Tier 2: Short Form Tasks (Each must be 400+ words)
Choose up to TWO for 5 TPE each.
14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?
"Defense wins championships, but offense sells tickets." Even the most casual football fan has heard that phrase before and heading into the season the Portland Pythons were expected to have a stalwart defense reminiscent of the Steel Curtain. And by all accounts that is exactly what the Pythons delivered. Their defense led the DSFL in virtually all categories including points against (16.2), yards against per game (304.5), rushing yards against per game (84.1), and were top 3 in passing yards against per game (220.4).
With all of those advantages you would think that a team with the second best roster in the league who finished the season on a 3 game win streak to end the season hot would also make some postseason noise. Wrong. Despite all of their advantages and the league's best rushing attack at 168.9 yards per game the Pythons finished an even 7-7 ultimately missing the playoffs. A league-worst passing attack doomed the Pythons and is the latest example of how the passing game and quarterback play are more important than ever before. Let that sink in for a moment. The league's best defense and strongest rushing attack had to win their final 3 games to even get to a .500 record and miss the playoffs. It seems more and more like the 06-07 Bears are an anomaly in the modern era.
With such a suffocating defense it stands to reason that Portland had strong contributions all over the place and while that is true we're going to take a moment and analyze the performance of Linebacker Teddy Murphy. Murphy set or tied his career best marks in tackles (77), tackles for a loss (9), sacks (7), interceptions (1), and forced fumbles (1). He was the Robin to Elliot Hord's Batman on the Portland defense and spent the majority of this past season in Hord's shadow with the exception of an incredible week 8 performance at home against Tijuanna. In an ultimately futile effort as the Pythons lost 23-10 during a 3 game skid Murphy accumulated 9 tackles, 1 for a loss, and 2 sacks trying to keep his team in it. The effort earned Murphy his second career game ball and to really drive home the point on Hord's dominance this season by week 8 he had already been awarded 4 game balls last season alone.
The path forward is clear for Portland who were let down by their dreadful passing game to try and improve, but after this past season the organization has to wonder if Panda McKyle is still the answer. For Murphy the path forward is unclear as he awaits the call from Honolulu to find out if he is taking the next step and joining the ISFL roster. In either case Murphy should be happy with the season he had and hopefully next season will have an opportunity to either take over in Portland or learn from the strong veteran core in Honolulu.
Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks (Each must be either 200+ words or a graphic)
Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.
26. Football is a game that has been going on for a while, loved by fans all over. But what if you were able to make some rule changes? Talk us through your new version of football, and what would be different and why?
The three most prominent football leagues around the world each have their own unique rules and at times can seem like three completely different sports entirely. For the betterment of the game I think that the CFL, AFL, and ISFL should combine their respective rulebooks for the growth and betterment of the sport globally.
From the CFL I'd love to see the adoption of their rules around kick returns. In recent history the ISFL has taken strides to increase the number of fair catches all in the name of player safety and to that I cry fowl! Make players return kicks, we all love to see a good kicker tackle so make it happen.
From the AFL let's bring in the bigger fields! There are enough cameras and production around the sport that a larger field won't cause anything to be missed. As a secondary measure to the larger field I think increasing the number of players to 18 a side like the AFL has totally makes sense and as long as the ISFL increase roster size to match, then let's make it happen.
The ISFL adopting some of the rules from other wildly popular football leagues around the world would go a long way to growing the sport and incorporating some of the unique rules found elsewhere is a good way to keep growing the sport and bring the disparate fanbases together to potentially start contending with soccer.
29. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW, which would mean SHL's PT #2, SMJHL PT #3, and PBE's PT 26-2.
SHL Affiliate PT#2
Choose up to TWO for 5 TPE each.
14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?
"Defense wins championships, but offense sells tickets." Even the most casual football fan has heard that phrase before and heading into the season the Portland Pythons were expected to have a stalwart defense reminiscent of the Steel Curtain. And by all accounts that is exactly what the Pythons delivered. Their defense led the DSFL in virtually all categories including points against (16.2), yards against per game (304.5), rushing yards against per game (84.1), and were top 3 in passing yards against per game (220.4).
With all of those advantages you would think that a team with the second best roster in the league who finished the season on a 3 game win streak to end the season hot would also make some postseason noise. Wrong. Despite all of their advantages and the league's best rushing attack at 168.9 yards per game the Pythons finished an even 7-7 ultimately missing the playoffs. A league-worst passing attack doomed the Pythons and is the latest example of how the passing game and quarterback play are more important than ever before. Let that sink in for a moment. The league's best defense and strongest rushing attack had to win their final 3 games to even get to a .500 record and miss the playoffs. It seems more and more like the 06-07 Bears are an anomaly in the modern era.
With such a suffocating defense it stands to reason that Portland had strong contributions all over the place and while that is true we're going to take a moment and analyze the performance of Linebacker Teddy Murphy. Murphy set or tied his career best marks in tackles (77), tackles for a loss (9), sacks (7), interceptions (1), and forced fumbles (1). He was the Robin to Elliot Hord's Batman on the Portland defense and spent the majority of this past season in Hord's shadow with the exception of an incredible week 8 performance at home against Tijuanna. In an ultimately futile effort as the Pythons lost 23-10 during a 3 game skid Murphy accumulated 9 tackles, 1 for a loss, and 2 sacks trying to keep his team in it. The effort earned Murphy his second career game ball and to really drive home the point on Hord's dominance this season by week 8 he had already been awarded 4 game balls last season alone.
The path forward is clear for Portland who were let down by their dreadful passing game to try and improve, but after this past season the organization has to wonder if Panda McKyle is still the answer. For Murphy the path forward is unclear as he awaits the call from Honolulu to find out if he is taking the next step and joining the ISFL roster. In either case Murphy should be happy with the season he had and hopefully next season will have an opportunity to either take over in Portland or learn from the strong veteran core in Honolulu.
Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks (Each must be either 200+ words or a graphic)
Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.
26. Football is a game that has been going on for a while, loved by fans all over. But what if you were able to make some rule changes? Talk us through your new version of football, and what would be different and why?
The three most prominent football leagues around the world each have their own unique rules and at times can seem like three completely different sports entirely. For the betterment of the game I think that the CFL, AFL, and ISFL should combine their respective rulebooks for the growth and betterment of the sport globally.
From the CFL I'd love to see the adoption of their rules around kick returns. In recent history the ISFL has taken strides to increase the number of fair catches all in the name of player safety and to that I cry fowl! Make players return kicks, we all love to see a good kicker tackle so make it happen.
From the AFL let's bring in the bigger fields! There are enough cameras and production around the sport that a larger field won't cause anything to be missed. As a secondary measure to the larger field I think increasing the number of players to 18 a side like the AFL has totally makes sense and as long as the ISFL increase roster size to match, then let's make it happen.
The ISFL adopting some of the rules from other wildly popular football leagues around the world would go a long way to growing the sport and incorporating some of the unique rules found elsewhere is a good way to keep growing the sport and bring the disparate fanbases together to potentially start contending with soccer.
29. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW, which would mean SHL's PT #2, SMJHL PT #3, and PBE's PT 26-2.
SHL Affiliate PT#2
