S2 - Ultimus Week

[HalfEatenOnionBagel]

Can I do this even though I'm just a prospect?

Wanna get as much TPE as possible

Yes, absolutely do it! Plus it will help you learn more about the league as you get to know the players in the games.

[BrotherP]

MVP of a Game



Schedule



Bottom



Defender Comparison. I did not mean for them to be pointing at each other.



Offensive Comparison

[theFlock]

Offensive Comparison:

When you look at Tim Pest, you can see he is trying his very hardest to be Angus Winchester. They are very similar when you look on paper, but the stats are miles away. Oh sorry, I had Angus' Season One stats in front of me, let me start over.

Tim Pest has been better than Angus Winchester. In a season where Tim Pest was perfect as well as adding in Sixty Pancakes, Angus fell behind, allowing three sacks with only 52 Pancakes. Starting the season off, all eyes were on Angus, while poor Tim Pest was compared to the likes of Zobot Bigboy. When the First week was over and done with, people were scratching their heads. It had seemed like Tim Pest had pulled a Space Jam, and absorbed all of Winchesters power, as Angus allowed two sacks, while Pest put on a clinic. People started to question Winchesters previous Season stats, and started to look elsewhere. Tim Pest did not receive recognition from anybody outside of the Outlaws until partially past midseason. The numbers where there, and Tim Pest was still perfect. As the final whistle blew on Week 15, Tim Pest was the only man still left standing. Not a sack on the board.

Fast Forward to the playoffs, and the Otters and Outlaws threw down for a rematch of last season. Both men did remain perfect, but you could tell who performed better, as Tim Pest built a bigger House of Pancakes than Winchester, and his team moved on to the Ultimus Cup. 258

Defensive Comparison:

Ryan Flock and Dominic Verns are two of the best Safeties in the league. Two versatile players who contribute to their team in more ways than you can count. The Otters only have two serviceable linebackers, so Verns sees a lot of snaps as the Weak side Backer, and his stats reflect it. Verns led all Defensive backs in Sacks and Tackles for Loss, while notching himself quite a few interceptions. On the other side, we have Flock. The Outlaws have three All Pro Linebackers in Harrif, Jaylon, and Luke, so Flock isn't used as often inside the box. He's honestly not even needed against the run, with how good the Outlaws Front Seven has been. Flocks elite speed has been used to cover the back end with Rookie Allen Davis. Flock sees a lot of snaps outisde at Corner against some of the leagues best Receivers. Most notable matchups are against Josh Garden and Cooper Christmas. So while both players are Free Safety by trade, we see them both play the Strong Safety positions every game, while being moved around every play based on what the team needs to do. This makes both, without a doubt, the most versatile players in the league. 204

Future Talent:

Running Back Jaxon Tuck was a key part of the Outlaws success this year on Offense. When you have a guy like Reg Mackworthy, you want to run the ball every down and be successful. In reality, its not possible. Reg needs his rest, and needs to hit up the cheerleader of whatever team we're playing against, can't do it at home since they've already been ran through. When Reg gets his breather, teams expect us to pass the ball, and will prepare accordingly. When you hand it off to Jaxon, they realize that they've messed up. The massive, which is an understatement, Power Back out of Berkeley is a short yardage monster. On the year he averaged 3.9 yards per carry on fifty attempts, perfectly complimenting Reg's millennial season. In the playoffs Jaxon was able to average Four yards per carry and one touchdown against two defenses that you wouldn't shake a stick at.

Coming into Season Three, running back isn't much of a need, but when you look at Jaxon, the only word that comes to mind is "need." He's a freakish athlete with speed that will rival most All Pro Linebackers, and size and Strength that will leave Defensive Backs holding on for the ride. If he doesn't start, he will most definitely be a rock coming off the sideline. He'll get you those short yardage first downs, and good luck stopping him on the goal line. 241

Playoff Series MVP:

My vote for Ultimus MVP, Cristiano Ronaldo. The man, the myth, the Legend. Ronaldo is both the Punter and the Kicker for the Arizona Outlaws, and with the background he has with the other football, you can see why he is trusted doing both. Punting in the Ultimus Cup game is a strategy of its own. Being able to pin the opposing team deep in their own territory, and allowing the Outlaws Defense to keep them there, is dangerous. When the Defense is able to stifle an Offense close to their own endzone, it gives the Arizona Offense a great chance if they can force a punt early. With Ronaldo punting, you're also sure to see to it that you don't give up good field position either. With five punts for 255 yards, at an average of FIFTY ONE yards per punt, Ronaldo is sure to make sure that you don't get to see midfield. Ronaldos longest punt, sixty four yards, managed to pin the Hawks at the THREE yard line! That HUGE punt turned into a Safety forced by none other than Dental Dam.

Now onto the real reason he is my Ultimus MVP. He is responsible for 17 points of the 33. Yes, that is more than half of what the Almighty Outlaws could score on Offense and Defense, and more than both teams scored in the ASFC Championship game. With two Extra Points, one 18 yard Field Goal, and Four Field Goals from 40-49 yards. Ronaldo isn't the sole reason the Outlaws won, but his impact on the game made sure it wasn't even close. 268


Championship Game Recap: Do a recap of the best play from the championship game. Must be completed after the Championship Game

[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!

[Askin]

getting ready to do this before friday!

[DollarAndADream]

Written Points

Offensive Comparison: Kyubee/Bronko
For this offensive comparison, I am going to be comparing the two quarterbacks from the NSFL Finals game. Scrub Kyubee from the Baltimore Hawks, and King Bronco from the Arizona Outlaws. Both players come with a plethora of skills to their repertoire, and are on pretty damn good teams.

Scrub Kyubee of the Baltimore Hawks ended the season 4th in completions with 296. He was 5th with 505 attempts thrown. On yards gained, Scrub Kyubee was 4th in the NSFL in that category as well, with 3181, and 4th in completion percentage at 58.6. For scoring TDs on his own, he was on the lower end of that scale with 14, whereas the highest QB had 25. His overall quarterback rating during the season landed at a 74.

Looking over at King Bronko of the Arizona Outlaws, he was quite similar to Scrub Kyubee. Bronko was 5th with 285 completions. In attempts he was 4th with 518, barely ahead of Kyubee's 505. Where yards are concerned, King Bronko threw for 3130, right behind Kyubee's 3181. Although, King's completion percentage was on the lower end at only 55%. He made up for that however with his TDs, where he was the best in the NSFL with 25. Also, Bronko's 77.1 rating was a little better than Scrub's 74.

As you can see, these two players were very close in stats over the season.

Defensive Comparison: Compare one defensive player from each team in a series. Can be completed at any point

Bottom Half: Write about why two of the four teams were not able to make the playoffs. Can be completed at any point

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

Playoff Predictions: Give a short write up on each of the playoff matches (including the championship game). Must be completed before the simulation of the Conference Finals

Playoff Series MVP:
For a playoff series MVP, I think this one is an easy decision. Yeah, it might be my own player, but I think Scrub Kyubee is very worthy of MVP after his game against the Yellowknife Wraiths. The game was not a huge offensive affair, but the Baltimore Hawks came out on top 16-14. Scrub Kyubee threw one Touchdown pass to Matthew Vincent for 8 yards. Overall in the game, Kyubee was 34 for 51 on completions, with that whopping 51 attempts compared to Chris Orosz' 25 attempts. Scrub threw for 336 yards, with a 83.5 rating on the game. Throwing over 300 yards is a huge milestone for any quarterback, never mind in a conference championship game. Scrub Kyubee's average yard gain was 9.9, and on those 51 attempts, only threw 1 interception. Sure, nobody wants to throw any interceptions, but with a whopping 51 attempts, only having 1 be picked off is good in anyone's books.

When you look at the QB on the other side of the field, Kyubee was far and away the better player. Orosz was only 12/25 on his attempts, with only 113 yards and a 57.6 rating. Scrub blew Orosz out of the water in his yardage having over 200 more in the game. The score might have been close, but there was only 1 quarterback on his A game that night.

Playoff Review: Write a short review of the playoffs and each of the matchups. Must be completed after the Championship Game

Championship Game Recap: Do a recap of the best play from the championship game. Must be completed after the Championship Game


Graphic Points

Offensive Comparison: Compare one offensive player from each team in a series in a side by side graphic. Can be completed at any point

Defensive Comparison: Compare one defensive player from each team in a series in a side by side graphic. Can be completed at any point

Bottom Half: Make a graphical stat comparison of a team who failed to qualify for playoffs to another team that qualified for the playoffs from their division. Can be completed at any point

Future Talent: Make a sig for a S3 player who you feel will or did make a large impact for their team 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

Playoff Matchups: Make a graphic displaying the matchups in the first round of the playoffs. Must be completed before the simulation of the Conference Finals

Conference Final MVP Sig: Make a sig for a player of your choice who you felt was the MVP of a Conference Final matchup. Must be completed after the Conference Finals

Playoff Recap Infographic: Make a graphic displaying the results of the playoffs. Must be completed after the Championship Game

Championship Banner: Make a banner (sig style) featuring the MVP of the Championship Game and another player of your choice from the winning teams and S2 Champions or something similar to that. Must be completed after the Championship Game

[kckolbe]

Playoff Series MVP:
While many would predict otherwise, the Hawks beating the Wraiths in Baltimore is not particularly surprising. Similarly, I doubt anyone would be overly surprised to hear that the game was a close one, only a two point margin of victory. Finally, as one last thing on the list of completely unsurprising developments, I could add that the Hawks offense struggled to produce, but that their defense was able to hold the Wraiths to only 14 points. This is kind of where it starts to get surprising. The Wraiths offense only scored 7 points, the other seven coming from special teams. Even the 7 points came from a short field. In the first half, the Wraiths only ran 26 plays from scrimmage, resulting in 6 punts and an interception. It was the most dominant 30 minutes of defense seen, and it was completely led by Antoine Delacour, who held Josh Garden to 0 catches for the entire game. Three times Garden was targeted, and every time the ball was jarred loose by Delacour’s hit. To lock down ANY receiver is an impressive accomplishment, but to completely shut down a receiver who caught for over 1200 yards and 8 touchdowns? That’s a playoff MVP performance.

Bottom Half:
The NSFL, due to being so new, is generally considered to be a talent-driven league. Very little thought is paid to scheme, system, or any kind of coherent team vision. Generally, the most talented team wins (unless on the road, but that’s another issue). The Colorado Yeti, though, have shown that talent can only get you so far. In their case, it can get you to the worst pick of all the teams who didn’t make the playoffs. The Yeti, by TPE, were the most talented team in the league, but a complete neglect of offensive line led to only the 5th most points scored in the league, one game above .500, and losing the tiebreaker to make the playoffs. The same lack of attention was also the downfall of the Las Vegas Legion. Despite lacking the protection for any receiver to get downfield, the Legion traded away their future for Stormblessed, exclusively a deep threat receiver. As Bercovici got sacked over and over waiting for his #1 WR to get open, #2 WR Alexander LeClair ended up emerging as the alternative, finishing only 16 yards shy of the franchise superstar. Both, however, finished well outside the top ten, ruining the only strength the Legion were expected to have.

Offensive Comparison:
The owner of the league rushing title versus the runner with the most all-purpose yards. While Arizona vs Baltimore was not a much-anticipated matchup, seeing these two compete definitely was. Throughout the year, Mackworthy was insanely productive. He was the lead running back in receiving yards, the league leader in punt return yards, and in the top half for kickoff returns as well. He was also second in rushing yards. For the rookie Farlane, the claim was simpler: he had the most rushing yards and it wasn’t close, winning over Mackworthy even on average yards per carry. In the Ultimus Bowl, though, a slightly different story was told. Farlane was reliable as ever churning out yards, carrying a staggering 31 times (as many attempts as his QB had) for 104 yards, earning nothing else through the air. Mackworthy managed 97 yards and a TD on 27 carries, earning a slight edge on efficiency, but also had another 29 yards on two receptions. As if that wasn’t enough, Farlane put up 127 yards on 6 kick returns. Mackworthy, being on the team not giving up as many scores, only had 2 kick returns, but posted an impressive 93 yards on those two opportunities. Farlane may be impressing as a rookie, but Mackworthy showed that there is still a lot to learn.

Defensive Comparison:
Harriff Ernston and Darnell Turner may seem an odd pair of players to compare. One of them joined the league in Season One, the other in Season Two. One of them is a linebacker, the other a cornerback. One of them played for the defending champions, the other for a team that finished 4-10 last year. Despite those differences, though, both found themselves lined up at cornerback in the Ultimus Bowl, and both being the best corners on their teams. How did they fare? Ernston, matched up almost solely against Vincent, allowed 12 yards on three catches for 12 yards, but made up for it with an interception on a pass to Baker. Turner fared…less well. A total of 94 yards on 6 catches to 3 different receivers. He did partially redeem himself with an interception, which he returned for 71 yards. I’d like to say that he improved as the game went on, but it would be fairer to say he improved against Mark Strike. In truth, I felt sorry for Turner. Baltimore’s offense was struggling all game, and after seeing how constant three and outs hurt Cushing against the Hawks the previous week, it’s easy to see how constantly being on the field against such a versatile offense was mentally and physically draining.

Ultimus Recap
In the interest of fairness, I have to remind everyone of a couple of numbers from the Season One Ultimus Bowl. Those numbers: 29, 6, and 5. Twenty-nine was how many points the Outlaws scored against the Yeti. Six was how many the Yeti scored back. Five was the number of pass attempts then backup QB King Bronko had. So, while last night’s game was a blowout, it isn’t the first championship blowout. That said, the Yeti went into the half down only 16-6, far more competitive than the Hawks were. Now, on to the game. The Hawks got embarrassed. At halftime, the score was 18-0, but the first half was more one-sided than even that looks. In the first half, the Hawks had already given up a touchdown, THREE field goals, and a safety. The Outlaws, conversely, had not even allowed the Hawks on to their side of the field. The Hawks didn’t get that honor until less than 18 minutes left in the game, with the score already 28-0. I would suggest that the Hawks were already in garbage time at that point. In fact, King Bronko was benched at the start of the fourth quarter as the Outlaws prepared to make it 31-3. From that point on, against backup Mark Strike (who threw two interceptions on only 7 attempts), the Hawks still failed to finish strong, outscoring the Outlaws second string only 6-5.

10/10

[sabills]

Graphic Points

Offensive Comparison:


Defensive Comparison:


Bottom Half:


Conference Final MVP Sig:


Playoff Recap Infographic:

[Raven]

Graphic Points

Offensive Comparison: Compare one offensive player from each team in a series in a side by side graphic.

Playoff Matchups: Make a graphic displaying the matchups in the first round of the playoffs. Must be completed before the simulation of the Conference Finals

Conference Final MVP Sig: Make a sig for a player of your choice who you felt was the MVP of a Conference Final matchup. Must be completed after the Conference Finals

[Saliva^]

oh really nice to put this only for workdays when I have no time for it as I have a lots of work irl. very smart

rip 10 tpe