THE GREATEST GAME OF THE YEAR IS UPON US!
The 2015 Skol Bowl is here, and in classic S2FL fashion the teams that have made their way there probably weren’t who everybody expected. One team once sat at 3-6, and the other scored a historically low number of points this season. But grit, and a little bit of luck, can go a long way.
“I’m gonna win this mofo!”
– Christopher Baker, after Week 11 win
After a week 9, 2-point loss to the Hash-Oilers, Eagle Zipper Hero sat at 3-6, and looked to be a long shot to make the payoffs. But something would start in that week 9 loss that would shoot Eagle Zipper Hero towards the playoffs and the top of the league.
Cam Newton’s ridiculous run.
From week 9 to Eagle Zipper Hero’s playoff win in week 15, Cam Newton has averaged a RIDICULOUS 31.50 points/week. This, in part, drove Baker’s team to a 5-game winning streak to finish of the regular season 8-6, and as the 3rd seed in the playoffs. And he’d save his best for the playoffs, as Cam scored the third-most points in a game all season from ANY PLAYER, with a whopping 46.60 points. Just LOOK at this stat line:
25-45, 340 yards, 5 TDs
100 rushing yards, 1 TD
Only two players have scored more points in a week this year. Drew Brees scored 51.30 in that bonkers Week 8 game against the Giants, and get this… David Johnson scored 46.90 points for Eagle Zipper Hero in the same game last week (that’s 93.5 points from TWO PLAYERS… that’s almost as much as the entire ChoklitFudgePoptarts team scored in their week 15 matchup against Clay Matthews Band [94.16]).
“Pure luck with that team pieced together.”
– Jason Gaydos, after playoff win over #1 seed ChicagNO Hash-Oilers
Nobody will ever accuse Jason of being a fantasy dunce. He’s a former league champ who wins with mostly-drafted teams, and will soon sit atop the League Legend standings meaning he is the most successful owner to-date. But he’ll be the first to admit that this season has been riding on the power of 4-leaf clovers.
Aaron Rodgers is GAY was seeing moderate success in the beginning of the season, starting the year 4-2. In those first 6 games they would have 3 of their 4 highest scoring games of the season. This was thanks to the monster starts of Devonta Freeman and DeAndre Hopkins. But as Freeman and Hopkins cooled off, so did Aaron Rodgers is GAY, as they would lose 3 of their next 4 to fall to 5-5. A week 10 loss to Eagle Zipper Hero was particularly humiliating, as Jason’s squad was only able to muster 44.85 points… the lowest weekly total of ALL-TIME in S2FL. That’s only 4.08 points/player! In fact, Aaron Rodgers is GAY also had the 5th-lowest all-time weekly game in week 14 (62.22 points), and their 2015 season would be the 2nd lowest scoring season in S2FL history (105.61 ppg).
But the points don’t matter when you pull off wins like ARiG did in week 12.
With the wildcard race heating up, Jason would find himself in a curious position. With a 6-5 record things were looking good, but as the Monday night game was coming to a finish it looked like Jason would drop the week 12 matchup against Jake’s ChoklitFudgePoptarts. Falling to 6-6 would be damning, since a very difficult week 14 matchup against the Hash-Oilers would most certainly mean a loss, and a 7-7 record at best. With the possibility of both wildcard teams being 8-6, pulling off a miracle to win in week 12 was crucial. And miracles are crazy in that sometimes… they actually happen.
This blocked FG return for a touchdown would give Aaron Rodger is GAY’s Baltimore defense 6 points, and with 0:00 on the clock, they had the win by less than 4 points.
It was a crushing blow to ChoklitFudgePoptarts, but it was just the lift that Jason would need to sneak into the playoffs. And when you ride a miracle into the playoffs, you might as well pull off another one once you get there.
After Sunday’s games were over, Kyle’s Hash-Oilers found themselves down to Aaron Rodgers is GAY, but only by 1.32 points. And with both Willie Snead & Tim Hightower going against Jason’s Joique Bell on Monday night, the Hash-Oilers had to have been feeling good. Snead has scored 7 or more points 7 times this season, and he was coming off a 14.20 point game in week 14. Tim Hightower was now the bell-cow in New Orleans, and was coming off a 15.5 point game which saw him carry the ball 28 times. Joique Bell hadn’t carried the ball more than 8 times in 4 straight games, and had only scored more than 7.5 points twice all season. The chances of Snead & Hightower outscoring Bell by 2 or more points were quite likely.
But as the 4th quarter wound down Joique Bell would do the unlikely and scamper for a TD and then a clinching 25 yard run (after the Hash-Oilers had retaken the lead with some Snead catches) as the 4th quarter came to a close. It would be Bell’s best game of the season (15.38 points) and meant a 1.60 point victory over the heavily-favored Hash-Oilers.
So, here we are. Baker versus Jason in a truly epic battle between two teams that at some point this year seemed like unlikely playoff participants. Baker has jumped off to the fastest start ever in S2FL, making it to the finals in his first two seasons. And Jason would like to become the first two-time league champ. Can he pull off one more miracle, and take down the Cam juggernaut? Or is Eagle Zipper Hero the play to draw up for victory?
SKOLI'S II 