Since I enjoy reading others and just wrote that I wish Hazy and 12th would start doing theirs again, I figured I should do one myself.
2) In the words of Dennie Green, ***O*** is who we thought they were. They are solid as hell in every aspect of the game and a true force to be reckoned with. That should be no surprise to anyone that fought up from AAA#2. There are no real surprises with these guys. All they do is go out and beat ppl.
1) GB. Now at least solid everywhere, there are no glaring holes on either side of the ball to exploit. Key off season additions has made their D a strength once again. Though one can easily argue that any of the other top 2-5 teams in the East are better, we get this spot based on our current record, as well as it being a lock that we'll be 9-0 heading into a huge a game against the Shockers.
3) Honestly, I don't see much of a difference between any of the top 3-5 teams, with not much between 1-8, and 9-10 trailing by the smallest margin. Hell, even 11-13 are only missing a few pieces. Still, based on being beaten in an extremely close game by ***O***, I'd have to put the Shockers at #3 for right now. With a great running game and very good passing attack, as well as the #1 ranked run D, it seems wrong on every level to have these guys ranked 3rd. For all the talk of how great the West is, I sure the hell wouldn't want to play these guys no matter where I was ranked in the West.
4) Orlando beat the Flyin Es, but were beaten by a tough Yotes team and caught DDL at the right time. Just because they are slightly under lvled, I have to put them 4th. However, any team above them would be making a critical mistake to take them lightly.
5) Seems wrong on every lvl to rank the Flyin Es 5th, but the loss to Orlando give me little choice. Currnetly the top rated passing team in yds & TDs, along with a solid run game and D explains why they are currently 6-1
6) Here's where things start getting even uglier. Washington is not a 6th seed and their only losses came against the top teams in the East, but they still have 2 losses. Personally, I've always been a firm believer in record meaning almost everything. Still, they deserve better than this. With some of the best WRs and secondary USA Pro has to offer, anyone looking at these guys as the 6th team is in trouble.
7) DDL was my pick to take the East this season, and they still scare the hell out of me. Issues on both sides of the ball through game 6 gave anyone that played them in that stretch a break (not saying they would have won, but beating them was certainly made easier by these issues). It appears that the problems were fixed with an extremely convincing W over a very tough Yotes team. As with the Bullets, these guys are better than their ranking.
8) Yotes are a very good team, with 2 impressive Ws and a very close loss to GB that really could have went either way. The troubling part isn't that they lost to the Flyin Es or DDL, but that they got beaten soundly by both. My guess is that they are still tweaking their D AI and that they'll have less and less of those losses as the season goes by.
They better or RI or Rage will most certainly take this spot. Both can be VERY dangerous teams. Heck, though the Gamblers have yet to get a real W in USA Pro, they have yet to be blown out either. That tells me that they aren't far off at all and could cause problems. With 6 tough games left, it's asking a bit much for them to make the POs, but they aren't that far off either.
2) In the words of Dennie Green, ***O*** is who we thought they were. They are solid as hell in every aspect of the game and a true force to be reckoned with. That should be no surprise to anyone that fought up from AAA#2. There are no real surprises with these guys. All they do is go out and beat ppl.
1) GB. Now at least solid everywhere, there are no glaring holes on either side of the ball to exploit. Key off season additions has made their D a strength once again. Though one can easily argue that any of the other top 2-5 teams in the East are better, we get this spot based on our current record, as well as it being a lock that we'll be 9-0 heading into a huge a game against the Shockers.
3) Honestly, I don't see much of a difference between any of the top 3-5 teams, with not much between 1-8, and 9-10 trailing by the smallest margin. Hell, even 11-13 are only missing a few pieces. Still, based on being beaten in an extremely close game by ***O***, I'd have to put the Shockers at #3 for right now. With a great running game and very good passing attack, as well as the #1 ranked run D, it seems wrong on every level to have these guys ranked 3rd. For all the talk of how great the West is, I sure the hell wouldn't want to play these guys no matter where I was ranked in the West.
4) Orlando beat the Flyin Es, but were beaten by a tough Yotes team and caught DDL at the right time. Just because they are slightly under lvled, I have to put them 4th. However, any team above them would be making a critical mistake to take them lightly.
5) Seems wrong on every lvl to rank the Flyin Es 5th, but the loss to Orlando give me little choice. Currnetly the top rated passing team in yds & TDs, along with a solid run game and D explains why they are currently 6-1
6) Here's where things start getting even uglier. Washington is not a 6th seed and their only losses came against the top teams in the East, but they still have 2 losses. Personally, I've always been a firm believer in record meaning almost everything. Still, they deserve better than this. With some of the best WRs and secondary USA Pro has to offer, anyone looking at these guys as the 6th team is in trouble.
7) DDL was my pick to take the East this season, and they still scare the hell out of me. Issues on both sides of the ball through game 6 gave anyone that played them in that stretch a break (not saying they would have won, but beating them was certainly made easier by these issues). It appears that the problems were fixed with an extremely convincing W over a very tough Yotes team. As with the Bullets, these guys are better than their ranking.
8) Yotes are a very good team, with 2 impressive Ws and a very close loss to GB that really could have went either way. The troubling part isn't that they lost to the Flyin Es or DDL, but that they got beaten soundly by both. My guess is that they are still tweaking their D AI and that they'll have less and less of those losses as the season goes by.
They better or RI or Rage will most certainly take this spot. Both can be VERY dangerous teams. Heck, though the Gamblers have yet to get a real W in USA Pro, they have yet to be blown out either. That tells me that they aren't far off at all and could cause problems. With 6 tough games left, it's asking a bit much for them to make the POs, but they aren't that far off either.
Last edited Jan 16, 2009 16:21:38
