Well if Week 4 taught us anything it is that we have no clue what will happen in any given week of the PLL. Lets dive into the Week 5 matchups because I am still scratching my head trying to pick these games.
We have a battle for last place on Friday night between the 8th place Cannons and the 7th place Waterdogs. This will be the second time this season that the two teams face each other and the Cannons defeated the Waterdogs in Week 1 13-7. The Cannons seem like they are due for a win and everything would point to them winning. Rabil is playing out of his mind and although Lyle Thompson has not produced as much as we would of liked in the past two games, I think he will go off on Friday night. With all directions pointing to the Cannons winning, I think the only safe play is to pick the Waterdogs. The Waterdogs put up 16 last week against a great defense and have a more established face off man with Jake Withers where it seems like the Cannons have a new fogo every week. I also heard Mikie Schlosser on The Post Game this week, and it is tough to root against him and the Waterdogs. My mind is telling me the Cannons, but my heart is telling me Waterdogs.
Official Pick: Waterdogs ML / Over 26.5
The Whipsnakes take on the Redwoods on Saturday Night and I am excited. Both teams are coming off big wins and both offenses seem like they are rolling. We also see a heavyweight battle taking place at the face off with rookie TD Ierlan taking on Joe Nardella. Both are over 60% on face offs this year, and I think whoever wins this matchup will win the game. As a Redwoods fan this pick is quite easy for me. I can not wait for the Woods to beat the Whips on Saturday, I would really like to see them win by a zillion, but I think it will be a close game around 12-14 so that the over hits as well.
Official Pick: Redwoods ML / Over 25.5
We get another great game with the Chaos taking on the Atlas on Saturday night. Both teams are on 2 game winning streaks and both offense are settling into their respective schemes. The big storyline here is that the Atlas will be without starting goalie Jack Concannon and the Chaos will be with out defenseman Jack Rowlett. I think the Concannon loss is more detrimental to the Atlas giving the Chaos a leg up in this match. The Chaos offense is playing fast and having fun, and a lot of that is started by goalie Blaze Riorden making doorstep saves and moving the ball up field quickly to push the pace. Last week we saw the Atlas offense score three 2 bombs with Romar Dennis and Bryan Cosabile making it look easy. If Riorden can contain the 2 point attempts it will lead to some quick offense going the other way. I am going to continue the trend and pick the underdog to win and the over.
Official Pick: Chaos ML / Over 24.5
The Waterdogs have their second game of the weekend taking on the Chrome Sunday afternoon. These games are always difficult to read, because how a team plays on Friday will have a big impact on how they play on Sunday. Hopefully the Waterdogs can gain a bit of steam with a win on Friday and carry that momentum into Sunday. The Chrome have been playing great defense and I would be expecting a low scoring game, but after seeing the Waterdogs in a shootout last week I want all of the games to be that high scoring. The Waterdogs have 2 wins on the season and both of them came in their double header in Week 2 so maybe the key to the Waterdogs success is playing 2 games in 3 days.
Official Pick: Waterdogs ML / Over 23.5
The Cannons will play the Archers on Sunday night for their second game of the weekend. I think the Cannons will be coming off a close loss on Friday and will be in full desperation mode at this point. The Archers went 0-2 last weekend so they will be coming out hot trying to get back into the win column. Again everything is pointing to the Archers to win and it would make sense is the Cannons lost another close one. But where is the fun in that. I am going to make it this weeks trend and pick the underdog and over. The Cannons can't keep losing with all the talent they have, and there is no way Paul Rabil is missing the playoffs. The Cannons only win also came on a doubleheader weekend on Sunday after a close game Friday.