So, here we are again. Eight of us are on the outside looking in at the glorious playoffs. No, I'm not bitter. What? That's ridiculous. WHY ARE HUMAN BODIES SO FRAIL? Excuse me while I go concuss myself on a filing cabinet.
The Top Two
The two teams with the Byes won them going away, having clinched them before the final week. And what's more, they were the #1 and #2 scoring teams. That last happened in 2010 (and came within 2 points of happening in 2008).
Not only that, but they were #1 and #2 by a large margin. Dig this, man: the gap between the #2 scoring team and the #3 scoring team was 166 points. The gap between that #3 scoring team and the lowest scoring team in the league was 178 points. Yeah, read that again.
jiraffe's Hot Jamaales might have had the best regular season in league history, putting up an 11-2 record, which tied the mark for most wins and set the mark for best winning percentage (Swedish Chef went 11-3 our first season, when we had 12 teams and played 14 games). As is always the case with a great season, there was a mix of great numbers and great timing: he had the highest Points For in the league, but also the lowest Points Against, which is pretty incredible. Looking at the the individual matchups, you can see how well-timed the totals were: he played TONGO's #2 seed in week 9 and won a barnburner 138-130, and he won in week 11 despite putting up just 89 points.
TONGO made some early season moves (and he owes me a big fat thank you for convincing him not to drop Le'Veon Bell!), trading for Drew Brees and later Adrian Peterson, though he also gave away Knowson Moreno back when nobody was sure if he was for real. Weirdly, both the Brees and AP trades still look pretty reasonable in both directions: he gave up guys like Stafford and Jimmy Graham for them, so he parted with some serious value. He also survived having used the #4 overall pick on Doug Martin. The winning formula, at least this time, appears to have been grabbing a couple of studs that live up to their reputation and plugging the rest of the lineup here and there.
Both teams, however, are beatable. Not just because this is fantasy football, where the Gods fickley (is that a word? Whatever) laugh at your best-laid plans. But more specifically, because they do have some vulnerabilities. The Hot Jamaales are relying on Andrew Luck, who's faded down the stretch, and TONGO's PlasticPads&IronMen went 3-4 after their 6-0 start, putting up fairly low totals in 2 of the last 3 weeks.
Week 14
Two matchups:
Beast Mode (8-5) vs. Vick dont fail me no (7-6)
Beast Mode is pretty much the Seattle Seahawks: 5 of their 9 starters come from Rainy McFogTown. Of course, Seattle is one of just a few teams where this is a potentially viable strategy, even though one suspects it'd have been employed even if they weren't quite so good. But hey, you say: clearly it worked! Well, technically, but don't let the record fool you: Beast Mode actually put up the 8th-highest score in the league, winning weeks 3 and 5 by a combined 4 points.
Vick dont fail me no is, amusingly, had Vick fail them, but got into the playoffs anyway thanks in large part to trading for Moreno early in the year and getting Gronkowski back at midseason, making it pretty hard to gauge their actual quality. They're trotting a couple of really iffy guys out there, but some genuinely dangerous ones, too. I think they probably advance here, but you never know when a huge game from Seattle is going to single-handedly win the week for Beast Mode.
Peyton's (sic) of Doom (7-6) vs. Mud Dogs (7-6)
Pretty cool that seanc's Mud Dogs made the playoffs, because that means both newbie owners (along with jiraffe) did. Nice. And hey, another fantasy-team-that's-pretty-much-just-an-NFL-team team, with Dionne's squad running 4-5 Broncos out most weeks.
Problem is, he's not really the Broncos so much as he's the Broncos' passing game, and they play the Titans this week, who've got a heck of a pass defense. And obviously having 2 of their 3 receivers (and probably not their best) limits his upside most of the time. And the Mud Dogs are rounding into form: Stevie Johnson's back, Josh Gordon is exploding, and Matthew Stafford has been crazily reliable. I think sean moves onto the semifinals here.
The Top Two
The two teams with the Byes won them going away, having clinched them before the final week. And what's more, they were the #1 and #2 scoring teams. That last happened in 2010 (and came within 2 points of happening in 2008).
Not only that, but they were #1 and #2 by a large margin. Dig this, man: the gap between the #2 scoring team and the #3 scoring team was 166 points. The gap between that #3 scoring team and the lowest scoring team in the league was 178 points. Yeah, read that again.
jiraffe's Hot Jamaales might have had the best regular season in league history, putting up an 11-2 record, which tied the mark for most wins and set the mark for best winning percentage (Swedish Chef went 11-3 our first season, when we had 12 teams and played 14 games). As is always the case with a great season, there was a mix of great numbers and great timing: he had the highest Points For in the league, but also the lowest Points Against, which is pretty incredible. Looking at the the individual matchups, you can see how well-timed the totals were: he played TONGO's #2 seed in week 9 and won a barnburner 138-130, and he won in week 11 despite putting up just 89 points.
TONGO made some early season moves (and he owes me a big fat thank you for convincing him not to drop Le'Veon Bell!), trading for Drew Brees and later Adrian Peterson, though he also gave away Knowson Moreno back when nobody was sure if he was for real. Weirdly, both the Brees and AP trades still look pretty reasonable in both directions: he gave up guys like Stafford and Jimmy Graham for them, so he parted with some serious value. He also survived having used the #4 overall pick on Doug Martin. The winning formula, at least this time, appears to have been grabbing a couple of studs that live up to their reputation and plugging the rest of the lineup here and there.
Both teams, however, are beatable. Not just because this is fantasy football, where the Gods fickley (is that a word? Whatever) laugh at your best-laid plans. But more specifically, because they do have some vulnerabilities. The Hot Jamaales are relying on Andrew Luck, who's faded down the stretch, and TONGO's PlasticPads&IronMen went 3-4 after their 6-0 start, putting up fairly low totals in 2 of the last 3 weeks.
Week 14
Two matchups:
Beast Mode (8-5) vs. Vick dont fail me no (7-6)
Beast Mode is pretty much the Seattle Seahawks: 5 of their 9 starters come from Rainy McFogTown. Of course, Seattle is one of just a few teams where this is a potentially viable strategy, even though one suspects it'd have been employed even if they weren't quite so good. But hey, you say: clearly it worked! Well, technically, but don't let the record fool you: Beast Mode actually put up the 8th-highest score in the league, winning weeks 3 and 5 by a combined 4 points.
Vick dont fail me no is, amusingly, had Vick fail them, but got into the playoffs anyway thanks in large part to trading for Moreno early in the year and getting Gronkowski back at midseason, making it pretty hard to gauge their actual quality. They're trotting a couple of really iffy guys out there, but some genuinely dangerous ones, too. I think they probably advance here, but you never know when a huge game from Seattle is going to single-handedly win the week for Beast Mode.
Peyton's (sic) of Doom (7-6) vs. Mud Dogs (7-6)
Pretty cool that seanc's Mud Dogs made the playoffs, because that means both newbie owners (along with jiraffe) did. Nice. And hey, another fantasy-team-that's-pretty-much-just-an-NFL-team team, with Dionne's squad running 4-5 Broncos out most weeks.
Problem is, he's not really the Broncos so much as he's the Broncos' passing game, and they play the Titans this week, who've got a heck of a pass defense. And obviously having 2 of their 3 receivers (and probably not their best) limits his upside most of the time. And the Mud Dogs are rounding into form: Stevie Johnson's back, Josh Gordon is exploding, and Matthew Stafford has been crazily reliable. I think sean moves onto the semifinals here.