Tier 2, Task 7)
Since I am a Austin Copperhead I will be talking about two Copperheads I believe deserve an award for their outstanding performance this season. The first of which is our RB extraordinaire Mako Mendonca. Mendonca went into Season 24 as his last season before officially retiring and letting new young stars in Kichwa Jones and Zoe Watts take over the Copperheads backfield. While there was a committee approach this season in the Austin backfield, and Kichwa Jones saw nearly just as many rushing attempts and posted similar YPC, it was Mendonca’s receiving play that I believe earn him the title of RBOTY. He put up 1048 yards on the ground along with 8 TDs, and another 762 yards through the air on 63 receptions and another 3 scores to go along with it. While the TD numbers aren’t anything to write home about, they are still a solid performance. However where Mendonca excelled was that he put up 300+ more scrimmage yards that the next closest. That is a massive margin of difference. Especially when he outperformed many receiving backs in the passing game. In fact he outperformed all back in this category by nearly 200 yards. In total Mako posted 1,810 yards from scrimmage. Thats one exceptional performance in my eyes.
The second Copperhead I believe deserves a ton of recognition from the awards committee is Dermot Lavelle Jr. The All-Pro CB. Firstly he lead the league in interceptions with 6. And on top of that managed 20 PDs and 74 tackles. These are elite numbers at the cornerback position and I believe is absolutely deserving to be in consideration for CBOTY. What more is I believe Lavelle Jr should be a candidate for Defensive Performance of the Year. In week 8 against the Yellowknife Wraiths, Dermot had quite the career game. In it he had 4 tackles, 2PDs, and 2 INTs. One of which he took all the way to the house for 96 yards!! You can bet that one is going in his highlight reel. Whats more is in this game, Dermot also was majorly successful in the return game. He managed to take a 2nd one to the house on a 83 yard Punt return. Thats 2 TDs for a defensive player. He scored more TDs than Easton Cole did that day and was the sole reason we were able to win that week. If thats not a performance worth a nomination for DPerOTY then I’m not sure what is.
Words: 415
Tier 3, Task 16)
My most note worthy regular season game for the Copperheads came in week 4 against the New Orleans Second Line where we gave them quite the spanking. There are a couple of reasons why this game sticks out most to me. First of all, my player Eddie Jeeta had a career outing. I was able to put up 105 yards on 7 receptions, and 2 Touchdowns. I believe this was both the first time I’d exceeded 100 yards in a single game, and was definitely the first and only time I’ve managed to get into the end zone more than once in a single game. This was my first season moving into the WR2 position so I had strong expectations for my performance but this was a really fun surprise to display a really strong performance like this. The other reason is our entire team just clicked on all fronts, and were able to dominate the whole game, ending up with a 31-7 victory over a strong and competitive rival. Easton Cole would throw for 360 yards and 3 TDs with a final QBR of 128.2. Mendonca rushed for 100+ yards on the ground. Net Gaines along with myself were able to put up 100+ through the air with 3 TDs between us. And our defence kept their offence in check and held them to only 7 points. This was one fun game to watch.
Words: 236
Tier 3, Tier 22)
What is quite frustrating about this season is that we had unbelievably bad luck. Losing in matchups where we had 70% and 80% win odds. It’s no surprise that Austin would hit some bad luck but usually it ends up correcting itself and we end up with a solid record overall and squeeze our way into the playoffs. Not this season though. Which would end a 6 season run of making playoffs. Quite sad. But I would argue that if it weren’t from some really unfortunate bad luck, then Austin would have been a serious playoff contender. For one thing, we scored the most points than any team in our entire division yet still ended last. And our defence didn’t perform like you’d expect as we hold some of the most talented players defensively and our Defensive line is up there with probably the best in the league. And with no disrespect to other teams, but teams such as San Jose and Honolulu who not only have a weaker QB, weaker RBs and WRs, but also I’d argue a weaker defence overall. Yet both would finish higher and the Sabercats would finish top of the division despite scoring over 50 points less on offence. But thats the way the sim goes sometimes and can’t hang your head over it. I’m very hopeful for Season 25 and this Austin squad.
Words: 229
Since I am a Austin Copperhead I will be talking about two Copperheads I believe deserve an award for their outstanding performance this season. The first of which is our RB extraordinaire Mako Mendonca. Mendonca went into Season 24 as his last season before officially retiring and letting new young stars in Kichwa Jones and Zoe Watts take over the Copperheads backfield. While there was a committee approach this season in the Austin backfield, and Kichwa Jones saw nearly just as many rushing attempts and posted similar YPC, it was Mendonca’s receiving play that I believe earn him the title of RBOTY. He put up 1048 yards on the ground along with 8 TDs, and another 762 yards through the air on 63 receptions and another 3 scores to go along with it. While the TD numbers aren’t anything to write home about, they are still a solid performance. However where Mendonca excelled was that he put up 300+ more scrimmage yards that the next closest. That is a massive margin of difference. Especially when he outperformed many receiving backs in the passing game. In fact he outperformed all back in this category by nearly 200 yards. In total Mako posted 1,810 yards from scrimmage. Thats one exceptional performance in my eyes.
The second Copperhead I believe deserves a ton of recognition from the awards committee is Dermot Lavelle Jr. The All-Pro CB. Firstly he lead the league in interceptions with 6. And on top of that managed 20 PDs and 74 tackles. These are elite numbers at the cornerback position and I believe is absolutely deserving to be in consideration for CBOTY. What more is I believe Lavelle Jr should be a candidate for Defensive Performance of the Year. In week 8 against the Yellowknife Wraiths, Dermot had quite the career game. In it he had 4 tackles, 2PDs, and 2 INTs. One of which he took all the way to the house for 96 yards!! You can bet that one is going in his highlight reel. Whats more is in this game, Dermot also was majorly successful in the return game. He managed to take a 2nd one to the house on a 83 yard Punt return. Thats 2 TDs for a defensive player. He scored more TDs than Easton Cole did that day and was the sole reason we were able to win that week. If thats not a performance worth a nomination for DPerOTY then I’m not sure what is.
Words: 415
Tier 3, Task 16)
My most note worthy regular season game for the Copperheads came in week 4 against the New Orleans Second Line where we gave them quite the spanking. There are a couple of reasons why this game sticks out most to me. First of all, my player Eddie Jeeta had a career outing. I was able to put up 105 yards on 7 receptions, and 2 Touchdowns. I believe this was both the first time I’d exceeded 100 yards in a single game, and was definitely the first and only time I’ve managed to get into the end zone more than once in a single game. This was my first season moving into the WR2 position so I had strong expectations for my performance but this was a really fun surprise to display a really strong performance like this. The other reason is our entire team just clicked on all fronts, and were able to dominate the whole game, ending up with a 31-7 victory over a strong and competitive rival. Easton Cole would throw for 360 yards and 3 TDs with a final QBR of 128.2. Mendonca rushed for 100+ yards on the ground. Net Gaines along with myself were able to put up 100+ through the air with 3 TDs between us. And our defence kept their offence in check and held them to only 7 points. This was one fun game to watch.
Words: 236
Tier 3, Tier 22)
What is quite frustrating about this season is that we had unbelievably bad luck. Losing in matchups where we had 70% and 80% win odds. It’s no surprise that Austin would hit some bad luck but usually it ends up correcting itself and we end up with a solid record overall and squeeze our way into the playoffs. Not this season though. Which would end a 6 season run of making playoffs. Quite sad. But I would argue that if it weren’t from some really unfortunate bad luck, then Austin would have been a serious playoff contender. For one thing, we scored the most points than any team in our entire division yet still ended last. And our defence didn’t perform like you’d expect as we hold some of the most talented players defensively and our Defensive line is up there with probably the best in the league. And with no disrespect to other teams, but teams such as San Jose and Honolulu who not only have a weaker QB, weaker RBs and WRs, but also I’d argue a weaker defence overall. Yet both would finish higher and the Sabercats would finish top of the division despite scoring over 50 points less on offence. But thats the way the sim goes sometimes and can’t hang your head over it. I’m very hopeful for Season 25 and this Austin squad.
Words: 229