The Sarasota Sailfish are due for a Ultimus win within a season or two. I genuinely think they will remain a great team. They have all their key players locked down on long term deals and have a ton of young talent in the waiting area that are in the DSFL. Last season, Sarasota had it’s best season record in team history. Now, this season started out rough but they are still due and it will get better. They have a lot of talent on defense, who are the majority of season 22 players and some of these players switched to positions of need. These players are super active, and helping the team grow overall. This means they will only get better and it’s scary to think about if you’re an opposing team. In addition, the offense is growing, they picked up a lot of young talent with the veterans Banks, Mike and Chan. Lastly, the Sailfish did not lose a lot in the expansion draft. They lost their TE two and an inactive safety. A lot of teams lost great talent but they scatche away from the expansion draft hold. All they have to do is continue updating and keep praying for a little sim luck to go their way. I think the next few seasons this team will be dominant.
Rusfan's daily ISFL podcast is the best podcast in the league.
Now that may be a claim that you consider to be both A. Biased and B. unquantifiable. I mean, how would one measure the quality of a podcast. There are, of course, the obvious metrics. Things such as audio quality for a start. Nobody wants to listen to a podcast that sounds as though it was recorded through a blackberry circa 2005. There is also the objective metric of focus. Does the caster have a point in making their podcast, and do they stick to it? It may look impressive to record a podcast that stretches to an hour or longer, but if half of it's a rambling mess, the time doesn't exactly count for much. It is these metrics that make me believe that this podcast of Rusfans is the leagues best. The sound quality is good, though not the best I've heard. And the length is managable and the caster only sticks to the point he is trying to make. There are no rambling segments, there is a very clear point and purpose to the podcast and every episode is more refined than the last. Thank you, and I hope to have you as a listener in the very near future.
With the way Tatsu Nakumara is currently performing, he should not have been picked first overall in most fantasy leagues. Going into the draft, it seemed obvious. With the retirement of Franklin Armstrong, the Orange County Otters' quarterback, it made sense that Nakumara would go from a good season last season, to an even better one this season, however this is just not the case. For whatever reason, Nakumara is severely underperforming, with just 162 rush yards and 3 touchdowns. These stats put him at 21st place in fantasy points overall and 6th place among running backs. Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but the player most people should have been drafting with their first pick is Keʻokeʻo Kāne-Maikaʻi. KKM is 2nd overall in fantasy and first among running backs. This season he has 238 yards on the ground with 4 touchdowns, as well as an additional 217 yards receiving and another touchdown, thanks to a monster week two game against the New Orleans Second Line, where he had more than 180 yards total, and four touchdowns. Keeping in mind the season is only a quarter of the way done, it is very possible that KKM falls off, and Nakumara might have a great second half, but as of now KKM is the obvious best player.
As I reflect on my career one this has always been painfully apparent, being inactive is bad. I know this may come as a shock to many of you but if you look at Deck’s career his greatest growth occurred while I was active. While considering my argument I sought a cold hard irrefutable way of proving this and I believe I have found a metric which can allow me to accomplish this task. If you compare the TPE earned while I was active compared to when I was not the numbers speak for themselves. I at the time of writing this I have accumulated 440 TPE. Notice that of all the TPE I have managed to accrue was done while I was active. While I was inactive there was no TPE growth, and that is bad. If you look at the only thing Deck has excelled at, tackles, Deck has been declining since I went inactive. While I was active Deck was a linebacker, while I was inactive Deck became an out of shape defensive lineman. All in all I think that I have shown that being an inactive player has been nothing but a bad thing for Inspectah Deck, a bad thing for the Orange County Otters, and has been a bad thing for this league.
Andrew Witten will win cornerback of the year this season. Here is why: after starting two seasons at strong safety, Witten finally moved to a starting cornerback position last season, and he had a great year, amassing 5 picks, 16 PDs, and a touchdown. His 5 picks were tied for second in the league and earned him a Pro Bowl and a nomination for cornerback of the year. Witten is poised to be even better this year. His situation is still great in New Orleans, as he plays opposite of David Rector who is one of the best players in the league. Conventional wisdom says that #2 cornerbacks tend to get better stats because QBs stay away from elite CB 1s. Witten should benefit from Rector’s play and also from Witten’s great offseason improvements. One of the top corners last year continued to improve, topping 850 TPE, while reigning CB of the year, Dermot Lavelle Jr., took a big step back in regression. Witten is off to a nice start so far, with 9 PDs through 4 games, a better indicator of future success than interceptions, and Witten already has a pick six, a great plus on his CBotY resume, as voters love touchdowns. If he can put another 5 INT season together and pass 20 PDs this year, which he is easily on pace for, he should be able to take home the award.
A new season of the ISFL is upon us and that means that it's time for opening statements! For me, my personal opening statement I believe that the NOLA Second Line is a true contender for the Ultimus this season. For starters, despite losing 2 great veteran DEs in Tu'inukuafe and Ulysses, the Second Line replenished the losses with Ranger and Toblerone, two younger starters who have just as much potential. In addition, we upgraded our strong safety spot with the addition of Button, providing a 1-2 DB combo that will prevent QBs from passing on us. These are some of the defensive improvements we have made to help increase our chances for an Ultimus. On the offensive side of the ball, our QB, Slothlisberger, has greatly improved in the areas of accuracy and mobility, greatly opening and increasing the possibilities that our offense can have upon the new season. In addition, we have maintained offensive line continuity, allowing us to hit the ground running and not waste time having to reorganize the offense. Finally, I believe that some luck will hopefully bounce our way during this season as we are in a crazy conference. Thus, with the aforementioned factors, I believe that the NOLA Second Line is a true contender for this season's Ultimus!