Do We Have A Curse in the USFA?

With how crazy the league has gone since the transition to the Madden Era, there has been one question that has been popping up within recent weeks.

Is the #2 seed for the Eastern Conference for the preseason rankings cursed? 

The past two seasons for this particular spot hasn't lived up to its billing and we can briefly go over these two teams in question.

S9 Pittsburgh Roughnecks

This team has its own set of demons including never reaching the playoffs since its introduction into the USFA. The Roughnecks appeared to be a top dog going into the year and could have finally broke that glass ceiling into extra games.

When it was all said and done, they started S9 at 3-4 to start their campaign. Not too great for a team that is supposedly a contender to come out of the East.

It all took place to where Pittsburgh kept trading wins and losses up until their last game against the Toronto Wraiths where it just happen to be a "Win and you're in" situation where they didn't come up to par and ended up eliminated from playoff contention. 

They end up falling to a 7-7 record which ironically enough is the best record in team history but going up against a team that you was favored in winning, they came up small in their biggest game of their four year history.

They're around that same realm this season where they currently sit at 3-3 going into W7 and a matchup against a pissed off Arizona Rattlers team that fell twice to HBV isn't really a great thing for Pittsburgh but we shall see what happens from here.

S10 Tampa Bay Typhoon

A side note to this one is that they could very well be placed at #1 but in most cases, teams would pick the #1 team as Charlotte coming off of their second straight United Bowl appearance. This team is a bit more egregious than the last one since there was talks that this is the team that can potentially take down the undefeated Huntington Beach Voyagers. 

The aforementioned Roughnecks lost their playoff spot in S9 to the Typhoon, who almost found a way to miss the playoffs as well. Speaking about S10, the talent is here in West Florida, the coaching is solid. Why is this team currently at 2-4? The thing that sticks out the most is because they're too focused on one side of the ball. Good news is that they're tied for the second most points total throughout the league. 

The two bad news is that most of that output came in two games where they scored 47 and 51 points (average of 16 points scored in the remaining four games) and in four of the six games, they've gave up 26 or more points. Which has them with a slight positive Point Differential (+13).

The problems lie within their LB corps and secondary with the many miscues. The pass rush gets home well enough but slowing down the methodical drives has been an issue all season long. On top of that, the offense has been fairly inconsistent against the top tier talent within the league.

With the trade deadline approaching quickly, some defensive help can give them some new life along with maybe some free agent acquisitions and trade can help salvage this season for them. A team like this has a much higher ceiling than they've shown this season. Only one way to find out if they have what it takes to reach their highest potential.