Written by Cory Puffett
Published January 1, 2026

Happy New Year to everyone in the AFL! This week we are taking a quick look back at the winners' bracket of the AFL postseason and previewing this week's Pro Bowl. After the Pro Bowl's conclusion, we'll have a more comprehensive recap of the 2025 AFL season with all the awards and honors accumulated by managers and players.

AFL Playoffs

Last week I recapped both semifinal matchups, but what I didn't dive to deeply into was the historical context of the matchups and performances.

Eric Meyer and Brandon Saunders had faced off in the postseason once before in 2019. Eric was the AFL's regular season champion while Brandon, despite winning the AFL East, was the #4 seed. Brandon won that matchup by a nearly-identical margin to his victory over Eric in this year's wild card round.

Brandon was the beneficiary of several performances of historical significance in his lineup. Puka Nacua, of course, led the way with more than 40 points to kick off the week on Thursday Night Football. That point total ranks 16th in AFL history among single-game wide receiver performances.

Nacua's outing broke the previous AFL postseason record for a wide receiver by more than five points and was just the fourth 40-point game by a player at any position in playoff history.

He also benefited from Ashton Jeanty's impressive outing which ranks 8th among all postseason running back performances, 6th when only counting wild card outings. George Pickens complemented Nacua well, too, recording the 19th highest single game point total in postseason history at the receiver position while Eddy Pineiro's 12.80 points and the 49ers 20.66 points rank 9th among kickers and defenses, respectively, in playoff history.

Eric had some strong outings of his own go to waste in the loss. Herbert lands at #14 on the AFL postseason quarterback list, McCaffrey lands at #13 on the running back list, and Cameron Dicker is #20 on the kicker list for AFL playoff performances.

The second semifinal matchup did not feature nearly as many fireworks. For the ninth time in AFL history, which only spans 13 seasons, the second lowest scoring manager of the wild card round advanced to the Sabol Bowl.

Chase Brown led the way for Anthony Battle. His 32.31 points rank 11th all-time among running backs in AFL postseason history. This also marked Travis Kelce's record 15th career appearance in a playoff starting lineup.

With the win, Kelce moved to 12-3 in his Hall of Fame fantasy career. The next highest number of apperances is nine by the Denver Broncos defense and no other player has more than five career playoff wins, a mark shared by four players - Lamar Jackson (5-0), and three other players tied with 5-1 playoff records (David Johnson, Mark Ingram, and Cooper Kupp).

Alex Mayo's squad just couldn't get a jump start and he finished with the third lowest point total of his season.

Sabol Bowl XIII

Ant faced an uphill battle, no pun intended, from the jump. He was the ninth manager in AFL history to qualify for the Sabol Bowl after finishing third in scoring among the four wild card playoff participants. In the previous eight times this happened, that manager was 2-6 with the lone managers to go on to win the Sabol Bowl coming in 2017 when Danny Hatcher won Sabol Bowl V, his third title, and in 2022 when Ant's brother William Battle won Sabol Bowl X, his second title.

His brother's result did give Anthony some hope, though. That title in Sabol Bowl X came against Brandon, who recorded the highest point total of the wild card round to knock off the AFL's regular season champion, Cory Puffett. Having just done the same to Eric, Brandon may have appeared vulnerable.

As it turns out, Anthony did have an opportunity to win his matchup.

As good as he was all season at starting the correct kicker week-by-week between Brandon Aubrey and Jason Myers, he struggled managing his two quarterbacks. Out of 15 weeks where neither Dak Prescott nor Matthew Stafford were on bye, Anthony left the higher scorer of the two on his bench 11 times, including in the Sabol Bowl where Prescott outscored Stafford by almost five more points than Anthony's margin of defeat.

Anthony also decided to bench Travis Kelce for this final matchup of the year. It wasn't a terrible choice, but he picked up Taysom Hill for the start instead of using Colston Loveland off his bench. Loveland's 17 points would have easily lifted Anthony to the title.

Those two decisions will haunt Anthony who joins Brandon as the only managers to lose in their first two trips to the Sabol Bowl in league history. Brandon, meanwhile, has turned the script around since those early title game disappointments. He is now the fourth managers in league history to boast multiple titles and the second to lift two Sabol Bowl trophies in a three-year period, joining Danny Hatcher who claimed the AFL's first two titles.

By all accounts, Brandon's lineup didn't scream "Championship Winning Team." Two position players in the matchup recorded 100+ scrimmage yards; both were in Ant's lineup. One position player found the end zone more than onces, also in Ant's lineup. The highest scoring player in the matchup was in Ant's lineup.

Brandon benefited from two key players in his matchup. Trevor Lawrence led the way for his team with nearly 25 points thanks to two touchdown scampers. The other is the Joe Montana MVP Award winner.

Pro Bowl Preview

The 2025 Pro Bowl features the two managers who lost in the opening round of the AFL playoffs. Of the 10 AFL managers not participating in Sabol Bowl XIII, Eric Meyer was the highest scorer. Of the 9 remaining managers in the pool, Alex Mayo had the best breakdown, or all-play record.

They drafted this week from a pool of players who gained Pro Bowl eligibility by appearing in 10 or more starting lineups over the course of the AFL's 2025 regular season.

They are playing for the right to assign Cory Puffett's punishment for losing in the 2025 Snyder Bowl. If Eric wins the Pro Bowl, Cory's punishment will be the Waffle House Challenge, 24 hours in a Waffle House with one hour credited for each waffle consumed. Alex is playing for the right to assign four beer mile repeats to Cory.