SFL Power Rankings: Darkhorses At The Door

Just when I thought I had a bead on the pulse of the SFL landscape and then upsets abound and the rankings are flipped on their head. What do we know? Vancouver and DC are good. Arizona and Houston are on a collision course for next man up. Detroit looks to be this season’s darkhorse after all the talk was on some new look Chicago offense. Albuquerque can bleed when they’re at home. Let’s see what else we can learn this week.

voting breakdown

I think at this point I just need to reach out to Blotner and have him do a weekly writeup breaking down his though process for his rankings. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I need a dissertation on how Bossier City keeps climbing for him at this point. I can understand being pensive about Detroit’s resume up to this point or riding the Aztec train from the outset of the rankings. The Baltimore believers are just about extinct which means they’re about to turn it up a notch. Will be curious to see if the group continues to give Vancouver the near sweep after a bye with top tier results happening below them.

darkhorse detroit

#6 Detroit Maulers (3-1)

Every season there’s at least one team who comes out of nowhere and surprises everyone on a playoff berth or just looking competent out on the field. Queen City was here last season and I guess it’s funny that this season started off with the Corsairs beating the Maulers in Week 1 before both teams have gone their separate ways in the standings. From what I’ve seen and heard it’s an old school brand of football out there with a heavy focus on the run game to dominate possession and then a suffocating defense to exacerbate a teams’ time with the ball. They don’t score a whole lot but when you aren’t giving the other team too many chances to catch up or run away with it then it works itself out in the end. Like Queen City last season, the resume is the main blemish on their record going forward. A loss to a declining Corsairs team, Pitt & Lexington tending to be a bit up and down, Oklahoma City looks competent but not ready for primetime, Chicago this week is a bit of a mirror match and then Fort Worth will be a test to slow down an offense who’s put up 62 points in one outing. As it stands, Detroit is on course for a postseason berth but the thing to dig into will be how many of the other 11 teams that make it alongside them did they end up beating to get an idea of their chances past Week 15.

week 6 premier matchup

#3 Arizona Scorpions @ #4 Houston Headhunters(-2.5) | O/U 48.5 | Aug. 16th 6:30 PM EST

DR Sim vs Eddie Gauge will always be a primetime matchup and this time it’s the kickoff to Week 6. Both teams are in peak form; Arizona looks like they’re back on track after a down year in Season 24 and Houston has begun to put it all together early this time around in an unforgiving South division. The Scorpion’s 2nd ranked offense will be put the test as Houston has some of the best rush defense to counter Arizona’s more balanced attack and possibly turn them one dimensional. And with Ashley Jackson still running into trouble throwing interceptions that could be the way to victory for the Headhunters. This will be a game won or lost in the trenches and what a game it will be when all is said and done.