by It’s here! The 2024 Crunchtime Fantasy Football Championship Game has arrived. All of that hard work, starting at the draft, the battles through the season, and first round playoff battles….we are at the Finals. It is very fitting that the Irish Pride have made it. Afterall, they are the defending champs and the 2024 Regular Season Title Winner. Their 11-2 record and 1495 points were tops in the league. They’ve been the favorite all season long.
As for their competitor, the Top Dawgs, their battle was different. They started the season 0-2 and had ups and downs throughout the season. Their 2nd round pick, Davante Adams, became disgruntled and was eventually traded to the Jets. Their 3rd round pick, Rachaad White, technically lost his starting job. Jayden Daniels though has been a driving force for this team, along with his wide receiver teammate Terry McLaurin. The combo has helped set a pace for the Dawgs to be successful. They finished the season by going 4-1 and were just 1 point away from finishing with the #2 seed. It was a battle, but these Dawgs are tested and they proved that point in the 1st round of the playoffs by scoring a postseason record 303.42 points versus TacoMan9000.
So here we are, the Champs (Irish Pride) against America’s Team (Top Dawgs). We’ve got 2 weeks of fantasy drama in store. Are the Dawgs able to keep the momentum? Or will Irish Pride capture the repeat? Whoever wins this title, though, will take home their 4th championship and finally tie the Swashbuckling Scallywags with the most in the league.
TEAM
2024 RECORD
2024 POINTS PER GAME
LIFETIME PLAYOFF RECORD
LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS
TOP DAWGS
7-6 1319 POINTS
101.46 POINTS PER GAME
13-12
3
IRISH PRIDE
11-2 1495 POINTS
115.00 POINTS PER GAME
8-5
3
JACkSON VS DANIELS
This is where this matchup starts. The Irish Pride feature their stud QB Lamar Jackson who is looking to be NFL MVP. He’s the #1 player in fantasy and is on a tear. The Top Dawgs will feature rookie phenom Jayden Daniels. He is the favorite for Rookie Of The Year and is on a tear with WR Terry McLaurin. Combo points could be big here.
WR’s VS RB’s
These two teams have done their damage in different ways. The Irish have a stable of stud RBs. Kyren Williams, James Cook, and Jahmyr Gibbs are all in the top 10 at the running back position. All three can dominate a game and the Irish excel here.
The Dawgs do have a top 10 running back in Bijan Robinson, but their strength is at Wide Receiver. Ja’Marr Chase, the Dawgs keeper, is the #1 WR in fantasy. Terry McLaurin comes in at #4. Then, they also have Davante Adams, Jauan Jennings, and Malik Nabers to fill in where needed.
This faceoff will be where the game is decided. Whose stable can light up the board more in the coming weeks? We’ll see very soon.
ESPN projects the Irish Pride to take the lead in the first week of this 2-week long matchup. The Irish are favored by 8 points due to Lamar Jackson projecting to outscore Daniels by 8 points. However, even though Jayden Daniels is currently listed as the starting QB for the Dawgs, they could throw a curveball here and start Sam Darnold. Just 2 weeks ago, Darnold threw for 5 TDs and scored 45 fantasy points. We’ll keep an eye out for that decision.
The action is going to span a lot of different days. NFL games are scheduled 4 different days in Week 16 and 5 (YES, FIVE) different days in Week 17. It’s going to be wild!
