11-19-2022, 07:53 AM
(This post was last modified: 11-25-2022, 04:51 PM by Caleb_H. Edited 7 times in total.)
After the Chicago Butchers failed to earn a playoff bid, WR Austin Morley's season is over. He stands at the podium after the teams week 16 loss dressed in his usual sweats and slides ready to answer questions.
@"RenoJacksonHS"
“on a scale of 1-10 can i borrow $5?”
Answer: You vets are always trying to pull one over on us young players. You make 4 times my salary! But, considering you had basically a career year (3 defensive tuddies?!), I’ll give you a 20 on the scale and let you borrow $10.
@firstfray
“You nearly had more than 200 yards over the next closest player in punt return yards. But you also had the most punt returns. As a return specialist, how do you hope to improve your game next season and help set up the offense with good field position?
With LordreSombre retiring and Sharpei Jr not getting any younger, how do you expect next seasons offense to look with you at the focal point?”
Answer: Good question! I am proud of what I was able to accomplish in my first season as a returner, and I hope to build upon that skill set in the future. Clearly having the most total punt returns definitely contributed to me leading in overal punt return yards, but it’s also important to consider that I also had the highest return average for players with more than 10 returns, so being the leader wasn’t just a sheer volume thing. As far as improvement on next season, I plan to spend a lot time in several different key areas. Most importantly I need to continue to practice my footwork. Elite agility is a staple to being an elite returner, and while I’ve always had pretty good agility, I haven’t quite reached my peak. Second, I’ll need to get into the gym and hit the weights a little harder. Toward the end of the season, I noticed my strength and total muscle mass falling. Probably due to my focus on increasing my speed. Third, I really want to spend more time in the film room watching the great returners of our time. There is always something that can be learned by grinding film.
As far as next season, I’m excited to see how our offense will look. We’ll be losing a great piece in Rejoignez, but I expect Vincent to remain a pretty big part of our offense next season. One change I expect to see, though, is a lot more explosive plays. Throughout my career I have generally been more of a security blanket, soaking up targets and keeping the chains moving. I don’t think that style of play is in the cards for me next season, in part because of the teams uncertainty at quarterback. I think for our offense to be productive next season, I’ll have to be a true weapon, able to score from any spot on the field. With Zohri still in their prime, I hope to see a good balance next season. Once teams begin to load up the box to stop the run, we can hit some big gainers. In my perfect world, we will have a more efficient rushing attack and also utilize our TE Walt more in the passing game to open up the middle of the field.
@Twenty6
1) With your newfound focus on returning kicks and punts, what player from the "Other League," past or present, do you draw inspiration from?
2) Throughout the season, your ball security was top-notch, with zero fumbles lost through 15 games. In the final game against PHI, you lost the ball twice, both times when your team was driving and building momentum. Do you think your drastic shift in focus contributed to this unfortunate series of events? Any potential strategies to mitigate this in the future? Unrelated question: if Butterfinger offered you a sponsorship, would you take it?
1. I have always tried to model my game after Tyrann Mathiew. Growing up I played on the defensive side of the ball and even got my nickname because I tried my best to play with the “Honeybadger” mentality. I think it was in my highschool days id watch they Honeybadger’s highlight reel from his heisman finalist season before games. He was just so electric when returning punts, I hope that I can be half as good as he was.
2. Making me go through fresh wounds already? Sheesh. I’ve always tried to take pride in my ball security because in my eyes the ball is literally money. Those two fumbles were inexcusable and really cost the team, and that hurts me deep down. I don’t think it has anything to do with me trying to expand my skill set to the return game or anything like that. If anything, it was probably just me trying to do too much, play hero ball or something like that. In the future I just need to remember to play within my capabilities and be more careful to not put the ball in a position for it to be knocked out. I’m sure Joe Reed will have be paying the price for that in our offseason program. As far as butterfingers go, I have more pride than that. Not only that, but it’s a nasty ass candy. Quote that.
@"RenoJacksonHS"
“on a scale of 1-10 can i borrow $5?”
Answer: You vets are always trying to pull one over on us young players. You make 4 times my salary! But, considering you had basically a career year (3 defensive tuddies?!), I’ll give you a 20 on the scale and let you borrow $10.
@firstfray
“You nearly had more than 200 yards over the next closest player in punt return yards. But you also had the most punt returns. As a return specialist, how do you hope to improve your game next season and help set up the offense with good field position?
With LordreSombre retiring and Sharpei Jr not getting any younger, how do you expect next seasons offense to look with you at the focal point?”
Answer: Good question! I am proud of what I was able to accomplish in my first season as a returner, and I hope to build upon that skill set in the future. Clearly having the most total punt returns definitely contributed to me leading in overal punt return yards, but it’s also important to consider that I also had the highest return average for players with more than 10 returns, so being the leader wasn’t just a sheer volume thing. As far as improvement on next season, I plan to spend a lot time in several different key areas. Most importantly I need to continue to practice my footwork. Elite agility is a staple to being an elite returner, and while I’ve always had pretty good agility, I haven’t quite reached my peak. Second, I’ll need to get into the gym and hit the weights a little harder. Toward the end of the season, I noticed my strength and total muscle mass falling. Probably due to my focus on increasing my speed. Third, I really want to spend more time in the film room watching the great returners of our time. There is always something that can be learned by grinding film.
As far as next season, I’m excited to see how our offense will look. We’ll be losing a great piece in Rejoignez, but I expect Vincent to remain a pretty big part of our offense next season. One change I expect to see, though, is a lot more explosive plays. Throughout my career I have generally been more of a security blanket, soaking up targets and keeping the chains moving. I don’t think that style of play is in the cards for me next season, in part because of the teams uncertainty at quarterback. I think for our offense to be productive next season, I’ll have to be a true weapon, able to score from any spot on the field. With Zohri still in their prime, I hope to see a good balance next season. Once teams begin to load up the box to stop the run, we can hit some big gainers. In my perfect world, we will have a more efficient rushing attack and also utilize our TE Walt more in the passing game to open up the middle of the field.
@Twenty6
1) With your newfound focus on returning kicks and punts, what player from the "Other League," past or present, do you draw inspiration from?
2) Throughout the season, your ball security was top-notch, with zero fumbles lost through 15 games. In the final game against PHI, you lost the ball twice, both times when your team was driving and building momentum. Do you think your drastic shift in focus contributed to this unfortunate series of events? Any potential strategies to mitigate this in the future? Unrelated question: if Butterfinger offered you a sponsorship, would you take it?
1. I have always tried to model my game after Tyrann Mathiew. Growing up I played on the defensive side of the ball and even got my nickname because I tried my best to play with the “Honeybadger” mentality. I think it was in my highschool days id watch they Honeybadger’s highlight reel from his heisman finalist season before games. He was just so electric when returning punts, I hope that I can be half as good as he was.
2. Making me go through fresh wounds already? Sheesh. I’ve always tried to take pride in my ball security because in my eyes the ball is literally money. Those two fumbles were inexcusable and really cost the team, and that hurts me deep down. I don’t think it has anything to do with me trying to expand my skill set to the return game or anything like that. If anything, it was probably just me trying to do too much, play hero ball or something like that. In the future I just need to remember to play within my capabilities and be more careful to not put the ball in a position for it to be knocked out. I’m sure Joe Reed will have be paying the price for that in our offseason program. As far as butterfingers go, I have more pride than that. Not only that, but it’s a nasty ass candy. Quote that.