Montani Semper Liberi - An FOF2k4 Dynasty - COMPLETE!!!

[Abe Sargent]

Hello and welcome to another Anxiety dynasty! I haven't done one of these in quite a while. I mean a game dynasty, not my dream one or Operation: Big Ben. I find them to be a bit time-consuming and I often fail to continue them after a while. I can't stay with a dynasty for too long, because my personality desires new things to always happen. As such, I am doing this dynasty a bit differently. I am writing it all up at one time, on a document on my computer. Once I have decided to end the dynasty, I'll post it slowly over at FOFC, and you can enjoy it at the same pace as every other dynasty. However, that way there'll be an honest end to the dynasty.

If you like the dynasty as it is being posted, let me know. The more comments I get, the faster I'll post the remaining dynasty, and possibly the sooner I'll do a new dynasty!

Without further ado, allow me to present the Official West Virginia FOF 2k4 Dynasty: Montani Semper Liberi!!!

Here are the rules:

1. At the beginning of the dynasty, I'll have to try to sign and trade for as many WV players as possible. For purposes of this dynasty any player is considered a West Virginia player if they have a WV hometown OR played at a WV school. With two Div 1 schools and a small population, this should be quite a challenge.

2. After the first season, I will fail to sign and cut all remaining non-WV players. The first season stats will NOT be counted and records will not be held for the team for any non-WV players.

3. I will then sign in FA and draft all WV players. At the end of the offseason, I will be allowed to sign FAs to my depth chart to fill any open roster spots. Only minimum wage salaries will be accepted for these players, and they cannot have their contracts extended, or be resigned. They must be cut if a multiyear deal was signed at the end of the year.

4. Every year I will seek to increase the amount of WV players on the roster. At the end of any offseason in which I have open spots on the roster after making a good faith effort to find WV players for that spot, I will again be allowed to sign a minimum wage free agent for that spot.

5. I will do everything in my power to keep stars from WV on the roster as long as possible. NFL stars, not college ones :)


Full X-Factor is on. My name is Abe Sargent. I will use the updated alternate player file. I will not start with a draft, despite being tempted to do so (I could get my K, P, QB, etc that way). Wall Street Difficulty, and I'll even make GMs fireable. This could be a big blow up in my face, we'll see.


Additional rules:

I will seek to relocate my franchise to WV as soon as possible in the game.


To begin the game, I am choosing the itinerant team - the New Orleans (sorta) Saints.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

The Beginning:

I begin the game with injuries set to 100 and the cap increase from 25 to 55. Without looking at roster, I know that I have several targets.

Luckily, there is a kicker and a pair of punters that qualify as WV players that are all good in the NFL - Todd Sauerbrun, Chris Hanson and Mike Vanderjagt. The worse idea about my franchise is that you never get a good K or P, because so few good ones are created each year. I also have three starting QBs in the league from WV schools - Chad Pennington, Byron Leftwich and Marc Bulger. These are my targets for trade.

WR Nate Poole from Marshall, is my only Saint to qualify as a WV player. He's currently my receivers leader, but he's also inactive. Not that good. The first place I look for more players is free agency. Marshall has three players in the free agent pool - a pair of kickers and a strong safety. Without even looking for WVU players, I suspect that I am going to need to check my cap situation. I only have 3.5 mill under the cap, so I look around for cap relief. I need to make a move before signing a bunch of players.

Which QB is the best? In my game, Chad Pennington has better potential than the other two, but Marc Bulger is better currently. Either will suffice, with the preference for Pennington. I have Darren Howard to dangle. He's a great DE in the last year of his contract and a nice motor. He should free up some contract room. I offer Howard for Pennington straight up, but the computer says that they don't want to trade away a fan favorite. Fair enough. My offer of Howard for Bulger is rebuffed because the computer doesn't want to trade away a player with a large amount of future dead cap issues. I don't like that, but I really like the realism. Seriously, how many teams would be willing to trade away their starting QB even for a franchise caliber DE at the beginning of the preseason? Probably not that many.

I love Leftwich in real life, but he is not that good in this game (scouts have him rated 27/52). I look for other trades. I have needs for WV players in a lot of positions, so let's see what I can find.

Randy Moss and Jerry Porter are both nice wideouts. Anthony Becht is the best TE I think is out there. There are some O Linemen like John Wade and Rich Braham. Pacman Jones would likely be a nice CB prospect. DT John Thornton is good as well. I decide to work a trade with the Bengals. I want Rich Braham, John Thornton, and WR Chris Henry. I offer Deuce, but Cincinnati doesn't like his backloaded contract. I add SS Jay Bellamy to the deal, because the Bengals need a safety, but no dice. I move on.

I jot down all of the players from WV schools currently on rosters. I can't easily check hometowns for the entire NFL, but I can see colleges. I look for holes that I can fill. The only starting caliber LB in the league is WLB Barrett Green, now of the Giants. There are several wideout options (Troy Brown, Moss, Porter, Henry, and more). There are no Offensive Tackles, but there are plenty of interior linemen, especially guards. (I miss Solomon Page, he should still be in the league). There are also virtually no corners (ah, for the injury of Chris Fisher to have never taken place). No trading my OTs or CBs then.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Trade Number One:

I trade TE Boo Williams, C LeCharles Bentley and OG Jamar Nesbit to Tampa for C John Wade and TE Anthony Becht and a 7th round pick. Getting Becht was a key trade.

Trade Two:

OG Jonathan Mayberry and DT Jonathan Sullivan to the New York Giants for WLB Barrett Green and a 6th round pick. Again, getting Green was key.


I decide to go after Leftwich, but even the Jags are unwilling to trade their QB. The Jags at least have a good backup QB with Garrard, so this is a better trade. Again, they don't like trading away a player with a large amount of dead cap room.

The Raiders are not willing to trade away either fan favorite Moss or Fan Fav Porter. Sigh.


Trade Three:

OG Kendyl Jacox to the Patriots for WR Troy Brown, OG Bubba Chew and their 2nd round pick. With Porter and Moss out of commision, Brown is the next best receiver. Picking him up was essential to my plans. OG Chew is a back guard from WVU. The 2nd round pick is a nice trade bait for future players I may need to get.

Trade Four:

Pats 2nd round pick, DT Rodney Leisle to the Kansas City Chiefs for DE Gary Stills and DT John Browning. Leisle was a backup DT and I just got the draft pick, so losing it is no big deal. I get a pair of adequate starters in Stills and Browning.


Tennessee won't trade Pacman Jones because of the fan favorite factor. My options are becoming more limited. I can't trade for a starting QB and I can't trade for one of the star WRs and now I can't trade for the only halfway decent CB.



-Anxiety

[Swaggs]

I'll be watching closely.

I suspect the Raiders would have been a better team to begin with, though.

Is Amos around in your league?

[Abe Sargent]

I'll be watching closely.

I suspect the Raiders would have been a better team to begin with, though.

Is Amos around in your league?


We'll see, won't we.....

:)


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Here are the rest of our initial trades, all nicely documented for ya.


Trade Five:

WR Devery Henderson to Pittsburgh for SS Mike Logan. He'll be our starting SS.

Trade Six:

OLB Sedrick Hodge to the Colts for K Mike Vanderjagt and their 6th round pick. Excellent! I really wanted Mike, and I'm happy to have him on the team.

Trade Seven:

In a cost dumping measure, the Saints have traded DE Darren Howard to the Falcons for DT Antwan Lake. Lake is pretty poor, but the Saints needed to dump Howard's salary, and this was the best choice.

Trade Eight:

The Saints have traded OG Montrae Holland to the Eagles for three players - all backup style players - WR Jermaine Glassner, TE Mike Bartrum, and OG Steve Sciullo. None of these players are projected as starters, but you never know.


Trade Nine:

We trade SS Jay Bellamy, TEs Lamont Hall and Shad Meier, FB Mike Karney and our 5th round pick to the Bengals for C Rich Braham and WR Chris Henry. The Bengals have a highly coveted DT John Thornton, but for now, we're happy dumping a bunch of backups, a late round pick, and an adequate safety to the Bengals for a starter on the O Line and a backup receiver. I'll try for Thornton later.

I checked and the Broncos do not want to trade Sauerbrun because he is a fan favorite. Only Todd Sauerbrun. Chris Hanson, for the Jags, is rated very low, so I'll try a solution elsewhere for my punter.

Trade Ten: We trade SS Mel Mitchell to the Broncos for WR Darius Watts. Darius is another backup player.

Trade Eleven: We trade P Mitch Burger to the Cowboys for CB Lance Frazier and their third round pick. Frazier is another backup player.

Trade Twelve: We trade DE Will Smith to the Lions for WLB James Davis. With such a weak LB corps, Davis will likely start. We might move him to another position, though.

Trade Thirteen: CB Fred Thomas to the Rams for C Chris Massey. Massey is another backup, but I need to stockpile offensive linemen.

Trade Fourteen: OLB James Allen to the Raiders for their 3rd Round selection.

I can't trade for Thornton, the Bengals simply won't release him. So I decide to harvest picks for the players that I can trade right now.

Trade Fifteen: Trade DE Charles Grant to the Ravens for their 2nd and 4th round picks.

Trade Sixteen: Trade FS Dwight Smith to the Jets for their 6th round pick. He's just a backup.

Trade Seventeen: Trade ILB Courtney Watson to the Redskins for their 2nd round pick.



-Anxiety

[Emiliano]

Anxiety dynasty: I'm on board! Gee, those are some tough rules. It's gonna be interesting.

[Abe Sargent]

Released: K John Carney
QB Kliff Kingsbury
TE Ernie Conwell
SE Donte' Stallworth
SE Talman Gardner
SE Michael Lewis
LDT Shaun Smith
LCB Jimmy WIlliams
SLB Roger Knight




I sign: FB Matt Sununu From Florida State (originally from Shenandoah Junction, WV)
FS Howie Strickland from West Virginia Wesleyan *
LG Darryl Nixon from WVU
RB Amos Zereoue from WVU. You might have heard of him
CB Aaron Beasley from WVU. You also might have heard of him.
SLB Grant Wiley from WVU.
LT Bart Ackerman from WVU
TE Kenny Grueneich from WVU
WILB Marvin Dotson from WVU


* Howie looks really good. Very raw now, but with great potential, he could be a starter in the future for a long time.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Anxiety dynasty: I'm on board! Gee, those are some tough rules. It's gonna be interesting.


Thanks!!! I hope you enjoy.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

I sign the following players to minimum deals in order to flesh out my roster:

P Toby Gowin


I move Marvin Dotson to MLB. I hop WLB James Davis over to SLB. Lastly, I move John Wade to Right Guard.


We go 1-3 in the preseason. I release some of the chaff on the team:

RB Antowain Smith
WLB Albert Fincher
SE Az-Zahir Hakim
C Kevin Houser


Here is our official roster heading into the season:


Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Brooks, Aaron 2 QB QB 6 49 54 3 yrs
Bouman, Todd 4 QB 5 10 28 2 yrs
McPherson, Adrian 5 QB 1 8 35 3 yrs
McAllister, Deuce 26 RB RB 5 66 70 7 yrs
McAfee, Fred 25 RB 14 44 44 1 yr.
Stecker, Aaron 27 RB 6 36 40 3 yrs
##Zereoue, Amos 42 RB 7 23 25 1 yr.
Czurylo, Brock 49 FB FB 1 24 47 1 yr.
Sununu, Matt 36 FB 1 17 33 1 yr.
Becht, Anthony 86 TE TE 6 53 54 5 yrs
Bartrum, Mike 7 TE 12 26 31 3 yrs
Grueneich, Kenny 6 TE 1 17 43 1 yr.
Horn, Joe 87 FL FL 10 61 61 6 yrs
Glassner, Jermaine 15 FL 1 20 46 1 yr.
##Poole, Nate 89 FL 4 18 30 1 yr.
##Watts, Darius 8 FL 2 15 24 3 yrs
Brown, Troy 82 SE SE 13 48 48 1 yr.
Henry, Chris 80 SE 1 12 37 4 yrs
Braham, Rich 58 C C 11 60 60 2 yrs
Massey, Chris 54 C 4 18 34 1 yr.
Sciullo, Steve 63 LG LG 3 25 38 1 yr.
Chew, Bubba 76 LG 1 13 40 1 yr.
##Nixon, Darryl 74 LG 1 13 39 1 yr.
Wade, John 51 RG RG 8 28 39 2 yrs
Folau, Spencer 60 RG 9 20 26 2 yrs
Gandy, Wayne 72 LT LT 12 42 43 4 yrs
Stinchcomb, Jon 78 LT RT 3 23 31 2 yrs
Ackerman, Bart 64 LT 1 11 25 1 yr.
##Brown, Jammal 62 RT 1 28 70 4 yrs
Gowin, Toby 9 P 9 41 47 1 yr.
Vanderjagt, Mike 12 K 8 58 63 1 yr.
Stills, Gary 71 RDE LDE 6 33 41 2 yrs
Whitehead, Willie 98 RDE 7 26 31 1 yr.
Bryant, Tony 92 RDE RDE 7 18 24 2 yrs
Browning, John 77 LDT LDT 9 39 39 4 yrs
Young, Brian 66 LDT 6 38 39 3 yrs
Lake, Antwan 90 LDT 4 14 23 1 yr.
Green, Howard 95 RDT RDT 3 12 30 1 yr.
McKinnon, Ronald 59 MLB MLB 10 33 34 1 yr.
##Dotson, Marvin 93 MLB 1 15 29 1 yr.
Davis, James 96 SLB SLB 3 29 50 1 yr.
Wiley, Grant 91 SLB 2 14 31 1 yr.
Green, Barrett 97 WLB WLB 6 50 53 4 yrs
Bockwoldt, Colby 57 WLB 2 21 38 2 yrs
McKenzie, Mike 43 LCB LCB 7 48 48 2 yrs
Craft, Jason 21 RCB RCB 7 39 42 3 yrs
Beasley, Aaron 34 RCB 10 26 26 1 yr.
Frazier, Lance 40 RCB 2 20 36 1 yr.
##Brown, Fakhir 35 RCB 7 12 18 1 yr.
Logan, Mike 31 SS SS 8 49 52 2 yrs
Bullocks, Josh 29 FS FS 1 39 83 3 yrs
##Gleason, Steve 37 FS 6 19 28 1 yr.
Strickland, Howie 48 FS 1 14 49 1 yr.



$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 53
Inactive: 8
On Active Roster: 45

Salary Cap: $85,500,000
Cap Room: $15,180,000
Maximum for New Player: $15,420,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $12,210,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $20,500,000
Cap Room Required Next Year: $72,270,000

As can be seen, we have some strong areas. The best WVU starters are Becht, Barrett Green, and Braham. Vanderjagt and Logan are pretty good as well.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

We have plenty to do, so let's get started.

As I mentioned earlier, the first season is sort of a quick sim season. I only care about half my team, and the other half can rot for all I care. Let's go!

Let's take a look at our season's games


Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints 2005 Regular Season Schedule

Week Opponent Result Attendance Weather
Week 1 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS W, 21-17 59,400 Sunny, 68
Week 2 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS L, 7-17 59,400 Sunny, 68
Week 3 at St. Louis Rams L, 10-27 61,900 Sunny, 68
Week 4 at Arizona Cardinals L, 38-41 45,100 Sunny, 102
Week 5 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS L, 15-38 58,600 Sunny, 68
Week 6 MINNESOTA VIKINGS L, 17-31 58,600 Sunny, 68
Week 7 at Oakland Raiders L, 19-31 52,200 Sunny, 59
Week 8 OPEN
Week 9 at San Diego Chargers L, 22-26 57,100 Sunny, 76
Week 10 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS L, 21-25 58,600 Sunny, 68
Week 11 DENVER BRONCOS W, 30-24 56,300 Sunny, 68
Week 12 at Atlanta Falcons L, 21-23 60,000 Sunny, 68
Week 13 CAROLINA PANTHERS L, 13-23 57,800 Sunny, 68
Week 14 at Dallas Cowboys L, 21-24 64,700 Sunny, 61
Week 15 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W, 20-14 63,700 Sunny, 81
Week 16 ATLANTA FALCONS W, 27-17 56,300 Sunny, 68
Week 17 at Carolina Panthers L, 21-27 69,200 Sunny, 46

Home Games in ALL CAPS

Season Tickets Sold: 56,000
Stadium Capacity: 72,700


We won the first game, and I was wondering if the entire experiment was going to fail due to a successful first season. Luckily, our team began to lose. You'll see, however, that we were close in a lot of games. Ah well, that's the way it goes.

Deuce McAllister was the player of the year, the Offensive MVP and the first team Running Back. And now he will go :) Who wants the reigning MVP? He rushed for 2038 yards. It's the best running total I've ever had in FOF2k4, and it came in a quick sim season. More sighing.

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Troy Brown had 56 catches for 746 yards and 9 TDs.
Barrett Green led our team in tackles, which is no surprise, really.
SS Mike Logan grabbed four picks.
C Rich Braham had 49 KRB out of 130 KRO.

In the Super Bowl, my Marc Bulger led the Rams to a 31-28 victory over the TEXANS. Wow, is that ever an interesting result?

Now the Rams will never let the Super Bowl MVP come to New Orleans.

We advance into next year. I score a 47 overall (just a 5 for on the field performance)

I submit the lousiest stadium plan ever. A massive stadium with countless boxes, seats, and club offerings. I only offer to pay a fourth of the construction cost. I expect the issue to fail miserably.



-Anxiety

[Izulde]

Troy Brown had 56 catches for 746 yards and 9 TDs.
Barrett Green led our team in tackles, which is no surprise, really.
SS Mike Logan grabbed four picks.
C Rich Braham had 49 KRB out of 130 KRO.

In the Super Bowl, my Marc Bulger led the Rams to a 31-28 victory over the TEXANS. Wow, is that ever an interesting result?

Now the Rams will never let the Super Bowl MVP come to New Orleans.

We advance into next year. I score a 47 overall (just a 5 for on the field performance)

I submit the lousiest stadium plan ever. A massive stadium with countless boxes, seats, and club offerings. I only offer to pay a fourth of the construction cost. I expect the issue to fail miserably.



-Anxiety


Now watch, it'll succeed, just to screw with your dynasty :D

[Abe Sargent]

Here is our status report:

We are in the middle of the NFL pack at the value of our stadium. We are at the top of the bottom third of the NFL for roster strength. Our fan support is the third weakest. Our economy is the absolute weakest in the league. We have the 24rd highest franchise value. Eight teams are below us in value.

We begin free agency....


I have several players that I need to resign. Chief among them are Vanderjagt and Troy Brown. I make them both offers, as well as SLB James Davis.

[Abe Sargent]

I now need to trade or release my remaining players who aren't WV players. Here we go.

Trade - We trade OT Jammal Brown, the Saints first round draft pick last year, to the Vikings for RDE Darrion Smith and their 2nd rounder next year. Smith is a pretty good DE from Charleston, WV, even if he played at Ohio State, which we will try not to hold against him. I immediately move Smtih to LDE.

Trade - We trade FS Josh Bullocks, the Saints second round draft selection last year, to the Cardinals for their 2nd round pick in 2008.

Trade - We trade RB Deuce McAllister to the 49ers for their 2nd round pick in 2008 and their 7th round next year (2k7).


We release: QB Todd Boumon
QB Adrian McPherson
RG Spencer Folau
WLB Colby Bockwoldt
RDE Tony Bryant
LT Jon Stinchcomb
RCB Jason Craft
QB Aaron Brooks
WR Joe Horn
LT Wayne Gandy
LCB Mike McKenzie
LDT Brian Young

We cannot release RB Aaron Stecker because he is injured. We'll do so later.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Now watch, it'll succeed, just to screw with your dynasty :D


Welcome to the dynasty. I always have a problem knowing how to respond when I already know the whole thing and its obviously ended. That means either:

a). I won the super bowl with an entirely WV team
b). I got fired
c). I got bored


I hope that you'll be with us until the end to see what happens.



-Anxiety

[Emiliano]

I submit the lousiest stadium plan ever. A massive stadium with countless boxes, seats, and club offerings. I only offer to pay a fourth of the construction cost. I expect the issue to fail miserably.
Oh BTW Anxiety, where do you exactly plan to relocate?

[Abe Sargent]

Oh BTW Anxiety, where do you exactly plan to relocate?



WV. It's the only place that makes sense :)


-Anxiety

[Emiliano]

WV. It's the only place that makes sense :)
Oh yeah, I knew that :) ... I meant, do you already have a city in mind? I don't really know the state of WV, so I was curious about the city... Also, do you plan to change the team nickname?

[Abe Sargent]

Oh yeah, I knew that :) ... I meant, do you already have a city in mind? I don't really know the state of WV, so I was curious about the city... Also, do you plan to change the team nickname?


The only city in WV in the game is Huntington, which is rather odd since it is not the largest city in the state. Charleston would have been a better choice, imho. I always change a team's mascot name when they move, so year, Saints would be gone.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Some Additional Moves


I extend the contracts:

C Rich Braham by two years (he was in his last year)
SS Mike Logan by two yeras (he was in his last year)
RG John Wade by two years (he was also in his last year)


I go ahead and sign my restricted free agents now, so that I'll know where my spaces are. I sign:

FS Howie Strickland
LG Darryl Nixon
MLB Marvin Dotson
LG Steve Sciullo
SLB Grant Wiley
RCB Lance Frazier
FB Matt Sununu
LT Bart Ackerman
TE Kenny Grueneich
FL Jermaine Glassner
LG Bubba Chew


I still can't trade for John Thornton. The Bengals don't want to trade their only DT. I'll wait and see if they sign some. The Raiders Wideouts (Porter and Moss) are still unavailable, as are all three QBs and Sauerbrun. In the draft, there's a first round grade player from WVU, but no QBs or Punters that are WV players. I decide to trade for Chris Hanson despite poor skills because he's really my only option at this point.

Unfortunately, it is not easy to get Hanson out of J'ville's hands, and I don't think he's worth what hey are asking (a third rounder). I decide to wait for a bit and try for a minimum wage type Punter.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Some Free Agency Actions:

The first round of Free Agency is pretty simple. No WV players became available, so I am trying to resign a few of my players, like Vanderjagt and Brown. I don't expect too much competition.

After week one, Troy Brown signs with us. After week three, Venderjagt follows suit. Alright, we are back in business.

I do have several other players that are available, but nothing major. I don't expect any remaining FA WV players to go in this round of FA, but we'll see.

As predicted, no other WV players have any motion. Before the draft, I deicde to try for Thornton again from the Bengals.


I need to trade a few picks. I have too many for the players that are available. I'll need my third overall for the WVU player. After that, there's an okay WR that I might be allowed to use a second on. A quartet of corners and an OT from WVU round out my selections in the mid to late rounds. From Marshall, only a late mid round DE represents. It looks like I have a first, second, a fourth, a fifth, and a bunch of sixths and sevenths to use. I need to trade extra thirds, seconds, and fourths. I don't have my fifth, but I am sure someone will drop. I decide to further peruse WV players by looking at hometown. Maybe some stud or second round choice will avail itself my ways



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

There a good FB from WV - Kent Hughes from Charleston, WV who played at Baylor. There's a FS named Jay Benedict from Glen Dale, WV who played at Notre Dame. There's RCB Jeffrey Payton from Berkeley Springs, WV who played at Elon. SE Dexter Hutchins is from Wheeling, WV and played at Washington. LDT Ted Gador played at Univ of So Cal although he is from Griffithsville, WV. SS Gary Tanner is from Kingwood, WV and played ball at good old Wake Forest. Other options include SE Edwin Lovelace (Spencer, WV - Miami of Florida), RDE Billy Lemon (War, WV - Notre Dame), WLB Jake Taggert (Elkins, WV - UK), and possiby even SLB Jimmy Perry (Morgantown, WV - Ohio State).

This is a good crop, with several second and third round graded players. I should be able to get several starters from this crew. (Jimmy Perry, the last guy I listed, was a 15/31 overall player by my scout - that's how far down the list i went...)

Unfortunately, there were no Punters or QBs on that list. Sigh.

My plan is just to draft, and as I get to a position where there are no real viable WV players, try to trade out of the spot. I really want this studly DE from WVU, and I know that good d-lineman go early, especially well-developed ones like this guy. I take a look at the two teams drafting before me - Denver and the Giants. The Giants have DE listed at their top overall need. There are no other DEs at the top of the board. Do I try and trade up? Denver doesn't want a second and my first, and I have no players to trade. I decide to just hope for the best. The Giants are stonewalling me too, although I wouldn't pull a Gmen trade until after Denver drafted anyway, just in case.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Denver is up and they take...DE Jerome Weaver, from WVU. It wasn't even one of their needs. Blast them! I now have high first round pick and no player to use it on. Grrr.


BREAKING NEWS - Draft Day Trade - The Saints trade their third overall pick to the Giants for their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd picks next year and their 2nd in 2008.


Let's try again next year. Hopefully, none of the players I am watching will go off the board (I doubt it).


In the second round, I grab WR Rob Sellers from WVU. S Jay Benedict from Notre Dame follows. RCB Jeffrey Payton finishes our second round picks.

In the third I take FB Kent Hughes, DE Warren Stargell, and I trade my remaining pick to teh Cards for their 4th and 7th in 2k8.

In the fourth I nab SS Gary Tanner and WR Edwin Lovelace.

In the sixth I take CB Graham Ventura, CB Tyrone Azumah, and I trade my remaining two 6th round choices to the Ravens for their 6th round selections in each of the next two years.

In the seventh I take SLB Jake Taggert and OT Curtis Shiel


In the Stadium Vote, the referendum failed by a vote of 55 against to 45 for. That was close. If we had offered anything resembling a good deal, it could have actually passed. Whew!

We drated eleven WV players, several of whom will likely start for us.

We are given the worst draft grade with a C-.

8 of our players sign their initial contract offer. The holdouts are 6th, 7th and 3rd round picks.

I head into the second round of free agency and I need to resign several of my players from, last year.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

I head into the second round of free agency and I need to resign several of my players from, last year.

I make offers to:

RB Amos Zereoue
FL Nate Poole
C Chris Massey
LDT Antwan Lake
RCB Aaron Beasley

In FA, I make an offer to undrafted FA RCB Chris Alcala from Shepherd College (In the Eastern Panhandle of WV). I also offer a roster spot to MLB Jim Jorgenson, from Man, WV (Went to Lousiana State).


I make an offer to my first FA for a minimum wage contract - QB Brad Johnson.

After the first week, Brad signs. No one else is being chased. By week 6 all of our offers have been accepted. I then make offers to various people to flesh out our roster.

I make offers to:

RB Kevan Barlow
RB Michael Bennett
RB Larry Johnson
QB Jon Kitna
QB Jay Fiedler
LT Ross Verba
RT Jon Runyan
MLB Mike Barrow

What a list of has beens and never-weres!

They all sign the following week. I then make offers to:

LDT Matthias Askew
RDT Lional Dalton
RDE Ndukwe Kalu
P Ricky Bittner

They sign, and our roster is complete. The remaining rookies join us, and we head into camp.

[Abe Sargent]

Let's take a look at our rookies:

Undrafted RCB Chris Alcala did not break well in kick returning like we had hoped. As such, his value to us is very small. I expect him to be a cut after the pre-season. It's a shame, because he's the only player I've seen from Shepherd running around, and I would have liked to have a player from that school.

Our three starting rookies are FS Jay Benedict, who may be the best player we drafted, and has some significant potential despite being quite raw. FB Kent Hughes looks like he'll be our FB longtime. 6th round pickup RCB Graham Ventura is very green but has risen slightly in value.

FL Rob Sellers busted hard from his second round draft spot. He's the big disappointment in the draft, because I was hoping that we'd have a good starting receiver across from Troy Brown.

RCB Jeffrey Payton is very raw, but I'd consider moving him to start if he does well in the preseason.

None of the other players are worth mentioning. Their roles are strictly backup and filler.

[Abe Sargent]

We went 1-3 in the preseason, beating Pittsburgh and losing two more by a field goal each

I decide to move Payton to LCB and he'll start.

I need to cut four players to pare down to what we need. I decide to toss RB Aaron Stecker on IR since I still can't cut him and he doesn't follow any of our rules.

I cut: RCB Chris Alcala
FL Darius Watts
MLB Jim Jorgenson

Let's take a look at the final roster:


Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Johnson, Brad 14 QB QB 13 36 36 1 yr.
Kitna, Jon 1 QB 10 33 34 2 yrs
Fiedler, Jay 19 QB 9 31 31 2 yrs
Barlow, Kevan 28 RB RB 6 50 51 2 yrs
Bennett, Michael 45 RB 6 49 49 2 yrs
Johnson, Larry 25 RB 4 42 45 2 yrs
**Stecker, Aaron 27 RB 7 38 41 2 yrs
##Zereoue, Amos 42 RB 8 22 24 1 yr.
Hughes, Kent 20 FB FB 1 28 53 4 yrs
Sununu, Matt 36 FB 2 20 36 1 yr.
Becht, Anthony 86 TE TE 7 54 54 4 yrs
Bartrum, Mike 7 TE 13 22 27 2 yrs
Grueneich, Kenny 6 TE 2 18 39 1 yr.
Glassner, Jermaine 15 FL FL 2 25 43 3 yrs
##Poole, Nate 89 FL 5 15 25 1 yr.
Sellers, Rob 87 FL 1 13 30 4 yrs
Brown, Troy 82 SE SE 14 48 48 2 yrs
Henry, Chris 80 SE 2 16 34 3 yrs
##Lovelace, Edwin 88 SE 1 11 30 4 yrs
Braham, Rich 58 C C 12 59 59 3 yrs
Massey, Chris 54 C 5 19 33 2 yrs
Sciullo, Steve 63 LG LG 4 31 37 2 yrs
Chew, Bubba 76 LG 2 14 34 1 yr.
Nixon, Darryl 74 LG 2 14 33 1 yr.
Wade, John 51 RG RG 9 33 40 3 yrs
Verba, Ross 75 LT LT 10 30 32 1 yr.
##Ackerman, Bart 64 LT 2 12 25 1 yr.
Runyan, Jon 73 RT RT 11 30 30 1 yr.
Shiel, Curtis 61 RT 1 21 33 3 yrs
Bittner, Ricky 3 P 1 46 51 1 yr.
Vanderjagt, Mike 12 K 9 59 64 3 yrs
Scott, Darrion 70 LDE LDE 3 39 62 3 yrs
Stargell, Warren 78 LDE 1 24 36 3 yrs
Stills, Gary 71 RDE RDE 7 36 40 1 yr.
Kalu, Ndukwe 79 RDE 10 32 44 2 yrs
Browning, John 77 LDT LDT 10 39 39 3 yrs
Askew, Matthias 72 LDT 3 34 46 2 yrs
##Lake, Antwan 90 LDT 5 15 23 3 yrs
Dalton, Lional 99 RDT RDT 9 31 31 1 yr.
Barrow, Mike 92 MLB MLB 14 35 40 2 yrs
Dotson, Marvin 93 MLB 2 16 29 1 yr.
Davis, James 96 SLB SLB 4 37 49 1 yr.
##Wiley, Grant 91 SLB 3 15 31 2 yrs
Green, Barrett 97 WLB WLB 7 49 52 3 yrs
Taggart, Jake 56 WLB 1 19 35 3 yrs
Ventura, Graham 47 LCB 1 17 39 3 yrs
Payton, Jeffrey 43 LCB LCB 1 14 48 4 yrs
##Azumah, Tyrone 29 LCB 1 12 35 3 yrs
Frazier, Lance 40 RCB RCB 3 27 35 3 yrs
Beasley, Aaron 34 RCB 11 26 26 2 yrs
Logan, Mike 31 SS SS 9 47 51 3 yrs
Tanner, Gary 26 SS 1 21 45 4 yrs
Benedict, Jay 38 FS FS 1 27 55 4 yrs
Strickland, Howie 48 FS 2 18 45 2 yrs

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 54
Inactive: 7
On Active Roster: 46

Salary Cap: $90,300,000
Cap Room: $16,440,000
Maximum for New Player: $16,740,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $31,430,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $21,730,000
Cap Room Required Next Year: $66,550,000

[Abe Sargent]

Let's take a closer look at our starters:

QB Brad Johnson - Just a filler QB until we can trade or acquire a WV QB.
RB Kevan Barlow - We'll continue to need RB filler starters until a decent RB is added to the league player pool.
FB Kent Hughes - He's a rookie, and he's good enough to start in the NFL. One of our few quality players and a new rookie.
TE Anthony Becht - Another quality starting WV player. Anthony is a solid TE and should be on our team for a while.
FL Jermaine Glassner - An undrafted free agent whom we acquired from the Eagles last year, Jermaine is not a good receiver, but he''s our best second option.
SE Troy Brown - Troy is our only real receiver.
C Rich Braham - Outside of Vanderjagt, Braham is our best player. He might even be better than Vanderjagt himself.
LG Steve Sciullo - Another pickup from the Eagles trade and another poor starter.
RG John Wade - He's, um, okay. Not sterling or anything.
LT Ross Verba - A placeholder until a WV player who can start enters the league.
RT Jon Runyan - See above
P Rickey Bittner - An undrafted FA punter who's not that bad, actually. He has a great leg.
K Mike Vanderjagt - Either our best or second best player.
LDE Darrion Scott - A recent trade from the Vikings brought Scott to us., and we really like him. He's young, in just his third year, and we think he has serious potential.
RDE Gary Stills - Stills is getting hte nod over N. Kalu becuase he is better now and we like him. It's nice to have choices, but we would have liked to have had the first round choice starting here.
LDT John Browning - Barely adequate
RDT Lional Dalton - A placeholder until we manage to trade for John Thornton. Add Thornton and the first round pick we should have gotten and our D Line would have been very good.
MLB Mike Barrow - There are no good MLB WV players.
SLB James Davis - A decent enough starter whom we acquired from the Lions. Acceptable.
WLB Barrett Green - Our best linebacker. Barrett led our team in tackles last year.
LCB Jeffrey Payton - One of three rookie starters, Jeffrey was already raw when we moved him to LCB, and then he lost even more experience. We expect a serious learning curve here, but he could grow into a decent enough starter.
RCB Lance Frazier - A trade with the Cowboys brought Frazier here last year, when he was a our dimeback. Now we'll see what he can do without a safety net. Good luck, Lance.
SS Mike Logan - Our best secondary player, but he could be eclipsed by the potential of our new starting FS.
FS Jay Benedict - As of right now, Jay appears to be our best rookie from this class. He is the third rookie start on our team. Go Jay!


This is, um, our team. This is the first year that the WV factor is in full effect. Before we start the season, I make another go at Thornton and Hanson. I offer the Bengals the Giants first round pick next year for Thornton, an 8 year old DT, and they still say no. Sheesh. No dice for Hanson either, unfortunately.

[Abe Sargent]

Let's head into the season!

Week One - We lose to Tampa by bunches. Mike Vanderjagt scored all of our points. The player of the game? Aaron Brooks, QB of the Bucs. I kid you not, you can't make this stuff up. Brooks tossed four TDs against us. Lance Frazier picked him off once. LB Davis sacked him. Troy Brown grabbed 70 yards on 6 receptions. Not an aupicious beginning by any means. DT Dalton and CB Beasley are out for a while.

Week Two - We barely lose to Pittsburgh, 25-27. WR Jermaine Glassner caught a pair of scores on four catches for 79 yards. Chris Henry grabbed 7 balls of his own and a TD. Lance Frazier forced a fumble. Vanderjagt grabbed a pair of FGs. We missed two two point conversions. If we had just taken the one point conversions, then the game would have gone to overtime. The game was 24-3 with 2 minutes left to play inthe htird quarter, and then we went on a scoring spree that was just shy of winning the game. DE Gary Stills is out for a few weeks.

Week Three - We defeat the 49ers 31-23. Kitna comes in for an injured Brad Jay and looks good (as does Barlow). Who cares about them, they are spot players. Troy Brown grabbed 111 yards of balls along with a TD. OG Sciullo had a trio of KRB. OG John Wade is out for a week or two. DT Dalon is back, although nobody cares.

Week Four - We barely edge the Jets in a boring 10-7 game. Becht caught a TD and Vanderjagt kicked a FG. Kitna continued to start. Brown caught another 99 yards of balls. Mike Logan grabbed a pick. N Kalu had 2.5 sacks spelling for the injured Stills (but we don't care). Braham grabbed a quartet of KRB. DE Darrion Scott had a forced fumble and a sack. QB Brad Johnson will start again next week, but the temptation is there to keep Kitna playing since he's won two games. If B Jay can win this week, he'll keep the starting job. CB Lance Frazier is out for a week or two.

[Abe Sargent]

The Second Quarter of the Season:

Week Five - We lose at undefeated Phily 10-30. Troy caught a TD and had 70 yards on the day. Brad Jay didn't toss a pick, so that was good. He just couldn't complete many passes. The running game was bottled up as well. DE Darrion Scott notched another forced fumble. RG Wade is back in the saddle next week. Lance Frazier is probable, and we'll start him. DT Dalton reinjured his foot and he's doubtful, so we will rest him.

Week Six - BYE

Week Seven - CB Frazier and DE Stills are back. We were hoping for a win by hosting the 0-6 Redskins, but they came into New Orleans and left a winner after we managed a paltry six points. Becht was our leading receiver with a mighty 50 yards. However, SLB Davis grabbed NINETEEN tackles on the day. Goodness! The only turnover we got on the day was a special teams fumble forced by backup C Chris Massey. Beasley and Dalton have been upgraded to probable and will play next week. LCB Payton is out for a few weeks.

Week Eight - Dallas takes us out 20-17. We were up 17-3 at the half and then got shut out in the second half. LB Davis got a pick. Players not from WV scored points, so I really don't want to mention them. (Silly Barlow with his two TDs and goot receiving stats and 100+ yard rushing day). Braham and Wade each had a trio of KRB. FL Glassner is doubtful and will sit for at least a week.

Week Nine - We lose to the Panthers 24-30. Becht grabbed a TD and Brown pulled in another. Chris Henry, subbing for the injured Glassner, exploded for 144 yards receiving on 8 catches. Beasley pulled in a pick. WLB Barrett Green, backup DT Matthias Askew, and backup SS Gary Tanner each had a forced fumble. I'll keep Glassner out for another game. He's questionable, but with Henry's game, there's no apparent rush to play him.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Quarter the Third:

Week Ten - The 7-1 Bucs defeat us 23-14 in Tampa. That's not embarassing. Rookie bust Rob Sellers grabbed a TD pass off a 25 yard catch. DE Stills had a sack and a forced fumble on the day. Rookie and 6th round pick CB Graham Ventura has a pair of forced fumbles and was our defesive star of the game. Ventura has been starting while Payton sat with injury. Payton will remain inactive for at least one more week. SLB Davis is out for a few weeks. FL Glassner is back in the rotation as the starter.

Week Eleven - We barely lose in Atlanta 30-27. Jermaine Glassner pulled in a TD on his return (the rest of the scores were by non-WV players). Troy Brown had 112 yards receiving on 7 catches. Braham had a quartet of KRB. CB Payton will be back this week. Davis remains out and will be joined by CB Graham Ventura.

Week Twelve - We ambushed the 7-3 Browns in New Orleans with a 22-10 victory. Vanderjagt kicked many FGs. Becht grabbed a TD pass as well. Brown added another 72 yards to his total. Braham added a trio of KRB. Backup FS Howie Strickland from West Virginia Wesleyan forced a fumble. He's a special teams hoss, so that was probably a special teams play. (seriously, the guy is 87/98 special teams rated) I'll keep Davis and Ventura out for another week at least.

Week Thirteen - Playing for pride at 3-8, we'd just like to keep our team out of double digits losses. A 7-9 season, or even 8-8 would be respectable. That's my goal. Hopefully the 4-7 Bears won't be a major barrier to my plans. Unfortunately, we lose going away 10-27. Jermaine returned a fumble 60 yards on a special teams play for our lone TD. WHo forced that fumble? DE Gary Stills. Brown had 83 yards receiving. OG Sciullo had three KRB. Green had 15 tackles on the day plus a sack. LB Davis will play this week, but Ventura reamains inactive since he is listed as questionable.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Let's Finish up the Woeful Season:

Week Fourteen - We defeat the similarly hapless three win Ravens 14-13 to go to four wins on the season. Rob Sellers, the draft bust hauled in a TD catch. Brown added 78 yards. SS Mike Logan forced a fumble and grabbed a pick along with dimeback Tyrone Azumah who picked off a pass as well. Tyrone was activated in place of Ventura who was injured and doesn't normally suit up. He did well today, though. DE Darrion Scott forced a fumble as well. CB Ventura will be our nickelback again this upcoming week

Week Fifteen - At 4-9, we have to defeat the remaining three teams to finish an acceptable 7-9 on the season. Between us and destiny is the 7-6 Panthers. We lose 20-23. Chris Henry pulled in another TD pass. Brown and rookie bust Sellers each had 85+ yards. Mike Logan grabbed himself another pick while Barrett Green forced another fumble. Braham got another three KRB. After the game, our team is diagnosed with the flu. 14 of our players are listed as questionable. Additionally, CB Lance Frazier is out for the rest ouf the season with a torn patellar tendon. OT Jon Runyan is doubtful and will sit. I'll play the influenzed players.

Week Sixteen - We lose, as eexpected, to the Bengals 7-20. Troy Brown caught a pass and took it 62 yards home for a TD. He finished the game with 89 yards. SS Mike Logan forced another fumble. Mike has come on strong these last few weeks.

Week Seventeen - We lose to five win Atlana 10-7. FB Kent Hughes caught our only TD on the day. Troy Brown caught 82 yards of passes. CB Ventura, starting for injured Frazier forced a fumble. OG Sciullo got another three KRB.

Pittsburgh defeats Philly in an all Pennsylvania Super Bowl 25-14.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Reflection on the Season:

None of our players won awards this year.

Official Saints Players of the Year (as selected by me)

Rookie of the Year: FS Jay Benedict. Jay had a comfortable year as the starter. We would have liked to see him dominate in coverage more, but his physical presence against the run surprised us.

Special Teams Player of the Year: K Mike Vanderjagt. Mike keeps us in games when no one else can. He's a special player.

Defensive Player of the Year: SLB James Davis. Despite missing three games due to injury, James led the team in passes defensed, which is great for a linebacker. He got four sacks, which is hard to do from the strongside. He also was third on the team in tackles, showing a strong presence in taking down the ballcarrier.

Offensive Player of the Year: WR Troy Brown. Troy had a great year with tons of catches and yards (for this team with this passing offense). With an anemic passing game and a poor receiver corps, opposing teams still could not prevent Troy from getting 84 catches and over 1100 yards.

Team MVP: WR Troy Brown. With all of the double coverages thrown his way, and with all of the problems we have on defense, Troy Brown is always there to be a safety net for the offense. He is truly our most valuable player.





I finish the year with a 52 overall score. 2 for team performance up to 80 for profit/loss and a laughable 85 for roster strength.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Stats:


Rushing - who cares, they're all non WV players

Passing - see above

Receiving - I'll just post these, because I like one player in particular:


Front Office Football 2004
Receiving Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Targ Ctch Yards Avg YAC Lg TD
Brown, Troy WR NOS 16 14 145 84 1164 13.8 203 62 4
Glassner, Jermaine WR NOS 14 13 82 42 529 12.5 70 31 3
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 16 53 38 316 8.3 91 20 3
Henry, Chris WR NOS 16 3 62 38 583 15.3 100 50 3
Sellers, Rob WR NOS 16 2 65 36 432 12.0 55 34 2
Barlow, Kevan RB NOS 16 16 34 23 160 6.9 104 28 2
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 16 14 26 21 94 4.4 57 13 1
Bennett, Michael RB NOS 13 0 6 5 53 10.6 30 17 0
Johnson, Larry RB NOS 16 0 6 4 33 8.2 2 14 1
Bartrum, Mike TE NOS 16 0 4 2 14 7.0 6 11 0
Grueneich, Kenny TE NOS 16 2 3 2 23 11.5 0 12 0
Sununu, Matt FB NOS 16 0 3 1 6 6.0 0 6 0
Poole, Nate WR NOS 2 0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0 0


I really like Troy's contributions this year. 1164 yards is pretty darn good. 200 yards after catch shows the old man still has some moves. Note that Glassner missed two games, and just didn't look that good. We really needed Rob Sellers to not have busted. Rob is here fifth on our reveiving chart, behind three wideouts and aTE. Chris Henry proved a realiable enough third wideout. I was really please with his performance. Pulling in 38 balls for 583 yards and a trio of TDs is a solid performance, especially considering his poor skills. He definately overachieved this season.


Now let's take a look at the defense:


Front Office Football 2004
Defensive Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Tckl Asst Sack Blkd Hurr
Barrow, Mike ILB NOS 16 15 124 44 1.0 0 2
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 13 98 25 1.0 0 0
Davis, James OLB NOS 13 13 74 31 4.0 0 1
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 16 63 25 0.0 0 1
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 61 31 0.0 0 0
Browning, John DT NOS 16 16 50 24 1.5 2 11
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 13 9 42 16 0.0 0 0
Kalu, Ndukwe DE NOS 16 14 41 8 6.5 2 6
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 16 16 39 10 4.0 1 10
Dalton, Lional DT NOS 14 14 38 9 1.0 2 0
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 13 13 33 5 0.0 0 0
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 30 5 0.0 0 0
Payton, Jeffrey CB NOS 13 12 30 7 0.0 0 0
Beasley, Aaron CB NOS 11 1 21 12 0.0 0 2
Askew, Matthias DT NOS 16 2 19 11 2.5 2 12
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 0 17 8 1.0 0 2
Stills, Gary DE NOS 13 2 15 5 3.0 4 3
Azumah, Tyrone CB NOS 9 1 15 5 0.0 0 0


I cut out the bottom feeders and just look at these players. Ignore Barrow, Dalton and Kalu, since they are non WV players. James Davis had good numbers on the year in just 13 games. I was very content with his performance. I would have liked more production out of Darrion Scott in the sack department. He started out the seaon hot, but cooled down. That can happen a lot with DEs, but I still wanted more consistency. Matthias Askew, despite being a backup DT, had great stats. 2.5 sacks, 2 blocked passes and 12 hurries from a backup DT? That's a pretty good player right there. He did much better as the third DT than Dalton did as the starter. If UI can;t trade for Thornton, I may promote Askew to starter and see what he can do.


Next up is coverage:


Front Office Football 2004
Pass Coverage Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Ints IRYd TD Defn Cght PPly PDPct
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 16 3 43 0 6 27 428 19.8
Beasley, Aaron CB NOS 11 1 1 13 0 1 12 119 18.5
Davis, James OLB NOS 13 13 1 0 0 9 30 380 19.4
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 13 13 1 0 0 6 29 303 18.7
Azumah, Tyrone CB NOS 9 1 1 0 0 2 8 135 20.0
Barrow, Mike ILB NOS 16 15 0 0 0 3 42 379 17.2
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 13 0 0 0 2 31 343 17.7
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 16 16 0 0 0 0 3 399 19.8
Wiley, Grant OLB NOS 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 19 26.3
Dotson, Marvin ILB NOS 16 0 0 0 0 1 5 52 18.3
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 0 0 0 0 9 72 16.3
Payton, Jeffrey CB NOS 13 12 0 0 0 3 22 300 18.4
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 13 9 0 0 0 1 30 299 17.2
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 0 0 0 0 3 8 144 19.6
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 0 0 0 4 30 454 18.6


As espected, Mike Logan is the winner here. We only had 7 picks on the year. I really like James Davis in coverage. He led our team in passes defensed.


In blocking, I'll not show you the stats. It's pretty simple. Braham had 26 KRB. Sciullo had 23. Nobody else is worth mentioning. (Except John Wade and his 14 allowed sacks.)



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Today is an important day. Today we go to West Virginia and try to finance a new stadium. The only WV city in the game is Huntington. (Why not Charleston? I don't know).


Let's take a look at Huntington:

Cincinnati is 132 miles away.
Pop is 320k
Growth is 0.3%
Avg Income is $23,800
Poverty Level is 21.2%
Entertainment competition is low (34th percentile)
Trend-setting city is low (39th percentile)
Desire for new team is medium (50th percentile)

Will this city take me and my WV plan? Who knows, but I hope so.

I contract a new stadium:

Outdoor/Natural Grass

Capacity - 60000
Club Seats - 10000
Boxes - 300


Total Cost - 408 million

I offer to pay half. Will they okay the plans?



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Our Current Status:

Financial Report:

We made 32 mill last year.


Franchise Value

We have a middle of the pack stadium, 3rd worst roster, 2nd worst support, 5th worst economy, 2nd lowest value. This is a drop in most areas from last year.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Entering Free Agency:

We have 31 players under contract. I release RB Aaron Stecker. Backup TE Mike Bartrum retired. MLB Mike Barrow also retired, in case you care, since I don't (damn non-WV players).

I take a quick look at the draft. I have the top two picks, ours at number two and the Giants at number one. The good news is that there is a QB from WVU who looks like an actual starter!!! He's probably not a high draft pick, (like, first round caliber) but he's a good second round choice. He';s the third QB on the board, so there's some hope I could take him with the first pick in the second round.

I take a quick look at the first round worthy candidates to see if any are from WV cities. THERE HE IS. First round, top pick worthy RT from Hamlin,WV!!!!! Nice. There's also a mid first round LDT from Charleston, WV. If I take the DT and the OT, I won't need to try and trade the boat for Thornton anymore and I fill a massive hole on my roster.


I head into free agency looking for one of my WV good players. Maybe Bulger or Chris Hanson will be available. Unfortunately, there is no such player available from WVU, but Hanson is available. I try to bring him in. I also make an offer to bring in LB Davis, who hit unrestrictedness. I make an offer for Stills and Zereoue while I'm busy.

All four players sign with me. I extend Troy Brown's contract by a year, DT Matthias Askew by a year, FS Howie Strickland by a year, OG Steve Sciullo by four years,



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

My First Round Exploits:


I head to the draft, and take a look for players:

I go ahead and draft my two players before the draft begins. I take OT Jamal Coady who is an obvious pick. LDT Bart Thomas is good, so I grab him with the second overall pick. I then finish up free agency round one.



I enter the draft and hope beyond hope that my QB is there at pick 33. At pick 16, the top two QBs are taken, and I doubt that my QB will still be there at pick 33. I dial up the Tennessee GM and ask for a trade up to 17. I offer Tennessee my second round, pick 33 and Arizona's second next year for pick 17, and they accept. I draft QB Broderick Wynn, from WVU and sigh a sigh of relief. Whew!



-Anxiety

[Swaggs]

I'm liking this. :)

What are the nickname candidates for the post-WV move?

[Abe Sargent]

I'm liking this. :)

What are the nickname candidates for the post-WV move?


I used to have an Expansion team from 2k1 that was set up by the game in Huntington and I jumped from KC to it and called it the Highlanders. It would probably have the inside loop on being the name of this team as well, but of course, we'll have to see.....


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

The rest of the Draft:


I take a look at the players that are, in my opinion draftable, when my pick comes up at pick 34 overall.

WVU Players:

DE Herman Burnett 24/43
DE Drew Forbes 12/37

Nobody else from WVU is worth taking. There are no players from Marshall or any small WV school.


Players from WV but went to other schools:

RCB Wendell McGregor 8/53
FL Edwin Pilcher 22/51
RDT Howard Thomason 18/37

That's it. The previous draft had some good depth, but this one does not.


At pick 33, by the way, Tennessee took the fourth best QB on the board. If they were that desperate for a QB, then they would have taken mine, so I'm glad that I made the trade. I want to tag RCB McGregor in the second round but I look. McGregor is the seventh best CB on the board, but Pilcher is the third best WR. Although we have McGregor as better than Pilcher, there's a chance at least that he'll still be around come the third round. Plus, we need another receiver. I take Pilcher.

In the third, McGregor is still available at pick one, so I take him. After that, there's nobody I think will get drafted for a while. I don't need any of these positions that much anyways. I trade my normal third round pick to the Giants for their third pick in 2009. I trade my mid-round third round pick to the Eagles for the same deal, same pick, same year.

In the fourth round, I look to see if DE Burnett is still available. He's not, but I don't consider that a major loss or anything. I grab DE Forbes instead.

In the fifth, I trade my pick to the Ravens for their fifth round selection in 2k9 as well.

In the sixth, I grab Howard with one pick and trade the other, well, you know the drill. I trade with the Bears.

I trade one of my 7th rounders to the Giants for their 7th next year. The other is traded to the Seahawks for their 2k9 draft pick.


I end up with three first round selections, and I am very happy about that.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

After the draft, I get our stadium and.....




























Our franchise vote failed. 55.5 percent of the public voted against it. Sigh.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

We received the lowest possible grade for drafting again with a C-.

Everybody but the QB signs on the initial pass. I look at signing some of my RFAs. I currently have the second and fourth players on the Green Page.

RFAs:

LT Bart Ackerman
LG Bubba Chew
MLB Marvin Dotson
TE Kenny Grueneich
LG Darryl Nixon
FB Matt Sununu


I'm letting UFA Nate Poole go, he's not really that good.

I make offers to:

Undrafted Rookie LT Jonathan Leggett - a WV player

And the following un-WV players:

QB David Greene
Undrafted Rookie QB Grady Blackston
RB T.J. Duckett
RB Ryan Moats
RB Tiki Barber
TE Kris Wilson
MLB Randall Godfrey
RT Ephraim Salaam, who is a Mentor to OTs and should be nice for my new OT


All of them sign. It's almost time for camp. QB Wynn signs for camp. He'd better, I need to get him in camp and throwing.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

After camp, I take another look at the Green Page. Since more rookies have signed, my DT and OT have fallen. OT Coady is the fourth player, DT Thomas is the 10th (out of 20), and QB Wynn is the 18th.

Let's take a look at my rookies:

Pick The First - OT Jamal Coady, from Hamlin, WV via Louisiana Tech. Very strong and tons of endurance. He's very raw in regards blocking, but he is full of potential. (14/80, 20/100, 88, 80). Jamal is instantly the best player on our team. He was one of the top five players on the board when we took him. There was a brokenly good RB above him (RB was rated 81/83 already) and a great safety and punter, then our guy. He was absolutely worth the pick and I love him. Expect Coady to be our OT until retirement.

Pick The Second - DT Bart Thomas from Charleston, WV went to Wake Forest before entering the draft. He was the second DT on the board and the twelveth player on the board. We definitely took him early, but we got a WV player, so I'm happy. I no longer need to chase DT John Thornton. Bart is very raw with Run D, but it's his area of greatest potential (22/95). Everything else has potential or actual skills in the 50's and 60s except for a 36 endurance. He's a solid DT who will likely be a fixture for us for years.

Pick The Third - QB Broderick Wynn from WVU!!! He's busted slighty from a 59 overall to a 54 overall. He has no ability for the long ball (0), he's lousy at sensing the rush (5) or reading the defense (0/13). That means I need a good O Line and receivers that can get open. On the other hand, he's a good scrambler, has solid potential for avoiding picks 30/63), short and medium passes (28/77, 25/73), great accuracy potential (33/83) and timing (40/72) and two minute offense (33/73). Deep Passes are okay (20/62), avoid fumbles is acceptable (17/57), poor screen passes (6/31), and adequate third down passing (32/54).

Pick The Fourth - FL Edwin Pilcher from West Union, WV via Iowa. Our second round pick has strength with courage, avoid fumbles (potential in the 80s), special teams, ball adjustment, avoid drops, route running (potential between 64 and 70 for each), adequate getting downfield and endurance (pots in the 50s) and poor big-play receiving at 43.

Pick The Fifth - RCB Wendell McGregor from Huntington, WV via Arizona State. Wendell is very raw but may be a good backup or iffy starter.

Pick the Sixth - DE Drew Forbes is nothing other than a career backup

Pick the Seventh - DT Howard Thomason is also career backup material. Because of his high run defense potential, he could eventually be an okay backup and emergency starter.


-Anxiety


P.S. - This comment is made by me looking back at this dynasty after completion. I believe that the best draft decision I made is in this draft. I just wanted to highlight that!

[Swaggs]

I would tell you to get Wynn a mentor, but I guess since the dynasty is already complete, that would be rather pointless.

Anyway, I hope he becomes "the man" for you at QB.

[Tellistto]

I'm following along, very good stuff so far. I like your rules, makes it more interesting, and was probably a very easy game to get into for you. Looks like a fairly solid draft there, especially in the top two rounds.


Tell

[Abe Sargent]

Second year CB Jeffrey Payton busted from a 48 potential to a 32 potential. Ick.

I hop John Browning to RDT.

We go 2-2 during this preseason, defeating the Jets and Dolphins. CB Tyrone Azumah is out for the season with a broken hand. I toss him on IR.

I release:

LT Bart Ackerman
DT Antwan Lake


Here is our opening day roster



Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Greene, David 1 QB 3 23 46 1 yr.
Wynn, Broderick 17 QB QB 1 22 54 4 yrs
Blackston, Grady 18 QB 1 19 44 1 yr.
Duckett, T.J. 23 RB RB 6 45 49 1 yr.
Moats, Ryan 37 RB 3 42 43 3 yrs
Barber, Tiki 32 RB 11 39 40 2 yrs
##Zereoue, Amos 42 RB 9 20 21 1 yr.
Hughes, Kent 20 FB FB 2 35 50 3 yrs
Sununu, Matt 36 FB 3 23 37 1 yr.
Becht, Anthony 86 TE TE 8 54 55 3 yrs
Wilson, Kris 81 TE 4 39 46 2 yrs
Grueneich, Kenny 6 TE 3 19 38 2 yrs
Glassner, Jermaine 15 FL 3 30 41 2 yrs
Pilcher, Edwin 83 FL FL 1 27 53 4 yrs
##Sellers, Rob 87 FL 2 16 27 3 yrs
Brown, Troy 82 SE SE 15 39 39 2 yrs
Henry, Chris 80 SE 3 19 32 2 yrs
##Lovelace, Edwin 88 SE 2 11 25 3 yrs
Braham, Rich 58 C C 13 59 59 2 yrs
Massey, Chris 54 C 6 20 32 1 yr.
Sciullo, Steve 63 LG LG 5 37 38 5 yrs
Chew, Bubba 76 LG 3 15 30 1 yr.
##Nixon, Darryl 74 LG 3 15 26 1 yr.
Wade, John 51 RG RG 10 33 39 2 yrs
Leggett, Jonathan 62 LT LT 1 15 31 1 yr.
Coady, Jamal 60 RT RT 1 41 86 5 yrs
Shiel, Curtis 61 RT 2 28 34 2 yrs
##Salaam, Ephraim 68 RT 10 13 14 1 yr.
Hanson, Chris 13 P 7 31 31 2 yrs
Vanderjagt, Mike 12 K 10 59 64 2 yrs
Scott, Darrion 70 LDE LDE 4 47 62 2 yrs
Stargell, Warren 78 LDE 2 25 35 2 yrs
Stills, Gary 71 RDE RDE 8 39 39 1 yr.
##Forbes, Drew 94 RDE 1 11 28 4 yrs
Askew, Matthias 72 LDT 4 39 46 2 yrs
Thomas, Bart 95 LDT LDT 1 32 66 5 yrs
Browning, John 77 RDT RDT 11 40 40 2 yrs
Thomason, Howard 79 RDT 1 20 33 3 yrs
Godfrey, Randall 55 MLB MLB 12 35 36 1 yr.
Dotson, Marvin 93 MLB 3 19 30 1 yr.
Davis, James 96 SLB SLB 5 44 49 3 yrs
##Wiley, Grant 91 SLB 4 17 31 1 yr.
Green, Barrett 97 WLB WLB 8 49 51 2 yrs
Taggart, Jake 56 WLB 2 21 35 2 yrs
Ventura, Graham 47 LCB LCB 2 23 38 2 yrs
**Azumah, Tyrone 29 LCB 2 16 37 2 yrs
Payton, Jeffrey 43 LCB 2 13 32 3 yrs
Frazier, Lance 40 RCB RCB 4 36 36 2 yrs
##Beasley, Aaron 34 RCB 12 22 22 1 yr.
McGregor, Wendell 27 RCB 1 10 44 4 yrs
Logan, Mike 31 SS SS 10 45 49 2 yrs
Tanner, Gary 26 SS 2 26 42 3 yrs
Benedict, Jay 38 FS FS 2 41 53 3 yrs
Strickland, Howie 48 FS 3 20 42 2 yrs

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 54
Inactive: 8
On Active Roster: 45

Salary Cap: $95,100,000
Cap Room: $12,070,000
Maximum for New Player: $12,340,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $22,010,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $0
Cap Room Required Next Year: $61,680,000




-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Let's take a quick look at our starters:

QB Broderick Wynn - The rookie will start. He'll likely play for us for some time, at least. If he scrubs out, I can eventually get one of the big three (Pennington, Bulger, Leftwich) via free agency.
RB TJ Duckett - Not a WV player, so I don't care.
FB Kent Hughes - A solid FB who is getting better.
TE Anthony Becht - A fine TE for our team.
FL Edwin Pilsher - The rookie gets the nod for starting. He's raw, but maybe he can come through.
SE Troy Brown - He's slowing down. I don't expect a season like last year. I just want him to be good enough until we can get one of the big two in FA (Moss, Porter) or receivers develop or a nice star caliber receiver comes up through the draft.
C Rich Braham - He had a great year two years ago but a down year last year. He's putting on years, so I hope last year was a temporary blip.
LG Steve Sciullo - Steve really outplayed his skills last year, and we rewarded him with a long term contract. If he continues to produce at the same, adequate rate, he can stay until a better Guard comes along - which may not happen for a while.
RG John Wade - Has yet to have a good season with us.
LT Jonathan Leggett - An undrated rookie getting the start for us? Let's hope he's the next Steve Sciullo.
RT Jamal Coady - Oh yes, oh yes, the king has come.
P Chris Hanson - Not a good punter. We'll likely replace him at the first sign of a better WV punter.
K Mike Vanderjagt - A good kicker.
LDE Darrion Scott - I'd like to see Scott have a better year.
RDE Gary Stills - Without Kalu outperforming him on the roster, can Stills keep up?
LDT Bart Thomas - Hello Mr. Anchor, how are you doing today?
RDT John Browning - Acceptable.
MLB Randall Godfrey - He's washed up, but I hope...ah...who cares...silly not WV players.
SLB James Davis - Another overachiever. He's been real good for us at SLB, and I can only hope that continues.
WLB Barrett Green - Mr. Green, a tacklin machine, he's very keen, to get real mean, and kick your ass!
LCB Graham Ventura - Hi, I'm a sixth round draft pick last year who is starting because McGregor is too raw and Payton busted
RCB Lance Frazier - He needs to play up to his name. Seriously, an old west sherriff name like Lance Frazier needs to be a tackling machine like Barrett Green and Mean Joe Greene.....
SS Mike Logan - Best man in the secondary, but look out because here comes...
FS Jay Benedict - Second year player with an eye to getting better.


We are down to just two non WV starters. Excellent! Let's play some football with our pissed off fan base and our rookie QB and our us against them mentality. Say that as rhyme:

Our pissed off fan base
and our rookie QB
and our us against them
mentality

That's a nice beat to it.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Let's Begin:

Week One - We barely lose to the Panthers, 21-24. Broderick Wynn threw his first TD pass in the NFL to Jermaine Glassner. Wynn's NFL debut? 14 of 27 for 137 yards, 1 TD, no picks, never sacked. That's not too bad, actually. CB Lance Frazier picked off Delhomme. We forced five fumbles (rookie backup DT Thomason forced two, DT Browning, DE Stills and DE Scott each forced out one) Both Braham and Wade got a trio of KRB for some random RB who isn't a WV player so I wont mention him :) No injuries to report.

Week Two - Tennessee crushes us 27-3. Rookie QB Boy tossed up four picks and passed for 52 yards. SLB Davis picked off the Titans twice. OG Wade grabbed another trio of KRB. This was a poor game. Our running game was stimied, our passing game was Harrington-esque, and our defense was okay, but not good enough to win the game. No new injures, well, actually we have a few dings and such, but nothing that will keep anybody from playing.

Week Three - The Bears defeat us 20-3. Maybe it’s just me, but I would like to score more than three points a game. This time, Wynn did not toss a pick, he just didn't connect on many passes, going 15 of 27 for 148 yards. Troy Brown accounted for 82 of those yards and five of those receptions. We need to get more from our passing game. A rookie QB, scrapheap RBs, a swiss cheese line that has holes and rocks, barely adequate receivers - this is not a good offense. We have a better defense than offense. Our offense is going to be worse with rookie WR Ed Filcher out for a month with a strained abducter muscle. Bust WR Rob Sellers has been activated.

Week Four - The Rams slide by us 19-13. The Rams continue undefeated. Troy Brown caught a Wynn pass, The Player of the Game was a WV player, but it was Marc Bulger for the Rams and not one of my guys. WR Rob Sellers showed some game with 76 yards recieving and led the team today. C Braham is out for a week or three.

[Abe Sargent]

The Second Quarter of the Season:

Week Five - BYE

Week Six - The first quarter of the season was awful, and I hope for improvement this quarter. We scrub out to a one win San Francisco team, giving them their second victory of the season. Wynn rushed for a score. He was picked off twice, sacked three times, fumbled three times and had his highest yardage total yet with 236 yards passing. I prefer him when he's throwing for 147 and a TD but not getting sacked, fumbling, or tossing picks. Troy Brown pulled in another 87 yards. Mike Logan came down with his first interception of the season. OG Wade, OG Sciullo and backup C Massey all had three KRB this week. I leave Braham on the bench for this next week because Massey did a good job in relief.

Week Seven - 17-14 and we barely lose to the Seahawks. Wynn only threw one pick this game. Still had another three fumbles, though. I swear, if I drafted the next Tony Banks of the NFL, I'm throwing myself off a bridge. DE Darrion Scott looked nice with apair of forced fumbles. Braham will be back next week. Pilcher will remain out, despite being questionable. FB Hughes is out for a few weeks.

Week Eight - Okay Wynn, I want you to knock it off. Play a good game, to prove you have it in you. We defeat the Panthers 20-15. Wynn hit a running back twice for two scores. Wynn - 15 of 22 for 151 yards, 2 TDs, 1 pick, 1 sack, no fumbles. See, that's a line I'll take. OG Wade had a trio of KRB. SS Mike Logan is with a second pick. The Player of the Game was WLB Barrett Green. 8 solo tackles, 1 assist, and a sack. That's his first PotG in his tenure here with me. Congrats Barrett! LG Steve Sciullo is out for a few weeks. WR Pilcher is back.

Week Nine - We lost to the equally one win Bucs 24-27. Pilcher caught his first NFL TD. Some bum rushed for over 100 yards and rushed for a pair of scores as well. Wynn had a pair of picks, 222 yards, and was sacked once. OT and rookie sensation Coady had his first 3+ KRB day. OG Chew had 3 as well spelling for Sciullo. Backup DT Matthia Askew had a THREE sack game. He gets my game ball. Jay Benedict is out for a month will a pulled elbow tendon. FB Hughes is


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

WEEKS 10-13:

Week Ten - Halfway through the season and we are a staggering 1-7. The Jaguars were 2-7 before they win on a winning streak that took them all the way to the AFC Championship. Could we have a similar fate in store? Apparently not as Arizona edges us 13-9. Their only TD? A fumble return. Other than that, we scored five combined field goals on the day. Maybe the desert dried out all of the energy from the teams. Logan grabbed his third pick on the year. QB Wynn tossed a pretty anemic game. CB Frazier, backup DT Thomason and some nameless MLB who's not a WV player each had a forced fumble.

Week Eleven - A 10-21 loss at the hands of an Atlanta team that had only three wins does not inspire confidence. Wynn rushed for another TD. He went 22 of 35 for 272 yards, no TD passes, 1 pick, no sacks, two fumbles and a rushing TD. That's a rather mixed performance. C Braham had a trio of KRB. WR Glassner pulled in 93 yards. DE Darrion Scott is out for a week or two. OG Sciullo will be back.

Week Twelve - At this point, I just want to give the folks something to believe in. Going to 8-2 Indianapolis is not easy, but if we win here, it would be something. Unfortunately, we lose. Fortunately, we take them to overtime (my first as the GM here). Pilcher and Brown each caught Wynns TDs. We had a nameless RB with over 100 yards on the ground. Wynn looked positively professional with 15 of 22, 232 yards, 2 TDs, a pick, 2 sacks, and no fumbles. Pilcher was with 97 yards via 7 catches, while Troy had 73 (on just three catches). OG Wade had for KRB while Sciullo had 3 in his return. A good loss, if there is such a thing. FS Jay Benedict will be back next week, as will DE Darrion Scott.

Week Thirteen - We get crushed by the Giants 35-13. I was hoping for more after the Colts game. Wynn tossed up two picks. Troy Brown had 88 yards receiving, which was over half of the 157 yards passing that Wynn had. Jay Benedict had a pick in his return from injury. Dimeback Aaron Beasley had a forced fumble. LCB Graham Ventura is out for the rest of the season. CB Payton will start again, despite busting.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Finishing Up the Season:

Week Fourteen - There are three two loss teams, but we are the only one loss team in the league, giving us the inside track on the number one pick. I want wins. A strong finish and carry over into next year. This week, the four win Texans travel to face us. This is a winnable game. My players must have believed that speech, because we won 37-14. Yep, THIRTY-SEVEN POINTS. Troy Brown caught the only passing TD. Despite the large score, Wynn was just 12 of 26 for 123 yards, a TD, a pick, 3 sacks, and a fumble recovery when one of our RBs fumbles. This was a running day. Lots of yards, rushing TDs and whatnot. WLB Barrett Green forced two fumbles and recovered one himself. CB Payton recovered a fumble and advanced it 36 yards for a TD. Braham had 5 KRB. Logan got another pick. Rookie CB McGregor had his first pick of his NFL career. It was a good day.

Week Fifteen - We lose hosting Atlanta 15-30. Becht grabbed a Wynn pass. Wynn was, okay, on the day. No sacks, no picks, no forced fumbles, so the defense could have done a little bit more. OG Sciullo had a career day with 6 KRB. Wade added another 3 to his total. There are no new injuries.

Week Sixteen - We lose at Jacksonville 10-20. Once again, the player of the game was a WV player not on our team (f'in Leftwich). Wynn threw the ball 44 times. What in the name of all that is holy caused some brilliant offensive mind though we could win by passing with a rookie QB who's not been that good FORTY FOUR TIMES?!?!?!? Wynn, to his credit, didn't throw a pick (he added two more fumbles). He also didn't throw for a TD, only connected with 26 of his throws for 229 yards, and was sacked twice. It could have been much worse...*cough week two*... Troy Brown added 85 receiving yards. Backup DT Askew forced a fumble. OG Wade added yet another 3 KRB for the year. This guy has been remarkably consistent this year.

Week Seventeen - Okay fellas, let's go home with a somewhat happy feeling by winning against the 6-9 and playing for nothing Bucs. We score 28. It is enough? Bucs score 31, so no, its not. Random TE Kris Wilson catches a TD. And then another. And then Wynn hits a nameless RB. Wynn with his first three TD game which, by the way, is something Michael Vick has never done. This is an odd statline. Take a look and see what the issue is - Wynn's statline: 16 of 34 for 324 yards, 3 TDs, 1 Int, Sacked 3 times, no fumbles. 16 completions for 326 yards? Holy. Let do the math....yep, that's like ninety yards a reception or something. WR Pilcher had 94 yards receing and led the team, so no favortism in the yards. I like that Wynn spread out his balls. Glassner had 72 yards. I had FOUR receivers with multiple catches and averages over 24 yards a catch. Did they break these catches out? Nope. The combined YAC was 37 yards. Man, that's crazy. Mike Logan added one more pick to his season total. Jay Tanner doubled up his total by getting a second pick.

So, we have some nice offensive performances in the last quarter of the season but still end up with a 2-14 record.


In the Super Bowl, Detroit crushes the Patriots 38-21. (Kerry Collins now the QB of the Lions, in case you care)


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

We had zero players with awards. Let's look at some stats.


Front Office Football 2004
Passing Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Att Cmp Pct Yards Avg Lg TD Int
Wynn, Broderick QB NOS 16 16 462 259 56.0 3064 6.63 79 12 19

Player Pos Team Sck Yards Rating
Wynn, Broderick QB NOS 34 214 67.9

Att - Attempts, Cmp - Completions, Pct - Completion Percentage,
Yards - Passing Yards, Avg - Yards per Passing Attempt, Lg - Longest
Completion, TD - Passing Touchdowns, Int - Passes Intercepted,
Sck - Times Sacked, Yards - Sack Yards Lost, Rate - Quarterback Rating.


Doesn't look like Broderick had a good season. He also had 14 fumbles, which are not listed here. 3000+ passing yards shows he picked up in the second half of the season there. His TD:Int ratio is bad, but that will get better as he improves. You can see the number of sacks as a consequence of a porous line. However, that number of fumbles scares me. I hope this is not a trend.

Running - no WV players here, so I don't care.

[Abe Sargent]

Receiving -


Front Office Football 2004
Receiving Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Targ Ctch Yards Avg YAC Lg TD
Glassner, Jermaine WR NOS 16 7 109 53 674 12.7 60 47 1
Brown, Troy WR NOS 16 16 85 46 738 16.0 60 51 3
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 16 65 38 405 10.6 131 22 1
Henry, Chris WR NOS 16 0 64 35 380 10.8 46 42 0
Pilcher, Edwin WR NOS 12 12 60 30 461 15.3 119 79 2
Duckett, T.J. RB NOS 16 13 28 18 85 4.7 35 17 2
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 15 10 21 14 71 5.0 26 14 0
Moats, Ryan RB NOS 16 3 11 10 47 4.7 25 11 1
Sellers, Rob WR NOS 4 0 19 10 134 13.4 25 27 0
Wilson, Kris TE NOS 16 2 9 5 95 19.0 31 31 2


Ignore Duckett, Wilson and Moats. Troy Brown was not targeted as much as in the past, so his catches dropped, and therefore his yardage fell. His average yardage per catch is up from 13.8 to 16.0, so it wasn't him. This is a drop off as a result of the rookie QB. Glassner had a solid season. Becht became a fairly reliable target for Wynn.

[Abe Sargent]

Now let's look at defense:


Front Office Football 2004
Defensive Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Tckl Asst Sack Blkd Hurr
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 14 102 21 1.0 0 4
Davis, James OLB NOS 16 16 100 34 2.0 0 2
Godfrey, Randall ILB NOS 16 15 70 30 0.5 0 1
Browning, John DT NOS 16 16 60 13 2.5 6 7
Benedict, Jay S NOS 13 13 57 22 1.0 1 0
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 16 55 17 0.0 0 0
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 16 16 40 11 1.0 0 0
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 15 15 36 23 2.0 5 20
Askew, Matthias DT NOS 16 4 32 14 3.5 4 14
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 12 12 32 16 0.0 0 0
Payton, Jeffrey CB NOS 16 5 31 10 1.0 0 1
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 3 30 9 0.0 0 0
Stills, Gary DE NOS 16 16 29 11 5.5 3 15
Dotson, Marvin ILB NOS 16 0 27 8 0.0 0 0
Beasley, Aaron CB NOS 16 1 26 8 1.0 0 1
Thomas, Bart DT NOS 16 12 23 13 2.0 0 3
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 0 18 8 0.5 0 0
McGregor, Wendell CB NOS 9 1 17 4 0.0 0 0
Stargell, Warren DE NOS 16 1 16 9 2.0 2 5
Thomason, Howard DT NOS 16 0 16 3 0.5 0 2


Remember to ignore Godfrey. Barrett Green once again led the team in tackles, although James Davis was right behind. Davis increased his tackle count by 30 or so over last year, and some of that may have had to do with a weaker MLB. Our sack leader was Stills with 5.5. Where was Scott, who's a much better DE? He may have the skills, but he doesn't produce. He did lead the team with 20 hurries, and 5 blocks is okay, and his 3 forced fumbles are an acceptable amount, but he should more impact in the sack department. DT John Browning had a lot of tackles. For a DT, that's a lot, especially considering his skill level. I'm very pleased with his performance. Ironically, Stills and Browning are the weak players on the D Line and one had a bunch of tackles and the other led the team in sacks. It's wierd.

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, coverage time:


Front Office Football 2004
Pass Coverage Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Ints IRYd TD Defn Cght PPly PDPct
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 16 5 72 0 7 34 445 19.9
Davis, James OLB NOS 16 16 2 25 0 11 50 548 18.9
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 16 16 1 0 0 7 29 414 19.2
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 0 1 0 0 1 7 139 19.8
Benedict, Jay S NOS 13 13 1 0 0 5 29 438 19.0
McGregor, Wendell CB NOS 9 1 1 0 0 1 8 99 19.3
Beasley, Aaron CB NOS 16 1 0 0 0 3 16 154 18.1
Godfrey, Randall ILB NOS 16 15 0 0 0 5 28 351 18.5
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 14 0 0 0 5 30 323 18.2
Dotson, Marvin ILB NOS 16 0 0 0 0 2 14 110 17.3
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 3 0 0 0 2 6 128 19.6
Payton, Jeffrey CB NOS 16 5 0 0 0 2 22 363 18.6
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 12 12 0 0 0 8 21 358 19.6


For the third straight year, Mike Logan led the team in picks. James Davis again led the team in passes defensed. Despite just 12 starts, CB Ventura was second with 8 passes defensed. Logan and CB Frazier each had 7.


In blocking, Wade led the team with 32 KRB. Braham just had 23. Sciullo racked up 19. OT Coady, who admittedly was raw, still disappointed with just 13. Wade, however, allowed 12 sacks. That's definately a weakness of his. Undrafted rookie OT Leggett who started 16 games had just 11 KRB, but he also allowed only 4 sacks. That's a pretty impressive performance, all things considered. Only Rich Braham allowed less sacks of the starting five (Braham allowed just one). Sciullo allowed 5. Coady allowed 8.

[Abe Sargent]

Official Team Awards (as given out by me)

Rookie of the Year - OT Jonathan Leggett. Several rookies started for us, from OT Coady, to DT Thomas to QB Wynn and occasionally WR Pilcher when healthy. However, it was OT Jonathan Leggett who turned in the best performance. While DT Thomas looked lost, QB Wynn looked like a fumble-matic, OT Coady looked overpowered and WR Pilcher looked overwhelmed, Leggett quietly stopped a lot of pressure. You know that defenses rushed an undrafted rookie starting at OT, and yet he held them back all season long, and I find that very pleasing.

Special Teams Player of the Year - Vanderjagt Again for obvious reasons.

Defensive Player of the Year - SLB James Davis. I wanted to give this to Mike Logan or John Browning, especially since Davis won last year, but I really think he deserved it again. He was two tackles away from having teh most solo tackles on the team and had way more assists than the competition. He again led the team is passes defensed. He was one of only two players to get multiple picks. He notched a pair of sacks to boost his total. He continues to get better, and I think he deserves the award again this year.

Offensive Player of the Year - OG John Wade. There was no standout blocker, no standout receiver, no standout QB, not even a standout RB if I wanted to choose one. How do I select someone? In the end, John Wade stepped up his play this year. He allowed a lot of sacks the past two years as well, but this year he at least knocked some guys around. In the past two seasons he had just 39 KRB, averaging 19.5 per year. This year, he had 32. That's a tremendous increase in production considering his age and ability.

Team MVP - SLB James Davis. He's my best coverage linebacker. He's better in coverage than my corners. He's a great tackler. He's an occasional threat in the backfield. And you would never know this by looking at him in practice. The guy outplays himself every year. This year, Davis is our Team MVP.

[Abe Sargent]

End of the season, I get a 32 overall score. 0 for on field performance, 88 for roster strength, 40 for value and 52 for profit/loss.

I submit a new stadium plan to New Orleans. It's the same plan they rejected last time.


Finances and Value

We lost 26 million last year. Three first round rookies, including the top two came with hefty bonuses and therefore we spent some significant money there. We also lost a lot of fans, as ticket revenue dropped sharply. We only had 53 percent of our stadium full.

Franchise value - 6th worst stadium, second worst roster, worst fan support, 7th worst economy, lowest value by 40 million dollars.

Troy Brown has retired. We’ll miss him.

I make a bad stadium offer and look over my roster. There’s no franchise worthy players here. I don’t need new staff. I then move into free agency…

[Abe Sargent]

Due to our crappy season, we have the top overall draft pick. Let’s take a look and see what draftees are available for this draft…..


Draftable WVU Alums

FS Adrian Greco from WVU is rated 29/70
DT Toby Sanders from WVU is 19/51
DT Allen Voetburg from WVU is 11/45
TE Sammie Gordon from WVU is 9/43
OG Keith Williams from WVU is 16/42

Draftable WV hometown players

RG Floyd Price from Hamlin WV (Went to Duke) 20/62
FS Louis Lucas from Glenville, WV via Washington 18/54
WLB Clifton Rutulante from Summersville, WV (Where I was born!) via UAB 20/52
SS Cornell Eisner from Morgantown, WV, 22/46
SE Derrick Duhart from Farmington, WV, 19/46
QB Edgar McWilliams from Lewisburg, WV 9/45
C Tyrus Howe from Morgantown, WV 14/44
SS Desmond Kelley from Charmco, WV – 23/44
QB Kirk Berrian from Morgantown, WV at 6/43


Draftable from other WV colleges: There are also players from West Liberty, WV Tech but no Marshall.


Essentially, there are no real top rookies for my draft pick. What can I do now?

[Abe Sargent]

There is a new player in the free agent market – Marc Bulger. I have to try and make a play for him. Another free agent – RB Johnny Foley from Petersburg WV by way of Virginia Tech has been made an offer. Johnny was a UFA four years ago and has developed into an adequate backup – better than Amos.

Speaking of which, I also make an offer to RB Amos Zereoue and DE Gary Stills.

Randy Moss is in his 11th year while Jerry Porter is in his 9th, yet the Raiders won’t trade either for my top overall pick. Sheesh.

Marc Bulger and Gary Stills sign with us in the first week. Gary signed a two year deal worth 3.46 mill. Marc signed a three year deal for 22.65 mill.

Amos and Johnny sign the following week for the veteran minimum.

I go ahead and release a few players who aren’t WV material.

TE Kris Wilson
RB Tiki Barber
RB Ryan Moats
LT Matthias Askew


That’s pretty much all I have to do in free agency. Now I need to see if I can shop our top pick. I’m very happy with where we are safety wise, although I suppose I could draft Greco and then move him to corner. I have lots of problems at the corner spot.

I try to trade our top pick to the Broncos for Jerome Weaver, the top overall selection from a few years ago that was from WVU, but they don’t want to trade a high amortization player.

I’m trying to find an option for the top overall pick, but now dice. This year I have the following picks:

1st in every round
2nd round, number 5
2nd round, number 11
4th number 22
6th number 13
7th number 22
7th number 23
7th number 5

I have fourteen total picks. When I look at the draft pool, I just don’t see this talent. Time to trade some of these picks:

I offer our top overall selection to the Falcons for their tenth round selection this year and next year’s top two pick as well. I’ll grab our safety, convert him to CB, and then move on.

[Abe Sargent]

We head into the draft:

The top overall pick is DT Ellis Delgado, by Atlanta.

The tenth pick comes up, and I feel like our safety will still be on the board for a few more picks. I trade out of our spot. The rest of the computers aren’t willing to make a trade, so I draft him at 10.

It’s getting near the end of the first round and I want to take RG Floyd Price with the first pick in the second, but, I think that he is going to go soon. He’s the top G left on the board, and two teams picking between now, 24, and 32 need Gs seriously. I make a move for the 24th pick, but they want too much. I let them pick, then trade with St Louis with the 25th pick and take Floyd. St. Louis got my 5th pick in the second round and my third round pick.

At the top of the second round, I take my bearings. There are no other players in the draft that I really want. I can afford to trade down and hope some players stick on the board.

In terms of quality – there are two great players on the board. A 40/83 TE, a 35/82 C, and a QB at 26/74, which ain’t too shabby either. This is an odd draft.

With so much quality available, I feel very comfortable trading down. I trade my top pick to the Bills for their third round at pick 6 this year and a third rounder next year.

It’s not a great trade, I just wanted out of the spot.

Unfortunately, DT Toby Sanders goes pick 39. Ah well, I played one too many draft games and got caught. He was taken by the Texans. I snatch up WLB Clifton Rutulante and move on to the third round. He was the second highest rated OLB on the board when we grabbed him.

I take Louis Lucas in the third round. He was the second highest rated safety on the board.

In the fourth, DT Allan Voetburg in the top DT on the board, and I take him. SE Derrick Duhart joins us as our late fourth round selection (he was the third WR on the board)

In the fifth, G Keith Williams is off the board to Detroit. I take SS Cornell Eisner.

In the 6th, I grab C Tyrus Howe and TE Sammie Gordon

In the 7th, QB McWilliams joins us. I also nab RB Amos Schultz from Romney WV, ILB Oscar Wells from WVU and ILB Sean Grier from WVU.

[Abe Sargent]

The stadium referendum failed and I am quite happy!!!


Heading into the second round of free agency, I need the following positions:

Starting MLB
OT
OG
Starting RB


I make offers to the following RFAs.

FB Matt Sununu
MLB Marvin Dotson
LT Jonathan Leggett
LG Darryl Nixon
LG Bubba Chew


I need to chase down that T, MLB, and RB now. Remember, minimum wage offers only.

I make a minimum wage offer to:

RB Michael Pittman
MLB Niko Koutouvides
LT Paul Gozinsky (He’s from Lewisburg, WV)


All three sign with us

[Abe Sargent]

All of our rookies have signed prior to raining camp. I need to reassign some players to different spots in order to fill out some gaps on our team:

What to do with Adrian Greco? At first I wanted to bump him to CB. He is currently a 27/68 according to our scouts. However, SS Mike Logan is getting old. I could also move him to SS. He’s a better FS than my current player – Jay Benedict, and I could play him in his natural position. What to do? This decision is crucial to my team.

Here are the notes:

Move to SS: Made without any change in player ratings. Will have roughly the same experience.
Move to LCB: 93% of the same ratings, roughly the same experience.
Move to RCB: As above.

Well, I thought it would be worse than that. I grimace and click yes on “Move to RCB?”

He is now a 21/58. He is still, by far our best CB.

Other changes:

Allan Voetburg, welcome to the RDT position.
Howard Thomason, welcome to the LDT position.
Oscar Wells, welcome to WLB (He actually got better with the move)
Sean Grier, welcome to the SLB (Ditto Sean Grier)

Well, wish us luck as we head into camp.

[Swaggs]

I love the name Bubba Chew. I would keep him on my team for his name alone. :)

[Abe Sargent]

Post Training Camp. We have one MAJOR surprise as a rookie player at a nice position busted out in a big way. Let’s take a look at our rookies, in draft order:

RCB Adrian Greco: Rated as a 26/58, he is by far our best potential secondary player. I hope for adequate things from Adrian.

RG Floyd Price: Busted a bit to an unexpected 22/51. He needs some help.

WLB Clifton Rutulante is next. He has a 22/46 body with a specialty in pass rush. He won’t start, but will provide nice depth while he learns and grows.

FS Louis Lucas has a very reliable 20/47. This is a slight disappointment, but you have to expect the occasional hit. He is quite raw.

DT Allen Voetburg. Welcome to our boom player. Allen is now rated at 37/61 a large increase from the previous 11/45 he was at. In fact, not only will Voetburg start for us this year, but he also right there with our first round sophomore draft pick Bart Thomas who is at 36/65. Allen has great potential or current stats in everything except for a woefully poor play diagnosis. This makes me less sad about missing the other DT in the draft.

SE Derrick Duhart is just a body at 19/38. He doesn’t even have any return skill, which I was hoping for.

SS Cornell Eisner is at 23/42, a solid place to be. We’ll see if he’ll ever be anything more than average.

C Tyrus Howe is a woeful 15/36. Ick.

TE Sammie Gordon was picked to be our third TE from WV to join the roster. He busted a bit down to 10/37. He’ll need serious development time, but he has a nice run blocking ability.

QB Edgar McWilliams makes us have our first trio of WV QBs on the roster. Edgar is an 11/45 player with solid backup potential on his face.

RB Amos Schultz was taken purely for depth. At 21/33 that’s all he’ll ever be.

WLB Oscar Wells blanked in run defense, so I’ll likely not play him much. He is a 15/27.

Lastly, SLB Sean Grier has a 15/25 rating. He also busted in run defense.


I bring back C Chris Massey for a year contract.

That brings me to 60 players on the team. Some have to go. I make the following moves:

Cut LCB Tyrone Azumah
Cut LG Darryl Nixon
Move FL Jermaine Glassner to SE
Cut SE Edwin Lovelace
Cut C Tyrus Howe
Cut WLB Oscar Wells
Move FS Louis Lucas to LCB
Cut LCB Jeffrey Payton
WLB Jake Taggart





-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Would you like to see our opening day roster?



Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Bulger, Marc 11 QB QB 9 66 66 3 yrs
Wynn, Broderick 17 QB 2 32 50 3 yrs
McWilliams, Edgar 19 QB 1 11 45 3 yrs
Pittman, Michael 49 RB RB 11 45 48 2 yrs
Foley, Johnny 25 RB 4 36 36 2 yrs
Schultz, Amos 44 RB 1 21 33 3 yrs
##Zereoue, Amos 42 RB 10 14 15 1 yr.
Hughes, Kent 20 FB FB 3 37 46 2 yrs
Sununu, Matt 36 FB 4 27 38 1 yr.
Becht, Anthony 86 TE TE 9 47 48 2 yrs
##Gordon, Sammie 84 TE 1 10 37 3 yrs
Grueneich, Kenny 6 TE 4 20 36 1 yr.
Pilcher, Edwin 83 FL FL 2 35 54 3 yrs
Sellers, Rob 87 FL 3 17 26 2 yrs
Glassner, Jermaine 15 SE SE 4 26 40 1 yr.
Duhart, Derrick 82 SE 1 19 38 3 yrs
Henry, Chris 80 SE 4 23 30 1 yr.
Braham, Rich 58 C C 14 56 56 1 yr.
Massey, Chris 55 C 7 19 32 1 yr.
Sciullo, Steve 63 LG LG 6 37 37 4 yrs
##Chew, Bubba 76 LG 4 16 29 1 yr.
Price, Floyd 64 RG 1 22 51 4 yrs
Wade, John 51 RG RG 11 33 39 1 yr.
Gozinsky, Paul 73 LT LT 4 30 41 1 yr.
##Leggett, Jonathan 62 LT 2 18 31 2 yrs
Coady, Jamal 60 RT RT 2 61 84 4 yrs
Shiel, Curtis 61 RT 3 32 35 1 yr.
Hanson, Chris 13 P 8 31 31 1 yr.
Vanderjagt, Mike 12 K 11 58 63 1 yr.
Scott, Darrion 70 LDE LDE 5 54 63 1 yr.
Stargell, Warren 78 LDE 3 28 33 1 yr.
Stills, Gary 71 RDE RDE 9 40 40 2 yrs
##Forbes, Drew 94 RDE 2 12 24 3 yrs
Thomas, Bart 95 LDT LDT 2 36 65 4 yrs
Thomason, Howard 79 LDT 2 20 32 2 yrs
Voetberg, Allen 90 RDT RDT 1 37 61 4 yrs
Browning, John 77 RDT 12 39 39 1 yr.
Koutouvides, Niko 98 MLB MLB 5 39 54 1 yr.
Dotson, Marvin 93 MLB 4 22 29 2 yrs
Davis, James 96 SLB SLB 6 49 49 2 yrs
##Grier, Sean 57 SLB 1 15 25 3 yrs
Green, Barrett 97 WLB WLB 9 48 51 1 yr.
Rutulante, Clifton 53 WLB 1 22 46 4 yrs
Lucas, Louis 35 LCB 1 12 44 4 yrs
Ventura, Graham 47 LCB LCB 3 34 43 1 yr.
Greco, Adrian 33 RCB RCB 1 26 58 5 yrs
McGregor, Wendell 27 RCB 2 12 39 3 yrs
Frazier, Lance 40 RCB 5 36 37 1 yr.
Logan, Mike 31 SS SS 11 44 49 1 yr.
##Eisner, Cornell 30 SS 1 23 42 3 yrs
Tanner, Gary 26 SS 3 27 41 2 yrs
Benedict, Jay 38 FS FS 3 47 52 2 yrs
Strickland, Howie 48 FS 4 23 40 1 yr.

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 53
Inactive: 7
On Active Roster: 46

Salary Cap: $99,900,000
Cap Room: $24,500,000
Maximum for New Player: $24,830,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $2,540,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $680,000
Cap Room Required Next Year: $55,590,000


I am very unhappy with Chris Hanson. I make an offer to the Broncos for Sauerbrun again.

Todd is still a fan favorite, so no trade.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s take a look at our starters:

QB Marc Bulger – I know that some may think it odd that we draft a first round QB, start him an entire year, commit to him, then grab a free agent QB and make him our starter. However, Marc is just simply better right now than we think Wynn could ever be.

RB Michael Pittman – Not from WV.

FB Kent Hughes – He’s an okay enough FB who will probably start forever due to the decided lack of quality WV players at his position.

TE Anthony Becht – Age is causing him to lose a bit of a step each year.

FL Edwin Pilcher - Our good receiver is now in his second year. We’d like to see improvement on the field.

SE Jermaine Glassner – He’s okay. Nothing special at all.

LT Paul Gozinsky – This undrafted free agent in his fourth year was picked up by us and now he’ll start. Lucky Paul. We still need a good LT.

LG Steve Sciullo – He’ll start for us again.

C Rich Braham – Hello old man. Please keep anchoring the middle of our line until a replacement comes along. Please.

RG John Wade – With a great year this year and a bit of a bust by Price, Wade will start again this year, at least for now.

RT Jamal Coady – The hoss is getting better.

K Mike Vanderjagt – A fine kicker.

P Chris Hanson – A bad punter getting worse every year.

LDE Darrion Scott – We want to see more sacks from him this year.

RDE Gary Stills – He’s still just adequate, until I can get that guy from Denver.

LDT Bart Thomas – One of last’s year’s first round picks. Bart is solid but unspectacular with a good chance at being something good. We want a lot more development and experience on the field.

RDT Allen Voetberg – Let’s throw him to the wolves and see what happens.

SLB James Davis – He has outperformed his ability in each of his three years here. Will that trend continue this year or will he backslide? Last year’s team defensive MVP will be on a bit of a spotlight.

MLB – We have some guy, can’t remember his name, not from WV so I don’t care.

WLB Barrett Green – Continues to be okay.

LCB Graham Ventura – Please don’t give up too many balls.

RCB Adrian Greco – I am making an executive decision and starting Greco over Lance Frazier because of his upside. Frazier is moved to nickelback and newly minted CB Louis Lucas is our dimeback.

SS Mike Logan – As another player who overachieves, can Mike give us one more season of goodness?

FS Jay Benedict – Well, he’s here and stuff. I’d like to see him with more picks, passes defensed, tackles – something to show that he is actually playing football back there.


Yep, that’s my team alright. Rookie starters are CB Greco and DT Voetberg.

[Abe Sargent]

Another Editor's Note:

This is another hindsight comment. During this offseason I made two decisions that, along with my drafted player from the previous year, were the best decisions I made in the history of the franchise. One of these decisions this year was a no brainer, so it wasn't really a monumental thing, but the other was not.

-Anxiety

[Tellistto]

One hopes that in future updates these comments about decisions will become clearer. The team seems to be moving up a bit, hopefully the wins started coming your way more often after this season was over. Not like you need that top pick every season, considering it's not that likely there will be a WV player worthy of that pick anyways. It is useful for getting more picks, however.


Tell

[Abe Sargent]

One hopes that in future updates these comments about decisions will become clearer. The team seems to be moving up a bit, hopefully the wins started coming your way more often after this season was over. Not like you need that top pick every season, considering it's not that likely there will be a WV player worthy of that pick anyways. It is useful for getting more picks, however.


Tell

They will, they definitely will. Starting this season, I believe.

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

The schedule:

Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints 2008 Regular Season Schedule

Week Opponent Result Attendance Weather
Week 1 at Atlanta Falcons
Week 2 at Oakland Raiders
Week 3 at San Francisco 49ers
Week 4 DETROIT LIONS
Week 5 at Green Bay Packers
Week 6 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Week 7 at Chicago Bears
Week 8 at Carolina Panthers
Week 9 MINNESOTA VIKINGS
Week 10 ATLANTA FALCONS
Week 11 OPEN
Week 12 at Denver Broncos
Week 13 DALLAS COWBOYS
Week 14 SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
Week 15 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 16 KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
Week 17 CAROLINA PANTHERS

Home Games in ALL CAPS

Season Tickets Sold: 27,600


Note the low amount of season tickets sold. This is with 100 Idolized fan favorite Marc Bulger getting added to the squad.

[Abe Sargent]

We received a B for our draft.

There were several major QBs taken in this year’s draft, including a 6th round boom and an undrafted boom. The undrafted boom is a 14/61. The 6th round boom is a 19/69 – like a Tom Brady or something.

Okay – let head into our preseason games.

We went 3-1 in the preseason. Here are some injuries that occurred:

OT Jamal Coady is a bit banged up – He’s questionable.

SE Chris Henry is doubtful.

RG John Wade is questionable.

I’ll start my O lineman and deactivate Henry.



Week One – We travel to Hot Lanta and return triumphant winners 33-18. Not since Sherman’s has Atlanta seen a team of men this hot. Vanderjagt kicked many FGs. Johnny Foley rushed for a score. Bulger hit Glassner for another score. (Pittman rushed for a score). Bulger was 20 of 29 for 193, a TD, and no picks in his debut. Pilcher caught 89 yards on 8 catches. Stills notched 2.5 sacks of M. Vick. Adrian Greco, in his debut picked off Vick. Voetberg is his debut notched a half a sack of Vick. Braham notched a quartet of KRB. This was a team on a mission. Excellent!

Week Two – Darrion Scott is out for a couple of weeks with a hyperextended knee. Chris Henry will remain benched. Let’s hope we can add to last week’s excitement against the Raidahs. A 24-7 victory says that we do! Pilcher caught a TD, rookie Duhart caught another and some bum (Pittman) rushed for a third. Marc was on fire with 28 of 44 for 328 yards, 2 TDs and no picks. Pilcher caught 11 balls for 133 yards plus that TD of his. CB Ventura, backup safety Tanner and Logan each notched picks. OT Coady added four KRB.

Week Three – Our third straight away game to start the season – can we keep winning on the road? Can we keep winning at all? Chris Henry is back this week – DE Scott is still out. The 49ers are up. They beat us 26-21. Newly converted CB Louis Lucas grabbed a pick and returned it for a TD. (Pittman) rushed for a TD. Chris Henry, back in action today, caught a 20 yard pass from Bulger for the score. Bulger was just 50% and threw his first pick of the season. Duhart caught another 80 yards. This wasn’t as much of a team effort, so we lost.

Week Four – Our home debut and we play against the Lions. DE Scott is probably and I’ll put him back into the lineup. DT Voetberg is questionable, but I’ll keep him in. We need him. We were 2-14 last year. There would be a big momentum swing if we finished the first quarter of the season 3-1 as opposed to 2-2. Luckily for us, we manage to edge out the Lions 21-18. (Pittman) had a run. Bust Rob Sellers who plays only because I’m hurting for decent special teams players caught a TD. Ed Picher caught another. (Pittman) has his first 100 yard game of the season. Bulger was 22 of 35 for 218 yards, two TDs and a pick. Logan and Ventura each forced fumbles and both were recovered. Braham, Wade and Sciullo each had a trio of KRB.

At the quarter mark, we are 3-1. Bulger has tossed 984 yards and 6 TDs against 2 picks with a 91.5 rating, good for third best rating in the league. He’s also not fumbled and only been sacked four times. He has a good head on his shoulders. Five of those six TDs are to different players, which shows a good understanding of the field and his players. Marc has made our offense feasible.

[Abe Sargent]

Week Five – We lose in Green Bay 23-7. I hope this isn’t the glass slipper falling off. Our sole score was RB Foley rushing for a TD and also fumbled the ball away twice. Bulger was ordinary with a fumble (He recovered his own fumble) and a pick. We just didn’t do enough to have an impact on this game.

Week Six – We host Tampa. We lose to Tampa. 19-17. Pilcher caught a Bulger TD and bust Rob Sellers caught the other. Logan picked off Bledsoe. Four of my players sacked the old man. Yes, that’s right – Bledsoe. It actually does seem like someone Jon Gruden would bring in.

Week Seven – OT Coady and our MLB are both out for a bit with viral infections. A few other players are probable with them. We travel to Chicago and lose 12-31. I definitely think the slipper crashed. Pilcher caught a Bulger pass. Gary Still grabbed another pair of sacks. Voetberg forced a fumble.

Week Eight – We travel to Carolina and defeat the Panthers 17-3. Foley rushed for a score while (Pittman) rushed for the other. G John Wade was the player of the game. He notched up 6 KRB while Braham added another 4. Ventura added another forced fumble.

[Abe Sargent]

Week Nine – Coady is back this week. Our normal starting MLB is still questionable, so I leave him on the bench. We host the Vikings. Apparently, we are pissed, because we really take it out on them. 44-17. Forty-four. Glassner caught a trio of TDs. Becht caught another. (Pittman) added a fifth on the ground. FB Kent Hughes broke a 42 yard TD scamper. Well, I suspect it was more of a rumbling than a scamper. Marc was simply on fire. 28 of 33 for 281, 4 TDs and a pick. He spread the ball out with no receiver getting more than 60 yards. LB Davis and Logan each gathered their picks. Braham and Sciullo each had a trio of KRB. Four players forced fumbles, including Ventura and FS Jay Benedict. Marc Bulger wins NFL Offensive Player of the Week.

Week Ten – We host the Falcons and then head into our bye week. It’d be nice to be at our bye with a 6-4 record. At the end of the day, we’ll either be nice with a 6-4 or in a mire at 5-5. One game will help determine how we view our entire first ten games. We win, 24-16. Backup TE Kenny Gruen-something caught a TD. Foley added a ground score and (Pittman) caught a TD. Bulger had a very efficient day (22 of 26). Sciullo had another trio of KRB. There were no turnovers this day for either team.

Week Eleven - Bulger was banged up last week. Starting OT Paul Gozinsky is out for the season with a torn MCL. I IR him. I bring in a nice RT Kurt Vollers to finish out the year with us. He’s really good, actually (54/55). This is our bye week. Bye.

Week Twelve – Bulger is questionable. I am absolutely playing him. Our division currently:

New Orleans – 6-4
Carolina – 5-5
Tampa – 3-7
Atlanta – 3-7

As you can see, we need to keep abreast of our opponents. This week we travel to Mile High Stadium, and I don’t feel comfortable putting QB Wynn under center on the road, in a tough stadium, with the division lead on the line. Unfortunately, we lose anyway – 14-20. Foley rushed for both of our scores. Adrian Greco grabbed another pick. Bulger was exposed but still didn’t do too badly. Sciullo and Wade each had three KRB. (Pittman) fumbled a crucial ball deep in our territory.

Week Thirteen – Bulger is up to probable, so it’s hopefully all good on the injury front QB speaking. We host and defeat the Cowboys 24-14. Duhert, Glassner and Sellers all caught TD passes. Pilcher had a 116 yard day. Bulger’s passing was on target while our running game limped behind. Wade had 5 KRB while Sciullo had 3 more. MLB Marvin Dotson had a pair of forced fumbles.

[Abe Sargent]

Week Fourteen – Coady and WR Duhart are questionable. They’ll play anyway. We host the 2-10 Chargers, which seems like an easy assignment. At least until they lay 38 points on us to our 25. Lance Frazier recovered a fumble for a TD. (Pittman) caught a TD pass. Pilcher had 118 yards. CB Greco forced a fumble. Braham had another 3 KRB. SLB James Davis is out for a few weeks.

Week Fifteen – Carolina also lost, so we are still in the division lead. This week we have the mighty 4-9 Buccaneers hosting our little coming out party. Its time for some revenge for our loss to the lowly Chargers. We survive, 17-14. Chris Henry caught a 30 yard TD pass while (Pittman) dashed for a score. Foley had over 00 yards on the ground on 11 carries while spelling (Pittman). Either Bulger or his receivers looked lost. He hit on 15 of 25 for 137 yards, a TD and no picks. DT Voetberg led the team in tackles and had 1.5 sacks. Sciullo had 3 KRB while Braham had 4.

Week Sixteen – Next we host the problematic 12-2 Chiefs. They edge us out 20-19. Glassner and Duhart catch some TD passes. Vanderjagt missed an XP wit 3:51 left in the game, although we were up 19-17 at that point. Logan notched another pick.

Week Seventeen – We host the Panthers in a season ending match. We have several nagged up players, but I’ll start them all. The Panthers are one game back and we need to win this. We lose to the Panthers 31-19, but we won the tiebreaker and the division at 8-8. Bulger hit Glassner, then Wynn came in and hit Foley for another score. Braham had three more KRB.

[Abe Sargent]

The Playoffs:


We host the Minnesota Vikings. We crushed them earlier this year after dropping a season high 44 points on them. DE Gary Stills is out for a while. This time, we lose 24-27. Foley rushed for a score while Bulger hit backup FB Sununu and Pilcher for scores. Pilcher caught 176 yards. Bulger tossed over 300 and no picks. DE Scott had 2.5 sacks and led the team in tackles with 9. Wade had three KRB. Backup MLB Dotson forced a fumble. Vanderjagt missed a FG with two seconds on the clock. We got the back with 52 second and drove from our 26 for 40 yards on four plays in 50 seconds. A bit slow, but still, we drove. That would have been roughly a 51 yard FG attempt, so that’s an understandable, although regrettable miss.

Cincinnati defeats the 49ers 24-21 in the Super Bowl. The Vikings lost to the 49ers the following week.

None of our players received any awards.

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s take a look at some stats:


QB Marc Bulger had a 60.3 percent completion rate, 3907 yards, 23:13 TD:Int rate, just two fumbles, 27 sacks and an 85.4 QB Rate. This was a definite improvement over previous QBs. I credit much of our success this season to Bulger, especially given the bums he was throwing to.

Backup RB Johnny Foley had 6 rushing scores, 550 yards, and a 3.98 ypc, 0.48 better than the starter. Unfortunately, he led the team in fumbles with 4.

[Abe Sargent]

Receiving Stats:

Front Office Football 2004
Receiving Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Targ Ctch Yards Avg YAC Lg TD
Pilcher, Edwin WR NOS 16 16 162 85 1079 12.6 155 49 4
Glassner, Jermaine WR NOS 16 13 110 63 751 11.9 118 41 7
Sellers, Rob WR NOS 16 4 74 46 533 11.5 65 47 3
Duhart, Derrick WR NOS 16 1 72 40 599 14.9 68 44 3
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 14 51 36 410 11.3 140 26 1
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 16 12 32 26 176 6.7 77 26 0
Pittman, Michael RB NOS 16 16 21 14 92 6.5 33 21 2
Henry, Chris WR NOS 14 0 15 11 181 16.4 18 30 2
Sununu, Matt FB NOS 16 0 11 9 35 3.8 14 10 0
Grueneich, Kenny TE NOS 16 4 10 5 51 10.2 7 32 1
Foley, Johnny RB NOS 16 0 5 4 29 7.2 2 11 1
Schultz, Amos RB NOS 16 0 1 1 1 1.0 0 1 0


As can be seen here, Pilcher notched a 1000+ yard season, which is a pretty good deal. Nine different players caught TD passes under Bulger, which shows a nice distribution of scores by our QB. Glassner led the team in TDs with 7. Incidentally, Pilcher was 8th in the league in receiving yards and the only game-created player to get over one thousand yards this season. Duhart’s almost 600 yards is nice for a rookie backup, and Rob Sellers even notched a surprising 533 yards as a bust.

K Mike Vanderjagt missed 8 FGs and TWO PATs, which is just unacceptable.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

The Defense:



Front Office Football 2004
Defensive Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Tckl Asst Sack Blkd Hurr
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 15 93 33 1.0 1 0
Davis, James OLB NOS 13 13 71 27 2.5 1 7
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 68 32 0.0 0 0
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 16 67 26 0.0 0 1
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 16 16 53 13 0.0 0 0
Thomas, Bart DT NOS 16 16 45 21 0.0 1 6
Stills, Gary DE NOS 16 16 44 12 8.5 6 19
Koutouvides, Niko ILB NOS 9 8 42 20 1.0 0 2
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 16 3 42 9 0.5 0 0
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 14 14 37 19 4.0 4 20
Voetberg, Allen DT NOS 16 13 37 14 4.0 0 5
Greco, Adrian CB NOS 16 16 37 16 0.0 0 0
Dotson, Marvin ILB NOS 16 6 26 7 1.0 0 0
Stargell, Warren DE NOS 16 2 24 5 4.5 2 3
Browning, John DT NOS 16 3 20 5 0.0 1 7
Grier, Sean OLB NOS 10 0 17 5 0.0 0 0
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 13 2 0.0 0 0
Rutulante, Clifton OLB NOS 16 1 13 2 0.0 0 0


Again, Barrett of the Green led our team in tackles. Gary Stills led our team in sacks with 8.5 and added 19 hurries. Darrion Scott had another disappointing year with 4 sacks, although he had an outstanding playoff game and led the team in hurries with 20. Backup DE Stargell grabbed 4.5 sacks, more than Scott who started. I was very pleased with DT Voetberg’s 4 sacks, a nice amount of pressure from a rookie DT. DT Bart Thomas had more tackles than normal for a DT in my system.




-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Front Office Football 2004
Pass Coverage Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Ints IRYd TD Defn Cght PPly PDPct
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 16 4 73 0 7 31 406 19.9
Greco, Adrian CB NOS 16 16 2 12 0 5 29 402 19.2
Davis, James OLB NOS 13 13 1 2 0 6 38 375 18.3
Koutouvides, Niko ILB NOS 9 8 1 0 0 6 16 214 20.0
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 16 16 1 0 0 4 34 475 18.6
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 0 1 5 0 0 4 117 20.0
Lucas, Louis CB NOS 16 2 1 38 1 3 4 137 21.2
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 15 0 0 0 2 23 303 18.2
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 16 3 0 0 0 3 26 269 17.8
Dotson, Marvin ILB NOS 16 6 0 0 0 2 10 137 18.7
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 0 0 0 1 0 42 21.4
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 0 0 0 5 34 479 18.5
Forbes, Drew DE NOS 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 17 16.5
Thomas, Bart DT NOS 16 16 0 0 0 0 3 464 19.9
McGregor, Wendell CB NOS 16 0 0 0 0 2 0 16 27.5
Voetberg, Allen DT NOS 16 13 0 0 0 1 4 388 19.9
Grier, Sean OLB NOS 10 0 0 0 0 1 6 84 18.6



Who led my team in picks again? Ah yes, Mike Logan. Greco grabbed a pair. Logan also led the team is passes defensed with a mighty 7. I wanted to point out that even rookie DT Voetberg got in on the passes defensed action. We may need to do something about Jay Benedict. He’s not played nearly as well as he could have all career long.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

How about some Blocking?



Front Office Football 2004
Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Sciullo, Steve G NOS 16 16 32 84 38.0 5 582 0.8 451 18.6
Braham, Rich C NOS 16 16 31 106 29.2 3 588 0.5 455 23.2
Wade, John G NOS 16 14 28 80 35.0 9 527 1.7 403 19.8
Coady, Jamal T NOS 14 14 11 57 19.2 4 486 0.8 386 14.7
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 16 12 10 26 38.4 1 365 0.2 269 9.6
Sununu, Matt FB NOS 16 0 5 10 50.0 0 119 0.0 75 13.3
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 14 4 15 26.6 0 425 0.0 398 3.7
Vollers, Kurt T NOS 9 8 4 17 23.5 3 310 0.9 211 8.0
Gozinsky, Paul T NOS 10 10 4 20 20.0 2 317 0.6 268 7.4
Price, Floyd G NOS 6 2 2 10 20.0 0 73 0.0 64 15.6
Massey, Chris C NOS 16 0 1 1 100.0 0 7 0.0 8 12.5
Grueneich, Kenny TE NOS 16 4 1 5 20.0 0 81 0.0 127 3.9
Shiel, Curtis T NOS 6 2 1 11 9.0 0 118 0.0 99 11.1
Leggett, Jonathan T NOS 4 0 0 1 0.0 0 18 0.0 4 25.0


Steve Sciullo led us with 32 KRB, although Braham and Wade were right behind. I’m disappointed in Coady’s lack of run blocking. John Wade was a hole in the passing game, and I may look to move Price into his spot next year.

[Abe Sargent]

Our Team Awards:


Rookie of the Year: DT Allen Voetberg. Allen had a strong inside presence all year long, including four sacks from the interior, regular pressure on the QB, and regular tackling on the ball carrier. His only turnover was a forced fumble, but he remained a regular presence all year long, and I was very pleased with his performance.

Special Teams Player of the Year: FB Matt Sununu. Matt is the backup FB but he plays on special team. This year he notched eight special teams tackles, forced three fumbles, and recovered one of them himself. This will probably be the only award Matt will ever win in his life, so here’s to Matt!

Defensive Player of the Year: SS Mike Logan. This year’s award goes to a guy who led our team in picks, led our team in passes defensed, and notched 67 tackles, fourth most on the team. He was simply a powerful force for us in the secondary or in run support, and we are glad to award him with our Defensive POTY award.

Offensive Player of the Year: QB Marc Bulger. I usually don’t like awarding the QB the award unless it is truly deserved. This year, it was. Marc was in the league’s top ten in QB rating and passing yards and 11th in TDs and completion rates. He was consistently near the top in every major passing stat. He did all of this with a woefully anemic receiving corps.

Team MVP: QB Marc Bulger. I really believe that Marc was a difference maker on offense and helped our team to an 8-8 division winning playoff year. Congrats on your award Marc!



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Our Score:

Team Performance – 69
Franchise Value – 37
Profit/Loss – 69
Roster Strength – 89

Total – 65

Roster Strength is 89? What is this computer smoking?

Let’s take a look at our franchise:

We have the 8th worst stadium
We have by far, the worst roster (a mighty 2 out of a hundred, next worst is Seattle at 35)
We have the worst support, 11 behind Arizona.
We have the 10th worst economy
Our franchise has the lowest value at 384 million. Miami is second worst with 425 million.
Our Attendance last year was up 4k. We had the second lowest real number and worst capacity.
We lost 8 mill

[Abe Sargent]

Heading to the preseason:

Amos Zereoue retired. So did Randy Moss.

I plan another Stadium plan in Huntington, WV. 60k, outdoor/natural grass, 10000 club seats, 250 luxury boxes. 362 million. We offer to pay 50%. This is 40 million cheaper than the previous plan.

I hire our head coach for a new 5 year contract.

I choose to chase our own free agents. I take a quick look at the draft. More Safeties from WV schools, plus another nice guard. Then I see him. A first round quality RB from Brenton, WV and Vanderbilt. Rated 51/64 and the best RB in the draft. That is interesting. Especially since Atlanta gave us their first round pick – number one!


OG Price has busted down to a 24/46.

I offer contracts to:

K Mike Vanderjagt for three years.
DE Darrion Scott for four years.
C Rich Braham for two years.
WLB Barrett Green for two years
SS Mike Logan for two years


All of these players sign for us.



-Anxiety

[Emiliano]

Then I see him. A first round quality RB from Brenton, WV and Vanderbilt. Rated 51/64 and the best RB in the draft. That is interesting. Especially since Atlanta gave us their first round pick – number one!
Veeery good to hear. I'm sure he could be a good turn-around for the franchise. Do you plan on drafting him at 1(1)??? How about a screenshot of his pre-draft numbers??? I'm already a fan of the guy... :D

[Abe Sargent]

Veeery good to hear. I'm sure he could be a good turn-around for the franchise. Do you plan on drafting him at 1(1)??? How about a screenshot of his pre-draft numbers??? I'm already a fan of the guy... :D


Let me go ahead and post some more, and maybe your questions will be answered...


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

I want to see if I can finally make a trade for Denver’s DE Jerome Weaver. I take a look at the draft early in the free agency time of year:

From WVU:

SS Alonzo Poston, 12/59
RG Stan McKnight, 20/52
FL RJ Cooper, 22/46
RT Daniel Maloney, 11/43
And Maybe P Deion Newsome, 26/39

Marshall:

RG Ryan Mileusnic 33/69
SLB Gino Reynolds, 15/54

Shepherd:

ILB Dusty Ferguson, 13/51


WV Hometown:

RB Eddie Guthrie, 51/64
LDE Fred Bailey, 19/55 from Parkersburg, WV
RT Jermaine Taylor, 31/46 from Clendenin, WV



There aren’t as many players in this draft. Well, I simply have to get Dusty Ferguson. First real inside LB to come through the draft from WV so far. I also need RB Guthrie, but I can grab him with the top overall pick. DE Bailey, G McKnight and G Ryan Mileusnic are all nice pickups. Even Gino Reynolds has the ability to start for us eventually. Unfortunately, we don’t have much depth here. I hope to take the Marshall G and Guthrie in the first with our two picks. With the top pick in the second round, I’ll look at Ferguson, Reynolds, Bailey, McKnight or Poston. I’ll hope to grab more later in the round.

Heck, G Mileusnic might not even be available at pick 17, where we are this year. I have two extra third round picks this year. Late round picks aren’t going to be helpful unless I grab P Newsome, or one of these adequate 40s players. Later picks aren’t going to be of much use to me.

I may try and trade down a few picks in order to grab more picks and still take Guthrie. I don’t want to move too far down, though. Last draft I played one too many draft day games and missed a player.

I decide to try and trade with Tampa. They have the fourth spot. Neither Tampa, St. Louis nor Houston have any real need for a RB. I trade our top overall pick to the Bucs for their 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks this year.

I have nothing to trade to Denver for their DE, so I just wait until the draft.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

The Draft:



Tampa takes a DE and then two OTs go. I nab Guthrie with the 4th overall pick. He is the third best player on the board by grade. I look more closely at the board and realize that there is no way I am going to be able to get our OG at pick 17. He is the best G on the table. I trdae our 17th pick to the Cowboys for their 8th. I give up a 3rd round this year (number 21) and Buffalo’s 3rd rounder next year. I take our G in with the 8th pick.

I fast forward to the beginning of the second round. SS Alonzo Poston is still available, as is DE Bailey, SLB Reynolds, ILB Ferguson, and RG McKnight. I want to get all five of these players. I take a look at their individual position lists. According to our grade, here is where they currently are on our lists:

SS Poston – Top safety on the board
DE Bailey – 3rd DE on the board
SLB Reynolds – 5th OLB on the board.
ILB Ferguson – 3rd ILB on the board
RG McKnight – 4th G on the board.

So, the best pick, should be Poston. I don’t have a severe need there, but Logan is aging and Benedict is questionable, so I decide to nab Poston with the first pick in the second round.

A DE goes, so Bailey is at second on the board. I take Bailey with our fourth pick we just got from the Bucs.

At pick 17 – Reynolds is now at number 3, Ferguson at number 2 and McKnight at 2. I suspect that one or two or all three of these players could be gone by our next pick – 3rd pick number 4. I need Ferguson badly, so I grab him, just in case.

G McKnight has been taken by the Chiefs. Reynolds is the top OLB on the board so I nag him quickly. I missed one of our players, but grabbed the other four.

There are no real players that I want in this draft still on the board. I make a few calls to see if we can trade a few of our picks. I trade away our other two 3rd round picks to teams for next year’s 3rd rounders.

It’s the fourth round, pick 17. FL RJ Cooper is still on the board. RT Daniel Maloney is still on the board. I take Maloney.

By the 5th round, the only 40+ rated players left are…umm…nobody. I trade our 5th and 6th picks to teams for next year’s picks. I had two of each, and I trade with the Rams and Texans.

I want that Punter in the 7th round, and I am quite sure that he’ll be there. He is, and I take him.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

After the draft I have a great e-mail waiting my attention:



FINAL VOTE TALLEY FOR OUR MOVE TO HUNTINGTON:

50.4% in favor
49.6% opposed

We are moving to WEST VIRGINIA.

Construction should be complete in five years – 2014.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

We got a C+ for our draft.

I get a message from Gary Stills that he is holding out. Bastard.

I make offers to:

LCB Graham Ventura
FS Howie Strickland
LDE Warren Stargell
TE Kenny Grueneich
SE Chris Henry
SE Jermaine Glassner
C Chris Massey
G John Wade
RT Curtis Shiel
RDT John Browning

I am not making offers to:

P Chris Hanson who sucks.
RT Paul Gozinsky whose injury cut his ability in half
OG Bubba Chew who isn’t that good


I am making offers to these undrafted free agents from WVU:

RCB Vincent Cambini
RCB Rickey Schreiber
FB Clay Wright
RG Mario Talley


FB Matt Sununu was signed by the Chiefs during the offseason. Bastards. I never even noticed. CB Lance Frazier signed with the Bengals. Both were signed week 19, and I just was quick simming and must’ve missed that week. Damn.

I extend the following contracts:

FB Kent Hughes by three years
TE Anthony Becht by two years
FS Jay Benedict by two years
SLB James Davis by three years

I’m going to need another RB, so I look to see what depth is out there.

I make an offer to undrafted FA RB Tyrone Gomez out of U Penn from Glenville, WV.

Since he doesn’t want that much more and he’s in the final year of his contract anyway, I decide to extend Gary Stills contract by two years.

Prior to camp, I make a few moves:

Fred Bailey is moved to RDE.

I seriously consider moving SS Poston to the LCB position. I can do so with no change in ratings. However, he seems to have more SS ratings than LCB ones. What are his strongest stats? Run D. Weakest? Bump and Run. Good Man and Zone though, which is where a safety lies. This guy is an obvious SS in terms of skill set, and if I move him to LCB, then I worry about not having a replacement for Mike Logan in the wings and having squandered my best opportunity for a good safety for a guy who will never do that well on the CB position. I decide ultimately to let him play his most natural position – SS.

All of the players that I chased have signed with us. All draftees have signed. We have 58 players on our roster heading into training camp. Let’s go!


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s take a look at our rookies in draft order:

RB Edgar Guthrie – I suspect that this guy will be with us for a very long time. He’s a 51/61 sort of guy. He’s great at third down running, hole recognition, and elusiveness, solid at power inside and so-so with breakaway speed and sped to outside. He’ll eventually be great at avoiding fumbles. He looks to never be a good receiver.

RG Ryan Mileusnic – Still a 35/69 guy. More of a pass blocker than a run blocker. He’s a very strong man.

SS Alonzo Poston – A 16/56 guy with amazing run defense and man to man potential. Very weak in the bump and run.

RDE Fred Bailey – No Pass Rush Strength at all. He’s not a big hitter either. He’s either great or getting great everywhere else though. A real one dimensional player. 21/50

MLB Dusty Ferguson – 14/47 and quite raw. He is blanked at Zone defense. He has great run defense potential, solid pass rush and man to man, and even okay bump and run potential.

SLB Gino Reynolds – 17/48 with no real specialty, just a bunch of potentials in their 20s, 30s and 60s. (60s would be run D, pass rush, play diag).

RT Daniel Maloney – 13/43 with 41/53 potentials in his blocking stats. Okay.

P Daniel Newsome – Has no hang time at all. 44/53 kicking power, 18/38 directional punting, 51 kick holding. For the record, Chris Hanson is a free agent. He has 20, 56, 28, 56. I prefer the power of Newsome who might actually get the opponent further downfield.

[Abe Sargent]

For the first time, we have a team of all WV players. I need to cut some. Who shall stay and who shall go?

I cut:

SLB Sean Grier
RDE Drew Forbes
RG Mario Talley
RCB Rickey Schreiber
SS Cornell Eisner


Would you like to see our roster?

Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Bulger, Marc 11 QB QB 10 66 66 2 yrs
Wynn, Broderick 17 QB 3 35 47 2 yrs
McWilliams, Edgar 19 QB 2 14 45 2 yrs
Guthrie, Edgar 32 RB RB 1 51 61 5 yrs
Foley, Johnny 25 RB 5 30 32 1 yr.
Schultz, Amos 44 RB 2 21 32 2 yrs
##Gomez, Tyrone 39 RB 1 18 29 1 yr.
Hughes, Kent 20 FB FB 4 43 46 4 yrs
Wright, Clay 46 FB 1 17 31 1 yr.
Becht, Anthony 86 TE TE 10 46 46 3 yrs
Grueneich, Kenny 6 TE 5 24 35 1 yr.
##Gordon, Sammie 84 TE 2 11 34 2 yrs
Pilcher, Edwin 83 FL FL 3 45 53 2 yrs
Sellers, Rob 87 FL 4 20 25 1 yr.
Glassner, Jermaine 15 SE SE 5 34 39 2 yrs
Duhart, Derrick 82 SE 2 21 34 2 yrs
Henry, Chris 80 SE 5 24 29 1 yr.
Braham, Rich 58 C C 15 52 52 2 yrs
Massey, Chris 55 C 8 21 31 2 yrs
Sciullo, Steve 63 LG LG 7 37 37 3 yrs
Mileusnic, Ryan 66 RG RG 1 35 69 5 yrs
Price, Floyd 64 RG 2 28 46 3 yrs
Wade, John 51 RG 12 34 40 3 yrs
Leggett, Jonathan 62 LT LT 3 19 31 1 yr.
Coady, Jamal 60 RT RT 3 76 84 3 yrs
##Maloney, Daniel 65 RT 1 13 43 3 yrs
Shiel, Curtis 61 RT 4 35 36 1 yr.
Newsome, Deion 18 P 1 27 35 3 yrs
Vanderjagt, Mike 12 K 12 57 63 3 yrs
Scott, Darrion 70 LDE LDE 6 57 62 4 yrs
Stargell, Warren 78 LDE 4 29 33 1 yr.
Bailey, Fred 98 RDE 1 21 50 3 yrs
Stills, Gary 71 RDE RDE 10 40 40 3 yrs
Thomas, Bart 95 LDT LDT 3 44 64 3 yrs
##Thomason, Howard 79 LDT 3 21 30 1 yr.
Voetberg, Allen 90 RDT RDT 2 41 56 3 yrs
Browning, John 77 RDT 13 36 36 2 yrs
Ferguson, Dusty 50 MLB MLB 1 14 47 4 yrs
Dotson, Marvin 93 MLB 5 24 29 1 yr.
Davis, James 96 SLB SLB 7 48 48 4 yrs
##Reynolds, Gino 92 SLB 1 17 48 3 yrs
Green, Barrett 97 WLB WLB 10 46 48 2 yrs
Rutulante, Clifton 53 WLB 2 24 43 3 yrs
Ventura, Graham 47 LCB LCB 4 43 43 3 yrs
Lucas, Louis 35 LCB 2 16 40 3 yrs
Greco, Adrian 33 RCB RCB 2 42 59 4 yrs
##McGregor, Wendell 27 RCB 3 13 31 2 yrs
##Cambini, Vincent 21 RCB 1 13 21 1 yr.
Poston, Alonzo 29 SS 1 16 56 3 yrs
Logan, Mike 31 SS SS 12 39 45 2 yrs
Tanner, Gary 26 SS 4 29 39 1 yr.
Benedict, Jay 38 FS FS 4 49 51 3 yrs
Strickland, Howie 48 FS 5 25 38 2 yrs

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 53
Inactive: 7
On Active Roster: 46

Salary Cap: $104,700,000
Cap Room: $21,440,000
Maximum for New Player: $21,730,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $830,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $150,000
Cap Room Required Next Year: $91,350,000


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s take a look at our starters:

QB Marc Bulger – Yep, he’s good.

RB Edgar Guthrie – Hopefully he will be too.

FB Kent Hughes – He’s nothing more or less than ennnhh

TE Anthony Becht – Best of the pack, but not that good or anything.

FL Edwin Pilcher – Really developed well on the field and I’d like to see that continue this year.

SE Jermaine Glassner – Just a body.

C Rich Braham – 15 year veteran who still has game.

LG Steve Sciullo – Led the team in KRB last year, and we hope he can continue to overachieve this year.

RG Ryan Mileusnic – I need to learn how to spell the rookie’s name.

LT Jonathan Leggett – He’ll start for us again this year.

RT Jamal Coady – Let’s actually see some talent this year, okay?

P Damien Newsome – He needs to beat a 37.4 punting yardage average.

K Mike Vanderjagt – Had a down year last year and will need to recover or else I’ll turn to…um…nobody really

LDE Darrion Scott – Can he finally play up to his ability in his FOURTH year in our system

RDE Gary Stills – Gary had a solid year last year. Can he continue, or was it just a flop?

LDT Bart Thomas – I’d like to see him fully develop now that he’s in his third year.

RDT Allen Voetberg – He busted a bit from last year but still is better than he was when drafted. He’ll play again.

MLB Dusty Ferguson – Might as well let the rookie play.

SLB James Davis – He played more to his ability last year and didn’t overachieve. Will that change?

WLB Barrett Green – Will he lead the team in tackles yet again?

LCB Graham Ventura – He’s started a lot, and occasionally gets s good play in there.

RCB Adrian Greco – Really developed from his first year.

SS Mike Logan – The old man is still here, but how much of him has left?

FS Jay Benedict – Prove you are worthy of remaining my starting FS.

[Abe Sargent]

We go 1-3 in the preseason.


Schedule:

Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints 2009 Regular Season Schedule

Week Opponent Result Attendance Weather
Week 1 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 2 NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
Week 3 CHICAGO BEARS
Week 4 NEW YORK GIANTS
Week 5 at Philadelphia Eagles
Week 6 OPEN
Week 7 at Washington Redskins
Week 8 DALLAS COWBOYS
Week 9 at Carolina Panthers
Week 10 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
Week 11 at Atlanta Falcons
Week 12 BUFFALO BILLS
Week 13 at San Francisco 49ers
Week 14 at New Jersey Jets
Week 15 CAROLINA PANTHERS
Week 16 at Miami Dolphins
Week 17 ATLANTA FALCONS

Home Games in ALL CAPS

Season Tickets Sold: 27,400
Stadium Capacity: 72,700


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s head into the season:

Week One – We defeat the Bucs 21-20 in Tampa. Guthrie ran in a score for his first game. Glassner and Pilcher each caught TDs. DT Thomas had 1.5 sacks and a PICK. Rookie MLB Ferguson had a sack and a pick in his debut. DE Scott also had a 1.5 sacks.

Week Two – There are no injuries past probable. We host and lose to the Patriots 20-31. Henry and Sellers caught TD passes. Braham was 3 KRB. It’s a pretty average day for most of our players.

Week Three – Chicago comes in and smacks us around 24-21. It wasn’t that close. FB Kent Hughes got a rushing TD. Becht and Sellers caught TD passes. Adrian Greco broke open this game with THREE picks. Sciullo had three KRB. And Adrian Greco wasn’t one of the players of the week for the NFL.

Week Four – The Giants arrive and smack us around even more. 38-14. Guthrie rushed for a score and Henry caught a second. We allowed Willis McGahee 183 yards on the ground. We allowed his backup 153 yards more on the ground. Two players, each over 150 yards rushing. OUCH. Braham had three KRB and Ventura notched a pick.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Week Five – FB Clay Wright is out for a week or three. We travel to Phily and lose 36-13. Guthrie rushed for a score. He had his first 100+ yard rushing game. Bulger has only 50% completion rate. Louis Lucas had a pick. Jamal Coady had 3 KRB. To be fair, Guthrie had three fumbles.

LCB Graham Ventura is out for the rest of the season. I offer a contract to LCB Will Mattox who has some nice special teams plays. Louis Lucas will start for us.

Week Six – Bye.

Week Seven – FB Wright is back. The Redskins edge us out 38-33. Guthrie rushed for a score. Pilcher caught three other TDs. James Davis and new dimeback Tommy Mattox each got a pick. Davis also led the team in tackles and got a sack. Bulger had a pretty good day with over 300 yards passing and just one pick to his three TDs.

DT Bart Thomas is out for a while with a broken tibia. John Browning will start until his return.

Week Eight – We host the Cowboys and lose 27-20. Duhart caught a D and Guthrie added a run. Coady had 4 KRB. Otherwise, it was a pretty ordinary day (Bulger had another 300+ yards and a pick with his TD)

Week Nine – We travel to and lose to the Panthers 22-30. Pilcher caught two more TD passes and Guthrie added another ground score. Bulger had another 315 passing yards. Glassner had 119 yards receiving and Pilcher had 110 yards.

We are now 1-7 and this season looks lousy.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Week Ten – We host a Bucs and in a stink fest, we emerge victorious 10-6. Chris Henry caught the game’s sole TD. Jay Benedict actually had a pick. Leggett had 4 KRB.

Gary Stills only had two sacks. I’m moving rookie DE Fred Bailey to the starting position. We’re 2-7, might as well play the rookie. I move Daniel Maloney to RT and I’m going to start him.

Week Eleven – We head to Atlanta and assert ourselves 17-14. Becht caught both our passes. Guthrie had his best rushing day with 27 runs for 120 yards. Bulger had 255 yards and no picks. Logan had a pick and LB Green added a pick. Maloney, starting his first game, had three KRB.

SLB James Davis ruptured his Achilles tendon. I IR him. CB Louis Lucas is out for a game, and recent signee Mattox will start. Rookie Gino Reynolds will start at SLB. I also move rookie Poston to the starting SS spot.

Week Twelve – We host the Bills and win 17-13. Pilcher caught an 80 yard TD pass while having 118 yards on three catches. Guthrie added a ground score. Sciullo had a trio of KRB.

Week Thirteen – We travel to San Francisco where our mini winning streak ends 30-7. Our lone score was a Bulger TD pass to FB Kent Hughes. Guthrie was held to 26 yards rushing. Pilcher had 8 grabs for 105 yards. Bulger only had 196 yards on the day and threw a pair of picks. We played very poorly. Bart Thomas will be back next week.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Week Fourteen – We travel to New Jersey and play the Jets. We edge then 24-23. Kent Hughes, Chris Henry and Rob Sellers all caught TD passes. Bulger and another 250+ yard game with 3 TDs and a pick. Adrian Greco got another pick.

Week Fifteen – Carolina arrives and beats us by the same score we won by last week – 24-23. Pilcher and Guthrie caught TD passes. We had them pinned at their 20 and were ahead 23-17 with 1:15 left in the game, and they scored in one play. Bulger was playing like he was dying, and this was his last game. 29 of 37 for 380 yards and 2 TDs – no picks, no sacks, no fumbles. Pilcher caught 116 of those yards. Greco notched yet another pick.

Week Sixteen – DE Darrion Scott is out for the season. Gary Stills is back in the starting lineup. We travel to Miami and lose 17-20. Becht and Glassner caught TD passes. Guthrie was held to 33 yards on the ground. Glassner had 9 catches for 190 yards. CB Greco led the team in tackles with 9 and added another pick.

Week Seventeen – Our final game. We’ll either be 6-10 or 5-11 after this game. We host Atlanta. 5-11 apparently as the Falcons defeat us 27-20. Glassner and Hughes caught TD passes. Pilcher had 155 yards on 6 catches. Guthrie added 74 yards on the ground. Bulger had more than 300 yards again.

Pittsburgh defeats Carolina in the Super Bowl 20-14.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

League Awards:

Offensive Rookie of the Year: RB Edgar Guthrie
Defensive Rookie of the Year: MLB Dusty Ferguson

All League Second Team Cornerback – LCB Adrian Greco

We got some love! Look at that. We swept the rookie awards. Let’s look at some stats”

[Abe Sargent]

QB Marc Bulger was at 58.1% completion, 4390 yards, 27:16 TD:Int ratio, sacked 37 times, 86.4 QB Ratio, fumbled four times and recovered two of those. Looks pretty good except for the large amount of sacks.

RB Edgar Guthrie had 1114 yards on 312 carries for a 3.57 average (Low). He had 7 rushing TDs. He added a TD and 244 yards in the air. He also fumbled 7 times.

Something neat happened this year in receiving yards, and I wanted to show you:



Front Office Football 2004
Receiving Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Targ Ctch Yards Avg YAC Lg TD
Pilcher, Edwin WR NOS 16 16 142 76 1256 16.5 240 80 8
Glassner, Jermaine WR NOS 16 14 126 64 1046 16.3 165 60 3
Henry, Chris WR NOS 16 1 69 35 542 15.4 88 46 4
Sellers, Rob WR NOS 16 3 64 40 514 12.8 93 40 3
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 15 73 49 493 10.0 91 33 4
Guthrie, Edgar RB NOS 16 16 39 33 244 7.3 118 28 1
Duhart, Derrick WR NOS 16 0 13 4 115 28.7 10 46 1
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 16 11 24 21 103 4.9 74 14 3
Grueneich, Kenny TE NOS 16 4 10 5 69 13.8 9 18 0
Wright, Clay FB NOS 15 0 12 8 24 3.0 12 6 0



That’s right, we had two players with over 1000+ yards. Pilcher continued to improve with over 1250 yards and 8 TDs. That was 6th in yards and tied for 8th in TDs. That’s very respectable numbers. Glassner dropped in the TD column from last year’s 7 but grabbed over 1000 yards himself. You show promise Mr. Glassner. Henry and Sellers the Bust each had over 500 yards while Becht was right there with them. This year, six players caught three or more TDs, which shows that Bulger really likes the spread out the ball (TE, FB, and four of the five receivers) .

P Deion Newsome beat Chris Henry’s average last year with a 38.2 yards per punt average. Let’s see if he can improve this next year.

K Mike Vanderjagt made all his Pats but had less FGs this year. He was 18 of 24.

[Abe Sargent]

Okay, let’s take a look at a very odd thing that happened on defense this year. You are going to love this:




Front Office Football 2004
Defensive Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Tckl Asst Sack Blkd Hurr
Greco, Adrian CB NOS 16 16 80 21 0.0 0 0
Ferguson, Dusty ILB NOS 16 15 75 32 1.0 0 0
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 72 43 0.0 1 1
Davis, James OLB NOS 10 10 64 20 2.0 0 1
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 12 63 25 0.0 0 1
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 11 48 19 0.0 0 1
Voetberg, Allen DT NOS 16 16 43 20 3.5 3 12
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 14 14 40 16 5.5 7 15
Poston, Alonzo S NOS 16 7 39 10 0.0 0 0
Thomas, Bart DT NOS 10 10 35 19 2.0 2 3
Reynolds, Gino OLB NOS 6 6 35 8 0.0 1 0
Lucas, Louis CB NOS 15 5 27 6 0.0 0 0
Browning, John DT NOS 15 6 24 9 2.0 1 1
Mattox, Will CB NOS 11 6 24 5 0.0 0 0
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 23 3 0.0 0 0
Stills, Gary DE NOS 16 11 22 17 4.0 3 15
Bailey, Fred DE NOS 16 7 18 8 2.5 1 3
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 5 5 17 6 1.0 0 0
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 3 17 3 1.0 0 0
Stargell, Warren DE NOS 16 0 14 13 1.5 0 2




That’s right, sophomore CB Adrian Greco led our team in tackles. IN TACKLES. I’m still trying to decide if that’s good or bad. Dusty Ferguson was second with a nice amount of involvement for such a green player. Jay Benedict was up, but I suspect that may be because I benched Logan for the last few games of the season more than anything else. James Davis was injured. I was very surprised to see Green’s numbers. They dropped significantly.

Darrion Scott led the team in sacks with a measly 5.5 until he was injured with 2 games left in the season. That still would not have been many. Gary Stills had 4. DT Allen Voetberg had 3.5. Rookie Fred Bailey had 2.5. Now, to be fair, Scott and Stills each had 15 hurries, while Voetberg added 12.

[Abe Sargent]

Pass coverage time:

Front Office Football 2004
Pass Coverage Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Ints IRYd TD Defn Cght PPly PDPct
Greco, Adrian CB NOS 16 16 7 36 0 7 43 501 19.9
Mattox, Will CB NOS 11 6 2 0 0 3 13 191 20.0
Logan, Mike S NOS 16 11 1 29 0 5 22 333 19.3
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 12 1 25 0 3 22 277 18.7
Davis, James OLB NOS 10 10 1 12 0 2 28 285 17.9
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 5 5 1 28 0 0 11 117 18.2
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 1 21 0 7 29 484 19.3
Thomas, Bart DT NOS 10 10 1 6 0 0 2 236 20.2
Lucas, Louis CB NOS 15 5 1 6 0 1 17 178 18.1
Ferguson, Dusty ILB NOS 16 15 1 0 0 6 31 404 18.9
Browning, John DT NOS 15 6 0 0 0 0 1 236 19.9
Stills, Gary DE NOS 16 11 0 0 0 2 2 350 20.1
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 14 14 0 0 0 1 5 344 19.8
Dotson, Marvin ILB NOS 16 0 0 0 0 1 6 36 16.7
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 0 0 0 0 5 55 17.3
Stargell, Warren DE NOS 16 0 0 0 0 1 4 141 19.6
Voetberg, Allen DT NOS 16 16 0 0 0 1 1 460 20.0

Ints - Interceptions, IRYd - Interception Return Yardage, TD - Interception
Return Touchdowns, Cght - Passes Caught by Covered Receiver, Defn - Passes
Defensed, PPly - Passing Plays on Field, PDPct - Pass Defense Percentage.


Adrian Greco with the seven picks equals yay. No other WV player had more than one. Ten players grabbed picks this year, though. Greco and Benedict each had 7 passes defensed.

[Abe Sargent]

Blocking?


Front Office Football 2004
Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Braham, Rich C NOS 16 16 25 74 33.7 2 604 0.3 370 20.0
Coady, Jamal T NOS 16 16 21 81 25.9 3 607 0.4 370 21.8
Sciullo, Steve G NOS 16 16 18 62 29.0 4 606 0.6 370 16.7
Mileusnic, Ryan G NOS 16 16 17 55 30.9 11 610 1.8 370 14.8
Leggett, Jonathan T NOS 16 9 12 27 44.4 7 322 2.1 201 13.4
Maloney, Daniel T NOS 7 7 7 22 31.8 8 264 3.0 150 14.6
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 16 11 6 18 33.3 1 411 0.2 249 7.2
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 15 4 18 22.2 0 421 0.0 303 5.9
Grueneich, Kenny TE NOS 16 4 1 1 100.0 0 87 0.0 59 1.6
Price, Floyd G NOS 9 0 1 4 25.0 1 26 3.8 19 21.0
Wright, Clay FB NOS 15 0 0 1 0.0 0 91 0.0 24 4.1

KRB - Key Run Blocks, KRO - Key Run Block Opportunities, BPct - Key Run
Block Percentage, SkA - Sacks Allowed, PPly - Passing Plays on Field,
SPct - Sack Allowed Percentage, RPly - Rushing Plays on Field, OPct - Block
Opportunity Percentage.

Braham led the team, but this was obviously a down year for my crew. Coady actually had KRB. Sciullo had a down year in KRB as well. Rookie G Mileusnic was a sieve, allowing 11 sacks, while also rookie Daniel Maloney allowed 8.

Logan had 3 FF, Benedict and Voetberg each had 2.

[Abe Sargent]

Team Awards as Given Out by Me:

Rookie of the Year: RB Edgar Guthrie gave us a running threat for the first time ever (well, sicne Duece, but he doesn’t count). Here’s to many years of Guthrie’s domination.

Special Teams Player of the Year? This is hard to pick. P Newsome, although better than Hanson, was no great shakes. Rob Sellers return average dropped seven yards. Vanderjagt was only 75% in FGs. There were no major tacklers like last year when Sununu broke out. Who do I choose? I guess I’ll take Vanderjagt for not sucking so much.

Defensive Player of the Year: CB Adrian Greco. He led the team in tackles. He had 7 picks. He led the team in passes defensed. He was the only player in several years to be named an all pro. The guy looked good.

Offensive Player of the Year: RB Edgar Guthrie simply gave us too much of a nice running dimension not to mention. Let’s see if we can’t get that ypc up a yard this year.

Team MVP: Adrian Greco. I love that this guy was drafted as a safety, we hopped him to corner, and he’s never let us down. He had a remarkable year for us, and I can only hope that it continues.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Team Performance – 8
Franchise Value – 35
Profit/Loss – 55
Roster Strength – 88

Score – 41

Franchise Value:

9th worst stadium
13th strongest roster (seriously, it jumped from 2 to 73 in one year – how’s that happen?)
Worst support by far
12th worst economy
Second lowest value as Arizona has a bad year and dipped below us.
We lost 63 million this year! (Stadium costs were 36m of that)


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

None of our players retired, not even Rich Braham.

I hire a new scout and renew my D coordinator’s job for five years.

I don’t have any major players that are free agents.

Remembering last year, I go ahead and make a few offers to my lower quality free agents:

SS Gary Tanner
TE Kenny Grueneich
DE Warren Stargell



Then I take a look at the free agents available.......



-Anxiety

[Tellistto]

Mmm, maybe this means someone good is in the FA pool, looking forward to finding out!


Tell

[Abe Sargent]

This year is a free agent BONANZA!

I make an offer to the following free agents:

FB Matt Sununu was signed for just one year, so now he’s free.
P Todd Sauerbrun. He’s old, and who cares?
SE Jerry Porter, Oh yes, come to poppa
LDE Herman Burnett, a second round pick for the Cards three years ago is now testing the waters.
LCB Pacman Jones, The players are coming to their home
RCB Lance Frazier, let’s bring this boy back to the fold as well as Matt.
LG Keith Williams, a decent backup G taken by the Lions several years ago is now a free man.

Oh the treasure has been found!!!



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

I extend Ed Pilcher’s contract for three years. He’s gonna make mega bucks.
Rich Braham’s by a season just in case he sticks around.
Barrett Green’s by two years in the hope that he’ll regain his stride.
QB Edgar McWilliams by a year
QB Broderick Wynn by a year

I’ll need ta renegotiate Bulger’s soon, he’s in his last year.

By week five, all of these players have signed with us!!!!

I’m getting close to the cap. I’m at 6 million under, and we need more space for our rookie class. Let me take a look and see if we even have a rookie class:


WVU players 40+ in potential:

FB Darnell Owens, 19/44
RB Herman Sparks, 30/41

That’s it for WVU. Ick.

Marshall players with 40+ in potential:

SLB Ethan Hammond, 27/60

Other Schools:

LDT Zack Martin, 18/44, West Virginia Wesleyan


He’s a good player, but I’m going to need more. Let’s see about hometown guys:

WV natives with 40+ potential:

TE Antoine Peltier, 32/63 (Wayne, WV via California)
LG Alvin McKenzie, 23/54 (Ashton, WV via Syracuse)
QB Philip Shapiro, 10/49 (Brenton, WV via Boston College)
LDE Tommie Schroeder, 28/48 (Weston, WV via Miami)



Although the TE iz nice, and another starting G would not be a bad thing, this is hardly a good class. Possibly my worst one yet. I want to walk away from this draft with the TE and G, and I can survive if any of the others are taken. There are only 7 total players here. I have 13 picks, including our fourth overall. I wonder if Denver wants to trade their DE now?

They just redid Weaver’s contract and now he costs too much amortization to trade. I may never get this guy. I never got Randy Moss, for example.

I trade our first round pick to the Texans for their first rounder in each of the next two years.

We now have enough room for our rookie class, but barely.

I renegotiate DT Bart Thomas’s contract and add two years, thus lowering our cap hit this year and extending him for a while.

I head to the draft.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

The Draft



Cleveland takes a big DE with their first pick.

With the fourth pick in the second round, I take our TE Peltier. Without trading, I’m not going to be able to get both players. Each is the second highest rated player at their position. Time for me to get on the horn. I trade my 3rd pick 13 and fourth round pick 4 to the Colts for their 18th pick in the second round.

We take McKenzie. This is the third straight draft where we’ve traded up for a G. We’re like the Detroit Lions of Guards. I’m thinking about hopping one to Center for when Braham retires.

Third round, anybody else get taken?

SLB Ethan Hammond is long gone.

That leaves no player in the 50s or higher. I trade my third round picks for next year’s picks.

I skip ahead to the fifth round:

Who is still around?

RB Sparks is off the board.
DE Schroeder is off the board



I take DT Zack Martin.

There are no players left except for the QB and FB in the sixth. I need neither. I have three FBs on my roster right now, so I take Shapiro. I trade the remainder of my picks.

SLB Hammond went to Minnesota
RB Sparks went to Indy
DE Schroeder went to Seattle in the early second round, wow.

So we only added four players. As such, we got a C- grade. Go figure.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

I move to late free agency. I sign all four rookies immediately, excellent!

I make an offer to Chris Henry, but not Rob the Bust. I also choose not to offer a contract to MLB Marvin Dotson and OT Chris Shiel. They want too much money.

I make offers to:

Undrafted rookie RT Pat Madison
MLB Rodney Rainwater (from West Liberty)


They all sign. I now have 3.5 million under the cap. Marc Bulger, here I come…

I extend Marc’s contract by two years. I now have exactly one million dollars left, and that’s enough for a player or two to sub in for injuries in case I need it. I take a look at my roster pre-camp.

I hop McKenzie to Center.

[Abe Sargent]

Post-camp, let’s take a look at some of the changes to some of my players, including the rookies in draft order:

TE Peltier: I just got rid of Rob Sellers the Bust, so I guess I needed another. Met Antoine Peltier who busted down to a 13/24 from a 32/63.

C McKenzie: At a 23/48, he’s about what I expected.

DT Zack Martin: A weak 20/37 backup.

QB Philip Shapiro: A 13/40 body.

RB Edgar Guthrie: I was hoping that he’d pick up a little more ability after a solid first season. No can do. In fact, he busted down to a 49/53.

RG Ryan Mileusnic: He was very raw last year, and I feared the worst when he allowed bunches of sacks. However, he is looking very developed from last year’s trials (46/69)

RCB Adrian Greco has already peaked at a 58/59.

DT Allen Voetberg – Also almost peaked at a 49/53.

RT Jamal Coady had gotten better to a 92/92 player.

C Rich Braham lost a step, which makes McKenzie’s conversion all the more important.

FS Jay Benedict seriously busted down to a 37/41 from a guy in the 50s.

Logan, Becht, Green and Stills all lost a step this year.

I release:

P Deion Newsome
C Chris Massey
TE Sammie Gordon
RG John Wade
DE Warren Stargell
RCB Vincent Gambini
QB Philip Shapiro
SS Mike Logan


I also move Derrick Duhart over to Flanker.

Some major players were released today. I’m going with SS Poston over an aging Logan, that meant Logan needed to fill another role. My backup safeties are good at special teams, where Logan blows, so he couldn’t fit into the role, ergo he was released. John Wade was deemed redundant. Massey has been with me for a while, as has Stargell.

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Alright, Roster time, we have some changes:



Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Start Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Bulger, Marc 11 QB QB 11 60 61 3 yrs
McWilliams, Edgar 19 QB 3 17 48 2 yrs
Wynn, Broderick 17 QB 4 39 44 2 yrs
Guthrie, Edgar 32 RB RB 2 49 53 4 yrs
Foley, Johnny 25 RB 6 30 32 2 yrs
Schultz, Amos 44 RB 3 21 32 1 yr.
Gomez, Tyrone 39 RB 2 18 26 1 yr.
Hughes, Kent 20 FB FB 5 41 45 3 yrs
Sununu, Matt 49 FB 6 33 38 1 yr.
Becht, Anthony 86 TE TE 11 41 41 2 yrs
Grueneich, Kenny 6 TE 6 26 36 2 yrs
Peltier, Antoine 85 TE 1 13 24 3 yrs
Pilcher, Edwin 83 FL FL 4 52 54 4 yrs
Duhart, Derrick 82 FL 3 18 31 1 yr.
Porter, Jerry 88 SE SE 11 45 45 2 yrs
Glassner, Jermaine 15 SE 6 37 39 1 yr.
Henry, Chris 80 SE 6 25 29 1 yr.
Braham, Rich 58 C C 16 47 47 2 yrs
McKenzie, Alvin 75 C 1 23 47 4 yrs
Williams, Keith 73 LG 3 27 42 1 yr.
Sciullo, Steve 63 LG LG 8 37 37 2 yrs
Mileusnic, Ryan 66 RG RG 2 46 69 4 yrs
Price, Floyd 64 RG 3 29 43 2 yrs
Maloney, Daniel 65 LT 2 15 45 2 yrs
Leggett, Jonathan 62 LT LT 4 22 30 3 yrs
Coady, Jamal 60 RT RT 4 92 92 2 yrs
Madison, Pat 72 RT 1 17 34 1 yr.
Sauerbrun, Todd 5 P 16 84 87 2 yrs
Vanderjagt, Mike 12 K 13 63 63 2 yrs
Scott, Darrion 70 LDE LDE 7 56 61 3 yrs
Burnett, Herman 94 LDE 4 30 40 1 yr.
Bailey, Fred 98 RDE 2 23 45 2 yrs
Stills, Gary 71 RDE RDE 11 34 34 2 yrs
Thomas, Bart 95 LDT LDT 4 50 64 4 yrs
Martin, Zack 99 LDT 1 20 37 3 yrs
Voetberg, Allen 90 RDT RDT 3 46 53 2 yrs
Browning, John 77 RDT 14 32 32 1 yr.
Ferguson, Dusty 50 MLB MLB 2 23 43 3 yrs
Rainwater, Rodney 56 MLB 3 13 20 1 yr.
Davis, James 96 SLB SLB 8 49 49 3 yrs
Reynolds, Gino 92 SLB 2 20 43 2 yrs
Green, Barrett 97 WLB WLB 11 39 43 3 yrs
Rutulante, Clifton 53 WLB 3 25 39 2 yrs
Jones, Pacman 34 LCB LCB 6 62 62 5 yrs
Ventura, Graham 47 LCB 5 41 42 2 yrs
Lucas, Louis 35 LCB 3 22 35 2 yrs
Greco, Adrian 33 RCB RCB 3 58 59 3 yrs
Frazier, Lance 30 RCB 7 35 37 2 yrs
McGregor, Wendell 27 RCB 4 14 27 1 yr.
Poston, Alonzo 29 SS SS 2 25 54 2 yrs
Tanner, Gary 26 SS 5 31 36 2 yrs
Benedict, Jay 38 FS FS 5 37 41 2 yrs
Strickland, Howie 48 FS 6 26 36 1 yr.

$$ - player is in starting lineup, ## - player is inactive.

Players Under Contract: 53
Inactive: 0
On Active Roster: 53

Salary Cap: $109,500,000
Cap Room: $3,720,000
Maximum for New Player: $4,030,000
Cap Room Lost (to old contracts): $920,000

Cap Room Lost Next Year (to old contracts): $450,000
Cap Room Required Next Year: $114,190,000


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Let’s take a look at some starters:

QB Marc Bulger – Had another great year. I was really hoping that the upgrade to Porter, even and aging one, and the new TE would help him out. Now that Te is a bust, and it’s up to Porter to save the day.

RB Edger Guthrie – Let’s only hope that he doesn’t bust on the field as well.

TE Anthony Becht – How much more does this guy have in the tank?

FL Edwin Pilcher – Still our best WR. He’s lifted his game each year. Does he have yet another gear in him?

SE Jerry Porter – We got him, but age has taken its toll on him. He’s still an improvement over Glassner.

LT Jonathan Leggett – We’ll start with Leggett, but he’ll have a short leash.

LG Steve Sciullo – Let’s see him regain his form from two years ago.

C Rich Braham – Will probably start this year, then make way for the rookie.

RG Ryan Mileusnic – Has developed very nicely and should show a big improvement on the field.

RT Jamal Coady – Show me on the field.

K Mike Vanderjagt – Age needs to show wisdom, my friend

P Todd Sauerbrun – Second best player on the team after Coady. He’s Rich Braham old, though.

LDE Darrion Scott – Was actually leading the team in sacks last year, but was still well below potential.

LDT Bart Thomas – I was happy with Bart’s growth in his third year, but I want to continue to see more.

RDT Allen Voetberg – Okay Allen, you’ve essentially peaked. Let’s see what your performance is like.

RDE Gary Stills – He’ll have a quick hook if he can’t wreak havoc.

SLB James Davis – With Green’s age and Ferguson’s lack of development, Davis is our best OLB.

MLB Dusty Ferguson – He’s the returning Def Rookie OTY for the league, but he’s still green.

WLB Barrett Green – Needs to regain his attitude.

LCB Pacman Jones – Between Jones and Greco, we actually have two solid corners. Best player on our secondary. Hell, best player on our defense.

RCB Adrian Greco – Keep up last year’s pressure.

SS Alonzo Poston – Good luck with the starting gig all wrapped up.

FS Jay Benedict – Just don’t mess up until I can find a replacement.

[Abe Sargent]

I really have high hopes for this season, considering our new influx of talent via free agency in several key areas. Let’s see what happens:


We go 3-1 in the preseason, including a 51-45 overtime game against the Browns. DE Darrion Scott is out with a foot injury for a week or two.

Our Schedule:



Front Office Football 2004
New Orleans Saints 2010 Regular Season Schedule

Week Opponent Result Attendance Weather
Week 1 at Carolina Panthers
Week 2 at Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 3 at Minnesota Vikings
Week 4 ST. LOUIS RAMS
Week 5 OPEN
Week 6 at San Francisco 49ers
Week 7 SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
Week 8 CAROLINA PANTHERS
Week 9 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 10 at Arizona Cardinals
Week 11 ATLANTA FALCONS
Week 12 at Cleveland Browns
Week 13 DALLAS COWBOYS
Week 14 BALTIMORE RAVENS
Week 15 at Atlanta Falcons
Week 16 CINCINNATI BENGALS
Week 17 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS

Home Games in ALL CAPS

Season Tickets Sold: 25,500
Stadium Capacity: 72,700



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Once again we start a season with three road games. Two years ago we won the division starting off this way, so let’s see if our luck continues…


Week One – 30-20 over the Panthers in their own house. Pacman Jones with an 89 yard punt return. Whoot! He’s already made an impact. I believe this may be the first WV player I’ve had with a return for a TD on special teams. Well, that may not be true. I had a guy force a fumble, recover it and return it on a special teams play, but you know what I mean. Oh yeah, the rest of the game. Pilcher and Becht caught the other two TDs and Vanderjagt hit three FGs. Guthrie had 129 yards rushing on the ground. Pilcher caught 112 yards in the air. Adrian Greco rung up two picks. Stills and Burnett, DE starting in place of Scott, each had 1.5 sacks. Coady established dominance with five KRB. Maloney and Sciullo each added three KRB. We just dominated.

Week Two – Darrion Scott is upgraded to probable, but I’ll leave him deactivated and see what Burnett can do with another game. We travel to the Steel City and upend the Steelers 19-10. Backup TE Grueneich and Jerry Porter caught TD passes in this one. Guthrie rushed for a career high 170 yards on an amazing 38 carriers. Pilcher had 106 yards. Coady added 3 KRB. Burnett had another half a sack.

Week Three – What do I do at DE? Scott is the better player by far, but he has had 15.5 sacks in four seasons with us, or around 4 a season. Burnett, on the other hand, has two already. I reactivate Scott, but I figure that Burnett has earned this shot. Scott will ride along as the backup. We travel to Minnesota and bitchsmack around the Vikings to the tune of 42-27. Guthrie rushed for two scores on 121 yards. Bulger’s 323 yard 4 TD day was pretty good. Pilcher, Becht, backup FB Sununu and Porter all caught TD passes from Bulger today. James Davis and Greco each claimed a pick. We had four sacks on the day, none by Burnett although Scott had one spelling Burnett. The sophomore Mileusnic and Braham each had three KRB. Once again, we start a season 3-0 on the road.

Week Four – We host and defeat the Saints 38-24. Becht, Porter and Pilcher each caught TDs. Foley and Guthrie each rushed for a score. Guthrie had 112 yards rushing. Bulger had 303 yards passing, the 3 TDs and no picks. Porter had 103 yards. James Davis grabbed another pick. DT Bart Thomas led the game with 6 tackles, an assist, and 2 sacks. Coady had 4 KRB and Braham had 3. Bulger is the NFL Offensive Player of the Week.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Week Five – I’m moving Scott back to the starting DE position. Maybe his bench time will recalibrate his attitude. We have a bye this week, which is good because Coady was a bit banged up last week. We are playing at a very high level, and I can only hope it continues.

Week Six – After five weeks, we are the only undefeated team in the league. I bench Coady for a week because he’s still doubtful. We travel to San Francisco and win 20-17. Vanderjagt kicked a FG with 2 seconds on the clock to win it for us. Glassner caught a TD and Guthrie added another on the ground as well as 106 yards of rushing. Bulger went 25 of 33 for 344 yards, no picks, and hit Pilcher 8 times for 166 yards. Braham added 4 KRB to his total.

Week Seven – We have several troublesome injuries. First, RG Mileusnic is out for a week or three. Floyd Price will start in his place. Coady is questionable and joining him is Voetberg. With my G out, I feel the need to bring Coady back a week early. I decide to deactive Voetberg for a week and start Browning. We edge out Seattle 16-13. Guthrie rushes for our only TD on the day. Bulger had 296 yards and no ints. Pilcher caught 9 passes for 185 yards. Greco grabbed his fourth pick of the season. We had no sacks on the day.


I want to stop for a second a look at a few stats in the first six games of the season

Bulger is 5th in passing yards in the league, #1 in QB rating at 120.3. He has a 12:1 TD:Int ratio.

Guthrie is currently 2nd in rushing yards at 725.

Pilcher is number two in receiving yards at 750. (TO is number one)

Greco is tied for second with 4 picks.

Those are some good stats as of right now. If we can continue this – who knows what will happen. Maybe even a playoff win.


Week Eight – We host the Panthers and beat them 28-10. Porter caught two TDs and Guthrie rushed for another. Pacman Jones got a pick and returned in for a score. Guthrie had 169 yards on the ground with 32 carries. Bulger had an efficient day with just 189 yards, no picks. Greco got a pick and led the day in tackles.

Week Nine – We travel to Tamp and suffer our first loss of the season 23-28. Henry and Glassner caught TD passes. Guthrie only had 53 yards rushing, his lowest total of the season. Sciullo had 3 KRB. Bulger threw his second pick of the year alongside two TD passes and 246 yards. Ah well, all teams lose.

FB Kent Hughes, our FB, is out for the season with a torn ligament. I sign former Saint and WV player Clay Wright and elevate Matt Sununu to the starting role.

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Week Ten – QB Bulger is questionable, but I believe I have to start him. We travel to Arizona and dismember the Cardinals 30-24. Pilcher and Porter caught TDs and Guthrie rushed for one with his 170 yards on 27 carries. Bulger was a livid 387 yards, no picks. Pilcher had 140 yards while Porter had 153. Braham had 6 KRB.

Week Eleven – We host the Falcons and win another stinkfest 13-3. Pacman Jones returned a punt 58 yards for a score. He has had 2 PR and Int return for TD in this debut season with us. Quite a weapon. Guthrie had 133 yards on 28 carries. Bulger was weakened with a measly 12 out of 26 for just 113 yards and no picks. C McKenzie had 6 KRB and was named player of the game. Leggett had 3.

C Rich Braham is out for a few weeks with a dislocated shoulder, but Mckenzie looked very good spelling him so I’ll start him with few qualms.

Week Twelve – Yet another stinkfest as we head to Cleveland and hand on to win 13-12. Foley rushed for our solitary TD on the day. Pilcher had 106 yards. Greco got his 6th pick of the year. McKenzie had another 3 KRB.

Week Thirteen – We lose to the feisty Cowboys 23-33. Guthrie rushed for a score and Pilcher added a TD reception with his 164 yards. Porter had 105 yards. Bulger had 349 on the day. Graham Ventura added a pick.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Week Fourteen – OT Jonathan Leggett is out for the season with a torn ACL. I place him on IR. I want to bring Chris Massey back to the team, but he won’t sign with me, despite the fact that we are 10-2. I sign RT Ryan Tucker as a backup. We host and lose to the Ravens 17-13. Guthrie was held to 47 yards. Bulger had 226 and no picks and hit Henry for a TD. DT Thomas had another 2 sack day. Greco added a pick. Pacman had a pick. We are now 10-3 and in second place in the NFC, behind the 11-2 Eagles.

Week Fifteen – We travel to Atlanta and reclaim our winning ways 31-16. Guthrie rushed for two scores and caught a third. Pilcher added 108 yards and a TD to his totals. Bulger grabbed an even 250 yards, 2 TDs, and no picks.

We have a couple of injuries to our DE corps. DE Bailey is out for several weeks. Burnett was knocked to doubtful.

Week Sixteen – The Bengals come to town and defeat us with a last second FG 23-20. FB Sununu and recent signee backup FB Clay Wright caught Bulger passes. Porter had 103 yards receiving. Coady had 3 KRB.

Braham is back in the lineup.

Week Seventeen – I’ll play despite the fact that we’ve wrapped up second place in the NFC and have a bye. The Bucs come into town and beat us 26-21. Guthrie had 110 yards on the ground. Greco added his 8th regular season pick. Coady had 4 KRB. And we lost. Sad.


We have a bye in the first week of the playoffs as the number two seed.


-Anxiety

[Tellistto]

Very nice season that was, hopefully the winning ways returned during the playoff run. Those injuries seem to be adding up a bit, hopefully that bye week came in handy to get one or two back on the field. Go Saints(soon to be something else)!

Tell

[Abe Sargent]

Very nice season that was, hopefully the winning ways returned during the playoff run. Those injuries seem to be adding up a bit, hopefully that bye week came in handy to get one or two back on the field. Go Saints(soon to be something else)!

Tell


I guess we'll see, eh?

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Playoffs, Week Two:

Pilcher is doubtful. He is deactivated. Glassner will start in his place. We have four players questionable, including Chris Henry, DT Browning, and the two DEs. They’ll all play.

We host San Francisco. We’ve already beaten them at home this year. Now they are traveling to our house, so maybe we’ll continue the trend.


21-12, we win.

Jermaine Glassner caught a TD pass.
Edgar Guthrie caught a TD pass.
Bulger was 18 for 31 for 245 yards, 2 TDs and a pick.
MLB Ferguson got a pick.
Nickelback and former start Graham Ventura caught a pick and returned it 84 yards for a TD. Voetberg got two sacks.
Coady had 3 KRB.
James Davis forced two fumbles.

Good game.


Davis is out with a torn ACL. Pilcher has been upgraded to questionable and he’ll play. We travel to Philadelphia.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

NFC Championship:

New Orleans 24
Phily 17

Jerry Porter 20 yard TD pass from Bulger
Vanderjagt 51 yard FG
Jerry Porter 10 yard TD pass from Bulger
Anthon Becht 9 yard RD pass from Bulger

= 24 points


Edgar Guthrie – 31 carries for 99 yards
Marc Bulger – 25 of 30 for 286 yards, 3 TDs, no picks.
Porter – 9 catches for 98 yards and 2 TDs
Pilcher – 7 catches for 90 yards

SS Poston – 1 pick



San Diego defeated Pitt 13-6

[Abe Sargent]

2010 Season Super Bowl featuring


Your AFC Champion 14-5 San Diego Chargers

Against

Your NFC Champion 13-5 New Orleans Saints


Preview:

QB: A wash
RB: In Favor of the Chargers
WR: In Favor of the Chargers
O Line: Tie
D Line: IFOT Chargers
LB: IFOT Chargers
Sec: IFOT Chargers
Special Teams: In Favor of the Saints
NO WR vs SD CB: IFOT Chargers
NO CB vs SD WR: IFOT Saints
NO Blockers vs SD Def Front Seven: IFOT Chargers
NO Def Front Seven vs SD Blockers: IFOT Chargers

Point Spread – San Diego by 3.



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Full Scoring Summary:

Vanderjagt hits 27 yard FG in early first quarter – Saints 3-0
Kaeding hits 28 yard FG at end of first quarter – Tie 3-3
Edgar Guthrie with 2 yard run in early second quarter: Saints 10-3
Vanderjagt hits FIFTY-SEVEN yard FG with 21 seconds in the half. Saints 13-3 at the half.
Vanderjagt hits 37 yard FG late in third quarter. Saints 16-3.
LaDainian Tomlinson 5 yard run TD early in fourth quarter. Saints 16-10
Fernando Ballard 10 yard pass from Philip Rivers with 6:34 on game. Chargers 17-16.
Edgar Guthrie 12 yard run with 2:59 on clock. Saints 23-17.
Vanderjagt hits 45 yard FG with 12 seconds on clock. Saints 26-17.

We win 26-17.

Game MVP – Marc Bulger

Guthrie – 28 carries for 127 yards and two TDs.
Marc Bulger – 25 of 38 for 240 yards and a pick.
No receiver had more than 65 yards.
Adrian Greco – Pick
Jamal Coady - 4 KRB
Rich Braham – 3 KRB



Season Awards:

Super Bowl MVP – QB Marc Bulger
All League First Team WR – Edwin Pilcher
All League Second Team OT – Jamal Coady
All League Second Team DT – Bart Thomas

[Abe Sargent]

Stats:

Bulger was at 65.4% completion for 4123 yards and a laser like 25:5 TD:Int ratio. QB ratio was 102.3. 2 fumbles.

Guthrie had 407 carries for 1692 yards with a 4.15 average. He rushed for 12 TDs. He caught another. He was robbed of an award. He had the second highest rushing yardage in the league and was tied for most rushing TDs.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Receiving:


Front Office Football 2004
Receiving Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Targ Ctch Yards Avg YAC Lg TD
Pilcher, Edwin WR NOS 16 16 149 98 1653 16.8 315 66 6
Porter, Jerry WR NOS 16 13 103 65 871 13.4 147 49 6
Henry, Chris WR NOS 16 3 70 41 507 12.3 88 34 2
Glassner, Jermaine WR NOS 16 1 61 39 442 11.3 86 39 2
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 15 46 33 294 8.9 48 32 3
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 8 7 14 13 89 6.8 58 14 0
Guthrie, Edgar RB NOS 16 16 33 23 85 3.6 54 17 1
Grueneich, Kenny TE NOS 16 3 16 8 80 10.0 14 17 1
Sununu, Matt FB NOS 16 6 15 11 79 7.1 20 13 3
Wright, Clay FB NOS 8 0 5 4 19 4.7 18 13 1
Foley, Johnny RB NOS 16 0 1 1 7 7.0 2 7 0




Pilcher really did have a next level in him. I had my fifth WR deactived for almost the entire season, so you don’t see Duhart on there. Bulger, with just four wideouts, hit nine receivers for TDs.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Pacman Jones bumped our KR average up seven yards from 17.something to 24.1.

Sauerbrun had a 42.5 punting average. Vanderjagt was 29 of 38 in FGs and 41 of 41 in PATs.


Defense:



Front Office Football 2004
Defensive Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Tckl Asst Sack Blkd Hurr
Davis, James OLB NOS 16 16 78 35 1.0 1 1
Thomas, Bart DT NOS 16 16 78 18 6.5 2 9
Greco, Adrian CB NOS 16 16 65 12 0.0 0 0
Ferguson, Dusty ILB NOS 16 15 64 23 1.0 1 0
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 15 61 22 2.0 1 1
Jones, Pacman CB NOS 16 16 61 15 1.0 0 0
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 46 18 0.0 0 0
Poston, Alonzo S NOS 16 16 43 26 0.0 0 0
Voetberg, Allen DT NOS 15 15 38 17 5.5 3 13
Stills, Gary DE NOS 16 16 33 10 8.0 5 9
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 27 1 0.0 0 0
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 16 1 22 11 0.5 1 1
Reynolds, Gino OLB NOS 16 0 22 1 0.0 0 0
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 13 10 19 12 4.0 4 6
Rutulante, Clifton OLB NOS 16 0 19 5 0.0 0 0
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 0 18 0 0.0 0 0
Browning, John DT NOS 16 1 15 2 1.5 1 1
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 16 1 15 6 0.0 0 0
Burnett, Herman DE NOS 14 6 12 5 2.5 1 4
Foley, Johnny RB NOS 16 0 9 0 0.0 0 0
Bailey, Fred DE NOS 14 0 7 4 0.5 0 2
Sununu, Matt FB NOS 16 6 6 0 0.0 0 0
Lucas, Louis CB NOS 4 0 4 0 1.0 0 0



Davis and Thomas led the team in tackles. This was a breakout year for Thomas with his 6.5 sacks. Stills led the team with 8 sacks. Scott only grabbed 4 although Burnett didn’t do well when he started getting just 2.5 on the season. Scott didn’t even get to the QB this year with just 6 hurries. Voetberg led the team in hurries with 13 as well as getting 5.5 sacks. My DTs got great pressure this year.





-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

How about pass coverage?



Front Office Football 2004
Pass Coverage Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS Ints IRYd TD Defn Cght PPly PDPct
Greco, Adrian CB NOS 16 16 8 62 0 11 42 520 20.5
Davis, James OLB NOS 16 16 2 36 0 10 42 514 19.2
Jones, Pacman CB NOS 16 16 2 53 1 15 40 519 19.9
Ventura, Graham CB NOS 16 1 1 12 0 5 10 230 20.4
Browning, John DT NOS 16 1 0 0 0 1 2 105 20.0
Green, Barrett OLB NOS 16 15 0 0 0 3 19 275 18.6
Stills, Gary DE NOS 16 16 0 0 0 0 5 365 19.6
Scott, Darrion DE NOS 13 10 0 0 0 0 2 302 19.9
Frazier, Lance CB NOS 16 1 0 0 0 1 8 100 18.2
Strickland, Howie S NOS 16 0 0 0 0 2 8 94 18.8
Tanner, Gary S NOS 16 0 0 0 0 2 9 124 18.8
Benedict, Jay S NOS 16 16 0 0 0 11 30 442 19.5
Burnett, Herman DE NOS 14 6 0 0 0 0 2 230 19.8
Thomas, Bart DT NOS 16 16 0 0 0 1 4 510 19.9
Voetberg, Allen DT NOS 15 15 0 0 0 1 7 445 19.7
Rutulante, Clifton OLB NOS 16 0 0 0 0 1 10 116 18.0
Lucas, Louis CB NOS 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 12 15.0
Bailey, Fred DE NOS 14 0 0 0 0 0 2 149 19.6
Ferguson, Dusty ILB NOS 16 15 0 0 0 5 28 317 18.3
Reynolds, Gino OLB NOS 16 0 0 0 0 0 3 41 17.9
Poston, Alonzo S NOS 16 16 0 0 0 4 26 408 18.7

Ints - Interceptions, IRYd - Interception Return Yardage, TD - Interception
Return Touchdowns, Cght - Passes Caught by Covered Receiver, Defn - Passes
Defensed, PPly - Passing Plays on Field, PDPct - Pass Defense Percentage.



Greco grabbed 8 picks and had 11 passes defensed and yet didn’t make All Pro. He was jobbed.

Pacman led the team with 15 passes defensed.

Also with 11 passes defensed was Jay Benedict. James Davis had 10.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

The Blocking of the Defense


Front Office Football 2004
Blocking Statistics

Player Pos Team GP GS KRB KRO BPct SkA PPly SPct RPly OPct
Coady, Jamal T NOS 15 15 34 98 34.6 3 502 0.5 463 21.1
Braham, Rich C NOS 11 11 25 73 34.2 1 347 0.2 335 21.7
Sciullo, Steve G NOS 16 16 19 64 29.6 4 491 0.8 450 14.2
Mileusnic, Ryan G NOS 15 15 19 73 26.0 1 488 0.2 444 16.4
McKenzie, Alvin C NOS 16 5 14 35 40.0 3 184 1.6 163 21.4
Maloney, Daniel T NOS 10 8 13 29 44.8 2 222 0.9 242 11.9
Becht, Anthony TE NOS 16 15 9 20 45.0 0 397 0.0 413 4.8
Leggett, Jonathan T NOS 12 8 9 22 40.9 2 252 0.7 216 10.1
Sununu, Matt FB NOS 16 6 5 16 31.2 2 185 1.0 200 8.0
Hughes, Kent FB NOS 8 7 5 14 35.7 2 141 1.4 165 8.4
Grueneich, Kenny TE NOS 16 3 3 7 42.8 0 138 0.0 197 3.5
Price, Floyd G NOS 9 1 2 5 40.0 0 53 0.0 55 9.0
Williams, Keith G NOS 16 0 2 9 22.2 2 48 4.1 52 17.3
Madison, Pat T NOS 7 1 2 8 25.0 1 74 1.3 63 12.6
Wright, Clay FB NOS 8 0 1 4 25.0 1 35 2.8 43 9.3
Tucker, Ryan T NOS 4 0 0 3 0.0 0 24 0.0 12 25.0

KRB - Key Run Blocks, KRO - Key Run Block Opportunities, BPct - Key Run
Block Percentage, SkA - Sacks Allowed, PPly - Passing Plays on Field,
SPct - Sack Allowed Percentage, RPly - Rushing Plays on Field, OPct - Block
Opportunity Percentage.



I don’t think Coady had that great a year, to be honest. He was still our team leader in KRB, but I’ve seen lots better. There were no major holes in the pass protection this year, and I suspect that helped Bulger and the passing game.

Voetberg led the team with 3 FF.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Analysis:


I won the Super Bowl with the following lousy starters:

FB 37/38
LT 20/45
LG 37/37
RDE 34/34
SLB 24/43
MLB 26/43
WLB 39/43
SS 34/54
FS 37/41


Our only true stud is an underachieving Right Tackle and maybe you’d consider our Punter one as well. Has there ever been a weaker champion?

These nine starters average a current rating of just 32. All 22 starters had an average current rating of 46.

Wow. I did not expect this for this season.


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Team Awards:

Rookie of the Year: Well, since our TE busted, and we cut one of our four draftees, and we deactivated the DT for most of the season, C McKenzie wins by default. He did look good in a few games. Congrats McKenzie

Special Teams Player of the Year: CB Pacman Jones. Two returns for score and a significant increase in our starting position. Thanks Pacman.

Defensive Player of the Year: DT Bart Thomas. He really showed that he could play well. With 75 tackles and 6.5 sacks, Thomas was a force on the field, shedding blockers and wreaking havoc.

Offensive Player of the Year: WR Edwin Pilcher. With the second highest receiving total in the league, Edwin had been increasing in impact each of his first four years, and this year he exceeded even again. Edwin has proven himself an elite receiver on the field, even if he isn’t in the weight room.

Team MVP: There are several good choices here. RB Guthrie was second in the league in rushing. Bulger had a great year. Coady finally got it together. Bart Thomas exploded. Greco stole everything that wasn’t locked down from opposing QBs. Pacman made a real impact, not just in coverage, but in special teams. However, I think Ed Pilcher’s continuing growth and dominance had proven himself to be a threat on every play. Here’s to you, Ed!


-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

Team Performance – 83 (I won the Super Bowl with a lousy team, what more could you want?)
Franchise Value – 32
Profit/Loss – 60
Roster Strength – 87

Total Score – 64

[Abe Sargent]

I must admit that in several major ways I feel a bit cheated. My team was on a hot streak in the beginning but I thought the collapse at the end of the season where we lost four out of our last five showed that the team couldn’t handle it and that we were coming back down to earth. Then, bang, bang, bang, we are hoisting the trophy.

I doubt this team even cracked the top ten rosters in the league. I expected this challenge to be hard. And yet, here I am, six seasons later and I already have a trophy. What more should I quest for? I got what I wanted to find out – an all WV team can win the Super Bowl. What goal is left? A perfect season? Repeat the championship? Try to survive once the team moves to Huntington?



-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

I’m going to do some of my preseason info, because I want to see where the franchise stands:

Our Stadium has risen to 11th worst
We have the 14th best roster
The worst support, although it has grown considerably during our Super Bowl run.
12th worst economy
7th lowest franchise value. We jumped big time here.
Attendance rose an average of 6000 people to put us at second worst.
We lost 50 million.


DT John Browning retired but Braham and Sauerbrun are still around.

We are 780k over the cap, but we have several major players in the last year on their contract that will probably reup and allow that number to turn positive and rise easily.

I rehire our Off Coord for five more years.

I head into free agency

Chad Pennington is available but I’m happy with Bulger

There’s only 3 40+ rookies in the pool from WV schools, two in their 40’s and a nice 56 potential FS, which is a position I need to upgrade to. A quick scan to find natives shows Another Solid Guard at 29/60, a 17/57 QB, and five other players in the 40s.

Feh. This isn’t worth playing anymore, it’s become too easy, too rote.



-Anxiety

[Tellistto]

I guess the term "Against all odds" really does mean something. Great Super Bowl win with that group of players, I guess it really is about team, huh?

Tell

[Izulde]

Good dynasty while it lasted, though unfortunately a bit anticlimatic.

[Abe Sargent]

Thanks to both of you!

-Anxiety

[Abe Sargent]

In case you were wondering, here were my three best moves, in retrospect, in order:

3). Signing Marc Bulger. I had drafted a first round QB and committed to him, so going with Marc was a huge cap hit to my QBs. It wasn't teh hardest decision I made, but it was one of the best.

2). Drafting Adrian Greco and then moving him to CB, and choosing the other CB spot that Pacman didn't play, just in case I got Pacman some day. That draft was really complex, and I could have kept Greco at his normal safety position with justification. I drafted him earlier in the first than I probably could have. This turned out beautifully.

1). Drafting Edwin Pilcher. He was just a house and a half, and caught balls for mad yardage after Bulger joined the team. There was a better CB on the board and I felt Pilcher was a reach at that spot (for what I would normally take there). Nevertheless, massive yardage ensued.

-Anxiety