Week 14 – Breathless Pregame Hype on Local Sports Radio Station
Jupiter is a very tough team, no shock there. They are perennial contenders for top honors, and this year they are sitting at 10-2, once again targeting the top slot in their conference—they are tied with Cap City (the defenfing conference champs). So, they have a good deal at stake here – even though they are rather unlikely to lose their anticipated bye week in the playoffs.
Despite that, I actually think we match up fairly well with this team. They are pretty solid everywhere – but not a one-dimensional team, exactly. I don’t think we’ll have as much luck running the ball right up the gut as we have with a few other opponents, so will have to diffuse the offense a bit more. But I do think that we ought to be able to move the ball on them, and I do think that we have a shot to contain their offense, at least within reason. Jupiter is tops in the league power ratings – but I give us a shot to pull off a mild upset here at home this week.
I might note here, as we build up to the game, that there’s a very interesting stat out there for our team. Among “full time” rushers in the FOFL, RB Bill Briner currently has the highest yards per carry average of anyone in the league, currently at 4.86 yards per carry. Here’s the entire list of qualifying ball carries who are over 4 yards a carry on the year:
Code:
Rushing Statistics
Player Pos Team GP GS Att Yards Avg Lg TD
Foster, Benjamin RB LAS 12 4 139 732 5.26 80 5
**Briner, Bill RB CHE 12 12 199 968 4.86 50 6
Rosenfels, Ross RB BRH 12 12 291 1401 4.81 70 10
Aragon, Deron RB CAP 5 5 87 414 4.75 44 4
Todd, Martin RB FRE 12 12 246 1166 4.73 70 10
Chapman, Preston RB NRW 12 0 115 543 4.72 73 4
Thomas, Walter RB JUP 8 8 178 835 4.69 38 5
Vinatieri, Quinn RB HDV 12 12 260 1209 4.65 35 7
Conley, Chuck RB ROY 12 12 247 1141 4.61 51 10
Maxwell, Erik RB AWN 12 12 216 995 4.60 66 6
DeLorraine, Arnie RB TOR 12 12 205 943 4.60 63 4
Jacob, Rickey RB AYR 12 12 210 965 4.59 62 4
Lombardo, Albert RB SLB 12 12 162 718 4.43 57 1
Spahr, Kyle RB MAD 12 12 210 926 4.40 28 3
Roger, Robert FB DGC 12 12 334 1443 4.32 55 9
Olson, Lee RB JER 12 12 342 1472 4.30 31 12
Sherman, Stephen RB SCA 12 1 122 524 4.29 27 7
Wilkins, Skip RB NRW 12 12 139 587 4.22 16 1
Murphy, Patrick RB TEX 12 12 186 759 4.08 56 7
**Wunderlich, Bill FB CHE 12 12 76 307 4.03 13 3
Shaw, Luther RB WAS 12 12 285 1144 4.01 57 7
I don’t understand Benjamin Foster at all – he’s a weak-skilled runner on a 3-9 team, but has been impressively efficient in what seems like part-time duty. Briner is just ahead of Ross Rosenfels, a workhorse back who was the 1(3) draft selection a few years ago for a run-first team in Bar Harbor.
Chesapeake has a pretty well-earned reputation over the years as a pass-first team, and we’ve never really invested all that much into either our RB group or the offensive line. But right now, with Briner coming aboard as a veteran free agent a couple of years ago, FB Wunderlich arriving via trade, and an offensive line that is playing together awfully well – we surprisingly are getting more done on the ground than most teams, and are more effective with that sode of the offense than the much-rumored Brent Sedor aerial circus. Intriguing.
The offensive line, through 12 games, has been the real fuel for this ground game success:
Code:
Blocking Statistics
Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Turnbull, Winston C CHE 12 12 31 74 41.8 2 415 0.4 355 20.8
Kolodzik, Horace T CHE 12 12 20 50 40.0 3 412 0.7 362 13.8
Tilton, Stanley T CHE 9 9 10 33 30.3 1 293 0.3 221 14.9
Brandon, Marvin G CHE 12 11 10 33 30.3 2 384 0.5 319 10.3
Burns, Jerry T CHE 10 9 9 30 30.0 2 292 0.6 276 10.8
Schmit, Gus G CHE 8 6 7 26 26.9 2 224 0.8 196 13.2
Aggregated Stats 87 246 35.3 2.4 404 0.6
Horace Kolodzik, our main breakout player from this offseason, has really helped with a good effort from both the LT and RT slots, while we have gotten solid performance from everyone along the line, really. This group wasn’t a big investment for this team – Tilton was a first round pick, Kolodzik was a veteran minsal free agent pickup, and the rest of them were after-draft free agent rookie signings… but right now, this line is probably the strength of the offense for us. I’m pretty certain that 35% KRBs and an 0.6% SkA% put us on the plus side in both regards – probably outperforming some offensive lines who were built with much more investment of cap space and draft picks.
Code:
Front Office Football 2004
Chesapeake Chili Dogs Roster, Contract View
Player # Pos Start OnTm EndCnt Exp Cap Cost Save if Rls
Turnbull, Winston 54 C C 2008 2012 3 $600,000 $190,000
**Saladino, Bobby 67 LG 2009 2011 12 $1,000,000 $690,000
Schmit, Gus 66 LG LG 2008 2010 3 $710,000 $260,000
Brandon, Marvin 60 RG RG 2008 2010 3 $1,000,000 $190,000
##Tilton, Stanley 79 LT 2005 2012 6 $4,000,000 $2,690,000
Kolodzik, Horace 73 LT LT 2009 2011 6 $700,000 $390,000
Burns, Jerry 75 RT RT 2009 2010 2 $450,000 $140,000
Reserves
Houtz, John 52 C 2003 2012 12 $1,090,000 $510,000
Lambeau, Wendell 55 C 2009 2011 3 $410,000 $100,000
Boyd, Lenny 61 LT 2010 2012 5 $850,000 $490,000
Not a bad investment, really.
Okay, gang – home stand against a top team. Show ‘em what you’re made of!