Week 17 Recap

Three Man Race for First

Marco R. and Tom P. are currently tied for first place with $3,240. Tom P. has steadily climbed to the top position, marking his second seven-game winning streak of the season. Meanwhile, Marco R. has reached first place for the second time this season and intends to maintain his lead.

Jon B. is right behind them with $3040. He and Marco R. have been competing for the top spot over the past month. That penalty pot week for Jon B. might ultimately cost him the first place title.

Top 25 Clashes

We have a log jam from 4th place to 10th place, all players have $2040-$2240. Inside of that log jam is Bill P. who is currently on a 9 game win streak. Tied for 2nd longest of all time. He's one more win away from tying (sp?) Mark/Chris for the all-time record of 10 wins in a row (Season V).

We have another log jam from 11th place to 16th place with all players ranging from $840-$1240.

The last log jam is from 17th place to 29th place. All players ranging from $40-$240. Only the top 25 get a piece of the penalty pot money. It may only be 1% at the bottom of the top 25 but every dollar counts.

Missed Blood

This was a great week to add to your balance. The Lions & Packers getting bloody made for a good week. We should have had so much more blood, it's almost unfair. Buccaneers and Rams 100000% should have been blood. We missed out on like $4K penalty pot money. It's ridiculous the amount of weeks where we missed out on blood that would have added money to the penalty pot.

Chip On His Shoulder

No one, absolutely no one, carries a bigger chip on their shoulder than Robert E. He believes he has more to prove than anyone else. Over the years, there's been much discussion about him being the only one to lose all four picks in a single week. Achieving a championship run would put an end to all that talk. It would solidify his legacy as a Teaser God, rising from the depths of hell to the pinnacle of success.

Week 18

The final week of the regular season is upon us. For those that plan on winning out like myself, figure you can add $2000-$3000 to your balance. So, if you're in the red and are deep in the red, now is the time to start setting aside some money. Now is the time to start hiding it from the women and children in your life.

For the new guys, after the Super Bowl, I take a two week break. After the two weeks are up I start collecting. So, technically, you have 8 weeks to start setting aside your losses.

Penalty Pot Update

I hold the NFL responsible for the penalty pot not meeting expectations this season. We're on track to end up with the same amount of money in the PP compared to last year. Despite increasing the amounts for 2 and 3 losses (I added $75 to each amount), it's still projected to be around $7K, which was the amount last season. There's no longer parity in the NFL; there are good teams and then very bad teams. The so-called "mid" teams in the NFL aren't even performing well anymore.

Vampire

Vampire is heating up! The top finish with winnings:

1st place - $500.00

2nd place - $300.00

3rd place - $100.00

The top 5 are on fire right now. Berkley, Brendan B., John F., Robert E. & Chris F. It's a tight race and with the playoffs approaching it should get even tighter. The playoffs, which after the wild card round include overs/unders, will add to race tightening up. It will definitely come down to the Super Bowl to see who takes home the $500 1st place pot.

Last Season vs This Season

As the season has progressed, I've been able to compare last season with this one. Here are the stats:- This season's 1st place winner is projected to earn less than last year's champion. Here are a couple of reasons why:

1. I reduced the penalty pot percentage for 1st place from 17% to 13%. I redistributed that 4% across the rest of the league. If you finish in 1st place, you still win a significant amount. First place is on track to win just above $5K, whereas last year's winner earned $6500.

2. Second and third place should be roughly the same as last year, around $4500.

3. The noticeable difference is from 4th place to 16th place. Those numbers are increased compared to last year.

   1. Last year, 16th place won $242; this year, 16th place is on track to win $1200.

   2. Last season, only 17 players finished in the green, which was 42%.

   3. This season, we're on pace to have 29 players finish in the green, which is 58%.

I've mentioned repeatedly this season that the NFL has, and will continue to have, a player talent problem. The fact that Phillip Rivers, a 44-year-old grandfather, can return to the league after not playing for 3-4 years and perform well says everything you need to know about the state of the NFL.

The 'have nots' of the NFL are numerous this season. There are so many extremely poor teams with bad talent and bad coaching.