Finger Bowl 31: Long wait ends for Eggers

 

PITTSBURGH -- Veteran Ham N Eggers owner Mike Miazga earned his second Finks League title with a 54-33 victory over Just a Fantasy (10-7) in Week 17. 

The Eggers (11-5-1) earned big points from K Dicker LAC and QB Goff DET for the title. The Eggers' first title came in 2015 when the Eggers won Finger Bowl 22 with a 31-24 win over Hurricane Quags. Miazga joins seven other owners to win more than one title, including his wife Kris Herigodt, who won Finger Bowls in 2008 and 2020. 

Dicker LAC became the first K to earn Finger Bowl MVP honors since Gostkowski NE helped win the 2013 title for the Ulan Bator Khans. The Eggers were the losing team in that Finger Bowl.

Miazga will receive possession of the Abe Gibron Trophy for the upcoming year. 

Fantasy (33)

QB C. Williams CHI zero

RB K. Williams LAR 6

RB B. Robinson Jr. WAS zero

WR Evans TB 15

WR Smith-Njigba SEA zero

K Bates DET 12

Eggers (54)

QB Goff DET 17

RB Henry BAL 11

RB C. Brown CIN zero

WR Adams NYJ zero

WR Addison MIN 6

K Dicker LAC 20

Third place: Saints! top Distillers on MNF TD

LOCKPORT, Ill. -- WR A. St. Brown DET scored a touchdown on Monday Night Football to give Saints Preserve Us! (10-7) a 39-36 victory over the Lockport Distillers (10-7) to claim third place in the Finks League in Week 17. 

Saints! (39)

QB Burrow CIN 24

RB Ford CLE zero

RB Hubbard CAR INJ

WR A. St. Brown DET 6

WR B. Thomas JAX 9

K Fairbairn HOU zero

Distillers (36)

QB J. Allen BUF 12

RB Dobbins LAC 9

RB Bigsby JAX

WR D. Moore CHI zero

WR Sutton DEN 6

K Bass BUF 9

Week 17: Finger Bowl 31 preview

 

Just a Fantasy (10-6) at Ham N Eggers (10-5-1)

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh

Playoff records: Newton 12-9; Miazga 11-12-1

Head to head: Eggers 40, Fantasy 24, week 2; Eggers 46, Fantasy 33, week 15

The skinny: This is the third Finger Bowl meeting between Fantasy and the Eggers in the last nine years. This year's edition features the top two teams in the McMichael Division, which was won by the Eggers. ... Miazga has tied Mafia owner Goff with a Finks record 13th playoff appearance. Now he has tied Goff with a record eighth Finger Bowl appearance. ... This year's championship contest is a rematch of Finger Bowls 23 and 28. Newton won both matches to earn his only two Finger Bowl titles. In 2016, he won 51-16 and in 2021 he won 47-40. ... The only Finger Bowl title for the Eggers came in FB 22 in 2015. Miazga hopes to avoid adding to his record of six losses in Finger Bowl games. ... Newton's two FB losses came in 2004 and 2006.

Projected starters: Fantasy -- C. Williams, K. Williams, B. Robinson WAS, Kupp, Evans, Bates; Eggers -- Goff, Henry, C. Brown, Adams, Addison, Dicker. 

The pick: Eggers 45, Fantasy 40

Week 16: Fantasy, Eggers earn Finger Bowl births

 Williams boys spark Fantasy

LOCKPORT, Ill. -- QB C. Williams CHI scored 13 Finks points and RB K. Williams LAR added 11 as Just a Fantasy advanced to Finger Bowl 31 with a 32-30 victory over the Lockport Distillers. 

FANTASY (32)

QB C. Williams CHI  13

RB K. Williams LAR 11

RB B. Robinson ATL zero

WR Evans TB zero

WR Kupp LAR zero

K McLaughlin TB 8

DISTILLERS (30)

QB J. Allen BUF 3

RB Edwards LAC 12

RB Bigsby JAX 6

TE Kelce KC zero

WR Sutton DEN zero

K Bass BUF 9

Goff sends Eggers to Finger Bowl 31

PITTSBURGH -- QB Goff DET scored a week-high 16 Finks points to earn MVP honors while leading the Ham N Eggers to Finger Bowl 31 with an exciting 50-49 win over Saints Preserve Us!

Saints! K Fairbairn HOU missed a point-after attempt that could have tied the match, but Eggers K Dicker LAC also made a rare free kick, the first in the NFL since the 1970s. 

SAINTS! (49)

QB Burrow CIN  14

RB Mixon HOU zero

RB Ford CLE 9

WR A. St. Brown DET 6

WR B. Thomas Jr. JAX 11

K Fairbairn HOU 9

EGGERS (50)

QB Goff DET 16

RB Henry BAL 7

RB C. Brown CIN 3

WR Adams NYJ 6

WR Addison MIN 6

K Dicker LAC 12

Week 16: Semifinal previews

 Just a Fantasy (9-6) at Lockport Distillers (10-5)

at Lockport Township High School

Playoff records: Newton 11-9; Cassidy 5-8-1

Head to head: Distillers 41, Fantasy 19, Week 3

The skinny: Distillers owner Cassidy has been riding the QB J. Allen BUF train this season to finish with the Finks League's best record and a Hester Division championship. Cassidy has now won back-to-back division titles and earned his sixth division title as a Finks League owner. ... Allen scored a probable league record 37 Finks points in Week 14 and was consecutive Player of the Week to end the regular season. ... Newton is the most recent Finger Bowl champion among this year's playoff owners, winning the league title in 2021. ... The Distillers have not won a Finger Bowl since their first season in the league in 2011. 

Projected starters: Fantasy -- G. Smith, K. Williams, B. Robinson Jr., Kupp, Smith-Njigba, Bates; Distillers -- J. Allen, Edwards, Bigsby, Ty. Hill, Sutton, Bass.

The pick: Distillers 45, Fantasy 35.

Saints Preserve Us! (9-6) at Ham N Eggers (9-5-1)

at Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh

Playoff records: Wilcox 7-6; Miazga 10-12-1

Head to head: Saints! 36, Eggers 32, Week 3

The skinny: The Saints! stumble into the playoffs with three losses in their last four games after starting the season 5-1. ... The Saints! won the tiebreaker over Hurricane Quags to gain the final playoff spot after both teams finished 5-3 within their division. The Saints! advanced by scoring more points during the season. The Saints! had the highest scoring total of the season. ... The Eggers won their fifth division title and Miazga seeks to tie Goff with a record eight appearances in the Finger Bowl. The Eggers' only title came in Finger Bowl 22 in 2015. ... Wilcox reached the playoffs for the first time under the Saints Preserve Us! brand. The Saints! are in their second season. Wilcox's last playoff appearance was in 2022 as the Moline Tractors. ... The Saints! enter the playoffs without starting RB Montgomery DET, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 15.

Projected starters: Saints! -- Burrow, Mixon, Hubbard, A. St. Brown, B. Thomas, Fairbairn; Eggers -- Goff, Henry, C. Brown, Harrison Jr., Addison, Reichard.

The pick: Eggers 30, Saints! 25. 

89

Meaning, one point short of 90.

Dah Commish doesn't like to write about his own teams, but then again it isn't often that a Dah Commish-run team finds itself in first place past the midway mark of a Finks League season.

Dah Commish has enjoyed only four winning Finks League seasons since winning his last championship with Anthony Munoz & Cleopatra in 2012. 

So it was with great surprise that Dah Commish's current Saints Preserve Us! won 89-21 in a Week 11 victory over the Dublin Brawlers. The previous week, the Saints! (8-3) scored 70 points in another victory.

The 89 nearly tied the Finks League record of 90 points scored in a single game by Matt Simo's Chicago Blitz, also in Week 11 but in 1995, the second season of Finks League. The Blitz placed third that season.

Here is the Saints!' half of the box score for 89 points:

QB Burrow CIN  18 pts

RB Mixon HOU  23 (Player of the Week)

RB Montgomery DET 15

WR A. St. Brown DET  19

WR Pickens PIT   3

K Fairbairn HOU 11

Saints! starters scored seven touchdowns, three for Mixon and two each for Montgomery and A. St. Brown.

In true Dah Commish style, the Saints! left points on the bench and would have broken Simo's forever record if starting another WR besides Pickens. On the bench, the Saints! had WR Higgins CIN and TE Bowers LV with 11 points each and WR McConkey LAC with five points. 

What has made this season even more rewarding for the Saints! is that five starters were auction day selections: Burrow, Mixon, Montgomery, A. St. Brown and Fairbairn. Two other reserves, QB Murray AZ and Higgins, were also auction day pickups. 

In case you were wondering, the Saints! are behind the pace of topping Miazga's Eggers for the season-high scoring mark of 853 points from 2014. The Eggers scored 56.9 Finks points per game that season. The Saints! have scored 52.2 points per game this season.

Auction 2024: In Dah Commish's basement

 

Things to think about while Dah Commish is stuck in his basement with a laptop and 10 Finks League bid sheets in his hand. 

BIG MONEY: This year's top bids by position and think about the $35 spent by the Distillers on QB J. Allen BUF. At RB, $29.01 by Mafia on Taylor IND; At WR, $30.53 for Lamb DAL by the Jays and Gaga spent $15.25 on K Koo ATL.

DRAW! The one blind draw in the auction featured a battle between Brawlers and Mafia over RB E. Elliott DAL for a nickel. Brawlers won. 

MATH SUCKS: I add up everyone's bid sheet, a time consuming process but necessary. The Eggers went over budget and it cost them a backup kicker. I had to cut several Ks to get the Eggers to $100 so their only pickup in that spot was local LT favorite J. Elliott PHI. 

HECTIC BIDDING: The auction's most exciting bidding was a Butker battle for the KC kicker. The Brawlers winning bid was for $4.13. Quags bid $4.11.

COME ON! In the last bidding of the evening, the Jays picked up Dicker and Gay as kickers. 

TOUGH LUCK: The Gaters have had tough luck before in previous auctions. This year the boys from Iowa City were outbid on all 12 of their selections at RB. The Gaters' top choice was B. Robinson ATL for a failed $12.80. Robinson went to the Jays for $27.89. 

WHEELIN AND DEALIN: Did you hear that trades may begin as soon as you started reading this post? The first free-agent deadline is at 10 p.m. Sept. 11.

FIRST THURSDAY AND FIRST FRIDAY: Will you remember to send your BAL and KC starters to your opponent and Dah Commish by 7:20 p.m. Thursday kickoff Central time? Did you know that GB-PHI is playing in Brazil at 7:15 p.m. Friday?