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(S20) - Ultimus Week - Printable Version +- [DEV] ISFL Forums (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums) +-- Forum: Player Development (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=8) +--- Forum: Point Tasks (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=92) +---- Forum: Archived Point Tasks (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=53) +---- Thread: (S20) - Ultimus Week (/showthread.php?tid=19015) |
(S20) - Ultimus Week - RansackTheUniverse - 02-18-2020 5) Armchair GM As I am a rookie and do not have a team of my own, I will be writing about the moves I think the GM of the Philadelphia Liberty could make to improve next season. The Outlaws went 5-8 last season, and while their defense played well, the offense put up the fewest yards and points in the league. While the offense will need to improve in order for the Liberty to contend next season, they have a chance to do this without making any moves. Wide receiver Nacho Varga and running back Sam Torenson are already stars. And quarterback Brock Phoenix and tight end Avon Blocksdale Jr are both entering their 3rd season and both have a chance to join the league’s elite next season. Since the Liberty don’t have a 2nd round pick this year, the decision they have at 3rd overall will be a big one. While they could take the best WR in the class, Chris Kross, to compete for the #2 spot this season, and potentially be the long term answer across from Varga, I think they should look to the defensive side of the ball with this pick. On defense, Philadelphia’s biggest needs are at linebacker and defensive end. They could also use a 2nd safety to go along with D’Attoria V. Douglas Quaid looks like he would be a great fit at linebacker, however if DE Immanuel Blackstone or S Prince Vegeta are available a #3, they will be very tough to pass up. I think the Liberty should cross their fingers and hope that Blackstone or Vegeta are available, and if they are not, should take DT Otis Allen. It’s a fairly deep linebacker class in this year’s draft, and I think there is a good chance that Trevor Mouseman or Perry Tucker Jr. will still be available for the Liberty to pick in round 3. If Philadelphia is able to get a couple difference makers on defense in the draft, I think the offense will show enough improvement on the back of Brock Phoenix that we could see them competing for an Ultimus trophy this season. 6) Expansion With the new influx of players entering the league, there is a big opportunity for teams (new or old) to see drastic improvements over a short period. If I were in charge of a new expansion team, I would put the majority of my focus to monitoring the activity level of these new players. As many of these new players will likely not stick around forever, it will be very important to try to identify potential players that will be in it for the long haul. Players that are active on both the forums and the discord would be the players I would look for. On top of that, I would be looking for players that seem to be engaged and enjoying putting together the content they are creating. It can be easy to just put together an article quickly in order to just hit the minimum word count or requirements in order to collect their TPE. In my estimation these are the types of players that could be more likely to lose interest sooner rather than later. On the other hand, players that are going above and beyond with their content, and seem to have an actual enjoyment for creating the content, rather than just the reward that comes along with it will likely be the players that will improve quickly and stick around for a while. Another way that I would try to gauge this would be talking to the players. Just asking simple questions like what they are looking to get out of the game can potentially be very revealing. Additionally, while I wouldn’t outright tank in my teams first couple seasons, I would definitely have an eye towards the future, and would look to stockpile draft picks and young promising players. 7) Next Year My team didn’t win the Ultimini this season, but the reason for that was that I was sitting at home on my couch watching it on tv. This season we have the largest draft class ever entering the DSFL, and will have two expansion teams. This alone should make this an extremely unpredictable season. I’m expecting lots of players to come out very active and slowly fade as time goes on. On the other hand, you can expect lots of players to come out of nowhere and play a big role this year in the DSFL. I believe that I could fit into this category. I haven’t seen Eldrick Avery listed in any mock drafts or top prospect lists yet. Regardless of where I go in the draft, I plan on doing everything thing I can to maximize my TPE earning and becoming a star in the DSFL. It’s possible that all it will take for a team to win this season is to find a few of these players late in the draft that end up making an impact. Another thing that makes this a wide open season is that the top two teams from last year, the Minnesota Grey Ducks and the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers, will be losing a ton of talent to the NSFL Draft. All of this opens the door for the rest of the league. It’s bound to be an exciting season! 8) Scouting Report Eldrick Avery might just be the next big thing to hit the NSFL. His size and athleticism combined with his work ethic and dedication to the game will make him a handful for any wide receiver unfortunate enough to line up across from him on game day. While many front offices no doubt still look back at the infamous record he set in high school for the most drops in a season, the way he bounced back screams resilience to me. This wide receiver turned cornerback may not have the hands needed to take the next step as a receiver, I believe that his hands are actually above average for a defensive back. On top of this, he possesses the type of ball hawking skills that puts fear into opposing quarterbacks. Avery showed consistent improvement during his time at LSU, going from a rarely used backup in his freshman season, to one of the most dominant corners in the game in his senior season. While some people may look at his devastating Achilles injury in his junior season as a red flag, Avery showed absolutely no ill effects the following year. His recovery displays the type of mental toughness and commitment to the game that you look for in a young player. One overlooked aspect of his game, is the level of competition Eldrick faced in college. He went up against some of the top receivers in the country week after week and never blinked. This is the type of man you want on your side when you go into battle on game day. There’s going to be a lot of teams that regret passing on Eldrick Avery. (S20) - Ultimus Week - KoltClassic - 02-18-2020 1) Playoff Predictions, Reviews: Written: Give a short write up of one or multiple playoff matches. If completed before the airing of the sims, give your predictions; if it is afterwards, give a review of the game. My prediction for the Ultimus championship is that the Yellowknife Wraiths will beat the Austin Copperheads 27 - 10. The Wraiths have been absolutely steamrolling their way through the playoffs on their way to the Ultimus trophy, and I don’t think that the Copperheads will be able to stop them in their quest for the ‘chip. I think that the main factor in this victory will be the battle in the trenches. The Copperheads, while having the most pancakes in the league, are also allowing the most sacks in the league at 34, with the next closest team only having 20 sacks allowed. Meanwhile, the Wraiths are 4th in the league in sacks with 38, just behind the Copperheads who have 41 sacks. I think that a key player for the Wraiths will be D. Grithead, their starting linebacker. Grithead is leading the Wraiths with 11 sacks this season, tied for 4th most in the league for a player. Grithead is also a solid tackler, racking up 88 tackles this season. Another facet of Yellowknife’s game that I predict will lead them to victory is their rushing game. The Wraiths currently have 2002 rushing yards this year, the 2nd most in the league. They also top the charts in rushing touchdowns with 21. Meanwhile, the Copperheads are bottom 3 in the league for both of those categories, with their 8 rushing touchdowns being tied for dead last in the league. 6) Expansion Written: There have been a lot of new players entering the league recently. If you were in charge of a new expansion team for the NSFL or DSFL, how would you go about it? I’ve actually discussed this topic at length in one of my previous media posts around current teams’ media markets and good prospective locations for new ones! I think that going about this with 1. Input from the sim league community as a whole and 2. A dash of realism would make for a successful expansion. I think that there is a lot of talent and dedication in this league that could lead to some awesome new ideas for expansion teams. There are a lot of people who are really into making graphics (myself included) that could probably come up with cool jersey and logo designs for a new team that would be unique and interesting. Additionally, I think engaging the league in this decision, possibly through a vote or a poll, would allow for members to feel much more engaged in the decision making process of the league. I think that promoting this transparency and participation would be a great look for the league. From the realism perspective, I think that picking a location that has a large irl population and an interesting history would be a good idea for expansion. I’m personally a fan of choosing a location like Havana, Cuba as our expansion location. Havana has a huge population and a really interesting history that could make for great logos, jerseys, and media pieces. 9) Brotherly Love Written: We always talk about what teams and players are our rivals. This season, give me what team or player you have a soft spot for. I would definitely say that I have a soft spot for the Tijuana Luchadores. When I joined this league at the end of December last year, I was picked up by the Luchadores at the end of their regular season as they were about to begin their playoff run for the Ultimini. I was welcomed into the locker room by many of my fellow teammates, as well as my coaches and GMs. I felt instantly part of a team. I’d never been in a sim league before, but this was a great introduction to them as a whole for me. Even though I didn’t have really any TPE to my name, I was still lucky enough to have the sim rule in my favor, racking up a few sacks, a fair number of tackles, and some tackles for loss ( I won’t mention the one or two games where I failed to register a stat). I felt like I was able to help the team get to the Ultimini, and although we did end up losing the championship game to the Grey Ducks I enjoyed the entire process. Although I would eventually go on to be acquired by the Portland Pythons, I’ll always look back on my time in Tijuana as a great introduction and opportunity. 10) Reform Written: If you were in charge of managing the league, what changes would you make to make it better run? This probably isn’t what anybody would be looking for as a response to this question, but I see it as my soapbox anyway: I think that graphics, particularly high quality graphics, need to be a better source of income for players. While I don’t have an exact mapping of time to dollars for a media post vs. a graphics post, I think that they are vastly different with media posts being way faster and easier to make money than graphics. The fact that users are allowed to create train of thought media posts that are essentially users typing anything and everything that comes to their mind is a great indicator of this. This isn’t a slight at the moderators of those posts as I’m sure they take the time and effort to weed out the worst of these, but this isn’t something that would pass the gavel of the media folks in my opinion. Additionally, the amount of time and effort that goes into a 5/5 graphic is worth much more than what is allowed to be paid out. More specifically, 5/5 trading cards or jersey posts are effectively a waste of time if the purpose is to make money. For a trading card to be 5/5 you still have to do a jersey swap, which is quite time consuming if you want things to be high quality. You also have to do a great job of either making a realistic border for a card or manipulating an existing card to fit your render. These tasks could easily take an hour or two, which would be millions of more dollars gained if you were to write a stream of consciousness media piece in that same timeframe. (S20) - Ultimus Week - howsour - 02-18-2020 6) Expansion Graphics: Create a design for your new team. ![]() 8) Scouting Report Written: Write a scouting report for one of the incoming draftees in either the NSFL or DSFL. Kichwa Jones - RB - DSFL Prospect There is no doubt that Kichwa Jones has the ability to be a dynamic runner in the DSFL. He is a well-built back with tremendous speed. He has an explosive first-step and a second gear to accelerate downfield after hitting the next level. Jones is also considered to be a very elusive runner, too, and that makes him extremely dangerous in the open field. In space, Jones dominates defenders with juke moves and cuts to weave around defenders. Additionally, his natural height, knee bend, and body lean make him very tough to get a hold of for defenders. Jones also has tremendous feel with vision and patience as a ball-carrier. He is a natural running back who is a slashing weapon to carve up defenses. Jones isn't the biggest of backs, but he has toughness to him, but consensus is that he won’t be a power back. Jones still will break some tackles, however, and will finish his runs well. Some have also questioned whether or not Jones has the durability and stamina to handle a big work load. Sources have said that Jones seems to avoid some contact near the sideline. While a lack of a physical attitude isn't appealing to some, it does save Jones some hits, and that could help him avoid some injuries or wear and tear. Some DSFL teams might pull him in short-yardage situations for a bigger back and also to spare Jones some of the pounding, but he is capable of handling short-yardage and goal-line duties. There are very few negatives to Cook as a player though. For one, he has a real problem with fumbles and ball security. Some of the fumbles were weird, fluky plays where he just dropped the ball without being hit. With the bigger, stronger and more skilled defenders in the DSFL, teams are going to be trying hard to strip Jones of the ball as a rookie because he is known to have fumbling issues. Improving his ball security is critical for his success in the DSFL as nothing gets a running back benched faster than repeated fumbles. Overall, Jones has the potential to make a big difference in the win/loss column and could make any offense challenging regardless of the quarterback. Jones is a threat to score every time he touches the ball. He looks like a future star running back if he can stay healthy and improve his ball security. 14) Hoisting The Trophy Graphic: Create a graphic of your player hoisting the trophy! ![]() 20) Ultimus Ad Written: You and your teammates are to appear in a famous ad to be aired during the Ultimus. What is it about? We start on an exterior shot of a local neighborhood grill. Inside, the grill is bustling with happy faces and the murmur of patrons enjoying their meals. The camera then zooms in on a Waiter who is in the process of taking the order of Kichwa Jones. “…and I’d like that with brussel sprouts and a Coke”. The Waiter lets out a little sigh and mindlessly asks “Oh, we don’t have Coke, is Pepsi okay”? Kichwa violently pushes the table, causing his chair to slide back with a deafening screech and scratching the hardwood floor. The noise immediately silences the batrons in the restaurants who all turn their attention to Kichwa’s table. Kichwa darts a venmously look at the Waiter and jumps to his feet. “Okay?!” Kichwa yells, “Okay?!” he yells even louder. “You know what, it’s not okay”. The waiter tries to take a few steps back and clumsily bumps into another table, knocking a couple plates of food and glasses of Pepsi to the ground while stuttering “Um..um excuse me sir, I didn’t mean to –“. The waiter is then cut off by Kichwa who begins slowly walking toward the table, all the while the waiter slinks backwards further onto the table with each one of Kichwa’s steps. “I think everyone deserves better than just ‘okay’”, exclaims Kichwa, his statement met with thunderour applause from the other restaurat patrons. “So, go fetch us some Coke” says Kichwa with a sly smile on his face as he breaks the fourth wall and looks directly into the camera. (S20) - Ultimus Week - C9Van - 02-18-2020 1) Playoff Predictions, Reviews: Written: Give a short write up of one or multiple playoff matches. If completed before the airing of the sims, give your predictions; if it is afterwards, give a review of the game. Oh fuck yeah I can actually give a prediction cause I am not doing this after the fact the season has officially ended for a change! Nice! Okay so my prediction for the Colorado Yeti was that we won end up beating the Baltimore Hawks to reach the division final but then I sadly thought we would get rekt in that match vs Yellowknife Wraiths. I cannot remember the exact final score but I know we sadly lost which made me 2/2. I did also think Austin would beat NOLA but in my predictions reversed it cause I am a little bitch that just goes for the favourite team for cheap TPE. Which leaves me for the final between the Austin CopperHeads and Yellowknife Wraiths. I believe that Austin will end up winning it purely because Yellowknife love to lose finals. It is damn near tradition at this point with the Otters losing for once. I think it would be nice to see a banner for them and seeing Adam Cole (BAYBAAAAAY!) having a trophy is always cool. I know they are the away team and it seems that being away usually means you lose unless your team is really bad but I just feel like it will happen. Maybe I can only predict Yeti fixtures accurately but we will see soon enough. [224 words] 2) League Milestone Written: This year is the 20th playoff season of the NSFL. In your opinion, what was the most thrilling playoff game of these past years? Give a review of that game and why you consider it to be great. Well. This one will not go down as one of the best NSFL finals of all time. I doubt most actually remember it past the team that won but the Ultimus final between the Philly Liberty and the San Jose Sabrecats was literally my first time discovering the league. I timed it to perfection cause the finals was on and quite enjoyed what I was seeing. This would trigger a couple of things: I would join the league a few hours later, which would help the Colorado Yeti go from struggling team to a play-off team every season and more noticably this little curse I seem to have with Philly. I do not always watch the streams but any time I watch Philly play, they lose. That includes 2 finals and a few games vs the Yeti. The streak is 0-10. I do not know why it is happening but that is where we find ourselves with it now. I picked this one purely because it was the first game I ever saw be played. It was not the most hype final but it for sure was the ones I remember watching so it was important to me if anything. Since then it has gone pretty quickly. I hope to one day make the final in the Ultimus and bring the Yeti the first title. [227 words] 3) Revenge Written: Write 200 words about a team you’d like to get revenge on next season and why. Did they knock you out of the playoffs? Blow you out? I think I will do this one for a change even though if I am honest I do not have any ill feelings towards any actual team. Maybe a few specific cunts on teams and maybe Chicago for not taking me in the draft when they then lost the people above me but I do not hate them. Having said that I would like to get revenge on the Yellowknife Wraiths. They beat us in the division finals. They are a good team but it would be nice to see another team like the Colorado Yeti finally make the final so someone can actually win the finals for our division for a change. The Colorado Yeti are not good at away games and going into that match I did genuinely think that we would lose the division finals but before we beat Baltimore in basically the qualifier. The good news is our core is now starting to hit the prime. With lazzy and the QB going over 1000 and a few others closely behind so if revenge is going to happen it is looking like it will next season. It will be interesting to see whether or not it is us or maybe the Hawks that can bring the the YKW streak of choked finals to a halt so the division can finally win 1. [225 words] 6) Expansion Written: There have been a lot of new players entering the league recently. If you were in charge of a new expansion team for the NSFL or DSFL, how would you go about it? If I got a new team they would clearly be called the Budapest Badgers. I have gone on before about this idea of a european/dirty foreign communism infested roll tide team before but it would be great to have more foreign players and teams in the league. With PBE getting the world classic this makes this 1 of the only leagues without an international tournament which sucks balls. It would be great to play for europe or hungary even if they would get rekt. We would be a development team and just try to make people enjoy the league whilst also trying to grow the best team we could. Generic I know but very honest cause why wouldn't I? Being an NSFL team does not appeal to me that much, I do not really like the play-off format that much but it is what it is. I would also snipe woelkers from his DSFL team cause he is my boy and then we can just destroy the league and own the DSFL with ease! It is brilliant! I dunno if a colour is actually needed but we can always go Budapest Brown/Blue/Black/Burgundy Badgers too if needed. Though playing in a couple of those colours would be weird to see. [214 words] (S20) - Ultimus Week - Voltaqe - 02-18-2020 5) From being a bot team last season the Kansas City Coyotes made a big jump forward to make the playoffs. Since last season they were a bot team they did not have any send down players to work with which made them have a big disadvantage compared to the rest of the league. This next season will be different with Zero Two most likely returning for another season they have a great offensive weapon to build around. The biggest hole that we need to fill in the draft is a pass rush. This season our corner back play was stellar but we were not able to hit the quarterback as much as we needed to. With a good pass rush a lot more options open up as we can look to snag some top tier skill position players for Zero Two to throw to in the earlier rounds. After that just need to hit on some late round fliers like we did this past year in Jeremy Quellers and Rando Cardrissian. This is a recipe they can follow to have success this next season especially if they have a few other players who are sent down. Who knows maybe even I will get sent down and me and Zero Two can make a lethal combo once again. Words: 217 6) ![]() 12) Questions for @BadLck 1. How does it feel being in the Ultimini before you’re even drafted? 2. What are your biggest assists to a team? 3. What are your goals in the league? 4. If you could make a change in the league, what would it be? Answers from @BadLck 1. It's kinda crazy to think I'm in the Ultimini already. I knew I was gonna get there but I didnt realize it would be before my first season even really started. 2. I mean if you take one look at me you already know what my biggest asset is. These guns were made to push puny offensive linemen out of the way so I can make some quarterbacks know what turf taste like. My power will be something that has never been seen before in this league. 3. My one and only goal in this league is to see the frightened eyes of quarterbacks as they see me barrelling down on them. As long as I can sack quarterbacks I will be happy. I guess getting the most sacks in history would be a pretty cool goal too. 4. I think this league needs to hire more graders or something. My rookie point task has been up there for over a week and it still isn't graded. If they had their stuff together I would've been even bigger than I am now in time for the playoffs. Also the trivia that was just graded was from weeks ago. I get people have a life but if you cant keep up hire more help. Words: 258 15) ![]() (S20) - Ultimus Week - karl - 02-18-2020 1) Playoff Predictions, Reviews: Written: Give a short write up of one or multiple playoff matches. If completed before the airing of the sims, give your predictions; if it is afterwards, give a review of the game. 2) League Milestone Written: This year is the 20th playoff season of the NSFL. In your opinion, what was the most thrilling playoff game of these past years? Give a review of that game and why you consider it to be great. 4) Rivalry Written: Which team or player would you consider to be your greatest rival? Write 200 words on why you are rivals with them and why you want them to lose (don’t harass other users please). 17) shl s52 pt4 claim (S20) - Ultimus Week - BadLck - 02-19-2020 3) This should come as no surprise but I want, no I need revenge against the Minnesota Grey Ducks! They gave us a real thrashing in the Ultimini winning 28 - 3 but believe me when I say next year will be different. Our offense should have ran over a Minnesota defense who looked weak through the whole season but unfortunately they were not able to move the ball. Next year we can focus on getting some stronger weapons so that way we can step on the gas and never let off. Now to probably the most disappointing part of that game, our defense. They had been the best in the league and arguably one of if not the best defense in league history but we only got 2 sacks. We let them run and pass all over us because we did not have a strong defensive line presence. I am personally going to change that as since I was only a waiver player i did not get to unleash my full power. With my true DSFL rookie season coming up I am going to get mich stronger, much faster, and hit much harder. So I am warning you now puny Grey Ducks offensive line and the even tinier quarterback. I am coming to bring the pain and revenge will be mine. Words: 220 6) ![]() 13) (02-18-2020, 08:27 PM)Voltaqe Wrote:12) Questions for @BadLck 15) ![]() (S20) - Ultimus Week - RotticusScott - 02-19-2020 5. Dynasty: Well well well, ultimus weeks comes around and it's time for some of that sweet, sweet TPE. What better way to do it than to write about the stellar, star studded Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. This year we at MBB established the best defense in league history. You might say "well, you had a bunch of senddowns!" but in the grand scheme of things, not really. With the barrier to compete TPE-wise in the NSFL growing and growing, there's a good shot you'll see some of the rookie standouts from MB back in the Green and Purple next season. On top of possible returning players, the way Frost and Cory keep things going around the Locker Room is in my opinion the reason MB will continue to dominate. When I was drafted in the 14th round, I had no intentions to be a "top earner". That all changed when I got my first taste of being blessed by the sim, and now I'm a full blown TPE addict. This has been common for the rest of my MB rookies, as a ton of late round draft picks ended up earning a more than respectable amount of TPE in our rookie seasons. This ability to create activity will be MB's biggest asset in the coming seasons, and the reason they'll dominate. 6. Expansion If I were to take over an expansion team, I think I’d have a really solid plan. The thing I liked most about Myrtle Beach and the way things worked there was not only the fact that I had a bunch of friends on the team, but also how easy the GM’s made it to earn TPE. While I’ve spent a lot of time on forums throughout the years, Jcink is kind of imposing and it can be hard to find TPE opportunities sometimes. Cory and Frost made this easy, by posting a link and telling us what task was available to get that sweet, sweet TPE. This is something I’d also want to do on my expansion team, just to show some lower draft picks (like I was) how easy it can be to craft a great player. For Branding, I’d name my team the “Maine Blue Moose”. I wrote more about this in a recent article, but having a team in my home state playing out of my home city would be pretty cool. I also feel the name fits in with the branding of a lot of the teams around the league, and the name just rolls off the tongue! 9. Brotherly Love For my third task, I’m going to talk about one of my closest friends in the league. Juniped Catfish, star running back from the Norfolk SeaWolves, and college baseball teammate at Stony Brook University. Normally I’d write about one of my Myrtle Beach Buccaneer teammates, but I’ve given them so much love over the past season I think they’re starting to get weirded out. Juni and I are in kind of a Romeo and Juliet situation, being on rival teams in the same conference, on opposite sides of the ball. In spite of that, him and I are as tight as ever. Even if he runs me over, or I lay him out, we still can stand up and give each other five after the play. When I was a kid I didn’t think it was possible for big league players to be friends with the guys they are hitting at full speed every week, but playing in the DSFL has proved that it is indeed possible. If any NSFL General managers happen to read this, do not be afraid to draft Juni. Also don’t be afraid to draft me, and maybe don’t even be afraid to draft us together. 10. Reform I think some people might take this question and spin it around to be mean to people, but I’m going to take a different road. My approach to reforming the league would be to encourage more job hiring and collaboration for the different TPE earning avenues we have. Right now we are kind of sputtering in a few areas, and although I’m not 100% in tune on how things work behind the scenes for a lot of these avenues, I think the graders could for sure use some help! I know it’s hard to balance money earning and required output from employees, so I don’t know a solid ratio for each job, but I think the less workload per employee the better, and if someone wants to get involved they should be given a job. Collaboration is an easy way to bring the league together, especially when taking on large tasks. Also, I think rewarding discord activity would be cool to promote activity in the main server. In all honesty, I’ve loved my short time in the league so far, and although I’ve heard of “drama” from time to time, it hasn’t deterred me from enjoying the league and hanging out with the friends I’ve made! (S20) - Ultimus Week - Fordhammer - 02-19-2020 Placeholder 1) Playoff Review As is tradition, I'm going to review the Ultimus game between the Yellowknife Wraiths and the Austin Copperheads. Despite being road underdogs, Austin really came to play in this game. Easton Cole played a near-perfect game throwing for 322 yards and 4 TDs. The Wraiths secondary just had no answer for the receivers of the Copperheads. Tidwell had 117 yards to go with 2 TDs, and their rookie Clay and vet Net Gaines combined for 11 catches, 160 yards and 2 TDs as well. A bit of a surprise given the players that YKW has in their secondary like Kroustis, Grithead to name a few. The Wraiths offense on the other hand had a hard time getting going, with Bigsby only having a passer rating of 55.7, it just wasn't enough. Nate Swift in particular was completely swallowed up by the Copperhead's secondary, managing only 3 catches for 55 yards with a TD. Hanyadi had a fairly productive game with 99 yards and a TD, but it was too little too late, as the Copperheads jumped out to a 24-3 lead and never really looked back. An unsung hero of the game for the Copperheads was their kicker Alfredo Crisco who had a perfect game going 3-3 on field goals and 4-4 on XPs. 10) Reform If I were in charge of the league, I would make a few changes here and there. First up, PPT would be changed fairly drastically, starting with predictions. As it is now, we are required to make predictions a few times a week for the games that are played each week. This is quite tedious, as it requires you to login, find the predictions, and make some choices for just a couple TPE. The first thing I would do, is make predictions a weekly thing. This would still allow some variation, but all of the games in a week could be combined in one post, and players could post their predictions for all the games that way. This would take away the requirement of having to always be checking for prediction posts, and would also save the PPT a lot of headaches of having to rush to post these in between games. This would also allow for easier grading as everything would be more centralized. I understand there are some people who think this negates some advantage for max-earners, but there will still be a way to differentiate yourself in how well you pick the games from week to week, in addition to all of the other PT options that people miss except for max-earners. 7) Next Year The Philadelphia Liberty didn't make the playoffs this season, but were right on the edge. This next season there are several reasons they are about to take a leap. For one, they have one of the younger cores in the league. Brock Phoenix was a rookie last season, and already showed flashes of the star he can become. With Nacho Varga peaking and Vuxta coming into his own as receiving options, look for them to open up the offense a little more for him and really allow him to make some bigger plays down the field. Torensen is also nearing his peak, and he already showed the last couple of seasons that you can only hope to slow him down, as he has already climbed into the top 6 for all-time rushing leaders. The defense has some strong prospects with ILove Gimmy starting to get higher TPE-wise, and Wayne Howyaknow just winning Breakout Player of the Year in the awards show. Anchors of the defense like Julian McMorris, D'Attoria, and Weathers are still around to keep opposing defenses honest in the passing game. While the Ultimus might be a bit of a stretch next season, I fully expect Philly to make the playoffs and possibly give a team some trouble in the first round. 20) Ultimus Ad Philly has some people who would love to be featured in a Ultimus ad. The team itself is quite poor, so it seems unlikely they would have the funds in the first place for a commercial, but I spoke with several members of the team and they all agreed they would love to be in one of those Hulu Has Live Sports ads. Not only would the endorsement cash be great, but getting the NSFL on Hulu would be a gamechanger. Mike Franchet said he would do absolutely anything they asked him. I assumed he meant within reason, but no, he said anything. Thankfully the Super Bowl ads are not on cable tv, or we might be doing some serious damage control for Franchy. The ad would start with a closeup of each player on Philly, with everyone getting to introduce themselves in 3 words or less. Most of this would undoubtedly be censored for profanity, but you can't ask the team to be something they're not. After introductions, the camera would zoom out to show that the team is actually on a football field that is on top of a cruise ship. The camera would zoom out further to see that the cruise ship is not in an ocean, but actually in a giant pool. After zooming out further, the pool would be shown to be on top of an even bigger cruise ship sailing in the caribbean. Obviously the budget for this commercial would have to be enormous, but a lot of it could be done in CGI, I believe. At the end of the commercial, the camera would zoom back in to show the team yelling, "HULU HAS LIVE SPORTS." (S20) - Ultimus Week - HENDRIX 2.0 - 02-19-2020 1) Playoff predictions, reviews Going into the DSFL playoffs we had two strong teams that looked destined for a championship clash. The Myrtle Beach Buccaneers and Minnesota Grey Ducks both steamrolled completion this season and both entered the playoffs with a record of 12-2. The Buccaneers hosted the 6-8 Seawolves and the Grey Ducks squared off against the 5-9 Coyotes. Both teams were prohibitive favorites, and that’s exactly how it played out. The first half of the Buccaneers vs. Seawolves game was close, nobody scored a touchdown and five field goals were converted. But in the second the Bucs established their dominance. Their two headed monster of a rushing attack carved up the Seawolves defense. Instead of settling for field goals, their drives ended with touchdowns, including three in the 4th quarter. The Bucs were victorious 43-10. On the NFC side of the bracket the Grey Ducks got off to a fast start and kept their foot on the pedal all game. The Grey Ducks quarterbacks played efficient, mistake free football. Their running backs gained very efficient yardage and the defense was able to bottle up the dangerous Coyote WR duo. The Coyotes didn’t score until the fourth quarter, and it was too little too late as the Grey Ducks cruised their way into the finals with the score of 36-7. (217 words) 2) League Milestone The most thrilling NSFL playoff game of the last two decades was one that wasn’t particularly close, it was an absolute blowout. It was thrilling to me because I enjoy stomping my adversaries, and we witnessed one of the greatest individual performances of all time. In that game we have to go all the way back to season 3. As a member of the Baltimore Hawks we had homefield advantage against our arch nemesis Philadelphia Liberty. There was plenty of trash talk, fist fights, and assassination attempts prior to the game. Baltimore got off to a good first quarter start behind two touchdown receptions by rookie WR Trey Willie. In the second Philly showed some life after a good drive and field goal. Little did they know that field goal would be the only points they would score that game. Trey Willie eviscerated all their momentum by returning the ensuing kickoff 103 yards for a TD. In the 3rd quarter Willie caught yet another TD. We punched our ticket to the Ultimus with style that day. Willie’s four touchdowns were an all-time performance, and that rookie eventually went on to become the greatest WR in the history of the league. It was a thrilling game indeed. (206 words) 5) Armchair Gm The Kansas City Coyotes took a major step forward this season. Last season they were a bot team and were converted to a full-fledged franchise due to the depth of the s21 draft class. They had a good season but their lack of depth prevented them from being a true championship contender. The team was young and very active, no doubt they will lose some players to the NSFL but some will have to stay behind for a season or two. This will give them a great base to build around. Right now, the s22 draft class has 193 prospects and will continue to grow to over 200. With how well the KCC GMs drafted this season, I like their odds of filling out a roster. On offense they will be led by the return of QB Zero Two, there’s a possibility weapons such as Arrow, Nova, Tree, and Cardrissian will be back. The rookie season to sophomore season is a big jump for most players. They will be starting from a much higher skill level and get to face off against the new batch of inexperienced rookies. Zero Two will be a polished QB and will be able to distribute amongst those weapons in a much more effective manner. Look out for KC next season! (216 words) 6) Expansion League expansion is a good thing, as long as we don’t bite off more than what we could chew. Going from ten teams to twelve in the NSFL and from six to eight in the DSFL would probably be a good move. I know there were well over 100 new recruits for s22 but not everyone will stay active. With the s21 class being so large and proving to be very deep in committed players, the league will have to expand to accommodate everyone. If I was in charge of an NSFL expansion team I would submit a proposal to locate them anywhere in the United States except the Southwest, there’s too many teams there already. I would probably settle in a southeast location like Miami or a northeastern location like New York. After that all I would do is wait, carefully monitoring the s22 class. By about midseason you could see who the heavy hitters will be, so you send scouting messages to them first. By the end of the season you should try to contact every prospect, even the inactive ones. You could get lucky and find a sleeper, nothing to lose except a little bit of time commitment. There would also be the expansion draft, after keepers are selected, diligently research the unprotected players. (217 words) |