Rochester Regular Season review

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pjohns
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Rochester Regular Season review

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Rochester finished with their second straight division title and now enter the playoffs hoping to play even better.

Their offense finished 5th and their defense 5th but a 8-6 record was disappointing after last years 10-4 record. They did take Tennessee to overtime before losing but in recent weeks appeared quite flat until a big Week 14 win.

Offense

Albert Higgs had a quiet end to the season with some flat performances in Week 12 and 13 but bounced back in Week 14 with a great game.

Higgs has had one of the best seasons of his career and it looks like he might retire and go out on a high note. Higgs was the top ranked QB by far with a 111.6 rating and threw 23 touchdowns (joint best in the league) and just 2 ints. Higgs completed 70.5% of his passes (best in the league) and threw for over 3,500 yards. Higgs is an amazing player and looks like this would be his final season.

Backup Julian Reese hardly played and former 2nd round pick Quincy Carter didnt throw a pass but could start next year if Higgs retires.

At RB Wes Ours rolled back the years after some injury hit seasons to have a superb year and should be named All-FIFL. Behind a new o-line Ours played very well and just missed out on the rushing title by 8 yards. However with his receiving yardage Ours won the all purpose yardage title with 2,016. Backup Charles Stackhouse is talented but hardly played due to Ours but did score 2 times on just 5 carries.

The huge difference was the offensive line, T Juan Parra and Paris Long were two newcomers who started all year at tackle and had a huge year. At G Clenton Cochran and Matt DeRoche played very well and veteran Robert Theus had another great year at centre. There is promise with former 1st round pick Lincoln Kennedy looking great and after next year it may be impossible to keep Kennedy out of the starting lineup.

At WR Rob Mager didnt have many big plays and caught shorter passes but had a career high 90 catches. Mager has played only 3 years in the FIFL but has 3 1000 yard seasons and could be one to watch in the latter part of his career. His partner was Matt Burstein, a great 'do it all' player but Bursteins disappointing 10.4 yards a catch put him to the bench and over the final few games Anthony Arceaneaux finally moved up to the WR2 position and played very well and has kept his position. Backups include promising young Steve Smith who could do something next year.

At TE Boo Williams had a better season than last years rookie year and has started every game since being drafted. Williams had 52 catches for nearly 700 yards and will improve even more next year, he needs more speed but should be a great one. Backup Dan Fichter has lots of speed but needs to block better.

Defense

Speedy DE Arpedge Rolle had a quiet first 10 games as usual but then had a great final month and finished with 9 sacks. His partner Issac Mooring jointly led the team in sacks with 10 and is an excellent young player. Backups include Oscar Sturgis who could start for many other teams and Ezekiel Davis who was picked up in a trade and has talent.

At DT the team had a great year and was one major reason for their top defensive rating. DT Reggie Smith a former 7th round pick has developed into a fine player and had 10 sacks, his partner for most of the season was Patrick Garth who was a former FA who has started the last few years and had 4 sacks. Former draft project Paul Cheng has developed well aand saw some action but next year could challenge Garth for the starting position.

The LB's are the core of the unit, Shan Housekeeper had another great year with 93 tackles and 5 sacks and has moved up to 55th in the all time tackling list, a 70+ tackle season would put him naer the top 30 next year. Not bad for a player who one GM famously said would be injury prone.

The unit does have some age though, Roosevelt Benjamin had a great year and Doug Schwaberow made plays but needs to improve. Newcomer Kodi Lindsay could be a future star, at LB4 he had 28 tackles and 5 sacks, as many as the LB's ahead of him. Maurice Dukes was a FA pickup this year and after camp next year could look like a very good young LB.

The secondary has been a solid unit for many years, former 1st round pick Marvin Taylor has moved into the starting lineup ahead of Sean Roundtree. S1 however belongs to Joseph Todd who is in his 7th year of starting for the team. Todd is in the top 60 tacklers but his speed has declined and he needs to have a big camp next year to keep his starting position, he was one famous for his great speed but now its gone down.

At CB William Mulder has started for 6 straight years and is solid, Jamont Kinds is his partner. Both will be in their 7th year or more next year though so young former 1st round pick Damien Huren might get a chance at starting. Huren can play either safety or cornerback and has great speed and is one of the fastest CB's in the league, he had a chance last year at starting but didnt play that well, the team hope next year he will rebound.

Special Teams

For many years the team has had problems at kicker and nearly cut Rob Bironas this year. He did rebound but the team are quite wary and might look for a new kicker in the offseason as he finished the worst kicker in the league despite looking great on paper. P Todd LaTourette has his moments, he does rank last in most years but he can also kick some boomers. Hes started every game since being drafted and has a real chance at breaking records if he carries on at this rate. He has 32,000 yards punting in 7 seasons, the current record is 47,000, something LaTourette could reach in his 13th season if he carries on starting.

Outlook

The management feel the team have many young players and other young backups ready to take over in the near future. They arent a veteran side and have a lot of talent. Losing Albert Higgs to retirement will hurt a lot but if their QB's have a good camp they feel they'll have someone good to come in to start.

The team have a huge playoff game coming up, the GM wants to make sure they arent thinking ahead but some players seem to be. The team would love nothing else less than another trip to the FIFL Bowl for Albert Higgs before he retires.

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