Phillies: Started the decade with an appearance in the NLCS. Followed it up with a team-record 102 wins in 2011, but also a disappointing early playoff exit. Bet heavily on Dominic Brown (bust), Maikel Franco (gone), Jake Arrieta (meh) and Bryce Harper (TBD). No finishes above .500 in the last eight years.
Playoff record for the decade: 1-2 (rounds, not games)
Sixers: Won a first-round upset in 2012, their second consecutive year in the playoffs. Then the tank started. Three straight years of fewer than 20 wins. Two rookie of the year winners in a five-year span, but only one (Ben Simmons) is still with the team. On the upswing now, but ultimately questionable results.
Playoff record for the decade: 3-4 (rounds, not games)
Flyers: Made a surprising run to the Stanley Cup finals in 2010, falling in six games. Finished first in the conference the next year but were upset in the second round. Fielded a team for the rest of the decade without anything else interesting to report. But they did introduce the world to Gritty, so...
Playoff record for the decade: 5-6 (rounds, not games)
Eagles: Won the NFC East four times (including on Sunday) and went to the playoffs five of the last 10 years. Saw the end of the Andy Reid era and the entirety of the Chip Kelly era before the re-arrival of Doug Pederson in 2016. Went 13-3 in 2017, producing the first Super Bowl win in Philly history, the first Super Bowl MVP in Philly history (Nick Foles, version 2.0) and the Philly Special. Also, Brian Dawkins was inducted in the Hall of Fame.
Playoff record for the decade: 4-4
Not the strongest sports decade, although if you thrown Villanova basketball in it gets a little sweeter (but then you have to count Villanova as part of Philly). Still, the Super Bowl parade pretty much erases everything else. If you’re only gonna get one major sports championship a decade, winning one of the most exciting football championships ever isn’t a bad prize.
Top QBs of the year:
3rd place: Russell Wilson, 391.10 pts — 9th QB drafted (Mom D)
2nd place: Dak Prescott, 392.28 pts — 15th QB drafted (Sam)
1st place: Lamar Jackson, 488.18 pts — 8th QB drafted (me)
Tons of value in the QB class this year. Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes was the first QB drafted but fell to the 6th scoring spot a year after his MVP work. Packers QB Aaron Rodgers landed just behind him in draft order and production. Eagles QB Carson Wentz was the 8th QB drafted and finished 8th in scoring, so good consistency on that guy.
Top WRs of the year:
3rd place: Cooper Kupp, 186.30 pts — 28th WR drafted (Sam)
2nd place: Chris Godwin, 191.67 pts — 15th WR drafted (Joel)
1st place: Michael Thomas, 242.60 pts — 5th WR drafted (Mom D)
Setting a new single-season receptions mark will help drive your fantasy totals higher, even if you don’t play in week 17. Thomas’ insane 149 catches alone accounted for 74.5 fantasy pts. If you took away all his yardage and TDs, that would still beat the full year production for Eagles WR Nelson Agholor, Packers WR Geronimo Allison and Titans WR Adam Humphries, all of whom were in starting lineups this year.
Top RBs of the year:
3rd place: Aaron Jones, 275.00 pts — 14th RB drafted (Sam)
2nd place: Derrick Henry, 279.23 pts — 19th RB drafted (Sam)
1st place: Christian McCaffrey, 380.70 pts — 2nd RB drafted (Bob)
Yeah, Sam definitely hit the jackpot here. Four of the top seven RBs went in the first two rounds, and only four in the top 15 went after the fourth round. It’s worth noting that Eagles RB Miles Sanders made that second list, finishing the year in 15th place as a seventh-round draft pick.
Top TEs of the year:
3rd place: Mark Andrews, 147.30 pts — 11th TE drafted (Paul)
2nd place: George Kittle, 147.90 pts — 2nd TE drafted (Mike)
1st place: Travis Kelce, 165.33 pts — 1st TE drafted (Sam)
Had Eagles TE Zach Ertz played in the finale, he almost certainly would have cracked this medals stand. He finished just 6.23 pts out of third place, a total he doubled in three of the previous five weeks. But Andrews broke up the possibility of the first three TEs drafted going 1-2-3 for the season. Andrews was also the key piece in the only successful trade in our league this season (successful in my eyes, since I got him).
Top Ks of the year:
3rd place: Justin Tucker, 153.00 pts — 2nd K drafted (me)
2nd place: Will Lutz, 163.00 pts — 6th K drafted (Jo)
1st place: Harrison Butker, 166.00 pts — 1st K drafted (Ant)
I’m sure their Mom’s care how they did. The difference between the first place kicker and the 12th place kicker was less than a field goal a week. Eagles K Jake Elliot finished in 20th place somehow, even though he just got a big contract extension.
Top DEFs of the year:
3rd place: San Francisco, 174.00 pts — undrafted
2nd place: Pittsburgh, 192.00 pts — undrafted
1st place: New England, 256.00 pts — undrafted
WOW. It’s not uncommon for defenses to fluctuate and highly-ranked ones at the start of the year to end up as disappointments. But none of the top three were on anyone’s radar at the start of the season. The top ranked defense any of us grabbed in the draft (Baltimore, #4 in the final standings) finished 88 pts behind the Patriots. Of course, the Ravens defense didn’t give up a last-minute drive to the Dolphins on Sunday to blow their chance at a first-round bye, so it’s tough to say who really had the better go of things.
Top Ds of the year:
3rd place: Shaquil Barrett, 76.50 pts — undrafted
2nd place: T.J. Watt, 78.00 pts — undrafted
1st place: Chandler Jones, 83.50 pts — undrafted
Barrett and Jones both ended up with 19 sacks. Watt only had 14.5, but also eight forced fumbles, which lead the league. Ravens CB Marcus Peters won the league defensive scoring title, with three return TDs on the season. I’m sure glad the Eagles didn’t offer to trade with the Rams to get him like Baltimore did…
“Worst performers of the year” edition
5th place: Blake Bortles, -0.78 pts
4th place: Sean Mannion, -0.96 pts
3rd place: Jarrett Stidham, -1.64 pts
2nd place: Quincy Enunwa, -1.77 pts
1st place: Corey Clement, -2.04 pts
Usually we see a lot of unfamiliar names down here on the worst performers list, but that’s not the case for 2019. One-time Jacksonville starting QB Blake Bortles appeared in just two games this year, collecting a bunch of kneel downs. Jets WR Quincy Enunwa managed just one catch for negative yards and a fumble before leaving the field with a season-ending injury.
But the one-time Eagles Super Bowl hero RB Corey Clement takes top honors this year as the biggest fantasy disappointment, appearing as a punt returner in two games and losing a fumble in each before a leg injury ended his season. One of those fumbles was in the Eagles loss to the Falcons, and provided key momentum to Atlanta. Today, the Eagles have worked through about 700 different RBs before settling on diminutive Boston Scott. But be warned, young Boston — less than two years go, Clement looked like the next big thing in the Eagles backfield. Now, he’s not even on the right side of zero.
** As if it wasn’t bad enough that Fox made the Cowboys game against the Racial Slurs the game of the week, despite it not having any independent playoff implications, the television crew would periodically flash up the score of the Eagles game with the caveat “Dallas clinches the NFC East with a win and an Eagles loss.”
You know what else? The Eagles could clinch the NFC East with a win, which is what happened. And you could have shown America a game where a team clinched a playoff spot. But great call with the “hoping for chaos” programming plan instead. The 47-16 blowout you got to watch was definitely more captivating
** Pretty much everything the refs said in the Ohio State game Saturday night was idiotic, but since this is a family blog, I can’t express my true feelings about those calls here...
** Patriots Safety Devin McCourty, speaking to reporters after his team’s stunning loss to the Dolphins, which cost them a first-round playoff bye:
“It doesn’t matter. We’ve got a game next week, we’ve got to get ready to go. Nobody feels sorry for us, we shouldn’t feel sorry for ourselves.”
I mean, you should feel a little sorry for yourself. As an Eagles fan, I felt really sorry for myself after the birds dropped a winnable game to that wretched team. And we didn’t get a chance to play them twice to figure out the mystery that is QB Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Just a few more leftover notes from the Eagles improbable division championship this year:
— Carson Wentz became the first QB ever to throw for 4,000 yards in an Eagles uniform, and the first NFL QB ever to do it without at least one WR with 500 yards receiving. He did, however, have three teammates who hauled in more than that total: TE Zach Ertz (916), TE Dallas Goedert (607) and RB Miles Sanders (509). FYI, today is Wentz' 27th birthday.
— RB Boston Scott outrushed Wentz for the year 245 yds to 243, even though Scott had 14 fewer starts than Wentz. Also Carson shouldn't really be running.
— RB Miles Sanders became only the eighth rookie in NFL history to record at least 750 yds rushing and 500 yds receiving in the same season. He did despite starting the season #2 on the depth chart behind Jordan Howard and missing much of the final game of the season.
— From the Washington Post this morning: “Boston Scott, Josh Perkins, Greg Ward, Deontay Burnett and Robert Davis combined for 16 catches on 25 targets, 225 yards receiving, 54 yards rushing and four TDs (on Sunday). The five players were cut a combined eight times by four teams since Aug. 31.”
— The Eagles were 10th in yards allowed per game, 14th in yards gained per game, 12th in points scored per game, 18th in points allowed per game, and first in the NFC East.
The Cowboys came into this season with high expectations but ultimately disappointing results. So before we put the Insult Anagram to rest for the year, let’s take just one look back at what it all means for America’s most evil organization moving ahead:
Eight-and-eight season finish for the Dallas Cowboys
** It’s final, hoes. Goodbye, losers. Fan deathwatch is nigh.
Oh, Insult Anagram, your wisdom will be missed in the coming cold months ahead. But your spirit burns bright within us all.
** One more weekly tie for Dad and me means he wins the picks for season with a record of 165-91, better than a 64 percent accuracy. It’s his second consecutive win after a three-year run by me. It’s OK, I’ll get him in the post-season.
** Seriously though those officiating calls in the Ohio State game were complete crap.
** The Seahawks opened as a 1.5-pts favorite against the Eagles for next Sunday’s playoff game in Philly, and I feel like that’s pretty insulting to Seattle. They won this match-up in Philly six weeks ago by eight points, and since then every member of the Eagles except Wentz has gone to the hospital with injuries. Maybe they’ll look past this game, opening the window for the Eagles to …
Week 17 standings The official final standings will be released at the annual Awesome Cup presentation ceremony later this week.
1 comment:
Hypehypehype!
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