2023 Playoffs Round 1

There will be no repeat champion this year in KAOS. In a game that CJ tried to make closer than it should have been by inserting the LA Chargers D/ST (-14) into his starting lineup, The Milford Football Team easily defeated the defending Cup Holders Stick Rock, 267-239. MFT ended up outscoring his opponent in both Week 14 and 15. Waiver Wire pick-up David Njoku (also a former Stick Rock player) came up big during the first week with two TDs and 27 points. He then followed that up with a one TD, 26 point outing in Week 2. On most teams that would have been the lead scorer. But most teams don't have CMC, who went off for 62 points highlighted by a 44 point outburst this past Sunday. Josh Allen rounded out the trio of top scorers by putting up 40 points.

Stick Rock managed to keep this one close for most of the time, but injury and luck were against him. How bad did it get? Well, Bailey Zappe started the 2nd week of the matchup so that should give you some idea. Russell Wilson (39) had a productive week while DeAndre Hopkins had a big Week 1 (25.4) to keep pace with MFT. Unfortunately he followed that up with a giant turd in week 2 (4 points). Amon St Brown had been this team's most consistent receiver all year. But he bottomed out with a 4 point effort in the 1st week followed by a 24 point game in the finale that was too little / too late. This is a disappointing ending for a team that started out the season 10-1, only to be outscored by their opponents each of the last 4 weeks. But you can't fault Rocky. Who could have seen that coming?

In our Second match-up, we had the two best teams going at it to see who would advance to the finals. Wrath of Kahn jumped out to an early 2-point lead, only to lose by 4 points in the 2nd week of the matchup. Springfield Flanders got off to a rocky start (no pun intended) in this one as the usually reliable Jared Goff put up 6 points to start the week. What made that dismal showing even more painful was that Trevor Lawrence and his 23 points were left on the bench. In a misguided attempt to right that wrong, Glenn started Trevor Lawrence (17 points) for week 2 of the matchup and left Jared Goff (41) on the bench. Thankfully, QB1 Purdy was solid and delivered 60 points. Alvin Kamara (29) and Travis Etienne (27) carried most of the load as Glenn's usually high-scoring WRs put up pedestrian numbers. How bad was it? Going into Monday Night, Flanders needed only 13 points to beat Kahn. Surely a layup with AJ Brown and kicker Jake Elliott playing against a questionable Seahawk pass defense. But in a game that most thought would be over by halftime, neither player was putting up any points. After the first quarter, they had combined for only 3 points. Elliott then kicked a FG while AJ Brown caught a few passes to put Flanders on the doorstep of victory at halftime. And then... nothing. Neither player did much in the 3rd quarter and Glenn went into the 4th needing 2 points for the win, and he barely got it. Just before 11 PM AJ Brown caught a pass that gave him a 1 point lead. But even though Flanders had the slight edge, a missed FG/PAT would have given Jim the win. Luckily for them, Eagles did not get into scoring position the rest of the night.

It was a tough loss for Wrath of Kahn. This team was loaded at the top with names like Travis Kelce, Tyreke Hill and Dak Prescott. But all three failed to show-up in the final, with Kelce only scoring 22 points in the matchup while Dak ( 21 and 6 points over the two weeks) turned back into a pumpkin and Tyreke Hill (10 points) missing the 2nd game due to injury. It's nice having all those shiny toys in your lineup in the regular season, but a roster needs depth to survive the brutality of a 17 game season.

Rachaad White concluded his rookie season with a team leading 44 points, while Justin Fields came off the bench to put up 38 points. The Miami D/ST were given the gift of a terrible Jets' offense and put up 37 points.

So now we head to the Finals pitting Springfield Flanders against Milford Football Team. Let's see how these teams matchup by position:

QB - Glenn has potential MVP candidate Brock Purdy and Jared Goff while CJ rolls with #1 ranked QB Josh Allen and Geno Smith. Each team has a bonafide star (Purdy + Allen) and one guy who is inconsistent (Goff and Smith). This one is too close to call.

Edge: Even

RB - Glenn has a solid duo in Etienne and Kamara, while CJ is rolling out CMC and.... is he bluffing? Is he really starting Chubba Hubbard in this game with David Montgomery on the bench?

Edge: Even. Although CJ has the best RB in the game, I can't give him the edge with Hubbard as the RB2.

WR/Flex - If you want to do a case study in genetics, look no further than Garrett Wilson starting this game for CJ. In the beginning of the year, He kept Garrett Wilson and it was the right decision. He was coming off the Rookie of the Year in 2022 and Aaron Rodgers was going to be his QB. We all know how that worked out. He is now the 24th ranked WR and had had the following stat line over the last 5 weeks: 0.9/17.4/8.0/20.1/5.9. That's an 11 points/game average. Is this really the best you can do for a starting WR? And now he will have his 4th string QB (Trevor Siemian) throwing to him. So yes, if there was any question of Rocky being related to CJ, here is exhibit A. Meanwhile, Glenn is rolling with his trio of Top 10 WR with Stephon Diggs and AJ Brown starting at WR and Puka going to the Flex.

Edge: Huge edge for Flanders.

TE - Davud Njoku is Flacco's favorite target in Cleveland while Trey McBride plays the position like a WR. FYI-Both of these guys were in-season waiver wire pickups. It is a testament to how deep the TE position has become.

Edge: Even

D/ST - Ok, its stupid to even try and guess how this will workout, but I really have to question why CJ would start the GB defense after their last 2 games against the Giants (1) and TB (2). They made Tommy Devito and Baker Mayfield look like All-Pros. The same could be said about Glenn choosing the Eagles. They have given up 34-42-33-20 points over the last 4 games.

Edge: Even. I think the both of you are over-thinking this.

Kicker - This is even more pointless than the D/ST debate. I am contemplating removing the Kicker position from next year's roster and I will put it to a vote prior to the 2024 draft.

Edge: Goes to the team that plays Jan Stenerud. Dan and Glenn are probably the only two people who know who Jan Stenerud was. The rest of you kids can google it. (FYI: I can also say with 100% assurance that Dan is the only guy in our league who saw Jan Stenerud play a game in person at Arrowhead Stadium. I know. He use to brag about it all the time when we were in High School.)

Predicition: For the most part, these teams are fairly even with Glenn having the huge advantage at WR and bench depth (Did I mention he has Trevor Lawrence, Dalton Shultz and Najee Harris on his bench? All three of those guys would crack MFT's starting lineup.) Springfield Flanders will win their 3rd KAOS Cup, 285-268.

For those still reading, here is a summary of the other games from Round 1:

Skoal Bandits won their matchup against the Ghostbusters and will now play Dark Helmet who won their matchup against '69 Olds to see who gets the first pick in the draft once the Keeper Rounds are completed.
In what turned out to be the best game of the week, Peeping Tomlin's beat Mel Kipers BA 303-290 to win the $50 Consolation prize that goes to the winner of the 5th place/6th place game.