*DSFL Week 7 Power Rankings

[Rising Equinox]

[Ready to be graded] [2,092 Words]

I haven't wrote a media article like this before, so I thought it would be interesting to try it out. I will try my best to give legit reasoning for ranking teams where I put them, but feel free to share your opinions about my rankings. With each of the teams, I will include individual statistics that stand out to me and were the main reasons for me rankings the teams where I do. Also, tell me if you think I should do more of these in the future and ways you think I could improve my rankings, explanations, etc. So, let's get started!
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#1 Tijuana Luchadores (4-2-0)
[Offense: 23.5 Pts/Game] League Leader
[Offense: 191.2 Passing Yards/Game] League Leader
[Defense: 22 Total Sacks] League Leader
[Special Teams: 63.6 FG%] League Lowest

The Luchadores get first place in my rankings, and it is very well deserved. The first thing that stands out when you look at the Luchadores is their offense. This team can put up points. When we learned that Forrest Gump was going to be a send down, I instantly considered him to be one of the top favorites to win the MVP or OPOTY award. He was insane last season, and he had the entire off-season to get even better. Although Gump is currently leading the league with 8 rushing touchdowns, his 4.8 yards/attempt is only 10th in the league. Their rushing attack has definitely been a threat to opposing defenses, but their passing game has been the most surprising aspect of their offense this season, in my opinion. They currently lead the league in total passing yards, and this is mostly due to the great connection between QB Corvo Havran and WR Rod Tidwell. Tidwell leads the league in receiving yards, 521, and receptions, 37. That puts him at an average 86.8 yards and 6.2 receptions per game. That's crazy considering the next closest receiver is Chase Jensen from the Solar Bears with 451 yards. The Luchadores defense is also nothing to scoff at. Their front seven can get to the QB better than any other team in the league, and it's honestly not even close. They have 22 sacks, 8 more than the next closest team. Having a great team like this doesn't come without its flaws though. Their kicker is only 7/11 on field goals, putting him at roughly 64%. All 4 of these misses are from 40+ yards, so it's not really an immediate concern, but it is definitely something to watch out for come playoff time when the Luchadores might need to make a game-winning field goal. As long as they keep scoring points, and their defense keeps pressuring the QB at the rate they have been, the Luchadores could easily be looking at an Ultimini trophy very soon.

#2 Portland Pythons (3-3-0)
[Defense: 15.3 Pts/Game] League Leader
[Defense: 297.2 Yards/Game] League Leader
[Defense: 7 Interceptions] Second in the League
[Offense: 158.5 Passing Yards/Game] Third in the League

I know what you're probably thinking, "Why aren't the Seawolves #2?!?! They also have a 4-2 record. You're just biased, because you play for the Pythons." That is true; I am biased in favor of the Pythons, but that has nothing to do with why I have them at #2 in my rankings, and I'm going to prove to you statistically why they are a better team than the Seawolves and deserve to be ranked higher than them. I'll try to leave most of the Seawolves talk for when I rank them, but I just want to briefly explain my reasoning for this. Despite the Seawolves being first in the NFCN conference, the Pythons actually lead the conference in every major team statistical category on offense and defense. This includes pts/game, total yards/game, rushing yards/game, and passing yards/game on offense and defense. That's right, they even have more rushing yards per game than the Seawolves who have the league leading rusher Dorfus Jimbo. The Seawolves have also allowed more total points than they've scored this season. Now that I have that out of the way, let's talk more specifically about the Pythons. When you look at this team, it's pretty much the opposite of the Luchadores. The Pythons have a terrifying defense, with a solid offense to back it up. Opposing teams average only 15.3 points against the Pythons. If you ignore the week 3 game against the Solar Bears, when the Solar Bears had a second half comeback victory, the most points scored in a single game against the Pythons is 15. That's including road game losses, where we all know the sim likes to have some fun. This season's Pythons defense is very similar to last season's, and last season ended with the Pythons winning the Ultimini. The biggest difference is, this season, the Pythons are actually forcing more turnovers than last season. With 7 interceptions, they are currently second in the league in total interceptions. Their offense has been playing with a much more balanced, run first, type of playstyle than they were last season, which compliments the defense extremely well, but it has caused some inefficiency on the offensive side of the ball. The Pythons are dangerous, and if Franklin Armstrong can start producing on anywhere near the level he did when he won MVP, OPOTY, and QBOTY, the Pythons could easily be repeating champions this season.

#3 Norfolk Seawolves (4-2-0)
[Offense: Dorfus Jimbo - 1,002 Rushing Yards] League Leader
[Defense: 6 Forced Fumbles] League Leader
[Offense: 167.7 Rushing Yards/Game] Fifth in the League

This spot was honestly a toss-up between the Seawolves and the Solar Bears. The Seawolves have one of the most complete rosters in the DSFL, in my opinion. That is why I chose to rank them above the Solar Bears, but it could easily be argued either way. When you look at the Seawolves, the biggest contributor and asset to this team has to be Dorfus Jimbo. He leads the league in rush attempts and rushing yards, with 214 attempts and 1,002 yards. He's averaging roughly 36 rushing attempts per game. That's an insane workload, and he's making every snap of it count. This is a team that can and will run the ball until your defense is completely worn out, then pass it right over your head. The Seawolves actually have the league leader in receiving TD's, Ahri Espeeyeeseetee. He currently has 5 receiving touchdowns in just 6 games, so the Seawolves offensive strategy has been working for them pretty well so far. Despite these offensive weapons and what their 4-2 record would suggest, the Seawolves have actually allowed more points than they've been able to score. Their defense hasn't been playing the best complimentary football for the run-first playstyle the Seawolves seem to be focusing on, but they've still been able to force the turnovers necessary to win games when they need to. They currently lead the league in forced fumbles with 6. Overall, I'm not really sold on the Seawolves. Their only win against a team with .5 win ratio or higher was a home game against the Pythons where they barely won 15-10; the Pythons beat them earlier in the season at their own field 37-10. Their two losses are against teams with a .5 win ratio or better, the Pythons and the Luchadores. In fact, they only beat the Marshals twice by a total of 2 points, one in each game. Despite all of this, the Seawolves still lead their conference, and they've found ways to win games, so they could easily make me regret all of this later in the season.

#4 Palm Beach Solar Bears (3-2-1)
[Offense: Total Yards/Game] League Leader
[Offense: Rushing Yards/Game] League Leader
[Defense: 330 Total Tackles] League Leader

The Solar Bears have to be one of, if not, the biggest surprises of this season. With the Marshals roster being gutted by NSFL calling players up, the Solar Bears were definitely looked at as a team to make a significant leap this season, but I don't think anybody expected them to be as good as they are. If they wouldn't have tied with the Marshals, they would've been ranked higher on this list, possibly even above the Pythons, bur tying with a 1-3 team isn't the definition of greatness, so I couldn't rank them higher than this right now. Although, they definitely show promise, and they could easily be a surprise Ultimini contender if they solve just a few problems before the playoffs. With a combination of Bigby, Barclay, and Bortboy, Palm Beach has, what I would consider, the most dangerous backfield in the DSFL. They have three RB's in the top 6 of rushing yards per attempt. These are talented running backs that can be swapped out when you least expect it and can allow the others to take a break and stay fresh for the entire game. That is one thing the Solar Bears have over a team like the Seawolves, who have only one primary running back. Palm Beach also leads the league in total tackles. This could be seen as a positive or negative, depending on how you look at it. You could say that this means their defense is making all of the tackles they need to and not missing any, or their offense isn't being efficient enough and is struggling to keep their defense off the field. It's too early in the season to say that the Solar Bears are a playoff guarantee, but I would definitely predict them going to the playoffs over the Marshals any day of the week. And, as I said before, they could be a sneaky Ultimini contender if given the opportunity. A team with a surprisingly good offense and a solid defense could easily cause some upsets in the playoffs, but it just depends on what version of this team will show up to the game.

#5 Kansas City Coyotes (2-4-0)
[Defense: 8 Interceptions] League Leader
[Defense: 2 Defensive TD's] League Leader

As this point, I pretty much have to rank the final two teams based off strength of victories. Surprisingly, both of the Coyotes wins are against teams with a .5 win ratio or higher, the Luchadores and Pythons. The only team with more quality wins than the Coyotes is the Tijuana Luchadores. Kansas City has struggled to say the least, but they can come up big in big games. This is mostly due to their secondary. In each of the games that they won, they also had a defensive interception returned for a TD. They are the only team with two defensive touchdowns, and they were against the best teams in the league. When you throw in forced fumbles, the Coyotes actually lead the league in forced turnovers. This is pretty impressive for a team which seems to have already begun the tanking process for this season. If they had just one more really good offensive weapon, they may have been serious contenders this season. Although I don't think the Coyotes really have a chance of making it to the playoffs, they could easily get some upset wins later in the season.

#6 San Antonio Marshals (1-4-1)
[Offense: 197.2 Rushing Yards/Game] Second in the League

What can I really say about the Marshals? They had their chance last season, with the best roster in the DSFL, and they missed their opportunity to win the Ultimini. It was essentially a win-now situation for the Marshals, and now they are just suffering from the after effects. One positive from this season's Marshals is the running game. They are second in the league in rushing yards per game. This could be due to the talented backfield duo of Foija and Vaz, or it could be a wildly inefficient offense that's just running the clock down as much as possible. There's not much else to say about the Marshals. If they have a good draft, they could be right back at the top of the league, but this just isn't their season.

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I really hope you guys enjoyed reading this. If I get positive feedback, I'll consider making another later in the season when the playoff teams are more clear than they are now. I actually kind of enjoyed making this. I learned some interesting statistics that I wouldn't have known without doing the research for this article. The media has somewhat died down since the double draft media bonus ended, so this is at least something to look at to pass the time. I hope everyone has a great day, and I can't wait to see you on the field!

[slothfacekilla]

This was a great read, learned a lot about how the other teams were doing. Looking forward to you hopefully writing more!

[Tomasnz]

Really good dude. As sloth says, I enjoyed r adding about the other teams performance.

[CalvinP]

Damn I wanna talk shit about the fleet not being higher but this is a fantastically put together read. Good shit.

[SDCore]

Rod Tidwell approves this message.

[Rradum]

Coyotes aren't last! Here we come Ultimini!

[JKortesi81]

Dem Solar Boys tho.

[PDXBaller]

You want to talk about gutted? Palm Beach lost 8 players to the NSFL last season including the entire secondary!