The Sanderson Gazette - 2021-12-29 - Stumbling to the Finish

Semifinals Recap

Dave def. Matt, 103.04-95.08

Dave is fortunate that Davante Adams (27.20), A.J. Brown (25.33), and Kyler Murray (24.58) all had big games prior to Sunday, because the rest of his team was determined to turn this into a close matchup. Tyreek Hill managed just 2.53 and the Chargers defense (-6.00) completely shat the bed.

On the other side, Mark Andrews (22.67) showed it doesn't matter who his QB is, but David Johnson's inactive zero loomed large (more on that later). It ended up with Matt just missing his fourth straight Blingabowl.

Rabbit def. Derrek, 91.54-86.51

Guess who's back! Rabbit shook off his Derrek demons and returned to the Blingabowl behind Dak Prescott (33.10) and Dalton Schultz (16.93). It didn't matter that DeVante Parker took a zero.

Meanwhile, everyone except Ryan Succop (16.00) underperformed for D, including stars Jonathan Taylor (10.80) and Justin Jefferson (15.47).

Weekly Awards

Team Blangums

Only five semifinal victors have ever scored less than Dave's 103.04, and one of them was Rabbit this year.

Slapped Heartbeat

Derrek's 86.51 just cracks the bottom ten scores among semifinals losers.

Weekly MVP

Dak Prescott put up 33.10 for Rabbit.

Dud of the Week

Saquon Barkley scored 2.67 for Derrek.

Start of the Week

Our winners both left some points on the bench, so no Start of the Week will be awarded for the semifinals.

Misplay of the Week

After Dave's huge Thursday and Sunday games, Matt more or less conceded by playing David Johnson - who was ruled out prior to his game - in one of his flex spots. Playing Dawson Knox (7.47) instead wouldn't have pushed him ahead of Dave, but it was still a shocking move from our Monster Heel.

Pickup of the Week

Dave grabbed Jared Cook to fill in for Travis Kelce and got 7.87 points.

Season Postmortems

Matt, 11-3 (0.786), 1,465.11 points, 2nd, 7.30 expected wins

Matt's record and place were better than his peripherals (he was 5th in points and 7th in expected wins), but it's still impressive to get a bye in three straight years. Matt also put together one of the longest winning streaks in Blingaleague history.

Next year, his team will look different in one big way: Lamar Jackson can't be kept again. Beyond that, it's hard to know with certainty who Matt will carry into 2022.

Derrek, 12-2 (0.857), 1,611.85 points, 1st, 9.95 expected wins

Although he won the Sanderson Cup in 2017 and 2018, Derrek probably had his best team ever in 2021. He put up the sixth best expected winning percentage ever and became the third team to win a dozen games.

Two big reasons he had such a strong team were Jonathan Taylor and Justin Jefferson, so expect them to be on his roster again next year.

Blingabowl XIV Preview

#4 Super Bash Bros. (Dave, 12-4) vs. #6 Pralines & Dick (Rabbit, 11-5)

Rabbit leads all-time series, 11-4.

Stop the presses: Dave has made his first Blingabowl! And his wheeling and dealing resulted in a team that Yahoo projects for more than 140 points. Davante Adams (vs. MIN) is playing as well as any WR in the league right now, and A.J. Brown (vs. MIA) returned with a vengeance last week. Alvin Kamara (vs. CAR) and Tyreek Hill (@CIN) look to bounce back from down weeks, and Travis Kelce (@CIN) should be back from his stint on the COVID-19 list. Dave's team will be at full strength, and that would scare even the most seasoned Blingabowl participants.

Speaking of teams that have made the Blingabowl multiple times, Rabbit will be making his sixth appearance, and first in five years. His team is far from full strength, though; Calvin Ridley is still out, Alexander Mattison (@GB) should be back on the bench, and Christian McCaffrey and Darrell Henderson, Jr. are on IR. Rabs has cobbled together two playoff wins behind guys like Dalton Schultz (vs. ARI) and DeVante Parker (@TEN), but is that sustainable?

Pick: Super Bash Bros.

Third-Place Game

#1 D's Nuts (Derrek, 12-3) vs. #2 Harrison Hammers (Matt, 11-4)

Matt leads all-time series, 9-8.

I like Derrek in this one, just like he won Blingabowl XI.

Pick: D's Nuts.

The Year in Trades

Christmas Day, 2021:

Dave: "Ed, the individual team season pages are incredible."

Dave: "The fact that it lists all the trades and similarity scores and everything."

Dave: "It's awesome."

Richie: "On a day where the world is getting together to celebrate, Dave is looking at himself in the mirror."

Week 2

Trade between Ed and Matt

Ed received:

Matt received:

Surprisingly, the best player involved in this trade was Leonard Fournette, who was thrown it at the end of negotiations for balance. Matt finished 11-3 and Ed finished 6-8, so it's tempting to say Matt won this, but it probably wound up pretty even. Hopkins and Woods were mostly disappointing (and absent), Cooks tailed off towards the end of the year, and Pittman was good, but shipped off to Rob.

Week 3

Trade between Richie and Rob

Richie received:

Rob received:

This trade was a huge win for Richie, as Elliott's immediate output helped him win Team Blangums in weeks 3 and 4. Ridley would be involved in two more trades and was a major disappointment before he stepped away from football.

Week 5

Trade between Ed and Scott

Ed received:

Scott received:

Robinson was horrible for Ed, while Smith gave Scott a few good weeks and later was flipped for Clyde Edwards-Helaire. Scott won this trade.

Week 7

Trade between Ed and Rob

Ed received:

Rob received:

Hockenson and Pittman gave the Gross brothers what they were hoping for out of this trade, which can be considered a win-win (albeit one with relatively low impact).

Trade between Dave and Rob

Dave received:

Rob received:

Dave's first trade was a blockbuster, as he took advantage of Rob's early struggles and desire for keepers. Ridley, as noted above, was a disappointment, but Prescott and McLaurin were later used to upgrade in other ways.

Waddle looks to have strong keeper value and to be the jewel of this trade for Rob.

Trade between Ed and Mike R.

Ed received:

Mike R. received:

This was a "no, you take him" trade between two desperate teams. Aiyuk bounced back from his early season woes to be a strong player for Ed during his late season streak, while Davis was basically useless for (and later cut by) Mike. This goes down as a clear win for Ed.

Week 8

Trade between Mike R. and Richie

Mike R. received:

Richie received:

Mike looks set for 2022 with Chase, so it's hard to say he made a bad move here, but Richie certainly took this as a huge win. Godwin was key for him down the stretch, and Kelce was part of our first-ever three-way trade (more on that later) and ultimately wound up stabbing Richie in the back (more on that, too).

Trade between Dave and Mike R.

Dave received:

  • Tyler Bass - from Mike R. - keeper cost: 11th
  • Buffalo defense - from Mike R. - keeper cost: 13th

Mike R. received:

Dave thought he was trading for a top defense and kicker, but he was wrong and wound up getting -6.00 points from a different defense in the semifinals. I'm guessing he'd take this one back, even if Claypool isn't likely to be kept.

Trade between Dave and Pat

Dave received:

Pat received:

Hill was huge for Dave in the quarterfinals, even if he was a major dud in the semis. Henderson was part of another trade later. Pat though he was getting one great keeper in Lamb, but probably got a second in Mitchell, who was awesome when he was healthy.

Trade between Babel and Scott

Babel received:

Scott received:

  • Deebo Samuel - from Babel - keeper cost: 5th
  • Trey Lance - from Babel - keeper cost: 9th

Babel was 7-0 at the time of this trade and felt pressured to keep up with the arms race that Dave and Richie had started. It was probably a bad idea, because while Chubb performed as expected, Samuel kept up his hot start and was the best player involved in this one.

Trade between Dave and Rabbit

Dave received:

Rabbit received:

Dave had one more week 8 trade up his sleeve, just hours before Thursday Night Football. Murray mixed in some bad games with some good, and missed a few more, but Kupp more than made up for that. Prescott had a huge semifinals performance for Rabbit, but Ridley wound up scoring zero total points after this deal went down. I think you can call Dave the winner of this trade.

Week 10

Trade between Dave and Ed

Dave received:

Ed received:

Ed finally punted on his season, targeting the rookie Pitts as a 2022 keeper. It cost him big, although Brown and Jones both missed some time after this one. McLaurin was also pretty good from this point on.

Brown's huge semifinals performance was probably enough for Dave to count this as a win, but Ed probably wouldn't consider it a loss for him, either.

Fun fact: Justin Fields became the first player traded away by the same team twice in the same season since Coby Fleener in 2017.

Trade between Dave and Derrek

Dave received:

Derrek received:

This was a simple swapping of handcuffs. Derrek never played Booker, while Dave got a big game from Ingram immediately following this trade, so we'll call this a win for Dave.

Week 12

Trade between Dave and Kevin and Richie

Dave received:

Kevin received:

Richie received:

  • Josh Allen - from Kevin - ineligible to be kept
  • Logan Thomas - from Kevin - keeper cost: 5th
  • Tyler Higbee - from Dave - keeper cost: 7th
  • Cordarelle Patterson - from Kevin - keeper cost: 9th

On the morning of Thanksgiving, this blockbuster went down. I'm so proud of these three guys for working out the first three-way trade in league history, and each got what they wanted out of it.

Dave was the overall winner, as Adams and Kelce definitely offset losing Kupp. Kupp did give Kevin the best player (and keeper) involved. And Richie nabbed Patterson and Allen, who were important players in his playoff push and week 14 Team Blangums prize - but also gave up Kelce, who was a huge part of his quarterfinals loss to Dave.

Trade between Dave and Scott

Dave received:

Scott received:

Dave panicked when he didn't have enough players to field a starting roster in week 12 and traded for Smith, who was a bust. Edwards-Helaire isn't a star, either, but put up better numbers than Smith post-trade.

Closing Thoughts

Good luck to Dave and Rabbit, and Happy New Year to you all!