The BEN Fantasy Football Newsletter - Regular Season Finale

Hello managers, welcome to December, and welcome to the finale of the regular season. I apologize for skipping out on several editions after Thanksgiving, but what a ride it has been this season! We adopted new rules and went through new difficulties, but the regular season is over. I’ll save the sentimental talk for later, because although the regular season is over, the Playoffs are next week for 6 teams!

Let’s recap what happened last week.

It did not take much this week to get a win for Johnny! Josh Allen led the way with 37.84 points, and the kicker Brandon Aubrey exploded for 25.6 points! Bucky Irving, coming off injury, returned to form with 16.1 points, with most of that coming from a 24-yd catch-and-run touchdown. Kyle Pitts also put up respectable numbers, scoring 15 points. George Pickens and Chris Olave disappointed, only combining for 14.7 points, but it was more than enough this week.

What has been an up-and-down season ended up with another down for Mohit. And some poor start-and-sit decisions contributed to it. The only bright spot was Michael Wilson once again taking advantage of Marvin Harrison Jr.’s absence, scoring an incredible 37.2 points. James Cook III fumbled in back-to-back games and had a touchdown wiped off because of said fumble, all limiting his production to just 11.1 points against the worst defensive line in the league, the Bengals unit. Now it was a snowy game so that was a major factor, but Mohit probably would’ve liked more. Aaron Jones Sr. only had 7.6 points, and Jaylen Warren did have 15.2, but most of that came from a 35-yd recieving touchdown of his own. Brenton Strange also had a touchdown wiped off, scoring only 5.7 points. The Commanders Defense/ST let “Nine” cook, only mustering up 3 points, while the Seahawks Defense/ST on his bench dropped 20. And Jalen Hurts only had 0.4 points after throwing 4 interceptions and fumbling a ball as well. Ladd McConkey only had 2.2 points as well. Both of these performances kept Mohit out of the playoffs. Because of his low score, Mohit will have to answer to the press this week.

Luke caps off an incredible season with a win over the last place team, getting himself to 10 wins! Every player on Luke’s team scored double digit points! Jahmyr Gibbs had an incredible game with 37 points. Travis Etienne Jr. complemented that performance with 21.2 points of his own. The receivers Michael Pittman Jr. and Jameson Williams combined for 34.2 points. And Jake Ferguson, Jordan Addison, the Broncos Defense/ST, and Tyler Loop the kicker all had over 10 points! What a performance to end of the season!

Another respectable scoring effort ends in anoher loss for Ryan, who ends the year in last place, and is therefore the loser of the league. It was a season to forget, and one that Ryan was probably excited to see finish as soon as possible. Joe Burrow was able to put up 23.36 points despite 2 interceptions, Chase Brown had 18.5, and Jaylen Waddle had 18.1. But Bijan Robinson, who started off so strong and was in contention for the fantasy player of the year, unfortunately saw some duds in the second half of the season, some of which can be attributed to the Falcons being the worst-run team in the NFL. He only put up 9.4 points, and fumbled a ball in the process. It may not have mattered this week since Luke was a buzzsaw, but to see everyone else on your team put up great numbers just for your star to disappear, it must hurt.

Isaac claims a huge win over #1 to end the season! RJ Harvey had 22 points. Zay Flowers came from the woods and dropped 20.6, his second highest point total this season. But the big story was Puka Nacua going nuclear with 35.7 points, the second highest total for him this season! Puka put up respectable numbers every game he played this season (not counting the 4.8 points he put up in Week 6 before getting injured mid-game). His lowest performance was 13.2 points in Week 13. Harold Fannin Jr. also had an amazing game with 25.4 points. It did not even matter that the Ravens Defense/ST dropped a donut.

A terrific season for Sudais ends in a loss to Isaac. Jaxson Smith-Njigba ended off one of the best seasons in Fantasy Football with a 28.1 point performance, but there was not much help elsewhere on Sudais’ team. Patrick Mahomes only had 6.3 points, Zach Charbonnet only had 8.6 (although he was projected for 8.75 so can you really be mad at that?), Ja’Marr Chase only had 10.2 points, and Travis Kelce sucked the most with only 1.8 points. Deebo Samuel also only had 6.7 points. But, Sudais does claim the #1 seed and is the regular season winner!

Caden was able to wrap up his not-so-great season with a win! Kyren Williams and Josh Jacobs combined for over 34 points. Tee Higgins had an incredible game with 27.2! The Eagles Defense/ST had 13 points. Caden did not even have to rely on Tyler Warren or Egbuka, arguably his best players, who only scored 3.7 and 3.5 points respectively.

Patrick ends up losing this week. Lamar had a 21 point performance. Tony Pollard had 28.1 points in what was his best performance of the season! But the holes were his wide recievers. Justin Jefferson with 3.1, Adonai Mitchell with 3.4, and Marvin Harrison Jr. found himself starting on the roster despite being announced out prior to the game. Amon-Ra St. Brown ended up playing on his bench despite it seeming like he wasn’t going to play, scoring 15.2 points. But, thanks to Jake Bates and the Bills Defense/ST, Patrick finds himself in the playoffs!

Another upset win for Eric! Matthew Stafford had 23.24, and Saquon Barkley (despite Jalen Hurts having the worst game of his career) was able to score 18.2 points. A.J Brown also had 16 points, and Cameron Dicker the kicker had 22 points! There was not much production elsewhere in the lineup, but it was still enough to outscore Carson’s bye-ridden team.

And not that Carson should’ve lost this week, but the bye week is the clear reason why he didn’t. Without his knight in shining armor, Christian McCaffrey, he was forced to play Omarion Hampton (coming off injury) and Breece Hall. Omarion didn’t do bad, with 14.7 points, but Breece only managed to score 4.3 points. Nico Collins and CeeDee Lamb had great games, combining for 34.2 points. But maybe the other biggest reason, Jayden Daniels only had 2.72 points. That’s rough.

Week 14, the final week, of the Lucky Rankings are here. As a reminder, this is a ranking that tries to quantify how “lucky” is team over a season. As the regular season has concluded, this will be the final, most accurate, up-to-date Lucky Rankings. A reminder that if you end up being the most lucky team, you will infact get a trophy for it.

The farther away from 0 you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. Alternatively, the more greener/redder you are, the more lucky/unlucky you are. 0 is the baseline, meaning your record is exactly what is expected at that point.

So with this final rating, Luke is the league’s most luckiest team! And Ryan is the most unluckiest team this season.

Let’s take a look at the Final ESPN Power rankings.

And here is the final Commissioner’s Power Rankings:

Here’s a visual of the Final ESPN Power Rankings:

The All-Play Record is a record that shows what your cumulative record would be if your team played every other team each week.

This is an indicator that removes some of the luck involved in a head-to-head scheduling, where you play one team a week, and gives a more accurate picture of each team’s performance.

With that being said, these are the final All-play Standings for the regular season:

To the six teams that made it, congratulations. This is what you play for: a chance for the championship. here’s the bracket:

Sudais and Luke have earned 1st round byes. So this week it will be #5 Isaac vs #4 Carson and #6 Patrick vs #3 Johnny!

Isaac’s team started off strong, with a 4-0 record after 4 weeks! But then tragedy struck: Puka Nacua and Garrett Wilson both missed extended time. Isaac chose to ride out the injuries, and proceeded to lose 5 straight games and was 4-5 a little over halfway of the season. But Puka Nacua came back, and other players on his team stepped up. So still without Garrett Wilson, Isaac was able to finish out the season 4-1 and land himself in the playoffs! It might not be where he expected to finish after going 4-0 to start the season, but his team, led by Jonathan Taylor and Puka Nacua, is looking to return to the magic he had in those first 4 games and win a title.

ESPN had Carson finishing dead last in the league. And the pressure was starting to build after starting out 0-2. But then he made some of the biggest trades, acquiring Brock Bowers and CeeDee Lamb to pair with Christian McCaffrey, who he traded for on Draft Night. At some point, ESPN had him as the #2 team. So maybe this is also where Carson didn’t expect to see himself, but the playoffs are an excellent opportunity to prove everyone wrong. And he certainly has the star power to make it.

These two teams are at the healthiest they’ve been in a while, which is all that we want in the playoffs. Who will move on?

Patrick is the only team in the playoffs below .500, but that doesn’t mean a thing when you’re in the playoffs. For being a rookie in this league, he started out 4-1! At some point, ESPN had him, as the #1 team. But then he went 2-9 the rest of the season, which includes a 4 game losing streak right after going 4-1. But in Round 1, his team is the strongest it’s been in a while. Being led by Lamar Jackson, Trey McBride, Javonte Williams, and Amon-Ra St. Brown, I’d imagine there’s nothing he’d like more than to cause some chaos in the playoffs. He’s playing with house money after all.

Johnny’s team is peaking at the perfect time. The emergence of George Pickens was worth that Big Mac. Johnny was able to trade for Bucky Irving late in the season. Derrick Henry is slowly returning to form, and he has a tasty matchup against the Bengals defensive line. And Josh Allen continues to put up big numbers. After finishing 5-9 last year, he is in a heck of a better position this year. And he looks to win a title.

This matchup is full of star players, but which team’s stars is going to outshine the other’s?

Additionally, every playoff team has earned the ability to send in one punishment they would like to see Ryan do, which will be added to the Wheel will be spun at the Super Bowl Party that decides which punishment Ryan has to perform! You can start sending them in, but they need to be reasonable. For guidance, we discussed that punishments that are not permanent (e.g. a tattoo), will not leave a digital footprint (e.g. something that will cost them their future job), and are not overly embarassing. Further criteria may be added as necessary. As comissioner, the punishment that you submit will be reviewed by me and determined if it is suitable to put on the wheel.

Make sure you submit a question for Mohit to answer in his Press Conference! Each manager can submit a question, and the more people that send a question, the better. You’re limited to one question. You can send it in the fantasy group chat, or to someone else if you want it to be a surprise (to be clear, I will know who sent what question, but the questions will not be revealed to him until close to when its time to answer them, giving him little to no time to prepare answers).

For playoff teams, please send in your punishments sooner rather than later, that way I can review them and reach back out to you if you need to submit another one. You have a lot of time, but start thinking about them.

Thank you for being in this league.

By participating in this league, you agree to follow the rules. The commissioner reserves the right to issue rulings regarding league matters so long as they don’t conflict with pre-existing rules or previously proposed, but rejected, amendments. These rulings include, but are not limited to: vetoing trades despite public vote, collusion, tanking, and inactivity.