1. Mice. Big win vs Humboldt! A fantastic game by Mbinger (only 2 punts, no turnovers) and some key plays by the Mice special teams lock up the #1 seed for the Mice. The other side of the ball saw a big matchup between Kane and Gemma, which resulted in a 99 yard TD for Kane but a 65 yard INT return for a TD for Gemma. Humboldt kept the heat on in this one, but in the 4th quarter the Mice pulled away, and now lead the series against the hornets 3-2.
2. Hounds. The eye-opening game of the week, The hounds squeak by Chico by 6 points. On 3rd and 12 from their own 29, and up by 3 with 2:58 left, Nashville completed a pass off a deflection to keep their drive alive. Play of the game right there; if not for that, Chico is looking at solid field position and only needing a FG to send to overtime. Regardless, their win and the results of the Mice-Hornets game lock them in 2nd place.
3. Hornets. A tough loss to the Mice formally locks them at #3, making the Fiesta game meaningless...to Humboldt. Now they are looking ahead to whoever is going to be the #6 seed...which could be one of like 4 or 5 teams now...and trying not to look *too* far ahead to Nashville in the 2nd round of the playoffs.
4. San Diego. A nice easy win by SD puts them in an interesting spot. There have now been a couple of teams recently that have given Nashville a pretty good game, and this week 16 game means nothing to the Hounds from a seeding perspective, as they have the tiebreaker over the Hornets; can SD steal a win, and with the tiebreaker over the Fiesta, lock themselves in the #4 seed? Jaxx and (I assume) Kaotic would have to bring their A-game to pull it off, and then some.
5. Fiesta. What a game!! Defenses rule on both sides until the 4th quarter, and then they're just too tired to keep going. Fiesta get the ball, down by 3, with 1:53 left. A couple plays later they're on the Tennessee 45, 1:45 left, 1 timeout remaining. Sack, Forced Fumble!! But the LT jumps on it and the Fiesta burn their last timeout, and now face 2nd and 15.5 from midfield. Tennessee brings the heat again, ball gets out to the slot reciever over the middle, he cuts it back outside, loses his man, and is gone. Fiesta win!! So now they are in an interesting spot, playing the Hornets in a game that doesn't impact the Hornets at all. If the Fiesta can steal it from them and San Diego fails to upset the Hounds, the Fiesta can grab the 4th seed.
6. ATKM. What a tough loss. ATKM came in Dime package all day, and by the time the 4th quarter rolled around, their poor 5-man CB rotation just didn't have the gas left to cover, tackle, or hardly move. It made Barry Sanders look like...well...Barry Sanders! DC came storming back with 35 4th-quarter points, and now ATKM has to beat Tennesee and hope that neither the Fiesta nor SD can pull upsets in their game. If those all happen, it will come to a 3-way tie that is all 1-1 head-to-head, and will be determined by points allowed. A loss to Tennessee will put them in a messy tie with potentially several other 9-7 teams, which will not drop ATKM out of the playoffs (barring a crazy Philly upset of South Otto), but might put them as low as the 8th seed.
7. Tennessee. Took it to the wire against the Fiesta but now desperately need a win against ATKM. They do not want to drop to 8-8 and hope for the tiebreaker, because that brings Philly into the mix, who they lost to. Win and you're in, gentlemen...lose, and you're in a 3-way tie with Philly and either DC or Chico, which is all 1-1 and will come down to points.
8. DC. An incredible comeback against ATKM puts you guys right where you want to be...beat Chico and you're in, lose and you will then need Tennessee to lose to have a shot at winning the 3-way tie for the last spot. Both DC and Chico are treating this game as a must-win, I'm sure, and they're right to do so!
8. Chico. Seriously, my hat is off to you guys for the most impressive performance of the week. Nearly knocking off Nashville was incredible, and would have totally changed the playoff picture! I didn't even expect you guys to try in that game, thinkign that you'd already be gameplanning for DC in week 16, but you came out and almost shocked the world. But sadly, it was nto to be, so now you play DC, where the winner gets in, and the loser might be lucky enough to get in a 3-way tiebreaker on points. Don't want to be the loser!
10. Philly. I can verify that the Mice will not be taking it easy, as we're looking for our first ever 16-0 season...so if you pull off an upset, then you will have beaten immense odds and truly have earned it! Assuming you don't
, you need Tennessee to lose to ATKM and then have to win the points-allowed battle in the 3-way tie. If the points thing is close...which I'm too lazy to go look up, but others posted it in an earlier playoff picture...you might just want to run a lot vs the Mice to keep the entire score low. Relegation!
Congrats to Paris and ACA for their big wins, setting the stage now for a possible FOUR-WAY tie. Mendoza and ACA play to see who is safe, but the big game is Paris vs Detroit. Detroit loses, they go back to AAA; they win, and Detroit, Paris, Pittsburgh, and the loser of ACA-Mendoza go to head-to-head. Whcih looks like it will come down to Detroit and Paris, who would (in the scenario where detroit beats Paris) both be 1-2 against the other teams in the tie, where Pitt and either Men or ACA would be 2-1. So I assume it would come down to points between Detroit and Paris, but honestly I'm not sure at that point.
Crazy stuff! Good luck in week 16!
