Week 16 Discussion / Playoff Picture

[Aston]

In a rematch of last year's Stevens Cup, the Bees play host to Las Vegas, currently a team dealing with a litany of injuries of their own. Herb Bowers has resumed his starting QB gig there and is having a great year. The LVS defense, looking intimidating as always.

This will be a big game for us, not only because it's another test against a strong contender. A win here clinches the #1 seed and home field for us (I think -- Utah will have the conference record tiebreaker over Waco). Really need the win this week, because I don't intend to risk anybody I don't have to on Denver's horrendous field turf next week.

[Isn't there a utility to fix this stuff?]

A Las Vegas loss could also land them at the tip of the playoff picture, so it's a must-win for both teams.

AC:
It's all but locked up. Lake County and Phoenix are the only teams that might make a late push for a wildcard spot and sneak past New Orleans or Denver. Motor City's grasp on its division isn't fixed yet, either.

The top seeds will be Waco and Utah -- but which team gets homefield, yet to be decided.

NC:
Only the NC South is decided, and still a lot of teams in the derby. Columbus should claim home field with ease; a number of other teams are still in the running for the second bye.

1.01 Watch:
San Fran is in the driver's seat for this one, but any other team that finishes with the same record would likely get tiebreakers -- the Bayhawks have the highest SOS rating in the league and that's unlikely to change.

The Bayhawks could use a QB that can read defenses, I think. Shaun Wells isn't getting the targets he deserves and double teams look like they're having a devastating effect.

[tomr1962]

Stags in a walk thru. No challenge

[Guest]

I might clinch the bye with a win this week, I think. Keeping my fingers crossed because I assume the Phils are a little better than their record indicates.

[Guest]

Well, my team got hit with the flu. I've got 10 players sick thanks to it. lol

[Guest]

After back to back 1 point losses our lead in the NC East is down to just tiebreakers. Also coming off back to back games where we averaged fewer yards per pass play than we did per run play. That wasn't a winning recipe even back when had a great running game.

The only good news going forward is that our next two opponents are a combined 6-22 while Boston's are 19-9.

This week's game against Memphis is a rematch of the 2014 championship game, where a scrappy underdog Cutters team upset the unstoppable juggernaut that was Dusty Cowell and company.

Only one player remains on either team who was present that game, our QB Casey Baumgartner. Four other players who played in that game are still kicking around; guard Sherman Sinclair, kicker Kirk Beitner, saftey Kendrick Anderson, and center Scott Yamamoto.

The last two are currently out of work and looking for jobs. Maybe I should sign them for one week, have some sort of ceremony at halftime.

[Aston]

gg Rip. The refs really went nuts on this one. LVS had to have had the most ill-timed, devastating penalties. Unsportsmanlike here, Face Mask there, Roughing the Punter there...it helped us big time, because those corners were shutting down the pass attack. At one point, Utah was called for three False Starts in a four-play span, and penalized 2 yards for it, since we were backed up on our goalline.

Randy ends the year on a sour note and well south of 100 QBR. Three turnovers today...not the way you want to end a season, and I'm mulling over whether to pull him or not.

With a Waco loss, though, we have the #1 seed and nothing to play for.

[Guest]

Defensive struggle in frigid Dakota vs Punxatawney. The Phils kept it close all game. After a McGettigan interception, McBriar threw a TD pass to Artie "Reverend" Lovejoy to make it 14-3, but the ensuing kickoff was returned for a TD by the Phils closing the gap to 14-10.

Both offenses spent a good deal of the day stuck in neutral. For Dakota, the running game was terrible. For the Phils, it was their passing game. The Phils finally got it going and looked like they were going to take a lead with around 5 minutes left in the 4th, with 1st and goal at the Dakota 3.

1-3-DAK03 (4Q: 06:47) Robert McGettigan pass fell incomplete, intended for WR Darrin McKenzie. DT Cedric Caldwell hurried the quarterback into a bad throw.

2-3-DAK03 (4Q: 06:41) Rich Lang ran around right end for 1 yard and was forced out of bounds. Tackled by DT Jerome Howe, assisted by DT J.J. Kern.

3-2-DAK02 (4Q: 06:02) Wally Roffmann ran around left end for 0 yards. Tackled by S Jorge May, assisted by ILB Lorenzo Ferguson.

4-2-DAK02 (4Q: 05:25) Robert McGettigan pass was thrown incomplete, intended for WR Pete Fuller. The ball goes over on downs.

We went three and out from inside our own 5 and punted it back to the Phils, but a holding penalty put them at their own 36 or so. They advanced the ball to the Dakota 43 but turned it over on downs there with under 3 minutes remaining, essentially ending the game. The Phils got the ball back one more time but turned it over on downs again, resulting in a meaningless Dakota TD which ran the score up to 21-10.

Artie Lovejoy is over 1000 yards receiving and Duckworth is over 1000 yards rushing. I've never had a 1000 yard receiver in this league until this season, and Duckworth is my first 1000 yard rusher since 2018 and my second ever in OSFL.

[mike17]

Boston is getting hot at the right time. Hopefully we can ride this into the post season.

GG waco

[prinzar]

A good win today to seal a wildcard spot. We didn't look comfortable though until Brooklyn started throwing to catch up in the 3rd and 4th quarters.

My defense is very good at picking off a QB late in the game, 3 of them today. Some picks earlier would have helped though.

I've no idea who I want to face in the wildcard game, so may decide to rest a few starters for the finale. It won't be wholesale changes if I do decide to play some backups

[Guest]

We are a sham, and have only stumbled into a non-losing record.

[Guest]

We are a sham, and have only stumbled into a non-losing record.

Nah, we're the sham. 11-4 with the easiest schedule in the league. :)

[Guest]

11 sacks and a loss would have sounded weird, so I am glad we won this week. The defense did the heavy lifting causing chaos, while the offense kind of coughed and sputtered to enough points for us to take the win. Next week will determine our playoff fate.. Win and we're in, possibly with a bye. Lose and we're most likely out. It's not gonna be easy, either.

[Aston]

Wow, this wasn't the best day at the office for LVS WR Arnold Donaghy. 0 catches, 13 targets!

[Clay]

"Break up The Mechanics" will take on a new meaning if we miss the playoffs after that lead.

[Guest]

"Break up The Mechanics" will take on a new meaning if we miss the playoffs after that lead.

change that to break up the riders...."frodo for sale"