The eyes of the league in 2029 largely fell upon the Philadelphia Row and their quest to dethrone the Texas Redbacks. A 63-1 campaign last year hadn’t been enough to win a title or stop the Redbacks, so they decided to start with something else Texas seemingly had a monopoly on: an undefeated regular season. Their 66-0 record was one of, if not the most dominant performance in league history, highlighted by a defense that was far and away the league’s best. The Row D only allowed 74.9 points per game, beating out Texas’s 107.2 by a huge margin. Leading the way were F/K Ray Thomas and W/ZB Zebedeo Perilla, who each finished in the top 5 in both DPOTY and MVP voting, and to top it all off, B/ZB Kenton Snowberger finished 6th on the MVP vote-getters list. Numbers can only do so much to describe just how dominant Philly was, but if one number had to do it, it would be their average point differential: 109.2. Some teams were barely able to score that many points per game.

All of those numbers, even 66-0, will be irrelevant if the Row don’t win it all, and the main threat is, of course, the Texas Redbacks. The Redbacks put up a season that was great in its own right, but was dwarfed by the performance up in Philly. Though B/K Semarias Garcia and W/ZB Larry Whitt missed chunks of time, W/C Elide Amigazzi reclaimed a starring role on the team and young B/Ks Rick Delaney and Andy Lewis showed promise when asked to fill Garcia’s shoes. The Redbacks only ever lost to the Row, and would ultimately finish at 62-4. Their season is impressive regardless, but they were helped out a bit by a division that (apart from Texas) seems to be falling further and further into disarray. Seattle managed to sneak into a playoff spot with a 35-31 record, but California continues to flounder and LA managed to finish with the very worst record in the league, even with all the new expansion teams.

Speaking of those expansion teams, let’s see how they’re faring. Boston will have the second pick in the 2030 draft, with B/ZB William Overton and W/K Kenneth de Courcy missing much of the season with injuries (though they did have a great season from 39-year-old B/ZB Will Mitchell). Minnesota finished just ahead of the Commodores; B/ZB Dan Kirkpatrick was slightly underwhelming but still a solid player and a great veteran for emerging stars like B/ZB John Brother and F/ZB Kevin Simmons. Montréal made major improvements to end up at 17-49, with B/ZB Brian Herman and W/ZB Scott Larson emerging as stars and an unexpected season from W/C Evan Simon. The best of the four, though, were the DC Statesmen. Their aggressive offseason strategy paid off; B/ZB Ethan Keller looks like a legitimate star and B/K Jamie Stearns II was strong in net. Most surprising, though, was F/ZB Ziad Abdel, who burst onto the scene early in the season and ended up leading the team in scoring. It didn’t end up leading the team to the playoffs, but a 22-44 record for an expansion team is nothing to sneeze at.

If we’re gonna talk about Texas’s weak division, there’s an argument to be made that teams like Philly, Toronto, Chicago, and New York also benefited from extra games against these young expansion teams, but it’s hard to argue that those teams shouldn’t have ended up where they were. Chicago in particular also looks rather dangerous, and there’s a reason why B/ZB Tony Bennett swept all three awards. Bennett’s season is another storyline that would probably get talked about a lot more if it weren’t for the undefeated Row. Even as a back, Bennett put up 26.4 points per game, and contributed a whopping 68.7 per contest. He was also a force to be reckoned with in the end zone, often luring passes that only he knew he could reach, and often being avoided entirely. Along with stellar seasons from B/ZB Al Eaton, B/C Ralph Rashke, and W/K Nico Boyer, the Frost cruised to the third seed and a 57-9 record.

Meanwhile, Toronto and New York were having solid seasons of their own. B/ZB Brandon Walter and B/C Andi Effendi led a Chargers defense that was able to hang with the likes of Texas and Chicago, while B/C Tiziano Torres and W/K Rufo Torrez (don’t get them confused) led the Hogs to the fifth-best offense in the league. The former division rivals would wind up in a heated battle for the five seed, which came down to the wire, but which the boys in bronze ultimately prevailed in by a single game.

Last but not least, the South was the tightest division in the NDL. Nashville’s season was nearly derailed with injury, as they lost both F/C Billy Moses and W/K Will Orleans to major injuries in mid-April. The Fugitives immediately sprang into action, trading for W/C John Gray and B/K Clyde Edwards from Seattle and F/ZB Eddie McDonald from California. While they had to give up B/K Paul Cox, B/ZB Dave Sanderson, and a number of draft picks, it got their season back on the rails, and they would come in at 52-14 with the fourth seed. The rest of the division, though, was a dogfight, with Atlanta, Miami, and Orlando all vying for what would ultimately be a single playoff spot. Injuries to B/ZB Gerald Hartline and W/ZB Terry Rothgeb led to the Palms slipping and not being able to recover, while the Records had a decent season, but couldn’t pull off the wins down the stretch like they had been, leading to them missing the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. That left the Orbits as the second-place team in the South, fighting with Seattle for the seventh seed and the right to play Texas instead of Philly. Orlando pulled out a win and the Sawyers didn’t, giving the Orbs the higher seed and the slightly less deadly first round matchup.

Glad to see DC starting off well, much better than other expansion teams have. I don't care who wins as long as it's not Texas. I really hope Philly can win it all (preferably by sweeping Texas, but I'm not picky) since it seems like they're the only team that can figure out the Redbacks.

Also, I love your new NDL sig. Looks great!

Last edited by QCS (11/02/2020 10:17 pm)

ItDoesntMatter wrote:

QCS wrote:

Also, I love your new NDL sig. Looks great!

Thanks! I finally decided to make my signature a little more interesting. Glad you like it!

On a similar note, I've been thinking about making a new, more standardized set of signatures, inspired by some other leagues on here (notably the two that I've featured in my own sig). Is that something you all would be interested in?

I personally don't think I'd add a sig from this league, but only because I don't really "follow" a team yet. Give me a Charlotte team, and they're going in the sig ASAP. I think a standardized set of sigs would be really cool, I'd like to see your take on them.

Sevsdast wrote:

What About Raleigh?

I really don't like Raleigh, any team there (Carolina or not) would be a no-go for me.

Seattle Sawyers vs Philadelphia Row
From the get-go, it was clear that the Sawyers were completely outmatched. Remember how Philly beat the average team by 100+ points in the regular season? Well, Seattle came in as the 8th team out of 16 - basically the average team. It’s no wonder, then, that the Row came in and dominated Game 1, scoring 200 points while holding the Sawyers under the 100 mark. F/K Ray Thomas dominated the headlines, with 48 points on the offensive side of the ball and 21 saves on just 26 attempts on defense. Apparently, though, the Row weren’t satisfied with simply blowing teams out, because in Game 2, they held Seattle to just 57 points, an NDL playoff record. In the Emerald City for Game 3, the Sawyers couldn’t do any better, falling by a whopping 138 points at home, with Thomas scoring 56 to once again lead the team. Both teams switched into cruise control early on in Game 4, and Philly coasted to an easy sweep in Round 1.


Orlando Orbits vs Texas Redbacks
When Philadelphia completely shut down Seattle in their second game, it was almost certainly a direct response to Texas’s performance in Game 1. The Redbacks held Orlando to just 72 points in the opening matchup, setting a record that would stand for about 24 hours. Unfortunately for Texas’s hopes of reclaiming that record, the Orbits put things together a bit more in Game 2, though still not enough to reach the century mark as Texas would pick up another convincing win. Up 2-0 heading to Orlando, the Redbacks did what they do best, and put the game out of reach early to go up 3-0. While the faster pace did allow the Orbs to score 115, they still got outscored by over 100. Game 4 was more of the same, and Orlando will be forced to look for their first-ever playoff win some other time, as Texas moves on.


Toronto Hogs vs Chicago Frost
This Original 8 matchup between two divisional rivals got out to an exciting start, with the two teams perfectly even through the first quarter. Unfortunately for the Hogs, they couldn’t quite keep up with the B/ZB Tony Bennett and friends show, falling behind soon thereafter and ultimately losing by 43. Bennett, as always, led the way in terms of points contributed with 79. Game 2 started out much worse for Toronto, as they let the Frost get out to an 18-0 lead. By the time their offense could get anything together, the game was basically already out of reach. Making matters worse, that pattern would only continue in Game 3; the Flakes led 44-15 after a quarter and Toronto would be held to double digits. With their backs against the wall in Game 4, the Hogs would get out to a much better start, staying pretty much even with Chicago through the first three innings or so, but much like Game 3 became the mirror image of Game 2, Game 4 soon turned into Game 1 as the Hogs simply couldn’t figure out Bennett. With the third sweep of the round, Chicago would move on for a rematch with the Redbacks.


New York Chargers vs Nashville Fugitives
If you were worried about another sweep of sweeps like last year, rest assured, it won’t get there. It looked like it might have through the first two games, as a recently-patched-up W/K Will Orleans rejoined forces with F/C Michel Blanchard to lead the Fugitives to two pretty convincing wins in the first two games. Game 3 in New York, though, was a different story entirely. The Chargers’ defense looked a lot more like themselves, holding the talented Nashville offense to just 106 and picking up their first playoff win since 2022. In Game 4, it looked like the Fugues had responded right back, taking a 23-point lead into halftime, but New York was able to shift the momentum coming out of the locker rooms and came roaring back in the second half. The Bulls took the lead with just under a minute to go, and after a stop on either side, the Fugues were down 4 with just 19 ticks on the clock. They had a chance to take the lead, but New York’s defense swarmed the perimeter and W/C John Gray’s pass was quickly intercepted by W/ZB J.K. Hardin. Some quick back-and-forth passing between Hardin and F/ZB Marcos Campos quickly led to another two points to seal the deal and tie the series at two games apiece.

The all-important Game 5 would be back in Tennessee, and with the Trashville crowd behind them, the Fugitives didn’t let their blown Game 4 get in their head. Orleans scored 34, the most since coming back from injury late in the season, and Nashville would retake the advantage in the series. Once again, though, they couldn’t pick up a win in Manhattan, and the Chargers were actually able to outpace the Fugitives as B/ZB Brandon Walter led the team to 150 points and another trip back to Nashville. With the home team having won every game in the series, New York would try their hardest to break that trend, but ultimately, the Fugitives were just too much, pulling away in the fourth quarter and surviving a first round battle.