Sun Tzu's Week 14 Previews: Playoffs edition

Week 14 Thursday morning came and went, so this is it.  No crazy mind-gobbling recalculation that the Trichs and Girlz hoped wouldn’t happen and the Pelican prayed for took place, and the 2013 PSAS Playoffs commences as it stands.   Nevertheless, the insanity that was week 13 will be remembered in the PSAS minds forever.  Only two relevant games this week, but teams are staying active through the wire in search of one-point edge that seems to be needed now to survive the playoffs. 

(3) Polk High Panthers (8-5) vs (6) Trichotillomaniacs (7-6)

This week 12 rematch will feature the Bundy squad that is now at full strength and the Far East Brigade that stumbled into the playoffs.  The Trichs are heavy with AFC and NFC West players on their roster and as such will aim for a catchup.  Look for the Panthers to get a jump start early on Sunday then the Pullers to make a surge in the late games.  The winner here will face the two-seed Grossman next, but neither team is looking that far ahead.

Polk High snapped out of their four-game losing streak in week 13 to beat the Raiders of Tatooine in a win-and-in matchup.  They did so rather convincingly with double-digit points by seven players to go over 120 for the first time in five games.  The Bundys are now 8-0 this season when they score over 100pts.  Megatron and AJ did their things, and time-share backs F-Jax and Law Firm both got to the endzone convincingly.  The only skill player that disappointed was Randle, who’s seemingly surpassed Nicks this season as the Giants #2 receiver but consistently has shown inconsistency.  With not much depth on the bench, the week 13 lineup will be the team going forward, with possibility of titration at QB and TE positions depending on matchup.  In the week 14 first-round of the playoffs, Megatron and AJ will both be facing suspect defenses, so big games should be expected of them, and the backfield duo have chance to get into the endzone again in favorable matchup.  The key here may be aging TE T-Gonz.  If he can regain and retain the first-half of the season and week 13 form, then the Panthers, an under-dog in projection, will have the upper-hand here. 

The Trichs are lucky to be in this spot after they failed to take care of business in the bitterly-fought week 13 matchup against the Girlz.  The battle came down to the wire on MNF, but the Hairpullers fell short thanks to Eric Decker’s 42 pts left on the bench.  The only reason why they are in the playoffs is because the Pelican Brief also choked, allowing BDT to beat them by the hair with the third-lowest score of the week.  The high-scoring weeks at the height of bye-season gave the Trichs points advantage that other 6-loss teams couldn’t overcome, and the Far East Brigade is here to represent.  The Pullers are probably not focused on the past now, however, with the first-round of the bye presenting just as the tough NFC West teams all facing each other.  Kap and the Niners of the Far East will be involved in another defensive slugfest against Seattle, while Stacy and the Rams will be visiting Arizona’s #1 defense-against-the-run.  Looks like the General is handing the ball to whoever will make the QB start for the Bears against Cowboys on MNF in double-titration move after witnessing how Seattle defense manhandled Brees, the Saints, and the Mountain.  Suddenly-lukewarm MJD will try to lead the backfield attack against the so-so Houston defense on Thursday night, but the General cannot afford another mistitration like the epic benching of Decker in week 13.  The Trichs beat the Panthers two weeks ago handidly and Yahoo projection gives the Trichs the edge here again, but this is essentially a jump-ball, especially with the tough-matchups the Far East players are all facing.

-TRIX even

(4) The Goslings (8-5) vs (5) Phat Girlz (8-5)

Two Cinderella stories come head-to-head in the first-round of the playoffs in yet another rematch from week 12.  Monique’s girlz will try to get a jump-start on Thursday night matchup between Jaguars and Texans.  The bulk of Gos points will come on early Sunday.  There’s an interesting counter-titration brewing here, with the Babies seemingly intent on benching Luck in favor of Titans’ Fitzpatrick throwing against Denver defense.  Winner gets top-seeded Ferries next.

The expansion Goslings are the true Cinderella boys of 2013 after winning four in a row and six of the last seven to close out the season.  In the last three weeks, the Gos beat Trichs, Girlz, and the Mountain, all play-off contenders, to get to their inaugural big-dance.  Like their season, the week 13 win over TTM was surreal, as only three players managed double-digit points.  LeVeon Bell led the Birds with 21.2 points before his helmet came flying off, robbing the team of much-needed-at-the-time TD.  It looks like Bell escaped the worst and will be suiting up this Sunday to face a weak run-defense of the Dolphins.  Shady didn’t get to the endzone but was nevertheless effective against the stingy Zona defense.  The concern here is with Luck, who didn’t throw a TD in week 13 and failed to crack double-digit for the second time this season.  Jordy Nelson, who also lowballed last week, has been teasing with greatness this season but, like Hartline and the rest of the Gos receiving corps, is essentially a second-tier receiver who can be expected to low-ball in any given week.  Such players can be poisonous in the fantasy playoffs, and unfortunately Gos roster is full of such fruits.  Still, if the titration goes right, the Gos have a fair shot, especially against the Girlz squad that have their own difficulty of scoring points. 

The Girlz did it yet again after Monique gave them an emotional speech in the dress room, and they came away with an upset win over then-second-ranked Trichs.  It was yet again a tight margin of victory, and they reach the playoffs despite only having the tenth highest scoring offense.  Another solid game by Stafford, but it was Ben Tate who almost singlehandedly pulled all the hair out of the Trichs with his three TDs.  The Girlz win was even more improbably as these two were the only ones scoring in the double-digits.  Monique did leave some points on the bench, and look to get better feel for titration in the playoffs.  Of course with a roster lacking true star power, this isn’t as easy as 1-2-3.  With Stafford facing weak Philly defense, he’ll be generating points as usual.  It’s the others that concern Monique.  She looks to get on the right track early on Thursday night, with both Tate and Shorts looking to give the Enigma a good head (start).  If not, Monique and the Girlz may be in for another tight one, and the outcome may not favor the bitches this time around. 

-PG even

Bye Standers

(1) SanFranciscoFerries and (2) GrossmanSachs have the week off. 

The Ferries took care of the stylez with no problem in week 13 while leaving one IDP open.  Riding a record-tying nine-game winning streak, the Boatmen will enjoy a true week off, although no one doubted their top-seed clinching victory last week.

The bankerz’ regular season finale came with a bang after they made history with 200plus pts scored in a match.  Their two receivers each had 200+ yards receiving and two TDs in, and Manning passed for five TDs yet again. These three alone would have defeated all but four teams last week, but they got more points from their backfield AP and Jennings who combined for 37+pts themselves.  Scarier still, they left three TDs on the bench that could have bolstered their record-breaking performance even more.  This all for a moot point after the Trichs stumbled and surrendered the coveted two-seed to the bankerz for free.  The Commish will hope there aren’t any crazy injuries this week during his bye.

Consolation

(9) ThePelicanBrief (7-6) vs (12) Dijonnaise All-Stars (6-7)

Heart-broken Pelican face Colonel Mustard in this first-round matchup of the consolation tourney.  These two met in week 2, when the Yellow surprised the Thrillers en-route to an unexpected 2-0 start. 

(10) AEthernauts (6-7) vs (11) BldgDW3LL1NGTh1nk1ng (6-7)

The Nauts and the Boys square off in a rematch from week 11, in which the Sky beat the Philosophers handedly with their highest scoring output of the season.