Tuesday, December 15, 2015

QUARTERFINALS: Recap

We are down to four teams competing for the Silver Chalice.
Pawnee stomped LTP to face the three time Larkspur Bowl Champion Uprising in the Semis.
South Park upset the 2012 Champion Islanders, and is now set to face the defending champs in NY.
Lets take a look at the bracket:



And the week's matchups, none of which were particularly close:


Week 14 Matchups



THE LARKSPUR BOWL:


Huge performances from Pride members Odell Beckham, Russell Wilson, AJ Green, Gary Barnidge, and Doug Martin helped to mask missteps from Mike Evans and Emmanuel Sanders on offense. The defense for Pawnee continues to be mediocre (S/LB hybrid Deone Bucannon appears to be their only true playmaker) but even firing on half of their cylinders was enough to demolish a Toronto squad that was clearly on its last legs: Besides stalwarts Tom Brady and Tyrann Mathieu, only rookie David Johnson had any firepower left for this one.



The Cows played solid fundamental football, with Carson Palmer spreading the ball around between Jarvis Landry, John Brown, and Julio Jones. On defense, Aaron Donald was in Islander QB Ben Roethlisberger's face all day, limiting his effectiveness- but really the matchup came down to vanbishing acts for the #4 seed: Amari Cooper has had a stellar rookie year, but contributed nothing in the quarterfinals. Defensive captain Karlos Danbsy was nearly as invisible, and late season contributor DaVante Parker was bottled up. Sebastian Janikowski laid an egg for the second week in a row, helping to waste stellar performances from Golden Tate, Mo Wilkerson and back nine revelation Kurt Coleman.


THE CONSOLATION BOWL:




The fight to establish 2016's draft pecking order is in full swing, as we see the McFlys and Van Halens square off on one side of the bracket, and Canadians Manitoba and Saskatoon face off on the other. All four are vying for position at the top of the draft next year. Four other teams will have their draft slot sealed this week: The victor of HCM City vs Savannah will draft fifth, the loser sixth. Among playoff teams, the victor of the Islanders vs Toronto will draft ninth, the loser tenth.

THE AWARDS: 

For the playoffs, we're going to be looking at the pertinent players, in competition, in each of the brackets- so we're ignoring teams that earned byes. All of this week's players happened to be on the winning teams, but that is not a requirement! With rosters mostly settled, there will be no PUotW in the playoffs.



LB OPotW: WR Odell Beckham, Pawnee (39.9pts)
The Pride already had the matchup in hand when Odell Beckham went to work, but he certainly didn't rest up for the next round, putting up his most monstrous of monster performances in the franchise's first ever playoff victory: Seven catches, 166 yards, two touchdowns (and six first downs) in a showcase of ODB's incredible playmaking ability.

LB DPotW: DT Aaron Donald, South Park (18pts)
While JJ Watt went in the first round, and has been the top defensive lineman in the league (bar none) Aaron Donald went in the last round and has been the second best pure defensive lineman in the league- we're discounting LB/DL hybrid Khalil Mack, who we will deal with later. Donald has been a huge value for the cows, and came up with his best stat line since the opener, walloping Big Ben for three sacks, part of his five tackle and non stop disruption performance.

CB OPotW: WR Ted Ginn, Deputy (31.2pts)
Ted Ginn is not a possession receiver. Ted Ginn is a firework, and in the Consolation Bowls quarterfinals, he went off for a grand finale explosion... twice. Two touchdowns, on a 74 yard blast, and a 46 yard screamer, he is a deep threat that can change the game when he connects.

CB DPotW: DE Khalil Mack, Manitoba (32pts)
Seven tackles. Five sacks. A forced fumble. Khalil Mack had himself a day- but he's been having them more often than not. As he has asjusted to playing defensive end, he's flourished, now the number two defensive lineman in the league. At a boom/bust position, Mack is bringing a consistent BOOM.

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