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[b380944a]Hartford Attack
Last year's performance - 12-4[/b380944a]
Hartford started 7-0 last year and looked invincible before suffering a couple of injuries and stumbling to a 5-4 finish. The Attack squeaked past Detroit in the Divisional round of the playoffs on a last second field goal before getting knocked out by the eventual champion Charleston Monitors. It was the second year in a row that Charleston ended Hartford's season.
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Strongest Unit - Offensive Backfield[/b380944a]
It is between Hartford and Seattle as to who has the best backfield in the league. Running back Alan Spearman was the number one pick a couple years ago and has lived up to the hype, producing over 1500 yards of offense and 12 touchdowns in each of his first two seasons. His lead blocker is talented FB Chris Cassady who is also a good pass-catcher out of the backfield with over 40 receptions in each of the past 4 seasons. The team is lead by Quarterback James Oberg who is one of the top 5 signal callers in the league. He has suffered some injury problems and missed 9 games over the past 3 years, which could be a factor again this year. All things considered, this is an amazing backfield that should score all kinds of points this year.
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Weakest Unit - Linebackers[/b380944a]
Hartford lost a pro bowl's worth in good linebackers in outside linebackers Bryant Sprayberry and Domingo Robinson and inside backer Jefferson Hummel. All three of those guys are among the best 10 or 15 at their position. Hummel is arguably the best ILB in the league. In any case, ILB Ronald Sawyer is the best of the guys left on the team. He is very good. The best outside guy will be SLB Everett Woodruff who is decent. The other two starting linebackers will be filled by young, undeveloped guys. The defense should see a pretty significant drop off from last year's excellent showing when they only allowed 89.9 rushing yards per game.
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Key Unit - Defensive Backfield[/b380944a]
There are slight concerns at wide receiver, and they will likely be the key on offense, but I think with a backfield and line that good the receivers only have to be decent. The defensive backfield will have to pick up the slack because of the holes at linebacker and that will be the key to Hartford's season. The starting safeties are both great in Rocky Alleman and Sherman Lee. Unfortunately they both start the season injured. When healthy they will be great in all phases. They're great in coverage and against the run, will make lots of big hits and should intercept a bunch of passes. Lee intercepted 7 last year. At corner things get little bit more murky. Hartford has three pretty decent corners, but they seem to be big play guys that get a lot of interceptions but also get beat in coverage more than you'd like. Bernie Colston is probably the best of the group. Last year they gave up a franchise worst 220.5 yards per game, which really isn't that bad, but with the added responsibility now that the linebackers are downgraded these guys will need to step it up.
[b380944a]Impact Newcomer - WR Ahmed Miller
Key Losses - LB Jefferson Hummel, LB Domingo Robinson, LB Bryant Sprayberry
Outlook -[/b380944a] Even with the holes at linebacker, Hartford is one of the best teams in the league and are considered by many to be the favorites to win it all. The Spearman, Oberg backfield will be almost unstoppable, and the defense will be solid. Hartford should cruise through the regular season and take the division title for the third straight year. [b380944a]Projected record: 12-4[/b380944a]
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New York Knights
Last year's performance - 11-5[/b380944a]
New York quietly had a strong season, going 11-5 to finish a game behind Hartford in the Yankee division. Their strong record may have been somewhat misleading, though, as they only won 2 games against teams with winning records. Still, it was the fourth straight winning season and playoff appearance for the Knights, so they deserve credit for maintaining that level of success.
[b380944a]Strongest Unit - Offensive Backfield[/b380944a]
The addition of running back Brooks Creel should make the backfield the strength of the team. The offense will depend on Creel and quarterback Kim Pace to make something out of nothing behind a subpar line. Pace does have one of the best receivers in the league to go to in Douglas Cowley who is also a dangerous return man. It'll be interesting to see how much of an impact Creel will have. The team has primarily relied on Pace and the passing game in the past few years.
[b380944a]Weakest Unit - Offensive Line[/b380944a]
You could make an argument for the defensive line being the weak spot since star DT Mark Coleman will miss most if not all of the regular season recovering from a torn MCL. The offensive line is weak, though. The tackles are actually halfway decent, though certianly not great. The center is mediocre, and the guards will be a big weakness. I'm not sure that bringing in Creel will make as much of an impact as they'd like with these interior lineman.
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Key Unit - Defensive Backfield[/b380944a]
It seems like I'm constantly picking the defensive backfield as the key unit. Anyway, New York has a great number one corner in Mark Tatum, who had 8 interceptions last year on top of being strong against the run and great in coverage. The problem is that it's still up in the air as to who will man the other corner spot, and it's not looking good. Newcomer Eugene Kingston is the most likely suspect. Whoever gets the spot is going to get abused all year long. The safeties will also be something of a liability. Free safety David Moody will be solid, but the other safety spot will either go see Waylon Ellsworth or A.J. Scott as the starter, which is not a good thing either way.
[b380944a]Impact Newcomer - RB Brooks Creel
Key Loss - DT Mark Coleman
Outlook - [/b380944a]New York plays a little tougher schedule this year. It'll be interesting to get a better feel for how good they really are. They should actually have a slightly better team this year, with the addition of Creel at running back, but actually could end up with a worse record than last year. I think they'll keep their streak of winning seasons alive, but they are not really close to being in position to compete for the division title yet. [b380944a]Projected record: 9-7[/b380944a]
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Boston Panthers
Last year's performance - 4-12[/b380944a]
The Toothpick Lang era started and ended within a 10 week span to open the 2008 season in Boston. It was a failure. It was the worst season in Boston history.
[b380944a]Strongest Unit - Offensive Line[/b380944a]
Boston is strong up front. Four of their five starting lineman have been together for six seasons now, and each of the four has an all CFL honor to his name. The most productive as a run-blocker has been RT Jaime Bernard who has 5 all first team selections to his name. He missed 7 games last year. In fact, injuries were a pretty big problem along the line last year, and for the whole team really. On top of Bernard's troubles, the left tackle missed 13 games and the right guard missed 4. If they can stay healthy, they should return to form opening holes for Bryant Pressley and Scott Moss.
[b380944a]Weakest Unit - Cornerbacks[/b380944a]
The secondary as a whole doesn't get the weakest unit tag as the safeties are strong and deep. The corners are not so good, though. Second round pick Warren Donovan has the most potential of the bunch, and if he fully develops he'll still only be mediocre. Boston will give a ton of points and passing yards this year. They'll struggle to cover even average wideouts. One of the three talented safeties will probably slide over to play one of the corner spots, but even then the coverage will be a weakness, and they can forget any kind of nickel and dime packages.
[b380944a]Key Unit - Offensive Backfield[/b380944a]
The new quarterback, Dwayne Bridges, already has almost every single season passing record in the CFL. He won't have quite as many quality targets to go to, and Boston will probably still run the ball quite a bit behind their excellent line. It'll be interesting to see how Bridges does outside of Fargo. The forementioned running backs will be Bryant Pressley who is kind of a homerun hitter with excellent breakaway speed, and rookie Scott Moss who will probably be better between the tackles. I expect both to get a lot of carries and Boston to continue their traditional success running the ball. I also figure Bridges will have a good year and while he may not break any league records, he'll probably set some franchise records.
[b380944a]Impact Newcomer - QB Dwayne Bridges
Key Loss - DT Willie Meyers (injury), RB Toothpick Lang
Outlook -[/b380944a] Boston is stockpiling talent. They are a couple playmakers away from being one of the best teams in the league. Specifically they need a top notch wideout and a good cover corner. Bridges may struggle at times because of the lack of talent at receiver, and the corners will get beat a lot. They could possibly give New York a run for their money as far as second place in the division. On the other hand, the various holes could cost them a winning season this year. In any case, they are in good shape for the future. [b380944a]Projected record: 7-9[/b380944a]
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Atlantic City Phantoms
Last year's record - 5-11[/b380944a]
Atlantic City had a strange year in 2008. They only won 5 games and somehow 2 of them were over Hartford. That's correct, Atlantic City swept Hartford last year.
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Strongest Unit - Defensive Backfield[/b380944a]
The secondary gets the nod, mostly on the strength of a single player: cornerback Willie Golalic. He is amazing. He is head and shoulders above any other corner in the league. The other corner will be Carl Blades. He is a solid cover guy who should intercept a bunch of passes. The safeties aren't as good, but should be decent enough to provide a little help.
Weakest Unit
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