12-23-2023, 08:00 PM
(This post was last modified: 12-29-2023, 11:04 AM by lemonoppy. Edited 2 times in total.)
Hello everyone! Very happy to be back. Any way, thankfully as the holiday gods are kind, let's take a look at the Dallas Birddogs, the greatest franchise in the DSFL, and a look at their season so far & prospects for the remainder of it now that we're through 10 games. In this media I'll be looking through the team as a whole, their strengths and weaknesses through the 10 games played so far, as well as the depth chart and their prospective chances of seizing the Ultimini this season given their ongoing development and rivals all vying for the most prestigious title in junior level simulated sports entertainment.
With 4 weeks left to go in the season, it's undeniably crunch time in what is turning out to be a remarkably competitive season in the DSFL, at least for the top 6 teams, which out of 8 is a hell of a level playing field at the developmental level here in the ISFL. The North sees the Coyotes of Kansas City in the lead standing on 6 wins and 4 losses, and the Grey Ducks and Pythons battling it out for second with an equal .500 win rate so far. The South however, home to the prestigious, glorious, and envied Dallas Birddogs of which we'll be covering here, is a more top heavy affair. Hosting this seasons dominant luchadores playing out of Tijuana, the second place spot is the primary prize, with Dallas and the Bondi Beach Buccaneers battling it out on records of 6 wins and 4 losses a piece, so it really is crunch time in both conferences when it comes down to it for the most part.
So, let's talk about Dallas and their shot at claiming the title this season. With 4 games left their primary rivals, barring a catastrophic nose dive from Tijuana Luchadores certainly appears to be the Bondi Beach Buccaneers. One of these two teams in the most likely outcome with clinch 2nd and go on to play for the conference championship, with such a small handful of games left, strength of schedule is going to play a vital role here, and thankfully in Week 9 the Birddogs absolutely detonated Buccaneers chances of taking a vital matchup with a monstrous 30 to 7 victory over the aussie legends.
As for remaining strength of schedule, we have to look at each teams remaining tilts to get a sense of who naturally emerges ahead in prospective chances. First off - the heels, Bondi Beach are set to play against the London Royals, the Kansas City Coyotes, the Tijuana Luchadores and the Minnesota Grey Ducks. The great news for the Dallas Birddogs here is that only one of these teams profiles as something resembling a soft match up, the London Royals. The other games see them face off against the Top Seeds currently in both the North and the South, as well as the .500 grey Ducks who are battling well in 2nd place in the North. Additionally, that game against Tijuana Luchadores should be a brutal one, so playing it safe and splitting the tough fights down the middle, I project Bondi Beach to pull off 2 wins and 2 losses in their remaining 4 games.
So, if I project Bondi to Finish 8-6, that means to guarantee a spot, Dallas have to win 3 of their next 4 matches, they already sit ahead of Bondi in the tiebreaker, so they'd be fine pulling equal on 8 too unless I've got that catastrophically wrong. So the question becomes can Dallas win 2 of their remaining matches, barring a miracle from the Buccaneers.
Dallas face off against the Top of the North Coyotes, the Minnesota Grey Ducks, the Portland Pythons and also the London Royals in their final game of the regular season schedule. Kansas City is tough opposition for sure, I feel the Grey Ducks are arguably a little fortunate to be in their spot given their worst-in-dsfl offence, and Pythons are a solid middle of the road team. Realistically, I think on a good day Dallas can take their shot against all 3 of these teams, but I'd predict wins against the Grey Ducks and then 50/50 with the Coyotes and Pythons, so I'll split the difference and say they come out of this set of games with 2 wins, and then pick up one against the defensively woeful London Royals, making them hit their golden number with a little bit of a cushion should Bondi over perform in the remaining games this season in the DSFL.
So we know the goal is 2+ wins. Now let's take a look at the valiant heroes who will be attempting to reach the post season and more important lay claim to that illustrious Ultimini trophy.
The team as a whole:
Dallas is positioned pretty well as a team, they have absolutely elite pass game offence and until recently (more on that in a moment) relied on it heavily in comparison to their somewhat underdeveloped run game. They're already chucked 2762 yards through the air from QB McChapperson, and have two wide receivers already over the 1k mark in Lane Frost III and Silence Suzuka, which in the DSFL is an incredible feat for a team to accomplish, the two have combined for 19 receiving touchdowns and no matter what game plan Dallas fields on any given day, expect these two to be the premium weapons on the field. They currently sit 2nd in Points For in the entire DSFL, and 3rd in Points Against, the top 3 of which are all contained within the South.
They do have weaknesses up to this point though. Whilst their Offence is 2nd and Defence 3rd overall, it's due to an overwhelming reliance on the pass game and defensive coverage. The shining flaw in their game plans has been the absence of a solid rushing attack, as their sit last in the conference in rushing yards per game, and 6th in the DSFL overall. Thankfully they might have received some back up in this area recently.
Let's take a look at individual areas and standout stars among them who may be defining factors in the Dallas Birddogs quest for glory in Season 45:
QB - Chappy McChapperson
Undeniably, McChapperson has one of the best QB names in the league. Other than that, he's also one of the best QBs in the league in general. Posting a 25/13 Touchdown to Interception ratio through Week 10, and 2762 passing yards, he's a beast in the pocket who allows Dallas to utilise their lethal wide receiver corps to full effect and dominate enemies through the air. He is an old school statue in the pocket, only logging 7 rushing attempts for an illustrious grand total of negative five rushing yards so far, so while he isn't a threat on the ground, it barely matters when he is such an intense value bringer through the air. He sits behind only McDiddl of the London Royals in passing yards, which is no surprise given their penchant for playing from behind, and in comparison to McDiddl's 18 to 16 ratio, McChapperson leads the entire DSFL in touchdowns. Tijuanas QB Breezy Jr may be the more reliable passer with an incredible 4 interceptions and 106.4 passer rating, but McChapperson is no slouch and enables Dallas' lethal air raid offence.
RBs - Reginald Arceneaux, Cush Jones, Seventh Rounder
The run game has with absolute certainty been Dallas' Achilles heel so far this season. Regniauld Arceneaux profiles as a speedy, agile back with decent hands to aid the passing game, which reflects in his numbers in efficiency terms, but unfortunately with such elite options lining up at the perimeter there isn't really much space for him to be utilized to his strengths, and he lacks the power & presence to contribute successfully as a true RB1 when it comes to going in between the tackles for that often vital short yardage. His average Yards per Carry is 4.6 on 94 attempts, which while respectable as an RB, profiles along the lower levels in the DSFL, the true elite RB measuring arena. He's put up 3 TDs on the ground too, further highlighting his problems at smashing into the goal line. He'd make a great RB2 for the pass game, but wasn't keeping up with the demands of more traditional backs in the DSFL, shown in his 428 total yards of offence in the rush game. When he does catch, he's pretty decent though, averaging 13 yards per catch on 14 receptions thus far.
Cush Jones is a pretty classic back up RB who shows decent hands & intelligence for the role. He lacks strength once more though, and wasn't providing the brutality needed in the 1-2 punch of Dallas so far. He has an average yards per carry of 3.8 and no TDs on the ground so far this year. He's a solid option when utilised in the pass game similar to Arceneaux however, posting 45 yards on 9 receptions thus far.
Dallas made a waiver acquisition recently, who has joined them for the last 5 games. Seventh Rounder. Profiling as a much more traditional up the middle running back than the more scatter back duo Dallas were fielding so far, he's immediately stepped into the RB1 role to shoulder the heavy lift and allow the team to utilise their other options with more precision. He plays with all the grace of a bag of rocks, but sometimes that's what you need. So far he's averaging 4.3 yards per carry as a raw recruit but improving as time goes on, finding the end zone three times in his 5 games already with Birddogs. Fleshing out their run game in this way will hopefully allow Dallas to have a more reliable 3rd & goal option in the playoffs, where single possessions can be a matter of elimination. He's put up 326 rushing yards through 4 games started so far, as well as a few catches for 10 yards in total, being noticeably awful at anything other than running in a straight line.
So with another facet to their run game added in myself (hopefully the sim gods are kind) perhaps Dallas have gone some way towards addressing their key area of weakness thus far this season and improved their odds significantly at avoiding a heart breaking conference finals exit this year!
WRs - Lane Frost III, Silence Suzuka, Big Pickle
So, we hit Dallas' most elite group on the field, and really it's a two man show. To get the third wheel out of the way, Big Pickle has only picked up 8 receptions so far this season for 65 yards, he hasn't developed in the same way as his peers and ultimately it reflects in his emergency back up role on the team. He's got a TD to his trophy cabinet at least, but he pales in comparison to the contributions from his two fellow wide receivers in Dallas.
Lane Frost and Silence Suzuka both post similar stat lines of 58 & 59 receptions respectively, and 1016 to 1075 receiving yards between the two. Suzuka posts as the slightly higher red zone option with 12 Touchdowns to Frost's 7 so far this season, but both have put together blisteringly strong stat lines considering there's over a quarter of the season left to be played. These two are the only receivers over 1000 yards so far, with Tijuana's Patter in 3rd place with a relatively distant 911 yards and 6 TDs. That's an incredible accomplishment and while somewhat bolstered by Dallas' lack of a run game in the first half of the year, it's not to be taken away from how fantastic these players have been playing. Suzuka stands a good shot at breaking Burton's franchise receiving touchdown record of 15 as he has 4 games left and is currently logging over 1 per game on average, so I imagine that potential writing into the history books will be well in the players mind going into the tail end of the regular season.
TEs - Blobba Ketchup, John le Ston
Tight End is a position that has sadly fallen from grace since my first tour in the DSFL when we had players vying for top receiving spots while lining up as a Tight End. Still, Dallas' pair at the position have been contributing decently, with le Ston providing a solid checkdown option with 44 receptions for 252 yards, he's been relatively consistent in supporting the short yardage game, another element that's diminshed their pass focused RBs from shining. With a season longest of 27 yards he's a short yard specialist, but seems to be a relatively strong safety valve over the middle for QB McChapperson. All in all he's a solid addition to the team, especially considering his good offering in the blocking game too. Blobba Ketchup has 22 catches to his name for 117 yards, and 2 scores through the air too. More of an offensively focused Tight End, he's performed well when utilised but with such dominant options in the wide receiver position it's not surprising to see the team looking elsewhere most of the time when it comes to the passing game, still he is young and has plenty of time to pick up the slack in the future when their WR stars find themselves being called up to the big leagues. He isn't much of a blocker, and le Ston is by far the preferably option to employ in that regard to support either a runner or maximise protection on the QB.
Offensive Line - Wario Saturday, 4 Bots
Unsurprisingly like many teams at the junior level, a good chunk of the offensive line is remarkably robotic seeming which makes them somewhat hard to assess as players. The standout here is star centre Wario Saturday though, leading the entire DSFL league in Pancakes with 48 he's an absolute rock star at the centre position in one of the most underappreciated positions in football. A solid centre can make or break a team's consistency levels and it's clear that Saturday is a massive contributor to the Birddogs success, with such an absolute unit leading the line in protecting their all important run game. Shout out to the offensive linesmen of the league for doing the ugly work in the trenches that make teams tick.
Kicker - Bot
Sadly, there is no legendary Kicker to be found on Dallas right now. Perhaps after the icon Ray Baker dominated the DSFL people were intimidated off of the position, who knows. Instead, Dallas uses the robo-leg, and actually leads the league in Field Goal Make Percentage in doing so. When will the next hot blooded kicking phenom emerge, who knows. I just count myself lucky to once have walked in the world of gods.
Alright that's the offensive offering from Dallas, now what about the stalwart top 3 defence?
Defensive Line & Edge Rushers - D'Jasper Probincrux IV, Garlic Jr
Two players currently man the defensive line for the Dallas Birddogs. Probincrux IV especially is a fast, strong edge rusher who has racked up 4 sacks so far on the season as well as 17 Tackles. He's also forced and recovered a fumble so far on the season and racked up 7 tackles for losses. I'd actually expect a player of his skill level to contribute a little more numerically, but there's always the chance he heats up a bit in the playoffs or tail end of the regular season. Having said that, he's put up a solid amount of sacks already, so it's far from a down year for him. Garlic Jr plays on the interior, and has put up 42 Tackles and 2 Sacks so far, a solid performance for a player of his level.
LB - Joey Battle
Only one human mans the Linebacker position this year for Dallas, and that's Joey Battle. Now legend has it I know a few things about playing as a Linebacker for the Birddogs (my one achievement in life is holding the single season tackle record for Dallas), and Joey Battle looks like a fantastic option at the position. It's a shame he doesn't have much backup at the position, but he's accounting for himself excellently with 6 sakcs on the season and 69 tackles, 3 for loss to go along with it. He's even picked up a few points with a safety to his name and defended a solid 7 passes from landing. All in all he's an excellent Linebacker in the DSFL who is performing admirably considering a lack of human back up for him.
CB - Gajeel Redfox
Redfox is the man manning the Cornerback position for Dallas this season, and he's put up a solid 53 tackles and 2 Interceptions so far through 10 games. He's a lightning fast, hard hitting tackler whose punched out an incredible 3 fumbles and recovered two of them, which is excellent work in the turnover game so far. He's defended 18 passes, already only 3 shy of his season high of 21 so he's well on his way to set career records there, and I imagine he's keen to shoot for a pick 6 to truly outshine his last season in Dallas as well. He's all in all a top 3 pass defender in the league, and a solid contributor to Dallas' steady effort on the defensive side of the football. Look for him to keep up his career best rate of performance if Dallas are to secure a playoff spot and hopefully take it all the way to the big one, he'll need to keep that pass defence coming and look to put forward his best season yet in the DSFL.
Free Safety & Strong Safety - Dewey Greenbeans & Marty Crane
Safety is a position manned by both Greenbeans & Crane in Dallas, who provide a rock solid backbone to Dallas' high performing defence. Greenbeans is the free safety, racking up 7 pass defences, 3 interceptions (he's never posted less than 4 in a season so look for him to at least match that!) as well as two fumbles, both recovered for a turnover, 1 TFL and 33 tackles along with a novelty sack to go alongside it. All in all Greenbeans is contributing as one of the best free safety options available in the DSFL and much like Redfox at CB, will need to keep up his excellent pace if Dallas are to succeed in the post season.
Marty Crane lines up at Strong Safety for the Birddogs, and has picked up a couple of sacks, punched out a fumble and logged a tackle for loss alongside defending three passes. Undeniably a little bit of a quiet season but Strong Safety is often about bringing pressure and hurries more than raw stat output which makes it a tough position to judge by traditional metric. One metric that does stand out is his excellent 43 tackles, which is top 3 at the position this year in the DSFL. He pairs with Greenbeans to give Dallas excellent coverage from the safety positions and is a core contributor to their defensive prowess.
So, that's it for the lineup of the Birddogs! As you can see there's at least one strong contributor, with RB developing as we end the season, in just about every area on the Dallas side which lines up with their statistical performance thus far this season. It's unsurprising that such a well rounded team has put forth a game pattern with very few areas of weakness, usually such teams find themselves in danger of being "average at everything" but thankfully Dallas' all around strong crew on defence and absolutely elite passing game has provided them with the unique selling point needed to push into the competitive team realm and secure a lethal threat against teams who struggle against the pass. With many players still developing as we reach the end of the regular season period it's still anyones game to play for in season 45 of the dsfl but it's undeniably that Dallas can not be counted out as a competitor just yet, with an advantage over Bondi Beach Buccaneers in both strength of schedule and the all important head to head tiebreaker it stands to reason that anything but making the post season would be a disappointment to the woof chirpers over in Dallas. Once you make that post season, it's anyones game, and arguably their toughest possible opponent will be their conference finals against the Tijuana Luchadores. It stands to reason that the conference finals against the Luchadores could steal the show in regards to the "true ultimini", but history remembers victors and the ultimate goal is scratching their name into the side of the Ultimini Cup, and bringing it back to Dallas after last seasons heartbreaking conference finals exit.
All I can say is I'm glad to be back with my beloved Bird Dogs, and hope I can play my part in running straight up the middle regardless of what chaos may ensue. Go bird dogs.
With 4 weeks left to go in the season, it's undeniably crunch time in what is turning out to be a remarkably competitive season in the DSFL, at least for the top 6 teams, which out of 8 is a hell of a level playing field at the developmental level here in the ISFL. The North sees the Coyotes of Kansas City in the lead standing on 6 wins and 4 losses, and the Grey Ducks and Pythons battling it out for second with an equal .500 win rate so far. The South however, home to the prestigious, glorious, and envied Dallas Birddogs of which we'll be covering here, is a more top heavy affair. Hosting this seasons dominant luchadores playing out of Tijuana, the second place spot is the primary prize, with Dallas and the Bondi Beach Buccaneers battling it out on records of 6 wins and 4 losses a piece, so it really is crunch time in both conferences when it comes down to it for the most part.
So, let's talk about Dallas and their shot at claiming the title this season. With 4 games left their primary rivals, barring a catastrophic nose dive from Tijuana Luchadores certainly appears to be the Bondi Beach Buccaneers. One of these two teams in the most likely outcome with clinch 2nd and go on to play for the conference championship, with such a small handful of games left, strength of schedule is going to play a vital role here, and thankfully in Week 9 the Birddogs absolutely detonated Buccaneers chances of taking a vital matchup with a monstrous 30 to 7 victory over the aussie legends.
As for remaining strength of schedule, we have to look at each teams remaining tilts to get a sense of who naturally emerges ahead in prospective chances. First off - the heels, Bondi Beach are set to play against the London Royals, the Kansas City Coyotes, the Tijuana Luchadores and the Minnesota Grey Ducks. The great news for the Dallas Birddogs here is that only one of these teams profiles as something resembling a soft match up, the London Royals. The other games see them face off against the Top Seeds currently in both the North and the South, as well as the .500 grey Ducks who are battling well in 2nd place in the North. Additionally, that game against Tijuana Luchadores should be a brutal one, so playing it safe and splitting the tough fights down the middle, I project Bondi Beach to pull off 2 wins and 2 losses in their remaining 4 games.
So, if I project Bondi to Finish 8-6, that means to guarantee a spot, Dallas have to win 3 of their next 4 matches, they already sit ahead of Bondi in the tiebreaker, so they'd be fine pulling equal on 8 too unless I've got that catastrophically wrong. So the question becomes can Dallas win 2 of their remaining matches, barring a miracle from the Buccaneers.
Dallas face off against the Top of the North Coyotes, the Minnesota Grey Ducks, the Portland Pythons and also the London Royals in their final game of the regular season schedule. Kansas City is tough opposition for sure, I feel the Grey Ducks are arguably a little fortunate to be in their spot given their worst-in-dsfl offence, and Pythons are a solid middle of the road team. Realistically, I think on a good day Dallas can take their shot against all 3 of these teams, but I'd predict wins against the Grey Ducks and then 50/50 with the Coyotes and Pythons, so I'll split the difference and say they come out of this set of games with 2 wins, and then pick up one against the defensively woeful London Royals, making them hit their golden number with a little bit of a cushion should Bondi over perform in the remaining games this season in the DSFL.
So we know the goal is 2+ wins. Now let's take a look at the valiant heroes who will be attempting to reach the post season and more important lay claim to that illustrious Ultimini trophy.
The team as a whole:
Dallas is positioned pretty well as a team, they have absolutely elite pass game offence and until recently (more on that in a moment) relied on it heavily in comparison to their somewhat underdeveloped run game. They're already chucked 2762 yards through the air from QB McChapperson, and have two wide receivers already over the 1k mark in Lane Frost III and Silence Suzuka, which in the DSFL is an incredible feat for a team to accomplish, the two have combined for 19 receiving touchdowns and no matter what game plan Dallas fields on any given day, expect these two to be the premium weapons on the field. They currently sit 2nd in Points For in the entire DSFL, and 3rd in Points Against, the top 3 of which are all contained within the South.
They do have weaknesses up to this point though. Whilst their Offence is 2nd and Defence 3rd overall, it's due to an overwhelming reliance on the pass game and defensive coverage. The shining flaw in their game plans has been the absence of a solid rushing attack, as their sit last in the conference in rushing yards per game, and 6th in the DSFL overall. Thankfully they might have received some back up in this area recently.
Let's take a look at individual areas and standout stars among them who may be defining factors in the Dallas Birddogs quest for glory in Season 45:
QB - Chappy McChapperson
Undeniably, McChapperson has one of the best QB names in the league. Other than that, he's also one of the best QBs in the league in general. Posting a 25/13 Touchdown to Interception ratio through Week 10, and 2762 passing yards, he's a beast in the pocket who allows Dallas to utilise their lethal wide receiver corps to full effect and dominate enemies through the air. He is an old school statue in the pocket, only logging 7 rushing attempts for an illustrious grand total of negative five rushing yards so far, so while he isn't a threat on the ground, it barely matters when he is such an intense value bringer through the air. He sits behind only McDiddl of the London Royals in passing yards, which is no surprise given their penchant for playing from behind, and in comparison to McDiddl's 18 to 16 ratio, McChapperson leads the entire DSFL in touchdowns. Tijuanas QB Breezy Jr may be the more reliable passer with an incredible 4 interceptions and 106.4 passer rating, but McChapperson is no slouch and enables Dallas' lethal air raid offence.
RBs - Reginald Arceneaux, Cush Jones, Seventh Rounder
The run game has with absolute certainty been Dallas' Achilles heel so far this season. Regniauld Arceneaux profiles as a speedy, agile back with decent hands to aid the passing game, which reflects in his numbers in efficiency terms, but unfortunately with such elite options lining up at the perimeter there isn't really much space for him to be utilized to his strengths, and he lacks the power & presence to contribute successfully as a true RB1 when it comes to going in between the tackles for that often vital short yardage. His average Yards per Carry is 4.6 on 94 attempts, which while respectable as an RB, profiles along the lower levels in the DSFL, the true elite RB measuring arena. He's put up 3 TDs on the ground too, further highlighting his problems at smashing into the goal line. He'd make a great RB2 for the pass game, but wasn't keeping up with the demands of more traditional backs in the DSFL, shown in his 428 total yards of offence in the rush game. When he does catch, he's pretty decent though, averaging 13 yards per catch on 14 receptions thus far.
Cush Jones is a pretty classic back up RB who shows decent hands & intelligence for the role. He lacks strength once more though, and wasn't providing the brutality needed in the 1-2 punch of Dallas so far. He has an average yards per carry of 3.8 and no TDs on the ground so far this year. He's a solid option when utilised in the pass game similar to Arceneaux however, posting 45 yards on 9 receptions thus far.
Dallas made a waiver acquisition recently, who has joined them for the last 5 games. Seventh Rounder. Profiling as a much more traditional up the middle running back than the more scatter back duo Dallas were fielding so far, he's immediately stepped into the RB1 role to shoulder the heavy lift and allow the team to utilise their other options with more precision. He plays with all the grace of a bag of rocks, but sometimes that's what you need. So far he's averaging 4.3 yards per carry as a raw recruit but improving as time goes on, finding the end zone three times in his 5 games already with Birddogs. Fleshing out their run game in this way will hopefully allow Dallas to have a more reliable 3rd & goal option in the playoffs, where single possessions can be a matter of elimination. He's put up 326 rushing yards through 4 games started so far, as well as a few catches for 10 yards in total, being noticeably awful at anything other than running in a straight line.
So with another facet to their run game added in myself (hopefully the sim gods are kind) perhaps Dallas have gone some way towards addressing their key area of weakness thus far this season and improved their odds significantly at avoiding a heart breaking conference finals exit this year!
WRs - Lane Frost III, Silence Suzuka, Big Pickle
So, we hit Dallas' most elite group on the field, and really it's a two man show. To get the third wheel out of the way, Big Pickle has only picked up 8 receptions so far this season for 65 yards, he hasn't developed in the same way as his peers and ultimately it reflects in his emergency back up role on the team. He's got a TD to his trophy cabinet at least, but he pales in comparison to the contributions from his two fellow wide receivers in Dallas.
Lane Frost and Silence Suzuka both post similar stat lines of 58 & 59 receptions respectively, and 1016 to 1075 receiving yards between the two. Suzuka posts as the slightly higher red zone option with 12 Touchdowns to Frost's 7 so far this season, but both have put together blisteringly strong stat lines considering there's over a quarter of the season left to be played. These two are the only receivers over 1000 yards so far, with Tijuana's Patter in 3rd place with a relatively distant 911 yards and 6 TDs. That's an incredible accomplishment and while somewhat bolstered by Dallas' lack of a run game in the first half of the year, it's not to be taken away from how fantastic these players have been playing. Suzuka stands a good shot at breaking Burton's franchise receiving touchdown record of 15 as he has 4 games left and is currently logging over 1 per game on average, so I imagine that potential writing into the history books will be well in the players mind going into the tail end of the regular season.
TEs - Blobba Ketchup, John le Ston
Tight End is a position that has sadly fallen from grace since my first tour in the DSFL when we had players vying for top receiving spots while lining up as a Tight End. Still, Dallas' pair at the position have been contributing decently, with le Ston providing a solid checkdown option with 44 receptions for 252 yards, he's been relatively consistent in supporting the short yardage game, another element that's diminshed their pass focused RBs from shining. With a season longest of 27 yards he's a short yard specialist, but seems to be a relatively strong safety valve over the middle for QB McChapperson. All in all he's a solid addition to the team, especially considering his good offering in the blocking game too. Blobba Ketchup has 22 catches to his name for 117 yards, and 2 scores through the air too. More of an offensively focused Tight End, he's performed well when utilised but with such dominant options in the wide receiver position it's not surprising to see the team looking elsewhere most of the time when it comes to the passing game, still he is young and has plenty of time to pick up the slack in the future when their WR stars find themselves being called up to the big leagues. He isn't much of a blocker, and le Ston is by far the preferably option to employ in that regard to support either a runner or maximise protection on the QB.
Offensive Line - Wario Saturday, 4 Bots
Unsurprisingly like many teams at the junior level, a good chunk of the offensive line is remarkably robotic seeming which makes them somewhat hard to assess as players. The standout here is star centre Wario Saturday though, leading the entire DSFL league in Pancakes with 48 he's an absolute rock star at the centre position in one of the most underappreciated positions in football. A solid centre can make or break a team's consistency levels and it's clear that Saturday is a massive contributor to the Birddogs success, with such an absolute unit leading the line in protecting their all important run game. Shout out to the offensive linesmen of the league for doing the ugly work in the trenches that make teams tick.
Kicker - Bot
Sadly, there is no legendary Kicker to be found on Dallas right now. Perhaps after the icon Ray Baker dominated the DSFL people were intimidated off of the position, who knows. Instead, Dallas uses the robo-leg, and actually leads the league in Field Goal Make Percentage in doing so. When will the next hot blooded kicking phenom emerge, who knows. I just count myself lucky to once have walked in the world of gods.
Alright that's the offensive offering from Dallas, now what about the stalwart top 3 defence?
Defensive Line & Edge Rushers - D'Jasper Probincrux IV, Garlic Jr
Two players currently man the defensive line for the Dallas Birddogs. Probincrux IV especially is a fast, strong edge rusher who has racked up 4 sacks so far on the season as well as 17 Tackles. He's also forced and recovered a fumble so far on the season and racked up 7 tackles for losses. I'd actually expect a player of his skill level to contribute a little more numerically, but there's always the chance he heats up a bit in the playoffs or tail end of the regular season. Having said that, he's put up a solid amount of sacks already, so it's far from a down year for him. Garlic Jr plays on the interior, and has put up 42 Tackles and 2 Sacks so far, a solid performance for a player of his level.
LB - Joey Battle
Only one human mans the Linebacker position this year for Dallas, and that's Joey Battle. Now legend has it I know a few things about playing as a Linebacker for the Birddogs (my one achievement in life is holding the single season tackle record for Dallas), and Joey Battle looks like a fantastic option at the position. It's a shame he doesn't have much backup at the position, but he's accounting for himself excellently with 6 sakcs on the season and 69 tackles, 3 for loss to go along with it. He's even picked up a few points with a safety to his name and defended a solid 7 passes from landing. All in all he's an excellent Linebacker in the DSFL who is performing admirably considering a lack of human back up for him.
CB - Gajeel Redfox
Redfox is the man manning the Cornerback position for Dallas this season, and he's put up a solid 53 tackles and 2 Interceptions so far through 10 games. He's a lightning fast, hard hitting tackler whose punched out an incredible 3 fumbles and recovered two of them, which is excellent work in the turnover game so far. He's defended 18 passes, already only 3 shy of his season high of 21 so he's well on his way to set career records there, and I imagine he's keen to shoot for a pick 6 to truly outshine his last season in Dallas as well. He's all in all a top 3 pass defender in the league, and a solid contributor to Dallas' steady effort on the defensive side of the football. Look for him to keep up his career best rate of performance if Dallas are to secure a playoff spot and hopefully take it all the way to the big one, he'll need to keep that pass defence coming and look to put forward his best season yet in the DSFL.
Free Safety & Strong Safety - Dewey Greenbeans & Marty Crane
Safety is a position manned by both Greenbeans & Crane in Dallas, who provide a rock solid backbone to Dallas' high performing defence. Greenbeans is the free safety, racking up 7 pass defences, 3 interceptions (he's never posted less than 4 in a season so look for him to at least match that!) as well as two fumbles, both recovered for a turnover, 1 TFL and 33 tackles along with a novelty sack to go alongside it. All in all Greenbeans is contributing as one of the best free safety options available in the DSFL and much like Redfox at CB, will need to keep up his excellent pace if Dallas are to succeed in the post season.
Marty Crane lines up at Strong Safety for the Birddogs, and has picked up a couple of sacks, punched out a fumble and logged a tackle for loss alongside defending three passes. Undeniably a little bit of a quiet season but Strong Safety is often about bringing pressure and hurries more than raw stat output which makes it a tough position to judge by traditional metric. One metric that does stand out is his excellent 43 tackles, which is top 3 at the position this year in the DSFL. He pairs with Greenbeans to give Dallas excellent coverage from the safety positions and is a core contributor to their defensive prowess.
So, that's it for the lineup of the Birddogs! As you can see there's at least one strong contributor, with RB developing as we end the season, in just about every area on the Dallas side which lines up with their statistical performance thus far this season. It's unsurprising that such a well rounded team has put forth a game pattern with very few areas of weakness, usually such teams find themselves in danger of being "average at everything" but thankfully Dallas' all around strong crew on defence and absolutely elite passing game has provided them with the unique selling point needed to push into the competitive team realm and secure a lethal threat against teams who struggle against the pass. With many players still developing as we reach the end of the regular season period it's still anyones game to play for in season 45 of the dsfl but it's undeniably that Dallas can not be counted out as a competitor just yet, with an advantage over Bondi Beach Buccaneers in both strength of schedule and the all important head to head tiebreaker it stands to reason that anything but making the post season would be a disappointment to the woof chirpers over in Dallas. Once you make that post season, it's anyones game, and arguably their toughest possible opponent will be their conference finals against the Tijuana Luchadores. It stands to reason that the conference finals against the Luchadores could steal the show in regards to the "true ultimini", but history remembers victors and the ultimate goal is scratching their name into the side of the Ultimini Cup, and bringing it back to Dallas after last seasons heartbreaking conference finals exit.
All I can say is I'm glad to be back with my beloved Bird Dogs, and hope I can play my part in running straight up the middle regardless of what chaos may ensue. Go bird dogs.
Craig Brand - LB:
S40 DSFL First Team All Pro - DAL
S41 Defensive Rookie of the Year - CTC
S41 Ultimus Champion - CTC
S41 NSFC Pro Bowler - CTC