It’s been a while since ol’ Jimmy made a media post, but I’ve been focusing on managing the best goddamn team in the DSFL. There’s a hell of a lot to like about this squad, and I’d like to highlight every single player for their individual contribution, but that would take a lot of time and frankly, I don’t want to do it that badly. What I am going to do is give you all a breakdown of which Luchadores deserve which awards. After this season, even if I put all personal bias aside (which I may or may not do), there are quite a few of those. Some guys are up for multiple awards, so I’ll just list those next to their names.
Forrest Gump: Single Game Performance of the Year (Week 10 @ Palm Beach), Running Back of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, League MVP
I’m gonna start with the first one on the list there because Lord knows I am putting Forrest up for a lot of awards here, but he deserves to at least be in the discussion for all of these. Week 10 we travelled to Palm Beach, a game we ended up winning 33-25 on the back of a lot of flashy plays. Troy Humuhumunukunukuapua'a scored a touchdown on a 96-yard kickoff return, and Forrest scampered 89 yards down the field to score the longest rushing touchdown by anyone this season. Just for good measure Forrest scored again later that game, and finished with a total of 160 yards on only 17 attempts for a very impressive 9.4 yards per carry. Forrest had a lot of good games, and it’s really hard to discount Dorfus Jimbo putting up 225 rushing yards in week 3, but he did that in 47 attempts. On efficiency alone, I have to give the edge to Gump here. It’s also worth noting that Lanzer Grievous had several weeks that should be in this conversation as well. RBoTY, OPotY, and MVP I’ll condense into one section here since the stats I’ll be using are the same for all 3. The first stat is one you’re all likely familiar with. Not only did Forrest break the record for most touchdowns from scrimmage in a season; previously a 3 way tie between himself, Morgan Marshall, and Fast Boija at 19, but he broke the rushing touchdown record that was Boija’s alone. With 20 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown for good measure, no one in the DSFL could find the end zone as often as Gump. 126 points is good enough for highest points scored in the league, with the next closest player being Palm Beach’s kicker Roderick Castleberry with 103. Those were also the only two players who scored more than 90 points on the season. In addition to those scores he had 1845 yards (1713 rushing and 132 receiving), and was our bell cow back all season long. Dorfus Jimbo (again) is the main competition for Gump here, and his 2183 yards (2087 rushing and 96 receiving) are nothing to scoff at. Again, I have to back my running back, Forrest broke records out there, and averaged 5 yards per carry to Dorfus’ 4.6.
Corvo Havran: Quarterback of the Year
Enough about that scrub Forrest Gump, he may have gotten into the end zone a lot, but Havran got us to the red zone. He had 2827 passing yards, which is 505 more than the next closest quarterback, Franklin Armstrong. He also had the longest pass of the season, passing to Rod Tidwell for 60 yards from our 26-yard line to set up a touchdown. 60 yards, by the way, is good enough for the longest pass of all time in the DSFL. The 2nd and 3rd longest pass in the DSFL’s history were a pair of 51-yard passes that also occurred this season, and they were both Corvo passing to Rod. The 11:11 touchdown to interception ratio isn’t ideal, but that’s not all that surprising in the DSFL. Forrest was getting all the touchdowns, and 11 INTs isn’t that bad in this league, especially when you consider that 5 of those were in week 1. As a matter of fact, if you remove the disastrous week 1 from his stats entirely, you have 2656 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions, which is a great QB stat line for 13 weeks in the DSFL. Easton Cole had a very impressive season and is the favourite for this award right now but taking Corvo out of the discussion is silly given what he’s been able to do this year.
Rod Tidwell: Wide Receiver of the Year
I know I just used those passes to hype Corvo, but a lot of that praise has to fall on the shoulders of Rod Tidwell. Those longest passes of all time are obviously also the longest receptions of all time, and now Rod has the top 3. Plus, go back and watch the game film, Havran did a great job but a lot of those yards came from run after catch. Tidwell is dangerous once we get the ball in his hands, and he showed it this year. His touchdown numbers aren’t particularly impressive, but he was the definition of clutch this year anyways. He was the king of converting 3rd downs on our team this season and keeping drives moving, and he performed when we needed him most. All of that, and I haven’t even gotten to his most impressive stat this year: his 1243 receiving yards, good for 2nd all time by a created player in the DSFL. It was also 265 more yards than the next closest wide receiver (1 other player cracked 1000 receiving yards, running back Beauregard Smallwood-Chess). Not only did he lead the league in receiving yards, he also led in average yards per catch, meaning he was simultaneously the most efficient receiver. I’d also like to mention that he was a pinnacle of consistently good performances, putting up 90 or more yards in 8 of our 14 games this year. Ahri Espeeyeeseetee had a very solid season, and well outscored Tidwell, but the combination of Rod’s efficiency and his total yards gives him the nod in my eyes.
Johnny Slothface: Linebacker of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year
This one will be one of the more controversial assertions, given Lanzer Grievous’ record smashing 199 tackles to Slothface’s 142. The first thing I want to point out here is a difference in positions. Grievous is the middle linebacker in a nickel defense, and is thus flying around the field, constantly making tackles. I will say though; he has been the best player in DSFL history to play that role. Johnny Slothface plays as an edge rushing outside linebacker and plays in a 3-4 defensive scheme more than any other one. He has been by far the best in the league at playing that role. Pure tackle numbers will suffer when your offense stays on the field and you’re able to keep the opposing offense to quick drives, and that was the case for Tijuana this season. Not only did he still lead the team in tackles from that role, he was a leader in the locker room and on the field. The teams’ success can be directly tied to Slothface, and we had the best defense in the league in terms of points allowed, yards allowed, and sacks, getting to the QB 1.5x as much as the next closest team. Johnny led the league in sacks personally with 13, more than doubling the next closest non-teammate (Brian Mills IX, our GM bot, had 7). He also led all linebackers in tackles for loss with 10. Coming into this season, it was expected that Tijuana would have a high-powered offense and would therefore have to compete in shootouts. Thanks to Slothface, our defense was as important to our win record as our offense. No player in the league could get in the backfield more than Johnny and he deserves, if nothing else, to be in the conversation for these two awards.
Honorary mention:
Troy Bryant: Defensive Back of the Year
It is a damn shame Bryant is largely inactive, because if he was around more and making a name for himself, I think he’d be the front runner for this award. He and Stovall lead the league in passes defensed with 16, and Bryant is ending the regular season with the most interceptions in the DSFL at 6. In addition to that, he is the only defensive player in the DSFL to score more than 1 touchdown this season. Granted, defending passes is easier when the quarterback you’re playing against has multiple guys in his face most plays, but Troy has been great keeping receivers from making plays against him.
Thanks for reading and keep these in mind when it's time to vote!
Jimmy Dugan
Forrest Gump: Single Game Performance of the Year (Week 10 @ Palm Beach), Running Back of the Year, Offensive Player of the Year, League MVP
I’m gonna start with the first one on the list there because Lord knows I am putting Forrest up for a lot of awards here, but he deserves to at least be in the discussion for all of these. Week 10 we travelled to Palm Beach, a game we ended up winning 33-25 on the back of a lot of flashy plays. Troy Humuhumunukunukuapua'a scored a touchdown on a 96-yard kickoff return, and Forrest scampered 89 yards down the field to score the longest rushing touchdown by anyone this season. Just for good measure Forrest scored again later that game, and finished with a total of 160 yards on only 17 attempts for a very impressive 9.4 yards per carry. Forrest had a lot of good games, and it’s really hard to discount Dorfus Jimbo putting up 225 rushing yards in week 3, but he did that in 47 attempts. On efficiency alone, I have to give the edge to Gump here. It’s also worth noting that Lanzer Grievous had several weeks that should be in this conversation as well. RBoTY, OPotY, and MVP I’ll condense into one section here since the stats I’ll be using are the same for all 3. The first stat is one you’re all likely familiar with. Not only did Forrest break the record for most touchdowns from scrimmage in a season; previously a 3 way tie between himself, Morgan Marshall, and Fast Boija at 19, but he broke the rushing touchdown record that was Boija’s alone. With 20 rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown for good measure, no one in the DSFL could find the end zone as often as Gump. 126 points is good enough for highest points scored in the league, with the next closest player being Palm Beach’s kicker Roderick Castleberry with 103. Those were also the only two players who scored more than 90 points on the season. In addition to those scores he had 1845 yards (1713 rushing and 132 receiving), and was our bell cow back all season long. Dorfus Jimbo (again) is the main competition for Gump here, and his 2183 yards (2087 rushing and 96 receiving) are nothing to scoff at. Again, I have to back my running back, Forrest broke records out there, and averaged 5 yards per carry to Dorfus’ 4.6.
Corvo Havran: Quarterback of the Year
Enough about that scrub Forrest Gump, he may have gotten into the end zone a lot, but Havran got us to the red zone. He had 2827 passing yards, which is 505 more than the next closest quarterback, Franklin Armstrong. He also had the longest pass of the season, passing to Rod Tidwell for 60 yards from our 26-yard line to set up a touchdown. 60 yards, by the way, is good enough for the longest pass of all time in the DSFL. The 2nd and 3rd longest pass in the DSFL’s history were a pair of 51-yard passes that also occurred this season, and they were both Corvo passing to Rod. The 11:11 touchdown to interception ratio isn’t ideal, but that’s not all that surprising in the DSFL. Forrest was getting all the touchdowns, and 11 INTs isn’t that bad in this league, especially when you consider that 5 of those were in week 1. As a matter of fact, if you remove the disastrous week 1 from his stats entirely, you have 2656 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions, which is a great QB stat line for 13 weeks in the DSFL. Easton Cole had a very impressive season and is the favourite for this award right now but taking Corvo out of the discussion is silly given what he’s been able to do this year.
Rod Tidwell: Wide Receiver of the Year
I know I just used those passes to hype Corvo, but a lot of that praise has to fall on the shoulders of Rod Tidwell. Those longest passes of all time are obviously also the longest receptions of all time, and now Rod has the top 3. Plus, go back and watch the game film, Havran did a great job but a lot of those yards came from run after catch. Tidwell is dangerous once we get the ball in his hands, and he showed it this year. His touchdown numbers aren’t particularly impressive, but he was the definition of clutch this year anyways. He was the king of converting 3rd downs on our team this season and keeping drives moving, and he performed when we needed him most. All of that, and I haven’t even gotten to his most impressive stat this year: his 1243 receiving yards, good for 2nd all time by a created player in the DSFL. It was also 265 more yards than the next closest wide receiver (1 other player cracked 1000 receiving yards, running back Beauregard Smallwood-Chess). Not only did he lead the league in receiving yards, he also led in average yards per catch, meaning he was simultaneously the most efficient receiver. I’d also like to mention that he was a pinnacle of consistently good performances, putting up 90 or more yards in 8 of our 14 games this year. Ahri Espeeyeeseetee had a very solid season, and well outscored Tidwell, but the combination of Rod’s efficiency and his total yards gives him the nod in my eyes.
Johnny Slothface: Linebacker of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year
This one will be one of the more controversial assertions, given Lanzer Grievous’ record smashing 199 tackles to Slothface’s 142. The first thing I want to point out here is a difference in positions. Grievous is the middle linebacker in a nickel defense, and is thus flying around the field, constantly making tackles. I will say though; he has been the best player in DSFL history to play that role. Johnny Slothface plays as an edge rushing outside linebacker and plays in a 3-4 defensive scheme more than any other one. He has been by far the best in the league at playing that role. Pure tackle numbers will suffer when your offense stays on the field and you’re able to keep the opposing offense to quick drives, and that was the case for Tijuana this season. Not only did he still lead the team in tackles from that role, he was a leader in the locker room and on the field. The teams’ success can be directly tied to Slothface, and we had the best defense in the league in terms of points allowed, yards allowed, and sacks, getting to the QB 1.5x as much as the next closest team. Johnny led the league in sacks personally with 13, more than doubling the next closest non-teammate (Brian Mills IX, our GM bot, had 7). He also led all linebackers in tackles for loss with 10. Coming into this season, it was expected that Tijuana would have a high-powered offense and would therefore have to compete in shootouts. Thanks to Slothface, our defense was as important to our win record as our offense. No player in the league could get in the backfield more than Johnny and he deserves, if nothing else, to be in the conversation for these two awards.
Honorary mention:
Troy Bryant: Defensive Back of the Year
It is a damn shame Bryant is largely inactive, because if he was around more and making a name for himself, I think he’d be the front runner for this award. He and Stovall lead the league in passes defensed with 16, and Bryant is ending the regular season with the most interceptions in the DSFL at 6. In addition to that, he is the only defensive player in the DSFL to score more than 1 touchdown this season. Granted, defending passes is easier when the quarterback you’re playing against has multiple guys in his face most plays, but Troy has been great keeping receivers from making plays against him.
Thanks for reading and keep these in mind when it's time to vote!
Jimmy Dugan
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]DSFL Regular Season Stats
[OPTION] Tackles: 106
[OPTION] TFLs: 7
[OPTION] FF/FR: 1/1
[OPTION] Sacks: 3
[OPTION] Interceptions: 3
[OPTION] Pass Deflections: 9
[OPTION]DSFL Regular Season Stats
[OPTION] Tackles: 106
[OPTION] TFLs: 7
[OPTION] FF/FR: 1/1
[OPTION] Sacks: 3
[OPTION] Interceptions: 3
[OPTION] Pass Deflections: 9
[OPTION] Touchdowns: 1
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]DSFL Playoff Stats
[OPTION] Tackles: 25
[OPTION] TFLs: 0
[OPTION] FF/FR: 1/0
[OPTION] Sacks: 3
[OPTION] Interceptions: 0
[OPTION] Pass Deflections: 2
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]DSFL Playoff Stats
[OPTION] Tackles: 25
[OPTION] TFLs: 0
[OPTION] FF/FR: 1/0
[OPTION] Sacks: 3
[OPTION] Interceptions: 0
[OPTION] Pass Deflections: 2
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]ISFL Regular Season Stats
[OPTION] Tackles: 78
[OPTION] TFLs: 5
[OPTION] FF/FR: 1/2
[OPTION] Sacks: 8
[OPTION] Interceptions: 1
[OPTION] Pass Deflections: 8
[OPTION] Touchdowns: 0
[OPTION]ISFL Regular Season Stats
[OPTION] Tackles: 78
[OPTION] TFLs: 5
[OPTION] FF/FR: 1/2
[OPTION] Sacks: 8
[OPTION] Interceptions: 1
[OPTION] Pass Deflections: 8
[OPTION] Touchdowns: 0
[OPTION] Receptions: 419
[OPTION] Receiving Yards: 3681
[OPTION] Receiving Touchdowns: 25
[OPTION] Kick Return Yards: 5367
[OPTION] Kick Return TDs: 1
[OPTION] Punt Return Yards: 1651
[OPTION] Punt Return TDs: 5
[OPTION] Pancakes: 242
[OPTION] Kick Return TDs: 1
[OPTION] Punt Return Yards: 1651
[OPTION] Punt Return TDs: 5
[OPTION] Pancakes: 242
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]ISFL Postseason Stats
[OPTION] Rushing Yards: 926
[OPTION] Yards per Carry: 4.56
[OPTION] Rushing Touchdowns: 7
[OPTION] Receptions: 44
[OPTION] Receiving Yards: 408
[OPTION] Receiving Touchdowns: 4
[OPTION] Kick Return Yards: 653
[OPTION] Kick Return TDs: 0
[OPTION] Punt Return Yards: 192
[OPTION] Punt Return TDs: 0
[OPTION] Pancakes: 28
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]Trophy Case/Achievements:
[OPTION] S15 DSFL RBotY
[OPTION] S15 DSFL MVP
[OPTION] S16 Pro Bowler (RB)
[OPTION] S17 Pro Bowler (RB)
[OPTION] S18 RBotY
[OPTION] S18 PERotY
[OPTION] S18 OPotY
[OPTION]ISFL Postseason Stats
[OPTION] Rushing Yards: 926
[OPTION] Yards per Carry: 4.56
[OPTION] Rushing Touchdowns: 7
[OPTION] Receptions: 44
[OPTION] Receiving Yards: 408
[OPTION] Receiving Touchdowns: 4
[OPTION] Kick Return Yards: 653
[OPTION] Kick Return TDs: 0
[OPTION] Punt Return Yards: 192
[OPTION] Punt Return TDs: 0
[OPTION] Pancakes: 28
[OPTION]===========================================
[OPTION]Trophy Case/Achievements:
[OPTION] S15 DSFL RBotY
[OPTION] S15 DSFL MVP
[OPTION] S16 Pro Bowler (RB)
[OPTION] S17 Pro Bowler (RB)
[OPTION] S18 RBotY
[OPTION] S18 PERotY
[OPTION] S18 OPotY
[OPTION] S18 Pro Bowler (RB)
[OPTION] S19 Pro Bowler (RB & Returner)
[OPTION] S20 Pro Bowler (RB & Returner)
[OPTION] S21 Pro Bowler (OFlex & Returner)
[OPTION] S21 Ultimus Champion
[OPTION] S21 Ultimus MVP
[OPTION] S22 Pro Bowler (RB & Returner)
[OPTION] Most Rushing TDs in a DSFL season (S15, 20)
[OPTION] 3rd Most Rushing TDs in a DSFL season (S14, 18)
[OPTION] 3rd Most Rushing TDs in a DSFL season (S14, 18)
[OPTION] 5th Most Career Rushing Yards
[OPTION] 9th Most Career Rushing TDs
[OPTION] 7th Most Career Scrimmage Yards
[OPTION] 8th Most Career Scrimmage TDs
[OPTION] 5th Most Career Punt Return TDs
[OPTION] 5th Most Career All-Purpose Yards
[OPTION] 8th Most Career All-Purpose TDs
[OPTION] 4th Most Career Postseason Rushing Yards
[OPTION] 2nd Most Career Postseason Rushing TDs
[OPTION] 2nd Most Career Postseason Scrimmage Yards
[OPTION] 2nd Most Career Postseason Scrimmage TDs
[OPTION] 2nd Most Career Postseason Scrimmage TDs
[OPTION] 10th Most Career Postseason Kick Return Yards
[OPTION] 7th Most Career Postseason Punt Return Yards
[OPTION] 2nd Most Career Postseason All-Purpose Yards
[OPTION] 2nd Most Career Postseason All-Purpose TDs
[OPTION] 2nd Most Career Postseason All-Purpose TDs