(S1) - Weekend PT #2 - Media Frenzy

[youngcricket]

Is Jaylon in the Game?

In the preseason, Jaylon Smith was rather up and down. He had one game with 9 tackles, one game with 7 tackles, then a game with 11 tackles, a sack, a safety, and a PD. If the Outlaws are going to be successful, he needs to put up the type of numbers that he put up in his final week of play. He earned defensive player of the game and was an absolute animal, covering sideline to sideline. Some believe that he may have put on a bit of weight prior to the preseason, but nobody is sure. He looked to be slow in a few games and frustrated with other players around him. There is some resentment within the Outlaws locker room with league officials and that has caused some to not play as hard on the field. Smith was a late round pick, but quickly developed into one of the team's best player, he will need to play like people expect him to or else he may be in deep shit in Arizona. With players like Ernston and Tuck in the front 7, tackles may be hard to come by, but he should be able to make plays in the secondary and keep the team in the game as the QB of the defense.

[Nick]

[div align=\\\"center\\\"]What's Wrong with the Otters Offense?[/div]


It's a simple question ladies and gentlemen. What's wrong with the Otters offense? The Orange County Otters went 2-2 in the inaugural preseason. Now, 2-2 doesn't sound all that bad until you realize that the Otters kicker, Brandon Walsh scored 30 of the 48 points scored by the Otters. So with 3 passing touchdowns and 1 rushing touchdown in just 4 games, there seems to be a problem with the Otters offense.

Where does the problem begin though? What needs to be fixed? Are these problems stemming from just the quarterback rotation during the preseason? Mike Boss won 2 games, while the combo of Hunt and Bercovici lost 2 games, without scoring a passing TD. Now obviously Mike Boss is going to be the starting quarterback for the Otters on week 1 of the 1st season. But keep in mind that Boss got his two wins against the Outlaws who finished the preseason at 0-4 and the Sabercats who finished at 2-2. Meanwhile, Hunt and Bercovici lost to the Hawks who finished the preseason at a stunning 4-0, and the Wraiths who finished 3-1. So perhaps the quarterbacks aren't the ones to blame here, maybe there's a hole somewhere else in the offense?

So what about the run game? The Otters are looking like they'll be a run first team and yet their only rushing TD of the preseason came in week 4 against the Wraiths. At first glance, the Otters have 2 running backs who could be the starter, both of them will be sharing time but there’s at least a 9 attempt difference between them and at most a 20 attempt difference. It’s clear that after week 2 of the preseason the Otters started to give Omar Wright a break and give Leroy Jenkins more carries. Another issue that can be seen, is that Omar got 20+ carries every game and only had 1 game over 100 yards, some might say that’s not an issue, but then remember the Otters only scored 1 rushing TD. Perhaps the Otters have already maybe the appropriate changes for the regular season, maybe they will make the push into the end zone.

So with the quarterbacks and running backs both having issues in the preseason, the Otters were able to move the ball decently but they never hit their stride and found the endzone. Were their opponents defense playing well and stepping up to challenge or do the Otters have a choking problem? It’s all too early to tell, the preseason is 4 meaningless games that are only there for coaches to decide their starters and the players to get used to being hit constantly again. So what’s wrong with the Otters offense? I don’t know, there are tons of potential holes and everything is all speculation.


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