[div align=\\\"center\\\"]The Brotherhood of the Traveling Wraiths
Part 3: No Gambling Against the Legion![/div]
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Game Film/Dialogue
Thoughts/Flashbacks
Actions
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Three Days After Loss To Yeti
*Checks out my bank account while random electronic music plays in the background off of the speakers in the bar. Sounds like some Daft Punk playing, I can rock this any time of the day!*
'I should head that Paint Party when we head to San Jose. It's gonna be so lit!'
*Remembers the time I tried to place a bet for the Tight Ends but most of them chickened out.*
'It is what it is. By the looks of it, they're waaayy ahead of me. I could have been out of 500K. Lmao Oh well. Getting kind of dull up in here.
*After the tab gets paid, and a few NSFL fans come up to me for pictures and sigs, I venture out to the streets to see what else is available to me. I then check the clock on my phone, it read 1:17AM*
'Eh, still early. Oooh, late night pizza spot!'
*orders two huge slices of pepperoni and ground beef pizza, signing my sig on the receipt, adding a $1,500 to go along with it after taking a bite of the slice*'
'They got drugs in this sumbish?!'
*After finishing the pizza off, I start to stroll down the block and waltz into a casino, all of the flashing lights bouncing around the room as the walls are covered in mirrors. I look to the left of the room and see a familiar face at the roulette table yelling 'Gimme red' over and over again. Followed by a loud 'F*ck!' I assumed he lost. I shake my head before departing.*
If he put as much work on the football field as he did in that gamble, he'd be the best lineman in the world. Damnit, Bigboy17.
*I roll my eyes before making my way back to the hotel. The NSFL is sponsored by the Marriott so a majority of the hotels look the same. Luckily for us, we each get our own suites. Time to break the tablet out and get reviewing for this game we had against the Legion.*
Iyah Blewitt kicks it off to us. It looks like that talk we had about starting off right got us motivated.
We needed nine yards after a run from Bubba, we got 26 with Orosz to West.
We needed 10 on first down, we got twelve from Garden, he got stripped but he still got it back.
West got a six yard catch followed by an 18 yard reception to get us to the two yard line.
Garden caps it off with the first TD of the day. 7-0 with us on top and it only took us four and a half minutes to do it! I'm not mad about it. I got a pancake here too, no targets but I can't complain, it's a new opportunity.
We then pass it to the Legion for their first drive of the day. Spearhead got on the field and wasn't supposed to, cost us five yards because of it. Money man Berc had Stormblessed running free but Dermot cut that off something crazy, interception and he took it back the other way only to be shy one yard of a pick-six. I remember he was mad as hell when he could get to the end zone.
Not to worry though, we have the number one RB in the league from S1. Bubba nuck capped that off the next play. 14-0 us, things are looking up for us!
Two plays later after the return by Stormblessed, Berc drops back to pass and tries to fit it into Best TE recipient Gabriel Tenzini. Little did he know, we had Brice Boggs there to make sure that doesn't happen. Picked off and he couldn't get to the end zone either! Stopped one yard short of the pick six for the second time.
We got the ball on the one yard line and we go for the pass, Vinny Cox happened. Loss of three.
Speaking of three, that's how much Bubba lost on the next play, tackled in the backfield.
Next play, I break open from my defender and get to the back of the endzone, Orosz sees me aaaaaand he throws it out of the back of the end zone. I'm beginning to ask myself "How many stars must align before I get a touchdown in my short career?" I couldn't tell if he was pressured but we move on, Booter drops in three and the score becomes 17-0 in our favor.
Defense is playing spectacular this game. The legion get a few first downs from this drive but stall after getting a penalty for an Illegal Motion. I forgot who did it, I think it was the backup RB for them.
Nuck and Kennedy did the rushing duo thing, notching two first downs between the two of them. That's when we went to pass. The first play of the second quarter, Smallwood wanted to make a QB to WR connection got cut off by Peterson and got a interception on his stat sheet.
Bork did what Spearhead did earlier in the game to start their drive at a first and five situation. Long story short, they moved the ball one yard on a pass to Tenzini.
We receive the ball back and we went backwards, thanks to former teammate Mark "Ramrod" Ramrio. I can't help but be proud of him but he can't be tackling my QB like that. Haha I got a catch on third and 14 but I only got six yards. Can't do nothing with that. We return the ball to the Legion.
After a couple of first downs, Bercovici throws another interception to us, ball hawk central indeed! This time it's Alex Hansen with the sticky fingers.
We do nothing with it. Short pass to Checkers, pass incomplete to Bubba and then we get bit by the CB blitz play, losing six in the process.
After a 50+ yard boot by Booter, LeClair and Stormblessed couldn't hold onto the rock. Giving it back to us.
After a first down by Nuck, we move to third and five, the pass comes over the middle for me and it goes right through my hands and falls incomplete. My first drop so far this year, but luckily for me, we have time to make up for it. We send it back to Las Vegas.
We kick it off to Stormblessed and he proved why he's one of the best return men we have in this league.
Shook two defenders out of his shoes and ran down the sideline before getting tripped up by Booter. Came through with the clutchness on that one, he almost took it the distance. Made up for that lame punt. Haha He made it all the way to the eight yard line.
After a drop from LeClair, Rookie running back Ardie Savea punches it in for six. Getting the Legion their first points of the game. Score currently 17-7
From there, we had a two minute drill to move down the field. We got yards to get first downs but that's about it. Nothing of substance to get us close enough for an opportunity for points.
The start of the third quarter got interesting. The Legion fired and fired HARD!
Pass to Rocket? First down.
Rush by Savea? First down.l and into Wraiths' territory.
Pass to Stormblessed? First down.
Rush by Savea? First down.
Facemask penalty by LevoNovel? Automatic first down and into the red zone.
Another pass to Rocket? First down at the three yard line.
Two plays later, Bercovici tried Stormblessed for a TD. In doing that, he pressed the "Dermot" button.
He shouldn't have done that.
He throws his fourth interception this game because of it. A great drive only to end like that hurts. That's their problem, not ours.
Legion gives us some breathing room as we started out on the one yard line. That penalty moved us up to the five. Nuck gives up the first on a five yard gain. Pass to Smallwood goes through his hands, got his mind on Garlic Parmesan wings this time around.
Josh Garden shows his protégé how it's done, getting a 24 yard catch followed by a thirteen yard catch both used to move the chains. Then Darren put some chicken grease all over the Legion defender's uniform. If that isn't illegal use of hands, I don't know what is.
We sputter shortly after that and give it back to the Legion. They moved the ball close to midfield but the false start penalty screwed their momentum up. We get the ball back!
We rush the ball three times with Nuck and get one yard each time, that isn't gonna cut it. I did get a pancake on that play, I'm not mad at it. Back to Las Vegas as we head to the final quarter.
Tenzini has a great catch for 17 yards and then follows it up with a dropped pass. Sure glad I don't have those problems like the rest of the Tight Ends. Haha
Speaking of drops, Rocket drops a pass two plays after Tenzini. We get another try to score something.
I make a catch for three yards but we end up failing due to a couple of penalties. Back to the Legion. We really can't move the ball like we want to for some reason.
Bercovici? Meet Lindarius Shelton. That sack was nice! Luckioy for them Stormblessed bailed them out for the first.
Savea gets to the Wraiths' side of the field with an eleven yard gain. Then they stall yet again, capped with yet another drop by Tenzini. Makes me wonder why I'm not getting a lot of opportunities like this. At least, I'm more likely to make them count.
We get the ball back again. Very short drive.
Throw the ball away to avoid the sack.
Drop by Bubba.
Pass off the mark to West, falls harmlessly to the turf.
Another weak punt back to our feeder team. Gives them very good field position.
Johnny Rocket gets the Legion to the seven yard line with that great catch and run. Kevin Cushing brings him down. I haven't seen him that much this game. Next week I'm sure he'll step it up.
They pass the ball two times but they were off the mark, they tried a rush up the middle with Savea but they came up five yards short of the end zone.
Then Iyah Blewitt lived up to his name and hits a 22 yard field goal off the goal post. I laughed for at least 25 minutes when I seen that. No irony in his name, that's just a damn shame.
Not too much else to report here, we failed on another offensive drive in three plays, we punt the ball back to them. This time, it was very respectable.
I seen some more horrible play calling from the Legion side. Who calls time outs, spikes the ball and RUN THE FOOTBALL when you're trying to get back in the game? You're down ten! Show some urgency.
Like I said before, that's their problem and not ours.
Spike the ball, run play, run play and one more run play with a few blown timeouts sprinkled in will be the last four plays they called on offense.
We hold on to the lead, run the rest of the clock and the score ends up being 17-7 with us getting our first victory of the road trip.
Very, very, very, very, VERY ugly offensive performance. Besides that first quarter, we did little to nothing. It could have easily went the other way if it wasn't for our "bend but don't break* defense. They were the real MVPs this game.
The Legion played their asses off all over the field, shutting us down for more than 3/4 of the game. I'm looking forward to see how they grow.
Next time we play, I highly doubt this will happen again. I will definitely be keeping my eyes on them as they gain more talent. Just because they're an expansion team, doesn't mean they are going to just sit down and let us beat them up.
It was great to see the former teammates Ramrod, Sinjin and Varga again. Also got to see my Maddox twin Stanislaw too. I wish them nothing but the best in the rest of their careers. I'll check the schedule to see when they will be coming to Yellowknife for part two of this matchup.
*I shut my tablet off and take a sip of the Tennessee Honey Jack Daniels and relax in the bed*
Now we gotta handle the NSFL champs from last year in Arizona. This year, they're gonna have to earn that title and we're not gonna just give it up to them.
They took it from the Yeti in S1 but who knows what could have happened if we went toe to toe in that game.
We can have that preview of the S2 NSFL Championship battle come next week.
Let's see what you got, Arizona.
#WraithsNation
Slide @tlk742 $1 Mill of my earnings for this article and I'll take the rest.
Graded
Part 3: No Gambling Against the Legion![/div]
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Game Film/Dialogue
Thoughts/Flashbacks
Actions
°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°
Three Days After Loss To Yeti
*Checks out my bank account while random electronic music plays in the background off of the speakers in the bar. Sounds like some Daft Punk playing, I can rock this any time of the day!*
'I should head that Paint Party when we head to San Jose. It's gonna be so lit!'
*Remembers the time I tried to place a bet for the Tight Ends but most of them chickened out.*
'It is what it is. By the looks of it, they're waaayy ahead of me. I could have been out of 500K. Lmao Oh well. Getting kind of dull up in here.
*After the tab gets paid, and a few NSFL fans come up to me for pictures and sigs, I venture out to the streets to see what else is available to me. I then check the clock on my phone, it read 1:17AM*
'Eh, still early. Oooh, late night pizza spot!'
*orders two huge slices of pepperoni and ground beef pizza, signing my sig on the receipt, adding a $1,500 to go along with it after taking a bite of the slice*'
'They got drugs in this sumbish?!'
*After finishing the pizza off, I start to stroll down the block and waltz into a casino, all of the flashing lights bouncing around the room as the walls are covered in mirrors. I look to the left of the room and see a familiar face at the roulette table yelling 'Gimme red' over and over again. Followed by a loud 'F*ck!' I assumed he lost. I shake my head before departing.*
If he put as much work on the football field as he did in that gamble, he'd be the best lineman in the world. Damnit, Bigboy17.
*I roll my eyes before making my way back to the hotel. The NSFL is sponsored by the Marriott so a majority of the hotels look the same. Luckily for us, we each get our own suites. Time to break the tablet out and get reviewing for this game we had against the Legion.*
Iyah Blewitt kicks it off to us. It looks like that talk we had about starting off right got us motivated.
We needed nine yards after a run from Bubba, we got 26 with Orosz to West.
We needed 10 on first down, we got twelve from Garden, he got stripped but he still got it back.
West got a six yard catch followed by an 18 yard reception to get us to the two yard line.
Garden caps it off with the first TD of the day. 7-0 with us on top and it only took us four and a half minutes to do it! I'm not mad about it. I got a pancake here too, no targets but I can't complain, it's a new opportunity.
We then pass it to the Legion for their first drive of the day. Spearhead got on the field and wasn't supposed to, cost us five yards because of it. Money man Berc had Stormblessed running free but Dermot cut that off something crazy, interception and he took it back the other way only to be shy one yard of a pick-six. I remember he was mad as hell when he could get to the end zone.
Not to worry though, we have the number one RB in the league from S1. Bubba nuck capped that off the next play. 14-0 us, things are looking up for us!
Two plays later after the return by Stormblessed, Berc drops back to pass and tries to fit it into Best TE recipient Gabriel Tenzini. Little did he know, we had Brice Boggs there to make sure that doesn't happen. Picked off and he couldn't get to the end zone either! Stopped one yard short of the pick six for the second time.
We got the ball on the one yard line and we go for the pass, Vinny Cox happened. Loss of three.
Speaking of three, that's how much Bubba lost on the next play, tackled in the backfield.
Next play, I break open from my defender and get to the back of the endzone, Orosz sees me aaaaaand he throws it out of the back of the end zone. I'm beginning to ask myself "How many stars must align before I get a touchdown in my short career?" I couldn't tell if he was pressured but we move on, Booter drops in three and the score becomes 17-0 in our favor.
Defense is playing spectacular this game. The legion get a few first downs from this drive but stall after getting a penalty for an Illegal Motion. I forgot who did it, I think it was the backup RB for them.
Nuck and Kennedy did the rushing duo thing, notching two first downs between the two of them. That's when we went to pass. The first play of the second quarter, Smallwood wanted to make a QB to WR connection got cut off by Peterson and got a interception on his stat sheet.
Bork did what Spearhead did earlier in the game to start their drive at a first and five situation. Long story short, they moved the ball one yard on a pass to Tenzini.
We receive the ball back and we went backwards, thanks to former teammate Mark "Ramrod" Ramrio. I can't help but be proud of him but he can't be tackling my QB like that. Haha I got a catch on third and 14 but I only got six yards. Can't do nothing with that. We return the ball to the Legion.
After a couple of first downs, Bercovici throws another interception to us, ball hawk central indeed! This time it's Alex Hansen with the sticky fingers.
We do nothing with it. Short pass to Checkers, pass incomplete to Bubba and then we get bit by the CB blitz play, losing six in the process.
After a 50+ yard boot by Booter, LeClair and Stormblessed couldn't hold onto the rock. Giving it back to us.
After a first down by Nuck, we move to third and five, the pass comes over the middle for me and it goes right through my hands and falls incomplete. My first drop so far this year, but luckily for me, we have time to make up for it. We send it back to Las Vegas.
We kick it off to Stormblessed and he proved why he's one of the best return men we have in this league.
Shook two defenders out of his shoes and ran down the sideline before getting tripped up by Booter. Came through with the clutchness on that one, he almost took it the distance. Made up for that lame punt. Haha He made it all the way to the eight yard line.
After a drop from LeClair, Rookie running back Ardie Savea punches it in for six. Getting the Legion their first points of the game. Score currently 17-7
From there, we had a two minute drill to move down the field. We got yards to get first downs but that's about it. Nothing of substance to get us close enough for an opportunity for points.
The start of the third quarter got interesting. The Legion fired and fired HARD!
Pass to Rocket? First down.
Rush by Savea? First down.l and into Wraiths' territory.
Pass to Stormblessed? First down.
Rush by Savea? First down.
Facemask penalty by LevoNovel? Automatic first down and into the red zone.
Another pass to Rocket? First down at the three yard line.
Two plays later, Bercovici tried Stormblessed for a TD. In doing that, he pressed the "Dermot" button.
He shouldn't have done that.
He throws his fourth interception this game because of it. A great drive only to end like that hurts. That's their problem, not ours.
Legion gives us some breathing room as we started out on the one yard line. That penalty moved us up to the five. Nuck gives up the first on a five yard gain. Pass to Smallwood goes through his hands, got his mind on Garlic Parmesan wings this time around.
Josh Garden shows his protégé how it's done, getting a 24 yard catch followed by a thirteen yard catch both used to move the chains. Then Darren put some chicken grease all over the Legion defender's uniform. If that isn't illegal use of hands, I don't know what is.
We sputter shortly after that and give it back to the Legion. They moved the ball close to midfield but the false start penalty screwed their momentum up. We get the ball back!
We rush the ball three times with Nuck and get one yard each time, that isn't gonna cut it. I did get a pancake on that play, I'm not mad at it. Back to Las Vegas as we head to the final quarter.
Tenzini has a great catch for 17 yards and then follows it up with a dropped pass. Sure glad I don't have those problems like the rest of the Tight Ends. Haha
Speaking of drops, Rocket drops a pass two plays after Tenzini. We get another try to score something.
I make a catch for three yards but we end up failing due to a couple of penalties. Back to the Legion. We really can't move the ball like we want to for some reason.
Bercovici? Meet Lindarius Shelton. That sack was nice! Luckioy for them Stormblessed bailed them out for the first.
Savea gets to the Wraiths' side of the field with an eleven yard gain. Then they stall yet again, capped with yet another drop by Tenzini. Makes me wonder why I'm not getting a lot of opportunities like this. At least, I'm more likely to make them count.
We get the ball back again. Very short drive.
Throw the ball away to avoid the sack.
Drop by Bubba.
Pass off the mark to West, falls harmlessly to the turf.
Another weak punt back to our feeder team. Gives them very good field position.
Johnny Rocket gets the Legion to the seven yard line with that great catch and run. Kevin Cushing brings him down. I haven't seen him that much this game. Next week I'm sure he'll step it up.
They pass the ball two times but they were off the mark, they tried a rush up the middle with Savea but they came up five yards short of the end zone.
Then Iyah Blewitt lived up to his name and hits a 22 yard field goal off the goal post. I laughed for at least 25 minutes when I seen that. No irony in his name, that's just a damn shame.
Not too much else to report here, we failed on another offensive drive in three plays, we punt the ball back to them. This time, it was very respectable.
I seen some more horrible play calling from the Legion side. Who calls time outs, spikes the ball and RUN THE FOOTBALL when you're trying to get back in the game? You're down ten! Show some urgency.
Like I said before, that's their problem and not ours.
Spike the ball, run play, run play and one more run play with a few blown timeouts sprinkled in will be the last four plays they called on offense.
We hold on to the lead, run the rest of the clock and the score ends up being 17-7 with us getting our first victory of the road trip.
Very, very, very, very, VERY ugly offensive performance. Besides that first quarter, we did little to nothing. It could have easily went the other way if it wasn't for our "bend but don't break* defense. They were the real MVPs this game.
The Legion played their asses off all over the field, shutting us down for more than 3/4 of the game. I'm looking forward to see how they grow.
Next time we play, I highly doubt this will happen again. I will definitely be keeping my eyes on them as they gain more talent. Just because they're an expansion team, doesn't mean they are going to just sit down and let us beat them up.
It was great to see the former teammates Ramrod, Sinjin and Varga again. Also got to see my Maddox twin Stanislaw too. I wish them nothing but the best in the rest of their careers. I'll check the schedule to see when they will be coming to Yellowknife for part two of this matchup.
*I shut my tablet off and take a sip of the Tennessee Honey Jack Daniels and relax in the bed*
Now we gotta handle the NSFL champs from last year in Arizona. This year, they're gonna have to earn that title and we're not gonna just give it up to them.
They took it from the Yeti in S1 but who knows what could have happened if we went toe to toe in that game.
We can have that preview of the S2 NSFL Championship battle come next week.
Let's see what you got, Arizona.
#WraithsNation
Code:
2135 words, ready to be graded.
Slide @tlk742 $1 Mill of my earnings for this article and I'll take the rest.
Graded