08-30-2017, 10:07 PM
(This post was last modified: 08-31-2017, 10:35 PM by Silver Fox.)
Offensive Comparison: Josh Garden, Wraiths WR vs Cooper Christmas, Hawks WR
Garden has 52 strength to Christmas’s 50, 84 agility to 80, 52 intelligence to 64, 90 speed to 80, and 71 hands to 80. From a pure stat point perspective, Garden probably wins due to the speed difference, but I’d argue the hand difference is important as well, though it didn’t show in the regular season. Despite having 9 less hands, Garden only dropped 2 more passes than Christmas did (22 to 20). Intelligence and strength don’t really seem to matter all that much in comparison. Their regular season records are 1,220 yards and 8 TDs on 73 catches for Garden, and 1,073 yards and 5 TDs on 67 catches. Overall, you’d have to say Garden really crushed the regular season in comparison.
But when you look at the numbers for the playoff game, Garden had only 3 targets, and dropped all 3. Christmas on the other hand had 7 catches for 116 yards and no drops. He killed it. KILLED IT! Garden, the #1 receiver for the Wraiths, got brutalized. Could have been the defense, could have been the QB play, but the Wraiths got edged out and lack of Garden performance was a significant factor there.
Defensive Comparison: Baltimore’s Stephen Harrison, LB vs Yellowknife’s Marcus Kane, S
Hey, nobody said it had to be between two of the same kind of defensive player. Marcus Kane is a good safety, with 61 strength, 65 agility, 60 intelligence, 65 tackling, 80 speed, and 55 hands. Compare that to Stephen Harrison’s 75 strength, 76 agility, 80 tackling, 85 speed, and 50 hands. Arguably the 5th best LB this season. Ok, Stephen Harrison is a fantastic linebacker.
Marcus Kane had 51 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 passes defensed, and 2 interceptions in the regular season. Not that impressive among safeties. Stephen Harrison meanwhile had 116 tackles, 4 for a loss, 4 sacks, 7 passes defensed, and 2 interceptions. Advantage Harrison for the regular season and it’s not close. That said, Harrison is a season 1 player while Marcus Kane only just joined the Wraiths in season 2.
In the only game that mattered though, Marcus Kane had 7 tackles, 2 for a loss, 1 pass defended and an interception. If you choose a game to wake up in, the playoff game is a good choice. Sure, a couple other Wraith defenders had more tackles and passes defensed, but an interception is how you stay in the game. Harrison put in a reliable and significantly higher than the rest of his defense 13 tackles, 1 for a loss. Less impressive than Kane’s stat line I think, but it was enough to make sure the Hawks got the win.
Bottom Half: Liberty and Legion
Let’s face it: we knew Liberty and Legion weren’t making the playoffs this year. They’re expansion teams! Legion gained like 3 active players from the expansion draft, while Liberty ended up with…1. Almost every other team had 12 active players kept from the prior year! The Outlaws had even more than that, but ripped Legion off for picks to avoid losing anyone. And we wonder why they’re super-dominant. Anyway, these teams are on the bottom for the same reason (being expansion teams), but also very different reasons.
Legion is on the bottom because they gambled and lost on trading away almost all of their S2 and S3 draft picks for S1 players. It just wasn’t enough to field a full team, and they were POUNDED almost every week. Worse, this is going to continue for at least another season, probably 2, before they can even be considered “rebuilding”. They’ve been shit on enough in other articles, moving on.
Liberty is looking a little better off. They showed clear improvement from the beginning of the season to the end, as they developed a delightful secondary and feasted on interceptions. Finishing 6th, ahead of Legion and SaberCats, they have only a couple significant weaknesses: the offensive line and QB. Brady waits in the wings and looks to start in season 3 – will he be a significant upgrade over Jameis Christ? And can Liberty improve the O-line enough to be a real threat? Find out in S3.
Future Talent: J.D. Boom (Hawks DE) or Al Sims (Otters P/K)
I had a tough time deciding between the two – on the one hand, J.D. Boom had 4 tackles and a sack that eventually led to the Hawks’ only touchdown, while Al Sims put up 7 of the Otter’s 13 points and kept them in the game against the Outlaws. I’m going with Al Sims, just because of his perfect record in the game.
Sims put up one 37 yard field goal, one 42 yard field goal, and the extra point for the one TD the Hawks got. He also had 12 punts, most of which were pretty good. Ronaldo on the Outlaws missed one of his 40-49 yard field goals – in my book, that makes Sims the better kicker for this game. No, the Otters didn’t win, so maybe it was all pointless, but I think Sims definitely made his case for the Otters bringing him back in S3 through the draft. They’ll probably get him too, since not many other teams (no other teams?) need a kicker. He also wrote up a nice holdout article about how he only wants the Otters to draft him, which is what was going to happen anyway, but a little cash is nice. All in all, a good player in the playoffs and we’ll see what he has in the tank next year.
Playoff Review: Hawks vs Wraiths and Otters vs Outlaws
First, Hawks vs Wraiths – Wow, what a game, and in most people’s minds, what an upset. While marred by an accidental agility increase to Broadway, courtesy of Bzerkap’s updating the spreadsheet with fat fingers, he didn’t make enough of a difference to overthrow the game results. This meant the Hawks, a huge underdog for the year and what most people expected to be a bottom 2 team, ended up taking out the Wraiths, potentially the 2nd favorite in the league after the Outlaws. Even with their recent acquisition of star LB Hackett and WR Cook, down the Wraiths went. With Josh Garden asleep at the wheel and not recording a single catch, the Wraiths first TD was a fluke 92-yard kickoff return by Levon Novel. Only a late TD catch by Cook made it close at all. The Hawks just played better ball!
The less exciting game, because be honest we all knew the result in advance, was the Outlaws inevitable smashing of the poor little Otters. No one messes with Outlaw defense. That said, it was closer than expected, and the fuzzy little guys put up quite a fight to only lose by 4. Unfortunately the Otters were unable to convert a single 3rd down, despite 3 interceptions to the Outlaw’s single fumble recovery. The Otters defense certainly showed up, but it wasn’t enough. Maybe next year Otters!
Garden has 52 strength to Christmas’s 50, 84 agility to 80, 52 intelligence to 64, 90 speed to 80, and 71 hands to 80. From a pure stat point perspective, Garden probably wins due to the speed difference, but I’d argue the hand difference is important as well, though it didn’t show in the regular season. Despite having 9 less hands, Garden only dropped 2 more passes than Christmas did (22 to 20). Intelligence and strength don’t really seem to matter all that much in comparison. Their regular season records are 1,220 yards and 8 TDs on 73 catches for Garden, and 1,073 yards and 5 TDs on 67 catches. Overall, you’d have to say Garden really crushed the regular season in comparison.
But when you look at the numbers for the playoff game, Garden had only 3 targets, and dropped all 3. Christmas on the other hand had 7 catches for 116 yards and no drops. He killed it. KILLED IT! Garden, the #1 receiver for the Wraiths, got brutalized. Could have been the defense, could have been the QB play, but the Wraiths got edged out and lack of Garden performance was a significant factor there.
Defensive Comparison: Baltimore’s Stephen Harrison, LB vs Yellowknife’s Marcus Kane, S
Hey, nobody said it had to be between two of the same kind of defensive player. Marcus Kane is a good safety, with 61 strength, 65 agility, 60 intelligence, 65 tackling, 80 speed, and 55 hands. Compare that to Stephen Harrison’s 75 strength, 76 agility, 80 tackling, 85 speed, and 50 hands. Arguably the 5th best LB this season. Ok, Stephen Harrison is a fantastic linebacker.
Marcus Kane had 51 tackles, 4 sacks, 4 passes defensed, and 2 interceptions in the regular season. Not that impressive among safeties. Stephen Harrison meanwhile had 116 tackles, 4 for a loss, 4 sacks, 7 passes defensed, and 2 interceptions. Advantage Harrison for the regular season and it’s not close. That said, Harrison is a season 1 player while Marcus Kane only just joined the Wraiths in season 2.
In the only game that mattered though, Marcus Kane had 7 tackles, 2 for a loss, 1 pass defended and an interception. If you choose a game to wake up in, the playoff game is a good choice. Sure, a couple other Wraith defenders had more tackles and passes defensed, but an interception is how you stay in the game. Harrison put in a reliable and significantly higher than the rest of his defense 13 tackles, 1 for a loss. Less impressive than Kane’s stat line I think, but it was enough to make sure the Hawks got the win.
Bottom Half: Liberty and Legion
Let’s face it: we knew Liberty and Legion weren’t making the playoffs this year. They’re expansion teams! Legion gained like 3 active players from the expansion draft, while Liberty ended up with…1. Almost every other team had 12 active players kept from the prior year! The Outlaws had even more than that, but ripped Legion off for picks to avoid losing anyone. And we wonder why they’re super-dominant. Anyway, these teams are on the bottom for the same reason (being expansion teams), but also very different reasons.
Legion is on the bottom because they gambled and lost on trading away almost all of their S2 and S3 draft picks for S1 players. It just wasn’t enough to field a full team, and they were POUNDED almost every week. Worse, this is going to continue for at least another season, probably 2, before they can even be considered “rebuilding”. They’ve been shit on enough in other articles, moving on.
Liberty is looking a little better off. They showed clear improvement from the beginning of the season to the end, as they developed a delightful secondary and feasted on interceptions. Finishing 6th, ahead of Legion and SaberCats, they have only a couple significant weaknesses: the offensive line and QB. Brady waits in the wings and looks to start in season 3 – will he be a significant upgrade over Jameis Christ? And can Liberty improve the O-line enough to be a real threat? Find out in S3.
Future Talent: J.D. Boom (Hawks DE) or Al Sims (Otters P/K)
I had a tough time deciding between the two – on the one hand, J.D. Boom had 4 tackles and a sack that eventually led to the Hawks’ only touchdown, while Al Sims put up 7 of the Otter’s 13 points and kept them in the game against the Outlaws. I’m going with Al Sims, just because of his perfect record in the game.
Sims put up one 37 yard field goal, one 42 yard field goal, and the extra point for the one TD the Hawks got. He also had 12 punts, most of which were pretty good. Ronaldo on the Outlaws missed one of his 40-49 yard field goals – in my book, that makes Sims the better kicker for this game. No, the Otters didn’t win, so maybe it was all pointless, but I think Sims definitely made his case for the Otters bringing him back in S3 through the draft. They’ll probably get him too, since not many other teams (no other teams?) need a kicker. He also wrote up a nice holdout article about how he only wants the Otters to draft him, which is what was going to happen anyway, but a little cash is nice. All in all, a good player in the playoffs and we’ll see what he has in the tank next year.
Playoff Review: Hawks vs Wraiths and Otters vs Outlaws
First, Hawks vs Wraiths – Wow, what a game, and in most people’s minds, what an upset. While marred by an accidental agility increase to Broadway, courtesy of Bzerkap’s updating the spreadsheet with fat fingers, he didn’t make enough of a difference to overthrow the game results. This meant the Hawks, a huge underdog for the year and what most people expected to be a bottom 2 team, ended up taking out the Wraiths, potentially the 2nd favorite in the league after the Outlaws. Even with their recent acquisition of star LB Hackett and WR Cook, down the Wraiths went. With Josh Garden asleep at the wheel and not recording a single catch, the Wraiths first TD was a fluke 92-yard kickoff return by Levon Novel. Only a late TD catch by Cook made it close at all. The Hawks just played better ball!
The less exciting game, because be honest we all knew the result in advance, was the Outlaws inevitable smashing of the poor little Otters. No one messes with Outlaw defense. That said, it was closer than expected, and the fuzzy little guys put up quite a fight to only lose by 4. Unfortunately the Otters were unable to convert a single 3rd down, despite 3 interceptions to the Outlaw’s single fumble recovery. The Otters defense certainly showed up, but it wasn’t enough. Maybe next year Otters!
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