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Another year in the books! And after 13 grueling weeks (seriously, is your lineup-setting finger as tired as mine?), we've whittled the 14 teams down to just 6.
Pretty fair outcomes re: points and wins. The top five scoring teams are the top five seeds (though not in the same order), and and the #6 seed, Spaulding, was the #7 scorer. The odd man out was Frightened Inmate, though he was just 7 points ahead.
Scoring matters, because unlikely the scheduling, it isn't random. Historically, the champions have had the following scoring ranks: #1, #5, #2, #4, #2, #1, #1, #2. I managed the top score this year, for the third straight year. Two years ago it led to a MoFo Bowl Victory, and last year, a first-round exit. So it sure doesn't guarantee anything, though in the utter chaos that is fantasy football in a given week, it's the best metric we have.
And what are we playing for? This thing of beauty:
Oooo, sparkly. On to the playoff teams!
I've got the first bye at 11-2, and Pete hung onto the second at 9-5, thanks to a big performance from Andrew Luck that propelled Spaulding to victory. Neither of us knows who we'll play, because we're using playoff reseeding. So the only thing we know for sure is that I won't be playing TONGO in the next round, and Pete won't be playing Spaulding. All other matchups are possible.
I head into the playoffs having won the last three weeks, with only a 129-point loss breaking up what otherwise would've been a 12-week streak. Pete heads into the bye having lost his last two (after winning the previous seven!), but more concerning are the totals: 78 and 93, respectively.
Though our settings force rosters to be fairly balanced, QBs are still pretty important, so QB matchups are one of the single-biggest factors in the playoffs. And that could be the difference here: Brees has been having a great year, particularly relative to the downturn many thought was coming, but he's also coming off worst came of the year (7 points). He hasn't played Tampa yet this year, but they're below-average against the QB. It's pretty clearly a pretty good matchup.
On the flip side, Andrew Luck has the opposite situation: he's coming off his his second-best total of the year (37+), but faces a very tough Houston pass defense.
TONGO has the edge at all the major positions, in a vacuum (hence his significantly higher point total this year) and I'd say his matchups are slightly better, too. His projection seems to be lower largely because of K and DEF, both of which can be particularly random.
Prediction: TONGO.
jiraffe's weakened a bit, likely losing A.J. Green for the year. But he'll be trotting Le'Veon Bell and Demaro Murray out at RB, which is one of the few duos you'd put up against Fabulous' Elliott and Booker, though it's an open question whether he'll slot Rawls in there, instead, in a classic risk-reward decision.
With Green, jiraffe would be an exceptionally scary team right now, and he looks tough even without him. He'll be a moderate favorite (to Yahoo, at least) once he slots Murray into his lineup. A lot's going to depend on whether or not guys like Murray, Elliot, and Bell have their usual good games, or one of their really great ones.
Prediction: jiraffe, though any one of those three RBs could win this single-handedly.
The second matchup doesn't have any early players involved. TONGO and Spaulding have Spencer Ware, Amari Cooper, and Tyreek Hill going Thursday.
Pretty fair outcomes re: points and wins. The top five scoring teams are the top five seeds (though not in the same order), and and the #6 seed, Spaulding, was the #7 scorer. The odd man out was Frightened Inmate, though he was just 7 points ahead.
Scoring matters, because unlikely the scheduling, it isn't random. Historically, the champions have had the following scoring ranks: #1, #5, #2, #4, #2, #1, #1, #2. I managed the top score this year, for the third straight year. Two years ago it led to a MoFo Bowl Victory, and last year, a first-round exit. So it sure doesn't guarantee anything, though in the utter chaos that is fantasy football in a given week, it's the best metric we have.
And what are we playing for? This thing of beauty:
Oooo, sparkly. On to the playoff teams!
The Byes
I've got the first bye at 11-2, and Pete hung onto the second at 9-5, thanks to a big performance from Andrew Luck that propelled Spaulding to victory. Neither of us knows who we'll play, because we're using playoff reseeding. So the only thing we know for sure is that I won't be playing TONGO in the next round, and Pete won't be playing Spaulding. All other matchups are possible.
I head into the playoffs having won the last three weeks, with only a 129-point loss breaking up what otherwise would've been a 12-week streak. Pete heads into the bye having lost his last two (after winning the previous seven!), but more concerning are the totals: 78 and 93, respectively.
#3. PlasticPads&IronMen (8-5, TONGO) vs. #6. Censored Clowns (7-6, Spaulding)
Though our settings force rosters to be fairly balanced, QBs are still pretty important, so QB matchups are one of the single-biggest factors in the playoffs. And that could be the difference here: Brees has been having a great year, particularly relative to the downturn many thought was coming, but he's also coming off worst came of the year (7 points). He hasn't played Tampa yet this year, but they're below-average against the QB. It's pretty clearly a pretty good matchup.
On the flip side, Andrew Luck has the opposite situation: he's coming off his his second-best total of the year (37+), but faces a very tough Houston pass defense.
TONGO has the edge at all the major positions, in a vacuum (hence his significantly higher point total this year) and I'd say his matchups are slightly better, too. His projection seems to be lower largely because of K and DEF, both of which can be particularly random.
Prediction: TONGO.
#4. The Empire (8-5, Fabulous) vs. #5. Los Pollos Hermanos (7-6, jiraffejustin)
jiraffe's weakened a bit, likely losing A.J. Green for the year. But he'll be trotting Le'Veon Bell and Demaro Murray out at RB, which is one of the few duos you'd put up against Fabulous' Elliott and Booker, though it's an open question whether he'll slot Rawls in there, instead, in a classic risk-reward decision.
With Green, jiraffe would be an exceptionally scary team right now, and he looks tough even without him. He'll be a moderate favorite (to Yahoo, at least) once he slots Murray into his lineup. A lot's going to depend on whether or not guys like Murray, Elliot, and Bell have their usual good games, or one of their really great ones.
Prediction: jiraffe, though any one of those three RBs could win this single-handedly.
The second matchup doesn't have any early players involved. TONGO and Spaulding have Spencer Ware, Amari Cooper, and Tyreek Hill going Thursday.
Oh damn its awful but since the score was so low, I weirdly feel less pain from it. Like it was such a complete meltdown to where it never seemed like a contest. Psychologists have a word for it, the latin term for it is LOSER 
