With Corey Dillon playing on Monday night, the Buddies have an ace in the hole even if The Grinch visits them on Christmas Eve
Super Bowl XIII is upon us already and another great season of YFFL action will be coming to a close with its biggest game of the year. The Dragons will play the heavily favored Burger Buddies in a Christmas classic. The Dragons have been breathing fire in the first two rounds of the playoffs torching both the Brothers and the Boys. The Buddies crushed the Poop and squeaked by the Merry Men in a high scoring affair. The Buddies have been scoring in bundles of late thanks to the heroics of Larry Johnson, the best player in the YFFL the last 8 weeks. The Dragons will have to have yet another great week if they hope to bring home their 3rd league title.
The Dragons would not be in this position if not for making a trade that would change the face of the franchise during the summer. Peyton Manning, who was coming off a YFFL single season record of 286 points, was traded in a blockbuster deal to the Huskers for Hines Ward, Chad Pennington, and Tiki Barber. The league was shocked that the best player in the league had just been dealt. Jon believed his franchise was stuck in neutral and would never be able to be anything more than a .500 team with Manning and the time was right to make a move that would give the Dragons a chance to be more than that. The move paid off right away as they raced out of the gate to a 4-0 record. At that point in the season Pennington was lost for the year and the Dragons were faced with going with Anthony Wright as their QB or make a deal. The transaction that transpired was one that will be remembered forever and one that Bobby will forever call the "Brett Favre give-away". Favre joined the team and promptly led them to 5 straight losses and had become the laughingstock of the YFFL media. Well after the Mallards crumbled and the Beans and Chickens choked, the Dragons were able to sneak into the playoffs by winning their last game of the season.
The Buddies also got off to a good start this season going 4-1 and beating their nemesis the Merry Men in the process. The Buddies had some adversity they had to fight through as Randy Moss was injured most of the season and there was a QB controversy brewing all season long. In the end Kurt Warner beat out Vick for the starting job by throwing for 300 yards week in and week out. The Buddies were dealt another blow when they lost him to an injury for the Super Bowl during the AFC Championship game. Fortunately for the Buddies Priest Holmes got his annual injury paving the way for Larry Johnson to emerge as a YFFL star. Johnson has carried the team down the stretch scoring in double digits every week and ultimately leading them to victory over the Merry Men, scoring 18 and winning by 4 in the AFC Championship.
Many critics will say Super Bowl XIII was played in week 15 this season, but lucky for Jon Kinsman that isn’t how the YFFL champion is crowned. A blow out is expected, and the entire league is looking for the Dragons to bring some hope to the other teams of the league. The Dragons just might have a chance. The Buddies have great match-ups for Dillon and Johnson, but Vick, Moss, and Dunn all face tough opponents. The Dragons will be going run and shoot this weekend and all 4 receivers have a shot at a touchdown. Tiki Barber will have no prayer of matching last weeks total against the Redskins but might still put up 10. If Favre can have a bounce back game against the stingy Bears defense the Dragons might make a game of this, but if they want to win they had better be up big before Dillon goes off on the Jets on Monday night. The Dragons will cover the 14 point spread but don’t have a chance at title #3.
Prediction: Buddies 47 Dragons 38