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The 2064 season was a very weird one for Vegas. After our unprecedented team run of success with QB Norbert Lane, this year marked year 2 of an attempted "reload" after Norbert and other key core members retired or faded into old/washed status. Year 1 of the reload, 2063, was a success despite the playoff thumping by West Virginia.
The questions about this team began in the offseason, when the GM Sabean failed to meet several stated objectives (upgrading the interior offensive line, strengthening a porous pass defense). Mostly the team brought back patchwork veterans. An already-thin secondary took a huge blow when the year-long suspension for top CB Wade Urbancheck was announced, after he was arrested by Vegas PD for inappropriately fondling fresh produce in a public setting.
Season Recap
2064 opened with two losses, with a sleepy offense and porous defense, losing soundly to formidable opponents in Alaska and Tijuana. Week 3 was our annual "good lord, IWC yet again" game, in which the offense exploded but the defense couldn't compete, and led to a close but crushing 41-38 defeat, dropping the team into an 0-3 hole.
The next 3 weeks showed encouraging signs of rebounding, with solid victories over Houston and Raleigh, with a pointless week 4 bye week sandwiched in there. However, the next playoff/contending squad to play, the defending champ Murfreesboro Mules, put Vegas quickly back into the L column, making them 0-4 against 2063 playoff teams - an alarming trend for any team with illusions of competing in the playoffs. Adding to the struggle bus was a 4-week knee injury to the only DB on the team worth any quality, veteran Jameson Neumoff, leaving us down our top 2 secondary players, on an already-awful pass defense.
The defensive coordinator dialed up a lot more blitzes, and the team responded with the biggest win of the season, a 26-10 home win over division rival Alaska. We rode the momentum over a struggling Miami squad, bringing us to .500 for the first time all year.
Visiting a surging, unbeaten Portland squad with a number of injuries was a daunting task, and Portland steamrolled Vegas in week 10, 33-7. Vegas then rebounded with a victory over AI (now owned by a human, hooray) Los Angeles.
Thus began our Wildcard Watch 2064, as we hovered around .500, watching the results from Raleigh, London, Alaska and Norfolk. A big win over Columbia had us up, and a big week 16 loss to San Antonio left us a) on the bubble in the final game and b) reminded that we suck against good teams.
Week 17, we hosted Portland, who fortunately had wrapped up their #1 seed, and started a backup QB and I believe rested others. It was a struggle that took everything we could just to beat a resting, elite team, 37-31. We celebrating the struggle (and the fortunate breaks) that kept our playoff streak alive.
Our reward: visiting 11-5 Iowa City in the wildcard. We schemed and planned, and we lost pretty hard, after our last hopes were shattered on a 66-yard pick-six. This marked the 3rd playoff game in a row that we lost by double digits, and concluded a season of up and down play, of a team that couldn't beat the big time teams (with one or one and-a-half exceptions).
Moving Forward
The question around Vegas now is "what exactly is this team?" An aging, declining-yet-productive QB in Zach Fleming, an oline set to likely lose 2 starters to retirement and another to free agency, and an aging defense with few young players developing into the future.
Midseason discussion about a rebuild was quieted by the regular season finish, but this is clearly a squad that cannot win a title as constructed, and needs to make big decisions about what they believe they have moving into next season. An extra 1st round pick in the 2065 draft is nice to have, but unfortunately it is Portland's lol.
It will be an offseason to decide the big picture: is this team able to add some help and compete, or do we need to step back and truly focus on developing a future.
Internal Team Awards
The questions about this team began in the offseason, when the GM Sabean failed to meet several stated objectives (upgrading the interior offensive line, strengthening a porous pass defense). Mostly the team brought back patchwork veterans. An already-thin secondary took a huge blow when the year-long suspension for top CB Wade Urbancheck was announced, after he was arrested by Vegas PD for inappropriately fondling fresh produce in a public setting.
Season Recap
2064 opened with two losses, with a sleepy offense and porous defense, losing soundly to formidable opponents in Alaska and Tijuana. Week 3 was our annual "good lord, IWC yet again" game, in which the offense exploded but the defense couldn't compete, and led to a close but crushing 41-38 defeat, dropping the team into an 0-3 hole.
The next 3 weeks showed encouraging signs of rebounding, with solid victories over Houston and Raleigh, with a pointless week 4 bye week sandwiched in there. However, the next playoff/contending squad to play, the defending champ Murfreesboro Mules, put Vegas quickly back into the L column, making them 0-4 against 2063 playoff teams - an alarming trend for any team with illusions of competing in the playoffs. Adding to the struggle bus was a 4-week knee injury to the only DB on the team worth any quality, veteran Jameson Neumoff, leaving us down our top 2 secondary players, on an already-awful pass defense.
The defensive coordinator dialed up a lot more blitzes, and the team responded with the biggest win of the season, a 26-10 home win over division rival Alaska. We rode the momentum over a struggling Miami squad, bringing us to .500 for the first time all year.
Visiting a surging, unbeaten Portland squad with a number of injuries was a daunting task, and Portland steamrolled Vegas in week 10, 33-7. Vegas then rebounded with a victory over AI (now owned by a human, hooray) Los Angeles.
Thus began our Wildcard Watch 2064, as we hovered around .500, watching the results from Raleigh, London, Alaska and Norfolk. A big win over Columbia had us up, and a big week 16 loss to San Antonio left us a) on the bubble in the final game and b) reminded that we suck against good teams.
Week 17, we hosted Portland, who fortunately had wrapped up their #1 seed, and started a backup QB and I believe rested others. It was a struggle that took everything we could just to beat a resting, elite team, 37-31. We celebrating the struggle (and the fortunate breaks) that kept our playoff streak alive.
Our reward: visiting 11-5 Iowa City in the wildcard. We schemed and planned, and we lost pretty hard, after our last hopes were shattered on a 66-yard pick-six. This marked the 3rd playoff game in a row that we lost by double digits, and concluded a season of up and down play, of a team that couldn't beat the big time teams (with one or one and-a-half exceptions).
Moving Forward
The question around Vegas now is "what exactly is this team?" An aging, declining-yet-productive QB in Zach Fleming, an oline set to likely lose 2 starters to retirement and another to free agency, and an aging defense with few young players developing into the future.
Midseason discussion about a rebuild was quieted by the regular season finish, but this is clearly a squad that cannot win a title as constructed, and needs to make big decisions about what they believe they have moving into next season. An extra 1st round pick in the 2065 draft is nice to have, but unfortunately it is Portland's lol.
It will be an offseason to decide the big picture: is this team able to add some help and compete, or do we need to step back and truly focus on developing a future.
Internal Team Awards
- GreyBeard Greatness: 34-year old DE Levi Strickland (posted 9.5 sacks in 14 games and a career high 10.4 pressure rate, in his golden years)
- The Double Down Award (for Sustained Excellence) goes to 3rd year WR Stanley Collins who posted a career high 1337 (LEET) yards and 11 touchdowns to lead the offense.
- The Lackluster Lapdance Award (for disappointment) goes to 4th year, highly paid K Sergio Webster who took his bag of money and went 78% on FGs 11/17 from 40-49 yards
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