SFL Power Rankings: Week 2 Overreactions?
Another successful convention in the books with an action-packed Week 1 to go along with it! Last week we saw the same Top 5 we ended the previous season with we now have 3 new teams enter along with some healthy movement further down. The first edition tends to hold onto biases from the past playoffs and some offseason movement but this week we get some early season overreactions and hot takes! Wait, Florida didn’t sweep the votes?
VOTING BREAKDOWN
I’m glad we’ve made the change to publicizing the voter’s ballots so more people can see what I see some weeks from the crew. I see what Mike is doing with his rankings as a breakdown of who won by the most and how much they scored. It’s an interesting way to go with only a week’s worth of data to go off of but I’m sure it will rile up the public to some degree. Elsewhere, Fenech keeps the defending champs up top but sees Atlanta moving up 10 spots after a good showing (31-7) vs their old coaches in Albuquerque. Denver also gets the nod at #3 for him as well after blowing out a Queen City team that’s expected to struggle to win any games from here on out. Other positioning that sticks out to my eyes is Canton holding firm at #2 for Walters and Minn/DC relying on past performances as they are still garnering high spots despite losses.
ON THE RISE
#9 Carolina Skyhawks (1-0)
Carolina was on the outside looking in last week and had a date with (H)Andy Hamilton’s Legion in the Hall of Fame game as they renewed their rivalry. In a low scoring affair, the Skyhawks came out on top as they held a generally high scoring offense to only 7 points and scored 17 of their own in one of the few upsets seen that week. Carolina has the coaching and the roster to win games and do so convincingly, but their usual issues arise when it comes to staying consistent throughout the regular season. This week they head out on the road to face an even stronger #5 Toros squad that won’t make or break their outlook, but a win would be a larger positive than the negative of a loss. Early season statements always go well with voters and heading into a bye afterwards could see them strengthen their position and their confidence for a more consistent season.
#11 Nashville Tempo (1-0)
It's always good to see a new expansion team come into the league and hit the ground running. Nashville was not expected to enter their week 1 contest with title hopefuls D.C. and keep things close; much less win the game while holding them to only 10 points at home. The Tempo had a point to prove that they weren’t going to be pushed around in their inaugural season and have done just that and now get to rest on an early bye week before taking on a dangerous LA team.
DOWN BUT NOT OUT
#7 Canton Classics (0-1)
From a perfect regular season to starting 0-1 this season, Canton has fallen but it is much too early to worry over in Ohio. Baltimore at home is already a tough ask for any team and then you couple that with it being week 1 and you don’t know what they may throw at you? Ending up in OT and losing on a special teams play is a much better outcome than it could have been. The Classics schedule is easy on the eyes and they have an expansion team not named Nashville up next to start getting back on track before another test vs Vancouver in Week 3.
#12 Minnesota Legend (0-1)
Besides a classic Deezer Powell performance, the Ramblers made the Legend look like a fairytale in their season opener. Minnesota had high hopes and a history of strong regular seasons but just couldn’t finish off Indy despite them shooting themselves in the foot by missing what would have been a game winning field goal in regulation. Thankfully for them it is a long season and they have plenty of time to build themselves back up with winnable games vs Atlanta, Louisiana, Denver and Motor City but the confidence booster will week 3 vs Baltimore in their home opener.
WEEK 2 PREMIER MATCHUP(S)
#6 Indianapolis Ramblers @ #3 Baltimore Vultures(-4.5) | O/U 41.5 | JULY 22nd 8:15 PM EST
The first Monday Night Spectacular should be a doozy as the Ramblers are coming off the high off defeating their bitter rivals in the Legend and Baltimore is feeling confident after taking down a Classics team that seemed to have their number last season. This has all the markings of an immovable object vs an unstoppable force as both sides will look to play to their strengths and control the pace of play. The biggest storyline of the night though will be the return of DT Syron Yates who is the current VP for the Ramblers and the former VP of Baltimore. There seems to have been some bad blood with the break up with the latter and so the fireworks should be hot as these top teams square off for a 2-0 start!