Expansion disasters

[Critch]

After making a complete mess of the Redskins in my first career, it was time to start over.

So, Wall Street Level, a few "house" rules in place (give players exactly what they ask for in negotiations or let them go, only allowed to sign rookie FA or my own FA after training camp (1yr contract only), ticket prices fixed to be the same as the closest other team.) and off we go.

I thought I'd give an expansion team a try, so I simmed through the first two seasons and took over the new franchise, The Reno (NV) Rattlers at the beginning of the third season. Can't remember what their original nickname was, I changed it to Rattlers. Don't know if they have rattlesnakes in Nevada, but it's all I could come up with. It was either that or Reno Failures (sounds a bit like Renal? Get it?)

The expansion draft finished ok, I concentrated on getting skill positions at low cost. The draft was a bit disappointing, came away with a steady but not brilliant RB with my first pick (Rob Moore), and I “relaxed” my house rules a little since it was the first season and picked up an experienced QB (Bobby Hoying).

The Reno Rattlers first season went surprisingly well for an expansion team with no real stars, ending up 8-8. We still had play-off chances going into the last week, but a 48-3 destruction in Oakland put us back in our proper expansion team place. Hoying ended the season with a QB rating in the high 70’s, RB Moore had a disappointing 500yds in his rookie season.

Going into the second season we looked better on paper, Hoying still QB as he was still available after training camp, RB Moore looking better ratings wise and two good picks in the first two rounds (WR Emmett Hunzinger, and DE Bobby Blake) but early injuries (my coach was rated poor on injuries) and any season hopes were gone. Ended 4-12.

Season 3 was another ruined by injuries and bad decisions. I let QB Hoying go through FA again, ready to pick him up after training camp, but the Giants nipped in an picked him up. He wasn’t great, far from it, but without him I was left with 3 rookies to choose between for QB, with the nicely named undrafted free agent rookie Oscar Christmas making the job his own. WR Hunziger, RB Moore and this season’s first round pick WR Howie Lorenzo played a grand total of 11 games between them due to injuries, and it was 5-11. Fan loyalty plummeting, and it wasn’t very high to start with.

And finally we get to the point. My coach was bad, my team was bad, my fans didn’t care (2 for fan loyalty, 0 for new stadium, and 15+yrs till I can move) so something had to be done!

First move was easy, dump the coach. I tried last year, but my chosen replacement ran off and joined the Saints rather than give the Rattlers a go. This season was better and I got a guy (Blair Cunningham) who was vg/g everywhere except a poor for Kickers, and an ex for avoid injuries! He looks like the dude for the gig.

Second move was to bring stability to my roster. I only had 5 players who had more than 1 year left on their contracts, so I extended a few, and traded anybody who wasn’t desperately needed for draft picks next year. I’m going to be the king of the 5th and 6th round.

Third move was also easy, find a QB. Oscar Christmas still had bad ratings, and his performance last season didn’t impress (13 starts, 7 tds, 22 ints). I couldn’t afford a free agent QB as they were seriously overpriced (even my reject Christmas was looking for $18mil over 3 years), so the draft was the place. Going into the draft I had 7th pick overall. Looking at the QBs available showed me that there were two great ones available, one who was nearly maxed out in green, and another who was the greatest QB I’d ever seen in the draft. Maxed out in everything for potentials, but already in the 70s/80s for every category!! Below these top two was another stand out who any other year would have been the no1 pick, and another guy a little behind. I only had to hope one of them would drop to 7th.

So the draft starts, San Diego picks the 70s/80s guy first pick (8.0 future rating, 7.1 current), Pittsburgh take the other stud, and Miami take the third QB and it’s 3 out of 4 gone by the 4th pick. I’d already tried to trade up to get one of the top guys, but it was looking like my “sit back with fingers crossed” approach wasn’t working, so it was time for panic mode. 5 mins later, I’ve got the 4th pick from the Jets, but it’s cost me big, this years 7th pick overall, my 1st, 2nd and 3rd round from next year , and my 2nd from the year after. But, hey, I’ve got my QB of the future so who needs picks next year and the year after?

Terry Hampton is the guy, 4th pick overall, potentials in the 80s/90s for the important stuff, 50’s for the rest. He looks good for the future and the best I’ve got for right now. He takes a 6-year contract for about 35mil, so he’s the QB for the foreseeable future. According to my printout before training camp, he’s a 6 now, and a 16 to be.

And then what happens? Training camp happens! Terry Hampton is the bust to end all busts. He goes from 6 now/16 future to 1 now/2 future. I picked up two undrafted FA rookies and, although they aren’t anything special, the coach still rates them above my stud! I let Hampton start the 4 exhibition games just in the hope my scout is wrong (he’s very good for QB and he rates him poor now/poor later in the scouts overview screen). Eight interceptions in 4 halves. Not good. I tried to cut him, but his bonus money was big, so I can’t get rid of him without a $13million hit on next year’s salary cap. Funnily enough nobody is interested in him when I shop him either.

And that’s where I left it for the night. I’ve taken my bad team, I’ve mortgaged my future on one player and he turns out to be the biggest bust I’ve ever seen, and I gave him such a big bonus, I’m stuck with him. Kinda dispiriting.

I may carry on with my Reno Rattlers career tonight and see what happens. Or I may go back to Championship Manager. Did I mention I won the Scottish Premier with Hearts of
Midlothian?

[QuikSand]

That's what you get when you "relax" the empty cupboard rule.

NFL players corrupt, and Bobby Hoying corrupts absolutely! The Rattlers rot from the head down! It's the curse of the, er, uh... Bobbino?

[Critch]

Quiksand, my houserules were indeed based on your empty cupboard rules, but I relaxed them in one other way. GM sacking is turned off, so no matter what I do the Reno Rattlers are stuck with me. Lucky really, considering the next season..

To start the season, I checked out the other QBs that had been drafted ahead on my no4 pick. The first pick, who looked like a god before the training camp, had calmed down a bit. His actual ratings were still good, but there was now very little green. Pittsburgh's number 2 pick was still all potential and very little actual. And Miami's no3 pick was a bit of a bust. None of the top 3 picks went into the season as their team's starting QB. None of them were nearly as bad as my guy, though.

So the next season's choice was between my QB bust (Terry Hampton), an undrafted rookie who looked ok according to my scout (Conrad Battle), and a fairly terrible undrafted rookie (Pete Bailey). It was going to be a long season.

Going on talent, QB Battle should have been my starter, but he was only on a 1 year contract and would be too expensive to consider with a season as a starter under his belt. So I went with The Bust, hoping that his ratings were misleading. I didn't have much to lose, he might be terrible and we'd have a bad season, but that was to be expected anyway, or he might be like Ryan Leaf and blossom into a....eh, hmmm, well you never know, it might work. Mighten it?

After 10 games, the Rattlers stood proudly at 0-10. We'd been shut out 3 times and had only scored 20+ once. Hampton had started 7 times and had a qb rating of 54, 5tds, 17 ints. He should have been on the bench by now but my backups were either no better (Battle, started twice, no tds 5 ints) or worse (Bailey QB rating of 12. I didn't think it was possible to go that low).

Hampton stayed in and finally led us to back-to-back victories in weeks 15 and 16 before losing our last game 56-3 in Oakland.

So a 2-14 season. Pretty bad, but I'd expected that even if I'd got a real QB last season. Next season hopefully Hampton's rating will improve a bit after his 13 starts and I'll have a load of 4th, 5th and 6th rounders coming in on longer contracts to build roster stability. On the downside, my OL's top players are up for free agency, as is my RB, and my star WR Hunzinger didn't seem to come back well from last season's injury. He caught 12 passes all year, despite starting all 16 games.

And also, we don't have any picks in the first 3 rounds of the draft. If things don't get better soon, the Reno fans (fan?) will be thinking back to the good old days of 2-14 seasons.

[This message has been edited by Critch (edited 12-01-2000).]

[CubsFan915]

Ah, the curse of Ryan Leaf-itis...

I know it's no consolation to you (it wasn't in the career that it happened to me), but I do so love the fact that there are busts now...

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GO NAVY!!! BEAT ARMY!!!

[Critch]

Drastic times demand drastic measures, aparently. And my Reno Rattlers have got some pretty drastic times right now (coming off a 2-14 season, no draft picks in the top three rounds and a dud QB) so time for some drastic measures.

First measure is trading my RB Moore (who was the 1st pick in Reno's first season) and my 2nd round pick in a couple of years for Dallas's first round pick this season (14th overall). Time to find a new QB again.

Second measure is using a spreadsheet to plan ahead by keeping track of contracts. Ok, my wifey calls me a dork when she sees what I'm doing, but it's worth it. I seem to be fire fighting each year scrambling for players to fill unexpected gaps. Hopefully no more.

So, my 1st round pick once again goes on a QB, RJ Thornton from Alabama. But, in a nice change from last season, this guy actually gets better over training camp! Going into the regular season, I've got a good QB with a future, two top class WR (Hunziker and Howie - The H Bombs, hehehe), a good-ish RB (Al Morris - been a backup for a few seasons for me). OL is young and shakey. On defense, I've got a good DE (Carter, rated 14), a core of good LBs, and my one all-pro from last season, S Chadwell. CBs are the big question mark on defence.

Exhibition games go badly, as usual, but we tear through the early season to hit a 6-2 record at midpoint. QB Thornton is doing fine, not brilliantly, my bust QB Hampton is third in line and is demanding a trade, but nobody wants him, RB Morris is on course to be my first ever 1000yd rusher, both WR are doing fine. A big part of being 6-2 may be that our schedule is weak, haven't played a team with a winning record yet.

Next few weeks go badly, 5 defeats in a row to fall back to 6-7, but we win 2 in a row, both home games against very weak opp, and once more we are going to Oakland needing a win to reach the playoffs. Last time we lost 48-3, this time we lose 48-10 to end the season 8-8. A bit of luck kicks in, every game going the right way, and we scrape into the wildcard games for our first playoff season.

In the playoffs, we travel to San Diego (9-7). We've played them twice already, winning easily at home and being destroyed on the road. The game starts slowly with neither team able to move the ball. At the middle of the 2nd quarter there have been 3 first downs between the teams, and we're negative for rushing yards. SD scores a TD to take a 7-0 lead, and then special teams problems on either side of half time us cost us any chance. In the last minute of the half we have a punt blocked, SD take over on the 4 yd line, and need 1 play to punch it in. 14-0 at half time. We then fumble the kick off return at the start of the second half. SD takes over at our 25 and again takes only one play to punish our mistake and it's 21-0 and pretty much game over. It ends up 31-0 and our first trip to the playoffs is not a happy one.

Looking back on the season, it seems pretty obvious that our schedule had a lot to do with our playoff visit. Pick all the worst teams, and it's pretty sure we played them. In fact, Miami managed 1 win all season and that was against us. Whenever we played a good team, we struggled. Our offense racked up the points, but our defence allowed even more, maybe got something to do with the fact I've used all but one of my 1st round picks on offensive players since expansion.

Anyway, our first playoff appearance, our first season in profit ($2million, woohoo!) and nobody important leaving before next season, so for the first time we might have something to build on.

[Davis911]

Critch just wondering how did you use the spreadsheet to keep track of your contracts. Curently I do it manually with my expansion team the New Brunswick Brawlers curently in their 20th season.

Maybe you could e-mail me an example of the spreadsheet.

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[Critch]

My spreadsheet was real simple. nothing clever and no real reason to use a spreadsheet. I just listed all the positions, a few backups, then who would fill each position, how the scout rated them, and when their contract ended.

This simple bit of planning made a good bit of difference for me, as I wasn't finding myself going into a season with no linebackers anymore!! I could see easily where free agents and draft picks were needed.

After the point I stopped writing, Reno reached the playoffs 5 out of 6 years. They became a bit of a regular season power, racking up 14-2 and a couple of 13-3 seasons, but never managed to win a single playoff game. In a bit of a clearout, I accidentally deleted the game.