Pride and Prejudice -- an FOF9 Lions dynasty, starting 1966

[Passacaglia]

Well, the Lions are again officially not going to the Super Bowl, so it's time to correct that in the FOF universe!

The date -- August 21, 1966

The sound -- We're going to put in a different song to get us in the mood for the era and the location. So that means whatever was popular that week, specializing in Motown and other music local to Detroit/Michigan. This week, we're looking at a band from Flint called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Knight_and_the_Pack with "A Change On The Way"

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The leagues -- Shortly before the 1966 season started, the AFL and NFL announced their plans to merge. They started playing an AFL-NFL Championship game, which would retroactively be called the Super Bowl, for 4 years before the merger took place. We're going to act as if that merger never happened, and keep the leagues as separate as FOF will let us. That means there will be a common draft and a common free agency market, but otherwise, the leagues are separate. FOF9 requires a name for "the" league, so I'm just going to put "American Pro Football Association" -- the original name of the NFL, plus it has the word American in it, so it seems like a good compromise.

The divisions

The NFL had 14 teams, and added Atlanta as an expansion team in 1966, sticking them in the East.
The NFL East had 8 teams -- Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Redskins (apologies if anyone is offended by the Redskins name. I'm going for historical accuracy here, but if it bothers anyone reading this, let me know and I'll change it)
The NFL West had 7 teams -- Baltimore Colts, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Los Angeles Rams, Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers

The AFL had 8 teams, and add Miami as an expansion team in 1966, sticking them in the East.
The AFL East had 5 teams -- Boston Patriots, Buffalo Bills, Houston Oilers, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets
The AFL West had 4 teams -- Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers

The schedule -- We're going to use the 1966 schedule as our guide. This is in keeping with the non-merger theme, since in 1966, the merger had been announced, but not put into place. That means the AFL and NFL had separate schedules, which IMO will make the Super Bowl more fun. Also, the 1966 schedule was weird.

The NFL had a good run of 14 teams, where each team played 14 games -- a home-and-home against everyone in your division for 12 games, and 2 interdivision games. The 2 inter-division games were pretty helter-skelter, from what I've seen, they wanted teams to rotate so everyone plays everyone else eventually, but they kept a "Beltway Bowl" interdivisional game between Washington in the East and Baltimore in the West (!), but adding Atlanta as a 15th team really screwed things up. First, with an odd number of teams, everyone gets a bye week, also, if everyone in the NFL East played each other twice, that's 14 games, and they don't have any games left to play anyone in the West. Instead, they had Atlanta play everyone in the NFL and made that their 14th games, while the rest of the league got 12 games against everyone else in their division, one interdivisional game, plus one game against Atlanta.

Normally I'd like a cleaner schedule than this, but we're keeping the 1966 schedule and using it for the rest of the years, too. Atlanta's schedule is going to go to whoever ends up last place in the NFL East the year before -- kind of like they're riding bitch. Other weird stuff will get repeated based on rank from previous year -- so since Washington and Pittsburgh played each other two weeks in a row in 1966 for some reason, that will keep going every year, but it will be that the 4th place NFL East team will play the 7th place NFL East team twice in a row. And since the Steelers ended 1966 with four road games, that will happen to the 7th place NFL East team each year.

The AFL also had their schedule screwed up by expansion. With 8 teams, their 14 games were a nice round-robin, where everyone played each other twice. Division didn't mean anything for scheduling, but it was neat and orderly. Adding Miami threw that off. In the 1966 schedule, everyone in the AFL West plays each other twice, but it wasn't feasible for the AFL East to do that. Instead, Boston and Miami only played each other once, but played some AFL West teams twice. That will repeat too, but it will be the 3rd and 5th place teams in the AFL East that only play each other once.

In FOF9, you can't move the Super Bowl from being mid-February. In 1966, the last game of the regular season was December 18, the AFL and NFL Championships were 1/1/1967, and the Super Bowl was 1/15/1967. I wanted to keep the regular season games where they were supposed to be, so as a result, the last week of the regular season is still December 18, but the AFL and NFL Championships have to wait until 1/29/1967, and the Super Bowl will be 2/12/1967. If I didn't do it that way, the regular season would start October 2 and end 1/15/1967, which feels weird.

These schedules seem like they were meant to be transitional, since they knew they would be expanding more, and that a merger would upend the whole thing, but we're going to embrace the weirdness and keep it going permanently.

Preseason was 6 weeks, and most teams played 4-5 games, which feels long considering the season itself is only 14 games (not to mention that since only division winners make the playoffs, the season can be effectively over for some teams way earlier than that). And I hate preseason. I replaced this with a 1-week preseason with some inter-league rivalries.

Giants vs. Jets (NY)
Raiders vs. 49ers (Bay Area)
Cowboys vs. Oilers (Texas)
Chargers vs. Rams (Southern California)
Cardinals vs. Chiefs (Missouri)
Dolphins vs. Falcons (new teams, Southeast)
Lions vs. Broncos (the first "game" between the two leagues was a preseason game between these two teams in 1967)
Bills vs. Eagles
Vikings vs. Patriots
Colts vs. Redskins (Beltway Bowl)
Browns vs. Packers
Bears vs. Steelers

More to come!

[Passacaglia]

Okay, I'm finally feeling like the file I've created here is ready for use in this dynasty!

FOF9 Historical Player Generator - Front Office Football Central (https://forumsold.operationsports.com/fofc/fofc/showthread.php?t=99655)

First, a little about the name -- I can't find a record of it anymore, but I was asking some AI for name ideas, based on what I'm trying to do. It came up with this one, Pride and Prejudice -- Pride for the Lions, and Prejudice for the stubbornness that leads to the AFL and NFL failing to fully merge. Then after all that, it said that its favorite was something like Hitsville Gridiron, which is pretty bad. Anyway, here we are.

So let's see what we've got! I'm creating the file now, and the only thing I want to make sure of is that Detroit, and their NFL West rivals in the north -- Chicago, Green Bay, and Minnesota -- all have outdoor stadiums.

We got it on the 2nd attempt!

https://i.imgur.com/2twFKpEh.png

I guess our stadium is retractable -- obviously a bit anachronistic for 1966, but I'm hoping it doesn't make a difference in terms of gameplay.

The other thing I want to do before we get rolling is to make sure in the global settings that "Allow Computer-Run Teams to Change Cities" is unchecked. I'm open to changing this, and it won't be the end of the world if it gets checked when I re-load this game, but I've found that the teams start naming themselves after suburbs when they move. I believe there are ways to change it, but I'm not feeling like doing that work now, and I think part of the fun is keeping this exact 1966 setup the whole way through.

I'm also going to go into the game settings.

https://i.imgur.com/3zrBU10h.png

I'll do the depth chart, the game will handle game plans and playbooks (I hate that stuff).

I've also changed the min and max salary increase to 0 and 1. I've got the salary cap set to $5.2M for 1966. That's chosen so that with a 7% increase each year, we'd end up with the projected salary cap of $303M in 2026. The next TV contract will start after the first season -- to get that 7% increase, we want an increase of 400-500K, and setting this to 0 and 1 means we'll get an increase anywhere from 0 to 1M. We'll adjust after that contract is signed, depending on what we get.

And now, finally, let's check out the team!

https://i.imgur.com/IcdWh1gh.png

There's a lot of work needed. That's fine, because I don't expect to win with the random coaching staff I have, and it feels hollow to win before you've really done anything to build the team anyway.

Milt Plum comes in about what he usually does.

https://i.imgur.com/7LQL3zTh.png

And here he is compared to the rest of the league. An average-to-below-average guy.

https://i.imgur.com/UzBRVJfh.png

[Passacaglia]

I'm noticing that the way I upload and embed pictures makes them really big. If any readers are annoyed by that, let me know and I'll make them smaller somehow.

Anyway, let's get to staff!

https://i.imgur.com/2FoOqdMh.png

Not horrible. I'm guessing I'll still find someone better in 1967, though.

I won't bore you with the rest. In real life, Harry Gilmer gets fired after 1966, his 2nd season, going 4-9-1, and having the fans throw snowballs at him during the last game of the season.

https://i.imgur.com/iZPabiC.png

So that's fun.

Our DC, Joe Schmidt, plays a 43 Over, which fits with our roster decently -- I feel like Jerry Rush usually comes in better than this, but my hope is he can be basic starter quality by 1967, in case we don't find someone else to take his place.

We're also a little snakebit with Pat Studstill.

https://i.imgur.com/R52Sw1xh.png

Studstill was a really good player for the Lions in 1966, playing WR as well as punting. My file placed him as a Punter, which makes him less effective -- I'd way rather have a 62/77 WR than a P.

[Passacaglia]

1966 is going to be a weird year to get through. I'm not particularly interested in it, since I don't expect us to do well, but I'd like to set the story and get some narratives going for the league in general. But to start, I need to fill my roster. I'm not looking to really improve the team here, and there's not much available to do that with anyway -- I just want to have a reasonable amount of players at each position. Nothing much of note -- I grabbed a 29/61 2nd year RT named Ray Hinze, but he's probably not likely to pan out.

Time for the preseason game!

https://i.imgur.com/omB8O2gh.png

I'm sure I've mentioned at least some of this earlier in the thread, but we've got AFL vs. NFL rivalries as much as we can here. New York vs. New York, LA vs SD (who started out in LA), Bay Area, Texas, Missouri, etc. Our "rival" here is Denver, since they played a preseason game in 1967, which was the first game between an AFL and NFL team after Super Bowl I. Alex Karras said they'd beat Denver, or he'd walk back to Detroit, and was probably pretty humiliated when Denver won 13-7. Whatever -- it's preseason and they probably didn't really care, and neither do I.

https://i.imgur.com/CRYiCxr.png

Backup QB Karl Sweetan is the culprit, anyway.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, August 29, 1966

New jam this week.

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A little bit on house rules, or maybe guidelines, since it's possible I could change my mind.

No trading away players -- if I don't want a guy anymore, I cut him.
No trading for picks -- I'm going to just take whoever is available with whatever pick I have. Too much temptation to manipulate things to get players I know. The exception is that I'm going to do whatever it takes to get Barry Sanders.
No increasing offers beyond what a player is asking for -- not worth the time spent.
Deactivate anyone who is injured, even if they are probable, unless doing so would mean I need to sign another player.

Favorites to win has to be the Green Bay Packers. They won the 1965 NFL Championship, beating the Browns, 23-12. Since then, Jim Brown, arguably the best player in the history of the league, has retired, so they're certainly not going to be as good now. On the other hand, the Packers tied the Baltimore Colts for the NFL West with a 10-3-1 record, and had to play a tiebreaker game to see who would play the Browns. So maybe Green Bay is not as dominant as all that.

And does the AFL have a chance? Seems like it's pretty well debated whether the AFL was as good as the NFL around this time. The NFL was the more prestigious league, but the AFL spent more money, so who knows? I'm using AV to get a handle on how to rate everyone, and that probably equalizes things, too. We saw the QBs earlier -- John Hadl is the best QB in the league, and the San Diego Chargers were good last year, but were beat in the AFL Championship Game by the Buffalo Bills, 23-0.

And we all know how the real 1966 season actually went, with the Packers beating the Chiefs in Super Bowl I.

Here's how FOF sees it:

https://i.imgur.com/wlkxTUX.png

Pretty similar to what I said. Packers and Colts on top. Chiefs best in the AFL. Cowboys probably better than we expect since Roger Staubach is on the team -- although Craig Morton looks good enough that they don't need him long-term. Los Angeles up there too -- the 3 best teams are in the NFL West, and we aren't any of them. We sit pretty far down, and at the very bottom are expansion teams Miami and Atlanta.

And just to check out the roster we aspire to:

https://i.imgur.com/lwI45D0.png

Don't get too excited, Bart Starr is just questionable, and will be at 100% in two weeks, plenty of time for their first game.

Which reminds me, the schedule! In Week 1, the AFL plays, and the NFL starts in Week 2. Both leagues finish Week 16. In each of the 15 weeks the NFL plays, one of the 15 teams gets a bye. Our bye comes the last week, so we effectively don't really get one.

https://i.imgur.com/Us01KSeh.png

[Passacaglia]

After signing the players to fill my roster, and making a few position changes, here's what we've got:

https://i.imgur.com/vz3VrF4h.png

Marsh is doubtful, but should be ready in two weeks for the opener. And a little scouting of our first opponent, the Bears:

https://i.imgur.com/rJpeN4Zh.png

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 2 -- First game of the season!

Real-life: The Miami Dolphins start things off by playing their first game ever, losing 23-14 to the Raiders.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/caxoiXGh.png

You'll have to forgive the dates not matching. In FOF, all games happen on Sunday, but I'm going to try to stick to the 1966 schedule, and do each game on the day of the week it actually happens. In future years, I'm just going to keep things in the order they show up, so for example in this week, the 5th place East team will play the 2nd place West team on Friday, 4th place in the East plays 4th place in the West on Saturday, and 1st place East plays 1st place West on Sunday (AFL Championship rematch).

Miami kicks that FG on 4th and 10 with 4:33 left to make it 31-27. They never get it back -- Oakland eventually takes a knee at the Miami 8. Player of the game goes to Oakland C Jim Otto, with 9 key run blocks on 13 opportunities.

https://i.imgur.com/Qx01IxDh.png

Looks like it's going to the right guy.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, September 3

Real-life: Oilers kill the Broncos at home, 45-7.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/6njyKpch.png

Oilers still kill the Broncos. They do this without George Blanda at QB, since the game made him a Kicker. Kind of appropriate in this case -- Blanda was the starter at the beginning of 1966, but the Oilers moved on to Don Trull after 8 games. Looks like in our FOF-land, Jacky Lee (43/43) is better than Trull (36/36).

Player of the game goes to Houston RB John Henry Johnson, for 20 rushes, 112 yards, and a TD.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 4

Real-life: The Chargers get a little vengeance for the AFL Championship, beating Buffalo 27-7.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/i0oGfgYh.png

The Chargers still get vengeance, though Buffalo tries to make a game of it at the end.

Player of the game goes to John Hadl, throwing 26/36, 252 yards, 3 TDs.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 5, 1966

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So the AFL has started, and we still need to get ready for our first game against the Bears this Sunday. I've already posted our revised Week 1 starting lineup, and here are the full depth charts now. I tried to make it so no one got tired, but there are some occasions where I didn't have enough players I like to put in there -- we'll see how that pans out.

https://i.imgur.com/nqN7mqwh.png


https://i.imgur.com/0n1a8Xdh.png


https://i.imgur.com/oud5eHyh.png

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 9, 1966

Real-life: Another game in Miami, and another loss for the Dolphins, as the Jets beat them 24-19.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/3jR0rlHh.png

Miami wins! Seeing the TD pass by Mike Taliaferro, I wondered if Joe Namath was hurt, but it looks like he's just not that good in this universe.

https://i.imgur.com/u5l8PBDh.png

Anyway, as you may have guessed from this FG-fest, player of the game goes to Miami K Gene Mingo, kicking 4/5 FG and 2/2 PATs. I feel like Jets K Jim Turner may have been more efficient, kicking 4/4 FGs, but Mingo went 2/3 from 50+, and Turner didn't even attempt any.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, September 10, 1966

Three games today!
Real-life:
Oilers destroy the Raiders in Houston, 31-0.
The NFL gets started with Colts at Packers, and the Packers win 24-3.
Chargers beat the Patriots at home, 24-0.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/SGyUVwhh.png

Pretty similar. The Oilers move to 2-0, and Houston QB Jacky Lee is player of the game -- 24/32, 326 yards, 4 TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/C9xPkvJh.png

Baltimore may have the inside track to the NFL West now with a win in Green Bay! Johnny Unitas throws 21/30, 284 yards, 4 TDs to win player of the game. Raymond Berry had 3 catches for 3 TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/WlJzRsoh.png

John Hadl gets his 2nd player of the game, going 18/27, 164 yards, 2 TDs.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 11, 1966

Gameday for us! While I preserved the different game days from the 1966 season, and for the three games on Saturday the 10th, I did try to find out what time each game was and display them in order (at least, I asked AI what times they were, and blindly trusted it), for the Sundays with a lot of games, I'm just going to display them all, and call out our Lions game, and maybe another game of interest if there is one.

So, we play the Bears.

Real-life: Lions win, 14-3, and start the season with some false hope.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/B8aTXYAh.png

No false hope. We appropriately blow chunks and get spanked by a mediocre team. Bears QB Rudy Bukich doesn't bother coming back for the 2nd half, winning player of the game throwing 15/23, 172 yards, 2 TDs. We give up midway through the 3rd quarter also, benching Milt Plum, apparently in the middle of a drive.

And here's the whole week:

https://i.imgur.com/JNgtjNRh.png

AFL favorite Buffalo off to an 0-2 start.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 12, 1966

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/UrIVTx5h.png

I didn't mention this, but backup OLB Wayne Walker was doubtful last week, so I sat him out. Now we have Wally Hilgenberg doubtful too. Plus Alex Karras and Larry Hand hurt -- that's going to suck.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 16, 1966

Real-life: The Bears bounce back and beat the Rams in LA, 31-17.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/KFwztqnh.png

Bears get the ball with 2:11 left, and throw an interception. The Rams fumble two plays later, and the Bears score a TD with 37 second left. With 1 second left, the Rams are at their 29 and complete a long pass, but it's only for 47 yards. Rams QB Roman Gabriel is player of the game, throwing 25/30, 328 yards, 4 TDs, and a pick. How do you lose with your QB throwing 25/30? Crazy.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 18, 1966

Real-life: We go into Pittsburgh and lose 17-3.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/PjImrCgh.png

That stung. We seemed really in control here, up 19-7 as the 4th quarter started. The Steelers had the ball at their own 2 yard line with 3:52 left. They complete a 4th and 4 at the 8, and work their way into Lions territory, when the Steelers commit a personal foul, but we help get them back in with pass interference, then add on defensive holding as a little extra bonus. We get the ball down 3 with 22 seconds left, and Plum immediately throws an interception.

And the rest of the day:

https://i.imgur.com/avS9eTnh.png

We've got enough games in now where we can peek at the league overview:

https://i.imgur.com/oz4jxTrh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 19, 1966

Two jams this week.

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/Rm9lO49h.png

Amos Marsh out for the season. That's probably pretty bad for this season, but there's so many good RBs in this league, that I figured I'd get at least one RB as good for next year.

Larry Hand should be ready for our next game, which will help.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 25, 1966

All games on Sunday this week.

Here's ours:

https://i.imgur.com/9ePgYX1h.png

Another game where we had a nice lead, only to lose it. This one we managed to come back and win, though. Milt Plum threw 18/30, 289 yards, 3 TDs for player of the game.

https://i.imgur.com/zwvIdRoh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 26, 1966

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/fJxU3Jwh.png

Two DEs hurt now. Ugh.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 30

Real-life: Rams beat the 49ers, 34-3.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/0FXLX7hh.png

Roman Gabriel is player of the game, 19/30, 324 yards, 3 TDs.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 2, 1966

Real-life: The Packers beat us 23-14.

For us: Even worse.

https://i.imgur.com/L4tQOtzh.png

We were able to hang with them for a half, which is good, I guess. RB Donny Anderson runs all over us, 22 carries for 223 yards, 2 TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/V1EMVurh.png

Time for another look at the overview:

https://i.imgur.com/zlawvI1h.png

Shout out to our MLB Mike Lucci for leading the league in tackles!

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 3, 1966

Two jams this week.

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/lE38Xbzh.png

We get Wally Hilgenberg back! Although this will probably cut into Lucci's tackle count. And Gail Cogdill will be at full health.

[Passacaglia]

October 8-9, 1966

Four games were played on Saturday this weekend, but I'm going to just put them all here so we can get through this season.

First, us. Real-life, the Rams beat us 14-7. For us:

https://i.imgur.com/infq2g4h.png

Hung with the opponent for a half again, this time even led at halftime. Roman Gabriel gets player of the game. Key play was late in the first, we're up 7-3 with the ball at our own 32, when Milt Plum hits Willie Walker, and he's all the way to the Rams 11, when he fumbles, it, returned for a TD. We were still winning at half time, but that sucked.

https://i.imgur.com/fItX9XPh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 10 1966

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS -- No injury changes. Let's roll.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 16

Real-Life -- we go to Baltimore and get beat bad, 45-14.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/G1POWVkh.png

Pretty similar. Jonny Unitas throws 18/26, 252 yards, and 5 TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/uSX1lh7h.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 17, 1966

We've got a cover for this week's jam -- though probably not exactly what you're thinking. It's "Respect" -- Otis Redding performed the original in 1965, and The Rationals, a band from Ann Arbor, did this version in 1966, before Aretha does hers in 1967. This was their only "hit", getting to #92 on the Hot 100, and the rest of their success was just in Michigan.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/NW9DDIfmDUk?si=gmGU7d67H_FHVyMF" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/Oi5oczdh.png

Alex Karras is coming back!

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 23, 1966

Real-life: The 49ers comeback in the 4th quarter to beat us, 27-24. This is the first game Karl Sweetan played the whole game -- I think Plum got hurt.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/8VpYZU3h.png

John Brodie gets player of the game, throwing 15/29, 166 yards, 1 TD.

https://i.imgur.com/FvdNjxih.png

https://i.imgur.com/RGuRFesh.png

So that loss to San Francisco puts us on the inside track for a draft pick. From times I've tested this before, I can say that it's not a good QB class, though. Bob Griese is in it, and Steve Spurrier, but neither usually ends up very good. Meanwhile, Milt Plum's salary expectations for a new contract are high as always:

https://i.imgur.com/4pxYhQ4h.png

Maybe I'm not thinking about it right, but over 10% of the cap for a below-average QB seems insane to me.

Anyway, moving away from the bottom of the league and on to the top, the AFL has some strong front runners in Houston and Kansas City. The NFL West is seeing Baltimore maybe pulling away, and the NFL East is a 3-way battle between Philly, Pittsburgh, and Dallas. I'm really surprised about Pittsburgh -- in all the stuff I've read about the NFL in the 60s, they were laughing-stock bad, but they're really in the mix here. Their best win is over 3-3 Cleveland, though, so I wonder as they get more games, if they'll fall off.

Midseason power ratings:

https://i.imgur.com/Etau7Uuh.png

Looks like this is predicting Dallas in the NFL East, and a Dallas-Kansas City Super Bowl I. It's also got 3-4 Buffalo with a much higher rating than 6-0 Baltimore, so I'm not sure this thing is making much sense.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 24, 1966

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/T_vgBdDLOk0?si=8CaRCu_j9l1RAiES" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/o3bb0AKh.png

Two RBs out now -- Luckily we have like 5-6 on roster for some reason. And we get McCord back.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 30, 1966

Real-Life -- You can probably guess that we lost to the Packers. The score was 31-7.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/xBx8njxh.png

We actually had a chance here. We were down 17-13 with 2:57 to go, 1st and 10 at the Green Bay 29, when we get a holding penalty, a sack, a couple incompletions, and suddenly it was 4th and 30 at the 49. We go for it, throw a 2-yard pass, and turn it over on downs. We still had a chance, getting the ball back at our 10 with 1:42 left, but throw three incompletions, then a scramble for -2 yards (the game must know it's 1966 and isn't counting sacks yet). Bart Starr gets player of the game -- 18/29, 200 yards, 2 TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/sLInM2Bh.png

Houston gets beat up by the Chiefs, but still look in control of the AFL East.
Kansas City doesn't pull away from the Chargers or Raiders, since they both win.
Cowboys beat the Steelers, and the Eagles lose! So we've still got chaos in the NFL East.
Colts lose in OT to the Rams, so Green Bay is only half a game behind them.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 31, 1966

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AUZ3INx3-KA?si=KWsCGOQTgJJvI-nb" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/5NQT5QZh.png

John Henderson comes back. Milt Plum hurt, but he should be fine for our next game.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 6, 1966

Real-Life -- 10-10 tie with the Bears!

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/HWLMLi2h.png

Not even close to a tie. Bears QB Rudy Bukich gets player of the game, throwing 22/34, 240 yards, 2 TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/Nqn6iILh.png

The Bills maybe gaining on the Oilers?
Chiefs still 2 games up, but only on the Raiders now.
Eagles beat the Cowboys! And Steelers win. All three still with a good shot.
Colts and Packers both win.

Oh, and in case you're curious, we're officially eliminated. We may have technically been last week, but since the best we can do is 6-8, and both the Colts and Packers have 7 wins, it's definitely over. In terms of draft picks, we're tied with Denver at 1-8, but the Giants, Falcons, and 49ers are right there at 1-7. I'm not sweating this, a top 5 pick is all I want.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 7, 1966

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-sVCv8ZtzGk?si=jttQgT3vdKOgFAK8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v8dORkYPq0s?si=p-3-N4NTwcAmrkol" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This was pretty cool, Bob Seger before he hit it big (though I guess this song was locally big, hitting #3 on Detroit charts). Definitely more of a 60s garage band feel than the stuff he was famous for.

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/u9AVfemh.png

Can't even blame our crap season on injuries. McLenna still inactive since while he's good enough to go in as my 3rd RB, but not by much, and I guess there's a chance he doesn't recover by Sunday, so eh.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 13, 1966

Real-life:

https://i.imgur.com/FPGqvUD.png

A 32-31 win for the Lions over the Vikings. No TD passes thrown, but two interceptions returned for a TD. Fran Tarkenton throws 11/24, 106 yards, and 5 INTs. Karl Sweetan only throws one INT on 41 attempts. Lions with 7 field goals, Mike Lucci with 3 INTs. Vikings were favored by 13.5, huge upset. They don't say when in the 4th quarter that last TD happened, but with current rules, they could have tried a 2 pt conversion to tie it (as long as they didn't let Tarkenton throw it).

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/vG4DBJGh.png

https://i.imgur.com/KEwaNmCh.png

[Passacaglia]

I pasted the screen shot of the game summary for our game against the Vikings into Google Gemini, and asked it to make a video of highlights. The result:

‎Gemini - direct access to Google AI (https://gemini.google.com/share/ed41c79befbe)

[Young Drachma]

Video highlight is wild, assumed it would be text not video!

[Passacaglia]

Well my prompt asked it to make a video. It did a pretty bad job, but it looks like it may be limited to 8 seconds. I was thinking I'd give up, but maybe it could still do a decent job if I did one highlight at a time.

One thing I wish I could do in FOF is copy-and-paste the info from the play-by-play. If I ever want to get more detailed in showing that, I'll have to do screenshots of it, which seems like a lot of time and space.

[Passacaglia]

After a few more attempts with Google Gemini and sources it recommended, I'm done with this AI video nonsense. Maybe a paid version would do a better job, but I'm not getting anything good enough to use with what I'm doing.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 14, 1966

Two jams this week

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xXy7qYAKrfc?si=XsOnylJMOCgBoYRK" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7HlEt4XJVFA?si=r_lEyDw_uLBptn_y" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/vfpFQFQh.png

Nothing major here. McCord is going to have to play hurt, but whatever.

A little housekeeping: I lost a save apparently, but it was just one week's worth of games that were lost. I'm about to update the screen shot with the new games now.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 20, 1966

Real-life: A win for the Lions! 20-14 over Unitas and the Colts.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/vwf8JNlh.png

Colts RB Lenny Moore runs 23 time for 153 yards and a TD for player of the game. Plum gets benched so early that the backup, Sweetan, gets more attempts.

https://i.imgur.com/aqmgmLAh.png

Since we had that re-done week and everything, and we're getting near the end of the season, probably a good time to look at the overview:

https://i.imgur.com/Dx1JqEZh.png

With three games left in the season, Houston and Kansas City are three games ahead. For the East, Buffalo, Boston, and New York are still technically in it, since they could all tie the Oilers at 8-6. The Jets may be eliminated -- the playoff projection simulator gives them no chance, while giving Buffalo a 1% chance and Boston a <1% chance. In the West, the simulator gives Kansas City a 100% chance, and 0 for everyone else. The Chiefs beat Oakland twice, and San Diego once, but the Chargers and Chiefs could both end up 10-4 and split their games. I think the Chargers still lose then, because if Oakland ends up 10-4, the Chiefs would win head-to-head between all three teams (since the Raiders and Chargers split), and if Oakland is not involved, the Chiefs would have a 5-1 division record, and the Chargers would be 4-2. So it looks like the Chiefs have clinched!

NFL has some more interesting races. In the East, Eagles are 8-3 and Cowboys are 7-3, and they've split. Cardinals and Steelers still in the mix at 6-4. December 4 will be big here -- Philadelphia hosts Pittsburgh and Dallas hosts St. Louis. In the West, Baltimore and Green Bay are ahead of everyone. Baltimore is ahead half a game, and won in Green Bay earlier in the season. They play again in Baltimore December 11.

And at 1-10, we've got the inside track for the #1 spot. A few other 1-9 teams right there with us though.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 21, 1966

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/A9MwPMHEjNM?si=VOutXLl3gj_h2NDN" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/M_KwWRzRnB8?si=i9dkedquv4R-w8tg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/f7Vk08Ph.png

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, November 24, 1966

THANKSGIVING! I've skipped some non-Sunday games as 1966 drags on, but I can't do a Lions dynasty and not stop every Thanksgiving.

Real-Life:

Lions with a big loss to the 49ers, 41-14.
The 7-2-1 Cowboys beat the 7-3 Browns, 26-14. The Cardinals were also 7-2-1, and the Browns dropping to 7-4 gives them a really difficult chance to win the East.
The AFL gets in on the Turkey Day football with the Bills beating the Raiders 34-10. The Bills move up to 8-3-1, well ahead of 5-3-2 Boston and 5-4-1 New York. The Raiders drop to 7-5, meaning the 8-2-1 Chiefs clinch the West.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/k4i65r3h.png

Key game for the #1 draft pick here. We came in 1-10, with the only win being over expansion Atlanta. The 49ers come in 1-9, with their only win being over us in San Francisco (they even managed to lose to Atlanta).

Good result for us, I guess? Player of the game is San Francisco CB Jimmy Johnson (not that Jimmy Johnson, this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Johnson_(cornerback) ), for his 2 INTs.

https://i.imgur.com/2G3Nrpth.png

Kind of a setback for the Cowboys in the East -- the Eagles had a bye this week, and it would have been nice to tie them at 8-3 instead of being a game behind at 7-4. They fall a game behind the Eagles in divisional record, too. Browns QB Frank Ryan gets player of the game, throwing 17/27, 238 yards.

https://i.imgur.com/ksUNRGoh.png

We can put a cap on the Bills season here with this loss, just in case anyone was holding out hope for someone other than Houston. Boston is probably still in it, maybe.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 27, 1966

https://i.imgur.com/yiZg2Wjh.png

Houston clinches the East on their bye week, with losses to both the Bills and Patriots.
Steelers beat the Cardinals in a battle for third place in the East.
Johnny Unitas throws a last-minute TD pass to give the Colts another win, eliminating the Rams, and making it a two-team race between the Colts and Packers.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 28, 1966

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Nps0-QCy6Ok?si=IDyYHdEMfFEhS2us" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/WvplgOvh.png

Not much movement here, which is good. DEs McCord and Mazzanti are both hurt still, but Mazzanti, who had been the inactive one, will be back to full strength, while McCord is still hurt, so Mazzanti will take McCord's place on the active roster.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 4, 1966

Real-Life: Beat by the Rams, 23-3.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/DyWFxifh.png

Anyone worried about a win that would make us miss out on the #1 pick, no worries. Plum again benched, this time after throwing only 9 passes. Karl Sweetan came in at halftime, once we were down 23-0. He legit led us to making it 23-14, until the Rams woke back up. Rams QB Roman Gabriel gets player of the game -- 31/41, 327 yards, 2 TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/t4rXbyhh.png

The AFL is nothing to worry about -- we're primed for Houston and Kansas City.

NFL East is still a mess. Steelers beating the Eagles put both at 8-4, and Cardinals beating the Cowboys put both at 7-5.

Colts upset by the Bears in the NFL West! Packers win, so both are 10-2. They play next week, and I'm pretty sure it will come down to who wins that game.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, December 5, 1966

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yt66npv9-6o?si=xAgi7HDgkV0_J8e5" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wfKhrge7pNw?si=qwfrYmAi6lJ5yNQK" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/GvYXueXh.png

A little bit of a scare with Dick LeBeau as we're just trying to get through the season, but he's only out for 4 weeks, he should be find for next year. I'm activating McCord and Walker, but I'm not going to bother putting them in the starting lineup.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, December 10 1966

My bad -- I kept saying the Packers and Colts would play December 11, but I was looking at the FOF schedule -- in actual 1966, they played on the 10th. I'd been skipping the non-Sunday games, but this one probably should be pulled out.

Real-life: Probably no surprise that the Packers beat the Colts in Baltimore. Score was 14-10, in 21 degree weather. From wikipedia:

Quarterback Zeke Bratkowski, in relief of Bart Starr, who suffered a muscle spasm in the first half, directed an 80-yard drive in the fourth quarter that resulted in a go-ahead touchdown run by Elijah Pitts for the Packers. John Unitas then led the Colts to the Green Bay 15, but there lost a fumble which came to be known as the 'Million Dollar Fumble', to secure the Packers' win that clinched the Western Conference title for Green Bay.

The Packers were 10-2 before the game, but the Colts were 8-4, so the win clinched the division for the Packers.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/4zSCnUmh.png

A win for the Packers, just like in real-life -- although our game was indoors instead of in the cold -- though with two defensive TDs and only one offensive, it felt like a cold-weather game. Bart Starr is player of the game, throwing 17/31, 231 yards, and a TD. Unitas gets hurt on the Colts 3rd play, instead of playing and fumbling late.

With the win, Green Bay seems to have clinched. They are 11-2, Colts are 10-3. If the Colts win next week and the Packers lose, both teams are 11-3, with a split series, and a 9-3 division record. FOF doesn't label them as clinched, but the simulator never shows the Colts winning. I suspect it goes to point differential. The Packers are 344 to 218 for +116, and the Colts are 377 to 302 for +75. That's likely insurmountable, since the Colts aren't playing us. They are playing San Francisco, who's pretty bad, and the Packers are playing the Rams, who are pretty good, so maybe? But still, over 6000 simulations, and the Packers won the title every time. Could we be looking at a Green Bay vs. Kansas City Super Bowl I, like in real life?

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 11, 1966

Real-Life: I mentioned the snowball game earlier. The Vikings beat us 28-16 and Coach Gilmer gets pelted.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/OLuJIpYh.png

I guess the only different is that the weather was sunny and 40 degrees, so probably no snowballs. I'm sure they did something bad to him though.

https://i.imgur.com/lcT0YTVh.png

So our season is actually done, and it's done for the Raiders, too -- they get screwed with a 10-4 record but no playoffs. But the rest of the leagues still have to play a game. We already know we've got Houston and Kansas City, and almost assuredly Green Bay in the playoffs. But the NFL East is still a mess:

https://i.imgur.com/LG8i1Ihh.png

Pittsburgh sits a game ahead of Philadelphia, with Dallas dropping out, but Cleveland and St. Louis still in it. The Steelers also have their last game against Atlanta -- win that easy one, and they are in. If not, all hell breaks loose. Pittsburgh split with Philadelphia and St. Louis, but won both against Cleveland. But Cleveland is not out -- maybe because they beat Philadelphia twice, so a three-way tie gets them in? The simulator is saying Pittsburgh at 80%, St. Louis at 15%, Cleveland at 5%, Philadelphia 0. St. Louis plays Cleveland, so there's no chance of a 4-way tie. If Pittsburgh loses, it's just a 2-way tie with Cleveland/St. Louis, or a 3-way tie that includes Philadelphia.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, December 12, 1966

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vrRChUopH_o?si=wW0RPTn-kN5RfRHa" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/16u6w0cjjrU?si=tznTYeTnCOxlGJCz" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Wilson Pickett is difficult to determine if he fits here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilson_Pickett

Born in Alabama, but his "origin" is Detroit. He recorded a song in 1959 with the Primettes (who would become the Supremes) as backup singers. But that was before he was big. He does sign with Motown, but not until 1987, well after his career was a thing of the past (and of course, well after 1966). As far as I can tell, by 1963, he's signed with Double L records in NYC, and in 1965, he's with Atlantic, and recording back in Alabama. My hunch is in 1966, radio people in Detroit would have known him enough to claim him as their own somewhat and give him a bump in airplay.

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/iVJ3jnth.png

Nothing major here. Bring on next season.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, December 17, 1966

Real-Life:
Jets beat the Patriots, 38-28. No one cares.
Cleveland beats St. Louis 38-10. Also no one cares -- the Cowboys were 9-3-1, the Cardinals were 8-4-1, the Browns were 8-5, and the Eagles were 8-5. The Cowboys had beat the Cardinals once and tied them once, and I assume that meant they would win the East even if both teams ended up 9-4-1. Browns and Eagles were already eliminated.

For us:

https://i.imgur.com/J7BLj9Qh.png

4th quarter comeback for the Browns! Frank Ryan gets player of the game, throwing 21/35, 247 yards, 2 TDs. I assume they need the Eagles to win and the Steelers to lose to win the East, though.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 18, 1966

https://i.imgur.com/spVAnNBh.png

Steelers roll. The Falcons scored to be down by 8 with 4:33 left, but never got the ball back.

https://i.imgur.com/KTus5TYh.png

So 1966 regular season is in the books! Our only guy who charts in the overview page here is a bad one, Milt Plum being #3 in interceptions. Green Bay and Kansas City seem like the favorites to meet in Super Bowl I, both with tough run defenses, allowing less than 20 points per game. Hard not to wonder if the Colts win their last two games with a healthy Unitas, though.

At the bottom, we tied with Denver and Atlanta at 1-13. Denver played 4-10 Boston and 4-10 Miami twice, which makes me think they'll get #1. And our game against the East was Pittsburgh, so our schedule might have been the hardest, putting us in the #3 spot.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, December 19, 1966

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QtEZ_JGdPtA?si=z_Wk3yH6YfjZ5DtS" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, December 24, 1966

No games this weekend, so maybe this is a good time to profile the teams who made the playoffs. We'll start with Kansas City, since they were the first to clinch.

https://i.imgur.com/tTYqHbah.png

First thought is that I'm surprised Len Dawson came in so bad.

https://i.imgur.com/57j2LqHh.png

I also wanted to sympathize with him about his picture. I set up the image downloader to find a picture of that player closest to the year we're starting. The intent here is to prevent getting old-man pictures of guys, for example a shot of Jack Kemp as a politician or something. But for Len Dawson, the top picture is an old-man picture, there's an earlier picture of him further down the wikipedia page playing for Purdue in 1956, then another picture of him in a game against Denver, that's labelled 1985 because it was on a ticket or program or something then, a picture of him being tackled by the Packers in Super Bowl I in 1967, then another picture of him from 2019. So the downloader grabs this picture since it's closest to 1966. Anyway, 25 TDs and 6 INTs is pretty good -- the team behind him is obviously more solid than what we have behind Plum. The defense looks amazing, but the offense just looks solid, with no particular strengths or weaknesses.

https://i.imgur.com/YIr7bEkh.png

1st in points allowed, rushing yards allowed, sacks, and total yards allowed. 2nd in turnover margin. 4th in total points and 3rd in rushing yards. Definitely feels like they control the line. Best record in either league, so they feel like the favorite.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 25, 1966

Now let's look at Houston, the 2nd team to clinch.

https://i.imgur.com/tAOcCWLh.png

Much better OL compared to Kansas City, but the defense is not as good. Willie Jones is currently listed as a starter at DE, but he only played 2 games, and started 1. Hopefully as players recover they can keep him out. Also, we've talked about their QB Jacky Lee earlier in the season -- he's hurt, but should be ready for the playoffs. Their backup Don Trull came in and did just as well, going 4-0 as a starter.

https://i.imgur.com/eOB8HTgh.png

https://i.imgur.com/UaOZzdfh.png

I find myself looking at contracts to see which of these guys would be available, but I'm not sure why. Plum is good enough that I should be keeping him next year, and the only significant addition should be drafting a QB for the future.

https://i.imgur.com/PgChzLBh.png

Looks like a team getting hot at the right time, despite clinching a long time ago. That loss in Kansas City is glaring, since they have to go back there again. Revenge? 1st in rushing yards and turnover margin, 2nd in points scored. 3rd in rushing yards allowed, so the defense is pulling its weight, too. Two 1000 yard rushers and a 1000 yard receiver -- in 14 games, mind you.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, December 26, 1966

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LWr_F4Gg8sY?si=hx7P7LfpLETEA2-O" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/d7Iis_Dgygs?si=TuQ754O_fTjjJuUX" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 1, 1967

Happy new year, 1967!

Real-life:

AFL and NFL Championships today! Kansas City beats Buffalo, 31-7 and Green Bay beats Dallas, 34-27. Cowboys had the ball, 1st and goal at the Packers 2-yard line late in the 4th quarter, but couldn't convert, getting intercepted on 4th down.

For us: Nothing. We're going to do AFL and NFL Championships January 29.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 1, 1967

Let's look at the next team that clinched, the Green Bay Packers.

https://i.imgur.com/oRDghgPh.png

Good QB, no glaring weak spots, amazing DL.

https://i.imgur.com/wCvpuXeh.png

https://i.imgur.com/mOl64Vdh.png

#2 in points allowed and rushing yards allowed, so they have a good defense to go with the good QB.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, January 2, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xv-sBdzBe9w?si=3_GAbFsQ5ITrWcpb" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 8, 1967

Time to look at Pittsburgh. At 10-4, they have the worst record of the playoff teams, and didn't clinch until the last week. Baltimore and Oakland are sitting at 10-4 thinking they deserve it more -- especially Oakland, having lost twice to 13-1 Kansas City.

https://i.imgur.com/Uo9HpuUh.png

Solid everywhere, no real strengths or weaknesses.

https://i.imgur.com/REowwwOh.png

https://i.imgur.com/QTzGymah.png

Decent QB play, a few more interceptions than you'd like to see though. 3rd in passing yards and 2nd in turnover margin, so maybe they did fine there. Won the games they were supposed to, but went only 4-4 against the good teams in the division. Swept Cleveland on their way to winning the division, and Browns fans must be PISSED about that.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, January 9, 1967

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ILfaws4zYXs?si=48DQpNMojNXNWPGT" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MRu-BHjOZr0?si=eXbgjdN2bb09O8kD" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, January 16, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6gzcjoBweeQ?si=a0Icy_TkbZJh0Ou5" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is a good time to gather up all the music we've been through so far and put it in a playlist, since there's no football action for a while. There were a couple songs I couldn't find on Apple Music, but I have most of them at least. If anyone wants a Spotify version, let me know and I can make it -- I have the Spotify app, and mostly just use it for podcasts, while Apple Music is the one I pay for.

FOF Dynasty playlist - Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/fof-dynasty/pl.u-DdANqVNtaqERB2?ls)

[Passacaglia]

Monday, January 23, 1967

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/l3cfpuwNLAA?si=bC7Ha4FhyJXR8dGo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sE1FU5tC2X4?si=PpqwCMcTva-sMW2H" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 29, 1967

Back to some football!

https://i.imgur.com/b4EBPqa.png

I don't think I mentioned this in the real-life sections, but the AFL and NFL just rotated whether the East or West would host the title game. So Kansas City played at Buffalo, and Green Bay played at Dallas, with both road teams having the better record. FOF doesn't let us do that, which is fine, since I think it makes more sense to reward the team with the better record by giving them the home game. We've got Kansas City and Green Bay hosting here instead of being on the road.

The AFL Championship starts pretty tame. Kansas City scores on 3 straight possessions, but it's all field goals, and they take a 9-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter. Houston answers with a TD drive, but George Blanda's extra point is blocked, making it 9-6. Kansas City adds two more field goals, and lead 15-6 at halftime. Houston comes out of halftime with a TD drive, 15-13. Houston finally stops Kansas City from scoring, but on the third play of their drive, Jacky Lee's pass is intercepted, returned to the Oilers 26. Three plays later, a Kansas City TD makes it 22-13. Houston answers immediately with their own TD, to make it 22-20 as the 3rd quarter ends. Game might as well have ended here. Kansas City had 1 first down, Houston had 2, as the teams traded punts. Houston got the ball at their own 20 with 54 seconds left, and got their third first down on a 20 yard pass, but got sacked the next play, and a hail mary from their own 35 with 1 second left was intercepted.

https://i.imgur.com/RixpdZsh.png

The NFL Championship was close for a while, with the Packers leading 20-17 at halftime, then taking over in the 2nd half, winning 44-17.

https://i.imgur.com/IGXTUX7h.png

Art imitates life. Green Bay and Kansas City play in Super Bowl I!

[Passacaglia]

Monday, January 30, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s9xK5N4HdBY?si=zjoXCst0GWLI8_3-" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fD7Ct5Isk2Q?si=u5BnK-XGSGax8jD7" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, February 6, 1967

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/p6mVhNPc4Qg?si=3KdUe6Ap6CaFSCM6" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W-vNHRExA7E?si=2gMhYsG1quQYTJtR" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, February 12, 1967

Super Bowl I is finally here!

It ends up a pretty boring game. The Chiefs lead 7-3 at halftime, and score another TD halfway through the 4th to make it 13-3. The Packers score to make it 13-11 with 4:03 left -- not sure I see the wisdom in going for 2 there. Anyway, they get the ball back with 42 seconds left:

https://i.imgur.com/AbmGxmUh.png

And there you have it. The Chiefs win Super Bowl I 13-11!

https://i.imgur.com/QgwnHTsh.png

https://i.imgur.com/aGBbUDeh.png

As expected, no All-Pro players for us. Denver had three, despite also being 1-13. Even Atlanta had one. Player of the year goes to Fran Tarkenton -- 405 passes, 27 TDs, and 1 INT? Crazy.

https://i.imgur.com/ZuwjmDJh.png

And somehow the Vikings only went 7-7.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, February 13, 1967

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ckWYhlwTLCU?si=t7KK4vEass1xEST4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JFE07J0i-iY?si=0sGw-opKJYHoV9RB" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Big day coming up -- the leagues will decide how much to increase the salary cap for the next few years. It can be anywhere from 0 to $1 million. With the cap currently at $5.2 million, that's a big range, from 0% to almost 20%. I feel like what happens here plays a big role in determining strategy.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, February 20, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_JiNHqS6KGg?si=JLSE2FUVB2XCqh9D" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, February 27, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/85Hqx_FCNgI?si=JSoSBLuY3N9MLeSu" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, March 6, 1967

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m4QVcUckXps?si=tlGKlb-RP9XdBGYe" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JlPoU9DjBrY?si=2aBYa1WnrKBZkzVL" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Tom Jones isn't local to Detroit, and the people who wrote and sang the original aren't either, but the song obviously has local value based on the name.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, March 13, 1967

Salary cap day! As we get ready, we've got THREE jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FRM0IB3kkOM?si=U8WJK1_EnuG6v9mo" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vQ4eRsEjIFY?si=iuNGdpddsMsYGPr-" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eXgrX3PaIss?si=Q7EMXQrbyKO2QiGQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Aretha Franklin was hard to determine whether or not she fit here, in the same way as Wilson Pickett. Not born in Detroit, but started out there very young, and made it big elsewhere. Berry Gordy tried to sign her, and her career is intertwined with Detroit so much later on, that it makes sense to keep her in.

https://i.imgur.com/KuPWalCh.png

5 years, a million per year. This means we can be pretty aggressive going after free agents, and can probably even keep Plum around while we look for a QB of the future.

We've got some retirements, too.

We lose our backup TE, Jim Gibbons, and our #3 Guard, John Gordy.

Retiring QBs: Tobin Rote, starter for Denver, and Zeke Bratkowski, backup in Green Bay.

Retiring All-Pros:
2nd team RB Ollie Matson, Philadelphia
2nd team K George Blanda, Houston
1st team DE Jim Katcavage, N.Y. Giants
2nd team DE Gino Marchetti, Baltimore
2nd team CB Dick Alban, N.Y. Jets

A lot of the retirees are the "lookback" players that I added -- players that were not in the league in 1966 anyway, but were pulled back from having been active in previous years and given the potential to be brought out of retirement. I guess now they're in real retirement.

Also, just a plug here that my recent FOF experience is not all that much. I've played a few dozen seasons of 9, but most of my time has been spent testing league structures, schedules, and the player generator. And I barely played FOF8 at all. So, I welcome any advice or criticism as I go through this!

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, March 14, 1967

Stadium Plan Deadline.

https://i.imgur.com/XFPQFoUh.png

Looks like we've got one of the oldest stadiums, which is cool, I like old stadiums. No plans to construct a new one, ever, unless the game does something to make me.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, March 15, 1967

Ticket prices. Another thing I don't care about. Finances are probably pretty screwy anyway, since I adjusted the salary cap, but I don't think ticket prices and other revenue numbers get scaled accordingly, so whatever. I'm just going with the recommendation and not thinking about it again.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, March 16, 1967

Staff Retention. Not happening.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, March 17, 1967

Head Coach Hiring Day! Our first step to finally building our team.

We bring in these coaches for interviews. I just add up points for all the categories, and take whoever has the most.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Bruney -- Assistant Coach for the Minnesota Vikings. 540 points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Corey -- Defensive Coordinator for the Miami Dolphins. 550 points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_David_Crow -- Unemployed. 540 points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forrest_Gregg -- Unemployed. 540 points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Meyer -- Assistant Coach for the Houston Oilers. 560 points.

We'll ignore the fact that Walt Corey, John David Crow, and Forrest Gregg are current players -- I included them in my coaches file as well, emphasizing future immersion over present weirdness.

Harry Gilmer was actually not that far behind this group, he had 500 points. It'd be tempting to say "oh maybe he's close enough to the best and let's keep him" except for the fact that we went 1-13 with an average-to-below-average roster. Obviously time for a change.

https://i.imgur.com/dLPxOPSh.png

New coach Ron Meyer in the building!

Other coaching news: The Colts let the contract for Don Shula run out, and hired Giants offensive coordinator Ken Kavanaugh to be their head coach.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, March 18, 1967

Offensive Coordinator hiring day.

Two of our HC interviews are available here -- John David Crow and Forrest Gregg. I'm going to go with Forrest Gregg, since he has the higher motivation rating, which is one of Ron Meyer's weaknesses.

https://i.imgur.com/NuQ8QTNh.png

Other OC coaching news:

Giants hire Falcons OC Tom Fears to be their OC.
Falcons hire Jets Assistant Coach Chuck Knox to be their OC.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, March 19, 1967

Defensive Coordinator hiring day.

Fred Bruney and Walt Corey were the defensive guys we interviewed for HC. Of the two, only Bruney is available -- Corey's got 3 years left on his DC contract with the Dolphins, so the game won't let me hire him. So, Bruney it is.

https://i.imgur.com/bDdX1T6h.png

Looks like he uses a 3-4, so we're going to need two ILBs now.

No other DC coaching news. I'm surprised at how little coaching movement there is.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, March 20 1967

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XuwpA0H2RpM?si=Aj1JOZkuaCUVJkq4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JDvarDfZOK8?si=yTupoOqnRwOKIOgj" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Assistant Coach hiring day.

John David Crow is still available! We grab him.

https://i.imgur.com/HfThhN8h.png

Other AC coaching news:
Harry Gilmer finds work as the Houston AC. Good for him.
Mike Ditka hired as the Jets AC.
Neill Armstrong hired as the Vikings AC.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, March 21, 1967

Strength Coach hiring day.

We take the best available, James Davidson.

https://i.imgur.com/u4OotMfh.png

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, March 22, 1967

Draft preview day!

Looks like we have the #3 pick. Denver gets #1, and Atlanta gets #2. I think that's what I predicted.

https://i.imgur.com/NdOA2EGh.png

Here's the draft board. Bob Griese on top.

https://i.imgur.com/7Y5XyNuh.png

He looks really good -- definitely a take if he falls to me.

https://i.imgur.com/1XTv89th.png

Rayfield Wright is my #2. If both of them are gone, my Plan C is to cry. The two Guards look good, but I don't need one that much. CB Bobby Bryant looks good too, and CB is more of a need. CB Lem Barney looks almost as good, and since he was a 2nd round pick by the Lions in the actual 1967 draft, that's a little tempting.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, March 23, 1967

Franchise Player day.

https://i.imgur.com/eu0skPJh.png

Since everyone makes the same salary to start with, this is a great time to use the franchise tag. Although, I don't have anyone even close to being good enough. Roger Brown is okay, but he's looking at being my backup NT as we move to 3-4, and he's only asking for 50K, so the franchise tag doesn't do anything. Daryl Sanders is a piece, but he's also asking for only 50K. We'll pass here.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, March 24, 1967

First day of free agency.

This day is just for signing players on my team whose contracts have expired.

Here are those players on my team.

https://i.imgur.com/GXva4BOh.png

I've sorted this list by experience, since today I only need to worry about players with 5 or more years of experience. The only players that seem remotely worth keeping are the guys we rejected for the franchise tag -- Roger Brown and Daryl Sanders.

https://i.imgur.com/zJHVgLyh.png

Here's my DTs. We don't really get much out of keeping him -- he's pretty much just as good as Jerry Rush for backup NT.

https://i.imgur.com/ZPj669ph.png

Also, the other teams can still use today to re-sign any of these players (and I can't get the guys with 4 years or less), but there are other options just as good for the money he wants. Khayat is older, but better.

But really, for defense, I like to get specialized players for my backups.

https://i.imgur.com/Y6Nu90Nh.png

Ed Khayat is better at run defense than Roger Brown, so I'd rather have Khayat so I can bring him in for short yardage and goal line situations.

I'm also looking at Jim Champion.

https://i.imgur.com/t1u1Wp5h.png

He's old as heck, but he's got good pass rush stats, and 5 sacks! I can bring him in for passing situations, and Karras can get a rest.

https://i.imgur.com/nAD9kLjh.png

https://i.imgur.com/SqwS4G1h.png

There's options here instead of Sanders, for sure. Mattson may be the dream, or Lemek -- tough call between the better player or the younger player. Proverb Jacobs and George Preas don't feel like they would be worth signing someone so much older. I'll probably chase both Mattson and Lemek, but even if I get them, I think it's worth keeping Sanders as a backup. I'm going to sign him.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, March 25, 1967

Time for real free agency! Here's how we stack up against the enemies:

https://i.imgur.com/zIk6XQGh.png

Looks like everyone has a lot of room.

So let's see what we've got here.

https://i.imgur.com/PSsEI0dh.png

https://i.imgur.com/AhIkOGTh.png

Looks likes the new regime of coaching staff likes Milt Plum a little more than the last did. He's (for now) starter quality and making an amenable salary, but it's hard to say we should keep the guy who led us to a 1-13 season. Let's check in with the free agents.

https://i.imgur.com/qBhx2bgh.png

First up is Billy Wade. He's technically the best, but he's in his 16th year, and wants $750,000 for a 1-year contract. I don't care how often he hangs out with Donna Reed, even in a high-cap environment, it's not worth it.

https://i.imgur.com/h1lENfBh.png

Billy Kilmer seems like a good option. He just wants $100,000 and he's younger than Plum. It feels like a move that invites QB controversy, but it's a good salary for a player that can take over if Plum retires or gets worse, and he can be a backup this year in case of injury. I'm going to make him an offer, but I have no idea who I would start if I get him. If he comes in rated a 61 and Plum is a 60, is it worth the extra 1 point better to take a hit on cohesion? I kind of feel like it would be time to move on from Plum, since he still has high salary demands -- $690,000.

https://i.imgur.com/KttS9o7h.png

https://i.imgur.com/xH6Z9hhh.png

With the high cap, I'm definitely going for Tommy Mason here. Jon Arnett's price tag looks pretty good for a backup, too.

https://i.imgur.com/0R3LJFnh.png

https://i.imgur.com/tDLsfZuh.png

Mike Lind seems like an upgrade here.

https://i.imgur.com/q1mXfIOh.png

We've got a solid guy in Ron Kramer here, but we lost our backup, Jim Gibbons.

https://i.imgur.com/lVDXL3gh.png

I'm going to go after Ditka here -- he and Kramer would be a great duo. Similar to the QB issue, too. Bringing in a younger guy who will be here for a while, since next year, Kramer will be a year older and want much more than he's making now.

https://i.imgur.com/9BtvHuRh.png

No one worth signing or keeping here. We're going to hit FA for at least the starters, maybe even a quality backup.

https://i.imgur.com/hpINP5mh.png

Glenn Bass lead the leagues in receiving, and was first-team all-pro. Jim Vickers looks good, too. Stan Sanders and Karl Finch look like guys with good upside, but we'll wait and see how other FAs shake out before making them offers.

https://i.imgur.com/F1xFvc9h.png

We're pretty much empty at C. Both guys are free agents, neither are worth keeping.

https://i.imgur.com/QsuDCJrh.png

Sucks that Curry is still an RFA, getting him would be great. I'm going to go with Stem to be the starter, and Dill to be the backup.

https://i.imgur.com/s52a7Jzh.png

Signing Doug Van Horn as an RFA is an obvious. Doing that now.

https://i.imgur.com/K6DJHw5h.png

Dick Kelly looks like an upgrade from Kowalkowski. Seems like it's not a huge need, but I'm going to do it anyway. Dave Adams could be a guy with upside -- I'll consider making him an offer later.

https://i.imgur.com/lFjvLgXh.png

We re-signed Daryl Sanders, but I am fine with him being a quality backup if I can get someone better. I feel the same about Ray Hinze -- he's an RFA, and worth considering, but if I can get someone better, I won't bother signing him.

https://i.imgur.com/j2fN8rVh.png

I've already said I want Lemek as my RT and Mattson as my LT. Making those offers now.

Punter

https://i.imgur.com/zyd8WiGh.png

Pat Studstill is good, but wants a lot for a punter next year.

https://i.imgur.com/6sdEBwWh.png

Paul Maguire is an improvement here, and wants less. We're making the offer.

Kicker

https://i.imgur.com/gbCyP7hh.png

We're going to keep Garo Yepremian here. There's a K who's two points better, but wants more money. I dunno -- I like his name, and his picture, it feels weird to get rid of him when he's only in his 2nd year, and he's most famous in real life for a play in the Super Bowl, so maybe that means we will take him there.

https://i.imgur.com/vWBzTF8h.png

https://i.imgur.com/HVjHSR1h.png

This is a tough one. There's no real improvement over McCord, though we could get younger with Wasden for less money on a long-term deal than McCord wants. McCord had a couple injuries keeping him out, but had 4 sacks in 9 games. Regardless of that, I'm mostly thinking that I'll stick with McCord and hope someone better comes along in FA next year.

Both backups are on the way out, which is great, since I can bring in my type of guys here.

https://i.imgur.com/ddWvvBDh.png

https://i.imgur.com/B7t5xYih.png

https://i.imgur.com/I1Ct50uh.png

Hudas and Appledoorn will be the guys I bring in for short yardage situations, and Muff will be brought in on obvious passing situations to give the starters a break.

https://i.imgur.com/MI5HkgXh.png

https://i.imgur.com/YxGNI1Vh.png

We've talked DT already, including mentions of Khayat and Champion. I'm making offers to both of those guys.

https://i.imgur.com/NvMLCmWh.png

I need a lot here, since I'm moving from 4-3 to 3-4. I'd rather not have to keep Lucci as a starter, but it wouldn't be the end of the world, I guess.

https://i.imgur.com/t0hI6xAh.png

We'll go for Burkett and Fields as our starters.

https://i.imgur.com/HDmzgkdh.png

https://i.imgur.com/OMzzt8ch.png

Morris will be our short yardage guy, and Nitschke will be our blitzer.

https://i.imgur.com/uWIk3sdh.png

We need to make a decision on Hilgenberg in the next few weeks since he's an RFA. He's decent, but he wants 160K on a long-term deal.

https://i.imgur.com/mDdMDR0h.png

Not loving the other options here. Maybe Walt Corey makes sense since he's cheaper, and it's a shorter deal that's easier to get out of it, but eh, I'll stick with my guy.

https://i.imgur.com/OLzHfPeh.png

https://i.imgur.com/JdD2ky9h.png

Furey will be a short yardage guy, and Levanti a blitzer.

https://i.imgur.com/moY3xzSh.png

Dick LeBeau is solid on one side here, but we need another for the other side.

https://i.imgur.com/MIXYkkdh.png

Brady Keys is an obvious choice here. Mel Montalbo at the bottom for short yardage.

https://i.imgur.com/FumeHyvh.png

Another RFA decision on Jim Kearney here, but this one will probably be easier.

https://i.imgur.com/MCv1jNFh.png

Yeah, pretty obvious we want to keep him. We'll also offer Paulson. Dicky Moegle for short yardage.

https://i.imgur.com/WGdsnirh.png

Punt Returners

https://i.imgur.com/7Qu4WWRh.png

Humph, maybe it was a mistake here not to make an offer to Tom Watkins before he hit FA. But if I can make up for it by getting Lincoln, it will be worth it.

Kick Returners

We have a guy with a 100 in kick returning in Pat Studstill, but FOF doesn't let Punters return punts. See the earlier post about how we'd rather my file had made Studstill a WR instead of a P. It's funny that the game still gives him the high return ratings, even though he can't be slotted in as a returner. Going to offer this guy.

https://i.imgur.com/YcEJI0zh.png

So here's our FA situation. We've already signed the RFAs we talked about, so they are not included here.

https://i.imgur.com/Uz8RAgb.png

Our cap room is now $2.96M, and $370K needs to be kept for draft pick, leaving is $2.59M. These offers total $3.76M, so way more, but I expect to miss out on a lot of them.

ETA: Looks like Nitschke is out for 14 weeks. Going for this guy instead of him.

https://i.imgur.com/Ntv0g2ah.png

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, March 26, 1967

Just one of the many players we were after signed a contract, and it wasn't with us. LT Riley Mattson signed with his old team, the Bears. I'm not too torn up about it. It's a lot of money, and Daryl Sanders is at least passable. Next guy on the list of LTs, Proverb Jacobs, is worth signing, as a backup/competitor for a starting spot. We're making the offer. Replacing Mattson with Jacobs (and Nitschke with Butsko) brings our total expected comp to $3.49M, still way above what we have.

Other Transactions

Billy Wade signs right away! He turned down offers from the Jets, Patriots, Oilers, Dolphins, Raiders, Chiefs, Broncos, and Giants, to sign with the Falcons for a 1-year $990K contract. I'd like to say that's good for us, and that the Falcons are less likely to draft Griese in front of us, but Wade is in his 16th year -- it wouldn't be crazy to grab Wade for now, and Griese for a year from now. Whatever. Pretty dumb from the Falcons, since they're not going to compete while Wade is with them, even if they got a great non-QB player with the #2 pick. Would have been crazy to see Wade go to the Super Bowl champion Chiefs and replace Len Dawson. I'm assuming now the market turns to Billy Kilmer -- we're the only offer on him at this point, but I'm guessing all these teams put in offers tomorrow.

DT Jim Colvin (63/63) stays with the Cowboys, who offered him $930K for 3 years. The Cowboys play a 3-4 and have Bob Lilly as their starter, so Colvin will be an extremely high-paid backup here. He could have been a starter at most places who offered him, too. Oh well.

DT Ernie Ladd (67/67) stays with the Oilers, 3 years for $710K. He'll remain the starting NT in their 3-4.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, March 27, 1967

Two jams this week.

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DZEDWWztjKg?si=EX0HAlImuPirlfh1" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://i.imgur.com/JBFzQdmh.png

Billy Kilmer signs with the Oilers, where he will certainly start, and RT Ray Lemek signs with the Steelers, where he will also start. I can live with these, since I had passable options already. Especially Lemek, he would have been expensive.

ILB Burkett signs with the Falcons, which hurts, he was the best player in a position where we really has once decent starter to cover both positions. The Falcons have their #1 overall pick from 1966, Tommy Nobis (52/65), and they should both start in their 3-4. We're still on Fields. The next guys up are Jones and Hillebrand, but they look more expensive then they are worth. I'd be happy just plugging in Dennit Morris as a starter, and maybe even keeping Mike Lucci. Passing on these expensive guys gives me the option to go after Ed Cummings if the Patriots don't sign him.

https://i.imgur.com/qQnTXdAh.png

Bob Stem is a big get, though! Not the best available, but cheap with upside. And a huge upgrade for us.

Having missed out on Kilmer, we'll go with Gary Cuozzo, the backup in Baltimore, for our next offer. About the same price as Kilmer, and worse, but at least this doesn't cause a QB controversy -- he would just be a solid backup QB.

And at RT, we'll go with George Preas. He'll have the same function as Proverb Jacobs is doing at LT -- a cheap guy who could either start or be a quality backup.

With these replacement offers, and making no replacement to anyone else instead of Burkett, we're looking at paying $3.06M, still above our $2.59M budget.

OTHER TRANSACTIONS

The Raiders hang on to their starting QB, Tom Flores, who rejected offers from 6 other teams, including Denver. Denver's starting QB, Robin Tote, retired, so they really need a QB. They've been after Wade, Kilmer, and Flores. I feel like they are really primed to draft Bob Griese.

DT Lou Cordileone (61/61) signed with the Giants. Cordileone had a weird 1966. In real life, he was with the Steelers in 1962-1963, then played with the Rhode Island Indians in the Continental Football League in 1965, and joined the Saints when they first formed in 1967. For us, he got signed by the Cowboys on August 21, 1966, released September 17, then signed by the Colts the same day. The Colts don't really need him -- they have two DTs about as good, and a 3rd that they could sign in RFA Roger LaLonde. The Giants definitely need him -- he's by far their best DT, and they play a 4-3. He turned down 5 offers, including more money from Miami.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, March 28, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/xD3pf5Th.png

Mason and Arnett give us a new-look backfield!

https://i.imgur.com/NgzgmsTh.png

https://i.imgur.com/CCxuNpph.png

Pumped for both of these guys. We were last in the league in yards per rush, and rushing yards per game. Getting an upgrade at C yesterday, and two upgrades at RB? Yes please.

https://i.imgur.com/VBUxlOph.png

Oh, and we add 1st-team WR Glenn Bass for the passing game? Great.

https://i.imgur.com/N7IJTn1h.png

Larry Muff adds some good depth for us at DE.

Missing out on Brady Keys at CB is pretty annoying, especially this early. If it were later, I'd have a better sense of whether it's worth it to give Parrish a 230K 1 year contract. It looks like I've signed some big-name players, and I'm still scheduled to be over the cap, so I'm going to say it's not worth it. Next CB up is John Griffin, who's younger, but is just 53/53 and wants a kind of expensive 5-year deal. Next 3 guys also want 200K+, so I'm going to move on down to the 49/49 guys. Missing out on a solid #2 CB also means that if I miss my top 2 draft targets, I might be happy getting CB Bobby Bryant in the #3 spot.

Before I finalize that, I'm going to rethink my accounting here.

https://i.imgur.com/pFHKD1H.png

Now I've removed the guys I've signed. We're scheduled to spend $2.08M on our remaining targets. We have $2.07M in cap room, and $370K slotted for draft picks -- that's $1.74M for free agents.

I also haven't released anyone yet. My plan was to wait until FA was done or I ran out of money to do that and make it more like a real NFL roster, where I would potentially carry over 60 players until I needed to cut down. But this is FOF not the NFL -- I'm not having practices every day or anything, nothing is going to change about these guys, so I know who I'm cutting. I've got 6 RBs on roster, and I'm definitely not carrying more than 3 of these guys -- I'll only take a 4th if I get a punt returner. I cut my bottom 3 -- a couple of them had long-term deals that will hurt me a little next year, but not too much, just $200K. But for this year, I'm up to $2.22M of space, and $1.88M for free agents. I'm only $200K over budget -- that's close enough to make me willing to spend $230K on Parrish. Most of these guys are not essential to my success anyway, so if I end up missing some, I'll be okay.

OTHER TRANSACTIONS

The Patriots signed ILB Ed Cummings. Ah well. Still no need for me to go spending on Glen Jones, though.

The Dolphins signed RB Billy Ray Barnes (60/60) from Minnesota for $150K on a 1-year deal. This is pretty interesting -- we signed Tommy Mason from Minnesota. Mason is rated higher at 69/69, but Barnes ran for 5.12 yards per carry while Mason only ran for 4.03 yards per carry behind the same line. Maybe it's a question of workload -- Mason had 226 carries, exactly twice as many as the 113 Barnes had. We paid way more, too, $1.02M for 3 years. The Vikings still have Dave Osborn, who's 54/54 at RB.

The Vikings also lose DE Bobby Wasden (58/58), who signed with Baltimore on a $180K, 2 year deal. Baltimore lost Gino Marchetti (83/83) to retirement, as well as a backup DE, so they really needed someone to fill his spot.

The Jets sign DE John Paluck (54/54) from the Rams to a 1-year deal for $240K. Overpayment compared to Wasden. Not even much of an upgrade, since the Jets had Andy Von Sonn (48/48).

DE Maury Youmans (58/58) turns down more money from the Giants to sign with the Packers, 3 years, $630K.

DT Rosey Grier (65/65) turns down the Steelers to stay in Cleveland. Both teams were offering $230K for 1 year.

CB Dave Whitsell (61/61) leaves the Bears to join the Giants at $280K for 1 year. He had a few other offers, but not from the Bears.

Giants S Jimmy Patton signs with the Oilers at $280K for 1 year. He was the best UFA Safety, but he was old and expensive.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, March 29, 1967

Just one decision from out targets -- DT Ed Khayat signs with the Dolphins instead of us. No hard feelings there -- he's a clear starter in Miami, as opposed to a backup here. There's a couple options here for another guy to bring in for short yardage, but none of them are as good as the backup DT that I already have on my roster, Jerry Rush. It might be nice to have another short yardage DT, so I can take Alex Karras out, but I'm not sure I'll have roster space for that, so I'll add Riley Gunnels.

https://i.imgur.com/dAzX1peh.png

He only wants $30K and no signing bonus, so good chance he gets cut if I don't have space for him.

OTHER TRANSACTIONS

WR Lionel Taylor (57/57) turns down multiple offers and stays with the Broncos. 3 years, $780K.

The Bears sign DE Jerry Miller (53/53) away from the Falcons for 3 years, $780K. The Falcons didn't put in an offer. The Bears had an opening since Doug Atkins (62/62) retired.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, March 30, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/5Ad0jnyh.png

Losing Ken Dill is fine, just a backup C. I like having a good backup C in case mine gets hurt, so I'll make an offer to Bob Whitlow. It's annoying to have to pay more for a guy I like less, but eh.

Gary Cuozzo signs with the Broncos. He's marginal as a starter, so I don't think it prevents the Broncos from drafting Bob Griese #1. I'll go with George Shaw from the Rams as my backup.

Got a nice return man in Keith Lincoln, I'll take it.

And we missed out on Jim Vickers. That's annoying. I'll have to again spend more to get less, and go with Buddy Dial. I'll also add Karl Finch as a possible #3 WR, maybe even a starter if things go badly.

With these changes, I'm looking at spending $2.32M to get everyone I want, and I have $1.81M budgeted. The good news is that more cuts would be coming -- I have 37 active now, if I get these 24, plus my 7 draft picks, I'll have 68, so I would cut 15 guys. That should get me under.

OTHER TRANSACTIONS

San Francisco signs Oilers WR Charley Henigan (59/59) to a 3 year, $1.27M contract. He's where I would have gone after Vickers if he were still around -- as good as Vickers, just more expensive.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, March 31, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/VuLeWQ9h.png

Missing on Dick Kelly is fine -- Charley Leo is a good replacement.

Pairing Ditka with Ron Kramer would have been awesome, but probably unnecessary. I'm not sure who I like more between Anderson and McLeod here, so at their prices, I'll put in offers on both.

After missing on Dial, we're looking at marginal guys for our #2 spot. I'm also going with quantity over quality here. I'm making an offer to Jim Tucker, who's my production guy, he's got the most yards of any FA available, with 693. Al Hinton is my cheap guy, he only wants 20K. And Angelo Coia is my efficiency guy:

https://i.imgur.com/3BcJOeOh.png

He did have a Torn PCL in his knee after that, but it didn't require surgery. I'm not asking for 100 yards per game, but if he can come anywhere close to his 4 yards per route run, I am happy.

Getting Proverb Jacobs and Bob Whitlow is nice, now we've got some OL depth. I'm curious who's going to start between Jacobs and Sanders at LT. Jacobs if 54/54 and Sanders is 44/53 -- Sanders is going to have to take that step up now to keep his job.

OTHER TRANSACTIONS

The Packers re-signed Bill Curry. Oh well.

The Vikings signed RB Pervis Atkins (55/55) from Oakland to fill the RB vacancies they had. He's not much better than Osborn (54/54) but it seems like most teams have two good RBs in this league.

The Bills signed RB Tom Moore (57/57) from the Rams. Moore had 857 yards.

The Rams also lose WR Tommy McDonald (55/55) to the Falcons, who sign him to a 1-year deal for $410K. He had 1056 yards, so maybe he's worth it?

Denver S Goose Gonsoulin (61/61) signs with Boston for 2 years, $420K. He's a guy I had in my back pocket if we didn't get Paulson, so now I guess we better get Paulson.

We're looking at spending $1.86M on what's left, and our budget is $1.77M.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, April 1, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/2DUK2kjh.png

Got our backup TE in Bob McLeod.

Got a run-stopping OLB in Jim Furey, and our blitzing ILB in Harry Butsko.

Losing Bernie Parrish hurts a little. But he was expensive. I'm going to replace him with John Griffin, who wants $160K, but a 5-year deal. It's only $100K in bonus, so after a couple years it won't hurt too much if I need to cut him.

With that replacement, we're looking to spend $1.64M, and our cap room is $149M. We have 42 players signed, and have offers to 22 players. Counting our 7 draft picks, we'll be at 71 players. Cutting down to 53 puts us wayy under budget.

Time to see if we have some other ways to spend that money.

https://i.imgur.com/6E9lRjuh.png

Paulson -- on him.
Lind -- on him.
Larry Morris -- Man, let's not go crazy. $450K for a 59/59 OLB? We've got two 55/55 guys already, plus I'm working on bringing in backups that I like. Plus he's in his 13th year -- I might not have explicitly mentioned it, but I hate old people, I'm always worried they'll end up significantly worse once they get through camp.
Perry McGriff -- This guy is a solid maybe. He's not much of an improvement over Anderson, who we already have an offer on, but it's some improvement, and he's younger.

I think I'm going to go "no" on these guys and everyone else below them, and save the money to see what shakes out after the draft.

No other major transactions today -- just renegotiations, or guys signing with the team they were already on.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, April 2, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/5mKtNjqh.png

Nice to get Finch! Hopefully he takes that step up that we are expecting him to.

Charley Leo should be the starting LG over Kowalkowski. Changing Leo's positiong from RG to LG brought his rating up from 58/63 to 59/63!

John Griffin slots in as our #2 CB. Although if we end up drafting Bobby Bryant, Griffin would probably move down to #3 even if he's better, so we can get Bryant the experience.

Paulson you jerk. We'll put in an offer for Allan Webb instead.

Now we're looking to spend $1.1M, which is exactly equal to our cap room minus draft picks!

OTHER TRANSACTIONS

DE Joe Ryan (50/50) leaves the Patriots to join the Eagles on a 2-year, $150K deal.

Roger Brown signs a contract! 2 years, $100K to the Steelers. They also play a 3-4, and they have 49/49 Ken Kortas. Brown is 50/50. I guess we'll see who starts. If I were them, I'd play Kortas on run downs, and Brown on pass downs.

Giants DT Earl Leggett (49/49) signs with the Chargers, 1 year for $40K.

Colts DT Joe Lewis (49/49) signs with the Falcons, 2 years for $100K.

Falcons OLB Larry Morris gets all $450K that he asked for from Washington. The only OLBs Washington had were Stas Milaszewski (42/46) and Jim Carroll (37/47), so they definitely need him more.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, April 3, 1967

Two jams this week.

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https://i.imgur.com/DC5YX04h.png

George Preas probably starts at RT, unless Hinze really improves.

Larry Hudas is the perfect short yardage/goal line guy -- 100 Run Defense, and not much else. He did manage 4.5 sacks last year, though, which I'll take.

Jerry Fields is the first of the two starting ILBs I need to bring in.

Allan Webb is my consolation for not getting Paulson. Okay. I'm going to want to replace him soon.

OTHER TRANSACTIONS

Dolphins LT Norm Masters (48/48) signs with the Browns, 1 year, $300K. He'll be a backup to Dick Shafrath there.

Eagles DE Maury Schleicher (49/49) signs with the Broncos, 2 years, $410K.

Browns DT Dale Dodrill (52/52) signs with the Eagles, 1 year, $30K.

Cowboys DE Dan Lanphear (51/51) signs with the Dolphins, 2 years, $360K.

Vikings ILB Gene Jones (56/56) signs with the Chiefs, 2 years, $500K. He'll be the backup MLB in their 4-3 behind Sherrill Headrick.

Oilers OLB Doug Cline (57/57) signs with the Rams, 2 years, $500K.

Boston CB Dick Felt (52/52), whose name is probably the most poetic and least poetic sentence I've ever seen, signs with Washington, 2 years, $430K.

Pittsburgh CB Willie Daniel (51/51) signs with the Raiders, 2 years, $370K.

49ers S Elbert Kimbrough (53/53) signs with the Broncos, 3 years, $470K.

The disparity in pay for all these guys who seem pretty much the same is crazy.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, April 4, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/LUDTc9jh.png

Hmm. I figured at this point, anyone still available is just there for the taking -- getting two rejections and no signings was a surprise.

No big loss with Gunnels. He was meant to be a 4th DT to stop the run, but his run defense is only 59. I'll make an offer to Bill Miller, who only wants $20K. I'm not sure I'll have room for a 4th DT anyway, so this position is mostly a just-in-case filler.

Dennit Morris and his 94 run defense would have been nice. I'll make an offer for Bill Burrell, who had a 75 run defense, and is cheaper.

This puts our planned spending at $810K, with $870K in cap room.

Cardinals WR Sonny Randle (46/46) signs with Washington, 2 years, $150K.

Broncos DE Dan LaRose (47/47) signs with Buffalo, 2 years, $110K.

Chiefs OLB Walt Corey (53/53) moves across the state and signs with the Cardinals, 2 years, $120K.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, April 5, 1967

Here we go. The effective end of free agency. Everyone else we were targeting signs for us today.

https://i.imgur.com/LItMM6fh.png

This has Ray Hinze starting at RT, and like I mentioned earlier, I'm guessing George Preas will start there. But other than that, this is where we are at now. No glaring holes, as we head into the draft. I don't see us threatening for the playoffs or even being a winning team, but we at least won't be a laughingstock. We're at $370K in cap room, exactly the amount our draft picks will cost.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, April 10, 1967

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Now that we've "left" the free agency market, and most good players have signed, I'm not going to do individual transactions. I'll point out that Perry McGriff signed with the Oilers, since I mentioned him before.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, April 17, 1967

Two jams this week.

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Looks like we had a trade!

https://i.imgur.com/yKAAYPqh.png

So the Oilers give up two 3rd round picks, get a 6th, plus this guy:

https://i.imgur.com/pnWNwgDh.png

Definitely a need for the Oilers, they had Garland Boyette (39/39) and Ronnie Cavenass (30/48) as their ILBs for their 3-4. The Browns just picked up Al Bansavage (50/50) in free agency to play MLB in their 4-3. It's a downgrade, but maybe worth it for the picks. And I guess it makes sense that Jim Houston should play for Houston. He's got a 4-year deal with salary going up to only $60K by the end of it. I think Houston makes out best in this deal -- I'd much rather have an above-average ILB on a cheap deal than two 3rd round picks.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, April 24, 1967

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Another trade, again involving Cleveland and an ILB.

https://i.imgur.com/ZW7DLcTh.png

Cleveland gets this dude from the Jets and a 7th round pick, in exchange for a 3rd and a 6th. The Jets have 57/57 Ralph Baker, so they'll be fine.

We don't do any fifth-year extensions, and no one else does, either. I wonder if the players need to actually be drafted in the first round in FOF for them to qualify.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, April 25, 1967

Draft Day!!!

My prediction: Denver picked up Gary Cuozzo at QB, but I think they still draft Bob Griese. Atlanta has needs everywhere, so I'm going to predict they will take Alan Page, although they could probably get someone almost as good with their 2nd round pick.

And....I was way off. Denver takes this guy:

https://i.imgur.com/KMLEJrHh.png

And Atlanta takes this guy:

https://i.imgur.com/RrllsWHh.png

Both were the top guys on the board at their positions, but not the top overall. Also, Conjar looks like a bust.

This is incredibly hard. I had pretty much assumed Griese would be gone, and I would choose between RT Rayfield Wright and CB Bobby Bryant. I don't know what Griese is rated in my files, but I do know that in my testing, he comes in as an average to above average QB. But, his blue bars look really good here. And, I know I sound like the current Falcons in real life here, but I don't plan on drafting this soon again. Feels like I should be shooting the moon with a pick this high.

Pretty good cliffhanger, since I'm going on vacation and not able to play for a while. Anyone have thoughts? In case anyone it matters to anyone, my staff suggests drafting Griese.

[Young Drachma]

Unless you feel one QB away, I'd fill other holes. Not sure how good the trade engine is I haven't player FOF in forever...but my
sense is drafting there and getting a skill player beyond a QB backlog would satisfy your longer term ambitions!

[Passacaglia]

Still on vacation, but I have a little time to poke around while I'm waiting for others. I'm not going to make the pick until I get back, but I just realized the schedule is available!

https://i.imgur.com/8Ptus9Rh.png

We finished 7th in the division, and get the 7th place West schedule. Atlanta finished 8th in the East, so they get the "playing everyone in the NFL" schedule. We play them the first week, and the Eagles are our other game against the East. Bye week is still late, in the 2nd to last week, then the finale against the Packers comes at the end. 5 of our first 7 games are at home, then 5 of our last 7 on the road. That seems annoying.

[Passacaglia]

Unless you feel one QB away, I'd fill other holes. Not sure how good the trade engine is I haven't player FOF in forever...but my
sense is drafting there and getting a skill player beyond a QB backlog would satisfy your longer term ambitions!

I certainly don't feel "one QB away" because there are still some spots I'd like to improve. But I'm still thinking that I'm not going to get a chance to draft this high where a QB who looks like this is on the board. Plus I expect I'll be able to improve those spots in the next 1-2 offseasons, while I might not be able to for QB. So I'm taking Griese.

Boston has the 1.4 pick, and there's a trade! The Giants move up from 1.6, giving up their 2nd round pick in 1969. They take DE Harold Decker.

Miami has the 1.5 pick, and there's another trade! The Giants move in for this pick too, out of nowhere! Miami gets the Giants 2nd and 3rd this year, and their 2nd in 1968. The Giants take CB Bobby Bryant.

Boston uses the 1.6 on WR John Gilliam.

San Francisco has the 1.7, and there's another trade! This is hard to follow:

https://i.imgur.com/M7YHhwI.png

I don't know what's up with Boston receiving picks from Boston, but Boston definitely received the 1.7 pick from San Francisco, and San Francisco has Boston's 2nd in 1968, as well as Boston and the Giants 2nd in 1969. At 1.7, Boston drafts another WR, John Robinson.

https://i.imgur.com/sVCFtXah.png

The Jets take Lem Barney, a pretty famous Detroit Lion, I was thinking it would have been cool if he fell to us in the 2nd. The Redskins take Rayfield Wright, and the Cowboys take Gene Upshaw, who I thought looked good, but felt I didn't need a Guard.

The Raiders have 1.19, and there's another trade! The Steelers move up from 1.21, giving up a 4th and a 5th from 1968. They take ILB Willie Lanier.

https://i.imgur.com/UjdMRNuh.png

And the rest of the 1st round is uneventful. I kinda remember thinking Alan Page looked good, I'll be curious to see how he turns out for the Chiefs.

One thing I like about doing this dynasty is that now I have some documentation - obviously things like "who did I consider taking" so I can see how they turned out, but a big thing here is I can look back at this thread instead of my roster in the game. A huge pet peeve I have is that you can see how good a player you drafted is immediately after you've picked him. I try not to look, but sometimes I can't help but notice. With this thread in place, now I don't have to. I figure I'll reveal the picks sometime in summer or training camp. And we'll see how much it kills me to not know for a while.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, April 26, 1967

At 2.2, I take OLB Jim Lynch -- he's on top of the board, and his blue bars look better than everyone else. I've got two 55/55 OLBs, so not a huge need, but I usually like to take best player available.

At 3.1, it was a little tougher. No one jumped out at the top of the board. My staff suggested TE Alvin Reed. His blue bars didn't look all that great, and none of the other TEs had blue bars looking great, either. Looking at the top of the board again, I liked G Larry Little -- but then again, some of the other Gs at the top looked good, too. I ended up going with Little -- his pass blocking and blocking strength were high, but low run blocking. I figure I can live with that, compared to other Gs whose pass and run blocking were high, but strength was low. I don't want to get pushed around. We started a bit of a run on Gs -- Denver took Don Bruce at 3.2, Atlanta took Tom Regner at 3.3, and Miami went IOL with C Bob Hyland at 3.4. Our next pick is 4.3, at Alvin Reed was taken by the Chiefs at 3.24.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, April 27, 1967

We've got the 4.3 pick next. My staff recommends RT Cas Banaszek, and he seems pretty good to me. There's also WR Don Alley, but I feel like he has a chance to drop to me in the 5th, so I'll take Banaszek.

And I end up getting Alley at 5.2!

At 6.1, my staff selects TE Tom Beer. Sounds good.

At 7.3, my staff suggests T Torre Ossmo, but I already took a T. ILB Frank Nunley seems good, though.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, April 28, 1967

Okay, I feel like I'm going to need to look at my for-real roster so that I can know who to cut as I get ready for late free agency. So here we go:

https://i.imgur.com/kqZ3vvEh.png

Nice! Griese looks like he will be a star. Jim Lynch can hopefully become a starter in year 2, Larry Little can be a marginal starter or solid backup eventually. Banaszek can maybe earn a roster spot, and the rest will probably get cut.

So apparently I didn't make an offer to Ray Hinze, and he was an RFA. Whoops. Hopefully I can get him. I'm also picking up the best LS that I can, and the only other player that seems worth taking is OLB Nelson Toburen. He's 51/51, and run defense 83, so he can play short yardage and be a good backup.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, May 1, 1967

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Tu9sPh8yd7g?si=ACUjTe2qim1ZxTrE" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/W_tbiykEAA8?si=o-Axr7grPTUXaz6B" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, May 2, 1967

Got all three! I made a few cuts to get them in, but currently we're right at the cap with $0 room exactly, and 71 players. I would still have plenty of room when I cut down to 53, but there's really no one else out there that I want to get.

I guess this is a good time to think about the QB controversy. I don't think I'm in any kind of win-now mode, but I do think I owe it to the team to try to succeed this year. So I'm going to let Plum start. The good thing about the 1966 format is that only division winners make the playoffs -- I figure if we're not good, we'll get eliminated pretty early, and Griese will get some playing time.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, May 8, 1967

Summer vacation is here, so I guess it's going to be all about the music for a while! We had a bit of a shortage of Detroit music on the charts in late April and early May, but it's going to start coming back this summer. We'll pepper in some interesting draft tidbits, too.

Two jams this week.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/s1FAHvPI6kk?si=GfyxtoTlUV-SlIkp" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IC5PL0XImjw?si=RqNEoy5xyO0a0kv-" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Feels like the version of Respect by The Rationals just happened. It surprised me that Aretha's version didn't chart THAT long, despite its lasting success -- it came on and off the chart the same week as Ain't No Mountain High Enough.

I don't know if it was apparent from all the 1st round trade talk, but the Top 10 was weird, with the Giants drafting twice in a row at 4/5 and the Patriots drafting twice in a row at 6/7. Here are the Giants picks:

https://i.imgur.com/UJQWcyuh.png

https://i.imgur.com/vvRmRiNh.png

Looks like Bobby Bryant would have been a good pick too, though I'm obviously happy with Griese. CB was not really a need for the Giants, they needed an LT and an LB, and an S. Still I like the pick for them, he's a good player and they can fill other positions later. DE was kind of a need for them, and Decker looks pretty good.

And the Patriots:

https://i.imgur.com/PZnUTLth.png

https://i.imgur.com/Zlhxl9eh.png

Interesting choice going two WR for the Patriots. Here are their WRs:

https://i.imgur.com/BSm1ybZh.png

Gilliam looks like a good choice, but Robinson seems like a waste of a pick. Meanwhile, they have holes at both Tackle spots, and one of the OLBs. They have three good ILBs though, so maybe they could move one? Also, this team has surprisingly few holes for a team that went 4-10 last year. I mean, they do also need a QB badly, but there wasn't much there with Griese gone.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, May 15, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DtwvqnPtPsk?si=bZCCFp-EQASQxl3S" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

At #9, the Jets took Lem Barney, who I was bummed about since he was a famous Lion.

https://i.imgur.com/QPWqMvIh.png

Good pick for them. They could use a good CB, too.

And at #10, the Redskins took RT Rayfield Wright, who I was considering:

https://i.imgur.com/TfA8T87h.png

Good pick for them, too. They really need an RT.

I don't know if I mentioned it, but Gene Upshaw looked really good, even though I didn't need a G. He went to the Cowboys at #13.

https://i.imgur.com/AcBP1yPh.png

And I also thought DT Alan Page was good, but had no need there. He fell all the way to the Chiefs at #24:

https://i.imgur.com/zSfbZash.png

Always awesome for the league to let the Super Bowl champion have a stud DT. It's actually a big need for them -- they play a 4-3 with Buck Buchanan at one DT, and didn't have anyone good at the other spot, and the so-so players they did have are with other teams anyway.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, May 22, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6n82CFE7Fdc?si=YzYRv3Cda4WnIheF" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Let's look at some first round busts now! I'm thinking if you're drafting someone in the 1st round, you want his future value to at least be in the 60s. I'll spoiler this if you don't want to see it.


#2 RB Larry Conjar, Atlanta, 33/49
#7 WR John Robinson, Boston, 32/55
#11 RB Floyd Little, San Diego, 49/49
#15 WR Danny Abramowicz, Chicago, 39/48
#17 CB John Rowser, Cleveland, 37/46
#18 S Raymond Brown, Philadelphia, 27/41
#19 ILB Willie Lanier, Pittsburgh, 34/57
#21 RB Ben Woodson, Oakland, 44/52
#22 TE Billy Masters, Houston, 35/42

[Passacaglia]

Monday, May 29, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GHxex-WuaNw?si=PPpenddmEkmGuScy" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

2nd round -- some definite bad picks, maybe it's unfair to call them busts in the 2nd round. A steal for the Patriots, getting 45/68 S Rick Volk at 2.21

3rd round -- We took Larry Little, who seemed close to other Guards taken right after. Little came out 29/52, Denver's pick Don Bruce was 13/57, and Atlanta's pick Tom Regner was 19/53. Worst future guy, but a 13/57 has pretty far to go to reach that potential. TE Alvin Reed, who our staff suggested, came out 31/42. Best player here was the Dolphins taking C Bob Hyland at 3.4, who came out 23/63. I don't know if you can call him a breakout, since for one, his current is low, and for another, he was the first C taken. The Dolphins have a 38/38 C in Bob Goode -- I think they should start the rookie, but we'll see.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, June 5, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2X8aJ8uG798?si=VyQr5uWNVH_T-VGi" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

4th round -- Bubba Smith, the #1 pick in real life, went here to the Dolphins at 4.6, but he sucks. Interesting. The Bills got G John Demaire at 4.10, who came out 28/66.

5th round -- Pretty much no talent at all here. The Chiefs got a steal in G Freddie Woodson at 5.4, who came out 17/52.

6th round -- The Redskins get a 31/59 FB Ray McDonald at 6.8, but he was the first FB taken. They have a 37/50 FB, so he might not start.

7th round -- The Browns take G Ron Zwernemann at 7.19 he's 23/52.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, June 12, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BbC6SVdUOPw?si=uQPPoogyStm2H_8Z" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Time to look at our depth charts:

https://i.imgur.com/GBWVeksh.png

This is interesting -- coordinator recommendations suggest that Griese starts, and Ray Hinze over George Preas. I guess I'll leave that for now. I was thinking Plum was the way to go, but as I look at my O-line, I don't think I should expect to compete this year. So maybe Griese is the way to go.

https://i.imgur.com/Mlng7gjh.png

For RB, I just went with the recommendations. For TE, I gave Bill Anderson some more PT to prevent Ron Kramer from getting tired. For WR, I put Finch in as more of a starter, hoping he can reach his potential. I tried to prevent Bass from being tired, but he's by far my #1 WR, so it feels inevitable.

https://i.imgur.com/ZHgoE7bh.png

I've got my run defense guys coming in on goal-line situations to give Kearney a needed break. I'd love to have him stay in for those situations and sub him out for nickel or dime situations, but I'm already having to deal with my other S, Webb, also with low endurance.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, June 19, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1CAsIJQpC2Q?si=Hcy9pfb0Rs22cNhd" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Time to start cutting down to 60 from the 71 we have on roster now.

1. ILB Harry Butsko -- He can be a good blitzing LB, but his overall rating is 25/26, so if he's doing anything other than blitzing, we're screwed. OLBs Lou Levanti and Wayne Walker are better pass-rushers and better overall, and I don't mind playing them at ILB if I need to.
2. ILB Frank Nunley -- Our 7th round pick, who came in at 19/29, and he's not even specialized like I like my defenders.
3. G Chuck Walton -- He's a 32/32 G who was on the team last year, but has fallen to #5 on the depth chart now that we drafted Larry Little in the 3rd.
4. DT Denis Moore -- He's 25/37, and our 5th DT in our 3-4. No need for him at all.
5. QB Karl Sweetan -- 33/39, pretty bad as even our backup QB last year, with a 58.2 passer rating.
6. WR Don Alley -- Our 5th round pick, coming in at 19/41.
7. WR John Henderson -- 40/42, he was on the team last year. Only Karl Finch had a lower yards per routes on the team, but at least Finch has some potential.
8. P Pat Studstill -- He's 67/67, obviously good, but we don't need a 2nd P and we signed Paul Maguire.
9. FB Tom Nowatzke -- Same deal here. He's 53/53, but we only need one FB, and we signed Mike Lind.
10. TE Tom Beer -- Our 6th round pick. 26/43, but not good enough to keep on as a 4th TE.
11. T Cas Banaszek -- Our 4th round pick. 27/49, but he's our #5 T and the potential is not there.

https://i.imgur.com/aZ4A1COh.png

So we've cut down to 60, and so has everyone else. We still spent the most of our cap money -- we're here to win, not sure about these other chuckers with $1-2M in cap room. And even if someone good does become available, we've got $400K to get them if we want. Although, with everyone else having so much room, I can't imagine anyone good getting cut as we go down to 53. Plus, it's going to be hard enough for me to cut 7 guys, adding another FA means I'd have to cut even more. We're at $5.47M in cap spent for 1968, with 43 players. With the cap being at $7.2M next year, that gives us a lot to play with to sign another 1-2 WRs and 1-2 Ts.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, June 26, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3N1Ulon8Mtk?si=rw36rD9AfvP3198C" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Let's take a little time to look at who we're gunning for, the Chiefs. Interesting that they are not starting Alan Page at DT.

https://i.imgur.com/GPOJXumh.png

And the NFL Champion Packers.

https://i.imgur.com/NK7Ywmvh.png

I don't see either of these teams as being THAT much better than us now. Better, but not much. I feel like giving my guys another year to play together, a year of improvement for Griese, and a few players added next offseason, we'll be right there with these guys. The goal this year is just "be a real team", 1968 is "compete for playoffs" and by 1969, the goal should be winning the Super Bowl.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, July 3, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tJs_pA5yUUo?si=gNBLcCpZ9OxtqJbC" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

We can look at the other division winners now.

The AFL East was won by the Houston Oilers.

https://i.imgur.com/om6Au2sh.png

The NFL East was won by the Pittsburgh Steelers.

https://i.imgur.com/2j1uQwwh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, July 10, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ly8G9Psdqxw?si=9wlixS11K-U76AU2" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

How about we look at the rest of the NFL West?

https://i.imgur.com/Qy4up2dh.png

https://i.imgur.com/zIDwgrhh.png

https://i.imgur.com/UTLQZJKh.png

https://i.imgur.com/l8M5CZth.png

https://i.imgur.com/LJcNglWh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, July 17, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sqJeU1OV1J8?si=MYWSUz-BpTKY5GNh" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I just noticed an interesting fact, that we are the oldest team.

https://i.imgur.com/M2yBrNsh.png

Really surprising to me since I hate signing old people. Maybe it's because I cut 5 of my 7 draft picks.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, July 24, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AWxC0khIZs0?si=nCcD4G23FE-mYndG" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, July 31, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G85xrRRS2_g?si=MF6VCyyq-4ww8fve" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/o5-o6BQRQXc?si=Rx1BQNOuEXP8XEIQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, August 7, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bTJX_SomrjU?si=KKLhjLHXwQIOsbE1" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, August 14, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GM-gijUTTRg?si=C4OAp3W1WVIbY5YH" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Monday, August 21, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nV72YrB1454?si=u3G_woW_Y2NeECX0" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Fi-7sY04xqk?si=X7_6gB1xuX22eV63" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, August 27

Preseason is here! Our annual matchup with the Broncos.

https://i.imgur.com/Syc3Fydh.png

Sure, it doesn't matter, and the Broncos are as bad as we were, but it's a big win! We gave Griese the start, and he did not disappoint:

https://i.imgur.com/kkimc2ah.png

Plum had the better passer rating, but that's because of his TDs. I'll take Griese's 10/12 passing and a higher yards per attempt instead. Griese's 4 drives led to 10 points -- would have been 13 if not for a blocked FG. There was a 3-and-out in there. Griese threw to Bass for 6 yards, Marsh ran for 3, then Mason lost a yard on 3rd and 1. It happens. Fine game for a rookie.

[Passacaglia]

Monday August 28, 1967

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9WcIOw0S-1M?si=dzUNwOYI7UKRKHiY" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mzDVaKRApcg?si=jTE1GNtdMMgn9INx" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>


LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/M2snc0ah.png

Escaped the preseason relatively unscathed. Jim Tucker is not a big loss, and he should be fine for the opener vs. Atlanta.


Cutting to 53 is going to be hard. Our depth chart has 5 safeties, 5 CBs, 8 LBs, 3 DTs, and 4 DEs -- that's 25 players who are just expected to participate. And that's not including our 2nd round pick, OLB Jim Lynch, and return man CB Charley Warner.

First cut will have to be Larry Little.

https://i.imgur.com/IwFbZ3rh.png

He's actually solid, but I don't think I'll need a 4th G, and he's clearly the worst, and doesn't have potential to move above the others. I also want to make fun of my image downloader for choosing this nonsense picture further down instead of the obvious headshot at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Little

With that, we've released picks 3-7 from this draft, and the only two we're keeping are Griese and Lynch.

We'll also get rid of Charley Warner. Warner was brought in to be the kick returner, and Lincoln is almost as good at that, so he can be both PR and KR. I probably should have realized roster spots would be at a premium and not signed Warner in the first place.

OLB Lou Levanti is next. He's the 2nd best pure blitzer on the team, and we probably don't need two. If Walker gets hurt, it's not like we really need one -- we'll just bring in a better pass defender in his place.

DT Bill Miller is similar. He's a goal line guy, and he's not on the depth chart there because we don't need to sub Karras out for that.

DE Clair Appledoorn is the same. Run defense, not on depth chart. If another run-stopping DE gets hurt, we'll figure something out -- maybe put a DT in that spot.

I don't usually look at chemistry, but I have been keeping an eye on it a little for this dynasty as I slow things down. One of the factors about deciding on Griese over Plum was that Griese was neutral chemistry-wise, and Plum had a couple negatives and no positives. Although honestly, it was mostly that he just led the team to a 1-13 season -- I don't care how bad the team around him is, that's just not our QB. He can find a team next year and see if he can revive his career there. Anyway, maybe it took playing a game for Griese to check in with some chemistry:

https://i.imgur.com/18j7zzah.png

This is a decent enough argument for me to cut Coia. He and Tucker were tied for the 2 worst future value WRs. Tucker's injury means I can't cut him anyway.

And for the last cut, I'm going to go with RT George Preas. I'd been projecting him as the starter over Hinze, but Hinze is up to 42/59, so it's seeming like he can develop, and since I'm going with Griese as the starter, I may as well stick with Hinze here. Everyone else on the roster is either part of the depth chart, needed to fulfill minimum position requirements, or a backup at a position (ie the #2 C or #3 G), other than Jim Lynch, and whichever of LT Daryl Sanders (50/50) and RT George Preas (50/50) is not the #3 T. I don't want to cut Lynch, since I'm hoping he can be a starter in 1968 and later. I could cut one of the LBs who only make the depth chart in specialized situations, but they do seem like good players to have in those spots. And keeping Sanders over Preas seems like the right call -- Preas is in his 13th year, and I feel much more comfortable sticking an LT into the RT spot than the other way around.

With that last cut, we're down to 53. We've got $660K in cap room, and we're at $5.29M spent next year, so $1.91 in cap room, with 39 players signed. If you're curious who we still need to sign...

https://i.imgur.com/SzGqXnth.png

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 1, 1967

Opening day! As usual, we start with just the AFL in the first week, and they play 1 game Friday, 1 game Saturday, and 1 game Sunday.

In today's game, Boston travels to Oakland. Boston was pretty crappy in 1966, going 4-10, and Oakland went 10-4, but still missed out on the playoffs. Boston is also suffering from their QB Babe Parilli having a Strained Achilles Tendon. He's 43/43, and their backup Dennis Claridge is 36/36, so maybe it's not a huge deal. The Patriots also signed our cast-off Larry Little, and are planning to start him at G, in place of Len St. Jean (54/54), who is Out for 3 weeks. Little will return to being a backup I'm sure when St. Jean is healthy.

https://i.imgur.com/yn0ptx3h.png

The Patriots jump to an early lead, finding themselves up 17-7 in the middle of the 2nd, but then the game settles into the better team taking over, and midway through the 4th, they are up 28-20. The Patriots score with 3:37 but miss the 2 pt. conversion, and it's 28-26. No matter -- Patriots S Goose Gonsoulin forces a fumble from Oakland RB Clem Daniels on the 2nd play of their drive, and Claridge leads Boston down the field to win the game, 33-28. With 5 seconds left, Flores completes a pass for 58 yards to Biletnikoff to get to the Patriots 16, but time expires. Maybe time for one more play could have changed things.

Goose Gonsoulin is a familiar name -- I mentioned him on March 31.

Denver S Goose Gonsoulin (61/61) signs with Boston for 2 years, $420K. He's a guy I had in my back pocket if we didn't get Paulson, so now I guess we better get Paulson.

I frown as I think that we did not get Paulson, either. Enjoy it, Pats.

https://i.imgur.com/1430sx1h.png

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, September 2, 1967

Miami at Denver today. Neither team was very good in 1966 (4-10 for Miami, 1-13 for Denver). Does Denver's #1 pick S Ken Houston help the team? Does their new QB Gary Cuozzo do a better job than Tobin Rote did for them? Miami also has been apparently starting the coach's son, George Wilson Jr., at QB. It's a tough call who is better between him and George Izo, but Izo is probable anyway. Neither are very good, though.

https://i.imgur.com/MQ9MAa7h.png

https://i.imgur.com/zTLlk7Wh.png

Coach's son delivers the win! This despite throwing a pick-6, and Broncos DE Pete Duranko sacking him 4 times.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 3, 1967

This is the fun one -- Chiefs at Oilers, in a replay of the AFL Championship game.

https://i.imgur.com/Q4vfKm0h.png

Great game if you like field goals.

https://i.imgur.com/fySoRWHh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 4, 1967

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

No game last weekend for us, so nothing interesting here -- just another week closer to full strength for Jim Tucker.

A quick peek at the FA market revealed no one at all worth signing from the teams that played this weekend cutting down to 53.

But we need to get down to 47 active players. First pass is to add 5th WR Bill Malinchak, backup C Bob Whitlow, and OLB Jim Lynch to the inactive roster. From there, everyone else feels needed. We also add LB Wayne Walker, LB Nelson Toburen, and S Dicky Moegle, since they are only on the depth chart a little bit.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 8, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/2lx8Nbkh.png

https://i.imgur.com/3DAiV28h.png

Kind of a slog here until the Bills offense wakes up. Lamonica looks like he had a decent day overall, just that the Bills ran the ball too much.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, September 9, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/nRmAJmbh.png

https://i.imgur.com/cxuAS6yh.png

The Chiefs go into New York and get punked! I don't know what happened here. I still maintain the Chiefs are not the best team out there, despite winning the Super Bowl, but the 6-8 Jets beating them this badly??

And the NFL starts with the top 2 teams in the West, which is the Packers and Colts, just like 1966.

https://i.imgur.com/ZEklKoDh.png

https://i.imgur.com/N0X2BvDh.png

And just like 1966, Baltimore wins a close one, and is in the lead spot in the West. These two will play again December 10, potentially with the same stakes as last year.

https://i.imgur.com/2zesKo2h.png

https://i.imgur.com/h6OCeLIh.png

Coach's son almost leads the Dolphins to a comeback. Could have gone to OT if they didn't try to get cute with the 2 pt. conversions. How about Raiders WR Art Powell with 2 TDs in each game so far?

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 10, 1967

Our turn! We start with a home game against Atlanta. I feel like we should win this easily. Both our teams were 1-13 in 1966, but we've made a lot of improvements, while all Atlanta did was add Donna Reed. I guess it's time to see if our improvements helped. This is a test in that if we lose, we'll know we still have a long way to go, but if we win, it won't say much about our ability to compete with better teams.

https://i.imgur.com/iF7Wgr1h.png

Good stop for the defense, but Ray Hinze makes me immediately regret cutting George Preas by allowing the sack. Then Proverb Jacobs says, "don't worry, you're actually deficient at both tackle spots" and allows a sack on the other end. Griese fumbles, but recovers it, so we get the pleasure of punting on 4th and 32.

https://i.imgur.com/5agdWNjh.png

Another good stop. Grr on Montalbo for the penalty on the 0 yard punt. I'm not sure how our PR was able to field a punt that only went to the line of scrimmage, but whatever. Griese shows that when allowed to throw the ball he can make thing happen, with the 18 yard pass to Tucker. Proverb Jacobs shows his "prowess" again with the penalty, and Charley Leo joins the fun.

https://i.imgur.com/fa566W7h.png

Donna Reed leads the Falcons down the field for a drive, but we manage to stop them before they can score a touchdown. I can't give credit to the goal-line defense here -- looks like we ran nickel on the 4th and 2 they converted, and the 3rd and 4 where we stopped them.

https://i.imgur.com/RUgVj7wh.png

Bass had me pissed off, dropping his 2nd pass, with no catches, in the 1st quarter. But he made up for it with 3 catches, 59 yards, and a TD the rest of the drive. Still: Don't drop the ball.

https://i.imgur.com/x3uDJXMh.png

The Falcons were dirivng again when our 2nd CB John Griffin picks off Donna Reed in the end zone.

https://i.imgur.com/ftRXhFEh.png

What a drive. A couple nice runs, and Griese hits 5 different receivers, including #3 TE Bob McLeod for the TE. I love being up by 2 scores.

https://i.imgur.com/IGJW4Ghh.png

Larry Muff saves the day here. The Falcons were driving again, the third straight time they were in FG range, when he blocks a pass causes a penalty (why not, I'll assume that's his doing), then gets half a sack to knock them out of FG range. McCord and Muff coming in on passing downs worked exactly like it was supposed to there. Now we've got a minute to see if we can add to our lead.

https://i.imgur.com/SlhiJKgh.png

Okay, Bass. I see how it's going to be for us. You're going to be the guy who gives me headaches constantly, but makes so many great plays that I have to live with it. Incidentally, I just noticed after this game that Bass is a Red Flag, so that's fun. Anyway, Bass gets his drop out of the way early, follows it up with 3 catches again, but this time adds a fumble for good measure. Luckily, Mason recovers it. We botch the whole scoring thing with Maguire's false start, but it's good to see us with a 14-3 and being able to move the ball effectively as we go into halftime.

https://i.imgur.com/93MH7kdh.png

Bass! Okay, these weren't drops or anything necessarily his fault. Twice Griese threw into double coverage, and the other one was a pass defensed. So, fine. Atlanta drives on us again, but again we stop them before the goal line.

https://i.imgur.com/PkYcqk2h.png

Bass!! He gets his 3 catches this drive too, but without a drop, and without a fumble. And Bob McLeod with another big catch, too. Our C Bob Stem gets hurt here, which is annoying. And the defense follows it up with a 3-and-out, nice!

https://i.imgur.com/650FGBih.png

Bob McLeod with another big catch here, but not much else this drive. Short-yardage defense with a nice 4th and 1 stop.

https://i.imgur.com/eKj9TrTh.png

And we take advantage for a quick FG, and another 4th down stop for the defense. Feels like between Bass and the defense, we've just about put them away here.

https://i.imgur.com/lRLWeQSh.png

Felt like we barely ran the ball until this point -- Mason just had 6 carries before this drive. But he ices the game here.


https://i.imgur.com/rqkexfKh.png

https://i.imgur.com/G5NsRs8h.png

It felt like Bass should have been player of the game, with 11 catches and 167 yards, but he sure ate targets to do it. 21 of Griese's 39 passes? Sheesh. Plus the fumble. Clean that up, and we're good.

Darrius McCord is taking well in his transition from starter to coming in on passing downs. He had 1.5 sacks, 2 blocks, and 2 hurries.

But hey, we're 1-0 with a very comfortable win! We're at Chicago next week -- the Bears just lost at home to the 49ers, 21-13.

https://i.imgur.com/N35wTmzh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 11, 1967

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/IdVq3L7h.png

We talked about Bob Stem being hurt -- Bob Whitlow will take his place. Ron Kramer will stay on the active roster, since we need 3 TEs.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 15, 1967

Prime time for us as we go to Chicago to take on the Bears! Let's see how we do against a real team.

https://i.imgur.com/4ZmtPaTh.png

Not a great start. The Bears had no trouble moving the ball, AND got a big play for the TD. And our response is Proverb Jacobs allowing ANOTHER sack, plus Karl Finch getting hurt. Ugh. Oh, and it's like Abramowicz heard me call him out as a bust on that reverse.

https://i.imgur.com/eK3chGMh.png

I know last week I said I love being up by two scores, but here's another weird little quirk about me -- I actually also hate being down by two scores. At least we held them to a FG this time, but we're going to need real stops. Pretty annoyed with LeBeau for the penalty that negated Fields's sack. And really I feel like it was only their own penalty that stopped them, not us.

https://i.imgur.com/LToiv2Vh.png

We're on the board! But Abramowicz seems determined to show me up. Like I said before: We need stops.

https://i.imgur.com/z1w5EH8h.png

This TD seemed necessary. We haven't had a stop yet, and we can't be down two scores AND give them the ball back. I don't know why, but being down 2 points felt way closer than 3. Or maybe it's the higher scores -- down 10-7 felt like maybe we got lucky once, but down 16-14 feels like we're in a game with them (even though we're still chasing them).

https://i.imgur.com/NsuOr79h.png

Um, yeah, still looking for that stop. I felt like that illegal motion penalty should have been accepted when it happened, and that was proven to be the case.

https://i.imgur.com/fTrnhPHh.png

Bass with a fumble here. I spent a lot of time fretting about Bass during the week. Loved his performance, but didn't love his drops and his fumble. He's the only guy who is "red" on the depth chart, meaning he's in so much that he'll get tired. This makes sense, he is by far my best WR, and he showed he can produce last year for Buffalo -- I want him in, a lot. But maybe the fatigue is affecting him? The drops and fumble came early last week, and early this week, too, so it's not like this is happening because he's getting tired late in games. I only have 4 WRs active, and I didn't see a way to get Bass to stop being red without getting another WR red. Maybe there was a way, but I wasn't willing to give Hinton and Tucker more playing time than Bass. I considered making a LB inactive, but in the end I decided I'd wait until an injury opened a sport for my 5th WR, Malinchak.

But hey, we got a stop! And Bass gets us almost to FG range right before halftime.

https://i.imgur.com/RcbjYyJh.png

Bass! It would have been nice to have scored before halftime, but getting back in range seems like a big deal.

https://i.imgur.com/fHTmFHoh.png

We get the stop, but do nothing with it.

https://i.imgur.com/QvVObvlh.png

Not looking good.

https://i.imgur.com/wDOKqMUh.png

I felt like our run game has been pretty much non-existent, which is fine I guess, we probably should be a pass-first team eventually as Griese develops. But Mason gets a nice run here.

As I was watching the game, I felt confident that we could get a stop and win, but as I am pasting the screenshots, this has "we played them close, moral victory" written all over it.

https://i.imgur.com/10t7VhIh.png

McCord! Not a complete stop, but now all we have to do is score a TD and win the game.

https://i.imgur.com/lKTaygYh.png

Okay, NOW all we have to do is score a TD and win the game. We've got just a little less time to do it. Keith Lincoln gets us started with a nice punt return to put us at the 50, too.

https://i.imgur.com/xGe4n7bh.png

This is the Lions so far encapsulated in one drive -- we make mistakes, then big plays to make up for it, Bass gets 3 catches and a TD.

https://i.imgur.com/7tZEpNah.png

McCord! Muff! Ineligible players downfield! Abramowicz! Lions win!



https://i.imgur.com/AQgjYA2h.png

https://i.imgur.com/A61mDdmh.png

Bass's stat line looks a lot better here. 10 targets and 10 catches. I like that. Still had the fumble, though. I'm feeling inclined to just roll like this -- he's too good to rest, especially compared to the rest of the team.

Not shown here is Darris McCord -- 3 sacks today after 1.5 last week! His 4.5 sacks on the year are better than the 4 he had in 9 games in 1966 -- the switch from starter to passing down DE has been huge for him.

Also not shown is Charley Warner -- keen eyes may have noticed that he got signed by the Bears and played in this game. He returned one kick for 34 yards, and got a lot of reps at CB, too.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 17, 1967

Time to sit back and watch the rest of the leagues play.

https://i.imgur.com/T2zIcvrh.png

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 18, 1967

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/nSxYx8ch.png

We talked about Finch being hurt, but so is Jon Arnett. Marsh is a capable backup, though.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, September 24, 1967

Okay, big test today. Home game against the Packers. 71 degree weather, rain, 10 mph wind.

https://i.imgur.com/NYERAxgh.png

Okay, I said Marsh is a capable backup, but I didn't think we'd come out acting like he's our bellcow, getting more early rushes than even Tommy Mason does. Guys, you know Mason's not the one hurt, right? Anyway, Maguire buries them with a nice punt, and we get a stop. So that's good!

https://i.imgur.com/KK4PXu0h.png

Again with Marsh, although I have to admit, it seems to be working here. Pretty annoyed with Doug Van Horn, my best offensive lineman, getting holding penalties two weeks in a row. Oh, and obviously, the Packers TD is bad.

https://i.imgur.com/7br8Q9ph.png

Holding penalty kills another drive. And Griese really hasn't had anything going for him yet.

https://i.imgur.com/GVwCglzh.png

Holding again kills us, this time on the defensive side -- we had them stopped at our 41. Blah.

https://i.imgur.com/1vcp8zUh.png

Well, put these two FGs together and it's like a Touchdown, right? Griese gets a long pass in, but holding kills ANOTHER drive, at least this time it's in FG range. And we finally get a drive with no penalties, but get stopped at the 1. I'd have wanted us to go for that, though.

https://i.imgur.com/1fDGXU3h.png

Well that's no fun.

https://i.imgur.com/5i2Xx0xh.png

Another FG, and we're within one score at halftime. This was the first drive that feels like "us" -- maybe it's the wind and the rain preventing us from really opening things up like we usually do.

https://i.imgur.com/IYphA1xh.png

Perfect way to start the 2nd half! 3 plays, no yards, get the ball back. Now let's tie this game.

https://i.imgur.com/wBEJmcmh.png

I can't argue with kicking the FG on 4th and 5. I liked the call to go for it at the 32, but come on, why didn't you do it at the goal line??

https://i.imgur.com/22nuNQUh.png

McCord! But, Griese with the first INT of his career. I guess there's rarely a good time for a pick-6, but that seemed really bad.

https://i.imgur.com/sOVddVih.png

Trading a couple 3 and outs. Time not on our side here, guys.

https://i.imgur.com/q8cXrW7h.png

Okay. In the 4th quarter, I'd have wanted a 6 minute drive to end in a touchdown, but at least we're within one score now.

https://i.imgur.com/wbCzSrDh.png

EXCUSE ME!?!?!?!?! 4th and 3 with 3:30 left, down 8 points, and we're trying a 60 yard FG in 10 mph wind?!? Get the first down here!!

https://i.imgur.com/HQ7Jj0fh.png

Oh and what a surprise, we don't get the ball back. 60 yard FG attempt. What a crock.


https://i.imgur.com/L9ha6Nwh.png

https://i.imgur.com/8o9AYP0h.png

[Passacaglia]

https://i.imgur.com/OeHGxVMh.png

We're about a fourth of the way through the season, so good time to look at the overview. I feel like we've definitely hit our goal of being a "real team" -- things may shake out differently, but we're 2-1. We could look at it as our only loss was by one score to the NFL Champions, or that we've only beat winless teams. But still, so far, real team.

Some of the stats here are skewed because of the number of games. The Dolphins, Oilers, and Raiders have all played 4, while the Bears have only played 2. I guess everyone else has played 3, so it's mostly good. Nice to see Griese up there with passing yards -- he was #1 in passer rating until this past week, too. McCord leading the leagues in sacks! And we're charting in the team statistics column on the right, too, which are per play or per game, so the unevenness doesn't matter there -- #3 in points scored, passing yards, and yards per play.

Too soon to tell much about division races, though the Raiders are pulling away. They're 1.5 games ahead, and just beat the Chiefs 27-26, on a 41-yard TD pass to Fred Biletnikoff with 1 second left (after the Chiefs scored a TD with 39 seconds left).

[Passacaglia]

Monday, September 25, 1967

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

No new injuries and everyone is 1 week closer to full health than last week. I'll spare everyone the screen shot fatigue.

Next up for us is a trip to LA to face the Rams in another Friday night game.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, September 29, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/AlErlPAh.png

Not great to let them drive the field like that, but we'll take the fact that it's only 3 points.

https://i.imgur.com/XjrDexxh.png

Now that's the Lions offense I'm used to seeing! And we get the stop, but we are buried at our own 1.

https://i.imgur.com/wxRxv0gh.png

We at least dig ourselves out of the hole before the drive falters. And the Rams go the wrong way once they have the ball, getting sacked and getting a holding penalty.

https://i.imgur.com/fNvX0yJh.png

There we go! Bass even bails us out from the false start on 3rd and 1. I love being up two scores.

https://i.imgur.com/ueFxAmDh.png

Well that was fast. I know I said last week there's no good time for a pick-6, but I feel like I'm okay with this one. Get the ball back and let's take the lead.

https://i.imgur.com/MV1yWexh.png

That FG attempt is a tough call, I could see choosing either way. I feel like Garo should have hit that, though.

https://i.imgur.com/4Gd8gIih.png

Garo makes up for it here. Tied it up at halftime, and I'm feeling confident.

https://i.imgur.com/CzZ4Gd5h.png

Garo again. Glad to see us hitting our FGs again. Although, I'd rather not have another 5 FG game like last week, so how about some touchdowns?

https://i.imgur.com/w3S8G5xh.png

Not a good set there. Hopefully we can keep them backed up, get the ball back, and score.

https://i.imgur.com/mU1Qvvgh.png

It feels like Dick Bass is killing us. But at least we get the ball back.

https://i.imgur.com/kpGecL8h.png

Super annoyed when the 3rd and 10 conversion gets negated by a holding penalty, but we make up for it by getting 3rd and 20 with a huge play!

https://i.imgur.com/yfqS9dsh.png

That was close. They got pretty close to FG range there. I don't know who their kicker is, but I'd have kicked the 54-yarder to tie it up there. But hey, a punt that nets 17 yards in field position is fine with me. And we again make up for a holding penalty with a big play. That's a tough call to decide what to do on 4th and 2 at their 41. I'm glad we didn't try to kick a super-long unhelpful field goal like we did last week, at least. And Maguire buries them. I'm feeling pretty safe -- they can't go 98 yards in 2:18, can they?

https://i.imgur.com/36JySGCh.png

Excruciating. Our defense slowed them down *just* enough.

https://i.imgur.com/D6kf2Uoh.png

Wow. I really thought we were going to lose as Dick Bass hit that 11 yard run. Our backup S Bruce Maher with the INT that saves us! And, his return put us basically in FG range to start us off. I don't love kicking the FG on 2nd down with plenty of time on the clock, but whatever. We're 3-1!


https://i.imgur.com/yIuy83jh.png

https://i.imgur.com/3Lf20rJh.png

Hard not to look at this and feel like we wasted a lot of plays running the ball. I'd much rather do what the Rams did -- 24 carries for one back, 5 yards per rush -- than what we did, 37 carries for two backs who split it, for less than 3 yards per carry overall. Bass with another 10+ catch game, but not many yards. OLB Ernie Clark was the sack guy today with 2, instead of McCord, who didn't have any. That's fine.

So we're 3-1, the Colts are 3-0, and the Packers are 2-1. If I didn't know better, I'd say we're actually in the thick of things for the NFL West! Trying to to get too ahead of ourselves, though. On the other hand, could we have beat the Packers and be 4-0 if we started Plum?

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 1, 1967

Time for the rest of the games!

https://i.imgur.com/1jJTIeFh.png

The Jets make out like bandits here, getting a win, and a loss for everyone else in the AFL East. The FOF Probability thing has them as an 83% change to win the division.
The Chiefs pull closer to the Raiders with a win over the Patriots. Broncos and Chargers get their first wins.
Cowboys and Cardinals are on top in the NFL East at 4-0 and 3-1.
Colts get the week off, but are still on top of the NFL West at 3-0. Packers and Lions right behind them at 3-1.

This was also supposed to be a hard stretch for us, at least based on last year's records. Road games against 8-6 Chicago and 8-6 Los Angeles, and a home game against 12-2 Green Bay. Now, we've got what should be an easier stretch -- home games against 2-2 San Francisco, 2-2 Minnesota, and 0-3 Chicago (yes, I'm including them in the hard stretch and the easy stretch, but it makes sense), before we travel to Baltimore.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 2, 1967

No jams today. The charts that I've been using, from WKNR (http://www.ct30.com/wknr/keener13/index.html) radio in Detroit, switched from Mondays to Thursdays to publish, so we'll make the switch with them.

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

No new injuries here. Ron Kramer came in for a couple special teams plays last week, and he's going to be full strength for our next game. He's going to get the start, but I'm making sure I get Anderson in for passing formations, so Kramer isn't tired.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, October 5, 1967

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We should probably catch up on transactions. We saw Charley Warner play for the Bears. The TE we cut, Tom Beer, signed with the Eagles, on the same day, September 16. Tom Nowatzke signed with the Chargers, George Preas signed with the Redskins, and Cas Banaszek signed with the Giants on September 30. Good to see those guys find spots.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, October 7, 1967

The NFL gives us a matchup between the East winner Steelers and East 7th place Giants. Unfortunately, both teams are 1-3.

https://i.imgur.com/4YgaHHhh.png

https://i.imgur.com/NeLidAxh.png

Bookie Bolin wins player of the game with 7 key run blocks, but he had 15 opportunities to do it. Bobby Bryant getting it done for the Giants -- 3 passes defensed, and none were caught on him. And Roger Brown with a good game for the Steelers -- 1 sack, 1 blocked pass, and 2 hurries.

And the AFL gives us a few games today:

https://i.imgur.com/2QrE62mh.png

https://i.imgur.com/73QiK0gh.png

The Jets were 6-8 last year, now they are 5-0! And the Oilers were 11-3 last year, upgraded the QB position with Billy Kilmer, and now they're 2-4.

https://i.imgur.com/tVTFKBah.png

https://i.imgur.com/tpx42ujh.png

Chiefs move up to 3-2, trying to keep pace with the 3-1 Raiders. Chiefs S Johnny Robinson is killing it with 6 INTs in 5 games. The Chiefs have a 5.4 interception percentage. That seems crazy high to me (2nd place is the Chargers at 4.4 percent, and we're in 8th place with 1.9 percent).

https://i.imgur.com/cCULF8Ch.png

https://i.imgur.com/UciCarUh.png

Chargers have won 2 in a row to move up to 2-3. I missed that Gail Cogdill signed with the Chargers. He's played in all 5 games, but had no targets. 2 tackles on special teams in this game. Broncos #1 pick S Ken Houston led the team with 9 tackles, but had 6 passes caught on him.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 8, 1967

A little injury news. It looks like San Francisco QB John Brodie checks in as probable. I don't see where the injury happened exactly. He threw a TD pass last week against Green Bay to make it 43-27 Packers, then the Packers scored a TD to make it 50-27, and backup George Mira came in after that. And, it looks like Mira gets the start against us today. So, we better win.

https://i.imgur.com/nlttIbeh.png

Good start for our offense. If they keep it up like this, and with Brodie out, should be no problem here.

https://i.imgur.com/K4PISR1h.png

That tripping call was pretty annoying, we had them stopped.

https://i.imgur.com/6g6dlJPh.png

It feels like we haven't talked about Bass in the bad way for the last couple weeks. He's cut out the fumbles, which is obviously good, and hasn't needed as many targets as he did Week 1, so it seems like we've been okay to keep him in as much as we do. But the OPI was pretty annoying here.

https://i.imgur.com/0okFE6kh.png

Hmm. Maye we should be worried about Mira.

https://i.imgur.com/mUshDL6h.png

Kinda feel like I'd rather have just picked up that 4th and 1 (although I had a feeling we weren't going to get that 3rd and 3), but it's obviously good to have the lead. And Bass with another penalty after a catch -- still better than the fumbles.

https://i.imgur.com/8eEkPCyh.png

And SF comes back to tie it up. This game is feeling uncomfortably close.

https://i.imgur.com/jcHXSBUh.png

Maguire with a nice punt to make sure they don't have a good chance for a 2-minute drill 2nd quarter score. Tied at halftime.

https://i.imgur.com/hbpht7Hh.png

Good stop, and a couple penalties make it so we're starting at the 31 instead of the 1.

https://i.imgur.com/lz3JaFVh.png

Ugh, another FG from inside the 5. But Maher with another interception, two weeks in a row! Not bad for a guy who really kind of just slipped onto the roster. I feel like he would have been cut, if not for Allan Webb's poor endurance so Maher comes in for Webb in passing situations. And if I had thought of how Webb would need a sub then, I'd have looked to sign someone else.

https://i.imgur.com/OqvyTsAh.png

Again with this? I don't know if I've mentioned it, but I actually like being up by TWO scores. I'm kind of feeling like we've figured out their offense and they are unlikely to score, though I'm not sure why, and even if we have, anything can happen.

https://i.imgur.com/SVenSSph.png

Sometimes it's annoying to have a good Punter. Again, I'd have wanted to go for it there, but I guess I have to grudgingly accept that it's a good choice if we bury them at the 4.

https://i.imgur.com/rFSzOpdh.png

The 49ers get themselves out of the hole, but get the ball back at the 20. With 3:55 left, this is probably their last chance.

https://i.imgur.com/jGzpMX6h.png

Hmm. Okay, I guess they will get one more chance.

https://i.imgur.com/wILB5xEh.png

McCord! We're somehow 4-1!



https://i.imgur.com/mJgBer1h.png

https://i.imgur.com/8kFfRafh.png

80% passing for Griese, the backs running well. How was this even close? I guess settling for those FGs inside the 5. McCord picks up another 1.5 sacks, plus 4 hurries.



And for the rest of the Sunday games...

https://i.imgur.com/uu088yYh.png

We saw the Jets go up to 5-0, but again everyone else in the East loses. Probability thing has them at 95% chance to win the division now.
Raiders win too, and stay a game ahead of the Chiefs.
The Falcons beat the Cowboys! That's two in a row for the Falcons, and the Cowboys only loss! Has Donna Reed made the Falcons a real team? Browns get their first win over the Cardinals, so the Cowboys are still a game ahead. 3-2 Redskins in the mix now, too.
The Rams beat the Packers in Green Bay, and that puts us alone in 2nd place! Colts let the Bears hang around too long -- they were up 27-13 late in the 4th, but the Bears scored, and got the ball back to try a game-winning drive, but couldn't do it.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 9, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

No new injuries again. Arnett and Finch are 2 weeks to healthy. We'll keep them inactive for Minnesota, but they should be ready to play Chicago.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, October 12, 1967

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Now that we've caught up on the backlog of transactions (although I should mention that the Chargers dropped Nowatzke on Saturday the 7th right before their game), Thursday is probably a good day to focus on our next opponent.

We've got 2-2 Minnesota this Sunday. They were 7-7 last year.

https://i.imgur.com/jINKgofh.png

So far, this whole team seems like a big waste of this guy:

https://i.imgur.com/RnrCzk3h.png

Rated the best QB in the leagues, player of the year in 1966. And this year, they're not good in any of the offensive categories. They are best in sacks and 2nd in passing yards allowed. The Purple People Eaters isn't exactly coming to fruition here -- DT Alan Page just got drafted by the Chiefs, DT Gary Larsen looks middling, and they still have their DC from 1966, Marion Campbell, who is running a 3-4 anyway. But their DEs look great -- Carl Eller is 90/90 (4 sacks) and Jim Marshall is 79/79 (1.5 sacks). As crazy as it is, the defense is carrying the team led by the best QB in the leagues. Also, Tommy Mason takes on his former team.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 15, 1967

Everyone plays today!

https://i.imgur.com/NSvp6uuh.png

I guess Gary Larsen didn't like me calling him middling. Well played.

https://i.imgur.com/ftp4xeCh.png

We get some penalty help we don't need, but still can't convert TDs.

https://i.imgur.com/1aaBU7ch.png

The Vikings offense finally gets a turn and has no problem scoring a TD.

https://i.imgur.com/w1oUBInh.png

We get back in the game fast, and get a stop!

https://i.imgur.com/PSwGTrkh.png

Despite Tommy Mason being the guy wanting to go off against his old team, Amos Marsh is the hot hand today. Sucks to miss the FG.

https://i.imgur.com/ANZWtbSh.png

Not good, but at least we stop them in the end, and stay within a score at halftime.

https://i.imgur.com/GUV4Yfvh.png

We get the stop and things are looking good, bur Griese with the immediate interception, and we're down two scores again.

https://i.imgur.com/8nMZ8krh.png

A touchdown?? Us? Granted, the Vikings helped us out with three penalties inside the 10.

https://i.imgur.com/t6s7VTIh.png

Hey hey! It feels like that's the way we need to score TDs -- big plays, since so many drives stall. Larsen with a sack that put us in trouble, but I'll forgive him -- fine, maybe you're not middling!

https://i.imgur.com/0E01hAAh.png

Griese with another pick, obviously not great. But it's okay -- we can move the ball, and even score TDs this game. We're fine.

https://i.imgur.com/TQWNHJkh.png

Anderson's fumble almost blows it for us, but Griese makes up for it here. The Vikings give us some penalties that help. Griese almost stalls us at the goal line with the two incompletions, but hits Bass on 3rd down -- thanks guys.

https://i.imgur.com/rcLRcYIh.png

I'd have liked to see Tommy Mason get the chance to at least put the game away by himself, but again, Marsh had the hot hand. We win, and are 5-1!!



https://i.imgur.com/2BtOGhdh.png

https://i.imgur.com/9lyUrDPh.png

I think this is the first time anyone other than Griese was player of the game in one of our wins.



https://i.imgur.com/F60nu5wh.png

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? The Colts lose in San Francisco (who are still starting George Mira by the way) and drop to 4-1! That puts our 5-1 record on top of the NFL West! And the Packers lose -- to the 0-4 Bears? Up is down.

Jets have the week off, but get help from the rest of the East still sucking. Oilers and Patriots lose to West teams, and the only East winner was against themselves when the Dolphins beat the Bills. Jets probability has moved up to 97% now.
Chiefs win and Raiders lose, so they're both tied at 4-2! Chargers win over the Raiders puts them at 3-3. They lost their first three at home, then won their next three on the road. Feels like they are worth keeping an eye on, only a game back.
Cowboys drop another one, this time to the Eagles, and now they are 4-2. Cardinals and Redskins lose and can't capitalize on it. Whole division is a mess, everyone is within a game of 3-3.
And in the NFL West...I'm still in shock. Probability thing gives us a 57% chance to win the division.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, October 19, 1967

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LICKING OUR WOUNDS

I've noticed that FOF9 shifts a player's injury status on Thursdays. Since we just moved the jams from Monday to Thursday, we might as well move "Licking Our Wounds" from Monday to Thursday, too.

Still no new injuries. Last Thursday, I noticed that Finch went from 2 to 1 weeks, but Arnett stayed at 2 weeks. Today, Finch is at full health, and Arnett is still at 1 week. I haven't been keeping track of where he should be, but Bob Stem will be healthy in 4 weeks.

I want to have 5 WRs so that none of my guys get tired there. I looked at some player cards, and the two LBs that I have coming in for short yardage and goal-line -- Furey and Toburen -- just have like 5 plays total for the season each. I don't think that justifies a spot on the active roster, certainly not two. I added Furey to the inactive, and Lucci takes his place in the depth chart. And even with all 5 WRs active, it was still hard to make sure no one is in the red here. Bass's player card indicates he's tired, so this is going to be needed for him.

Next opponent -- the Bears!

https://i.imgur.com/QkeFkLfh.png

We already beat them in Chicago, and now we get them in Detroit. They are fresh off their first win, over the NFL Champs, too -- will that give them some momentum? This feels like the ultimate trap game with Baltimore next week, and besides, I think we've been more lucky than good, but the Bears don't look all that great, either. Rain likely, 55 degrees.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 22 1967

All games on Sunday today.

https://i.imgur.com/FlWLGKWh.png

Abramowicz with a big catch again. I still say he's a bust.

https://i.imgur.com/QGvBuBxh.png

Van Horn gets more holding penalties than I'd like (which is 0), but Griese with a 20 yard scramble to make up for it!

https://i.imgur.com/TGqGGQRh.png

Griese to Bass for the big play to make up for another holding penalty!

https://i.imgur.com/G8zAh3Wh.png

Kearney with a sack on a blitz that saves the day here. Pretty cool since I don't think Kearney is usually a blitzer.

https://i.imgur.com/EtTtgSsh.png

There we go! Score the TD (and on a prolonged drive, not just a big play), get a 3-and-out, and suddenly we're up two scores and have the ball!

https://i.imgur.com/oZ6vyxgh.png

Well, that half didn't end great. McCord was doing his part to get us the ball back with good field position, but that pass to Abramowicz screwed that up. I want to say the timeout was a mistake, but they got into FG range with enough time regardless -- if we didn't call timeout, it could have been that Champion's sack didn't happen, and they'd have had an even closer attempt. Whatever, we're still up 8, I'll take it.

https://i.imgur.com/PvHenk5h.png

I really wanted to see us go up 24-9 and yes, I'm going to get mad about punting on 4th and 2 at the 43 -- especially with the touchback. But having some time go off the clock is fine, too.

https://i.imgur.com/qtixMgrh.png

Blah, rookie QBs, I guess. Champion with another sack! He's my pass-rushing NT. I'm not sure what to expect from that position, while he is a pass-rusher, it's not like I expect him to rack up the sacks while playing NT. But it's cool to see him get a couple today.

https://i.imgur.com/5qRm3Bdh.png

Van Horn with another hold. Guess it doesn't matter, since it was declined.

https://i.imgur.com/qLx75U5h.png

There's that 24-9 lead I was looking for! So weird to be the team with more TDs than FGs, while the other team has just FGs. That's supposed to be our thing, but they can have it. Also, cool to see the 5th WR, Malinchak, checking in with a big catch.

https://i.imgur.com/bucH1Rih.png

Sure, take 4:30 off the clock and still be down two scores.

https://i.imgur.com/q6N70ZWh.png

A lot of stupid at the end of this drive, but the run game was getting to done for quite a while there, and ran a lot of clock.

https://i.imgur.com/hj87FO7h.png

Bobby Thompson with the dagger. Hello, 6-1!



https://i.imgur.com/KC9AopMh.png

https://i.imgur.com/bbrCI5Zh.png

I know I got mad at Griese for the pick, but his completion percentage is really making up for it.

6 sacks for us! McCord adds 1.5, and Champion coming in big with 2.5!



https://i.imgur.com/dusMp9ah.png

Colts lose again?? We're sitting at 1.5 games ahead? The probability thing gives us a 71% chance of winning the division. I guess that'll either go way up or way down when we go to Baltimore next week.
In the NFL East, the Cowboys drop their third in a row, but are still tied for the division lead at 4-3, with the Redskins and Cardinals.
Chiefs win a big game over the Jets, and the Raiders and Chargers both win to keep this race close.
The Jets loss doesn't really hurt them in the AFL East, since the AFL East sucks.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 23, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

I decided I didn't like to have "Licking Our Wounds" on Thursday. That was probably fine when there were no new injuries, but when there are, it's weird to wait until Thursday to mention them.

https://i.imgur.com/ioPT82Eh.png

Lucci and Griffin are both starters, but in spots where we have guys almost as good as backups. Lucci is 49/49 and we have a 48/48 and two 47/47s that can go in and probably be the same. Griffin's a little better -- he's 53/53 and we have a 48/48 and a 46/46 to go in. That effect will get worse when we're trying to figure out who will play nickel and dime, too. It was a little hard to fill the depth chart and make sure no one was red -- in the end, Ernie Clark and Bobby Thompson are going to be. Carver Shannon is the better CB, but he's already tired, so we're going to have to lean more on Thompson.

Getting Arnett back will be interesting. That pushes Marsh down to 3rd string, which does not sound great, since he's been getting 5.4 yard per carry.

https://i.imgur.com/0EzaePdh.png

Mason and Marsh seem like they have a thunder-and-lightning kind of thing going. Mason and Arnett feel like a lightning-and-lesser-lightning. I've got Marsh in on the bigger packages, the 221 and 230. I'm tempted to keep it like this and have Arnett jut sub in when needed. Maybe I'll just replace Marsh with Arnett in the only package he's in that's not big, the 113. I'm already thinking that I don't need 4 RBs, so this talk is all good as I plan to have just 3 next year. Lincoln is solid too even though he's just there as a return man -- I don't mind giving him the occasional carry as the #3 guy.

Oh, and Bass is not tired anymore!

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, October 24, 1967

We're halfway through the season, time to look at the overview.

https://i.imgur.com/CqzGnYoh.png

I'm still in shock to see these division standings. We're not just way on top of the division, but we have the best record in both leagues! And this is with starting some younger guys over established players. In case you're curious, Milt Plum is 60/60, and Griese was 45/74 when we drafted him -- he's now 52/74. On April 5 when I looked at RT, George Preas was 50/50 and Ray Hinze was 36/59 -- now he is 47/59.

Cool to see Griese at #2 in completions and passing yards. Taliaferro would knock him down to #3 in passing yards if the Jets had played 7 games, though. Griese is also #2 in completion percentage, 2nd only to Staubach. He's #3 in yards per attempt, behind Staubach and Jurgensen. He's #6 in QB rating. Not bad for a rookie. But, just to tamper our expectations a little bit, his 74 future rating is not THAT amazing. It's 5th, behind Fran Tarkenton, John Hadl, Johnny Unitas, and Roman Gabriel. Unitas is in his 13th year, so who knows how long he'll be around, but my point is that I don't think we can expect Griese to be a GOAT or anything, though my hope is that with a better team around him, it will seem like it.

Tommy Mason has 4 Rushing TDs, which actually puts him at a tie for 3rd, despite not being listed.

Bass tied for #2 in catches, but not yards. He's #7 there. It's whatever -- ideally I have a better #2 and #3 so that I don't have to care about him this much. Note that he's not top 3 in targets -- for all my griping about him catching something like 50% of his targets in our first game, he's up to 75.6%, while Powell is 66.7% and Taylor is 62.1%.

McCord has leveled off a bit, but he's back on this list with 8.5 sacks.

Van Horn has the most key run blocks in both leagues! Jim Otto has a much higher percentage though, 62.8% to 51.8%.

And in a league leading stat I'm not that happy about, Garo is tied for the lead in field goals. He's also got the worst percentage of those three guys -- he's 15/21, Bobich is 15/18, and Kramer is a perfect 15/15. Yes, Garo has more attempts than anyone else. I should check to see if he's tired.

And in the team stats, it's cool to see us charting on both offense and defense -- #3 in yards per play on offense, and #2 in opponent passing yards per game for the defense. We're also #2 in yards per passing attempt, behind only Dallas.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, October 25, 1967

Time to get ready for our trip to Baltimore! I've been treating them like they're some team we need to get really lucky to beat because they've been on top of the division since the beginning, but they're not on top now -- we are -- and they didn't even win the division last year! So, who are they?

https://i.imgur.com/BLWYUTGh.png

They've got one DT, Roger LaLonde, who's out, but it's fine, they have a good backup. RB Lenny Moore retired, but they wisely picked an RB in the first round, Don Shy, who's 62/65 and seems like he's doing fine. But I dunno -- I've been thinking of them in the lens of the real-life Colts who played in Super Bowl III and Super Bowl V, but these guys just look like some basic team.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, October 26, 1967

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Jon Arnett checks in at full health, and we put him in the 113 package.

[Passacaglia]

So halfway through my first real season, it's probably a good time for a pulse check. Is this dynasty doing anything for anyone? I've had one person reply, and one person on the Steam forums say they read it. So, that's two people? It might not be worth it if only two people are reading. On the other hand, doing this has made me go more slowly, learn more about the game, and feel more invested in my choices and my players. It's kind of a grind going through and copy-pasting each part of a game (and if anyone knows a better way to do that, I'd love to hear it), and a lot of the reason I'm posting is that I want to continue actually playing, but can't until I post. I'm trying to make it so that the reader has a high level of immersion, but that's probably not going to happen. I mean, I can probably name most of the starting QBs, but I doubt the reader based on the amount of time they engage with this thread compared to how much I do. Not to mention knowledge of other players. Does anyone have opinions on the amount of detail and speed that might be better here? I want to increase that immersion, but I also don't want this to feel like a big data dump of screenshots -- I'm not sure if that's interesting to read/look at.

EDIT: Looks like my readership is currently zero. I took that as a sign to just call it quits, and started my own 1920s career, but after a week or so, I've decided that this dynasty is too much fun to just give up. I'm going to keep going, but I'm going to just post boxscores instead of "watching" each game the way I have been, since that was kind of a timesuck for me, especially since I already knew the outcome of the game at that point. If anyone misses it, let me know. I could also watch the games "owner-style" -- that's where I imagine I'm watching the game from the owner's suite, mostly hobnobbing instead of paying attention, so I put the game on the fastest speed, and only slow it down if it's a one-possession game in the 4th quarter.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, October 29, 1967

Holy crap.

https://i.imgur.com/8DEyx4uh.png

https://i.imgur.com/X3weYOmh.png

https://i.imgur.com/IR9ZRuLh.png

https://i.imgur.com/PZbGOBLh.png

So we've got a two-game lead over the Packers, and an 84% chance to win it!
The only team with a better chance to win their division is the Jets, who are at 99%. Another good week for them, with the win over the Raiders, and a loss from the 3-4 Dolphins.
Chiefs and Chargers win, but the Raiders lose, putting the Chiefs a game ahead of the other two.
And the NFL East is still a mess. The Cardinals are alone on top at 5-3, but Cleveland is just about right there with them at 4-3. Everyone is within two games of the lead, except for last year's winner, Pittsburgh.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, October 30, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/kJD2aUxh.png

No new injuries, that's good.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, November 2, 1967

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I knew that Tiffany covered a song by Tommy James and the Shondells, but I had no idea Debbie Gibson did, too.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, January 16, 1967

This is a good time to gather up all the music we've been through so far and put it in a playlist, since there's no football action for a while. There were a couple songs I couldn't find on Apple Music, but I have most of them at least. If anyone wants a Spotify version, let me know and I can make it -- I have the Spotify app, and mostly just use it for podcasts, while Apple Music is the one I pay for.

FOF Dynasty playlist - Apple Music (https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/fof-dynasty/pl.u-DdANqVNtaqERB2?ls)

I'm assuming the reason no one is replying in here is because you've probably just all been too busy listening to this playlist over and over again. Given that that's the case, I apologize that I fell way behind in updating it -- I kept wanting to just do the free agency and football games. Anyway, this is updated now. It's at 81 songs, and still misses maybe 10 or so that aren't on Apple Music. You're supposed to be able to add local music to Apple Music, but I'm not sure whether or not those songs would make it into a public playlist. I'll have to try figuring that out sometime.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 5, 1967

I was expecting some kind of jinx-y loss, since this is the first game I've played since taking a break. Nope. Felt like we were even more dominant than before, since the last Rams TD was garbage time. And really, once we were up 28-0 it felt over, though they did get it back to 28-14 pretty quickly.

https://i.imgur.com/d8Q2rP0h.png

https://i.imgur.com/iF2378th.png

Crazy game for Griese -- 3 of his 5 incomplete passes were interceptions. The story looks to be the running game, though -- 15 carries for each back, good performances from all. 369 rushing yards! And it's cool to see Hinze get player of the game. I think he was the first player I signed in this dynasty, and I said I didn't think he'd amount to much, but he's doing fine as a starter. Ernie Clark has had two sacks in each of the last two games, getting us through a little slump McCord is having.

https://i.imgur.com/hmqselKh.png

In the AFL, West dominance over the East continues. The Broncos beat the Jets? Not a big deal for the Jets, there's still no one even close to them in the East. And the Chargers beat the Chiefs! That puts the top 3 there all at 6-3 for the last four games. Chiefs play the Raiders next week, Chargers play the Jets week after that, and the Chiefs play the Chargers again last week of the season.

In the NFL West, things really shook out well for us. Both the Packers and Colts lose! The Vikings move into 2nd place, and they are 3 games behind us!

The NFL East is becoming a little clearer. St. Louis beat Cleveland, so they are really all alone on top. Dallas and Washington win, and they're both a game behind.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 6, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

Nothing new to report here. We're hoping to have Stem and Griffin available for the next game.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, November 9, 1967

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I don't know what happened, but it felt like in the 80s, this was THE version of that song (I don't mean to sound all that dramatic with the caps, just that it was the main version). I think at some point in the 90s, Marvin Gaye's version started to become the one everyone thinks of. I don't know, maybe I was just a stupid kid in the 80s.

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Trip to Philadelphia to face the 3-5 Eagles on Sunday. We get Stem back at C, but Griffin is still hurt.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 12, 1967

So I made an oopsie and while I activated Stem, I forgot to put him in the depth chart. I had won the first game, 33-14, and decided I'd resim it, and if I lost with Stem in there, so be it. Here's the result:

https://i.imgur.com/gcMHDz9h.png

What's not shown here is that with like a minute left, Garo missed a 48 yard FG which would have put the game away. The Eagles were able to get to our 27 yard line for a final play, which Kearney picks off in the end zone. Crisis averted.

https://i.imgur.com/KCmdyMzh.png

Clark with another sack, he's up to 7 compared to 8.5 for McCord.

https://i.imgur.com/y7rha4Mh.png

AFL East proceeds about as usual.
Raiders beat the Chiefs again in the AFL West! They won both games, which is a nice tie-breaker to have. Raiders and Chargers are tied at 7-3, and split their series.
Cardinals, Redskins, and Cowboys all win in the NFL East, separating those three a bit more.
And we still have our three game lead in the NFL West! The 49ers beating the Vikings puts them alone in 2nd place. Guys -- guys --- guys! We can clinch the division next week. It would take a lot -- we'd have to beat the Vikings, the Bears would have to beat the Packers, and the 49ers and Colts would have to tie. Okay, probably not worth getting worked up about.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 13, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/vTI4IEXh.png

A couple more injuries, but definitely manageable. Our pass-rushing DT who had 4 sacks (though 2.5 of them were in one game against Chicago). A starting G, but that's a spot where we have Kowalkowski as a very good backup.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, November 16, 1967

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We get Lucci and Griffin back! Another road trip Sunday, this time to Minnesota.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 19, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/gQQhxgrh.png

47-28, and it wasn't even that close -- we were up 47-14 at the end of the 3rd quarter.

https://i.imgur.com/ej5kLdEh.png

Geez, a near perfect game from Griese. Even Milt Plum comes it and kills it. McCord and Clark each get a sack here.

https://i.imgur.com/N15lNbJh.png

The Jets with a win over the Chargers! But the Bills are emerging as a solid #2, and with their win, they stay just 3 games back. Probably too little too late, with only 4 games left.
We saw that the Chargers lost, but the Raiders get beat up by the Broncos too! So the Chiefs by not playing move from 1 game back to 1/2 game back.
The Cardinals get a win in the NFL East, but so do the Cowboys! Redskins are off, so they are just 1.5 games back.
No tie between the Colts and 49ers, so we did not clinch. Baltimore and Minnesota get eliminated, though! The 49ers and the Packers need everything to go perfectly for them to have a chance. They're each at 1% in the probability thing.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 20, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/yq5Y4lDh.png

Again manageable. Marsh has the best ypc by far, but we've got two other good backs. And Malinchak is our worst WR. Still, I really want to make sure I can set the depth chart so that none of my WRs get tired. It was hard before even with Malinchak in. This time, I'm going to put my 4th RB, Lincoln, in for some spots. He's primarily a kick returner, and he'd got 96 speed, so he'll probably do in a pinch. Even that wasn't enough, so I had to put backup RB Arnett in some spots.

https://i.imgur.com/qwld13Uh.png

It probably would have been better to put Lincoln in for the more obvious passing situations like 005 and 014, but I don't feel like changing it now. Besides, some of the packages Lincoln comes in for, Arnett is there, so I obviously can't put Arnett in at WR. Whatever, it's done, let's go.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, November 23, 1967

THANKSGIVING!!!

First, let's get the jam out of the way.

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So let's talk about me a little bit. I was born in 1977, and grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan -- about two hours west of Detroit. So I know of Motown, and some about the rest of the Detroit scene, but not a ton -- it was never really my kind of music growing up, and really, not even as an adult. Over the years, I've gained a decent appreciation of some of it, and as I've done this dynasty, that appreciation has definitely grown. Obviously there are people out there who like Motown more than I do, but I know more songs and artists than I used to.

And since I'm from Grand Rapids, I'm not limiting the music I choose to Detroit, I'm going for anyone from or having a connection to anywhere in Michigan along with Motown. That probably changes with mood. I had no hesitation including Tommy James and the Shondells because they grew up in Niles (in the southwest corner of the state, almost all the way to Chicago) when I was first starting, but later on, I had a lot of trouble deciding whether to include Aretha Franklin.

I'm not sure what my point is here, other than to lead up to the fact that I was pretty excited when I found an artist from Grand Rapids come up. But...oh my God, is it bonkers!! I've never heard of this guy or this "song" before, but...wow. I'm just going to drop this here, for those of you too lazy to listen to the youtube clip:

Dear son
You ask my reaction to long hair or beards on young people
Some great men have worn long hair and beards
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln
If to you long hair or a beard is a symbol of Independence
If you believe in your heart that the principles of this country
Our heritage, is worthy of this display of pride
That all men shall remain free
That free men at all times will not inflict their personal limitations of achievement on others
That demands your own rights as well as the rights of others
And be willing to fight for this right, you have my blessing
You ask that I not judge you merely as a teenager
To judge you on your own personal habits, abilities and goals
This is a fair request
And I promise that I will not judge any person only as a teenager
If you will constantly remind yourself that some of my generation
Judge people by their race, their belief or the color of their skin
And that this is no more right
Than saying all teenagers are drunken dope addicts or glue sniffers
If you will judge every human being on his own individual potential
I will do the same
You ask me if God is dead
This is a question each individual
Must answer within himself
But a warm summer day with all it's brightness
All it's sound, all it's exhilarating breathiness
Just happened?
God is love
Remember that God is a guide and not a storm trooper
Realize that many of the past and present generation
Because of a well intended but unjustifiable misconception
Have attempted to legislate morality
This created part of the basis for your generations need
To rebel against our society
With this knowledge perhaps your children will never ask
Is God dead?
I sometimes think much of mankind is attempting to work Him to death
You ask my opinion of draft card burners
I would answer this way
All past wars have been dirty, unfair, immoral, bloody and second-guessed
However, history has shown most of them necessary
If you doubt that our free enterprise system in the United States is worth protecting
If you doubt the principles upon which this country was founded
That we remain free
To choose our religion, our individual endeavors our method of Government
If you doubt that each free individual in this great country
Should reap rewards commensurate only with his own efforts
Than it is Doubtful you belong here
If you doubt that people who govern us should be selected
By their desire to allow us to strive for any goal we feel capable of obtaining
Than it's doubtful you should participate in their selection
If you are not grateful to a country that gave your father
The opportunity to work for his family to give you the things you have
And you do not feel pride enough to fight for your right to continue in this manner
Than I assume the blame for your failure to recognize the true value of our birthright
And I will remind you that your mother will love you no matter what you do
Because she is a woman
And I love you too, son
But I also love our country and the principles for which we stand
And if you decide to burn your draft card
Then burn your birth certificate at the same time
From that moment on, I have no son!

What a load. Anyway, the song was one of the fastest climbers in the Billboard Hot 100, and one of the shortest-lived top ten presences, since it was only on the chart for six weeks. I'm wondering if once the holidays ended, people just moved on and realized how bad this is.

Anyway, let's get back to some football!

https://i.imgur.com/7Zendqoh.png

Close one. I didn't feel nervous during our game-winning drive, it felt like there was still plenty of time either way. Baltimore had two drives after that, and I was most nervous on the last one. The Colts were at our 47 with 25 seconds left, and just needed one medium pass to get into FG range, but McCord and Muff combined for a sack that sent them back 15 yards. They had time for one more play, but just threw a 6-yard pass.

https://i.imgur.com/YMDqv9Fh.png

Keith Lincoln at WR seems to have worked well -- 6 catches! And 1.5 sacks for McCord.

https://i.imgur.com/7kARuHFh.png

Cowboys beat the Eagles to keep their playoff hopes alive! They're a half game behind the 8-3 Cardinals, who don't play this week. Washington still in the mix at 6-4.

https://i.imgur.com/mzsClYrh.png

And in the AFL, Raiders at Oilers. The Raiders are fighting for a playoff spot and the Oilers are eliminated, plus the West has been better than the East all season, so this should be a blowout. Well...

https://i.imgur.com/LOqV5dGh.png

That's 24 points in the last 3 minutes of the 2nd half for the Oilers, including two pick-sixes. Not your day, Tom Flores. And hey, Angelo Coia sighting!!

https://i.imgur.com/6UTXIzIh.png

Yeah, yeah, whatever, let's get to Coia. Looks like the Oilers signed him on November 11, after an MCL tear to their top WR, Warren Wells.

https://i.imgur.com/EEZObkch.png

I don't know what's up with that choice of starters. You would think it should be Eaton at FL and Coia at SE, and really, you'd think it should be Simmons or something at SE because you don't bring in a guy off the street and start him over the players who have been on the team all season. Or, you'd think that players who you would start if you had them on your team would just get signed. But eh -- with stuff like this, I assume there's other things going on in the depth chart that makes up for it.

https://i.imgur.com/P4sDNOgh.png

Jesus. Dude has been in 5 games over the last two years, averaging 7 catches and 96 yards per game. Obviously we're doing more than okay without him, and it's probably the case that we spread the ball around too much for that to happen if he stayed with us, but man, I really should have kept him.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, November 26, 1967

And here's the rest of the games!

https://i.imgur.com/0lAYLRLh.png

Jets clinch! They need a TD pass at the 3 second mark to beat the Patriots, but it's done.
Chargers win and Chiefs lose, putting the Chargers a game up on the Raiders.
Redskins lose, so it's looking like it's just between the 8-3 Cardinals and 8-4 Cowboys.
And, we've clinched! We probably had clinched on Thursday with the win, actually.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, November 27, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/sBdWM0Nh.png

So we lose a starting FB, starting C (giving us 2 starting OL who are hurt). Should get Malinchak back, though. Although HE'S not averaging 7 catches and 96 yards per game. Loser.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, November 30, 1967

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We get a handful of songs to get the taste of last week's out of our mouth. And a game, too!

https://i.imgur.com/fd9OH1eh.png

Raiders stay in the the race with San Diego, who doesn't even play this weekend. The Chargers are still half a game ahead, and control their own destiny. They've got a 94% chance of taking the division -- I'm assuming that means they would win a tiebreaker.

https://i.imgur.com/JC19gr1h.png

Tom Flores with a bounce-back game. Buffalo dips down to their 4th QB, Bob Davis, with the other three being hurt. Lamonica (60/60) is better than Kemp (40/40) in this universe, and the Bills are 4-3 in the 7 games that Lamonica played, 1-4 in games where he was only in for a while. Maybe they have a chance to be better next year if he can play the whole season.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 3, 1967

No big deal since we've already clinched, but another road win!

https://i.imgur.com/Habzo1Hh.png

https://i.imgur.com/gZAFSG1h.png

Ernie Clark gets the MVP nod based on his 2 interceptions.

Actually, this game did have some meaning for us. The NFL in this time didn't give a top seed to the team with the best record -- they took turns whether the East or West would host the Championship Game. We can't do that in FOF, so the team with the better record hosts. And with this win, we've clinched that spot!

https://i.imgur.com/8Ej7YHnh.png

Chiefs get a win over the Dolphins to move up to 7-5, and stay in the AFL West race.
Cardinals get a comeback win over the Giants to move up to 9-3, a game ahead of the Cowboys at 8-4 and two ahead of the Redskins at 7-5.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, December 4, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/bLUIRyVh.png

This time for sure on getting Malinchak in. We need him now too, since Tucker is hurt. We had to put Charley Leo on the active roster so we could meet minimum requirements for OL. We didn't start him, and made sure he was not encouraged on special teams. It looks like he didn't actually play.

Bye week this week! Then another meaningless game, although it's at Green Bay, giving us a chance to avenge our only loss!

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, December 7, 1967

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Malinchak checks in at full health!

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, December 9, 1967

The NFL has the top 2 teams from the West playing Saturday here, 2nd to last week of the season. I'm guessing they didn't expect the 7th place team from last year to have a 4.5 game lead over everyone else! The Packers win in OT, but no one cares.

https://i.imgur.com/vx6xG9Ch.png

https://i.imgur.com/uNnmEPah.png

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 10, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/p80NrcTh.png

Chargers clinch the AFL West! They are 9-4 and the Jets are 10-3, but since the Jets beat the Chargers twice, the game will be in New York.
Cardinals and Cowboys both win, kicking the Redskins out in the NFL East. The Cowboys go to St. Louis, winner goes to Detroit.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, December 14, 1967

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We get Amos Marsh and Charley Leo back!

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, December 16, 1967

https://i.imgur.com/gaI7dWAh.png

Redskins and Steelers play a meaningless game in the snow.

https://i.imgur.com/Uenrv1eh.png

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 17, 1967

So, when we played the Packers in September, it felt like a moral victory to end up within a score of them. Now here we are, on top of the league, while the Packers are already waiting for next year.

https://i.imgur.com/jAEGHweh.png

Oh well. Do the Packers just have our number? Or were we just not interested -- had the home game wrapped up, and weren't playing for an undefeated season, so who cares? Still, losing both games to the Packers is not great -- maybe this can fuel a rivalry over the years.

https://i.imgur.com/FhE72A5h.png

And with the other games, the regular season is in the books!

https://i.imgur.com/cuJFlL3h.png

Cowboys win the NFL East! Cowboys tied the game up with 1:37 left. Cardinals get the ball back. With 22 seconds left, ball on their own 27, Charley Johnson throws deep, and it's picked off by Don Fleming, who returns it to the Cowboys 47. With 11 seconds left, Staubach throws an 18 yard pass to TE Monte Crockett, AND the Cardinals get called for unnecessary roughness, giving them 33 yards in one play, and putting them at the 20 with 2 seconds left. Easy FG for Hornung to win the game, 12-9.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, December 18, 1967

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

https://i.imgur.com/yL9g47Lh.png

Nothing new here. The NFL Championship game isn't until January 28, so we'll get eveyone back except Champion, and maybe Tucker.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, December 21, 1967

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[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 24, 1967

Time for a season recap!

https://i.imgur.com/PNYn84ch.png

Not much that we've charted for here. Griese was #3 in completions, Van Horn Was #3 in key run blocks, and Garo was #3 in FGs. We were #3 in rush yards per game and in yards per play.

https://i.imgur.com/sv6GedJh.png

Bass with over 1000 yards -- not as much as the 1412 as he had with Buffalo last year, but I like to think we're just throwing the ball around more. About the same yards per rout -- down from 3.05 to 3.04.

Oh, let's also look at FOF's Power Ratings!

https://i.imgur.com/iJ4LFkYh.png

San Diego is the only team who was best in the power ratings for their division, and actually won it. Minnesota and Green Bay were ahead of us -- I guess I can understand that Green Bay gets points because they beat a 12-2 team twice, which we didn't do (although we never got to play any). Also a big surprise that 7-7 Houston charted higher than 10-4 New York here. Having 10-4 St. Louis as the best in the East doesn't seem shocking, but putting 10-4 Dallas so far down does.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, December 28, 1967

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[Passacaglia]

Sunday, December 31, 1967

Time to scout our playoff opponent, the Cowboys!

https://i.imgur.com/E6APqSBh.png

Interesting pattern here -- started out 4-0, fell to 4-4, then won 6 straight to get to 10-4. I see that Morton had significant pass attempts, and it turned out, Staubach got hurt after 2 attempts in the Eagles game, and started again in the victory over Baltimore. So they were 10-1 when Staubach played all game -- I don't know what happened in Atlanta

Here's Staubach. Not a world beater, but he's good.

https://i.imgur.com/nvrC18Ph.png

https://i.imgur.com/VmTcCskh.png

Interesting that Morton is actually pretty good. Note that in real life, Staubach wasn't on the roster until 1969 since he served in the Navy, but my file puts him on the Cowboys since they drafted him in 1964. Don Meredith was the starter in real life, but he comes in not looking that great. Anyway, both Staubach and Morton are on the Cowboys for 4 years, so it will be interesting to see what they do.

They've got 57/57 RB Dan Reeves coming back, and 74/74 CB Cornell Green. That's a tough defense, which you can see from the earlier overview.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, January 4, 1968

Hope you had a happy new year -- welcome to 1968!!

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[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 7, 1968

Let's have a look at the Jets!

https://i.imgur.com/UDkSdX1h.png

These guys were 5-0 and well out in front of the division, and never really looked back, though they did go 5-4 in the end. I know we've talked about this, but Joe Namath is not good here -- he's the backup, and Mike Taliaferro is the starter.

https://i.imgur.com/G6JNmydh.png

He's fine, and Namath is something like 46/49. It's tempting to say that they benefitted from being in the East, but AFL scheduling is weird -- they actually played San Diego and Kansas City twice.

https://i.imgur.com/aC0wi31h.png

DE Verlon Biggs (75/75) will probably still be hurt, and they have DT Paul Rochester (62/62) who should probably be a starter. The roster looks solid.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, January 11, 1968

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[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 14, 1968

Let's check out the Chargers -- in San Diego, as they should be!

https://i.imgur.com/tDq12hMh.png

So they won the tiebreaker with the Chiefs. Tough to say who deserves it more -- they split their series, and both teams played the Jets twice. Seems like it came down to division record, which feels a little unsatisfying. But I guess blame the Chiefs for losing to Denver. Anyway, the Chargers started slow, but finished 9-2.

The Chargers are led by QB John Hadl, the 2nd best QB in the leagues. So it makes sense they are 1st in points scored. But...1st in rushing yards, and 22nd in passing yards? Okay.

https://i.imgur.com/Td97h8yh.png

Hadl actually missed the last two games of the season, but he's healthy now.

https://i.imgur.com/r7sbgqBh.png

Their starting NT, George Gross (73/73) got hurt week 2 and is out for the season.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, January 18, 1968

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Original version of "Piece of My Heart" here, by Aretha Franklin's sister. Still have to say Janis Joplin's version is better though.

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[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 25, 1968

Let's go!!!

https://i.imgur.com/jpZGvJKh.png

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, January 25, 1968

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Looks like WR Jim Tucker is still probable, so we're going to hold him out here. He should be ready for the Super Bowl if we make it.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, January 28, 1968

Let's do this! We've got 23 degrees, snow, and an 8 mph wind. Playoff football weather!

https://i.imgur.com/94xGc7eh.png

Slow start for both teams, and some slippery conditions showing themselves. Lincoln makes up for his drop with a nice punt return, though.

https://i.imgur.com/eWkCn3Gh.png

Not great. Garo isn't supposed to do stuff like that until the Super Bowl. But at least we're moving the ball on their tough defense. But we can't let them keep driving on us like that.

https://i.imgur.com/Dk3G0Geh.png

It's never fun to recover a fumble just to be glad you can punt the ball away, but Maguire burying them at the 4 is nice.

https://i.imgur.com/MIuQ62Mh.png

Ugh. For a while there, I was hoping Maher's penalty would result in them missing the 2nd FG attempt, which would have been funny. Anyway, I hate being two scores down.

https://i.imgur.com/NHwCpXOh.png

Looks like the game is settling down some. Hopefully we can turn things around.

https://i.imgur.com/LU6LnLbh.png

There we go! Van Horn's penalty looked like it could have kept us out of field goal range, but we got some big plays and the TD! We need to make sure the Cowboys don't nullify what we made up right before half, though to make it 17-7. I could live with 13-7 and still being one score down, but a TD from them would be very annoying.

https://i.imgur.com/mfQmqQFh.png

Um, what??? Defense coming out of the 2-minute warning strong! And the TD for the lead! The Cowboys had 50 seconds left, and all three timeouts, but didn't use any, and only ran two plays. So we take this score to the half. Let's go, 30 minutes to the Super Bowl!

https://i.imgur.com/ZIIyv6Wh.png

Well this game took a turn. But hey, as long as we're on top now.

https://i.imgur.com/2rKwRCLh.png

I don't know the extent of the rules here -- I'm guessing that this penalty must have technically happened after the play, and that's why we still get the ball?

https://i.imgur.com/dHQh3Jxh.png

No, something is up here. Why would we have the ball 1st and 5 at our own 5? If it were applied after the penalty, shouldn't it be 1st and 15?

https://i.imgur.com/JpB4dKYh.png

Okay, a couple plays, but we stopped them after.

https://i.imgur.com/2cwzLneh.png

Nice!! Game killing drive! 7 minutes off the clock, and we are up 9 points! Hornung's missed extra point is looking huge right now.

https://i.imgur.com/u1GXEJ1h.png

Okay, fine, we didn't get the field goal, but a lot more time has gone off the clock.

https://i.imgur.com/SxVF0geh.png

Oof. Cowboys score pretty quickly, despite a sack from McCord. Hornung with another missed extra point -- that's kind of a relief, now even if they get a field goal, it's just OT, not a Cowboys win. Especially since they've been ready for our run game here, and they get a great punt return to set them up at their 49 -- one good pass, and they are in range.

https://i.imgur.com/XLlYkNFh.png

Nothing doing, our defense holds. We're going to the Super Bowl!!

https://i.imgur.com/P5xxALrh.png

Amazing game from Griese in the snow, especially considering our run game was not really there. Al Hinton a surprising leader in receiving for us. McCord and Clark each come in with a sack, plus 2 from Karras.

And in the AFL, the Chargers get a 4th quarter comeback to beat the Jets!

https://i.imgur.com/kK4zFZBh.png

https://i.imgur.com/VoRla78h.png

Paul Lowe with 124 yards to win the MVP award. I think we talked about the Chargers having a great running game when we looked at them, but what Lowe is doing is kind of amazing. He has been #3 in rushing both 1966 and 1967, and he's #2 overall, and he's rated 50/50!

https://i.imgur.com/oHXg6NKh.png

Anyway, we'll see him in Super Bowl II!

[Passacaglia]

Monday, January 29, 1968

LICKING OUR WOUNDS

We escape unscathed! We should get Tucker back for the Super Bowl!

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, February 1, 1968

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I'd really love it if FOF could do something for media week. Some press conferences for the GM, the coaches, and the players. It doesn't have to be very involved, but it'd really up the immersion factor, and the feeling like you're getting to know the players. But here, we just wait for the big game.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, February 8, 1968

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After hearing the Rationals do a remake of Respect before Aretha Franklin's version, I thought that would be the end of them. But here they are with a cover of I Need You by the Kinks, which was on this chart for several weeks.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, February 10, 1968

Super Bowl tomorrow! I fast-simmed the week and a half until today, time to check in and see how things are going for the team!

https://i.imgur.com/0Me894th.png

Oh yay.

As you can see, I already had put Arnett on my inactive roster. With Tucker coming back in, and I didn't want to take an LB out, there weren't many other options. At RB, Marsh had been killing it in yards per carry, and Arnett was the worst of the three. So it made sense to take Arnett out, and give Marsh more of the load.

So, let's fix this.

https://i.imgur.com/cK3EdtNh.png

Not much changes here. Plum has the flu, but he's the backup, so whatever. The AI recommends making Jacobs into a backup, and putting Daryl Sanders in his place at LT. I think Arnett was returning punts, but now Lincoln will do both.

https://i.imgur.com/gAXJx8ph.png

I've been trying hard lately to make sure no one here gets tired, and was able to do it here, though I had to make sure Malinchak was active.

https://i.imgur.com/XXr1TMdh.png

Losing Wayne Walker made things harder than I thought it would be. I have lots of guys for stopping the run, but without him on passing downs, my only options left were run guys. Also, Moegle comes in at SS on run downs, having been inactive and not played all season.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, February 11, 1968

Here we are in Orlando! It annoys me that FOF9 puts the Super Bowl in random locations. Orlando is probably one of the better options that it chooses, it's at least a big city. And we get more interesting weather -- it's 65 degrees, but we do have heavy rain, and a 15-mph wind. Oh, and our guys have the flu. Should be fun.

https://i.imgur.com/1sykCRch.png

Now that's a good start!

https://i.imgur.com/xlsynRoh.png

Wow. Bass and Marsh with some big catches.

https://i.imgur.com/N6Nfrbah.png

All right, fine. Looks like we may have a game after all.

https://i.imgur.com/ARNsPMWh.png

Settling down a little. We're not running away with this, but at least we stopped them.

https://i.imgur.com/8Pe6Rbph.png

Looked like we had a nice drive going until that blew up.

https://i.imgur.com/Gtelttah.png

We get a nice stop there eventually, and it would have been nice if we hit that FG, but not expected. At least we lead at halftime.

https://i.imgur.com/0m8vBHoh.png

Exchanging a couple short drives.

https://i.imgur.com/sKGX3w8h.png

That pick is pretty annoying, giving the Chargers decent field position.

https://i.imgur.com/xIekeVSh.png

Ugh. Here we go. It's okay, still plenty of time to take back the lead.

https://i.imgur.com/7EznjuCh.png

Blah. Another missed FG. I get it, it's over 50 yards, in the wind and rain, but maybe don't get sacked?

https://i.imgur.com/6NjtYnth.png

Ugh. Obviously stopping them for just a FG was huge, now we just need a TD to take the lead!

https://i.imgur.com/6NUCXTrh.png

There we go!!!

https://i.imgur.com/ieE6S65h.png

Oh, no. It kept seeming like with the Chargers penalties, we might be able to stop them, but once they were in FG range, it actually seemed like the TD was best for us -- just get us the ball back sooner. In the end, the penalties just made their drive take longer.

https://i.imgur.com/ogiP8E2h.png

Nope.

https://i.imgur.com/X1biI0Ph.png

Disappointing. I guess we can say it seems like we're the best team based on our 12-2, plus we've got a rookie QB who should get better, but still, losing the Super Bowl hurts, and no one cares if we are theoretically the best, we want to win Super Bowls. On the plus side, it took us two years to do what the real Lions haven't done in 60.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, February 15, 1968

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[Passacaglia]

Sunday, February 18, 1968

Well, with the AFL winning its 2nd Super Bowl in a row, we keep their logo up on the top screen. We also change the color for 1968, from Gold to Olive, to move us from that mid-60s feel to something more late 60s. Here's your all stars:

https://i.imgur.com/F4PsapGh.png

We're also introducing another change, that I hope will help increase the immersion -- Monday Night Football. In real life, MNF doesn't start until 1970, but I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that in a war for ratings between the two leagues, that they'd decide to start this a little earlier. We're going to assume the NFL gets Monday Night Football, and we'll have the AFL choose Saturday night games in retaliation -- they already had several Saturday games, but we're going to make sure they get one every week. We're also going to give each league the chance to choose the game pulled out the week before, so we're sure to get a good game, instead of having to choose it when the season starts and be stuck with what they get.

While we're talking schedule, here is ours:

https://i.imgur.com/dj5zOdPh.png

Pittsburgh takes the last-place-in-the-East-playing-everyone spot. And we get Dallas in our regular East matchup.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, February 22, 1968

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R6L14yPKonI?si=c2wT-a2kGUxUdegh" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, February 29, 1968

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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9i7o-Wtsefo?si=B76VSdataEJSiJVH" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, March 7, 1968

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[Passacaglia]

Monday, March 11, 1968

We already knew this, but the cap is going up another $1M to $7.2M.

This brings up what to do about the next cap increase. This is a 5-year contract, so when it's done, it'll be 1971, with a cap of $10.2M, way higher than the $7.4M it should be with a 7% increase. I'm trying to decide between a 0-1 increase, and a 0-2 increase. A 0-2 increase sounds insane, since a $2M increase would put us at $20.2M in 1976, when it should be $10.4M. But, I feel like there should be a chance for the increase to be larger than it was in the last contract. And even if we're way ahead, the cap goes up so much, it's going to catch up eventually. I'd love to hear thoughts here.

Also, we've got some retirements. On our team, we lose DT Jim Champion -- he was our pass-rushing DT who got a big injury during the season, and Dicky Moegle, our run-stopping Safety who didn't play all year until the Super Bowl.

Others:

Minnesota FB J.D. Smith -- All-League 1st team FB for the Eagles in 1966, then signed for the Vikings in 1967

Philadelphia C Jim Ringo -- Solid player, started both seasons.

Jets G Gene Hickerson -- Also solid, played for the Browns in 1966, traded to the Jets in 1967.

Washington T George Preas -- You may remember that we signed him early in 1967, then cut him so Hinze could take over. Did you notice Hinze was All-League 2nd team in 1967??? Anyway, I guess Preas is done.

Cleveland DT Rosey Grier -- All-League 2nd team in 1967. Played for the Rams in 1966, then Cleveland. He had 7.5 sacks for the Browns.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, March 12, 1968

We're not doing any stadium nonsense, so let's look at the cap situation.

https://i.imgur.com/KapYCMXh.png

We've got the least room, but it's still a lot.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, March 13, 1968

Ticket prices -- we just go with the recommendation

Next up is coaching changes. We really like the guys we have, and they did an amazing job improving this team. I'd forgotten how bad we were in 1966, at 1-13, before improving to 12-2 in 1967! So we're not even going to look at other coaches, at any level, we're going to roll with this.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, March 14, 1968

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It looks like none of the other teams made coaching changes, either. Based on the transaction log, all I see is teams that re-signed the coaches they already had. Scrolling through all the teams confirms everyone has the same staff exactly as last year.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday March 20, 1968

Draft Preview -- Since we draft 23rd, I'm not going to get too worked up about the draft right now. The top two prospects are QBs -- Ken Stabler and Bruce Lemmerman. Stabler looks by far better.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, March 21, 1968

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Franchise player day.

https://i.imgur.com/wEVrfpsh.png

There's one player on this list that's asking for more than the franchise salary, and that's Darris McCord. It's a tough call -- franchise money for someone who's technically a backup, but also a guy who had 11 sacks. He's in his 14th year, and I kind of assumed he would retire. But I guess I should be glad he isn't? I'll tag him now, but keep an eye on him, as a way to cut costs if I need to.

Here are all the franchise players:

https://i.imgur.com/YSzUMWgh.png

Questionable choice. But 11 sacks!

https://i.imgur.com/CiGiFGsh.png

Great choice for the Bills. In real-life, the Bills at this time had two good QBs in Lamonica and Kemp, and eventually chose Kemp as their guy, trading Lamonica to Oakland in March 1967. That was a huge trade of interest to this dynasty -- Buffalo traded Lamonica and Bass for Art Powell and Tom Flores. But here, Buffalo let Bass walk in FA, and Oakland has held on to Powell and Flores, who are both doing amazing. And Kemp sucks, so Buffalo has to keep Lamonica -- and franchising him at $140K is great for them. He was hurt last year, but if he stays healthy and plays like 1966, they'll be much better.

https://i.imgur.com/zxidXrph.png

Another team where the expected QB didn't come in as good as he should. But Taliaferro looks good enough to make up for missing out on Namath. 2nd Team All-League last year, and they are getting him for $140K also. Get these guys while you can, because that number is sure to go up soon.

https://i.imgur.com/BUeEEd7h.png

Good choice here. He's missed a few games each season, but when he's been healthy, he's been good, and on top of the receiving charts. But $540K is a lot to pay. They franchised him last year, too.

https://i.imgur.com/5X8Utyrh.png

Another player franchised for the 2nd year in a row. $270K for a top CB like that seems like a good deal.

https://i.imgur.com/Zjf8IH3h.png

Another move that makes sense -- I feel like if you've got a QB who's any good at all, with the franchise price this low, might as well do it. Morrall is rated 57/57, and looks like he really cut down on the picks last year.

https://i.imgur.com/h8z4AVKh.png

Rough year for Bill Nelsen. While we went from worst-to-first, Pittsburgh did the opposite. Still, he's 59/59, so I guess it makes sense to keep him? They've got the #2 pick, so I'll be curious what they do with the QB situation here. Miami has the #1 pick, and their best QB is coach's son George Wilson, who sucks. Will they take Stabler, or stick with the coach's son? And if they do take Stabler, is the #2 guy, Lemmerman, worth taking? My guess is that the Dolphins do take Stabler (FOF doesn't know the QB is the coach's son), and the Steelers don't bother with Lemmerman -- although I was way off in predicting this last year.

https://i.imgur.com/k1tkpJjh.png

What?? Donna Reed didn't retire?! No, he's back for a 17th year. And the Falcons, who spent 990K on him last year, get to franchise him for $140K this year. They moved up from 1-13 to 5-9 last year with that big cap hit -- can they move up even more now that they have him on the cheap?

[Passacaglia]

Friday, March 22, 1967

Time to sign the rest of our players!

https://i.imgur.com/h8C8dcJh.png

HUGE sigh of relief here. When I was looking at the salary cap chart last night, I saw the 27 on the far right, and thought that's how many players I had on roster for THIS year. I didn't notice the column on the far left, with 39, whew. It's 40 now that I've signed McCord, too.

Plum's demands went up since yesterday -- I swear when I looked then, he wanted 100K, and now he wants 570K. Whatever. His Attitude is listed as Furious, so my guess is he wouldn't sign with me even if I wanted to spend the 570K. Bye, Felicia.

https://i.imgur.com/5gBpCxdh.png

We've still got Tommy Mason as our starter, but here's what Arnett and Marsh want. This is tough -- Arnett is "better" but he ran for 3.99 yards per carry, and Marsh ran for 5.98 (Mason was at 4.25). Is it worth bringing Arnett back? Is it worth paying the money Marsh wants? Paul Lowe is sitting there for the Chargers -- I just mentioned how he's run for 1200 yards in 1966 and 1967, and he was first-team All-League last year. If the Chargers don't sign him, maybe he's an option. For the record, Mason's salary is 290K. I'm tempted to just say "screw it" and wait for late FA here.

https://i.imgur.com/V1xmM2jh.png

Another situation similar to RB, except for that these are our 1-2 TEs, not 2-3. Keeping both seems out of the question. Much like RB, it's tempting to pass on both guys, and if I can get Ferguson and Kocourek to pair with McLeod, maybe I'm fine, and I've saved 500K for a small dip in quality.

https://i.imgur.com/2NGasv6h.png

Here's our WRs last year. I'm looking at yards per route as my measure of efficiency. First of all, I'm surprised Hinton got so many routes compared to Finch, but eh. Hinton and Tucker are both in the "well over 1.5" range. Malinchak is over 2, and Finch is 1-1.5, and Bass is above 3.

https://i.imgur.com/IdVMQT8h.png

Hinton looks like he could be a good deal, and I want to add a 6th WR next year. But Coia is sitting there -- as long as the Oilers don't sign him today. His yards per route is 3.6, and you can tell I'm regretting that I cut him last year. I think I'm going to pass on Hinton. While his yards per route is among our best, I think I'm going to demand more from a veteran. My dream will be something like Bass and Gary Ballman as our starters (his yards per route is 2.5, and I'll hope that goes up on our team), Coia and Malinchak as 3rd and 4th guys, Tucker can be #5, and a rookie at #6.

Garo's 3rd year, and still an RFA. He's the best K available and wants only 90K. I'll sign him now to get it over with.

Bill Burrell was brought in as a run-stopping ILB, and he's the ILB with the best run defense available. However, one thing I learned from 1967 is that having a guy in the depth chart for those goal-line situations isn't all that helpful, since it happens so rarely. Still, he's a solid player, and only wants 70K. I'll sign him.

Ernie Clark is fresh off winning First-Team All-League OLB, and wants a lot for it -- 460K. I know I didn't play him much last year, but I still have 2nd round pick Jim Lynch here, who I do like. I felt like I kinda regretted paying Hilgenberg 200-300K per year, and Clark wants a deal that's going to be 620K in 1970. I'm fine letting Clark walk and starting Lynch.

Maher feels like the kind of guy who ended up on my roster because I was making so many other changes that he kind of slipped through. With Webb having such low endurance, I feel like I could use someone better as my 3rd safety. On the other hand, the guys available aren't that much better, so maybe it's not worth making a change just to move up from 43/43 to 49/49? Or to get a 43/43 that's cheaper and save 30-50K? I'm not going to sign him now, but keep him in mind as we hit FA.

And we'll sign our long snapper, he's good.

Before I move on to the next day, I'm really having a tough time deciding on Marsh. It's a lot of money, but 6 yards per carry is really good. And maybe if I don't sign Arnett, and make Mason and Marsh a 1-2 punch, I can maximize it better. His $320K hit would be a big chunk of my $1.2M left, but I have 43 players signed already, so maybe I can afford it.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, March 23, 1968

We signed Marsh. That puts us at 44 players signed, 900K in cap room.

Around the league, what seemed interesting to me is that way more players were released than re-signed. I get that the first day is designed for teams to clear cap room before free agency starts, but everyone already had a ton of cap room -- what are you all clearing more for?

Here's the cap situation now:

https://i.imgur.com/u2gRpbKh.png

Now let's hit the market!

https://i.imgur.com/1Alobd9h.png

We've already planned to let Plum walk. Shaw feels like an adequate backup, and the 3rd QB spot seems perfect for a rookie to step into. My only consideration here is that Plum is a QB mentor. The only other mentor available in FA is Babe Parilli. He led the Patriots to two crappy 4-10 seasons, but he'd be good enough as a backup and mentor. He wants 120K, so my thought is if we get him, we'd let Shaw go. As I talk about it more, I like the idea more. I'll make an offer.

https://i.imgur.com/mu5vIAQh.png

A moment of regret that I didn't sign Arnett, but then I remembered that I want to get Marsh more carries. I think I'm fine to run with Mason, Marsh, and Lincoln here. Although I am seeing a return man that I like better. This guy:

https://i.imgur.com/xDNjgrNh.png

He's been sitting by the phone a lot, apparently. He started 1966 on the Colts, but got cut in September. He signed with the Broncos in 1967, but got cut again in September. So, no stats for him to see how good he is as a return man. Maybe he's too much of a defensive liability to keep on the roster? And maybe Lincoln has some chops as a 3rd RB or WR that are useful? Or maybe we keep both? Lincoln was not great as a kick returner, but he was #4 as a punt returner (#3 if you get rid of the guy with only 1 return). But that's 22 returns for 303 yards -- is that worth a roster spot, when another guy might get 4 less yards per return, on 1-2 returns per game? What the hell, I'll put an offer on Haymond, he's cheap anyway.

FB -- we'll keep Lind, no one is better.

https://i.imgur.com/L29iMXEh.png

We need to replace Kramer and Anderson here.

https://i.imgur.com/XnQ0xzQh.png

I'll put in an offer on Ferguson here, and wait to see how things shake out before taking a 3rd. Maybe somehow we're able to get Kramer or Anderson, or no one else here seems good and we draft someone.

https://i.imgur.com/afdAahnh.png

We've talked WR a lot, probably because I think it's an important position. And we need to improve on it. I really want a player as good as Bass to pair him with.

https://i.imgur.com/XRPpBbUh.png

Huge error for the Vikings here, cutting Rentzel! Last year, they signed him to a 3-year, $1.21M deal, and they cut him after 1 year of it? I can't see what the cap hit was for his bonus, but whatever. He had 1462 yards last year! And they cut him! And they're sitting on $3.9M in cap room! I don't know what they're thinking they'll spend that on, but we'll put in an offer on the 4th year WR. And we're also putting in an offer on Coia.

C -- We are good here with Stem and Whitlow. We could upgrade Whitlow by a few points, but it's not worth the 40K it would take. He's fine for a backup C.

G -- We've got three good players on good deal with Van Horn, Leo, and Kowalkowski. There are a couple guys who are 37/62 that could be good future guys, but they are in their 5th and 6th year. Probably getting late early for them.

T -- Similar to G, we've got guys that are pretty good, and cheap, in Jacobs, Hinze, and Sanders. We could look at upgrading the LT spot to 63/63 Jim Mazurek, but it would cost us $330K, while Jacobs is 53/53 for $80K. Not putting in an offer yet, but something to keep an eye on.

ST -- Maguire is a better punter than anyone in FA, and we just signed Garo, so we are good here.

https://i.imgur.com/BF9CiIlh.png

We talked DE some when we franchised McCord, but here's another look. We've got Hudas and Hand in to stop the run, and McCord and Muff to come in on passing downs. All under $100K other than McCord. No one seems better at those roles than any of these guys. Best run defender available is Appledoorn, who we cut last year. And there's guys with more sacks, and better technique (but not strength) than Muff, but they want more money. There's Gregg Schumacher, who has a slightly better technique and strength, but he only had 2 sacks compared to Muff's 5.5, and he's an RFA anyway. Doesn't make sense to replace Muff. Same with McCord -- the only guy close to his 11 sacks is Jerry Miller with 10. He does bring in more run defense, but his pass rushing strength isn't as good. And he wants more money than McCord anyway.

https://i.imgur.com/BdSHzMph.png

We've still got Karras and Rush on good deals, no need to replace them. I need a pass rushing guy to replace Jim Champion, though. I'm going with Chuck Walker -- I usually look for both technique and strength, but he had 6 sacks last year, so even though his strength is 19, I'm going to trust his 95 technique and his production.

ILB -- We signed Burrell to be our #3, and I dunno. I'm a little unsure of what to do here. We've got good enough guys cheap, and like T, we could upgrade if we want to spend. But these guys were good enough to get us 12-2 and to the Super Bowl, so I don't see the need for a change.

https://i.imgur.com/HlIt9Ikh.png

https://i.imgur.com/nMHEBnKh.png

Clark wants too much -- he's gone. We're going to hope Lynch can fill in for him. Toblerone makes too much to be the same guy as Furey, and I don't know why I had 6 OLBs when I only want 4 anyway. I'm thinking we roll with Hilgenberg and Lynch as starters, Walker and Furey as backups, no need to bring in anyone else.

https://i.imgur.com/EvUDMEMh.png

John Griffin makes an awful lot to be our #2 CB. Everyone better is older and wants more money, though. We'll stick. Maybe a good 1st round pick option here, though.

https://i.imgur.com/ssDfJ5oh.png

We probably need a good replacement for Maher. We can get Jim Hudson, a 49/49, for cheaper. We'll try that.

https://i.imgur.com/mj7tBcJh.png

And there's our plan. We've got 44 guys on roster, we want to bring in 7 more here. Adding 7 draft picks puts us at 58, and we already have some cuts planned.

Parilli -- 120K
Ferguson -- 80K
Rentzel -- 400K
Coia -- 120K
Walker -- 70K
Hudson -- 50K
Haymond -- 40K

That's 870K, just under my 900K to spend. I'm glad I kept Marsh.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, March 24, 1968

A recap of last night:

First UFA signing is...Jon Arnett! Teams were falling all over themselves to get this guy on the cheap. 10 teams made offers, from 50K to 80K for a 1-year deal, and he signs with the Giants, since they were the only team to offer 80. He slots as the starter there.

https://i.imgur.com/uN0c2JJh.png

Lou Cordileone signs a deal worth 300K this year, to the 49ers -- the Giants had just cut him on the 22nd, and he signs the next day. The Giants could have surely used him -- they have a 45/45 and a 40/40 as starters now. The 49ers can use him -- they have a 53/53 who's out for 8 weeks, a 42/42, and a 41/41 as starters in their 43. Still, there's DTs just as good to be had for cheaper.

No other offers were made on our targets, so we sit and wait.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, March 25, 1968

Last night recap (I've started phrasing it this way since even these transactions show up the day before, after you hit the "simulate day" button for that day, so when I am on March 24, I don't see these, but once I move to March 25, they have happened with the March 24 date):

Milt Plum signs! He gets offer from the Patriots, Dolphins, and Broncos, but chooses the Raiders, who to be fair, offered him the most money -- $1.44M for 2 years. I guess he'll start there over Flores -- Plum is 58/58 and Flores is 55/55. Seems like they just invited themselves into a QB controversy. And Flores is good, with a 90+ rating for both 1966 and 1967. Denver probably didn't need him either -- they picked up Cuozzo last year, who's 52/52 and good enough. But Boston and Miami could have made him a starter right away. Boston and Miami we've already talked about -- Boston's best QB was Babe Parilli, who's 43/43 and a free agent anyway, and Miami has coach's son George Wilson, who's 38/41. Those two teams make way more sense, and I'm not sure why Denver and Oakland even offered.

Oakland RB Clem Daniels signs with the Browns. Daniels had 1486 yards last year on 242 carries -- 6.14 yards per carry. But Oakland didn't bother making an offer. I guess that money was earmarked for Plum. :confused: The Brons have Leroy Kelly, a 74/74 RB who's really underwhelmed, and been injured.

WR Charley Hennigan moves from St. Louis to the Giants. Hennigan is the yin to the yang of the WRs that I have been looking at.

https://i.imgur.com/YQjcZeNh.png

He's rated 57/57, which is pretty solid, and he's got 1393 yards last year, which is awesome, but it came from 509 routes -- they really worked him. He was First-Team All-League, but in my head, I'd rather have guys getting 3 yards per route instead of his 2.7 -- I guess his number is not that much worse, and maybe with less routes run, he'd be more efficient. Still, I saw that 500+ number and passed.

Lance Rentzel signs...with the Cowboys. Oh drat.

66/66 DE Joe Robb signs with the Falcons. He was released by the Cardinals on the 22nd.

54/54 DE John Paluck signs with the Redskins, he'd been on the Jets.

61/61 CB Dave Whitsell signs with the Oilers. He's on his 3rd team in three years -- Chicago in 1966, Giants in 1967.

So mad about Rentzel. I guess I'll go down to Ballman, who I'd been pining for based on rating before Rentzel got cut. It's probably karma that after dumping on Hennigan for his 2.7 yards per route, I'm going after a guy with less than 2.3 yards per route last year. I guess I'll just have to hope he brings different things to the table? It'll be a learning experience, I guess.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, March 26, 1968

Last night recap:

We've got a trade!!

Buffalo trades their 7th round pick in 1969 to the Bears for a 44/44 C named Howard Keys. He's the best C that Buffalo has now, and leaves the Bears with just a 17/43. All right.

On to more important things! Gary Ballman signs...with Houston. Screw life.

Another WR, the Broncos 57/57 Lionel Taylor, signs with Miami.

Next signee is 61/61 LT Riley Mattson. He was on the Bears in 1966, they re-signed him for $1.8M/4 years in 1967, cut him on March 22nd, 1968, then offered him a 3-year deal for 920K! He turned it (and several other offers) down to sign with the Cardinals, 3 years, 960K. Look, I know $1.8M for 4 years is a lot, but maybe think of that in 1967 if you don't like it? The Bears have $3.3M left in cap room, they could have just kept him if they wanted him, no need to get cute here.

58/58 DE Maury Youmans, who was cut by Green Bay on the 22nd, signs with the Bears.

62/62 DT Dave Costa signs with the Giants, where he will replace Cordileone. Good move by the Giants here -- they save a little money and get someone better. Costa was getting very little playing time in Buffalo, and he'll get a chance to start.

63/63 DT Ed Khayat signs with the Broncos from Miami.

57/57 CB Fred Williamson signs with the Pittsburgh from the Chiefs.

And we have a trade offer! The Raiders want Mike Lucci, and are willing to give us their 4th and 5th for Lucci and our 6th. I don't know. It feels like I could go out and get a guy as good as Lucci in FA right now, so it's like they're giving me the picks. On the other hand, I cut all my picks last year, so do I really want more? It seems like it's not worth the change.

Main thing is the need for another WR now that Ballman signed elsewhere. As I keep looking at yards per route, it's tempting to say screw it and start Coia. But I'm going to go with Jim Vickers. He's 59/59 and got about 2 yards per route. I'm not loving it, but I feel like I need someone starting who is rated high, instead of putting it all on this one stat.

Thinking about it more, I will do the trade for Lucci. There's a 56/56 ILB available for not much more in cap hit, so it gives me a chance to upgrade there.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, March 27, 1968

Last night's recap:

60/60 RB Billy Ray Barnes signs with the Steelers from Miami.

Atlanta 55/55 WR Tommy McDonald signs with the Chiefs. He was Second Team All-League in 1966 with the Rams, and had 1000 yards both years.

59/59 WR Jim Vickers signs...with the Broncos. Man.

Oakland 63/63 LT Jim Mazurek signs with the Oilers.

San Francisco 52/52 RT Walt Rock signs with the Browns.

Los Angeles 52/52 RT Bob Nichols signs with the Cowboys.

This #2 WR thing is getting to be annoying.

https://i.imgur.com/JW6Lkm3h.png

So we're really needing to test this yards per route thing. Burford is the top guy on the list, and his YPR is less than 2. McNeil is next, his is a little over 2. Dial is a little over 2. Phillips is 1.1, but he still wants a ton of money! Gillett is less than 2. Flatley is at 3.3! But he wants as much money as the higher rated guys. When I was salivating over Rentzel, I avoided Flatley, because I didn't want to take two WRs from Minnesota -- especially knowing they have Fran Tarkenton, the best QB in the league, and he's probably bringing their YPR up. But -- look at Red Phillips! He's at 1.1 and played on the same team!

Whatever. I'm going with Flatley. He wants a ton of money -- a 5 year $2.32M deal -- but I'm at my wit's end. I've tried chasing the higher rated guys and failing, it's time to see what focusing on production can do. Even on that note, Coia is more productive and asking for less, but whatever. Whatever.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, March 28, 1968

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Good pair of jams today -- you've got the Parliaments, with George Clinton, before they became Parliament, and Bobby Taylor and the Vancouvers, including Tommy Chong. Obviously from Vancouver, but included here since they were signed with Motown.

Last night's recap:

More of the high-rated WRs sign -- McNeil with the Oilers, Dial with the Vikings, and Burford with the Broncos.

Cleveland 56/56 DE Paul Wiggin signs with Oakland.

Chicago 53/53 DE Jerry Miller signs with St. Louis.

Philadelphia 52/52 DT Dale Dodrill signs with Chicago.

Houston 52/52 DE Don Floyd signs with San Francisco.

Baltimore 60/60 S Jim Welch signs with Dallas.

Well, we don't have to shop for a new WR today! Flatley is at #3 on the list now, with two 50/50 guys ahead of him. AND, we still haven't signed anyone!

[Passacaglia]

Friday, March 29, 1968

Recap of last night:

Cleveland 48/48 LT Norm Masters signs with Buffalo.

Miami 51/51 DE Dan Lanphear signs with Pittsburgh. Lanphear was Second Team All-League in 1967 and had 14.5 sacks. Another productive guy buried among guys rated higher than him.

Cleveland 57/57 CB Bernie Parrish signs with Washington.

Still nothing for us.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, March 30, 1968

Recap of last night:

Chicago 57/57 G Mike Rabold signs with Pittsburgh.

Oakland 51/51 DT Tom Keating signs with Chicago.

Kansas City 56/56 ILB Gene Jones signs with Detroit! Although now he looks 54/54, it's still an upgrade over Lucci.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, March 31, 1968

Houston 46/46 WR Jim Eaton signs with Buffalo.

San Diego 45/45 DE Jim Griffin signs with the Jets.

Washington 49/49 DE Ron Snidow signs with Atlanta.

Denver 49/49 DE Maury Schleicher signs with Boston.

Kansas City 46/46 DT Riley Gunnels signs with Denver.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, April 1, 1968

Our backup TE Bill Anderson signs with the Vikings! $240K for 1 year.

And Paul Flatley signs with us! We'll see how this goes.

Green Bay 46/46 RT Steve Wright signs with Chicago.

Giants 52/52 ILB Jerry Hillebrand signs with Denver.

Washington 52/52 CB and worst sentence name ever, Dick Felt, signs with the Giants.

Giants 51/51 CB Dick Lynch signs with the Raiders.

Raiders 51/51 CB Willie Daniel signs with the Falcons.

Cowboys 53/53 S Elbert Kimbrough signs with the Oilers.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, April 2, 1968

Buffalo 44/44 RB Dan Lewis signs with the Eagles.

Our old starting TE Ron Kramer signs with Miami! $330K for 1 year.

Jets 48/48 WR Don Serier signs with San Francisco.

Eagles 55/55 OLB Mike Morgan signs with Baltimore.

Our old starting OLB Ernie Clark signs with the Jets! 3 years, $1.33M.

Bears 46/46 CB Billy Majors signs with Minnesota.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, April 3, 1968

Everyone signs for us here!

https://i.imgur.com/X6CT3Bzh.png

No big signings worth mentioning -- our old WR Al Hinton signs with the Eagles.

So we're at 51 players, 8 draft picks now, $110K left to spend. I'm scoping out 58/58 TE Perry McGriff with that money. He wants $230K, which we can afford by cutting our OLB Toblerone -- a shame I didn't give him that nickname until after deciding he's gone, but I guess that speaks to the fact that he didn't make much of an impact here anyway.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, April 4, 1968

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McGriff rejects our offer and signs with the Eagles.

I'm looking at our WRs and deciding I want to go all-in on this YPR thing. Finch is mucking it up -- at 48/48, he'll be our #3 guy, and he's got a YPR less than 1. I'm going to make an offer to Jack Elwell -- he's 41/43, and his YPR is 2.2 overall, and it was 3.5 last year. He played for Buffalo last year, so maybe he's a mini-Bass.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, April 5, 1968

We got Elwell! No need to cut Finch yet, though I'm sure we will eventually.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, April 6, 1968

A trade last night!

The Eagles trade their 4th round pick in 1968 and their 5th round pick in 1969 to the Rams for 67/67 C Ken Iman. They didn't have a C on roster, so they needed him. Of course, now the Rams don't have a C on roster. Okay.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, April 10, 1968

Toblerone signed with the Steelers last night.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, April 11, 1968

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[Passacaglia]

Friday, April 12, 1968

Another trade last night! Baltimore trades their 7th round pick in 1969 for this dude:

https://i.imgur.com/pdBVBMsh.png

I guess he's not worth that much because of his age? The Colts already had 51/51 Mike Hudock, also in his 13th year. And the Broncos are left with 21/56 3rd year guy Bill Moorer. Okay.

Also, the last FA left on our roster from last year, Bruce Maher, signs with the Jets.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, April 16, 1968

Another trade last night!

Chiefs send their 5th round pick in 1968 and 4th round pick in 1969
Eagles send their 7th round pick in 1968 and 53/53 G Jim Skaggs

The Chiefs had a 62/62, a 44/44, and a 37/45, so Skaggs is an upgrade.
The Eagles are left with a 45/63, a 41/49, and a 21/28. Maybe they figure the 41/49 can take the starting job and they don't lose much.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, April 18, 1968

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[Passacaglia]

Sunday, April 21, 1968

No fifth-year extension choices for us. No one else has any in the transactions log, either.

With early FA all done, it's a good time to look at the salary cap report again.

https://i.imgur.com/I2asEZYh.png

Looks like we are the only team really trying here.

[Passacaglia]

Tuesday, April 23, 1968

The draft starts today! Here are our needs:

QB -- Could use a 3rd to replace Shaw
RB -- We've got 3, but maybe a 3rd to replace Lincoln, since Haymond will be the primary return guy
TE -- Need a 3rd here
WR -- We've got 7, but plan to cut Finch and Tucker, and once that's done, we'll need a 6th
ILB -- Need a 4th
CB -- Need a 6th

1st round targets, where we would want a potential starter in year 2, are pretty much anywhere except QB and maybe RB.

That's 6 spots we need for the 8 picks. We're at 51 players now, and have 4 cuts planned (Shaw, Lincoln, Finch, Tucker), so that will take us to 55. I guess that gives us a little wiggle room to draft players outside of those needs.

So...let's go!

Miami drafts Ken Stabler. That's interesting -- I thought about showing the mock drafts. Two of them had Stabler going #2, and two had him going #3, but all of them had Miami drafting ILB Al Beauchamp. Stabler is a much better choice.

And at #2 we have a trade! The Steelers trade the pick to the Rams, for their 1st round pick in 1969, and their 3rd and 4th in 1968. The Rams have the #5 pick in this draft, too. It seems like getting the #5 pick would have made more sense for Pittsburgh, rather than a 1st round pick where you don't know what you'll get. Anyway, the Rams take RB Jim Kiick. That's a need, he'll start.

Boston Patriots choose T Dick Himes, that's a need for them.

Eagles choose DE Tommy Hart, also a need.

The Rams take LT Art Shell. Not much of a need, they had 65/65 Joe Carollo.

At 6, there's another trade! You're not going to believe this one, guys. The Rams coming in again! Maybe they really couldn't choose between two players? They trade their 2nd round picks in 1968, 1969, and 1970 to the Browns for the pick. They take S Dick Anderon, a position of not much need, since they had 75/75 Eddie Meador and 59/59 George Youngblood.

We'll skip to the next trade, at pick 19, and -- are you kidding me? The Rams again! They trade their 3rd round picks in 1969 and 1970, and their 4th round pick in 1969, and the Vikings I guess say "sure" to that. And to top it off, they take another Safety! Ronnie Ehrig.

https://i.imgur.com/MxYFxPCh.png

Now, it's our turn. Our staff suggest T John Williams.

https://i.imgur.com/LhIo7psh.png

That dude seems like a no.

On top of the board is Bruce Lemmerman. We obviously don't need a QB this high, and like I said a while back, he's not that good.

The guy on the list is Al Beauchamp. This is the guy who was unanimously mocked at #1 to the Dolphins. And it's a position where he has a path to starting.

https://i.imgur.com/p5dGiTFh.png

That looks more like it!

Not at the top of the list, but tied for the top WR left, is Haven Moses.

https://i.imgur.com/uEIbKFLh.png

This took some deliberation. Part of me was thinking Moses might fall to me in the 2nd, but wasn't sure. Then I remembered this video that albionmoonlight posted a little over a week ago, - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8rolEibsPg) -- I watched that whole thing and nodded my head the whole time, thinking it made a ton of sense. So I'm going to take the WR, Moses.

The Chargers respond by taking a different ILB, Dean Halverson. Okay.

[Passacaglia]

Wednesday, April 24, 1968

Day 2 of the draft!

2nd round goes by with no trades:

https://i.imgur.com/cHPcJpch.png

Beauchamp didn't fall, not like I (completely) expected him to. That RT my staff suggested, John Williams, got taken eventually. Four WRs went off the board, so it seems unlikely that Moses would have fallen to me in the late 2nd. The CB that I was kind of eyeing, John Dockery, was also taken.

Now we need someone.

Our staff suggests LT Sam McDowell. I get it, LT is not exactly a strength for us. But this doesn't seem like the answer:

https://i.imgur.com/ZZlKpp3h.png

After Lemmerman, another ILB is at the top of the board -- Jim Cheyunski.

https://i.imgur.com/nolYKNwh.png

And I don't see anyone else I'm interested in. Cheyunski's the pick.

And we start off the 3rd round with a trade!

Miami sends 3.1 to Green Bay, and gets a 5th in 1968, a 3rd in 1969, and a 7th in 1970. Okay. Green Bay takes the best FB in the draft class, Cid Edwards. They already have 56/56 Jim Taylor, but he's in his 11th year. I don't think FB is the kind of position you need to have a backup plan on the ready for, but whatever.

Another trade at 3.16! Green Bay sends that pick to San Francisco, in return they get a 4th and 5th in 1968, and a 4th in 1970. The 49ers also take a FB -- well not really. Larry Csonka gets slotted as a RB in this league, even though he played FB in real life. I endorse, this is exactly what the player generator is supposed to do, I don't want a guy like Csonka wasted as an FB, when he should be in as a ball-carrier.

Here's the rest of the 3rd round:

https://i.imgur.com/yod0vilh.png

Our pick is up, and the phone rings! It's a trade offer from the Eagles!

https://i.imgur.com/2XwxkAxh.png

I don't love it. Other than the 1st and 2nd round, I pretty much hate draft picks, and I don't feel like I particularly want more of them. It's tempting to trade down if no one looks good here, but if no one looks good here, why do I want worse picks? But I'll keep it in mind as I make my choice. We still need a QB, RB, TE, and CB. QB and RB are pretty much just roster filler spots, but TE and CB would be nice to get quality guys.

No one I love here, which makes sense. I see a TE that I like -- Gary Houser -- who is the 4th TE on the list. I could see trading down and getting him later. But the CB I like most -- John Woitt -- is tied for 2nd best CB. I don't want to risk him getting taken before 4.23, so I'll draft him now. Oh, my staff suggests RB Robert Holmes, who's on top of the board, but doesn't look amazing or anything.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, April 25, 1968

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Day 3 of the draft!

I forgot I had pick 4.15 from my trade with Oakland. Whoops. I probably still didn't want to risk Woitt getting taken there. One CB was taken later in the 3rd after my pick, and none so far in the 4th. Ah well. I guess I'll grab the TE, Houser, now.

At 4.23, my staff suggests RB Essex Johnson. RB is next on my list, and he seems fine, so whatever. I take him.

At 5.15, the last spot on my list is a QB. There's a handful of decent guys there, so I'm going to wait until my last pick. My staff suggests RT Charley Brown, and he seems decent, so I'll go there.

At 5.23, my staff suggests DT Jim Urbanek, but he looks so so bad. I've had my eye on ILB Gordon Lambert, who's #2 on the board, and his run defense is maxed. I know I'm supposed to have learned from 1967 that I don't need players for my short yardage and goal-line defense, since that's like a few plays per game, but I can't resist taking him here.

And at 7.23, there's still a couple QBs that I kinda liked. It was tough to choose between Mike Livingston and Greg Landry, but I went with Landry.

[Passacaglia]

Friday, April 26, 1968

Let's have a look at who we got!

https://i.imgur.com/1VtINtyh.png

Nothing earth-shattering, but I'm not going to cry about it. My 1st and 2nd round guys are good enough to be solid contributors in their 2nd year, and that's about all I want. Houser is a big bust, but Landry looks like he could develop into a solid backup/marginal starter if I needed him to.

Also, some holdouts:

https://i.imgur.com/kWdGhtfh.png

Interesting that two of them were franchise tags. The other two are pretty middling players, so not sure what's up with that.

And we're ready to get late free agency started. We don't want much:

https://i.imgur.com/XP6inZDh.png

Just looking to replace some bad draft picks we made.

[Passacaglia]

Saturday, April 27, 1968

Rejected by Leinert. Made another offer to Bob Apisa.

[Passacaglia]

Sunday, April 28, 1968

Nemiah Wilson accepts.

[Passacaglia]

Monday, April 29, 1968

Kocourek accepts, Apisa rejects. Forget this, I'll just keep Lincoln as my 3rd RB.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, May 2, 1968

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Summer vacation is here!

We can take some time to look at some 1st round picks we talked about.

https://i.imgur.com/rCsM2Hyh.png

Ken Stabler looks like he'll be solid. Good enough to clearly start this year, and some good potential.

https://i.imgur.com/NKPAFldh.png

Kiick looks good. I've been operating under the assumption that RB's are a dime a dozen here, but Kiick is #2 overall in future value. #3 is Tommy Mason. So maybe I'm just spoiled. #1 is Cleveland's Leroy Kelly, so I guess they aren't missing Jim Brown that much.

Dick Himes went #3, and he's a solid 34/72 RT for Boston.

Tommy Hart went #4, and he's a 49/75 DE. Great pick for the Eagles.

https://i.imgur.com/sEWs0AHh.png

Art Shell is a great pick at #5 -- as good as Himes, and I'd rather have an LT than an RT.

https://i.imgur.com/whocww5h.png

Dick Anderson is a good prospect here, but seems hard to justify the 6th overall pick, especially trading up to get him. Remember, the Rams already had someone at 59/59. I'd love getting him in the 2nd, but if I'm taking an S this early, I'd want his future to be in the 80s.

https://i.imgur.com/y6RiFqNh.png

We have our first bust! The Falcons receiving corps is so bad that he may start anyway, but he will surely disappoint for the 7th overall pick.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, May 9, 1968

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Let's talk about some more 1st round busts, that's fun!

8. Chicago -- RT Russ Washington, 30/57 (maybe that's marginal)
9. Buffalo -- WR Jim Beirne, 30/38
11. Houston -- CB John Outlaw, 33/54
14. San Francisco -- RT Dennis Yell, 22/55
16. Kansas City -- RB Tommie Smiley, 38/52
17. Washington -- CB Jim Smithberger, 24/46
18. Green Bay -- RB MacArthur Lane, 42/48
19. Los Angeles -- S Ronnie Ehrig, 19/33 -- Remember, this was the Rams 4th 1st round pick, where I mocked them pretty severely for taking another Safety, when they probably didn't need to take the first one. I guess it doesn't matter what position the dude is in when he sucks this hard.
21. N.Y. Jets -- RB Charlie Smith, 41/57
22. Dallas -- RB Oscar Reed, 46/55

Maybe I need to rethink what qualifies as a bust. Guys with a future value in the 50s can still contribute, at least. They're not complete wastes. That Ehrig pick is a real bust, though.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, May 16, 1968

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Let's look at the 2nd round!

https://i.imgur.com/tv543qlh.png

Beauchamp would have been a good pick for us, too.

https://i.imgur.com/Qol218ah.png

My staff was onto something when they recommended John Williams. I think my two choices were both better, though.

https://i.imgur.com/hQqyuZyh.png

I talked about John Dockery, he would have been nice if he fell to me instead of going 2.12

Beauchamp is the best of this group, but he was picked so early. Props to Oakland for taking OLB Fred Carr at 2.15, who ends up 40/67.

3rd round:

The FB that the Packers traded for, Cid Edwards, is not all that -- 37/60. I mean he's good, and will start (eventually, depending on what they do with Jim Taylor), but I'm thinking if you trade up for the first FB taken, you want him to be 80s.

Bruce Lemmerman was definitely not close to Ken Stabler, coming in at 30/45.

Here's the steal of the round:

https://i.imgur.com/DS4BNE5h.png

Got Chiefs gear in his picture, and drafted by the Chiefs. Meant to be.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, May 23, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X1XupRNzEZA?si=Xdarvl0cVmy8eMpq" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2C-VN5pVg64?si=MJ9UDDm-xCjqMNyr" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Some more steals:

4th round -- The Browns got RT Rich Buzin, 24/58

5th round -- The Eagles got RT Dave Zivich, 14/62

6th round -- The Rams got QB Bob Lee, 28/55. They still have 76/76 Roman Gabriel, but Lee will make a good backup

7th round -- The Packers got QB Dewey Warren, 31/54. Same situation as the Rams, but with Bart Starr.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, May 30, 1966

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8tS2IISOjQE?si=-wYY-3guV6Q7FQ4b" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sRHU-2oQdLY?si=1y0mC-IIQUY8u2OX" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Let's have a look at our depth charts!

https://i.imgur.com/BJZT4n9h.png

No surprises here. Same OL as last year. Griese obviously the starter now. Haymond as the return man.

https://i.imgur.com/4a8UCv0h.png

I'm just leaving in the recommendations for now. When we get to actual games, I'll make sure no one is red.

https://i.imgur.com/78DXKdIh.png

Same deal here. The more I look at these, the more I think this is a preseason recommendation. I did notice that the coordinators actually recommended Plum midseason last year, so maybe I was wrong to use their recommendation of Griese this time last year as a data point.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, June 6, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/15rQghphifY?si=1W-ueWGzTFPtdAry" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/v_aH2PK5wa4?si=lJ6InDfh0g-N3eHZ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

https://i.imgur.com/64kW9UAh.png

So the question is -- are we better than 1967?

On offense, there aren't many changes. Just TE and #2 WR for the starters. WR is a wash (though I'm hoping by looking at YPR we do better there), and TE is a slight downgrade. I'm tempted to say that with improvement from our young QB and RT, we can end up being slightly better.

On defense, against just two starters -- ILB and OLB. ILB is an upgrade, and OLB will probably (hopefully) end up a wash as the season progresses. And we have more depth at CB and S. I'm again tempted to say slightly better.

I think we were lucky to have the success we had last year, so we need some improvement. I think we'll get it.

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, June 13, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/X9EqxKZi9i8?si=LkZLZ4iOTue0ER4h" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AFzoE1MVmpg?si=YXNJp-iOXqbHBWYI" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, June 20, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xQpoCU6pOBs?si=sL_Q0rgfwUZNKuH_" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, June 27, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/49E3z17mMLk?si=GmYa6kOQkXYeFt2Z" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, July 4, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EWt1vV4aPR0?si=PhkjEFUepHHSRR8n" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, July 11, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SjkYpdfnI0s?si=qaB7DPWwYTLVl38G" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, July 18, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qaB12r4G0X0?si=MdSSZ4HE5Hnx64jn" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B3EtoyMqtPY?si=BhPA-52EE0teTM9C" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, July 25, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Dry5JC8_Qno?si=QO9FV6J61IClyFJC" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xo8Y_2l_ZRU?si=HeghXl-HzBcMp5P8" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, August 1, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/_pkqGYj6lMo?si=7DuV-Me_vawIa6NR" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Passacaglia]

Thursday, August 8, 1968

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t_5LGAnRNKo?si=xldAWvg1LHSIaukv" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>

We're getting ready for the season to start. I just ignore the weight stuff for training camp. But, preseason is almost here!