2008 Post-season
Our first postseason game is at home, against 10-6 wild card Tennessee. They are a run-first, play-action type of offense, and they focus very aggressively on stopping the run on defense. It’s a pretty similar style to what we play – so I don’t expect either team to try to get cute here – it ought to just be head-to-head football.
The game opens with two long drives, that each end in a turnover. We manage to slowly build on field position in the first half, capitalize twice for field goals, and take a 6-0 lead into the half.
In the third quarter, Tennessee makes a great drive down the field, and punches in for the tying score, but misses the PAT so it remains tied at 6-6. Later down the road, though, Tennessee manages to run down to put up a field goal… and that’s all it takes. They keep Arsenault in check (79 yards) and that’s really all it takes to cinch up the win. Pretty good effort, but we just couldn’t put it away.
Season Wrap-up
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2008 Awards List
Award Player Team
Player of the Year Jacques Cheatham PHI
Front Office Bowl MVP Kim Roux HOU
Offensive Player of the Year Jacques Cheatham PHI
Defensive Player of the Year Bertram Pye ATL
Offensive Rookie of the Year Adam Madison TBY
Defensive Rookie of the Year Gilbert Mesa PHI
All-League First-String Quarterback Jacques Cheatham PHI
All-League First-String Running Back Brian Grant STL
All-League First-String Fullback David Richardson ATL
All-League First-String Tight End Chris Paz JAX
All-League First-String Wide Receiver King Brame PHI
All-League First-String Wide Receiver Steven Vega GBY
All-League First-String Center Kenny Calvo MIA
All-League First-String Offensive Guard Jerrell Randolph HOU
All-League First-String Offensive Guard Aaron Jacobs NYJ
All-League First-String Offensive Tackle Ned Ford NED
All-League First-String Offensive Tackle Leon Culver KCY
All-League First-String Punter Ross Hanks MIN
All-League First-String Kicker Landon Testa TEN
All-League First-String Defensive End Brian Kavanagh HOU
All-League First-String Defensive End Tony Case BAL
All-League First-String Defensive Tackle Ervin Hope DEN
All-League First-String Defensive Tackle Jamie Curtis WAS
All-League First-String Inside Linebacker Bernard Manzo DET
All-League First-String Outside Linebacker Bertram Pye ATL
All-League First-String Outside Linebacker David Williamson STL
All-League First-String Cornerback Nathanial Stiles TBY
All-League First-String Cornerback Nestor Vickery JAX
All-League First-String Safety Elwood Hewitt MIN
All-League First-String Safety William Logan SDO
All-League Second-String Quarterback Lacy Pereyra PIT
All-League Second-String Running Back Levon Farrell NYG
All-League Second-String Fullback Richard Cummins TBY
All-League Second-String Tight End Elden Mullins MIA
All-League Second-String Wide Receiver Floyd Robinson DEN
All-League Second-String Wide Receiver Eldridge Zapata STL
All-League Second-String Center Damien Kester DAL
All-League Second-String Offensive Guard August Dempsey STL
All-League Second-String Offensive Guard Randall Ayotte SEA
All-League Second-String Offensive Tackle Chance Davis ARI
All-League Second-String Offensive Tackle Ellsworth Williams HOU
All-League Second-String Punter Justin Shannon NYJ
All-League Second-String Kicker Herb Collins JAX
All-League Second-String Defensive End Ricky Graham NYG
All-League Second-String Defensive End Doug Garcia TEN
All-League Second-String Defensive Tackle Chris Johnson OAK
All-League Second-String Defensive Tackle Desmond Shirk ATL
All-League Second-String Inside Linebacker William Dubois ARI
All-League Second-String Outside Linebacker Nelson Borders CAR
All-League Second-String Outside Linebacker Andrew Colston DET
All-League Second-String Cornerback August Marron NOS
All-League Second-String Cornerback Willard Starr TEN
All-League Second-String Safety Michael Heredia OAK
All-League Second-String Safety Dewayne Rhinehart SEA
League's Fastest Man Paul Lavery BAL
League's Strongest Man Aaron Jacobs NYJ
Our best season so far, and we’re completely left out of the all-pro listings. No surprise – though RB Arsenault might have gotten there had he remained healthy all year.
We’ll have questions to resolve – starting at QB. We signed Tyrone Glover for just one year – so we’ll have to decide about him. He improved in the second half – but he’s clearly just a “don’t lose the game” kind of guy – but perhaps that’s what we need on this team, with a developing defense, and an improving running back. Prior to the end of this season, we released QB Bobby Silvers – purely a cap management decision, but not one that I wanted to get to like this.
Finally a taste of the playoffs – but this certainly still seems like an incomplete team, overall. And now, we will finally have to face financial constraints – we might not be able to re-sign the players we would like to for next season.