(S2) - PT #3 - Bold Predictions

[Daybe]

Bold prediction: The Orange County Otters will not make the playoffs.

Yes, I kid you not: The Orange County Otters, the same team that made the S1 playoffs, the same team that finished in third place in S1, will be watching when Ultimus week comes around. Now, you may ask why. The Otters were favorites to win the ASFC and finish with the best record, and lots of people had them winning the Ultimus Trophy in the pre-season predictions. But their fortunes will change throughout the rest of the season for one big reason.
The San Jose Sabercats.
Last year, the Sabercats were the second worst team in the league. They were absolutely terrible throughout the regular season, and finished a measly 4-10, only tied with the Baltimore Hawks, who also are improving. This year the story has been completely different for the San Jose Sabercats. The Sabercats made numerous acquisitions in the offseason, including their first round draft pick, Vincent Sharpei, who has already made a big impact in their offensive line. His fellow offensive lineman, Ben Longshaw, has been doing an amazing job so far as well. Longshaw is leading offensive linemen in pancakes and least sacks allowed. Explosive wide receiver Bailey Cook is set to do damage as well, although his quarterback, Ethan Hunt, does not plan to stay with the Sabercats. That opinion may change, however, depending on the outcome of this Sabercats season.

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[HENDRIX]

Hawks running back Darlane Farlane will win the rushing title and running back of the year. It won't be much of a surprise from within the Baltimore organization, but the rest of the NSFL will have to get used to the emerging superstar running back. Serious work is being put in by Farlane and the rest of the Hawks and it has been paying off for the most part early in the season. All he has to do is follow the big German Dieter Koch, The Plow Brokk Lee, and Blockmaster Blocksdale and he will eat up yards in bunches. Farlane is the league leader in rushing yards after the first quarter of the season and isn't going to slow down. His speed will improve to be faster than just about any linebacker that tries to chase him in the league and his endurance will only improve as he gets used to carrying the big work load. There is a team element that also matters when it comes to awards. If Baltimore clinches a playoff berth or is at least in the running for a playoff spot toward the end of the season that would give Farlane a lot of brownie points with the voting committee. (206)

@Gwdaja @Sleepy @BrokkLee @iamslm22

[Rabidsponge21]

[Admin]

Alexandre LeClair will be the best wr on the Las Vegas Legion. You heard it hear first. The man has played second fiddle for too long. Everyone gets over exicted for Stormblessed because he runs fast but the fact is the LeClair is the better overall receiver. If Josh Bercovici was a smart quarterback he would look to LeClair more than he looks to Stormblessed. By the end of the season I think that the Legion offense will have figured out just how good Alexandre LeClair is as a wide receiver in the National Simulation Football League. The man truly has to potential to compete each and every season to be the top wide receiver in the league. So, my bold prediction is that Alexandre LeClair finishes the season as the Las Vegas Legions top receiver in terms of yards or touchdowns. I think that the team will be playing from behind more often than not and will be looking for big play Stormblessed, but the defense will know that he loves to go deep with his speed and will be able to game plan for it with safety help over the top. This will leave LeClair open underneath where he will feast on opposing defenses who are spread out and will end up with the best receiving numbers on his team.

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[White Cornerback]

Bold Prediction: Lavelle wont win S2 DROY. You heard it right. Lavelle who has been lights out this season and last year wont win the defensive rookie of the year award. The man who went #1 in the S2 NSFL draft and who many deemed to be a possible franchise player will not live up to his potential. While he may already have 3 interceptions and 9 pass deflections in his opening 4 games (4INT 18PD in S1), folks it's all down hill from here. You all seen what Lavelle called a "bulking programme" in the offseason, he declared that he put on 15 pounds when we all really know he Eddie Lacy'd himself. Lavelle isn't the player we all thought he'd be when he burst onto the scene and trust me this year he's going to have second season syndrome, for real. A more suitable player for the DROY ironically would be Lavelle's teammate and friend, linebacker Kevin Cushing who has made a real push for the title. His attitude had been questioned following an apparent fallout with fellow prospect Ardie Savea, but Cushing has been nothing but disciplined on the field this year. Maybe Lavelle could take some solace in seeing a REAL ROOKIE pick up the DROY award.

@kckolbe

[Gwdaja]

Hawks running back Darlane Farlane will win the rushing title and running back of the year. It won't be much of a surprise from within the Baltimore organization, but the rest of the NSFL will have to get used to the emerging superstar running back. Serious work is being put in by Farlane and the rest of the Hawks and it has been paying off for the most part early in the season. All he has to do is follow the big German Dieter Koch, The Plow Brokk Lee, and Blockmaster Blocksdale and he will eat up yards in bunches. Farlane is the league leader in rushing yards after the first quarter of the season and isn't going to slow down. His speed will improve to be faster than just about any linebacker that tries to chase him in the league and his endurance will only improve as he gets used to carrying the big work load. There is a team element that also matters when it comes to awards. If Baltimore clinches a playoff berth or is at least in the running for a playoff spot toward the end of the season that would give Farlane a lot of brownie points with the voting committee. (206)

@Gwdaja @Sleepy @BrokkLee @iamslm22

Hey, I like the sound of that...thanks for the mention :cigar:

[Silver Fox]

Bold Prediction: The Liberty will put both the SaberCats and Legion in the dirt. As far as I’m concerned the SaberCats got lucky beating the Hawks and Otters; heck, I think they got lucky beating us in game 1. The SaberCats have had 3 home games, and managed to eek out a win each time – I don’t expect this trend to continue. In fact, I think the only home game they’ll win in the future is game 8 against the Legion. Heck, I don’t think they’re going to win another game until game 8, and that might just be the only one left this season. That would leave them going 4-11.

As for the Legion, they’ve had 4 home games, and won exactly 1 of them. The next 5 are away, and I think they’re gonna lose them all. They might have a chance against us in week 10 when they have home field advantage, and again week 13 with home field advantage against the SaberCats, but they could be 3-12 to end the season and I wouldn’t be surprised in the least.

Liberty, meanwhile, has been stomped thoroughly thus far, even at our home game against the Hawks. I think we should have won both that and against the SaberCats week 1, but no such luck. We have 4 home games in a row coming up – I think we can win vs the Otters in week 6, Legion week 7, heck, maybe even the Wraiths week 8. Then we face the Legion on the road week 10 and the SaberCats visit us week 15. That would give us a 5-10 record. Even if the rest of this post turns out to be wrong, I think we’re gonna murder the SaberCats week 15. If there’s one win this year I can mark down, I think it’s that.

[PigSnout]

I tallied up the first few pages of the Season 2 predictions and I saw that the Yellowknife Wraiths were heavily favored to win the NSFC and were one of the most popular picks to take home the Ultimus trophy. The Wraiths have lived up to expectations and gotten off to a 3-1 start, but what if I told you the question should not be whether the Wraiths win the championship, but whether they make the playoffs? I think there is a legitimate chance that the Wraiths miss the playoffs despite their preseason hype. The first element to look at is the talent level of the teams in the NSFC to judge who is most likely to make the playoffs. I will be using this article which ranked the average TPE of each team before the start of Season 2. The average TPE numbers show that the Colorado Yeti are well above the rest of the NSFC in terms of TPE. The Yeti have gotten off to a strong start already, which combined with their talent level leads me to believe we can safely assume the Yeti will be one of the two playoff teams in the NSFC. Similarly, the Philadelphia Liberty are a tier below the rest of the NSFC teams and have gotten off to a very rough start, so we can safely assume they will probably not make the playoffs. This means the second playoff spot is going to come down to the Yellowknife Wraiths and the Baltimore Hawks. Even though the Wraiths are currently a game ahead in the standings, I believe the Hawks could jump ahead and sneak into the playoffs. Based on the average TPE numbers, the difference between the Hawks and the Wraiths is minuscule and when looking only at the top 22 players on each roster, the Hawks are actually better. In the next 4 games, the Hawks will play 4 games at home while the Wraiths will play 4 games on the road. This stretch could allow the Hawks to pull ahead of the Wraiths in the standings and their talent may allow them retain that lead until the end of the season. A lot of people are underestimating the Hawks because of their poor Season 1 results but they had a very strong draft and I think they may now have the talent to knock off the Wraiths.

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[youngcricket]

You want a bold prediction? How about this, Luke Luechly is going to win defensive player of the year. I know it seems unrealistic, but I think that when the season ends, the Outlaws will be recognized as the best defense in the league and it will be recognized the Luechly has been all over the field. even though he is arguably the third best linebacker on the Outlaws' defense, they have put him in a scheme that tailors to his needs and allows him to make plays when necessary. He is a great compliment to rush the passer and extremely solid in the run. He would likely make the Pro Bowl is the season ended right now. Even though the award usually goes to flashier players or players who were drafted way above the 40th overall pick, I believe that Luechly will only get better and will eventually become a top 3 linebacker in the league down the road. He is a hard worker, dedicated to his craft, and set on being the best. Even as the 40th pick and very underrated by many, he has stepped in as the Brady Stropko replacement and has effectively turned into a dominant linebacker for the Outlaws.

@`YoloSwag420`

[AsylumParty]

Perhaps not such a bold prediction were you to ask any Outlaws player, but rather, the rest of the league, would be that Arizona will finish the regular season without another loss. Initially, I predicted that the wraiths would be the regular season champs, but after their loss to the Yeti who very, very nearly scraped by beating the Outlaws in their most recent matchup, it became glaringly clear to me how much potential the team has and just how likely it is that that they finish their season out undefeated.

After a fifty-seven yard kick left a painful knot in the stomachs of the team Friday night, they took that pain and focused it on pure improvement and coming back with a vengeance. With the determination and persistence of underdogs, and the talent and work ethic of Ultimus champions, it's hard not to believe that such a fearful force has the potential needed to blow people away.

With a couple difficult games coming up in the next week, now is their time to really prove to the naysayers that they can accomplish this feat, and if they do, momentum like that will almost surely carry them straight to their second Ultimus title.