Sunday’s Eagles win over the Giants featured the debut of New Jersey QB Davis Webb, the 67th different quarterback to start a game in the NFL this season. That’s the most since the 1987 strike season, and the first time since 2007 that more than 20 teams have needed multiple starters in a season.
And yet, even with all that opportunity, there were still several eligible QBs who didn’t get a chance to start any games this year. Here’s a look at some of the candidates team’s should consider for next year, if their benches start to get thin again:
** Eagles QB Ian Book — Book actually started one game for the Saints last year, but watched from the sideline all this season. If Minshew had managed to win last week against the Saints (allowing the Eagles to wrap up the #1 seed earlier) maybe Book could have gotten a few snaps against Webb.
** Colts QB Phillip Rivers — Considering all the QB problems the team had this year, it’s a shocker that they didn’t give Rivers (who retired two years ago) a call to ask if he wanted one last attempt at glory. It doesn’t really matter if his arm still works or not: Remember, they started Carson Wentz for 17 games last year.
** Buccaneers QB Tom Brady’s fourth clone — Sure, the second and third clones managed to lead the team to a playoff berth, but it seemed odd that the Tampa coaches didn’t roll out the newest version of Brady’s clones (produced in secret by his TB12 line five years ago) given all the offensive problems they had this year.
** Titans RB Derrick Henry — Henry has three completions for 10 yds and two TDs in the last two years. That’s a 120.1 QB rating, much better than Josh Dobbs (66.6 rating) and Malik Willis (42.8 rating) had in their 10 combined games this season.
** Broncos QB Russell Wilson — It would have been interesting to see him at QB at some point this year, instead of just wandering around the field aimlessly.
3rd place: Jalen Hurts, 423.04 pts — 6th QB drafted (Mom D)
2nd place: Josh Allen, 471.02 pts — 1st QB drafted (Dad)
1st place: Patrick Mahomes, 499.20pts — 2nd QB drafted (Jo)
Joe Burrow came in as the 4th place QB with 422.70 pts, and then there was a huge drop off for 5th place (Geno Smith, 366.38). Blame a lot of injuries and uneven play from the passers this year. But bottom line, either you lucked out with one of the top four at the position this year, or you struggled week to week figuring out what to do.
Top WRs of the year
3rd place: Tyreek Hill, 232.62 pts — 8th WR drafted (Paul)
2nd place: Davante Adams, 235.47 pts — 6th WR drafted (Jeff)
1st place: Justin Jefferson, 245.36 pts — 1st WR drafted (Sam)
Two for two on identifying the top player at the position at the start of the year. It’s worth nothing that the Eagles were the only team with two of the top 12 WRs (AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith). Brown, drafted 12th, was in 5th place in the end. Smith, the 11th place finisher, was the 41st WR off the board in the draft. Former Eagles first-round pick Jalen Reagor finished as the 147th best WR this year.
Top RBs of the year
3rd place: Christian McCaffrey, 291.16 pts — 2nd RB drafted (Paul)
2nd place: Josh Jacobs, 291.47 pts — 26th RB drafted (me)
1st place: Austin Ekeler, 301.13 — 3rd RB drafted (Mom D)
For the record, Mom D and I together drafted six of the top seven RBs on the season, and the only we didn’t do better was because neither one of us picked high enough to snag McCaffrey. I’d also like to point out that I drafted the leading rusher (Jacobs), the second-leading rusher (Nick Chubb) and the third-leading rusher (Derrick Henry) on the year. I would have run away with this season if I could have figured out any other position. But I never started a single QB in the top 14 and only one wideout in the top 35, so ...
Top TEs of the year
3rd place: TJ Hockenson, 143.93 pts — 5th TE drafted (Bob)
2nd place: George Kittle, 148.50 pts — 4th TE drafted (Mom D)
1st place: Travis Kelce, 219.70 pts — 1st TE drafted (Joel)
I’d once again like to point out that Taysom Hill does not qualify for this category because he is not a tight end.
Look at that point total again — Kelce scored 50 percent more points than the second-place finisher. If we put him in the WR category, he finishes fourth there. If we put Kittle in the WR category, he finishes 17th (which is still really good for a TE!) Kelce remains a consistent problem for fantasy team construction each year.
Top Ks of the year
3rd place: Brett Maher, 161.00 pts — undrafted
2nd place: Daniel Carlson, 162.00 pts — 4th K drafted (Jo)
1st place: Justin Tucker, 164.50 pts — 1st K drafted (Mom D)
Four of the top players were our first position picks. Folks, this was by far our best drafting work ever!
Joanna cut Carlson before the first game of the season, which I note only to emphasize that kickers are a complete crapshoot and should never be protected on your roster regardless the ultimate outcome. Except for Tucker, he just kills it year after year.
Top DEFs of the year
3rd place: Dallas, 170.00 pts — 15th DEF drafted (Paul)
2nd place: San Francisco, 180.00 pts — 2nd DEF drafted (Ant)
1st place: New England, 194.00 pts — 10th DEF drafted (Jo)
The Eagles finished as the 4th best fantasy defense on the year, thanks in large part to the 70 sacks they collected over 17 weeks. Kansas City was the second best in that category with 55. But that impressive QB pressure total wasn’t nearly enough to overtake the Patriots’ 30 turnovers and eight defensive/special teams TDs on the season. On the other hand, those impressive defensive numbers weren’t enough to get New England into the playoffs, making them the only fantasy defense in the top seven to be heading home for the season today.
Top Ds of the year
3rd place: Roquan Smith, 69.50 pts — undrafted
2nd place: Marcus Jones, 71.84 pts — undrafted
1st place: Foyesade Oluokun, 78.50 pts — undrafted
Not only did none of the top defensive players get drafted this year, but Jones — who collected more than 1,000 punt and kickoff return yards this season — never got picked up by a single team. Twice he topped 10 points in a week, and four times he was over 8 points. So, as I write every year … One day we’ll all figure out the secret to getting good defensive players.
Top DEFs of the year
3rd place: Dallas, 170.00 pts — 15th DEF drafted (Paul)
2nd place: San Francisco, 180.00 pts — 2nd DEF drafted (Ant)
1st place: New England, 194.00 pts — 10th DEF drafted (Jo)
The Eagles finished as the 4th best fantasy defense on the year, thanks in large part to the 70 sacks they collected over 17 weeks. Kansas City was the second best in that category with 55. But that impressive QB pressure total wasn’t nearly enough to overtake the Patriots’ 30 turnovers and eight defensive/special teams TDs on the season. On the other hand, those impressive defensive numbers weren’t enough to get New England into the playoffs, making them the only fantasy defense in the top seven to be heading home for the season today.
Top Ds of the year
3rd place: Roquan Smith, 69.50 pts — undrafted
2nd place: Marcus Jones, 71.84 pts — undrafted
1st place: Foyesade Oluokun, 78.50 pts — undrafted
Not only did none of the top defensive players get drafted this year, but Jones — who collected more than 1,000 punt and kickoff return yards this season — never got picked up by a single team. Twice he topped 10 points in a week, and four times he was over 8 points. So, as I write every year … One day we’ll all figure out the secret to getting good defensive players.
WR:Keenan Allen, 22.80 pts — started by Jonathan
RB: Zack Moss, 19.37 pts — started by Bob
TE: Jordan Akins, 20.67 pts — on the wire
K: Jake Elliott, 20.00 pts — started by Ant
DEF: Maryland Commies, 21.00 pts — on Bob’s bench
D: Josh Allen, 12.00 pts — on the wire
Good week for Bob’s bench…
Hahahahaha of course Russell Wilson finally has a good game when I’ve already made fun of him in my opener. I don't care, it's late in the season and I'm not going back up there to change it.
Wilson topped 20 fantasy points just four times this year, but three of those came in his last five games. He threw 8 TD passes in the first three months of the season but 8 more in the last 30 days. And everybody stunk this week, so he gets to claim the honors as the top scorer in a meaningless week for his team.
And congrats to the other Josh Allen, who plays LB for the Jaguars. Unlike the Bills QB, who is a regular on the top performers list, Allen scored the winning TD in Jacksonville’s comeback win over the Titans, returning a fumble 37 yards to put his team ahead with less than three minutes to play.
And congrats to the other Josh Allen, who plays LB for the Jaguars. Unlike the Bills QB, who is a regular on the top performers list, Allen scored the winning TD in Jacksonville’s comeback win over the Titans, returning a fumble 37 yards to put his team ahead with less than three minutes to play.
If the Jags win next weekend and the Ravens upset the Bengals, that means that Allen and his team will face Allen and the Bills the following week. And then we could have a repeat of last year, when Allen became the first player ever to sack a QB with the same name in NFL history. Because, of course, someone had been tracking that.
“Worst performers of the year” edition
5th place: Ihmir Smith-Marsette, -0.26 pts — on the wire
4th place: Nate Sudfeld, -0.40 pts — on the wire
3rd place: Chad Henne, -0.50 pts — on the wire
2nd place: C.J. Beathard, -1.00 pts — on the wire
1st place: Tim Boyle, -2.88 pts — on the wire
Congrats to Boyle, who managed to steal the title of worst fantasy player of the year on the final day of the season. As the Bears lost their finale to the Vikings on Sunday (but won the #1 overall pick in next spring’s draft), Boyle took over in relief and posted this line: 8 pass attempts, two completions for 33 yds, 2 interceptions, zero TDs. That’s a 4.69 QB rating on the day, roughly 8.5 times worse than your performance from the couch on Sunday (1 attempt, 0 yds/TDs/INTS = 39.6 QB rating). In just one day, he outperformed everyone else’s resume of the entire season. Impressive.
Special shout out to Smith-Marsette, the only non-QB on the list (15 receiving yds, 17 return yds, -1 rushing yds, and one fumble for the Chiefs). Both Sudfeld’s, the former Eagles QB, and Henne’s entire body of work this year were five kneel-downs in meaningless games. For some reason, however, that resulted in Henne losing 5 yds rushing, but only 4 yds lost for Sudfeld. Clearly he is better at kneeling the ball.
** Headline on ESPN Sunday evening: “Vikings WR Jefferson misses NFL record but hits 'my main goal'”
From the story: “Jefferson caught four passes for 38 yards Sunday in the Vikings' 29-13 victory over the Chicago Bears, setting his league-high totals at 128 receptions for 1,809 yards in 17 games. It was the sixth-most receiving yards for a season in NFL history … but it fell short of Calvin Johnson's record of 1,964 yards set over 16 games in 2012.”
So, he wasn’t all that close, even after playing an extra game. Hey, you know who else missed breaking the NFL receiving record this year? Every other player in the NFL. Looking forward to the individual hype stories that ESPN has planned for each of them.
** In the fourth quarter of the Dolphins/Jets game, Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Davis laid out the underlying drama of the early slate of games: The Patriots were losing, so if Miami could win the contest. They were headed to the playoffs. If they lost, the Steelers were in. And the Dolphins and Jets were tied at 6-6.
Color commentator Daryl Johnston offered an immediate response: “You just can’t script stuff like this!”
Yes. Yes you can. We all knew the playoff scenarios heading into this weekend. So it would have been very, very easy to write up a script about one of the games being close. Hell, you could script all of them being close. You could have even scripted one of them going into overtime! That probably would have been too much for Johnston’s brain to handle, though.
** The New Jersey Giants broke a five-year playoff drought this season and no one is more excited than their coach, Brian Daboll.
Oh, wait, sorry. I meant everyone is more excited than their coach.
"Really the experience is probably overrated, to be honest with you," Daboll said in response to a question about making the playoffs, during a press conference this week. "[The difference] is how you prepare, how you practice and, ultimately, how you play the game and coach the game on whatever day it is."
Way to rile up the fan base there, coach. Next time why not just throw cold water in the face of every season ticket holder.
The Maryland Commies were the only NFC East team not to make the playoffs this season (still finished at 8-8-1, though), but that disappointment was short lived for local fans of the team. That’s because in recent days the franchise has debuted its new mascot: Major Tuddy, an oversized pig in a WWI -style helmet that the Washingtonian described as having “creepy, slasher-flick vibes” and whose name evokes “touchdowns” and totally not British slang for poop.
Anyways, it’s sure to be great in the long term, which is why the few other teams without mascots should use this opportunity to get one now. Here are some solid ideas:
** Peter Packrat — Long ago, the Packers got their name due to their affiliation with a local meat packing company. But it’s time to update that image. Peter Packrat is a brawny rodent who stuffs footballs into the end zone to help his team win. Bonus that he loses hanging out with the cheeseheads in the stands, for obvious dietary reasons.
** The Jersey Jet — No better way for the Jets to pay tribute to their home state by making it part of their mascot. The Jet has wings for arms, wheels for feet and zooms past opponents into the end zone … unless there’s a delay. If that’s the case, then it just sits still for a few hours, doing nothing and frustrating everyone.
** Ronnie the Raider — Ronnie, a swashbuckling pirate attired in black, embodies everything the Raiders have always been about: daring, excitement, and a flair for the dramatic. He’s also been arrested for theft, human trafficking and manslaughter, so he fits in with the rest of the Raiders’ roster too.
** The Giant Swamp Thing — Jersey’s other football team honors the swamps where its stadium stands by introducing an oversized, grotesque mass of inhumanity. It’s got large teeth, piston-like arms, an intelligible growl when it tries to talk. Basically, it’s like having Michael Strahan on the team again.
Our season of insult anagrams is once again at an end. Yet despite the prayers and well-wishes of good hearts across the globe, the Cowboys season is not. Dallas enters the playoffs for the second consecutive year, looking for their fourth playoff win in the last 25 years (for the record, the Eagles have 14 over that span, including a Super Bowl victory). But it’s important to remember that any time the Cowboys can play extra games, it hurts all of us, regardless of the result. Behold:
Dallas into the postseason again
** No good — Satan sets hate, all is pain
Here’s hoping that pain will be short lived, as it has been so many times in recent years.
** Dad demanded that he get five extra points in our weekly picks standings if he correctly predicted the Maryland Commies would beat the Cowboys. And because I am a fair and generous person, I gave him that. As a result, he … still lost in the yearly totals by 4. In his defense, Dad came into the week down eight and needed me to screw up royally to take the lead. And I didn’t, going 12-4 on the week (Dad did pick all four I got wrong different, though).
For the season, I correctly picked 170 of 271 games, which is a 62.7 percent correct rate, a little worse than the 65 percent I hit last year. However, it was still enough to grab the family prognostication title for the sixth time in the last eight years, and to give me three yearly wins in a row. Since the start of the 2010 season, I’m 8-5 in the annual picks against him. I’m also fairly sure that for the decade before that, I was 0-10. But thankfully those records have been lost.
** In the spirit of trying to start off the new year with positivity, I will note that RB Boston Scott — who is not a competent professional football player — has 414 rushing yds (34 percent of his career total) and 9 rushing TDs (56 percent of his career total) in eight games against the Giants (13 percent of his career appearances). So, he can stay on the team, but they can only use him in games against New Jersey.
** The Buccaneers won the NFC South last week, extending QB Tom Brady’s personal streak of 15 straight playoff appearances. However, their loss on Sunday to the Falcons also sealed an 8-9 record for the season, the first time in Brady’s career his team has had a losing season. So, I think it’s safe to say that Brady is now, officially, a loser.
Week 18 standings
The official end-of-year Awesome Cup standings — and the latest name to be engraved onto Awesome Cup — will be unveiled on Tuesday night.
Anyways, it’s sure to be great in the long term, which is why the few other teams without mascots should use this opportunity to get one now. Here are some solid ideas:
** Peter Packrat — Long ago, the Packers got their name due to their affiliation with a local meat packing company. But it’s time to update that image. Peter Packrat is a brawny rodent who stuffs footballs into the end zone to help his team win. Bonus that he loses hanging out with the cheeseheads in the stands, for obvious dietary reasons.
** The Jersey Jet — No better way for the Jets to pay tribute to their home state by making it part of their mascot. The Jet has wings for arms, wheels for feet and zooms past opponents into the end zone … unless there’s a delay. If that’s the case, then it just sits still for a few hours, doing nothing and frustrating everyone.
** Ronnie the Raider — Ronnie, a swashbuckling pirate attired in black, embodies everything the Raiders have always been about: daring, excitement, and a flair for the dramatic. He’s also been arrested for theft, human trafficking and manslaughter, so he fits in with the rest of the Raiders’ roster too.
** The Giant Swamp Thing — Jersey’s other football team honors the swamps where its stadium stands by introducing an oversized, grotesque mass of inhumanity. It’s got large teeth, piston-like arms, an intelligible growl when it tries to talk. Basically, it’s like having Michael Strahan on the team again.
Our season of insult anagrams is once again at an end. Yet despite the prayers and well-wishes of good hearts across the globe, the Cowboys season is not. Dallas enters the playoffs for the second consecutive year, looking for their fourth playoff win in the last 25 years (for the record, the Eagles have 14 over that span, including a Super Bowl victory). But it’s important to remember that any time the Cowboys can play extra games, it hurts all of us, regardless of the result. Behold:
Dallas into the postseason again
** No good — Satan sets hate, all is pain
Here’s hoping that pain will be short lived, as it has been so many times in recent years.
** Dad demanded that he get five extra points in our weekly picks standings if he correctly predicted the Maryland Commies would beat the Cowboys. And because I am a fair and generous person, I gave him that. As a result, he … still lost in the yearly totals by 4. In his defense, Dad came into the week down eight and needed me to screw up royally to take the lead. And I didn’t, going 12-4 on the week (Dad did pick all four I got wrong different, though).For the season, I correctly picked 170 of 271 games, which is a 62.7 percent correct rate, a little worse than the 65 percent I hit last year. However, it was still enough to grab the family prognostication title for the sixth time in the last eight years, and to give me three yearly wins in a row. Since the start of the 2010 season, I’m 8-5 in the annual picks against him. I’m also fairly sure that for the decade before that, I was 0-10. But thankfully those records have been lost.
** In the spirit of trying to start off the new year with positivity, I will note that RB Boston Scott — who is not a competent professional football player — has 414 rushing yds (34 percent of his career total) and 9 rushing TDs (56 percent of his career total) in eight games against the Giants (13 percent of his career appearances). So, he can stay on the team, but they can only use him in games against New Jersey.
** The Buccaneers won the NFC South last week, extending QB Tom Brady’s personal streak of 15 straight playoff appearances. However, their loss on Sunday to the Falcons also sealed an 8-9 record for the season, the first time in Brady’s career his team has had a losing season. So, I think it’s safe to say that Brady is now, officially, a loser.
Week 18 standings The official end-of-year Awesome Cup standings — and the latest name to be engraved onto Awesome Cup — will be unveiled on Tuesday night.
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