7) My case is for Mason Blaylock to be the ISFL DPOY. When you look at stats leaders, Blaylock isn’t at the top of the league in any particular statistic. However, his stats across the board are incredible! While most elite position players are towards the top of the league in one statistic or another, Blaylock is right up there in category after category after category. In pure tackles, he is 30th with 102, but 21 of the 29 players ahead of him are linebackers, who have a tackles boost by the very nature of their position, so that number holds much more weight in my opinion. Next, only three players in the league forced more fumbles than Blaylock’s 2, one of which literally happened as time expired, resulting in a fumble recovery returned for a touchdown which was the game’s winning score. If you look at win probability changes, I would be willing to bet that play had the largest swing of any play in the league this year – taking their win probability from less than 1% to 100%.
Perhaps the most impressive of Blaylock’s stats were his sacks. With 11 sacks, Blaylock ranked 5th overall in the league and had 3 more sacks than any other secondary player in the entire league. It’s that kind of separation that is easy to miss, but once seen shows just how remarkable of a season Blaylock had. Getting after the quarterback constantly, he wreaked havoc by bringing pressure in unexpected ways and bringing the opponent’s momentum to an immediate halt. When he wasn’t in the backfield, he was spying the quarterback, and while you might think that his 7 PDs were a bit pedestrian for a DPOY season, consider that he CAUGHT 5 of them, trailing only Vegeta for interceptions this year. For a player who was such a consistent force in tackling as well as sacking the quarterback, it’s amazing to me that he was able to make such a big impact in coverage as well. Considering all of the plays that Blaylock was not in coverage or spying the quarterback, the fact that he came away with the second most interceptions in the league is truly remarkable. I’m not nearly good enough to analysis to go through and find out his ratio of coverage to playmaking, but I am willing to bet it was remarkable this season.
As I said previously, Blaylock did not lead the league in any one statistic this year, but his playmaking was unbelievable and in this writer’s opinion, he made the biggest impact of any defender in the ISFL during S23.
8) Since I do not yet know which team I will be joining to pursue the Ultimus, I will concentrate on my DSFL team, the Tijuana Luchadores. While our record was not by any means stellar this year, I think a lot of that came down to depth. We had some of the most elite players in the league, but we need some added depth of talent to get back over the hump and compete for the Ultimini this coming season.
The first step will be the development of Mike Boss Jr. as our new franchise quarterback. If he is anything like his father before him, he will be up to the challenge of taking this team by the reins in the coming season and competing with any and everyone who comes our way. A bit more accuracy out of him will be the biggest thing, as he hurled 7 interceptions before finding the endzone in his debut season. Perhaps having more reps with Slothlisberger leaving town will allow him to get into a good rhythm and find his own groove as he looks to follow in the big footsteps left by his father.
The wide receiver situation certainly shouldn’t deter Boss Jr. from finding success in his sophomore season! Vequain and Howlett look likely to return as maxed out veterans to give him some elite and dependable targets to look for. Perhaps adding a late round tight end to the mix could give even more weapons for Boss Jr. to play with in this offense.
The Luchadores are also likely crossing their fingers that Crowbar Theeks III gets a sophomore season in the DSFL after leading the league in pretty much every rushing statistic this season. If they can add a solid offensive lineman next to Icebox Riposte to help give Boss Jr. more time and Theeks more holes to exploit, this offense will be truly deadly.
The needed improvements that are truly glaring in Tijuana are on D. Broken Bot and Moe Johnston comprise the defensive line, sitting at 77 and 52 TPE respectively, which simply will not cut it when it comes to rushing the quarterback. There is a huge need here to beef up this defensive line in order to give the team a chance to stop the run and survive in coverage. In this writer’s opinion, it would be nearly impossible to invest too much into the D-Line this offseason.
The linebacking core of Schell, Wright, and Sabor looks solid as can be. If none of them are called up to play in the ISFL next season, this group could remain untouched if wanted.
The secondary is equally questionable. Maverick Bowie will depend on where he is drafted, but if he remains he will be a lockdown safety in this league in S24. However, likely losing Bane Ka’ana’ana will leave the secondary with no active CBs, a situation that would surely lead to disaster. Therefore, the only way that too much can be invested in the cornerback position is if nothing is invested in the D-Line.
My suggestion? Draft D-Line and cornerback early and often! If you can snag an O-Lineman that would be next priority followed by a tight end or running back to fill out the offense. If these moves can be made and there is a little bit of luck in who is (or rather is not) called up to the ISFL right away, Tijuana has a serious chance to make a splash in the Ultimini race. I can’t wait to see how it plays out!
Perhaps the most impressive of Blaylock’s stats were his sacks. With 11 sacks, Blaylock ranked 5th overall in the league and had 3 more sacks than any other secondary player in the entire league. It’s that kind of separation that is easy to miss, but once seen shows just how remarkable of a season Blaylock had. Getting after the quarterback constantly, he wreaked havoc by bringing pressure in unexpected ways and bringing the opponent’s momentum to an immediate halt. When he wasn’t in the backfield, he was spying the quarterback, and while you might think that his 7 PDs were a bit pedestrian for a DPOY season, consider that he CAUGHT 5 of them, trailing only Vegeta for interceptions this year. For a player who was such a consistent force in tackling as well as sacking the quarterback, it’s amazing to me that he was able to make such a big impact in coverage as well. Considering all of the plays that Blaylock was not in coverage or spying the quarterback, the fact that he came away with the second most interceptions in the league is truly remarkable. I’m not nearly good enough to analysis to go through and find out his ratio of coverage to playmaking, but I am willing to bet it was remarkable this season.
As I said previously, Blaylock did not lead the league in any one statistic this year, but his playmaking was unbelievable and in this writer’s opinion, he made the biggest impact of any defender in the ISFL during S23.
8) Since I do not yet know which team I will be joining to pursue the Ultimus, I will concentrate on my DSFL team, the Tijuana Luchadores. While our record was not by any means stellar this year, I think a lot of that came down to depth. We had some of the most elite players in the league, but we need some added depth of talent to get back over the hump and compete for the Ultimini this coming season.
The first step will be the development of Mike Boss Jr. as our new franchise quarterback. If he is anything like his father before him, he will be up to the challenge of taking this team by the reins in the coming season and competing with any and everyone who comes our way. A bit more accuracy out of him will be the biggest thing, as he hurled 7 interceptions before finding the endzone in his debut season. Perhaps having more reps with Slothlisberger leaving town will allow him to get into a good rhythm and find his own groove as he looks to follow in the big footsteps left by his father.
The wide receiver situation certainly shouldn’t deter Boss Jr. from finding success in his sophomore season! Vequain and Howlett look likely to return as maxed out veterans to give him some elite and dependable targets to look for. Perhaps adding a late round tight end to the mix could give even more weapons for Boss Jr. to play with in this offense.
The Luchadores are also likely crossing their fingers that Crowbar Theeks III gets a sophomore season in the DSFL after leading the league in pretty much every rushing statistic this season. If they can add a solid offensive lineman next to Icebox Riposte to help give Boss Jr. more time and Theeks more holes to exploit, this offense will be truly deadly.
The needed improvements that are truly glaring in Tijuana are on D. Broken Bot and Moe Johnston comprise the defensive line, sitting at 77 and 52 TPE respectively, which simply will not cut it when it comes to rushing the quarterback. There is a huge need here to beef up this defensive line in order to give the team a chance to stop the run and survive in coverage. In this writer’s opinion, it would be nearly impossible to invest too much into the D-Line this offseason.
The linebacking core of Schell, Wright, and Sabor looks solid as can be. If none of them are called up to play in the ISFL next season, this group could remain untouched if wanted.
The secondary is equally questionable. Maverick Bowie will depend on where he is drafted, but if he remains he will be a lockdown safety in this league in S24. However, likely losing Bane Ka’ana’ana will leave the secondary with no active CBs, a situation that would surely lead to disaster. Therefore, the only way that too much can be invested in the cornerback position is if nothing is invested in the D-Line.
My suggestion? Draft D-Line and cornerback early and often! If you can snag an O-Lineman that would be next priority followed by a tight end or running back to fill out the offense. If these moves can be made and there is a little bit of luck in who is (or rather is not) called up to the ISFL right away, Tijuana has a serious chance to make a splash in the Ultimini race. I can’t wait to see how it plays out!