Not much can be said that has not been said already…but TPD will say it anyway! That’s right, as the abbreviation in the previous sentence illustrates, Perpetual Dynasty is no longer a name without emphaticism. Insert the word The (pronounced like THE Ohio State) and hope springs a new. For a franchise starved for a championship TPD will attempt to honor the greatness of the past while also adapting towards a brighter future. Not unlike season’s of old, TPD gives his first post of a new league year with remembrance of a painful season, but confidence from the underlining themes.
PD’s 2015 campaign was a grind from the very beginning. A (1-4) start doomed the season for a PD team who missed the playoffs by only a single game. After such a poor start PD rallied the troops, and from week 6 on PD averaged a fantastic 143 PPG. Wind had re-entered the franchise's sails, and PD found himself in an all or nothing 2016 playoff play-in game against Tavon and Only. But like so many times before PD could not get the job done when he most desired to; he lost one of the league’s most significantly impactful and first ever playoff play-in games of all time.
Missing the playoffs for the first time ever left PD with yet another wound and an eventual scar. PD ruminated. He questioned the questions he had questioned so many times before, and from that questioning came brush strokes of a larger portrait that was PD 2015. Statistics began to surface, stats like: four different teams scored at least 160 points against PD. PD’s East divisional opponent’s devoured him for an average of almost 140 PPG; yes...each time an East team played PD they averaged scoring 138 points. PD had the hardest SOS by an astounding 105 points. The largest difference between hardest schedule and 2nd hardest ever; the previous record was only a 38 point difference. All of the brush strokes paint a picture of a team incapable of making the playoffs. Throw in the fact that PD had injuries to Andrew Luck, Arian Foster, Marshawn Lynch, Alshon Jeffery, and Jonathan Stewart and it becomes abundantly clear that no one could have led a team with these circumstances to the playoffs. While this fact will forever remain, it is also clear that PD has much to be proud of in a season viewed from its entire whole.
PD was 3rd in the league in total points, and for the 4th straight season he was the highest scoring team in the East division; a stat which makes him feel like the East still goes through him. Even with all of the injuries, he managed to field a team that average over 143 PPG for more than two/thirds of the season. He continually made sound free agent pick ups while also improving as a gameday manager. Simply put, PD managed the hell out of his team, but he would be foolish to think he can repeat such managerial success.
What is not foolish in looking at these stats is thinking TPD is still the same dude. Last season may have damaged his all time numbers but in the grand scheme of things it was still a somewhat dominating season. The old adage rings true for TPD in 2016...don't change a thing. Crazy though is the fact that TPD has been changing, and the consequences of his growth as a manager have yet to be revealed. Analyzing the nature of a TPD has unearthed some simple truths heading into 2016, he is scarred, he is still hungry, and scariest of all...
he is improving.
