I like the new league logos a lot! Huge improvements there. The 20 stars definitely fits the era, even if it's a little much. I also appreciate a nice Clarenrane-style serif.

MitchSwanson94 wrote:

Shouldn't the season be up by now?

I mean, it's not like Dr. Pepper said it would be posted today. Just give them time.

Steelman wrote:

I like the new league logos a lot! Huge improvements there. The 20 stars definitely fits the era, even if it's a little much. I also appreciate a nice Clarenrane-style serif.

Thanks for the kind words. The new league logo will be implemented starting next offseason!

NFA Season 1969-70 

The 1969 season was another one of the ever increasingly competitive seasons, which saw a league wide rise in incredible offenses. The season would even be called the Year of the Running Back as several backs would have great seasons. But it was one team in particular that led the charge in changing the offensive environment in the league.  
The Miami Stingrays would take the league by storm, led by MVP RB Elijah Boone, starting the season 12-0, spearheading one of the most impressive seasons by an offense in league history. They'd stay undefeated until a close defeat in New York finally put a mark in the loss column. Boone had been close to emerging as an MVP talent since the 1967 season, but finally he'd claim the award for himself this season, becoming the first back to do it since Charley Rodgers and he’d prevent QB Ron Murray from becoming the first player to ever win 3 straight MVPs. Boone himself broke several records for running backs, some that had recently been set by RB Charley Rodgers in his impressive ‘66 campaign. It wasn't just Boone though on offense, QB Joshua George had his best season and the offensive line was able to give Boone all the holes and opportunities he could ask for. WR Joseph Armstrong also became a top tier receiver. This great feat wasn’t without controversy. Many criticized Miami’s strength of schedule, claiming that they only played 2 really talented teams, Houston and San Francisco.  There’s not much of an argument against it either, they only played 5 teams with winning records and 8 games against opponents that finished with 5 or less wins.Also in the South were the younger Explorers. Houston would see their opponents start to catch on to their young offense, and QB Zachary Ingram would start his second season a bit rough. Nonetheless, the Explorers would win 6 of their first 8, none of their wins being more than a score apart. Towards the end of the season though these close games would start swinging the other way. They'd go 0-3-1 over a four game span in the middle of the season, with tough losses at Miami and Philadelphia. They'd eventually get things sorted back out and RB Ollie Smith would hit a stride through the last 2 games, putting the team on his back for both of those wins, clinching a postseason appearance for the second year in a row. 
The last 3 teams in the South would comprise of the Sabres, Kings and Roughriders. Rounding out a pretty top heavy division. Cincinnati and St. Louis would both disappoint while Texas would have a rough year as expected, no pun intended. Cincinnati would start out well, with a talented defense leading the team to a 3-2 record. However on offense, QB Roy Frazier would get injured in week 6, hurting his knee when he took a sack in a loss to San Francisco. Frazier was the only bright side of this offense as RB William Green, an offseason acquisition and the receiving core would both underperform. After Frazier was out, the team would tank, losing 7 of their last 8. St. Louis wouldn't be much better. While not held down by injuries, the veterans that led them to a South Division title last year didn't click this year and the team was mediocre again. Texas would start the season 0-6 before coming out of their bye week and mysteriously coming alive. They'd get 4 wins in a span of 5 games before falling off again and losing their last 3. This win streak wasn't against weak teams either. They were impressive wins against Milwaukee and at Houston and Cincinnati, all of which they were favored to lose.  

In the Northeast the Pirates clinched their second division title. QB Ron Murray continued to prove he was the best QB in the game, coming in second place of the MVP race and leading his team to 11 wins. Washington, following the trend set by Miami, was led more by an overpowering offense, less than by the suffocating defense that they and New York had been known for over the past half decade. This was aided by offseason addition RB Charley Rodgers, who had won the MVP just 3 years ago after having one of the best seasons for a RB in recent history. Both Rodgers and Murray would put up some amazing stats, however, they would still be outclassed by Boone and George, Boone having a marginally better year than Rodgers especially. The Pirates were obviously better well rounded than the Stingrays though, as, despite not having their best season, the defense was still scary, led by future Hall of Famer DE Monty Jones. The Pirates were obviously contested by the reigning champs, the Hornets, who would also contribute to a historically offensively led season. QB Oscar Washington would continue to put up good numbers and RB Kent Ross would be one of many good backs this year. However the defense would take a step back in many ways. What was already a downside to the Hornets team became a huge liability as teams such as Milwaukee and Washington would  deliver huge mid seasons losses to them. The Hornets would drop 4 games overall and fall to the 4 seed in the postseason. 
New York would also find themselves struggling in such an offensively led league. Despite having a historic defense, the Cannons would find themselves losing close games to the Ironmen and Bulldogs early in the season and then completely falling apart and losing 4 of their last 5. Their only win would be that surprising upset over Miami where the defense rose back up to the occasion and completely shut down Elijah Boone, something no other team could do. DT Tyree Matthews would also continue to struggle with knee injuries, reinjuring the same knee he hurt in the Champions Bowl. This is a bit disappointing as Matthews has been one of the best over the past few seasons, and the Cannons just signed him to one of the biggest deals on defense. 
Boston had quite the opposite season. They actually started out winning 1 of their first 6 and played horribly. This led to frustrations boiling over between longtime coach Bill Montague and former stars such as RB Stevie Parks. QB Lou Harris, who had been thrust into the starting spot after the retirement of Donald McCloud, would struggle to keep up with the hard schedule bestowed upon the Gaels and was eventually benched. However it was when they benched Harris for Cameron Meyer, a third year who was an offseason acquisition from the Bombers, that things started to click. Meyer, who made his first ever start in week 8, would win 5 of the teams last 8 games, making a serious push for a postseason spot. Meyer was aided by RB Stevie Parks rebounding after a frustrating start, having his best season in a few years, and tensions calming between the team and Montague. 
The Bulldogs wouldn't do much better in their first season in Atlanta, only winning 3 games. However, their attendance would improve, slightly. They’d sell out the first home game of the season vs the Hornets, who they miraculously upset in maybe the most exciting Bulldog game in years. Attendance would slowly get worse as the season progressed though. But even their worst game, their week 15 tie against Pittsburgh, got more attendance then a lot of their games did last season. Still however, they were bottom 3 in attendance this season, which, granted, is an improvement, but not by as much as ownership had hoped.  

Los Angeles would officially start to decline as the West saw the peak of the Whales, who won their first division title. RB Sid Snell would be yet another back who saw themselves have a great season. He'd lead San Fran to a 6-0-1 to start and would be in the running for MVP. But, he'd end up missing 2 and a half of the next 3 games with an ankle sprain, after that 6 win start. Both of the full games he missed would be losses, but they’d bounce back when he returned the next week with a big win over the playoff bound Rangers. They’d finish the season going 3-1 in the last 4 games, with a huge win over LA in the middle of that which would clinch them a postseason spot for the 3rd year in a row. Los Angeles, despite not being as impressive as in years past, still slipped into the postseason as a 8 seed. All 7 of the Tigers wins would come against teams with losing records, in fact LA only played 3 teams with winning records, 2 games against the Whales, and then one against Miami and Chicago. They had possibly one of the easier schedules in the league and used that to their advantage. Much like other teams this season, LA was led by Kieth Lincoln. Sam Peck and RB Bob Briscoe were still around, but both declined heavily from years past. Briscoe took almost half the load off of Peck and ended up taking most of them the last 3 games. Lincoln, despite being the team’s best player,  actually had his least amount of pass attempts in a season ever as the team turned to Peck and Briscoe more than ever. Lincoln, while playing well through the first half of the season, started to slow down and finished the season with a rough stretch of 4 games which saw him have some of his worst performances in his career.
Rounding out the west were the Lumberjacks, Cougars and Ox who both collected 5 wins. Minneapolis’s rookie QB Frank Taylor, who they traded a huge package for to select with the 1st overall pick, played well. Although, fans called that he wasn’t good enough for what they traded away. Coach Ray Grant would criticize these fans as Taylor was only coming out of his sophomore year at Southern University, and had shown some real potential throughout the season. Grant stated that any fans upset with the direction of the franchise would never be happy no matter what he did and stated that he and the front office have done a fantastic job running the team the past few years, which garnered even more backlash from the fans. Seattle finished the season 2 and 12, meaning they’ve failed to get a winning record in their first 10 seasons. Despite this, attendance isn’t bad. They were 17th in the league, still above Atlanta, Colorado, and St. Louis. 

The final division was the North. Cleveland would win their first division title as they’d have a very interesting year. First, while their record wasn’t awful, they pretty much split between home and away games. They became the first team since before 1964 to go undefeated at home, but they also lost nearly every road game, only beating the Kings and Bulldogs while on the road. QB Curtis Mueller didn’t have quite the spectacular year he’s had in the past. Second, surprisingly, well maybe not for this season, but it was veteran RB Joshua Barlow who had his best season at 31 years old and was the one who led the offense this season for the Forest City. Barlow started off really hot, setting a record for most rushing yards through the first half of the season in franchise history, and looked primed to beat the record for most in a season solidly, but he would cool off and just come short of beating the record set by Mohammad Lowe in 1958-59. Despite Barlow having a good season, the Rangers’ best aspect was their defense. DE Leo Smitts and LB George Pope helped the team finish high in defensive rankings by the end of the season. In second place were the 8 win Barbarians, who bucked the trend of rushing the ball and actually threw the ball more than they did last season. QB William Brown put another good season under his belt. But it was the Barbarian defense that let the team down. High Scoring losses to Chicago in week 1, Texas in week 8, and Boston in week 9, prevented the team from returning to the throne of the division for the third straight year. Chicago and Pittsburgh both just missed out of playoff spots, finishing 9th and 10th respectively.



Quarterfinals Preview 

8.Los Angeles Tigers at 1.Miami Stingrays
Miami is clearly the favorites in this one. Elijah Boone is the league’s best running back and possibly the league's best player. He also has a good supporting class of Joshua George, who made strides at quarterback this year and one of the league’s best offensive lines. Their defense is also on the up and up with emerging players such as Ted Brewer and Bobby Skags. The only way it seems like Miami could possibly lose this one is if they don’t show up and they haven’t done that once. 
Los Angeles, despite having been a Champions Bowl contender the past 8 years, barely made it into the postseason and have declined significantly. Kieth Lincoln is definitely still one of the league’s finest, but he finished the season poorly and the rest of the offense is crumbling around him. If Lincoln can find a way to play as good as in years past and the defense can step up though, the Tigers could have a shot at handing the Rays their 2nd loss of the season. 

7.Milwaukee Barbarians at 2.Washington Pirates
Had this game taken place last year, Milwaukee might’ve had a chance. This year however Washington is clearly favored. The Pirates rival the Stingrays in terms of offensive capabilities and the offense has picked up steam as their defense has slowed down. Ron Murray is the league’s best quarterback and Charley Rodgers is a former MVP. They also have possibly one of the league’s best receivers in Paul Hudson. 

However, Washington did lose games this year, which gives the Barbarians a blueprint on how to win this game. In both of those games, much like last year's semi final, the Pirates offense was shut down by a good defensive showing that forced them to resort to their weaker running game. If the Barbarians defense can step up and lock up Murray, they have a much easier path to victory.  

6.Houston Explorers at 3.San Francisco Whales
Unlike the first two games, this one will be much closer. The Whales return to the postseason for the 3rd year in a row, playing at home for the 3rd time in a row. This however is probably the best they’ve looked yet with the defense playing well and Sid Snell reaching peak performance. When the two matched up in week 4 the Whales were able to dismantle the Explorers offense and Snell scored 3 times for a blowout win.  

San Francisco has one downside though. They’ve lost both of their previous wildcard games at home, and Houston, in particular Ollie Smith has caught on fire through the last 3 games of the season, helping Houston recover from a midseason slump. If Zachary Ingram can return to the form he held last season, and Smith can keep up the work, the Explorers could very well send the Whales to the couch to watch the postseason on the TV for a 3rd straight year. 

5.Cleveland Rangers at 4.Philadelphia Hornets
This is another very close game. Cleveland has shown that they are two completely different teams depending one whether they are at home or not. Their 11.5 point differential at home is the second best in the league and the defense seems to always show up big at home. However on the road the Rangers are a -3.8 point differential, barely winning the two away games they won. This game is in Philadelphia, just like when their week 4 matchup where the Rangers laid an egg and were destroyed 28-3. If the Rangers want to do better than that they’ll have to channel whatever energy they have at home. If Philadelphia wants to win, they have to prevent Cleveland from doing just that, because if they do, the Rangers are the better team, if not, the Hornets are. It all depends on which Rangers team steps onto the field.



C&C appreciated, how'd your team do? What are your playoff predictions?

Last edited by MyTeamIsDr.Pepper (12/18/2020 9:23 pm)

Sevsdast wrote:

I think you showed the entire bracket.

Well that's embarrassing. It's fixed now. Sorry for the spoilers, pretend you didn't see anything lol.

MyTeamIsDr.Pepper wrote:

Sevsdast wrote:

I think you showed the entire bracket.

Well that's embarrassing. It's fixed now. Sorry for the spoilers, pretend you didn't see anything lol.

LOL! *insert spoiler*

Last edited by MyTeamIsDr.Pepper (12/18/2020 9:26 pm)