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!!