Legal Aliens: An English team from New York

[kislingbury]

Hello all. Ive been thinking about starting up a dynasty but couldnt decide on parameters. Ill give this a go and let me know if its absolute tripe. Thanks for your time...

Background
After the Giants/Dolphins game at Wembley, the NFL fans in Britain had a real hunger for the game. It wasnt long before a consortium of businessmen got together enough money to make a serious bid for a franchise. The league itself was amenable to the suggestion as they wanted to pick up all the foreign revenue. With this in mind, the consortium bought up...The Buffalo Bills.


The logic ran that the easiest places to fly to and from London in the US are New York and Florida while Boston isnt much harder so the division games should be easy on the players in terms of travel. NY also could stand to lose a franchise as they obviously already had two.
Once the franchise was bought up, the consortium had to find a base in England for the team. Eventually Richmond was chosen. Its an affluent area of SW London. Easy for travelling as its so close to Heathrow, and logic said it would easier to get players to move to the big city than anywhere else in the UK. Next up a new name was needed. Something inoffensive, yet indicative of the English' burning ambition for their new team.
With this in mind, the Richmond Imperials came into being. The aim was to bring the team along with an eye on the long term and establishing a team in the UK. This would mean coming up with new faces even though players would likely resist moving to the team. This would mean that only one free agent could be signed before FA stage 8, we wouldnt be able to sign and we wouldnt be able to trade for additional picks in case players refused to sign. We would also struggle to sing staff, so we will nly be able to pick up coaches and scouts from GB (ie with no prior experience in the league).
They eventually hired Tom Kislingbury, a Surrey native as GM and public face of the Imps. This is his story.

Cut to the present.
On taking over, my first job is to look over the staff at the club. We would keep them on for the first season, but it would be good to ascertain the feel of the staff.
Head Coach
Raymond Petherick (49)
Ray is an Englishman and a rookie coach. He's an offensive guy, with a strong line in discipline. He should keep our players fit, but has little aptitude for the defensive side of the game. We plan to stick with him for his 2 year contract and reevaluate.
OC
Skip Dodge (63)
Skip (Hes English, honest) has a 4 year contract. He doesnt have much experience (understandably), but he has a real feel for bringing on young players. This fits with the clubs philosophy, but Skip will need to prove himself.
DC
Darryl Derlange (40)
Darryl is our ace card. He's young, hungry and has a flair for the defensive line. We're looking for a sack based D to emerge under his tutelage over his 4 year contract.
The next step was to look over our inherited squad.

QBs
Name Exp Cur Pot
JP Losman 4 15 28
Trent Edwards 1 12 48
JP Losman is the incumbent, but he has issues with Peerless Price. Signs are that we will go with the rookie Trent Edwards. He seems to be a steady player with a decent range of throws under him, but will not be a long-term winner. This is one of the franchises most pressing needs.

RBs
Anthony Thomas 7 41 41
Marshawn Lynch 1 40 55
Fred Jackson 1 17 27
Dwayne Wright 1 40 53
Marshawn Lynch is the obvious player here. The rookie has burning speed, safe hands and the toughness to be an every-down back in his first year. Marshawn could well be the face of the Imps for the next several years. Anthony Thomas provides a steadying influence, whilst fellow rookie Dwayne Wright will look to grab his fair share of carries.
FBs
Ryan Neufeld 7 28 39
Josh Scobey 5 14 16
At fullback Neufeld is the starter, and a 3rd down threat, but Scobey appears to be nothing more than a liablility. The sooner he loses his passport, the better.

WRs
FL Peerless Price 9 37 37
George Reed 6 27 27
Josh Wilson 2 13 16
SE Sam Aiken 5 22 31
Lee Evans 4 67 70
Roscoe Parrish 3 20 32
Lee Evans fits the bill well, he is a real deep threat and also a great kick returner. Aside from that Price still has some of the old magic and Parrish appears to be a propsect.

TEs
Robert Royal 6 37 37
Matt Murphy 5 31 42
Kevin Everett 2 49 74
Everett has bizarrely reported a strange pain in his neck. he seems fine though, and lets hope karma can help him achieve his potential. He's a great blocker and the fans love him, but will never be a Gates or Gonzalez.

OL
C Melvin Fowler 6 56 63
Duke Preston 3 19 27
Ryan Neill 1 8 13
LG Derrick Dockery 5 25 25
RG Jason Whittle 9 19 19
Brad Butler 2 8 11
LT Jason Peters 4 35 45
RT Langston Walker 6 30 38
Kirk Chambers 3 23 41
At centre, Fowler looks to be the glue that holds the line together. peters and Chambers are the future at T, but we have a talent black hole at G that will take some time to fill. Ulp.

K/P
K Brian Moorman 7 84 84
P Ryan Lindell 8 53 53
At K we have a consistent, steady guy with a big leg. In a soccer country we shouldnt have too much trouble replacing him in afew years either. Lindell with have a year to prove himself.

DL
LDE Chris Kelsay 5 50 50
Ryan Denney 6 42 53
RDE Eric Powell 2 54 31
Aaron Schobel 7 63 63
LDT Larry Triplett 6 32 32
Jason Davidson 3 11 15
RDT John McCargo 2 21 34
Kyle Williams 2 47 66
Tim Anderson 4 60 66
We are very lucky here. Kelsay-Schobel-Williams-Anderson will be the starters, and we have especially high hopes for the two young players at tackle. We should be a difficult team to run on for some years with this base.

LBs
MLB Paul Posluszny 1 43 73
John DiGeorgio 2 13 27
SLB Keith Ellison 2 37 59
Mario Hagan 5 19 26
WLB Angelo Crowell 5 49 49
Josh Stamer 5 22 32
Coy Wire 6 19 23
Posluszny will dominate this unit for along time, and Ellison should also be a sack-machine. Will is open for a fight, but we expect Crowell to be steady at the worst.

CBs
Jabari Greer 4 27 31
Terrance Mcgee 5 30 30
Jason Webster 8 49 49
Kiwaukee Thomas 8 21 21
Ashton Yobouty 2 13 32
By far the weakest position on the roster. Yobouty will be given all opportunities to persuade me, but everyone expects this to be a prime concern for the foreseeable future.

S
SS John Wending 1 31 52
Donte Whitner 2 58 86
FS Ko Simpson 2 62 72
Jim Leonard 3 22 37
Wow. Im the kind of guy that thinks SS is the QB of the defense, so Im made up here. Everyone thought Whitner was a reach when he was drafted top 10, but Im loving him. he and Simpson could well grow to be the best safety partnership in the league.

Overall thoughts.
Offensively, we have some runners and a deep threat. The line is a project, and QB needs to be adressed. Expect us to pound the ball early, long and hard.
Defensively, Im overjoyed with the spine of the team from DT, MLB and S. With some upgrading at CB, this could be a dominant D for some time.

[NoSkillz]

Good luck with the sad sack Bills. I'm a long-suffering fan so I'll be reading!

[kislingbury]

First off, we grab a 3rd QB for the season. Undrafted Aaron Peterson takes the long flightover. Hes a smart kid and has a range of passing, but I hope he never gets on the field.

To make room we cut Jason Jefferson. Last we hear, he wants to be a rugby player. He sure wont ever make it in the NFL.

Prior to preseason, I try to instil in the team our offensive gameplan. We dont want to be too cute with rookies at RB and QB, so we arent doing anything clever. Run it up the middle, run it to the sidelines and pick up the 1st down on an 8 yard curl. meanwhile, hopefully the D can keep us in games. To be honest, Id be ecstatic with .500 this year, but Im not telling th players that.

Richmond 19 New Orleans 17
Atlanta 29 Richmond 17
Tennessee 24 Richmond 13
Richmond 3 Detroit 35

We managed to win our first ever game in Imps kit, but manage to throw our promising start away. Lynch is awful (3 ypc), both QBs seem to like it when the crowd roars after interceptions, and only Peerless price can catch a ball. On defense, we seem solid and Posluszny and Whitner in particular make me feel all warm inside. lets hope they can keep us in games.

[kislingbury]

Denver 30 Richmond 24 (OT)
Gah! So close to a 100% all-time record! Going into the 4th quarter we were 10 points down but pulled level through Dwayne Wright only to get burnt on the first OT posession. Incidentally Wright grabs 91 yards off 12 carries (7.58 ypc) and 2 TDs whilst Lynch again sputters. Lets hope he can keep it up. trent Edwards also threw for 307 and 2 TDs, but Cutler outshines him with 357 and 4 TDs. Still, we were much better with the ball than we thought, so maybe I was way wrong.

Jason Whittle is out for 2 weeks with abductor-knack, so Butler steps in.

Richmond 7 Pittsburgh 24
Hmmm. That was a beating. Big ben walked all over us but our rushing stats were really worrying.
Lynch 10 carries for 33 yards @ 3.3
Wright 4 carries for 63 yards @ 15.75
marshawn will have to start working to keep that starters jersey.
Incidentally, when losman came on he completed 2 of 11 passes, and threw a pick. Im considering phoning my mum to see if she,s free on Sunday evenings.

Posluszny is out for 2 weeks with a bicep injury and Schobel is busted for 3 with elbow knack. All those lonely nights ina foreign country... We sign Rookie Earl Davis as a stopgap at ILB. Bills stalwart Coy Wire makes way. Out with the old, in with the Imps!

Richmond 10 New England 21
Great. Im really looking forward to playing this shower twice a year. Brady is clearly good enough to win this game on his own and his 3 TDs prove the point. Lynch again comes up short with 21 yards and Wright walks away with 63. He will start next week.

Schobel is probable and is pushed right back in. We're desperate.

New Jersey 19 Richmond 7
pennington throws 3 picks and has a 59.2 rating and we still get our ass handed to us. neithe RB can get anything done, and our receivers are scared theres poo on the ball. The 3 picks (Webster, Mcgee and Whitner) are optomistic, and Whitner also picks up 13 tackles. We are now reckoned to be the worst team in the league.

Posluszny is back. yay!

Dallas 7 Richmond 13
And the Imps grab their first ever win! previously the boys were 4-0, so this is a massive win. Trent Edwards picks up 280 yards with Price getting 115 of them. We still cant run the ball, but Whitner pulls in another 2 picks. he is rapidly becoming our best player and now he is arguably a gamewinner.

After our bye, the whole squad is now fit. Watch our winning run start!

Baltimore 16 Richmond 7
We're getting beat due to our offense not creating anything, but at least our D is relatively steady. The Ravens need 3 Stover FGs, so Im pretty pleased. Lynch grabs his forst TD, but he is still looking like a bust.

Richmond 0 New Jersey 29
Well done me for praising the D. The Jets are limited to 5 FGs, but we pick up 39 yards of rushing offense overall, and Edwards throws another 3 picks. I dont want to talk about it any more.

Dwayne Wright also goes down with a dodgy ankle. Lynch is back in as starter...

[kislingbury]

Cincinatti 24 Richmond 3
Lynch grabs 22 yards this time. trent Edwards manages to avoid throwing an INT, but he does fumble twice. Rudi Johnson rumbles for 14o as the Bengals dont even need to break sweat. We are lookng awful.

Richmond 20 Miami 26
This our highest scoring game so far. Lynch picks up 99 on the floor and a TD, so maybe all is not lost. the Dolphins sack Edwards 3 times though, and Chris Chambers is too good for our second rate CB corps.

New England 6 Richmond 27
Woo! New England dont like to travel to Old England in the rain and we hold them to 2 FGs. Lynch picks up 80 yards and Edwards throws 2 TDs, but the real story is our D. We hold the Pats to 170 total yards, and our secondary is quietly excellent. Posluszny also makes 12 tackles.

Richmond 11 Jacksonville 14
A close game you're thinking and you'd be right, however, the Jags were 0-10, so Im not happy. 120 yards for Lee Evans and another pick for Whitner.

Richmond 14 Washington 21
4 minutes in Whitner takes the ball back 91 yards from yet another INT. Great! Unfortunately that meant the Skins switched to a rushing game and Portis promptly picked up 240 on the ground. Move on.

Keith Ellison goes down for 3 weeks at SLB.

Miami 17 Richmond 26
the Dolphins become the first team to lose twice in England. Marshawn Lynch goes over 100 yards for the first time with 114, and Lindell kicks 4 FGs. Donte WEhitner grabs another pick and Ko Simpson ran one back for a score. This is probably our best performance of the year.

Richmond 7 Cleveland 23
Back to earth with a bump. This is Brady Quinns forst start and he puts Edwards to shame. Quinn gets 250 yards, Edwards gets 124. Quinn throws 2 TDs, Edwards throws 4 picks. Im frustrated that we cant build momentum.

New York 30 Richmond 0
Our 2nd egg of the season. Youd think the players would be playing for their future, but maybe they want to get cut so they can move back home. It seems Richmond is not a happy town to play in. Whitner grabs his customary INT as our only bright spot.

Richmond 3 Philadelphia 6
Philly actually grabbed a wildcard spot with this trash. they should be ashamed of themselves. Lynch backslid to only 28 yards, and they deserved to beat us by a lot more. We pull down the curtain on a dismal frst season.

In the AFC (very) East the Jets go 13-3 to clinch 2nd seed. Only Oakland have a worse record than us.

[kislingbury]

Superbowl I
Jets 23 Redskins 23
Washington kick a 40 yard FG with 2 minutes left to snatch the title. Brunell is superbowl MVP and Richmond are happy because both teams kicked the shit out of us. We were that close to greatness.

To recap our key performers:

Trent Edwards
2531 yards at 53.9%. 10 TDs to 18 INTS and a 66.2 rating is not good enough. QB is still our biggest need on this team.

Marshawn Lynch
843 yards at 3.9 ypc. marshawn did ok with some major dips, but his 3 TDs and 92 yards receiving need to improve drastically.
Dwayne Wright grabbed 384 yards from 73 @ 5.26 ypc. if he can stay fot he will get more chances next year.

Lee Evans
878 yards receiving but only 3 TDs. Not his fault, and actually, I think thats a pretty good job with Edwards launching bricks with his eyes closed.

Donte Whitner
119 tackles, 41 assists and 7 INTs. far and away our best player, and one of the leagus best safeteys already.

Paul Posluszny
78 tackles. he only played 12 games, and Im a little disappointed. Hopefully he will grow into his role and I predict big things next year.

Aaron Schobel
7.5 sacks and 11 hurries. Aaron will be disgusted at himself. He needs to lead by example here, and the change in surroundings is no excuse.

Tim Anderson
Tim got 5.5 sacks from Dt and was aconsistent run stopper. he will be a fixture on this team.



Looking forward, our needs are clear. We are desperate for a QB, our G situation needs improving, and we need to pick up a CB. Our RBs underperformed as did our D front 7, but we have no pressing need there apart from time and stability.

All 3 members of the coaching staff remain contracted and we wont make any changes. Skip Dodge our OC is skating on thin ice, but will have the last year of his contract to convince he is a bona fide guy.

We need a new head coach, and sign Monty Dermody to a 3 year contract. he has an eye for young QBs and offensive linemen, so we need his talents ASAP.

We also put in a proposal to build a brand new stadium as we have been squatting at Brentford Soccer club all season. We're looking to put up a 60,000 seater with a retractable roof, so we'll see what the Greater London Council say about helping us with Lottery money.

We drop our ticket prices right down as we need to attract a new crowd. I think a hostile crowd would help us add 2 wins a year along with the long flights so we need to get the place packed. We are now Cheaper to go see play than any team back in the US. We do however stick the corporate box prices right up. We're still a novelty but the gawkers can pay for the privelige of laughing at us.

[kislingbury]

We nominate breakout DT Tim Anderson as our franchise player but expect to negotiate a long0term player. Marshawn Lynch is sent on the short trip to Europe to hone his skills. A lesson to all rookies: play well or you dont go home for the summer.

Looking ahead to the draft, there are a couple of intriguing players. We will pick 4th overall, and may well be looking at grabbig a franchise QB. Failing that we may look at trading down for a couple of promising but not top-level guards depending on free agency.

TE Kevin Everett is resigned to a 3 year deal. Next year he should catch more balls.
SLB Keith Ellison also gets another 3 years. Im looking for a step up though.
DT Tim Anderson signs a 5 year contract at just under $20m. he should be a rock.
C Melvin Fowler gets 2 years.

In free agency we target 49ers G Justin Smiley. Unfortunately he resigns for $17m less than offers on the table so we switch our target to Eagles FB Thomas Tapeh who signs a one year deal.

After week 8 we descend like vultures...

G John Kaplan 1 year
G Phil Lake 1 year
WLB Derrick Pope 1 year

Our QB Mickey Henderson goes first overall to Oakland and deservedly so. he looks like a future pro-bowler. After that RBs top the draft, so we trade down to 10th and pick up a couple of 4th rounders in the process. The rest of the draft is failry weak and we pick up the following...

1.10 CB Omar Baker 47/63
2.3 QB Austin Horn 30/54
3.2 G Bill Williamson 28/48
4.4 C Jorge Beyer 11/44
4.6 CB Charkes Schneider 20/34
4.8 T Les Ashraf 22/45
5.4 QB Winfred Branson 18/36
6.2 G Charlie Norris 23/30
7.4 WR Stanley Fields 18/30

The idea was to solidify our O-Line and grrom our new QB behind it. Baker looks like he will improve our already decent D, Horn looks like he can fit in ok (certainly better thanEdwards) but time will tell. Williamson will probably start at G, and the rest will keep our squad toung and hungry.

Our ambitious stadium request comes back and we're amazed! London will build us a great new stadium! We look forward to filling it with new fans.

[Izulde]

You went from 4 to 10 and only got 2 4th rounders? You got ripped off.

[surlyc]

A high second & low sixth round pick is about right for that move down. Did you really only get a couple of fourth rounders or are you kidding?

Incidentally, as an English fan I am smiling at the idea of this dynasty. Go Imps!

[kislingbury]

All those American bullies picked on us poor little Brits...

After the draft we pick up a couple of nice undrafted rookies.

Ed Krieger CB 11/54 looks like a project.
Shannon Witt LG 10/56 is a run blocking machine.
Marlon Anderson WR 18/56 is a deep threat.
Jerome Bruce SS 21/52 could learn behind Whitner.

As we go into training camp I hold my breath. We really could do without any big slumps here.

Ouch! Our first pick Omar baker drops to 28/41!
QB Austin horn holds steady at 29/53. he will get a shot to start this season.

All in all, our offseason has vastly improved our depth chart, but Im not sure we have found any future stars. Fingers crossed our D holds together another year.

[kislingbury]

Assesment of the roster ahead of 2008

QBs
Horn is clearly the most talented player here. Unless he really stinks it up in preseason he will start. He has a good range of passing, can dodge rushers, and has the brains to pick opposing Ds apart. Hopefully Edwards or Losman will never throw another Imps pass ever again!

RBs
I like our 1-2 punch here. I think i will abandon trying to find a feature back and give both Marshawn Lynch and Dwayne Wright lots of chances. It helps that both of them can catch the ball.

WRs/TEs
Lee Evans provides a deep option, Kevein Everett grabs short balls and we hope for no injuries. I really like undrafted rookie Marlon Anderson out of Kentucky. he will get some playing time.

OL
Fowler is the stud at C, we will start two rookies at G in Williamson and Hernandez and T will be Jason Peters and rookie Les Ashraf. I dont beleive we could do better with our shoddy veterans, so we will plan for the long term.

kickers
Moorman is one of the best punters in the league, whilst Lindell was accurate last season. This is the one area of the pitch with no worries at all.

D line.
Aaron Schobel will hope for a better season, whilst Ryan Denney and Chris Kelsay battle it out on the other side. At DT Tim Anderson and Kyle Williams look like a solid long term partnership.

LBs
keith Ellison at S and Paul Posluszny at M look very solid. After a small holdout, Angelo Crowell will start at weakside. Im looking for improved production here.

CBs
Mcgee holds onto his position whilst Baker will start on the other side. he already looks like a bust, but Im willing to give him a chance. There is little depth after these two apart from the other rookie Schneider. he will get the nod at nickleback.

S
Whitner and Ko Simpson start of course. These two are my ace in the hole, so Im hoping for turnovers galore!

[kislingbury]

The mighty imps are chosen to kick off the exhibition season with Dallas visiting SE London.

Their QB Joey Harrington (!) expresses delight at such abeautiful town but is secretly sure he will be kicking some Imp ass. Unfortunately for him, things dont go his way...

Dallas 10 Richmond 13
Lindell kicks two early FGS and Posluszny rumbles 73 yards on a fumble return to give us a 13-0 lead. However the unexpected scenes of jubilation in Richmond (mild approval coupled with warm shandy) lull the team into a false sense of security. Dallas hit back with a Julius Jones score, and we are lucky to hold on. We mange to pick up a grand total of 90 yards passing. Same old Richmond. Donte Whitner makes an interception. Same old Richmond.

Denney picks up a knock, but you cant knock any sort of victory when you're as bad as us.



Squad details will hopefully go up tomorrow.

[Young Drachma]

Fun idea!

[kislingbury]

Fresh from our unbeaten start to the pre-season, I herd the lads onto the long plane over to Dulles and then on to Carolina. The boys are happy to be heading back after a long training camp with the army at Aldershot and I get the feeling their minds arent on the job. With this in mind we scale back the gameplan. Clearly a balanced offense isnt working, so we're going to try pounding the ball on the ground and not giving our QBs the chance to lose us the game.

Richmond 7 Carolina 17
And the bubble bursts. Bizarrely Horn is 10/10 for 120 yards and a TD before he is pulled. Unfortunately Trent Edwards comes on and throws 3 picks. Still not too unencouraging.

Richmond 27 Tampa Bay 0
Cor Blimey Guv! Thtas more like it! The running game explodes with Lynch picking up 159 yards and 2 TDs. Our passing game is awful but who cares? We're playing like its 1952! Obviously Donte Whitner grabs a pick, but the star in the secondary is CB McGee who forces 2 fumbles, a sack and a half and 2 hurries. I might move him to DE... All in all we get 6 sacks. This is exactly how I want to play every week.

New York 17 Richmond 20
We have started to feel good back in good old blighty and it shows. Lynch and Wright combine for 180 yards on the ground and even make Losman look good. Peerless Price also pulls in 90 yards and a score. Donte Whitner cant hold on today, but 3 defensed passes sound good enough to me.

We actually have a little momentum going into the season. As long as we dont try to get too cute, we might manage 6 wins! The good people of Surrey and the suburbs will be throwing their cucumber sarnies in the air!

[kislingbury]

Unfortunately, we're missing Denney at DE for another 5 weeks and Ko Simpson has gone down for a month, but at least we're getting our trip to Foxborough out of the way whilst its still sunny, and the Marshawn Lynch is full of confidence.

Richmond 11 New England 27
Humph. There goes the momentum. On his full debut our new QB Horn posts a 33.6 QB rating, and Lynch has only 50 yards in him. Brady is his imperious best and picks up double the passing yardage of our top 2 QBs. They out-sack us 5-0, and Brandon Merriweather looks like a real player in the making for the Pats.

Arizona 48 Richmond 27
Back at home our offense fires all of a sudden, but we get shredded in the 4th. At the end of the 3rd we're 27-17 up, but the Cards whack us for 31 pts in the final quarter. Ouch! Boldin, Edge and Fitzgerald combine for 337 yards and we just cant keep up. The lesson is that we can do ok in a limited game, but our QB situation isnt good enough for shoot-outs. Still, Horn threw his first 2 TDS. Fingers crossed for him.

Baltimore 14 Richmond 12
Lynch and Wright both go over 100 yards, but neither can punch it in. Horn is inaccurate, but safe and throws a score to Lee Evans. 7 defensed passes is promising, but ultimately fruitless as we slump in a game we should have won.

Richmond 10 Miami 20
2 picks, no scores for Horn. Im thinking it might be too early for him, but to be honest, Ive nothing to lose this year. Aaron Schobel picks up the holy trinity of a sack, a pick and a fumble forced, but were a blunt instrument.

After a quarter of the season we're 0-4. Not ideal, but at least our talented runners are starting to pick up. Im looking to go 4-12 at best, but with another year and 2 players, we coulkd have the building of a decent team.

Its not easy getting players to England you know! This was always going to be a long project, but the fans are getting restless. Lets hope they get excited when we can win in our new stadium.