Cross-Eriksen
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| No. 27 – Colorado Yeti | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Safety |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | March 8, 2030 (aged 31) Venus |
| Height: | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Weight: | 195 lb (88 kg) |
| Username: | Tesla |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Data Expunged |
| College: | Not Applicable |
| ISFL Draft: | 2049 / Round: 2 / Pick: 23 |
| DSFL Draft: | 2048 / Round: 3 / Pick: 20 |
| Career history | |
| Roster status: | Active |
Cross-Eriksen (born March 8, 2030) is an American football safety for the Colorado Yeti of the International Simulation Football League (ISFL).
Contents
Early years
Cross-Eriksen was more created than born on her home planet of Venus as the product of a scientist by the name of Data Expunged who used materials from a variety of sports superstars in an attempt to create an army of genetically perfect super soldiers. Among the subjects Cross-Eriksen performed the best in tests of physical ability, mental acumen, and Data Expunged. It was not until she was almost six years old that she was rescued from the laboratory by a raid run by Agent Tesla, and as one of the best performing survivors was officially taken in by them.
During her time being taken care of by Agent Tesla she was introduced to the two people who would become most important to her in Matt Cross and Wesley Eriksen the dynamic safety duo of the Norfolk Seawolves. Their ability to be frightening figures on the field while being friendly fellows off the field helped her learn to redirect her destructive impulses to more productive ends. Given their connection when the two were called up to the Philadelphia Liberty together they officially adopted her ahead of time so they could take her with them.
Cross-Eriksen spent four years in Philadelphia with them before the news broke that Wesley was going to join the Arizona Outlaws. Given that news it was decided that it would be for the best that she spend the season in as productive a place as possible and that is where Agent Tesla came back into the picture with the suggestion of a boarding school suitable to develop Cross-Eriksen's athletic talents even more. Thus she got shipped off to begin training at Data Expunged for several years.
High School career
While studying at Data Expunged she was able to join in on roughly high school equivalent competitions in a variety of sports once of an appropriate age, although the two that she favored the most were gridiron football and baseball. Given her upbringing she was a natural born free safety able to play the deep middle of the field well enough to be scouted by colleges during the equivalent of her freshman year. This led to her taking the position of center fielder in baseball where the crossover helped her develop well in both sports.
By the time of her sophomore equivalent season her skills led her to playing both ways with routine time as a wide receiver on offense. She would be brought in routinely in four and five wide receiver aligned formations. That season she set an unofficial [Data Expunged] record for Hail Mary receptions with six. It was that season where she also started getting attention from the advanced analytics department which determined that her team had not given up a reception of over thirty yards with her on the field.
Her junior and senior equivalent seasons saw her on the field for every snap on defense, and a majority of snaps period courtesy of her developing receiver skills. It was her junior equivalent season that she earned more snaps on special teams courtesy of a blocked punt in their first game of the season. The end of her senior year there was a question of which college she would be joining, but she instead declared that she would be joining the DSFL at the trade deadline where she would be represented by Agent Tesla.
Professional Career
DSFL Career
Cross-Eriksen began their DSFL career by joining the Dallas Birddogs for the last four games of the 2047 (S32) season where she showed talent despite Data Expunged. The last game of the season she helped the Birddogs to their fourth win of the season with an interception and key forced fumble that earned her player of the game honors for the first time in her professional career.
Going into the draft she knew she would be taken late courtesy of her agent's connections, but was taken earlier than expected in the third round with the twentieth overall pick by the Minnesota Grey Ducks. Despite her relative inexperience she quickly earned a starting role in the lineup and even earned a player of the game honor for a one sack, two interception, and one touchdown performance against her parents team the Seawolves. A performance deemed the best of the season as it was that game that led to her win of DSFL Defensive Performance of the Year for the season.
Cross-Eriksen continued the award worthy performance throughout the season helping her team to be the best in scoring defense and one of just two teams to surrender fewer than 300 points throughout the season. Her performance in the regular season won her both a Pro Bowl nod and ultimately won her Safety of the Year. However the team's performance took them into the playoffs where they would host the Kansas City Coyotes in the first round. It was there that she accumulated the majority of her playoff stats including an interception in opponent territory in the first five minutes that helped lead to a touchdown. That touchdown proved to be decisive as the team won 32 to 27 to make it to the Ultimini XXXI where they faced off against the Norfolk Seawolves. Despite her early exceptional performance against the team her parents played for she had a much more meager stat line against the Seawolves this time around accounting for just two tackles and a pass defended in the 17 to 24 loss. Given her parents and her agent's leanings though she did not take the loss too hard and headed into the off-season ready to be called up to the next level.
DSFL Career Statistics
| Regular Season | Defense | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | FF/FR | Sacks | Ints | PD | TD | Blk P/XP/FG |
| 2047 (S32) | DAL | 4 | 13 | 0 | 1/0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0/0/0 |
| 2048 (S33) | MIN | 14 | 57 | 0 | 3/2 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 1/0/0 |
| Career | 18 | 70 | 0 | 4/2 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 1 | 1/0/0 | |
| Playoffs | Defense | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | FF/FR | Sacks | Ints | PD | TD | Blk P/XP/FG |
| 2048 (S33) | MIN | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0/0/0 |
ISFL Career
Surprising absolutely no one courtesy of her agent's status as general manager of one of the teams Cross-Eriksen was selected in the second round of the draft by the Colorado Yeti with the twenty-third overall pick. She was slow to sign her initial contract courtesy of commitments in other dimensions, but was able to include a clause that would prevent any punishment to her or her agent so long as she continued to perform on the field.
| Ht | Wt | 40‑yd dash | 20‑ss | 3‑cone | Vert jump | Broad | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
195 lb (88 kg) |
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| 2049 ISFL scouting combine (S34) | ||||||||||||
Cross-Eriksen's ISFL career got off to a rough start with a four score loss in week one where she was responsible for 30 yards of penalties. Things got a little better over the first leg of the season with a win in week two, and she got her first interception at the ISFL level in week four. The next leg of the season was especially rough though with four straight losses where the defense yielded thirty plus points to every single opponent they played and she failed to haul in any additional interceptions. Week nine Cross-Eriksen showed a flash of what she could be though as she put up a superb stat line with a sack, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, three passes defended, and two interceptions. Unfortunately those would be the last interceptions she would get for the season and it would only get worse as the only other win the Yeti would get her rookie season would see her sole stat sheet appearance come in the form of a seven yard defensive pass interference penalty.
Courtesy of her two good performances Cross-Eriksen was nominated for ISFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, however fell short of the award with just a single first place vote. Thankfully her Pro Bowl safety partner SparkySparky Boom-Man served as a most magnificent mentor for her throughout the season and so she dedicated herself in the off-season to learning from their excellent example with a goal of getting a Pro Bowl nod during her rookie contract.
The 2050 season proved to be even rougher than the one that preceded it for the Colorado Yeti as a whole, but also for Cross-Eriksen especially. Whereas they were able to get a win in week two of her rookie season; her sophomore season saw them start 0-6 with her best stat line being four tackles and a pass defended. Thankfully for her sake the sophomore slump is a known enough factor to have that name, unfortunately for Cross-Eriksen it meant that just about all of her stats were overall worse despite the effort she put in to improve going into her second season. After not seeing a pass defended until week four she had to wait until week nine to do anything more than tackle as she was finally able to secure a fumble recovery and a couple more passes defended for her stat sheet. Heading into week sixteen it looked like her goal of just one interception was going to be dashed against the rocks, but she was able to step up with a player of the game performance with four tackles, two passes defended, and an interception touchdown for her first score in the big leagues. Asked after the game how she felt about it and she said it was bittersweet as the Yeti still lost the game. Heading into the off-season early once again led Cross-Eriksen to devote herself to broadening her skill set for the final season of her rookie contract.
After a sophomore slump it was not exactly a comeback of the year for Cross-Eriksen during the 2051 season, but it was a far more involved role in the defense as she set her personal best mark in tackles at 82 a fully thirty above her second best season. Combined with her two interceptions and nine passes defensed she was beginning to show that coverage was not all she was able to show good coverage as well as good reading of the offense. This did not translate to much for Colorado though as they had just two more wins on the season, but the steady improvement over her career made her hopeful that they would get over the hump during her tenure.
Looking back at the season it was a strong start for Cross-Eriksen with a week two performance of 6 tackles, 3 passes defended, and an interception to provide almost half of her stats outside of tackles on the season. She followed up that performance with a 7 tackle, 2 passes defended, and 1 interception performance that provided her only other interception on the season. Going forward into the off-season Cross-Eriksen put all her efforts into speed to ideally give her more opportunities for games like that going forward.
The 2052 season was a time of drastic upheaval from top to bottom in the league and it led to a very distorted season for Cross-Eriksen. Coaching was all over the place to start the season and led to a 1-6 record for the Yeti that they were unable to recover from, although they were able to finish 4-5 over their last nine games which led to far greater expectations and hopes heading into the next season. Cross-Eriksen for the most part throughout this process kept her head down and focused on being the best she could be at her position to make things easier on the rest of the team. When asked about this by local media she gave the answer of focusing on what you can control and hoping for the best outside it.
During interviews after the season the one thing she most happily looked back on from the season came in week nine in a loss to the Arizona Outlaws as Cross-Eriksen achieved the first tackle for loss in her ISFL career against running back John Riggins on a first and ten pass play. Not a significant statistic in a game where the team gave up 41 points, but significant for Cross-Eriksen on a personal level as it completed what her agent described as defensive bingo by being the one defensive stat she had not acquired during her time in the ISFL. Made especially impressive as she was one of just two free safeties to have a tackle for loss during the season. Despite her skills being focused towards being a cover one safety she was happy to prove that she could come down and make plays behind the line of scrimmage when called upon.
Heading into the 2053 season Cross-Eriksen was made aware that her role on the team would be expanded to include being the primary returner of the team. Given that increase in workload she made sure to focus some extra time towards developing her stamina so she would not tire out with the extra snaps. This proved to be necessary as she finished the season tied for the sixth most returns in the league, but finished fourth best in yards being beaten out only by players with more opportunities.
The team as a whole ultimately struggled as they finished with just five wins for the third straight season, but it was still deemed a solid season by Cross-Eriksen given the team had started with a five game losing streak. Despite setting a new personal best for passes defended Cross-Eriksen took much of the blame for not doing enough to help the rest of the defense make plays. During the off-season Cross-Eriksen continued to work on her stamina in an attempt to be able to do more for the defense of the Yeti in the hopes of securing their first winning season during her tenure.
The 2054 season got off to a superb start for Cross-Eriksen as she put up a defensive player of the game level performance in week one with five tackles, a sack, two passes defended, and an interception in a winning contest. She put up an even better performance in week five with three tackles, a forced fumble, fumble recovery, pass defended, and an interception returned for a touchdown which in a game decided by just 12 points was integral to bringing the team to a 3-2 record. Week eight she had another defensive player of the game performance with four tackles, two passes defended, and another interception return for a touchdown to set a personal best two defensive touchdowns in a season while helping her team to a .500 record halfway through the season. Unfortunately she seemed to run out of steam at that point as while the team finished with a winning 9-6-1 record the first winning record in her majors career her key contributions were in those three first half of the season wins.
Despite her falling flat in the back half of the season she got her first honor in the ISFL in the form of a nod for first team all-pro at safety courtesy of her overall performance on the season. Coming the season after her second Gold Glove in the PBE she said it motivated her to work hard to get a Defensive Player of the Year nomination before the end of her career. While she was happy about the personal recognition she received in that honor she stated far more motivation in doing what she could to close the half game gap that kept the team out of the playoffs, however she had headed into the season with just the hope of a winning season and they accomplished that for a boon in her books.
Coming into her seventh season in the major league Cross-Eriksen was comfortably described as being in peak condition ahead of the season. Combined with the Yeti giving her the best surrounding cast of her career there was a hope to make the playoffs for the first time in her ISFL career. Back to back losses to start the season drained some of that hope, however it was a stretch of five straight winless games in the middle of the season that truly dashed them. With an average difference of less than a touchdown they saw their playoff hopes dashed by the experience, but Cross-Eriksen focused on positives in all interviews hyping the terrific team she got to work with throughout the season.
Heading into the off-season Cross-Eriksen was interrogated more than interviewed about how she felt heading into the dreaded eighth season. It was a noted trend that the eighth season sees the start of drop off in a lot of players careers regardless of age, and so even the young Cross-Eriksen was asked about it. Throughout all of the interviews Cross-Eriksen remained confident that she would be back at full speed by the time preseason rolled around. Given she was coming off back to back First Team All-Pro Selections the consensus by analytics were that she had reason to be confident.
Coming into the 2056 season expectations were high for Cross-Eriksen coming off arguably her best season to date where she won her second first team all pro nod and second pro bowl nod. 2054 and 2055 saw her have back to back seasons over seventy tackles, along with multiple forced fumbles, multiple sacks, five interceptions, fifteen or more passes defended, and multiple defensive touchdowns. Unfortunately it ended up as a disappointment both on a personal level with her missing the most tackles since her rookie season, as well as falling short compared to her recent seasons in terms of fumble recoveries, sacks, interceptions, passes defended, and defensive touchdowns. It was her worst season in all the listed stats since 2052 making accusations of her aging poorly grow uncontrolled. This was all made worse by the team failing to make the playoffs yet again leaving her without a single playoff berth since her season in the DSFL. The one positive takeaway she had after the season was moving into a tie for 59th most interceptions all time and being just two shy of her father Matt Cross who sat tied for 42nd most all time at the time.
Ahead of her ninth season in the league there were rumors that Cross-Eriksen was going to be put on the trade block between the shake up in management of the Colorado Yeti, and her having been traded for a first round selection in the PBE. While her agent did their best to deny the rumors in a more subtle fashion Cross-Eriksen herself was more candid in interviews that she was perfectly happy as a Yeti with every intention of retiring as a member of the team, but admitted that the league is a business and if that meant she was traded away for future value just as she was in PBE that there would be no hard feelings.
Ultimately the Yeti kept her on through the season where they were able to eke out six wins falling short of a playoff berth once again. However it was in a loss that Cross-Eriksen achieved something of true merit to her in the season as she put up two interceptions in week nine against the Fire Salamanders to beat her father's record for the family in about twenty fewer games as well. Unfortunately she did not put any distance between her and the record beyond that as she did not have another interception on the season after that game. Still despite the worries to start the season and her age beginning to show Cross-Eriksen was quite hopeful ahead of her tenth season in the league where she would look to reach more games played at safety than her fathers.
Heading into her tenth season Cross-Eriksen was honest in every interview that she was beginning to feel the impacts of age on her physical performance. Despite this she remained confident that her experience at the position would make up for her physical drop-off. She was able to prove this in a week four win where she won player of the game honors with 5 tackles, 1 sack, 2 passes defended, and an interception along with a 39 yard kick return and 17 yard punt return. Her best performance of the season though came in week eleven where she had her second player of the game honor of the season with an outstanding 7 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 pass defended, 1 interception, and 1 defensive touchdown moving her up to tied for fourth most all-time by a safety. Both performances ended up mattering far more to her and the team though as they helped lead the team to the playoffs for the first time in her tenure, however they would be eliminated in the first round with Cross-Eriksen's sole positive play being a 76 yard punt return that saw her get stopped just a yard shy of a touchdown. She announced at the end of the season that she was confident now in handing over the reins at safety to star Mary Marie in what could be her final season in the league.
While the 2059 season got off to a superb start for her team it got off to a poor start for her as in two wins she contributed just six tackles and two passes defended. Consensus in the media at the time suggested that she had finally been forced to slow down by age. After winning the first two weeks the team went on to lose four straight with Cross-Eriksen contributing just thirteen tackles and a pass defended while also getting flagged four times. Even though the team one of the next three Cross-Eriksen's contributions were negligible in the win and not enough in the losses leading to the rougher radio hosts to call on her to retire. Week ten did not silence them even as she managed a goal line interception that led to a field goal try for her team, but it did quiet the naysayers down. They only stopped after she managed a 58 yard interception return to set up a touchdown in a one point loss in week fourteen, and began to say maybe Father Time missed one when she had a defensive player of the game performance in week fifteen with a 40 yard interception return touchdown. Unfortunately her late season surge was far too late for the team as they finished with just five wins good for the fourth worst record in the league.
Despite a rough prior season Cross-Eriksen's team was able to rebound admirably winning all but one of their preseason games with their sole loss being by a single score. This continued into the regular season as the team rattled off four straight wins with Cross-Eriksen provided at least a tackle and a pass defended in each of the first three before making more noise at the line of scrimmage with a stat line of a tackle for loss and a sack in the fourth game. Week five saw Cross-Eriksen put up two penalties and just three tackles in their first loss of the season. Combined with her considerable age relative to her peers and it led to a lot of questions about whether she would hang them up at the end of the year, and it was exacerbated by the fact that even though the team went two and two over the next four games Cross-Eriksen managed just a single pass defended over those games. She was able to silence her detractors though in a week ten win with two tackles, two passes defended, and two interceptions although her partner in the defensive backfield Mary Marie was the one who won the defensive game ball. Cross-Eriksen would go on to add another interception in the week thirteen and week fourteen games as the team went three and three over the last six weeks to finish with the conference title on a ten six record. Unfortunately the team was sluggish after their bye week and they lost by two scores although Cross-Eriksen did put up a five tackle one pass defended performance. Come the end of the season she officially announced that she had one more season left in her and she intended to give it her best for one last run with the Yeti.
ISFL Career Statistics
| Regular Season | Defense | Kick Returns | Punt Returns | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | FF/FR | Sacks | Ints | PD | TD | Blk P/XP/FG | Yds | Avg | TD | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2049 (S34) | COL | 16 | 50 | 0 | 2/1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2050 (S35) | COL | 16 | 52 | 0 | 0/2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0/0/0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2051 (S36) | COL | 16 | 82 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2052 (S37) | COL | 16 | 68 | 1 | 0/0 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 745 | 28.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2053 (S38) | COL | 16 | 51 | 1 | 1/1 | 3 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 0/0/0 | 745 | 24.8 | 0 | 270 | 9.6 | 0 |
| 2054 (S39) | COL | 16 | 73 | 1 | 2/1 | 3 | 5 | 18 | 2 | 0/0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2055 (S40) | COL | 16 | 71 | 0 | 4/1 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 2 | 0/0/0 | 767 | 25.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2056 (S41) | COL | 16 | 72 | 0 | 1/0 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 718 | 28.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2057 (S42) | COL | 16 | 60 | 0 | 0/0 | 2 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 747 | 29.9 | 0 | 198 | 7.3 | 0 |
| 2058 (S43) | COL | 16 | 66 | 0 | 1/0 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 0/0/0 | 549 | 25 | 0 | 203 | 7 | 0 |
| 2059 (S44) | COL | 16 | 54 | 1 | 0/1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 1 | 0/0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2060 (S45) | COL | 16 | 42 | 1 | 0/0 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 192 | 741 | 5 | 11/7 | 25 | 38 | 134 | 8 | 0/0/0 | 4273 | 26.9 | 0 | 671 | 8 | 0 | |
| Playoffs | Defense | Kick Returns | Punt Returns | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | FF/FR | Sacks | Ints | PD | TD | Blk P/XP/FG | Yds | Avg | TD | Yds | Avg | TD |
| 2058 (S43) | COL | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 80 | 20 | 0 | 103 | 34.3 | 0 |
| 2060 (S45) | COL | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0/0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0/0/0 | 80 | 20 | 0 | 103 | 34.3 | 0 | |
Achievements And Records
DSFL Safety Of The Year: 2048 DSFL Defensive Performance of the Year: 2048 DSFL Pro Bowl Selection (1): 2048 ISFL First Team All-Pro Selection (2): 2054, 2055 ISFL Pro Bowl Selection (2): 2054, 2055
