(S27) PT3 - We're halfway there

[Memento Mori]

Offence gets all the love, so I'd like to talk about how some of the defensive award races are shaping up. I always find the linebacker award race interesting as it tends to lead to discussion about which stats are important at the position. The front runner has to be Sarasota's Derred de Ville, who's killed a lot of offensive drives so far this season. The former first round pick has 9 sacks, 2 tackles for loss, 4 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 7 pass deflections. Sarasota's opponents will be absolutely sick of the bizarre 10 second wait before the next play after a de Ville sack.

Chicago's Juan Domine, though, poses an interesting challenge. While de Ville has excelled chasing down quarterbacks, Domine has been picking off their passes. Domine leads all linebackers with 3 interceptions, and his 7 sacks and 5 tackles for loss (in addition to a fumble recovery and 5 pass deflections) show that he makes plays in the backfield too. If both players keep going at this rate, voters will have to make a decision about what kind of linebacker they value more and who has been more impressive compared to their peers. There are other linebackers with 9 sacks or close to it, but they lack de Ville's gaudy forced fumbles stat or and tend to rank below him in other categories too. There's no linebacker quite like Domine this season though, as all other linebackers with multiple interceptions have 4 sacks or fewer, and none have more than Domine's 5 tackles for loss. Only Sarasota's Haha Mango-Panda has more tackles than Domine, and that's offset by the fact that Mango-Panda as five fewer sacks.

Of course it's way too early to call, but if the season ended today those two players would be the main contenders and I'd back Domine. (309 words)