[div align=\\\"center\\\"]The Specialist
Volume 1, Issue 3
”Professional football’s only Special Teams focused publication.”[/div]
The playoffs are over, and we’ve crowned a champion: the
Portland Pythons!
So as we move into the offseason, let us reflect on the season as a whole and look at which special teams units prospered, and which dwindled into irrelevance. We’ll also talk a bit about what each team should focus on (regarding special teams) moving into the new season. Now then: let’s get to it.
Team Analysis
Chicago Blues
The Blues had a very solid beginning of season, but trailed off into mediocrity. This applies to both special teams, and their record; they went from 3-2 to 5-9. Ouch. They ended last in extra point percentage and fifth in field goal percentage (though that’s only 0.1% back from fourth place). In contrast, their return unit was top of the line: 15.8 yards per return for kickoffs and 9.7 for punts puts them at first and second in the league, respectively. They were also the only team in the DSFL to score touchdowns off of both kick returns and punt returns! As for specific players...
Chicago did kick returning by committee, but Tegan Atwell handled 42 out of 43 of the Blue’s punt returns and nonetheless managed to sustain a 10 yard average; she is of course the one to score their punt return touchdown. The kick return score was made by runningback R. Payton. Returning to the bad stuff, Chicago kicker Stephen Simpson was 15 for 16 inside 39 yards, but just 4 for 8 from 40-49. Now, Simpson’s missed kicks never made or broke a game, seeing as the Blues spent the entire season either getting blown out by a huge margin, or blowing out the other team by a huge margin, but he’ll definitely need to work on his distance kicking for the next season. The punter Peg Leg will have to work on his distance too: he averaged just 41.7 yards a punt for the 11 games he played.
Kansas City Coyotes
You know that friend who only watches college football and doesn’t really care about the NFL? And one day they ask you how the San Diego Chargers are doing and you just go “San Diego? They uhhh... they’re not great but I mean, I guess they’re not bad either...”? That’s the Kansas City Coyotes special teams unit. Fourth in both kick and punt return average yardage. Worst in punt distance but second best in punt accuracy (based on inside the 20 percentage). Best at field goals, second worst at extra points. I really don’t have much to say. You can’t discredit the things they do well, but 41 yards a punt just makes me sad.
Oh! But cornerback Andre Bly Jr. returned a punt 54 yards for a touchdown one time, which is pretty cool.
Portland Pythons
Portland finished the season with an average kick return of 19.4 yards; second best in the league, between 19.5 at first and 19.2 at third. In contrast, they were worst in the league in punt returning. From best to worst, the average punt returns from DSFL teams were: 11.1 yards, 9.7, 7.9, 7.8..... And then 4.4 and 4. We’ll get to the 4.4 in a minute (that’s you, Norfolk), but how does a championship winning team do so while averaging 4 yards per punt return, with their longest punt return on the season being just 15 yards? I guess when your offense drives the length of the field every time, it doesn’t matter where you start. But anyway...
Portland kicker Adrienne Nugent had a decent season, going 24 for 26 on extra points, and 20 for 25 on field goals. That second part doesn’t sound great until you learn Nugent kicked an impressive league high 13 of his kicks from 40+ yards (although funnily enough, he actually missed more inside the 40 than outside it). Portland’s punting game improved in week 5 when they removed Nugent from punting duties and replaced him with Johnny Washington, who averaged 44.7 yards a punt; nonetheless, the Pythons still ended 4th overall in average punt distance.
Norfolk SeaWolves
Norfolk was one of three DSFL teams to have a perfect record on extra points, but they had a rate of just 79.9% on field goals. For the first four weeks of the season, they played kicker Jerek who had just a 71.1% success rate, but his replacement A. Sims didn’t do much better at 81.8%; his volume of kicks is what brought the team average up so much from where it could have been. You’ve got to acknowledge their punting though: they were second in the league in distance and third in accuracy. But their returning... ouch. 16 yards a return for kicks and 4.4 for punts? Those are some crazy bad team averages. So I went ahead and looked for any individuals from the Seawolves who might’ve stood out... There aren’t any. If you go down the list of best DSFL kick returners this season, you have to go to spot 11 to find a Norfolk player (runningback O’Sullivan, by the way). On the punt returner list, you find T. Lonzac leading his team while sitting in ninth place. Norfolk badly needs to work on special teams returns this offseason.
San Antonio Marshals
Let’s focus on Jimmy Darkapple for a minute or three. He went 27 for 27 on extra points, but just 21 for 28 on field goals. That doesn’t look good at all on the surface, but it’s important to know that there were only 6 attempts over 50 yards in the DSFL this season, and four came from San Antonio. Darkapple missed three of those opportunities, but really you can’t fault him too much for those misses. It’s unreasonable to expect a DSFL kicker to consistently make 50+ yarders when there have only been 4 successful makes from that distance in DSFL history. So with those discounted, he’d have a record of 21 for 25, which is good enough for the second highest rate in the league (excluding Patrick Greene from the standings, because he only played in 4 games with 8 total attempts). Still, it’s not all good for Darkapple. In week 3 against the Seawolves, he missed 2 short kicks in a game his team ended up losing by 3 points. Not all bad either, of course. He came through in week 13 against the Luchadores, scoring 9 points in a 16-10 victory that helped them secure home field advantage for the playoffs. Anyway, there’s the Marshals player spotlight I guess. On to the rest of it:
The Marshals kick returning was solid. Third in the league, but that’s just because the top two were also really good; San Antonio averaged 19.2 yards a return. Their punt returning was less than stellar, but still serviceable, at 7.8.
Tijuana Luchadores
The Tijuana Luchadores had an amazing punt return squad, averaging 11.1 yards a return - better than all but one NSFL team this season. That return unit was a three pronged attack, let by CB M. Crichton, RB Sydney Spinelli, and CB Terrell Brister. Spinelli also excelled at kick returns, averaging 19.6 yards per, but the team nonetheless finished at a league worst 15.8 yard average. When it comes to punting, the Luchadores started off the season with good accuracy and terrible distance - they ended the season with poor accuracy and decent distance. Overall, they were third in average kick length with 43.9 yards, and left 10.34% of punts inside their opponents redzone. But now let’s talk about Dean Jackson’s kicking:
#66 kicked 25 field goals and succeeded on 22. That’s a runner up in attempts and league high in makes, despite Tijuana not even attempting a field goal until week 3. Also, his 88% success rate puts him ahead of the Sabercats, Yeti, Wraiths, and Otters placekickers. Jackson was leader in extra point attempts, and he made every one of them (all 29).
Just a quick side note, in case anyone was wondering: the best average kick return by a DSFL team is 19.5 yards by the Chicago Blues. The worst NSFL team average is the Baltimore Hawks with 21.2.
Point Totals
So the funny thing about placekickers is that no one really notices, but field goals and extra points add up very quickly to a whole lot of points. In fact, kickers are the total points leaders nearly every single season in all professional football leagues. For that reason, we’re gonna take a brief look at how each kicker stacked up:
Stephen Simpson
24 Extra Points / 19 Field Goals
81 total points
33.1% of team scoring
Patrick Greene
7 Extra Points / 8 Field Goals
31 total points
15.7% of team scoring
B. Walsh
12 Extra Points / 9 Field Goals
39 total points
19.7% of team scoring
Did I ever mention that Walsh isn’t actually listed under the coyotes’ roster page? No? Well he isn’t apparently, which means I can’t find his first name. Oh well.
Adrienne Nugent
24 Extra Points / 20 Field Goals
84 total points
33.1% of team scoring
Jason Jerek
7 Extra Points / 5 Field Goals
22 total points
9.9% of team scoring
Al Sims
13 Extra Points / 18 Field Goals
67 total points
30.0% of team scoring
Jimmy Darkapple
27 Extra Points / 21 Field Goals
90 total points
35.2% of team scoring
Dean Jackson
29 Extra Points / 22 Field Goals
95 total points
35.3% of team scoring
Kicker of the Year
For his perfect performance on extra points, very high field goal percentage, and several key makes under pressure, The Specialist kicker of the year award goes to... Dean Jackson from the Tijuana Luchadores! Could I be biased? Probably. But at the same time, the numbers speak for themselves.
Punter of the Year
The punter of the year award goes to... Shawn Guy from the San Antonio Marshals! Guy averaged an impressive 45.7 yards a punt over 99 punts, and left 17.2% of those inside the 20! He also set a DSFL record long punt of 69 yards.
Returner of the Year
This one is tough. Some players had very high average returns, and others were a bit less but had special teams touchdowns on their resume. In the end, I have to make a choice, and so the returner of the year award goes to... Andre Bly Jr.! A true double threat, Bly returned a record 39 kicks, and he tied for second at 42 punt returns. On the kicks he averaged 18.7 yards, and on punts, 7.9; he was one of just 2 players to score a punt return touchdown this year. With these numbers, he single handedly pulled along a struggling Kansas City return unit. The future is bright for him as we approach the NSFL draft.
A special shoutout
A lot of work goes into making The Specialist. Every issue, I dive deep into the index to find stuff to talk about... and while doing my investigating, I noticed something not related to special teams at all, but that I really want to share.
Kansas City has this quarterback named Christian Adams who threw for 2900 yards this year. Well, thanks to what I can only assume must be really bad blocking, Adams averaged -0.8 yards a run. Over 28 attempts. But Adams persevered! He went backwards 27 times, but on one beautiful run, he went a career long 5 yards into the endzone.
Don’t give up. Be like Adams.
A Look Ahead
The season is over. The offseason is upon us, and the DSFL breakout players we know and love will soon be drafted. So what does the future hold?
For the DSFL, there’s currently one runningback prospect (Lil Bot), one cornerback prospect (Storm Woods), and a lone incoming kicker... Micycle McCormick. To these three players I say: good luck. The dream is surely to become the best at their position one day. But to reach that point, they must first make the team... and to do that, you’ve gotta play well on special teams.
——————————
2,037 words. Ready to be graded.
GRADED
Volume 1, Issue 3
”Professional football’s only Special Teams focused publication.”[/div]
The playoffs are over, and we’ve crowned a champion: the
Portland Pythons! So as we move into the offseason, let us reflect on the season as a whole and look at which special teams units prospered, and which dwindled into irrelevance. We’ll also talk a bit about what each team should focus on (regarding special teams) moving into the new season. Now then: let’s get to it.
Team Analysis
Chicago BluesThe Blues had a very solid beginning of season, but trailed off into mediocrity. This applies to both special teams, and their record; they went from 3-2 to 5-9. Ouch. They ended last in extra point percentage and fifth in field goal percentage (though that’s only 0.1% back from fourth place). In contrast, their return unit was top of the line: 15.8 yards per return for kickoffs and 9.7 for punts puts them at first and second in the league, respectively. They were also the only team in the DSFL to score touchdowns off of both kick returns and punt returns! As for specific players...
Chicago did kick returning by committee, but Tegan Atwell handled 42 out of 43 of the Blue’s punt returns and nonetheless managed to sustain a 10 yard average; she is of course the one to score their punt return touchdown. The kick return score was made by runningback R. Payton. Returning to the bad stuff, Chicago kicker Stephen Simpson was 15 for 16 inside 39 yards, but just 4 for 8 from 40-49. Now, Simpson’s missed kicks never made or broke a game, seeing as the Blues spent the entire season either getting blown out by a huge margin, or blowing out the other team by a huge margin, but he’ll definitely need to work on his distance kicking for the next season. The punter Peg Leg will have to work on his distance too: he averaged just 41.7 yards a punt for the 11 games he played.
Kansas City CoyotesYou know that friend who only watches college football and doesn’t really care about the NFL? And one day they ask you how the San Diego Chargers are doing and you just go “San Diego? They uhhh... they’re not great but I mean, I guess they’re not bad either...”? That’s the Kansas City Coyotes special teams unit. Fourth in both kick and punt return average yardage. Worst in punt distance but second best in punt accuracy (based on inside the 20 percentage). Best at field goals, second worst at extra points. I really don’t have much to say. You can’t discredit the things they do well, but 41 yards a punt just makes me sad.
Oh! But cornerback Andre Bly Jr. returned a punt 54 yards for a touchdown one time, which is pretty cool.
Portland PythonsPortland finished the season with an average kick return of 19.4 yards; second best in the league, between 19.5 at first and 19.2 at third. In contrast, they were worst in the league in punt returning. From best to worst, the average punt returns from DSFL teams were: 11.1 yards, 9.7, 7.9, 7.8..... And then 4.4 and 4. We’ll get to the 4.4 in a minute (that’s you, Norfolk), but how does a championship winning team do so while averaging 4 yards per punt return, with their longest punt return on the season being just 15 yards? I guess when your offense drives the length of the field every time, it doesn’t matter where you start. But anyway...
Portland kicker Adrienne Nugent had a decent season, going 24 for 26 on extra points, and 20 for 25 on field goals. That second part doesn’t sound great until you learn Nugent kicked an impressive league high 13 of his kicks from 40+ yards (although funnily enough, he actually missed more inside the 40 than outside it). Portland’s punting game improved in week 5 when they removed Nugent from punting duties and replaced him with Johnny Washington, who averaged 44.7 yards a punt; nonetheless, the Pythons still ended 4th overall in average punt distance.
Norfolk SeaWolvesNorfolk was one of three DSFL teams to have a perfect record on extra points, but they had a rate of just 79.9% on field goals. For the first four weeks of the season, they played kicker Jerek who had just a 71.1% success rate, but his replacement A. Sims didn’t do much better at 81.8%; his volume of kicks is what brought the team average up so much from where it could have been. You’ve got to acknowledge their punting though: they were second in the league in distance and third in accuracy. But their returning... ouch. 16 yards a return for kicks and 4.4 for punts? Those are some crazy bad team averages. So I went ahead and looked for any individuals from the Seawolves who might’ve stood out... There aren’t any. If you go down the list of best DSFL kick returners this season, you have to go to spot 11 to find a Norfolk player (runningback O’Sullivan, by the way). On the punt returner list, you find T. Lonzac leading his team while sitting in ninth place. Norfolk badly needs to work on special teams returns this offseason.
San Antonio MarshalsLet’s focus on Jimmy Darkapple for a minute or three. He went 27 for 27 on extra points, but just 21 for 28 on field goals. That doesn’t look good at all on the surface, but it’s important to know that there were only 6 attempts over 50 yards in the DSFL this season, and four came from San Antonio. Darkapple missed three of those opportunities, but really you can’t fault him too much for those misses. It’s unreasonable to expect a DSFL kicker to consistently make 50+ yarders when there have only been 4 successful makes from that distance in DSFL history. So with those discounted, he’d have a record of 21 for 25, which is good enough for the second highest rate in the league (excluding Patrick Greene from the standings, because he only played in 4 games with 8 total attempts). Still, it’s not all good for Darkapple. In week 3 against the Seawolves, he missed 2 short kicks in a game his team ended up losing by 3 points. Not all bad either, of course. He came through in week 13 against the Luchadores, scoring 9 points in a 16-10 victory that helped them secure home field advantage for the playoffs. Anyway, there’s the Marshals player spotlight I guess. On to the rest of it:
The Marshals kick returning was solid. Third in the league, but that’s just because the top two were also really good; San Antonio averaged 19.2 yards a return. Their punt returning was less than stellar, but still serviceable, at 7.8.
Tijuana LuchadoresThe Tijuana Luchadores had an amazing punt return squad, averaging 11.1 yards a return - better than all but one NSFL team this season. That return unit was a three pronged attack, let by CB M. Crichton, RB Sydney Spinelli, and CB Terrell Brister. Spinelli also excelled at kick returns, averaging 19.6 yards per, but the team nonetheless finished at a league worst 15.8 yard average. When it comes to punting, the Luchadores started off the season with good accuracy and terrible distance - they ended the season with poor accuracy and decent distance. Overall, they were third in average kick length with 43.9 yards, and left 10.34% of punts inside their opponents redzone. But now let’s talk about Dean Jackson’s kicking:
#66 kicked 25 field goals and succeeded on 22. That’s a runner up in attempts and league high in makes, despite Tijuana not even attempting a field goal until week 3. Also, his 88% success rate puts him ahead of the Sabercats, Yeti, Wraiths, and Otters placekickers. Jackson was leader in extra point attempts, and he made every one of them (all 29).
Just a quick side note, in case anyone was wondering: the best average kick return by a DSFL team is 19.5 yards by the Chicago Blues. The worst NSFL team average is the Baltimore Hawks with 21.2.
Point Totals
So the funny thing about placekickers is that no one really notices, but field goals and extra points add up very quickly to a whole lot of points. In fact, kickers are the total points leaders nearly every single season in all professional football leagues. For that reason, we’re gonna take a brief look at how each kicker stacked up:
Stephen Simpson24 Extra Points / 19 Field Goals
81 total points
33.1% of team scoring
Patrick Greene7 Extra Points / 8 Field Goals
31 total points
15.7% of team scoring
B. Walsh12 Extra Points / 9 Field Goals
39 total points
19.7% of team scoring
Did I ever mention that Walsh isn’t actually listed under the coyotes’ roster page? No? Well he isn’t apparently, which means I can’t find his first name. Oh well.
Adrienne Nugent24 Extra Points / 20 Field Goals
84 total points
33.1% of team scoring
Jason Jerek7 Extra Points / 5 Field Goals
22 total points
9.9% of team scoring
Al Sims13 Extra Points / 18 Field Goals
67 total points
30.0% of team scoring
Jimmy Darkapple27 Extra Points / 21 Field Goals
90 total points
35.2% of team scoring
Dean Jackson29 Extra Points / 22 Field Goals
95 total points
35.3% of team scoring
Kicker of the Year
For his perfect performance on extra points, very high field goal percentage, and several key makes under pressure, The Specialist kicker of the year award goes to... Dean Jackson from the Tijuana Luchadores! Could I be biased? Probably. But at the same time, the numbers speak for themselves.
Punter of the Year
The punter of the year award goes to... Shawn Guy from the San Antonio Marshals! Guy averaged an impressive 45.7 yards a punt over 99 punts, and left 17.2% of those inside the 20! He also set a DSFL record long punt of 69 yards.
Returner of the Year
This one is tough. Some players had very high average returns, and others were a bit less but had special teams touchdowns on their resume. In the end, I have to make a choice, and so the returner of the year award goes to... Andre Bly Jr.! A true double threat, Bly returned a record 39 kicks, and he tied for second at 42 punt returns. On the kicks he averaged 18.7 yards, and on punts, 7.9; he was one of just 2 players to score a punt return touchdown this year. With these numbers, he single handedly pulled along a struggling Kansas City return unit. The future is bright for him as we approach the NSFL draft.
A special shoutout
A lot of work goes into making The Specialist. Every issue, I dive deep into the index to find stuff to talk about... and while doing my investigating, I noticed something not related to special teams at all, but that I really want to share.
Kansas City has this quarterback named Christian Adams who threw for 2900 yards this year. Well, thanks to what I can only assume must be really bad blocking, Adams averaged -0.8 yards a run. Over 28 attempts. But Adams persevered! He went backwards 27 times, but on one beautiful run, he went a career long 5 yards into the endzone.
Don’t give up. Be like Adams.
A Look Ahead
The season is over. The offseason is upon us, and the DSFL breakout players we know and love will soon be drafted. So what does the future hold?
For the DSFL, there’s currently one runningback prospect (Lil Bot), one cornerback prospect (Storm Woods), and a lone incoming kicker... Micycle McCormick. To these three players I say: good luck. The dream is surely to become the best at their position one day. But to reach that point, they must first make the team... and to do that, you’ve gotta play well on special teams.
——————————
2,037 words. Ready to be graded.
GRADED
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That’s the goal. I won’t say special teams is 