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Week 2
Claymores @ Admirals 10-14
By: TonVFor an explanation of the shovel rating system, head here.
by TonV
Intro
Unfortunately, work has prevented Velcro from finishing his usual report so far, which is why I decided to write a Trench Crew report. If Velcro decides that a better report is needed, it will be added!
Impressions
First homegame of the season and it is against the Claymores. We have a good record against the Scots at home and managed to extend it. The Claymores have a history of ups and downs: one year they suck completely, another they reach the World Bowl. This year, it would appear one of the former.
The weather was good, the power party sucked and a lot of the Scottish fans got drunk in Teasers with the Trench Crew. A fairly typical Claymores match!
Offense
To start with the bad... The offense played very poorly all game long. One could also argue that the Scottish defense performed very well of course, but they are not that good. Lets look at the stats: seven times we had to punt, 5 times Wynn was sacked and of the 12 third down situations, only four resulted in a new first down. There was pressure on qb Wynn the whole game and I am amazed that he managed a 61% completion for two tds and just one interception. He could turn out to be one of the best qbs in this league.
The o-line needs to step up and provide protection! We have the receivers that can make plays and a qb that can find them. Especially the last drive included some impressively accurate passes and badly beaten corner backs. That would automatically provide help for the rushing game, because 53 yards all night is atrocious.
I am giving the offense 2 shovels for their performance. Guys, we know you can do better! We saw a bit of it in week 1 and in that last drive.
Defense
And now for the good. Our defense shut down the Claymores completely. As above, one could argue that it was their offense that peformed horrendously. It is probably a mixture of both. Lets look at their offensive 'highlights': nine punts, 7 sacks, 0 third downs coverted out of 13 tries. And about half the total yardage the Admirals got on the night. To put it mildly, their offensive game stank and our defense made damn sure to keep it that way. The only points they were allowed came from fumbles on punts, one on our own 1 yard line. Even I could have scored from that distance with four tries. (Well... ok, probably not, but you get the point).
Run defense contained the Claymores backs to a measly 2.0 yard average and the passing defense looked sharp all night long, both in covering the receivers and in penetrating their leaky o-line.
Basically, the D performed as well as they did last week and earn another four shovels. Based on the stats alone it could have been five, but I have the sneaking suspicion that the Claymores offense of 2001 could be contenders for the worst offense of all time award...
Special Teams
Now for more bad news and good news. If it wasn't for the two fumbles on special teams, the Claymores would have gone home with zero points. Especially the second one was unnecessary: when there are three (!) players barreling down on you, call for the fair catch! Fair catch! Williams' head is probably still ringing from the blistering hit he got from Hutchinson, but to be honest, he deserved it. Fair catch! Call for the fair catch!
We still can't seem to kick or punt effectively. Punts have a hang time that makes the effort of punting seem wasted. I can't remember a kick-off that got past the 20 yard line.
The odd thing is, that the punt and kickoff coverage on the other hand seems superb. With these hang times and kick distances, I'm almost starting to believe that our guys just teleport in next to the returner. I can only dig up a total of 3 punt return yards for the Claymores.
Another item of note is that according to the stats, one punt was taken by our #12 WR O'Connor with a distance of 49 yards... Did coach Andrus get so upset with Jason Malecki that he just pulled a random body of the bench to take over, or did Malecki get injured? In any case, the result would suggest that O'Connor might just have himself a new job with the Admirals...
It is hard to rate the special teams. On the one hand they deserve a four on coverage on the other hand a two, bordering on a one because of the fumbles and hang times. However, because the two fumbles almost lost the game for us, I will have to go with the two. Get a bit more distance and hangtime in there boys, learn how to call for a fair catch and four shovels will be yours on a regular basis.
Coaching
Very very hard to rate. My uneducated impression is one of an adequate job. Velcro might have something more substantial to say, so I will just hand out three shovels.
Fans and other items of note
The fans were adequately loud. The last two minutes were great, but considering the level of play of the first half, I think we can't complain. Everyone shut up nicely on offense too. The only thing that bugged me was the fact that we can't seem to applaud injured players being carried off the field.
It turned out that the headsets of qb and coaches were not functioning all night long, making the noise of us fans an especially big factor. The Claymores wasted three timeouts in the first quarter and they were all due to noise and lack of communication. Lets keep it up for the next game! For those who are interested: the Claymores switched tight ends on every play to use them to transport the coaches instructions for the next play, giving rise to a Scottish rumour that the TEs were calling the offense.
The power party was pretty bad and the fact that the ticket booths were all the way on the other side of the stadium was just plain ridiculous. Finally: 12k+ attendance was ok, but we usually get a high turnout at the first homegame. Lets hope it doesn't drop off again.
Brief impression on the not so important games
Thunder @ Galaxy
The purple pack blew a quick 14 point lead to go 0-2 for the season which is always good for a few smiles around the rest of league. However qb Bishop still looks to be superb material, but he cannot carry the team all by himself. Still, we have to be careful not to become overconfident for next week! The Galaxy should be a lot better than Claymores and our o needs to perform a lot better if we want to go 2-1.
Fire @ Dragons
The Dragons keep on trucking with a 24-12 win. Fire qb Carmazzi had a horrible night with two interceptions returned for touchdowns. His qb rating is rather awful at the moment, but I doubt it is solely to blame on him. We weren't impressed with the Fire last week even though we lost, so they need to improve if they want to have a chance at a WB repeat. Dragons seem to be the only trouble free team and they might have smooth sailing all the way to the final.