Woohoo, it's the postseason!
After the longest 1-On-1 Pool season ever, it's time to begin our biggest playoffs ever. The NFL started their expanded postseason schedule last year, but since we didn't have a pool then, this is the first time we're doing it at this level, and the first time there are 14 players vying for the prize!
One of the biggest changes from previous seasons is that the number of players that earn a bye has been cut in half. Rather than four players getting to kick back and relax this week, it's now only the #1 seed in each conference. And amazingly enough, that's a pair of rookie players, as it was newcomers Black And Blues Brothers and Delta Dawgs that earned their way to the top of their respective heaps. Now they get to sit back and watch to see who earns the right to compete against them in next week's Divisional Round.
So for this week we have twelve players facing off in six matches. Let's take a closer look at each one and see how they break down:
AFC #3 Seed Why Not Zoidberg? vs. AFC #6 Seed Louisville Islands:
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This is Louisville Islands third year in the league, and her third postseason appearance. Two seasons ago she made it to the Super Bowl, while last season she made it to Conference Championships -- not a bad rookie and sophomore performance. Why Not Zoidberg? joined the league in 2010, and while it took him a few years to make the playoffs, once he did he went on a tear. He made it every year from 2013-2016, including two Super Bowl appearances, but has spent the past four seasons trying to make this return trip. This pair met up the previous two seasons, with each picking up one victory, so this rubber match will be for much higher stakes.
AFC #4 Seed Vlad M vs. AFC #5 Seed JPP's Missing Fingers:
JPP's Missing Fingers joined the league in 2011 (as Chocolate Mudbuttons), which was the same season that Vlad M took it all the way to a victory in 1-On-1 Super Bowl VIII. Since that time, they've had seven regular season meetings, with Vlad M being the dominant player coming out with a victory in five of them. Coincidentally, these two met in this exact spot last postseason, with Vlad M once again moving on to the Divisional round. However, JPP's Missing Fingers definitely can't be counted out here. He's consistently had a high season pick total than Vlad M, and when we're dealing with a smaller picking pool like we do in the playoffs, getting just one right over your opponent becomes much more important.
NFC #2 Seed Turf Toe vs. NFC #7 Seed Rabid Ferrets:
Turf Toe joined the season in 2010 and rumbled his way right to the title of 1-On-1 Super Bowl VI Champion. That was his pinnacle, having won just three other playoff matches in the past nine seasons since then. However, each of those was against a higher-ranked opponent, which is definitely not the case here. Rabid Ferrets juuuust squeaked into the postseason despite back-to-back losses to finish the season, and an overall sub-.500 record. Still, there's a legacy of two 1-On-1 Super Bowls here, and the fact that he's beaten Turf Toe in four of their seven matches. Either way, it should be an interesting contest.
NFC #3 Seed Beep Bops vs. NFC #6 Seed Pigskin Palookas:
Sometimes when we look over the historical stats for these writeups, we come across a surprise or two. That was definitely the case here when we learned that even though this is his seventh season in the league, Beep Bops has only made one playoff appearance. That was in 2016 where we won in the Wild Card round before being eliminated in the Divisionals. Still, this was far and away his best season ever, and his Player Of The Year award gets extra punctuation when you think back to last season when he finished a league-low 2-14. Now he's looking to keep his rebound season going by getting past Pigskin Palookas -- something that, as it turns out, has not been historically difficult to do. In another surprise stat we didn't see coming, Pigskin Palookas has made it to the postseason five times in his 15 seasons, but has yet to ever win a playoff match. Will that change this time around? These two are dead-even head-to-head in their four previous meetings, so we're just going to have to let this one play out and see.
NFC #4 Seed Fighting Sporks vs. NFC #5 Seed Alabama Slammers:
Let's not be coy about it -- when the 1-On-1 Pool Hall Of Fame gets built, Fighting Sporks is the first inductee. The only three-time champion, the most postseason wins, and it would be much easier to count the seasons he didn't make the playoffs than the ones he did. He's been on a roughly "win a title every other season" streak since 2013, and this year he's due. For his part, Alabama Slammers doesn't have quite the same resume -- he made the playoffs in his rookie season of 2013, and then last season, both being one-and-done appearances. Can he get his first postseason victory and derail the Sporks Train? It seems if anyone can do it, it might be Alabama Slammers -- these two have had four regular season meetings (including Week 7 this year), and Fighting Sporks hasn't managed a single victory in their series.
The Bucs/Eagles and Chiefs/Steelers games are both unanimous pick, but the other four will all have an impact, with a couple of them being the only dfference in a match. Take a look at the updated pick chart below, and check back tonight to see who punches their ticket to the next round today. Good luck everyone!
LV @ CIN: The Raiders came close to forcing overtime, but the Bengals held them off and ended their ridiculously long playoff win drought. That's a win for everyone except Louisville Islands, who now need a win tonight by New England in order to avoid being the first player eliminated from this year's postseason.
The Brenda's Bulldogs/StuB match will be decided by the SF/DAL game, but I'll be bartending until late Sunday, so we'll get that update posted after all the games (and if you're in the area, feel free to come by the Columbus Club to enjoy a beverage and watch the games!).
Nothing on the line with the Steelers/Chiefs game, so check back tomorrow night after MNF to see how the four remaining matches finish up.
NOTE: If the chart below isn't updated through SF/DAL, then refresh your browser or click this link to see the updated chart.
Black And Blues Brothers vs. StuB
Why Not Zoidberg? vs. JPP's Missing Fingers
Delta Dawgs vs. Alabama Slammers
Turf Toe vs. Beep Bops
Congratulations to everyone that's made it this far! You can get an early jump on getting your picks submitted if you like. Check back in the next day or two for the Divisional preview. Have a great week everyone!
The chaff has fallen before the wheat, and it's time to get cooking -- welcome to the 2021 Divisonal Championships!
We're in a bit of a time crunch, so we're going to get right to the previews for this week's all-important matches. Let's see what we have in store:
AFC #3 Seed Why Not Zoidberg? vs. AFC #5 Seed JPP's Missing Fingers:
When JPP's Missing Fingers got a win over Vlad M last week, it was certainly cause for him to celebrate -- after all, woohoo, playoff win. What we didn't realize until this week was how personally groundbreaking that was for him. After ten seasons in the league and four postseason appearances, that was his first playoff win! Now that he's gotten himself off the playoff schneid, can JPP's Missing Fingers keep the ball rolling? Not if Why Not Zoidberg? has anything to say about it. How much does of a say does he have? Well, he's spoken pretty convincingly all three times these two have met head-to-head. Can he get the most important win to date between these two? Well, that's like a funeral with a glass coffin...remains to be seen*!
NFC #1 Seed Delta Dawgs vs. NFC #5 Seed Alabama Slammers:
Our other top-seeded rookie is getting ready for his playoff debut here, and...there's next to nothing to say about this matchup. Delta Dawgs had a stellar debut, but is untested in postseason action. Alabama Slammers got his first playoff win last week, but these two have never met head-to-head. Not much of a difference in their pick totals, so this one is close to impossibile to predict. May the better player win!
NFC #2 Seed Turf Toe vs. NFC #3 Seed Beep Bops:
High-quality matchup here, no question about it! The top-two players that had to fight through last week in order to get here going head-to-head? Almost seems unfair -- like this should be a Conference Championship match. But, that's exactly where one of these two will be heading. But which one? Beep Bops put up bigger number of picks this season, but Turf Toe's was definitely respectable as well. After four straight head-to-head losses to Turf Toe, Beep Bops finally got his first win in their series in Week 1 this year. It's certainly fitting that these two started the year against one another, and that same matchup will be the end of the road for one of them.
*(I'm so sorry. Apparently I'm letting bad jokes carry me through my playoff loss.)
Why Not Zoidberg? and JPP's Missing Fingers have only one difference, so their match will be decided on Sunday night with Why Not Zoidberg? riding with the Bills and JPP's Missing Fingers laying it all on the line with the Chiefs.
Delta Dawgs and Alabama Slammers have a really interesting one brewing -- they have two differences, so if the Titans and Chiefs win, then Delta Dawgs gets the win; but if it's the Bengals and Bills, then it will be all Alabama Slammers. However, if there is a split in those wins, then we go to total score. OH BUT WAIT...these two players both picked an identical total of 55, so we'll then be going to total offensive yardage for the Chiefs/Bills game! If that's the case, then our dividing line will be 716.5 yards, with Delta Dawgs needing more than that number and Alabama Slammers needing the defenses to keep it under.
And that leaves us with the final two matches -- Black And Blues Brothers vs. StuB and Turf Toe vs. Beep Bops -- both with three differences (all our players this week like the Packers over the Niners...a smart move, considering Jimmy Garoppolo has never won a game where it was lower than 46 degrees out and he'll be playing in six degree weather). All four players need to take two out of three, so we won't know who is moving on until Sunday, where one match will be settled from the result of each game.
CIN @ TEN & SF @ GB: Today, the road team eliminated a hugely favored #1 Seed via a last-second field goal...twice!
No 1-On-1 matches have been settled as of yet, but three players have a one-pick lead going into a decisive Sunday. Check back tomorrow to see who moves on to the Conference Championship!
This was definitely an upset-heavy week. 11 out of a possible 32 correct picks is the lowest pick total we've ever had on a Conference Championship weekend. We've also never had a winning score of 1-0 this week of the season either. Crazy results, both on the field and in the pool. (Side note: Following up on what I said above about being ok that I didn't have to pick this weekend. For the record, my Rabid Ferrets picks would have been 0-4. Womp womp.)
Congrats to everyone that made it this far -- one more win and you've earned your spot in 1-On-1 Super Bowl XVII! Our final four can get a jump on getting their picks submitted here. Have a great week all!
One more to go before the big dance. If you want to be able to take your shot in 1-On-1 Super Bowl XVII, then all that you have to do is get past that one player left in your way. Welcome to the 2021 Conference Championships!
28 players have fallen by the wayside, leaving us with our final four. For three of these players, it's their first time making it to this point in the season. For one of them -- StuB -- it's the first time in 10 years, since he won it all in 2012. For all of them, it's definitely been a great season up to this point, and now it's time to see if they can make it to that final step. Here's what we have in store this week:
NFC #1 Seed Delta Dawgs vs. NFC #3 Seed Beep Bops:
Well this certainly a fitting NFC title match -- the top player in the Power Rankings vs. the Player Of The Year! Beep Bops had the top spot for quite awhile, but a stumble down the stretch allowed Delta Dawgs to take over in the final week. It's a very rare thing to see a rookie make it to the 1-On-1 Super Bowl -- The Garoppolo Islands did it in 2018, and we had our all-rookie Super Bowl of Brenda's Bulldogs vs. Turf Toe in 2009. Now Delta Dawgs is looking to take it where rookies rarely manage to get. This is uncharted territory for Beep Bops as well -- he made it as far as the Divisionals in 2016, but this will be his first Conference title match. These two never met head-to-head this season, so as it turns out, their first matchup against one another will be for a trip to the Super Bowl!
Our first player making it to the Super Bowl will be determined by the straight-up winner of the CIN/KC game. All four players went the same way on both matches, with one exception: JPP's Missing Fingers went party-line and will move on if the Chiefs make it to another Super Bowl, while StuB was seemingly the only one who remembered how underdogs played last week and will be relying on the Bengals.
Our second match sees Delta Dawgs and Beep Bops with a definitive dividing line that will be settled via game #2 tiebreakers. Delta Dawgs will be hoping that strong San Fran defense comes to play and keeps the score under 49, while Beep Bops will be cheering on every deep shot taken by Stafford and is looking for the score to cross into the 50's or higher.
All right, that's that for this all-important week's preview. We'll be out all of game day tomorrow (assuming this blizzard has passed and the roads are reopened), so check back Sunday night for all your official results. Good luck players!
CIN @ KC: Stop me if you've heard this one before...a scrappy underdog team kicks a field goal to win in overtime over a heavily favored opponent. This is definitely becoming a trend in the NFL the last couple of weeks, and this time that kick was one that sends StuB to the 1-On-1 Super Bowl!
And that'll do it for this penultimate week of the playoffs. We'll be back in two weeks to see who gets to wear the crown and collect that top prize! And speaking of, I'll admit to being very remiss in collecting entry fees for the season. I'll make sure to block out some time in the next couple of days to calculate who owes what and who is owed what, and I'll send out emails to everyone breaking down your individual status.
Have a great two weeks, everyone!
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