My first memory of Blackpink was around the summer of 2017 when someone in the Popheads Plug.dj room played “As If It’s Your Last”. That song was stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. It had everything I wanted from a K-pop song at that time - a fire rap verse, beautiful vocals, an upbeat production that had an addictive pop bubblegum melody in the chorus. The gorgeous music video definitely played a huge factor on the song’s memorability. A few months later, I was watching Justice League with my relatives when Barry Allen aka The Flash arrives at his Flash secret den, only to be surprised to find Bruce Wayne aka Batman waiting for him. Why am I mentioning this scene? Behind Batfleck (a portmanteau of Batman and Ben Affleck) is the TV screen of the “As If It’s Your Last” music video and the song can be heard for a few seconds before fading into focus on the dialogue between Batman and The Flash. Being in a Southeastern Country where the influence of the Hallyu wave is huge since the early 2000s, everyone in the theater were pleasantly surprised by the fact that a K-pop song, let alone a song from a group with only 5 songs at that time, was featured in a Hollywood superhero movie. At that moment, I had a huge feeling that the song being featured in Justice League will increase the presence of K-pop in the West to the point that a K-pop song actually charts in Billboard Hot 100 soon and BLACKPINK is going to be one of those groups. To my surprise, I was actually right. BTS and Blackpink are the most popular K-pop groups right now thanks to their success in the West, which was the place that is quite hesitant to accept K-pop as a dominant force in pop culture despite its popularity outside the West, especially in Asia. The groups’ appearances in the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Charts definitely made Western labels realize that K-pop is a dominant force globally. As part of the Popheads Album of the Year 2020 series, I take a look at Blackpink's first full album appropriately titled “The Album''. Their debut full album was highly anticipated as it took four years since their debut in 2016 to finally make this happen. With this post, I deconstruct Blackpink’s history and their legacy, how the tracks fared as an album, and why “The Album” deserves its place as the “Popheads’ Album of the Year”.
PART 1. THE GROUP
When Blackpink made their debut on August 8, 2016, the anticipation was high as they were YG Entertainment’s second girl group after 2NE1. The high anticipation is also because the group was supposed to debut in 2012 after YG’s founder and now-former CEO Yang Hyun-suk teased a possibility of a second girl group back in 2011. The name for YG’s second girl group wasn’t even called Blackpink in the first place as the group was initially named “Pink Punk”. “Pink Punk” was supposed to be YG’s answer to SM Entertainment’s Girls Generation (SNSD) as the initial number of members were supposed to match the number of members of SNSD, which is nine members. YG even uploaded videos of some trainees who were likely to be members of Pink Punk to build public interest before the group’s supposed to debut. And then, Pink Punk never happened. Yang Hyun-suk’s indecisive, premature decisions during his time as CEO of YG is the reason why he earned so much infamy within the K-pop community, along with other things. But let’s not delve into that. Between 2011 and 2016, it was clear that this second girl group went through drastic changes. The line-up of members changed from nine to seven, then to five, to just four. Besides Pink Punk, the group had other possible names such as “Baby Monster” and “Magnum”. I honestly wonder what kind of crack did the people in YG Entertainment smoke to think that these are legitimately good names for their second girl group. Did they get that crack from Senguri? We may never know. Blackpink’s debut was an instant success as they released their debut double singles “Whistle” and “Boombayah”, compiled as a single album “Square One”. “Whistle” and “Boombayah” debuted at #1 and #7 at South Korean Gaon Digital Charts respectively. The group also became the fastest girl group to earn a win in a Korean music show as Inkigayo gave the group a trophy win for “Whistle”. Looking back, the group said that debuting with “Whistle” as their first single was risky at that time due to it having a “weird country vibe” and its minimal production, which led many people at YG against its release. They followed “Square One” with the next single album “Square Two” with singles “Playing with Fire” and “Stay”, which both aim to show Blackpink’s softer side, compared to the chaotic, party-vibe of “Square One”. While most K-pop groups usually have at least two to three comebacks per year, it seems like Blackpink only has one comeback per year based on the release pattern of when the group has their comebacks. On June 2, 2017, they released their comeback standalone single “As If It’s Your Last”. The following year, they finally released their first mini-album (which is basically an EP) “Squared Up” on June 15, 2018. “DDU-DU DDU-DU”, the mini-album’s title single (K-pop equivalent to lead single) propelled Blackpink to global popularity especially in the West as the single debuted at #55 and #78 in the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart respectively. This marks their first appearance in these charts. Additionally, the song’s music video is currently the second most-viewed K-pop music video with 1.4 billion viewers, being only behind Gangnam Style by former fellow YG artist Psy with 3.9 billion viewers. In 2019, Blackpink released their second mini-album “Kill This Love” on April 4. The release of the mini-album was significant as it’s the group’s first release under Interscope Records, which distributes their music and handles their promotions in countries outside Asia. The titular track peaked at #41 on Billboard Hot 100 and #33 on the UK Singles Chart. This era is best remembered for the group’s promotions in the West as a result of their increasing popularity, specifically their iconic Coachella appearance that made them the first K-pop girl group to perform in the festival. Their Coachella gig highlighted the group’s stage presence and high energy as performers, backed with a live band that complimented the group’s electronic-style music. It’s Blackpink like we never saw before and it’s definitely a refreshing contrast to their more calculated promotions in their home country of South Korea.
PART 2. THE MEMBERS
A huge part of Blackpink’s appeal are the members. Their beauty and charismatic personalities are some of the reasons why the group has a huge fanbase of Blinks, which is the fandom name of the group. Obviously, K-pop idols are trained to be charismatic. But there is something about the dynamic of the members that feel unmatched and they harmonize well together as a group. It’s sort of a relief that YG didn’t stick to their plan of having a nine-member girl group. During training, Jennie said that the female trainees are shuffled to different groups every two months and there would be “little fights” on who gets assigned to positions in the group such as vocals, rapping, and dancing. When grouped with Lisa, Jisoo, and Rosé, Jennie said it was already clear on who gets the parts. Each member of the group carries the whole group in their own different ways. They all have different backgrounds, different motivations on why they wanted to become idols and trainees under YG, and different skills that make Blackpink as a whole. I will be describing the members in the order they were revealed before their debut.
Jennie
Jennie Kim was the first member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 1, 2016. She is the group’s assigned main rapper and lead vocalist. Jennie was born as an only child to wealthy parents on January 16, 1996, in Seoul, South Korea. Jennie moved to Auckland at the age of eight after she was asked by her mother if she liked the place during their visit there. Jennie seemed to adjust her life well in New Zealand and she was featured in a documentary titled “English, Must Change to Survive” for South Korean broadcaster MBC about her experience as a Korean kid living in a foreign land. Jennie moved back to Seoul in 2010 after not being interested in taking up law in the United States, which was suggested by her mother who eventually supported her daughter’s decision. While Jennie didn’t have any formal musical background growing up, she was interested in K-pop during her stay in New Zealand. She auditioned for YG Entertainment as a vocalist, in which she performed “Take a Bow” by Rihanna. While Jennie was accepted as a trainee under YG, the judges advised her to train for the role of a rapper as she is the only trainee who can speak English. A trainee for five years, Jennie was one of the most popular trainees in YG and has already gained recognition before her eventual debut as a Blackpink member. YG uploaded videos of Jennie covering “Strange Clouds" by B.o.B. featuring Lil Wayne and “Lotus Flower Bomb” by Wale while she was a trainee. She also appeared as a featured artist for Senguri’s “GG Be” and G-Dragon’s “Black” in their respective solo albums, which she performed with the latter in Inkigayo making it her stage debut Because of her early popularity, Jennie was highly speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk before the idea was scrapped. After the release of “Square Up”, Jennie became the first member of the group to debut as a soloist. She released her debut solo single aptly titled “Solo” on November 12, 2018. The music video is the most-viewed music video by a Korean female solo artist with 600 million views on YouTube. Just recently, she launched her own YouTube channel on her 26th birthday where she intends to create vlogs about her everyday life. Her first vlog served as an introduction to her channel which included a cover of Tangled’s “When Will My Life Begin?” by Mandy Moore. The vlog has already gotten 10.9 million views two days after its release.
Lisa
Lalisa Manoban, known by her stage name Lisa, was revealed as the second member of Blackpink on June 8, 2016. Lisa is the assigned main dancer, lead rapper, and sub vocalist of the group. She is also the “maknae” of the group, meaning she is the youngest member of the group, as well as the only non-Korean member in the group. Lisa’s birth name is actually different as she was born under the name “Pranpriya” before legally changing to Lalisa. She was born in Thailand on March 27, 1997. Lisa took dance lessons at four years old and often competed in dance competitions. She was part of the Thai dance crew “We Zaa Cool'' with childhood friend and fellow K-pop idol BamBam from GOT7. She also competed in a singing competition where she represented her school, ending up as a runner-up. Inspired by her idols and eventual YG labelmates BIGBANG and 2NE1, Lisa had her eyes on the K-pop industry. She auditioned for YG Entertainment when the agency visited Thailand. Out of the 4,000 Thai applicants, she was the only one accepted to be a trainee under YG. Lisa began her 5-year trainee journey in 2011 as she is YG’s first foreign trainee. Like Jennie, she was speculated to be part of the original line-up of “Pink Punk”. Her highly impressive skills as a dancer have always led her to be assigned as the main dancer in different groups that she designs most of the choreography herself. While still training, YG released a video of 16-year-old Lisa performing “Turn Up The Music”, albeit she was nameless in the video. Lisa is the group’s most popular member as she is the most followed member on Instagram with 45.2 million followers. Her widely-shared dance performance of “Swalla” in the Blackpink In Your Area tour and the “Did It Work?” memes that surrounded her legs contributed to her worldwide popularity. In 2020, Lisa released a limited edition photobook on her birthday aptly titled “0327”, which consisted of photos she took with her film camera that included some shots of her fellow members. Outside of her Blackpink duties, Lisa is a dance mentor of the Chinese survival show “Youth With You”. She was dubbed as “Mentor Lisa” by Blinks as her strict mentoring style in the show surprised everyone since it was the opposite of her shy personality. Her fellow members have teased Lisa over her strict mentoring style.
Jisoo
Kim Ji-soo, more commonly known by her first name, was revealed as the third member of Blackpink on June 15, 2016. She is the group’s lead vocalist and “visual” member, meaning she is the most attractive member according to Korean beauty standards. She is also the eldest member of the group, making her the “eonie” of the group. Jisoo was born on January 3, 1995, in South Korea and she grew up with a close, extended family. Despite being a visual member, Jisoo was bullied as a kid about her appearance by her relatives who often called her a monkey. Being an idol was not on Jisoo’s radar growing up. She wanted to involve herself in the arts as she considered wanting to become an actress, a painter, or a writer. She developed her acting skills by joining a drama club during her time as a student. Despite not knowing about YG when she auditioned, Jisoo was accepted as a trainee and began her 5-year trainee journey. Like Jennie and Lisa, Jisoo was speculated to be part of the original line-up of Pink Punk. Before her debut, she made appearances in commercials for Samsonite, LG, and Nikon. There is always one member in a K-pop group that would likely become actors later in their careers and Jisoo is one of them. It isn’t surprising as she has openly shown her interest in becoming an actress and the members even remarked that she would win an Oscar for her “acting face” alone. Before her debut, she had a cameo appearance in an episode of the KBS show “The Producers” with labelmates Dara of 2NE1. Now a K-pop idol, Jisoo appeared in a role in tvN’s fantasy-drama “Arthdal Chronicles” where she played her first fictional character. Jisoo will be starring in an upcoming JTBC drama “Snowdrop” that is slated to premiere later this year.
Rosé
Park Chae-young, more commonly known as Rosé, is the fourth and last member to be revealed as part of Blackpink on June 22, 2016. She is the assigned main vocalist and lead dancer in the group. Rosé’s English name is Roséanne Park as she was born outside Korea and grew up living overseas. She was born on February 11, 1997, in Auckland, New Zealand. Her family moved to Melbourne, Australia when she was eight years old. While Lisa’s musical background is more on dancing, Rosé’s musical background is more on singing as she grew up singing in a choir and has played the guitar often in school. When YG went to Australia to look for potential trainees, she was advised by her father to try auditioning. After being accepted as a YG trainee, she had to drop out of school and move to Seoul within two months. Rosé said it was difficult to be separated from her family during training. Despite feeling homesick, she was determined to become a K-pop idol. Rosé had no formal experience with dancing, which caught her off-guard when she first trained. She definitely had a lot of time to hone her dancing skills that she eventually became the lead singer in the group. Before her debut, Rosé was a featured artist in G-Dragon’s song “Without You” in 2012. Given her position as the main vocalist, Blinks have been anticipating her solo debut. She has released covers of Halsey’s “Eyes Open” and Nat King Cole’s “The Christmas Song”, which really showcased her unique vocals. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she covered a series of songs in a jam session that was live-streamed on her Instagram page. Rosé will finally make her debut as a soloist early this year and teasers are expected to pop-up as reports say that she finished filming the music video of her solo debut. Given YG’s well-recorded unreliably on their commitments, we could only hope this would finally push through. While I have described every member of Blackpink, there’s one more person that needs to be mentioned as he plays a crucial factor in Blackpink’s success.
Teddy Park
Teddy Park is a former member of YG’s boy group “1TYM” and now an in-house producer for YG Entertainment. He wrote and produced many iconic tracks for BIGBANG and 2NE1 such as Fantastic Baby and I Am The Best respectively. Teddy produced the majority of Blackpink’s discography and has received songwriting credits of Blackpink’s collaborations with Dua Lipa (Kiss and Make Up) and Lady Gaga (Sour Candy). According to the album’s production credits, he is credited as the album producer and creative director for the group.
PART 3. THE ERA
When YG announced on May 4, 2020, that Blackpink finished recording their first full album and will shoot a music video for their pre-single later that month, the news was met with cautious optimism. YG has a track record of promising things that didn’t come to fruition so this announcement was understandably taken with a grain of salt. It’s worth pointing out that the group was previously featured on “Sour Candy” by Lady Gaga as a promo single for her album “Chromatica”, which indicates that Blackpink might be coming out with their new material. Also, Interscope is capitalizing on the increasing popularity of K-pop in the West by investing Blackpink in their roster. With this, YG has to commit to its schedule. And so they did by dropping a teaser poster a month later that revealed that the pre-release single will drop on June 26. The pre-release single would later turn out to be called “How You Like That?”, which was met with huge anticipation as teaser posters and videos of the members were revealed until its release. The single became an instant success the moment it dropped as the music video’s premiere was watched by 1.66 million simultaneous viewers on YouTube, making it the highest-rated YouTube Premiere. It was also the fastest music video to hit 100 million viewers in just 32 hours before BTS’ “Dynamite” took over the title two months later, beating Blackpink with 24 hours The song itself was a hit in the charts. It debuted at #32 on Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the UK Singles Charts. Blackpink then teased the release of their second pre-release single featuring an unnamed artist on July 23 that will be released a month later. It was widely speculated that Ariana Grande is the unnamed artist that the hashtag “#AriPink” trended on Twitter. It was later revealed that Grande is actually one of the songwriters of the single and that Selena Gomez is the actual unnamed artist on August 11. The title would later be revealed as “Ice Cream” on August 22. The single’s music video, in which the scenes had to be shot separately in South Korea and Los Angeles due to the COVID-19 pandemic, gathered 79.08 million viewers in 24 hours. The single is currently Blackpink’s highest-peaking single on Billboard Hot 100, debuting at #13. Throughout the hype of Ice Cream, YG announced on July 28 that Blackpink will FINALLY release their first full album titled “The Album” on October 2. The name was met with mixed reactions, calling it “lazy”. However, Rosé said that they have worked on the album for so long that simply calling it “The Album” is the best way to describe their project because it’s so straightforward - “Blackpink: The Album”. Accompanying the album’s release on October 2 is the release of the album’s title track “Lovesick Girls”, which became the sixth biggest 24-hour music video debut at 61.4 million viewers. While the song peaked at #59 on Billboard Hot 100, the new Billboard Global 200 showed that the song debuted and peaked at #2, with the song topping the separate Global Chart that excluded the US. In-between the releases of the singles was Blackpink’s new reality TV show on YouTube called “Blackpink: 24/365”, which showcased various activities that the members participated in, such as pottery making and kart racing, as well as revealing behind the scenes footage of their music videos. The 16-episode reality series served as a way to promote the group and the album’s release. The series began on June 13 with a prologue until it aired its finale on October 24. It was supposed to have one more episode that was scheduled on October 31 before being pulled off after Chinese netizens were concerned over a clip of the episode’s teaser that showed the members touching a baby panda without gloves and masks during the pandemic. To cap off the era, a Netflix documentary film about the group was made under the title, “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky”, which documented Blackpink’s first four years as a group featuring behind the scenes videos and footage during their training days. It also showed the friendship between the members and their producer Teddy, their retrospective look on their training days, as well as their struggles of keeping up the busy lifestyle as K-pop idols. The documentary film also showed the girls recording the songs for The Album, as well as Rosé preparing for her long-anticipated solo debut. The documentary received positive reviews, which critics liked the documentary for showing the members’ work ethic and their fun personalities.
PART 4. THE TRACKS
“The Album” is a pop album that has influences of hip-hop, R&B, and EDM, all of which compose Blackpink’s musical signature since their debut. “The Album” is composed of 8 tracks (including the three singles) with a length of 24 minutes and 26 seconds. This is somehow normal for a K-pop mini-album, but too short for a full-album. In comparison, Twice’s second full-album “Eyes wide open” has 13-tracks with a length of 43 minutes and 29 seconds. As an eight-track album, it’s an equal mix of English and Korean songs as Blackpink attempts to market themselves in the West. All of these songs were recorded in The Black Label in South Korea, with some of the album’s mixing and additional input by producers made remotely due to the pandemic. Teddy serves as the album’s main producer, along with YG’s in-house songwriters and producers Danny Chung, R.Tee, 24, Løren, Vince, and Future Bounce. Frequent Blackpink songwriter Bekah Boom also worked on the lyrics of “The Album”. New songwriters and producers include Victoria Monét, Tommy Brown, Steven Franks, Ariana Grande, Ryan Tedder, Melanie Fontana, Torae Carr, Jonathan Descartes, Brian Lee, Leah Haywood, David Guetta, Tushar Apte, Rob Grimaldi, Chloe George, and Steph Jones. The featured artists in “The Album”, Selena Gomez and Cardi B, are also credited as songwriters in their respective tracks “Ice Cream” and “Bet You Wanna”. Additionally, Jennie and Jisoo received their first songwriting credits ever with “Lovesick Girls”. For this section on the post, I will give my thoughts on each track. I will also include the line distribution statistics based on random_k’s lyric distribution videos (with the exception of Love to Hate Me which I will base on HEXA6ON’s lyric distribution video of the song) and input my thoughts on the distribution as well.
1. How You Like That?
We begin “The Album” with the first pre-release single. “How You Like That?” is an appropriate opener to the album as it’s your typical Blackpink clap-back anthem. The best way to describe my mood on this song is the way AJay reacted to the song, in which she said “This is how you open the album”. Of course, many have criticized this song for being too familiar with the previous singles “DU-DDU-DDU-DU” and “Kill This Love” and I do agree that this song is definitely a rethread of these songs. However, I will disagree that this song didn’t serve anything new to the table. For me, “How You Like That?” basically re-defined Blackpink’s sound that complements the group’s pop and hip-hop tendencies that the previous singles haven’t reached before. It feels redundant to talk about Blackpink’s music videos because it always expected that their music videos would always serve BUDGET regardless of the quality of the actual song. Like, look at the budget! And they shot this music video during a pandemic!
While the line distribution is not totally equal as Jisoo is missing out on ten seconds compared to other members, I feel like the line distribution is justified. You can definitely hear each member contributing their own lines in the song. Lisa being the member with the most lines also makes sense as she basically she slayed the entire second verse
2. Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)
When Normani released “Motivation” as a single, you can definitely tell that Ariana could’ve sang this song since she is credited as a songwriter. It has the Grande fingerprints all over it. Yet, with Normani’s strong vocals that complemented the 2000s-inspired production, she owned this song with ease. My expectations for an Ariana-penned Blackpink track are quite high based on my feelings on “Motivation” alone and Selena Gomez’s contribution as the co-artist of the song propelled that higher. And oh boy, I wish I wasn’t this excited. The most disappointing thing about Ice Cream is that it felt like Blackpink attempting to sing an Ariana reject with no sense of originality. I know it’s ironic to say this since Blackpink is basically “2NE1 Part 2” for longtime YG fans, but this song lacked that distinct Blackpink sound that made me a Blink in the first place. It’s so uninspiring and sometimes jarring to hear, even with multiple listens. Also, the sexual overtones in the lyrics are just too fucking awkward for Blackpink to sing. With their music video that had a cute concept, this is sort of uncomfortable to go through with the sexual undertones in mind. This is the same group that had them bragging how good their bodies look in “Boombayah” and they showed their “sexier side” way better in their cover of Wonder Girls’ “So Hot”. The only saving grace of this song, which was the reason why I could barely tolerate “Ice Cream”, is Lisa’s rap verse. I could imagine Jennie slaying if she had her own rap verse too. Honestly, Selena would have owned this song by herself without the autotune. But it’s nice to hear Selena in an upbeat song like this in a while.
Immediately, I can’t help but think about how Jisoo got only two English lines in the song despite having more seconds than Rosé. Half of Jisoo’s lines are just “Ice cream chillin chillin”. Ugh. I know Jisoo is not a fluent English speaker but many K-pop idols who are not English speakers can sing the language well with enough practice. Thankfully, Jisoo had more English lines in other songs, but I’ll tackle that a bit later in this post. I am honestly surprised Selena had more lines in the song than I thought because I feel like I heard more of Jennie and Rosé, which funny enough I thought Rosé had more lines. This is definitely not the worst line distribution I have seen. It’s just that Jisoo could have sung more lines.
3. Pretty Savage
Remember the distinct Blackpink signature sound that made me a Blink in the first place? Now, this is what I am talking about. This is the quintessential Blackpink sound that I have been waiting for since Kill This Love. I would’ve imagined that Pretty Savage as a pre-release single would've fared better than “How You Like That?” but somehow, I am sort of glad it didn’t. This is the song that Blinks needed to hear as antis have constantly dismissed Blackpink as “influencers with no talent” in response to their constant lengthy hiatuses. Of course, with this kind of song, it’s already expected Lisa would definitely slay this song. It's nice to hear Jennie rap again after she wasn’t given those parts in the pre-release singles. The way she rapped “F bois, not my bois' ' is just too damn iconic. However, the star of the song is Jisoo who has the second verse to herself and her talking rap flow surprisingly works here. The best part is definitely her saying “Blackpink in Your Area” after being the only member not to say the iconic catchphrase for years. And of course, Rosé’s vocals in the bridge are just as amazing. Pretty Savage is definitely one of my top favorites in “The Album”. Let’s just forget the messy choreography though.
This is definitely one of the best lyric distributions of Blackpink so far. While Lisa exceeded ten seconds, every member can be heard equally with their outstanding lines given to them.
4. Bet You Wanna (feat. Cardi B)
Coming off from the success and controversy surrounding WAP, Cardi B and Blackpink is an odd, yet exciting collaboration. I can’t imagine any of the members taking the second verse other than Cardi. It would have been nice to hear the “supposed” explicit lyrics she had to tone down for obvious reasons. If she was allowed to swear, she would’ve sung “I bet if you make me wet, I’ll still be fire”, which plays in my head now when I hear the tone-downed version lyric (“I bet if you make me sweat, I’ll still be fire”). Bet You Wanna could’ve been the next single after Lovesick Girls to capitalize on Cardi’s success from WAP. The entire production is so chill, yet so catchy which makes sense considering Ryan Tedder and Tommy Brown’s involvement. The song is completely in English so that this could’ve been a Top 10 hit with the right push. Unfortunately, the promotional cycle for “The Album” ended so I guess this is going to remain as a fan-favorite track for many Blinks and not a huge hit outside the fandom.
Not a perfect lyric distribution, but not too bad either. Each member can be heard just fine and Cardi didn’t dominate the song too much, which is fair since she is a featured artist. Lisa could’ve gotten a bit more lines, but this is also fine considering she has topped the lyric distribution in the previous songs.
5. Lovesick Girls
Considering that Blackpink’s single releases have always been upbeat clap-back anthems, the release of Lovesick Girls as a title track is quite refreshing as it aims to show the group’s more melancholy side, both in the lyrics and the production. The most striking lyric is from the chorus where the girls sang “We are all born to be alone/But why are we still looking for love?”. This isn’t the most groundbreaking lyric at all, but it does feel a bit weird hearing that from the girls. It brings me back to the documentary where Teddy said that the songs they made for “The Album” are going to show a bit of themselves a bit more as a group. Living as a K-pop idol is quite difficult as it is and we don’t know a lot about them since their image is very calculated by their agencies. It’s not to say they can’t be in a relationship because of the infamous “no dating” rule in the industry. The girls were probably asking themselves if they could really find love in an industry that is obsessed with perfection. Again, it’s not a very groundbreaking lyric but it does give me a bit of insight into the girls’ psyche a bit on their perspective of love.
Rosé taking up the top spot in this lyric distribution makes complete sense since this is the song that is best suited to her vocally. I have a feeling “Lovesick Girls” was a brief glimpse of what kind of song that Rosé will be releasing for her solo debut. Jennie taking up second place is quite surprising, especially her English rap verse didn’t take too long as well. The distribution on Lisa is fine, but Jisoo could’ve slightly sang more lines.
6. Crazy Over You
There’s isn’t much to talk about this song other than its production, which best utilized oriental instrumentals to hip-hop production. This isn’t the best song on “The Album”, but it isn’t as bad as well.
The lyric distribution could’ve been fair if Lisa was given more lines to rap. But I think this is fine since Jennie didn’t have a lot of rap lines in this album. It’s definitely nice to hear more of Jisoo in this song as she perfectly nailed the pre-chorus with her vocals.
7. Love to Hate Me
For some reason, Love to Hate Me reminded me so much of Ariana with the way the lyrics are sung by the girls, especially in the chorus and the ad-libs. This song serves as an appropriate penultimate track as the song delivers its final clap-back before “The Album” comes to a close with a softer pop ballad.
Rosé: 28.7% Lisa: 28.1% Jennie: 26.4% Jisoo: 16.8% Honestly, seeing lyric distributions like this where three of the members had equal parts except Jisoo makes me sad. She was close to having an equal lyrical distribution and this could’ve been done if she sang a bit more lines in the song.
8. You Never Know
We finally reach the end of “The Album” as it closes with a soft power-pop anthem that feels very in-character with Blackpink. This song already gained some attention when it was revealed that Teddy had no involvement in the song, making it the first Blackpink song without him. It’s worth pointing that out because Teddy has a mixed reaction as a main producer of the group. While I personally don’t mind Teddy as a producer, it’s quite refreshing that he isn’t involved so that the group can experiment with other producers. This is definitely the group at their most sincere in this album, in which they address the message of not judging people based on how they look outside. This particular message rings true to the members personally and Blinks can see why. Getting hate comments is nothing new in the K-pop industry. But Jennie seems to be the most bullied member as she was often villainized in the public eye, from her alleged “lazy dancing” scandal to the intense coverage of her short dating life with Kai from EXO. She was also unflatteringly called “YG Princess” because of accusations that the agency has favored her over other members. With this context in mind, it was so painful to hear Jennie sing “But you'll never know unless you walk in my shoes / You'll never know my tangled strings / 'Cause everybody sees what they wanna see / It's easier to judge me than to believe” because she has faced so much criticism over nothing. Other members have gone through similar scrutiny as well, but it’s not as bad as Jennie’s situation. All of the members worked so hard and sacrificed so much to be where they are now, so having this song that asks people not to judge them as a closer feels like the perfect ending statement from Blackpink.
It’s so nice that most of the members almost got the one-minute worth of lines and having Jisoo at the top feels satisfying after the limited line distribution she got with “Ice Cream. Vocal wise, this is their best song to date as they get to showcase their most emotional, sincere vocals in this track. The only problem is that Lisa should’ve gotten more lines, especially since her vocals sounded amazing that gives the song a more “heartfelt” feeling.
PART 5. THE CONCLUSION
Now that I have given my thoughts on each track of “The Album”, here are my overall thoughts on “The Album” and the era itself. In the [FRESH] Popheads discussion thread of “The Album”, a lot of users were disappointed with how short the album is. Yes, the album is unfortunately quite short given that this is their first full album in Blackpink’s fourth year as a group. Users are also disappointed with how “outdated” the songs felt. To be fair on Blackpink, K-pop tends to be a bit behind when it comes to trends. It isn’t surprising that “The Album” would have some kind of outdated production in Wester music standards. The most obvious one would be “Lovesick Girls'', which sounded like an Icona Pop song. Sonically, the entire album isn’t even revolutionary at all. “The Album'' is produced on what’s popular in the charts right now and even the biggest Blink here (not me) would know that. So with all these criticisms pointed out, why is “The Album” even considered as one of the Albums of the Year? Especially as someone who had Taylor Swift’s “folklore” as my own personal AOTY? For my case as a Blink, a huge part of the reason why I am a Blink is that not only their music makes me feel alive, but also because the group has such a charismatic personality that it’s easy to see why they have a huge Western appeal. Along with BTS, Blackpink is leading this new Hallyu wave where the West has finally taken K-pop seriously as a dominant force, not as a gimmick. With “The Album” debuting at #2 in the Billboard 200, it's the highest-charting album by a female girl group since Danity Kane in 2006. On top of that, they have sold approximately 1 million copies worldwide (estimated 319,300 copies in the US and Europe according to Pinkvilla as of October 27, 2020), which is a rare thing to achieve in the streaming era unless you’re Taylor Swift. This huge success for a K-pop girl group proves that Blackpink will always be in our area no matter what. Even with the criticisms that “The Album” had over its short-length and its outdated production, you can at least still hear the huge amount of talent, personality and hardwork of the group in this album. It’s not the content of the album that makes “The Album” an AOTY, it’s the influence that it’s going to make to its listeners and pop culture as a whole. You know what the Blinks will say, “BLACKPINK IS THE REVOLUTION”.
Had to change the format so I followed the community rules. The 2020 college football season has come to a close with the Alabama Crimson Tide once again on top of the college football world. Bama won an exciting, albeit lopsided, national championship game over Ohio State as Nick Saban claimed his seventh title. As you might expect, this mock is going to feature a lot of soon-to-be former Tide players and a few Buckeyes as well. I have six Alabama players coming off the board in the first round, including quarterback Mac Jones. Speaking of quarterbacks, there are six that I could see drafted in the first two rounds at this point. There is still a ton of assessing to be done with the Senior Bowl coming up, hopefully, followed by the NFL scouting combine. There are two trades that occur in the first round of this mock, both involving quarterbacks. Cincinnati trades 1.5 and 5.133 to San Francisco for 1.12, 2.43 and a 2022 first-round pick Detroit trades 1.7 to New England for 1.15, 2.46 and 2022 first-round pick The draft order is according to Tankathon and updated through the wildcard weekend. Time to dive in!
I know there is some buzz about Urban Meyer landing with the Jaguars and taking Justin Fields. I don't buy it. Trevor Lawrence is one of the best quarterback prospects of all time. His poise, athleticism and arm strength make him a Day 1 starter. He would give Jacksonville it's most exciting quarterback situation in franchise history.
New York Jets (2-14) - Zach Wilson, QB, BYU
This comes down to Justin Fields vs. Zach Wilson. It's going to be close. As of right now, I give the edge to Wilson. He has incredible zip on his throws and a lightning quick release. Wilson is a proven runner as well. He will need to take care of his body at the next level, but he looks the part of an NFL quarterback. It is no secret he works hard either. The Jets would find a potential new leader for their offense.
There is some buzz about the Dolphins trading this pick back to the Texans in a deal for Deshaun Watson. If that is on the table, Miami should pull the trigger. Otherwise, this team should stand pat and protect Tua. There are plenty of other receivers to take later in this draft. There are not many offensive tackles like Penei Sewell though. He is a polished pass blocker with good functional athleticism and plenty of play strength. He sat out the 2020 season, but he will remind everyone at the combine (assuming it happens) just how talented he is.
Atlanta Falcons (4-12) - Patrick Surtain II, CB, Alabama
While some will advocate for a quarterback here, Matt Ryan likely isn't going anywhere anytime soon because of his contract. Instead, the Falcons take a talented player at a huge position of need. Drafting Patrick Surtain II gives Atlanta a tandem of young corners to build the defense around. Surtain has great ball skills and an NFL pedigree. Not to mention he brings plenty of big-game experience coming out of Alabama. This defense allowed the most passing yards per game in 2020. Don't overthink it. Grab a top-end corner and move forward.
San Francisco 49ers via Cincinnati Bengals (4-11-1) - Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State
With two of the top four quarterbacks still on the board and Penei Sewell already gone, phones in Cincinnati would be lighting up! The Bengals move down, allowing the 49ers to find their quarterback of the future. Cutting Jimmy Garoppolo saves a ton of cap space. Justin Fields' ceiling is higher than that of Garoppolo's too. Fields brings a ton of intangibles to the table with his arm strength and speed. He definitely needs to improve some of his decision making and work on consistently hitting his release. Working with Kyle Shanahan would be a great way to help him reach his full potential.
Philadelphia Eagles (4-11-1) - Ja'Marr Chase, WR, LSU
If Patrick Surtain was still here, that would have been the pick. However, it is hard to be mad about landing the top receiver in the class. Ja'Marr Chase is a matchup nightmare with a great blend of size and speed. He dominated the SEC in 2019 before opting out in 2020. He would give whomever the Eagles decide to start at quarterback a clear No. 1 receiver. Philly has been looking to fill that void for a long time.
New England Patriots via Detroit Lions (5-11) - Trey Lance, QB, North Dakota State
Detroit has a ton of holes to fill and a new general manager coming in. I think we could see them trade down come April. The Patriots jump up to find a succession plan to Tom Brady, probably a few years too late. Trey Lance is a bit more raw than the other top quarterback prospects, but he has some special physical tools. If he gets a year to get up to speed in the NFL and improve his deep accuracy, he could be a long-term solution at quarterback for years to come. With his effortless arm strength and impressive mobility, the sky is the limit for Lance.
Carolina Panthers (5-11) - Micah Parsons, LB, Penn State
Sometimes, things just fall into place perfectly. Carolina needs a new linebacker to roam the field and match wits with opposing quarterbacks. Micah Parsons could step in from Day 1 and provide a huge boost to an exciting young defense. He has the prototypical size teams want for modern day linebackers with some added pass rushing potential. Parsons won't be Luke Keuchley, but he is probably the team's best option to attempt to fill the void he left when he retired.
I'm not forgetting about Bradley Chubb or Von Miller, with the latter hopefully coming back from injury at full strength in 2021. Gregorey Rousseau has the potential to take over at one of the defensive end spots though while Miller and Chubb play on the outside. Rousseau is huge at 6'7" with room to add some muscle to that frame. He looks most comfortable rushing the passer from the interior in the limited tape I've watched so far of him at Miami. Denver needs a jolt in its front three. Rousseau has the potential to become a cornerstone player on this defense.
Dallas Cowboys (6-10) - Caleb Farley, CB, Virginia Tech
When you allow the most points in franchise history and fire your defensive coordinator after one season, it's probably a good sign that you need to add some talent to your defense. Caleb Farley is a big, physical corner who can command a spot on the outside for this Cowboys defense. After sitting out the 2020 season, he will get a chance to solidify his draft stock at the combine. Dallas desperately missed Byron Jones this year. While Farley is not a like-for-like fit, he can help fill the void and create an exciting young tandem with Trevon Diggs.
New York Giants (6-10) - Jaylen Waddle, WR, Alabama
If you want to rank the Alabama receivers over the past two years, Jaylen Waddle is second on my list behind Jerry Jeudy. Yes, I would take him over DeVonta Smith and Henry Ruggs. While Smith, deservedly, won the Heisman, Waddle was in the conversation this year before he got hurt. He was the go-to player in the offense, amassing 557 receiving yards and four touchdowns in his four games before the injury. Waddle is electric in the open field. I like how he projects to the next level just a bit more than Smith. If the Giants are determined to see Daniel Jones succeed, finding a playmaker like Waddle will make a huge difference.
Cincinnati Bengals via San Francisco 49ers (6-10) - Christian Darrisaw, OT, Virginia Tech
Slide down seven spots and land an offensive line prospect with tons of potential? Sign every Bengals fan in the world up for that. Probably sign Joe Burrow up for that too. Christian Darrisaw has a bit of developing still to do, but he looks very comfortable playing on the left side of the line. His size and athleticism point to tons of untapped potential. He has room to improve in his footwork and technique, but those are coachable aspects of the game.
Los Angeles Chargers (7-9) - Samuel Cosmi, OT, Texas
Protecting Justin Herbert should be the top priority for the Chargers this offseason. For a team that seems to be growing into a potential championship window with a rookie quarterback, finding a franchise tackle to grow with it would be a great fit. Samuel Cosmi's ceiling might be the highest of any offensive tackle in this draft. At 6'7", 309 lbs, Cosmi is huge, but he moves like a much smaller man. He looks comfortable pulling, blocking in space and anchoring down on the quarterback's blind side. He is extremely raw and will need some good coaching to perfect his technique, hand usage and footwork to reach his potential. In two years though, he could be one of the top five tackles in the league. There is some risk though that he ends up being a guard if he cannot develop.
Minnesota Vikings (7-9) - Jaycee Horn, CB, South Carolina
Mike Zimmer called this the worst defense he has ever had. Let's assume they will look to rebuild it then during the 2021 offseason. Jaycee Horn has lockdown corner potential. He is an elite man-to-man corner. South Carolina moved him all over the formation, allowing him to gain some experience in the slot, blitzing off the edge, playing off coverage and playing zone. He should upgrade the secondary right away. This does not mean Minnesota is bailing on Jeff Gladney after a rough rookie season. Adding Horn just creates more depth and potential for a turnaround next season.
Detroit Lions via New England Patriots (7-9) - DeVonta Smith, WR, Alabama
Cue the "did you even watch the national championship game?" reactions. DeVonta Smith has been the best offensive player in college football this season. The combination of speed, route running and catch radius makes him lethal. Opposing defenses have had no answer. The main concerns are about his size. He has a very slight frame at 175 lbs, which begs questions about his ability to survive in the NFL. He will also face some major better defenses at the next level. After trading down, the Lions can invest in either a replacement for Kenny Golladay or someone to line up across from him in the future.
Arizona Cardinals (8-8) - Kyle Pitts, TE, Florida
This has become one of my favorite prospect-team pairings in these early mock drafts. Kyle Pitts would thrive in the Cardinals offense. It would hide a number of his shortcomings as a blocker by allowing him to flex out and make plays in space. He would give Kyler Murray a great target over the middle of the field and in the red zone and open up more opportunities for DeAndre Hopkins. The drop off from Hopkins to the next-best receiving option in this offense is steep. Pitts would bridge the gap.
Las Vegas Raiders (8-8) - Christian Barmore, DL, Alabama
Las Vegas' defense was not what many had hoped for after some signs of progress in 2019. The pass rush regressed and the secondary struggled. Enter Christian Barmore. Fresh off a dominant national championship game, he showcased his talent and potential heading into a potential NFL career. His ability as an interior pass rusher would fill a huge need for the Raiders.
Still not a receiver. I will get there, I promise Dolphins fans. Miami got solid production out of Andrew Van Ginkel and Kyle Van Noy, but neither one is irreplaceable. Azeez Ojulari is a polished pass rusher with an array of moves at his disposal to beat opposing offensive tackles. He would provide the Dolphins with a situational rusher who can develop into a long-term starter at outside linebacker in Brian Flores' defense.
Washington Football Team (7-9) - Mac Jones, QB, Alabama
Taylor Heinicke and Alex Smith are both great stories, but neither projects as the long-term answer at quarterback for Washington. Mac Jones went from being Tua's backup to the Davey O'Brien winner and Heisman finalist. He is incredibly accurate, looks comfortable in the pocket and has great touch on his deep ball. He might not be as athletic as the four quarterbacks who went before him, but he can use his legs to extend plays while keeping his eyes downfield. He benefited from a great supporting cast, but he deserves some credit for Alabama's success this year as well.
Chicago Bears (8-8) - Rashod Bateman, WR, Minnesota
Allen Robinson seems headed for an exit this offseason. With Jones off the board, there are no quarterbacks worth taking here, so receiver becomes the next position of focus. Rashod Bateman has the size and playmaking skills to make Bears fans feel a little better about likely losing Robinson. He had a bit of an off 2020 season, opting out, then opting back in and opting out again after five games. He has the size to be a possession receiver, but flashes good run after the catch ability too. Expect whoever is Chicago's quarterback in 2021 to benefit from having him in the offense.
Indianapolis Colts (11-5) - Patrick Jones II, EDGE, Pittsburgh
The Colts defense was one of the best in the league this year against the run, but pretty average against the pass. The best way to disrupt an opponent's passing attack is to generate pressure. Patrick Jones II excels in that department. He has 17.5 sacks over the past two seasons. He fits the mold of a 4-3 defensive end and would give the Colts a successor to Justin Houston, who turns 32 later this month. Jones is one of my favorite edge rushers in this class and I think this would be a great fit for him.
It took me a bit, but I think I have figured out my pro comp for Zaven Collins. Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr. Both are outside linebackers who can hang in pass coverage but make their biggest impact rushing the passer. Collins is a little bit heavier than Barr, but both fit similar size profiles as well. Tennessee desperately needs a playmaker like that. The Titans had just 19 sacks as a team this season. Collins had 4.5 sacks and 7.5 tackles for loss in eight games. He is the type of disruptive force this defense is lacking.
New York Jets via Seattle Seahawks (2-14) - Wyatt Davis, G, Ohio State
After grabbing Zach Wilson, protecting him needs to be the priority. Wyatt Davis is the best interior lineman in this class. He has great size and lots of experience after starting for the past two years. He would provide a nice boost to the interior of this Jets offensive line and some much needed run blocking. Joe Douglas spent a lot on the offensive line in free agency without much success. Davis and Mekhi Becton would give the Jets two great building blocks to rely on as they reshape the unit.
Did Pittsburgh throw it more than anyone else strictly by design or because they lost faith in the running game? Hard to know which is true, but either way, the Steelers cannot continue to rely on Ben Roethlisberger throwing the ball 50+ times per game. That's not sustainable. Najee Harris is the top running back in this class and could very well come off the board before this. He is physical, fast and consistent. His blend of quickness and power is pretty impressive. What makes him worthy of a first-round pick is his ability as a pass catcher. Harris caught 65 passes over the past two seasons. A 230-pound back who can get involved in the passing game? That is a special combination.
Jacksonville Jaguars via Los Angeles Rams (1-15) - Liam Eichenburg, OT, Notre Dame
Cam Robinson did not have a great 2020 season and it is time that the Jaguars think about moving on from him at left tackle. Protecting Trevor Lawrence is going to be a big priority. Liam Eichenburg is one of the most pro ready tackles in this class. He is incredibly polished and technically sound. His upside is limited by a lack of speed, but he can be the anchor on the left side of the line.
Cleveland's postseason run is going to continue for a little bit longer, but it is clear where they could use some help on defense. With no clear secondary pick here, the Browns can grab a high-upside linebacker. Jeremiah Owusu-Komaroah is a fantastic cover player with sideline-to-sideline ability. Given the Browns struggles in pass coverage this season, this would be a useful addition to the defense.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5) - Kwity Paye, EDGE, Michigan
Tampa Bay is in win-now mode with Tom Brady, but they can afford to go with a raw, high-upside edge rusher as they continue to build depth on defense. Kwity Paye has all the physical tools you hope for in an edge rusher at 6'4" and roughly 270 lbs. He didn't produce much at Michigan with just 11.5 sacks in 28 career games. However, teams will be betting they can help unlock his potential and turn him into a physically dominant edge rusher.
Another prospect and team pairing that I really like, Baltimore's offensive line has not been the dominant unit we have become accustomed to watching in recent years. Ronnie Stanley went down after just seven games. Matt Skura had issues snapping the ball at times this season. Plugging in a pro-ready option like Creed Humphrey at center would be a great move for Baltimore. Humphrey has plenty of experience blocking for mobile quarterbacks, playing with Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Blocking for Lamar Jackson should be a seamless transition.
New Orleans Saints (12-4) - Chazz Surratt, LB, UNC
The Saints are in for a big offseason as the team figures out its direction after Drew Brees' career ends. New Orleans has been searching for linebacking help for years now. Finding a high-character and dynamic leader like Chazz Surratt at the end of the first round would be a great addition. Surratt is a former quarterback who is still learning the position. However, he has thrived under Mack Brown over the past two seasons starting for UNC. He could take over for Demario Davis, who just turned 32, when he decides to retire.
Buffalo Bills (13-3) - Pat Freiermuth, TE, Penn State
Another great fit for both prospect and team here. Buffalo could use an upgrade at tight end. What makes this such a great fit is Pat Freiermuth's ability as both a blocker and inline receiver. He is not the same type of receiving threat as someone like Kyle Pitts, but he is a well-rounded player that fills a huge need. Giving Josh Allen an elite tight end to work with is only going to elevate his game further.
Green Bay Packers (13-3) - Rashawn Slater, OT, Northwestern
There is a time and place to grab a receiver, but that is probably later in the draft. Green Bay has David Bahktiari locked up for a while, but he suffered a major injury and Bryan Bulaga left last offseason. Suddenly, this once stout offensive line is starting to deteriorate. Letting Rashawn Slater start his career at right tackle could be great for his development. He has a long way to go when it comes to hand usage and has some flaws in his pass blocking technique, but he shows flashes of being a punishing blocker. Investing in protecting Aaron Rodgers, or eventually Jordan Love, is a good plan.
Kansas City Chiefs (14-2) - Trey Smith, OL, Tennessee
Kansas City has not looked quite as sharp over the final few weeks of the season. Part of that has been inconsistent offensive line play. Andrew Wylie has struggled and could be in danger of being replaced in 2021. Trey Smith is a physical specimen at 6'6", 330 lbs. He started his career at tackle before kicking inside to guard. He played really well for Tennessee in 2020 and could be in line to start on Day 1. Worst-case scenario, he provides some crucial depth for the defending champs at either guard or tackle spot.
Jacksonville Jaguars (1-15) - Carlos Basham Jr., DL, Wake Forest
With two exciting edge rushers in Josh Allen and K'Lavon Chaisson, Jacksonville could use an upgrade along the inside of the defensive line. Carlos Basham Jr. is a bit of a tweener, playing snaps at defensive end and defensive tackle. That versatility would be valuable to a Jaguars defense that was one of the worst in football this past year.
New York Jets (2-14) - Joseph Ossai, EDGE, Texas
New York is in desperate need of some edge rushing help. Ranking in the bottom third in sacks for what feels like the 10th year in a row has to end at some point for the Jets to turn things around. Joseph Ossai is an intriguing prospect, having played more of an off-ball linebacker role prior to the 2020 season. However, he showed enough promise as an edge rusher for the Jets to add him here.
Atlanta Falcons (4-12) - Jaelan Phillips, EDGE, Miami
Atlanta continues its search for an edge rusher. After spending several premium picks and some cap space in recent years, this could be the end of the line. Jaelan Phillips flashed tons of speed and potential to produce at the NFL level in his one year at Miami. The Falcons would be banking on that being a sign of things to come and not a one season wonder.
Miami Dolphins via Houston Texans (10-6) - Chris Olave, WR, Ohio State
Miami finally grabs the receiver fans have been waiting for. Chris Olave made a huge impact on this Ohio State offense this year. He has good size to compete for pass downfield and has shown flashes of high-level route runner. He might need to bulk up a little bit to survive in the NFL.
Philadelphia Eagles (4-11-1) - Andre Cisco, S, Syracuse
The direction of this Eagles defense is in flux with Doug Pederson fired and Jim Schwartz taking a year away from football. There is no question that the pass defense needs a boost though. Andre Cisco is a centerfield safety with great ball skills. He had 12 interceptions in his first two seasons before slogging through an injury-riddled 2020. He would help Philly deal with the big plays that plagued the secondary all season long.
Carlos Dunlap is gone. Geno Atkins turns 33 in March. Cincinnati could use an infusion of talent along the defensive line. Daviyon Nixon flashed enough upside that the Bengals would be happy to land him in the second round. He moves incredibly well at 305 pounds, but there is room for improvement when it comes to his technique. If he can get that final layer of polish, he could be a force along the interior of the defense.
Is Teddy Bridgewater the long-term answer at quarterback? It is unclear at this point. Matt Rhule would likely be excited to work with a polished passer like Kyle Trask. He has great accuracy and anticipation. However, he really lacks mobility and does not have the biggest arm. He could be a bit of a project behind Bridgewater.
Denver Broncos (6-10) - Alex Leatherwood, OT, Alabama
Alex Leatherwood has played every position along the offensive line, other than center, in his time at Alabama. In this scenario, I envision him potentially taking over at right tackle after not seeing Ja'Wuan James play much in the past two years. His ability to play left tackle is important too if Garrett Bolles regresses.
Detroit Lions (6-10) - Joe Tryon, EDGE, Washington
For a few years, Detroit has been searching for an edge rusher. Joe Tryon has above average play strength and a solid set of pass rushing moves. We didn't get to see him in 2020 because he opted out, but he has room for improvement and the size to play as a 4-3 end or a 3-4 outside linebacker.
New York Giants (6-10) - Quincy Roche, EDGE, Miami
The Giants will be disappointed to see Tryon off the board, but Quincy Roche is a nice consolation prize. He did not put up the same eye-popping numbers he did during his time at Temple, but his one year in Miami was productive. New York's defense made huge strides in 2020 under Patrick Graham, but needs some more pass rushing help to take the next step.
Cincinnati Bengals via San Francisco 49ers (6-10) - Alijah Vera-Tucker, G, USC
If the Bengals spent every pick in this draft on the offensive line, I don't think anyone would fault them. That's probably unnecessary, but investing another premium pick on an offensive lineman is smart roster building here. Alijah Vera-Tucker brings some experience at both guard and tackle. He is a developing player that should make Joe Burrow's life better when he returns from injury.
Dallas Cowboys (6-10) - Jevon Holland, DB, Oregon
Dallas' defense is headed for something of a major rebuild. With a ton of question marks in the secondary, finding a player who can play in multiple roles carries a lot of value. Jevon Holland is disruptive and can line up at either safety spot or play in the slot. The Cowboys just need to find talented players to turn this defense around.
Jacksonville is in desperate need of an upgrade at tight end. Brevin Jordan has not had the fanfare that Kyle Pitts and Pat Freiermuth have, but he plays the position well. He does a lot of the little things right and would give Trevor Lawrence a strong target across the middle.
Detroit Lions via New England Patriots (7-9) - Trevon Moehrig, S, TCU
The backend of Detroit's defense needs a lot of work. Trevon Moehrig is a reliable safety option with plenty of range to make plays. He was one of the best players on a solid TCU defense. His biggest area for improvement is keeping proper positioning. Moehrig got burned deep a few times in 2020.
Los Angeles Chargers (7-9) - Kadarius Toney, WR, Florida
The Chargers might not bring back Mike Williams. Even if they do, there is room for another playmaker on this squad. Kadarius Toney looked incredible as part of Florida's offensive resurgence this season. He is dynamic in the open field and great at making plays with the ball in his hands. Toney could be uber productive playing with Justin Herbert.
Las Vegas Raiders (8-8) - Eric Stokes, CB, Georgia
Keep rebuilding this defense. The Raiders have swung and missed on a lot of corners in recent years, but Eric Stokes could help steady the unit a bit. He has impeccable speed and solid coverage skills. Stokes showed some signs of being a real difference maker with four interceptions in 2020. His stock could rise a lot if he posts a ridiculous time at the combine.
Arizona Cardinals (8-8) - Marvin Wilson, DL, Florida State
Marvin Wilson was a potential first-round selection a year ago, but did not have a great senior year after returning to Tallahassee. I think Wilson could bounce back with some better coaching. There was a lot of animosity at Florida State this offseason and it seemed like Wilson's heart was not in it this year. If he can reclaim his 2019 form, this would be a steal for a Cardinals team in need of some help along the defensive line.
I have Travis Etienne ranked at No. 14 on my big board, so don't go thinking I hate Etienne. However, NFL teams are continuing to devalue this position to the point where only one running back was selected last year in the first round. This is a great fit for the Clemson running back, who would join an exciting offense. His big-play ability could easily see him go sooner than this.
Washington (7-9) - Sage Surratt, WR, Wake Forest
Assuming that Washington does opt for Mac Jones, they are going to need to give him some receivers other than Terry McLaurin to throw to. Sage Surratt sat out the 2020 season, but he was last seen torching secondaries in the ACC. He is a big-play threat with great size and ball skills.
Chicago Bears (8-8) - Landon Dickerson, C, Alabama
We won't get to see Landon Dickerson workout at the Senior Bowl or combine this year because he suffered a season-ending injury in the SEC title game. He made a brief cameo at the end of Alabama's championship win, but he might not be ready for the upcoming season. Once he is back to full health though, he could be a steady starter for the Bears. This offense would look a lot better with an improved line and some additional playmakers.
Tennessee Titans (11-5) - Jay Tufele, DL, USC
This mostly projecting how Jay Tufele could develop as a prospect. He flashed some interior pass rushing ability in his first two seasons before opting out of the 2020 season. The Titans will take pass rushing help however they can get it at this point.
Indianapolis Colts (11-5) - Terrace Marshall Jr., WR, LSU
T.Y. Hilton had a strong second half and Michael Pittman Jr. showed flashes of his potential to be a No. 1 receiver, but Indy needs more receiving options. Parris Campbell has yet to make an impact and Zach Pascal is better off providing depth. Terrace Marshall got overshadowed by Justin Jefferson and Ja'Marr Chase last year, but he made some big plays for a much worse LSU offense this year.
Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) - Dillon Radunz, OT, North Dakota State
Pittsburgh's offensive line struggled a lot between injuries and poor play all season. Dillon Radunz is a bit of an unknown coming out of North Dakota State, but he has some great physical tools and dominated the FCS. He could compete for either tackle spot from Day 1.
There is no question the Seahawks need an edge rusher, but Russell Wilson also needs time to make plays. Saturday's loss to the Rams should underline how much the offensive line needs an upgrade. Jalen Mayfield held down the right side of the line for Michigan. He should do the same thing for Seattle, replacing Brandon Shell.
Los Angeles Rams (10-6) - Cade Mays, OT, Tennessee
Andrew Whitworth cannot play forever and Jared Goff is not mobile enough to compensate for a bad offensive line. Cade Mays, like his teammate Trey Smith, has featured mostly at guard, but has the size to play at tackle. He has played at every position at some point in his college career at Georgia and Tennessee. His versatility would be hugely valuable even if he does not start right away.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5) - Jaylen Twyman, DL, Pittsburgh
Building depth along the front seven is pretty much the only clear need this team has, pending any losses in free agency. Jalen Twyman was a disruptive force in 2019 for Pittsburgh. He racked up 10.5 sacks and 12.5 tackles for loss in a dominant season. He will need to measure in well at the combine to answer some questions about his size, but he could provide some pass rushing depth right away.
Baltimore Ravens (11-5) - Amon-Ra St. Brown, WR, USC
There is no question the Ravens need another receiver to add to this offense. Amon-Ra St. Brown has the agility and route tree to fit well as a possession receiver in this offense. He can get open in small spaces and has shown the ability to stretch the field as well.
Cleveland Browns (11-5) - Israel Mukuamu, CB, South Carolina
I'm not totally sure where Israel Mukuamu fits at the next level. He has played both safety and outside corner in his time at South Carolina. He is huge at 6'4" and shows flashes of being a lockdown corner. He is a step slow in the speed department, but his versatility would be extremely useful for a Browns secondary that has struggled to keep players healthy.
New Orleans Saints (12-4) - Rondale Moore, WR, Purdue
Ronadale Moore has looked like a human joystick when at full strength. That type of playmaking could be a huge boost to the Saints offense. It is not totally clear what this team will look like without Drew Brees, but New Orleans has needed a long-term solution across from Michael Thomas for a few years. Moore could be a top candidate if his medicals check out.
Buffalo Bills (13-3) - Chris Rumph II, EDGE, Duke
Buffalo's defense took a step back in 2020 after a dominant 2019 season. The Bills can look to reclaim their 2019 form with a couple of fresh faces in the front seven. Chris Rumph II had a great career with Duke, posting 14.5 sacks and 25 tackles for loss over his final two seasons.
Green Bay Packers (13-3) - Seth Williams, WR, Auburn
Seth Williams' skill set is a bit more limited than some of the receivers that have gone before him, but what he does, he does very well. He has the size at 6'3" to make plays down the field in traffic. Most importantly, he has good hands, which is something Green Bay desperately needs. The Packers had one of the highest drop percentages in the league this year.
Kansas City Chiefs (14-2) - Nick Bolton, LB, Missouri
The "Nifty Or Thrifty" article series takes a comprehensive look at the meta for PvP Cup formats: Holiday Cup, in this case. As is typical for the NoT series, I'll cover not only the top meta picks, but also some mons where you can save some dust with cheaper second move unlock costs... or don't need a second move at all! Because for those on a stardust budget--and/or folks trying to save up some dust for the future--it can be daunting trying to figure out where to spend or not spend it. We all want to field competitive teams, but where can we get the best bang for our buck and where should we perhaps channel our inner scrooge? A quick reminder of what Holiday Cup IS:
Great League, 1500 CP Limit
Only Electric, Flying, Ghost, Grass, Ice, and Normal type Pokémon are allowed.
No other restrictions. Legendaries, Mythicals, Shadows are all a-okay!
As I try to usually do, I will start with those with the cheapest second move unlock cost and steam ahead until we finally arrive at the expensive Legendaries. Okay, enough intro. Let's dive in!
10,000 Dust/25 Candy
VENUSAUR Vine Whip | Frenzy Plantᴸ & Sludge Bomb It's almost become an inside joke that every Nifty Or Thrifty where Venusaur is available, that's what I start with... so why break from tradition? After all, Venusaur looks just fine here, capably handling many top threats like Diggersby, Stunfisk, Lapras and Dewgong, Lanturn, Snorlax, the Charmers, the Alolan Rocks, and the quasi-Fighters Vigoroth and Obstagoon and Zangoose... and oh yeah, all those annoying Razor Leafing Grassholes too. Venusaur is one of the more reliable and flexible (for a Grass, at least) options around. Shadow Venusaur, by the way, is a slight downgrade, gaining an easier win over Magnezone but losing Snorlax and the Alolan Rocks... I don't recommend the Shadow version here. CHARIZARD Fire Spin/Dragon Breathᴸ | Dragon Claw & Blast Burnᴸ/Overheat While there is usually a long debate to be had anymore over which fast move is best for Zard, here it's pretty clear the winner is Fire Spin. I mean, this is a format stuffed with Ices, Grasses, and other things weak to Fire (Galvantula, Magnezone), so it makes sense that you'd want that over Dragon Breath. But there IS a case for Breath as well, as its heavy damage can uniquely beat down Talonflame, Mandibuzz, and even Altaria. BUT Fire Spin is alone able to get the likes of Froslass, A-Sandslash, Galvantula, Magnezone, Drifblim, and Abomasnow, and Charizard emerges from all wins it shares with Dragon Breath with more HP leftover. Dragon Breath has niche use, but Fire Spin Zard is generally the way to go. That includes Shadow Charizard, though that one is a small step backwards overall in this meta, losing Galv, Blim, Snorlax, and Vigoroth and picking up only Dewgong, Mandi, and Talonflame as compensation. RAICHU Volt Switch | Wild Charge & Brick Break/Thunder Punch That's right... the regular, non-Alolan one. What does it have going for it? (Besides festive holiday hats, of course! 🎅) Brick Break, which by itself is able to beat down Alolan Sandslash, Magnezone, Skarmory, Talonflame, and even big beefy Snorlax! But what it really does is play a similar role to Thunder Punch in setting up a closing Wild Charge. There is risk, as the opponent correctly sniffing out the bait and letting through an unblocked Brick Break is often going to be... less than ideal. But when it works, it really works, and better so than Thunder Punch. Brick Break is 5 energy cheaper than Punch, so there are some wins where it can be used and still allow Chu to get to the KO Wild Charge afterwards that Thunder Punch falls short on, including Vigoroth and Obstagoon (see Goonie, as an example, with BB vs TP), plus the unique win already mentioned against A-Slash. High risk, but potentially high rewards in using Brick Break. I'll say both it and Thunder Punch are viable alongside Wild Charge... but Brick Break is what makes Raichu truly unique. ALOLANRAICHU Volt Switch | Wild Charge & Grass Knot/Thunder Punch Is it possible AhChu is the worse Chu for once in this meta? It just might be. I mean, it still puts in good work, and can (like its Kanto cousin) beat Vigoroth and Magnezone, and with some fancy maneuvering, can even take down Altaria, something few Electrics can claim. (Though technically, in hindsight, Original Recipe Raichu can win the same way, so....) The problem AhChu has in this meta is twofold: its Psychic typing is more hindrance than help with the Ghost and Dark moves around to exploit it, and its non-Electric moves Grass Knot and Psychic--normally big boons--mostly go to waste here with no Mud Boys around for Grass Knot and little for Psychic (the move) to hit hard either. Even with shields down, regular Raichu is more impressive than Alolan Chu. KayChu's Brick Break just looks better in this particular meta. AhChu is viable, but... inferior? Say it ain't so! WIGGLYTUFF Charm | Ice Beam & Play Rough I know, I know. Between Halloween Cup and Kanto Cup and Nightfall Cup and open Great League in GBL, you're probably sick and tired of Wiggly, but here we go again. With practically no true Fighters and very few relevant Darks around in Holiday Cup, Wiggly is not as dominant as it's been at times, but it still rolls over a lot of things with the high neutral damage of Charm, including domination over the Darks, Fighters, and Dragons you WILL see, plus things like Galvantula, Snorlax, Stunfisk, Abomasnow, Froslass, Drifblim (and most Ghosts in general, come to think of it), other Charmers, and even a unlisted-above win over Lapras with straight Charm. Wiggly is likely to be out in force yet again. Sorry! ALOLAN GRAVELEGOLEM Volt Switch | Rock Blast & Stone Edge Seemingly always underrated, the Alolan Rocks have had success in enough Silph Arena Cups to get noticed by Arena players, but it wasn't until Kanto Cup that many in the GBL PvP community had their eyes opened. And their success looks likely to carry over into Holiday Cup. They equally terrorize Ices, Flyers, Fires, and their fellow Electrics, a unique set of wins that give them the flexability you really want in this Cup (considering that list is ⅔ of the major typings here!). Rather than ramble on, I'll just review the differences between Golem and Graveler real quick. The higher Attack of A-Golem allows it to knock out Magnezone, while A-Golem will typically fall just short. On the flipside, A-Grav can outbulk Wigglytuff and get to TWO Rock Blasts for the win, unlike A-Golem. And A-Grav is slightly better with shields down, outlasting Whimsicott and Froslass, while A-Golem usually loses those but beats A-Grav in the head to head thanks to winning CMP. Either way you go, make sure the Alolan Rocks are on your radar now if they aren't already! LINOONE Shadow Claw | Grass Knot & Thunder Linoone isn't the best at anything, but it's good enough at a mix of things, checking off many big names like Lapras, Dewgong, Alolan Marowak, Stunfisk, Skarmory, Froslass, Drifblim, Mandibuzz, HaunteGengar (even with Sludge Bomb), and more. It's a borderline option if you look only at the number of wins, but like the Vince McMahon meme, it just gets better and better when you look those wins over. OBSTAGOON Counter | Night Slash & Hyper Beam/Gunk Shot The cheapest Counter user here, yours for potentially just the measly cost of a second move after evolving up from a hatch-size Galarian Zigzagoon. And Obstagoon and its Counter are quite good in this meta, yes. None of the Ices like it (not even Froslass that's usually troublesome for Fighters and quasi-Fighters), nor other things weak to Counter like Diggersby, Magnezone, and the Alolan Rocks. And meanwhile, Night Slash handles all the Ghosts besides Drifblim and Golurk, and it also overcomes Lanturn and Mandibuzz with high neutral damage (mostly thanks to Gunk Shot or Hyper Beam). And with Beam, it can even potentially knock out Stunfisk. ALTARIA Dragon Breath | Sky Attack & Dragon Pulse/Dazzling Gleam Don't take Alt's late arrival in this section of the article to mean it's not really good, because it is really good in Holiday Cup. Matched against the core meta specifically, Altaria capably handles the Counter users, all Fire types, most other Flyers (like Drifblim and Mandibuzz), Diggersby, Stunfisk and Lanturn and Galvantula (and nearly all Electrics, in fact), Snorlax and more. And yes, Dazzling Gleam may actually be an option for the Darks around (and the eye-catching ability to steal a win from any Magnezone that gets cocky and opts not to shield). Though let's be honest: 95% of the time, Altaria is just going to beat face with Sky Attack anyway. TORTERRA Razor Leaf | Sand Tomb & Stone Edge/Frenzy Plantᴸ I've advocated for Torterror several times and in multiple leagues, but here we go again: Sand Tomb debuffing + Razor Leaf = big pain. Yes yes, its unusual Grass/Ground combo typing makes it particularly susceptible to the many Ices here, but it still manages to overcome Lapras AND Dewgong despite that, and keep in mind that the typing means that Torterra TRIPLE resists Electric damage, so the only ones that survive it are Zapdos and Emolga with their Flying moves. Tort rips through all Water and Ground types in the format besides Gligar, as well as the Counter users, Snorlax, and even Wigglytuff. It's a very nice performance that doesn't even include the potential of what Frenzy Plant or especially Stone Edge (with its literal perfect coverage against all four typings Torterra is weak to: Ice, Fire, Flying, and Bug) can do if snuck around shields. Torterra likely needs a quick hook if Ices or Grasses show up, but short of that, it can put the hurt on a LOT of things. Just don't get too cute by using the Shadow version, as it's a noticeable dropoff. CHERRIM Bullet Seed | Weather Ball (Fire) & Solar Beam/Dazzling Gleam Having Cherrim as my lead in GBL Great League for 2+ seasons now, I can tell you it is more impactful on the right team than just the raw numbers would indicate. Yes, it can handle Grounds (Diggersby, Stunfisk, etc.) just fine, as well as overcome even seemingly unfavorable Waters like Dewgong, and perhaps surprising wins like both Counter users and Snorlax. But Weather Ball comes so fast and so often that it is a legit threat to Magnezone (which it typically beats) and Skarmory and Froslass and Abomasnow and Alolan Sandslash and others. The key is that Cherrim has to be swapped out more often than some players may be comfortable with, hitting hard and then ducking out before facing a killer charge move coming back its way. Against Skarmory and Abomasnow and A-Slash in particular, it can consistently get them under 10 HP, but then falls JUST short of closing it out. A quick swap out against Aboma and A-Slash, for example, can get Cherrim out of their with nearly half its life left and the opponent a mere fast move or two from death from what you swap in. Cherrim does some real good on its own, but it's even better than it appears in a soften-them-up, support type role. And those Dazzling Gleams or Solar Beams come much quicker than an unprepared opponent may be ready for and give Cherrim a high potential for sudden blowout wins. WHIMSICOTT Charm/Razor Leaf | Grass Knot & Moonblast/Hurricane There are two very different ways to play Whimsie. The most obvious and most common is as a Charmer, with which it does typical Charm things like shredding Mandibuzz and Altaria (despite being weak to Flyers) and Galvantula. Or you can go off-meta and run the surprise Razor Leaf Whimsie, which forgoes those Flyers and Galv to beat Lapras, Dewgong, and Diggersby instead, all of which have moves that would prompt their owners to assume they're okay and perhaps leave them in a few moments too long before they realize their mistake. With EITHER fast move, Whimsie beats down things like Obstagoon, Vigoroth, Stunfisk, Snorlax, Lanturn, and the Alolan Rocks (yes, even with Charm in that last case, though Razor Leaf is obviously especially brutal), so there's room for either fast move in this meta depending on what you need Whimsie to do more for your specific team. CHESNAUGHT Vine Whip/Smack Down | Superpower & Energy Ball Here we go, the first of a trio of viable Gen6 Pokémon all in the 10k dust category! (That even expands to a quartet later... you'll see the fourth further down in the article.) And Chesnaught is a good one, able to do standard Grass things against the various Waters, Grounds, and Rocks (beating them ALL except Flying Archeops and GliscoGligar) as well as abusing things weak to Superpower like Alolan Sandslash (usually a solid wall against Grasses), Vigoroth, Obstagoon, Snorlax, Magnezone and others. It's a nice little package with unique flexibility and well worth considering if you've managed to build a good one already. Oh, and there's even a case to be made for Smack Down, which sheds wins like Dewgong, Lapras, A-Slash (mostly due to lower energy generation) and Diggersby to instead beat Galvantula and a slew of Flyers like Mandibuzz, Talonflame, Charizard, and Drifblim. Yes, that is most certainly an off-meta play, but one that could reap rich rewards with 'Naught being so new and thus very likely to catch the opponent completely off-guard and perhaps swap one of those Flyers in before realizing their fatal mistake. Just a thought if you're feeling frisky. TALONFLAME Fire Spin | Flame Charge & Brave Bird On the surface, it might be easy to chalk this up as just a worse Charizard. That's what the high level numbers show. But there are some distinct things working in Talon's favor. Firstly, no Legacy moves required. If you lack a Blast Burn Zard, that alone is a BIG plus. Secondly, there are wins Talon can get that Zard cannot, such as Alolan Marowak and Dewgong in 1v1 shielding, and Froslass with shields down (able to survive a Shadow Ball and strike back, whereas Zard doesn't live past the Ball). Talon also beats Zard head to head in 0 and 1 shield. The downside is that Charizard, with its higher Attack, uniquely overcomes Skarmory with shields down and Magnezone, Drifblim, and Froslass in 1v1 shielding. But all other wins are shared between them, and they are overall very close... and again, no Legacy required. Call it Budget Zard if you will, but it's a pretty close approximation that may actually be a better fit for some players that even have both to choose from. PYROALITLEO Fire Fang | Flame Charge & Dark Pulse/Crunch If Talonflame is budget Zard, Pyroar is... uh... budget Arcanine? Maybe budget Houndoom is more appropriate. It Fire Fangs stuff down, pure and simple. And while that's not an expansive list of wins, it has some good names--Skarmory, Froslass, A-Slash, Zone, Galv, Blim, and the Charmers--that could even be hiding behind two shields and it doesn't matter... you get them with just fast moves. And then you can launch a Dark Pulse at what follows, or throw a Flame Charge and make subsequent Fangs all the more deadly with the Attack boost. Raaaaaawr. 🦁 And heck, it's even a bit better with pre-evolution Litleo, who sports notably better bulk, Crunch instead of Dark Pulse, and gets all the same wins as Pyroar plus Snorlax. The big downside is that it has to be maxed, so there goes your thriftiness. But it's a very fun spice prospect if you are somehow drowning in dust. 🔥
50,000 Dust/50 Candy
ALOLAN NINETALES Charm | Psyshock & Ice Beam Let's start the 50ks with perhaps the best Charmer in the format. What sets it apart from Wigglytuff and Whimsicott? Put simply, it's the typing. Having a secondary Ice typing is usually not a big plus, since Ice famously resists ONLY other Ice, but in a format packed with relevant Ices, it's a plus in Holiday Cup. Subtly, that gives it the strongest win of all Charmers against Lapras and Froslass and a true fight for Fairy slayer Alolan Sandslash (who has to land three charge moves, one of them a Bulldoze, to pull it out). More directly, it means A-Tails is the only Charmer that beats Dewgong head to head, and as a bonus it can beat Wigglytuff head to head if it goes straight Charm (usually even if Wiggly goes straight Charm too. But there are, of course, downsides. Not only is A-Tails especially weak to Fire types (always a problem for Charmers anyway, but especially for half-Ice Ninetales), but A-Tails also loses to Lanturn and the Alolan Rocks, whereas Whimsie can beat them both thanks to its secondary typing of Grass... but Whimsie then loses to Lapras, Dewgong, Froslass, and Wigglytuff. (Got all that? 🧐) Long story short, while it's a little more expensive than the alternatives, there is a lot to really like about A-Tails here... this may be the meta where it can finally get a real leg up on Wigglytuff. ALOLAN SANDSLASH Powder Snow | Ice Punch & Bulldoze/Blizzard I have mentioned it several times throughout, and PvPoke understandably has it locked in as part of the projected core meta (at the time of this writing, at least), but if I'm being honest, A-Slash looks shaky here. It does manage to beat Stunfisk, and is brutally oppressive to Charmers, Flyers, and most all Grasses (really the only ones that can beat it are Chesnaught and unlikely-to-be-seen-much Breloom with their Fighting moves), and that gives it a robust win rate overall. But what that does NOT reflect is its critcal weaknesses to the quasi-Fighters and Fires that occupy the core meta, as well as the Waters that it cannot beat either: Lapras, Dewgong, Lanturn, Obstagoon, Vigoroth, Alolan Rocks, Galvantula, Magnezone, Talonflame and Charizard, A-Wak, even Snorlax... they all tend to beat Alolan Sandslash. It has a role, but it's just a specialist here that will likely need a quick hook if in one of those several unfavorable matchups. GRASSHOLES Razor Leaf | Sludge Bomb & Moonblast/Leaf Blade I'll keep saying it until I see people actually starting to use it: VILEPLUME is just as good, if not better, than the more famous VICTREEBEL. They beat basically the same things (Vic uniquely beats Snorlax, and Plume instead gets Magnezone), but Plume also wins the head to head and has a somewhat subtle but important bulk advantage that lets it hang around for some extra hits that Vic may never reach. They beat mostly what you expect Razor Leafers to beat (Waters, Rocks, Grounds, Charmers, quasi-Fighters) and even things that might surprise you like Froslass and those Snorlax or Magnezone wins. And you can bet they'll be showing up as you slog through the week of Holiday Cup. Don't shoot the messenger! 😬 MAGNEZONE Spark | Mirror Shot & Wild Charge So if you thought Mantine was bait-heavy, get a loud of this. You've probably faced it down in Master League a lot more than in Great League, but if you've faced it down at all, you have surely gotten duped into shielding a Mirror Shot or two along the line and then cried as a Wild Charge came crashing in behind it. 'Zone is a one-trick pony in that way, but it's a really good trick. And at least in this meta, thanks in no small part to its typing, it can still be plenty dangerous even if its baiting plans fall apart. There is also the Shadow flavor of Zone, which is generally a hair worse if baits work, but ironically a bit betterif baits are less of a factor, based mainly on even those Mirror Shots dealing higher damage as a Shadow. I think. Honestly this one could take a whole article in and of itself to REALLY dive deep into, so let's just summarize: with baits, regular Zone uniquely beats Galv, A-Grav, Whimsie, and Talonflame, while Shadow instead beats Snorlax and A-Wak. Without baits, regular wins Whimsie again, but now Shadow uniquely takes out Snorlax, Water Gun Lanturn, and Altaria. Got all that? Sorry, not repeating it again... too much to still cover. Good luck... onward! DEWGONG Ice Shardᴸ | Icy Windᴸ & Blizzard/Water Pulse It feels wrong to recommend Dewgong run with all Ice moves, as you'd like the safety of a Water move against Fires in particular, but Dewgong really does seem to have the best potential with Blizzard as the second move to pair with the double Legacy Ice Shard/Icy Wind many players have built with Elite TMs by now. Water Pulse is just a BAD move that grants Dewgong only a close win over Alolan Sandslash, and loses Snorlax, Lanturn, and Abomasnow that Blizzard can beat. However you slice it, Dewgong is held somewhat in check here, but is still quite good and definitely something that many players who have one ready will be itching to show off. Brace yourselves... winter and its icy winds are coming! CLOYSTER Ice Shard | Icy Wind & Hydro Pump Non-Legacy Dewgong for those who lack an IS/IW one... but a really dang GOOD substitute! In some ways, Cloyster is even superior, beating A-Slash, Alolan Marowak, Talonflame, and Galvantula thanks to its higher Attack and/or (in the case of the two Alolans) by unleashing the big stick it carries that Dewgong does not: Hydro Pump. Now as is usually the case, there is a tradeoff: Dewgong outbulks Abomasnow, Snorlax, WG Lanturn, and Wigglytuff, while Cloyster loses. There's also this marathon match (over a minute and a half!) that Dewgong eventually emerges from, greivously wounded but victorious. But still, there is more than enough to like about Cloyboy that it's worth even players with that coveted Legacy Gong taking a hard look to decide which actually fits best with the other two things on their team. (Shadow Cloyster is not recommended, by the way.) HAUNTER Shadow Claw | Shadow Punch & Sludge Bomb/Shadow Ball Whenever there are Fairies in the meta--and Wigglytuff in particular--Sludge Bomb bears serious consideration, as Haunter beats Wiggly with Bomb, but loses with Shadow Ball. Intestingly, TIL that Sludge Bomb Haunter can also manage to tie Altaria with Sludge Bomb as well, thanks to being five energy cheaper than Ball, which falls just short. Shadow Ball does manage to typically beat Skarmory while Sludge Bomb does not, but considering all other wins against the core meta are shared, I'm going to call that (slight) advantage Sludge Bomb. But both are certainly viable, and so it Haunter itself. I also lean towards it over GENGAR, who requires a Legacy move (Shadow Punch) and cannot get close to tying Altaria no matter what it does with moves, and looks especially inferior if you try it with Sludge Bomb (which is again the only way it has a prayer against Wiggly). Gengar works, but Haunter pulls slightly ahead here. ALOLAN MAROWAK Fire Spin/Hex | Bone Club & Shadow Boneᴸ/Shadow Ball I mean, what's left to say at this point? A-Wak has been relevant in so many formats now that I cannot imagine you're not already familiar with what it can do, so let's just look at what it specifically does in Holiday Cup. Yes, Shadow Bone is typically your best bet now, with Fire Spin powering it up and dishing out important Fire-type damage, but Shadow Ball is close behind, losing to Drifblim and Lapras that Bone can beat, but picking up the mirror against Bone Wak. And even Hex/Shadow Bone makes a surprisingly good argument for a set lacking any Fire damage, also winning the mirror versus Fire Spin Wak, getting Lapras and Drifblim back, and uniquely outracing Water Gun Lanturn, but at the cost of now losing to Normal types like Vigoroth and Wigglytuff. Wow, I guess there were some new things to say about A-Wak after all! ZANGOOSE Shadow Claw | Night Slash & Close Combat Skipping ahead in Pokédex order a bit, because... well, Zangoose just fits well coming right after A-Wak. Not only does it boast a very similar record, but Goose easily beats A-Wak in the head to head, but it replicates some of A-Wak's best with its Ghost and Dark moves (like Froslass and Drifblim) while bringing its own unique flavor with Close Combat. We've already established, I think, that Fighting moves are a very good thing to have in this meta, and here we see it again with Goose able to easily handle Lapras, Magnezone, A-Slash, Alolan Rocks, and even Mandibuzz thanks to Combat, and its combination of hard hitting moves also overpower things like Lanturn, Galvantula, and Talonflame. The Goose is loose in this meta as a potentially really good safe swap option, or perhaps even as a pressuring lead. LANTURN Spark/Water Gun | Thunderbolt & Hydro Pump/Thunder Alright, its name keeps coming up, so let's jump into this unique electric fishy. There are two flavors, both potent: Spark has the gaudier numbers, being the only way to reliably outrace Galvantula, Obstagoon, and Water Gun Lanturn; the standard Water Gun varient loses those three, and Mandibuzz, but can manage to scratch out a win against Stunfisk instead. Or there is even a middle ground, with Water Gun and double Electric charge moves that still can beat Stunfisk and gains Mandibuzz back as well. Whatever flavor you prefer, this is its best chance in a while to shine out without Rainy Castform around to show off too. LUDICOLO Razor Leaf/Bubble | Energy Ball & Ice Beam Speaking of unique Water types, one of the oddest is always dance champion Ludicolo. In this meta it seems to operate best as a Razor Leafer, obviously handling Waters and Ices better than the standard Grasshole but not actually doing anything truly unique. (Its meta wins and losses are the same as Shadow Vic, actually, minus only Wigglytuff.) So yes, that works, but to get truly unique, consider Bubble Ludi, as that at least brings down Altaria, Alolan Marowak, Drifblim, and Whimsicott while retaining wins versus Stunfisk, Diggersby, Lanturn, Vigoroth and some others. That seems like a better niche than operating as a subpar Grasshole wannabe. CRADILY Bullet Seed | Stone Edge & Grass Knot And while we're doing zany, no reason NOT to cover Cradily, the Grass that can slay Flyers...and better than that other Rock tossing, woolly Grass. Yes, that walking carpet Tangrowth can beat Dewgong, but Cradily shares its other wins AND can beat Mandibuzz, Magnezone, Galvantula, and Abomasnow... the ONLY Grass that can survive Aboma, in fact. And it does it while still handling most of the things you'd ask of your standard Grass type, like Lapras and Lanturn and A-Rocks and Stunfisk and Diggersby and more. Bring in the new year with a toast and a hearty "dilly dilly!" FROSLASS & GLALIE Powder Snow/Ice Shard | Shadow Ball & Avalanche I am putting them together because there are many similarities against the core meta... but there are important differences as well. Froslass is infamous for its ability to fend off most Fighters, and she is also adept at beating other Ices thanks to quickly charging up Shadow Balls and simply outracing them, and these traits are most obvious in that she beats Vigoroth and Dewgong, while Glalie does not. What Glalie has going for it is bulk and Ice Shard... and wins against Galvantula and Froslass herself. Lass is generally a bit better and certainly far more popular, but Glalie is right there too, and may fit your team a bit better. SEALEO Powder Snow/Water Gun | Body Slam & Aurora Beam/Water Pulse Now look, I am not going to sit here and say that going off-meta with Water Gun is better than Powder Snow, because especially when you pull back the covers and examine them against the entire meta, {Powder](https://pvpoke.com/battle/multi/1500/holiday/sealeo/11/0-2-1/2-1) has a crystal clear advantage over Gun. BUT, when you boil it down to the core meta, Gun somehow looks better than Powder. What's going on here? Well, first off, looks are a little deceiving there, as Water Gun shows a win over Wigglytuff and Powder Snow does not (with WG dealing about 8 damage per second, but Powder Snow only mustering 6, and that extra damage adds up, but if Wiggly sticks to straight Charm, WG won't save Sealeo. The other unique win showing with Gun IS more legit, as it's over Alolan Marowak, who stands up pretty well to Powder Snow but NOT to a steady Water Gun attack. WG also is the best way to beat many other Ices (and Froslass in particular), but Powder Snow is harsher on Flyers (and is the only way to beat Mandibuzz, as one example) and brings a lot more shield pressure by spamming Body Slam. That higher energy gain is also the only way that Sealeo can outrace Stunfisk. Powder IS my recommendation overall too, but just know that there are teams that may benefit from the unusual Water Gun Sealeo more. Is your team one of them? ABOMASNOW Powder Snow | Weather Ball (Ice) & Energy Ball Yes, Aboma certainly does good things here, but be warned: there are chinks in its armor in this meta. Yes, Aboma capably handles many Flyers (including Altaria) but has its own weaknesses to overcome and thus has no chance against any that are part Fire, and also loses to Mantine, Skarmory, and even Noctowl, which is worrisome. It also manages to eliminate Stunfisk, Diggersby, and all its fellow Grasses (besides Cradily), and Energy Ball allows it to turn the tables on Lanturn and even Dewgong. But I just listed all of its core meta wins. It's a good list, but not incredibly long. Aboma is just simply not dominant here. Shadow Aboma is a little better, trading Dewgong for Lapras and Alolan Graveler, but still, not as much of a bruiser as you may be hoping for. Use it, surely, as many teams could benefit from its unique combination of Ice and Grass damage. Just know that it has its limitations. PILOSWINE Powder Snow | Avalanche & Bulldoze Normally Piloswine's Ground subtying is more curse than blessing, opening it up to all manner of unpleasant vulnerabilities. But in this particular meta, it's more blessing than curse, giving it an edge against Electrics that its fellow Ices don't share, which leads to big wins over ALL of them besides Lanturn and spammy Magneton. It's the only Ice type to consistently beat Magnezone and the Alolan Rocks, for instance. GALVANTULA Volt Switch | Lunge & Discharge Yes, of course it has play. Galv is a solid Electric with the added benefit of maiming Grasses (and several other things) with Lunge, and resisting Fighting damage to make it a sneaky good counter to the users of Counter. You WILL be seeing the spooder show up throughout your week of Holiday Cup play. ZEBSTRIKA Spark | Flame Charge & Wild Charge Perhaps more spicy than true meta, but an Electric that can burn down Steels could be a nice thing to have in this meta. And with high enough bulk, it overpowers Wigglytuff and Alolan Marowak as a bonus. This spice is nice! Now, I've managed to avoid it in other GBL NoTs posted recently, but this time, with six typings and a load of Pokémon to cover, I have to split this into two parts. So I encourage you to check out Part II and keep reading into the more expensive options in Holiday Cup, starting with those costing 75k dust for their second move. See you there!
[Analysis] Nifty Or Thrifty: Holiday Cup (Part I) - A Comprehensive PvP Analysis
Hello again, fellow travelers! The "Nifty Or Thrifty" article series takes a comprehensive look at the meta for PvP Cup formats: Holiday Cup, in this case. As is typical for the NoT series, I'll cover not only the top meta picks, but also some mons where you can save some dust with cheaper second move unlock costs... or don't need a second move at all! Because for those on a stardust budget--and/or folks trying to save up some dust for the future--it can be daunting trying to figure out where to spend or not spend it. We all want to field competitive teams, but where can we get the best bang for our buck and where should we perhaps channel our inner scrooge? A quick reminder of what Holiday Cup IS:
Great League, 1500 CP Limit
Only Electric, Flying, Ghost, Grass, Ice, and Normal type Pokémon are allowed.
No other restrictions. Legendaries, Mythicals, Shadows are all a-okay!
As I try to usually do, I will start with those with the cheapest second move unlock cost and steam ahead until we finally arrive at the expensive Legendaries. Okay, enough intro. Let's dive in!
10,000 Dust/25 Candy
VENUSAUR Vine Whip | Frenzy Plantᴸ & Sludge Bomb It's almost become an inside joke that every Nifty Or Thrifty where Venusaur is available, that's what I start with... so why break from tradition? After all, Venusaur looks just fine here, capably handling many top threats like Diggersby, Stunfisk, Lapras and Dewgong, Lanturn, Snorlax, the Charmers, the Alolan Rocks, and the quasi-Fighters Vigoroth and Obstagoon and Zangoose... and oh yeah, all those annoying Razor Leafing Grassholes too. Venusaur is one of the more reliable and flexible (for a Grass, at least) options around. Shadow Venusaur, by the way, is a slight downgrade, gaining an easier win over Magnezone but losing Snorlax and the Alolan Rocks... I don't recommend the Shadow version here. CHARIZARD Fire Spin/Dragon Breathᴸ | Dragon Claw & Blast Burnᴸ/Overheat While there is usually a long debate to be had anymore over which fast move is best for Zard, here it's pretty clear the winner is Fire Spin. I mean, this is a format stuffed with Ices, Grasses, and other things weak to Fire (Galvantula, Magnezone), so it makes sense that you'd want that over Dragon Breath. But there IS a case for Breath as well, as its heavy damage can uniquely beat down Talonflame, Mandibuzz, and even Altaria. BUT Fire Spin is alone able to get the likes of Froslass, A-Sandslash, Galvantula, Magnezone, Drifblim, and Abomasnow, and Charizard emerges from all wins it shares with Dragon Breath with more HP leftover. Dragon Breath has niche use, but Fire Spin Zard is generally the way to go. That includes Shadow Charizard, though that one is a small step backwards overall in this meta, losing Galv, Blim, Snorlax, and Vigoroth and picking up only Dewgong, Mandi, and Talonflame as compensation. RAICHU Volt Switch | Wild Charge & Brick Break/Thunder Punch That's right... the regular, non-Alolan one. What does it have going for it? (Besides festive holiday hats, of course! 🎅) Brick Break, which by itself is able to beat down Alolan Sandslash, Magnezone, Skarmory, Talonflame, and even big beefy Snorlax! But what it really does is play a similar role to Thunder Punch in setting up a closing Wild Charge. There is risk, as the opponent correctly sniffing out the bait and letting through an unblocked Brick Break is often going to be... less than ideal. But when it works, it really works, and better so than Thunder Punch. Brick Break is 5 energy cheaper than Punch, so there are some wins where it can be used and still allow Chu to get to the KO Wild Charge afterwards that Thunder Punch falls short on, including Vigoroth and Obstagoon (see Goonie, as an example, with BB vs TP), plus the unique win already mentioned against A-Slash. High risk, but potentially high rewards in using Brick Break. I'll say both it and Thunder Punch are viable alongside Wild Charge... but Brick Break is what makes Raichu truly unique. ALOLANRAICHU Volt Switch | Wild Charge & Grass Knot/Thunder Punch Is it possible AhChu is the worse Chu for once in this meta? It just might be. I mean, it still puts in good work, and can (like its Kanto cousin) beat Vigoroth and Magnezone, and with some fancy maneuvering, can even take down Altaria, something few Electrics can claim. (Though technically, in hindsight, Original Recipe Raichu can win the same way, so....) The problem AhChu has in this meta is twofold: its Psychic typing is more hindrance than help with the Ghost and Dark moves around to exploit it, and its non-Electric moves Grass Knot and Psychic--normally big boons--mostly go to waste here with no Mud Boys around for Grass Knot and little for Psychic (the move) to hit hard either. Even with shields down, regular Raichu is more impressive than Alolan Chu. KayChu's Brick Break just looks better in this particular meta. AhChu is viable, but... inferior? Say it ain't so! WIGGLYTUFF Charm | Ice Beam & Play Rough I know, I know. Between Halloween Cup and Kanto Cup and Nightfall Cup and open Great League in GBL, you're probably sick and tired of Wiggly, but here we go again. With practically no true Fighters and very few relevant Darks around in Holiday Cup, Wiggly is not as dominant as it's been at times, but it still rolls over a lot of things with the high neutral damage of Charm, including domination over the Darks, Fighters, and Dragons you WILL see, plus things like Galvantula, Snorlax, Stunfisk, Abomasnow, Froslass, Drifblim (and most Ghosts in general, come to think of it), other Charmers, and even a unlisted-above win over Lapras with straight Charm. Wiggly is likely to be out in force yet again. Sorry! ALOLAN GRAVELEGOLEM Volt Switch | Rock Blast & Stone Edge Seemingly always underrated, the Alolan Rocks have had success in enough Silph Arena Cups to get noticed by Arena players, but it wasn't until Kanto Cup that many in the GBL PvP community had their eyes opened. And their success looks likely to carry over into Holiday Cup. They equally terrorize Ices, Flyers, Fires, and their fellow Electrics, a unique set of wins that give them the flexability you really want in this Cup (considering that list is ⅔ of the major typings here!). Rather than ramble on, I'll just review the differences between Golem and Graveler real quick. The higher Attack of A-Golem allows it to knock out Magnezone, while A-Golem will typically fall just short. On the flipside, A-Grav can outbulk Wigglytuff and get to TWO Rock Blasts for the win, unlike A-Golem. And A-Grav is slightly better with shields down, outlasting Whimsicott and Froslass, while A-Golem usually loses those but beats A-Grav in the head to head thanks to winning CMP. Either way you go, make sure the Alolan Rocks are on your radar now if they aren't already! LINOONE Shadow Claw | Grass Knot & Thunder Linoone isn't the best at anything, but it's good enough at a mix of things, checking off many big names like Lapras, Dewgong, Alolan Marowak, Stunfisk, Skarmory, Froslass, Drifblim, Mandibuzz, HaunteGengar (even with Sludge Bomb), and more. It's a borderline option if you look only at the number of wins, but like the Vince McMahon meme, it just gets better and better when you look those wins over. OBSTAGOON Counter | Night Slash & Hyper Beam/Gunk Shot The cheapest Counter user here, yours for potentially just the measly cost of a second move after evolving up from a hatch-size Galarian Zigzagoon. And Obstagoon and its Counter are quite good in this meta, yes. None of the Ices like it (not even Froslass that's usually troublesome for Fighters and quasi-Fighters), nor other things weak to Counter like Diggersby, Magnezone, and the Alolan Rocks. And meanwhile, Night Slash handles all the Ghosts besides Drifblim and Golurk, and it also overcomes Lanturn and Mandibuzz with high neutral damage (mostly thanks to Gunk Shot or Hyper Beam). And with Beam, it can even potentially knock out Stunfisk. ALTARIA Dragon Breath | Sky Attack & Dragon Pulse/Dazzling Gleam Don't take Alt's late arrival in this section of the article to mean it's not really good, because I'm really just going in rough Pokédex order, and Altaria is really good in Holiday Cup. Matched against the core meta specifically, Altaria capably handles the Counter users, all Fire types, most other Flyers (like Drifblim and Mandibuzz), Diggersby, Stunfisk and Lanturn and Galvantula (and nearly all Electrics, in fact), Snorlax and more. And yes, Dazzling Gleam may actually be an option for the Darks around (and the eye-catching ability to steal a win from any Magnezone that gets cocky and opts not to shield). Though let's be honest: 95% of the time, Altaria is just going to beat face with Sky Attack anyway. TORTERRA Razor Leaf | Sand Tomb & Stone Edge/Frenzy Plantᴸ I've advocated for Torterror several times and in multiple leagues, but here we go again: Sand Tomb debuffing + Razor Leaf = big pain. Yes yes, its unusual Grass/Ground combo typing makes it particularly susceptible to the many Ices here, but it still manages to overcome Lapras AND Dewgong despite that, and keep in mind that the typing means that Torterra TRIPLE resists Electric damage, so the only ones that survive it are Zapdos and Emolga with their Flying moves. Tort rips through all Water and Ground types in the format besides Gligar, as well as the Counter users, Snorlax, and even Wigglytuff. It's a very nice performance that doesn't even include the potential of what Frenzy Plant or especially Stone Edge (with its literal perfect coverage against all four typings Torterra is weak to: Ice, Fire, Flying, and Bug) can do if snuck around shields. Torterra likely needs a quick hook if Ices or Grasses show up, but short of that, it can put the hurt on a LOT of things. Just don't get too cute by using the Shadow version, as it's a noticeable dropoff. CHERRIM Bullet Seed | Weather Ball (Fire) & Solar Beam/Dazzling Gleam Having Cherrim as my lead in GBL Great League for 2+ seasons now, I can tell you it is more impactful on the right team than just the raw numbers would indicate. Yes, it can handle Grounds (Diggersby, Stunfisk, etc.) just fine, as well as overcome even seemingly unfavorable Waters like Dewgong, and perhaps surprising wins like both Counter users and Snorlax. But Weather Ball comes so fast and so often that it is a legit threat to Magnezone (which it typically beats) and Skarmory and Froslass and Abomasnow and Alolan Sandslash and others. The key is that Cherrim has to be swapped out more often than some players may be comfortable with, hitting hard and then ducking out before facing a killer charge move coming back its way. Against Skarmory and Abomasnow and A-Slash in particular, it can consistently get them under 10 HP, but then falls JUST short of closing it out. A quick swap out against Aboma and A-Slash, for example, can get Cherrim out of their with nearly half its life left and the opponent a mere fast move or two from death from what you swap in. Cherrim does some real good on its own, but it's even better than it appears in a soften-them-up, support type role. And those Dazzling Gleams or Solar Beams come much quicker than an unprepared opponent may be ready for and give Cherrim a high potential for sudden blowout wins. WHIMSICOTT Charm/Razor Leaf | Grass Knot & Moonblast/Hurricane There are two very different ways to play Whimsie. The most obvious and most common is as a Charmer, with which it does typical Charm things like shredding Mandibuzz and Altaria (despite being weak to Flyers) and Galvantula. Or you can go off-meta and run the surprise Razor Leaf Whimsie, which forgoes those Flyers and Galv to beat Lapras, Dewgong, and Diggersby instead, all of which have moves that would prompt their owners to assume they're okay and perhaps leave them in a few moments too long before they realize their mistake. With EITHER fast move, Whimsie beats down things like Obstagoon, Vigoroth, Stunfisk, Snorlax, Lanturn, and the Alolan Rocks (yes, even with Charm in that last case, though Razor Leaf is obviously especially brutal), so there's room for either fast move in this meta depending on what you need Whimsie to do more for your specific team. CHESNAUGHT Vine Whip/Smack Down | Superpower & Energy Ball Here we go, the first of a trio of viable Gen6 Pokémon all in the 10k dust category! (That even expands to a quartet later... you'll see the fourth further down in the article.) And Chesnaught is a good one, able to do standard Grass things against the various Waters, Grounds, and Rocks (beating them ALL except Flying Archeops and GliscoGligar) as well as abusing things weak to Superpower like Alolan Sandslash (usually a solid wall against Grasses), Vigoroth, Obstagoon, Snorlax, Magnezone and others. It's a nice little package with unique flexibility and well worth considering if you've managed to build a good one already. Oh, and there's even a case to be made for Smack Down, which sheds wins like Dewgong, Lapras, A-Slash (mostly due to lower energy generation) and Diggersby to instead beat Galvantula and a slew of Flyers like Mandibuzz, Talonflame, Charizard, and Drifblim. Yes, that is most certainly an off-meta play, but one that could reap rich rewards with 'Naught being so new and thus very likely to catch the opponent completely off-guard and perhaps swap one of those Flyers in before realizing their fatal mistake. Just a thought if you're feeling frisky. TALONFLAME Fire Spin | Flame Charge & Brave Bird On the surface, it might be easy to chalk this up as just a worse Charizard. That's what the high level numbers show. But there are some distinct things working in Talon's favor. Firstly, no Legacy moves required. If you lack a Blast Burn Zard, that alone is a BIG plus. Secondly, there are wins Talon can get that Zard cannot, such as Alolan Marowak and Dewgong in 1v1 shielding, and Froslass with shields down (able to survive a Shadow Ball and strike back, whereas Zard doesn't live past the Ball). Talon also beats Zard head to head in 0 and 1 shield. The downside is that Charizard, with its higher Attack, uniquely overcomes Skarmory with shields down and Magnezone, Drifblim, and Froslass in 1v1 shielding. But all other wins are shared between them, and they are overall very close... and again, no Legacy required. Call it Budget Zard if you will, but it's a pretty close approximation that may actually be a better fit for some players that even have both to choose from. PYROALITLEO Fire Fang | Flame Charge & Dark Pulse/Crunch If Talonflame is budget Zard, Pyroar is... uh... budget Arcanine? Maybe budget Houndoom is more appropriate. It Fire Fangs stuff down, pure and simple. And while that's not an expansive list of wins, it has some good names--Skarmory, Froslass, A-Slash, Zone, Galv, Blim, and the Charmers--that could even be hiding behind two shields and it doesn't matter... you get them with just fast moves. And then you can launch a Dark Pulse at what follows, or throw a Flame Charge and make subsequent Fangs all the more deadly with the Attack boost. Raaaaaawr. 🦁 And heck, it's even a bit better with pre-evolution Litleo, who sports notably better bulk, Crunch instead of Dark Pulse, and gets all the same wins as Pyroar plus Snorlax. The big downside is that it has to be maxed, so there goes your thriftiness. But it's a very fun spice prospect if you are somehow drowning in dust. 🔥
50,000 Dust/50 Candy
ALOLAN NINETALES Charm | Psyshock & Ice Beam Let's start the 50ks with perhaps the best Charmer in the format. What sets it apart from Wigglytuff and Whimsicott? Put simply, it's the typing. Having a secondary Ice typing is usually not a big plus, since Ice famously resists ONLY other Ice, but in a format packed with relevant Ices, it's a plus in Holiday Cup. Subtly, that gives it the strongest win of all Charmers against Lapras and Froslass and a true fight for Fairy slayer Alolan Sandslash (who has to land three charge moves, one of them a Bulldoze, to pull it out). More directly, it means A-Tails is the only Charmer that beats Dewgong head to head, and as a bonus it can beat Wigglytuff head to head if it goes straight Charm (usually even if Wiggly goes straight Charm too. But there are, of course, downsides. Not only is A-Tails especially weak to Fire types (always a problem for Charmers anyway, but especially for half-Ice Ninetales), but A-Tails also loses to Lanturn and the Alolan Rocks, whereas Whimsie can beat them both thanks to its secondary typing of Grass... but Whimsie then loses to Lapras, Dewgong, Froslass, and Wigglytuff. (Got all that? 🧐) Long story short, while it's a little more expensive than the alternatives, there is a lot to really like about A-Tails here... this may be the meta where it can finally get a real leg up on Wigglytuff. ALOLAN SANDSLASH Powder Snow | Ice Punch & Bulldoze/Blizzard I have mentioned it several times throughout, and PvPoke understandably has it locked in as part of the projected core meta (at the time of this writing, at least), but if I'm being honest, A-Slash looks shaky here. It does manage to beat Stunfisk, and is brutally oppressive to Charmers, Flyers, and most all Grasses (really the only ones that can beat it are Chesnaught and unlikely-to-be-seen-much Breloom with their Fighting moves), and that gives it a robust win rate overall. But what that does NOT reflect is its critcal weaknesses to the quasi-Fighters and Fires that occupy the core meta, as well as the Waters that it cannot beat either: Lapras, Dewgong, Lanturn, Obstagoon, Vigoroth, Alolan Rocks, Galvantula, Magnezone, Talonflame and Charizard, A-Wak, even Snorlax... they all tend to beat Alolan Sandslash. It has a role, but it's just a specialist here that will likely need a quick hook if in one of those several unfavorable matchups. GRASSHOLES Razor Leaf | Sludge Bomb & Moonblast/Leaf Blade I'll keep saying it until I see people actually starting to use it: VILEPLUME is just as good, if not better, than the more famous VICTREEBEL. They beat basically the same things (Vic uniquely beats Snorlax, and Plume instead gets Magnezone), but Plume also wins the head to head and has a somewhat subtle but important bulk advantage that lets it hang around for some extra hits that Vic may never reach. They beat mostly what you expect Razor Leafers to beat (Waters, Rocks, Grounds, Charmers, quasi-Fighters) and even things that might surprise you like Froslass and those Snorlax or Magnezone wins. And you can bet they'll be showing up as you slog through the week of Holiday Cup. Don't shoot the messenger! 😬 MAGNEZONE Spark | Mirror Shot & Wild Charge So if you thought Mantine was bait-heavy, get a loud of this. You've probably faced it down in Master League a lot more than in Great League, but if you've faced it down at all, you have surely gotten duped into shielding a Mirror Shot or two along the line and then cried as a Wild Charge came crashing in behind it. 'Zone is a one-trick pony in that way, but it's a really good trick. And at least in this meta, thanks in no small part to its typing, it can still be plenty dangerous even if its baiting plans fall apart. There is also the Shadow flavor of Zone, which is generally a hair worse if baits work, but ironically a bit betterif baits are less of a factor, based mainly on even those Mirror Shots dealing higher damage as a Shadow. I think. Honestly this one could take a whole article in and of itself to REALLY dive deep into, so let's just summarize: with baits, regular Zone uniquely beats Galv, A-Grav, Whimsie, and Talonflame, while Shadow instead beats Snorlax and A-Wak. Without baits, regular wins Whimsie again, but now Shadow uniquely takes out Snorlax, Water Gun Lanturn, and Altaria. Got all that? Sorry, not repeating it again... too much to still cover. Good luck... onward! DEWGONG Ice Shardᴸ | Icy Windᴸ & Blizzard/Water Pulse It feels wrong to recommend Dewgong run with all Ice moves, as you'd like the safety of a Water move against Fires in particular, but Dewgong really does seem to have the best potential with Blizzard as the second move to pair with the double Legacy Ice Shard/Icy Wind many players have built with Elite TMs by now. Water Pulse is just a BAD move that grants Dewgong only a close win over Alolan Sandslash, and loses Snorlax, Lanturn, and Abomasnow that Blizzard can beat. However you slice it, Dewgong is held somewhat in check here, but is still quite good and definitely something that many players who have one ready will be itching to show off. Brace yourselves... winter and its icy winds are coming! CLOYSTER Ice Shard | Icy Wind & Hydro Pump Non-Legacy Dewgong for those who lack an IS/IW one... but a really dang GOOD substitute! In some ways, Cloyster is even superior, beating A-Slash, Alolan Marowak, Talonflame, and Galvantula thanks to its higher Attack and/or (in the case of the two Alolans) by unleashing the big stick it carries that Dewgong does not: Hydro Pump. Now as is usually the case, there is a tradeoff: Dewgong outbulks Abomasnow, Snorlax, WG Lanturn, and Wigglytuff, while Cloyster loses. There's also this marathon match (over a minute and a half!) that Dewgong eventually emerges from, greivously wounded but victorious. But still, there is more than enough to like about Cloyboy that it's worth even players with that coveted Legacy Gong taking a hard look to decide which actually fits best with the other two things on their team. (Shadow Cloyster is not recommended, by the way.) HAUNTER Shadow Claw | Shadow Punch & Sludge Bomb/Shadow Ball Whenever there are Fairies in the meta--and Wigglytuff in particular--Sludge Bomb bears serious consideration, as Haunter beats Wiggly with Bomb, but loses with Shadow Ball. Intestingly, TIL that Sludge Bomb Haunter can also manage to tie Altaria with Sludge Bomb as well, thanks to being five energy cheaper than Ball, which falls just short. Shadow Ball does manage to typically beat Skarmory while Sludge Bomb does not, but considering all other wins against the core meta are shared, I'm going to call that (slight) advantage Sludge Bomb. But both are certainly viable, and so it Haunter itself. I also lean towards it over GENGAR, who requires a Legacy move (Shadow Punch) and cannot get close to tying Altaria no matter what it does with moves, and looks especially inferior if you try it with Sludge Bomb (which is again the only way it has a prayer against Wiggly). Gengar works, but Haunter pulls slightly ahead here. ALOLAN MAROWAK Fire Spin/Hex | Bone Club & Shadow Boneᴸ/Shadow Ball I mean, what's left to say at this point? A-Wak has been relevant in so many formats now that I cannot imagine you're not already familiar with what it can do, so let's just look at what it specifically does in Holiday Cup. Yes, Shadow Bone is typically your best bet now, with Fire Spin powering it up and dishing out important Fire-type damage, but Shadow Ball is close behind, losing to Drifblim and Lapras that Bone can beat, but picking up the mirror against Bone Wak. And even Hex/Shadow Bone makes a surprisingly good argument for a set lacking any Fire damage, also winning the mirror versus Fire Spin Wak, getting Lapras and Drifblim back, and uniquely outracing Water Gun Lanturn, but at the cost of now losing to Normal types like Vigoroth and Wigglytuff. Wow, I guess there were some new things to say about A-Wak after all! ZANGOOSE Shadow Claw | Night Slash & Close Combat Skipping ahead in Pokédex order a bit, because... well, Zangoose just fits well coming right after A-Wak. Not only does it boast a very similar record, but Goose easily beats A-Wak in the head to head, but it replicates some of A-Wak's best with its Ghost and Dark moves (like Froslass and Drifblim) while bringing its own unique flavor with Close Combat. We've already established, I think, that Fighting moves are a very good thing to have in this meta, and here we see it again with Goose able to easily handle Lapras, Magnezone, A-Slash, Alolan Rocks, and even Mandibuzz thanks to Combat, and its combination of hard hitting moves also overpower things like Lanturn, Galvantula, and Talonflame. The Goose is loose in this meta as a potentially really good safe swap option, or perhaps even as a pressuring lead. LANTURN Spark/Water Gun | Thunderbolt & Hydro Pump/Thunder Alright, its name keeps coming up, so let's jump into this unique electric fishy. There are two flavors, both potent: Spark has the gaudier numbers, being the only way to reliably outrace Galvantula, Obstagoon, and Water Gun Lanturn; the standard Water Gun varient loses those three, and Mandibuzz, but can manage to scratch out a win against Stunfisk instead. Or there is even a middle ground, with Water Gun and double Electric charge moves that still can beat Stunfisk and gains Mandibuzz back as well. Whatever flavor you prefer, this is its best chance in a while to shine out without Rainy Castform around to show off too. LUDICOLO Razor Leaf/Bubble | Energy Ball & Ice Beam Speaking of unique Water types, one of the oddest is always dance champion Ludicolo. In this meta it seems to operate best as a Razor Leafer, obviously handling Waters and Ices better than the standard Grasshole but not actually doing anything truly unique. (Its meta wins and losses are the same as Shadow Vic, actually, minus only Wigglytuff.) So yes, that works, but to get truly unique, consider Bubble Ludi, as that at least brings down Altaria, Alolan Marowak, Drifblim, and Whimsicott while retaining wins versus Stunfisk, Diggersby, Lanturn, Vigoroth and some others. That seems like a better niche than operating as a subpar Grasshole wannabe. CRADILY Bullet Seed | Stone Edge & Grass Knot And while we're doing zany, no reason NOT to cover Cradily, the Grass that can slay Flyers...and better than that other Rock tossing, woolly Grass. Yes, that walking carpet Tangrowth can beat Dewgong, but Cradily shares its other wins AND can beat Mandibuzz, Magnezone, Galvantula, and Abomasnow... the ONLY Grass that can survive Aboma, in fact. And it does it while still handling most of the things you'd ask of your standard Grass type, like Lapras and Lanturn and A-Rocks and Stunfisk and Diggersby and more. Bring in the new year with a toast and a hearty "dilly dilly!" FROSLASS & GLALIE Powder Snow/Ice Shard | Shadow Ball & Avalanche I am putting them together because there are many similarities against the core meta... but there are important differences as well. Froslass is infamous for its ability to fend off most Fighters, and she is also adept at beating other Ices thanks to quickly charging up Shadow Balls and simply outracing them, and these traits are most obvious in that she beats Vigoroth and Dewgong, while Glalie does not. What Glalie has going for it is bulk and Ice Shard... and wins against Galvantula and Froslass herself. Lass is generally a bit better and certainly far more popular, but Glalie is right there too, and may fit your team a bit better. SEALEO Powder Snow/Water Gun | Body Slam & Aurora Beam/Water Pulse Now look, I am not going to sit here and say that going off-meta with Water Gun is better than Powder Snow, because especially when you pull back the covers and examine them against the entire meta, {Powder](https://pvpoke.com/battle/multi/1500/holiday/sealeo/11/0-2-1/2-1) has a crystal clear advantage over Gun. BUT, when you boil it down to the core meta, Gun somehow looks better than Powder. What's going on here? Well, first off, looks are a little deceiving there, as Water Gun shows a win over Wigglytuff and Powder Snow does not (with WG dealing about 8 damage per second, but Powder Snow only mustering 6, and that extra damage adds up, but if Wiggly sticks to straight Charm, WG won't save Sealeo. The other unique win showing with Gun IS more legit, as it's over Alolan Marowak, who stands up pretty well to Powder Snow but NOT to a steady Water Gun attack. WG also is the best way to beat many other Ices (and Froslass in particular), but Powder Snow is harsher on Flyers (and is the only way to beat Mandibuzz, as one example) and brings a lot more shield pressure by spamming Body Slam. That higher energy gain is also the only way that Sealeo can outrace Stunfisk. Powder IS my recommendation overall too, but just know that there are teams that may benefit from the unusual Water Gun Sealeo more. Is your team one of them? ABOMASNOW Powder Snow | Weather Ball (Ice) & Energy Ball Yes, Aboma certainly does good things here, but be warned: there are chinks in its armor in this meta. Yes, Aboma capably handles many Flyers (including Altaria) but has its own weaknesses to overcome and thus has no chance against any that are part Fire, and also loses to Mantine, Skarmory, and even Noctowl, which is worrisome. It also manages to eliminate Stunfisk, Diggersby, and all its fellow Grasses (besides Cradily), and Energy Ball allows it to turn the tables on Lanturn and even Dewgong. But I just listed all of its core meta wins. It's a good list, but not incredibly long. Aboma is just simply not dominant here. Shadow Aboma is a little better, trading Dewgong for Lapras and Alolan Graveler, but still, not as much of a bruiser as you may be hoping for. Use it, surely, as many teams could benefit from its unique combination of Ice and Grass damage. Just know that it has its limitations. PILOSWINE Powder Snow | Avalanche & Bulldoze Normally Piloswine's Ground subtying is more curse than blessing, opening it up to all manner of unpleasant vulnerabilities. But in this particular meta, it's more blessing than curse, giving it an edge against Electrics that its fellow Ices don't share, which leads to big wins over ALL of them besides Lanturn and spammy Magneton. It's the only Ice type to consistently beat Magnezone and the Alolan Rocks, for instance. GALVANTULA Volt Switch | Lunge & Discharge Yes, of course it has play. Galv is a solid Electric with the added benefit of maiming Grasses (and several other things) with Lunge, and resisting Fighting damage to make it a sneaky good counter to the users of Counter. You WILL be seeing the spooder show up throughout your week of Holiday Cup play. ZEBSTRIKA Spark | Flame Charge & Wild Charge Perhaps more spicy than true meta, but an Electric that can burn down Steels could be a nice thing to have in this meta. And with high enough bulk, it overpowers Wigglytuff and Alolan Marowak as a bonus. This spice is nice! Now, I've managed to avoid it in other NoTs posted on The Road so far, but this time, with six typings and a load of Pokémon to cover, I have to split this into two parts. So I encourage you to check out Part II and keep reading into the more expensive options in Holiday Cup, starting with those costing 75k dust for their second move. See you there!
[Game Preview] Week 2 - Los Angeles Rams (1-0) at Philadelphia Eagles(0-1)
Los Angeles Rams (1-0) at Philadelphia Eagles (0-1)
The 2020 Philadelphia Eagles season didn’t have the start they were looking for week 1 as they opened the season without their starting LT, RT, RG, RB, DT and WR and struggled against the Washington Football team to open their season with a loss. Luckily they will get two of those starters back this week in running back Miles Sanders and RT Lane Johnson. Both will be welcome additions as the Eagles struggled to block anyone against the Football Team both on the line and from the running back position. Additionally, getting a running game going will greatly help slow the pass rush which will be impressive as the Rams posted one of the best pressure rates last week led by All-Pro Aaron Donald. Hopefully Doug Pederson learns from his mistakes of last week and gets Carson moving with some designed rollouts and mixes up his play-calling more to establish the run. If Doug tries to do the same thing as last week it will be a long day for Carson and Donald will feast. On the other side of the ball, Schwartz had Slay follow McLaurin last week and it worked as Slay shut McLaurin down, but that is more difficult this week as the Rams have two talented receivers in Robert Woods and Cooper Kupp. The Eagles will need to see how Maddox holds up on the outside with a bigger challenge this week. With the struggles of the Eagles offense and their injuries on that side of the ball, the Eagles will need their defenses to limit the quick scoring Rams offense or it will be a long day. Should be a good test for the Eagles to rebound after falling flat out of the gate last week. Go Birds!
Record VS. Spread: Philadelphia 0-1, Los Angeles 0-1
Where to Watch on TV
FOX will broadcast Monday’s game to a national audience. Kevin Kugler will handle the play-by-play duties and Chris Spielman will provide analysis. Laura Okmin will report from the sideline.
Calling the game on 94WIP and the Eagles Radio Network will be Merrill Reese, the NFL’s longest-tenured play-by-play announcer (44th season). Joining Reese in the radio booth will be former Eagles All-Pro wide receiver Mike Quick, while Howard Eskin will report from the sidelines.
Location
Station
Frequency
Philadelphia, PA
WIP-FM
94.1 FM and 610 AM
Allentown, PA
WCTO-FM
96.1 FM
Atlantic City/South Jersey
WENJ-FM
97.3 FM
Levittown, PA
WBCB-AM
1490 AM
Northumberland, PA
WEGH-FM
107.3 FM
Pottsville, PA
WPPA-AM
1360 AM
Reading, PA
WEEU-AM
830 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WAFL-FM
97.7 FM
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA
WEJL-FM
96.1 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WAFL-FM
97.7 FM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WEJL-AM
630 AM
Salisbury/Ocean City, MD
WBAX-AM
1240 AM
Williamsport, PA
WBZD-FM
93.3 FM
Wilmington, DE
WDEL-FM/AM
101.7 FM
York/LancasteHarrisburg, PA
WSOX-FM
96.1 FM
Philadelphia Spanish Radio
Rickie Ricardo and Bill Kulik will handle the broadcast in Spanish on Mega 105.7 FM in Philadelphia and the Eagles Spanish Radio Network.
Location
Station
Frequency
Philadelphia, PA
LA MEGA
105.7 FM
Allentown, PA
WSAN
1470 AM
Atlantic City, NJ
WIBG
1020 AM; 101.3 FM
Rams Radio
Rams Radio J.B. Long will handle the play-by-play duties and former pro bowl running back Maurice Jones-Drew will provide analysis. D'Marco Farr will report from the sidelines.
September 21, 1937 at Philadelphia Municipal Stadium, Philadelphia, PA. Cleveland Rams 21 Philadelphia Eagles 3
Points Leader
Philadelphia Eagles lead the Los Angeles Rams (843-842)
Coaches Record
Doug Pederson: 2-0 against the Rams
Sean McVay: 0-2 against Eagles
Coaches Head to Head
Doug Pederson vs Sean McVay: Pederson leads 2-0
Quarterback Record
Carson Wentz: Against Rams: 1-0
Jared Goff: Against Eagles: 0-2
Quarterbacks Head to Head
Carson Wentz vs Jared Goff: Wentz leads 1-0
Records per Stadium
Record @ Lincoln Financial Field: Eagles lead Rams: 2-0
Record @ Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: Rams lead Eagles 5-4-1
Rankings and Last Meeting Information
AP Pro 32 Ranking
Eagles No. 21 - Rams No. 09
Record
Eagles: 0-1
Rams: 1-0
Last Meeting
Sunday, December 12th, 2018
Eagles 30 - Rams 23
Nick Foles filled in for the injured Carson Wentz, taking up his spot under center after three months without game action. Foles promptly recaptured the magic, passing for 270 yards and confidently leading the Eagles to a 30-23 win over the Rams on Sunday night with plenty of help from his defense and his playmakers. Foles got plenty of help from his running game as Wendell Smallwood rushed for two touchdowns and rookie Josh Adams ran for another score as the Eagles (7-7) kept their playoff hopes quite viable with a gritty victory over the Rams (11-3), who lost consecutive regular-season games for the first time in coach Sean McVay's tenure.
Carson Wentz threw for 291 yards and four touchdowns before leaving with a knee injury and Jake Elliott kicked the go-ahead 33-yard field goal with 3:45 left for the Philadelphia Eagles, who beat the Los Angeles Rams 43-35 in a thriller Sunday to clinch the NFC East title.
Eagles - In a near-reversal of the previous season's opener, the Eagles scored the first 17 points, only for the Washington Football Team to then shut their offense out for the remainder of the afternoon. Meanwhile, Washington's offense scored 27 unanswered points, and the defense sacked Carson Wentz eight times, recorded two interceptions, and forced three fumbles. With the loss, Philadelphia's six-game winning streak against Washington was snapped dating back to Week 14 of the 2016 season, and the Eagles lost the first game of the season since 2015.
Rams - Playing their first game ever in their brand-new home at SoFi Stadium, the Rams held off the Cowboys in a close battle of NFC contenders. Receiving the opening kickoff (from former Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein), Los Angeles drove 75 yards in seven plays, with Malcolm Brown scoring the new stadium's first touchdown on a 1-yard run. Rookie kicker Samuel Sloman missed on his first field goal attempt, a 29-yard try that bounced off the left upright near the end of the first quarter, but later was successful on field goals of 35 and 31 yards in the second quarter. However, Dallas took a 14-13 halftime lead as Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott scored on both a touchdown run and a touchdown reception. The Rams reclaimed the lead as Malcolm Brown (who finished with a team-high 18 rushes for 79 yards) scored his second touchdown of the game on a 2-yard run midway through the third quarter to put Los Angeles ahead 20-14. Zuerlein converted a 33-yard field goal late in the third quarter, but it would be as close as the Cowboys would get. Rookie safety Jordan Fuller led the Rams with eight total tackles, including a key tackle of Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb on a fourth-and-3 play at the Rams' 9-yard line, just one yard short of a first down to kill a Dallas scoring drive.
Connections
Rams QB Jared Goff and Eagles QB Carson Wentz were selected 1st and 2nd in the 2016 NFL draft after both teams traded up.
Eagles S Rodney McLeod played for the Rams from 2012-16.
Eagles CB Nickell Robey-Coleman played for the Rams from 2017-19.
Eagles LB coach Ken Fajole was defensive coordinator of the Rams for three seasons from 2009−2011.
Eagles TE Zach Ertz went to Stanford (2009-13) and is from Orange County, CA.
Eagles Director of Sports Performance Ted Rath worked for the Rams from 2017-2019 as their Strength and Conditioning Coach (2017) and Director of Strength Training and Performance (2018-2019).
Eagles Special assistant to the general manager Connor Barwin played for the Rams in 2018.
2020 Pro Bowlers
Eagles
Rams
DT Fletcher Cox (Starter)
DT Aaron Donald (Starter)
OG Brandon Brooks (Starter)
CB Jalen Ramsey
C Jason Kelce (Starter)
LS Rick Lovato (Starter)
TE Zach Ertz
SS Malcom Jenkings (1st Alt)
OT Lane Johnson (1st Alt
General
Referee: Brad Allen
Philadelphia has produced a 22-19-1 (.536) record in the all-time series vs. Los Angeles. The Eagles own a 6-game winning streak against the Rams, scoring 30+ points in 5 straight contests.
Philadelphia is 15-8 (.652) in home games vs. Los Angeles, with victories in each of the last 2 such meetings (last: W, 34-28 on 10/5/14 at Lincoln Financial Field).
The Eagles are 23-9 (.719) at home in the regular season under head coach Doug Pederson, which marks the 5th-best home winning percentage in the NFL since 2016, trailing only New En-gland (.818, 27-6), Baltimore (.758, 25-8), Kansas City (.758, 25-8) and New Orleans (.727, 24-9).
Philadelphia has captured all 4 of its home openers with Doug Pederson at the helm (since 2016). Pederson is one of only two head coaches in Eagles history to win each of their first 4 home openers with the team, joining Joe Kuharich (1964-67).
In Week 1 at Washington, Philadelphia allowed only 239 total yards (80 rushing, 5th; 159 passing, 3rd), which were the fewest by any defense in the NFL during kickoff weekend. The Eagles limited Washington to just 27.8% (5-of-18) on third downs, which was also the 5th-best mark in the league.
Draft Picks
Eagles
Rams
WR Jalen Raegor
RB Cam Akers
QB Jalen Hurts
WR Van Jefferson
LB Davion Taylor
OLB Terrell Lewis
S K’Von Wallace
S Terrel Burgess
OT Jack Driscoll
TE Brycen Hopkins
WR John Hightower
S Jordan Fuller
LB Shaun Bradley
LB Clay Johnston
WR Quez Watkins
K Sam Sloman
OT Prince Tega Wanogho
G Tremayne Achrum
LB/DE Casey Toohill
Notable Off-season Additions
Eagles
Rams
S Will Parks
DT A’Shawn Robinson
DT Javon Hargrave
OLB Leonard Floyd
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman
CB Darius Slay
S Sean Davis
WR Cody Latimer
CB Kendell Fuller
RB JD McKissic
G Wes Schweitzer
Notable Off-season Departures
Eagles
Rams
S Malcom Jenkins
DE Dante Fowler Jr.
CB Ronald Darby
RB Todd Gurley
RB Jordan Howard
WR Brandin Cooks
WR Nelson Agholor
LB Cory Littleton
OL Halapoulivaati Vaitai
S Eric Weddle
LB Kamu Grugler-Hill
CB Nickell Robey-Coleman
RB Darren Sproles
WR Jojo Natson
DT Timmy Jernigan
WR Mike Thomas
LB Nigel Bradham
LB Clay Matthews
QB Blake Bortles
Milestones
Eagles QB Carson Wentz (99) needs 1 passing TDs for 100 career passing TDs.
Eagles WR Desean Jackson (6322) needs 145 yards to move up to 3rd on the Eagles all-time receiving yards list all-time passing WR *Mike Quick
Eagles WR Desean Jackson (34) needs 2 TDs to move into a tie for 7th on the Eagles all-time receiving TD list tying WR Jeremy Maclin
Eagles DE Brandon Graham (51) needs 3.5 sacks to move to 4th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DE Hugh Douglas
Eagles DT Fletcher Cox (48) needs 2.5 sacks to move up to 6th on the Eagles all-time sack list tying DE Greg Brown
Eagles DE Vinny Curry (27) needs 1 sack to move up to 19th on the Eagles all-time sack list passing DT Darwin Walker
Rams WR Cooper Kupp (2636) needs 28 yards to move up to 16th on the Rams all-time receiving list passing WR Carroll Dale
Pro Football Focus Matchup Charts courtesy of PFF Edge (join.profootballfocus.com/edge/)
It doesn’t take advanced stats to know that Wentz spent most of Sunday under significant pressure. Washington sacked him eight times behind a makeshift offensive line that struggled to contain the Football Team’s pass rush. The Eagles allowed a 34% pressure rate Sunday, according to ESPN Next Gen Stats. That was the third-worst in the NFL. Five different Washington players generated at least four pressures. And it doesn’t get any easier against the Rams. The Cowboys allowed a 40.5% pressure rate Sunday night in their loss to the Rams, which was the second-worst mark of Week 1. And a big reason for that was Rams star Aaron Donald. Donald — the six-time Pro Bowler, five-time All-Pro and two-time AP Defensive Player of the Year who has 44 sacks over the past three seasons — posted a 28.6% pressure rate on Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott himself. He pressured Prescott 10 times for 35 pass rushes and finished with four tackles, one sack, one tackle for loss and four quarterback hits. According to Next Gen Stats, Donald’s pressure rate over the past three seasons is 13.5%, 13.9% and 14.6%. The Eagles offensive line is going to have to be ready or it is going to be another long Sunday for Carson Wentz.
Matchups to Watch
Carson Wentz vs. Himself
I note this matchup not to downplay the Rams and what they bring to the table, but to note that Wentz had plenty of mistakes that ultimately cost us the week 1 matchup. Change nothing of the game last week, bad OL, questionable scheming especially in the second half, Carson Wentz playing better wins us the game. Things were bad around him and he actively made them worse at times. These two things can be true: Wentz cost us the week 1 game and he should bounce back because he is a really good QB. This isn't the sky is falling, #TankForTrevor blurb, it's simply acknowledging the biggest change from week 1 to week 2 that would aid in a victory - Carson Wentz returning to form. There was also a lot of good last week, namely the first half! Check out the first TD throw to Ertz. Short, compressed field where he needs to make a snap decision and he comes off his first read (JJAW) and hits Ertz for 6. This is a great play by Wentz where he showed how good he is capping off a great drive. We need more of this consistency. Wentz was even missing on staples of the offense. He was erratic in the pocket and regularly off target. I love hero ball, I hate when QBs play scared, but better urgency and avoiding negative plays in the pocket would go a long way in smoothing out the rough edges of his game. It's infuriating to have some of the same issues he had in year 3 continue in year 5. Regardless, Wentz is a really good QB, so he should be expected to bounce back from a bad game every QB has once in a while. It just needs to happen quickly so the Eagles don't fall behind in the young season. This Rams secondary has a phenomenal CB in Jalen Ramsey and a really good young safety in John Johnson III; they aren't slouches. Wentz needs to be better and it would be surprising if he isn't.
Eagles (downright) Offensive Line vs. Aaron Donald and the Rams Pass Rush
Washington may have a better, deeper defensive line but they don't have Aaron Donald. He is so good he lifts a pass rush up to the top tiers of the league on his own given his dominance and versatility. Donald isn't just a Defensive Tackle; he'll line up inside and outside while wrecking every part of the OL he can along the way. Just look at what Baldy has in his review for him this week. This is a problematic matchup for Philly given their patchwork offensive line. Even though there were positive things some of the new guys did, they made a lot of mistakes, and will continue to do so in their young careers. The last time the Eagles played the Rams in 2018, Philly held Donald to 2 total pressures in probably his most ineffective game during the course of his DPOY season. The difference between that Eagles OL and this one is the health. Philly won't have a healthy Brandon Brooks; while they'll have Lane Johnson again it'll be in his first start of the season, he's coming off a late summer ankle procedure. So his effectiveness is still TBD. JP, who also played in that game, has also declined a considerable amount since then. One player returning to the field Sunday that should also give the Eagles a boost in pass protection is Miles Sanders. Not only is Sanders the best runner on the team, he's also the best pass blocking running back on the team. This alone won't stop Donald, but it should help. This defensive front from the Rams can get pushed around in the run game (more on that later) but can absolutely get after it in the pass rush department. Dallas doesn't have the line it used to either and Dak was under pressure at a roughly 42% rate, among the worst in week 1. The return of Lane Johnson should increase the effectiveness of this OL a considerable amount but given the new parts there will still be an adjustment period. This unit needs to come together quickly and the coaching staff needs to actually focus their game plan on helping their OL much more so than they did in week 1. Otherwise, expect Donald and his homies to bring the pain up front.
Eagles Pass Rush vs Rams OL
Even with some of the sustained injuries on this roster, the Eagles still have a formidable pass rush and flashed it quite a bit in week 1. The box score stats are highly deceiving in this area as Washington shifted their game plan quite a bit as the game went along. Philly pressured Haskins at a 30% clip last week. That number isn't great considering the state of Washington's offensive line. However, Haskins had the quickest time to throw in the NFL in week 1 with an average time to throw of 2.13 seconds. It's extremely difficult to pressure QBs when they get the ball out that quickly. Last week, Jared Goff was 8th in the NFL in this category, which will present some challenges for the Eagles. Dallas pressured Goff at a 20% clip last week, which is a horrendous number. Goff is a good QB and will slice you up if you don't get to him. But when you do, oftentimes he's effectively standing in quick sand as he was a bottom 8 QB under pressure (by Rating) in 2019. It's imperative this defensive front plays well this week. We already saw Malik Jackson return to form, now we need Fletcher Cox. Philly should get Brandon Graham (concussion) and Derek Barnett (hammy) back this week which should increase the effectiveness of the pass rush. Josh Sweat has also shown tremendous growth in year 3 having the best game of his career this past Sunday with TY McGill flashing in limited snaps. This offensive line from the Rams underwent a mini make-over this offseason but still has some question marks up front. This will be a real test for them as the Eagles pass rush is much more formidable than the one Dallas offers. Furthermore, this is a defensive staff that has consistently gotten to Goff of late. Given the changes on both squads, this is a good measuring stick game in the trenches.
Eagles Coverage vs Rams Receivers
Jim Schwartz had Sean McVay's number in their most recent matchup in 2018 so I am curious to see who gets the upper hand this time around. The Rams have a really good WR room with Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson, and Josh Reynolds. They also have a good tight end in Tyler Higbee. Philly has their work cut out for them this week as the Rams are much deeper than Washington. The Rams passing attack was predicated on the short, quick game with a lot of motions and play action last week. Carson Wentz led the NFL in Average Intended Air Yards while Jared Goff was last. Goff's Average Intended Air Yards were 4.3 per attempt with roughly half his passing attempts coming within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. Getting the ball to Goff's first read and out of his hands quickly is key as he can be an adventure when he is forced to hold onto the ball. McVay is really good at disguising what the Rams will do running multiple plays out of similar looks. Lastly, their receivers are great at getting quick separation and great getting yards after the catch. The defensive game plan for Philly in the secondary should look quite different this week than it did last week. There isn't one receiver the Eagles can key on for Slay to take away. I'd bet Schwartz moves him around quite a bit but with Woods as the primary recipient of special attention. Slay looked every bit as good as you'd expect last week and that's a huge addition to this secondary. One area of concern I have for Philly is the middle of the defense. This Eagles LB group is among the worst in the NFL in coverage; McVay is going to look to attack that relentlessly all game long. He did the same thing to Dallas last week. It was encouraging to see Rodney McLeod bounce back after a poor 2019 as he was every bit as spry as he once was. The rest of the middle of this defense leaves a lot to be desired. Either way, this is a deeper Rams receiving room, with a creative play-caller, and a better passer than the Eagles just faced. There was a lot of good to take from the defensive performance last week but they face a significant test Sunday in the Rams.
This statistics show the form table of the League One between match day 24 and match day 29 in the season 20/21. League Table; Club Press Office Details; More More Sky Bet League One Sky Bet League One . Sky Bet League One. All the latest news from Sky Bet League One. Latest League One News. League One And after all, you're my Darren Moore. 5 February 2021. League One Sky Bet League One: December Manager and Player of the Month winners. 8 January 2021. League One Sky Bet League One Manager of the Month ... Sky Bet League One 17/18 Nav. Competition phase. League table. Home league table. Away league table. Latest results. Goals. Player standing - Overall. Top goal scorers. Most assists. Top Strikers. Players goals by month. Goal scorers method (players) Goal scorers type of play (teams) Goal scorers type of play (players) Goal scorers distance ... League One Table. Search. Enter a team or competition Search. Live Team P W D L F A GD Pts Form; 1: team hasn't moved: Lincoln City: 26: 16: 4: 6: 38: 20: 18: 52: D Drew 1 - 1 against Peterborough ... Sky Bet Championship 17/18 Nav. Competition phase. League table. Home league table. Away league table. Latest results. Goals. Player standing - Overall. Top goal scorers. Most assists. Top Strikers. Players goals by month. Goal scorers method (players) Goal scorers type of play (teams) Goal scorers type of play (players) Goal scorers distance ... Complete table of League One standings for the 2020/2021 Season, plus access to tables from past seasons and other Football leagues. Premier League Sky Bet Championship Sky Bet League One Sky Bet League Two. Champions League Europa League. Steps 1-3. Vanarama National League. Vanarama National North Vanarama National South. Northern Premier League - Premier Isthmian League - Premier Southern League - Premier Central Southern League - Premier South. Step 4. Northern Premier League - North West Northern Premier League - South ... Current 2020-21 League One table rankings and other football divisions from Sports Mole Sky Bet League One Table: Rotherham vs Bradford - Kick Off: 15:00:00 20.08.2005. Sky Bet Championship ; Sky Bet League One ; Sky Bet League Two ; Carabao Cup ; Papa John's Trophy ; Screwfix ; Your Move in the Community ; Match Officials ; TV Games ; EFL Community & Education Football Alliance ; Key Dates ; EFL Line-ups ; Managers Table ; EFL Retained List & Squad Numbers ; Back; Supporters . Supporters ; EFL Supporters ...
Reacting to our 2017/18 Championship Final League Table Predictions
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