The Sanderson Gazette - 2017-12-05 - Goodbye, Allen
"Having three playing 0.00s would be the most Allen way to end a Blingaleague career." - Rob
Week Thirteen Recap
https://blingaleague.com/week/2017/13/
Allen def. Derrek, 80.97-80.28:
He only wound up with one playing 0.00 (Randall Cobb), as Emmanuel Sanders (1.47) and Demaryius Thomas (3.60) managed to get some points, but the bigger story here was Chris Boswell's 11.00, which ended with a last second field goal, propelling Allen to victory in his farewell game. The closest game in the history of this series (link) prevented D from jumping up to third place... but is that a good thing from his perspective?
Pat def. Rabbit, 107.79-73.71:
Pat made a statement in his final rivalry week tilt against Rabbit, with the Miami defense's 32.00 overcoming Paul Richardson's 1.07 and Matt Prater's 0.00. Rabbit's high scorer was Kirk Cousins, with only 13.15, as he lost his third straight game and missed the playoffs.
Babel def. Ed, 129.27-106.30:
Heading into Monday night, there was a chance Ed could get JuJu Smith-Schuster (2.27) to outscore Ben Roethlisberger (20.40) by five points to keep Babel out of the playoffs. But alas, it did not happen, and #PlayoffPat will have to wait another year. Tyreek Hill's 36.67 led all scorers in this one, and the Rams defense (21.00) almost fulfilled the prophecy.
Kevin def. Dave, 131.18-108.89:
The battle for the second bye did not disappoint, as it was our highest-scoring game of the week. Kevin won comfortably, though, as Alvin Kamara (26.80) and A.J. Green (22.27) had big weeks. Dave got 24.00 from Travis Kelce by 12:15, but only wound up 24.53 from him, total. Throw in the Kansas City defense's -7.00, and Dave fell to third place despite being #1 in expected wins. Kevin earned his second straight bye and his second straight ten-win season, joining only 2009-10 Rabbit and 2012-13 Matt in the latter club (link).
Pulley def. Rob, 137.90-75.26:
Pulley won the Clash of Hatred, snagged his fourth Blangums, and leapt to #1 in points on the year. #HateRob
Richie def. Schertz, 114.29-80.15:
These two guys both were crazy long shots to make the playoffs. Richie used that as motivation, apparently, with Josh McCown scoring 34.45 and Justin Tucker scoring 17.00. Schertz's team, however, gave up.
Matt def. Mike R., 110.55-64.62:
Matt returned to his dominant rivalry week ways, getting a surprising 20.93 from Jermaine Kearse. Alex Collins had 22.57 of Bernie's 64.62 points.
Final Standings
https://blingaleague.com/standings/
b-Pulley, 11-2, 1419.35
b-Kevin, 10-3, 1380.53
x-Dave, 8-5, 1417.90
x-Rob, 8-5, 1288.46
x-Derrek, 8-5, 1280.62
x-Babel, 6-7, 1355.51
e-Pat, 6-7, 1226.87
e-Richie, 6-7, 1184.27
e-Rabbit, 6-7, 1177.73
e-Schertz, 5-8, 1170.94
e-Matt, 5-8, 1128.33
e-Allen, 5-8, 1111.56
e-Ed, 4-9, 1246.22
e-Mike R., 3-10, 1011.86
b - clinched bye
x - clinched playoff berth
e - eliminated from playoff contention
Weekly Awards
Team Blangums: Pulley's 137.90 earned him his fourth Team Blangums of the year.
Slapped Heartbeat: Bernie's 64.62 earned him his fourth Slapped Heartbeat of the year.
Weekly MVP: Tyreek Hill's 36.67 was instrumental in Babel making the playoffs.
Dud of the Week: JuJu Smith-Schuster put up only 2.27 for Ed when a big week could have made #PlayoffPat a reality.
Start of the Week: Allen played Chris Boswell and his 11.00 over Mason Crosby and his 8.00 and won by less than a point. (Yes, Allen end the season with two kickers on his roster.)
Misplay of the Week: Derrek left Alex Smith's 40.30 on his bench in favor of Matt Ryan's 8.75.
Quarterfinals Preview
WE MISS ALLEN (Dave, 8-5, #3) vs. Keep Calm & GordOn (Babel, 6-7, #6):
Babel leads all-time series, 9-2 (link).
The last time these two met in the quarterfinals, we had the highest-scoring - and second-closest - postseason game of all time, with Babel winning 150.61-149.69. And for most of this season, these two have been among the top three or four teams in expected wins.
Dave likes to complain about injuries, but he's assembled a deep team, as he's set to play midseason acquisitions Antonio Brown (vs. BAL), Alshon Jeffery (@LAR), and either Mike Davis (@JAC), Ameer Abdullah (@TAM), or Kelvin Benjamin (vs. IND).
Babel's season was somewhat saved by Ben Roethlisberger (vs. BAL), but in order to pull the upset, he'll need Kareem Hunt (vs. OAK), Leonard Fournette (vs. SEA), and Melvin Gordon (vs. WAS) to play like they were eight weeks ago.
Pick: WE MISS ALLEN.
NO I MISS ALLEN (Rob, 8-5, #4) vs. D's Nuts (Derrek, 8-5, #5):
Rob leads all-time series, 8-4 (link).
These two teams were pretty equal all year. When all was said and done, they finished within 8 points and 0.1 expected wins of each other. And both were inconsistent over the second half of the season.
Rob only broke 100 once from week eight onward (his 141.39 Blangums outburst in week 11). D broke 100 thrice in that span, but failed to crack 90 in the other three weeks. Both had very disappointing rivalry weeks, but if either had won, they'd be playing the very dangerous Mark Babel right now, so maybe that's not abad thing.
Pick: D's Nuts.
Season Postmortems
Mike Romor, 3-10, 1011.86 points, 14th
3.2 expected wins (.250)
https://blingaleague.com/team/6/2017/
Bernie just completed the first season in league history with no 100-point games. He wound up with the fewest expected wins ever. This was not a season to remember.
Ed Gross, 4-9, 1246.22 points, 13th
6.5 expected wins, (.504)
https://blingaleague.com/team/1/2017/
Now that Babel has made the playoffs, I'm comfortable saying I was the unluckiest team this year. I joined Babel with three 100-point losses (link), and by points and expected wins, I was the best non-playoff team... yet I finished second to last.
Allen Clark, 5-8, 1111.56 points, 12th
4.5 expected wins (.345)
https://blingaleague.com/team/10/2017/
Allen helped to cause any and all of our week thirteen drama. Not only did he have a last-second comeback win against Derrek, but he had beaten all the teams vying for the sixth spot earlier in the year; three of his five wins came against Babel, Rabbit, and Pat.
https://blingaleague.com/team/10/
Overall, Allen leaves the Blingaleague on an unrusrpising down note. He didn't finish in ninth or better since 2012 and didn't make the playoffs since 2011. His final record is 57-73.
Matt Harrison, 5-8, 1128.33 points, 11th
4.8 expected wins (.371)
https://blingaleague.com/team/2/2017/
Matt was almost left for dead after an 0-3 start, but roared back to 3-3. He then lost his next three games, and was all but mathematically dead. He only cracked 100 points three times and failed to break 80 six times. Outside of 2008, when his first round pick got hurt during the first quarter of week one, this was his worst season ever.
Mike Schertz, 5-8, 1170.94, 10th
5.5 expected wins (.421)
https://blingaleague.com/team/15/2017/
Schertz won Team Blangums in week one and started 2-0. He then lost seven of his next eight and made a big trade for a keeper. There's not much else to say about his year, but at least he'll have a more sensible rivalry week game in 2018.
Nick "Rabbit" Warren, 6-7, 1177.73, 9th
5.7 expected wins (.435)
https://blingaleague.com/team/12/2017/
Rabbit's last two seasons are a lesson in how expected wins even out over time. In 2016, he was 1-4 after five weeks, but had an expected winning percentage of .647 (link). He ended 9-4 with 8.4 expected wins. This season, he was 6-4 through ten weeks, but had an expected winning percentage of .418 (link). He finished 6-7 with 5.7 expected wins. Looking at full seasons, Rabbit hasn't been particularly lucky or unlucky the last two years, but within the seasons, he's had some wild swings.
Richie Armour, 6-7, 1184.27, 8th
5.7 expected wins (.440)
https://blingaleague.com/team/14/2017/
Through week six, Richie had broken 100 only once. From week seven on, he broke 100 four times... but also failed to crack 70 the other three weeks. It was a season of ups and downs that included a win over our first place team and a loss to our last place team.
Pat Gawne, 6-7, 1226.87 points, 7th
6.4 expected wins (.489)
https://blingaleague.com/team/13/2017/
Pat might have finished over .500 last year, but I think this was the year he finally came into his own. Despite losing Aaron Rodgers midseason (and drafting him third overall), Pat made some shrewd moves and broke 100 in and won five of his final six games, and he notched his career best in expected wins by nearly a full game. His 1.48-point loss to Bernie in week seven looms large as the game that kept him from his first playoff berth ever.
Closing Thoughts
Good luck to all our playoff teams!
LiveCommish