Warrior General Games

Very interesting games in the first week and neither conference can claim superiority after splitting the games (ok maybe Elephant still can after SoA took down Fulham). We saw some of the new blood thrown to the sharks and come away with a much clearer picture of why they shouldn't be so happy to go Pro. Saw a few of the new teams beat the hell out of each other. We even saw 1 of the new teams actually beat a holdover team (just one, really guys, that's the best you could do when you make it to APL).

WEEK 1 RANKINGS
LION

Lion takes 8 wins home but I can't honestly say that those 8 wins were against impressive teams. The games may have been split down down the middle but Fulham and San Fran wins would have gone much further.

1 Fulham Flying Hellfish (0-1) - Not a great start for the Hellfish but we all know they just played what is probably going to be the #1-2 team in Elephant this season. The stat lines for the game read pretty evenly but SoA controlled the clock and ran the ball 61 times for over 400 yds. Fulham needs to get up to speed quickly. Franchise is up in week 4 and Lincoln is looking good right now too. Not an easy early schedule. I still have a lot of confidence in this team though so for right now they stay on top.

2 Franchise (1-0) - No doubt this is a great team but we won't know how great until they face a tough team. Lucky for us they've got CWE, the Demons and Fulham up the next 3 weeks. That's a hell of a shot to make some big statements.

3 Massawa Redhorns (1-0) - Hell of a comeback by the Redhorns. They were down 6-17 at the half but outscored TDP 31-13 in the second half to take a 7 point win.

4 Carthaginian War Elephants (1-0) - Has TAP improved that much over the offseason? This game looked like a struggle for CWE for 2 1/2 quarters but they pulled it out by scoring the games final 17 points.

5 San Francisco Demons (0-1) -Shut down by the Rhinos and held to 2 FGs. Not a great start to the season but they'll bounce back.

6 Canton Immortals (1-0) - I knew I liked this team's name for a reason. Solid win over a team I know nothing about. I thought Canton and A7 were for real. Looks like I was half right.

7 Lincoln Saints (1-0) - Welcome to APL Lincoln. Hell of a way to make an entrance. The Saints were down by 14 at the end of the half but erupted for 48 points in the second half to take a 20 point win. Solid win over a solid upper mid-tier team. Now let's try to recreate that against SF & Fulham the next 2 weeks.

8 Hobart Tazzy Tigers (1-0) - Ball control and forcing turnover is a recipe for success.

9 Somalia Pirates (0-1) - I like this team but like I said in preseason, their youth is going to cost them games. I have a feeling it cost them game 1 already. Either way putting up 639 yards of offense and scoring 58 on BSS is an incredible feat for a young team and these guys will win games this season.

10 Philly Franklins (0-1) - <<<< this has got to be the feelings around Philly after week 1. They were up 28-9 after 3 quarters but fell apart in the 4th Q. ICB scored a TD at the 12:37 mark and another at the 7:45 mark to make it 28-23 Philly. With 4 seconds left in the game ICB scores the winning TD after a 93 yard pass play. Just a painful way to lose. If there's any consolation it's that Philly took it to them so they must be good

11 Sun City Undertakers (1-0) - Solid win over Kickin but I need to see more after last season. Definitely an improved squad.

12 Newfoundland Ospreys (1-0) - Hard to rank this team after beating Laos since I know nothing about either but I'll move them up a few just for winning.

13 Uganda Silverbacks (0-1) - Shutout in the second half as Marawko put up 37 unanswered points for the win.

14 Zambezi Silverbacks (0-1) - Thanks guys. Now we have to listen to Vegas' talk about week 1 win streaks again.

15 Wheel City Dragons (0-1) - Dominated by Guyana pretty badly.

16 Kenya Diggits (0-1) - 47 rushes to 25 passes??? A far cry from Kenya's normal strategy but the result was still a loss.


ELEPHANT
1 Sons of Anubis (1-0) - With s strong win over Fulham they've just let the league know who the early favorite to win it all is.

2 Windhoek White Rhinos (1-0) - I don't know how they did it but somehow they got a W in week 1. Played a hell of a game defensively while the offense just controlled the clock. Probably the last win this season though.

3 The Dead Presidents (0-1) - TDP looked to be in fine form through the first half of the game but the wheels came off in the second half as the defense got shredded and the offense couldn't keep up with Massawa.

4 Black Sea Sunami (1-0) - A win's a win but giving up 58 to such a young team says a lot. Holding a 4 point lead for much of the game BSS finally blew up when they scored 3 TDs in the last 3 minutes of the game.

5 Ivory Coast Breakers (1-0) - Displayed their toughness and determination by making a comeback after being down 9-28 after 3 quarters. Just a beautiful win (unless you're on Philly).

6 Angola Blood Diamonds (1-0) - Solid win against a team that did not finish well last season. Not a lot to show from this one and with one of the easiest first half schedules ABD should be able to keep a winning record until they start a horrible second half with SoA, TDP, WWR, BSS & ICB for 5 weeks in a row.

7 Zimbabwe Rebels (0-1) - Not sure what happened in the second half of this game but the Rebels lost a 14 point first half lead and lost the game by 20 points. They need to bounce back quickly because they have SoA and WWR in weeks 4 & 5.

8 Guyana Generalissimo's (1-0) - Have they improved or was Wheel City just not that good? Time will tell.

9 A7 Nation Army (0-1) - Where's the defense? For that matter where's the offense too. A7 got manhandled in week 1 and it does not get any easier from here on out. There are no gimme games in APL and after that first game it looks like A7 may be everybody else's gimme game.

10 Ron's Texans (1-0) - I want to believe, I really do, but I ranked Kenya dead last in Lion so not a good display of power in beating them.

11 MaRAWK!!o (1-0) - Great win but don't think that means I'm going to start saying nice things about the team

12 Ethiopian Camel Snackers (0-1) - I don't really know a thing about ECS or Hobart so not much to say here. They lost. Next 3 weeks will give us a better idea of what this team is made of.

13 Laos King Pongers (0-1) - Less paddle, more game plan.

14 The African Predators (0-1) - Solid showing by TAP as they gave CWE everything they had. Unfortunately that included giving them the ball 7 times (4 ints, 3 fumbles lost). Just can't win a game when you're turning the ball over that much.

15 Kickin Djibouti (0-1) - What was that I said about chemistry???

16 Las Vegas Avengers (0-1) - Going to be a looong season for these Avengers.

Great job E!

Thanks for doing these, and giving us something useful to read in the forums. Its much appreciated.

Very nice, but African Predators too low...

Franchise should be eliminated from the rankings because what kind of team name is that?

good stuff

Great as always, thanks!

Great read. Going to be a massive contribution to the league forums. Thanks!

Thanks for doing these

WEEK 2 RANKINGS
LION

Got one pick wrong I believe but I can't say there were any huge upsets this week. Not a lot of changes but I'm sure things will shift more next week with some good games that will show which of the new teams are going to be a force and which are going to struggle all season. Not to mention a great match-up between 2 playoff hopefuls in Franchise and San Fran.

1 Franchise (2-0) - Crushing a hurting team in week 1 is one thing. What Franchise just did to CWE is another story. Trailing by 7 at the end of the first half, Franchise came out strong in the second half and held CWE to a FG while they went on to pile up 49 points. Someone just earned themselves a trip up the rankings and week 4 against Fulham is going to be a big game.

2 Fulham Flying Hellfish (1-1) - Even at 1-1 Fulham still has to be seen as a frontrunner. They jumped all over Sun City in the first half taking a 26-7 lead and by the time the Undertakers scored again it was the 4th Q and Fulham already had 39-7 lead. I hate to say this but, while they dominated this game, Fulham is not looking as strong as they did last season through the first two games of this season.

3 Massawa Redhorns (2-0) - The Redhorns had an easy outing in week 2 as they crushed Kenya by 109 points. The first half schedule is not brutal so they should be in great shape for the second half of the season.

4 Carthaginian War Elephants (1-1) - CWE saw their small 7 point lead disappear quickly in the second half of the game. A rough loss for them but they should be able to bounce back quickly.

5 San Francisco Demons (1-1) - After a hard fought week 1 loss the Demons come back and take it to the Saints big time. This was no contest and the scoreboard reflected that.

6 Canton Immortals (2-0) - I still don't know what to make of Canton but two games into the season they have scored 166 points and given up 16. Granted neither one of the teams they played were in APL last season and they won't face a truly tough team until week 6 but right now Canton looks for real and they need to keep winning these early games with a tough second half schedule.

7 Lincoln Saints (1-1) - After a great opening season win the Saints got their first taste of the Lion teams. Needless to say, it was not a taste they will soon forget especially with Fulham up next.

8 Hobart Tazzy Tigers (1-1) - Very rough outing for the Tigers. They get an improved Sun City squad up next and that will show whether Hobart is any good or if they'll be sliding down the rankings quickly in the next few weeks.

9 Philly Franklins (1-1) - A week after a heartbreaking loss against ICB the Franklins looked to be in a battle against Somalia. I don't know what Coach daynje said to his team at halftime but it light a fire under their asses as they slowly began to dominate the game before exploding in the 4th Q.

10 Sun City Undertakers (1-1) - After an impressive week 1 victory it seems that reality has hit Sun City hard. They still are showing signs of improvement from last season though so don't sleep on this team as they should jump out to around a 6-2, 5-3 record after the first half – if they play their cards right.

11 Uganda Silverbacks (1-1) - See below. Great win for Uganda and with a rough 4 week stretch up next they need to take as many of these wins as possible.

12 Zambezi Silverbacks (1-1) - All tied up at the half the other Silverbacks came out and jumped all over the Dragons in the second half as they outscored them 21-3 for the win on the backs of 2 great plays. A 48 yd pick 6 by Noody Noodleton and a 75 yd TD pass play by Superman Irvin.

13 Somalia Pirates (0-2) - Another tough game for the Pirates. They were in it after the first half but things just fell apart slowly in the third Q before everything broke down in the 4th.

14 Newfoundland Ospreys (1-1) - I put my faith in the Ospreys and this is what I get . Seriously though, this game was a battle from beginning to end. The Ospreys went into halftime with a 7 point lead then came out and struck first in the 3rd Q. They took a 3 point lead into the 4th Q and then hit a FG to make it a 6 point lead with just under 12 minutes remaining. Then the defense let up a 75 yd TD pass after a missed tackle and the Ospreys were behind by 1 BUT they managed to get a safety on Uganda's next possession that put them back up by 1. Uganda would strike again though with a 25 yd TD run that would be the deciding points as the Ospreys only mustered up a FG the rest of the game and lost this one by 3. Now the Ospreys are looking at a 1-4 record with the hellish 3 game schedule they have coming up.

15 Wheel City Dragons (0-2) - The Dragons fought hard through the first half but couldn't get anything going in the second half. Canton, Sun City, Lincoln and Franchise could make this an ugly start for this team.

16 Kenya Diggits (0-2) - 2 games, 2 losses. We knew this team was in trouble due to their lack of depth and it's showing early.


ELEPHANT
Only real upset was Laos over RAWK this week. You may ask why the hell a bunch of 0-2 teams are doing being ranked over 1-1 teams. Well, the short answer is these are my rankings so deal with it. . The nicer answer is that I still think those teams are better than the 1-1 teams so until proven otherwise they get the benefit of the doubt. With that said, I do think TDP and BSS are better than a few of the 2-0 teams but since most play soon enough everything should sort itself out in the next few weeks.

1 Sons of Anubis (2-0) - Two weeks of beating top teams just made the next 6 weeks seem like a waste of time. No offense to LVA, Zimbabwe, ECS, Texan's, TAP and ABD but I don't expect much of a fight until SoA travels to Windhoek in week 9.

2 Windhoek White Rhinos (2-0) - While the offense had a very solid game the real story here was that defense. 2 pick 6s (3 ints total), 26 rushing yards allowed, a forced fumble, etc. Very solid game out of that unit today.

3 Ivory Coast Breakers (2-0) - ICB is riding high right now with 2 wins. They've got 2 struggling teams up next and have to be loving their chances but they did lose to both of the teams last season. Can they get their revenge this season and jump out to 4-0 while digging deeper holes for TDP and BSS?

4 Angola Blood Diamonds (2-0) - Another easy game for the ABD crew as they controlled the clock for almost 40 minutes and took down ECS. They should get by Laos easily before facing off the Texans in week 4. Right now they are doing what they need to and racking up the W's through this easy first half schedule. Once week 8 hits things get much tougher but by then ABD should be 5-2 at the worst. While the schedule is easy I have to move them up just based on the fact that they should be winning a bunch of games the next few weeks. Things could change easily once the schedule toughens up but for now they've earned moving up.

5 Ron's Texans (2-0) - That improvement we saw from this squad in preseason was for real. While the schedule hasn't been brutal the Texans have taken care of business. Week 4 should prove interesting as the Texans square off with ABD and both should be undefeated at that point.

6 Guyana Generalissimo's (2-0) - "Have they improved or was Wheel City just not that good? Time will tell." That's what I had to say after week 1. Now I know the answer and we know how Kickin is doing as well. Guyana looks to have one of, if not the, easiest opening 3 weeks of any team and should take advantage of that to go 3-0. Weeks 4 & 5 will prove to be huge games for all teams involved. Guyana will either show they are for real or fall hard.

7 The Dead Presidents (0-2) - It's too early to start worrying about TDP. We all know this is a solid team. With ICB next and a rejuvenated Guyana squad after that though the Pres need to step it up quickly or they're in danger of falling to 0-4 and making things tough for them to make the playoffs.

8 Black Sea Sunami (1-1) - A week after the defense gave up 58 to Somalia and had me worrying about their reliability in big games BSS gives up 105 to SoA. With WWR and ICB the next 2 weeks this squad needs to find out what's wrong with the defense quickly (besides having to play SoA).

9 Zimbabwe Rebels (0-2) - The Rebels have picked up where last season left off and that is not good for them at all. If they can't beat TAP next week it's hard to see them doing anything except getting to 1-7, 2-6 at best by week 9.

10 A7 Nation Army (0-2) - A much better game out of A7 this week but they have got to learn to finish games off. Only down by 5 at the start of the 4th Q the defense just broke down and gave up 28 unanswered points. Not to mention they gave up over 500 yards rushing. Not for nothing but this isn't even the hardest part of the schedule. It's by no means easy but with the Texans, TAP, SoA and WWR wrapping up their final 4 weeks that is not a schedule you want to hinge your playoff hopes on.

11 Laos King Pongers (1-1) - See MaRAWK!!o. Big upset in my opinion.

12 MaRAWK!!o (1-1) - I was ready to say something nice about the RAWK this week and through 3 quarters they looked ready to open up the season 2-0. They had a 27-14 lead and just had to ride out one more quarter. They almost had it done too until the last 5 minutes of the game. They gave up a TD at the 4:21 mark to make it 27-21. Still a winnable game...but then they went 3 and out and Laos had a 54 yard drive over the course of a minute that ended with a TD at the 1:38 mark. RAWK couldn't get anything done the rest of the game as they failed to convert on 4th & 10 after 4 incomplete passes. Even after that they forced Laos to go 3 and out and got the ball back with 51 seconds remaining. Still the offense faltered again and they lost this one by 1 point. They still have some winnable games coming up but they need to win the games they should or this season could end similar to last season.

13 The African Predators (1-1) - TAP takes their gimme win over LVA. Next week against the Rebels should show how much they have improved.

14 Ethiopian Camel Snackers (0-2) - Big loss to ABD doesn't inspire much confidence in this teams chances the next few weeks. They could very easily fall to 0-8.

15 Kickin Djibouti (0-2) - Chemistry is a bitch. What more can I say. It's just hard to see them competing with things the way they are.

16 Las Vegas Avengers (0-2) - Don't know if I can see these guys winning a game this season.

#5 in erephant? I'll take it

Great Work E!

Rhinos WAY too high imo.

Originally posted by StiffarmSteve
Rhinos WAY too high imo.

I agree!!