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+---- Thread: *Jeeeeroy Lenkins - Season Review (/showthread.php?tid=28390)
*Jeeeeroy Lenkins - Season Review - LewisMelville - 12-22-2020
Ladies and Gentlemen this is the moment you have been waiting for, after a lengthy delay we are finally releasing the second exclusive interview ever with, Berlin Fire Salamanders Cornerback and Defensive captain Jeeeeroy Lenkins. This interview is brought to you by the one and only Stephen A Smith. Today we will be discussing the Minnesota Grey Ducks season, how things are faring in his Lenkins new regime, sporting heroes and Jeeeeroy Lenkins activity out with the International Simulation Football League.
Stephen A Smith – Hi Jeeeeroy, thank you for joining us today. First of all before we proceed, I would like to congratulate on being drafted 57th overall by the Berlin Fire Salamanders. You went 17 picks earlier in this draft than you did in the DSFL but many experts did expect you to go earlier than this. Did you feel somewhat disrespected to fall to the fifth round?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Hi Stephen, thanks for having me. To be honest with you I am not too bothered about what number or round I come off the board. If 11 teams sleep on me it just fuels me to wreck their season. I know what I am capable off and know they will regret not taking me.
Stephen A Smith – I am certain they will Jeeeeroy, I am certain they will. The Fire Salamanders General Managers decided it was in yours and the team’s best interest to spend another season down in the DSFL. Did you agree with their decision and how did it make you feel?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – These guys are businessmen and paid to run a franchise. I would have to say it was definitely the right decision to have me gain experience for another year. In regards to how I felt spending another year with the Minnesota Grey Ducks? I was absolutely delighted I love those guys and was very confident we would go the distance and win the Ultimini.
Stephen A Smith – I will come back to your season with the Minnesota Grey Ducks in a little bit, we can review that and the eventual heartache. Just before we do a further congratulations is in order as not only are you playing in your first ISFL season with the Berlin Fire Salamanders, you were also given the defensive captain armband in your rookie season. That is some accomplishment in its self.
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Thanks Stephen it really is an honour to be a captain for the Fire Salamanders. It did come as a bit of a surprise especially when you look at some of the leaders we have in our defence. I mean you have Swantavius Jones who is an absolute stud and has been playing lights out this year. I am a firm believer though that you should have 11 captains on the field at all times, that’s what makes a team successful.
Stephen A Smith – That’s a great mentality to have and something I happen to agree with. Let’s review last season then and talk about some of your now old team-mates. Let’s talk about the rookie quarterback who went 1st overall in the DSFL draft and then 6 overall (Philadelphia Liberty) in the ISFL draft Ryan Negs. I heard from multiple sources you and Safety Damian “Napalm” Blackfyre were pretty harsh on the kid in his rookie year?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Man where do I start with this guy? I love my boy Turnover (Ryan Negs)! Yeah I do not think it was much secret that we were hard on him when he first came into the team. When you get selected 1st overall you are going to be feeling pretty good about yourself and rightly so. However being two of the senior members in the team Napalm and I needed to make sure he was ready to hit the ground running and we could not let that 1st overall status go to his head. Last thing we wanted was to have an egotistical mini Johnny Manziel coming into team that would have just set us up to implode. Thankfully on our first day of practice Negs threw 6 interceptions to Napalm and I so we just tore him apart from there. Sadly the turnovers continued long into the regular season but you expect that from a rookie. I also do not feel he had the greatest supporting cast around him on offence but he should be content with how he played his rookie year.
Stephen A Smith – Turnover!? I love it, I hope for his and the Liberty’s sake that nickname does not stick in the media otherwise he may be known as one of the biggest busts in the ISFL history! He got drafted by the Philadelphia Liberty and I noticed you tweeted and made a few remarks about the pick would you care to elaborate on that more?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Trust me Stephen the nickname will stick even if he goes years without an interception, Napalm and I have christened him now, he won’t shake that nickname. Yeah it is not an ideal situation for Turnover. I personally think it is the worst place he could have ended up. Now I’m a gambling man Stephen and I bet on the Liberty to lose most weeks. If anyone can turn that franchise around it will be him but they will need to give him the tools to succeed otherwise I fear he will end up another Josh Rosen and his talent definitely does not warrant that. Another issue for him is as things stand he will be playing Blackfyre and I at least twice a season. We know his game that well we will pick him off every game we play. We have helped sculpt this kid into the player he is and sadly for him we know his game better than he does! He may get lucky and by the time he is called up Napalm and I will either be on his team or at worst plying our trade in different division.
Stephen A Smith – Haha some strong words there Jeeeeroy! I have to highlight though you are bashing the Philadelphia Liberty here publicly and have done so in the past. You surely cannot envision yourself ever playing there?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – You pay for talent Stephen, if they approached me and I was a free agent I would not rule out moving there. Right now I am fully focussed on dominating with the Berlin Fire Salamanders but I’ll never say never about joining the Liberty, especially if they look like a contender. It is not like they are the London Royals…
Stephen A Smith – Well I am unsure if they would make a move for you but time will tell. You mentioned Damian “Napalm” Blackfyre earlier so I would like to go back to him and discuss your relationship. I will start off with the nickname Napalm, am I right in saying you are the only person that calls him Napalm and where did the nickname come from?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Yeah it is my own nickname for him, I think the nickname napalm is pretty self-explanatory and covers everything you need to know when it comes to my man Blackfyre. But for all those that do not understand you just need to look at his stats. He covers all areas of the field like a napalm bomb would and wreaks havoc to all members of the opposing offence. He will stuff the run, break up passes, tackles running backs in the backfield, makes goal line plays and always comes up big in the clutch moments. I admire his game and think he is an absolute stud, that’s my boy! Everyone has their downsides though and this man’s is that he supports the Pittsburgh Steelers, but nobody is perfect.
Stephen A Smith – Watch what you are saying about my Steelers Lenkins or this interview will get cut short. Let’s now have a little look back at the Minnesota Grey Ducks season. You kept a lot of the players you had from the previous season and you added the first overall pick Ryan Negs. You had a legit 1-2 at running back and many folk expected you to make the playoffs at the very least. You started the season well and went and went 3-0 out the blocks, you also put in a solid performance week 1 and received your first game ball. You must have been feeling good at this point?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – What can I say Stephen, it’s a great feeling getting an interception, it’s even sweeter getting your first and the team coming away with an important win. Winning in week 1 is what every team aims to do. You aim to win every game but week 1 is a great momentum setter and we won our next two games as well.
Stephen A Smith – Then disaster struck you lost your first game of the season to the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers (now Bondai having relocated). Perhaps the biggest take away from this game was not that you lost but it was James Vermillion last game for the Grey Ducks having been called up during the regular season by the Yellowknife Wraiths. That must have rocked the team a little bit?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Yeah Stephen this game was a double whammy for us, we lost our first game of the season which is never good, and then we lost a player of Vermillion’s calibre as he was called up during the season. I am not too sure if he was happy being called up but he cannot exactly say no can he? We all genuinely believed we were going to go this distance. Any team would miss him but I cannot hold it against him, he’s a model professional and was a key part to our early dominant start, but life goes on do you know what I mean?
Stephen A Smith – Yeah I feel ya Dawg, I feel ya! You did not necessarily feel the full impact of the loss of Vermillion until a few weeks. You initially went 5-1 before your mid-season slump, you left week 11 with a rather unflattering 6-5 record and just came of back to back losses to the Tijuana Luchadores and the shockingly abysmal Dallas Birddogs, how big of an impact do you think the loss of Vermillion impacted you and what else went wrong?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – The loss to Vermillion was massive, him and Mike (Rotchburns) were the perfect one two combo. They were the vocal point of our offence and rightly so, you will struggle to find a better combination of running backs in DSFL history and that Stephen is straight facts they both were and still are the real deal. They were the perfect combination and complimented each other’s game, kinda like peanut butter and jelly, you know!? The two of them helped relieve the pressure on Turnover and allowed him to grow and gain experience without having to throw 30+ times a game.
Stephen A Smith – I would have to agree with you there, they were dominant for you early on and until you picked up Creed from the waivers it looked like Rotchburns was getting run in to the ground and your play calling was lacking creativity. Some would say you became too one dimensional and easy to read. I’ll fast forward a few week and we are going in to your week 12 game against the Portland Pythons which at this stage was your biggest game of the season. You are playing against a division rival with both of you vying for a playoff spot, what is your mind set like going into a game like this with such massive stakes on the line?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Stephen this is the games we live for, if you cannot get up for a game like this you are in the wrong business. We had skelped the Pythons earlier in the season and my brother Buster “Boulder” Bawls had been giving it big licks how he was going to run over us thanks to their offensive line the self-proclaimed “Freeway”. When you have folk talking smack like that before a big game and when you had the quality we did on defence it was pretty evident to me anyway we were going to win this game.
Stephen A Smith – Haha I love it, obviously you and Buster have history growing up together and you left him regretting his comments how did he take the defeat?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – We’re family man so he took it okay, he is a big blubbering idiot so I just left him be for a few days.
Stephen A Smith – Brave words Jeeeeroy, let’s go into this game in a bit more detail now. It was undoubtedly your career game to date! Your overall stats for the game were 4 tackles, 3 passes defended, 2 interceptions and your first career touchdown. I mean those numbers are crazy for a cornerback across a couple of games never mind one, to many out-with your team and close circle this was the game in which you broke out and became known throughout the ISFL world. The Grey Ducks started with intent and were flying out the traps taking an early lead. However despite the early dominance you let the Pythons back in it at the beginning of the fourth quarter, momentum definitely swung when Maximus missed his extra point attempt.
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Yeah we let them back into the game when we really should not have. A missed extra point is going to swing things in anyone’s favour. Thankfully Negs did not let us down too badly when we left him with a short field. Me and my buddies were out in force from the get go, we forced 4 interceptions Stephen! You got a defence like that playing against you you better make sure you capitalise on “the momentum” because you’re not going to have it for long!
Stephen A Smith – Right let’s talk about the final 5 minutes of the game just before you turned the game on its head. Your quarterback Ryan (Turnover) Negs has given you very little support on offence, he finished the game with a Quarterback rating of 31.8, which was surprisingly high for him, he had an 18.6 QBR in the week 8 loss to Tijuana with 4 interceptions. Did you fear at any point you were not going to hold on?
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – Stephen I have said it multiple times, our defence was elite that season and I had every confidence we were going to come up clutch. We had playmakers in every area of the defence from secondary to our dline. Did I know it would be me that made the plays? No absolutely not, I know I have the ability to do that and I showcased for everyone to see but I can guarantee you there was no way we were losing that game and if I did not make the plays someone else would!
Stephen A Smith – I can tell you’re fired up here! Talk me through what emotions you were feeling when you caught that first interception and ran the ball back 82 yards for your first career touchdown? It was a memorable moment and it must have felt pretty special! Bearing in mind if you lost this game it was probably the end of your playoff aspirations and would ultimately have been marked down as one of the biggest disappointment in Grey Duck history.
Jeeeeroy Lenkins – I tell you what Stephen there are not many better feelings than that to be honest. Even if you take away the magnitude of the occasion and the way the events unfolded, it is still a great feeling. We fully deserved the win and I am just happy I played my part in doing it as I was not always at the races earlier in the season. This game will definitely go down as my fondest moment in the DSFL.
To be continued…..