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+---- Thread: *How will Season 19 turn out? (/showthread.php?tid=16611)
*How will Season 19 turn out? - BaconBrother - 11-22-2019
Assuming this is in the 1,5x season predictions grading area
I guess we have been good kids this seasons because Christmas came early and we are able to get one and a half times the media credit for articles relating to season predictions. Oh boy am I happy that Santa gave us all such nice toys and I will make the most of this early Christmas present. The way I’ll do this, is by going through each conference, giving an overview of the situation I see happening next season and then go through the list from top to bottom. After doing this for each conference, I’ll have a look at what that would mean for the playoffs and any possible Ultimus predictions. So let us get started!
NSFC
Looking back at Season 18, the NSFC seemed to be the Yellowknife Wraiths and the rest of the teams. What I mean by this was the Wraiths were the regular season juggernaut they seem relish being and the rest of the teams decided to beat up on each other quite fairly and the end result was what it was. Looking forward onto Season 19 with the knowledge we have so far, I feel the situation will be pretty similar. And yes I know it is boring to say, but the big shake ups will happen in Season 20 and going forward. Yellowknife will have most of its core back again this season and will look to dominate the conference. Baltimore still has Havran at the helm who is only getting better and Yeti have done some good FA signings to bolster a young roster with room to grow. That leaves Chicago who are building the foundations of something that will blossom further down the road and Philadelphia’s pieces are a few seasons away from competing with the big boys. So what does this mean for the conference and seedings? Well let us have a look
1) Yellowknife Wraiths
Well there really is not a surprise here as I would think Yellowknife will most likely be seen as the clear favorites by the large majority. They just wen 11-2 in the regular season and narrowly lost in the Ultimus. As I mentioned before they have most of their roster coming back with their only casualties being cornerback Alex Selich and Defensive Tackle Ryan Leaf Jr. This might not be the same spooky defense but with rookie Maurice Virtanen putting in more training and most other key players also getting better or not regressing, I see them as a strong outfit next season. Quarterback Cooter Bigsby is only getting better his receiving weapons will also still be in their prime. Of course they are losing their two running backs in Jerrod Canton and Morgan Marshall but have the luxury of calling up Mathias Hanyadi and Orien Drake from the DSFL, who will look to create the next two headed monster in the NSFL. All told I think they will be one of, if not the most talented roster on paper and it would be foolish to put them anywhere else but number one in the NSFC.
2) Baltimore Hawks
Some might be surprised to see Baltimore here, others might feel that everything after the Wraiths in this conference is a crap shoot so they do not care who is put in what order. I see that even with the Hawks having older players that are going through some regression, they will still have enough talent to take second place here. There are three things which I feel validate this opinion. The first is that the Hawks have the most important position in football, the quarterback, locked up and ready to go. Corvo Havran has won the quarterback of the year award two years in a row (although he had to share it this year) and he still a few seasons from regression. This means that he is in his prime and will easily carry the Hawks through any rough patches they might have through the season. The second reason is that honestly I feel Baltimore got pretty well fucked over by the sim last season. I know that it happens to all the teams, but the Hawks talent level was a lot more than their 6-7 record suggests. Lots of games where they were clear favorites and in seasons past, they would have won those games. The sim gives and it takes, and I feel that next season it will give back to the Hawks. The third reason is that honestly, the rest of the conference is not really full of true powerhouse teams, outside of the Wraiths. With much more parity and weaker teams in their conference, compared to the ASFC, I feel that gives them an advantage. I also want to mention that their defense is young in many positions and with Dorfus Jimbo switching over to defense, I feel it will help them a lot next season.
3) Colorado Yeti
Oh look the team that finished third last season is going to finish third again this season. There seems to be a trend here and as I said in the beginning, it is much of the same for the NSFC next season. The Yeti are a young team that was able to make the playoffs last season and will look to build on that for the next season. Looking at their offseason moves, I like the direction of this squad and they will definitely be a strong team in the future. Most importantly, they were able to re-sign one of their most important players in Bubba Thumper, who is one of the cornerstones of the franchise. Losing him would have left a huge gap in the trenches and they will be happy to have Bubba back. In addition to this they brought back an old face for his last swan song in the league in Axel Hornbacher. Hornbacher will be immediately be one of the best players on the team and will improve the secondary a lot. He is also a veteran of the league and this will do a lot to improve the locker room, if there were any improvements to be made. And to be sure they were one of the most active teams during the offseason, they made a huge splash and brought in the number one overall pick of the Season 17 draft in Ashley Owens. They add Owens to the running back room which has Micheal Vincent from the Season 18 draft and Season 15 runner Terry Taffy. With a multitude of good options now, they will definitely be a match-up nightmare for a lot of teams. The future is bright for the Yeti and lets see what kind of Yeti noises we see in Season 19.
4) Philadelphia Liberty
Philadelphia is a team who I think was slightly hard done by the sim at times last year, but at the same time, I think their record was pretty fair. There are a lot of positives in this team, but in the end I feel like they will just miss out on the playoffs and they Yeti will take the third seed. Philadelphia has a strong and young core with which to build on. Their defense will be extremely scary in a few years with players such as Zach Hall, Thudd Kassel, Emondov Emoji and Richard D’Attoria V. On the offensive side of the ball they have the best running back in the league in Sam Torenson and a great wide receiver with Nacho Varga. They will be hunting for a playoff spot right until the end, but two factors will keep them away. The first is that even though they have a great young core, they are just not ready yet compared to the teams above them. For sure in a few seasons this team will look to take the conference by stomr, I have no doubt about that, but until then they will just be a few steps behind. The other factor is that star quarterback Adriana Falconi is starting to take big steps in regression and will not be among the top tier of quarterbacks in the league. It is frustrating, but it is important to have a good quarterback and it means so much. Unfortunately for the Liberty, this is something that they are missing and will have to address that at some point in the future. At least they have the biggest leg in the league on their team, let us see how much that helps
5) Chicago Butchers
I am sorry Chicago, but your place is now at the bottom of the conference. As I mentioned that the sim gives and takes. For teams like Baltimore or Philadelphia, it might have taken some away during last season, but for Chicago, it definitely gave a lot and I feel their record was better than their talent. Overall they seem to have the least amount of talent of any team in the NSFC and with less sim luck, it will show in their record during Season 19. In t,he offseason they were able to sign Ryan Leaf Jr. and that will definitely help their defense a lot. On the flip side legendary running back Marquise Brown is now retiring, which will be a huge loss for the team. Of course with Chicago, it is important to take the upcoming draft into account, as they have accumulated a lot of draft picks for it and their roster might look a lot different after that compared to now. I still feel that even if they nailed the draft 100%, the rookies that they would get would not be able to make such a high level impact next year, that it would change their outcome in a big way. Chicago is a team clearly building for the future and will look different in the years to come, but next season will be very tough for them.
ASFC
Ok now we are moving onto the ASFC. I guess the big question everyone has is, how do we stop the evil Otterman Empire from reigning over everything and spoiling our fun? Sadly it seems that in the coming years where they should be bad they will not because somehow everyone decided to give them more draft picks to stock more talent for the future when their S11 and S12 players start falling off. Arizona still has one of the best quarterbacks in the league and a great group of young guys with which to build on. New Orleans and Austin have both been creating and building great rosters and are right on the cusp of making the leap, who will be able to turn talent and opportunity into success the quickest and how sustainable will it be? The Sabercats will try their hardest to put up a good fight and a lot will depend on how big of a hole Toriki leaves and how much work as Dan Wright put in during the offseason. Lets see what that means for the standings
1) Orange County Otters
Yes, I am sorry to say, but the Otterman Empire will continue to keep their dark cloud over the NSFL and keep on being annoyingly good. Looking through their roster there are not any huge holes that need filling. They have a good mix of veterans which are only starting to regress and lots of young players starting to make that push into elite status players. In addition to this, they have a few rookies from last season who will also help them and make them a better team. To add to that they also have a dual-threat quarterback who is only now really starting to enter his good seasons (if we look at when quarterbacks usually do that) but he only has two Ultimus MVP’s so far, so I guess that is fun? And somehow they have another draft where they have more draft picks than your usual Ultimus winner should have. So all in all, I guess I am saying is that the Otters have a great team and in a stacked ASFC, will look to be the top dog once again, and I see them taking the number one seed
2) Arizona Outlaws
Where Orange County goes, Arizona will follow. Overall I see Season 19 to be quite similar to Season 18, with Orange County and Arizona battling it out for the number one seed in the ASFC and Orange County winning it in the end. Arizona still has one of, if not the best quarterback in the league. He keeps showing everybody, just like Drew Brees, that age is only a number and heck you to all the non believers out there. With MVP calibre numbers and only a very tight loss to the Otters away from home (which was one of, if not the best games of last season) he clearly showed that he has not lost anything so far and will most likely show that again next season. In addition to this, they have a good amount of young players starting to enter their prime to compliment their all star quarterback. Where they will find problems is a lot of veteran players taking big regression hits, such as Kazimir Oles and Bucky Barnes and only having the ghost of Terry Taffy in their running back group. I think these things will be what will separate Arizona and Orange County in the end, but it will definitely be a close race
3) New Orleans Secondline
New Orleans is an interesting unit to try and map out. If everything goes to plan with them, they have the chance to compete with Orange County and Arizona for the first seed, but on the other hand, if things do not work out, they will definitely be closely competing with the team after them for who goes to the playoffs. I see it as somewhere in between and maybe more on the side of competing to get into the playoffs. New Orleans has a lot going for them at the moment. They just completed the signing of one of, if not the hottest free agent on the market in running back Marcella Toriki. Her addition to the backfield which already had last years top running back, Forrest Gump, will make it even more terrifying. Gump might decide to switch to another position, but overall the addition is a huge plus to the Secondline. Their quarterback Stan Francisco is clearly starting to develop into a good quarterback and I think next season is where he does something similar to the break-out of Easton Cole this season. Their defense is littered with up and coming stars and along with Philadelphia will be very scary in two or three seasons. I think the biggest thing holding New Orleans back from truly being the strongest contender in the ASFC is the lack of a true superstar or game changing player. They will have some in the future, but they miss someone in the mold of Thorian Skarsgard, Errol Maddox or Freezer Riposte. We will hear much more from the Secondline in the future, but this season will be more in the middle of the pack
4) Austin Copperheads
Austin, just like New Orleans, is one of the teams which will truly blossom in a few years and show the league what they are made of. They are putting together an excellent roster, but I just do not feel like their time is this season. They were able to make the playoffs last season and I feel like that is a great achievement for them. On the other hand, I really can not see New Orleans losing six games in a row again and handing over the third seed to the Copperheads. They had a tough offseason with the loss of both Brayden Ennis and Ashley Owens, both for different reasons. Still it seems the team has looked to build from within and come out stronger than ever. They have a great young core group of players, supplemented with veterans like Dick Wizardry, Django A’noai and Grayson Kuusela. In addition to this, Easton Cole was able to take the leap last year and he will definitely continue to improve and ensure that people view him as a top tier quarterbac in the NSFL. As it seems like I have said for a few teams so far in my predictions, I also say for the Copperheads. They have built a great young core in their short time in the NSFL and they will definitely be a team to be reckoned with in the future, but unfortunately I think this season comes too quickly for them. I see that they will still be very close to a playoff spot and if New Orleans does not live up to their expectations, the Copperheads will be snapping at their heels and taking their spot. Copperheads as Ultimus winners in Season 21?
5) San Jose Sabercats
Finally we have come to last place in the ASFC and this unfortunately goes to the Sabercats. Although I have placed them in last place on my predictions, I also agree with what Adam said on his vidcast, that the Sabercats will take big steps during this season, the only problem is that it will not show in their record. The most important thing for them is that their tight end turned quarterback has had an offseason to actually work around being the quarterback of an NSFL team, and I see Dan Wright taking big improvements compared to last season (at least I hope I will see this when I do my QB power rankings). The Sabercats were also able to sign two interesting and young free agents in Brayden Ennis and Action Jackson and the duo will definitely bring good energy and young talent to the team. In addition they were able to bring their freezer back, which is really important for them. Overall they have a lot of good pieces but they just need more talent to fill all the gaps they can and this season will be tough sledding. It does not help that they are in the tougher of the two conferences and will sadly be finishing last in the standings.
So that was it for my season predictions. I also said that I would have a quick look at any possible playoff predictions. Over in the NSFC, I think it will play out much the same as it did this season, with the Hawks beating the Yeti in the Wild Card round and losing to the Wraiths in the conference championship. I see the Secondline upsetting the Outlaws on the road in the Wild Card round in the ASFC, but ultimately falling to the Otterman Empire in the conference championship. In the end, we will have a rematch of this season Ultimus, but Yellowknife will finally break their curse and ascend to the throne!
*How will Season 19 turn out? - Frick_Nasty - 11-22-2019
Terry Taffy had a weight issue and is now a Defensive End, Yeti Noises
*How will Season 19 turn out? - SwagSloth - 11-22-2019
Good article. The Outlaws do have Ruff Ruff coming up this season to play RB and we're super excited about that, but everything else you wrote makes sense. (Obviously, we want to be #1 seed, of course, but you justified your opinion and I respect that.)
*How will Season 19 turn out? - Rising Equinox - 11-22-2019
As an Otter, I'm obviously biased, but I honestly don't see the Wraiths really being the clear favorite this season. They lost several key, star players, and other big names, such as Grithead, have been hit hard by regression. They're still definitely a powerhouse, but nothing like last season.
*How will Season 19 turn out? - Buttersqauch101 - 11-22-2019
Let’s hope this season isn’t as top heavy
*How will Season 19 turn out? - BaconBrother - 11-24-2019
(11-23-2019, 02:09 AM)Frick_Nasty Wrote:Terry Taffy had a weight issue and is now a Defensive End, Yeti Noises
Interesting! Probably a smart move to get even more talent on the roster! Interesting Yeti noises
*How will Season 19 turn out? - BaconBrother - 11-24-2019
(11-23-2019, 03:39 AM)SwagSloth Wrote:Good article. The Outlaws do have Ruff Ruff coming up this season to play RB and we're super excited about that, but everything else you wrote makes sense. (Obviously, we want to be #1 seed, of course, but you justified your opinion and I respect that.)
Oh yeah true, I forgot about the S18 players who are getting called up. So you are much more solid on that front
*How will Season 19 turn out? - Dylandeluxe - 11-24-2019
(11-24-2019, 09:57 AM)BaconBrother Wrote:Oh yeah true, I forgot about the S18 players who are getting called up. So you are much more solid on that front
The Philly disrespect smh
*How will Season 19 turn out? - CDub2 - 11-24-2019
Philly is trash. Watch the Butchers snag 3rd.
*How will Season 19 turn out? - BaconBrother - 11-24-2019
(11-24-2019, 06:14 PM)Dylandeluxe Wrote:The Philly disrespect smh
![[Image: maxresdefault.jpg]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/T-5TN4OL1tk/maxresdefault.jpg)