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12-06-2004, 02:28 PM
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#1 | ||
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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One Draft Dynasty (FOF 5.1a)
2005 - One League Draft
I'm not much of a storyteller, so here goes. This is a "One Draft" Challenge, but some specific rules.
The 2004 Cleveland Browns finished 0-16 (thanks to running 100% of their plays right up the middle for a 1.68 yards/carry average). For this, I start with the #1 pick. |
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12-06-2004, 02:30 PM
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#2 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Staff Hiring
Scout Blake Clayton, 37 QB: Average RB: Good WR: Average OL: Average K: Fair DL: Good LB: Good SC: Very Good YT: Good Head Coach Lonnie Mabry, 55 Motivation: Good Discipline: Average Offensive Playcalling: Excellent Defensive Playcalling: Very Good Injury Avoidance: Fair Offensive Coordinator Terry Bullock, 59 QB: Average RB: Excellent WR: Excellent OL: Good K : Average YT: Excellent Defensive Coordinator Matthew Woodard, 58 P : Very Good DL: Good LB: Average SC: Very Good YT: Good |
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12-06-2004, 02:32 PM
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#3 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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Seems to me that in this type of dynasty, where the quality of players are limited, the coach selections may be more important than normal. I'm very happy with my offensive coordinator, but there just weren't many good DCs on the market. The choice for HC was an interesting one - I personally think playcalling is the most important aspect for a HC, so that's what I tend towards; although this time getting far and away the best playcaller means taking a hit in Injury Avoidance, which could again prove cruicial in this type of dynasty.
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12-06-2004, 02:35 PM
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#4 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Draft
The eternal question - draft at Number 1, or trade down? There are two true studs right at the top of the draft pool: DT Kyle Rasmussen is 69/94 overall, maxed out across the board on the grey/blue bars. Top DT in the 40 and Agility drills, and top 3 in the Solecismic test and Strength test. He is an adjusted 9.8 overall. RT Teddy Tyler is 50/89 overall, also maxed out - the only T with a 40 time under 5.0s, number two in the agility drill, and the strongest. He's also the second dumbest tackle with only a 12 Solecismic score. Adjusted 9.2 overall. I deal the top overall pick to the Bears for 1.2, 2.2, and 3.2; the Bears take n either of the two top guys, and go with a DE out of Cincinnati. The 1.2 goes to Miami for 1.3, 2.3, 4.3. The Dolphins take Tyler, and Denver offers me 1.4, 3.4, and 6.4 for the third overall, and takes what looks to be the consensus top back in the draft, R.J. Apotsos from Minnesota. This leaves me the opportunity to take Rasmussen at number four. Some other wheeling and dealing picks me up a few other picks, but this is what it amounts to: 1.4 - RDT Kyle Rasmussen, Samford (69/94) Should hopefully be the stud in the center of the defense. 2.1 - RCB Russell Sonntag, Missouri (20/59) Fastest, smartest, strongest CB in the class. A strong man-to-man defender, so that may be our best bet on D. 2.2 - RB Dwayne Grasso, Mississippi State (39/44) A quick, strong running back. Maxed out projection at Breakaway Speed, Power Inside, and Speed to Outside. 2.3 - C Grant Brass, Rutgers (16/71) Best offensive lineman left on the board. 3.1 - FB Pickles Altenburger, Rice (38/63) Good all-around fullback. Could be best player available, and a great name. 3.2 - WLB Will Clayton, New Mexico State (25/54) Good run defense, and a strong pass rusher. Decent in other spots. 3.4 - LDE Alex Berlat, Vanderbilt (23/46) Balanced overall defensive lineman. 4.3 - LG Scottie McCormack, Mississippi State (13/49) Good technical blocker, not terribly strong. 5.1 - RT Vernon Donovan, Washington (17/39) Decent technically, strongest tackle left on the board. 5.23 - RDT Isaac Turnbull, Illinois (13/38) Not much on play diagnosis, not much of a hitter. Solid otherwise. 6.1 - SE Vinnie McKenzie, Clemson (22/42) Great kick returner, big play receiver. 6.3 - LDE Joel Blair, Kansas State (21/35) Some potential as a run stopper, good at play diagnosis. 7.1 - SS Van Rigsby, Florida State (20/40) Not much of a zone player, but solid in M2M, B&R, and intangibles. 7.23 - QB Troy Hagan, Missouri (17/59) Some word about QBs. There are about 5-6 QBs on the board that I like. I've been steadily putting off drafting one until a run started - and one just simply hasn't. Hagan is the best of the bunch, and is honestly a guy that either the CPU knows is going to bust, or is a lucky break. Assuming ratings at the center of the blue bars, the only sub-50 potentials he has are Third Down Passing, Sense Rush, Two Minute Offense, and Scramble Frequency. There is one other QB I'm keeping my eye on as an unsigned FA - lower rated, but smartest and strongest in the bunch. There's a possibility of having two decent QBs out of this, which would be a huge luxury. |
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12-06-2004, 02:46 PM
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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Post-TC Ratings Results (from draftees):
2005 Draft Ratings Recap (post-TC)
Wow. I hope I draft this well in the IHOF.. no major busts, except possibly McCormack (losing about 20% of his potential), Rasmussen looks like the real deal, and I may have hit breakout jackpot with Sonntag and Grasso. |
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12-06-2004, 02:49 PM
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#6 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Roster
Quarterbacks We've got three quarterbacks fighting for the starting spot. Troy Hagan has the initial edge due to having the highest current and future estimates (20/53), as well as having been drafted. Grant and Dillon are equal for the backup - Dillon has a much better arm, but can't read defenses (0/9) or avoid interceptions (0/1), which is pretty ugly. Grant is the opposite - his passing potentials are generally in the 30s (except long 10/50 and deep 9/84), but is 12/76 at Avoid Interceptions and 9/92 at Read Defense. Dillon has a strong affinity with the WR leader, an affinity with the backfield leader, and a conflict with the offensive line leader. Grant is the guy I mentioned before as being a possible breakout candidate - he looks pretty good so far. Hagan is decent-to-good across the board. His worst rating (aside from scrambling) is 21/21 at Sense Rush, but he's generally more balanced than either Grant or Dillon. He also has an affinity with the backfield and wideouts, and conflicts with the offensive line. Our depth chart at QB: QB Troy Hagan - 20/53 QB Casey Grant - 12/49 QB Lorenzo Dillon - 12/48 QB Cornelius Flynn - 19/40 (inactive) Running Backs An easier decision here - our top back is far and away Dwayne Grasso, our pick with the second choice of the second round. Grasso is a powerful back - his strongest suit is Power Inside at 98/98. He also has outstanding breakaway speed (74/74), and speed to the outside (86/86). He has the potential to be a decent enough receiver as well. He's likely the second best back in the draft, after the third overall pick by Denver (R.J. Apotsos - unsigned). Herman Cassidy out of Miami of Ohio beats out Irv Borders for the backup - neither is all that spectacular, but Cassidy has a shot of breaking one every so often (64/64 Breakway speed), so gets the nod. Craig Sons is an elusive back who earns the third spot on the active roster due to his returning skills (19/51 PR, 16/55 KR). Our depth chart at RB: RB Dwayne Grasso - 42/51 RB Herman Cassidy - 17/23 RB Craig Sons - 16/24 RB Irv Borders - 25/32 (inactive) Fullbacks One tough call to make was actually drafting a fullback, especially in the third round in this type of challenge. Pickles Altenburger has a great name, and looks like he may be a very solid pick, even that high. He has some developing to do (26/66 Run Blocking, 23/97 Pass Blocking), but is stronger than most of our offensive line (77/77), and will be a very solid receiver out of the backfield. He'll be starting for us easily, and will likely play TE in single-back sets to keep him on the field. While a powerful runner (78/78), he can't find holes (33/35). The backup is O.J. Harper, who might turn into a good run blocker (11/78). Our depth chart at FB: FB Pickles Altenburger - 43/69 FB O.J. Harper - 19/38 Tight Ends Along with offensive guard and middle linebacker, one of our three weakest positions, and one of only those three where we don't have at least one 'Good' potential player. The best receiver of the bunch is Buddy Kappers - and not a bad one, aside from an abysmal 2/5 Avoid Drops rating. The rest of his receiving abilities are in the middle of the scale. Lewis Nichols is a halfway decent receiver, and can hold his own blocking; he'll be the starter, but will be replaced by Pickles in the single-back sets. Rayburn wins the number three slot as long snapper. Our depth chart at TE: TE Lewis Nichols - 26/36 TE Buddy Kappers - 25/39 TE Carlton Rayburn - 14/37 TE Butch Williams - 18/37 (inactive) Wide Receiver Five players for four slots here. Two automatic spots go to SE Vinny McKenzie (sixth round draft pick) and FL Wally Rogers - Rogers is a great punt returner (47/70), and McKenzie a kick returner (56/84). McKenzie is a decent receiver all-around - good ratings at Getting Downfield and Big Plays. SE Wes Frerotte is the only one of the group without a discernable weakness - all his potential ratings fall between 32 and 50. He'll be the third receiver when the opportunity arises, meanwhile FL Vernon Logan will start opposing McKenzie. Oscar Borders is the remaining player - his best attribute is the ability to adjust to a badly thrown ball, but with the decent QBs we have, that might not be as important as I thought. Our depth chart at FL: FL Vernon Logan - 26/35 FL Wally Rogers - 10/22 Our depth chart at SE: SE Vinny McKenzie - 24/42 SE Wes Frerotte - 19/36 SE Oscar Borders - 17/28 (inactive) Centers We drafted Grant Brass near the start of the second round to anchor our line - he has the potential to do so, but needs a lot of development time. Strength is decent (40/40), and while is technical blocking skills have a ton of potential (79, 71), both are at 8 current ratings. Still, he'll start. Ty Patton and Jim Jenkins are similar players at backup. Jenkins seems to be a bit closer to ready, so he'll make the active roster. With Patton and Jenkins seemingly three of the better linemen on the team (C is the only position other than P/K with all the players at Good potential or better), they may roll into other spots on the line as the career progresses. Our depth chart at C: C Grant Brass - 18/71 C Jim Jenkins - 16/41 C Tyron Patton - 11/43 (inactive) Offensive Guards Possibly our ugliest position, although MLB may have something to say about that. We spent a draft choice here - fourth round Scottie McCormack - but he may be the biggest disappointment so far. Decent potential at the technical skills (47, 52), but he is 9/9 for blocking strength and 6/11 for endurance. We signed James Chrisman as a LG, but move him to the right side - a decent, balanced player, with potentials ranging from 32-43. He'll turn out to be a decent if unspectacular player, and we'd like him next to our better tackle on the right side. Kenyon McWilliams remains on the left side - similar to Chrisman, but slightly less talented. McCormack will backup the both of them. Bill Riddle is someone I'm not sure what to do with. I'm going to leave him to develop this season on inactive, but he's a one-trick pony - 23/71 at run blocking, and basically nothing anyplace else. I would like to use him as a one-shot in the goal-line formation or similar, but FOF won't let you modify the line like you can the other positions by formation. He may never see the field, he may end up starting in a few years. Dunno. Our depth chart at LG: LG Kenyon McWilliams - 16/35 LG Scottie McCormack - 11/38 Our depth chart at RG: RG James Chrisman - 18/38 LG Scottie McCormack - 11/38 RG Bill Riddle - 10/29 Offensive Tackles Some promising talent here. Vernon Donovan was drafted in the fifth round, and he'll start right away at Right Tackle. Donovan is strong as a horse (85), but could use some work on the technical side of things. The other side is similar - Donnell Taylor has good strength (67), but weak technicals (pots in the 30s). The backup will be Jones - He and Gibson are again, similar players, but Jones is closer to being a servicable player. Jones is actually projected above Taylor - Taylor's 0 Endurance brings him down there. Our depth chart at LT: LT Donnell Taylor - 19/36 LT Trent Jones - 13/39 Our depth chart at RT: RT Vernon Donovan - 19/41 LT Trent Jones - 13/39 LT Dusty Gibson - 10/30 (inactive) Punter Our one and only - Austin Jarvis is decent, with a good leg. Nothing extraordinary, but should be solid enough. Our depth chart at P: P Austin Jarvis - 42/57 Kicker See Punter. Ronnie Barton isn't the most accurate, but has an above-average leg for distance. Our depth chart at K: K Ronnie Barton - 21/44 Defensive End We drafted two DEs with the intent of keeping the line somewhat solid on the defensive side, but we'll have to see how that pans out. Alex Berlat came out of Vanderbilt with an early pick in the third round - he has solid strength right now, and the potential to be a very good end, but isn't there yet. He's the biggest fan favorite on the team. The interesting bit here is a swap of draft picks - Joel Blair was our sixth round pick, but projects better as a defensive tackle, so we swap him over there. He picks up a slight potential boost, but the fun part is when we realize fifth round DT selection Isaac Turnbull is small for the DT spot and also projects an increase moving to DE. We do so - and he looks like he'll be a good, physical player there. We've got one single backup here - Brent (there is no) Spoon will be a decent player against the run, but not much else. It's possible that problems with depth will be filled by outside backers. Our depth chart at LDE: LDE Alex Berlat - 26/56 (all situations) LDE Brent Spoon - 9/26 Out depth chart at RDE: RDE Isaac Turnbull - 11/40 (all situations) LDE Brent Spoon - 9/26 Defensive Tackle We targeted Kyle Rasmussen out of the box, and it paid off. Rasmussen is looking like a serious stud on the defensive line, with no actual rating lower than 57 and no potential rating lower than 86. He's by far the best player on the team. After moving Joel Blair to the inside, we realize he may also be good enough to start eventually, but not quite yet. Primarily a run stopper, he'll end up with near-50 ratings in Run Defense and Play Diagnosis, but Marlon Peters looks better right now and will get the start. Dexter Brigance is the biggest hitter of the bunch (aside from Rasmussen), and is balanced across the board. He'll get some time in passing situations. Our depth chart at LDT: LDT Marlon Peters - 20/32 RDT Dexter Brigance (pass situations) - 22/33 LDT Joel Blair - 21/39 Our depth chart at RDT: RDT Kyle Rasmussen (all situations) - 74/93 LDT Joel Blair - 21/39 Inside Linebacker Three undrafted free agents make up our middle linebacking corps - Hugh Tucker is the weakest of the three - Endurance and Special Teams bringin his rating up - so the question comes down to Nolan Thingvold and Marcus Hancock. Thingvold is much better in Bump & Run coverage, and a better pass rusher; Hancock is better in man-to-man, which I expect will turn out to be our best coverage angle. Right now, Hancock will start, but this is one race that may turn out to swap partway through the season. Our depth chart at MLB/SILB: MLB Marcus Hancock - 16/28 MLB Nolan Thingvold - 15/33 Our depth chart at WILB MLB Hugh Tucker - 15/30 MLB Nolan Thingvold - 15/33 Outside Linebacker We drafted Will Clayton in the third round to play outside linebacker, and he's definately the best of the bunch - a strong pass rusher, who can play the run and coverage equally well. He's likely the most versatile of the linebackers, and might be the one to step up to the defensive end spot when/if needed. He'll start at WLB, and be our most common blitzer. Graham Frederick will struggle to hold down the strong side, but he's our best bet - this was a weak class for linebackers, which might hurt us a good deal. Darren Garner is great at pass rush technique, but zero'd out at strength. He is a big hitter, though. Our depth chart at SLB: SLB Graham Frederick - 7/30 SLB Darren Garner - 19/33 Our depth chart at WLB: WLB Will Clayton - 26/51 SLB Darren Garner - 19/33 Cornerback An interesting position here. We drafted Sonntag in the second round knowing he was going to be good, but he looks like he may be a great player when developed. His Man-to-Man defense is 18/97, is a strong hitter (95). Run Defense should also be a strength of his once developed. He's the top guy, and while Man to Man is his biggest strength, he can play good zone (19/72), and hold his own on the bump and run (41/48). We're going to put him on the top receiver every time. Our second-best potential corner is not ready for prime time. Jessie Lang looks good, but is severly underdeveloped. 3/46 for Man-to-Man, 42/79 for Bump and Run, and he can't play zone at all. Trouble is, neither of the others are all that good, either. Norbert Castellanos is the most advanced coverage guy right nos, so he'll start - Elliot has good Bump and Man-to-Man potential, and is the best ballhawk, Wilkerson is a good run-stopper. Wilkerson will be the Nickel back, Lang the Dime. Elliot will be on reserve for right now. Our depth chart at CB: RCB Russell Sonntag - 27/66 LCB Norbert Castellanos - 15/32 RCB Ross Wilkerson - 15/36 LCB Jessie Lang - 8/33 RCB Sherman Elliott (inactive) - 9/28 Safety Van Rigsby was a solid pick at the seven spot, although he can't play Zone with a damn. Good Bump and Man-to-Man skills, as well as the intangibles. His run stopping leaves something to be desired - which is the biggest reason he moves to free safety, and will start there. Our strong safety will be Troy Cepeda to start - not a great guy in coverage, but decent stopping the run. Brett Hayes isn't terribly talented, but will balance across the board. It's possible down the line that Wilkerson will turn into a better Strong Safety and take over this spot. Our depth chart at SS: SS Troy Cepeda - 22/36 RCB Ross Wilkerson - 15/36 Our depth chart at FS: FS Van Rigsby - 21/41 FS Brett Hayes - 15/36 |
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12-06-2004, 02:59 PM
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#7 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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We get an 'A+' in the Solecismic draft review, my first one. I wonder how much of this is because every single draft pick filled a need.
 Teddy Tyler is the only one of three players taken in front of Rasmussen who has signed. Looks like he's not going to disappoint for Miami, either - 40/100 RB, 34/91 PB, 90 BS, 76 Endurance. Three of my players made the green list - Rasmussen, Sonntag, and Berlat. Two other non-first round talents from this past draft are up there.. QB Ricky North (3.11 - Buffalo) can't throw a screen pass to save his life, but looks pretty darn good other than that. RDT Rufus Castle, I guy I never even considered went to Arizona with pick 7.12. He has a 0 for Run Defense, but potentials of 76+ everywhere else. Could be an awesome pass rusher. |
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12-06-2004, 03:00 PM
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#8 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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Pre-season power ranking: 9 (last)
Next to last is a 51. |
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12-06-2004, 03:01 PM
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#9 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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This could be a first for me - checking out the scouting report for the Browns, my starting SLB (Graham Frederick) is so bad, he has no biggest strength.
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12-06-2004, 03:02 PM
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#10 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Great draft - unbelievable to get that monster DT at pick four. I don't know if I could have held off after trading down one notch.
Looks like you're following essentially the same recipe that I would. I think i'd be inclined to give myself mroe latitude with the starting training camp -- I think I'd want to go extra deep in URFA and give myself options at every position. Good luck, very interesting... |
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12-06-2004, 03:11 PM
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#11 | |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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Quote:
Well, I would have been pretty happy getting either of those two guys. A huge tackle would do for the offense what the DT does for the defense, imho - I'd be able to rely on a running game automatically, and would be a huge step towards a passing game. I was planning to end up at #2, but when Chicago took that defensive end instead (who looks pretty good, don't get me wrong - really this was a pretty strong draft class), it gave me some more latitude. Denver, it turns out, held the fourth pick and had two pretty darn good defensive tackles as it was; so I thought I was safe going one more. The Texans had the pick behind me - ended up taking the second best OT, but don't have a star at DT, so I didn't want to take the risk. |
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12-06-2004, 03:28 PM
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#12 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
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awesome dynasty
question on the rule.. do we get all new coaches and scout too or can keep some from 2004? thanks |
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12-06-2004, 03:30 PM
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#13 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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I'm leaving myself wide open for coaches/scouts - can do whatever I want there.
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12-08-2004, 02:45 PM
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#14 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I decided to start one of these dynasties as well... and my opening looks remarkably similar to yours. There is a monster DT in my draft, too -- and I have traded down to pick #4, and he is still there. However, there's also a monster QB in the draft -- and now I'm completely torn. I hadn't planned to start out with a QB, but this guy looks really, really good -- and that might be the only way to really make this thing work at all.
As much as I like the unheralded "little guy" at QB (who i'd no dobt end up with from the after-draft scrap heap) building around a passing god would certainly boost our chances, I have to suspect. *sigh* Dilemmas... |
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12-08-2004, 03:41 PM
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#15 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Conyers GA
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QS - Keep trading down until a team takes one of the two and then you take the other one. I imagine you'd need all the additional draft picks you can get to make this kind of dynasty successful.
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12-08-2004, 07:43 PM
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#16 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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I agree somewhat with KWhit's observation - I'm two seasons in, just haven't gotten an opportunity to bring the writeups to this machine and post them. My DT is arguably the best player in the league right now, and he's helping - but a top QB would be helping more. The big question, I think, is if you can get multiple first round picks from anyone (or if any have any to give). I wouldn't deal my top DT for a second and a third, but I might for a first and a second.
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12-08-2004, 10:07 PM
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#17 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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I'll be posting a bit more tonight, but some thought on this:
It seems as if one (maybe the only) advantage to this system is the cohesion - the ability to keep a team together the whole way through. But this (so far, three seasons) hasn't been anything for my team - while we do have very good cohesion, I went with the fictional league/preference draft option. Problem with this? /Everyone/ starts with extremely high cohesion, and even in the third season I'm not in the top half of any cohesion group (Passing, O-Line, D-Front, Secondary). Perhaps one way to give more of a possibility of some success to this is to work from a previously-matured universe? |
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12-08-2004, 10:25 PM
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#18 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Well, more accurately, everyone starts with the same cohesion... the scale is a relative one. Whoever is on top gets a 100, and it's scaled from there. So, from that perspective -- you're relatively way behind everyone now... but that's mostly a figment of their artificially high ratings. You are closer to them than you would be to an ordinary, mature league, I suspect. Just a technicalilty, of course. You'll be behind a while, but eventually *way* ahead. Last edited by QuikSand : 12-08-2004 at 10:26 PM. |
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12-09-2004, 01:11 AM
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#19 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Preseason
Carolina 42, Cleveland 14 Cleveland 10, New York 14 Cleveland 3, New Orleans 23 Washington 16, Cleveland 13 Not too bad of a beginning. While we lost all four games, we took the initial lead in three of them (excepting New Orleans), which may be a good sign for our starters against theirs. We also came out with no major injuries - Grant Brass is questionable for the first two weeks of the season with a sprained knee, Pickles has a cold, and our starting SS Cepeda had to miss the Washington game, but is Probably for the opener. Results-wise on offense, while we didn't put up any huge numbers, we didn't do poorly. Hagan went 29-43 for 344 yards, one touchdown, and two picks over the four games. Grant was 39-79 for 263, one, and three - Hagan is the definite starter heading into the season. Sons carried the ball the most in the preseason - 40 for 146 and a 3.65 ypc average. Grasso was 37 for 141 (3.81) - if he can bump that up just a bit during the season, we'll be very happy with it. On the receiving side, Vernon Logan caught fifteen balls for 238 yards to lead the receivers. The offensive line showed some promise - we gave up five sacks in four games, and no single player gave up more than one. The best of the run blockers was Chrismas (8/21), but there were a number of 0-7 and 0-5 type performances in general. Special teams was a mixed bag. McKenzie was a bright spot returning kicks, averaging 20.0 yards/return on seven attempts; but we combined as a team for 4 punt returns for only 16 yards. Barton was 4-8 on FGs and 4-4 on XPs, but Jarvis looked solid punting the ball, averaging over 46 yards/punt. Defensively, no surprise that Rasmussen led the team with 2.0 sacks, but we had nine in four games total, and the oft-maligned Graham Frederick had 1.5 sacks as well as leading the team with two interceptions. We'll stick with the game plans and such heading into the regular season. |
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12-09-2004, 01:11 AM
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#20 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Season
Week 1: Cincinnati 34, Cleveland 6 Week 2: Cleveland 0, Minnesota 37 Week 3: Miami 31, Cleveland 7 Week 4: Tennessee 23, Cleveland 15 Week 5: Cleveland 16, Jacksonville 20 Week 6: Cleveland 17, Houston 27 Week 7: Cleveland 0, Baltimore 31 Week 8: Indianapolis 27, Cleveland 10 Week 9: Pittsburgh 31, Cleveland 0 Week 11: Cleveland 0, Cincinnati 16 Week 12: Chicago 33, Cleveland 14 Week 13: Cleveland 14, Denver 31 Week 14: Detroit 38, Cleveland 20 Week 15: Cleveland 3, Pittsburgh 31 Week 16: Cleveland 0, Green Bay 31 Week 17: Baltimore 17, Cleveland 7 Final Record: 0-16 |
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12-09-2004, 01:11 AM
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#21 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Postseason
Wild Cards Baltimore 17, Buffalo 24 Cincinnati 13, Tennessee 20 Detroit 17, Minnesota 24 Tampa Bay 3, Washington 6 Conference Semifinals Buffalo 22, Oakland 21 Minnesots 10, San Francisco 17 Tennessee 27, Pittsburgh 21 Washington 28, New Orleans 38 Conference Finals Buffalo 17, Tennessee 26 New Orleans 14, San Francisco 28 Front Office Championship San Francisco 27, Tennessee 24 |
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12-09-2004, 01:12 AM
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#22 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Awards
Player of the Year: RB Oliver Macomber, TEN Front Office Bowl MVP: QB Leon Whitfield, SFO Offensive POY: RB Floyd Nixon, DET Defensive POY: MLB Antoine Gordon, CHI Offensive ROY: RB R.J. Apotsos, DEN Defensive ROY: DT Kyle Rasmussen, CLE All-League First Team Defensive Tackle: DT Kyle Rasmussen, CLE Apotsos had a comperable season to Grasso - R.J. started 15 games, had 266 carries for 1042 yards and 5 TDs; Grasso went 298-1050-3. Apotsos also caught 17-127 and 3 scores, while Grasso caught 14-109 and no scores. The touchdowns here were really the only difference. |
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12-09-2004, 08:47 AM
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#23 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 Summary
Code:
Well, what went right? Offensively, Grasso seems to be the real deal. Logan looks like he might end up being a decent receiver when all is said and done. Our quarterbacks need to develop. Defensively, we didn't do as bad as we might have. Rasmussen is the stud we expected, and Frederick was a serious surprise despite the horrible ratings. We need the pass defense to improve, but there is potential there, so it might. Our rush defense was slightly better than average, although I suspect a good bit of that was Rasmussen. Speaking of Rasmussen - he's developed like crazy. He's moved from a 74/93 after training camp to 90/93 at the end of the season. Pickles made a similar jump - from 43/69 to 57/69, while Sonntag went from 27/66 to 42/66. All this without a mentor, even - I wonder, how much of this is simply playing time and how much are these guys breaking out? |
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12-09-2004, 09:01 AM
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#24 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2005 End of Season
Team Performance: 0/100 Franchise Value: 20/100 Profit/Loss: 97/100 Roster Strength: 77/100 Year End Score: 56 For those curious, we made about $62 million in 2005; picking up about $3m more in total revenue (thanks to the TV contract), and paid out nearly $30m less in player salaries. |
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12-09-2004, 09:01 AM
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#25 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Staff Hiring
Scout Blake Clayton, 38 QB: Average RB: Good WR: Average OL: Good (+) K: Fair DL: Good LB: Good SC: Very Good YT: Average (-) Head Coach Brady Wunder, 53 Motivation: Average Discipline: Good Offensive Playcalling: Excellent Defensive Playcalling: Good Injury Avoidance: Excellent We basically break the bank to sign Wunder - he's not had a great record, but it looks like should be a good fit. Offensive Coordinator Terry Bullock, 60 QB: Average RB: Excellent WR: Excellent OL: Good K : Average YT: Excellent Defensive Coordinator Matthew Woodard, 59 P : Good (-) DL: Good LB: Average SC: Very Good YT: Good |
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12-09-2004, 09:01 AM
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#26 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Contracts
We have a handful of players who came on board as UDFAs who we need to resign as RFAs. Of these, only one asks for a real payday - Austin Jarvis, the punter. Jarvis ended up being a top-10 punter by average last season, and is looking for a surprisingly rich deal for a punter - $6.5 million over five seasons. He takes less than that, and we're good to go for 2006 - and negotiate with most of the players who will wrap up at the end of this season. Five remain - QB Grant, FL Logan, and three offensive linemen, all of whom are looking for pricey deals. Either way, we're barely using a third of the cap, if that, for this season and next; and these guys are RFAs. |
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12-09-2004, 09:02 AM
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#27 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Draft
Other than the 0-16 Browns, the worst team in the league was a tossup - Dallas, Philadelphia, and San Diego all finished at 4-12. San Diego is the one who gets screwed - so they get my first through fifth round picks this season for a seventh rounder in 2008. That seventh round SDO pick gets immediately packaged with my sixth and seventh rounders this season to the Falcons for their seventh rounder in 2008; and we're out of the draft, just like that. This, incidentially, also gives San Diego the first shot at Adrian Sampras - the 39/89 franchise QB out of Kansas State. Maxed out across the board with the exception of scramble frequency and kick holding - I may have chosen the wrong year to try this challenge. Especially when San Diego takes a DE out of Martin Luther (?) instead. Sampras falls to third, to Dallas, and the Cowboys will likely start a brand new dynasty of their own. |
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12-09-2004, 09:02 AM
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#28 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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Post-Draft
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12-09-2004, 09:23 AM
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#29 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Ratings Recap (post-TC)
Some major improvements here - most have been noted before. Our CB Sonntag is a huge jumper - gaining four points of potential, and 22 points of actual during the season. An interesting situation at quarterback, where despite last season's performance, it's beginning to look like Troy Hagan may not have the highest ceiling after all. |
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12-09-2004, 09:23 AM
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#30 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Roster
Quarterbacks Hagan didn't do much at quarterback, although everyone else did worse. His 7-15 TD/Int ratio didn't do much for me, nor did the 5.30 average yards/attempt. He had a pretty solid start - through his first four games, he threw for over 500 yards, 3 TDs, and only one pick; but ended up with four multi-interception games, including a four-pick game in a 14-31 loss at Denver. The interesting bit here is the offseason development - judging from the scout numbers, Casey Grant may have a (slightly) higher ceiling than Hagan, and Troy is trending in the wrong direction. Still, Grant's performance was entirely uninspiring (2 TDs, 8 Ints) while Hagan was hurting last season, so we stay with Troy. Our depth chart at QB: QB Troy Hagan - 29/51 QB Casey Grant - 21/52 QB Lorenzo Dillon - 15/50 QB Cornelius Flynn - 23/40 (inactive) Running Backs Dwayne Grasso did a solid job for a rookie. He ended up with two 100-yard games (Indianapolis, Pittsburgh), and finished just over 1000 yards for the year; on just about 300 carries. Our biggest offensive problem last season (beside the turnovers) was a horrendous third down percentage - we hope to address that by running a bit more on first and ten, and that means more carries for DG. Cassidy's breakaway speed didn't do much for him - he ended up with 109 carries for 392 yards, a decent number; but when the third man Sons was in, he had 10-56 yards - possibly due to much better Hole Recognition and Elusiveness ratings. Either way, a change here - Cassidy falls from second team to inactive, Sons moves up to the top backup, and formerly inactive Irv Borders gets his shot at third string. Our depth chart at RB: RB Dwayne Grasso - 49/56 RB Craig Sons - 19/24 RB Irv Borders - 28/33 RB Herman Cassidy - 19/24 (inactive) Fullbacks Pickles didn't do much carrying the ball, but was a solid blocker (15/41 KRB) and receiver (25-118). He'll keep the starting role. Our depth chart at FB: FB Pickles Altenburger - 63/71 FB O.J. Harper - 21/39 Tight Ends Lewis Nichols and Buddy Kappers are fighting it out again for the starting spot - Nichols caught 14 balls for 91 yards, going 1-6 on KROs. Kappers was 13-64 and a touchdown, and blocked 2-5. We'll stick with the status quo here - letting each develop, as we could really use a good receiving threat at TE. Our depth chart at TE: TE Lewis Nichols - 33/36 TE Buddy Kappers - 30/39 TE Carlton Rayburn - 17/38 TE Butch Williams - 22/38 (inactive) Wide Receiver Despite 11 drops, Vernon Logan turned out to be a pretty decent receiver. He led the team in catches and yards (57-711), and had a pair of receiving touchdowns. Vinny McKenzie's split end spot was less productive, but still decent (38-449, TD). Our depth chart at FL: FL Vernon Logan - 35/35 FL Wally Rogers - 11/22 Our depth chart at SE: SE Vinny McKenzie - 30/42 SE Wes Frerotte - 25/40 SE Oscar Borders - 21/30 (inactive) Centers Brass hasn't lived up to the third pick of the second round yet - had a lot of KROs, but only converted just above 25%, while giving up 8 sacks. He looks like he took a small step forward in the offseason, however; so we have hopes for this season. Jenkins and Patton have also each shown small improvement. Our depth chart at C: C Grant Brass - 30/70 C Jim Jenkins - 20/42 C Tyron Patton - 15/44 (inactive) Offensive Guards We were awfully worried about this spot, but it didn't turn out too badly last season. McCormack and McWilliams split time at the LG spot, and McCormack outplayed McW - in four starts (while McW was hurt), McCormack converted 41% of his KROs, and didn't allow a sack in 164 pass plays; while McWilliams was an even 25% for the season with three sacks allowed. We're going to list McCormack as the starter, but keep the playing time at 1 to get both in there. On the right side Chrisman was solid - five sacks allowed, but one in three for KROs. He'll stick there. Our depth chart at LG: LG Scottie McCormack - 16/39 LG Kenyon McWilliams - 23/38 Our depth chart at RG: RG James Chrisman - 28/41 LG Kenyon McWilliams - 23/38 RG Bill Riddle - 12/26 Offensive Tackles Donnell Taylor did a good job at LT - one in three KRBs, and 2 sacks allowed in 13 starts. Trent Jones filled in for injury, and let in five sacks in only three starts, so we'd much rather have Donnell there. On the RT side, Vernon Donovan was more of a weak link than we had hoped. 7 sacks, and only 9 KRBs in 52 chances. He'll continue to start because we have no better option, but we'll be likely running a little less to the right outside. Our depth chart at LT: LT Donnell Taylor - 23/39 LT Trent Jones - 18/41 Our depth chart at RT: RT Vernon Donovan - 24/44 LT Trent Jones - 18/41 LT Dusty Gibson - 12/31 (inactive) Punter Jarvis averaged 41.6 yards/punt, putting about 20% inside the 20. That - and a 64-yard long - was good enough to be a top-10 punter, and we rewarded him with a 5-year contract paying nearly $1m/year. Our depth chart at P: P Austin Jarvis - 54/54 Kicker Barton wasn't so hot. He had a long FG of 52 yards, but only hit 10/20 overall. He still has room to develop, though, but if he trails off this season, we may look at Jarvis doing placekicking as well. Our depth chart at K: K Ronnie Barton - 29/47 Defensive End Our experiment moving Turnbull to defensive end didn't turn out horribly - 41 tackles, 17 assists, and 1.5 sacks; but he had 11 hurries for a 4.6 PRPct. Not spectacular numbers, but good enough for a rookie there. Berlat had similar numbers, but 5.0 sacks and slightly less hurries. Spoon didn't do much when he played, but will stick as the backup. We're looking for a bigger season here from Berlat - in the next two, we need him to start living up to some of that potential. Our depth chart at LDE: LDE Alex Berlat - 35/60 (all situations) LDE Brent Spoon - 10/26 Out depth chart at RDE: RDE Isaac Turnbull - 19/40 (all situations) LDE Brent Spoon - 10/26 Defensive Tackle Rasmussen was first-team all-pro with over 100 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Best player on the team, so the focus is the other side. We started Marlon Peters, over Blair and Brigance - Peters and Brigance combined for 14 hurries and no sacks. Brigance was a slightly better pass rusher, Peters slightly better tackler - we'll stick with the same depth chart this season, until someone gives us a reason to move them up. Our depth chart at LDT: LDT Marlon Peters - 23/32 RDT Dexter Brigance (pass situations) - 27/36 LDT Joel Blair - 25/38 Our depth chart at RDT: RDT Kyle Rasmussen (all situations) - 90/92 LDT Joel Blair - 25/38 Inside Linebacker Hancock played injured for a good part of the season, but still managed to start 15 of the 16 games. Nothing terribly spectacular out of him - one interception, 74 tackles (25 assists). Tucker and Thingvold each had their opportunities, Tucker came up with the lone sack out of the MLB spot, and had the best tackle percentage of the trio. Our emphasis on man-to-man will keep Hancock in, but Tucker has earned the top backup. Our depth chart at MLB/SILB: MLB Marcus Hancock - 21/30 MLB Hugh Tucker - 20/31 Our depth chart at WILB MLB Nolan Thingvold - 17/29 MLB Hugh Tucker - 20/31 Outside Linebacker Frederick was a surprise for us despite horrible ratings - 4.0 sacks, 75 tackles from the strong side. Also came up with an interception and seven defended passes. We'll keep him there - Garner is rated higher, but for his pass rushing skills. He saw some time lined up at DE, and had 3.0 sacks in limited duty. On the weak side, Clayton was up with the rest of the linebackers with 70-ish tackles. Also a pair of sacks, and he tied for the team lead with three interceptions. Our depth chart at SLB: SLB Graham Frederick - 12/30 SLB Darren Garner - 24/33 Our depth chart at WLB: WLB Will Clayton - 34/50 SLB Darren Garner - 24/33 Cornerback Sonntag took a nice step forward, but hasn't shown the PDPct we need him to. He'll get there, though - an average 18.8 PDPct when constantly matched up on the opponent's top receiver isn't bad. Ross Wilkerson was the one who seemed to step forward the most - he saw time at SS and at the Nickel slot, and came up with three interceptions of his own. Castellanos was a disappointment, and drops from start to Dime back (only one pass defended). Jessie Lang, who I think has the potential to be a solid M2M guy, moves up to Nickel, while Wilkerson starts. Elliott remains a project. Our depth chart at CB: RCB Russell Sonntag - 49/70 RCB Ross Wilkerson - 24/38 LCB Jessie Lang - 14/35 LCB Norbert Castellanos - 26/32 RCB Sherman Elliott (inactive) - 12/29 Safety Cepeda was hurt a handful of games, but played a decent strong safety when he was in. The same story across the board here - we need our pass coverage guys to develop. Rigsby and Hayes stick in the same slots - Hayes saw some time with Cepeda hurt as well, and did solidly enough to back up both safety spots with Wilkerson nw starting at corner. Our depth chart at SS: SS Troy Cepeda - 27/36 FS Brett Hayes - 22/37 Our depth chart at FS: FS Van Rigsby - 28/41 FS Brett Hayes - 22/37 |
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12-09-2004, 09:23 AM
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#31 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Gameplan
Our biggest problem last year - not having the ball on offense. Quite simply. 22nd in rushes, dead last in pass attempts - likely last in total plays. Last in third down conversions (under 30%), second to last in turnovers, last in turnover margin (-17). What we need to do to counter this - get more yards on first down. We passed a good bit on first down last year - around 60% - and with an under 50% completion rate, that turned into 2nd and ten better than 30% of the time. We're pretty confident in our running game moving the ball without much loss of yardage, so we'll be running the ball likely 80% of the time on first down, and a comperable amount on 2nd-and-mid. Hopefully that (and improved QB play) will show an improvement on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, we won't change much - because we really weren't all that bad. I'm much more concerned about yards/play allowed rather than total yards (since we were on the field so much), and that was good for 11th against the run (3.74 ypc). Not as hot against the pass (7.15 ypa - 28th), but that will improve as our defenders do. The biggest worry is third downs - we let our opponents convert btter than half the time on third down. I think a good bit of this is passing on third down, so we're going to be less aggressive towards the pass in general, and try and sit back a bit more. |
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12-09-2004, 09:24 AM
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#32 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Preseason
Cleveland 21, Tampa Bay 28 New York 17, Cleveland 14 Cleveland 13, Atlanta 16 Philadelphia 17, Cleveland 9 No luck at all. Twice we lost games in the fourth quarter - although it raises hope, if nothing else. Some minor bumps and bruises, but nothing to worry about. |
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12-09-2004, 09:24 AM
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#33 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Season
Week 1: Cleveland 0, Pittsburgh 20 Week 2: Atlanta 17, Cleveland 9 Week 3: Cleveland 21, New Jersey 10 Week 5: Denver 24, Cleveland 7 Week 6: Oakland 31, Cleveland 17 Week 7: Cleveland 6, San Diego 10 Week 8: Cleveland 3, Kansas City 30 Week 9: Cleveland 0, Baltimore 12 Week 10: Pittsburgh 27, Cleveland 10 Troy Hagan goes Probably with a Sprained Neck for 4 weeks. His statistics - not so hot, with a lower Yards/Attempt average and a worse TD/Int ratio from last season. Enter Casey Grant. Week 11: Cincinnati 17, Cleveland 10 Week 12: Cleveland 7, New Orleans 34 Week 13: Houston 41, Cleveland 9 Week 14: Carolins 24, Cleveland 10 Grant does even worse - 1 TD, 5 Ints in 4 games. Back to Hagan. Week 15: Baltimore 27, Cleveland 6 Week 16: Cleveland 20, Tampa Bay 7 Week 17: Cleveland 17, Cincinnati 20 Final Record: 2-14 |
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12-09-2004, 09:24 AM
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#34 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Postseason
Wild Cards Indianapolis 31, New England 28 Miami 6, Denver 14 New York 20, Carolina 27 St. Louis 0, Green Bay 44 Conference Semifinals Carolina 10, Washington 17 Denver 10, Houston 20 Green Bay 24, Seattle 27 Indianapolis 7, Pittsburgh 24 Conference Finals Houston 16, Pittsburgh 17 Washington 23, Seattle 26 Front Office Championship Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 24 |
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12-09-2004, 09:25 AM
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#35 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Awards
Player of the Year: QB Bob Stuart, CAR Front Office Bowl MVP: QB Bruce Hudson, SEA Offensive POY: QB Bob Stuart, CAR Defensive POY: SS Dixon Shields, TEN All-League First Team Defensive Tackle: DT Kyle Rasmussen, CLE Grasso was among the league leaders in rushing - fourth overall with 1356 yards. He missed two starts due to injury, and finished less than 100 yards behind the league leader - he has a good chance to lead the league next season. |
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12-09-2004, 09:26 AM
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#36 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 Summary
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Our rushing offense was slightly better - we brought our yards/carry average up, but not by all that much. Our attempts and rushing yards in general went up. Passing offense - downhill. Worst overall both seasons, but we had less yards/atempt this time. Could be we we running in more situations where we may have been expected to, and didn't get some easier passes; but either way we need a quarterback to step up and start doing something. Our biggest problem from last season was the third down conversions - we had some improvement, moving from 28% to 35%, although we're still last there. Also improved our turnovers (slightly), and our turnover margin. Defensively is where we saw the more noticable improvement. There was something of a tradeoff - we allowed about a third of a yard more per rush, but half a yard less per pass attempt. We'll move in the same direction, as it seemed to help - 8% less third downs allowed, and a full touchdown scored less are big numbers. Individually, Hagan was a huge disappointment. Less touchdowns, less yards, same amount of interceptions. Grant was better than he was last season, but still not worth writing home about. Grasso was solid, and Sons did a pretty good job in relief. Rasmussen is a beast. First team all-pro again, and he is rated 96/96 now in his second season - he is second on 'Recommend' for current rosters, behind a maxed out C from Green Bay (also 96/96). Teddy Tyler, meanwhile, is 89/89 for Miami. Lorenzo Medeiros (the DE Chicago drafted first overall) is 65/77 for the Bears, and trails Rasmussen in all statistics. R.J. Apotsos (Denver's RB, who beat Grasso for ROY last season) took a step back, missing a 1000 yard season by two carries. He did double his touchdowns to 10, however. |
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12-09-2004, 09:27 AM
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#37 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2006 End of Season
Team Performance: 0/100 Franchise Value: 17/100 Profit/Loss: 79/100 Roster Strength: 80/100 Year End Score: 47 Our revenue dropped about $5m this season, all due to ticket sales. However, our costs also dropped - about $12m, much of it because we gave out $25m less in bonuses. So our profit went from $62m to $69m. Next season, we'll lower ticket prices a bit to keep the fans happy. |
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12-09-2004, 09:27 AM
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#38 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Staff Hiring
Scout Blake Clayton, 39 QB: Average RB: Good WR: Average OL: Average (-) K: Fair DL: Good LB: Good SC: Very Good YT: Average Head Coach Brady Wunder, 54 Motivation: Average Discipline: Good Offensive Playcalling: Excellent Defensive Playcalling: Good Injury Avoidance: Excellent Offensive Coordinator Terry Bullock, 61 QB: Average RB: Excellent WR: Excellent OL: Good K : Average YT: Excellent Defensive Coordinator Stanley Quackenbush, 55 P : Average DL: Excellent LB: Excellent SC: Excellent YT: Good This guy could possibly be the best defensive coordinator I've ever seen. |
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12-09-2004, 09:27 AM
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#39 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Contracts
Of the expired contracts (RFAs), we get Logan on board for around $4m for 3 years, Chrisman and Taylor for two year deals in the $3m - $4m range apiece, and a pretty easy deal on McCormack. The only touchy one is Casey Grant who is looking for about $8.5 million over three years. I let him sit until near the end of free agency, then give him about $7m over that time. Not that it matters too much, as we're still a good $56 million under the cap. As for renegotiations, we give Hagan the biggest deal, at $3.5m per for 5 seasons; McKenzie gets about $12.5m over the same timeline. Ross Wilkerson is the "surprising" bump - he had a decent season last year as a starting CB (3 ints, 19.4 PDPct), but is asking for over $12m over 5 years. We get him on board for 5 years at just under $2m/season instead, and leave the offseason contract stage with the full team on board this year and next. We're still projected at $40m under the cap next season, which is good as over half the team will be coming up for renewal. |
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12-09-2004, 09:27 AM
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#40 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Draft
We draft first overall, in front of the 3-13 Detroit Lions. San Diego didn't do much with my gift of draft picks from last season - they finish 6-10 this year. That franchise QB I mentioned last year that San Diego and Philadelphia passed on? Adrian Sampras went to Dallas at number three and led them to a 7-9 record, throwing for over 3800 yards, 24 TDs, and 16 interceptions. He's already a top-10 QB in the league, and projects with 4th-year Bob Stuart of Carolina to be the top two throwings in the league for a long, long time. As for this season - we've decided that we hate the Baltimore Ravens. Not surprising there. But what way to get at the Ravens indirectly? This year's recipients of our draft pick gifts are the Washington Redskins and the Philadelphia Eagles. Hopefully the 10-6 'Skins and 6-10 Eagles will start taking away Baltimore fans. The Eagles take Christian Witt - DE out of LSU with the top pick, making that three straight seasons where a defensive end is the top selection. |
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12-09-2004, 09:28 AM
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#41 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Post-Draft
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12-09-2004, 09:29 AM
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Ratings Recap (post-TC)
Our early picks took big steps forward. Aside from Rasmussen, Sonntag is looking ready to break out as a true cover corner, and we need to look at getting Pickles the ball more often. |
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12-09-2004, 09:29 AM
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#43 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Roster
Quarterbacks Hagan's only improvement over last season was his completion percentage - up to 57% from 52%, but his average yards/attempt went down, as did his TD/Int percentage. He missed four starts, which went to Casey Grant - Grant was pretty bad, again. We're still with Hagan, best chance to win and all that. He and Grant are running pretty even on ratings, but Hagan has the edge in performance; even though Grant is shaping up to be a better potential guy. One change comes in hereearly - Dillon and Flynn will both get some time in the preseason to get them on the field. Even with Dillon's complete lack of ability to read the defense, and then to avoid putting the ball in the hands of the opposition; he's still intriguing enough to deserve a shot. One of the two will go inactive - not sure which yet. Our depth chart at QB: QB Troy Hagan - 36/49 QB Casey Grant - 30/56 QB Lorenzo Dillon - 17/49 QB Cornelius Flynn - 27/41 Running Backs Grasso took a nice step forward last season - bumping up his average yards/carry and going over 1300 yards on the ground. With the two starts he missed due to injury, he has a good shot at 1500 this year and the league lead. Craig Sons did a surprisingly good job as the backup, putting up over 400 yards and 2 touchdowns in limited work (averaged 4 ypc). His returns were only so-so, however; 4.0 per punt return and 16.6 on kickoffs. Sons' ratings took a hit since the start of last season, however; so Borders may have a chance at taking the backup job based on performance. Our depth chart at RB: RB Dwayne Grasso - 58/61 RB Craig Sons - 16/23 RB Irv Borders - 29/33 RB Herman Cassidy - 20/24 (inactive) Fullbacks We avoid giving Pickles the ball on the ground - 40 yards on 12 carries - but receiving he took a step forward, catching 34 balls for 230 yards and a touchdown. Only one drop in that time as well, and I'd like to try and get him the ball more often, especially passing out of the Pro Set and one-back TE sets. He also was solid blocking, with over 30% KRBs made, and no sacks allowed last year. Harper is not a bad backup, although he doesn't see much time aside from special teams. He hasn't developed as much as we had hoped as a blocker; I'm going to go ahead and move him on the goal-line set to get him some reps. Our depth chart at FB: FB Pickles Altenburger - 73/73 FB O.J. Harper - 23/40 Tight Ends Buddy Kappers saw most of the starting time at TE - and did well, 6 of 15 KRBs and 21 catches for 153 yards. No changes here - Kappers/Nichols/Rayburn. The key with Nichols may be finding a place for him to block - he's the best blocking tight end on the team, better than some of the offensive linemen. In some passing sets, we'll be moving him to the FB spot, and let Altenburger play tight end - since the FB stays in from time to time to block, and the Tight End always goes out, I'd rather have Pickles out catching the ball. Our depth chart at TE: TE Buddy Kappers - 35/39 TE Lewis Nichols - 36/36 TE Carlton Rayburn - 24/37 TE Butch Williams - 21/33 (inactive) Wide Receiver Vernon Logan was the top WR in our first season, but he took a step back this season - 14 less catches, but just over half the yards. While we like the increased attention the FBs and TEs got, we can't have our wideouts all under 400 yards. The change here comes on the Split End side - McKenzie's catching numbers were about the same, but he caught less than half the balls he was targeted at (39-85), and for only 377 yards. Wes Frerotte caught only 24 balls, but that's nearly 2/3 of the ones thrown at him. We're going to move him up to starting Split End, and see if McKenzie's better Big Play ability will be better served out of the slot - he, at SE2, will be the third wideout in any available sets. Our depth chart at FL: FL Vernon Logan - 41/41 FL Wally Rogers - 13/20 Our depth chart at SE: SE Wes Frerotte - 32/44 SE Vinny McKenzie - 38/43 SE Oscar Borders - 26/31 (inactive) Centers After calling Brass out a bit in this space last season, he cut down on his sacks by 3/4, allowing two all season (down from 8). His run blocking still needs to improve (23%), however. The ratings are still moving up, however, so that's progress. Jenkins didn't get quite as much playing time, but will widen his role a bit - backing up a few more spots on the line. Our depth chart at C: C Grant Brass - 46/70 C Jim Jenkins - 23/41 C Tyron Patton - 14/36 (inactive) Offensive Guards We put McCormack in front of McWilliams here last year based on limited information, but he came through - he started all 16 games, better than doubled his total plays, and kept his Run Block Ratio - 40% KRBs. He did allow two sacks, but still not bad at all, we're happy with him at LG and may run his way more often. Chrisman improved as well - keeping his KRB percentage solid at 33%, and dropping from 5 to 2 sacks allowed on the year. Our depth chart at LG: LG Scottie McCormack - 22/31 LG Kenyon McWilliams - 27/41 Our depth chart at RG: RG James Chrisman - 40/44 C Jim Jenkins - 23/41 RG Bill Riddle - 13/25 Offensive Tackles Donnell Taylor took a step back, and that hurt our passing game a good bit. We ran his way more, and didn't get much benefit as the Block Percent dropped from 33% to 28%, but his sacks went up from 2 to 8; cancelling out much of the improvement along the rest of the line. Trent Jones didn't get much work backing him up, but should get more this year as we drop the playing time down a good bit. Vernon Donovan improved at his run blocking - nearly doubling his percent to 30% - but jumped from 7 to 10 sacks allowed. Trent Jones will see a good bit of time here as well. Our depth chart at LT: LT Donnell Taylor - 30/40 LT Trent Jones - 23/46 LT Dusty Gibson - 9/22 (inactive) Our depth chart at RT: RT Vernon Donovan - 31/45 LT Trent Jones - 23/46 Punter Jarvis continued to improve, increasing his average by a yard/punt (42.5), and putting 36 inside the 20 in just over 100 attempts. Our depth chart at P: P Austin Jarvis - 62/62 Kicker Barton is improving slower than Jarvis, but he is improving - from 10/20 (50%), up to 16/25 (64%). Another jump like that will satisfy us. Our depth chart at K: K Ronnie Barton - 37/49 Defensive End Not a lot of direct improvement from the defensive end spots - Berlat had slightly more stats, but less effectiveness - 5.0 sacks, 8 hurries to 4.5/14; but was in on probably 200 more plays due to a healthy season. Not that these are poor stats, but we're hoping from more from the position. On the other side, Turnbull struggled a bit, putting up only 1.5 sacks and 5 hurries. These guys both have a good bit of potential left, and I'm hoping the new defensive coordinator will bring that out. Our depth chart at LDE: LDE Alex Berlat - 46/65 (all situations) LDE Brent Spoon - 13/26 Out depth chart at RDE: RDE Isaac Turnbull - 25/41 (all situations) LDE Brent Spoon - 13/26 Defensive Tackle Rasmussen is the best defensive player in the game, right now. Twice all-league, twice leading the team in tackles with over 100, twice with 6.5 sacks. No worries there. Brigance didn't do much in his passing situations - half a sack, and only 5 hurries - so we're going to move Blair up into where Brigance played last time through. Our depth chart at LDT: LDT Marlon Peters - 27/32 LDT Joel Blair - 27/39 (passing situations) Our depth chart at RDT: RDT Kyle Rasmussen - 95/95 (all situations) RDT Dexter Brigance - 31/38 Inside Linebacker Hancock got a bunch of tackles, but all-told not terribly impressive. Down in tackle percentage from 18.8 to 15.8, but picked up four sacks this season which was a nice bonus. He'll continue to start. Our depth chart at MLB/SILB: MLB Marcus Hancock - 26/30 MLB Hugh Tucker - 25/31 Our depth chart at WILB MLB Nolan Thingvold - 17/27 MLB Hugh Tucker - 25/31 Outside Linebacker Frederick had another decent season despite his ratings - 3.0 sacks instead of 4.0, but still 75 tackles. He still starts. Garner backed up some at defensive end, but didn't get a sack for us, he drops back to backup SLB. Clayton duplicated his previous year, which was fine at WLB. Our depth chart at SLB: SLB Graham Frederick - 17/29 SLB Darren Garner - 28/34 Our depth chart at WLB: WLB Will Clayton - 40/50 SLB Darren Garner - 28/34 Cornerback / Safety Sonntag didn't get an interception last season, but he improved his general defense - defenses went from 4 to 13, and wideouts caught three less balls despite more passing plays. He broke out in this offseason, however - run defense from 40 up to 95, and Man-to-Man and Zone are both up around 80 right now. Sonntag is a top-ten corner in the league, right now. The problem now is figuring out who to place on the other side of him - Wikerson did a pretty good job there last season, so will reprise the role. He matched his three picks, and kept his PDPct high at 19.4. Sonntag's sudden improvement brings up an interesting possibility - since all of a sudden he's as good at Zone as at Man-to-Man, we have the ability to mix things up a little. Castellanos is great at zone, and is our best second-CB in any individual type of rating. Wilkerson is even in M2M and Zone; but the big problem is at safety - Cepeda is slightly better at zone, but Rigsby can't play zone at all; but Brett Hayes is even across the board. We're going to stick with what we have right now - split M2M and Bump and Run - but may re-evaluate midseason. Our depth chart at CB: RCB Russell Sonntag - 74/74 RCB Ross Wilkerson - 40/40 LCB Norbert Castellanos - 29/31 LCB Jessie Lang - 21/37 RCB Sherman Elliott (inactive) - 15/31 Our depth chart at SS: SS Troy Cepeda - 35/37 FS Brett Hayes - 30/37 Our depth chart at FS: FS Van Rigsby - 38/41 FS Brett Hayes - 30/37 Last edited by Celeval : 12-09-2004 at 09:32 AM. |
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12-09-2004, 09:30 AM
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#44 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Gameplan
We improved offensively across the board, but aren't anywhere near where we need to be to actually win some games. Our percentages are good, I think, but I'm moving a bit around on run directions. Balance out the outside runs, and a bit more to the left side guard. Defensively again - not much change. More slanted defensive coverage to bump and run, and we already noted in the roster notes that a zone is becoming more of an option. That and continuing in the direction of sitting back on defense hopefully should see our defensive improvement continue. |
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12-09-2004, 09:30 AM
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#45 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Preseason
Detroit 10, Cleveland 0 Cleveland 10, Arizona 13 Cleveland 7, Minnesota 3 St. Louis 13, Cleveland 7 Well, we finally won our first preseason game, but it came at a cost - we lost two starters, Ross Wilkerson (CB) and Will Clayton (WLB), 6 and 5 weeks respectively. We played a number of backups to get playing time in - the big looks were at running back and quarterback. Stats in comparison: Rushing Borders : 54-204-1 (3.78 ypc) Cassidy : 32-127 (3.96 ypc) Sons : 25-119 (4.76 ypc) All three backs did well here, which is a good sign from the offensive line, I think. Sons keeps his role as backup, and while Borders did pretty well, he'll keep inactive. Passing Flynn : 28-56, 278 yards, TD, 3 Int Dillon : 21-31, 155 yards, 2 Int Tough call here for the number 3 slot - Dillon was much more accurate, but both had about the same yards/attempt; and Flynn turned it over less. Flynn will stick on the roster. Meanwhile, with the injuries - Castellanos moves up to the nickelback position, and Tucker will be playing the weak side. |
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12-09-2004, 09:31 AM
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#46 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Season
Week 1: Cleveland 7, Baltimore 14 Bad first week. Rasmussen out for five weeks. Week 2: Cleveland 19, San Francisco 38 Week 3: Cleveland 10, Jacksonville 17 More soreness on the defensive line - Turnbull out 8 weeks with a stress fracture. Week 4: Cleveland 3, Buffalo 27 Week 5: Pittsburgh 26, Cleveland 7 Week 6: Miami 14, Cleveland 37 Offensive explosion, or "The Dolphins can't stop the run". Grasso has the game of his career so far - 33 carries, 221 yards, 2 touchdowns. Hagan throws for a score, Rigsby runs a pick back for a score as well. This week we also start to get some players back. Week 7: New Jersey 20, Cleveland 14 Week 8: Cleveland 7, New England 37 Midpoint of the season, and we're 1-7.. but we're not really playing badly. Offensively, we're doing much better - Hagan has 1200 yards, 5 TDs, and 8 picks. Grasso is on pace for a 1500-yard season, and we're averaging 13 points/game which while not amazing, is an improvement. Our big problem is defensively against the run - can't stop it, allowing 4.28 yards/carry. One big reason? Rasmussen has been out all season, and he's back this week. Turnbull is three weeks away. Clayton came back last week. The secondary hasn't been all that bad - despite much of our defensive front being out, we've put pressure on quarterbacks, and played pretty well against the pass. We'll keep our pass settings as-is and see how things work out down the road. Week 9: Baltimore 31, Cleveland 13 Week 11: Cleveland 24, Cincinnati 30 Week 12: Cleveland 12, St. Louis 6 Week 13: San Diego 16, Cleveland 23 Perhaps our best offensive statistics - Grasso over 200 yards again (35-204), Hagan is 12-16 for 104 yards and 2 touchdowns. Our first two-game winning streak. Week 14: Seattle 17, Cleveland 14 Rasmussen hurt again here - sprained a knee, questionable for three weeks. Week 15: Cincinnati 10, Cleveland 17 Sonntag with Elbow Bursitis. Questionable through the rest of the season. Week 16: Arizona 10, Cleveland 17 Week 17: Cleveland 13, Pittsburgh 10 Final Record: 6-10 |
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12-09-2004, 09:32 AM
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#47 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Postseason
Wild Cards Buffalo 24, Houston 20 Oakland 35, Denver 23 San Francisco 38, Detroit 41 Tampa Bay 16, Washington 20 Conference Semifinals Buffalo 6, Baltimore 9 Detroit 24, Atlanta 31 Oakland 24, New England 38 Washington 13, Seattle 17 Conference Finals Atlanta 21, Seattle 24 Baltimore 13, New England 17 Front Office Championship New England 18, Seattle 15 |
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12-09-2004, 09:33 AM
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#48 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Awards
Player of the Year: RB Cary Madison, CHI Front Office Bowl MVP: QB Trent James, NE Offensive POY: RB Cary Madison, CHI Defensive POY: SLB Dave Riley, WAS All-League Second Team Cornerback: Russell Sonntag, Cleveland Grasso was ripped off, in my opinion - he led the league in rushing by a wide margin (1823 yards to 1507 yards), but didn't have the touchdowns (6, while Madison had 14; although the second team all-league back also only ran for 6). His receiving yards hurt - he had only about 100 yards receiving compared to nearly 500 for the other top backs. Not that there's an award for this, but Vinny McKenzie was the only player to return two kicks for touchdowns. Austin Jarvis had the fifth-highest punting average at 44.0 even. Sonntag earned his second-team award - 21.0 PDPct, 5 interceptions with one returned for a score. Rigsby played well from the safety spot as well, again with three picks (one for a TD), and a 19.9 PDPct. |
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12-09-2004, 09:34 AM
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#49 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 Summary
Code:
I really think we turned a corner this season. It may have happened sooner - but with all the injuries, especially on the defensive front. Our first game at full strength was Week 12 against St. Louis - the differences are striking. Code:
Huge difference defensively, even with Rasmussen out for the final three weeks. Our rushing game became a huge factor, and I think that's a lot of what helped Hagan develop. He played every snap at quarterback this year, and took a solid step forward - completion percentage went up to 63%, average yards/attempt and yards/completion both went up, and the TD/Int ratio ended up near even for the first time. Grasso had the kind of season we know he can have, bringing his avg yards/rush up a good bit - although we still would love to get him into the end zone more. Altenburger was hurt for a good bit of the year, but still made a good offensive impact - catches and yards both went up, and while his blocking suffered a bit, he was able to still avoid giving up a sack. Frerotte was a definite improvement at Split End as well, although McKenzie was able to increase his yards/catch number from the slot. Defensively, we were a mess for the first part of the year until people started getting healthy - we went from giving up 4.3ypc over the first half of the season to ending at 3.97 - projecting out to a 3.65 or so over the second half; good for top six in the league if we're able to keep that over an entire season. Our pass defense was exactly what I want to see - I'll give up the completion percentage to keep yards down - third in yards, fifth in yards per attempt is just fine for me. Add in that our third down conversions were nearly identical to what we gave up, and I'm very happy with that. If we can stay healthy in Year Four, I think we may be a playoff team. |
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12-09-2004, 09:34 AM
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#50 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cary, NC, USA
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2007 End of Season
Team Performance: 26/100 Franchise Value: 15/100 Profit/Loss: 77/100 Roster Strength: 82/100 Year End Score: 53 Attendance continued to drop, despite lower prices - down six percent from 2006 to 2007, and about 15% since the start of the dynasty. Our profit also went down a good bit, although we still made nearly $30 million dollars - our total costs went up about $30m between salary and bonuses, and will likely do so again. Revenues were down about 4%. Our ticket prices will stay as is - the lowest in the league, right now, and I'll leave them low as long as we keep making money. |
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