The Juice of the Lime
by Simon McGrother
Alas, Derrick Lewis, we hardly knew ye!
So, hot from writing why Steve Bellisari should be considered a must-have QB, his prime target goes down for the year. What's the likely impact?
Well, on some levels things won't change too dramatically in the Big Easy; the VooDoo are hard-wired to play exciting offense and dodgy defense, so Bellisari will still be a good pick at QB, but maybe not quite as good. The VooDoo's other receivers should get a decent boost - both Wendall Williams and DeAndrew Rubin look very attractive as your WR2 now that they are the main men in a full-throttle offense with a highly talented QB. Not much will change in terms of the VooDoo's ground game - James Lynch is going to be a mediocre FB and barely worth a roster spot.
The injury does have implications beyond the VooDoo. The southern conference was set to be highly competitive with all four teams in with a shot. Last year's best, the Georgia Force, have been forced to part company with their best WR (Chris Jackson), the Storm were looking forward to a full year with the excellent Brett Dietz as QB, the Predators look to have made astute off-season moves to steady the ship and re-establish themselves as a major player and the VooDoo had added Derrick Lewis. It was easy to make a case for all four teams and I fully expected to see the top and bottom finishers separated by only a couple of wins.
But now the VooDoo look to be the whipping boys of the division. Despite everything I said above about losing Lewis (i.e., how it might have only minor impact on individuals) the team as a whole cannot help but suffer. A grade-A receiver can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and make a nothing play into 7 points. The VooDoo are going to find that they are just a step short in a bunch of games and won't do better than 5 and 11.
This will give the other teams in the South a handy boost, and I think the final standings will be:
Tampa Bay Storm 11-5
Georgia Force 10-6
Orlando Predators 9-7
New Orleans VooDoo 5-11
Rotten luck for the VooDoo.
Simon McGrother is a member of the Arena Football League Writers Association and a founding member of Arena Football Online. Contact Simon at smcgrother@arenafootballonline.com
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