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By Steven Van Tassell (@SteveVT33)
The old expression “Two’s Company, Three’s A Crowd” is an appropriate analogy for how to look at the situation at the top of Dynasty Owner right now. However, in the end, there can only be one team that reigns supreme in every single League and definitely only one team that wins the Chase for the Ring.
In the “Two’s Company” section, we have two undefeated teams looking to become the first ones since the inaugural season of Dynasty Owner in 2019. The rules were different back in the inaugural season. The leagues were only ten teams, there was no FLEX position, and only 20% of Bench points were added to your final score. The salary rules were different as well with a salary cap plus luxury taxes, and weekly salary charges, that I don’t recall completely. Let’s just say, it was different than the Dynasty Owner we all know and love today. Those teams are:
| Team Name | League | Chase Position |
| DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) | 27458 | 3rd |
| Detroit’s Finest | 74733 | 9th |
In addition to the two undefeated teams, there are also two teams who will battle each other this week in every League for the right to become their League Champion.
In the “Three’s A Crowd” section, we have three main contenders for the Ring. Unless something completely unexpected happens, the winner of the Chase for the Ring will be one of the three teams at the top of the standings right now. Those teams are:
Sorry juan blanco, ODBs, Richie Incognito, Detroit’s Finest and everyone else on the Championship Contenders list below the #3 spot. I just don’t see all three of these top teams losing this week and everyone else is too far behind on points to make up. Detroit’s Finest may end up defeating their Week 17 opponent (kmvy) and be the only remaining undefeated team, but still not win the Chase for the Ring. Same for DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew), although hey have a better chance to win the Ring if they can win this week.
While going undefeated is a major accomplishment, it’s still all about winning the Ring, so that’s going to be the focus of our Match-ups of the Week. No suggestions needed. We are going to profile the top three teams in the Chase for the Ring and see who’s in the best position to be the last team standing. After reading and looking at the match-ups, let me know on Twitter (@SteveVT33) who you think will be the “one”.
All stats cited 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.
For the purposes of this article, ADP and Dynasty Owner rostered percentage statistics were current as of the morning of New Year’s Eve (December 31st).
These Guys Should be Starters This Week
First, let’s look at how my Week 16 recommendations fared (Good, Bad or Just Ok). I predicted performances worthy of being in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup for these four players for the Week 16 playoff semi-finals and totally brought it for the most important week of the year (until this week). For the first time in the 2021 season, I avoided making a Bad recommendation and even recommended a player who finished with the most Dynasty Owner fantasy points at his position.
QB: Russell Wilson – 22.3 (Good recommendation)
RB: Justin Jackson – 33.2 (Good recommendation)
WR: Laquon Treadwell – 9.4 (Just Ok recommendation)
TE: C.J. Uzomah – 8.6 (Just Ok recommendation)
First, we have the Justin Jackson recommendation. It was the first Good RB recommendation for the season and Jackson finished the week as the RB1. One. Can’t do much better than that or pick a better time than the playoffs to do it. Russell Wilson was QB10 for the week, so a low-end Starter and therefore, a Good recommendation. C.J. Uzomah ended up with 8.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points as the TE18 for the week, but less than 1.0 point from being in the Top 12 TEs. That makes his recommendation Just Ok. Laquon Treadwell was the worst recommendation for the week and that’s a pretty good week when 9.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points and a Just Ok recommendation is the worst one. Right now, it’s two Good, three Just Ok and three Bad Starting lineup recommendations for the playoffs. Here are four players (just one per position) who hopefully push my Good Starting lineup recommendations for the playoffs ahead of my Bad ones.
Justin Fields (QB – CHI): After starting off the season very poorly, most of the five rookie QBs have gotten a little bit better over the course of the 2021 season. Mac Jones started the season off playing well and was the clear top rookie QB, but poor performances in two out of his last three games have closed the gap. Zach Wilson has scored double-digit Dynasty Owner fantasy points in each of his past four games, after only doing it twice in his first seven games. Before missing Week 16 due to injury, Justin Fields had consecutive games with 21.6 and 19.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Fields also had consecutive games with 25.0 and 28.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points before getting injured in Week 11 against Baltimore. When healthy, Fields has played well recently, and those games referenced above average out to 23.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. The key word is “healthy” as Fields practiced on Wednesday and Thursday, but was limited. If Fields returns to play and is healthy, he should continue to do well against the New York Giants. He’s a good player to have in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup, but only if he’s healthy enough to play.
Boston Scott (RB – PHI): Third time is a charm for Boston Scott in this spot – am I right? It’s time for one more Good RB recommendation to close out the season. The first time that Scott was here, he scored 4.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 9, while Jordan Howard had 13.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, including a TD. Then in Week 13 with the Eagles playing the Jets, he didn’t practice all week with a non-COVID illness, but was listed as questionable and ended up being active. He only played three snaps on offense and had only 0.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points while Miles Sanders had 120 rushing yards and 19.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Sanders is supposed to be out for Week 17 and Howard is questionable with a stinger injury. It may be just Scott and Kenneth Gainwell who is limited in practice with a minor ankle injury. The Eagles are the top rushing team in the NFL and average 163.2 rushing yards per game. Jalen Hurts and other non-QBs, but mostly Hurts, account for about 50 yards per game, but 111.3 rushing yards by RBs will still be good enough against a banged-up Washington Football Team defense. Boston Scott should perform well enough this week to use in your Starting lineup and not make me regret picking him to fail for a third time. He won’t be the RB1 for the week like last week’s recommendation (Justin Jackson), but good enough for your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup.
Michael Gallup (WR – DAL): Gallup hasn’t been too bad this season as he has 78.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in eight games (9.9 points per game). That makes him the WR86 for the season. Even if he played in all 15 games with the same production, he would have 147.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, sandwiched between Marvin Jones and DeAndre Hopkins, and be just outside of a FLEX play at WR36. He’s been targeted plenty with 58 targets in eight games (7.25 targets per game). The main reason for Gallup’s low Dynasty Owner fantasy points total is that he only has 1 TD on the season. The Arizona defense has allowed 21 TD receptions to WRs, including eight in the past four weeks since their bye (10 passing TD overall). Cowboys QB Dak Prescott has thrown 29 TDs this season to rank ninth in the NFL. However, all but one of the players ahead of him have played in all 15 games, while Prescott missed Week 8 versus Minnesota. It should be a multi-TD pass week for Prescott and Gallup should have one of them to go with his average game of receptions and receiving yards. That is worth a spot in your Dynasty Owner Starting lineup.
Gerald Everett (TE – SEA): This recommendation was foreshadowed in the Week 16 recap article when I broke down how well Gerald Everett performs with Russell Wilson at QB for Seattle. If you don’t want to click the link and read the whole analysis, the basics are that Everett is much better with Wilson at QB this season. He averages almost 9.4 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game (93.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in ten games) with Wilson at QB, while his overall average for the season is 8.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. Everett has scored 10.0 or more Dynasty Owner fantasy points in seven out of the ten games that he has played with Wilson at QB. That’s enough points to be ranked in the Top 12 TEs for the week and why Everett should be in your Starting lineup for the Dynasty Owner playoff finals.
These Guys Should Be on the Bench (or Practice Squad) This Week
Through the Dynasty Owner regular season, I had as many Good as Bad Bench recommendations, which continued in the first round of the playoffs with two Good and two Bad recommendations. In the Week 16 playoff semi-finals, the trend continued because of these selections.
QB: Kirk Cousins – 18.4 (Just Ok recommendation)
RB: Joe Mixon – 31.5 (Bad recommendation)
WR: Hunter Renfrow – 13.2 (Just Ok recommendation)
TE: Mike Gesicki – 5.2 (Good recommendation)
Another Bad Bench RB recommendation with Joe Mixon finishing just behind Justin Jackson with 31.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. It took until Monday night for the Good recommendation to come through as Dolphins TE Mike Gesicki only had 5.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Kirk Cousins was in the middle of the pack in QB scoring so that recommendation was Just Ok, while Hunter Renfrow had an early TD but not much else. His 13.2 Dynasty Owner fantasy points made for a second Just Ok recommendation this week. Here are four players (only one per position) who can break the tie and hopefully push my Good Bench recommendations for the playoffs ahead of the Bad ones.
Justin Herbert (QB – LAC): Almost all of the top QBs in Dynasty Owner have matchups in Week 17 against opponents who give up a lot of fantasy points to QBs. The exception to this is definitely Justin Herbert who has to go up against the Denver Broncos, which is why Herbert makes his first appearance here since back in Week 1. In three career games against Denver, Herbert has averaged only 24.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. That’s pretty good, but 4.5 points below his career average of 29.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. In no single game against Denver has Herbert reached that average. In those three games, he has thrown six TD passes, but also four INTs. He has 58 TD passes and only 20 INTs against the rest of the league. In his first game versus Denver this season, he had 25.7 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but 10.4 of those points (61 passing yards, 1 passing TD, 13 rushing yards) came on the final drive of the fourth quarter with the Chargers losing 28-7. Those points count, but it shows that Denver had held Herbert down offensively for most of the game. Dynasty Owner teams in the playoff finals are likely to have one of the top QBs with a better matchup than Herbert and advised to leave him on their Bench.
Alvin Kamara (RB – NO): It’s not going to get worse for the New Orleans Saints offense than it did last week against Miami with rookie QB Ian Book behind center. They only ran 51 plays for 164 total yards of offense. Kamara was about one-third of the Saints’ offense as he had 17 opportunities (13 carries and 4 targets) and 59 yards of offense (52 yards rushing and 7 yards receiving). However, they weren’t much better the week before with Taysom Hill at QB, only running 60 plays for 212 total yards of offense. Kamara had slightly worse numbers with 17 opportunities (11 carries and 6 targets) and 31 yards of offense (18 yards rushing and 13 yards passing). The Saints are going up against the Carolina Panthers who held him to only 30 yards of offense (5 yards rushing and 25 yards receiving) on 14 opportunities (8 carries and 6 targets). Even with a decent number of opportunities, Kamara hasn’t made much happen in his past two games (13.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points combined) or in that previous match-up against Carolina (7.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). That’s not good enough to be in the Starting lineup for anyone competing for a Dynasty Owner League Championship.
Terry McLaurin (WR – WAS): It’s been a tale of two seasons for the Football Team and WR Terry McLaurin. In the first half of the season, the Football Team went 2-6, but he scored 125.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, an average of 15.7 points per game. Despite losing their past three games and getting completely blown out by Dallas last week, the Football Team has been better in the second half with a 4-3 record. However, McLaurin has done worse. He has scored just 61.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in seven games (8.8 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game on average). Quarterback issues have been a primary culprit as the Football Team has used three of them over the past three game losing streak with those QBs combining for 557 yards passing, 3 passing TDs, 18 rushing yards, 3 INTs and 3 fumbles, 2 lost. That’s only 33.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points combined spread across three games. Not surprisingly, McLaurin has suffered tremendously with only 5 receptions for 91 yards in those three games (14.1 Dynasty Owner fantasy points). In a bit of strange NFL scheduling, the Football Team has only faced two opponents in that time, Dallas twice and Philadelphia. They face Philadelphia again this week and while it won’t be Garrett Gilbert at QB again, Taylor Heinicke will start, but Kyle Allen will “probably” play according to coach Ron Rivera. That doesn’t seem like a recipe for QB success, which means McLaurin is likely to struggle once again. He’s the WR25 on the season and likely a WR2 or FLEX position Starter normally, but I’d leave him on the Bench for the playoff finals.
Kyle Pitts (TE – ATL): Pitts is currently the TE5 for the Dynasty Owner season with 164.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. That’s just under 11.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game. It’s impressive that he has done this as a rookie and scoring only one TD. The Falcons play the Bills this week and Buffalo holds opposing TEs to 3.2 receptions for 34.9 receiving yards. Opposing TEs have also only scored three TDs against the Bills and none since Nick Vannett of New Orleans caught one in Week 12. The Bills held another Top 10 TE (Hunter Henry of New England) to only 1.9 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (1 reception for 9 receiving yards) last week and are likely to do the same to Pitts this week. Pitts hasn’t caught fewer than two passes in any game so far in 2021 so he is likely to do better than Henry did last week, but don’t expect a double-digit Dynasty Owner fantasy point game. He’s better suited to be on your Bench this week.
Dynasty Owner Playoff Championship Match-up of the Week #1 – SKOL Vikings vs. Jhausdawg
The leader in the Chase for the Ring (SKOL Vikings) are the featured team in our first Match-up of the Week. The formula for SKOL Vikings to capture the Ring is simple, win and don’t get outscored by The Road Warriors by over 35.3 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, or by DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) by over 41.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. If SKOL Vikings get their season-long average of 174.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, they should be fine. However, in a bit of gamesmanship, they aren’t setting their Starting lineup and Bench until later on in the week to avoid letting their opponents know who they are going up against. As I said in the Livestream on Wednesday, I don’t get it, but it doesn’t matter whether or not I get it.
The only team that can stop SKOL Vikings from winning their League are Jhausdawg. Jhausdawg finished the regular season in third place with a 9-5 record. They averaged 129.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points per game in the regular season and had about that many points in each of their two playoffs games (124.78 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in the first round and 136.18 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in the playoff semi-finals). They are ranked 282nd in the Chase for the Ring. Jhausdawg cannot be just average this week to have a chance to pull off the upset of the top team in Dynasty Owner and retain the League #31927 Championship.
SKOL Vikings only lost once in the regular season, a close defeat back in Week 2 to Scubon1c Plagu3 by score of 154.6-151.7. They played Jhausdawg twice in the regular season and took the first match-up by nearly 100.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points, but the second contest by less than 15.0 points. It’s difficult for NFL teams to beat their division rivals three times in the course of a season, but is the same thing true in Dynasty Owner? We’ll find out.
Based on their current lineup, Jhausdawg is projected to score a few points above their weekly average. SKOL Vikings isn’t tipping their hand about their lineup, but my best guess is that they would be projected to score 181.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points this week with a full Starting lineup and Bench. I won’t give away my exact lineup predictions. My projected lineup would give SKOL Vikings an advantage of just under 44.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points. Both teams should have a Pittsburgh WR playing on Monday Night Football with Jhausdawg having Chase Claypool and SKOL Vikings having Diontae Johnson. Whether Claypool and Johnson will be in the Starting lineup or Bench is to be determined. If this match-up comes down to Monday night, it will be to the advantage of SKOL Vikings with the steady and higher ranked Johnson over the volatile, but potentially explosive Claypool.
Good luck to both teams in your attempt to win your League Championship and to SKOL Vikings in your quest to win the Ring.
Dynasty Owner Playoff Championship Match-up of the Week #2 – The Road Warriors vs. DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew)
Our second Playoff Match-up of the Week is the heavyweight match-up of the week, possibly the season and maybe even in all of Dynasty Owner history. We have the second place team in the Chase for the Ring standings, but one that finished in third place in League #27449. They face off against DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) the top team in the league who finished in 54th place on the regular season leaderboard and has moved up to 42nd place currently. There is also another DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) team in third place in the Chase for the Ring standings who will be featured in the third Match-up of the Week.
The main reason why The Road Warriors finished in third place in the league is that they lost both regular season match-ups against DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew). The second loss in Week 14 gave The Road Warriors a 10-4 record, one game behind Who Dat Nation who finished 11-3. The loss forced The Road Warriors to have to play in the first round of the playoffs. The Road Warriors are looking for revenge and their first victory in the 2021 season against DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew).
The Road Warriors are projected to defeat DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) and capture the League #27449 Championship by 18.03 Dynasty Owner fantasy points (185.08 to 167.05). Both of these lineups look set, barring an injury, or positive COVID test or exposure. One exception may be that DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) has Lamar Jackson as their Bench QB now. That may change as Jackson practiced on Wednesday, but not Thursday. In case Jackson isn’t ready to play, DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) has applied the rare double handcuff with both Tyler Huntley and Josh Johnson on their roster. Huntley was picked up off the Free Agent Auction in early September, while Johnson joined the team right before last week’s game. There could be switches between the Starting lineup and Bench as well, of course, but the potential for substituting either Huntley or Johnson for Jackson is the most likely and meaningful change.
The Road Warriors have the advantage in both their Starting lineup and Bench. The position that they enjoy the biggest advantage is at TE with Travis Kelce as their Starter and Dalton Schultz on the Bench. DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) counters with Tyler Higbee in their Starting lineup and Josiah Deguara on their Bench.
The Road Warriors hope to have a big lead at the end of the Sunday games as DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) has two RBs playing on Monday Night Football in Nick Chubb and Najee Harris. The Road Warriors hope that my Bench recommendation of Justin Herbert is incorrect as he is currently their Starting QB over Kyler Murray.
Good luck to both teams in your attempt to win your League Championship and to overtake SKOL Vikings and win the Ring.
Dynasty Owner Playoff Championship Match-up of the Week #3 – DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) vs. Boomer1977
The third and final Playoff Match-up of the Week also features DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew). However, in this league (#27458), they are the team ranked near the top in the Chase for the Ring and heavily favored to win. A victory by the third ranked team in the Chase for the Ring, DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew), over Boomer1977 would keep the perfect season intact for them. Boomer1977 was one of four teams in the league to finish at 9-5 but as the 9-5 team with the most points in the regular season (1,926.5 Dynasty Owner fantasy points), they earned the #2 seed in the league.
While DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) won both regular season match-ups, they beat Boomer1977 by less than 10.0 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 1 (163.18 to 153.2). Boomer1977 are currently ranked 224th in the Chase for the Ring after finishing the regular season in 382nd place. They did score a season high 208.6 Dynasty Owner fantasy points in Week 13 and will need a similar performance to knock off DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) in Week 17.
This match-up is projected to be the biggest mismatch of our three Match-ups of the Week with DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) projected to win by 57.27 Dynasty Owner fantasy points over Boomer1977. DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) has the advantage throughout both teams’ Starting lineups along with an advantage for most of the Bench. Only at Bench TE (Zach Ertz over Dawson Knox) and kicker (Robbie Gould over Michael Badgley) does Boomer1977 have the slightest of advantages in the projections.
The game that Boomer1977 needs to turn into a high-scoring affair is the Broncos vs. Chargers as they have three Starters (Justin Herbert, Javonte Williams and Keenan Allen) plus two Bench players (Melvin Gordon and Josh Palmer). The only player in the Starting lineup on either of those teams for DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) is Austin Ekeler. They also have Chargers WR Mike Williams, but he is currently on the Practice Squad.
If this game is close after the Sunday night game is over, then Boomer1977 will have the opportunity for an upset with Steelers WR Diontae Johnson in their Starting lineup against Steelers RB Najee Harris in the Starting lineup at the FLEX position for DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew). Based on the projections that is an unlikely outcome, but stranger things have happened in fantasy football in 2021.
Good luck to both teams in your attempt to win your League Championship and to DynastyTradeSchool (Mad Minshew) in your quest to overtake SKOL Vikings and win the Ring.
Conclusion
This is the end – the final week of the 2021 Dynasty Owner season. After Monday Night Football is finished, we will have only one team at the top of the Chase for the Ring standings, and they will be our new Champion. Good luck to all three teams in contention, to Detroit’s Finest on staying undefeated and to everyone trying to win their League Championship.
There will also be only one team per League that will finish as the winner of the third place game and also only one winner of the Loser’s bracket tournament in each League. Good luck to all of the teams competing in one of those games as well.
There is also only one weekly recap column left for the 2021 Dynasty Owner season and just one Monday Night Football preview article left from Jay Pounds as well. No more weekly Free Agent Auction targets or weekly articles from Matt Morrison – The Jerk. Don’t worry, they aren’t going away. We’ll all be back soon with off-season content to keep Dynasty Owners active and engaged throughout the NFL playoffs, free agency, the NFL draft, organized team practice activities (OTAs), training camps, and pre-season games until the 2022 Dynasty Owner season starts.
The one and only weekly Dynasty Owner livestream will continue during the off-season on Wednesdays at 4 PM (Eastern) with myself, Tim Peffer and hopefully plenty of guests. Set the timer on YouTube so you don’t miss it live, or make sure to watch it afterwards. Either way, don’t forget to smash the Like button.
Please read all of our articles, watch our videos on YouTube or listen to them wherever you get your podcasts. Don’t forget follow all three of the Dynasty Owner team of writers plus Dynasty Owner on Twitter as well. Thanks, and have a great day!
Steven Van Tassell is the Head of Content for Dynasty Owner
Follow us on Twitter: @SteveVT33 and @Dynasty_Owner