Highest Scoring Team ($15)
No Nonsense Nelson
Coach Aaron (2nd time this season)
173.93 pts
Highest Scoring Player ($7)
Shirt Brothers
Coach Jord (3rd time this season)
CeeDee Lamb - 39.95 pts
So I left the above snap from Coach Qualley himself from last week, because though it wasn’t true for the semifinals, the reports may have been true for Iowa Fantasy League Superbowl X, as the Des Moines Football Team just didn’t have it.
The team that did - your 2023 Superbowl Champion - Nick Hansen and Curtis’ Bronco Coat. In fact, Nick kind of wiped the floor with Qualley, putting up 160.14 points and winning by a margin of 54.15. Nick’s squad fired on all cylinders, with his injured Jamar Chase being the only player to score less than 13 points, and unlikely RB heroes James Conner (drafted 4th round) and De’Von Achane (drafted 9th round) posted 29.8 points and 24.7 points respectively. Conner played just 12 games this season and Achane just 10 but they were RB14 and RB4 in terms of points per game and if that’s not strategic coaching than what is?
Nick entered the playoffs with just a 7-7 record, narrowly winning the historically great Cul-de-Sack division, but posted three decisive victories in the playoffs, upping his PPG from 115.0 in the regular season to 137.9 PPG in the playoffs. The man just knew how to get hot at the right time.
Qualley had the opposite story. Losing Tank Dell in Week 13 didn’t stop the Des Moines Football Team from getting to his second consecutive Superbowl, a feat no coach has every accomplished, but it did perhaps foreshadow his demise. His #5 scorer Josh Jacobs would miss the entire playoffs with a quad injury and his #3 scorer on the season TJ Hockenson would tear his ACL in the semifinals. Even despite this, Qualley would be the favorite among experts and pick ‘em scholars, but come gametime, all but the Sun God Amon Ra St Brown and his kicker would disappoint. It’s a tough finish for the young coach, but perhaps third time’s a charm?
Ol’ Saint Nick was our first ever champion, our Vince Lombardi, and in the Iowa Fantasy League’s tenth anniversary season, he gets his second ring, joining the two-time club with TC and the Doc. Congratulations, my good sir, on your well fought campaign. Enjoy the spoils of your victory.
The Consolation Championship was a bit closer than our Superbowl, and TC made the bold decision to start Justin Fields versus a good Atlanta defense instead of CJ Stroud against a questionable Tennessee defense, and that decision was the difference, as in what may have been Justin Fields final game as a Bear, he put up 25.72 points and will send TC into 2024 with the best draft odds in the league, beating Drew’s horrifically bad team 107-103.
When Brady’s team was drafted by Hailey based on hotness of the players, I assumed he would end up in the Toilet Bowl and felt pretty vindicated when he started off 0-2. But then he beat Dierks’ Heathens in Week 3. And he would win 4 of the following 6 games to climb to 5-4, which was a truly shocking thing to witness. However, he would finish the season 2-3 after losing his chief hotty Joe Burrow and narrowly miss the playoffs, and then proceed to lose game after game in the Tournament to Not Be Last, winding up against the Scallon Express, whose story this season could not be more the opposite of Brady’s. Scallon started off this season 5-1, and after making, what seemed at the time, the most lopsided trade in IFL history, seemed like a forgone conclusion that the Express would run away with the championship this season. But alas, the fantasy gods are cruel and unusual in their punishment and the receiving end of his lopsided trade, Deebo Samuel would promptly get hurt and the Express would lose 7 of their last 8 games including 6 consecutive games to wind up in the exact spot that Brady was here in the Toilet Bowl. And wow - did it come down to the wire. In the end, the Scallon Express helped deliver us the ending I most suspected for Brady this season, winning a nailbiter 105.98 - 104.18, and etching Brady in the annals of IFL lore, as the third-ever two-time IFL Loser of the Year.
PICK ‘EM
Qualley may have lost the Superbowl again but he clutched up in Pick ‘Em, winning his first pick ‘em title, knocking off the reigning champ Chris, who came in second.
