With Season Twenty-Five still in its infancy when considering the fifteen-week DSFL season, so much has happened and there is still a long road ahead for every team. As we approach one-third of the season being complete, it offers a time for some short-sighted analysis. Keeping in mind the short amount of games we have to go off of, I figured some might enjoy a newbies take on the season so far and how I predict each team will do going forward over the remainder of the season. I would love some feedback and help if I may have overlooked a specific stat or possibly put too much emphasis on another.
Beginning in the SFC South, I will start with the bottom of the conference, which are the Dallas Birddogs. Not a lot has gone right for the Birddogs this season and they sit at a lowly 0-4. I think some of the blame has to go on their offense and their quarterback Caliban. His play has well below average for a ball club that is trying to win. Caliban sports two touchdowns over four games while throwing five interceptions through the same span. This type of production only goes to hurt a team rather than help place them in a position to win. Giving away the ball is something successful teams don’t do, so I have to think it falls mainly on his shoulders when he throws a pick each game. While Caliban’s favorite receiver has been Callous in three of the four games, Callous has done his part with the passes that he has been given. However, the other receivers on the roster have to step up and put in some kind of meaningful production in order to help their struggling quarterback. The runningbacks Kai and Miglaskems have done well with their carries and are averaging 5.4 yards per carry and 3.9 yards respectively, but with the offense being so one-sided, it doesn’t give these backs the best situation when defenses can key in on the run. Even with this extra pressure, the Birddogs rushing attack has risen to the occasion with an average of 167.5 rushing yards per game which is second best in the entire league. On the other side of the football, the defense is giving up a league worse twenty-six points per game to opponents. The easy target here is to blame the offense and the turnovers that keep the defense on the field longer, but at a certain point those guys have to step up and try to make some turnovers for their offense to maybe catch a spark. Overall, the Dallas Birddogs have really dug themselves into a hole early in the season and with the performances they have been putting on the field so far, does not bode well for their season. The fact that their rushing attack is so good with an offense that is not great goes to show how atrocious the quarterback play has been from Caliban over these first four games. Hopefully the Birddogs can get it turned around and salvage something from this horrendous start. Looking forward to Week 5 does not give much hope since they will be facing the 3-1 Myrtle Beach Buccaneers.
Moving up the SFC South, in third place there is the Norfolk Seawolves at a painful 1-3. The Norfolk Seawolves have not player great this season especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Seawolves boasts the league’s worst averages for points, total yards, rush yards, and pass yards. While no one person can be blamed for the offensive woes, for this team the troubles begin with the leader of the offense who is the quarterback. Rune’s performance at quarterback has shown itself to be vital to the team. With his stats, when considering the Seawolves record, the offense’s momentum truly hinges on his performance. In each of the Seawolves losses Rune has tossed at least one interception and no touchdowns. He is also only averaging 113 yards through the air. However, in the Seawolves lone win, Rune was the offensive player of the game and threw for 195 yards with two touchdowns. The necessity for Rune to play well also comes from the fact that the runningback Forty-Two has not played well. Averaging only 3.2 yards per carry with touchdowns that have been scored as the only points in two of their three losses (the other loss being a shutout), gives credence to the idea that his performance has been lacking and made a situation where the Seawolves must now lean on their quarterback for any kind of successful offensive performance. The defensive side of the ball for the Norfolk Seawolves is not terrible, but they are not in the best position in the DSFL. With the offensive woes being hit or miss, it has dictated the outcome of most games. The reason for this is that the defense has consistently given up at least twenty points per game through the first four games of the season. When a team has the trouble moving the ball offensively, it naturally has to lean on the defense more often to keep them in games. While the defense gets off the hook for the most part, they still take on a portion of the blame for why the Seawolves are in the predicament that they are currently facing. Overall, the Norfolk Seawolves need to get some kind of consistency from their quarterback Rune who needs to act as an anchor for the offense to gain some confidence in itself. With Rune helping to open up the passing attack, it should provide more opportunities for Forty-Two to have a defense not honing-in so much on the run game. If the offense can pick up, I think this will also give the defense more time to rest and get more stops. The Seawolves can turn the season around, it will just take a sizable amount of work from the whole group to make it happen.
Continuing right ahead, the next team, who is in second place in the SFC South, are the Tijuana Luchadores. The Luchadores hold a 2-2 record right now and with the most recent developments they are a team that should feel good about the direction they seemed to be heading right now. While their offensive averages are in the bottom half of both their conference and the league, their defense is averaging 16.8 points per game, which is in the top three for the entire league. The offense’s production woes are due to their one-sided attack which focuses on the rushing game. Boss Jr., the quarterback, only has 549 yards on the season and a single touchdown. Almost half of those yards have been to a single receiver, McGrady. With the ground game and the two-headed attack of Mills and Gilbot making up the majority of the offense and together combining for four of the five Luchadores touchdowns this season, it is safe to say that the Luchadores are a run first, pass second type of team. This type of attack has been on their side when in defensive battles like their most recent game against the Portland Pythons, but these offensive setbacks and their reliance on the ground game can only get the team so far. They will have to begin working in the passing game if they want to compete with some of the more high-powered offenses in the league. With the defense, they may have one of the top three averages of points allowed, their other defensive averages are in the bottom half of the entire league. With a one-sided, rush heavy offense, the Luchadores can’t continue to put up as many points as they do without keeping the defense as stout and commanding as they’ve shown they can be this season. Even though one of the Luchadores wins was against the league’s worst team, the other win comes against one of three teams that is still above .500 win percentage. With the confidence of those two wins, the Tijuana Luchadores look to build their win streak to three games against the struggling Norfolk Seawolves.
The final team who is atop the SFC South are the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. The Buccaneer’s season is off to a great start as they find themselves one of the three teams to be over .500 win percentage at 3-1. The Buccaneers have seemed to do everything right through three of their four games this season. No one could blame them for wanting to forget the 44-10 rout they suffered at the hands of the Portland Pythons, but they’re hoping that is the exception instead of the rule. One reason to credit for the Buccaneer’s success would have to be their passing game which is averaging a league leading 189.5 passing yards per game over the first four contests. With the bottom half of the conference being so bad at passing, Myrtle Beach goes to show how far a good passing game can take a team and that they are in the first spot of the SFC South for a reason. Daytona’s play at quarterback has been inspired and shows that he is willing to do anything to put his team in a position to win. His favorite receiver, Crossley, has had hands of glue and helps to make up a large share of Daytona’s yardage this far through the season. With the passing game being so outstanding, it has helped to keep opposing defenses on their heels, which gives the running game a chance to flourish with not as many defensive body clogging up the tackle box. Their leading runningback is Ozymandias who has been averaging 4.3 yards per carry with two touchdowns on the season. Moving on to the other side of the ball, the Buccaneer’s defense has played competently and is helping put the team in a position to win. While the Buccaneer’s defense has been near the bottom of the league with regards to their defensive averages in points, total yards, and passing yards allowed, one stat they have been superb on is the amount of rushing yards they’ve allowed per game. They rushing yards allowed per game ranks as number one in the conference and number two in the league overall. By forcing their opponents to become throw happy helps lead the defense to getting more chances for turnovers, which only goes to feed the offenses potent passing attack. The Myrtle Beach Buccaneers have played well so far through the season and deserve their place at the peak of the SFC South. If they keep pushing through behind the arm of Daytona, this team will be expected to make a deep run into the playoffs and contend for the Ultimini this season.
My overall assessment of the SFC South is that it is a tale of two conferences. The Norfolk Seawolves and Dallas Birddogs seem to be going through some rebuild woes, while the top half of the conference seem to be looking for deep playoff runs at the very least. With such a discrepancy between the two halves, it is the Luchadores and Buccaneers seasons to lose, but all of this could be upended depending on the results from Week 5.
The league has two conferences for a reason, and moving on to the NFC North, it seems to have a tighter spread between its four teams when compared to the opposing SFC South. These four members of the NFC North seem ready to fight until the final game for their right to represent the NFC North in the DSFL playoffs. As the SFC South before, the right place to start with my analysis of the NFC North is the bottom of the pack.
The team at the bottom of the NFC North are the Kansas City Coyotes who are 2-2 through the first four games, and find themselves in last place due to their lower points scored this season. While the Coyotes record keeps them in contention within the conference right now, the quality of their two wins is lacking. Both of the Coyotes wins have come from teams who are under a .500 winning percentage (the only two teams under .500 are the Norfolk Seawolves and the Dallas Birddogs). The Coyotes two losses came from two of the three teams with winning percentages over .500 which does not give a good sign for the rest of their season. The Kansas City Coyotes have found a way to win two of their games this season despite awful quarterback play from Peterson. His play has caused the offense to rely on the running game and their two runningbacks Kitchens and Tutankhamun, who are averaging 4.6 and 4.3 yards per carry respectively. Kitchens has proven himself as the anchor for the offense with his team leading four touchdowns through four games which has been vital to the reason why his team is 2-2 at the moment. While the Coyotes offense is in the middle of the pack, their defense is more finely tuned and is in the top half of the league in points allowed per game, total yards allowed, rushing yards allowed, and passing yards allowed. If the Coyotes defense can keep up the intensity and battle teams to the end of the fourth quarter, then I have no doubt that the Coyotes can excel and move themselves into playoff position. This process could get a major jumpstart if Peterson were to elevate his quarterback play and give some air support to Kitchens as he runs the Coyotes through the trenches.
The third place team in the NFC North are the London Royals who are tied with the Kansas City Coyotes with a record of 2-2 but hold the edge in the points scored category. The start to their season was hot, but quickly got put on ice as they beat the Birddogs and Luchadores to then drop the last two games to the Seawolves and the Buccaneers. This record shows that the London Royals have traded wins and losses with team equal or better than .500 for a record of 1-1, but unfortunately also sporting the same record with teams under .500. The Royals strength on offense has without a doubt been their running attack, which Hana and Yaki have been handling quite well. With such a potent ground game, it has helped to open the door for the quarterback Cortez to have a moderately successful season so far, but his influence has not been the deciding factor for any of the games with Cortez having accrued 697 yards, four touchdowns, which also includes three interceptions. Even though the Royals’ offense leads the league in points scored per game, they also still have a long way to go to make the offense as dangerous as it needs to be to move into playoff position. On the defensive side of the ball, the Royals are a middle of the pack defense that are a great run stopping defense, but still have some holes when defending through the air. Overall, with the Royals being in third place in a close conference, if their offense can continue to grow, especially with Cortez under center, they have a chance to become one of the higher powered offenses in the league. That offense combined with a stifling run defense could be enough to see the Royals make a push towards a playoff position as the season continues.
The top of the NFC North is similar to the bottom of the conference by having the top two teams with similar records and beating the tie through points scored. Due to this scenario, the team in second in the NFC North is none other than the Minnesota Grey Ducks. The Grey Ducks boast the best or second best average for offensive yards per game, rushing yards per game, and passing yards per game which brings them up to fifth in the league for average points scored per game. The Grey Ducks offense is a large reason for why they find themselves in such a great position so far with their record of 3-1. While two of the three wins has come from beating teams below .500. The offenses firepower has hinged predominantly on the performance from their quarterback Negs. He has scored in all three of the Grey Duck’s wins, and failed to do so in their one loss to the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. Negs quarterback play has been important for the offense, but he has not done it alone. Vermillion and Rotchburns have been handling the ground-work for the team and done a more than competent job at giving the Grey Ducks a balanced offense. However, the team’s defense are the real heroes and force behind the Grey Ducks success. The Grey Ducks defense sports the second best average in the league for point allowed, total yards allowed, and first in the league with average pass yards allowed. With such a stout defense playing alongside a high-powered offense, the Minnesota Grey Ducks look like one of the favorites for the season moving forward. They will face a test in Week 5 as they clash with the conference leading Portland Pythons.
Having made my way through seven of the eight teams in the league, the only one left are the leaders of the NFC North who are none other than the Portland Pythons. The Pythons sport a 3-1 record and have gotten there in a pretty convincing fashion. The Pythons have been playing inspired on both sides of the ball, but a large reason for their success is owed to their defensive unit. The Python’s strangling defense is first in the league in points allowed, total yards allowed, and running yards allowed, while fourth in passing yards allowed. With such a stifling and stingy defense keeping their opponents out of the endzone has given the Pythons offense tons of time to construct drives and move the ball into scoring position. Their quarterback Lebron James, III has shown that he can lead an offense which is all the more impressive given his status as a rookie. James is averaging just over one touchdown per game and has been the lynchpin which the whole offense has depended on early through the season. Runningbacks Pama and Christiansen have feasted behind their offensive line and given James the space he needs to complete passes and kept opposing defenses off balance as they try to guess where the Pythons will attack from next. Overall, the Pythons are off to a fiery start, but their season is still fragile in these early stages. If the Pythons want to compete for the playoffs they have to continue to be aggressive on both sides of the ball.
Beginning in the SFC South, I will start with the bottom of the conference, which are the Dallas Birddogs. Not a lot has gone right for the Birddogs this season and they sit at a lowly 0-4. I think some of the blame has to go on their offense and their quarterback Caliban. His play has well below average for a ball club that is trying to win. Caliban sports two touchdowns over four games while throwing five interceptions through the same span. This type of production only goes to hurt a team rather than help place them in a position to win. Giving away the ball is something successful teams don’t do, so I have to think it falls mainly on his shoulders when he throws a pick each game. While Caliban’s favorite receiver has been Callous in three of the four games, Callous has done his part with the passes that he has been given. However, the other receivers on the roster have to step up and put in some kind of meaningful production in order to help their struggling quarterback. The runningbacks Kai and Miglaskems have done well with their carries and are averaging 5.4 yards per carry and 3.9 yards respectively, but with the offense being so one-sided, it doesn’t give these backs the best situation when defenses can key in on the run. Even with this extra pressure, the Birddogs rushing attack has risen to the occasion with an average of 167.5 rushing yards per game which is second best in the entire league. On the other side of the football, the defense is giving up a league worse twenty-six points per game to opponents. The easy target here is to blame the offense and the turnovers that keep the defense on the field longer, but at a certain point those guys have to step up and try to make some turnovers for their offense to maybe catch a spark. Overall, the Dallas Birddogs have really dug themselves into a hole early in the season and with the performances they have been putting on the field so far, does not bode well for their season. The fact that their rushing attack is so good with an offense that is not great goes to show how atrocious the quarterback play has been from Caliban over these first four games. Hopefully the Birddogs can get it turned around and salvage something from this horrendous start. Looking forward to Week 5 does not give much hope since they will be facing the 3-1 Myrtle Beach Buccaneers.
Moving up the SFC South, in third place there is the Norfolk Seawolves at a painful 1-3. The Norfolk Seawolves have not player great this season especially on the offensive side of the ball. The Seawolves boasts the league’s worst averages for points, total yards, rush yards, and pass yards. While no one person can be blamed for the offensive woes, for this team the troubles begin with the leader of the offense who is the quarterback. Rune’s performance at quarterback has shown itself to be vital to the team. With his stats, when considering the Seawolves record, the offense’s momentum truly hinges on his performance. In each of the Seawolves losses Rune has tossed at least one interception and no touchdowns. He is also only averaging 113 yards through the air. However, in the Seawolves lone win, Rune was the offensive player of the game and threw for 195 yards with two touchdowns. The necessity for Rune to play well also comes from the fact that the runningback Forty-Two has not played well. Averaging only 3.2 yards per carry with touchdowns that have been scored as the only points in two of their three losses (the other loss being a shutout), gives credence to the idea that his performance has been lacking and made a situation where the Seawolves must now lean on their quarterback for any kind of successful offensive performance. The defensive side of the ball for the Norfolk Seawolves is not terrible, but they are not in the best position in the DSFL. With the offensive woes being hit or miss, it has dictated the outcome of most games. The reason for this is that the defense has consistently given up at least twenty points per game through the first four games of the season. When a team has the trouble moving the ball offensively, it naturally has to lean on the defense more often to keep them in games. While the defense gets off the hook for the most part, they still take on a portion of the blame for why the Seawolves are in the predicament that they are currently facing. Overall, the Norfolk Seawolves need to get some kind of consistency from their quarterback Rune who needs to act as an anchor for the offense to gain some confidence in itself. With Rune helping to open up the passing attack, it should provide more opportunities for Forty-Two to have a defense not honing-in so much on the run game. If the offense can pick up, I think this will also give the defense more time to rest and get more stops. The Seawolves can turn the season around, it will just take a sizable amount of work from the whole group to make it happen.
Continuing right ahead, the next team, who is in second place in the SFC South, are the Tijuana Luchadores. The Luchadores hold a 2-2 record right now and with the most recent developments they are a team that should feel good about the direction they seemed to be heading right now. While their offensive averages are in the bottom half of both their conference and the league, their defense is averaging 16.8 points per game, which is in the top three for the entire league. The offense’s production woes are due to their one-sided attack which focuses on the rushing game. Boss Jr., the quarterback, only has 549 yards on the season and a single touchdown. Almost half of those yards have been to a single receiver, McGrady. With the ground game and the two-headed attack of Mills and Gilbot making up the majority of the offense and together combining for four of the five Luchadores touchdowns this season, it is safe to say that the Luchadores are a run first, pass second type of team. This type of attack has been on their side when in defensive battles like their most recent game against the Portland Pythons, but these offensive setbacks and their reliance on the ground game can only get the team so far. They will have to begin working in the passing game if they want to compete with some of the more high-powered offenses in the league. With the defense, they may have one of the top three averages of points allowed, their other defensive averages are in the bottom half of the entire league. With a one-sided, rush heavy offense, the Luchadores can’t continue to put up as many points as they do without keeping the defense as stout and commanding as they’ve shown they can be this season. Even though one of the Luchadores wins was against the league’s worst team, the other win comes against one of three teams that is still above .500 win percentage. With the confidence of those two wins, the Tijuana Luchadores look to build their win streak to three games against the struggling Norfolk Seawolves.
The final team who is atop the SFC South are the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. The Buccaneer’s season is off to a great start as they find themselves one of the three teams to be over .500 win percentage at 3-1. The Buccaneers have seemed to do everything right through three of their four games this season. No one could blame them for wanting to forget the 44-10 rout they suffered at the hands of the Portland Pythons, but they’re hoping that is the exception instead of the rule. One reason to credit for the Buccaneer’s success would have to be their passing game which is averaging a league leading 189.5 passing yards per game over the first four contests. With the bottom half of the conference being so bad at passing, Myrtle Beach goes to show how far a good passing game can take a team and that they are in the first spot of the SFC South for a reason. Daytona’s play at quarterback has been inspired and shows that he is willing to do anything to put his team in a position to win. His favorite receiver, Crossley, has had hands of glue and helps to make up a large share of Daytona’s yardage this far through the season. With the passing game being so outstanding, it has helped to keep opposing defenses on their heels, which gives the running game a chance to flourish with not as many defensive body clogging up the tackle box. Their leading runningback is Ozymandias who has been averaging 4.3 yards per carry with two touchdowns on the season. Moving on to the other side of the ball, the Buccaneer’s defense has played competently and is helping put the team in a position to win. While the Buccaneer’s defense has been near the bottom of the league with regards to their defensive averages in points, total yards, and passing yards allowed, one stat they have been superb on is the amount of rushing yards they’ve allowed per game. They rushing yards allowed per game ranks as number one in the conference and number two in the league overall. By forcing their opponents to become throw happy helps lead the defense to getting more chances for turnovers, which only goes to feed the offenses potent passing attack. The Myrtle Beach Buccaneers have played well so far through the season and deserve their place at the peak of the SFC South. If they keep pushing through behind the arm of Daytona, this team will be expected to make a deep run into the playoffs and contend for the Ultimini this season.
My overall assessment of the SFC South is that it is a tale of two conferences. The Norfolk Seawolves and Dallas Birddogs seem to be going through some rebuild woes, while the top half of the conference seem to be looking for deep playoff runs at the very least. With such a discrepancy between the two halves, it is the Luchadores and Buccaneers seasons to lose, but all of this could be upended depending on the results from Week 5.
The league has two conferences for a reason, and moving on to the NFC North, it seems to have a tighter spread between its four teams when compared to the opposing SFC South. These four members of the NFC North seem ready to fight until the final game for their right to represent the NFC North in the DSFL playoffs. As the SFC South before, the right place to start with my analysis of the NFC North is the bottom of the pack.
The team at the bottom of the NFC North are the Kansas City Coyotes who are 2-2 through the first four games, and find themselves in last place due to their lower points scored this season. While the Coyotes record keeps them in contention within the conference right now, the quality of their two wins is lacking. Both of the Coyotes wins have come from teams who are under a .500 winning percentage (the only two teams under .500 are the Norfolk Seawolves and the Dallas Birddogs). The Coyotes two losses came from two of the three teams with winning percentages over .500 which does not give a good sign for the rest of their season. The Kansas City Coyotes have found a way to win two of their games this season despite awful quarterback play from Peterson. His play has caused the offense to rely on the running game and their two runningbacks Kitchens and Tutankhamun, who are averaging 4.6 and 4.3 yards per carry respectively. Kitchens has proven himself as the anchor for the offense with his team leading four touchdowns through four games which has been vital to the reason why his team is 2-2 at the moment. While the Coyotes offense is in the middle of the pack, their defense is more finely tuned and is in the top half of the league in points allowed per game, total yards allowed, rushing yards allowed, and passing yards allowed. If the Coyotes defense can keep up the intensity and battle teams to the end of the fourth quarter, then I have no doubt that the Coyotes can excel and move themselves into playoff position. This process could get a major jumpstart if Peterson were to elevate his quarterback play and give some air support to Kitchens as he runs the Coyotes through the trenches.
The third place team in the NFC North are the London Royals who are tied with the Kansas City Coyotes with a record of 2-2 but hold the edge in the points scored category. The start to their season was hot, but quickly got put on ice as they beat the Birddogs and Luchadores to then drop the last two games to the Seawolves and the Buccaneers. This record shows that the London Royals have traded wins and losses with team equal or better than .500 for a record of 1-1, but unfortunately also sporting the same record with teams under .500. The Royals strength on offense has without a doubt been their running attack, which Hana and Yaki have been handling quite well. With such a potent ground game, it has helped to open the door for the quarterback Cortez to have a moderately successful season so far, but his influence has not been the deciding factor for any of the games with Cortez having accrued 697 yards, four touchdowns, which also includes three interceptions. Even though the Royals’ offense leads the league in points scored per game, they also still have a long way to go to make the offense as dangerous as it needs to be to move into playoff position. On the defensive side of the ball, the Royals are a middle of the pack defense that are a great run stopping defense, but still have some holes when defending through the air. Overall, with the Royals being in third place in a close conference, if their offense can continue to grow, especially with Cortez under center, they have a chance to become one of the higher powered offenses in the league. That offense combined with a stifling run defense could be enough to see the Royals make a push towards a playoff position as the season continues.
The top of the NFC North is similar to the bottom of the conference by having the top two teams with similar records and beating the tie through points scored. Due to this scenario, the team in second in the NFC North is none other than the Minnesota Grey Ducks. The Grey Ducks boast the best or second best average for offensive yards per game, rushing yards per game, and passing yards per game which brings them up to fifth in the league for average points scored per game. The Grey Ducks offense is a large reason for why they find themselves in such a great position so far with their record of 3-1. While two of the three wins has come from beating teams below .500. The offenses firepower has hinged predominantly on the performance from their quarterback Negs. He has scored in all three of the Grey Duck’s wins, and failed to do so in their one loss to the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. Negs quarterback play has been important for the offense, but he has not done it alone. Vermillion and Rotchburns have been handling the ground-work for the team and done a more than competent job at giving the Grey Ducks a balanced offense. However, the team’s defense are the real heroes and force behind the Grey Ducks success. The Grey Ducks defense sports the second best average in the league for point allowed, total yards allowed, and first in the league with average pass yards allowed. With such a stout defense playing alongside a high-powered offense, the Minnesota Grey Ducks look like one of the favorites for the season moving forward. They will face a test in Week 5 as they clash with the conference leading Portland Pythons.
Having made my way through seven of the eight teams in the league, the only one left are the leaders of the NFC North who are none other than the Portland Pythons. The Pythons sport a 3-1 record and have gotten there in a pretty convincing fashion. The Pythons have been playing inspired on both sides of the ball, but a large reason for their success is owed to their defensive unit. The Python’s strangling defense is first in the league in points allowed, total yards allowed, and running yards allowed, while fourth in passing yards allowed. With such a stifling and stingy defense keeping their opponents out of the endzone has given the Pythons offense tons of time to construct drives and move the ball into scoring position. Their quarterback Lebron James, III has shown that he can lead an offense which is all the more impressive given his status as a rookie. James is averaging just over one touchdown per game and has been the lynchpin which the whole offense has depended on early through the season. Runningbacks Pama and Christiansen have feasted behind their offensive line and given James the space he needs to complete passes and kept opposing defenses off balance as they try to guess where the Pythons will attack from next. Overall, the Pythons are off to a fiery start, but their season is still fragile in these early stages. If the Pythons want to compete for the playoffs they have to continue to be aggressive on both sides of the ball.