Post Season
It wouldn't come as a surprise that the 2007 Buffalo Taxi Drivers didn't make the playoffs.
When I started playing I was shocked by how bad this team is. Some guys have some decent stats here and there. McCoy can run. Marshall has some nice wheels, some linemen aren't horrible. But most of them are completely useless on a football field.
The biggest thing to get used to was the arm on St. Pierre. Especially on deep balls. There were some times that I threw it to a receiver running down the sidelines with the ball ending up between the hashes, a well 15 yards short of where it was supposed to be.
Then, on the next play I would roll out with him... on the next play I would """""run"""""" away from pressure with him and he would throw an absolute dart right in someones hands. He really is like a box of chocolates.
Anyway, here are the raw stats. After that is the more juicy stuff.
Team Stats:
Spoiler:
Yup, we beat the Bengaks with Ladainian Tomlinson and Daunte Culpepper on offense and Ed Reed and Champ Bailey on defense.
We also beat the Eagles in our last game of the season.
Team stats:
Third Down Percentage 39.8%
Fourth Down Percentage 45.7%
I would like this percentage to be a bit higher, but overall this means that half the time we go for it on 4th we keep the ball, and more importantly, we are not giving the ball to a far superior offense.
Two Pt Conversions Attempted 40
Two Pt Conversions Made 18
Two Pt Conversion Percentage 45.0%
This is just 5% (or two tries) under what it should be.
Simple maths: if you make over 50% of your 2-pointers, you should go for 2 points (depending on game situations).
Offense Redzone Num 37
Offense Redzone TDs 30
Nice. Once we get there, we are lethal.
Passing:
In the early stage of the season, I tried some passes with our human-turned Superhero Jared Lorenzen because he's a lefty and because he's a tad faster than Brian St. Pierre. (then again; who isn't?). Unfortunately he didn't provide mush of a spark, so after a few games I ditched that idea and had Lorenzen come in for short yardage running and has a handoff monkey on running plays, so St Pierre could take a rest.
Jared Lorenzen ended with 25 yards, on 22 rushes, for 6 touchdowns. Did you know Jerome Bettis is from Detroit??
Rushing:
Rod Smart led the team in carries and yards, but Dee Brown had more yards per carry! Does that mean that I should have ran Dee Brown more instead of Rod Smart? No.
Rod Smart was the starter so he would start the drive, then as everyone got tired, Dee Brown got in. This also means that there were substitutions on defense, so Brown had was dealt an easier hand to play with.
Receiving:
LeRon McCoy (brother of) had by far the most receptions with 71, but had a whopping 27 drops. (27.5% drop rate)
Isaiah Stanback (converted receiver) had 46 catches, but only 6 drops. (11.5% drop rate)
Dede Dorsey (converted halfback) had a 25.6% drop rate.
Dee Brown (halfback) had 17.8% drop rate. (he's also our receiving full back, that's why he has quite some targets)
Does this mean that I will be cutting LeRon McCoy from the team to set an example that dropped balls are INEXCUSABLE and have no place on a team trying to win a Super Bowl?!
No. No it doesn't.
This does all mean though that converting a receiver to TE for passing plays is an effective strategy.
Blocking:
Putting in 2 TEs at wide receiver on running plays really works!
Will Heller lead the team in pancakes with 70. Next was Isaiah Stanback with 55.
This could also mean that our Oline wasn't able to over power anyone, because the next best was LT Kirk Chambers with 41.
Fullback Boomer Grigsby is a pretty good blocker.
Defense:
We had a grand total of 6 interceptions... in a season.
I've had games that had that many.
We really need more skill and speed on this team. Our linebackers aren't even that bad. It's just that there is no pass rush, 17 sacks all combined, with the most coming from our linebackers on a blitz.
Our leading tackler was our Free Safety. That's a bad sign if your free safety has to clean up all of the runs. Or the receivers are catching everything down field with the FS needing to help out.
A shining star in this sea of darkess is ROLB Cameron Worrell, our converted Strong Safety. This guy had 8 Tackles for Loss (TFL, more on that later) and was 2nd on the team in tackles. This guy is good and I feel alright with keeping him in the lineup for next year. We will see after it all shakes out.
One other stat on defense pokes your eyes out. Can you find it?
They are the 199 return yards from Alfonso Marshall, those were on three blocked kicks that he returned.
Kicking:
Bill Gramatica only had 4 touchbacks. I would like him to get a stronger leg so we can get more hang time on those kicks.
Kick / Punt Returning:
Rod Smart didn't do half bad on kick returns with 22 yards per return. He doesn't break any tackles though.
On punt returns... well that's not so good, and ... wow ... only 8 punt returns all season. That's half a punt return per game.
State of the League
Standings
Spoiler:
Well, the Raiders also won their final game, so I guess it's a toss up about who's going to get the first overall pick in the draft.
Awards:
Tomlinson gets MVP and Offensive MVP.
Derrick Brooks gets Defensive MVP.
Offensive Rookie of the Year is Calvin 'Megatron' Johnson.
Defensive Rookie of the Year is Jon Beason.
And then for the 2007 Playoffs...
I. Kid. You. Not.
See you next time, as I do the off season things, like coaches and such... and we will scout the 2008 Draft.
Fun times.
Oh. Before I forget:
Cameron Worrell led the league in tackles for loss. Nice.
How to continue:
If the commissioner allows us to have a draft, we might chose to do so.
Also, the NFLPA is not happy with us, they might boycott us in Free Agency.
Vote here to influence their decisions:
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