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12-19-2000, 07:33 PM
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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House Arrest Black Squirrels, 2008-
The House Arrest Black Squirrels, 2008-
I’m playing this career under a fairly lengthy series of house rules—trying to address most of the game’s many areas fertile for abuse, and to simultaneously make the game: challenging, interesting, steerable, and realistic. If you want the long version of the rules and history from 2002 to 2007, try this link: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/ubb/...ML/000098.html The short version of the rules is: FOF 2001, Wall Street, empty cupboard start with the 2002 expansion team Ticket prices no higher than those of my nearest geographic competitor (Denver) Several contract restrictions -no signing non-rookie players, other than the second half of the 20-stage FA process -no unrealistic contract durations for first and second year players -no backloading of contracts – annual salary increases up to 25% only -any free agent seeking a bonus gets one at least as big as the median annual salary -URFAs may get 4yr doubling deal with modest bonus money No contract renegotiations No franchise tag Full roster of 53 each season Player from home state (Colorado) college at each position group at all times No initiating trades – may only accept CPU trade after adjusting it In short, the team is being almost exclusively built from within. I’ve signed a fair number of youngsters in the FA period, but they’ve mostly been fill-ins of marginal payers. I did acquire a high quality RB last season, who inexplicably sat until the very last week of free agency—he starred for me last season. Here is the short history of the team—the GM performance printout:
After a dip into the playoffs, we suffered a couple fairly tough mediocre seasons, before we put it all together suddenly, and launched a great 2007 campaign. We now head into 2008 looking to see whether we have a flash-in-the-pan, or a real dynasty on our hands. |
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12-19-2000, 09:10 PM
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#2 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2008 preseason
Success does tend to help the bottom line. We cleared $50 million last season, which is our best year yet. Admittedly, that isn’t a whole lot more than the room we had under the salary cap, so I don’t have any illusions that we’re totally in the clear. Our front office—brought in at the beginning of last season—certainly earned their shot to keep their jobs. They stay in place, of course. Here is my roster, sorted by salary—you’ll see where my money is being spent, and who is up for a new contract:
Re-signing LB Woodson and DE Banks will probably cost us about $15m in cap room, which I obviously can afford right now, but long term it will be costly. DE Banks missed most of last year, but when healthy he has been a tremendous pass rusher—18.5 sacks in his second season earned him postseason honors. LB Woodson has been solid in his two years as a starter, and last year stepped up very nicely. His ratings are only good (not great) at 60/52/46/31/74, but I think he’ll be a good investment—plus he’ll wait until after camp to take a deal. I start off with a big offer to DE Phil Banks-- $8/9/10m. I honestly think it’s too much to pay, but I cannot afford to totally emasculate my team at that hard-to-fill position. He takes my offer in the first week. In week 6, my WR Buddy Henry takes a $9m/yr deal with New Orleans—that’s definitely more than I’d have paid him. Nothing else hits my radar screen until the midpoint—when the doors open for me. I put in offers for two pretty decent and very cheap offensive linemen. They may need a year to build up, but these guys both look like they could start for me. G Archie Kimbrough looks very solid, and T Jorge Perez lacks endurance, but he’ll be a great #3 tackle. They are my only FA pursuits—we move into the draft quickly. We are, of course, picking last-- #32. I have no illusions that I’ll get draft picks of the quality to which I had recently become accustomed.
Overall, I’m very disappointed. I get a few home-state guys, but overall I’m not very happy with anyone. This is, on paper, my worst draft—any by a much greater margin than we’d expect from being at the end of round one. I wouldn’t even have been excited about these DTs if I had gotten them in round seven. Oh, well—maybe it’s the price I pay for a more accurate scout, who sees guys for the bums they really are. I fill up again with URFAs, and I head toward camp. Here is the roster that I take into my training camp:
We head into camp, and here is the group who comes out.
Safety Bubba Giles has a decent little boost in his potentials (to 72/80/74/57) which is solid. We don’t really have any major surprises. An URFA DE Kennedy Fantozzi looks like he’ll be pretty usable (44/38/56) in time, which is more than he looked like coming in. To my surprise, LB Carlton Lewis—a guy I took strictly because he was from Western State—has developed some reasonable potentials. Instead of being a guy who will develop into the 20s—he now looks to develop into the 40-55 range, not too bad. No busts, and a few minor blips to the good. After a deeper look, I see that I have had a somewhat rarer phenomenon—a second-camp bust. My first round pick from last year, CB Phil Makovicka just fell apart, and is now only a shadow of his former self. This is the first time I’ve seen this phenomenon—a tough break at a position where I lack any real depth. I cut down to 53, and get my roster in order… here’s the group who make the final cut:
Our count of Colorado players is up to 13, and I’m noticing a lot of other players from the west generally (Oregon, in particular). I’m pleased that this team is taking the shape I wanted—we’re purportedly trying to compete for the hearts of Rocky Mountain football fans. This year is the big teast—as has been pointed out already. Are we the real thing, or did we just get lucky with injuries and luck? We’ll find out, as we bring in a good-looking young team to try a first-place schedule and launch our bid to repeat as champions. |
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12-20-2000, 06:28 PM
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#3 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2008 season
I make my usual shifts to my gameplan. For what it’s worth, here’s what I’m doing each year: -adjust short-yardage percentages to 55% run -bump down running behind C, and then rebalance there -bump down 1-10 yard pass %, then rebalance -adjust to 100% 4-3 defense -check (and rarely adjust) my formations (I tend to run from I/split, pass from single/shotgun) In preseason, we lose WR Jared Antonick for a couple months—which is bad, as I have no depth at WR. He’s my nominal #3, but I only am carrying 5 guys. I put my rookie RB in as my 4th wideout for now, and keep Antonick out of the game plan. In our opener, we beat the hell out of Denver—a good and important sign. We beat Kansas City next—but we lose RB Bruce Pettus to an injury early. Young Britt Hoffman comes in and plays pretty well (115 yards and a TD) but I’m worried. Fortunately, it looks like Pettus will be okay soon. I’ll go with Hoffman as my starter for one week, and then we’ll try to bring back the workhorse. We try to give this one away, btu Minnesota’s fourth quarter rally falls one score short, and we win 26-21. RB Hoffman does okay—19 carries for 60 yards. We edge Green bay for win number 4, and Hoffman is largely bottled up (though he did score two TDs)—but we win it 34-31. Pettus returns, but we’ll be without QB Paul de los Santos for a few games, as he has a sprained ankle. Fortunately, we have a bye, and this will help everyone’s recuperation. We escaope Buffalo with a 31-30 win, scoring two TDs in the final 1:31 of the game. We must have recovered an onside kick—but QB Curtis Marshall hit McCaughey for both TDs to get it done. We host Seattle, and go to town on them 40-17. Pettus had 127 yards rushing, and reserve QB Marshall threw 3 more TD passes. In week 8, we stay home for Oakland, and beat them 41-23. They scored two late TDs to make it look like less of a spanking than it was. We finish the tree-game home stand with another big win, 35-14 over a good Jets team. Interceptions TDs by my two starting safeties Frank and Giles helped to put us way ahead. We go into KC unbeaten, but they were ready. The Chiefs beat us 17-14, as de los Santos has 5 interceptions. The fact that we were ahead for much of the game is pretty telling here. We also will be without DE Phil Banks for a few weeks. I’ll try to have LB Sam Hwang again fill in as a designated pass rusher when he can. Our next game in Tampa Bay takes things from bad to worse. We completely unravel. They outrush us 227 to 36. Not good at all. DE Burt Horner also falls to injury, thinning me periloisly there. We get back on track over San Diego, winning 27-17. Our next game is a big one, in Seattle—who lurks only one game back in the division. The Seahawks take us 30-21 behind back-to-back first quarter interception TDs by their DB Damien Robinson. They also got their main RB going, after grabbing that early lead, and they ran for over 200 yards on us. We rebound in San Diego with a 35-27 win, as Bruce Pettus has 188 total yards and 4 TDs. Our 10-3 record puts us a game ahead of Seattle, who lost this week. We’re tied with New England for the AFC’s top record—so the race is afoot for a bye week, with Tennessee and the Jets one game back. We host Denver—who at 7-6 is in need of a win, and would love to play spoiler here. We out-FG them 6-3 to get the critical win. We then take Chicago 20-10, behind two TD passes from de los Santos to Bo Wayman. At 12-3, we have wrapped up an AFC bye week—probably as the top seed. We get back our two starting DEs, which is a huge boon. Our finale is a 48-20 romp over Oakland, cinching the top AFC seed with a 13-3 record. Our kicker gets hurt, but my punter Mo Sanderson steps in and hits an extra point, and then later on nails a 40-yard FG. We look well-set heading into the postseason. Stat leaders: QB Paul de los Santos: 3,288 yds, 58.1 yds, 7.43 ypa, 20/17, 80.5 RB Bruce Pettus: 241-1,120 yds, 12 TD (4.6 ypc) WR Matt McCaughey: 90-1,180 yds, 6 TD (59.6%, 13 drops) WR Bo Wayman: 69-1,108 yds, 10 TD (52.2%, 7 drops) G Joey Houle: 27/72 KRBs (37.5%), 4 sacks allowed OL unit: ~35% KRBs, 32 sacks LB Dominick Barlow: 83 tackles, 7 sacks DT Tracy Cassidy: 32 tackles, 8 sacks, 1 block, 2 hurries S Steve Frank: 88 tackles, 8 interceptions, 2 TD, 10 PD, 45.0 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.7 / 3.7 / 3.8 Passing: 7.2 / 6.5 / 6.5 This was not a statistically dominant team, as is evident. There aren’t any obvious reasons why we were so good in record, without dominating games. We did have 7 TDs by our defense and special teams, and we did have a solid +9 turnover ratio. However, our points ratio of 459-323 and our 13-3 record suggest that we’re the real deal. Go figure. I’m not too thrilled about having a QB who threw 17 interceoptions… and 5 in one game. That’s the kind of thing that can obviously get us a one-way ticket out of the playoffs in a hurry. We’ll hope that we can play within ourslves at defend our home turf again through the postseason. |
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12-20-2000, 06:30 PM
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#4 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I've never done this before, but maybe it will help to generate some context for the league-- I think I'll dump it in at the end of each season from now on...
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12-20-2000, 06:55 PM
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#5 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2008 postseason
Pittsburgh upsets New England to move into the second round and up against us. They are a deep-passing team behind Tony Banks and a fleet of wideouts. But it’s their dominating defensive line that leads the way for them—their defense is among the best. With my CB Stephen Hickson hurt (fortunately my only major injury) I’ll be a little short-staffed against their passing game, but we’ll match up against them fairly healthy at least. We force a three and out, but can’t do any better. Banks gets a nice 45-yard pass to Terrell Owens for a TD and they have an early 7-0 lead. We get our ground game going, but then fizzle out when we go airborne, and punt it back. We are lucky that it takes a while before another score (as we commit two turnovers) but it’s into the second quarter when Banks gets another bomb for a 62 yard TD. Pettus does most of the work as we drive for a FG, and get on the board at least. De los Santos seems to be trying to force the ball to McCaughey, and three straight failed passes his way force us to punt toward the end of the half. After a quick punt, they take over again, and Banks leads them down for another TD pass—and a 21-3 lead. We get a quick drive down field—three straight passes for 20+ yards- and then add another FG. It’s 21-6 and while the game isn’t out of sight, we certainly will need a big game-breaking play at some point soon. The big play comes—but it goes the wrong way. On third and eight, Banks heaves it downfield and hits his man for a 78-yard TD bomb. With 2 minutes left in the third quarter, it looks like they have us beaten. We respond with our own TD drive, but fail on a two-pointer, and it’s 28-12 as we end the third quarter. After some back-and-forth, we get another TD to McCauighey, and another missed two-pointer. It’s 28-18 with 6:21 remaining—we obviously need two more scores. However, that’s as close as we’re going to come. De los Santos get picked off again, and we allow another TD to the Steelers—Tony banks notches his 5th of the game. We get a cosmetic TD late, but the final tally is 35-25. The Jets and Saints match up in the Superbowl, and the Jets absolutely roll, 41-9. The Jets’ running back Courtney Kinney had 319 yards and 3 TDs for a super performance. With that performance, he gets the complete run of the awards table—the superfecta of all four awards available: MVP, OPOY, First Team RB, and Superbowl MVP. My WR Matt McCaughey gets first team honrs for the fourth time (each of his four fully healthy seasons). His colleague Bo Wayman gets second team mention—his first honors. Safety Steve Frank (the man with two first names) is named to the first team—his first such honor. He looks like he may well be on his way to an outstanding career. Incidentally, my roster rating is only 93 this year—Baltimore is the one team ahead of me. They only managed an 8-8 record this year, but perhaps they’re on their way. Our team was clearly a dominant team who just had a tough game—I suspect that we’re here to stay. |
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12-20-2000, 10:01 PM
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#6 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2009 preseason
This is the expansion season—we welcome the Portland Cyberhawks and Boise City Timber Dogs to the league. I’m comfy with those team names for now—and it’s interesting that the league growth has all been in this extended region. The team turned another $52m in profit last season, so things are definitely stable there. I’m still content with my front office staff, so thay’ll stay in place. This is the contract year for QB Paul de los Santos, which will be expensive, assuming I end up keeping him (with no franchise tag, nothing is certain). Here’s the complete roster, sorted by salary—with players up for new deals at the end, of course:
In the expansion draft, we don’t expect to lose anyone. My exposed players are all Colorado bums and/or overpriced 3rd and 4th year former URFAs. I’m wrong—they do take DE Matt Madison, a busted fairly early pick at DE. No great loss, but it does emphasize the importance of filling up that position, expecially if I lose my starter Burt Horner. I get a great trade offer for LB Barlow—but it doesn’t pass the reality test. (I alter it, and then alter it back, and then try to accept—the CPU team doesn’t want it, so I won’t take it) Too bad—a first rounder for him would be a great boon. I have $31.2m in cap room, and QB de los Santos is asking for $21m in the first year of his new deal. This wil be tricky. He’s pretty easily the best-looking free agent, telling me that he’ll probably get some serious bids, too. I have to go into my roster, and start making some cuts to get some cap clearance. I put in a bid of $106m for a 4yr deal with QB de los Santos. That’s a lot—it hits me for $21m this year, and grows quickly, with $20m guaranteed in bonus money. It completely rules out any shot at signing DE horner—who’ll cost something like $9m this year. After week one, my QB position is cemented—de los Santos takes my deal. He’s a fan favorite, and I think keeping him is very consistent with the concept of this challenge (building a team around regionalism and local fan-base competition). However, he is very costly—I think I’ll be jettisoning a number of other mid-priced guys to make some cap room around here. DE Burt Horner is looking at a $10m.yr deal—and I’m just out of that picture. He signs in week 3 with Boise City, and expansion club—he’ll be the big fish in their obviously small pond. My center Dwayns Finley takes a cheap deal from Dallas in week 8. WR Jared Antonick sits and sits—and then gets $8m a year from Detroit, and he wisely grabs it no questions asked. I finally get to week 11, and take a look at what’s available. Actually, quite a lot. As I watch them for a week or two, my LB Sam Hwang signs a nice deal with Washington. I put in deals for sevral decent and cheap players at the usual positions which are available here: G Zack McDermott, DT Hunter Weber, and LB Zach Howard. I wait until the final week, and then make an offer to DE Burt Myrick—a 4yr, $12m deal for a guy who might develop into a potential starter (potentials of 50/61/23). I’m pretty desperate at DE, so this guy looks to fill the bill at least for right now. I do the same thing with 2nd year CB Ike Turnbull (with main potentials in the 40s)—I offer him 4yrs, $11.2m, and hope that he’ll be either a desperation starter, or a solid third guy. A late bid for C Mitchell Rangel is an insurance policy there—he may be a #2 guy in a little time. That wraps up a pretty busy free agency period for me. I get an offer for RB Bruce Pettus—a third round pick. I think he’s still a good value at $5.2m, and I decide to decline it. He’s the key to our success right now, if we can keep it going. I don’t think that Travis Milanovich is a feature back—not today, and probably not ever. I have draft pick #32 out of 34, and I am just hoping for a better feeling than last year’s lousy effort. I need help at CB and DE—past that, I have a lot of holes in the present or near future. I halt the sim-draft about six picks away from me—and I’m stunned. There is a great-looking CB in there, plus about three very nice-looking DEs. I almost have to get one of these guys. Three DEs go 27, 28, and 30—but by my pick, I still have a guy I really, really like. I’m beside myself. CB Kris Bush looks great. It’s a litte distressing that nobody else even ranks him in the top 15 CBs remaining, but hey—that’s why I pay my scout. He’s one of the key ingredients for this team, assuming he pans out well.
I’m thrilled with this draft, and if we hit on a redliner and get a draft boom—this will be huge. Following the draft, I have 56 signed players, and $760,000 in cap room—not enough to do much fishing around in the URFA market, which I prefer to do. I make a few cuts, and load up in several positions where I could use some help.
I’m hopeful for a breakout from this year’s rookie class—which wil be much needed. I head into camp with my fingers crossed…
Ding ding. C Billy Joe Hicks is a major breakout—now projecting to 70/83/37. My two wide receivers both improved, but not in a huge way—Earl Perry developed some potentials he didn’t have originally. My top pick, CB Bush, dropped off a little bit (95/76/71/91) but he’ll still fill the bill quite well. A great draft, on balance. I have to flex my rules a bit—I neglected to re-sign my kicker, and I offer him the one-year deal he requests. If he demands more next season, I’ll pony up. My bad. I receive a trade offer—a 2nd round pick for DT Tracy Cassidy. It’s a no-brainer, but for the fact that he’s my only Colorado DL. I find a rookie DE from Northern Colorado, and decide to pull the trigger. Cassidy’s contract ends after this season, and I almost certainly cannot hold on to him anyway. The rookie will fill in with a one year deal, and I’ll push back this problem until next season. Here is our final group of 53, as we head into the season.
We’re not looking too strong at DE, but our situation at CB (which was exposed in last season’s playoffs) seems to be in hand. I’m also getting stronger at my skill positions—RB and WR both got a boost this season. I hope that we can step up and take advantage—we paid a high price for QB de los Santos, now we need to see the payoff. |
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12-21-2000, 10:16 AM
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#7 | |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Richmond VA
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Quote:
QS, I haven't been able to undertsand what you mean by this,and I've been following this one. Could you explain one more time what you're doing here? ------------------ Bear down, Chicago Bears! Let every play lead the way to Victory! BEAT DETROIT!!
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GO HOKIES!!! Running the Richmond Confederates of the FOBL into the ground since 2001. |
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12-21-2000, 01:11 PM
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#8 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Cincinnati, OH
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Quik alters the trade, then alters it back to see if the computer will still accept it. In a lot of cases, the computer-GM will not.
This is what I think his restriction is... Regards, Chas
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Email: [email protected] |
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12-21-2000, 01:31 PM
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#9 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Highlands Ranch, CO, USA
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I think you may see your passing game become a little bit less prolific if you leave the short yardage situations similar to what the computer designates. The computer expects 70-80% short yardage, so it gives a human player a chance to do some serious passing in those situations.
I like the rule of not renegotiating, I think that balances out the computer offering huge salaries to backup QBs and such.
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Some knots are better left untied. |
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12-21-2000, 03:15 PM
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#10 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Chas, you are right about my method. If a team offers me a trade, I open the trade window and (if I'm potentially interested) I will make a change to their offer, and then change it back to their original offer. Then I choose "accept" to see if it's a "bone fide" deal that I can consider under my house rules.
While this doesn't sound like it accomplishes anything, it actually does. In FOF, CPU team-generated trades are generated by some process that I do not claim to understand. However, the result is that some of these trades will put the CPU team over the salary cap, or will seek out players that you have just signed. Neither of these types of trades, as I supect you understand, can/will be accepted by the CPU team if you inititate them. Also, the CPU team-initiated trade will sometimes be lopsided in your favor-- these trades do not seem to use the same engine for weighing the value of each side as does the game's regular trade evaluation egine. For those reasons, I use the "reality check" on CPU-offered trades. If I can change/changeback and the team will still accept the deal, then I consider the deal to have met the game's tougher general standards of fairness. It's a way of still making some deals, without letting them get too carried away. It also means that I can still open up trade offers with interest, rather than simply skipping that part of the game (which for purposes of enjoyment, I'm trying not to do). [This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 12-21-2000).] |
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12-22-2000, 07:49 AM
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#11 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Manchester, CT
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Those squirrels seemed to have gone into hibernation. Quik, don't you know it is a virtual crime to leave us Colorado Springs fans hanging???? It doesn't matter if you have lots of holiday plans, you need to satisfy your fans!!!!!!
Just kidding, and hoping you haven't given up on the squirrels.
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81-78 Cincinnati basketball writer P. Daugherty, "Connor Barwin playing several minutes against Syracuse is like kids with slingshots taking down Caesar's legions." |
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12-22-2000, 08:15 AM
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#12 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Richmond VA
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Thanks for the explanation... I just wasn't completely following what you were doing, but it makes sense now...
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GO HOKIES!!! Running the Richmond Confederates of the FOBL into the ground since 2001. |
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12-22-2000, 08:22 AM
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#13 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I'll get back to the Squirrels today (slow day at the office) but then I'll be out of town for several days-- probably won't get re-started for about a week or so.
For what it's worth, I'm growing very attached to this team, so I think it might live on for a while. I'm very enthused about my rookie class from this season. |
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12-22-2000, 09:10 AM
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#14 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2009 season
I assemble the team structure for the season, and things look okay. I'm not thrilled at DE but I may use some LB there to fill in if I feel that my pass rush is insufficient. Bruce Pettus will start again this year, but I'll be splitting time a bit more than before-Pettus is one of a legion of players slated to leave next season, and I rate my likelihood of retaining him as pretty low. I think between the solid Travis Milanovich and the pretty impressive Rod Douglas, I'll be in good shape there. After this year, my team goes into tumult at the OT position, as well-my top three guys are all heading into free agency simultaneously, and I doubt I'll have sufficient cash to re-sign more than one of them. Some poor planning on my part, but I'll make do. In the exhibition season, we lose our breakout rookie center Hicks for the year. Ouch. In our opener against Seattle, we have the offensive throttle wide open-good to see. It's 45-16 over the Seahawks, as de los Santos hits for 4 TDs, and Pettus adds two long TD runs late. WR McCaughey goes down with another fairly minor injury, but he should be okay fairly soon. We go into San Diego, and edge the Chargers 28-27. We lose de los Santos to an injury, but backup Curtis Marshal steps in and throws 3 fourth quarter TD passes to lead the huge rally. Marshall was 11 or 14 for 128 yards and 3 TDs on the day-not too shabby. Paul de los Santos suddenly feels better, and he's okay to play next week in Oakland-a big game for us. We head into Oakland with early division dominance on the line- and the Raiders take it. They get two long TD runs from their top RB in the second half to win 31-24. We come home, and edge the Jets 17-14. We get our rematch with Oakland very quickly, and we take care of business at home, beating them 31-21 behind two interceptions returned for TDs by safety Bubba Giles. Our next game is in Kansas City, where we come away winners 24-17. Our 24-3 fourth quarter lead almost evaporated, but we held on to win it. In Tennessee, we are lucky to get a 15-14 win. We scored the final TD with only 38 seconds left. We go into New England, and play very flat against a lousy team, and are beaten 20-10. No good explanation-we just didn't play well in any way, and lost to a pretty bad team. At the season midpoint, my offensive line is getting healthy, but my secondary is wrought with injuries. Most everyone is playing hurt, which keeps is vulnerable there with no solution. In week 9, we lose at home to New Orleans, 13-8. An anemic offensive performance leaves us wanting. I decide to give my rookie RB a try in the top spot. Maybe it was Douglas at RB, or maybe it was the fact that we played San Diego-but we got on track quickly, winning 37-14. Douglas carries 22 times for 114 yards and 2 TDs, and we look sharp on defense as well. We roll Seattle 31-14 next, with Paul d doing the damage with 4 TD passes. The invisible man this season has been Matt McCaughey-he has suffered through two injuries, and has only caught 29 passes thus far-even when he's been healthy, he hasn't been too productive. Week 13 is a big game, as 7-4 Kansas City comes to play our 8-3 Squirrels. Denver and Oakland are behind at 6-6, so it looks like the division is between these two teams. If we win, the likely cannot catch us, we would have swept the series. LB Dominic Barlow is out, probably for the season, which will really hurt. We still manage to whip KC 24-8, and basically take the division title. We didn't have a great game, but played error-free ball and took advantage of their mistakes. A tough St. Louis team hosts us, and we go down 27-17, sealing it with an interception TD in the final minutes. We rebound with a 24-6 win over Denver, our regional rival and a hard-charging playoff threat. 10-4 would be good enough for the #2 seed right now. Playing at home, we crush Atlanta 46-13, and I'm pleased to see WR McCaughey with a nice 131yd & TD game. We finish in Denver-a game the Broncos need to win to get into the playoffs. We're playing for a bye week. We take it 31-24, and send the Broncos home again. At 12-4 we're tied with Pittsburgh for the AFC's top record, but our superior conference record sets us up as the top seed. Kurt Warner's Bears look strong in the NFC with a 13-3 record. Stat leaders: QB Paul de los Santos: 3,684 yds, 57.9%, 7.73 ypa, 29/14, 90.6 RB Bruce Pettus: 232-1,045 yds, 7 TD (4.5 ypc), 1 KR TD RB Rod Douglas: 136-571 yds, 4 TD (4.1 ypc) WR Bo Wayman: 71-993 yds, 7 TD (60.1%, 10 drops) OL unit: ~36% KRBs, 37 sacks allowed LB Omar Starks: 85 tackles DE Phil Banks: 31 tackles, 12 sacks, 5 blocks, 9 hurries S Steve Frank: 66 tackles, 6 int, PDQ 37.8 S Bubba Giles: 66 tackles, 5 int, 2 TD, PDQ 33.1 Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.9 / 3.5 / 3.8 Passing: 7.6 / 6.3 / 6.3 I suppose this is what we ought to expect from a team spending this kind of money for our starting QB-we're a good passing team, and everything else is okay. Hey, it was good enough to earn home field advantage, so I have no complaints, but things could be a little better with our defense. Heading into the playoffs, WR McCaughey is doubtful with a sprained neck, but my most serious injuries are in the secondary-where practically everyone is walking around hurt. We'll make do, but that will be a weakness again this season-a team could beat us deep and win. That's how Pittsburgh beat us last time around, and they loom large for a possible AFC Championship showdown.
[This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 12-22-2000).] |
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12-22-2000, 02:35 PM
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#15 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2009 postseason
Cleveland is our first opponent-they are a running team with a 1,300-yard runner in Jermaine Burns, and they have some veteran talent (Randy Moss) at WR. On defense, they are ball hawks, with 24 ints among their starting DBs. Our first scoring drive is in the middle of the first quarter, and it's a long, tedious drive for a short FG. Good we moved the ball, bad we had to settle for 3. We take over again shortly, but fumble it away deep in our side-they score on one play to make it 7-3 Browns. They threaten to extend their lead in the second quarter, but my main man Steve Frank gets a pick in the end zone. 7-3 holds into halftime and well into the third quarter, when they break it open with a 65-yard interception return for TD, making it 14-3. On our next possession, de los Santos decides to step it up. He goes downfield to Wayman for 32, then hits my fill-in starter Perry for a 12-yard crossing route, down to the Cleveland 14. On third down, he finds Wayman for the score-and we're right back in it. In the fourth quarter, as we pass the ten minute mark, we are driving. De los Santos hits Wayman, Perry, and Torres to get down to the Cleveland 2 yard line. He hits Torres again for the short TD pass, and we're now ahead for the first time since 3-0. We force a punt, and take over near midfield with 5:15 remaining. We get two first downs, and then try a 42-yard FG, which we regrettably miss. AT the two minute warning, they have it at their 42-the next play they complete to our 34. A big completion to Moss on 2nd and 20 takes them to our 19, with 50 seconds remaining. They run for 7 yards, and with the clock still running, they catch us off-guard with another running play-their workhorse Burns carries it in the final 12 yards for the TD. With 33 seconds left and down by 4, there is little hope. It goes in the books as a 21-17 win for Cleveland. The Browns then go on and beat Pittsburgh in the AFC title game, and take on Chicago. Kurt and company tear them a new hole, 27-3. My only award-winner is QB de los Santos, who garners second team laurels. A tough playoff loss again, but we certainly seem to be a top-shelf team. Next year's free agent wave will be tough to stand-we'll see how that goes. |
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12-30-2000, 08:23 AM
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#16 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I though it might be worthwhile to do a rundown on the team and roster as I’ve been away for a while—it will get me re-acquainted with this group, and perhaps any reader as well.
De los Santos is clearly the anchor here. He’s very solid—his ratings probably average about 82 or so. His strengths are in 3rd down passing (90) and passing power (96). He’s Idolized in town and by his teammates. He’s been on the awards bord two of the last three seasons, and has a career passer rating of about 85. Curtis Marshall has been a capable backup (9/5 ratio) but he’ll leave after this year. Lee Withers signed as a URFA last yeat and has some decent potential, but he’s definitely a short-term backup-only solution. QB is a position where I need a new addition, probably this year, but definitely by next season.
Bruce Pettus has been our experienced, solid main man for the last few years, but his contract is up. We’ll probably let him go this season, despite his three straight 1,000-yard seasons for us. His ratings are decent, but not spectacular (40-70 range), and his performance has been about the same. The emerging starter will be Rod Douglas, whose ratings ought to fill out to the 60-85 range by this season. He doesn’t have much ability to catch passes, but he’s our best pure runner. Milanovich is a decent runner, but doesn’t have any single ability over about 70—just decent across the board. Geoff Bernard is a reserve, and is from Air Force, so he’ll likely stick around. FB Toby Cardone will come back and probably start at FB, unless I draft another better guy—that position has been a revolving door for us for the most part. FB Juan Torres has been solid, but his demands will likely send him elsewhere.
TE Ellis Forest looked the part as I drafted him, but his skills faded a bit. He’s a talented receiver, and made first team during our best year (2007) bt in geenral has been only good, not great. His run blocking skills (or lack thereof) will probably keep me from making a play to re-sign him. TE Lamar Huntley has been my man from Western State, but will be tough to re-sign, I suspect. TE will be a need position this year. At WR, Matt McCaughey has been our X-factor. When healthy, he’s been very, very good—first team WR four times. However, his health has been a major problem throughout his career. His ratings are not exceptional, but he has played over hid head when able. His re-signing will be a real challenge, but I’ll pursue it. Bo Wayman really came into his own, with 3,924 yards in his 4 years with us, and a 2nd team nod in 2008. His endurance is only 47, but otherwise his ratings look very strong, particularly in CFreq and 3rdD. Youngsters Earl Perry and Erik Roberson will be decent backups, but probably not starter material. Harmon and Nolan are Colorado State teammates, and both are close to wearing out their welcomes here as their contract demands skyrocket.
At C, Billy Joe Hicks was a training camp breakout, and looks to be a star in the making. He may develop to 70/70/50 this year. Arroyo and Rangel are decent backup-quality guys, at an abundant position. G Joey Houle is a great run blocker at LG (92) but only so-so elsewhere. G Archie Kimbrough is likely to start again at RG this season—he’s a bit more well-rounded, but unspectacular. Tackle is a major trouble spot. Levon givens and Rufus Bozart are our two guys worthy of starting, but they are both free agents, and I’m afraid of their demands. Neither guy is really a star, but they will demand star money, I fear. Givens is clearly the better of the two, and has done pretty well at LT for me—but I’m not sure how much I’ll have to spend. Being able to squeeze one year out of T Harvey Goodin (a Colorado State guy) would have been huge here, but it’s unlikely, too. Tackle is a red-alert position here, especially if/when I lose one or both free agents. Of my other guys, Perez is an acceptable starter (with low endurance, though) and Korey Cole is a total throwaway.
Not much to say here. Booker is from ir Force and looks like he’ll be a good tactical punter in time. Fairfield is from Colorado, and has been solid for five years. I’ll try to re-sign him.
The defensive line- my most troubled position. My first three years’ top draft picks went here—one total bust, and only one remains—Phil Banks. Banks is a gravely unbalanced player-—22/61/68—a liability against the run. Burt Myrick projects as the other starting DE—not a good sign, he is very modestly talented. DE Charlie Walsh is a Colorado State product, that’s his only selling point. DT is solid—Linquist is a pure pass-rusher, while Estevez is pretty solid. I’ll likely lose Mare to free agency, but DT isn’t a top priority—though I will need to fill the vacancy, of course.
LB Jumbo Woodson is now one of my moreoverpaid players. After looking really good when young, his ratings have gradually faded—now he looks to be 65/40/40/34/72. He probably shouldn’t be around, but he’s locked in for real money through next year. Fortunately, we have two stars at LB—Omar Starks and Dominic Barlow. Starks was a URFA breakout, and is in his final year of that deal. Barlow is up for a new deal, but must be kept, pure and simple. LB Brian Amos is another fourth year URFA—making over $3m now, he would be a tempting cut, but for the fact that I don’t trust my depth at this position too much. Zach Howard needs to develop well this year to contribute much, and Guthrie and Lewis show little upside. I’ll probably keep everyone around and re-sign Barlow, just to keep the gang together—if I have a salary crunch, Amo is the likely victim.
CB Hickson has been with us for 6 years, starting all 96 games. While his ratings are solid, his performance has been pretty lackluster—a career PDQ of only 28.9. His ratings have slipped over time, and I think it’s probably a position where we’ll be looking for a longer-term solution. Makovicka was a total draft bust (in his second camp), and is now just clinging to his job. Last year’s top pick CB Kris Bush, howeevr, has panned out—he now projects tobe my top corner this year. Ike Turnbull is a decent third corner, and if I have a major salary pinch, I might cut Hickson and replace him in the starting lineup with Turnbull. CB Harry Carbone is a good return man. At safety, Steve Frank has been the anchor—putting up numbers beyond his apparent abilitites (ratings average around 70). Bubba Giles has stepped in and solidified the other starter position—I’m very pleased. If I can re-sign Frank, this position will be solid. J.B. Trammell has been a decent backup and return man, but he’s replaceable.
This lays out my dilemma. Even when this number bumps up a bit, I’ll still have some real pressure this off-season in trying to keep players. I have a top WR, LB, and S who all really should stay—but my starting OTs are both free agents also and my anchor RB, too. There’s no way I keep everyone, so I’ll be cutting bait as needed. |
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12-30-2000, 11:56 AM
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#17 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 preseason
Our balance sheet has good news and bad news. The good news is that we were again profitable last season, clearing nearly $23m. The bad news is that this fogure was down from last season by over half. A sharp increase in player costs—both salary and bonuses—were the main factor, and I don’t think that will reverse any time soon. Now that we’re paying open-market price for our star QB, we’ll be at the cap each year, I strongly suspect. Add in the fact that my rival, Denver, actually cut ticket prices this year (by a buck ina couple places) and the belt will get even tighter. Both my coach and scout are up for new contracts. Under their watch, we have had three very good teams—I’ll try to keep them both in place. They both return in week two of the bidding process—and we stay intact. I’ve already detailed my roster situation—just too many guys looking to leave, this could potentially be a terrible off-season. I get a trade offer for my best G Joey Houle—the #5 pick in the draft. It doesn’t pass the reality test, though, so I have to decline (I would have jumped on it). Another deal for RB Rod Douglas siilarly doesn’t stand up, so I get no valid offers this cycle. My cap room bumped up to $36.9m, which will help a bit. I start off with a 4yr, $27m offer to S Steve Frank—a “must keep” guy. I then submit a 4yr, $32.6m offer to WR McCaughey—too high for his apparent ratings, but not too high for his on-field production. I decide to wait on my two offensiev tackles, and hope that I can allow their demands to come down a bit before locking up one. There’s a second year OT in the free agent class who might be start-worthy. If he stays uintil week 11, I’ll definitely grab him and probably will use him as a starter opposite Perez, my other so-so guy there. I’m not thrilled about it, but it’s better than locking up $8-9m a year in an OT with ratings in the 40s or 50s. In week one, TE Ellis Forest immediately signs with Cinti. RB Pettus and T Givens are pending with other teams’ bids. I’m the top pending offer to WR McCaughey (the only), but not to S Frank. I bump up to $30m over 4 years (evenly distributed) in hopes that the extra $1.1m coming from Baltimore will not be enough to sway him to leave us. After some reconsideration, I bump to $32m, just to make sure. After week 2, no movement—McCaughey and Frank are still pending with our offers on top. T Givens is mulling an $11m/yr offer—way too much for me. In week 3, S Frank takes our deal, and he’s locked up for four years. I cut my offer to WR McCaughey to $30m, still better than any of the remaining three. It takes until week 7, but he takes the deal. Week 11 finally comes, and I need to fill some gaps. I put in offers for three tackles—Malcolm Minter and Leon Wheeler might compete for starting jobs, and Lee Flint is a Colorado guy who can offer some decent depth. G Kenyon Thomas is from Air Force, and would be a decent #3 or 4 OG. All four guys take my offers in fairly short order. In the later rounds, I’m stunned by a DE who remains available. DE Tommie Joyner, a career backup mostly for the Browns, is a 7th year DE who looks pretty decent. Very good endurance, and pretty passable skills. He listens to a 3yr, $7.76m offer—well less than what we seems to be worth. In week 14, he takes it—what a great pickup! In the final stages, I grab G Matthew Sullivan—who is quite solid, and too good to pass up, despite my already full shelves at G. I also re-sign K Donnell Fairfield—who was more expensive than I had imagined. That wraps up a productive free agency period. I have pick #32 in the draft, and as usual, I’ll play the hand that’s dealt me. I’d love to grab a strong OT or DE here, but I’ll make do with what falls to my slot. I have several needs to fill, and after the impact pick in the first round, I’ll probably be drafting for guys who can step in quickly.
I blundered in round one—in a fashion I haven’t seen before. I had pick #32, and I stopped the draft a few picks before mine to see what might fall to me. By mistake I stopped it at pick #30. After looking, I re-started the draft, and it somehow skipped right past my pick—making an auto-selection for my team. The LB my scout selected should be okay, but he would never have been my selection there. Alas, I end up with a decent draft, and we’ll see how everything pans out. No great harm done—the first rounder I would have taken was an OT, and I’m not sure that would have made great sense anyway. Here’s the group I bring into training camp:
…and I head into camp and see what we have. The results are below:
The rookie class seems to be devoid of any surprises. All my draft picks came through camp the same—no steps forward, but no busts. Through my URFAs, much the same—no news here. Here’s the squad we have heading into the season:
Overall, I’d feel better if I had kept my starter at LT, but I think the guys I have will be okay. Malcolm Minter will probaby start at LT this year, and he’s probably a year away from really being ready. My DL will be okay at best—my rookie DE Libero won’t make much impact now or probably ever. My secondary is looking pretty good, and I think we’ll be okay with our skill positions. We ought to again be a playoff team, but I have trouble seeing us making a leap forward from last season. |
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12-30-2000, 01:57 PM
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#18 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 season
The preseason is unkind to us this year. QB Paul de los Santos is down for 2-3 months with a dislocated knee, which (I believe) hurts our chances of a serious run this year quite considerably. We also lose QB Curtis Marshall, our backup, until the playoffs. We’ll have no choice but to throw rookie Henry Walsh right into the fire—not good. We’ve also taken casualties at CB—rookie Fuentes will miss the regular season (and has suffered harm to his permanent ratings) with a serious triceps injury, and nickel back Woodson is out for a month. This will be tough—an absolutely tragic preseason for us. As we start the season, our roster rating is 82—third behind New Orleans and St. Louis, but tops in the AFC. Our cohesion, after making the substitutions for our many injuries, stands at 63-56-71-64, near the bottom in every category. In our opener, we come out strong—beating Arizona 33-13. We move the ball, play tough defense, and we don;’t turn it over. That’s going to have to be the formula—particularly the avoiding mistakes part. Henry Walsh was okay—an 89 rating for his first game. Week two brings a loss in Washington—we lose 20-17 after leading 17-3 early in the second half. Walsh threw two interceptions, which contributed to the collapse. We lose 34-17 to Kansas City, and it’s more of the same—we couldn’t run well, we turned it over 4 times, and got it handed to us. QB Henry Walsh gets his first game ball as we beat Pittsburgh 39-16. Walsh had 2 TD passes, with 397 yards passing. We’re starting to see some progress with our offense. In week 5, Seattle comes in and beats us 26-17—again, the turnover line tells our story. We gave it up 3 times and lost here. A home win over Denver gets us back even at 3-3. We cannot string two together—we implode against Miami, losing 40-20. With our team as it is, the one thing we cannot afford to do is give up 14 points on defense/special teams. We go into Oakland, and get pounded 17-3. At 3-5, we look to be out of the playoff picture this season, unless we get a huge late-season rally. Paul de los Santos will be back soon, so that’s not inconceivable, I suppose. A 22-19 win in Seattle keeps thing alive, and probably marks the end of young Henry Walsh’s tenure as a rookie starter—de los Santos is back. Paul de los Santos is a bit rusty as we get started, and has a first quarter interception for TD. However, we manage to outplay the Jets and we win 27-21. He’s back, and immediately clicking with McCaughey again—for 158 yards in this first game. We beat Kansas City lie a drum, 38-3, and our 6-5 record suggests that we’re not at all dead. McCaughey has another 140 and a TD, and we are humming along. We host a good Philadelphia team, and we take them 40-20 behind 369 yards and 4 TDs from de los Santos. We’re on fire passing the ball, though our run game has been pretty much ignored. At 7-5, we’re in a fight in our division, tiwed with Denver and a game behind Sna Diego. Three of our final four games are against thise rivals, so we’ll settle it on the field. We host San Diego this week, with a shot to actually assume control for the division. Four TDs for de los Santos lead us to a 31-6 win, and a sopt atop the division. We head into Denver for perhaps our biggest game of the season—both teams at 8-5, with the inside track to the division title on the line. Both teams run well, but the Bronco defense frustrates de los Santos, and he throws 3 interceptions—leading to their 27-20 victory. We bounce back with a big win over Pittsburgh—the AFC’s likely top seed. We win 19-13 by stopping their deep pass attack, and slowing down their running game. In our finale, we cannot catch Denver, so we play San Diego for what might be a play-in game. We are 2 of 4 teams at 9-6 heading into the final game, and my guess is that the winner gets in, the loser goes home. It’s a lot like the last time we met—a 31-6 Squirel victory, as we have these guys figured out. We get to 10-6, and secure the final playoff spot—and a game in Miami against the division champiopn Dolphins. Stat leaders: QB Paul de los Santos: 1,906 yds, 63.6%, 8.14 ypa, 12/7, 93.6 QB Henry Walsh: 1,837 yds, 53.9%, 6.51 ypa, 13/15, 67.3 RB Rod Douglas: 199-704 yds, 9 TD (3.5 ypc) RB Travis Milanovich: 101-477 yds, 3 TD (4.7 ypc) WR Matt McCaughey: 87-1,231 yds, 8 TD (57/6%, 11 drops) WR Earl Perry: 71-1,019 yds, 8 TD (63.9%, 12 drops) OL unit: ~30% KRBs, 45 sacks allowed DE Phil Banks: 16.5 sacks, 4 blocks, 6 hurries S Steve Frank: 97 tackles, 3 int, 28.0 PDQ S Bubba Giles: 82 tackles, 5 int, 36.2 PDQ Overall Stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.4 / 3.6 / 3.7 Passing: 7.0 / 6.2 / 6.5 Our defense punched our ticket, and gaining de los Santos back midseason gave us the passing game to get on a roll. Now, we need to patch together enough players to keep this thing going—we overmatch Miami, but the AFC looks deep and tough this season. |
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12-30-2000, 02:16 PM
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#19 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 Regular Season Standings |
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12-30-2000, 05:12 PM
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#20 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 postseason
We square up against Miami on our opener. They are a solid, balanced team, and we got whipped here during the regular season. However, we were withou de los Santos at that point, and now he’s back and rolling. Miami has a decent team, and they’ll go to RB Bruce pettus early and often-- but I think we match up well here. We stop them, and then we march for a TD—just the right way to get things started. The Dolphins rebound with a nice drive, converting on thre third down plays, but we hold them to a short FG. In the middle of the second quarter, Miami pins us deep, stuffs us, gets great position, and then goes the short field to get a Peter Warrick TD reception. They add another TD late in the second quarter, and take a 17-7 lead into halftime. After our first drive, we’ve managed almost no offensive movement at all. The third quarter has four turnovers, and a lot of back-and-forth. They get a FG attempt, but miss—we respond with a short drive to get a FG as the quarter expires. It’s 17-10 as the fourth quarter begins. Exactly halfway through, we get the ball at our 46—good position to make a game-tying move. We cannot move at all, and punt it back. They get the ball, move pretty easily to get a few first downs (eating up clock) and then take it all the way in for a cinching TD. The Dolphins come away winners, 24-10. The Dolphins beat Denver and then Cleveland to get into the Superbowl. They face New Orleans, who was also the #3 seeded division winner. The Saints get the win, 42-14 behind star QB Byron Branch—the league’s top QB. I have two award-winners. My kicker, Darnell Fairfield, is named to the first team—his first honor. WR Matt McCaughey gets second team honors for his solid season working with two different QBs. |
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12-30-2000, 07:28 PM
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#21 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2011 preseason
The franchise is suddenyl in some fairly serious trouble. We dropped into the red last year by $38m—in part because we had no home playoff games, but also due to a big increase in coaching staff costs (my new contract with my coach was a big step up). I think we’ll be okay for now, but we’ll need to get those numbers back in line before too long. My coach and scout are both signed, of course, but after reviewing the bottom line I decide to take a look for a somewhat cheaper coach. I find Raymon Manning, who looks like he’ll be pretty solid- his only real weakness is at kicker (not a big deal to me). I offer him $3m—which would be about half what I’m paying my current guy. He takes the deal, which shouldn’t hurt us on the field, but will definitely help us on the balance sheet. We get to make only very tiny adjustments to ticket prices—matching those of Denver. I’m not sure what it might take for Denver to get serious, but this is very restrictive. We have lost young CB Lionel Fuentes to retirement—he had a nasty injury, and wasn’t able to recover. As for the roster we bring into the season, here is the salary situation:
I think we’ll have enough room to move fairly comfortably under the cap this year—my only “must” re-sign players are LB Omar Starks, S Bubba Giles and probably DE Phil Banks. With $31m or more in space, we should be fine. LB Omar Starks is a curious case—he suffered a late-season injury last year, and has taken damage in his ratings as a result. His ratings in pass rushing and zone defense both dropped from the 50-60 range, into the 30s. I still figure him to be a good investment for my team, but he won’t be the dominating player we’d like to have in there. My cap room shrinks this season—I only show $26.9m in room after we get into free agency. That hurts. I put in 4yrs, $42m for DE Phil Banks. It’s a lot to pay for a guy who is so one-dimensional (all pass rush) but I don’t feel like I can afford to do without him. CB Stephen Hickson is demanding about $10-11m a year, and I decide to wait him out. I put in $22.5m over 3yrs to LB Omar Starks—hoping he’ll still be an anchor player. I’m pending with the high offer after the first week with both players. I’m the only offer to both, and I decide to withdraw both deals, and work down a bit. I put in a new offer to DE Banks, and decide to wait a bit on LB Starks—who might just go unnoticed a while. CB Stephen Hickson and LB Starks both get offers in week 4—Hickson signs with San Diego, Starks is pending with a $22m/3yr deal from New England. I put in $22.5m for Starks, and I expect to retain his services with my top offer. G Jay Houle is pending to Cincinnati, and I want to re-sign him—but the price tag of over $9m a year is just too steep. In week 5, LB Omar Starks takes my offer, and he sticks around. It takes until week 10, but DE Phil Banks finally signs as well. We retain those top two guys, but we’ll have some serious holes to fill—I’ll start via free agency. I start with offensive line, as usual—grabbing a pair of cheap fixtures at G and T. At the end, I go after a very solid run-stopper LB Eric Wooden, who takes a 4yr deal for about $9m. I also put in $9.2m over 3yrs for CB Jared Middleton, who looks good enough to fit into my picture there—perhaps starting for the departed Hickson. I’m absolutely fascinated by a QB who slips down into the end of free agency—Harold Harden. He’s very solid, and his demands have dropped all the way to about $10m a year. I cannot make the room to pick him up (without cutting de los Santos) but someone will get a gem by grabbing this guy. My pick is #25 this year, which might afford a slightly better pick than in recent years. I have a number of needs, but a good CB is pretty high on my list. I’d love to get a top-tier DE, but I’m sick of settling for second-grade guys with frialy early picks. I’ll take an impact player anywhere over a place-holder in the right spot.
I receive a 6th round pick for DE Burt Myrick, and with my rookie acquisition, I decide to take the deal. I get a 5th for T Leon Wheeler, and also decide to do that, and thin out another position a bit. Here is the roster we bring into camp:
…and we head into camp, to sort out what we really have on our hands. Here’s the output:
LB Ian Rains does develop some growth potential which had not show before camp, but it’s pretty modest. He’s not the major breakout we had hoped for. Other than him, no real movement—no booms, not busts. A decent draft, and we hope that DE Murphy turns out to be a solid contributor.
I am hopeful that we won’t step back too far with the loss of CB Hickson. On offense, we should be solid again, and I hope that our running game can step forward a bit. I expect we’ll be in the same neck of the woods again—a playoff team and one of many contenders. |
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12-30-2000, 10:25 PM
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#22 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2011 season
After being bitten in preseason last year, I decide to sideline QB de los Santos for the exhibition season, to avoid a repeat injury. The plan works—we come out with minimal injuries this time around. This season, our roster rating is up to 100—tied for the league highest with St. Louis. Incidentally, we have moved into the top spot in franchsie value—with a very high rating for our 10-year old stadium and of course our roster. Our support rating is also high now, abd our economy is 58, which rates us in the top 10. I would have to think that is a good sign. Our cohesion is at 89-58-76-71. The 89 in our passing game places us 9th in the league—the highest I’ve been that I’ve noticed. The secondary rating puts us in the upper half. In our opener, we crush Detroit, despite losing de los Santos to another injury. He’ll only be out a gameor two, but it is disturbing. Our defense plays very well,a nd we get through week one. In week two, Henry Walsh leads us to a come-from-behind home win over San Diego, and we get to 2-0 on the year. We get another close win at home, as we nearly give upa big lead to Oakland. At 3-0, de los Santos is back, and we’re playing pretty well. A 13-3 win over San Diego pushes us another rung up the ladder. In week 5, RB Rod Douglas has over 130 total yards and 4 TDs to lead us to a 43-14 win in Green Bay. We’ve got a series of minor injuries along the DL, btu are otherwise pretty healthy. Our next game is against Kansas City, and marks the end of our run—they beat us 20-10. The Chiefs ran well against us, and stopped our running game—which really hurt. Our next game is a loss at home to Denver, and we drop to 5-2. The Denver game was close—we lost 10-9 in a very even contest. We then lose another close on against Pittsburgh, which leaves us both 5-3. We need to get back on track, and face Kansas City with a chance to avengre the first loss, and right the ship. We get a 21-14 win—not too impressive, but it’s a win. Our next game is a big win in Denver, 31-28—avenging another loss. RB Travis Milanovich caught a game-tying TD with one second left, and we went on to win it in OT. Our next game is a win over Seattle, which also is big for the division race. At 8-3, we hold one game on both Seattle and Denver. We then get a 13-10 win over Oakland, barely holding on after a late Raider rally. Cleveland holds their own and upends up, ruining our winning streak. We also lose WR Matt McCaughey for the year—and possibly longer, as his injury is apparenty quite serious. We then lose again, to Seattle, and drop into a tie with them for the division lead—but they have us head-to-head now. A close win over the Jets, 34-31, gets us to 10-5. A win in our final game against Tampa punches out ticket in as either the #2 wild card or the division winner. When Seattle loses, it’s clear that we get a shot at the division title. We beat Tampa 27-10 to move to 11-5, and to grab the division title once again. We’ll be the #3 seed… and will have to face the bottom wild card team—which happens to be Seattle, who has already beaten us twice. Stat leaders: QB Paul de los Santos: 3,381 yds, 56.1%, 7.13 ypa, 18/13, 79.7 RB Rod Douglas: 233-856 yds, 11 TD (3.6 ypc) RB Travis Milanovich: 98-442 yds, 5 TD (4.5 ypc) WR Bo Wayman: 62-914 yds, 1 TD (56.8%, 8 drops) OL unit: 33% KRBs, 45 sacks LB Dominic Barlow: 105 tackles, 3.5 sacks DE Phil Banks: 8 sacks, 2 blocks, 8 hurries S Steve Frank: 92 tackles, 11 interceptions, 56.4 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.6 / 3.4 / 3.8 Passing: 7.0 / 6.0 / 6.4 This team was remarkably like last year’s offering. Not too statistically spectacular, but we were able to get through a lot with solid defense and occasionally brilliant offensive play. My running game was pretty weak, but I seem to get some when I need it—and in this year’s playoffs we cannot afford to be one-dimensional like last season. Seattle seems to have our number, but we’ll do our best to get them back here. |
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12-30-2000, 11:01 PM
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#23 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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[This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 12-30-2000).] |
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12-30-2000, 11:41 PM
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#24 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2011 postseason
Seattle is led by RB Joey Dunn and QB Arnie Fisher—both longtime starters there. They seem to be a similar team to us—but by the numbers, we should have the edge. Their two wins against us seem to be a big point, though. The first quarter is all back and forth, until we finally break through with a TD on the quarter’s final play. A Douglas run in the second quarter sets up a FG to give us a 10-0 lead. Douglas adds a 17-yard TD in the late second to stretch out to 17-0. The Seahawks get rolling with a 2-minute drill to get a FG, and it’s 17-3 at halftime. We’re well ahead, but we haven’t really pushed them around. In the third quarter, the tide continues our way. We get two more TDs, and end up with a 34-3 lead. They get a few down the stretch, but we take it 34-12. Rod Douglas has 233 yards and 3 TDs to lead the way and help set the tone—we’re going to get it done on the ground this time around, which I think helps our chances a great deal. We head to Indy, who is led by QB Joe Hamilton and a fabulous RB in Kerry Owens. Their running game is the main thing—and our main concern. We open up quickly—we pass for a FG, they respond with a TD drive, and we get a TD of our own as the first quarter ends. Our offense has shifted back to the air—possibly a bad tendency. The second quarter slows us down a lot, and the 10-7 score holds into halftime. The Colts start off the second half with a TD drive, running well against our defense for the first time. They add a FG at the end fo the third, and take a 7-pt lead. We suffer back and forth through most of the fourth quarter, but finally get a last chance with 2:16 left, still down 17-10. De los Santos gets two completions, and we get down to the Colts’ 42 with 1:16 left. However, after three plays, it’s 4th and 8. He hits WR Roberson for 15, to keep it alive. The next play goes to WR Perry down to the 1 yard line, with 27 seconds left. A quick pass to Douglas gets the TD, and we’ve tied it up. We get the ball first in OT. De los Santos gets two first down completions, and we move to the Indy 20 yard line. After a few futile safe attempts, we line up, and kick the game winner, taking the game 20-17 in the overtime. Cincinnati is up next for us—and they’ll put the ball in the air. Peyton manning has two great targets, and they throw very effectively. I’m afraid that my weakened secondary might not have the stuff to run with their wideouts, but we’ll give them a try. We get it first, and sputter right away. They take over near midfield, and we avoid disaster with an interception in the end zone. On their next possession, we are not so lucky—they rumble for a fairly easy TD. Manning leads another TD drive in the early second quarter, and they lead 14-0. We don’t seem tohave an answer for then, and can’t get our own offense on track to try to keep pace—not agood combination. We definitely need a big play to get back in this. We get some traction next time out, but stall in their territory. The Bengals move in for another FG, and lead 17-0. Time runs out on their next possession, and it’s 17-0 at the half. Late in the third, we gat in for a FG attempt, but miss it. We have slowed them down, but still can’t get moving offensively. Peyton Manning is out of the game with an injury, but their backup gets it going, and hits a 45-yard TD pass to basically put this one away as the third quarter closes out. We avoid the shutout with a throwaway late TD pass, but they have us all the way. Cincinnati beats Chicago in the Superbowl, taking their third title. On the awards board, we get a few spots. Safety Steve Frank is named defensive player fothe year, as well as to the first team. My guard Archie Kimbrough gets first team honors also. LBs Omar Starks and Dominic Barlow both are named to the second team, the first honor for each. |
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