DETROIT FURY [GM RINALDI]

[GM Fosters]

SEASON 15 - WEEK 12

1. Discuss this past week.

We got a cracking win over divisional rivals St Paul! We're building momentum nicely for a late run. GM Eli has built a super talented team and he's one of the finest GMs in the league and a true gent. Unlike those other pair of rascals in our division. Our team is clicking on both sides of the ball and it's great to see. My key players are starting to really ball out too for both the more experienced players like Zeke, Wellman, Lidström, Soriano, Hines as well as our younger lads in Rogers, Gorham, Harris and Turpin. It's great to see and I'm excited to see what this team can do, building the momentum to the end of the year and into next season. I was a bit baffled how none of our lads won offensive or defensive player of the game when we beat St Paul convincingly, but there you go. I'd have given it to Rogers and Hines in my opinion, but oh well- I don't choose these things, ha!Onwards and upwards.



2. Discuss any news that interested you. (Cover your news first; then move on)

No real news for Michigan fans other than I hope they rethink that stupid poll they did a few weeks ago.  Seeing these QBs get a second win in another position is all well and good and great to see, great for the game blah blah but not when it's reignited their offences and we have to play Orlando and Milwaukee still.



3. What is more interesting to you the PFL or the IFAF, do you believe either is a true rival or threat to the HIFL?  Who is your favorite player from either league and why?


I don't keep too close an eye on it other than reading the headlines and trying to keep in the loop in what's happening with our partners, France. The IFAF and PFL both have a lot of talented players who should they want to come across to the HIFL will be hot property indeed. I do try and keep an eye on players I've formerly worked with too and it's great to see Stephen Shelley do as well as he is.


4. The bye weeks are through; five games remain this season; evaluate your team and season, if you still have a shot at the playoffs what does your team have to do to close out the regular season on a high note?

As I've mentioned previously, we're building a lot of momentum and we're on an upwards trajectory, our last 5 games are against Music City, Tottenham, Milwaukee, Orlando and the final game is against Cleveland. I'll tell you for nothing now we will win at least two more games this year. I won't specify, but we're going to deliver on that. I'm hoping we can actually win 4 games and finish on a 0.500 record. Obviously we're carrying injuries to 3 of our star players who I had hoped some of them would be back by now and they will certainly be crucial for us when we play top of our division Cleveland in the last game of the year. The playoffs are a bit of mathematical conundrum, we'll have to have everything go our way for us to sneak into them this year. I've got every faith in this roster though and I'll keep everything crossed for the lads to make it to the post season.

Music City have a great defense, but we have a great offense. It's going to be an interesting battle. Personally I think our defence has their offence's number for this game. I'm looking forward to it!


—————————

Coach, another fantastic win! It seems like everything is clicking into place now.

What are Music City's strengths and weaknesses? Other than having a solid defence? Any thing we can exploit?

[Talon]

 

I would look at the recently published league stats and evaluate their team stats to figure that out.

[GM Fosters]

They're pretty similar to us... I'm probably more concerned with their rushing than their passing and they're pass defence and rushing defence looks pretty shit hot to me.

[Talon]

Now this is where most GMs then don't change anything after asking the coach do look up this information just to have had something to discuss...

Unless you want to make a change?

[GM Fosters]

I think our rush defence has been better in the last few games. But I'll leave it up to you. I trust your judgment more than mine and I don't want to mess up any chemistry that we're building.

Strategy- coaches decision along with everything else.

lock in

[GM Fosters]

SEASON 15 - WEEK 13

1. Discuss this past week.

Well it's a bit of a naf one. We lost to Music City, primarily because they rushed a lot better than we did, their rush defence really choked our run game- possibly not helped by a plethora of injuries to our O-Line. I think we did pretty well in the air making up a lot of yardage, just couldn't seem to get many touchdowns. I did say before and I'll say it again Music City's a fantastic defensive unit, and I want to try and emulate that sort of defensive set up next year. The fact that they rushed for 4 touchdowns and didn't get any passing TD's speaks volumes. It's not like our run D wasn't present either, we did have 12 TFL's but unfortunately they've picked up the key yards in the key areas of the field.


2. Discuss any news that interested you. (Cover your news first; then move on)

Tuilagi breaking that record is insane. He's deffo having a break out year, which is ideal for him as he's in his contract year.

I think the reason behind James Barger having a black eye is hilarious!  You can't be having your cake and eating it son.

St Paul got a big win and shut out Cleveland. Even if all the QBs played pretty dire! Could be an interesting end to the season for our division, it's just a shame we're not more involved in the race for the top of the division. We've just got to keep building and come back even stronger next year.


3. If you could will your team into fixing or improving one thing, what would it be?

I'd have all our injured players back fit and ready to play. We've been hampered big time on the O-Line and on the D-Line. Think we genuinely could have been more in line for a playoff run if we hadn't been carrying so many injuries. It's one thing I want to look into in the off season- our facilities for rehabbing our injured players.


4. You going to win this week?

We sure as hell are! We play my dear friend Tarquin Oldfield as we host Tottenham at home. They have some friendly faces that used to be former monsters on their roster so I think both our lads will be fired up for this game. Despite our loss this last week to Music City I still want to finish this season strongly and try to get as many wins as we can. Tottenham do now have an extremely talented QB so it should be a good contest to watch.

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Coach was my assessment in the presser more or less there or there abouts? Their run D choked us out and out and Zeke and Harris never really got going for us? Probably not helped by all those injuries to our O-Line?

[Talon]

 

Yeah, I agree. It's hard to evaluate our offense when our line is so banged up.

[GM Fosters]

I'm hoping that Colbert and Lidström will be available to play, if not we'll have to just trust in our depth chart... there's not much else we can do is there?

If they're not available we'll have to stick with Wellman and Jones at guard and Rose at left tackle and whoever you reckon best at right tackle...

But I'll leave that up to the Coaches.

Let's go get a win against Tottenham.

Lock in

[GM Fosters]

SEASON 15 - WEEK 14

1. What stood out to you about your team this week?


Fantastic performance. Zeke winning player of the game and getting more than a 1000 rushing yards for the first time since S11. Rogers hitting 18/21 completions- that's just over 85%, incredible accuracy- shows you just how hard he's been working and it's all paying off.

On Defence Tui, Burrell and Dickers all had absolutely bonza games! It's all clicking together and we've still got a few lads to come back into the side after injury. It's gonna be a minor mathematical miracle for us to make the playoffs, but all we can do is put ourselves in position to win all our remaining games and finish up on 8-8, which when we were in week 10 on 2-7 all the pundits had written us off for another terrible season. We're building big time, and we'll carry this momentum into the off season and through into S16!



2. Discuss any news that interested you. (Cover your news first; then move on)


Awful scenes to see Daley struggling so much with concussion. No one wants to see that.

Records being broken left right and centre. It's getting very exciting and there's a buzz around the league for sure.



3. 3 Weeks to go, do you make changes or are you ready to roll with what brought you to the dance?

Only changes we'll make is when we get players coming back in from injury once they're fully fit. I won't rush them back in if they're not ready.

We play Milwaukee next and they're always a battle and seem to always get fired up for our games... I wonder why!

Jokes aside, it's a big divisional game and we want to do your best to make sure we come out on top.


——————————

Great stuff Coach Vol, haven't got too much for you, I think we should just carry on with what we've been doing and slide our starters back in one they're back from injury as long as you're happy with that.

One quick thing about Burrell on defence... what one aspect do you think he needs to develop most to get to be the next level rusher we need him to be next year?

[Talon]

 

If he can work on his agility, he could up his sack totals into the double digits easily.

[GM Fosters]

Noted, cheers Coach Vol.

Coaches decision for all things selection wise. If Duff/ Glaze/ Lidström/Colbert are available, get them back in the starting team.

Lock in for Milwaukee

[GM Fosters]

SEASON 15 - WEEK 15

1. What stood out to you about your team this week?

They put in a great performance. Our boys are playing with real heart in the back half of this season. Rogers started really well before he picked up an injury, Zeke has been on fire. Harris is looking really solid as  the running back of the future of this team. Our receiver corps are doing so well, and we had TDs from McCrary and Payne this week. Our O-like has been through a hell of a lot of injuries and is doing remarkably well at keeping our QBs upright and stopping them from getting sacked too much as well as opening up channels for Zeke and Harris to run through. Our defence now is worlds apart from where we started. Burrell and Turpin lit it up this week and our linebacker corps is so so solid. Our D-line will be fearsome once we've recovered from our injuries and Hino and Schiller are making massive strides. All across the park we're building for something great. I'm very excited to see what next season has in store for us. If we can get a win or two over the next couple of weeks that would be smashing too!

We've now done the double over our divisional rivals, Milwaukee and are currently 3-2 in the division. Obviously we still have to play Cleveland in week 17, but we're on track for at least going 0.500 and as a result we have hit 4/5 goals set for us at the start of the year. The one we haven't hit is the race for the playoffs. Which I think for us to reach now would be a mathematical miracle when there are two teams in our conference not making it at the present with 8 wins....

2. Discuss any news that interested you.

I think the biggest news is just breaking... and that's that GM Kirk has possibly resigned? I like GM Kirk a lot and he makes me laugh with how harsh he can be in his press conferences. I mean- he has been nil'd twice this year but I'm surprised he's thrown his toys out the pram in such a significant fashion. I'll be keeping an eye on that situation for sure. 

Nick Cannon going to play for an inferior league after leaving the field injured is a retarded move. I've got a feeling that that's gonna come round and bite the naughty little bugger in the arse! GM Bennett's got to take a tough love approach to that one surely? He'll lose the respect of his dressing room, and the league if he doesn't!

Alabama are struggling a bit without Ortega aren't they...

3b. (if you are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs) would you rather lose the final two games to improve your draft position or do you want to finish on a winning streak?

We're obviously striving to win our last two games, it will be difficult with our star QB rookie injured for at least the Orlando game, if not the Cleveland game too. But Ross Baker stepped in and delivered a great performance against Milwaukee after Rogers left with an injury. It will be good to give Baker a chance to show what he can do.

There's literally no point to us tanking to improve our draft stock of picks... because we literally don't have any of our own. So we'll be going all out to stop Orlando from running.


———————————

Coach Vol! Great win... but ouch... came at a bit of a cost. Ross Baker looked like he filled in ok though! How does he compare to Rogers? Any tweaks needed in the playbook?

[Talon]

 

He is no Rogers; decently accurate but a weaker arm and only serviceable IQ.  He'll hold his own but don't expect him to win games.

[GM Fosters]

Noted! Cheers Coach. I'll leave the offensive tweaks to you.

We've got a bit of a mountain to climb against a very inform rushing attack of Orlando.

Can we change linebacker focus to run support, defence focus to run and D line focus to run support to do our best to limit Tuilagi and Summer?

[Talon]

 

We can definitely make those changes and see if it helps slow them down.

[GM Fosters]

Let's give it a whirl!

I think that's everything coach, all the best with the game against Orlando, I'll get the lock in details to you shortly. I want to make a quick phone call first.

———————
Scott Forest- it's GM Fosters in Michigan. I know you're not a fan of going for contract extension offers before free agency, but I just wanted to make an offer for you to consider for your client QB Ross Baker. I wanted to offer him 3MM a year for 2 years starting next season. If he wants the deal, it's his.

[Talon]

DEAL ACCEPTED

[GM Fosters]

Thanks Scott

—————-

Anthony Campenelli, Bruce Fosters from Michigan. I want to offer your client DE Douglas Dickerson 6MM a year for 3 years to keep him a Monster. How does that sound?

[Talon]

FUGGETTABOUTIT! -- YOU HAVE A DEAL

[GM Fosters]

Lovely stuff! Hooroo!

————-

Right Carly can you get this to Coach Vol please?

Change linebacker focus to run support
Change defence focus to run
Change D line focus to run support

Coach Vol to make any offensive tweaks he deems necessary. Including leaning on the run, something I forgot to chat to him about- but if he thinks it's a good idea, let's do it!

Coach Vol to have final say.

Lock in for Orlando

[GM Fosters]

SEASON 15 - WEEK 16

1. What stood out to you about your team this week?

The heart our boys showed. We went all in on run defence and managed to prevent Orlando from scoring a rushing TD despite them getting 252 rushing yards. We only have up 52 passing yards. This defensive effort was miles better than what we started with this year.

On offense Zeke and Harris did well to keep us going forward. Baker stepped in and had an alright game. It was a shame we couldn't get that 2 point conversion at the end but to keep it so close with so many big injuries, was a performance I was happy with.



2. Who has to step up this weekend in your eyes?

Our season ends with a big divisional clash at home, against division winners Cleveland. I would love to get an upset and win against them.

Our run defence stepped up big time last week. We need to step up again as Fields is a true double threat QB. I'd love to see our sack numbers and TFL numbers be through the roof this week- and I want to see big games from the lads I know are capable of making them Dickerson, Burrell, Reed, Hatley, Tui, Parker, Hudson, Hinesy, Schiller, Turpin and Pickens! If Glaze is back from injury I'm looking forward to seeing him play in our new and improve D-line that he's not really had much of a chance to be a part of with this bad injury. I cannot wait to see our D-line tear into offences next year.


3. What does this final week of the season mean for you and your team? 

With the last few contract extensions we announced last week we're keeping the spine of this team together for another year, so as long as we keep building that chemistry and try and stay as injury free as possible I think we start building for next year, right now with a win against Cleveland.


———————

A gritty performance in my eyes Coach. To bring it back to within a 2 point conversion showed we were playing with heart. Shame we didn't get it, was that a result of leaning on our run defence and leaning on rushing in offence do you think?

How do you think we should play it against Cleveland? Return to normal or stay run heavy?

[Talon]

 

Without Rogers, we stay run heavy.  If we can keep Cleveland from being the #1 seed its a double-win for us, so lets knock them off right before the playoffs!

[GM Fosters]

Brilliant will do. With regard to our Defense should we stay set up to stop the run? Or be a bit more neutral? Fields is a handy passer too.

[Talon]

 

We choke them out on the ground, they won't stand a chance.

[GM Fosters]

Great let's do it.

I feel this team has really turned a corner in the second half of this season. Are there any individuals that have stood out as taking charge in the lockeroom or showing particularly good leadership qualities?

[Talon]

 

Our team's best leaders are Glaze, Carr, Turpin, Colbert, Boss, Longoria, Zeke, and Burrell.

[GM Fosters]

Noted Coach! Many thanks.

NOW LETS GO RUIN CLEVELAND's DAY.

Strategy decisions- All down to coach Vol.

Start best players available if back from injury.

Lock in for Cleveland, and final game of the season!

[GM Fosters]

NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS

1. When you look back on this season, what are some of the words you would use to describe the season?

Exciting, turbulent for the first half. A baptism of fire for sure for a lot of young, inexperienced players who have performed exceptionally well. From being the worst team in the league last year, having a complete overhaul to becoming an offensive force to be reckoned with early on, but our defence not clicking. To changing our defensive system halfway through the season and then our defense coming on leaps and bounds. To hold Orlando to 17 points and just miss out on getting the win through a 2 point conversion, and for them to then put 70 past Alabama a week later? That's special! I'm really happy to get the win over Cleveland in our last game too and finish with a divisional record of 4-2.



2. Who was your best player this season?

I can't name just one. I'm so pleased with how Derek Rogers has played, he's got better and better every week, very excited to see what's to come from him. 2845 yards 22 TDs only 5 INTs... completion percentage 65% in his rookie year... I think if he hadn't have got injured the last two games we would have finished at 8-8.

Zeke. Ezekiel Elliott has been fantastic. Rushing 1600 yards, 12 TDs, 7th overall in rushing yards this year and 5th RB! With 198 receiving yards too. If he's not wanting to retire, I'll be trying to speak to his agent for sure as we want to keep him in Michigan!

Matthew Hines- 75 tackles, 6 interceptions, 1 sack, 4 forced fumbles, 1 defensive touchdown, 33 PDs and 1 tackle for loss! Incredible stats, if he's not a candidate being talked about for defensive player of the year I don't know who else will be!



3. Who was the most disappointing player for you this year, and why?

Tui Lotulelei... only because he was missing from all the box scores for the first 5 games.
74 tackles, 1 int, 1 sack,  1 FF, 1 FR, 13 TFL. What a great bunch of stats from just 11 games, I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in a full season!

The most disappointing thing for us this year is how many injuries we've had to deal with... such a talented squad to be so marred with injuries. It's something I will be looking into the off season that's for sure.


4. Grade your Coaches this season, will they be back next season?

A's across the board. I wanted to promote Coach Vol from OC to HC last year because he's an incredibly talented coach who's fantastic at developing talent at QB and skills players. He's been working with Rogers loads and that's partly why Rogers has hit the ground running. I have every faith in Coach Vol- it's his vision for the offense that I'm building.

I brought in Gary Hunter because he was a legendary linebacker and I really wanted to develop our LB corp to get them to being one of the best in the league. He's been working with Bobby Hudson and Tui and done fantastic things. I opted for the 3-4 set up to start with and it really didn't work, but we've switched personnel around a little bit and I'm really happy with how our defence has come on, particularly towards the end of the year!

Anderson Smith was someone that I wanted to bring in to really work on our O-line. Particularly with a rookie QB I wanted to make sure that we kept him upright as often as we could and he's been great.

Ultimately I will speak to coach Vol about his thoughts and I do think the Head Coach should have a say about the coaching appointments... whether the GM listens to that is another story though!



5. What is next for you, do you see yourself back with this club next year?

I'm here for another year... at least... hopefully longer! I've bent over backwards to keep the majority of this roster together because we're on an upwards trajectory.

As long as Ms Waters will have me, I'll be here for the foreseeable. Michigan will be in the playoffs next season, mark my words!

[Talon]

 

Well, I think we finished as strong as we could have hoped for.  A good sign going forward.

[GM Fosters]

For sure! Thanks for all your hard work! I haven't got too much to ask you, and I know you'll want to be getting on your hard earned vacation as soon as you can.

How have you found working with Gary Hunter and Anderson Smith? Would you have changed anything in hindsight or happy how it's gone?

What's on your shopping list for players if I could go out of my way to bring in a dream piece or two of yours?

[Talon]

I've got a yacht waiting to take me and about 13 Russian ballet dancers on vacation; so lets talk about this when I get back after the Impact Bowl.

[GM Fosters]

Have a lovely time and a well earned break... don't do anything I wouldn't do!

————-

Carly can you see if Ms Waters is available and would like to speak to me? Thanks.

[Talon]

 

Bruce, it wasn't a winning season, but winning five of our final seven games, getting wins over two playoff teams from our own division, and only losing to two other playoff teams is a very strong end of the season!

I must say, I am pleasantly surprised with how this team played down the stretch.

[GM Fosters]

Sadly not a winning season you're right.

I'm hoping Michigan will keep building and add a couple of big name pieces in the off season too.

I'm really happy here, and want to be here long term if you'll have me.

I'm glad you're pleasantly surprised. I plan on pushing Cleveland next year to win the division and make sure we're involved in the playoffs.

[Talon]

 

Next year is your prove-it year, I look forward to seeing what you show me.  Good luck.

[GM Fosters]

Thanks Ms Waters, I hope you will be satisfied with my efforts...

Lock in

[Talon]

Hey you!

I currently have us with $9.88MM in available salary cap and $6.44M in Bonus funds for S16.  Our bonus may flex depending on how you decide to handle our coaching staff.

I have us with 24 open roster positions at this time. 

I have our draft picks as follows:

S16 3rd - TUC
S16 6th - TUC

We have all of our own draft picks for S17 minus our 2nd round pick, and all of our own picks for S18

We do not owe any taxes, so our off-season bonus money is ours to do whatever we'd like!

Our available off-season bonus money currently is: $1.44MM ($2MM from your GM Contract + $440K from your S15 budget rollover - $1MM from our league fine for trading bonus money mid-season).

I have our off-season team sheet copy here. Feel free to edit/use it if you would like.  If you have questions or disagree with my notes please let me know and we will get to the bottom of it!

[GM Fosters]

Coach Vol!

I want to talk to you about our coaching staff going forward... I'm gong to give you free reign so to speak- what sort of budget do you need? I'm going to try and give you as much as I can... my only asks is that we try and get a top guy for strength and comfort conditioning to try and limit injuries and help players recover faster.

Let me know how much you need

[Talon]

I would be fine keeping our staff as it is at their price point; to go for an elite staff we would be looking at $9.5MM on defense and $8MM on offense and I wouldn't want to go with an economy level staff.

[GM Fosters]

I'll give you 9.5MM and 8MM- let's get the best guys we can!

[Talon]

 

Alright; I'll let Anderson and Gary know they're fired.

[GM Fosters]

Much appreciated coach,

Are we a able to get our top S&C guy as part of that or do we need to spend a bit more?

[Talon]

If you'd like to insure we go top end on a specific position like that, throw a league office post for another $500K for the specific job and I'll take care of it.

[GM Fosters]

Cracking! Thanks Coach Vol. I look forward to seeing who you will bring in!

Don't get me wrong- I felt like we had a good year with Smith and Hunter

[Talon]

 

Anderson is... alright; Gary Hunter is a great mind; I might even try to bring them back on our lower staff.

[GM Fosters]

That would be great if you could! Particularly with Hunter for our LB corps.

[Talon]

 

I'll see what I can do.

[GM Fosters]

Mike Maker please.

Hey Mr Maker,

I'd like to offer your client C Douglas McFadden an extension. Guys like him deserve to highlight the importance of the UDFA system and the chance it gives rookies to get on a roster. How would he feel about  a 2 year, 1MM per year deal? Would that get him to re-sign with Michigan?

[Talon]

 

While your comment about the importance of UDFA is touching and eerily familiar to something I read today in a group text with a colleague of mine; we're seeking $3MM per season, but I might come down and meet you somewhere near the middle.

[GM Fosters]

Mr Maker... I would love to offer him more... but my budget is stretched tight like a drum at the moment. I hope to circle back at a later date if that's ok? After I've made my UFA offers as I'll have a better idea if we can afford more.

——————

James T Crain please!

Mr Crain, I'd like to offer your client FS Leopoldo Hamilton a contract extension 1mm a year for 2 years. I think he could pick up a lot from working as a back up for Michael Turpin.