We have reached the conclusion of the regular season in
season 5 of the AFL. The playoffs are set but before we get to that, let’s
recap the final week of the regular season.
Brandon won the game of the week against Anthony.
Unfortunately he needed Cory to win and Andrew to lose for his win to catapult
him into the playoffs. Both Cory and Andrew won their games and earned playoff
births, but Brandon won his third career Peyton Manning Award.
This week’s Tom Brady Award went to Will, who led the league
with 168.0 points. That total is the third highest single-week score in league
history and the second highest for a regular season contest.
Cory also put up some bit point totals as six of his seven
offensive players scored touchdowns and the lone wolf who didn’t was Antonio
Brown, who still managed to lead Cory’s team in scoring. His point total of
149.9 points is tied for #15 on the league’s all-time list.
Only one position player made the top 40 list and that was
Le’Veon Bell. He gave Andrew a 36.3-point performance, tying him at #16 on the
running back list.
On the whole, the league’s 12 teams scored 1348.6 points in
week 14, good for the tenth highest scoring week through 68 regular season
weeks in league history. It was just the fourth time that the six winning teams
averaged at least 130 points.
Our unluckiest coach of the week was Sean, who posted a 6-5
breakdown but was facing Cory. Our luckiest was Brandon, who had just a 4-7
breakdown but was facing Anthony, who had the second lowest point total of the
week.
The best coach in week 14 was Brandon, who earned 6.4 points
and his victory over Anthony by taking two successful coaching risks, starting
Marqise Lee over TY Hilton and Jerrick McKinnon over DeMarco Murray.
The worst coach of the week was Evan, who cost his team 18.8
points by failing on two coaching risks, starting David Njoku over Charles Clay
and Sterling Shepard over Demaryius Thomas.
On the season, our unluckiest coach was Adam. He had 2.5
fewer wins than expected based on his season-long breakdown and 3 fewer wins
than expected based on the number of times he finished in the top half of the
league in scoring.
On the flip side, we had two very lucky coaches. Based on
season-long breakdown, Danny won 3.4 more games than expected. Based on the
number of times he finished in the top half of the league in scoring, Cory had
three more wins than expected.
Coaching has been a trip this season. This year I used
ESPN’s weekly projections, as they were at the time games began and lineups
locked, to define coaching risks. Our best coach this year was Cory, who had
nine successful coaching risks out of 14 for .643 success rate. Overall he cost
his team one win but earned his team a total of 32.6 points. He was the only
owner who earned points over the course of the entire season.
Andrew, Danny, William, and Brandon each earned their team
one win over the course of the season. William actually earned his team two
wins this season with coaching decisions but also cost his team a win back in
week 3. Danny, meanwhile, had the second best success rate in the league
despite losing a cumulative 13.3 points. He had 10 correct decisions on 16
risks.
Our two worst coaches this season were Eric and Viroj. Eric
cost his team two wins and 43.4 points this season, going 4 for 11 on coaching
risks. Viroj cost his team just one win but a league worst 58.1 points with the
lowest success rate in the league. He took the most risks with 20 but only hit
on 6 of them for a .300 success rate.
After having four owners reach the plateau in 2016, Will was
the only owner in the league with more than 1600 points this season. His final
total sits behind only Eric and Anthony’s totals from last year.
Two owners failed to average 100 points per game. Sean
managed just 1312.3 points in his 14 games this season. Things get rough when
you have just two players on your roster who are in the top 10 at their
position for the season.
Looking ahead to the playoffs, the first round will feature
Danny against Cory and Will against Andrew. The consolation brackets will
determine the order in which owners will select their draft positions next year
while the two owners who make it to the championship game will earn the right
to select their divisions for next season.
Good luck to everyone over the final two weeks of the
season. I’ll be back after the championship game with a playoff recap and a
season wrap-up.
Check out the review of Week 14 below:
Standings:
AFL East
|
Rec
|
GB
|
AFL West
|
Rec
|
GB
|
Will Massimini
|
10-4
|
--
|
Andrew Perez
|
9-5
|
--
|
Viroj Suteerawongsa
|
7-7
|
3
|
Cory Puffett
|
9-5
|
--
|
Eric Meyer
|
7-7
|
3
|
Evan Ash
|
5-9
|
4
|
Adam Perez
|
2-12
|
8
|
Sean Kennedy
|
2-12
|
7
|
AFL Central
|
Rec
|
GB
|
|||
Danny Hatcher
|
12-2
|
--
|
|||
Brandon Saunders
|
8-6
|
4
|
|||
William Battle
|
7-7
|
5
|
|||
Anthony Battle
|
6-8
|
6
|
|||
Schedule:
Away
|
Score
|
Home
|
Score
|
Viroj Suteerawongsa
(VS)
|
99.2
|
Eric Meyer
(EM)
|
125.0
|
Anthony Battle (AB)
|
92.2
|
Brandon
Saunders (BS)
|
97.3
|
Danny
Hatcher (DH)
|
124.1
|
William Battle (WB)
|
97.0
|
Andrew
Perez (AP1)
|
117.6
|
Evan Ash (EA)
|
81.2
|
Sean Kennedy (SK)
|
102.5
|
Cory
Puffett (CP)
|
149.9
|
Adam Perez (AP2)
|
94.6
|
Will
Massimini (WM)
|
168.0
|
Scoring Leaders (Must be starting on a team to qualify):
QB
|
Pts
|
RB
|
Pts
|
1. Ben
Roethlisberger, EM
|
31.0
|
1. Le’Veon Bell, AP1
|
36.3
|
2. Dak Prescott, SK
|
28.1
|
2. Jordan Howard, AB
|
30.3
|
3. Carson Wentz, WM
|
28.0
|
3. Jamaal Williams, WM
|
28.8
|
4. Russell Wilson, WB
|
22.6
|
4. Todd Gurley II, WB
|
28.3
|
5. Matthew Stafford,
BS
|
18.0
|
5. Alex Collins, AP2
|
25.4
|
WR
|
Pts
|
TE
|
Pts
|
1. DeAndre Hopkins, DH
|
30.4
|
1. Trey Burton, WM
|
21.6
|
2. Antonio Brown, CP
|
26.8
|
2. Jared Cook, AP2
|
16.0
|
3. Davante Adams, AP1
|
25.4
|
3. Hunter Henry, VS
|
13.0
|
4. Michael Thomas, CP
|
22.7
|
4. Kyle Rudolph, CP
|
11.6
|
5. Jarvis Landry, WM
|
20.6
|
5. Travis Kelce, DH
|
10.9
|
Game of the Week: Anthony
Battle at Brandon Saunders
In the lowest-scoring game of the week, Brandon warded off
Anthony thanks to a poor performance by Tom Brady on Monday night.
Unfortunately for Brandon, Andrew won his game against Evan to knock Brandon
out of the playoffs. Instead Brandon will settle for the top seed in the consolation
ladder.
