Lore

Will had officially been eliminated from making the 2017 Fantasy Championship game, and he proceeded to replace every player on his fantasy roster with their Chicago Bears equivalent. That game ended with Will losing 93.10 to 62.12. His best performance came from Mitchell Trubisky with 18.12 points, and 6 players coming under 5.00 fantasy points that week. Will would repeat his Bears recreation after being eliminated from the 2019 playoffs, he lost his 7th place game 26.48 to 128.58.

Bryce's 2017 fantasy team was struck hard by injuries. Starting with David Johnson in week 1. Johnson’s spot on the roster was replaced by Chris Carson, who also went down. Then Dalvin Cook was the next to be sidelined. The final back to be put on IR for Bryce was Washington’s Chris Thompson. Luckily, Deshaun Watson saved the day, carrying the hurting team, until he went down for the season as well. Receivers weren’t safe either as Chris Hogan was the 5th ranked WR in fantasy until he was forced to miss 8 games. TE? Not safe either, Greg Olsen got hurt week one and was out until week thirteen. The kicker? Santos was also hurt week 3, eventually put on IR. To pile on, Carson Wentz would be injured the week before the fantasy playoffs and would miss the remainder of the season. Finally, adding the cherry on top, Evan Engram suffered a rib injury, causing him to miss the majority of the championship game. This does not include all the 1-3 week injuries that took place as well. (Kamara 1 week, Devante Parker 3 weeks, Sterling Shepard 2 weeks, Kicker Jake Elliott 1 week). This curse has applied to years since, as in 2019 Bryce’s bench became a graveyard for 5 or more injured wide receivers at many points throughout the season. 

The 2021 third place match-up put two morally defeated players against one another. The result? A 1v1 kicker duel to decide the third place champion of the league. Will, entering the playoffs with a 14-1 record, lost with one of the lowest scoring performances the league had seen in the first round of the playoffs. Bryce was on the losing end of an epic comeback attempt that fell just a few points short in round one of the playoffs. Reaching a gentleman’s agreement during a drive from the Indy airport, the duo of morally dejected players decided to enter only their kickers for this final duel. Will bested Bryce on the back of Justin Tucker’s 13 points compared to Matt Gay’s 2 points. Ironically the two kickers were also head-to-head in real life in which Matt Gay’s Rams took home the win over Tucker’s Ravens and proving Will’s claim that “this game’s loser would win” true.

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Jake entered the final week of the 2022 fantasy regular season holding on to the fourth seed, the final spot in the playoffs, locked in a three way race. Jake was 9-5, ahead of 8-6 Will and Jake’s Dad also at 8-6, so a win against Bryce (his opponent that week) would lock him in but a loss would leave him vulnerable to lose the spot. Why? Jake’s team was the 4th lowest scoring and had the lowest points against… a fraud. The results began rolling in over the weekend: Will captured his needed W, Jake’s Dad lost, and Bryce was up by 35 points by Monday Night (126.46 to 91.22). Jake had 2 players left to play: Tyler Higbee and Aaron Jones. Slowly the points added up… 100… 110… Aaron Jones scores a receiving touchdown: 120 points. Jake only needed 4 points as the Packers moved into the red zone once again. Jones gets the rock and begins grinding down the yards: to the 3… to the 2… to the 1. He’s stopped just inches short of scoring a touchdown but has picked up a first down, three more chances. The Packers lineup Rodgers under center, 2 running back… victory formation. They kneel. Clock ticks down. They kneel once more, the clock continues to tick down. Rodgers kneels again, the game’s final snap. Jake is left maulding the chat as he falls to fifth place and the consolation bracket… losing to Bryce 124.50 to 126.46.

Addendum: Jake’s fraudster ways continued into the loser’s bracket where, like most of his season, he faced an AFK team in the first round. In the consolation championship he would face Bryce for the third time and earn his first win against him despite being projected to lose, largely in part to the cancellation of the Week 17 matchup between the Bills and Bengals of which Bryce had 3 major points scoring players all of whom had their points reset to zero.

Jared entered the final week of the 2024 fantasy regular season in fifth place, tied in wins with 4th place but losing on points for. To make the playoffs he needed a win and either have Grace lose or Jake's Dad lose + outscore him by 20 points. As Monday Night Football kicked off, MIN/CHI & ATL/LV, Grace had a commanding lead in her game but Will was in striking distance and Jake's Dad and Jared was within range of Jake (and pacing Jake's Dad). As the minutes ticked off the Vikings defense held and Drake London was catching passes for Jared but Justin Jefferson & Jakobi Meyers were struggling for Will, not ideal but still hope. As the both games entered the 4th quarter momentum began to shift: the wheels had fallen off for the Falcons' QB Kirk Cousins, the Bears capitalized on a blocked punt to score a garbage time TD, and the Raiders remembered their WR1 (Meyers) existed. Will would rocket ahead of Jake's Dad (who had no-one playing) to a comfortable 8 point lead but the Bears TD now meant that Jared was losing to Jake by .04 points... or 1 receiving yard... a stat correction away. As the remaining 5 minutes of the ATL/LV game came to a close the Falcons looked lifeless, and Cousins would never look Drake London's way. Jared would miss the playoffs.

Addendum: The record sheet shows this loss as .08, at some point during the following weeks a yard would be removed from one of Jared's players or added to one of Jake's (no way to verify who exactly). A brutal stat correction in the wrong direction as he outscored both Jake and Jake's Dad every week of the playoffs. In addition this was in contrast to the previous year where Jared frauded his way in to the playoffs after winning 3 straight games where his opponents would score less than 90 points (barely clearing that bar himself most of those weeks).

With origins dating back to the 2013 season Jared designates one (or, in the case of 2017, more than one) player as his "secret weapon". The typical meaning is the player of his choice is one he expects to have a breakout fantasy season. What makes this unique is that it actually happens. The term secret weapon was coined in 2015 with the selection of Cardinals rookie David Johnson. Johnson was finally given the starting role in week 15, earning over 30 points and sending Jared to the Championship. In 2016 it was the Chargers second year HB Melvin Gordon. Gordon became a top five fantasy running back after playing terribly the year before. In 2017 two players were claimed as secret weapons, Rams sophomore QB Jared Goff and Patriots newly acquired HB Rex Burkhead. Goff led one of the highest scoring offenses in the NFL and Rex Burkhead claimed the starting role (and many fantasy points) during the later half of the season until an injury sidelined the running back. In 2018 Eric Ebron was top 5 TE in fantasy after several disappointing years in Detroit. Other possible pre-2015 secret weapons, but unconfirmed, include Justin Forsett in 2013.

During the 2016 fantasy draft Bryce elected to draft Todd Gurley #3 overall (ahead of players such as David Johnson). Todd Gurley ended up being a total bust that year. The following year, in the 2017 Fantasy draft, Bryce selected David Johnson #1 overall to make up for his mistake. Week One of 2017 David Johnson placed on IR and Todd Gurley would end up being the #1 fantasy running back that year. 

During the 2016 season, Bryce had Kelvin Benjamin on his roster. Each week Benjamin underperformed and this accumulated into an epic disaster when Bryce needed just a few more points but Benjamin did not catch a pass, thus "waiting on Benjamin". In 2017 (wk 8) the Bills traded for Benjamin just as the curse traded to Jared. Benjamin underperformed for 2 games following a bye week and then was injured.

For the 2019-2020 NFL season the default scoring on NFL.com switched from standard to PPR (Points-Per-Reception) messing up the stats for the league’s history books, by increasing all “points for” stats, but could also potentially change the balance of power in the league… only time will truly tell.

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic college pro-days, OTAs and minicamps, and the NFL preseason were canceled; training camps closed to the public; an earlier (but smaller) roster cutdown day; and players opting-out meant that there was less knowledge about what to expect from many teams across the league including: the now Brady-less Patriots, Mike McCarthy-led Cowboys, and restructured Chargers, Panthers, and Washington Football Team. Adding to the chaos was the choice to hold the league draft nearly 3 weeks early with little warning. Will plans, no matter how hastily thrown together, reign supreme or will the unexpected be the order of the day?

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The 2020 Championship was spread out across 3 days, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, however, the championship could nearly be called by Saturday afternoon. Bryce’s team exploded for a points extravaganza like never before. To kick it off, on Friday, Alvin Kamara rushed for over 150 yards and 6 rushing TDs, something that hadn’t happened in the NFL since 1929. Following that up, in Saturday's first game, Mike Evans scored 40 points, double his previous high that season. So after 2 games and 2 players total, Bryce sat at 96.3 fantasy points to Will’s 1.00 fantasy point (his kicker). By the end of Saturday night, Bryce’s other running back, Myles Gaskin, scored 33.9 points, the most by a Dolphins running back since 2015. Heading into Sunday Bryce had 164.5 to Will’s 1.00. By the end of Sunday the championship game was decided, Bryce’s 183.08 to Will’s 115.92. Bryce scored 183 points despite finishing with two players with 0 points, and fell short of the mythical 200 point game.

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The 2023 season stats, final rosters, and final schedules were not recorded at the conclusion of the 2023 season. Therefore it is missing from the fantasy archive. All stats on the “Records & Averages” sheet do not reflect the wins and losses of the 2023 season, aside from listing Trevor’s 2 playoff wins on his path to the 2023 Championship. The draft results and the season projections are reflected in the archive.