Week fourteen is in the books, and we are moving on to week fifteen.
FAMILY DIVISION
With two weeks remaining in the regular season the race for the last spot in the Championship Game is extremely tight. Olney is in, who will join them.
The Poultry Platoon (Erika), Seymour Hoosiers (Myiah), and the defending Champion Farmville Furies (Maddie) all pulled off big wins last week. All three now sit at 8-6 with two games left to determine who will join the Olney Ospreys (Kirsi) in the Championship game. That is so cool, two-game race to the finish with those three teams.
FAMILY DIVISION GAME OF THE WEEK
8-6 Farmville Furies (Maddie) versus 8-6 Seymour Hoosiers (Myiah)
This game speaks for itself. The winner is in a great spot, and the loser will be pretty much eliminated. As close to a play in game as you can get. Good luck!
FIRST DIVISION
As fun as the Family Division race is with three teams tied for the last spot in the Championship game, the First Division may be even more fascinating. There are four teams currently tied for the last two spots in the playoffs. Four teams, two spots, two weeks, race to the finish. Awesome!
FIRST DIVISION GAMES OF THE WEEK
It was hard to pick just one game this week. None of the 8-6 teams play each other. So, each of these games is huge in its own right. Bottom line, all four 8-6 teams need wins.
8-6 Dakota Dragons (Butch) versus 3-11 Baltimore Bulldogs (Katie)
8-6 Allegheny Alligators (Cody) versus 6-8 Fruitland Fruit Flies (Tanner)
8-6 Kobe Beef (Kobe) versus 5-9 Woodsboro Corn Snakes (Michael)
8-6 Hawaii Volcanos (Paul) versus 12-2 Salisbury Auto Drafts (Dakota)
Who will get Ws? Who will move towards the playoffs and promotion? Awesome!
DYNASTY DIVISION
The Family and First Divisions both have two weeks remaining in the regular season. But the Dynasty Division regular season is over. Now, the real fun begins. Here are the final standings.
The San Antonio Reapers season is over. After failing to gain any momentum, the Reapers finished in last place and will be the first of two relegation teams. I think the writing was on the wall when their first two promotion picks, DeShawn Watson and Cam Akers were out before the season started. It is always tough to lose your two best players before the games begin.
The obvious contribution from the Reapers to the promotion draft will be Kyler Murray and Deshawn Watson. Not a bad start at QB for whoever gets promoted. The second relegation team will be determined in the playdowns.
PLAYDOWNS
As a reminder, here is how the playdowns work. The six remaining non-playoff Dynasty teams are placed into the playdowns. Each week, the losers advance into the next round. Just win baby, or you advance downwards. In Week 17, the two remaining Playdown teams will play in the Toilet Bowl. The loser of the Toilet Bowl becomes the second relegation team.
The goal is not to be the best, the goal is to get one win and do the cheer.
Playdowns Round One
7-7 Phoenix Heat (Steven) versus 6-8 Virginia Pioneers (Dave)
7-7 Louisville Leafblowers (Shane) versus 6-8 Minnetonka Chippewas (Greg)
These four teams all just barely missed making the playoffs. The interesting thing is where these four teams are in points scored for the season. Here are the standings ranked by points scored on the season (far right column).
All four of these teams finished in the top seven of scoring. But instead of competing in the first round of the playoffs, these teams are slugging it out in the play downs. Bottom line, any and all of these teams were good enough to be in the playoffs and competing for the Championship. Instead, here they are in the playdowns, and at risk of relegation. Fantasy Football can be brutal. Only two of these teams can pick up wins this week and survive. Good luck fellas. At this point, just don’t be the worst.
Now, let’s look at the playoffs and the competition to win the Super Bowl.
PLAYOFFS ROUND ONE
9-5 Montana Mountaineers (Chuck) versus 7-7 West Virginia Rednecks (Wayne)
The Mountaineers are the Northwest Division Champions and the #2 seed in the playoffs. During the regular season they were the second overall scoring team and are poised to make a run to the Super Bowl. The big question, will Lamar Jackson be healthy enough to lead them?
West Virginia had a big victory over the Louisville Leafblowers last week. That win got them into the 7-7 tiebreak for the last playoff spot. That big win, combined with their earlier win over the Phoenix Heat, gave them the tiebreak advantage and the last ticket to the playoffs. Congrats Rednecks!
Both of these teams are two-time Super Bowl Champions which is very impressive. Only one will get a chance to win a third.
I heard a rumor that the Mountaineers are planning to use their grounds crew to mow grass at 6 AM all weekend in an attempt to rattle the Rednecks. Should be fun!
9-4-1 DC Braves (Shehbaz) versus 8-6 Myrtle Beach Wave (Rob D)
The third seeded Braves had the second-best record and were the highest scoring team during the regular season. The Wave were the #13 team in scoring. The numbers say this should be a DC victory, but not so fast.
After week nine, the Braves were on top of the league with an 8-0-1 record and were looking unstoppable. But as tends to happen in fantasy football, things changed quickly. Derrick Henry blew a tire, Alvin Kamara also got hurt, and the Braves were only 1-4 during the last five weeks of the season. Kamara is back, and the Braves traded for Dalvin Cook at the deadline, so they are looking to find their groove again without Derrick Henry.
The Wave “just win baby.” With eight wins, and two big wins the last two weeks to secure a playoff spot, the Wave show they will have to be dealt with. Plus, with OBJ finally looking like a star again, this team is on the upswing. Also, the Wave have a big advantage in playoff experience, thanks to having won a Super Bowl title in their past. I can’t wait to see how this one plays out.
9-5 Minnesota Blizzard (Geri) versus 8-6 West Virginia Blacklungs (Rob S)
The Blacklungs have had a very good season. They have a deep and balanced roster that allowed them to accumulate wins and get into position for a playoff run. What is their reward? The six-time Super Bowl winner, and defending champion Minnesota Blizzard. Yeah, you read that correctly, the Blizzard have six Super Bowl championships to their credit, including last year.
On paper this game seems even. These two teams are the 4th and 5th seeds. The two teams scored 765 and 760 points on the season. I mean, only five points difference between the teams over fourteen games is as even as it gets. But somehow this still feels like a huge Blizzard advantage due to history. The Blacklungs will need to ignore all the history, and bring their A game if they are going to advance to the semi-finals.
Let the games begin, Wooo Hooo!