PFFL Week 16 2009

Pittsburgh Survival Football
Survivor 1: In the nine years of the contest this will be the fifth time survivors have made it to the final week and the third time in the last four. The most survivors that made a pick in the final week was nine and the most that have shared in the title was eight. This year a record 32 will be choosing a team to win in the final week. I feel for the four that made it this far just to lose in week 16 but with 32 still alive it's not as traumatic to lose this late as in the past. Before we crown the 32 lets remember that there will be 16 teams that each will not be able to choose and week 17's schedule seems to be one of the hardest of the year.
Survivor 2: Because of the later start the second contest almost always makes it to the final week. In fact this will make it seven of the nine years that the winners were decided in week 17 and the two that didn't ended in week 16. But also because of the later start there are usually more survivors in the second contest than the first, which is not the case this year. There were also four casualties here but contest two is down to 20 compared to 32 in the first.

PFFL POSTSEASON

Week 17 - PFFL Total Point Championships: The final week of the PFFL season determines the Total Point Champions. The three teams with the most points in each conference win their individual Conference Total Point Title. The individual team with the most points of the three wins the 2009 PFFL League Total Point Title. The second and third place finishers in each Conference also receive considerations.

Championship Game Results

	West Conference #2 Knockout Kings 152	East Conference #2 TD's 128	Central Conference #2 SS Stoggies 126
All the ingredients were there for a dramatic finish as all three teams had a player going on Monday night and the game was close enough that any of the three could win. At the start of the game the TD's had 125 points with Minnesota's defense; the Knockout Kings were second with 124 and AP; the SS Stoggies trailed with 118 but had a chance with Harvin. As soon as the game kicked off the TD's took an eleven point lead with Minnesota's 10 defensive points 135-124-118. For a while anyway the TD's had a chance to be the first team ever to win a second PFFL Championship! The odds makers made the Stoggies the underdogs by predicting a third place finish. Harvin was without a point at halftime so a third place finish looked inevitable. Harvin actually came close to scoring twice but the near misses and a final point count of just 8 made the odds makers look good. The same prognosticators indicated the TD's would finish second and again they were right. At the start of the Monday night game the TD's looked like they had a chance to prove them wrong with an 11 point lead and a defense playing against a QB not only with the most interceptions in the league, but very prone to getting sacked. In fact the odds were high on at least one defensive TD. But to everyone's surprise and the TD's dismay, Cutler and the entire Bear team actually played great. Their scoring slowly but surely erased the entire 10 defensive points each team starts with leaving the TD's with just three total points on the night and actually lucky to finish second. All the pre-game indicators pointed to a Knockout Kings championship but through the first half of the Monday night game anyway those indicators were still pointing up in the air. AP was doing very little but then again so was Harvin and the Bears scoring was bringing the TD's back down to them. But you can't hold a good man or a good team down long. AP came to life in the second half scoring twice and finished with 28 points. Even without the touchdowns he did enough to win it for the Kings but his scores meant no dramatic finish and no chance for the other two. Not always does the best team or the most deserving team win a head to head championship. Single game elimination tournaments are as much about timing and getting hot at the right time as they are about the better team winning. In this case we can say the Kings were not only the best team considering they have the most points in the league, but with a league high 150 point postseason average and a first place weekly finish in all three of their postseason victories, they were most definitely also the hottest team at the right time. The victory makes them the 18th champion of the PFFL.

Consolation Tournament Championship Game Results

	Central #6 Cleantown 137*	West #6 J&J 137	East Conference #3 IC Lightning 131
* Note: The first tiebreaker in postseason games is team rank. Since both Cleantown and J&J tied in both score and rank, the champion was decided by the second tiebreaker which is game potential points: Cleantown PP 166 - J&J PP 146

PFFL TOTAL POINT CHAMPIONSHIP

EAST CENTRAL WEST

East Standings

Franchise PF

1 Justice 2115

2 TD's 2079

3 IC Lightning 2065

4 Downtowners 2037

7 Syndicate 2026

5 T Bones 1965

11 Twisted Helmets 1881

10 Legion of Doom 1790

9 Aggravators 1777

6 Commish East 1720

8 Darryls 1666

Average 1920

Central Standings

Franchise PF

2 SS Stoggies 2109

3 TnT 2079

1 Reno 1993

10 Smiley's Snipers 1978

6 Cleantown 1946

4 Pretty Kitty Central 1901

8 Nasty Aggravators 1841

9 Little Johnny's 1827

5 Boys of Autumn 1809

7 JR's Boys 1776

11 Weekend Warriors 1744

Average 1909

West Standings

Franchise PF

2 Knockout Kings 2266

3 Archie's 2099

1 MNE 2089

4 French River 1963

6 J&J 1887

5 Irish Talbots 1876

7 Brookline 1823

8 Rounder 17 1784

9 Pretty Kitty West 1768

10 B&B 1757

11 Commish West 1590

Average 1898

Note the final top three in each conference receive consideration

PFFL: There was at least some drama in the championship game won by the Knockout Kings by 24; there won't be any here! The Kings enter the final week of the season with a 151 point lead over the East leader and 157 ahead of the West leader. Even if they match their worst effort of the year which was 100 in week 3, it would still take a 251 point effort by Justice to surpass them.

EAST: In the closest race of the three conferences, there are five teams mathematically within range of the top spot but practically there are three. Justice holds a 36 point lead over second and a 50 point lead over third, both numbers anything but insurmountable. For the fourth and fifth teams to win at 78 and 89 back respectively, it would take a monster effort on their part and a total collapse by Justice but it is in the realm of possibility. One reason we mention the fourth and fifth teams is the nature of week 17 as the most unpredictable week of the year.

CENTRAL: Although the gap between first and second is actually the smallest of the three at 30, the fact that the third place team is 116 back makes this just a two horse race. The SS Stoggies are the team that knocked TnT out of the playoffs and now TnT has a chance to return the favor.

WEST: The Knockout Kings will not only win the West Point Championship but the overall PFFL Championship as well. But the final week of the Point Championship won't be completely devoid of any drama. The largest margin of victory was 180 by the Imitators South in 2006. The Kings have a chance to surpass that mark going in the final week with a 151 point lead over Justice. Considering they have averaged 174 in their last three games I'd say a very good chance.

PFFL Information
League Leaders

Upcoming Week 17 PFFL Point Championship Total Points Knockout Kings 2266

Weekly Meetings Every Wed Evening Power Rank MNE 37.38

Next Calendar Event Playoff Tournament Draft
Wednesday, January 6 Coaching Archie's 89.8

High Week
KO Kings - wk 14 216

Final League Meeting Wednesday, January 13 Weekly Winnings
Archie's

PFFL STUFF

The Score: Let's make it eight straight! The record consecutive above average scoring weeks is now eight; that's double the previous longest streak of four in 2007. And with this weeks 121.0 average that makes seven of the last eight weeks at 120 or better. The streak has taken the yearly average from 115.7 after week 8 to the current 119.1.

2009 Playoff Tournament: This year we will draft the same starting lineup of nine players as the main competition by adding the flex player. The draft will be held on Wednesday, January 6. Those participating should arrive no later than 7:30 pm. The General Information of the contest can be found here: Playoff Tournament Information. The website has been upgraded to the 2009 season and is located here: 2009 Playoff Tournament The site still lists last years teams but will change as teams confirm or cancel for this year. Again a reminder that there is a 24 team ceiling for this contest. The final structure of the contest is determined by the number of teams participating so I would appreciate teams interested in reserving a spot do so at their earliest convenience.

Did You Know Stuff

● Entering the year there were nine former champions competing with one making it to the Championship Game. With the TD's defeat it is now officially 18 years and 18 different champions.

● The Knockout Kings victory makes it just the second time since 1996 when the league switched over from total points to a head to head game to decide the league champion, that a team with the number one pick in the draft has won the Championship. The first time wasn't until 2007 when the Syndicate won after picking first that year in the West Conference. The very last pick in the draft has now won as many times as the first pick, twice!

● After posting a 4-12 record in 1998, the Rams stunned the football world by going 13-3 in 1999 and claiming home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They defeated the Minnesota Vikings 49-37 in the Divisional Playoffs and faced a Tampa Bay team that had defeated the Washington Redskins 14-13 in the other Divisional Playoff contest. Super Bowl XXXIV marked the Rams second appearance in the Super Bowl, and the first for the franchise representing St. Louis. Twenty years earlier, the Los Angeles Rams faced the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XIV in Pasadena.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Total Point Rankings

Rk Franchise PF

1 2 Knockout Kings 2266

2 1 Justice 2115

3 2 SS Stoggies 2109

4 3 Archie's 2099

5 1 MNE 2089

6 2 TD's 2079

7 3 TnT 2079

8 3 IC Lightning 2065

9 4 Downtowners 2037

10 7 Syndicate 2026

11 1 Reno 1993

12 10 Smiley's Snipers 1978

13 5 T Bones 1965

14 4 French River 1963

15 6 Cleantown 1946

16 4 Pretty Kitty Central 1901

17 6 J&J 1887

18 11 Twisted Helmets 1881

19 5 Irish Talbots 1876

20 8 Nasty Aggravators 1841

21 9 Little Johnny's 1827

22 7 Brookline 1823

23 5 Boys of Autumn 1809

24 10 Legion of Doom 1790

25 8 Rounder 17 1784

26 9 Aggravators 1777

27 7 JR's Boys 1776

28 9 Pretty Kitty West 1768

29 10 B&B 1757

30 11 Weekend Warriors 1744

31 6 Commish East 1720

32 8 Darryls 1666

33 11 Commish West 1590

Average 1910

New PFFL Defending League Champion
Welcome to the 18th Season of the PFFL!

West Conference

Knockout Kings

PFFL Trivia Answer

Kevin Dyson

During a six-year NFL career that was cut short by injuries, Kevin Dyson was involved in two dramatic plays; The Music City Miracle, the lateral he caught from Frank Wycheck and ran for a touchdown against Buffalo in the playoffs, and The Tackle, in which he caught a pass from Steve McNair and wound up just short of scoring. Dyson also appeared briefly in Super Bowl XXXVIII with the Carolina Panthers.