09-16-2006, 12:44 AM | #351 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 9: vs. Tulsa
Tulsa is a very talented team, but they seem to come up just shy of expectations every season. They're led by QB Donnie Lowe and 2010 Offensive Rookie of the Year RB "Muddy Waters" Raffo. Raffo was the #14 overall pick in the 2010 draft, and he immediately paid dividends with his 307-1443-12TD rookie season. Tulsa thus has a balanced "pick your poison" offense - we'll do our best to shut down both prongs of their attack, but I doubt we'll be able to truly shut them both down.
On defense the Talons look really good - at least on paper. They signed 14-year vet DE Ralph Crank in the offseason to bolster their pass rush, and their defensive front in general is solid. Their secondary also has some good talent, but they've been a bit dinged up. Surprisingly, this team is 2-5 right now. I wouldn't have thought that possible, but they've had some bad luck in losing three games by 7pts or less. Last week they beat the snot out of Fargo 27-6, so we're hopeful that they've gotten that aggression out of their system and will be nice and compliant today. We last played Tulsa in 2008, and we beat them 41-10 on the road. We're 3-0 overall against them. Code:
I'm always thrilled to get solid wins over good teams, which is exactly what we got today. In fact, we managed to pretty thoroughly dominate Tulsa - the score shouldn't have been this close, but an ill-timed Goodwin pass got picked off and returned for a TD. Tulsa's offense had a buttload of trouble trying to move against our resurgent defense. Raffo was held to just 23 yards on 11 carries, and Lowe was 14/41 for 173 yds, 1 TD and 3 INTs. Offensively, Kent Goodwin established a new career-high in yardage (admittedly, it has been a short career) with 349 yards. He was very involved with the offense today (a bit to my surprise, actually), but Holliday managed to do his part with 97 yards rushing. I'll take it. One frustration: we've occasionally had the computer plop a kick returner down who has absolutely no kick return skills. That's Jeremy "Cheap Shot" Rosenberry, who returned one kick today for 14 yards and one last week for 21 yards. This happened a few times last season as well, and it completely baffles me. I can understand needing to find another returner if your top two are winded or something, but why Rosenberry? He has no kick return abilities, and there are other folks on the roster who actually have some skill in that area. Weird. The big bummer from this game is that we lost RT Matthew Pitman for the season. He suffered a compound leg fracture that looks to take at least a full calendar year to heal. Ouch. His loss hurts, but at least we've got longtime starter Chris Franck available to step in. So we hit the halfway mark at 7-1, and hold a two-game lead over rivals Las Vegas and Honolulu. Next up: a mid-season review of Your Beloved Toros. |
09-16-2006, 03:44 PM | #353 | |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Quote:
Thanks for the kind words, fff. I enjoyed writing them and I'd love to have kept doing them, but real life time demands (mostly in the form of my 3 year-old son and being on the tenure-track) always seemed to crop up and push those reviews to the back burner. I felt it best to just drop them altogether rather than to do them intermittently. |
|
09-16-2006, 04:08 PM | #354 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
2011 Midterm Report
The first half of the 2011 CFL season is in the books, so let's check in on how we're doing:
Code:
We're 7-1, which ties for our 2nd-best 1st-half ever (we were 7-0-1 in 2005 and 7-1 in 2006), so that's good. Actually, that's great, as I went into the season thinking that the first half of our schedule looked much tougher than the second half. I was prepared to be 5-3 or 4-4 at the break, so being 7-1 makes me very happy. We have a 2-game lead on division foes Honolulu and Las Vegas (both 5-3) and Arizona sits at 3-5. So, we're in good position going into the second half of the year and that's important because our second-half foes appear a big stronger than I anticipated. They're a collective 34-32 on the season. How did we get to 7-1? Three reasons: 1) Drew Holliday is having another monster season, and is on pace to shatter his career highs in carries and yards. His TDs are down, which is hard for me to explain given that our gameplan sets him up for lots of TD runs, but I figure that little statistical fluke will work itself out; 2) our defense has been outstanding, thanks to the fact that they've stayed generally healthy. Stoltzfus has missed a few games, but even with him out we played tough D. I'm shocked at how effective our pass rush has been so far (28 sacks and 49 hurries), and the new additions to our secondary in Giles and Stine have provided six of the nine INTS we've nabbed. We're surrendering just 3.48 ypc (2nd in league) and 6.35 ypa (4th in league), and if we keep that up we'll be in great shape; and 3) the emergence of Kent Goodwin. Those who've been following this dynasty probably remember that I snuck him in as a starter for the first two games of the year to get him some experience, and my plan was to hand the reigns back to Hogan for the Seattle game. Well, Seattle knocked Hogan out after just 9 pass attempts, and Goodwin came on to seal the win. He's been starting for us ever since and has been nothing short of phenomenal. Thanks to Holliday we've been able to shield Goodwin a bit, and he's only been asked to attempt 206 passes (our 215 pass attempts is the 2nd fewest in the league). I'm sure that helps, but when we've had to rely on him he's come through, as his 17 TDs attest. However, I now have a decision to make: Hogan just finished rehabing his injury and is available to play. Do I stick with the kid or hand things over to the veteran? Decisions, decisions. Injuries remain the primary concern for this club, as we just had one of our top O-linemen go down for the season (T Pitman). We can rely on veteran T Chris Franck to fill in, but we don't have the kind of O-line depth that can sustain another long-term injury. Stoltzfus also needs to stay healthy. And god forbid anything happen to Holliday. In other words, if we can have the kind of injury luck this year that we didn't get last year, we'll be in good shape. Next week: at Fargo. |
09-17-2006, 06:52 AM | #355 | |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Sunny South of France
|
Quote:
Perfectly understood, and I did not mean to pressure you in any way.
__________________
Detroit Vampires (CFL) : Ve 're coming for your blood! Camargue Flamingos (WOOF): pretty in Pink |
|
09-17-2006, 11:19 PM | #356 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
|
09-22-2006, 10:37 PM | #357 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 10: at Fargo
Today's matchup with Fargo (3-5) has "trap" written all over it. Fargo is one of the Western Conference's more talented teams, yet they have not lived up to their lofty preseason billing so far. Indeed, they're on a 3-game losing streak right now and would appear ripe for the pickin'. Thus, this game is bound to result in disappointment.
On to the action! Code:
Trapped, indeed! Strangely enough, we executed our offense almost perfectly, did everything we needed to do defensively, and somehow still managed to lose. The key in this game: our performance in the Red Zone. Fargo stopped us cold on three trips inside their 10 - we only got 6 points on those three trips when we could've gotten 21. Their special teams were also on fire today in blocking two of our field goal attempts (which I believe to be a first in Toros history). I must tip my cap to P.Luxx - his boys managed to play tough when they needed to and did just enough to grab the win, and perhaps salvage their season. Perhaps the worst news to come from this game is that we've lost DT Harold Stoltzfus again - this time he's out for 5 weeks with a separated shoulder. As has been the case with most of his injuries, he won't be gone for too long, so there's that. I guess. Next up: at. Arizona. Last edited by Fonzie : 09-22-2006 at 10:38 PM. |
09-22-2006, 11:13 PM | #358 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 11: at Arizona
Today we conclude our season series against the Arizona Outlaws, and we do so with a distinct advantage: the 3-6 Outlaws will be playing without QB Freddie Matthias, who tore cartilage in his knee and will miss the next two months. He was hurt last week in their tilt with Honolulu, and just like that Arizona's key offensive weapon is out of commission. We thus hope to be able to add to our 12-4-1 all-time record against Arizona.
But we'll be without a key player of our own: all-world DT Harold Stoltzfus will be sitting this one out with a boo-boo the doctors call a "separated shoulder" or some such bullshit. Instead, Gary Van Brocklin, this year's 6th round draft pick will get the nod. Should be fun to see what the kid has, but we'll have to hope our linebackers stay in position to back him up. On to the action: Code:
Now that's more like it! Freddie Matthias' absence was quite noticeable today, as almost everything was clicking for us. We controlled the ball, the clock, field position, won the turnover battle, outgained our opponent by 150 yards, and for what seems to be the first time all year we managed to convert 3rd downs at a respectable clip. The one thing we didn't do: stop the run. Actually, we didn't stop a run, namely the 71 yard scamper by backup RB Zimmerman that led to the only Outlaw TD of the day. Our run D was otherwise respectable today. Goodwin continues to surprise me (and thwart my gameplanning) by being a huge part of the offense, but you won't see me complaining - especially when he wins Offensive Player of the Week! Congratulations, Kent! The big offensive oddity today, however, was the distribution of carries: backup RB/FB Jeffries had 17 carries, and starting RB Drew Holliday (with PT set at 9) got just 14. And no, Holliday didn't get all of his carries in the 1st half with Jeffries relieving him once the score got out of control - Jeffries was getting carries all game long. Very strange, but it didn't stop Holliday from topping 1000 yards for the 6th straight year (233 carries for 1015 yards, 5 TDs so far). Congratulations, Drew! Two other bits of good news this week: 1) no new injuries; 2) Las Vegas beat Honolulu, putting them both at 6-4 and restoring my 2-game lead in the division. Woohoo! Next week: the beginning of a 4-game homestand against New Orleans. |
09-28-2006, 04:44 PM | #359 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 12: vs. New Orleans
This week marks the beginning of a month-long homestand, and we kick things off with a tilt against the New Orleans Raging Horde (4-6). Their record might not be much to look at, but their offense is quite good. QB Aaron Henke is in his 3rd-year as the starter and is one of the league's blossoming stars. He hooks up frequently with the talented WR tandem of 11-year vet Cleveland Coon and 2010 #5 overall pick Ryan Clark.
If we're to have any hope of pulling this one out we'll have to outscore them, as I fear our defense won't be too effective. That's in part because Stoltzfus is still out, and our D just isn't quite the same without him getting pressure up the middle. Van Brocklin fill in just fine for him last week, but there's a pretty big dropoff between the two. On to the action! Code:
Well, that was quite a shootout! In fact, the 75 points scored in this game represents a new record for Points Scored in a Toros game, besting the old record of 65 points scored in our 41-24 win over Arizona in Week 17 of 2006. Very, very exciting game to watch in a viewer. The most notable individual performance has to be that of Ultra-Super-Secret Weapon WR Courtney Hodges. Indeed, he's such a secret weapon that I didn't even know about him. His 100 yd kickoff return for a TD started the game, and then later that same quarter he hauled in an 83-yd TD pass from Kent Goodwin. Not too shabby. Elsewhere on offense, Goodwin continues to post far better numbers than I have any right to expect from him. Drew Holliday capped an effective day with 2 TDs, and Goodwin's passes were evenly distributed across most of the corps. 432 yards of offense is pretty acceptable. The 499 yards we surrendered is not. Henke tore us a new one today, and if not for his 2 INTs we'd have lost this game. Overall our pass D has been superb, so I'm hoping this is just one of those bumps in the road that seems to happen at least once per season and is not indicative of an overall defensive meltdown. That would be bad. So, we sit at 9-2 and continue to have a 2-game lead over Vegas, who beat Memphis silly by the score of 52-31 (despite an injury to Lenny Olsen). Honolulu happily fell another game behind us to 6-5 after losing to the 2-9 San Antonio Stingers. In other league news: Boise's (10-1) star QB Branden Lin suffered a strained elbow tendon and will need about 7 weeks to recover. That means he'll likely be out at least until the playoffs. That may well put them in a dogfight with Seattle (8-3) for their division, and could ruin their hopes for a top two playoff seeding. We're currently right behind them for best record in the conference, followed by Denver (8-3) and Seattle. Should be a fun stretch run! Next up: vs. Huntington Beach. |
09-30-2006, 11:48 PM | #360 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 13: vs. Huntington Beach
This week we face Huntington Beach (7-4), a team we've had some success against in the past (4-1 all time). Our last match against them was in 2009, when we beat them 30-14 in Tucson. They're led by 5th-year QB Clarence Lincoln, who is very talented but has yet to start 16 games in a season, and 4th-year, former 7th-round pick Jorge Riddols (who boomed to be a 70/70 player).
We'll still be without the services of Harold Stoltzfus this week, which may spell a big day for Riddols. We'll just have to hope that Holliday, Goodwin and company can keep up. Code:
I had forgotten that we'd be locking horns with longtime Toro Rubin Castorena today - fitting that he was the only Capitalist to score against us. It was a tale of two halves for our defense - in the 1st half we practiced a "bend but don't break" philosophy. In the 2nd half we practiced a "don't even bend" philosophy. Just look at the Capitalists' drive chart: Code:
Our defense held them to 31 plays for 62 yards in the second half - wow. And while we coughed up the expected yardage to Riddols, we were able to keep Lincoln nicely in check (12 of 34, 203 yds, 0 TD, 1 INT, 5 sacks). Who the hell needs Stoltzfus? Holliday had a nifty 58 yard scamper for a TD, and tacked on a 17 yd TD reception later on to put the finishing touch on his 143 total yard day. Goodwin had a so-so day, featuring his first multi-interception game, but it was enough to get us a win. I won't complain. Fortunately we had no new significant injuries - the most noteworthy was a "shift" in long-term, probable-grade injuries for Chris Frank. I believe he'd been playing with a strained hamstring or somesuch before the game, but after the game he spiralled into a severe depression. There are good treatments for depression out there, Chris. Avail yourself of them. In other RoF news, both Las Vegas (7-5) and Honolulu (6-6) lost, giving us a comfortable 3-game cushion. With 4 games to go, that feels quite nice. We're still hoping to give Boise (11-1) a run for the #1 seed, but they proved that they can win without Branden Lin today when they topped Honolulu. Next up: vs. Shreveport. |
10-08-2006, 11:44 PM | #361 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 14: vs. Shreveport
This week's matchup is with the Shreveport Pride (5-7), an Eastern Conference Team we've played just twice before. We split those two meetings, with our last game resulting in a 19-14 Toros win in Shreveport. The Pride are a talented team, led by 9th-year QB Douglas Hartman. They've got a good running back in Weldon Rayburn, a talented receiving corps, and an outstanding O-line. In fact, they're pretty solid on both sides of the ball, so we're counting on having a tough contest today. Their record is of course a bit of a surprise, given all this talent. They started off the season with a solid 4-2 record, but have dropped five of their last six. Whatever the reason, I'm hopeful that their struggles will continue for one more week.
We're going to give Stoltzfus one more game to get healthy, so our run defense will probably be a bit porous again. We'll need to compensate with some good offense of our own. Code:
Well, I was right about our run defense - it wasn't so hot. But We did a good job on Hartman and forced a total of four fumbles (three recovered). Most importantly, even though we gave up yardage here and there we stopped them when it mattered most - on 3rd down. The Pride were just 3 of 17, and I'll take that any and every day. Our defense wasn't perfect today, but take a look at Shreveport's drive chart: Code:
That's a thing of beauty. Offensively we were pretty crappy, and Shreveport did a great job of containing Holliday (except, of course, for that 68-yd punt return!). Goodwin was adequate, and fortunately with our defensive performance today that's all we needed. Even better: no new significant injuries. So, we're 11-2 with a 3-game lead over Las Vegas. We've clinched a playoff spot, but need one more win to claim the division title. Hopefully that will come next week against longtime divisional rival Honolulu! Last edited by Fonzie : 10-08-2006 at 11:45 PM. |
10-09-2006, 12:15 AM | #362 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 15: vs. Honolulu
Our 4-game homestand ends this week with the arrival of the Honolulu Bloodthirsty Beagles (7-6). They've only had a few changes since our earlier tango - Ronnie Tu has claimed the starting QB job, starting safety John Murguia is out for the year, as is former Toro C David Pless (serves him right, the traitor). Honolulu is struggling a bit more this year than last, which is a bit of a surprise. With two franchise QBs I had assumed they'd be in the driver's seat again this year, but for whatever reason their QB play hasn't been as good. Their defense continues to overachieve, however, so this'll be yet another tricky matchup.
Stoltzfus is still probable, but we're going to unleash him for this game. Code:
Well, Honolulu certainly scared the crap out of us in the 1st quarter, scoring two easy TDs and putting a lot of pressure on our offense to keep pace. Goodwin didn't respond especially well, but he got enough offense going to keep us in the game until our defense took over. And boy, did they ever take over. Tu was just 13 of 35 for 202 yds, 2 TDs and 4 INTs. And anytime you can hold an opponent to 1.6 ypc you've had a great day. Actually, anytime you can snag a 31 point win over a division rival you've had a great day, right? Well, not entirely. You see, all-world RB Drew Holliday developed this little problem where his wrist stopped working. He claims it to be "broken" or something. The doctors say he'll be Out for five weeks. That's not so good, as we've only got two weeks left in the regular season. If we're fortunate enough to get a 1st round bye he'll get three weeks to rest. That will have to be good enough, as I'm fully intending to use the bastard the moment he's cleared to play. The nerve...up and getting hurt right as we were clinching our division and stuff. Oh, and by the way we clinched our division. And stuff. We're 12-2 now, and are tied with Boise for best record in the conference (but they'd win a tiebreaker due to Conference Record). Denver (10-4) and Seattle (10-4) could also catch us, but we've beaten them both this year and thus own the first tiebreaker over both. So, I guess that means we've actually clinched a first round bye. I think. Regardless of our 1st-round-bye-clinching-status, we need to keep competing because we'll have a chance to get homefield advantage throughout if we keep winning and Boise manages to trip up (they continue to be without the services of Branden Lin). That means that we'll be going full-bore next week at Memphis. Last edited by Fonzie : 10-09-2006 at 12:18 AM. |
10-14-2006, 12:06 AM | #363 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 16: at Memphis
The CFL currently sports two divisions whose leaders are at .500 - the WFC San Andreas division (Huntington Beach is 7-7) and the EFC Deep South division, home of this week's opponents. Memphis is 7-7 and is frankly something of a surprise team. They were 4-11-1 last year, and every other team in the division appeared to be on the rise last year. Memphis has been able to capitalize on their division rivals' poor luck, and has scored some good luck of their own in three 3-point wins. Breathing down their neck are the 6-9 New Orleans Raging Horde and the 5-9 Shreveport Pride (can a 5-9 team really be said to be breathing down anyone's neck?).
We've got our division wrapped up and are now playing for the #1 overall playoff seed. Boise is also 12-2 and they play a tough Chicago team this week, so we have some hope of being able to move ahead of them. Drew Holliday is, of course, sitting this one out. The bastard. Code:
A win is a win, even if it scares the crap out of you in the process. We had nice leads of 14-0 at halftime and 21-3 in the 3rd quarter, but had to hold on for dear life as Memphis rallied in the 4th quarter. Memphis' rally was made all the more frightening by Eckard's missed 31-yd FG attempt with 1:12 left to play - that would've at least forced them to score a TD. Fortunately the defense came through and stopped Memphis' final drive. I started Corwin Jeffries, our usual FB, at RB today and he responded quite well. 144 yards? Holliday surprassed that total just once all year. We may have an interim answer at RB, and if Holliday isn't ready to go come playoffs we may be OK. Speaking of Holliday, he's now listed as Doubtful with 4 weeks to go. So at least he's healing. No new injuries of significance today, thank heavens. And speaking of divine gifts, Boise lost their match with Chicago today 21-19. That puts us one game up on them for the #1 seed, with one week to go. And the icing on that cake is that Branden Lin didn't heal at all this week, so he's still Out for 4 weeks. We thus have a wonderful opportunity to lock up the #1 seed next week at Las Vegas. Last edited by Fonzie : 10-14-2006 at 12:10 AM. |
10-20-2006, 11:34 PM | #364 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 17: at Las Vegas
We're in the driver's seat for the #1 overall playoff seed, so a win here would be nice. However, we're guaranteed a bye week, and I'm disinclined to expose our starters to needless opportunities for injury when we've already got what we most want in hte playoff positioning race. Thus, we'll be starting mostly backups this week with a few exceptions. A few of our younger starters who still need some seasoning will continue to play, including Goodwin and CB Giles.
A win would sure be nice, and not only to clinch the #1 seeding either - I'd really prefer not to get swept by Vegas. Even if we went on to win the CFL Bowl I'd be hearing about Vegas' sweep all offseason. So, while we're not going full-out to win this one, I'd sure be happy if we did. Code:
I'd say that went well. It turns out that Vegas had the same idea we did - they rested nearly all of their starters in preparation for the playoffs, and it worked to our benefit. The 21-0 win was neither pretty nor as convincing as the score would indicate, but I'll take it. I'm especially happy that nobody got hurt today. So, we're now the #1 overall seed in the WFC and have set a new club record with 14 regular season wins. Not too shabby, considering we have a first-year starter at QB. We'll review the regular season stats in the next post. In other news, Boise completed their Lin-less late season slide by losing their 3rd of 4 games to Seattle by the score of 26-7, and in so doing handed the Ring of Ice division crown to the Thunderbirds. Boise will have to settle for the top Wild Card slot. The other playoff teams are Huntington Beach (8-8, San Andreas division), Denver (11-5, Cavalry division) and Las Vegas (10-6, Wild Card). |
10-21-2006, 12:08 AM | #365 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Regular Season Roundup
Let's take a look at how things ended up across the CFL:
Code:
Over in the Eastern Conference Hartford again appears to be the team to beat. They plowed right through their schedule to a 15-1 record and are the undisputed Best Team In Football. They also happen to be the defending champs. Nobody wants to play them right now. Hell, nobody's wanted to play them for several years now - this year marks their 5th straight division title. Having been stuck behind Honolulu for so many years, I can honestly say that feel for the other owners in the Yankee division. But hey, at least you guys wrapped up the two Wild Card spots, right? Durham was the surprise winner in the Atlantic, and everyone else was a huge disappointment. Charleston was expected to continue their tradition of competitiveness this year, and Tampa had big expectations coming off their excellent 2010 campaign. Baltimore featured a very potent offense and probably should've won more games. Weird division. The Great Lakes saw Detroit win their 7th straight division title, and they didn't even have the services of Johnnie Titone. Al Deneff, a castoff from Arizona, was surprisingly effective and proved to be the difference between Detroit and rapidly-improving Chicago. Look out for the Hitmen next year - all of their young talent is maturing, and we may soon see a changing of the guard. As with the Real World, the Deep South couldn't seem to do anything right this year. They featured teams that varied only in the degree of badness they possessed. Memphis made history by becoming the worst division champion ever. Good for them. Back home in the Western Conference, Denver wrapped up their 5th straight division title thanks to surprisingly weak performances from Fargo and Tulsa. As for El Paso, well...nobody ever really expects much from El Paso. I mentioned that Seattle edged out Boise for their division title, ending Boise's 3-year reign. They were helped considerably by Brandon Lin's late-season injury, however. Still, Seattle is an extraordinarily dangerous team that went 7-1 over the last half of the season. Both are teams nobody really wants to face in the playoffs, especially with Lin back at the helm for Boise. The San Andreas division is the WFC's version of the Deep South - a weak division with a champion in name only. Huntington Beach won their division fair and square, of course, but 8-8 division champs don't inspire much confidence in their fans. Santa Cruz is an up-and-coming team though - keep an eye on them next year. And finally, the Ring of Fire was won by yours truly. Las Vegas clinched the final playoff spot thanks to a career year from Lenny "Jackpot" Olsen. Honolulu underperformed, but their underperformance might really be a function of unrealistic expectations on the part of us pundits heading into this year. Kranz had such a magnificent year last season that most of us expected he'd repeat that pretty easily - but the lack of a running game hampered their offense all season long. As for Arizona...well, they had a fairly typical Arizona year. The playoffs will begin with the following Wildcard Round games: Boise at Huntington Beach Boston at Memphis Las Vegas at Denver New York at Durham |
10-21-2006, 12:24 AM | #366 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Toros regular season wrapup
14-2 is a damn fine year, regardless of how far we get in the playoffs. As you'll see below, this record is largely a result of Kent Goodwin's unexpected excellence and a strong defense.
Code:
Goodwin shattered our previous team record for TD passes, 24, held by "Colonel" Hogan (2008). He did well enough overall to earn himself a huge new contract that we hope will keep him in Toros red for at least 5 more years. Our receivers had pretty good years overall. Higginbotham bounced back from a disappointing 2010 season, and our role players (Hodges and Garcia) both had wonderful years. Holliday was on his way to having another typical Holliday season (get it?) when he broke his wrist, forcing him to miss the first two games of his professional career. Still, his overall numbers were excellent, and our young-ish O-line had a lot to do with that. Defensively, I couldn't have asked for a much better year. We forced 28 turnovers (+10), were #1 at ypa and #2 at ypc. What more could you want really? Oh, how about 51 sacks? I'm pretty sure that's a team record, and was a bit of a surprise to me. We have good defensive front players, but outside of Stoltzfus nobody is supposed to be a monster sack artist. Neubauer and Grier overperformed again, and our RDE platoon chipped in 12.5 sacks. We held our opponents to under 50% passing (48.7% to be precise), and were very successful at stopping opponents on 3rd down. Two defensive players tied our team record for INTs in a season at 5. We also did well on Special Teams. Eckard's 30/40 in FGs was adequate, and his 50 PATs allowed him to lead the league in scoring. His kickoffs were generally better than Castorena's were, so I feel he's an improvement overall. P Edward Winters was a bit more frustrating - he always seemed to shank 32 yd punts when we were stuck at our 15, and his 40.1 average was not good. However, he also managed to nail half of his 82 punts inside the opponents' 20. Hard to know how to feel about this guy. In the return game, CB Bobby Giles gave us a much-needed spark (27.6 average), but FL Courtney Hodges had our lone kickoff return for a TD (29.7 average). Drew Holliday was our primary punt returner, and he did an excellent job (23-206-1 TD). Long story short: we had a good year. |
10-23-2006, 11:12 PM | #367 | |||||||||||||||
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Wild Card Round Results
I was sad to see division rival Las Vegas get dumped in the first round, as I was hoping to knock them off myself. Alas. I was especially sad to see Boise advance, despite the fact that their win was all but assured. They greatly outclassed Huntington Beach, and with Lin back in the saddle they were as close to a lock as you can get in this game. This set of outcomes means that we'll be facing Boise in the Divisional Round. When Lin is fully healthy, they are probably the best team in the conference. I'm not especially happy about this draw, but we'll see what we can do. |
|||||||||||||||
10-23-2006, 11:15 PM | #368 | ||||||||||||
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Divisional Round Results
Denver did an excellent job stuffing a great offensive team in Seattle - I find it somewhat surprising how easily they were able to stop Dever. Good for them. In other news, The Best Team In The League (Hartford) barely escaped with a win against their division rival Boston, and Durham continued their improbable season with a nice win over Detroit. Next up: the game you've all been waiting for: Boise at Tucson. |
||||||||||||
10-23-2006, 11:34 PM | #369 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Divisional Round: Boise at Tucson
I have just finished reviewing our postseason history, and was quite shocked to realize that we haven't won a playoff game since the 2006 season. That year we went to the Conference Championship game but lost to Honolulu. Since that time we've been one-and-done in 2007 (21-10 Wild Card round loss to Denver), 2008 (17-13 Wild Card round loss to Sacramento), and 2009 (17-16 Divisional Round loss to Denver). In five trips to the playoffs our cumulative playoff record is an embarrassing 3-5, and of the top seven teams in the league by career records we're the only one to have somehow missed out on going to a CFL Bowl.
In other words, we choke come playoff time. We're hoping this year will be different, because this time we've got the surprisingly effective Kent Goodwin manning the helm - our prior playoff history was all under the leadership of "Colonel" Hogan, whose butt is now firmly attached to our bench. We're thus mildly optimistic about today's game, but with Lin coming to town we cannot get overly optimistic. We're fairly healthy heading into today's game, with Holliday upgraded to probable and our only missing starter being RT Matthew Pitman. We're ready to go. Code:
Hoo boy, that was one ugly game. Either both offenses were terrible, both defenses were great, or some combination thereof. The high score doesn't really reflect just how crappy this game was - for example, the two teams combined to convert just 7 of 33 3rd downs. There were seven total turnovers, and Your Beloved Toros were incredibly penalty-prone. Despite the general ineptitude of our team (14 of 41 from Goodwin?!), we were able to sneak away with our first playoff win in five seasons. I wish I could say I enjoyed this win more, but I really think we got lucky here. Boise was, on balance, the better team today. We got some fortunate breaks, especially on defense. It isn't every day that Lin throws 4 INTs - he threw just two INTs all season long. In fact, he's thrown just 4 INTs in the last two regular seasons combined. To put an even finer point on it, he hasn't thrown that many picks in a single game since his 3rd game as a pro - back in 2003. Wow. But Boise's defense came to play as well. Take a look at our drive chart from the second half: Code:
Oof. Eight consecutive 3-and-outs. That's pretty shitty. Thank heavens our punter came to play today (6 of 11 punts inside the 20). Still, I won't complain. A win is a win, and I'm thrilled that we get to advance to play Denver for the Conference Championship. We only suffered one injury of significance today in WLB Joseph Watford, who strained a calf muscle and will miss three weeks. We'll be OK without him. |
10-24-2006, 01:12 PM | #370 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Conference Championship
We're making just our second-ever trip to the Conference Championship game, and we've drawn the most experienced playoff team in the league in the Denver Dynamite. They have compiled a gaudy 13-5 playoff record, which sets the CFL standard for most playoff games overall as well as the best playoff winning percentage. They went to three consecutive CFL Bowls from 2007-2009, and managed to win two of them. They've won five consecutive division titles. They're good.
Why are they so good? Primarily because of QB Marcus Garibaldi. Garibaldi has drawn comparisons to the NFL's Tom Brady - both put up good to very good stats, but neither are extraordinary. Yet, they both just keep winning and winning championships. Garibaldi, in particular, seems to have a magical ability to convert 3rd downs (rated 99 according to my scout) which keeps their offense chugging along. He doesn't do it alone, of course, and has a number of offensive tools to work with. His O-line is very good, he has veteran RB John Lubin (4th all-time in rushing) in the backfield, and an array of talented-but-not-otherworldly receivers. Denver's defense is solid overall, as well, so we'll have our work cut out for us today. Fortunately Holliday is back at full strength and we'll try to feed him the ball a fair amount. We've been relying on Goodwin a bit more than I'd like lately. Code:
Now that was a good game. The fans got their money's worth out ofthat one. It might not be entirely clear from the box score, but we built up a nice 28-10 lead that Garibaldi quickly reduced to a 28-25 lead early in the 4th quarter. Once Lubin scampered in for the TD I was fairly convinced that we were going to lose, as this is precisely the kind of circumstance in which Garibaldi shines. Indeed, Denver was marching down the field midway through the 4th and had reached our 22 when this happened: Code:
That saved the game for us. They were at least going to score a FG on that drive, but instead we got the ball back and Goodwin did the rest: Code:
That kid is amazing. And the game, overall, was a real thriller. I'm a bit dismayed at how much our coach relies on the kid, despite my gameplanning to the contrary, but I really cannot complain. If he needs to throw 37 times for us to win, so be it. We won. We won the game, and now we get to play in our FIRST EVER CFL BOWL! WOOHOO! But who do we get to play, you might ask? We will be playing The Best Team In The League - the Hartford Attack. They beat Durham 31-24 to make it to their second straight CFL Bowl (they won it all last year). That means that the two teams with the best regular season records will be squaring off for the championship. Nice. The CFL bowl will be hosted tonight at 7:45 pm central time on aim. If you're interested in following the action head on over to thecfl.net and enter the forums. There'll be a post indicating how to join the chat. Last edited by Fonzie : 10-24-2006 at 01:37 PM. |
10-24-2006, 10:39 PM | #371 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
The Big Dance
This is it! Time for the big dance. I've been waiting for this moment for eight seasons, and at this point I really don't care if we win the Bowl or not. I'm just happy to be here (that's what my PR guy told me to say, anyway).
We're locking horns with the 15-1 Hartford Attack, considered by most to be the pride of the league (Shreveport aside). They had some trouble with their postseason opponents (30-27 over Boston, 31-24 over Durham), but were able to pull off the win both times. Their offense is terriffic, featuring the 1-2 punch of QB James Oberg and RB Alan Spearman. Their defense is also good, but they've struggled against the run a bit more than anyone would've expected given their talent. That's something we might try to exploit, especially considering that their pass D was excellent. Bah! Why am I wasting words? Let's get on with it: the championship game that pits the league's best team (15-1 Hartford) against the second-best team (14-2 Tucson). Code:
During the regular season Hartford led the league in scoring with 461 points, and we were second with 448. Somehow we managed to produce just 17 points between the two of us today, and thankfully we got 10 of those points to win the championship! WOOHOO! One very, very ballsy call stands out in this game: with time winding down in the 1st half and the score 10-7, Hartford marched the ball down to our 13 and called their final timeout. With a 3rd and 2 and just :18 left on the clock they sent their FG unit onto the field. However, their FG unit included starting all-world running back and they faked the FG attempt. Spearman was stopped for a loss of 2 yards, and the half ended. Hartford's only other scoring opportunity came late in the 4th quarter, but K Farmer missed a 56-yard attempt. The rest is history. Hat's off to Masked's Hartford squad. They were in it to the end and gave us a helluva game. Holliday won the game MVP award, and I'm hard pressed to argue that anyone else would've deserved it more. He was a huge part of our somewhat unique gameplan - we wanted to run the ball and shorten the game as much as possible. I didn't think we'd do well in a shootout with Oberg, so we leaned heavily on our run game and it paid off. I could make a case for awarding the MVP to our entire defense, who did an excellent job of containing one of the league's best QBs in Oberg. In fact, I'm tempted to award them a collective postseason MVP for the work they did in containing Oberg, Lin, Garibaldi, Philyaw and Spearman. Damn fine work, gentlemen. Well, that season was quite a roller coaster ride. We snuck in a couple of starts for Goodwin to begin the year, then returned to our usual starter in Hogan. The "Colonel" immediately got hurt and surrendered the reins to Goodwin for the rest of the season, and the kid was absolutely lights out. He led us not only to our best regular season record, but to our first CFL Bowl appearance and victory. Crazy. Goodwin also appears that he'll be improving beyond what our scouts currently think of him. He's recently begun to max out his potential in some skills, but his now-full red bars keep creeping up with each game he plays. I was so optimistic about his future development that I awarded him a huge contract extension at the end of the season that should keep him locked up at a below-market rate for many more years. What a wonderful season. I'm looking forward to repeating next year! Last edited by Fonzie : 10-24-2006 at 10:57 PM. |
10-24-2006, 11:20 PM | #372 |
College Starter
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Thunderdome
|
Oddly, at the beginning of the season, I thought that your team was the weakest it has been in 3-4 seasons. I think you found a gem in Goodwin. I was eyeing him as well, but pulled the trigger on the "needs much more development" Carlton Burgess a couple picks before Goodwin was drafted. But moreso, you're defense deserves some serious props.
Congrats on the win and the great season! |
10-25-2006, 12:28 AM | #373 |
Coordinator
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Sydney, Australia
|
Congrats Tucson. I'm not in the CFL, but I've been following this dynasty since page 1, and it's good to see your boys pick up the trophy!
__________________
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce |
10-25-2006, 09:23 AM | #375 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen! This was truly one of those clichéd "magical" seasons in which everything lined up just right for us.
|
10-27-2006, 09:48 AM | #377 |
College Starter
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Bay Area
|
Congratulations - looking forward to the rematch next season
|
11-01-2006, 11:27 PM | #378 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
2011 Season Awards
Let's see who got hardware this year:
Code:
Once again a rather pedestrian performance from RB Butch Fulton earned him MVP honors. Butch ran for 1840 yards on 462 carries (a 3.98 ypc) and 9 TDs, with 85 receptions for 648 yds (but no TDs and 3 drops). He also fumbled 14 times. Not very MVP-y in my eyes. For the second year in a row I'd choose James Oberg over Fulton. Oberg completed 64.9% of his passes for 3878 yds (a 7.94 ypa), 35 TDs, and 15 INTs with zero fumbles. He was the best player on the second-best team in the league. He's the real MVP. I'd have even settled for an MVP choice of Atlantic City CB Willie Golalic. Willie picked off 8 passes and defended a league-record 34 passes as well, allowing just 39 completions. That's a PDPct of 23.4. Otherworldly. The only hardware our players picked up was Drew Holliday's CFL Bowl MVP. If I had to pick one award, that's the one I'd choose. Still, a few other guys might've deserved a nod this year, including our Head Coach Ryan Bolden. He was passed over for Coach of the Year, which was awarded to Hartford's coach. I'm not sure how that could possibly compute, given that in preseason nobody had us going to the CFL Bowl, much less winning it. Hartford, meanwhile, was amongst the popular picks again. That's a slap in the face for poor Mr. Bolden - and will hopefully provide him with motivation to pursue that trophy next year. On to next year! |
11-01-2006, 11:35 PM | #379 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
2012: The Year of the Title Defense
We head into 2012 flushed with unexpected success and eager to defend our championship. Let's see how our roster is shaping up after the offseason:
Code:
The only retirement of note was FS Carl Stine - he was a huge addition to our secondary last season, but was evidently willing to call it a career after winning a ring. Hard to blame him. Our secondary will be our biggest concern this offseason. We were unable to get Biggs to negotiate a reasonable extension late last season, so he's going to be allowed to test the waters. It'll be unfortunate if he goes elsewhere, but I won't be heartbroken. He's a nice player, but he never seemed to perform quite up to his supposed abilities. He never picked off more than 2 passes in a single season. Given the kind of money he wants ($6m in bonus money for a 2-yr deal) I'd expect much better performances than that. Otherwise, we don't have many gaping holes. We franchised poor DT Harold Stoltzfus again (3rd year running!), and this year his cap number was actually lower than last year ($6.1m vs. $6.29m). We're most going to need depth, so we'll target a few minor FAs and aim for improvement via the draft. We've renegotiated quite a bit to get under the cap, and have about $1.7m in free cap space. I might try to cap out a few contracts to free up some more room, if needed. One particularly happy note: the scout ratings above didn't change much at all in the offseason (we have the same scout as last year), but Kent Goodwin is now rated 62/66 after finishing last year 59/65. I love him. Last edited by Fonzie : 11-01-2006 at 11:39 PM. |
11-01-2006, 11:44 PM | #380 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Stage 1 of FA
Former 1st rounder and occasional nickel back Ray Minahan immediately jumped ship for a nice contract with Cleveland (who are spending like drunken sailors - they also picked up all-world RB Burt Liskiewiecz with a 1-yr $15m deal). Ray was a bit like a miniature version of Keven Biggs - good ratings, but his performance was always a bit wanting. Adios Ray!
We were able to bring back Bernie Callis with a 3 yr, $4.8 million offer. He'll get a shot at the nickel package this year. We signed a backup RB in J.C. Edwards. He has the makings of a good receiving back, and will provide some depth behind Holliday. He's cheap and on a 1 yr deal. Biggs also has a couple of nice offers on the table, so any fantasies I had about him slipping through FA and signing a nice cheap deal to stay with us is out the door. |
11-04-2006, 11:22 PM | #381 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
FA update
Some recent Tucson-related FA goings-on in the CFL:
-Keven Biggs signed a 2-yr, $13.81m deal with Anchorage. Best wishes, Keven! -Former 1st round pick FL Brent Garcia has been sent to division rival Las Vegas for a 5th rounder in next year's draft. Brent did pretty well for us over the last two years (he did "well" considering he was a 1st round bust), including catching a combined 66 passes for 926 yds and 7 TDs in the last two years as our 3rd wideout. We'd have liked to keep him around, but he was asking for starter-type money in an extension, and I wasn't about to give it to him. Oh, and we gave Brent a final "cortisone" shot before he left the facilities for Vegas. On an unrelated note, I wouldn't be shocked to find that the Rounders' locker room becomes rapidly infected with genital herpes. - We then swung another trade to replace Garcia. We sent our 7.32 pick this year (yes, we're passing up on the opportunity to draft Mr. Irrelevant) to Cleveland for veteran SE Coleman Parr (44/44). The 13-yr vet has caught 382 career passes (in 695 targets) for 5485 yds and 29 TDs. He has just 30 career drops. I'm anticipating he'll slide right into the #3 role. - We simultaneously (and somewhat unexpectedly) landed former Toro WR Freddie Housley to a minor FA contract. Freddie spent the last two seasons with Santa Cruz, but decided to give Tucson another whirl. He's good at Getting Downfield and at catching passes on 3rd down. He'll battle Courtney Hodges for the #4 spot. - Speaking of Santa Cruz, they shocked the CFL when they released both of their stud starting tackles last week (ownership evidently demanded that they get "younger" or somesuch). RT Noah Smyth (86/89) and LT Russell Tollefson (74/81) began fielding offers last week, and much to my surprise Tollefson accepted one from us! We gave him a 3-yr, $21.69m deal, which landed us about $1.8m above the salary cap. Oops. Still, we're delighted to have him aboard and he'll fill a huge hole with RT Pitman likely still out for the whole season. A quick check of Tollefson's position change-ability confirms our hopes that he can make the switch to RT fairly seamlessly. Great news! We now have 51 players under contract and need to shed some salary to get back under the cap. I expect a few more deals to be made in the near future. |
11-11-2006, 10:38 PM | #382 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
End of FA
We're near the end of the early FA period and have completed the signings we'll make prior to the draft. We've added three more players worth noting:
SS Kevin Yeager (38/43) - With the departure of Minahan we also lost our Secondary Leader, and some unpleasantries erupted. Yeager was brought on to be our new leader. He's not very good, and was sadly the best we could come up with from the FA pool. We'll be looking around in late FA/post-camp cuts for a better alternative. K Tyrell Simuel (47/47) - According to the scouts Simuel has perhaps the worst kicking accuracy in the league (6/6). However, he's also got perhaps the most powerful leg in the league (100/100) and is a monster on kickoffs (96/96 on distance, 82/82 on hang time). The 5th year pro has primarily been used as a kickoff specialist, but New York used him his first year in the league as a full-time placekicker and he did well (30/37 in FGs, 38/38 in PATs). We'll give him a look in camp. SS David Visser (64/64) - Visser is the guy we've tapped to replace last year's Safety Gun-For-Hire Carl Stine. He's a 15-year pro who has spent his entire career with Santa Cruz. His performance has been just so-so over the last 3 seasons, but then again so have Santa Cruz's overall fortunes (10-37-1 won/loss/tie record). We're hoping he has enough left in the tank to keep our departure-ravaged secondary somewhat functional. Next up: The 2012 CFL Draft! |
11-18-2006, 02:47 PM | #383 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
The 2012 CFL Draft
We've got a ton of mid-round picks this year, and we don't really need them. Unfortunately we couldn't find any takers, so we went ahead and used 'em. Here's who we got:
1.32 FS Tommy Burns - Tommy's a 5'10" 200 lb safety who plays the run like a linebacker. He's also especially good at man coverage, which is always attractive to us. Safety is our biggest need, and Tommy is arguably not only the best safety left but also the best player left at the bottom of the 1st round. I'm fairly happy with this pick. His combine scores are good and he doesn't have high volatility (41), so I'm fairly confident he won't bust. Pre-draft rating: 34/63 2.3 DE Emmanuel Muranaka - Our defensive front is aging fast, especially at linebacker. However, the two linebackers I had my eye on for this pick were taken in the two slots right before us, so I decided to nab Muranaka instead. He's got good potential in the skills I most prize in a DE (run D and PRT), and his low volatility again should keep us bust-free. Pre-draft rating: 20/57 3.32 SS Amos Torres - I've decided to take a chance on a potential "reach" player here on the basis of his outstanding combine scores. Torres is an exceptionally strong (19 reps) and fast (4.44 40) safety, who is also smart (38 Solecismic) and agile (7.12 agility). He's also got good potential in man coverage, but perhaps even better potential in bump coverage. He should also be able to play the run well. I f he develops I'll look at him as a possible long-term replacement for Enoch. Pre-draft rating: 18/43. 4.3 TE Shannon Thomas - I'm gambling with Thomas too - he had one of the best overall combine performances in this year's draft class. Thomas may also end up being a reach, but if he develops like I think he should we may have a future star on our hands. Pre-draft rating: 23/41 4.32 CB Gus Tucker - We appear to be taking the Ron Wolf "shotgun" approach to fixing our secondary this year, with our 3rd defensive back chosen in five picks. Gus looks promising, with good potential in B&R and Man coverages, very good INT ratings, and a solid player against the run. He can return punts too. Pre-draft rating: 12/49 5.14 C Darrell Copeland - We don't really need a backup/project center, but Copeland was too good to pass up here. He looks to be in the Good/Very good range on the top 4 center skills and also had a good combine. Pre-draft rating: 23/53 5.17 SS Ron Hawkins - Another safety! Woohoo! You just can't have enough safeties! Pre-draft rating: 21/45 5.32 QB Dexter Nykolaiszyn - I felt as though our current stable of quartebacks had too many vowels in their names. This guy should help there. Pre-draft rating: 12/51 6.32 CB Carl Proctor - Another corner. Good potential in coverage. Pre-draft rating: 16/37. Those are our nine picks from this year's draft. We also signed a whole mess of rookie free agents, just for kicks. We'll see what happens with them in camp. |
11-18-2006, 02:49 PM | #384 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Some unwelcome news
During the draft I noticed that All-World Running Back Drew Holliday suffered some apparent changes in his ratings, dropping him to a 51/54 rated guy. His nosedive couldn't have come at a worse time - we just traded his big backup last year, and now have scarecely any depth behind him. Ugh.
|
11-18-2006, 03:07 PM | #385 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Postcamp assessment
2012 Training Camp is over, and here's what we've learned about this year's Toro squad:
Rookies note: all rating changes below reflect the changes from pre-draft through the end of camp, and thus include the initial "scout error" adjustments we see after the draft. 1.32 FS Tommy Burns - +4/-1 2.3 DE Emmanuel Muranaka - +2/-4 3.32 SS Amos Torres - +6/+10 4.3 TE Shannon Thomas - +3/+9 4.32 CB Gus Tucker - +1/-15 5.14 C Darrell Copeland - +3/-3 5.17 SS Ron Hawkins - +1/-10 5.32 QB Dexter Nykolaiszyn - +3/-7 6.32 CB Carl Proctor - 0/-4 So, some pretty good news here from the top half of our draft, and some seriously bad news from the bottom. Torres and Thomas look like they're both on their way to becoming big parts of the team, and Burns and Muranaka don't appear likely to become huge busts. That's good! Tucker, Hawkins and Nykolaiszyn are likely to be shown the door immediately, and they might be followed shortly by Proctor. I'm fairly stunned at how much those guys busted - they weren't terribly talented to begin with, so to have such enormous drops essentially means that they wound up having no talent at all. Enjoy your future careers in the fast-food industry gentlemen! Other Noteworthy Changes QB Milan Hogan - The "old man" suffered a ratings drop during the draft period and is now rated as 55/59. Still a very servicable backup and occasional starter, but he's starting to slip a bit. MLB Grant Wash - Wash also took a hit during the draft, losing 11 points from his ratings. He's now 48/48 and can still play the run well, but his coverage skills have eroded noticably. He'll now have to compete for his starting job with career backup Josh Jarrard. WLB Joseph Watford - Dropped -5/-5. Still in good shape to start though. RT Matthew Pitman - This is probably the most curious ratings change we saw in our veterans. During the draft period he shop up +7/+6, despite still being listed as "out" with an MCL injury (23 weeks). I have a feeling those rating changes don't mean a damn thing. QB Kent Goodwin - Ah, finally some good news! Kent went up +5/+1 during camp and is now rated 68/68. For his career this puts him at +47/+14, and he still shows some green in his skill bars. Rock on. Next up: final cutdowns and exhibition season. |
12-05-2006, 11:20 PM | #387 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Exhibition season
I really couldn't bring myself to post all of the exhibition games - I find that I quickly grow bored with the preseason, and for now would much prefer to skip it. Noteworthy developments during the preseason:
A minor trade: we sent our 2014 6th round pick to division rival Vegas for their veteran LG Kenneth Smalls. He'll make a very solid backup (RB: 57, PB: 62) to Poplawski A major trade: we sent 12-year veteran FL Sydney Armitage back to his original team in Boston for 3rd, 4th and 6th round picks over the next few seasons. Armitage was our "best" receiver (rated 54/61) for the last 3 seasons, but he never managed to put up particularly good numbers. He typically caught about 50% of the passes thrown his way, and his yardage average was fairly pedestrian. He didn't drop many passes, but he just didn't catch very many either. Anyway, his performance didn't warrant the $8m bonus he wanted for a one-year extension, so his ass is gone. We finish the exhibition season with a 3-1 record, yawn a bit, and cut down the roster. Here's the 53 we take into the regular season: Code:
The big changes to our roster this year: Quarterbacks: Goodwin just keeps getting better. Running Backs: Holliday should be able to keep it together for another year or two. And I like this Hayakawa kid - the undrafted rookie free agent might surprise a few people. Receivers: Armitage is gone, but I'm not sure that will hurt us much. We've got quite a few solid-but-not-spectacular targets for Goodwin. We should be fine here. Offensive line: We're much deeper here now with Tollefson and Smalls. We ditched our longtime backup center Luther Buckley in favor of the younger and potentially better Gaines. Pitman is still out for the year - but he should be healed by the playoffs. We can't afford to keep that roster spot open for him, so he's on the IR. I'm looking forward to seeing how he comes back from the injury. If he's OK this will be a position of great strength for us. Defensive line: Largely unchanged from last year. And that's a good thing. Linebackers: are a lot older. They should still do OK, but the clock is ticking on this crew. Secondary: has been heavily reworked, and I'm not really sure what to expect from them. I think McGarrity will be fine with some experience, and Callis should help out a bit, but we've got a lot of new faces back there. Our pass defense might not be as tight as it was last year. Specialists: the same. That brings us to opening night! We start the season with a home match vs. Honolulu. |
12-07-2006, 11:49 PM | #388 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 1: vs. Honolulu
We renew our rivalry with the only divisional team to sport a winning record against us, the Honolulu Blue Pacific (back under the ownership of MrBug after a 2-year hiatus). They currently have a 10-9 edge in our series, but they've struggled against us of late: they began this rivalry 9-2 against us, but over the last four years have gone 1-7. We're hoping to start the season right with a win over a division rival that will square our record against them.
Code:
That went just about as well as we could've hoped! A 27 point win is always welcome, but to come in the season opener against a big division rival gives us an enormous lift. Goodwin picked up where he left off last year, suggesting he won't just be a flash-in-the-pan. And our running game was surprisingly effective. About that running game...um, Drew Holliday got hurt again. The man who had been Mr. Invincible for 94 straight starts as a Toro has now suffered two "out" injuries in two seasons. Methinks he might be starting to show his age a bit. At least he's only out for 4 weeks with a bad back. But boy did his replacement put on a show! Lightly regarded undrafted FA Kelvin Hayakawa put on a clinic today. It is early in his career, to be sure, but we might have found something with this kid. Fortunately, Holliday's injury was the only one of significance this week. And that's important, as we next travel to face a very potent Baltimore team. |
12-08-2006, 11:31 PM | #389 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 2: at Baltimore
This week we play an Eastern Conference opponent in Baltimore. We've only met twice before, and split those two meetings. We last met in Week 2 of 2008, a game won by The Good Guys 23-6. That Baltimore team was led by QB Phillip Barbieri, an All-Galaxy QB who will be a shoo-in for the Hall - when he finally retires. Unfortunately, the bastard is still around four years later. He's now a 16th-year veteran and is leading a rejuvenated Baltimore offense. Last year he posted career highs in passing yards (4652), YPA (8.56) and TD passes (33). Pair him with a solid receiving corps, a very good O-line, and good talent all around the defense, and we've got a lot of trouble on our hands.
And we're without our star running back, Drew Holliday. That's great. Code:
Whew. Baltimore was kind enough to spot us a 21 point lead in the 1st quarter, thanks largely to Barbieri's uncharacteristic wildness. We wound up needing all of those scores and managed to high-tail it out of Baltimore with a narrow win. I had a feeling we'd have trouble stopping their offense, and that we'd need to rely on turnovers to win this one. For once in my life I wound up being right. It's a nice feeling, thanks for asking. As for individual performances, Goodwin continued his solid play, Higginbotham caught his only two passes of the day within 3 minutes of each other, and they both went for TDs, and Hayakawa acquitted himself well in his first career start. The three interceptions were also crucial, although I would've preferred if that unit had, you know, held the opponent to less than 370 passing yards. But I suppose I'm being a bit picky there. Thankfully we suffered no new injuries, but Holliday is still out for 3 more weeks. That's too bad, as we face Denver next week. And Denver is one of just four teams to own a winning record against us (5-3 overall), so it would be nice to be at full strength. Alas. Other News: Elsewhere in the CFL, history was made today when Honolulu's Ronnie Tu threw for seven, that's right, seven TDs against a very talented Charleston squad. The previous league record was 5 (held by many). Hat's off to our long-time nemesis for this outstanding accomplishment! |
12-13-2006, 01:56 PM | #390 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 3: vs. Denver
This week we face a grudge match against the Denver Dynamite, our opponent in last year's Western Conference championship. They will, no doubt, be looking to avenge their 35-25 loss and extend their 5-3 advantage in this rivalry. They're well-positioned to do so, as they're fairly healthy and have Marcus Garibaldi under center. That man can completely carry a team when needed. I'm a fan of his, but as an opponent I hate him. I suppose that's a sign of respect.
We're still without Drew Holliday, but that's our only injury worth noting heading into this game. His loss puts us at a disadvantage to be sure, but his backup Hayakawa has played well so far. We'll need him to keep that up if we're to stand a chance in this one. Code:
Hoo boy - another ugly game, but we were able to snag the win. I'm not sure either team really deserved to win this game, as it was a generally ugly offensive performance/beautiful defensive struggle (depending on your point of view). We caught a huge break (so to speak) when Marcus Garibaldi suffered a separated shoulder in the 1st half. His replacement had minimal success, and that injury was probably a major reason why we were able to win. Of course, another big reason for this win was Monty Boyd's generosity, as he fumbled away the ball at our 5 yard line. Thanks, Monty. Yet another major reason was Hayakawa, who had his 2nd 100-yd game in 3 tries. He now has carried the ball 58 times for 303 yds and 2 TDs since taking over for Holliday. Not too shabby. Goodwin also chipped in at times, but was generally ineffective against a tough Denver pass defense. We suffered two injuries of note: G Kelvin Connell strained an adductor muscle and is out for 5 weeks, and S Mitchel Enoch strained a tricep muscle and is Questionable for next week. We've finally got some O-line depth, so we should be OK without Connell. Enoch - I'm not sure if I'll play him or not next week. Speaking of next week: we play at Santa Cruz. |
12-19-2006, 10:48 PM | #391 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 4: at Santa Cruz
This week we play a spunky Santa Cruz (0-4) squad. Their last winning season was in 2007 when they won their division with an 11-5 record. They've been in rebuilding mode for five years now, and have accumulated considerable young talent that is starting to realize its potential. However, they're not quite there yet. This is a game we should win, but their young talent is perfectly capable of snatching this one away from us.
Code:
Wow, we very nearly blew this one. We were down 17-3 at the half and needed 20 unanswered points to sneak away with a win. We didn't play very well at all, and I'm especially troubled by our lousy 1 for 11 on 3rd downs. Still, to win a game that we should've lost is a good thing. No significant injuries this week, but Holliday, Enoch and Connell are still injured. However, we've got a bye next week, and getting those three healthy is real important given our upcoming schedule. After the bye we play at Las Vegas (3-0), host Huntington Beach (1-2), play at Sacramento (4-0), host Long Beach (2-1), and visit Honolulu (3-1). Five straight tough games. Next up: the dreaded bye. |
02-18-2007, 10:01 PM | #392 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 6: at Las Vegas
I'm embarrassingly behind in updating this dynasty, owing to certain life events. But I'll attempt to get us caught up fairly quickly. Because something important is to happen this coming Tuesday night I'll endeavor to have us caught up by then. Thus, I'll keep my insightful and witty commentary to a minimum, for now.
Code:
A loss to Vegas is always painful. A two touchdown loss? Unbearable. Goodwin did what he could, but a bad case of fumbles, poor special teams play, and a vacationing run defense did us in. Blech. |
02-18-2007, 10:06 PM | #393 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 7: vs. Huntington Beach
We'll attempt to avenge our first loss of the season by inflicting some conference damage on a solid Huntington Beach squad.
Code:
Well, we let QB Clarence Lincoln have a bit more success than I'd like, but there's not much else to complain about here. Six sacks is great, Goodwin was on fire again, and our special teams came to play this week. We're now 5-1 on the season. |
02-18-2007, 10:12 PM | #394 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 8: at Sacramento
This week we play division-leading Sacramento, who are without starting QB Seymore Barre. Instead they'll head into battle with 5th year man Everett Dole under center. Sacramento appears to have a downfield passing orientation on offense, so we'll have to be careful in the secondary.
Code:
Wow. We held Dole to just 13 completions on 34 attempts, but he still connected for 324 yards! That's crazy - so crazy that it almost cost us the game. Those 12 penalties for 100+ yards weren't helpful, either. Thank heavens for OT! |
02-18-2007, 10:18 PM | #395 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 9: vs. Long Beach
This tilt against Long Beach marks our third straight game against a San Andreas division foe. I'll need to have a chat with the league schedulers - we really need to mix things up a bit more.
Code:
Now that's more like it. A solid win with good efforts all around. We had to play without G Kevin Connell, but our offense didn't suffer at all. Goodwin was great, Holliday turned in another solid effort, and our defense did enough to lock up a 2-TD win. I'm not happy that we keep coughing up 20+ points on defense, but hopefully we'll get our defense on track. |
02-18-2007, 10:27 PM | #396 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 10: at Honolulu
A big game! Honolulu (6-2) is still in the hunt for the division crown, and will no doubt be looking to avenge the 41-14 drubbing we gave them in Week 1. Unfortunately, we'll be without the services of our best defender, DT Harold Stoltzfus. That's not good, as we're taking on the legendary Ronnie Tu here.
Code:
WOW. At the risk of sounding like a graceless winner, that was perhaps the best performance I've ever seen from this team. A 51 point output on the road resulting in a 30 point win against a key division rival sporting a Hall Of Fame QB? Damn. Almost makes me feel sorry for MrBug. Almost. We set two new team records today - our 51 point output and 555 total yards. It isn't officially tracked for record-keeping purposes, but I'd bet our 38 first downs are also a team record. Crazy. 92 points scored versus a division rival in one season is a beautiful thing. |
02-18-2007, 10:31 PM | #397 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 11: vs. Arizona
Another division game, this time vs. perennial cellar dwellers Arizona. We're still without Stoltzfus, and coming off a huge emotional win over Honolulu. Do I smell a trap?
Code:
Well, that was embarrassing. We had the inevitable letdown after last week's big win. Two missed field goals were costly in this one, but perhaps not as costly as being completely unable to move the ball on the ground. I can't recall us ever having a game in which our O-line scored zero Key Run Blocks. Amazing, and hat's off to Arizona's D-line for an inspired effort. |
02-18-2007, 10:38 PM | #398 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 12: vs. Tampa Bay
Today we take on the Tampa Bay Torpedoes, a team we've only met twice before (we split those two games). Tampa's having a rough season (3-7), and we'll hope to continue their misery for at least another week.
Thankfully we get Stoltzfus back this week. Code:
Things were looking ugly early, as Tampa scored TDs on three of their first four possessions. But Goodwin, Holliday, and a recovered defense saved us from what would've been a second straight embarrassing loss. This win puts us at 9-2, which is the best record in the conference. We're awesome. |
02-18-2007, 10:43 PM | #399 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 13: at Seattle
Seattle has been one of the Western Conference's perennial contenders thanks to the two-headed offensive beast of QB Charles Dever and RB Burt Liskiewicz. Unfortunately for Seattle, Liskiewicz left in free agency for Cleveland, and Dever suffered a ruptured adductor muscle in Week 11. Heading into that Week 11 game Seattle was 6-3 - they've since dropped their last two (and would go on to lose their final 7 games) without Dever. This should be a walk in the park.
Thus, it won't be. Code:
One of those head-scratcher games, here. We dominated Seattle statistically, yet only came away with a 7 point win. I don't see any easy explanations, other than their punter having a great game. Still, a win is a win and we're now 10-2. That's good. |
02-18-2007, 10:49 PM | #400 |
Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
|
Week 14: at Charleston
Speaking of stud QBs lost for the season, Charleston lost all-world QB Landon Hurst in week 9 to ACL surgery. They've given the keys to 2nd-year QB Luther Wylder, who looks to have a good future but is very green at the moment. Nevertheless, they've since gone to a run-heavy offense and have still managed to succeed. RB Archie Chasser leads the charge for them.
Did I mention that DT Stoltzfus is hurt again? *sigh* Code:
Goodwin didn't bring his "A" game, but he didn't need to today. Our defense was on fire, and the running game did enough damage to give us a convincing win. I'm impressed that our Run D did the job without our top run defender. His replacement, Gary Van Brocklin, has impressed me and appears to be a "creeper." Good times. |
Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 3 (0 members and 3 guests) | |
Thread Tools | |
|
|