Championship Re-cap: The Dead Has Risen
What. A. Season. Imagine if at the draft you were told that the championship game would be played without Le’Veon Bell, Todd Gurley, Kareem Hunt, Odell Beckham, Carson Wentz, Cam Newton, AJ Green, and Devonta Freeman. Half of the players drafted in the first round didn’t score for their fantasy teams this week. The players that dominated the regular season sat out the playoffs. 2018 will be remembered as one of the wildest years in football.
The Championship
Both teams came into the match-up fairly even. They had the same record (9–4), they both missed the bye, and both had the ability to be in the game of the week. It was a re-match of arguably the best match-up of the season; a week 6 match-up that had Condeadleeza Rice trailing by 41 going into the Monday night match-up with only Davante Adams left to play. It came down to the wire as Adams had one of his best games of the season, but fell just short as Trader Joey would go on to win 146.9 to 140.8.
That week 6 match-up aptly set the stage for the championship game to come down to the wire once again. And while week 6 held promise of high scores on both sides, week 16 told a different story. Both teams were outscored by almost every other team in the league. But once again it came down to Monday Night. Condeadleeza Rice trailed by about 5, with Philip Lindsay to play. On the other side of the match-up, Trader Joey held the slight lead with only Denver’s defense to play. Both Matt and Joey had to have been transfixed to the Denver v. Oakland game. As Oakland’s offense surged, Trader Joey’s lead diminished. Philip Lindsay only needed a sub-mediocre game to pull off the win for Condeadleeza Rice. And that’s exactly what he did, finishing with a measly 7.7 points. But it was enough.
Condeadleeza Rice, or the team formerly known as Dead Inside, has risen from the grave and won the championship. A team that had previously never made the playoffs won three straight games against three of the best teams in the league, including the number 1 overall seed. Congrats Matt!
The Keepy’s
The keepy’s are the new annual awards for the Keeper league. They are less important than the Emmy’s, but more important than the Espy’s. And unlike those awards, they have a best and worst award for each category. Without further ado, the winners are:
Best Keeper Selection:
Trader Joey: Michael Thomas (16th)
Nominees:
- The Football Guys: Tyreek Hill (6th)
- The Football Guys: Alvin Kamara (13th)
- Condeadleeza Rice: Davante Adams (3rd)
Worst Keeper Selection
Goodell Has CTE: LeVeon Bell (3rd)
Nominees:
- Loser City: Jerick McKinnon (14th)
- Worse than the Millionaires: Martavis Bryant (16th)
- Worse than UMass Football: Leonard Fournette (2nd)
Best Draft Selection:
Trader Joey: James Conner (15th)
Nominees:
- Loser City: Kenny Golladay (11th)
- Darren McFadden: Patrick Mahomes (12th)
- Worse than the Raiders: James White (7th)
Worst Draft Selection:
Goodell Has CTE: Larry Fitzgerald (1st)
Nominees:
- Swandog Millionaires: Alex Collins (4th)
- Worse Than UMass Football: Michael Crabtree (3rd)
- Loser City: Chris Hogan (5th)
Best Pick-Up:
Condeadleeza Rice: Phillip Lindsay ($75 FAAB)
Nominees:
- Trader Joey: Nick Chubb (FA)
- Trader Joey: Eric Ebron (FA)
- Condeadleeza Rice: Calvin Ridley ($60)
Worst Pick-up:
Swandog Millionaires: Keelan Cole ($201 FAAB)
Nominees:
- The Football Guys: Jimmy Garoppolo ($150)
- Swandog Millionaires: Courtland Sutton ($231)
- Condeadleeza Rice: Redskins D/ST ($100)
