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| | | colors = Purple, Teal, Gold<ref>{{cite web|title=New Orleans Second Line Team Info|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=7456|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=Official New Orleans Second Line Info Page|date=February 10, 2018|accessdate=May 4, 2018}}</ref> | | | colors = Purple, Teal, Gold<ref>{{cite web|title=New Orleans Second Line Team Info|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=7456|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=Official New Orleans Second Line Info Page|date=February 10, 2018|accessdate=May 4, 2018}}</ref> |
| | {{color box|#412879}} {{color box|#068ca8}} {{color box|#ffc01c}} | | {{color box|#412879}} {{color box|#068ca8}} {{color box|#ffc01c}} |
| − | | general manager = [[Drectors Cut]] | + | | general manager = |
| | + | * ''[[User:toofpete|toofpete]] |
| | + | * ''[[User:Tmoney6996|Tmoney6996]] |
| | | mascot = [[Max (dog)|Max]] | | | mascot = [[Max (dog)|Max]] |
| | | NSFL_start_yr = {{nsfly|2|nolink}} | | | NSFL_start_yr = {{nsfly|2|nolink}} |
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| | | division_hist = | | | division_hist = |
| | *'''[[ASFC]] ({{nsfly|2}}–present)''' | | *'''[[ASFC]] ({{nsfly|2}}–present)''' |
| − | | no_conf_champs = 6 | + | | no_conf_champs = 9 |
| − | | no_div_champs = 5 | + | | no_div_champs = 7 |
| | | conf_champs = | | | conf_champs = |
| − | * '''ASFC:''' {{nsfly|8}}, {{nsfly|9}}, {{nsfly|10}}, {{nsfly|11}}, {{nsfly|21}}, {{nsfly|27}} | + | * '''ASFC:''' |
| | + | * {{nsfly|8}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|9}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|10}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|11}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|21}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|26}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|27}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|48}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|49}} |
| | | div_champs = | | | div_champs = |
| − | * '''ASFC:''' {{nsfly|9}}, {{nsfly|10}}, {{nsfly|11}}, {{nsfly|21}}, {{nsfly|27}} | + | * '''ASFC:''' |
| | + | * {{nsfly|9}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|10}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|11}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|21}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|27}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|48}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|49}} |
| | | playoff_appearances = | | | playoff_appearances = |
| − | * '''ISFL:''' {{nsfly|8}}, {{nsfly|9}}, {{nsfly|10}}, {{nsfly|11}}, {{nsfly|19}}, {{nsfly|20}}, {{nsfly|21}}, {{nsfly|22}}, {{nsfly|23}}, {{nsfly|24}}, {{nsfly|26}}, {{nsfly|27}}, {{nsfly|29}}, {{nsfly|34}} | + | * {{nsfly|8}} |
| − | | no_playoff_appearances = 14 | + | * {{nsfly|9}} |
| − | | no_league_champs = 3 | + | * {{nsfly|10}} |
| − | | no_ultimus_champs = 3 | + | * {{nsfly|11}} |
| − | | ultimus_champs = {{nsfly|9}} ([[Ultimus Bowl IX|IX]]), {{nsfly|11}} ([[Ultimus Bowl XI|XI]]), {{nsfly|21}} ([[Ultimus Bowl XXI|XXI]]) | + | * {{nsfly|19}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|20}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|21}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|22}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|23}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|24}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|26}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|27}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|29}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|34}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|37}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|39}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|40}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|47}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|48}} |
| | + | * {{nsfly|49}} |
| | + | | no_playoff_appearances = 18 |
| | + | | no_league_champs = 5 |
| | + | | no_ultimus_champs = 5 |
| | + | | ultimus_champs = {{nsfly|9}} ([[Ultimus Bowl IX|IX]])<br> {{nsfly|11}} ([[Ultimus Bowl XI|XI]])<br> {{nsfly|21}} ([[Ultimus Bowl XXI|XXI]])<br> {{nsfly|48}} ([[Ultimus Bowl XLVIII|XLVIII]])<br> {{nsfly|49}} ([[Ultimus Bowl XLIX|XLIX]]) |
| | | stadium_years = | | | stadium_years = |
| | * '''[[The House of the Rising Sun]] ({{nsfly|22|nolink}}–present)''' | | * '''[[The House of the Rising Sun]] ({{nsfly|22|nolink}}–present)''' |
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| | The '''New Orleans Second Line''' is a [[wp:Professional football (gridiron)|professional]] [[wp:American football|American football]] franchise based in [[wp:New Orleans|New Orleans, Louisiana]]. The Second Line currently compete in the [[International Simulation Football League]] (ISFL) as a member club of the league's [[American Simulation Football Conference]] (ASFC) which currently only has one division. The franchise was established in {{nsfly|2}} in the league's first expansion as the [[Las Vegas Legion]] before relocating for {{nsfly|6}}. | | The '''New Orleans Second Line''' is a [[wp:Professional football (gridiron)|professional]] [[wp:American football|American football]] franchise based in [[wp:New Orleans|New Orleans, Louisiana]]. The Second Line currently compete in the [[International Simulation Football League]] (ISFL) as a member club of the league's [[American Simulation Football Conference]] (ASFC) which currently only has one division. The franchise was established in {{nsfly|2}} in the league's first expansion as the [[Las Vegas Legion]] before relocating for {{nsfly|6}}. |
| | | | |
| − | After a [[Las Vegas Legion mass retirement|mass retirement scandal]] led to the team's relocation and a change in management, the team became the New Orleans Second Line. They have since worked to be more competitive after managing at most four wins in a season over the course of the first six seasons of the franchise's existence. The {{nsfly|8}} season marked a turning point for the franchise though as they were able to string together four consecutive seasons of at least nine wins. This success continued in the postseason where they were able to make it to the Ultimus all four seasons and were able to win two of those contests. | + | After a mass retirement scandal led to the team's relocation and a change in management, the team became the New Orleans Second Line. They have since worked to be more competitive after managing at most four wins in a season over the course of the first six seasons of the franchise's existence. The {{nsfly|8}} season marked a turning point for the franchise though as they were able to string together four consecutive seasons of at least nine wins. This success continued in the postseason where they were able to make it to the Ultimus all four seasons and were able to win two of those contests. |
| | | | |
| | In the history of the Las Vegas Legion/New Orleans Second Line, the team has made nine playoff appearances, won five ASFC Championship titles, and has hoisted three Ultimus trophies. | | In the history of the Las Vegas Legion/New Orleans Second Line, the team has made nine playoff appearances, won five ASFC Championship titles, and has hoisted three Ultimus trophies. |
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| | {{main article|History of the New Orleans Second Line}} | | {{main article|History of the New Orleans Second Line}} |
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| − | ===2017-2021: Early Era=== | + | ==Franchise Records== |
| − | After being awarded an expansion team after the league's inaugural season, Las Vegas GM [[User:RavensFanFromOntario|RFFO]] saw an opportunity to be a playoff competitor immediately. He dealt most of the team's draft picks and pursued free agents aggressively, highlighted by signing quarterback [[Josh Bercovici]] to a 5-year, $33 million contract. This bold strategy backfired quickly and the franchise has been bad ever since. A few weeks before the [[2019 NSFL Draft]] the GM notified the [[NSFL Head Office|head office]] that he would be stepping down effective immediately, tapping his co-GM [[user:Ben|Ben]] to replace him, which the league agreed to. Ben hired [[user:Keygan|Keygan]] as his co-GM just in time for the [[2019 Offseason]] to begin.
| + | {{main article|New Orleans Second Line Franchise Records}} |
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| − | The new duo dedicated the team to build through the draft but unfortunately, the timing could not have been any worse. With the establishment of the [[DSFL|Developmental Simulation Football League]] for new prospects, the 2019 draft was the smallest and worst in league history. The Legion went into the draft with 5 of the 8 first round picks, the first 5 picks in the franchise's history and just the second time the franchise would pick in the top 40. In particular, Ben and Keygan targeted well-known and reliable-earning players from the [[wp:Simulation Hockey League|SHL]] to create a cohesive, active locker room and discord. The actually worked out pretty well. Even though the NSFL was, at best, second priority for most of the team the discord was very active and Keygan spent the entire season pointing out how Las Vegas had more users online in the main NSFL discord than any other team.<ref>{{cite web|title=Discord|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=5908|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=Discord|date=November 3, 2017|accessdate=May 4, 2018}}</ref> After that season, though, a culmination of events led to many of those SHL users getting fed up with the league which eventually led to [[Las Vegas Legion mass retirement|Keygan posting a retirement thread]] for 7 players on the team, including himself.<ref>{{cite web|title=Legion retires many!|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=6362|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=Legion retires many!|date=December 8, 2017|accessdate=May 4, 2018}}</ref> Only 6 of those players actually retired - [[Wallace Stone]] did not intend on retiring<ref>{{cite web|title=Legion retires many!|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=6362&view=findpost&p=94851|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=Legion retires many!|date=December 8, 2017|accessdate=May 4, 2018}}</ref> - but 2 other players posted separate topics. This mass retirement sent shockwaves through the league and the head office scrambled to deal with the fallout since [[User:Ben|Ben]], the head GM, was on vacation in Europe at the time and while aware of the developments, in general, he was in no position to take action.
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| − | However, as the head office found during their deliberations, this wasn't as bad as it appeared initially. Only one of the retiring players had updated regularly that season and by waiting to post the topic after the offseason began, this gave Las Vegas a bunch of expiring contract that they could trade for assets to build the team. A few days after the topic the head office announced the [[user:cosbornballboy|cosbornballboy]] would take over as GM of the team. In one of his first acts as GM, he traded for a quarterback without consulting the team's current quarterback, Wallace Stone, about a position change which caused a falling-out between the two. After a couple days of similar missteps that grew from that initial mistake, Cosborn stepped down as GM and was replaced by [[user:bovovovo|Bovo]].
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| − | Bovo oversaw the selling-off of the assets that hadn't yet been traded and soon hired [[user:tbone415|tbone]] as his co-GM. The team headed into the [[2020 NSFL Draft]] with a decent amount of mid-round picks to start the rebuild anew. To complete the fresh start they desired for the team they also began exploring relocation options and the following [[Offseason|offseason]] the team, after much consulting with the team, announced it would become the New Orleans Second Line starting in {{nsfly|6}}. Like Ben and Keygan, Bovo and tbone put an emphasis on building through the draft and strove to have the best scouting in the league by targeting DSFL GMs. As a testament to this strategy the franchise has seen its players win 3 consecutive [[NSFL Rookie of the Year Award|rookies of the year]]. In last year as Las Vegas Legion, they won one game, against [[San Jose SaberCats]] in Week 7 with a score of 37-19.
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| − | The single most important event in franchise turnaround was the [[2021 NSFL Draft]], where General Managers were able to draft three franchise calibre players: [[Brian Mills]] with 1st Overall Pick, [[Jaylon Broxton]] with 5th Overall Pick (via [[Arizona Outlaws|Outlaws]], acquired in the trade for [[Wyatt Fulton]] and [[Andreas Waiters]]<ref>{{cite web|title=AIR/LVL Trade|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=6574|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=AIR/LVL Trade|date=December 16, 2017|accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref>) and their Quarterback ever since [[Borkus Maximus III]].
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| − | In the first season as Second Line, they achieved the 2-11-1 record, with both wins coming against winless in the {{nsfly|6}} [[Colorado Yeti]] team. With the team still far away from contention the priority was set on developing young players and acquiring further assets using the vast cap space team head.
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| − | ===2022-2025: Bork Borkington Era===
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| − | Ahead of the [[2022 NSFL Draft]] mentality changed and GM Bovo decided to start trading for established players - starting with [[Julian O'Sullivan]] <ref>{{cite web|title=NOLA/OCO|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=8109|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=NOLA/OCO|date=March 26, 2017|accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref>. Due to overall lack of quality picks (they sent away their 1st rounder in O'Sullivan trade) and shallowness of the talent pool of the draft New Orleans didn't gain any memorable players in the {{nsfly|7}} draft. Team visibly improved to a 4-10, but still was placed last in the very competitive [[ASFC]].
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| − | {{nsfly|8}} marked possibly single biggest positive franchise turnarounds in [[NSFL]] history. To make it possible two big deals were made before the season start. First they traded for established star linebacker [[Vincent Sharpei]]<ref>{{cite web|title=NOLA/SJS|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=8564|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=NOLA/SJS|date=May 2, 2017|accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref> to create most dangerous defensive trio alongside drafted in {{nsfly|6}} Brian Mills and acquired a season before Julian O'Sullivan. Just before [[2022 NSFL Draft]], their young star demanded trade to the Orange County Otters that resulted in a defensive backs swap of Jaylen Broxton and [[Vladimir Fyodorovich]]<ref>{{cite web|title=NOLA / OCO, big boy trade|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=8728|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=NOLA / OCO, big boy trade|date=May 17, 2017|accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref>. In the draft with the second overall pick, Second Line Management was able to solidify their secondary picking Safety [[William Harrison]]. This year for the first time franchise in franchise history team was able to qualify for the playoffs and played in the [[ASFC Championship Game]] winning against [[Orange County Otters]] 20-17 on 46 yard field goal by [[Peg Leg]] with 0:10 remaining on the clock. Next, they travelled to the [[Ultimus Bowl VIII]] game to the Yellownife, where they lost 24-13 to the [[Yellownife Wraiths|Wraiths]].
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| − | With team clearly being ready to contend further moves were made to strengthen both secondary - trade for franchise Cornerback [[Benson Bayley]]<ref>{{cite web|title=SJS/NOLA|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=9160|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=SJS/NOLA|date=June 9, 2017|accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref> - and offensive firepower acquiring multiple [[NSFL Tight End of the Year]] award winner [[Paul Di Mirio]]<ref>{{cite web|title=PHI/NOLA|url=http://nsfl.jcink.net/index.php?showtopic=9204|publisher=National Simulation Football League|work=PHI/NOLA|date=June 13, 2017|accessdate=December 19, 2018}}</ref>. These acquisitions combined with the internal growth was enough to secure best record, 12-2, in the league. In the playoffs they defeated Otter County Otters 39-21 and [[Baltimore Hawks]] 37-24 en-route to their first [[Ultimus]] title in the {{nsfly|9}}.
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| − | Following their Ultimas victory, the {{nsfly|10}} season was going to prove a challenge with star receiver [[Dustin Evans]] retiring along with [[Vincent Sharpei]] and [[Fuego Wozy]], and running back Smallwood on his last leg. In an effort to minimize the falloff from losing Evans, the Second Line would make a move and sign [[Alexander LeClair]], who was a reliable second option in Baltimore. Despite seemingly getting older the Second Line would manage to put together one of the best offenses the NSFL has seen with Maximus III throwing for over 5K yards and 40 TDs, while Smallwood would rush for over 1200 yards and 15 touchdowns himself. Despite being well on their way to the top spot in the ASFC, New Orleans wanted to get every advantage they could going into the playoffs and such as the trade deadline was drawing near they managed to pull off a trade for [[Carlito Crush]]. WIth their high powered offense the Second Line cruised to an 11-3 record, however, struggled in the first round against the [[Orange County Otters]], barely escaping 10-3. They would go on to face the Baltimore Hawks for the second straight year in the Ultimas, however, this time they would not come out on top losing 29-23.
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| − | ===2026-2028: Tyler Swift Era===
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| − | After two straight Ultimus appearances, Bork Borkington decided it was time to take a step back and resigned as general manager of the Second Line. It would later be announced that [[Tyler Swift]] would be the new general manager starting in {{nsfly|11}}. Coming off an impressive season, but seeing the end was near, Darren Smallwood would come out during the offseason and announce that {{nsfly|11}} would be his final year playing, which came after [[Ardie Savea]] announced his retirement. More changes would come as Crush would go back to Orange County and [[Vladimir Fyodorovich]] would convert to a wide receiver, but also still play on defense. With losing many offensive weapons, Maximus III would drop greatly in his production over the previous season, but Smallwood would still be as dominant as ever gaining over 1600 total yards and 21 touchdowns. Despite losing players the Second Line would match their previous season's record at 11-3, handle the otters mightily to a tune of 40-13, and setup New Orleans v Baltimore part 3. This would be a heavyweight bout for the ages as both teams went back and forth and [[Turk Turkleton]] would tie the game up with 1:47 left in regulation. The game would go into overtime and like a story book finish, Darren Smallwood would catch a 6 yard pass from Maximus III to earn New Orleans another Ultimas title.
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| − | With the {{nsfly|12}} offseason barely getting started, the writing was already on the walls for New Orleans as [[Darren Smallwood]], [[Alexander LeClair]], [[Charlie Law]], and [[Joseph Askins]] all retiring, there was only a shell of last season's Ultimus team. With it so clearly being a rebuilding year the Second Line shipped [[Benson Bayley]] off to San Jose and hoped to find their next core in the draft. Two of those future pieces were found with [[Axel Hornbacher]] and [Thjalfi Halvorsen]] each looking to help either side of the ball. The final pieces to the puzzle were set once [[Borro Gore]] was brought in to take the reigns of the running back room. New Orleans would do just as expected through preseason although winning a game against Yellowknife was a bit surprising to some. Maximus and Gore seemed to make an unlikely duo as well on offense as Gore early on was near the top of the league in rushing, while Maximus still found yards for Fyodorovich through the air. Through the first six games the Second Line actually managed to win every other game leading to a surprising 3-3 record. Despite trading off [[Blackford Oakes]] during the season and having a hollowed out roster, New Orleans made an odd end to the season as even though they lost their last five games, all were done so by only one possession, meaning they could have actually gone 9-5, instead they would be 4-10 with a much better draft pick.
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| − | {{nsfly|13}} was another season in the rebuilding that started last season, but the team was less competitive than last season, despite winning two more games. Metrics-wise, they were in the middle in almost all categories, both in offence and defence, never managing to win multiple games in a row, apart from weeks 6 and 7, at Baltimore and against Colorado at home respectively. Rightfully, the front office was looking into the next couple of seasons, and with knowing the size of the {{nsfly|15}} draft class, they were keen on staying in rebuilding mode for the next season as well.
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| − | ===2029-2036: Julian O'Sullivan Era===
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| − | {{nsfly|14}} was like last season. NOLA was close to rock-bottom in metrics, but they were only looking in the future. Second Line finished the season with a 4-10 record, losing 7 of the last 9 games of the season, allowing more than 30 points in all of those losses. They needed changes everywhere, and the {{nsfly|15}} draft was the place to focus at. So they did.
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| − | {{nsfly|15}} NOLA draft class was enormous. Three linebackers, [[Quenton Bode]]. [[Johnny Slothface]], and [[Marquees Acho]], one RB in [[Forrest Gump]] and a CB in [[Deon Taylor]] were drafted in the first three rounds, and they were all ready to help NOLA right that moment. But they needed time to fit in the roster in the end, and NOLA continued having losing seasons. A 2-12 record, including a 0-10 start to the season, right before the expansion draft. It looked grim, but it wasn't. NOLA was invested in the future. And their future was protected. They only had to be patient.
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| − | In {{nsfly|16}}, [[Stan Francisco]] switched to QB, and the youngsters had started to improve. The team went from being a laughing stock, to one game out of playoffs. They were into the mix till week 9, when they had a 5-4 record, but they dropped their next 3 games, mostly due to the inexperience of the roster. They won their week 13 matchup against the {{tf|CHI}}, but it was just for bragging rights, as their 6-7 record was only enough for a 4th place finish in the ASFC. But the future was bright for New Orleans. FO knew they were in the right direction.
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| − | {{nsfly|17}} was very unpredictable all over the place, but NOLA kind of underachieved. A losing streak starting in week 2 and ending in week 8 had NOLA with a 1-7 record after 8 games, effectively ending their season. They managed to win three of their last five, but 4 wins were not enough for playoffs. They placed 5th in the ASFC, being close to the bottom in all statistical categories, but they were only two games away from the 3rd place and a playoff spot. They were close, but it wasn't their time yet.
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| − | {{nsfly|18}} started with more hopes than ever. After 7 weeks, the Second Line were 5-2, sitting atop the ASFC. They were finally there. All that tanking and losing seasons had finally paid off. That's what they thought at least. The team collapsed in the last 6 games, losing all of them, including a game against the {{tf|AUS}}, who ended up 3rd in the ASFC, one win ahead of NOLA. Thus, New Orleans missed on a playoff spot out of nowhere, with flashbacks from {{nsfly|12}} coming back to life. But the breakout was closer than ever.
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| − | And it happened. {{nsfly|19}} was the return to winning ways for NOLA. After a rocky 2-4 start, the team went on to win 6 of the last 7 games, finishing with an 8-5 record, 2nd in the ASFC, one game behind the {{tf|OCO}}, having the right to host the {{tf|AUS}} in the ASFC Wildcard Game. NOLA beat the Snakes, 28-17, qualifying for the Conference Game, to be held in Orange County the following week. That's where the season stopped for the Second Line. The Otters were too much to handle, as NOLA dropped the game, 28-13. The season was over, but the recipe was there. NOLA looked like a contender after so many years.
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| − | The New Orleans Second Line only had two draft picks during the [[Season 20 NSFL Draft]] as they headed into the {{nsfly|20}} season after their best record in eight years. Despite the small number of draft selections the team was ready to make another run after making it to the semifinals the previous season. They started the season off right going 2-2 over the first four weeks including a necessary home win against their conference rival Orange County Otters. Over the middle of the season they maintained the pace going 2-2 with two wins over Arizona, and losses in Orange County and San Jose. Their last leg of the season had them go 3-2 to just take the second seed and make it into the playoffs off the back of three wins against the National Simulation Football Conference. Once in the playoffs they were able to get their revenge by knocking out the Orange County Otters in the quarterfinals after a 23-13 victory. Unfortunately their season ended the next week as they lost to the eventual Ultimus champion Austin Copperheads 26-17, but the two successful seasons showed that the New Orleans Second Line had returned to their dominance of yesteryear.
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| − | They were able to scoop up a few more players during the [[Season 21 NSFL Draft]] getting thirteen players to bolster their reserves. These thirteen players included pro bowl defensive end [[Dorfus Jimbo Jr]]. Along with the {{nsfly|22}} {{NSFL Defensive Rookie of the Year}} and pro bowl linebacker [[Ugarth the Dissector]]. Although neither of them were called up immediately it served to reinforce the depth of the team as they made another playoff push after two consecutive seasons making it to the semifinals.
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| − | The start of the {{nsfly|21}} season saw the New Orleans Second Line dominate the rest of the league as they went 4-0 over the first four weeks with each win being by at least eight points. They continued this dominant run as they went 5-0 over the middle of the season, although with two games where their opponents were within five points of them. Their run of dominance ended though after week nine as they went on a four game losing streak to drop to second overall in the league and second overall in their conference. That four game losing streak was snapped though as they overcame the Austin Copperheads 23-17 in the quarterfinals to make it back to the semifinals for the third year in a row. There they broke their streak of semifinal losses by just beating out the Orange County Otters 27-24 in the semifinals of the playoffs. After that exciting semifinals round it was believed that should have been considered the Ultimus as the New Orleans Second Line took the Yellowknife Wraiths out with a devastating 33-13 win in the {{nsfly|21|ultimus}} that would give New Orleans their third Ultimus win and Yellowknife their fourth consecutive Ultimus loss.
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| − | ===2037-2039: Jimmy Dugan Era===
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| − | Heading into the {{nsfly|22}} season New Orleans was hit hard in a number of ways as they were hit by the expansion draft as they lost [[Mack Arianlacher]], [[Jed Podolak]], and [[Jordan Andrews]]. They were also hit by the losses of [[Blake Faux]] to retirement, and [[Johnny Slothface]] to a car accident involving the mascot of the New Orleans Second Line. All of that before taking into account [[Julian O'Sullivan]] stepping down which led to [[Jimmy Dugan]] stepping up as head general manager and the recruitment of former first overall draft pick [[Bjørn Ironside]] to be their second in command. Thankfully for the team the [[Season 22 NSFL Draft]] would be the largest in league history to date and allowed them a chance to grab a lot of exciting rookies. Including two starters in the first round in the form of defensive tackle [[Magnus Rikiya]] who they traded up with the [[Sarasota Sailfish]] to get with the second overall selection, and [[Andrew Witten]] who they were able to select with the twelfth overall selection. In addition to getting two true rookie starters they were also able to prepare for the future with the selection of quarterback [[Ben Slothlisberger]] in the second round thanks to a trade up, safety [[Literallyjust A. Hexagon]] in the fourth round, defensive tackle [[Hank Steel]] in the sixth round, and [[Blake Alexander]] in the eighth round. Combined with the two true rookies the New Orleans Second Line they also had several rookies from the Season 21 NSFL Draft called up; [[Dorfus Jimbo Jr]], [[Ed Barker]], [[Rainier Wolfcastle]], and [[Ugarth the Dissector]] to make for one of the youngest rosters in the league.
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| − | The season did not get off to the start the Second Line would have liked as they went 2-3 to start the season, however with two true rookies and six rookies overall they were happy to have any wins on the board. A benefit of so much youth was that they got better as the season progressed which allowed them to go on a 4-0 win streak that saw them to a strong record with just four weeks left to play. They managed to go even over the last four weeks with a 2-2 record to just make it into the playoffs despite suffering a brutal week twelve loss at home to the Austin Copperheads. While they were able to do much better in their rematch in Austin in the quarterfinals their season was still cut short as they lost 34-27 to the Copperheads.
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| − | Leading up to the {{nsfly|23}} season the New Orleans Second Line were quite confident in their roster as they had traded quite a few of their picks in the draft to move up in the previous season. That had allowed them to get their quarterback of the future and a key piece of their defensive line, however it also left them with the second fewest selections in the draft. Given their roster was completed before the season though they were able to rely on the roster as it stood and send down the new recruits to the developmental league.
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| − | The season started slightly better than the previous with the team going 3-2 over the first five weeks, although with tough road losses at the beginning and end of the stretch. During the middle stretch of the season against the other conference the team went 4-2 once again with road losses sandwiching the wins. It was the last stretch of the season that did the most harm to them though as they went 2-3 over the last five weeks to set them at 9-7 over the first sixteen game season. That was still good enough for second in the conference though and so they were able to host the Austin Copperheads in the first round of the playoffs where they would go on to lose 20-15 after being kept out of the end zone in the fourth quarter by an interception on the one yard line. It was not all bad though as [[Austin McCormick]] and [[Mason Blaylock]] repeated as tight end of the year and safety of the year respectively.
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| − | Heading into the {{nsfly|24}} season the New Orleans Second Line saw only a few changes, however some significant changes. Second in command [[Bjørn Ironside]] would leave as agent of a new player to the [[Colorado Yeti]], veteran quarterback [[Stan Francisco]] would retire which would lead to rookie quarterback [[Ben Slothlisberger]] taking over, and there was also the return of [[Jordan Andrews]] to replace [[Xavien Adams]] who left in free agency. Given their aging defensive ends the team drafted almost the entirety of a defensive line over the course of the draft, and also grabbed a young defensive back to shore up the secondary.
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| − | Their rookie quarterback played like a veteran out of the gate and led the team to a 3-1 start over the first quarter of the season. They were able to keep up the good work through the first half as they went 3-1 again for a 6-2 record halfway through the season. It was the third quarter of the season that took away the team's hopes of first seed though as they dropped a game to the [[Orange County Otters]] during a 1-3 stretch that put them in a tight spot heading into the final stretch. While they were able to keep themselves in it until the last week of the season an unfortunate loss to the [[San Jose Sabercats]] to go 2-2 over the last four games dropped the Second Line down to third seed from their potential first seed.
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| − | This would see the team make the playoffs for the sixth consecutive season extending their record that they set last season for playoff streaks. However they would fall to the [[Orange County Otters]] 31 to 21 in the first round of the playoffs. The end of the season was not all bad though as there were several award nominees for the team including their rookie quarterback, three of four members of the defensive line, starting cornerback [[Andrew Witten]], and the award winners from the last two seasons [[Austin McCormick]] and [[Mason Blaylock]]. Although the only winner would be the offensive line of the year [[Givussafare Rubbe]] it was still considered a successful season.
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| − | ===2040-2046 - The Ben Slothlisberger Era ===
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| − | The {{nsfly|25}} season saw significant changes to the New Orleans Second Line as long time front office member [[Jimmy Dugan]] stepped down to have assistant general manager [[Drectors Cut]] step up to be general manager, and [[Sloth]] step up as second in command. There were several losses on the roster as well with defensive end [[Ben Tu'inukuafe]], defensive end [[Brave Ulysses]], and kicker [[Herbert Prohaska]] all retiring. That was before the expansion draft where the team lost defensive tackle [[Hank Steel]] and offensive lineman [[Dorfus Jimbo Jr]], however a trade after the fact saw [[Dorfus Jimbo Jr]] return it cost them their up and coming wide receiver [[Sean Snyder]]. Relying mostly on call ups from previous drafts the team was able to focus primarily on future needs during the draft, although they did have immediate contributors [[Medicinal Toblerone]] and [[Adam Spencer]].
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| − | Despite going undefeated in preseason the start to the season was not ideal as they went 2-2 over the first quarter of the season. The team went 1-3 over the second quarter of the season and with just two of their wins thus far coming against conference opponents. After a brutal week nine loss to the [[Colorado Yeti]] the team made a change at kicker and punter that would help turn things around as they went on to end the [[Orange County Otters]] undefeated streak in week ten. Unfortunately it was too little too late as they went 3-3 over the last six weeks for a final record of 7-9 that would see them miss the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.
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| − | The {{nsfly|26}} season saw another management change. Mithrandir took over for Slothfacekilla, who served for only one season. The season was filled with great play by the superstars on the team. The Second Line rallied around their sophomore quarterback, Ben Slothlisberger, and the young quarterback had excellent play around him from his supporting cast. Thanks to the great blocking by veteran Forrest Gump and rookie tackle Adam Mellott, the team finished second in the league in rushing, with both Mike Rotchburns and Marcella Toriki finishing with over 1,000 yards. Wide receiver Ed Barker had his five straight season increasing his receiving yard total and his fourth straight over 1000 yards, racking up 1410 as Slothlisberger’s preferred option. David Rector was probably the best player on the team, though. He won cornerback of the year honors and became the first cornerback in 17 years to win defensive player of the year thanks to his league leading 7 interceptions and 2 defensive touchdowns.
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| − | The team made the playoffs in 2041 thanks in large part to Toriki’s 4 touchdown offensive performance of the year in a week 15 win 42-10 over the rival Orange County Otters. They finished in a five way tie at 9-7 in the division, winning the second seed on tiebreakers. New Orleans went on to beat OCO again in the playoffs, New York in the conference championship before getting blown out 49-17 in the Ultimus.
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| − | Coming off a tough Ultimus loss, Second Line fans were hopeful entering {{nsfly|27}} that they could win the big game. The team lost Toriki to retirement but drafted Mr. Forty Two to replace her at running back. They also made a couple moves on defense, drafting linebacker sensation Vincent Jones and trading for strong safety Steven Wadham.
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| − | After leaning on the running game for so long, the offensive coordinator decided to let Slothlisberger throw the ball quite a bit more. Slothlisberger had a major breakout season in his third year, leading the league in passing yards and touchdowns despite only having the 8th most attempts in the league. His 5076 passing yards and 37 touchdowns were first and second in franchise history, respectively, and earned him the league's Most Valuable Player Award. Though Barker was still the lead target, all the pass catchers had excellent seasons as a result of Slothlisberger’s improved play. Barker had an absurd 1753 yards and 13 touchdowns, but wide receiver Brock Bodenhamer and veteran tight end also had over 1000 receiving yards, and slot receiver Adam S. Spencer had 971 yards and 11 touchdowns. Spencer was just 29 yards short from the team having four pass catchers reach 1000 yards! In addition, young stud tackle Adam Mellott won offensive lineman of the year. On defense, Vincent Jones won defensive rookie of the year, and cornerback Andrew Witten had 120 tackles, 7 interceptions, and 26 passes defended to win cornerback of the year.
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| − | The team again went 9-7, making the playoffs as the third seed. They had upset wins over Arizona and Honolulu before losing 34-10 to the Sarasota Sailfish in the Ultimus, their second blowout loss in as many seasons.
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| − | The {{nsfly|28}} offseason was full of turmoil for the team. Coming off two consecutive blowout losses in the Ultimus, the team was demoralized. They lost several veterans, including future Hall of Famers LB Quenton Bode, RB Forrest Gump, and CB David Rector to retirement, and veteran linesmen OT Dorfus Jimbo Jr and DT Magnus Rikiya, who both left in free agency to the Colorado Yeti. Add to that locker room drama from Forty-Two who was displeased with his role on the team and decided to change his legal name to Botty McBotterson, and the Second Line were in for a poor season.
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| − | The team went 5-11, finishing at the bottom of the division standings, and were especially bad rushing and defending against the run. Ed Barker remained one of the few bright spots on the team, surpassing 1700 yards for the second consecutive season. Vincent Jones also was one of the best linebackers in the league, with 11 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and a safety.
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| − | In {{nsfly|29}}, the team decided to focus on eliminating distractions and developing their young talent. The cut McBotterson (formerly Forty-Two), who was causing strife in the locker room, and drafted Remus Roman to replace him, while increasing Rotchburn’s workload. The team also said goodbye to legendary tight end Austin McCormick, who decided to retire. He was replaced by rookie wide receiver Quinton Crash.
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| − | The team took a little while to grow and develop chemistry together, but ultimately, the team rallied from a 4-6 start to finish 9-7 and make the playoffs. They lost in the first round to the New York Silverbacks. After a disappointing season without any awards for the team, New Orleans was happy to celebrate Taipan Pete’s kicker of the year award. The rookie kicker won the job starting in week 2 and made all his extra points and kicks inside of 40 yards, and finished with a 90.9% FG%. Andrew Witten also won returner of the year and defensive performance of the year, a 3 INT, 1 TD performance against OCO and quarterback Sulemain Ramza, who threw many interceptions to Witten in his career.
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| − | In {{nsfly|30}} the team said goodbye to GM Drectors Cut and welcomed GuitarMaster116 as a general manager. It also saw free safety Mason Blaylock retire in the offseason. Blaylock was the last player on the team who had won an Ultimus with the team in S21, and was instrumental in that playoff run. The loss of his veteran presence saw a total collapse for the team on defense. They were 13th out of 14 team in points allowed per game (29.9), and dead last in yards allowed per game (432.7). Slothlisberger played well, with 24 touchdowns to only 3 interceptions, but in the team’s five wins, they scored 41, 34, 41, 37, and 42 points. The offense had to score 30+ to compensate for the awful defense.
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| − | The team finished with a 5-11 record. Playing from behind so much, the team threw the ball to their receivers a lot, and Barker, Bodenhamer, and Crash all finished with over 1000 receiving yards. There were a few other bright spots for the team. Adam Mellott won his second offensive lineman of the year award. Safety Steven Wadham won the safety of the year with 9 sacks and 3 interceptions.
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| − | In {{nsfly|31}}, big changes happened on the offensive side of the ball. Decorated veteran quarterback Ben Slothlisberger and elite wide receiver Ed Barker decided to retire together. This electric duo combined for 10,131 yards and 64 touchdowns in seven seasons together, an average of 1447 yards and 9.14 touchdowns per season. The Second Line moved on to a rookie quarterback named IsHe ReallyInvisible, who perplexed defenses with his shifty footwork and his ability to seemingly disappear when defenders attempted to tackle him. Combined with additions of a rookie wide receiver, Squidward Tentacles, rookie tight end, Rex Crenshaw, and a couple free agent offensive linemen, including past OL of the year, Calvin Golladay, the team committed to a run first and short passing game. They ran the ball 523 times, almost 100 times more than second place. Rotchburns had almost 1600 yards and ReallyInvisible and fullback Noah Johns had 350 each.
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| − | The offense was dynamic at first, as IHRI was doing things at quarterback that no one had seen since the rule changes after Franklin Armstrong’s dominant seasons. They started 6-3 and scored 30+ points in four of those wins, but defenses adjusted over the back half of the schedule. New Orleans lost their last seven and never scored 20+ points over that stretch, getting blown out in weeks 16 and 17 by a combined 74 points.
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| − | {{nsfly|32}} was much the same as the previous season. Management did not make any big roster moves, trusting the young team to continue to grow and develop. The results were similar. The team was again 6-10, and ran the ball 543 times, breaking their record set in the previous season. Mike Rotchburns had 1453 yards, and IHRI broke the 500 yards in a season mark at quarterback. Quinton Crash had a breakout year at receiver with 1245 yards, Vinny Jones broke 11 sacks and Andrew Witten added four interceptions to his career totals.
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| − | The season did have a couple high points, though. IHRI showed flashes of brilliance. The week 6 matchup on the road against the New York Silverbacks was one of the most exciting offensive explosions in league history. Really Invisible had 179 rushing yards and four total touchdowns, passing for 20 yard and 61 yard scores and running for 61 and 75 yard touchdowns. Rotchburns had 24 carries for 184 yards and 2 touchdowns. For New York, Sam Howitzer passed for 476 yards and six touchdowns in a 49-48 defeat. NOLA also won a shootout at Honolulu where IHRI had 171 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns, including a 96 yarder, in addition to 276 passing yards and 2 touchdowns through the air, including a 71 yard bomb to Squidward Tentacles.
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| − | ===S33===
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| − | After a disappointing 6-10 finish in S32, that saw the Second Line finish second to last in their division, the team from New Orleans would look to improve their roster through the S33 Draft. With their first pick, the 5th overall of the draft, the Second Line would select The Stig, a running back from the Portland Pythons. In their rookie season with the Pythons, The Stig would rush for just over 1000 yards with 12 touchdowns to their name and would make the jump to the ISFL in S33 to share carries with veteran running back Mike Rotchburns before their retirement. Stig would eventually be converted to Cornerback as their pass catching, reading of coverage, and knowledge of routes improved in S40 to bolster the team’s defense. New Orleans would not have another pick in the draft until the third round. With the last pick of the draft, they would select Throkk The Scarred, a Linebacker from the London Royals, who would fall out of the league the following season without making an appearance for New Orleans.
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| − | The S33 Preseason would open up disappointingly for the Second Line. In Preseason Weeks 1-3, they would pick up losses against the Berlin Fire Salamanders (28-22), Yellowknife Wraiths (37-31), and Arizona Outlaws (30-24). In their final preseason game, New Orleans would pick up a win against the Baltimore Hawks. Baltimore would hold the Second Line to just 120 passing yards, however, the New Orleans running attack was able to rack up 140 yards to carry their team to victory over the Hawks 16-13, ending the preseason on a high note.
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| − | In the first week of regular season play, New Orleans would face the San Jose SaberCats away from home. The Second Line offense would run primarily through their mobile Quarterback, IsHe… ReallyInvisible who would complete 17/22 for 205 yards and would gain 76 rushing yards, including a 34 yard rushing touchdown to open up the game. Rookie Running Back, The Stig, would also convert on a 1 yard touchdown run for their first regular season touchdown with New Orleans. Kicker Taipan Pete would add an additional 9 points through three converted field goals, leading to a 23-20 victory over the SaberCats. Even though the Second Line were able to secure the win, there were worrying signs for their defense. The Sabercats had 392 yards of passing offense (440 total), eclipsing New Orleans’ 379 total offensive yards. Despite the wins, fans were worried that their team would struggle throughout the course of the season and their fears would be realized in Weeks 2-6. Following their opening day victory, New Orleans would lose five games in a row. Highlighted by an embarrassing 45-9 defeat by the Arizona Outlaws in Week 5, in which the Second Line were unable to find the endzone with Taipan Pete registering all nine of the team's points through three converted field goals. In Week 7, the team would finally get their second win of the season, beating the New York Silverbacks at home, 41-13. Safety Jonathan Shuffleboard would contribute with a defensive touchdown off the game’s lone interception while QB ReallyInvisible would contribute to four additional touchdowns (2 passing, 2 rushing) with Rotchburns converting on their fifth and final touchdown of the day. The second half of the season was just as dismal as the first with New Orleans only winning one additional game (Sabercats 26-13 in Week 12) in Weeks 8-16. While NOLA’s rushing offense was quite effective with Mike Rotchburns picking up 940 yards (4TDs), Rookie The Stig adding 746 yards of his own (10 TDs), and QB ReallyInvisible leading the QBs in rushing yards (400) and rushing TDs (6), their passing passing offense let them down throughout the season. ReallyInvisible was not efficient through the air, only connecting on 59.4% of their passes for 3484, the lowest in the league. NOLA’s defense was also not at their best this season, giving up 447 points to their opponents, the third highest in the league. Having ended the season with a four game losing streak, culminating with a 44-38 loss away to the Copperheads, the Second Line would finish the season with an abysmal 3-13, bottom of their division, with the fewest wins in the league.
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| − | ===S34===
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| − | Following their 3-10, last place performance in S33, New Orleans was hoping for a rebound. As always, the season would open with much fanfare in the S34 Draft. With the fourth pick of the draft, New Orleans would select Linebacker Ganyu from the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. Ganyu would start their career as a quarterback, before switching to linebacker with the Buccaneers. They would go on to have a solid couple seasons for NOLA before going to Berlin and taking a place on the offensive line before their career ended. New Orleans would draft Solace Avenger from the Dallas Birddogs. Avenger would go on to become one of the most dominant defensive tackles in the league before switching to linebacker and being traded to Honolulu halfway through S42. With their third pick of the draft, the Second Line would select Linebacker turned Quarterback Elessar Jones. After a few developmental seasons with the Luchadores and the departure of ReallyInvisible, Jones would take over as the team’s starting quarterback. They would go on to play in New Orleans until S44. Originally a scrambler, Jones would eventually turn themselves into a pocket passer, to better suit the needs of his team and would finish their career with 26,310 passing yards and 155 touchdowns, third in both categories for the franchise. With their final pick of the draft, New Orleans would select Defensive End Chim Rickles, who would eventually be converted to Free Safety and then traded to the Sailfish. Following a series of last place or near last place finishes, the Second Line would trade key players to other teams to pick up multiple first round and early second round picks in the S42 Draft.
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| − | Hoping to improve on their dismal performance the season prior, the Second Line would open up the preseason with a game at home against the Berlin Fire Salamanders, a game most pundits expected them to lose. However, the Second Line would surprise the league by defeating the Fire Salamanders 34-21. Next, they would come up against the Yellowknife Wraiths, who they would dominate on the field, beating them 37-7 in a game that saw last season’s shaky New Orleans defense hold the Wraiths to just 170 yards. In Preseason Week 3, they would get another victory against the Arizona Outlaws (36-31) where the rushing offense accounted for 273 of their 344 total yards. Unfortunately, the Second Line could not complete the Preseason Sweep, losing their fourth and final preseason game 27-21 to the Baltimore Hawks.
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| − | Galvanized by a strong preseason, the Second Line entered the regular season with confidence they could improve on their 3-10 record from S33. In the first week, they would face off against the San Jose SaberCats away from home. The team from San Jose would lead the game going into the half, 9-0 with rookie kicker Jack Lewis converting on all three attempts. In the third quarter, New Orleans would finally get their first points of the season through a 6 yard pass to Cliff Burton bringing the score to 9-7. San Jose would open the fourth quarter immediately with a touchdown, alternating with NOLA and then scoring another to make the game 23-14. New Orleans would try to rally after a late touchdown brought them to 23-21 but they would be unable to recover the ensuing onside kick and lose their opening game to the SaberCats. Following that loss, the Second Line would go on to win three games in a row. Picking up their first win of the season against the Chicago Butchers on the road before returning home to beat the Austin Copperheads (34-17) and Orange County Otters (28-26) in Weeks 3 and 4. The victory over the Copperheads was particularly impressive with the defense holding the Copperheads to under 300 total yards and with the offense being effective on the ground with 150 yards with one rushing touchdown by QB IsHe…ReallyInvisible. Unable to maintain their momentum, NOLA would lose their next four games being outscored by their opponents 141-82 highlighting the problems the Second Line have when their running game can’t get going. Going into Week 9, New Orleans would be 3-5 as they went on the road to play against the Wraiths in Yellowknife. Like in preseason, the Second Line would get the better of the Wraiths again beating them 24-1. They would pick up victories against Orange County (27-24) and Honolulu (34-20) in Weeks 10 and 11 before losing two additional games against San Jose (34-14) and Berlin (23-12). Wins in Week 14 and 16 against New York and Austin and their final loss in Week 15 to Arizona, the Second Line would propel themselves to third place in their division, finishing the season with an 8-8 record and qualifying for the playoffs.
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| − | New Orleans would find themselves up against the Arizona Outlaws in the first round of the S34 Playoffs; a team that had between them twice in the season by two scores in each game. Unfortunately, New Orleans’ weakness was exploited by the stalwart defense of the Outlaws as they held the Second Line to just 73 yards of rushing. Unable to exploit the Outlaws on the ground, they were forced to attack through the air. The Second Line receivers were unable to get anything going, unable to find the endzone on 25 completed passes. With their offense nullified, the Outlaws were able to tire out the already shaky NOLA defense. The Outlaws would put up 30 points to the Second Line’s 3, sending them crashing out the first round of the playoffs.
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| − | ===S35===
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| − | With their first pick of the S35 Draft, the Second Line would select Linebacker Carissa Van Campen from the Norfolk Seawolves. Carissa would make her first appearance for New Orleans in S37 and would become a mainstay in the linebacker corps until she was traded to the Outlaws in the S41 Offseason. She would record 419 tackles, 39 TFLs, and 41 sacks during her time with the Second Line. Looking to add to their depth at linebacker, the Second Line would pick up Ttollem Mada out of Bondi Beach. Mada would quickly be switched over to the offensive side of the ball as a pass catcher after coaches noticed his superior catching ability. He would play for the Second Line until S40 before being traded to Berlin. In S38, Made would catch 103 for 1205 yards, his season record for his career. For their third pick, New Orleans would go back to Bondi Beach and tap Kicker Alfonso Dos Santos to take over for Taipan Pete as he neared the end of his career. Dos Santos would go on to become the all-time points leader for the Second Line, with 988 points to his name as of S45. In the fourth round, with their final pick, Cornerback Richard Skinns would be selected. Unfortunately, Skinns would not impress in his second season in the DSFL and would not feature for the Second Line in the ISFL.
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| − | New Orleans would go up against the Arizona Outlaws in Preseason Week 1. Hoping to once again start out the season strong, the Second Line would be disappointed as they were only able to put up 7 points compared to the 17 of the Outlaws. Following that week, New Orleans would do their best to shore up their defense by trading their first round pick for the next season to the Butchers for Defensive End Jason Garciaparra. After the trade, they would go on to lose their second preseason game to the Fire Salamanders (27-10) before winning their final preseason games against New York (33-28) and Colorado (20-17). Ending the preseason 2-2, they would face the New York Silverbacks in the first week of the regular season.
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| − | In Week 1 of the regular season, New Orleans would repeat their performance against New York at home in Louisiana. Despite the Silverbacks having 406 yards to the Second Line’s 258, they were still able to get the job done beating Silverbacks, 35-20 in their first outing of the season. It seems that the trade for Garciaparra was already paying off as he played a part in a defensive setup that held the Silverbacks to just two touchdowns, unable to convert from most dangerous field positions. They would continue their performance in Week 2 against the Hahalua, beating them 20-10. Finally, it seemed like New Orleans was firing on all cylinders, with the offense putting up 415 yards while the defense held the Hahalua to just 250. RB The Stig, was able to get 128 rushing yards with QB ReallyInvisble adding 124 of their own. However, the win and the statline, hid a recurring problem for the Second Line: their inefficiency in the redzone. Despite almost doubling the opposing team’s yardages, the Second Line were still only able to score two touchdowns and their passing game was still underdeveloped with NOLA only passing for 141 yards accounting for one touchdown and an interception. In Week 3, things would start to unravel. In their first away game of the regular season, New Orleans would get pummeled by the Otters, losing 41-14. Orange County was able to force three turnovers from the Second Line, and were extremely efficient in the redzone. The Second Line would go on to lose all of their games in Weeks 4-7. Including the game in Week 3 against the Otters, the Second Line would score less than half of the points that their opponents did, being outscored 157-75. In all but their game against Austin in Week 7, the Second Line would fail to rush for over 100 yards, instead having to rely on their inconsistent passing game. The second half of the season would be kinder to New Orleans, as they were able to pick up four wins in nine games. Despite being able to win a few more games, it was still a disappointing season for the Second Line as they would finish the season 6-10, which was enough to keep them out of last place in their division.
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| − | The Stig would be the one bright spot on the season, rushing for 1383 yards, landing him in fifth for the statistics. However, of the 11 players with over 1000 rushing yards, The Stig would only have five rushing touchdowns on the season, compared to the average of those same 11 players of 10. QB ReallyInvisible would once again have the lowest QBR of the season at 82.3 with the fewest passing yards in the league at 2979, making them the only quarterback to not break 3000 passing yards on the season. The inconsistent NOLA offense would score just 32 touchdowns throughout the course of the season, the lowest in the league. Despite their struggles on offense, New Orleans’ defense had done remarkably better during the S35 Season. They would end the season with 394 points against, which would see only four teams give up fewer points than them. The defense would also force the most fumbles in the league (18/14), intercept 13 passes, and four defensive touchdowns. Unfortunately, despite the uptick in defensive performance, the Second Line would miss out on the playoffs in S35 leaving fans hoping for rebound and return to the form that saw them qualify in S34.
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| − | ===S36===
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| − | After their disappointing offensive performance in S35, the Second Line would look to strengthen their offense in the draft. In the first round, they would select the wide receiver formerly known as Don Dobbler from the Tijuana Luchadores. Eventually, in the team’s charity drive, Dobber would legally change his name to Pee Pee Poop Eater Sr. after auctioning off the rights to his legal name for charity. Poop Eater would go on to become one of the highest profile receivers in the league while with NOLA, despite suffering from poor quarterback and offensive line play. With their second pick in the first round, NOLA would pick up defensive end JR Frankenstero. Before his move to Austin in S41, Frankstero would rack up 112 tackles for the Second Line, including 10 TFLs, and 31 sacks. With their next pick, defensive tackle Charles Chapman would join the team from the Dallas Birddogs as the Second Line continued to strengthen their defensive line. Chapman would also be traded to the Baltimore Hawks in S41 and would be an integral part of the team for their Ultimus Win in S43. With their fourth pick, New Orleans would deepen their wide receiver room with the addition of Rockbot Rockbo. The Wide Receiver would eventually make a move to their Sarasota Sailfish, where the player would gain popularity as the best inactive WR3 in the league, making multiple crucial plays for the Sailfish in their push to playoffs in S43 and S44. Tight End Turt Golem would be the next rookie to make the trip down south, a journeyman, Golem would only play one season with NOLA in S41, racking up 335 yards on 58 receptions, his most yards in one season in his career. Finally, New Orleans would use their sixth pick on Running Back Nick Smith who would never feature for the Second Line, failing to impress after being drafted.
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| − | In the preseason, the Second Line would go 1-3, with their only win coming against the Philadelphia Liberty. A close game, the Second Line would only put up 196 total yards but were still able to secure the victory, 18-16. Their losses would come against Austin (31-26), Arizona (31-20), and Chicago (26-20) ending the preseason with a losing record.
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| − | New Orleans wouldn’t get their first win until Week 3, after losing their first two games against the New York Silverbacks and the San Jose Silverbacks, 31-24 and 21-17, respectively. Their fortunes would turn against the Berlin Fire Salamanders, securing their first win away from home, 30-22. Rookie QB Elessar Jones would have a strong showing, passing for three touchdowns and rushing for 88 yards. The Stig would also put up 119 yards on 21 attempts, and wide receiver Squidward Tentacles would get 116 receiving yards and two touchdowns on just four receptions. With wins against Honolulu (33-14) and Austin (30-17), the Second Line would improve their record to 3-2 as they ended the first third of the season. In Weeks 6-10, New Orleans would lose four of their five games, with their sole win coming in the form of a 38-17 win against the Arizona Outlaws. To qualify for the playoffs, New Orleans would have to pick up four wins in their final six games to guarantee a spot in the playoffs. Unfortunately, even with strong victories against Baltimore, New York, and San Jose, losses against divisional rivals Orange County and Austin, would see them finish second to bottom of the ASFC with a 7-9 record. The Stig would again feature near the top of the running back charts, finishing fourth on the rushing yardages chart with 1624. Despite Stig’s productivity on the ground, they would only find the endzone eight times highlighting the Second Line’s inconsistency in the endzone. Rookie QB Elessar Jones would finally break the curse of New Orleans QBs finishing bottom on the yardages charts, finishing second to bottom, eking out the second to last place by 18 yards. Over the offseason, Jones would work to improve his passing game to be part of the new look of the New Orleans offense as they began to transition to a more balanced scheme. Despite not qualifying for the playoffs, there was a buzz around the team after their solid performance in the final third of the season.
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| − | ===S37===
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| − | With the emergence of Elessar Jones and the strong individual performances on the offense, hopes were high for the Second Line entering S37. With the improvements to the offense in the previous season, New Orleans would focus on strengthening their defense in the early stages of the draft. With the 6th overall pick, they selected Cornerback Jason Oexius from the Bondi Beach Buccaneers. Oexius had been the first overall draft pick the season prior in the DSFL and hopes were high that he could come in and provide some stability in the secondary. After developing in the DSFL, Oexius would make his debut for the Second Line in S38 and would play for them through S41 until they were traded to Honolulu. In S39, Oexius’ most productive season, they made 70 tackles, had 12 passes defended, with two interceptions. With their second pick of the draft, New Orleans would draft another Cornerback in Adam Rage from the Tijuana Luchadores. Rage would make their debut for the Second Line in S39 before becoming a Free Agent after the conclusion of S44. New Orleans would select Safety Deckerd Deshaw who would not impress in his second season with the Luchadores, never making an appearance with the Second Line. With their final pick of the draft, Tight End Cardorino Tarotino would be selected, like DeShaw, Tarotino would also never feature for New Orleans.
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| − | With the draft completed, preseason play could begin. In Preseason Week 1, New Orleans would face off against the Sarasota Sailfish at home. In the previous season, the Sailfish were extremely effective as they scored the most points and allowed the least points in the league. In a high scoring affair, New Orleans defeated the Sailfish 38-31, with both offenses putting up over 400. Elessar Jones was particularly effective in this game, completing 24/35 passes for 277 yards and four touchdowns, a change from previous years where most touchdowns were scored on the ground. In Preseason Weeks 2 and 3, the Second Line would lose Berlin (23-20) and Honolulu (27-26). Despite the losses, hopes were still high as the team was able to stick close to their opponents through solid performances from their defense. They would end the preseason with a win against the Baltimore Hawks (33-17) as the Second Line offense would post almost 400 yards. Turnovers were the bane of the Second Line offense as the second year quarterback still had some work to do on his accuracy and decision making skills. Even though there were some cracks in the armor, fans were confident their team could have a solid season and hopefully, sneak their way into the playoffs.
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| − | | |
| − | For their first game of the regular season, New Orleans would play the Austin Copperheads away from home. In S36, the Second Line was defeated by the Copperheads at the ending of the season, helping to eliminate them from playoff contention and the New Orleans faithful were eager to get their revenge. The game would be one of many field goals, with Alfonso Dos Santos making three for New Orleans and Jean-Jacques Leroy converting on two for Austin before either team was able to find the endzone. Going into the fourth quarter, Tight End Eighty-Two would complete a 28 yard pass to Johnny Patey, to give the Copperheads the lead 13-9 with ten minutes remaining. With time ticking down, New Orleans was able to drive down the field and score through a pass to Ttollem Mada to go up 16-13. Holding the Copperheads on their next drive, New Orleans would open the S37 Regular Season with a win. From there, they would be defeated by the Colorado Yeti (17-14) away from home, as the Yeti held the potent rushing offense of the Second Line to under 100 yards. In Weeks 3 and 4, the Second Line would play their first home games of the season, winning them both. In Week 3, New Orleans would defeat the Arizona Outlaws 31-21, where they were finally able to get the rushing attack involved with The Stig and Elessar Jones combining for 159 yards on the ground. On defense, De’Aaron Harper II put in a stellar performance and was essential in keeping the Outlaws at bay with five PDs, an interception, and a defensive touchdown. After improving their record to 3-1 going into Week 5, New Orleans would lose three of their next four games with losses against the Honolulu Hahalua (31-10) in Week 5, followed up by a heavy loss at the hands of the Otters (42-7), and another massive loss to Baltimore (35-3) in Week 8. In each of these games, the New Orleans offense was held to under 100 rushing yards and the passing game was largely ineffective. With the offense unable to stay on the field, that put too much pressure on the young defense to perform and hold out against the high-powered offenses they were facing. Things would begin to turn around in Weeks 9-12 as the Second Line would go on a four game win streak, their longest streak in quite a few seasons. Three of their four wins in this stretch would come against conference opponents, giving them the leg up in the playoff hunt. Despite only winning one of their last four games, the Second Line’s early and mid season performances, and strong record in their conference of 8-4 was enough for them to finish the season with a 9-7 record finishing second in their division and qualifying for the playoffs.
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| − | | |
| − | In the first round of the playoffs, New Orleans would face off against Honolulu who they had just defeated in Week 16, 41-20, however this time they would be facing the Hahalua away from home. Despite their strong performance against the Hahalua at the end of the regular season, the Hahalua would go up early and maintain a 21-7 lead going into halftime. In the second half, the Second Line were unable to close the gap, as the Honolulu defense held New Orleans to just one field goal converted by Alfonso Dos Santos at the end of the second quarter. In the fourth quarter, Freddy Bly would add two field goals of his own for the Hahalua, ending the game 21-7 and sending the Second Line out of the playoffs in the first round.
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| − | | |
| − | ===S38===
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| − | Following their playoff appearance in S37, the Second Line would look to supplement their offense in the first round of the S38 Draft. Over the past few seasons, New Orleans had difficulty breaking down the defense of their opponents and if they could not get the run game going then they struggled to put points on the board. With their first pick of the draft, New Orleans would select promising running back Armor Queen from the Bondi Beach Buccaneers. They would feature as a solid backup option to The Stig in seasons S38 and S39 before being traded to the Berlin Fire Salamanders in Season 40. Armor Queen would be the only player selected in the draft but they would not be the only player joining the Second Line for the upcoming season. They would trade their S38 Second Round Pick, S39 and S40 first round picks for Franz Udo Culman-Kaiser, Orpheus Czargyros, and Morpheus Czargyros. Culman-Kaiser would feature on the offensive line for New Orleans in S38-S41, where they would record their highest number of pancakes (120) in S41 before being traded to Honolulu. The Czargyros brothers would terrorize defenses together for a few seasons in New Orleans before entering free agency. Orpheus would get 12 interceptions and Morpheus would record 39 sacks, forcing 15 fumbles.
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| − | | |
| − | With the draft over, New Orleans would shift their focus to the preseason, preparing for a season in which they would hope to once again make a playoff appearance. The preseason would open up perfectly for the Second Line, winning all four of their outings against Honolulu (27-19), Berlin (27-17), New York (37-34), and Sarasota (20-17). In these games, the continued improvement of Elessar Jones’ QB play was on full display. His passing game had improved significantly over the offseason, passing for over 300 yards against Honolulu. Despite passing for sub-200 yards in the following three games, his efficiency was great, completing the vast majority of his passes.
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| − | | |
| − | Following electric start in the preseason, the Second Line were eager to get to their opening day game versus the Arizona Outlaws; the defending Ultimus champions, a potential statement of intent win. Unfortunately, the Second Line would not get the win they were hoping for as the defending champs would beat them 21-13. In Weeks 2 and 3, they would suffer close defeats to the Austin Copperheads (24-21) and the San Jose Sabercats (24-20). Going into Week 4, the Second Line were 0-3 in the regular season against conference opponents, behind the eight ball for playoff qualification, they were able to return to winning ways against the Honolulu Hahalua beating them 58-23, their highest points total over the past few seasons. The Second Line would put up 220 total rushing yards and three touchdowns through The Stig (133 yards, 1 TD) and rookie RB Armor Queen (31 yards, 2 TDs). Elessar Jones would pass for three additional touchdowns and Orpheus Czargryos would have two interceptions, with one returned for a touchdown. However, Honolulu would put up 436 yards of total offense on the Second Line in comparison to their 381 yards, a worrying statistic from a team that would go 0-16 on the season. New Orleans’ performances would continue to be less than ideal, only winning two of their next two of their next six games. Luckily, only one of these losses would be to a conference opponent in Week 10 to the Orange County Otters (31-30). The Second Line would enter Week 11 with a record of 3-7, almost out of the playoff race. To guarantee their best chance at qualification for postseason play, they would need to win out the remainder season, a tall order for the team from the southeast. In the end, they would almost do it, only dropping one game to the Austin Copperheads in Week 11-16 to improve their record to 8-8. However, it wasn’t enough for the Second Line to qualify for the playoffs, as their two losses to Orange County would spell their demise, even if they had beaten Austin, OCO would have still qualified ahead of them in the head-to-head matchups. After being knocked out of the playoffs in the first round in the previous season, the Second Line had been denied the opportunity to improve their performance and challenge for the title.
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| − | | |
| − | ===S39===
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| − | Having traded many of their draft picks in S39 and S40 to strengthen the team in short term, New Orleans would not have a pick in the S39 draft until Round 3. With their only pick of the draft, at Round 3, Pick 34, the Second Line would select Defensive End Lenny Lyons Jr. from the London Royals. He would end up being traded to the New York Silverbacks before moving to the San Jose Sabercats.
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| − | | |
| − | After narrowly missing out on the playoffs in S38, the Second Line were eager to start off S39 with a strong showing in the preseason. This would be Elessar Jones’ third season under center with the Second Line and his second season as a primarily passing QB, hopes were high that there would be a resurgence from last season’s form and another trip to the playoffs. In the preseason, New Orleans would go 2-2 with a loss in Preaseason Week 1 to the Yellowknife Wraiths (30-20) and in Week 4 to the Chicago Butchers (14-13). Their wins would come against the Colorado Yeti (31-21) and the Arizona Outlaws (37-24) in Weeks 2 and 3, in which Jones’ improved arm would be on display. He would throw for 332 yards with a 70% completion rate in the game against Colorado. Against the Outlaws, Jones would throw for 395 yards, completing 23/28 passes for a completion rate of 82.1%. Following the strong preseason performance from the offense, things were looking good for New Orleans as they geared up for the regular season.
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| − | | |
| − | The Second Line would open the season against the Austin Copperheads away from home. This would prove to be a tough matchup on the opening day of the season as the Copperheads would finish the season with 11 wins and only 5 losses, finishing second in the division. Turnovers would ultimately be the downfall of the Second Line in this game as they gave up two interceptions and one fumble. Austin would capitalize on the mistakes made by New Orleans and would defeat them in Week 1, 31-17. Bouncing back from their opening day loss, New Orleans would able to string together four victories in a row against the Cape Town Crash (20-17), San Jose SaberCats (24-17), Honolulu Hahalua (23-10), and the Arizona Outlaws (33-20). The victory against the Arizona Outlaws in Week 5 was a perfect example of the great strides made by the team over the past few seasons. Arizona would eventually go on to win the division and make an appearance in the Ultimus. In that Week 5 matchup, the Second Line offense would put up 431 yards of total offense. Elessar Jones would pass for 283 yards with a 75% completion rate and two touchdowns. The Stig would rushing for 92 yards and one touchdown, with Armor Queen adding an additional 47 with one touchdown of their own. The New Orleans secondary would also be responsible for defending seven passes and holding the high-powered Arizona offense to just two touchdowns on the day. Following their four game win streak, New Orleans would hit a rough patch and lose all four of their games in Weeks 6-9, suffering a particularly embarrassing loss to the Chicago Butchers in Week 8 where the Second Line were held to just 220 yards of total offense. In Weeks 10-16, New Orleans won four of their final seven games. In Week 12, they would finally get revenge on the Austin Copperheads, beating them 30-14. They would also lose to the Yellowknife Wraiths (20-13) in Week 13, the Wraiths would go on to win the S39 Ultimus. Over this stretch, the Second Line record would be improved to 8-8, placing them solidly in third for their division and qualifying for the postseason.
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| − | | |
| − | After exiting the playoffs in the first round in S37, the Second Line were looking to improve on their performance and at least make it to the Semifinals. In their first round matchup, the Second Line would find themselves face-to-face with the Austin Copperheads. In the regular season, New Orleans had split games with the Copperheads, losing to them in Week 1 and defeating them in Week 12. The game would open up quickly with the Copperheads scoring their first touchdown through a 9 yard pass from QB Queen Elizabeth II to WR Delores Bickerman. Following that, the Copperheads would shut out the Second Line until the fourth quarter. Ahead by 21 points, the game seemed all but tied up for the Copperheads. However, Elessar Jones would lead the team to score 22 points in the fourth quarter before time expired, punching the Second Line’s ticket to the Semifinals. In this matchup, the Second Line would face the Arizona Outlaws. Having beaten them twice over the course of the preseason and regular season, hopes were high that New Orleans could pull out a win and secure a spot in the Ultimus final. That would not be the case. Three interceptions would spell the demise of the Second Line, giving up the ball to the Outlaws in dangerous field positions that they were able to convert on. Despite putting up more total yards of offense, the Second Line were undone by their inability to hang onto the ball. In the end, Arizona would dispatch New Orleans 37-24 before they would lose to the Yellowknife Wraiths in the Ultimus.
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| − | | |
| − | Despite the tough loss to Arizona in the playoffs, fans were still excited about the performances the team had put in. With their recent draft picks and trades and the continued development of Elessar Jones, there was a lot to be hopeful for in New Orleans. Elessar Jones finished with 3820 passing yards and 25 touchdowns while The Stig finished with the second highest amount of rushing yards as they picked up 1591 yards and 13 touchdowns over the course of the season. The defense continued their solid performance, only allowing 380 points to be scored against them, the fifth best in the league.
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| − | | |
| − | ===S40===
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| − | Following their appearance in the Semifinals of the playoffs in S39, the Second Line would look to build on their performance and reach their goal of becoming a regular playoff contender. In the S40 Draft, due to their trades in previous seasons, New Orleans would have to go without a pick in the first and second round of the draft. Despite missing out on those rounds, the Second Line were still able to find significant value with their only pick of the draft in the third round where they would select WR Eli Prince from the Tijuana Luchadores. With Elessar Jones’ continued improvement in the pocket, Eli Prince seemed like the perfect fit for the new look of the New Orleans offense. Prince would receive their call up to the ISFL in S43, where the rookie would record 101 receptions for 1215 yards and 4 touchdowns. In the following season, they would assume the WR1 role, amassing 1114 yards and 11 touchdowns. In S45, Prince would cede the WR1 role to up and coming WR Hank Mardukas, however, Prince as one of the more experienced WRs on the team would still be a main target for Elessar Jones and Octavion Speedings.
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| − | | |
| − | With the draft finished, the Second Line would turn their attention to the S40 Preseason. Their lone loss of the preseason would come in Week 2 against the defending Ultimus champions, the Yellowknife Wraiths, 24-17. In their other three preseason matchups, New Orleans would defeat Arizona (32-30), Berlin (32-28), and Colorado (26-21). While the wins were encouraging, the tight scorelines of all the games highlighted the competitiveness of the league and the way a season could turn from good to bad for up and coming teams, like New Orleans, that struggle with consistency.
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| − | | |
| − | Away from home in the first week of the regular season, New Orleans would make the trip to San Jose to take on the SaberCats in the first game of the S40 Season. In another close outing, the Second Line would pick up the victory against the Sabercats 21-17. Elessar Jones would throw for all three touchdowns for 317 yards with Armor Queen picking up 66 yards on the ground. Wide Receiver Ttolem Mada would catch all seven targets for 94 yards and two touchdowns. Rookie Wide Receiver Dick Grayson would also have a solid performance on the day, catching six of his nine targets for 100 receiving yards. Following their opening day victory against the SaberCats, the Second Line would be defeated by the Outlaws 57-14, their highest points against in the season. The Outlaws, eventual Ultimus champs of S40, would force five turnovers (4 Ints, 1 FR) and capitalize on those opportunities. The rest of the season would be a roller coaster for fans of the Second Line as they would win their game in Week 3 against the Hahalua (23-17), lose in Week 4 to the Austin Copperheads in a close matchup (21-20), and beat the Chicago Butchers (17-14) in Week 5. In Weeks 6-10, the Second Line would also go through a series of ups and downs, only winning two of their five games in that stretch. Then the real low point of the season hit, in Weeks 11-15, New Orleans would lose all five of their games, entering the final week of the season with a record of 5-10.
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| − | | |
| − | In Week 16, the Second Line would again take on the San Jose SaberCats. With both teams tied for 4th place in the division and a place in the playoffs on the line, this was a must win game for both teams. San Jose would go up early, converting on an 8 yard pass to C.G Breezy to open the scoring. New Orleans would equalize early on in the second quarter with Pee Pee Poo Poo Eater Sr. catching a 5 yard pass from Elessar Jones. The SaberCats would score again and New Orleans would convert on a field goal and go into the half with the SaberCats leading, 14-10. After an inspirational speech at halftime by Quarterback Elessar Jones, the Second Line returned to the field with a newfound energy. In the second half, the Second Line would score 28 unanswered points. A 72 yard pick 6 by Solace Avenger, a 41 yard pass to Dick Grayson, 3 yard touchdown run by Jay Cue Jr., and another 34 yard pick six by Chim Rickles would be enough to give the Second Line a 38-14 win and secure their spot in the playoffs.
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| − | | |
| − | In the first round, the Second Line would come up against the league leaders, the Arizona Outlaws. The Outlaws finished the regular season with 14 wins and just two losses, scoring the most points while allowing the fewest against by a wide margin. Having lost to the Outlaws twice over the course of the season (Away Week 2 57-14, Home Week 13 24-17), the Second Line knew this was a tough matchup going into. Despite Elessar Jones’ 339 passing yards and a higher total offensive yardage, the Second Line were unable to come away with victory, losing to eventual S40 Ultimus champs, 27-17.
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| − | | |
| − | ===S41===
| |
| − | S41’s draft would be a return to normalcy for the Second Line with two crucial picks in the first round and an early second round pick. With Picks 5 and 6 of the draft, the Second Line would select CB Ezra Azazel and DE Bruce White. Azael would immediately slot into the team, making the jump up to New Orleans after the draft. As of the end of S45, they have racked up 355 tackles and 11 interceptions for the Second Line. White would also feature immediately for the Second Line where he has since had 285 tackles and 42 sacks. In Round 2 with Pick #20, the Second Line would pick up their future RB1 in Kyle Crane who would take over the starting job in S42 after the departure of Armor Queen and Jay Cue Jr. In Round 4, the Second Line would also select Running Back Malik Brooks from the Bondi Beach Buccaneers. The speedster would eventually switch over WR for the Chicago Butchers. With their final couple of picks in the draft, the Second Line would select LB Rodney Rosadino, TE William Barkley, and DT Nwoye Nusa. Rosadino would play for the Second Line for two seasons before being released to free agency and Barkley and Nusa would never make an appearance for the team.
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| − | | |
| − | With the draft finished, attention could now turn to the preseason. Fans and players alike knew S41 would be a difficult one for the Second Line. Over the past few seasons, the team had traded away some of their best players for early round draft picks in S42 and the team was thin in terms of depth, experience, and player quality. In the preseason, the Second Line would go 1-3, with their lone win coming against the Yellowknife Wraiths in Preseason Week 4, defeating them 27-13.
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| − | | |
| − | In the S41 Regular Season, the Second Line would go 1-15 with their sole win coming against the San Jose SaberCats in Week 2 where they were able to 26-23. Following their loss in Week 1 and their victory in Week 2, the Second Line would enter into a losing streak that would last the rest of the season, losing 14 games in a row. In this stretch, the Second Line would be heavily out-scored by their opponents as many veterans on both sides of the ball had been traded away for future draft picks. The Second Line would finish bottom of their division with the worst record in the league with a league low 246 points for and league high 570 points against. The Baltimore Hawks had the second highest points against for the season at 411. Eager to put this season behind them, the Second Line would turn their eyes to the S42 Draft. The rookie class for S42 seemed deep with talent and fans were looking forward to a full rebuild of the team.
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| − | | |
| − | ===S42===
| |
| − | In the S42 Draft, New Orleans would have four picks in the first round, including the first and third overall picks of the draft. They would also have the first pick of the second round and another pick near the end of the second round and their draft would round out with the first picks of the third and fourth round. With the first pick of the draft, the Second Line would select CB Dino Nuggets from the Tijuana Luchadores. Nuggets had impressed with Tijuana in the DSFL, gaining a reputation as one of the more promising players in the league at the time. Dino Nuggets would eventually be traded to the Baltimore Hawks before their contract expired at the end of S44. Next, New Orleans would select TE Hank Mardukas with the third pick of the draft. Mardukas would eventually be converted to a WR and take over the WR1 role from Eli Prince after Pee Pee Poo Poo Eater Sr. left the team. With the final two picks of Round 1, the Second Line would select WR turned QB Octavion Speedings and S Honey Humphries. Speedings passed for 4,624 yards and 24 touchdowns in S44, his first season at the helm for the team from New Orleans. Honey Humphries would make the step up to the big time immediately. In their first season, they would record 55 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 PDS, and 1 interception. Since then, Honey has gone on to become a staple in the New Orleans secondary. Their next pick would be WR Keanu Calhoun who would make a shock move to San Jose just halfway through the season after the SaberCats made an offer the rookie wide receiver just couldn’t turn down. DT Sonny Johnson would be drafted at the end of the second round from the Kansas City Coyotes. Hailing from Missouri State, the DT would make their debut in the ISFL in S43 where the rookie would record 37 tackles, 1 TFL, and 3 sacks. RB Eldroh Kove would be drafted. The RB would eventually make the switch to the offensive line. In S45, Kove would make their debut for the team and record 55 pancakes while only allowing 9 sacks. Joining him on the line would be Shucks McShuckle from the Minnesota Grey Ducks. McShuckle, up to this point in their career, has recorded 271 pancakes and only allowed 20 sacks over the course of four seasons with New Orleans. With their final pick of the draft, New Orleans would select CB Thomas Ferguson who would not impress after being drafted and would be released by the Second Line.
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| − | | |
| − | Following an extremely exciting draft class, the Second Line would have to face the reality that, despite having players with loads of potential, they simply just weren’t ready for the big time. In the preseason, the Second Line would go 0-4, losing to the Austin Copperheads (39-26), the Honolulu Hahalua (47-13), New York Silverbacks (40-25), and the Sarasota Sailfish (33-14) getting outscored by their opponents 159-78. Things would only get more dismal as the regular season started. At home in Week 1, the Second Line would be defeated by the Berlin Fire Salamanders, 24-17. Despite a career game from Poop-Eater Sr. that saw them record 167 receiving yards and one touchdowns and strong performance from rookie running back Kyle Crane (87 yards, 1 TD), the young lineup would only be able to score two touchdowns with Kicker Dos Santos converting on one field goal as well. The young defense would be overcome by the Berlin Fire Salamander offense as WRs Zayne Dangle, Ttollem Mada, and RB Armor Queen would run rampant on the New Orleans Secondary, recording 272 receiving yards between the three of them. The Second Line would lose their next three games before coming up against the San Jose SaberCats in Week 5. Luckily, New Orleans was able to get their solitary win of the season against the Cats, beating them 33-31 away from home. Kyle Crane was finding his feet in the backfield, rushing for 163 yards and all three of New Orleans’ touchdowns. Keanu Calhoun would also record 138 receiving yards in a performance that surely convinced the SaberCats to pursue the rookie WR after his dominating performance. Alfonso Dos Santos would find the uprights four times throughout the game to help cement the victory for the Second Line. Any hopes the New Orleans faithful had were quickly dashed, as the Second Line were pummeled the following week, losing 40-10, by the Austin Copperheads. In Weeks 7-16, the Second Line would lose all of their games, ending the season 1-15, bottom of the table with the worst offense and second worst defense in the league.
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| − | | |
| − | ===S43===
| |
| − | The team would hope to improve in S43, as their rookies from their large S42 class began to grow into their potential. With a favorable draft position with a large rookie class, the Second Line would have two picks in the first round and the 12th and 13th spots of the draft. With their first pick, the Second Line would select Safety Josh Gibson from the Kansas City Coyotes. While New Orleans had sorted out their offense in S42, they would look to solidify their defense in S43. Gibson would start for the team immediately, making 52 tackles, one sack, seven PDs, two interceptions, with one defensive touchdown in his first season. In S44 and S45, he would take on an even larger role, developing into a lethal pass rusher from deep and doubling his tackling output. Linebacker Bubba Hog would be selected with their second pick of the draft. At Linebacker, Hog made 138 tackles, 11 TFLs, four sacks, four PDs, two interceptions, with one defensive touchdown in their first season with the Second Line. Continuing to strengthen their defensive core, New Orleans would select DT Allister Adebam from the Minnesota Grey Ducks. The defensive tackle from the University of Florida had strong ties to New Orleans and has proven to be a strong presence in the middle of the line for New Orleans over the course of his short career. Their fourth pick would be OL Kelijah Verwae. Alongside McShuckle and Kove, Verwae would be part of the line group put together to protect up and coming QB Octavion Speedings. With their fifth and sixth picks of the draft, New Orleans would pick up RB Tatum Washington III and DE Midwest Emo. Washington III would play a backup role to Kyle Crane, filling in whenever their star running back needed a breather. Midwest Emo, despite being a late round pick, would jump into the team the following season in S44 to help lockdown the edge alongside Adebam. With their final pick of the draft, they would select another DE in Kane Erikkson, who would not feature for the Second Line after not impressing in their second season in the DSFL.
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| − | | |
| − | Fans were eager to see the team return to a perennial playoff contender after two strong drafts, however, those hopes were quickly brought back down to Earth with the Second Line losing all four of their preseason games for the second season in a row. In Weeks 1-6, the Second Line would be defeated in all of their matchups. The regular season would begin with a 31-6 at home loss to the Chicago Butchers, a team widely regarded as the second worst team in the league. New Orleans was only able to put up 246 total yards of offense compared to the Butchers’ 446. Fans were left dejected after the season opening loss to a team that was regarded as their best chance for an early season win. In Week 7, the Second Line would finally get a break against the Arizona Outlaws in a shock defeat that saw New Orleans beat the perennial Ultimus contenders 26-23. With the season getting away from them, New Orleans had no choice but to rely on veteran QB Adrian St. Christmas’ arm to try and keep the game within reach. The quarterback would throw for 393 yards and two touchdowns, while only giving up one interception. Kyle Crane would rush for 95 yards and Rookie Wide Receivers Eli Prince and Forozka Duanei would both have over 100 receiving yards and a touchdown each. Dino Nuggets put in an incredible shift on defense in this game with 6 PDs while Ezra Azazel would add another 2 PDs and an interception. Despite their victory against one of the best teams in the league, fans knew that the rest of the season would still be difficult. That feeling would quickly turn to a reality as the Second Line would again go on a massive losing streak in Weeks 8-16 that saw them lose another nine games in a row. For the second season in a row, the Second Line would finish with a record of 1-15, bottom of the league, and failing to qualify for the playoffs.
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| | | | |
| | ==Season-by-season records== | | ==Season-by-season records== |
| − | {{main article|List of New Orleans Second Line seasons}}
| |
| | | | |
| | {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center" | | {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center" |
| | |- | | |- |
| − | !rowspan="2" |Season
| + | |rowspan="2" align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''Season''' |
| − | !colspan="4" |Regular Season Record
| + | |colspan="4" align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''Regular Season Record''' |
| − | !colspan="4" |Post Season Record
| + | |colspan="4" align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''Post Season Record''' |
| | |- | | |- |
| − | !W!!L!!T!!PCT!!W!!L
| + | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''W''' |
| | + | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''L''' |
| | + | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''T''' |
| | + | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''PCT''' |
| | + | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''W''' |
| | + | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''L''' |
| | |- | | |- |
| | |align=center |{{TeamYearShort|LVL|2}} | | |align=center |{{TeamYearShort|LVL|2}} |
| Line 368: |
Line 236: |
| | |align=center |{{TeamYearShort|NOLA|47}} | | |align=center |{{TeamYearShort|NOLA|47}} |
| | |11||5||0||style="background:#dfd" |.688|||0||1 | | |11||5||0||style="background:#dfd" |.688|||0||1 |
| | + | |- |
| | + | |align=center |{{TeamYearShort|NOLA|48}} |
| | + | |12||4||0||style="background:#dfd" |.750||style="background:#dfd"|3||0 |
| | + | |- |
| | + | |align=center |{{TeamYearShort|NOLA|49}} |
| | + | |12||4||0||style="background:#dfd" |.750||style="background:#dfd"|3||0 |
| | + | |- |
| | + | |align=center |{{TeamYearShort|NOLA|50}} |
| | + | |7||9||0||style="background:#fcc" |.438|||0||0 |
| | |- | | |- |
| | |-class="sortbottom" | | |-class="sortbottom" |
| − | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''Total''' | + | |style="background:#068CA8"| <span style="color: #412879>'''Total''' |
| − | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''276''' | + | |style="background:#068CA8"| <span style="color: #412879>'''307''' |
| − | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''410''' | + | |style="background:#068CA8"| <span style="color: #412879>'''427''' |
| − | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''2''' | + | |style="background:#068CA8"| <span style="color: #412879>'''2''' |
| − | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''.402''' | + | |style="background:#068CA8"| <span style="color: #412879>'''.419''' |
| − | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''16''' | + | |style="background:#068CA8"| <span style="color: #412879>'''22''' |
| − | |align=center style="{{TeamPrimaryStyle|New Orleans Second Line}};"|'''15''' | + | |style="background:#068CA8"| <span style="color: #412879>'''15''' |
| | |} | | |} |
| | | | |
Current season
