13) Create an argument for your own player, or for someone else on your team, as to why they should be nominated for awards. Lay out their stats or compare them to other contenders. Make a convincing case.
Its not really my "team" per se, its the team I currently am GM for, but I definitely think that Zoe Watts should win RBoTY in the DSFL. At this point awards have been published, and she didn't win it, so I'll approach my argument from the perspective of why she should have won it. Going into this season, the Dallas Birddogs had to replace a significant part of their offense including a quarterback, runningback, and wide receiver. In a league that relies heavily on a strong ground game, needing to replace a runningback in the same season you have to replace a quarterback is a difficult proposition. Ideally an offense spearheaded by a rookie quarterback will be able to rely on the ground game, but having a rookie runningback only complicates that problem. Zoe Watts responding impressively, putting up 1160 yards on 237 carries for a 4.9 average yards per carry. She was the fourth highest in the league in total yards and had the second highest yards per carry among the top 5 runningbacks in yards. She helped carry an almost entirely rookie offense to the first playoff appearance in Dallas Birddogs history. She may not be at the top of the counting stats leaderboard but she had an impressive season considering the position she found herself in at the start of the season.
24) The league is prone to change. Reflect on a past change in either the ISFL or DSFL that significantly impacted something - be it a rules change, an expansion or contraction, or even a complete rebranding. What were the effects of this change, and how has it shaken the status quo?
One of the most positive changes the league has made recently is creating an entirely separate DSFL Head Office. Originally I was skeptical of the idea, especially considering that all of the initial members of the team were ISFL GMs. I was worried about whether or not they would have time to devote to the league. Although the situation wasn't always perfect, what I did notice throughout this past season was that having people entirely focused on the DSFL - even if not as much as I'd always like - was still beneficial for the league. The new Head Office has worked diligently to put forward proposals to solve issues or make decisions on situations that benefit the league fully. We finally have a group entirely dedicated to moving the league forward to productive and sustainable ways. This is really best represented in how much the camaraderie in the group of GMs has increased. With more focus from a dedicated Head Office there is less consistent strife or arguments - those are often shut down or streamlined into productive conversations. With less arguing the league is just in a better place than it was before - or even when I joined a few seasons ago. I'm excited to see the future, especially if the Head Office does manage to hire new interns or other dedicated members so we can have even more people constantly working to brainstorm good ideas.
8) It’s always important to look forward to the future. Examine your team, and in 400 words or more, talk about how they can improve themselves to get a stab at trophy contention next year. Are you loaded with draft capital for the next draft? Do you have plenty of cap space to sign free agents? Go through the roster and note the different strengths and weaknesses, and how you think those will change over the next few seasons. How should your team adapt?
Wanna know what will really help Austin take a stab at trophy contention? Getting actually half decent sim luck. I'm not even kidding when I say that for the first three quarters of this past season we lost more games we were the favorite in than we won. Now, thats totally understandable. Strange things happen and when you're maximizing win% in the sim through testing it always needs to come with the caveat that 55% is still only 5.5 times out of 10, and you may be the favorites but only by a slim chance. A little bit under half the times you flip the coin you're still going to lose.
That being said complaining about poor sim luck is a cop out. What we really need is for the back seven in the defense to improve - whether that be through the draft or through just general player progression. I'm a big believer that you don't win games with a subpar secondary. If you go look at the teams that are historically great - Orange County comes to mind - they built their dynasty on the back of a strong secondary. In Austin's case we have on strong, veteran CB in Dermot Lavelle Jr., who although he just had the best season of his career statistically is beginning to regress. On the other side of the field, however, we have Colt Mendoza, a former first overall draft pick who has been a max earner since being drafted into the ISFL. He's the future at CB for the Copperheads, but still could use a few seasons of earning to really begin to dominate and lock down a side of the field. Safety is the problem position for the Copperheads, however. Awkward Sexjoke just announced his retirement, which will leave a gaping hole in the safety position after this coming year. Gregor McGregor is a solid option to move up and play in the Nickelback position that Sexjoke is vacating, but that still leaves a hole in the secondary. Austin also has to replace their other safety who often plays strong safety in Takeda Okura. Tomage McGullager waits in the DSFL to come up and lock down one of the open positions, however he'll still be young and needs a few more seasons of development to really reach his full potential. If the secondary can continue to grow and develop the Copperheads have a really good chance to build a championship contender within the next couple of years.
Its not really my "team" per se, its the team I currently am GM for, but I definitely think that Zoe Watts should win RBoTY in the DSFL. At this point awards have been published, and she didn't win it, so I'll approach my argument from the perspective of why she should have won it. Going into this season, the Dallas Birddogs had to replace a significant part of their offense including a quarterback, runningback, and wide receiver. In a league that relies heavily on a strong ground game, needing to replace a runningback in the same season you have to replace a quarterback is a difficult proposition. Ideally an offense spearheaded by a rookie quarterback will be able to rely on the ground game, but having a rookie runningback only complicates that problem. Zoe Watts responding impressively, putting up 1160 yards on 237 carries for a 4.9 average yards per carry. She was the fourth highest in the league in total yards and had the second highest yards per carry among the top 5 runningbacks in yards. She helped carry an almost entirely rookie offense to the first playoff appearance in Dallas Birddogs history. She may not be at the top of the counting stats leaderboard but she had an impressive season considering the position she found herself in at the start of the season.
24) The league is prone to change. Reflect on a past change in either the ISFL or DSFL that significantly impacted something - be it a rules change, an expansion or contraction, or even a complete rebranding. What were the effects of this change, and how has it shaken the status quo?
One of the most positive changes the league has made recently is creating an entirely separate DSFL Head Office. Originally I was skeptical of the idea, especially considering that all of the initial members of the team were ISFL GMs. I was worried about whether or not they would have time to devote to the league. Although the situation wasn't always perfect, what I did notice throughout this past season was that having people entirely focused on the DSFL - even if not as much as I'd always like - was still beneficial for the league. The new Head Office has worked diligently to put forward proposals to solve issues or make decisions on situations that benefit the league fully. We finally have a group entirely dedicated to moving the league forward to productive and sustainable ways. This is really best represented in how much the camaraderie in the group of GMs has increased. With more focus from a dedicated Head Office there is less consistent strife or arguments - those are often shut down or streamlined into productive conversations. With less arguing the league is just in a better place than it was before - or even when I joined a few seasons ago. I'm excited to see the future, especially if the Head Office does manage to hire new interns or other dedicated members so we can have even more people constantly working to brainstorm good ideas.
8) It’s always important to look forward to the future. Examine your team, and in 400 words or more, talk about how they can improve themselves to get a stab at trophy contention next year. Are you loaded with draft capital for the next draft? Do you have plenty of cap space to sign free agents? Go through the roster and note the different strengths and weaknesses, and how you think those will change over the next few seasons. How should your team adapt?
Wanna know what will really help Austin take a stab at trophy contention? Getting actually half decent sim luck. I'm not even kidding when I say that for the first three quarters of this past season we lost more games we were the favorite in than we won. Now, thats totally understandable. Strange things happen and when you're maximizing win% in the sim through testing it always needs to come with the caveat that 55% is still only 5.5 times out of 10, and you may be the favorites but only by a slim chance. A little bit under half the times you flip the coin you're still going to lose.
That being said complaining about poor sim luck is a cop out. What we really need is for the back seven in the defense to improve - whether that be through the draft or through just general player progression. I'm a big believer that you don't win games with a subpar secondary. If you go look at the teams that are historically great - Orange County comes to mind - they built their dynasty on the back of a strong secondary. In Austin's case we have on strong, veteran CB in Dermot Lavelle Jr., who although he just had the best season of his career statistically is beginning to regress. On the other side of the field, however, we have Colt Mendoza, a former first overall draft pick who has been a max earner since being drafted into the ISFL. He's the future at CB for the Copperheads, but still could use a few seasons of earning to really begin to dominate and lock down a side of the field. Safety is the problem position for the Copperheads, however. Awkward Sexjoke just announced his retirement, which will leave a gaping hole in the safety position after this coming year. Gregor McGregor is a solid option to move up and play in the Nickelback position that Sexjoke is vacating, but that still leaves a hole in the secondary. Austin also has to replace their other safety who often plays strong safety in Takeda Okura. Tomage McGullager waits in the DSFL to come up and lock down one of the open positions, however he'll still be young and needs a few more seasons of development to really reach his full potential. If the secondary can continue to grow and develop the Copperheads have a really good chance to build a championship contender within the next couple of years.
![[Image: bZJ57LU.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/bZJ57LU.gif)