A look at veteran stars in the FWL : #1 QB Pat Barnes

In Season 1 the expansion Ireland Celts had a problem with their offense, it was ranked 15th overall and had no clear leader. When the first ever FWL draft took place the Ireland Celts decided to draft QB Pat Barnes with the 3rd selection overall and took him away from the Skyhawks who were about to take him with the next pick.

Instantly as a rookie Barnes started and a year later the pasisng offense of the Celts ranked 4th, the problem was the rushing attack was the worst in the league. Barnes had an amazing rookie season throwing for over 3,700 yards to lead the league and threw the 3rd most touchdowns in the league with 10. Despite the great season the Celts finished with the worst record in the league.

The following year the #1 overall pick was WR Vance Blundin who immediately struck up a great partnership with Barnes and the two would go on to set a lot of records.

Barnes started for 3 straight seasons for Ireland and another 2 when the franchise moved to Berlin. However in those 5 seasons the team never made the playoffs, this was mainly due to the lack of a rushing attack as the defense improved to a top 10 unit in 2001 (Season 5).

Finally after 5 non-playoff years the management surprisingly started backup Jay Fiedler in 2003 after Barnes started the season slowly. For the first time ever he was benched. Fiedler played well that year and took Berlin to the playoffs for the first time in their history. The following season Barnes wanted to get his job back and in the offseason looked very good and came to camp wanting to get back the job. Barnes did that and more and had his best season yet with an incredible 111.2 rating. Barnes led Berlin to the playoffs and took the team all the way to success in FWL Bowl VII, he had a great comeback as the previous year he was languishing on the bench but a year later here he was lifting the FWL Bowl trophy !

Over the next 6 seasons Barnes was one of the best QB's in the league. He never threw for more than 8 ints in a year and averaged 18 td's a season. The Thunder went back to the playoffs the next year but failed in the EFC Game. The following season they just missed out on the playoffs but a year later Barnes was back in the playoffs, narrowly missing out on another FWL Bowl appearance with an EFC Game loss. A year later in 2008 he was back in the playoffs but lost in the wildcard round. The last two seasons, 2009 and 2010 have been tough on Berlin as they have failed to make the playoffs but in each of the last two years Barnes has thrown 18 td's and 3 ints despite his advancing years. Great stats for any QB in the league.

The team did suffer their first losing season last year in 8 years and the Thunder hope to bounce back this year with their mix of young and veteran stars. The offense is fascinating to watch as it features old pros at QB, TE, HB and WR with the oldest offence in the league.

Barnes has set records for most touchdowns , yards and games played as Barnes is now in his 13th season. Barnes has been named All-FWL three times in Seasons 9,11 and 13 and has also been named EFC Offensive Player of the Year twice and has won over 80 regular season games for Berlin during his career.

It appears that 2011 will be his final season in the FWL but Barnes has started well this year with 3 td's and 0 ints and a 98.4 rating after 3 games. He wants to go out in a bang in his final season for Berlin and the old gunslinger can still have some great games as shown by last year and some great final comebacks throwing to his favourite WR Vance Blundin.

Pat Barnes - One of the best all time QB's in the FWL and a legend whos passing records may never be broken.