4) “Sim gonna sim” is a popular expression in the league. Write about teams that have been graced by the sim gods and had amazing performances despite statistical odds, and/or about teams that were considered favorites but may have dealt with some bad sim luck that hampered their efforts. How much of an impact did it have on their season(s)? (10TPE, 800 words)
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*cracks knuckles*. Hoo boy, sit down and let me tell you a story.
So Portland got truly and utterly screwed by the sim. First of all, when the team gets assembled everyone is thinking ticker tape. We've got quality capped players at just about every position, some rookies were convinced to position swap and be more effective elsewhere, and the depth was strong where it needed to be. The team had minor flaws like an inept fullback who occasionally popped up to affect the game in weird ways, but nothing that should've been season threatening. Tight End and OLine were not superduper star quality, but they weren't for many other teams either.
So season starts, and we reel off 3 straight wins to start, as expected, although a couple moments were weird like the season opener against Kansas City where we were down due to stupid stuff but came back. Fine, whatever, its within margin of error, but we're winning. Then we face London, who goes on to be a 6-8 team that misses the playoffs this year, and they beat us 16-14 in a nip and tuck game. We miss a field goal from 50+ that could've been decisive had it gone through the uprights (and that came from a sequence where we were at the 23 yard line with 1st and 5 after a penalty, then went incompletion - 2 yard loss on a run - sack). We also had an end of half sequence where we ran 4 times in a row and turned the ball over on downs, gaining 3 goddamn yards. Had we been enterprising and tried some passing, we might've gotten in field goal range and who knows how that changes things. In general, our running game got nowhere, but unlike a real-life coach, the AI sorta kept going with the run even in situations where it wouldn't make sense to, like 2nd or 3rd and long.
But that loss is maybe within the margin of error, I mean, good teams don't just roll mediocre ones every game, and perhaps London was good but just got bogged down the in mid-tier of teams in the DSFL. Then a couple weeks later, we give up 40 points to Dallas to go 4-2, but Dallas had the 2nd best offense in the league that year behind us, so its somewhat understandable.
Then we get to the 3rd loss of the year, against a game team in the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Portland loses 17-14, and gets undone by RNG turnovers and penalties at the worst possible time. Both teams ground games went nowhere, but in general Portland had more of the offensive play, outgaining Minny 388-248. Cade York misses another tough field goal that could've tied, and LeBron James III saved his one big mistake for the end of the game where he threw an interception in field goal range. James threw 9 picks in 14 games, and saves this rare mistake for the worst possible time. Just a backbreaker.
Then we get to one of the worst sporting events I've ever witnessed, the conference championship loss to Kansas City, a team we beat twice in the regular season and could've beaten worse. Our running game clicks, and we gain 234 yards on the ground, but due to the sims coaching limitations we only give this successful running game 17 touches. LeBron James III, who had an MVP caliber season to this point, sputters and has a miserable game against a lower-end secondary in KC, who were starting bot-level corners and safeties. KC having a good enough offense to score 31 is fine, but their defense should've been rolled over by the high caliber of offensive talent Portland had. We had the number 1 offense in points per game, yards per game, and passing yards per game, but got nothing done with our biggest strength against their weakness. Furthermore, in that game we committed 9 penalties vs 2 from the less experienced KC side.
Had we simply abandoned passing though, and focused on the running game that was gaining over 10 yards a carry, we might've been able to put up more than 21, and then later on sprung playaction passes if we needed to make up long down and distances. Instead we go pass-pass-pass-punt with a passing game that wasn't working and a running game that was doing nothing but work. Any sensible real-life coach would've made adjustments on the fly. Instead we got this ridiculous loss, capping off a year where we were expected to take the next step after a 13-1 campaign with a loss to a .500 team with plenty of holes.
Now yes, some of these losses happen to teams IRL as a result of a bunch of circumstances. In the NFL you had teams such as the Peyton Manning Colts being league leaders in a bunch of relevant departments, only to completely fall apart in the playoffs. This year though, should've been the year Portland made something happen. We could've gone 13-1 or 12-2 easy, and then annihilated our conference opposition to face the other great team Dallas in a highlight reel Ultimini showdown. But we were robbed by a sim that still doesn't take general player talent and tactical play-by-play adjustments into account when determining winners and losers. The sim still has a long way to go before being realistic, and I have some justification that if this league were real, Portland would be in the finals.
---
*cracks knuckles*. Hoo boy, sit down and let me tell you a story.
So Portland got truly and utterly screwed by the sim. First of all, when the team gets assembled everyone is thinking ticker tape. We've got quality capped players at just about every position, some rookies were convinced to position swap and be more effective elsewhere, and the depth was strong where it needed to be. The team had minor flaws like an inept fullback who occasionally popped up to affect the game in weird ways, but nothing that should've been season threatening. Tight End and OLine were not superduper star quality, but they weren't for many other teams either.
So season starts, and we reel off 3 straight wins to start, as expected, although a couple moments were weird like the season opener against Kansas City where we were down due to stupid stuff but came back. Fine, whatever, its within margin of error, but we're winning. Then we face London, who goes on to be a 6-8 team that misses the playoffs this year, and they beat us 16-14 in a nip and tuck game. We miss a field goal from 50+ that could've been decisive had it gone through the uprights (and that came from a sequence where we were at the 23 yard line with 1st and 5 after a penalty, then went incompletion - 2 yard loss on a run - sack). We also had an end of half sequence where we ran 4 times in a row and turned the ball over on downs, gaining 3 goddamn yards. Had we been enterprising and tried some passing, we might've gotten in field goal range and who knows how that changes things. In general, our running game got nowhere, but unlike a real-life coach, the AI sorta kept going with the run even in situations where it wouldn't make sense to, like 2nd or 3rd and long.
But that loss is maybe within the margin of error, I mean, good teams don't just roll mediocre ones every game, and perhaps London was good but just got bogged down the in mid-tier of teams in the DSFL. Then a couple weeks later, we give up 40 points to Dallas to go 4-2, but Dallas had the 2nd best offense in the league that year behind us, so its somewhat understandable.
Then we get to the 3rd loss of the year, against a game team in the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Portland loses 17-14, and gets undone by RNG turnovers and penalties at the worst possible time. Both teams ground games went nowhere, but in general Portland had more of the offensive play, outgaining Minny 388-248. Cade York misses another tough field goal that could've tied, and LeBron James III saved his one big mistake for the end of the game where he threw an interception in field goal range. James threw 9 picks in 14 games, and saves this rare mistake for the worst possible time. Just a backbreaker.
Then we get to one of the worst sporting events I've ever witnessed, the conference championship loss to Kansas City, a team we beat twice in the regular season and could've beaten worse. Our running game clicks, and we gain 234 yards on the ground, but due to the sims coaching limitations we only give this successful running game 17 touches. LeBron James III, who had an MVP caliber season to this point, sputters and has a miserable game against a lower-end secondary in KC, who were starting bot-level corners and safeties. KC having a good enough offense to score 31 is fine, but their defense should've been rolled over by the high caliber of offensive talent Portland had. We had the number 1 offense in points per game, yards per game, and passing yards per game, but got nothing done with our biggest strength against their weakness. Furthermore, in that game we committed 9 penalties vs 2 from the less experienced KC side.
Had we simply abandoned passing though, and focused on the running game that was gaining over 10 yards a carry, we might've been able to put up more than 21, and then later on sprung playaction passes if we needed to make up long down and distances. Instead we go pass-pass-pass-punt with a passing game that wasn't working and a running game that was doing nothing but work. Any sensible real-life coach would've made adjustments on the fly. Instead we got this ridiculous loss, capping off a year where we were expected to take the next step after a 13-1 campaign with a loss to a .500 team with plenty of holes.
Now yes, some of these losses happen to teams IRL as a result of a bunch of circumstances. In the NFL you had teams such as the Peyton Manning Colts being league leaders in a bunch of relevant departments, only to completely fall apart in the playoffs. This year though, should've been the year Portland made something happen. We could've gone 13-1 or 12-2 easy, and then annihilated our conference opposition to face the other great team Dallas in a highlight reel Ultimini showdown. But we were robbed by a sim that still doesn't take general player talent and tactical play-by-play adjustments into account when determining winners and losers. The sim still has a long way to go before being realistic, and I have some justification that if this league were real, Portland would be in the finals.
![[Image: iknqryr.png]](https://i.imgur.com/iknqryr.png)
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