1) PBE PT
2) Unsung Hero
The unsung hero of the championship game was clearly Bucky Barnes, the defender for the Philadelphia Liberty. Had the Liberty won that game, I believe Barnes would easily be the ultimus MVP. Barnes was incredible all game long and dominated. He recorded six tackles, one of which ended up in a forced fumble. Additionally he was great in the passing defense as well, defending 3 passes directly, including one which ended up as an interception, which he promptly returned for a touchdown for 46 yards. At the time, that gave Philadelphia the lead in the game in the second quarter, a lead they held even into half time, but then fell apart in the second half a bit. Barnes was still excellent and deserves some recognition for his amazing game. It was interesting to see how much Barnes improved from the first round of the playoffs to the championship game, in the first round he only recorded 5 tackles and nothing else, but then really came through in the ultimus game. The performance was especially underrated as Barnes only recorded 4 pass defenses and one interception all season long, but then had 3 and an interception in the title game alone! What a game by him.
3) Next year
Look, I know this is biased, but I have to write about my own team. I mean of course I do! The New Orleans Second Line weren't exactly great this year, I get that. We are in the middle of a rebuild and are not exactly the best team. We haven't fully figured out our path yet, with an aging quarterback and an aging star wide receiver. Our defense had a lot of holes this year, throwing out a team of misfit toys, inactives and players playing out of position. But when you look at our scoring, it really wasn't so terrible. On offense, we did well, scoring 331 points, which was 6th in the league, but only 6 points behind 5th. It was our defense that gave us bigger issues, allowing 405 points. The good news is: We have a lot of draft picks in a stacked draft and we intend to make the most of it. Our clear need is defense where we need to really start to make a push to be better. I believe we can at least make our defense competitive right away, which should at least give us a shot at getting close to .500 and a potentially push for a playoff spot by next season but even more realistically the year after, if we can draft well this season.
4) Playoff Predictions, Reviews:
In the ultimus game, the Philadelphia Liberty met the San Jose Sabercats. Both teams had gone 9-5 this season and there was a realistic expectation that this game could be close. In the first quarter, both teams managed to score a field goal. San Jose took the lead in the second quarter briefly before an arroneous throw ended up in Bucky Barnes' hands who returned it for a touchdown to give the Liberty the lead. A few minutes later they extended that lead with a Boija run to make it 17-6. It seemed like the Liberty had a good shot here. Before the half, San Jose managed to make it close though, with a field goal and then a short touchdown pass right away to make it 17-16 at the half. The third quarter belonged to San Jose, adding another field goal and another short touchdown pass, making it 26-17, with San Jose now scoring 20 points in a row to take a comfortable lead. Following a Jordan von Matt touchdown, the game got close again briefly but another field goal and a final touchdown gave San Jose the deserved win. The touchdown with 1:26 to go at the end was just the icing on the cake and made this game look far more decisive than it really was.
2) Unsung Hero
The unsung hero of the championship game was clearly Bucky Barnes, the defender for the Philadelphia Liberty. Had the Liberty won that game, I believe Barnes would easily be the ultimus MVP. Barnes was incredible all game long and dominated. He recorded six tackles, one of which ended up in a forced fumble. Additionally he was great in the passing defense as well, defending 3 passes directly, including one which ended up as an interception, which he promptly returned for a touchdown for 46 yards. At the time, that gave Philadelphia the lead in the game in the second quarter, a lead they held even into half time, but then fell apart in the second half a bit. Barnes was still excellent and deserves some recognition for his amazing game. It was interesting to see how much Barnes improved from the first round of the playoffs to the championship game, in the first round he only recorded 5 tackles and nothing else, but then really came through in the ultimus game. The performance was especially underrated as Barnes only recorded 4 pass defenses and one interception all season long, but then had 3 and an interception in the title game alone! What a game by him.
3) Next year
Look, I know this is biased, but I have to write about my own team. I mean of course I do! The New Orleans Second Line weren't exactly great this year, I get that. We are in the middle of a rebuild and are not exactly the best team. We haven't fully figured out our path yet, with an aging quarterback and an aging star wide receiver. Our defense had a lot of holes this year, throwing out a team of misfit toys, inactives and players playing out of position. But when you look at our scoring, it really wasn't so terrible. On offense, we did well, scoring 331 points, which was 6th in the league, but only 6 points behind 5th. It was our defense that gave us bigger issues, allowing 405 points. The good news is: We have a lot of draft picks in a stacked draft and we intend to make the most of it. Our clear need is defense where we need to really start to make a push to be better. I believe we can at least make our defense competitive right away, which should at least give us a shot at getting close to .500 and a potentially push for a playoff spot by next season but even more realistically the year after, if we can draft well this season.
4) Playoff Predictions, Reviews:
In the ultimus game, the Philadelphia Liberty met the San Jose Sabercats. Both teams had gone 9-5 this season and there was a realistic expectation that this game could be close. In the first quarter, both teams managed to score a field goal. San Jose took the lead in the second quarter briefly before an arroneous throw ended up in Bucky Barnes' hands who returned it for a touchdown to give the Liberty the lead. A few minutes later they extended that lead with a Boija run to make it 17-6. It seemed like the Liberty had a good shot here. Before the half, San Jose managed to make it close though, with a field goal and then a short touchdown pass right away to make it 17-16 at the half. The third quarter belonged to San Jose, adding another field goal and another short touchdown pass, making it 26-17, with San Jose now scoring 20 points in a row to take a comfortable lead. Following a Jordan von Matt touchdown, the game got close again briefly but another field goal and a final touchdown gave San Jose the deserved win. The touchdown with 1:26 to go at the end was just the icing on the cake and made this game look far more decisive than it really was.
![[Image: card6.png]](https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/692421772183601193/1053345472418431016/card6.png)
