With my first season in the DSFL coming up, I wanted to better get to know the DSFL as it could be where I'm playing for the next couple of seasons. So I figured what better way than to write a detailed report on each of the teams. Exciting, I know!
I will be going in reverse order according to the regular season rankings. Or more simply put, this year's draft order. In this series, I plan on reviewing each team's offense, defense, special teams, and key players of last season. I will then do a brief overview of the team's draft (likely to be very brief since I've covered the draft quite a bit already). And lastly I will take all of this into account and make so bold, and some not so bold, predictions.
Before I start, I just wanted to ask how many media articles is too many? I would like to write 1-2 of these a day to get them done before the preseason starts but if people feel that is too many, I can stretch them out and finish them right before the regular season starts instead.
But, without further ado, the first installment of "DSFL - Season Preview" begins with a look at last years last place team, the Tijuana Luchadores.
Last Season Review:
Last year Tijuana struggled in nearly every aspect of the game. But let's start with the defense. They gave up a league worst, 19.9 points per game. Now at first glance, that doesn't seem like that insane of a number. But this is the DSFL. Offenses don't move the ball down the field the same way as NSFL teams do. The second worst defense in the DSFL gave up 17.9 points per game meaning the Luchadores gave up two more points per game than the nearest team. Not a good statistic for them. They gave up a league worst 230 pass yards per game. This stat only gets worse the more you look at it. The two teams in the Luchadores East division with them, the Marshals and the Coyotes, threw for the fifth and third most yards in the league. This means that neither of the two teams they played the most even had a top 2 passing offense and yet they still gave up the most passing yards. That's impressively bad. Their lone bright spot on defense is that they only gave up the fourth most rushing yards in the league. I'm actually not sure if it's a bright spot but it's better than everything else on this defense.
Enough negative already! Let's turn to their offense that was... yeah it was bad too. They averaged 243 yards per game last season. That is what people would call, abysmal. The next lowest was 293 yards. I mean the Luchadores averaged 50 yards worse per game than the next worst offense. Their passing offense? Horrendous. Only 150 yards per game. Their run game? Not horrendous. Well, kind of. They ran the ball the fourth most times and that resulted in the fourth most amount of yards. But here's the thing. They scored 1 rushing touchdown last year. One. That's pretty pathetic.
A quick note before I jump into the next section. The Luchadores had a ton of inactives last year. More than the average. This is part of the reason they did so poorly. As I'll cover slightly in the next section, they drafted several very active players and they've put themselves in a great position this year.
Key Draft Picks:
Round 1 - Egor Medved - I'm going to be brief with these since I've already covered it. Medved is an active nose tackle and if put in the right defensive scheme, he's gonna be a monster.
Round 2 - Ryan Sierra - Gonna need Sierra to be good for them this year. He should help increase their 3.3 yards per carry and 1 rush touchdown of last year. As well as provide their quarterback with some extra time.
Round 3 - Terrell Brister - A man to man corner who is active in a draft that had a lot of talented, active wide receivers. Yup, I love the pick too. He will be an important cog in the Luchadores defense this year.
Round 4 - Sydney Spinelli - Great value here. Look for him to be a work horse this year. He seems active and ready to go. He should be the focus of the Luchadores offense and running behind Sierra this year should pay dividends.
Prediction for this Year:
Look for the Luchadores to be a different team this year. They are going to be far more efficient in the run game this year. A new offensive lineman and a new running back will give this offensive a new look. The passing game will remain relatively unchanged with only one great quarterbacks this draft and he didn't go to the Luchadores.
The defense also got miles better. They took 3 very solid, active defenders that I expect to be big contributors for the Luchadors this year. Medved is my early favorite for sack leader this year. He is going to be strong on the defensive line and should be double teamed all year. Brister is the most intriguing to me. He should be a starter no doubt and I believe he will be tested often during the year. His play will be a big part of whether or not they can consistently stop the pass this year.
With an improved offense and defense, you may be thinking I'll predict them to finish better this year. But unfortunately, I cannot do that. This was a deep draft and I honestly believe most teams drafted fairly well. I believe that in the end, the Luchadores offense won't be able to score enough points to win games this year. Their defense will be improved and I would be willing to say they won't be the worst in the league this year. But the offense, despite Spinelli and Sierra, won't be enough if you ask me.
My official prediction would be somewhere around 6-8, give or take a game. So right around last years mark. I expect after this year, if loco can continue the trend he has set this team on now, he will make them a playoff team and a championship contender. But for now, I'm saying they take third in the DSFL East and miss the playoffs by one game.
GRADED
I will be going in reverse order according to the regular season rankings. Or more simply put, this year's draft order. In this series, I plan on reviewing each team's offense, defense, special teams, and key players of last season. I will then do a brief overview of the team's draft (likely to be very brief since I've covered the draft quite a bit already). And lastly I will take all of this into account and make so bold, and some not so bold, predictions.
Before I start, I just wanted to ask how many media articles is too many? I would like to write 1-2 of these a day to get them done before the preseason starts but if people feel that is too many, I can stretch them out and finish them right before the regular season starts instead.
But, without further ado, the first installment of "DSFL - Season Preview" begins with a look at last years last place team, the Tijuana Luchadores.
Last Season Review:
Last year Tijuana struggled in nearly every aspect of the game. But let's start with the defense. They gave up a league worst, 19.9 points per game. Now at first glance, that doesn't seem like that insane of a number. But this is the DSFL. Offenses don't move the ball down the field the same way as NSFL teams do. The second worst defense in the DSFL gave up 17.9 points per game meaning the Luchadores gave up two more points per game than the nearest team. Not a good statistic for them. They gave up a league worst 230 pass yards per game. This stat only gets worse the more you look at it. The two teams in the Luchadores East division with them, the Marshals and the Coyotes, threw for the fifth and third most yards in the league. This means that neither of the two teams they played the most even had a top 2 passing offense and yet they still gave up the most passing yards. That's impressively bad. Their lone bright spot on defense is that they only gave up the fourth most rushing yards in the league. I'm actually not sure if it's a bright spot but it's better than everything else on this defense.
Enough negative already! Let's turn to their offense that was... yeah it was bad too. They averaged 243 yards per game last season. That is what people would call, abysmal. The next lowest was 293 yards. I mean the Luchadores averaged 50 yards worse per game than the next worst offense. Their passing offense? Horrendous. Only 150 yards per game. Their run game? Not horrendous. Well, kind of. They ran the ball the fourth most times and that resulted in the fourth most amount of yards. But here's the thing. They scored 1 rushing touchdown last year. One. That's pretty pathetic.
A quick note before I jump into the next section. The Luchadores had a ton of inactives last year. More than the average. This is part of the reason they did so poorly. As I'll cover slightly in the next section, they drafted several very active players and they've put themselves in a great position this year.
Key Draft Picks:
Round 1 - Egor Medved - I'm going to be brief with these since I've already covered it. Medved is an active nose tackle and if put in the right defensive scheme, he's gonna be a monster.
Round 2 - Ryan Sierra - Gonna need Sierra to be good for them this year. He should help increase their 3.3 yards per carry and 1 rush touchdown of last year. As well as provide their quarterback with some extra time.
Round 3 - Terrell Brister - A man to man corner who is active in a draft that had a lot of talented, active wide receivers. Yup, I love the pick too. He will be an important cog in the Luchadores defense this year.
Round 4 - Sydney Spinelli - Great value here. Look for him to be a work horse this year. He seems active and ready to go. He should be the focus of the Luchadores offense and running behind Sierra this year should pay dividends.
Prediction for this Year:
Look for the Luchadores to be a different team this year. They are going to be far more efficient in the run game this year. A new offensive lineman and a new running back will give this offensive a new look. The passing game will remain relatively unchanged with only one great quarterbacks this draft and he didn't go to the Luchadores.
The defense also got miles better. They took 3 very solid, active defenders that I expect to be big contributors for the Luchadors this year. Medved is my early favorite for sack leader this year. He is going to be strong on the defensive line and should be double teamed all year. Brister is the most intriguing to me. He should be a starter no doubt and I believe he will be tested often during the year. His play will be a big part of whether or not they can consistently stop the pass this year.
With an improved offense and defense, you may be thinking I'll predict them to finish better this year. But unfortunately, I cannot do that. This was a deep draft and I honestly believe most teams drafted fairly well. I believe that in the end, the Luchadores offense won't be able to score enough points to win games this year. Their defense will be improved and I would be willing to say they won't be the worst in the league this year. But the offense, despite Spinelli and Sierra, won't be enough if you ask me.
My official prediction would be somewhere around 6-8, give or take a game. So right around last years mark. I expect after this year, if loco can continue the trend he has set this team on now, he will make them a playoff team and a championship contender. But for now, I'm saying they take third in the DSFL East and miss the playoffs by one game.
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GRADED
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