2023 Divisional Round Dynasty Recap: A 1 and a 2 and...
Once again, the 1 and 2 seeds move into the championship, which makes it 4 out of our first 5 seasons. Had Curt pulled off the win last week he would’ve taken down Nathan. Or had Fred taken me down last week (and Curt still lost), he too would have taken down Nathan. But that’s not how the cookie crumbled. In consolation bracket news, it was also the 1 and 2 seed advancing, which is a first since season one. Here is the recap:
PLAYOFF BRACKET
1 Fear Itself 87.99 over 4 Space Rangers 81.17
A near Christmas miracle happened! Heading into yesterday’s games I needed Justin Tucker to score three more points than Rashee Rice, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle combined. Tucker (16.00) did his best, but each time he closed in, Kittle or Samuel would push the finish line further away. If only I had trusted my first round QB… Nathan had a pair of his big names not show up this week, Diggs and Samuel, but Josh Allen (19.49) and Jahmyr Gibbs (18.00) made sure to handle things in their stead.
2 Michael Style 113.10 over 3 ay_Bilat 71.70
Trey tried to pull Chase out and put Pickens in just before that game kicked off, but Yahoo apparently already recognized the game as having started. Pickens (23.75) went off, but thankfully for Trey that near miss won’t haunt him. Alex had four big playmakers for the week, Justin Fields, Amon-Ra St. Brown, New England’s defense and Breece Hall. With all due respect to Fields, St. Brown and the Pats, Breece Hall was the real cog with his 27.55 points, which was the fourth highest single week total by a starting RB this season. If he does that again next week, I have a feeling Alex will petition for Hall to win honorary MVP honors.
5th PLACE GAME
6 Kade’s Dawgs 112.76 over 5 Ferocious Felines 96.65
Lots of firepower in this one. I think the players missed the memo that they had a game to play last week, cause they showed up to this one looking like they were fresh off a bye week. Fred had five players score in the double-digits and Curt had six. Realizing that got me curious, so I did a look back over the seasons and this is the highest scoring fifth place game we’ve ever had, and that includes last season with the IDP in place. And then I did a little more digging and determined this is the second highest scoring playoff game in league history (fourth highest if you include the IDP season), the highest was Trey’s win over me back in the Divisional Round in our first season (110.95-104.29).
CONSOLATION BRACKET
8 Noobmaster69 84.24 over 9 Shenron’s Wish 67.09
Zay Flowers has really been showing signs of future WR1 status for Simon, especially in his last four weeks when he’s had three 14+ point performances. Definite steal at the end of the second round, and he just finished captaining his team to a victory here (14.10). Speaking of rookie steals, Bryar snagging Puka Nacua off the waiver wire just continues to look incredible, he, with his 19.50 points this week, did his best to pull out the win, but there were too many players on the team that thought the season was over already.
7 Fantasy Fairies 117.32 over 10 NUKEM 78.55
Everyone in the playoffs breathed a sigh of relief on Sunday when they realized Amari Cooper was on Ryan’s team, and that he had narrowly missed the playoffs. His 32.75 points were the highest total by a starter on any team since week 5. Ryan also got 22 points out of his Kicker…if only Tucker wanted to show Sanders up and score 23 for me…I’m not bitter. Calvin Ridley and Justin Jefferson teamed up to score nearly 35 points. Unfortunately, his other stars could not match it.
NEXT UP…
1 Fear Itself (10-4) vs 2 Michael Style (9-5)
Nathan leads the series 5-1. Nathan is also looking to three-peat. That’s a feat that’s happened just 18 times total in major North American sports history. Only once this century (the 2000-2002 LA Lakers). To say it’s a difficult task is putting it mildly. Standing in his way is Michael Style. A team that scored the least amount of points in our inaugural season. A team that made their first, and only playoff appearance before this season, two years ago. A team that just had their first winning season ever. A team that just became the first ever to have the lowest point total of all the teams to enter the playoffs that season, and still make the championship.
3 ay_Bilat (9-5) vs 4 Space Rangers (8-6)
Trey leads this series 5-2, and he might be looking to exact a little revenge. I beat him in the final week of the season, which cost Trey the #1 seed. But I also have a bone to pick. That game I mentioned above, the highest scoring non-IDP playoff game in league history, that game cost me a trip to the championship…a game I WOULD HAVE WON! Winning the 3rdplace game won’t make up for that, but it’ll help a little.
7 Fantasy Fairies (7-7) vs 8 Noobmaster69 (6-8)
Ryan leads the series 3-2, including two very close wins this season. Seriously, Ryan won both games by a combined 2.37 points. Simon will be looking to win his third consolation title, and to become the first back to back consolation champion. Ryan has already improved drastically over last season, but he’ll look to end the year on a high note and hope it helps launch him into the playoffs next year.
9 Shenron’s Wish (4-10) vs 10 NUKEM (3-11)
Bryar leads the series 6-5. This is the “Life comes at you fast” game. Bryar was the highest scoring team in year 1 and the winner of the West division in year 2, now he’s going to be fighting to avoid losing the last place game for the second year in a row. Pastor Dad was in the championship in years 2 and 3, and now he’s playing in the last place game and picking #1. Things can certainly get out of hand in a hurry.
That’s all for this week, good luck to everyone on championship weekend!