DFFL 22 Playoffs - Lottery Bowl: RAF versus UGG

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Two of the losing Week 16, DFFL Fantastic Four, RAF (7-7) and UGG (12-2), will meet in the Lottery Bowl for a chance to take Bronze in the DFFL 2022 Playoffs. Along with the Bronze, the winner will receive a $100 cash prize (payable to 2023 league dues). The loser gets an increased chance for early draft positioning in the DFFL 2023 Rookie Draft. As a result of 2022 season trades, which included multiple draft picks, these teams aren't alone in interest for how this bowl ends. The DFFL WhatsApp chat log holds the key in identifying these interested teams (spoiler alert: PTS for one).

The Lottery Bowl presents two of the most improbable, odd couple, DFFL teams to face off against each other in the playoffs this year. On one side, a fantasy point juggernaut, who lost only 2 games all season! Doesn't really matter that one of those teams is the one he now faces in the Lottery Bowl. On the other side, a scrappy assortment of deck-chairs of a team, who's only real reason for getting to the 2022 playoffs was playing in a fantasy point-starved DFFL division.

UGG won a record 6 Maguire Awards; meaning he won $300 dollars during the regular season putting up the most fantasy points in 6 weeks of the season. UGG won the most Tyson Awards (4) of the 2022 regular season, yet another highlight of an elite year. Additionally, he won 3 Mojo Awards, tied with DNF and JWW (2022 DFFL BOWL V teams). UGG's 2022 regular season performance is one for the DFFL history books. All year UGG appeared incapable of making a bad transaction, and appears postured to bring back many of the exquisite players that helped him make history. Of particular value, the Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase contracts - cheap and worth hundreds of fantasy points. However, unless he makes some off-season trades, UGG will not be doing too much franchise building or replenishing with only two 2023 3rd round picks.

RAF faces UGG in the Lottery Bowl after a piece-meal year, where he led the truly defunct Hops Division all year long, but not by much, and with only a 7 win record. The only two teams RAF managed to beat outside the cellar-dweller Hops Division in the 2022 regular season was DMM (competing in the DFFL Toilet Bowl IV) and UGG (huge surprise, but primarily due to 63 point game by Joe Mixon). RAF won only 1 each of the coveted Maguire and Tyson Awards. He only won a single Mojo Award. However, RAF won the most - Five - Deck Chair Awards and nabbed a Meme Award for least points scored in a regular season week. Earning the most Deck Chairs highlight the difficulty RAF had week-to-week in pulling together a winning fantasy squad. Essentially, RAF was trading funny money for funny money (no value), with the sole exception of the Waddle - Mahomes trade with CAB. Meanwhile, RAF comes into the Lottery Bowl with an interest to win; not for the lucrative $100 prize, but for the increased value of UGG's 2023 1st Round Pick, which belongs to RAF. Losing to UGG in Week 17 will not only increase RAF's poverty for prize money, but improve RAF's 2023 1st Round Pick, and thus PTS potential draft fortunes - not RAF's.

Time to preview the teams these two DFFL owners bring to the Lottery Bowl in Week 17. As indicated previously, UGG has an elite team, which should provide elite production. However, UGG's team has some tough matchups and interesting NFL team dynamics that act as wild cards for whether he gets projected points, or the point floor for a number of players. Joe Burrow is going up against Buffalo. Excellent defense didn't seem to matter much for Burrow's success last week (NE), so I'd bet he will "get his" this week at home. By virtue of Joe's success, Ja'Marr is a given baller in Week 17.

The problems come with the Josh Jacobs matchup versus SF's stellar run defense. This is in addition to what could be an issue with the QB play of Las Vegas. Will Jacobs be leaned on more? Probably. Will he be as successful with Stidham getting him the ball, or with game script? Probably not. Stefon Diggs will be taking passes from Josh Allen - always a good thing; however, Cincinnati "ain't no band leader" when it comes to letting receivers score against their secondary. Still, Diggs is the #3 WR in fantasy for a reason. He's special and he'll probably do special things. The other receiver is Davante "Dude, where's my Carr?" Adams. See above Josh Jacobs points for Adams' expected play. However, Adams is much harder to trust than Jacobs in this offense. UGG got a pretty good deal on TE Njoku from DMM earlier in the year, and will attempt to get some value in this game at Washington. UGG's Flex is very good D'Ontae Foreman, Ja'Marr Chase, and AJ Dillon. They could combine to give UGG between 75-90 points! Finally, UGG plays the safe Tucker as his Kicker and an Eagles Defense in an easy matchup against Dalton and the Saints.

The RAF squad is a lot less fun to highlight from a fantasy perspective. At QB the #1 Fantasy QB, Patrick Mahomes, is the lone bright spot. There's not much to say about his potential this week, as it should be the standard, typical amazing stuff, the likes of which that makes up the week's highlight reels. Rhamondre Stevenson sits in the RB1 slot, and hopefully will keep it together so as to go into the fantasy off-season as a future RB1 in NE. He's got an easy matchup at home against the Dolphins. Courtland Sutton and Romeo Doubs are the receiver set. They have decent matchups, and, well, RAF has no other real options at receiver. The Fitz is putting Tyler Conklin in for TE, and with Mike White the Jets starting QB, hopes to get double-digits in fantasy points - not terrible expectations, given the matchup in Seattle. The RAF Flex side of things is high-risk, low-yield, but that has been the case all year. Jerick McKinnon could ball out and probably will. If he gets over 30 fantasy points, it will help offset the likely poor performance from the other dudes. Joe Mixon has a tough matchup with Buffalo, and seems to be stuck in the lower range of projected points in recent weeks. Rashid Shaheed tends to get over projected points, but that usually equates to the 12-15 range. RAF getting around 50 points combined from Flex seems the most reasonable expectation. Getting greater than that from Flex projects RAF into having a decent fantasy day - still probably not on the winning side of things, unless his receiver set blows up. Finally, RAF has his invested Kicker, McPhearson and the Cardinals Defense in starter roles to help him keep this game close.

In keeping with the "Odd Couple" theme of this Lottery Bowl matchup, UGG comes in having had much higher expectations for the 2022 season - game-after-game reflected the strength and potential of his team, which resided in the Top 3 for DFFL Power Rankings for most of the season. RAF comes in to this bowl game having been projected in the lower quarter of DFFL teams, quite possibly being the last team in Hops Division. Power Rankings aptly placed the Fitz in the lower half of DFFL teams in 2022, yet he won when it counted and gave his franchise a shot at glory. He bested expectations and projections which seems to be a RAF-like theme time-and-time-again. We'll see how the dust settles on this game, but both teams take a lot of positivity into the 2023 off-season!

LINE:

UGG (-20)

RAF (+20)