Nothing to report except that we lost

Coach Steve Sargent presented the Game ball to their Kicker, #16 James Peeler, after an exciting 39-37 win against the Honolulu Hawaiians in Houston. The Gamblers used 5 plays to travel 64 yards in 59 seconds to set up Peeler's game winning FG from HON's 16 with 22 seconds left in the game. Peeler was 4 for 4 on his attempts.

With 1:48 seconds left in the game and trailing Honolulu 36-37, The Gambler's had the ball deep in their territory at their own 20. On their first play of that drive, QB #12 Chester Dougherty rolled to his right to hit his TE, #82 Larry Perez (2 receptions for 21 yards) coming off the line for a 14 yard gain. Dougherty had an unbelievable game. He completed 64.2% of passes of his 28 attempts to 7 different receivers for 447 yards and 3 TDs while being sacked 5 times for -34 yards. Dougherty has now thrown 10 TD's against 3 INT for the season.

"We got the match up we wanted in that play," said Dougherty, who had a stellar game. "Perez was able to cut in front of the CB that was playing zone while LB Raynor was chasing him. I'll take Larry against a LB defending him any day at any time."

On the next play, Dougherty took the snap, went back two steps and connected to his favorite Wide Out for the game, #10 Bradley Sharp for a 20 yard toss at the Hawaiian's 46 yard line who then used his speed to gain an additional 26 yards. Bradley caught 7 passes for 271 yards for 2 TDs of Dougherty 3 scores. His longest reception was for 74 yards. What makes this more fascinating is that this game for Bradley is that he has caught 63% of his total yardage in just one game.

After running the ball twice to help run down the clock so to eliminate a possible comeback, Coach Sargent called on Peeler for the win.

When asked why he gave the ball to their Kicker instead of their outstanding QB and WR, Sargent replied, "Sometimes the best stars aren't always the brightest or the prettiest. Sometimes they are the ones who appear in the sky at the right time and do their job of showing up for our pleasure. One star does not make a wonderful and beautiful starry night, but a whole bunch of stars working together to make memories, man, It's just wonderful. Football is a team sport, just like the Universe.

The Houston Gamblers are pleased to announce the newest addition to their team, QB James Lightfoot, when they picked him up off of Waivers.


Although expected to fight for the starting position at QB, Coach Steve Sargent said that his QB Chester Dougherty is the starter ...... for now. "Chester has proven to be the leader of this team and the starting spot is his to lose while Lightfoot has to earn it. Chester knows the offense, has a good repertoire with the players, and even though I would have liked a better Win Lost record, it is what it is."

Lightfoot was assigned a new number since his favorite number was taken by 1,000 yard receiver #10 Bradley Sharp

And with the first pick of the 1975 season, the Houston Gamblers take SS Juan Bonnett from out of Notre Dame. Standing at 6 foot 1 and weighing just a tad over 200 lbs, Bonnett was the highest rated defensive back in this year's draft. It was not known if the winner of the Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport legend Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1968, would continue to play football or chase his PHD. Bonnett led the Nation in Interceptions with 14, 2 returned for TDs, and had a catch allowed percentage of 21%. With the dominating passing attack of San Antonio, Houston decided that would be their target. The owner of the Gamblers believes that he now has the best CB duo in the League, with CB Wayne Mashburn , a runner up in the leagues all-pro team and a Rookie All Pro.

How one would like to be a fly on the wall for the quarterly Coaches / Owners meeting after finding out that this years 1st round draft choice busted.

Strong Safety converted to Cornerback Juan Bonnett progress after Training Camp +9/-14
Other disappointments are
QB Edward Bennett (0/-11) 6th round
RDE, Lee Jackson (4/-4) 4th round

But overall Draft for rookies was 69/-9 for a negative 7.67 average

In Search of a Kicker

The initiation of the league's highest paid coach, Dan Collier, did not go as planned when they lost to the San Jose Sabercats by a score of 9-20. Coach Collier put no doubt where he laid the blame for the loss, squarely on the shoulders, .... or leg if you may, on #16 Kicker James Peeler .

"With the recent distraction thru out the league from the protests of if "I's" should be dotted and "T's" should be crossed," Collier began, "I believe Peeler has become distracted with his recent actions of doing the favorite form of protest, the Worm, when Our QB is sacked in favor of the protests. Although I believe Peeler is unintentionally attempting to bring attention to himself and to a cause, he has accomplished the feat. And with missing 2 FG's from his "Comfort Zone" of within the 35 yard line, and an ETA, in our home stadium....WHERE THERE IS NO CHANCE OF WIND VARIENCE.........He definitely now has our attention. After going 57% in FGA in preseason, and now this screwed up performance from a person with a limited playbook because of his limited intellect, he better like being under the microscope. If he misses one more kick, be it a FG or PTA, his next check will be from the unemployment line.

We brought in a rookie during the offseason to challenge Peeler, and he stepped up to the challenge so he could keep his job, so he can definitely step up to any threat. "

Gambler's Owner, Booger926, had this to say. "Although I realize that Peeler is a local Fan Favorite, and I truly support the Freedom of Speech thru Expression , even though at times I am offended by this Right, I can understand his concerns and appreciate his attempts to bring these concerns to light. However, what one does not realize, is that even though one has the guaranteed Right of Freedom of Speech as proclaimed by this Country's Constitution and Bill of Rights, one does not have the Right from Freedom from Consequences.

Free speech is a right and that right especially includes the right to offend. Without the right to offend you have no free speech rights. Peeler is offending the fans when he does the Worm, which is his Right.

There is no right to be protected from hurt feelings or from being offended. Nothing in the constitution or bill of rights guarantees that you can go through life without getting your feelings hurt or being offended and nothing requires the government to protect you from hurt feelings. The constitution DOES specifically guarantee you the right to speak freely and it is the government's obligation to protect that right.

However, no where does it say anyone is free from consequences. You may choose to not pay Income Taxes as a form of protest, but that does not guarantee that you might be imprisoned for your form of protest because paying Taxes is required by National Law.

I understand that Peeler would like "I's" dotted with umlauts and "T's" crossed with tildes, but he also has to understand that the majority of the people, our fans, the people who pay our bills, do not.

I truly hope that he appreciates all the negative attention he has brought upon himself. However, I pay him well to perform a particular job. If he is unable to perform that job, no matter how loud and how many times he protests a right he believes in, and he cannot perform to standards set forth by his job description as per legal documents signed by him and reviewed his legal team, then by I have every right to release him, or anyone else, from his contract. Documentation is the key, and stats are the documentation.

I truly support Coach Collier's decision and will back it 1000% if he feels it is best for the team."

Eliminated from 1975 Playoffs

Once again the Houston Gambler's players will spending the holidays with their family as they were eliminated from any possibility of making the Playoffs in their humbling 16-42 defeat against the New Jersey Generals, who have already clinched the National Conference East Division Championship in the 11th week of the season. In that game, Generals QB Doug Fluty threw 6 (Count them....6) TD passes against the home team

"I don't know what to say," said head coach Dan Collier. "We planned to defend against the pass in that game and Fluty still had an All-Star, HOF type game. We lost that game at the coin flip."

"Hats off to the Generals, Fluty, and the owner, raidergreg, for a record breaking game. They deserve it, because we sure as **** didn't" said Collier.

"But the bright side of being eliminated from the playoffs with 5 games to go is that I am now able to get back-ups the playing time they deserve. If we win against the upcoming schedule, we win. If we lose, then we are one step closer to securing the future. However, if the future is anything like our current draft bust, I don't know what to say."

"And its a real shame that I have to go into 'Little League' mode at this time in the season, but this is the way it is. The Gamblers have 37 of 56 players going into Free Agency at the end of the season and I need to know who to keep and to who let walk."

"I really was hoping that Dougherty would get 4,000+ passing yards, I would have 2 receivers with 1,000+ yards, and rookie sleeper RB James Connelly would break the 1,000 rushing yard mark. But it just was predetermined not to be, and I am OK with that."

1975 End of Season Report

The Gamblers ended their 1975 season with a 5-11 Overall Record, 3-9 Conference Record, and 1-5 Divisional Record. This is an increase of winning 1 more game in all catagories from the previous season, where they went 4-12, 2-10, and 0-6. So improvement was made, but not exactly to the owners satisfaction. This is also taking into account that the team did not play their starters after being eliminated from the playoffs for the season, and yet still went 1-4 for the season, so the results could have been better. Houston's overall record under the current owner, who is one of the 22 original remaining 32 owners who started the league, is 9-23.

The Team's overall Win/Loss Record for the season earned them a top 10 draft pick in the 1976 draft, in which Gambler's Director of Personal, Dewey Cheatum, is currently attempting to trade away or down in hopes of gaining more quality picks for future drafts.

The team's offensive play style showed an 11.61% increase in total yardage, where they averaged 392.1 yards per game in 1975 as opposed to 351.3 total offensive yards in 1974. This earned the team being as being ranked with 17th in overall Offense as opposed to being 22nd the season before. Assistance to this improvement were made specifically in the passing game where the team showed improvement in

A) +11.49% increase in Pass Attempts per Game (38.8/gm in 75 vs 34.9/gm in 1974) to be ranked 5th in that category,

B) +24.23% increase in Pass Completions per game (24.1/gm vs 19.4) to be ranked #2 in that category,

C) +11.65 increase in Pass Completion Percentage (62.3% vs 55.8%) to be ranked 6th in that category,

D) +18.38% increase in Offensive Passing Yards (306/gm vs 258.5/gm) to be ranked 11th in that category,

E) +6.76% increase in Passing yards per Attempt (7.9 vs 7.4) to be ranked 18th in that category,

F) +61.54% increase in Passing TDs/gm (2.1 vs 1.3) to be ranked 15th in the league.

However, this is offset by the Entire League increased in the Overall Passing Game for the current Season by 22.34%

Current Attributions to increase the 1975 Passing game were

A) Picking up QB James Lightfoot from Waivers,

B) Drafting RB James Connally in the 2nd round of the 1975 draft,

C) and drafting WR Jared Kelly with the 67th pick in the draft.

As expected, increases in the offensive passing game caused decreases in the offensive running game. The Gamblers dropped from the 18th in the league with 26.2 att/gm in 74 to 21st with 24.9 rushing attempts per game in 75. They also dropped in Rushing yards/gm (86.1/gm vs 92.8/gm... -7.22%), and Rushing TDs/gm (.2 in 75 as compared to .3 in 74). Once again, these decreases can be affected by to the league's overall increase in the passing game.

Overall Defensively, the Gamblers also improved in that area. The 75 Gamblers defense, ranked 21st overall, allowed 408.8 yards per game as opposed to 424.3 yards per game in 74 - a 3.79% increase from their ranking of 28th the past season.

Houston drastically improved their run-based defense as they saw improvement in the categories of

A) allowing -7.35% rushes per game (26/gm in 75 vs 27.6/gm in 74),

B) Decreasing their yards per carry from 5.0 yards in 74 to 4.3 yards/gm - +16.28%

C) and allowing 33.3% less rushing TDs per game (.6 in 75 vs .8 in 74)

Overall, the Gamblers improved their 27th ranked Run-based Defense from the previous season, where they allowed 138.8 yards on the ground in 74 as opposed to their 75 record of 111.4 yards per game by 24.60% to rank the 21st Run Defense for the season. However, although looking as if improvement was made, this, again, is offset by the league's tendency towards becoming more favorable to the Passing Game.

Additions to the team that helped improve this stat category include

A) Drafting All-Rookie WLB August Peterson in the first round,

B) and drafting DT Jerry Ailleo and LDE Lee Jackson in the 4th round. Although Jackson has seen limited play action time, the Houston organization considers him to be a vital piece of the puzzle with a long future with the team.

Negatively on defense, again because the whole league trended towards a pass oriented game plan, The Gamblers saw a decline in its secondary/pass defense production. They allowed 4.25% more passes to be attempted per game, 12.5% more passes completed per game, allowed opposing QB to have a 8.17 increase in pass completion %, and allowed 3.32% more yards passing per game than the previous season (301 passing yards / game in 75 vs 291 in 74)

The Gamblers will attempt to address this in the offseason thru trades, FA and the Draft.

76 Season Rookie Report

1) #23 FS Cory Vargas from Texas A&M
The front office is very pleased with the result of their first pick of the draft at Training Camp. Although Coaches are undecided if they would like to play him at his natural position of FS or switch him to the much needed position of CB. He will play at CB for the first half of preseason games and FS for the second half. Either way, definite Starter at what ever position he'll end up playing.
2) #59 WLB Roderick Carver from Florida State
With the speed to get in the backfield and to stay up with receivers and backs in the outfield, the second LB taken in the draft draws worries to Offensive Coordinators on how to attack him. Paired up with 1975 All-Rookie SLB August Peterson on the other side, the Gamblers seem to be making the right moves to patch up their LB corps. Will be used like Peterson was last season, at every LB position as needed.
3) #46 SS Jeffery Keeley from Michigan State
The Houston coaches are a little disappointed in the results coming out of camp from their 2nd round pick, but nothing to be worried about. His speed will keep him as the last line of defense against pass happy teams, but might be used as NB in Nickel Packages. Still a Starter.
4) #57 C Carl Lawlor from Cal-Poly SLO
Considered too a high risk to the teams likings coming out of the small Division 1 school which went 6-4, the Gamblers have found their Center for the next 10 years when they drafted Lawlor with the 11th pick in the 2nd Round. Very pleased with Camp results, Lawlor will learn behind 8 year veteran Reginald Martin while starting as LG due to the trading of their star Tackle during the offseason.
5) #30 FB George Webb from Idaho State
Considered too fast for a FB and too big for a RB ( he weighs 242lbs), Webb will spear head the improving ground game of the Gamblers by being the lead blocker for the backs and the Starting RB in short down running situations. He was drafted in the 3rd round with that specific purpose, to punish LB's and anyone else who tries to tackle him, and also due to the aging of FB Paul Mailoux
6) #6 QB Walton Vasquez from Ohio State
Houston was surprised to see Vasquez drop to them in the 4th round, but they are glad that he did. After his first training camp with the Gamblers, the front office is more confident about putting their Starting QB Dougherty on the trading block. Will definitely fight James Lightfoot for the second QB position, with possible starting capabilities. Barring any injuries, the coaches plan on playing Lightfoot and Vasquez in heavily in preseason, with each having a complete game by their selves with no back up. Now the bad news is, Houston will only carry two QB on their roster, so the QB battle will be the most watched and heated battle in the preseason.
7) #19 K Daniel McCormack from Bethune College
The Alltime Leading Scorer for the NCAA Division II School, and All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference First Team Member, and considered the best kicker in this years draft just put K James Peeler who made 67% of his FGA, on notice when Houston took him in the 4th round. Each will play two games in preseason and the one with the better stats will make the team.
8) #93 MLB Larry McKinnon from Texas A&M - Commerce
Taken out of desperation for positional depth, and after a disastrous camp will not make the team, even as the waterboy. He will play all preseason games but will be cut immediately after the final gun.
9) #13 P Juan Hanson from Ohio State
The Coaches have plans for Hanson who was considered the best Punter in this years draft. Although they are pleased with P Bruce Kester , they feel a little competition never hurts. Possibly likely to be cut or traded due to financial reasons (Hanson's first year salary is 74% of Kester's total salary, as with McCormack/Peeler battle, both will play two games and one with best stats makes the team
10) #54 MLB Ramiro Bandy from Nebraska
See report about McKinnon. Couldn't make the team as the waterboy's waterboy, but will get a chance to play preseason.

Preseason Battle Updates

As mentioned, the Gambler's QB position is going to be closely watch. After the first preseason game loss by a score of 13-23 against the Florida Blazers, the coaches have the following to announce;

Rookie QB Walton Vasquez

Played 80% of the offensive plays ran by the team for the game. In which he went 16/32 for 346 yards and 1 TD against 1 INT while being sacked 4 times. His inexperience with the team showed as he had two delay of game penalties while running the Offense. His 10.81 yards per pass attempt for the game is the third best by a Gambler in their short preseason history. His QB rating after 1 game is 86.20.

QB James Lightfoot

Played 24% of the offensive plays where he went 3/8 for 13 yards while losing a fumble once within the team's 25 yard line and being sacked twice for minus 12 yards. Will be playing the whole upcoming preseason game against the New York Stars.
Although the coaches haven't made their final decision yet, this battle looks like it might be over before it even gets started and Lightfoot will be the one getting the axe. GM Dewey Cheatum will be looking for a 4th in trade for Lightfoot in lieu of releasing him if possible, but he does have his orders.
In other battles for positions, the Special Teams battles between Kickers Daniel McCormack , James Peeler and Punters Juan Hanson and Bruce Kester seem to be neck and neck while Hanson does seem to have a slight edge in the net punting department.
The Coaches have decided that the next upcoming game will go to the Rookies Hanson and McCormack. One of the things the team done the past season to help Peeler was move the field goal target range 5 yards closer to the goal line, but for the final 3 upcoming games, they will be moving it back 7 yards further away from the goal line.
GM Dewey Cheatum has been shopping P Kester, who finished within the top 10 last season in the league in Avg, Net, and Punts inside the 20, but have yet to have any takers.