MADDEN/NCAA Dynasty: 2007 Carolina Panthers

[Radii]

This is the NFL side of the College/Pro Dynasty I am working on.

The college side where I attempt to lead the Rio Grandes (created team) out of Indepedant Cupcake hell to a national title and a major conference can be found HERE

On the NFL side, I have taken over the Carolina Panthers, in Owner Mode. I will simulate the first four seasons just like in the college game to get us set at 2007. I have set all options to CPU control to get through this quickly, and will just document minimal stuff for the first 4 season sims.

When I begin playing the games, I am starting on the All-Pro difficulty, will play 15 minute quarters with the accellerated clock. I will control the team on the field and all the off the field stuff as well.

With that said, lets get these sims out of the way and get going!

[Radii]

2003 Carolina Panthers


Results

Week 1: at Carolina 10, Jacksonville 7 (1-0)
Week 2: at Tampa Bay 27, Carolina 10 (1-1)
Week 3: BYE
Week 4: Atlanta 23, at Carolina 19 (1-2)
Week 5: at Carolina 31, New Orleans 16 (2-2)
Week 6: at Indianapolis 27, Carolina 24 (2-3)
Week 7: Tennessee 24, at Carolina 12 (2-4)
Week 8: Carolina 21, at New Orleans 17 (3-4)
Week 9: at Houston 24, Carolina 13 (3-5)
Week 10: at Carolina 24, Tampa Bay 13 (4-5)
Week 11: at Carolina 21, Washington 14 (5-5)
Week 12: Carolina 13, at Dallas 10 (6-5)
Week 13: Phildelphia 34, at Carolina 6 (6-6)
Week 14: at Atlanta 24, Carolina 10 (6-7)
Week 15: Carolina 31, at Arizona 17 (7-7)
Week 16: Detroit 24, at Carolina 10 (7-8)
Week 17: at NY Giants 34, Carolina 21 (7-9)


7-9, your standard Panthers season.


NFC South Standings

Tampa Bay 13-3
Atlanta 9-7
New Orleans 9-7
Carolina 7-9


Playoffs

AFC North: Pittsburgh 11-5, Division winner
AFC South: Houston 8-8, Division winner
AFC East: New England 11-5 Division Winner
AFC West: Denver 11-5 Division Winner *Home Field
Kansas City 11-5 Wild Card
Oakland 10-6 Wild Card

Miami went 10-6 and failed to make the playoffs


NFC North: Minnesota 8-8, Division Winner
NFC South: Tampa Bay 13-3, Division Winner *Home Field
Atlanta 9-7, Wild Card
New Orleans 9-7, Wild Card
NFC East: NY Giants 10-5-1, Division Winner
NFC West: San Francisco 9-7 Division Winner

Seattle went 9-7 and failed to make the playoffs



ROUND 1:

Oakland 17
New England 13


Kansas City 10
Houston 21


New Orleans 18
San Francisco 27


Atlanta 28
Minnesota 15


Round 2:

Houston 6
Denver 16

Oakland 20
Pittsburgh 27

Atlanta 24
Tampa Bay 21

San Francisco 18
NY Giants 24


Conference Championship

Pittsburgh 13
Denver 16

Atlanta 27
NY Giants 34

Super Bowl

NY Giants 17
Denver 25



Misc Stats

Brett Favre's passer rating of 94.0 leads the NFL
Kerry Collins throws for 3745 yards, his 36 TDs lead the league as well

Ricky Williams runs for 1890 yards
LaDanian Tomlinson runs for 1787 yards

Priest Holmes has 17 rushing TDs

Hines Ward catches 116 passses
Randy Moss has 19 receiving TDs

Brian Simmons has 163 tackles

Ray Lewis and Tony Bryant each have 16 sacks

Ty Law and Brian Kelly each have 8 INTs



The game keeps track of career leaders for all active players. I like that. I wonder if it keeps them after they retire so you can see all time leadesr.

Ricky Williams is the league MVP


And, in the most important news of the year, the AFC wins the pro bowl

[Radii]

Carolina turned a profit of 24 Million dollars in 2003.

I let the CPU deal with the offseason. I really don't care if they tear the team apart and I have to rebuild them.

6 raiders retire. Gannon, Woodson, Rice, Romo, Brown, Armstrong, and Rick Mirer.


The Panthers lose Rodney Peete, Karl Hankton and Ricky Proehl to retirement.


I let the CPU re-sign players, do the draft, all that stuff.

I notice a nifty change from last year here. You haven't seen your players yet by the time you get to sign draft picks, so you don't know their ratings (in last year's version, I would often try to pay my draft picks according to how their ratings turned out). Nice touch of realism here.

Free agency takes the longest to sim by far. Baltimore signs 3 of the top 4 free agents.

I skip training camp despite it being a lot of fun, and go on to season 2.

[Radii]

2004 Carolina Panthers


Results

Week 1: at Carolina 35, Arizona 26 (1-0)
Week 2: at Carolina 22, Denver 15 (2-0)
Week 3: at St Louis 20, Carolina 18 (2-1)
Week 4: Carolina 28, at Tampa Bay 21 (3-1)
Week 5: Carolina 16, at New Orleans 9 (4-1)
Week 6: BYE
Week 7: at Carolina 13, Oakland 6 (5-1)
Week 8: Dallas 24, at Carolina 14 (5-2)
Week 9: Atlanta 10, at Carolina 3 (5-3)
Week 10: at Kansas City 21, Carolina 11 (5-4)
Week 11: Carolina 35, at Atlanta 29 (6-4)
Week 12: at Carolina 31, Tampa Bay 20 (7-4)
Week 13: Seattle 31, at Carolina 7 (7-5)
Week 14: Carolina 16, at San Diego 12 (8-5)
Week 15: New Orleans 31, at Caroilna 24 (8-6)
Week 16: at San Francisco 23, Carolina 15 (8-7)
Week 17: Carolina 23, at Detroit 21 (9-7)


9-7, I hope the computer doesn't turn the Panthers into a powerhouse... we don't make the playoffs this year


NFC South Standings

Tampa Bay 10-6
Carolina 9-7
Atlanta 8-8
New Orleans 6-10


Playoffs ROUND 1:

Tennessee 14
Houston 16

Miami 31
Cleveland 24

San Francisco 16
Green Bay 0

Phildelphia 23
Tampa Bay 17 OT

Round 2:

Houston 10
New England 24

Miami 17
Denver 16

San Francisco 26
St Louis 20 OT

Philadelphia 6
NY Giants 31

Conference Championship

Miami 10
New England 13

San Francisco 22
NY Giants 27

Super Bowl

New England 10
NY Giants 20



We just advance to the offseason, I'm ready to play

[Radii]

2005 Carolina Panthers


Results

Week 1: at Tampa Bay 17, Carolina 14 (0-1)
Week 2: at Philadelphia 43, Carolina 0 (0-2)
Week 3: at Carolina 18, San Francisco 13 (1-2)
Week 4: Carolina 24, at Chicago 9 (2-2)
Week 5: at New Orleans 14, Carolina 13 (2-3)
Week 6: NY Jets 17, at Carolina 10 (2-4)
Week 7: at Buffalo 24, Carolina 13 (2-5)
Week 8: BYE
Week 9: at Carolina 35, Detroit 10 (3-5)
Week 10: Carolina 23, at Minnesota 7 (4-5)
Week 11: Atlanta 27, at Carolina 3 (4-6)
Week 12: at Carolina 23, New Orleans 7 (5-6)
Week 13: at Green Bay 24, Carolina 9 (5-7)
Week 14: Miami 31, at Carolina 9 (5-8)
Week 15: at Atlanta 21, Caroilna 17 (5-9)
Week 16: Carolina 20, at New England 9 (6-9)
Week 17: at Carolina 28, Tampa Bay 13 (7-9)


NFC South Standings

Atlanta 11-5
Tampa Bay 8-8
Carolina 7-9
New Orleans 3-13


Playoffs ROUND 1:

Buffalo 10
Pittsburgh 34

Tennessee 14
Denver 26

Phildelphia 18
Washington 29

Seattle 13
St Louis 31

Round 2:

Denver 16
Jacksonville 21

Pittsburgh 17
New England 16

St Louis 6
Green Bay 7

Washington 16
Atlanta 27

Conference Championship

Pittsburgh 14
Jacksonville 6

Atlanta 10
Green Bay 48

Super Bowl

Pittsburgh 38
Green Bay 20



We just advance to the offseason, I'm ready to play

[Radii]

2006 Carolina Panthers


Results

Week 1: NY Giants 27, Carolina 13 (0-1)
Week 2: Carolina 29, at New Orleans 21 (1-1)
Week 3: at Cleveland 33, Carolina 17 (1-2)
Week 4: Atlanta 24, at Carolina 10 (1-3)
Week 5: BYE
Week 6: Washington 12, at Carolina 0 (1-4)
Week 7: at Carolina 3, Tampa Bay 0 (2-4)
Week 8: at New Orleans 17, Carolina 6 (2-5)
Week 9: Baltimore 24, at Carolina 3 (2-6)
Week 10: at Tampa Bay 13, Carolina 10 (2-7)
Week 11: at Phildelphia 13, Carolina 10 (2-8)
Week 12: Cincinatti 16, at Carolina 3 (2-9)
Week 13: Carolina 35, at Pittsburgh 20 (3-9)
Week 14: Carolina 24, at Atlanta 6 (4-9)
Week 15: at Dallas 36, Carolina 7 (4-10)
Week 16: San Francisco 20, at Carolina 9 (4-11)
Week 17: at Detroit 30, Carolina 12 (4-12)


NFC South Standings

New Orleans 10-6
Atlanta 7-9
Tampa Bay 6-10
Carolina 4-12



Playoffs ROUND 1:

NY Jets 19
Denver 14

New England 20
Jacksonville 23

NY Giants 27
New Orleans 24

Seattle 16
Green Bay 41

Round 2:

Jacksonville 23
Baltimore 22

NY Jets 23
Buffalo 28

Green Bay 14
St Louis 28

NY Giants 20
Washington 16

Conference Championship

Jacksonville 3
Buffalo 45

NY Giants 16
St Louis 27

Super Bowl

Buffalo 30
St Louis 33 OT


Overtime in the super bowl! And the Bills still can't win one.

[Radii]

We let the CPU do the 2006 offseason as well, and will begin 2007 in training camp.

[Radii]

I'll do a positional overview after the training camp games. I try to improve young guys who have a shot at playing, if that's not possible I'll throw a geezer in here.

TRAINING CAMP


QB Pocket Prescence Drill

Jake Delhomme gets this one, he's 31 y/o and has a 77 skill now.

I normally do well on this drill but for some reason my timing was way off and I missed a medal by like 10 points. sheehs.


Chase and Tackle

I put a young DT, 23 year old Reggie Hill into this one. Hill has an overall rating of 86 and this is the perfect guy I like to improve a point or two in these things.

I do well in this drill usually, and earn the silver medal on the easy level, that's 2 points, I think I can get silver on Pro though so we risk it for the next level. I only get the bronze next time and still have 2 points, I up Hill's awareness and Agility and his overall goes up to 87.


Swat Ball

I use Warrick Bennett, my top corner, he's only 25 years old and rated 89.

I suck. Well, I barely got bronze on the first level, risked the point and remembered this was my worst game in Madden 2003. No bonus.

Trench Fight

RG John Bush, 23 years old 86 overall. Failed

Clutch Kicking

John Kasay... damn he's getting old. I get him two points and keep them.

Corner Punt

Todd Saurbrun... getting a bit old too but still the best punter in the league.

I get 2 points and keep them. Saurbrun fights aging and has a 99 rating.

Precision Passing

Chuck Crankshaw is my backup QB so I use him here. He sucks though, but he's all I can use. 58 rating. This guy can't throw(yes I'm blaming him). Failed.

Ground Attack

All I've got worth using is Stephen Davis(unless I wanted to throw a WR out there).. Davis has a nice 85 rating. I get silver on the first level, then move up and break a few runs for the gold on the second level... I put it all towards breaking tackles and move his rating to 87, with a 96 in breaking tackles.

Catch Ball

This is easy, my #1 pick, Deon Howard at WR, overall 78. I get the silver and take the 2 points, I suck at this game. Howard is FAST and can jump, so I work on his catching. I push him up to 79 overall.

Preseason time and roster analysis time. I won't go into that much detail on those mini games next time heh, but they are fun

[Radii]

Quarterbacks

#17 Jake DelHomme
6'2" 205, Age 32
3rd year of a 5 year contract making $3.14M this year
OV TP TA AW AG SP
77 85 86 68 64 65

He's a decent passer but I need a better QB than this.

#13 Chuck Crankshaw
6'4" 225, Age 22
2nd year of a 3 year contract
OV TP TA AW AG SP
58 77 71 55 68 61

Worthless.

#15 Kurt Kittner
6'2" 221, Age 27
3rd year of a 5 year deal
OV TP TA AW AG SP
55 76 76 60 46 46

More worthless.

[Radii]

Running Backs

#49 Stephen Davis
6'0 230, Age 33
2nd year of a 3 year deal, $5.9M this year
OV SP AG BT CA CT AW AC
86 84 81 96 85 63 88 84

Davis is a solid back. Good for 1000 yards consistantly.

#40 John Simon
5'11" 202, Age 28
Final year of contract
OV SP AG BT CA CT AW AC
63 87 86 58 61 64 58 83

He's fast, but that's all he's got going for him. Horrible receiver.


#43 Albert Russel (ROOKIE)
5'8" 194, Age 23
4 year deal, cheap as he is a 5th rounder
OV SP AG BT CA CT AW AC
61 89 82 61 63 44 51 82

Well he has 4 years to improve. He may be our second back just to get more reps to try to get him to improve.


Fullback

#45 Brad Hoover
6'2" 242, Age 30
final year of a 5 year deal, making $1.17M
OV SP CA CT BT RB PB
77 65 77 65 77 53 56

Not a terribly good blocking fullback. I use my FB in passing patterns a fair amount though, but I want a solid running game above all.

[Radii]

Wide Receivers

#19 Walter Young
6'4" 214, Age 27
2 years left in a 3 year deal
OV SP CT AG AC AW JU
69 83 74 81 83 59 91

Seems like Walter mainly suffers because of a lack of awareness. He did catch 70 passes for the panthers last year.

#88 Chris Danielson
6'0" 195, Age 25
Final year in a 3 year deal
OV SP CT AG AC AW JU
60 89 58 85 73 58 76

Severly lacking and probably won't last on this team long. 28 receptions last year.

#19 Deon Howard
5'11" 195, Age 24
2006 1st round pick(11th overall)
3 years left on a 4 year deal, makes $1.85M
OV SP CT AG AC AW JU
79 87 75 86 99 72 94

Great speed and we're going to work on bringing up his catching ability, this guy has some solid potential I think. Caught 40 passes as a rookie last year.

#84 Bob Page
5'11" 203, Age 23
2007 1st pick in the draft(we were that bad yeah)
OV SP CT AG AC AW JU
71 96 76 77 87 58 84

Page and Howard could be greats with this team if we can get someone to throw to them. Page needs signifigant improvement of course.

#83 Ryan Thomas
6'1" 185, Age 23
2007 3rd round pick
OV SP CT AG AC AW JU
64 83 63 89 91 52 86

There may be some potential here too, he needs a lot of improvement in training camp to get much of a look though.


Tight End

#85 Paul Hopkins
6'6" 284, Age 26
OV SP CT CA BT RB PB
69 64 57 69 59 63 54

Wholly average

#82 Matt Murphy
6'5" 260, Age 27
OV SP CT CA BT RB PB
52 63 61 75 55 67 70

Worse than average

#81 Derrick Matthews
6'4" 255, Age 23
OV SP CT CA BT RB PB
65 63 61 75 55 67 70

Matthews is young enough that he could easily develop into our starter with a good pre-season.

[Radii]

Tackles

#76 Dan Linton - LT
6'7 301, Age 25
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
76 87 82 98 68 64 55

A very solid young guy.

#73 Aric Smith - LT (ROOKIE)
6'6" 316, Age 21
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
54 63 75 80 59 43 64

Destined to be a lifetime backup at best here.


#79 Doug Brzezinski - LG
6'4" 305, Age 31
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
77 85 83 90 70 45 71

Another solid looking guy, the left side of our line looks good.

#74 Leonardo Samuels - LG
6'2" 324, Age 23
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
73 81 72 96 66 57 72

A very good guy for a backup, and only 1 year in the league, clearly we should try to keep him and groom him as Brzeniski's replacement in 2 or 3 years.

#72 Ryan Irvin - LG (ROOKIE)
6'2" 297, Age 22
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
54 74 65 89 46 39 50

A waste of a lot of things, including a draft pick


#78 Bruce Nelson - C
6'5" 301, Age 28
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
68 82 81 83 54 50 67

This guy looks decent, very good run and pass blocking skills. His awareness suffers.

#61 Chris Mullen - C (ROOKIE)
6'2" 284, Age 21
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
67 85 66 96 63 46 51

A pretty good looking rookie, though his weakness pass blocking scares me. He'll get his share of playing time this year though.


#70 John Bush - RG
6'3" 307, Age 23
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
85 95 83 88 75 38 94

A great all around blocker, our first round pick in 2005.

#69 Jordan Gross - RT
6'5" 306, Age 27
OV RB PB ST AW AG AC
85 93 90 90 69 65 93

Gross is becoming a star it seems, and he has made a pro bowl.


I like our Offensive Line a lot. An upgrade at Center would be nice however.

[Radii]

Defensive Line

#90 Julius Peppers - LE
6'6" 283, Age 27
OV TK SP ST AG AC AW
94 79 83 78 82 92 74

A great all around player. Peppers is in the final year of a 6 year deal, making $6.62 Million, so we'll have to do something about him this year.

#93 Mike Rucker - RE
6'5" 275, Age 32
OV TK SP ST AG AC AW
94 84 72 85 74 82 94

Rucker has developed into a better player than Peppers in many ways, and we love his awareness rating of 94. Rucker is also in the final year of his contract, unfortunately.

#96 Reggie Williams - RE
6'3" 273, Age 25
OV TK SP ST AG AC AW
76 77 68 75 65 60 99

A potential replacement for Rucker if he can develop a bit more.

#97 Cory Bates - RE
6'3" 267, Age 26
OV TK SP ST AG AC AW
65 67 74 76 54 56 72

Rather expendable

#77 Kris Jenkins - DT
6'4" 315, Age 28
OV TK SP ST AG AC AW
98 95 64 92 70 87 77

Well, with Jenkins in there, I don't see how anyone can ever run up the middle here. A two time pro-bowler.

#94 Reggie Hill - DT
6'2" 323, Age 23
OV TK SP ST AG AC AW
87 79 61 83 66 90 80

Hill was our 2nd round pick 2 years ago. He has blossomed nicely and he and Jenkins hopefully hold down the line for a number of years.

#99 Brentson Buckner - DT
6'2" 305, Age 35
OV TK SP ST AG AC AW
81 85 53 90 47 60 77

Bucker is a talent, but an aging one. And not even the 2nd best DT on the team



Carolina has a great defensive line still, 4 years later. Good to see.

[BigDPW]

Radii -

Sorry about creating another Panthers Dynasty... I didn't realize anyone alse was doing one until I came to post my first preseason result... I was gonna do a Cardinals one and move them to LA but Anxiety is planning on doing a Cardinals one... At least we are not in the same year???

Good luck with your dynasty!

I'll be watching it to see what the future holds

[Radii]

Linebackers

#58 Mark Fields - LOLB
6'2" 244, Age 34
OV TK SP CT AG AC AW
86 85 83 56 75 83 83

Fields is still good even at age 34, but we need a replacement. He has a new 3 year deal and if he lasts through that we'll be happy.

#53 Greg Favors - LOLB
6'1" 242, Age 32
OV TK SP CT AG AC AW
66 74 70 47 66 70 69

This guy just hasn't ever panned out...

#55 Dan Morgan - MLB
6'2" 233, Age 28
OV TK SP CT AG AC AW
94 94 81 60 85 95 87

If only Morgan can become this good in real life... He's in a contract year here.

#57 Lester Towns - MLB
6'1" 252, Age 30
OV TK SP CT AG AC AW
69 81 65 53 68 74 65

Acceptable and affordable for a backup to Morgan


#54 Will Witherspoon - ROLB
6'1" 231, Age 27
OV TK SP CT AG AC AW
90 90 81 55 82 95 79

A solid guy in his prime, this is shaping up to be a great defense.

#52 Brian Allen - ROLB
6'1" 238, Age 29
OV TK SP CT AG AC AW
71 81 76 43 68 83 63

Again, acceptable for a backup

[Radii]

Originally posted by BigDPW
Radii -

Sorry about creating another Panthers Dynasty... I didn't realize anyone alse was doing one until I came to post my first preseason result... I was gonna do a Cardinals one and move them to LA but Anxiety is planning on doing a Cardinals one... At least we are not in the same year???

Good luck with your dynasty!

I'll be watching it to see what the future holds

The more the merrier I'm a huge Panthers fan so I'll be interested in yours for sure. Someone else said they were going to do a Panthers one as well, and Fritz appears to be a Panthers fan, I never knew they were this popular!

[BigDPW]

Well living in NC helps me be a Panthers fan... You can't help it when you were forced to watch them every Sunday for the last few years... Now they are finally something to watch again as opposed to 2-4 years ago!!!

[BigDPW]

BTW - Why didn't you just make the Wake Forest, NC college the Southern Baptist Seminary??? They could just play right there at WFR HS...

Would be interesting to see what Wake Forest would be like if the university had never left town to go to Winston??? I grew up about 10 miles from downtown Wake Forest between there and Knightdale (on Forestville Rd.)...

[Radii]

Secondary

#47 Warrick Bennett- CB
5'11" 191, Age 25
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
89 81 84 70 91 86 88

Looks like a quality top cover corner. This was the Panthers top pick in 2004.

#23 Reggie Howard - CB
6'0" 190, Age 30
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
79 76 88 64 84 74 79

Hopefully good speed and decent awareness makes for an OK cover man.

#34 Ricky Manning - CB
5'9" 185, Age 26
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
75 52 87 66 95 63 85

Can't tackle... that's no good

#49 Tony Johnson- CB
6'3" 219, Age 26
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
62 47 86 47 95 49 89

Wow, that's shit.

#26 Tyrell Turley - CB (ROOKIE)
5'11" 195, Age 22
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
69 48 93 40 85 76 80

Again, the severe lack of tackling ability scares me, given how Madden is built around big plays all too often, but this guy is a rookie and overall will go in 3rd in the depth chart for a little while at least.


#27 Deon Grant - FS
6'2" 207, Age 28
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
90 81 87 70 93 73 90

Grant is solid in the secondary, starter for sure.

#33 OJ Little - FS
5'8" 178, Age 22
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
77 72 88 69 85 67 63

A great talent for a backup... We'vce got him cheap for 3 more years too.

#30 Mike Minter - SS
5'10" 188, Age 33
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
92 86 87 56 92 90 85

Minter is still a very good starter, but he's aging.

#37 JJ Otto - SS
5'10" 199, Age 26
OV TK SP CT AC AW JU
77 82 70 48 80 79 92

Otto looks like a great guy to take over for Minter when he retires.

[Radii]

Originally posted by BigDPW
BTW - Why didn't you just make the Wake Forest, NC college the Southern Baptist Seminary??? They could just play right there at WFR HS...

Would be interesting to see what Wake Forest would be like if the university had never left town to go to Winston??? I grew up about 10 miles from downtown Wake Forest between there and Knightdale (on Forestville Rd.)...

No shit? Did you go to WF-R or Knightdale's HS or somewhere else?

I grew up 1 mile from the Seminary campus, on North College Street, the parents are still there actually I walked to the high school, etc.

I couldn't ever name a school after the Seminary though, unless I was interested in a mega anti-dynasty

[Radii]

Kicking Game

#4 John Kasay - K
5'10" 198, Age 37
OV KP KA AW
84 88 89 83

He's still decent but jesus look at the age. We need a new kicker.


#10 Todd Sauerbrun - P
5'10" 204, Age 34
OV KP KA AW
99 96 91 85


Aging too, but the best punter aruond.

[BigDPW]

Originally posted by Radii
No shit? Did you go to WF-R or Knightdale's HS or somewhere else?

I grew up 1 mile from the Seminary campus, on North College Street, the parents are still there actually I walked to the high school, etc.

I couldn't ever name a school after the Seminary though, unless I was interested in a mega anti-dynasty

LOL - I said that tongue in cheek about the seminary...

I went to East Wake HS - '92 through '96

I grew up about 1.5 miles from the Knightdale end of Forestville Rd. if you have ever been all the way down it.

I think I remember you saying you went to WF-R a few years ago when TCY came out and your dynasty required you recruit kids from there... I can't remember if I mentioned where I went to school to you then or not...

[Radii]

I will probably play the entire first preseason game and might sim out the rest of them, or I might play the first half of each game and let the compuer take over for there, for the rest of the preseason. i do need to get a feel for the Panthers playbook again though, I don't think it is much different from Madden 2003.

I love passing to my backs and TE, I want a Tony Gonzalez style TE that I can use as a receiver. A big reason for this is that it's hard to see the receivers on the sidelines on out patterns and such without using a zoomed out camera a bit too far for my comfort level, so a lot of my passes come for the slot receivers, or TE, or the WRs cutting in... I may play with the camera some in the preseason to see what I can adjust to.

I'll play the first game or two tomorrow.

[Radii]

Originally posted by BigDPW
LOL - I said that tongue in cheek about the seminary...

I went to East Wake HS - '92 through '96

I grew up about 1.5 miles from the Knightdale end of Forestville Rd. if you have ever been all the way down it.

I think I remember you saying you went to WF-R a few years ago when TCY came out and your dynasty required you recruit kids from there... I can't remember if I mentioned where I went to school to you then or not...

Nice Now that you mention it I do vaguely remember that. and damn WF-R never does put out any good prospects in TCY either.

I was class of '95, I think back then we were in the same sports conference and everything Small world, eh.

[BigDPW]

Sure is... I played JV Football for EW and we played at WF-R my sophmore year... I remember it b/c it was after I had screwed up my back the year before and the Doctor and mom wouldn't let me play unless I kicked or punted...

I punted for the 1st time in a game at WF-R... My linemen sucked too and I was scared to death they were gonna cream me... I have vivid memories of WF-R

Plus it seems like our youth ministers at church were all in seminary in WF during my teenage years...

[Radii]

Preseason Week #1

We're going on the road to play the Cincinnati Bengals. It looks like a very even matchup. It should be our defense vs their offense. Carson Palmer has turned into a very good QB (overall 91), Corey Dillon is still solid, and they have a top receiver in Chad Johnson rated 94. After that their receivers drop waaay down though, so if we can cover him we can win I think.

Of course the results don't matter so much, I just need to get a feel for the game flow.

Cinci gets the ball first and goes 3 and out, we get good pressure on Palmer.

Cinci punts and our punt returner fumbles, Bengals ball on the 35.

Cincinnati puts up two good passes to get into the end zone, we're shutting down Dillon but not their passing game. 7-0 Bengals 4:01 in.

Neither team moves the ball much the rest of the first quarter, we get a few first downs but no threats... 7-0 after 1 quarter.

Our second string comes in for the 2nd quarter, and we get our first look at Crankshaw, our backup QB.

We get down to the 32 yard line, but on 3rd and already long, we see a false start penalty... a pass on 3rd down sets up a 49 yard field goal attempt which Kasay leaves inches short.

Rookie RB Albert Russell breaks a nice 13 yard run on an off tackle play, he's fighting for backup RB spot and that felt like a good solid run.

Russell comes up big on 4th and inches, breaking a run off tackle for 14 yards. Russell is the anchor of a very solid drive, and scores on a 6 yard TD run. We go 67 yards in 10 plays, eating up about 5 1/2 minutes of clock. We also got two solid completions to #3 wideout Walter Young on the drive. 7-7

We get as close as the 34 during our 2 minute drill but can't move closer. Cinci starts from their own 11 with 1:10 left.

7-7 Halftime

We're really controlling the ball well, 10 first downs to their 2, and only 1 turnover on the punt(throwing into double coverage is always a problem of mine in these games).

Delhomme went 3-6 for 26 yards.
Crankshaw 7-11 for 42 yadrs.

Davis 6 carries for 13 yards
Russell 5 carries for 41 yards and a TD.

Walter Young catches 3 passes for 37 yards, as does brad hoover(I told you I love dumping it off to my backs).


Carolina starts off with the ball in the 2nd half.

Cincinnati fumbles on its first play from scrimmage(actually it was a screen pass/lateral that the RB missed)

We get it down to the 1 and have 4th and goal... Brad Hoover runs up the middle for our 2nd touchdown. 14-7

Our defense is dominating... late in the 3rd a 30 yard pass from Crankshaw to Young sets up a 4 yard run by Russell. 21-7

It's 21-7 Carolina after 3, but that's about to change.

Cinci makes it 21-14 after burning our secondary big time when we were trying to blitz.

We burn off the first 5 minutes of the first quarter, but fumble and Cinci picks up the fumble and returns it to our 20... they take 2 minutes, go 3 and out, and kick a field goal to make it 21-17 Panthers, with 9:04 left.

What may be the biggest play of the game comes with 6:45 to go... CB Little makes a great INT to give us the ball on the Bengals 20...

DOH, Russell fumbles to give it back 1 minute later. 5:45 left and we have a 4 point lead.

Neither team gets anything going, and we have a 3rd and 4, on the Bengals 45 on the two minute warning. We just pound it up the middle to burn a Cinci timeout, and hope Russell can get us the 4 yards we need.

It's actually our 3rd down back Simon, and he gets 5 yards to give us the first. 1:55 left, and Cinci has 2 timeouts left. We can't move it anymore, so Cinci is going to get it back, no timeouts, 1:08 left.

It's an absolutely beautiful punt by Sauerbrun. 1st and 10 from the 2 for Cinci. 1:02 left.

4 straight incomplete passes and Carolina wins its first preseason game, 21-17!

W 21-17

Game Stats

CAR CIN
21 First Downs 17
239 Total Offense 151
87 Rushing Yds 39
152 Passing Yds 112
19 First Downs 4
10-20 3rd down % 3-15


We dominated that everywhere but the score. 3 turnovers hurt.

Crankshaw went 16-25 for 176 yards.

Russell ran for 61 yards and 2 TDs

Young caught 4 passes for 70 yards, and Hoover caught 4 for 39, top WR Howard caught 3 for 42.


I'm both happy with my performance in the game, and with the gameplay itself. The game flowed very nicely and I didn't feel like the deck was stacked against me. No string of big plays from the defense, only one big play, things like that that took out some of the continuity from previous versions.

Game 2 tomorrow.

[Radii]

Today, the Cleveland Browns come to visit Carolina in preseason week #2.


The first few drives against the browns are not memorable, but with 6 minutes left in the 1st quarter we put together a good drive, topped off by a dump off pass to Stephen Davis that he takes 22 yards into the end zone. I called a pass play which sent Davis out into the left flat, the wideout to the left cut towards the middle, and no one covered Davis... very easy TD. 7-0 Carolina

7-0 end of 1st

2nd quarter, We punt, Cleveland returns it to the Panthers 35 and things look bad, but Reggie Howard comes up with an interception of a Tim Couch bullet pass, and there's nothing but daylight ahead of him, that's a 65 yard TD return! 14-0

Following a couple of stifling defensive stands, Julius Peppers recovers a fumble on the Carolina 47, and we take it far enough down to get a field goal out of our drive. 17-0 Our drive ends up being 9 plays for 31 yards and is mostly on the ground, eating up over 4 minutes.


Cleveland scores a big touchdown on their 2 minute drill, it's 17-7 with 1:40 to go
in the half.

Russell(yeah, my HB star from preseason week #1) takes the kickoff though, and takes it all the way into cleveland territory! A 30 yard completion on a hook pattern from Delhomme to Howard sets up 1st and goal and we strike back very quickly. 24-7

We give up a stupid roughing the passer penalty and let Cleveland kick a field goal befoer the half.

24-10 Carolina - Halftime

At the half Cleveland is dominatnig the yardage numbers, 237 to 107 total. But its all through the air, we've held them to -3 yards on the ground. Each team has two turnovers but we took advantage of them much more than they did. We got 10 points off theirs, they got shit off of mine.

Delhomme did a great job today, 7-12 for 124 yards and 1 TD. Stephen Davis had some problems, 10 yards in 10 carries. Deon Howard was the big man with 3 catches for 74 yards, Hooer had 2 for 17 yards.

The reserves will play the second half and Russell gets another chance to shine.


We go 3 and out to start the 3rd, Cleveland gets good field position and we feel lucky to hold them to a field goal. 24-13 9:53 left in the 3rd.

Bob Page takes the kickoff, and goes 95 yards with it around the left side, a great run back for a touchdown! 31-13


Cleveland drives back down the field and scores easily... 5:52 left in the 3rd. 31-20

At this point we'd really like to slow the game down some and eat up some clock.

We have a short drive, force a cleveland 3 and out after we punt, and we have another short drive to end the 3rd.

31-20 after 3 quarters

It takes 4 1/2 minuets, but Cleveland steadily marches down field and scores... they go for 2 but thankfully miss it... 31-26

We just can't move the ball against these guys with our second team. We manage 1 first down and drain the clock down to 7:18, but of course now it's a 1 score game and just wasting time isn't enough.

Cleveland puts together a long, slow drive, they take about 5 minutes to get to the Panther 40, we put on the skids though, and force them into a 3rd and 15, their QB throws it into double coverage and Deon Grant is there for the INT! With 2:18 left we are close to sealing it.

On 2nd and 11, Cleveland has all their men up to stop the run, I know I don't want to give teh ball back with 1:50 to go or whatever it woudl work out to, and I call a short pass, which my tight end takes for a first down.. that lets me run the clock down a signifigant amount. I still have to punt but with only 1:06 left, and the Browns are out of timeouts.

Cleveland has 57 seconds to go 88 yards... 42 seconds to go 71 yards. 4 downs without a completion ends the game!


Carolina 31-26

Their defense was very good, I had a hard time moving the ball against cleveland, but I got 2 or 3 big plays strung together for touchdowns, and had the INT for a TD, and kickoff return for a TD that really gave me a chance today.

Cleveland was so dominant, 486 total yards of offense to my 120, they just couldn't score TDs in the red zone. My backups today were horrible, we just couldn't move the ball at all in the 2nd half, but luckily, we didn't need to.


I'm starting to get a good feel for the flow of the game, so I may not play the last two preseason games all the way out. We'll see next time I sit down to play

[Radii]

The panthers have a solid $20 Million left in room under the salary cap. I go ahead and sign the best free agent available.

Welcome Kicker Jeff wilkins to the team. He signs for 2 years, $2.79 Million, with a bonus of $440K. This year He'll count 1.27 Million towards the cap. He's 3 years younger than Kasay and has a rating of 88, and is a bump in both accuracy and power by about 5 points.

I try to make a couple of trades to iprove myself at Cornerback but nothing materializies.

[Radii]

I decide to sim the last two preseason games and get us up to the start of the regular season.

Preseason Week #3 - August 25th

Carolina 17
Baltimore 14

Preseason Week #4 - Spetember 1st

Pittsburgh 20
Carolina 16


Player Progression

QB Chuck Crankshaw +2 (OVR 60)
HB Albert Russell +1 (OVR 62)
WR Deon Howard +2 (OVR 81)
WR Bob Page (Rookie) +1 (OVR 72)
TE Derrick Matthews +1 (OVR 66)
LG Leonardo Samuels +1 (OVR 73)
C Chris Mullen +1 (OVR 68)
RT Damon Nakfoor +1 (OVR 64)
DT Reggie Hill +1 (OVR 88)
CB Tyrell Turley (Rookie) +2 (OVR 71)
FS OJ Little +1 (OVR 78)


The WR improvements are very nice to see, most everywhere else we're looking at backups.


We advance to teh regular season and get our first look at the Owners Box.

Owner Information

Fan Interest is at an all time low(suprise suprise, we went 4-12 last year), and expectations are very low as well.

We need to spend some money advertising... we have money to burn and a very low payroll. We need to start spending it, and it doesn't look like there is much to be done in the trade market, so we're looking at spending on advertising and fan appreciatino, and then going nuts in free agency at the end of the year.

Ratings Averages

QB: 75 (League Ave: 85)
RB: 81 (League Ave: 80)
WR/TE: 73 (League Ave: 84)
OL: 77 (League Ave: 83)
DL: 93 (League Ave: 87)
LB: 84 (League Ave: 85)
DB: 87 (League Ave: 87)
K/P: 93 (League Ave: 85)

QB and TE are our weakest positions and we know this...


Board of Advisors

- We're paying our coaches an average salary
- We've got plenty of room under the cap to make an important hire
- We desperately need to make the playoffs this season
- Lets try to keep the food prices right where they are
- We should leave parking prices where they are now


The salary cap is the big thing right now... we can make a huge signing, I just don't see a place to do it.

[Radii]

Clearly my weakest position is Quarterback.

There are two teams with a backup QB noticibly better than my starter.

The Saints have Aaron Brooks on the trading block. He's rated overall 81, he's a much harder thrower than Delhomme, and has much better awareness but is a little less accurate.

The other is very intersting... The Titans picked up a 36 year old Kurt Warner in free agency, rated 91 overall, and he's still a monster back there... he was the QB of the year last year, and he isn't even going to start behind Steve McNair.


I try like hell to get Warner but I just don't have it. Even offering Delhomme, my 1st and 2nd round picks next year won't cut it...

However, I really feel i need the upgrade at QB, so I go after Aaron Brooks.

I give up QB Jake Delhomme, DT Brentson Buckner, and my 2nd round pick next season, but I land Aaron Brooks.

The trade actually leaves me with MORE cap room next season, but I need another DT, and I was trying to unload Bucker because I knew the DT was out there.

I sign DT Sam Adams, 34 years old, overall rating of 85. 3 years, $10 Million + a $1.5 Million signing bonus. He'll count $2.78 towards the cap this year.

That'll do it for preseason moves.

Welcome Aaron Brooks to the Panthers! Sam Adams makes me even stronger on the defensive line, as a backup he's almost as good as my 2nd starter Kris Jenkins.

I'd like to get a good tight end or center, I'm still weak in both those places, but I don't see it happening and don't want to give up any more draft picks.


I open the season September 9th, at home vs the Texans.

I want to play the college and the pro game simultaneously for this set of dynasties. It's Sept 9th in the pro game, and only August 25th in the college one, so we're going to play the first few weeks of the college season to get us up to date, then it's the opening kickoff to the NFL season!

[Radii]

I am officially a moron. I forgot to save and the auto save never kicked in with the stuff I did above. Next time I play I will try to make the same moves above, and will modify it if I can't for some reason.

[Radii]

I'm able to make all of the same mvoes above, We've got Wilkins kicking, Brooks at QB, and Sam Adams is my 3rd DT. On to the season now(after saving) :P

[Radii]

Week 1: September 9th, 2007

Tampa Bay(0-0) at Carolina(0-0)

Tampa and Carolina are similar teams, weak offenses and good defenses... we have the edge all over the offense, and the D-line, while Tampa has better linebackers and a better secondary. Hopefully Stephen Davis can run it down their throats.

Our biggest advantage over Tampa is that they are going to be QB'd by a rookie, Irv Burrough, rated 71. Michael Pittman is their starting HB and isn't much better. Their top recieving thread is former Panther Steve Smith, now only age 28 and rated 82... They still have much of the defense that led them to the 2002 Super Bowl, so this won't be easy.

On our opening drive Derrick Brooks gets to the QB and takes Aaron Brooks down for a big loss... on third and long I make the wrogn read and throw an INT that's returned for a TD. 7-0 Tampa

Our second drive goes nowhere either... this is realy going to be tough, we need our defense to help us out a lot.

We finally get a decent drive going, Davis gets the ground game moving a little(with a lot of help from Hoover), and Aaron Brooks finds Howard a couple of times... we put together a 10 play 48 yard drive, and have to settle for a 41 yard field goal, but we're on the board now. 7-3 Tampa with 1:37 left in the first.

Tampa Bay 7-3 - End of 1st

Tampa moves the ball on us without much trouble to start the second quarter... They put together a solid drive and score a touchdown on us. 3-14. They go 54 yards in 7 plays, taking 3 minuets off the clock.

We've got to get something going here... but on our first play from scrimmage, 4 defenders break through the line and Aaron Brooks is hit on his pass attempt... that's an INT by derrick brooks. Two plays later and they're in the end zone. 3-21

We get a drive going, and get into Tampa territory, but on a 3rd and 12, a pass is completed to Howard, and he fumbles after he comes down and gets hit... Tampa recovers on their own 40.

We stop Tampa on a key 3rd and 1 play, but they had gotten a few first downs already and they drain a 52 yard field goal... 3-24

On the first play from scrimmage Aaron Brooks is hurt.. Crankshaw comes in, but Brooks is on the way back soon.

We get one last chance in the half... ball on the 20 with 1:50 to go after a punt. But, we got nothin. One first down then we punt it back. I'm getting a little better at reading the blitz, but I needed some logner passes that drive and it didn't matter.

The blitz is definitely our biggest problem.. Tampa brings about 19 guys on the blitz every play I think. And I can't pick them all up.

After a decent return of our punt, Tampa moves downfield and gets a 32 yarder before the half ends...

27-3 Tampa at the half

I thought we'd gotten the 2nd half off to a good start, forcing a 3 and out... but an INT returned for a TD on our first pass tells us nothing changed at the half. 3-34

This one gets frustrating enough that I just let the computer finish it up.

L 3-46

OUCH!

The only thing you need to know, is that we turned it over 7 times. Actually, they got 12 sacks too. Greg Spires got 5 of them. Amazing...

I don't know if I'll need to mess with sliders because of that or not, but I didn't have those problems in pre-season, maybe it is just Tampa's defense vs my adequate at best offense.

[General Mike]

Which difficulty level are you playing on?

I know I've been messing around quite a bit with a Panthers franchise just to get a hang of the game, check some things out and see how it goes. Made a trade for Mike McMahon to give me a better starting QB to build around. Also, are you playing a 3-4 or a 4-3 defense?

[Radii]

I'm playing on all-pro difficulty with no slider changes currently. The preseason went fine, but if I have similar sack/QB pressure issues every game like I did against tampa I'll adjust the sliders some... but they are still a great speed defense, so I'm not worried enough about it yet.

I'm playing a 4-3 defense. I have 5 solid D-lineman(all rated 85+), with my 3rd DT, Sam Adams, rated 85 or 86 IIRC, and both of my DE's are 90+ I think.

My 2nd MLB behind Dan Morgan is only rated 69, so I run 4 down lineman sets almost exclusively.

[MizzouRah]

Yeah, so far AP has been quite a challenge for me. 0-4 in the preseason with the Rams. Didn't happen like this last year. I really like the balance in the game this year out of the box. I see penalties, a running game, mistakes are picked off, etc...

Todd