Offensive Comparison: Compare one offensive player from each team in a series. Can be completed at any point
Josh Garden and Cooper Christmas. Yellowknife Wraiths and Baltimore Hawks. Both top 5 WR's in the NSFC. Garden had 1220 yards, 73 catches and 8 touchdowns. Cooper Christmas had 1073 yards , 67 catches and 5 touchdowns. On paper Garden has the obvious advantage, more yards, 6 more catches and 3 more touchdowns which proves he's a more valuable red zone threat. Both these juggernauts squared off in the NSFC conference finals and Christmas managed to pick up the W. The Wraiths defense struggled all game unusually considering that's usually the defenses problem. This marks the consecutive year the Wraiths have made the playoffs and also been knocked out in the conference finals. Will this be a constant theme? Are the Wraiths going to continue to be the bridesmaid, never the bride? Christmas and his side progress to the Ultimus Trophy finals to verse the Arizona Outlaws lead by outstanding King Bronko. Critics have suggested that the Hawks don't stand a snows chance in hall in this one, but personally I believe that Christmas could come up big for the Hawks this year and help them eek out a win. It will be an interesting one to watch this year, let's hope it's more of a game than last years Ultimus.
Defensive Comparison: Compare one defensive player from each team in a series. Can be completed at any point
Cornerbacks. Often over looked. Generally with cornerbacks among the league you don't get a mention for simply doing your job, you do however get recognition when you go up and above and exceed your role. Dermot Lavelle, the #1 S2 draft pick and Darnell Turner the #9 S2 draft pick. Both players throughout the game didn't square off once, (we didn't see Lavelle even take snaps at CB infact he played FS for most of the game). Taking a look at both players regular season stats, both played in all 14 games. Lavelle had 58 tackles over Turners 47. Turner had 16 passes defensed to Lavelles 15, Turner finished with 3 interceptions to Lavelles 4. Lavelle slightly outperformed in the regular season racking up 11 more tackles and 1 more interception but on the day it was the Hawks who picked up the W. This marks the second consecutive conference loss in both the Wraiths and Lavelles history. One wonders if this will be a constant theme for the YKW faithful. The Hawks will be facing the outlaws in the Ultimus finals, and one will wonder if they actually can come out on top considering their earlier struggles this year.
Bottom Half: Write about why two of the four teams were not able to make the playoffs. Can be completed at any point You knew this was coming. The two expansion teams seems like the obvious answer right? Because they were expansion teams and naturally are starting from zero quality and have to be develop. We know why the Legion crashed and burned, employing a win now strategy over continuous development didn't pay dividends. The Liberty though? After all they are better than the Wraiths? Not a chance in hell. While the Liberty are in a better shape than the Legion, it's nothing to brag about because at the end of the day being 7th is the exact same as being in last place. Their future looks about the same as any team that isn't from Las Vegas. This year they didn't have the talent, a sub par quarterback, only a single receiver than can catch the ball and a decent secondary. It will all be seen in the next few years, what direction both the Liberty and Legion will take. Will the Liberty change to a win now strategy in free agency if their rebuild strategy goes south ? Will the Legion employ a rebuild strategy in S5/S6 and beyond? Will they keep their draft picks for the future? Let's just hope these two teams don't remain stagnant.
Future Talent: Write about which S3 waiver pickup will or did have the biggest impact in the playoffs. Can be written at any time depending on if you choose to write about who already has or who will do good Brice Boggs. S3 prospect. Had an incredible season on the Wraiths this year, for this reason I think he'll shine in the playoffs game versing the Baltimore Hawks. 82 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, 6 sacks, 1 interception and 3 pass deflections. That's the sort of season you'd expect from a starting #1 linebacker veteran, not a raw rookie prospect who is still finding his feet in the league. Boggs should be a big factor in the Wraiths reaching the Ultimus trophy finals to go against the defending Outlaws. With Boggs being such a huge factor during the regular season, it's impossible he wont have a huge effect on the Hawks, game, expect at the very least a few sacks or some forced fumbles on his impressive statline. If Boggs and the Wraiths manage to overcome the favourites the Baltimore Hawks, then Boggs could have a huge impact in the final game. He might just be the difference between an Arizona Outlaws twopeat, or a huge celebration in Canada. For the rest of the leagues sake, regardless of who makes it through to the finals , anybody and everybody that isn't in Arizona will be hoping for an Outlaws loss. After all, they are the Golden State Warriors of the NSFL.
Playoff Series MVP: Choose an MVP for one of the playoff series and write about why you chose them. Must be completed after the playoff series you write about King Bronko only finished with a single touchdown in the big game, the Ultimus. 238 yards, 1 touchdown 18/29. Solid stats, but not exactly MVP quality for the name? That would go to Mackworthy or Chess right? Wrong. Bronko didn't actually play for most of the game, he spend alot of time on the sidelines infact being the real MVP. Mark Strike, the backup QB for the outlaws and despite being a raw prospect with a large upside, he choked on the biggest stage of them all. Raw and unprepared could be used to describe two things in this league, Stormblessed's experience after courting Charity Tuck for most of the night and Mark Strike's ultimus performance. Despite his struggling on the field, 0/7 0 yds 0 tds 2 ints, Bronko spent most of the game in Strikes ear, possibly giving him tips for the future? We don't believe so, almost everybody we have spoken to was telling us he was telling the rookie to keep his head up, to enjoy the success of the team and that he's gonna be a powerhouse in years to come. If this isn't a real MVP, I don't know what is. A team leader, a natural born winner and most of all, a team motivator.
@Daybe
@ADwyer87
Josh Garden and Cooper Christmas. Yellowknife Wraiths and Baltimore Hawks. Both top 5 WR's in the NSFC. Garden had 1220 yards, 73 catches and 8 touchdowns. Cooper Christmas had 1073 yards , 67 catches and 5 touchdowns. On paper Garden has the obvious advantage, more yards, 6 more catches and 3 more touchdowns which proves he's a more valuable red zone threat. Both these juggernauts squared off in the NSFC conference finals and Christmas managed to pick up the W. The Wraiths defense struggled all game unusually considering that's usually the defenses problem. This marks the consecutive year the Wraiths have made the playoffs and also been knocked out in the conference finals. Will this be a constant theme? Are the Wraiths going to continue to be the bridesmaid, never the bride? Christmas and his side progress to the Ultimus Trophy finals to verse the Arizona Outlaws lead by outstanding King Bronko. Critics have suggested that the Hawks don't stand a snows chance in hall in this one, but personally I believe that Christmas could come up big for the Hawks this year and help them eek out a win. It will be an interesting one to watch this year, let's hope it's more of a game than last years Ultimus.
Defensive Comparison: Compare one defensive player from each team in a series. Can be completed at any point
Cornerbacks. Often over looked. Generally with cornerbacks among the league you don't get a mention for simply doing your job, you do however get recognition when you go up and above and exceed your role. Dermot Lavelle, the #1 S2 draft pick and Darnell Turner the #9 S2 draft pick. Both players throughout the game didn't square off once, (we didn't see Lavelle even take snaps at CB infact he played FS for most of the game). Taking a look at both players regular season stats, both played in all 14 games. Lavelle had 58 tackles over Turners 47. Turner had 16 passes defensed to Lavelles 15, Turner finished with 3 interceptions to Lavelles 4. Lavelle slightly outperformed in the regular season racking up 11 more tackles and 1 more interception but on the day it was the Hawks who picked up the W. This marks the second consecutive conference loss in both the Wraiths and Lavelles history. One wonders if this will be a constant theme for the YKW faithful. The Hawks will be facing the outlaws in the Ultimus finals, and one will wonder if they actually can come out on top considering their earlier struggles this year.
Bottom Half: Write about why two of the four teams were not able to make the playoffs. Can be completed at any point You knew this was coming. The two expansion teams seems like the obvious answer right? Because they were expansion teams and naturally are starting from zero quality and have to be develop. We know why the Legion crashed and burned, employing a win now strategy over continuous development didn't pay dividends. The Liberty though? After all they are better than the Wraiths? Not a chance in hell. While the Liberty are in a better shape than the Legion, it's nothing to brag about because at the end of the day being 7th is the exact same as being in last place. Their future looks about the same as any team that isn't from Las Vegas. This year they didn't have the talent, a sub par quarterback, only a single receiver than can catch the ball and a decent secondary. It will all be seen in the next few years, what direction both the Liberty and Legion will take. Will the Liberty change to a win now strategy in free agency if their rebuild strategy goes south ? Will the Legion employ a rebuild strategy in S5/S6 and beyond? Will they keep their draft picks for the future? Let's just hope these two teams don't remain stagnant.
Future Talent: Write about which S3 waiver pickup will or did have the biggest impact in the playoffs. Can be written at any time depending on if you choose to write about who already has or who will do good Brice Boggs. S3 prospect. Had an incredible season on the Wraiths this year, for this reason I think he'll shine in the playoffs game versing the Baltimore Hawks. 82 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2 forced fumbles, 6 sacks, 1 interception and 3 pass deflections. That's the sort of season you'd expect from a starting #1 linebacker veteran, not a raw rookie prospect who is still finding his feet in the league. Boggs should be a big factor in the Wraiths reaching the Ultimus trophy finals to go against the defending Outlaws. With Boggs being such a huge factor during the regular season, it's impossible he wont have a huge effect on the Hawks, game, expect at the very least a few sacks or some forced fumbles on his impressive statline. If Boggs and the Wraiths manage to overcome the favourites the Baltimore Hawks, then Boggs could have a huge impact in the final game. He might just be the difference between an Arizona Outlaws twopeat, or a huge celebration in Canada. For the rest of the leagues sake, regardless of who makes it through to the finals , anybody and everybody that isn't in Arizona will be hoping for an Outlaws loss. After all, they are the Golden State Warriors of the NSFL.
Playoff Series MVP: Choose an MVP for one of the playoff series and write about why you chose them. Must be completed after the playoff series you write about King Bronko only finished with a single touchdown in the big game, the Ultimus. 238 yards, 1 touchdown 18/29. Solid stats, but not exactly MVP quality for the name? That would go to Mackworthy or Chess right? Wrong. Bronko didn't actually play for most of the game, he spend alot of time on the sidelines infact being the real MVP. Mark Strike, the backup QB for the outlaws and despite being a raw prospect with a large upside, he choked on the biggest stage of them all. Raw and unprepared could be used to describe two things in this league, Stormblessed's experience after courting Charity Tuck for most of the night and Mark Strike's ultimus performance. Despite his struggling on the field, 0/7 0 yds 0 tds 2 ints, Bronko spent most of the game in Strikes ear, possibly giving him tips for the future? We don't believe so, almost everybody we have spoken to was telling us he was telling the rookie to keep his head up, to enjoy the success of the team and that he's gonna be a powerhouse in years to come. If this isn't a real MVP, I don't know what is. A team leader, a natural born winner and most of all, a team motivator.
@Daybe
@ADwyer87
