Finally after 13 weeks of football we know who will face who in the EFFL playoffs. It came down to the final minutes of the final game of the regular season for things to finally be set. It became apparent that the Golds would be in with the Jaguars defense doing very little to help the Jackson Five out. This was actually the first year we’ve had to use a tiebreaker to determine the final playoff spot. Also a furious 4th quarter comeback by the Gnomes and kicker Josh Scobee forced our first tie of the season.
Playoff notes according to the league rulebook (available at the side of the page):
- Now that the Jackson Five and My Team Is Awful have been eliminated, they are no longer permitted to make any transactions. Once each team in the field is eliminated, they will also no longer be permitted to make transactions.
- No players that are added can be kept for next season. I will continue to update the list in the EFFL History spreadsheet to keep track of these players.
- After the first round we will reseed despite ESPN saying otherwise. If the Golds should win in week 14, they will play the King. I will manually edit this should this situation arise.
- Any ties in the playoffs will be broken based on total team TD’s and total team yardage in that order. ESPN says the higher seed wins the tiebreaker. If there is a conflict I will also manually edit this.
I would like to say it has been a very fun regular season. I can’t believe we’re already at week 14 of the NFL season, and I have no idea where the time went. Just looking at round 1 of the playoffs has me ecstatic. The 2008 Playoffs are definitely going to be the most intense in the history of the EFFL. Here’s how things have shaped up.
#1 The King’s Crusaders (11-2): This team set all kinds of EFFL records this season. Most points scored, most regular season wins, tied for longest winning streak, and over the last 8 weeks have averaged over 144 points per game. Well deserving of a bye, how fitting is it that it was West Virginia product and Texans RB Steve Slaton who contributed the final piece of this team’s regular season run. The King now will wait patiently for either the Golds or the winner of the Eyepatches/Gnomes.
#2 Stanky Monkeys (10-3): Needing a win or tie to clinch a bye in round 1 of the playoffs, the Monkeys came through with a staggering 140 point effort against the Pylons. Brian Westbrook set the tone early with a 4 TD performance on Thanksgiving. In some sort of congratulatory attempt, my mother invited the Stanky Monkeys over for a delicious home-cooked meal while I am at this evening’s Flyers game. A true slap in the face. With the week off the Monkeys will most likely head to the slopes to try out for Shaun White’s new snowboarding video game. Week 15’s playoff tilt will feature the Pylons again with a win or the Eyepatches/Gnomes winner with a Golds win.
#3 Dueling Pylons (9-4) vs. #6 The Ari Golds (4-9)
The league wanted to see it, and until about 4 minutes left in the game Monday night it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. Then Steve Slaton struck, the Golds had lost, and the epic grudge match was on. These teams have a bitter rivalry which peaked when the rookie Golds took down the Pylons in the 06 playoffs en route to a championship. Since then, each team has had ups and downs, but the inevitability of revenge has finally reared its head. The trash talking for this game even began before the matchup was known. I’ve already been told by half the league that a Golds victory would be the highlight of their season. I may not be able to show my face in the tri-state area for a good 6 months with a loss.
The Golds head into this game riding a nifty 5 game losing streak but at least showed some signs of life last week in a defeat. The good news, however, is that the 6 seed has won the championship each of the last 2 years, and the Pylons have never won a playoff game. I’m shaking my head in disgust and laughing right now just typing this. The Pylons have hit a slight rough patch with the injury to Reggie Bush, but now back at full strength I believe this is the best Pylons playoff team to date. Both teams have fantastic matchups, and I think this is going to be a shootout. It may come down to Steve Smith on Monday night, who the Golds traded to the Pylons at the trade deadline. I have to do this. It’s time to break the streak. Look for the Pylons to move on to the semis.
#4 Animals With Eyepatches (
Deemed the #1 rivalry in the EFFL, these two teams squared off in rivalry week in Week 1, and then not again until the decisive Week 13, the only such teams to have games of this magnitude. When the possibility was brought up a few weeks ago that these teams could meet in round 1 of the playoffs, my text message inbox was filled with “I Want Jimish” text messages. Call it a love/hate relationship. Trust me here that Jimish is 4-5 steps up from the grenade the Gnomes set in front of me this past Friday. Praise Jesus that I avoided that land mine. Our first date would’ve been at Hardee’s.
Back on topic, both teams hoped to garner some momentum headed into a potential rematch, and both teams left week 13 feeling unsatisfied. 2 late Jaguars touchdowns and 2 Josh Scobee extra points later and the Gnomes and Eyepatches ended in a tie. I don’t think any other result could have been more favorable headed into this grudge match for the good of the league. In 9 career meetings these teams have now split the series
I’d also like to wish The Jackson Five and My Team Is Awful a healthy offseason. Both teams have some great keeper options and already appear to have a head start on a positive 2009 season. The Five stayed in it until the very end despite hitting a rough patch for much of the season. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle 3 weeks of postseason games. I’ll take 2 weeks, trust me. I really hope these games live up to the billing because the hype for a postseason has never been so high. Good luck to all 4 teams this weekend.
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