11-6, 2nd place
The Fog should be a year-in, year-out contender. The question is if their success in Year II was more a product of the luck of a healthy roster, or if they’ll be able to add enough key pieces to make a championship appearance.
London was looking good with an 8-3 record through 11 games, but 3 consecutive losses–including an inexplicable defeat at home against Rome–made the race tighter than it should have been. But they closed out the year with 3 wins, the toughest being a victory in Amsterdam, to earn home field advantage.
The offense–despite the quality of Russell Wilson‘s season–was slightly under league average, which is a little confounding. Neither Emmitt Smith nor Marshawn Lynch were fantastic, but they did combine for 1500 yards–still, the lack of a truly top tier running game is probably the final piece for the Fog offense.
There are few complaints defensively, where the concern is more focused on how to address the inevitable losses from the offseason. That said, there was really only one truly outstanding performance–that of DeMarcus Ware–so the Fog will need some other players to step into the elite level if they are going to continue to improve.
The Off Season
The challenge is to keep the offense together while improving the defense enough to challenge for a championship.
Bottom Line
Strengths
QB, WR
Needs
LB. OL.
Offense
Pts: 8th
Rush/G: 7th
Pass/G: 11th
Yards/Play: 11th
Skill
Another of the handful of teams with no questions at QB, the Fog are led by Russell Wilson (20.5 AV, 3179 yards passing, 24:5 TD:Interceptions), who emerged as an MVP candidate in Year II. Troy Aikman (0.8 AV) showed enough to stick around as a backup.
There was great concern in London when Emmitt Smith (4.9 AV, 472 yards rushing in 8 games) went down after just 5 games, but Marshawn Lynch (8.1 AV, 1033 rushing yards, 10 TDs) stepped right in. The Fog would still like to see both share the RB duties in the future.
DeMarco Murray (0.9 AV) failed in his audition as a third option, and while London would like to see if the promise Glenn Presnell (0.6 AV), Shaun Alexander (0.4 AV), or Walt Garrison (0.0 AV) showed in limited activity, it’s not clear they’ll be able to hold on to any of them.
London’s Three Amigos were led in Year II by a superlative Steve Largent (20.2 AV, 105 receptions, 1445 yards, 11 TDs), who combined with Dez Bryant (7.7 AV) and Michael Irvin (11.1 AV, 748 yards, 8 TDs) to gain over 2800 combined yards. Percy Harvin (3.4 AV) continued to be a reliable 4th option, especially when his special teams contributions are taken into account. Despite his postseason heroics, which should make him a more coveted target, Markus Wheaton (-0.3 AV) will be moving on.
At TE, Zach Miller (4.6 AV) was quite good, keeping promising newcomer Jason Witten (0.2 AV) off the field.
OL
London would love to keep its entire offensive line intact, but that seems unlikely. Ts Rayfield Wright (11.8 AV, 25 holes) and Walter Jones (10.6 AV) and G Zack Martin (11.5 AV) were especially good in Year II, but both Mackenzy Bernadeu (9.2 AV, 19 holes) and C Bobby Maples (6.1 AV) did more than enough to warrant a starting position elsewhere. Russell Okung (1.0 AV in 2 games) deserves a look, too.
Special Teams
Both K Dan Bailey (1.3 AV) and P Jon Ryan (0.4 AV) will stick around.
Harvin returns kicks quite well, but it was Paul Skansi (-0.4 AV) who served as the ST destroyer all season.
Defense
Pts/G: 3rd
Rush Yards/G: 5th
Pass Yards/G: 9th
Yards/P: 5th
DL
Too Tall Jones‘ (9.5 AV, 18 hurries, 5 stuffs) Year II was almost a carbon copy of his Year I, and that kind of consistency off the end is key to the Fogs’ future. The rest of the front 4 were all quite good as well: Cortez Kennedy (18.7 AV, 5 sacks) and Kevin Williams (7.1 AV) inside and Jacob Green (7.2 AV, 16 hurries) on the other side.
Cliff Avril (3.2 AV, 5 sacks in 350 plays) should find a home in Year III, but perhaps not in London, as will Bob Lilly (1.4 AV).
LB
DeMarcus Ware (12.4 AV, 7 sacks, 6 stuffs, 4 forced fumbles) was dominant all year, and Bobby Wagner (6.3 AV, 71 tackles in 11 games) was superlative while he was healthy.
Hollywood Henderson (4.0 AV) was surprisingly effective at the other outside slot, and Dat Nguyen (2.7 AV) stepped into Wagner’s role without missing a beat when called upon. Both deserve a shot in Year III.
DB
Kam Chancellor (9.7 AV, 25 deflections) and Earl Thomas (8.3 AV, 4 interceptions) may be the best pair of S in the league, while at CB Richard Sherman (6.5 AV, 7 interceptions, 93 tackles, 147 penalty yards) is the highest variance corner there is: tons of tackles, tons of interceptions, but tons of penalty yards and completions surrendered as well. Mel Renfro (6.0 AV, 91 tackles, 16 deflections) was better than average at the other corner position.
Brandon Carr (2.9 AV), Sterling Moore (1.8 AV), and Darren Woodson (1.5 AV) all played well enough to retain WFL roles.
Players Retained
Franchise
QB: Russell Wilson
WR: Steve Largent, Michael Irvin
OL: Walter Jones, Zack Martin
DL: Too Tall Jones, Cortez Kennedy
LB: DeMarcus Ware
DB: Richard Sherman, Earl Thomas
Protected
RB: Emmitt Smith, Marshawn Lynch
WR: Dez Bryant
TE: Zach Miller
OL: Rayfield Wright
DL: Kevin Williams, Jacob Green
LB: Bobby Wagner
DB: Kam Chancellor, Mel Renfro
K: Dan Bailey
P: Jon Ryan
Reserves
QB: Troy Aikman
RB: Glenn Presnell
WR: Percy Harvin, Paul Skansi
Taxis Kept
DL: Jim Jeffcoat
LB: Bruce Scholtz
Players Waived
To Start Somewhere
OL: Mackenzy Bernadeau, Bobby Maples
DL: Cliff Avril
LB: Hollywood Henderson
To Play Somewhere
RB: DeMarco Murray, Shaun Alexander, Walt Garrison
WR/KR: Markus Wheaton
OL: Russell Okung
DL: Bob Lilly
LB: Dat Nguyen
DB: Brandon Carr, Sterling Moore, Darren Woodson
Released
QB: Roger Staubach, Jim Zorn
RB: Tom Moore, Phillip Tanner
WR: Butch Johnson, Paul Skansi
TE: Jason Witten
OL: Malcolm Walker, Tyron Smith, Bryan Millard, Patrick Lewis, Luke Bowanko, Tyler Ott, Joe Zeller
DL: Greg Spires, Henry Melton
LB: Randall Godfrey, LP Ladouceur, Jessie Armstead, Will Compton, Tyrone Holmes
DB: Randy Hughes, Danny McCray, Warren Livingstone
K: Michael Husted