7. This season in the DSFL, the NFC North was a crazy conference for every team not named the London Royals. While the Royals had a terrific season that ended in heartbreak, they are not the NFC North team I would shine a spotlight on. The Minnesota Grey Ducks may have squeaked into the playoffs this season, but their close call makes reliving of the season even better. The Grey Ducks season began with a triumph over the soon-to-be season champion Luchadores in their own stadium, where quarterback Ryan Negs showed that he would be the leader of the Grey Ducks offense. Minnesota’s second game was a solid win against the Birddogs where the running backs Vermillion and Rotchburns had themselves breakout performances that gave the rest of the league a sign that Negs wouldn’t be leading toothless offense. Following a crushing loss to the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers in week 3, the Grey Ducks were able to have back to back blowout wins to cement a 4 and 1 record through the first five games of the season.
After having an astronomical first third of the season, the Grey Ducks came back down to earth in the second-third of the season. Their sixth game of the season saw the Grey Ducks host the London Royals. Despite both Negs and Rotchburns putting in good performances, the Grey Ducks fell to the Royals. That loss lead the Grey Ducks on a downward spiral through their next three games. In each of those three losses, the Grey Ducks only put up a single touchdown and extra point per game. Much of that blame can be placed on the quarterback’s shoulders, but football is a team sport and Negs can only shoulder one third of the blame for that three game stretch. The tenth game of the season saw the Grey Ducks bounce back in a major way where they beat the number one team in the SFC South, the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. The offense was firing on all cylinders with both Negs and Rotchburns posting hat tricks. With such a downturn to their season, the Grey Ducks had to fight for their own destiny moving into the final third of the season.
Minnesota’s eleventh game of the season saw them shut out the Norfolk Seawolves while also putting up twenty points. The last three games of the season proved important for the way the season would turn out, and kept the Grey Ducks season to be decided due to indexing. These final three matchups came between Minnesota’s conference rivals. The twelfth game of the season against the Portland Pythons saw Negs have an atrocious game, but the Grey Ducks defense stepped up in a major way and intercepted the Pythons quarterback Lebron James III four times to hold on to the win. After another losing effort to the Royals, it left week fourteen and the final game of their season against the Kansas City Coyotes. Minnesota was in a do or die situation where a simple win put them into the playoffs. Negs put up another atrocious game, but the Grey Ducks run game same Creed put up two scores on route to a close win 26-21. While Ryan Negs performance had a great influence on each performance, the real stars of the Grey Ducks were their committee of runningbacks who constantly put the Grey Ducks into the endzone.
Word Count: 565
9. The Portland Pythons had an extremely average season this year, which same the team finish with a tough 7-7 record that kept them just out of reach of the playoffs. When looking at the Pythons roster, it’s clear that they will have many needs when it comes to the draft.
Beginning with the offensive side of the ball, the Pythons start off in a great place after last season with a pair of sophomore wide receivers in Messi and Jackman. Messi’s team leading stat line as a receiver, 88 receptions for 886 yards with 8 touchdowns, gives an honest snapshot at how dialed in this rookie was for Portland in his first year. With Lebron James, III feeding Messi the ball down field, the Pythons passing game seems to be in fine form and could maybe use some tuning over the offseason. If any draft capital is to be spent on the offense, it needs to go into runningback and offensive lineman. Shoring up Lebron’s protection will go leaps and bounds in seeing his passing game progress into his sophomore campaign. For the Pythons, grabbing another top runningback is in the cards to ensure that the run game can keep up with the passing game and try to give Portland’s offense some balance. While Pama has been a star player for the Python’s, the possibility of being called up to the ISFL this coming season means that whoever the Python’s pick up will have giant shoes to fill. Pama’s 1332 yards and 8 touchdowns give some credence that he made up a good portion of the Python’s offense last season. Another weapon the Python’s could use is a balanced tight end who can effectively pass catch while also being used as an extra blocker on run plays. Either need you look at, the Python’s definitely have room to make themselves a better team on offense with a few good draft options to choose from.
While the offense only had a few needs in a small number of positions, Portland’s defensive needs are another matter entirely. The Python’s defense last year was no joke. They finished the season number one in both overall yards allowed and rushing yards allowed, showing that they were already a top tier defense. Such a stout defense might seem to have little that needs to be done. However, the main concern for Portland on defense is really to reload at every position. One focus for the draft room will definitely be to add some more depth in the secondary to help ensure there isn’t a dip in performance when having to substitute different packages.
Overall, the Pythons have a lot of holes to fill to have confidence that they can build on last seasons .500 performance. By making smart decisions at crucial moments, Portland has a great chance to improve both sides of the ball when it comes time to draft.
Word Count: 485
After having an astronomical first third of the season, the Grey Ducks came back down to earth in the second-third of the season. Their sixth game of the season saw the Grey Ducks host the London Royals. Despite both Negs and Rotchburns putting in good performances, the Grey Ducks fell to the Royals. That loss lead the Grey Ducks on a downward spiral through their next three games. In each of those three losses, the Grey Ducks only put up a single touchdown and extra point per game. Much of that blame can be placed on the quarterback’s shoulders, but football is a team sport and Negs can only shoulder one third of the blame for that three game stretch. The tenth game of the season saw the Grey Ducks bounce back in a major way where they beat the number one team in the SFC South, the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. The offense was firing on all cylinders with both Negs and Rotchburns posting hat tricks. With such a downturn to their season, the Grey Ducks had to fight for their own destiny moving into the final third of the season.
Minnesota’s eleventh game of the season saw them shut out the Norfolk Seawolves while also putting up twenty points. The last three games of the season proved important for the way the season would turn out, and kept the Grey Ducks season to be decided due to indexing. These final three matchups came between Minnesota’s conference rivals. The twelfth game of the season against the Portland Pythons saw Negs have an atrocious game, but the Grey Ducks defense stepped up in a major way and intercepted the Pythons quarterback Lebron James III four times to hold on to the win. After another losing effort to the Royals, it left week fourteen and the final game of their season against the Kansas City Coyotes. Minnesota was in a do or die situation where a simple win put them into the playoffs. Negs put up another atrocious game, but the Grey Ducks run game same Creed put up two scores on route to a close win 26-21. While Ryan Negs performance had a great influence on each performance, the real stars of the Grey Ducks were their committee of runningbacks who constantly put the Grey Ducks into the endzone.
Word Count: 565
9. The Portland Pythons had an extremely average season this year, which same the team finish with a tough 7-7 record that kept them just out of reach of the playoffs. When looking at the Pythons roster, it’s clear that they will have many needs when it comes to the draft.
Beginning with the offensive side of the ball, the Pythons start off in a great place after last season with a pair of sophomore wide receivers in Messi and Jackman. Messi’s team leading stat line as a receiver, 88 receptions for 886 yards with 8 touchdowns, gives an honest snapshot at how dialed in this rookie was for Portland in his first year. With Lebron James, III feeding Messi the ball down field, the Pythons passing game seems to be in fine form and could maybe use some tuning over the offseason. If any draft capital is to be spent on the offense, it needs to go into runningback and offensive lineman. Shoring up Lebron’s protection will go leaps and bounds in seeing his passing game progress into his sophomore campaign. For the Pythons, grabbing another top runningback is in the cards to ensure that the run game can keep up with the passing game and try to give Portland’s offense some balance. While Pama has been a star player for the Python’s, the possibility of being called up to the ISFL this coming season means that whoever the Python’s pick up will have giant shoes to fill. Pama’s 1332 yards and 8 touchdowns give some credence that he made up a good portion of the Python’s offense last season. Another weapon the Python’s could use is a balanced tight end who can effectively pass catch while also being used as an extra blocker on run plays. Either need you look at, the Python’s definitely have room to make themselves a better team on offense with a few good draft options to choose from.
While the offense only had a few needs in a small number of positions, Portland’s defensive needs are another matter entirely. The Python’s defense last year was no joke. They finished the season number one in both overall yards allowed and rushing yards allowed, showing that they were already a top tier defense. Such a stout defense might seem to have little that needs to be done. However, the main concern for Portland on defense is really to reload at every position. One focus for the draft room will definitely be to add some more depth in the secondary to help ensure there isn’t a dip in performance when having to substitute different packages.
Overall, the Pythons have a lot of holes to fill to have confidence that they can build on last seasons .500 performance. By making smart decisions at crucial moments, Portland has a great chance to improve both sides of the ball when it comes time to draft.
Word Count: 485
