Season Trophies Presented in Super 16
SUPER 16 – With its historic 5th season in the books, capped off by a thrilling Super Bowl V in which the Northern Fins defeated the expansion Who Dat Saints, 242-212 to be named 2016 Champions, the Super 16‘s 2016 season awards have been placed in the League’s Trophy Hall. The Northern Fins’ Lombardi Trophy has been etched and placed in the hall, along with Division Championship trophies for the Northern Fins, Who Dat Saints, The Dawg Pound, and the Los Angeles Super Chargers.
In addition to the League and Division Championships, the Super 16 awards end-of-season honors in four categories, based on the stats kept and compiled by the League’s Assistant Commissioner and Statistician, Coach Barb of the Motor City Kitties. The 2016 season numbers have been tabulated and, now, released by the league in the categories of Total Scoring, Offensive Scoring, Defensive Scoring, and Special Teams Scoring.
The Total Scoring Award is a new honor from the league, awarded to the team with the most total season points, regular season and post season (if applicable) combined. For the 2016 season, North Division Champion, The Dawg Pound broke the 3000 point barrier to finish with 3009.50 total season points, edging out the Who Dat Saints by a total of just 15 points, despite being eliminated in the playoff semi-
finals and thus playing one fewer game. The Northern Fins, though they defeated the Who Dats in Super Bowl V, come in just behind them at 3rd, almost a full 100 points back. Playoff teams accounted for all of the top scoring totals of 2016, with the exception being the West Division Champion Los Angeles Super Chargers who placed 9th on the list. Interestingly, 1 Eye Til I Die and the Arizona Firebirds, of the West Division, both placed higher on the list than the Chargers, as did the Birds of Prey. All three of those teams were 2015 playoff contenders, but failed to make it to the post season this year.
Total Scoring Awards have also been retroactively presented for the season total points leaders in seasons 2012-2015, with awards for Brady’s Bunch (Ice Cold Bruschis)(2012), Arizona Warbirds (Arizona Firebirds) (2013), BEARMINATORS (2014), and Birds of Prey (2015) being placed in the League’s Trophy Hall alongside the other awards for those seasons.
In the category of offensive scoring for the regular season, the Motor City Kitties took Offense of the Year honors with 1305.00 offensive points, meaning they averaged 100 offensive points per game over the 13 week season, the only team to do so, and will go down in the record books with the third best offensive season total in league history, right behind the venerable Bruschi and BoP franchises who hold the records for 1st and 2nd. Clearly the best offense of 2016, they ranked, however 15th of 16 on defense, and fell 126 total points short of a tiebreaker that would have landed them in the post season.
The Who Dat Saints were just barely edged out in this category as well, coming in 2nd with 1289.00 offensive points as the only team that came close to Motor City’s numbers, while the league’s other expansion squad, Steel Curtain came in a distant 3rd with a season total of 1229.00 offensive points. The Champion Fins, interestingly, had one of the weakest offensive showings in the league, their 914.00 offensive points second to last, ahead of only the BowMen of San Francisco.
On the other side the line of scrimmage, the North Division Champ Dawg Pound and the League Champion Fins were easily the best defensive teams of 2016, with the West Division’s 1 Eye Til I Die in that conversation as well. Those three teams were all defensive juggernauts, but none more so than the 2016 Defense of the Year Dawg Pound. With the addition of 1 extra defender to the starting rosters this season, the defensive numbers were expected to rise, and projections showed that some of the old defensive record holders were going to be displaced, but the Dawg Pound’s 1419.50 defensive total absolutely obliterated the old season record of 1106.00 posted by 1 Eye Til I Die just a season ago.
The Northern Fins were over a hundred points back from the Dawgs, with a defensive total of 1315.00 points, but that total still over shadowed much of the league, and when these two, the #1 and #2 defenses in the league faced off in the playoff semi-finals, it was the Northern Fins who came out on top, 219-185 on their way to the Super Bowl and their Championship. Defying expectations, however, both defenses in that game under-performed, The Dawg Pound scoring only 86 points on defense and the Fin’s defenders accounting for just 80 of their total; the Champs won that match with their offense and special teams, outscoring the boys in brown by 26 and 24 points, respectively, in those categories.
Cut out of the playoffs by the stranger-than-fiction Immaculate Stat Correction, the 1 Eye‘s defensive squad posted 1268.00 points in 2016 for third place in the category, closer to the second place Fins than to the rest of the field behind these 3 defensive powerhouses. At 162 points better than their 2015 defensive numbers which were the previous league record, the extra defender added this season averaged an impressive 12.46 points per week for the Black and Silver.
For statistic and record purposes, the Super 16 recognizes the positions of kicker and team defense under the Special Teams category, and with a season total of 264.00 special teams points, the Arizona Firebirds were awarded the Special Teams of the Year Award. Being just the second season in which this category is tabulated, all totals previously in the record books were all from 2015, and Arizona’s 2016 numbers were only good enough to place 6th on that list, 5 other franchises – including Arizona themselves – having posted better special teams numbers last year. The BEARMINATORS hold the Special Teams Scoring record with 282.00 SpT points, and Arizona is number 2 on that list with 276.00; now, they also hold the 6th slot with their 264.00 of 2016.
The special teams numbers were particularly close this season, with just 34 points separating the entire top half of the league, and 8 teams on the list locked into 4 different ties for their season totals. Coming in just behind the Firebirds, SF’s BowMen and Eagle has landed are the first of those ties, both teams ranked in 2nd place with 254.00 point totals. The 2016 Scoring Champion Dawg Pound, fell just outside of the top 3 with 246.00 SpT points, demonstrating the all-around balance of their 2016 squad that helped them to perform so well.
Of special note, also being placed in the Super 16 Trophy hall for 2016 is the Birds of Prey’s Gold Star Award, presented by the Association for their 50th win which they attained in the Week 13 regular season finale, beating their division rival Who Dat Saints, 209-186. The Birds are the first team in the whole Association to be so honored, reaching the milestone in just 72 total games, regular and post season combined, and despite a disappointing 2016 season that saw their career win percentage plummet from .780 to it’s current .690 average, they remain the winningest team in Super 16 history.
The Dawg Pound‘s showing in the final numbers, and their pair of awards demonstrates that they remain a perennial powerhouse along with Birds of Prey; the success of the league’s two newest teams, the Who Dat Saints and Steel Curtain who both made the playoffs in their first campaign should put the rest of the league on notice; the strong numbers of S-16 contenders like 1 Eye Til I Die, Motor City, and Arizona, despite not making the playoffs; and their League Championship in hand the Northern Fins’ taking over in the East where the retired Bruschis left off are all indications of the strength of competition in the league. 2017 is looking ferocious already.
