The Sanderson Gazette - 2020-12-10 - Tiebroke

For the first time in Blingaleague history, we had to use total points as a tiebreaker for first place. And it was between five teams!

Week 13 Recap

Pulley def. Rob, 128.09-80.45:

Pulley broke his six game losing streak (and a two game losing streak to Rob) with a big blowout win in the Clash of Hatred. The MondoSquad was quite balanced, with four twenty point scorers (Aaron Rodgers (25.45); Marvin Jones, Jr. (21.47); Aaron Jones (21.40); and T.Y. Hilton (20.67)). Rob's best was only 17.47 from Nick Chubb.

Matt def. Mike R., 119.41-109.39:

Matt won his fourth straight over Mike, all by less than 11 points. Jared Goff (27.15) led the way for the Hammers, who got at least 8.80 (Dallas Goedert) from all their offensive players. The Bullies were paced by Philip Rivers (20.55) and recent acquisitions Brandon Aiyuk (18.67) and James Robinson (17.80), but it wasn't enough to pull off the upset.

Kevin def. Dave, 158.16-85.95:

Darren Waller (38.67) and Josh Allen (33.35) had monster weeks and Davante Adams (28.13) added his usual big game as Kevin finished the season in first place overall. Dave finished his season with a respectable - if not good - score, mainly due to last week's dud, Derek Carr (34.55).

Babel def. Ed, 134.45-87.92:

Babel did all he could to get a bye and Team Blangums behind Travis Kelce (24.13), Cam Newton (23.75), and Tim Patrick (17.87), but fell just short of both. Ed got a big game from Ryan Tannehill (29.95) and a nice recovery game from Alvin Kamara (16.00), but Hunter Henry (0.67) and Benny Snell, Jr. (1.17) made sure he entered the offseason on a down note.

Derrek def. Rabbit, 111.49-84.25:

Derrek cruised to his fourth straight playoff berth thanks to Kirk Cousins (22.45) and Justin Jefferson (22.33). Rabbit put up a dud, with no one above 17.15 (Kyler Murray) and James White (0.13) only contributing a single receiving yard.

Richie def. Scott, 87.42-52.50:

Scott blew a great opportunity to make the playoffs, instead completely shitting the bed. Patrick Mahomes II (22.00) did fine, but everyone else scored in the single digits as he put up his worst score of the year. Richie followed up his fantastic week 12 with an unimpressive total, as only Ben Roethlisberger (21.25) broke the twenty point barrier.

Pat def. Schertz, 98.72-81.92:

Rob's loss meant Schertz had virtually no chance at making the playoffs, but he made sure by putting together a week where his kicker (Harrison Butker (17.00)) was his second highest scorer. Pat got big games from Corey Davis (30.27) and David Montgomery (24.40) to end his season with good vibes.

Standings

  1. Kevin, 8-5, 1,432.26 (b)
  2. Matt, 8-5, 1,357.11 (b)
  3. Babel, 8-5, 1,354.46 (x)
  4. Pulley, 8-5, 1,352.84 (x)
  5. Derrek, 8-5, 1,314.00 (x)
  6. Rob, 7-6, 1,437.41 (x)
  7. Richie, 7-6, 1,325.02
  8. Scott, 7-6, 1,236.08
  9. Schertz, 6-7, 1,376.56
  10. Rabbit, 6-7, 1,295.68
  11. Mike R., 6-7, 1,292.62
  12. Pat, 5-8, 1,158.90
  13. Ed, 4-9, 1,351.70
  14. Dave, 3-10, 979.04

Blingalytics Ratings

  1. Kevin, 589
  2. Schertz, 585
  3. Rob, 569
  4. Matt, 556
  5. Ed, 552
  6. Pulley, 552
  7. Babel, 551
  8. Derrek, 540
  9. Mike R., 509
  10. Richie, 494
  11. Rabbit, 470
  12. Scott, 457
  13. Pat, 348
  14. Dave, 229

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums:

With little fanfare in the Blingachat, Kevin put up a score (158.16) just barely outside of the top 1% of all-time.

Slapped Heartbeat:

Scott's 52.50 isn't nearly as bad as Dave's futility from week 12, but it is in the bottom 2% of scores ever.

Weekly MVP:

Darren Waller went off for Kev to the tune of 38.67 points.

Dud of the Week:

Pat did win, but his defense (Tennessee) scored -5.00.

Start of the Week:

Matt went with Keke Coutee (18.80) over Jakobi Meyers (2.00), which turned a loss into a win.

Misplay of the Week:

Mike R. went with Raheem Mostert (4.33) and/or DeVante Parker (4.67) over Cole Beasley (23.33), which turned a win into a loss.

Pickup of the Week:

Pulley picked up T.Y. Hilton and got 20.67 points.

Season Postmortems

Dave Fultz, 3-10 (0.231), 979.04 points, 14th, 2.98 expected wins

Dave appears all over the Top Seasons page, and not in a good way. He broke the records for fewest points and fewest expected wins. He became the first team to score less than 30 points in a single game. On the bright side, he made a better trade for keepers than last year.

Ed Gross, 4-9 (0.308), 1,351.70 points, 13th, 7.18 expected wins

After five weeks, Ed's 0-5 team had more points and expected wins than Pulley's 5-0 team. He fell to 1-6 despite scoring 106.88 or better in six of those seven weeks. From week 8 on, he didn't break 100, but somehow went 3-3. All-in-all, Ed had a very odd year. A.J. Brown gives him an excellent keeper heading into 2021.

Pat Gawne, 5-8 (0.385), 1,158.90 points, 12th, 4.52 expected wins

Pat started 3-1 and looked like he could be a true contender. But he lost his next four games and never really seemed relevant after that. Justin Herbert was a great pickup and could be a very valuable keeper, but after that, there are a bunch of question marks heading into 2021.

Mike Romor, 6-7 (0.462), 1,292.62 points, 11th, 6.61 expected wins

The Bullies changed their name to Bernie's Urgent Care with good reason. At various points in the season, Mike was without Kenny Golladay; Mike Evans; D.J. Chark, Jr.; Julio Jones; Nick Chubb; Chris Carson; George Kittle; Gardner Minshew II; Zack Moss; Carlos Hyde; Drew Brees; Matt Breida; Brandon Aiyuk; Phillip Lindsay; and Mason Crosby. He stayed consistent, though; the standard deviation of his scores was just 13.61, the 7th lowest of all time. Mike looks poised to enter 2021 in great shape, though, as he nabbed Aiyuk and James Robinson via trades after it became clear his playoff hopes were over.

Nick "Rabbit" Warren, 6-7 (0.462), 1,295.68 points, 10th, 6.12 expected wins

Rabs started 0-3, and that was just too much to overcome. Although he never had his heartbeat slapped, he had more sub-90 games (6) than he's had since 2008 (7). It all added up to a very middling season. In terms of Rabbit's future, Kyler Murray should be valuable, and J.K. Dobbins emerging as the top back in Baltimore is encouraging. Joe Mixon.

Mike Schertz, 6-7 (0.462), 1,376.56 points, 9th, 7.60 expected wins

Schertz's record fell behind his expected wins all year, mainly because he failed to notch any wins when he scored below 100 (the only Blingaleaguer to suffer that fate in 2020). He saved his worst score for last, closing the door on some fairly realistic playoff hopes. Stefon Diggs outplayed his draft position and looks like a good keeper for 2021.

Scott Beitzel, 7-6 (0.538), 1,236.08 points, 8th, 5.94 expected wins

After week 9, Scott was 6-3, two full games up on 7th place, and poised to make the playoffs for the first time. But he failed to crack 90 points from there on out, putting up an embarrassing 52.50 in a win-and-in situation in week 13. He can't keep Patrick Mahomes II again, so he'll have to cobble together a less fun set of keepers, likely including Tee Higgins.

Richie Armour, 7-6 (0.538), 1,325.02 points, 7th, 6.42 expected wins

Richie was 4-0. A weak 4-0, but still 4-0. In week 4, he lost Austin Ekeler. Then he lost six straight. He finished strong, and while he can't carry that into 2021, he can carry team namesake D.K. Metcalf for another year. That's something just about everyone should be jealous of.

Quarterfinals Preview

#4 Pullman's MondoSquad (Pulley, 8-5) vs. #5 D's Nuts (Derrek, 8-5):

Pulley leads all-time series, 9-7.

We'll lead off with a rematch of one of last year's quarterfinals.

Pulley missed a bye by less than five points, and instead found himself all the way down in 4th place. He shouldn't be too bad, matchup-wise; his Packers (Aaron Rodgers, Aaron Jones, the defense, and possibly Allen Lazard) are all @DET. Justin Tucker (@CLE) runs the risk of a trademark Cleveland bad weather game, but that shouldn't be a huge concern for the Pullman.

Derrek finished the season on a four game winning streak, putting up at least 111.49 each game. Kirk Cousins, Adam Thielen, and Justin Jefferson have been a huge part of that, but they have a tough matchup @TAM this week. But D's odds here are more about the return of two key players: Jonathan Taylor (@LV), who had a big week 13 after a rough stretch; and Christian McCaffrey (vs. DEN), who has scored at least 21.77 in the three games he has played.

Pick: D's Nuts.

#3 Keep Calm & Kerryon (Babel, 8-5) vs. #6 Rub for Today (Rob, 7-6):

Rob leads all-time series, 9-6.

Surprisingly, this is the first time Babel and Rob have met in an elimination game.

Babel came closer to the bye than Pulley did, but could only watch as Matt passed him on Monday night. His starting roster contains Wayne Gallman, Jr. (vs. ARI); Tim Patrick (@CAR); and Myles Gaskin (vs. KC). Not exactly intimidating, but then, look, there's Travis Kelce (@MIA). Ultimately for Babel, it will probably come down to how Cam Newton (@LAR) does... and ask Mike R. how that feels.

Rob ended the season as the top point scorer, but somehow in 6th place. That's definitely bad luck, as until this year, our points leader had always gotten a bye. Nick Chubb (vs. BAL) and Ezekiel Elliott (@CIN) are far better at RB than anything Babel throws out, and even though Russell Wilson (vs. NYJ) and Tyler Lockett (vs. NYJ) have fallen off their early season pace, they are still strong plays and have a weak matchup.

The parties involved have decided this is not an official Dickran Duel.

Pick: Rub for Today.

Closing Thoughts

Here are the odds for getting the #1 pick in the 2021 draft:

  • Dave: 25.70%
  • Ed: 18.54%
  • Pat: 15.42%
  • Mike R.: 9.96%
  • Rabbit: 9.94%
  • Schertz: 9.36%
  • Scott: 5.86%
  • Richie: 5.23%