(S16) - Ultimus Week

[Jiggly_333]

SHL PT

3) All about the QBs
It’s very interesting that after like, two years of talking about Rose Jenkins v Adriana Falconi it finally happens. The two women at the QB position finally face up against eachother in a game that really matters. The difference is, Jenkins wasn’t really relied on in this game. In fact, Jenkins hadn’t been relied on all season. The real standout rookie for the Chicago Butchers was their runningback, Sam Torrenson. So when it came to this “QB Matchup”, it didn’t seem like much of a contest.

And it wasn’t? It’s confusing. Adriana Falconi only threw 2 TD passes and giving up a pick six to start off the game. Rose Jenkins threw 3 TD passes and ended up throwing the ball at Lennox Garnett 3 times. Falconi also had about a hundred more yards and had two more completions on five more passes. Still, Rose did her best to try to put the team on her back, since consensus rookie of the year Torrenson was struggling all day. On Philly’s side, Farley Hank was doing a lot of the heavy lifting on offense with pounding in three TDs.

In the end, while Falconi got “Player of the Game” and the win overall, this was much more of a draw between the two players and things might be very different next time around if Rose gets good enough to be trusted more often by her coaches.

6) Our Time
Yes, this is late and we know exactly what happened. But it was an upset and there was a reason that it was an upset. Going into the playoffs, it was expected that the Ultimus would pit the Chicago Butchers up against the Orange County Otters and the Butchers had home-field advantage. The Chicago Butchers were absolutely the favorites to win it all. They went from an expansion team to Ultimus contenders in a matter of weeks (in NSFL terms). After losing two games in Weeks 4 and 5, they didn’t drop a single one for the rest of the season. This was a team that seemed destined to make NSFL history as the first expansion team to win the championship in their first season, much like their neighbor in Chicago, the Chicago Fire.

What happened against the Philadelphia Liberty was an upset and kind of ruined what was a magical season. Sam Torrenson carried the team all the way through the season and Rose Jenkins, while not exactly a great QB by any means, was still average enough to keep the passing game somewhat respectable. The defense was the usual scary Chicago D and it just felt like the ‘85 Bears. Unfortunately it didn’t happen, but it would’ve been amazing if it did.


7) Next year
Take everything I said about last season and then realize that the Chicago Butchers are still a fairly young team compared to the rest of the league. Most of the team’s top performers are S10 or S14. The absolute top performer on the team was a rookie who will only get better. All they need to do next season is to just have all of those guys keep earning and keep winning. This is a team set up to win right now and Oles did a fantastic job at constructing it. A young QB and a young RB who are both willing to push themselves for that extra TPE, a WR who was already established within the league with the Sabrecats, and a defense led by a young LB. It’s honestly insane how well set the team is.

The biggest problem in the way is the idea of chance. It’s possible that our beloved random number generator may have given the Chicago Butchers a miracle season last season and it will be harder to achieve it this time around. On the other hand, with all of these players constantly improving I can’t see that as something that would diminish the team’s chances. Even if we got lucky, the team will still be quality enough to at least make the playoffs next season. Whether or not it’ll be as a first seed again or not will depend.