Impossible to stop Traverso
Congrats Knights and good luck next season in Second Division.

I feel last season spoilt us in terms of the title race. This season has been over for a few weeks, last time we pretty much had a final.

The final one of the season; looking forward to season 22 already!

Manchester Pigeon (P) v Vikings Nantes (7)
Commentary: Neither team can improve their lot, with Pigeon long relegated and Nantes out of touch with 7th on PD. Won't be surprised to see a BPOS lineup from Nantes.
Prediction: Nantes by 35

Pandapocalypse (3) v Johnstown Pioneers (5)
Commentary: Having been decisively beaten by Pigeon it's clear the Pioneers have shut down in preparation for their move back to DIV. I'll be rolling out at least some of the starters to try and avoid an upset, which would allow the Pros to sneak into 3rd with a win.
Prediction: Pandapocalypse by 28

Inverglen Knights (4) v Gladiator (P)
Commentary: An easy home win for the Knights to wrap up a well deserved title win. Nice for the loyal home fans that they'll get to see the title sown up on home turf.
Prediction: Knights by 63

Terrassa Red Sharks (R) v Spain Bulls (2)
Commentary: TRS should take the Batalla de España but that Bulls' D always keeps an upset win a possibility.
Prediction: TRS by 14

Traujin's Pros (6) v Tyresö Royal Crowns (P)
Commentary: A grudge match for the Pros, who saw their old rivals take the first half of the series this season. With a current PD lead of 133 points the Pros would have to lose by 67 points to lose their 4th place spot to the Crowns, which seems highly unlikely without a bot lineup.
Prediction: Pros by 7

acooper1004 wrote: Going to play a few BPOS players, but still hoping for a comfy win I'd love to know how the Gladiators have been so good on Defence this year, for such a low wage bunch of players, they are tough to score big against in a few seasons they could be a strong team

They really seem like that plucky team the neutrals love.

Looking over the stats their defensive ends have more than pulled their weight. They let a few too many completions go. Their tackle rate isn't woeful but still worse than the more established sides. Wonder how far physicals are going towards this? I found a decent defense can be made by a side with BPOS and physicals. Won't win very much but it is a competitive base to come from. Their reliance on the run game also takes a lot of pressure from the defense as there is simply less time for drives.

While they have outperformed expectations they have conceded a TD on over 11% of the passing plays against them. This is better than some sides like the Crowns, Pioneers and Pigeons as well as close to Nantes but it is several % off any other side. The top defenses are keeping teams to a TD on a little over 7% of passing plays against them.

The final stats page for the season

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1n8Lwmw6fPHweHmS7rygcmKyDdZsaESk1NfUfBVZYDvc/edit?usp=sharing

Obviously the last few weeks created a few issues with BPOS players going in a lot of the time.

For instance Staten ended up needing to do a lot more throwing to the crowd once I removed a lot of his dependable protection late on in the season.