Last Gasp
Losses by top scoring teams deal serious blow;
Division leaders continue roll; Wildcard race narrows

With just 3 weeks left in the regular season, an odd situation is at hand — the 2nd, 3rd and 4th highest scoring teams all have losing records and will face near-elimination this week for the playoffs.

The New York Griffons, who characterized their weekend matchup as a “must win” game, lost to the Pennsylvania Wildcats by a 66-28 score. The Griffons still have the 2nd highest point total on the season so far, but the loss this week deals a serious blow to their playoff hopes. The Wildcats, on the other hand, up their league-best record to 10-1, but are still unable to gain any ground on the Blizzard and Mustangs in the Engle Division.

Miami finds themselves in nearly the same situation as the Griffons. The Muffdivers’ — the 3rd highest scoring team so far this year — lost 75-48 to the Wisconsin Cheeseheads. The defeat knocks Miami back into the red at 5-6. Wisconsin ups its record to 7-4 and remains 2 games ahead of the pack in the Cappelletti Division.

The Big Carolina Bang is the 4th highest scoring team, and they needed a 41-20 win over the Richmond Raptors this past week to up their record to 5-6. Carolina finds themselves 3 games back of the Knights in the Paterno Division.

NIKEtown continued to roll with a 30-17 win over the Keystone Longfellows. While the Knights didn’t put up huge numbers, the win ups their record to 8-3 and clinches at least a tie for the division title. The Knights play 3 of the 5 highest scoring teams in their last 3 games, so the Paterno Division could still get interesting if the Big Bang gets hot. Carolina beat the Knights in their earlier meeting this year, and the Knights and Big Bang will face off again in Week 13.

The Wildcard playoff spot is almost assuredly going to come from the Engle Division. The Syracuse Blizzard and the Mercer Mustangs both posted wins on the weekend. Syracuse beat New Denver by a 32-10 score, while Mercer knocked off Dallas 42-17. Syracuse remains 2 games behind Pennsylvania, while Mercer remains 3 games back. While either team could still win the division (and Syracuse still has a game remaining vs. the Wildcats) — it appears highly likely that the 2nd place team in the Engle Division will be the Wildcard team.

The last final to report this weekend was the SoCal Bowl rematch, and like the first time around, the Newport Beach Nightmare defeated Mission Viejo by a 41-27 score. The Nightmare sweeps the 2-game series on the year. Both teams, however, have been eliminated from playoff contention — as has Keystone.

 

 

Better late than …

OK, so I’ll spare you all the gory details … but the apartment we were supposed to move in to on Monday was not vacated Monday morning. In fact, as of Wednesday night a few of their things are STILL here.

But we’re in — and we finally got phone service late Wednesday afternoon … so we’re back online. Yeah! I didn’t realize how much I depended on the web, email, etc., until I didn’t have it for 4 days.

Sorry about the delay. I can say with all honesty that I hope it doesn’t happen again!

 

 

Analysis
Mystery handicapper offers scouting report of Syracuse Blizzard

Fantasy Football Flyer has again received email from “Ace,” a mysterious fan of our league who handicaps and writes about football elsewhere. If you would like to contact “Ace,” the email address is RonAce2477@aol.com.

Here’s the scouting report sent to FFF last week: (sorry about the delay)

Today, the mystery handicapper, AKA ACE, takes a look at the Syracuse Blizzard. They stand at 7-3 after a convincing 69-51 victory over the Mustangs.

QB: Blake is a good one, and he figures to be tough down the stretch as Cicny opens up their offense. Plummer is strictly a project until 1999.

RB: Reeves loves to run the ball, so Anderson can regain his ’96 form vs soft run defenses. Stewart is just a plodder, while Hanspard and Wheatley wait their turn. Hanspard has the greater potential, but not with this team, at least not right now.

WR: ACE likes Brown and Smith (Jac), but there are problems elsewhere. Sanders needs a better QB to get him the ball. It is my opinion that TE’s in fantasy football are generally a waste of time. That being said, these two TE’s are good ones, although Green may be on the downside.

PK: These two are good from long range, but have shown the “ability” to miss a short one now and then.

1997 prognosis: Likely to go .500 the rest of the way unless Blake gets hot. Their playoff run could be a short one.

LONG TERM: Depends on the young RB’s. This team might want to consider making a deal or two in the offseason.

Feedback? I welcome the praise/criticism! Next week, look for another preview. We’ll be in Las Vegas over the weekend, scouting as usual, and cashing in? See you next week.