NFC: I’m going to preface this by saying, being realistic, the NFC is very top heavy and the rest of the NFC inflates their wins against the bottom tier users. So it’s hard to gauge how good these teams really are. I’ve played a handful here and in our other league so I have some insight. 

 

1 - Falcons - contender: I wasn’t a fan of Pitts playing WR but allowing Hurst to get on the field seems to have made a difference. Cam has been efficient and Fin has beat the best teams that have been on the schedule. He goes into the playoffs as the team to beat. I played fin in top with a completely different team so it’s hard to compare offensive schemes, but defensively he does the same things, figures out what you want to do and tries to neutralize it while usering a different player all over the field. Most people play defense and want you to adapt, but fin seems to come into the game with a plan and change it up. 

 

2 - Vikings - contender: Dump off Daniel. I obviously played Dan a lot last year and played him this year and it’s the same. Smart offense that doesn’t turn the ball over much and will have your head spinning on who to cover. Three great WR and being able to dump it down AND knowing when to dump it down to Cook is a scary offense. You can’t take your foot off the gas on Dan cuz he has the ability to score a lot and quick. His defense is mid tier but it just needs to force a turnover or a few field goals and it did it’s job for Dan. Dans not the best user imo but he makes some top tier lurks here and there. If the games total points get over 50 you’re playing into Dans hand. 

 

 

3 - WFT - contender: The first playoffs for Little Alex where he doesn’t have to worry about Austin until the Bowl. The big knock on Alex is he can get in holes quick against top talent and then makes himself have to try hard to get out of them in the second half. He knows the game inside and out so you’re not going to out scheme him. I played him in the preseason and a few times in Top and it’s the same thing, play action passes, rolling out, and picking you apart short and taking his chances deep. He’ll make some bad throws and give you some gifts so being patient is the key to stopping the offense. On that point it’s more so that Alex just thinks he’ll get it back later and in the playoffs that’s not always the case. 

 

 

4 - Rams - pretender: This one hurts to say. Cody on paper is a pretender. His schedule was weak and the only wins against playoff teams were alex week one when he was getting his footing. Taint week 2 who just wasn’t ready yet and Kook who know one knows how to rank. But Cody has two rings in BL and has a team to do it. I haven’t played Cody this cycle at all so I’m not sure how to play him but being able to be efficient running and play a bend but don’t break defense. 

 

 

5 - Panthers - pretender: the undefeated Morty season seems so far away. I played Morty in a few games before BL started and he’s still a super efficient passer. He has Darnold with 45 TDs and 20 int. The number two pass d which it would be blasphemous if it was lower with that secondary. The biggest knock on Morty is he doesn’t run the ball. And gets discouraged if you stop his run early and doesn’t go back to it. Everyone gets in that lull, unless you’re kiing, which Morty has to get out of. When people know you’re going to pass, especially the top users, it makes their job on defense so much easier. Maybe some spread formation inside zones, some runs on third and long. Use that pass heavy offense to disguise the run. But until we see that I can’t give Morty a contender status. 

 

 

6 - Bears - pretender: Besides Justin does anyone benefit from madden more than Alex? I’m kidding, I’m still salty about kmet Alex OK! A lot of Alex’s games seem like dog fights and he just scraps to pull out some wins. Outside of the shellacking of Dan, a lot of his wins have been close games. Either alex is pulling out some wins and knows how to pull off game winners, or he’s just backing into some wins and doing enough not to lose. Stopping the run is the key to slowing him down as fields will turn the ball over. Defensively alex seems back to being the dominant user on that side that he always was. Great user and mixing in some pressure to throw you off. In our game it was tough to get the rush game going with Roquan hawking me down and I had no time to throw with Mack breathing down my neck every pass play. Wouldn’t surprise me if Alex wins a playoff game, just don’t know if he has the offense to get to a bowl yet. 

 

 

7 - Giants - pretender: I’m going to preface this by saying it would absolutely not shock me if Lucky went to a super bowl as it would also not shock me if he lost 67-8 in the first round. Lucky is so jekyl and Hyde it’s crazy. This is going to come off toxic but I just don’t think lucky ‘cares’ enough to win a bowl. I know he loves BL and he’d be here still and love playing(still complaining) even if he was going 1-15 every year. I just don’t think he’s going to change up how he plays or look into his opponent to take that next step. There’s games lucky will throw 5 incompletions and 5 touchdowns and then others he’ll have 5 completions and 10 picks. You just don’t know which lucky will come playoff time. 

 

 

Packers - pretender: I think if Tim made the playoffs he’d make a game interesting. He runs the ball well and throws great with Arod. His defense is hit or miss which hurts. 

 

 

Cards - pretender: unless he plays Cody he wouldn’t win a game.