3) All About The QBs
One of the best QB matchups of this year's playoff occured in the wildcard round in the game between Yellowknife and Philadelphia. Cooter Bigsby and Adriana Falconi were probably the 3rd and 4th best QBs in the regular season and they had a duel in their game. Both of them went over 100 passer rating and Falconi got very close to 400 yards. Bigsby did a slightly better job of spreading the ball around, hitting 6 different targets to Falconi's 5. Cooter Bigsby also had no interceptions while Falconi had one although maybe he would've gotten picked off had he thrown the ball as many times as Falconi did in this game. Philadelphia went down 2 scores pretty early in the 3rd quarter so Adriana had to shoulder a heavy offensive burden to get Philadelphia the win. Unfortunately for these teams, somebody had to win and that ended up being the Liberty. It's not the fault of Bigsby or any other Wraiths' player that they lost. Yellowknife kicked a field goal down by 4 with 3 minutes to play. That coaching decision is an insult to the effort that Bigsby and the rest of the Wraiths put in all season and during this game.
5) Spotlight On The Youth
There were several season 15 players that made a huge impact on this year's Ultimus. Arizona's main core is season 15 players outside of Raymond Vans, Leighton Lee, and Andrew Reese. Martavius Mack got a sack and Lucas Knight had a game saving play. Brock Landers had 3 receptions for 36 yards. Lamont Mckinnie ended up second on the Outlaws in terms of tackles but didn't do anything else. However, the main contributions from season 15 players came from Philadelphia. Farley Hank ran for a touchdown while having the most rushing yards on Philadelphia and Nacho Varga got 59 yards through the air. On the defensive side, Rock Hardshaft got 12 tackles and Alberto McGwire picked up 2 sacks. Had Philadelphia won, the MVP would've been a season 15 player as Richard D'Attoria V had one of the best games I've ever seen. He had 17 tackles which might be an Ultimus record, broke up a pass, and also had a pick six late in the 4th quarter which gave Philly the lead and momentum. Unfortunately for D'attoria, his contributions ended up being all for naught as Arizona won their first non-asterisk Ultimus. The young talent was on display in the Ultimus and for the most part they did a good job of stepping up to the immense pressure that was placed on them.
7) Next Year
I don't know if this is cheating because we won the Ultimus this year but I think we're getting it next year as well. Not only is our young talent still young and talented and improving, but we are a serious free agent destination now that we have a ring. We have the top TPE player in the league and we actually have a first round pick in this relatively deep draft class. This allows us to fill the needs we do have and we also have enough cap to make a pass at free agents such as Sunnycursed. If we do get Sunnycursed that will fill our biggest need and give us 2 of the top 3 players in the league TPE-wise. We have 5 max-earning season 15 rookies, who should be around 600 TPE at the start of the season, if not even higher. Jeffery Murphy is also picking up his TPE earning, so our running back group looks significantly better. Our main conference rivals are also going to get worse, losing one of their best receivers just as a young QB comes up to replace a veteran who has won rings. San Jose will also need a bit of a rebuild as they now don't have a starting QB with Joliet Christ's retirement. I think we can definitely win 10 games next year and claim home field throughout the playoffs.
14) That Magic Moment
This was it. All they needed was a stop. About 50 yards behind Lucas Knight was the end zone. If Philadelphia got there, they would win and if they didn't the Ultimus would come home. Adriana Falconi is barking out orders, play clock is winding down and the Outlaws are confused why Falconi is waiting. She snaps the ball and throws a quick screen to Vander Jones, 35 seconds left. Jones runs forward and is wrapped up, but he throws the ball back to Nacho Varga. He runs around a bit before tossing it back to Falconi, 22 seconds now. Falconi runs up to the 46 then laterals behind her to Vander Jones, who has gotten back up. Jones sees a lane and sprints. There's nobody in front of him. He can do it, become the hero of Philadelphia the way that Paul Dimirio or Fox North or even Tyler Oles was 9 years ago. Jones reaches the Outlaws 20 before he starts to get tired, sprinting as hard as he ever has with pads on tires a guy out. He is confused as he hears frantic cheering in Outlaw stadium. Little does Jones know that young Lucas Knight, who's played solid all night despite lackluster stats, is sprinting at a breakneck pace to save the Outlaws. Jones reaches the 15 and he feels hands grab his waist. Lucas Knight dove out and grabbed Jones, twisting his body midair to try and drag Vander down. He succeeds. Vander Jones' knee touches the turf at the 13 yard line and the clock is at 3 seconds, not enough time to get a play off. Knight stands up to thunderous cheers and as soon as the clock hits 0 he is mobbed by Outlaws as a dejected Vander Jones walks to his teammates to receive halfhearted smacks on the helmets and words of encouragement.
One of the best QB matchups of this year's playoff occured in the wildcard round in the game between Yellowknife and Philadelphia. Cooter Bigsby and Adriana Falconi were probably the 3rd and 4th best QBs in the regular season and they had a duel in their game. Both of them went over 100 passer rating and Falconi got very close to 400 yards. Bigsby did a slightly better job of spreading the ball around, hitting 6 different targets to Falconi's 5. Cooter Bigsby also had no interceptions while Falconi had one although maybe he would've gotten picked off had he thrown the ball as many times as Falconi did in this game. Philadelphia went down 2 scores pretty early in the 3rd quarter so Adriana had to shoulder a heavy offensive burden to get Philadelphia the win. Unfortunately for these teams, somebody had to win and that ended up being the Liberty. It's not the fault of Bigsby or any other Wraiths' player that they lost. Yellowknife kicked a field goal down by 4 with 3 minutes to play. That coaching decision is an insult to the effort that Bigsby and the rest of the Wraiths put in all season and during this game.
5) Spotlight On The Youth
There were several season 15 players that made a huge impact on this year's Ultimus. Arizona's main core is season 15 players outside of Raymond Vans, Leighton Lee, and Andrew Reese. Martavius Mack got a sack and Lucas Knight had a game saving play. Brock Landers had 3 receptions for 36 yards. Lamont Mckinnie ended up second on the Outlaws in terms of tackles but didn't do anything else. However, the main contributions from season 15 players came from Philadelphia. Farley Hank ran for a touchdown while having the most rushing yards on Philadelphia and Nacho Varga got 59 yards through the air. On the defensive side, Rock Hardshaft got 12 tackles and Alberto McGwire picked up 2 sacks. Had Philadelphia won, the MVP would've been a season 15 player as Richard D'Attoria V had one of the best games I've ever seen. He had 17 tackles which might be an Ultimus record, broke up a pass, and also had a pick six late in the 4th quarter which gave Philly the lead and momentum. Unfortunately for D'attoria, his contributions ended up being all for naught as Arizona won their first non-asterisk Ultimus. The young talent was on display in the Ultimus and for the most part they did a good job of stepping up to the immense pressure that was placed on them.
7) Next Year
I don't know if this is cheating because we won the Ultimus this year but I think we're getting it next year as well. Not only is our young talent still young and talented and improving, but we are a serious free agent destination now that we have a ring. We have the top TPE player in the league and we actually have a first round pick in this relatively deep draft class. This allows us to fill the needs we do have and we also have enough cap to make a pass at free agents such as Sunnycursed. If we do get Sunnycursed that will fill our biggest need and give us 2 of the top 3 players in the league TPE-wise. We have 5 max-earning season 15 rookies, who should be around 600 TPE at the start of the season, if not even higher. Jeffery Murphy is also picking up his TPE earning, so our running back group looks significantly better. Our main conference rivals are also going to get worse, losing one of their best receivers just as a young QB comes up to replace a veteran who has won rings. San Jose will also need a bit of a rebuild as they now don't have a starting QB with Joliet Christ's retirement. I think we can definitely win 10 games next year and claim home field throughout the playoffs.
14) That Magic Moment
This was it. All they needed was a stop. About 50 yards behind Lucas Knight was the end zone. If Philadelphia got there, they would win and if they didn't the Ultimus would come home. Adriana Falconi is barking out orders, play clock is winding down and the Outlaws are confused why Falconi is waiting. She snaps the ball and throws a quick screen to Vander Jones, 35 seconds left. Jones runs forward and is wrapped up, but he throws the ball back to Nacho Varga. He runs around a bit before tossing it back to Falconi, 22 seconds now. Falconi runs up to the 46 then laterals behind her to Vander Jones, who has gotten back up. Jones sees a lane and sprints. There's nobody in front of him. He can do it, become the hero of Philadelphia the way that Paul Dimirio or Fox North or even Tyler Oles was 9 years ago. Jones reaches the Outlaws 20 before he starts to get tired, sprinting as hard as he ever has with pads on tires a guy out. He is confused as he hears frantic cheering in Outlaw stadium. Little does Jones know that young Lucas Knight, who's played solid all night despite lackluster stats, is sprinting at a breakneck pace to save the Outlaws. Jones reaches the 15 and he feels hands grab his waist. Lucas Knight dove out and grabbed Jones, twisting his body midair to try and drag Vander down. He succeeds. Vander Jones' knee touches the turf at the 13 yard line and the clock is at 3 seconds, not enough time to get a play off. Knight stands up to thunderous cheers and as soon as the clock hits 0 he is mobbed by Outlaws as a dejected Vander Jones walks to his teammates to receive halfhearted smacks on the helmets and words of encouragement.