After beginning a season 5-0, the best start he or his current team have ever experienced, we at Sim Football Talk sat down with Kevin Cushing to get his thoughts on the Liberty season and his current level of play, the upcoming match against Baltimore, the recent penalty handed to the team, thoughts on post-season chances, and, for the first time, thoughts on how much longer he intends to play.
SFT: Kevin, thanks for joining us.
KC: Glad to be here. It’s definitely been a while.
SFT: So this has got to be a rush, right? 5-0?
KC: It definitely is, though I’d feel a bit better about it if the Wraiths weren’t doing the same thing. Seeing Baltimore lose at home to the SaberCats was definitely a treat though, so the playoff race is looking pretty good right now.
SFT: And how about your level of play? You’ve been pretty stingy with yardage, and have some very big plays when your team needed them.
KC: It’s weird. Because, yes, this is the best season I’ve played, but I am not sure it’s Pro Bowl worthy, which has definitely been a tough mark to reach. As for the big plays, obviously the pick six in our first game felt amazing. I have picked Boss off before, even taken one of his to the house before, but doing it early in the game like that, really felt great. I think he toned down his aggressiveness a bit after that. As for the Arizona game, Browning had 51 yards and 2 touchdowns on me before I got that interception, so I don’t think it was that great a performance. I think when we played them the second time I had a much better game, but those games don’t stand out on the stat sheet.
SFT: Your team is gearing up to go to Baltimore soon. Any thoughts on that game?
KC: I hate playing the Hawks, ever since I was on the Wraiths. I’ve had so many games against them end in one score losses. I’ve always considered them a team with no weaknesses. How do you game plan for that? They have two receivers that are very tough match-ups. I don’t know what to expect, but I do expect one of them to find a way open every play. I just hope we can keep up, really.
SFT: This week, the league announced a major cap penalty against the Liberty, one that both cost you a bit of talent this year and a significant chunk of money for Season Eight. What are your thoughts on that?
KC: It’s extremely frustrating because we were penalized in Season 6 as well, so we had more money to play with in S7 and still messed it up. I don’t know if the Liberty are running things that poorly or if the league as a whole sucks with budgets and the Liberty is the only one getting caught. Neither answer is very satisfying.
SFT: How has this impacted contract renewal talks?
KC: Not well. I said if we started 4-0 I would re-sign for a fair price. The reason I said that was that the Liberty had a habit of beating themselves by not gameplanning that hard. So I wanted them to show me they were going to do the work and try to win the winnable games. Then they do it, and immediately sign a player they can’t afford, hurting their chances of a championship and taking a lot of money off the table for next season. Already they were offering slightly less than I wanted, but this is only going to make it worse. Given my career, I can’t fault anyone for continued mediocrity, but it does get old. And I’m already getting old.
SFT: Speaking of which, have you thought about how much longer you’ll play in the league?
KC: Man, I don’t know. Obviously, I could play a few more seasons and still be a starter. But for how many seasons would I be a *good* starter, you know? For the first time, guys who joined after me are right with me, and some guys who came 3-4 years after seem like they are only a year or two behind. And, it pains me to say it, but let’s not act like I am on the edge of a Hall of Fame career. 0 Rings, 0 Pro Bowls…pretty sad end, really.
SFT: Kevin, thanks for joining us.
KC: Glad to be here. It’s definitely been a while.
SFT: So this has got to be a rush, right? 5-0?
KC: It definitely is, though I’d feel a bit better about it if the Wraiths weren’t doing the same thing. Seeing Baltimore lose at home to the SaberCats was definitely a treat though, so the playoff race is looking pretty good right now.
SFT: And how about your level of play? You’ve been pretty stingy with yardage, and have some very big plays when your team needed them.
KC: It’s weird. Because, yes, this is the best season I’ve played, but I am not sure it’s Pro Bowl worthy, which has definitely been a tough mark to reach. As for the big plays, obviously the pick six in our first game felt amazing. I have picked Boss off before, even taken one of his to the house before, but doing it early in the game like that, really felt great. I think he toned down his aggressiveness a bit after that. As for the Arizona game, Browning had 51 yards and 2 touchdowns on me before I got that interception, so I don’t think it was that great a performance. I think when we played them the second time I had a much better game, but those games don’t stand out on the stat sheet.
SFT: Your team is gearing up to go to Baltimore soon. Any thoughts on that game?
KC: I hate playing the Hawks, ever since I was on the Wraiths. I’ve had so many games against them end in one score losses. I’ve always considered them a team with no weaknesses. How do you game plan for that? They have two receivers that are very tough match-ups. I don’t know what to expect, but I do expect one of them to find a way open every play. I just hope we can keep up, really.
SFT: This week, the league announced a major cap penalty against the Liberty, one that both cost you a bit of talent this year and a significant chunk of money for Season Eight. What are your thoughts on that?
KC: It’s extremely frustrating because we were penalized in Season 6 as well, so we had more money to play with in S7 and still messed it up. I don’t know if the Liberty are running things that poorly or if the league as a whole sucks with budgets and the Liberty is the only one getting caught. Neither answer is very satisfying.
SFT: How has this impacted contract renewal talks?
KC: Not well. I said if we started 4-0 I would re-sign for a fair price. The reason I said that was that the Liberty had a habit of beating themselves by not gameplanning that hard. So I wanted them to show me they were going to do the work and try to win the winnable games. Then they do it, and immediately sign a player they can’t afford, hurting their chances of a championship and taking a lot of money off the table for next season. Already they were offering slightly less than I wanted, but this is only going to make it worse. Given my career, I can’t fault anyone for continued mediocrity, but it does get old. And I’m already getting old.
SFT: Speaking of which, have you thought about how much longer you’ll play in the league?
KC: Man, I don’t know. Obviously, I could play a few more seasons and still be a starter. But for how many seasons would I be a *good* starter, you know? For the first time, guys who joined after me are right with me, and some guys who came 3-4 years after seem like they are only a year or two behind. And, it pains me to say it, but let’s not act like I am on the edge of a Hall of Fame career. 0 Rings, 0 Pro Bowls…pretty sad end, really.
![[Image: BVsashy.png]](https://i.imgur.com/BVsashy.png)
![[Image: image.png]](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/332292285788192788/401385203261636609/image.png)
![[Image: AjG7IlG.png]](https://images-ext-2.discordapp.net/external/3XePkbq5Roxja4-XKktZu8IlUj3T3zxVQoCpIhNS_Lc/https/i.imgur.com/AjG7IlG.png)
![[Image: TBFYuND.png]](https://i.imgur.com/TBFYuND.png)
