2022 Playoffs

Eight teams qualify for the playoffs:

The two division winners
The two division runners-up
Four at-large Wild Card teams, based on overall record and points scored

And Juice like that, He Wins!

It took a couple days to confirm it, but Juice is the 2022 James Gang Champion. And a well-deserving Champion at that: His 99-67 Final win over S*Heads was his seventh in a row (dating back to Week 11) and his 10th in eleven weeks dating back to Week 7. He also outscored everyone in a low-scoring Playoffs, as his 333 points topped Alabama Men’s 332 and Haydn’s Hounds’ 319.

How low-scoring was it? Just 2,289 combined points were scored, which is the fewest points scored by these eight teams in any three consecutive weeks all year. Even adjusting for the eight Bills and Bengals whose game was cancelled in the wake of Damar Hamlin’s injury (by adding in those eight players’ average points-per-game), the 2,420 points were the third-fewest all year in a three-week stretch by these eight teams.

Plus, the first-round games were really close. The margin of victory in each quarterfinal was in the single digits: Campton by 1, Juice by 4, S*Heads by 4, and Katy’s Brother by 7. Only once, in week 9, were there even three games determined by single digits: Flight by 5 over Men; Dollz by 6 over The U, and Fartz by 8 over Pain Train. (And the fourth-tightest was Hounds by 10 over Campton.) The Campton win was only the fourth game all year decided by a single point. The others: Men over Juice in week 1; Flight over S*Heads in week 8, and Fartz over The U in week 12. Combined, the winning margin in round one was 16 points, or a bit more than half that in week 9.

So when the points are scarce and the games are close, an above-average or elite scorer often plays an outsize role. No surprise, Juice had a bunch of those guys. Here are the top ten single-game scorers in our playoffs, with starred (*) points indicating the game’s highest scorer:

Points	Player	Team	Game	Result
43 *	Brady	Hounds	7th Place	Hounds Win
36 *	D. Adams	Katy’s Bro	3rd Place	Katy’s Loss
36 *	J. Allen	Bama Men	Quarterfinal	Men Loss
36 *	Hurts	Juice	Quarterfinal	Juice Win
35 *	Hockenson	Hounds	Rd 2 Losers bracket	Hounds Loss
34	McKinnon	Juice	Quarterfinal	Juice Win
34 *	CeeDee Lamb	Bama Men	Rd 2 Losers bracket	Men Win
32 *	Mahomes	Campton	Quarterfinal	Campton Win
31 *	J. Jefferson	S*Heads	Semifinal	S*Heads Win
31 *	McCaffrey	Juice	Final	Juice Win
30 *	J. Jefferson	S*Heads	Quarterfinal	S*Heads Win
29	Dalvin Cook	Bama Men	Quarterfinal	Men Loss
27	J. Waddle	S*Heads	Semifinal	S*Heads Win
26 *	Tee Higgins	Juice	Semifinal	Juice Win
26 *	J. Goff	Juice	Semifinal	Juice Win
26	S. Barkley	Flight	Rd 2 Losers Bracket	Flight Win

In each of his playoff games, Juice had the game’s highest scorer: His Jalen Hurts tied for high score (36) with Tom’s Josh Allen in their quarterfinal; his Jared Goff and Tee Higgins led all scorers with 26 each in his Semifinal vs Andy; and his Christian McCaffrey was high man with 31 in the Final vs Kurt.

It’s not surprising, I guess: In these 12 top-ten performances, the winning team had the top scorer nine times. If you look at it on a game-by-game basis, too, the high-scorers in nine of 12 playoff games were in the winners’ lineup:

Game	Top Score	Player	Team	Result
Quarterfinal 1	36	Hurts / Allen	Juice / Men	Juice Win
Quarterfinal 2	32	Mahomes	Campton	Campton Win
Quarterfinal 3	22	Barkley	Flight	Flight Loss
Quarterfinal 4	30	J. Jefferson	S*Heads	*SHeads Win**
Semifinal 1	26	Higgins, Goff	Juice	Juice Win
Semifinal 2	31	J. Jefferson	S*Heads	*SHeads Win**
Rd 2 Losers Bracket 1	34	CeeDee Lamb	Bama Men	Men Win
Rd 2 Losers Bracket 2	35	Hockenson	Hounds	Hounds Loss
Final	31	McCaffrey	Juice	Juice Win
3rd Place	36	D. Adams	Katy’s Bro	Katy’s Bro Loss
5th Place	22	Godwin	Bama Men	Men Win
7th Place	42	Brady	Hounds	Hounds Win

So let’s review: Juice scored the most combined points in the playoffs, and in each game the best player was in his lineup. If you’re going to win your fourth ring since 2004, that’s a pretty good way to do it. Congratulations, Juice!

In the Consolation Ladder, The U wins going away. The 130 he posted in round 2 (thank U, George Kittle) put him well ahead of the pack, and his second century in round 3 cemented the victory:

322, The U
284, Buckguys
273, Dollz and Hurt Locker
244, Pain Train
232, Fartz

Congratulations, Jose!

Ring in the Old! Ring out the New!

It’s New Year’s Weekend and Father Time’s got a couple old friends in our Championship Game: The #2 Seed Juice, now 11-5 after wins in playoff rounds one and two, takes on the #4 S*Heads, now 10-6. And friends, it doesn’t get much older than that.

Dean and Kurt go way back in this league; indeed, they go as far back as you possibly can, along with Bill, Thurm and Tom. And over those many, many years, they’ve piled up more than their fair share of accolades, accomplishments and awards.

Banished to the 3rd Place Game are (relative) youngsters Campton (10-6) and Katy’s Brother (8-8), while Bama Men (8-8) take on Flight (11-5) for 5th Place and Haydn’s Hounds (9-7) meet Thinkers (9-7) for 7th.

The Ballad of Tom and Jerry

The Playoffs are set. Actually, six of eight spots were locked up by Week 13 (see below), and a seventh looked pretty certain: Even with a loss in Week 14 (which happened), there was little chance that Katy’s Brother was going to miss the playoffs. So the eighth and final spot came down to a head-to-head Week 14 matchup between two 6-8 teams: Alabama Men and Buckguys.

And wouldn’t you know it, Doug? This was the week that Bama Men’s Jerry Jeudy showed up. His 8 catches for 73 yards and 3 TDs amounted to 33 points. It was equal to a third of the FFL points Jeudy had scored in his ten previous 2022 games combined, and a third as well of Tom’s total that day. Jerry effin’ Jeudy, Doug. Jerry effin’ Jeudy.

There’s also the matter of Kyler Murray’s torn ACL on the first drive of MNF, and the zero he then put up in the QB slot for Doug. Buck was down 34 entering MNF: Could Murray and his WR, Hollywood Brown, have erased that deficit? We’ll never know. But it’s probably not something you want to think about, every day, until next season, Doug.

Our Playoff Picture as of Week 13

One week to go and six of eight spots are locked up. The ultimate seeding may/will change, but for now the current Seeds one through six are in the Playoffs. And unless I’m missing something (always a possibility), it looks pretty certain that Katy’s Brother and either Buckguys or Alabama Men will be the last two teams to lock up a spot this week.

Let’s look at the scenarios

With a Katy’s Brother WIN, Chris would be 8-6. There may be four other 8-6 teams in the Division, but he couldn’t claim first or second because of division record. Still, those 8 wins would place him among the top seven teams in the league and into a Wild Card spot. That would leave one more playoff spot available, which would go to a 7-7 team. That would be either Fartz or the winner of Bama Men vs Buckguys, based on the points scored tiebreaker.
- If Fartz beats S*Heads, Bill is 7-7. He enters the week with 1152 points scored
- If Bama Men beats Buckguys, Tom is 7-7. He enters the week with 1344 points.
- If Buckguys beat Bama Men, Doug is 7-7. He enters the week with 1267 points.
With a Katy’s Brother LOSS, Chris would be 7-7 and would vie for the final two spots with the other 7-7 teams.
- If Katy loses to Campton, Chris is 7-7. He enters the week with 1279 points scored
- If Fartz beats S*Heads, Bill is 7-7. He enters the week with 1152 points scored
- If Bama Men beats Buckguys, Tom is 7-7. He enters the week with 1344 points.
- If Buckguys beat Bama Men, Doug is 7-7. He enters the week with 1267 points.

Qualifiers as of Week 12

Just when you think he’s in, they pull him back out… Katy’s Brother parlayed three wins in a row into a projected playoff spot last week, but Week 12 is a different story. Chris’s loss coupled with Buckguys’ win means that Doug steps in to the #8 Seed and Katy’s Bro is on the cusp. Maybe half a cusp, actually: Doug secured that #8 spot by virtue of 25 more points scored.

Other than that:

Campton and Thinkers swapped places, and are now the #2 and #3 Seeds, respectively
S*Heads and Bama Men swapped places, and are now the #4 and #7 Seeds, respectively

Qualifiers as of Week 11

How to bounce back from a three-game losing streak? Easy-Peasy: You win three in a row and put yourself into the playoff picture. Katy’s Brother has turned successive division victories over Thinkers, Hounds and Pain Train into an #8 Seed in the projected playoffs. On the flip side is Buckguys, who are currently on the outside after a three-week losing streak of their own. Buck, Fartz and Hurt Locker are all 5-6, one game back of the four 6-5 teams all in the playoff picture at the moment. (Those four are Hounds, Juice, S*Heads and Katy’s Brother.)

Let’s track all the changes:

Katy’s Brother is IN as the new #8 Seed
Buckguys are OUT, and is now one of three 5-6 teams sitting one game out of the playoffs
Heavy Flight remains the #1 Seed
Thinkers move up from #3 into the #2 Seed, replacing Hounds. Hounds are now #5
Campton moves up from #5 to #3, replacing Thinkers. Thinkers are now #2
Alabama Men moves up from #7 to #4, replacing Buckguys. Buck is out.
Hounds drop from #2 to #5, replacing Campton. Campton is now #3
Juice remains the #6 Seed
S*Heads move up from #8 to #7, replacing Bama Men. Bama Men is now #4.

Qualifiers as of Week 9

S*Heads and Hurt Locker continue to swap places in the projected playoff bracket: this week, Kurt is back in at #8 and Greg is back out. Both are 4-5 (along with Katy’s Brother and Fartz), but Kurt’s points scored wins the tiebreaker.

Let’s track all the changes: