Week 3. The second half of S25s first double header, and the league is now beginning to take shape. For some teams and players it has been a dream start to the season, and for others they will be looking ahead to future games in an attempt to turn their season around. As per usual, this recap will feature an OPOTG, a DPOTG, an OPOTW and a DPOTW, all chosen by yours truly, as well as my updated power rankings at the end.
Game 1 : Tijuana Luchadores (0-2) @ Dallas Birddogs (0-2), Luchadores win 20-13
This week opened up with an 0-2 bowl, and and a 3 game losing streak loomed overhead for whichever team lost, and a win might give the other team a bit of momentum. Dallas would have been favourites in my book, simply because of their home field advantage, but this was really a coin flip, which fell Tijuanas way, and things are now beginning to look truly dire for the Birddogs, with a tough upcoming schedule.
Despite gaining more total offensive yards, converting double the amount of third downs as their opponents and conceding 60 yards less worth of penalties, Dallas struggled to find the endzone, getting their first and only touchdown 5 minutes into the third quarter. The only real positive they can take from this game was their rookie running back, Cobra Kai, continuing to impress.
From Tijuanas point of view, they will be happy to come away with a win from Dallas and hopefully kickstart the rest of their season. They will be happy with their offensive performance, with quarterback Boss Jr., running back Mills and wide receiver McGrady all surpassing 100 yards, as well as some impressive defensive performances, including Vincent Jones’ 16 tackles and a sack.
OPOTG :
Cobra Kai, Running Back, Dallas – For the second week in a row, Kai wins the OPOTG in his teams matchup. With 135 yards on 29 carries, including a 45 yard run for his teams only TD, I felt it was only fair to give Kai this award.
DPOTG :
BamBam McMullet, Linebacker, Tijuana – There was tough competition for this spot, from some of his own teammates and from some opposition, but, registering 9 Tackles, 2 PDs and an INT I felt BamBam played the best overall defense in this game.
Game 2 : Portland Pythons (2-0) @ Kansas City Coyotes (1-1), Pythons 14-12
Number 1 on my power rankings last week travelled to the middling Kansas City Coyotes, who hoped to pull off an upset. In a game that was more closely fought than some would have liked, Portland scored their least amount of points this season, and allowed the most points they have this season. Unfortunately it was not to be for the Coyotes, who fell just short, despite showing great heart to rally back from an early 14 point deficit.
Kansas City will take some solace in their 12 point unanswered run to bring it back to within 2 points, but at the end of the day a loss is a loss and 1-2 is not a nice looking record to have, and I’m sure they will be trying to even it up in week 4, when they will be hosting the Birddogs. One particularly impressive performance in a KC jersey came from offensive lineman Felix Archstone, who registered 9 pancakes and 0 sacks allowed, unfortunately just missing out on OPOTG.
Portland, on the other hand, will be happy to come away from this game with a win. Perhaps they were slightly undeserving of it, but they got the job done in the end, and their unbeaten record remains intact, meaning they’re the only team at 3-0 after 3 weeks. Some decent performances on both sides of the ball, yet they will be disappointed with themselves after giving up 106 yards through penalties.
OPOTG :
Darren Pama, Running Back, Portland – Pama was the best of a not particularly impressive lot of offensive players in this game, rushing 29 times for 113 yards giving him an average 3.9 YPC. He also registered one TD on the day.
DPOTG :
Thomas Rose, Linebacker, Kansas City – Much better competition for this than its offensive counterpart, and in my opinion it was Rose who was most deserving of it, with 11 tackles, one for a loss, plus a sack and a forced fumble
Game 3 : Minnesota Grey Ducks (2-0) @ Myrtle Beach Buccaneers (1-1), Myrtle Beach win 13-6
Minnesota travelled to Myrtle Beach looking to preserve their unbeaten record, and in many peoples eyes, were probably the favourites to win this game. However in a rather dull affair, Myrtle Beach managed to bring home the win, and with it, the current top seed in their division.
Myrtle Beach will be happy to take the win home with them today after being out-gained on offense by nearly 140 yards. They will however, be particularly impressed with the performance of wide receiver Zach Crossley who registered 82 yards on just 6 receptions in game 3. They will also be pleased that their defense did not allow the Grey Ducks into their endzone.
Minnesota will kicking themselves not to have come away from this game from a win after having much better statistics than their opponents, due to their failure to register a score that was not kicked. To make it even worse for them star running back Jameson Vermillion has been called up to the ISFL, so all eyes will be on 1st overall pick Ryan Negs to see if he can step up in their next game against the Seawolves. It will be interesting to see how the rookie, who has looked good so far in his DSFL career, performs.
OPOTG :
Jameson Vermillion, Running Back, Minnesota – In what will probably be his last OPOTG performance for the Grey Ducks, Vermillion record 107 yards on 27 carries, making it an average of 4.1 YPC.
DPOTG :
Chet Larson, Linebacker, Myrtle Beach – This rookie performed very well in a defense that only allowed 6 points all game. He put up 8 tackles, 1 for a loss, a sack and a PD.
Game 4 : London Royals (2-0) @ Norfolk Seawolves (0-2), Norfolk wins 20-17
The undefeated London Royals travelled to face the winless Norfolk Seawolves in this matchup, and, in what was probably the most shocking upset of the week, the Seawolves, who were ranked 8th in my power rankings last week, defied the odds to come away with the win against the Royals. One of the best ways to describe this game would be to talk about the great quarterback play that occurred, with both teams QBs surpassing 109 QBR on the day. This result will surely spur the Seawolves on to get some more great victories.
The Royals will no doubt be gobsmacked after losing to such a team, but there will be some positives for them to take from this game, such as the solid play from qb Cortez and receiver Mitchell, who hauled in 2 TDs thrown to him by Cortez.
The Seawolves probably will not care about how good or bad any of their players played, and rightly so, as the managed to record their first win of the season, but for the sake of this article I have to note how well their quarterback Emi Rune played, aswell as receiver Johnson. They should however, be looking to fix up their rushing attack in the weeks to come, as it only averaged 2.1 YPC on 35 attempts.
OPOTG :
Emi Rune, Quarterback, Norfolk – Rune played exceptionally well in his teams first win of the season, recording 195 yards for 2 TDs and earning himself a 110.6 QBR. Opposing QB Cortez did have similar stats, and so I decided to bestow this award upon the winning QB
DPOTG :
Sam Roes, Defensive End, Norfolk – On this side of the ball there were lots of players on either team who could’ve received this award, but I felt that this mans 8 tackles, with 3 going for a loss, plus a forced fumble, was enough to be deserving of DPOTG
Offensive Player of the Week :
Norfolk Quarterback, Emi Rune
While it was a close choice between this man and Birddogs back Cobra Kai, I wanted to add a bit of variety to my choices and also felt that considering this man spearheaded the offense during his teams first win of the season, he deserved to be the recipient of this award
Defensive Player of the Week :
Kansas City Linebacker, Thomas Rose
The numbers put up on defense were not particularly eye popping, but Roses stats from his game this week were nothing to turn your nose up at, and I felt he was the best performing defender this week.
POWER RANKINGS :
1. Portland Pythons (3-0)(-) – After recording another win this week, albeit a closer one than their previous two, and now being the only team with an undefeated record, I feel Portland are the clear choice for number 1 on this list.
2. Myrtle Beach Buccaneers (2-1)(+1) – Despite having a points difference of -1 I cannot look past the fact that London’s loss came against the team who were rank 8 last week, whilst MBs loss came against the team who are rank 1
3. London Royals (2-1)(-1) – This could quite possibly be a very unpopular choice among some circles, due to them having such a high PD, but my Power Rankings aren’t intended to be the most popular choice every time, and London lost to one of the weakest teams in the league so far in my opinion. I will found out whether this ranking was right or wrong in Week 4.
4. Minnesota Grey Ducks (2-1)(-) – Again, Minnesota rank worst out of teams with a positive record, and, to be honest, are lucky there are no other teams with a positive record or I probably would rank them below them. As I said last week, they have great offensive output, and yet lack a final product, which, if they can find, will severely boost their ranking in my book.
5. Kansas City Coyotes (1-2)(-) – It could be said KC are unlucky to not be 2-1 after their close loss against Portland, and if that game had ended differently, they could have certainly risen up my rankings.
6. Norfolk Seawolves (1-2)(+2) – A tough decision to rank 7 and 8, as hardly anything separates the two sides. I chose to put the Seawolves here as there win has come against the better team.
7. Tijuana Luchadores (1-2)(-) – Non movers from last week, however, depending on their upcoming performances, Luchadores could easily be moving up the ranks soon, as nothing seperates them and 6
8. Dallas Birddogs (0-3)(-2) – It was hard to find even half a reason that the Birddogs might not be ranked here, as they are the only team now who have yet to record a win. For their sake, if they do not want this season to be a wasted one, they need to start winning, and fast.
Apologies to anyone who actually wants to read this that this recap came so close to the start of Week 4, it’s just that I wanted to make this and Week 2 separate recaps. The Week 4 recap will probably come out Saturday, or Friday if they were a particularly good batch of results.
Game 1 : Tijuana Luchadores (0-2) @ Dallas Birddogs (0-2), Luchadores win 20-13
This week opened up with an 0-2 bowl, and and a 3 game losing streak loomed overhead for whichever team lost, and a win might give the other team a bit of momentum. Dallas would have been favourites in my book, simply because of their home field advantage, but this was really a coin flip, which fell Tijuanas way, and things are now beginning to look truly dire for the Birddogs, with a tough upcoming schedule.
Despite gaining more total offensive yards, converting double the amount of third downs as their opponents and conceding 60 yards less worth of penalties, Dallas struggled to find the endzone, getting their first and only touchdown 5 minutes into the third quarter. The only real positive they can take from this game was their rookie running back, Cobra Kai, continuing to impress.
From Tijuanas point of view, they will be happy to come away with a win from Dallas and hopefully kickstart the rest of their season. They will be happy with their offensive performance, with quarterback Boss Jr., running back Mills and wide receiver McGrady all surpassing 100 yards, as well as some impressive defensive performances, including Vincent Jones’ 16 tackles and a sack.
OPOTG :
Cobra Kai, Running Back, Dallas – For the second week in a row, Kai wins the OPOTG in his teams matchup. With 135 yards on 29 carries, including a 45 yard run for his teams only TD, I felt it was only fair to give Kai this award.
DPOTG :
BamBam McMullet, Linebacker, Tijuana – There was tough competition for this spot, from some of his own teammates and from some opposition, but, registering 9 Tackles, 2 PDs and an INT I felt BamBam played the best overall defense in this game.
Game 2 : Portland Pythons (2-0) @ Kansas City Coyotes (1-1), Pythons 14-12
Number 1 on my power rankings last week travelled to the middling Kansas City Coyotes, who hoped to pull off an upset. In a game that was more closely fought than some would have liked, Portland scored their least amount of points this season, and allowed the most points they have this season. Unfortunately it was not to be for the Coyotes, who fell just short, despite showing great heart to rally back from an early 14 point deficit.
Kansas City will take some solace in their 12 point unanswered run to bring it back to within 2 points, but at the end of the day a loss is a loss and 1-2 is not a nice looking record to have, and I’m sure they will be trying to even it up in week 4, when they will be hosting the Birddogs. One particularly impressive performance in a KC jersey came from offensive lineman Felix Archstone, who registered 9 pancakes and 0 sacks allowed, unfortunately just missing out on OPOTG.
Portland, on the other hand, will be happy to come away from this game with a win. Perhaps they were slightly undeserving of it, but they got the job done in the end, and their unbeaten record remains intact, meaning they’re the only team at 3-0 after 3 weeks. Some decent performances on both sides of the ball, yet they will be disappointed with themselves after giving up 106 yards through penalties.
OPOTG :
Darren Pama, Running Back, Portland – Pama was the best of a not particularly impressive lot of offensive players in this game, rushing 29 times for 113 yards giving him an average 3.9 YPC. He also registered one TD on the day.
DPOTG :
Thomas Rose, Linebacker, Kansas City – Much better competition for this than its offensive counterpart, and in my opinion it was Rose who was most deserving of it, with 11 tackles, one for a loss, plus a sack and a forced fumble
Game 3 : Minnesota Grey Ducks (2-0) @ Myrtle Beach Buccaneers (1-1), Myrtle Beach win 13-6
Minnesota travelled to Myrtle Beach looking to preserve their unbeaten record, and in many peoples eyes, were probably the favourites to win this game. However in a rather dull affair, Myrtle Beach managed to bring home the win, and with it, the current top seed in their division.
Myrtle Beach will be happy to take the win home with them today after being out-gained on offense by nearly 140 yards. They will however, be particularly impressed with the performance of wide receiver Zach Crossley who registered 82 yards on just 6 receptions in game 3. They will also be pleased that their defense did not allow the Grey Ducks into their endzone.
Minnesota will kicking themselves not to have come away from this game from a win after having much better statistics than their opponents, due to their failure to register a score that was not kicked. To make it even worse for them star running back Jameson Vermillion has been called up to the ISFL, so all eyes will be on 1st overall pick Ryan Negs to see if he can step up in their next game against the Seawolves. It will be interesting to see how the rookie, who has looked good so far in his DSFL career, performs.
OPOTG :
Jameson Vermillion, Running Back, Minnesota – In what will probably be his last OPOTG performance for the Grey Ducks, Vermillion record 107 yards on 27 carries, making it an average of 4.1 YPC.
DPOTG :
Chet Larson, Linebacker, Myrtle Beach – This rookie performed very well in a defense that only allowed 6 points all game. He put up 8 tackles, 1 for a loss, a sack and a PD.
Game 4 : London Royals (2-0) @ Norfolk Seawolves (0-2), Norfolk wins 20-17
The undefeated London Royals travelled to face the winless Norfolk Seawolves in this matchup, and, in what was probably the most shocking upset of the week, the Seawolves, who were ranked 8th in my power rankings last week, defied the odds to come away with the win against the Royals. One of the best ways to describe this game would be to talk about the great quarterback play that occurred, with both teams QBs surpassing 109 QBR on the day. This result will surely spur the Seawolves on to get some more great victories.
The Royals will no doubt be gobsmacked after losing to such a team, but there will be some positives for them to take from this game, such as the solid play from qb Cortez and receiver Mitchell, who hauled in 2 TDs thrown to him by Cortez.
The Seawolves probably will not care about how good or bad any of their players played, and rightly so, as the managed to record their first win of the season, but for the sake of this article I have to note how well their quarterback Emi Rune played, aswell as receiver Johnson. They should however, be looking to fix up their rushing attack in the weeks to come, as it only averaged 2.1 YPC on 35 attempts.
OPOTG :
Emi Rune, Quarterback, Norfolk – Rune played exceptionally well in his teams first win of the season, recording 195 yards for 2 TDs and earning himself a 110.6 QBR. Opposing QB Cortez did have similar stats, and so I decided to bestow this award upon the winning QB
DPOTG :
Sam Roes, Defensive End, Norfolk – On this side of the ball there were lots of players on either team who could’ve received this award, but I felt that this mans 8 tackles, with 3 going for a loss, plus a forced fumble, was enough to be deserving of DPOTG
Offensive Player of the Week :
Norfolk Quarterback, Emi Rune
While it was a close choice between this man and Birddogs back Cobra Kai, I wanted to add a bit of variety to my choices and also felt that considering this man spearheaded the offense during his teams first win of the season, he deserved to be the recipient of this award
Defensive Player of the Week :
Kansas City Linebacker, Thomas Rose
The numbers put up on defense were not particularly eye popping, but Roses stats from his game this week were nothing to turn your nose up at, and I felt he was the best performing defender this week.
POWER RANKINGS :
1. Portland Pythons (3-0)(-) – After recording another win this week, albeit a closer one than their previous two, and now being the only team with an undefeated record, I feel Portland are the clear choice for number 1 on this list.
2. Myrtle Beach Buccaneers (2-1)(+1) – Despite having a points difference of -1 I cannot look past the fact that London’s loss came against the team who were rank 8 last week, whilst MBs loss came against the team who are rank 1
3. London Royals (2-1)(-1) – This could quite possibly be a very unpopular choice among some circles, due to them having such a high PD, but my Power Rankings aren’t intended to be the most popular choice every time, and London lost to one of the weakest teams in the league so far in my opinion. I will found out whether this ranking was right or wrong in Week 4.
4. Minnesota Grey Ducks (2-1)(-) – Again, Minnesota rank worst out of teams with a positive record, and, to be honest, are lucky there are no other teams with a positive record or I probably would rank them below them. As I said last week, they have great offensive output, and yet lack a final product, which, if they can find, will severely boost their ranking in my book.
5. Kansas City Coyotes (1-2)(-) – It could be said KC are unlucky to not be 2-1 after their close loss against Portland, and if that game had ended differently, they could have certainly risen up my rankings.
6. Norfolk Seawolves (1-2)(+2) – A tough decision to rank 7 and 8, as hardly anything separates the two sides. I chose to put the Seawolves here as there win has come against the better team.
7. Tijuana Luchadores (1-2)(-) – Non movers from last week, however, depending on their upcoming performances, Luchadores could easily be moving up the ranks soon, as nothing seperates them and 6
8. Dallas Birddogs (0-3)(-2) – It was hard to find even half a reason that the Birddogs might not be ranked here, as they are the only team now who have yet to record a win. For their sake, if they do not want this season to be a wasted one, they need to start winning, and fast.
Apologies to anyone who actually wants to read this that this recap came so close to the start of Week 4, it’s just that I wanted to make this and Week 2 separate recaps. The Week 4 recap will probably come out Saturday, or Friday if they were a particularly good batch of results.
[img=0x0]https://images-ext-1.discordapp.net/external/t52dU9eBJgwsyw3nTevSVxQLhH2o2kjrFAMEacLX6tY/https/i.imgur.com/zpHk3Xu.mp4[/img]
S27 Ultimus DPOTG
S27 Ultimus DPOTG