Denver Broncos (NFL Head Coach 09)

[phenomenal_waffles]

Intro

Spoiler

The real life NFL season starting got me itching to play this beautiful game again, it happens every year really. Head Coach 09 is timeless.

It's the 2007 season and the Broncos go 7-9 in Jay Cutler's first full season as a starter, their worst record since 1999. In this universe, Mike Shanahan is fired a year early despite fielding a competitive team every year save for one since 1995. A controversial move, but crazier things have happened, Tony Dungy was fired from the Bucs after a playoff season, Marty Schottenheimer got canned after a 14-2 season with the Chargers. So the Broncos hire me to give an already talented team that extra edge.

I'd like to write this until at least a Super Bowl win then I'd probably just keep playing but not writing, but we'll see. The longest I've committed to writing a dynasty is one full season so don't cross your fingers, but I haven't played this game in a long time so hopefully I'll stick with this, and maybe I'll somewhat revive this barren wasteland of a coaching dynasty forum while I'm at it.

Stay tuned.

[phenomenal_waffles]

2008 Offseason

Spoiler

I picked the Analyst personality, kind of resembles me and I've never used it before. I spent my skill points on performance and QB intangibles, as Cutler is pretty inaccurate to start.

I'm using playbooks different from the Broncos' defaults so I don't have the head start on play knowledge. On defense I wanted a small playbook with a good amount of blitzes that I've also never used before, so I went with Spagnuolo Pressure. Didn't have anything particular in mind for offense so my coach can have the backstory of being from the Giants as I roll with the Gilbride Old School book.

Starting in the off-season as it's the most fun part of the game to me. I should also mention that I don't have the update meaning Brett Favre is not on the Jets.

My position philosophies are all balanced. I like to judge individual stats myself while having the best overall players with the highest overalls.

Here were the players that got the franchise tag:



The only player of note on the Broncos that's a free agent is K Jason Elam (90), but he will replaced in free agency. None of my free agents will be retained.

Here's a rundown of my roster at the moment, which will look a lot different when the season starts:

QB: Jay Cutler (80 OVR/87 POT), Patrick Ramsey (71) – Cutler will take some time to reach his potential but he develops in to a top QB. Sometimes the game will suggest you select Joe Flacco with your first round pick when you use the Broncos, but I will not be doing that.

HB: Selvin Young (80/86), Andre Hall (66/77) – Young had 729 yards in 2007 but that's the product of Shanahan's zone blocking. His carrying is also a lowly 65. Someone else will be starting for me at HB.

FB: Mike Bell (68/76) – Bell will actually be a big part of my offense running the ball. He's really a running back but the game has him as a fullback so I'll take advantage of it.

WR: Brandon Marshall (87/92), Brandon Stokley (78), Glenn Martinez (66/77) – Marshall is obviously great, but I'll look to add multiple new receivers.

TE: Daniel Graham (77), Tony Scheffler (69/79), Nate Jackson (69), Chad Mustard (57/61) – Scheffler's catching unfortunately is only 70 so a receiving TE will be added. Graham is okay and has to stick around because of a huge contract that he isn't worth.

LT: Ryan Harris (81/84) – A second round pick from 07, his overall is good but his actual blocking stats aren't. Probably won't play much.

LG: Ben Hamilton (83), Mark Fenton (64) – Hamilton won't play much either but that's because of his injury rating.

C: Tom Nalen (88) – The only sure thing on my line right now, but will most likely retire next year.

RG: Montrae Holland (76), Chris Kuper (76/79) – Pedestrians, could be upgraded.

RT: Erik Pears (77/82), Isaac Snell (72/76) – Also pedestrian.

LE: Tim Crowder (77/82), Jarvis Moss (69/72) – The top two picks of the Broncos' 07 draft, neither will amount to much.

RE: Elvis Dumervil (79/82) – Was great in real life around this time, but never seems to do well for me in the game. Still I'll keep him for realism, but if I'm getting sacks this season it will be because of blitzing.

DT: Marcus Thomas (78/82), Alvin McKinley (70), Kenny Peterson (64), Josh Mallard (59) – DTs are interchangeable in this game.

LOLB: Nate Webster (72/73), Louis Green (66) – Needs an upgrade.

MLB: D.J. Williams (82/86), Jordan Beck (69/74) – Williams is solid.

ROLB: Jamie Winborn (71) – Needs an upgrade.

CB: Champ Bailey (93), Dre' Bly (81) – Two solid players here but CB this is the most important position on defense in this game and I'll add another high overall player.

FS: None. Obviously needs an upgrade.

SS: John Lynch (89) – Was a FS but is much more suited here.

K: None.

P: Sam Paulescu (78/84) - 86 kick power isn't enough.

The roster needs a lot of work if I wanna compete in the AFC, but with $59M in cap space in which the majority of will be spent, improvements will be made.

Season goals are to sign an 85 overall FS, ROLB and LOLB. Two of those will be met.

I RFA tendered CB Domonique Foxworth (77). CB Karl Paymah (71 OVR) and SS Hamza Abdullah (72) could also be tendered but their overalls are too low and can't be retained due to a glitch in the game.

The free agency period is up next.

[phenomenal_waffles]

2008 Free Agency

Spoiler

2008 Major Free Agent Signings (RFA column means what pick was given up to sign the player)




The Broncos went all in. Everyone that I signed was the best available player at their position (not necessarily in overall but in the stats that matter), and barring injuries all ten of them will most likely be starters.

On the surface it looks like I overspent, but after the cuts I made below I have $19.88M in room left, and more importantly in 2009 I'm slated to have $35.21M. This is a cheap roster even with all those big contracts.

The dead weight I cut consisted of QB Patrick Ramsey (71), TE Nate Jackson (69), RG Montrae Holland (76), RG Chris Kuper (76), DT Alvin McKinley (70), LOLB Nate Webster (54), LOLB Louis Green (66) and ROLB Jamie Winborn (71).

Up next is the 2008 draft. You'll see why it's necessary for me to be a player in free agency based off of the way I go about drafting. Here's what I'm going in with (the trades were done in real life, not by me):

[phenomenal_waffles]

2008 Draft

Spoiler

Todd McShay's mock draft has me taking QB Joe Flacco. Hopefully my GM doesn't agree with him because as I alluded to in the last post, the way I do the draft is under most circumstances I will take whoever the GM suggests. If I have an abundance of players at the position the GM is suggesting or the pick is just really stupid I'll differ from him, but otherwise I try as much as possible to draft who he wants. With the player comparisons in this game, it's so easy to manipulate things and just draft all the sleepers and then have this super team that costs nothing, but you won't see that here. Because of this, I also pretty much only do trades for players and not for picks as in the draft I have no idea who my GM will suggest. All of this justifies spending a lot in free agency because if I want a talented team I have to pay the price.

I had the 12th overall pick. In order to avoid this Flacco situation I decided to cheat the system by changing my QB philosophy to strong arm, which turned Cutler in to an 85 overall...and my GM still suggested Flacco.

So after the paragraph that started this post, I go against my rule and say no. It's one thing to trade Cutler like Josh McDaniels did pre-draft, it's another to go in to the season with both young QBs on the roster. It would be different if Cutler was in his thirties, but this is his third season. I classify this as a scenario where the GM is being dumb.

From there I would look to the draft board and take the highest player that filled a need, who ended up being LOLB Jerod Mayo, whom I've never drafted before.

Here's how the first round played out. I listed all the trades that happened during it, but not the ones that happened in real life prior to the draft.

1. Dolphins Jake Long, LT, Michigan
2. Rams Vernon Gholston, ROLB, Ohio State
Falcons trade 3rd overall pick to Buccaneers for 20th overall, 2nd round (52nd) and 2009 1st round picks
3. Buccaneers Glenn Dorsey, DT, LSU (f/ATL)
4. Raiders Chris Long, RE, Virginia,
5. Chiefs Matt Ryan, QB, Boston Coll.
Jets trade 6th overall pick to Falcons for 2nd round (37th), 2009 1st and 6th round picks
6. Falcons Leodis McKelvin, CB, Troy (f/NYJ)
7. Patriots Keith Rivers, ROLB, USC (f/SF)
8. Ravens Derrick Harvey, LE, Florida
9. Bengals Darren McFadden, HB, Arkansas
Saints trade 10th overall pick to Colts for 3rd round (93rd), 2009 1st and 2nd picks
10. Colts Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC (f/NO)
Bills trade 11th overall pick to Eagles for 19th overall and 2009 2nd round picks
11. Eagles Ryan Clady, LT, Boise State (f/BUF)
12. Broncos Jerod Mayo, LOLB, Tennessee
13. Panthers Gosder Cherilus, RT, Boston Coll.
14. Bears Joe Flacco, QB, Delaware
Lions trade 15th overall pick to Cowboys for 22nd overall, 2009 3rd and 4th round picks
15. Cowboys Rashard Mendenhall, HB, Illinois (f/DET)
16. Cardinals Chris Williams, LT, Vanderbilt
Chiefs trade 17th overall pick to Patriots for 2nd round (62nd) and 2009 1st round pick
17. Patriots Dominique Cromartie, CB, Tennessee St. (f/MIN via/KC)
18. Texans Kentwan Balmer, DT, N. Carolina
19. Bills Mike Jenkins, CB, USF (f/PHI)
Falcons trade 20th overall pick to Ravens for 2nd round (38th) and 2009 2nd round picks
20. Ravens Jeff Otah, RT, Pittsburgh (f/TB via/ATL)
Redskins trade 21st overall pick to Seahawks for 25th overall and 2009 4th and 5th round picks
21. Seahawks Aqib Talib, CB, Kansas (f/WAS)
22. Lions Dustin Keller, TE, Purdue (f/CLE via/DAL)
23. Steelers Branden Albert, LG, Virginia
24. Titans Lawrence Jackson, LE, USC
25. Redskins Chris Johnson, HB, E. Carolina (f/SEA)
26. Jaguars Antoine Cason, CB, Arizona
27. Chargers Sam Baker, LT, USC
Cowboys trade 28th overall pick to Falcons for 2nd round (48th), 7th round (217th) and 2009 2nd round picks
28. Falcons John Carlson, TE, Notre Dame (f/DAL)
29. 49ers Kenny Phillips, SS, Miami (f/IND)
30. Rams Tracy Porter, CB, Indiana (f/GB)
31. Giants Brandon Flowers, CB, Virginia Tech
Dolphins trade 32nd overall pick to Browns for QB Ken Dorsey and 2009 2nd round pick
32. Browns Phillip Merling, RE, Clemson (f/MIA)

Here was the rest of my draft:



With the first fifth round pick my GM wanted QB John David Booty and with the last seventh he wanted K Brandon Coutu, but with already drafting QB Josh Johnson and K Rob Bironas, I used those picks for HB depth with Michael Turner being the only viable back on my roster.

I came away with an alright draft. Mayo is a great player in this game and will start immediately, and the two backs I drafted have great potential. I would've liked some of my other high picks to be used on players who could do more for me right away, as Lofton, Johnson and Craig all have players better than them on the depth chart. Scott will turn out to be a wasted pick, and Wilhite is okay for 7th rounder.

Up next is the preseason.

[phenomenal_waffles]

2008 Preseason

Spoiler

Here's pretty much all you need to know leading in to the regular season.



These games were supersimmed, don't need to go into detail about them.



The players without overalls next to their names were either made up rookies and guys who just had question marks there at the time instead.




Only real notable guy to be cut was HB Selvin Young. I picked up some fun players like HB Jamaal Buckingham and RE Tony Bake (haven't gotten to use Bake since the year the game came out). The UDFAs I signed after the draft were all cut besides ROLB David Vobora. LE Ralph Washington is a made up camp invite that made my roster, and MLB Corbin Watters is a made up player as well.



Expect teams to be able to pass all over me for this first season with my 9 overall DB coach.

For my preseason promise I said I'll make the playoffs. I got the Ozzie Jones draft path, which is the only one I ever get.

My goals for the season:

Crush the Raiders in Week 1
Beat the Raiders on Monday night in Week 1
Win 3 out of first 4 games
Re-sign C Tom Nalen and SS John Lynch
Fire my GM
Have an approval of 85 or more by the end of the season

I don't think I'll be firing my GM unless I have an awful season. I'll negotiate with Nalen and Lynch but I'm not selling out for either of them, they're both a season or two away from retiring.

Here's my schedule for the year:

W1 @ Raiders (MNF)
W2 vs. Chargers
W3 vs. Saints
W4 @ Chiefs
W5 vs. Buccaneers
W6 vs. Jaguars
W7 @ Patriots (MNF)
W8 Bye
W9 vs. Dolphins
W10 @ Browns (TNF)
W11 @ Falcons
W12 vs. Raiders
W13 @ Jets
W14 vs. Chiefs
W15 @ Panthers
W16 vs. Bills
W17 @ Chargers

Here's my opening day depth chart. Starters in bold, currently injured in red, rookies in italics.

QB: Jay Cutler (80/87)/Josh Johnson (68/92)
HB: Michael Turner (84/86)/Mike Hart (64/83)/Xavier Omon (65/88)/Jamaal Buckingham (66/88)
FB: Mike Bell (69/76)
WR: Isaac Bruce (84/85)/Brandon Marshall (87/92)/Brandon Stokley (78)/Roydell Williams (70/84)/Devery Henderson (68/74)/Jerome Mathis (63/72)
TE: Ben Troupe (74)/Bryan Fletcher (64/66)/Daniel Graham (76)/Tony Scheffler (69/79)
LT: Damien Woody (76)/Ryan Harris (82/84)
LG: Ben Hamilton (83)/Steve Sciullo (70)/Rich Seubert (77)/Qasim Mitchell (70/71)
C: Tom Nalen (88)
RG: Stacy Andrews (88/90)
RT: Jordan Gross (92/93)

LE: Tony Bake (66/81)/Tim Crowder (77/82)/Ralph Washington (65)/Jarvis Moss (69/72)/Trevor Scott (64/66)
RE: Elvis Dumervil (80/82)
DT: Tank Johnson (74/75)/Marcus Thomas (78/82)/Terdell Sands (73)/Jason Ferguson (73)
LOLB: Jerod Mayo (83/85)/Angelo Craig (63/82)
MLB: D.J. Williams (82/86)/Curtis Lofton (79/82)/Corbin Watters (77/85)
ROLB: Lance Briggs (90/91)/David Vobora (68/83)
CB: Champ Bailey (93)/Asante Samuel (91)/Dre' Bly (81)/DeMario Minter (72/77)/Jonathan Wilhite (68/82)
FS: Eugene Wilson (90)/Ryan Clark (73)
SS: John Lynch (88/89)

K: Rob Bironas (90/93)
P: Michael Koenen (82/86)
RS: Jerome Mathis (88)/Devery Henderson (74)

I open on Monday Night Football in Oakland. I've had a lot of wacky games against the Raiders in the Madden series/this game in the past, but they're always offensively challenged under Lane Kiffin in this game so I'm expecting a win.

The 2008 season starts soon...

[Aurabolt127]

keep it up!

[phenomenal_waffles]

2008 - Week 1
@ Oakland Raiders (MNF)

Spoiler

Here's the Raiders' depth chart. I edited mine into the last post if you want to check it out.



LG Ben Hamilton and LE Jarvis Moss are out for me for this game, and DT Terdell Sands will miss a few games. LG Steve Sciullo is starting in Hamilton's place. Those three will probably be regulars on the injury report. Out for the Raiders is just HB Lamont Jordan (67).

I won the toss and took defending with the wind. Besides TE Daniel Graham getting knocked out of the game on the opening kickoff, we got off to as good a start as possible as the first play of the season saw RE Elvis Dumervil sack QB Andrew Walter, who followed that up throwing a pick to FS Eugene Wilson on the next. Starting on Oakland's 23, it wasn't long before QB Jay Cutler threw a 12 yard TD pass to TE Ben Troupe. 7-0 Broncos early in the 1st.

Remarkably, the next drive went exactly the same. Walter took another sack on the first play from LOLB Jerod Mayo, then was intercepted by CB Champ Bailey and my offense took the field at the Oakland 22. A few players later a 12 yard run from Cutler got us to the 2, then FB Mike Bell punched it in for the score. 14-0 Broncos.

Again the Raiders couldn't get anything going and they had to punt. My ensuing drive took us into the 2nd quarter, but it stalled when WR Brandon Stokley dropped a pass on 3rd down, so K Rob Bironas kicked us to a 17-0 Broncos lead.

Walter threw ANOTHER pick, this time to SS John Lynch on the next drive. This game is looking like a huge mismatch of talent when Oakland's offense is on the field. Cutler carried this drive as he has been all game so far, scoring on a 15 yard pass to WR Brandon Marshall. 24-0 Broncos still in the 2nd and this is getting ugly.

We traded punts and an HB Michael Turner fumble with neither capitalizing until I had the ball at the 2:00 warning. Cutler hit Troupe for 33 yards to get us into Oakland territory. A few plays later, WR Isaac Bruce dropped a long near-touchdown so on the last play of the half, Bironas nailed a 53 yarder facing the wind, but a RG Stacy Andrews holding penalty took it off the board, so it remained 24-0 Broncos at halftime.

RT Jordan Gross went down for the game on my next drive and LT Ryan Harris filled in for him. Cutler carried the drive again (running for me is always a challenge early in the season with a rookie head coach) and hit a wide open Marshall for a 50 yard TD. 31-0 Broncos halfway through the 3rd quarter.

From there the game began to wind down as I attempted to run out the clock, albeit with little success. Cutler threw one last TD in the 4th, a 22 yarder to Stokley, and Lynch got himself another INT on the Raiders' last drive which actually got into the redzone, albeit with my backups subbed in. Broncos win 38-0.

J. Cutler 16-23 254 yds 4 TD 145.7 rtg
M. Bell 8-23 1 TD
M. Turner 21-20 1 fumble (jesus)
B. Marshall 7-123 2 TD
B. Troupe 6-93 1 TD
J. Mayo 4 TKL 4 TFL 3 SCK 1 DEFL
T. Bake 3 TKL 1 TFL 2 SCK
J. Lynch 2 TKL 2 INT 1 DEFL
C. Bailey 1 INT
E. Wilson 3 TKL 1 INT 1 DEFL
D. Williams 4 TKL 1 TFL 1 FF
8 Total Sacks
310 yds Offense
1 Turnover
1 Penalty 10 yds
44:08 TOP

A. Walter 12-30 95 yds 4 INT 9.0 rtg
J. Fargas 3- -3 yds
Z. Miller 5-44 1 drop
J. Higgins 1-5 3 drops
D. Carter 3 drops
M. Wilson 3 sacks allowed
K. Morrison 14 TKL 4 TFL 1 FR
S. Williams 1 TKL 1 TFL 1 SCK
T. Kelly 6 TKL 2 TFL 1 FF
1 Total Sack
60 yds Offense
4 Turnovers
1 Penalty 10 yds
15:48 TOP

1st, DEN TD J.Cutler-B.Troupe 4 yd pass (R.Bironas kick) 7-0 DEN
1st, DEN TD M.Bell 1 yd run (R.Bironas kick) 14-0 DEN
2nd, DEN FG R.Bironas 45 yd field goal 17-0 DEN
2nd, DEN TD J.Cutler-B.Marshall 15 yd pass (R.Bironas kick) 24-0 DEN
3rd, DEN TD J.Cutler-B.Marshall 50 yd pass (R.Bironas kick) 31-0 DEN
4th, DEN TD J.Cutler-B.Stokley 22 yd pass (R.Bironas kick) 38-0 DEN

Forgot that when you exit the game the times of the scores aren't recorded in the box score so I only have the quarters listed.

So the Broncos definitely showed up for this game, but it doesn't really determine much about my team, the Raiders are pretty awful. I don't like not being able to run the ball but with time and upgrades to my coaching staff it will eventually get better.

A few notable starters around the league:

Bills QB: Daunte Culpepper (76) over Trent Edwards (79)
Chiefs QB: Damon Huard (78) over Matt Ryan (79)
Dolphins QB: Brian Brohm (77)
Falcons QB: Trent Green (79)
49ers QB: Byron Leftwich (72) over Alex Smith (76)
Packers QB: Joey Harrington (74) over Aaron Rodgers (76)
Ravens QB: Kerry Collins (78)

And here's a look at Week 1:



Eagles CB Sheldon Brown (85), Steelers HB Willie Parker (83), Giants C Shaun O'Hara (84), Panthers LE Julius Peppers (87) are on injured reserve. Brown was just put on, the others were before the regular season started.

Two days before my next game Isaac Bruce went down, so with Ben Hamilton coming back from his injury, I cut LG Qasim Mitchell (71) and signed rookie WR Aaron Walls (70/86).

On to week two I head to my home field where I have one of the tougher games of the season with my coaching staff still pretty weak against a good San Diego Chargers team. Coming off a shutout, my defense will really be put to the test against all the weapons they have.

Spoiler

Here's a bonus feature, a chance at reading what would have been in my next game against the Chargers. You'll notice it cuts off at a thrilling point in the game. That's because my Xbox froze. :/

Spoiler

Winds are blowing again so after winning the toss I chose to defend with it. The Chargers chose to kick so I got the ball to start. A delay of game penalty was followed by a 28 yarder from QB Jay Curtler to Stokley to get into San Diego territory, but LG Ben Hamilton went down for the game on the play, so he's played a total of two plays in two games. An FS Eric Weddle sack nearly halted my drive, but again with a long pass Cutler hit WR Brandon Marshall for 21 yards. I ran FB Mike Bell on back to back plays after that (assuming HB Michael Turner just won't have much luck this game against the Chargers' 3-4 defense), but then he went down for the game as well, so HB Jamaal Buckingham fills in for him. I would get to the Chargers' 1 yard line, but of course on a 2nd down play Turner would be stuffed behind the line and I had to pass on 3rd, which Buckingham caught, but out of bounds. K Rob Bironas kicked the 20 yd field goal to put us up 3-0.

An MLB D.J. Williams sack on 3rd down halted San Diego's drive, but mine stopped when Stokley let a pass hit him in the chest so we traded punts into the 2nd quarter. One of the weirdest plays I've seen in this game occurred on the next Chargers' drive on it's first play, as RE Tony Bake broke from the huddle, lined up normally, then took a few steps BEHIND the offensive tackle he was lined up against, then went back to his normal stance. The ball was snapped and of course he was called offside. I assume this is the result of terribly low awareness/learning or something. More punt trading and little action was interrupted on a drive where Cutler connected with TE Ben Troupe on a couple of long passes as we headed to the 2:00 warning. After some Buckingham runs, another pass to Troupe got us to the San Diego 6. Stokley dropped a TD pass on the next play, followed by an incompletion and an awful pass picked off by CB Antonio Cromartie. Still 3-0 at halftime.

Rivers couldn't get anything going to start the 2nd half, and on my next drive I actually pulled off some decent runs en route to a Cutler to TE Bryan Fletcher 17 yd TD. The first play of the next Chargers' drive however was an 80 yard LT run to make it 10-7 Broncos as we give up our first points of the season.

Cutler was having none of it though, steadily moving my offense down the field and converting a number of 3rd downs before a 17 yarder to WR Roydell Williams got us to the SD 7. Buckingham lost 4 yards on the next play, followed by Cutler taking a sack from ROLB Shawne Merriman despite 3 open receivers on the play. Bironas kicked a 23 yarder and it's 13-7 Broncos in the 4th.

On the next drive Rivers hit WR Vincent Jackson for 20 yards to get into Broncos territory and CB Asante Samuel dropped an INT a few plays later that I would've like to have. I got them to 4th down in field goal range, but a holding penalty was called on them and I took a gamble by accepting it, giving them another chance with a 3rd and 18 at my 39 hoping to keep them out of field goal range, but of course Rivers threw a 24 yard laser beam to Jackson on that play. The next play was a 12 yarder to TE Antonio Gates that got them to my 3. I stuffed LT but called for a facemask, and LT broke a tackle on the next play to put the Chargers up 14-13 with 5:21 left, and my gamble is looking costly now.

The next drive saw Cutler evade a sack and convert a clutch 3rd down pass to Troupe to get us past midfield, and from here I would attempt to wind down the clock and kick a game-winning field goal. Two Buckingham runs got us a 1st down and we headed to the 2:00 warning just outside of field goal range. I continued to feed Buckingham as there was no way I was gonna give it to Turner and let him get tackled for a loss. I faced a 3rd and 3 with 1:28 left, San Diego with a timeout remaining

[Aurabolt127]

Ugh. That sucks....