05-29-2021, 12:28 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-03-2021, 03:21 AM by Asked Madden.)
Our first week of DSFL games have come to a quick end and now we are waiting for the big weeks of games to start rolling on. It is an exciting time for many as the season is officially upon us with plenty of speculation about the Ultimini and the S30 ISFL Draft just around the corner. Before you know it, the rookies are going to become big parts of the league! However, for now we are going to focus in on the DSFL in S29 as we give out some proper rankings because what’s better than giving needless rankings in dot football? Nothing!
To begin, a bit of an explanation as to how I broke down the rankings and what all is being looked at here. Using the primary stats available from the index, I set up a spreadsheet that ranks teams based off of standard deviation, sort of, with a box and whisker model. Never thought you would see those after fifth grade now, did you? Anyway, I broke down all of the stats for the various teams as well as calculating the amount of maxed out DSFL players on each team for any tie breakers with that also being in the grade. If you are somehow familiar with my very old NSFL power rankings, the player TPE was not involved in those calculations. However, with the DSFL being primarily about development of players, I thought it would be important to include just how well these teams are actually developing their talent as well as getting on field success.
The graph provided also has a set of color coded boxes for easier reading across the board. If a stat is in a GREEN box, that means the stat is exceeding average and is on the high end of the league. A YELLOW box means the stat is above average and sits just above the league standard. An ORANGE box is a below average stat, and a RED box means the stat is a failing stat. Green boxes are worth 3 points, yellow are 2, orange are 1, and red are 0. The totals are then divided by the maximum points possible for the grade at the end of the graph. I will keep this explanation in the power rankings going forward just as a note for anyone that would like to read over the methods.
Now that that is out of the way, our DSFL Week 1 Rankings:
1. Minnesota Grey Ducks (1-0)
How do you make a strong week 1 appearance? By absolutely having your way with an opponent’s defense. There was just too much firepower coming out for the Ducks in week 1 that kept them on a constant roll in the stat sheet. Oles Jr had a great game at quarterback, but Hunstman took the show with only twenty-eight yards shy of cracking 200! Ada Wong took the defensive lead with a pick six of her own and the lack of penalties during the game helped keep the Grey Ducks from facing much of the heat sometimes end up with in week 1 games. I expect the Grey Ducks to remain around the top of the rankings moving forward with the team that they have considering they have the most maxed out players on their roster.
2. Kansas City Coyotes (1-0)
Speaking of maxed out players, here we see what a couple of them can do. The connection of Jaroppolo Jr to Troy Abed is going to be a fun one to watch this season. The once slight quarterback competition changed up in S29 due to possible ISFL needs from Troy Abed’s Berlin Fire Salamanders’ team need, but thankfully it has worked out well for the duo. The running back group also features absolutely insane talent with LOrderSombre and Cuddles working as a strong thunder and lightning combination. Only weak side of this team is the younger defense that allowed the Birddogs to get back into the game and force an overtime in week 1. Moving forward, the defense should have some better bright spots on it and could end up getting better clutch performances.
3. Tijuana Luchadores (1-0)
The lowest scoring game of the week, it might be hard to see how Tijuana could end up as top three team. With the defense holding strong though, the rankings keep them from having to drop down much like other low scoring teams. Tijuana has probably the strongest defensive outlook after Portland was gutted last season, but their offense is young and puts them in a reverse Kansas City situation. It was hard to get much going in week 1 for the Luchadores and it’s obvious that their defense lit up the stat sheet. ReallyInvisible comes back as the strongest member of the offense and will have to use his feet to create separation where his young offense cannot. I expect Tijuana to be in a constant flux early in the season of having games that would make offense fans upset and defense fans excited until their receivers all get acclimated to the DSFL.
4. Norfolk Seawolves (1-0)
Here we get to a part in the rankings where even I am a bit baffled. The Norfolk Seawolves have only one wide receiver on their entire roster but three separate receivers caught touchdown passes. If this isn’t the wet dream of that TE hungry Portland team a few seasons ago, I don’t know what is. Norfolk opened up the season on a strong note much like the Grey Ducks with a 41-21 thrashing of the Buccaneers and played well on all sides of the ball. The only side of the ball that really had any trouble was in the special teams which might be their weakest spot on the team with a rookie kicker. Call it sim luck, talent, or just plain crazy, but the Seawolves could actually surprise some people this season despite some big holes on the team. In the future, I am not sure how much luck or strength the Seawolves can muster up since the lack of wide receivers surely has to prevent them from winning in some games down the line, right?
5. Dallas Birddogs (0-1)
One drive here, one drive there, we have all been there Dallas. It sucks to lose your first game in week 1 in overtime, but thankfully that means you are hanging in with the second best DSFL team currently! Some more positives in the Dallas game is the crazy performance by rookie quarterback Ricky Stanzi who lit the Kansas City secondary on fire with 255 passing yards and three touchdowns. The defense’s experience as well helped keep this game close but the constant fumbles are going to be an issue that might only be a first week jitters thing. The rushing attack in Dallas currently seems to be the area of weakness that can improve going forward even if the plan is to make Stanzi the next air raid sensation. In the coming weeks, I could see Dallas finding a happy medium in the gameplan and pushing themselves up the rankings in only a couple of games. Anyone else notice Jay-Jamison Jr with the rushing yards? That’ll be trivia…maybe.
6. Portland Pythons (0-1)
This place could have been Tijuana had the roles been reversed, but it seems Saleem Spence being gone from the offense has come back to bite the Pythons in an area they needed it most. They were close here and there to breaking the touchdown drought but It just never happened with the rookie receivers that are currently in Portland. The Pythons had their season in the sun recently that ended in some heartbreak, but it still was an impressive run regardless. The talent went away and now the Pythons have to move forward with the younger snakes they have. Thankfully, their defense still has some familiar faces on it with Anderson still putting forth his best efforts and the secondary managed to create turnovers to keep this game close. However, Portland might be sticking around this ranking in this season due to their young offense not all earning at crazy speeds.
7. Bondi Beach Buccaneers (0-1)
Tragic. That’s really the best way I can describe the luck of the Buccaneers’ opening this season. Zaylren put on his best Chika Fujiwara impression with a great 269 yard passing game with three touchdowns, but then followed it up with two picks and bad completion percentage to young rookie receivers. The biggest bright spot was rookie wide receiver Squidward Tentacles who came onto the scene with 143 yards and two touchdowns in his first game. While his catch percentage was low, that is still a great game by a rookie receiver and should be expanded on through the season. Defense for the Buccaneers is uh…something. The GM bots, UnBanZayn and Bearcaneers, outperformed everyone else which is never a good sign. If the Buccaneers want to win going forward, they will have to keep their receivers earning and find ways to get their defense in better positions as well as minimizing on the penalties.
8. London Royals (0-1)
Only thing that kept the Buccaneers from being last is the London Royals who had the unfortunate task of taking on the Grey Ducks with a rookie offense. That is never a fun position to be in, believe me. The only player on the offensive side of the stat sheet that is not a rookie is tight end Buffalo Hunter who did what you can ask of a tight end. Defense and special teams still performed well, but not enough to prevent Minnesota from sending the Royals to the shadow realm. After winning the Ultimini in S28, the London Royals were also pulled apart by some big callups and it will take time to start climbing up the rankings again. As long as the offense sticks together as a unit, earns well, and the attitude stays positive, they could still manage a decent season. I just wouldn’t put “S29 Ultimini” in the goals list.
- 1668 words
To begin, a bit of an explanation as to how I broke down the rankings and what all is being looked at here. Using the primary stats available from the index, I set up a spreadsheet that ranks teams based off of standard deviation, sort of, with a box and whisker model. Never thought you would see those after fifth grade now, did you? Anyway, I broke down all of the stats for the various teams as well as calculating the amount of maxed out DSFL players on each team for any tie breakers with that also being in the grade. If you are somehow familiar with my very old NSFL power rankings, the player TPE was not involved in those calculations. However, with the DSFL being primarily about development of players, I thought it would be important to include just how well these teams are actually developing their talent as well as getting on field success.
The graph provided also has a set of color coded boxes for easier reading across the board. If a stat is in a GREEN box, that means the stat is exceeding average and is on the high end of the league. A YELLOW box means the stat is above average and sits just above the league standard. An ORANGE box is a below average stat, and a RED box means the stat is a failing stat. Green boxes are worth 3 points, yellow are 2, orange are 1, and red are 0. The totals are then divided by the maximum points possible for the grade at the end of the graph. I will keep this explanation in the power rankings going forward just as a note for anyone that would like to read over the methods.
Now that that is out of the way, our DSFL Week 1 Rankings:
1. Minnesota Grey Ducks (1-0)
How do you make a strong week 1 appearance? By absolutely having your way with an opponent’s defense. There was just too much firepower coming out for the Ducks in week 1 that kept them on a constant roll in the stat sheet. Oles Jr had a great game at quarterback, but Hunstman took the show with only twenty-eight yards shy of cracking 200! Ada Wong took the defensive lead with a pick six of her own and the lack of penalties during the game helped keep the Grey Ducks from facing much of the heat sometimes end up with in week 1 games. I expect the Grey Ducks to remain around the top of the rankings moving forward with the team that they have considering they have the most maxed out players on their roster.
2. Kansas City Coyotes (1-0)
Speaking of maxed out players, here we see what a couple of them can do. The connection of Jaroppolo Jr to Troy Abed is going to be a fun one to watch this season. The once slight quarterback competition changed up in S29 due to possible ISFL needs from Troy Abed’s Berlin Fire Salamanders’ team need, but thankfully it has worked out well for the duo. The running back group also features absolutely insane talent with LOrderSombre and Cuddles working as a strong thunder and lightning combination. Only weak side of this team is the younger defense that allowed the Birddogs to get back into the game and force an overtime in week 1. Moving forward, the defense should have some better bright spots on it and could end up getting better clutch performances.
3. Tijuana Luchadores (1-0)
The lowest scoring game of the week, it might be hard to see how Tijuana could end up as top three team. With the defense holding strong though, the rankings keep them from having to drop down much like other low scoring teams. Tijuana has probably the strongest defensive outlook after Portland was gutted last season, but their offense is young and puts them in a reverse Kansas City situation. It was hard to get much going in week 1 for the Luchadores and it’s obvious that their defense lit up the stat sheet. ReallyInvisible comes back as the strongest member of the offense and will have to use his feet to create separation where his young offense cannot. I expect Tijuana to be in a constant flux early in the season of having games that would make offense fans upset and defense fans excited until their receivers all get acclimated to the DSFL.
4. Norfolk Seawolves (1-0)
Here we get to a part in the rankings where even I am a bit baffled. The Norfolk Seawolves have only one wide receiver on their entire roster but three separate receivers caught touchdown passes. If this isn’t the wet dream of that TE hungry Portland team a few seasons ago, I don’t know what is. Norfolk opened up the season on a strong note much like the Grey Ducks with a 41-21 thrashing of the Buccaneers and played well on all sides of the ball. The only side of the ball that really had any trouble was in the special teams which might be their weakest spot on the team with a rookie kicker. Call it sim luck, talent, or just plain crazy, but the Seawolves could actually surprise some people this season despite some big holes on the team. In the future, I am not sure how much luck or strength the Seawolves can muster up since the lack of wide receivers surely has to prevent them from winning in some games down the line, right?
5. Dallas Birddogs (0-1)
One drive here, one drive there, we have all been there Dallas. It sucks to lose your first game in week 1 in overtime, but thankfully that means you are hanging in with the second best DSFL team currently! Some more positives in the Dallas game is the crazy performance by rookie quarterback Ricky Stanzi who lit the Kansas City secondary on fire with 255 passing yards and three touchdowns. The defense’s experience as well helped keep this game close but the constant fumbles are going to be an issue that might only be a first week jitters thing. The rushing attack in Dallas currently seems to be the area of weakness that can improve going forward even if the plan is to make Stanzi the next air raid sensation. In the coming weeks, I could see Dallas finding a happy medium in the gameplan and pushing themselves up the rankings in only a couple of games. Anyone else notice Jay-Jamison Jr with the rushing yards? That’ll be trivia…maybe.
6. Portland Pythons (0-1)
This place could have been Tijuana had the roles been reversed, but it seems Saleem Spence being gone from the offense has come back to bite the Pythons in an area they needed it most. They were close here and there to breaking the touchdown drought but It just never happened with the rookie receivers that are currently in Portland. The Pythons had their season in the sun recently that ended in some heartbreak, but it still was an impressive run regardless. The talent went away and now the Pythons have to move forward with the younger snakes they have. Thankfully, their defense still has some familiar faces on it with Anderson still putting forth his best efforts and the secondary managed to create turnovers to keep this game close. However, Portland might be sticking around this ranking in this season due to their young offense not all earning at crazy speeds.
7. Bondi Beach Buccaneers (0-1)
Tragic. That’s really the best way I can describe the luck of the Buccaneers’ opening this season. Zaylren put on his best Chika Fujiwara impression with a great 269 yard passing game with three touchdowns, but then followed it up with two picks and bad completion percentage to young rookie receivers. The biggest bright spot was rookie wide receiver Squidward Tentacles who came onto the scene with 143 yards and two touchdowns in his first game. While his catch percentage was low, that is still a great game by a rookie receiver and should be expanded on through the season. Defense for the Buccaneers is uh…something. The GM bots, UnBanZayn and Bearcaneers, outperformed everyone else which is never a good sign. If the Buccaneers want to win going forward, they will have to keep their receivers earning and find ways to get their defense in better positions as well as minimizing on the penalties.
8. London Royals (0-1)
Only thing that kept the Buccaneers from being last is the London Royals who had the unfortunate task of taking on the Grey Ducks with a rookie offense. That is never a fun position to be in, believe me. The only player on the offensive side of the stat sheet that is not a rookie is tight end Buffalo Hunter who did what you can ask of a tight end. Defense and special teams still performed well, but not enough to prevent Minnesota from sending the Royals to the shadow realm. After winning the Ultimini in S28, the London Royals were also pulled apart by some big callups and it will take time to start climbing up the rankings again. As long as the offense sticks together as a unit, earns well, and the attitude stays positive, they could still manage a decent season. I just wouldn’t put “S29 Ultimini” in the goals list.
- 1668 words