PFFL 2009

2009 Draft

PFFL 2008

PFFL Past

Pittsburgh Franchise Football League
2008 News & Notes 

Week Fourteen

Second Round Results and Conference Championship Matchups

                               Second Round Results

         #8 Cleantown 105       #1 Little Johnny's  101

     A true golfer never wants to see anyone miss a short putt; especially if it's the difference in winning or losing. Little Johnny's basically missed a gimmie here. They had the potential to not only win but blowout Cleantown. Yeah Cleantown left a few on the bench themselves but they were players no one would have played over the ones they did. Gus Frerotte getting hurt opened the door for an easy win for Johnny's. And with a potential of 153, the points were more than available. The decisions made by Johnny's weren't necessarily wrong they just turned out that way. The only one where the services really disagreed with their decisions was Dustin Keller over Kevin Walter. Walter was rated higher in most circles and I personally always like the higher potential of WRs over TEs. Playing Walter would have given them an easy win. Since this was a close game it probably came down to Monday night and, well you know it did. Johnny's actually had a 101-97 lead going into the final game of the week but Cleantown had Carolina's defense remaining. As you can see it was no sure thing but Carolina got 8 ending Little Johnny's run. Like living with missing a short putt for the tournament win, Johnny's will now have to live with the dreaded what ifs!

        #2 Tommy Guns 117            #6 Rebels 108

     The Tommy Guns didn't have a particularly bad game but they definitely underachieved for the matchups they had. Peyton Hillis was on his way to a big game but his getting hurt not only contributed to them having just an average game, but it also left an opportunity for the Rebels to pull off the upset. Now they say life is all about the choices we make and the second half of the PFFL season has been all about choices for the Rebels. Two very important choices cost them two regular season games, the top tier and a bye. But they survived the Wildcard Round and won their first round game big. Now they would have to make one more important choice to survive Round Two and play in the East Conference Championship Game. Because their #1 pick Marion Barber would not play, they had to make a decision on who would replace him. Now, I'm not particularly superstitious but sometimes an omen is so obvious you just have to roll with it, and had the Rebels rolled with it they would be Cleantown's opponent next week not the Guns. Barber's backup and the announced starter was Tashard Choice. CHOICE? How can you not choose Choice? Cause choosing Choice clearly changes consequences curveting to the conference championship competition. William, I'm going to miss you.

                       Conference Championship

       #2 Tommy Guns          vs.         #8 Cleantown

     This is not your usual #8 ranked team. But this is not your usual conference either as this is the East after all! The Town are ranked 3rd in East points just 26 points behind the Guns who are ranked 2nd in East points. And again the site has the #8 team favored over the higher rank. In their regular season meeting in week 6 the Guns won a close high-scoring affair 144-142. A look at these two rosters suggest it could be another shoot out! The QB and RB edge goes to the Guns. This would suggest a clear edge to the Guns but Cleantown's WRs may be the best group of 4 in the league and the Guns are not particularly strong at the position. The Guns losing Hillis for the season probably does them a favor because now they have no decisions to make. They will go back to what was a big part of their early success in Reggie Bush who seems completely healthy now. Both these teams put up a fairly pedestrian effort last week but for these two it was more the exception than the rule. The statistics make the Guns the favorite but I wouldn't be comfortable with my money on either one.

                                Second Round Results

     #1 Syndicate 138           #4 Weekend Warriors 133

     With a 110 average in both weeks 12 and 13, you need not ask the #1 Syndicate the value of the byes. Well they certainly came to play in week 14 as their 138 points was good enough for a weekly 2nd. The Warriors were coming off three straight 150-point games and although 133 ain't bad by any stretch, it was less than the Syndicate's 138. But ... yeah here it comes and believe me I wish no one ever lost this way but its just part of the game I guess, things could have been different if different players were picked. Marshawn Lynch putting up just 4 hurt big time but DeSean Jackson's big fat zero was a killer. Especially when you have LenDale White on the bench with 17 and basically the difference in the game. The Warriors did have a chance to pull this one out on Monday night. Going in they were down 112-101 and the Syndicate had Steve Smith but the Warriors had red hot DeAngelo Williams fresh off his 35 point 4 TD performance last week. And he didn't disappoint with 32 more this week. But to the Syndicate's delight and the Warriors' dismay, Smith had a pretty good day also of 26 causing the Warriors bid for their first conference title to fall short.

  #2 Twisted Helmets 150    #3 Nasty Aggravators 113

     The Aggravators yearly average is 115.5 so their 113 is really not a surprise. And Willie Parker coming up small again was no surprise either. After posting a 31 in week 1 he has averaged about 5 or 6 since. In fact their two underachieving supposed studs of Parker and Braylon Edwards is probably why the Aggravators only average 115.5. The Twisted Ones have no such problems however and that's why their yearly average is 126 and why they scored 150 to the Aggravators 113 this week. They basically had the better all around team going in and proved it with a convincing win.

                           Conference Championship

      #1 Syndicate          vs.         #2 Twisted Helmets

     Your classic one vs. two matchup in every aspect as both are one-two in rank and points in the Central. Even with the two below average scores in weeks 12 and 13, the Syndicate still lead the conference in points. In their week 8 regular season game the Helmets won 132-122 with both having some key players on a bye. In analyzing the rosters for their upcoming game the Syndicate get the nod at QB but not by much. The WR nod goes to the Helmets but again not by much. The RB position however is where it gets interesting. Both were thin to begin with but after last week both are now paper thin. The Helmets have LT but after losing Peyton Hillis for the year, LT is about it. The rest are basically just depth players. The Syndicate is not without their RB problems either. They basically have Gore and Ronnie Brown and Gore is questionable right now to play this week. They did use Sammy Morris last week but if Gore doesn't play they may not have a choice this week. And LT, Gore or Brown haven't exactly been tearing it up lately; although of the three LT has been the more valuable. Because of the Helmets losing Hillis the Syndicate has to be the favorite here.

        #3 Rounder 17 131          #2 JR's Boys 109

     Not since week 3 have the JR's Boys put up a score under the league average. After sitting on two byes they just picked a bad time to be bad! They did have a potential of 136 but I couldn't see anything but maybe a defense that anyone would have done differently, and that wouldn't have been enough anyway. Going into Monday night the Boys were on life support but still had some life left. Down 131-71 they had Delhomme and Steve Smith in the game. Now 60 points out of two players is asking a lot but it was far from out of the question as Smith's 26 will attest. But it was a long shot and it just didn't come through. After 10 straight good weeks the Boys have to be disappointed to go one and out in the playoffs because of one off week. But this is what makes the playoffs the intriguing event it is. Knowing no matter what you did before, only what you do now matters.

          #1 Downtowners          vs.        #3 Rounder 17

     The problem about advancing in the playoffs is you keep meeting better and better competition. Well there is no better competition in the playoffs than the Downtowners. The Rounders are 3rd in West points yet almost 200 points behind the #1 Downtowners. In week 6 the Downtowners beat Rounder 158-132. In that game the Rounder had some good players on a bye but the Towners were without Westbrook due to injury so it's kind of impressive they still put up 158 points. But the Downtowners are having an impressive season. Both teams match up fairly evenly at QB but Westbrook alone gives the RB edge to the Towners. Add in what Jones-Drew and DeAngelo Williams have been doing lately and that edge becomes decisive. If I have to give an edge at WR it goes to the Rounders but it's slight and not near enough to make up the RB difference. Anything can happen in just one game; just look at what happened to the JR's Boys after 10 straight weeks of great scores. But you can't ignore the gaudy scores the Downtowners have been putting up. Add to that the Rounder's RB Gore is questionable this week and it's a no-brainer that the Towners are the clear favorite. But at the same time the Rounders have the players to force the Downtowners to continue to excel or pay the price as the JR's Boys did.

East Consolation Tournament

#3 T Bones
vs.
#7 Justice

 

Central Standings
Rk	Franchise	PF
1	1 Syndicate	1788
2	2 Twisted Helmets	1764
3	4 Weekend Warriors	1761
4	5 SS Stoggies	1742
5	3 Nasty Aggravators	1618
6	7 Knockout Kings	1610
7	6 Harmony Hornets	1602
8	10 Reno	1578
9	8 Steve Irwin Crocks	1578
10	11 TnT	1445
11	9 R&J Inc.	1395
	Average	1626

Central Consolation Tournament

  #7 Knockout Kings
vs.
#8 Steve Irwin Crocks

 

 

West Consolation Tournament

#7 Irish Talbots
vs.
 #9 Sharks

 

PFFL Information

High Week

192

Downtowners

                                      PFFL STUFF

● Scoring: It was slightly below but generally it was another average scoring week at 115.3. The yearly average remains unchanged at 16.4. The year is still below the last two-year average of 17.5.

● Getting High: The Downtowners have tried real hard with a 190 and a 186 effort in back to back weeks to top Justice's single week high of 192 in week 2, but Justice still prevails! The Downtowners scores are the 2nd and 3rd highest in the league this year.

● Unlucky #4: As we made evidence to last week, the #4 rank is the only one that has never claimed a championship. And the phenomenon will continue. There are no #4 ranked teams remaining in the playoffs.

● Order of Magnitude: Each year I still see teams striving to draw that ace at the predraft meeting to secure the #1 pick in the draft thinking it gives them the advantage. But as I reveal each year the reality remains that the lower draft picks have been significantly less successful in winning the overall championship than the higher ones. In fact, last year was the first time ever a team with the #1 pick in the draft won a Championship. As the chart reveals, the higher draft picks have won the majority of the Championships and dead last has won twice as many as first! The six remaining teams draft positions are: 2, 5, 5, 8, 9, 11-last. There is no #1 remaining but isn't it interesting that the last position is still around!

Good Luck to the Final Six!
 

PFFL Trivia Answer

Miami Dolphins