*The Yellowknife Preseason

[caltroit_red_flames]

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6304 words

Prologue
During the NSFL's S11 Preseason the Yellowknife Wraiths played four games against each of the following teams: the San Jose Saber Cats, the Orange County Otters, the Colorado Yeti and the Philadelphia Liberty. After an offseason that saw the Wraiths lose several important offensive players (including Tegan Atwell and Eric Kennedy at wide receiver) and defensive players (including Wallace Stone and Boss Tweed) we saw the team move toward a sort of rebuild stage. Now some really exciting young players are starting to steal the spotlight in Yellowknife and it was put on display in the preseason. The coaches were looking at some interesting strategies during this preseason as well so we saw some players playing out of position and trying out different things they likely won't do in real games. We'll be highlighting a few specific players each game as well as some players that have exception performances.

Game 1:
Starting with the first game in the preseason the Wraiths played the San Jose Sabercats. The game ended with the Wraiths winning by a score of 28 - 17.

The bulk of Yellowknife's points were scored by their kicker None Forfeit who had an incredible game. Forfeit scored 5 field goals and had one extra point (unfortunately he missed one extra point as well). All of the field goals were between 30 and 39 yards down the field. This will be a performance for him to remember, even if it was preseason. If he can keep this up he'll be a great asset for Yellowknife in the regular season and very well could steal some games for the Wraiths.

Looking at running backs, Robby Rainey was the go to guy for this game. He was given the ball 26 times that night and for good reason. He averaged 5.4 yards per carry, scored one touchdown and ended up scoring a total of 141 yards. A great start to the preseason.

Brad Pennington had a bit of a rough game and ended up with a rating of 65.9. You'd like to see that a little higher, but he did well enough for his team to win. He averaged 14.5 yards per pass which is great, but only completed 17/37 which really brought down his rating. He scored one touchdown and threw one interception. Definitely well enough to give his team a chance to win, but it looks like things will have to be a team effort night in and night out rather than depending on him to carry the team.

Dermot Lavelle and Robby Rainey were the kick and punt returners for tonight's game and they really seemed to do a great job together. Rainey ended up returning three kicks and got a total of 89 yards doing it. Lavelle returned one kick for 15 yards and 5 punts for 76 yards. Neither did especially great, but they did as well as you would expect returners to do.

On defense we'll be looking at Chad Pennington, Cam Taylor and Demort Lavelle.

Chad Pennington was the top line backer this evening on Yellowknife. He ended the night with 9 tackles and one sack. This is the sort of night you expect to see Chad having generally. A high number of tackles and either a sack or a tackle for loss. The assumption is that we'll see him get more tackles considering the losses at the line backer position that the Wraiths have had in Boss Tweed and Wallace Stone. We'll see if he does better, worse or continues steady for the rest of the preseason.

Cam Taylor is the team's premiere safety, likely one of the best in the league in fact. This game he had 9 tackles and deflected one pass. Taylor has been a consistent player for Yellowknife for the past several seasons and I expect him to continue to be consistent this season too. We'll see him get a couple passes deflected each game and close to 10 tackles a game. He's just that undeniably good.

Dermot Lavelle is the leader of the Yellowknife's defensive backs. Though he's on the downswing in his career he's just been a leader for so long that he's the guy everyone looks to. He seemed to have a bit of a down game, only getting 6 tackles. Generally you see him get at least three passes defended, maybe an interception or two. Expect to see him do better in future games.

Now we'll start looking at the rookies: Thomas Carrasco (running back), Will Foster (defensive tackle), Bobson Dugnutt (corner back), Josh Parker (wide receiver), Antonio Summer (running back) and Avery Woodham (defensive end).

Thomas Carrasco did not really get the chance to shine last night, being overshadowed by Robby Rainey who was given 26 carries over Carrasco's 3 carries. Despite that, he made the carries he was given count, getting 15 yards over three carries with his longest run being nine yards. Hopefully he'll be given more chances in future games.

Antonio Summer was played at wide receiver this game. Whether or not he'll be playing receiver in future games remains to be seen, but he did very well for playing a new position. He only made two receptions, but he averaged 10.5 yards just from those two. If he continues to play as a receiver and Yellowknife puts the ball in his hands more often I think we're going to have a budding star on our hands.

Josh Parker is a wide receiver who is actually playing his position and oh my. If you're excited for Antonio Summer possibly being a good then you're going to be super excited for Parker. He made four receptions this game and averaged 16.2 yards per reception. So on the whole these three offensive weapons could develop into really great options for Brad Pennington to distribute the ball to.

Now we look at the defensive rookies, starting with defensive end Avery Woodham. While the rest of the rookies were drafted in the season 11 draft, Woodham is from season 10 draft. Woodham is the defensive end that the Wraiths have need desperately for the past couple of seasons. In his first major professional game (even if it is preseason) he made 8 tackles. He's definitely going to make it easier on the line backers this season, which is great considering the losses they had at the line backer position. I'm really excited to see where his development takes him.

At defensive tackle we have Will Foster who is exceptionally green, but just oozes athleticism. He's already exceptionally fast and strong, so it's no wonder he had a good first game. In this game he had 3 tackles and 1 sack. Give him time to develop and I see him being a huge difference maker. He's still so young that this is really exciting to see already.

Bobson Dugnutt is probably the most exciting defensive rookie of this draft. The really unfortunate thing is that he didn't play during this game. He's already incredibly fast, but he's going to need refine the of his game if he wants to be one of the better corner backs in the game. We'll likely see some very quick growth out of him though. Fingers crossed for him to get some plays in the coming preseason games.

Overall we saw some really great stuff from a lot of different positions, but we're really looking more toward the future than anything.

Game 2:
In game two of the preseason the Yellowknife Wraiths played against the Orange County Otters who have been one of the top teams in the league for the past couple of seasons. The game ended in a Yellowknife loss by a score of 37 - 24. It seems that both teams had their points scored by committee, so this loss really just reflects on the talent difference between a team that is a contender and a team that is in a rebuilding phase. Although the Wraiths did a great job of getting back into the game late, but scoring only a field goal in the first half and giving up 24 points really put them so far in the hole that there was no digging out of it. Prominent Yellowknife players we'll be looking at for this game are Brad Pennington (quarterback), Robby Rainey (running back and special teams), Bailey Cook (wide receiver), None Forfeit (kicker and punter), Samuel Zhang (corner back), Dermot Lavelle (corner back and special teams), Thad Pennington (safety), and Chad Pennington (line backer). We'll also be taking a look at the rookies after these players.

Brad Pennington's play was about the same this game as last. His rating only differed by 2.7 points (down to 63.2 from 65.9) suggesting that this is the Brad Pennington we'll be seeing for the rest of the season (barring an unexpected increase in his training regime). Orange County isn't exactly the easiest defense to go up against, so we may have seen him have a rough game because of that, but I assume we'll need to see the rookies at wide receiver and running back become stronger at their positions before we can expect the Wraiths offense to really shine.

Robby Rainey continued to show why the Wraiths have retained him as their running back for so many seasons. Over the course of the game he carried the ball for a total of 91 yards with an average of 4.3 yards per carry. One of his carries ended up gaining the Wraith 10 yards. Unfortunately we have heard that Rainey may be moving to the defensive side of the ball this season. The positive is that this leaves the position open for a rookie who believes he can carry the team like Rainey did for so many seasons. We'll have to see what the team has in store.

Bailey Cook is a player that has been with the Wraiths for a few seasons as well, but we never really see him come to the forefront in terms of receiving. Now that Tegan Atwell has moved on to another team (Orange County to be exact). Now Cook has a chance to shine and he took advantage of it this game. With 6 receptions he got a total of 62 yards for Yellowknife for an average of 10.3 yards per reception. Nothing crazy, but he led the team and there’s something to be said for that.

None Forfeit played pretty average this game. Being a kicker is pretty rough because if you miss one kick that game almost immediately looks bad for you. He made all three of his attempted extra point kicks and one field goal from a distance of a whopping 37 yards. Unfortunately for the Wraiths he tried for a field goal from over 40 yards away from the goal posts later in the game and wasn’t able to make it. He was still very consistent and you’d like to think that the offense can get him in a better scoring position in the future. 40 yards is a little far for a field goal.

Samuel Zhang is a player that came out of the woodwork and had a fantastic game for Yellowknife. He may very well be the only reason this game actually looked close. When you look at tackles it seems like he had an average game with only three. But then you keep looking at his stat line. Two passes deflected is pretty good. One interception, okay that’s really good. One touchdown??? Zhang was able to score a pick six for the Wraiths in the third quarter to start Yellowknife’s come back (which would end in vain). It gave the team the spark they needed to score another 15 points by the time the game was over and keep us from getting embarrassed. This is the kind of defense we need to win games this season. Awesome job Sam.

Dermot Lavelle was back at the top of the defensive ranks this game, again showing why he’s the player that everyone looks to on defense for leadership and for big plays. He made eight tackles this game as well as deflecting two passes. On top of that he returned three kicks and two punts for a total of 90 yards. Pretty great for a guy that fancies himself a corner back rather than a punt returner.

Thad Pennington had a really great game. He didn’t have any flashy stats, but getting eight tackles to keep receivers from getting extra yards and stopping runners that got past the rest of the defensive backs is really important and he got that done exceptionally well.

Chad Pennington had a pretty lack luster game by his own standards. He got five tackles which is well below the expectation he and the fans put on him for each game. He did manage to get one sack and deflect two passes, but being a middle line backer pass deflections aren’t really his bread and butter. Expect his game to improve in the future, this isn’t really indicative of what he offers to the team.

Now onto the rookies. The running back Thomas Carrasco wasn’t given the ball enough to shine this game unfortunately, but he stayed on the same pace as Robby Rainey in terms of yards per carry which is really saying something for a rookie. With three carries he was able to gain 13 yards for the Wraiths and his longest carry netted seven yards for the team. Long runs like that are going to get the Wraiths a ton of first downs and hopefully a few touchdowns as well.

The defensive tackle Will Foster was at the bottom of the charts for defensive players this game, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t make any plays. One sack can change a whole drive, so getting one tackle and one sack is pretty good for your second pro game. He should be happy with how he played this game.

Bobson Dugnutt did not put on a Yellowknife jersey for this game either unfortunately. Word from management is that it’s likely we won’t see the corner back play a game for the entire preseason to ensure he isn’t injured and is ready for the regular season.

Josh Parker is doing absolutely everything he can to steal the number one wide receiver job from Cook. With five receptions Parker netted a total of 46 yards for Yellowknife and got an average of 9.2 yards per reception. It’s not quite on the same level as Cook’s game was, but with experience, some time in the gym and some hard practices I think Parker is going to become the number option for Brad Pennington to throw to before the second half of the regular season.

Continuing his trend of playing at receiver rather than as a running back, Antonio Summer was probably the biggest standout of the game for Yellowknife. He averaged a team leading 11.3 yards per reception this game, unfortunately he was only able to catch three passes that were thrown to him. He’ll really have to work on his catching skills to become a good option for Pennington to throw to and rely on, but the way he’s looking right now I wouldn’t be surprised if he did that sooner than later. The guy is so athletic he can do anything he works at.

Finally we come to Avery Woodham who is really having an incredible preseason. Once again he made the jobs of the line backers easier by keeping the runners from getting past the line of scrimmage. WIth five tackles this game, Woodham is quickly showing himself to be the defensive end that Yellowknife has need for a long time.

Game 3:
The Yellowknife Wraiths came out on top against the Colorado Yeti in this game by a score of 38 - 33. The Wraiths were more efficient at converting third downs and had a much better running game than the Yeti. The win may be the product of having an inexperienced quarterback in Micycle McCormick who just made the switch from kicker and punter to quarterback. This game actually saw some interesting things from the Wraiths on both offense and defense. We’ll be looking at Brad Pennington (quarterback), Robby Rainey (running back), Glenn McPoyal (tight end), None Forfeit (kicker and punter), Dermot Lavelle (corner back and special teams), Chad Pennington (line backer), Cam Taylor (safety), and then the rookies.

Brad Pennington had a really interesting game statistically. 26 of the 41 passes he attempted were completed netting the Wraiths 330 yards with an average of 12.7 yards per completed pass. That seems like a great game so far, right? Now we look at interceptions, and this is where it gets rough. Pennington threw three interceptions this game, really bringing down his rating to 82.4. If Pennington doesn’t throw those three interceptions this is one of the best games from a quarterback we’ve seen in the preseason. Hopefully with some better systems in the regular season we’ll see those interceptions go away.

Robby Rainey once again showed himself to be a rock of a running back by getting the Wraiths a total of 98 yards over 26 carries and two touchdowns. He averaged 3.8 yards per carry meaning if we gave him the ball every play we’d probably end up scoring a touchdown every drive.

Glenn McPoyal finally came into his own during this game. We’ve been expecting him to be one of Yellowknife’s top offensive weapons this season, but he’s been almost non existent. Now that Pennington decided to use him this game he’s been playing super well. With 10 receptions McPoyal was able to get 65 yards for an average of 6.5 yards per reception and he managed to score 3 touchdowns. If he can keep catching the ball you’ll see him be a great option for Yellowknife whenever Pennington needs a quick outlet for a couple yards and is in danger.

None Forfeit played almost identically to how he played in the previous game. He went for five extra points and scored on all of them. He made one 30 yard field goal and unfortunately wasn’t able to made a 40+ yard field goal. Again, you’d like to see the team get him him a better position for scoring so you can’t blame him for missing a 40+ yard field goal.

Dermot Lavelle seems like he’s becoming a line backer rather than a corner back. Lavelle led the entire team in tackles with 11 while only deflecting one pass, something that he’s been known to do for his entire career considering he holds the league record for passes deflected. That’s still a pretty dang good game from a corner back though. On top of his defensive efforts he returned three kicks and two punts for a total of 193 yards.

Chad Pennington was back in his old form after a rough performance last week. He was really back with a vengeance. He got his nine tackles like we’ve come to expect, but on top of that he deflection a whopping five passes and caught an interception. At that rate he looks more like a corner back than a line backer, but I don’t think anyone is going to complain about that. Hopefully he can continue to make a big impact in the future.

Cam Taylor had a decent game. We’ve come to expect him to be a great defensive force. He had six tackles this game but didn’t really provide anything else for his team defensively. Who would want to pass the ball anywhere near a safety that is so great at his position anyway though? The threat of him near a player is enough to force any quarterback to defer to another offensive weapon instead.

One player needs to be given a special mention this game, the defensive end Zach Skinner. Skinner was out for blood this game, he may have single handedly ended multiple drives. With his speed and strength he was able to get past the opposing team’s offensive lineman Grau and got two sacks, two tackles for loss and five tackles. That’s the perfect game from a defensive end in my opinion. If he can do that just three or four times a season he’ll be looking at being one of the top defensive ends in the entire league.

Moving onto the rookies, Thomas Carrasco was limited more in this game than either of the previous games in the preseason. He was only given the ball a single time and gained a single yard for the Wraiths.

Josh Parker had a really good game at wide receiver. He only had 4 receptions, but got a total of 40 yards for an average of 10 yards per reception. His longest reception netted the team a total of 14 yards. Each game he seems to show that he has the talent and upside to become a number one receiver.

Antonio Summer has all but solidified the fact that he’ll be playing wide receiver this upcoming season. With just a single reception Antonio Summer was able to get 36 yards for the Wraiths. He may have had other opportunities to catch the ball, but I think that one catch makes up for any other missed opportunities. He’s really showing himself as a player that could battle with Josh Parker for being the number one pass option on Yellowknife.

Bobson Dugnutt did not play this game again. The corner back core could really use him to keep from getting too tired during long defensive drives and adding a little boost to them, but management refuses to release a statement on Dugnutt’s condition.

Will Foster had a really rough game today. He didn’t have any positive impacts on the Wraiths’ defensive play and in fact the only place you can find him on the score sheet is in the penalties section where you’ll see he lost the Wraths’ defense a total of 10 yards on one penalty. He’ll be back working harder and smarter in the next game, I can tell you that/

Finally Avery Woodham is up and he again had a really positive impact as part of the defensive end group. With four tackles this game he definitely showed some consistency. You’d like to see that number go up a bit, but as long as he keeps making a few tackles every game I think you have to be happy with his performance.

Game 4:
The final game of the season came against the team known throughout the league as the easy win on their calendar, the Philadelphia Liberty. The defensive game of Yellowknife really shined in this game, as well as the work of some specific receivers. The Wraiths ended up winning the game by a score lopsided score of 23 - 3 where the Liberty’s only points were scored in the third quarter of the game on a field goal. We’ll be looking at Brad Pennington (quarterback), Robby Rainey (running back), Glenn McPoyal (tight end), Ramadan Steve (defensive tackle), Chad Pennington (line backer), Thad Pennington (safety), and Zhang Skinner (defensive end) as well as the rookies.

Brad Pennington seems to be doomed to always have a rating between 60 and 70 no matter which team he plays. This game looks especially rough considering the opponents. He managed to throw two interceptions this game and did not get any touchdowns himself. Perhaps as his options in ball distribution improve we’ll see his play improve, but as of right now it’s a little tough to feel optimistic considering the play we’ve seen from him in the past four games.

Robby Rainey closed out the season by once again being what could be described only as an all star running back. Over 31 carries Rainey was able to get 114 yards for the Wraiths with an average of 3.7 yards per carry and scoring two touchdowns. At this rate he seems like he could become a fan favorite on offense. The fans may be a little upset to find out that he’ll be playing the defensive side of the ball this season, but room needs to be made for the up and coming rookies that are eager to play some ball!

Glenn McPoyal once again showed how great of an option he is when he’s utilized by his quarterback. Quick and short passes may the way to go this season for Yellowknife. McPoyal got a whopping 100 yards for the Wraiths through just seven receptions, coming out to 14.3 yards per reception on average. Surprisingly he was able to pick up a ton of extra yards beyond the catch on one play to gain 32 yards on a single reception. Expect McPoyal to be one of the top tight ends this season, he’s going to be given the ball a lot.

Ramadan Steve is a defensive tackle that you don’t generally see on the score sheet. He doesn’t usually play a whole ton of downs and has been having a rough couple of seasons. This game however he showed why the Wraiths are still holding out hope for him to have a breakout season. With an awesome stat line of nine tackles, one tackle for loss and two sacks, Steve made a name for himself out there. The coaches rewarded his play with more downs and he took advantage of it. We may see him on the field more often than we have in past seasons.

Chad Pennington had another game where he seemed to lose his mojo. He only made five tackles this game, though that could be the result of his defensive ends picking up a ton of slack this game. To make up for it he had one sack and one pass deflected. An average game for him at best, but one that still felt like he was a good member of the defense.

Thad Pennington had a really interesting game that deserves to be highlighted. He made five tackles which is fairly average, however the interesting part is that he made a sack. It seems that the Liberty offensive line really dropped the ball today, there’s no way that a safety should be sacking the quarterback, but his speed and agility were too much for the offensive line to handle. That’s a game changing play right there and something that you really love to see.

Zach Skinner again had an absolutely fonaminal game. His four tackles weren’t really the talk of the town, but getting two tackles for loss and one sack is absolutely amazing. We’re going to see a lot more out of Skinner this season than we ever have before, you can feel it every time he’s on the field. This defensive end is really helping to drop up the defensive line, along with some help from the rookies.

None Forfeit preseason ended with what I would call his best game of the preseason. He was two for two on extra point attempts as you’d expect, but where he really shined was when he went for field goals. He scored one field goal from 29 yards out, one field goal from 31 yards and out for the first time this preseason he scored a field goal from 40+ yards out at exactly 45 yards. Even though he went one for two on field goal attempts from 40+ yards I’d call that a success. Great stuff to see from your kicker, that’s what we like to see.

For the fourth game in a row Thomas Carrasco was snubbed. He was once again only given the ball a single time and made a run for five yards with it. This has been really disappointing to see I think for everyone. The preseason is the time to let the rookies shine and see what they can do. Meanwhile all we saw was more of the same from a running back who isn’t even going to be playing running back anymore. We’ll see what Carrasco is made of in the regular season, but this honestly felt like a big wait.

Josh Parker seems to have become the defacto number one wide receiver. This game he led the team in receptions, yards from receptions and yards per reception. He had a total of seven receptions netting him 113 yards and an average of 16.1 yards per reception. His longest yard gain in a single play was 32, tied with Glenn McPoyal for the most in the entire game. Not bad for a rookie. This is the beginning of a new era in Yellowknife for sure.


Antonio Summer is doing a stellar job of adjusting to wide receiver. Though he isn’t near the top of the options Brad Pennington has to choose from yet, he’s working his way up the ladder. WIth three receptions he gained a total of 31 yards for an average of 10.3 yards per reception. Averaging a first down per reception is pretty dang good in my opinion. Expect him to be right up there with Josh Parker very soon.

Avery Woodham was arguably the top defensive player this game, right up there with Ramadan Steve. He made a total of nine tackles and managed to get a sack to boot! I say this every game, but he really is becoming a great defensive end. I think he could even become an all star some day. It’s just a matter of continually improving and player his game.

Bobson Dugnutt did not play in the final game of the preseason. Management has stated that he will begin playing at the start of the regular season and they plan on him playing the entire season in Yellowknife.

Will Foster had a great game like the one he had against the Orange County Otters. He had one tackle and one sack. If he can consistently make a sack a game then he’ll be doing his job. You can bet he’ll be working hard to add even more value to his playing time too.

Review
In review, I’d say that the Yellowknife Wraiths had a really good preseason. I could have seen them going 4 - 0 instead of 3 - 1 if a few things were different but considering the number of rookies they on both offense and defense my final rating has to be “not too shabby.” The rookies are already improving and you’re going to notice it in the regular season. However, considering the weird strategies every team was trying you have to expect that the Wraiths still won’t finish very high this season. Their offensive weapons aren’t developed enough and their defense took a big hit. In a season or two you may see this team be on the up and up. But for now, we can be happy that they looked as good as they did in the preseason.

The Missing Quarterback
Practices in Yellowknife have been a little rough. Brad Pennington has decided to stop showing up. He doesn't come to the field, he doesn't lift weights, he hasn't even bought new shoulder pads or cleats for this season. With this in mind, the Wraiths are a little worried. With all contact with the team cut off they were extremely surprised to see that Pennington showed up to the preseason games and the first regular season game. The kicker None Forfeit was all ready to be the starting quarterback but was extremely relieved when Pennington showed up. Unfortunately he still averages about 2 interceptions a game. This lack of development may hinder the play off the young Yellowknife team for seasons to come unless he begins to work on his game again or a new quarterback is found.

A Rookie Sneak Peek
Antonio Summer
Summer has been improving his talents every single week. Taking huge strides in the off season and doing the little things right every practice. He was already one of the fastest players in the league coming into it, but now he's refined his talents by becoming a better catcher and more agile. When I look at him I don't see a player that will be a running back for life, I see someone who is going to flourish into a top receiver. He already he has the speed and agility to get open, but he may need to work on his hands to make sure he's able to catch the ball more often. In the very near future I see him being one of the top speed receivers in the league. He'll be running streaks down the field and getting massive yard receptions for the Wraiths.

Josh Parker
Josh Parker is just as promising as Antonio Summer. He's another speedy wide receiver like Summer is becoming, but he is currently a little slower than him and less agile. With some more practice and possibly by getting some new equipment he will become another great speed receiver for the Wraiths. He'll be catching balls far down the field for seasons to come.

Will Foster
Will Foster is the kind of player that becomes better very incrementally. It seems that he makes huge breakthroughs in his strengths at certain milestones. He's already fast enough to break through the offensive line and strong enough to shove them out of the way, but he could use some work on his tackling technique as well as some cardio work. If he didn't improve a bit for the rest of his career I still think he'd be an incredibly valuable asset to his team, but that's not best case scenario. The hope is that he becomes the top defensive tackle in the league because he has that kind of upside.

Thomas Carrasco
Thomas Carrasco is working on one thing right now. Getting faster and faster. This past week he did nothing but run sprints over and over and the effects of it are already visible. If he keeps improving the way he has been he'll be more than a serviceable running back who will do great with the carries he's given.

Bobson Dugnutt
Dugnutt is probably the fastest cornerback in this rookie class. He's been starting to work on his hands to help deflect passes and get interceptions. He's already quick enough to get to the ball, but his tackling leaves something to be desired as well. Still, being a rookie and playing this well isn't anything to sneeze at. The potential is clearly there. Give him a season and Dugnutt will be a mainstay on the Wratihs' defense up there with the likes of Dermot Lavelle.

Avery Woodham
Woodham has seemed to stagnate in his development. Fortunately he's to the point where he's a valuable asset right now. He's exceptionally fast which allows him to get to the ball carrier much faster than they expect and take them down. If he were to improve just a little more you'd expect to see him get more tackles because he could be a little stronger and his technique could be better. The way it is right now though, he's a great stopgap for the future.

Chad Pennington's First Game: A Short Look Into the Regular Season
Yellowknife lost their first game of the regular season and Chad Pennington can't help but feel a little responsible personally. He's the middle line backer. Someone that you expect to get a good amount of tackles every game. Instead of that, Chad was only able to get an abysmal three tackles. He did deflect two passes, but those stats really don't mean very much to him. Sure it's a great way to stop a play dead in its tracks, but he's not a corner back or safety. Chad is supposed to be going for sacks and tackles for loss. In the coming games he's vowed to limit the other teams' running backs to less yards. In this particular game Ryan Applehort was able to give the ball to Owen Taylor 15 times for 77 total yards. In his opinion that's just awful for the Wraiths. The running game can't be an option when you play the Wraiths, that's Chad Pennington's personal job. Expect him to come back hitting harder and playing smarter in the next game. This was unacceptable.

When asked what he could do to improve his game Chad Pennington was somewhat at a loss for words. He's been asking his coaches what he can do every week for nearly three seasons. Now he's at the point where the coaches don't really know what to say. He's as strong as can humanly become. He's as agile as an route running wide receiver. He has the football IQ to be in charge of the defense. He's fast enough to be the team's running back. His hands are good enough to where he can intercept the ball and be sure not to fumble it back to the other team. Now he's to the point where all he can work on his making small strides in his tackling technique and his cardio, but what sort of effect will that have on his game? The argument could be made that Chad needs to be on the field as much as possible because the line backer position took a huge hit this offseason so he'll probably be spending the bulk of his team running and sprinting, but once he's to the point where he can go all out for every player all that is left is perfecting his tackling technique. Then what? He becomes the backup kicker? The backup quarterback? Maybe it'll just be about prolonging his career. In any case, Chad is starting to feeling like he's about to hit his ceiling. If his ceiling is three tackles and two passes deflected a game that is going to be extremely depressing for him.

[run_CMC]

well fellas that’s a lot of words

[caltroit_red_flames]

well fellas that’s a lot of words

I needed money and wanted the 4.5 mil bonus for hitting 6k words

[manicmav36]

I needed money and wanted the 4.5 mil bonus for hitting 6k words

Your dedication is impressive.

[caltroit_red_flames]

Your dedication is impressive.

You don't become the all time tackles leader without a little elbow grease