Rangers hang on, face Band Aids for title

WTNE, Recliners get knocked out in opening round of JSFL playoffs.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone from the JSFL Today staff.

Championship Week has arrived and there is no rest for the weary. Action kicks off with two games tomorrow, Christmas Day, as the Chiefs take on the Steelers and the Ravens take on the Texans. Both games are streaming on Netflix (yikes) and we hope the quality is better than that fight last month.

One more Thursday game features the Seahawks at the Bears. Twelve games kick off on Sunday, Dec. 29, and the final game of our season wraps up with the Lions visiting the hapless 49ers (yay!) on Monday, Dec. 30.

Bob Garcia landed a quick, knockout punch early on Chris’ Recliners to advance to the the JSFL Super Bowl.

John Lambert, on the other hand, had to dig, crawl and scratch his way to the big game, hanging on to a small lead over son-in-law Jordan through the final 60 minutes of play Monday night. If nothing else, one move by Jordan Thursday evening sealed his fate. More on that later.

With that preamble out of the way, you would think Garcia comes into Championship Week a heavy favorite.

You are nowhere near the truth on that one. We often say talent wins out over matchups. The Band Aids certainly have the talent heading into our Super Bowl, but the Rangers have the matchups to take advantage of.

As of this writing, the experts call this one a “toss-up.” One thing is for sure, it might be one of the highest-scoring and entertaining finales in league history. It also will be a rare match between the top two seeds in the league and faceoff between division champions.

Semifinals Roundup

Band Aids Romp: Garcia advanced with a dominant 123-84 win over the No. 3-seeded Recliners. The Band Aids jumped out early Saturday morning with 20 points from Lamar Jackson, 18 from Derrick Henry and never looked back. He got 21 more Sunday from James Conner, and a whopping 25 from the free-agent signing of the Atlanta Falcons defense (paired against the hapless New York Giants). Others in double digits were Josh Jacobs (15) and Terry McLaurin (12). The final spread could have been a lot worse. Garcia had 28 on the bench from Chubba Hubbard and 25 from Jared Goff. The Recliners countered with 21 each from Justin Herbert and Bijan Robinson, and that was about it. The only others reaching double digits were Brandon McManus (13) and Sam LaPorta (10). There was no help on the Recliners’ bench.

Rangers Hang On: This one was a nail-biter from the get-go. More importantly, Jordan’s signing of RB Kendre Miller on Thursday evening was his only mistake. With Alvin Kamara ruled out of the Monday night finale at Green Bay, Jordan turned to a logical replacement – Miller. Close to a dozen other replacements would have scored enough from the flex position to give Jordan the win, but he fell, 94-91. WTNE went into Monday night trailing by 5 points and Miller could only eke out 2 points in the Saints’ 34-0 loss. The Rangers withstood the loss of two quarterbacks (Jalen Hurts with a first-quarter concussion and Kenny Pickett) and the Eagles QBs only scored 13 points, leaving the door wide open for Jordan. John got 18 points from Kyren Williams, 14 from the Buffalo defense, 12 from Davante Adams and 10 from George Kittle. Jordan countered with a 27-point bomb from Saquon Barkley, 22 from Joe Burrow and 13 from Xavier Worthy, but no one else reached double digits.

Jalen Hurts is in concussion protocol, and even he doesn't know whether he'll be playing for the Rangers in the JSFL Championship clash against the Band Aids this weekend.

Super Bowl Preview

No. 2-seed Band Aids (11-5) vs No. 1-seed Rangers (12-4), Rangers favored by 2: The injury concerns for John at quarterback have to take highest priority as the week unfolds. Word out of Philadelphia is that Jalen Hurts wanted back into Sunday’s game but league officials in the booth forced him to stay on the sideline and will now have to work his way through the 5-step concussion protocol. His replacement, Pickett, also banged up his ribs. Pickett told reporters Monday that he thinks he will be ready for the Cowboys on Sunday. That matchup with the Cowboys is a key part of this Finals’ drama. The Eagles QB are estimated for 23 points, 2 points more than anticipated for Garcia’s Lamar Jackson at Houston. The Eagles’ QB are one of 6 starters estimated for double-digit performance this week for John, one more than the 5 for Garcia. Garcia gets the edge at RB1 with Josh Jacobs (16 projected points) travels to Minnesota, while John’s Breece Hall (11) travels to Buffalo. The scoring edge for the next four starters all lean in favor of John’s Rangers – Kyren Williams (17) at home to Arizona, Nico Collins (12) at home to Baltimore, Mike Evans (10) at home to Carolina, and Kittle (9) at home to Detroit. The flex position (Chubba Hubbard at Tampa Bay for Garcia and Davante Adams at Buffalo for John) is a push. Garcia gets a scoring edge with the Eagles (7) at home to Dallas, and kicker Chase McLaughlin (9) at home to Carolina. We are nervous about the Eagles’ QB situation but will figure if Hurts can go, he will. Take the Rangers by 1.

Beaters are Interested Bystanders

Watching the action with furrowed brow might be Matt Pringle of the Spread Beaters who has a lot to gain if Bob Garcia hoists the trophy in August.

The leap of faith Bob took before the trade deadline sent a bunch of conditional draft picks Pringle’s way. If Bob loses this week, Pringle will still get a second- and a fourth-round pick for trading “King” Derrick Henry, and a sixth-rounder for Travis Kelce. If Bob wins this week, the second-rounder for King Henry upgrades to a first-rounder, and the sixth-rounder for Kelce upgrades to a third-rounder. Pringle will send his 9th-, 10th- and 11th-rounders all back to Garcia whether he wins or loses.

So, along with having the third pick overall for his general suckiness this year, Pringle potentially is sitting on Bob’s first- and third-round picks come Draft Day. God help us, every one.