FOF 2004 - Return to the Island of Misfit Toys

[QuikSand]

Return to the Island of Misfit Toys

Well, I have been fiddling around with a few other sim games lately. I’ve labored through about seven seasons of OOTP 6… it’s improved from its previous incarnations, but just doesn’t look like it’s for me. My efforts were certainly not worthy of writing about, so please don’t feel slighted. Anyway… I’m back to itching a bit for my true love – building a football team. Since I feel like I’ve exhausted the more or less “traditional” approaches, I thought it might b worth giving a shot to a different style. I’ll go back to the Island of Misfit Toys – where all my players will come from the free agent rookie pool available following the rookie draft. I’ll keep players on my team through any means, but the only way we can sign them is as undrafted rookies.

Usually, I tend to set my gameplan first, and then look for players who fit it. Here, I expect to do the opposite – which may prove more interesting. My experience with the IMT concept is that it’s more or less dumb luck where you get some quality players – even if you’re especially good at finding them, they just come along, you don’t really get to “call” for somebody to help out at a particular spot. So, if I end up with a fleet of nice receivers, this might end up as a run-and-shoot type of team… but if we end up with run-blocking linemen, we’ll pound the ball instead. Defensively, I expect the whole scheme will be based around the quantity and type of linebackers I get – I’m open to a 3-4 defense, even, which would be an oddity for me in this game. So – we’ll go with the flow… presumably, we will get lucky and land a few breakout players, and they will become the core of the team.

I am going to follow one general rule – I’m not going to start players out of position. If I draft a S and he can move to CB, I am open to doing that. But I don’t want to have a ton of guys playing out of their actual, listed position.

Past that – I think it will be pretty much “anything goes.” I don’t expect to get into very much detail with the player selection process… I think I will probably just post an Excel table with the training camp analysis, and use that to show what happened. I will add in a few comments about the particularly promising rookies in each crop.

More rules as needed… if this actually becomes interesting, then I’d expect my discussions to get more detailed. We’ll just let it run its course.

[QuikSand]

For what it’s worth, I’m going to play onward in the game universe where I had been the GM for the Miami Dolphins (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=26966). After an unbelievable run with that club, I have essentially grown tired of playing with such a monstrous roster – that won’t be a problem with an IMT squad, I’m certain.

I’m taking over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, a club that has a pretty rough go of it during this league history. We probably won’t be turning that around anytime soon – but with only 17 players under contract as we start off the 2030 season, we ought to have a fairly easy time clearing out the chaff and starting over. That’s the goal.

I’ll confess – there’s something very wrong about this team, as I give it my first look-over. They have 28 players who were signed to one-year rookie deals last season. 28! I don’t know what kind of salary cap hell this team was in… but no wonder they have been last in the division two years running…

[cthomer5000]

Happy to see both this dynasty in general, and the same universe. It's almost like a sequel.

[QuikSand]

I don't yet know if this one will be worth getting too excited about...

[QuikSand]

2030

By the way, for those of you who followed the aforementioned Dolphins dynasty (http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?t=26966), you’ll be pleased to note that all-universe QB Mel Copeland made it into the HOF with a full 100% support, as expected. No surprise, but I thought it was worth a side mention here.

The very first step is to clean house with the front office staff. Basically, I try to go “top of the line” with my staff hirings – and we grab the OC from my old Miami squad, along with a great-looking head coach. My lead scout (a critical position) is pretty good, doesn‘t have any major weaknesses, but he’s not so great with young talent – we’ll probably look to replace him before too long. Ideally, I’d like to get a solid young scout we could keep for a long, long time.


The preseason is delightfully brisk in this game – we zip through free agency and the draft, and quickly move right into the post-draft free agent market, where I’ll be looking for rookies of any shape and size to make our initial roster.


Here’s the first year crop:


Player Pos Start Exp Current Future Current Future Current Future
Blanchard, B.J. QB 1 14 38 15 35 1 -3
Hawker, Wendell QB 1 12 32 14 31 2 -1
Barlow, Bob QB 1 12 37 13 34 1 -3
Banks, Scott QB 1 10 33 13 32 3 -1
Regalado, Donald QB 1 10 36 10 31 0 -5
Sanderson, Lonnie QB 1 7 40 9 36 2 -4
Rivero, Carl QB 1 4 22 5 23 1 1 *
Bradford, Gerald RB 1 23 28 24 29 1 1 *
Barnes, James RB 1 20 27 21 29 1 2 *
Garciaparra, Rich RB 1 18 27 19 27 1 0
Brooks, Robbie RB 1 18 22 18 21 0 -1
McKnight, Norm RB 1 15 22 16 22 1 0
Farlow, Harold FB 1 23 35 25 35 2 0
Compton, Chester FB 1 16 29 17 29 1 0
Joseph, Billy TE 1 20 38 22 38 2 0
Duran, Vernon TE 1 17 32 19 26 2 -6
Dawson, Matthew TE 1 16 31 17 31 1 0
Lindsay, Patrick TE 1 13 26 14 27 1 1 *
Redding, Tony FL 1 17 29 20 30 3 1 *
Covington, Nicky FL 1 13 21 15 23 2 2 *
Jennings, Bobby FL 1 7 24 8 24 1 0
Lydon, Paul SE 1 14 21 15 21 1 0
Stephenson, Frank C 1 17 32 19 30 2 -2
Kearney, Jack C 1 11 23 12 24 1 1 *
Kinney, Devin C 1 8 23 11 23 3 0
Surdyk, Gino C 1 7 13 8 14 1 1 *
Burke, Edwin C 1 6 27 7 23 1 -4
Ames, David LG 1 14 29 15 29 1 0
Thagcher, Rob LG 1 13 30 15 30 2 0
Ogden, Christian RG 1 11 38 13 43 2 5 ***
Middleton, Artie RG 1 8 37 11 38 3 1 *
Manifold, Tommy RG 1 8 12 8 12 0 0
Price, Roderick LT 1 10 38 12 32 2 -6
Whiting, Oscar LT 1 10 19 10 20 0 1 *
Bugallo, Howie RT 1 10 26 11 27 1 1 *
McElroy, Brock P 1 38 49 38 45 0 -4
Criswell, Carl K 1 20 38 25 42 5 4 *
Brooks, Alfred LDE 1 21 32 21 30 0 -2
Dodrill, Barry LDE 1 18 23 18 24 0 1 *
Jansen, Leland LDE 1 16 26 16 25 0 -1
Gwynn, Nathan LDE 1 13 28 14 27 1 -1
Diaz, Todd LDE 1 7 12 8 14 1 2 *
Compton, J.J. LDE 1 19 25 20 26 1 1 *
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 1 22 32 23 32 1 0
McNamara, Zach LDT 1 12 18 12 19 0 1 *
Ames, Daniel LDT 1 9 30 12 30 3 0
Arseneault, Frankie NT 1 12 19 12 19 0 0
Lowe, Ian LDT 1 8 23 10 23 2 0
Leal, Carl RDT 1 21 34 23 35 2 1 *
Blackwell, Desmond RDT 1 10 20 11 19 1 -1
Shapiro, Tyrus WILB 1 15 31 16 29 1 -2
Hauser, Juan WILB 1 4 18 5 18 1 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 1 16 28 17 28 1 0
Carden, Ethan SLB 1 14 28 15 28 1 0
Stevenson, Lenny SLB 1 9 17 10 18 1 1 *
Tasker, Donnie SLB 1 7 25 8 23 1 -2
Blanchard, Paul WLB 1 17 28 18 28 1 0
Doyle, Rufus WLB 1 10 23 11 19 1 -4
Lester, Dana RCB 1 16 33 18 33 2 0
Sakurai, Xavier LCB 1 11 32 13 30 2 -2
Kaufman, Jim RCB 1 10 25 12 25 2 0
Wishon, Ross RCB 1 7 16 9 18 2 2 *
Glaze, Daryl RCB 1 6 31 8 33 2 2 *
Finley, Spencer RCB 1 6 17 7 18 1 1 *
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 1 14 36 16 37 2 1 *
Koonce, Leo SS 1 10 36 12 36 2 0
Castillo, Kurt SS 1 9 36 10 32 1 -4
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 1 14 40 15 40 1 0



Not a lot of home runs in the lot, here – I think RG Christian Ogden has the most promise of anyone, but it’s tough to put an offensive guard on the cover of the media guide.

It might be tough to start Carl Rivero ahead of these other guys – but he might have the best future. I can’t imagine that he’s going to be our long-term answer, though… so we will probably go with Hawker or Blanchard, I suppose. Neither Bradford nor Barnes will inspire anyone at RB – so we’ll limp through this season at the glamour positions, it seems. WR Tony Redding might turn out to be our most productive offensive player, actually.


We run our first season on auto-pilot – letting the staff handle both the depth chart and the game plans. We’re not going to amount to anything here anyway – we might as well get it over with.



Front Office Football 2004
2030 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 0-16
Winning Pct.: .000

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 339 32
Rushing Yards 1276 32
Yards Per Carry 3.76 24
Pass Attempts 518 12 (T)
Completions 263 31
Passing Yards 2508 32
Yards Per Attempt 4.84 32
3rd Down Conversions 33.1 31
Points Per Game 8.9 32
Turnovers 30 21 (T)
Turnover Margin -9 25

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 549 32
Rushing Yards 2472 32
Yards Per Carry 4.50 32
Pass Attempts 473 6
Completions 325 28
Passing Yards 3415 16
Yards Per Attempt 7.21 28
3rd Down Conversions 48.1 32
Points Per Game 25.9 32
Turnovers 21 24 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 10 at NOS 23
2 7 at BAL 44
3 0 SFO 16
4 3 at WAS 27
5 0 DAL 12
6 7 at ATL 31
7 14 PHI 35
9 0 at NYG 31
10 17 NOS 20
11 13 CAR 26
12 19 at CIN 31
13 3 at DET 21
14 21 PIT 24
15 6 ATL 23
16 6 CLE 20
17 17 at CAR 31

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
2 Hawker QB 505 261 2492 4.93 7 19
**Team --- 518 263 2508 4.84 7 23

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
40 Bradford RB 217 842 3.88 3
49 Barnes RB 66 268 4.06 1
**Team --- 339 1276 3.76 4

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Redding WR 118 58 713 12.2 55 2
7 Lydon WR 90 43 376 8.7 41 1
11 Covington WR 96 41 549 13.3 49 2
27 Farlow FB 44 33 140 4.2 59 1
84 Joseph TE 54 26 182 7.0 24 0
31 Garciaparra RB 35 16 152 9.5 26 0
**Team --- 517 263 2508 9.5 307 7

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
35 Shapiro ILB 101 33 1.0 0 4 1
92 Leal DT 85 39 2.5 7 0 0
37 Feenstra S 82 30 0.0 0 0 5
47 Lester CB 64 18 1.0 1 2 9
50 Blanchard OLB 62 21 3.5 4 0 2
44 Freeman OLB 57 23 5.0 1 0 3
39 Kaufman CB 55 16 0.0 1 0 2
53 Carden OLB 53 9 0.0 2 0 2
71 Ocasio DT 47 23 0.5 2 0 0
26 Glaze CB 43 9 1.0 0 0 2
33 Von Oelhoffen S 41 26 3.0 2 4 4
77 Compton DE 40 13 3.0 6 1 1
78 Dodrill DE 29 11 1.5 6 0 0
29 Koonce S 27 10 0.0 0 0 3
99 Ames DT 21 4 0.5 4 0 0
30 Finley CB 20 8 1.0 0 0 2
79 Jansen DE 19 4 1.5 2 0 0
**Team --- 920 302 25.0 38 11 37


Hmm… when I said the team wasn’t going to win any games, I didn’t really mean that literally. Feh, zero games. Ugh.

Highlights? Not many. Best I can say about QB Hawker’s season is that he was better than our backup Blanchard, who posted a 0.0 QB rating on the year – which is pretty tough to do. I guess RB Bradford’s 842 yards rushing qualifies, and Tony Redding’s 713 is solid on a team that managed to so little offense. DT Carl Leal looks like a pretty respectable run-stopper for us up front – actually, 85 tackles is crazy for a DT, but on this team not a huge surprise. Our second-best player on defense might have been CB Dana Glazer, which is nice as that’s a tough spot to fill, generally, in these things. But we were at or very near the bottom in every stat category that matters – so this year was a truly lost cause.

Incidentally, the Dolphins made the Superbowl again after going 10-5-1 and getting only a wild card, but they lost to a mighty Atlanta team (18-1 on the year).


Nothing to see here…

[QuikSand]

2031

An uneventful pre-season, up to the rookie class. Here’s the camp snapshot:


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Webster, Terry QB 1 21 45 24 43 3 -2
Hawker, Wendell QB 2 21 27 22 27 1 0
Blanchard, B.J. QB 2 15 33 18 33 3 0
Banks, Scott QB 2 13 32 15 32 2 0
Rivero, Carl QB 2 6 24 8 24 2 0
Bradford, Gerald RB 2 27 30 28 30 1 0
Shapiro, O.J. RB 1 25 37 25 34 0 -3
Barnes, James RB 2 23 31 23 31 0 0
Garciaparra, Rich RB 2 20 27 21 27 1 0
Alston, Josh RB 1 20 27 21 26 1 -1
Farlow, Harold FB 2 28 35 29 35 1 0
Compton, Chester FB 2 19 30 20 30 1 0
Joseph, Billy TE 2 28 38 30 38 2 0
Ehler, Vernon TE 1 22 42 23 40 1 -2
Dawson, Matthew TE 2 18 32 20 32 2 0
Redding, Tony FL 2 26 31 28 31 2 0
Covington, Nicky FL 2 19 25 19 25 0 0
Everett, Norbert FL 1 17 34 19 35 2 1
Jennings, Bobby FL 2 8 24 10 24 2 0
Chandler, Jerry SE 1 19 31 21 31 2 0
Lydon, Paul SE 2 16 21 17 21 1 0
Lavoie, Fernando SE 1 12 47 13 41 1 -6
McKnight, Norm SE 2 10 25 11 25 1 0
Kearney, Jack C 2 17 25 19 25 2 0
Stephenson, Frank C 2 13 21 14 21 1 0
Kinney, Devin C 2 11 22 12 22 1 0
Gray, Omar C 1 8 47 11 47 3 0
Ames, David LG 2 18 28 19 28 1 0
Thagcher, Rob LG 2 15 30 17 30 2 0
Ogden, Christian RG 2 20 46 22 46 2 0
Middleton, Artie RG 2 11 40 15 40 4 0
Price, Roderick LT 2 15 32 17 32 2 0
Whiting, Oscar LT 2 11 20 12 20 1 0
Page, Seth LT 1 12 13 12 13 0 0
Bugallo, Howie RT 2 14 27 16 27 2 0
McElroy, Brock P 2 41 41 42 42 1 1
Criswell, Carl K 2 37 47 39 47 2 0
Nyland, Seth LDE 1 22 37 23 38 1 1
Dodrill, Barry LDE 2 20 25 21 25 1 0
Jansen, Leland LDE 2 17 21 17 21 0 0
Arseneault, Frankie LDE 2 11 20 12 20 1 0
Diaz, Todd LDE 2 9 16 10 16 1 0
Chapman, Edward RDE 1 26 32 27 32 1 0
Compton, J.J. RDE 2 24 28 25 28 1 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 1 23 35 24 34 1 -1
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 2 30 33 32 33 2 0
Colman, Brad NT 1 23 31 24 31 1 0
Ames, Daniel LDT 2 13 30 15 30 2 0
McNamara, Zach LDT 2 13 20 14 20 1 0
Lowe, Ian LDT 2 10 23 11 23 1 0
Leal, Carl RDT 2 31 37 33 37 2 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 1 24 45 25 44 1 -1
Alarcon, Austin MLB 1 25 38 27 38 2 0
Shapiro, Tyrus MLB 2 19 28 20 28 1 0
West, Richie WILB 1 9 31 10 27 1 -4
Hauser, Juan MLB 2 6 18 7 18 1 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 2 20 29 21 29 1 0
Carden, Ethan SLB 2 17 28 19 28 2 0
Stevenson, Lenny SLB 2 11 18 11 18 0 0
Tasker, Donnie SLB 2 8 23 10 23 2 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 2 21 29 22 29 1 0
Lester, Dana LCB 2 24 32 27 32 3 0
Abrams, Jeremy LCB 1 21 38 23 33 2 -5
Kaufman, Jim RCB 2 15 25 15 25 0 0
Wishon, Ross RCB 2 10 20 11 20 1 0
Finley, Spencer RCB 2 9 19 10 19 1 0
Glaze, Daryl RCB 2 8 17 8 17 0 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 2 20 38 21 38 1 0
Koonce, Leo SS 2 14 36 15 36 1 0
Henrichsen, Sammie SS 1 13 31 14 26 1 -5
Lake, Deon SS 1 20 35 20 32 0 -3
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 2 24 40 24 40 0 0



Well, it seems we have a new quarterback – Terry Webster may not be a star in the making, but he’s better than what we have, and will vault right into the starter’s slot there. RB O.J. Shapiro looks like he could step right in as our starter – he has maxed-out elusiveness, which might be an asset with such a shaky line up front.

MLB Austin Alarcon will step right in at MLB, and is my early tag for DROY honors – he ought to snag a solid tackle total for us. DE Seth Nyland looks like a decent pass rusher, and he ought to start for us, too. WR Norbert Everett has some potential, but will have to battle for time, along with a few other quasi-prospects at WR.

It’s another season on auto-pilot for us – hopefully the last. After a couple of seasons, I’m hoping to have enough sense of the team to start putting things together myself, and trying to squeeze some wins out of this bunch. The early appearance is that this might end up being a passing team – I’m not wild about any of our backs, and the line seems to be shaping up as a bit pass-inclined, overall.



Front Office Football 2004
2031 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 5-11
Winning Pct.: .312

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 417 26
Rushing Yards 1686 20
Yards Per Carry 4.04 13
Pass Attempts 440 27 (T)
Completions 245 30
Passing Yards 2658 29
Yards Per Attempt 6.04 25
3rd Down Conversions 39.3 20
Points Per Game 14.6 25
Turnovers 39 32
Turnover Margin -14 30

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 503 28
Rushing Yards 2072 28
Yards Per Carry 4.11 19 (T)
Pass Attempts 505 23
Completions 321 32
Passing Yards 3529 26
Yards Per Attempt 6.98 22
3rd Down Conversions 44.0 25 (T)
Points Per Game 21.9 31
Turnovers 25 15 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 11 at ATL 41
2 3 at JAX 20
3 14 GBY 7
4 9 ARI 27
5 10 SFO 19
6 13 at STL 24
8 31 at SEA 28
9 0 at NOS 25
10 21 ATL 30
11 20 CAR 10
12 10 HOU 20
13 26 at PHI 28
14 10 at IND 16
15 13 at CAR 9
16 13 TEN 23
17 31 NOS 24

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
12 Webster QB 406 232 2523 6.21 13 19
2 Hawker QB 33 12 120 3.63 0 4
**Team --- 440 245 2658 6.04 13 23

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
40 Bradford RB 215 750 3.48 2
12 Webster QB 75 406 5.41 3
34 Shapiro RB 65 294 4.52 2
49 Barnes RB 35 135 3.85 1
**Team --- 417 1686 4.04 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Redding WR 95 49 582 11.8 92 3
83 Everett WR 74 44 597 13.5 77 1
82 Chandler WR 77 33 389 11.7 35 3
40 Bradford RB 34 26 190 7.3 50 0
84 Joseph TE 36 26 268 10.3 35 2
24 Lavoie WR 57 26 323 12.4 20 1
27 Farlow FB 30 20 117 5.8 39 1
**Team --- 440 245 2658 10.8 384 13

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Alarcon ILB 105 38 1.0 2 0 4
92 Leal DT 90 38 4.5 3 0 1
31 Feenstra S 79 24 0.0 0 2 10
44 Freeman OLB 76 25 3.5 5 1 5
50 Blanchard OLB 63 24 6.0 3 2 4
21 Abrams CB 61 25 0.0 0 1 7
47 Lester CB 43 21 0.0 0 1 4
71 Ocasio DT 40 16 1.5 10 0 1
33 Von Oelhoffen S 39 22 0.0 0 5 6
76 McGrew DE 35 6 5.5 5 0 0
41 Lake S 35 4 1.0 3 2 2
39 Kaufman CB 31 5 0.5 0 2 1
29 Koonce S 29 21 0.5 0 1 3
93 Nyland DE 26 14 4.0 11 0 1
77 Compton DE 24 9 3.0 1 0 0
53 Carden OLB 18 7 0.5 0 0 2
**Team --- 904 318 34.0 50 17 52



Leaps and bounds. Leaps and bounds.

Terry Webster wasn’t great at QB – but an improvement, for certain. His ability to run a little certainly helped our case, too. At RB, Bradford was again the man, but Shapiro will get a long look next year if it’s between those two. The WR group was muddled – no real standout there.

LB Alarcon did post good tackle totals, but not staggering – not enough for DROY, even. The big shock was that DT Carl Leal, our tackling machine in the middle, notched enough tallies to get a trip to Hawaii as a first team all-pro – nice!


I’m not sure if the statistics support this team winning five games – but it’s something to try and build upon, I suppose. Next year – we go hands-on, and try to see what we really have here. We’ll have to make contract decisions on 2/3 of this team – so it will be time to decide who can really stay around.

[SplitPersonality1]

How odd. This morning I was just thinking. "Quiksand hasn't had a dynasty in a while. I hope he does one soon". A few hours later, this thread starts.

I knew those psychic powers would come in handy some day.

Glad to see you back in Dynasty mode QS. I will be following along closely.

[condors]

good luck, i enjoy the island of misfit toys

[Alf]

Nice to see Copeland in the HOF.

A simple question : What do you do with your draft picks ? As far as I remember, in our previous IMT, you were trading them to another team (who did not have tremendous succcess anyway)

[Pyser]

glad to see the same career continued. how did miami do the 2nd year without you?

[QuikSand]

Answers to questions from above:

-I have been trading all my draft picks to Cleveland (for no particular reason), as I do enjoy watching to see what a team can do with a double draft every year

-Miami stumbled in its second year without me and missed the playoffs -- I'll have a report to update you on their status following the next season

[QuikSand]

2032

This will be my first year of getting hands-on with this team. I plan to set the depth chart myself, and probably tinker with the game plan a bit, too. Maybe not hip-deep in everything, but it won’t be a zombie team this year.

During the free agency period, I re-up with a number of players who have served for two years. Keys on the list (guys I see having a fairly long term role with the team) include:

RB Gerald Bradford – 1,592 yards in two seasons as starter – will compete for role again
FB Chester Compton – decent blocker, really all I want at this position
TE Billy Joseph – decent starter for two seasons, but certainly replaceable
WR Tony Redding – 1,295 yards as our top target and punt returner – decent for long haul
C Jack Kearney – two year starter, some potential – marginal
RG Christian Ogden – solid starter, our best lineman, developing fairly well
RT Howie Bugallo – tackle is tough position to fill, he can keep the RT job for now
DT Curtis Ocasio – decent starter inside at DT, okay at everything
DT Carl Leal – run stopper standout, maybe our best player so far – new long term deal
LB Sam Freeman – strong side starter, decent but replaceable easily
LB Paul Blanchard – starter, but not enough run support for my tastes
CB Dana Lester – our most consistent corner – decent for now, definitely
SS Frankie Von Oelhoffen – nine picks make him our best ballhwaker – decent player
FS Tyrus Feenstra – decent defender, no eye for the interception, though – maybe CB?


I will probably fill up the roster with a few more re-signings, but those will just be fillers. Going forward – I think this is the group from the first “draft” that makes the cut and stays in our plans.



Player Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Webster, Terry QB 2 30 42 33 42 3 0
Hawker, Wendell QB 3 22 28 25 28 3 0
England, Wayne QB 1 19 45 21 41 2 -4
Wheeler, Lonnie QB 1 17 43 19 39 2 -4
Hansen, Kurt QB 1 17 43 18 39 1 -4
Edward, Blaine QB 1 7 22 8 22 1 0
Bradford, Gerald RB 3 31 31 31 31 0 0
Evans, Bob RB 1 29 36 30 36 1 0
Shapiro, O.J. RB 2 24 32 25 32 1 0
Pierce, Clarence RB 1 22 30 23 28 1 -2
Alston, Josh RB 2 20 25 21 25 1 0
Kelley, Riddick RB 1 17 26 17 23 0 -3
Carpenter, Mitche RB 1 16 19 16 19 0 0
Compton, Chester FB 3 21 30 22 30 1 0
Wolf, K.C. FB 1 20 37 21 37 1 0
Joseph, Billy TE 3 36 39 37 39 1 0
Melaragni, Alvin TE 1 23 36 25 35 2 -1
Redding, Tony FL 3 33 33 33 33 0 0
Everett, Norbert FL 2 22 36 24 36 2 0
Hammond, Marc FL 1 20 33 22 32 2 -1
Gnida, Kenyon FL 1 19 28 20 27 1 -1
Sanford, Jamie FL 1 15 40 17 37 2 -3
Chandler, Jerry SE 2 26 32 27 32 1 0
Lavoie, Fernando SE 2 17 38 19 38 2 0
Kearney, Jack C 3 25 26 26 26 1 0
Gray, Omar C 2 12 49 15 49 3 0
Ames, David LG 3 22 28 22 28 0 0
Richardson, Georg LG 1 5 23 8 27 3 4
Ogden, Christian RG 3 30 49 32 49 2 0
Rodriguez, D.J. LT 1 17 32 19 31 2 -1
Spellman, Alan LT 1 12 27 14 26 2 -1
Bugallo, Howie RT 3 23 27 24 27 1 0
Jasper, Britt P 1 43 51 45 51 2 0
Griffith, Kent K 1 34 72 39 71 5 -1
Nyland, Seth LDE 2 26 39 26 39 0 0
McCormick, Leland LDE 1 18 30 19 30 1 0
Chapman, Edward RDE 2 28 32 28 32 0 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 2 25 34 27 34 2 0
Jannot, Hardy RDE 1 20 29 21 32 1 3
Fletcher, Teddy RDE 1 14 25 16 25 2 0
Wiggins, Corwin RDE 1 13 32 14 29 1 -3
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 3 34 34 34 34 0 0
Colman, Brad LDT 2 24 31 25 31 1 0
Kufahl, Ken LDT 1 21 34 22 35 1 1
Ames, Daniel LDT 3 14 30 16 30 2 0
Leal, Carl RDT 3 40 40 40 40 0 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 2 26 45 28 45 2 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 2 33 39 35 39 2 0
McKenzie, Mitchel MLB 1 17 33 19 33 2 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 3 25 31 27 31 2 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 1 18 34 20 33 2 -1
Fuller, Edwin SLB 1 17 31 20 32 3 1
Blanchard, Paul WLB 3 24 30 25 30 1 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 1 9 37 12 41 3 4
Lester, Dana LCB 3 32 32 32 32 0 0
Schultz, Walter LCB 1 19 34 21 34 2 0
Wells, Van LCB 1 10 24 11 24 1 0
Hitchcock, Jamal LCB 1 11 23 11 21 0 -2
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 2 30 33 32 33 2 0
Von Oelhoffen, Fr SS 3 24 39 26 39 2 0
Koonce, Leo SS 3 18 39 21 39 3 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 3 30 41 32 41 2 0
Lake, Deon FS 2 21 30 22 30 1 0



In training camp, we have some nice news – a couple of decent breakout candidates in G George Richardson and LB Kerry Seiler. Neither one looks like a world-beater, but we’ll take what we can get. So far, the picking have been pretty slim – in three years, I have yet to see a single URFA who looked like a sure-thing, slam-dunk breakout candidate. Alas – we’ll work with what we have.


There aren’t any real surprises with our depth chart or game plan – we will remain a pretty vanilla team this season. RB OJ Shapiro gets my opening day nod for the starting tailback slot – but we will keep an eye out, as Bradford is a close second and has the experience. I’m hopeful that our special teams will improve – as we went out of our way to obtain a number of reserve player who could perform well there. LB Kerry Seiler is going to start right away as the weak side linebacker, despite my scout’s argument against – he has more upside than the others in the hunt.


I don’t think this is a team that can win six or more games – if we squeak our four or five again like last season, I’ll be fairly content. Honestly, we are thinner than I had expected at this point – I had expected to have four or five real breakout players around by now. As it stands, I think we only have a handful of players who would be worthy of making a well-developed roster at all. Not so hot.


We wanted four or five wins – we end up with three and a half – a little disappointing, but not that bad, I guess.



Front Office Football 2004
2032 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 3-12-1
Winning Pct.: .218

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 477 13 (T)
Rushing Yards 1880 20
Yards Per Carry 3.94 22
Pass Attempts 491 20 (T)
Completions 297 21 (T)
Passing Yards 3331 17
Yards Per Attempt 6.78 15
3rd Down Conversions 44.5 11
Points Per Game 17.6 19
Turnovers 23 14
Turnover Margin -1 15 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 463 16 (T)
Rushing Yards 1894 19
Yards Per Carry 4.09 18
Pass Attempts 502 18 (T)
Completions 312 22 (T)
Passing Yards 3469 23
Yards Per Attempt 6.91 22
3rd Down Conversions 40.9 12 (T)
Points Per Game 21.1 25
Turnovers 22 18 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 23 CAR 26
2 18 KCY 28
3 7 DAL 20
4 6 ATL 20
5 31 at MIN 3
6 17 at NOS 27
7 14 at DET 6
9 21 GBY 31
10 23 CHI 14
11 21 at CAR 31
12 27 at SDO 30
13 10 at SEA 10
14 10 DEN 20
15 17 NOS 27
16 20 at OAK 23
17 17 at ATL 22

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
12 Webster QB 481 289 3272 6.80 18 15
**Team --- 491 297 3331 6.78 19 16

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
40 Bradford RB 229 845 3.68 2
34 Shapiro RB 93 380 4.08 1
12 Webster QB 78 396 5.07 2
36 Evans RB 68 228 3.35 3
**Team --- 477 1880 3.94 9

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Redding WR 124 72 955 13.2 116 3
82 Chandler WR 90 51 613 12.0 75 1
40 Bradford RB 62 41 256 6.2 50 2
24 Lavoie WR 64 39 542 13.8 106 5
84 Joseph TE 51 37 350 9.4 54 4
83 Everett WR 48 26 369 14.1 83 2
**Team --- 490 297 3331 11.2 538 19

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Alarcon ILB 96 46 1.0 2 1 4
44 Freeman OLB 89 27 7.5 6 0 6
96 Seiler OLB 77 26 5.0 1 0 1
92 Leal DT 75 35 5.5 4 0 0
31 Feenstra S 74 29 1.0 0 1 9
21 Abrams CB 59 20 1.5 0 4 8
71 Ocasio DT 50 17 1.5 9 0 1
47 Lester CB 43 15 0.0 0 2 5
33 Von Oelhoffen S 42 14 1.5 3 5 5
57 Bullock OLB 29 1 0.0 0 1 2
78 Jannot DE 26 6 4.0 8 0 1
28 Schultz CB 25 4 0.0 0 1 1
76 McGrew DE 24 12 4.5 10 0 0
93 Nyland DE 18 10 5.0 5 0 0
29 Koonce S 17 6 0.0 0 0 2
38 Hitchcock CB 17 5 0.0 0 1 1
**Team --- 848 287 42.0 55 16 47



Nice to see the QB get more TDs than picks – that’s a good step. Terry Webster is actually developing beyond his original projection – something we did not expect from him. Interesting…

RB O.J Shapiro was playing okay, until popping his knee and being lost for the season. Bradford again stepped in and was decent as our starter – but RB remains a position where I will keep fishing for a step up. WR Tony Redding is okay – he really just benefited from an overall improvement in the offense, I think.

LB Sam Freeman had a very nice season – his 7.5 sacks is the most we have seen from anyone, and our pass rush seems to be getting better. Indeed, our LB corps put up pretty respectable numbers this season all told -- even rookie Kerry Seiler looked pretty decent, despite still having very limited current ratings. S Von Oelhoffen remains our best interception threat – he doesn’t have a lot else, but he can pick them off.

I do a number of contract extensions here, rather than waiting until next season – at this point, money is not really an object, so I have great flexibility as needed.


Can this team start to resemble a “real” team soon? QB Terry Webster is looking more and more viable, and a few more players are taking their places – MLB Austin Alarcon, CB Jeremy Abrams, and TE Billy Joseph are all starting to look like guys who could end up being worth something to us after all. We’ll see…


And by the way – three seasons after my departure, the once-titanic Miami Dolphins dynasty is in total ruin, they went 5-11 this year and missed the playoffs again with their second straight losing season. Hooray for the AI!

[QuikSand]

2033

Again, the offseason flies by, getting us quickly to the undrafted rookies. I’m hoping for a standout this year – we really don’t have any stars on this team. A defensive tackle as our best player? Really, now…

And I think we have a winner – CB O.J. Mills is the first rookie that I see great things from. He is also projected to be pretty solid in man coverage, which is what I’d prefer to play anyway – so this guy might end up being the real thing. The sky is the limit, I think – he could end up very, very good.

RB-turned-WR Aaron Buckley has some real promise, too—though I don’t know that he will live up to his lofty potential. But he benefited greatly from the position switch, and we could use a playmaker on offense like what he appears he could become.



Player Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Webster, Terry QB 3 43 43 45 45 2 2
England, Wayne QB 2 21 39 23 39 2 0
Wheeler, Lonnie QB 2 18 39 21 39 3 0
Shuran, Joey QB 1 7 38 10 38 3 0
Bradford, Gerald RB 4 33 33 33 33 0 0
Evans, Bob RB 2 30 35 31 35 1 0
Shapiro, O.J. RB 3 25 27 26 27 1 0
Kelley, Riddick RB 2 17 20 17 20 0 0
Compton, Chester FB 4 25 31 26 31 1 0
Wolf, K.C. FB 2 25 36 26 36 1 0
Joseph, Billy TE 4 37 39 37 39 0 0
Melaragni, Alvin TE 2 26 35 28 35 2 0
Redding, Tony FL 4 33 33 33 33 0 0
Everett, Norbert FL 3 27 36 29 36 2 0
Hammond, Marc FL 2 22 30 24 30 2 0
Gnida, Kenyon FL 2 19 25 20 25 1 0
Sanford, Jamie FL 2 16 27 17 27 1 0
Chandler, Jerry SE 3 31 31 31 31 0 0
Lavoie, Fernando SE 3 20 24 22 24 2 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 1 20 50 21 46 1 -4
Buckley, Dennis SE 1 12 33 15 33 3 0
Kearney, Jack C 4 27 27 27 27 0 0
Gray, Omar C 3 18 49 22 49 4 0
Ames, David LG 4 23 27 25 27 2 0
Richardson, George LG 2 10 30 12 30 2 0
Ferrett, Brent LG 1 5 24 6 20 1 -4
Ogden, Christian RG 4 43 51 46 51 3 0
Rodriguez, D.J. LT 2 23 31 25 31 2 0
Spellman, Alan LT 2 14 27 16 27 2 0
Bugallo, Howie RT 4 28 28 28 28 0 0
Jasper, Britt P 2 47 50 49 50 2 0
Griffith, Kent K 2 50 64 55 64 5 0
Nyland, Seth LDE 3 29 41 30 41 1 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 2 23 35 24 35 1 0
Hayes, Andrew LDE 1 16 35 18 32 2 -3
Chapman, Edward RDE 3 30 33 30 33 0 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 3 25 30 26 30 1 0
Fletcher, Teddy RDE 2 12 22 13 22 1 0
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 4 34 34 34 34 0 0
Atkins, Ian LDT 1 12 38 14 33 2 -5
Leal, Carl RDT 4 41 41 41 41 0 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 3 31 44 33 44 2 0
Eby, Justin RDT 1 9 39 12 36 3 -3
Steverson, Donnell RDT 1 8 22 9 19 1 -3
Carpenter, Jerald NT 1 26 32 26 32 0 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 3 39 39 40 40 1 1
McKenzie, Mitchell MLB 2 19 32 21 32 2 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 4 30 30 30 30 0 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 2 21 33 24 33 3 0
Fuller, Edwin SLB 2 20 32 22 32 2 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 4 26 30 27 30 1 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 2 18 45 20 45 2 0
Nagle, Deon WLB 1 10 29 11 29 1 0
Lester, Dana LCB 4 33 33 33 33 0 0
Schultz, Walter LCB 2 25 35 28 35 3 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 1 13 35 16 39 3 4
Hitchcock, Jamal LCB 2 12 20 12 20 0 0
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 3 34 34 34 34 0 0
Prior, Vinny RCB 1 13 19 14 19 1 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 4 30 39 31 39 1 0
Koonce, Leo SS 4 23 39 25 39 2 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 4 40 41 43 43 3 2
Lake, Deon FS 3 23 23 23 23 0 0
Arians, T.J. FS 1 9 36 10 31 1 -5


Okay – we get a bingo with CB O.J. Mills – and I’ll reiterate that we project a high ceiling there. I expect to get him playing time right away and get the development going.

QB Terry Webster continues to surprise me – now he develops in his future potential in his third training camp. This isn’t the usual pattern I am familiar with (he had a negative initial training camp) but it’s strange – this jump is really just getting him back up to where he originally projected. I don’t know what to think about all that – can he continue to develop past the 45 rating? Stay tuned – as he looks like our starter for the foreseeable future.

A little jump up for S Feenstra, also – what gives there? He is actually developing beyond his potential from last season, too – so I don’t know what to make of that.

Not much news otherwise – except that WR Aaron Buckley won’t ever see those solid potential ratings that had me so excited. Shame, really – I’m a sucker for Syracuse players, too – so he would have been a nice find. He’ll make the team, but I don’t see a bright future for him.


I suspect that this will be another tough year – we are just too shallow all around to break through at all. I’m thinking again that 4-5 wins is a reasonable goal.

The going is even tougher than I had expected – we start the season 0-7. I decide to institute the Miami offense that treated us so well there. We don’t have great personnel, but we’ll se if that helps get things back on track. (I know, so much for the whole “innovative gameplanning” idea here) Things don’t get a whole lot better – we sneak out three wins in the final nine games, but it’s still a bad year on balance.



Front Office Football 2004
2033 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 3-13
Winning Pct.: .187

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 405 27
Rushing Yards 1681 24 (T)
Yards Per Carry 4.15 17
Pass Attempts 501 19
Completions 273 24
Passing Yards 3407 14 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 6.80 12
3rd Down Conversions 32.9 32
Points Per Game 13.7 31
Turnovers 50 32
Turnover Margin -29 32

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 519 29
Rushing Yards 1945 19
Yards Per Carry 3.74 6
Pass Attempts 506 14 (T)
Completions 307 20
Passing Yards 3261 13
Yards Per Attempt 6.44 12 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 42.5 22
Points Per Game 21.6 27
Turnovers 21 25 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 6 NOS 28
2 10 at MIA 29
3 10 at SFO 23
4 14 WAS 17
5 7 at DAL 16
6 7 ATL 23
7 10 PHI 16
9 14 at NYG 26
10 12 at NOS 7
11 21 at CAR 31
12 13 NYJ 16
13 10 DET 27
14 28 at BUF 14
15 17 at ATL 27
16 13 NED 19
17 28 CAR 27

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
12 Webster QB 488 266 3346 6.85 18 35
**Team --- 501 273 3407 6.80 18 35

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
40 Bradford RB 187 758 4.05 4
34 Shapiro RB 106 387 3.65 2
12 Webster QB 86 432 5.02 0
**Team --- 405 1681 4.15 6

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
82 Chandler WR 110 54 748 13.8 100 7
80 Redding WR 93 50 628 12.5 95 2
37 Buckley WR 90 49 638 13.0 44 3
40 Bradford RB 50 33 361 10.9 99 1
83 Everett WR 56 30 490 16.3 116 1
84 Joseph TE 33 20 234 11.7 29 1
24 Lavoie WR 31 19 195 10.2 18 2
**Team --- 501 273 3407 12.4 554 18

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
55 Alarcon ILB 127 36 5.5 1 0 14
96 Seiler OLB 92 31 3.5 4 1 11
92 Leal DT 88 33 1.0 4 0 0
44 Freeman OLB 70 33 2.0 1 0 4
33 Von Oelhoffen S 57 31 1.0 1 4 5
21 Abrams CB 56 17 0.0 0 2 11
31 Feenstra S 55 25 0.0 0 0 8
71 Ocasio DT 49 23 2.5 6 0 1
93 Nyland DE 40 11 10.0 9 0 0
39 Mills CB 36 12 0.0 0 1 4
57 Bullock OLB 33 9 0.0 0 0 1
41 Lake S 27 11 0.0 0 1 2
47 Lester CB 25 6 0.0 0 0 4
43 Prior CB 22 3 2.0 0 0 3
95 Chapman DE 16 7 2.5 3 0 0
**Team --- 924 313 42.0 41 9 70


Interestingly – as we went to the pass-happy attack in the second half of the season, Webster actually got more efficient. Of those ghastly 35 picks – 18 were in our first 7 games (when we weren’t throwing all that much). Silver lining, I suppose.

Chandler and Redding both gave us good efforts as our starting WR tandem – and rookie Buckley played in the slot for a while, boosting his totals, too. Buckley might not be a throwaway after all. RB Bradford again stepped into the starting role, and was again adequate. Boy, getting a serious threat at RB would be very nice for this team.

MLB Alarcon posted some huge numbers – he is improving with each year, it seems. His TkPct is up, too – it’s not just that we’re getting more tackles on defense. DT Leal might have a case for his third all-pro honors – he made second team last year with stats similar to this year’s. And we’re starting to see some guys do well in coverage – I do like to see double digits in passes defensed, and we have three guys do that here (feh, two were linebackers, I know). It may take a while, but our optimism remains for OJ Mills – he still has potential to develop even more.

DE Nyland posted 10 sacks – a good showing overall, but we still are anemic in getting to the QB. I don’t know what it will take to get those engines running – but this defense really needs better pressure to help out the cornerbacks in man coverage.


Tough to say if this was a step forward, or just sideways… we really could use an infusion of serious talent.


Incidentally, Cleveland takes all the draft picks I have been sending them gratis, and wins the championship this year.

[cthomer5000]

35 interceptions? Oh my.

[dixieflatline]

My lead scout (a critical position) is pretty good, doesn‘t have any major weaknesses, but he’s not so great with young talent – we’ll probably look to replace him before too long.

Did you indeed find a replacement here? That might have been the reason for:

QB Terry Webster continues to surprise me – now he develops in his future potential in his third training camp. This isn’t the usual pattern I am familiar with (he had a negative initial training camp) but it’s strange – this jump is really just getting him back up to where he originally projected. I don’t know what to think about all that – can he continue to develop past the 45 rating? Stay tuned – as he looks like our starter for the foreseeable future.

We haven't really looked at how scouting errors might mess with our ability to find the breakout players. I assume that pretty much everyone here hires a scout that is very good with young talent unlike your first scout. If the first or second year was under the old scout the new scout could just be showing that he is indeed a breakout player.

And by the way – three seasons after my departure, the once-titanic Miami Dolphins dynasty is in total ruin, they went 5-11 this year and missed the playoffs again with their second straight losing season. Hooray for the AI!

Well it wasn't like you were giving them much to work with. The AI has probably dismantled the team and still making decent money on the gate. It really is amazing at how efficient the computer is at dismantling good teams. Not just teams that the human player leaves but strong, young, AI teams that appear like they could be consistant winners for 5+ years always seem to fall apart.

[MIJB#19]

Incidentally, Cleveland takes all the draft picks I have been sending them gratis, and wins the championship this year.I dunno what to make out of this, did somebody take Dutch lessons?

Sad to see how the Dolphins have folled in 'no time'.
Interesting to see Cleveland does take advantage of the picks like Washington used to do in in earlier IMT dynasties.

[nfg22]

Thanx for coming back quicksand. The only difference between this one and the dolphins is that you arent drafting anymore right? You are just taking riff raff left over. I love this dynasty and keep it coming.

[QuikSand]

2034

So, on we go…

The owner of your franchise is seriously concerned about the performance of your team. You need to improve your performance as general manager of this team, or look for other work.

Yeah – having the firing option left on is a bad idea for an IMT team. Kinda forgot about that little catch here… hopefully we can get things going before the clock strikes twelve.


We actually have a few exposed players this year – most notably WR Tony Redding. We lock him up to a new three year deal – far cheaper than he wanted as an extension, it turns out. Good move, modest risk. I’m thinking he might be able to top 1,000 yards this season, assuming we stay with the pass-heavy offense.


In the undrafted rookie crop – I go after a number of players who look interesting. Before camp, my top two prospects seem to be TE Bo Sikma and C Jamal Garcia. Not exactly the positions I would have picked for breakout players – but as usual, we will have to take what we can get. If we get good starters out of those two guys, this will be a better than average crop for us so far.

This year – for the first tiem I have been following things, I actually lose out on an undrafted rookie! DT Byron Wheeler looked like he’d end up all potential anyway – but he seemed worth a shot. But we lost out right away, and Philadelphia takes him in the first week. I’m pretty sure I have never seen that happen before.


Player Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Webster, Terry QB 4 43 43 43 43 0 0
England, Wayne QB 3 23 37 25 37 2 0
Lang, Louis QB 1 14 40 16 38 2 -2
Shuran, Joey QB 2 10 39 13 39 3 0
Fox, Desmond QB 1 5 38 7 38 2 0
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 1 32 37 34 41 2 4
Bradford, Gerald RB 5 33 33 33 33 0 0
Shapiro, O.J. RB 4 26 27 27 27 1 0
Turnbull, Don RB 1 22 34 22 30 0 -4
Armstrong, Donnell RB 1 22 28 22 24 0 -4
Ferris, Lawrence RB 1 19 30 20 30 1 0
Compton, Chester FB 5 28 31 29 31 1 0
Wolf, K.C. FB 3 25 36 27 36 2 0
Joseph, Billy TE 5 37 39 37 39 0 0
Melaragni, Alvin TE 3 28 34 30 34 2 0
Sikma, Bo TE 1 11 39 15 43 4 4
Knowlton, Courtney TE 1 13 35 14 28 1 -7
Redding, Tony FL 5 33 33 33 33 0 0
Everett, Norbert FL 4 30 36 31 36 1 0
Bush, Darryl FL 1 7 25 8 21 1 -4
Chandler, Jerry SE 4 31 31 31 31 0 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 2 25 43 26 43 1 0
Lavoie, Fernando SE 4 22 23 23 23 1 0
Griffin, Ricky SE 1 15 30 15 27 0 -3
Gray, Omar C 4 31 49 34 49 3 0
Kearney, Jack C 5 26 26 26 26 0 0
Garcia, Jamal C 1 17 39 19 44 2 5
Ames, David LG 5 25 27 25 27 0 0
Richardson, George LG 3 14 31 16 31 2 0
Ogden, Christian RG 5 52 52 52 52 0 0
Rodriguez, D.J. LT 3 28 30 30 30 2 0
Compton, Darren LT 1 0 40 3 42 3 2
Bugallo, Howie RT 5 28 28 28 28 0 0
Jasper, Britt P 3 50 50 50 50 0 0
Griffith, Kent K 3 60 62 65 65 5 3
Nyland, Seth LDE 4 32 42 33 42 1 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 3 27 38 28 38 1 0
Chapman, Edward RDE 4 32 34 33 34 1 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 4 28 30 29 30 1 0
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 5 35 35 35 35 0 0
Bruce, Kendall LDT 1 18 23 19 23 1 0
Leal, Carl RDT 5 42 42 42 42 0 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 4 34 44 36 44 2 0
Hopkins, Kelly RDT 1 24 27 24 28 0 1
Eby, Justin RDT 2 12 35 14 35 2 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 4 40 40 40 40 0 0
McKenzie, Mitchell MLB 3 21 32 23 32 2 0
Young, Jonathan MLB 1 21 33 22 33 1 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 5 30 31 30 31 0 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 3 24 32 26 32 2 0
Fuller, Edwin SLB 3 23 33 25 33 2 0
Mohon, Jessie SLB 1 18 34 20 38 2 4
Seiler, Kerry WLB 3 28 48 31 48 3 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 5 28 30 29 30 1 0
Nagle, Deon WLB 2 11 30 13 30 2 0
Lester, Dana LCB 5 33 33 33 33 0 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 2 23 42 25 42 2 0
Duffy, Tyrus LCB 1 9 23 10 22 1 -1
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 4 34 34 34 34 0 0
Prior, Vinny RCB 2 15 19 16 19 1 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 5 36 39 37 39 1 0
Koonce, Leo SS 5 26 40 29 40 3 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 5 43 43 43 43 0 0
Lake, Deon FS 4 24 24 25 25 1 1
Barton, Harvey FS 1 18 30 20 29 2 -1


Well, we get breakouts from the two guys I saw coming – and one more. RB Levon Rodenhauser may not have the perfect set of skills, but he showed some growth in camp, and will have an argument to be our top RB for this season. LB Jessie Mohon also might have some promise – he’ll push Sam Freeman on the strong side.


This year – we need to make a forward move. I’ll stick with the pass-happy game plan, and we just hope it comes together a bit better. We need Webster to get the picks under control – we’re just not good enough to overcome a handicap like 2 turnovers a game. On defense – we should be getting better against the run – this year we might actually become an above average defensive team overall.


In our first game, we are flattened by Atlanta, and we lose MLB Alarcon for the year – could be bad. But that gets rookie LB Mohon into the starting lineup, and we’ll see what he can do right away.

After an awful start to the season, we put things together a little bit, and manage to end up 6-10. When is 6-10 a great accomplishment? We look at the underpinnings of this season, and see some real growth, I think…


Front Office Football 2004
2034 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 6-10
Winning Pct.: .375

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 360 31
Rushing Yards 1563 25
Yards Per Carry 4.34 5
Pass Attempts 562 3
Completions 313 11
Passing Yards 3946 3
Yards Per Attempt 7.02 11
3rd Down Conversions 36.3 27 (T)
Points Per Game 16.8 25
Turnovers 41 30
Turnover Margin -12 30

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 501 29
Rushing Yards 1939 24
Yards Per Carry 3.87 11 (T)
Pass Attempts 542 28
Completions 311 23
Passing Yards 3670 27
Yards Per Attempt 6.77 20
3rd Down Conversions 40.4 17
Points Per Game 20.6 21
Turnovers 29 7 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 0 at ATL 30
2 13 BAL 20
3 7 DAL 12
4 24 ARI 20
5 9 SFO 10
6 20 at STL 26
8 20 at SEA 13
9 22 NOS 21
10 9 ATL 12
11 17 at CAR 45
12 21 CIN 25
13 14 at CHI 21
14 28 at PIT 31
15 26 CAR 20
16 26 at CLE 21
17 13 at NOS 3

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
12 Webster QB 561 312 3939 7.02 22 30
**Team --- 562 313 3946 7.02 22 30

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 160 516 3.22 3
40 Bradford RB 95 415 4.36 1
12 Webster QB 93 584 6.27 1
**Team --- 360 1563 4.34 5

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Redding WR 137 82 1217 14.8 136 5
37 Buckley WR 116 59 972 16.4 83 5
83 Everett WR 93 43 692 16.0 115 5
82 Chandler WR 79 38 419 11.0 42 0
40 Bradford RB 40 28 172 6.1 42 1
84 Joseph TE 41 25 203 8.1 41 1
**Team --- 558 313 3946 12.6 538 22

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
96 Seiler OLB 105 39 0.0 0 3 9
94 Mohon ILB 104 34 6.5 4 2 5
31 Feenstra S 89 31 0.0 0 1 10
44 Freeman OLB 85 28 1.0 5 1 6
33 Von Oelhoffen S 65 27 0.0 0 8 2
21 Abrams CB 46 16 0.0 0 2 11
92 Leal DT 44 21 1.0 2 0 1
39 Mills CB 40 14 0.0 0 2 10
93 Nyland DE 32 16 6.5 10 0 0
71 Ocasio DT 30 14 3.0 2 0 0
78 Jannot DE 29 12 2.0 6 0 0
91 Ramirez DT 28 17 3.5 10 0 0
47 Lester CB 22 3 0.0 0 1 0
43 Prior CB 22 1 1.0 0 0 1
95 Chapman DE 18 14 1.0 3 0 0
98 Young ILB 17 7 0.5 1 1 0
**Team --- 905 316 28.0 56 23 58



Okay – some signs of life here. Webster is probably a hopeless case – he’s no longer developing at all, and he just can’t help but throw a lot of picks. 30 more this year – that just puts us in a real hole, I’m afraid. But he nearly tossed for 4,000 yards – on over 7 yards per attempt, that’s not so bad.

Rodenhauser certainly didn’t answer all our questions at RB, but I still think he’s the best option among the guys we have right now – and there’s at least some hope he can get better.

WR Tony Redding delivered on my prediction for a 1,000+ yard season – heck, we nearly got another one out of Aaron Buckley, who took over the starting job at split end after being a role-player lat year. Everett is fine, but he will never be a prolific player.

Defensively – we were pressed into using a rookie MLB, but Mohon did okay. Seiler is clearly the star of the show at this point, and will have a case to be the MLB for next season. Von Oelhoffen continues to make big plays and tackles – statistically, he’s a nice safety, but he does give up a lot of completions, despite the picks.

We just can’t get much of a pass rush, which really hurts us here. 28 sacks and 56 hurries – both numbers need to get up by about 50% to get into the effective zone, I think. DE Seth Nyland is developing into a pretty credible pass rusher at LDE for us, but we aren’t getting much from anyone else, really. DT Ramirez might be getting good enough to start at DE next season, where he might be better than the platoon of Chapman and McGrew.

My the numbers – we are getting better. We were within a TD in 14 out of 16 games – so this 6-10 team could have easily gotten a few extra breaks and gone .500 on the season. Hell, if we were just even on the turnover ratio, we probably would have been an 8-8 team… and that’s with a roster rating of 2/100… a distant last in the league. There is some hope.

[QuikSand]

I dunno what to make out of this, did somebody take Dutch lessons?

No, but we both speak languages that borrow from Latin - yours more liberally than mine, but this is one we both decided to use. Of course, only uppity highbrows like me use it in English much.

[cthomer5000]

Quik, you can always just ignore the firing and keep playing on.

[Alf]

Actually QS, from a french point of view english & dutch have very similar latin backgrounds (ie : few) compared to Italian, SPanish, French, etc...

[QuikSand]

Duly noted. Thanks, Alf.

[Alf]

We use gratis in french too.

[QuikSand]

The only difference between this one and the dolphins is that you arent drafting anymore right? You are just taking riff raff left over.

Glad you're enjoying.

One other difference is that here I am actually setting the depth charts myself -- which gives me a good deal more control. With my Miami team, all I did was assign each guy his position, create the game plans, and let the scouts set the depth chart for me. (Occasionally I'd intruce by way of de-activating a player here or there)

So - this is a little more hands-on. But generally, the two dynasties are similar, especially with the strict limitations on acquiring players. This IMT rule is a beast... I really though I'd have more talent accumulated by now.

[nfg22]

I dunno about no draft picks...I mean mel copeland was great....I think you should keep 5,6,7 th rounders each year or sumthing. Anything you do I will read and enjoy.

[QuikSand]

2035

Into a new season… we’ll see if I’m right about seeing signs of growth in this team.

The owner of your franchise is absolutely livid about the overall value of the franchise.

If you're not able to put together a much more successful season this coming year, you will definitely be out of a job this time next year.

We’ll see… I guess bossman wasn’t as pleased with the 6-10 record as I was.

We have a number of players on the open free agent market this year – I’m expecting to sign many of them, but didn’t see much value in doing so by way of contract extensions last year.


Side note: Dolphins CB Mickey Sims and P Jeremy Shaw both got inducted into the HOF.


We retain our entire staff – OF Darrell Cooley I getting old (69) but we keep him on, in the name on continuity. We’ll worry in another year or two, I reckon.


In free agency, I am pursuing a number of our own guys – trying to tie everyone up for three years or more. Fortunately, none of our guys inspire any competition – and we get everyone we wanted back on the roster.


After the draft, we head to look at the rookie pool. I am underwhelmed – I just don’t see any home runs out there this year. Damn.


Player Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Webster, Terry QB 5 42 42 42 42 0 0
England, Wayne QB 4 25 36 27 36 2 0
Page, Tom QB 1 12 43 14 40 2 -3
Fox, Desmond QB 2 7 39 9 39 2 0
Gaines, Dexter QB 1 8 47 9 40 1 -7
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 2 39 44 39 44 0 0
Bradford, Gerald RB 6 34 34 34 34 0 0
Shapiro, O.J. RB 5 26 27 26 27 0 0
Williamson, Jesse RB 1 20 30 21 28 1 -2
Nichols, Oliver RB 1 18 27 19 27 1 0
Compton, Chester FB 6 31 31 31 31 0 0
Wolf, K.C. FB 4 28 36 30 36 2 0
Brennan, Mel FB 1 17 40 20 43 3 3
Joseph, Billy TE 6 37 39 37 39 0 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 1 21 39 24 42 3 3
Sikma, Bo TE 2 19 46 21 46 2 0
Everett, Norbert FL 5 34 36 34 36 0 0
Redding, Tony FL 6 33 33 33 33 0 0
Chandler, Jerry SE 5 32 32 32 32 0 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 3 29 34 31 34 2 0
Griffin, Ricky SE 2 15 26 15 26 0 0
Gray, Omar C 5 48 50 48 50 0 0
Garcia, Jamal C 2 22 47 24 47 2 0
Ames, David LG 6 25 27 25 27 0 0
Richardson, George LG 4 18 33 19 33 1 0
Swedberg, Johnny LG 1 15 32 16 34 1 2
Ogden, Christian RG 6 53 53 53 53 0 0
Rodriguez, D.J. LT 4 31 31 31 31 0 0
Streck, Harold LT 1 12 36 14 36 2 0
Compton, Darren LT 2 5 44 7 44 2 0
Bugallo, Howie RT 6 29 29 29 29 0 0
Knight, Howard RT 1 11 34 12 34 1 0
Jasper, Britt P 4 50 50 50 50 0 0
Griffith, Kent K 4 69 69 69 69 0 0
Nyland, Seth LDE 5 37 43 38 43 1 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 4 30 39 31 39 1 0
Chapman, Edward RDE 5 33 33 33 33 0 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 5 29 29 30 30 1 1
Harless, Gene RDE 1 11 18 11 19 0 1
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 6 36 36 36 36 0 0
Leal, Carl RDT 6 42 42 42 42 0 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 5 40 44 42 44 2 0
Hopkins, Kelly RDT 2 25 28 25 28 0 0
Eby, Justin RDT 3 14 32 16 32 2 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 5 40 40 40 40 0 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 2 27 44 29 44 2 0
Young, Jonathan MLB 2 23 34 24 34 1 0
Ferguson, Jerome MLB 1 17 31 18 32 1 1
Freeman, Sam SLB 6 29 30 29 30 0 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 4 25 32 26 32 1 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 4 39 49 42 49 3 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 6 29 30 29 30 0 0
Nagle, Deon WLB 3 14 31 15 31 1 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 3 37 46 39 46 2 0
Lester, Dana LCB 6 27 27 27 27 0 0
Duffy, Tyrus LCB 2 12 22 13 22 1 0
Lemieux, Blaine LCB 1 11 38 12 33 1 -5
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 5 34 34 34 34 0 0
Prior, Vinny RCB 3 17 20 18 20 1 0
Barton, Harvey RCB 2 15 29 17 29 2 0
Hudson, Jack RCB 1 10 30 11 30 1 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 6 37 39 37 39 0 0
Koonce, Leo SS 6 30 38 32 38 2 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 6 42 42 42 42 0 0
Lake, Deon FS 5 24 24 24 24 0 0


Well, we might have something with FB Brennan and TE Delrio, but what exactly does that get us?

We do see some improvement in RB Rodenhauser – continuing his potential development. He still doesn’t look like a star, but he might be better if we stick with him. Again – he’s really the best option we have, though his lack of receiving skills is a minus in this offense. Rookie Jesse Williamson looks like he might turn into a pretty useful third-down back and special teamer, and we expect him to make the team, despite a shaky camp and a “down arrow” from our scouts.


The biggest roster shakeup this year is at LB – we will be sliding everyone around this season, putting Alarcon at the sam, Seiler at the mike, and Mohon at the willie. That puts Sam Freeman out of a job, but I fear that Alarcon may be brittle at this point – so I think Freeman will get his snaps anyway. Seiler might be our best player at this point – we might as well get him into the MLB slot where he will play every down.

On offense, we are going to try and run the ball inside a bit more – trying to stabilize the offense. Rodenhauser does have some good power running ability, and our two best linemen for run blocking are at C and RG – so it makes sense to run “inside right guard” a bit more than I’m used to. I make a switch there, and we’ll hope to do a little more grinding inside than last year.


As for the season ahead – I’m thinking 8-8 is our goal. We don’t have to be a lot better than last year to get there, really. If we can reduce the mistakes – maybe get back close to even with turnovers – we ought to be right there. I don’t think this is a playoff team, but it would be nice to be in the race until the last week or two.


By the end of preseason, LB Freeman is in there for Alarcon (who may be done) and I’m switching things around along the front seven already. We enter the season with a roster rating of 3 … still FAR below the second-last team’s 25. Our cohesion ratings are 100-88-98-100, so our sticking together is paying off in that respect, at least.


In our first two games, QB Webster throws 9 interceptions. That simply can’t stand – he’s killing us. I don’t really have a viable option there, though – so the only thing we could do would be to re-assemble the offensive game plan, and switch to more running plays. I consider it – but decide to let it ride.

It takes until week five for us to get a win – and we do so only after Terry Webster is lost for the season to an injury. So, Glenn England will take over, and we’ll see what he can do for us back there. It isn’t pretty, but we do sneak out a win or two here and there. We get a nice win at home over a good Indy team to get to 6-7 on the season – not so bad after a terrible 0-4 start. Wayne England isn’t exactly Broadway Joe, but the team is playing fairly well around him.

Levon Rodenhauser gets his first 100-yard game, as we smash the puny little Saints into oblivion. But we lose a close game at Tennessee (basically losing on a kickoff return TD) and then get edged out by defending champions Atlanta, and we fall just short of our initial season goal.



Front Office Football 2004
2035 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 7-9
Winning Pct.: .437

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 340 31
Rushing Yards 1565 27
Yards Per Carry 4.60 2 (T)
Pass Attempts 609 1
Completions 346 2
Passing Yards 3717 4
Yards Per Attempt 6.10 21
3rd Down Conversions 34.6 26
Points Per Game 17.1 18
Turnovers 48 32
Turnover Margin -29 32

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 437 12
Rushing Yards 1465 3
Yards Per Carry 3.35 1
Pass Attempts 539 25
Completions 293 8 (T)
Passing Yards 3244 14
Yards Per Attempt 6.01 5
3rd Down Conversions 37.6 14
Points Per Game 17.1 12 (T)
Turnovers 19 28

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 3 CAR 16
2 31 JAX 33
3 10 at PHI 27
4 14 at ATL 31
5 24 at MIN 20
6 7 NOS 6
7 14 at DET 17
9 12 GBY 17
10 16 CHI 14
11 24 at CAR 13
12 10 at HOU 16
13 31 STL 27
14 27 IND 9
15 31 at NOS 3
16 13 at TEN 16
17 7 ATL 9

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
10 England QB 442 264 2637 5.96 13 20
12 Webster QB 163 79 1054 6.46 3 13
**Team --- 609 346 3717 6.10 16 34

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 208 885 4.25 6
40 Bradford RB 55 283 5.14 4
10 England QB 32 126 3.93 2
**Team --- 340 1565 4.60 14

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Buckley WR 147 79 803 10.1 58 3
80 Redding WR 122 70 926 13.2 95 6
82 Chandler WR 131 63 778 12.3 68 1
83 Everett WR 82 47 607 12.9 55 3
46 Rodenhauser RB 34 24 123 5.1 33 2
84 Joseph TE 34 22 229 10.4 32 0
**Team --- 608 346 3717 10.7 392 16

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
96 Seiler OLB 102 47 6.5 4 3 4
94 Mohon ILB 89 25 2.5 9 0 10
92 Leal DT 77 33 6.5 7 0 3
31 Feenstra S 73 24 2.0 0 0 3
21 Abrams CB 58 14 0.0 1 2 14
33 Von Oelhoffen S 49 17 0.0 1 3 3
55 Alarcon ILB 47 11 1.0 0 1 4
39 Mills CB 46 10 0.0 0 0 19
71 Ocasio DT 36 14 8.0 11 0 2
29 Koonce S 31 12 0.5 1 0 2
57 Bullock OLB 31 12 6.5 6 0 0
47 Lester CB 26 8 0.0 0 1 3
93 Nyland DE 25 9 4.5 8 0 0
44 Freeman OLB 22 8 1.0 0 0 1
91 Ramirez DT 19 9 3.5 2 0 0
**Team --- 837 267 54.0 64 10 71



Okay – let’s start with the numbers. Second in the league with 4.60 yards per carry – that’s downright fabulous! Our passing efficiency was down – not too surprisingly, since we had to go to our second string QB for most of the year (mercifully, I’d add). Defensively, we end up the #1 team in the league against the run – allowing only 3.35 yards per carry. This is a mature league full of stars, and this is a team full of URFA rejects – and we are #1 against the run. Wow. #5 against the pass in ypa is very strong, as well – just HUGE steps forward there, too. This team is really coming together.

Why only 7 wins? Well, inconsistency at QB is a big deal – but LOOK AT THAT TURNOVER MARGIN! We were a staggering –29 in turnovers… and still managed to win 7 games? That’s shocking! This is two years in a row with this kind of problem – it’s starting to look like a real problem, not a mirage. Either way – you make your own bad luck, and turnovers are a big part of that, to be sure.


QB Wayne England kept the ship from sinking. He’s now 6-5 as a starter – and will have a case to be the starter for next year, despite a lackluster 67 rating and more picks than TDs. We simply don’t have great options, obviously.

Is Levon Rodenhauser an emerging star? My scout doesn’t see him getting better rapidly, but we used him more wisely this season, and saw his numbers bloom a bit. Running a more conventional offense, he could pretty easily tough 1,000 yards or more, I have to think. Our receivers again split up the duties pretty well, with no real standouts there.

Kerry Seiler has definitely won the MLB job, leading the defense through the season and making tackles on one of every six plays. Jessie Mohon followed up his solid DROY campaign with another good year as our starter at SLB, where he will probably stay. Austin Alarcon might not be done after all – he gave us a solid half season at the weak side, and might be good to go from here.

We picked it up a bit in the pass rush, with 54 sacks – tied for the most in the league. We don’t have a single pass rushing star, but got 14.5 sacks from our two starting defensive tackles, and basically built around them. LB Courtney Bullock, playing at both OLB and DE, contributed pretty well, and is making the case for more playing time on the line.

Our secondary managed to get only 6 interceptions all year long – that is just not acceptable. Now, OJ Mills is turning into the shut-down corner that I expected him to eventually become (19 passes defensed to 36 catches allowed – pretty good ratio), but we need some playmakers around him. Von Oelhoffen had an off year – we need to rebound from that, as we can’t get outgunned in turnovers by two a game and expect to ever be a winning team.


Progress, sure. But my owner isn’t thrilled with paper progress – we need to start turning all this into some wins, and soon. Next year – we need a winning season.

[QuikSand]

2036

Well, I await the verdict from the front office – it sounded like I was on a pretty short leash…

Well, technically, I was fired – but fortunately, I have the override option, and I’ll continue on as GM. But, in some respects, I guess this challenge has failed. I’ll understand if you stop reading now.






Glad you didn’t…

As a very side note – I wandered into the league almanac, and noticed something very interesting. In 2034, a couple of seasons ago, LB Christian D’Elisa (a 7th round draft pick of mine, still with the Dolphins) was named Solecismic MVP of the league. I very rarely see defensive players get that nod – but he had a monster year: 145+47 tackles, 7 sacks, 6 forced fumbles, and 2 interceptions. Just thought that was worth mentioning. (And boy, could I use a “diamond in the rough” like that guy on this team!)


Once again, I will let my free agents hit the market – I don’t think many of them are going to be hot properties anyway, and we ought to get cap-favorable deals with most of them. Heck, with this talent level, the cap might never be a concern to us, but I’m playing it tight anyway.

Everything goes pretty smoothly – we get our top five pursuits re-signed without incident. QB Terry Webster is looking for a new deal – what do you do with a semi-disgraced former starting QB? I guess you probably cut him, or at least you don’t bring him back – but with the lack of good options under these rules, I probably need to retain him as our backup, I suppose.

Down the line in the late stages, we lose our punter – but I can live through that, I reckon. There always are passable punters available as free agent rookies.


WR Aaron Buckley announces a contract holdout. I can, of course, afford to pay him whatever he is demanding. I might wait him out, though – he’s really not al that special a player.

I’m surprised to see San Francisco move in and grab QB Terry Webster – that leaves Wayne England as our obvious starter going forward. Fine – but we don’t have a lot behind him, admittedly.


Regrettably – I see no sure things before training camp. Lots of roster fillers, but I don’t think we have any major breakouts in the making among this group. This is awful – I really expected to find more than a handful through the first five or six seasons… without a few standout players to build around, this team is really lacking.


Player Pos Start Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
England, Wayne QB 5 31 31 33 33 2 2
Poston, Marshall QB 1 17 38 18 34 1 -4
George, Luke QB 2 15 39 17 39 2 0
Campbell, Oliver QB 1 13 38 15 38 2 0
Tatum, Ted QB 1 11 31 13 33 2 2
Fox, Desmond QB 3 10 39 11 39 1 0
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 3 46 46 46 46 0 0
Bradford, Gerald RB 7 34 34 34 34 0 0
Sullivan, Lonnie RB 1 26 37 26 34 0 -3
Goodwin, Stephen RB 1 22 32 24 34 2 2
Williamson, Jesse RB 2 20 26 21 26 1 0
Gandy, Thomas RB 1 19 32 19 29 0 -3
Compton, Chester FB 7 32 32 32 32 0 0
Brennan, Mel FB 2 25 46 27 46 2 0
Joseph, Billy TE 7 37 38 37 38 0 0
Sikma, Bo TE 3 26 49 29 49 3 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 2 27 45 29 45 2 0
Everett, Norbert FL 6 34 36 34 36 0 0
Redding, Tony FL 7 33 33 33 33 0 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 4 34 34 34 34 0 0
Chandler, Jerry SE 6 31 31 31 31 0 0
Garner, Marvin SE 1 15 32 16 28 1 -4
Horton, Gilbert SE 1 13 31 13 27 0 -4
Gray, Omar C 6 49 51 49 51 0 0
Garcia, Jamal C 3 30 51 33 51 3 0
Hanks, Jose C 1 11 45 13 40 2 -5
Richardson, George LG 5 23 34 24 34 1 0
Swedberg, Johnny LG 2 17 36 19 36 2 0
Ogden, Christian RG 7 53 53 53 53 0 0
Rodriguez, D.J. LT 5 32 32 32 32 0 0
Streck, Harold LT 2 14 36 16 36 2 0
Bugallo, Howie RT 7 29 29 29 29 0 0
Knight, Howard RT 2 13 35 15 35 2 0
Merchant, Quentin P 1 29 44 30 44 1 0
Bivins, Phillip P 1 28 47 28 41 0 -6
Hemstreet, Vinny P 1 25 63 25 54 0 -9
Greene, Grady P 1 20 31 21 31 1 0
Wallace, Bubba K 1 26 57 26 51 0 -6
Nyland, Seth LDE 6 42 43 42 43 0 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 5 33 40 35 40 2 0
Chapman, Edward RDE 6 34 34 34 34 0 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 6 30 30 30 30 0 0
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 7 35 35 35 35 0 0
Metzelaars, Ben LDT 1 21 33 22 32 1 -1
Leal, Carl RDT 7 43 43 43 43 0 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 6 43 45 43 45 0 0
Eby, Justin RDT 4 15 31 17 31 2 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 3 38 48 42 48 4 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 6 41 41 41 41 0 0
Ferguson, Jerome MLB 2 18 32 20 32 2 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 7 28 29 28 29 0 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 5 26 33 28 33 2 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 5 52 52 53 53 1 1
Blanchard, Paul WLB 7 29 30 29 30 0 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 4 44 46 44 46 0 0
Lester, Dana LCB 7 27 27 27 27 0 0
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 6 49 49 49 49 0 0
Prior, Vinny RCB 4 20 20 20 20 0 0
Koonce, Leo SS 7 40 40 40 40 0 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 7 37 39 37 39 0 0
Hicks, Gilbert SS 1 18 28 19 27 1 -1
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 7 42 42 42 42 0 0
Lake, Deon FS 6 24 24 24 24 0 0


Okay – some good news with QB Wayne England, who nominally made a nice step forward in training camp, though it’s really just making up for an offseason “slide.” He was a negative mover in his first camp, and there’s no reason to think there’s any real upside in him. 33/33 is probably the best we’ll see from him.

QB Ted Tatum looked like a marginal prospect – but might now project to be the best of this year’s crop. He’d have to get a good deal better then his current projections to be of much value – but he might be worth a look down the road.

Nothing much else to get excited about – honestly, this is a very weak incoming class.


I switch up the game plan for this year – we will run more than last year, for certain. I’m less enamored with our passing game personnel, and am resigned to the notion that we aren’t going to be that good on offense. So, I think we might be better off playing a bit more conservatively on offense – and trying to lat our defense win more games for us. We’ll also see more carries for RB Levon Rodenhauser, who may be our best offensive player at this point. We’ll power him inside, behind Gray and Ogden, and try to make the best of what we have. I’m expecting maybe 1,200 yards from Rodenhauser, if he stays healthy.

Other changes include elevating Bo Sikma to start at TE, but all three guys will see playing time. WR Aaron Buckley continues his holdout, and we have reshuffled the WR corps to accommodate that – I’m not that worried. We are depleted badly at DB – and have LB Blanchard playing some as a strong safety, for lack of better options.


This year – we will be looking for a winning record. The defense has come together, and our offense is going to try to slow the bleeding. If we can get to a more reasonable turnover margin – maybe even close to even – then we ought to be an 8-8 team without any improvement. Anything we do better makes us a winner, I figure. The goal for this season is our first year over .500 under our leadership.


Early season injuries are awful – and we struggle early with a 2-4 record. When WR Jerry Chandler goes down with an injury, we work out a one year deal with holdout Aaron Buckley, and get him back into the fold. The injury count mounts all season long – we suffer serious pains on the OL (both tackles) and then the L (both defensive tackles out for the year). We lose our ninth game, ensuring yet another losing year – but this feels like it was taken from us, really. We limp home to a 5-11 record – and we’ll have to survey the long-term impacts of some of these injuries. Stalwart DT Carl Leal’s injury was very serious – if we lose him, that’s the cornerstone of what was once a very good defensive front.


Front Office Football 2004
2036 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 5-11
Winning Pct.: .312

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 416 27
Rushing Yards 1609 28
Yards Per Carry 3.86 26
Pass Attempts 551 8
Completions 309 13
Passing Yards 3312 15 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 6.01 24
3rd Down Conversions 42.0 11 (T)
Points Per Game 14.4 29
Turnovers 31 26
Turnover Margin -5 23 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 503 29
Rushing Yards 1984 24
Yards Per Carry 3.94 10 (T)
Pass Attempts 516 18
Completions 303 14
Passing Yards 3321 17
Yards Per Attempt 6.43 18
3rd Down Conversions 41.8 19
Points Per Game 20.0 23 (T)
Turnovers 26 12 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 at NOS 17
2 10 at KCY 24
3 13 SFO 12
4 17 at WAS 20
5 9 DAL 20
6 13 at ATL 38
7 13 PHI 16
9 33 at NYG 27
10 9 NOS 24
11 17 CAR 12
12 3 SDO 13
13 7 at DET 19
14 16 at DEN 14
15 17 ATL 21
16 14 OAK 16
17 13 at CAR 27

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
10 England QB 538 301 3228 6.00 16 23
**Team --- 551 309 3312 6.01 17 24

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 315 1202 3.81 2
10 England QB 47 183 3.89 0
**Team --- 416 1609 3.86 3

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
80 Redding WR 118 72 929 12.9 82 3
83 Everett WR 94 49 533 10.8 58 1
37 Buckley WR 87 46 479 10.4 35 4
82 Chandler WR 56 31 417 13.4 46 4
85 Sikma TE 50 31 280 9.0 28 2
46 Rodenhauser RB 34 22 130 5.9 61 1
23 Gandy WR 46 18 256 14.2 21 2
**Team --- 549 309 3312 10.7 403 17

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
94 Mohon ILB 124 35 4.0 3 3 6
31 Feenstra S 86 24 0.0 0 1 8
96 Seiler OLB 62 21 0.0 3 2 5
78 Jannot DE 56 17 3.0 10 0 0
39 Mills CB 55 19 0.0 0 3 13
21 Abrams CB 52 29 0.0 0 2 15
55 Alarcon ILB 51 29 1.0 2 0 3
57 Bullock OLB 47 16 3.5 3 0 1
92 Leal DT 34 15 3.5 2 0 1
33 Von Oelhoffen S 34 12 0.0 0 2 4
44 Freeman OLB 31 15 0.0 1 1 2
91 Ramirez DT 31 13 3.5 8 0 0
95 Chapman DE 30 15 2.5 2 0 0
38 Hicks S 30 4 0.0 0 2 2
93 Nyland DE 19 6 3.0 12 0 1
50 Blanchard OLB 16 3 0.0 0 0 3
41 Lake S 16 7 0.0 0 1 0
**Team --- 880 287 25.0 48 17 66


Wayne England was still prone to miscues, but 23 is fewer than 35, I suppose. RB Rodenhauser deliveres on my 1,200-yard prediction, but I was hoping for a little better than 3.8 ypc, and I certainly was envisioning more than 2 touchdowns. With Chandler and Buckley in and out of the lineup, we lacked stability in the receiving corps – Redding was again our best target, but not by a lot.

Our pass rush slipped badly – I’m sure due to losing our starting two defensive tackles for much of the year. LB Jessie Mohon was the only member of the defensive front to start every game – he moves for strong to middle and back all season. DE Hardy Jannot deserves some credit – he started 14 games filling in at DE and DT, and gave us a very nice effort. CBs Mills and Abrams played well – but without a pass rush, it’s tough to rely on man coverage that much.

Very tough season all around – disappointing by nearly every measure. I was expecting more – and instead we slid back to a disappointing six wins. Can we rebound?

[nfg22]

Yuk....I think it is impossible to do this without drafting...Maybe it was just the injuries though....I dunno.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Okay, it was inevitable (for me at least) to watch this dynasty & compare to my own.
Record-wise:

1st year -- 0-16 (you) vs 1-15 (me)
2nd year -- 5-11 (Bucs) vs 1-15 (Cards)
3rd yr - 3-12-1 (Bucs) vs 3-13 (Cards)
4th yr - 3-13 (Bucs) vs 1-15 (Cards)
5th yr - 6-10 (Bucs) vs 7-8-1 (Cards)
6th yr - 7-9 (Bucs) vs 7-9 (Cards)

Considering a number of differences in our play styles (I'm much more hands-on than you from what I can tell), I think it's kinda interesting to see the similarities in the results. And considering that I believe you're much more adept at picking up on breakouts than I am (although I've learned a little bit from nearly 30 years worth of Misfits), your luck seems to be not all that different from mine.

I really hope you continue with this for quite a while, I'd be very interested to see how much the parallels continue.

Other random thoughts: Seeing all this, I can't help but wonder how much my house rule about keeping players that my scout selected from a particular school helped my overall progress. It was just one player, but he was head & shoulders above most of my talent for a long time. Now, he didn't come along until 2022, but I've only been below .500 once in his first 9 seasons. I wonder -- can one OT make that much difference?

If the similarities in performance continue, you should be about to hit a period of better seasons any time now. Not great, but more mediocre than awful, followed by a lull before a surge.

Anyhoo, very interesting reading for me in this thread.

Jon

[QuikSand]

2037

Into another season – optimism is waning.

I’m “fired” again – but again ignore it and play on. Oh, well.


I put in offers to my free agents – WR Tony Redding gets a solid offer, and a more modest one goes out to ne’er-do-well split end Aaron Buckley.

I re-sign DT Justin Eby, but lose DE Edward Chapman – I expected to re-sign him, but he was looking for over $1.5m a year. I expected him to go unclaimed, where I’d go after him after the draft – but no such luck – we lose a decent reserve there. Drat. (I’m just to used to playing hardball with contracts, I let this guy go over $500,000 – in a year where I will probably have $25 million in unused cap space)


Damn – another year without a URFA prospect who really excites me. I load up anyway, hoping to catch a little lightning with one or two guys who have some potential – maybe we‘ll find a few who might actually reach that potential?


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
England, Wayne QB 6 34 34 34 34 0 0
Angelo, Bryan QB 1 16 41 18 37 2 -4
Campbell, Oliver QB 2 15 39 18 39 3 0
Wright, Reggie QB 1 13 33 15 33 2 0
Vallejo, Darren QB 1 13 44 15 39 2 -5
Tatum, Ted QB 2 14 35 15 35 1 0
McCarthy, Dexter QB 1 11 40 12 37 1 -3
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 4 47 47 47 47 0 0
Goodwin, Stephen RB 2 26 36 27 36 1 0
Bradford, Gerald RB 8 26 26 26 26 0 0
Williamson, Jesse RB 3 19 23 20 23 1 0
Marlowe, Sammy RB 1 16 28 17 26 1 -2
Brennan, Mel FB 3 34 48 37 48 3 0
Compton, Chester FB 8 29 29 29 29 0 0
Mergen, Claude FB 1 12 34 13 31 1 -3
Sikma, Bo TE 4 37 50 40 50 3 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 3 34 46 37 46 3 0
Joseph, Billy TE 8 32 33 32 33 0 0
Redding, Tony FL 8 35 35 35 35 0 0
Everett, Norbert FL 7 35 37 35 37 0 0
Gandy, Thomas FL 2 17 40 19 40 2 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 5 34 34 36 36 2 2
Chandler, Jerry SE 7 31 31 31 31 0 0
Gray, Omar C 7 49 50 49 50 0 0
Garcia, Jamal C 4 39 50 42 50 3 0
Sockanathan, Juan C 1 3 45 4 40 1 -5
Richardson, George LG 6 30 34 30 34 0 0
Swedberg, Johnny LG 3 20 36 22 36 2 0
Weinmeister, Whit LG 1 15 34 18 39 3 5
Ogden, Christian RG 8 54 54 54 54 0 0
Rodriguez, D.J. LT 6 32 32 32 32 0 0
Bensen, Leon LT 1 20 35 22 35 2 0
Streck, Harold LT 3 16 36 18 36 2 0
Bugallo, Howie RT 8 29 29 29 29 0 0
Knight, Howard RT 3 15 36 17 36 2 0
Merchant, Quentin P 2 34 44 34 44 0 0
Wallace, Bubba K 2 31 48 33 48 2 0
Nyland, Seth LDE 7 41 43 41 43 0 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 6 38 41 38 41 0 0
Allman, Herman LDE 1 11 34 13 30 2 -4
McGrew, Sean RDE 7 31 31 31 31 0 0
Johnston, Alan RDE 1 22 46 24 46 2 0
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 8 26 26 26 26 0 0
Simmons, Joe LDT 1 11 30 11 27 0 -3
**Leal, Carl RDT 8 43 43 43 43 0 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 7 43 45 43 45 0 0
Eby, Justin RDT 5 18 28 19 28 1 0
Spires, Sean RDT 1 16 39 18 39 2 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 4 50 50 52 52 2 2
Alarcon, Austin MLB 7 42 42 42 42 0 0
Ferguson, Jerome MLB 3 21 33 23 33 2 0
Myers, Andrew MLB 1 14 31 16 27 2 -4
Bullock, Courtney SLB 6 32 33 32 33 0 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 8 28 29 28 29 0 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 6 54 54 54 54 0 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 8 30 31 30 31 0 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 5 46 47 46 47 0 0
Lester, Dana LCB 8 27 27 27 27 0 0
McGregor, Mo LCB 1 22 44 25 44 3 0
Harrison, Joe LCB 1 14 37 17 38 3 1
O'Donnell, Mo LCB 1 12 38 13 34 1 -4
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 7 50 50 50 50 0 0
Prior, Vinny RCB 5 21 21 21 21 0 0
Longmate, Ray RCB 1 17 31 19 29 2 -2
Barlow, Kim RCB 1 17 45 19 41 2 -4
Quinn, Melvin RCB 1 14 35 15 35 1 0
Koonce, Leo SS 8 41 41 41 41 0 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 8 38 40 38 40 0 0
Hicks, Gilbert SS 2 19 24 20 24 1 0
Randle, Sammy SS 1 11 28 12 27 1 -1
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 8 43 43 43 43 0 0
Lake, Deon FS 7 25 25 25 25 0 0
Dunn, Howie FS 1 12 38 14 34 2 -4


Well – we do have one breakout player, it turns out. Another lineman, regrettably another guard. But it looks like LG Whit Weinmeister might end up being our next dominant run-blocker, making our interior line look pretty passable.

I think we have two decent additions for the DL in DT Sean Spires and DE Alan Johnston. We’ll need them, with DT Carl Leal already out for the whole year (and perhaps beyond) and DT Curtis Ocasio showing lingering effects in his run-stopping skills after last years injury. We’re in trouble up front, suddenly – and this was our best unit before last year.

CB Joe Harrison was going to make the team anyway – he has kick return skills that we need badly. But with a little jump in camp, he now will get even more looks than he would have. Hopefully, he can develop into a contributor – he has some man coverage ability, fortunately.


Setting up for this season – I plan to keep the offense intact, with more running plays called than the pass-heavy gameplan we were using before last year. Defensively, I’m just hoping that we can stay fairly healthy this year. No real shakeups in the depth chart – our DL is re-done by necessity, with Jannot taking a permanent role as a DT for us, and Ramirez starting alongside him. We swap LB roles as well – Jessie Mohon will start in the middle, and Kerry Seiler will start on the strong side and help with the pass pressure. At safety, Leo Koonce has beaten out Tyrus Feenstra to start at FS, but we expect both to play plenty.


So – on we go. Is 8-8 too much to ask for? I don’t think so. We had terrible bad luck with injuries last year – some of that will continue to hurt us (DL) but I’m hopeful that we can click a bit better, maybe get positive in turnovers, and build on that. I’d like to see us have a winning season, but would settle for 8-8.


Our worst preseason injury is to LT DJ Rodriguez, who is out for most of the year. Nickelback Dana Lester is out for the year as well – but we are deep enough at DB to fill that gap pretty easily.

We suffer another tough season full of injuries – but I’m not so sure that I can place the blame for this crappy season entirely there. Our talent level remains abysmal, and it’s tough to expect this group of players to do anything but what they are doing – scraping by, sneaking a win here or there, but that’s it. Despite the encouraging statistical signs from two seasons ago, I’m thinking that perhaps that year was an aberration, rather than the beginning of a good trend. We stink.


Front Office Football 2004
2037 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 4-12
Winning Pct.: .250

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 388 28
Rushing Yards 1576 27
Yards Per Carry 4.06 18
Pass Attempts 587 2
Completions 313 15
Passing Yards 3514 18
Yards Per Attempt 5.98 27
3rd Down Conversions 38.7 26
Points Per Game 18.5 24
Turnovers 33 30
Turnover Margin -4 20 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 484 25
Rushing Yards 1935 20 (T)
Yards Per Carry 3.99 8
Pass Attempts 557 29
Completions 336 29
Passing Yards 3684 26
Yards Per Attempt 6.61 13
3rd Down Conversions 41.5 14
Points Per Game 22.6 25 (T)
Turnovers 29 6 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 16 at ATL 41
2 27 MIA 23
3 14 CHI 21
4 14 ARI 16
5 14 SFO 27
6 16 at STL 24
8 23 at SEA 13
9 15 at NOS 18
10 34 ATL 28
11 27 at CAR 34
12 31 at NYJ 20
13 13 at PHI 19
14 13 BUF 17
15 16 CAR 24
16 7 at NED 14
17 17 NOS 24

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
10 England QB 581 309 3443 5.92 16 24
**Team --- 587 313 3514 5.98 17 24

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 287 1111 3.87 7
10 England QB 46 211 4.58 2
24 Goodwin RB 38 197 5.18 1
**Team --- 388 1576 4.06 11

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Buckley WR 139 65 726 11.1 79 3
80 Redding WR 116 56 799 14.2 105 2
82 Chandler WR 86 48 620 12.9 45 5
83 Everett WR 92 44 619 14.0 110 1
86 Delrio TE 46 29 286 9.8 43 1
46 Rodenhauser RB 30 23 96 4.1 41 1
85 Sikma TE 40 23 181 7.8 24 1
**Team --- 586 313 3514 11.2 493 17

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
96 Seiler OLB 100 36 6.5 10 1 4
55 Alarcon ILB 93 34 1.0 3 1 3
78 Jannot DE 78 22 1.5 2 0 1
21 Abrams CB 71 15 0.0 0 5 12
29 Koonce S 62 24 0.0 0 1 7
31 Feenstra S 61 20 0.0 1 0 7
39 Mills CB 54 16 0.0 0 2 14
94 Mohon ILB 54 21 2.0 3 0 2
33 Von Oelhoffen S 53 24 0.0 0 8 7
44 Freeman OLB 42 23 0.5 1 0 3
57 Bullock OLB 30 9 4.0 10 0 0
91 Ramirez DT 28 18 2.5 6 0 1
50 Blanchard OLB 22 8 3.0 7 0 0
38 Hicks S 22 4 0.0 0 0 0
41 Lake S 20 9 0.0 0 1 2
86 Delrio TE 16 0 0.0 0 0 0
**Team --- 912 312 27.0 58 19 64



Statistically, this team was just poor – four wins is just about right. We are still decent in stopping the run, but we don’t do anything else very well.

RB Rodenhauser was probably our best offensive star this year, with another solid effort. But we couldn’t get any additional production from the passing game, which I long to do now. QB Wayne England is just destined to be “upside down” every year, I fear – that’s the best he can do. TE Jerome Delrio might be the quiet breakout of the year – he only started 10 games, but became a pretty nice contributor – and will be our starter next year there, I suspect. The OL was ravaged by injuries – we couldn’t keep thing together there at all, and we simply don’t have the talent o depth to get away with patch-up jobs there.

The defensive front played okay – DE/DT Hardy Jannot was solid again inside, and probably has earned the job permanently (especially if 3-time pro bowle DT Carl Leal isn’t back to being his old self next year). LB Kerry Seiler had another excellent season, and is earning his paycheck as our top-paid player. But we couldn’t keep guys healthy around him – Alarcon played in 14 games, but nobody else stayed around all year. CB Jeremy Abrams had a nice season, but then missed the last couple of games to an injury, of course.

Whine, whine, whine. This team simply isn’t good enough to withstand injuries and play well. With our best players out there, we’re still worst in the league on paper – we need to take better advantage of what we do have. It’s tough to know whether this team has any shot to go anywhere…

[QuikSand]

Jon - I agree, the comparisons are obvious.

I'll confess -- based on the results was used to with my Miami team, I was expecting to harvest maybe one or two serious, solid breakout rookies every year or so -- and thinking that by year seven (just finished) I'd have perhaps ten solid, legitimate starting-claiber players on my team. As it stands, I think the count of such players is more like three or four. I can't get an offensive tackle to save my life, we cannot muster any pass rush for lack of anybody who can really play DE, and my receiving corps (one of the places I fully expected to be deep in) is really about a D minus worth.

I'm (selfishly) feeling like it's mostly bad luck... but also am starting to think that my expectations were too high. I'm dying for a breakout player at a key position -- dare I even dream of a QB who can actually play? (That would amdittedly make a HUGE difference)

[QuikSand]

By the way - I am totally junking the "stay in position" rule that I initially adopted for this team. BY virtual necessity I have had to scramble players on the OL and DL, and to mix up LB positions. At this point, I'm willing to play anyone, anywhere, period.

[JAG]

Quite the turnaround from your Miami squad. It should be refreshing to have to overcome a different set of challenges than salary-related ones.

[QuikSand]

Well, while I do like a challenge... my frustration with the IMT has always been the same: I don't feel like I really have a lot of control over making the improvements I need to make. I can look at htis team and easily say: we need a better QB, we need to get someone to play LT, we need a good pass-rushing RDE, and we need a better all-around safety. But under these rules, I can't act on those assessments -- I just sit back and wait to see if a good player happends to fall into my lap at one of those spots, that's really all I can do.

Sure, I can tinker with the game plan or depth chart, and fudge things as best I can that way -- but as far as "addressing needs" goes, I really can't do much at all.

Not to fear... I'm down, but not out.

[dixieflatline]

I can look at this team and easily say: we need a better QB, we need to get someone to play LT, we need a good pass-rushing RDE, and we need a better all-around safety.

Yeah it's very hard to win in any of the FOF series without good play from the QB. I think though that you are on the right track moving to a more conservative offense and trying to grind out the games. That probably is the best strategy to make up for the weaker QB play.

FB Chester Compton – decent blocker, really all I want at this position

You have mentioned in your previous dynasties that you don't really want the FB and to a lesser extent the TE too involved in the passing game. This has made a lot of sense because you have had a premier QB and excellent WR's and you didn't want the FB taking throws away from the WR who are downfield and can gain a lot of yards. Here though, maybe having a strong pass catching FB would make some sense. These throws should produce fewer interceptions which is just killing you. Also, with a strong running game, you should be in third and short a lot and the lower yardage might still be enough to move the chains.

I understand that you don't feel like you have a lot of control over how things are going but maybe that just means you are going to have to get more involved in the details to make up the difference. Good luck.

[QuikSand]

You have mentioned in your previous dynasties that you don't really want the FB and to a lesser extent the TE too involved in the passing game. This has made a lot of sense because you have had a premier QB and excellent WR's and you didn't want the FB taking throws away from the WR who are downfield and can gain a lot of yards. Here though, maybe having a strong pass catching FB would make some sense. These throws should produce fewer interceptions which is just killing you. Also, with a strong running game, you should be in third and short a lot and the lower yardage might still be enough to move the chains.

Pretty good point. Indeed - my new starter at TE is emerging as a top threat, and with the weak options I have around him, I don't mind a bit.

[QuikSand]

2038

Sigh -- another firing to ignore… this is getting routine, now.


We hire a new head coach and offensive coordinator, trying to shake things up a bit. The new head coach is Kris Nixon, who has gone 105-107 with six different teams over 13 years, with 10 years as an offensive coordinator before that. Despite the mediocre results, he seems to be a great coach: rated EX in four out of five categories, and VG in motivation. We’ll hope he can help light a fire…


Great news, at least superficially – DT Cart Leal is back healthy, and it appears (so far) that he is fine after his serious injury. We will re-sign him for certain, and hope that he can step back into his role. With the play we have gotten out of Jannot in Leal’s absence, I’m excited about the prospects of putting those two run-stuffers in there side-by-side. We’ll see, though – Leal might now have the “injury-prone” tag, rendering him a part-timer at best.


In free agency, we land deals with all our target players pretty quickly – I don’t want to see anyone slip away this time. My last decision is with RT Howie Bugallo – he has been, frankly, terrible: eight-year starter, 2.2% sacks allowed, and only 31% KRBs. If I had a legitimate option, I’d go with that – but right now, this is the best we have – at least he helps with cohesion.


Fingers crossed for a godsend rookie…


No dice. I see a few guys worth a shot, but nobody who is an obvious breakout. Looks like another year of same old, same old ahead.


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
England, Wayne QB 7 35 35 35 35 0 0
Tatum, Ted QB 3 21 37 23 37 2 0
Gerhardt, Glenn QB 1 19 44 21 38 2 -6
McCarthy, Dexter QB 2 17 35 19 35 2 0
Mills, Trevor QB 1 11 48 13 42 2 -6
Sims, Ricardo QB 1 7 41 9 37 2 -4
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 5 47 47 47 47 0 0
Goodwin, Stephen RB 3 27 37 29 37 2 0
Turnbull, Ike RB 1 28 35 29 36 1 1
Bradford, Gerald RB 9 24 24 24 24 0 0
Bridges, Bruce RB 1 21 34 22 29 1 -5
Lake, Gabe RB 1 20 34 21 31 1 -3
Brennan, Mel FB 4 43 48 46 48 3 0
Compton, Chester FB 9 29 29 29 29 0 0
Sikma, Bo TE 5 44 49 46 49 2 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 4 43 46 45 46 2 0
Joseph, Billy TE 9 31 32 31 32 0 0
Everett, Norbert FL 8 35 36 35 36 0 0
Redding, Tony FL 9 33 33 33 33 0 0
Gandy, Thomas FL 3 10 18 11 18 1 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 6 38 38 38 38 0 0
Chandler, Jerry SE 8 30 30 30 30 0 0
Moore, Peter SE 1 20 40 22 38 2 -2
**Gray, Omar C 8 49 50 49 50 0 0
Garcia, Jamal C 5 46 50 47 50 1 0
Richardson, George LG 7 30 33 30 33 0 0
Weinmeister, Whit LG 2 25 43 27 43 2 0
Ogden, Christian RG 9 54 54 54 54 0 0
Rodriguez, D.J. LT 7 28 28 28 28 0 0
Bensen, Leon LT 2 26 35 28 35 2 0
Bugallo, Howie RT 9 30 30 30 30 0 0
Knight, Howard RT 4 17 35 18 35 1 0
Merchant, Quentin P 3 40 44 41 44 1 0
Wallace, Bubba K 3 34 44 35 44 1 0
Nyland, Seth LDE 8 42 44 42 44 0 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 7 40 41 40 41 0 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 8 30 30 30 30 0 0
Johnston, Alan RDE 2 25 47 27 47 2 0
Sawyer, Fernando LDT 1 23 42 25 44 2 2
Ocasio, Curtis LDT 9 24 24 24 24 0 0
Walters, Norman LDT 1 13 36 14 34 1 -2
Crane, Dustin LDT 1 7 33 8 28 1 -5
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 8 35 37 35 37 0 0
Leal, Carl RDT 9 33 33 33 33 0 0
Eby, Justin RDT 6 21 29 23 29 2 0
Spires, Sean RDT 2 19 40 22 40 3 0
Wyman, Kurt RDT 1 12 25 13 23 1 -2
Mohon, Jessie MLB 5 53 53 53 53 0 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 8 43 43 43 43 0 0
Ferguson, Jerome MLB 4 20 30 22 30 2 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 7 31 32 31 32 0 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 9 29 30 29 30 0 0
Hall, Bruce SLB 1 13 27 15 27 2 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 7 62 62 62 62 0 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 9 29 29 29 29 0 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 6 46 47 46 47 0 0
McGregor, Mo LCB 2 25 45 28 45 3 0
Harrison, Joe LCB 2 23 38 25 38 2 0
Lester, Dana LCB 9 21 21 21 21 0 0
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 8 50 50 50 50 0 0
Prior, Vinny RCB 6 22 22 22 22 0 0
Timpson, Eric RCB 1 16 39 20 44 4 5
Allamon, John RCB 1 16 29 17 29 1 0
Koonce, Leo SS 9 41 41 41 41 0 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 9 39 40 39 40 0 0
Hicks, Gilbert SS 3 20 24 21 24 1 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 9 40 40 40 40 0 0
Lake, Deon FS 8 23 23 23 23 0 0


Well, we have a breakout after all. CB isn’t my position of the most dire need, but Eric Timpson looks like he has some real promise as a cover man.

WR Peter More didn’t have a great camp, but will make the team and might stick. RB Ike Turnbull looks like he will stick as a utility man – kick returner, special teamer, and occasional reserve runner. He and Bruce Bridges make our RB situation a bit crowded – might be tough on the veteran Gerald Bradford, who really has no role with us any longer.

DT Fernando Sawyer might have some upside – he’s too light to move out of the DT spot, but I expect his playing time might some at our RDE slot. If he and Alan Johnston platoon there, we might see them develop into a nice combo for us. OLB Bruce Hall is another possible suspect for some pass rushing duties.


For this year, the biggest adjustment I’m making is at QB – I want to go with Ted Tatum there, a guy who has at least a hint of promise. I don’t expect that he will do better this year than England would have, but if he plays and develop, maybe he has a higher upside. So, we’ll give that a try- at least for a while. I’m also starting two new faces at offensive tackle – Leon Bensen will start at LT, and Howard Knight at RT. Both my long-time starters have been lousy – we might as well go younger and see if things develop.


We promptly march out to an 0-4 record. Tatum hasn’t been bad, but not great, either. After he sits a week with an injury, Tatum comes back and gets us our first victory. We suffer a bit more, but then get on a little bit of a run, with a couple big wins to get to 4-7 on the year. Hey, 4-7 isn’t great, but it beats 1-10. Two more wins get us to the improbable mark of 6-7, with a .500 season actually in sight. But that’s the end of the dream run – we lose our last three, and finish up at 6-10 overall.



Front Office Football 2004
2038 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 6-10
Winning Pct.: .375

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 431 22
Rushing Yards 1651 26
Yards Per Carry 3.83 27
Pass Attempts 489 22
Completions 290 26
Passing Yards 3228 25
Yards Per Attempt 6.60 20
3rd Down Conversions 39.0 24 (T)
Points Per Game 19.1 18
Turnovers 25 19
Turnover Margin -2 17 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 490 25
Rushing Yards 1888 18
Yards Per Carry 3.85 6
Pass Attempts 527 26
Completions 302 15
Passing Yards 3439 17
Yards Per Attempt 6.52 9 (T)
3rd Down Conversions 41.9 16
Points Per Game 19.8 19
Turnovers 23 17 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 17 CAR 20
2 6 at BAL 24
3 24 at SEA 26
4 17 ATL 21
5 10 at MIN 19
6 20 at NOS 23
7 28 at DET 18
9 6 GBY 14
10 13 CHI 3
11 37 at CAR 22
12 17 at CIN 13
13 24 DAL 20
14 31 PIT 17
15 20 NOS 23
16 31 CLE 34
17 6 at ATL 20

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Tatum QB 432 260 2837 6.56 17 15
10 England QB 56 30 391 6.98 3 2
**Team --- 489 290 3228 6.60 20 17

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 311 1207 3.88 8
48 Turnbull RB 54 201 3.72 1
7 Tatum QB 48 176 3.66 2
**Team --- 431 1651 3.83 11

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Buckley WR 103 56 685 12.2 105 5
80 Redding WR 108 54 614 11.3 63 2
86 Delrio TE 74 54 495 9.1 55 5
83 Everett WR 66 38 469 12.3 43 3
82 Chandler WR 64 37 577 15.5 173 2
46 Rodenhauser RB 25 20 120 6.0 47 1
**Team --- 487 290 3228 11.1 544 20

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
94 Mohon ILB 140 51 7.0 2 1 7
96 Seiler OLB 106 47 2.5 10 2 6
31 Feenstra S 80 29 0.0 0 2 9
55 Alarcon ILB 70 30 0.0 0 0 9
78 Jannot DE 64 25 4.5 12 0 0
92 Leal DT 49 20 1.0 6 1 1
39 Mills CB 46 16 0.0 0 0 14
33 Von Oelhoffen S 37 19 0.0 1 5 7
41 Lake S 31 11 0.0 0 1 3
36 Harrison CB 29 12 0.0 1 1 11
57 Bullock OLB 28 9 3.5 13 0 0
20 Compton FB 24 0 0.0 0 0 0
93 Nyland DE 24 8 3.5 8 0 1
27 McGregor CB 19 5 0.0 0 0 3
34 Timpson CB 18 3 0.0 0 0 2
91 Ramirez DT 16 1 1.0 4 0 0
**Team --- 881 305 26.0 58 15 78



Well, by the numbers – the strong defense is back. Top ten in yards per play against both the run and pass, that’s encouraging. The offense, on the other hand, was pretty flat. We didn’t implode – but we are just not very good moving the ball, are we?

QB Ted Tatum managed more TD passes than interceptions – only the second time we have seen that on this team (ugh). It looks like it’s his job, now.

RB Rodenhauser had another solid season, as our most effective weapon – close to 4 yards per carry isn’t so bad, I guess. TE Jerome Delrio does indeed look like he’s developing into a go-to guy, and he remains a special teams demon, too. The receiving corps is dying for a leader – he might turn out to be that guy after all.

LB Jessie Mohon stayed healthy, and put up big numbers in the middle – partially a function of our shaky offense, but a 20% TkPct is very impressive no matter how you slice it. Seven sacks from the MLB spot, in this defense, says he’s doing something right. Jannot outshined Leal on the interior line, but that unit played fairly well I’d say. CB OJ Mills remains our top cover man, and Jeremy Abrams is showing signs of breaking down. But Harrison, McGregor and Timpson give us some decent options in reserve there. But again – without a viable pass rush, we are vulnerable, period.

[Pyser]

this might be your toughest IMT yet. it's refreshing to see a quiksand team struggling, kind of gives me hope. i often try IMT's, and suffer through a decade of awfulness, and usually quit. so maybe it's not that i'm terrible. just a bad run of good drafting from the ai, perhaps (which is refreshing in its own right).

hows miami doing these days? and also, how has cleveland done with double picks? those teams never seem to prosper from it (which is always troubling, when you stop to think about it), but perhaps teams draft better lately. just a guess.

[cthomer5000]

Quik,

Do you do any tracking of player ratings in-season? In one of my careers, I've started watching pretty closely and I've seen some surprising jumps in current and future potential midway through the season.

For instance, I had one veteran player (7 years) who's future potential rose 6 points in a 6 week span (mid-season). I thought this was peculiar and interesting, and almost certainly a great sign about the player's talent. Still, it just makes me wonder what we (FOFC as a whole) might be missing in terms of player development.

I also think there's definitely a lot to be inferred by players who develop rapidly vs. those who develop at a snail's pace.

[MIJB#19]

No, but we both speak languages that borrow from Latin - yours more liberally than mine, but this is one we both decided to use. Of course, only uppity highbrows like me use it in English much.Should have known that...
D'oh!

Anyway, I'm really surprised to see how little success you've had so far, Michael. Sure, the AI wasted a perfectly good run Dolphins, but at least you are unable to be a winner with the IMT restirctions, unlike we're used to see from your earlier dynasties.
It's early to make conclusions, but either the game does a better job to avoid all undrafted teams from becoming good, or the additional late free agency makes a big difference. Any third options?

[QuikSand]

To answer questions...


cth - No, I haven't been tracking ratings movement in-season... probably a hole in my game, but one that I'm not really interested in filling right now, I don't think. (Though, maybe that's the sort of thing I need to be doing to get this to work)


MIJB, I don't know what the explanation is, really. I haven't had any trouble keeping my players -- so I can't blame the missing "7-year contracts" that we could do in FOF 2001 (remember those good old days?). I'm still tallying this up to some bad luck, and maybe my not paying as close attention (see above) as I'd need to.


Probably won't make much progress today, FYI.

[cthomer5000]

More on the mid-season 'future ratings' jump:

I had 4 players whose future potential rose midseason, ranging from 3-6 total points. Only one of those players had a mentor in his position group, and I have a number of other players under mentors who showed no real positive effects.

So i just wanted to say I think this is something that occurs outside the mentor relationship, and not something strictly tied to it.

[QuikSand]

2039

Another year, another “firing” to ignore. Sigh.


We have $40m in cap space, but a HUGE class of free agents to work through. By far, our biggest offseason – we might end up losing players, and I might have to use all of the cap.


Player # Pos Start OnTm EndCnt Exp Cap Cost Save if Rls
Ogden, Christian 70 RG 2030 UFA 10 $0 $0
Freeman, Sam 44 SLB 2030 UFA 10 $0 $0
Koonce, Leo 29 SS 2030 UFA 10 $0 $0
Gray, Omar 52 C 2031 UFA 9 $0 $0
Nyland, Seth 93 LDE 2031 UFA 9 $0 $0
McGrew, Sean 76 RDE 2031 UFA 9 $0 $0
Abrams, Jeremy 21 RCB 2031 UFA 9 $0 $0
Richardson, George 73 LG 2032 UFA 8 $0 $0
Jannot, Hardy 78 LDE 2032 UFA 8 $0 $0
Bullock, Courtney 57 SLB 2032 UFA 8 $0 $0
Eby, Justin 77 RDT 2033 UFA 7 $0 $0
Mills, O.J. 39 LCB 2033 UFA 7 $0 $0
Rodenhauser, Levon 46 RB 2034 UFA 6 $0 $0
Garcia, Jamal 54 C 2034 UFA 6 $0 $0
Ferguson, Jerome 56 MLB 2035 UFA 5 $0 $0
McCarthy, Dexter 1 QB 2037 ---- 3 $0 $0
Weinmeister, Whit 58 LG 2037 ---- 3 $0 $0
Bensen, Leon 62 LT 2037 ---- 3 $0 $0
Johnston, Alan 99 RDE 2037 ---- 3 $0 $0
Spires, Sean 98 RDT 2037 ---- 3 $0 $0
Harrison, Joe 36 LCB 2037 ---- 3 $0 $0
McGregor, Mo 27 LCB 2037 ---- 3 $0 $0


Ogden, Garcia, Nyland, Abrams, Jannot, Mills, and Rodenhauser are all MUST-SIGN players. We would be really gutted if we lost any of them, I believe. Abrams and Gray are both injury problems now, but we need them for their leadership as well as production, as both are position mentors.

(wondering if I ought to be focusing more on chemistry issues than I have been…)


After seven weeks, our whole initial target list is re-signed. And we have $29m in cap room left – so no worried after all. The last two main targets out there are CB OJ Mills – who is willing to sign long term, but is looking for pretty big money (around $5, a year) – and C Jamal Garcia (whose asking price of $3m per seems a bit high). I expect I’ll get both guys back in the late FA period.


After the draft, we’re making our annual sift through the rookie class – trying to find a few guys who can stick. Alas – once again, I don’t see any sure things in the bunch. A lot of guys with exciting blue zones – but I know how most of them will turn out, and it’s not that exciting in the end.

We also get Mills and Garcia signed to long-term, bonus-free contracts – giving me plenty of flexibility. I don’t expect to cut either guy, but we might have to renegotiate down the line.

79 players is the most I have ever brought to camp – but we’re just trying our best to find a diamond in the rough. If that means sifting through two dozen cuts after camp to separate wheat from chaff, so be it.


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
England, Wayne QB 8 35 35 35 35 0 0
Tatum, Ted QB 4 33 38 35 38 2 0
Riley, D.J. QB 1 16 41 17 38 1 -3
Spreen, Gino QB 1 13 55 15 52 2 -3
Redmond, Ronald QB 1 12 46 14 39 2 -7
Forest, Hugh QB 1 7 35 8 33 1 -2
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 6 48 48 48 48 0 0
Turnbull, Ike RB 2 31 36 31 36 0 0
Goodwin, Stephen RB 4 29 37 30 37 1 0
Stargell, Calvin RB 1 29 37 30 36 1 -1
Bridges, Bruce RB 2 21 29 22 29 1 0
Norris, Nolan RB 1 21 30 21 28 0 -2
Sims, Brenden RB 1 20 37 21 34 1 -3
Stephens, Jermaine RB 1 21 30 21 28 0 -2
Branch, Cornelius RB 1 19 36 19 31 0 -5
Brennan, Mel FB 5 49 49 49 49 0 0
Compton, Chester FB 10 29 29 29 29 0 0
Sikma, Bo TE 6 49 50 51 51 2 1
Delrio, Jerome TE 5 47 47 47 47 0 0
Caron, Marc TE 1 16 35 19 39 3 4
Christianson, Leon TE 1 9 42 12 38 3 -4
Everett, Norbert FL 9 32 34 32 34 0 0
Redding, Tony FL 10 28 28 28 28 0 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 7 35 35 35 35 0 0
Chandler, Jerry SE 9 26 26 26 26 0 0
Moore, Peter SE 2 21 34 22 34 1 0
Carrington, Rod SE 1 20 29 20 27 0 -2
Bernstein, Leslie SE 1 17 32 19 32 2 0
Garcia, Jamal C 6 48 51 48 51 0 0
Gray, Omar C 9 32 34 32 34 0 0
Morrison, Jon C 1 7 28 8 17 1 -11
Tormenti, Ricardo C 1 3 40 4 32 1 -8
Weinmeister, Whit LG 3 36 46 39 46 3 0
Richardson, George LG 8 30 33 30 33 0 0
Fagundez, Grant LG 1 18 34 19 33 1 -1
Ogden, Christian RG 10 55 55 55 55 0 0
Faylor, Norbert RG 1 11 32 13 32 2 0
Bensen, Leon LT 3 33 36 35 36 2 0
Knight, Howard RT 5 23 35 25 35 2 0
Bugallo, Howie RT 10 23 23 23 23 0 0
Merchant, Quentin P 4 41 44 41 44 0 0
Wallace, Bubba K 4 39 39 39 39 0 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 8 40 42 40 42 0 0
Nyland, Seth LDE 9 33 35 33 35 0 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 9 30 30 30 30 0 0
Johnston, Alan RDE 3 27 47 30 47 3 0
Turnbull, Bubba RDE 1 10 35 11 30 1 -5
Sawyer, Fernando LDT 2 26 45 27 45 1 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 9 33 33 33 33 0 0
Leal, Carl RDT 10 25 25 25 25 0 0
Liliedahl, Herb RDT 1 23 36 25 36 2 0
Spires, Sean RDT 3 22 41 24 41 2 0
Eby, Justin RDT 7 18 23 20 23 2 0
Brandon, Eugene RDT 1 13 30 14 28 1 -2
Peterson, Reuben RDT 1 4 31 5 31 1 0
Wolf, Jim NT 1 9 29 10 26 1 -3
Dulaney, Graham WILB 1 13 37 15 37 2 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 6 54 54 54 54 0 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 9 42 42 42 42 0 0
Ferguson, Jerome MLB 5 22 30 24 30 2 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 8 27 29 27 29 0 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 10 24 25 24 25 0 0
Hall, Bruce SLB 2 17 28 19 28 2 0
Cary, Double Wide SLB 1 15 23 16 22 1 -1
Seiler, Kerry WLB 8 59 59 59 59 0 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 10 28 29 28 29 0 0
Hines, Kelvin WLB 1 12 25 14 24 2 -1
Henley, Ralph WLB 1 12 27 14 28 2 1
Mills, O.J. LCB 7 47 48 47 48 0 0
Harrison, Joe LCB 3 34 39 36 39 2 0
McGregor, Mo LCB 3 32 45 35 45 3 0
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 9 49 49 49 49 0 0
Timpson, Eric RCB 2 28 48 30 48 2 0
Koonce, Leo SS 10 40 40 40 40 0 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 10 39 41 39 41 0 0
Raymond, Gene SS 1 14 32 15 29 1 -3
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 10 40 40 40 40 0 0
Lake, Deon FS 9 23 23 23 23 0 0
Allamon, John FS 2 20 41 22 41 2 0


Well – we have one breakout in this crop, yet another tight end. I don’t know what to do with these guys, but I’d be happy to trade two tight ends for, say, a defensive end?!?


I don’t have any major changes in plans for this year. I’m going to try to give a good look at rookie RB Brenden Sims – who wasn’t really a good candidate to switch permanently to WR, but has pretty nice receiving skills. If he ends up being a 3rd RB and reserve WR, he could end up being productive for us in the offense.

On the downside, DT Carl Leal is just not the same guy who was once a dominant force inside – he’ll be our top reserve, but is now backing up the younger Sean Spires at DT. CB Eric Timpson has moved up to assume control of the nickelback job – and should see the field quite a bit. He has promise to get as good as OJ Mills, I think.


This year – it’s another shot at the elusive .500 season. With Tatum in for this second year at QB, I’ll be hoping for a little more stability – it would be nice to see something like 2 times as many TDs as interceptions, for once… I guess an 8-8 season is all I can hope for, though – tough to see us getting any better than that.

When we lose LB Kerry Seiler, our single best player, to a preseason injury for the year – I think we’ll be adjusting those expectations downward a bit more.


There’s not a whole lot to report that you haven’t heard here before – we suffer several tough injuries (CB Abrams, S Von Oelhofen, and DT Leal all quickly out for the year, joining LB Seiler on the IR) and meander through another pointless losing season. We make yet another mini-rally late in the year, and get within one game of the .500 record I sought – but choke away a close one and fall short with a loss in the last game, as always.


Front Office Football 2004
2039 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 7-9
Winning Pct.: .437

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 437 21 (T)
Rushing Yards 1744 25
Yards Per Carry 3.99 22
Pass Attempts 555 7 (T)
Completions 302 20 (T)
Passing Yards 3352 22
Yards Per Attempt 6.03 30
3rd Down Conversions 40.3 22
Points Per Game 19.0 20 (T)
Turnovers 24 17 (T)
Turnover Margin 0 17 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 433 11
Rushing Yards 1765 10
Yards Per Carry 4.07 15
Pass Attempts 556 28
Completions 321 22
Passing Yards 3623 19
Yards Per Attempt 6.51 3
3rd Down Conversions 41.3 9
Points Per Game 18.4 7
Turnovers 24 14 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 6 at NOS 30
2 23 JAX 28
3 13 at SFO 7
4 13 at WAS 26
5 13 DAL 34
6 27 ATL 6
7 21 PHI 23
9 14 at NYG 24
10 14 NOS 17
11 23 at CAR 12
12 27 at HOU 6
13 6 DET 12
14 23 IND 20
15 28 at ATL 10
16 30 at TEN 13
17 24 CAR 27

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Tatum QB 454 252 2800 6.16 17 14
10 England QB 100 49 544 5.44 2 2
**Team --- 555 302 3352 6.03 19 16

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 343 1319 3.84 6
48 Turnbull RB 46 179 3.89 0
**Team --- 437 1744 3.99 9

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
37 Buckley WR 128 69 946 13.7 83 4
80 Redding WR 118 55 682 12.4 66 3
86 Delrio TE 86 48 510 10.6 36 1
89 Moore WR 67 35 555 15.8 99 4
40 Sims RB 46 27 226 8.3 58 2
46 Rodenhauser RB 30 22 98 4.4 51 2
26 Brennan FB 35 22 132 6.0 40 1
**Team --- 552 302 3352 11.0 464 19

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
94 Mohon ILB 107 42 3.5 10 1 6
31 Feenstra S 77 23 1.0 1 0 14
57 Bullock OLB 75 22 2.5 2 3 2
55 Alarcon ILB 69 27 2.0 4 2 4
34 Timpson CB 61 13 0.0 0 3 14
78 Jannot DE 51 25 1.5 7 0 0
39 Mills CB 51 23 0.5 0 2 7
29 Koonce S 43 18 0.0 0 2 13
98 Spires DT 42 20 4.0 5 0 0
44 Freeman OLB 30 12 1.5 0 0 4
99 Johnston DE 23 10 4.0 7 0 0
27 McGregor CB 22 8 1.0 1 1 2
93 Nyland DE 21 9 3.0 8 0 0
86 Delrio TE 17 0 0.0 0 0 0
91 Ramirez DT 16 3 2.0 4 0 0
36 Harrison CB 16 9 0.0 0 0 2
**Team --- 842 292 33.0 68 15 71



Ted Tatum was just about on par with last year – he really didn’t develop at all. That’s disappointing – but not a real shock. RB Rodenhauser had another solid season, but grinding out 3.8-3.9 yard per carry isn’t enough to make this team go, it seems. Maybe we need to pass even more – go back to the all-aerial assault? WR Aaron Buckley is starting to emerge as our top threat – but we still really lack a go-to weapon in the passing game. RB Brenden Sims has real potential – but didn’t get onto the field as much as I had hoped he would – the game plan has shifted us out of many of our old 3-WR sets, where he would have been the slot wideout.

Our defense suffered from injuries, no doubt – but Eric Timpson stepped in well for fallen CB Jeremy Abrams, and is now a definite candidate to start from now on for us. 14 passes defensed is good – now he needs to bring down the passes allowed (from 48). LB Jessie Mohon played all year and did well, but had little help in the LB corps – with Seiler out and then Alarcon hurt later on, he had to do a lot himself. As the defending DPOY from last year, he’s up to the challenge, but still it’s a lot to ask. The defensive line again managed very little pass pressure – and that just undermines everything we are trying to do here.

Statistically – our pass defense was the strength, oddly enough. We need another presence at DT if we are going to get back to being tough to run against – assuming we get LB Kerry Seiler back and healthy next year (crossing fingers) then DT is probably the key spot to address there. But rushing the passer is a real need for us, and the riffraff we’re throwing out there – even long-time LDE starter Seth Nyland (who hasn’t had 5 sacks in any of the last 5 years) – just isn’t getting the job done.


No mention of Bucs on the season awards list – but Miami manages to get back to the Superbowl (led by a bunch of guys they signed as free agents – phooey!) losing to the Giants.

[QuikSand]

2040

Our first retirement – RT Howie Bugallo, who lost his job a couple of seasons ago, has hung up the cleats.

I decide to pursue a new scout. Jared Bernard is rated VG with young talent – maybe that will probe to be a boost for us. He’s a step down (AVG) with OL and LB, but there are trade-offs necessary here (options not so good). But he is very good with quarterbacks… maybe that can pay off?


DT Carl Leal, after another season-ending injury, is done. He’s still in the game, but he’s unplayable. He’s not a leader, nor a mentor – I can’t keep him around. Three pro bowls make him our most laurelled player – but his time is done after ten seasons.

FB Mel Brennan is my only free agent – he re-signs for three cheap seasons, and we’re ready to go.


Ooh, ooh, ooh! In the post-draft free agent market might be a big ray of hope! QB Dean Johnstone has some of the signs of a breakout – a great 40 time (4.33!) and a very good Solecismic test (40). This could be the guy! ***CROSSING FINGERS***


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Tatum, Ted QB 5 40 40 40 40 0 0
England, Wayne QB 9 34 34 34 34 0 0
Spreen, Gino QB 2 20 50 24 50 4 0
Johnstone, Dean QB 1 11 52 15 55 4 3
Elliott, Harry QB 1 9 46 12 43 3 -3
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 7 46 46 46 46 0 0
Turnbull, Ike RB 3 33 37 34 37 1 0
Sims, Brenden RB 2 26 33 27 33 1 0
Manning, Edwin RB 1 26 36 26 33 0 -3
Goodwin, Stephen RB 5 26 31 26 31 0 0
Brandon, Archie RB 1 24 38 24 34 0 -4
Lofton, Melvin RB 1 24 36 24 33 0 -3
Brennan, Mel FB 6 49 49 49 49 0 0
Compton, Chester FB 11 25 25 25 25 0 0
Sikma, Bo TE 7 51 51 51 51 0 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 6 48 48 48 48 0 0
Caron, Marc TE 2 22 44 24 44 2 0
Everett, Norbert FL 10 32 34 32 34 0 0
Redding, Tony FL 11 26 26 26 26 0 0
Raisor, Brock FL 1 17 44 19 33 2 -11
Buckley, Aaron SE 8 34 34 34 34 0 0
Moore, Peter SE 3 22 34 24 34 2 0
Bernstein, Leslie SE 2 19 32 21 32 2 0
Newman, Darrell SE 1 11 31 12 27 1 -4
Garcia, Jamal C 7 48 50 48 50 0 0
Gray, Omar C 10 26 27 26 27 0 0
Ellis, Christian C 1 19 43 20 42 1 -1
Curry, Allen C 1 16 49 18 48 2 -1
Weinmeister, Whit LG 4 45 48 45 48 0 0
Richardson, George LG 9 32 35 32 35 0 0
Ogden, Christian RG 11 53 53 53 53 0 0
Flynn, Claude RG 1 12 23 13 23 1 0
Bensen, Leon LT 4 35 36 35 36 0 0
Austin, Marlon LT 1 13 31 14 30 1 -1
Thomas, Rob LT 1 7 29 8 26 1 -3
Knight, Howard RT 6 30 36 32 36 2 0
Rhodes, Wes P 1 47 66 52 72 5 6
Wallace, Bubba K 5 37 37 37 37 0 0
Rayburn, Mario K 1 27 54 27 47 0 -7
Jannot, Hardy LDE 9 41 42 41 42 0 0
Nyland, Seth LDE 10 31 32 31 32 0 0
Hall, Perry LDE 1 21 23 21 23 0 0
Johnston, Alan RDE 4 35 47 37 47 2 0
McGrew, Sean RDE 10 29 29 29 29 0 0
Liliedahl, Herb RDE 2 23 39 25 39 2 0
Henley, Ralph RDE 2 23 40 24 40 1 0
Sawyer, Fernando LDT 3 29 47 31 47 2 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 10 31 32 31 32 0 0
Spires, Sean RDT 4 29 42 31 42 2 0
Daniels, Kelly RDT 1 11 32 13 32 2 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 7 54 54 54 54 0 0
**Alarcon, Austin MLB 10 43 43 43 43 0 0
Lane, Larry MLB 1 11 29 12 26 1 -3
Bullock, Courtney SLB 9 29 29 29 29 0 0
Hall, Bruce SLB 3 22 28 23 28 1 0
Reynolds, Shawn SLB 1 18 40 20 37 2 -3
Freeman, Sam SLB 11 19 19 19 19 0 0
Grimshaw, Alonzo SLB 1 15 33 17 30 2 -3
Bohlinger, Terrell SLB 1 14 30 15 28 1 -2
Seiler, Kerry WLB 9 54 54 54 54 0 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 11 24 25 24 25 0 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 8 48 49 48 49 0 0
McGregor, Mo LCB 4 38 46 41 46 3 0
Harrison, Joe LCB 4 39 40 40 40 1 0
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 10 59 59 59 59 0 0
Timpson, Eric RCB 3 42 52 44 52 2 0
Koonce, Leo SS 11 36 36 36 36 0 0
Von Oelhoffen, Frankie SS 11 23 24 23 24 0 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 11 38 38 38 38 0 0
Allamon, John FS 3 24 42 26 42 2 0
Lake, Deon FS 10 22 22 22 22 0 0


Well, we finally got lucky, it seems. QB Dean Johnston has some real potential to be the best quarterback we’ve seen – really just what we needed. The only question is whether we send him right out… but that might not be a tough decision, either.

It also looks like we have a good player in young punter Wes Rhodes. We’ll be doing a lot of punting, presumably, so that’s probably good. Wonder if he can rush the passer?


Among our last cut-downs are some familiar faces – depleted by injuries and time (and perhaps exposed a but by my new scout). S Frankie Von Oelhoffen missed last year with an injury, and couldn’t come all the way back. Two older veterans, LB Sam Freeman and C Omar Gray, are both cut candidates – but their mentorship keeps them aboard.


Well – it’s decision time. Dean Johnston is probably the best hope we have to take a step forward – would we be better off with him in the game, or on the bench? I don’t feel like we have all that much to lose – it’s not like this has been a playoff contender without him – so we’ll go ahead and throw Johnstone right into the fire. I’m going to start Brenden Sims at the flanker spot, where he replaces a rapidly declining WR Tony Redding.

On defense, Austin Alarcon is still hurt from last year – so we will slide tough linebacker John Allamon into the weak-side starting job, where he might prove to be pretty effective. Alarcon ought to be back in a few weeks, but we’re very thin at LB right now. At CB, I have veteran Jeremy Abrams playing as the nickelback – and hoping that limited use can help him stay healthy for us. I’ll dial up the blitz percentages this year, in hopes of manufacturing more pressure than we have been getting.

For this season – I don’t have expectations that the team is going to get better. Assuming we stick with our rookie QB, we ought to suffer more turnovers – but hopefully we will see some real growth along the way, too. I’m not going to worry about wins – we just want to see things coming together.


After an opening loss, we also lose starting safety Leo Koonce to an injury – pressing Jeremy Abrams into a start at strong safety. He responds with 3 interceptions and a TD, getting the game ball for our first win of the year. We somehow manage to get to the halfway point at 4-4, despite Dean Johntson’s 15 interceptions. But our run defense ranks #1, and is certainly helping us stay in the hunt.

We manage a run of three more wins, and stretch out to a staggering 7-4 on the season – we have never been 3 games ahead of .500 under my watch, this is unbelievable! We’re actually a game out of the division lead, and we’d be in the playoffs if they started right now. In week 15, we manage a tie with Carolina – locking up our first winning season so far – an unexpected result, but a nice surprise! When we finish with a win at New Orleans, we clinch our first playoff berth in my tenure here -- what a whirlwind season!


Front Office Football 2004
2040 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 9-6-1
Winning Pct.: .593

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 512 5
Rushing Yards 2240 2
Yards Per Carry 4.37 4
Pass Attempts 512 11
Completions 280 25
Passing Yards 2885 31
Yards Per Attempt 5.63 32
3rd Down Conversions 35.2 31
Points Per Game 18.6 18 (T)
Turnovers 35 31
Turnover Margin -1 20 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 402 3
Rushing Yards 1291 1
Yards Per Carry 3.21 1
Pass Attempts 543 30 (T)
Completions 283 7 (T)
Passing Yards 3253 9
Yards Per Attempt 5.99 1
3rd Down Conversions 30.0 1
Points Per Game 14.9 1
Turnovers 34 1

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 14 ATL 21
2 27 at KCY 12
3 6 at GBY 10
4 24 ARI 27
5 27 SFO 15
6 16 at STL 10
8 7 at SEA 21
9 36 NOS 14
10 20 at ATL 10
11 12 CAR 7
12 13 SDO 10
13 34 DAL 10
14 10 at DEN 21
15 19 at CAR 19
16 10 OAK 22
17 23 at NOS 10
$$WC at WAS

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
6 Johnstone QB 508 279 2876 5.66 15 22
**Team --- 512 280 2885 5.63 15 22

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 329 1311 3.98 5
6 Johnstone QB 87 529 6.08 1
40 Sims RB 44 187 4.25 1
**Team --- 512 2240 4.37 7

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Sikma TE 102 66 511 7.7 55 4
37 Buckley WR 129 53 595 11.2 78 3
80 Redding WR 73 40 530 13.2 93 3
40 Sims RB 69 40 491 12.2 59 3
46 Rodenhauser RB 29 21 100 4.7 21 0
89 Moore WR 47 20 255 12.7 32 0
**Team --- 512 280 2885 10.3 431 15

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
94 Mohon ILB 95 22 4.5 10 3 4
96 Seiler OLB 77 21 7.0 7 0 8
98 Spires DT 69 33 4.5 3 0 0
31 Feenstra S 52 26 1.0 0 0 7
45 Allamon S 52 19 1.0 1 1 1
78 Jannot DE 51 31 3.0 6 0 0
34 Timpson CB 49 25 0.0 0 9 17
21 Abrams CB 46 18 2.0 0 5 11
57 Bullock OLB 43 10 2.0 3 1 1
39 Mills CB 42 14 0.0 0 4 22
55 Alarcon ILB 34 11 3.0 2 0 9
36 Harrison CB 26 3 0.0 0 0 1
99 Johnston DE 24 7 2.5 9 1 1
86 Delrio TE 22 0 0.0 0 0 0
97 Sawyer DT 17 8 4.5 12 0 0
**Team --- 812 260 41.0 75 24 86



When I decided to go with rookie QB Dean Johnstone, my expectation was that we’d come out and throw twice as many interceptions as touchdowns, and that we’d essentially be giving away our season. Well, 22 to 15 is pretty shaky – but we were able to overcome the shaky results at QB (and Johnstone only threw 7 picks in the second half). Levon Rodenhauser is just becoming a lunchbucket guy for us – punching the clock, and getting the job done, once again. Dean Johnstone is fleet-footed enough to contribute a good deal to the running game himself, and that 500 yards helped make us one of the most effective rushing teams in the league (#2 in rushing yards is crazy for this team).

TE Bo Sikma regained the starting job, and was Johnstone’s top target on the year. WR Aaron Buckley was well under 50% catch rate of balls thrown his way – part his fault, part Johnstone’s, I suspect. Overall passing numbers were down, as expected.

More blitzing meant more sacks from LB Kerry Seiler, who stayed healthy this year, fortunately, and delivered. We once again got a disappointing effort from our defensive ends – but DT Fernando Sawyer played left DE mostly, and was pretty effective (more so than Seth Nyland usually has been). Sean Spires has stepped up into the role as our best interior defender – his 69+33 tackles is a great mark is outstanding, and made a big push toward our #1-rated rush defense (in both yards per carry and total yards allowed).

Moving Jeremy Abrams to strong safety turned out to be a great move – he played spectacularly well there, and was a nice step up (and back into the realm of the healthy connrtributors). Starting Mills and Timpson at the corners is fine – both guys had their best seasons yet, with PDPct ratings well over 21. Even utility safety John Allamon, playing in split time between safety and linebacker, gave us some quality time.

Overall, the defense was just tremendous -- #1 in yards per rush and yards per pass allowed, causing the most turnovers, and just playing great all season. With numbers like that, it’s certainly possible to see why we made the playoffs even with a shaky and mistake-prone offense.



Postseason

Tampa Bay 30, Washington 9[I] – A big win in our first ever playoff game, we play it safe on offense (Johnstone goes 13 of 18) and play good defense – a strong formula for winning with this sort of team. OJ Mills puts it away with an interception return as the ‘Skins are trying to rally back into the game – and we move on.

[I]Tampa Bay 14, Washington 10 – Erin Timpson returns an interception for a TD in the first quarter, and Levon Rodenhauser grinds out 124 yards on the ground, as we lock down another basically mistake-free effort and another playoff win.

Atlanta 24, Tampa Bay 3 – The dream finally dies, as our division rivals Atlanta find our weaknesses, cause three turnovers, and play their own error-free game to get the easy win (despite being outgained on the day).


Atlanta falls to Oakland in the championship game, 24-9.


How can we have anything but joy after this season? After getting close to giving up, and then resigning ourselves to a simple “building” year – we end up smashing through to new heights unimaginable before the year started. Unbelievable…

[JonInMiddleGA]

Congratulations on the post-season appearance.
It took you 11 seasons ... it took me 24 seasons to get the first one.

Now let's see if you can string several in a row together :D

[QuikSand]

Actually, I fear that this fluky season set the bar too high. My defense played out of its mind for one year -- better than it actually is, I think. So, even if my young QB gets better (which I expect), the defense probably regresses to the mean somewhat and we might be a legitimate 8-8 team.

But I think stepping up the blitzing made a big difference - I can't believe I hadn't made a big change there before... sigh.

[MIJB#19]

Sounds like FOF2004 is indeed tougher, yet is beatable if one really, really, really takes a lot of time to tinker with the game plan and gets succesful (lucky?) to beat teams.

[QuikSand]

Actually, despite my initial claims -- I'm not really doing all that much tinkering with the game plans. Every two or three of seasons, I have made one or two significant adjstments, but for the most part this has been pretty straightforward.

Also, I basically set the depth chart at the beginning of the season, and only adjust if there is a real problem, or a serious injury. So, I spend a little time (on this team) trying to decide who will play at the WR, OL, and DE positions... but that's about it.

I wouldn't say that I have been micromanaging this team much at all. (I initially thought that would be a big part of this, but I either lack the patience to do it, or don't see the reward -- the two mesh together so closely, I can't even tell you which)

[QuikSand]

2041

Okay, so we had a couple of our prayers answered – our first winning season (and a nice playoff run to boot) and a promising young quarterback. Tough to ask for more, really – but it would still be nice to have a few more toys to play with…

Interestingly enough – I was still fired. Oh, well – ignoring the firing has become a routine for me, at this point.


K Bubba Wallace, oddly enough, made his first Hawai’i trip… as did CB Eric Timpson as a second teamer. I think Timpson’s is the first all-pro nod that we got that wasn’t deeply polluted by the “lousy defense=many tackles” issue – so that’s worth noting.


We have one retirement – DE Seth Nyland. On paper, he was the best DE this team ever had, but he never really translated that into big results. A decent starter for a decade, it’s tough to speak badly – but his was always a position we wanted to get more from.


Our free agent crop includes a number of guys we want to return – but I’m trying to be a little more selective. We have enough “old guys” around to keep cohesion high – I’ll return mentors, I think, but other than that, it will just be guys who can start. My tough cases this year are G George Richardson and S Deon Lake. Both are so-so reserves, neither is an affinity guy… I might be better served to give that playing time to young players who might develop. I’ll wait until the late FA stages to determine whether to re-sign them.


In the late free agency stage, I am amused by seeing a free agent QB – a guy I have noticed several times before in this career, who was drafted by and started for San Diego for many years. His name – Philip Rives. Pretty close, yes?

Anyway – looking for diamonds in the rough again. I think we have a good OL prospect in Vernon Leska – I hope he can move out from center and play tackle. A few others to bring aboard – but nobody else really has my heart racing, at least not before camp.


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Tatum, Ted QB 6 40 41 40 41 0 0
Johnstone, Dean QB 2 31 57 35 57 4 0
England, Wayne QB 10 25 25 25 25 0 0
Rodenhauser, Levo RB 8 40 40 40 40 0 0
Turnbull, Ike RB 4 35 37 36 37 1 0
Sims, Brenden RB 3 30 30 30 30 0 0
Free, Blaine RB 1 26 34 26 32 0 -2
Brennan, Mel FB 7 49 49 49 49 0 0
Barker, Phillip FB 1 25 43 26 42 1 -1
Compton, Chester FB 12 22 23 22 23 0 0
Sikma, Bo TE 8 51 51 51 51 0 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 7 48 48 48 48 0 0
Caron, Marc TE 3 23 39 25 39 2 0
Everett, Norbert FL 11 32 33 32 33 0 0
Redding, Tony FL 12 24 24 24 24 0 0
Wilson, Horace FL 1 19 44 20 40 1 -4
Buysse, Arnold FL 1 17 40 18 38 1 -2
Buckley, Aaron SE 9 33 33 33 33 0 0
Moore, Peter SE 4 27 33 28 33 1 0
Bernstein, Leslie SE 3 21 32 22 32 1 0
Garcia, Jamal C 8 50 51 50 51 0 0
Harp, Skip C 1 23 33 24 34 1 1
Curry, Allen C 2 20 48 22 48 2 0
Gray, Omar C 11 16 17 16 17 0 0
Weinmeister, Whit LG 5 47 49 47 49 0 0
Richardson, Georg LG 10 31 34 31 34 0 0
Forbes, Nolan LG 1 9 17 9 17 0 0
Ogden, Christian RG 12 51 51 51 51 0 0
Browning, Lamar RG 1 13 28 14 27 1 -1
Leska, Vernon RG 1 7 43 10 48 3 5
Sweeney, Max RG 1 6 33 9 31 3 -2
Bensen, Leon LT 5 35 36 35 36 0 0
Austin, Marlon LT 2 18 28 19 28 1 0
Knight, Howard RT 7 35 35 35 35 0 0
Lyle, Vincent RT 1 12 37 15 43 3 6
Rhodes, Wes P 2 64 77 66 77 2 0
Wallace, Bubba K 6 38 38 38 38 0 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 10 42 43 42 43 0 0
Easy, Deron LDE 1 16 33 17 31 1 -2
Johnston, Alan RDE 5 42 48 44 48 2 0
Liliedahl, Herb RDE 3 25 39 26 39 1 0
Henley, Ralph RDE 3 25 41 26 41 1 0
Wallen, Roosevelt RDE 1 21 34 23 34 2 0
Sawyer, Fernando LDT 4 39 49 42 49 3 0
Montgomery, Preston LDT 1 15 29 17 29 2 0
Spires, Sean RDT 5 41 42 41 42 0 0
Ramirez, Dominic RDT 11 27 28 27 28 0 0
Daniels, Kelly RDT 2 13 33 15 33 2 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 8 54 54 54 54 0 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 11 43 43 43 43 0 0
Lane, Larry MLB 2 12 24 13 24 1 0
O'Neill, Gene MLB 1 10 34 13 28 3 -6
Thornton, C.J. MLB 1 10 35 12 30 2 -5
Bullock, Courtney SLB 10 27 27 27 27 0 0
Hall, Bruce SLB 4 27 30 27 30 0 0
Reynolds, Shawn SLB 2 20 35 22 35 2 0
Terrell, David SLB 1 16 30 17 28 1 -2
Briley, Aaron SLB 1 16 34 16 29 0 -5
Freeman, Sam SLB 12 11 12 11 12 0 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 10 54 54 54 54 0 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 12 25 25 25 25 0 0
Cassell, J.R. WLB 1 17 31 18 31 1 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 9 49 50 49 50 0 0
McGregor, Mo LCB 5 42 47 44 47 2 0
Harrison, Joe LCB 5 40 41 40 41 0 0
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 11 76 76 76 76 0 0
Timpson, Eric RCB 4 54 54 54 54 0 0
Koonce, Leo SS 12 33 33 33 33 0 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 12 32 32 32 32 0 0
Allamon, John FS 4 29 42 31 42 2 0
Lake, Deon FS 11 19 19 19 19 0 0


And so, it seems we might have two legitimate prospects on our hands – G Vernon Leska looks good, and so does T Vincent Lyle, who quickly receives a switch to the left side.


Preparing for this year – the defense just looks paper thin to me. We lose CB Joe Harrison in the preseason, and only have seven healthy DBs on the roster at all. I’ll again use the late-flourishing Jeremy Abrams as a starter at strong safety, but one more injury in the secondary puts us in real trouble. Fourth year S John Allamon has worked his way into the starting lineup as the FS – he has pretty good run defense skills, and should bring down his share if picks. I’m shuffling up front, too – with linebackers slotted at DE for lack of better options. We’ll see how this goes – staying healthy will be very critical to this group.

For this year, I’m trying to temper enthusiasm. I think we got a lot of luck last season, which made a decent season into a pretty darned good one. I think the team might be better overall, and still go 8-8. We’ll hope for a return to the playoffs, of course, but I’m trying to be forgiving if we come up a bit short of that goal.


In our opener, LB Kerry Seiler is out – we have Courtney Bullock and Paul Blanchard (two old hands) in to replace him. Blanchard surprises everyone with a huge day – 8 tackles, 1.5 sacks, an interception for a TD, and the game ball in our opening day victory! A week four road win over Atlanta gets us to 4-0 on the season – and for the first time ever, we are looking like a truly good team. Johnstone is still not lighting the world on fire, but we are playing well as a unit.

We continue on, without the perfect record, but we’re winning close games and staying relatively healthy (both signs of a charmed team). And even after a run of injuries (and a close loss) down the stretch, our battle is not for respectability – but for a bye week.


Front Office Football 2004
2041 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 13-3
Winning Pct.: .812

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 539 1
Rushing Yards 2176 3
Yards Per Carry 4.03 18 (T)
Pass Attempts 463 29
Completions 276 29
Passing Yards 2940 30
Yards Per Attempt 6.34 26
3rd Down Conversions 42.6 16
Points Per Game 19.4 19
Turnovers 22 8 (T)
Turnover Margin +20 1

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 396 3
Rushing Yards 1605 5
Yards Per Carry 4.05 15
Pass Attempts 507 17 (T)
Completions 286 4 (T)
Passing Yards 3079 3
Yards Per Attempt 6.07 3
3rd Down Conversions 37.3 2
Points Per Game 14.9 4
Turnovers 42 1

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 33 CAR 14
2 30 MIA 22
3 24 SFO 21
4 23 at ATL 20
5 28 at MIN 14
6 14 NOS 16
7 27 at DET 10
9 10 GBY 7
10 10 CHI 33
11 14 at CAR 13
12 12 at NYJ 10
13 27 at PHI 14
14 7 BUF 0
15 3 at NOS 24
16 12 at NED 7
17 37 ATL 14

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
6 Johnstone QB 455 273 2912 6.40 18 16
**Team --- 463 276 2940 6.34 18 16

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 344 1306 3.79 3
48 Turnbull RB 90 324 3.60 1
6 Johnstone QB 78 442 5.66 3
**Team --- 539 2176 4.03 8

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Sikma TE 117 69 764 11.0 149 3
37 Buckley WR 77 44 566 12.8 61 4
89 Moore WR 72 42 480 11.4 67 3
83 Everett WR 65 38 436 11.4 64 4
40 Sims RB 57 37 302 8.1 63 2
**Team --- 463 276 2940 10.6 500 18

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
96 Seiler OLB 79 23 5.5 5 1 5
94 Mohon ILB 76 20 6.0 6 3 5
21 Abrams CB 73 23 0.0 0 9 3
34 Timpson CB 54 21 0.0 1 7 23
98 Spires DT 50 38 3.5 7 0 0
45 Allamon S 46 20 0.0 1 6 3
55 Alarcon ILB 43 12 0.0 3 1 6
39 Mills CB 43 18 0.0 0 2 19
78 Jannot DE 42 25 4.0 2 0 1
99 Johnston DE 40 16 11.0 10 0 0
50 Blanchard OLB 37 9 3.5 0 2 0
57 Bullock OLB 31 6 2.0 3 0 2
97 Sawyer DT 29 9 5.5 3 0 0
31 Feenstra S 19 3 0.0 0 0 0
27 McGregor CB 18 8 0.5 0 0 1
**Team --- 779 262 44.0 53 32 69



Okay, by the numbers, Dean Johnstone was okay – slightly more TDs than picks, up over 6 yards par attempt is fine. He had a very nice run in the middle of the season, but overall he was okay. But it’s hard to try to pin this team’s whole success on him – it seems like the team was just “ready” when he came along.

RB Levon Rodenahuser usually gets a mention here – but he’s underappreciated if anything. Eights seasons, never missed a start, and 8,857 yards (even after only 516 in his first year, when we passed nearly every down). He has three 1,300 yard seasons in a row – he has been very good for us, indeed. C Jamal Garcia and RG Christian Ogden each had over 30 KRBs, and could see all-pro recognition this year (even though we aren’t a heavy-running powerhouse team, we did run more times than anyone else this year).

The receiving corps is nothing too special – TE Bo Sikma has established himself as Johnstone’s favorite target, it seems. And he’s just about as productive with the ball as our wideouts, so there’s little loss there. RB/WR Brended Sims just continues to disappoint – I keep expecting him to break out into a dynamic passing game threat, but no such luck – he might start to see his playing time drop.

Defensively, we slipped in the run defense – I’m not wild about giving up over 4 yard per carry. But we made up for it by causing a great number of turnovers, 42. Abrams, Timoson, and Allamon all had great seasons, especially Timpson who could easily be back to Hawai’i. 44 sacks is good, too, though we didn’t add quite as many hurries and blocks as I’d prefer to see. But DE Alan Johnston gave us fill-time effort at RDE, and probably the best lass-rushing season we have gotten with this team – which really, really helps.

We get our by week, and await our home playoff debut.


Postseason

Tampa Bay 17, Washington 14 – 100 yards from Rodenhauser, 100 yards from TE Bo Sikma, and a 2-1 edge in turnovers means we followed the game plan perfectly, I think.

Tampa Bay 21, New York Giants 17 – on the road at the G-men, we get the win on a Jeremy Abrams interception TD in thee fourth quarter, and our defense holds the slim edge against their comeback attempts. We win the turnover battle 3-1, and get to move on to the big one.

Superbowl – Baltimore 34, Tampa Bay 28 (OT) – We get a 20-7 halftime lead from Rodenhauser’s punishing running, but the Ravens open up on us in the second half, and pull even on a long TD pass in the fourth. They get a long drive and win it in the overtime, to secure the championship, and foil our miracle dreams.


No way that I can be disappointed with that season, at all. Things look good – though it’s a little disturbing that what is “working” for us isn’t really consistent year to year – last season we were great on defense in the fundamentals – yards per run, yards per pass. This season, we fall back there, but become turnover specialists and pass rushers. Tough to figure – I’d rather have both, of course, but I’d like to know who we are, really. Turnovers might not be as easily replicable year to year, I feel.

Anyway, the team is playing well, and our QB ought to be improving – could be room tfor optimism.

[Alf]

Is Dean Johnston in anyway related to the other famous QB named Dean Houston ? ;)

[MIJB#19]

That was the wrong Lyle getting a boost in ratings...

[QuikSand]

I don't have any worries on that front, Matthijs... Ron will be just fine.

[QuikSand]

2042

The team has generated a new level of excitement. Things must be good – I wasn’t even “fired” this year!

Minor note from last season – CB Eric Timpson did indeed get all-pro honors (second team), while our punter Wes Rhodes managed to be the first team selection. Nice.


It’s our year for a big free agent class again – but I expect that things should go fairly smoothly as usual. It is, indeed, pretty uneventful up to the draft – we lock up the players we pursued, and didn’t lose anyone we decided to wait out. So far, so good.

Our last two decisions before training cam are with veteran wide receivers Norbert Everett and Tony Redding. These two guy have both been with us forever… but I’m not convinced that they are better (at this point, at least) than just throwing a rookie out there. I end up putting in offers for both guys, but it’s possible that one or both get cut before the season starts.

After the draft, we have a look again at the rookie class. Regrettably, going into camp, our best rookie looks to be yet another center who lacks the heft to switch OL positions. Alas… we’ll hope that I’m underestimating the good prospects of this crop.


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Johnstone, Dean QB 3 56 58 56 58 0 0
Tatum, Ted QB 7 41 41 41 41 0 0
England, Wayne QB 11 24 24 24 24 0 0
Herdeg, Jorge QB 1 21 37 23 37 2 0
Turnbull, Ike RB 5 38 38 38 38 0 0
Rodenhauser, Levo RB 9 36 36 36 36 0 0
Sims, Brenden RB 4 29 29 29 29 0 0
Free, Blaine RB 2 25 30 26 30 1 0
Valles, Ross RB 1 20 31 20 28 0 -3
Terrell, Chad RB 1 18 29 18 26 0 -3
Brennan, Mel FB 8 50 50 50 50 0 0
Sikma, Bo TE 9 51 51 51 51 0 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 8 48 48 48 48 0 0
Caron, Marc TE 4 26 39 28 39 2 0
Everett, Norbert FL 12 31 33 31 33 0 0
Wilson, Horace FL 2 21 38 23 38 2 0
Redding, Tony FL 13 22 22 22 22 0 0
Starks, Robert FL 1 14 34 14 29 0 -5
Buckley, Aaron SE 10 33 33 33 33 0 0
Moore, Peter SE 5 30 34 32 34 2 0
Legree, J.R. SE 1 13 36 15 32 2 -4
Garcia, Jamal C 9 51 52 51 52 0 0
Curry, Allen C 3 25 48 27 48 2 0
Harp, Skip C 2 25 35 27 35 2 0
Diminnie, Will C 1 21 40 24 45 3 5
Gray, Omar C 12 8 9 8 9 0 0
Weinmeister, Whit LG 6 48 50 48 50 0 0
Richardson, Georg LG 11 32 34 32 34 0 0
Ogden, Christian RG 13 52 52 52 52 0 0
Leska, Vernon RG 2 19 52 21 52 2 0
Powell, Ernie RG 1 8 44 10 44 2 0
Bensen, Leon LT 6 35 35 35 35 0 0
Lyle, Vincent LT 2 16 42 18 42 2 0
Knight, Howard RT 8 34 35 34 35 0 0
Rhodes, Wes P 3 69 76 69 76 0 0
Wallace, Bubba K 7 37 37 37 37 0 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 11 38 39 38 39 0 0
Allen, Alfred LDE 1 22 29 23 29 1 0
Madrigal, Tom LDE 1 20 29 21 27 1 -2
Robinette, Cornel LDE 1 16 37 17 30 1 -7
Brickner, Travis LDE 1 9 26 11 24 2 -2
Johnston, Alan RDE 6 46 47 46 47 0 0
Wallen, Roosevelt RDE 2 23 35 25 35 2 0
Sawyer, Fernando LDT 5 49 50 49 50 0 0
Warrick, Timothy LDT 1 22 38 25 39 3 1
Douglas, Marc LDT 1 20 31 21 29 1 -2
Roundy, Hunter LDT 1 18 31 19 31 1 0
Spires, Sean RDT 6 41 42 41 42 0 0
Daniels, Kelly RDT 3 16 33 17 33 1 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 9 55 55 55 55 0 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 12 39 39 39 39 0 0
Lane, Larry MLB 3 13 24 14 24 1 0
Hall, Bruce SLB 5 28 30 28 30 0 0
Bullock, Courtney SLB 11 26 27 26 27 0 0
Reynolds, Shawn SLB 3 23 35 24 35 1 0
Mitchell, Winston SLB 1 18 36 20 37 2 1
Norton, Melvin SLB 1 19 32 20 32 1 0
Briley, Aaron SLB 2 16 26 17 26 1 0
Freeman, Sam SLB 13 7 7 7 7 0 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 11 52 52 52 52 0 0
Blanchard, Paul WLB 13 23 23 23 23 0 0
Cassell, J.R. WLB 2 18 31 20 31 2 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 10 50 51 50 51 0 0
McGregor, Mo LCB 6 47 47 47 47 0 0
Harrison, Joe LCB 6 19 20 19 20 0 0
Morrison, Sean LCB 1 13 31 16 30 3 -1
O'Donnell, Edward LCB 1 12 23 13 23 1 0
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 12 70 70 70 70 0 0
Timpson, Eric RCB 5 55 55 55 55 0 0
Koonce, Leo SS 13 29 29 29 29 0 0
Allamon, John FS 5 39 43 42 43 3 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 13 27 27 27 27 0 0
Smith, Dennis FS 1 13 34 16 36 3 2


Well, the best training camps were from S Dennis Smith (not a big hitter, but he gets #49 anyway) and C Will Dimminie. DT Timothy Warrick looked pretty good, as well. Dimminie might end up very good – but we now have a massive logjam at the position, and I’m at a complete loss to decide what to do there usually I keep two, now I have five quality candidates, including the washed-up mentor Omar Gray.


Levon Rodenhauser seems to be winding down after eight season of pounding – we’ll try to get what we can out of him, but it might be time to look elsewhere. I’ve gotten nice incidental production from Ike Turnbull, but he just doesn’t seem like the first-and-ten type. We could be in trouble if our skill positions are all weak – where do we focus the offense then? (There’s only so much you can get from a tight end, right?)


So, we gear up for another season – after reaching the Superbowl last time out. At this stage, we have little choice but to set our goal at the very top – a championship. I don’t know if this team is really capable of such, but that’s what we have to be thinking. I think a decline in our running game might have serious consequences across the board, if indeed that’s what we see. We’ll need our defense to play up to its excellent standards of late to stay a major threat.

Interestingly enough, we still only have a roster rating of 24/100 – 21st out of 32 teams. But our team cohesion is through the roof, with nobody else rated higher than 86 in any category – so that is clearly playing some role here. But this is a very low-talent team to be thinking about such lofty goals.


We get hit with an early rash of injuries, and shuffle to a disappointing 3-3 start after a loss to unbeaten Atlanta. We get to 5-3 at our halfway point – with Levon Rodenhauser well over 4 yards per carry, dispelling many of our worries about him. Atlanta remains red hot, and locks up the division by sweeping us to get to 13-1… but we remain in the wild card chase, at least. In the end, 11-5 is good enough for the third-best record in the league, but only good enough for a wild card spot – meaning a road playoff game.


Front Office Football 2004
2042 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 11-5
Winning Pct.: .687

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 560 1
Rushing Yards 2583 1
Yards Per Carry 4.61 5
Pass Attempts 459 29
Completions 262 31
Passing Yards 2831 31
Yards Per Attempt 6.16 29
3rd Down Conversions 45.0 14 (T)
Points Per Game 21.0 11
Turnovers 12 1 (T)
Turnover Margin +25 1

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 401 3
Rushing Yards 1508 3
Yards Per Carry 3.76 4
Pass Attempts 478 3
Completions 242 1
Passing Yards 3092 2 (T)
Yards Per Attempt 6.46 5
3rd Down Conversions 38.6 6
Points Per Game 13.4 1
Turnovers 37 1

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 22 at NOS 7
2 27 at BAL 0
3 7 at MIN 14
4 12 at WAS 13
5 16 DAL 14
6 17 at ATL 34
7 17 PHI 5
9 45 at NYG 29
10 30 NOS 6
11 16 CAR 6
12 24 at CIN 20
13 31 SEA 8
14 17 PIT 24
15 7 ATL 10
16 21 CLE 18
17 27 at CAR 7
$$WC at WAS

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
6 Johnstone QB 457 261 2821 6.17 17 8
**Team --- 459 262 2831 6.16 17 8

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 364 1513 4.15 7
6 Johnstone QB 98 686 7.00 4
40 Sims RB 58 221 3.81 2
**Team --- 560 2583 4.61 14

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
85 Sikma TE 98 60 588 9.8 92 3
89 Moore WR 73 43 549 12.7 64 4
37 Buckley WR 71 37 440 11.8 55 3
40 Sims RB 54 33 316 9.5 54 1
33 Wilson WR 50 26 342 13.1 20 1
86 Delrio TE 44 24 182 7.5 52 2
**Team --- 455 262 2831 10.8 439 17

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
94 Mohon ILB 89 33 6.0 3 0 2
21 Abrams CB 76 33 0.0 1 4 13
96 Seiler OLB 70 31 11.5 14 1 6
55 Alarcon ILB 56 21 0.0 1 1 4
39 Mills CB 53 20 0.5 0 4 22
45 Allamon S 51 18 0.0 0 8 2
34 Timpson CB 51 16 0.0 0 8 20
78 Jannot DE 48 18 3.5 3 0 1
99 Johnston DE 43 14 7.5 11 0 0
98 Spires DT 38 18 4.0 6 0 0
97 Sawyer DT 32 3 8.0 11 0 1
27 McGregor CB 21 6 0.0 0 0 5
**Team --- 756 252 51.0 62 28 79



So, the development of young Dean Johnstone continues – he’s finally in the plus with career TDs and interceptions, after a season with a good 2:1 ratio. His 80.4 passer rating suggests that we aren’t exactly a powerhouse passing team, but he is certainly keeping us in contention – and he has potential to keep getting better, I think.

RB Levon Rodenhauser was a source of fear coming into the year – so much for that. 1,500 yards and his best season this go-round, what an effort! Johnstone adds nearly 700 yards rushing himself – that’s a great addition, too, and once again we are the top rushing team in the league (adding in all of Johnstone’s carries tends to distort the reality a bit there, I think). But this is the same offensive gameplan we have been running for about six years now – so we didn’t really slant things toward the run any more.

I think WR Peter Moore, slipped into the starting split end spot after about three games, might end up being the best receiver we have. Not great at anything, but no voids, either – I expect he’ll be our top target for a while. Horace Wilson might be emerging as our starting flanker, as we probably are now done with the Everett/Redding era for good, as those two stalwarts just are not producing any more.

LG Whit Weinmeister had a terrific year with 46 key run blocks and one game MVP honor – and the OL played pretty well. I used rookie C Will Diminnie at left tackle for over half the season, where he played fairly well.

On the defensive side, we again managed a good deal more pressure on the QB, which makes everything work better. LB Kerry Seiler jumped out to a huge start (even while we were playing poorly) and ended up with a new high mark for sacks. Johnston and Sawyer filled in the DE slots – and we have never gotten as many as 15 sacks from those two positions, I’m quite sure. CB Mills and Timpson were again a great pair of shut-down corners, especially with the help from an improved pass rush. Our secondary is great now – those two are outstanding corners, while Abrams is a standout at SS, and I like the ballhwaking young John Allamon at free safety (though he’s not so hot in pass coverage, admittedly).

By the numbers – we managed the best of both worlds from our defense this year, ranking near the top in both yards allowed per rush (4th) and per pass (2nd), plus causing the most turnovers in the league and gaining the best turnover margin. With an offense that is getting better at avoiding mistakes and miscues, this defense is getting its chance to win games for us… a pretty good formula, all told.


Postseason

Tampa Bay 10, Washington 7 – Right on cue, we get a 129-yard effort from Rodenhauser, and play a nearly error-free game, to lock up a road playoff win, and another shot at the mighty Falcons.

Tampa Bay 27, Atlanta 20 – They say it’s tough to beat a team three times in one season – we live up to that here. We actually unleash an offensive explosion here – gaining 461 yards on them, with Rodenhauser (31-159, TD) and Johnstone (22/34 for 286, 2TD) leading the way. A late TD made it look closer than it was – great win!

Tampa Bay 22, Arizona 16 (OT) – The Cards outgained us by more than 2:1, but we lead until the late stages. They get a FG to send it to overtime, but we lock it up when rookie safety Dennis Smith takes an interception 60 yards for a HUGE touchdown. On we go to our second straight Superbowl.

Superbowl – Cincinnati 13, Tampa Bay 10 – With several starters sidelined to injuries, we watch the Bengals pound, pound, pound against us – and grind out 165 yards rushing in a tightly-played title game. They get a game-winning FG as thee clock expires, in a nonetheless thrilling finish, and send us to our second straight Superbowl defeat.


Nothing we can really complain about – we have a lot of up arrows on the team, and played well. One three-point game doesn’t paint a frown on the whole year.


CB Jeremy Abrams is slotted as a first team cornerback, despite the fact that he plays safety for us. But his numbers were excellent – but he gets more tackles playing strong safety – so we’ll take a grain of salt with that. Abrams is also laurelled with the “League’s Fastest Man” honor, outrunning a bunch of twenty-something receivers to a 4.28 time in the 40.

[cthomer5000]

Two straight nail-biter SB losses sucks.

[CraigSca]

Odd question for everyone....is this dynasty, by nature, an indictment on the AI of FOF? I mean, doesn't that say something about the AI if a team based solely on undrafted free agents can compete for the Superbowl for 2 consecutive seasons (QS' obvious knack for the game notwithstanding)? I wouldn't be surprised if this team is a winner year in and year out from this point forward. Does that tell us something?

[QuikSand]

...is this dynasty, by nature, an indictment on the AI of FOF?

For the most part, I think it is. But I think the shortcomings of the AI in this game (and just about any sports sim that I have played, incidentally) have been pretty well documented.

..as a secondary thought, though...

It's also possible that this is a reaffirmation that there are different ways to win. The usual way for the gamer to win in this game is to use his own superior skills to assemble a roster full of great talent... and dominate through that avenue. This team simply lacks a level of talent that, under nearly any other circumstance, would be considered acceptable. Heck, here's what my scout says about my current two-time conference champion roster:

Starting Positions Assessment:
Fairly concerned about starting running back
Very concerned about starting flanker
Fairly concerned about starting split end
Fairly concerned about starting offensive left tackle
Fairly concerned about starting offensive right tackle

Honestly now - how many mature teams have you run that still had a list of "concerns" from the scouts? Especially at positions that are pretty important, by anyone's reckoning.

Our roster rating of 24/100 is about right, I think, though I'd probably rate is a bit higher because I weight the skills a little differently than the default, I suppose. Regardless -- it's clear that we aren't winning because we have built up the most talented roster. And that, in itself, is pretty different.

But this team is winning with absurdly high cohesion, pretty good chemistry, and fairly tight gameplanning. I don't have a serious problem with that in concept.

[cthomer5000]

Even if it is an indictment of the AI, there is little doubt that the game has made major strides in that area. This was far easier in prior versions of the game.

[QuikSand]

For what it's worth, I have posted a discussion about player development that arose from this career. It is located in the super-secret "Strategy Forum" to ensure that nobody will read it and get any bright ideas.

Here's a link:

http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/showthread.php?goto=newpost&t=29183

[MIJB#19]

This dynasty seems to be heading there were anticipated all along, yet a little late. But late is stll beter then never.

I got to agree, it's good to see that good cohesion and chemistry seem to pay off, despite a lower level of talent. Concerns at the WR position don't strike me, personally I don't believe in high priced WRs in FOF, but that's another story.

I don't have any worries on that front, Matthijs... Ron will be just fine.Well, you can imagine that having Leo Lyon on the team and 'Super' Mario in the division, Ron is some what overlooked, but still watched.
Time for an update in my own dynasty thread...

[QuikSand]

Well, you can imagine that having Leo Lyon on the team and 'Super' Mario in the division, Ron is some what overlooked, but still watched.

I can't imagine that Mario will have the "super" tag for very long, unless it's "super-bust." I don't think he's going to work out as a top starter. I think your guy has a better chance to be good than Hudson does.

But... I suppose we'll see, won't we?

[albionmoonlight]

QS--

Have you ever thought of a challenge where you limit yourself to something like 75% of the cap (call it the Donald Sterling challenge)? That would enable you to more actively manage the roster (eliminating the "luck" feeling of IMFT) but still put some handcuffs on what you are able to do. It also has the advantage of being one easy to remember (and even somewhat realistic) rule instead of a series of more and more complicated restrictions.

I (think that I) remember that with a previous version of the game you tried this with a 50% cap, and it was too hard to be realistic.

Do you think that a higher percentage of the cap would make that a workable challenge? Enjoyable?

[QuikSand]

albionmoonlight - I agree, that's probably the next logical step, were I interested in trying to play another fairly open career. Something like 75% sounds about right to me -- assuming that I exclude renegotiations and so forth (which I think are a HUGE and underappreciated part of cap management).

I imagine that what you'd see with a low-cap career is that the team would just rotate through certain positions like CB, WR, and maybe RB -- constantly filling in with fairly affordable, decent veterans and the occasional top draft pick. My best guess is that I'd end up refilling the DE position with rookies, and then letting them go via free agency, rather than paying them. I suppose you'd find a few star players (mabe a QB) and stick with them... but overall I'd expect to see a lot of turnover among the decent starters. Nothing terribly wrong with that, of course.

[nfg22]

Im sure he isnt even close to the cap right now. and I think the luck aspect of this is gone now. Two sraight superbowls is succes.

[MIJB#19]

Where's the OT tag for off topic posts?

I can't imagine that Mario will have the "super" tag for very long, unless it's "super-bust." I don't think he's going to work out as a top starter. I think your guy has a better chance to be good than Hudson does.

But... I suppose we'll see, won't we?I think I'm still reserved with the 'Super' tag on Mario, he's been between not bad and below average all season long. Lyle is obviously still some sort of mystery with just 2 starts and Lyon has been better then expected, including the amazing win at Chesapeake. (Hey, it was the highlight of his career so far, other then beating Hudson head-to-head.)
In a year or two, reall life terms speaking, we'll know who'll be the real thing. The difference between Brent Peterman and Woods/Allen is so big in terms of performance, talent seems to be not enough in FOF...

(hey, nice bridge to this dynasty in the end!)

[RPI-Fan]

QuikSand: Just wanted to say that I really have enjoyed reading this dynasty up to this point (did it all in one big chunk, today).

I think there's something to be said for stat-based performances, from this dynasty. Rodenhauser was supposed to be a bum; somebody who probably plays out one or two years in most careers, and then retires a couple years later. Here, however, when given a chance to exceed his ratings, he's a borderline Hall of Fame'r.

I think if you added a new wrinkle to this, it could get terribly interesting. I was thinking a 75% cap rule, perhaps, but that would kind of lead to more rookie-fill-in problems. One idea I'm toying around with trying, is to get a draft pick from one round each year (so every 7th year you'll have a 1st rounder, etc.), and instituting a 75% cap rule. Seems to me that way, you'd absolutely need to keep some of your star players around - thus adding in some cap management aspects, and would also need to rely on the "lunchpale" guys to be major contributors, at times.

Anyways, I hope you're enjoying this, and will continue to chronicle your team's story.

Thanks!
~rpi-fan

[QuikSand]

2043

After two tough Superbowl losses, the expectations are high. We’ll see if we can deliver this year.


There’s no doubt that retirements are going to be creeping up on us. This year, we see WR Tony Redding and S Leo Koonce hang ‘em up. Both had faded to supporting roles anyway, so we’ll be okay – but the next few years we have to be prepared for big hits.


This is a big year for free agents – we have a number of players who should be expensive. We will almost certainly fill up the salary cap this season.

It’s not quite as bad as I had feared – we get CB Eric Timpson re-signed pretty cheaply (to my surprise) and are successful in waiting out the big demands of CB Jeremy Abrams, whom we cannot afford to lose, of course.

If I had control over my incoming class, I’d be looking for a wideout who can actually play, and a linebacker with some run-stopping skills. Those seem like the top two needs on this team – plus, perhaps, a running back who can play if and when Rodenhauser eventually runs out of gas. (Ike Turnbull remains injured after a nasty injury last year- and he might be done)

From the initial impressions I get, it looks like we get none of the above. A great-looking punter, check. Another TE/FB guy with some promise, check. Someone at a position we really need? No dice.

We get things worked out with CB Abrams and are ready for training camp, and a look at the incoming class. Happy day.



Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Johnstone, Dean QB 4 58 59 58 59 0 0
Tatum, Ted QB 8 42 42 42 42 0 0
Herdeg, Jorge QB 2 23 37 26 37 3 0
England, Wayne QB 12 18 18 18 18 0 0
Hutchins, Renaldo QB 1 6 19 7 19 1 0
**Turnbull, Ike RB 6 38 38 38 38 0 0
Rodenhauser, Levon RB 10 31 31 31 31 0 0
Sims, Brenden RB 5 29 29 29 29 0 0
Logan, Charlie RB 1 28 37 29 34 1 -3
Rollo, Wade RB 1 25 37 25 32 0 -5
Lake, Scott RB 1 24 39 24 33 0 -6
Mundy, T.J. RB 1 24 36 24 30 0 -6
Roberson, Tom RB 1 19 26 20 27 1 1
Terrell, Chad RB 2 18 24 19 24 1 0
Nettles, Wendell RB 1 16 22 16 20 0 -2
Brennan, Mel FB 9 46 46 46 46 0 0
Clayton, Eugene FB 1 20 38 24 41 4 3
Fisher, Shane FB 1 15 33 16 32 1 -1
Sikma, Bo TE 10 50 50 50 50 0 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 9 46 46 46 46 0 0
Caron, Marc TE 5 30 40 32 40 2 0
Compton, Skip TE 1 16 47 19 50 3 3
Breck, Louie TE 1 10 30 12 30 2 0
Wilson, Horace FL 3 26 31 28 31 2 0
Everett, Norbert FL 13 26 27 26 27 0 0
Marshall, Darnell FL 1 20 30 21 29 1 -1
Mitchell, Amos FL 1 16 34 19 36 3 2
Moore, Peter SE 6 33 33 33 33 0 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 11 26 26 26 26 0 0
Fields, Riddick SE 1 14 23 14 23 0 0
Valdes, Bruce SE 1 6 35 6 30 0 -5
Garcia, Jamal C 10 52 53 52 53 0 0
Diminnie, Will C 2 34 48 36 48 2 0
Curry, Allen C 4 29 48 31 48 2 0
Gray, Omar C 13 5 6 5 6 0 0
Weinmeister, Whit LG 7 49 51 49 51 0 0
Ciszek, Sedrick LG 1 10 24 11 24 1 0
Ogden, Christian RG 14 51 51 51 51 0 0
Leska, Vernon RG 3 30 54 33 54 3 0
Bensen, Leon LT 7 35 35 35 35 0 0
Lyle, Vincent LT 3 24 43 25 43 1 0
Doyle, Clyde LT 1 6 35 9 36 3 1
Knight, Howard RT 9 35 35 35 35 0 0
Baxter, Glen RT 1 5 34 5 27 0 -7
Magnone, Moe P 1 85 85 86 86 1 1
Rhodes, Wes P 4 71 77 71 77 0 0
Jennings, Allen K 1 46 77 49 78 3 1
Wallace, Bubba K 8 36 36 36 36 0 0
Jannot, Hardy LDE 12 32 33 32 33 0 0
Allen, Alfred LDE 2 23 29 25 29 2 0
Borrego, Dominic LDE 1 15 34 17 34 2 0
Tyler, Stan LDE 1 11 36 14 36 3 0
Johnston, Alan RDE 7 46 47 46 47 0 0
Wallen, Roosevelt RDE 3 25 35 26 35 1 0
Bates, Adrian RDE 1 24 32 24 31 0 -1
Sawyer, Fernando LDT 6 49 50 49 50 0 0
Warrick, Timothy LDT 2 29 40 31 40 2 0
Long, Kelly LDT 1 13 34 14 31 1 -3
Spires, Sean RDT 7 41 42 41 42 0 0
Daniels, Kelly RDT 4 18 34 21 34 3 0
Horton, Bennie RDT 1 13 29 15 31 2 2
Mohon, Jessie MLB 10 56 56 56 56 0 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 13 37 37 37 37 0 0
Beyer, Rusty MLB 1 15 34 16 31 1 -3
Lucas, Brandon MLB 1 14 31 15 27 1 -4
Hall, Bruce SLB 6 29 31 29 31 0 0
Reynolds, Shawn SLB 4 24 34 26 34 2 0
Mitchell, Winston SLB 2 23 38 25 38 2 0
Norton, Melvin SLB 2 22 33 22 33 0 0
Flannery, Tracy SLB 1 14 27 15 26 1 -1
Freeman, Sam SLB 14 4 4 4 4 0 0
Seiler, Kerry WLB 12 47 47 47 47 0 0
Canady, Orlando WLB 1 19 38 20 36 1 -2
Alexander, Terrance WLB 1 16 36 17 32 1 -4
McGregor, Mo LCB 7 48 48 48 48 0 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 11 47 47 47 47 0 0
O'Donnell, Edward LCB 2 13 23 14 23 1 0
Lew, Erik LCB 1 8 28 9 22 1 -6
Small, Kevin LCB 1 5 27 7 28 2 1
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 13 71 71 71 71 0 0
Timpson, Eric RCB 6 56 56 56 56 0 0
Uveges, Lonnie RCB 1 9 30 11 34 2 4
Allamon, John FS 6 42 43 42 43 0 0
Feenstra, Tyrus FS 14 23 23 23 23 0 0
Smith, Dennis FS 2 18 38 19 38 1 0


Well – we have a few players who prove interesting in this camp after all. WR Amos Mitchell doesn’t look like a star – but he had a nice camp, and will make the team, and can help immediately on special teams, if nothing else.

DB Lonnie Uveges looks like he has some promise, too – I slide him over to play safety (where we need the help more than at CB right now) and he’ll get some chances to develop, despite being a fairly poor skills match with this secondary scheme.

A few others look like they have some promise – we’ll have to wait and see how their development goes. No run-stopper for the LB corps, though. At WR, however, we might have landed guys who can help, after all.


Final cut-downs are tough this season – we have some real problems. We field an all-backup team in the preseason, in part hoping for some injuries which would let us use IR as a roster tool. For the third straight year, LB Sam Freeman (a valuable mentor) obliges with a pre-season injury and is placed onto IR again, making some room.

Cuts at RB are especially tough – Tom Roberson had the best camp and shows some slight upside potential, but I like the skill sets of Scott Lake and TJ Mundy much more. Keeping even two of them is a stretch – really we ought to cut two of the three. But I end up releasing S Tyrus Feenstra and DE Roosevelt Wallen instead, and clear space for all three backs to stick with us.


We head into the season hoping to break through with our first championship. Our defense has carried us, but young Dean Johnston is getting sharper – I don’t think he has enough to work with on offense to make us a power, but it’s possible that we can get up to average or a little better. Couple that with a standout defense again this year, and we might have a winning formula.


We open with a tight win in Atlanta – a big, big win. We get to 4-0, without yet scoring as many as 20 point in any game. However, we get shut out by San Francisco to end the unbeaten run. That starts a run of three losses – not exactly what we were expecting, after the 4-0 start. We get back on track with a win, and then beat Atlanta on great special teams play to get back to 6-3. We manage to keep things on course through the rest of the regular season, and finish up with a solid 12-4 record, and a bye week for some much-needed rest.




Front Office Football 2004
2043 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 498 7
Rushing Yards 2026 9
Yards Per Carry 4.06 17 (T)
Pass Attempts 490 22 (T)
Completions 316 14
Passing Yards 3485 18
Yards Per Attempt 7.11 17
3rd Down Conversions 35.7 32
Points Per Game 19.1 20
Turnovers 17 5 (T)
Turnover Margin +7 4 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 416 4
Rushing Yards 1317 1
Yards Per Carry 3.16 1
Pass Attempts 485 11
Completions 250 1
Passing Yards 2995 1
Yards Per Attempt 6.17 1
3rd Down Conversions 38.2 2
Points Per Game 12.6 1
Turnovers 24 12 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 16 at ATL 13
2 16 at JAX 14
3 19 DET 0
4 13 ARI 10
5 0 SFO 17
6 16 at STL 21
8 20 at SEA 30
9 22 at NOS 14
10 27 ATL 13
11 16 CAR 0
12 33 HOU 7
13 17 at DAL 10
14 20 at IND 14
15 14 at CAR 17
16 17 TEN 16
17 41 NOS 7

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
6 Johnstone QB 488 314 3478 7.12 18 11
**Team --- 490 316 3485 7.11 19 11

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
46 Rodenhauser RB 299 1060 3.54 4
6 Johnstone QB 87 542 6.22 2
32 Mundy RB 60 236 3.93 3
20 Lake RB 38 142 3.73 0
**Team --- 498 2026 4.06 9

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
89 Moore WR 105 71 798 11.2 106 8
85 Sikma TE 113 70 682 9.7 92 1
88 Mitchell WR 91 62 875 14.1 170 3
40 Sims RB 49 28 311 11.1 61 0
33 Wilson WR 38 26 276 10.6 68 1
37 Buckley WR 28 18 207 11.5 41 1
86 Delrio TE 21 16 172 10.7 22 3
**Team --- 490 316 3485 11.0 626 19

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
94 Mohon ILB 96 28 4.0 6 2 4
96 Seiler OLB 89 16 6.5 11 0 7
21 Abrams CB 68 26 0.0 0 4 9
34 Timpson CB 59 26 0.0 0 5 14
98 Spires DT 58 23 3.0 6 0 0
55 Alarcon ILB 49 14 1.5 0 0 4
45 Allamon S 42 14 0.5 1 4 3
39 Mills CB 41 10 0.0 0 2 13
78 Jannot DE 33 26 3.0 13 0 1
27 McGregor CB 26 7 0.0 1 3 7
99 Johnston DE 23 9 3.5 5 0 0
93 Mitchell OLB 23 7 1.0 3 0 0
86 Delrio TE 20 0 0.0 0 0 0
68 Warrick DT 20 7 7.0 12 0 1
**Team --- 769 241 38.0 74 23 68



A 12-4 season and a bye week is just about all we can ask for. We may have to play at San Fran (13-3) down the road, but this is pretty good.

Dean Johnstone remained a solid, but not spectacular, force at QB – his QB rating rose to 88.4 this year, and he continues to help out a lot in the running game, too. Peter Moore was pretty decent at the starting split end spot, and eventually rookie Amos Mitchell won out the starting job at the flanker, and seemed to flourish there. Mitchell could be a nice possession receiver for us in no time – maybe a 100+ catch guy as soon as next year. I think I’m done with the experiment of RB Brenden Sims at WR – he has yet to really produce much of any value to us there.

RB Levon Rodenhauser had a tough year – topping 1,000 yards, but we spelled him a bit, pulling him on passing downs. Now, he’s out for three weeks and could miss the playoffs. Rookies TJ Mundy and Scott Lake got a fair amount of playing time – neither was really outstanding. Mundy probably starts if Rodenhauser cannot go in two weeks.

Our offensive line was really hit badly by injury this year – we shuffled in our reserve centers all season long, it seems. Will Diminnie had 14 starts, without being a “starter” at any one spot – that’s a good indication of our problems. Our starting kicker, rookie Allen Jennings, got hurt late in the season – rookie punter Moe Magnone did his best, but that’s a tough job to inherit.

Our defense was, in a word, marvelous. Easy #1 in both yards per rush and yards per pass is spectacular – and we even managed to put together a pretty decent pass rush, and force a fair number of turnovers (though down a bit from last season). 12.6 points per game is a very solid figure – this team really feeds off the tough defense.

LB Mohon missed three games, or else he’d have had huge numbers from the MLB spot. Seiler was again very effective in the pass rush, and good all around. Our three-man rotation at DE (forced by injuries) revealed DT Timothy Warrick to be pretty effective – 7 sacks in limited duty looks pretty good, and he’s not completely useless against the run, either.

The secondary was strong again – not quite as many interceptions as we got spoiled with recently, but we played tough and kept things in control –even when we had the lead. We won a lot of games with 20 or fewer points this season – you need to avoid even one big play to do that consistently.


Postseason

Tampa Bay 35, Philadelphia 16 – With Levon Rodenhauser out injured, Dean Johnstone steps up and has the game of his life – 20 of 24 with 4 TDs, as we roll the Eagles. Jessie Mohon gets the game ball with 12 tackles, 3 sacks, and a pick in a splendid effort as well.

Tampa Bay 16, San Francisco 3 – Rodenhauser returns and scores the only TD in the first quarter – we control the field position the rest of the way and dominate with our defense. Johnstone was shaky here, but we overcame our errors with brilliant defensive play, especially in our red zone. A great win, and another try at the big one.

Superbowl - Tampa Bay 27, Baltimore 24 (OT) – We can’t get out of these things without a thriller. Baltimore mounts a 14-popint comeback in the fourth quarter to tie the game after we dominated for three quarters, but we get it done in the extra period. Rodenhauser has 104 yards and a TD, while Dean Johnstone gets the game ball for a solid day passing, but 55 yards and a TD on the ground. MLB Jessie Mohon’s 13 solo tackles certainly help out, as did two picks from Timpson and six sacks total. Great game.


We finally break through and win the big one – overcoming a tough rival in San Francisco along the way. That’s the main achievement for this team – but with so many players in their twilight years, does this team stay on top, or is the window of opportunity closing?


Our only all-pro this year is K Allen Jennings – weird, as he missed 3 games with an injury. But that’s okay, of course – we have the award we really wanted.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Congrats! Excellent job with this!

[cthomer5000]

You guys have single-handedly boosted Super Bowl ratings 50% in the last three years.

[CentralMassHokie]

QS - one of the thing's I've noticed throughout your careers is that your teams seem to have the highest cohesion in the league each year. I think most folks probably tend to do the same thing - it's easier to keep track of 50 players when you see the same names each year. You've also made a concerted effort to keep teams with as few chemistry problems as possible.

Is it possible that these two factors (high cohesion and high chemistry) give your players such a large boost across the board that it enables even your IMT team to become dominant?

Maybe for a challenge you need to take over a franchise and create the All-Locker Room Cancer team or the All-Term Limits team?

[Bee]

Maybe for a challenge you need to take over a franchise and create the All-Locker Room Cancer team or the All-Term Limits team?

That might be an interesting experiment just to see how much of a factor cohesion actually plays in the game...

[QuikSand]

Is it possible that these two factors (high cohesion and high chemistry) give your players such a large boost across the board that it enables even your IMT team to become dominant?

I don't think there's any doubt about it -- cohesion and good chemistry are certainly a big factor in this team's success. I don't think there's any other way to explain a team with a well below average level of talent putting together this kind of on-field run of success.

I suppose I could play a challenge that required a lot of player movement in some way -- I'm not sure how I'd set something like that up, though. My goal, with most of my careers, is really to try to create tough decisions for myself -- that's the kind of challenge that I usually seek. (I'm playing this career more out of curiosity than anything else) With a bunch of arbitrary rules saying I have to jettison my players, I wonder how interesteing the decision-making would be?

[JonInMiddleGA]

QS - one of the thing's I've noticed throughout your careers is that your teams seem to have the highest cohesion in the league each year. ... Is it possible that these two factors (high cohesion and high chemistry) give your players such a large boost across the board that it enables even your IMT team to become dominant?

FWIW, I had similar results in my IMT campaign as well. I almost got the feeling that there was a certain amount of "relativity" involved in the cohesion ratings, as I'd have a big advantage over the rest of the league even in seasons when I changed out 15 players. I never really tracked that, it was just a feeling I got.

[QuikSand]

Cohesion ratings are entirely relative to the other teams.

When I report about cohesion, I try to describe any ratings of 100 by telling what the next best rating is -- that's the only way to express the cohesion advantage involved. 100/95 means a lot different than 100/65 (which is the spread I have reached in some spots with this particular team).

[MIJB#19]

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 416 4
Rushing Yards 1317 1
Yards Per Carry 3.16 1
Pass Attempts 485 11
Completions 250 1
Passing Yards 2995 1
Yards Per Attempt 6.17 1
3rd Down Conversions 38.2 2
Points Per Game 12.6 1
Turnovers 24 12 (T) This is really impressive.

[The Shadow]

I suppose I could play a challenge that required a lot of player movement in some way -- I'm not sure how I'd set something like that up, though. My goal, with most of my careers, is really to try to create tough decisions for myself -- that's the kind of challenge that I usually seek. (I'm playing this career more out of curiosity than anything else) With a bunch of arbitrary rules saying I have to jettison my players, I wonder how interesteing the decision-making would be?

You don't need a bunch of arbitrary rules - only 3.

1. 75% of cap - or start with 75% and reduce 5% everytime your team reaches the Superbowl.
2. No renogtiating
3. No franchise player

:D

BTW, I've been enjoying this Dynasty - as I do all of your Dynasties. Thanks.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Cohesion ratings are entirely relative to the other teams.

See there, I knew I was right :D

[QuikSand]

I have not abandoned this career, but will be away for a few days, so an update is unlikely until Monday.

[Alf]

QS : What MIJB said !

[RPI-Fan]

I have not abandoned this career, but will be away for a few days, so an update is unlikely until Monday.

Where are your priorities?

:rolleyes:

~rpi-fan

[QuikSand]

Where are your priorities?

Apparently at the beach, and at the poker tables. So it goes.

[MIJB#19]

Apparently at the beach, and at the poker tables. So it goes.Bad priorities, very bad.

[MIJB checks his priorities for the last week]
1. something related to beachvolleyball
2. beachvolleyball
3. IHOF
4. fantasy football


Scratch what I sad, good point setting your priorities right.

[QuikSand]

2044

I knew the “one and out” phenomenon was a possibility here – and we have lost three players. LB Sam Freeman had just been a mentor roster-filler with no on-field skill for the last few years – we’ll be okay without him, I reckon. DE Hardy Jannot had been a solid run-stopper, playing almost exclusively at DT, but he had started to decline.

RB Levon Rodenhauser has been a workhorse for us, but his skills were slipping. He gets to top off his career with a 100-yard game in a winning Superbowl, and goes out on a high note with 11,430 yards rushing – and as a ”Legend of the Game.” He goes out as the all-time rushing leader for the Buccaneers – with this career spanning some 40 seasons.


Our title-winning front office remains intact – and we’re into another year of free agency. It shouldn‘t be a tough year – we only have a few unrestricted players out there.

12th year WR Aaron Buckley has fallen out of my good graces, basically – and his re-signing is not a priority. QB Ted Tatum is a good backup, and I’d like to re-sign him, but I won’t be heartbroken if he gets a fat offer and bolts – our eggs are in Johnstone’s basket, clearly. DE Alan Johnston got hurt last year, and is no longer the force he once was – his re-signing will be a matter of value at the end, I suspect.

None of our guys are approached in the first stages – so we head into and through the draft, on to look at our incoming rookie class. Last year, I had no idea that I’d kind of get my wishes granted – I wanted a WR, a LB, and a RB – and we ended up getting guys at all three positions who stuck with the team. SO this year, I’ll plead for a solid defensive end, please. And perhaps one more wideout I can use.

I think we might have a few interesting prospects in this year’s group – including, perhaps, a wideout who could help us – Archie Kamnik was a workout warrior who blew away the WR field with 23 lifting reps – maybe he can develop those skills into becoming a tough, physical receiver. We also like DT Dale Eaves – perhaps he can become a solid run-stopper for us down the road?


Player Pos Exp CE FE CE FE dCE dFE
Johnstone, Dean QB 5 59 60 59 60 0 0
Tatum, Ted QB 9 43 43 43 43 0 0
Ascencao, Barry QB 1 20 41 22 38 2 -3
England, Wayne QB 13 15 15 15 15 0 0
Alcott, Sammie QB 1 6 32 8 39 2 7
Sims, Brenden RB 6 29 29 29 29 0 0
Mundy, T.J. RB 2 27 29 28 29 1 0
Curtis, Curtis RB 1 27 30 27 30 0 0
Flannery, Jimmy RB 1 24 33 25 33 1 0
Lake, Scott RB 2 24 29 24 29 0 0
Turnbull, Ike RB 7 22 22 22 22 0 0
Roberson, Tom RB 2 21 27 22 27 1 0
Brennan, Mel FB 10 47 47 47 47 0 0
Clayton, Eugene FB 2 29 45 31 45 2 0
Sikma, Bo TE 11 48 48 48 48 0 0
Delrio, Jerome TE 10 42 42 42 42 0 0
Compton, Skip TE 2 20 52 22 52 2 0
Kennedy, Marlon TE 1 16 36 17 33 1 -3
Wilson, Horace FL 4 28 30 30 30 2 0
Mitchell, Amos FL 2 27 37 28 37 1 0
Huntley, Geoff FL 1 19 27 20 26 1 -1
Cebulla, Glenn FL 1 15 28 18 34 3 6
Spencer, Bubba FL 1 16 27 16 24 0 -3
Kamnik, Archie FL 1 14 25 15 22 1 -3
Moore, Peter SE 7 32 32 32 32 0 0
Buckley, Aaron SE 12 25 25 25 25 0 0
Webb, Ian SE 1 18 43 19 39 1 -4
Fields, Riddick SE 2 14 23 15 23 1 0
Harmon, Harry SE 1 10 26 11 18 1 -8
Diminnie, Will C 3 47 50 50 50 3 0
Curry, Allen C 5 34 49 35 49 1 0
Garcia, Jamal C 11 21 22 21 22 0 0
Weinmeister, Whit LG 8 49 51 49 51 0 0
St. Clair, Jonathan LG 1 11 35 13 37 2 2
Ogden, Christian RG 15 50 50 50 50 0 0
Leska, Vernon RG 4 40 56 42 56 2 0
Lyle, Vincent LT 4 33 45 36 45 3 0
Doyle, Clyde LT 2 17 38 19 38 2 0
Zahursky, Nolan LT 1 1 35 3 30 2 -5
Knight, Howard RT 10 35 36 35 36 0 0
Magnone, Moe P 2 91 91 92 92 1 1
Jennings, Allen K 2 64 79 68 79 4 0
Tyler, Stan LDE 2 15 36 17 36 2 0
Johnston, Alan RDE 8 29 31 29 31 0 0
Bates, Adrian RDE 2 24 30 26 30 2 0
Chang, Jumbo RDE 1 20 31 21 29 1 -2
Duncan, Howie RDE 1 19 37 21 39 2 2
Sawyer, Fernando LDT 7 50 50 50 50 0 0
Warrick, Timothy LDT 3 37 41 40 41 3 0
Eaves, Dale LDT 1 18 28 19 28 1 0
Kristosik, Andre LDT 1 13 27 15 27 2 0
Spires, Sean RDT 8 42 42 42 42 0 0
Daniels, Kelly RDT 5 23 35 27 35 4 0
Horton, Bennie RDT 2 16 33 17 33 1 0
Mohon, Jessie MLB 11 56 56 56 56 0 0
Alarcon, Austin MLB 14 34 34 34 34 0 0
Fuller, Kevin MLB 1 12 28 14 28 2 0
Mitchell, Winston SLB 3 30 38 32 38 2 0
Hall, Bruce SLB 7 30 31 30 31 0 0
Reynolds, Shawn SLB 5 27 31 28 31 1 0
Norton, Melvin SLB 3 23 33 25 33 2 0
Wayne, Gabe SLB 1 8 28 9 23 1 -5
Seiler, Kerry WLB 13 43 43 43 43 0 0
Canady, Orlando WLB 2 25 32 27 32 2 0
Schwartz, Steve WLB 1 13 29 14 29 1 0
McGregor, Mo LCB 8 49 49 49 49 0 0
Mills, O.J. LCB 12 42 42 42 42 0 0
Chesnut, Zack LCB 1 13 40 15 45 2 5
Abrams, Jeremy RCB 14 70 70 70 70 0 0
Timpson, Eric RCB 7 56 56 56 56 0 0
DiCosimo, Monty RCB 1 14 28 15 28 1 0
Kemp, Britt SS 1 15 39 17 43 2 4
Uveges, Lonnie SS 2 13 41 15 41 2 0
Allamon, John FS 7 43 44 43 44 0 0
Smith, Dennis FS 3 23 39 25 39 2 0
Morris, Earl FS 1 16 22 17 22 1 0


Well, well, well. Quite a few things to see here.

QB Sammie Alcott is suddenly a very intriguing young player – a +7 is quite a jump in potential for the first camp. That’s pretty exciting. Probably helps keep Wayne England around, too – his mentoring skills might be needed for this guy. Wow.

I didn’t see WR Glen Cebulla coming, I confess. He still doesn’t look like all that much, but a +6 in training camp suggests pretty big things. That could be great – he and Amos Mitchell will probably take over the flanker and slot spots this year, and hopefully we’ll be developing a nice group of wideout prospects.

DE Howie Duncan – can this be? I moved him over from MLB, and he actually had a good camp, showing some potential! It’s like this whole “prayer” stuff works… I’m going to have to go back and read a bunch of FOFC threads that I’ve been skipping!

CB Zack Chestnut didn’t look great, but was very strong – and maybe he will pan out as well. He ought to be at least a solid reserve, maybe more. A +5 is good news, in any event. Much the same for S Britt Kemp – he looks promising, too, with a +4 camp result.

I don’t think we’ve had a rookie class with as much to be excited about before – good news in several spots. And a very good timing for it, as we are starting to get pretty old.


We get into the preseason games, and feature mostly our young reserves in those games. It looks like TJ Mundy will become our starter at running back, but I’m trying to get a look at all three guys we are keeping (Mundy, Flannery, and Lake). I’m also trying to get QB Sammie Alcott some playing time – he needs to develop a good deal before we could even dream of playing him in a real game.

We will have a new look on our DL – with Jannot retired and DE Johnston out with an injury (and probably done, period). Kelly Daniels has been a reserve DT, but now will take a starting job in Jannot’s place. At DE, Fernando Sawyer will be joined by Timothy Warrick, who played pretty well last year. My reserves at DE will all be linebackers – guys like Bruce Hall and Winston Mitchell, who are lousy against the run, but can rush the passer some.

On offense, we have resolved our long-term problems at C – Will Diminnie looks pretty solid, and takes over in the center. Backup C Allen Curry becomes our all-purpose sixth lineman. T.J. Mundy indeed takes over as our starter – he’ll get the main share of carries, with Lake and Flannery in reserve.

We are ready for the season now – I decide to shift the offense a little bit more toward passing now, since Rodenhauser is gone and I’m fairly optimistic about our wideouts. We’ll see if that seems to get the attack in order again. We obviously have to set high goals, as the defending champions – so we’ll shoot for another title campaign.


Injuries to the OL are ugly in the early going, and we limp to a 2-2 start. I tinker with the game plan, and decide to open things up a bit more than before – we’ll try to get more 3-WR sets in there, and will go to the air on first down more.

We get rolling for a while, but a couple of late losses put us in jeopardy of losing the division title. However, with a clutch 13-7 win (with most of our starting secondary out with injuries) in the last game at Atlanta, we lock it up and get the division crown again. And surprisingly, our 11-5 record end up being enough to get the #2 seed, and a much-needed bye week.



Front Office Football 2004
2044 Summary for Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 11-5
Winning Pct.: .687

Tampa Bay Buccaneers Team Rank
Rushes 419 26
Rushing Yards 1789 22
Yards Per Carry 4.26 13
Pass Attempts 568 4
Completions 341 5
Passing Yards 4151 3
Yards Per Attempt 7.30 14
3rd Down Conversions 37.4 29
Points Per Game 24.5 3 (T)
Turnovers 19 8 (T)
Turnover Margin +1 15 (T)

Opponents Team Rank
Rushes 416 7
Rushing Yards 1725 7
Yards Per Carry 4.14 15 (T)
Pass Attempts 572 31
Completions 299 9
Passing Yards 3723 21
Yards Per Attempt 6.50 4
3rd Down Conversions 40.5 7
Points Per Game 19.8 18
Turnovers 20 20 (T)

Week Team Versus Oppnt
1 27 CAR 17
2 24 KCY 19
3 19 PHI 28
4 17 ATL 30
5 33 at MIN 21
6 35 at NOS 20
7 25 at DET 35
9 33 GBY 17
10 20 CHI 14
11 30 at CAR 24
12 13 at SDO 9
13 36 at SFO 10
14 18 DEN 20
15 21 NOS 24
16 29 at OAK 23
17 13 at ATL 7

Passing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
6 Johnstone QB 562 338 4140 7.36 23 8
**Team --- 568 341 4151 7.30 23 8

Rushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
32 Mundy RB 259 1020 3.93 6
6 Johnstone QB 80 542 6.77 4
31 Flannery RB 47 173 3.68 0
**Team --- 419 1789 4.26 13

Receiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
88 Mitchell WR 139 82 1059 12.9 145 6
89 Moore WR 106 67 915 13.6 178 7
85 Sikma TE 93 57 629 11.0 124 3
37 Buckley WR 90 45 726 16.1 92 2
87 Cebulla WR 68 43 460 10.6 88 3
86 Delrio TE 23 16 136 8.5 22 0
**Team --- 566 341 4151 12.1 714 23

Defense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
94 Mohon ILB 135 30 6.0 9 0 8
96 Seiler OLB 96 23 14.0 14 0 3
21 Abrams CB 67 28 0.0 0 6 10
55 Alarcon ILB 59 22 1.0 0 0 5
98 Spires DT 58 25 2.0 11 0 1
34 Timpson CB 51 16 0.0 0 4 25
45 Allamon S 45 22 0.0 0 3 4
27 McGregor CB 40 11 0.0 1 0 12
39 Mills CB 37 14 0.0 0 0 11
71 Daniels DT 37 15 6.5 9 0 0
97 Sawyer DT 31 13 6.5 20 0 1
68 Warrick DT 31 16 12.5 25 0 1
30 Smith S 20 6 0.0 0 0 2
**Team --- 815 260 54.0 95 13 87


This team, statistically, was simply a full notch or two below where we have been in some recent years. We were basically average on offense in terms of efficiency, but we did manage to avoid making many turnovers – even with a heavier does of the passing game. On defense, though – the basic numbers are rather disappointing: 4.26 yards per carry is pretty average, though the passing number is pretty good. We yielded nearly 20 points a game – not exactly the standard we set in the last few seasons.

QB Dean Johnstone proved he could handle the bigger load this year – with a 90.5 passer rating, he has earned a new career high in that regard. He put up a very respectable 7.36 yards per attempt – so the big numbers (2nd in passing yards) did not come solely from lots of attempts. The running game was okay – Mundy doesn’t really inspire, but he has a passable all-around game. Most of the passing action went downfield – Mitchell and Moore were both solid (though Mitchell didn’t take the big step forward that I had hoped for).

Defensively, the big impression is with the pass rush – 54 sacks and 95 hurries are seriously good numbers, for any team. This team has never been anywhere near there before – so it’s very impressive for us. The front foursome was solid (though I’m a little worried about Daniels at DT – he may be a little weak against the run for my tastes) but it’s LB Kerry Seiler who made a huge impact with his 14 sacks and 14 hurries. That might end up being the best season we have seen from a LB – and almost has to put him into the running for all-pro honors. Tackling machine Jessie Mohon could join him there, with big numbers from the MLB slot. The secondary was solid again, especially Timpson with a career-high 25 PDs.


Postseason

Tampa Bay 25, Detroit 24 – Johnstone carries us through this one, with 309 yards passing and 55 rushing – his effort overcomes a surprisingly tough Lions attack, without their starting QB.

Philadelphia 31, Tampa Bay 14 – We are summarily pasted on the road against a plain better team. Mundy goes down hurt, and Flannery steps in but is ineffective rushing. They sack Johnstone shocking 9 times, and the pressure kills several drives – we can’t get any offensive rhythm, and come up short of our fourth straight Superbowl.

Philly loses to Denver in the Superbowl.


We are all over the all-pro awards list. QB Dean Johnstone is named first team QB and to my surprise also gets League MVP honors. LB Jessie Mohon is named Defensive MVP, and he is joined by LB Kerry Seiler as first team linebackers. K Allen Jennings makes the first team as well. Certainly the most represented we have ever been.