Year 3: The future of a Franchise hangs in the balance
The drama ramps up as K-Dubs and company try to rewrite the narrative
Sitting at 4-4 at the Bye Week, the Shamrocks’ season sits in the balance. That feeling isn’t just unique to the season though. We’re coming off a 7-8-1 and 7-9 season. The one thing we can’t afford to do is be worse. This means guys like Doug Pederson, Kenneth Washington, JK Dobbins and a whole slew of other Shamrocks also likely see their careers as sitting in the balance. We saw last year just how quickly things can fall apart. When I started this project one of my main worries was that the team might get too good too quickly, yet that has not been a problem. I want the Playoffs bad this season but mostly I just want us to break 7 wins. I want to see K-Dubs become the player we envisioned and I want to bring some excitement to the city of Dublin.
Can we deliver on all those wants?
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Week 10 Vs Green Bay
Aaron Rodgers may be in his twilight years but this is still a game that scares me. We are rated slightly better but it’s more or less a Toss-Up. My hope is that our defense, which has been a top unit this season, can slow down the aging HOF QB and that K-Dubs will continue his recent run of strong form. You can watch the game at the link below and, let me say, it’s worth it:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/829423749?t=0h12m31s
5-4!!!!!! OT win for the Dublin ‘Rocks at home! What an emotional Rollercoaster of a game. We scored big early, went dormant, and then both teams started clicking in the 4th Quarter. This one was filled with big plays but dominant performances by Landon Collins, JK Dobbins and Scary Terry led the way. K-Dubs also had a great day and ran the offense to perfection in the biggest moments. This was one of the most fun games I’ve ever watched on a stream. Both teams had big chances to end the game during regulation but weren’t able to. The Packers in particular drove all the way to our 3 yard line at the end of the 4th, only to settle for the game-tying FG. The ‘Rocks showed a lot of grit and I couldn’t be more proud.
Collins sending a message early
Week 11 @ Carolina
Carolina didn’t even stand a chance. We came into the game with the same rating and both in the hunt for the playoffs but that didn’t matter. Washington had one of our strongest games on offense yet and our defense gave no quarter. At 6-4 I’m starting to see the light but reminding myself of what happened last year. We can’t get ahead of ourselves.
Week 12 @ Philadelphia
Big game against out division rivals who are also 6-4. They are one of our, if not the biggest competitors for the Wildcard spot and won the first game against us. This game has major implications
WE BLOW THEM OUT! Our defense has come to play this year and our offense has been steady and consistent. At 7-4 I’m officially excited. We have already tied our record from the two previous seasons. Things are looking bright and you can see me begin losing my crap on the stream. Are the Shamrocks gonna do this thing?
Week 13 @ Dallas
Well that brought me back down to earth. We’re still 7-5 but this doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Our offense can get absolutely nothing going. Our offense has taken big strides this season, so this is a disappointment to say the least. We’re still positioned well at the moment but last years’ 5 game losing streak looms large in my head. We can’t let his get away from us.
Week 14 Vs NYG
Oh no. 7-6. Doug Pederson has to be getting nervous. Our running game gets stuffed again and we are watching this season slowly drift away from us. This being a division loss also hurts a lot in terms of Tiebreakers if the season comes down to that. At this point I just want to see 8 wins. We have three games left, 2 would likely put is in the Playoffs and 1 would give us a shot and at least mark improvement. I want one.
Week 15 @ Houston
We drop three straight and now sit at 7-7. We play a talented Vikings team next and to say things look dreary would be an understatement. The teams we needed to lose do, so our outlook for the Playoffs looks about the same. If we win out we’re in with any amount of luck. If we go 1-1 we have a chance but we will need some serious help. Washington had a hell of a day but it simply wasn’t enough. The Shamrocks story this first few seasons has been that we are a team of streaks and that has held true. Let’s hope the Luck of the Irish turns back in our favor.
Week 16 @ Minnesota
SKOL!!!!!!!!!! LETS GO ROCKS. 8-7!!!
Getting over the 7 win hump felt way better than I anticipated. K-Dubs throws 3 TDs and we outlast a talented Vikings squad. The offense split the load between a variety of players but we get the job done. 8 teams are in the hunt for 2 Wild Card spots with 5 of us at 8-7. At the moment the Tiebreakers aren’t going our way so we desperately need to win this next game. My mind can’t help but wander to all the close losses we experienced this season and what a difference one more win would make. All we can do is trust our guys and hope they lead us to the promised land.
Week 17 @ Chicago
The whole season comes down to this. The whole trajectory of our Franchise has led to this moment. Will we finally taste playoff glory? Can the Shamrocks claim their first winning record?
The Bears are rated one point worse than us and are a sub .500 team but their defense is stacked. The Bears are also led by former QB Dwayne Haskins who reportedly holds a grudge against Owner Matt for trading him away. This is the biggest game in Franchise history, can you feel the excitement in the air? Watch the game at the link below:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/829423749?t=1h48m2s
Small clipped score to try and minimize the pain. God that stung. If you didn’t watch, all 24 points for the Bears came in the first half as Haskins absolutely shredded our defense. We then spent the entire 3rd quarter running the ball despite being down 24. Washington threw one interception early and after that Pederson just refused to throw the ball which decimated our offensive game plan. Pederson finally decided to throw the ball well into the 4th Quarter and K-Dubs almost immediately scored and got a 2-Point conversion. Then, on the next drive, Corey “The Cutthroat” Brackett intercepted Haskins and took it all the way back for 6 but we failed on the 2-Point attempt.
The fact this ended up being a game was more irritating than it was encouraging because it highlighted just how bad our playcalling was. I know CPU vs CPU games are infamous for questionable decisions but this was a different level. I truly think Pederson’s offense just doesn’t work. We threw 16 times total the entire game despite being down 24 - 0 at the end of the first half, that’s unforgivable. Regardless, we finish the season at 8-8 which is an improvement. It will take a whole lot of luck to make the playoffs but who knows, maybe the Luck of the Irish will finally pay off.
Season Recap
Unfortunately it doesn’t, but damn were we close. The Eagles edge us out for the last Playoff spot with their own 8-8 record. Almost all of the teams we were tied with lost but it just wasn’t enough. We were a Tiebreaker away from tasting the playoffs and man does that sting. I can add the usual caveats about us being young and improving every season, which are true to be fair, but that doesn’t ease the pain. I want to win so bad man, I want to get over the hump.
You know what does ease the pain though? Firing Doug Pederson. Doug and his Yogurt Shop obsessions have become too much of an albatross for this team. We fire him with prejudice and begin the process of declawing him an enemy of the state. In his stead we hire none other than the kid himself, Kliff Kingsbury! Our hope is that his Air Raid more college friendly offense will be a perfect fit for K-Dubs and, at the very least, force us to throw the damn ball.
All of our guys fall out of their award races but David Njoku, Reuben Foster and Xavier McKinney all make the Pro Bowl. Interestingly, McKinney is the top FS in the Pro Bowl, his second trip in as many seasons, despite not starting on our team either of the past two years. It seems McKinney’s reps as the Sub LB and Dime CB really impressed the voters. Here are some individual stats below:
Now that the sting of the season has waned there are some cool things to highlight. Washington is becoming a MUCH more efficient passer which is what we needed to happen. I suspect we’ll see even more of that in Kingsbury’s Air Raid offense. Dobbins had a decent year but when you highlight how few downs he played compared to Patterson it casts it in a new light. Dobbins scoring 7 TDs as largely our short yardage back is honestly really impressive. We’re letting Patterson walk for real this time so hopefully more touches will help Dobbins’ numbers. Our receivers split the load a lot but they all seemed to take a step forward in sync with Washington. The development we’ve been hoping for seems to finally be taking shape.
We end up sitting still in FA due to Cap concerns and us having a much more complete roster than in years fast so we’ll jump ahead to the draft. The only main thing to note is we dump Lindsay off for a 4th round pick to get his salary off the books. Lindsay has certainly been our biggest FA bust so far.
The Draft
We’re drafting 16th Overall and have a few main positions we want to target. In order of need we’ve highlighted LB, HB, TE, backup QB, CB and O-Line Depth as our major needs. Jared Oliver out of Akron is the main guy we have our eye on at HB and we’re hoping with all the draft capital we have acquired we can move back into the 3rd Round to grab him. You cant watch the draft here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/829423749?t=3h17m38s
This draft was tough. Virtually all the 1st round prospects we scouted that we were excited about got drafted which left us in a pickle at our pick. There weren’t any good trade offers either so were forced to just take who looked like the best player available. That left us with a choice between a CB and a QB and we end up with Francis Capers, CB out of Texas.
Well, that’s not too bad I guess. Value wise the pick was was right on but, after the steals we were able to pull off the past couple seasons, this does feel like a let down. Capers will at the very least be a good depth piece for years though and with Darby and Fuller getting older it’s probably a good thing we get to start his development now. The rest of the draft involves a lot of maneuvering on our part but here are the guys we end up with:
1st Round: Francis Capers CB UT 72 OVR
3rd Round: Bob Gennie TE Western Illinois 69 OVR
3rd Round: Chandler Macqueen SS Southern Arkansas 69 OVR
4th Round: Warren Finney MLB Central Michigan 62 OVR
5th Round: Preston Donahue ROLB Iowa 62 OVR
6th Round: Cedric Todd QB Akron 57 OVR
7th Round: Derek Lenz K Western Kentucky 66 OVR
7th Round: Timmy Cleveland SS Southern Utah 65 OVR
My first reaction with this draft was disappointment but now that I’m looking back over it, it was actually decently deep. We don’t have a standout prize like in previous seasons but at least value wise this is some of the best we’ve ever done in the later rounds. Bob Gennie has at least a Star development trait which really raises the value of that pick. The hardest thing with these guys is gonna be finding ways for them to get reps so that they will actually develop. That’s a problem we’ve run into pretty consistently with our late round picks who aren’t playing. At least the defensive guys will get some consistent ST reps.
Our Akron players ended up in the following spots:
Jared Oliver RB: Minnesota Vikings
Cedric Todd QB: Dublin Shamrocks
Eric West CB: Pittsburgh Steelers
Offseason Roundup:
Since we failed to acquire a RB we end up signing Nathaniel Hynes to be our new receiving back. We also convert Cedric Todd to RB where he bumps up to a 62. After shifting some other positions around and playing with lineups this is what our team looks like heading into the Preseason:
We’ll leave off here for now but I’m content with how we’re looking for next year. Expect another preview post sometime tomorrow morning before the stream as there are a couple guys I really want to highlight. I also want to note that if I can make the numbers work we might look at some blockbuster trades this season if things aren’t going our way. I really think we have the foundation for the playoffs and if we’re a couple pieces away I want to get those pieces. Dublin deserves a winning team, and intend to provide that for them.
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Our next stream is this Thursday, 12/10, at 7 PM EST. Moving forward I am going to try and stream every Monday and Thursday unless anyone has major objections to that. As always, thank y’all so so much for your continued support! If you have any questions, suggestions or comments please let me know and thank y’all so much for being awesome. See everyone Thursday or in the Discord before then, much love!
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