7. Write 600 words or more on something about anything in the league that interests you. It could be related to statistics, a league issue that you take seriously, or a niche part of history that doesn’t fit neatly into either of the above categories. This must be directly related to the league, so don’t wax 600 words about your team’s participation on a Werewolf server or something.
Does a good special teams unit correlate to success in the International Simulation Football league? People say football is football is a three phase games, but not all phases are created equal, and while punting and kicking are the most important part of special teams, today we're going to be looking at the return game. So is the least talked about phase of football secretly the key to success? Let's delve into the stats to find out.
Only three players scored a kickoff return touchdown, Octavio Pérez of the Berlin Salamanders, Deandre King of the San Jose Sabercats, and Nick Kaepercolin Jr. of the Sarasota Sailfish, but each team had different levels of success. The Sailfish were a first round playoff exit, the Sabercats barely missed the playoffs by one game, and the Salamanders had the worst record in their conference, so being able to house kickoffs isn't all that impactful, but what about returning kicks for big gains?
The top five in kickoff return yards were Dax Dangerfield of the New York Silverbacks (finished 5th in conference), Austin Morley of the Chicago Butchers (finished 3rd in conference), Zane Cold of the Orange County Otters (finished 6th in conference), Derrick Prince of the Cape Town Crash (finished 5th in conference), and Zayne Dangle of the Berlin Salamanders (finished last in conference). As you can see only one of the players who were top five in yards even made the playoffs, but did in fact were able to win a game before being bounced. The failure of success for the teams makes sense, since more yards probably means more chances at returns, which means your team is giving up a lot of points. So a good kickoff unit doesn't mean you're going to be a good team, if anything it means the opposite. but what about the punt return unit?
Only two players were able to take punt returns to the house, Ozamataz Buckshank of the Austin Copperheads (finished 2nd in conference), and Cedric Wilkins II of the San Jose Sabercats (finished 4th in conference). Austin was upset by the New Orleans Secondline in the first round of the playoffs, so scoring on punts didn't really translate to team success, which makes sense, since 6 points isn't really going to change anything over the course of a season, and probably barely impact a game.
The top five players in punt return yardage are, Derrick Prince of the Cape Town Crash (finished 5th in conference), Cedric Wilkins II of the San Jose Sabercats (finished 4th in conference), Rocky Moreaux of the Colorado Yeti (finished 4th in conference), Leek Mai-Heinous of the Honolulu Hahulua (Last in conference), and Louis Blondin of the Arizona Outlaws (1st in conference). The only team out of the five to make the playoffs would ultimately fall short of the goal by losing in the championship game, while everyone else watched at home. Again a majority of the teams in this category would ultimately fail to make the playoffs and that could be for a couple of reasons. It could be due to a lack of offense, since the defense is holding the opposing teams to midfield or further back, but more punt returns yards could also be due to inflated opponent drives, which also is indicative of a bad offense, but also give the defense a more chances of allowing a score.
After going over the stats the question still remains, is the return game secretly over powered and the missing key to success that middling teams need to pick up on and invest into? The answer that is shocking to almost no one is no, and if anything teams should be investing in a being a worse return team unit, as teams that are good in both punts and kicks typically are bad on offense or defense, and in some cases, both.
Does a good special teams unit correlate to success in the International Simulation Football league? People say football is football is a three phase games, but not all phases are created equal, and while punting and kicking are the most important part of special teams, today we're going to be looking at the return game. So is the least talked about phase of football secretly the key to success? Let's delve into the stats to find out.
Only three players scored a kickoff return touchdown, Octavio Pérez of the Berlin Salamanders, Deandre King of the San Jose Sabercats, and Nick Kaepercolin Jr. of the Sarasota Sailfish, but each team had different levels of success. The Sailfish were a first round playoff exit, the Sabercats barely missed the playoffs by one game, and the Salamanders had the worst record in their conference, so being able to house kickoffs isn't all that impactful, but what about returning kicks for big gains?
The top five in kickoff return yards were Dax Dangerfield of the New York Silverbacks (finished 5th in conference), Austin Morley of the Chicago Butchers (finished 3rd in conference), Zane Cold of the Orange County Otters (finished 6th in conference), Derrick Prince of the Cape Town Crash (finished 5th in conference), and Zayne Dangle of the Berlin Salamanders (finished last in conference). As you can see only one of the players who were top five in yards even made the playoffs, but did in fact were able to win a game before being bounced. The failure of success for the teams makes sense, since more yards probably means more chances at returns, which means your team is giving up a lot of points. So a good kickoff unit doesn't mean you're going to be a good team, if anything it means the opposite. but what about the punt return unit?
Only two players were able to take punt returns to the house, Ozamataz Buckshank of the Austin Copperheads (finished 2nd in conference), and Cedric Wilkins II of the San Jose Sabercats (finished 4th in conference). Austin was upset by the New Orleans Secondline in the first round of the playoffs, so scoring on punts didn't really translate to team success, which makes sense, since 6 points isn't really going to change anything over the course of a season, and probably barely impact a game.
The top five players in punt return yardage are, Derrick Prince of the Cape Town Crash (finished 5th in conference), Cedric Wilkins II of the San Jose Sabercats (finished 4th in conference), Rocky Moreaux of the Colorado Yeti (finished 4th in conference), Leek Mai-Heinous of the Honolulu Hahulua (Last in conference), and Louis Blondin of the Arizona Outlaws (1st in conference). The only team out of the five to make the playoffs would ultimately fall short of the goal by losing in the championship game, while everyone else watched at home. Again a majority of the teams in this category would ultimately fail to make the playoffs and that could be for a couple of reasons. It could be due to a lack of offense, since the defense is holding the opposing teams to midfield or further back, but more punt returns yards could also be due to inflated opponent drives, which also is indicative of a bad offense, but also give the defense a more chances of allowing a score.
After going over the stats the question still remains, is the return game secretly over powered and the missing key to success that middling teams need to pick up on and invest into? The answer that is shocking to almost no one is no, and if anything teams should be investing in a being a worse return team unit, as teams that are good in both punts and kicks typically are bad on offense or defense, and in some cases, both.