Bandits miss playoffs again

2006 was supposed to be one of triumph over tragedy; the tragedy symbolized by the death of OG Travis Claridge, and the triumph a return to the post-season.  Instead, the Bandits continued to lose players to injuries throughout the year.  The Bandits opened the season by besting the newly-relocated St Louis Hawks 38-20, and fans were energized by the victory.  However, the excitement turned to dismay by midseason, with the team losing five straight games.  Even more concerning was the loss of lightning-in-a-bottle return man Jerome Mathis for the season with a foot injury in Week 7, and losing QB Scott Covington for multiple games twice during the season.

Injuries were one of the Bandits' biggest problems during the season.  QB Scott Covington suffered from ankle and knee problems several times during the season, missing nearly half the season.  Kick returner and wide receiver Jerome Mathis was placed on season-ending IR after game 7 with a foot injury, and it is still unknown if he will be ready to walk by the time December minicamp opens, let alone run.  Inside LB Joe Tuipala suffered from a bruised chest against the SF Stallions and had to sit out for 3 weeks, then went out again with a sprained wrist late in the season. LB Adrian Ross was placed on IR for the final quarter of the season, and OG Dan Comiskey missed significant playing time.

"Just when I thought we were making progress and finally playing to win, we'd lose a critical player and then go on to lose the game," said HC Chan Gailey.  "Injuries killed us this year."

"One game.  We were one game short.  That's hard to take," said LB Ben Leber.  Indeed, as the Bandits lost 6 games by a touchdown or less.  "That San Fran game (losing to San Francisco Stallions 17-16 in Week 7) was the killer," said Leber.  "I mean, not only did we let the game slip away but we lost a couple of our top players (Mathis and Covington).  From that point on it was if our season was already over.  Unbelievable, we were so close."

MISTAKES COST DEARLY
While injuries might have set the team back significantly, the nails in the team's coffin had to have come from mistakes and penalties.  Holding calls wiped out long runs by RBs Mewelde Moore and David Allen on a consistent basis, as well as negating first-down pass plays.  Personal fouls started appearing more and more frequently, showing a breakdown of discipline as players grew more and more frustrated.  The most frustrating aspect, though, had to be turnovers.  The Bandits' turnover ratio was among the league's worst, and nearly set new team records.

"Man, I hate losing.  It hurts," said ILB Bobby Brooks.  "There's nothing worse than making the stops you need to get the ball back to your offense, only to have to go right back out on the field when they turn the ball over a minute later.  It's ridiculous, man, just ridiculous."

After the team's 39-35 victory over division rival Seattle in Week 3, pundits were drawing comparisons between the 2006 Bandits and the early-80's NFL San Diego Chargers.  QB Scott Covington threw a team record 59 passes (42 completions) for a total of 578 yards, but the team had to come back from behind during the final seconds of the game to pull out a victory.  The team's run defense was miserable for the second year in a row, killing any chances of pulling out close games; being swept by division rivals San Francisco and San Diego are strong cases in point.  Any references to "Air Chan" were quickly dashed after Covington's first injury.

Quarterback instability meant a lot of struggling by the Bandits offense.  Backup QB Bart Hendricks showed promise, but could not deliver under pressure, and prompted the team to trade a 2007 draft pick to Minnesota for QB Seneca Wallace.  Wallace proved to be a quick learner and a capable backup behind Covington.  Now the team faces serious challenges at QB, as Hendricks reportedly will be exposed to the SFL Expansion Draft, and rumor has it the team is pursuing a QB with NFL experience; if this proves true, the Timmy Chang experiment may be coming to an end.  Reports are coming out of team headquarters expressing dissatisfaction with Chang's slow grasp of the game, reportedly made more vocal with the acquisition of Seneca Wallace.

BRIGHT SPOTS
There were a few bright spots, namely the solid performance of the young Bandits receivers and the emergence of CB Kevin Thomas as one of the league's best cover corners.  Rookie ORT Harvey Dahl has been solid and aggressive, proving to be a more than capable future replacement for Matt Light, and OG Jonathan Clinkscale has proven himself very adept as well.  Overall, the Bandits' offensive line has performed decently, but has work to do on minimizing mistakes and penalties.

The Bandits' LBs are regarded by many as among the league's best, and the overall pass defense has tightened up significantly.  Territorial rookie LB Ryan Claridge has been especially driven by the death of his brother Travis, quickly proving his worth.  The hiring of DC Rich Stubler from the Canadian Football League is starting to pay off, but even Stubler admits that there is still a lot of work to do with improving the run defense.

AREAS OF CONCERN
The Bandits face several serious challenges this off-season.  First, they absolutely have to find a DT or two who can stop the run.  Next, there are several key players who are free agents at the end of the season, and the Bandits will be forced to shell out some serious duckets to retain these players.  Superb cover cornerback Kevin Thomas and leading tackler LB Ben Leber should be high on the Bandit's list of targeted free agents, but neither will come cheap.  In fact, Thomas' agent has already notified the team that re-signing Thomas will require matching the salary demands of the other top cover corners in the league, somewhere in the neighborhood of nearly $2 million per year and numerous other perks.

Other key free agents are LB Bobby Brooks (a key component of the defense), QB Scott Covington, K Travis Dorsch, P Travis Colquitt, WR Ron Johnson, DE Otis Leverette, and WR/KR Reno Mahe.  Rumors have hinted at the team beginning preliminary negotiations with WR Johnson and LB Brooks, but none of the others yet.  No matter which free agents are re-signed, none will come cheap.

Many have criticized team management for being cheap at the wrong positions, and overpaying players who haven't contributed in any way comparable with their over-inflated salaries; this may very well have been the major contributing factor to the departure of former GM Brad Randel.  The team's owner came under tremendous criticism from fans when All-SFL DE Adewale Ogunleye, CB Corey Ivy, and DT Willie Blade were allowed to leave during free agency in the recent past, prompting some to make comparisons between Bandits owner Warren Willis and Bill Bidwell of the NFL Arizona Cardinals (who has long been notorious for being too cheap to sign/re-sign talent and allowing the Cardinals to languish in mediocrity).

However, early reports from players' agents regarding new GM Patricia Willis have been very favorable, and we may yet see the team shell out the cash necessary to keep key players after free agency.  Willis has also hired several new college scouts to scour D-1AA and D-II schools to find any diamonds in the rough worth drafting or signing.  On a down note, the team's Territorial Draft prospects are very disappointing.  UNLV had no players declare for the 2006 NFL draft and BYU had only a few; most of these are blue-collar prospects, very hard-working and solid contributors, but not the standout all-star talent produced by many other Territorial schools.

FINAL NOTES
The upcoming Fall College Draft will be an important one for the Bandits.  Solid starting DT & DE prospects are virtually non-existent.  QBs are plentiful, but it is anyone's guess at this point whether the Bandits will spring for a new QB or give Scott Covington one more year to prepare Timmy Chang to take over.  The Bandits absolutely must upgrade their run defense to have any shot of making the 2007 playoffs, but are they willing to loosen the purse strings to sign the talent that they might be able to uncover?