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S9 Playoff Picture (WESTERN CONFERENCE)
As the final weeks of the regular season come to a head, we have to settle a few things and the main one being who will fall into the final seed into the playoffs in the Western Conference? This article tells you everything you need to know as we have the last four weeks to play through.
As it currently stands, only one team has a playoff seed secured and that's the undefeated Huntington Beach Voyagers who sit pretty at 10-0 with no signs of them slowing down anytime soon. Behind them are the St. Louis Archers who come into W11 with a 7-3 record.
After that, it gets dicey and assuming the Voyagers and Archers hold true to their spots the rest of the way, that only leaves one team to make it to the playoffs. Lets start out with the team that currently has the three seed.
TACOMA ERUPTION
The Eruption is an interesting team with a lot of talent but they have yet to come out with a consistent set of play that can make them in a comfortable spot. One week they look like they can contend to make the Conference Championship game and others, it appears that they need to shoot for the #1 seed in the upcoming draft. Good news is that if the playoffs started today next week, they'll be in! Bad news is that the good news I mentioned earlier is not reality.
It gets worst looking at the remaining portion of their schedule. They have the Battalion in New Jersey, then they fly back home for the Voyagers to play in Washington. Following that, they have to go back on the road to face the always tough Snow Devils and then to close the year, they face an Archers team that are on pace to make the playoffs again.
It isn't a pretty sight if I'm being honest where they're not favored in any of those matchups outside of potentially the game against the Snow Devils and in most cases, I'd prolly choose Anchorage in that one.
They do have some goodness in their favor though, out of the teams left in the playoff picture, they have the most talented QB between the four teams being five year man Shawn Bridges and if they have any chance of making the playoffs, Bridges will need to get back to his form when he was one game away from being a USFA Champion. We shall see what he has in him soon enough.
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ANCHORAGE SNOW DEVILS
This is an interesting team with a lot of talent, especially within the WR corps. The Snow Devils have the same record as the team mentioned earlier and they have a lot going for them. The main issue about them is something that normally can't be fixed in a span of four weeks. That issue is obviously some seasoning. This is a young group at its core, from the QB all the way to the other side of the field, its not a lot of experience here but they make up for it with a LOT of grit and determination.
One thing they do have in their favor is their remaining schedule. They play an up and down Toronto team in Alaska. They can potentially eliminate the Ulf Jakobsson led Dallas Dragons on the road. After that, they play Tacoma and close the year against an Arizona team that may already be eliminated by the time they face off.
With this schedule, the Snow Devils have a chance to win all of the games and secure their spot towards their first ever playoff spot in team history. The talent is there like I mentioned, QB Dane Jones has been a fun sight to watch on the ground and through the air but there has been some up and down play, Anchorage comes into W11 with a three game losing streak which is currently the biggest at the time of this article.
Can they flip the switch in time? I'll be watching them closely.
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DALLAS DRAGONS
Dallas is in a bit of a troubling spot mostly due to them winning only one game within their last seven matchups but due to the two teams ahead of them not being able to capitalize, there is still a chance for them to sneak their way in.
Dallas is only one game record wise behind the Snow Devils and Eruption so in this case, the best thing they can do is win and hope for the best. How far can their star HB Ulf Jakobsson lead them to greatness? Is DJ Church the answer needed to make the playoffs for the second straight season? We can definitely analyze that.
Their remaining schedule has them going up against the Archers, Snow Devils, Battalion and the Voyagers. Three of those teams on pace to make the playoffs and another team that they are trying to pass enroute to the final dance. Two of those teams (the Battalion and the Voyagers) are the hottest teams currently so its gonna take a Herculean effort to make this happen. If I was to put a percentage of them making it to the playoffs, it would probably be somewhere below 20%. Granted, they do have The Cheat Code in Ulf along with a strong and steady WR group led by Jerry Riggs, traded for Tank Tremani and Isaiah Fowler can put buckets on any DB. Kaiser adds another wrinkle to their offense as well along with upstart Billy Silly.
Their issues mainly on the other side of the football. Outside of SS Weezy Porter, there are many holes that teams can target. I'd like to see them turn up this season but is it too late??
ARIZONA RATTLERS
This one right here is a very interesting case. Out of the four teams in this article, this one needs the most help for a realistic chance for the playoffs and it doesn't help that Anchorage & Tacoma both play each other. If anything, the only true way that they can make the playoffs is if they go 4-0 the rest of the way and Tacoma was to lose out all four games. They will also have to work on that Point Differential as well to keep them in line. They also need to be sure that Dallas doesn't get a surge at the end of the year.
Good news for them is that they got the victory back on Tacoma this season after the owner change. Now if they find a way to split the series to the rest of the tiebreakers to decide, they can find a way to squeak in. Their QB Action Jackson Jr. is on the brink of missing his first playoff berth fresh off of helping the Voyagers win their 4th championship.
A lot of the thought here is that the offense isn't exactly where it needs to be. It needs a reliable run game to compliment the passing attack. One of which that has shown plenty of promise despite only winning two games this year. Defensively is actually their biggest strength with LB Tank Falco Jr., LB Calvin Thomas and CB Mykee Jackson all making serious moves to be cornerstones on the team. Not to mention LB Tyler Rogalski holding down the fort as well. Their Run defense could use some help but they can hold their own from what we seen so far.
They're gonna need to bring their best from this point forward or we will more than likely see where the balls rumble during the lottery for the Desert Bois.