The Wane McGarity Championship Preview

 

Well, here we are. After the drafts, the trades, the waiver wire pickups, the injuries, the agonizing losses, the awesome wins, alllllll the lucky bullshit in between, 12 teams started with a goal, to become this year's Wane McGarity Bowl Champion, and after 15 weeks, 10 teams will have to wait until next year for that opportunity. But for Leland and Kenny, their as close as close can get to achieving their  goal. For Leland, it'll be a return to glory. Leland's been here before, he's 2-0 in Finals Appearances, and he'll try to win a record 3rd this season. For Kenny, it's the opposite, He's been here twice as well, both on the losing end, including last year's heartbreaker to Mark. Armed with an even better team than last year, he'll hope the 3rd time is the charm for that elusive championship. Who's dreams will be coming true? Will Kenny finally break through, or will Leland be setting records. All questions that will be answered at

Wane McGarity Bowl VIIII

No Soup For You (Leland) 

vs

Scott's Tots (Kenny)

Leland Lawrence (No Soup For You)

Finals Appearances: 3rd

Finals Record: 2-0 (Won in 2012 vs Albert, and in 2015 vs Mark)

Regular Season Record: 8-5 (1st Place)

Regular Season Points Leader

How Leland Got Here: Leland's journey started out very shaky, as he started out 0-3. Ironically this is 2nd time he's started out 0-3 and made the finals. David Johnson was looking like a bust of a pick and it was looking like another possible disappointing season for Leland. He quickly turned it around though, and started scoring points in bunches, while also ripping off a 7 game winning streak. A trade for Zeke rejuvenated his team, and it started to look like there was no way Leland was going to lose again. Then..disaster struck, first the Kareem Hunt fiasco cost him huge as he lost his arguably 1st or 2nd best player to suspension. A few days later, he would lose Emmanuel Sanders to injury as well. Rex Burkhead's reemergence also has killed James White's value and to add more insult to injury, it looks like Leland will be without Tyler Boyd, the guy he traded David Johnson for, as well, add that to the uncertainty of Aaron Rodgers and Leland has a lot of question marks in route to the finals.  He still finished with the #1 seed and points title, but lucky for him he got away with a subpar performance in the semis because of Matt's team's inexplicable meltdown. It's not often Leland finds himself as the underdog, but in this championship final that's exactly what he is.

Kenny Bybee (Scott's Tots)

Finals Appearances: 3rd

Finals Record: 0-2 (Lost to Me in 2013, Lost to Mark in 2017)

#3 Seed

2nd in Points Scored

How Kenny Got Here: Just like Leland, Kenny's season started off frustrating. His team was scoring points but he kept losing because his points against was just so sky high. This was exactly why we changed the 6th seed to points based. Kenny not only hit perfectly on keeping Antonio Brown and Christian McCaffrey, but after week 1 he picked up a guy who would be critical to his run to to the title. Phillip Lindsay. Lindsay has been the waiver wire pickup of the year, providing top end scoring. Kenny's super deep roster has paid off dividends as he ended the season on a tear, not even needed the 6th seed rule to make the playoffs. He easily dispatched of both Eugene and me and now heads into his 3rd Wane McGarity Bowl as once again a heavy favorite. He was a heavy favorite last year too, but fell just short in his quest for a title (thanks in part to an  untimely Antonio Brown injury). Will fate once again be against Kenny? Or will he finally be able to breakthrough and become champion?

Head to Head Record

Leland won the regular season matchup 1-0, beating Kenny 159.38-85.22 in Week 7

Official Predictions

Yahoo Says: Kenny wins

I Say: Kenny wins. Neither team has looked particularly well the past couple of weeks, but there's a lot more uncertainty on Leland's side than Kenny's side at this stage of the season. Maybe this would be an epic clash if Leland's team was full strength, but unfortunately it's not. Although the way this season has gone, nothing would surprise me, I just think it's Kenny's time and he's due. I really believe the 3rd time will be a charm and I honestly think Kenny wins this pretty easily. I hope am wrong and it's at least semi competitive, but I just can't see Kenny's team as a whole underperforming as bad as it's been the last couple of weeks, and even then, he still won both of his matchups with ease. It's going to take a lot of wild card blowup performances for Leland, and I just think it's going to be too much to overcome. I believe Kenny should be the 2018 Wane McGarity Bowl Champion.

Semi Finals Overview: The Wane McGarity Bowl Is Set

 

So honestly this is the worst playoffs I've ever seen in my entire time playing this dumb game. Seriously the past 3-4 weeks, when you take into account all the key injuries (and suspensions) and underwhelming performances from elite stars, it's been even more a crapshoot than ever to win a playoff game this year. Sooooo many guys busted this week, it's a who's who of top flight talent. Put it this way, not one team scored 100 points this week. And as you'll see in the recap, a record was set...but not the kind to proud of. After all the carnage, we do have our Wane McGarity Bowl officially set. So who got in? Here are the results.

Scott's Tots (9-6)               99.36

Rigmas Forever (8-7)        74.54

And once again I fail for the 4th time in the semis as my team outside of Justin Jackson and Alvin Kamara just didn't come to play. The score doesn't really show how close this matchup was. It was really a dreadful performance from both of our teams that started with 0 for me from Keenan Allen. Kenny got a pretty good Deshaun Watson performance, but the rest of his team was average at best down to awful on Saturday Night and Sunday. Philip Lindsay was held to under 7 points, neither Antonio Brown or Julian Edelman met their projections and Zach Ertz was held to under 4 points. I was actually a 3 point favorite going into the Monday Night games with Cam, Ian  Thomas, Michael Thomas, and Alvin Kamara still to go vs Kenny having Christian McCaffrey and Mark Ingram. But, as soon as the game started, the outcome was never in doubt. The game pretty much started with a 50 yard TD pass from....CHRISTIAN MCCAFFREY to a random tight end (not MY tight end) and it was just an embarrassing performance from my team the rest of the way. Only Kamara did anything, as Michael Thomas was again disappointing and Ian Thomas caught two passes on the very first Panthers drive and was done after that. Cam was terrible..god awful as I got the absolute worst QB performance I've gotten since I got a 0 from Tony Romo in the 2011 Finals. He finished with a pathetic 5 points and it's beyond obvious his injury is super serious, but he keeps on playing. T.Y. Hilton and Tarik Cohen had respectable games, but nothing mind blowing. So Kenny's team is the first team to reach back to back finals since Albert went to 3 straight back in 2010-2012, and it's his 3rd finals appearance overall, which ties Albert for most all time. It was far from pretty, but at the end of the day the better team did win. For me, it really felt like a super weird season. I never felt like my team had any sorts of consistency and I basically got a bye by default, not because I had a superior team. Also, what seems to be a common theme in the playoffs for me, my team just seems to run out of gas as honestly Cam and my Saints players have been pretty average the past 3-4 weeks. This time, I had no one else on my team to bail me out. I find solace in knowing that even had I played Damien Williams, I would've lost, so lineup decisions wouldn't have mattered. That's the way it goes sometimes. If I seem calm about it, ha, trust me, I wasn't, I had my meltdown last night (didn't even bother to watch the 2nd half of the game) and this morning begrudging congratulating Kenny on his victory. It sucks beyond belief, but it is what it is and I once again have to gear from the 3rd place to see if I can get money back. For Kenny, his team has been the best team to me for a while now, especially after Leland lost to key pieces in Kareem Hunt and Emmanuel Sanders so I think he'll go into the finals as the favorite. He's 0-2 so far in the Finals, but 3rd time could be the charm, and this could be his best team out of the 3 that have made the finals. 

No Soup For You (9-6)                 90.96

Light's Broken Bots (8-6)             47.32

WOW...this is the most unbelievable jaw dropping playoff performance I've ever seen and not in a good way. This is exactly why this game is so maddening and frustrating. Give a piece of two, this is the same exact team with the same exact core that scored 144 points just last week. This week...not even 50...not even 50 points..not an typo. Matt's team put a playoff record low 47.32 points in just a inexplicably awful performance. Patrick Mahomes basically accounted for half of the points. Thielen, Juju, Gronk, Kittle all massively flopped at the same time. How DOES THAT happen?! I really thought Matt was going to win this with ease, but it was just a nightmarish way to end what was a solid season. These playoffs have been absolutely awful so far and this matchup was basically over before the Sunday Night game. Leland had Robert Woods for fun. The scary thing, Leland's team was honestly not that great either and he lost yet ANOTHER key piece to his team with Tyler Boyd getting injured. For Leland, it's his 3rd finals appearance and he's 2-0 in the finals so far. He also ties Albert and Kenny for most Finals Appearances, but he can take over most Wane McGarity Bowl victories all time with 3 if he beats Kenny. It's going to be a really difficult task to say the least, but if anyone can get it done it's Leland. So the "Cousin Connection Bowl" will end up happening in the 3rd place game, while Kenny takes on Leland in Wane McGarity Bowl VIIII. 

Other League Notes: As typical with the loser bracket, no one really gives a crap or pays attention much to the results, but lost in the shuffle was Dad's miracle win against the Drew. It looked like Drew had an easy win to advance to the loser bracket finals with Drew Brees left to go, but Brees was terrible and Dad advances to his 3rd straight Michael Wiley Loser Bowl Finals by a mere 2 points. He'll take on Albert who easily beat Mike in the semis. The most awkward and pointless matchup of the playoffs is always the 5th place game. I mean, there's nothing to gain from it really. Kind of a pride thing. Eugene beat Mark by 3 points. Geez, seems like the consolation bracket is a lot more competitive than the actual playoffs. Finally, in what is a matchup about pride because no one wants to finish last place, Ryan won the 11th place game against Alex. For Alex, it officially ends a season that I'm sure he'd like to forget.

Thursday Night Overview: It All Comes Predictably Crashing Down

 

You wanna know why I loathe this game so much? Because I have zero control on what actually happens in this stupid game. This is my 6th trip to the final four in the playoffs..6 times I've been here..and I'm about to fail yet again for the 4th time to even reach the Championship game. Last year it's because of a random TE Decision. This year, an in game injury has already killed my week before it's even started. Yup Keenan Allen, who I own of course, got hurt in the 1st quarter in last night's game and never came back. BIG FAT 0 in the playoffs nonetheless. Just forget any chance of beating Kenny's team (like I had one to begin with) now because it ain't happening. On top of that, I had Damien Williams in my lineup alllll week but chickened out at the last second because I didn't want two wild card plays on a Thursday in a semi final playoff matchup and since Melvin Gordon was ruled out, I thought Justin Jackson would be the better play and stuck with him and Tarik Cohen. Naturally Damien Williams goes off (of course he does, I own him and didn't play him, I promise you if I played him he'd have 60 total yards with no TD's). It's just so predictable how shit my luck is. It's beyond aggravating and I don't see how you guys shrug this shit off. Maybe it's because yall have real lives that don't revolve around this game. Anyways, Kenny's going to sail to the finals (again) while I'll get to play in the 3rd place game for the 4th fucking time and pretend to be focused on it because you get your money back. Justin Jackson WAS good, I"m not a TOTAL idiot, but it's for nothing. Oh and TY Hilton either will play but be limited or just be ruled out completely just to stick it to me even more. On the flip side of the matchups, Matt didn't get the Mahomes superman performance that he's been getting all season and I think he might be in jeopardy of losing to Leland now. He's going to need his core of Juju, Thielen, Gronk, and George Kittle to really pick up the slack if he's going to advance to the championship.

Semifinals Matchups and Predictions

Well..here we are...the final 4. We've weeded out 8 teams so far and now we're left with the four best teams standing. Like I said in my last post, I truly believe these are the best 4 teams left which is rare to get considering how unpredictable this game is. Speaking of unpredictability, these playoffs have been a NIGHTMARE with the number of key injuries to superstar players. Kareem Hunt, Melvin Gordon, A.J. Green, Spencer Ware, Carson Wentz are just a few guys whose injuries are mucking things up for us. So without further ado...here's who I think is advancing to the 2018 Wane McGarity Bowl.

Rigmas Forever (8-5) vs
Scott's Tots (8-6)

Yahoo Says: Kenny wins
I Say: Kenny Wins. Oh boy....for me personally, Kenny is my BIGGEST rival. He's my best friend and we go all the way back to middle school. As far as fantasy goes, we've done sooooo many leagues together starting all the way back to the Good Ol' Sandbox days. Surprisingly, in all of the years we've played in this league, we rarely cross paths besides the mandatory regular season matchups. The only time we have in the playoffs? 2013..when I beat Kenny to win my one and only Wane McGarity Bowl. So to say this matchup means a lot to me and him is the biggest understatement. There's no one I'd rather beat to get to the top, and unfortunately I'd rather lose to anyone else than Kenny. There are a LOT of moving parts yet to be determined for both our lineups. So many unknowns, our lineups could change multiple times throughout the week. One thing that is for sure though is the ultimate reason for picking Kenny to beat me...he's just simply got the better overall team. It's way more balanced than mine. I have a nagging Cam injury, uncertainty at tight end, a hobbled T.Y. Hilton, a struggling Saints combo, a questionable flex, it's just a lot of wild cards and it would be nearly impossible for me to hit on every decision I have to make. I feel like Kenny has the more stable team and he's been on a tear the last few weeks. I would 100% love to be wrong, but just being real here. This is Kenny's to take. Hope my team proves me wrong...we'll see.


No Soup For You (8-5) vs
Light's Broken Bots (8-6)

Yahoo Says:  Leland Wins
I Say: Matt wins. Oh boy..talk about a matchup that has had so many twists and turns. First of all remember just a mere couple of weeks ago it was Matt that broke Leland's 7 game winning streak by barely a point or two after that unbelievable Rams vs Chiefs shootout. At first, I thought Leland was a shoo in for the Finals..then he turned around and lost both Kareem Hunt and Emmanuel Sanders...then I thought Matt was the no doubt winner after he blitzed Mark in Round 1..but now Matt will be without the services of Spencer Ware and Kerryon Johnson yet again and once again Matt's RB Depth is thin...so it seems like advantage Leland again right? Until you realize that Matt's running back depth has been thin ALL SEASON basically and he's still been able to overcome it because of the enormous depth at the rest of his positions, starting with Patrick Mahomes. When you have Mahomes, Juju, Thielen, Gronk, and Kittle you can more than afford to have mediocre RB plays. Yahoo has Leland as a small favorite but I think Matt takes it and advances to his 2nd Wane McGarity Bowl.

Round 1 Overview: Anticlimactic Start To The Playoffs

 

There's no way around it, as awesome and unpredictable the regular season ended for us..the 1st round of the playoffs was a boring ass dud. Beyond predictable with no suspense. Honestly, the right four teams are in the playoffs. Selfishly I wish that wasn't the truth as I reallllly wanted Mark and Eugene to be in my bracket, but it didn't happen so we have our final four. Here are they yawn inducing results of Round 1. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Scott's Tots (8-6)                              108.54

Rocket Man (6-8)                               69.14

Good lord, this was not even exaggerating, over by the first wave of games. Seriously...Kenny's 4 1:00 PM plays outscored Eugene's entire team.  Gross. Kenny's team wasn't even THAT good, at least to his standards, yet because Eugene's team was so terrible it didn't matter and it was easy nearly 40 point blowout. It's not Eugene fault, he lost A.J. Green and Melvin Gordon at the absolute wrong time, but man, this was just a glorified bye for Kenny. Unfortunately Eugene ends the season on a 5 game slide. For Kenny, he plays me next....yay. 

Light's Broken Bots (8-6)                                                144.68

Shock The Monkey (7-7)                                                   82.98

Another laughable matchup that was never in doubt. Matt wins by over 60 in this snoozefest. I guess Mark put up a better fight..if you count scoring in the low 80's a fight. George Kittle absolutely went BONKERS which afforded Matt to have a pretty average Patrick Mahomes game. This is exactly why I wanted Mark and Eugene in my bracket. I basically could've coasted to the finals while also getting Kenny eliminated (he would've lost to Matt had Mark won the final week of the season) Damn you Alshon Jeffrey for not being able to outscore Josh Doctson in Week 13. Matt gets Leland's team, which I would've said was the favorite about 3 weeks ago, but with him losing both Kareem Hunt and Emmanuel Sanders for the season, I think Matt actually has the upper advantage now. For Mark, what a rollercoaster, I went from never buying his team, to buying in, to can't believing I second guessed my original stance. Anyways, at the very least, Mark's loss means we're guaranteed a new champion this year, as Albert still get to keep his claim to fame as the only repeat champion in our league's history.

Round 1 MVP

George Kittle (Light's Broken Bots)

7 Receptions, 210 Receiving Yards, 1 TD, 30.5 Points (All in the 1st Half)

Round 1 Matchups and Predictions

Here we are folks, no more messin around. We've already eliminated 6 teams from playoff contention and now it's playoff time. Simple rules apply, win and advance, lose and your season is over. This should be short and sweet as I only have to predict two 1st round matchups. Me and Leland await the winners. Here we go


Scott's Tots (7-6) vs
Rocket Man (6-7)

Yahoo Says: Kenny wins
I Say: Kenny wins. They split the season series, but Eugene's win came in week 2 of the regular season. His team has torpedoed since then. He's on a 4 game losing streak and came unbelievably close missing the playoffs altogether thanks to a 56 point performance in Week 13. No Melvin Gordon, no A.J. Green, no real dependable QB, and now..he faces Kenny's team, which honestly, after accounting for all the recent injuries, is the best team in the playoffs in my opinion. There's no way Kenny loses this matchup. Eugene is way overmatched and this should end up being a big time blowout. I get the winner of this matchup next.

Light's Broken Bots (7-6) vs
Shock The Monkey (7-6)

Yahoo Says: Matt wins
I Say: Matt wins. Mark won by under 10 points in their first and only meeting. This matchup has a little bit more intrigue than Kenny/Eugene. If Mark's team had done their damn job, he would've had an easier opponent and played Eugene, but they didn't and here we are. Matt's got Kerryon Johnson in his lineup and I'm thinking he'll end being inactive, while Spencer Ware has a difficult matchup. I still think Matt takes it, but Mark does have a chance to pull of an upset and a couple of Matt's guys underperform.

Week 13 Overview: A Crazy End To A Crazy Regular Season

 

Well, it wouldn't be a Week 13 without twists and turns with playoff hopes and seeding on the line. Not one team had clinched a playoff spot much less a bye, so there was a TON up for grabs. After a highly competitive intense week, we now officially have our playoffs set. Congrats to Leland, myself, Kenny, Matt, Mark, and Eugene for advancing to the postseason. I'll get into the seeds in the notes for the week. So here's how it allllll went down in the final week of the regular season.

The Results

Rigmas Forever (8-5)                   119.74

Channel 4 News Team (6-7)          82.30

I Am Queens Blvd (7-6)                95.38

Shock The Monkey (7-6)              93.04

No Soup For You (8-5)                121.32

Underdawg (5-8)                          78.98

Scott's Tots (7-6)                         128.76

Light's Broken Bots (7-6)              89.40

Hoosier Daddy (5-8)                    81.64

SCLSU MudDogs (6-7)               66.22

Trump 2020 (6-7)                        84.96

Rocket Man (6-7)                        56.58

Top 5 Scorers

Patrick Mahomes (Light's Broken Bots)               37.00 Pts

Travis Kelce (Shock The Monkey)                       32.80 Pts

Todd Gurley (I Am Queens Blvd)                        30.00 Pts

Keenan Allen (Rigmas Forever)                           29.80 Pts

Tarik Cohen (Rigmas Forever                              29.64 Pts

Top 5 Duds

Michael Thomas (Rigmas Forever)                         6.50 Pts

Drew Brees (I Am Queens Blvd)                            8.78 Pts

Matt Ryan (Shock The Monkey)                            8.64 Pts

Tyreek Hill (Shock The Monkey)                          5.50 Pts

Julio Jones (Trump 2020)                                      2.80 Pts

Highest Scoring Team

Scott's Tots (128.76 Pts)

Lowest Scoring Team

Rocket Man (56.58 Pts)

Biggest Blowout

42.34 Pts (No Soup For You vs Underdawg)

Closest Game

2.34 Pts (I Am Queens Blvd vs Shock The Monkey)

Week 13 Notes: Ok, so let's start from the top seed to the 6th seed in the recap. Leland making the playoffs was a mere formality as he was in regardless if winning or losing, but after a two game skid, he had to feel good about his team bouncing back and taking the Blowout Of The Week Honors. Leland finishes as not only the #1 seed and bye but most points in the league, so he gets both year end bonuses. The only scary thing is the loss of Kareem Hunt. Leland's a deep team, but that's a pretty huge loss and now that we're left with the best of the best, it definitely makes Leland a little more vulnerable than he was. For Dad..it was never about the win here, but MAN did he have a golden opportunity to sneak in the playoffs. Eugene's DISASTER end opened up the possibility but Dad fell short and he fell short for one reason..he played Jared Goff over Russell Wilson. If Dad plays Wilson..he's the #6th seed believe it or not. Unbelievable. Now of course that's a coin flip decision but it just shows you just HOW crucial lineup decisions are. All in All I felt like that Dad had a better season than his record indicates. At least he can look forward to having a generational back like Saquon Barkley on his squad for the forseeable future. Leland on the other hand can chill for a week as he gets that well deserved bye. And the other team getting the bye...ME....yup...all the complaining I do about my luck, fortunes have finally turned around the last two weeks as despite back to back week of Kamara and Michael Thomas just flat out KILLING me, I manage to survive. The rest of my squad is really carrying the load thankfully. I still had crap games from Cam, Sony Michel and the TE position, but Keenan Allen and Tarik Cohen absolutely CARRIED me to a bye thanks to their outstanding performances. Remember, I traded Emmanuel Sanders and Jordan Howard for them and that trade has paid off BIG dividends. I still would LOVE to see my team as a whole get it together, because I'm going to need it. My bracket is going to be rough for reasons I'll get into in a bit. For now though, I'll enjoy the week off of stress free football. Kenny finished the season as strong as a team could after being left for dead record wise. I was never worried that Kenny would miss the playoffs because of his points and finally the wins caught up to the points and not only did he make it but he finishes 3rd. He easily defeated Matt's championship caliber team and honestly, this is the team to beat in my opinion. It's the most well rounded deepest team in the playoffs. There's a solid chance Kenny makes the finals for a 2nd straight time. For Matt, it seems like the 1st time Mahomes wasn't able to lead him to victory after a 37 pt explosion. Matt's lack of a running game showed here and Kerryon Johnson's injury really hurt him these past two losses. Thielen and Juju also had rare off games and Matt drops to 4th in the standings. He's still a dangerous team and this was just one of the weeks that I don't expect to repeat. Mark vs Drew was SUPER critical to playoff positioning. At the end of the day, we knew who was in, just didn't know where seeds #3-#5 would fall. A Mark win not only would put at #3 but would force Kenny and Matt to play each other in the 1st round. Mark losing would force him to play Matt as the #5th seed. Both guys had shitty QB Plays in Brees and Matt Ryan and both have excellent games from two of their studs (Gurley and Kelce) but Tyreek Hill killed Mark's chances and on the very last game of week it was basically tied with Drew having Josh Doctson vs Mark having Alshon Jeffrey. Doctson outscored Jeffrey by 2.34 points giving Drew "fake" 6th place and dropping Mark to the 5th seed. Now Kenny's in MY bracket which sucks beyond belief and puts a damper in my celebration of the bye. Eugene kept the 6th seed but he SERIOUSLY did everything in his power to LOSE it. He not only lost again, he only put up 56 points, thus opening up the opportunity to both Dad and Mike. I talked about my Dad coming up short, but Mike's situation was even worse. With Philip Rivers left to go, Mike cutting the lead to the 6th seed to less than a point going into the Chargers final drive. The Chargers missed a field goal than had a field goal blocked before the Steelers were called offsides both times. Then the Chargers hit the winning field goal. Had they missed it would've forced OT and you'd think Rivers would easily get the point he needed for Mike to make the playoffs. A gut wrenching loss that could only be compared to Alex getting nudged out of the playoffs by .6 tenths of a point in 2015 and Kenny getting "Schaubed" out in 2010.  So Eugene survives but I mean his team is DOA with so many key injuries and he has to face Kenny right off the bat. Really can't see that ending well. And the only matchup that was pretty irrelevant was Ryan/Alex. Ryan won to at least get to 5 wins and Alex's team just caught up with him. He did great with what barriers he had to face and here's hoping next year treats him a lot better than this season. 6 Teams remain now and it's off to the playoffs!