Purple Flock Wildcard Round Preview
Byes; RavensPunk, 3rd and Long
#5 Charm City (7-6) @ #4 Ravens 419 (8-5)
Charm City floats just above .500 and on the very last week, squeaked into the playoffs, due to a tie breaking scenario featuring two other teams. Charm has won 4 of his last 5 and has gained a ton of momentum heading into the post season. Not to mention, he boasts one of the hottest quarterbacks of the last few weeks, Philip Rivers. Le'Veon leads the way at running back, and while Charm carries a nice offense, the defense is star studded. Names like Mack, Alonso, and Kuechly are leading the defense. If Olsen can return to form, that would only put this roster over the top. A dangerous team to look out for in the playoffs.
His counterpart, Ravens 419 has had a dominant season, but has lost 2 of the last 3. Let us not forget that 419 has TWO victories over the league leading, RavensPunk, who they would meet again should they advance. If Ravens 419 wants to run deep, then Dak Prescott has to step up. The Cowboys offense has struggled big time and has shown on the stat sheet. Perhaps starting Dalton might be an option? Hmm. 419 took a big hit on defense when Shazier went down, but it will be next man up and 419 has a couple of qualified replacements. This won't be an easy one for 419, but one that he is more than capable of winning. 419 has found a way of winning the big ones.
#6 Bend It Like Beckham (7-6) @ #3 Soft Tissue Issues (8-5)
Beckham drops from #5 to #6 due to a three way tie, but what a comeback for this team. Started 0-4 and has won 7 of the last 9 games to make it to the big dance. Shall we credit that to the emergence of Alvin Kamara? He is surging and could very well lead this team to a championship. Stafford may be reeling with a hand injury, but a suitable replacement sits on the bench in Matt Ryan. TY Hilton needs to play like a #1 and Julio has to be more consistent to really elevate this team. Goodwin may be a sleeper on this team now that Jimmy the savior has taken over at QB. It's worth noting that Beckham claimed a victory over Soft Tissue in week 6.
Soft Tissue Issues would have started the season 5-0 had it not been for a half point loss to RavensPunk. In those first three weeks, they blew the top off in scoring, but has since simmered down, losing the final two regular season games. The star for this team is Carson Wentz who was brought back down to earth this past week, but his big games are far from over. Kareem Hunt really needs to get going which is where Tissue Issues lacks depth. His WRs may be the leagues best with Thomas, Landry, Hopkins, and now the returning Josh Gordon. This team lacks a bit on the defensive side, but the offense has enough going for them that could carry the team to a championship.
Consolation Bracket
Okay, so you're not fighting for a championship, but you have a chance to improve your standing! #8 BMoreBird22 (4-9) will take on #7 Somerset Ravens (7-6) and #10 Pennsylvania Bearcats (2-11) will take on #9 K-Dog (4-9).
For all that has happened, Somerset Ravens probably deserves to be in the playoffs, but suffered at the hands of a tiebreaker. Somerset went through a grinder of losses for a few weeks, but won two straight heading into the playoffs. Ranked 3rd in the West, Somerset is led by Jared Goff and Todd Gurley, part of a surging offense in Los Angeles. This team has some flaws, but Cooper Kupp is emerging which is a positive. Davis needs to do the same and with Eli coming back, Engrams production should continue. Somerset should be the favorite to win this bracket.
Somerset is up against a BMoreBird team that has only won four games, but 3 of those games came against the number one and two seeds (RavensPunk x2, Beckham). Bmore's team is nothing to marvel at, but it used to be. They have lost Edelman, Cook, Elliot, and Luck for the season. Not to mention Robert Woods was having crazy production before missing the last two games and Willie Snead has been overshadowed by the two headed monster run game in New Orleans. This team has potential going into season two and should receive a nice draft pick for such an unlucky season.
Pennsylvania Bearcats had a coaching change early on and things never came to fruition. This is another team that lost great production due to injury; Meredith, OBJ, and Matthews. The new coach was able to pick up Aaron Rodgers off of waivers who was put on IR, but should be back this season at some point. The Bearcats are headed towards a first round pick which will be real nice when they get all of their injured pieces back. The Bearcats still have a shot to advance in this bracket, but they're going to need some big plays from some big stars like Maclin, Woodhead, and Alex Smith, kinda like last weeks game for Smith.
K-Dog went head over heels for defense in the draft and he has pieces to build off of on offense. K-Dog has won three of his last five and will look to finish the season strong. Tom Brady has led the way for this team and has been on fire in recent weeks. Rex Burkhead is starting to emerge as a great goaline threat which New England sees quite often. Robby Anderson has been a nice surprise and K-Dog was able to make a nice trade to send Griffen to RavensPunk in exchange for DeSean Jackson which upgrades his WR position. In a draft where K-Dog went after defensive players, it would make sense if the defense is the forefront of this team and it is. Look for K-Dog to draft offense this offseason, but for now, he has a real chance at running the table in this bracket.