What a week it has been, and what better way to end a great season? Alpha's top dog got a shocker that has to have them wondering about their ability to keep winning and go deep into the playoffs, and a few other teams had victories that were far more convincing than expected.
Alpha Conference:
Warsaw never saw this defeat coming, and neither did I. The Pecs pulled off a huge upset with this win, and while it doesn't change their position for the playoffs, they have to be feeling like they can beat anyone with that defense. Who could have predicted a game that featured nine field goals and zero touchdowns, and no turnovers at all? Warsaw will face the P-burg Players in the first round, who had a difficult time against the Ironmen this week.
When Vilnius played Vorkuta, I expected to see a lot of rushes from HB Cylon Twill, and while he gained huge yardage, it was Rollin Thunderstrike who carried the burden for the Raptors, scoring three touchdowns and breaking an amazing seventeen tackles. Vilnius faces the Pecs of Steel in the first round, and with that amazing performance against Warsaw, the Raptors have to be nervous about getting past them and into the second round. Vorkuta will travel to Portland to face a Niners team that is feeling very confident about their chances to win it all this season. Portland played extremely well against the Nightmare, and while they didn't score a lot of points, they held Tallinn to a single field goal in the third quarter. They will give the Yellowhammers a very tough game.
Stalingrad had a great offensive day against the Players, and defensively held P-burg to negative rushing yards. The Nightmare will travel to Stalingrad for the first round, most likely with a new offensive game plan after their inability to score points against the Niners. Stalingrad will want to repeat Portland's successful defensive stand and keep control of the ground game.
Zeta Conference:
Bratislava completed their perfect season with a shutout over the Syndicate. Sooner hangs on to the eighth seed and will be forced to play the Butchers in the Butcher's Block again, a situation I am sure they wish were different. Still, they should be happy about getting into the postseason in a season when they should not have been able to compete yet. As I have stated before, Sooneer is building himself next season's Hitmen, and this season has been great for the growth of that team.
After soundly defeating the sorry Outlaws to finish out the season, Secretville will play host to the Berlin Crusaders in the first round. Their first meeting in the middle of the season was an Offtopics blowout, so Berlin will have to gameplan heavily to try to stop the powerful Secretville offense, while finding a way to put more points on the board themselves. The Offtopics' only loss is to the undefeated Butchers, however, and they will be bringing their A game in the hopes of setting up a rematch in the conference championship.
In third place, the South City Chiefs will face the Italy Guardians. Italy is coming off of a disappointing loss to the Wolfpack and will face a Chiefs team that is hungry to move on to the next round. Both teams have great offensive weapons, but the Guardians will have some tough mismatches against the Chiefs' defensive line. Italy played a close game against South City earlier in the season, so expect another tight matchup this time, but South City will come out on top again.
With a big win over Italy, Warsaw has put themselves into home field position for the rematch against Dresden. The Doomsday have an exceptional running game, but a somewhat suspect defense when playing the tougher teams. If the defense can hold against Warsaw the way they did against Italy, the Doomsday can come out of Warsaw with a win. They will have to take advantage of the chemistry issues that still could effect Warsaw's big play ability.
The matchups are set, and the playoffs will begin in two days. Best of luck to everyone in the postseason!
Alpha Conference:
Warsaw never saw this defeat coming, and neither did I. The Pecs pulled off a huge upset with this win, and while it doesn't change their position for the playoffs, they have to be feeling like they can beat anyone with that defense. Who could have predicted a game that featured nine field goals and zero touchdowns, and no turnovers at all? Warsaw will face the P-burg Players in the first round, who had a difficult time against the Ironmen this week.
When Vilnius played Vorkuta, I expected to see a lot of rushes from HB Cylon Twill, and while he gained huge yardage, it was Rollin Thunderstrike who carried the burden for the Raptors, scoring three touchdowns and breaking an amazing seventeen tackles. Vilnius faces the Pecs of Steel in the first round, and with that amazing performance against Warsaw, the Raptors have to be nervous about getting past them and into the second round. Vorkuta will travel to Portland to face a Niners team that is feeling very confident about their chances to win it all this season. Portland played extremely well against the Nightmare, and while they didn't score a lot of points, they held Tallinn to a single field goal in the third quarter. They will give the Yellowhammers a very tough game.
Stalingrad had a great offensive day against the Players, and defensively held P-burg to negative rushing yards. The Nightmare will travel to Stalingrad for the first round, most likely with a new offensive game plan after their inability to score points against the Niners. Stalingrad will want to repeat Portland's successful defensive stand and keep control of the ground game.
Zeta Conference:
Bratislava completed their perfect season with a shutout over the Syndicate. Sooner hangs on to the eighth seed and will be forced to play the Butchers in the Butcher's Block again, a situation I am sure they wish were different. Still, they should be happy about getting into the postseason in a season when they should not have been able to compete yet. As I have stated before, Sooneer is building himself next season's Hitmen, and this season has been great for the growth of that team.
After soundly defeating the sorry Outlaws to finish out the season, Secretville will play host to the Berlin Crusaders in the first round. Their first meeting in the middle of the season was an Offtopics blowout, so Berlin will have to gameplan heavily to try to stop the powerful Secretville offense, while finding a way to put more points on the board themselves. The Offtopics' only loss is to the undefeated Butchers, however, and they will be bringing their A game in the hopes of setting up a rematch in the conference championship.
In third place, the South City Chiefs will face the Italy Guardians. Italy is coming off of a disappointing loss to the Wolfpack and will face a Chiefs team that is hungry to move on to the next round. Both teams have great offensive weapons, but the Guardians will have some tough mismatches against the Chiefs' defensive line. Italy played a close game against South City earlier in the season, so expect another tight matchup this time, but South City will come out on top again.
With a big win over Italy, Warsaw has put themselves into home field position for the rematch against Dresden. The Doomsday have an exceptional running game, but a somewhat suspect defense when playing the tougher teams. If the defense can hold against Warsaw the way they did against Italy, the Doomsday can come out of Warsaw with a win. They will have to take advantage of the chemistry issues that still could effect Warsaw's big play ability.
The matchups are set, and the playoffs will begin in two days. Best of luck to everyone in the postseason!
Last edited Feb 1, 2009 17:07:28
We didn't exactly "try" to lose, but good luck scouting anything from that game 
