Owner Matt has become a superstitious man ever since relocating an NFL franchise to Dublin. Whether it was the stress of the new job, the constant doubt from the media or a general sense of homesickness it was as if something clicked for him. His entire house is filled with Four-leaf clovers and he spends much of his time visiting Irish landmarks and praying at them for good fortune. The locals are still split on whether Owner Matt’s peculiar habits are offensive or endearing.
So the day before the Preseason is set to begin, Owner Matt takes Doug Pederson and Liam Neeson with him to the Blarney Stone to pray for good fortune. No amount of explanation about how that’s not really what stone is for was able to deter Owner Matt from this path. He falls to his knees and says his prayer, Liam and Doug stand there aggressively uncomfortable. When the awkward moment finally passes Owner Matt stands up, only to pause, and pick up something from the ground. It was a four-leaf clover. Owner Matt, with a defiant look in his eyes, turns to his two top men and says “This year, we make the playoffs!”
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Pre-Season:
Coming into the season I feel a weird sense of optimism. We were 7-8-1 last season and on the verge of making the playoffs. While we didn’t become a SB contender over night, we did pick up a lot of quality guys in the offseason which gives me confident we can compete for the Playoffs this season. We’re good not great across the board but also have a ton of youth. That being said, we do have some depth issues at a few key positions so those will need to be filled with signings. After much discussion in the Discord we agree on some young depth guys that we sign to the 1 year contracts the game forces you into.
We end up sign 79 OVR JK Dobbins HB, 81 OVR Cordarelle Patterson HB/KR, 70 OVR Marcus Mariota QB, 76 OVR Fabian Moraeu CB, 74 OVR Ben Gideon ROLB, 72 OVR Morgan Fox LE and 74 OVR Solomon Thomas RE.
We’ve had to be much more active in FA these first few years than I’d like but this roster simply didn’t have the depth to do things differently. I’m gonna try and limit myself more in FA moving forward as I really want to develop through the draft. That being said, none of these guys are starters and are instead backing up positions where we desperately need the depth. Moreau does end up getting the nod over McKinney at Nickelback though and Patterson becomes our starting KR which we desperately needed. With the exception of Patterson, Mariota and Moreau these are all young prospects who have a decent shot of being renewed after the season. Dobbins in particular has a good chance of staying on the roster for the long haul.
We sim through the Preseason and get to the hardest part of all, final cuts. Madden thankfully includes a practice squad so some of our guys will find homes there. The most notable cut is 6th Round Pick Mitch Austin who at 55 OVR simply could not beat out Mariota. 7th Round Pick Cedric Bond and 4th Round pick Brooks Yoder both get put on the practice squad. This is not a good sign for our rookies but was largely unavoidable. Brooks Yoder I was nervous would get signed off the practice squad but, luckily, no one was interested. He’s still a guy I think could end up on the regular season roster when it’s all said and done. Our practice squad is pictured below:
Week 1 @ Saints
Coming into week one the opening day jitters are real. I labored over tough depth chart decisions with no clear choice in mind. Steven Sims ends up getting the nod over Robert Foster as our number two option and I narrowly decide to stick with Moses at RT over Craft or O’Connell. Now we just have to see how those decisions pan out and if K-Dubs can avoid a sophomore slump. Watch the game at the link below:
Well, damn. We couldn’t imitate the opening day magic we created last year. K-Dubs struggled mightily throughout, as our offense just couldn’t get anything going. It’s hard to pinpoint what exactly went wrong but here’s hoping it was just a one week thing.
Week 2 Vs Dallas
Our next game is against our biggest competitor in the NFC East, the Cowboys. They are coming off a Super Bowl appearance which makes this game appear even tougher. How this game goes will say a lot about the direction of our season. I’m not sure a team as young as ours can handle starting 0-2
Well, hopefully they can. Another rough day for the boys in green. Our offense continues to struggle putting up points and K-Dubs throws 3 interceptions. K-Dubs is the guy we’re trying to build around so his struggles are the most worrisome thing about all of this. After starting last year off 2-0 we have taken a much better roster and started 0-2. I’m already looking at Doug Pederson as another potential sacrifice to the Football Gods. Our next game comes against a talented Packers team. I’m scared of where this season is heading.
Week 3 @Green Bay
I pull K-Dubs aside before the game and try to get in his head. The humble player takes all the blame and promises he will right this ship. There’s a fire in his eyes and for a moment I remember him as the Akron Star that put Coach Luke on the map. He walks away and that moment passes, as I fully accept there is no way we can beat the Packers.
I AM DEAD WRONG. WE WIN WE WIN WIN. Our balanced attack works and K-Dubs throws for three TDs. We sit at 1-2 with a tough road in front of us but the hope I had before is starting to return.
Week 4 Vs Carolina
Another dominant win by the Shamrocks. We’re 2-2 and have regained control of our season, can we keep the magic alive?
Week 5 @Oak
Don’t look now but the Shamrocks are 3-2 and tied for the division lead. Granted the entire NFC East is tied for the division lead, but that’s just semantics. K-Dubs is still having an up and down year but we’re winning again and that’s all these Irishmen care about
Week 6 vs SF
Tough, tough loss for the Shamrocks. The offense came alive in the way we’ve wanted them to all season but the defense couldn’t keep up with Garoppolo and Co. 3-3 heading into the bye feels like a win at this point in the season though. There is a path to the playoffs for this team, we just have to seize it.
Week7 @ Dallas
We decide to watch this game as it is the biggest one of the year so far. We are two games back from Dallas in the division which means this game could go a long, long way towards deciding the winner of the NFC East. You can watch the game below or skip ahead to see the result
SHAMROCKS WIN SHAMROCKS WINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
We came through when it mattered and steal the win from the Cowboys. The game came down to the wire but we pulled it out. K-Dubs continues to do just enough to win as our defense holds on. At 4-3 this game feels like a major turning point for us as we enter the half-way point of the season. We still have big problems to fix on offense though if we even want a chance of continuing this run.
Look at this filthy run by Dobbins
Akron's favorite Son calls Ballgame
Week 8 Vs NYG
If we win this game we move up to 5-3 and make things a hell of a lot easier on ourselves. Our defense has been lights out outside of the SF game, but we need more from K-Dublin if we’re going to make Owner Matt’s dream of a playoff run a reality.
We’re 5-3!!! The Shamrocks continue an unlikely march to the playoffs. K-Dubs struggles MIGHTILY in this game but the defense and Phillip Lindsay bail us out again. I’m stoked about the win but 14-6 isn’t going to cut it for us down the stretch. Still, the fact we’re winning the close games shows the guys have grit which is exactly what you want from such a young roster.
First Half Recap
At the halfway point in the season the Shamrock sit at 5-3. I check the NFC standings to see where that puts us and am pleasantly surprised
We have the fourth best record in the conference. The conference is incredibly tight as you can see but we are positioned well to make our final push. The Cowboys still have a one game lead but a Wildcard spot at the very least seems likely if we can hold on. Landon Collins is in the running for Defensive Player of the Year and Corey Bracket has a good chance at Defensive Rookie of the Year. Montez Sweat, Reuben Foster, Brandon Scherff and Matthew Ioannidis are also all in the running for Awards.
As great as this all is, our offense is a major problem. We just can’t seem to score enough TDs and that does not bode well for us long term. I’ve attached the Passing and Rushing numbers below:
We just need more TD’s across the board. I’d like to see less turnovers from K-Dubs but that’s less concerning to me than just the general lack of scoring. Our rushing game continues to be dangerous though, which is encouraging.
That brings us to some tough decision to be made in the second half of the season. Do we make the decision to go younger on Offense? It’s tough to justify giving up a couple points of overall ratings at some positions when you’re on a playoff run, but with how stagnant we have been anyways I am wondering if playing some of our rookies and second year players to help them develop isn’t the right call here? The biggest potential move would be Benching 75 OVR WR Robert Foster for 73 OVR WR Ishmael Billups who has a Superstar development trait. Billups has zero catches on the year and to take advantage of his development trait we really need him out there.
The other potential move would be benching Pouncey or Moses in favor of getting either Craft or O’Connell some playing time. Both guys are young and talented whereas Pouncey is a ten year vet on a one year deal. We’ll decide officially on the next stream but feel free to weigh in below with your thoughts!
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That brings us to the end for this newsletter. We will be watching the second half of the season this Saturday starting at 7:30 PM EST. As always feel free to reach out with any feedbacks, questions, ideas or whatever really. I hope you all are enjoying the series as much as I am and from the bottom of my heart I am just so thankful for the support :)
Also, even if y’all can’t make the Twitch streams, if you wanted to follow my Twitch account it’d be much appreciated. I need more followers to hit Affiliate Status which will help me add more fun things to the Stream and increase the quality of the product
https://www.twitch.tv/memorrowiv
Regardless, thank you all again for the support and becoming a part of my family. I hope you all have a very happy and very blessed Thanksgiving!
As a long-time NFC East team fan, I know the weird feeling of having an average team win the division haha. Winning the division is definitely nice but I feel you gotta think long-term and get some young guys some playing time. You can probably still win the division even with younger guys in the lineup. K-Dubs will be in his prime in a few years (I hope) and you want to see who will be there with him. I wanna see the 'Rocks in the Super Bowl in Year 8 so you can match the Coach Luke trajectory.