[StLee]

Jeremy’s Journal
September 20, 2027

I just got home from Seoul about 30 minutes ago. Now we have a bye week to try to heal up and improve our team for the 13-week stretch. We lost, by the way, 34-17.

I am a bit pissed today, and again it’s because of playing time. I have a feeling that once Pauley’s back from injury (should be after the bye week unless he has a setback) I’m going to be riding the bench or inactive.

Coach Nickle must have seen my frustration during the game. On the plane ride back to Auckland, he tried to give me a pep talk. He said, “You just need to be patient. You’re going to be a good linebacker one day, but right now there are guys better than you. Keep working and keep improving and one day you’re going to set this league on fire.”

I noticed he said “this league” and not “this team.” Maybe a mistake on his part, but it already sounds that I have to find another team before I’m going to get my shot in the WSAFL. What pisses me off is that they are taking time away from me, but nobody is getting it done on defense. We gave up over 450 yards this week, and Norbert Torrence just ripped right through us. I didn’t even play the first half of the game, except for on special teams kickoffs.

Let me repeat that: I DIDN’T PLAY THE ENTIRE FIRST HALF. You want to now what the first half score was? Seoul 24, Us 10.

I played in the second half. I made a few plays for us. Second half score? Them 10, Us 7. At least we gave up TWO fewer TDs in the second half.

I know I need to be patient, but it’s tough. I always called myself a team player because I was always on the field. I was the one encouraging guys because I was the one getting things done and they needed to step it up. Now I’m the one who needs people to pat me on the helmet and tell me it’s going to be OK. Hopefully I will be, but for right now I’m pissed off and discouraged.

Here are my plays. Notice every stat I accrued happened in the 4^th quarter. I guess I finally got some playing time when other backers on the team were gassed.

2-12-SEO32 (4Q: 06:40) Corey Kernbach ran a trap outside the left tackle for 1 yard. Tackled by OLB Jeremy Naquin.

I was the only LB on the field on the play. We had a dime package, expecting them to throw on 2^nd and long, but they ran a delay on a trap. I broke through the blocking fullback and planted Kernbach on his ass.

1-10-SEO15 (4Q: 03:30) Corey Kernbach ran inside the right guard for 2 yards. Tackled by OLB Jeremy Naquin, assisted by ILB Deron Svrcek.
This was garbage time since Seoul had already clinched the victory. This play was a straight up run up the gut, and I broke in and got hold of Kernbach. Deron came in and helped clean up the tackle.

2-9-SEO36 (4Q: 01:12) Corey Kernbach ran inside the right guard for 1 yard. Tackled by OLB Jeremy Naquin.

I was called to blitz, even though that made no sense. There was no way they were passing on the play. Anyway, Kernbach ran straight at me and I hit him in the backfield. He dragged his way for about 2 or 3 more yards before he dropped.

That’s it. I finished the game with 3 tackles in only about 20 total plays on the field. I’ll see if I get anymore playing time later in the season. I definitely feel rested right now compared to how I felt during the preseason.

Just looking at a quick glance on elbeesports.sync. We are 29^th in the league in rushing defense and 28^th in passing defense, making us 31^st in total defense. We’re also tied for 30^th in scoring defense at 27.7 points per game. Yikes! We only have ONE sack on the season, keeping us at dead last in the league. We’re also last in the league in redzone TDs allowed and 29^th in 3^rd down conversion rates. We can’t blame the offense at all for our woes. Our opponents are thrashing our D.

I’ll try to be positive, but I won’t be until we start winning games. I will feel a lot better about sitting the bench if we win. That’s all I want.

Coach didn’t give us any days off this week, despite the bye. I’m sure we’ll have some intense practices again this week. I’m going to take some time off from this blog during the bye week. I’ll write about our game preview some time next week. We’re heading to Paris for our next game.