2023, Championship Preview

Gentlemen, we have our 2023 Championship matchup determined, along with the 11th(?) edition of the Money Back Bowl

#1 Tyler (24-6, 140.7 PPG)

vs

#2 Garrett (20-10, 127.5 PPG)

Man, talk about an easy game to cheer for. Garrett, buddy, you have eight other members of this league cheering for you. For the love of all that is good and holy, please PLEASE win this game.

TYLER

is in his 8th playoffs and 6th championship game, seeking his 4th championship and the first inflated $400 prize after making short work of TK in the first round matchup. Tyler, who most recently won in 2020 against Jake, would break the streak of 5 consecutive unique championship winners if he won this year. Tyler does tend to show up for the postseason, going 8-5-1 in his prior 7 appearances with 3 championships while averaging 130.6 PPG. Frankly, he looks tough to beat. He doesn't really have a weak spot except maybe at QB with Matthew Stafford, but even he's been hot with 5 straight 20+ point games coming into this matchup. His top-10 RB duo of Jahmyr Gibbs and Kyren Williams are healthy and ready to compliment league-best WR and first-round draft pick Tyreek Hill in Tmo's campaign.

GARRETT

made the title game by the absolute skin of his teeth. Up 122.12-65.9 going into Sunday night's Ravens-49ers game, Garrett had to sit and watch to see if Lamar Jackson and Christian McCaffrey could complete the comeback. They combined for 53.68 points, both having good games, but when the dust settled Garrett's lead held on by a mere 2.54 points. The win propelled Garrett to his first ever championship appearance, having lost in the first round in his other two appearances in 2018 and 2020. If there's a team to beat Tyler, its Garrett's this week. He has an elite RB duo of his own with Travis Etienne and Alvin Kamara, plus QB3 (despite my public and repeated disdain for him) Dak Prescott. Garrett's hopes could hinge on Cooper Kupp, who will be catching passes from Tyler's QB and who has been hit or miss since his return from injury from sharing touches with Puka Nacua.

#3 Collin (20-10, 132.6 PPG)

vs

#4 TK (16-14, 122.8 PPG)

COLLIN

looks to mitigate some disappointment in the postseason for the 3rd straight season by at least walking away with some cash and hardware. Collin made it to the championship in 2021, but got trounced by Ryan, then entered the playoffs as the #1 seed last year but went 0-2 and walked away empty handed. Its hard to say what really went wrong for Collin besides just luck. His trade for Amon-Ra in September for Jonathan Taylor was a great one, and CMC was as elite as ever. Throw a QB5 Lamar Jackson in the mix and baby you've got a stew going. Collin played the hand he was dealt and made some moves along the way, but fell 2.54 points short of a shot at glory. Here's a silver lining for you though, Collin, even if you lose this weekend you still made infinity times more money than John Luke did this season, so there's that.

TK

has still been chasing that 2011 high of winning the natty, and will have to settle once again this year for a shot at his 2nd Money Back Bowl win. Lineup management couldn't have saved him either, he just had a down week and Tyler kept on keeping on. Mixon and Cook being projected a combined 34.4 and posting 13 just happens, and there's nothing we can do about it. Had Austin been in TK's position he actually would have beaten Tyler (he put up 141.74 in the fake and not even tracked in our all time stats consolation bracket) so, if its any consideration TK you did save us from that. Safe to say we all would have preferred to see TK over Tyler, but now the Money Back Bowl is sort of a whoever-wins-wins thing and I'll be happy for either one of them.