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+---- Thread: *Thoroughfare to Glory (TTG) #20 (/showthread.php?tid=20603)
*Thoroughfare to Glory (TTG) #20 - Opera_Phantom - 03-30-2020
Ladies and gentleman, welcome again to ESPNSFL. My name is Zerin Nandrews and this is episode number 20 of our “Thoroughfare to Glory” (TTG) saga, bringing you the life of Season 18 QB, the “Portuguese Phenom”, Jay “Football” Cue.
As we enter the last week of the season, the Arizona Outlaws not only sit on ASFC last place, but they are the team with the worst record on the league, with a 2 - 9 record. With 2 games to go until the playoffs, away at Colorado vs the Yeti and then at home vs the Wraiths, the season looks about to end very harshly. And, for our star player Jay Cue, the season seems to be as dreadful as the one the Outlaws have been having. After a MVP runner up season last year, this time he is close to being dead last in every aspect of the QB tables. What happened to him and the team this year? Are the Outlaws doomed to be last for the upcoming seasons? We traveled to Arizona to speak with Cue about this.
Dirk - Hey again Jay, it has been a long while since we talked.
Jay - True Dirk, this year i got involved with a few more things with the League office, leaving me less free time to be able to dedicate to media and the fans.
Dirk - So, after a pretty decent season last year, where the team almost got to the playoffs and you almost got an MVP award, i guess we can say that this season is the complete opposite. Last place with only 2 wins, the team struggles in every game, you struggle in every game... What changed for the Outlaws?
Jay - There is not really anything that we can say besides that Dirk. It has been one of the worst seasons ever for the Arizona Outlaws and we are obviously not happy about it. We knew coming into S21 that we would probably have more troubles than last season, considering that our 7 - 6 record was kind of a surprise, but having only 2 wins in 11 games breaks the morale of any locker room. Still, we have 2 games to go, we will try to get a result on both of those games to end on a high, looking forward to next season.
Dirk - And what about your individual season, what is going on?
Jay - Well, the surprise factor is totally over i guess, teams now study my plays and try to contain my strong suits. Morale plays a big part in this as well, as does confidence, so after a few games of things not going well for us, our offense lost it's mojo and now every single play is faced with doubts. After a few games everyone in the organization decided to look past this season, so we traded a few players for picks, so we have a few more weapons to choose from in the draft to help us grow. But even after this one, we have a couple more tough seasons coming where we will struggle. But this is known by everyone in the Outlaws facility, teams go through rebuilding phases, and i am pretty sure that we will become contenders once again.
Dirk - What do you guys expect from the draft? The biggest class ever has some gems for sure.
Jay - Definitely, we are very excited for the draft. We have a few picks early on, it looks like we are going to have maybe the 3rd or 4th pick. Unfortunately for us, the expansion meant that 2 teams would select above us, robbing us of what could be the 1st overall pick in the draft. Since then, both teams even traded those picks for some reason, so NOLA and Austin will pick above us, but being at #3 or #4 still allows us to address our roster problems, looking into the future. We also have a few good players leaving the DSFL and joining our team next year, so if you are a rookie and look into the standings and think that Arizona is not a good place for you to be in, trust me, you are completely wrong.
Dirk - Can you lift a bit of the veil about what the Outlaws want to get out of the draft?
Jay - We cannot say to much for obvious reasons, but we are looking for what the others teams also want: active players that can be a good influence on the locker room and want to be a part of the long term plan of the organization. We are definitely not in a win now mode and we do not want to be rushing things just to become more attractive to free agents or to draftees. It takes time to become a competitive team in this league and while we seem to be down and buried at this time, we can say that the future is bright.
Dirk - Do you feel like you let your team down this season?
Jay - It is always hard to look past the QB of a team that is 2 - 9 and might end 2 - 11 and not think he his bringing his team down. If this was the NFL, i would probably be already benched. My game is not the same from last season, my offensive weapons maybe are not having great seasons as well, but i give more credit to other teams and the ways they found to stop us, than trash our players for a bad season. We win together and we lose together. The offense can have a fantastic game but if the defense is trash, we lose. If the opposite happens, we lose. So we just need to find ways to improve as a team so that we can make wins out of the defeats. We lost 4 games by 1 possession and if they went our way, we could be 6 - 5 and fighting for a playoff spot. The fact that we are in the ASFC also does not help, but it is what it is.
Dirk - How do you see the playoff picture?
Jay - The playoffs teams are already set, we just need to find out the positions. ASFC will have NOLA, OCO and Austin, the NSFC will have the Hawks, Yeti and the Wraiths. We have to think that either NOLA or OCO will reach the Ultimus, the conference final will be considered the final game to be fair, and I think whoever wins that game wins the Ultimus. Obviously a lot can happen in those games, the NSFC has very strong teams, but i feel NOLA and OCO have the edge. So in my opinion we either have a new ruler in NOLA, or the dinasty continues with OCO getting another Ultimus.
Dirk - Well, thanks for your input Jay, looking forward to see what the Outlaws do in the draft and if they can improve in Season 22.
Jay - Thanks Dirk, we will talk again before the draft.
And this is all the time we have for today, stay tuned for more interviews and information on our TTG. This was Zerin Nandrews, for ESPNSFL at the Arizona Outlaws training facility, goodbye, see you next time.