(Sorry for the long email)
Fellas,
I've gotten word and the impression that this QB thing is somewhat decided, and probably in Chaz's favor right now. Chaz deserves a shot. I understand some of you are on the fence and would like to see Chaz in a couple of scrimmages with the playbook and all the WRs and weapons we have now - I know thats not going to happen until after ramadan. Some of you want a split QB situation - I guess "a between the 20s QB" and a redzone/conversion QB. I think Chaz can do well at QB, and with my knees I dont have another position to play. If you try and force me in as TE or DE/LB, i'd be playing ahead of someone more effective than me, I have no plans on being a coach - and I have no plans to stick around until the end of august or early september to find out im not the QB anymore. If you want a platoon at QB, id basically only be playing 25% of the time. Maybe its best for me to go find a new home as a QB on another squad.
I didnt want to throw stats out at anybody because I didnt want to sway anyones decision, and I didnt want to come off defensive - but I have been holding this in for a while so i'll throw it out there to get it off my chest. I'm not trying to change anyones mind either. Essentially I feel (right or wrong) like the major argument against me (aside from tunnel visison) is that our offense isnt productive enough. Overall, I don't quite understand how the offense is going to improve much if anything after scoring 423 points in 2 years (2nd only to swag with 424 and we had a forfeit). On conversions, I know we werent great, but we were still one of the better teams in the league at it. Of the teams that scored 20 TDs or more, only Swag and code Red had a higher conversion rate than we did. Additionally, I dont think our redzone offense is as bad as everyone is making it out to be. When we have 4 downs, for the most part we scored. We didnt against (1) the Union in week 3 on our 1st drive, (2) against the Canes in Week 8 on our 1st drive, (3) 1st drive against Code red in week 9 I threw a redzone int, (4) 1st drive in round 1 was a redzone trip where we didnt convert, (5) in round 2 I threw an INT on our first drive, and (6) the OT was a redzone possession as well. Thats 6 redzone possessions this season where we didnt score where we had 4 downs. I'm not counting series where we were up against the half (like swag) or anything like that. Six possessions - I dont think thats that bad at all. Redzone TDs: 2 against Glad, 2 against Boonton, 2 against khalifas, 2 against the Canes, 1 against CR, 2 against replacements, 2 against CR and 2 against Boonton. 15 TDs in 21 Redzone possessions (that I can remember). 34 TDs overall counting returns was tops in the league - and we didnt try and run up the score. I've heard people say we need to be more like swag's offense - I dont understand why. We scored more TDs, went further in the playoffs, and we can run the ball. If its because they had more conversions than us - well I can pretty much guarantee they practiced more than we did. If we practiced short yardage, we wouldve been better too. I pushed for practice - maybe you guys didnt think we needed it, but as a QB I needed it. We couldnt get a full squad to a summer iftar, and only 2/3 people came to my place to prep for Boonton.
While I understand I have room for improvement as a QB, I don't think we lost either playoff game because of our offensive production. We lost last year because we didn't have Omar or Malik and it screwed our defensive setup. We had a bunch of penalties, I think 3-4 false starts - we killed ourselves that game. This year we had a 12 point lead and lost it in a matter of minutes because (1) on Bowens run we gave up the perimeter, didnt hustle across the field (check the video, everyone shoulda been running like ibby) and took a bad angle - (2) we stopped containing for one series and (3) couldn't grab a flag on 2-3 key plays. Our offense sputtered as a whole, it wasn't just me - their D-line outplayed our O-line the 2nd half. It wasnt just on runs to the left - the runs we tried to the right didnt work either. WRs couldnt break threw Jams, I missed a couple of big throws, a couple of bad snaps... However, if you think going with Chaz gives this team an added dimension, I can't fault you for that. I hope it does, and you take the next step as a team.
My advice to the Spartans is 2-fold. First is to rotate more often. I dont think you lose anything with Ibrahim S (OT/DL) or Malik (OT/DE) in the lineup. Tmak should always be in at center, other than that, the 2 OTs and the 4 DLs should all be rotated regularly. It'll keep everybody fresh all game. Ive said it the last 2 seasons to anyone thats asked me, our stength has been our offensive line. When you guys dominate we win, plain and simple. Rotating should also be going on with all the WRs. The plan was to have all 4 WRs sit, once every 4 series. Sometime early on in the season only 3 WRs started rotating. I dont know why that happened, but it shouldnt have - I did not ask for that.
Second is to practice. Practice is paramount in my opinion. This isnt like softball or basketball where you can get by without practicing. Football is the ultimate team sport, and I think a lot of our shortcomings could have been overcome with some practice. As a QB, I throw to shadi the most not because I think he's the best WR, or the fastest, or whatever. I throw it his way because going into games I felt like we were on the same page, why? Because he always came to me and wanted to get extra reps before games, during the week etc... Pregame, everygame, shadi had by far the most routes run with me - I felt like on outs and certain routes - i knew when I threw the ball it would partner up with his break. I didnt have that chemistry with anyone else - which is one of the reasons I rely on the deep ball. I can throw bullets - but if the timing isnt down there is far less room for error - its all about execution - and that cant happen consistently without practice. You may disagree, but thats my position on it. And even when the timing is perfect, a bullet is harder to catch. Against the Replacements, Chaz threw 3 straight bullet passes in the redzone - all 3 were great throws, all 3 hit the WRs hands, all 3 were dropped, the last resulted in an INT. I hope you guys practice and get Chaz the reps he needs going into the season.
Ok, I'm done venting, explaining and putting what i felt needed to be out on the table out there.
Arkan, i'm really sorry for how this year panned out. I've apologized before, but I really feel bad. Theres nothing worse than running routes feeling like its pointless. You're the one WR who never said a word in the huddle, never asked for a play - and you werent rewarded for that.
Ibby, you have really blossomed in imo into one of the best 2-way players this league has to offer. Youre a beast man.
Islam and Ahmad, thank you for allowing me to be a part of this team for the last 2 years. You guys have championship potential, I think the spartans shouldve been back-to-back champs right now - but it is what it is. It was a good 2 year run, Best of luck Spartans.
I will drop off your ball and coaches for you.
JAK
Omar
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To err is human, you're better than that. Isiah Thomas isnt.