Warrior General Games

Okay, clearly I would have liked to write up the odd week, Week 15 preview for last week, but I was in the middle of moving and didnt have internet. I still dont have internet at home, but unluckily for the teams that have to play me in the playoffs, our games arent played until 4pm Central European Time .. so I have all day to gameplan at work

Lets take a look at what happened and what the playoff outlook is like for Week 16.

Alpha - Home Teams with Playoff Hopes

Cincinnati Z9 at Barger Hill A1
Barger Hill is just tearing up teams and looks to be headed to an undefeated regular season. They had a few close scrapes early and if they get too overconfident a good team can beat them in the playoffs, but its not the playoffs yet and Cincinnati has no chance. No why do I say that? Well, thats because Cincinnati barely beat the Greek Fire .. a team that less than a month ago was gutted, had NO players and yet came up and competed with established teams like Bora Bora, Leningrad and Cincinnati. Then after that Cincinnati had to play solid teams and lost, respectably to Dubai .. but got stomped by Scotch.

Helsinki Z6 at Red Army Regulars A7
Typically Id say that Helsinki would win this one going away, but we all know the issues on Helsinki .. so Im not sure they even care about winning this one, I got the impression that the last few guys keeping the faith over there finally threw in the towel this weekend. That being said, Helsinki still has more talent than St. Petersburg and COULD win the game, particularly because neither team has looked very good as of late. Last week a slim 7 point win by the RAR saved their playoff hopes, but just as I predicted, they werent able to hang with the best in Alpha and had a 3 game losing streak before that. Right now 6-9 in Alpha is very uncertain, 10 wins MIGHT mean a playoff spot and might not. Sarajevo leads points scored and should win their game today, which if the RAR and or Vilnius loses creates a logjam at 10 wins and then it comes down to points, where with a solid opponent and being 50 points behind Sarajevo it looks like a team that beat Demon Brigade, NFL and Kazan could be at 9 and out of the playoffs. This is a MUST win for the RAR, but if they try too hard it backfires and they lose to a more talented team who almost doesnt care.

Bora Bora Z8 at Kazan A8
This game doesnt have a lot of playoff meaning for Bora Bora, due to a surprising narrow loss to Leningrad last week, Bora Bora is locked in at #8 in Zeta. For Kazan this is a must win, just as I predicted, the loss to Barger Hill created a 3 game slide that I said could snowball into 4, heres #4. Kazan needs to win this game to have hopes of being a playoff team, just 4 weeks after having been a 4th seed. Again 6-9 in Alpha is very tight, but Sarajevo will have 10 wins and will bump someone, so Kazan needs to win and hope for a Vilnius or RAR loss to be certain that they are in. Bora Bora could test tactics and prepare for Dubai, both Kazan and Dubai like to throw the ball, so it would be a good chance to test tactics against a similar team in a game that really doesnt do anything except 1 point of morale across the board. I think that Bora Bora could win this game, with the morale hit of their losing streak and the mental morale hit of losing, people are more likely to do random things that they HOPE might work, whereas Bora Bora does what they know works, thats how you win games.

Lafayette Z5 at Dubrovnik A3
Seeding doesnt much matter here, essentially the only thing that could change anything is if Vilnius won and so does Lafayette, then they shift from 5 to 4 and get an extra home game, otherwise the playoffs for these two teams are set. Dubrovnik gave up a narrow loss last week to the GCP, which gives them a 3 seed, against who? That will be determined today with the mess that is the bottom of Alpha. Lafayette gets to play Scotch no matter what they do, a team they had a tight loss against earlier this season. Dubrovnik will probably get to play the GCP in round 2 of the Alpha playoffs, a team that they just had a narrow loss to, so that sounds like interesting rematches in the playoffs. The main thing this game gives is a little momentum and 1 point of morale across the board, if that, depending on your confidence. This game is a tossup, both are very good teams and it should be close.

Alpha - Home Teams no Playoff Hopes

Stalingrad Z2 at Fortmill A15
One of the league's best at one of the worst, Team Phoenix was already awful .. but since being taken over, it has become worse, as a newbie owner got ahold of it and found how hard it is to take over a team that has been losing for 4 Seasons and has no players or money. Stalingrad is probably trying to figure out how to save energy and rearrange its depth chart so that they are ready for the playoffs. Their first round is against Leningrad, for a Stalin vs Lenin slugfest of the founders of the USSR SGA won that game a few weeks ago by 23 and gets a rematch again in the first round, in what is expected not to be a terribly hard game for them, as they are on fire this season.

Chernobyl Z11 at Minsk A13
Minsk has the talent advantage here, Khyos didnt gut this team like Joe Sacto did Chernobyl .. the advantage is that there are some reasonably good levels in a few places for Minsk, the bad news for Minsk? Rezlov is a better owner, who does more with less. Sure they barely beat the walking wounded of Silesia, but to even hang with more elite teams like they have is way better than the 97-0 mess that was the Minsk last game, against Vilnius, who isnt even boosted and is battling for a final playoff spot. Chernobyl should win this game, even though they throw the ball way too much, they can win this game on the fact that their tactics are better, even if their levels arent.

Prague Z3 at NY Knights A14
The Knights are a bad team, they have the levels to do more, but you can just look at the roster and how many the owner has at each position and know that he has no clue. This team should be relegated, but sadly we arent relegating more than 2 teams per conference yet. Prague is a much more interesting story, after hammering first place Dubai last week 40-0, Prague has shown that the season isnt quite over yet and that they will be a force. Most of Prague has finally boosted as well and forms a high percentage of players L31+ and also a large portion of players who are L30+. With Helsinki in their state of disarray it seems likely that a rematch of Prague and SGA will occur in the 2nd round of the Zeta playoffs. Last time SGA beat Prague by 30, after a pick 6 ended any Prague scoring, who knows if it will be like that again. As for this game, it will be similar to SGA's game, Prague will be looking to maintain energy and prepare for the first round of the playoffs, big win, but conservative.

Zeta - Home Teams with Playoff Hopes

Sheboygan A11 at Dubai Z1
With a roster full of inactive CT former players Sheboygan has been keeping it respectable over in Alpha for the most part, but with his huge bankroll of a former champion can Jubs fill the roster after this season or will he abandon ship? Most people who have loved to come into his situation, talent to use until they were replaced, money to get more talent, but it just didnt seem that was enough as CT has only managed to beat gutted teams. Dubai looked like they were unstoppable until last week when they were just pounded by Prague. Bad defensive settings were part of the key, but their offense didnt do much either and was held in check, even before it got out of hand. This game of course will be a blowout and Dubai will be looking ahead to playing Bora Bora in the first round, who they only had an 11 point win over, just a few weeks ago .. despite having more overall talent and much better chemistry. But thats in 2 days, today we get to see them score as much as they want and hopefully not go crazy and tire out all their players and lose in the first round.

Vilnius A6 at Scotch Z4
Still not boosted .. I cant believe that, but its correct. Tarlyn is true to his word, they are going to roll the dice again and hope that they make the playoffs. With head to head wins against Sarajevo and the RAR, it looks possible, but it will come down to points with a logjam at 10 wins and they are safely ahead of the RAR, but behind Sarajevo, who has an assured win. Is Scotch boosted or arent they? That is a question, if they have always early boosted, its possible that is it for them. What I see in this game is that Vilnius will shorten the game like they always do and Scotch will throw it all over the place. There is no other team in EE Pro quite like Scotch and Im not sure if (1) L27 and some L25 corners are really up to this. Scotch wins most likely and makes it very interesting for tiebreakers in Alpha. Scotch goes on to play as the home team against Lafayette in the first round of the playoffs, who they barely beat earlier in the season. That game will be a coinflip again in Round 1 with the winner getting to play Dubai. And no matter who wins, it will be a huge passing game on both sides in Round 2, because all the teams in that bracket are pass first, pass second teams.

Couch Potatoes A2 at Leningrad Z7
With a narrow victory over Dubrovnik last week GCP showed that they are part of the 3 elite teams in Alpha for certain and not on the edge. Leningrad also asserted themselves last week in a surprising (for me) win over Bora Bora. Leningrad has kept it respectable all season and lost to most of the elite teams by less than 20 in Zeta, which is an accomplishment in itself, they would probably be in the 2nd tier of Alpha, but we can see how accurate that is today but their showing against GCP. I of course think that GCP will win this, so lets see what happens then. Leningrad is locked into 7th place by virtue of their win over Bora Bora. GCP is also locked into 2nd in Alpha, even if they happened to lose this game. This is actually also an ideal situation for both teams, because since it will be a competitive game, neither team has to do anything drastic about energy plans and both teams can use some strange tactics to prepare for the playoffs or at least throw off the greasemonkey scripts GCP will play an unknown opponent in the first round, while Leningrad needs to prepare for SGA .. which GCP is also a nice game for, since both teams are a more balanced opponent than say Barger Hill or Dubai.

Zeta - Home Teams no Playoff Hopes

Thunder Hogs A16 at Greek Fire Z10
This will be a blowout, Thunder Hogs are an insult to the league, a newbie bought the team and signed all newbie pals and they havent kept it close with anyone, scoring less than 100 points for the entire season, this is what NOT to do with a gutted team. Greek Fire on the other hand is what TO DO with a gutted team. In less than a season big n rich took over the gutted Rome Gladiators, who had some money and turned them into a very solid team, challenging the bottom of the Zeta playoff teams, I would consider this team in the 2nd tier of Zeta already and they are a likely playoff team next season. They were 26 points away from winning 3 more games against the 7,8,9th teams and kept it relatively respectable against the elite teams. Big win for Greek to finish out the season with 7 wins and 26 points away from 10 wins.

Washington A10 at Belgrade Z12
Belgrade got a late start on rebuilding their gutted team after TundaKlap used the team to do what he wanted for a while, not allowing the team to rebuild. Washington needs to rebuild after becoming essentially a two person team and not having enough supporting cast. Both teams face the problem of recruiting competitive talent in the game right now, and Belgrade looks more like Chernobyl .. only that swoosh isnt as good of a gameplanner as Rezlov. Washington will win this game, but Im really curious to see what they do in the offseason .. the core of greenguy and fatherof2 make a strong team already, but past those two there just isnt much there .. so essentially it comes down to whether greenguy wants to put the effort into recruiting, or he is willing to accept the fact that his core of players cant make a team and cashes it in. However, it is also good that swoosh took our advice and won 3 games this season, saving him money and from being relegated. If you are going to recruit people, you need money and its also easier to recruit people to a pro league, particularly if you are in Eastern Europe.

Sarajevo A9 at Transylvania Z14
m10sousa has talent on his team, more than Chernobyl or Belgrade for certain, so then why hasnt he kept it close with even some of the bad teams? I mean Silesia .. who has almost no talent beat them by 45, that screams tactics and builds. Anyhow .. this game will be no contest, Sarajevo will be stat padding and score padding to try to ensure themselves a playoff spot. Of course the question is .. what has happened to Sarajevo that they have to work so hard to get a playoff spot. It seems that Sarajevo has also fallen on hard times and has lost the interest and participation of people outside their main core and also their owner, from what Ive been told. So from 2 Seasons ago dominating their conference, to last season beating up on cupcakes and getting stomped on by Dubrovnik .. to now .. just holding on, very similar to Washington, there is a core there, but can they recruit enough talent to replace all the people who are inactive? It seems unlikely, particularly when one of the GMs is reportedly the most active person and the owner is not. Even if they make the playoffs, besides some wins against NFL and the RAR, Sarajevo isnt ready anymore for a game against one of the top 3, which is what their first round game would be.

Demon Brigade A4 at Moscow Z16
This is a HORRIBLE situation for the Demon Brigade, yes they are going to win, yes they will score a lot of points, but tyrant refuses to sell Moscow and its now a farm team in the Pro ranks .. where lowbies are getting a lot of snaps. The defense is purposefully set not to defend anything, so its nearly impossible not to score. Psychonaut I hope really has his tactics down for energy conservation and runs it up the middle each down no matter what .. because otherwise his first round game is going to be with players who have 90 energy at best and thats not what you want when you are going to have to play a pass first team like NFL.

NFL A5 at Szolnok Z15
Good news for NFL .. your 1st round opponent has just as crappy of a team as you do this week. Szolnok is also the same kind of team as Hungarian Thunder Hogs .. some newbies invite all of their friends on a team, dont invite anyone else (and in this case add to the fact that I think they are foreigner newbies) and you have a mix for a perpetual cupcake. NFL can run up the score but it doesnt matter, they are stuck in their seed and will play the Demon Brigade, the only real question is who can keep their snaps more reasonable against their respective cupcake and therefore have a better chance in round 1.

Not saying too much, but you're spot on about Sarajevo's owner.

I think you've underestimated Helskinki's desire to go out in a blaze of glory. My personal motivation is that how much of a statement would it be to Bort to get his shit together if the EE Pro champions go gut job. Of course similar things have happenned and it hasn't seemed to have worked as a wake up call.

Why is my game with Moscow not simming and the time increasing?

Originally posted by psychonaut
Why is my game with Moscow not simming and the time increasing? o_O

God hates you?

GO HELSINKI!!!

Lets see if I have been right all season, and SGA will once again at least win the conference championship! Its not a real conference championship game anyway, if the SGA isnt in it, and were in every game to win.

BTW special teams kill - http://goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=86226

Jesus loves me for the bible tells me so.

Well GPDB, we meet again

Nicely done

Originally posted by SidVicious
Well GPDB, we meet again

Should be a really hard fought battle. Either team can win...any predictions on this one?

Originally posted by Jumpingjak
BTW special teams kill - http://goallineblitz.com/game/game.pl?game_id=86226

Holy shit!!!

Originally posted by randomguymike
I think you've underestimated Helskinki's desire to go out in a blaze of glory. My personal motivation is that how much of a statement would it be to Bort to get his shit together if the EE Pro champions go gut job. Of course similar things have happenned and it hasn't seemed to have worked as a wake up call.

Shot...

Doooowwwwnnnnn....In a blaze of gloooorrryyyy!!!

One of our starting linebackers leaving 2 games before the playoffs to go play scrimmages on a 5-11 team hurts, though...*slaps head*

Nice to see Prague in the playoffs again. Looking forward to that one.

Originally posted by Randy03Texags


Vilnius A6 at Scotch Z4
Still not boosted .. I cant believe that, but its correct. Tarlyn is true to his word, they are going to roll the dice again and hope that they make the playoffs.

Of course T is true to his word, Maulers have no need to lie or hide things.