Our 35th season has come to an end. The Black Assassins have grabbed their 5th championship (depending on how you count the different iterations of the team name) and their 3rd in the last 5 years. The Dream Team, Black & Blue Attack and Roxborough Wranglers round out the Money Teams. The Body Shop notched the all important week 18 helmet. I am leaning towards having a party this year (have to work out the details with the Co-Commish). Assuming we do have a party and you cannot attend or do not want to attend, please get any money you owe by the Sunday after the Super Bowl. We had a very exciting finish with the season with championship being decided in the last 2 minutes of the final game of the season.

  The old web (http://swffl.50megs.com) has updated archives and historical records. I will also add some web-exclusive. Send any ideas to me and I will see what I can do.

  OK, this is the part where I look back at the draft analysis I do at the beginning of most years. This year it picked 0 of the 4 Money teams making it 55 of 116 (47%) in the past 29 years, a little worse than a coin toss. Alternatively, the CBS Guru selected 1 of the 4 Money teams (including the champ), which makes them 16 of 32 (50%) in the last 8 years. Apparently, the Guru's system is better than mine, which makes sense since CBS uses projections instead of last year’s numbers.

  Both Spock and Norm both picked 2 of the 5 winners in week 18. Spock wins the annual competition getting 44 0f 80 or 55% correct. Norm (my estimates) was 41 of 80 or 35%. Usually when Spock wins this competition the Dream Team did not have a good year. But Norm was pretty close this year.

  Since we have some extra room in the last week, I will be doling out my season-ending awards for the year. The 2023 Fantasy MVP award goes to Christian McCaffrey, Tyreek Hill finished a little bit ahead of him int total points and points per game, however CeeDee Lamb was about ahead of him whereas Run CMC’s nearest competitor was almost 100_points behind him. The COWBOYS (ouch that hurt) get 2023 Fantasy NFL Team of the Year award by grabbing a top 4 spot in 4 of the position rankings (QB, WR, PK & ST). Joe Flacco gets the 2023 Comeback Player of the Year after coming off the couch and making the BROWNS offense relative again. There were many candidates for 2023 Bust of the Year, (most because of injury Chubb and Jefferson), but it goes to Bijan Robinson (back to back Falcons – good riddance Arthur Smith) who was supposed to be the no doubt about it Rookie of the Year. The 2023 Worst Fantasy NFL Team goes to the PANTHERS (even Thielen could not save this team). The 2023 SWFFL Rookie of the Year goes to Puka Nacua (sorry Stroud, but he broke 2 rookie WR receiving records, LaPorta was in mix too).

  The Body Shop did a number on the Croatans. It looks like Coach Casey saved all that “Berry Magic” for week 18, which makes a bit of sense – given where they were at the time. The Shop was led by Prescott, Robinson, Ridley and an MVP performance by Collins as they swept the Croatans. The Croatans failed to field a 20-point starter and there was not a whole lot of help on the bench.

  Good Fellas completed the season sweep of the Money Takers. The Fellas were led by Allen, Mixon and Jefferson in the win. The Money Takers were led by Breece and Diante in the loss. Ther were some better starters but none that would have changed the outcome.

  The Jelly Beans avenged their early season loss to the Dream Team and denied them any chance at the title. The Beans were led by Ridder and Lockett in the victory. The Dream team was led by Geno in the loss as they wen from hoping for an Assassin lost to rooting for the Irish to keep them in 2nd place. Ther were options (Wentz, Harris and Jeudy) on the Dream Team bench that would have kept them alive for the trophy well into Sunday night.

  The Fightin’ Irish avenged their early season loss to the Black & Blue Attack and kept them in 3rd place. The Irish were led by the Terminator, the Cheetah and Jakobi. The Black & Blue Attack were led by Stroud in the loss. This game was not decided until the last 2 minutes of the final game and was decided mor or less by one final catch by the Cheetah. As with many games decided by less than 3 points, there was a bench player (Zamir W) that would have had the Attack in 2nd instead of 3rd.

  The "Game of the Week" honors go to the contest between the Black Assassins and the Roxborough Wranglers. Two money teams including the eventual champion and a game decided 0.3 points. In the end the Assassins would have won the title even if they lost, but there was a point where a loss looked like it might boot them out of first place (Attack came very close to winning). Again, this game came down to the last 2 minutes of the season. The Assassins were led by Taylor and Lamb as they locked up the title (by a game and points). The Wranglers were led by Mullens, Barkey and the Sun God as they settled down in 4th place. There were several options that might have jumped the Wranglers up to 3rd place – the easiest being the CHIEFS over the JAGUARS. In the end Congrats to both teams, especially the Assassins and their newly re-captured trophy.

CHATTERBOX:(Get Quotes in by Monday Night)
Dream Team (Norm): Suspiciously Absent

BEST & WORST OF WEEK 18

MVP: Nico Collins (40.5) Body Shop       Best on Bench: Derek Carr (36.4) Good Fellas      Low Scorers: Croatans (85.2)    Coaching Efficiency: High: Jelly Beans (100%) Low: Fightin’ Irish (71%)

Top Rostered Players By Position (Rostered Players Only)
QB – Allen(479.3),Prescott(426.3),Hurts(423.5),Jackson(404.4)
RB – Hall(313.5),Etienne(306.4),White(277.9),Mostert(269.7)
WR – Lamb(416.2),Hill(408.8),St. Brown(338.9),Nacua(304.5)
TE – LaPorta(245.3),Engram(234.3),Kelce(221.4),Hockenson(221.0)
PK – Aubrey(221),Elliot(197),Gay(193),Myers(180)
ST – COWBOYS(162),JETS(145),RAVENS(141),BROWNS(136)

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