SFFL – 2014 – Championship Week 1

Posted by :Michael On : December 11, 2014

And then there were two. Congrats to Nate and Krack for making it to the final test. It seemed as though everyone in Beefalo Land was expecting this from the beginning, even with the up and down scores throughout the year. Krack, on the other hand, had one of his better starts in the Trophy Era and almost watched it fade away as the later weeks passed. In the end though, he secured that birth with a needed victory in week 12 against the confusing Suck My Ditka squad.

Neither team was awarded a bye, but that didn’t stop them. Krack was able to squeak out a 6 point win over Patterson while Beef had a little more cushion with a 17 point win over the defending Champs. The second round proved to be about the same for Beef and Krack with the helps of big games from Nelson and Bell, advanced over the regular season winner handily.

So, now, we sit with the two best teams ready for a huge two week match-up. They are already +300 for getting this far going for both of their first Championships, names on the trophy, bragging rights, and a bunch of extra coin in their pockets.

The update isn’t much other than an analysis of the first week of their match-up. However, the pick-up report, rule change voting, and playoff stats are also updated.

Here is the Menu for this week’s update:

Weekly Intro
Deadline Dates
Pick Up Report
Rule Changes
Special Playoff Section
- All-Time Playoff Stats
- Krack @ The Beefalo’s Analysis
Roster Analysis
Power Ranks

Deadlines

Entry Money Due: Monday October 13, 2014 (End of Week 6) ENDED
Trade Deadline: Wednesday November 5, 2014 (Noon) ENDED
Playoffs: Week 13 (1st), 14 (2nd), 15 & 16 (Ship)
Transaction Money Due: Monday December 22, 2014 (End of Week 16)

Year End Party: Voting has Ended.
(A) January 3rd: 2
(B) January 10th: 4 — WINNER
(C) Does Not Matter: 10

Party will be held at Stack’d in Shadyside, as usual. Time will be about 6/7PM.

Pick Up Report

Teams that have been granted 6 Free pick-ups due to paying the full amount at the draft… (LVU*, KRACK*, MSIDE*, BUCK*, FU*, AIR*, MNS*)
*used free pick-up

As of Thursday, December 11, 2014
Lawrenceville United – 18 (120)
MSIDE’s Year – 18 (120)
CHAMPS BALSAGNA – 14 (90)
Keystone St. Of Mind – 14 (80)
Krack – 14 (80)
Cordarrelle Patterson – 11 (50)
|\/|cNAlR’S Mayhem – 10 (40)
Suck My Ditka – 8 (30)
Monday Nightshift – 7 (10)
The Beefalo’s – 6 (10)
Mountain Men – 6 (10)
Revis And Butthead – 4

Current Total (640)

Last year we ended with $400+

Rule Changes

Rule Change from Last Year: Refer to the week one post.
Rule Change Voting from This Year: Refer to the week 3 post.

Voting Ended: How much should we increase to?

(A) $150 or less: 3
(B) $151 – $200: 8 — WINNER
(C) More than $200: 1

Voting Ended: How much should we increase to, exactly?

(A) $160: 1
(B) $175: 2
(C) $200: 9 — WINNER

The next round of voting will take place next week. Next vote will be where the new money will be dispersed.

Special End of Season Section

All-Time Playoff Records

Note: This does take into consideration this year’s playoff teams, #1 seed, and byes, and the first two rounds.

Click to Enlarge

Krack @ The Beefalo’s Analysis & Prediction

Reminder: This is only for the first week on the two-week Championship. I will re-evaluate my analysis/prediction after week 15 is finished.

Tale of the Tape

Click to Enlarge

Prediction

To start things off both The Beefalo’s and Krack do have Thursday night options, but not in their starting lineups. Krack, with Fitzgerald and Nate with the Rams D. With Gordon back, a bad Arizona QB, and Fitz not looking 100% I do not see Krack having a change of heart to throw Fitz in the starting mix. The Beefalo’s, on the other hand, have what I think is a legitimate reason to throw up the Rams D for the start. 2 Shutouts, 6 INT’s, 4 Fumble Recoveries, 16 Sacks, and 3 TD’s over their last three games the Cardinals D has turned it on and playing a very injured Cardinals offense. However, the Ravens have been really consistent are going against the Jags, who have also been extremely consistent in surrendering less than 11 points to the opposing Defense only once this year. Going with who I see in the lineup this one is easy.
Post Thursday Night Score: 0-0

Moving along to the 1PM Sunday Games here is what we got…
Krack: M. Ryan, J. Charles, J. Nelson, J. Gordon, J. Reed, S. Watkins, Packers D, and J. Tucker (8)
Beefalo’s: Big Ben, L. Blount, TY. Hilton, Ravens D (4)

Krack throwing some serious bombs out at 1 with all but one of his players in action, he will look to take a huge league that will make the Beefalo’s sweat even though they have 5 guys at 4. All of the match-ups are favorable for Krack this week with the exception of the match-up proof Nelson and J. Gordon.

Starting with Ryan, it looks like the Steelers and Falcons are primed for a huge explosion of points. Julio Jones, however, is coming in as a game time decision. Even though he has not practice, everything that is being said is that he should play and he should prosper against the terrible Steelers secondary. I look for Matty Ice to have a huge game in this shootout with yards, but maybe not as many scores as Krack would like. 25.

Charles is another person who is coming into the weekend a little hobbled, but is supposed to get back on the practice field and play Sunday. Krack sure needs it. 29th ranked Oakland D vs the Fantasy RB and Charles ate them up this time last year with over 200 all purpose yards and 5 TD’s. I do not see that type of game happening again, but I do see him in the end-zone more than once and grabbing a decent amount of Yards. 26.

Rodgers go-to-guy in Nelson will be back at it again this week against a pretty tough Buf D. He should have a fairly modest like Nelson day. Maybe finding the end-zone once, but otherwise getting looked at a good bit. 16.

Gordon has been a little bit of a question mark the past week and with Manziel getting the start it should be very interesting to see how he does. I can’t see him scoring, but he definitely has the ability to. Cinci will be looking to come back in a huge way after last weeks embarrassing 4th, so I think they will pressure Johnny Football. We will see if the time is there to get Gordon the ball down field… or if Johnny will use him as a security blanket. 9.

Jordan Reed put up a pretty terrible week last week, but this week he is facing the lowly Giants and I see him bouncing back nicely with some grabs, decent yards, and a score. 18.

Sammy will be on the other side of the field as Nelson so it will be nice for Krack to have someone always with the ball in this game. I think the Bills will keep this closer than most think. For a little. Then, A-Rod and the Packers will be up huge and Watkins will get tio see some quality garbage time. No Score. Many Catches. Nice Yards. 17.

It’s really hard for me to try and come up with some predictions for defenses off the top of my head, but I can see GB giving an okay outing and forcing some turnovers to go along with 3-4 sacks. Not sure if the Bills will get to 21 either. 10.

Tucker is a beast. Hopefully the Jags D can slow down the Ravens close to the end zone, but I don’t really see it happening. 7.

Moving on to Beefalo land, like Krack I’ll roll through the lineup starting with Big Ben. The fact that the Steelers involve Bell in the passing game as well as the weapons Ben has grown to have is huge for The Beefalo’s. The Steelers will continue to score on the poor Falcons D, and Matty and the O will keep it close. Ben goes over 400. 31.

The Guess-Who game that is the NE backfield seems to have found their go to guy in Blount… BUT… B. Belichick can happen at any time. The Dolphins seem to have played the Pats pretty well recently but have also been very generous to the run game. I don’t really see Blount racking up a ton of yards, and Vereen will be there to catch the passes. However, I do think he has a decent shot at finding the end zone. 10.

He has done it all year and the Texans are THE worst team against the fantasy WR so far this year. T.Y. “Thank You” Hilton is in line for another monster game. Last time they played he put up 9-223-1. I don’t know if he will repeat that much again, but he may make it close if he busts a long one. 25.

Again, tough to make a call on defenses but it is a very talented Ravens D going against the generous Jags O. I think they are going to get their double digits and even come close to breaking 20. 5-6 Sacks, few turnovers and holding the score low.. the td will be what puts them over the edge. 19.

Post 1PMs Score: 128-85 Krack

Krack: J. Bell (1)
Beef: M. Lynch, G. Tate, A. Gates, K. Allen, S. Hauschka (5)

Bringing in the final points for Krack will be the red hot Bell, who has put up 54 over the past two weeks. I think that will continue this week against a soft Minny D. Racking up the yards and getting a score. 17

Looking to make up some ground, Nate will have 5 guys rolling at the 4PM time slot. So, let’s go down the list.

Lynch will be going up against the tough but slightly-falling-apart Niners D. I don’t see him really ripping them apart like he is know to do, but I think it will be a very serviceable week for the business man. Business as usual. 15.

Golden Tate was looking extremely good this year while Mega was sidelined and not 100%. Since then things have not really been the same. He has been okay at best. This is the week where that will all change and he will look like he did mid-season. Finding some room with Johnson getting most of the attention he will get in the end-zone at least once. I also think the Vikings will make this into a little game so the Lions will be throwing for awhile. Like I mentione before, I think Bell will have a nice outing, but Tate will be involved just as much. Who will get those TD’s? 22.

The Denver/SD game is an interesting one and will certainly have The Beefalo’s attention with both Gates and Allen out there. It’s really hard to judge both of these guys because they have such play-making ability, but sometimes just don’t get used as much as they should. The Broncos are 27th ranked team vs the fantasy TE but only the 16th against the WR. It seems to me like one of these guys will have to score because the Broncos should be up and the Chargers should be throwing all game. Even some garbage points should be in line. My pick is Gates. Combined outing… 5-86-1. 21

Finally, Hauschka will be kicking FG’s for The Beefalo’s this weekend. The aforementioned Niners D has been soft recently, but they still have the ability to halt drives close to the end zone. The good thing for The Beefalo’s is that the Hawks don’t really like to pass that much. They do, but not much. So, many times if it’s not Hauschka getting points, it’s Lynch. I see a nice little outing with a few short ones. 8.

Post 4PMs Night Score: 151-145 The Beefalo’s

Both teams not only do not have any Sunday or Monday night players in their starting lineup’s, but they do not even have any on the bench. This means that we should have a first-week winner after the 4pm games commence. Unless, of course, a pick-up occurs between now and then.
Final Week 1 Score: 151-145 The Beefalo’s