The uprising of the San Jose SabercatsLast year, the Sabercats were tied for last in the league. They were doing completely awful. Without a reliable quarterback, their offense sputtered, scoring a league's worst 213 points, while allowing the second highest amount of points, 291. While on paper, their quarterback situation didn't look that bad, they struggled, and went between two different quarterbacks for the season, Jameis Christ and Ethan Hunt. The Sabercats let go of Christ in the offseason, who went to Philadelphia. Interestingly enough, once Christ left, the Sabercats have been performing very well at the quarterback position. Ethan Hunt is making much better decisions under the helm as the Sabercats full time starter, and the Sabercats are having the best season in terms of efficiency as of week 4 in the second season of the NSFL. Ethan Hunt is throwing 65.2% this season under the helm, and although he has thrown 24 less passes than Christ this season, he has 13 more yards, and he's thrown 38 less passes than Mike Bercovici, although he has 65 more yards than him. Efficiency is key! His TD/INT ratio is tied for the best in the NSFL, and he's thrown the most touchdowns this season. His QBR is a whopping 91.7, a whole eight points higher than the next closest, Chris Orosz of the Yellowknife Wraiths. The ground game is doing the Sabercats even more favors, though. Led by running back Jack Durden, the Sabercats are leading the league in rushing yards, average yards per carry, and are tied for 2nd in touchdowns scored. A huge amount of credit to this success has to be given to the Sabercats offensive line, which is leading the NSFL in pancakes with 85 (about a third are from Ben Longshaw) and are tied for second in least sacks allowed. Vincent Sharpei, the rookie out of Army has performed fantastically so far as well, and is a key part up front as well. The receiving core rounds out the entire offense, and is one of the best in the NSFL. Led by Bailey Cook, the Sabercats have established their own "big three" of targets for Hunt, which includes Cook, Shane Weston, and Break Bottles. This trio has already amassed 608 yards in the first four weeks, and are accountable for 4 of Hunt's 6 touchdown passes so far. And all these pieces are extremely important to having a successful offense in the NSFL: A smart quarterback who's decision-making is elite, a trusty running back who the quarterback can dump down to chew clock or to pick up a short first down, an arsenal of pass-catching targets that can make big plays, and an offensive line that helps the quarterback feel comfortable in the pocket. Their defense is also highly improved from last year. Last year, the Sabercats defense found themselves allowing 20.8 points per game on average. That was unacceptable. Through various changes, the Sabercats are now averaging 19 points per game, a 1.8 PPG improvement, which is important as well. Lots of small adjustments were made. While they are giving up 354 yards a game, a large increase from last year's 315 a matchup, this year, they've allowed much less rushing yards. Last year, they allowed an insanely bad 122 rushing yards per game, the second worst total in the league. This year, they've cut it down to 86 rushing yards per game, and are allowing the second least amount of rushing yards in the league. While they are allowing more passing yards per game, they plugged up a bigger hole on defense, even if it meant letting a smaller one grow. No, it wasn't because of many offseason acquisitions, it was because of players having plain better seasons this season. It seems like all of the Sabercats have a renewed hunger to win on defense. Sabercats linebacker AC Hackett is leading the league in tackles with 40 this season, and his 10 tackles per game mark surpasses his 6.6 tackles per game mark from last year. Fellow linebacker Alexander Selich is keeping up his elite level of play, with 33 tackles this season so far, and was second in tackles last season. Safety Cle Hardrool is playing great this season as well, with 23 tackles, a sack, and an interception. Noah Parker surprisingly leads the team in sacks with three. Many unexpected, and some expected players are rising up to the occasion for the Sabercats this season on defense.
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Payout=$1,148,000
retired
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