1. This year's ISFL playoffs were ultimately unsurprising. The 2 best teams in the league, each with only 2 losses to their name, went to the Ultimus and played each other in an extremely tight affair, though perhaps the fact that it was decided by New York's kicker playing like a 250 TPE option was a bit more shocking. That said, there were a couple of surprises leading up to the Ultimus. In the ASFC Championship game, the Arizona Outlaws, a good but not great team, had their ticket to the Ultimus punched for most of the game until a last minute collapse led to 17 unanswered points over the final 5 minutes of game time for the Silverbacks. Then there were the Colorado Yeti, who ended the longest playoff drought in the history of the league by being really mediocre but doing so in a fashion that scored over 400 points, allowing them and their +4 point differential to eke out a playoff spot over the Berlin Fire Salamanders, who split the head to head games, had the exact same conference record, and had a +50 point differential, but scored 4 less points so in this league where for some reason Points For is the tiebreaker instead of point differential, the Yeti managed to backdoor into the playoffs, where they looked like a team that belonged for half a game and then promptly got blown out 41-7 in the second half.
The Ultimus in and of itself was a hard fought game where neither offense could really move the needle. MVP hopeful Preston Beatz had a sub 50 completion rate and passer rating, both QBs had a yards per attempt stat of 5.6 or worse, and the only successful looking part of either team's offense, the Hawks' running game, is entirely buoyed by a single play that didn't even lead to points, a 45 yard carry by Kumquat Archipelago which gave him the title of "offensive PotG" despite a 3.5 yard per carry day outside of that lone rush. The Hawks as a whole had 2.6 yards per carry outside of that play, and the Silverbacks were similarly terrible at running the football with only 3.3 yards per carry. The particular standout bad performer, besides Beatz, has to be Rocky Moreaux, who was targeted 6 times and only caught a single 6 yard completion all day.
That being said, the Hawks managed to come out on top despite not converting a 3rd down all day (or even attempting a 4th down) in large part due to the standout play of 2 defensive players. Bruce Buckley Jr managed to amass 10 tackles, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble/recovery that stopped a drive in easy field goal range for the Silverbacks. And yet, he's not who shone the hardest, as Bourtol Halcomsby pulled off a pick 6 to give the Hawks the lead in the 1st quarter, the team's only touchdown all day. He also had another pass deflection. In the universe where we tracked Ultimus MVPs, Halcomsby would have my vote.
Personally, though, all I really feel is relief. My previous player had a decent length career on amazing teams and could absolutely never get over the hump. On one hand it's more than a little annoying that this great team that finally gave me a trophy gave me more playoff wins than I had in my entire career previously, but on the other hand, I finally have that trophy. Luigi Numberone might never reach the highs that Pama reached in his peak season, though I don't think I played badly as a rookie, but this was a good prize. Next step, going for more.
The Ultimus in and of itself was a hard fought game where neither offense could really move the needle. MVP hopeful Preston Beatz had a sub 50 completion rate and passer rating, both QBs had a yards per attempt stat of 5.6 or worse, and the only successful looking part of either team's offense, the Hawks' running game, is entirely buoyed by a single play that didn't even lead to points, a 45 yard carry by Kumquat Archipelago which gave him the title of "offensive PotG" despite a 3.5 yard per carry day outside of that lone rush. The Hawks as a whole had 2.6 yards per carry outside of that play, and the Silverbacks were similarly terrible at running the football with only 3.3 yards per carry. The particular standout bad performer, besides Beatz, has to be Rocky Moreaux, who was targeted 6 times and only caught a single 6 yard completion all day.
That being said, the Hawks managed to come out on top despite not converting a 3rd down all day (or even attempting a 4th down) in large part due to the standout play of 2 defensive players. Bruce Buckley Jr managed to amass 10 tackles, 2 sacks, and a forced fumble/recovery that stopped a drive in easy field goal range for the Silverbacks. And yet, he's not who shone the hardest, as Bourtol Halcomsby pulled off a pick 6 to give the Hawks the lead in the 1st quarter, the team's only touchdown all day. He also had another pass deflection. In the universe where we tracked Ultimus MVPs, Halcomsby would have my vote.
Personally, though, all I really feel is relief. My previous player had a decent length career on amazing teams and could absolutely never get over the hump. On one hand it's more than a little annoying that this great team that finally gave me a trophy gave me more playoff wins than I had in my entire career previously, but on the other hand, I finally have that trophy. Luigi Numberone might never reach the highs that Pama reached in his peak season, though I don't think I played badly as a rookie, but this was a good prize. Next step, going for more.