2008 Postseason Bench Tie-Breaker Rosters

So, I got home tonight and realized that we messed up big time. We should have each picked our tie-breaker bench rosters before tonight's game between the Jaguars and Colts. Whoops!

So, now we either have to take people at their words, or disqualify every Colts/Jaguars player. Discuss…

Either way, let's not wait any longer… get your bench picks in… recall you are ranking three bench players. In the event of a tie, your first pick will be compared with your opponents' #1 bench pick… if still tied, we then compare your second picks, and so on if necessary. (Read the rules here >)

Baxterminators:
1. Matt Ryan (QB-ATL) 8
2. Miami (DEF) 10
3. Brandon Jacobs (RB-NYG) 22

Animal:
1. Dan Orlovsky (QB-DET) -2
2. Baltimore (DEF) 6
3. Chicago (DEF) 7

Napoleon's Dynamite:
1. Tarvaris Jackson (QB-MIN) 15
2. New England (DEF) 11
3. Vincent Jackson (WR-SD) 5

The Agitated Lawyers:
1. David Garrard (QB-MIN) 16
2. DeAngelo Williams (RB-CAR) 29
3. LaDanian Tomlinson (RB-SD) 5

Sheik 'n' Bake:
No players selected

Grafdawgs:
1. Eli Manning (QB-NYG) 11
2. Johnathan Stewart (RB-CAR) 2
3. Anquan Boldin (WR-ARI) 0

2008 Regular Season Stats Recap

Let's take a look at the stats from the regular season: The full PDF is available here. (Right click to download)
Yahoo! has some interesting stats as well.

Here are some of the things I found most interesting about the 2008 Regular Season:

The Lawyers definitely had the toughest go at it, even though Yahoo shows the Grafdawgs and Sheik with the Hardest Strength of schedule (both averaging 82.06 points against). But take a look at the PDF's second page and Week 11. The Lawyers briefly had the highest Domination Pct. that week, but were second to last in Actual Win Pct. Very interesting how that could happen. Perhaps it explains how the Lawyers had the highest average margin of victory (35.67)

The best drafter this year appears to be the Animal, averaging 61.13 points from drafted players each week, while the Dynamite definitely found the short end of the stick on draft day, garnering a pitiful 28.93 points per week from his draftees (in Week 8, he only got 1 point from drafted players!). On the flip side, the Dynamite made up for it with the most weekly points from acquired players with 43.64 pts/week.

The Baxterminators dominated the league with the most, and best average, yardage per week from all position players (QB, RB & WR!) and the most average points from his kickers as well. The Animal made up ground in the area of TDs, leading the league with an average of 7.33 per week. Perhaps that's why both will be meeting in the SCFFCG this week.

The Baxterminators were also the most steady team in scoring, with a standard scoring deviation of 9.79—under 10 points!—and a scoring range of just 42 points. The Animal were the most erratic with a scoring range of 86 points and a standard deviation of 19.56! Which team will show up next week?

The Dynamite almost pulled off a miracle last week… coming from the cellar to the second place, and holding that position for most of the last day, until the Animal regained the 2nd spot in the late Sunday game. A valiant comeback effort.

The Grafdwags don't have much to celebrate this year. With two losing streaks of 4 games or more, there wasn't much hope to escape the Toilet Bowl. Having the least total points in the league and the worst domination pct. doesn't help either. It doesn't look good for the Grafpuppies in the Toilet Bowl either, as they are up against a Sheik team with a domination pct. over .500 (.513 to be exact) and a season scoring average that is nearly 10 points higher (77.67 to 68).

The Sheik lost their Oreo Bowl bid, narrowly to the Lawyers, as the Lawyers held the advantage in the first tie-breaker: domination pct. (.567 to .513) and the second tie-breaker: total points (1227 to 1165). But the Sheik would have won the third tie-breaker: head-to-head match-ups, by a two to one margin.

The Oreo Bowl has an interesting matchup as the Dynamite and Lawyer's records are almost perfect inverses in both the actual and domination records. Actual records: 8-6-1 and 6-8-1, respectively. Domination records: 32-41-2 and 41-31-3, respectively. Weird, right?

Other interesting thoughts:
No records, individual or team, were broken this year… unless someone can correct me.
This would be the Baxterminators first SCFF championship since the league's inception in 1999. They are 1-2 in Championship game history, while the Animal is 2-2 in championships.

Any other interesting notes from the regular season?

Playoff scenarios

I'll make just one assumption this week:
1) S. Smith is not scoring 34 more points for Sheiky Bakey

Therefore, Baxter has clinched a spot in the SCFFCG.

Everything else is up for grabs. In fact Ben has the potential to either clinch a spot in the SCFFCG or the TB. Very interesting.

Here are the scenarios for the the remaining spot in the SCFFCG
1) Animal wins -> Animal clinches
2) Animal loses and Dynamite loses -> Animal clinches
3) Animal loses and Dynamite wins -> Dynamite clinches

For the TB:
1) Lawyers lose, Sheik wins -> Merritt clinches
2) Lawyers lose, Sheik loses -> Sheik clinches, domination loser
3) Lawyers win, Sheik wins -> Dynamite clinches, domination loser
4) Lawyers win, Sheik loses -> Sheik clinches

Locking Rosters?

I was looking through the SCFF rules and couldn't find anything about locking down rosters for the last week or two weeks. I thought we did this last year, but not certain. Anyone remember?

Playoff scenarios

I'm going to go way out on a limb here and assume that Andre Johnson is not going to score 75 points and Kevin Walter will not drop 65 tonight. The Animal and Lawyers completely pwned Baxter and J-Rod in Week 13. In other news, the Grafdawgs have been pwned since Week 1.

Two weeks remain in the regular season. Here are the playoff scenarios:

Toilet Bowl:
Grafdawgs have a stone cold lead pipe lock on the role of Turd #1.
Another loss by the Lawyers will allow Merritt to defend his title. Winning the next two also still leaves the door open, since depending on other teams' fates, the tie-breaker may come into play.
The Baxterminators and Animal are toilet bowl exempt. Baxter you can jump and click your heels now.

Strictly Circus Bowl:
The Baxterminators and Animal need to win 1 game to secure spots in the title game.
Merritt is eliminated.
Napoleon and Sheik are still alive but they will likely need to win tie-breakers. Bake currently has the edge with a large domination edge over the Dynamite. Run up those scores.

If you see Plaxico Burress, and he isn't shooting himself, let him know he owes me 10 TD receptions.