Sprouts Takes Week 5 Amidst Record Breaking Scoring Outburst!

 This was just an unbelievable week for fantasy scores.  Check out all of the records set:  Most total points scored in a week (1,105); Most teams to score >100 points in a week (8); Highest Score in a Loss (124); Most teams to score >100 points in a loss (3); plus this week ties the record for having five different Weekly High Score Winners to start the season.  And these records weren’t just set, they smashed the previous records.  For total points, this week crushed the previous record by 71 points.  For total teams scoring >100, there had never been more than 6 in a week.  And the previous Highest Score in a loss was 118 and was a record which had stood for nearly 8 seasons!   (Prior record was set back in Week 15 of 2013 when Channel 4 News Team defeated Sofa King Good 149-118.  James just beat his own record!)  

These crazy high scores did come in week with the most fantasy points scored across the NFL since Week 2, 2020.  That week had 2,724 fantasy points scored amongst 336 players, and now this week there were 2,702 points scored amongst 332 players.  So even with fewer points, the league total points dominated!  Amazingly the lowest point total for any team this week was 95!  There have been six times historically when the high score for the week wasn’t above 95.

At the top of it all, the crème de la crème this week was sprouts who had an unbelievable 58-point Monday night to take home the Week 5 Weekly High Score Prize with 132 points!  The big Monday scorers for Russ were tight end Mark Andrews (30 pts) and RB Jonathan Taylor (28 pts).  Kyler Murray underperformed a bit this week (13 points), but all players on sprouts’ roster scored in double digits.  This was also an ‘Optimal High Score’ as there were no bench improvement points to be had.  Great job Russ!!

Alright, this week I reveal my playoff picks for 2021!!  More on that below… but first a few quick observations:

BIG TIME

• Justin Herbert, QB – Young Guns – 44 pts – Over the last three weeks, Herbert has 11 TDs with 0 Ints.  This week he got in a shootout and threw for 398 yards and 4 TDs, plus rushed for 29 yards and 1 TD.
• Lamar Jackson, QB – Vandelay Industries – 44 pts – Jackson literally had 4 points in the first half, and then proceeded to throw for his career high passing yards in the second half by itself!  All told he finished with 442 passing yards, 4 TD’s plus added 62 rushing yards and 2 2-point conversions.
• Tom Brady, QB – Sofa King American – 40 pts – Brady comes back in a big way after last week’s 10 point performance.  He torched Miami for 411 yards and 5 TD’s.  The old man currently leads all fantasy scorers with 140 points scored on the season.
• Josh Allen, QB – Scottish Rebels – 35 pts – Allen mowed down the Chiefs to the tune of 315 yards passing and 3 TD’s, plus 59 yards rushing and another TD.
• Derrick Henry, RB – Vandelay Industries – 31 pts – As the top scoring running back in fantasy, Henry is averaging 128 yards per game this season.  With a 17-game season, that has him on pace to rush for 2,176 yards!  Holy shit!  He’s also found the endzone 7 times so far, with 3 coming this week.
• Mike Williams, WR – Vandelay Industries – 31 pts – Williams made up for last week’s 1 pointer in a big way!  He went off catching 8 passes for 165 yards and 2 TD’s in the Chargers win over the Browns.
• Mark Andrews, TE – sprouts – 30 pts – Biggest game from a tight end this season!  Andrews caught an incredible 11 passes for 147 yards and 2 TD’s.  This moves him into a tie for second place amongst tight ends.

COME ON MAN

The ‘Come On Man’ section has typically been reserved for players who scored 1 or fewer points in a given week.  Injured players (like Saquon Barkley, Maxx Williams and Clyde Edwards-Helaire this week) are excluded.  Occasionally I’ll feature a player here who only scored a deuce, if it is a superstar or a keeper.  Every week there are always two or three to mention here.  However, this is the first week where there are no uninjured active players who scored less than 2 points.  Truly remarkable.

PLAYOFFS? DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!!

It’s that time once again to pull out the ol’ crystal ball, dust off the Ouija board and summon my inner Nostradamus.  Yes, it is the Annual Week 5 Playoff Predictions!!  Not to brag too much, but my picks last year were 6-for-6, so I’m dialed in Miss Cleo style!

Following the same approach as last season, these are the factors considered: Current record, Points Scored, Utilization and Schedule Difficulty.  

When it comes to points scored the most sure bet is the highest scoring team through 5 weeks which has qualified for the playoffs every single year.  The second highest scoring team has qualified 93% of the time historically.  In terms of win loss record, undefeated teams (either 5-0 or 4-0-1) have qualified 87.5% of the time and teams with only 1 loss have qualified 82.3% of the time.  Utilization has only been tracked in 2019 and 2020, but in both years the top 5 ‘Utilization’ teams all qualified for the playoffs.  

Here now are my 2021 Playoff Predictions (in no particular order):

• Joe’s Pats – The Pats are the second highest scoring team, rank 2nd in Utilization and have the 3rd easiest schedule going forward.
• sprouts – Fourth highest scoring team, rank #1 in Utilization and have the 2nd easiest schedule going forward.
• Scottish Rebels – Best record in the league, rank 5th in Utilization but have the toughest schedule going forward.
• Sofa King American – This will be an interesting one because King is currently the highest scoring team in the league, yet is tied for the worst record.  However, they do have the easiest schedule going forward and rank 3rd in Utilization, so they may just squeak in.
• Vandelay Industries – Third highest scoring team, have the 5th easiest schedule and rank 6th in Utilization.
• American BadAss – Ranked 4th in Utilization and 6th in points scored but have the 2nd hardest schedule going forward.

Alright there they are!  Now just 8 short weeks to either prove me right or wrong…

BEST BENCH

High scores flying all around this week, so it only makes sense we would have the highest Best Bench improvement of the season!  Also it should be noted, this week’s Best Bench is the fifth different team to take home the honor this season.  Without further ado, and with a super impressive 53 point improvement possibility, the Week 5 Best Bench goes to …. Young Guns!!  John needed to swap out 50% of his roster to get there – A. Brown for T Higgins (+19), Buffalo for New England (+13), C. Claypool for K. Allen (+12) and M. Davis for S. Barkley (+9).

Get those waiver claims in (lord knows there’s been a ton of injuries) and get your rosters ready for Week 6!!

Joe's Pats on Top in Week 4

Four weeks into the season and we have four different Weekly High Score Prize winners.  This is only the third time this has happened in league history, most recently in 2014.  (In 2014 we had unique winners through Week 5, which is the record.)   This week it was Joe’s Pats with a big Monday Night showing to take the Week’s High Score with 121!  Joe had big games from Jalen Hurts (30 pts), Terry McLaurin (24 pts) and the Monday Night Star, Austin Ekeler with 25 points.  The 121 point total ties Sofa King American for the 2nd highest point total this season, and with 398 total points, Joe’s Pats is the current point leader!  Well done Joe!

In other games, American BadAss thumped my hapless group of dumbasses so there are no more undefeated teams.  Three teams now sit with 3-1 records, four are at 2-2 and three are at 1-3.  Interestingly only 70 points separates the highest scoring team (Joe’s Pats) from the lowest (Big Sack No TD’s).  

Playoff predictions are coming next week, so just a quick update this week…

BIG TIME

• Tyreek Hill, WR – Sofa King American – 39 pts – Hill exploded in Week 1 for 28 points and just did it again with an unbelievable game with 186 yards receiving and 3 TD’s!  No other Chief had more than 25 yards receiving, as Hill just gobbled them all up.
• Patrick Mahomes, QB – Attack of Mahomes – 31 pts – Of course the QB tossing the ball to the high scoring receiver would also score highly!  Mahomes only had 6 incompletions on 30 attempts (1 interception), while racking up 278 yards and 5 TD’s.
• Deebo Samuel, WR – Attack of Mahomes – 30 pts – Another Week 1 standout pops up again in Week 4!  Samuel had 25 pts in Week 1, and now drops 156 yards and 2 TD’s this week.
• Jalen Hurts, QB – Joe’s Pats – 30 pts – Hurts is proving to be a consistent performer, having scored no less than 20 points any week this season and currently ranks as the 4th highest scoring QB.
• Cordarrelle Patterson, WR/RB – Big Sack No TD’s – 30 pts - Cord did his damage catching the ball, as he caught 5 balls for 84 yards and 3 TD’s to go along with 34 yards rushing.

COME ON MAN

• Myles Gaskin, RB – Christian McCaffrey’s Thigh – 0 pts – Really scraping the bottom of the barrel here… this guy had all of 2 attempts for 3 yards.
• CeeDee Lamb, WR – American BadAss – 1 pt – Just 2 catches for 13 yards as the Cowboys focused on a run-heavy approach.
• Los Angeles Rams, DEF – American BadAss – -1 pt – The Rams defense managed to record 3 sacks but gave up a whopping 37 points.  Oof.
• Brandon McManus, K – Young Guns – 1 pt – A singular extra point was the only contribution Mr. McManus was able to make.
• Mike Williams, WR – Vandelay Industries – 1 pt – After having a touchdown every week so far (even 2 last week), Williams only had 1 catch for 11 yards this time.

 S#!T IN ITS MANY FORMS

Did you know the type of animal shit denotes a specific meaning which everyone knows intuitively…

Bullshit = lies

Dogshit = poor quality

Batshit = illogical

Apeshit = frighteningly aggressive

Horseshit = unfair

Chickenshit = cowardly

Ratshit = used with a socket to loosen bolts

TOP 5’s VS DRAFT POSITION

Here is the first check-in this season on Top 5’s for each position along with their draft position.

Eight undrafted players are currently in the top 5 of their respective positions.  Wide receivers are crazy with 4 of the top five having been drafted in Round 5 or later and one being undrafted.  (Note – Patterson’s position is technically listed as WR/RB, but he’s grouped in with WR’s in my data.  Oddly enough, he’s the 4th ranked WR but would be the 3rd ranked RB.)

ALL UNWANTEDS

The Week 4 AUW’s come from the New York Giants (less Barkley & Golladay) and the Chicago Bears (less Montgomery and Robinson).

Tough showing not having a 2nd runningback who scored any points.  The league average score this week was 92.2, so this goes down as another loss, dropping their record to 1-3.

BEST BENCH

With four Weekly High Score winners on the season, it only makes sense we would have our fourth different Best Bench as well!  It was a two-man race for the honor this week, as Attack of Mahomes made a strong case with a 31-point improvement possibility.  But that wasn’t quite enough to overtake American BadAss for the Week 4 Best Bench!!  Jason needed just 3 roster moves to improve his point total by a solid 33 points:  Cleveland for LA Rams +14, D. Smith for C. Lamb +11, and J. Cook for K. Pitts +8.

Get those waiver claims in and get ready for Week 5!!

The Thigh Master

What a week!  In the highest scoring matchup of the season so far, my newly named Christian McCaffrey’s Thigh narrowly edged Attack of Mahomes by four points, 116-112, to claim the Week 3 High Score!  In spite of C Mac only scoring 3 pts (before leaving the game injured), and Dalvin Cook being ruled out pre-game, my QB Josh Allen (39 pts), the Arizona Defense (21 pts) and RB Alexander Mattison (16 pts) came through in the clutch to pull out the tight victory.  Three weeks of the season and already three different High Score winners!  Nice!

Lots of ‘firsts’ happening this week- First victory for Coors Light Drunk Guys… first loss of the season for a team scoring >100 pts… first time there have been 6 teams with a 1-2 record since 2013… and this is the first time my team (Scottish Rebels, Butkus’ Dick, Longshanks, Christian McCaffrey’s Thigh) has started the season with a 3-0 record!  (I have started 0-3 four times though…hahaha!)

In Weeks 1 & 2, there was only one close game each week but this week gave us three nail biters with margins of 4, 3 and 1.  Joe’s Pats pulled out the 3-point victory over Vandelay Industries and the Drunk Guys squeaked out a 1 pointer over Sofa King American to get their first victory.  With that victory it means there are no more winless teams, so no one is even going to come close to breaking my record for worst start of 0-6, which I did in back-to-back seasons (2011-12).

Just a quick update this week which includes a truly historic Best Bench.  Lets do this!

In case you missed any of the 300 re-runs, there's C Mac's thigh

BIG TIME

• Josh Allen, QB – Christian McCaffrey’s Thigh – 39 pts – What a day for Allen, torching Washington for 358 pass yards and 4 TD’s, plus adding a 9-yard scamper for a rushing TD!
• Tom Brady, QB – Sofa King American – 31 pts – Brady put up 432 passing yards and had 2 TD’s (1 passing, 1 rushing) in a losing effort to the Rams.  Get this – he needs just 68 yards next week to become the all-time NFL passing yardage leader.  And guess where he is playing?  Oh yeah, Foxboro. 
• Justin Herbert, QB – Young Guns – 30 pts – This Herbert may be pretty good!  Against the Chiefs he racked up 481 yards and 4 TD’s!

COME ON MAN

• Noah Fant, TE – Sofa King American – 1 pt – Just two catches for 15 yards.  
• TJ Hockensen, TE – Vandelay Industries – 1 pt – Two for two on catches, but for all of 10 yards.
• Tampa Bay, DEF – Vandelay Industries – 1 pt – The Bucs only managed one sack and gave up 34 points to the Rams.
• Kansas City, DEF – Attack of Mahomes – 0 pts – While giving up 30 points to the Chargers, the only defensive stat the Chiefs mustered was a single sack.  Oof.

ALL UNWANTEDS

Not a good week for those who shall’n’t be drafted.  The two teams randomly selected to represent the AUW’s were the New York Jets (less Corey Davis, WR and Michael Carter, RB) and the New Orleans Saints (less Alvin Kamara, RB and Michael Thomas, WR).  However, it hardly made any difference this week as all five of the teams (CHI, HOU, NO, NYG and NYJ) were pretty poor.  

Here was this week’s lineup:

• Jameis Winston, QB NO - 13 pts
• Marquez Callaway, WR NO - 10 pts
• Deonte Harris, WR NO - 3 pts
• Tony Jones Jr, RB NO - 2 pts
• Ty Johnson, RB NYJ - 1 pt
• Tyler Kroft, TE NYJ - 1 pt
• Aldrick Rosas, K NO - 4 pts
• New Orleans, DEF NO - 22 pts
• Total = 56 pts

The paltry 56 points were far below the league average this week (92.8), so this drops the All Unwanteds record to 1-2.  Hey, look at that...another team with a 1-2 record.

PLAYOFFS?  DON’T TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS!!

We are only 2 weeks away from my annual Week 5 Playoff Predictions!  Just a reminder from last season that my playoff picks were 6-for-6, so I’m on a hot streak.  Stay tuned.

BEST BENCH

All streaks eventually come to an end…nothing stands the test of time, not even the Best Bench.  There have been 90 Best Benches handed out since the last time this week’s recipient was bestowed the honor.  More than 5 ½ seasons.  Think about it, the last time this team was Best Bench Donald Trump had not even been elected president!  It was in Week 8 of the 2015 season (which occurred on October 26th, 2015) when the then-named 'SofaKing Lucky' took home the Best Bench with a 23-point-improvement possibility, and now James has crazily enough matched that same total once again, and takes home the Week 3 2021 Best Bench!

For the 23 points, James needed just two roster moves to get there:  K. Hunt for T. Williams +19 and G. Everett for N. Fant +4.  CAP'N, MAJOR, SIR!  James!!  That’s been a helluva run, and not one I’m sure anyone will even come close to matching.  Your roster management skills are second to none. My hat’s off to you senor!  

(For those of you wondering, the longest current streak belongs to Vandelay Industries who last had a Best Bench in Week 5, 2019.)

One last note regarding 2015… perhaps one thing does stand the test of time, that one thing being Tom Brady.  Check out the top 5 QB’s from 2015:

1. Tom Brady NE - QB 342
2. Cam Newton Car - QB 341
3. Carson Palmer Ari - QB 308
4. Blake Bortles Jax - QB 305
5. Drew Brees NO - QB 280

And here are the top 5 right now:

1. Tom Brady QB 90
2. Kyler Murray QB 86
3. Patrick Mahomes QB 77
4. Derek Carr QB 76
5. Kirk Cousins QB 73

The dude at the top is the same, but everyone else is different.  Crazy.

Get those waivers in and get ready for Week 4!!

 

Vandelay dominates Week 2

The latex industry is rocking!  With a solid 67-point improvement over last week, the Week 2 Weekly High Score belongs to Vandelay Industries.  Rob had three players combine to score over 100 (Derrick Henry 44, Tom Brady 31 and Tampa Def 26), and had the other five tack on another 39 to finish with 139 points!   Actually, Rob only needed 6 players to win the WHS as Clyde Edwards-Helaire only scored 2 points, and kicker Jason Sanders laid an egg.  (With just those six players, Vandelay would’ve finished with 137 points and still had 6 points more than Joe’s Pats.)  The 139 points marks the highest point total this season, and is the highest since Sofa King American scored 144 in Week 12 last year.  Nice work Rob!  

Now the league standings are rather interesting as my Longshanks boys are the lone undefeated team at 2-0 and the Coors Light Drunk Guys are the lone winless team at 0-2.  Eight teams sit at 1-1.  Eight teams!  Only two other times have the standings looked like this since 2007:  2013 and 2014.  In those seasons the undefeated team finished 2nd and 5th, while the winless team finished 8th and 9th.  The record for the most undefeated teams after two weeks is 4, which happened in 2010.  (Three teams were 2-0 and one was 1-0-1.) Never in Sacred Sundays history have all teams had a 1-1 record going into Week 3.

Just a quick rundown this week…

BIG TIME

• Derrick Henry, RB, Vandelay Industries – 44 pts – In the top fantasy performance of the season so far, Henry carried the ball 35 times for an impressive 182 yards and 3 TD’s, plus caught 6 passes for 55 yards.  This game vaults Henry back to the top of the NFL rushing leaders.
• Kyler Murray, QB, sprouts – 36 pts – Murray just continues to put on a show, topping 400 yards and tossing 4 TD’s again!  
• Aaron Jones, RB, Joe’s Pats – 34 pts – Good way to bounce back from a 1-point Week 1 showing… He went off for 4 total TD’s (3 receiving and 1 rushing), plus added 115 yards from scrimmage.
• Cooper Kupp, WR, Coors Light Drunk Guys – 31 pts – Two weeks in a row now >100 yards for Coop… this week going for 163 plus two TD’s!  Get this, he is the 2nd ranked wide receiver in fantasy.  (And he was the 12th receiver drafted not counting keepers.)
• Lamar Jackson, QB, Vandelay Industries – 31 pts – Per Yahoo!: “Jackson’s passing has left a lot to be desired through 2 weeks, but he’s made up for it by averaging 97 rushing yards per game.”  He is in 3rd place in rushing yards for the NFL, trailing D Henry by only 47 yards.  That’s crazy!
• Buffalo, DEF, Young Guns – 30 pts – Check out the stat line for the Bills stomping on the Dolphins:  6 sacks, 2 fumbles, 1 interception, 4 4th down stops and ZERO points allowed.  

COME ON MAN

• Tyreek Hill, WR – Sofa King American – 2 pts – Last week’s top receiver got shut down this week, catching only 3 passes for 14 yards and 1 rush for 15 yards.
• George Kittle, TE – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – Not much for Kittle this week, racking up just 17 yards on 4 catches.
• Antonio Brown, WR – Young Guns – 1 pt – Not enough catches to go around on the Bucs, as he notched a lone catch for 17 yards.
• Tyler Higbee, TE – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 0 pts – After catching 6 passes last week, Higbee had just one pass thrown to him this week (which he caught), but only for 8 yards.
• Jason Sanders, K – Vandelay Industries – 0 pts – No kicks attempted…no extra point tries…just nothing.

7 SEINFELD LIFE LESSONS

1. It's not about taking the reservation, it's about holding the reservation.

2. 95% of the population is undatable.

3. A George divided against itself cannot stand.

4. When you control the mail you control....information.

5. Never double dip a chip.

6. Sometimes the opposite is the best thing to do.

7. Serenity Now!

ALL UNWANTEDS

This week’s contributors to the AUW’s lineup are the Chicago Bears and New York Giants.  (Restricted players are WR-Allen Robinson, RB-David Montgomery, RB-Saquon Barkley and WR-Kenny Golladay).

Because of the restricted players, they had to go with an empty backfield. In other words, there were no RB points scored by any other players.

But in spite of not getting any points from those two players, the Unwanteds outscored the league average by 0.3 pts (92.7), so they join the 8 other teams and also move to 1-1.  That’s what a 22 point scoring kicker will do for you!

BEST BENCH

Not a lot of points left on the bench this week, as the average point improvement for the league was just 11.6.  Five teams had single digit improvement possibilities!  But one team needed to swap just two players to improve their point total by 30 points.  The Week 2 Best Bench goes to… the Coors Light Drunk Guys!  Shawn needed only swap C. Kupp for D. Metcalf (+26) and H. Henry for T. Higbee (+4).

Get your rosters for Week 3!  

Sofa King American Riding High in Week 1!

The King is picking up where he left off last season!  Sofa King American led the league last year with 5 Weekly High Score Prizes (including the impressive three-in-a-row in weeks 11-13), and with 121 points scored takes it for Week 1!  James had big performances from Tom Brady (30 pts), Tyreek Hill (28 pts), and the Pittsburgh Defense (18 pts).  Good way to start the season, Major General!!

Four of the games were blowouts this week (margins of 25, 33, 33 and 54) and one game was settled by just 2 points.  In Week 1 2020, no game had a margin of more than 30 points, with three decided by less than 14 points.  Also, last year in Week 1 a total of 946 points were scored, while this year only 873 points were scored.  In fact, this is the fewest points scored in the opening week since 2017 when only 706 total points were scored.  In that week, Joe’s Pats won the high score with a final score of 95.  Hahaha!

**Important schedule note** – As you have probably heard, the NFL changed to an 18-week 17 game season this year.  However, our fantasy season will remain unchanged from years past… regular season will still go for Weeks 1-13, and playoffs are Weeks 14-16.  

Onward!

BIG TIME

• Kyler Murray, QB – sprouts – 33 pts – Keeper delivers!  Murray had 5 TD’s total (4 passing, 1 rushing) to go along with 289 passing yards and 20 rushing yards.  This is how you like to see your keepers start the season!
• Patrick Mahomes, QB – Attack of Mahomes – 32 pts – Keeper delivers!  The Mahomes train just keeps rolling… he threw for 337 yards and 3 TD’s, plus added 18 yards and a rushing TD.
• Tom Brady, QB – Sofa King American – 30 pts – Brady’s only blemish on the day was having 2 interceptions.  But when you have 379 passing yards and 4 TD's, welllll, I guess we’ll let it slide.
• Dak Prescott, QB – American BadAss – 30 pts – Dak looked surprisingly good, and threw for 403 yards, 3 TD’s and just 1 pick.
• Tyreek Hill, WR – Sofa King American – 28 pts – Keeper delivers!  Hill had 11 catches on 15 targets, which he took for 197 yards and a TD.

COME ON MAN

• Mecole Hardman, WR – Attack of Mahomes – 1 pt – Hardman did catch all the balls thrown his way… unfortunately that only amounted to 3 catches for 19 yards.
• Aaron Rodgers, QB – Coors Light Drunk Guys – 1 pt – Rodgers finished with a Blake Bortles-esque stat line – 15 of 28 passes for just 133 yards and 2 interceptions.  This from a guy who was the top scorer in Week 1 last season (33 pts), and averaged 23.2 points per game.  In a pregame interview Rodgers deadpan told Erin Andrews “I’m excited for this season” without the least bit of energy or even change of facial expression.  He almost could have fallen asleep after he said it.  Seems like he carried that same energy to the field.
• Aaron Jones, RB – Joe’s Pats – 1 pt – Jones followed his quarterback's lead, and managed just 9 yards rushing on 5 carries (yuck), and 13 yards receiving on 2 catches (oof).
• Quinn Nordin, K – Joe’s Pats – 0 pts – Bill Belichick pulled the ol’ switcheroo on Joe going with Nick Folk instead of Nordin.  Seriously, how do the Patriots just have two kickers on standby?
• Robert Tonyan, TE – Longshanks – 0 pts – When Aaron Rodgers plays like a worn out sock, his receivers will likewise have crappy days.  Tonyan certainly sucked, catching just 2 balls for a measly 8 yards.

KICKERS – THE LEAST PREDICTABLE POSITION

Now, one week does not a season make, but check out three of the top kickers from Week 1:

#1 – Joey Slye, HOU – 14 points

T3 – Dustin Hopkins, WSH – 12 points

T3 – Chris Boswell, PIT – 12 pts

All three are free agents in our league, and according to Yahoo!, Chris Boswell was the most drafted of those three, having been drafted in a whopping 5% of fantasy leagues…Hopkins was drafted in only 3% of leagues, and el numero uno this week, Joey Slye, is not even among one of the 22 kickers listed as having been drafted in the Yahoo! drafts.  Probably means he is down in the below 1% range.

ALL UNWANTEDS

In this year’s draft, there were 5 teams tied for the fewest players drafted…each with just a pair of players picked:  CHI, HOU, NO, NYG and NYJ.  Since the All Unwanteds have normally been constructed from only one or two teams, I will randomly select two of these teams each week to construct the best team possible.  The two teams selected this week:  New York Jets and Houston Texans:

The league scoring average this week was 87.3 (literally can’t make this stuff up), so by the narrowest of margins, and with a team comprised almost exclusively of Texans, the All Unwanteds start the season 0-1.

BEST BENCH

With Gronk going wild in the first game for 21 points, and my starting TE posting a bagel, the first Best Bench of the season was mine for the taking.  But then out of nowhere, Deebo Samuel posts a big game against the Lions, Ja’Marr Chase catches a big TD pass, and all of a sudden Attack of Mahomes finishes with a 51-point-improvement possibility to take this week’s Best Bench!  

Timmy needed a half roster swap to get there:  D. Samuel for M. Hardman (+24), J. Williams for J. Robinson (+12), D. Swift for D. Singletary (+8) and J. Chase for D. Moore (+7).

Get your rosters ready for Week 2!!

2021 Season is ON!!

 

The 2021 season will mark the 18th season for Sacred Sundays!  And not only that, this season will be the 5th in a row with the same 10 owners!  Pretty impressive!

Every team has played 52 regular season games over the last four seasons, with the winningest team being Timmy’s Attack of Mahomes who have a record of 33-17-2.  Tim-tim also has scored the most points of any team with 4,806.  Rob (Vandelay Industries) and James (Sofa King Something) tie for second best record, 31-21, and have scored 4,664 points (2nd most) and 4,586 points (5th most) respectively.

In terms of championships, Joe’s Pats has the most with 2 (back-to-back in 2017-2018), followed by one each for Longshanks (2019) and Attack of Mahomes (2020).  For top four finishes, Attack of Mahomes is the only team to finish in the top four each of the last four seasons (1 championship, 2 runner-ups and 1 third).  Longshanks has second most with 3 (1 championship and 2 4ths), and Joe’s Pats (2 championships) and Sofa King (2 thirds) each have two.  The only team to not have a top four finish in the last four seasons is Big Sack.  What do you know, Jens?!?  Come on, you got this!  Nowhere to go but up!

Here are the full standings for the last four seasons:

Scoring records for Sacred Sundays have pretty much been set in the last four seasons with the each of the top three scores of all-time occurring in just the last 3 years.  (Sprouts scored 154 in Week 3-2019, American BadAss scored 158 in Week 10-2018, and Attack of Mahomes holds the all-time record with 160 points scored in Week 10-2019.)  Two of the highest scoring weeks have occurred in recent years as well, with the 2nd highest point total, 1,002, occurring in 2018 (Week 6), and the highest scoring week ever, 1,034 points, occurring last season in Week 2.  Additionally, two of the top three largest margins of victory have occurred recently, with the 3rd highest margin (96 points) from Week 12-2020 when Sofa King American defeated American BadAss 140-44, and the highest margin of 99 points from Week 10-2019 when Attack of Mahomes defeated Big Sack 160-61.  Lastly, the highest individual player score of all-time occurred just last season…Week 16 2020, Alvin Kamara had 155 rushing yards, 17 receiving yards and 6 TDs(!!) to finish with 55 fantasy points.  

2021 DRAFT

For the second season in a row every NFL team had at least one player drafted...this season every team had at least two.  Five teams had duos drafted:  New Orleans, NY Giants, Chicago, Houston and the NY Jets.  The All Unwanteds should be strong this season.  The NFL team with the most players drafted was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 9 players picked!  (Apparently I’m a Bucs fan now as I accounted for three of those.)  The LA Rams had 8 players drafted, and Kansas City and San Francisco each had 7.  

• Wide receivers were the most popular position picked (49) followed by running backs (44).  
• For the most position picks, Young Guns led the way with 7 wide receivers picked, followed by Attack of Mahomes and Big Sack No TD’s who each picked 6 wide receivers.  Sprouts drafted the most running backs (6), and four teams picked 5.
• Three teams only drafted one quarterback. (Young Guns, sprouts and Attack of Mahomes).
• Three teams selected a backup defense. (Coors Light Drunk Guys, American BadAss and Sofa King American)
• Only one team drafted a backup kicker.  (Coors Light Drunk Guys)

YAHOO! PREDICTIONS

The Yahoo! bots compile a draft grade, season prediction and full write up for each team after the draft.  I’ve been tracking the results since 2018, and it would appear that really the only worthwhile pieces of data to come out of these are the trash talking comments:

“Entering the draft with the No. 1 overall pick, expectations were high for Big Sack No TDs. But those expectations faded instantly after they drafted…”

“Despite earning the No. 5 overall pick, Young Guns drafted a roster that may struggle to earn wins. Opponents could enjoy overwhelming them regularly, as this team is projected to finish 10th in Sacred Sundays.”

“CL Drunk Guys was handed a solid draft position, and they fumbled it away.”

“Selecting in the second half of the first round (No. 6 overall), Joe's Pats can attribute this mediocre performance to their late draft position.”

As far as the regular season predictions, in 2018, 2019 and 2020 the team predicted by Yahoo! to finish with the best record actually finished no better than 6th.  The team predicted to finish with the worst record finished 9th last year, 8th in 2019 and 1st in 2018.  Champions in 2018, 2019 and 2020 were ranked 4th, 4th and 5th, respectively.

Looking at playoff qualification predictions, the top six prediction teams have qualified for the playoffs 72.2% of the time across the last three seasons.  Yahoo! correctly predicted 4 playoff teams in 2018, 5 in 2019 and 4 in 2020.  

Here are the 2021 Yahoo! predictions and grades:

• Note 1: This is the first time a team has been predicted to have an undefeated record.
• Note 2: The Sacred Sundays record for the most points in a season is 1,312, yet Yahoo! has all teams smashing that record this year.
• Note 3: Yahoo! graded the CL Drunk Guys with the lowest grade of a C- in spite of the fact that all picks were autopicks.  Way to go Yahoo!

The 2021 season is ready to go!  Make sure you’ve got your roster set!!

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL?!?!?

Me after getting an A+ from Yahoo...

Attack of Mahomes = Champs!

What an unbelievable finish!  In the highest scoring championship game of all-time, we have a player post the most single-week points ever (55) and we have a 31-point comeback on Monday night… wow!  Down 90-120 going into Monday night, Attack of Mahomes had only Stefon Diggs left to play.  Diggs' best game up to that point was a 24-point performance back in Week 2, but he lit the Patriots defense on fire and went for 145 yards and 3 TD’s, finishing with 32 points and carrying Attack of Mahomes to the championship!  Tim also had 5 other players in double figures, finishing with a close 122-120 victory over sprouts.  Congratulations Timmy!! You are the 2020 Sacred Sundays Champion!!

This is Tim’s 2nd Championship (2009), and for Russ it is the 2nd time he has finished as Runner-up (2010).  In the matchup for 3rd/4th, Sofa King American got back to their winning ways and cleaned up with a 120-87 victory over Longshanks.  This is the 3rd time James has finished in 3rd place (most recently in 2017) and for Longshanks it marks the 3rd time I have finished in 4th place (most recently in 2018).

All these big scores this week and we haven’t even gotten to the Weekly High Score… riding TB12 and the Tampa Bucs for a total of 77 points, and claiming his second prize in as many weeks, big congratulations to Joe’s Pats!  Joe was able to post 123 points to take the final High Score Prize of the season.  He had huge games from Mike Evans (33 points) and Tom Brady (29 points), plus got 15 points from the Tampa Defense and 11 from his new favorite player, Darren Waller.  Well done sir!  Way to finish the season strong!

Just a few season highlights and other odds and ends to get to this week… Onward!

EVERYBODY NEEDS MONEY…THAT’S WHY THEY CALL IT MONEY

Here is the final prize money breakdown for this season:

1) Sofa King American – James = $325 (5 WHSP’s, 3rd Place)

2) sprouts – Russ = $325 (4 WHSP’s, 2nd Place)

3) Attack of Mahomes – Timmy = $275 (1 WHSP, Champion)

4) Longshanks – Jerry = $125 (2 WHSP’s, 4th Place)

5) Joe’s Pats – Joe = $100 (2 WHSP’s)

6) Vandelay Industries – Rob = $50 (1 WHSP)

7) American BadAss – Jason = $50 (1 WHSP)

I will reach out in a separate email to the winners to arrange payout.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS

Most points:  sprouts (Russ) – 1,630 points

Highest Single Week Score:  sprouts (Russ) Week 2 – 145

Best Utilization:  Sofa King American (James) – 89.9% (1,530 pts of a possible 1,701)

Largest Margin of Victory:  Week 12 - Sofa King American defeats American BadAss by 96.  (144-48)

Most Best Benches:  Young Guns (John) – 4.5 (Weeks 2(½) , 8, 9, 10 & 13)

Most Waiver Moves:  Attack of Mahomes (Timmy) – 44

LEGENDARY PERFORMANCE

Alvin Kamara had the greatest fantasy performance in Sacred Sundays history this week.  He amassed 155 yards rushing and 17 yards receiving to go along with an unheard of 6 rushing TD’s!  SIX!  This all added up to 55 points which beat the previous record by 1 point.

Doug Martin (Week 9-2012) and Jamaal Charles (Week 14-2013) are now tied for second highest score at 54 points, and only two other players have ever broken 50: Le’Veon Bell (50 pts, Week 14-2016) and Derrick Henry (50 pts, Week 14-2018).

JENS – YOU ARE ON THE CLOCK!

As always, the draft order for the 2021 season will be the reverse of standings this year.  Here is the draft order for 2021:

1) Jens – Big Sack No TDs

2) Shawn – Coors Light Drunk Guys

3) Jason – American BadAss

4) Rob – Vandelay Industries

5) John – Young Guns

6) Joe – Joe’s Pats

7) Jerry – Longshanks

8) James – Sofa King American

9) Russ – sprouts

10) Timmy – Attack of Mahomes

Also once again, each team can designate up to two players as keepers for next season.  Same rules apply:  These keepers will count as a draft pick for where they were drafted in 2020.  (A Keeper being re-kept will count as a 1st round pick.  Players who were not drafted in 2020 will count as a 15th round pick.)  I’ll send out a final roster sheet with draft values in the next couple days.  Keepers will be due one week prior to the 2021 draft.  Labor Day is on 9/6/2021, so we will target the draft date to be Sat, Sep. 4th.  Location TBD. ;-)

BEST BENCH

Two teams have made it through the 2020 season unscathed!  Vandelay Industries and Sofa King American both avoid the dubious distinction.  For Rob, he has not had a Best Bench since Week 5 of last season.  For James, it goes a ways further back.  Like five seasons ago.  It is hard to fathom but yes, James’ last Best Bench came in Week 8 of the 2015 season.  2015!  There have been 88 Best Bench recipients since then.  That sir, is some impressive team management!  Well done, MAJOR!!

The average Best Bench this season was 38.6 with the highest being 60 in Week 4 (Big Sack No TD's) and the lowest being 25 in Week 2 (tie between Joe's Pats & Young Guns).  The Best Bench for Week 16 came in right at the average, with a 40-point-improvement-possibility.  Needing a four player swap to get there, and for the second time this season, the final Best Bench of the season goes to... sprouts!  Here are the changes Russ needed to make:  B. Cooks for D. Hopkins +16, R. Gronkowski for M. Andrews +10, J. Smith-Schuster for J. Jefferson +7, and D. Montgomery for A. Jones +7.

Hard to believe another season has come and gone…  Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2021!