It's the halfway point of Season 23 here in the world of NSFL, and as such we have a lot of game film to look at when analysing the current DSFL landscape. This season, more than any other, was sure to be a tough one to call given the new rule changes that came into place. For those who don't know, DSFL teams in the past could lean on IA players in positions where they could not field a competitive active player. That however has been abolished, leaving teams to field either players who are active, or 50 TPE bots in their place. Because of this, a lot more emphasis has been put on good roster building and understanding what your team needs to be competitive in the ever-balanced developmental leagues. Which teams and GMs stepped up to the plate and did a good job, and which have some room for improvement coming into the 2nd half of the season? Let's find out.
I will start here by saying that this is not a power ranking of any kind. This is not me trying to talk down to anyone in here about how their season is going. In truth, these GMs have all done a pretty great job given the new constraints that we are working with this season. Ultimately, our league has been competitive, and given what our job is in the NSFL system - to keep people active and engaged - I feel as if being as close as it truly is is helping with that. This is simply me getting my thoughts out on how I have seen every team in the league so far, and what I feel are the expectations for them for the rest of the season. It's up to them to prove me wrong and make me look like an idiot at the end of the day should I doubt them. Also, I will be doing this in 2 parts: the NFC North teams first, and the SFC South teams second. Why? Because I'm lazy, and don't want to do it all at once. Gimme a break, this is 2x media, anything goes.
With that in mind, let's talk about the first team in my list and I might... be a bit biased about this one.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] Kansas City Coyotes
Current Record: 4-3
Position in Conference: 1st
Home Record: 3-1
Away Record: 1-2[/div]
Oh hey, it's my team. The Kansas City Coyotes came into the season with an altogether balanced roster. We didn't have a lot of holes per say in the team, but it would be correct to say that we didn't have the star power that some other teams may have. Our call-ups were kind (something I will struggle to talk about for every team - I know everyone else had quite a few but I don't have exact numbers. It's tough to count unofficially, y'know?), with only Tree Gelbman and Son Goku going up to the next level. As such, we kept stalwarts of our team like Jon Bois, Carl Wheezer, Taylor Cooper and Rigby Raccoon for just a bit longer. Having that base going into the draft was great, as the only massive hole we really had - at LB - was filled pretty quickly. To say we were confident in our team's abilities was selling it short. And, in all honesty, we are still confident in how good our team is, even if the record is not as positive as we wanted it.
Our games throughout this season have been grinding, defensive games that play out in a very similar way to SJS at the next level. That mostly comes down to personal preference about our style; for most of our games - especially away from home - we have played with very slow tempo and took a run-first approach to our business. While there have been moments where we have switched up to be more pass-heavy, especially around the week 4 trip to the Tijuana Luchadores where fast passing was the talk of the league in a 33-6 win, our strategy has revolved around making the most of Fakon and Kitchens. And so far, this has worked pretty decently. A 3-1 start - with our only loss away at Norfolk - had us feeling good about our team this year. However, losses in games we could've won against Dallas and Portland have made our start slightly less impactful than it could have been.
Looking at the rest of our schedule, my best guess at our record for the end of the season would be somewhere in the region of 7-7. A particularly average performance given how well our season had started; but with how close this division is, it is tough to get too confident at all with how things could go. With 4 away games coming up that everyone knows are so tough to win, we will have to make the most of our home games and try to eek out some good away performances. But ultimately, given how our season has panned out so far, I would be ecstatic going .500 when all is said and done... as long as we make playoffs.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] Minnesota Grey Ducks
Current Record: 2-5
Position in Conference: T-3rd
Home Record: 2-1
Away Record: 0-4[/div]
Oh hey, it's my other team. The team I update and our brothers in alliance arms, the Minnesota Grey Ducks came into this season with a new GM in thevoicelesscreator, and altogether bad intentions for the rest of the league. With a capped QB, capped RB and 2 capped WRs - along with a capped OL - expectations were high for what I thought was going to be an electric Grey Duck offense. In fact, the place I thought they would struggle more was in defense; they had Ray-Ray Jackson, a capped CB who is down for the season, and Philip Stein who position switched from K/P to Safety in time for the start of the season (Editors note from the writer who is a kicker: Sad!). But apart from that, it was a largely new and inexperienced team overall. Would they be able to overcome this inexperience to play the type of football everyone in the league knew they could play?
For the first 3 games of the season, it appeared they could. Home wins against London and Tijuana - 20-14 and 24-17 respectively - after a loss away to Norfolk had players in good spirits for the rest of the season. However this would not last for long, as the Grey Ducks would go on to lose 4 straight games, never scoring more than 14 points in any 1 game. In terms of strategy, it is genuinely akin to the strategy that ourselves at KCC use in terms of run/pass balanced, but more high tempo. While KCC however runs more Power/West Coast concepts on offense, Minnesota use more Power/Balanced hybrid offenses. Whether that is good or not is up to them to decide; what can be said is that it has not worked so far. While their offense has been anaemic however, their defense is still not anything better than leaky as of now. A team that solely uses Nickel 35, it is a surprise to find out that they give up the most passing yards on average of every team in the entire league. Whether they look for changes in defensive philosophy coming into the 2nd half of the season, we will have to see. But ultimately, they have to do something soon to have any chance of saving their season.
Looking at the rest of the season, Minnesota definitely have a chance to bring themselves back from the brink. 4 winnable home games are coming up, and their away games are in places where they could definitely bring about upsets down the stretch. The normal home/away splits make me lean towards the Grey Ducks finishing at 6-8, but there is a definite chance they finish with a record better than this. My best guess? 7-7 as well. It all comes up to how they face off against the teams in their away trips, and whether or not they can hold their nerve at home against tough opposition. If they can, then who knows? Playoffs is still not a distant dream for the Minnesotans.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] Portland Pythons
Current Record: 3-4
Position in Conference: 2nd
Home Record: 2-2
Away Record: 1-2[/div]
Talk about the tale of two halves... of a half-season. The Portland Pythons looked like an entirely different entity from week 5-7 as they did between weeks 1-4. It was a turn around that no one would've expected... unless you actually looked at the circumstances behind that 0-4 start. But anyway, let's start from the beginning with the roster. Portland, like Minnesota before them, are absolutely stacked to the brim with offensive talent. They have 2 capped WR, 2 capped RB along with a great draftees in both of those positions too. Having a rookie QB hamstrung them, but Trautner has worked hard so far and as such they are very close to cap already. What is apparent when looking at the team, however, is that they are particularly unbalanced with how raw their defensive talent is. Defensively, they have 1 capped LB, and the rest of their defense is yet to reach 200 TPE. They'll likely be good with how many of these players will be down next season if they stay active, however for this season it has the potential to be troubling.
Through their first 4 games, they were yet to find their offensive identity. For three weeks they played Power heavy concepts, only realistically spreading the ball out on 3rd/4th and long situations and when they were a hole at the end of a half. And as such they were consistently outclassed on the field by their opposition. The 4th game against Norfolk was especially weird, as they turned for 1 game only to an entirely spread-based offense. Howitzer carrying the ball 12 times for 22 yards says everything you need to know about how that style worked for them. I feel it is important to note that this rut for the Pythons comes up during a run of 4 games against SFC teams for them. Do they simply just struggle with how these teams in the other conference play? Maybe. But it is unquestionable that the switch to playing fellow NFC North teams brought paydirt for the Pythons. Here, they began running a more balanced playbook - incorporating Power, Balanced and West Coast concepts into their play to get the first downs necessary to overcome their conference opposition. It was great work from the GMs to keep calm and right the ship before things got too difficult for this to happen.
Now, let's discuss the rest of the season for the team. First up, they have 4 away games that I will mark up as likely losses. Sure, they beat Minnesota away, but that type of performance will be tough to replicate with teams knowing how they are likely going to play from now on. And for their home games against Tijuana, Dallas and Minnesota... these games will be tough too. Ultimately 1 reason why I said during the KCC section that the Portland game in Portland was winnable was that the testing made it look somewhat close. Other teams will likely sense this trip is an opportunity too, which could mean trouble for them still. The normal home/away split would state Portland will finish 6-8, but with how up and down this Portland team has been, I could see them winning the division - but I could also see them only winning 1 or 2 games the rest of the year. I know qWest and Kanako will work hard to win as many games as possible, but sometimes you've just got to pray the sim gods will help you out - and whether Portland get the help they need, they will wait and see.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] London Royals
Current Record: 2-5
Position in Conference: T-3rd
Home Record: 2-1
Away Record: 0-4[/div]
London are a very interesting case in this league campaign so far. They have so much talent around their team, with Colby Jack headlining what seems to be a very dangerous team. Their secondary has 2 capped CBs and 2 capped Safeties. You would not be surprised if this team was running away with the conference at this point in the season. And yet... they are in tied last place (likely outright last given their loss to Minnesota making them 0-1 in their H2H in week 2 - I'm just being nice by saying tied 3rd). They're 7th in points allowed on the year and 5th in points scored. They give up 50+ yards on average every game more than they concede. The question is: what has gone wrong so far this season for the London Royals?
Well put simply, I think they've just had a tough schedule and have ultimately gotten unlucky. A home loss to Norfolk is their only blemish at home in this young season and while they're 0-3 against conference opponents - all these games were away from home. They will only become easier when they play at home. Part in parcel with being somewhat unlucky, however, is strategy. London run a very fast up-tempo strategy - however this seems to be disjointed with the strategy of a heavy-run offense that they use a lot. No matter if it from Power schemes of West Coast schemes, if you get stopped fast in a very high tempo run game, that will only serve to make your defense more tired and less likely to make place. From what I can guess, that is the reason why their defense is 7th in the league in yards and points allowed.
Ultimately, there is a decent amount of things London can fix for the rest of this season. They have 4 games at home including 3 against conference opposition, which could bring them back into the race for playoffs down the stretch. The normal home/away splits have them looking at a 6-8 record for the end of the season, and I could definitely see that happening for them. Their team is good and full of solid players who will likely want to make the push for another chance at the Ultimini this season. But with the tough time they have had to start the season, it may be tough for them to get the season they want out of this campaign.
Well, that covers the entirety of the NFC North division. The teams are ultimately close in their current records and games still to play. If I were to predict who would make the playoffs this year from this division, I would pick the Kansas City Coyotes (not biased at all) and the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Whether that happens, we will have to see - I am simply just a biased GM at the end of the day.
Next time I will look at the SFC South division, where the race for playoffs is not anywhere as fun as the NFC. Until then, stay safe, enjoy the 4th of July weekend, and for god sake write some 2x media.
I will start here by saying that this is not a power ranking of any kind. This is not me trying to talk down to anyone in here about how their season is going. In truth, these GMs have all done a pretty great job given the new constraints that we are working with this season. Ultimately, our league has been competitive, and given what our job is in the NSFL system - to keep people active and engaged - I feel as if being as close as it truly is is helping with that. This is simply me getting my thoughts out on how I have seen every team in the league so far, and what I feel are the expectations for them for the rest of the season. It's up to them to prove me wrong and make me look like an idiot at the end of the day should I doubt them. Also, I will be doing this in 2 parts: the NFC North teams first, and the SFC South teams second. Why? Because I'm lazy, and don't want to do it all at once. Gimme a break, this is 2x media, anything goes.
With that in mind, let's talk about the first team in my list and I might... be a bit biased about this one.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] Kansas City Coyotes
Current Record: 4-3
Position in Conference: 1st
Home Record: 3-1
Away Record: 1-2[/div]
Oh hey, it's my team. The Kansas City Coyotes came into the season with an altogether balanced roster. We didn't have a lot of holes per say in the team, but it would be correct to say that we didn't have the star power that some other teams may have. Our call-ups were kind (something I will struggle to talk about for every team - I know everyone else had quite a few but I don't have exact numbers. It's tough to count unofficially, y'know?), with only Tree Gelbman and Son Goku going up to the next level. As such, we kept stalwarts of our team like Jon Bois, Carl Wheezer, Taylor Cooper and Rigby Raccoon for just a bit longer. Having that base going into the draft was great, as the only massive hole we really had - at LB - was filled pretty quickly. To say we were confident in our team's abilities was selling it short. And, in all honesty, we are still confident in how good our team is, even if the record is not as positive as we wanted it.
Our games throughout this season have been grinding, defensive games that play out in a very similar way to SJS at the next level. That mostly comes down to personal preference about our style; for most of our games - especially away from home - we have played with very slow tempo and took a run-first approach to our business. While there have been moments where we have switched up to be more pass-heavy, especially around the week 4 trip to the Tijuana Luchadores where fast passing was the talk of the league in a 33-6 win, our strategy has revolved around making the most of Fakon and Kitchens. And so far, this has worked pretty decently. A 3-1 start - with our only loss away at Norfolk - had us feeling good about our team this year. However, losses in games we could've won against Dallas and Portland have made our start slightly less impactful than it could have been.
Looking at the rest of our schedule, my best guess at our record for the end of the season would be somewhere in the region of 7-7. A particularly average performance given how well our season had started; but with how close this division is, it is tough to get too confident at all with how things could go. With 4 away games coming up that everyone knows are so tough to win, we will have to make the most of our home games and try to eek out some good away performances. But ultimately, given how our season has panned out so far, I would be ecstatic going .500 when all is said and done... as long as we make playoffs.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] Minnesota Grey Ducks
Current Record: 2-5
Position in Conference: T-3rd
Home Record: 2-1
Away Record: 0-4[/div]
Oh hey, it's my other team. The team I update and our brothers in alliance arms, the Minnesota Grey Ducks came into this season with a new GM in thevoicelesscreator, and altogether bad intentions for the rest of the league. With a capped QB, capped RB and 2 capped WRs - along with a capped OL - expectations were high for what I thought was going to be an electric Grey Duck offense. In fact, the place I thought they would struggle more was in defense; they had Ray-Ray Jackson, a capped CB who is down for the season, and Philip Stein who position switched from K/P to Safety in time for the start of the season (Editors note from the writer who is a kicker: Sad!). But apart from that, it was a largely new and inexperienced team overall. Would they be able to overcome this inexperience to play the type of football everyone in the league knew they could play?
For the first 3 games of the season, it appeared they could. Home wins against London and Tijuana - 20-14 and 24-17 respectively - after a loss away to Norfolk had players in good spirits for the rest of the season. However this would not last for long, as the Grey Ducks would go on to lose 4 straight games, never scoring more than 14 points in any 1 game. In terms of strategy, it is genuinely akin to the strategy that ourselves at KCC use in terms of run/pass balanced, but more high tempo. While KCC however runs more Power/West Coast concepts on offense, Minnesota use more Power/Balanced hybrid offenses. Whether that is good or not is up to them to decide; what can be said is that it has not worked so far. While their offense has been anaemic however, their defense is still not anything better than leaky as of now. A team that solely uses Nickel 35, it is a surprise to find out that they give up the most passing yards on average of every team in the entire league. Whether they look for changes in defensive philosophy coming into the 2nd half of the season, we will have to see. But ultimately, they have to do something soon to have any chance of saving their season.
Looking at the rest of the season, Minnesota definitely have a chance to bring themselves back from the brink. 4 winnable home games are coming up, and their away games are in places where they could definitely bring about upsets down the stretch. The normal home/away splits make me lean towards the Grey Ducks finishing at 6-8, but there is a definite chance they finish with a record better than this. My best guess? 7-7 as well. It all comes up to how they face off against the teams in their away trips, and whether or not they can hold their nerve at home against tough opposition. If they can, then who knows? Playoffs is still not a distant dream for the Minnesotans.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] Portland Pythons
Current Record: 3-4
Position in Conference: 2nd
Home Record: 2-2
Away Record: 1-2[/div]
Talk about the tale of two halves... of a half-season. The Portland Pythons looked like an entirely different entity from week 5-7 as they did between weeks 1-4. It was a turn around that no one would've expected... unless you actually looked at the circumstances behind that 0-4 start. But anyway, let's start from the beginning with the roster. Portland, like Minnesota before them, are absolutely stacked to the brim with offensive talent. They have 2 capped WR, 2 capped RB along with a great draftees in both of those positions too. Having a rookie QB hamstrung them, but Trautner has worked hard so far and as such they are very close to cap already. What is apparent when looking at the team, however, is that they are particularly unbalanced with how raw their defensive talent is. Defensively, they have 1 capped LB, and the rest of their defense is yet to reach 200 TPE. They'll likely be good with how many of these players will be down next season if they stay active, however for this season it has the potential to be troubling.
Through their first 4 games, they were yet to find their offensive identity. For three weeks they played Power heavy concepts, only realistically spreading the ball out on 3rd/4th and long situations and when they were a hole at the end of a half. And as such they were consistently outclassed on the field by their opposition. The 4th game against Norfolk was especially weird, as they turned for 1 game only to an entirely spread-based offense. Howitzer carrying the ball 12 times for 22 yards says everything you need to know about how that style worked for them. I feel it is important to note that this rut for the Pythons comes up during a run of 4 games against SFC teams for them. Do they simply just struggle with how these teams in the other conference play? Maybe. But it is unquestionable that the switch to playing fellow NFC North teams brought paydirt for the Pythons. Here, they began running a more balanced playbook - incorporating Power, Balanced and West Coast concepts into their play to get the first downs necessary to overcome their conference opposition. It was great work from the GMs to keep calm and right the ship before things got too difficult for this to happen.
Now, let's discuss the rest of the season for the team. First up, they have 4 away games that I will mark up as likely losses. Sure, they beat Minnesota away, but that type of performance will be tough to replicate with teams knowing how they are likely going to play from now on. And for their home games against Tijuana, Dallas and Minnesota... these games will be tough too. Ultimately 1 reason why I said during the KCC section that the Portland game in Portland was winnable was that the testing made it look somewhat close. Other teams will likely sense this trip is an opportunity too, which could mean trouble for them still. The normal home/away split would state Portland will finish 6-8, but with how up and down this Portland team has been, I could see them winning the division - but I could also see them only winning 1 or 2 games the rest of the year. I know qWest and Kanako will work hard to win as many games as possible, but sometimes you've just got to pray the sim gods will help you out - and whether Portland get the help they need, they will wait and see.
[div align=\\\"center\\\"] London Royals
Current Record: 2-5
Position in Conference: T-3rd
Home Record: 2-1
Away Record: 0-4[/div]
London are a very interesting case in this league campaign so far. They have so much talent around their team, with Colby Jack headlining what seems to be a very dangerous team. Their secondary has 2 capped CBs and 2 capped Safeties. You would not be surprised if this team was running away with the conference at this point in the season. And yet... they are in tied last place (likely outright last given their loss to Minnesota making them 0-1 in their H2H in week 2 - I'm just being nice by saying tied 3rd). They're 7th in points allowed on the year and 5th in points scored. They give up 50+ yards on average every game more than they concede. The question is: what has gone wrong so far this season for the London Royals?
Well put simply, I think they've just had a tough schedule and have ultimately gotten unlucky. A home loss to Norfolk is their only blemish at home in this young season and while they're 0-3 against conference opponents - all these games were away from home. They will only become easier when they play at home. Part in parcel with being somewhat unlucky, however, is strategy. London run a very fast up-tempo strategy - however this seems to be disjointed with the strategy of a heavy-run offense that they use a lot. No matter if it from Power schemes of West Coast schemes, if you get stopped fast in a very high tempo run game, that will only serve to make your defense more tired and less likely to make place. From what I can guess, that is the reason why their defense is 7th in the league in yards and points allowed.
Ultimately, there is a decent amount of things London can fix for the rest of this season. They have 4 games at home including 3 against conference opposition, which could bring them back into the race for playoffs down the stretch. The normal home/away splits have them looking at a 6-8 record for the end of the season, and I could definitely see that happening for them. Their team is good and full of solid players who will likely want to make the push for another chance at the Ultimini this season. But with the tough time they have had to start the season, it may be tough for them to get the season they want out of this campaign.
Well, that covers the entirety of the NFC North division. The teams are ultimately close in their current records and games still to play. If I were to predict who would make the playoffs this year from this division, I would pick the Kansas City Coyotes (not biased at all) and the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Whether that happens, we will have to see - I am simply just a biased GM at the end of the day.
Next time I will look at the SFC South division, where the race for playoffs is not anywhere as fun as the NFC. Until then, stay safe, enjoy the 4th of July weekend, and for god sake write some 2x media.
Code:
2522 words, double media me pls