SHL PT
Robbed
The Philadelphia Liberty were robbed of a playoff spot and deserved a shot to play against either the Baltimore Hawks or the New Orleans Second Line in the semi-finals. The Liberty finished with a 7-7 record, which doesn't stand out too much from the rest of the playoff bubble teams. Colorado's 8-6 record was good enough to get them into the playoffs, but I believe that the Liberty were the better team, and deserved it more. Even though the series split between the Yeti and the Liberty was tied 1-1, the Yeti squeaked out their win by the slimmest of margins, winning 34-31. When the two teams met a second time, the Liberty beat them convincingly, 38-13. It's close, but I'd say that the edge goes to the Liberty. It really came down to who could win consistently, against good teams and bad. Both the Yeti and the Liberty pulled off huge upsets, beating the Baltimore Hawks and the New Orleans Second Line respectively. The downfall of the Liberty was when they lost to the San Jose Sabercats 27-21, giving the Sabercats their first and only win of the season. In this game, the Liberty QB, Falconi, had one of her worst nights in her career. She was 17/40, with no touchdowns and 4 interceptions. That lone game cost the Liberty their shot at the playoffs.
Unsung Hero
The unsung hero of the playoffs is Vladimir Fyodorovich. It's a hard name to spell, and an even harder player to defend against, apparently. Vlad's overall statline for the playoffs was 15 catches for 200 yards and 5 touchdowns. He even had a 50 yard punt return in the championship game, so he technically had 6 touchdowns in 2 games. For anyone that's not a quarterback, that's an incredible accomplishment. If I'm not mistaken, Vlad made the switch from cornerback (or maybe safety?) to wide receiver this off-season, so a lot of defenders might not have had a lot of time to study any game film on him. This showed in the regular season as much as it did in the playoffs. What's even more surprising about this performance is that Vlad is typically the Second Line's yardage receiver and doesn't typically score a lot of touchdowns. He finished with 6 in the regular season, compared to Law's 8 and LeClair's 9. It's possible that Law and LeClair were covered a lot heavier in the red zone, which is why Vlad was able to sneak past unnoticed. After all, 4 of Vlad's 5 receiving touchdowns came from the red zone.
Robbed
The Philadelphia Liberty were robbed of a playoff spot and deserved a shot to play against either the Baltimore Hawks or the New Orleans Second Line in the semi-finals. The Liberty finished with a 7-7 record, which doesn't stand out too much from the rest of the playoff bubble teams. Colorado's 8-6 record was good enough to get them into the playoffs, but I believe that the Liberty were the better team, and deserved it more. Even though the series split between the Yeti and the Liberty was tied 1-1, the Yeti squeaked out their win by the slimmest of margins, winning 34-31. When the two teams met a second time, the Liberty beat them convincingly, 38-13. It's close, but I'd say that the edge goes to the Liberty. It really came down to who could win consistently, against good teams and bad. Both the Yeti and the Liberty pulled off huge upsets, beating the Baltimore Hawks and the New Orleans Second Line respectively. The downfall of the Liberty was when they lost to the San Jose Sabercats 27-21, giving the Sabercats their first and only win of the season. In this game, the Liberty QB, Falconi, had one of her worst nights in her career. She was 17/40, with no touchdowns and 4 interceptions. That lone game cost the Liberty their shot at the playoffs.
Unsung Hero
The unsung hero of the playoffs is Vladimir Fyodorovich. It's a hard name to spell, and an even harder player to defend against, apparently. Vlad's overall statline for the playoffs was 15 catches for 200 yards and 5 touchdowns. He even had a 50 yard punt return in the championship game, so he technically had 6 touchdowns in 2 games. For anyone that's not a quarterback, that's an incredible accomplishment. If I'm not mistaken, Vlad made the switch from cornerback (or maybe safety?) to wide receiver this off-season, so a lot of defenders might not have had a lot of time to study any game film on him. This showed in the regular season as much as it did in the playoffs. What's even more surprising about this performance is that Vlad is typically the Second Line's yardage receiver and doesn't typically score a lot of touchdowns. He finished with 6 in the regular season, compared to Law's 8 and LeClair's 9. It's possible that Law and LeClair were covered a lot heavier in the red zone, which is why Vlad was able to sneak past unnoticed. After all, 4 of Vlad's 5 receiving touchdowns came from the red zone.
