Extreme Conflict: The Oakland Raiders

[Raiders Army]

I will be starting my first dynasty on FOFC. This dynasty will feature players that have conflict with their team leaders. I'm interested to see what affects a fully dysfunctional team have. My "house rules" are:

I only have players that have either no conflict/affinity or conflict on my team. I have a minimum of three character flag players on my team.

I am a little over halfway through my allocation draft to begin my career. I am using this thread: http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=16893 as a reference point to create conflicts. Initially I drafted my team leaders in the backfield, receiving, offensive line, defensive front, and secondary. I looked for high leadership as well as good ratings.

My leaders are:

1(11) Marcus Trufant--born Dec. 25 (Capricorn): Secondary Leader
2(22) Al Wilson--born Jun. 21 (Gemini): Defensive Front Leader
3(11) Marvel Smith--born Aug. 6 (Leo): Offensive Line Leader
4 (22) Hines Ward--born Mar. 8 (Pices): Receivers Leader
5 (11) Justin Griffith--born Jul. 21 (Cancer): Backfield Leader

From here, I drafted players that were born during the following ranges since they would be the position leader's opposing sign:
Backfield 23-Nov 22-Dec
Receivers 24-Oct 22-Nov
Oline 23-Dec 20-Jan
Defensive Front 24-Aug 23-Sep
Secondary 24-Jul 23-Aug

It's a lot more difficult than I thought to find these players, especially since FOF doesn't sort the player positions like in the normal draft. I had to sort through a bunch of players before I found a player who was born within the date ranges...even then I had to take a LG and make him a RT. After drafting 30 players, my right wrist was getting cramped from so much clicking through player cards. I'll finish up the allocation draft tomorrow.

So far I have 4 players with Red Flags, 3 players with Extreme Conflict, 2 players with Strong Conflict, 4 players with Conflict, and 1 player with Mild Conflict. All in all, not too bad...however, I have no offensive linemen or defensive backs with conflict. All of the players that I have drafted are within the date ranges, so I'm not sure why this is. More to follow.

[Raiders Army]

Allocation draft is done. I have

4 players with Extreme Conflict
6 players with Strong Conflict
6 players with Conflict
3 players with Mild Conflict
1 QB with Mild Conflict
7 players with Red Character Flags
0 players with any kind of affinity

All in all, I have 27 players out of 51 under contract who have problems. Hopefully next year in the draft I can improve these numbers. :)

Both of my kickers have character flags.

[Raiders Army]

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/372/conflictrz6.jpg
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/2492/conflict1hr2.jpg

[SFL Cat]

Someone alert jbmagic.

[Izulde]

what does the big blue M mean again?

[larrymcg421]

Great idea! Looking forward to it.

[nilodor]

what does the big blue M mean again?

Those are mentors.

[MartinD]

So far I have 4 players with Red Flags, 3 players with Extreme Conflict, 2 players with Strong Conflict, 4 players with Conflict, and 1 player with Mild Conflict. All in all, not too bad...however, I have no offensive linemen or defensive backs with conflict. All of the players that I have drafted are within the date ranges, so I'm not sure why this is. More to follow.

Might be worth checking Personality on your OL/DB leaders - guys with a high Personality rating will produce stronger conflicts/affinities.

Martin

[Raiders Army]

Might be worth checking Personality on your OL/DB leaders - guys with a high Personality rating will produce stronger conflicts/affinities.

Martin

Yeah, both of them have weak personalities. I'll try to change that in a future season. Thanks.

[Raiders Army]

To go over the offense, it's led by a red-flagged character QB, Tavaris Jackson. Although he's certainly not starting material, he's the best I have at this point. I'll look to upgrade at QB through the draft next year or through free agency.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3609/tavarisjacksonig6.jpg

The rest of my starters are as follows:

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/5413/starterssd9.jpg

My biggest needs on offense are QB, RB, and LG.

[Raiders Army]

My defense is led by Marcus Trufant, a young, very good CB:

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/1598/marcustrufantlr5.jpg

The rest of my defensive starters are as follows:

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/6739/startersix7.jpg

My biggest weaknesses are at RCB and both safety positions. Hopefully my safeties (both rookies) will get better during the year.

For the purposes of this dynasty (set on Wall Street Difficulty), I will let the computer set my gameplans, but I will set my depth chart and playing time. The Raiders are starting out with a 26 Power Ranking, 4th worst in the NFL. Let's see what happens during the exhibition games.

[Raiders Army]

Oakland Raiders 7 7 7 0 - 21
Philadelphia Eagles 3 0 6 0 - 9

Scoring Summary
1Q: 13:14 OAK - Patrick Chukwurah recovered blocked punt in end zone (Joe Bedell extra point)
1Q: 00:53 PHI - Leo Seeley 34 field goal
2Q: 02:13 OAK - Peerless Price 3 pass from Joey Harrington (Joe Bedell extra point)
3Q: 10:57 OAK - Peerless Price 17 pass from Joey Harrington (Joe Bedell extra point)
3Q: 06:25 PHI - Sean Taylor 82 interception return (Julius Jones run for conversion failed)

Not a bad first outing for my dysfunctional team. They're certainly looking good in preseason. :)

[Raiders Army]

Oakland Raiders 7 0 7 0 - 14
Minnesota Vikings 7 7 3 6 - 23

Scoring Summary
1Q: 09:10 OAK - Justin Griffith 20 pass from Tarvaris Jackson (Joe Bedell extra point)
1Q: 01:57 MIN - Steven Jackson 3 run (Kris Brown extra point)
2Q: 08:31 MIN - Steve Smith 10 pass from Bruce Gradkowski (Kris Brown extra point)
3Q: 08:42 OAK - Mike Sellers 3 run (Joe Bedell extra point)
3Q: 00:05 MIN - Kris Brown 35 field goal
4Q: 02:25 MIN - Kris Brown 32 field goal
4Q: 01:03 MIN - Kris Brown 39 field goal

Lost my second preseason game and Chris Snee (starting RG) for 3 weeks.

[Raiders Army]

San Francisco 49ers 0 9 0 0 - 9
Oakland Raiders 3 7 0 3 - 13

Scoring Summary
1Q: 04:25 OAK - Joe Bedell 47 field goal
2Q: 05:43 SFO - Jason Elam 34 field goal
2Q: 03:26 OAK - Roddy White 24 pass from Joey Harrington (Joe Bedell extra point)
2Q: 02:11 SFO - Jason Elam 35 field goal
2Q: 01:12 SFO - Jason Elam 31 field goal
4Q: 01:15 OAK - Joe Bedell 35 field goal

No significant injuries and I increase my preseason record to 2-1.

[Raiders Army]

Detroit Lions 0 7 10 3 - 20
Oakland Raiders 3 0 0 0 - 3

Scoring Summary
1Q: 06:02 OAK - Joe Bedell 44 field goal
2Q: 13:07 DET - Chris Perry 1 run (Olindo Mare extra point)
3Q: 09:38 DET - Olindo Mare 37 field goal
3Q: 04:59 DET - Warren Beyer 11 pass from Matt Leinart (Olindo Mare extra point)
4Q: 00:48 DET - Olindo Mare 26 field goal

Detroit absolutely crushes me in my 4th game. No significant injuries.

[Raiders Army]

Oakland Raiders 0 0 0 0 - 0
Seattle Seahawks 7 10 3 3 - 23

Scoring Summary
1Q: 07:49 SEA - Maurice Morris 1 run (Joe Nedney extra point)
2Q: 09:31 SEA - Joe Nedney 35 field goal
2Q: 02:32 SEA - Mike Bartrum 8 pass from Skip Ackerman (Joe Nedney extra point)
3Q: 02:38 SEA - Joe Nedney 38 field goal
4Q: 02:05 SEA - Joe Nedney 43 field goal

I absolutely get crushed by the Seahawks. I generate 132 yards of total offense. Huh. Seems like real-life.

With no other options at QB, I have to stick with Tavaris Jackson. I won't post every game of the season, but will take notes during the season and post the season stats as well as my notes. More coming tomorrow.

[Raiders Army]

Here's a midseason status report:

I started Tavaris Jackson Weeks 1-5. We ended up going 0-4, the biggest trend being that during three of the four games we were ahead in the first half, but collapsed big time in the second half. I'm not sure if that's an affect of the Conflict or Tavaris Jackson's Red Flag.

I then started Joey Harrington Week 6 against the Denver Broncos.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/7817/harringtonsi5.jpg

I was 0-4 and the Donkeys were 4-0 and 11 point favorites. Joey Harrington kept the game close and ultimate put us in position to score with 1:15 left in the game. Our defense held and we beat the Donkeys!

After that, Harrington sucked big time. He went 0-3 the other three games and now we're 1-7, fifth from the bottom in power rankings. Here are the midseason stats.

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8822/midseasonstatsrh6.jpg

Al Wilson is definitely getting a workout. I'm not sure whether to switch back to Jackson or not. I'm not trying to lose intentionally, so I think I'm going to stick with Harrington because the offense doesn't have a 2nd half collapse under him. If it looks as if the season's tanked in the next couple of games, I'll switch back to Jackson so he can get experience.

[Raiders Army]

We ended the season 1-15. I started Harrington Weeks 10-11, and then switched back to Jackson for Week 12 against the Chargers. In Week 13 I signed Kerry Collins to be a mentor to see if it would improve Tavaris Jackson's ratings.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2805/tavarisjackson2bw4.jpg

Overall, Jackson improved very little this season. He's definitely not the answer at QB, so I'll look to the draft to find someone who can replace him.

Here are the final Power Ratings:

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4573/powerratingspf3.jpg

We had a chance in week 15 to get our second win against St. Louis, but they stomped us at home, 21-7.

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/5194/teamsummarydm0.jpg

The only awards we won were Al Wilson won 2nd Team Inside Linebacker and Peerless Price was the League's Fastest Man. I'll use the 2007 draft file, so I'll probably be looking at Brady Quinn or JaMarcus Russell with the first pick.

[tanglewood]

Seems like an accurate replication of the Raiders so far...

[Dutch]

Hopefully your house rules are allowing you to go out and find some decent talent. This is a good dynasty. Like watching a train wreck. :)

[dj_morton]

Seems like an accurate replication of the Raiders so far...

Haha, True Dat

[Raiders Army]

Hopefully your house rules are allowing you to go out and find some decent talent. This is a good dynasty. Like watching a train wreck. :)

The only house rules I have in affect are that I must draft personnel that will hopefully create conflict or they are a character flag (without affinity).

[Raiders Army]

At the beginning of the 2007 season:

Walt Harris (CB) retired after 11 seasons in the league.

The positions I need filled are:

C
RG
LG
LT
RT
MLB
CB

Contrary to what I believed, I do not have the first pick in the draft. St. Louis (1-15...their lone win against me) has the first pick in the draft. Their strength of schedule was less difficult than mine (SD, KC, and Denver all had 11+ wins), so I guess that's why they have the first overall pick. Huh.

[Raiders Army]

For the coaching hiring stage, I tried to get a new scout but I couldn't afford the one I wanted so I'm staying pat.

I did, however, hire a new coaching staff with unproven Allen Martin taking the reins.

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/6306/headcoachkl9.jpg

I also have a new Offensive Coordinator, Sedrick Goddard:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/4640/offensivecoordinatorgx5.jpg

Finally, I picked up Tennessee's Defensive Coordinator, Fred Strait:

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/1508/defensivecoordinatoriz3.jpg

All of these coaches will be around for 5 years, so hopefully they're the foundation on which I can build my franchise.

[Raiders Army]

I sent Bobby Horn (RDT) to the Summer League and I did not franchise any player. I have $10,010,000 under the cap with $1,760,000 to play with for free agents. In my other games, I try to build through the draft and hold onto my players when I can if they're cheap. That's the strategy I will take with this dynasty. Free Agency and the draft are coming up next...