08-23-2023, 03:54 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-25-2023, 08:38 AM by H0PPY75. Edited 1 time in total.)
We know that New Orleans are going through a significant rebuild that I have been lucky enough to be drafted into, you might find lucky to be a weird word choice but the New Orleans locker room has been awesome so far. It has been a great experience for a new user to the league - so what is the state of the Second Line, is it worse than expected? Better than expected? How are we looking for the future? We are 8 games in now so I thought it was a great time to look at the season so far as we are halfway through the season.
Well we started the season at home against Chicago, the Butchers were tipped to be another team that would struggle this season. Optimism was high and we thought that we were a serious chance to start off the season 1-0, how did we go? Just a casual 25 point loss, the offense couldn't get clicking in St Christmas's first start for the Second Line and the defense couldn't really stop anything. Penguin had 300 yards and Dux had 150 all-purpose yards and a touchdown, not the start that we wanted. A bright spot however was the play of true rookie and 13th overall in the most recent draft, Bubba Hog. Hog's play has been a consistent this season and he started it off in Week 1 where he put up ten tackles and added a tackle for a loss to that total as well.
This loss sort of epitomised our play in the first 6 weeks of the season, we would hype ourselves up and believe we had a chance and then we would just fall on our face at some point. In Week 2 we had 20-13 lead against Honolulu with 29 seconds left in the first half, we would go into half time tied at 20. The Hahalua would then reel off a further 20 unanswered points to win the game by 20 points. Another game that we had circled as a potential win was our Week 4 trip to Orange County, but the Otters smacked us in the mouth. A garbage time TD the only saving grace in a 19 point loss that saw Diarra run rampant all over our defense.
So after 6 games we found ourselves 0-6 and our next 3 games against the reigning Ultimus participants (2 vs Arizona and 1 vs Berlin), surely 0-9 is on the cards and we can start scouting for our eventual 1 OA pick. Wrong.
From the start of the game against Arizona things felt different, we were making stops on fourth down, we were making goal line stands. On offense the passing game was clicking Duanei, Prince and Greyson were all making chunk plays and Crane was making plays in the rushing game and the passing game. On top of that we had the fabled sim luck, an interception before half time had the potential to give the Outlaws a 10 point lead going into the half with a touchdown or a 6 point lead if we could hold them to a Field Goal. Instead the Outlaws went for it on 4th and 7 choosing a run play, Nedelko was stopped short of the line to gain by Bubba Hog. Going into half time down only 3 was a big boost.
After the half a quick 3 and out by Arizona led to a game tying Field Goal, later in the half St Christmas and Prince would combine on a long TD to give us a lead. The next drive saw the Outlaws deep in the red zone when Azael was able to make an interception to preserve the lead, Arizona like the champion team that they are would fight back and tie the game. A methodical drive that took 7 minutes off the clock led to a 55 yard Dos Santos bomb that gave New Orleans the lead, however Arizona would answer with 2 and a half minutes left. A drive that seemed to stall a few times ended with a game tying FG with 20 seconds left, we headed to overtime.
Arizona started overtime with the ball, a holding penalty led to a quick punt and a chance for us to secure a win. On 3rd and 2 from our own 10, St Christmas found Duanei for a 45 yard gain - a huge play that keyed the drive. Another first down had us in FG range and Dos Santos sent through another long range effort from 49 yards out to seal the win. An insane game and a game that we certainly weren't favoured to win, it was a great experience within the locker room as channels popped off once the FG sailed through.
Against Berlin we came in with momentum and it was a tight first half that saw us have a one point lead (3-2 - the sim was watching too much of the Women's World Cup obviously). Unfortunately we fell off in the second half with some penalties negating a few big plays down the stretch.
While the results haven't been overly positive, there have been some promising items through the season - so I thought I would highlight some of the great Individual Performances that some of our players have produced.
Week 2 - Josh Gibson - 2 Tackles, 2 Interceptions, 1 Defensive Touchdowns
I didn't want to start with myself but here we are - this was a game that I wasn't expecting, as a true rookie I have struggled to influence the game at all. Being able to get my first interception and return it to the house was one thing, following it up with another interception on the next drive was just bonkers.
Week 3 - Kyle Crane - 14 carries, 62 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TD, 8 catches, 54 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD
I could have picked a number of Crane's games to feature but I decided to choose this one, two total TD's and showing his lethality in both the rushing game and the receiving game. This guy is going to be one of the best in the league soon and we shouldn't sleep on how good he can be in the passing game.
Week 6 - Bubba Hog - 13 tackles, 1 tackle for loss
Similar to Crane, I could have picked a number of different games to highlight Hog's effectiveness but I decided to go for one where he impacted the stat sheet the most with 13 tackles. Hog has been asked to anchor this LB core and he has been extremely effective in doing so - he has the third most tackles across the whole league and routinely leads the team in tackles. New Orleans got a good one in Bubba Hog.
Week 7 - The Passing Game
Adrian St. Christmas - 33/53, 393 Passing Yards, 2 Passing Touchdowns
Forozka Duanei - 8 catches, 103 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdown
Eli Prince - 7 catches, 123 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdown
Both Duanei and Prince showed off their big play threat in the win over Arizona, both of the rookie Wide Receivers had 40 yard plus receptions - Prince's was a Touchdown and Duanei was during Overtime and led to the game winning Field Goal. St. Christmas really showed up in this win, we signed St. Christmas to be a veteran presence under center and this was a great performance and gave the talented receiving core a chance to show their wares.
The two rookie wideout's have been great this season, they have been more and more explosive after the first month of the season. Seeing these two working well and throw in Mardukas and Crane and we have a potent offense that is being built for the future.
So that's the state of New Orleans, maybe we can snag another couple of wins and grab another two wins to help out all those believers that bet on the NOLA over.
Well we started the season at home against Chicago, the Butchers were tipped to be another team that would struggle this season. Optimism was high and we thought that we were a serious chance to start off the season 1-0, how did we go? Just a casual 25 point loss, the offense couldn't get clicking in St Christmas's first start for the Second Line and the defense couldn't really stop anything. Penguin had 300 yards and Dux had 150 all-purpose yards and a touchdown, not the start that we wanted. A bright spot however was the play of true rookie and 13th overall in the most recent draft, Bubba Hog. Hog's play has been a consistent this season and he started it off in Week 1 where he put up ten tackles and added a tackle for a loss to that total as well.
This loss sort of epitomised our play in the first 6 weeks of the season, we would hype ourselves up and believe we had a chance and then we would just fall on our face at some point. In Week 2 we had 20-13 lead against Honolulu with 29 seconds left in the first half, we would go into half time tied at 20. The Hahalua would then reel off a further 20 unanswered points to win the game by 20 points. Another game that we had circled as a potential win was our Week 4 trip to Orange County, but the Otters smacked us in the mouth. A garbage time TD the only saving grace in a 19 point loss that saw Diarra run rampant all over our defense.
So after 6 games we found ourselves 0-6 and our next 3 games against the reigning Ultimus participants (2 vs Arizona and 1 vs Berlin), surely 0-9 is on the cards and we can start scouting for our eventual 1 OA pick. Wrong.
From the start of the game against Arizona things felt different, we were making stops on fourth down, we were making goal line stands. On offense the passing game was clicking Duanei, Prince and Greyson were all making chunk plays and Crane was making plays in the rushing game and the passing game. On top of that we had the fabled sim luck, an interception before half time had the potential to give the Outlaws a 10 point lead going into the half with a touchdown or a 6 point lead if we could hold them to a Field Goal. Instead the Outlaws went for it on 4th and 7 choosing a run play, Nedelko was stopped short of the line to gain by Bubba Hog. Going into half time down only 3 was a big boost.
After the half a quick 3 and out by Arizona led to a game tying Field Goal, later in the half St Christmas and Prince would combine on a long TD to give us a lead. The next drive saw the Outlaws deep in the red zone when Azael was able to make an interception to preserve the lead, Arizona like the champion team that they are would fight back and tie the game. A methodical drive that took 7 minutes off the clock led to a 55 yard Dos Santos bomb that gave New Orleans the lead, however Arizona would answer with 2 and a half minutes left. A drive that seemed to stall a few times ended with a game tying FG with 20 seconds left, we headed to overtime.
Arizona started overtime with the ball, a holding penalty led to a quick punt and a chance for us to secure a win. On 3rd and 2 from our own 10, St Christmas found Duanei for a 45 yard gain - a huge play that keyed the drive. Another first down had us in FG range and Dos Santos sent through another long range effort from 49 yards out to seal the win. An insane game and a game that we certainly weren't favoured to win, it was a great experience within the locker room as channels popped off once the FG sailed through.
Against Berlin we came in with momentum and it was a tight first half that saw us have a one point lead (3-2 - the sim was watching too much of the Women's World Cup obviously). Unfortunately we fell off in the second half with some penalties negating a few big plays down the stretch.
While the results haven't been overly positive, there have been some promising items through the season - so I thought I would highlight some of the great Individual Performances that some of our players have produced.
Week 2 - Josh Gibson - 2 Tackles, 2 Interceptions, 1 Defensive Touchdowns
I didn't want to start with myself but here we are - this was a game that I wasn't expecting, as a true rookie I have struggled to influence the game at all. Being able to get my first interception and return it to the house was one thing, following it up with another interception on the next drive was just bonkers.
Week 3 - Kyle Crane - 14 carries, 62 Rushing Yards, 1 Rushing TD, 8 catches, 54 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving TD
I could have picked a number of Crane's games to feature but I decided to choose this one, two total TD's and showing his lethality in both the rushing game and the receiving game. This guy is going to be one of the best in the league soon and we shouldn't sleep on how good he can be in the passing game.
Week 6 - Bubba Hog - 13 tackles, 1 tackle for loss
Similar to Crane, I could have picked a number of different games to highlight Hog's effectiveness but I decided to go for one where he impacted the stat sheet the most with 13 tackles. Hog has been asked to anchor this LB core and he has been extremely effective in doing so - he has the third most tackles across the whole league and routinely leads the team in tackles. New Orleans got a good one in Bubba Hog.
Week 7 - The Passing Game
Adrian St. Christmas - 33/53, 393 Passing Yards, 2 Passing Touchdowns
Forozka Duanei - 8 catches, 103 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdown
Eli Prince - 7 catches, 123 Receiving Yards, 1 Receiving Touchdown
Both Duanei and Prince showed off their big play threat in the win over Arizona, both of the rookie Wide Receivers had 40 yard plus receptions - Prince's was a Touchdown and Duanei was during Overtime and led to the game winning Field Goal. St. Christmas really showed up in this win, we signed St. Christmas to be a veteran presence under center and this was a great performance and gave the talented receiving core a chance to show their wares.
The two rookie wideout's have been great this season, they have been more and more explosive after the first month of the season. Seeing these two working well and throw in Mardukas and Crane and we have a potent offense that is being built for the future.
So that's the state of New Orleans, maybe we can snag another couple of wins and grab another two wins to help out all those believers that bet on the NOLA over.