Victories were won. Some dreams came true, others were crushed. But finally, after a long hard season, the playoffs are here. The six teams that made the cut are

1. GS
2. Joe Dubya
3. Jolly Roger
4. Wizard Of Oz
5. Westminster Wildcats
6. White Hart Bobby Layne

For some teams, the playoffs are just as natural as the regular season. Joe Dubya has made the playoffs every year but has only ever won one game. Jolly Roger always makes the playoffs too and has never lost in the post season. For others it is a return to the big dance. Wizard Of Oz made the playoffs in 2018 but has not returned since. Finally this is the first time playing in the post season for the Wildcats. James will need to calm some nerves and give his team one heck of a pep talk to get them ready for the most important games they have ever played.

Wildcard weekend is up next!

Playoff Preview

White Hart Bobby Layne vs. Jolly Roger

The first of the wildcard matches is between White Hart Bobby Layne vs. Jolly Roger. The teams have played each other twice this year. Jolly Roger won in week 5 and White Hart Bobby Layne won in week 12. Even the total points scored in those two weeks are very close: 246 for White Hart Bobby Layne vs. 244 for Jolly Roger. Going back to the start of the 2019 season, when Euan took over as owner, Jolly Roger leads the series having won 5 out of 7 meetings.

For this matchup there are some question marks in who the managers will start. At QB Jolly Roger must choose between Patrick Mahomes, QB5, and Aaron Rogers, QB6. However, if you only consider the second half of the year, weeks 8 to 14, then Rogers is the QB6 and Mahomes is QB9 including three weeks under 15 points. Jolly Roger must also choose who to play at tight end. Travis Kelce tends to have down weeks when Mahomes struggles, so will the defending champs risk linking the players or will they start Dallas Goedert instead? On the other side of the ball White Hart Bobby Layne also has a quarterback controversy. Over the last five weeks Derek Carr has outscored Dak Prescott in three. It will also be interesting to see if Euan trusts Adam Thielen should he return from injury.

Westminster Wildcats vs. Wizard Of Oz

The second wild card match pits the Westminster Wildcats against the Wizard Of Oz. The teams have played four times this season. Wizard Of Oz won in weeks 4, 7, and 11, but the Wildcats won most recently just last week. Have the Wildcats figured out how to beat the Wizards? Or was week 14 a fluke? Since 2020 Wizard Of Oz leads the head-to-head match ups 5-2.

Some interesting battles to watch in this one include which San Francisco wide receiver will get more work, Brandon Aiyuk for the Wildcats or Deebo Samuel for the Wizards? Which rookie tight end will have the best day? Pat Freiermuth or Kyles Pitts? (And will the Wildcats even play Freiermuth? They have only played him 4 times this year compared to 13 starts for Pitts.) Finally, will Wizard Of Oz ride the hot hand of Rashaad Penny?

Standings

Here are the final regular season standings. They set the draft position for the bottom six teams so we now know for sure that Sweet Lou will be picking 1.01 and TC 1.02.

1. GS

   25-3, 1756.36 points scored

2. Joe Dubya

   19-9, 1626.76 points scored

3. Jolly Roger

   18-10, 1812.16 points scored

4. Wizard Of Oz

   18-10, 1554.46 points scored

5. Westminster Wildcats

   16-12, 1422.52 points scored

6. White Hart Bobby Layne

   15-13, 1626.98 points scored

7. No-Bell Prizes

   15-13, 1433.88 points scored

8. Dan L

   11-17, 1390.58 points scored

9. Jason Edelman

   11-17, 1341.1 points scored

10. Adam

    8-20, 1272.8 points scored

11. TC

    7-21, 1063.08 points scored

12. Sweet Lou

    5-23, 928.58 points scored

Power rankings

For the playoffs we are going to zoom in on just the teams that made the post season and only for the last few weeks. White Hart Bobby Layne has really come on in recent weeks and has moved just ahead of GS 47,481 to 47,443. The Wildcats have an increasing score each and every week though they are still far below Joe Dubya. Of course, these scores have been poor predictors all year, so there is no reason to think they will be good now.

Weekly high scores

1. Wizard Of Oz (142.04)
2. Jolly Roger (160.72)
3. White Hart Bobby Layne (164.04)
4. Wizard Of Oz (211.64)
5. GS (195.92)
6. No-Bell Prizes (127.76)
7. GS (147.56)
8. GS (135.02)
9. Joe Dubya (124.56)
10. Jolly Roger (171.74)
11. Wizard Of Oz (141.12)
12. White Hart Bobby Layne (122.86)
13. GS (150.48)
14. Jolly Roger (147.62)

At the end of the season Jolly Roger has won the regular season scoring title for the third time in four years. Jolly Roger had 1,812 points, 56 more than second place GS. Congratulations to Jolly Roger for another fantastic regular season.

Cover Photo