With the reg season winding down, and having now scouted every team in the East, here's my general breakdown. Unfortunately, due to one game boosts, I don't think a legit 1-16 ranking can be done. IMO, there's absolutely nothing wrong with using them, it's just that it throws a wrench into determining anything aside from general observations and final won/loss #s.
Tier #1
Nighthawks. For all the talk of their run game, I'm not sure how everyone seems to have missed that they have the 6th most passing yds and a QB that leads the conference in completion % and ranks 4th most passing yds of all Eastern QBs. Face it, as much as some would like to believe they're a "1 trick pony," they aren't, and to think otherwise is ignoring the facts. Toss in a killer D, and they're the top dog, currently in a class of their own.
tier #2
I seriously considered putting DDL in this group by themselves. Instead, I'll give them a 2A, based on not knowing who they used their boosts against. Solid at everything and boasting a hell of a pass rusher. They have the potential to make the jump up during the off season, or be caught by 1 or more of the rest of the 2nd tier.
After them, I think you can toss a bunch of teams together in the 2nd tier, in no particular order:
Pushovers: Outstanding owner and GMs, along with very good talent.
Bullets: killer WRs & DBs
Shockers: good to really good everywhere
Stangs: Stud DEs and overall stud D, back on the right track since they righted their D
Maulers: Depth and O GPs is the only thing that keeps them in this group. Collective group of solid players without any real stars. May very well be a great DC away from being a 2A team. On the flip side, the introduction of "fame" may well drive them down into the 3rd tier, due to their lack of any super stars
3rd tier:
Pirates (killer speed at HB), Sin (solid, but not flashy, much like GB), Red Wolves (always a threat to beat any 2nd tier team), Rage (complete offensive package) & Yotes (doing nothing but getting better all season long...Any one of these teams can legitimately hope to win any given game against the 2nd tier teams and could make the step up quite easily.
4th tier
The Continentals & Mudcats aren't so far off that they couldn't make the leap in the offseason. Warpath & Outcasts are gone.
In general, my thought is that though there is a fairly significant gap between Boston and the rest of us, it's any given Sunday between all the teams in tier 2 & 3. Sure, the tier 2 teams are generally a little better than the tier 3, but there is so little separating them that they can jump up and bite the tier 2 teams in the ass in any given game.
To add some credibility to that assertion, I'll reveal that GB didn't use any boosts in our games against the Shockers and only 1 insignificant boost of a backup against Philly (we have a different reasoning behind using boost than I suspect most teams do) and won both, but were also beaten without using boosts by Orlando and could have easily been beaten by Rage, Yotes and RI. Outside of tier 1 & 4, along with the possible addition of DDL, there really aint much separating the rest of us. The POs and next season should be interesting, to say the least.
Tier #1
Nighthawks. For all the talk of their run game, I'm not sure how everyone seems to have missed that they have the 6th most passing yds and a QB that leads the conference in completion % and ranks 4th most passing yds of all Eastern QBs. Face it, as much as some would like to believe they're a "1 trick pony," they aren't, and to think otherwise is ignoring the facts. Toss in a killer D, and they're the top dog, currently in a class of their own.
tier #2
I seriously considered putting DDL in this group by themselves. Instead, I'll give them a 2A, based on not knowing who they used their boosts against. Solid at everything and boasting a hell of a pass rusher. They have the potential to make the jump up during the off season, or be caught by 1 or more of the rest of the 2nd tier.
After them, I think you can toss a bunch of teams together in the 2nd tier, in no particular order:
Pushovers: Outstanding owner and GMs, along with very good talent.
Bullets: killer WRs & DBs
Shockers: good to really good everywhere
Stangs: Stud DEs and overall stud D, back on the right track since they righted their D
Maulers: Depth and O GPs is the only thing that keeps them in this group. Collective group of solid players without any real stars. May very well be a great DC away from being a 2A team. On the flip side, the introduction of "fame" may well drive them down into the 3rd tier, due to their lack of any super stars
3rd tier:
Pirates (killer speed at HB), Sin (solid, but not flashy, much like GB), Red Wolves (always a threat to beat any 2nd tier team), Rage (complete offensive package) & Yotes (doing nothing but getting better all season long...Any one of these teams can legitimately hope to win any given game against the 2nd tier teams and could make the step up quite easily.
4th tier
The Continentals & Mudcats aren't so far off that they couldn't make the leap in the offseason. Warpath & Outcasts are gone.
In general, my thought is that though there is a fairly significant gap between Boston and the rest of us, it's any given Sunday between all the teams in tier 2 & 3. Sure, the tier 2 teams are generally a little better than the tier 3, but there is so little separating them that they can jump up and bite the tier 2 teams in the ass in any given game.
To add some credibility to that assertion, I'll reveal that GB didn't use any boosts in our games against the Shockers and only 1 insignificant boost of a backup against Philly (we have a different reasoning behind using boost than I suspect most teams do) and won both, but were also beaten without using boosts by Orlando and could have easily been beaten by Rage, Yotes and RI. Outside of tier 1 & 4, along with the possible addition of DDL, there really aint much separating the rest of us. The POs and next season should be interesting, to say the least.
Well done.
