2006 The Year in Review
With the end of the 2006 season comes the inevitable Armchair Owner critique of all things Soul. But before I delve into that, let's take a few installments to go over some of the high and low points of the season.
Game of the Year - Best
No... not either game against Dallas. And no, not the behind the shed whipping of New York week 4. The final regular season game. The May 13th game against the Georgia Force in Atlanta. This one was a must win for the Soul to advance to the post season. The Force also needed the win to advance and the Soul was coming off a emotional second win over Dallas and were primed for a let down. On paper the Force had a slight advantage and the teams had similar records.
While actually being there for the game may have biased my decision the Soul not only won convincingly, but they did it after they spotted the Force a 13 point lead. The game featured a franchise best 66 rushing yards, a franchise best 6 rushing touchdowns (Wes Ours contributing a single game franchise best 4 TDs on a season high 8 rushing attempts). Sean Scott added the season's longest rush, 14 yards, and Eddie Moten tied his record for tackles in the season with 9.5.
Game of the Year - Worst
The pathetic performace in week 8 against Columbus at Nationwide Arena. Staying in it but losing to a better team like the Soul did in week 3 when they fumbled the game to Orlando is one thing. Losing to a craptacular AFL version of the Island of Misfit Toys is quite another. Mike Brown played well providing more than half of the total offensive output. JJ McKelvery showed what could have been barring injury. But an impotent running game, a less than 50% pass completion ratio, a couple of sacks, and 80 yards in penalties all added to to an anemic total of TWENTY FRIGGIN POINTS.
Having to edure their asshat fans (all 3 of them) after the loss only made it worse.
The emotion from the season ending loss in Orlando has faded. Taking a step back and trying to objectively decide what needs to be done to take the next step isn't an easy one. But we never shy away from the tough calls so here we go...
Roster Changes
This part was relatively simple.
Release Reggie Doster. Reggie was brought in as part of the northern migration of Predators that began early in the year. Reggie contributed very little this season. And listing him as a 2-way at times was insulting. When all you're doing on offense is a 6 yard hitch that no cares about you aren't a threat. Doster came up small on defense too many times during the season. In fact, at times I though they'd simply given Joe Todd a different jersey to protect his identity.
This isn't to say Reggie didn't try. But for what ever reason he never seemed to "get it." Too often out of position and unsure of his assignment.
Release Kevin Gaines. Kevin, another Orlando transplant, has had several productive years in the AFL. Once KG was made a preferred pick-up, and paid as such, his motivation became lackluster. Gaines seemed to sleep walk through the season. Experience and savvy are great for play recognition but speed and desire help stop those plays you recognize from hurting the team.
Release Steve Smith. Steve was let go early for a reason. Despite his penchant for making up routes, he was brought back to provide "a spark". If there was a spark it was never fanned into a flame. That experiment was a failure.
* Updated 31 May 06 16:38 - Well it only took a few hours before a few emails arrived asking who should replace the players above.
Doster should be replaced by Clarence Curry, Smith by JJ McElvey, and Gaines by a yet to determined player.
Coaching Changes
Just one. And this part was a bit more difficult because I honestly don't know who did the majority of the play calling on offense. But sticking to titles and their related responsibility let's start with...
Release Jim Kubiak. Kubiak was an excellent collegiate QB in Annapolis. Kubiak was an excellent AFL QB with Georgia and Dallas. The caliber of receivers in Georgia and Dallas during Kubiak's stay helped immensely but he still had to get them the ball. When you attend a college like the Naval Academy you need to be intelligent and even a serviceable QB would do well against Navy opponents. Kubiak was an atrocious play caller in Philadelphia. As another PoS member put it, Buddy Ryan was more imaginitive. Just because someone is successful in a role doesn't mean that success will translate to directing that role. Kubiak may grow into a decent coordinator or even head coach in the AFL ala Jay Gruden. Here's hoping he does it someplace else, Austin perhaps. Trying to learn the nuances of the job while your boss is doing the same thing is never a good thing. I know there are only about 7 plays in the AFL and few variations on each play. But when you use them is the key to success.
Coaching and Administration Observations
Bret Munsey. Bret faced incredible pressure in a city full of very tough, very outspoken, fans.
The "Time to Win" theme put forth a win now or else challenge that would be hard for any head coach to take on let alone a rookie.
In a city that goes from loving to hating their sports figures (often in the same game) Bret took his share of knocks for the roster churning that had some popular players go, and less popular ones never get the chance. It seemed at times the path was less than clear but he did what he felt needed to be done. Some decisions worked out better than others - Let's face it The Boone/Brown for Smith trade was just plain bad. Once it was learned that Bret would still have a job in May regardless of how things finished it seemed to help level the ship. This could be, as Craig Spencer put it, "the first step towards reaching our ultimate goal of winning a championship."
Change John Kirk's title. Coach Kirk is listed as FB/LB/Special Teams Coach. While the play of the FB/LB position of the Soul was excellent all year, I'd seriously consider removing the Special Teams role from him. Soul opponents averaged 18.5 yards on kick returns and 19.5 on missed FG returns. And bad plays at bad times magnified the fact that special teams were up and down.
Pat Downey... this is another tough one. I'd like to think the lack of rotation did more to cause the line problems than the coaching. The Soul finished 3rd with 21 sacks but how many of those were from the linemen? The Soul finished with only 5 sacks against but the line play was too inconsistent. You can't have it both ways in this league so Coach Downey gets a nod for doing the best he could with what he had (and he had some damn fine players). But it's a position I'll watch with interest.
Jaws, Lisk, and Adams. Talk about pressure. In order to not look like fools for having three different coaches in three years Rich Lisk (the hockey guy with some Comcast ties they installed in the new GM spot), John Adams (the second president of the United States and Assistant GM), and Ron Jaworski (President and local sports icon) had to make sure the new coach was given what he needed to succeed and come up with ways to keep the interest of the Phickle Philly Phans Phrom Phalling Phurther. Alliteration aside, attendance was down, the team wasn't winning, and new sponsors were on board. Revenue streams are extremely important to any sports franchise and their ability to remain viable. These guys took some bashing from fandom as well but stayed the course. Installing new people at key positions through out the organization, approving a myriad of (often bewildering) roster changes, doubling the dance team size, and generally stumping for the team. The next step is to leverage the clout the three of them have into more media exposure. A winning team makes that an easier sell. Rich should also be commended for his stepping up in the face of adversity earlier in the season.
Farrell, Sternberg, and Staiti. Another stellar year of community reinvestment and sponsor acquisition. The low key approach to the Soul's charity efforts - perhaps too low key at times - and the de-emphasis on corporate name dropping (espcially with the sponsor turnover) was most impressive. The fan support during the away games was also a welcome surprise.
For the sake of simplicity I'll lump the entire Ticket Operations team together. This is another tough one because I have never really asked (or demanded) anything from them so my ability to gauge their competence is based solely on anecdotal information. From all accounts they seem to be raising the bar they set three years ago even higher. As the group that most of the fans encounter in person I can say that they are unfailingly friendly, polite, professional, and genuinely want to help. Certainly a credit to the organization. In fact so much so that there were times during the season I, a customer, felt obligated to assist where I could. Sadly this was not the most prudent course of action on my part. And while it may have been appreciated it may also have caused some confusion. For this I apologize.
