2024 Week 2 Recap
These things are taking too long, and I’m busy. I’m not sure how much longer I’ll do these. Maybe I’ll just combine recap’s and predictions into 1 post. There isn’t much to say to winning teams, but I’m going to use this recap to have some conversations with losing teams this week.
GAME of the WEEK! Sabers @ Matadors
Sabers Week 1 shock has become Week 2 trauma, the wound continues to fester, and in Week 3 the Aztecs will amputate. That’ll put them in danger of missing playoffs, to which BT will be happy to decapitate in Week 6. Here lies the 0-2 8th Place Sabers. RIP. And man, every time I start to feel bad for you guys I remember how much you earned it with your preseason accolades and hype videos and arrogance at meetings. You guys deserve every single bit of heat you get. The 2nd most annoyingly cocky owner the league has ever seen. (Duckz beat you there too).
On the bright side it sounds like WR #4 Lakota Steele escaped serious injury and will be back in a few weeks. As did #24 Chance Hudson. Which is good, because I would have refused to call out a guy that’s injured. But now that he’s ok, it’s acceptable to wonder what in the hell he was doing on the Dors 1st TD. The FS, the last line of defense, was consistently out of position, and a liability. I admit I was high on him in the preseason. So time will tell if it was 1 bad game, or if I gave him way too much credit. Speaking of pass defense, you guys played Cover 2, what like 90% of snaps? From the booth it became extremely predictable and easy to pick apart. #22 Morris Bunn is your best athlete, but was a non factor at corner. Press, release, beat, repeat. So now let’s talk about offense. Bunn goes in at RB and reels one off for 15, and everyone in the booth goes, “Why is he not their RB?” So ya put big #0 Ryan Coleman in, which I assume is his # because that’s how many MPH he runs. Then, 2 beautifully called HB screen plays on 3rd and long, right when ya needed it, and the Dors bit hook, line, and sinker. Only to be caught from behind short of the 1st. Hayden “9 Ball” bails out at QB in a tight 19-6 game, hopefully he’s ok (rumor is he was healthy and just stopped playing? Yikes). Where was the back up QB Jakob Spencer you guys have been touting? KJ shot putting it out there with his non dominant hand was the best option you had? And lastly, your roster is full. You roster a full time punter. But you just go for it every 4th down in your own territory. Justin Kerner did get his shot at a free kick, with no rush, and it went what? Like a net 4 yards? (I see now on stats he attempted 5 punts for 12.6 yard avg). Overall, I don’t know who calls your plays on either side of the ball. I assume “Coach of the Year” has some input when players aren’t getting into it with him on the sideline. But offensive play calling is not creative, personnel decisions leave something to be desired, going for it inside your own 40 while down on the scoreboard makes me scratch my head, defensive calls are very predictable. Aztecs will feast on the sacrificial kitties this week too. And when the game is over, it isn’t ok for the entire team to walk across the track in cleats, to meet behind the containers, no matter how frustrated you are.
Dors are back in the saddle again. They seemed much more collected this week. Defense was locked in, snaps were on target (minus the first one Jared paid for that), and it was pretty clean, penalty free football (minus Tokioka’s suplex on the punt, c’mon man). I got my Garcia Sack dance early in the game, so I was happy. And I loved when Lab let another punt bounce, and Sower said F that, and picked it up and returned it himself. Dude is a gamer. Sorry so short, you guys played some good football, and there was plenty to say about the opponent.
Guardians @ Aztecs
Guardians, what else is there to say? Last week you had 14 guys. Then you sent in 6 new agreements, and had 16 guys there this week. Where were the guys from Week 1? Uhhh, congrats on not quitting, I guess. Nice of you to not make the Tecs start a running clock in the 1st quarter. Now you get a Bye, but I’m pretty sure most your team has already been on Bye the last couple weeks.
Ok Aztecs, you scored 3 more points than we did… in a full extra quarter of play more than we got. And you definitely let me hear about it. Haha. Congrats. I did not watch your 24 minute film. I literally fell asleep in the booth right before half, the giant burrito from the taco stand didn’t help either, so I got up and went home. I saw the stats (Sheesh Hull with 2 Pass TD, 2 Rush TD, and caught a TD). But congrats. You’re undefeated, 1st place in the standings, and the highest scoring offense in the league. You guys get to be the front runners with a target on your back now. We’re just a lowly 3rd place under dog.
Diamondbacks @ Warhawks
Diamondbacks, there’s a lot I love about football. Not least of which is the infinite life lessons it teaches you. For this segment, let’s focus on 3. Preparation, Adversity, and Brotherhood.
How did you guys prepare for this season? How has practice attendance been? Do you feel you put in the time and energy required? Because I hear it’s been rough, and that shows on film. You very obviously don’t know your own plays, can’t line up with getting a penalty, and are just generally lost mentally. “It’s not the will to win that matters, everyone has that, it’s the will to prepare.” Variations of this quote can be found from Vince Lombardi to Bobby Knight. They know a thing or 2.
So now adversity. You set yourselves up for it by not preparing, so now how do you deal with it? Do you make excuses or do you accept blame and make the best of the bed you made for yourselves? Blaming the refs, and accusing them of being racist isn’t going to help you win. Considering why they threw the flag, what you did wrong, and how to not do it again might. I know, your starting QB couldn’t make it. That’s tough. So how did you react? How did you help his replacement succeed?
And now brotherhood. Once adversity strikes, how do you come together to overcome it as a football family? Do you encourage each other, or do you fight on the sidelines? And moving forward, you’re 0-1 now. So now what? Do you quit on your brothers, or do you figure out how to fix step 1 together? Because switching teams isn’t the answer (even though several of you already did this week). Preparing together might be. Pay attention to who skips practice this week.
It doesn’t even matter who lines up across from you if you guys don’t do these things. There’s no reason for you to discuss or gameplan for Alphas if you don’t show up to practice and prepare, figure out a back up plan for when things don’t go as planned, and support and love each other. This week has to be entirely about you guys.
Warhawks are on a high right now. 34-0, damn boys. You should be 2-0. And all I’ve heard is how excited you are for Week 3. It’s finally here! Davis Eckebrecht guaranteed me he was getting 100 receiving yards this week, and next week against us. He finished with 13 rec yards this week. Parham got his triple digits rushing, and led the league in rush attempts again. Roach did everything and is still your best player in all 3 facets. You’ll need Lopez this week. Strickland was under 50% and rushed for -3 yards. Again, not a ton to critique in a 36-0 Dub and I know Rob is ecstatic about the shutout.
Savage @ Alphas
Savage are 2-0, 2nd in the Standings, and still #1 in the Regional Rudimental Regis Rankings. Props guys. You shocked me, and the rest of the league. You guys figured out how to run the ball, which is huge for you guys. I saw Clausen, Wells, and Archangel is the stands at Parma yesterday. I know the Alphas feel like they’re better than what they put out there Saturday. Here’s a few pointers I noticed right away. Obviously Loges is the engine that powers your offense. But on 3rd and 10, a toss wont usually get it. Throw it to him, or at least make it look like a pass with a draw. I like Eldredge, and I love the play action roll you guys are incorporating. Work on that ball fake, if it doesn’t fool anyone, there’s no point in doing it. Most importantly, don’t run so far backwards in your roll. Instead of getting depth, get width. It’ll cut 5 yards off your throws, and get you closer to the LoS if you end up having to run. And lastly, plant your feet before you throw. If anyone here was good enough to throw dots on the run, they wouldn’t be in the ICFL. You’re pretty consistently falling backwards when you throw. And you obviously have the pure arm strength to sling it. But balance will help you direct it. Weight over your toes, back shoulder up, all that. But an underrated part of it is the vision becomes easier. It’s hard enough to shoot a moving target, it’s even harder when you’re moving as well. Also, that OL is just too small. I’m not doubting their skill or effort, but they just can’t get leverage against big boys. They get pushed straight back. On defense, and this is a callout, #77 pisses me and Boyd off. He’s lazy, and you can see him talking and dappin’ up opposing center during the play several times. Are you there to make buddies and not work, or to help your team win? Finally, last week penalties were the thorn in your side, this week it’s turnovers. It’s a long season, and you’ll put it together. A scrimmage against the ailing DBax is just what the Dr ordered. Props to the filmer, it’s much better this week.