Year 6: Can the 'Rocks complete their final push for the playoffs?
It's not how you start, it's how you finish
The excitement is back and the headlines are friendly once again in Dublin. At 6-2 coming into the bye, the Shamrocks lead the NFC but have a whole host of teams right on their tails. The NFL has never seen as much parity in the league as they have this season, so the ‘Rocks have to keep the pace. None of that has served to damper the newfound hope in Ireland though. Talks of a potential MVP for K-Dubs and a potential Pro Bowl for Jamal Bacon highlight the optimism on offense while Kenneth Murray has become the unquestioned leader on the reemerging Dublin defense.
Owner Matt and Kliff are not satisfied however. The two losses the Shamrocks did have were unacceptable. Doug Pederson, Dippin’ Doug’s owner and former Shamrocks’ coach, is undefeated with the Raiders which only adds pressure on Kingsbury. Pederson is telecommuting to the role which has led to the NFL questioning how much of the success is really on him, but it still stings all the same to see him doing well. The Shamrocks have a long history of late-season collapses at this point and Kliff know that another one will not be accepted. The time to win is now
Week 10 @ Lions
The Jalen Hurts led Lions are a dangerous team and have been to the Super Bowl twice in 5 years. Hurts is an MVP candidate and has a very similar style to K-Dubs that adds an interesting wrinkle to this matchup. Getting to 7-2 would go a long way towards getting us some breathing room so let’s go get the dub. You can watch the game at the link below:
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This was a true battle but the ‘Rocks manage to come out on top. Bacon struggles mightily, averaging less than 2 yards a carry, but the blame resides pretty much solely on the O-Line and Kliff’s playcalling. K-Dubs runs for 74 yards on the ground and completed 80% of his passes to outduel Hurts in a true defensive battle. We’re 7-2 and the train keeps moving.
Week 11 @ Giants
The Eagles are only a game behind us which means winning division games will be huge to keep tiebreakers in our favor. The Giants are struggling this year but were a dominant force only a year ago. Let’s ‘Rock
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The ‘Rocks survive in overtime and get the hard fought win. The now 8-2 Dublin Shamrocks were led to victory by Steven Sims who snared 6 passes for 116 yards and a TD. Derek Lenz makes up for a terrible miss that would’ve won the game in regulation by kicking the chip shot game winner in OT. This team has no quit and I love it.
The veteran closes the window for a comeback
Week 12 vs Panthers
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The Shamrocks are officially 9-2 and Dublin starts to celebrate. Bacon has 160 total yards and K-Dubs plays flawless football as they win a close game against the Panthers. I always fear the late season collapse but things seem to be going our way and I’m getting excited.
Week 13 @ Cowboys
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Another hard fought win for the ‘Rocks moves us to 10-2 on the year. There were no real stars in this game but a team win is all that really matters. Frampton has continued to shine in the multitool role McKinney used to hold which bodes well for the future of our defense. The NFC is still super top heavy but, with 10 wins, things look good. We’ve won four in a row and 9 of the last 10. Getting to our franchise best 12 win mark seems all too possible.
Week 14 vs Bears
Haskins has been a thorn in our side ever since we traded him. Can the ex-Shamrock lead an underachieving Bears squad to a victory?
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Oh wow, he actually did. Haskins has an incredible day, unlike his real life counterpart, and the Bears edge out the Shamrocks for an unlikely victory. Dublin fans seem unfazed but Dublin’s front office begins to feel nervous. There’s no way the Shamrocks can blow a 10 win season right?
Week 15 @ Eagles
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This one hurts. The Eagles and Cowboys are both very much in play to beat us for the division. Washington has a hell of a day but our defense cannot stop Wentz who scores 4 TDs on the day. The Shamrocks fall to 10-4 and the playoffs now look a heck of a lot more competitive. Kingsbury gives a spirited talk to the guys and it seems well received. Games against the Packers and Chiefs remain, let’s get right this ship quickly.
Week 16 @ Packers
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Bacon and Sims have elite performances but our defense lets Packer QB Lloyd Meers throw all over us. We are now 10-5 after dropping three straight one score games. I feel sick as I look at our playoff chances. The Cowboys are now leading in the NFC East and we’re tied with the Eagles for second. We are in a five way tie for the Wildcard in this unlikely NFL season with some 9 win teams also behind us. Week 17 will determine pretty much the entire playoff slate and we are praying on the Blarney stone. Come on ‘Rocks.
Week 17
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The Shamrocks epic late season collapse is complete. The Chiefs are a bad team in this universe but they were all too happy to play spoiler. I rip into the team and begin to make my plans to fire Kliff. None of our individual players struggled in particular during this stretch, but our defense dropped from 2nd in points allowed to 10th. 10th is still great but to drop that far is a testament to how different they looked in the second half of the season. We also get word that our star LT Jimmy Carpenter is out for the year. That doesn’t really matter but it still adds some sting. We advance the week with despair in our hearts.
……….AND HOLY CRAP WE GOT THE WILDCARD!!!!!!! In an unlikely turn of events, every team we needed to lose does and we join the Eagles as the NFC’s wildcard teams. The Seahawks miss the playoffs at 10-6 and I pray on my lucky charms. There’s no better time to overcome a 4 game losing streak than the playoffs and no better way to do it than with a 6 game winning streak.
Wildcard Round @ Vikings
The Vikings were 11-5 in the regular season and lost their first matchup with us earlier in the season. Montez Sweat comes off IR for this game but we are forced to move Craft over to LT in place of Carpenter. This means rookie RT Isaac LaMontagne gets the start in the Shamrocks second playoff appearance in team history. The Shamrocks are being forced to try to forget how the season ended and focus on the the task at hand. You can watch the game at the link below:
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DIVISIONAL ROUND HERE WE COME!! The Shamrocks went down early but the defense limited the Vikings to FGs and gave our offense the time it needed to get going. Vikings QB Joey Gowin plays a hell of a game but can’t outduel the likes of Washington and Bacon. Washington throw 3 TDs and combines 87 rushing yards with his 200 passing yards. Bacon averages almost 5 yards a carry as he tops 100 total yards. Murray forces 2 fumbles and we are moving on to face the top seeded Falcons, who were 11-4-1. I also want to highlight Thaddeus Craft who played his ass off at LT. Craft has been the perceived “weak link” on our line for years but he absolutely decimated opposing defenders all day long. Hope springs eternal in Ireland and the Shamrocks begin having big dreams.
Murray laying the wood and keeping us alive
Divisional Round @ Falcons
Dublin is electric when the boys return home from Minnesota but their rest is short lived. Rookie phenom Kevin Mann out of Michigan has led the Falcons to the top seed and is an MVP candidate in his own right. This game will be another major test for the ‘Rocks but I can’t help but feel a sense of confidence. There’s a spark in the Shamrock’s eyes whenever they take the field these days. Two more games and they make the Super Bowl. Let’s send these Falcons home early. You can watch the game at the link below:
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WE’RE GOING TO THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP BABY!!!! Our rushing game struggles more than normal but Washington completes an absurd 90 % of his passes and our defense comes to play. The first half was incredible tight, as Mann lives up to every bit of hype, but we pull away in the second half to punch our ticket. None other than the Dallas Cowboys await us in the NFC title game. It’s an emotional moment for this franchise and the pride I feel is immeasurable. This is our second NFC title game appearance in 3 years.
Bob Gennie gets his first playoff TD
Johnson with yet another big playoff moment
Bonus highlight of some absurd ST coverage
Recap
We’re back baby! Kliff and Co prove that last year was a fluke and that this team is a true contender. We split the regular season series with the Cowboys and finished a single game behind them in the division. We are rated three overall better than them, as we are now an 86, but in the playoffs that means nothing. One more win grants us the honor to play the winner of the Bengals and Chargers in the Super Bowl. We’ll do a formal stats round up when the season is officially over but I just want to say how proud I am of this team. We’ve overcome so much adversity to get here and it feels like our time is now.
Veterans like Ioannidis, who may not be on the team a year from now, have turned back father time and bailed this team out at the perfect moment so many times. Kenneth Murray has ascended to an elite linebacker and has led this team this far. Frampton, Hoskins and Morris are developing rapidly as the future young corps of this defense while Brackett has gracefully taken on a veteran role as one of the top safeties in the league. Bacon put up over 1800 total yards and Washington had an elite season at the QB position. This has been a wild ride and it has been an honor to be a part of it with you all
What a season y’all and it ain’t over yet! When I sent out the last newsletter I had forgotten that Thursday was NYE so the next stream will actually be this Wednesday at 7 PM EST. We will watch the Conference Championship game, and hopefully the Super Bowl, as well as the NFL Draft. As always if you have any questions, comments, suggestions, criticisms, Guac recipes or anything in between feel free to reach out to me via email/comment sections/discord and/or carrier Pidgeon. Dublin deserves a title, let’s get them one.
Much love y’all and let’s F’in ‘Rock!
PS: Don’t forget to follow me on Twitch if you haven’t already! There’s a tons of clips and highlights that you can find there which don’t make the cut here. Happy Holidays!