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By Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
Not every NFL or Dynasty Owner game this week nicely fits into the weekly theme of blowouts and upsets, but just enough of them do to warrant some attention. There were three blowouts and two upsets in the NFL in Week 15 and all of the blowouts and upsets involved teams that will likely be in the NFL playoffs. The Jets and the Bengals both came out swinging and upset likely (Rams) and guaranteed (Steelers) playoff teams. The Bills, Titans and Ravens all blew out their opponents to guarantee a division title and playoff berth (Bills), solidify their playoff odds (Titans) or keep alive their playoff hopes (Ravens).
For the top 10 teams in the Chase for the Ring from last week, most of their matchups in the playoff semifinals were either blowouts or upsets as well. Seven of last week’s Top 10 teams won with an average margin of victory of 32.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. There was only one close game among those winners. The other three Top 10 teams lost with two close losses. One game was decided by 2.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and another by 6.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. The third team was featured in our Match-up of the Week as they were facing another team in the Top 25 and lost by 34.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points.
The Dynasty Owner Player of the Week and Value Player of the Week both led their teams to blowout victories in Week 15. Find out who they are in this playoff semi-finals edition of the Dynasty Owner weekly recap. In addition to naming both of them, we’ll highlight a player at every position who should have been one of your Starters and one who should have been on your Bench or Practice Squad.
More importantly, we’ll find out if Seth continued his quest for the Crossroads League title or if he was stopped by Dynasty Owner CEO Tim. We will also find out which Top 25 team won the Match-up of the Week and advanced in the Chase for the Ring. Finally, we’ll also look at the updated Chase for the Ring standings featuring only teams playing in Week 16 for their League Championship and see which Chase teams lost and dropped out of the Top 10.
All stats are based on the Standard Dynasty Owner scoring system as outlined in the updated Dynasty Owner Constitution. Standard Dynasty Owner scoring gives you .1 points for every yard rushing or receiving, .1 point for every 2 yards passing, 1 point per reception, 6 points for a rushing, receiving or passing touchdown and 2 points for a successful 2-point conversion (rushing, receiving, or passing). Interceptions or fumbles lost cost you 3 points, while a fumble that is recovered by the player’s team is a loss of only 1 point. Bonus points are available for 100-199 yards rushing (2 points), 200 yards rushing or receiving (6 points), 300-399 yards passing (1 point) and 400 yards passing (4 points). There is also a 3 point bonus for clutch scoring, which is a score that results in a lead change in the final two minutes of the 4th quarter or overtime. Kickoff and punt return touchdowns are worth 6 points for the player and kickoff and punt returns are worth 1 point for every 40 yards.
Standard Dynasty Owner scoring for kickers gives you 1 point for every extra point, while a missed extra point will cost you 1 point. It’s 2 points for a field goal of between 0 and 39 yards, 4 points for a field goal between 40 and 49 yards and 5 points for a field goal of 50 yards or longer. A missed field goal of between 0 and 39 yards will cost you 3 points, while a miss of 40 yards or more is a loss of 2 points.
For the purposes of this article, ADP and Dynasty Owner ownership statistics were current as of December 22nd.
Dynasty Owner Player of the Week
Our second 2020 playoff Dynasty Owner Player of the Week is: Ryan Tannehill
Two weeks into the Dynasty Owner playoffs and it’s been two Dynasty Owner Player of the Week winners from the Tennessee Titans. Admittedly, those blowout victories by Tennessee were against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Detroit Lions, but they still count. Last week, our Player of the Week was RB Derrick Henry, while this week it’s QB Ryan Tannehill. Tannehill had his best performance of the 2020 season with 45.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (273 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, 21 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs). Starting Tannehill likely led his Dynasty Owners to win either their playoff matchup or Loser’s Bracket tournament game and stay alive for a chance at a League championship or the 1.13 draft pick in the 2021 rookie draft. It wasn’t a blowout for this honor as Tannehill edged out a trio of other QBs (Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, and Kyler Murray) who all had more than 40.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week.
- Week 15 Points: 45.7
- 2020 Salary: $29,500,000
- Cost per Point: $645,514
Congratulations Ryan on winning your first career Dynasty Owner Player of the Week honor!
Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week
Because this is Dynasty Owner and we’re all looking for value from the players on our roster, we also have the Value Player of the Week. The second 2020 playoff Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week is: Zach Pascal
Here’s something to remember for next season, Zach Pascal plays very well in the regular season at home against the Houston Texans. In Week 15, he had a season best 27.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy point game (5 receptions, 79 receiving yards, 2 receiving TDs). He caught a 5 yard TD pass to win the game with 1:47 left to get the 3 point clutch scoring bonus. Last season, he had another huge game in Week 7 against them, scoring 30.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points to win the Value Player of the Week honor. Even back in 2018, before Dynasty Owner started, he had what would have been 18.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in a Week 4 home game versus Houston. Last year, he only had a $525,000 annual salary. He got a raise up to $660,000 for this season, but that’s still low enough to provide the most value for his Dynasty Owners this week.
- Week 15 Points: 27.9
- 2020 Salary: $660,000
- Cost per Point: $23,656
Congratulations Zach on your first Dynasty Owner Value Player of the Week honor of the season and second overall.
Players Who Should Have Been Starters This Week
Next, we look at those players who should have been one of your Starters based on their performance in Week 15. We aren’t going to write that you should have started Calvin Ridley or Darren Waller because barring injury or bye week, both of them should always be in your Starting lineup. Instead, these are players who might normally be on your Bench or Practice Squad, but likely weren’t Starters in Week 15 when they should have been.
QB: Jalen Hurts (PHI) – 45.2 points
Hurts just missed out on being Dynasty Owner Player of the Week as he finished 0.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points behind Ryan Tannehill. The rookie QB played pretty well in his first game as the Eagles starter last week with 23.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, which ranked him in the middle of the QB pack. He did nearly as much with his legs running the ball in his first NFL start as he did with his arm passing. This led some fantasy analysts to consider starting Hurts against Arizona. Those who listened and started him hit the jackpot as Hurts put up 45.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (338 passing yards, 3 passing TDs, 63 rushing yards, 1 rushing TD, 3 fumbles). If he hadn’t fumbled three times, he would have been the Player of the Week in only his second career start. Hopefully his Dynasty Owners had Hurts in their Starting lineup this week and not riding the Bench.
RB: Tony Pollard (DAL) – 31.7 points
When Ezekiel Elliott was ruled inactive prior to the Cowboys’ game against the San Francisco 49ers, it opened up an opportunity for Tony Pollard to show what he could do as the top RB for Dallas. And he definitely showed off with 31.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (69 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs, 6 receptions, 63 receiving yards, 20 return yards). For perspective, Elliott hadn’t scored that many points in a single game in 2020. Since Elliott makes $15 million annually compared to just under $800,000 for Pollard, it’s going to lead to speculation about Pollard taking over for Elliott in Dallas. That remains to be seen, but this was the week to get Pollard into your Starting lineup if you had been holding him on your Bench or Practice Squad all season, waiting for just this opportunity.
WR: Kendrick Bourne (SF) – 18.6 points
With Zach Pascal earning Value Player of the Week honors, we had to dip down pretty far on the WR scoring charts this week to find someone who wasn’t likely in his Dynasty Owners’ Starting lineup. As the #60 WR in Dynasty Owner and only owned in 52% of leagues, Bourne was unlikely to be appearing in too many Starting lineups this week. And he really wasn’t worthy of it until he scored at the very end of the 49ers’ 41-33 loss to the Cowboys. Bourne caught a 49-yard TD pass from C.J. Beathard at the end of the game, a play that garnered him 11.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points to give him 18.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (4 receptions, 86 receiving yards, 1 receiving TD) on the day. That was worth a spot as the usual Bench or Practice Squad WR who Dynasty Owners should have put in their Starting lineup this week.
TE: Tyler Higbee (LAR) – 16.7 points
Outside of a 3 TD, 28.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy point effort back in Week 2, Tyler Higbee hadn’t done a whole lot to justify his $7.25 million annual salary or draft ADP of 139.8. Taking out that one game, Higbee was only averaging 6.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. He had even been outscored in five games this season by fellow Rams TE Gerald Everett. Despite his early draft position, many Dynasty Owners had probably given up on Higbee producing another Top 10 TE performance and put him on their Bench. That would have been a mistake as they would have missed out on this week’s performance.
K: Cairo Santos (CHI) – 17.0 points
Prior to Week 15, Santos was the #17 kicker in Dynasty Owner. He had only scored double-digits in three games during the 2020 season and was averaging just 6.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. That was despite having only missed three kicks all season (21 out of 23 on FG attempts and 27 out of 28 on PAT attempts). He was perfect on FG attempts of 39 yards or less (14 for 14), but had only attempted nine kicks of 40 yards or longer. Santos got just his second opportunity to attempt more than one 40+ yard FG in a single game in Week 15 and took advantage. He made four FGs in total (35, 42, 42 and 48 yards) plus 3 PATs to score 17.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. He moved up to the #9 kicker in Dynasty Owner now and should have been in the Starting lineup in Week 15 to help his Dynasty Owners in their playoff games.
Honorable mention to Nick Folk, another kicker who rarely misses (only four missed kicks all season – 2 FGs and 2 PATs), but was only one spot above Santos in the Dynasty Owner kicker rankings at #16 before Week 15. The Patriots offense stalled four times in Dolphins’ territory this week and Folk made all four FG attempts. He scored 14.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points as he made one FG of 39 yards or less (36 yards) plus three of 40 yards or more (42 yards and two from 45 yards). This was just his third game with over 10.0 points for the season and one in which he should have been in your Starting lineup.
Players Who Should Have Been on the Bench or Practice Squad
For every player who should have been one of your Starters but wasn’t, we have at least one highly ranked player who probably was in your Starting lineup, but would have been better left on your Bench or Practice Squad. Here are some likely Starters who scored few or no Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week, so they should have been riding your Dynasty Owner Bench or hanging out on the Practice Squad in the playoff or Loser’s bracket tournament semi-finals.
QB: Russell Wilson (SEA) – 14.2 points
As a result, Russell Wilson gets the dishonor of being the QB who you probably had in your Starting lineup but shouldn’t have. It’s really been a tale of two seasons for him as the Russell Wilson of the second half of the 2020 season is not the same player as the Russell Wilson of the first half of the season. He averaged 38.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points over the first eight games of the season. Second half Russell Wilson was only averaging 20.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points through five games before producing even less than that in Week 15 when he had just 14.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (121 passing yards, 1 passing TD, 52 rushing yards, 1 INT). Dynasty Owners would never have sat first half Russell Wilson on the Bench, but should have put second half Russell Wilson there in Week 15.
Dishonorable mention to Ben Roethlisberger who had a much worse game on Monday Night in the Steelers’ 27-17 upset loss to the Bengals than Wilson did. Despite being ranked as a Top 12 QB, not too many Dynasty Owners could have Started Roethlisberger since he and his $34 million salary are only rostered in 15% of Dynasty Owner leagues. Those who do have and started him only got 7.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (170 passing yards, 1 passing TD, -1 rushing yards, 1 INT, 2 fumbles – 1 lost). With the Steelers reeling at the end of the season, Roethlisberger was better left on your Bench in Week 15.
RB: Wayne Gallman (NYG) – 2.9 points
By scoring only 2.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (29 rushing yards) in Week 15, Gallman broke a streak of seven consecutive games with double digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points. He averaged 15.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in those games and had made himself a regular in Dynasty Owner Starting lineups in either the RB2 or FLEX spot. That all came crashing down for Gallman in the Giants’ 20-6 loss to Cleveland and hopefully his Dynasty Owners left him on their Bench or Practice Squad this week.
WR: Amari Cooper (DAL) – 2.3 points
It’s kind of surprising to see Amari Cooper in this spot again. Cowboys QB Andy Dalton threw for 209 yards and 2 TDs, but Cooper only managed to catch two passes for 10 receiving yards. He also had one rushing attempt for negative 7 yards to leave him with 2.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points for the week. Since his last appearance here back in Week 8, Cooper was averaging 16.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. That’s in the past and he should have been on your Bench this week.
Honorable mention to Keenan Allen who played through injuries on Thursday night against the Raiders. He probably shouldn’t have done that, or least his Dynasty Owners, shouldn’t have started him as he only produced 2.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (1 reception, 17 receiving yards, -1 rushing yards). Allen should have not left the Bench and that’s where Dynasty Owners should have kept him.
TE: T.J. Hockenson (DET) – 0.8 points
Hockenson came into Week 15 as one of the most consistent players in Dynasty Owner. He was averaging 12.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game and had scored over 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in ten games with 9.7 and 9.3 points in two other games. He didn’t have any great games as he hadn’t reached 20.0 points in a single game, but he had only put up one bad game with 3.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points versus Washington in Week 10. With the news that Matthew Stafford would start at QB for Detroit, Dynasty Owners with Hockenson likely figured they would get their double digit points from their TE and put him in their Starting lineup. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for them as Hockenson only scored 0.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (2 receptions, 18 receiving yards, 1 fumble – lost). For only the second time this season, Hockenson was best left on your Bench.
K: Jason Sanders (MIA) – 0.0 points
Sanders was the top ranked kicker in Dynasty Owner going into Week 15. Sanders and Younghoe Koo of Atlanta were the only kickers averaging 10.0 or more Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game during the Dynasty Owner regular season and Sanders had 7.0 points last week in the first round of the playoffs or Loser’s bracket tournament for his Dynasty Owners. That game was one of only five in which he scored less than 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, until this week when he put up a Blutarsky (0.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). Sanders missed a 52 yard FG at the end of the first half, but made both of his PAT attempts in the second half to avoid having negative points. For one of the few times this season, Sanders should have been on your Dynasty Owner Bench or Practice Squad.
Seth’s Quest for a Dynasty Owner Title Recap –
Real Timo’s Titans vs. CLE Piggy Pauls
Seth’s quest for a Dynasty Owner title took a major hit when the Saints announced that Drew Brees would once again be the team’s Starting QB, leaving Seth’s only healthy QB Taysom Hill as the backup in New Orleans. Seth’s other QBs are an injured Daniel Jones who wasn’t scheduled to play in Week 16 and Joe Burrow who is out for the rest of the 2020 season.
In an upset on par with the Jets’ win in Super Bowl III over the Colts, the CLE Piggy Pauls defeated Real Timo’s Titans by a 136.1-124.6 score to reach the Crossroads League finals. Tim was favored by a whopping 53.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in the final score projections, but somehow the CLE Piggy Pauls pulled out the victory. The early good start by Austin Ekeler, Noah Fant and Stefon Diggs in the Thursday and Saturday games for Seth was too much for Tim to overcome on Sunday. The early injury to Tyler Boyd on Monday Night Football sealed Tim’s fate as Seth took the victory and berth in the Crossroads League final.
Now, Seth has to battle Uncle Don in the Crossroads league finals. Can he overcome the odds and take down another member of the Dynasty Owner leadership? We’ll preview that game in the Week 16 preview article along with taking a look at some other games involving teams at the top of the Chase for the Ring.
Dynasty Owner Matchup of the Week Recap –
Bayside Tigers vs. Jet Jones
In our only match-up of two Top 25 Chase for the Ring teams, the higher seeded #5 Bayside Tigers were a slight underdog coming into their playoff semi-final matchup with the red hot #18 seed in Jet Jones. Which team survived this Top 25 Chase for the Ring elimination game? Let’s find out:
It was Jet Jones winning pretty convincingly by a 34.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (179.6 to 145.3). Jet Jones was able to overcome below average performances by Tyler Lockett and Davante Adams with solid ones from the rest of his Starting lineup (Lamar Jackson, Derrick Henry, Jonathan Taylor, Stefon Diggs, Darren Waller, Younghoe Koo) to take the victory. T.J. Hockenson’s poor performance, along with below average games from Aaron Rodgers, Austin Ekeler and DK Metcalf contributed to the upset loss for Bayside Tigers. Bayside Tigers won the Bench scoring battle as they had four 20.0+ point scorers (Tom Brady, Leonard Fournette, Josh Jacobs and Antonio Brown) on their Bench.
Chase for the Ring Leaderboard
With Bayside Tigers, and all of the playoff semi-finals losers out of the picture, let’s take a look at the updated Top 10 in the Chase for the Ring.
In addition to the Bayside Tigers, two other Top 10 teams were upset in the playoff semi-finals. Both Tip Drill (#8 in last week’s Standings) and The Tough Guys (#9 in last week’s Standings) are no longer eligible for the Ring as they were upset by a pair of heavy underdogs. Tip Drill lost by 6.0 points to Melloncolly after being favored by 40.3 points. The Tough Guys lost by just 2.6 points to Dream Chasers who they were favored to defeat by 34.0 points. Both Melloncolly and Dream Chasers had 7-6 records in the regular season but advance to their League finals, while Tip Drill and The Tough Guys lament what could have been.
On the other hand, we also had plenty of blowouts with four current Top 10 teams (Quaranteed for Greatness, Mad Minshew’s Moustache, Semper Fedelis and Hyenas) all winning their semi-finals matchups by more than 50.0 points. Barbee Kilgore won their semi-final game and scored enough points to retain the top spot in the standings by 46.5 points. The Ring is theirs to win, provided they can win their League title in Week 16.
Conclusions
There were a few upsets this week along with some playoff semi-finals blowouts among teams in the Chase for the Ring. We are now down to the final two teams in each League to battle it out for the League title. All of the playoffs winners can call themselves League Champion, but only one will be the ultimate winner and gets the Ring.
We have just one more regular Tuesday recap for Week 16 coming next week as well as the final preview article on tap. Please read the Week 16 preview article to see how my Week 15 recommendations did and who should be a Starter and who should be on your Bench in the playoffs and loser’s bracket tournament finals. Don’t forget to read upcoming articles from both Jay Poundsee (@jaypoundsnfl) and Matt Morrison – The Jerk (@Dynastyjerk) as well as follow all of us plus Dynasty Owner (@Dynasty_Owner) on Twitter.
Listen on Tuesday at 3 PM to the live Dynasty Owner podcast to hear all about Seth’s victory and his quest for the Crossroads League title. The podcast series with myself and Dynasty Owner CEO Tim Peffer also goes live at 1 PM on Wednesday. If you can’t make it live, then watch or listen to both of them anytime on the Dynasty Owner YouTube channel. You can catch up with older videos and tutorials there as well. Subscribe as well to receive notifications and make sure to “Like” all of the videos to help promote them. Dynasty Owner has 572 subscribers on YouTube right now and we thank everyone who has subscribed already. All of this great content is available to help you win your League Championship as well as the Chase for the Ring.
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