CFFL Playoffs Round 1 2022

 The first round of the playoffs were by most parts pretty uneventful.  No dramatic finishes or big comebacks.  

Wrecking Crew 24  Killers 9 - Killers were lost.  With the pressure of playing the top seed Wrecking Crew, and their father, they weren't sure what to do.  Sick of Brady's play as of late they benched Good Ole Tom in favoer of Taylor Heinicke!  Wait What?  Well it wouldn't have matter, but Brady did score 12 points to Heinicke's 4.  With Murray now cut, it is Carr's team and he responded with 12 points in the win.

Carr was fired up in the win!

Crush 32  Titans 15 - The Titans Cinderella season came to a screeching halt as the Crush dominated the game.  Kirk Cousins had a huge game scoring 17 points after it looked like he might not score at all.  The Crush wideouts were back in the swing of things, as Chase and Jefferson both scored TDs.  It was an overall disappointing outing by the Titans that got no points from Davante Adams or Tony Pollard and Rodgers only had 4.  

Cousins at the podium after the Crush win

Whales 37  Krauts 29 - This game wasn't as close as the score would indicate.  Even with 18 points from Josh Allen, the Krauts couldn't muster up much offenses elsewhere.  Barkley would score late to pull with in two scores.  Whales got 15 points from Mahomes as he continues to lead them deep into the playoffs.  Getting 12 points from their RBs was huge as Elliott (who scored 5 weeks in a row) and Latavius Murray both had TDs.  

Mahomes sends Allen home in the postseason once again

Juggernauts 40  Ferrets 26 - The Ferrets season came to an end, thanks to a 3 TD performance from Zay Jones.  Yes that's right.  Zay Jones!  Oh and a ridiculous pitchy pitchy woo woo play that resulted in a Raider defensive score for the Juggs.  The Ferrets, known for all sorts of back luck, seemed to avoid that bad luck most of the season getting to 9-5 and making the playoffs.  But that bad luck reared its ugly head once again for the Ferrets.  Not only Zay Jones and the pitchy pitchy woo woo debacle, but Jonathan Taylor and Tyler Lockett went down and were both out the rest of the game. Ouch.

Zay Jones...I mean really??

On a side note...my predictions went 4-0.  What will happen next week in the semi-finals?

Crush at Wrecking Crew - Oh what a bitter rivalry we have here in the semi-finals.  Not that they play against each other a lot, but when they do the game is always chippie and there's lots of jawing.  It really started in 2006 when they faced off in Fantasy Bowl XXII where the Crush beat the Crew 41-37.  The Crew needed just 6 points from Kicker Robbie Gould on New Years Eve, but fell short.  The Crew would get a little bit of revenge in 2013 defeating the Crush in round 1 of the playoffs 34-24 on their way to winning Fantasy Bowl XXIX.   

Cousins to lead the Crush back to the Fantasy Bowl

The Crew have relied on their stout defense (or luck) all season.  Will it finally run out?  Carr is going to have to have another double digit performance to win this game along with some production out of their WRs.  Crew running backs are solid with Ekeler, Jacobs and Conner if needed.
 

The Crush on the other hand win through the air, not the ground.  Can Cousins have another huge day? Maybe not that big, but 3 TDs is possible.  Plus they will roll out their trio of WRs in Jefferson (10 point play), Chase and Lamb.  They certainly have more fire power than the Crew. 

Crew will need to control the game on the ground and rely on their D to win this one.  But wait, this is Fantasy Football, not real football.

Prediction:  Crush 34-27

Juggernauts at Whales - In 2020, the Whales first year, they made the playoffs and lost in the first round to the Chislers 42-25 who would go on to win Fantasy Bowl XXXVI.  Last year the Whales made it to the second round only to lose to the Krauts 44-29, who also went on to win the Fantasy Bowl. Will this trend continue or is it the Whales turn to finally make it to the  Fantasy Bowl? 

Dangerous Duo

Well the Whales seem to be peaking at the right time.  When you have Mahomes you are never out of it and he has scored double digit points 3 weeks in a row.  Plus having Kelce on the team gives them a potential for multiple 10 point connections.  On the ground Elliott has been a stud at the goal line scoring 5 weeks in a row.  Actually Elliott has scored 7 games in a row that he has played. 
 

The Juggernauts on the other had are not peaking.  While scoring a high of 40 points I wouldn't count on Zay Jones scoring another 18 points.  Plus they are a mess at QB.  Last week no QB played.  This week it is still uncertain if either Lamar Jackson or Mike White will play.  If they can beat Mahomes and the Whales without a QB they are truly a team of destiny.  With all that said they still have J.K. Dobbins, McCaffrey, AJ Brown, and Diggs.  Maybe they don't need a QB after all...

The lack of QB production for the Juggs finally does them in.

Prediction:  Whales 32-21