{Originally posted at https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/actionpcsports/whirled-ball-year-ii-the-way-football-never-was-co-t23780-s20.html#p240115 }
The Wild Card games are done! Below we have a recap of them along with a preview of the Championship games. A reminder that for AV (a homegrown version of Approximate Value), anything over 20 is incredible; 15-20 is a likely all pro; 8-15 is a solid, solid player, 4-8 is a contributor.
#Northish Division
London dominated the game from Markus Wheaton running back the opening kickoff on. They were helped by a miserable performance from Aaron Rodgers, and they were hindered by an inability to actually put the game away. Instead, through their settling for FG after FG from trips into the red zone–and Dan Bailey missing FGs from further out–Dublin had a faint chance at a great comeback. But, Russell Wilson–who eclipsed 300 yards–and especially Steve Largent (7 catches for 132 yards) were just too good.
London moves on to visit New York, traveling to the Polo Grounds to square off against the team with the best record in the league.
They’ll do so without Michael Irvin (11.1 AV) and Zack Martin (11.5 AV), both of whom will miss the game through injury. The biggest impact here is the question of what that does to Largent (20.3 AV), who has benefited all year from teams double-teaming Irvin. In a true “next man up” view, this may hint at a big day from Dez Bryant (7.7 AV). See the summary above for more information on London.
New York is led offensively by the almost supernatural connection between Eli Manning (17.6 AV, 109.8 QBR) and Victor Cruz (19.7 AV, 84 rec, 1535 yards). While the Royal Giants’ other WRs–Odell Beckham, Jr. (7.5 AV) and Jimmy Smith (7.4 AV)–may be technically better than Cruz, neither found the magic with Manning in the same way. Add to that the steady output of Tiki Barber (9.7 AV, 1477 rush yards), and New York has among the best overall offenses in the game.
Defensively, the strength of the team is up front, with the trio of Jason Pierre-Paul (18.9 AV, 9 sacks), Sen’Derrick Marks (13.1 AV), and Michael Strahan (12.9 AV) leading the way. Jon Beason (12.0 AV) and Lawrence Taylor (11.5 AV) led the LB corps and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (17.3 AV, 6 interceptions) and Prince Amakumara (11.8 AV) were essentially shutdown corners.
The team is just incredibly solid, top to bottom. They’ll certainly miss Antrel Rolle (12.2 AV), Em Tunnell (10.7 AV), and Ed Meador (1.3 AV)–all out with injuries–but there’s just not a weakness here, and New York has to be considered favorites.
The hope for London is that someone–Emmitt Smith (4.9 AV) or Marshawn Lynch (8.1 AV) or Largent–just has a career day. But I think New York is on pace to host its first championship game.
#Southish Division
All year, Tokyo’s George Blanda danced on the razor blade of whether his insane productivity was outweighed by the catastrophic nature of his interceptions and incompletions. He picked a helluva day to fall on the bad side, completing only 13 of 54 passes. But credit where credit due, right: Rio de Janeiro‘s Jim Brown was totally dominant, rushing for 184 yards and 3 TDs in the Carnival’s blowout win.
So Rio will travel to Istanbul for the championship game. They’ll have to overcome the loss of DE Len Ford (7.3 AV) and S Johnny Robinson (8.4 AV), but this is a deep team. And they are unlikely to get much sympathy: no team has been decimated by injures as much as Istanbul.
In fact, for the first time since Week One, the Janissaries will choose from their full complement of RBs for this game. Le’Veon Bell (0.5 AV) has been hurt almost all year, Franco Harris (4.3 AV, 770 yards in 7 games) has been a stud when healthy, and Jerome Bettis (2.8 AV) has been solidly dependable. Istanbul will be without their best performing OL during the year, Max Starks (10.9 AV), but the line has been a bit patchwork all season.
The Istanbul offense really boils down to Johnny Unitas (19.6 AV, 4635 yards passing, 101.2 QBR) and a quartet of receivers led by Antonio Brown (16.8 AV, 84 rec, 1426 yards rec), with Hines Ward (13.7 AV, 1314 yards rec), John Stallworth (5.3 AV), and Louis Lipps (6.0 AV) all contributing significantly.
Defensively, Elvis Dumervil (16.8 AV) led the league in sacks with 14 and Istanbul had stars at each level, with DT Joe Greene (14.3 AV), CB Rod Woodson (10.6 AV, 6 interceptions), and DE Dwight White (10.5 AV) all reaching double digits in AV. And that ignores Ray Lewis‘ (8.0 AV) team-leading 86 tackles.
The question is, as always, how a team handles Brown. Istanbul certainly has the front 7 to cause the big man some problems, and I think Rio’s secondary–especially without Robinson–is vulnerable. I predict Istanbul in a very close game.