+- International Simulation Football League (https://forums.sim-football.com)
+-- Forum: Community (https://forums.sim-football.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=5)
+--- Forum: Media (https://forums.sim-football.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=37)
+---- Forum: Graded Articles (https://forums.sim-football.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=38)
+---- Thread: *Owen Isaac - ISFL S27 Game Review (/showthread.php?tid=31189)
*Owen Isaac - ISFL S27 Game Review - oji3001 - 03-29-2021
ISFL Debut Season Review – Austin Copperheads – Owen Isaac
Disappointing season for the team this year, really thought I would be able to cut it after stepping up. But its been a tough debut season. But watch out, I have worked hard on a few aspects of my game this offseason and am hoping for a big kick on in my second season at this level. So before the new season starts I wanted to take a bit of a look back and go over 4 of my performances last season.
Week 3 – @ New York Silverbacks
Week 3 we travelled up to New York having gone 1-1 from first couple games. We had managed to pull off a great 4th Quarter comeback win, to take the game 32-31. Personally I had another disappointing display, after the first 2 games I had zero positive plays. Its tough going this ISFL business, being used to bullying around the OLs in the DSFL and having moved into the Interior in the offseason. I was certainly taking some adjustments to get going.
Game starts with each team needing to punt the ball before Zoe Watts managed to get over the line for the first TD of the game. We go out on the field, really needing to stop them here so we can try to take advantage and keep hold of this lead. At around the 5 and a half minute mark, New York call a pass play and I manage to shake my Guard and get into the backfield, eyes light up as I see the QB with the ball in hand, he makes the throw, and I hit the quarter back, I mean it’s a split second after he throws, but the officials are damned certain that its late and flags are thrown for roughing the passer. Man it’s a joke call, you cant go near the quarterback, whether up here in the ISFL they are even more protected. Sadly this put them in great position and they go down and score to level it up. That’s now no positive plays and a 2nd roughing passer call in last 2 weeks. Im working my ass off out here and am just not getting the just rewards right now.
Going into the 4th quarter its 27 – 20 to New York, we are in with a shot, after last week we know we can do a late comeback. I’m starting to feel a bit low to be honest at this time, 3 games in ive not had any positive contributions and getting a little desperate. We start off with a field goal so now its on us to try to get a stop. Another penalty on our defence didn’t help, 6th of the game. Sadly they go down and score a TD, but a quick response from the offence thanks to a 42 yard rushing touchdown from Zoe Watts kept us in it. 1st play of drive I manage to get a tackle on the running back, finally getting my first contribution. Sadly not enough they go down to score another TD, before we hand the ball back on downs to basically end our chances. I manage a further 2 tackles in back to back plays but by then it was too little too late.
Now I’m over my first hurdle and getting a contribution I’m hoping I can build upon this but we will see.
Week 9 – @ Chicago Butchers
Ok so we head into week 9 with a 2-6 record and looking down the table not up at the moment. It has certainly been really tough going in my debut season. I have managed to build on my week 3 contributions and head into this game 15 Tackles but no tackles for loss or sacks. Our first drive of the game leads to a field goal and points on the board, now its up to us to stop them taking advantage of the game and getting a touchdown.
The 2nd play of the drive is a rush play and I manage to shed my blocker and get a tackle for minimal yards. Feels good to get that early game contribution, too often its been late on I have started, so I was hoping this could help me build into a good performance. Since week 3 I had consistently got 2/3 tackles a game, so was still looking for those big games where I could really try to influence the game with some big numbers. But a good start none the less especially when we can hold them out on this set and force a punt. We end up punting them back the ball so we have to go again.
This time around I manage the same again and manage to stop the rusher for a short gain, at this point your feeling good about your game and hope to keep momentum going. Looking to get another forced punt, sadly a defensive holding penalty on Bowie let them get a new set of downs. Kennedy managed a good tackle for loss, they managed to get it to a 3rd and short after a good pass play. Big stop needed here to make them punt again and keep the scores low. For the third time this game I manage to get the better of my guard and manage to stuff the inside run for short gain and again force a punt. In the 1st quarter we had managed to stuff the run really well. Id also matched my best return of any game in the 1st quarter, hoping now to build on that.
In the 2nd quarter there is little back and forth neither offence really getting going we managed a second field goal of the game to go up 6 – 0. On the next play I again manage another short gain tackle on the rusher to try to build momentum, but sadly their quarterback starts to find rhythm and they go down and score a touchdown. This puts us 7 -6 down at the break, defensively we had a really good half and now just need the offence to start going and turn these 3 pointers into touchdowns.
The second half began as the first with both sides punting early, I managed a good tackle on a 2nd and 10 to keep them long and force a punt, but we end up punting it back to them, and they managed to go on and get a touchdown. This puts us 9on the back foot here, the offence hasn’t got going. Sadly the game plays out from here with lots of possession changes by punts, and sadly conceded a Safety to give the Chicago Butchers a 16-6 victory.
Personally I managed to get 6 tackles in this game and we held them to 18 yards of 28 rushing attempts, I felt the defensive line really had a grasp of the opposition rushing strategy we just couldn’t get going. Biggest issue was giving up 18 penalties, I know 18, that gave them a free 144 yards in the game, we have to sort out our discipline if we are going to progress. Well as always its onto the next week and game and we move on and learn.
Week 10 – Sarasota Sailfish
After another loss in week 9 we host Sarasota Sailfish this week hoping to try and get some confidence so we can head into next season with a bit of momentum. Sarasota head into this with a 6-3 record with us on 2-7. Yeah it looks like will be a tough game, only once this season have they been held to under 24 and that was in week 8 against the Arizona Outlaws who were on a 6 game winning run. So we knew we had to be up for this and give it all we got.
Sarasota start the game with some good passing plays and manage a touchdown on the opening drive, we knew it was going to be a tough day. The rest of the 1st quarter is quite uneventful and both sides punt a couple times keeping the scoring low. But we know if we are to win this we need to get some points on the board.
They start the second quarter with a good drive and get a field goal. The next 10 minutes see 3 punts, 7 sacks, a Safety and an interception when we got into there half. It was getting scrappy which I think suits us but we needed to get a bit of an impact in this game soon. Following the interception we got on the field. I’m getting a bit angrier with myself as the game went on, had a word with the coaches and a couple of the experienced lineman around me, and got my focus back on track. They are starting in our half so we know we need to get some pressure here as we cant conceded again before the half or we are in trouble. 1st play I manage to punch a hole in the offensive line and I get to the rusher in the backfield, my first tackle for loss of the season, the heart is beating fast right now, but there is no time to celebrate as we need to go again and get a stop. They rush a couple more times and get to a 4th and 2, but they are going for it, we know this is a big play in the game. Once again I manage to get by my guard and I hit the rusher straight up and mange to stop him at the line, 2nd tackle for loss of the season. Get in, coming off the field there was first time I truly felt I belong at the level, all the defence give me a pat on the back, but we know it’s a long game to go.
With that we start with decent field position and manage to get a field goal before half and get something on the scoreboard. They manage a big return for 39 yards off the kick off so are in good position with 20 seconds to go. We go out again for last play or so, expecting maybe a throw here and a go for it play, but they hand off and I manage to beat the guard again, id gone inside him the first couple plays, this time I was able to just knock him backwards as his stance shifted allowing me to get a hand ion the rusher and bring him down for a 3rd tackle for loss. We came off the field there pumped we were in the game against one of the stronger sides 12-3 down at the half and we are getting through their OL just need to put some drives together, but hopefully the field goal before half gives us a nice boost.
The start of the 2nd half is punts all round, and then in the 5th minute we manage to drive the ball and control the clock taking the whole 5 minutes off the clock and drive down the field Daytona finding 4 different receivers on the drive before Jim the Vampire rushes it in from the 1 yard line for a touchdown. HUGE effort from the team there we head into the 4th quarter 12 -10 down and knowing we are in this game.
4th quarter begins we force a Sarasota punt. Again Daytona does the business this time 5 different receivers took catches and led us down for another Touchdown. We are up now 12 -17, this is big, now it is our job to do this we need a big next drive to hand it back to our offence who have found a nice touch at the moment. 1st play up and again I notice the guard getting ready to shift inside, so I stab my foot and go outside him and manage to catch the foot of the rusher stopping him in the backfield again. Egghands follows this up with a big Sack on the next play and we manage to force a punt from them, that was a big play there all around. Sadly the offence just couldn’t find the plays so we punt it back to them with just over 3 minutes on the clock and starting from their 25. Boss Jr the Sarasota quarterback, just kicked into gear here, he found receivers open who then made yards and drove down the field to score a touchdown and go up 18 – 17 with 20 seconds left, to leave us with no time and taking a tough loss.
And man was this loss tough to take, we just needed one big play on defence and we could have had this game. But we now know we can compete with these guys and trust me next time against Sarasota we are going to want this bad!
Week 14 – New York Silverbacks
Week 14 we host the New York Silverbacks we have now gone 2-11 with the last win being back in week 4, whereas the Silverbacks come in to this with a winning record at 7-6, but have lost their last couple of games. We are now a team playing for pride and trying to build on for next season. This was the side I got my first positive contributions against so I am looking forward to play them again and try to build on my performance.
So we start the game with the ball and have a good 7 minute drive, that sadly only ends in a field goal, but its good to start with points on the board so not chasing the game too much. Sadly the silverbacks drive down themselves but thanks to a big 45 yard play end up in striking distance and go over for a touchdown to take the lead in the first quarter. The quarter ends with both sides punting.
This trend continues in the 2nd Quarter with both teams going 3 and out, we sadly do miss a 51 yard field goal. I myself end the quarter with 4 tackles for short gains, which helped us keep them off the field. This was just how this game tended the 3rd quarter was exactly the same neither teams offence could get going, I managed a really nice stop of the rusher at the scrimmage line for one play but with how the game was going we knew one mistake could be costly. At the end of the 3rd quarter they drive down and start the 4th quarter at our 9 yard line, we knew this would be a big moment and needed to get a stop here, I manage to stop a rushing attempt on the 2nd and goal and luckily they throw incomplete on the 3rd, they take the 3 points which means they are 10-3 up with 13 minutes to play. Jeeta does a great job on the kick return to put us up near the halfway line. Before Daytona connects with Videl-San at first before finding Howlett for a Touchdown, Boom we are now back in this 10- 10 11 minutes to play. They come out now looking to respond and first play a big interception from Bowie stops them in there tracks and allows us to get the ball back and try to get a lead. We manage a field goal to take the lead now we need another stop, we know how late losses feel this season, have we learnt to deal better with them here. We get another punt out of them thanks to a good sack from Claxton. Daytona once again drives us down for a touchdown and giving us a 10 point lead with just 3 minutes left to play. We hold them for a big win, we needed this result, after a long run of losses to get that monkey off our backs was great.
So to summarise the season its not nice losing, and we lost a lot this year, but ive seen how quick winning and losing seasons change in my time with the Tijuana Luchadores in the DSFL, so I know that I need to keep working and try to learn what I can now to put me in good stead for next season. I had a few stand out games but I need to add those more consistently to my game and I need to go out and have more dominant tackles and sacks and try to get a big influence on each play and each game, onto the next season.
Upwards from here.
(2781 words)