ISFL NEWLETTER 

The Internet Simulation Football League Newsletter

Volume #29 Issue #21 – January 30, 2026

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Current League Officers

Commissioner: Mark McNeil (blades99@rochester.rr.com)

League Statistician: Mark McNeil (blades99@rochester.rr.com)
ISFL WWW site: http://www.blades99.com/ISFL/ISFL.htm

ISFL Review Board:  Hank Sienzant, Don Antonelli, Ed Minshull

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LEAGUE NOTES

I.   Message from the Commissioner

II.  News from Around the League

III. Standings

IV.  Divisional Round Results

V.   Championship Round Schedule

VI.  Transactions

VII. Other News including Players of the Week

I. MESSAGE FROM THE COMMISSIONER

This time around it is Pittsburgh who pulls off the upset as they down the Tennessee Titans after losing a tight one to them during the season. In the NFC New Orleans wins big over Carolina in their rubber match setting up a third matchup between the two teams this season where the Saints won two very close contests. Special thanks to Hank for the Super Bowl preview below, Ed and I will be setting up the game soon and hopefully we will have an end to the season, maybe even another upset if the Steelers can finally win the big game again after 28 seasons.

If you are going to vote for Awards, please get them in asap so we can close things up there and this is also the final call for ballot props as I will be putting out a preliminary ballot shortly. Thanks guys for another great season which is just about done.

Super Bowl XXIX

Pittsburgh vs New Orleans

The 2025 ISFL Awards Ballot is live - https://www.surveyhero.com/c/3r4u3waf

Please get your votes in over the next couple of weeks, instructions are on the survey website.

The Lottery order is set and Miami will have the best chance of picking #1 this season. Here is the list of teams who didn’t make the playoffs. Lottery will occur before the Super Bowl.

1  Miami

2  Tampa Bay

3  Minnesota

4  Philadelphia

5  Detroit

6  Indianapolis

7  Houston

8  Seattle

9  New York Jets

10 Cleveland

11 San Francisco

12 Chicago

13 Atlanta

14 Buffalo

Please make sure to get started on game contacts asap and don’t forget to CC me on all of them so I can make sure games are getting set up smoothly.  Let’s see if we can hit the first week deadline with all games played head to head and as always if you need help let us know.  If you need a sub, feel free to find your own sub or contact me asap so we can try and get you hooked up with someone to get your game in.  Make sure you have the latest action update which is available on the website.  Game files are up for the start of the regular season, so make sure you go download them and start making contact for round 1 games. If you have any questions, now is the time, so please ask before we get too far into things. 

I can’t stress enough that you need to IMMEDIATELY send me your game export when the game is complete.  Send your write up later on, that’s fine, but I MUST have the game export as soon as the game ends or I’ll have to sim the game to keep things moving along if it is missing at the deadline.

***There is a new game update available on the website, dated 01/05/26 *** 

Reminder that you MUST send a boxscore and writeup to the league after each game.  The home team is responsible for this, but either team can do it, as long as it does get done.  Also, you MUST send me the game export immediately after the game is complete.  It takes about 30 seconds, so I shouldn’t have to chase you down for that file after a game, just get it in right away so I don’t have to guess whether a game has happened or not.

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II. News from Around the League 

AFC Results

Pittsburgh (27) at Tennessee (13)

Steelers are heading back to the Super Bowl! Tough first half for both teams as the defenses were in charge and the refs decided they wanted as much tv time as possible. We start out with a pair of punts and then Jacobs gets going and we move 67 yards in 10 plays and finish off with a 15 yard Love to Addison TD pass for a 7-0 lead. Jacobs has 3 carries for 27 yards and the key play was a Love to Knox check down for a first down to keep the drive alive. Tennessee's offense gets rolling as well as they get a few runs, some shorts passes and move 44 yards in 12 plays, but big sack from Dexter after a motion penalty on Becton on 2nd and 1 turned it into a 3rd and 11 and Hurts his Smith for 7 yards and they settle for a 44 yard Sanders FG to make it 7-3 early in the second quarter as the teams combine for just 4 total series in the first quarter.

Second quarter is all about the defenses, turnovers and penalties. Steeler's have the ball first and after an incomplete pass on first down, Dotson gets called for holding and then Love hits Jacobs for 3 yards. On third and 17, Steeler's decide not to push it and Jacobs runs for 6 yards and we punt it away. Robinson runs for 10 on first down, but is inches short and Hurts picks that one up for a first down. Robinson gets stuffed and Tomlinson gets called for motion, but Hurts finds Boutte for 16 yards and a first down. Charbonnet gets 3 yards on first down to midfield, but Hurts misses Pickens twice and with a 4th and 7, the Titans choose to punt and it goes out at the 9 yard line. Jacobs runs for 6 and then Love fakes it to him again and hits McBride for a 22 yard catch and run. Love tries to a screen to Jacobs, but the Titans sniff it out and then Love hits Doubs for 46 yards and we are on the Tennessee 15 yard line. Love tries play action, but can't hit McBride and then Jacobs gets 3 yards on second, setting up a 3rd and 7 from the 12 yard line. Love looks for Addison, but Woolen breaks it up and upon further review it turns out he picked it off and the drive ends with a touchback. Titans get rolling themselves and after Robinson is stuffed on first down, Hurts finds Pickens for 16 yards and a first down. Robinson runs for 3, but again Hurts finds Pickens, this time for 28 yards and the Titans are threatening. Robinson runs for 11 yards to the 22 but Hurts misses Parkinson the next play. Robinson runs for 3 and the Steelers take a time out, but Hurts comes out and hits Boutte for a 10 yard pass for a first down at the 9. After the two minute warning, the Titans look for a big play from Gurendo, but after 6 yards, it turns into a big play for Pittsburgh as Reader knocks it out and returns it to the 19. Love goes 3 wide right away as we have time and 2 timeouts, but misses Coker and it's 2nd down. Jacobs runs around the end for 11 yards and gets pulled down by his facemask, moving the ball to the 45 yards line and we are in business. Love misses McBride and Jacobs gets just a yard, on third down, Love checks it down to Coker for just 4 yards from the 50 and we decide to make the smart play and punt it out of bounds at the 11. Hurts gets things going and hits Metchie for 8 and then Pickens for 11 and tack on a 15 yard facemask and it's out to the 45. Hurts hits Smith for just 3 yards, but again the Steeler's are penalized 15 yards and now the ball is at the 37 yard line. Hurts misses Hardman and then Charbonnet gets stuffed for a 4 yard loss. On 3rd and 14 Hurts misses Smith and with 4th and 14 from the 41 and knowing the get the ball to start the second half, Tennessee punts and it goes out of the endzone and comes to the 20. Davis goes in for Jacobs and we are just going to run out the half, but he hits for 16 yards and our thinking changes and we take a time out. Love hits Addison for 27 yards but with time running down we use our last timeout with 5 seconds left. Grupe tries a 55 yarder, into the wind, and pulls it so we finish up the half, 7-3 with the visitors in front.

Second half Tennessee gets the ball first and Hurts scrambles for 6 yards on first down, but Brewer gets called for motion and Charbonnet gets 3 yards setting up 3rd and 6. Hurts then throws the ball to the wrong team as Moore picks him off and we have the ball on their 33. Love misses Addison on first down and Jacobs runs for 4 yards, but fumbles and McBride jumps on it for 3rd and 6. Jacobs redeems himself running for 13 and a first down and then 6 yards setting up 2nd and 4 from the 10. Decker gets called for a false start and then Love misses Doubs and McBride and Grupe hits the 33 yard FG making it 10-3 early in the third quarter. Tennessee gets the ball, but goes 3 and out and the Steelers get rolling again despite starting off with a 1st and 15. Jacobs uns for 4, then Love hits Jacobs in the flat, but he loses 3 yards. Doubs catches one for 13 yards and setting up a 4th and 1 from our 46. We decide that we have one of the best RBs in the league and we go for it and Jacobs gets that yard for a first down. Dotson gets called for tripping on the next play setting up 1st and 25. Love his Jacobs for a 9 yard screen pass and again a face mask penalty bites the Titans giving us a first down at their 32. Jacobs runs for 2, then gets loose for 17 yards at the 25 of the Titans. Next play we run some play action and Love hits McBride for 25 yards and  TD and it's 17-3 with under 5 to play in the third. Tennessee loses a yard on first down, but Hurts scrambles for 13 and a first down. Hurts then hits Charbonnet down the field for 36 yards to our 22. The defense stiffens though as they stuff Hurts on a designed run, then he misses Boutte and Smith and on 4th and 12 they settle for the 42 yard Sanders FG to make it 17-6.  We get a nice return from Remigio to the 36 yard line and Jacobs gets just a yard, Love misses McBride but hits Doubs for 14 and a first down to end the 3rd quarter.

Love hits McBride on play action again, for 19 yards and Jacobs runs for 3. Decker again gets called for a false start but Jacobs runs for 7 and Love hits Addison for 12 and it's first fown from the 25. Addison gets called for a false start, but Jacobs runs for 7 and the we just run him off tackle looking for yards and he finds the endzone from 11 yards out and it's 24-6 with 11 minutes left to play. Hurts tosses a pair of incompletions, but hen hits Pickens for 19 yards. Hurts scrambles for 5 yards, but Tomlinson gets called for holding making it 2nd and 15. Titans go 4 wide and leave hurts on his own and Hall drops him for a strips the ball out for Taron Johnson to grab and run to the Titans 28 yards line. With an 18 point lead and 10 minutes to play, we try and run some clock as Jacobs runs for 5, then for 2 and we hit Doubs for 9 yards and a first down. The next 3 plays are in slow down mode and Jacobs nets 5 yards leaving it at 4th and 5 from the 7 and we figure making it 27-6 is the right play and Grupe hits the chip shot 25 yarder for the 3 TD lead with 5 1/2 minutes to go. Tennessee doesn't give up as Hurts his Smith for 10 yards, then runs for 22 when flushed from the pocket. Hurts again scrambles for 4 yards and then hits Charbonnet for 8 and Boutte for 21 yards to move to our 5 yard line. Hurts hits Smith for a TD and it's 27-13 with 3 minutes to play. Titans try for the onside kick and it doesn't work, so we go into time wasting mode, forcing them to use their timeouts and we end up punting it out at their 9 yard line. From there Hurts manages just 7 yards on 4 plays and we take over and kneel it out for the 27-13 final and the win, sending the Steelers to their 4th Super Bowl.

Jacobs is your game MVP with 28 carries for 139 yards and a TD including 4 first down runs and 4 runs over 10 yards in the game. Love is solid, 17 of 30 for 238 and 2 TDs with just the one INT to mar his performance and as alwasys the receiving is spread out with 4 catches each for Doubs, Jacobs and McBride. Defensively Pitre has 10 tackles and a stuff on Robinson, while Benford has 5 tackles, 2 passes defenses and a stuff of his own. Moore has the lone INT, but the biggest play was likely the sack from Reader and 30 yard return from Johnson that set up our last TD and put the game away. It was a rough day for Hurts with just 21 of 37 for 230 yards and an INT, but his fumble really cost the team. Hurts led them in rushing with 67 yards on 10 carries, more than Robinson, Gurendo and Charbonett combined. 5 catches for 76 yards for Pickens kept them hanging around in the game and Smith had 6 catches, but for only 40 yards and none of the other receivers really stepped up with Nico Collins still sidelined and unable to play.

Steelers now await the winner between New Orleans and Carolina for the Super Bowl, our first trip since 2008 when we lost to the then Dave Stewart led Detroit Lions and looking for our first win since Super Bowl I back in 1997.

NFC Results

Carolina (12) at New Orleans (38)

This was the rubber match between the division rivals as both teams won their regular season home games.  

Carolina wins the toss and elects to take the ball.  They end up going 3 and out and it's New Orlean's turn.  On 3rd and 6 Wilson finds Smith-Njigba on a short crossing route, he splits the safeties and goes for the quick score with a 54-yard TD reception.  The Panthers try and counter with a 12-play drive that gets stalled with a sack which leads to a 54-yard FG attempt that Ryland shanks. With great field position the Saints make it 0-14 on a goal-line run by Bigsby. Carolina responds with a TD drive and Ryland's day becomes worse, missing the extra point. Carolina has no answer for the Saint's offense and Smith-Njigba gets his 2nd TD reception to make it 6-21 with under 5 minutes in the half. It takes Carolina 12 plays and every second as Fields sneaks it in for the score on 4th and goal.  The 2-point conversion fails and it's 12-21 at the half.

The Saint get the ball to start the 3rd quarter and go 3 and out.  The topped ranked Saints defense almost gets a pick six when LB To'o To'o jumps a crossing route and returns it 25-yards to the 1-yard line.  2 plays later Wilson sneaks it in for the TD.  Carolina goes 3 and out and the game becomes a blow-out when New Orleans gets another TD drive to make it a 12-35 score late in the 3rd quarter.  The Saints add a FG early in the 4th quarter for the final 12-38 score and stamps their ticket to the Superbowl.  Jaxson Smith-Njigba is the game MVP with 10 receptions for 180 yards and 2 TD's.

A great run by Carolina, but it ends one short of the Superbowl.  Shan didn't have any luck in this one.

ISFL SUPER BOWL XXIX Preview

This game matches two wild-card teams that entered the postseason as the number two seeds: New Orleans (15-2) and Pittsburgh (13-4). Both teams got here by going 3-0 in the postseason, but how they got here is very different. The Saints were rolling along at 14-0, then lost to New England and Carolina, before winning their final regular-season game. The Steelers started 3-3, then won ten of their final 11 games.

These two teams met up twice in the regular season, and the Saints won both by a combined total of eight points. The Saints came back in week one in New Orleans from a 20-13 fourth-quarter deficit to score two touchdowns to win 27-20. The week 13 matchup saw the Saints repeating that comeback in Pittsburgh, outscoring the Steelers by 14 in the final quarter once more to win, 33-32.

The Saints are perennial contenders, making three Super Bowl appearances over the past six years, and five overall, winning two. The Steelers are making their first Super Bowl appearance in 17 years, and fourth overall. They are currently 1-2 in these games.

These teams finished one and two in the postseason in points scored and allowed, and their quarterbacks are likewise one and two in passer rating in those games. Both teams are loaded with dynamic skill-position players and feature solid defenses. I give a slight edge to the Steelers on offense, and a bigger edge to the Saints on defense. However, the Saints have a stronger, deeper receiving corps than Pittsburgh, while the Steelers have a stronger pass rush.

I expect this game to come down to the wire as the previous two matchups did, with a big play on offense or defense in the final quarter once more determining the outcome.

Prediction: New Orleans 24, Pittsburgh 22.

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III. STANDINGS

http://www.blades99.com/ISFL/Standings25.htm

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IV. RESULTS – Championship Round 

Carolina 12 New Orleans 38
Pittsburgh 27 Tennessee 13     

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V. SCHEDULE

Super Bowl XXIX

Pittsburgh vs New Orleans

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VI. TRANSACTIONS

AFC

BUF –
CHI –

CLE –
DAL –

DEN –

GB  -
IND –

MIN –

NYJ –

PIT –  
LAC -

LAR –
SF  -

TEN –

NFC

ARZ –

ATL -

CAR – 

DET –

JAX –

HOU –

KC  -

MIA –
NE  -                                 

NO  -
NYG –

PHI –

SEA –

TB  -

DRAFT PICKS FORFEITED:

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VII. OTHER NEWS:

PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:

WEEK ONE

OFFENSE: Derek Henry, DAL – 30 carries, 162 yards, 3 TDs
DEFENSE: Kerby Joseph, ARZ – 2 INTs, 5 tackles, 1 pass defense

WEEK TWO

OFFENSE: Jonnu Smith, TEN – 6 catches, 167 yards, 3 TDs

DEFENSE: Alex Highsmith, ARZ – 2 sacks, 5 tackles

WEEK THREE:

OFFENSE: Brian Thomas Jr, HOU – 12 catches, 248 yards, 1 TD

DEFENSE: K’Lavon Chaisson, LAR – 3 sacks, 4 tackles, 1 stuff, 1 hurry, 1 forced fumble

WEEK FOUR:

OFFENSE: Jamar Chase, NYJ – 9 catches, 282 yards, 6 TDs

DEFENSE: Beanie Bishop Jr, TB – 2 INTs, 3 Tackles

WEEK FIVE:

OFFENSE: Jared Goff, NE – 25 of 40 for 316, 4 TDs

DEFENSE: Kyzir White, JAX – 18 tackles

WEEK SIX:

OFFENSE: Jonathan Taylor, SF – 21 carries, 178 yards, 3 TDs

DEFENSE: Derek Stingley, Jr, NO – 3 INTs, 3 tackles

WEEK SEVEN:

OFFENSE: Marvin Harrison Jr, LAR – 7 catches, 166 yards, 3 TDs

DEFENSE: Calen Bullock, KC – 2 INTs, 8 tackles

WEEK EIGHT:

OFFENSE: Tua Tagovailoa, DEN – 20 of 26 for 292 yards, 4 TDs
DEFENSE: Ar’Darius Washington, PIT – 2 INTs, 9 tackles, 2 pass defense

WEEK NINE:

OFFENSE: Joe Burrows, NYJ -24 of 41 for 366 yards, 4 TDs
DEFENSE: Kamren Kinchens, DAL – 2 INTs, 6 tackles, 1 TD

WEEK TEN:

OFFENSE: Bijan Robinson, PHI – 29 carries, 188 yards, 2 TDs

DEFENSE: Nik Bonitto, CAR – 3 sacks, 3 hurries, 5 tackles

WEEK ELEVEN:

OFFENSE: Josh Jacobs, PIT – 16 carries, 154 yards, 2 TDs

DEFENSE: Fred Warner, BUF – 2 INTs, 4 tackles, 1 forced fumble

WEEK TWELVE:

OFFENSE: Sam Darnold, SEA – 16 of 18 for 237 yards, 4 TDs

DEFENSE: Blake Cashman, TEN – 3 sacks, 8 tackles, 2 hurries, forced fumble

WEEK THIRTEEN:

OFFENSE: Jameis Winston, ARZ – 16 of 24 for 386 yards, 3 TDs

DEFENSE: Kyle Van Noy, NYG – 3 sacks, 6 tackles, 4 hurries

WEEK FOURTEEN

OFFENSE: Jared Goff, NE – 25 of 36 for 383 yards, 6 TDs

DEFENSE: Darryl Stingley, Jr, NO – 2 INTs, 3 Tackles, TD

WEEK SIXTEEN

OFFENSE: Sam Darnold, SEA – 18 of 24 for 343 yards, 4 TDs

DEFENSE: Josh Hines-Allen, ARZ – 3 sacks, 6 tackles, 1 forced fumble

WEEK SEVENTEEN

OFFENSE: Saquon Barkley, JAX – 26 carries for 166 yards, 3 TDs

DEFENSE: Anfernee Jennings, JAX – 2 INTs, 3 tackles

WEEK EIGHTEEN

OFFENSE: Kyler Murray, KC – 40 of 50 for 420 yards, 3 TDs

DEFENSE: Eric Kendricks, SEA – 1 sack, 1 INT, 16 tackles, 2 stuffs, 1 hurry

WILDCARD ROUND

OFFENSE: Saquon Barkley, JAX – 30 carries, 175 yards, TD

DEFENSE: Nik Bonitto, CAR – 2 sacks, 3 tackles, 5 hurries

DIVSIONAL ROUND

OFFENSE: Josh Jacobs, PIT – 27 carries, 96 yards, 2 TDs

DEFENSE: Riq Woolen, TEN – 10 tackles, INT, 3 passes defensed

CONFERENCE FINALS

OFFENSE: Russell Wilson, NO – 17 of 20 for 264 yards, 2 TDs

DEFENSE: Jalen Pitre, PIT – 10 tackles, 1 stuff