Today I'm going to focus on how well the Eastern Division played last year and where each team ranked in various categories which will help shed some light onto whether or not the Soul can right the ship in 2012.
Yesterday I gave you the league standings for 2011, but I'll give you the Eastern Division's standings again:
American Eastern Division
1. Cleveland Gladiators 10-8
2. Pittsburgh Power 9-9
3. Milwaukee Mustangs 7-11
4. Philadelphia Soul 6-12
Here's some quick stats on the division's success:
- The American Eastern Division had the worst win percentage (.444) of all the divisions.
- The American Eastern Division also had the worst win percentage (.417) in non-divisional games.
- The American Eastern Division was the only division to send 1 representative (the Gladiators) to the playoffs. Every other division sent at least 2 teams (if you didn't know 4 of the 9 teams in each Conference qualified for the playoffs in 2011).
- The Cleveland Gladiators were the only division winner to not win their 1st round home playoff game.
From these stats alone you might already see where I'm going with this posting. The fact of the matter is that the American Eastern Division was the worst by far. There has to be one every season, but what's embarrassing last season is encouraging the next. The Soul were only 4 games back of the Gladiators--the smallest separation between first and last place teams in the league. Even though it seems as if the Soul still has a ways to go before they become an elite club again, it's simply not the case. The beauty of the AFL is that rosters can be changed on a yearly basis. Three of the Eights teams to make the playoffs in 2010 didn't qualify for the 2011 postseason. Only one team (The Jacksonville Sharks) won their division in both 2010 and 2011. So opportunity exists for any team to rise and fall within the ranks of their respective division. And with the amount of new and proven talent signed by the Soul this off-season (which I'll write about specifically in a future post) the fans of Philadelphia should really begin to follow the Soul more closely in 2012.
Here's how each team ranked in various regular season categories. I'll give you the best followed by the four Eastern Division teams in order of performance and then the worst:
Scoring Offense:
1. Sharks (1158 pts)
11. Soul (914 pts)
12. Gladiators (904 pts)
14. Mustangs (872 pts)
15. Power (870 pts)
18. Storm (802 pts)
Rushing Offense:
1. Talons (47.8 YDS/G)
3. Power (36.8 YDS/G)
8. Gladiators (25.1 YDS/G)
9. Mustangs (24.7 YDS/G)
15. Soul (16.2 YDS/G)
18. Force (4.7 YDS/G)
Pass Offense:
1. Blaze (301.2 YDS/G)
11. Soul (273.1 YDS/G)
13. Gladiators (250.1 YDS/G)
16. Power (236.4 YDS/G)
17. Mustangs (231.8 YDS/G)
18. Rush (230.9 YDS/G)
Total Offense:
1. SaberCats (321.4 YDS/G)
9. Soul (289.2 YDS/G)
13. Gladiators (275.2 YDS/G)
14. Power (273.2 YDS/G)
18. Mustangs (256.5 YDS/G)
Scoring Defense:
1. Rush (833 pts)
3. Gladiators (841 pts)
4. Mustangs (867 pts)
9. Soul (969 pts)
10. Power (972 pts)
18. Blaze (1117 pts)
Rushing Defense:
1. Talons (12.6 YDS/G)
2. Soul (15.7 YDS/G)
4. Mustangs (19.2 YDS/G)
14. Power (29.4 YDS/G)
15. Gladiators (29.8 YDS/G)
18. Force (32.9 YDS/G)
Passing Defense:
1. Storm (244.8 YDS/G)
2. Mustangs (247.6 YDS/G)
3. Soul (253.7 YDS/G)
7. Gladiators (256.9 YDS/G)
15. Power (277.3 YDS/G)
18. Sharks (302.3 YDS/G)
Total Defense:
1. Mustangs (266.8 YDS/G)
2. Soul (269.4 YDS/G)
7. Gladiators (286.8 YDS/G)
15. Power (306.8 YDS/G)
18. SaberCats (320.4 YDS/G)
Kickoff Returns:
1. Rattlers (20.3 Avg) -> 8 TDs
6. Gladiators (18.2 Avg) -> 2 TDs
7. Power (18.2 Avg) -> 3 TDs
15. Soul (15.4 Avg) -> 3 TDs
17. Mustangs (14.7 Avg) -> 2 TDs
18. Talons (13.8 Avg) -> 3 TDs
Turnover Margin:
1. Rattlers (+33)
3. Gladiators (+19)
5. Mustangs (+14)
Tied 12. Soul (-12)
14. Power (-13)
Tied 17. Storm & Voodoo (-20)
As you can see the Eastern Division finished at best near the middle of the pack in the offensive categories, but they performed very well in nearly every defensive category (except for the Power). The Soul's strengths are pretty transparent (the defense) as are their deficiencies (the offense and turnovers). The Soul won't win many games or qualify for postseason play with a sub-par offense that turns the ball over way too many times. They had that in 2011, but the front office is making strides to make sure that doesn't happen in 2012. Only two of the eight playoff teams in 2011 had a turnover margin in the negatives (Force -3 and Shock -5) while two of the seven teams in the positive didn't make the playoffs (Mustangs +14 and Talons +2). That alone won't ensure success for the Soul, but dropping that number down from -12 definitively wouldn't hurt.
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