The season may be half over at this point, but every team has had parts that have both surprised pleasantly and greatly disappointed. Lets look at each team’s biggest surprise and disappointment so far.
Going from lowest team on the Power rankings to the highest, first up is the
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Las Vegas Legion:
:belly: Surprise: Alexandre LeClair
Coming into season 3, Stormblessed was the highest TPE member of the Legion WR Corps and most expected him to finally breakout and become the #1 WR he could be. Instead, Alexander LeClair ripped that role straight from Stormblessed cold, stone hands and took over the #1 for the Legion, and he has impressed so far. He ranks top 3 in yards and receptions, and has already surpassed his yards and receptions from last season in just 9 games. He’s been so dominant that the Legion traded away Stormblessed to the Hawks, and have made LeClair an integral part of their rebuild.
:shrug: Disappointment: Josh Bercovici
The current worst QB in the league is Nicholas Pierno, but that's to be expected for a rookie QB throwing on a bottom 3 OL, and Pierno has shown some growth recently. The second worst QB in the league? Josh Bercovici. He’s completed 52.1% of his passes, thrown 8 TDs to 15 ints, and has a passer rating of 62.5. Bercovici has been a huge reason for this winless streak of the Legion, and I’d suspect the Legion either making a serious run at an FA QB like Boss or using their pick on a QB in the draft.
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Colorado Yeti:
:belly: Surprise: The Linebacker Corps
The Yeti defense has not been good this season, ranking 4th or worse in nearly every major defensive stats and giving up the 2nd most PA in the league, but that cannot be blamed on their LB corps, which has been a bright spot in a rebuilding season. All 4 of the Yeti’s main 4 LBs rank top 20 in the league for tackles among LBs, and the 4 LBs have also combine for 18 sacks and 11 pass deflections. Saint has been excellent as usually, Boggs is a DROY frontrunner, and Krimshaw and Austin have completely overperformed this season. The Yeti LB corps has shown it can be a building block for the Yeti defense, and it will be interesting to see how the Yeti can build around this group in the future.
:shrug: Disappointment: The Rest of the Yeti defense
No one expected the Yeti to be an elite defense after all their trades, but what a fall it's been for Colorado. They have gone from the #2 best defense in the league to the #2 worst defense in the league. The Yeti rank 4th in TFLs, 7th in sacks, last in Ints, and 7th in PDs. If the Yeti want to get back into contention, they need to heavily improve their defense to have a chance.
Honorable Mention to Logan Noble for being a cheater and screwing over the Yeti QB situation, and Pierno the Int machine.
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Yellowknife Wraiths:
:belly: Surprise: Special teams outside the kicker
Archibald Booter maybe be even worse at kicking this year, but his punting has been much better this season. He’s improved his average punt distance, has nearly as many punts inside the 20 as he did all season 2, and has increased his longest punt. The Wraiths are also second in the league in kicker return average, and first in punt return average.
HM: Bork Bjornsson. 3rd in the league in sacks. Accounts for 33% of the Wraiths total sacks. Had a 6 sack performance. What a monster.
:shrug: Disappointment: Literally everything else.
The Wraiths have been a complete disappointment this season. Although most projected them to be the best team in the NSFC, they have completely disappointed this season. Orocz has seem to take a step back, and has been passed by both Bronko and Kyubee. Garden and Cook are playing very well, but nowhere near the elite level most expected out of them. Askins hasn't done much. The OL has completely fallen off, going from best in the league to mediocre, and thats before LaMoreux apparently gave up. And the defense is still poor, as the Wraiths rank last in TFLs, 5th in ints, 6th in PDs, and deadlast in defensive TDs. And if Bork wasn't singlehandedly carrying their pass rush, they would be 7th in sacks as well. I dont know what the heck the problem is with the Wraiths, but they seriously need to shape up. They have the most cumulative TPE in the league, and are outside the playoff picture with 4 extremely tough games coming up in Liberty home, Arizona on the road, Orange County on the Road, and Baltimore at home. Should they get a new coach? I dont know, but a change is needed, and soon.
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San Jose Sabercats
:belly: Surprise: The defense
The Sabercats have been surprisingly decent this season, and if they were not in the AFSC with the two best teams in the league, they would very likely be a playoff team. Althought Hunt has been playing much better this season, the biggest reason behind the Sabercats turn around is the defensive play of the Sabercats. First in Tackles, 2nd in TFLs, first in forced fumbles, 2nd in Ints, and second in pass deflections. Despite most projections, the Sabercats have been an elite defense and the second best defense in the league behind the Outlaws. If the Sabercats can keep their defensive play up, and improve their offense, they can very much become a serious playoff contender.
:shrug: Disappointment: Darren Smallwood
It's never easy going from a WR2 to WR3, which is what happened to Smallwood after Mayran Jackson was sent to the Sabercats, but Smallwood has completely fallen off a cliff production-wise. Despite his breakout season last year where he racked up an impressive 808 yards on 61 receptions for a 13.2 YPC average, he has gotten noticeably worse in every stat. He currently has 19 receptions for 166 yards, a 8.8 average, a precipitous drop-off from last season. He has been out produced by Blake Bottles, and although I am sure his 2 game suspension was part of it, he still had 21 fewer receptions than Bottles, which is insane considering their talent difference and the fact that Bottles is mostly a blocking TE. If the Sabercats want to make the playoffs, they need Smallwood to bounce back to his S2 form and bounce back soon, because right now the Sabercats passing attack is only middling, despite having possibly the best WR trio in the league.
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Baltimore Hawks:
:belly: Surprise: Scrub Kyubee and Trey Willie
One season after being the only team with a negative differential in the playoffs, the Hawks have looked much better than last season, and alot of that can be attributed to the improve play of QB Scrub Kyubee. Kyubee has currently improved himself enough to be considered a top 3 QB this season rating wise, and has cut down on his interceptions heavily, having thrown only 5 interceptions to 14 TDs so far, a huge improvement from last season where he threw 14 TDs to 15 Ints. Kyubee is on pace to throw for 3448 yards, almost 10% more yards than he threw for last season. And a huge part of Kyubee's improvement has been his improved WR corps, with the inclusion of ROTY front runner Trey Willie. Willie was a first round talent that fell to the second due to his position, and he has been making defenses pay for that mistake. He’s firmly taken over the #1 role on the Hawks receiving corps, racking up 764 yards on 45 receptions for an impressive 17 ypc average, and has become Kyubee’s favorite target in passing downs. The Kyubee Willie connection has the Hawks looking dangerous, and atop the NSFC.
:shrug: Disappointment: Mediocrity
What's keeping the Hawks from being considered a serious contender is simple. Even though they look better, they still are thoroughly mediocre. 4th best rushing offense, 4th best passing offense, and they are still a mediocre defense. Turkleton is the 4th best kicker and punter in the league. Nothing about their team is elite, outside of their return team, and that's not gonna carry a team to an Ultimus win. If the Hawks want to become a serious contender, they need something that will separate them from the pack, like Arizona or Orange County do. Else they are doomed to stuck in league purgatory forever.
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Philadelphia Liberty
:belly: Surprise: Liberty Rookie class
For a expansion team, drafting is crucial to success, and this season, it seems like the Liberty smashed it out of the park. Rove hasn't been elite, but he’s flashed off his high potential, and 2k yards with a 56.4 completion rate with 12 TDs is nothing to scoff at for a rookie. Cesar Milan and Sammy Walters have shown they can be cornerstones of the Liberty offensive line for the future, with 36 and 34 pancakes respectively. Ridley has been the steal of the draft, flashing DROY level play with 3rd round pick value. The late picks have also performed, with Kamaka getting 2 sacks, 1 TFL and 2 sacks, while Browning has taken his position change in stride and put up 217 yards on 26 receptions. If the Liberty can draft this well every year, its only a matter of time before they become an elite team.
:shrug: Disappointment: Offensive Line
For all the good that the Liberty has done, their offensive line problems are still holding them back. They are the worst offensive line in the NSFL, having given up a league leading 44 pancakes, worse than the Legion or the Yeti, and even though I did praise both Milan and Walter, both have been either pancaking fools or being turnstiles, having given up 7 and 12 sacks respectively. This has caused Rove serious problems with interceptions, as he is constantly under pressure, and has made the Liberty the second worst rushing attack in the league, as Omar cannot get far before getting tackled. If the Liberty want to become a Ultimus champion in the future, they need to beef up their OLine heavily.
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Orange County Otters:
:belly: Surprise: Mike Boss and the Receiving Corps
The Otters offense has been near unstoppable this season, and most of it has been on the backs on their passing offense. Boss has gone from top 3 QB in the league to easily the best QB in the league, and his monster 106.3 passer rating, which is 20.3(!) points higher than the second higher rating is a pretty good example of his dominance this season. He leads the league in yards by over 1000 yards, completion percentage(of all eligible QBs) by an insane 6.4 percent, and the league in TDs by 7 whole touchdowns. His insane TD/Int ratio of 5.75 would be a NSFL record, and Boss is a near lock for the OPOY this season. But what would a QB be without his knights and soldiers, aka his receiving corps. Bradley Westfield and Robert Phelps have cemented themselves as the best 1-2 WR duo in the league, combining for over 2k yards and 18 TDs, which is more yards than the entire Yeti offense has had all season and more TDs than every single non Otters team in the league. Throw in the league’s best TE in George Wright Jr, and that's more receiving yards than every single offense in the league besides the Otters. And that's not even mentioning 6th round slot wide receiver Nate Atasuke, who has broken out with an impressive 457 yards on 41 receptions for an 11.1 YPC and 2 TDs. This passing offense is hitting almost 07 Patriots levels of unstoppability, and make the Otters the biggest threat in the league to the Outlaws.
:shrug: Disappointment: Leroy Jenkins
With the retirement of Vic Bowers Jr, many expected the Orange County second string RB Leroy Jenkins to take his place. Instead, rookie RB Erlich Burnsman has taken over the RB 1 position for the Otters, and has out produced Jenkins rushing wise. Jenkins does still hold the edge in receptions, but it's somewhat disappointing that a veteran like Jenkins could not manage to secure the RB 1 spot over a complete rookie. Perhaps a change of scenery would be best for Jenkins, as it hard to imagine a future for him starting with the Otters at this point.
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Arizona Outlaws:
:belly: Surprise: Defense
There really has not been much that has not been a pleasant surprise in Arizona. The Offense is looking great, as Bronko has performed like a top 3 QB this season, the WR corps was not hit too hard with the loss of Jackson, thanks to the excellent play of Evans, Chess, Zhang, and Law. The Offensive Line has dominated, and their RB corps has performed splendidly to become the league leading rushing attack. K/P specialist Ronaldo looks to be the kicker of the year and punter of the year this season. Even the Kick returns have improved greatly. Yet the most impressive unit so far has also been the most surprising, the defense has managed to even outperform those. Tuck is playing at an all time great level right now, with 23 sacks and 12 TFLs in just 9 games. Rookie CB Franklin Harris Jr is on pace to break the all time interception record, with 7 ints already to add to 13 pass deflections, while his partner in crime Phillipe Carter has racked up a league leading 17 pass deflections and 4 interceptions. The Outlaws lead the league in sacks, ints, pass deflections, and defensive TDs, and have the team looking like a 3-peat in the making.
:shrug: Disappointment: Punt returning.
The only sore spot on an otherwise flawless Outlaws season is the Punt returning. The Outlaws Punt return has dropped from a 10.4 avg punt return to a 6.6 average punt return. Not really any cause for alarm, but I guess even the best teams have some problems.
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Will the surprises continue to produce? Will the disappointments bounce back? it will be interesting to see what happens with 5 games left in the season.
>2374 words
GRADED
Going from lowest team on the Power rankings to the highest, first up is the
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Las Vegas Legion: :belly: Surprise: Alexandre LeClair
Coming into season 3, Stormblessed was the highest TPE member of the Legion WR Corps and most expected him to finally breakout and become the #1 WR he could be. Instead, Alexander LeClair ripped that role straight from Stormblessed cold, stone hands and took over the #1 for the Legion, and he has impressed so far. He ranks top 3 in yards and receptions, and has already surpassed his yards and receptions from last season in just 9 games. He’s been so dominant that the Legion traded away Stormblessed to the Hawks, and have made LeClair an integral part of their rebuild.
:shrug: Disappointment: Josh Bercovici
The current worst QB in the league is Nicholas Pierno, but that's to be expected for a rookie QB throwing on a bottom 3 OL, and Pierno has shown some growth recently. The second worst QB in the league? Josh Bercovici. He’s completed 52.1% of his passes, thrown 8 TDs to 15 ints, and has a passer rating of 62.5. Bercovici has been a huge reason for this winless streak of the Legion, and I’d suspect the Legion either making a serious run at an FA QB like Boss or using their pick on a QB in the draft.
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Colorado Yeti::belly: Surprise: The Linebacker Corps
The Yeti defense has not been good this season, ranking 4th or worse in nearly every major defensive stats and giving up the 2nd most PA in the league, but that cannot be blamed on their LB corps, which has been a bright spot in a rebuilding season. All 4 of the Yeti’s main 4 LBs rank top 20 in the league for tackles among LBs, and the 4 LBs have also combine for 18 sacks and 11 pass deflections. Saint has been excellent as usually, Boggs is a DROY frontrunner, and Krimshaw and Austin have completely overperformed this season. The Yeti LB corps has shown it can be a building block for the Yeti defense, and it will be interesting to see how the Yeti can build around this group in the future.
:shrug: Disappointment: The Rest of the Yeti defense
No one expected the Yeti to be an elite defense after all their trades, but what a fall it's been for Colorado. They have gone from the #2 best defense in the league to the #2 worst defense in the league. The Yeti rank 4th in TFLs, 7th in sacks, last in Ints, and 7th in PDs. If the Yeti want to get back into contention, they need to heavily improve their defense to have a chance.
Honorable Mention to Logan Noble for being a cheater and screwing over the Yeti QB situation, and Pierno the Int machine.
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Yellowknife Wraiths::belly: Surprise: Special teams outside the kicker
Archibald Booter maybe be even worse at kicking this year, but his punting has been much better this season. He’s improved his average punt distance, has nearly as many punts inside the 20 as he did all season 2, and has increased his longest punt. The Wraiths are also second in the league in kicker return average, and first in punt return average.
HM: Bork Bjornsson. 3rd in the league in sacks. Accounts for 33% of the Wraiths total sacks. Had a 6 sack performance. What a monster.
:shrug: Disappointment: Literally everything else.
The Wraiths have been a complete disappointment this season. Although most projected them to be the best team in the NSFC, they have completely disappointed this season. Orocz has seem to take a step back, and has been passed by both Bronko and Kyubee. Garden and Cook are playing very well, but nowhere near the elite level most expected out of them. Askins hasn't done much. The OL has completely fallen off, going from best in the league to mediocre, and thats before LaMoreux apparently gave up. And the defense is still poor, as the Wraiths rank last in TFLs, 5th in ints, 6th in PDs, and deadlast in defensive TDs. And if Bork wasn't singlehandedly carrying their pass rush, they would be 7th in sacks as well. I dont know what the heck the problem is with the Wraiths, but they seriously need to shape up. They have the most cumulative TPE in the league, and are outside the playoff picture with 4 extremely tough games coming up in Liberty home, Arizona on the road, Orange County on the Road, and Baltimore at home. Should they get a new coach? I dont know, but a change is needed, and soon.
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San Jose Sabercats:belly: Surprise: The defense
The Sabercats have been surprisingly decent this season, and if they were not in the AFSC with the two best teams in the league, they would very likely be a playoff team. Althought Hunt has been playing much better this season, the biggest reason behind the Sabercats turn around is the defensive play of the Sabercats. First in Tackles, 2nd in TFLs, first in forced fumbles, 2nd in Ints, and second in pass deflections. Despite most projections, the Sabercats have been an elite defense and the second best defense in the league behind the Outlaws. If the Sabercats can keep their defensive play up, and improve their offense, they can very much become a serious playoff contender.
:shrug: Disappointment: Darren Smallwood
It's never easy going from a WR2 to WR3, which is what happened to Smallwood after Mayran Jackson was sent to the Sabercats, but Smallwood has completely fallen off a cliff production-wise. Despite his breakout season last year where he racked up an impressive 808 yards on 61 receptions for a 13.2 YPC average, he has gotten noticeably worse in every stat. He currently has 19 receptions for 166 yards, a 8.8 average, a precipitous drop-off from last season. He has been out produced by Blake Bottles, and although I am sure his 2 game suspension was part of it, he still had 21 fewer receptions than Bottles, which is insane considering their talent difference and the fact that Bottles is mostly a blocking TE. If the Sabercats want to make the playoffs, they need Smallwood to bounce back to his S2 form and bounce back soon, because right now the Sabercats passing attack is only middling, despite having possibly the best WR trio in the league.
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Baltimore Hawks::belly: Surprise: Scrub Kyubee and Trey Willie
One season after being the only team with a negative differential in the playoffs, the Hawks have looked much better than last season, and alot of that can be attributed to the improve play of QB Scrub Kyubee. Kyubee has currently improved himself enough to be considered a top 3 QB this season rating wise, and has cut down on his interceptions heavily, having thrown only 5 interceptions to 14 TDs so far, a huge improvement from last season where he threw 14 TDs to 15 Ints. Kyubee is on pace to throw for 3448 yards, almost 10% more yards than he threw for last season. And a huge part of Kyubee's improvement has been his improved WR corps, with the inclusion of ROTY front runner Trey Willie. Willie was a first round talent that fell to the second due to his position, and he has been making defenses pay for that mistake. He’s firmly taken over the #1 role on the Hawks receiving corps, racking up 764 yards on 45 receptions for an impressive 17 ypc average, and has become Kyubee’s favorite target in passing downs. The Kyubee Willie connection has the Hawks looking dangerous, and atop the NSFC.
:shrug: Disappointment: Mediocrity
What's keeping the Hawks from being considered a serious contender is simple. Even though they look better, they still are thoroughly mediocre. 4th best rushing offense, 4th best passing offense, and they are still a mediocre defense. Turkleton is the 4th best kicker and punter in the league. Nothing about their team is elite, outside of their return team, and that's not gonna carry a team to an Ultimus win. If the Hawks want to become a serious contender, they need something that will separate them from the pack, like Arizona or Orange County do. Else they are doomed to stuck in league purgatory forever.
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Philadelphia Liberty:belly: Surprise: Liberty Rookie class
For a expansion team, drafting is crucial to success, and this season, it seems like the Liberty smashed it out of the park. Rove hasn't been elite, but he’s flashed off his high potential, and 2k yards with a 56.4 completion rate with 12 TDs is nothing to scoff at for a rookie. Cesar Milan and Sammy Walters have shown they can be cornerstones of the Liberty offensive line for the future, with 36 and 34 pancakes respectively. Ridley has been the steal of the draft, flashing DROY level play with 3rd round pick value. The late picks have also performed, with Kamaka getting 2 sacks, 1 TFL and 2 sacks, while Browning has taken his position change in stride and put up 217 yards on 26 receptions. If the Liberty can draft this well every year, its only a matter of time before they become an elite team.
:shrug: Disappointment: Offensive Line
For all the good that the Liberty has done, their offensive line problems are still holding them back. They are the worst offensive line in the NSFL, having given up a league leading 44 pancakes, worse than the Legion or the Yeti, and even though I did praise both Milan and Walter, both have been either pancaking fools or being turnstiles, having given up 7 and 12 sacks respectively. This has caused Rove serious problems with interceptions, as he is constantly under pressure, and has made the Liberty the second worst rushing attack in the league, as Omar cannot get far before getting tackled. If the Liberty want to become a Ultimus champion in the future, they need to beef up their OLine heavily.
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Orange County Otters::belly: Surprise: Mike Boss and the Receiving Corps
The Otters offense has been near unstoppable this season, and most of it has been on the backs on their passing offense. Boss has gone from top 3 QB in the league to easily the best QB in the league, and his monster 106.3 passer rating, which is 20.3(!) points higher than the second higher rating is a pretty good example of his dominance this season. He leads the league in yards by over 1000 yards, completion percentage(of all eligible QBs) by an insane 6.4 percent, and the league in TDs by 7 whole touchdowns. His insane TD/Int ratio of 5.75 would be a NSFL record, and Boss is a near lock for the OPOY this season. But what would a QB be without his knights and soldiers, aka his receiving corps. Bradley Westfield and Robert Phelps have cemented themselves as the best 1-2 WR duo in the league, combining for over 2k yards and 18 TDs, which is more yards than the entire Yeti offense has had all season and more TDs than every single non Otters team in the league. Throw in the league’s best TE in George Wright Jr, and that's more receiving yards than every single offense in the league besides the Otters. And that's not even mentioning 6th round slot wide receiver Nate Atasuke, who has broken out with an impressive 457 yards on 41 receptions for an 11.1 YPC and 2 TDs. This passing offense is hitting almost 07 Patriots levels of unstoppability, and make the Otters the biggest threat in the league to the Outlaws.
:shrug: Disappointment: Leroy Jenkins
With the retirement of Vic Bowers Jr, many expected the Orange County second string RB Leroy Jenkins to take his place. Instead, rookie RB Erlich Burnsman has taken over the RB 1 position for the Otters, and has out produced Jenkins rushing wise. Jenkins does still hold the edge in receptions, but it's somewhat disappointing that a veteran like Jenkins could not manage to secure the RB 1 spot over a complete rookie. Perhaps a change of scenery would be best for Jenkins, as it hard to imagine a future for him starting with the Otters at this point.
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Arizona Outlaws::belly: Surprise: Defense
There really has not been much that has not been a pleasant surprise in Arizona. The Offense is looking great, as Bronko has performed like a top 3 QB this season, the WR corps was not hit too hard with the loss of Jackson, thanks to the excellent play of Evans, Chess, Zhang, and Law. The Offensive Line has dominated, and their RB corps has performed splendidly to become the league leading rushing attack. K/P specialist Ronaldo looks to be the kicker of the year and punter of the year this season. Even the Kick returns have improved greatly. Yet the most impressive unit so far has also been the most surprising, the defense has managed to even outperform those. Tuck is playing at an all time great level right now, with 23 sacks and 12 TFLs in just 9 games. Rookie CB Franklin Harris Jr is on pace to break the all time interception record, with 7 ints already to add to 13 pass deflections, while his partner in crime Phillipe Carter has racked up a league leading 17 pass deflections and 4 interceptions. The Outlaws lead the league in sacks, ints, pass deflections, and defensive TDs, and have the team looking like a 3-peat in the making.
:shrug: Disappointment: Punt returning.
The only sore spot on an otherwise flawless Outlaws season is the Punt returning. The Outlaws Punt return has dropped from a 10.4 avg punt return to a 6.6 average punt return. Not really any cause for alarm, but I guess even the best teams have some problems.
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Will the surprises continue to produce? Will the disappointments bounce back? it will be interesting to see what happens with 5 games left in the season.
>2374 words
GRADED
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