(S15) - Ultimus Week

[Mooty99]

1) Solar Bears vs Luchadores review: This match was one hell of a way to get the playoffs started, with the tale of the tapes being 4 victories out of 4 for the luchadores in the regular season it was difficult to see how the solar bears would come back from that. But 4 defeats obviously taught the solar bears many lessons about there opposition and this could be seen in the way they lined up and played. The solar bears offensively shied away from to many passes and instead ran the ball down the throats of the luchadores, from the 1st drive to the last a lot of weight was put on the from three running backs of Mendonca, Bigby and Bortboy. The seeming picked up yards at will, grinding out an average of more than 4 yards with every run, and with 4 rushing touchdowns this showed. The other place that won the Solar Bears the victory was in it's back field, 5 interceptions destroyed the Luchadores with there QB Havran having one of his worst ever games. With these 2 elements a potential easy win for the luchadores turned into a crushing defeat, with only 2 late 4 quarter touchdowns from the luchadores making the score seem closer than the reality of the game. WC 211



6) Time of the Solar Bears: The solar bears went into their play off game as the underdog against a heavily fancied luchadores side but they now come out the other side as the favourites for the Ultimini victory over the Pythons. Both teams have strong running back stables with Mendonca, Bigby and Bortboy lining up against Torrenson, Stronglegs and NA, it is hard to pick between all these running back studs. However the new line up in the defensive back field for the solar bears is going to cause the pythons pick happy QB Armstrong problems. Armstrong threw 2 picks in their play off win and now must be shaking with fear as they face the solar bears backfield or stacked up 5 interceptions again the far stronger Luchadores. In comparison while the solar bears QB Cole had a much quieter night with less throws and a similar rating to Armstrong the number of interceptions he throws are far less, he is a safer pair of hands. So I believe that the solar bears are going to March to another victory and come Friday will be holding aloft the Ultimini, so get ready for open top parades through Palm Beach. Anyway where would you rather attend an open top parade, sunny Palm Beach or rainy Portland! WC 211



8) Solar Bears Strategies: Please note this has been written before the Ultimini final but win or lose you must always plan for the future, even when you are enjoying the spoils of the present. The strategy going forward for Palm Beach is 2 fold, replace those players leaving for the NSFL and retain the excellent recruitment that they has done in the middle of the season this year. This is likely to be the last season that we see running back Bigby, defensive end Maulolo and linebacker Nikko in the DSFL, these studs have been fundamental in the Solar Bears this season and are sure to have bright seasons in the NSFL in the future. The solar bears will be hoping to keep players such as QB Cole, TE Jensen and RB Mendonca around for another season, they have all played excellent this year for the Solar Bears and keeping them around would give the solar bears a huge advantage for a second successive trip to the post season in season 16. Lastly the entrance of new CB Adok and new WRs Molnat and Donut at the end of this season are great building for the future, if these player can continue to develop it will mean great things for the solar bears, and even a change from a run heavy team to a pass heavy team. WC 224


14) Solar Bears Magic Moment: Choosing a magic moment out of the solar bears vs the luchadores playoff match is difficult due to the sheer volume of them, in a game with 5 interceptions and a 41 yard rush for a touchdown this dilemma is understandable. But if you put a gun to.my head and force me to chose it would have to be the 1st interception by the solar bears. It was still the 1st quarter and while the bears were already up by 10 it certainly felt like it was all still to play for. The luchadores had only had 1 attempt at a drive at this point in the game, while it was a dismal 3 incomplete passes and out there fans were surely still hopeful that the favourite to win this game and the whole of the DSFL were surely only just getting going. The kick off was deep in the luchadores territory and only returned for 7, this was surely an ill omen for the luchadores. 1st and 10 for the Luchadores and QB Havran takes the snap and being deep in his own half with the solar bears pass rush looming panics he throw a crossing ball straight to safety Sinclaire who takes it back the 7 yards for a solar bears 1st and goal. This is then converted with ease by Bortboy and suddenly it is 17 - 0 with only 10 minutes being played! WC 237

[plantane]

1) Playoff Predictions, Reviews:
Written: Give a short write up of one or multiple playoff matches. If completed before the airing of the sims have predictions, after if it is a review the game.
Graphic: Make a graphic displaying the matchups in the playoffs. If completed before sim, predict scores and show stats, if after, give a summary of game showing stats and top performers.

The NFC Championship game was certainly one that went exactly as expected. The Coyotes and Pythons had split their series this season, with two wins each exclusively in the favor of the home team. Since the NFC Championship was being held in Portland, the advantage had to be given to the Pythons. Nobody could've predicted the game would've been as one-sided as it was, as both teams ended the season with the same record and had split their series, but it appeared that the home-field advantage truly was insurmountable for Kansas City. However, despite the victory, the game was an ugly one for Portland. With 5 turnovers, including one on the very last play of the game, Portland's offense didn't look like it had any chemistry or cohesion. The mixture of fumbles and interceptions on that side of the ball absolved any single player from all the blame, but it resulted in some ugly football. While the Portland defense was only able to force turnovers twice, keeping the Kansas City offense to only one score, especially under those conditions, is truly remarkable. One statistic that might be overlooked from the game is the penalties that really crippled the Coyotes. The Coyotes had 12 brutal penalties for 100 yards while the Pythons only had 4 for 35. While the game didn't end up very close, those 65 yards could've sparked a momentum shift in Kansas City's favor. In addition, if you actually solely take a look at time of possession and total yards, this game would appear much closer than it was. There was only an 8 second difference in time of possession and the Pythons only had 67 more yards (390 total) throughout the game. And yet, despite that and all of the troubling turnovers, the Pythons were still able to almost shut the Coyotes out. That resilience through numerous mistakes could be the deciding factor in the upcoming Ultimini game.

2) Underdog
Written: Write about one of the away teams in any matchup and explain why they can win. Must be completed before the sim.
Graphic: Create a graphic showing why the underdog will win

The returning Ultimini-champion Python team can't be looked at as anything but underdogs in this year's Ultimini Championship game. Both times that the Pythons and Solar Bears faced off this year, the Solar Bears came out with the victory. Regardless of in Palm Beach or Portland, the Pythons were unable to figure out how to outmatch the Solar Bears. In addition, the Ultimini game will be taking place in Palm Beach, which confers home-field advantage to the Solar Bears. While the Pythons have proven they could do it last year, they had home-field advantage and arguably a better squad to do it with. In the NFC championship game, the Portland offense gave the ball away 5 times. However, I believe that the Pythons still have a great chance to win the Ultimini game this year. Despite these 5 turnovers in the NFC championship game, the Pythons were able to hold the Coyotes to only 7 total points throughout the entire game. In addition, the Solar Bears only beat the Pythons by 3 and 2 points in each game this season. That is not an insurmountable mountain to overcome and with the proper preparation, Portland could cause an upset. In addition, the Solar Bears are 3rd and 5th in the league in points scored and allowed, respectively. The Pythons have been able to hold 2nd place in the league for both of these categories. Home-field advantage may not be enough to help the Solar Bears overcome their 5th in the league defense when faced with a 2nd in the league offense. When it comes to yards and yards allowed, the teams are much closer, but as the NFC championship game showed, yards and turnovers don't necessarily reflect how the game will go. One thing to watch out for is the Solar Bears' 2nd in the league rushing yards going against Portland's 4 in the league rushing defense. However, with all of the other things in Portland's favor, I can definitely see them pulling out the victory even in Palm Beach.

3) All about the QBs
Written: Write 200 words on one of the QB matchups in this year's playoffs. What are you most excited to see (Or excited to have seen), who will play better (Or who played better), etc.
Graphic: Create a graphic on a QB matchup, (Pictures with side-by-side statistics).

The NFC championship game was surprisingly full of a lot of ugly quarterback play by both Armstrong and Jenkins. With three picks between the two of them and one touchdown pass each, neither ended the game with a particularly impressive QB rating. In addition, both quarterbacks hit on about 50% of their pass attempts, but they at least did have strong average yards per catch. Armstrong attempted 12 more passes than Jenkins, but was only able to land 5 more completions, which isn't a particularly impressive feat. In addition, Armstrong attempted to run the ball twice in the game, but each time only provided the team a single yard. One important statistic, though, is that Armstrong only had 9 3rd downs and he was able to convert 6 of them. Now, this is a result of both an efficient offensive showing and also the frequent turnovers that plagued the Portland offense. Jenkins was only able to lead the Coyotes to 3 3rd down conversions out of 13 attempts, which is an ugly showing for that offense. Jenkins also led the Coyotes to convert 2 out of 3 4th down attempts while Armstrong never needed to try for a 4th down conversion. In addition, this disparity is not a result of time of possession, as Portland was able to create 18 first downs while Kansas City was able to convert 16 first downs. While the Pythons were able to truly dominate the Coyotes, based on quarterback play alone, it is hard to say if either Armstrong or Jenkins truly stood out as the superior player.

6) Our Time
Written: Why should your team be looked at the favorite to win the Ultimus or Ultimini.
Graphics: Show with a graphic why your team is/was the best team.

There are a lot of reasons why you should bet on the Pythons to win the Ultimini this season as well. Obviously, we are the reigning Ultimini champions, but with the player turnaround in the DSFL, that doesn't always lead itself to imply that we would have an advantage. A lot of key players stayed around after last season though, such as our star quarterback Franklin Armstrong. With him leading the offense and defensive veterans such as myself and Lanzer Grievous on defense, the Pythons didn't start the season even close to square one. On the contrary, us three were able to take the league by storm from the beginning and even though the team isn't quite what it was last season, it maintained a dominance appropriate for the reigning champions. In terms of statistics and numbers, the Pythons are second in the league for both points scored and allowed, which, at the end of the day matters much more than yards or any other metric. Points win games after all, not yards. In contrast, the Solar Bears are only 3rd and 5th in points allowed and scored, respectively, which puts the Pythons at a distinct advantage for the numbers that really matter. Even without home-field advantage, the Pythons are looking to show off their playoff experience and maintain that positive point differential that they've had all season. In addition, the Solar Bears were able to beat the Pythons twice this season, including once at home, but the difference in score was only 3 and 2 in the games. A deficit of 3 is definitely conquerable, especially with the adrenaline of the Ultimini rushing through the players. While it may seem that the Solar Bears have this one in the books based on the previous meetings this past season, I expect the Pythons to surprise many people in the Ultimini.

[White Cornerback]

CHOOSE 4 TASKS, EACH WILL BE REWARDED 2.5 TPE FOR COMPLETION FOR A MAXIMUM OF 10 TPE

1) Playoff Predictions, Reviews:
Written: Give a short write up of one or multiple playoff matches. If completed before the airing of the sims have predictions, after if it is a review the game.
Graphic: Make a graphic displaying the matchups in the playoffs. If completed before sim, predict scores and show stats, if after, give a summary of game showing stats and top performers.

I'm going to preface this by saying I fully expect the San Jose Sabercats to win the S15 Ultimus. While the 12-2 Baltimore hawks do have the advantage in terms of regular season record and H2H (2-0 in regular season V San Jose). I believe that the Sabercats are right on the end of their title challenging hopes with a core that is getting older by the season. San Jose have atleast a title already for their efforts and I believe they will head out of S15 with another.

In terms of San Jose's offence, they are an absolute powerhouse. Christ is at his absolute peak and continues to dominate the field as a playcaller. Running the ball up the gut is Chris Orosz, not a top player but he gets it done. Flash, Justice and Oles are that wide out three headed monster for the 'Cats.

Defensively San Jose is still stacked. A BIG front four of Sackerman, Riposte, Poopsie and Tuck leads the defensive charge. In their LB corps, there's still no weakness as longtime 'cat and former Wraith Chad Pennington is the defensive leader alongside Kolby Derringer. Their defensive backs are bolstered by notable play making stars such as Staley, Tuck and none other than the other Pennington, Thad.

I truly believe that the Sabercats are too well rounded to drop the Ultimus to the Hawks. Baltimore is no slouch either as there team has been built through incredible drafting and shrewd trade practices which netted them big players.

All in all, San Jose not only should win according to moi, I believe that they have to win now because they wont in the future. I think by the end of the 1st it'll likely be a close one still. Maybe even by the second seperated by less than a score and a half, by the third San Jose will pull away. Might even look along the lines of 31 - 14 before Baltimore fights back for it to finish 31-24 to San Jose.

6) Our Time
Written: Why should your team be looked at the favorite to win the Ultimus or Ultimini.
Graphics: Show with a graphic why your team is/was the best team.

Why should my team (the Norfolk Seawolves) be the favorite to win the Ultimini this season? Because we are a team full of incredible prospects that has single handedly managed to take the entire league by storm.

Norfolk started the season on fire! and by on fire I meant they got whomped 37-10 on the road to the Portland Pythons. But then the leaguewide dominance would begin with a 3 game consecutive game winning streak as they torched the Marshals by just a single point, The Coyotes by 22 and finally the Pythons again by a blistering 5 point deficit. The Seawolves put the league on blast, early and often!

A sneaky loss to the Luchadores meant that Norfolk sat in pole position with a 3-2 record. And oh yes of course the dominance continued as we beat the coyotes by another incredible point, 23-22. But that's when other teams started fluking some dubs agains the dominant Seawolves. 6 losses from the remaining 8 games it ended, or so you thought.

The Norfolk Seawolves are the incredibly heavy favourites to win the Ultimini this season in my head. Why ? Because I am clearly delusional and have no real grasp of the concept of reality. Infact to the uneducated eye, it may look like Norfolk aren't even in the playoffs or that somehow they finished with the 2nd worst record in the league, bottom of their conference. But to me? An intellectual? We're already champs.

7) Next year
Written: If your team has been eliminated, why will next year, or the year after that, be the year that your team is going to win the Ultimus or Ultimini.
Graphics: Create a statistical summary of what improvements your team has made from the previous year or why your team was better than their record.

Listen, I fucked up in the last Ultimus task. I wrote it when my feelings and emotions were obviously very high and as a result I may have come off as a deluded madman. Now to answer the question. I believe the Norfolk will win the S16 Ultimus because of the incredible GM at the helm. No I am not talking about that absolute idiot moron fool ignoramus ignorant moron (x2) scorp dofus dork idiot jimbo. I refuse to speak about the man who valued getting his own trash player 2k yards instead of actually making dc's (and completing them by filling in the blanks with the teams players, because that's the important part). Instead I will talk about the incredibly competent GM which is of course Gucci.

I believe that the ultra competent GM that is Gucci will turn it around for the SeaWolves through shrewd trading that leads to gaps in the roster effectively being plugged in short time. I believe that the Seawolves core (without Lavelle Jr.) will actually be stronger than ever and will be able to build on the misery of a season that S15 culminated in. Gucci's ability to lead the charge and condition an active discord LR will be worth it's weight in S16 when Norfolk takes home the gold.

8) Strategies
Written: Unless you won the Championship, what changes does your team need to make in the offseason to improve your chances next year.
Graphics: Create a graphic showing the holes in your team and how to overcome them.

I'm not going to talk about Norfolk for this one. I'm gonna talk about my former team, the Yellowknife Wraiths.

The Yellowknfie Wraiths didn't actually perform bad this season, even according to their many and many naysayers around the league. Yellowknife finished with a pretty decent 7-7 record considering it all. This was of course good enough for the 5th best record in the league and give or take 2 wins could've found themselves in the seat of the playoffs. What changes does Yellowknife need in the offseason? Well, I'll tell you.

QB: As it stands, they have a stud in Cooter who will no doubt become a headline name in the leagues career leaderboards.

RB: With Wizardry moving on , Yellowknife has a standout in Canton and the young Marshall in the fold.

WR: Swift, Parker, Helanen and the aging Pennington. YKW are set here.

TE: Franklin Harris Jr. That's literally it since Adrian Pitcher was released.

OL: Bots.

On Defense:

DL: Old man Waiters , dedicated and old Skinner, Foster and the young Leaf Jr. Wraiths could do with a decent pickup here wheher in the draft or offseason.

LB: 2X LBOTY Selich leads the charge alongside the young Bakashi. Yellowknife could do with a pickup here or by adding to their young core with another LB.

CB: Snuggles (who has the potential to be a franchise legend), Dugnutt who has seen better days and the soon to be retired QB turned CB, Ryan Applehort. Wraiths could do with another cornerback here.

FS/SS: Soon to be retired Taylor, Uchiha & Knurtsson. Yellowknife might make a pitch for potental DB free agents.

K/P: Harris Jr. No need here.

[dizzyDC]

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1) Playoff Predictions, Reviews:
Written: Give a short write up of one or multiple playoff matches. If completed before the airing of the sims have predictions, after if it is a review the game.

Alrighty, so here a brief overview of the Palm Beach Solar Bears stunning victory over the Tijuana Luchadores. Coming into this game, the Solar Bears had not beaten the Luchadores even once during the regular season and with home field advantage, I'm sure most people saw the league leading Luchadores as the favorites to move onto the Ultimini Championship game. Rookie phenom QB Easton Cole had a slow day for the Solar Bears only completing 6 of 15 attempts for 60 yards. The Solar Bears won this contest through their run game featuring Mendonca who ran for 110 yards on 21 attempts for 2 touchdowns and their defense that came away with 5 interceptions from Gilsack, McKinney (2), Adok, and Sinclaire. It's tough for any team to overcome that number of turnovers. This shouldn't take away from the performance of Forrest Gump for the Luchadores though who had 142 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns to cap off a very impressive season from him. Overall, the Luchadores were still impressively in this game despite the turnovers, but the Solar Bears move on to the Championship round by a score of 34-23 where they will face none other than the returning champions Portland Pythons where the Solar Bears were actually victorious in their regular season match ups.

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3) All about the QBs
Written: Write 200 words on one of the QB matchups in this year's playoffs. What are you most excited to see (Or excited to have seen), who will play better (Or who played better), etc.

Okay, I am going to be discussing the quarterback match up of the DSFL championship game with Easton Cole of the Palm Beach Solar Bears and Franklin Armstrong of the Portland Pythons. Let's first take a look at their overall regular season stats. Of the quarterbacks who actually played in all 14 games Cole and Armstrong were ranked number 1 and 2 in quarterback rating with Cole scoring an 88.1 and Armstrong scoring 77.1. Additionally they were similarly 1 and 2 in touchdown passes thrown with Cole throwing 17 and Armstrong throwing 14. The 2 were tied for a league low 9 interceptions thrown. Neither quarterback was throwing as much as Corvo Havran, but they were still second and third in passing yards, with Cole throwing with more accuracy. As mentioned in task 1, Cole didn't have an outstanding day in the first round of the playoffs and was helped out significantly by his run game and defense. Armstrong in the first round went 16 of 32 for 174 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. Both quarterbacks are going to be looking for a little bit of redemption in the championship after lackluster performances. I'm personally AND TOTALLY UNBIASED excited to see what Cole can do in this game. He's been phenomenal all season and just seems like one of those guys who is destined to be in the spotlight. I think that we will see a big game from him in the championship.

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6) Our Time
Written: Why should your team be looked at the favorite to win the Ultimus or Ultimini.

So, obviously I think that the Palm Beach Solar Bears are going to come home with the Ultimini Championship, let's break it down. First of all, the Solar Bears are going to be playing this game with home field advantage which can be quite significant in the sim. The residents of south Florida are going to be coming out in droves to cheer on their bears, so you can only imagine how tough of an environment it will be for the Pythons. The second reason that the Solar Bears will be coming home with the victory is that is that the Solar Bears already have a proven track record against the snakey bois from Oregon this season. We managed to beat them twice in a home and home series (albeit they were close games) and even won our preseason match up. Sure people could point to the fact that Tijuana whooped us all season and then we won in the playoffs, but this team is not settling for 2nd place. The last reason is that the Solar Bears are going to be turning it up with a whole bunch of new roster additions that already made themselves known in the first round against the Luchadores. All-in-all, this is going to be a very close game, but it just has to be the Solar Bears that walk away with the victory.

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14) That Magic Moment
Writen: Pick one moment from a playoff game and describe what made it so amazing to watch.

So "That Magic Moment" for the Solar Bears came in the first quarter of the first round of the playoffs against the Tijuana Luchadores. Not so much a singular moment, but a quick succession of plays that really set the tone of the game. Here is that succession of plays. After already being up 3-0 in the first quarter, the Solar Bears receive a punt. On the second play of the drive, Mendonca bust off a 41 yard touchdown run to put the Solar Bears up 10-0. The Solar Bears then kick off and the Luchadores bring the kick out. On the first play of their offensive series, Corvo Havran would throw an interception to Sinclaire who would return the pick down to the 4 yard line where Bortboy would knock in the touchdown on the next play. In a blink of an eye, the Solar Bears went from being up 3-0 to being up 17-0 in the first quarter. Sure, there was still a whole lot of game left to play and the Luchadores would start to make a comeback in reality, but hard to not look at the beginning of that first quarter and think that the Solar Bears wouldn't be walking away with the win. There have been very few times as a player or GM that I have seen a sequence of quick scoring like that. Yes, it does happen, but in Palm Beach short tenure as a human team it was one of the first times I've seen it for us.

[TomHanks]

Strategies
Well now here’s the thing. I design the strategies and I really thought we had a good one coming into the conference championship. We practiced extensively, and really got dialed in both on offense and defense. Thing is, clearly that didn’t translate to the field. When you design a tactic that results in your quarterback throwing 5 interceptions, you’ve made a pretty serious miscalculation as a general manager. With the talent we have in the receiving core, there’s no reason that should ever happen. As such, I want to apologize to my team and to Corvo, because the blame for that falls on my shoulders. For next season, we have to modify our passing plays to get guys open, instead of forcing Corvo to throw into coverage every time he drops back. Initially I want to get some short crossing routes going, since he makes some really good throws once he gets in a rhythm. That way, as the game progresses, we’ll be able to stretch the defense a little more, especially if our running game is as efficient as it was that game. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention our defense. The best defense in the league allowing 17 unanswered points in the 1st quarter absolutely blindsided us and had us scrambling the rest of the game. The strength of the defense during the regular season was built on getting to the quarterback, and I clearly used the wrong blitz packages in that game. Lesson learned, don’t try to get cute, just use what worked during the season.

Head to Head Matchups
I want to talk about a matchup that was electrifying no matter what side of the ball you were on in the SFC conference championship, the offensive player of the game, Forrest Gump (shameless plug) facing off against new Palm Beach signing and defensive player of the game (on his debut!!) Daniel Gilsack. On 27 carries, Forrest scampered for 142 yards and found pay dirt three times albeit the last two were when the game was pretty much decided, with the last one coming with 24 seconds left to make it a 2-possession game. Not all that useful that late in the game. Even still, Forrest is as Forrest does, and he continued to perform at a high level that game. Gilsack, however, came out of nowhere, walking onto the team for the playoffs, netting 10 tackles and being a monster for Corvo Havran, getting both a sack and an interception. Gilsack was all over the field and was consistently either tackling Forrest or forcing him into a position where a teammate would be able to make the tackle. The same can be said about his linebacking partner and proven talent, Guy Nikko, who also had 10 tackles. Every time the team got going, and especially Forrest, one of those two linebackers made a key tackle that slowed the team right down.

All About the QBs
I was going to avoid talking about Tijuana in this one for what I imagine are pretty obvious reasons, but the Palm Beach Tijuana game was such a masterclass in bizarre quarterback play that I can’t ignore it. These were, in my mind, the top 2 quarterbacks this season, but it was not on display that game. I’ve already talked about Havran’s five interceptions in the strategies task so I don’t want to focus too much on that. But what I didn’t mention was his 25.6 passer rating. If you drop back and throw every ball into the dirt, your passer rating is 39.6. So that figure is just, really something. It’s not quite Nathan Peterman numbers, but it’s still something. Granted, he had 40 attempts and completed 17 of them for 266 yards which is very efficient, and nothing to scoff at. On the other hand, Palm Beach’s Easton Cole dropped back a mere 15 times, and only completed 6 of those passes for a grand total of 60 yards. He, like Corvo, never found the end zone, but he avoided throwing any picks and ended up almost exactly doubling his passer rating with a 52.1. Cole also ran the ball 3 times for 6 yards, although his longest run of the day was 6 yards, where Corvo ran 8 times for a total of 37 yards.

Playoff Predictions
I’m not exactly being bold with this prediction but let me tell you why the Baltimore Hawks are taking home the Ultimus this season. First of all, the first and second favourites for MVP this season are both on this team, and somehow are both on offense. If your quarterback and running back are both putting up numbers better than anyone else in their position in the league, you’ve got an offense that is firing on all cylinders. In terms of points, total yards, and passing yards, this team is the best offense in the league, and in terms of points allowed they are the best in their conference, and the second best in the league. Granted, the number one defense in the league by that metric is their opponents, the San Jose Sabercats. SJ is also the reigning champs, meaning they know how to win in the playoffs (lmao). The problem is that SJ just doesn’t have anything close to the offense that the Hawks have. Joliet Christ has thrown for 3576 yards this season and 17 TDs, and Orosz, their running back, has rushed for 772 yards with 4.3 yards per carry and 8 touchdowns. Childish Gambino has thrown for 4328 yards and 45(?!?) TDs, breaking the all time record. Brown has added 1577 yards on the ground, on far more carries than Orosz, but he’s still been noticeably more efficient with 4.5 YPC. Oh, he’s also managed to get in the end zone 14 times, making him the only running back to get there in double digit figures.

[soryantyler]

PBE PT

[gucci]

1) Playoff Predictions - Ultimus preview

In the Ultimus this year we have a kind of strange situation, as the defending champion San Jose Sabercats look like the Underdogs going up against the Baltimore Hawks and their juggernaut offense. While this could be a sore spot for the two teams who will both likely face heavy offseason losses, they will get a chance to add a second banner in their respective stadiums before they have to deal with the upcoming losses. Baltimore is the unstoppable offense here, but they have had slip ups throughout the season. San Jose is an elite defensive squad with a very good offense themselves, but have had the occasional slip up themselves this year.

This game is a bit of a toss up really, as both teams will be pulling out all of the stops and are very much in win now mode. The receiving trio of Squanch, Maddox, and Valentine go up against the equally formidable trio of Oles, Flash, and Justice in a matchup that could end up coming down to whoever moves the ball more effectively through the air. Right now it’s very hard for me to pick a winner, but I’m going to give a slight edge to the Sabercats and their formidable defense. It’s also never easy to bet against the reigning champs.

San Jose 24 – Baltimore 20

3) All about the QBs

In the SFC conference of the DSFL this year, we had a very interesting matchup in the first round. We had the Palm Beach Solar Bears take on the Tijuana Luchadores for a spot in the Ultimini. Palm Beach QB Easton Cole, rumored to be a target for the Austin Copperheads expansion team in the upcoming draft, and Baltimore’s heir to the quarterback position, Tijuana’s Corvo Havran, squared off in a matchup of young pup vs wily vet. Needless to say, Havran was expected to be the more effective of the two.

That’s not necessarily what ended up happening. Though Cole put up rather pathetic numbers, 6/15 for 60 yards, Havran one-upped him by having one of the worst playoff performances ever. Havran was 17/40 for a respectable 266 yards, however, he threw 0 TDs and 5 INTs in the game, spoiling any chance his team had in the game. Palm Beach relied on Cole to take care of the football, which he did very well, and let their running game lead them to victory. The rest of the Tijuana squad put in some superhero performances, but could not overcome Havran’s terrible day at the office. The Baltimore front office will be a little uneasy about the transition to Havran next year at quarterback, this game only served to exacerbate those concerns.

5) Spotlight on Youth

Last season, I had a chance to speak with San Antonio Marshals prospect, Walt Green, just after his team’s disappointing playoff exit. This year Walt will be in much better spirits as his team is preparing for the Ultimus against the San Jose Sabercats. While I didn’t get a chance to speak to him this season, as he’s tucked away somewhere preparing for the big game, I will review his fantastic rookie season that will likely see him as a contender for Defensive Rookie of the Year in the NSFL.

Walt was one of two safeties selected by Baltimore, the other being the talented Turkish player Fatih Terim from the Palm Beach Solar Bears. Walt filled up the stat sheet this season in Baltimore with 59 tackles, 1 for loss, both a forced fumble and a fumble recovery, 3 sacks, 2 interceptions, 4 passes defended, 1 of the 3 safeties that occurred in the league this season, and a defensive touchdown. He couldn’t have asked for a much better start to his career. Unfortunately, I only get a vote for the DSFL awards, or I would be nominating Walt Green as my Defensive Rookie of the Year this season in the NSFL.

10) Rivalries

I believe that we’ve witnessed the end of an era in Orange County. The Otters are the most successful team in NSFL history by quite some ways, but I believe we’re witnessing the end of an era. Next year they will lose star receiver Carlito Crush in a move that will weaken their pass-heavy offense substantially. While we’ve witnessed the emergence of Johnny Blaze and Apollo Reed this season, expansion is coming for us all, and Orange County is no exception. After drafting a QB in one of the early rounds of the last NSFL draft (and committing 16m of their cap space to him this season), there are now suspicions that the player lacks reliability and may not be the long term replacement for Showbiz they thought he was.

San Jose is back in their second straight championship game, Arizona took Orange County down to the wire in their first season of moderate success following a rebuild, and New Orleans continues to stock up on young talent as they look to emerge from a rebuild of their own. The walls are closing in on the Otters and we may be seeing the dynasty’s demise sooner rather than later. I guess we’ll see.

[Jonny2x]

1)PBE PT

2) Playoff Predictions
The Baltimore Hawks are about to take on the San Jose SaberCats for the Ultimus Championship. The SaberCats are the defending champions but it certainly feels like they are the underdogs this year. It is unbelievable to make that statement considering they finished the season with an 11-3 record and never even lost 2 games in a row. However to repeat as champions they have to go face the juggernaut that was this season in the Baltimore Hawks. The Hawks finished with a 12-2 record. Their offense put 520 points on the board, almost 200 more than second place. To put that into perspective the team that scored the second most points was only 100 better than the team that scored the least amount of points this season! That is super impressive on its own but, oh by the way, they also had the second best defense in the league. Many will try to pit this game as #1 offense versus #1 defense and they would be technically correct. Though the offensive matchup of 1 ersus 4 feels more like 1 versus 24 while the defense feels very 1 versus 2. Still not convinced the SaberCats are in for a world of hurt? They lost 3 times this year, 2 of them were to the Hawks. I see this game ending in a very convincing Hawks victory, 33-17.

3) All about the QBs



4) Expansion Teams
As a running back, I would surely bolster my expansion team’s offense. For this reason, I would draft and sign heavily towards defense. I would start up front. I would pair a run stuffing Defensive Tackle with a screaming edge rusher. These two positions improve the positions around them immensely. AS an expansion team we would most likely struggle to fill all areas with talented players in our first season. I believe the two positions described above can make bad players around them average and more importantly average players look good.

If I had the luxury of a third star available to me in our first season, I would look for a lockdown corner. Again this is a position that improves others around them. A lock down corner allows for the opposite side to receive help nearly one hundred percent of the time. If I am lucky enough to land a late round corner who is competent on the opposite side of my star, it opens up avenues for my safeties to help out my neglected linebacker position.

Having myself at running back long term and landing those three defensive stars would make us respectable in the first season. Then, we could look to find a quarterback of the future in the second year. Though this is probably a different approach than most general managers would take, I think it would work out very well.

[PigSnout]

PT Pass

[ven_knight]

1) Playoff Review: Palm Beach Solar Bears vs Tijuana Luchadores
The Solar Bears had a surprising turnaround for season 15 and they were looking to keep on showing how much they had improved. But to reach the Ultimini, they needed to get through a tough game in Tijuana against the SFC top team. Let's see how things unfold; during the 1st quarter, Palm Beach had control of the game with some impressive rushing series by Mako Mendonca who went to score a 41 yard touchdown. Additionally, Tijuana just couldn't find anything in the rushing game and Havran threw 2 costly interceptions that ended up in 7 points. Things looked better for the Luchadores in the 2nd quarter, with Gump finding the endzone after a 12 yard run; after stopping the Solar Bears on 2 straight offensive series, Tijuana scored again with a 46 yard field goal by Kyle Frost. That was the last relevant play until the end of the first half.

Having a score of 17-10, the game could go either way and Tijuana knew that they had to keep up with the momentum they gained in the 2nd quarter. Unfortunately, Havran yet again threw consecutive interceptions, with one of them ending in a 3 yard rushing touchdown by Mendonca. Luchadores tried again the passing attack but things got out of hand with one more interception that gave the Solar Bears the opportunity to almost seal the game by scoring another touchdown now with a 1 yard run by Bigby. At the start of the 4th quarter, Castleberry made a 42 yard field goal to put the score 34 to 10 in favor of the Solar Bears. Even tough Tijuana tried to make a combat with a great effort by Gump and Havran, time wasn't enough and the game finished with the score 34 to 23. Excellent plays by RB Mendoca (21 att, 110 yards, 2 TDs) and LBs Nikko and Gilsack (combined for 20 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack, 3 passes defended and 1 interception) helped the Solar Bears to get an impressive win against Luchadores and look for an Ultimus win.

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4) Head to Head Matchups: San Jose LBs vs Marquise Brown
S15 Ultimus is all set, with the San Jose SaberCats ready to take on the Baltimore Hawks. San Jose managed to reach the final game again, just like last season and is looking to win back-to back championships. But the Hawks are not an easy team to contain with all their offensive weapons. So a key matchup for this game will be how LBs Chad Pennington and Kolby Deringer manage to contain RB Marquise Brown.

Since Baltimore QB Childish Gambino announced his retirement at the beginning of the season, most of the offensive load has been trusted into Brown and that can be seen with his seasons stats of 1577 yards and 14 touchdowns (both 1st in the league). He's also coming with the designation of offensive player of the game after his 96 yards, 2 touchdowns performance against Philadelphia Liberty.

Although the task at hand may seem overwhelming, you can count with Pennington and Deringer being a reliable duo in the middle of the season. They had an overall good performance during the season (both combined for 190 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 forced fumble, 12 sacks, 3 interceptions and 18 passes defended) and a good playoff game against the Otters in which they allowed just 100 rushing yards (their combines stats were 11 tackles, 1 sack and 2 passes defended). Both players must bring their best against Brown, specially Pennington against the run and Deringer helping the defensive backs with coverage.

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5) Spotlight on Youth: SS Fatih Terim
S15 NSFL Draft brought a talented pool of players into the league and there are 2 rising stars among the defensive backs which Baltimore had the fortune to select: FS Walt Green and SS Fatih Terim. For this writing I want to give some highlight to Terim's performance over the season. Even though he's a rookie, he showed that he has the potential to become a very successful safety in the league with a good performance in which he had 47 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 7 sacks, 2 interceptions and 3 passes defended. He didn't get as much attention as his rookie teammate Green, but he surely made some plays when it mattered the most. Looking into his playoff performance, he finished the game against Philadelphia with just 4 tackles, good but certainly not as impressive as some of his regular season games. That changed for the Ultimus, where he truly shone with the following stats: 7 tackles (most among his teammates) and 1 forced fumble.

With the expansion draft coming for the next season, Baltimore may lose some of their key defensive players, but they surely have a young core of defensive backs that deserve a good follow up into their development, being Terim an interesting player of this bunch, who’s looking to build up on what he just showed us during his season debut.

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7) Next year
Unfortunately for the Outlaws, a playoff appearance went away with an ugly loss against the Otters on Week 13. Nonetheless, I felt like the team did great in spite of the many young players that came from the S15 draft and that where asked to start right away. The past season, with a 2-12 record, proved that Arizona needed a lot of help from the previously mentioned draft and SwagSloth did an impressive job with the players he selected. It showed sooner that I would have expected, with a 6-8 performance.

For all of these reasons, I believe that Arizona has a chance to make it into the playoffs the upcoming season 16. All of us young players are only getting better; for the offense, Reese finally has better weapons in WR Landers (strong OROTY candidate) and TE Irving (look for him helping to move the chains and as a red zone threat). In the case of the defense, DT Morris is sure to become the QBs greatest nightmare and LB Lee is shaping up to be the perfect partner for LB Vans in the middle. Also, don't sleep on Stokeley, he may be more involved in the games for next season; lastly the defensive backs come from a good season with safeties McKinnie and Mack showing they can be trusted as starters, and CBs Mughes and Knight working their respective side of the field. The upcoming expansion and Season 16 draft should be interesting (even though there's a possibility to lose some important players) for strengthening some key positions like K, RB, DE/DT or CB and make an easier task for the team to reach the playoffs.

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