Utah Herald: 2021

[Aston]

Position Spotlight: QB

<table cellspacing="2" cellpadding="2" border="1"><tr><th style="width: 250px">NAME</th><th>COM</th><th>ATT</th><th>%</th><th>YD</th><th>TD</th><th>INT</th></tr><tr><td>Randy Boone</td><td>17</td><td>21</td><td>80.9%</td><td>172</td><td>0</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Patrick Whalen</td><td>14</td><td>20</td><td>70%</td><td>111</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></tr><tr><td>Ricardo Sikkenga</td><td>13</td><td>20</td><td>65%</td><td>219</td><td>2</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>Britt Meyer</td><td>6</td><td>9</td><td>66%</td><td>89</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></table>

Boone wraps up a pretty solid preseason. The rook, Sikkenga, has really showed his stuff, especially stretching the field in this past game. We'll try to get a good look at the Meyer/Whalen team in the preseason finale, but it looks like we are headed for a 4-QB year.

Position Spotlight: RB

Though there was some doubt throughout the offseason, the returning trio of Schacht, Boulware, and Plummer have all shown enough to secure their roster spots. Now it's going to be a battle between rookies Jackie Flynn and Herman Woods for what probably will be the last spot.

Woods looks like the favorite right now because of Flynn's struggles in pass pro, but a lot can change in one game.

[Aston]

Utah's final game with St. Paul could hardly have gone uglier, on all accounts. Word on the street is that backup quarterback Patrick "The New Rico" Whalen may have played himself completely out of a job with a shockingly lifeless performance.

We didn't get a good look at the offense, which is really what we wanted. Britt Meyer played into the 2nd quarter and only attempted one pass. So much for knocking off his rust. We ran 52 plays, to St. Paul's 80. The bandits moved the ball at will and we could not get that team off the field...unfortunately for us.

The preseason ends on a really sour note, as we are now no longer at all sure of what we are doing.

In other news, second-year tight end Mitch Johnson is landing on season-ending injured reserve because he got some headaches Finally, something useful happens on the injury front for us.

[Aston]

Utah is one of the winningest franchises in OSFL history. They are tied for the 5th most playoff games played with Camden, and I don't think #6 is particularly close to the team's 20 games played since 2006.

However, all of this has changed since the new GM took over in 2014. Since then, the Bees have been a .550 team and since 2017, we have been 0-2 in the postseason.

The last time the Bees won a postseason game? 2015. We are now in the 6th season after that. Only two players on the current roster were on the team back in those days (T Hutton, G Huffman).

Hopefully this season will change all of that.

[Aston]

Utah ran 14 plays from scrimmage in the first half.

Yikes. We got to get this straightened out, in a hurry.

[Aston]

Bravo to Utah's pass D for the job they did on Aaron Barrett in 49 attempts: 12 defenses, 10 hurries, 3 knockdowns, 2 interceptions.

Chester Foster looks much, MUCH better as the free safety in his second year of starting. Finally feel good about that safety situation, I was starting to get worried about him. He's becoming the player we hoped he had a longshot to be when we drafted him six or so years ago.

TE Nate Barlow's statline through three games: 13 targets, 10 catches, 186 yards, TD. Baller, yo.

Looks like the team is finally getting a feel for what it wants to do with this 35-13 victory over New Orleans. We are going to face some very stiff tests now, though, in a rough four-game stretch with road games against Portland and Anchorage, and home games against Washington and Denver. It's a long road ahead before we can get our next win against Phoenix.

[Aston]

Utah's slide to 3-2 could be headed even further downwards as we head into a wuch-wanticipated Welcoming wof whe Wombers wof Washington.

It is interesting to note, that, given recent transactions around the league, the Bees are now the league's youngest team with an average age of 26.0, a full one year younger than the league average.

(There doesn't seem to be much variance in average age throughout the league).

Washington will be a stif test in many ways. Really, they are kind of a headache to think about when looking over their roster. Jughead's built a juggernaut, and after a down year in 2020, they are back in business and will be challenging for the title in '21. The Bees will need to be on their A game today.

[Aston]

Utah 27, Washington 16

Looks like Randy got the message. After a 2-game skid and some serious consideration of putting in backup Britt Meyer, Boone came out and had the second-best game of his entire career...against a formidable Bomber secondary, no less.

Now he'll get the chance to go up against Denver's outstanding secondary. I am really loving my complement of receivers this year, though. Teams that try to take away Foley just get a heavy dose of Fletcher, Harden, and Daluiso. And of course, Barlow catches everything thrown in his direction.

[Aston]

--Utah 31, Phoenix 14--
Week 9

Despite being outgunned, Phoenix didn't let themselves be completely blown out of the water. And with a few more lucky turns, would have made a game of it. Quite a few long gains on 3rd down that came up a yard short of moving the chains.

Rico "Whooo's a good little" Oglethorpe (you are!! you are!!!) didn't have a good day today. That CB on our side is also a rookie, but he really was Boy Wonder today...two picks and a score.

Best part of the game: down 24-14 in the fourth, Phoenix faces a pivotal 4th-and-1. Convert and you have a chance. Miss and it's game over. Rico takes the snap...and the other Phoenix player I renamed just for this game, guard Ernie "Turnstile" Morris, allows the sack! Just a little bit of solevision fun

Los Alamos is still leading this division and showing no signs at all of slowing down. We've yet to play them this year, so those are going to be some really key matchups.

[Guest]

Rico takes the snap...and the other Phoenix player I renamed just for this game, guard Ernie "Turnstile" Morris, allows the sack! Just a little bit of solevision fun

might be fun for you but not so much fun where youre 1-8

[Aston]

sorry man ;)

you will be back for sure, soon. you were really rolling last year and you have some great picks on that OL recently. Just gotta wait for Rico to come along.

[Guest]

i dont care about the rico short jokes its all in fun on the bulliten board



but the name changes in solevision is pouring salt in the wound and if i do look back at the game i gotta see that. id definitely be lest testy about it if i wasnt 1-9 so im probably being VERY over sensitive so take this with a grain of salt

[Aston]

A look back at some key pieces from pas drafts as we head into a key stretch of the season, with a huge AC west supremacy match this week.

Draft Review: 2020

WR Colin Fletcher is coming on strong in his sophomore campaign. We were fearing the worst with him after a lackluster rookie season and thought he would be another case of trading up in the first round, only to watch a superior player at the same position be selected with our original pick. But while Morgantown's Rico Knight is great, Fletcher is showing some things that are restoring our faith in him.

Thank goodness, we can feel good about the future of the WR corps.

CB Kirk Marsh - traded to Port City, and uh...oops. I am kicking myself for not making the switch to free safety right away in his rookie season. He's just taunting me now with his 100 zone defense bar.

WLB Colin Bauer - It's too bad we don't run a 4-3. He's converting to RDE at 84% presently and would jump from a mid-20s rated pass rush specialist linebacker to a rush end creeping into the low 40s.

Draft Review: 2018

Apparently, there were some good big-play WRs in this draft, just none that Utah drafted. In addition to 1.01 pick Shannon 'CrazyLegs' Rudzinski of Columbus, this class has been basically the go-to one for the Bees in free agency. Lonnie Doleman(2.31-PXT), released a season ago, is now starring in Los Alamos, and two of the core members of Utah's current unit are $$$ splash signings Marvin Daluiso (2.3-MOR) and James Harden (3.11-PC) .

[Aston]

So much for saying something nice about Fletcher. In crunch time, when we needed him to step up... 3 targets, 0 catches, 1 drop, 1 interception.

Also, what in the world happened to Ian Subramanian! Oh my goodness. I guess those 27.5 sacks and 64 hurries in two years really burned him out. 3 sacks and 8 hurries through two games. PR% dropped by more than half.

[Guest]

So much for saying something nice about Fletcher. In crunch time, when we needed him to step up... 3 targets, 0 catches, 1 drop, 1 interception.

Also, what in the world happened to Ian Subramanian! Oh my goodness. I guess those 27.5 sacks and 64 hurries in two years really burned him out. 3 sacks and 8 hurries through two games. PR% dropped by more than half.

I drained his power with my MIND and infused my WLB Rich Johnstone with the stolen sacking abilities. Unfortunately, it's not a 100% efficient transfer.

[Aston]

Johnstone's having a very nice year! Hurries are great, and he has a ton of them.

Utah's in a fight to stay afloat in its own division. Looming games against Denver and Los Alamos will be huge. We also have a Camden game that is fast becoming a must-win. Fortunately, we are favored this week.

The Lake County meltdown was a tough pill to swallow. Update on some of our players...

WR Colin Fletcher had a nice start to the year, but he's disappeared and has not been seen for three games now.

RB Darrell Boulware made a comeback after an epicly bad start to the LAC game, although most of that was one big run. He's been credited with starts in the past two games, and in the past three, he's had 119 yards on 33 carries (3.61 ypc). How sad is it that we are pretty happy with that. Running backs. WTF.

WR Hunter Vandersommen made a flashy touchdown reception at South Maryland, then followed that up with two drops last week. Still trying to carve a role for him in this offense. We did spend a draft pick trading for him, after all.

K Damon Scott is getting to be a huge concern. 4-of-13 from beyond 40 yards, and he's not doing well on kickoffs either.

CB Vinny Preston is maddening. One of my favorite offseason acquisitions, creeper type player still decently young. But, every time I throw him out on the field, all he does is allow catches. He's been dreadful, but he's going to get another shot. Maybe.

QB Britt Meyer - love this guy. He is such an important, but unheralded part of this team. All season I've wondered about how good he'd be. Looks like he has been a steady creeper over his career, but never got the chance at a fulltime gig until last season, when he blew it in Memphis. With Boone hardly himself, and Meyer just being such a great guy for accepting my contract offer, he'll get his shot this week.

I am very excited to see what he's going to do today.