2017 Midseason Report

It’s that time of year again. We’re halfway through the season for our Socially Acceptable Dungeons and Dragons league. We’ve got a very muddy picture for how the season is going to end up. It’s pretty jammed in the middle of the pack, which is really 90% of the league). Let’s take a look at some of the stats and other things for the first half.

Top position players

Quarterbacks

1. Carson Wentz (Tim - 131 points)
2. Dak Prescott (Chris - 130 points)
3. Alex Smith (Nate - 129 Points)
4. Deshaun Watson (Tim - 125 points)
5. Tom Brady (Chris - 125 points)

Thoughts and Analysis:

• Dak has been started exactly zero times, as Crobi has started Brady every week.
• It IS interesting that the top 5 QBs are owned by only three different owners. Perhaps some trades should be in the offing.

Running Backs

1. Todd Gurley (Nate - 147.5 points)
2. Kareem Hunt (Nate - 147.5 points)
3. Le’Veon Bell (Pete - 126.5 points)
4. Leonard Fournette (Ryan - 123.5)
5. Ezekiel Elliott (Provost - 118)

Thoughts and analysis:

• Fournette would have a shot to be the RB1 if he hadn’t missed last week with an injury.
• It’s not shocking Nate owns the top 2 RBs, when he’s also the top scorer in the league. Also not shocking: Melvin Gordon, also on Nate’s roster, is the RB6.

Wide Receivers

1. Antonio Brown (Nash - 123)
2. Tyreek Hill (Nate - 95)
3. DeAndre Hopkins (Kyle - 90.5)
4. A.J. Green (Kyle - 88.5)
5. Larry Fitzgerald (Pete - 86.5)

Thoughts and analysis:

• Seems unlikely that Fitz will maintain his spot in the top 5, given his QB is now Drew Stanton.
• The gap between AB and Tyreek is impressive. It’s the biggest gap between #1 and #2 players at a position.

Tight Ends

1. Zach Ertz (Provost - 93.5)
2. Rob Gronkowski (Nash - 83.5)
3. Travis Kelce (Kevin - 78.5)
4. Cameron Brate (Pete - 69.5)
5. Evan Engram (Kyle - 65)

Thoughts and analysis:

• Zach Ertz is the only TE Provost has played all year. Matt Nash has sat Gronk only once, due to injury.
• In the beginning of the year, I certainly wouldn’t have expected to see Brate and Engram on this list.

Defenses

1. Jaguars (Kevin - 102)
2. Rams (unowned - 80)
3. Steelers (Cusick - 75)
4. Lions (Kevin - 75)
5. Bears (unowned - 70)

Thoughts and analysis

• It’s interesting to me that the Jaguars are the top scoring defense AND they have a negative point week (-1 in Week 2).
• The Rams are probably unowned because they’re on bye in week 8. The Bears are unowned because they’re crappy, and benefitted from playing two bad offenses in the past two weeks.

Kickers

1. Greg Zuerlein (Nate - 96)
2. Ryan Succop (Cusick - 84)
3. Jake Elliot (Chris - 71)
4. Stephen Gostkowski (Nash - 69.5)
5. Kai Forbath (unowned - 66.5)

Thoughts and analysis:

• How much thinking do you really have to do about kickers? Greg The Leg is the leading kicker because the Rams offense, despite being the highest scoring in the league, struggles in the red zone.
• Maybe someone should pick up Kai Forbath.

Standings, and what they might mean

Team	W	L	PF	PA
The Jeff Fisher Effect	7	0	832.5	570
Hooper’s Heroes	4	3	705	651
Pedro Pickles	4	3	700.5	647
Scrote Squad	4	3	652	720.5
Team Provost	3	4	707	739.5
Grim Reaper	3	4	651.5	708
Outta Luck	3	4	609.5	649.5
Jameis Winston Zeddemore	3	4	585	644.5
Released Dix On Boobies	2	5	604.5	692
Iron Ryan	2	5	570.5	596

It’s really been a dominating year so far for The Jeff Fisher Effect. He’s got the most points for and the fewest points against. His 118.93 points per game would be the second highest in league history (behind Kevin’s 120.82 in 2016). His 7 game winning streak is the longest to start a season in league history. Only one other team has ever been undefeated this far into the season (Provost was 7-0-1 in 2014, his tie coming in week 2). His team looks dominant.

Other random piece of info: The league average score is 94.54 points per week; only three other owners (besides The Effect) average more than that, and they all average 100 or more (Pickles-100.07; Heroes-100.71; Provost-101).

The rest of the league is all separated by 2 games. Pedro Pickles looks pretty legit, and could be the second best team in the league. Hooper's Heroes is trending the wrong way at 4-3 (thanks to some major injuries), and Scrote Squad is just...there. His roster doesn’t seem fearsome (he’s got the 5th-most points scored) but he’s right there. If you take out the 56.5 point egg his team laid in Week 4, and he’s averaging almost 100 points a week, so perhaps the “just...there” analysis is a bit off.

The numbers seem to suggest Team Provost has been a little snake-bitten this year, scoring the second most points, while having the most scored against him. His team is a little bit scary, but could quickly be made less scary (and perhaps downright pedestrian) if the Zeke Suspension happens this year. He’s probably the best of the 3-4 teams.

Grim Reaper announced to the GroupMe that he was going to make the playoffs, but has gone 1-2 since. He might still be a player away. He’s got some WRs that might be attractive to some owners willing to take a chance. Outta Luck may just be that, but kudos for making the team respectable (two top-5 QBs probably help). Jameis Winston Zeddemore is the last of the 3-4 pack, but is definitely trending downward. He started 3-0, but has lost 4 straight. And he has no FAAB money left, so any noise he makes will likely be on the trade market. Or if he finds a diamond in the rough no one else notices.

Our 2-5 teams are headed in opposite directions. Iron Ryan put up his lowest total of the season, and has been bitten hard by the injury (Beckham) and stupidity (Marshawn) bug. And he’s got entirely too many members of a bad offense on his roster. Released Dix On Boobies has won two in a row, and put up decent point totals in both wins. And if Amari Cooper is as back as his large Thursday night output suggests, Boobies (heh) is a darkhorse to make the playoffs from the 2-5 slot. To be clear, I’m not suggesting 41 points is going to happen for Cooper every week (or maybe even ever again), but if it suggests he’ll get closer to 10-15 and the occasional 20-25 than the 4 he’d been averaging, it’s a good sign.

Who has the highest scoring positions?

As I’ve done in previous years, I’ve been tracking each position over the course of the year. Here’s who has gotten the most points from each position:

QB: Tim (131 points), Chris (124 points)

RB: Nate (259 points), Provost (202.5 points)

WR: Nash (190.5 points), Kyle (188 points)

TE: Nash (94.5 points), Provost (93.5 points)

FLEX: Nate (112 points), Provost (102.5)

D/ST: Chris (72 points), Kevin (70 points)

K: Nate (96 points), Cusick (85 points)

The FLEX points are sort of arbitrary, since it’s not the same player or position, and sometimes it makes sense to have your best player in that slot. But it’s interesting to see that the two top scoring teams have the top point totals from that spot.

I have also tracked the players that have appeared at each position for each owner. Interesting piece of trivia: though 7 weeks of the season, Tim has used 6 different defenses, and only doubled up on defenses in Week 7 (using the Vikings for the second time this season). I won’t bore you with more info on individual players, but you can find all that compiled easily on your individual page in the “2017 stats” page.

I’m working on a Keeper Report too, but don’t want to make this post too long (or longer than it already is). Look for it later today, or maybe even tomorrow.

And then….SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!