Week 17 — Row Z

It’s Week 17 of ‘A View from Row Z’, your vaguely informed take on the madcap happenings in the soon to be renamed, Leytonstoners Bowl Fantasy League. I will start by saying Happy New Year to everyone! I hope you all had a fun one and ate far too much over the Christmas period. It’s the last weekly review, which is sad, but it’s also the Championship week, which is great! Let's go!

Top Stats - Week 17

Highest Score: CeeDee-ceased192.07pts
Lowest Score: God Bless Ramerica127.38pts
Highest Bench Score: God Bless Ramerica78.18pts
Highest Scoring Rostered Player: Joe Burrow42.98pts
Gillette Mach 3 Award: Multiple Goregasms vs Leytonstoners1.04pts
Mind the Gap Award: God Bless Ramerica vs CeeDee-ceased64.69pts

Apologies, this one is a little late. I needed time to come to terms with this week's results and to recover from the excellent hospitality over new years at Rich’s. So. This is it. Week 17. The final. The Leytonstoners Bowl Championship gameweek. It’s all been building to this moment. I’ve used the word rollercoaster a lot through this season, but it really has been a hell of a ride. 17 weeks full of action, heartbreak, close scores, absolute demolitions and most notably Dali’s loss streak. We had seven waiver moves in preparation for the final matchups, 3 from Matt H, 3 from Besty and 1 from me. All three of Besty’s pickups went straight into the starting lineup, such was the confidence, he definitely means business this week. Right, let’s jump into the game nobody wants to be in, the third place playoff.

Week 17 - 3rd/4th Place Consolation Game: Multiple Goregasms (164.13) // Leytonstoners (165.17)

I loved this matchup. The two coaches with the best form through the season, Besty coming into the playoffs with a 9-5 record and Rich with an excellent 11-3 record. However, as we all know form means nothing if you can’t do it when it matters. Much like Arsenal on a cold, wet, Tuesday night in Stoke, both coaches buckled when it mattered and found themselves in the 3rd place consolation game. Besty really went for this one, bringing in Purdy (36.28) and The Buccaneers (18.35) for a good return. The ever reliable Travis Kelce (22.40) added to what was an already impressive total. Rich, not one to be pushed around too easily, also really went for it and managed to scrape a win by 1.04pts. Yet again, Lemar came through with 33.42pts, Week 6’s most overlooked trade Brian Thomas got 23.90pts and Ladd McConkey with 29.40pts for his 2nd highest score of the season. For the record Rich could and should have played Devonta Smith (30) in place of Sutton (16.50) to really cement the scoreline, but I think I can tie this whole match up to one waiver wire mistake. Now, I am sure Andy will relate to this, but the Giants cannot be relied upon to get points when you need them. The RB you should have gone for was the Sleeper recommended (see Week 16 Review), D’Andre Swift (12.10) instead of Tyrone Tracy (8.30). This one choice alone would have resulted in a 2.76pts win for Besty and confined Rich to 4th place. Maybe this is a lesson to take with you into the 2025 Season Besty (and all other fantasy coaches), given the opportunity, the Giants will let you down. Or, never trust a team that shares a stadium with perennial underachievers, ~~Newcastle United~~ The Jets. Well done to Rich, snatched the game at the death and rescued his playoffs with a deserved 3rd place, but sadly missed out on that back-to-back championship.

Week 17 - Championship Game: God Bless Ramerica (127.38) // CeeDee-ceased (192.07)

And now the game that means the most, the Leytonstoners Bowl Championship Game. The battle of the Matt’s. OG Veteran of this league vs Rookie. Kinda(ish) knows what he’s doing vs long time fan, definitely has a clue. It’s my second year in a row of making it to the final (#neverforget) and I went in with high hopes of turning, so close yet so far, into a win this year. But, Matt Hulme had a few other ideas. In what can only be described as a ‘one-sided’ affair, I managed to lose this one in spectacular fashion. I did not fare well in the Christmas Day games and the rest of the week slid away from me much faster than I would have hoped. Five players scored under 10pts, one of them even drew a complete blank. I’m not even going to bother naming them, it’s not worth the key taps. Decent scores from Henry (24.50) and Irving (23) gave me some relief, but Josh Allen with a rather miserly 26.98pts by his standards and clearly with one eye on the real life playoffs, has taken his foot off the gas. I should have played Burrow (42.98) just to make my score a little more respectable. Matt on the other hand has landed on his feet throughout these playoffs. 178.36pts. 191.04pts. 192.07pts. He didn’t just win, he got better and better through the playoffs. To not score 20pts+ in this team is something of an anomaly. Goff (31.82), Gibbs (26.30), Taylor (27.60), McBride, yes you read that right, McBride (30.30) and Thielen (28), all made short work of my pretty amateur total. The only blemish on this otherwise perfect gameweek for Matt was the inclusion of Zay Flowers (5.10) instead of the newly acquired Jalen McMillan (23), which would have sent you into the 200pts+ bracket and would have been a season high score across the whole league. Otherwise, a wholly convincing win and now a second successive unsuccessful attempt at the Championship for me. I should have known the writing was on the wall when Dali messaged me early in the gameweek to say that this was ‘my year’. I think I was cursed from that moment on. Congratulations to Matt on a win in his Rookie season for our league, it was well deserved with such a fantastic run in the playoffs. 👏🏻

WINNER: CeeDee-ceased. 👑

Well, that’s it folks. Matt is our 2024 Champion. Reece is our S**t King. The frantic 5.50pm Sunday evening panics are over for this year. We have the final task of renaming our league in a stark reminder of who the champion was for another year. I can reveal that our new league will be named - CeeDee Compilation Bowl - and will be the new name of the WhatsApp group as well.

There is a feeling amongst the group to get two additional players in for next year, so we will be on the hunt for new recruits. Nobody too good though, because we wouldn't want another rookie winner on our hands and most importantly, no wankers. A simple rule, but one I am sure we can all get behind. We are also open to suggestions for any changes next year, of course these will be put out for review by the Commissioners and ratified by the group. No rash decisions here!

I have to say it’s been an absolute pleasure writing this every week. What started out as a way to pass the time on the train during my Tuesday morning commute, has been something I have really looked forward to doing week in week out. Thanks to everyone that has contributed and thanks to Dali for losing twelve times in a row. Without it, I am not sure what I would have written about each week. Thank you. So for one last time, the final standings of the 2024 Leytonstoners Bowl.

CeeDee-ceased Matt Hulme (Matt H) - 👑
Multiple Goregasms Stephen Best (Besty)
Game of Throws Andrew Saiker (Andy)
SnowshufflerJr Jen Cullen
Dali’s Salvadors Darren Ali (Dali)
Changed like OchoCinco Reece Parkinson 💩

Happy New Year everyone and see you all for the 2025 Draft of the newly monikered CeeDee Compilation Bowl!

Previous Winners: 2023 - Leytonstoners // 2022 - SnowshufflerJr // 2021 - SnowshufflerJr

2020 - JamieHadALittleRam // 2019 - Game of Throws