(S11) - Ultimus Week

[ckroyal92]

Playoff Recap Infographic


Playoff Matchups

[pazuzu]

PBE task

Playoff Series MVP:
There is only one MVP that I can name for the Championship series, it would be Vladimir Fyodorovich. Vlad showed up and made a statement in the finals against the Hawks. Statistic wise Vlad had just under 100 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns for the winning effort. Not only was he able to produce on offense but special teams as well returning a 50-yard punt for a touchdown just before time expired in the first half. Scoring right before half time is always difficult for the opposing team, but the situation makes it even worse for the Hawks. Vlad showed how explosive of a player he can be helping carrying his team to victory. Just himself alone, he scored 4 touchdowns for New Orleans which helped them take the win in overtime against the Hawks. Without Vlad’s contribution on the offensive side of the ball and special teams, the Hawks could have easily won the game. Vlad was able to demonstrate how dominate a Wide receiver can be when the have the right tools and know how to use them well. This championship may go down in history because of his contribution and how entertaining the game was as well. You deserve my MVP vote Vlad, congrats!

Robbed:
If there is one team that got robbed from making the playoffs this season, it would definitely be the Philadelphia Liberty. The NFSC was an extremely close race for the playoffs with Colorado Yeti just edging the Liberty for the wildcard spot. Throughout the season the Liberty kept many games close and stole other games that many people did not think they would win. The Liberty this past regular season beat half of the teams that made the playoffs, with New Orleans and Orange County as the exceptions. Finishing 7-7 with a rookie quarterback as well, Falconi at the helm. Falconi threw for just less than 3 thousand years in her first season in Philadelphia, and was also helped by the second ranked running game in Philadelphia as well, which was led by Brown. Brown this past season also rushed for over 1500 yards and scored 15 rushing touchdowns. Once Flaconi get some more experience under center in Philadelphia, they will be a force to be reckoned with. On the defensive side of the ball the Liberty led the league in tackles for loss and tied the league lead for interceptions as well. The Liberty are a scary team looking forward and this is a warning for other teams to watch out as well.

Playoff Review:
In the first round of the playoffs this year in the NSFL there was not much of a surprise for most people. Both the favorites New Orleans and Baltimore won their matchups blowing out the opposing teams.

The Yeti were able to put up 7 points against the Hawks, but their only points came in the first quarter. For the Hawks Applehort threw for over 400 yards and 4 Touchdowns, and Taylor had over 180 yards rushing. Both of them and the whole team had a dominate performance.

New Orleans was able to produce just as dominate of a performance to top the Otters in the first round. New Orleans gave up 13 points with 10 coming in the first half. On the offensive side of the ball, Smallwood and Maximux III totaled over 500 yards and 5 touchdowns combined in their rout of over the Otters.

Unlike the prior games, the Ultimus finals were decided in Overtime. However, just before the end of the 1st quarter Vlad, returned a 50 yard punt return for a Touchdown. With less than 2 minutes left in the game, New Orleans scored the game winning touchdown. Maximus III threw a 6 yard touchdown. pass to Smallwood for the game and the Ultimus title. Both these plays were vital for the Second Line to win, and without them the game may have ended up differently.

[Moosecop]

1. SHL PT

2. PBE PT

3. Playoff Series MVP: NSFC Championship
The NSFC Championship game between the Colorado Yeti and the Baltimore Hawks was, unfortunately, a blowout in favor of the defending Ultimus champions, the Hawks. The MVP of this game could have arguably gone to their running back Owen Taylor, but I would have to be giving it to their superstar quarterback Ryan Applehort. After joining the Hawks from the Yeti this past offseason, Applehort was looking to show that his old team may have been holding him back and he went out and put on a show. The Apple absolutely dominated the Yeti defense during this game in front of the Baltimore faithful as he threw the ball 58 times, completing 40 of those passes and racking up 410 yards, and 4 touchdowns, as well as running in a touchdown from 2 yards out. Not only that but he was sharing the ball with all of his receivers that night. Both L'Alto and Willie went over the century mark receiving and Valentine and Harp both had over 80 yards each. It just seems easy to give the MVP of a game to the team's quarterback but Applehort had himself an absolutely ridiculous game for the Hawks and proved that sometimes the reason that a team can be as successful and as dominant as the Hawks have been is because of amazing quarterback play.

4. Going to Disneyland!
Here's another tough MVP choice, this time coming in the Ultimus game in a rematch between the Baltimore Hawks and New Orleans Second Line. Who gets the credit when a receiver has himself a huge day? Is it the superstar quarterback, Borkus Maximus, making perfect throws and finding him all day? Or is it the receiver himself getting open and making crazy plays individually? Normally I would lean towards the quarterback but this time I have to give it to the man Vladimir Fyodorovich. He did absolutely anything and everything his coaches asked of him that Sunday, and then some. In the Ultimus, Fyodo lit up the world from every facet of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. As a wideout, he made 10 receptions for 99 yards and found the end zone a staggering 3 times. Not only that, on defense he there to make 8 tackles in addition to defending 2 passes. Oh, and he also took back one of his punt returns for 50 yards and score there too. After the game, he yelled "I'm going to Disney world" into the camera and ran off with the Ultimus trophy to celebrate with his team. Don't expect this man to be paying for anything when he's out on the town in the southeastern US.

[Vikain]

Robbed:

We again see the same situation as we have the last couple seasons as there are 4 dominant teams in the league. Once again it seems like there is only one team that was “maybe” robbed of a playoff spot. This time it has been the Philadelphia Liberty. After last few years rebuilding they are starting to win some games and get their young players to develop. Finishing the season at 7 and 7 they are taking their steps to become a playoff team once more. While the Hawks and Yeti are still riding their now aging core to the Ultimus Cup. Philly was close to getting in as the Yeti finished 8 and 6 and were the closest team they could have caught. On the other side in the ASFC both New Orleans Second Line and the reammerged Orange County Otters have dominated their side of the league. Second Line finishing 11 and 3, while the Otters finishing 10 and 4. While the Outlaws and Sabercats were not close to the playoffs at all. It will be interesting to see how the rebuild teams begin to start winning more games and how the aging teams start to phase out.

Unsung Hero:

Unsung hero for me had to be T. Keita for the New Orleans Second Line. In the Semi Final, Second Line were looking for playmaker to slow down the hot hand of G. Showbiz and his ability to make throws in tight windows. What they did not expect was that the Rookie Keita would step up and shutdown his opponent. Having a pretty good first year in the NSFL, he was able to put up some impressive numbers. Playing in all 14 games he had 87 tackles, 1 forced fumble with 1 recovery, 4 sacks, 4 interceptions, 11 passes defended and 1 touch down. He is in talks about being the rookie of the year. In the playoff game when everything is on the line, he gets 5 tackles, 1 sack, 2 passes deflected and 1 interception. Watching the game you noticed him all over the field. Making plays up and down the field he really does need to be looked at as the next superstar. It's always fun to see a young player come up and make some big plays to make a name for himself. We can only wonder what is in store next for Keita and can he keep developing into the superstar that he seems to be projected as right now.

Playoff Matchups



Playoff Recap

[timeconsumer]

PBE PT:
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Sit Down With a Fan:
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Playoff Review
The NSFC conference championship matchup this season featured two familiar faces battling again for the snowland title. The Colorado Yeti traveled to Baltimore to take on the Hawks same as last season when they broke their 9 season playoff drought. Last season ended in failure with Applehort at quarterback and this season with a fresh quarterback that was somehow a kicker that always knew how to sling it they once again looked to bring themselves back to the championship. unfortunately that did not happen this time around either as the Baltimore Hawks handily dispatched of the Yeti and once again found themselves on a trip to the Ultimus. Meanwhile in the ASFC the Otters faced the Second Line again for what felt like the 4th or 5th time in a row and again had to go on the road to do it as they were one game behind NOLA. This time ended much the same as the previous with NOLA easily dispatching the Otters with Showbiz tossing a couple of picks and the NOLA offense moving the ball effectively. So this brings us to the championship matchup where for I think the third season in a row we saw the Second Line facing the Hawks. This was a high scoring game that went into overtime and saw new WR Fyod pull some fantastic moves en route to a 3 TD performance, looking like the Ultimus MVP out there, and handed the Second Line their 2nd Championship in 3 seasons. That's all.

Hate the player or the game
I'd have to say that I don't think the yeti should have made the playoffs. I don't have anything really against the Yeti but I think in this situation they lucked into a spot with a team that has very few actives and just lost their quarterback. Don't get me started on the ridiculous new meta-tactic of switching seasoned players that are well over 600 TPE into the quarterback position just because you lost yours when there are several bridge options available out there. Now they aren't the only one to do this, so I don't want to single them out, but it is a very selfish move that is going to damage the league in the long run. Anyway, I really think that had the Wraiths been out there with better leadership they could have beat the Yeti. The thing that is striking me as so odd now is how little teams are adjusting strategies these days. I'll hand it to Philadelphia they were really trying out a ton of different strategies every week and their record this season showed it, I didn't see that really from anyone else in that conference. That kind of playing is not going to work next season and Philly and the new Wraiths leadership are going to shift the balance of power in that conference.

[Molarpistols]

Robbed: Write about why a team that failed to make the playoffs should have over somebody else. Can be completed at any point

The Philadelphia Liberty were robbed of a trip to the playoffs by the Colorado Yeti. The Philadelphia Liberty spent last season in the depths of despair, going 0-14 on the year. Whilst mired in a rebuild, there was little hope in the Liberty locker room or in the stands at the stadium. However, they made a solid couple picks and rebuilt into a real contender in season eleven. The miraculous turnaround saw the Liberty go 7-7 and miss the playoffs by a single game.

Meanwhile, the Yeti have spent the last few seasons in contention after finally completing their own rebuild that took far longer than it honestly should have. And then they went through and started another sort-of rebuild when they lost Ryan Applehort to their division rival Baltimore Hawks. With how embroiled in mediocrity the Yeti have been for much of their past, they're taking a nose-dive yet again and they look to be starting yet another "Trust the Process" rebuild.

While the Yeti escaped with a better record technically, they squandered their best chances at being a good team and ended up getting absolutely dismantled in the playoffs. While the Liberty may not have done better, they've shown dramatic improvement and should have gotten an opportunity to showcase that.

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212

Playoff Series MVP: Choose an MVP for one of the playoff series and write about why you chose them. Must be completed after the playoff series you write about

For what seems like the thousandth time in a row, Borkus Maximus III was the most valuable player while his New Orleans Second Line dismantled the Orange County Otters in the ASFC Championship game. Borkus was stupendous in the ASFC rematch from the last several seasons, and as history tends to repeat itself, he was able to lead his team to another victory.

Maximus III finished the game with 23 completions on 38 attempts for a solid 319 yards and 3 touchdowns. His lone mistake came on an interception caught by former Second Line teammate Jaylon Broxton. Borkus had little trouble moving his team up and down the field with the help of Darren Smallwood, and the team out of New Orleans dropped 40 points on one of the stronger defenses in the league. No doubt homefield advantage played a part but a lot of it can be pinned down to Maximus being just that good.

The signal caller is aging, so there could be hope on the horizon for the other ASFC teams hoping to start their own dynasties, but the man still has a solid couple of years left before he would be expected to decline massively. If he keeps playing like this, we'll be talking about him as MVP for quite a bit longer.

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217

Playoff Review: Write a short review of the playoffs and each of the matchups. Must be completed after the Championship Game

ASFC: Orange County Otters @ New Orleans Second Line
For the fourth straight season, the New Orleans Second Line and the Orange County Otters meet in the ASFC Championship game. And as has been the trend, the Second Line emerged victorious. The Orange County Otters appeared to be rather outmatched, as the final score would indicate. The 40-13 trouncing will most certainly leave a bad taste in the mouths in Orange County for quite some time.

NSFC: Colorado Yeti @ Baltimore Hawks
It's been practically the same old story as the ASFC. The Colorado Yeti visit Baltimore for the third straight year to try to get to the Ultimus Game. And much like those other years, they leave the game without much hope at toppling the cream of the NSFC crop from their throne. The Hawks took the Yeti out and straight-up curb-stomped them into submission. The utter domination ended with a score of 45-7, and the Yeti never really showed any fight in the contest.

Ultimus: Baltimore Hawks @ New Orleans Second Line
Well this is getting repetitive. Another season, another Ultimus game between these two heavyweights. Thus far, they've been trading the title back and forth with New Orleans winning their first contest, and the Hawks winning last year's game. It comes down to the best 2 of 3, and New Orleans sneaks away with an overtime victory 42-36. The high scoring contest was really fun to watch with a lot of chances for teams to close it out.

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257

Championship Game Recap: Do a recap of the best play from the championship game. Must be completed after the Championship Game

The two teams started off slow, with neither team being able to score any points for the first couple possessions. After that, it was off to the races. The high-scoring game ended 42-36 in Overtime, and it'd be rather silly of us not to see that the winning drive housed the best play of the game. The New Orleans Second Line were able to drive the ball practically at will on the final drive of the game, and they refused to get rattled by the pressure of trying to secure the OT win. They stayed true to their style and made sure Smallwood got plenty of touches on their way to victory.

The drive saw several runs in a row by Smallwood, in which the Hawks just couldn't quite stop him early enough and they kept earning new sets of downs. Finally, to cap it off Borkus Maximus III hit, you guessed it, Darren effing Smallwood for a 6-yard touchdown to end the game in glory.

The dynamic duo of Maximus and Smallwood will be sorely missed in New Orleans, as Smallwood has announced his retirement. Smallwood and Borkus have been absolute money for years, and they kept the trend going as they won the Ultimus yet again.

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208

[StickyRicky]

http://gomhl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=9389

[mabb]

That Magic Moment: Pick one moment from a playoff game and describe what made it so amazing to watch. (Must be completed after the game you write about)
In the Ultimus Championship game, the final post-season game of Season 11, the Baltimore Hawks and the New Orleans Second Line were neck and neck through the game, but the last two minutes of the regulation time was a pretty amazing moment that turned out to be a cliffhanger. The Second Line had just scored with less than 5 minutes left in the game and were able to secure the two-point conversion, giving them a three point lead. In the following three minutes, the Hawks marched down the field and were able to tie the game with a successful field goal by Turk Turkleton. This is really when the magic started - the successful acquisition of the three points needed to tie the game meant that it was now up to the Hawks defense to prevent the Second Line’s offense from scoring. If they were successful, that would give the Hawks offense one last chance. Luckily, the Hawks defense did prevent the Second Line from scoring and got the ball back to Applehort with just over a minute to play. Applehort and the offense were able to get down to the Hawks 23 yardline, but in a questionable move they didn’t try for the field goal and instead punted back to the Second Line. This led to overtime, and a long drawn out battle that ended in a Second Line win.

Going to Disneyland!:Who was the Ultimus MVP? Give us a rundown of their celebratory trip to Disneyland. (Can be completed after the Ultimus game)
Two seasons ago I had covered the all-star New Orleans Second Line QB Borkus Maximus III during his trip to Disneyland when he was the Ultimus MVP, so it is only fitting that this year, I’m on the beat as well. Last time, if you’ll recall, we found that Borkus was a well-rounded guy who liked a little bit of everything. But as you can see now, Borkus is actually more T shaped, with a lot of both breadth across every skill, but he’s developed some depth in key QB skills. So, in an uncanny similarity, this year, Borkus was very focused and chose a limited number of rides to really focus on in Disneyland. I kid you not, this year in Disneyland, Borkus started his day off with 25 straight rides on the Tea Cups. You’d think a man would get dizzy after a couple, but no, he was all about really understanding the tea cups, the best spin strategy, how to not get dizzy or puke, and which tea cup was the best overall. He did the same for the Buzz Lightyear ride, riding 25 times so he could really learn the ins and outs of the scoring mechanism and placements of targets. By the end, he’d taken over the top 3 all-time scoring record spots. It was kind of boring to cover most of the time, to be honest, but that also has an uncanny similarity to the playoffs this year.

Unsung Hero:Who was the unsung hero of the playoffs, convince us. (Can be completed after the Ultimus game)
Even though the Baltimore Hawks lost the Ultimus and a lot of the focus is on the New Orleans Second Line, there were a lot of great stats racked up by the Hawks team during the conference championship and Ultimus. A player who had a great strong showing was Trey Willie, a veteran wide receiver in the NSFL, having played since S3. Critics have noted he appears to be regressing as he ages and as the physical nature of the sport takes its inevitable toll on his body. But, none of that seemed to show in the two Hawks post-season games. In the first post-season matchup against the Yeti, Willie scored two touchdowns on short passes from QB Ryan Applehort. While his overall total receptions for that game only stands at 8, he averaged 13.4 yards per reception and broke 100 yards in that game. In the championship Ultimus game, Willie didn’t have any touchdowns, but in his 6 receptions, he was able to again accumulate more than 100 years for an average of 18.2 yards per carry. Willie may not have been an MVP, but he certainly helped the team march down the field with his 30+ yard receptions and regularly high yards per reception average.

Playoff Series MVP: Choose an MVP for one of the playoff series and write about why you chose them. Must be completed after the playoff series you write about
In the developmental football league, the conference championship game was a high scoring addition to the rivalry between the Tijuana Luchadores and the San Antonio Marshals. This had been a season of ups and downs that has not been characteristic of the Tijuana Luchadores of the past few years, in part due to a significant amount of turnover in the offseason. The Luchas were able to stabilize their offense in this championship game, however, and they really picked up some significant yardage. Metaxas, who was playing inconsistently this season, seems to have had a come to Jesus moment and turned it around for the team. While his completion percentage was barely over 50 percent in this game, he was able to accumulate 200 passing yards and a passing touchdown. In addition to his passing game, his personal rushing really is what makes him stand out in this game. Metaxas had 14 rushing attempts for 131 yards, one of which was a touchdown. This is more rushing yards than any of the other eligible rushing individuals. As a quarterback, being so mobile puts a large target on your back for the defense, but if folks can do it as Metaxas demonstrated here in a clinic-level performance, then they should be alright.

[Keyg_an]

SHL

PBE

Andreas Metaxas has a nightmare matchup as Ja'Brill Tuck opposes him on the defensive line for the Portland Pythons. Ja'brill hasn't been too effective thus far, but has multiple tackles for loss and has a knack for getting to the opponents quarterback. When asked how he was going to impact the championship game Ja'Brill had this to say to the press: " I can promise only one thing, I WILL sack Andreas Metaxas. I can not promise that my team will win, I can not promise Jimmy Cox the third will throw any touch downs. I can however guarantee that I will sack Metaxas and he will never see it coming." a very bold claim from a defensive end that has not had a single sack yet this season, when asked how he could guarantee a sack he said "I just feel it.". A defensive line member this hungry to get at the opponent quarterback is a nightmare, and if he does matter to get to Metaxas it will be absolutely humiliating for the opposing offensive line. A defensive end with no career sacks getting to your quarterback would be deflating, and I could imagine it destroying the teams confidence if it were to happen.


https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/4461...412363/SLIM.png

[JVMjrDOT]

SHL PT

Robbed

The Philadelphia Liberty were robbed of a playoff spot and deserved a shot to play against either the Baltimore Hawks or the New Orleans Second Line in the semi-finals. The Liberty finished with a 7-7 record, which doesn't stand out too much from the rest of the playoff bubble teams. Colorado's 8-6 record was good enough to get them into the playoffs, but I believe that the Liberty were the better team, and deserved it more. Even though the series split between the Yeti and the Liberty was tied 1-1, the Yeti squeaked out their win by the slimmest of margins, winning 34-31. When the two teams met a second time, the Liberty beat them convincingly, 38-13. It's close, but I'd say that the edge goes to the Liberty. It really came down to who could win consistently, against good teams and bad. Both the Yeti and the Liberty pulled off huge upsets, beating the Baltimore Hawks and the New Orleans Second Line respectively. The downfall of the Liberty was when they lost to the San Jose Sabercats 27-21, giving the Sabercats their first and only win of the season. In this game, the Liberty QB, Falconi, had one of her worst nights in her career. She was 17/40, with no touchdowns and 4 interceptions. That lone game cost the Liberty their shot at the playoffs.

Unsung Hero

The unsung hero of the playoffs is Vladimir Fyodorovich. It's a hard name to spell, and an even harder player to defend against, apparently. Vlad's overall statline for the playoffs was 15 catches for 200 yards and 5 touchdowns. He even had a 50 yard punt return in the championship game, so he technically had 6 touchdowns in 2 games. For anyone that's not a quarterback, that's an incredible accomplishment. If I'm not mistaken, Vlad made the switch from cornerback (or maybe safety?) to wide receiver this off-season, so a lot of defenders might not have had a lot of time to study any game film on him. This showed in the regular season as much as it did in the playoffs. What's even more surprising about this performance is that Vlad is typically the Second Line's yardage receiver and doesn't typically score a lot of touchdowns. He finished with 6 in the regular season, compared to Law's 8 and LeClair's 9. It's possible that Law and LeClair were covered a lot heavier in the red zone, which is why Vlad was able to sneak past unnoticed. After all, 4 of Vlad's 5 receiving touchdowns came from the red zone.