Tier 2
5) The San Jose Sabercats missed out on the playoffs by the slimmest of margins this season. This is obviously a sad story for those who like hearing of Cinderella runs through a tough division to the playoffs. What made it even more interesting, however, is that the team went 8-5 with some of the worst defences in the league TPE wise and an offence that normally was seen as borderline anaemic. The season before this one, the Sabercats went 4-9, scoring only 17 points a game. This season these same Sabercats - with little to no real changes on offence - ballooned to scoring 22.2 points a game. Who was the person that brought forth this massive growth in offensive capability? Let's talk about Dan Wright, the man I feel should be in the conversation for some NSFL awards this year.
Some may be surprised that I'm not choosing to talk about our electric Wide Receivers - Action Jackson and Deondre Thomas-Fox - here, because they are both much more likely to have more award nominations when the time comes. This is for 2 reasons; one, I don't want to have to pick one to single out, as they were both amazing. And two, Wright's story is more interesting in terms of the sudden rise out of nowhere, and as such makes for a more interesting piece on this, Ultimus Week. So, let's get into it.
Dan Wright has famously struggled as an NSFL QB for the San Jose Sabercats. Through the early portion of his career, he barely ever completed over 50% of his passes, and his TD:INT ratio was altogether laughable. Through the 2036 season, Wright had thrown 49 TDs and 50 Interceptions in the last 4 seasons - an altogether horrendous stat-line to take into the 2037 season. A season, in fact, that would turn out to be his last; as, during the 2037 offseason, Dan Wright declared his intention to retire at the end of that year. The Sabercat faithful were shocked by the announcement, but also had a silent understanding that this may have been the right time for a player who had struggled so much at the top level. Making his intentions clear here gave him one last chance to push for a great season before he hung up his cleats forever. Would he improve on his troublesome form in the past?...
Boy would he ever.
Wright had an average QB Rating from 2033-2036 of 68.3. In 2037, he would skyrocket to the highest QB rating in the league, at 95.2. For the first time in his career, he completed more than 60% of his passes (61.2% to be exact), and altogether had an outstanding TD:INT ratio - 21 TDs to only 7 Interceptions. To put these in a league-wide perspective, these stats ranked as follows:
QB Rating: 1st
Completion Percentage: 1st
Touchdowns: 3rd (behind Bigsby and Cole, 2 players with much more firepower offensively to work with)
Interceptions: Tied-1st (with Fujiwara and McDummy)
Something that likely helped Wright was the coaching staff putting slightly less weight on his shoulders in game. He attempted 27.7 passes per game on average, a massive decrease from his 31.5 last season - and a change that likely helped the team gain more balance overall. Ultimately, it will be tough for Wright to gain awards buzz in his last season. He doesn't run like other game-changing QBs. He doesn't have depth of weapons at every position to put him there no matter how he plays. And he never reached the heights of the playoffs in what was his final season. But undoubtedly, he produced one of the most fantastic pure-passing performances from a QB in a long time - one that will be remembered in San Jose folklore for a long time. And that might just be enough for Wright; the man who just couldn't put it together... until he could.
7) I've already talked about the plaudits that should be earned by my fellow teammates in Sabercats land. But now, let's turn the focus to a player that may fly under the radar even now to people who struggle to pay attention to their Kicker/Punter lore; Matthew McDairmid, aka my player. McDairmid has already had a pretty solid time to date as a rookie in both the DSFL and NSFL, so let's discuss how things have gone so far and whether he is on track to become a legendary player when all is said and done.
McDairmid was drafted in the 2036 DSFL draft out of the University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff. An altogether unknown quantity by many in the draft, McDairmid would fall to the 77th pick in the draft, which translates to the 10th round. Altogether, for a kicker little knew of, it was a decent place for him given his inactivity in relation to scouting questions that he was asked. He would be picked by a team that would become his spiritual home quickly; the Kansas City Coyotes. With a stacked class in 2036, the locker room was abuzz with new players from all corners of the footballing landscape and would become a very solid team overall. On the back of McDairmid's excellent punting performances - averaging 42.8 yards per punt and landing 8 inside the 20 - the Coyotes would go 9-5 and make it to the Ultimini for the first time in a while. And while they would fall to the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers, McDairmid would put in one of the greatest DSFL punting performances of all-time, booting a 72 yard punt to break the record for the longest playoff punt in DSFL history, along with averaging the 2nd most yards per punt in DSFL playoff history (51.9).
After this season, there was much more talk about McDairmid jumping up the draft board compared to last season. And this would happen in the 2037 NSFL draft, with the San Jose Sabercats taking McDairmid in the 5th round with the 53rd overall pick. This rookie season would be a test for McDairmid, as he would face some of the most consistently strong punters in the history of the NSFL - players such as Powers and Crisco, who posed a massive threat to whatever team they faced and both played in the ASFC. However, McDairmid would hold his own in what was a very strong Kicker/Punter conference - missing only 1 kick on the season from 49 total attempts and averaging 46.7 yards per punt. It will likely not end in much awards talk - in a very similar manner to that of his 2036 DSFL season where he was ultimately beaten out by an accuracy-based kicker in Sam Sidekick. But when all is said and done, it could very well be the point that leads to McDairmid being put into Hall of Fame talks along with other kickers from this era of NSFL Kicker/Punters. Whether this comes to be, we will have to see. But no matter what, it will be fun to continue watching McDairmid flip the field for a while longer.
5) The San Jose Sabercats missed out on the playoffs by the slimmest of margins this season. This is obviously a sad story for those who like hearing of Cinderella runs through a tough division to the playoffs. What made it even more interesting, however, is that the team went 8-5 with some of the worst defences in the league TPE wise and an offence that normally was seen as borderline anaemic. The season before this one, the Sabercats went 4-9, scoring only 17 points a game. This season these same Sabercats - with little to no real changes on offence - ballooned to scoring 22.2 points a game. Who was the person that brought forth this massive growth in offensive capability? Let's talk about Dan Wright, the man I feel should be in the conversation for some NSFL awards this year.
Some may be surprised that I'm not choosing to talk about our electric Wide Receivers - Action Jackson and Deondre Thomas-Fox - here, because they are both much more likely to have more award nominations when the time comes. This is for 2 reasons; one, I don't want to have to pick one to single out, as they were both amazing. And two, Wright's story is more interesting in terms of the sudden rise out of nowhere, and as such makes for a more interesting piece on this, Ultimus Week. So, let's get into it.
Dan Wright has famously struggled as an NSFL QB for the San Jose Sabercats. Through the early portion of his career, he barely ever completed over 50% of his passes, and his TD:INT ratio was altogether laughable. Through the 2036 season, Wright had thrown 49 TDs and 50 Interceptions in the last 4 seasons - an altogether horrendous stat-line to take into the 2037 season. A season, in fact, that would turn out to be his last; as, during the 2037 offseason, Dan Wright declared his intention to retire at the end of that year. The Sabercat faithful were shocked by the announcement, but also had a silent understanding that this may have been the right time for a player who had struggled so much at the top level. Making his intentions clear here gave him one last chance to push for a great season before he hung up his cleats forever. Would he improve on his troublesome form in the past?...
Boy would he ever.
Wright had an average QB Rating from 2033-2036 of 68.3. In 2037, he would skyrocket to the highest QB rating in the league, at 95.2. For the first time in his career, he completed more than 60% of his passes (61.2% to be exact), and altogether had an outstanding TD:INT ratio - 21 TDs to only 7 Interceptions. To put these in a league-wide perspective, these stats ranked as follows:
QB Rating: 1st
Completion Percentage: 1st
Touchdowns: 3rd (behind Bigsby and Cole, 2 players with much more firepower offensively to work with)
Interceptions: Tied-1st (with Fujiwara and McDummy)
Something that likely helped Wright was the coaching staff putting slightly less weight on his shoulders in game. He attempted 27.7 passes per game on average, a massive decrease from his 31.5 last season - and a change that likely helped the team gain more balance overall. Ultimately, it will be tough for Wright to gain awards buzz in his last season. He doesn't run like other game-changing QBs. He doesn't have depth of weapons at every position to put him there no matter how he plays. And he never reached the heights of the playoffs in what was his final season. But undoubtedly, he produced one of the most fantastic pure-passing performances from a QB in a long time - one that will be remembered in San Jose folklore for a long time. And that might just be enough for Wright; the man who just couldn't put it together... until he could.
7) I've already talked about the plaudits that should be earned by my fellow teammates in Sabercats land. But now, let's turn the focus to a player that may fly under the radar even now to people who struggle to pay attention to their Kicker/Punter lore; Matthew McDairmid, aka my player. McDairmid has already had a pretty solid time to date as a rookie in both the DSFL and NSFL, so let's discuss how things have gone so far and whether he is on track to become a legendary player when all is said and done.
McDairmid was drafted in the 2036 DSFL draft out of the University of Arkansas Pine-Bluff. An altogether unknown quantity by many in the draft, McDairmid would fall to the 77th pick in the draft, which translates to the 10th round. Altogether, for a kicker little knew of, it was a decent place for him given his inactivity in relation to scouting questions that he was asked. He would be picked by a team that would become his spiritual home quickly; the Kansas City Coyotes. With a stacked class in 2036, the locker room was abuzz with new players from all corners of the footballing landscape and would become a very solid team overall. On the back of McDairmid's excellent punting performances - averaging 42.8 yards per punt and landing 8 inside the 20 - the Coyotes would go 9-5 and make it to the Ultimini for the first time in a while. And while they would fall to the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers, McDairmid would put in one of the greatest DSFL punting performances of all-time, booting a 72 yard punt to break the record for the longest playoff punt in DSFL history, along with averaging the 2nd most yards per punt in DSFL playoff history (51.9).
After this season, there was much more talk about McDairmid jumping up the draft board compared to last season. And this would happen in the 2037 NSFL draft, with the San Jose Sabercats taking McDairmid in the 5th round with the 53rd overall pick. This rookie season would be a test for McDairmid, as he would face some of the most consistently strong punters in the history of the NSFL - players such as Powers and Crisco, who posed a massive threat to whatever team they faced and both played in the ASFC. However, McDairmid would hold his own in what was a very strong Kicker/Punter conference - missing only 1 kick on the season from 49 total attempts and averaging 46.7 yards per punt. It will likely not end in much awards talk - in a very similar manner to that of his 2036 DSFL season where he was ultimately beaten out by an accuracy-based kicker in Sam Sidekick. But when all is said and done, it could very well be the point that leads to McDairmid being put into Hall of Fame talks along with other kickers from this era of NSFL Kicker/Punters. Whether this comes to be, we will have to see. But no matter what, it will be fun to continue watching McDairmid flip the field for a while longer.
![[Image: 2Matty7478.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/2Matty7478.gif)
