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!!
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