09-18-2018, 12:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-22-2018, 01:18 PM by caltroit_red_flames.)
Chad Pennington has been having a pretty good season during his third NSFL campaign. However when you look at the big picture the Yellowknife Wraiths are only tied for second in their conference. Is there anything more Chad could be doing to help this? Is it a matter of luck that the Wraiths find themselves in their current position? Or are the Wraiths in a position of retooling while their QB matures a little more and the roster takes some time to improve after losing a few stars over the past 2 seasons? Is the team under performing? There are lots of questions to be asked, and Chad has some insight into the situation that others may not. So ask away, whether your questions are about the divide that there was between Chad and Brad, or about the team's development, he's happy to answer all questions.
To be honest I think I've become incredibly 1 dimensional. For the past 3 seasons I've mainly been a tackler, which is fine. We need to tackle the offensive players to keep them from getting down the field. But I feel like I could be doing more. Every season I work on my speed and strength, but it doesn't seem like I'm getting any faster or stronger since maybe halfway through my only season in the DSFL so I've been working with a personal trainer to improve other parts of my game. We've been doing a ton of different stuff to make me a more well rounded player. I've always focused on my upper body and leg strength, but he's taught me some really great core exercises to help me stay ready for every play and not get tired during long drives without breaks. We've been doing a lot of work with ladders (the kind you put on the ground, not the kind used for gaining elevation) and it's a made me way more agile and I'm starting to see the difference on the field from that. I'm getting around blocks a lot easier and it's translating to sacks on the field (something I've been trying to get better at for my entire career). We've been working on my tackling technique to help improve my chances of actually taking down the guy with the ball and that's made a huge difference. I didn't realize how sloppy I'd look in college and high school, but now running backs aren't powering through me. If I'm even near them you can be sure that I'll be the guy to take them down. Finally we've been working on my hands, something that none of my coaches or personal trainers had ever done with me and it's been a total blessing. I'm not usually in a position to bat down a pass, but if the opportunity is ever there I know for a fact that I'm able to get it now. On top of that I know exactly how to tackle a player to get the ball out of their hands and it's already caused one of fumble and I actually recovered a fumble this season too. So this personal trainer has really helped my stat line become less lopsided toward tackles. I'm still top 5 in the league for tackles, but I also have one tackle for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery, 3 sacks, and 2 passes defended. So what can I do to improve myself as a player? Keep working with this personal trainer to be less one dimensional. I'll never stop making tackles, but if I can stay a tackling machine and bat a couple passes away and make a few sacks in each game then I'm doing a ton more for the team by just doing all the little things right.
To be honest this is a tough question. I've never been the kind of guy to look at other people and say "you need to do more for the team," I've always been the guy who looks at myself to get better. Telling other guys they need to do something else better usually is just a distraction from focusing on your own problems. Even when I served as captain of the Tijuana Luchadores I was more of a guy who led by example than someone who told other people their faults. We have coaches for a reason, I was their to keep morale high and be an example to follow on the field. But looking at the stats for our team there really are some things we could be better at.
Brad has been completing passes at a rate of 57% which isn't bad by any means, but we're a team that is trying to win right now and to do that I think your quarterback has to be exceptional. The thing is Brad, Thad and I are triplets so we're all the same age. That means I know pretty much exactly what he's going through, and right now he's just not the total seasoned vet that a guy like Fitzpatrick of Maximus III is. You might think that sounds a little harsh, but I never said he was playing bad, we're just young. You'll see Brad, Thad and I light it up real soon, maybe as soon as next season and you'll know that I was right then.
A huge issue I think is that we aren't utilizing the running game as much as we could be. It seems like we're very much a passing team which is okay, not every team can have a Smallwood or a Mackworthy. But at some point our running backs have to players that we can give the ball to and know we're going to get at least 3 yards from. Right now it just doesn't feel like that. I think Colorado is the only team that has given their top running back the ball fewer times than we have. I practice with Robby Rainey every day, it's not like he's a bad player... Look the coaches know best, they're doing their job great, I just have never been on a team that doesn't have the run game as a strong part of their offense and I worry that if we run into a strong defensive team in the playoffs they're going to play a pass defense and totally shut us down because we don't have any tricks up our sleeve.
Right now our kicker isn't as consistent as he needs to be. This will sound like knit picking but he's missed 2 extra point attempts and has an 85% field goal percentage. This is the guy who we expect to go on the field and put the ball through the posts every chance we have him, and when he isn't able to do that one thing it can cost us games. 85% might be good enough for other teams, but it isn't good enough for me. Sure, we need the rest of our offense to get him into good field goal position, but sometimes the the cards don't fall that way and you need to make do with what you have. If he can't do that we need to find someone who can.
Tweed, Stone and myself are doing a real great job keeping other team's offenses from getting yards. Stone is 2nd in the league for tackles with 93, I'm 5th in the league with 86, and Tweed is 7th in the league with 80. I think together we form the strongest linebacker group in the entire league. But I think that shows where our biggest issue is on defense. We shouldn't be getting so many tackles, or at least we shouldn't be forced to get so many tackles. Right now we probably have the last defensive end group and defensive tackle group you would want to have out of any team in the league. Ricky Maddox is a player who has been in the league since it was formed and he never really lived up to the expectations that the team had for him. He's been slowly fizzling out. That sounds harsh, but the guy doesn't even come to practice so I don't feel like holding back. Then at the other end of the spectrum is Zach Skinner who is from the draft class before the Penningtons, so he's still a young player and that's really the only issue. He needs time to develop. Unfortunately we don't really have that kind of time as we're kind of in a win now mode on the team. The issue with the defensive tackles is pretty much the same. Gustav Rodriguez doesn't come to practice and he hasn't improved at all since he's been on the team (nearly four seasons). Meanwhile we have two young guys who look like they have great careers ahead of them, but they were just drafted this past off season and need time to develop. The silver lining here is that we have the top linebacker group in the league to pick up the slack along with Dermot Lavelle and Cameron Taylor in the backfield to cover up their mistakes. So as rough as they are, the post line of scrimmage players are there to take care of business.
Absolutely. Look at my personal stats, I haven't played better in my entire National Simulation Football League career. During the off season when Brad was holding out I was having a real rough time thinking that not only was our team going to be without a quarter back, but I would never get to play another down of football with Brad after the argument we had in our final Development Simulation Football League game. But now that he's decided to stay I feel like I'm a new man. I'm tackling at a higher rate than ever and we still have 4 games left in the season, there's way more pep in my step on the field because I know that stopping the other team's drive puts Brad in a better position to get a touchdown for us and I trust him to get it done if we can get him in a good position to do it. The three of us are a unit. Thad is finally playing in the NSFL too and to have us all be in the gym together or practicing on the field takes me back to the days of high school and college ball where we dominated every game we played. I think we'll get to that point again really soon, it's just a matter of time before the three of us really take off and start dismantling other team's defenses and tackling offenses into submission. This is what we've dreamed of our entire lives.
Honestly the morale level is basically... non existent. I don't really hear of a lot of chatter in there. It's pretty much we all go to practice, we buy our equipment each season, we tell the league we're still playing, we play our games and move on. The great thing about this is that when we lose it's no big deal. The sad thing is that when we win it's also no big deal. Of course there are guys like Dermot Lavelle, myself, James Brown, Thad, Boss Tweed, Cameron Taylor and a few others who are talking and stuff. But there could be a lot more going on. Surprisingly when we beat the New Orleans Second Line in our last game the locker room was actually really exciting. The GM came in to talk with us and say how great we did, Brad stayed a while to talk, Thad was super excited and let everyone have some of his tequila. It was just a great place to be. I hope every week can be like that, because it was just a great atmosphere. Maybe it just takes winning games to get people more excited about what we have in Yellowknife. The way things are trending I think we'll be winning more often than not. Which is good because our expectations for this season were pretty high and when we started out not doing so well people were getting pretty upset with the results. Gotta trust the process.
It hasn't been that bad actually. After a talk with our coach and gm I moved from outside line backer to middle line backer. I told them I wanted to be an effective player from the start and they told me I'd be getting tackles from the get go with my abilities as a rookie. We've revisited my positioning each season but I've gotten comfortable being the middle line backer and I'm hoping to break the record for the most tackles in a season and in a career at some point so I plan on being a middle line backer for the rest of my career to maximize the number of tackles I get. This season I'm on track to get 120 tackles which would break the Yellowknife Wraiths record for most tackles in a season (currently 118) so I think I've fully adjusted to the NSFL. I know some other positions have a more difficult time like cornerback, defensive end and quarterback, but I think the fact that my position is bit simpler than theirs combined with me being a bit more NSFL ready in my draft year than other plays has made my adjustment easier than it would be for most players. My job is tackle the guy with the ball. Obviously there's a little more to it, but I don't have the responsibility of being in charge of the entire offense, intercepting passes or covering tight ends, etc. I tackle the running back or quarterback and if I do real well I get a sack or a tackle for loss in the box score. If I do the bare minimum I get a tackle. If I screw up there are guys behind me to cover up my mistakes. A lot less pressure than most other positions I'd say.
Right now it's a toss up between us and the Yeti for making it in just like it was last year when we missed the playoffs by 1 game. It was a huge disappointment for us and I think it lit a fire under the entire team. It forced us to make some changes to our roster and that showed our players that the GMs are really looking for the guys are willing to go the extra mile on the squad.
If you look at the teams we'll be playing vs the teams that Colorado have left to play it doesn't really paint any more clear of a picture of who you can expect to make the playoffs. Both Yellowknife and Colorado play San Jose, Philadelphia, and Orange County one more time each as well as playing each other in week 13. I think it really comes down to head to head play again, and based on the past we have Colorado beat in that. Earlier this season we beat them by a score of 30 to 13 and we can easily do it again. I see us making the playoffs with a record of 9 and 5 if I have to be realistic, but my goal is to have us finish with a record of 10 and 4 this season. We just beat the New Orleans Second Line this past week, we can beat anyone.
It's tough any time you have to trade your quarterback, but Akselsen is at the end of his career and will be retiring after this season so it was the right move to make objectively. Even better though, selfishly, I love the trade because I finally get to play with my brothers again. Thad came up from the minors this season which has been something I've been looking forward to for a long time, but when I got the news that Brad was coming to town I was totally ecstatic. I was practically heart broken when he got drafted to San Jose and it was a tough first two seasons playing without either of my brothers. Now I think you can even tell that I'm more excited to be on the field just from my stats. There are still four games left in the season and I already have more tackles, tackles for loss and sacks than I have in any other season before this one. Brad is a great quarterback who I've played for nearly my entire life and it's great to have him back on the field with me. Still, I won an Ultimus with Akselsen when the odds were stacked against us. We beat the Baltimore Hawks in the first round and then went on to beat the New Orleans Second Line in the Ultimus and that's something I'll never forget, especially since it happened in my rookie season. So I have to extend my gratitude toward Akselsen. He helped me come into this league as a rookie and led the squad to the one thing that every football player dreams of winning when they grow up. The past was incredible with him. Now we have Brad who can hopefully take us there again. I know we can get there again real soon with him. If it doesn't happen this year then the rest of the NSFL better watch out next season because that's when I think we're really going to hit our stride. And there won't be any stopping us once we do.
We had a really rough patch at the start of the season where we lost three games in a row against teams that we felt we either should have beaten or at least done better against. Then we got over the hump and have played really well ever since. We beat the New Orleans Second Line most recently which was a huge boost to our confidence going down the final stretch, but before that we beat San Jose, Orange County, Philadelphia, Colorado, and Arizona. Baltimore is the only team this season that has been able to go 2 and 0 against us. So lately I think the team is feeling really great about how we're doing. And having confidence helps you play better so I think by the end of the season we're going to be a team that truly believes we have what it takes to win another Ultimus. Personally I think Brad has been playing super well lately, and when your quarterback is playing well then your offense is going to play well. So in short, yeah I'm really happy with how we've done lately. It's hard to be upset with your team's performance as of late when you just beat the supposed best team in the league in the New Orleans Second Line.
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What do you personally think you as a player could do better?Code:
The same question again, but answering for the team as a whole.Brad has been completing passes at a rate of 57% which isn't bad by any means, but we're a team that is trying to win right now and to do that I think your quarterback has to be exceptional. The thing is Brad, Thad and I are triplets so we're all the same age. That means I know pretty much exactly what he's going through, and right now he's just not the total seasoned vet that a guy like Fitzpatrick of Maximus III is. You might think that sounds a little harsh, but I never said he was playing bad, we're just young. You'll see Brad, Thad and I light it up real soon, maybe as soon as next season and you'll know that I was right then.
A huge issue I think is that we aren't utilizing the running game as much as we could be. It seems like we're very much a passing team which is okay, not every team can have a Smallwood or a Mackworthy. But at some point our running backs have to players that we can give the ball to and know we're going to get at least 3 yards from. Right now it just doesn't feel like that. I think Colorado is the only team that has given their top running back the ball fewer times than we have. I practice with Robby Rainey every day, it's not like he's a bad player... Look the coaches know best, they're doing their job great, I just have never been on a team that doesn't have the run game as a strong part of their offense and I worry that if we run into a strong defensive team in the playoffs they're going to play a pass defense and totally shut us down because we don't have any tricks up our sleeve.
Right now our kicker isn't as consistent as he needs to be. This will sound like knit picking but he's missed 2 extra point attempts and has an 85% field goal percentage. This is the guy who we expect to go on the field and put the ball through the posts every chance we have him, and when he isn't able to do that one thing it can cost us games. 85% might be good enough for other teams, but it isn't good enough for me. Sure, we need the rest of our offense to get him into good field goal position, but sometimes the the cards don't fall that way and you need to make do with what you have. If he can't do that we need to find someone who can.
Tweed, Stone and myself are doing a real great job keeping other team's offenses from getting yards. Stone is 2nd in the league for tackles with 93, I'm 5th in the league with 86, and Tweed is 7th in the league with 80. I think together we form the strongest linebacker group in the entire league. But I think that shows where our biggest issue is on defense. We shouldn't be getting so many tackles, or at least we shouldn't be forced to get so many tackles. Right now we probably have the last defensive end group and defensive tackle group you would want to have out of any team in the league. Ricky Maddox is a player who has been in the league since it was formed and he never really lived up to the expectations that the team had for him. He's been slowly fizzling out. That sounds harsh, but the guy doesn't even come to practice so I don't feel like holding back. Then at the other end of the spectrum is Zach Skinner who is from the draft class before the Penningtons, so he's still a young player and that's really the only issue. He needs time to develop. Unfortunately we don't really have that kind of time as we're kind of in a win now mode on the team. The issue with the defensive tackles is pretty much the same. Gustav Rodriguez doesn't come to practice and he hasn't improved at all since he's been on the team (nearly four seasons). Meanwhile we have two young guys who look like they have great careers ahead of them, but they were just drafted this past off season and need time to develop. The silver lining here is that we have the top linebacker group in the league to pick up the slack along with Dermot Lavelle and Cameron Taylor in the backfield to cover up their mistakes. So as rough as they are, the post line of scrimmage players are there to take care of business.
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With all three Penningtons finally ending up on Yellowknife, how has this affected all of your performances?Code:
What is morale like in the Yellowknife locker room, sitting at 6-4 halfway through the season.Code:
How has it been adjusting from the DSFL to the NSFL?Code:
How would you rate Yellowknife's chances of reaching the playoffs this year?If you look at the teams we'll be playing vs the teams that Colorado have left to play it doesn't really paint any more clear of a picture of who you can expect to make the playoffs. Both Yellowknife and Colorado play San Jose, Philadelphia, and Orange County one more time each as well as playing each other in week 13. I think it really comes down to head to head play again, and based on the past we have Colorado beat in that. Earlier this season we beat them by a score of 30 to 13 and we can easily do it again. I see us making the playoffs with a record of 9 and 5 if I have to be realistic, but my goal is to have us finish with a record of 10 and 4 this season. We just beat the New Orleans Second Line this past week, we can beat anyone.
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Thoughts on the Akselsen/Pennington trade?Code:
How happy/unhappy are you with Yellowknifes on field performances as of late?![[Image: caltroit_isfl.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/caltroit_isfl.gif)
