One year after claiming the championship on the final night of fantasy football, Pinstripe Bowl found themselves on the outside looking in on the 2021 fantasy playoffs. It was a rocky season that had many more downs than ups.
The boys came up short in the standings despite embarking on a winning streak late in the season. For their shortcomings, the Bowl found themselves in the consolation bracket of the playoffs with no prize on the line. The only thing left to play for is pride.
In a rematch of the 2020 finals, the Bowl found themselves pitted against KerryMy Johnson in the opening round. Even though the matchup was projected in their favor, the Bowl drastically fell under their projections. The sloppy loss cost the team an opportunity to play for a higher seed.
Pinstripe Bowl opened the matchup as favorites and jumped out to an early 11.90 point lead on Thursday night. The score continued to be in the Bowl’s favor as the Saturday games ended. Thanks to an additional 45.50 points, they held a 22.52 lead after two days of action.
On Sunday, the matchup turned in Johnson’s favor when they finished the day with 126.48 points, doubling up the Bowl’s effort of just 66.40. That brought the final score to 126.48-111.90 because neither team had a player suit up for Monday Night Football.
Both teams failed to reach their projections, with the Bowl coming 29.06 points under while Johnson came in just 6.17 points. The difference didn’t matter, as the Bowl couldn’t come up with 14.58 points to salvage their matchup.
Kyler Murray (Arizona) led the team with an impressive 22.90 points in the loss. He was joined by Stefon Diggs (Buffalo), who scored over 20 points in the matchup.
The duo was joined by Jonathan Taylor (Indianapolis), Jakobi Meyers (New England), Brandon McManus (Denver), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense as players to reach double digits.
Only three of the nine starters managed to surpass their projections leaving the offense searching for answers.
Things were just as messy on the bench where five of the six players failed to score more than their projections, and only Zach Ertz (Arizona) had a positive day on the books. His 13.40 points on the bench would have outscored six of the nine starters, including tight end George Kittle (San Francisco) and flex player Meyers.
Eight teams qualified for the playoffs, with the top four advancing to the championship bracket. The two lowest-ranked teams in the league did not have a chance to advance, witnessing their season end after week 15.
All eight teams scored into triple digits, leaving the Bowl as the lowest-scoring playoff team in the opening week. Pleasantly Plump secured the most points with 148.62 to advance on their side of the bracket. They will face off against Johnson in week 17 for the right to finish 5th or 6th in the standings. The Bowl, meanwhile, will draw Cleveland Steamerz in a rematch of a series just a few weeks back.
Nukl Busters beat out Garoppolyse Now to advance to the title game in just their second season in the league. WATCH WHAT U SAQUON, who rallied at the end of the regular season to steal first place, beat Chod’s Team to fight for the championship in next week’s final contest.
Murray won his team-leading sixth-best starter award in week 16. The desert quarterback spent a few weeks on the shelf with an injury, but when he was on the field, he was the leader most weeks, claiming the award in 37% of the Bowl’s games.
Former back-to-back best player Kittle found himself this week’s worst starter winner. The veteran tight end had one of the worse weeks of the season, scoring just four points in the 49ers’ loss. Initially projected for 18.17 points, Kittle missed the mark by 14.07 points.
The league’s best player, Tee Higgins (Cincinnati), scored 43.40 points, surpassing a previous season-high of 28.80 in week 16. The Bengals wideout had a busted out for a career game after finishing the last week with just 4.30 points.
Team management did not adjust the roster during the opening round of the consolation playoffs.
Weekly Move Total: 0/4
Season Move Total: 17/50
 |
 |
 |
Keeping the Stats 