2020 Season Recaps - 2nd Place — Protector Of The League

2nd Place: WatsOn Those Gurley Fries (9-4) – Kevin O’Connell

Coming in 2nd place with a record of 9-4 and 1,770 points scored (most) is WatsOn Those Gurley Fries, owned by Kev O’Connell.

What Went Right:

Kev got off to a scorching hot start and won each of his first 5 games. During this span he was averaging 155 points per week and never scored fewer than 138 (that number will come into play later). For what it’s worth, he scored the league high in 2 of those 5 weeks and got $20 bills for his trouble. The rest of the season went well for Kev (4-4 in his final 8 games), but it was that early season surge that essentially clinched a playoff spot for him.

So what was behind this success? Let’s start at the top with Dalvin Cook, Kev’s first round pick. Cook is arguably the best pure-RB in the NFL and he showed it this year – registering as the #1RB in our scoring through 16 weeks. He’s totaled 1,900 total yards and 17 TDs on 356 carries+catches and averages 29 fantasy points per game. Over the past two seasons Cook has recorded 2,690 rushing yards, 880 receiving yards and 30 TDs.

His 2nd RB was no slouch either – Aaron Jones is currently RB6 in our scoring. He’s averaging 20.5 points per game behing 1,400 total yards and 10 TDs. If he didn’t miss 2 games with injury, he’d probably be closer to RB3 or RB4.

Not to be outdone by his RBs, Kev’s top WRs put up some great numbers as well. Adam Thielen (3rd round) is WR8 on the season and averaged 15 points per game. He doesn’t have a ton of catches (70) or yards (870), but he’s 3rd in the NFL with 14 receiving TDs. DK Metcalf was the Maverick to Thielen’s Goose and is currently WR6 on the year – averaging 15.7 points per game. His stat line of 80-1300-10 has fantasy managers really looking forward to his 2021 season. He had either 100 yards, or a TD in 10 of the 15 games he’s played.

I’ll end with the leader of Kev’s team, Deshaun – suck it Clemson, go OSU – Watson. Watson is the 4th best QB in our scoring after being the 5th QB drafted and averaged 28.5 points per game. A model of consistency, Watson put up 18 or more points in every single game and 20 or more points in 12 of 15 games. In addition to consistency, Watson brings those monster “week-winner” performances. Watson was able to put up 30+ in 7 of 15 games and scored 39 points on 3 occasions.

What Went Wrong:

Todd Gurley was in Kev’s FLEX spot for the first part of the season and was performing like the Todd Gurley of old. From Weeks 1 through 9 he averaged 18 fantasy points per game and scored 9 TDs (never put up fewer than 10 points). The Falcons had their bye in Week 10 and all of a sudden the wheels fell off. I’m assuming it was injury related, but Gurley was just not the same player down the stretch. He hasn’t scored a TD since before his bye and hasn’t put up more than 7.3 fantasy points in any game since Week 9. Unfortunately, Kev was never able to replace that production in his FLEX and it got so bad that he had to start Malcolm Brown there in the finals. (5.4 points)

One other player related item – Kev was never able to get much production from his TE spot. Tyler Higbee (9th round) was a bust and the other TEs he used weren’t able to do much (Jimmy Graham, Jared Cook and Zach Ertz).

We’ve delayed it long enough, so let’s make our way to Kev’s final matchup vs. my team. At a high level, the 111.95 was the 4th lowest total Kev put up all year. Obviously not a good time to put up a relative-dud. Kev totaled 1,770 points during the regular season for an average of 136 points per week. Quick math shows a 25-point drop from his average output, or 18%. Again, just brutal timing to have a down week.

In terms of players, DK Metcalf really let Kev down in the finals. Metcalf scored 8.9 points, which was his 3rd lowest output of the season. I mentioned before that he averaged nearly 16 points per week this year, so we’re looking at half of his normal production.

Speaking of not meeting normal production – Dalvin Cook’s 18 points in the finals were more than 10 below his season average, while the 13.8 points that Aaron Jones scored were nearly 7 below his season average.

Let’s talk more about Aaron Jones shall we? Jones played fairly well in Week 16, with 108 total yards on 12 touches. But why so few touches? Because Boston College’s finest AJ Dillon decided to go OFF that week. Dillon rushed for 124 yards and 2 TDs on 21 carries and tacked on a 5 yard catch. All in all, AJ Dillon scored 32.6 fantasy points in Week 16 while Jones scored 13.8. Kev lost to my team 138.8 to 111.95 in the finals. If you give Aaron Jones the AJ Dillon stat-line, it brings Kev’s score up to 130. Even though it wasn’t the reason Kev lost, it would have made things much more interesting….

Preseason Prediction:

“I say Kev goes 7-6 and loses in the first round. Solid team, but Kev is the most luck-starved owner in the league.”

Off on the record and round but correct on the end result. 3 correct, 4 wrong.

Final Thoughts:

As much as I’m enjoying my recent title, I do feel for Kev. I’ve been bellyaching about my luck in this league for the better part of a decade, but even I can admit that Kev has it worse than me. Between injuries, busts and don’t even get him started on Justin Tucker, Kev has had more overall misfortune than I have. Everyone thought it was his year in 2020 and I know everyone was pulling for him in the finals, because even I was to an extent. Alas, the best team will generally not win the title as we’ve learned each of the past three years. That’s honestly the biggest takeaway from this season - not just for Kev’s team but in general. You can be the best team all year long, have the emotional factors on your side and still lose. Fantasy is ALL LUCK.

Just look at the last three seasons - Kev was 9-4 this year, scored 1,770 points and lost in the finals. That sucks, but in 2018 my team was 8-5 and scored 1,950 points. In 2019, my team was 11-2 and scored 1,836 points. Each of the past three years, the #1 seed and clear best team failed to take it home.

In closing, all Kev can do from here is what I had to do each of the past 2 years before 2020. Collect yourself, mourn your wasted season and use the pain to motivate you for the next year. It finally happened for me and it can happen for anyone. Hopefully Kev will get his title soon.