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| | ==History of the Arizona Outlaws== | | ==History of the Arizona Outlaws== |
| | {{main article|History of the Arizona Outlaws}} | | {{main article|History of the Arizona Outlaws}} |
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| − | ==WINters is coming Era==
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| − | {{nsfly|42}} was a time for change for the Arizona Outlaws and also a heralding in of a new era, with the retirement of storied franchise quarterback, and greatest Outlaw, [[Wendell Sailor]], it was time for [[Donovan Winters III]] to take over leadership of the Outlaws and continue the great story. In addition to Sailor, longtime offensive tackle [[D'Nickashaw Mangoldson]], wide receiver [[Kotoni Staggs]], cornerback [[Mark Goodhead]] and safety [[Amari Springer]] sailed off to the sunset and their retirement. This meant that the Outlaws called up wide receiver [[Benjo Aguilera]], cornerback [[Benjamin Duvernay]] and safety [[Brian Vincent-Vega]] to help out in a quest for another Ultimus title. After a tough opening week loss to the [[Honolulu Hahalua]], the Outlaws went on 6 games winning streak which included some convincing wins along with some close calls such as a 14-12 win on the road against the [[Orange County Otters]]. After two clear losses on the road against tough opponents in the [[Baltimore Hawks]] and [[New York Silverbacks]] the Outlaws finished extremely strong and winning the rest of the way, finishing with a 13-3 record, top spot in the ASFC and a first-round bye to boot. With rookie Winters III at the helm, the Outlaws leaned on the run game with the most rushing attempts in the league by a clear margin and brought Danny Nedelko with a deserved Offensive Player of the Year award but also Winters III play was good enough to award him a Offensive Rookie of the Year award. After enjoying their bye, the Outlaws would first come up against the [[Honolulu Hahalua]] and were able to gain adequate revenge after their opening week loss by dismantling them 34-10 in a game that was never close. After that it was off to another Ultimus, looking to avenge their loss the previous season, this time against the Berlin Fire Salamanders. This was a game that the Outlaws never looked like losing with 3 rushing scores in the first half and leading 21-0 at the half. In the second half it never got much closer and the final score was 38-14, with Sherwin Blue Jr nabbing Ultimus MVP with 3 rushing touchdowns and bringing home their 8th Ultimus title and sending the team deservedly to Disneyland!
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| − | With championship feeling still going through their veins, the Outlaws started the {{nsfly|43}} season looking to build on that. During the off-season, there had been only one retirement, with stalwart defensive tackle [[Emerson Quinn]] hanging up his boots. Arizona was then able to call up three rookies to bolster their already strong squad, with [[Beeg Beeg Yoshi Jr.]] and [Don Tolibeo]] joining on the offensive line and defensive tackle [[Scruffy The Janitor]] beefing up the defensive line. Arizona decided to open up with a traditional opening week loss, this time on the road against the New York Silverbacks. After this initial blip, they decided to put their foot on the gas and reel off 5 straight wins, including some truly impressive performances, such as a 27-3 win against the San Jose Sabercats and a 54-14 win over the Orange County Otters, both at home. After this things started to get a bit more difficult as the Outlaws went 4-6 on the rest of the season to finish with a 9-7 record, which would give them the second seed in the ASFC. The Outlaw players were also were well-liked with 8 Pro-bowl awards and star linebacker [[Akaki Akayre]] taking home the Defensive Player of the Year award. Arizona started their playoff journey at home against the [[Honolulu Hahalua]] in the wild-card round. Arizona dominated the first quarter, while Honolulu put up three touchdowns in the second, meaning the game 21-17 in favor of Honolulu going into halftime. In the second half, Honolulu was only able to put up 2 field goals, while Arizona responded with two touchdowns and a safety, which ended up being the difference in a 32-27 win for the Outlaws. This meant that they would go on the road to face the first-seeded New York Silverbacks in the conference championship game. This was also a tight game with only 3 points being scored in the first half and not much more in the second half. In the end it was New York who was able to put up 17 points in the fourth quarter and take the game 20-13. This was an unfortunate end to the season for the Outlaws but had them again as one of the top 4 teams in the league
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| − | {{nsfly|44}} season began in almost weird fashion for the Arizona Outlaws as there were no roster moves either in or out of the organization. On the other hand there was a big change over in management as long-time Head Coach ''[[User:.simo|.simo]]'' decided it was time to enjoy his time elsewhere after a marvelous run and so much success. All Arizona Outlaws wished him the best of luck in whatever he decided to do next and then prepared to welcome in new Head Coach ''[[User:lemonpoppy|lemonpoppy]]'' who was seen as a great young offensive mind and the next true guru. His time as head coach started off well, with Arizona opening up with three straight wins and the offense humming as it should and the defense also looking good. After trading wins and losses for the next few weeks the then were able to string back-to-back wins in weeks 9 and 10 but unfortunately followed that up with a 3-game losing streak. After finishing the last few weeks of the season, the Outlaws finished up with another 9-7 season, but this time that was enough as their proud 17-season playoff streak came to an end. This was something of a shock for the franchise and its players who were used to making it, but all good things do tend to come to an end at some point. Even with the disappointment of not making the playoffs, the Outlaws were able to scoop up 5 Pro Bowl awards, 3 All-Pro along with Jayme Jayne Jay-Jamison winning the Special Teams Player of the Year award and superstar Akaki Akayre winning his second straight Defensive Player of the Year award.
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| − | {{nsfly|45}} was then the complete opposite of what {{nsfly|44}} was in terms of player movement. The Outlaws were sad to see wide receiver [[Louis Blondin]], cornerback [[Outlaw Mode Sicko]], defensive tackle [[Rapahel McTurtle]] and linebacker [[Leonardo McTurtle]] all sail off to the sunset of their retirement island. This was of course a huge exodus from the team, but thankfully they were then able to add a great rookie class, including wide receiverr [[Thomas Sutha]] and [[Jordan Bamford]] along with cornerback [[Paul Dosza]]. Long-time running back [[Sherwin Blue Jr.]] also had a very eventful off-season and put in a lot of work so that he would now line up on the other side of the ball as a linebacker. This meant that there was an opening in the running back room and the Outlaws decided to pounce by singing free agent [[Ben Goodwood]]. To make things even more complex, there was even a trade! With Arizona sending Defensive Tackle [[Dormo Bloodhand]] to the [[Cap Town Crash]] in exchange for Defensive End [[Udo E Beauty]]. After all these roster moves, the start of the season was quite a rocky ride in Arizona, with the Outlaws finding themselves at 3-5 after 8 weeks of the season and firmly outside of the playoff picture and wondering was this their new trend. After week 8, the Outlaws seemed somewhat galvanized, which might have been due to the great team retreat they took in Jamaica. In any case they decided to 6-2 the rest of the way, which brought them their third straight 9-7 season in a row. This time it was good for third in the ASFC, losing out the tiebreaker to the [[Austin Copperheads]] but making the playoffs! Making the playoffs was great, but this time it was not meant to be their dance as they got absolutely dominated in the wild-card round by the [[Austin Copperheads]] 41-19 and the game was never close. Outlaws again took home 7 Pro-Bowl awards, and 5 second-team All-Pro awards and it was a great honor to also see Outlaw legends [[Jay Cue Jr.]] and [[Wendell Sailor]] inducted into the Hall of Fame!
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| | ==Season-by-season records== | | ==Season-by-season records== |
Current season
