(S38) Offseason Task

deadlunatic · 10-16-2022, 02:40 PM

2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

I am going to use my original draft class for this one as it has run it's course at this point. I think everyone from that class has either retired on their own, or forced into it by the cruel hands of the regression tpe thief.
There were a lot of new to the league players as it was the Season twenty five reddit draft class. One of the largest ever in the sim. I know it was an interesting time for a lot of us with Covid happening around that time.

So how many of that legendary draft class will actually make the hall of fame for their player? That is a very hard question to answer. I do think some of them will make the user hall of fame based solely off their impact to the league since joining in that class. There are a couple of players who I think have a good shot at the Hall of Fame based off their first players career.

Here are some of the notable players who came out of that draft.

Dan Foster - Drafted by Yellowknife Wraiths in the first round, ended up being a good player for his career and grew into a leadership role with the team. Turned out to be a good draft pick for them. Great user overall. Don't think his player makes the hall of fame though.

Tex Wrecks i another solid player with a pretty long career. This was philly's first round pick and again overall a good player. Most likely not a Hall of Famer either as he just doesn't seem to have the stats needed to get there.

Albert Ruschmann - This was Colorado's first round pick in that draft and was a long standing player in the league and could potentially make the Hall based on his over all passes deflected and tackles. I haven't looked that closely at what it would take for his position. Overall another good first round player.

Medicinal Toblerone - With a name like that, how can you not take him in the first round. This was New Orleans first round pick and it turned out to be a really good one. His over all stats are pretty good. Looks like top ten in a couple of things. Not sure if that is enough to get in the hall.

Goat Tank - This was Orange Counties first round pick and it turned out to be a really good one. Also great for memes and some solid media using the only two words he can utter. GOAT TANK! But the man is top eight in both rushing attempts and yards while some how also being top five in rushing touchdowns. Seems like a solid case for the Hall to me. But I am not on the committee making that decision.

Rich Triplet - San Joses' first round pick and the current holder of the most passes deflected in the ISFL. Also top twenty in tackles and interceptions. This is tricky, because while he is the goat at deflections, is that enough to get him in the hall? Again, I don't make the decisions for stuff like this, but the user deserves to be in the hall of fame. Also as a GM he should be hall of fame for his work in Tijuana.

Adam Mellot - Another hall of fame user in my book, he was new orleans second round pick and a really good one. He is sitting right at thirtieth overall in pancakes with only playing nine seasons in the ISFL. So while he didn't play as long as he could have, he still had a lot of good seasons over that span.

Last up is my old player - Mark Walker - Fourth round pick of the Wraiths and top five in receptions, yards and touch downs as a receiver. With a lot of his playing time spent as the wide receiver two due to being behind on of the best wide outs to play the game in Kai Sakura. Hopefully he gets some serious Hall of Fame consideration, but you never know.

There are tons more players I could talk about, but I only needed 600 words for this. So maybe I will finish that media I was going to make going over all the draft picks from this draft.

Z-Whiz · 10-16-2022, 04:03 PM

Tier 1, Option 1:

I’m very thankful that I finally get to do one of these Offseason Tasks where I get to talk about my team over the last 14 seasons. It has been a hard fought and well earned championship for the Arizona Outlaws. The year started out tough, like the early days of mine and Crunk’s tenure. The team would always lose the first game of the season and be in an immediate hole. It was a tough match-up against the reigning champs on the road and AZ battled hard, but ultimately fell short. We started getting into a groove and managed to rattle off 3 of 4 wins to be over .500 5 weeks in. However, things fell off with a brutal 3 game losing streak against Sarasota, Austin, and Chicago. Halfway through the season and Arizona was trending towards missing out on the playoffs with a 3-5 record. Some in the league were starting to get their hopes up that this was finally the end of Arizona’s winning ways. They couldn’t have been more wrong.

Despite the losing record, attitudes remained positive and the mantra “run the table” started popping up. Well, that’s exactly what they did. One game at a time, Arizona continued to win. We started the winning streak off with an emphatic thomping of Colorado on the road 41-10 and followed it up with a nearly as dominate 31-9 victory against the Otters. A 14 point revenge win over Honolulu was game three and two more demolishings to Baltimore and San Jose brought about victories 4 and 5 in a row. They were still a few games out from the #1 seed, but Arizona stayed on course and only worried about themselves. New York, Austin, and NOLA all battled Arizona to one score games, but couldn’t get in the W column. Arizona finished the season with 7 straight wins and clinched the all important first round bye.

The playoffs started with an inevitable Honolulu win in the wildcard to force a clash of juggernauts. Honolulu got off to an early 7-0 lead, but it quickly turned into another Arizona dominate performance that the team was accustomed to seeing this season. A couple of quick Jay Cue TD’s put Arizona up 21-10 and his third one of the game made it a 31-12 game with 2:24 left in the game. Honolulu got a late garbage time touchdown that made the scoreline more flattering than it actually was. Arizona exorcised their playoffs demons with a great performance and went into the Ultimus with the momentum of 8 straight wins.

Their Ultimus opponent, Sarasota were no slouches. They were regular season champs and secured home field advantage. In a rematch to the S30 Ultimus, it was bound to be a good one as for the first time in what seems like forever, it was a matchup of both #1 seeds. Arizona got on the board late in the 1st quarter with a deep Crash TD from Wendell Sailor. It was a pretty quiet in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and Sarasota snagged a TD back making it a 14-11 Arizona lead to start the 4th. Time was ticking off the clock and no much offense was clicking. Every snap become more and more nerve wrecking. Then with just under 6 minutes left, breakout star WR Captain Billy Stinkwater broke free from press coverage and made it a 21-11 game. The very next play, Toucan Sam forced a fumble and AZ converted it to a FG. 3 plays later, Carter Knight threw a pick six to the best CB in the game as Mark Goodhead sealed the Ultimus for Arizona.

It was party time in the locker room as the Arizona Outlaws finally secured their Ultimus trophy. Many of the players wound up winning individual awards as this team was one of the best we’ve ever seen.

sve7en · 10-16-2022, 04:51 PM

SHL: https://simulationhockey.com/showthread....pid3276259

JoshiePoo

2. Tell us about your draft class. Is there anything that makes it special in comparison to other classes? Where did your fellow draftees land, how are they doing? Did anyone turn out to be an unexpected steal of that draft based on what you know today? Do you think anyone in your draft class will become a hall of famer? If you’re new to the league, how do you think your class will do? Where do you think people will get drafted to?

It’s high time to revisit the S36 draft class. Why? Well it’s 1743 EST and I feel like I’m back in college. That is to say nothing like some feverish typing to finish off my Sunday night eh?

I’m going to start at the TPE leaders and work down. Therefore we start with the illustrious, magnificent, premier, one-and-only, WR Zaphod Beeblebrox of the AUS

. Sitting atop the table at 740 TPE, Mooty99 put together a fantastic 2052 season for Austin. Beeblebrox hauled in 104 catches for 1329 yards and 6 TDs on the season. His yardage was good enough for 5th best in the league in his second year in the big show! Taken at #2 overall this pick is looking like a huge win for Austin, who have seemingly secured their WR of the future.

Next up comes the twitter extraordinaire, the updater extraordinaire, and all-around extraordinaire Twenty6 and his S Quendyn Quarterstorm. With 737 TPE tied for #2 overall, Quarterstorm is taking the draft class by storm after having been picked at #11 overall in the first round by the CHI

. Quendyn had a quiet year in his first year with Chicago, but is poised to dominate the league for seasons to come. Look out for this Butchers defensive unit in the future, as they are adding massive pieces.

Third in this examination but tied for 2nd in the hearts of many is SAR

DE Harley Andrews, user abh89, also with 737 TPE. This pick might have been the steal of the draft for Sarasota, who got a TPE leader at #26 in the second round! Andrews is still finding his feet in the ISFL, but expect big things from the young defensive end in the years to come as he continues to rocket up the depth chart.

We arrive at the #4 position and yet again we find ourselves with a second round pick. The polarizing Austin Morley, of the CHI

is our hero of the day, piloted by soevil. Morley has 735 TPE and a chip on his shoulder after being drafted #19 overall in the second round of the S36 draft. Call it theft by Chicago in the draft, this was an absolute steal, and a user who, in my opinion should have gone in the first round! In his first season for Chicago Morley eclipsed 1000+ receiving yards and looks poised to become a huge threat for the Windy City team for years to come.

Everyone’s favorite doll is #5 on this list, Chucky takes the stage with 732 TPE and a LB by the name of Kevin McThumper. Playing for the BER

, McThumper had a breakout season his rookie year. Captain of the defense, and part of a dynamic duo of S36 backers, McThumper crushed the 2052 season with 111 tackles, 11 TFL, 4 FRs, 9 sacks, 2 INTs, and 7 PDs. An absurd season from Chucky whose 11 TFLs was tied for #6 in the league his rookie season, and 111 tackles was good for 11th in the league amongst all defensive players. Taken at #6 overall in the first round, Berlin has to be happy with this standout pick and user.

Can you say CHI

? Again please? Say it louder, for the people in the back! Say it with your chest! The Chicago Butchers have 3 of the top 6 TPE earners in the Season 36 draft class. Yep, you heard that right. Each of them, a first player user too, if I’m correct. Who is this 3rd top tier TPE earner who has gone to CHI town, you may ask? Well, my dear friend, it is none other than XaveValor and their DE Xavier Valorian. Tied for #5 in TPE with 732, Xave is easily justifying his position as #5 taken overall in the S36 draft. Captain of the defense and an all-around great user, Xave is poised for a potential HOF career, to nobody's surprise. Butchers fans are looking for the youngster to have a breakout season come 2053.

Well, that’s all the time we have for today folks. And what a pity, we could only cover 6 players in 600 words. Overall, there is a ton of great talent, a plethora of great TPE earners, and a surplus of outstanding users in this draft class. Kudos to Chicago for picking up 3 of the 6 best TPE earners in this class, this is shaping up to be an outstanding draft for the Butchers. Anyways, this was fun, and potentially look for a more in-depth media piece on this same subject from yours truly in the future.

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Cody · 10-16-2022, 05:35 PM

Tier 2: Short Form Tasks (Each must be 300+ words)

11. Write about your team’s biggest rivalry and what makes it so fierce. Is the competition founded in statistics and the team’s recent performance, or is it a rivalry that developed over time during the team’s history that would exist regardless of statistics?

It’s hard to nail down the Philadelphia Liberty’s biggest rivalry. The team plays in the NSFC which has been the better conference in terms of team quality over the last 10+ seasons. I think if the biggest rival has changed every few seasons.

Since my time on the Liberty, which started in Season 26. I would say our biggest rival was Colorado for the first 5-6 seasons, as they were on of the best teams in the league, and it was always marked as a big game for the Liberty each season.

I would say then the rivalry changed to a couple of teams for the next few seasons. Those two teams being the Sarasota Sailfish and the Chicago Butchers. These were two of the best teams in the league those seasons and the Liberty would also battle hard. It seemed like we played our best football in these games and would sometimes prevail but most of the time were beat and kept the Liberty downtrodden.
The last few seasons I think most users in Philadelphia would agree that the Yellowknife Wraiths have been our biggest rival. The Liberty and Wraiths have been of similar skill and a couple of seasons it came down to the final game between these two with a playoff berth on the line. In season 35 both teams finished 8-8 with the Wraiths squeezing out the Liberty, Season 36 the Wraiths stomped the Liberty 45-0 in the final game of the season to keep Philadelphia out of the playoffs again and in season 37 it once again came down to the last game of the season between the Liberty and the Wraiths. Where the Wraiths came back from a 21-10 deficit to beat the Liberty and earn another playoff berth.

It's looking to be a similar setup for S38 with the Wraiths being a big speed bump to the Liberty having their first playoff since S32. The Wraiths are definitely the Liberty's biggest rival for the time being.

14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?

The Philadelphia Liberty were expected to be a fringe playoff team heading into Season 37. They were coming off an 8-8 finish in Season 36 and didn’t lose much of a note in the offseason. The Liberty started off with an 0-1 record and management decided to make a splashy trade to help improve Philadelphia’s chance at making the playoffs. They shipped off Quarterback Kaguya Shinomiya, Linebacker So-Much Jazz, Safety Kyzir Washington to the Orange County Otters along with the following picks. S38 1st, S38 3rd and S39 1st. The Liberty received Quarterback Tron Carter, Linebacker Dominos Pizzaman and Orange County S38 2nd.

The trade didn’t pay off in the second game for Philadelphia as they were trounced by the Baltimore Hawks 38-16. After an 0-2 start the Liberty turned it around winning their next four games against Chicago, Orange County, Sarasota and Colorado to hold a record of 4-2.

The Liberty would go 2-2 in their next 4 games against Berlin, Honolulu, Austin and San Jose. This left Philadelphia at 6-4 in a tightly contested NSFC Conference. The Liberty then went on a tear winning their next 3 games against Baltimore, Colorado and Berlin setting themselves up for a playoff appearance.

As things usually go for Philadelphia Liberty the final week of their season was setup against the best of the best in the NSFC, Chicago, Sarasota and Yellowknife. The Liberty lost by 6 points, 1 point and 1 point to fall down to 4th place in the division and narrowly miss out again on the playoffs.

The Liberty were a good team in Season 37 but lost a few close games in the final minute and lost a couple games where they were favored. I think Philadelphia is in the same position in Season 38 as they were in Season 37, could be the 3rd seed in the NSFC but need to finish those close games.

CementHands · 10-16-2022, 06:10 PM

14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?

Well the journey of the Arizona Outlaws through Season 37 is one for the big screen for sure. Beginning in the S36 offseason, they got to work on targeting a few specific game changing Free Agents. The preparation and work definitely paid off because they ended up going from an aging out defensive core, to adding 3 1k+ players on D - The two McTurtle D line (Raphael and Leonardo), as well as stand out shutdown corner Goodhead.
With the defence revamped, Arizona boasted the return of their extremely potent offence anchored behind MVP candidate Jay Cue Jr. And QBotY hopeful Wendell Sailor. The team was stacked and ready to take on all challengers.
Getting off to a very rocky start at 3-5, everyone from fans, to media were calling bloody murder. This was the downfall of the outlaws and they had to cut now to maximize return to start building towards the next generation super team.
Not backing down at this adversity and a very difficult road ahead to even make the playoffs, Arizona changed their focus to one game at a time. Each week the standings didn't matter, it was all about the current opponent. They started to chain together a win streak that is still not broken. Running the table on the final 8 games of the regular season to not only make the playoffs, but to have a first round bye as the top team in the ASFC, then proceeded to win their next 2 games in the playoffs and complete the run, but also break their playoff curse that had been lingering over this team for so long. It was sweet. The team completely bought in. They added the key players who they needed, including their future Ultimus player of the game in their premier shutdown cornerback Goodhead. This team is one that was so many seasons in the making, and such a good redemption story. Now their defence story begins.

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*NEW* 29. This offseason will once again feature the new award system format that was introduced in S36. Tell us your thoughts on the award system and if you believe this is an improvement over the old system or if there's something else you'd like to see be done. (Written Task)

Honestly, I enjoy the new awards system. It was the first time I have really paid attention to them (wasn't able to tune in, but I did catch clips of it). The old system seemed quite lengthy, and this one still plays tribute to the best at each position, but by wrapping that all into first team and second team pro bowl instead of specific individual awards. I think it still is able to show individual talent by recognizing those stand out players.

And speaking of standout players, the stand out performance is quite nice. I imagine it is really cool to absolutely go off in one game, wrap up an amazing stat line and have be something that gets talked about and remembered. I think those are nice nods to people putting in good work who might not be at the point where every game they preform so well above their peers, this way gives them a chance to make an award impact.

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30. Affiliate PT from either SHL/PBE. The Weeks must match with the timeframe of this Offseason Task. And you may only use a max of 1.

SHL PT Claim

MrStennett

30. PBE PT Affiliation

**.HoshinoIchika** · 10-16-2022, 07:01 PM

12. Choose a team or player to write about that isn’t your own. What did they do well in the last season? Have they shown any drastic improvements from previous years? What could they do better?

I want to talk about the Arizona Outlaws. Expectations were high coming into the season for the Outlaws, as they were an Ultimus contender, right behind the Sarasota Sailfish and Honolulu Hahalua. With star quarterback and wide receiver tandem Wendell Sailor and Kotoni Staggs entering their peak year, Mark Goodhead on the defensive side of the ball also entering his, and old man Jay Cue Jr. in the last years of his prime, the time was ripe for Arizona to finally get over the hump and win the Ultimus. However, they didn’t start the season off strong, dropping a close one to the Hahalua before blowing out the Silverbacks and then losing a stinger to the Second Line. Arizona fans were bracing themselves for a long year after dropping to 1-2. There were even calls to change the management, and these calls only increased after the Outlaws dropped 3 of their next 5 to drop their record to 3-5. Losing to the Copperheads left an especially bitter taste in Arizona’s mouth. The Copperheads were a rebuilding team, and they would only win 2 games the entire year, including the win against Arizona. However, the team rebounded to win their next 8 games and acquire the best record and home field advantage in the ASFC. Arizona was clearly the better team in the matchup against Honolulu in the conference championship, but a 1-9 record all-time in conference championships for the Outlaws haunted them. However, the players managed to push past the bad mojo and beat the Hahalua in a not very close game to advance to the Ultimus. Arizona fans began to feel a glimmer of hope, maybe the Outlaws could win their first Ultimus in years. Their opponent would be the Sailfish, with a potent offense led by Carter Knight, but also an underrated defense, led by the star safety duo Spike Daniels and Rocky Rhoads. However, Arizona did not care. They completely obliterated the Sailfish, amassing 5 turnovers, including a pick-six, and won 31-11. The Outlaws had done it. (340 words)

14. Describe your player and/or team’s journey through this latest season. What were the highlights? What were the lower points? What might you have done differently? What are your expectations for next season?

The Sailfish decided to call up Aqeel Steele last year, which surprised most pundits, since legendary Sailfish defensive end David Moyes had decided to stay in the ISFL for another year. However, maybe Sailfish management just wanted to see what they had in Steele, an intriguing prospect coming out of college. Harley Andrews, Moyes, and Steele all rotated on the field for the Sailfish, with all players also playing a fair amount of snaps at linebacker. Steele had 40 tackles, 4 sacks, and 2 tackles for loss on the season, which, while low, wasn't unexpected for a 3rd round pick in his rookie season. The Sailfish did extremely well in season 37, having the best record in the league and clinching home field advantage in the postseason. It wasn’t always pretty, as Carter Knight threw an abnormally high 21 interceptions in his peak season, and the Sailfish lost an embarrassing 3 games in a row, 2 of which were to rebuilding teams in the Berlin Fire Salamanders and the Colorado Yeti, although the Fire Salamanders ended up surprising most pundits by ending the season at 7-9. They ended up beating the Wraiths in the conference championship, where Steele had a drive-ending sack on 3rd down. However, in the Ultimus, the Sailfish would ultimately end up getting blown out, losing 31-11 due to 5 turnovers by the Sailfish, including 3 fumbles. Steele notched another sack, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the costly mistakes by the Sailfish offense. Expectations for next season are high, and the Sailfish fans expect a championship out of this roster by next season, as Spike Daniels, Carter Knight, and Nick Kaepercolin Jr. are all still in their primes, although they are nearing the back half of their careers. Steele will be position switching to linebacker next season, and he expects to have his stats increase by a fair bit, since linebackers are known to hoard most of the stats from the defensive line. (327 words)

jdourtled · 10-16-2022, 07:06 PM

21. Now I don't really know the ins and outs of either of the sim engines, but as a viewing experience, both watching and stat sheet peeking, I think Draft Day Sports Pro Football 2021 is a better experience than 2016. Firstly, there seems like there's a lot more fumbles, and while that's extremely frustrating on the end team who fumbled, it makes games a lot more intense, and that's probably due to the competitiveness attribute, which I believe also affects drops in a way, which also makes games more frustrating/intriguing. One of the other big changes between sims,, I'll save the best one for last, is traits, which not only allowed users with so much extra TPE they didn't know what to do with spend it on something that actually affected the games, but it also makes players stand out from each other. And we can't forget about the most impactful change the new sim brought, and that's the introduction of Fullbacks into the ISFL, and I don't think I need to dwell on that one any longer.

25. If the wide receiver position wasn't available, I'd probably go with either Tight End or Defensive End, mainly for one reason, and that's availability. For Tight Ends there are currently, all according to the position tracker, 13 tight ends in both the International Simulation Football League and the Developmental Simulation Football League, meaning there's less than one tight end per team in the ISFL, and less than two per DSFL team, so there isn't really enough for new to replace the old. The same goes for Defensive End. There's enough for two per ISFL team at 26, but not for the DSFL at 13, so they have the same problem at arguably a more important position, because, as they say, football is won in the trenches, and I don't think there's magically going to be an influx of interest in either creating/recreating or position switching to a position that may not be all that flashy.

27. The best branding in the league is still hands down the New York Silverbacks, their logo incorporates the Broadway branding well and really sells how New York the team is, plus tying it all together with a King Kong reference is the icing on the branding cake. For the worst branding in the league it's tough, because the two teams I'm deciding between are in contention for both the same and very different reasons, so I'll call it a tie. Firstly, the Orange County Otters, the main reason I don't really like their branding is because I don't really like the color orange, but it fits with the theme and the mascot so it's whatever I guess. The second team is the Chicago Butchers. Now the reason I don't like their branding is the logo. I just don't think it stacks up to the rest of the league anymore. Now I understand they've had the same logo for their whole existence, I don't really think that's an excuse for bad branding, just look at the San Jose Sabercats.

29. I'm assuming the new awards system is in reference to the removal of both positional awards and breakout player awards, and if that's so, then I both agree and disagree with it in a way. While I understand that the awards were probably removed due to clutter in both stream length and voting/nominations, I don't really agree that they should've been removed, or at least the breakout player awards shouldn't have been removed. Both the positional and breakout player awards was able to shine a light on players that otherwise wouldn't have gotten any attention at all, and while the All-pro team is a solid alternative. I still think that they should've stuck around. The one, or two I guess, awards that I absolutely believe should've stayed is the breakout players, for a similar reason to the positional awards. There isn't really an award for those players who aren't bad but aren't exactly at an all-pro level yet, and I feel like the breakout player was a good list of "players to watch" for the future of the league.

shadyshoelace

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4. “Sim gonna sim” 

As everyone who is and ever has been a part of this league is aware, our experience as players and general managers is largely a function of the random whims of the Draft Day Sports Pro Football sim, which has some quirks (to put it mildly). While users spend a great deal of time earning TPE and finding the optimal way to apply it to maximize their chances of success and GMs do the same for lineups and strategies, at the end of the day the on-field results often don't match up with what people expect or believe should occur. It's not always clear whether this is a feature or a bug; on some level, football is an extremely random game where a wrong bounce can completely alter the course of a game, season, or franchise, and reflecting that unpredictability in the sim has its merits. On the other hand, it can be demoralizing to see your hard real-life work result in little success in the sim itself.
I think that people often get a bit too wrapped up in the box score and play by play of games, despite it not being clear (to me, a computer dummy at least) that the outcome of each play is determined independently in succession rather than the game deciding how a game will proceed and then filling in plays accordingly. When I was a GM, testing a matchup hundreds of times could give you a reasonably fair (on hesitate to say good) idea of how your team stacked up to the opposition in terms of win percentage, but the actual points scored in test games rarely seemed to have much rhyme or reason. However, it's really easy to fixate on that strange punt decision, nonsensical third down spike call, or pass short of the sticks during an attempted comeback.
I say all this in service of discussing one of the crazier "sim gonna sim" moments of my league life, the Baltimore Hawks win over the Orange County Otters in the season 33 Ultimus Bowl game. The Otters, coming into the game as the road team and underdog after a 9-7 season compared to 11-5 for Baltimore, jumped out to a shocking (to me) 24-0 lead. It looked like they had backed Baltimore into a corner that would force them to press and play more mistake-prone football in hopes of catching up. However, the sim had other ideas. Baltimore put together two consecutive touchdown drives to cut the deficit to ten at the half, but the Orange County faithful still felt like the game was well in hand. After extending the lead several times and ultimately carrying a 14 point lead with under ten minutes left to play, it looked like the Hawks luck had run out and they'd likely go home empty handed. Then, the sim decided to sim to the nth degree and turn Tron Carter, the Otters quarterback, into a JUGS machine on speed, launching balls left and right with no semblance of accuracy. Nursing a seven point lead with four minutes to play, Carter went 1 for 7 for four yards and an interception, with the pick and a subsequent three and out leading to a Hawks tying touchdown and go-ahead field goal.

It was a brutal way to go out, and I've been told there were actually behind the scenes conversations about whether or not games that play out in such a heartbreaking fashion should be re-simmed in a way that holds the same final result, but spares the losing team from having the pain of being on the wrong end of seemingly random and problematic sim decisions. In my experience, this of ultimately a bad idea and the league benefits from the lore and narratives created by the sim, as infuriating as it may be in the moment.