Chainbreaker is pretty confused as useualy he doens't get any intrest from the fans. Being known as the flex pick for inside the box defending doesn't really pump out the kinds of press that other positions get. Not winning the rookie of the year award when he clearly had the best season out of any of the rookies by a mile was also a sign to him that he didn't have any fans. But when a fan calls you by name you answer, and when you're not well known you go crazy with it. Some people might not totally understand this but theres a lot of weird stuff that just exists around a team training facility that they won't miss if you just take it. The trick is to take non expensive things but a lot of it. Sure every kid can get a jersey or even a game worn jersey if they pay enough but how many kids have game worn socks or white boards that still have tactical information on it thats a few weeks old? How many kids have authentic game film thats cut up for people? Theres taking a box of merch to a kids house to surprise him and then theres taking a whole box of werid stuff to a kid thats going to have something no one else at his school will have.
The Season 29 is well underway and there are certainly winners and losers so far this season. At the top are the Sarasota Sailfish in the NSFC and the a tie between the Silverbacks and Outlaws for first place in the ASFC. In the NSFC there are two 5-2 teams the Yeti, and the Fire Salamanders. These are probably the top teams across the league but there are the Otters in the ASFC and the Wraiths in the NSFC that might be title contenders, Obviously the Wraiths are title defenders and have won 2 of the past 3 Utlimus championships.
Then there's the other side of the coin and the teams who are not giving their best performance are disappointing themselves and their fans. First team that comes to mind is the Chicago Butchers who seemed to be an upcoming team but are now clearly on a serious downturn with a 1-6 record. Another team down bad is the Hahalua and they are also seemingly on a major downturn. It is so hard to make a sustained run at the Ultimus Bowl. The Otters have apparently been the only ones able to have a sustained run and even they have fallen off the past couple seasons. It is a great season so far and who knows who will come out on top.
This might sound like a homer pick, but I have to go with the New York Silverbacks as a surprise, overachieving team. To many, we overachieved in a big way last year and most figured we would revert to the mean after getting bounced from the playoffs. We also lost some crucial pieces from last season's team, but our front office did an incredible job filling those gaps and making sure we put a competitive team out on the field. We also started the season really slowly, but nobody in our locker room lost heart. We are in prime position to make the postseason and give the Ultimus another run and continue to prove all of our doubters wrong. On the other side, I think New Orleans, despite their 3-4 start, has a very real shot at making a deep run. They have talent at crucial positions, some of the best front office members, and have gotten a little unlucky so far this season. It would not surprise me at all if they ended up reeling off four or five straight wins and striking fear in the entire conference come season's end. Simply put, do not count out the Second Line just because they've had a rough start. If they can continue to weather this storm of their hard schedule, they could make some serious noise once the lesser teams start popping up on their slate.
A quarter through the DSFL season and a few teams already pushed to the top where are expected and some surprises are at the bottom. We’ll start with one of the surprises, which is the 2-2 Portland Pythons. Last season, they went 11-3, which was one of the top teams. They have a capped quarterback which helps a lot in the development league in addition to a fierce defense. The record doesn’t reflect on how the team is built. Maybe this will change later on in the season. In addition the Pythons did beat the best team in the league the Minnesota Grey Ducks. It brings us to the least surprising team. The Grey Ducks were average at 7-7 last season but they have the advantage. This team has the most send downs out of any team in the DSFL and are the most complete. This boosts their chances of winning the Ultimini, but as I said already the season is long and a lot of football is left to play. Another team with a capped quarterback that isn’t doing so well is the Bondi Beach Buccaneers. They have yet to win a game, but do lack in some offensive weapons. The four defense linemen seem stout and should help them through the season if they stay active. They should have at least beat the Norfolk Seawolves.
As I am big dumb I will be talking about both ISFL and DSFL seasons, firstly in the ISFL the team I have saw that is overachieving is Baltimore, I know it is strange to say a two win team is overachieving but they of coarse have gone winless in there past two seasons, even though they have built well I am still surprised that they have picked 2 wins up, maybe thats just my pessimism for the Hawks talking. The underachiever in the ISFL I believe is my mother team the Austin Copperheads, I don’t think I have to explain too much as they went to the Ultimus last season and haven’t gotten that worse in terms of personnel, however this season they have gone a very disappointing 1-5-1, and while there run in was tough it is very disappointing for a team that had high preseason aspirations. In the DSFL the team I believe is overachieving is the London Royals, they have gone 3-1 with a lot of bots and rookie’s in important positions so the fact they have a winning record must be commended. And the underachieving team in the DSFL I believe is the Bondi Beach Buccaneers, don’t get me wrong I'm not surprised they are bad but 0 wins surely has to be disappointing.
It seems to me that the San Jose Sabercats have greatly overperformed this season so far. They are 4-2-1, third in the ASFC, much better than the numbers suggest they ought to be. With 180 points allowed, San Jose has a negative point differential of -13. That’s worse than 4-3 Orange County (+8), 3-4 New Orleans (-5), and 4-3 Yellowknife (+16). Additionally, San Jose does not have many impressive wins. They’ve won three games by three points, and the only game they have won by more is against lowly Honolulu. Meanwhile, in their toughest game, a road game at Arizona, they lost 45-10. They have not been good on offense, with 11 TDs to 8 INTs passing, and the fewest rushing yards in the league, despite have a good running back in Lackson. They also have struggled a bit on defense to force turnovers, with the second fewest forced fumbles (5) and the fewest interceptions (3) in the league. Given that they have not been particularly good in any area, and that all their wins have been close games or wins over bad teams, I expect that they will regress a bit in the coming weeks and finish closer to 6 or 7 wins than 9 or 10.
Based on the buzz I've heard around the league, both before the season and during, it seems safe to say that Austin is supremely underachieving. During preseason, I remember hearing that Austin should be considered top contenders in the ASFC, potentially on par with Arizona but if not equal than perhaps just behind in 2nd. Instead, they're sitting second to last with only 1 win and 1 tie to show for their season thus far. They had a tough schedule and their second half should ease up, so they could still turn things around. Although now that I look at it, they play Colorado, Orange County, and Berlin this week and that's a pretttttyyyy tough road nonetheless. But even if they now start playing like they should be, that might not even be enough to overcome this massive hole they find themselves in. Though they currently hold a negative point differential, it's not that strongly negative - again a potential indicator that this rough stretch could turn around soon. A quick analysis of league wide team stats over the season, it seems they could definitely improve on the defensive side of the ball, specifically the secondary, forcing turnovers. They have only three interceptions on the season so far, fewest in the league. For a team that is actually doing ok in other team stats, perhaps this could be an area of focus to help turn things around.