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Written by Cory Puffett
Published December 29, 2022
I know I’m a little late and one player in our championship matchup has already played with CeeDee Lamb scoring 14.40 points for Brandon Saunders in the Cowboys' Thursday night win over Tennessee, but he and William Battle deserve a proper preview post after weathering the storm of two strong teams in the AFL’s wild card round and advancing to Sabol Bowl X.
That’s right, we’re up to our 10th edition of the AFL Championship game! It’s hard to believe that our league has been running for a decade and is about to crown its 10th champion.
Before we preview their game, let’s quickly recap Week 16 and our wild card round.
Brandon beat Cory Puffett in a high-scoring affair. They had the two highest scoring teams in the league in Week 16, including teams competing in the consolation ladder. It’s the sixth time in AFL history that the second highest scoring playoff team lost their game.
Cory’s 123.39 points is the seventh highest losing score in Wild Card history while Brandon’s 132.47 points represent the 13th highest team score in an AFL Wild Card game.
On the flip side, William beat Sean Kennedy in a much lower scoring affair. William scored 118.28 points, which isn’t a terribly low score but is the 5th lowest winning score in Wild Card history. Sean’s 99.57 points marks the 10th time in AFL history a playoff team failed to score 100 points in the opening round.
There were a handful of standout player performances, but undoubtedly the two biggest came from that lower scoring game. T.J. Hockenson gave William 28.80 points, which is not only the 22nd highest single-game score for a tight end in AFL history, but it was also the highest tight end score in an AFL wild card game.
Meanwhile, George Kittle did everything he could to keep Sean in it. He nearly matched Hockenson’s output with 27.95 points of his own at the same position, the second highest tight end score in wild card history and the 25th highest in any AFL game.
The biggest issue for Sean came at defense. The Denver Broncos, which had been a strong unit all year, totally collapsed during the mid-afternoon game on Christmas Day. They scored -11.62 points, the lowest score our league has ever seen from any position player or defensive unit.
In the higher scoring affair, CeeDee Lamb and Jaylen Waddle provided a lot of scoring for Brandon and Cory, respectively. Lamb’s 29.30 points are the third most for a wide receiver in a wild card game while Waddle’s 22.45 points are the seventh most.
We now how eight players who have made at least four appearances in the AFL’s wild card round in our league’s history. Travis Kelce has two more than any other player with seven of them in our league’s 10-season history, and he’s been very successful. With his win as part of Brandon’s team, he is now 5-2 with an average of 12.54 points per game in his wild card appearances. He scored 14.70 this past week.
Joining Kelce in a winning effort, the New England Patriots lent a strong 13.15-point effort to William Battle’s team as they made their fourth AFL wild card appearance. They’re 2-2 in those games with an impressive 18.94 points per game mark.
On the losing end, Sean had two players making their fifth career wild card appearances. One was the aforementioned Denver Broncos defensive unit. Their -11.62 points dropped their career total from 32.40 points to 20.78 points and they’re now 2-3 in their wild card games.
Tyreek Hill, meanwhile, appears to be terrible luck in our league. While he’s averaged a respectable 11.74 points per game in his five wild card appearances and bested that with 13.15 points for Sean this past week, he is now 0-5 in the AFL wild card round and has never appeared in a Sabol Bowl!
So, let’s go ahead and look ahead to the final game of our season (other than our all-important Pro Bowl)!
#4 Brandon Saunders vs #3 William Battle (-2)
#4 Brandon Saunders vs #3 William Battle (-2)
William leads all-time series 12-5
No pair of teams in AFL history has played as many games head-to-head as these two. Their 18th career meeting is two more than the 16 times Brandon has faced William’s brother Anthony and four more than any other pairing.
William’s 12 head-to-head victories against Brandon is also more than anyone in the AFL has against another manager. The next highest mark is Evan Ash’s 11 career victories against Anthony Battle. Nobody else is in double digits against another manager as of the end of 2022.
William (9-6) has owned this series, and he’s also been incredibly good in the playoffs in his career. William has never lost a wild card playoff game. His 74-70-1 career record is just above average, and partly because of that he’s only made three playoff appearances in his career. But he has made it to the Sabol Bowl every single time.
He lost Sabol Bowl III against Cory Puffett by a score of 106.40–115.50, but three years later he won Sabol Bowl VI against his brother Anthony by a comfortable margin of 136.80–119.80.
Brandon (8-7), meanwhile, suffered through the worst regular season the AFL has ever seen in 2021, and that really tanked his career record which currently stands at 70-70 in the regular season and 72-73 overall.
Like William, Brandon is making his third Sabol Bowl appearance. After winning the final championship in our previous league, Just Do It!, in 2012, he made it back to the pinnacle of our league in 2013 but fell in Sabol Bowl I against three-time AFL champion Danny Hatcher by a score of 103.7–122.1.
He did not make the postseason again until 2018, where he lost to William in the wild card round, but he returned to the playoffs in 2019 and beat Eric Meyer in the opening round. Unfortunately, he again fell short of hoisting an AFL trophy when he lost to Sean by a similar score of 107.76–121.40.
Now he returns, hoping to become the eighth different manager to win a Sabol Bowl. But to do so, he’ll have to beat William who is hoping to become just the second manager in league history with multiple AFL titles.
Assisting Brandon in this effort will be Travis Kelce, Dalvin Cook, and possibly the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense. Kelce is making his record fifth career Sabol Bowl appearance. It’s truly remarkable and a testament to just how much better of a tight end he’s been than literally any other one during our league’s 10-year run. He is 4-0 in his previous championship game appearances.
Cook is 2-0 and the Buccaneers are 1-0 in Sabol Bowls when in the starting lineup. Brandon will be deciding between the Bucs against Carolina and the Washington Commanders unit which faces Cleveland. He could be looking to improve his upside by starting the Commanders, though, since he is also likely to start D’Onta Foreman, who had a huge game in his wild card win.
William, meanwhile, has six players on his roster with previous Sabol Bowl experience. Austin Ekeler is the only one currently in his starting lineup with a Sabol Bowl victory as he is 1-0. Amari Cooper, D’Andre Swift, and the New England Patriots are each 0-1 in their lone appearances.
Currently on William’s bench, Russell Wilson is 1-1 in his two Sabol Bowl starting lineup appearances while Harrison Butker is 1-0. He was part of Danny Hatcher’s third Sabol Bowl victory in 2017.
Best of luck to both William and Brandon this week as they seek fantasy football glory!
Good luck also to Stephen April and Alex Mayo, who are playing for the Butkus and the first selection in our draft pick draft, and to Anthony Battle and Will Massimini, who are hoping to avoid taking home this year’s Snyder and having to serve the AFL’s first ever league punishment, which will be decided by the winner of next week’s Pro Bowl between Cory and Sean.
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