Cool to see Grimmes picked, can't wait to see Saab in the main league, maybe he will get a chance at a start.

East Division
As it had been in the past few years, the fight for the East Division title was close the entire season. Boston and Washington were the clear front runners before the season began, and made their cases for a division title clear as the year progressed. Washington QB Johnnie Sellers put up similar numbers to his MVP year in 1953, which might have been the reason why he would take home his second MVP from his performance this year. The usual cast of weapons on offense allowed him to shine, though an injury to WR Darius Sanderson late in the year would not see him return until the second week of the playoffs. Rookie WR Gene Cockburn excelled in his absence, and might be featured extensively once the regular #1 receiver returns to the lineup. Boston’s elite defense caved in a little bit this season, but that was expected after an elite season like last year. What changed was their offense, which finally got going after a key acquisition in the middle of the year. Former Bernheim Trophy winner RB Lee Cannon had shown great promise in his few years with the Baltimore Barons in the PAFC, but his contract expired at the end of the 1956 season. The Barons tried to offer Cannon another contract, but his terms were a bit more than Baltimore expected. Since league president Virgil Bradshaw was bankrolling the Barons (and a few other teams to that matter), he would not allow the Barons to re-sign Cannon and instead forced him to sign with his Chicago Stars instead. Cannon declined, heading to the AFL instead for its better pay and overall stability. Several teams courted Cannon to become their next lead back, and the Hogs and Dragons became the frontrunners to sign him. Chicago offered Cannon a hefty deal, and the media was sure that he would sign with the Hogs to make them contenders once again. It would come to their shock when he instead signed a less expensive deal with Boston to become their starter. Word would get out that while Chicago did offer him a hefty contract, they would not guarantee him a starting position in the future. Boston did offer him that, and thus his presence kept the Dragons in the race for the division title.

Buffalo usually is the one to take up one of the playoff spots in the East, but this was a turn in the wrong direction. It was mainly because of their defense, which offenses shredded through with little difficulty. Their normally great offense was never able to match blow-for-blow with other teams, as a league-worst -76 point differential kept them out of contention from the beginning. Buffalo would end up missing postseason play for the first time since joining the league in 1952, and a disaster of this magnitude will likely result in a shakeup for this Hammers squad. Buffalo’s partner in Pittsburgh had a similar season, though much more expected. The Shamrocks  are in the second year of their rebuild, and played a bit better than their record might show. Pittsburgh was able to play  teams close most of the time, but overall went 1-4-2 in one-score games. The Shamrocks could have been a contender, but the team for better or for worse got in their own way. They started the inevitable selling of key players at the midway point of the season, sending longtime cornerstone DL Archie Webber to Detroit to contend for a title. It seems like a certainty that they’ll trade off more with how the East is currently developing, so the Shamrocks will likely not be back in contention for some time now.

The battle for the final spot would be between the two expansion teams in the East, as both New York and Philadelphia were the only two teams remaining that could tough out a winning record. For both of the young teams, this year would be a success no matter what. Philadelphia QB Roy Woodward was expected to be holding back this team with his prior performances, but being on his third team in four years lit a fire underneath him. He had a lethal running back tandem behind him, as Mickey Greene and Neal Earnhardt were usually more than enough to put games away. Philadelphia had typically been fairly lethargic in football turnout in its history, but the duo made it worthwhile just to see them gash through defenses. Their defense kept things close most of the time, but the team still looked like it needed some time to develop. Still, fighting for a playoff spot in the team’s second year was something no one expected based on how they performed last year. Similarly, the New York Lions were trying to get into the playoffs after two relatively though expected down years. LB Duane Ackerman excelled in his third year with the club, carrying the defense to relevance before the team acquired DL Clifford Dale from Tri-Cities to shore up a glaring weakness in the front seven. 4th overall pick RB Felix Philipow performed much better than he was expected to, as the Lions’ offensive line was not one to support a rookie like him. Philipow was able to find what little gaps were given to him, and punished defenders for not taking him down early for big rushes, and would easily win Rookie of the Year as a result. With a glaring hole at QB, the Lions needed someone to step up, and former 5th round pick Freddie Hughes exceeded any expectations that were put on him. Hughes was able to shake off a man or two before finding an open receiver, carrying along what little life the offense had in the years prior. The two teams hovered around .500 and swapped positions nearly all year, and the Rattlesnakes were just a game and a half up on the Lions with two weeks left. Philly was blown out by Washington in the penultimate week, putting the Lions just a half game ahead and had the tiebreaker with just a game left.

Boston had a one game lead over the Federals going into the last week, but would need to pull out a win against the scrappy Rattlesnakes to win their first division title. Unfortunately, the Dragons could not find an answer for their potent running back duo, and were unable to keep up with them en route to a 33-24 loss on the road. The Federals had an easier time against the Hammers at home, getting out to an early 24-0 lead at halftime and cruising to victory to clinch their third consecutive East title. Once again, they had stolen the division out from under a team, though this time was a bit closer than they would have liked it. Washington would once again host in the semi-final, and Boston would have to settle for whichever team would get the final spot in the East. In the other race, Philadelphia had done their part in beating Boston, but had to hope that New York would blow a game against Pittsburgh on the road. The Lions would not get out to a hot start, entering the fourth quarter down 9-7. RB Felix Philipow would quickly change that, darting through a collapsing offensive line for what would be the game-winning touchdown. The Lions held back an ineffective Shamrocks offense for the remainder of the game, clinching their first playoff berth and setting up a match against their expansion rivals up in Boston.

West Division
Chicago looked like they were going to be favorites to win their fourth title in the AFL coming into the year. They would be quickly tested in just their first week of play, having to face the team that knocked them out of the playoffs last year. Even worse is that they had to travel to St Louis to play the Stallions. The Hogs still managed to go ahead with some time left on the clock, and needed RB Billy Gould to extend a run on third and medium to clinch the game. Gould maneuvered his way through the Stallions defensive line, and attempted to leap over LB Scott Bush for the first. Bush would hit Gould mid-air, causing Gould to tumble and land on his knee wrong just short of the first down. Gould would wince in pain when he limped back to the sideline, but the Hogs’ defense would hold on to a close opening win. Then news hit on Gould that no Hogs fan wanted to hear: he would be out for at least half the season while his knee recovers. The Hogs did not take this well, with the core piece of their offense missing they were unable to keep up with the Hawks just a week later and embarrassingly lost 31-16. They would then end up losing 3 out of their next 4 games by double digit points. No competition from Chicago saw Cincinnati immediately shoot to the top of the league standings. The Rivermen acted like a well-oiled machine all year, with the offense firing on all cylinders and the defense finally clicking with the trade for DL Fergus Prenderghast seeming like it was worth it after just a year. With the team performing even better than it has been in the past, at the midway point of the year the Rivermen were only a half game back from the West lead.

The Knights were surprisingly in the lead in the West, though not because of the clear step up they were bound to take this year. The Knights struggled early in week 1 against the Crows, but the same issue that would plague the Hogs would fall to them. QB Mike Major was expected to continue his success from the year prior, managing to get the pass out as the pocket collapsed on him. Crows DL Howard Hanna managed to hit Major hard from behind after the release, sending Major down directly onto his throwing shoulder. The Knights barely escaped with a win, but Major would be out essentially the rest of the season. Backup Mick Casey would finally be given the chance after losing out on the starting QB battle the past few years, and he made his stay worth it. Casey fit right into the high-flying Knights offense, fighting tooth and nail with Cincinnati and St Louis for the division title. Surprisingly, it was the improvement of the Knights’ defense that led them to their first winning season in nearly a decade. The unit punched well above its weight, despite the loss of their best defensive player S Charlie Fischer to Chicago. They realized that they needed someone in his absence, and were desperate in looking for a replacement. The Knights looked to poach players from the PAFC, and came to sign S Harvey Maynard who last played for the Nashville Volunteers. This move enraged commissioner Hasenkamp, who had previously banned Maynard and other players like him for participating in the match-fixing scandal that had torn through what was left of the PAFC’s failing reputation. Maynard had in fact been acquitted of any wrongdoing due to in the scandal just a few weeks prior insufficient evidence, and Knights owner Florian Riddle argued that he should be allowed to play because of that. The other owners overwhelmingly agreed, leaving Hasenkamp the lone dissenter in an emergency vote. That motion allowed St Louis to make a similar move a few weeks later, signing former PAFC Minneapolis S Bob Laack after his acquittal to pair with trade acquisition DB Nicholas Lamb to bolster their oft-exploited secondary. The Stallions had actually benefited significantly from their fleecing of the Hawks for RB Spike Roosevelt and WR Max Ausloos, who allowed QB O.J. DeMille to flourish for the first time in his career. DeMille was finally able to spread out the ball, and his talents narrowly won him OPOY for his play. St Louis was tailing Detroit for the West lead for the first half of the year, but two straight losses after their bye week pretty much took them out of division title contention barring a miracle.

Chicago missing Billy Gould for most of the year certainly impacted them for the worse. With a team of that caliber, you would expect they would adapt around and still find a way to win. However, the Hogs tried to force bruising RB Arthur Busch into a similar role like Gould, but could not work no matter what. They had attempted to sign RB Lee Cannon to become the starter until he came back, but Cannon left for Boston because they offered him a guaranteed starting position for the long term.  That morale hit on offense seemed to leak over to the defense, who looked vulnerable for the first time in over a decade. By the time Gould was ready to play again, the Hogs needed to win out to even remotely have a chance of getting in the playoffs. Their next opponent was unfortunately the Rivermen, who were fighting for a division title of their own. Chicago was unable to do anything with Gould back in the lineup, and their playoff hopes effectively ended in front of the home crowd. The Hogs would not be playing football after Thanksgiving for the first time in nearly a decade, and their first losing season since their days in Rockford in the 30’s. The Hawks and Crows would predictably join them in the basement suffering numerous issues of their own throughout the year. Tri-Cities kept trying to force second year QB Rocco Vanthourenhout to work some magic and take the team to greatness. That went about as well as expected after selling off most offensive players of value and having horrific offensive line play. Even in their struggle they would still fail, sweeping the Hogs this season to only get the third overall pick with their efforts. Cleveland finally lost the spark that took them to the championship a few years ago, becoming the first team in the history of the league to have 10 or more losses in a season. With how stacked the West is now, this is likely the last year with the main contributors that took them to the title game in 1954.

Entering the last half of the season, the Rivermen, Knights, and Stallions were separated by only a half game. A shaky 3-2 start from the Rivermen eventually led them to get red hot, going into the final two weeks with a 4 game win streak and ready to pounce on the then-division leader Knights in the penultimate week of the season. Detroit had already stumbled after a rough 10-9 loss to Boston the week prior, and were playing in their highest stakes game yet to win a division title. The Cincinnati crowd must have gotten to the Knights, as Detroit committed 6 turnovers en route to a brutal 15-6 loss. The Rivermen had the upper hand entering the final week of the year, but still needed to win their final game against Cleveland to clinch. Detroit and St Louis entered the final week tied at 7-3-1, but Detroit had the advantage in the head to head. As expected, the Rivermen took care of business against the hapless Crows, clinching the division for the second straight year. St Louis would get a leg up on the competition by taking down the Hogs on Thanksgiving Day, and had to wait for Detroit to see if they would host a playoff game. The conditions at Kaiser Field were not ideal when the Knights hosted the Hawks in the last week of the year, entering the final quarter in a rough 12-10 lead for the home team. Tri-Cities lucked out on a Mick Casey interception midway through the quarter, and turned that into a touchdown a few minutes later. The Knights had to work the field to get the lead back, and it didn’t take long for them to strike back. Casey lobbed a short pass to WR Paul Kent, who spun around one defender before outrunning the remaining defenders for the touchdown. The Knights held on to their lead for the rest of the game, and secured their first postseason berth since 1947.

Awards:
Most Valuable Player: WAS QB Johnnie Sellers
Offensive Player of the Year: STL QB O.J. DeMille
Defensive Player of the Year: CIN DL Fergus Prenderghast
Rookie of the Year: NY RB Felix Philipow
Coach of the Year: NY Jacob Crowe



West Division Semifinal: (3) St Louis Stallions @ (2) Detroit Knights
1957 H2H: W2 - STL 20-20 DET, W9 - DET 24-16 STL
Historic H2H: 2-1-1 DET
Playoff H2H: 0-0

The West may finally begin to see a shake-up from the usual suspects, and these two teams are leading the charge to challenge the top teams in the league. The unfortunate problem is that they have to play one another in the first round of the playoffs. The Stallions proved that last year was no fluke with their improved weapons on offense, bringing an OPOY award to QB O.J. DeMille and all-star nods for RB Spike Roosevelt and WR Max Ausloos. Their defense improved upon last year, with LB Isaac Bullock pairing up with trade acquisition DB Nicholas Lamb and the mid-season signing of S Bob Laack to not be a pushover expansion team. Detroit caught fire even with starting QB Mike Major going down to injury, but backup Mick Casey proved he could run the offense just as well. A lightning fast backfield made up of Jesse Brown and Brady Walters is paired excellently with probably the best one-two punch at wideout with Paul Kent and Pat Kimball. Their scrappy defense helped them along the way, punching well above its weight to ease the burden off the young offense eager to make a name for themselves. Detroit unfortunately has had trouble going blow-for-blow with the other playoff caliber teams, and St Louis knows how to take down big teams in the playoffs. DeMille and the Stallions will ride off to the West Division Final for a playoff rematch against the best team in the league.
My Pick: St Louis

East Division Semifinal: (3) New York Lions @ (2) Boston Dragons
1957 H2H: W1 - BOS 33-30 NY, W8 - NY 6-17 BOS
Historic H2H: 3-1 BOS
Playoff H2H: 0-0

The Dragons and Lions came into the league with vastly different expectations three years ago. Boston was expected to compete right from the get go, but it took a year for them to really get going. New York, on the other hand, had no clear timeline on when they would get into the playoffs. Their paths collide once again, but for the first time they’ll be fighting for the right to play Washington for a shot at making the title game. The Lions should be happy to even be here, having met expectations as a floundering team that was created from jumbled parts. The Dragons were in a similar boat, but the NYPL was widely regarded as one of the worst football leagues in the country quality-wise. They’ve improved significantly over the past year, mainly being torpedoed into relevance on the backs of QB Freddie Hughes, RB Felix Philipow, and LB Duane Ackerman. New York will have to go against Boston’s vaunted defensive unit, adding S Tom Meltzger to truly make it a terrifying team to pass against. Their offense hasn’t been anything to ignore either, as the addition of RB Lee Cannon to the team made them truly able to compete for the division title. The Lions have a chance if they run through Boston’s weak defensive line, but ultimately experience in these games matters and Boston should send New York packing and head on their way for a rubber match against Washington.
My Pick: Boston

C&C Appreciated! I don't know what I did this season but the writeup nearly doubled in terms of word count. Don't forget to send in prospects for next year and if you want playoff predictions for what was a fairly hectic year.

Shocker! I wasn't expecting New York to be a playoff team!