![[DEV] ISFL Forums](http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/images/emerald/logo.png "[DEV] ISFL Forums"){kind=logo}
+- [DEV] ISFL Forums (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Community (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Forum: Media (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=37)
+---- Forum: Graded Articles (http://dev.sim-football.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=38)
+---- Thread: *Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty (/showthread.php?tid=4474)
Pages:
1
2
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - HalfEatenOnionBagel - 09-11-2017
Welcome back to “Why They Will, Why They Won’t.”. This is the final part of the four part series, with each looking at one team in the NSFC and why they will or will not win the conference this season.
One thing that is different about this series is that each article is being written by a member of the team. Our writers on this series are:
@kckolbe, impact linebacker Kevin Cushing for the Yellowknife Wraiths
@iamslm22, pass blocker extraordinaire Avon Blocksdale for the Baltimore Hawks
@HalfEatenOnionBagel, Pro Bowl offensive lineman Micah Hendrix for the Philadelphia Liberty
@TheMemeMaestro, some offensive lineman, Sandoval I think, for the Colorado Yeti.
As you can see, kckolbe has asked me to do write the article for the Philadelphia Liberty: Why they will, Why they won't. Our GMs have been hard at work this offseason to get this team into shape for a playoff run after a promising first season. So, without further ado, here’s my take on Why They Will, Why They Won’t: Philadelphia Liberty Edition!
WHY THEY WILL:
People already knew last season that the Liberty had a chance at being one of the better defenses in the league heading into season 3. The defensive secondary composed of S2 defensive back of the year Lincoln Jefferson (@adam2552), S2 Defensive Rookie of the Year Tyler Oles (@`To12143`), and rookie standouts Marmeladov (@Vikain) and O’Sullivan (@Kristy95) looks like the best in the business as we head into Season 3. Last season this secondary was a big part of the Liberty’s league leading 24 interceptions. These four are an extremely close knit group that work together so well, but are also very competitive with each other which only keeps them motivated to continue to improve.
And that’s just the defensive backs for this defense, there are a ton of other impact players on the defensive side of the ball. The offseason acquisitions of Mark “Ramrod” Ramrio (@Anti-Hype) and free agent linebacker A.C. Hackett (@Deusolis), also known as Agent 17, bring new life to a defensive front 7 that struggled to put pressure on opposing offenses last season. Ramrio is an absolute force at DT, recording 63 tackles and 17 sacks last season. He’s the versatile kind of defensive tackle that can help stop the run but is also athletic enough to get after the quarterback. For a Liberty team that had the fewest sacks last season, Ramrio provides a huge boost and should be able to do some damage himself while also creating opportunities for his teammates to shine while taking on double teams. He pairs with defensive ends Drew Davidson (@sabills) and the quickly ascending rookie Eli Kamaka (@PDXBaller) to give the Liberty a pass rush that was severely lacking last season.
And speaking of lacking, the Liberty managed to fill their biggest hole on defense at the linebacker position through the acquisitions of the aforementioned A.C. Hackett in free agency and rookie William Ridley (@MacTonight) in the draft. Perry Tucker (@Perry87) made the switch to linebacker at the beginning of season 2 and quickly caught on as he may have been the best rookie linebacker last season. He and linebacker Luke Washington (@Den_Tex_Mix2) will surely appreciate having a linebacker like Hackett that can roam the field to help pick up some of the slack that they had to cover for last season. Hackett is likely the best coverage linebacker in the league as well, which should allow him to drop back more and allow for blitizing opportunities for the rest of the linebacking corps to back up the defensive line. Ridley is still a little raw, but he has all the makings of a star as well and has a ton of veteran talent around him to learn from. The Liberty have managed to round out this defense in the offseason, filling holes in their front 7 to pair with an elite secondary. The Outlaws are certainly still the best defense in the league, but Liberty are not far behind and will show why defense wins championships by winning one in the NSFC.
Now, that’s not to say that the offense isn’t going to contribute anything as well. There are a ton of weapons for this team on offense that are still a bit underrated. Fox North (@Silver Fox) didn’t just have a breakout season last year, he had an absolute volcanic eruption of a season, finishing with the second most yards in the league and the highest yards per reception for any qualifying receiver with more than one catch. North will pair up once again with Damien Kroetch (@Damienj10) who was quietly one of the better number two receivers in the league, finishing with 4 touchdowns and almost 800 yards. The Liberty also added another receiver in the draft in converted quarterback Budda Browning (@Rindiee). Browning was a standout at the University of Washington and his raw athletic abilities will make his transition to WR much easier. If this team passes as much as they did last season, he’ll be in for a lot of work and looks like he is willing to rise to the challenge. Omar Wright (@[GraphicsNazi]) is one of the most well-known players on the team and while he unfortunately didn’t break the 1000 yard rushing mark again, Wright was extremely efficient and productive for this team, finishing with one of the better yards per carry marks in the league at 3.5 and the most total touchdowns among all running backs as a weapon both on offense and special teams. Let us not forget that the Liberty also have an athletic freak at tight end in Paul DiMirio (@124715), the soon to be GOAT TE.
Of course, all these weapons mean nothing if the man under center can’t get them the ball and lead the offense. Last season, signal caller Jameis Christ had a decent, but unspectacular, season finishing with over 3000 yards passing and a positive TD:INT ratio. But, his completion percentage and especially work ethic leave something to be desired. It’s clear the team felt it was necessary to go in a different direction, especially after S2 rookie Shawn Brady didn’t pan out as expected, and so decided to draft Clifford Rove (@Yurt6) in the second round of this season’s draft. A pick that was panned by many analysts as a reach, Rove already looks to be a great fit with the Liberty from what we have seen of him during training camp. Quarterback is one of the most important positions to fill and it looks like the Liberty have finally found their guy. He steps into a system that clearly is very quarterback friendly and with his abilities, the sky is the limit for this young man. This offense looks to continue on the foundation built last season and now with a quarterback that the team can rely on, there should be some better offensive production to go along with the defense.
Finally, the Liberty have the best kicker in the league. That’s right, better than anyone else including Tinkleton, who I’ve already destroyed in detail previously. Stephen Harris (@WinstonKodogo) showed last season that he was the best punter in the league and this season he’s going to show everyone he’s the best kicker overall. As the kicker with the three biggest legs in the league he’s going to absolutely shatter the kicking records while also providing a huge advantage to this team on special teams. Harris works his butt off day in and day out to perfect his skills and this season it will show on the field more than ever before. Mark my words, Harris will be the league’s leading scorer this season and if you’re playing the Liberty good luck getting starting field position past your own 10 yard line.
WHY THEY WON’T
Ok, so now to sober up a bit after chugging some blue and gold Koolaid, let’s start by looking a little more critically at the defense. The passing game is still the most important part of offensive success in the league and the best way to stop it is having a strong pass rush. While the addition of Ramrio is huge, the pass rush for this team is still completely unproven and they will have to improve by leaps and bounds over last season in order to have a real impact. If Ramrio is double teamed more often, other players are going to have to step up. Davidson will definitely improve on a rookie season in which he had five sacks, but it’s hard to see him and S3 rookie Kamaka providing an elite pass rush off the edge. Not to mention Ridley will likely be expected to be a key player in both the pass rush and run support and he is still just a rookie himself. It doesn’t matter if your secondary is elite, if the opposing quarterback has all day in the pocket, someone will eventually get open. In the NSFC, the Wraiths and Hawks both boast some of the better offensive lines in the entire league and if the Liberty defense can’t get by them, they have no hope at success this season.
That seems to be the biggest problem that this team is likely to face: as much potential as their players have, a lot of the key players are still underdeveloped. Aside from Kamaka and Ridley, the team is also hoping to rely on the rookie Browning in the passing game, who also is switching positions before the start of the season. His role was filled quite often by DiMirio last season, who will now be moving back to tight end exclusively. DiMirio was very productive in the back half of the season in this role, so Browning will be asked to take on a pretty key position in the offense. Although the team did have success from a couple of players switching position in Lincoln Jefferson (WR to S) and Perry Tucker (TE to LB) last season, this is not always the case, especially when switching to a position that players usually don’t start to excel at until a few seasons in. And all of this is not to mention that the quarterback is now a rookie as well. As mentioned before, Rove is certainly an improvement over Christ in many ways, but he’s still way behind a lot of the quarterbacks in the league. Even the oft maligned King Bronko was able to lead the Outlaws to another Ultimus and is far ahead of Rove at this point. The Liberty are definitely gambling this season on these rookies stepping into some important positions and they will need to improve quickly. Not to mention, many of the players that make up the core of this team were drafted in season 2 and are therefore still behind their season 1 counterparts. With Hackett on a short deal and a lot of players’ contracts ending before season 5, but time still needed to develop key players, the Ultimus window for this team may be disappearing quickly.
Finally, as is a problem for a lot of teams in the NSFL in general, the offensive line for this team is still a mess. Pro Bowler Micah Hendrix will continue to feature at left tackle, but he can’t do it alone. Remember how we were talking about the success this team had in converting Jefferson and Tucker to different positions? Well, success is hardly the term we could use to describe the conversion of WR Adam Bennett (@CosmicAtom) to offensive line. It’s no surprise he struggled as the skillsets are completely different for these two positions and not something you can hope to pick up in a short time as a professional. But, Bennett and the rest of this line were downright awful. In pass protection, this team gave up the most sacks by far with Bennett giving up a league worst 17 and teammates Brett Dodggy and Jordan Danvers giving up 11 and 9, respectively. Even Hendrix gave up a somewhat concerning 6 sacks despite the heaps of praise that he received from the team and analysts. Although this line didn’t seem to hold Omar Wright back as much as you might expect in the run game, it’s clear that this team relied on the passing game a lot last season and if there’s still no pass protection, how well do you really think a rookie will do when he’s a sitting duck in the pocket? The additions of rookies Cesar Milan (@Meowls) and Sammy Walters (@PointGod) in the draft were good moves by the team and seem like they will already be an improvement over the swiss cheese of a line the Liberty were sporting before. But, with the defensive line talent in the league continuing to improve, a couple rookies being added is hardly a reason to get excited. We’ll have to see how well this line can stand up to an onslaught like the Outlaws pass rush for a whole game; the preseason matchup between these two teams will be very telling about the future of both franchises.
Overall, there is a lot of reason for this team to be optimistic for the upcoming season. The GMs Adam and Silver Fox have shown that they are both smart and decisive about the way they build their team and plan their moves. The defense looks like at the very least it will be the gold standard in the NSFC and a lot of holes on offense have been addressed. While the Hawks showed last season that a complete turnaround is possible, we do need to remember that the Liberty finished in last place in the conference last season for a reason. But, if this team can stay motivated, finishing on top of the NSFC is certainly not out of the question.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"]
-----------------------------------------[/div]
So with that, our roundup of the NSFC teams in the Why They Will, Why They Won’t series comes to a close. I hope that you enjoyed the content that my colleagues and I have produced. It’s clear that while every team in the NSFC has its strengths and flaws, the biggest challenge for each team will be that the NSFC is going to be so competitive this season. As we saw in the Pro Bowl, the NSFC is clearly the stronger conference overall. Last year it came down to a three way tie between the Hawks, Wraiths and Yeti, and with the improvements the Liberty have made, the NSFC race will be tighter than ever this season. While the Outlaws and Otters making the playoffs is already a foregone conclusion in the ASFC, we may not even know who wins the NSFC until the final play of the regular season. I think that as tough as that may make it for the teams in the NSFC, we’re all looking forward to the excitement this level of competition will bring. And I think we’ll be seeing the first Ultimus for an NSFC team this season as well.
((2480 words, ready for grading))
GRADED
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - kckolbe - 09-11-2017
17 sacks allowed by one person. That is painful. Good news is that he seems very likely to improve this year.
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - adam2552 - 09-11-2017
(09-11-2017, 10:21 AM)kckolbe Wrote:17 sacks allowed by one person. That is painful. Good news is that he seems very likely to improve this year.
I think 10 of those were to Tuck, but still...
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - Rindiee - 09-11-2017
great write up as usual! Good work boys!
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - WinstonKodogo - 09-11-2017
I'm glad my massive third leg got a mention
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - HalfEatenOnionBagel - 09-11-2017
(09-11-2017, 09:30 AM)WinstonKodogo Wrote:I'm glad my massive third leg got a mention
I think it's an underrated part of the kicking game, but you're more of an expert than I am in that department
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - Bzerkap - 09-11-2017
(09-11-2017, 08:31 AM)HalfEatenOnionBagel Wrote:I think it's an underrated part of the kicking game, but you're more of an expert than I am in that departmentNow THAT'S a half eaten bagel right there!
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - iamslm22 - 09-11-2017
Absolutely incredible article! This series was a blast to do, we produced four really interesting articles.
I think Phillys success this year will be determined by line play on both sides. They need a pass rush and need to block better. Those sack numbers are awful.
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - 124715 - 09-11-2017
I'm not concerned about our pass rush. Ramrio alone adds 17 sacks, and Ridley will only get better. The O-line is somewhat active, and I'd expect Millan to move to RT midseason.
*Why They Will,Why They Won't Philadelphia Liberty - PDXBaller - 09-11-2017
Great article and a nice wrap up for all 4 teams in this series!