(S1) - Ultimus Week

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Bottom Third
Season One was definitely a disappointing one for the San Jose SaberCats. But where did it all go wrong? What was the cause of their problems? They certainly have talent spread throughout the roster, and a good group of dedicated players – so why wasn’t that enough?

The main problem was that the talent was spread thin. They had some high-quality players, including some of the best at their positions, but it was quite a drop off when looking at the players surrounding them. While some teams stockpiled talent in particular areas to have a single dominant force, the SaberCats diversified their star players, and in the end this hurt them.

However, with a high draft pick in the upcoming Season Two draft – despite the expansion teams snatching away some key picks after being shoehorned in at the top of the line – and talent already in place all throughout the roster, look for the team out of San Jose to be a very different one next year.

While the quarterback is still a positon with question marks surrounding it, Hunt is still nonetheless under contract, and if nothing else the SaberCats will have a stopgap while they look elsewhere in the league for a long-term solution.

Playoff Series MVP
The inaugural season of the NSFL in the books. After weeks of excitement leading up to the first ever draft, the apprehension as we came into the preseason, the trash-talking once people had found their feet in the league, the rollercoaster that was the regular season, and the whirlwind of the players, we have our first ever Ultimus Trophy winners: the Arizona Outlaws.

When searching for an MVP of the playoffs, you simply cannot choose someone outside of the winning team. It doesn’t matter how well you performed if your team didn’t lift the Ultimus once all was said and done. With that said, let’s look at some of the honourable mentions on the Arizona team.

L. Jefferson: 11 receptions, 170 yards, 1 touchdown.

N. Stormblessed: 8 receptions, 104 yards, 1 touchdown.

J. Tuck: 8 tackles, 2 tackles for loss, 3 sacks.

R. Flock: 7 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 2 passes defended, 2 interceptions, 1 touchdown.

While there were some phenomenal offensive and defensive performances – the kind of well-rounded all-team dominance the Outlaws showed all year – their simply isn’t a more important player on the team than the quarterback. For the Outlaws, Draxel was perfect under the spotlights, completing 39/69 (56.53%) for 454 yards (11.64 avg) with 2 touchdowns and no interceptions. His steady, solid performance was what allowed the rest of his teammates to shine with no added pressure from turnovers or an inability to stay on the field.

Playoff Review
With the inaugural season of the NSFL coming to a close, one team has the ultimate bragging rights. The Arizona Outlaws have officially been crowned the Season One Ultimus Trophy winners – champions of the NSFL! But how did we get to this point, and what happened along the way? Here’s a quick recap of the first ever playoffs in the NSFL’s history.

NSFC Championship: Colorado Yeti v Yellowknife Wraiths
A defensive battle for the most part, with the Colorado Yeti only just scraping by in a 13 – 6 victory over the Yellowknife Wraiths. Quarterback Logan Noble was outstanding while his counterpart C. Orosz, touted by some as the league MVP, was mediocre at best. In the end, the variance in their performances proved the difference.

ASFC Championship: Orange County Otters v Arizona Outlaws
Throughout the season, it seemed as though no one wanted to accept the Outlaws claim as the dominant team in the ASFC. The narrative that the Otters resurgence was just around the corner never came to fruition, and it was never more obvious that Arizona was the better team than in their 36 – 13 drubbing of Orange County on the biggest stage there is for a conference rivalry.

NFSL Championship: Colorado Yeti v Arizona Outlaws
In the battle for the Ultimus, the Colorado Yeti brought with them their inability to score points, and the Outlaws brought their ruthless, both-sides-of-the-ball domination. The scoreline was a definitive representation of Arizona’s season, as the Outlaws came away with the trophy in an easy 29 – 6 victiory.

Championship Game Recap (Best Play)
How soon into the NSFL Championship Game did we know who the first winner of the Ultimus Trophy would be? 5 minutes. Actually, 4 minutes and 57 seconds to be precise. Logan Noble, quarterback of the Colorado Yeti, had been as solid as a rock for the contenders from the NSFC all season long, and throughout the playoffs. That’s why, after less than 5 minutes in the biggest game of his career, when he had conceded a penalty, been rocked in a sack by Jayce Tuck, and thrown a pick 6, the writing was on the wall.

The Yeti got off to about as good a start as you could hope for in the Championship Game. They had received the ball to start the game, and Law picked up a solid 30-yard gain to set them up. After a couple of runs by Boss Tweed, the Yeti were only a few yards shy of first down, and looked to be getting into their meticulous offensive rhythm that they had demonstrated all throughout the year.

Things started to go wrong when Noble was penalised for tripping on third down, forcing his team to concede 10 yards. Now, on 3rd and 13 and in an obvious passing situation, the Arizona defence could do what it did best all year: get to the quarterback.

Jayce Tuck took Noble down for a 6-yard sack, ending the Yeti’s first drive just as quickly as it had started. While the Outlaws first stint on offense was nothing special, R. Flock picked off Noble the next time the Colorado offense was on the field and took it to the house. The game was over then and there. The Arizona defence had won the game before it had had a chance to get started.

Offensive Comparison
Year in and year out, despite the number of times you’ll hear people say that “defence wins championships”, the spotlight inevitably falls back on the quarterbacks. And for good reason. The guys directing the offense are the most important players on the whole team, period. Yes, the defence as a unit has the ability to negate even the GOAT’s at the quarterback position, but that’s just it – they have to be a unit. There is no other position where a single players has the ability to completely change a team’s fortune. That’s why, as the countdown to the first ever NSFL Championship Game wore on, the focus was on Logan Noble of the Colorado Yeti, and Vincent Draxel of the Arizona Outlaws.

While neither player was phenomenal in the playoffs, both were extremely safe, dependable, and efficient leading into the biggest game of their careers. Once the brightest lights of the season were on them, though, only one continued their blemish-free playoff run. Draxel capped off a great season with a strong showing in the battle for the Ultimus Trophy. Completing 20/36 for 271 yards and a touchdown, his reliable production helped the rest of the Arizona team – namely the fresh, rested, and ferocious defence – work their magic. On the opposite end of the spectrum was Logan Noble. He simply looked defeated after taking a beating in the opening 5 minutes of the game, and never truly recovered. He finished the day having completed only 16/34 for 165 yards and threw a pick-six. Worst of all, he went back to Colorado empty handed.