Despite my initial warnings, my sincerest apologies for not being able to get these rankings up after Monday's games. The whole graduation thing was about as time-consuming as I had anticipated, but I seemed to have somehow completely overlooked the whole "moving out" aspect of things and how long that would take. However, I feel rejuvenated and ready to comment on the past couple of sims that have provided us with some phenomenal matchups. Here's week 9.
1.) Minneapolis Masterminds
For those who don't know, I absolutely despise putting a team that I am a part of at the top of my own rankings, but I currently don't feel like I have a choice. MM dethroned the previously top-ranked Stalkers despite getting outgained by 100+ yards on offense. Monkey's pick six with just under five minutes to go sealed the deal and meant that we have a new number one in these rankings for the first time this season. MM easily handled the plummetting Norris Ninjas as was anticipated, and next week takes on a rebuilding Sharks team before encountering a streaking O'ahu team.
2.) Sportsrant.com Stalkers
The Stalkers saw their win streak to start the season halted at seven by MM despite a valiant effort and a perplexing case of the drops by their TE, but rebounded nicely with an easy win over San Antonio. Now comes a big matchup against the Silent Willies that Sportsrant could really use. A win over Rutgers gives them a one game lead over RSW and MCM in the standings, as well as the tiebreakers with both. A loss... makes my job a lot tougher with these rankings but also allows for a number of intriguing possibilities come playoff time.
3.) Motor City Madmen
A blowout of San Antonio followed by their biggest win of the season to date has Madmen has Motor City securely in the third spot of these rankings for the time being. But now is where they need to take care of business as they hit a critical three-game portion of their schedule. Next up is a suddenly resurgent Detroit squad looking for more than just a playoff berth. MCM has a pretty easy schedule to end the season, but needs to stay focused over this next week and ride the momentum of their most recent triumph.
4.) Rutgers Silent Willies
Well that bump up in the rankings didn't last long. After taking care of business against the Sidewinders, RSW was unable to overcome MCM and now finds itself in the game of the week against an extremely good Sportsrant team. Big plays allowed by the defense is what killed Rutgers in their first loss of the season, but they can slightly make up for it by taking down a Stalkers team that they are familiar with.
5.) Pensacola Dolphins
I think Horcolio put it best in his midseason report when he talked about how close the top five seeds are in the East. And that is by no means meant to be offensive towards anybody else, but the top five seem to be barely seperated. Things are tough when 8-1 has you in fourth place in your conference standings, but when you have the Rainmakers on deck, I'm sure no one is complaining. Starting Sunday, the Dolphins encounter one hell of a difficult stretch of games to end the season.
6.) Tampa Bay Krakens
The Krakens have enjoyed the past few sims, taking it easy and beating up on some of the lower-tiered teams in a buildup to their big showdown against a Sidewinders team looking to prove that these rankings do not do them justice. And as if Hans Moleman needed to pad his stats anymore than they already were, he continued to like up the scoreboard over the past couple of sims. I predict that the winner of the Krakens-Sidewinders matchup will be the #6 seed come playoff time, with the loser sitting right behind them at seven.
7.) Detroit Rampage
And now things start to get interesting and controversial. I did a triple take when I saw the score of the Detroit-St Louis game. It looks like the final could have been even worse if not for the Sidewinders' D holding strong right near the goalline. They controlled the ball with their running game and outgained St. Louis by 200+ yards offensively. So I attempt to give credit where credit is due and now have Detroit slotted in the seven hole. Speaking of upsets, can Detroit take down MCM or Sportsrant over the next few days? I doubt it, but it wouldn't be the first time this Detroit squad has proved me wrong this season.
8.) O'ahu Night Marchers
Maybe I'm giving these guys too much love with a two-spot jump (just like Detroit), but after getting past that brutal opening schedule you can bet your ass nobody is taking these guys likely. Suddenly the Nightmarchers-Sidewinders matchup at season's end looks like it has the potential to be for a playoff spot. An enormous victory over the Cougars followed by a six-game stretch with five easy win opportunities and MM sandwiched in the middle. These guys project out to me to go 7-8 heading into two huge games to end the seaosn against Rutgers and St. Louis.
9.) Corona Del Mar Cougars
I went back and forth with this position, but eventually decided to give them the benefit of the doubt ahead of St. Louis for the time being (they have the chance to prove me right or wrong soon enough). The Cougars hit their three game grace period at the perfect point in their schedule, allowing them to regroup after a three game losing streak including a critical defeat at the hands of O'ahu. Now their showdown with the Sidewinders might end up being an early elimination game of sorts as far as sneaking into the playoffs is concerned. A loss there hurts them dearly.
10.) St. Louis Sidewinders
I'm not burying the hatchet with these guys and giving up on them, have yet to do so and don't plan on changing that. However, they have yet to beat a decent team all season, and today's astonishing outcome had me take a second look over their results so far and pointed that out to me. These next three games might make or break their season, especially the one against Corona in about a week. Back-to-back 30+ point losses might have these guys staggering a bit, but they are by no means knocked out just yet.
11.) Cincinnati Norris Ninjas
After an easy win over Florida, the Norris Ninjas got taken behind the woodshed and beaten senseless by MM. They'll be able to regroup against San Antonio before hitting a really rough patch of games that look to mathematically eliminate them form the playoff picture. A quick look over their roster shows that a majority of them seemed to be signed through next season, so with promotion and relegation things will hopefully being looking up for Season 10.
No Details Until Further Notice
12.) Orange County Old Farmers
13.) North Texas Cowboys
Rebuilding
14.) San Antonio
15.) Florida
16.) Seattle
1.) Minneapolis Masterminds
For those who don't know, I absolutely despise putting a team that I am a part of at the top of my own rankings, but I currently don't feel like I have a choice. MM dethroned the previously top-ranked Stalkers despite getting outgained by 100+ yards on offense. Monkey's pick six with just under five minutes to go sealed the deal and meant that we have a new number one in these rankings for the first time this season. MM easily handled the plummetting Norris Ninjas as was anticipated, and next week takes on a rebuilding Sharks team before encountering a streaking O'ahu team.
2.) Sportsrant.com Stalkers
The Stalkers saw their win streak to start the season halted at seven by MM despite a valiant effort and a perplexing case of the drops by their TE, but rebounded nicely with an easy win over San Antonio. Now comes a big matchup against the Silent Willies that Sportsrant could really use. A win over Rutgers gives them a one game lead over RSW and MCM in the standings, as well as the tiebreakers with both. A loss... makes my job a lot tougher with these rankings but also allows for a number of intriguing possibilities come playoff time.
3.) Motor City Madmen
A blowout of San Antonio followed by their biggest win of the season to date has Madmen has Motor City securely in the third spot of these rankings for the time being. But now is where they need to take care of business as they hit a critical three-game portion of their schedule. Next up is a suddenly resurgent Detroit squad looking for more than just a playoff berth. MCM has a pretty easy schedule to end the season, but needs to stay focused over this next week and ride the momentum of their most recent triumph.
4.) Rutgers Silent Willies
Well that bump up in the rankings didn't last long. After taking care of business against the Sidewinders, RSW was unable to overcome MCM and now finds itself in the game of the week against an extremely good Sportsrant team. Big plays allowed by the defense is what killed Rutgers in their first loss of the season, but they can slightly make up for it by taking down a Stalkers team that they are familiar with.
5.) Pensacola Dolphins
I think Horcolio put it best in his midseason report when he talked about how close the top five seeds are in the East. And that is by no means meant to be offensive towards anybody else, but the top five seem to be barely seperated. Things are tough when 8-1 has you in fourth place in your conference standings, but when you have the Rainmakers on deck, I'm sure no one is complaining. Starting Sunday, the Dolphins encounter one hell of a difficult stretch of games to end the season.
6.) Tampa Bay Krakens
The Krakens have enjoyed the past few sims, taking it easy and beating up on some of the lower-tiered teams in a buildup to their big showdown against a Sidewinders team looking to prove that these rankings do not do them justice. And as if Hans Moleman needed to pad his stats anymore than they already were, he continued to like up the scoreboard over the past couple of sims. I predict that the winner of the Krakens-Sidewinders matchup will be the #6 seed come playoff time, with the loser sitting right behind them at seven.
7.) Detroit Rampage
And now things start to get interesting and controversial. I did a triple take when I saw the score of the Detroit-St Louis game. It looks like the final could have been even worse if not for the Sidewinders' D holding strong right near the goalline. They controlled the ball with their running game and outgained St. Louis by 200+ yards offensively. So I attempt to give credit where credit is due and now have Detroit slotted in the seven hole. Speaking of upsets, can Detroit take down MCM or Sportsrant over the next few days? I doubt it, but it wouldn't be the first time this Detroit squad has proved me wrong this season.
8.) O'ahu Night Marchers
Maybe I'm giving these guys too much love with a two-spot jump (just like Detroit), but after getting past that brutal opening schedule you can bet your ass nobody is taking these guys likely. Suddenly the Nightmarchers-Sidewinders matchup at season's end looks like it has the potential to be for a playoff spot. An enormous victory over the Cougars followed by a six-game stretch with five easy win opportunities and MM sandwiched in the middle. These guys project out to me to go 7-8 heading into two huge games to end the seaosn against Rutgers and St. Louis.
9.) Corona Del Mar Cougars
I went back and forth with this position, but eventually decided to give them the benefit of the doubt ahead of St. Louis for the time being (they have the chance to prove me right or wrong soon enough). The Cougars hit their three game grace period at the perfect point in their schedule, allowing them to regroup after a three game losing streak including a critical defeat at the hands of O'ahu. Now their showdown with the Sidewinders might end up being an early elimination game of sorts as far as sneaking into the playoffs is concerned. A loss there hurts them dearly.
10.) St. Louis Sidewinders
I'm not burying the hatchet with these guys and giving up on them, have yet to do so and don't plan on changing that. However, they have yet to beat a decent team all season, and today's astonishing outcome had me take a second look over their results so far and pointed that out to me. These next three games might make or break their season, especially the one against Corona in about a week. Back-to-back 30+ point losses might have these guys staggering a bit, but they are by no means knocked out just yet.
11.) Cincinnati Norris Ninjas
After an easy win over Florida, the Norris Ninjas got taken behind the woodshed and beaten senseless by MM. They'll be able to regroup against San Antonio before hitting a really rough patch of games that look to mathematically eliminate them form the playoff picture. A quick look over their roster shows that a majority of them seemed to be signed through next season, so with promotion and relegation things will hopefully being looking up for Season 10.
No Details Until Further Notice
12.) Orange County Old Farmers
13.) North Texas Cowboys
Rebuilding
14.) San Antonio
15.) Florida
16.) Seattle
Last edited May 12, 2009 16:15:19
