The Chicago Hitmen, managed by dberner30, have been one of those cursed franchises who have never been able to put it all together. Their best seasons were in 2003 and 2005, when they sported 7-9 records. Last year they were 2-14, and this year they stand at 2-9-1. They are tied with Arizona for the worst career record at 31-76-1. They've continued to lose despite having one true standout on offense, RB Arthur Brady. Brady is the CFL's career rushing leader, carrying the ball 2628 times for 10759 yards as of this game. He's been so dominant that he has a 2000+ yd lead on the 2nd-place rusher.
But Chicago has, obviously, had problems in other areas. Many of those areas have been addressed in recent years, and this year they seemed on their way to making an improvement. But then they lost their starting QB in the preseason, traded for a replacement who didn't work out, and have unravelled ever since. Look for them to make a big turnaround next year, though.
Of course, with Chicago's troubles and Tucson's recent success one would think that we'd have the upper hand in this game. I've long since learned, however, that the FOF match engine can bite you in the petunias when you least expect it (see: loss to Santa Cruz earlier this year), and so I'm bracing for the worst.
Code:
Box Score: Tucson at Chicago
Chicago, IL.
Week 14, 2009
Attendance: 45,300 (65,300).
Weather: 68 degrees, fair.
1Q: 06:54 TUC - Rubin Castorena 52 field goal.
1Q: 03:28 TUC - Rubin Castorena 36 field goal.
2Q: 12:14 TUC - Drew Holliday 57 run.
2Q: 12:14 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
3Q: 05:10 CHI - Arthur Brady 3 pass from Gabe England.
3Q: 05:10 CHI - Jeffrey McNeil extra point.
3Q: 02:03 TUC - Rubin Castorena 56 field goal.
4Q: 02:18 TUC - Daryl Bradley 6 run.
4Q: 02:18 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
Game MVP: TUC 75 Howie Grier
Tucson 6 7 3 7 - 23
Chicago 0 0 7 0 - 7
Team Statistics TUC CHI
First Downs 14 21
Total Rushes 26 26
Rushing Yards 182 78
Yards Per Carry 7.0 3.0
Pass Attempts 23 33
Completions 9 21
Passing Yards 107 240
Yards Per Attempt 4.6 7.2
Sacked 2 8
Yards Lost 8 51
Interceptions 0 1
Fumbles/Lost 1/1 1/0
Total Plays 51 67
Total Yards 281 267
Yards Per Play 5.5 3.9
3rd Down Plays 4/11 6/14
Avg. YTG on 3rd 6.5 11.2
4th Down Plays 0/0 0/1
Penalties 5 4
Penalty Yards 30 45
Avg. Drive Start OWN 35 OWN 19
Time Of Possession 25:13 34:47
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Holliday 19 141 7.4 57 1
22 Bradley 4 33 8.2 12 1
26 Jeffries 2 10 5.0 7 0
4 Hogan 1 -2 -2.0 -2 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
4 Hogan 23 9 107 4.6 33 0 0 2
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
26 Jeffries 3 18 6.0 16 11 0
80 Higginbotham 2 26 13.0 1 18 0
87 Sheehy 1 33 33.0 0 33 0
89 Armitage 1 14 14.0 4 14 0
22 Bradley 1 7 7.0 0 7 0
82 Torres 1 9 9.0 2 9 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
22 Bradley 4 61 15.2 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
85 Garcia 2 45 22.5 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 3 137 45.6 51 2
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
13 Castorena 3 3 56 2 2
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
93 King 9 1 1.0 0 0 0
32 Hartung 8 1 0.0 0 0 0
75 Grier 7 2 2.5 0 0 0
31 Enoch 6 5 0.0 0 0 0
55 Trujillo 6 1 0.0 0 0 0
97 Horn 3 3 1.0 0 0 0
37 Rosenberry 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
90 Jarrard 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
73 Smith 2 2 1.0 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 2 1 1.0 0 0 0
72 Bernard 2 0 1.0 0 0 0
40 Biggs 2 3 0.0 1 0 0
33 Mirer 1 2 0.5 0 0 0
25 Minahan 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
26 Jeffries 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
82 Torres 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
29 McCloskey 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
30 Robbins 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
56 Brkich 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
64 Connell 0 0 0 0 5 1
71 Franck 0 0 0 0 3 1
63 Pitman 0 0 0 0 2 0
31 Enoch 0 1 0 0 0 0
80 Higginbotham 1 0 0 0 0 0
61 Eaddy 0 0 0 0 1 0
Chicago Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Brady 17 32 1.8 9 0
22 Radke 6 42 7.0 14 0
5 England 2 3 1.5 4 0
85 Mahoney 1 1 1.0 1 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
5 England 33 21 240 7.2 47 1 1 8
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
42 Brady 7 58 8.2 1 14 1
87 Dawkins 5 46 9.2 2 10 0
84 Worden 3 19 6.3 1 10 0
89 Morton 2 22 11.0 2 12 0
85 Mahoney 2 57 28.5 28 47 0
80 Schultz 2 38 19.0 4 23 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
80 Schultz 1 1 1.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
27 Norton 3 49 16.3 0
84 Worden 1 16 16.0 0
47 Quinn 1 12 12.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
7 Grooms 7 290 41.4 46 5
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
17 McNeil 0 0 0 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
51 Haynesworth 6 2 0.0 0 0 0
78 Askins 5 2 1.0 0 0 0
98 D'Ottavio 5 3 0.5 0 0 0
94 Kline 3 0 0.5 0 0 0
43 Hoagland 3 3 0.0 0 0 0
53 Garner 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
28 Jones 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
96 Lalonde 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
30 Brady 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
23 Duran 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Saunders 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
7 Grooms 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
47 Quinn 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
89 Morton 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
20 Lincoln 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
55 Flynn 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
27 Norton 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
21 Campbell 0 4 0.0 0 0 0
92 Reilly 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
68 Hainkel 0 0 0 0 0 1
69 Jordan 0 0 1 0 1 2
55 Flynn 0 0 0 0 1 2
73 Pisano 0 0 0 0 1 2
64 Wall 0 0 0 0 2 1
89 Morton 0 0 0 0 2 0
42 Brady 1 0 0 0 0 0
47 Quinn 0 1 0 0 0 0
23 Duran 0 0 1 0 0 0
Tucson Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 10:41 3:47 OWN 29 9 36 Field Goal
1 5:45 2:17 OPP 41 6 22 Field Goal
2 14:06 1:52 OWN 39 4 61 Touchdown
2 5:01 1:17 OWN 25 3 7 Punt
2 0:18 0:18 OWN 5 1 2 Half
3 15:00 3:02 OWN 35 5 22 Punt
3 5:10 3:07 OWN 36 5 25 Field Goal
4 13:41 2:23 OWN 18 5 18 Punt
4 9:50 0:25 OWN 49 3 18 Fumble
4 7:48 5:30 OWN 33 10 67 Touchdown
4 0:04 0:04 OPP 42 1 -2 Game
Chicago Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 4:19 OWN 23 6 11 Punt
1 6:54 1:09 OWN 15 2 10 Interception
1 3:28 4:22 OWN 24 5 17 Punt
2 12:14 7:13 OWN 20 11 32 Punt
2 3:44 3:26 OWN 22 9 32 Punt
3 11:58 6:48 OWN 3 13 97 Touchdown
3 2:03 3:22 OWN 20 7 24 Punt
4 11:18 1:28 OWN 14 3 -3 Punt
4 9:25 1:37 OWN 33 3 4 Punt
4 2:18 2:14 OWN 19 8 23 Downs
Tucson Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
2 1 1
Chicago Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
1 1 0
Much like our earlier loss to Santa Cruz, this game featured some puzzling about-faces for our Toros. One of our strengths, pass defense, fell apart under the withering assault of a
very green QB. One of our weaknesses, however, the pass rush, magically converted into a strength via our 8 sacks. Our offensive strength this season has been our passing game, which was held in check by Chicago's talented secondary. Instead, our heretofore hibernating running game roared back with an outstanding game. To top it all off, our kicking game, which has sucked most of the season, came through in a big way with 2 50+ yarders. Weird game.
Some bad news on the injury front, however: we lost starting DT Kenneth Neubauer for 25 weeks with a torn rotator cuff, and his backup Henry Stansell is now out for 5 weeks with a separated shoulder. Special teams stud/backup RB extraordinaire Daryl Bradley is also doubtful with an abdominal strain. Our injury list is getting absurdly long, and we're not getting folks back very quickly. We've got six players listed as "out" and a variety of others unavailable to play. If we could let up a bit I'd be happy to rest some injured starters, but as you'll see in my next post, we can't afford that luxury yet.