One year ago, Pinstripe Bowl achieved something that eluded them every season since 2014, a league championship. They roared through the regular season and won tightly contested matchups in the playoffs to capture the franchise’s first major trophy with a victory on the last night of the season.
The chance to repeat that magic ended in week 15 when the Bowl was officially eliminated from the Ladies and Edelman playoffs. They stumbled at the end of the regular losing two heartbreaking contests to finish the season 7-8. Their losing streak continued in week 16 in the opening round of the consolation tournament. The Bowl looked to turn their losing ways around in the final contest, a Week 17 date with Cleveland Steamerz.
During the final matchup of the 2021 season, there was no Thursday Night Football to kick things off. Instead, things got kicked into high gear early on Sunday morning. The Bowl didn’t waste any time jumping ahead, grabbing a significant lead as the morning games came to a close. They continued to rack up the points into the late afternoon before plateauing after Sunday night. The two teams tacked on a few extra points during the final Monday Night Football game of the season, but the matchup was all but over by the time kickoff came around.
Both teams failed to reach their initial projections, with the Bowl coming in 15.48 points under while Cleveland came up 53.24 points short. Despite being forecast for another loss, the Bowl destroyed their opponent by a 31.14 point margin.
Mac Jones (New England) returned to the starting lineup with a juicy matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars on the schedule. He finished the day with teammate Jakobi Meyers as the only player to score over 20 points in the win.
Collectively, five starters scored into double digits while four bench players did the same. The special teams scored 12 total points, while the tight end and flex position scored a combined 11.20 points.
The win could have been more lopsided had George Kittle (San Francisco) and Hunter Henry (New England) been swapped out for Zach Ertz (Arizona) and Kendrick Bourne (New England), who combined for 25.40 points.
Congratulations to Nukl Busters and their manager for winning the 2021 fantasy league championship. As one of the top contenders all season, the Busters boosted their lineup when their acquired Tyreek Hill (Kansas City) early in the season and rode the momentum of several acquisitions all the way to the bank.
Garoppolypse Now, who battled the Busters to the bitter end, wound up in third place with a 151.54-150.30 win over Chod’s Team. Pleasantly Plump took fifth place thanks to a win over Kerry MyJohnson, while the Bowl wrapped up the seventh spot thanks to their dominating win over Cleveland, the only team to not reach at least 100 points in the final week.
Jones claimed his second-best player award with 25.28 points in week 17. He was initially signed to fill in for Kyler Murray (Arizona), who had an injury. Jones proved he was more than a backup as he led the Patriots to the top of their division and a chance to be a top team in the AFC as the playoffs commenced. The rookie quarterback was given the start this past week because he had an opportunity to roast a lackluster Jaguars team, and he did not disappoint.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had an easy win lined up as they took on the New York Jets. Sadly no one got the message that the Jets are still an NFL team and have high-caliber players on their roster. The Buccaneers let the Jets control most of the game and used another Tom Brady final drive to sneak away with a win. The sloppy play cost the defense on the scoreboard as they collected only three points, earning them their second worse starter of the season award.
Murray was passed up for a start in week 16 and used that as motivation to put up 24.92 points in the win over the Dallas Cowboys. Many people questioned the Cardinals’ chances of being a contender with a loss to the Indianapolis Colts the week before. They rebounded against one of the top teams in their conference.
Ja’Marr Chase (Cincinnati) became the first teammate to follow another one with a win regarding the league’s best player. Chase had a game to remember as he scored the league’s highest total for any player this season. His record 55.60 points beat Jonathan Taylor’s 53.40 points from week 11 when he scored five touchdowns against the hapless Buffalo Bills.
During the final matchup, team management did not make any roster adjustments which finished with 17.
Weekly Move Total: 0/4
Season Move Total: 17/50
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Keeping the Stats 