(S29) Ultimus Week

[Arvot]

Task 6
I am going to look at how the strong safeties performed this year. I will be ranking them on each defensive stat category and hopefully learning what is important for strong safeties.
The first category is tackling. Tackling makes up most of a defensive player's work. All stats go into ensuring players can get to the opposition and secure a tackle. Zelos from the Baltimore Hawks led the league in tackles whilst their teammate, rookie Tre’Mendus Johnson, was third. Stein from the San Jose Sabercats was in second place. Both these teams had the worst passing defense in their conference. I think as a safety blanket for the defense it makes sense for the safeties playing on worse defences to have higher tackling numbers. Berlin had the best passing defense in the league and their strong safety Wildstar was tenth in tackles.
Next up is tackles for loss. As a strong safety, you are only going to get these if your team has you playing near the line of scrimmage blitzing or covering a running back. Once again Zelos from Baltimore had the highest tally of TFL with five. The only other players with any TFL were Roman from Philly and Mac Griddle from the Silverbacks who had one each. This stat is so dependant on how your team uses you, but it is impressive that Zelos managed to get 5 whilst only having 679 TPE. They do have the Box Safety trait so possibly this could be paying off for them here.
I will now be looking at forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. I think recoveries are slightly more random so I’ll be focusing on forced fumbles as these are plays that can create a turnover. The best two strong safeties in this category are Stein and Utterstruzen who both had 3 forced fumbles. Both of them are the Ball Hawk archetype which is interesting as they can have 5 less Strength than Enforcers and strength is a stat that influences whether you force a fumble. Competitiveness is another stat important for forcing fumbles and Stein has 80 whilst Utterstruzen has 75, hinting that investing in that is worth it for them. The next best player at forcing fumbles throws that up in the air though, as SparkySparky Boom-man had 2 forced fumbles whilst having 51 competitiveness. Boom-man is an Enforcer and has the Box Safety and Competitor traits. 4 other players had 1 forced fumble whilst 5 other players had none. It feels like strong safeties are underperforming in this category as they are supposed to be one of the DB who has the most strength, which to me means they should probably get more forced fumbles.
Now we move on to the stats that people tend to judge Strong Safeties on, sacks and interceptions. The player with the most sack was Magnus Valdyr with 7. The interesting thing about this is that Valdyr has no traits. They are the most experienced strong safety so they will be getting a better multiplier for all their stats because of that, but it shows you that traits are not essential for you to put up good numbers. After Valdyr there is a group who all got 6 sacks which are Velos, Stein and Utterstruzen. Once again, it’s the Ball Hawk safeties and Velos who are doing well in this category. One thing that really stood out to me looking through these stats was that Annie May was last in sacks, having the same amount as rookie Tre’Mendus Johnson (391 TPE) and Steven Wadham(me) was second last. Annie May has the second-highest TPE out of all strong safeties with 1068 at the end of the season and Wadham is fourth with 935. It seems that TPE is not that important for getting sack numbers, especially if you are an Enforcer. This could be interesting to investigate further, comparing who has traits and who has what stats etc. Annie May is close to maxed out though so I don’t think it will be any single thing that makes you get more sacks. I believe it might be more down to how your team uses their strong safeties and how good the other pass rushers on your team are. If other players are getting to the QB before you maybe you get sacks stolen from you, or if your team never calls a safety blitz it’s going to be hard to get a sack. It’s something worth considering for any safeties thinking about how to spend their TPE. Try to get an idea of how you will be used and then you’ll know what to focus your TPE on.
Next up is Interceptions. Strong safeties didn’t do very well in this category with most strong safeties not getting any. Four had one over the whole season and Zelos once again smashed it getting four! I think Zelos had a great season, whilst everyone else seemed to really struggle to get interceptions. The four who did was Annie May, Wadham, Valdyr and Tre’Mendus Johnson. The weird thing about that is they are all Enforcers, whilst the Ball Hawk safeties who had done so well in sacks never got any. Intuitively that should be the other way round, so probably something worth investigating as well.
Next up are passes defended. Zelos once again topped the charts continuing their dominance. Stein and Utterstruzen were in second place with 10 each, maybe the Ball Hawk archetype helped them here. Wadham was next with 8 passes defended. Overall, we all put up solid PD numbers with the lowest being Annie May and Mac Griddle who got 4. Once again, I find it so strange how Annie May is one of the worst performers when they are one of the best earners.
I think looking through all these stats it seemed the worse the defense the better the safeties performed, which as I said makes sense. It also seems that how the team uses their strong safeties could have a massive impact, with high TPE safeties putting up underwhelming numbers. Strong safeties are probably one of the least glamorous positions to play now. If you are a good one on a good team, you’ll probably not be putting up big stats. The underappreciated heroes of the backfield will soldier on regardless.

[ajtigger]

12.
The team I want to call out for as having a great season last year is none other than the New Orleans Secondline. Before the season started, I had personally given the Secondline no chance of making the playoffs and thought they would be the bottom dweller of the ASFC. Instead, the team surprised me with a very solid 9-7 record to conclude the year. They even gave New York a scare in the first round of the playoffs and wound up being the closest team to beating the future champions during their playoff run.

Looking at the statistics for the Secondline, nothing immediately jumps out in terms of overall offense or defense. Instead, a closer look is needed to see that the Secondline's strength comes from one area in particular, their wide receiver corps. The group was lead by Bodenheimer who had over fourteen hundred yards receiving as well as hitting double digits touchdowns with eleven. His teammate Ed Barker was right on his heels with thirteen hundred yards through the air and eight touchdowns of his own. Even the rookie Quinton crash put up solid numbers with six hundred yards and six touchdowns for the team. Overall, this potent unit allowed the team to make the playoffs and established themselves as one of the best in the league.

If there is one place that the Secondline can improve, it would be in the backfield at the running back position. While Rotchburns is not the worst back by any stretch of the imagination, there is still a little left to be desired for the Secondline. While the running back had over one thousand yards, his yards per carry were under four which is not where a team wants to be. Remus Roman was able to break the four yard a carry barrier, however it was not nearly on the same amount of touches and thus hard to gauge how successful he will be if carries are bulked up.

Overall, there is a lot the Secondline should be happy with for this season. A strong season could lead more players to being attracted to the team in free agency and the Secondline may be able to continue to build through the draft. I think the Secondline should be very happy with the outcome of this season and the rest of the league should take note of the strong performance turned in by the GMs and players of the team. The Secondline may be building something great in New Orleans.

13.

Expansion is something that is heavily talked about within this league, and it is something that I do not think yet think should happen. While I'm sure there are arguments to be made, logjams at QB, WR, and RB, I think there are equal arguments to be made that there are positions that are far less saturated and thus expanding the team pool could cause additional problems.

First and foremost, we just don't have the offensive line numbers yet to move one. While bots have filled in, it is an inelegant solution. Right now 46 offensive lineman are present in the ISFL. That would be just over 3 per team. This means on average, a team is using 2 bots on their offensive line. If we were to expand the league by the minimum of two teams, the average offensive line count would slip to just under 3 per team which is still quite far away from a desirable number.

Tight end is another position that needs to be considered before expansion is passed. Right now there are sixteen tight ends in the ISFL or just above one per team. If we look at real formations used in our simulation software, we will see there are plenty of plays that are run using a two tight end set. With only just over one tight end per team, this would suggest that another position, most likely a wide receiver, is running tight end in those sets. If we were to expand the league to sixteen teams, we would find exactly one tight end per roster. I do not think this would be ideal and the danger loom of less than one tight end existing per team or the need to have under max DSFL players joining main rosters.

Finally, I would like to point out the hypothetical log jam at Wide Receiver is not really as bad as many claim it to be. With 39 wide receivers at the ISFL level, there are less than 3 per team. Three wide receiver sets are incredibly common in the sim and thus most teams are unable to even fully run this formation and require the use of a tight end as a receiver. While I know that the TPE requirements for a wide receiver are high, I am not certain we are at the point where expansion is needed for this position. Overall, I feel receivers just need to accept being a 3rd wide receiver at the start of their career and possibly a 2nd wide receiver for a bit longer than existed previously within the ISFL.

I disagree that expansion is needed right now for the ISFL. I think we are still too short on a few positions and thus should focus efforts on making those positions more attractive for members. With all that said, I do think we are close to the need for expansion. Another large reddit class could push us over so the talk about expansion and how it would be best implemented should remain in the league so we are fully ready to go when the need is more apparent.

[ValorX77]

Task 3, +10 TPE

[pauadrian]

8. With awards season upon us, make up an award for your player win for something not on the football field? (428 words)
Well to be completely honest this is going to be a pretty simple task to write for because well, my player is a two way player and I don't even mean position wise. I mean entirely career wise which is impressive in itself. My player isn't just your regular old football player. She is an absolute MEGA pop star. Don't believe me? Just check attendance figures outside that Portland stadium, or the lines outside waiting to get in! Now I get what you're saying. Oh god not another Tay Swizzle fanboy but hear me out! Not only is she a succesful pop star in her other career merchandise wise but she's also one of the most critically acclaimed mainstream artists of this decade! This is why I think she should win the Obla Di Obla Da Award for best singer/songwriter/player all combined into one. Not only is Tay Swizzle the only player to do two different careers at once but as stated before she's also a prolific songwriter. I'm barely even going to get into the album songs, i'm only going to get into the football related ones which are amazing in itself

First off is "Teardrops on my Football" After Tay Swizzle was not picked up by Kansas City Coyotes as she expected, she wrote a heartbreaking song/message to the Kansas City players in the locker room and management as well. Making this her first hit as a football player. A song about heartbreak and how she'd imagine her time in Kansas only for it all to be taken away after Portland Pythons picked her up. Second of all is "Playoffs" which is yet another song about heartbreak and the dissapointment of missing the playoffs in her first season with Portland Pythons in the Development Football Sim League. Describing how playoffs slipped away like a bottle of wine is just amazing writing. And finally we have the grandaddy of them all "End Game". Tay Swizzle not only wrote a brilliant song here but she also managed to collaborate with two other players in the league. The Laz and Ikick Balls not only slapped hard on their song parts but Tay Swizzle made sure they shined. Who knew Ikick Balls could rap like that and finally The Laz playing into his bad boy persona alongside his teammate in Tay Swizzle performing and singing together about their reputations. I'm sure there will be more to follow so stay tuned for more songs in the future in Tay Swizzle's quest for the Obla Di Obla Da Award




10. Write a short biography or story about your player. This could include background about how they came to the ISFL and how they’ve done so far, a story about their role in an exciting game, or anything else related to their experience in the league. (410 words)

Tay Swizzle was born in West Reading, Pennsylvania in the United Sates of America on December 13th 1989. She was born into a loving and wealthy family who gave her everything she needed to succeed. An insanely hard worker in her craft and usually helping others elevate themselves as well, Tay Swizzle was born to be famous at whatever she set her mind to doing. I would not be surprised if she could bring back classical music if she wanted to. She started doing country music to appeal to all the little country girls who had their hearts broken by boys or that just needed someone to relate to them. Carefully and slowly moving her craft towards a more pop sound becoming even more and more famous by the day and by each album she released. It came as a huge shock this year though when she announced she was going into sports and not as a cheerleader or as a performer for halftime shows at the Ultimus. Moreso she was thinking of proving herself at a physical level, she wanted to play the sport of american football to prove to the haters and doubters that she could do anything she set her mind to.

As the days and weeks passed and training footage surfaced, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that this was just a publicity stunt she was pulling to generate more hype and revenue for her next album as she had previously done in the past. But as her latest album dropped she continued her football career and it became very apparent very quickly that this was in fact no joke or game to her. This was the real deal. Now after a succesful season in the Developmental Football Sim League with the Portland Pythons she is out to prove herself again and see if she's able to take the next step and that is the International Football Sim League. Being the hype machine that she is, she has already released a total of 3 songs as of this moment in writing and plans to release more in the future to continue building up her image and bringing viewership to both Portland and her next team. While yes some do love to hate watch and just want to see her butt kicked, she's proving the doubters wrong day by day, landing more and more touchdowns and more notoriety and shaking it off in the end zone

[hotdog]

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29. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW, which would mean SHL's PT #2, SMJHL PT #3, and PBE's PT 26-2.

SHL PT

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26. Football is a game that has been going on for a while, loved by fans all over. But what if you were able to make some rule changes? Talk us through your new version of football, and what would be different and why?

There are lots of wild and wacky rule changes for football I've heard proposed, most of which are really dumb. Once in college I was hanging out with some friends and another guy was also hanging out with us (not our friend really) and he suggested that the players should be able to have laser swords attached to their helmets and that'd make things really interesting - obviously that's a really dumb idea so here's my better one: A rule change for football that I would propose is instead of the typical out of bounds shaded in white we replace that with a 8 foot deep moat. No crocodiles or anything like that just a moat of water going around the field like where the current out of bounds is. No longer will we need to go to replay review for 2 feet in! (yeah we still actually will have to do that though.) But it'd be funny to see receivers and corners battling for a jump ball on the sideline and maybe their momentum carries both of them out and now they have to play the rest of the game really wet. Ain't nothing worse than having wet socks! late tackles out of bounds would no longer be a common penalty since the player out of bounds will be swimming. I guess maybe you could put a couple of small fish in there as well and maybe a player can grab a quick midgame snack of fish.

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28. Choose one existing award. Tell us why you think a certain player should win that award this season. Stats, or anything else possible should be used to support your case.

Not exactly an award (since I don't believe there is an award for this) but let's make the case for an all-pro spot, specifically the fullback spot. Also maybe there is a fullback of the year award! And if not there should be! Anyway, whichever form it takes, Deadly Memes (formerly known as gunner thorbjornsson) of the Arizona Outlaws should be recognized as the top fullback of the season in S29. Memes had 52 pancakes, 10 more than any actual FB and like 700 more yards than any other FB. Memes has long been known as a receiving back, perhaps due to his past as a wide receiver, but strapped on the pads extra tight this season and became more blocking-focused, and that work has paid off big time. Memes lined up at fullback in every Arizona formation that had one, and lead blocked for the prosperous Tatsu Nakamura, who ran behind Memes for yet another stellar season at halfback. Perhaps Deadly Memes should be overlooked, though, for his dumb name, which is dumb and bad, but if you look only at the stats, the case for Memes is clear as an Arizona night! I guess only time will tell how the division of labor looks in the Arizona backfield next season, but let's hope Memes can soon get the recognition he deserves!

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15. Going to Disneyland! Who was the Ultimus Game MVP? Give us a rundown of their celebratory trip to Disneyland. (Can be completed after the Ultimus game)

I'd make the case for cornerback Colt Mendoza as S29 Ultimus MVP - a rare feat for a defensive player but I reckon within the storyline of the game that Mendoza deserves it. In the first quarter it was 10-0 Silverbacks with the Fire Salamanders driving - New York had gotten off to a hot start but nothing insurmountable until Mendoza picked off a Nick Kaepercolin pass intended for Ty Hood and brought it back 54 yards to the house to make the game 17-0. 17 point lead in the first quarter isn't game over but it radically changes the rest of the game, so Mendoza, owner of the biggest play in the game, gets the honor here. He was also a force elsewhere, leading the team with 9 tackles (likely due to the pass-heavy approach that comes when you're losing by 17) and added a pass deflection as well. Mendoza spent his trip to Disneyland trying lots of various foods from around the park. He is rich and has lots of money so he went around to the different stands and bought one of each item and had one bite of each to try it and then gave the rest to some kid who wanted it which is a little weird but the kids were eager to eat the other 3/4 of a corn dog after the Ultimus MVP has the first 1/4!

[fever95]

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18. Written option - which teammate of yours is the ultimate team player and why? How does this person exhibit selflessness and put the team first? Are they a great locker room presence who encourages others? Do they play an important but unappreciated role on the team which doesn't receive much recognition for awards? Graphic Option: Create a graphic of your player with your teammate who exhibits a team-friendly attitude.

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20. Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, or highlights. Written or graphic option available.

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23. Create a billboard, magazine cover, unique trading card, or video game cover depicting a one of the league's stars.

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29. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW, which would mean SHL's PT #2, SMJHL PT #3, and PBE's PT 26-2.

SHL Affiliation

[Trashae]

Tier 2: Short Form Tasks (Each must be 400+ words)
Choose up to TWO for 5 TPE each.

14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?

"Defense wins championships, but offense sells tickets."  Even the most casual football fan has heard that phrase before and heading into the season the Portland Pythons were expected to have a stalwart defense reminiscent of the Steel Curtain.  And by all accounts that is exactly what the Pythons delivered.  Their defense led the DSFL in virtually all categories including points against (16.2), yards against per game (304.5), rushing yards against per game (84.1), and were top 3 in passing yards against per game (220.4). 

With all of those advantages you would think that a team with the second best roster in the league who finished the season on a 3 game win streak to end the season hot would also make some postseason noise.  Wrong.  Despite all of their advantages and the league's best rushing attack at 168.9 yards per game the Pythons finished an even 7-7 ultimately missing the playoffs. A league-worst passing attack doomed the Pythons and is the latest example of how the passing game and quarterback play are more important than ever before.  Let that sink in for a moment.  The league's best defense and strongest rushing attack had to win their final 3 games to even get to a .500 record and miss the playoffs.  It seems more and more like the 06-07 Bears are an anomaly in the modern era.

With such a suffocating defense it stands to reason that Portland had strong contributions all over the place and while that is true we're going to take a moment and analyze the performance of Linebacker Teddy Murphy.  Murphy set or tied his career best marks in tackles (77), tackles for a loss (9), sacks (7), interceptions (1), and forced fumbles (1).  He was the Robin to Elliot Hord's Batman on the Portland defense and spent the majority of this past season in Hord's shadow with the exception of an incredible week 8 performance at home against Tijuanna.  In an ultimately futile effort as the Pythons lost 23-10 during a 3 game skid Murphy accumulated 9 tackles, 1 for a loss, and 2 sacks trying to keep his team in it.  The effort earned Murphy his second career game ball and to really drive home the point on Hord's dominance this season by week 8 he had already been awarded 4 game balls last season alone.

The path forward is clear for Portland who were let down by their dreadful passing game to try and improve, but after this past season the organization has to wonder if Panda McKyle is still the answer.  For Murphy the path forward is unclear as he awaits the call from Honolulu to find out if he is taking the next step and joining the ISFL roster.  In either case Murphy should be happy with the season he had and hopefully next season will have an opportunity to either take over in Portland or learn from the strong veteran core in Honolulu.

Tier 3: Written/Graphics Tasks (Each must be either 200+ words or a graphic)
Choose up to FOUR for 2.5 TPE each.


26. Football is a game that has been going on for a while, loved by fans all over. But what if you were able to make some rule changes? Talk us through your new version of football, and what would be different and why?

The three most prominent football leagues around the world each have their own unique rules and at times can seem like three completely different sports entirely.  For the betterment of the game I think that the CFL, AFL, and ISFL should combine their respective rulebooks for the growth and betterment of the sport globally. 

From the CFL I'd love to see the adoption of their rules around kick returns.  In recent history the ISFL has taken strides to increase the number of fair catches all in the name of player safety and to that I cry fowl! Make players return kicks, we all love to see a good kicker tackle so make it happen.

From the AFL let's bring in the bigger fields! There are enough cameras and production around the sport that a larger field won't cause anything to be missed.  As a secondary measure to the larger field I think increasing the number of players to 18 a side like the AFL has totally makes sense and as long as the ISFL increase roster size to match, then let's make it happen.

The ISFL adopting some of the rules from other wildly popular football leagues around the world would go a long way to growing the sport and incorporating some of the unique rules found elsewhere is a good way to keep growing the sport and bring the disparate fanbases together to potentially start contending with soccer.


29. Affliate PT from either SHL/PBE. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this UW, which would mean SHL's PT #2, SMJHL PT #3, and PBE's PT 26-2.

SHL Affiliate PT#2

[bowl0]

Prompt 14:

So here is a recap summary of Rean Schwarzer and Tijuana's season this year. Overall for Tijuana this season was a success even though it ended in a way none of us wanted (blown out in the ultimini 40-0). Through the regular season we ended up at 9 and 5 finishing second in the division due to tiebreakers. The season didn't start very well where we went 2-4 in our first games averaging a measly 15.83 points per game while allowing 26 points per game, obviously not a recipe for success there. Once we hit week 7 Tijuana turned on the jets to finish the season 7-1 scoring a whopping 31 points per game and allowing just 20 points per game, which is a nice finish on our way to the playoffs. The biggest missed opportunity I feel we left on the table is the handful of close losses on the season, (Week 5 14-13, Week 6 27-24), and our one loss in the final streak of the season (week 13 30-23). If we had won any of those games Tijuana would have had the number 1 seed in the division as well as having homefield advantage for the playoffs including the Ultimini(sim needs to find a way to do a neutral field badly).Minnesota was a juggernaut on the year but it likely would have been much more competitive at least if we had the homefield considering we managed to beat them at home in week 11 during our 6 game win streak near the end of the season.  I fully expect Tijuana to have a good draft and another very solid season next year should get to the playoffs, and then who knows what will happen, which I will unfortunately not be a part of as a player due to being called up to the Orange County Otters over this offseason.

For my player's season (Rean Schwarzer). I would overall call it a successful season, I unfortunately didn't end up forcing a turnover until week 11 this season, and finished with just 2 interceptions as well as leading the league in completion percentage (hung around 54% I believe until about week 11). While it wasn't as good as a season as last year, 5 interceptions, led the DSFL in completion percentage allowed and led the league in PD's, I feel this season was good enough to be in the top 5 CB's of the league. Overall I was satisfied with how I did overall, just wished I could have had a few more interceptions during the year to take my play from really good to great, and it could have really helped in some of those close games I mentioned earlier for Tijuana.

21. Now off to the fun discussion of the sim, first of all there are definitely positives to the new sim over the older one, there is much more strategic options to my knowledge from talking to my gm's which makes the game planning aspect so much more important

It feels like there is some potential much more in terms of stats for certain players which doesn't feel as genuine or earned potentially as it might have used to be considering I just started in the league and in my first season in the DSFL I was one PD off of tying the DSFL record for a single season, I managed 31 while the leader had 32. On the same note though, all of the top 11 record holders except for one are from year 2042 on, yeah that is all within the previous 3 seasons so all of them with the new sim. On another note William Lim with Colorado had over 1900 receiving yards, and Kai Sakura had over 1800 yards, with 23 touchdowns receiving between both of them.

While I am biased considering I started with this sim only with not being here very long, I feel there are a lot of improvements that can be mad on the sim, but overall it's probably beneficial that we are on the new sim now.

25. If any of my positions that I have had in my short time in the league weren't available (RB, CB, S) weren't available I probably would have picked an offensive lineman. The first reason I would think about offensive lineman would be it can really either hold an offense down or have the ability to let it shine. If there are always defenders in the backfield applying pressure and stuffing runs it's hard to get anything going consistently. By having good offensive lineman on a team it will let plays develop better and give the players time to make correct decisions and shine. I feel it is one of the most team first positions as well, since when you do well it helps the entire team out while at the same time it's not like you can really get any stats for it. I think it would be fun to be able to make an impact in ways that might not be as evident to others since you probably don't get a ton of people playing it since it isn't one of the "glory" positions, such as many of the skill positions you get a lot more people interested since you can see the impact of how you are doing in a much easier way.

[StadiumGambler]

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6. Write 800 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that 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 participation on a Werewolf server or something.

Okay I'm gonna let off some steam on league issues that I am taking seriously.

First of all just like my last year with the Portland Pythons in the DSFL, my Sarasota Sailfish were victimized by some utterly terrible playcalling. The scene for this first one is against the future Ultimus champ New York Silverbacks in Week 9 action. It is overtime in a tied game, 24 to 24, Sarasota have the ball, its 1st and 10 just past midfield into enemy territory. A first down here and Kicker Jacob Small can put through a winner. Chizuru Ichinose runs for 4 yards, fullback San Sternenstaub gets half a yard maybe, and then on 3rd and 5 Sarasota spikes the ball to stop the clock.

With a minute and 27 seconds left in overtime.

I'm not sure if timeouts refill, but even so, they'd have had enough time to get off two plays instead of wasting one with a spike, which is just throwing the game away. Also, if we were so concerned about the clock, why did we call two running plays in a row before the spike? Why not just throw a goddamn sideline pass, bleed the clock down if it misses, and punt, forcing NY to drive in a limited amount of time for the tie at least.

At any rate, the spike gave us 4th and 5, which turned into 4th and inches after New York defensive end Brick Van Sanzo jumped offsides (of course the 5 yards was more like 5.2 so no first down). Then Jacob Small missed a tough kick from 53, and New York covered 50+ yards in 3 plays for the 30 to 24 win.

Then in Week 14, Sarasota faces the Berlin Fire Salamanders. With the game tied 13 to 13 late in the 4th quarter, Sarasota is driving in Berlin territory after a 30 yard reception from Joseph Radetzky. Ichinose runs for 4 yards, Ichinose runs for half a yard or so, and it is 3rd and 5 with a minute and a half left. On third down, Sarasota spikes the ball, and then GOES FOR IT ON 4TH AND 5!

Ichinose gets the ball for a running play again, gets stopped for no gain, and its turnover on downs. Sarasota was on the Berlin 35 and could've tried a 52 yard field goal from Jacob Small to win the game, but did not do that. Instead the game goes to overtime and Berlin eventually wins.

Once again, a common problem the sim exhibits is its inability to manage a game clock. If time is such a concern, why call running plays when the situation calls for passing plays from the 2 minute drill section of the playbook? Why try a 50+ yard field goal in one game, but not the other? Also, there were a couple instances in both games where Sarasota, hoarding timeouts, called timeouts specifically so they could punt the ball to the opposition without the clock running out, instead of just bleeding the game clock down. If I didn't know better, I'd swear Sarasota's coach was trying to throw the games so that the other teams would win. It was ridiculous, and a shame on this sim for allowing this to happen. Sarasota going 11-5 instead of 13-3 might've had a big rippled effect on the season. Maybe they beat Berlin at home in the Conference Finals instead of losing (or get the Yeti, who we beat in the playoffs). Maybe when we make it to the Ultimus, we beat New York again. Instead, its nothing but a heaping helping of second best, and its not like its some issue that can be easily fixed by our strategists in the offseason, because we have such limited control over what we can change to improve team performance.

Another league issue I'm taking seriously is build and attribute relevance. I've been recently informed not to invest in Intelligence as a wideout, and I'm like whaaaaaaat? I feel like Intelligence should be a super important attribute in any sports sim, or its equivalents like Awareness and Decisions. Awareness in Madden CPU vs CPU games is actually an important decider in games, because a player with low awareness might lose understanding of football on a conceptual level and play really badly. Intelligence should be a big impact on performance, and being told to soft-pedal it for a couple other attributes kind of takes you out of the illusion that sim sports is supposed to provide, you know? It would be better for player building if we could meaningfully specialize in ways with tangible upsides and downsides, instead of "raise this this and this, because it's optimal." Just another example of shoddy sim design from Wolverine Studios.

Unfortunately I'm not sure how we address this at all, beyond hoping for our sim overlords to get their collective shit together, but it was a much needed rant that had to be put out there.

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20. Make a scouting report for any of the ISFL or DSFL draftees. Show their stats, abilities, TPE, or highlights. Written or graphic option available.

Levy Tate – Kicker and Punter of the Minnesota Grey Ducks

Quick notes: Coming in to Minnesota in order to replace legend kicker Gluteus Maximus, Tate has shown some improvement over the season but is still quite behind the curve relative to her peers. Focusing on accuracy over power, Tate struggles many times to kick the longer balls, but does have a very serviceable Inside the 20 yardline punt average. However, she appears to be quite apathetic about the league, checking in infrequently with coaches and GMs and always reluctantly training. She is pushed most by Soulja and they seem to get along.

Key statistics: Over the regular season, Tate was 44/48 on extra points kicking about 92% in. These disappointing numbers must improve as many games are won on just 1 or 2 points. Her field goal percentage was even worse making only 13 out of 26 for an average of 56.5%. She struggled the most with kicks greater than 30 yards and only made 1 FG greater than 50 yards, most likely due to lack of power.

Her punting statistics were much better averaging 42.7 yards a punt on 83 attempts. She had 30 inside the 20 yardline and her longest of the season went for 60 yards, yet another distance category that can be improved.

Draft grade and takeaways: Late round 4 or early round 5 pick. A kicker and punter with decent skill in both accuracy and power. Still very raw and will new many seasons of development before the investment pays off. Some character concerns showing apathy about the league.

Words: 264

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11. Write about your team’s biggest rivalry and what makes it so fierce. Is the competition founded in statistics and the team’s recent performance, or is it a rivalry that developed over time during the team’s history that would exist regardless of statistics?

Modern Minnesota’s biggest rivalry has to be none other than the Norfolk Seawolves. Now if you are reading this and are calling me crazy because that sounds dumb, I cannot say I blame you. But it is true because the class of season 28 is petty and since then we have never forgiven Norfolk, nor will we ever!

Let me lay the groundwork before I go on in my rant. Flashback to season 27 in the DSFL and the Grey Ducks are about to enter week 7 against the Seawolves. Minnesota started devastatingly 0-4 which was surprising to most, especially the ones in Minn, because we were developing quite well with a bunch of active users and near max earners. Eventually we righted the ship and got 2 wins in weeks 5 and 6. Now going into Week 7, we thought for sure we would get that third win since Norfolk was awful, having a winless record of 0-6 at this point in the season. Naturally, they beat us in a game winning touchdown in the fourth quarter………..

No matter! We would get our revenge since we would play them again in the last game of the season! And it was still early, no one was out of the playoff hunt yet. So, we were mad for a bit, but got over it. Fast forward to week 14 and the Grey Ducks are still in the playoff hunt. Their previous loss to London in week 13 meant they did not clinch yet and it came down to the final game against the team that did them dirty. The Seawolves were still awful too, only having 3 wins to this point! So the team hyped themselves up, and no other player was more hype than Soulja who started the game out with an incredible 41-yard pick six! Minnesota started the game out 14-0… but then finished 29-14 since Negs couldn’t get anything going and got sacked 3 times…

Everyone in Minnesota remembers this, especially Daniel O’Leary who has learned to absolutely HATE Norfolk because of this. Well since S28, Minn has gone 4-0 against Norfolk, mostly blowing them out of the water each and every time with dominant defensive and offensive performances. Most notably had to have been this season where John “Fronk” Huntsman broke his own rushing record. The rivalry may die down in the future though, as you can’t have a lopsided rivalry, but I will never forgive Norfolk, and it will make my day every time to see the Grey Ducks whoop their butts. Former Grey Duck Negs is now their GM though, so as they improve, I am sure they will be fun to root against.

Words: 447

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27. What team do you think has the best branding in the league? What team do you think could use a refresh? Why?
You know I answered this last season, but I am picking this one again! Because I got a lot of problems with the Chicago logo and you all are going to hear about it! It is time to air my grievances, and last time I said Baltimore needed a change and they got one so why not CHI???

First off, why the heck is Chicago’s team the ‘Butchers’ in the first place? The windy city isn’t known for its deli meats, if anything, it is known for its deep-dish pizzas but even then, it shouldn’t be the team mascot. Something else that better represents the area should have been used, like the Beans, or you could branch off their current team themes like the Cubs, Bears, Bulls, White Sox, etc. Next thing are the colors! They are way too edgy. This is a sim football league not your eighth-grade gym locker. Why so much blood on everything? What butcher is cutting up live meat? Not one I’m buying from that’s for sure. Don’t get me wrong though, I love the red and the black, but overall, the theme is a little much and should be toned back a shade.

I would also appreciate it if the baby blue of the Chicago flag was incorporated more. Chicago has a great flag, one its citizens cherish, so to not borrow from its design is a crime. At the very least, one of the stars could be incorporated as a lens flare on the knife. Literally any change to this logo would help, and I believe this is well overdue.

Words: 267