2007 Pro Bowl

Tom Brady swept every award he was eligible for and John garnered co-coach of the year honors with Steve. Terrence McGee picked up the defensive player of the year award. Michael Vick picked up the first ever goat of the year award.

Capo sent the most players to the pro-bowl (4). Capo, Flannel, and Drow all sent 2 first teamers. The Right division accounted for more then 1/2 of the pro bowlers.

Complete Pro Bowl List

FLOF Bowl 11: Rednecks 21 - Flannel 34

Its been a crazy season, but in the end. Two of the best teams made it to the FLOF Bowl. Rednecks have lost their 4th FLOF Bowl in 5 years and have officially sent me a new helmet for next year. To be revealed soon.

Flannel, meanwhile, win their second FLOF Bowl and tie Hamburglers/Hicks as the only other 2-time FLOF Bowl Champ (Deadheads won 3 before retiring). Peyton picks up FLOF Bowl Player of the Week hardware in addition to the OPoW award, edging out Rodney Harrison who will settle for Defensive Player of the Week. Deon Branch picks up the goat award.

(9-5, Right Division Champs) Flannel 34 v. (9-4-1, Middle Division Champs) Rednecks 21

First Weekend: Rednecks pick up an early lead based mainly on getting 9 pts from Fred Taylor with Joseph Addai yet to play for Flannel. Both teams got 6 pts from a WR and almost the same pts out of two defensive players this week, so lets call the first half of this game a push. I wonder if it will come down to Brady v. Manning? I suppose that would be appropriate.

Second Weekend: The two marque QBs in this game did come through with the biggest scores, but nearly canceled each other out. The different at the end of the day between these very competitive teams was the WRs. Rednecks ended up counting on a gimpy Deon Branch who came up with nothing in the end compared with Flannel who got 8 pts out of Wes Welker.

Grade: B, Offense B, Defense B-
Grade: C, Offense C, Defense B-

Hard to argue with the two teams that ended up here. Rednecks finished with the best regular season record. Flannel tied for the second best. Rednecks and Flannel finished with the second and third most points scored in the regular season respectively. Rednecks scored the second most offensive pts and Flannel scored the 4th most offensive and 3rd most defensive pts.

But both teams have very different personalities. Rednecks are a very steady team, rarely bottoming out. Flannel are certainly flashier but also more prone to periodic collapses. Both teams' last four games are good examples. Flannel closed out the season on a tear scoring 94 and 104, then squeeked by in the Wild Card game after scoring only 55 before scoring a respectable 73 to move on the FLOF Bowl. Rednecks have scored 71, 66, 82, and 71 in their last four games.

Both teams are relatively old franchises. Flannel are completing their 8th season and Rednecks are in their 6th. Both teams have good playoff records. Flannel are 7-2 and Rednecks are 5-2. Rednecks have been to 3 of the last 4 FLOF Bowls but have yet to win one, losing to Drow in 2003, Deadheads in 2004 and Capo last year. Flannel won the FLOF Bowl in 2000 over the NY Hicks (now the Hamburglers) in only their second season, but did not make the playoffs again till last season.

Positional Edge: QB: RB: WR: K: DF: DB:
Vegas Line: Rednecks by 1.5

Rednecks Survive Defensive Onslaught; Flannel Hold on to Early Lead

Brawlers gave Rednecks everything they could handle with a massive defensive outing but the top seed moved on to their 4th FLOF Bowl in the last 5 years. Flannel was too much for Beavers on both sides of the ball and comfortably moved on to their second FLOF Bowl.

Peyton Manning picks up Player of the Week honors for driving Flannel to the FLOF Bowl. Fred Taylor gets an honorable mention though for being the best player on a Rednecks' team that needed everything it got on offense. Dallas Clark had a huge game for Beavers and picks up OPoW honors despite the loss. Leigh Bodden picks up DPoW honors in Brawlers' near losing effort. Brett Favre picks up the Goat of the Week award for his -1 pts in a 3 pt playoff loss.

(7-6-1, 2nd Wild Card) Brawlers 1 @ (9-4-1, Middle Division Champs) Rednecks 4
Brawlers had the only decent game last week led by their suddenly but still sporadically capable defense. Brawlers have been very boom or bust this year with one of the best offenses in the league but also 5 games scoring less then 42 total pts during the regular season. Rednecks have only lost 1 of their last 6 games and 2 of their last 10. Rednecks' key to success this year is that they rarely had a truly bad game, only twice scoring less then 60 total pts.

Brawlers picked up 20 pts in Leigh Bolden in free agency this week. Along with Urlacher Brawlers almost blanked Rednecks and would have come away with a victory but Brett Favre scored -1 and they still couldn't field a kicker. So Rednecks survive and move on.

Grade: C+, Offense D-, Defense A+
Grade: B-, Offense C, Defense B+
Positional Edge: QB: RB: WR: K: DF: DB:
Vegas Line: Rednecks by 10

(9-5, Right Division Champs) Flannel 29 @ (9-5, Left Division Champs) Beavers 14
Both of these teams ran out to big leads in their divisions but ended the season in a bit of a slump. Flannel lost 4 in a row before winning the season finale and last week's playoff squeaker. Beavers lost 3 of their last 4, also just enough to secure their division.

Peyton played real well to push Flannel out to a lead they never lost. Adrian Peterson had a chance for Sunday Night heroics but came up with a small game to leave the Beavers too far behind.

Grade: B-, Offense B-, Defense B-
Grade: D, Offense D, Defense B-
Positional Edge: QB: push RB: WR: K: DF: DB:
Vegas Line: Beavers by 0.5

Wild Card Week (and Toilet Bowl): Flannel, Brawlers advance

Rednecks (#1 seed) and Beavers (#2 seed) have to like what they saw this week as Mimes had the only team on the field that looked like a playoff team.

Urlacher runs away with the PoW award (and defensive PoW) for Brawlers. David Garrard picks up offensive PoW credit in a losing effort for Old No. 7. Goat was tough this week. You could make a good argument for most of the CAPO offensive and a couple coaches could have been nominated if they were eligible. However, I think Romo has to get the nod with -1 pts. He scores his average for the season and Capo move on.

Toilet Bowl honors go to Mason Crosby as PoW and OPoW. Ray Lewis picks up DPoW honors for the Toilet Bowl and completes the award sweep for the victorious Mimes. Not that it would have made a difference in this game, but Toilet Bowl Goat has to be Derek Anderson who scored only 4 pts.

(7-7, 3rd Wild Card) Old No. 7 11 @ (9-5, Right Division Champs) Flannel 20
Flannel started the season off by running away from the pack going 6-0 and then 8-1 before losing their next 4 in a row. They did manage to right the ship the last couple of weeks -- losing a shoot-out against Hamburglers before pummeling Capo to win the division. Old No. 7 went 0-6 against their own Middle Division, but went 7-1 against everyone else (including a 23-4 victory over Flannel in week 12) for an improbably playoff birth.

Old No. 7 needed a big game from Adrian Peterson (the Chicago version) to pull off the upset Monday night. They did not get it. Flannel certainly gave them an opening with no one on the offense stepping it up. The Flannel defense held down the fort lead by Anthony Smith's 12 pts.

Grade: D-, Offense C-, Defense D-
Grade: D, Offense D, Defense B-
Positional Edge: QB: RB: WR: K: DF: push DB:
Vegas Line: Flannel by 20

(7-6-1, 2nd Wild Card) Brawlers 15 @ (8-6, 1st Wild Card) Capo 3
Both of these teams are where they are due to good late season runs. Capo won 6 of their last 8 games and almost stole the division crown away from Flannel. Brawlers won 4 of their last 5 -- and they needed every last one of those wins to secure a playoff spot in the last week.

Romo, T.O., and Moss combined for 3 pts this week. Capo's sole touchdown came from Ronde Barber. Brawlers contributed to the off game with two guys who missed the team bus. But Urlacher exploded Monday night for 23 and carried Brawlers on his back to the next round.

Grade: C, Offense D+, Defense B+
Grade: D-, Offense D, Defense C+
Positional Edge: QB: RB: WR: K: DF: DB:
Vegas Line: Capo by 0.5

(4-10) Mimes 40 @ (4-7-3) Malleus 0
Quite a week for Malleus who go from having the slimmest of playoff hopes to here. Malleus did improve their record from last year's incarnation as the Lightning, but not enough to escape the Toilet Bowl. Mimes' season went south during a 5 game losing streak that started in week 6 and didn't end until they had a guaranteed losing record with 4 games to go.

Malleus turned in their worst game of the season and Mimes have far and away out scored all the teams participating in the actual playoffs. Perhaps we should advance Mimes to the next round?

Grade: B, Offense: B-, Defense B-
Grade: F-, Offense F-, Defense FVegas Line: Malleus by 2.5

Final 2007 Season Rankings

And you all thought I'd forgot about rankings? Nope, just saving them. With the actual regular season over, we ponder what might have been and grade the efforts each team put up instead of the results we're stuck with. Unlike past rankings which have been about the moment, this ranking looked at the entire season's performance.

1) Capo (finished 8-6 / should have finished 10-4). This was a WR combo for the ages. Probably should have won 10 games. Had the highest median offense, defense, and total power rankings. Capo scored in the top 1/6 of all scores this year in exactly half of their games (91 or more pts). [Median Power / Grade: 84 /A, Offense: 58 /A, Defense 26/A-]

2) Flannel (9-5 / 8-5-1). The Manning-Addai combo was pretty good at times, but also led to a bit of a slump late in the season. The clear-cut #2 team with the 3rd highest median offense and defense and 2nd best median power rank. Scored in the top 1/3 in 8 of their games this year (76+). [Median Power / Grade: 80 /A-, Offense: 55 /A-, Defense: 24 /B+]

3) Drow (7-7 / 8-6). This team had the habit of coming up with good defensive games to cover for a barely adequate offense. Probably should have won one more game then they did (8 instead of 7). Managed to have the 3rd best median power rank despite having only the 8th best offensive median and 6th best defensive median. Scored in the top 1/3 in 7 of their games this year (76+). [Median Power / Grade: 77 /A-, Offense 43 /C, Defense 22 /B]

4) Hamburglers (6-8 / 8-6). Great offense, no defense was the story of this team. Ranking 3rd in median offense this team should probably have won 8 games instead of the 6 it ended with. But the 10th ranked median defense contributed to most Hamburgler scores settling in right around the median score (Eight games in the middle 1/3 of total pts). [Median Power / Grade: 71 /B, Offense: 55 /A-, Defense 17 /C-]

5) Rednecks (9-4-1 / 8-6). The worst median offense in FLOF held this team back but the worst division in FLOF probably contributed 1 more win to Rednecks' total then they deserved. With the 5th ranked median offense and 6th ranked median total power. Rednecks were also helped by being 1 of only 2 teams to not score in the bottom 1/3 of scores this season. [Median Power / Grade: 69 /B-, Offense: 51 /B, Defense: 15 /D]

6) Beavers (9-5 / 7-7). This team's game had a lot to do with Adrian Peterson's development then injury. Beavers probably over-achieved by a game this year given they had a pretty average scoring team with the 6th best median scores, 6th median offense, and 7th median defense and the future looks even brighter. [Median Power / Grade: 69 /B-, Offense: 49 /B, Defense: 20 /B-]

7) Brawlers (7-6-1 / 6-7-1). Boom or bust was the story of this team. Six games they scored in the top 1/3 of scores, but a league leading 5 times they scored in the bottom 1/6 of scores. It was also all about the offense, with the 2nd ranked median offense and 10th ranked median defense contributing to the 4th ranked median total. [Median Power / Grade: 71 /B, Offense 56 /A-, Defense 17 /C-]

8) Malleus (4-7-3 / 7-7). Maybe this team should have had more like 7 wins, but they also had more games under the median then above it (8 to 6) and the 9th ranked median power. But their 7th ranked median offense and defense combined with being the other team to never score a bottom 1/6th balanced that out some. [Median Power / Grade: 66 /C, Offense: 47 /B-, Defense: 20 /B-]

9) Bill (5-8-1 / 6-8). We certainly expected more out of Carson Palmer and Shawn Alexander. On top of it they were a little unlucky -- they probably should have won one more game then they did. But their 10th ranked median offense countered their 2nd ranked median defense to produce the 8th ranked median power score. [Median Power / Grade: 67 /C, Offense 39 /C-, Defense 25 /A-]

10) Mimes (4-10 / 6-8). Maybe they don't deserve to be in the Toilet Bowl, but only just barely. The first of three teams to have their median power land in the bottom 1/3 of all scores. Their 9th ranked median offense was not helped enough by a 7th ranked median defense totaling the 11th ranked median power. [Median Power / Grade: 56 /D, Offense 40 /C-, Defense 20 /B-]

11) Old No. 7 (7-7 / 5-8-1). Easily the worst offense in FLOF contributes to the worst median power rank despite the 4th best defensive median. The kicker is the league high 8 games scored in the bottom 1/3. Winning 6 games probably would have been more likely then the playoffs, but... [Median Power / Grade: 53 /D, Offense 32 /D, Defense 23 /B]

12) Ramjets (6-8 / 5-9). Some of their numbers are better then Mimes and Old No. 7 including the 10th ranked median power and 4th ranked median defense. But their median offense was only better then Old No. 7 and they had a league leading 12 games where they scored below the median -- somehow they won 3 of those games. [Median Power / Grade: 59 /D+, Offense 37 /C-, Defense 23 /B]

Week 14: Flannel Claim Right Division; Brawlers clinch wild card; Old No. 7 backs in

Rednecks (#1 seed) and Beavers (#2 seed) get to rest for a week. This weekend's playoff matchups are #3 seed Flannel hosting #6 seed Old No. 7 and #4 seed Capo hosting #5 seed Brawlers. Oh and the Toilet Bowl will be Mimes at Malleus.

Player of the week was tough this week since every game was a blow-out, but Hassellback was the biggest factor in the closest game so he gets the nod for as PoW in his effort for Drow. Brady scored 38 to appropriately claim the last regular season OPoW award. New Malleus acquisition Elvis Dumervil almost got PoW just for his name, but will have to settle for DPoW. Goat was also a tough one. Kolby Smith's -1 for Capo was a serious contender, but a good game out of him probably would not have made a difference. But Adrian Peterson's 0 pts for Beavers conceivably cost the game here.

(9-5) Flannel 56 @ (8-6) Capo 29
Flannel end their 4-game slide in time to grab the division title they thought they had weeks ago and almost gave away in the end. Flannel claim at least (and most likely) the third seed, while Capo likely will only drop to the #4 seed.
Grade: A+, Offense A+, Defense B-
Grade: B-, Offense C+, Defense B
Vegas Line: Capo by 25

(7-7) Old No. 7 13 @ (9-4-1) Rednecks 48
Old No. 7 lose, but Ramjets loss means they're in anyways as the #6 seed. The Redneck win and Beaver loss grants Rednecks the top seed and a bye.
Grade: D, Offense F, Defense B
Grade: B+, Offense A, Defense F
Vegas Line: Rednecks by 13.5

(4-10) Mimes 13 @ (7-6-1) Brawlers 37
Brawlers lock up the #5 seed with this win. Mimes gear up for a trip to Malleus for the Toilet Bowl next week.
Grade: D-, Offense: F, Defense B
Grade: C+, Offense B, Defense F
Vegas Line: Brawlers by 4

(6-8) Ramjets 19 @ (6-8) Hamburglers 50
With Old No. 7 going down to Rednecks, Ramjets had an opening, but they couldn't take care of business against the Hamburglers.
Grade: C, Offense C+, Defense C+
Grade: A, Offense A, Defense B
Vegas Line: Hamburglers by 14

(9-5) Beavers 28 @ (7-7) Drow 45
Drow won a game they had to have but it was too little to late as Brawlers secure their spot and Drow lose out to Old No. 7 in the head-to-head tie-breaker. The loss drops Beavers to the #2 seed but they still get the bye.
Grade: C+, Offense B-, Defense C+
Grade: B+, Offense B+, Defense B-
Vegas Line: Drow by 16

(4-7-3) Malleus 0 @ (5-8-1) Bill 15
It wasn't looking good for Malleus anyways with Brawlers and Drow heading toward likely wins, but Bill put them out of their misery and into the Toilet Bowl.
Grade: C-, Offense F, Defense A
Grade: B, Offense C+, Defense B+
Vegas Line: tie (just 'cause I can)