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Written by Cory Puffett
Published November 28, 2024
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This is always a hectic fantasy week, made even more so these past two years with the addition of a Black Friday game after the Thanksgiving triple header. Be sure to check those lineups!
This week we begin our end-of-year divisional round robin. Everybody plays their three division rivals to close out the regular season and as we get set to enter these final weeks, there is a lot to play for.
No playoff spots are locked up as of yet and only Eric Meyer has been eliminated from playoff contention.
This week, two managers have the opportunity to lock up playoff spots.
Sean Kennedy will clinch the AFL East with a win. If he fails to get that, a loss by Alex Kincaid will at least clinch him a spot in the postseason.
Anthony Battle can lock up the AFL West this week with a win and some help from his younger brother against Will Massimini. The entire AFL West is still alive in the playoff hunt, but only a division title will get them there as they are all out of wild card contention. It's pretty remarkable, really, considering seven of the other eight managers are still in that hunt.
We also have some managers fighting to avoid elimination this week. Evan Ash and Alex Mayo each must win this week or they will be out of the playoffs. Alex was the AFL's runner-up in 2023 after missing the playoffs in each of his first three seasons in the league.
Will Massimini can survive a loss if Alex can keep his hopes alive by beating Anthony, but that will still make his chances of winning the division title very slim.
Cory Puffett will be rooting very hard for Evan and Sean as they face Stephen April and Jeffery McDonald, respectively. If Cory loses and either Stephen or Jeffery win, Cory will miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons for just the second time in his AFL career (2018-2019).
And finally, our reigning Sabol Bowl champion, Brandon Saunders, is also on the bring of elimination. He has very similar rooting interests as Cory this week. If he loses and Jeffery beats Sean, he would be the eighth of eleven defending champions in AFL history to miss the postseason. His other path to elimiation this week involves him losing and both Stephen and Alex Kincaid winning against Evan and Cory, respecitively.
With that, here are this week's rooting interests for each of our six matchups. Managers playing in each matchup are, of course, rooting for themselves.
Brandon Saunders vs Eric Meyer
Jeffery, Evan, and Alex Kincaid are rooting for Eric. Stephen and Cory are rooting for Brandon.
Stephen April vs Evan Ash
Jeffery and Cory are rooting for Evan. Brandon and Alex Kincaid are rooting for Stephen.
Alex Mayo vs Anthony Battle
William and Will are the only managers who would be affected by this game and both are rooting for Alex.
Jeffery McDonald vs Sean Kennedy
Everybody affected by this game is rooting for Sean. Those managers are Brandon, Stephen, Cory, Evan, and Alex Kincaid.
Cory Puffett vs Alex Kincaid
Stephen is rooting for Alex. Brandon, Jeffery, and Evan are rooting for Cory.
Will Massimini vs William Battle
Anthony and Alex Mayo are the only managers who would be affected by this game and both are rooting for William.
Game of the Week: Cory Puffett (93.16) vs Sean Kennedy (139.46)
Game of the Week: Cory Puffett (93.16) vs Sean Kennedy (139.46)
All-time H2H: Cory leads series 9-6
For a very brief time, it looked like this game could come down to the wire. All but one player on Cory’s squad played in the 1pm window on Sunday and though Aaron Jones and the Dolphins defense were the only ones to really stand out, he held a respectable lead of about 20 points entering the mid-afternoon window.
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With Travis Kelce still to play against Justin Herbert, Josh Jacobs, and Wil Lutz, Cory probably didn’t love his chances but at least felt like he had a shot.
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Three hours later, it was over. Justin Herbert was still about 18 hours away from pre-game warmups but three touchdowns for Josh Jacobs and the fifth best kicker game in the AFL’s history were enough to put Sean in position to make a bid for the Tom Brady Award, a bid that fell short by less than a point.
Stephen April (140.08) vs William Battle (87.25)
Stephen April (140.08) vs William Battle (87.25)
All-time H2H: Stephen leads series 8-2
Alex Kincaid (125.17) vs Eric Meyer (92.81)
Alex Kincaid (125.17) vs Eric Meyer (92.81)
All-time H2H: Alex leads series 5-3
Evan Ash (114.33) vs Will Massimini (77.29)
Evan Ash (114.33) vs Will Massimini (77.29)
All-time H2H: Evan leads series 8-7
Jeffery McDonald (105.26) vs Alex Mayo (91.68)
Jeffery McDonald (105.26) vs Alex Mayo (91.68)
All-time H2H: Jeffery leads series 1-0
Brandon Saunders (101.12) vs Anthony Battle (65.72)
Brandon Saunders (101.12) vs Anthony Battle (65.72)
All-time H2H: Brandon leads series 10-8
Free Agent All-Stars vs Tom Brady Award Winner
Every week, we take the best possible lineup made of players who were available on waivers in the AFL at the end of the week and compare it to the top scoring team of the week in our league. Included percentages for the Free Agent All-Star players represent the percentage of FleaFlicker leagues in which each the player was rostered as of data gathering (usually Tuesday morning).
Final Score:
Free Agent All-Stars – 158.52
Stephen April – 140.08
YTD Tom Brady Award Winner Record: 4-8
The Free Agent All-Stars have clinched a winning record for the 2024 season. They went 7-8 in 2023 after going 9-6 in 2022, the first year we tracked.
IR Report
In our league, any player can be placed on IR regardless of injury designation. Once on IR, the player cannot be moved, dropped, or traded for a minimum of three weeks.
After Week 1, IR placements are retroactive to the prior week as long as the player was already on the team's roster but was not in the starting lineup during that prior week. This means those players will be eligible to come off IR after just a two-week stay.
TAXI Report
In our league, any rookie can be placed on the TAXI squad at any time.
Rookies placed on the TAXI on or before Week 8, who remain there without ever being removed until the end of the Sabol Bowl, are eligible as TAXI Keepers for the following year, so long as they never appeared in a starting lineup prior to Week 8. Each manager is permitted to designate one TAXI Keeper in addition to their Traditional Keeper.
Weekly Manager Awards
How were this week's $10 divvied up? Weekly awards with no financial benefit can also be found here
Weekly Manager Awards
How were this week's $10 divvied up? Weekly awards with no financial benefit can also be found here
$4 - Tom Brady Award (Highest Scorer) Stephen April #13 in his career
140.08 points Does not rank in Top 100 all-time
$1 - Norm Van Brocklin Award (Top QB) William Battle #11 in his career
Patrick Mahomes, 28.88 15th career QB1 week
$1 - Adrian Peterson Award (Top RB) Alex Kincaid #13 in his career
Saquon Barkley, 46.98 6th career RB1 week
$1 - Flipper Anderson Award (Top WR) Stephen April #7 in his career
Courtland Sutton, 26.60 1st career WR1 week
$1 - Shannon Sharpe Award (Top TE) Brandon Saunders #17 in his career (t-3rd most all-time)
Trey McBride, 19.10 1st career TE1 week
$1 - Scott O'Brien Award (Top K) Sean Kennedy #16 in his career (t-4th most all-time)
Wil Lutz, 24.30 10th career K1 week
$1 - Chuck Noll Award (Top DEF) Stephen April #9 in his career
Houston Texans, 21.02 6th DEF1 week all-time
David Carr Award (Lowest Scorer) Anthony Battle #12 in his career
#1 Power Ranking Sean Kennedy #19 in his career (t-4th most all-time)
#12 Power Ranking Eric Meyer #16 in his career (t-5th most all-time)
Coaching Report
Who earned or cost him team the most points or a win based on coaching decisions? Find out here.
Coaching Report
Who earned or cost him team the most points or a win based on coaching decisions? Find out here.
Chuck Knox Award (Best Coach) Evan Ash #15 in his career (most all-time)
With two successful coaching risks, Evan earned a league-high 13.23 points. Picking up Cameron Dicker instead of Spencer Shrader for a spot start at kicker netted him 3.40 points and the other 9.83 came from starting Mark Andrews instead of Cade Otton at tight end.
Hue Jackson Award (Worst Coach) Eric Meyer #6 in his career
Eric's lone coaching risk was continuing to roll with C.J. Stroud at QB while stashing Jayden Daniels on his TAXI. The decision cost his team a league-high 17.30 points.
Managers took a combined 8 coaching risks this week, their fewest of the season, and were successful on 3. The league's net point differential was -23.97
To date in 2024, the AFL has a .442 success rate on 181 total coaching risks with a -406.90 point differential
Manager Luck Report
Who suffered an unlucky loss or earned a lucky win this week? Who have been the luckiest and unluckiest managers this season? Find out here.
Manager Luck Report
Who suffered an unlucky loss or earned a lucky win this week? Who have been the luckiest and unluckiest managers this season? Find out here.
Lucky Wins
None
Unlucky Losses
None
Luckiest managers through Week 12 (all-play)
Jeffery McDonald 2.5 wins above expected
Sean Kennedy 1.2 wins above expected
Alex Kincaid 1.2 wins above expected
Luckiest managers through Week 12 (median scoring)
Jeffery McDonald 3 wins above expected
Will Massimini 1 wins above expected
Alex Kincaid 1 wins above expected
Unluckiest managers through Week 12 (all-play)
William Battle 2.5 wins below expected
Alex Mayo 1.0 wins below expected
Brandon Saunders 0.6 wins below expected
Will Massimini 0.6 wins below expected
Unluckiest managers through Week 12 (median scoring)
William Battle 3 wins below expected
Brandon Saunders 1 wins below expected
Stephen April 1 wins below expected
Positional Top 100 Leaderboards
These players posted one of the 100 best performances in AFL history within their position groups.
Positional Top 100 Leaderboards
These players posted one of the 100 best performances in AFL history within their position groups.
Saquon Barkley, RB Alex Kincaid 46.98 Points (#11 all-time)
Wil Lutz, K Sean Kennedy 24.30 Points (#5 all-time)
Cameron Dicker, K Evan Ash 16.60 Points (T-#93 all-time)
Missed Opportunities
The players riding their managers' benches would have been key contributors.
Missed Opportunities
The players riding their managers' benches would have been key contributors.
Eric Meyer left the #1 QB performance of the week on his taxi
Jayden Daniels, 32.34 Points
Alex Mayo left the #2 QB performance of the week on his bench
Tua Tagovailoa, 30.54 Points
Alex Mayo left the #4 QB performance of the week on his taxi
Caleb Williams, 27.92 Points
Anthony Battle left the #1 WR performance of the week on his bench
Jordan Addison, 27.10 Points
Brandon Saunders left the #3 WR performance of the week on his bench
Jaylen Waddle, 25.85 Points
Jeffery McDonald left the #4 WR performance of the week on his bench
DJ Moore, 23.73 Points
Brandon Saunders left the #2 TE performance of the week on his bench
Jonnu Smith, 19.83 Points
Jeffery McDonald left the #2 K performance of the week on his IR
Nick Folk, 18.80 Points
This would have tied Folk for the #40 all-time single game kicker performance
Evan Ash left the #4 K performance of the week on his IR
Daniel Carlson, 16.10 Points
Evan's starting kicker, Cameron Dicker, earned half a point more than Carlson
Top 100 Team Scores
These managers' earned one of the 100 highest team scores in AFL history.
Top 100 Team Scores
These managers' earned one of the 100 highest team scores in AFL history.
None in Week 12
Weekly League-wide Point Total
How high- or low-scoring was this week in the context of AFL history?
Weekly League-wide Point Total
How high- or low-scoring was this week in the context of AFL history?
The AFL scored 1,233.33 points in Week 12
This does not rank in the Top 50 in league history out of 167 regular season weeks
Scoring Anomalies
Did the second-highest scoring team lose? Or the second-lowest scoring team win? These sorts of anomalies and more are included here.
Scoring Anomalies
Did the second-highest scoring team lose? Or the second-lowest scoring team win? These sorts of anomalies and more are included here.
For the 11th time in AFL history, and the first time since Week 15 of the 2023 season, the top six scoring teams all won their games. Stephen April has been the top scorer each of the last three times this has happened and this is the first time it has happened in consecutive seasons since 2020-2021.
Anthony Battle's league-leading active streak of 100-point games ended at 7.
Stephen April takes over as the active leader with his 5th straight 100-point outing.
Eric Meyer's league-leading active drought of 100-point games extended to 7 games, re-setting the career long he set a week ago and tying for the longest drought in AFL history.
Sean Kennedy previously had sole possession of the record after he went 7 straight weeks without scoring 100 points between weeks 6 and 12 of the 2023 season, the same weeks as Eric's current drought.
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