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Dave Hutchinson reporting
here is an interview I conducted recently with Newark Bulldogs GM, Matt
I am pleased to have the general manager of the Newark BUlldogs join us at this time.
Really great to be here with you, Dave.
Kind of explain to me what happened last year and how it impacted the team preparing for this offseason.
I think our injury problems hurt us offensivley, early on. Losing the star of your offense in Alan Crespo really stalled our offensive effectiveness. There were also some other key offensive guys hurt which also hurt our team in that respect. Anytime you lose a starter for any amount of time, you can become vulnerable. Once everything got back on track, we were able to finish the season strong. I think Crespo had 9 or 10 straight games over 100yds. He was phenomenal. The real key to success was QB Scott Nelson. He played great down the stretch. This is what needs to happen for our team to be a success, and if nothing else, we were able to take this away from a dissapointing season. We were once again the first runner up in the playoff race. So going into the offseason, we knew we needed to get better and deeper at certain positions. Right off the bat, our longtime great Domingo Persaud approached me and told me his career was over. I wasn't surprised by this, but was definately unsettled. Domingo has been the glue on our defense for years. He was a guy who spent his whole career with this organization, and leaves as a guy who'll be remembered as one of the greats. Age stunted his statistics in his last few years, but his impact in games goes far beyond any statistics. We were sorry to see him go, but understood his desire to move on.
Obviously no coaching changes were made, are you happy with the results of your new coach?
I think he did a pretty good job. I wouldn't say he did a great job. We had a lot of different struggles this year both offensivley and defensively. It wasn't until the last 5 or 6 games of the season that things started to turn around. This included relieving our HC of defensive playcalling. We hired a special defensive consultant to help, and were able to become a much better unit. I think this year, with a year under everyones belt, we should be able to hit that stride. I'm expecting our coach to guide us into the playoffs, and anything short of that would be considered a failure.
The Bulldogs have made a big splash so far this offseason. Probably your biggest move has been not signing current QB Scott Nelson to a new contract. To add fuel to the fire, you've brought in QB Dwight Burger. What does that situation look like?
We have been big players in a very young offseason, especially considering our cap situation. I think that our first move was to give our offense an injection by adding Kraig Marasco. We've played against Kraig many times during his days in Lawrence and we understand what type of player we're getting. Giving up WR Reuben Caffrey was a hard thing to do, but sometimes you've got to give a little. Reuben was a great young player that gets better everytime he's on the field. He'll be sorely missed in Newark, and will go down as one of my favourite draft picks. We were also able to grab some other top talent in CB Normand Sims, CB Philip Stai, and QB Dwight Burger. I'm pretty excited about the upcoming season.
You never really went into the Scott Nelson situation. Is there anything to report?
I think that there have been issues or rumours about our, as a management team, trusting Scott to be a QB that can win games for a team. He's had health issues in the past, and I think he's past that now. I think it boils down to Scott's desire to be paid more relative to his position as a QB starting in this league. I don't have a problem paying Scott, I just need a whole year of consistent play. I need Scott Nelson to win me 3 games a year, minimum. I'm hopeful that we work something out, and I think that this is not going to be an issue or distraction
What about JB Fogarty? You've been raving about his progress over the course of the last year, and there was some thought that he might get the chance to take over the team.
I still get excited when I talk about JB. I think he's going to be someone who will start in this league someday. Barring anything sudden, we'll be having an open QB competition in training camp.
What else to you expect while preparing for the amateur draft?
I don't really know. we didn't go into this offseason preparing to make all of these big moves, things just happened. You never know what can or will come up.
here is an interview I conducted recently with Newark Bulldogs GM, Matt
I am pleased to have the general manager of the Newark BUlldogs join us at this time.
Really great to be here with you, Dave.
Kind of explain to me what happened last year and how it impacted the team preparing for this offseason.
I think our injury problems hurt us offensivley, early on. Losing the star of your offense in Alan Crespo really stalled our offensive effectiveness. There were also some other key offensive guys hurt which also hurt our team in that respect. Anytime you lose a starter for any amount of time, you can become vulnerable. Once everything got back on track, we were able to finish the season strong. I think Crespo had 9 or 10 straight games over 100yds. He was phenomenal. The real key to success was QB Scott Nelson. He played great down the stretch. This is what needs to happen for our team to be a success, and if nothing else, we were able to take this away from a dissapointing season. We were once again the first runner up in the playoff race. So going into the offseason, we knew we needed to get better and deeper at certain positions. Right off the bat, our longtime great Domingo Persaud approached me and told me his career was over. I wasn't surprised by this, but was definately unsettled. Domingo has been the glue on our defense for years. He was a guy who spent his whole career with this organization, and leaves as a guy who'll be remembered as one of the greats. Age stunted his statistics in his last few years, but his impact in games goes far beyond any statistics. We were sorry to see him go, but understood his desire to move on.
Obviously no coaching changes were made, are you happy with the results of your new coach?
I think he did a pretty good job. I wouldn't say he did a great job. We had a lot of different struggles this year both offensivley and defensively. It wasn't until the last 5 or 6 games of the season that things started to turn around. This included relieving our HC of defensive playcalling. We hired a special defensive consultant to help, and were able to become a much better unit. I think this year, with a year under everyones belt, we should be able to hit that stride. I'm expecting our coach to guide us into the playoffs, and anything short of that would be considered a failure.
The Bulldogs have made a big splash so far this offseason. Probably your biggest move has been not signing current QB Scott Nelson to a new contract. To add fuel to the fire, you've brought in QB Dwight Burger. What does that situation look like?
We have been big players in a very young offseason, especially considering our cap situation. I think that our first move was to give our offense an injection by adding Kraig Marasco. We've played against Kraig many times during his days in Lawrence and we understand what type of player we're getting. Giving up WR Reuben Caffrey was a hard thing to do, but sometimes you've got to give a little. Reuben was a great young player that gets better everytime he's on the field. He'll be sorely missed in Newark, and will go down as one of my favourite draft picks. We were also able to grab some other top talent in CB Normand Sims, CB Philip Stai, and QB Dwight Burger. I'm pretty excited about the upcoming season.
You never really went into the Scott Nelson situation. Is there anything to report?
I think that there have been issues or rumours about our, as a management team, trusting Scott to be a QB that can win games for a team. He's had health issues in the past, and I think he's past that now. I think it boils down to Scott's desire to be paid more relative to his position as a QB starting in this league. I don't have a problem paying Scott, I just need a whole year of consistent play. I need Scott Nelson to win me 3 games a year, minimum. I'm hopeful that we work something out, and I think that this is not going to be an issue or distraction
What about JB Fogarty? You've been raving about his progress over the course of the last year, and there was some thought that he might get the chance to take over the team.
I still get excited when I talk about JB. I think he's going to be someone who will start in this league someday. Barring anything sudden, we'll be having an open QB competition in training camp.
What else to you expect while preparing for the amateur draft?
I don't really know. we didn't go into this offseason preparing to make all of these big moves, things just happened. You never know what can or will come up.
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