6) As of writing this response, the Austin Copperheads are one game away from winning another Ultimus championship. The fact that they even made the playoffs is incredible, as they finished the season 8 - 8 and had to win a tiebreaker to get the final playoff spot in the ASFC. Austin started the season with a big 37-17 win against the Hahalua despite going 1 for 8 on third downs and rushing for less than half as many yards as the Hahalua. As will be the theme for the season, the Copperheads' explosive passing attack allowed for them to win a game that most teams would have lost; Austin QB Easton Cole averaged 19.8 yards a completion while WRs Gaines and Tidwell both averaged 19.8 yards and 26.8 yards per catch respectively. This fast start carried itself till week 8, where the Copperheads found themselves at 4-3 and facing off against the reigning champs in the Colorado Yeti. Easton Cole had maybe his best game of the season as he led the season to a 42-16 blowout, where he threw for 316 yards and 3 TDs with no picks. The Copperheads' run defense was a tough to beat, allowing only 53 yards rushing.
At 6-3, the Copperheads seemed like the team to beat in ASFC, but what came next was a brutal stretch of 4 games where 3 were on the road and the other was against the always tough Yellowknife Wraiths. The Copperheads would got 0-4 in these games, making a once promising season look like it was going up in flames. The final game of that stretch was a brutal 40-3 beating by the Hahalua who would make Easton Cole throw 3 picks and complete only 50% of his passes. Now sitting at 5-7 with 4 games left in the season, the Copperheads had to face off against the two teams tied for the lead in the ASFC: the Second Line and the Otters. The Copperheads breathed new life in their season with a strong defense and great play from WR Gaines who netted 144 yards and a TD off 4 receptions. The Copperheads won 24-6 but would lose their next game to the Otters 31-16. Now at 6-8, the Copperheads had to win out to have any chance at the playoff. Their in conference rivals, the Arizona Outlaws, were sitting one game ahead of them at 7-7, so this was a most win game if Austin was going to get the last playoff spot. In what might turn out to be the most important game in the regular season, the Copperheads were able to defeat the Outlaws at home with a score of 16-15 with an incredible defensive effort. The Copperhead defense held QB Jay Cue to a QB rating of 44.8, his lowest of the season. This head to head win gave the Copperheads the tie breaker and after defeating the Sabercats in week 16, the Copperheads clinched the final playoff spot at 8-8. In the playoffs, the Copperhead's strong defense and explosive passing attack allowed them to defeat both the Second Line and the Otters on their way to the Ultimus.
7) Below are my thoughts what defensive player should win the award for being the best player at their respective positions for the S23 season. These are just my opinion based on what limited information i have
Safety: I am starting with what I think is probably the easiest pick: I think Mayson Baylock should be a lock for this award for the second year in a row. He put up a lot of impressive stats this year with over 100 tackles and 2 forced fumbles. He was 2nd in the entire league in interceptions with 5, being only 1 shy of Prince Vegata. However, the most amazing stat for the season was the 11 sacks on the season: this puts him in a tie for 5th most sacks in the entire league. Keep in mind, Mayson plays SAFETY, a position that does not normally record as many sacks as linebackers or the defensive line. Honorable mention should go to the SS Valdyr, who, as a rookie, lead safeties in both tackles (127) and pass defenses (17).
Cornerback: Cornerback I feel is a much tougher positional group to judge based on how close everyone was in terms of performance. In my opinion, cornerback's main contribution to a team is making big plays and defending against the pass. This means that interceptions and pass defenses should be weighed over tackles or sacks. With that said, 3 cornerbacks are worthy of this award due to their ability to get interceptions: Lavelle Jr, Rector, and Abernathy. From reviewing their stats, I think the award should go to Abernathy due to his big play potential (had a pick six) and they recorded an incredible 24 pass defenses on the season, which led the league.
Linebacker: With linebackers, I think the most important stat is the number of tackles they rack up in a season, followed by how they did in pass protection in terms of pass defense and interceptions. Bode lead the league in tackles with 154, followed by Hockhertz with 150. Between these two, Bode recovered 2 more fumbles, had 2 sacks (compared to 0 from Hockhertz), 1 more interception and 4 more pass defenses. Bode had a more well rounded year, and that should make him the Linebacker of the year. Honorable mentions to Mo Berry and G. Wilf, who both had impressive amounts of sacks.
Defensive end: When I think defensive end, I think tackles for loss (TFL) or sacks. Suzuki lead the league in tackles for a loss with 24 with 3 sacks. Blackstone had 5 less TFLs, but 4 more sacks and 21 more tackles. I think that makes him DE of the year.
Defensive Tackle: This award comes down to four different players: Big Edd, Bubba Thumper, S. Masters and M. Rikiya. Big Edd lead DTs in sacks with 12, but had notably fewer tackles which I feel rules him out. Rikiya had relatively more tackles than Edd and a punt block, but 11 fewer sacks. Masters had 63 tackles to Thumper's 56 while they both tied at 11 sacks. Thumper had one more forced fumble, but Masters got 1 safety on the year, which I think earns Masters the DT of the year.
Defensive MVP: Mayson Baylock.
At 6-3, the Copperheads seemed like the team to beat in ASFC, but what came next was a brutal stretch of 4 games where 3 were on the road and the other was against the always tough Yellowknife Wraiths. The Copperheads would got 0-4 in these games, making a once promising season look like it was going up in flames. The final game of that stretch was a brutal 40-3 beating by the Hahalua who would make Easton Cole throw 3 picks and complete only 50% of his passes. Now sitting at 5-7 with 4 games left in the season, the Copperheads had to face off against the two teams tied for the lead in the ASFC: the Second Line and the Otters. The Copperheads breathed new life in their season with a strong defense and great play from WR Gaines who netted 144 yards and a TD off 4 receptions. The Copperheads won 24-6 but would lose their next game to the Otters 31-16. Now at 6-8, the Copperheads had to win out to have any chance at the playoff. Their in conference rivals, the Arizona Outlaws, were sitting one game ahead of them at 7-7, so this was a most win game if Austin was going to get the last playoff spot. In what might turn out to be the most important game in the regular season, the Copperheads were able to defeat the Outlaws at home with a score of 16-15 with an incredible defensive effort. The Copperhead defense held QB Jay Cue to a QB rating of 44.8, his lowest of the season. This head to head win gave the Copperheads the tie breaker and after defeating the Sabercats in week 16, the Copperheads clinched the final playoff spot at 8-8. In the playoffs, the Copperhead's strong defense and explosive passing attack allowed them to defeat both the Second Line and the Otters on their way to the Ultimus.
7) Below are my thoughts what defensive player should win the award for being the best player at their respective positions for the S23 season. These are just my opinion based on what limited information i have
Safety: I am starting with what I think is probably the easiest pick: I think Mayson Baylock should be a lock for this award for the second year in a row. He put up a lot of impressive stats this year with over 100 tackles and 2 forced fumbles. He was 2nd in the entire league in interceptions with 5, being only 1 shy of Prince Vegata. However, the most amazing stat for the season was the 11 sacks on the season: this puts him in a tie for 5th most sacks in the entire league. Keep in mind, Mayson plays SAFETY, a position that does not normally record as many sacks as linebackers or the defensive line. Honorable mention should go to the SS Valdyr, who, as a rookie, lead safeties in both tackles (127) and pass defenses (17).
Cornerback: Cornerback I feel is a much tougher positional group to judge based on how close everyone was in terms of performance. In my opinion, cornerback's main contribution to a team is making big plays and defending against the pass. This means that interceptions and pass defenses should be weighed over tackles or sacks. With that said, 3 cornerbacks are worthy of this award due to their ability to get interceptions: Lavelle Jr, Rector, and Abernathy. From reviewing their stats, I think the award should go to Abernathy due to his big play potential (had a pick six) and they recorded an incredible 24 pass defenses on the season, which led the league.
Linebacker: With linebackers, I think the most important stat is the number of tackles they rack up in a season, followed by how they did in pass protection in terms of pass defense and interceptions. Bode lead the league in tackles with 154, followed by Hockhertz with 150. Between these two, Bode recovered 2 more fumbles, had 2 sacks (compared to 0 from Hockhertz), 1 more interception and 4 more pass defenses. Bode had a more well rounded year, and that should make him the Linebacker of the year. Honorable mentions to Mo Berry and G. Wilf, who both had impressive amounts of sacks.
Defensive end: When I think defensive end, I think tackles for loss (TFL) or sacks. Suzuki lead the league in tackles for a loss with 24 with 3 sacks. Blackstone had 5 less TFLs, but 4 more sacks and 21 more tackles. I think that makes him DE of the year.
Defensive Tackle: This award comes down to four different players: Big Edd, Bubba Thumper, S. Masters and M. Rikiya. Big Edd lead DTs in sacks with 12, but had notably fewer tackles which I feel rules him out. Rikiya had relatively more tackles than Edd and a punt block, but 11 fewer sacks. Masters had 63 tackles to Thumper's 56 while they both tied at 11 sacks. Thumper had one more forced fumble, but Masters got 1 safety on the year, which I think earns Masters the DT of the year.
Defensive MVP: Mayson Baylock.