XII: Manitoba Overcomes Phoenix

After soundly defeating the Moosecrew in week 13, Phoenix built an early lead in the first round of the playoffs, but Lamar Jackson fought off cramps to return in the fourth quarter to squeak out a victory. For Manitoba it is their second playoff appearance and second Quarterfinal victory; They defeated the Revis Islander back in the LBVIII bracket. For Phoenix, this will be the second year in a row they finish outside of the top three, after placing on the medal stand nine years in a row.

While Phoenix had the commanding lead through Sunday, there was cause for concern as the offense felt short of projections; Patrick Mahomes had his second worst game of the season, there was no second running back to speak of, Noah Fant left with an injury early and nothing on the board, and DJ Chark remained healthy but provided next to nothing. Meanwhile, Travis Kelce was a monster at TE and the Manitoba Defense, with six of eight players going late, initiated the comeback, putting Lamar Jackson in the Willis Reed role. 

Lamar Jackson was astonishing with his legs, and drew within a point of Jarvis Landry and Phoenix before heading to the locker room with cramps. Had he remained out of the game, this might have been a different outcome- but when the backup quarterback was injure, Jackson trotted gingerly on to the field for a decisive fourth down- and threw a dart for a TD. There was still a bit of back and forth before Jackson put his stamp on it; With two seconds on the clock, Jarvis Landry needed to go 100 yards on razzle-dazzle to keep Phoenix alive. Instead, he fumbled out the back of the end zone.

The Moosecrew will continue on to face the top seeded HCM Lead Farmers in the LBXII Semi-Finals. Phoenix will battle Binghamton for fifth place.