MID-TERMS!!

Eight weeks in and we have five teams tied for the best record!  Yes, five!  Looking back and the only season which comes close to this was 2022 when there were four teams tied at the top with a 5-3 record.  So we are in some uncharted parity territory!  Also, eight weeks in and we’ve had 7 different teams snag a high score (or at least half of one).  That ties the 2021 and 2016 seasons for the most teams to be on top thus far.  Six more weeks of regular season games to go, so everything is still way up in the air.

The big congrats this week go out to Joe’s Pats who ran away with the high score, racking up 134 which is the highest single week score we’ve had this season!  Joe had huge games from his runningbacks, with Jonathan Taylor scoring 38 and Breece Hall tallying 30, plus his QB, Drake Maye, rang up 26.  That’s 94 points from just three players, which would have beaten six other teams right there.  This is Joe’s first Weekly High Score since Week 3 of last season.  Great work sir!

Alright, we’ve got a lot to get to this week, with two Best Benches and of course MID TERMS!  Let’s do this!

BIG TIME

• Jonathan Taylor, RB – Joe’s Pats – 38 pts – Absolutely massive season for Taylor, as he has now scored 14 touchdowns on the year.  Week 8 was the third time this season where he had 3 TD’s in a single game!  He added 153 yards rushing and 21 yards receiving as well.  He leads all fantasy scorers with 192 points, four points ahead of Patrick “Points Machine” Mahomes.  (In terms of overall points, Taylor is the only non-QB in the top 10.  Impressive!)
• James Cook III, RB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 36 pts – Cook gained 216 yards on just 19 carries (11.4 yard average), plus added 2 TD’s.   
• Saquon Barkley, RB – Big Sack No TD’s – 32 pts – Look at all these runningbacks putting up these big numbers!  What is this 2015?  After a couple low scoring weeks (5 pts and 4 pts), ‘Quon ran all over his former team, racking up 150 yards rushing and 24 yards receiving, plus added both a rushing and receiving TD.
• Jordan Love, QB – sprouts – 31 pts – Love had his best game of the season so far in a dominating win over the Steelers.  He finished with 360 yards and 3 TD’s, while completing 78.3% of his passes.  He did end up have -1 yards rushing, but that was only due to kneel down at the end of the game.  
• Breece Hall, RB – Joe’s Pats – 30 pts – Another 30-point-scoring runningback! How about that?! Hall had two rushing TD’s, plus threw a pass for a score!  

COME ON MAN

• Eddy Pineiro, K – American BadAss – 1 pt – Pineiro came in to this week averaging 15.3 points per game over the last three games.  But the Texans held the 49ers to just 15 points, and all Eddy got was one extra point.
• Quentin Johnston, WR – Scottish Rebels – 0 pts – QJ exceeded 70 receiving yards in each of the first four weeks this season while scoring 4 TD’s, but in his last 3 games he has just 70 yards total. TO-TAL.  He wasn’t even targeted this week, finishing with a big ol’ nothing burger.
• Jordan Mason, RB – J LUV U LONG TIME – 0 pts – The Vikings had Aaron Jones return from injury which basically relegated Mason back to a limited role.  He had just 4 carries for all of 3 yards.  Yuck.
• Jake Ferguson, TE – Worst to 1st – 0 pts – As part of the Cowboys goal to make every team they play look like Superbowl contenders, Ferguson played his part perfectly.  He was targeted only once, and it fell incomplete.

MID-TERM GRADES

We’ve reached the midpoint of the season, so it is time to hand out midterms!  Midterms grades have been given out since 2017, and the same grading criterion has been used since 2019.  Teams are graded across eight different categories, with points awarded for how each ranks in each category.  A top ranking in a category earns 10 points, and a bottom ranking earns 1 point. (Three categories are scored at half this rate… more details below).  Ties in ranking earn a split amount of points across the tied teams.

The categories each team is ranked on are:

• Overall Record: This season there are five teams tied for the best record at 5-3, with each of those teams earning 8 points.
• Points For:  sprouts has scored the most points this season with 838, while J LUV U LONG TIME has only scored 660.
• Points Against:  (Max points = 5).  J LUV U LONG TIME has had the most points scored against them this year, with 769, while sprouts has had the least with only 620.
• High Scores: sprouts is the only team with multiple Weekly High Scores this season (3), four teams have snagged one, and Wyld Ass Monkeys and NASCAR Café Honey Mustard split one.
• Best Bench: (Max points = 5).  Fewer Best Benches earns more points, and this season there are five teams who have yet to snag a Best Bench.  J LUV U LONG TIME leads with the most so far, 3.
• Waivers:  (Max points = 5).  Unlucky Irish and NASCAR Café Honey Mustard are tied for the most waiver claims with 17, while J LUV U LONG TIME has the fewest with only 4.  
• Keepers:  The one change this season is this category is based on ‘Keeper Value’, not just the points scored.  ‘Keeper Value’ factors in the round used for the keeper, thus a later round keeper is more valuable than an earlier round keeper if both have scored the same amount of points so far.  Joe’s Pats is dominating with a keeper value of 375, well ahead of NASCAR Café Honey Mustard in second place with 254.
• Utilization:  This awards the most points to the team who has left the fewest points on the bench.  Wyld Ass Monkeys lead the way with a 91.4% utilization rate, with American BadAss close behind at 91.3%.  NASCAR Café Honey Mustard has the lowest utilization rate so far at 81.7%.

As always, midterm grades are doled out on a strict curve, with 2 A’s, 2 B’s, 2 C’s, 2 D’s and 2 F’s.  It’s all scientific…there are no gut feelings.  Now, without further ado, here are the 2025 Midterm grades:

The last two seasons, the team who received the A+ midterm grade went on to win the Championship (my Rebels last season and Sofa King Great in 2023).  In 2022, Joe’s Pats received the A+ and finished 2nd, while Luck of the Irish received a “D” and won the championship.  So top graded teams do tend to finish well, but it is hardly a set conclusion.  Still a lot of football left to be played!

CONTRANYMS

English is such an odd language, that we have words which can mean one thing, and mean the exact opposite.  These are called contranyms.  Some examples:

-Dust: To remove dust or to add fine particles (e.g. powdered sugar).

-Garnish: To add as a decoration or to take away (as in a deduction from a paycheck).

-Oversight: Supervision or failure to notice something.

-Sanction: To approve or to penalize.

-Seed: To sow seeds or to remove seeds.

-Wind up: To end or to start up.

History dodged

BEST BENCH(es)

The highest total on a Best Bench was in Week 2, when Joe’s Pats tallied a solid 50-point-improvement possibility.  Basically if Joe is gonna take the crown, he likes to go big!  Thus last week, claiming his 2nd Best Bench and the 2nd highest total so far, the Week 7 Best Bench goes to… Joe’s Pats!  Joe could have improved by 48 points this time, and needed a half roster swap to get there:  C. Olave for N. Collins +19, D. Adams for D. London +17, R. Stevenson for B. Hall +10 and Houston for LA Rams +2.

This week there were not nearly as many points on benches, plus three teams had optimal line ups.  But with a 24-point-improvement possibility, the Week 8 Best Bench goes to… sprouts!  Russ needed only two roster swaps:  C. Brown for C. McCaffrey +16 and J. Love for B. Nix +8.  This was the 2nd lowest Best Bench total of the season, and is Russ’ first crown since Week 16 last season.

Okay just four teams on byes for Week 9, so get those waiver claims in and get your rosters ready!

Sprouts dominates again!

Welcome to the Year of the Sprouts!  In another impressive showing, Russ’ sprouts finished as top dog for the 3rd time this season with a solid 124 point Week 6 performance!  Russ seems to dominate on the even number weeks, as he has now snagged the Weekly High Score in Weeks 2, 4 & 6.  (Looking ahead to Week 8, and he’ll be playing against American BadAss, so good luck with all that bro. Ha!)  This week sprouts’ top performers were Josh Jacobs (26 pts), Jaxon Smith-Njigba (25 pts), Cameron Dicker (17 pts), Denver Def (17 pts) and Christian McCaffrey (16 pts).  The 124 points posted was also the highest point total we’ve seen this season!  On the week’s where Russ has been tops, he is averaging 121 points, and in the odd number weeks he’s averaging 85.  So a bit of a roller-coaster ride going on.  But nice work once again senor!

In other games around the league, the winless are no more as Unlucky Irish pummeled my hapless Rebels 86-63 to move to a 1-5 record.  In the South Division, three teams are tied for best record at 4-2, Worst to 1st, Joe’s Pats and Big Sack No TD’s.  In the North Division, American BadAss sports the league’s best record at 5-1 after a convincing 114-73 victory over J LUV U LONG TIME.  Interestingly, sprouts leads everyone in scoring by a big margin (618 points scored versus 550 for next closest), but only has a 3-3 record.  

Injuries are really starting to mount up as well, as we see big name players like Lamar Jackson, Kyler Murray, Marvin Harrison Jr., Mike Evans, CeeDee Lamb, Bucky Irving, Chuba Hubbard, Brock Bowers, and others not in action.  You can tell there have been a lot of injuries, because there have already been 42 waiver claims processed so far this season, along with 35 free agent pick-ups!  That’s over half the number of players drafted at the start of the year… insane!

Just a quick update this week, but no week is complete without a Best Bench…

BEST BENCH

There were not a lot of points on benches this week, as the league average was just 10.8.  Wyld Ass Monkeys even had an optimal line up!  But, with a 21-point-improvement-possibility, the Week 6 Best Bench goes to… my Scottish Rebels!

Shawn avoided setting the four-week-in-a-row record by only having 10 points on his bench this week.  For me, it is my first Best Bench since Week 6 last season.  I needed only two roster moves to get there… D. Swift for T. Etienne Jr +18 and T. Lawrence for J. Allen +3.  My Rebels had the longest streak without a Best Bench, and now that record shifts to the Wyld Ass Monkeys who last had a one in Week 7 last year.  We’ll see how long Rob can hang on.

Get those waivers in and get ready for Week 7!  Mid-terms are only two weeks away!!

  

American BadAss Takes Week 5!

The last two weeks have been crazy!  In both weeks, four of the games were single digit victories and the fifth game was an absolute blow out.  In Week 4, the first four games were decided by: 7 points, 5 points, 4 points and 4 points, while the last game was a 72 point domination!  This week, the first four games were decided by: 8 points, 5 points 1 point and 1 point, and the last game by a 41 point difference!   

Last week’s big congrats go to Russ’ sprouts who were on the winning side of the 72 point victory, besting not only his opponent (Wyld Ass Monkeys) but also everyone else in the league.  Russ had big performances from Josh Jacobs (27 points), Bo Nix (25 points), Amon-Ra St. Brown (19 points) and Christian McCaffrey (19 points).  (The 72 point victory tied for the 12th largest margin of victory in league history).  Russ also became the first team to snag two Weekly High Score prizes this season!  Nice work sir!

This week’s big congrats go to Jason’s American BadAss who pulled out a 1-point victory over Wyld Ass Monkeys 98-97.  (Rob seems to be bringing out the best of his opponents, having played the top scorer for the last two weeks.)  Jason got there courtesy of a big game from Baker Mayfield (29 points) and having five of his other players score in double digits.  Nice work bro!  This is Jason’s first Weekly High Score Prize this season, and his first since Week 16 last season.

Week 4 saw the last of the undefeated teams go down, as Big Sack No TD’s lost in a nail biter to American BadAss.  And unfortunately there is still one winless team, Unlucky Irish, as John has lost two close ones the last two weeks, losing by just 4 points in Week 4 and 8 points in Week 5.  There’s still time to turn it around, as we still have nine weeks of the regular season to go!

Now since we are five weeks into the season, it is time for my Way Too Early Playoff Predictions!  Plus one team has been absolutely DOMINATING the Best Bench.  So let’s get to this!

WAY TOO EARLY PLAYOFF PREDICTIONS

Last season 5 of the 6 teams I predicted to qualify for the playoffs made it in, with only Wyld Ass Monkeys not coming through.  Luck of the Irish made it in, even though my prediction model had them finishing 9th.  Looking back through the years, and only twice have I been perfect in my predictions, most recently in 2020.  The worst I’ve done was in 2023 when I only got 3 of 6 picked correctly.  I mean, I could probably randomly draw names out of a hat and do better than 3 out of 6.  In fact, I’ll do that this year along with my normal picks and see if all my analysis actually does any better than just random draws.

In determining playoff qualifying picks, there are several categories being considered: Overall Record, Points Scored Rank, Remaining Schedule Difficulty, and Utilization Rate.

Among these categories, there are two sure bets: the team who has scored the most points through the first five weeks has qualified for the playoffs every time, and the second highest scoring team has qualified 88.9% of the time.  With 494 points scored, sprouts leads all teams in scoring and are thus my first pick to make the playoffs.  Not too far behind is Worst to 1st who has scored 475 points thus far, and is my second pick to make the playoffs.  (Those two teams are also ranked #1 and #2 in Utilization Rate so far this season, which also bodes well for making it in.)

The next team I’m picking to make it in to the playoffs is American BadAss, as they are currently tied for the best record in the league (which qualifies 80% of the time), plus are the 4th highest scoring team and rank #3 in Utilization.

The fourth team I’m picking is my Scottish Rebels, for two reasons.  1) I currently have the easiest remaining schedule for the regular season, and 2) I’m currently the 3rd highest scoring team.  But recent performances from my team, plus injuries have me concerned to say the least.

The fifth team I’m picking to make it is, Mr. What Do You Know?! himself, Jens’ Big Sack No TD’s!  Jens is tied for the best record in the league and is tied for 4th in points scored.  He does have the 8th hardest remaining schedule, and is 6th in Utilization, so it could still be a tough road.

The final team I’m picking is NASCAR Café Honey Mustard.  This was a very close pick between several teams, but Timmy gets the nod due to having the 2nd easiest remaining schedule, and bearing the name of the greatest condiment ever created.

So those are my six picks for this season:  sprouts, Worst to 1st, American BadAss, Scottish Rebels, Big Sack No TD’s and NASCAR Café Honey Mustard.  If I picked your team, go out there and make me proud!  If I didn’t, go out there and prove me wrong!  

Now for the random picks out of a hat… in no particular order, they are:

    Worst to 1st (James)

    NASCAR Café Honey Mustard (Timmy)

    Joe’s Pats (Joe)

    sprouts (Russ)

    American BadAss (Jason)

    J LUV U LONG TIME (Shawn)

We’ll see if my deep analysis or random chance does a better job picking.

ESOTERIC JOKE OF THE WEEK

6:30 is the best time on a clock.

Hands down.

ALL UNWANTEDS

After the hot start to the season, the All Unwanteds have really cooled off.  In Week 4, they had a decent showing putting up a total of 90 points, but that would have only defeated three teams in the league, so it goes down as a loss.  

Here is their line-up for this week:

Again, a decent showing, but zeroes from Trey Benson and Zach Ertz did not help the cause.  Also, the AU’s will be going with Slye as their kicker for the remainder of the season after Spencer Shrader got injured.  Overall for Week 5 they would have beaten only 4 teams in the league, so this goes down as another loss, making their record 2-3 for the season.

BEST BENCH(es)

Before we get into the Best Bench(es), just wanted to point out that we have had only 1 Optimal Line-up so far this season, which was American BadAss in Week 4.  The 97 points ABA posted could not have been improved upon with any roster changes.  Last year through the first 5 weeks there had been 2 Optimal Line-ups and we finished the year with it being accomplished 11 times.

On the other end of the spectrum, the team with the most points on the bench is making my job really easy because I've only have to write one name for a while.  With an unbelievable third week in a row, the Week 5 Best Bench goes to… J LUV U LONG TIME!

This week Shawn could have improved by 30 points with three roster moves:  C. Ridley for J. Jeudy +12, D. Montgomery for J. Cook +12 and J. Fields for J. Hurts +6.  Last week Shawn could have improved by +21 points with three roster moves: D. Goedert for TJ Hockenson +12, J. Fields for J. Hurts +8 and J. Jeudy for C. Ridley +1.  Since 2019, there has only been one other time where a team has snagged 3 Best Benches in a row, so we are in rarified air.  Four in a row would be an all-time record!

Get your rosters set and get ready for Week 6!!

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?!?!?!