Before the season started, I put out a small article talking about Darren Pama and his expectations for the league. Let's just say they've been flipped completely on their head.
Arizona looked to rely on their defense this year to carry them to the playoffs. Their offense had been gutted by players leaving and regression, with Saba Donut entering his twilight years, Cue entering his final season, the still very serviceable Hanyadi leaving for Baltimore, and Heath Evans, who would have the most TPE of any skill position player on Arizona by over 100 TPE, heading to their biggest rival. Meanwhile, on Defense, they lost only Zamir Kehla, who was a pretty big loss, but nowhere near all 4 of the losses on offense combined. While TPE isn't everything, on Defense the Outlaws are one of only 2 teams with over 9000 invested there, only Orange County with their 5 freaking players over 1000 TPE has more invested. On offense, things looked more dire. Cue went from the best QB statistically to a far second with the next four or so being less than 40 TPE behind him, their top 2 receivers are 9 and 20 in TPE respectively, their tight end was now the second worst in the league, and their RB duo was 15th and 23rd. Put it all together and you end up with an offensive TPE total short of such offensive powerhouses as the Hawks and the Hahalua.
So you know this team. Think 2017 Jags or 2018 Bears if everything came together, or maybe the 2020 Bears if it didn't.
Instead we're the 2020 Cowboys before they lost Prescott. Cue has an argument for the best QB in the league, the running back duo is either the best or second best (depending on whether you value the 16 more yards per game Austin has or the 3 more touchdown Arizona has more), and Raimon and Passman are both in the top 10 for the WR position. The offense, which was supposed to be a bottom third unit, is the second best in the league, only the Embarrassment-of-Riches team has a claim to be better.
Naturally, this team is 1-3 through 4 games because screw logic. This team's defense happens to be a bottom 2 unit (only the Salamanders are worse with a performance that might just be the wrong kind of historic...how does 37.5 compare with the worst defensive units?) and that bottom 2 unit has lost them multiple games this season already. Giving up 14 points on the first 2 drives at home against the Second Line, tightening up only to choke again to give up 10 points in the 4th, giving up a stupidly long pass play to put OCO in field goal range on basically the last play in the game to prevent us from going to OT, allowing a Silverbacks team who put up 15 points total during the double header to put up double that amount in our game against them...but then, on the other hand, while the three losses were mostly the fault of the defense, the defense stepped up in a huge way against the Sabercats. While the first 4 Sabercats drives all ended up with points, one was a pick 6, putting us within a single score heading into halftime. Then, after the Sabercats' 4th drive, their next 4 drives went Fumble (TD on ensuing drive) Missed 51 Yard Field Goal (FG on ensuing drive) Fumble returned to the 9 (TD on ensuing drive) Turnover on Downs (TD on ensuing drive). The defense stepped up in a major way, especially Stanislaw Koniecpolski, who has a chance at Performance of the Year assuming Cue doesn't help anyone set a record. With that being said, sim is drunk, gimme cash, and let's get more than 1 win next week.
(640 words)
Arizona looked to rely on their defense this year to carry them to the playoffs. Their offense had been gutted by players leaving and regression, with Saba Donut entering his twilight years, Cue entering his final season, the still very serviceable Hanyadi leaving for Baltimore, and Heath Evans, who would have the most TPE of any skill position player on Arizona by over 100 TPE, heading to their biggest rival. Meanwhile, on Defense, they lost only Zamir Kehla, who was a pretty big loss, but nowhere near all 4 of the losses on offense combined. While TPE isn't everything, on Defense the Outlaws are one of only 2 teams with over 9000 invested there, only Orange County with their 5 freaking players over 1000 TPE has more invested. On offense, things looked more dire. Cue went from the best QB statistically to a far second with the next four or so being less than 40 TPE behind him, their top 2 receivers are 9 and 20 in TPE respectively, their tight end was now the second worst in the league, and their RB duo was 15th and 23rd. Put it all together and you end up with an offensive TPE total short of such offensive powerhouses as the Hawks and the Hahalua.
So you know this team. Think 2017 Jags or 2018 Bears if everything came together, or maybe the 2020 Bears if it didn't.
Instead we're the 2020 Cowboys before they lost Prescott. Cue has an argument for the best QB in the league, the running back duo is either the best or second best (depending on whether you value the 16 more yards per game Austin has or the 3 more touchdown Arizona has more), and Raimon and Passman are both in the top 10 for the WR position. The offense, which was supposed to be a bottom third unit, is the second best in the league, only the Embarrassment-of-Riches team has a claim to be better.
Naturally, this team is 1-3 through 4 games because screw logic. This team's defense happens to be a bottom 2 unit (only the Salamanders are worse with a performance that might just be the wrong kind of historic...how does 37.5 compare with the worst defensive units?) and that bottom 2 unit has lost them multiple games this season already. Giving up 14 points on the first 2 drives at home against the Second Line, tightening up only to choke again to give up 10 points in the 4th, giving up a stupidly long pass play to put OCO in field goal range on basically the last play in the game to prevent us from going to OT, allowing a Silverbacks team who put up 15 points total during the double header to put up double that amount in our game against them...but then, on the other hand, while the three losses were mostly the fault of the defense, the defense stepped up in a huge way against the Sabercats. While the first 4 Sabercats drives all ended up with points, one was a pick 6, putting us within a single score heading into halftime. Then, after the Sabercats' 4th drive, their next 4 drives went Fumble (TD on ensuing drive) Missed 51 Yard Field Goal (FG on ensuing drive) Fumble returned to the 9 (TD on ensuing drive) Turnover on Downs (TD on ensuing drive). The defense stepped up in a major way, especially Stanislaw Koniecpolski, who has a chance at Performance of the Year assuming Cue doesn't help anyone set a record. With that being said, sim is drunk, gimme cash, and let's get more than 1 win next week.
(640 words)
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