The Ridiculously Early Playoff Picture!
Likelihood of Playoffs: Lock
El Paso Bandits (2-1): The Bandits are #2 in the AFC even after dropping last week's game against the Argonauts. With a much improved team, the Bandits look foward to a struggling Somerville Spartans game in the annual renewal of the Trevor-Mark rivalry. Trevor has dominated since the Family Guy Era (Cleveland Quagmires (Trevor) and Petoria Griffins (Mark)) to lead the all time series 3-0. The Bandits have the Liquid Courage on their heals but with a struggling AFC West, both teams could be playoff bound.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Strong Chance
Columbus Liquid Courage (2-1): The CLC is #3 on this list as they stand at #3 in the AFC thus far. Coach Doc Holiday and the Liquid Courage have had a strong start with the points to back it up (9th in the league) but their opponents so far are combined 3-6. Their next two opponents are combined 5-1 so these next couple weeks will tell if Columbus is for real.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Not bad (Especially if AFC West keeps tanking)
Somerville Spartans (1-2): The Spartans have been tortured by the schedule through three weeks. After handling Columbus in week one, they were edged after a strong performance by NFC powerhouse AABC then upset by the Pirates who rallied behind Ronnie Brown's 5 TD's. The Spartans do have one more big game this week against the Bandits, but past that comes two easier games against a pair of 1-2 teams. Luckily for the Spartans, their 1-2 record is good enough to have them tied for first in the division.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Very Strong
Pirates (1-2): The two time AFC Champion and one time Super Bowl winner ran all over the Spartans this week, but only averaged about 65 through the first two weeks. Since Ronnie Brown's explosion was the only reason the Pirates beat the Spartans, the future might not look so good. The good news for the Pirates is that they are competing against the Liquid Courage, Patriots Dynasty and the Mill Creek Bulldogs for the 4th spot at the moment so they still have a good chance of getting back in for the third year in a row.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Decent
Patriots Dynasty (1-2): The Dynasty has been bad so far this year and got a rather lucky win against the Gappers. The first two games of the season did not go well and Week 4 has them squaring off against the Flaming Stewies. But, as always, you can't count out any team that has LT.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Outside Chance
Mill Creek Bulldogs (1-2): The newest owner in the league picks up a bad team with zero depth. When Peyton Manning and Adrian Peterson struggle, this team loses bad. Last week's loss to the Liquid Courage doesn't help either.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Not Good
Georgia Gappers (0-3): The Gappers are just paying their dues in their first season and taking a few beatings. But don't feel bad little guy, this league has a history of big turnarounds (Pirates 2006, CLC 2008, Detroit Wolverines 2007, Denver Roncos 2007, N.E. Chowderheads 2007)
Playoff Likelihood: Playoffs? How about the #1 pick?
Likelihood of Playoffs: Lock
Denver Roncos (3-0): Last year's NFC East champ beat the Super Bowl champ last week and after a strong regular season in 2007, they're going to continue being dangerous. They have gotten one good team out of the way as well as a win out of inter-conference play so with only 3 games left against good conference opponents and 1 outside the conference, the Roncos are looking at a 9-4 season probably at worst.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Damn Good
Flaming Stewies (2-1): Lost a heart-breaker to the Roncos last week falling 5 points shy thanks to Big Ben's -11 on the week but the future still looks good. This was the first sub-100 week for the Stewies who are one of four team with 300+ points so far. The others all lead their divisions.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Also Damn Good
Vilma=God (2-1): This is where the NFC starts to get interesting. With Vilma breaking out two strong weeks and holding at 5th in total points, they are for real. Vilma already beat division foe Chowderheads and their one loss was against the Argonauts. With two cake matchups coming up, Vilma has to prove they belong and they could be looking down at the other Wild Card teams with a 4-1 record after week 5.
Likelihood of Playoffs: 50-50
N.E. Chowderheads (1-2): A Wild Card winner last year, the Chowderheads have struggled early on this year dropping games to Vilma and the Stewies. In a virtually must win game against the Kunt Krushers, the Chowderheads dominated with 127 points. With that win and their 93 point week one, the Chowderheads are 7th in total points and very much in the race being just one game back.
Likelihood of Playoffs: The other half of 50-50
Kellens Kunt Krushers/Capt Acorn (Both 1-2): These teams got a lucky win last week scoring 60 and 55 respectively. These two teams rank 14th and 15th in points in the league and are 7th and 8th in the NFC. They are both looking at top 5 picks next season.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Very Slim
Hotsauce (0-3): This team is not bunched in with the other two because they have actually had a decen start. Hotsauce hasn't scored fewer than 76 points (Neither Acorn or Krushers have outdone 70) and the combined record of the teams played is 7-2. However, relief is not on the way yet with AABC and the Toronto Argonauts coming up. This is probably the hardest schedule in the league, but Hotsauce could benefit from having a higher pick as they don't appear Super Bowl material.
Likelihood of Playoffs: Better than other teams, but still bad
Rk Lst Rk
#1 #1 Toronto Argonauts (3-0) - Still #1 for the third time in a row after a big win over the Bandits.
#2 #4 Anal at Bandcamp (3-0) - Climbing up the ranks after crushing Capt Acorn with 124 points.
#3 #2 Flaming Stewies (2-1) - Probably a fluke loss with Big Ben's -11 points, still #3 in total points.
#4 #6 Denver Roncos (3-0) - Fluke or not, the Roncos beat the Stews to be 3-0, lead the NFC East.
#5 #3 El Paso Bandits (2-1) - Lost to the best team in the league but still had a solid day.
#6 #7 Columbus Liquid Courage (2-1) - Good win, but the Argonauts are next...
#7 #5 Somerville Spartans (1-2) - Rough loss, but still leads the AFC West despite sub-.500 record.
#8 #8 Vilma=God (2-1) - Good week with another strong 100+ point performance.
#9 #9 N.E. Chowderheads (1-2) - Starting to turn it around and Capt Acorn next week will help more.
#10 #11 Pirates (1-2) - Huge game from Ronnie Brown, but only two others over 10 points.
#11 #10 Hotsauce (0-3) - Ranked 11th and ranked 11th in points so far. Not bad for 0-3.
#12 #15 Patriots Dynasty (1-2) - On top of the scrap heap this week with win over Gappers.
#13 #13 Mill Creek Bulldogs (1-2) - Rookie manager took the loss as rebuilding begins.
#14 #14 Kellens Kunt Krushers (1-2) - Answered the Chowderheads 127 with 48.
#15 #12 Capt Acorn (1-2) - Followed a cheap win with a 33 points effort.
#16 #16 Georgia Gappers (0-3) - Outscored three teams this week and is catching up to Acorn in points.