1) Playoff Predictions, Reviews
The Philadelphia Liberty upset the Baltimore Hawks by a score of 31-28. It was a stunning upset as the Hawks took a commanding lead of 28-17 early in the 4th quarter after a 7 yd pass from Childish Gambino to Viggo Squanch. The Liberty answered with a ‘gutcheck’ drive of 60 yards from their own 2 yard line. After an incomplete 3rd down pass it was up to Kulture Fulture who nailed a 55 yarder to bring the Liberty to within one score. A comment was made about Kulture Fulture needing a new truck to bring his giant balls home after driving the 55 yarder home. After the defense did their job forcing a quick 3 and out, including a sack by Luke Smyles and a huge drop by Baltimore’s Marquise Brown, the Liberty offense went back to work. On 3rd and 17 from the Baltimore 47, Falconi hit Batoff for a huge touchdown, with the 2 point conversion we were looking at a tie game with less than 5 minutes to play. Another big 3 and out forced by the Liberty defense gave the ball back to the offense with 3 minutes and 22 seconds remaining. The offense put together a majestic drive taking the ball from their own 20 down to the Baltimore 15 with 19 seconds left on the clock. Fulture lined up and struck the game winner straight and true! Only left with 19 seconds Baltimore completed a 24 yrad pass over the middle but the clock hit zeroes on them before they could get to the line to get another play off. The city of brotherly love celebrated as their team moves on.
3) All about the QBs
How do you beat a team on the road when the home team is favored by 9 points? You show up. That is exactly what Falconi did when she posted the following stat line: Cp/At Yds Avg TD Int Rat
Falconi, A. 25/34 394 15.8 3 0 141.1
In a head to head matchup with this year’s potential MVP she outshined Childish Gambino in almost every statistical category. What made the game even more amazing is that Gambino was no slouch himself. He posted a sparkling QB rating of almost 121 and had very good numbers this game but was overshadowed at every turn by Adriana Falconi. She was able to find 3 different receivers for over 100 yards each. Two of her 3 touchdown passes went to Roger Batoff, including the big 47 yarder to tie the game late in the 4th quarter. She also had completions of 44 and 57 yards to Carter Bush and Jordan von Matt, respectively. This game will become all quarterback’s playoff benchmark for many years to come. On the road added such a unique difficulty that it is even more impressive than the mind blowing numbers show. The Liberty were unable to finish off the season with a Championship but just the fact they made it to the game against great odds will forever be linked to Adriana Falconi’s magnificent playoff performance.
4) Head to Head Matchups
Portland Pythons linebacker Lanzer Grievious found himself a bit down early on. He was matched up against the deep back for Norfolk, usually Dorfus Jimbo or Apollo Reed. The SeaWolves had just taken a 10-0 lead on the back of a 1 yard touchdown run by Reed. Grievious had got caught up on a block and wasn’t happy with his effort on the play. A quick chat at halftime with his linebacker coach renewed his confidence and he came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. The teams both played well defensively after the half trading fieldgoals in the third quarter. Down 10 in the 4th quarter is not where Grievious expected to be. After all, his team had come into the game as heavy favorites. The Pythons were at home and had easily won the division. Most people couldn’t even believe Norfolk was in the playoffs after finishing less than .500 in the regular season. With a little under 13 minutes to play in the game and his team still down by a touchdown, Lanzer Grievious made the play of the DSFL playoffs. He picked off Norfolk quarterback Jay Longshaw who was looking short sideline at Jimbo. Right at the 22 yard line Grievious stepped in front of the fluttering pass stayed in bounds and took it down the sidline for 6! After the extra point tied the game and the Pythons kicked a game winning field goal on their next possession. It was clear that with 5 tackles, a pass defensed and the spectacular pick 6 Grievious had bested his running back rivals this day.
5) Spotlight on Youth - Only task that is specifically for the NSFL and not DSFL
Cornerback Spencer Castle has been steadily improving since joining the NSFL, but was the Season 14 playoffs his breakout? He was drafted 3rd overall in the Season 12 DSFL draft by the Tijuana Luchadores. He played one lights out season for the Luchadores with 5 interceptions, 16 passes defensed, 82 tackles, 1 blocked punt and a blocked FG! Combining those numbers and his activity level led to him to again being chosen 3rd overall, this time by the New Orleans Second Line during the Season 13 NSFL draft. Before the season even began he was packaged with a 3rd rounder and sent to Baltimore in exchange for Dan Schneider. The trade may have affected his big play ability as he only came up with 1 interception and 5 passes defensed. He did however contribute in other ways with 103 tackles and 2 sacks. After the season, and just before free agency began he was traded again, this time to the San Jose Saber Cats. The Cats gave up Ben Horn in exchange for the young corner. This season he came up huge with 23 passes defensed! However, he was unable to pull down any interceptions as his hands seemed to fail him time and time again. He slipped to 58 tackles but this was more due to defensive scheming than any sort of fall off on his part.
The true breakout everyone has been predicting arrived in this year’s SaberCats playoff run. In the 2 playoff games Castle combined for 12 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 2 interceptions! While the defense did give up an average of over 20 points a game, Spencer’s big play ability bailed them out multiple times.
If this is finally the breakout many predicted, look for Castle to make a run at the single season interception record of 10 next season. After all, it will be the first time he has been with the same defensive coordinator for more than 1 season.
The Philadelphia Liberty upset the Baltimore Hawks by a score of 31-28. It was a stunning upset as the Hawks took a commanding lead of 28-17 early in the 4th quarter after a 7 yd pass from Childish Gambino to Viggo Squanch. The Liberty answered with a ‘gutcheck’ drive of 60 yards from their own 2 yard line. After an incomplete 3rd down pass it was up to Kulture Fulture who nailed a 55 yarder to bring the Liberty to within one score. A comment was made about Kulture Fulture needing a new truck to bring his giant balls home after driving the 55 yarder home. After the defense did their job forcing a quick 3 and out, including a sack by Luke Smyles and a huge drop by Baltimore’s Marquise Brown, the Liberty offense went back to work. On 3rd and 17 from the Baltimore 47, Falconi hit Batoff for a huge touchdown, with the 2 point conversion we were looking at a tie game with less than 5 minutes to play. Another big 3 and out forced by the Liberty defense gave the ball back to the offense with 3 minutes and 22 seconds remaining. The offense put together a majestic drive taking the ball from their own 20 down to the Baltimore 15 with 19 seconds left on the clock. Fulture lined up and struck the game winner straight and true! Only left with 19 seconds Baltimore completed a 24 yrad pass over the middle but the clock hit zeroes on them before they could get to the line to get another play off. The city of brotherly love celebrated as their team moves on.
3) All about the QBs
How do you beat a team on the road when the home team is favored by 9 points? You show up. That is exactly what Falconi did when she posted the following stat line: Cp/At Yds Avg TD Int Rat
Falconi, A. 25/34 394 15.8 3 0 141.1
In a head to head matchup with this year’s potential MVP she outshined Childish Gambino in almost every statistical category. What made the game even more amazing is that Gambino was no slouch himself. He posted a sparkling QB rating of almost 121 and had very good numbers this game but was overshadowed at every turn by Adriana Falconi. She was able to find 3 different receivers for over 100 yards each. Two of her 3 touchdown passes went to Roger Batoff, including the big 47 yarder to tie the game late in the 4th quarter. She also had completions of 44 and 57 yards to Carter Bush and Jordan von Matt, respectively. This game will become all quarterback’s playoff benchmark for many years to come. On the road added such a unique difficulty that it is even more impressive than the mind blowing numbers show. The Liberty were unable to finish off the season with a Championship but just the fact they made it to the game against great odds will forever be linked to Adriana Falconi’s magnificent playoff performance.
4) Head to Head Matchups
Portland Pythons linebacker Lanzer Grievious found himself a bit down early on. He was matched up against the deep back for Norfolk, usually Dorfus Jimbo or Apollo Reed. The SeaWolves had just taken a 10-0 lead on the back of a 1 yard touchdown run by Reed. Grievious had got caught up on a block and wasn’t happy with his effort on the play. A quick chat at halftime with his linebacker coach renewed his confidence and he came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. The teams both played well defensively after the half trading fieldgoals in the third quarter. Down 10 in the 4th quarter is not where Grievious expected to be. After all, his team had come into the game as heavy favorites. The Pythons were at home and had easily won the division. Most people couldn’t even believe Norfolk was in the playoffs after finishing less than .500 in the regular season. With a little under 13 minutes to play in the game and his team still down by a touchdown, Lanzer Grievious made the play of the DSFL playoffs. He picked off Norfolk quarterback Jay Longshaw who was looking short sideline at Jimbo. Right at the 22 yard line Grievious stepped in front of the fluttering pass stayed in bounds and took it down the sidline for 6! After the extra point tied the game and the Pythons kicked a game winning field goal on their next possession. It was clear that with 5 tackles, a pass defensed and the spectacular pick 6 Grievious had bested his running back rivals this day.
5) Spotlight on Youth - Only task that is specifically for the NSFL and not DSFL
Cornerback Spencer Castle has been steadily improving since joining the NSFL, but was the Season 14 playoffs his breakout? He was drafted 3rd overall in the Season 12 DSFL draft by the Tijuana Luchadores. He played one lights out season for the Luchadores with 5 interceptions, 16 passes defensed, 82 tackles, 1 blocked punt and a blocked FG! Combining those numbers and his activity level led to him to again being chosen 3rd overall, this time by the New Orleans Second Line during the Season 13 NSFL draft. Before the season even began he was packaged with a 3rd rounder and sent to Baltimore in exchange for Dan Schneider. The trade may have affected his big play ability as he only came up with 1 interception and 5 passes defensed. He did however contribute in other ways with 103 tackles and 2 sacks. After the season, and just before free agency began he was traded again, this time to the San Jose Saber Cats. The Cats gave up Ben Horn in exchange for the young corner. This season he came up huge with 23 passes defensed! However, he was unable to pull down any interceptions as his hands seemed to fail him time and time again. He slipped to 58 tackles but this was more due to defensive scheming than any sort of fall off on his part.
The true breakout everyone has been predicting arrived in this year’s SaberCats playoff run. In the 2 playoff games Castle combined for 12 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 2 interceptions! While the defense did give up an average of over 20 points a game, Spencer’s big play ability bailed them out multiple times.
If this is finally the breakout many predicted, look for Castle to make a run at the single season interception record of 10 next season. After all, it will be the first time he has been with the same defensive coordinator for more than 1 season.