#6 Islanders Year-In-Review

Preview: (Posted before the 2015 Draft)
No team has come into the league quite like the Islanders, who won the Larkspur Bowl in their first year, the 2012 champions and the overall points leader to boot. Since then, it's been a couple of lackluster showings- a one and done playoff run in 2013, and a late season fade in 2014. California has shown they can get it done: Now they have to do it again in 2015.

Final Record:
Eight Wins, Five Losses (2,385.57 points; 183.51 avg - 5th)

Playoffs:
Lost to South Park Cows in Larkspur Bowl Quarterfinal 183.20 - 160.51
Lost to Toronto LTP in 5th Place Game 253.18 - 217.64

Synopsis:
The Islanders eight wins came from four two game win streaks spread through the season, and they earned every one of them- in seven of their eight wins they scored at least 186 points- in only one of their losses did they do better than 166 points. The team suffered at QB, where they had five different starters: Big Ben, Derek Carr, Jay Cutler, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Matt Stafford. Roethlisberger was the play when he was healthy enough to go, but numerous ailments limited him. By the second half of the season Stafford had been chosen to ride shotgun, a necessary allotment of a roster spot. They were able to cycle there because of uncanny stability at WR: the team's top three guys (Cobb, Cooper, and Tate) were able to play every game, while Garcon was active in fourteen- only three other WRs saw the field. The team also did a good job at RB, where the trifecta bruisers Chris Ivory, Marshawn Lynch, and LaGarrette Blount took the bulk of the carries, with Ryan Mathews a reliable emergency option. Defensively the team was patient, and solid all the way through. All-Larkspur Team member Paul Posluszny was fourth in points despite missing two games- which qualifies as a pretty healthy year, since he hadn't played a full slate since 2012. The team went down in the first round of the playoffs to eventual champion South Park as erstwhile contributors Amari Cooper, Karlos Dansby, and Sebastian Janikowski failed to make tangible impacts. In the fifth place game they rebounded to play well, but went against a Toronto team that came within fractions of scoring the all time best week in Larkspur Bowl History.

Draft Analysis:

VALUABLE ; TRADED ; DROPPED; RECYCLED; INJURED

The Islanders were the only team to keep double digit players- twelve of them, including Marshawn Lynch. Every one of those players approached or exceeded expectations, and the back end of this draft had several picks that contributed later in the year; "Can't keep everybody." If the team could have kept Michael Floyd and Jordan Reed, they'd have been better off, and while Mario Williams ended up a huge bust for being the third DL off the board, but that was one of 2015's surprises. The team could have benefited from trading their excess depth to address needs. Sometimes you move a player for only a marginal upgrade, rather than losing them for nothing.

Projected Points by Position versus League Average Projections (POST DRAFT)

ISL: B GRADE
Strength: RB
Weakness: TE

The Islanders have three battering rams at RB in Beast Mode, Ivory, and Blount. At TE Coby Fleener is inconsistent, and Jordan Reed is injury prone.

Trade Review: (Listing each player's point total following the trade)

• OCT 22 traded RB Dion Lewis (31.4) to HVM for RB Ahmad Bradshaw (41.5) and SS TJ Ward (42)

The Islanders complete only one trade in 2015, the sixth in their franchise's history. Their impulse to sell Dion Lewis was good- his injury limited his sell high opportunity, and waiting a week might have seen a better return, but he was only a few games away from his expiration date. What they got in return amounted to null, but you can sorta see what they were thinking. Ahmad Bradshaw, fully healthy and off suspension was being eased into the game plan, and if he could recapture his 2014 swiss army form he could be a quality source of TDs. The Islanders were ultimately unable to capitalize on Bradshaw's limited shelf life, but there was a 'sell high, buy low' aspect here. The Ward acquisition is more confusing, because the team had no obvious place for him. He slotted in behind incumbents Charles Woodson and Donte Whitner (both healthy at the time) and never made it to game action with the team. No harm, no foul- you just wonder if the team could have netted a more useful return for Lewis, who had started the year off with four straight big games before the injuries started to pile up; In his five complete games, he had five upper echelon performances.

Player of the Week Awards:

• WK05 DPotW: CB Chris Harris - 26.2pts
• WK06 DPotW: LB Karlos Dansby - 33.05pts
• WK08 PUotW: WR Marques Colston - 25.9pts
• WK15 DPotW: LB Paul Posluszny - 23.65pts

All Larkspur Bowl Players:

• Linebacker Paul Posluszny - 189.75pts

Depth Chart:

• QB: Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Stafford
• RB: Chris Ivory, Lagarrette Blount, Marshawn Lynch, Ryan Mathews
• WR: Randall Cobb, Golden Tate, Amari Cooper, Pierre Garcon, DaVante Parker
• TE: Ben Watson
• K: Sebastian Janikowski
• DL: Mo Wilkerson, Mario Williams
• LB: Karlos Dansby, Paul Posluszny, Stephen Tulloch, Donte Hightower, Melvin Ingram
• CB: Chris Harris, Malcolm Butler, Buster Skrine, Davon House, Sam Shields
• S: Charles Woodson, Donte Whitner, Kurt Coleman