We are almost at the halfway point of the regular season of the first BFL and the road to the inaugural Bridgend Bowl is shaping up to be a tense and close one. Although half the season is almost gone, there is still an awful lot to play for. Even though there appears to be two separate divisions forming with in the league, there are still four play off places up for grabs. And it is proven each and every week – on any given Sunday (or Thursday, Monday and later on in the season – Saturday), any team can beat any team.
As several of the NFL’s hottest teams all enter their byes this week, including three undefeated teams (Bengals, Broncos, Packers), the next two weeks will perhaps determine the good GMs from the better ones – it’s one thing to drop players on a bye week, but will they be there when waiver claims go back in?
It’s time to cross over to The Dope as he makes his weekly prognostications.
Clowns @ Morgan
Previous Matchup: Week 3, Morgan 146.1 @ Clowns 229.9
As expected last week, the Clowns ended the hot streak of the league’s hottest team, continuing the hoodoo that the team has over the Rage with another victory. Picking up a Hyundai Player of the Week award, QB Tom Brady’s performance fell short of many expectations, but another outstanding game from RB Devonta Freeman meant that the Clowns collective will continue to feel excellent about their team’s chances in weeks to come. S Reshad Jones deserves some spotlight for a superb effort last week, returning an interception for a TD and outscoring many players on the Clowns’s offence.
The Dope’s sole incorrect prediction last week was based on Team Morgan’s performance and morale amongst the team must be low after coming up just short in last week’s bottom of the table clash. As expected, QB Peyton Manning was discarded from the team at the end of the week, with the below average performances from the veteran QB this season finally catching up to him, especially with Andy Dalton performing admirably at QB. However, keep an eye on the team’s QB drama – with Dalton on a bye and Ben Roethlisberger not 100% confirmed to be available on Sunday, the team will need superb production from elsewhere – DE Cameron Jordan had a magnificent outing in week 6 and this week might also be performing well.
The Dope’s Prediction: Even without Morgan’s QB drama, the Clowns continue to steam roll their opponents and will solidify their position as title contenders.
Rage @ Winos
Previous Matchup: Week 3, Winos 235.7 @ Rage 280.2
The Rage will be kicking themselves at almost ending their long running losing streak against the Clowns last week. The late free agent pick-up of RB Chris Johnson instead of Jeremy Hill was projected to get the team over the edge, but, Johnson disappointed and had Hill started, the Rage would be looking at a 5-1 record. However, the team would have been delighted at the performance of WR DeAndre Hopkins, showing signs of why he was highly regarded at the beginning of the season, as well as a stand-out performance from LB Karlos Dansby, who returned his first pick-six since December 2013.
So the Winos did it once more, making fools of everyone with the concrete line-ups. However, this week might be different. For starters, the Winos face the only team to hang a loss on them this season – week 3’s beat down might have been forgotten by Winos faithful amid the hype of the incredible winning record but the Rage will use that as a marker for this week’s performance. At press time, the Winos have yet to change their line-ups and they could potentially be hammered this week, with several prominent players (highlighted by QB Aaron Rodgers) missing this match. It’s also worth noting that the Rage’s points total would have beaten the Winos in every week this season, so perhaps the Winos have sleepwalked their way to a 5-1 record.
The Dope’s Prediction: The static line-ups finally catch-up with the Winos as the Rage hand them their second loss of the season.
Dallas @ Cookies
Previous Matchup: Week 3, Cookies 328.3 @ Dallas 157.1
This week’s highlighted game is between the two teams on 2-4…
Despite being hammered by injuries, the Dezzys performed admirably in last week’s match and were not deserving of the Turkey of the Week. It was a strong team selection, but with the Falcons D/ST coming up short, as well as their undefeated streak ending with aplomb, the team were handicapped going into Sunday’s games and would have needed almost superhuman production up and down the board to make-up for the deductions. Like their opponents last week, the Dezzys are hammered by the bye weeks this week, especially on defence. An interesting decision lies at QB, with Andrew Luck and Blake Bortles both projected to have good games.
The Cookies finally got their second win of the season last week and at last the Dope can stop feeling sympathetic to their plight. QB Philip Rivers led by example with an outstanding performance, making up for a below average output from the rest of the offence. The momentum gained from that kind of victory could really kick start a season and with the fourth play-off spot up for grabs, the potential for an upset is always going to be there. The Cookies are favoured at almost every position this week (except TE – where the superb Rob Gronkowski lines up for Dallas), but the question remains whether last week’s victory was a sign of things to come, or will the team crumble back to the mean this week?
The Dope’s Prediction: The Cookies don’t crumble this week, taking advantage of a Dallas team hit by the bye week schedule.
The Dope’s Week 6 Predictions: 2-1
The Dope’s Overall Predictions: 9-9
From the Commish’s Desk…
* We are four weeks away from the trade deadline, which to remind you all is on Thursday, November 19 @ 12PM EST. It came to my attention this week that for all I’ve been banging on about the Trading Block page, it’s not available on the mobile apps. For your hate mail, please mark it C/O ESPN, Middle Street, Bristol, Connecticut.
* I know we are only in our first season, but I was already thinking of expansion. My hope is that we get two more teams for 2016, then my proposal is to split the league into two conferences, where you play everyone within your conference twice and everyone from the other conference once. Obviously, this is a pipe dream as we have yet to complete this season yet, but I am hoping that we continue this in the future.
Good luck everyone this week and I hope to see some of you this weekend.