Word From The Mouth: DIV 2 Playoff Edition!

Hello everyone and welcome to 'the show', or playoffs as some of you know it. To be eligible to play this weekend you needed to play 5 regular season games (Ed's note: or have league permission!), captains keep that in mind as you don't want to lose from having an ineligible player play. I think that the Division 2 playoffs are going to be more exciting and have more upsets than Division 1, but you never know. This week I will be covering each game and breaking it down by position as to which team has the advantage then at the end of each I'll pick who I think will win. As for how accurate I am at picking for the regular season I went 42 out of 59 or 71.2%, which isn't that bad but it still leaves some room for error.

Game Previews

Iron Wolves vs 7th Rounders

The truth is that when season began I knew very little about 7th Rounders and I had little confidence in them, but after seeing a few games these guys are pretty solid all around. For Iron Wolves the way season started for them I'm surprised that they made it in. Except Jon being Jon had to bring in a few guys to help them out. Let's just jump into the break down.

QB - This is one of those age (Ed's note: easy now…) and knowledge vs youth and inexperience. You got Jon who has been around since the LCL days and even before so he has the position down to a tee. That short passing game and high completion percent really wears on a defense, it works so why change it. For 7th Rounders I have to assume that Julien will be under center. Julien is still learning the position but he has Charles who is there to help him out with some pointers. I think as long as Julien doesn't try to do too much they will have a chance to knock off the defending champs. I still have to give the advantage to Iron Wolves based on experience.

WR - 7th Rounders have a 3 headed monster in Jafar, Mark and Terry. This set of triplets can and will cause nightmares for opposing defenses. You might be able to stop one, maybe even two if you are lucky, but all three I highly doubt that. Iron Wolves will have their hands full all game long. Now for the Iron Wolves. They have a very good number 1 guy and a very good center, but after that they play by a committee which is fine as long as they all step up. They have guys who can play but they haven't been able to do so this season yet. One of them is due for a break out season. I have to give my advantage to 7th Rounders for 3 top targets.

Defense - You know your defense isn't all that when Jon leads the team in tackles, but tackling doesn't really matter that much if you are getting a lot of picks and pass defense. Iron Wolves didn't have the pass rush that we have been accustom to seeing. They only managed to get 8 sacks and 2 were by Jon, you know how slow you have to be to get sacked by Jon of all people. They were able to get a respectable number of pass defense (29) to go along with 14 picks, but I would have expected more from this bunch. 7th Rounders on the other hand were able to get only one more sack at 9, but it was done by one player. They had a bunch of ball hawks in the secondary and walked away with 16 picks to go along with 32 pass defense. I think I'm going to side with 7th Rounders on this one because of the pass rush coming from one guy instead of a few player.

I will chose 7th Rounders to knock off the champs and send Jon home early.

Old School vs Nice TDs

This is the third meeting between these two teams and Nice TDs won them both in convincing fashion. Old School don't worry third times a charm and it's the playoffs anything can happen. I like Old School. They come play, have fun, stick around have a beer and shoot the sh*t, and head home. On the other side of it you got an ultra-competitive guy leading the way that wants to win every game at all cost. So we will see, do the guys having fun win or does the ultra-competitive guy win.

QB - Dahic is a guy that has a rocket of an arm and can easily throw it from end zone to end zone. My biggest concern with Dahic is the completion percent; it is low not sure if that is on him or his guys dropping balls. Kris on the other hand seems to always buy a few extra seconds from the rusher and find the open guy for big plays. When Kris isn't getting mad he is a top 3 QB in this division. I have to give the advantage to Nice TDs.

WR - Nice TDs have a very solid group, and if they all show up it might be the best group in the division. Too bad one of them is injured and I'm not sure if he will be there. I'm not going to say who, but I have a reliable source. Any defense will have a hard time stopping these guys. Old School are decent but nothing to fear. They still play on Nintendo Wii when everyone else has upgraded to the Switch. They need that one new shiny toy to get them over the top. If they had a guy with speed and juke moves it would be a lot closer, but they are still running on an old system. Sorry guys, but I have to give the advantage to Nice TDs here as they got more guys with speed and flash.

Defense - Old School, 7 sacks isn't going to cut it and make you a defense to fear, but you guys were still able to haul in 20 picks which is good considering the lack of pressure. Don't think I'm sh*tting on you guys I'm just pointing out the obvious. Nice TDs have the best rusher in the division who got a total of 14 sacks, good job Greg (I taught him everything he knows). They were also able to take 17 passes away from the offense. I figured that number would have been higher since they get constant pressure. I want to give the advantage to Old School but the lack of sacks makes me lean towards Nice TDs getting the advantage.

Beaux Garcons vs Raccoons

For this game you have a bunch of old farts who get tired pretty damn easily, but show up with 9 or 10 guys every week and just keep on winning. After week 1 I had no expectations for this team, but they kept getting better and better every week and now its playoffs and the question is will they be able to keep it up and handle the pressure. Raccoons are an up and down team. One week they look great and could win it all and then the next week it's like 'are these guys for real? how bad are they?' If the good Raccoons show up they can play with any team and if the bad Raccoons show up it becomes a very long day for everyone.

QB - JS is a pocket passer all the way. Gets the ball out real quick and hard for that matter and is very decisive as to where he wants to go with it. You need to get him off his spot and moving around if you want to stop him. It's tough and very few teams have been able to do it all season. For the Raccoons, Sebastien has had really good games and some really bad ones. I have seen them play both types of game and when he is on he is solid but when he isn't you'd think that the other team was who he was throwing to. He needs to slow down and not force the ball in and get some help from his receivers. I have to give the advantage to Beaux Garcons.

WR - This one is tough cause neither team have a true number 1 target, just a bunch of 2's and 3's. The Raccoons have three guys that have decent numbers but none will make you stay up at night to figure out how to stop them. For Beaux Garcons it's the same situation, a bunch of guys that are 2's and 3's, just a lot more of them. They play a committee offense; remember they are 10 guys on roster so having a bunch of guys who can catch is almost better than that one break out star. I want to push on this one, but I can't so I have to go with Beaux Garcons just by the number of guys.

Defense - When it comes to defense all that I'm looking at are 3 categories: sacks, picks and passes defensed. Beaux Garcons have a decent pass rush, but were only able to get 11 sacks. They were also able to get 16 picks, which is not too bad for old guys, and they also managed to bat 24 balls away. Who would have thought that coming into the season? For the Raccoons they are a solid defense in most games but they do have a hiccup from time to time. Over the season they were able to get a total of 27 sacks to lead the division and that is remarkable. They also managed to get 23 picks and 26 knock downs, both those number are really high up there. With a defense like this you would had expected a bigger win total. I have to give the advantage to Raccoons on defense by a wide margin.

I still think that Beaux Garcons will win the game but it will be close and it wouldn't surprise me either to see the Raccoons move on with the upset.

D#Nasty vs Gros Gars

Gros Gars is a team that shows up week in and week out that isn't flash and doesn't really stand out from the pack. These guys are a middle tier team in the division that can win some games they aren't supposed to, but also lose one that they should win, so anything can happen with them. D#Nasty on the other hand have been a top 3 team all season long. They show up, hold it down, and more often than not walk away with the win.

QB - Both guys are new to the league and I didn't know what to expect, but they have played well enough to get their team into playoffs where teams start to tighten up on defense. Charles from Gros Gars will need to be more efficient in the playoffs if they want to move past round 1. He will need to complete more than 46% of his passes and will need to throw more TDs than picks. Kevin on the other hand needs to just do what he did all season. The guy only threw 4 picks all season that is ball protection. The truth of the matter is Kevin doesn't look or play like a new guy, if he had played for a few seasons I'd be like wow, but whats going to happen in a few years? Everyone better watch out. I am giving the advantage hands down to D#Nasty.

WR - D#Nasty has a plethora of weapons on their team and I really think that any team trying to stop them might lose their minds. They got at least 4 guys who catch the ball well and can make plays. I think some of the Division 1 teams would have a hard time stopping them. Gros Gars have 4 guys who average close to 10 yards a catch but there is no one guy who strikes fear into opposing defenses. They also need to wait on the QB to get them the ball. In games I've watched in the past the receivers are open but need to wait for the ball. This is a recipe for disaster. I have to go with D#Nasty having the advantage in this one also.

Defense - Gros Gars 9 sacks and 12 picks aren't great numbers especially when 9 of those picks come from one guy. You guys were able to knock down 37 passes and if you had gotten a few more picks that would have been great. If you guys want any chance to win you'll need to get those knock downs and turn them into picks. D#Nasty have been a defense you don't want to mess with. These guys walked away with 16 sacks which isn't bad but it isn't great. With the way they were blowing teams out I figured that number would have been higher. For picks they were able to take 26 ball from the other team they also knocked down 30 passes. This was a top defense all season and don't give up a lot of points. I have to give the advantage to D#Nasty on defense.

All and all I don't think this will be a hard game for D#Nasty to win but they need to come out and play like they did all season.

That is it for this week I hope you guys made it all the way to the bottom. I want to wish all the teams good luck and remember to play hard have fun and be safe.