Week 13 of the NPIFL season is over and so are the Super Bowl dreams of three more teams. The Originals, WWC and Pats join the ERS and Treat in the eliminated pit of misery (Dilly Dilly!), and will have to ponder what went wrong in the long winter ahead.
The Pats and WWC will look to try and break into the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl bracket, while Santos XI are in control of their destiny.
Somehow still alive in the hunt, an increasingly desperate Storm have to win out and score about 400 points in their remaining two games to have any chance. Meanwhile, the Leviathans need to win out and see Santos and San Wrexham lose out, plus the Storm fall to the O’s.
O’s HC Nathan Adams managed a fifth consecutive 3-3 in his Pix this week, bringing his season totals to 35-43. Adams needs a bit of a miracle if he is to finish above .500, which mirrors his team’s chances in the NPIFL at large. Meanwhile, the WWC took the Best Bench of the Week for the fourth time in 2024, and scoring 94 points meant they broke their own record of 92.36 from Week 5.
NPIFL Week 13 Roundup
Brymbo Storm (7-6) 98.36 – 132.98 YAI Chubble (10-3)
The Storm fanbase was talking themselves into a corner in the buildup to this game, hoping to awaken their stagnant offense. After a promising start to the match, everyone other than QB Anthony Richardson failed to get into the endzone for Brymbo, and with that, this game got away from them.
Chubble had a tough game but scored an incredible 45 points in the fourth quarter of the late window. This explosion of points came from the Ravens and Eagles, where the usual suspects of Lamar Jackson (26.48), Derrick Henry (12.60) and Saquon Barkley (20.70) put this game on their backs.
Storm HC John Maxwell was despondent after yet another dismal performance from his “collection of draft misses”:
“Another great disappointment in a season full of them. Worse, we are set for a mid-to-late draft pick unless we can actually string together some wins, which seems highly unlikely with the current collection of draft misses and failures. If it weren’t for our 4-1 start to the season we could be almost bottom of the league.”
Chubble HC Oliver Bailey told NFLFQS:
“They say “the king is dead, long live the king,” but let me tell you, the way this man strutted around just last week, talking big and acting tough—it left me utterly disheartened by the weak opposition I faced. Yet, amidst the disappointment, I found a strange sense of admiration in their acceptance of the inevitable defeat that followed.
“It seems Brymbo is simply trying to survive through this year. The most crushing part of this ‘storm’ was the overwhelming congratulations I received after I lifted my foot from his throat. That moment was a bittersweet symphony of victory—proof that while they may stumble, I would rise unyielding. Uh oh, he’s in chubble, better get a knife and burst that bubble.”
With the win, Chubble punched their ticket into the endzone, while the Storm have a statistically insignificant chance of making it themselves. In Week 14, Brymbo takes on the 49ers in a must-win situation, while YAIC face the runaway Love Train.
Brymbo Originals (6-7) 137.20 – 132.72 SW 49ers (8-5)
The Brymbo O’s came away with an unlikely win against San Wrexham, propelled by the performances of two players in particular. DL Leonard Williams (27.70) recorded a 92-yard pick-six for the O’s, keeping them in a game that would otherwise have gotten away from them. Then David Njoku put the final nail in the 49ers’ coffin, going for 21.70 from 2 TDs.
Meanwhile, San Wrexham had a good day, with Josh Allen (28.42), Joe Mixon (19.90), Brian Robinson JR. (17.40), Davante Adams (15.10), Travis Kelce (10.3) and Nick Cross (10.50) all breaking 10 points. It just wasn’t enough on the day.
O’s HC Nathan Adams told NFLFQS:
“The O’s are happy with how the weekend went. We fought hard and with a great shift from our DL and my boy Njoku, it was enough to beat down Kris and his Wxm 49ers.”
The O’s will look to take courage from this win and derail the Love Train in Week 14, while the 49ers remain in the Brymbo tundra for their matchup against the Storm.
Love Train (9-4) 175.26 – 102.36 ERS (3-10)
The Love Train took down the ERS in spectacular style, recording an NPIFL season-high score of 175.26 points in the process. The trade with Nathan Adams has truly put this team on another level and they appear unstoppable.
With everyone barring Travon Walker (4.5), Budda Baker (6) and Aaron Jones breaking 10 points, it was a huge day indeed. Not only that, but Mike Evans (21.80), Brock Bowers (25.20) and Bucky Irving (28.00) all broke 10, completing the rout of ERS.
On the other side of the ball, the ERS once again fielded Alexander Mattison, who was again ruled out in advance. With HC Dan Gittins neither paying attention to his team nor reading the news, there’s no point going into any more details here. Gittins told NFLFQS he was “emotionless” and “thoughtless,” with fans agreeing with him on the latter.
The Love Train look to continue their form of overwhelming their opponent next week, where they take on the unpredictable O’s. The ERS looks to avoid finishing at the bottom of the NPIFL table and will be up against it when they take on YAI Chubble.
Leviathans (6-7) 95.02 – 119.24 SL Rams (9-4)
The SL Rams took down the Leviathans in a hugely important game, and while the Leviathans are still alive, they now no longer hold their own destiny in their hands. This gets tricky from here for Lloyds, and they got unstuck in Week 13.
Poor performances from Amari Cooper (2.70) and George Kittle (2.20) joined an underwhelming DST corps, which meant 1.62 points from Jalen Hurts wasn’t enough.
The Rams, however, once again managed to put up a medium score and come away with a win, a good habit to be in. Jayden Daniels had a monster day against the Titans (27.64), and 15 points from both Nico Collins and Trey McBride were key, as were 13 from Ka’imi Fairbairn and 13.4 from Justin Jefferson.
NFLFQS reached out to both HCs after the game but was met with radio silence. Lloyds host the WWC next, and a win would likely book them into the FIPB bracket, while the Rams have a huge game against Santos.
Santos XI (8-5) 123.62 – OE Pats (5-8) 79.06
Santos XI will be happy to have got the job done comfortably against an OE Pats team that had a horrorshow week. Old England fell mathematically out of Super Bowl contention with a whimper rather than a bang, highlighted by 2.16 points by QB Brock Purdy.
Bijan Robinson (22.50) and Ladd McConkey were the only two players to break 10 points, and the Patriots will look to try and break into the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl bracket.
Santos saw a succession of great performances from Chase Brown (17.50), De’Von Achane (17), and D.J. Moore (19.70), while Matthew Stafford (15.62), David Montgomery (13.90) and John Parker Romo (13) played their part in the win.
Santos HC Christopher Faulkner shared his thoughts with NFLFQS:
“Playing the silent assassin is always a worry, though it was a comfortable win.
This week our vocal opponent is used to winning against low scores. We’ll be looking to stick a cricket score on the board against them to make sure they don’t have an easy time of it.
I’m convinced that our relentless spirit will carry us into this season’s playoffs.”
The XI travel to St. Lewis with the hope of wresting the Metro crown from a hopeful Rams team, while the Pats attempt to end their three-game losing streak against Tyreek or Treat.
WWC (5-8) 101.40 – 111.68 Tyreek or Treat (2-11)
Tyreek or Treat finally stopped the bleeding and the NPIFL’s longest-ever losing streak is at an end. Many had predicted that if one manager would be on the wrong end of the Treat’s revenge it would be the WWC and that was the case in Week 13.
Tyreek or Treat weren;t exactly firing on all cylinders, but they got the job done thanks to Pat Freiermuth (15.80), Tyreek Hill (17.30) and Jayden Reed (18.20) in particular, while Dicker the Kicker (11) and C.J. Stroud (14.36) helped them over the line.
The WWC were a mismatch of inconsistency, with Kyler Murray (17.20), Drake London (12.80), Dalton Schultz (14.60) and James Cook (18.50) all playing well, but with 6 players under 10 and two on 2 points, it was a tough day. Worse for the team is the injury to Christian McCaffrey, whose frustrating, injury-hit season appears to be over.
ToT HC Jordan Clough told NFLFQS he was “chuffed and excited” by the win, while WWC HC Chris Ward spoke to us on Wednesday:
“Bitterly disappointed with the defeat to Tyreek or Treat. I made a couple of bum choices, but again my guys just didn’t put the hard yards in. I was hopeful of a winning record this season, but that’s off the table now. To lose McCaffrey again to injury really is a liberal dollop of salt being rubbed into the wound.“
The WWC will look to bounce back in Week 14 against the Leviathans, and a loss would mean elimination from FIPB contention, while the Treat aims for back-to-back wins for the first time in 2024 against the Pats.