Crown's Project is Failing: Story of A. Metaxas

[daBenchwarmer]

[div align=\\\"center\\\"]HAUNT THE NORTH
Official SBNation Affiliate of the Yellowknife Wraiths
Crown's Project is Failing: The Story of Andreas Metaxas so far

Entering his fourth DSFL season, Andreas Metaxas [Pictured] has shown multiple times that he is not progressing at an acceptable rate.[/div]

Sorry Wraiths fans, but it had to be done. We are all tired of Metaxas struggling in a developmental league.

Despite being one of the more electrifying and mobile quarterback prospects in the DSFL, Andreas Metaxas has shown multiple times in the past few seasons in the DSFL that both his development is stalling and that he does not possess the hardware to become a decent NSFL starting quarterback like he was hyped up to be when he was drafted. Many will argue that it is the matter of not giving Metaxas enough time to develop, or that he was not given a proper workload during his time at Tijuana. A counter to this is that there are multiple instances of Metaxas showing he is simply incapable of becoming a proper quarterback, whether if it is his bad reads to his receivers, consistently fumbling the ball or just being downright awful on the field. How this inexcusable waste of money has not been cut or traded by the Wraiths boils down to two people: Gosh Jarden, the Wraiths Head Coach, and Spike Crown, the Wraiths Co-General Manager.

Let's start with the more inexcusable of the two, Gosh Jarden, a washed up quarterback turned mediocre wide receiver. Metaxas, as Jarden has said multiple times, reminds the coach of himself when he first came into the league. A quick, agile quarterback with an okay arm. Here's the huge kicker however, the only reason why Jarden was even somewhat successful at the time was because there was not a huge amount of competition at the quarterback position until Jarden pursued free agency. In today's NSFL, the quarterback position is much, much more demanding and highly skilled. If Jarden had even played a single snap in today's NSFL, he would be taken out by the next play.

It has been reported by multiple sources that Jarden has defended Metaxas' credibility as a quarterback whenever the youngster was questioned by management on whether or not if the Greek should be moved. Even when Metaxas experienced an enormous decline in his third DSFL season, Jarden defended him. Why? Simply because Metaxas is a favorite of Jarden. Metaxas' spot as the "Wraiths' top quarterback prospect" is simply because of nepotism and the fact the management team does not want to publicly admit that this reach of a pick was a dud when potentially better quarterbacks could have been picked up in later drafts.

Now onto the second-half of the personnel problem: Spike Crown. While this co-General Manager has been somewhat superb at his job and position, his constant defending of Metaxas knows no ends. There comes a time and place where blindly defending a quarterback needs to stop, and the talks of "we're giving him one more season" turn into "we're actively shopping him". Metaxas' selection had Crown's fingerprints all over the draft sheet. It should be no surprise that Metaxas is turning into a dud, when many scouts were hesitant about his intelligence, his arm, and his ability to translate his college game to the professional game. Is Crown the sole person to blame for the Metaxas selection? Not quite, as he reportedly pushed for the selection of Zenyou Wozy the following draft, and has helped start the shift from the old guard to the new, upcoming prospects.

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Metaxas attempts a pass against the San Antonio Marshals. The Greek quarterback ended the game with a 45.45% throwing percentage, for a total of 85 yards and 1 interception.[/div]

Management can only be blamed so much for a player's struggles however, and at the end of the day all fingers should be pointed at Andreas Metaxas.

In his rookie DSFL season, Metaxas played a total of 12 Games, throwing 676 yards (50% PCT) that resulted in a whopping 1 touchdown, and 4 interceptions. Anyone who can play in 12 games and have the inability to throw more than 1 touchdown should have red flags written all over his scouting report, which is exactly what NSFL scouts reportedly told their teams. "This kid won't amount of anything", "fringe DSFL quarterback", "better to pass than to pick him", all of these sentences were written on scouting reports. The strict majority of NSFL General Managers heeded these warnings, except for the Wraiths (thanks to Gosh Jarden).

The following season, Metaxas was still woefully mediocre, playing 2 more games, throwing 1,432 yards (53.5 PCT) that saw him record 7 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. He was so bad in the DSFL, the Tijuana Luchadores defaulted on a rookie quarterback. Said quarterback was Adriana Falconi, who has already made the jump to the NSFL while Metaxas has returned for his fourth season. And while Metaxas this season experienced his first real DSFL season, despite being outclassed by a rookie quarterback, it has been his best so far.

Metaxas' third DSFL season saw him regress immensely despite an increase in his quarterback rating. 14 games played, 1,183 yards thrown and 49.5% completed. He recorded 6 touchdowns and 4 interceptions as a result. Although Falconi saw a sharp regression in her play, Metaxas showed no initiative to steal the starting position back, or to be anything more than a warm body in the Luchadores' quarterback rotation. After this poor showing in the DSFL, the Wraiths have been adamant on Metaxas' progression, simply citing that some quarterbacks take a longer amount of time to transition their game. Sure, flat out saying that Metaxas is terrible and will never sniff the NSFL is too harsh for a management team to say, there comes a time and place to honestly say "we're incredibly disappointed."

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Metaxas scrambles and looks for a receiver in a game against the Portland Pythons. Metaxas ended the game with a 50% completion percentage, throwing 64 yards and recording 0 touchdowns.[/div]

What exactly can we expect from Metaxas moving from this point forward?

Well so far in his fourth DSFL season, he has led the Tijuana Luchadores to a 1-3 start, throwing 551 yards with a 55.7% Completion Rate, recording 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Even the local Tijuana sports papers have started to call Metaxas out, openly accusing the quarterback of "being a passenger than a driver on the Luchadores' offense" and "just showing up to collect their cheque". Anyone with access to the DSFL games can simply watch Metaxas pathetically jog onto the field, throw a mediocre pass or make a bad read, and jog off without any emotion or visible desire to improve.

Try accusing Metaxas of this however, and he won't even try to deny it. As seen in multiple interviews, Metaxas will simply sigh and shrug his shoulders. This does not say anything about being an energetic quarterback that Metaxas was hyped as, this says someone who is defeated and is tired of football. Can you blame him however? Anyone who has been hyped only to be found to be a complete fraud would have their confidence shattered. Regardless, the Wraiths management continues to defend this "quarterback project".

Nothing will change with Metaxas' situation until it is either too late and the Wraiths are simply forced to cut him, or if the Wraiths can trick another NSFL team into taking Metaxas while he still has value. Either way, there is no way Metaxas makes the NSFL with the Yellowknife Wraiths, unless if the General Managers up there are truly incompetent.

1,271 words - ready for grading

[iamslm22]

This is a really really interesting read. Fascinated to see what happens with Metaxas as his DSFL eligibility winds down.

[kckolbe]

Your choice of play-by makes this story absolutely delightful. Well-played.

[PDXBaller]

Great article! I'm excited to see what happens next!

[nunccoepi]

Great article. Admittedly, while some of his poor play has been due to slow development, some of Metaxas's struggles have been due to game-flow and GM's inability to scheme correctly for you (plus playbook changes that make a mobile QB less effective in spread than before). So I can take some of the heat as well. Regardless, anyone's got to respect your dedication.

[SammyG]

my man Metaxas <3