yards per completion.
• Daniel Jones, QB – Free Agent – 28 pts – Let’s go Danny Dimes!  Amazing how a player can flourish after escaping from New York.  
• Justin Fields, QB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 28 pts – Wait, Fields flourishes by going into New York?  Oh, I see, because he escaped Chicago.  Makes sense.
• Justin Herbert, QB – Big Sack No TDs – 27 pts – Rounding out the great QB performances to start the season was Herbert, who passed for 318 yards and 3 TD’s in a win over K.C.  

COME ON MAN

• DeVonta Smith, WR – J LUV U LONG TIME – 1 pt – Just not a good start to the year for Smith, as he finished with merely 3 catches for just 16 yards.
• T.J. Hockenson, TE – J LUV U LONG TIME – 1 pt – Not much there for Talking Jim this week, logging a measly 15 yards on three catches.
• Baltimore, DEF – Wyld Ass Monkeys – 0 pts – Baltimore gave up 40 points, and only recorded one sack.   The Ravens defense was the lowest scoring defense this week, which is hard to believe.  If Ray Lewis was dead, he would be rolling in his grave.
• Mark Andrews, TE – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – The Ravens scored 40 points and had hundreds of yards of offense, yet homeboy barely sniffed the stat sheet.  Out of 432 total Raven offensive yards, Andrews had 5.  Yes, 5.
• A.J. Brown, WR – NASCAR Café Honey Mustard – 0 pts – Brown caught the one pass thrown his way and took it for all of 8 yards.  Not what you want from a guy drafted this season in the 2nd round with the 8th pick (excluding keepers).

ALL-UNWANTEDS TEAM WEEK 1

Since all NFL teams had at least two players drafted, the ‘All Unwanteds’ team this season is going to be slightly different.  From the Week 1 results, I’ve selected the top free agent performers in each position as the starting line up.  

Here are the Week 1 starters:

• QB – Daniel Jones, IND 28
• RB – Javonte Williams, DAL 18
• RB – Trey Benson, ARI 6
• WR – Quentin Johnston, LAC 19
• WR – Keon Coleman, BUF 17
• TE – Noah Fant, CIN 8
• K – Spencer Shrader, IND 16
• DEF – Tennessee, TEN 17
• TOTAL = 129

Additionally, I’ve taken the next top performing free agent in each position for the bench.

Current Bench:

• Aaron Rodgers, QB (25)
• Raheim Sanders, RB (6)
• Michael Pittman Jr., WR (14)
• Zach Ertz, TE (8)
• Joey Slye, K (15)
• Jacksonville, DEF (15)

From those 14 players I’ll assemble the optimal roster each week to see how they stack up.  They’ve started off the year hot, completely dominating all other teams with 129 points.  We’ll see if this continues, or if they were just a one week fluke.

BEST BENCH

Before getting into this week’s Best Bench, I wanted to share a few Best Bench stats from over the years. 

• Average Best Bench Improvement (since 2019) = 35.2 pts
• Highest Best Bench Improvement (since 2019) = 60 pts, Luck of the Irish – Week 13, 2020
• Highest Best Bench Improvement (All-Time) = 89 pts, sprouts – Week 2, 2009
• Lowest Best Bench Improvement (All-Time) = 13 pts, Big Sack No TD’s and Wyld Ass Monkeys – Both on Week 9, 2022
• Team with the Most Best Benches (since 2019) = Luck of the Irish, 18
• Team with the Fewest Best Benches (since 2019) = Joe’s Pats & Wyld Ass Monkeys, 7

Last season there was only one team who avoided taking home a Best Bench.  In spite of leading the league in Best Benches, Luck of the Irish was perfect last year, never once claiming the dubious crown.  Luck had a streak of 27 weeks without a Best Bench, which was the longest active record.  But records, as they say, are meant to be broken, and that is precisely what happened this week.  With a solid 37-point-improvement possibility, the first Best Bench of 2025 goes to none other than John’s Luck of the Irish!

John needed a half roster swap to get there:  G. Wilson for T. McLaurin +13, C. Williams for J. Goff +12, J. Croskey-Merritt for J. Gibbs +10 and J. Warren for A. Jeanty +2.  

The team now with the longest active streak of avoiding a Best Bench is J LUV U LONG TIME, where Shawn has not had one since Week 2 last season.  How long can he keep it rolling?

Okay, get those waiver claims in, and get your rosters ready for Week 2!!

Sacred Sundays 2025 is here!!

Sacred Sundays 2025 is off and running!  This marks the 9th season with all ten of the same teams, and the 22nd season overall.  Truly impressive run!  We’ll see if my Scottish Rebels can successfully defend the title this season, but if recent history is any indicator, it does not look good.  Looking at the prior four champions before last season (back through 2020), and the defending champ has only made the playoffs once (Joe’s Pats as defending champ in 2022 finished as runner-up in 2023).  The other three defending champs (Attack of Mahomes 2020, Young Guns 2022 and Sofa King Great 2023) finished 7th, 7th and 10th, respectively.  Oof!  The last time my team won (2019), I managed only a 4th place finish the following season.  The road to repeat is a tough one!

Draft stats and notes:

• Wide Receivers were the most selected position with 49 taken.
• Runningbacks were second most selected with 42.
• There were 20 quarterbacks taken this season, which is exactly the same as last year.  Every team took 2, except Timmy who only has 1 and Jason who selected 3.  (Weirdly that is exactly the same as last season.)
• Jason was the only team who took 2 Defenses.
• Rob loaded up on runningbacks… the only team to take 6 of that position.
• John and Shawn loaded up on wide receivers… both were the only teams to take 6 of that position.
• James was the only team to take 2 kickers.  
• Tight Ends were a bit more popular this season with 17 drafted, which was 2 more than last season. 
• All 32 NFL teams had at least 2 players drafted.
• Detroit led the way with 8 players selected.
• Four teams had 7 players selected:  Denver, Kansas City, Minnesota and Philadelphia.
• Carolina and Tennessee each had 2 selected which was the least of any team.
• Five teams had players selected from every position (QB, RB, WR, TE, DEF and K): Detroit, Denver, Kansas City, Philadelphia and Buffalo.

Yahoo Grades and Predictions

The highest grades awarded by Yahoo this season were to John’s Luck of the Irish and James’ Worst to 1st, who both received an A+.  Five teams received D grades (Scottish Rebels, American BadAss, NASCAR Café Honey Mustard, J LUV U LONG TIME and sprouts), and Joe’s Pats received a C- which is practically a D.  So overall, Yahoo did not seem overly impressed with our drafting skills, giving us an average GPA of just 2.2.  

For record predictions, Yahoo has Luck of the Irish finishing with 11 wins, followed by Worst to 1st and Big Sack No TDs with 10.  The bottom four teams it has predicted to miss the playoffs are American BadAss, NASCAR Café Honey Mustard, J LUV U LONG TIME and sprouts.  Yahoo loves to predict tie games, as it is calling for 7 tie games this season, with my Scottish Rebels leading the way with a whopping 4 tie finishes.  This despite the fact no team in Sacred Sundays history has ever had more than 2 ties in a season, and the most total tie games in a season has been 4 (2015 and 2016 seasons).  

Everyone Needs Money, That’s Why They Call It Money

Just a quick recap of the prizes for this season:

Weekly High Score Prize = $50/week for 17 weeks ($850 total awarded)

Champion = $500

2nd Place = $300

3rd Place = $200

4th Place = $150

Okay, that’s all I’ve got as the primer for this season.  

Now, it brings me so much joy to say… ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBAAAAAAAALLLL?!?!?!