(S24) - Ultimus Week

[hotdog]

PBE CW - 2.5 TPE

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It’s once again expansion season in the ISFL. Reflect on the additions of the New York Silverbacks and Berlin Fire Salamanders and discuss how these teams will affect the league. How do you see scheduling or playoff seeding potentially changing? How will these teams change the power balances in their respective conferences? How do you think each team should go about building their roster, whether it’s through the expansion draft, regular draft, or many seasons down the line?

Given the expansion rules, I feel like these teams are pretty set up for success. not necessarily immediately on the field, though that opportunity is certainly there should they wish to pursue it. With each team only getting 8 protection slots, there's a lotttttttttt of juicy picks to be had, both old and young. This wasn't really the case in SHL expansion, so you saw those two teams both adopt a pretty middle approach, focusing on whatever slim amount of talent was available overall instead of focusing on only young talent or only young talent. Here, there's actually a lot available, so if one team wants to focus on competing now and the other on building for the future, they'll probably be able to do that. The entire league setup here is different too, so that plays a role. In SHL, there's really only one way to success and that's building it up over a long period of time with home-grown talent and team-friendly contracts to assemble a deep ass team, then maybe supplementing that with FAs and trades as needed. Depth is important there, so a half-in half-out approach won't work. Here, the sim is so much more random that that could work. It doesn't seem like a massive amount of depth is required, so assembling a team from scraps may go better. We see that already with Sarasota doing so well in the regular season just a couple seasons after expansion. It takes less time to build up a team here, so I am jealous!

I do like elements of both teams' branding. New York should have a team for sure, so it's great to see that added. Silverbacks is a pretty cool name, the real jungle - concrete jungle connection is cool, and the logo looks nice. I don't love the NY font on the logo (i get it, I just don't like it), but the rest is sweet imo. For berlin, i don't get wound up either way about the location - some people love the international component and feel like it's a requirement, others hate it, i don't really give a shit, just put a team where you want to. i don't, however, love the name. As others have pointed out, it's super clunky and doesn't sound amazing. The logo is good, and i think the little mini logo for the forum button actually looks awesome lol. that's my favorite component, as it turns out.   this guy right here, looks good. 

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415 words - 5 TPE

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Create an argument for your own player, or for someone else on your team, as to why they should be nominated for awards. Lay out their stats or compare them to other contenders. Make a convincing case.

I think Heath Evans should run away with the Tight End of the Year Award. Interestingly, Evans had a bit of a down year last season when the rest of our offense was buzzing, and did extremely well this season when our offense overall was a bit worse. Clearly it is his fault! Anyway, Evans led the entire league in receptions, with 13 more than the second place finisher and 18 more than the third. That alone is worth extensive consideration for the best tight end of the season, but it can also be added that he led all tight ends in touchdowns as well (well, tied, but shhhhh). He was also second among tight ends in terms of yards, although Phillips is listed in the index as a FB so does he even count? Not really sure tbh but Evans was a rock for Arizona and definitely deserves this award! If you look at the other contenders, no one is really on Heep Ebans' level. You have Angler up there in all the same categories, and it would be a tough choice between the two, but I've heard Angler lines up at WR and is thus ineligible for the award. As such, the biggest contenders would be Phillips or McCormick but the stats between those two and Evans aren't all that close. 

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223 words

2.5 + 5 + 2.5 = 10!

[StamkosFan]

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5) Write 800 words or more on something that interests you. It could be related to statistics, to a league issue you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 800 words about your team’s Werewolf server. Be warned that freedom comes with risk, and this category will be judged especially stringently for anyone trying to spew complete nonsense.

The future is always something that intrigues me, because you never know what it may hold. I'm referring to the near future and the looming expansion, with two teams that might shape up to be a bit better than is expected. After Sarasota is a competitive team so shortly after entering the league, it really opens the doors and proves what is possible in those first years. Both Gms have been actively scouting the unprotected players, trying to build an active LR and a competitive team, and I really think everyone should have high hopes for their futures. Woelkers is very well known and a friendly fellow, a great candidate for GMing and an obvious choice. He is well liked by just about everyone and has been very involved with the league for many seasons now. Dewalt is obviously newer to the job but just as eager to get the ball rolling and put his team together, and might I add he has great taste in music. He also has gotten some experience in the DSFL, so he has some prior practice and an idea how management works. The plans for Dewalt's team include an open LR to ensure activity and to keep everyone on the team engaged. You don't want a dead chat that makes everyone's activity fall off a cliff and with a newer team, it's harder to build connections and spark conversations. It is refreshing to see someone with a plan to tackle these issues.

Of course, no matter how well managed or how cool the GMs are, it is unlikely that the teams will be in playoff spots in their first year. The inaugural season is usually pretty rough, and these guys won't be any different even with the current teams having shallow 8 man protection lists. I expect the two teams to both be at the bottom of their respective divisions, and I think players who end up there will have to plan to wait a few seasons, maybe even as much as half a career. That is the down side to being expansion selected and why exposed players are really hesitant to be snapped up, but still, if your team doesn't protect you, you might be interested in a change of scenery. The most difficult task might be for the expansion teams to convince these players, many of whom have already been waiting on a rebuild for years, to stick around and wait out some not-so-fun seasons with poor performance in the standings. Money, playing time, and the ability to have a lasting legacy on a team will be the best weapons to sell people. Of course, maybe they can sign a bunch of free agents and turn things around quickly, but I have my doubts. It has not happened in the past, so there is no reason to expect every free agent on the market to go running to an expansion team this time around. One or two signings with expansion teams is a more realistic expectation, and even for that, it will take an epic pitch to persuade unsigned players to pick a new franchise as their top destination. Coveted landing spots usually are the more settled, and more skilled, teams with large fanfare.

The other thing to consider with expansion is how losing some players will effect each team. I think teams like Arizona, who have a bunch of young people and were just getting up to a higher skill level, will be set back quite a bit and could lose two high value targets. The top teams like Colorado, Sarasota, Orange County, and San Jose can expect to have their rosters weakened; their depth is a major factor in their powerful seasons, so they will not be too happy to see value pieces gone for nothing. Not getting any compensation certainly is the worst part of expansion, and it can even feel a bit like theft. I imagine they'll have mapped out some plans and will figure out a way around these losses; I wouldn't expect the effects to be too great, but they will weaken them to some degree. They may not be the same dominant teams they are today. Expansion is an opportunity for the playing field to be equalized and the rebuilders to gain some ground, as they have much fewer valuable assets to lose. It will be a good occasion for bottom tier teams' parity and an injury for the top teams' roster, that seems about certain. There is no way of getting around giving up something to expansion for everyone though, and it will not be easy for teams to part with players who have served them for years. At least the newest prospects and young players are automatically protected; you can't lose someone to expansion right after you drafted them. That certainly comes as a relief to rebuilders, who count on top young guns to get back into the fray and breathe some life into their squad.

[huck24]

Tier 1: Long Form Tasks (800+ words)

#5

I have just joined the league, well technically I haven’t yet, since I have yet to be drafted by a DFSL team.  I created a player last week, this is the second simulation league that I have ever done, the first being the SHL, which is also the reason I am here.  I’ve been a fan of football for my whole like and I was on the fence about creating a player for a while, but I finally pulled the trigger. 

With the actual draft still a while away, I’m left to wonder where my player, linebacker Vincent Jones Jr., may end up, and what the starting point of their career will be.  I am and hopefully always will be a big fan of being a team player.  I don’t really care how my individual player does, as long as the team is winning.  But let’s not kid ourselves, everyone wants their player to be the best they can be, so I wanted to see what the upper echelon of linebackers in the league were.  Who is the best right now?  Who will be the best soon? And who is the best of all time. 

Doing this I’m hoping to get a better understanding of the league and hopefully get some ideas on how to make my player the best he can be, to help whichever team I end up on win as much as possible.  First I looked at the top LB’s in the IFSL.  At the end of this season (S24) there are 6 LBs in the top ten for tackles.  Baltimore’s D. Kennedy leads the way with 158, and Chicago’s M. Hockhertz is right behind with 148.  Edmond, Arianlacher, Bode and Virtanen are the other linebackers in the top ten.  When I look at tackles for loss, only two LBs are in the top 10, Suzuki and Zelos.  For sacks, Arizona’s LB G. Wilf led the league with 14, followed by Baltimore’s D. De Ville with 13.  Two other LBs were in the top ten, T. Brackenridge and H. Mango-Panda.  In interceptions, only one LB was in the top ten, Arianlacher with 3 picks.  So, by my crude methodology of looking at the top ten LBs in the stats that I selected, and not knowing any of this players or teams, this seasons best linebacker in my eyes was HONs M. Arianlacher, with 128 tackles, 3 of which were for a loss, 3 sacks and 3 interceptions. 

Now, to look at the DFSL, with the same categories that I looked at for the big leagues.  When I look at the top tackle getters, every single player in the top ten is a linebacker.  Leading the pack and the league is Tijuana’s A. Schell with 123.  Dallas’ G. Fields is just behind Schell with 120 tackles on the season.  When looking at tackles for loss, just like tackles, this stat is dominated by one position, but not by LBs, defensive ends are all you see until number 18, LBer J. Domine with 6 and then A. Schell is two spots after with 5.  For sacks, J. Domine led the league with 12, linebackers A. Schell and R. Leaking both had 9 and 4 other LBs, A. Chainbreaker, T. Tate, R. Rucker and B. Light, rounded out the top ten.  For INTs only only LB made the top ten, KCs G. Goodman with 3.  So again, using my terrible method of just looking at numbers, A. Schell would be the top LB in the DFSL, with 123 tackles, 5 for a loss, 9 sacks and zero sacks.

Now to look at the best of the best.  I had a look at the Hall of Fame inductees, and out of the 40 listed on the wiki, 11 of them played as a linebacker at one point in their careers.  That is 28% of the HOF.  That is a pretty impressive number of LBs to get this top honour.  I wanted to look a bit further to see how was really the tops, so I looked at career leaders in the stats I used for current players.  LN Alex Selich leads all players with 1275 tackles, 9 out of the top ten tacklers are LBs.  In the tackles for loss category, only one LB had the top ten, Kurt Hendrix who also spent time as a defensive end, with 72.  In sacks,  Angus Winchester has recorded the most for LBs with 114.  Four other LBs made the top ten here as well.  And in interceptions, no linebacker made the top ten, which isn’t overly surprising.  With this info, I wanted to see if any of the all time leaders for LBs were also inducted into the HOF. Angus Winchester and Kurt Hendrix both are members of the HoF, so my totally flawed conclusion is that these two players Angus Winchester and Kurt Hendrix are the two top LBs to play in the IFSL.

Well, there we have it, with my very imperfect system I’ve found that the best LB playing right now is M. Arainlacher, the best up and coming LB is A. Schell and the best LBs to play so far are Winchester and Hendrix.  I have no idea where my player will pan out, but these are the targets that I have if I want him to be a great linebacker in the league.


(Word count - 895)

[retrospace111]

3)

Let's take a look at the S23 playoff situation, shall we? The defending champs, the Colorado Yeti, were 6-6 by week 12, an interesting situation, and it was anyone's game at that point in the NSFC. The Liberty and Hawks just had to win enough games and pray the Yeti lose some, but unfortunately that was not the case. The Yeti won out and the Hawks fell flat, going 2-2 in that final stretch and losing otu the final spot to the Liberty, who made the playoffs for the first time in a minute. Boosted by a strong S22 class, no doubt. On the ASFC side of things, OCO and NOLA were the dominant forces and Arizona and Austin were left to scrap over the final playoff spot. Arizona had a 1 game lead and it looked like it would come down to their week 15 matchup. Arizona had HFA, so it seemed like they would walk away easily with a win and a playoff berth, but Austin wouldn't go down without a fight. Neither QBs played well, and it was a game of defenses. A late TD scored by the Copperheads at the end of the 4th quarter gave enough time for Arizona to march down the field, but the Austin D-Line came up clutch and sacked Cue twice on the ensuing drive, effectively ending the game and giving Austin prime position to make the playoffs. Cue's 2 interceptions in the 4th quarter certainly did not help at all. All the copperheads had to do was beat SJS at home, pretty easy, and they would be in the playoffs. Of course, they did just that and Arizona went home sad, ready to come back next year and flop again. This was the start of a miracle run by Austin. Before week 16, their cahnces of making the playoffs were low thereof, and of going even further than that, well, it was virtually impossible. Moving onto the actual playoffs, wild card weekend started with the Liberty visiting Colorado. Tied 25-25 with 6 minutes left to go, Wolfie McDummy marched his team down the field, throwing absolute lasers and scoring a TD in 3 minutes. The liberty only had 3 minutes to respond, and they marched down to the Colorado 18 with less than a minute left when Immanuel Blackstone came up with a clutch 11 yard sack, essentially ending the game, and sending Colorado to Yellowknife. Meanwhile, in NOLA, a different result happened with a similar situation. The Austin defense played extremely well, limited NOLA to 4 FGs, and no TDs, i nthe first quarter. Austin managed to score a TD with 7 minutes left and was leading, but Francisco did what he did best and drove down to the AUS 8, but this time, the 1OA pick Mendoza picked off Francisco in the endzone, and Austin managed to chew enough clock so that NOLA didn't have enough time to do anything on offense. Austin had a stunning upset, but they were not over yet. In Yellowknife the next week, the Yeti drove? or flew to YKW, I wouldn't know, but I doubt that city has an airport. It was a game of defense, and no one scored in the 4th quarter, except a field goal on the first play of the quarter. Neither team could do anything, and YKW missed a field goal too. On Colorado's final drive, they got a penalty and McDummy got sacked. 3rd and 23 is not an appealing situation. After a 13 yard completion, a pass to Ashley Owens was broken up by Jensen, ending the game and sending YKW to the ultimus for the 5th time in the past 6 seasons. Something even crazier happened in Orange County, as the Copperheads visited. The underdog of the season managed to keep it close until the 4th quarter, as they were only trailing by 2. They opened the 4th quarter with a picksix, giving Armstrong a bad time. OCO offense didn't manage to do much the next couple of drives, but they got a FG. Austin capitalized on this opprtunity and punched it in the endzone another time, ending OCO's hope for a comeback. Miraculously, AUS made the Ultimus, despite being a longshot to make the playoffs 2 weeks before it was finalized. The Copperheads story ends there though, as they get absolutely trashed by the better team, Yellowknife. Many will not remember the miracle that was the S23 Coppereheads, but rather the story of YKW getting their first ultimus win after 4 straight losses. The YKW defense was suffocating, and even though Bigsby threw 2 ints, the team still won 38-13. Austin had no turnovers, and were just as good as rushing, but they only converted 4/14 3rd downs. YKW converted 12/14, and that's why they won. And thus concludes the story of the S23 season and the playoffs.

[xQCFamous]

18) Choose any award from the past 22 offseasons that you think should’ve gone to a different contender. Why was your chosen candidate’s season superior to the actual winner?

In S22, for Runningback Of The Year, Apollo Reed won the award which was absolutely rewarding and somewhat deserving in my eyes. He was just shy of being top 5 in the league for total yards, he was great on the line, he was there when he needed to be, had some of the best long drives and and some of the longest drives out of the candidates, but was he the 'chosen' one? I would like to consider Leaf Jr. as someone who should've seen this award at least looked at because while he was slightly behind in total yards compared to the eventual winner in Reed, he was an absolute nightmare for the opposition when used on the field. Leaf Jr. had a 4.4 average with a long of almost 40, yes, almost 40, that's pretty damn impressive for a consistently used runningback nowadays. He also tied Reed for 4 touchdowns but it's his conversions that really did it for me. Overall, Reed certainly had a reason to win, but do I think he was the best of the best? Eh, not really, the RB crop was quite strong that year, I think anyone could've really made a case.

201 words ^^

19) Create a billboard, magazine cover, unique trading card, or video game cover depicting a superstar of the league. Graphics only.

https://imgur.com/KDGMdBU.png (image is quite large, will just leave the link here).

20) Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, highlights, or attempted armed robbery. Whatever rookies get up to these days.

Username: Eldorian
Player Name: Goat Tank (Rookie)
Position: Defensive Tackle
Team: Myrtle Beach Buccaneers

Top Stats:
Tackles: 59
Forced Fumble/Recovery: 3/3
Sacks: 7
TFL: 2

If you want to talk about a dominating force, let's talk about none other than the GOAT himself, Goat Tank. What a mean fucking player this guy was on the field, and he wanted to let you know about it too. Despite not having a huge tackle number, it's his secondary stats that truly made him a threat to any offensive player he lined up again, and it really made you open your eyes when you seen him running at you. Tank lead the league in forced fumbles/recoveries, recovering all three of his forced fumbles which is not an easy task but when you are dedicated, I suppose you make it work. Not only did anyone receiving or rushing have to worry about Tank, but the quarterbacks were also shown no mercy, as Tank was in the top 10 for sacks with 7, and it really made those egos slightly more bruised for anyone who dared to try and stop him.

Going into the draft, I think if a DT is needed as a priority, you do not skip over this beast of a player. He was a top pick in the DSFL and I see no reason for him to fall in the ISFL draft either. He's a complete player with pure speed, grit and determination and will get any task done as required.

^^ 253 words

25) The league is prone to change. Reflect on a past change in either the ISFL or DSFL that significantly impacted something - be it a rules change, an expansion or contraction, or even a complete rebranding. What were the effects of this change, and how has it shaken the status quo?

It's hard not to talk about expansion when it comes to some changes being impacting. If I am not mistaken, the last one was back in S22 but I could be absolutely wrong here, I don't know too much about the in-depth history on the league so my apologies if that is a blunder. Expansion is always tough, because teams are forced to make decisions that most of the time put them out of their comfort zone. Most teams typically have already established a set plan for their future, they have core players that they intend to keep for the foreseeable future and expansion kind of messes up all of those plans, and forces teams to scramble, which I think is kind of fun to be honest. With expansion just around the corner now, we're eventually going to see teams make those hard decisions on who they want to protect, and on the brink of a draft, it's going to make those decisions affect not only their current core, but their future core. It'll all come down to who each team thinks is going to help now and later, and who they think they can let go, but this change is about to shake everything up, and I'm all for it.

211 words ^^

[Opera_Phantom]

If there is one thing that has my complete and full attention in this league, is Jay Cue's career. I came into the then NSFL without a lot of individual objectives for my player, so team objectives were the most important things for me coming into this. Obviously that as soon as you see your player improving, getting that sweet TPE from tasks and training, and getting some games under his belt, you can't really distance yourself from wanting to be able to set some records and win a couple of rings. My DSFL time was pretty ok, first season i got to the Ultimini game with the Portland Pythons old theme, on the second season we got that win and my first ring and to be honest I do not even remember how my 3rd season went, so it was probably a crappy one. I think we still got to the playoffs but got beat on the conference final game. During these 3 seasons, even though all i wanted was to win games, i still racked up decent numbers and when i left the team to play for the Arizona Outlaws, i was one of, if not the most, successful QB to play in the minor league. At the time i had the record for most TD passes in a season, 22 (2 seasons with 22), tied with Franklin Armstrong. 65 TD passes in 3 minor seasons is nothing to be ashamed of in my opinion. I just checked and that 22 TD record was beaten this season, as Reginald Covington III threw for 23, so good job RCIII!
With all this experience in the DSFL, i came into the N(I)SFL wanting to leave a mark. I was updating every week, getting decent results with predictions and the tasks that require some luck, so i was pretty confident i could do well for the Outlaws. The team was in full rebuild mode, getting draft picks to be able to become a better and younger team. My first season was almost impeccable, almost leading the Arizona team to the playoffs, but falling short even though they had a 7 - 6 record. But from that moment on, i guess nothing remarkable ever happened during Cue's career. At this point i am pretty happy with the freaking meme that even though i became one of the best players TPE wise to grace this game, i still have absolutely zero post season games. Yes, you have read it right, an over 1400 TPE QB was unable to guide his team to a single playoff game. And while that was "acceptable" in the first 2 or even 3 seasons, as the team was still growing, facing opponents with a lot more TPE and experience, something extra was expected after that, as the Outlaws started to be on par with the other ASFC teams. The current season was the one where the most expectations were present, as it was the last one before he started regression, so his skills are on top of the game, nearing 1500 TPE. But, unfortunately, again, the Arizona Outlaws did not manage to get to the playoffs. And, of course, not without another meme occurring, and it has a funny story behind it. As some of you might know, i am not based in the United States and so the ISFL games are streamed at 1 AM here in Portugal. This means that most games i am fast asleep when they are streamed, but when i wake up and go to the kitchen to have breakfast, i check the ISFL Index on my phone to see where we stand and the result (and how many INTs for Cue, of course). So, here i am, having my cereal when i see the Outlaws in 3rd place! Holy crap! I knew we had to beat the Orange County Otters to at least have a chance at the playoffs, but after that, we needed a couple results to go our way. So, seeing the Outlaws in 3rd made me believe that by some random luck we missed in a couple of games during the season, everything went the way we wanted! YES! Finally we would play in the playoffs! So, innocent me decided to open discord to check the locker room, my guess was that it was buzzing during stream hours, celebrating our win and the fact that other results went exactly the way we wanted. So, i pull up the chat to around 1:30 AM and everyone was happy! Hell yeah! Cue had a pretty decent game, surprising everyone! But wait... what the hell... Some players are complaining that we were out? What? I see a print screen of the playoff seeding and we are playing the San Jose Sabercats? But they are the 1st seed! Could it be? Could it be that we were 3rd in standings and still missed the freaking playoffs? After some more discussions, it is confirmed... The Arizona Outlaws managed to miss the post season while beating the New Orleans Secondline in the ASFC.
My career is a meme. And i am loving it.


(858 words)

[Reno]

Tier 2 - Task 10 (443 Words)

10) This might be a little bit different from most of the big name teams that everyone else will write about, but I’d like to take a moment to address the Season 21 Kansas City Coyotes. The team came from humble roots after their mediocre S20 season. The team had went 5-9 that year and was looking to just rebound a bit. They did that and more. The Season 21 Coyotes were not only better, they were pretty dominant for most of the season. A rough preseason for the Coyotes saw them go 1-3 which definitely tempered expectations of the team being good, and a week one loss to Myrtle Beach did not help either. But the team would go on two separate four game winning streaks, almost all in convincing fashion to win the NFC North conference and to make a run to the championship game where they would ultimately bow out to Myrtle Beach. So what made this team so good? A 9-5 record is nice but there are teams that have better records all the time. What made this Coyotes team so good was the synergy of the locker room and how well people worked together to help others improve. The team was anchored by Chika Fujiwara at the quarterback position, a maxed out player that spent countless hours trying to help the team and the players on the team to improve in whichever way possible. Veteran presence on the Coyotes was fairly limited. Outside of returners Tree Gelbman and Jon Bois, most of the veterans on the team were inactive send downs that would likely not see the pros ever. The absolutely loaded draft class for the Coyotes helped the team out immensely and is the reason the run was even possible. On the defensive line alone, Nunniq Annastesia, Patrik Money and Ismael Sanchez were all incredible talented players that caused insane havoc against both running backs and quaterbacks alike. The linebacking core was anchored by Fawn Dillmiballs and Sean O’Donohue, the secondary had Chester Sweets and Mac Griddle. The defense was amazing and single handily won the team many games. And the offense was no slouch either, the draft class led to the creation of the famed “Yeet Squad” of both Eddie Jeeta and Michael Witheblock who both went on to become amazing players in the pros. Mathew McDairmid as the kicker and punter was no slouch either, setting records for punt yards in the playoffs and being a guiding light in the locker room. It’s a shame this team was not able to win the title that year, the pieces were there but they fell just short.

Tier 3

PBE Championship Week Tier 3 Affilliate

Task 19

[The_Kidd]

Tier 1 #3

I've only been around here for 3 seasons which means trying to put together a team's Mount Rushmore would be a tall task. When someone reads this, they will wonder how much fluff will be pumped into here, but rest assured this piece will be pure and rock solid. Although I may have only been around three seasons, my DSFL team, the London Royals, have only been in existence for four seasons. I spent two glorious years in London and have remained around the team up to this day as the team nears the end of their fifth season.

I've either played with, or interacted over 80% of all of London's players to this point and the only reason the number is not higher is because of how many players in the inaugural season were called up after season twenty-one. For a young franchise, the Royals have manufactured some high quality players and users. From season twenty-one there was Acura Skyline, who led the bank team and draft recaps and managed to win win rookie of the year and running back of the year in his one season in London. Skyline amassed over 1700 yards on 5 yards per carry with 10 touchdowns. Skyline is currently on pace to become the feature back in Yellowknife while currently excelling in a spell role for Mathias Haynadi. Susan Cash Jr. has been a staple in the Royals offense for 3 seasons, becoming a favorite target of Colby Jack in season twenty-three. Cash currently is set to help Jack transition in Yellowknife as a slew of new Wraiths receivers have been ushered in. On defense, the Royals saw Sandro Ryeu have a breakout season and instantly go to Arizona where he has been a key cog in their defensive line, making himself a top target in the expansion draft. The Royals also had a surprisingly deep secondary, seeing Eldrick Avery, Ben Stackinpaper, Cadillac Harris, and Quinn Hughes all become solid players. Unfortunately the latter two have become inactive, particularly for Hughes, who had a monster season and held a GM spot in Arizona.

There are three names I left off intentionally as I will get back to them later, but I'm going to jump to season twenty-four and work my way back. Season 24 has seen the Royals win their first divisional championship, but it's not their most successful season(we'll go backwards to get to that). There are some promising rookies in season 24 such as Tayshaun Crunk, Albert Ruschmann, Rich Littlewood, and Swanty Jones. London may be new, but they have a plethora of deserving players that knocks out most season 24 rookies and most of the season 21 one and dones.

Season 23 saw the emergence of the most likeliest candidates to one day take a spot off the Mount Rushmore with then promising standout rookies Juan Domine, Harrison Andrews, Busch Light, Gunner Thorbjornsson, and Charlemagne Cortez. Domine and Andrews have been essential on and off the field, becoming the new GM's in season 24 and leading the Royals to that first divisional crown. Cortez might need an extra 4th season to offset his poor rookie season, but he has been electric in his sophomore year. The body of work for these guys just isnt complete enough to compete with my Mount Rushmore:

1. Colby Jack, QB S22
   
2. Nickoluas Kaepercolin, WR S22
   
3. Greedy Sly, S S23
   
4. Derred DeVille, LB, S22
   

The four players I listed were all instrumental in building the Royals to what they were today. Starting with Colby Jack, the only player on here solely via on field contributions(due to being the YKW GM), the Royals first QB commanded under center for three straight seasons, seeing a win improvement each year. Jack had the luxury of creating enough darts in the air that opened up lanes for two different rb's to win RBoTY. Jack himself proved to hold his own water, winning QBoTY the one season his rushing attack failed him, which also coincided with the Royals best season to date. Jack pioneered an offense that came within one possession of winning a title and it will take some big playoff games or big awards for him to get knocked off that perch.

Jack's main target for those first two years was Nick Kaepercolin. Kaepercolin was about his business from day one, becoming an elite threat by the start of season 22. Kaepercolin played himself into an early callup after the Royals ultimini appearance. Kaepercolin also proved to be a quality war room member, which developed into him being the Royals GM for 2.5 seasons before winning a GM spot in the S25 expansion.

Kaepercolin's GM main GM partner, Greedy Sly, help usher in the winning tradition of the Royals. Whereas Kapercolin excelled in strategy development, Sly was a wizard of social skills and a maestro of recruiting and eyeing talent. Sly was a #1 pick for the Royals and was their first player to be #1 overall in the NSFL Draft(now ISFL). Sly crafted an environment buzzing with jovial, jubilant energy featuring a cast of faces, old and new, that represents a cordial, coalescing community that the regular general discord wishes it could be. In fact, Sly oozed with so much potential that Duke stepped aside and let him elevate the Royals(same for Kaepercolin and Deadly). Sly, like Kaepercolin, would step on quick as he became a GM in Colorado after only two seasons.

But, none of this comes to fruition without Derred DeVille, the programming savant that helped find all the strings, objects, and variables to create the executable that is Royals.GitGud. DeVille was the main war room leader and head scout that led to the successful season 23 draft. The Royals would not only reach the Ultimini, but then they saw the team produce: the first overall pick and three picks in the top 20, while their LBoTY went in the 4th round as the team's 6th pick at that point. DeVille himself was no slouch on the field as he dominated the field and won the S21 DSFL LBoTY award, putting on one of the best LB seasons in recent history. DeVille has carried that success to the big leagues as a Head Office member, Development Team head, and also is en route to a possible first ISFL LBoTY award in Baltimore.

[Gwdjohnson]

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20) Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, highlights, or attempted armed robbery. Whatever rookies get up to these days.

Here on this edition of the Despacito Report's Draft Review we will be looking at supposedly promising Myrtle Beach Buccaneers quarterback Owen Holloway. A player who has caught the eyes of many ISFL franchises heading into this offseason, there is much to discuss about the player shrouded in mystery. One big talking point about Holloway was his reported desire to immediately start for whichever ISFL team he was drafted by, something that was met with a lot of shock considering it was a request made before he even set foot into the DSFL. And to be entirely honest the shock was merited, because how can you make a demand like that when you can't even get a starting spot in the DSFL lol. He played as Myrtle Beach's reserve QB this season, behind a fellow rookie even LOL! Quite ridiculous if you ask me. Holloway managed to complete only an average of just over 4 completed passes per game, making 68 completions out of 141 attempts. That ratio gave Holloway the second-lowest completion rate of all QBs in the DSFL who appeared in 14 games. In terms of overall QB rating, Holloway was also second-last in the league, with a given rating of 56.6, almost a whole 13 below the third lowest in among minors QBs (69.5). A very rough showing for Holloway considering how much he has enjoyed selling himself to teams; it will be very interesting to see how this affects his draft stock this offseason.

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6) The playoffs have finally arrived. Choose one playoff team that is not your own from either league and recount how they got here in 400 words or more. What challenges and hurdles did they face in the regular season? Did they cruise into home field advantage, have to fight off contenders for the wild card, or sneak in on obtuse indexing rules? Are they led by MVP players on offense, or is a stifling defense the engine to their success? Don’t be afraid to go deep.

In today's Ultimus Preview on the Despacito Report playoff column, we are going to be having a look at the season that one of this season's finalists had. While there was a race right to the final day for first place in the ASFC, it was a totally different story on the other side in the NSFC. 4/6 teams in the NSFC finished with a record of 7-9 or worse. The other two teams were Sarasota, who had a 12-4 record, and Colorado, who finished with a very impressive 14-2 record. The team of these two that we will look into are the dominant regular season champs and current finalists, the Colorado Yeti.

Colorado's dominance was pretty evident during the season statistically. First off we will look at their overall team performance this season. Their offense was the best in the league, scoring an average of over 28 points per game. That's about a point and a half per game above the second best best offense in the league (Sarasota). Their defense was similarly impressive, beaten out only by Orange County. They allowed only an average of about 18 points per game, which beat out Sarasota, but was beat out by the Otters who averaged just under 17 points allowed per game. An average scoreline of around 28-18 was extremely impressive for the Yeti this season and they proved way more often than not that their record this season was nothing less than deserved.

Individually there were some massive performers for them well, obviously. Wide receiver Lim had an incredible season, being the only receiver to hit double digits in touchdowns in S24. A couple receivers had 9 touchdowns but Lim had a very impressive 13. Lim didn't have nearly the most catching yards out of receivers, but he was elite at making his catches count. Defensive rookie Sly, who was a top pick in the last draft, also had a fantastic season for a debutant, finishing 4th in tackles among all players with 132, just one tackle off of 3rd place who had 133. QB McDummy was also quite impressive, and debatably the best this season. He has the best pass completion ratio with 62.5, and the best rating with a 96.9, with large credit for that being due to his good partnership that he has with Lim.

All in all, it comes as no shock to anyone really that Colorado will be one of the finalists this season. They were one of the favourites already going into this season, but they backed up the expectations on them both in the regular and post season.

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16) Choose your favorite non-playoffs game of this season, whether your own team or another. Explain what was so special and why the winner ultimately came out victorious, including key players and moments.

Today on Despacito Report's Top Games Recap column we are going to look at a convincing win for Orange County against the Baltimore Hawks.

In the first quarter of this one, Baltimore did a good job keeping pace with Orange County, but ultimately about halfway through it was the Otters who broke the deadlock, as Franklin Armstrong found rookie Garfield Despacito Jr. open in the end zone for his first catch of the game and a touchdown. In the second quarter the game opened up a lot more for Orange County, as early on Despacito Jr. was found by Armstrong again for what was both his second catch of the game and second touchdown. Baltimore could not figure a way back in throughout the next 10 minutes, and then it became worse in the last minute or so of the half, as a pair of field goals for the Otters made it 20-0 through the first half of play.

In the second half, the game started very quietly as there were no points scored in the entire third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the misery for Baltimore just became even worse. Future Trunks made a 16 yard touchdown for Armstrong's third touchdown of the game in the first couple minutes of the final quarter to basically put the game to rest for the Hawks. Datsum Phastbawl scored a field goal to get Baltimore on the board, and then they added more with a Darrel Williams receiving touchdown in the last minute. The final score was 27-10

This was on of my favourite games this season because I found it hilarious that I scored 2 touchdowns out of two short catches lol.


TPE: 10/10

[qWest]

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