01-28-2023, 12:26 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-29-2023, 09:23 AM by Aneeqs. Edited 1 time in total.)
It has officially been 3 full seasons since Mandrews McHollywood was drafted by the New York Silverbacks with the 31st pick of the season 36 draft, and in that time he has acquired just shy of 3,000 receiving yards, has scored 24 touchdowns, and has the 5th longest reception in league history at 94 yards.
All of that is great for a player who only just last week hit 1000 TPE, but how does he do against the opponents his team plays twice a year? It’s great if he can play well against the Hawks and Sailfish of the world, but if he really wants to make an impact as his team's #1 Wide Receiver, he needs to put up the stats against the teams fighting the Silverbacks for a playoff spot every year.
How does he perform against his rivals? And who does he perform best against? Let's find out.
All of that is great for a player who only just last week hit 1000 TPE, but how does he do against the opponents his team plays twice a year? It’s great if he can play well against the Hawks and Sailfish of the world, but if he really wants to make an impact as his team's #1 Wide Receiver, he needs to put up the stats against the teams fighting the Silverbacks for a playoff spot every year.
How does he perform against his rivals? And who does he perform best against? Let's find out.
Season 37
Receptions
In his rookie season, Mandrews was still a possession archetype player and therefore specialized in hauling in whatever pass came his way. He was also still the team's #2 receiver behind Ken Oath. He tied San Jose and Arizona as the teams he had the most catches against, with 8 of his receptions against the Sabercats coming in week 11. Honolulu was third with 11, and OCO was fourth with 9. NOLA and Austin round out the fifth and sixth spots with 8 and 7 receptions against respectively.
Yeah, apparently though NOLA and SJS both allowed the same amount of receptions on the year, apparently NOLA didn’t get the memo that this was a down year for Mr. McHollywood. 85 yards. That’s the difference between the total yards allowed by San Jose in S37, and the total yards allowed by NOLA in S38. It’s almost comical, though if this graph didn’t make you burst out laughing, I guarantee this next one will do the trick.
Yeah, I said the NOLA bullying would eventually continue and now it has. How in the hell do you allow an average of 20 yards per catch to one receiver? Is this Deandre Hopkins vs the Colts or Derrick Henry vs the Titans? (Yes I know he’s a running back just go with it). After them, it’s a 6.6 average drop to OCO in 2nd at 14, and then a fairly even spread among the rest of the conference outside of Arizona impressive holding him to less than 10 per grab. Hopefully, that changes over his career.
Oh, and he’ll probably play decent against the 5 other opponents too.
Yards
Unsurprisingly as a possession receiver, the more receptions Mandrews got the more yards he had, with his ratings being at their lowest point in his career and not having too much explosive ability to begin with. The number of yards he had and the ranking of teams he had them against generally followed the same order as the amount of catches he had with 2 significant exceptions, one good and one bad. NOLA had the 5th fewest receptions against, but is tied with OCO for the 2nd most yards against. ARI had the tie for the most receptions against, but is the team who allowed the fewest yards in total. Other than that everyone else falls in line with expectations. San Jose is first with 162 yards allowed, and Honolulu is third with 132, and Austin is just ahead of Arizona by 4 yards.Yards Per Catch
And here we can see the previous 2 charts born out, and our first sign of a pattern of elite performances against one team in particular. NOLA holds nearly a 2-yard lead over the rest of the conference in yards per catch allowed, while the Arizona Outlaws easily do the best job at bringing Mandrews down and preventing further yardage on every reception. The rest of the field is fairly well grouped together, averaging over a first down allowed per catch.Touchdowns
Well, this chart is looking a little barren, isn’t it? With only 6 total touchdowns in the entire season, an impressive 83.3% of them came against inter-conference opponents, and a third came against the team best at stopping him so far. SJS and NOLA didn’t allow a single score, despite them giving up the most yardage against him, and Arizona allowed him in the endzone twice, despite smothering him in the rest of the field.Longest Reception
One of these bars is bigger than the other, I’ll let you guess which one. In week 7, the Silverbacks acquired the first of 2 wins against Orange County on the year and Mandrews snatched the longest catch of his career up to that point with a 74-yard score on the road as part of a massive 3-score 4th quarter comeback. The only other score that came from the longest reception happened against, surprise, the Arizona Outlaws in week 2, only the 2nd TD of his career and his first against the ASFC.Season 38
Receptions
Ah, Season 38. A down year to be sure for Mandrews personally though it was also the most successful team season so far, with the squad finishing 9-7 and making it all the way to the ASFC championship game before losing to Arizona. Mandrews took to his #1 receiver role like a duck to acid only just barely crossing 800 yards on the season and his inter-conference stats reflect that. This was also his first season as a speed receiver, so there was a better chance that fewer receptions could lead to longer yardage. Honolulu takes a steep drop from 3rd most receptions to least, with a whopping 4 catches allowed over 2 games. Austin stays low on the list, tied for 2nd last with the always-difficult Arizona, and San Jose and NOLA share the 2nd spot behind Orange County, which leads the field with 13 receptions allowed, the most against any one team in a year so far.Yards
So as we can see, the previous chart shows us…oh what the hell!?Yeah, apparently though NOLA and SJS both allowed the same amount of receptions on the year, apparently NOLA didn’t get the memo that this was a down year for Mr. McHollywood. 85 yards. That’s the difference between the total yards allowed by San Jose in S37, and the total yards allowed by NOLA in S38. It’s almost comical, though if this graph didn’t make you burst out laughing, I guarantee this next one will do the trick.
Yards Per Catch
Yup, that looks about right. While every other team was bringing down Mandrews essentially as soon as he caught the football, if he even caught it at all with his 8 drops on the season, NOLA was apparently hoping that tying his shoelaces together or just looking at him really hard would make him fall to the turf. Unsurprisingly that didn’t work and NOLA’s kind donation to the “Make sure Mandrews doesn’t suck too bad during hs sophomore slump” fund was much appreciated.Touchdowns
Yeah, sorry NOLA but these charts just don’t get any nicer this season. Arizona, Honolulu, and Orange County each kept McHollywood out of their endzone in both matchups, while Austin allowed him in once, and San Jose twice, both of those scores happening in week one. NOLA allowed a whopping 3 scores to Mandrews, 2 of which happened from New York’s half of the field.Longest Reception
Told ya it didn’t get any better. It’s almost a little annoying, to be honest, because that 94-yard catch makes the rest of the lines look particularly pathetic, and they weren’t great to begin with. Not that it needs to be said, but so far Mandrews has yet to catch a longer pass than 94 yards, and it couldn’t have happened to a more obvious team.Season 39
Receptions
Well after that almost cruel bullying of NOLA, it’s nice to see Mandrews’s bounce-back season spreading the love around much more equally. Though the NOLA bullying will continue later on, they managed to keep the ball out of Mandrews’s hands the most this past year, with only 7 catches allowed. Honolulu and San Jose also kept him below double digits with 8 catches each, and Arizona, Austin, and Orange County each allowed 10 or more over 2 games.Yards
Well, this chart makes the most sense so far, with everyone in their proper place (Except for NOLA but we’ll get to them in a second). Orange County allowed a new single-game personal record for Mandrews in S39, with 143 yards against including a 77-yard score in week 15 with the Silverbacks season on the line. Austin allowed 2 good but not great games in their season sweep of New York, and nothing of note happened in any of the other inter-conference games this season.Yards Per Catch
Well, I must say this is a much nicer chart than the S38 one and much less targeted as well. Although NOLA still apparently thought that putting KY jelly on Mandrews’s gloves was the best defense strategy, they are overshadowed slightly by Orange County, mainly because of the 143-yard game mentioned earlier boosting his numbers. The only other focus is SJS apparently figuring out some sort of secret the rest of the conference hasn’t found yet, because now they are the only squad averaging allowing fewer than 10 yards a catch.Touchdowns
Credit where credit is due, somehow NOLA managed to keep McHollywood from scoring in both matchups despite all the yardage allowed. Where credit is not due, however, is in Orange County and Arizona. Orange County allowed 2 scores in week 25 and 1 in week 1. More interestingly though, is that Arizona didn’t allow any scores in week 2 in their 17- 9 win, yet still allowed a total of 3 scores against them on the season. How did that happen? Well, even though they won 43-28 in week 12 over New York to complete the sweep, 3 of those 4 scores were from Mandrews TD receptions, and all of those were fairly short-yardage scores too. 26 yards, 18 yards, and 3 yards were the distance for each score, and 3 TDs is the most in a single game Mandrews has had so far and is the second most in New York Silverbacks history behind Tugg Speedman’s legendary 4TD S35 performance in week 8 against the Sarasota Sailfish.Longest Reception
Both of these long scoring catches against OCO and AUS happened in the last 2 weeks of the season as part of a late surge by Mandrews to hit 1,000 yards on the year, and both were a part of non-winning games for the team as a whole. HON and NOLA both kept him more in check with only allowing 28 yards as the longest catch, and SJS apparently has the fastest DBs alive, not allowing any great plays on the year by Mandrews.Career Totals
Receptions
So, after 3 seasons here’s where all that leaves us. OCO has allowed the most catches at 33, with SJS and ARI just behind at 30 and 29 catches respectively. Austin and NOLA head up near the back with 25 catches each, and Honolulu’s tank has not prevented them from slowing down McHollywood, with only 23 catches allowed, the fewest in the conference.Yards
Now here’s some fun separation. NOLA was near the back of catches allowed, but has shot out into the lead in yards allowed with a 53-yard gap between them in first and OCO in second. They are also the only team to allow more than 500 yards to Mandrews so far, with OCO at 463, and then a massive drop to 3rd with San Jose at 318, and then Honolulu, Austin, and Arizona all just about tied at 276, 275, and 273 respectively.Yards Per Catch
I’m having S38 flashbacks with this chart…but that’s OK!Yeah, I said the NOLA bullying would eventually continue and now it has. How in the hell do you allow an average of 20 yards per catch to one receiver? Is this Deandre Hopkins vs the Colts or Derrick Henry vs the Titans? (Yes I know he’s a running back just go with it). After them, it’s a 6.6 average drop to OCO in 2nd at 14, and then a fairly even spread among the rest of the conference outside of Arizona impressive holding him to less than 10 per grab. Hopefully, that changes over his career.
Touchdowns
Every team but Austin has the distinction of not allowing a single TD to Mandrews over an entire season, so you’d expect them to have allowed the most, but because of Mandrews’s 3-score game against Arizona, somehow the team that has otherwise been the most effective at stopping McHollywood has also allowed the most scores to him. Also, surprising is the lack of scores against NOLA, with the 3rd least. It seems that from the New York 5-yard line to the NOLA 1-yard line, they can’t keep him covered, but that 10-yard endzone is much more difficult for the speedy receiver out of Miami. Honolulu and San Jose allowed the least with only 2 scores in 3 seasons.Longest Reception
Over 3 years Mandrews has amassed some real highlight-reel distances on his catches. The 94-yarder against NOLA is the obvious highlight, but that 77-yarder and 68-yarder are no slouches either. Not-so-fun fact: 5 out of these 6 catches all happened in non-wins. The only win? Week 11 in season 37, and it wasn’t even a score. That’s right, if Mandrews pulls off a highlight-reel play you better start slamming the odds on the opponent because they are almost certainly going to win.In The End
3 seasons, 2,904 yards, 24 touchdowns, and one seriously bullied franchise. Mandrews McHollywood will have a long and storied career as long as he keeps working hard to perfect his game. Watch out NOLA, because he isn’t going anywhere.Oh, and he’ll probably play decent against the 5 other opponents too.