Bottom Half: Write about why two of the four teams were not able to make the playoffs.
The two poorest preforming teams of last season share a very obvious theme. A problem with the passing game, or a lack thereof entirely. Lets start with Vegas who from what I see has the highest hill to climb. Their QB Josh Bercovichi has been pretty rough most of his career and hasn't shown much improvement. Mind you he's not some young guy in fact he is apart of the Season One draft class! He's been miles behind most of the other QBs from that draft class development wise for some time now and, if anything this season its at its worst. Now when it comes to the Yeti' QB Nick Pierno its the exact opposite scenario. Which is great for Colorado. Pierno was actually a rookie QB down in the DSFL who was called up for reasons left unknown to someone new like me. He did not do a great job at filling that role but, I don't think he was expected to and you can see considerable growth as the season went on though maybe not as quick as the Colorado GMs may have liked. The way it is now hes not far off from being just as good as Bercovichi which isn't saying much, but if he continues training like he has been he will be out classing him come the middle of this season and may even be very formidable by S5.
Offensive Comparison: Compare one offensive player from each team in a series. Can be completed at any point
I decided to write about two running backs from this series. The two work horses Darlane Farlane and Omar Wright. Now with these guys being a full season apart in terms of development yet so close in stats. Its easy for me to say who I'd put my money on for next year. Farlane came into the NSFL during Season 2 and put up a stellar effort. Here in season 3 he pulled in 1114 yards from 360 carries averaging 3.1 YPC and 6 touchdowns, Not bad for only his second year especially with the offensive line issues we are having here. I expect that to sky rocket next season despite whatever head office decides to do with Olines.
Now Wright is a bit of a different story he did perform just as well if not, better than Farlane with 982 yards from 289 carries averaging 3.4 YPC and 7 touchdowns. Less yardage but a higher YPC, clearly the Liberty don't put as much faith in Wright as Baltimore do for Farlane and a big reason for that is a large stall in Wrights development, while Farlane continues to consistently get better. Not as fast as he can but by no means slowly either.
Hate the player or the game: Tell us which team made the playoffs and shouldn't have, or which team didn't and should have?
Looking at stats alone here its a real shock that the Yellowknife Wraiths didn't advance to the post season. They boasted the best point differential in the league by a respectable margin, easily the third best Quarterback in the league,arguably the second. Solid run game, offensive line could use some work, but who's couldn't? An absolutely stellar front seven had them in second place for sacks the missing pieces on defense came in the lack luster secondary but, that can easily be adjusted with the mass of DBs in the S5 draft class. With that in mind though it is a full season a way so we'll see if they are able to address that concern at all before hand. If so I think they has a shot of making it to the post season next year, I feel as if it was a lot of bad luck and untimely losses that really did them in, but if they can keep the pieces that have, add a few more. They can easily be in the swing of things and, they're pretty much the only team that I can tell got arguably "shafted" in the third season 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
When you're talking on the subject of MVP for the Ultimus game, most folks want to give it to the winning QB 90% of the time. Do they deserve it that often? Not for me to say, but right here I present to you a player on the total OPPOSITE side of the ball who deserves that honor, and that man can be none other than Franklin Harris Jr. This man was everywhere at once during the big game and his 24 yard reception return for a touchdown quite possibly murdered the momentum of Baltimore. He racked up 7 tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 pass deflections and on defensive touchdown before the night was over, Scrub Kyubee just had no answer for the man or, the Arizona defense in general and, it shows in the film and stat sheet. Now this isnt to discredit Bronkos 4 touchdown game, but I feel if Harris Jr. wasn't on the field it could have been a much closer game. That's what I look for in a high stake game MVP, but to be honest even with Arizonas offense churning like it was their defense is what impressed me the most, through and through. I don't see how they're ever gonna be stopped!
Playoff Review: Write a short review of the playoffs and each of the matchups. Must be completed after the Championship Game
I dub thee S3 Playoffs "The Post Season of Blowouts" Lets start with the NSFC game. The game ended in favor of Baltimore 34 - 3. The real outlier here is the QB play and defense. Scrub Kyubee showed more poise and confidence in the pocket despite throwing two interceptions. Rove seemed a bit to afraid to take any chances and, that could be due to this being his first game in the post season. Thats a ton of pressure! On top of that the Baltimore defense was able to drop him 10 times in the backfield. Something Phillys defense could only pull off twice.
Next we got the ASFC game which ended in favor of the Outlaws 27 - 7 which was the smallest blowout during the post season. In this case neither QB had the game of their lives but, Bronkos performance was enough to get him the win, with a little help from his running back Mackworthy in the redzone. Boss was throwing the ball more, but spent a lot of time on his back which certainly caused some issues.
Last but not least the Ultimus game and, this is where Arizona really shined. They proved yet again that they have a stellar offense along with a lock down defense. All together 7 touchdowns were scored by them, 2 on defense and 5 on offense. Need I say more?
The two poorest preforming teams of last season share a very obvious theme. A problem with the passing game, or a lack thereof entirely. Lets start with Vegas who from what I see has the highest hill to climb. Their QB Josh Bercovichi has been pretty rough most of his career and hasn't shown much improvement. Mind you he's not some young guy in fact he is apart of the Season One draft class! He's been miles behind most of the other QBs from that draft class development wise for some time now and, if anything this season its at its worst. Now when it comes to the Yeti' QB Nick Pierno its the exact opposite scenario. Which is great for Colorado. Pierno was actually a rookie QB down in the DSFL who was called up for reasons left unknown to someone new like me. He did not do a great job at filling that role but, I don't think he was expected to and you can see considerable growth as the season went on though maybe not as quick as the Colorado GMs may have liked. The way it is now hes not far off from being just as good as Bercovichi which isn't saying much, but if he continues training like he has been he will be out classing him come the middle of this season and may even be very formidable by S5.
Offensive Comparison: Compare one offensive player from each team in a series. Can be completed at any point
I decided to write about two running backs from this series. The two work horses Darlane Farlane and Omar Wright. Now with these guys being a full season apart in terms of development yet so close in stats. Its easy for me to say who I'd put my money on for next year. Farlane came into the NSFL during Season 2 and put up a stellar effort. Here in season 3 he pulled in 1114 yards from 360 carries averaging 3.1 YPC and 6 touchdowns, Not bad for only his second year especially with the offensive line issues we are having here. I expect that to sky rocket next season despite whatever head office decides to do with Olines.
Now Wright is a bit of a different story he did perform just as well if not, better than Farlane with 982 yards from 289 carries averaging 3.4 YPC and 7 touchdowns. Less yardage but a higher YPC, clearly the Liberty don't put as much faith in Wright as Baltimore do for Farlane and a big reason for that is a large stall in Wrights development, while Farlane continues to consistently get better. Not as fast as he can but by no means slowly either.
Hate the player or the game: Tell us which team made the playoffs and shouldn't have, or which team didn't and should have?
Looking at stats alone here its a real shock that the Yellowknife Wraiths didn't advance to the post season. They boasted the best point differential in the league by a respectable margin, easily the third best Quarterback in the league,arguably the second. Solid run game, offensive line could use some work, but who's couldn't? An absolutely stellar front seven had them in second place for sacks the missing pieces on defense came in the lack luster secondary but, that can easily be adjusted with the mass of DBs in the S5 draft class. With that in mind though it is a full season a way so we'll see if they are able to address that concern at all before hand. If so I think they has a shot of making it to the post season next year, I feel as if it was a lot of bad luck and untimely losses that really did them in, but if they can keep the pieces that have, add a few more. They can easily be in the swing of things and, they're pretty much the only team that I can tell got arguably "shafted" in the third season 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
When you're talking on the subject of MVP for the Ultimus game, most folks want to give it to the winning QB 90% of the time. Do they deserve it that often? Not for me to say, but right here I present to you a player on the total OPPOSITE side of the ball who deserves that honor, and that man can be none other than Franklin Harris Jr. This man was everywhere at once during the big game and his 24 yard reception return for a touchdown quite possibly murdered the momentum of Baltimore. He racked up 7 tackles, 2 interceptions, 3 pass deflections and on defensive touchdown before the night was over, Scrub Kyubee just had no answer for the man or, the Arizona defense in general and, it shows in the film and stat sheet. Now this isnt to discredit Bronkos 4 touchdown game, but I feel if Harris Jr. wasn't on the field it could have been a much closer game. That's what I look for in a high stake game MVP, but to be honest even with Arizonas offense churning like it was their defense is what impressed me the most, through and through. I don't see how they're ever gonna be stopped!
Playoff Review: Write a short review of the playoffs and each of the matchups. Must be completed after the Championship Game
I dub thee S3 Playoffs "The Post Season of Blowouts" Lets start with the NSFC game. The game ended in favor of Baltimore 34 - 3. The real outlier here is the QB play and defense. Scrub Kyubee showed more poise and confidence in the pocket despite throwing two interceptions. Rove seemed a bit to afraid to take any chances and, that could be due to this being his first game in the post season. Thats a ton of pressure! On top of that the Baltimore defense was able to drop him 10 times in the backfield. Something Phillys defense could only pull off twice.
Next we got the ASFC game which ended in favor of the Outlaws 27 - 7 which was the smallest blowout during the post season. In this case neither QB had the game of their lives but, Bronkos performance was enough to get him the win, with a little help from his running back Mackworthy in the redzone. Boss was throwing the ball more, but spent a lot of time on his back which certainly caused some issues.
Last but not least the Ultimus game and, this is where Arizona really shined. They proved yet again that they have a stellar offense along with a lock down defense. All together 7 touchdowns were scored by them, 2 on defense and 5 on offense. Need I say more?
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