Author: League Commissioner

Now is the winter of our discontent. There’s no point to any of this. It’s all just a random lottery of meaningless tragedy and a series of near escapes. So, we take pleasure in the details. The following review serves as a brief justification for the ontological necessity of the modern day fantasy footballer’s existential dilemma.

We went from two weeks of snoozers and losers, to Upset City – at least for the top two-thirds of the playoff bracket. The bottom feeders in the 9 through 12 slots have remained horizontal – as flat as a dead man’s cardiograph. The League History tables will not be kind to these team owners. I gotta say, of these four teams, I don’t know how Guns N Rosens fucked this up so bad. He has the top WR and TE in a PPR fantasy football league and just picked up his fourth win…in Week 15. Mind-boggling.

The top four teams won in the first and second weeks of the playoffs leaving little room for excitement. Although, I knew this snoozefest wouldn’t last. We’ve never had a #1 or #2 seed win the League Championship. The winner of the #1 draft pick did pull off a League Championship twice over our previous seven seasons, but in both years that was merely coincidence. The #1 picks weren’t the key factors in their resulting success. If there are any patterns to discern here, I’d lean towards a statistical repeat of our 2013 season.

For Filthadelphia I’m sure this hurts. We’ve been there. For some, multiple times. But McCaffrey or not, this wasn’t a lock. Filthy didn’t run away with anything statistically. He was third in weekly average and only had one position leader. He’s currently averaging seventh through the playoffs. This third season was a significant improvement though and there’s still cash to be won in the third place matchup. Plus the Regular Season Champion payout is still in accounts payable, so we’re under no obligation to field a chorus for his downfall. He’ll get paid.

For Reason to Kerrigan this has to sting a little more, especially after putting up an average of 194.95 points over Weeks 14 and 15. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who’s reading, an overturned Brees TD at the end of the first half in this week’s Monday night matchup* was the giant killer. This was just enough to keep RTK from breaking Bagel Time’s fragile constitution. RTK led the regular season in scoring, put up the highest weekly output of the season in Week 3, annihilated us every week on DEF, and put up weekly position records for TE and K. He continues to lead the league in scoring in the playoffs despite missing the finals. Go grab that 2018 trophy off the mantle, snuggle up with Professor Weaver, and ride your own melt.

*Saints coach Sean Payton was up 34-0 on the Colts calling defensive timeouts and kept starters in the game way beyond their necessity. I get it, Brees is a shameless stat slut, but what a bag of dicks Payton is for profusely kicking a team when they’re down.

Bagel – we’re picking up some very strange vibes. They’re of the I-just-got-laid variety. Bagel Time enters the finals with the second highest season average, second highest weekly points total (also the second lowest), and the top K in the league. It’s been fun witnessing his disquietude and drudgery over the last eight years. League History indicates that the #3 seed is undefeated in the finals at 1-0. One guy did it in 2013. The only problem is that Bagel Time faces a team that is in the finals for the third time in six seasons.

Christian’s Brothers, League Salutatorian, is here again. Previous finals attempts include 2014 and 2017. Is the proverbial third time the charm?  Pretty sure you’d have to go into theorizing about Proto-Indo-European culture’s presumable fight/pray/work breakdown and reconstructions of their religion to answer that question. Or, on a mundane level, his third attempt on a simple task is frequently going to be as good a correction of his initial mistakes as he can manage without a great deal more effort. Who knows. Historically, the #4 Seed is 2-1 in the finals. See opening paragraph…it’s all random and meaningless…

More to come on these two, statistically, in our final championship post of the season. In three to four nights from now, we will crown a new champion. Looking forward to teaching one of you guys the secret handshake.

New League Leaders at K and LB in Week 14.

League Leaders (Regular Season Weeks 1-15)

QB – Trouble Hunter (Deshaun Watson HOU, 58.00 points, Week 5)

RB – Filthadelphia (Christian McCaffrey CAR, 47.70 points, Week 5)

WR – SKOLya’gain (Will Fuller HOU, 52.70 points, Week 5)

TE – Reason to Kerrigan (Darren Waller OAK, 31.60 points, Week 7)

K – Reason to Kerrigan (Younghoe Koo ATL, 20.30 points, Week 14)

DEF – The Brady Bundchen (Eagles PHI, 64.95 points, Week 5)

LB – The Brady Bundchen (Darius Leonard IND, 27.10 points, Week 14)

Single Game – Reason to Kerrigan (234.00 points, Week 3)

Mary Shelley would be proud. And we didn’t have to rely on autonomous beings, sentient robots, or artificial intelligence to figure this out. (Brooding, emotional androids are so last year.) We applied common sense to an otherwise nonsensical activity we torture ourselves with every year. I don’t know how Bagel Time does it. I don’t know how he still has a full head of hair. I’ve never seen someone obsess so much over the weekly goings-on of this fantasy football league. More to come on this nut case.

Xzibit would also be proud. I thought that by the end of the season, this would all sorta worked itself out and the impact would be minimal. Nope – this shit went full West Coast Customs. The most significant improvement of this new design benefitting Christian’s Brothers.

• Christian’s Brothers (+5): Under the normal head-to-head construct, Christian’s Brothers wouldn’t have made the standard 8-team playoffs this season. This new format appropriately shifted his standings from ninth place to fourth place. Under this format, he gets a fucking bye week in the playoffs! If this had been any one of us under the old format, we would’ve gone richter! I say old format, because I may not change this back (TBD). CB scored the fourth highest points in the league, but suffered four head-to-head losses after putting up point totals of 176.05, 172.35, 160.35, and 160.10. That’s just absurd considering that as a league we averaged 155.42 per week. (Reggie – this pursuit of happiness was because of you. When you speak of me, speak highly.)

Highlights on the impacts to the rest of the league (in order of benefit):

• The Brady Bundchen (+4) – This outfit would’ve also missed the playoffs using the old recipe. TBB benefitted by a shift in standings from tenth place to sixth place. No real devastating weekly losses this season, and he did pick up a lucky win in Week 6, but fair is fair.
• UnLockin Yo Schtuff (-4) – This cheesehead dropped four spots in the standings from seventh to eleventh place. This was the difference between making the playoffs or not under our previous composition. UYS grabbed a lucky win in Week 8 inflating his head-to-head standings. His 139.80 output that week only bested two other squads.
• The Whiteshadow (-4) – Ditto the above. Whitey dropped from eighth to twelfth. This squad would’ve pulled the last seed in the playoffs after averaging the lowest weekly output in the league. Seeing a pattern here?
• SKOLya’gain (-3) – Sorry honeybun, you were screwed out of 2^nd place this season. Fifth place is still an honorable performance. I’m falseheartedly proud of your Thursday evening and Sunday morning activity.
• Davante’s Inferno (-3) – Then there was Davante. Your ambassador of quan (sp?) slipped from fifth to eight place in the standings. DI picked up two lucky wins in Week 5 and Week 12. In both weeks, his outputs would have only topped two other teams. That’s a shift from 2-0, to 4-18. I’m sure it’s been a refreshing change of pace for everyone this season away from the recurring Davante’s Inferno narrative.
• Guns N Rosens (+2) – GNR’s benefit wouldn’t have pulled off a playoff bid under the old schematic, but he does shift up in the standings from eleventh to ninth. GNR suffered the unluckiest loss of the season in Week 5 when he put up 195.55 points and faced one of the only two teams that topped that total. On the plus side, he gets to face last year’s Regular Season Champion AND this year’s Regular Season Champion in the first two weeks of the playoffs. It’s fine.
• Trouble Hunter (+2) – Damn, I thought this one was gonna take the cake there for a minute. TH put up 170+ points in three of four matchups, which at one point put her in the top five. Then, over the last three weeks of the season she averaged 106 points per week, including a league low 77.95 points in Week 11. The early season performance shifts TH in the standings from twelfth to tenth. At least you’re not dead last, but damn girl, what happened? Do we need to talk?
• Wanted Dez or Alive (-1) – Wanted has been middle of the pack all season. He drops a spot from sixth to seventh, but didn’t benefit from anything that impactful as a result of the formula this year. He would have been sitting right there in the middle of one my fancy charts. He was 10-1 in Week 12 though. Don’t sleep on him. A few of us have been prepping well for a playoff run.
• Bagel Time (+1) – Mr. Bench Swap himself did it again. He torpedoed a shot at the Regular Season Championship by prematurely texting shit about his opponent’s performance before the week was out. Queue my quote from last year, “Bagel Time texts are the fantasy football kiss of death. He voodoo’d and hoodoo’d his own team all season with his bullshit premature digital ejaculations.” The godfather texted psalms and salutations after Pascal put up a donut on Thursday night. He’ll never learn. Shit’s getting deep though – he’s finally managed to completely set fire to his housemate’s ability to play fantasy football. Hope it works out for him. Bagel Time shifts from fourth to third place. He picked up a tough loss in Week 3 after putting up 176.95.
• Reason to Kerrigan (+1) – Last season’s League Champion is poised for another title run. RTK shifts from third to second place. He inked a loss in Week 2 after facing one of only three teams with better scores. He leads the league in total points (2,069.05), weekly average (172.42), single-game high score (234.00), and Tight End performance (31.60).
• Filthadelphia (±0) – Nothing. He gets nothing. Because he doesn’t need anything. He doesn’t require special treatment. *Unless he’s hiking Dead Woman’s Pass, but that’s neither here nor there. He won the Regular Season Championship even-handedly. I’ve since tried to put together a proverbial schedule where he wouldn’t have won and I couldn’t do it. He killed all of us. Filthy went 11-0 four times, 10-1 once, and 9-2 once. Over six weeks he went 63-3. That shit cray. Good thing someone close to him railed against picking up the status quo #1 draft pick. I’m not gonna do the math on Barkley in his lineup, I’m just sayin’, it would’ve been a very different year for Filthy.

At the end of the day, this didn’t influence who would’ve won the Regular Season Championship and the lion’s share of the regular season cash winnings. This experiment would have altered a few playoff spots, but everyone plays this year, so no harm no foul.

We are back to head-to-head matchups for the playoffs. You get no help from Dr. Frankenstein, X, or the commissioner going forward. It’s win or take your ass home.

Defense 2020

This shit is going away next season. We will not be applying the blanket 25 points bonus on the front end for the DEF position anymore. All other DEF points will remain the same. We pulled the crazy points totals away years ago when we had all the position bonuses built in. It doesn’t make sense to have a position accounting for up to 42% of the weekly average. The league needs to be more balanced across positions, without altering them. Removing bonuses is the best way to do that.

Bench Spots 2020

I’m thinking of experimenting with limited Bench Spots next year. Max two. I’ve been itching to play a season with little to no bench spots to test our skillset. Lombardi Legends was supposed to address that, but I never really got buy-in from the league on that. If not for next year, perhaps the 10-year anniversary in 2021.

League Leaders (Regular Season Weeks 1-12)

QB – Trouble Hunter (Deshaun Watson HOU, 58.00 points, Week 5)

RB – Filthadelphia (Christian McCaffrey CAR, 47.70 points, Week 5)

WR – SKOLya’gain (Will Fuller HOU, 52.70 points, Week 5)

TE – Reason to Kerrigan (Darren Waller OAK, 31.60 points, Week 7)

K – UnLockin Yo Schtuff (Harrison Butker KC, 18.00 points, Week 9)

DEF – The Brady Bundchen (Eagles PHI, 64.95 points, Week 5)

LB – The Whiteshadow (Cory Littleton LAR, 21.90 points, Week 1)

Single Game – Reason to Kerrigan (234.00 points, Week 3)

Bagel Time has taken over the #1 spot heading in to our final week of the regular season. I mean, he poached Davante’s WR and TE after they went down to injury. Good on him though, Davante would have done the same.

It’s Week 12. This is the last week to determine your playoff spot.

Bagel Time, Reason to Kerrigan, and Filthadelphia

These three are locked in, and guaranteed to cash. They are each one win apart and Week 12 will determine how they finish in the top three. The #1 spot being the Regular Season Champion and an initial cash out of $138. The Regular Season 2nd and 3rd place spots cashing at $28 each. They will each earn a BYE in Week 13.

Christian’s Brothers and The Brady Bundchen

The top 4 teams get a BYE in Week 13. These two are the only ones vying for 4th place and the final BYE spot. It’s a long shot for Brady, but possible. He’ll have to best CB by more than nine wins.

Davante’s Inferno, SKOLya’gain, and Trouble Hunter

These three teams are all squared up at 55-66 with Davante leading the trio by total points. They will be competing to see who faces the 9, 10, and 11 seeds in the first week of the playoffs.

The great thing is that this is still anyones league championship to win. Some super duds have pulled off some pretty big upsets in the past. See Money Manziel circa 2014.

Best of luck to everyone.

Facts are hard to come by these days, so here’s some good ‘ole gospeled certainty for you to osmose these next two weeks.

Here – hold my penis while I piss on your underestimated expectations.

• It’s cold outside. Who the fuck drew the curtains on autumn?
• Since we last spoke, Filthadelphia and Bagel Time put together 25 wins each over three weeks, including two 11-0 outings by Filthy in Weeks 8 and 9. Misfortune is looming you lucksters.
• SKOLya’gain is a tornado in the kitchen, and the sheets. What a god-damned mess she made tonight. Killer Turkish zucchini pancakes though.
• Christian’s Brothers is in 4^th place, not 10^th. His recurring fantasy tragedy has finally been righted. Remember his ship almost sank last year and he barely made it to shore (the playoffs). You’re welcome Reg.
• On the flip side, UnLockin’ is in 10^th place, not 5^th. Sorry buddy, you’re down here with Davante. We gotta drink the cheap beer this season, and get a good taste of what it’s like for these other guys most years. Just remember, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour.
• In a few weeks, three League Members will be in Milwaukee prepping for a date with Curly Lambeau in Week 14 for the Skins-Packers matchup. They will be closing down Wolski’s in the 414 prior to. Respect. Put your custom cheesehead orders in by Thanksgiving. We will be closed Black Friday. Opt outside.
• Trouble Hunter runs a lot.
• We finally set a new Kicker record. Week 9. That whole tie thing was taxing my constitution. No one likes a draw. That’s the only update since Week 7.
• The Whiteshadow is terrible at this. He’s hit bottom at 0-11 three times this year. But he lives in Hawaii now, so, jokes on us. Still waiting for that invite my little eskimo brother.
• The NFL officiating in 2019 has been a shameful abasement. And the NFL doesn’t care. Here’s a good article covering this calamity, by a better writer, with a matured, seasoned presence in his writing. I mean, he doesn’t open up his posts with, “hold my penis…”

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/10/nfl-doesnt-care-about-officiating-problems-at-all

• You have two weeks to get your shit together. Think short-term – week to week. Don’t plan for the playoffs. Protect that waiver priority for Weeks 15 and 16. Whatever you do, don’t burn that now. That’s just bad advice.

League Leaders (Through Week 10)

QB – Trouble Hunter (Deshaun Watson HOU, 58.00 points, Week 5)

RB – Filthadelphia (Christian McCaffrey CAR, 47.70 points, Week 5)

WR – SKOLya’gain (Will Fuller HOU, 52.70 points, Week 5)

TE – Reason to Kerrigan (Darren Waller OAK, 31.60 points, Week 7)

K – UnLockin Yo Schtuff (Harrison Butker KC, 18.00 points, Week 9)

DEF – The Brady Bundchen (Eagles PHI, 64.95 points, Week 5)

LB – The Whiteshadow (Cory Littleton LAR, 21.90 points, Week 1)

Single Game – Reason to Kerrigan (234.00 points, Week 3)

I’ve been distant, I know. I do feel dirty, and I owe it to Reason to Kerrigan to post up this week. I mean, he is one of my three readers and apparently his sexy teacher girlfriend reads this shit to him in bed. What can I say?  Lombardi Three musings warms the buns in my oven too; even if this season feels like a flick on the cherries, personally.

I flipped a bitch, turned this cherry out, and put on my fuck me pumps, but nothing seems to help me get that sexy back. This pseudo-intellectual is in perfection paralysis and needs to figure out how to turn this car crash into longboarding on Barbie’s fun beach.

For RTK this has been a utopian underwear party, hosted by the New England Patriots defense. His Pats defense has averaged a backbreaking 42.59 points per week, and has accounted for 26 sacks, 18 interceptions, and 7 forced fumbles through Week 7. I don’t want to be the league skeet extinguisher, but the analizer Bill Belichick and his sphincterocracy of a football team once again play the weakest schedule in the weakest, white-belt conference in the sport, and will Katie Holmes their way, unabated, to another Super Bowl matchup. Get it?  Katie Holmes. Cruise. The other half of the league (the gridiron war counsel, aka, the NFC) will tear itself apart for a shot at the pineapple juice.

Speaking of NFC, two ends of the spectrum face each other in our mid-week matchup. Purple Jesus will likely deliver the scripture to RTK’s godless Redskins tonight, but hopefully this little pre-recital will lift his Cooley-high spirits nonetheless.

Congrats on a season played to date my friend. You have a deathgrip on the Regular Season Championship, a #1 seed in the playoffs, and a hefty bag of thong-dollaz. We all wish you the good disaster-tastrophe fistfucking you deserve, followed by the shit end of the stick.  See you in Lambeau for Round 2 of the NFC North brownhouse kick.

A breakdown of current playoff standings and updates to League Leaders are below. Of note – the ‘Benefit’ column of the standings shows how this season’s format has properly adjusted the standings compared to the traditional, random, weekly matchup standings. For example, under these modified standings, Trouble Hunter is actually in 7^th Place, versus the schedule-based 11^th Place record (+4 benefit). On the other side of the table SKOLya’gain and UnLockin Yo Schtuff, both belong in the 9^th Place and 10^th Place spots, respectively (-4 benefit). If we played under the normal format, these two teams would have lucked in to the 5^th Place and 6^th Place seeds. This. Is. Working. Nuff said.

Talk Hard.  -HHH

League Leaders (Through Week 7)

QB – Trouble Hunter (Deshaun Watson HOU, 58.00 points, Week 5)

RB – Filthadelphia (Christian McCaffrey CAR, 47.70 points, Week 5)

WR – SKOLya’gain (Will Fuller HOU, 52.70 points, Week 5)

TE – Reason to Kerrigan (Darren Waller OAK, 31.60 points, Week 7)

K (TIE) – UnLockin Yo Schtuff (Harrison Butker KC, 17.00 points, Week 1) and

Filthadelphia (Stephen Gostkowski NE, 17.00 points, Week 1)

DEF – The Brady Bundchen (Eagles PHI, 64.95 points, Week 5)

LB – The Whiteshadow (Cory Littleton LAR, 21.90 points, Week 1)

Single Game – Reason to Kerrigan (234.00 points, Week 3)

You’re not gonna get a whole lot out of me this season. I’ve come to realize that maybe two or three of you read any of this shit anyway. Evidenced by the fact that teams were texting me minutes before the draft asking how things worked. You’ll get your usual updates on stats and standings, and if anything worth noting comes up, I’ll try and provide explanation.

 

League Standings (Through Week 4)

Ignore the standings on NFL.com. They’re meaningless. Click on the ‘Breakdown’ view of the standings to see where you stand, plain and simple. Based on our new 4-year format, below is a breakdown of the modified standings. The “Benefit” column shows the benefit of playing in this format (single matchup standings vs. league matchup standings). We’ve already had three ‘tough losses’ and one ‘lucky win’ from a single matchup perspective. This system essentially ignores that. At the same time, no one at the top is being punished by this, and there are only minor shifts in standings, all of which are based on weekly performance.

It also appears that NFL.com didn’t randomize the schedule properly, and already has some repeat matchups. A reminder of why we left this shitpile. Either way, don’t have heartburn about it because it doesn’t matter. You’re not playing that one team, you’re playing the whole league each week. The only thing you should be rooting for each week is that your total points are higher than everyone else’s. You want that 11-0 record each week. W-L tiebreaker is Total Points.

I’ll send an update every two weeks from here on out. Otherwise just look at the ‘Breakdown’ view to know where you stand. At the conclusion of Week 12, that will be your playoff standing. All twelve teams compete in the playoffs with the first four teams on BYE in Week 13. You can click on the ‘Playoffs’ view on the NFL.com League page to preview how the playoffs work.

League Leaders

Week 1 was a monster. Based on the results of the last few seasons, we’ve already set some really high benchmarks in Week 1.  I included last season’s records for comparison.

2019 League Leaders (Through Week 4)

QB – SKOLya’gain (Lamar Jackson BAL, 46.80 points, Week 1)

RB – Filthadelphia (Christian McCaffrey CAR, 42.90 points, Week 1)

WR – The Whiteshadow (Sammy Watkins KC, 46.80 points, Week 1)

TE – SKOLya’gain (Evan Engram NYG, 28.60 points, Week 1)

K (TIE) – UnLockin Yo Schtuff (Harrison Butker KC, 17.00 points, Week 1) and

Filthadelphia (Stephen Gostkowski NE, 17.00 points, Week 1)

DEF – Reason to Kerrigan (Patriots NE, 61.45 points, Week 2)

LB – The Whiteshadow (Cory Littleton LAR, 21.90 points, Week 1)

Single Game – Reason to Kerrigan (234.00 points, Week 3)

2018 League Leaders

QB – Tannehill4President (Jared Goff, 53.95 points, Week 4)

RB – Christian’s Brothers (Christian McCaffrey, 43.70 points, Week 12)

WR – Reason to Kerrigan (Amari Cooper, 49.70 points, Week 14)

TE – Trouble Hunter (Zach Ertz, 40.50 points, Week 10)

K (TIE) – The Brady Bundchen (Stephen Gostkowski, 22.00 points, Week 6) and

Davante’s Inferno (Ka’imi Fairbairn, 22.00 points, Week 15)

DEF – SKOLya’gain (Baltimore, 61.50 points, Week 6)

LB – Reason to Kerrigan (Bobby Wagner, 31.45 points, Week 13)

Single Game – Reason to Kerrigan (234.30 points, Week 8)

Today is a great opportunity to reflect on all that you failed to accomplish this summer. The pressure to have fun and look good naked at the beach is over. You’re all invited to grill for me today where we will discuss the fact that our next holiday weekend is not until Thanksgiving. If your labor has not afforded you the ability to take a labor day vacation, you can still look forward to hearing about everyone else’s summer vacations today. And remember, every Monday off means that tomorrow we will all hate Tuesdays too.

On to business…

One of you needs to pay your League Dues (hint: it’s not Trouble Hunter).

Go in and update your team name and logo (don’t let me see that ridiculous stock helmet).

Test the NFL.com draft client prior to tomorrow night (no excuses).

Lastly, while putting your liver to work this Labor Day, do some homework*.

*Following the Average Draft Position (ADP) just means you’re doing what everyone else is doing. The ADP only continues to report what sheep we are. The first mock draft pick of 2019 was executed by some Patton Oswalt lookin, toll-booth workin, New York Giants fanboy who selected Saquon Barkley as his prom date first. Every subsequent mock draft from there saw that he was trending #1 and also drafted him #1, and so on. That’s how the ADP is established. It means jack-fuckin-shit.

If you thought you had draft anxiety now, reread that paragraph.

See you all tomorrow at 7:00 PM East Coast time.

I doubt anyone cared enough to figure out the hints I dropped last night but the accompanying photograph left a few clues.

1. If you attempted to save the image, the filename was titled.
2. That stretch-ghetto astro van is straight Trash City.
3. That Walmart store (number in left-hand corner) is located in Vineland, New Jersey just outside the city of Philadelphia.

There you have it; this year’s winner of the #1 Draft Pick is….

As usual, a combination online and offline series of randomization was conducted by three league members. The rest of the order shifts up based on the rules of The Constitution.

See you all Tuesday Night, September 3rd.

The #1 Draft Pick lottery has been completed.

Winner announced tomorrow…

Welcome to Season VIII of The Lombardi Three and the centennial season of the National Football League. Celebrating its 100th year, the NFL will honor the origins of the league throughout the year having scheduled a game each week to pay homage to landmark moments in NFL history, including ten previous Super Bowl matchups. The Green Bay Packers will play in three of these significant games.

Week	Opponents	Significance
1	Packers vs. Bears	League’s longest running rivalry
2	Browns vs. Jets	First Monday Night Football contest
3	Dolphins vs. Cowboys	Super Bowl VI
4	Chargers vs. Dolphins	Epic in Miami
5	Bills vs. Titans	Music City Miracle
6	Giants vs. Patriots	Super Bowls XLII (David Tyree’s helmet catch spoils the perfect regular season) and XLVI
7	Raiders vs. Packers	Super Bowl II
8	Packers vs. Chiefs	Super Bowl I
9	Vikings vs. Chiefs	Super Bowl IV
10	Falcons vs. Saints	Rivalry game, Saints’ return to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina
11	Patriots vs. Eagles	Super Bowls XXXIX and LII (Philly Special)
12	Raiders vs. Jets	Heidi Game
13	49ers vs. Ravens	Super Bowl XLVII (The Harbaugh Bowl)
14	Bengals vs. Browns	Battle of Ohio (state where NFL was founded), both teams founded by Paul Brown
15	Colts vs. Saints	Super Bowl XLIV
16	Raiders vs. Chargers	Rivalry game, Holy Roller play

Just think, 92 years from now, someone is going to be compiling a list just like this one for The Lombardi Three. Where will you stack up when that time comes?

 ORGANIZATION

Keepin’ it 100, this is the first season we (likely) return 100% ownership. I have no plans to reorganize. But this wouldn’t be The Lombardi Three without a little random distortion. As I previewed in the final post last season, we are playing 2019 under a Points Table format. We are also temporarily relocating our operation back to NFL.com to account for this new construct. All but one of you have been to our offshore site so this shouldn’t be a huge shift in process. Re-download the prerequisite apps and conjugate whatever machine intelligence platform you need to make the weekly sausage. We’re 21st century fantasy footballers – let’s act like it.

REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

We are playing a 12-week regular season this year under the Points Table format. Regular season and playoff standings will be determined by your head-to-head record had you played each team in the league, each week. For example, if you score the most points in the league in Week 1, your Week 1 record would be 11-0, meaning you would have beaten each of the other 11 teams in the league. The next highest scorer would be 10-1, and so on. After 12 weeks, the total of each weekly record determines your playoff standings.

Playoff competition returns to the standard head-to-head format. This is key to understand. We will all be competing in a 12-team playoffs over four weeks (Weeks 13-16) with the top four teams on BYE in Week 13. So no matter how your season ends up under this Points Table format, you still have a shot at the title.

BENCH SWAPS

We are on an operational pause with Bench Swaps this season. This clears an administrative burden off our plate. Plus, the Bench Swap has limited value under this season’s Points Table format, as it only represents a one-time boost in your weekly Total Points.

 DRAFT

This year’s draft will be conducted on a weeknight, tentatively scheduled for the evening of Tuesday, September 3^rd. The Draft Center page has been updated to reflect the results of last season. Any one of you in the guaranteed spots #2 through #6 that wish to withdraw from your locked spot and put your name in the hat for the #1 pick lottery, let me know. The #1 draft pick lottery will be held the evening of Wednesday, August 21^st.

Per the Constitution, any team that hasn’t paid their dues by then will be ejected from any fixed draft position and will not be allowed to participate in the draft lottery for first overall pick. Said derelict(s) will be repositioned at the bottom of the draft lineup.  I’m actually gonna enforce it this year just for fun!

LEAGUE DUES

Pay your dues. See the updated League Dues page for details and a public snapshot of your TL3 credit report. As a reminder, when playing under the Points Table format this season, the $/win payout is removed from the Available Winnings, and the payout for Regular Season Highest True Coach Ranking is replaced with Regular Season 3rd Place Bonus.

LEAGUE HISTORY

The League History page has been updated to include the results of our 2018 season. Organized by win percentage, Davante’s Inferno has creeped ahead of last season’s leader, Trouble Hunter, by two-hundredths of a percentage point to claim the winningest program at 73-40.

CLOSING

Wrapping things up, shoot me a text or an email to let me know you are (a) alive, (b) conscious of what we are doing this season, and (c) plan on playing.