(S44) PT #5 - Now or Never

[MMFLEX]

While Honolulu has already secured their spot in the playoffs, we need a win tonight, in week 16, to clinch the #1 seed in the conference. We lost to Austin in week 1 of the season, so it's only fitting that we try to redeem ourselves to lock up the top spot. And securing the top spot is important because it's one less coin flip of a game we are required to play. Once you get into playoffs anything can happen, because oftentimes the teams are decently matched. We've seen the 3rd seed in any conference go on to win a number of times. Even with a 40% chance to win, those are still pretty good odds. So, playoffs are about trying to mitigate risks. And playing one fewer game is a huge advantage in the sim randomness factor. Hopefully being at home tonight will also be enough of an advantage for us to win and provide us with the best chance to win our conference championship and ultimately, the Ultimus.

[xenosthelegend]

ISFL:
American Boot is the only TE on the roster for the Cape Town Crash. He has recorded 4 stats all season, 2 of which came in losses. Cape Town has secured the 1 seed, all he needs to do is remain on the bench, and enjoy his retirement next season. Wait he can't do that, he gets his permission to die at the end of S44.

DSFL:
This is where things get a lot more interesting. London is not eliminated yet due to conference record, but needs a lot of things to go right next week. First, London needs to beat the Dallas Birddogs, who possess the third best record in the league. Already a tall task, they need Minnesota to lose to Bondi Beach. A battle of two bottom feeder teams, it should be a close one. Lastly, and probably the most likely of the three events needed, Kansas City needs to lose to Tijuana. Tijuana possesses the best record in the league, and has steamrolled pretty much every opponent, only dropping games to the other top team in the league (Portland), and somehow losing to Minnesota. The road to the Ultimini is a dark, dark path for London, they don't even control their destiny.

[caravaggio]

With a single game left in the regular season, it's unlikely that the Orange County Otters will get the rare win that counts as three, which means that the team will not be in the post-season this year. It's disappointing because I thought we might be able to hit a record near .500 and sneak into the last spot, but it was not to be. Team play was plagued by very untimely mistakes in crucial game situations, and the result was 4 close losses that would have flipped our prospects.

I'm impressed by this because the team TPE averages and totals were not great, and we lagged behind many teams that we beat or challenged this year. That means I think our approach is good, but we need to keep working on just getting everyone's stats up, and filling some holes on the defensive line. I'm hoping that a high draft pick will allow us to fill some of those roles immediately and compete in about 2 seasons. My player starts the tip over into regression, so I really want to see us win now.

[JKortesi81]

SHL PT

[r0tzbua]

What do the Berlin Fire Salamanders need to make the playoffs? To be fair I do not even know if we can still make them. This season has been ups and downs so much that I lost track of our playoff hopes but I think there is a chance of at least a 3-way tie in the last week that would give us a chance. It went well for a while, then it went bad and then it went well again. It was the most average of seasons that you can imagine and I sincerely hope we will get a bit more sim luck next season and make a run again since I would really like that. I think we can get better at testing but in the end it is always a sim does what sim wants thing and all the testing in the world can only get you so far. But I still hope for a fun game tonight!

[Urq660]

The San Jose SaberCats are very much NOT in the hunt for the playoffs. Honestly, it’s hard to say we could have done things differently. This is a team in the middle of a rebuild, and this season, although tougher than expected, was expected to not be great, as we acclimatise a rookie quarterback to the big league, have some players playing their first games in a new position, and bringing on younger players, including my own, into competitiveness.
From a purely results standpoint, rebuild notwithstanding, we gave up too many points to offenses that weren’t as good as we made them look, and looked a bit insipid on offense ourselves. As I said, with the state of the team as it is, there isn’t a whole lot that we could do differently. Next season should be a step forward for sure, as players bed into their positions and our rebuild finally starts to bear fruit. It has been a long process but we’re almost there!

[DangWookie]

I think this season has been a season close calls and missed chances for the Sarasota Sailfish. Six of our seven losses have been by seven points or less. To guarantee we make it to the playoffs and go far, we're going to have to tighten up on offense and defense. We're a pass heavy team and we shouldn't deviate from that, but at the goal line, we need to make some better calls. I can think back to a few games this season where we had driven the ball all the way down to inside five yards from the goal and instead of running the ball, we opt to pass. I know I'm a little biased with Ace being the running back but I feel like there are times we just have to take the high percentage plays, especially when we're on first or second down. Secondly, we just have to tighten up on defense to make sure we win these close games, instead of losing them. All too often, we have gotten a team to third down only to give up multiple third down conversions leading to a score. If we can just become a little more efficient on both sides of the ball, then I think we can hang with just about any team in the league.

[CementHands]

SHL PT Claim

[Mossed26]

Berlin has had a pretty frustrating season this year. A lot of missed opportunities, underachievement and now desperately needing a win to make the playoffs, this season has not been great. The Fire Salamanders have way to high TPE to be 7-8 and fighting for a playoff spot. Gesicki's start in the ISFL has been rough, with Gesicki still looking for his first ISFL sack. The position switch has been rough but Gesicki did get a contract extension and will stay with Berlin for his future. Also being average in YPG (7th in the league) and YPGA (7th) but being bottom 5 in PPG and PPGA is pretty rough. Overall, this season has kind of been a disappointment. But, even after saying all that, the season can be redeemed with a win over the Second Line and a Wraiths loss to the Crash. After all, Berlins last Ultimus appearance was in a 9-7 season and with the sim anything can happen, but we have to win to get in.

[AJay887]

PBE Affiliate Claim