And just like that, the 2023 NFL regular season is over. What better way to celebrate the conclusion of the regular season than by reminiscing about the most tilting moments of the year?

Presenting Fantasy Life’s 2023 Sheesh Awards.

You can call them the “Sheeshies” if you like.

Throughout the season, I charted these sorts of near-miss plays in my weekly sheesh column by watching every game and combing through box scores. Categories included:

  • Ball carriers who managed to get all the way to the one-yard line but failed to punch in the TD
  • Pass-catchers who dropped an accurate pass that should have resulted in a score or a big gain
  • Pass-catchers who could have scored or picked up big yardage had the pass been accurate
  • TDs taken off the board due to penalties
  • Other random sh*t that tilted fantasy football managers

There’s a sliding scale of subjectivity here, but we're mostly just looking to highlight the sorts of beyond-the-box-score moments that made fantasy managers say, “Sheesh!” Cool? Cool.

Let's kick things off with the top five “Sheesh!” moments from the 2023 season.

Top Five Sheesh Moments of the Year

5. Josh Allen and Gabe Davis mess up a game-winning TD

The Bills and Eagles engaged in an entertaining Week 12 battle that failed to crown a winner after 60 minutes of action. The first possession of overtime would go to Josh Allen and company, and things were looking good as they faced a 3rd-and-6 all the way down at the Eagles’ 22-yard line.

The good news was that Gabe Davis broke wide-open deep for a potential 22-yard walk-off TD.

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Nov 26, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Gabe Davis (13) catches touchdown pass during the fourth quarter against Philadelphia Eagles cornerback James Bradberry (24) at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The bad news was that Allen wasn't on the same page as his intended target, which resulted in an incomplete pass. You know the sheesh was bad when it elicited reactions like this.

The Bills settled for a field goal, and Jalen Hurts then proceeded to score a walk-off TD only a few minutes later. Say it with me Bills fans: Sheesh!

4. Amari Cooper called out of bounds…even though he was in

A well-placed sideline pass from Deshaun Watson landed right in Cooper’s bread basket, and the 29-year-old veteran displayed some crafty footwork to stay inbounds for a 65-yard TD.

There was only one problem: the referees blew the whistle at the initial catch point, which limited Cooper to a 25-yard gain instead of far more. Usually, the officials mess this sort of thing up on strip sacks that look like incompletions, which is at least somewhat forgivable. But in this instance, the blown call was completely inexcusable and was made all the more brutal by the fact the official was standing right there.

It wasn’t a guarantee that Cooper would have scored, but he sure seemed to have the Titans’ last line of defense on absolute skates as he picked up an additional chunk of yardage after the catch.

Sadly, sometimes the only thing any of us can do in a situation like this is to take a deep breath, take a long look in the mirror, and mutter one word. Sheesh!

3. MVSheesh

The Eagles managed to take a 21-17 lead over the Chiefs with just over six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter back in Week 11. A pair of punts wound up giving Patrick Mahomes & Co. the ball with 91 yards to go and just 2:49 remaining on the clock.

A few completions and a roughing the passer penalty later, the Chiefs were in business at mid-field. It looked as though a miraculous game-winning drive was brewing when Mahomes suddenly found a wide-open Marquez Valdes-Scantling deep down the middle…only for the oft-criticized drop merchant to let the would-be TD go right off his hands.

Sadly, this wasn’t even the worst late-game sheesh from the Chiefs in 2023. We'll get to that in just a few moments.

2. Darnell Mooney has a Hail Mary in his hands…and kicks it to the Browns

I’m not sure if any additional words can do this one justice. Sheesh!

1. Kadarius Toney doesn’t line up right and nullifies the coolest TD ever

This ridiculous, spectacularly unplanned mid-play lateral from Travis Kelce to Kadarius Toney seemingly gave the Chiefs the lead over the Bills with just 1:12 remaining on the clock.

But not so fast my friend, as Toney rather clearly lined up offsides. Initial uproar from head coach Andy Reid and the Chiefs was replaced by a Monday admittance that Toney never checked with the official prior to the snap…although it kind of looked like he briefly did?

Ultimately, Toney was indeed lined up offsides, which nullified what would've been one of the coolest TDs ever. Mahomes didn’t exactly take it well, as he told Josh Allen after the game that it was the “worst f*cking call I've ever seen”.

The moment seemed like the sheesh of the year when it happened, and nothing has changed since. Congratulations aren’t exactly in order…so I guess there’s only one thing left to say: Sheesh!

That does it for out top-five sheesh moments of 2023, but these sheesh moments deserve honorable mention for also having angered fantasy managers and anytime TD bettors alike this season.

When the box score REALLY didn’t reflect reality

There were also plenty of games filled with sheesh moments even if the individual circumstances didn't warrant a spot in our top five. Three separate QB performances in 2023 were chock-full of sheesh moments:

Speaking of near-catches that were brutal sheesh moments…

What the hell is a catch?

Most football fans would admit that not every catch is crystal clear. A lot is going on between the football moving, determining if the receiver got both feet inbounds, and whether possession was maintained through contact with the ground.

Refereeing is admittedly a hard job, especially in real-time without the benefit of slow-motion replay. But here’s the thing: at this point, it’s unclear if even the NFL truly knows what is or is not a catch.

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Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Diontae Johnson (18) catches a deep pass as Cincinnati Bengals cornerback DJ Turner II (20) defends in the second quarter of a Week 12 NFL football game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023, at Paycor Stadium. Photo Credit: Kareem Elgazzar / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK

This was demonstrated on three separate occasions when Steelers WR Diontae Johnson, Cardinals TE Trey McBride, and Jaguars WR Calvin Ridley had scoring plays called as TDs by rule analysts Gene Steratore and Terry McCauley only for the on-field officials to disagree and rule the play incomplete.

Again, none of these are clear-cut receptions, but it’d certainly be a lot cooler if the officials and alleged officiating experts could, you know, be on the same page.

So close, yet so far

Getting all the way to the one-yard line but failing to score a TD is objectively a sheeshy feeling, particularly when fantasy managers are forced to watch another player vulture the TD on the very next play.

Here are the players with the most instances in 2023 of having been stopped at the one-yard line who then failed to score a TD on that drive.

These totals also include occurrences of a player getting stopped just short of the goal line multiple times on the same drive, which explains why a certain Eagles RB doesn’t lead the pack.

Shout out to Pollard for probably having the single sheesh-iest instance of getting stopped at the one-yard line and failing to score a TD on the next drive because: 

  1. It sure as hell looked like Pollard should have found the end zone in the first place.
  2. FB Hunter Luepke and Dak Prescott fumbled their exchange on the next play and gave the football away to the Dolphins.

Speaking of sheesh-alytics…

Unrealized air yards leaderboard

Air yards measure the distance that any given pass travels (wait for it) through the air. Subtracting yards after the catch from every player’s receiving yardage total before taking the difference with total air yards helps us pinpoint exactly how much opportunity through the air a player failed to come down with for one reason or another.

Sometimes unrealized air yards are more akin to “prayer yards” because the pass wasn’t exactly catchable in the first place, so grinding the film helps with identifying those sorts of situations.

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Dec 31, 2023; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs (14) runs with the ball along the sidelines after making a catch against the New England Patriots during the second half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Example No. 1: These unrealized air yards are on Josh Allen because Stefon Diggs probably would've scored an 89-yard TD here had the pass been more accurate.

Example No. 2: Chris Olave received a perfectly catchable ball only to have it bounce off his helmet and fall incomplete.

Anyway, here are the top-10 WRs who had the most unrealized air yards this season:

INTs that weren’t really the QB's fault

On the one hand, all INTs are created equal because they all result in the defense getting possession of the football.

On the other hand, it doesn't always require Joshua Dobbs a rocket scientist to figure out that sometimes the QB wasn’t necessarily at fault when the ball is picked off. Reasons include Hail Mary throws, drops or bobbled passes by the intended receiver, de facto arm punts on 3rd-and-long, etc.

The following QBs had at least five INTs that were not deemed as turnover-worthy plays by Pro Football Focus (PFF) this season:

Mahomes just missed the cut (4 of 14), but he did join Lawrence as the only two QBs who had multiple INTs that came from straight-up drops. You can probably guess who the culprit was for both of Mahomes’s would-be completions.

I think I speak for all of us when I say for one last time: Sheesh!

Sheesh Awards