A Tale of Two Finalists
It was the best of teams. It was the worst of teams.
It was the age of fantasy dynasties. It was the age of playoff rejects.
It was a team owner with a league-high 14 playoff wins. It was a team owner with just two.
It was the league’s only four-time champion. It was the league’s only founding member to have never appeared in a title game.
In short, it was Brandon and Erik—two team owners who have resided at opposite ends of the league hierarchy over the years but now find themselves facing off against each other in this year’s title game.
On one side, there’s Brandon. He’s second in the all-time Power Rankings and one of only two team owners with 100 career wins. He also has a chance this week to become just the second team owner to reach 20,000 career points. (Shout out to Gray who did it back in Week 11!)
Sure, Brandon is the clear second banana to Gray in the regular season. But the playoffs are Brandon’s domain where, improbably, he has a career playoff record of 14-2. Basically, he almost never loses in the playoffs. To put that in context, Gray (currently 8-7) would have to win 41 straight playoff games (or the next 14 championships in a row without a loss) to have the same playoff win percentage Brandon does now. Sounds crazy but the math checks out! 🤓
And speaking of championships, the Hall of Champions is littered with Brandon’s titles—four in all. That’s one every three years. As for the rest of the league, only Gray has more than one (editor’s note: he’s got two) and there are 10 current or former team owners who have never won a single title.
Then there’s Erik. Among active team owners, he’s eighth in the all-time Power Rankings. But that ranking is partially propped up by the career season he just experienced. Prior to this year, he was even worse—11th in TW% and last in points per game. He also previously had the second-worst rate of making the playoffs (just four appearances in 12 seasons) and had the least success of any team owner once he got to the promised land. In his four previous playoff appearances, he was 1-5 with his only win coming against JT in the 2012 consolation game. That means, until this week, he hadn’t won a playoff game in over a decade and was the only active member of the league (besides Chelsie who has just two seasons in the books) to have never made it to the championship game.
Until now.
Because like with the French Revolution, times change. And the tables have turned. Now it’s Erik who enters the title game with the top overall seed. It’s Erik who has tied the league record for most wins in a season with 12 (joining Brandon in 2017, Jess in 2014 and Gray in 2016 and 2011—that’s two former champions and two of the best teams of all time). And Erik who has a chance to put together his first playoff win streak and, more importantly, claim his first title.
But while Brandon is the six seed in this matchup—the first-and-only six seed to ever make the title game—he’s no slouch. After all, It was Brandon who had the higher-ranked team in the final Power Rankings of the season. It was Brandon who averaged more points per game this season than Erik. It was Brandon who has already defeated Alex and Gray (the two other highly-rated teams in the playoffs). And Brandon who, when it comes to the postseason, rarely if ever loses.
Ultimately, someone’s head is going on the chopping block. And when that blade finally falls, only one champion will be left standing. Either Erik will finally emerge victorious after 13 hard-fought, Dickensian seasons, or Brandon will claim an unprecedented fifth championship.
Because when it comes to playing for a potential fantasy championship, it is a far, far better thing that they do now, than they have ever done. And the Hall of Champions is a far, far better place that they might go to than anyone has ever known.
Recapping the Semifinals
(1) Erik and (6) Brandon advanced to the finals with wins over (4) Greco and (2) Gray.
Despite the hype entering the semifinals, both games turned out to be snoozefests.
In the first game, Tyreek Hill and Isiah Pacheco returned to Erik’s lineup and helped power him to a victory over Greco. It was a balanced effort with double-digit points from nearly every player in his lineup. As for Greco, she did possibly the most Greco thing ever and started an inactive Michael Pittman during the playoffs. Tough break for that news to drop on Christmas Eve only a couple hours before kickoff. But if it’s any consolation, there’s no player on her bench that would have made up the difference.
For Greco, the loss drops her record against Erik to 8-8 overall and 1-1 in the playoffs. Her career playoff record now stands at 8-7. But she’ll have a chance to pick up a ninth win in the consolation game against Gray. The winner of that game not only wins third place and their money back but will also stake a claim to the second-most wins in playoff history.
Speaking of Gray, Greased Lightnin’ stalled out before ever reaching the starting line. After finishing second in the league in scoring from RBs with 44.0 ppg, Gray got just 24.6 points from Alvin Kamara, Raheem Mostert and De’Von Achane—less than Christian McCaffrey got all by himself. Not to mention just 11.9 points combined for Stefon Diggs and DeAndre Hopkins. That’s a brutal no-show from his studs, resulting in the third-lowest scoring game of his season.
The loss drops Gray to 7-11 against Brandon all time with a 1-3 record in the playoffs. Like Greco, his career playoff record is now 8-7, though he still leads the league in playoff appearances with nine in 13 seasons.
Previewing the Championship Game
The finals are set—(1) Erik vs. (6) Brandon.
After 16 weeks, the finals are officially set. It’ll be Erik. vs. Brandon.
For Erik, he has the potential to not only claim his first championship but to become the first team owner to win 13 games in a single season. Meanwhile, Brandon has the chance to win his fifth title and the fourth in the last seven years. Not only that but he would be the first six seed to ever win a championship. Previously, the lowest seed to ever win a title was also Brandon with the four seed in 2020.
As for the matchup, it’s a battle of opposites. Erik’s strength is at WR. Remember, Erik led the league in WR scoring with 52.1 ppg, which we noted in the playoff preview ranks third all time. Specifically, Tyreek Hill and A.J. Brown are two top-5 WRs not to mention Zay Flowers (WR22). Meanwhile, Brandon will counter with the league’s highest-scoring RB room with two top-6 RBs (Christian McCaffrey and Jahmyr Gibbs) plus Saquon Barkley (RB15). Both lost fourth-round QBs (Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert) but have since found suitable replacements (Matthew Stafford and Kyler Murray). But only one can come away victorious.
Best of all, these two have history. They’ve split 16 previous matchups with eight wins apiece. But two have come in the playoffs and Brandon won both. That included the 2017 semifinal game en route to Brandon’s second championship and the 2020 quarterfinals, the latter of which is known as the Hanukkah Miracle. For those who don’t recall, that matchup featured a dramatic Sunday night comeback on the fifth night of Hanukkah in which Stefon Diggs, Lamar Jackson and a defensive TD stat correction helped Brandon overcome a 62-point deficit. Brandon would go on to win the title that year too.
Will Erik finally get his revenge and win his first title? Or will Brandon be celebrating another championship before the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve?
The computer pegs Brandon as the slight favorite with a 52% chance. And it appears the ESPN projections agree, giving Brandon a 53% chance to win. But let’s be real. When you have Christian McCaffrey on one side and Tyreek Hill on the other, the outcome could go either way.
Brandon is now the slight favorite to win it all with a 52% chance according to the computer.
Previewing the Poop Bowl
Finally, let’s turn to the consolation ladder.
It’s Beth Ann vs. Jess in the Poop Bowl! 💩
Wins for Chelsie and Geoff have removed them from Poop Bowl contention, which means the third-ever Poop Bowl will feature a matchup of…Beth Ann and Jess—two former champs! Of course, Jess lost the Poop Bowl last year, which makes her the first team owner to appear in multiple Poop Bowls. And with T.J. Hockenson suffering a season-ending injury in Week 16, it’s yet another bit of bad luck in an already injury-plagued season for Jess. She’ll be hard-pressed to avoid some more “déjà vu” with back-to-back Poop Bowl losses.
Don’t forget if you’ve been eliminated from the playoffs or Poop Bowl contention to please refrain from making any more add/drops. That means no more moves for Chelsie, Geoff, Josh, Alex, Samantha or Nick. Everyone else is fair game as you still have stuff to fight for.
That’s it for Week 16. Normally, I close by wishing good luck to everyone in the week ahead. But seeing as it’s me in the title game, I’m wishing good luck to myself. 😉
See you in the new year when we’ll put a bow on the season!
