August 8, 2024
By Daniel Cohen
Another round of playoffs, another weekend to see which players can rise above the rest and will their teams to Championship Weekend. This week’s watchlist features big throwers and MVP candidates primed to shine in the Divisional Championship Round.
Jeff Babbitt, Boston Glory
Could the league see its fourth two-time MVP? Jeff Babbitt is making a strong case to join the elite company of Jonathan “Goose” Helton (2012, 2013), Beau Kittredge (2014, 2015), and Ben Jagt (2019, 2021) as another back-to-back winner of the prestigious award, and if he’s able to carry Boston into Championship Weekend and beyond, I’d pencil him in as the clear favorite. The Babbitt addition has vaulted this Boston team to new heights this season, and his combination of electric playmaking, patient offense, and defensive intensity after turnovers has been the defining piece of Glory’s ascent. He’s averaging 4.0 goals and 2.0 blocks per game over his last four, and we’ve already seen the extra gear he can reach in the playoffs. Former teammate Elliott Chartock said it best in last week’s Tuesday Toss: “[Babbitt’s] just a winner…The dude’s a beast.”
Jordan Kerr, Salt Lake Shred (pictured)
In the four games since he injured his hand in Week 7, Jordan Kerr has averaged just 3.0 scores and 16.0 touches per game. By comparison, he averaged 5.0 scores and 31.7 touches per game through the first seven weeks of the season. While the injury has clearly affected his usage, he did have 24 touches and 372 total yards in Week 13 against Seattle, his most since the injury, so he could be back in his usual role for the West Division Championship Game if the upward trend continues. We saw Kerr ball out in the playoffs last year with 21 combined scores against LA and Minnesota, and playing in front of the Salt Lake crowd with Championship Weekend home field advantage on the line, Saturday would be a great time to show why he’s been an MVP finalist each of the last two seasons.
Gordon Larson, Minnesota Wind Chill
Third-year Minnesota Wind Chill cutter Gordon Larson has been a breakout star this season. Averaging more receiving yards per game (254; 16th in the league) than anyone else on the team, he’s ascended into a WR1 role for Minnesota and has added a visible, dynamic playmaking dimension to their downfield cutting. His speed and ability to create separation make him an ideal deep target, and he’s no slouch as a thrower, capable of playing a midfield role to keep possessions moving. He’s been on a heater as of late, with 16 total scores and over 1,000 yards of offense in his last two games, and if he can wreak havoc on one of the best defenses in the league this Saturday, the Wind Chill will have a great shot at their second straight Central Division title.
Allan Laviolette, Carolina Flyers
While he’s cooled down a bit after a hot start to the season, Allan Laviolette is having a career year and it feels like it’s gotten lost in the shuffle. As good as he was in 2021 when he made All-UFA Second Team, this season he set regular season career highs in assists (42), scores (64), completions (278), plus/minus (+52), throwing yards (3,021), and total yards (4,526). He’s brought back the explosive dimension to a Flyers offense that seemed lost at times last season, and he’s been the clear offensive focal point all year—he has 900 more total yards than the next closest player on the team. Tied for fourth in the league with 29 huck completions, Carolina is going to need him to ignite the offense against an Atlanta team that limited Carolina to just eight total huck attempts in their last meeting, the Flyers’ lowest total of the season.
Kai Marcus, Madison Radicals
It’s been super interesting to watch Kai Marcus’ progression as the season’s gone on and how his role has shifted for Madison. Coming in as the O-line’s clear-cut gunslinging quarterback, Marcus tossed 25 assists in his first five games but threw the disc away 28 times. He then seemed to turn a corner with just three throwaways in a two-game midseason stretch against Indy and Pittsburgh, but now the throwaways have seemingly returned—he has 10 in his last two games, compared to just four assists in that span. Around him, the Radicals found a backfield set they like with veterans Pat Shriwise, Brian Hart, and Victor Luo handling increased workloads, which kind of put Marcus in a catch-and-shoot initiator role at times, but Shriwise is expected to miss this week’s Central Division Championship Game. His absence likely means Marcus will slot back into his QB1 role like he did in round one against Chicago but the question remains: can Marcus limit turnovers on a high volume of touches? If the answer is yes, Madison will be in a great spot to win their fifth straight.
Rowan McDonnell, DC Breeze
Coming off his highest yardage total (445) of the season in Week 13 against New York, Rowan McDonnell will look to lead the DC Breeze to their first ever Championship Weekend appearance this Saturday against Boston. It’s been a long time coming for Rowan and the Breeze, and now that the Empire are out of the playoff picture, it feels like a championship is more attainable than ever. Rowan has been shaping this new-era DC offense since 2021 and continues to excel as the type of prototypical hybrid that this system thrives on. McDonnell leads the way in his ability to seamlessly shift between backfield facilitator and downfield cutter, providing continual offensive flow whenever he’s needed; he’s racked up near identical totals in both throwing (1,461) and receiving yards (1,492) this year. While he’s struggled a bit in the postseason historically (mostly against New York), he did go 37-for-37 with four scores in DC’s round one game against Boston last year, so we’ll see what he has in store for his 12th career playoff game.
Austin Taylor, Atlanta Hustle
He’s been flying under the radar a bit this season with all the Hulsmeyer Hype™, but this Hustle offense would not be boasting the highest efficiency rate in the league without Austin Taylor. Of course his backfield counterpart Bobby Ley deserves his flowers too—the duo has combined for nearly 10,000 yards of offense this season with over 800 completions—but I’m giving the nod to Taylor in this week’s column due to his elite balance of consistency and explosiveness. Taylor completed a career-high 95.9 percent of his throws in the regular season with 50 assists (fourth in the league), 61 total scores (team-high) and 16 huck completions (second on the team). It’s super valuable for any team to have a player that can aggressively punch in scores while being extremely reliable with the disc (think Ryan Osgar in 2022 and 2023), and Taylor’s been exactly what Atlanta has needed to ascend to the top spot in the power rankings. With six-plus scores in each of the last three meetings with Carolina, Taylor will look to keep things going and lead the Hustle to their first South Division title.
Previous weeks:
