CREATIVE MISFORTUNE'S FANTASY BOWL II ~
(playing at Detroit Lions)
vs
(playing vs Atlanta Falcons)
Misfortune Bowl II Preview:
The San Diego Chargers stumbled into the fantasy playoffs as the lowest seeded of the AFC division champions and were barely above .500 with a 6-5 regular season record. The Chargers have since turned on the fantasy scoring and crushed the Cincinnati Bengals in their Wild Card game by 74 points, winning 105-31. Next up they faced the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional round and Baltimore's solid 18-point bye-week advantage. Once again the Chargers hit the century mark and overcame the Ravens' sputtering offense and their bye-week advantage to claim a 100-93 victory. San Diego, rolling with with sudden emergence of their offense, came into the championship game against the Houston Texans confident they could advance to their second straight Fantasy Bowl. When the dust settled, the contest ended up not being a contest at all as the 4th-seeded Chargers knocked off the top-seeded Texans by the impressive score of 96-38. San Diego heads into Fantasy Bowl II averaging 100 points in the playoffs, but they will have to play lights out this weekend if they hope to win the title. San Diego's championship aspirations, both in the Fantasy Bowl and in real-life, hinge on how well they perform next week against the Detroit Lions.
While the Chargers didn't exactly fly into the fantasy playoffs, the New Orleans Saints head into the championship game with a solid 11-2 overall record and victories over two NFC division champions - the San Francisco 49ers and the nigh unstoppable Green Bay Packers.
The Saints gained an impressive 25-point bye-week advantage for their Divisional round matchup against the 49ers, but they needed exactly 0 of those points as they won the contest easily by the score of 101-58. New Orleans won another surprising laugher in the NFC Championship game as the Kansas City Chiefs crushed the real-life undefeated hopes of the Green Bay Packers. Not only did the Chiefs put an unsightly blemish on the Packers' magical season, they ended Green Bay's fantasy hopes as well by only allowing the Packers to rack up 49 fantasy points. The Saints met no resistance from the Minnesota Vikings and scored a dominating 109 points to guarantee their first appearance in the Fantasy Bowl.
A tough, real-life divisional battle against the Atlanta Falcons on Boxing Day is all that stands between New Orleans and their first Fantasy Bowl title.
Check back next Wednesday to find out who will be crowned the Creative Misfortune's 2011 Fantasy Football champion!
Championship Game awards:
High score of Championship weekend goes to the New Orleans Saints, who scored 109 fantasy points.
Low score falls to the Houston Texans at 38 fantasy points.
Closest Game of the Week: Neither of the championship games were much of a contest as both the Houston Texans and Green Bay Packers failed to score more than 50 points, while both the Chargers and the Saints both exceeded 95 points.
Fantasy Star of the Week: Drew Brees, 34 points. Drew Brees only needs 305 yards to pass Dan Marino's all-time single season passing yardage record. He could easily get that this week against the Atlanta Falcons and, in doing so, propel the Saints to their first ever "If Real Football Used Fantasy Scoring..." championship.
Conference Championship Game Results - Week 15
AFC #4 San Diego Chargers (playing vs Baltimore Ravens) at
AFC #1 Houston Texans (playing vs Carolina Panthers)
Fantasy Score: San Diego Chargers 96, Houston Texans 38
San Diego's Key Performers: Ryan Mathews (22), Malcom Floyd (15), Philip Rivers (14)
Houston's Key Performers: Arian Foster (19), Neil Rackers (6), T.J. Yates (5)
NFC #2 New Orleans Saints (playing at Minnesota Vikings) at
NFC #1 Green Bay Packers (playing at Kansas City Chiefs)
Fantasy Score: New Orleans 109, Green Bay 49
New Orleans' Key Performers: Drew Brees (34), Lance Moore (21), Pierre Thomas (14)
Green Bay's Key Performers: Aaron Rodgers (22), Ryan Grant (9), Jermichael Finley (8)
Creative Misfortune Fantasy Playoff Seeds and Prior Week Results
AFC Seeds
Division Champions ~
1. Houston Texans (9-2, 845 pts)
2. Baltimore Ravens (8-3, 821 pts)
3. New England Patriots (7-4, 968 pts)
4. San Diego Chargers (6-5, 803 pts)
Wild Cards ~
5. Cincinnati Bengals (8-3, 765 pts)
6. Pittsburgh Steelers (8-3, 760 pts)
NFC Seeds
Division Champions ~
1. Green Bay Packers (9-2, 997 pts)
2. New Orleans Saints (9-2, 975 pts)
3. Dallas Cowboys (8-3, 905 pts)
4. San Francisco 49ers (6-5, 740 points)
Wild Cards ~
5. Detroit Lions (7-4, 914 pts)
6. New York Giants (7-4, 851 pts)
Wild Card Game Results - Week 13
AFC #6 Pittsburgh Steelers (playing vs Cincinnati Bengals) at
AFC #3 New England Patriots (playing vs Indianapolis Colts)
Fantasy Score: Pittsburgh Steelers 92, New England Patriots 60
Pittsburgh's Key Performers: Defense (19), Rashard Mendenhall (18), Ben Roethlisberger (15)
New England's Key Performers: Tom Brady (19), Wes Welker (11), Stephen Gostkowski (7)
AFC #5 Cincinnati Bengals (playing at Pittsburgh Steelers) at
AFC #4 San Diego Chargers (playing at Jacksonville Jaguars)
Fantasy Score: San Diego Chargers 105, Cincinnati Bengals 31
Cincinnati's Key Performers: A.J. Green (15), Andy Dalton (9), Cedric Benson (5)
San Diego's Key Performers: Philip Rivers (23), Ryan Mathews (17), Malcolm Floyd (16)
NFC #6 New York Giants (playing vs Green Bay Packers) at
NFC #3 Dallas Cowboys (playing at Arizona Cardinals)
Fantasy Score: New York Giants 78, Dallas Cowboys 60
New York's Key Performers: Eli Manning (21), Hakeem Nicks (20), Lawrence Tynes (11)
Dallas' Key Performers: Tony Romo (15), Dez Bryant (14), Laurent Robinson (7)
NFC #5 Detroit Lions (playing at New Orleans Saints) at
NFC #4 San Francisco 49ers (playing vs St. Louis Rams)
Fantasy Score: San Francisco 49ers 98, Detroit Lions 67
Detroit's Key Performers: Mathew Stafford (18), Kevin Smith (13), Maurice Morris (12)
San Francisco's Key Performers: Alex Smith (19), Defense (18), Michael Crabtree (15)
Top Seeds Playing for Bye-Week Advantage*
AFC #1 - Houston Texans (playing vs Atlanta Falcons)
Fantasy Score: Houston Texans 61
Houston's Key Performers: Arian Foster (21), T.J. Yates (10), Andre Johnson (9)
Divisional Matchup Bye-Week Advantage: 61/4 = 15.25 = +15 points
AFC #2 - Baltimore Ravens (playing at Cleveland Browns)
Fantasy Score: Baltimore Ravens 73
Baltimore's Key Performers: Ray Rice (27), Defense (15), Ricky Williams (13)
Divisional Matchup Bye-Week Advantage: 73/4 = 18.25 = +18 points
NFC #1 - Green Bay Packers (playing at New York Giants)
Fantasy Score: Green Bay Packers 101
Green Bay's Key Performers: Aaron Rodgers (31), Donald Driver (15), Greg Jennings (15)
Divisional Matchup Bye-Week Advantage: 101/4 = 25.25 = +25 points
NFC #2 - New Orleans Saints (playing vs Detroit Lions)
Fantasy Score: New Orleans 101
New Orleans' Key Performers: Drew Brees (25), Robert Meachem (17), Darren Sproles (12)
Divisional Matchup Bye-Week Advantage: 101/4 = 25.25 = +25 points
*Bye-week Advantage - To reflect the benefit gained by the top 2 seeds in each conference getting a bye week before they host Divisional Playoff games, the four teams who earn these bye weeks in the fantasy standings will play Week 13 to gain bonus points that will be added to their score in the Divisional Playoff round. For every 4 points they score in their Week 13 game, they will receive 1 bonus point in their Divisional round matchup.
For example, if the Houston Texans score 80 fantasy points in Week 13 against Atlanta, they would receive 20 bonus points (80/4) for their Divisional matchup. Conversely, if they had an off week and scored 22 fantasy points, they would only receive 5 bonus points (22/4, any fractional points rounded down).
Since there are no bye weeks between the Divisional games and the Championship Games, bonus points will only be a factor in the Divisional playoff games.
Divisional Game Results - Week 14
AFC #6 Pittsburgh Steelers (playing vs Cleveland Browns) at
AFC #1 Houston Texans (BWA*: +15) (playing at Cincinnati Bengals)
Fantasy Score: Houston Texans 85, Pittsburgh steelers 82
Pittsburgh's Key Performers: Antonio Brown (21), Ben Roethlisberger (17), Defense (14)
Houston's Key Performers: T.J. Yates (19), Bye-Week Advantage (15), Kevin Walter (13), Owen Daniels (10)
AFC #4 San Diego Chargers (playing vs Buffalo Bills) at
AFC #2 Baltimore Ravens (BWA*: +18) (playing vs Indianapolis Colts)
Fantasy Score: San Diego Chargers 100, Baltimore Ravens 93
San Diego's Key Performers: Philip Rivers (19), Antonio Gates (18), Defense (17)
Baltimore's Key Performers: Ray Rice (18), Bye-Week Advantage (18), Joe Flacco (15), Torrey Smith (11)
NFC #6 New York Giants (playing at Dallas cowboys) at
NFC #1 Green Bay Packers (BWA*: +25) (playing vs oakland Raiders)
Fantasy Score: Green Bay Packers 127, New York Giants 95
New York's Key Performers: Eli Manning (22), Brandon Jacobs (22), Hakeem Nicks (16)
Green Bay's Key Performers: Bye-Week Advantage (25), Ryan Grant (21), Defense (18), Aaron Rodgers (17)
NFC #4 San Francisco 49ers (playing at Arizona Cardinals) at
NFC #2 New Orleans Saints (BWA*: +25) (playing at Tennessee Titans)
Fantasy Score: New Orleans Saints 101, San Francisco 49ers 58
San Francisco's Key Performers: David Akers (13), Frank Gore (13), Defense (8)
New Orleans' Key Performers: Bye-Week Advantage (25), Marques Colston (22), Drew Brees (21), John Kasay (10)
Tomorrow, The Art of Creative Misfortune Power Rankings. Will the Colts move up after they avoid 0-16 infamy? Will the Packers fall down after losing a chance a perfection?
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