Mid-Season Report: Left Division

If the season ended today...

I'd be digging pretty deep into the tie-breakers. Beavers, Mimes, and Drow all sit at 4-3 at the half-way mark. All 3 are 2-1 in the division and have lost in a round-robin to each other in such a way that we end up pretty far down the tie-breakers. Next week's slate of division games will break up the tie more meaningfully so for now we'll call it even and just say that one of those teams would be a division winner and the other two will end up in a 4-way tie for the 2 wild card spots with Ramjets and Malleus.

First half looks

Beavers started the season with 3 consecutive wins but have lost 3 of their last 4.

Beavers look a lot like an old-school football team: defense and running. DBs, DFs, and RBs are the strength of the team. Particularly Patrick Willis -- who could be the team's MVP for the 1st half -- and Adrian Peterson who is the only RB to play for Beavers so far. On the other hand WR, K, and QB are all moderate concerns. WR might be the biggest cocern. Calvin Johnson and Jason Witten have carried the load with 6 starts each but neither is averaging more then 3.5 pts/gm and Johnson has gotten dinged up. McNabb is the hope at QB. While his last two outings have not been great, McNabb has shown he can still get it done. Neither Rob Bironas nor Robbie Gould are world beaters at the kicker position, but neither is going to lose many games for the Beavers.

Mimes won 3 of their first 4 games but lost 2 of their last 3.

Philip Rivers is the heart of this team but he's gotten some help from Lawrence Tynes and Julius Peppers. Consequently, kicking and QB play have been the team's strong suits. Dwayne Bowe is keeping upright an average WR corp but the DBs have been decidedly mediocre so far. RB could be the crucial position for second-half success for the Mimes. Gore averaged 24 pts for the first 2 games and then got hurt. Julius Jones average 1 pt for the next 3 games. Gore is back but not all the way back yet. If Gore can get back to his early season form, Mimes will be dangerous again. If Julius Jones makes it back into the line-up this team will be lucky to stay above .500.

Drow started the season with 2 loses, then split their next two before rattling off 3 wins in a row.

Similar to Mimes, this team is QB driven with Aaron Rodgers averaging 20 pts/gm and their kicker (Nate Kaeding) is also performing very well. WRs Roddy White and Vincent Jackson have done well in spurts to make the WR position a good one for Drow. RB started as a weak spot with Steven and Fred Jackson averaging less then 6 pts over the first 3 games. But Cedric Benson has averaged 14 over the last 4 to round out the offense. David Harris got off to a quick start but he's been the only consistent performer for Drow on D. The DBs have been particularly mediocre.

IC Lagers had to wait till week 5 for their first win, but have now won 2 of their last 3.

For the first half of the year, nearly every unit for Lagers grade out just above average. Favre remains a viable option at QB. Marques Colston, John Carney, and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are also doing very well at their respective positions. RB has been the lone downer for the team. Brian Westbrook is averaging 4.5 pts/gm and just succumbed to injury. Is Pierre Thomas ready to take on a full work load? This looks to be Lagers' Achilles heel the rest of the way.

My predictions...

Drow go 5-2 over the 2nd half of the season to finish 9-5, win the division, and pick up a first round bye for the playoffs.

IC Lagers also finish at a torrid 5-2 pace to finish just above .500 at 7-6-1 which should be good enough for the last wild card spot and an incredible turn-year owner.

Beavers and Mimes both go 3-4 to close out the year and finish .500 just barely out of the playoffs. Obviously both teams are lurking and easily could finish in the post season given the parity shown this year.