Melvin framed one of Pengu's sacks this season.
Being the defending Ultimus Champions, the Yellowknife Wraiths have a lot of players on the team that make an impact on the field, whether it’s through flashy headlines or not. One player, though, currently stands out on the field, and that’s wide receiver Kai Sakura. The Wraiths rely heavily on their potent passing attack, under the leadership of quarterback Colby Jack. And, although Kai is only one of several talented receiving options on the team’s offense, he’s clearly the leader. While Kai has spent several seasons as the Wraiths WR1, including two Ultimus rings, this season is shaping up to be his best. Currently Sakura leads the league in receiving yards and touchdowns, with 951 and 10, respectively. This puts him on pace for 1902 receiving yards and 20 touchdowns, which would break the ISFL season records in both categories. Career-wise, Kai should easily make the #2 spot for franchise receiving yards and the #1 spot for franchise recieving touchdowns. Will this be the year Kai finally wins that elusive Wide Receiver of the year award? The field isn’t the only place Kai is a great team member, as he is a valuable member of the team’s War Room and locker room in general. The team just wouldn’t be the same without him!
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So I'll start off pretty easy mode, in that I want to show some appreciation to Kotasa in the general manager chair. The guy is always around, always light hearted and makes it really fun in the league. He has been a big part of my enjoyment of the league so far, so I want to start with that shout out.
If I'm looking at players, though, it's an interesting one to me. I'll say this, I have a lot of people that I'd like to show appreciation for and I think that makes sense. This team has been really enjoyable to be on, and that isn't exactly thanks to one person. I'll kind of go down the line. Let's start at wuma, who has the player In Active. Pretty common to see him online, somebody that gets things hyped up for the sim and helps to focus people in when needed. It's something special to be able to enter a conversation that is ongoing and become the life of the party within it. I also want to shout out to my fellow rookie, TomHanks, with Sheriff Woody. He is always just one TPE away from me, and that's just driving me. It irks me. I need to get ahead, that one point is so ridiculous and stupid. That kind of healthy competition is honestly perfect around this league I feel. One more on the defensive side, Mr. Gyles Marrett. The fellow Browns fan that helps me not feel alone as we so often are. It started with some basic ribbing between he and I and now I feel pretty good about our friendship on the team. He is a really charismatic person, and while his player hasn't been the most impactful player in some ways, he's definitely a very positive person in the locker room that helps drive activity a ton and really seems to always have his finger on the pulse. The last person I'll shout out is a friend of mine already from SHL, Kez a.k.a. Gronku Muerto. When I watch the sims, he's the one I'm watching the most. It's fun to see the things he's able to do as a tight end, and as the wide receiver pulling some of the attention away from him, I just think it's fun to see him getting so much attention that he deserves. He's made a really great player, and he's also an amazing person in the locker room. Easily one of the best people I've ever met in all of the sim leagues.
Even though the outcome of the game wasn't what was desired, the performance by LB Melvin Murder-Moose during the week 4 loss to the Yellowknife Wraiths was exemplary. With a stat line of 9 tackles, 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 pass defense, you could certainly say this moose was on the loose.....yeah ok I'm sorry I said that too, please still give me my TPE for this PT. This wild performance helped Melvin tie for the league lead in sacks, while setting a new personal record for sacks in a game. He was also able to tie his previously set single game record for forced fumbles and fumble recoveries. And besides his stellar performance on the field, @SchwarzNarr has been a great locker room presence as well, even helping me individually when I couldn't figure out how to make a new gif my signature (stupid technology) and reaching out just to say that my player was having an outstanding rookie season. I would go as far as to say this moose is the total package in what you could want as a teammate and I'm happy that I could highlight someone so deserving while still benefiting myself
Zach Crossley is becoming one of the best possession receivers in the league. He is currently on pace for 98 catches, which is 16 more than his previous season high of 82. He is a great safety valve that knows how to run routes that help move the chains. 25 of his 49 receptions have gone for first downs, and he only has 1 drop on the season. In addition, he can catch the long balls when called upon, as he has 5 catches of 20 or more yards in the first 8 games this season. Currently in his 4th season, Crossley is a great young talent that is still developing. In the next season or two, he will be one of the top 5 receivers in the ISFL. For now, he is an extremely solid option for Monty Jack and an excellent complement to Sabercat wide receiver Joshua Campbell. His stock is rising and it will not be long before he is leading the league in numerous receiving categories. It's crazy when you remember that Zach was the 42nd pick in the S25 Draft. However, he has the 18th highest TPE among all ISFL wide receivers, and 8th amongst slot WRs only. Keep your eye on him for seasons to come, as he may be an all-time great when he decides to hang up the cleats.
With half the season through it' hard to look far past rookie kicker Cade York as on of the Outlaws standout players so far. Coming in with big JJJJJ width shoes to fill, DSFL kicker of the year York hit the ground running from the off as he hit the target with every kick in his debut against New York. And since then he's been consistent to say the least - and with impressive numbers behind that consistency. To start with he's made 100% of his 25 XP attempts. And then add to this just under 90% of his field goals (100% inside the 40), with a longest of 52 yards so far. At the half way point York is on track to challenge season records for Arizona straight away. 17 field goals made already and the record stands at 29. And he already broke the record for longest field goal with the 52 yard kick in week six. Fans have rightly started to get caught up in the York hype and his jersey has been one of the most popular requests in the club store this year - only bettered by Nakamura, Cortez, Triplet and RB2. Who's to say how far this kid can go in the game, surely a lot more to come.
Now to add to this, as a user, if you get past his obsession for Tottenham Hotspur and the Alabama Crimson Tide (ok then, LSU) of course, is a real class act. He's always full of enthusiasm in the locker room, helping make the Arizona LR be the sound place it is. Users like this are what makes this game great, keep it up.
The standout teammate for myself has been Ivan Toastovich. This wide receiver has been tearing it up in his second season in the DSFL, taking a huge step from one of the more average DSFL receivers in his rookie season, to becoming the leading receiver for the Birddogs. Toastovich one of the folks who was also instrumental in bringing Richard Mansher to the Birddogs and has been a great help in the locker room on how Mansher can improve as a rookie. Toastovich on the field has been tearing it up with over 65 yards per game. On top of that he has set his new long for a catch with 76 yards. This has all be done at the same time under a new rookie QB, which has led to less TD’s, but this is mostly due to the Birddogs dominant run game taking over. This has also led to Toastovich going from 5 catches per game to 3. Despite this he is far more efficient than the previous season with a 30% higher 1st doing percent at a huge 71.4%. He also has no fumbles and has been far better at making safe receptions and is ranked in the top ten for receiving yards. This season as another step up to make his season more impressive, Toastovich has become the teams kick returner due to his freak speed and has been more than exceeding expectations. His yards per kick return is currently at 22.4 and he has a 5.7 average for punt returns. (255)
There are a few teammates who did really well so far. I will highlight Vinny Jones Jr. Vinny has 50 tackles so far which is 2nd on the team. He has had 3 tackles for loss, which is tied for the best on the team. He has caused 2 fumbles which ties for the team lead as well. He also recovered one which isn't the team lead but still pretty good. He also has four sacks, which also leads the team in sacks so far. Additionally he also weirdly has two pass deflections and also one safety which is both pretty rare for the kind of position he plays I think. All in all, it is really impressive that Jones has been doing really well on this defense, which admittedly has struggled some weeks. Still, our team has over performed certainly and vinny jones has definitely been a huge part of that for the New Orleans Second Line. Admittedly at times I get a bit jealous of his success since my own stats don't really compare well to him and I struggle to get tackles for losses and sacks myself. I hope that our defense can improve further and maybe I can help out with that a little bit as well.
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