We’re here. It’s playoff time in the Audacy Pittsburgh Fantasy Football League. The 12-team league has been cut down to feature only the top six, as half of the league saw its season end this past weekend. Those that remain are the best of the best and are now gearing up for the most important matchups of the season. It’s single elimination and each round is only one week long. Let’s check it out.
THE FIELD
#1 The Fan Morning Squad (Colin Dunlap, Chris Mack, Matt Koll): Finishing the season at 11-3 and at 1,650.80 points on the season, The Fan Morning Show’s team finished atop the regular season standings and earns a first-round bye. Kyler Murray is getting healthy at just the right time for them, while Jonathan Taylor has been a fantasy force all season long. They also picked up DeAndre Hopkins, a move that stirred up some controversy and have gotten great contributions from San Francisco’s Eli Mitchell and Deebo Samuel this season.
#2 Kosher Nostra (ad executives Jeff Martin, Jen Halle, Anthony Fontana): They routed the morning squad this past week to pull into an 11-3 tie in record, but with fewer total points this season, Kosher Nostra landed in 2nd but still earned a first-round bye in the playoffs. This a deep team with a deep bench, as players like Jerry Jeudy and Marquise Brown aren’t even cracking the lineup. Josh Allen leads the way and they tap into the best of what the Vikings have to offer with both Justin Jefferson and Dalvin Cook.
#3 CBDD (Cale Berger, Dorin Dickerson): A late-season surge that saw them win 6 of their last 8 games, including the final 4 in a row, vaulted CBDD up the standings and into the 3 seed of the playoffs. They are arguably the hottest team in the postseason field. They’ve got the lethal LA combo of Austin Ekeler and Keenan Allen, complimenting them with Chris Godwin, Ja’Marr Chase and Saquon Barkley, and cap it off with Aaron Rodgers.
#4 Suba’s Sackers (sales manager Denise Suba, promotions director Amy Mauk, sale assistant Julie Walker): The Sackers finished the regular season as the team with the league’s highest point total at 1,755.54. That’s 104.74 more than the 2nd place team (Fan Morning Squad). Yet, the Sackers find themselves finishing 4th after an 8-6 season. Go figure. Lamar Jackson heads up the lineup, while Cooper Kupp is always a threat to go off for big numbers and James Conner continues to be a touchdown machine. Add in Aaron Jones who’s back in the Packers lineup and the Sackers could make some noise in the postseason.
#5 Bishop Sycamore (Joe Starkey, Joe “Horse” Kapp, sales assistant Andrew Brncic): This is another team that might just be at the peak of its powers heading into the playoffs. Sycamore won 4 of its final 5 games to secure the postseason berth in the final week of the season. They’ve got a solid running back tandem in Najee Harris and Leonard Fournette and they’ve got a now-healthy CeeDee Lamb in the lineup. Patrick Mahomes has had his ups and downs, but he’s always viable to explode. “We are not happy just to be here…we plan on shaking things up a bit in these playoffs. The best is yet to come,” said Joe “Horse” Kapp. “The league was rigged (referring to the Hopkins waiver claim controversy) and yet we persevered,” said Joe Starkey. “I literally don’t know who’s on our roster, but I’m rootin’ for us! Do we get money if we win?” Yes, Joe. A $300 gift card and many, many bragging rights are on the line, in fact. Clearly, this is a mainly Brncic-led operation.
#6 The PM Team…Team (Chris Mueller, Andrew Fillipponi, Kraig Riley): After having ripped off 5 consecutive wins in the middle of the season, the PM Team followed a win one, lose one pattern to finish the year 8-6 and as the 6th seed. But, we’ve seen 6th seeds run the table haven’t we, Pittsburgh? “We’re the ’05 Steelers,” said Fillipponi. “Print that.” Consider it printed. They lost AJ Brown to injury and Antonio Brown to suspension, but the good news is that Alvin Kamara is returning to the lineup and Justin Herbert can put up huge numbers in any given week.
MATCHUPS
#3 CBDD (111.71 ppg) vs. #6 The PM Team…Team (102.33 ppg)
Before final lineup changes, CBDD is the 4-point favorite. The PM Team will have an interesting decision to make at it’s W/R/T (or flex) spot.
Green Bay’s Marquez Valdes-Scantling is in that spot right now, but Tony Pollard, Courtland Sutton, AJ Green and newly acquire Amon-Ra St. Brown are all candidates to play.
#4 Suba’s Sackers (125.40 ppg) vs. #5 Bishop Sycamore (113.78 ppg)
Lamar Jackson’s sprained ankle could dramatically impact this game for the Sackers. Their backup is currently Jalen Hurts if Lamar can’t go. At times this season, Sycamore has gone how Patrick Mahomes has gone. He plays the Chargers on Thursday night this week. Before final lineup changes, the Sackers are 4-point favorites over their mid-day foes.
FINAL REGULAR SEASON STANDINGS
