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!!