FOF4 - Yet Another Voyage to the Island of Misfit Toys

[QuikSand]

Yet Another Voyage to the Island of Misfit Toys

I’m not detailing this dynasty in full – but just jotting down a few notes as I go along. I am once again pursuing the task of building a team in FOF using only players acquired as undrafted rookie free agents. Once they come aboard, I may renegotiate and re-sign them as I please – but that’s the only way players come in.

My hope is that I get a few “diamonds in the rough” by way of savvy player projections that I don’t have to field a team completely full of garbage. I don’t expect to have many superstar players, but we’ll see how it goes – and where we catch some breaks (which always plays a huge role in this exercise).

[QuikSand]

Prologue

Rather than detail the first few years completely, I’m just going to give a quick flash through them, and get you up to speed. In short – I started with the OPU, putting my makeshift team on a similar level to that of the opposition. After four seasons under my belt, here is the quick version of the team success so far:


Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2005 LKE 66 100 73 45 61 14-5-0 Bowl Winner
2004 LKE 52 14 70 49 75 6-10-0 None
2003 LKE 59 72 70 32 72 11-6-0 Wild Card Round
2002 LKE 61 57 70 67 58 9-7-0 None


Okay, here’s the deal. I actually wrote this up before I played our season #4, so I didn’t know what was coming. I expected yet another middling season, and then I’d start out this thread detailing the guys we have on board, and talk about where we clearly needed to improve.

Instead, we’re now coming off a title run, so the tone is a bit different. I’m still going to go ahead – because I think the championship was pretty fluky – and the focus will instead to be whether the team can stay at the elite level, while the league around us gets better.


I’m going to go through the roster, and give some sense of what got us to the top. Then, we’ll go from here, and see who remains – the team is nearly capped out as of year four, so some decisions lie ahead.

[QuikSand]

Front Office Football: The Fourth Edition
Lake Erie Monsters Roster, Scout Overview


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$Hou, Jumbo 17 QB 4 23 23 1 yr.
McNeal, Luther 1 QB 4 16 30 1 yr.
Douglas, Johnny 19 QB 1 5 20 2 yrs.


Jumbo Hou has been our starter for four years. He brings us continuity, and that’s about it. He has a TD/It ration of 60/66 over that time, including 15/13 in our title campaign. His 85 passer rating last year was a career high – and he shows signs of getting slightly better. But we will still be looking for a long term answer at QB. Neither of the other two guys is it.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$Stewart, Carlos 27 RB 3 54 54 5 yrs.
Beckwith, Melvin 30 RB 4 27 27 1 yr.
Reese, R.J. 48 RB 2 25 30 1 yr.
$$Stokes, Julio 22 FB 3 34 34 1 yr.
Perez, Eugene 38 FB 1 30 47 2 yrs.


Carlos Stewart is among our best players, on paper. He topped 1,000 yards in 2003, and has kept his average over 4 ypc each season, despite sharing time in the years since. Beckwith had 1,242 yards in our initial season, but lost the job to Stwart – now he’s a decent enough backup, but no explosive ability at all. FB Stokes is solid, developed well, and put up pretty decent numbers last season. The rest are fillers.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$Bullock, Andrew 84 TE 3 53 53 4 yrs.
Lavan, Donald 81 TE 4 27 29 1 yr.


Bullock developed nicely, and has become a serious target. His ratings are nearly all around 40-50, with a few key standout areas (courage of 90 – I like that). He’s averaging around 400 yard per year – in our offense, that’s pretty solid.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$Bauer, Fred 86 FL 3 45 55 4 yrs.
$$Newhart, Antoine 82 SE 3 55 55 4 yrs.
Hoffman, Marc 88 SE 4 17 18 1 yr.
Nybo, Hugh 45 SE 1 15 31 2 yrs.


Bauer is a first year starter, and had 753 yards, finally reaching his potential. Newhart has 1,118 yard last season and earned first team honors, but this year came to earth – but still posted 729 yards. Decent pair – this might be our best position overall, as both guys are starting-caliber players on a wide open team.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$Mobley, Bubba 74 LT 3 26 26 3 yrs.
Rounds, Nicky 66 LT 1 17 38 1 yr.
##McCaslin, Jumbo 67 LT 4 17 20 1 yr.
$$Lacey, Chad 64 LG 3 40 40 4 yrs.
$$Martin, Peter 55 C 3 42 42 3 yrs.
Silverstein, Orlando 56 C 1 21 38 1 yr.
$$Carden, Myron 61 RG 3 37 38 4 yrs.
Lane, Hardy 69 RG 2 19 31 2 yrs.
$$Yellope, Clarence 63 RT 4 14 14 1 yr.


Our line is nothing to shout about. G Lacey has been our best performer, rated (36/40, 24/27, 88, 18/20) – not exactly impressive. C Peter Martin is solid in the middle (38/43, 32, 66, 54/56), but has yet to show that skill in stats. RG Myron Carden is similar, and is okay on that side. We could use a breakout player at left tackle, where Bubba Mobley tries, but just doesn’t have much talent.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Vaught, Cornell 3 P 1 26 38 1 yr.
Murray, Alex 11 K 1 28 36 1 yr.


Fine. Whatever.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$Maxwell, Edgar 99 LDE 4 42 42 1 yr.
$$Vest, Antoine 77 LDT 4 38 40 4 yrs.
##O'Neill, Steve 79 LDT 2 28 38 1 yr.
$$Sutton, Matthew 76 RDT 3 32 33 1 yr.
McClinton, Perry 93 RDT 1 31 38 2 yrs.
Dumas, Skip 70 RDT 4 26 26 1 yr.
##Terrell, Edwin 78 RDT 1 26 30 1 yr.
**Ruschak, Malcolm 73 RDE 4 39 39 3 yrs.
$$Campos, Frank 96 RDE 4 32 43 1 yr.


The unexpected star of this team has been E Malcolm Ruschak (ratings 15,49,62,12,56,45), who has posted 53.5 sacks in his four years as a starter – incredible. Skip Dumas has 28.5 in the same time, but has absolutely no ability to stop a running back.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$Banks, Vernon 58 SLB 3 37 37 4 yrs.
Durham, Winston 94 SLB 2 24 33 1 yr.
DeFelice, Lenny 90 SLB 4 18 25 1 yr.
##Lodish, Antonio 91 SLB 4 18 25 1 yr.
$$Henderson, Jon 59 MLB 3 32 36 1 yr.
Barlow, Antoine 95 MLB 4 18 34 3 yrs.
**Harness, Clarence 98 WLB 1 25 34 2 yrs.
Fancher, Harvey 97 WLB 1 19 36 2 yrs.


Vernon Banks and Jon Henderson each had 100 tackles for this 11-5 club last season – both are basically run-stoppers first and foremost (67 and 46, respectively) but neither is an all-around talent. Harness might develop into a quality starter for us, if I can get him playing time. Looking for an impact player here, too, needless to say.


Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
$$McMeel, Rodney 43 LCB 3 32 32 2 yrs.
Abdullah, Corey 24 LCB 4 21 21 2 yrs.
Gunn, Emmitt 44 LCB 1 18 39 2 yrs.
$$Gilmore, Conrad 21 RCB 3 46 46 5 yrs.
$$Bullock, Richie 32 SS 4 34 34 1 yr.
Blankenship, Tyrus 47 SS 4 24 30 1 yr.
Talley, Martin 42 SS 1 23 42 2 yrs.
$$Tobeck, Jon 29 FS 2 49 58 1 yr.
##Askey, Brent 33 FS 4 27 27 3 yrs.


CB Conrad Gilmore is actually a fair quality player, who has developed into a decent starter for us. He has 26 interceptions in three seasons, and has been named first team all-pro twice in three years. I take back the “decent starter” tag – this guy is a fucking monster. His ratings are generally around 40-60, with a dip at man-coverage (30). Jon Tobeck is another breakout guy, who needs to be re-signed after this season, his breakout year as a starter (10 picks, 68+32 tackles).


In the season awards, we come away pretty strong:

Superbowl MVP – QB Jumbo Hou
First team FB – Julio Stokes
First team CB – Conrad Gilmore
Second team OG – Chad Lacey
Second team S – Jon Tobeck

[QuikSand]

By the way, I am hamstrong by the bug that truncates off the first letter in every single line of text that I send to my "generic/text" in Windows 2000. So, my use of game data will be sparing... I had to manually re-insert the initial character in every line above, and that's not worth the effort.

[QuikSand]

2006

The offseason, playing this way, is a blur. I trade all my draft picks to Hawk Mountain (no reason, just always do – we’ll see what they can do with a double draft every year) and fly through the FA process and the rookie draft. All that concerns me is what’s left after the draft ends… that is my new player pool.


New signings:

RB Harvey Reeves – should become our top reserve, has potential to get better
DT Zack Crownhart – the best DL I have acquired since the OPU beginning, have high hopes
MLB Johnny Williamson – might be our new starter, has high potential as well
C Alfred Duran – might try to swap him out to tackle – high potential here
OLB Matt Scott – look like a decent all-around player, solid addition
TE Mo Sanderson – might be pretty decent, soft spot for me
LT Matt Fields – might be worthless, but has high rating in blocking strength (96)
DE Juan Irani – worth the pick just for the pun potential
CB Bryant Chandler – no upside potential, but decent current ratings
DT Johnnie Sanderson – some possible growth, could be decent reserve (see TE)
RB Fred Clark – solid, with some potential – sleeper?

We lock up QB Jumbo Hou to a new three year deal – that should add some security. I cannot find any rookie who look worth anything, so we stick with out current group, including a new deal for McNeal.

At RB, we let RB Beckwith go – he is looking for a big raise, and I cannot justify it. With two young additions in Reeves and Clark, I think we’re good behind the workhorse Carlos Stewart.

The big new contract is to safety Jon Tobeck – he gets $23m over four years – he should be a leader for us for the future. MLB Jon Henderson gets a new deal, too – about $17m over five years. We’ll see if he stays in a starting job to earn it.

We run training camp, and have a look at the post-camp reports. The biggest news is that DT Zack Crownhart, the 339-lb monster in the middle, looks like he is going to get better. Coming out of camp, he rates (16/46, 13/38, 72, 15/48, 90, 29/36) and he shaded up to that point from his signing. Good things to come with this guy, we think. LB Matt Scott shows promise, too – he might get to step in and start for us this year as a rookie. C Alfred Duran might be a future star as well, but he has company at C to fight off.

I have the scouts stay in charge of the depth chart, as we want to move through this season quickly…


Week Opponent Result Attendance Weather
eek 1 at Wheeling Dealers W, 13-10 57,200 Sunny, 69
eek 2 ATHENS ARGONAUTS W, 38-16 71,700 Rain, 67
eek 3 LITTLE ROCK ROLLERS W, 24-0 71,700 Sunny, 63
eek 4 OPEN
eek 5 CHEYENNE CUTTHROAT TROUT L, 10-18 71,700 Rain, 64
eek 6 NAPA VALLEY CASKMASTERS W, 24-17 71,700 Sunny, 50
eek 7 at Tijuana River Raiders L, 10-14 75,800 Sunny, 80
eek 8 at Tulsa Drillers W, 26-14 72,400 Sunny, 54
eek 9 at Ocean City Thrashers W, 28-19 68,800 Rain, 51
eek 10 WHEELING DEALERS W, 17-12 71,700 Sunny, 32
eek 11 LOUISVILLE HAWKS W, 26-3 71,700 Sunny, 50
eek 12 at Mazatlan Marauders L, 6-20 73,300 Sunny, 68
eek 13 at Niagara Falls Mutiny W, 30-17 74,400 Rain, 48
eek 14 KITTY HAWK FLYERS W, 29-9 71,700 Sunny, 56
eek 15 OCEAN CITY THRASHERS L, 13-24 71,700 Rain, 50
eek 16 at Bermuda Barons W, 38-13 56,700 Sunny, 70
eek 17 at Louisville Hawks W, 20-10 57,700 Sunny, 48


Sorry, gang – they’re just going to have to be “eeks” instead of “Weeks.” Suck it up. At 12-4 we gain the top seed in the AFC, and get the week off.


ecord: 12-4
inning Pct.: .750

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 500 5
ushing Yards 1975 4
ards Per Carry 3.95 19
ass Attempts 461 31
ompletions 286 29
assing Yards 2811 30
ards Per Attempt 6.09 18
rd Down Conversions 39.8 8
oints Per Game 22.0 5
urnovers 28 17 (T)
urnover Margin +14 2

pponents Team Rank
ushes 405 3
ushing Yards 1554 3
ards Per Carry 3.83 7 (T)
ass Attempts 598 32
ompletions 322 13
assing Yards 3446 15
ards Per Attempt 5.76 4
rd Down Conversions 36.3 13
oints Per Game 13.5 1
urnovers 42 1

eek Team Versus Oppnt
13 at WHE 10
38 ATH 16
24 LTR 0
10 CHY 18
24 NV 17
10 at TIJ 14
26 at TUL 14
28 at OCY 19
0 17 WHE 12
1 26 LVL 3
2 6 at MAZ 20
3 30 at NIA 17
4 29 KYH 9
5 13 OCY 24
6 38 at BER 13
7 20 at LVL 10

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 460 285 2788 6.06 18 20
*Team --- 461 286 2811 6.09 18 20

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 251 973 3.87 9
5 Reeves RB 150 607 4.04 4
7 Hou QB 56 160 2.85 0
2 Stokes FB 33 192 5.81 0
*Team --- 500 1975 3.95 13

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 114 57 713 12.5 103 8
2 Newhart WR 88 51 684 13.4 148 0
2 Stokes FB 80 60 356 5.9 171 3
4 Bullock TE 57 40 398 9.9 103 0
7 Stewart RB 51 25 218 8.7 94 4
*Team --- 460 286 2811 9.8 796 18

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
8 Banks OLB 111 25 5.0 3 1 8
9 Tobeck S 93 26 0.0 0 10 20
9 Henderson ILB 90 33 1.0 2 0 2
1 Gilmore CB 72 16 1.0 0 10 16
7 Blankenship S 57 14 1.0 0 0 7
3 McMeel CB 51 14 0.5 0 1 12
7 Vest DT 48 22 10.5 5 0 1
8 Harness OLB 45 12 2.0 0 1 8
4 Dunn CB 36 9 1.0 0 0 1
3 Ruschak DE 30 18 12.0 14 0 1
2 Irani DE 26 10 5.5 12 0 0
4 Chandler CB 20 6 0.0 0 3 3
0 Dumas DT 19 6 5.0 8 0 0
3 Askey S 19 1 0.0 0 0 1
5 Crownhart DT 17 11 5.0 4 0 0
*Team --- 857 256 59.0 57 30 81


Once again, DE Ruschak is a star on the defense, far better than any ratings might indicate. Rookie DT Crownhart was a real contributor as well, getting 5 sacks in only 237 pass plays. He’s on his way to becoming a real star for us, for certain. LB Vernon Banks, with 111+25 tackles and 5 picks, might be an all-pro candidate, I’d think. He kept rookie Matt Scott on the bench all year, unfortunately.

The offense was spread around as usual – it’s not exactly our strength. We don’t generate great stars with this offense – QB Bubba Hou is marginal, and our talents skill position players get decent numbers, but not great ones by any stretch.

Here’s the postseason rundown:

Ocean City 16, Lake Erie 13

Well, that was quick. We tied the game with 1:44 remaining, but then they get a FG with one second on the clock, and take the win. And so goes our claim to the throne – though a 12-4 season surely keeps us among the league elite.

Season Awards:
First team CB: Conrad Gilmore
First team S: Jon Tobeck
Second team OLB: Vernon Banks

[Godzilla Blitz]

Ass attempts? Does this have anything to do with that Mailman again?

[Fritz]

FYI: several of your players have the same number.

[QuikSand]

Thanks for the detailed reading, guys.

[Fritz]

Quik,

is your team run heavy by design?

[Bee]

You have a very good Defense. That's pretty impressive for misfit team this early on. I wonder how much that is because of your players or the lack of talented offensive players from the OPU?

[QuikSand]

2007

Once again, the offseason is brisk. I have more players returning on contract this year – fewer open decisions to make.

The post-draft pool yields these pick-ups:

P Mercury Rinehart – oh, if I only needed six punters, they are deep this year – but he’ll be great
RB Marshall Walters – should make a case for playing time, even at a deep position
DT Sam Welch – 80 pass rush strength give us hope for a breakout
S Curtis Floyd – could be a long time player for us – has solid skills
WR A.J. Pearson – converted from RB – might have some upside
RT Adam Berkebile – could have future on the line for us, if he develops
QB Billy Joe Hines – I’m desperate for youth at QB, so we grab him, but no aspirations
QB Monty Meadows – similar story, though some possible upside here
QB Gilbert Horton – I don’t know what I’ll do with all these clowns
WR Clay Langhoff – solid skills, and we need another reserve wideout

As we head into training camp, veteran DE Malcolm Ruschak’s skills are approaching zero across the board. Honestly, they now rate (5,16,30,12,16,20). This is a guy who posted 12 sacks last year, as our starter at RDE. His ratings have been going downward, but his performance has stayed very strong – how long can it go on?

Coming out of training camp, Ruschak’s ratings are stable. Elsewhere, I like what I see out of S Curtis Floyd, who looks like a starter and long timer for us. I decide that he has the right size to play CB, and I make the switch – he ought to be an upgrade for us there, and might start as a rookie.

No other major changes – we come into the 2007 season fairly intact from last year, in important places. We’ll try to maintain another solid campaign, and will hope that QB Bubba Hou stays healthy, as we have gone young behind him (he hasn’t missed a start in five seasons).

Regrettably, the noble experiment with DE Ruschak will fall short – he suffered a season-ending injury in pre-season, and may not recover at all. Too bad – would have been interesting to see if he could have posted another great year with such awful ratings.


After a shaky start, we get back on track, and run out another 11-5 solid season. Here’s the team summary, and yes it’s full of “ass Attempts” for the peanut gallery:


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
007 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 11-5
inning Pct.: .687

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 473 10
ushing Yards 1860 9
ards Per Carry 3.93 13 (T)
ass Attempts 421 32
ompletions 261 32
assing Yards 2934 32
ards Per Attempt 6.96 7
rd Down Conversions 31.1 27
oints Per Game 19.9 9
urnovers 30 20 (T)
urnover Margin +3 15 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 446 22
ushing Yards 1670 12
ards Per Carry 3.74 9 (T)
ass Attempts 609 26
ompletions 346 22 (T)
assing Yards 3770 22 (T)
ards Per Attempt 6.19 12
rd Down Conversions 37.9 22
oints Per Game 14.9 2 (T)
urnovers 33 3

eek Team Versus Oppnt
13 at OCY 14
20 at SAC 19
23 NV 22
7 at NIA 27
18 WHE 6
26 KW 20
24 MAN 14
17 at NSH 14
10 OCY 6
1 10 at LVL 13
2 34 at MEM 16
3 12 at FKX 33
4 30 PS 10
5 27 LVL 6
6 35 DVY 3
7 13 at WHE 16
$WC WHE

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 420 260 2927 6.96 16 20
*Team --- 421 261 2934 6.96 16 20

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 222 1008 4.54 6
5 Reeves RB 166 550 3.31 4
7 Hou QB 66 228 3.45 2
*Team --- 473 1860 3.93 12

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 110 59 864 14.6 189 7
2 Newhart WR 84 50 707 14.1 122 5
7 Stewart RB 58 42 450 10.7 274 3
2 Stokes FB 58 41 205 5.0 148 0
4 Bullock TE 53 36 405 11.2 79 1
5 Reeves RB 19 10 73 7.3 38 0
*Team --- 418 261 2934 11.2 932 16

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
8 Banks OLB 125 28 2.0 2 0 9
9 Henderson ILB 116 42 3.5 0 1 4
9 Tobeck S 84 36 1.0 2 7 21
1 Gilmore CB 75 14 0.0 1 4 12
3 Scott OLB 70 22 4.5 1 0 5
2 Talley S 69 30 1.0 0 2 7
4 Dunn CB 49 21 1.0 1 4 6
7 Vest DT 43 15 5.0 11 0 1
0 Dumas DT 43 19 13.0 9 0 0
0 Floyd CB 41 11 0.0 0 1 6
2 Irani DE 28 6 3.5 15 0 0
1 Welch DE 26 17 9.5 16 0 0
3 Askey S 24 0 0.0 0 0 1
4 Chandler CB 21 3 1.0 0 1 2
*Team --- 909 279 52.0 71 20 75


Let’s see – on offense, another routine season from Hou, but Stewart broke 1,000 yards rushing, a nice surprise. Bauer is emerging as our top WR threat, and his ratings keep growing – he’s now a legit star-caliber receiver. Defensively, we didn’t make as many big plays, but had a solid season nonetheless. Lots of injuries on the DL (wow, what a surprise) left us with reserves rotating around – but we got a good year out of rookie DE Sam Welch, whose ratings remain very pedestrian. Matt Scott, moved to the weak side and starting, joins Banks and Henderson in making a pretty solid LB corps.

Postseason rundown:

Lake Erie 28, Wheeling 7

The defense keys this one, as we throttle the Dealers, avenging our last regular season loss. Five interceptions win the day for us, and we move on to the divisional round.

Lake Erie 13, Tulsa 7

On the road, we get another good defensive effort – their score came on a pick, so our defense essentially pitched a shutout. Three picks this week helped again – we won the turnover battle, and move on.

AFC Championship: Fort Knox 31, Lake Erie 28

Another heartbreaker, as we yield the winning TD with under two minutes left – a prototypical FOF fourth quarter shootout. They outgained us by nearly 200 yards, but it took that last drive to get it done.

Fort Knox edges Hawk Mountain (my double draft team) in the Superbowl, 16-13.


Season Awards:
First team: OLB Vernon Banks
Second team: DT Skip Dumas, MLB Jon Henderson

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Fritz
Quik, is your team run heavy by design?

Not really - i let the coaching staff set the gameplan, and I let eth scouts set the depth chart. So far, I have not been too tempted to get in and start manmaging this thing week by week.

So, the run-heavy design is a function of the staff... they presumably have little faith in Hou, as I would.

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Bee
You have a very good Defense. That's pretty impressive for misfit team this early on. I wonder how much that is because of your players or the lack of talented offensive players from the OPU?

I have to think it's at least halfway due to the OPU start, which may not have been a wise decision. No, we don't have great talent... but the defense is playing quite well. (Talentwise, I probably only have 2-3 defensive players who would make the team or Little Rock in the GT dynasty)

[Franklinnoble]

Did you re-name the existing cities, or what?

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by Franklinnoble
Did you re-name the existing cities, or what?

Uh, yes. We used a fictional universe in the GroupThink career, and I just started this career in my same directory... with the modified city names and all.

[QuikSand]

2008

This season, we have 41 players returning on contracts, and $10.2m under the salary cap – we should be okay, but may have to crunch if there are any new “star contracts” needing to be signed. We get DT Steve O’Neill and FB Julio Stokes re-signed, no problems – and zip through free agency and the draft.

I’m really hoping for an intriguing player at QB this year, and we could use some reliable help on the OL, too. I’m feeling fairly good at most other places, though DL is still weak (in ratings), despite their solid performance on the field.

Our new additions:
P Alan McGee – I know last year I said my new punter would be with us forever… I was wrong, this guy will
K J.R. Whiteford – looks fabulous, a great year for punters and kickers in the URFA ranks
WR Norbert Simoneau – possible upside, with a 98 rating in big play receiving
S Austin Abraham – solid across the board, good punishing rating of 69
LB Mel Shea – some potential, probably a reserve filler
G Patrick Noriega – could be a decent guy, just reserve probably

Nothing all that spectacular – and again, nothing at QB. We run training camp, and have a look at the crop that emerges…

The best looking rookie, other than the specialists, might be S Austin Abraham. We’ll keep watching WR Simoneau – he might have some upside to him as well. Not a thrilling class, but we got a few fillers.


Anyway, here’s the season summary. We again go 12-4, and assume a top spot in the AFC. This year, though, we have to play in the opening week, as the #3 seed.


Front Office Football: The Fourth Edition
2008 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 482 9
ushing Yards 2049 7
ards Per Carry 4.25 7
ass Attempts 536 22
ompletions 341 12
assing Yards 3787 13
ards Per Attempt 7.06 7
rd Down Conversions 39.2 12 (T)
oints Per Game 24.5 4
urnovers 23 8 (T)
urnover Margin 0 20 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 430 13
ushing Yards 1865 26
ards Per Carry 4.33 29 (T)
ass Attempts 577 24 (T)
ompletions 332 18 (T)
assing Yards 3779 21
ards Per Attempt 6.54 15
rd Down Conversions 37.3 15 (T)
oints Per Game 16.8 3
urnovers 23 26

eek Team Versus Oppnt
29 LVL 6
23 at NOR 14
24 TUL 6
36 FKX 22
14 at PEN 24
25 at LTR 22
20 OCY 10
30 FTW 13
42 at WHE 35
1 20 at LVL 17
2 20 at HWK 17
3 17 at NSH 20
4 27 PRV 3
5 16 WHE 19
6 27 TXA 16
7 23 at OCY 26
$WC at PEN

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 536 341 3787 7.06 28 16
*Team --- 536 341 3787 7.06 28 16

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 248 1175 4.73 3
5 Reeves RB 143 571 3.99 6
7 Hou QB 62 169 2.72 1
*Team --- 482 2049 4.25 10

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 125 78 1224 15.6 188 6
2 Newhart WR 122 58 744 12.8 118 8
7 Stewart RB 73 57 483 8.4 321 2
4 Bullock TE 65 49 558 11.3 177 4
2 Stokes FB 57 39 248 6.3 131 3
8 Perez FB 25 14 84 6.0 37 2
3 Langhoff WR 19 11 185 16.8 28 3
5 Reeves RB 17 15 102 6.8 55 0
*Team --- 535 341 3787 11.1 1070 28

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
9 Henderson ILB 97 35 1.0 0 1 8
8 Banks OLB 95 24 4.0 2 0 6
9 Tobeck S 76 23 0.0 0 6 20
2 Talley S 74 40 2.5 0 1 9
1 Gilmore CB 70 28 0.5 1 1 18
3 Scott OLB 64 27 7.5 2 0 9
4 Dunn CB 55 13 0.0 0 3 6
0 Floyd CB 46 11 0.0 1 1 5
1 Welch DE 38 10 10.5 13 0 1
0 Dumas DT 33 13 6.0 7 0 1
5 Crownhart DT 33 14 3.0 12 0 0
3 Ruschak DE 31 4 9.0 6 0 0
4 Chandler CB 21 8 0.0 0 1 3
8 Shea OLB 18 3 0.0 0 0 0
6 Sanderson DE 16 5 2.5 1 0 0
*Team --- 871 269 48.0 50 16 89


Well, on offense it’s worth a tip of the cap to Bubba Hou, the ironman QB who has taken practically every single snap for this team for its entire seven year history. That’s pretty uncommon in FOF, by my experience. He had easily his best season yet, with a 28/16 ratio, and an 89.4 rating. Very good show, and WR Bauer appreciates it, too – he posted a career high as well. RB Carlos Stewart also had his best offensive year – as the offense really stepped up this season for us.

The defense, on the other hand, slipped. 29th in YPC against us, and 15th in YPA against us – not so hot. Somehow, we managed to keep scoring down – probably because our offense stayed on the field a long time all year. We didn’t create a ton of turnovers this year, either – our ratio ended up an even zero. But look at who made a nice recovery – DE Ruschak, with 9 sacks, despite his ratings which have slipped even further toward oblivion (5,13,17,11,9,4). By all visible rights, this guy shouldn’t even be anywhere near a football field. Yet, he had 9 sacks, again among the team leaders.

After being 10-1, we limped home losing three out of five- that doesn’t bode that well for the postseason, I fear.


Here’s a postseason wrap-up:

Lake Erie 37, Pensacola 31 (OT)

Pretty much in keeping with the season, we have now become an offensive-based team. Jumbo Hou threw his 3rd TD pass in overtime, and we get the win. We did give up 545 yards of offense – not exactly a top-tier playoff performance. Bauer had 107 and a TD – he’s become a real prime-time player.

Lake Erie 20, Ocean City 17 (OT)

Okay, get out your “cardiac kids” jerseys – two OT wins in a row. Down 17-3, we rallied to get it tied in the fourth quarter, and then kept the momentum to win it on a kick. Lots of punts in this game – each team scored on every single trip to the red zone. We go on into the AFC championship game again…

Nashua 27, Lake Erie 17

…where our luck runs out. We only manage 213 yards of offense, and cannot contain them. Nashua avoids the fourth quarter flurry, and they hold on to punch their ticket to the big game.

In the Superbowl, Nashua defeats Hawk Mountain, who has now been Buffaloed twice (with all my draft picks).


Our only season award honoree is WR Fred Bauer, who gets second team recognition.

[sachmo71]

How does Bauer rank in the league career records for total rec TD's and rec yards?

[QuikSand]

2009

I neglected to extend many contracts lat year, and come into this season with only 24 players signed. Fortunately, most of my guys aren’t good enough to command lots of attention, so I should be okay.

We have work to do in free agency, but I put in bids, and hope to lock up my veteran players. I’ll sit back and see if anyone bids on DE Malcolm Ruschak – he practically has any ratings visible, but until he stops producing, he’s my guy.

I get everyone I wanted back, with one exception – S Martin Talley goes off to Providence. He’s the first meaningful player I have lost – but I’m pretty comfortable with our secondary, and we can afford the loss, I think. We re-sign DE Ruschak for two years – why not? He makes a great story to follow, if nothing else.


Here are our new additions:

WR Charlie Pallansch – another big BPR rating of 89, has me hoping for a breakout
G Jessie Lincoln – solid, pas-oriented OL, should be decent
LT Jesse Benge – possible starter down the line, but has no endurance rating
S Roger Carl – has solid ratings, a possible contributor


This year, leading up to camp, we are letting go a couple of veterans. LT Bubba Mobley has started for us for five and a half years, but has never been any good. Mid season last year, we switched to Nicky Rounds, who did a better job. Rounds now has the job, and Mobley is too expensive to keep. And, S Brent Askey was an initial player for us, earning first team honors in our initial season – but he’s not even good enough to be our third safety, as he’s beaten out by our new rookie. We’re right up to the cap this year, and simply cannot afford more players – these two are our first veteran cap casualties.


We run training camp, and watch the exiting player evaluations closely. Rookie WR Charlie Pallansch is already showing signs of being a big breakout – he could end up being a star! T Jesse Benge might be better than I thought, too.

Incidentally, I have had a few players really develop well with playing time. C Peter Martin has turned into a complete stud, with rating far beyond what he showed early in his career (57,84,98,67). FS Jon Tobeck is now pretty much 85-90 across the board, with a few spots lower. My top two RBs are both monsters – both growing well beyond their original forecasts. FB Eugene Perez is now a serious star caliber guy, stuck at FB. DT Zack Crownhart can’t stay healthy, but has very strong ratings (as I knew he would). And a big surprise – LB Harvey Fancher, a deep reserve for us, seemed to explode this offseason, and is now probably going to start, and maybe he’ll be our best overall LB. CB Curtis Floyd has stepped up a notch, and looks to be very good for us, too – I saw that coming as well.

This is flawed, but you ought to be able to figure out who’s who…


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
ake Erie Monsters Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
ou, Jumbo 17 QB 8 28 28 4 yrs.
eadows, Monty 2 QB 3 17 34 2 yrs.
orton, Gilbert 8 QB 3 13 27 2 yrs.
tewart, Carlos 27 RB 7 63 63 1 yr.
eeves, Harvey 25 RB 4 54 54 1 yr.
alters, Marshall 35 RB 3 41 46 3 yrs.
erez, Eugene 38 FB 5 52 56 1 yr.
tokes, Julio 22 FB 7 36 36 2 yrs.
ullock, Andrew 84 TE 7 53 53 5 yrs.
anderson, Mo 80 TE 4 38 50 3 yrs.
auer, Fred 86 FL 7 63 63 5 yrs.
imoneau, Norbert 81 FL 2 24 30 1 yr.
ewhart, Antoine 82 SE 7 56 56 4 yrs.
anghoff, Clay 83 SE 3 28 41 3 yrs.
allansch, Charlie 88 SE 1 28 42 1 yr.
ounds, Nicky 66 LT 5 32 41 2 yrs.
#Benge, Jesse 68 LT 1 19 38 2 yrs.
acey, Chad 64 LG 7 45 45 4 yrs.
oriega, Patrick 63 LG 2 22 47 1 yr.
artin, Peter 55 C 7 74 74 1 yr.
uran, Alfred 50 C 4 39 55 2 yrs.
arden, Myron 61 RG 7 41 41 3 yrs.
ields, Matt 71 RT 4 39 39 1 yr.
erkebile, Adam 72 RT 3 26 48 2 yrs.
cGee, Alan 1 P 2 80 80 1 yr.
hiteford, J.R. 10 K 2 67 80 1 yr.
elch, Sam 91 LDE 3 35 41 3 yrs.
anderson, Johnnie 96 LDE 4 22 29 3 yrs.
iggins, Alvin 95 LDE 1 22 27 2 yrs.
rownhart, Zack 75 LDT 4 50 58 2 yrs.
est, Antoine 77 LDT 8 40 40 3 yrs.
#O'Neill, Steve 79 LDT 6 36 43 1 yr.
ayes, Drew 99 LDT 4 33 43 1 yr.
umas, Skip 70 RDT 8 26 26 1 yr.
uschak, Malcolm 73 RDE 8 10 10 2 yrs.
anks, Vernon 58 SLB 7 41 41 3 yrs.
atcher, Andy 54 SLB 2 22 35 2 yrs.
enderson, Jon 59 MLB 7 41 41 2 yrs.
illiamson, Johnny 52 MLB 4 38 49 3 yrs.
ancher, Harvey 97 WLB 5 45 62 3 yrs.
cott, Matt 53 WLB 4 44 56 1 yr.
loyd, Curtis 20 LCB 3 44 61 4 yrs.
unn, Emmitt 44 LCB 5 39 39 4 yrs.
ilmore, Conrad 21 RCB 7 50 50 5 yrs.
handler, Bryant 34 RCB 4 32 34 2 yrs.
#Chester, Howard 41 RCB 2 24 46 1 yr.
braham, Austin 47 SS 2 33 55 1 yr.
obeck, Jon 29 FS 6 72 72 1 yr.
arl, Roger 31 FS 1 22 46 2 yrs.


And here we go into the season…


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
009 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 13-3
inning Pct.: .812

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 477 4
ushing Yards 2039 5
ards Per Carry 4.27 7
ass Attempts 572 12
ompletions 369 4
assing Yards 3835 14
ards Per Attempt 6.70 19
rd Down Conversions 37.8 25
oints Per Game 23.8 5
urnovers 28 23 (T)
urnover Margin +3 13 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 419 8 (T)
ushing Yards 1904 25
ards Per Carry 4.54 31
ass Attempts 602 31
ompletions 338 17 (T)
assing Yards 3753 19
ards Per Attempt 6.23 4
rd Down Conversions 33.3 3
oints Per Game 18.5 7
urnovers 31 3 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
15 at WHE 10
16 TB 13
23 KW 20
29 CHY 26
26 NV 24
20 at TIJ 30
24 at TUL 10
31 OCY 17
0 15 WHE 18
1 27 LVL 14
2 23 at CHA 20
3 31 at FKX 19
4 20 at YPS 14
5 16 at OCY 19
6 27 SSM 13
7 39 at LVL 29

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 572 369 3835 6.70 24 18
*Team --- 572 369 3835 6.70 24 18

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 179 778 4.34 4
5 Reeves RB 156 677 4.33 6
7 Hou QB 76 213 2.80 0
5 Walters RB 44 274 6.22 2
*Team --- 477 2039 4.27 12

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 138 84 1130 13.4 259 10
2 Newhart WR 91 53 794 14.9 165 3
4 Bullock TE 87 53 499 9.4 128 1
8 Perez FB 69 45 266 5.9 124 3
7 Stewart RB 44 36 313 8.6 142 2
3 Langhoff WR 42 24 284 11.8 48 1
2 Stokes FB 31 26 161 6.1 82 2
5 Reeves RB 25 21 165 7.8 99 1
0 Sanderson TE 18 11 89 8.0 28 0
*Team --- 571 369 3835 10.3 1087 24

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
9 Henderson ILB 115 40 2.0 2 1 8
8 Banks OLB 94 36 2.0 3 1 6
9 Tobeck S 86 22 2.0 0 6 27
1 Gilmore CB 83 29 0.0 1 2 20
1 Carl S 77 27 1.0 0 1 12
3 Scott OLB 73 16 3.0 2 2 9
0 Floyd CB 46 7 2.0 1 2 7
4 Dunn CB 43 17 0.0 0 2 7
1 Welch DE 30 19 9.0 11 0 1
0 Dumas DT 26 6 6.0 7 0 0
5 Crownhart DT 26 11 4.5 5 0 0
4 Chandler CB 24 4 4.0 1 1 4
7 Vest DT 18 9 2.0 4 0 0
3 Ruschak DE 16 9 5.0 7 0 0
*Team --- 875 273 49.0 47 18 103



It’s our best regular season yet, and at 13-3, we are the #1 seed in the conference.

Good year again for Jumbo Hou – he again had a solid plus in the Td/Int ratio. His ratings are still very modest (generally below 40 except for timing of 76 and scr frq of 71) but he gets the job done okay for us. He again took every snap, despite some rib injury that has him listed as probable right now.

At RB, Stewart and Reeves are both star-caliber guys, and they end up basically splitting time. Both are good, and 4.33 YPC is solid for either guy – good tandem there. WR Bauer is again our main aerial threat, and he is delivering nicely – should be an all-pro contender again this year. The OL played fairly well, but losing G Chad Lacey to an injury put rookie Noriega in, and he was weak.

MLB Jon Henderson barely kept this starting job, but played brilliantly. It looks like DE Malcom Ruschak might have finally spit the bit… his 5 sacks this year are a dropoff, and we might be looking to plug in a younge player with more… uh, “talent.” We actually didn’t get a single defensive player with a PRPct figure over 5 – very troubling, since getting a good pass rush was a critical early success. And our run defense seems to have dies on the vine.

Despite being 13-3, there are serious problems with this team.


Postseason rundown:

Lake Erie 42, Ocean City 13

We get first quarter interception TDs from Emmitt Dunn and Roger Carl, and put these guys away early. A good showing, but we didn’t really dominate the game as much as the score suggests.

Lake Erie 27, Manhattan 10

Jumbo Hou has a nice game, with 20/27 passing and 3 TDs. Neither team turned the ball over, and we just flat out outplayed them across the board.

Lake Erie 23, Providence 20

Tied 6-6 at the half, we get a TD drive to open the third quarter, and then S Jon Tobeck returns an interception for a TD to give us a great 20-6 lead. They rallied late, but we held them off, and captured our second rings. Hou was quietly efficient, completing 21 of 27 passes, and our RB squad split time and rolled for 156 yards. Good game all around, we roped in another big one.


Season awards:
First team: K J.R. Whiteford, MLB Jon Henderson
Second team: CB Conrad Gilmore

[QuikSand]

Originally posted by sachmo71
How does Bauer rank in the league career records for total rec TD's and rec yards?

Following the 2009 season, my two starting receivers rae both on the Top 20 list in career receiving yards. Antione Newhart is in 8th place with 5,300 and Fred Bauer is in 20th with 4,710.

Bauer is 2nd in TDs with 36, and Newhart is in 4th with 31.

Newhart has the advantage of time - he is a seven year starter, and has started in 103 games (2,930 pass plays). While Bauer has been with the team just as long, he was a slow learner - his first two seasons he saw practically no action at all. He has now started 78 games, and has been on the field for 2,287 pass plays.

[QuikSand]

2010

We come into this season with 38 players signed, and about $15m in cap room – we should be okay. However, we have a few big ticket guys to worry about – first of all, LB Matt Scott. We get him inked to a 5yr, 455m contract – which we will have to renegotiate eventually. We also lock up RT Matt Fields fairly cheaply.

We do lose RB Harvey Reeves – to Puget Sound. But we cannot afford to spend FA money on a 3rd running back.

DT Skip Dumas is a troubling decision. He’s not asking for much money, and he remains fairly productive for us – but I wonder at what cost. He’s terrible against the run, and I wonder if having him play so much is a rot problem with out declining run defense. I decide to let him walk – we’ll get better balance at DT that way, I think.


This year, the incoming players list is a short one – not much to see, I fear:

DT Vinny Lindsay – will try to help pick up the slack from departed veteran Dumas
DT Xavier Battle – some real upside, and we’ll stock up on men in the middle
LT Casey Junkin – might be a future starter for us, best OL in a few years
LB J.T. Galloway – could develop, has some upside in key ratings (59,87)
CB Korey Norris – I cannot resist his 98 punishing rating – hitter, and maybe more?
RB Ricky Gardener – filler player, couldn’t find anyone with much upside


Through training camp, we’re looking for some signs of life from our young additions – especially the two new DTs. We’ll have to wait and see on that – neither one showed a real bump yet. CB Korey Norris, though, might be a diamond in the rough – he jumped already, and might have a big upside.


Incidentally, on the “franchise value” screen, our roster is rated 2nd overall, with a 78 rating. Nashua is tops.
In the “power ratings” (whose derivation I do not understand) we are the lowest-rated team in the league.

This year, we suffered the post-title dropoff badly. Off to an 0-2 start, we trudged our way to 5-7-1 before reeling off three in a row to close just over .500. However, that 8-7-1 mark was just good enough to edge out three 8-8 teams for the AFC’s final playoff spot – so we make the postseason after all. We just might be that #6 seed that nobody wants to play.


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
010 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 8-7-1
inning Pct.: .531

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 479 10
ushing Yards 1955 10
ards Per Carry 4.08 16
ass Attempts 498 28
ompletions 336 18
assing Yards 3653 20
ards Per Attempt 7.33 9 (T)
rd Down Conversions 36.5 23
oints Per Game 24.6 6
urnovers 24 11 (T)
urnover Margin +2 12 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 432 15
ushing Yards 1715 13
ards Per Carry 3.96 10 (T)
ass Attempts 585 28
ompletions 318 6 (T)
assing Yards 3833 21
ards Per Attempt 6.55 11
rd Down Conversions 35.6 6
oints Per Game 19.4 9 (T)
urnovers 26 20 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
10 OCY 28
22 at ATH 29
38 at TIJ 6
30 at NIA 27
10 WHE 17
20 KW 20
30 MAN 10
23 at NSH 20
18 at OCY 34
1 17 LVL 23
2 13 MAZ 16
3 55 PEN 20
4 25 at KYH 28
5 20 at LVL 17
6 34 BER 3
7 30 at WHE 13
$WC at PEN

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 494 333 3639 7.36 26 17
*Team --- 498 336 3653 7.33 27 17

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 236 988 4.18 4
5 Walters RB 139 591 4.25 4
7 Hou QB 61 232 3.80 2
*Team --- 479 1955 4.08 11

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 129 90 1305 14.5 224 11
2 Newhart WR 63 36 453 12.5 114 3
8 Perez FB 63 45 345 7.6 166 2
0 Sanderson TE 53 41 338 8.2 69 2
7 Stewart RB 51 35 302 8.6 133 0
3 Langhoff WR 47 25 359 14.3 43 6
2 Stokes FB 31 24 114 4.7 30 0
5 Walters RB 23 19 169 8.8 79 2
8 Pallansch WR 22 11 192 17.4 37 0
*Team --- 497 336 3653 10.8 923 27

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
9 Henderson ILB 100 43 2.5 1 0 3
8 Banks OLB 100 33 6.5 4 0 13
9 Tobeck S 73 23 1.0 2 2 21
1 Carl S 70 27 1.0 0 4 7
1 Gilmore CB 62 19 0.0 0 4 13
0 Floyd CB 59 12 1.0 0 3 17
3 Scott OLB 58 18 5.5 6 3 10
1 Welch DE 50 22 9.5 14 0 1
4 Dunn CB 42 9 0.5 2 0 7
8 Battle DT 42 14 3.0 14 0 0
5 Crownhart DT 35 18 4.5 9 0 2
4 Lindsay DE 28 5 11.0 4 0 1
6 Bauer WR 17 0 0.0 0 0 0
*Team --- 870 271 51.0 68 17 102


On offense, it’s three straight solid season from Hou – he’s gained a new level of consistency. He again had to play hurt a bit, but again he took practically every snap for us. RB Stewart just missed the 1,000 mark, but WR Bauer didn’t miss – he crushed his previous tem record with 1,305 yards this season. TE Sanderson started to show himself, after our starter Bullock got hurt – Sanderson is a better receiver, it seems. The OL played fairly well, but Nicky Rounds’ injury trouble held us back at LT – young Casey Junkin might be the future there, but he’s not ready to handle starting quite yet.

On defense, we got better, really. In the upper half in yards per run and pass allowed – that’s more like it. (Why did this team lose all those games?) LBs Henderson and Banks each posted 100 tackles, and rookie Vinny Lindsay led the team with 11 sacks, to my shock. (If anyone here can figure out why star WR Fred Bauer made 17 tackles, I’d appreciate it – is he our contain man on returns or something stupid like that?) CB Curtis Floyd, in his first season starting, gave us a very nice effort – a 20.0 PDPct, which isn’t bad.


Postseason rundown:

Pensacola 20, Lake Erie 13

Our cursed season comes to a prompt end here. We give up 185 yards on the ground, and the Panhandlers manhandled us this time.

Nashua goes on to beat Hawk Mountain in the Superbowl – poor Sharpshins have lost three of the last four title games.


Season awards:
First team: WR Fred Bauer
Second team: P Alan McGee

[DolphinFan1]

Originally posted by QuikSand
2010

We come into this season with 38 players signed, and about $15m in cap room – we should be okay. However, we have a few big ticket guys to worry about – first of all, LB Matt Scott. We get him inked to a 5yr, 455m contract – which we will have to renegotiate eventually. We also lock up RT Matt Fields fairly cheaply.



455m, renegotiate eventually, I'll say. :D

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by DolphinFan1
455m, renegotiate eventually, I'll say. :D

good to see I wasn't the only one reading closely...

talk about backloaded! :eek:

[QuikSand]

Hmm, I guess that was supposed to read $55m...

[QuikSand]

2011

We need to rebound this year – it may be time for some changes. I’m still not thrilled with our run defense – usually, I am able to cobble together a pretty tough group of run stoppers, even from spare parts. This may be the year I get my hands a little bit dirty, and start setting the depth chart myself (gasp!).

My 64 year old coach is out of contract, and I think this might be change #1. He’s losing his touch with playcalling – and that’s probably my most important thing right now. I don’t’ have enough star players to be that worried about injuries – but getting good plays called at critical times seems worth an investment. Joey Griffin leaves the team with a career coaching record of 104-55-1, and two championships among his eight playoff appearances (in nine seasons). He also won Coach of the Year in 2008, after our title season. Those are some fine numbers – he retires following our inability to reach a new deal.

Wade Finch is the obvious guy to pursue – even though he is already 60 years old. It costs us a ridiculous sum, $20 million a year, but we get him on board for five years. With Providence, he has compiled a record of 96-60, with five playoff showings and one title, along with one Coach of the Year recognition. We’ll try to expand on that.


We’ve got 43 players returning on contracts, and only $2.4 million in cap room. Unless we do some internal work, this will be a very quiet offseason. We have two starting, solid players looking for new contracts – LT Nicky Rounds and MLB Jon Henderson. Both are looking for decent contracts – I cannot afford them right now, of course.

Then, there’s Zack Crownhart. He can’t seem to stay healthy, but he’s easily my most “talented” defensive lineman. He wants a deal upwards of $12-14m per year – and that would mean making a serious cut elsewhere. He’s got 33 starts in his last three seasons, but has yet to really deliver on his potential. I think I’ll be looking elsewhere – but if he’s still sitting round at the end of free agency, I’ll think it over.

DE Malcolm Ruschak – he simply doesn’t have much claim to a roster spot any longer. I may bring him back for sentimental reasons, but I’m comfortable knowing that nobody else will pursue him.

I renegotiate several deals, including a cap-neutral extension with beloved QB Jumbo Hou, and we make the room we need to at least fill up the roster. I get in offers for T Rounds and G Berkebile (decent backup), but cannot get something I like on the table for MLB Jon Henderson – he is insisting on a fat bonus, and I’m reluctant to commit cash up front. I do, however, put in a backloaded offer to DT Zack Crownhart – hoping he can play out the next couple of years fairly cheaply, and if he earns his keep, he’ll be worth the big payoffs at the end of the rainbow. If not, not quite as much harm done.

My three re-sign quickly, and Henderson sits and waits. I have $3.6m in cap space left – I simply cannot afford a $6m contract. I wait him out until week 19, but he is holding firm to his demands – he wants about $5.5m this year – and I simply cannot do it. I may need to let a first team all-pro player walk. I can rationalize it – he racks up big tackle numbers as he leads a porous run defense – how wonderful is that? But still, this is tough.

I finally work out a lucrative extension with WR Fred Bauer. He gets $21m in signing bonus – but it frees up several million this year. I go back to LB Jon Henderson – and it looks impossible. I have now freed up the amount he has asked for, but he still says it’s unacceptable. It seems as though he simply will not take a deal. I may be out of luck there, like it or not.

We zip through the draft, and quickly enter the post-draft rookie pool. Here are our new additions for this season:

DE Everett Money – “Easy” looks like he might be an outstanding addition to our club, if he develops
LB Sedrick Maxwell – we have a vacancy inside, he might help out there
DE Toby Clemons – might not have huge upside, but we’ll check him out
LT Lincoln Maloney – high blocking strength rating (73) inspires hope for good things
S Bob Soutsos – might have some hidden ability, but should be a capable third guy back there

In a failed attempt to cover my third safety spot, I end up ruining a decent CB, Emmitt Dunn. Alas – he gets cut, and we’ll take a cap hit next year of $1.5m.

And, since I now have cap room left over, I make one more try to re-sign LB Henderson, the arrogant bastard. This time, he takes the offer he requests, and we have a new three year deal. Finally.

And, almost as an afterthought, I go ahead and check out the rookie QB group, and pick up one more new face:

QB Alan Washington – serious scrambler, very intelligent, might have some potential


That’s the group we take into training camp – and as they emerge I try to get a sense of where we are. I really like the look of DE Everett Money – I think he could develop into a very solid pass rusher, just what we need. I’m not totally sold on young Vinny Lindsay, despite his 11 sacks last year – but we’ll probably use both guys a lot this season. ILB Sedrick Maxwell looks like he will be the man in the middle that we really need. OL Lincoln Maloney, moved to RG, will probably be a future starter for us there – a serious run blocker in the works. We might have gotten some real quality in this class.


I decide against micromanaging the depth chart – I put the scouts in charge, and let ‘er rip. After a 2-0 start, though – we arehalted – we have an injury that can’t be resolved. It’s what we haven’t had to face before – Ironman QB Jumbo Hou is lost for the season. In week 3, we go to Gilbert Horton, who leads us to a win, but I don’t feel that we’ll be nearly as stable as we were under Hou. We wanted change – well, we’re going to get it, it seems.

We manage to roll up a strong series of wins, even as our injury toll takes on new heights. I end up with a starting pair of guys at TE and FB that I didn’t even know prior to mid-season. Regardless, the winning streak continues… 10…12 games. Finally, we lose on the road at Puget Sound, and slip out of the perfect season mode. After slipping three in a row, though – we’re sick of that, and we rally for a closing victory, to end up at 13-3, and the #2 seed in the AFC.


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
011 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 13-3
inning Pct.: .812

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 488 6 (T)
ushing Yards 1979 9
ards Per Carry 4.05 15 (T)
ass Attempts 504 26 (T)
ompletions 325 19
assing Yards 3377 27
ards Per Attempt 6.70 15
rd Down Conversions 39.9 15 (T)
oints Per Game 26.8 2
urnovers 18 6 (T)
urnover Margin +11 6 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 398 4
ushing Yards 1807 18 (T)
ards Per Carry 4.54 30 (T)
ass Attempts 568 25
ompletions 286 2
assing Yards 3474 9
ards Per Attempt 6.11 1
rd Down Conversions 36.4 6
oints Per Game 17.0 5
urnovers 29 10

eek Team Versus Oppnt
20 LVL 17
27 SAC 13
27 MAN 20
31 FKX 17
34 at PEN 32
30 at LTR 24
23 at OCY 17
62 FTW 20
30 WHE 13
1 27 at LVL 24
2 47 MEM 3
3 20 at TUL 13
4 16 at PS 20
5 16 at WHE 20
6 6 at DVY 10
7 13 OCY 9

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
Horton QB 436 279 2936 6.73 21 10
7 Hou QB 60 40 396 6.60 2 2
*Team --- 504 325 3377 6.70 23 12

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 239 959 4.01 5
5 Walters RB 154 625 4.05 5
Horton QB 39 99 2.53 1
8 Perez FB 33 150 4.54 1
*Team --- 488 1979 4.05 13

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 123 70 885 12.6 232 7
2 Newhart WR 90 54 742 13.7 103 4
8 Perez FB 56 45 287 6.3 154 4
2 Stokes FB 44 32 190 5.9 72 0
7 Stewart RB 43 32 348 10.8 162 2
3 Langhoff WR 38 25 374 14.9 120 5
0 Sanderson TE 32 22 202 9.1 28 0
5 Walters RB 21 14 84 6.0 61 0
8 Pallansch WR 21 9 99 11.0 16 0
4 Bullock TE 18 11 105 9.5 44 1
*Team --- 503 325 3377 10.3 1008 23

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
3 Scott OLB 77 20 5.0 5 2 8
9 Henderson ILB 70 33 1.0 2 2 9
9 Tobeck S 69 20 3.0 1 9 25
1 Gilmore CB 59 18 1.0 0 1 18
5 Crownhart DT 57 24 8.0 15 0 1
0 Floyd CB 56 20 0.0 0 4 20
7 Abraham S 54 17 0.5 1 1 7
8 Banks OLB 44 13 2.0 1 0 5
1 Welch DE 40 17 7.5 7 1 1
6 Norris CB 39 13 2.0 1 1 5
8 Battle DT 37 18 3.5 9 0 0
8 Money DE 35 6 13.0 12 0 0
7 Fancher OLB 29 14 0.0 2 1 2
4 Chandler CB 22 5 1.0 0 1 2
*Team --- 799 254 53.0 62 23 104


Offensively, Horton gave us everything we could have asked for – and more. A 21/10 ratio is very solid, and his QB rating of 89.9 is right at the top of Hou’s performance range. Very interesting…

The running game was off a bit, as we only churned out 4.0 ypc for our main backs – but that’s okay. Bauer and Newhart adjusted to the new thrower, but Bauer failed to have another monstrous season like his last two. We dned up in about he middle of the pack, in terms of efficiency, in both passing and rushing.

Defensively, our run defense was awful again – we gave up 4.54 yards per carry, WAY too high. Fortunately, our pass defense is moving into elite status – allowing only 6.11 yards per attempt s the league’s best, and our QB pressure was back up this year, after being a weakness for a while. Getting better on that side – and while a 13-3 result probably overstates the case, but we’re moving in the right direction.


Postseason rundown:

Lake Erie 27, Pensacola 13

We overcome three interceptions, but the defense keeps thing sin check, and our offense is productive despite the miscues. We get out of this one fairly easily – and head to the conference championship game, against mighty Nashua, who went 15-1 this season and seek to be the league’s first back-to-back winners.

Nashua 28, Lake Erie 3

Wow. We just got paved here – they handled us completely. They came out and marched for a T on each of their first two drives, and we got dispirited and fell apart. Our offense never got going – they get a well-deserved launch to the big game.


Nashua is the heavy favorite to take their third title in four seasons, but they stumble in the big one – and let Athens take the win instead, 28-17.


Season Awards:
First team: K J.R. Whiteford, DT Zack Crownhart, S Jon Tobeck
Second team: none

[QuikSand]

As we exit the 2010 season, I thought it might be a good time for a snashot of the QB position. Since we have flourished under both guys, there might be some controversy, especially if Hou does not fully recover. Here are the scouted ratings for each of my QBs (scout rated average with QBs).


RATING Jumbo Hou Gilbert Horton Monty Meadows
Screen 30 14/20 6/10
Short 45/47 23/32 13/22
Medium 38 8/16 14/24
Long 21 14/21 25/40
Deep 38 3/4 28/49

3d Down 36 43 1
Avoid Int 28/30 32/44 25/44
Accuracy 29 25/35 34/58
Timing 79 56/66 75/84
Sense rush 38 69 46
Read def 0 6/13 26/46
2 Min off 37 17/23 17/30

Scr frq 70 72 38
Avoid fumbles 24/25 8/12 6/10


It might be tough to decide which guy is better suited to take the field for tomorrow, but Horton clearly shows some ability to keep getting better. Hou was developing glacially (a point or three per season, basically) but Horton might have the ability to keep moving up – with the playing time this year, his numbers definitely grew.

Obviously, neither one of these guys makes anyone playing normally weak in the knees, but right now in Horton I see a guy who might just be good enough to take us to the next level. Pretty intriguing, for a guy who almost spend the season on the inactive list (I was convinced that Monty Meadows was the guy who would get the call behind Hou).

[Fritz]

Horton hears a Hou

[sachmo71]

Money had 13 sacks...not bad.

I see your fullbacks are getting a lot of catches...I hate that.

[QuikSand]

Yes, i shoudl have given proper credit to Money - who I think is going to live up to my breathless billing. Good rookie season, and I think he has the ratings potential to follow it up, too (unlike Lindsay, who was a flash in the pan, I think).

I don't see much of any way to get the FBs out of the passing game picture. I'm trying to stay pretty hands off here - I don't want to get into gameplanning and so forth, but manipulating player personnel usage (for instance to get my HB2 in the game in many of those situations) would be sensible - but is more of an effort than I really want to commit.

[QuikSand]

2012

Well, this might be a team in transition. We dropped to around .500 two seasons ago, but rallied back with a surprisingly good year last season, behind a new face at QB. With that position in some question, maybe the team will be looking different in other ways as well?

We carry 36 players into this season on contract – and have $18.8m in cap space. We have work to do again, as there are several players needing a new deal whom we seek to keep – DE Sam Welch, LT Casey Junkin, TE Mo Sanderson, DT Drew Hayes, RB Marshall Walters among them.

DE Sam Welch is my top target here – he has delivered for us with 46 sacks in five seasons, and plays the run pretty well also (a 7.0 TkPct is pretty good for a defensive end). He’s durable, and that’s of value as well. We are, however the only team that bids on him – and he eventually takes our decent offer.

I’m waiting out TE Mo Sanderson, but it doesn’t look good. He wants over $5 million, and I just cannot justify that much money. He’s not a star playmaker – and I can get a suitable backup-grade guy easily most years. Sorry.

Young DT Xavier Battle will be another toughie, even though he is restricted. He’s seeking $7m and up, even after only two decent starting seasons. Again – I like him, but that’s a pretty tall order.

Late in the FA process, Hawk Mountain goes after TE Sanderson, and locks him up to a four year deal. That ends any suspense there, though I was pretty resigned to losing him anyway.


We still have some questions as we head through the draft and into the URFA pool. If we get decent rookies at certain spots, I probably won’t overpay my returning players. Otherwise, I may do so somewhat, just to get by.

Here are our new additions from the rookie pool:

G Mo Rayburn – has the makings of a serious breakout (99 blocking strength)
FB Juan Mathews – might be very useful as a blocker and runner, no receiving skills
T Rod England – similar profile to G Rayburn above (86 rating)
RB Jack Nielsen – might be good enough to fit in as our #2 back
RB Ben Moten – also has some upside, might be capable reserve, good kick returner
G Paul Brewer – another lineman with upside (rating 97)
LB Clifton Rhodes – profile guy with key ratings of 64,69
TE Hugh Norton – decent enough fill-in, but only reserve caliber player I think


I can see a real salary crunch coming next season, and so I’m inclined to keep things moderated this year. The pinch is with two guys – DT Xavier Battle, and RB Marshall Walters. Battle is the guy I really want to keep, but he wants huge money. I end up re-signing DE Vinny Lindsay and Johnny Sanderson instead, to give us depth on the defensive line. I think this will push DT Drew Hayes into a starting role – where he will be more of a run stopper than pass rusher – not so bad.

We have moved ahead of Nashua in the roster ratings – now we rank 100 to their 88, with four other teams close behind them.


Here’s the roster after training camp, and my scout’s summary – again, sorry for the truncations. I have reported the game bug, we’ll see if it gets patched.


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
ake Erie Monsters Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
*Hou, Jumbo 17 QB 11 31 31 3 yrs.
eadows, Monty 2 QB 6 25 35 1 yr.
$Horton, Gilbert 8 QB 6 23 27 1 yr.
ashington, Alan 6 QB 2 14 32 2 yrs.
$Stewart, Carlos 27 RB 10 58 58 1 yr.
ielson, Jack 49 RB 1 24 32 2 yrs.
oten, Ben 45 RB 1 24 32 2 yrs.
$Perez, Eugene 38 FB 8 59 59 3 yrs.
athews, Juan 40 FB 1 29 46 2 yrs.
tokes, Julio 22 FB 10 22 22 1 yr.
$Bullock, Andrew 84 TE 10 44 44 3 yrs.
orton, Hugh 87 TE 1 23 47 2 yrs.
$Bauer, Fred 86 FL 10 56 56 5 yrs.
$Newhart, Antoine 82 SE 10 56 56 1 yr.
allansch, Charlie 88 SE 4 49 54 2 yrs.
anghoff, Clay 83 SE 6 42 43 3 yrs.
$Rounds, Nicky 66 LT 8 41 41 2 yrs.
unkin, Casey 74 LT 3 41 65 3 yrs.
$Lacey, Chad 64 LG 10 42 42 1 yr.
ayburn, Mo 67 LG 1 28 41 2 yrs.
erkebile, Adam 72 LG 6 26 50 2 yrs.
$Martin, Peter 55 C 10 75 75 1 yr.
uran, Alfred 50 C 7 47 52 3 yrs.
$Maloney, Lincoln 70 RG 2 28 52 1 yr.
rewer, Paul 73 RG 1 24 33 2 yrs.
$Fields, Matt 71 RT 7 40 40 1 yr.
ngland, Rod 65 RT 1 27 42 2 yrs.
cGee, Alan 1 P 5 69 69 1 yr.
hiteford, J.R. 10 K 5 77 77 1 yr.
$Welch, Sam 91 LDE 6 41 43 4 yrs.
anderson, Johnnie 96 LDE 7 25 30 1 yr.
lemons, Toby 92 LDE 2 24 34 1 yr.
$Crownhart, Zack 75 LDT 7 62 62 5 yrs.
$Hayes, Drew 99 LDT 7 42 44 2 yrs.
'Neill, Steve 79 LDT 9 37 40 1 yr.
$Money, Everett 98 RDE 2 44 53 1 yr.
indsay, Vinny 94 RDE 3 27 38 3 yrs.
$Banks, Vernon 58 SLB 10 28 28 2 yrs.
$Williamson, Johnny 52 MLB 7 46 50 2 yrs.
enderson, Jon 59 MLB 10 35 35 2 yrs.
axwell, Sedrick 51 MLB 2 31 56 1 yr.
ancher, Harvey 97 WLB 8 59 59 2 yrs.
$Scott, Matt 53 WLB 7 59 59 4 yrs.
hodes, Clifton 90 WLB 1 22 30 2 yrs.
$Floyd, Curtis 20 LCB 6 65 65 1 yr.
orris, Korey 36 LCB 3 38 54 3 yrs.
$Gilmore, Conrad 21 RCB 10 45 45 3 yrs.
handler, Bryant 34 RCB 7 38 38 1 yr.
hester, Howard 41 RCB 5 36 52 2 yrs.
$Abraham, Austin 47 SS 5 59 63 1 yr.
outsos, Bob 24 SS 2 14 28 1 yr.
$Tobeck, Jon 29 FS 9 74 74 3 yrs.


Coming out of camp, there are a few surprises. One is that LB Johnny Williamson seems to have beaten out veteran Jon Henderson for the starting job. Williamson isn’t the run stopper that Henderson was, but is a decent all-around player. I think that Sedrick Maxwell will be the starter in another year or two, though. I have decided to switch LB Fancher to the strong side, and he may challenge veteran Banks for playing time there (though he suffers a big hit in current skills, he has the potential to get it back).

Gilbert Horton will go into the season as our starting QB, with Hou still recovering from his injury. When Hou is fully recovered, he may get a chance to play… that will be an interesting pivot to the season, I think. At RB, we’ll have rookies behind Stewart – meaning he will probably carry a bigger load than in recent seasons.

2012 season

After three weeks of the season, Jumbo Hou is up and around on his knee- he’s listed as probable, but we are being cautious. Partially, this is because Gilbert Horton is on fire – our offense is rolling, and we are sitting again at 3-0. Horton’s rating, also. are continuing to move upward. I think every start he gets makes it less likely that the scouts will put Hou back in as the starter once he’s healthy.

In week five, we get a thumping at home. At the same time, Jumbo Hou gets his clean bill of health, and fortunately shows no ill effects at all – his ratings are right on target. I have played this entire career defaulting to the judgment of my scouts for the depth chart, and I’m not changing that now. They say Hou is the best guy to go with, and I agree. Jumbo Hou gets his starting job back after more than a full season on the shelf.

Unfortunately, he takes over a team riddled with injuries – the most serious at LB, where starters Vernon Banks and Matt Scott are both out with long-term injuries. That leaves us with a real pickle – I end up sliding around and have a rotation of Fancher, Williamson, and Maxwell in there – though it costs me some ratings to make the needed switches.

We stumble badly with Hou in there (and our other problems compounding things) and lose 3 out of 4 games. After we lose at home to Wheeling to slide to 4-5, I decide to make the change back to Horton. Horton goes in, but we lose a road game to Louisville, and slip to 4-6 on the season. Horton was 26 of 36, but did have 2 picks. Tough to decide what to do here.

We finally get rolling again with a win, but lose in Nashua the next week. At 5-7, we are probably out of the playoffs this year – not our expected result by a longshot. We get two wins, and look better, as Horton looks brilliant – at least for now. 9-7 just might get into the playoffs – it shapes up that at least one 9-7 team will be there, from the looks of it two weeks out.

At Texarkana, though, we are foiled. RB Marshall Walters, the guy we let get away, has 128 yards against us, and they roll us 27-21, and send us to a 7-8 mark. Now, we are just plain out of it. Horton gets hurt, and we end up with Meadows in there – not what we wanted in a must-win situation. In our finale, we win over Louisville, but it’s hollow… a lost season. (Turns out we wouldn’t have made it in at 9-7 anyway, we’d have been the last ones out there, too)


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
012 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 8-8
inning Pct.: .500

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 455 15
ushing Yards 1708 20
ards Per Carry 3.75 29
ass Attempts 530 22 (T)
ompletions 352 9
assing Yards 3564 24
ards Per Attempt 6.72 21
rd Down Conversions 42.4 5 (T)
oints Per Game 22.0 12
urnovers 26 14 (T)
urnover Margin -3 22

pponents Team Rank
ushes 462 24 (T)
ushing Yards 1813 18
ards Per Carry 3.92 11
ass Attempts 503 3
ompletions 277 1
assing Yards 3152 1
ards Per Attempt 6.26 2 (T)
rd Down Conversions 34.4 3
oints Per Game 18.2 2
urnovers 23 23 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
27 at WHE 14
44 NOR 7
35 PEN 21
17 CHY 31
13 NV 14
28 at TIJ 16
6 at TUL 24
17 at OCY 27
0 20 WHE 23
1 14 at LVL 23
2 17 HWK 13
3 13 at NSH 16
4 20 at PRV 13
5 27 OCY 3
6 21 at TXA 27
7 34 LVL 20

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
Horton QB 334 231 2207 6.60 18 11
7 Hou QB 196 121 1357 6.92 12 4
*Team --- 530 352 3564 6.72 30 15

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 241 939 3.89 5
9 Nielson RB 125 492 3.93 2
Horton QB 35 95 2.71 1
*Team --- 455 1708 3.75 8

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 135 86 1092 12.6 297 13
2 Newhart WR 81 44 567 12.8 122 3
8 Perez FB 79 60 336 5.6 123 2
7 Stewart RB 57 46 351 7.6 185 5
4 Bullock TE 43 29 261 9.0 62 1
3 Langhoff WR 38 28 426 15.2 73 2
8 Pallansch WR 26 15 164 10.9 21 1
7 Norton TE 26 15 148 9.8 13 1
9 Nielson RB 23 15 128 8.5 47 2
0 Mathews FB 17 11 77 7.0 40 0
*Team --- 529 352 3564 10.1 990 30

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
2 Williamson ILB 92 33 1.5 2 1 9
7 Abraham S 87 34 2.0 0 1 20
9 Tobeck S 85 33 0.0 1 6 15
7 Fancher OLB 70 19 7.5 0 0 5
5 Crownhart DT 58 19 3.5 8 0 1
0 Floyd CB 51 26 2.0 0 0 19
1 Gilmore CB 47 16 0.0 0 2 19
6 Norris CB 45 14 3.5 2 1 7
1 Welch DE 42 19 8.5 12 0 0
8 Money DE 39 10 9.5 9 0 3
7 Vest DT 27 14 3.0 0 0 0
1 Maxwell OLB 26 14 1.5 1 1 3
9 Hayes DT 25 11 3.0 2 0 0
0 Rhodes OLB 25 10 4.0 1 0 2
3 Scott OLB 21 6 1.0 1 1 2
1 Chester CB 17 4 0.0 0 0 0
*Team --- 840 290 53.0 40 13 106



Well, offensively, we can see that both QBs put up pretty respectable numbers. Each guy ended up with a QB rating over 90, which is about all I can ask for. I don’t really want to hang this on either quarterback.

Our top two Rb both dropped below 4 ypc – that’s a bad sign. It’s Stewart’s second time below that mark, and it’s not pleasing. I’d like to see him do better, but I think it’s a team problem rather than just his. WR Bauer had a pretty good year, but we were behind a lot, so we had to throw.

On the OL, C Peter Martin had an all-pro type of year, and the group played pretty well against the pass. I just don’t think we’re making the chances we need against the run when we need them.

On defense, our M*A*S*H unit coped okay, with Johnny Williamson stepping up and really developing as a player this year. He is getting better, and now looks like my future at MLB. S Auston Abraham had a fabulous season, but just doesn’t put up the interceptions to get recognized (he posted a 21.0 PDPct with only one pick). On the D-line, we simply didn’t get the pressure we did last year. Money and else teamed up for an adequate 18 between them, but Crownhart and the boys inside didn’t get much going.


Very tough season – and it’s going to go downhill from here. I can see a salary catastrophe ahead next year, and there’s fairly little we’ll be able to do to put it off, I fear. And under these rules, once we let a player go, there’s no getting him back. Ugh.

[sachmo71]

Bauer is still doing quite well. What year is he now?

[QuikSand]

I'll double check when I get back in, but I think he just finished his tenth season. He sat on the bench for two tears, so he has been playing regularly for eight. My two starters have both been with me since the very beginning of the career - they were OPU-generated players, that every other team passed on.

[sachmo71]

bump

[QuikSand]

I may get back to this when I get back in town.. possibly Sunday evening. But I'm away for the next couple of days...

[CHEMICAL SOLDIER]

Nice story ,I would like to see all of Jumbo Hou's stat's please .

[QuikSand]

2013

By the way, the 2012 season wrapped up with Nashua on top again – that’s three in five years. They are certainly challenging us for the title of league’s most dominant team – especially if we continue to drop out of the league elite.

Incidentally, following last season, we now have two career record holders on the team. WR Fred Bauer has taken the top spot in receiving TDs with 67. And my super safety Jon Tobeck has taken the career lead in interceptions, with 60.

QB Jumbo Hou is 3rd all-time in passing yards and 4th in passing TDs – if he works back into the starting job h might keep in eth hunt there. RB Carlos Stewart is 6th in rushing yards, but has just signed a new contract to keep playing with us – so who knows? C Peter Martin is 9th in career key run blocks,



Our scout Marvin Brito is 61, slipping, and out of contract. It might be a good time to make a switch there. We bring in a first-time starter, Emmanuel Rousseau. He is 53, and looks like he will be very solid for us. We had to outbid Hawk Mountain for him – don’t they get enough from us already?



I have worked out a new contract with several young players – but we still have work to do this year. We have 34 players returning on contracts, and about $44m in cap space.

In free agency, our biggest offensive concerns are WR Antoine Newhart (a 10 year starter for us), and C Peter martin (who has blossomed to become a real star player). QB Gilbert Horton is seeking a new deal, but I don’t expect a major rush of teams to pursue him – I expect we can return him comfortably.

Defensively, S Austin Abraham is seeking huge money – but hasn’t really done that much on the field. CB Curtis Floyd, on the other hand, is asking for a ton – but he’s probably worth it. He’s had a PDPct over 20 for the three years as a starter – and that’s not easy to do.


I go into the FA process with five offers – QB Horton, WR Newhart, C Martin, T Fields, and CB Floyd. They are all pending, but S Austin Abraham is being pursued by Ocean City. I need to decide whether it makes sense to overpay him – just to avoid losing at that position. I decide to let him go – we’ll try to focus on other positions with our limited resources.

C Martin is the only of my players who has gotten other bids – but mine is the highest. We end up getting al five of our target players re-signed, but then lose P Alan Mcgee to a big deal with Athens.

I work out a new del with G Chad Lacey. I had planned to replace him this season, but he’s cheap and stable – will be worth keeping around, I think.


We get through the draft (such a nuisance) and into our rookie acquisition phase. Here are the new players we bring in (key ratings are in parentheses – rather than explaining):

DT Cole McCorvey (95, 36) – awesome potential in pass rushing – could be serious
TE Al Schwartz (70,70) – could develop into a starter, if he grows
P Paul Sanderson – decent enough replacement at punter, my soft spot
DT Paul Burns (45,69) – might be able to help against the run
LB Donny Hickman (43,66) – decent future reserve, I think
S Lamar Shepherd (100) – no real current ratings, we need a breakout here
S Kenny Newsom (50) – fallback plan at safety, possible fill-in as needed
CB John Garrett (94) – might have real upside, but probably to small to play S
CB Quinn Crane (59) – good ball hawk, might move to safety at 208 lbs
DE Calvin Ellis (57) – need help at DE, he might develop into a decent reserve


So, we head into training camp – we’ll be looking to some of these young players, and hoping for some signs that they might be potential contributors right away.

TE Al Schwartz will be pretty good – he’s probably a future starter for us. DE Calvin Ellis, a last-minute addition to the rookie signee list, might be solid, too. S John Garrett is better after his position switch, and might end up being the best of the rookie lot in the secondary.


As we head into the season, we have QB issues to resolve. Jumbo Hou and Gilbert Horton have shared the job the last couple of seasons, each with some success. But my coach feels that Jumbo is fully recovered from his injury, and that he’s the best man for the job. So, Jumbo is reinstated as our starter, with Horton as the reserve.

At safety, Quinn Crane picks up the starting job across from long-time starter Jon Tobeck, but I will watch this closely. I personally like John Garrett, and might get him in there if Crane isn’t solid right away – I think Garrett may have the long-term potential we’re seeking here.


Jumbo plays pretty well in the early going, including pulling off two big fourth-quarter comebacks to get us to 3-2 in the early going. We look decent on defense, but are starting to rack up injuries, which could really hurt. Hou keeps whipping it around, despite injuries to WR Newhart and now also Bauer. WR Charlie Pallansch has really stepped into the job, though – he could end up having a huge season.

When we whip on Nashua 51-0, to move to 6-2, it looks like we have everything going the right way. We march to a 10-3 record, and look like a lock for the #1 seed in the conference. Our secondary has joined the WR corps looking like a war zone – but we’re getting by okay. However, we lose our next two games, slip to 10-5, and now have to worry a bit. We beat Wheeling in our finale, and avoid going into the playoffs with absolutely no momentum – but we still are reeling a bit, and stinging from the two losses we suffered late in the season.



ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
013 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 11-5
inning Pct.: .687

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 444 18
ushing Yards 1627 20
ards Per Carry 3.66 28
ass Attempts 555 15
ompletions 366 5
assing Yards 4238 10
ards Per Attempt 7.63 6
rd Down Conversions 35.8 28
oints Per Game 24.1 11
urnovers 27 19 (T)
urnover Margin +6 9 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 411 3 (T)
ushing Yards 1786 23 (T)
ards Per Carry 4.34 30 (T)
ass Attempts 557 18
ompletions 297 1
assing Yards 3510 2
ards Per Attempt 6.30 1
rd Down Conversions 33.1 1
oints Per Game 18.3 2
urnovers 33 1 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
34 at OCY 24
17 at TB 20
24 TUL 8
16 at NIA 19
18 WHE 17
31 KW 3
30 at MAN 24
51 NSH 0
21 OCY 19
1 7 at LVL 31
2 35 CHA 29
3 30 at LTR 21
4 9 YPS 6
5 20 LVL 31
6 24 at SSM 25
7 20 at WHE 17

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 554 366 4238 7.64 34 20
*Team --- 555 366 4238 7.63 34 20

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 246 843 3.42 5
9 Nielson RB 125 528 4.22 3
7 Hou QB 48 156 3.25 1
*Team --- 444 1627 3.66 9

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
8 Pallansch WR 114 74 1233 16.6 288 9
8 Perez FB 82 57 376 6.5 172 2
6 Bauer WR 78 46 548 11.9 78 6
3 Langhoff WR 70 43 629 14.6 162 3
7 Norton TE 59 40 518 12.9 184 4
7 Stewart RB 50 34 253 7.4 111 2
0 Mathews FB 26 18 126 7.0 49 2
9 Nielson RB 24 18 186 10.3 85 3
5 Dotson WR 23 16 203 12.6 29 1
*Team --- 555 366 4238 11.5 1203 34

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
2 Williamson ILB 92 32 1.0 3 1 17
9 Tobeck S 88 34 1.5 2 5 21
3 Scott OLB 78 32 8.0 5 3 7
9 Hayes DT 62 19 10.5 7 1 0
1 Gilmore CB 60 11 0.0 0 2 7
0 Floyd CB 58 18 2.0 0 2 26
7 Fancher OLB 57 20 2.5 2 0 2
8 Money DE 51 19 16.0 14 0 1
1 Welch DE 36 11 3.0 13 0 2
3 Garrett S 35 5 1.0 0 0 4
1 Chester CB 30 8 0.0 0 3 7
6 McCorvey DT 30 16 6.0 3 0 1
6 Norris CB 19 8 0.0 0 1 5
0 Shepherd S 18 1 0.0 0 1 1
1 Crane CB 16 6 0.0 0 2 2
*Team --- 825 256 55.0 56 21 107



Well, Jumbo Hou had his most prolific season ever passing the ball, and did so with Bauer out for half the year. We saw Charlie Pallansch emerge as a major threat – and he now looks like he can combine with veteran Fred Bauer to be a major duo in our passing game.

G Chad Lacey has a very solid year, and anchored the line (after nearly being let go this offseason). Our veteran players stepped up there, holing things together impressively.

Our pass defense was excellent, but our run defense really fell apart late in the season. DT Zack Crownhart once again fell apart with injuries, leaving us too light and brittle up front. DT Drew Hayes had a really nice year with 10.5 sacks (out of nowhere), and DE Everett Money was superb with 16 – but against the run, we simply lack a big body or two up the gut to keep things stable. Rookie DT McCorvey just isn’t that guy – he needs to be in a platoon.


Postseason Rundown

Lake Erie 30, Napa Valley 23

We just grind this one out – nobody really plays the star, but we manage to kick our field goals, stay in control, and tough out a narrow win in our opener. WR Fred Bauer led the receiving corps – and may be showing signs of emerging in the playoffs for us.

Key Wet 20, Lake Erie 12

We look awful, an the Kingfishers take it right to us – their star RB gets 120 on the ground against our porous line, and we only get our TD as the buzzer sounds. We go home looking not quite the #1 seed that we were on paper – after staggering home losing three of our last five games, including this one when it counted.


Key West handles Mazatlan to take the title this year – it’s their first since the initial 2002 season.

Season awards:
First team: DE Everett Money, DT Drew Hayes
Second team: S Jon Tobeck

[QuikSand]

I don't have web space to post a pic of Jumbo Hou's stats year by year, but after a 12-year caree, here's where he stands in total:

168 games, 168 starts
3296/5176 = 63.6% completions
34,613 yards = 6.68 ypa
220 TD, 183 Int
QB rating: 82.4
Record: 119-65-1
4Q heroics: 63

[QuikSand]

2014

Okay, last year, we got largely back on track… but wilted like a flower down the stretch. Still, we showed that we can get things going on offense, and when our defense is healthy can play pretty well. We ought to be a contender again this season.


We head into free agency with 39 contracts carrying over from last year. We have $17.5 million in cap room – but I have a few exploding contracts to deal with as well, which should free up some room for us. DT Zack Crownhart senses his impending release, and takes a huge pay cut to stick around – wise move, fella.

WR Antione Newhart is a tough call – he suffered back-to-back injuries last year, and probably should be out of football now. He’s making $10.4m this year, but will re-sign for two more years, and save me over $4m. Or we can cut his ass, and save $6m. I decide to be humane – he can be a reserve for us this season, I suppose.

Through renegotiations, we have cleared out $35m in cap space – that should help. Our top free agents are DT Drew Hayes (all pro last year), MLB Johnny Williamson (late bloomer, but a good starter), and LB Harvey Fancher. I think we may have to let Hayes go, but the other two will be on our main target list.

LB Johnny Williamson is now unwilling to listen to any offer – including his own proposal. That could make re-signing him difficult, as I see it. Same goes for DT Drew Hayes – this might be a painful offseason if we lose two solid starters from the middle of our defense. I cannot find anything they will accept.

After two weeks of free agency, I get LB Harvey Fancher signed – so he will be around. My other two still won’t accept any deal from me, but at least aren’t listening to anybody. I eventually work out deals with both guys – but they are well above their initial demands, and silly deals on paper only. Oh, well – both guys should be around for two more years, at least.


We zip through the draft, and get to our player acquisition period. We don’t have immediate needs like last season, except at RB – where our young RFAs are in limbo based on the promising incoming class.

P Leroy Fogarty - stellar, has great potential, should be outstanding
K Blaine Soutsos – solid rookie, looks like he should hold the job
TE Bernard Kelly (73,52) – yet another very solid-looking tight end, easy to pick up
DT Ricardo Nichols (18,68) – might be solid pass rusher, may have to move outside
CB Marvin Walker (64) – all-around skills, if he develops might be good
QB Lawrence Tyler (4,94) – not a great pocket awareness, but might have some hope
WR Irving Foret (75) – might be solid, but low rating in route running limits upside
LB Conrad Pearson (28,47) – could be decent contributor, probably just reserve


I decide that my two understudy RBs need to get new deals, as there’s nothing too exciting in the rookie pool.


Out of training camp, we have a few guys with some promise. Second year safety John Garrett, who started more than half of last season, now looks like he will continue to develop, and might be very good in time (that was my hunch). Rookie TE Bernard Kelley is worth getting excited about – he will probably be very good for us, albeit at a very expendable position. LB Conrad Pearson might turn out okay – good run stopping ability keeps him worth holding on to.


As we head into the exhibition season, our roster rating is 67 – ranking 5th in the league. Sault Ste. Marie is tops, with Hawk Mountain right behind. We’ll see how they do this year.


[b]2014 season[/I]

We come into the season with both our featured WRs Bauer and Pallansch hurting – but we will still try to keep the ball in the air. After an opening loss to Louisville, we get rolling and put together a four-game winning streak to get back on our feet.

Later in the season, we get revenge on Louisville to get to 7-3, but are still tied with ocean City for the division lead. We have lost DE Everett Money, our best pass rusher, to an injury – but are trying to put things together as best we canon the defensive side.

We get to 9-4, despite Jumbo Hou suffering a broken nose, and pull a game ahead of Ocean City. Our season finale is at Ocean City – we’d like to make that game irrelevant. But instead, we lose our penultimate game, and come into the finale tied with the Thrashers – the winner gets the #2 seed and a week off, the loser has to play in the qualifying wild card week, on the road. WR Charlie Pallansch, battling injuries all year, is down and out for the year now. We still manage to pound OC 19-6, and secure our division title again, and get the much-needed bye week.


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
014 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 11-5
inning Pct.: .687

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 471 8 (T)
ushing Yards 1903 12 (T)
ards Per Carry 4.04 19
ass Attempts 532 19
ompletions 347 12
assing Yards 3676 22
ards Per Attempt 6.90 20
rd Down Conversions 42.0 13
oints Per Game 24.8 5
urnovers 24 14
urnover Margin +8 7

pponents Team Rank
ushes 404 3 (T)
ushing Yards 1473 1
ards Per Carry 3.64 1
ass Attempts 547 15 (T)
ompletions 304 1
assing Yards 3269 2
ards Per Attempt 5.97 1
rd Down Conversions 34.9 1
oints Per Game 18.5 4
urnovers 32 6

eek Team Versus Oppnt
20 at LVL 33
37 ATH 10
41 TIJ 31
38 FKX 24
21 at PEN 13
10 at LTR 13
16 OCY 17
25 FTW 22
17 at WHE 13
1 24 LVL 12
2 41 at MAZ 19
3 17 at KW 33
4 22 KYH 3
5 21 WHE 17
6 28 at BER 31
7 19 at OCY 6

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 493 327 3444 6.98 33 15
Horton QB 39 20 232 5.94 0 3
*Team --- 532 347 3676 6.90 33 18

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Stewart RB 253 1113 4.39 2
9 Nielson RB 123 483 3.92 4
7 Hou QB 51 129 2.52 0
8 Perez FB 32 139 4.34 2
*Team --- 471 1903 4.04 8

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
6 Bauer WR 103 59 877 14.8 162 8
8 Perez FB 102 74 456 6.1 213 5
3 Langhoff WR 79 44 536 12.1 86 4
8 Pallansch WR 69 52 716 13.7 136 7
0 Schwartz TE 59 35 349 9.9 70 3
7 Stewart RB 51 41 337 8.2 167 2
2 Newhart WR 23 11 135 12.2 18 3
9 Nielson RB 20 14 138 9.8 47 1
*Team --- 530 347 3676 10.5 931 33

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
7 Fancher OLB 94 38 6.0 6 0 9
2 Williamson ILB 86 32 3.5 3 1 9
1 Gilmore CB 73 19 0.0 0 1 9
9 Tobeck S 72 31 3.0 2 3 17
0 Floyd CB 63 28 0.5 0 1 13
3 Scott OLB 59 19 2.5 7 3 3
3 Garrett S 45 12 0.0 0 3 8
6 McCorvey DT 42 18 9.0 7 0 0
5 Crownhart DT 41 9 6.5 7 0 0
6 Norris CB 40 7 3.5 0 3 2
4 Lindsay DE 29 12 8.0 14 0 0
8 Money DE 28 10 6.5 16 0 0
1 Crane CB 27 7 0.0 0 5 1
1 Welch DE 21 4 3.0 3 0 0
9 Hayes DT 17 10 5.0 5 0 0
5 Ellis DE 17 2 4.0 6 0 0
*Team --- 847 264 64.0 77 21 72



On offense, Hou was again very solid – though I’m a bit perturbed about so many passes going to our fullback, who is nice, but a bit stodgy. I don’t think we need to throw 102 passes his way, honestly. Bauer, Langhoff, and Pallansch (when healthy) were productive, but not exceptional. Nobody played more than 429 pass plays – so they rotated all year.

On defense – wow. We ended up as the #1 defense in yards allowed per rush and per pass attempt. That’s the daily double I strive for, honestly – and I don’t know how they did it. We didn’t get a ton of sacks, but managed to put a little pressure on as needed. Our run stoppers played fairly well, and we got what we wanted – a solid, bend-don’t-break defense that secured very good numbers on the year, despite some serious injuries again.


Postseason rundown

Lake Erie 23, Fort Knox 21

Close call – they got close with a score at 2:30 left, but we managed to hold on to get the win. Stewart, our solid engine underneath the offense, posted 143 yards in the effort, a very nice showing overall. Our defense recorded six sacks, and had the game in control until the fourth quarter. On we go – back to the conference title game.

Lake Erie 37, Manhattan 26

This is more like our team – a shootout. Hou is sharp, but under control – and we get some big plays here. LB Harvey Fancher (our defensive MVP this year?) has a huge interception TD that pretty much seals this one away – what an effort, as we are heading into our third Superbowl.

Athens 23, Lake Erie 9

The clock runs out on us here – it’s a pretty defensive game, and the Argos just converted more efficiently than we could. Jumbo played pretty well, but we can’t get it going much, settle for FGs on our only drives, and suffer our first loss in the big one.


Season awards
First team: FB Eugene Perez
Second team: none

[QuikSand]

2015

For what it’s worth, here’s an update showing our performance record to date, under my tutelage:


Year Team Eval Perf Diff Proft FrVal Record Playoffs
2014 LKE 71 95 78 53 71 13-6-0 Conference Champion
2013 LKE 73 86 76 69 68 12-6-0 Conference Final
2012 LKE 52 36 76 42 65 8-8-0 None
2011 LKE 64 83 76 44 67 14-4-0 Conference Final
2010 LKE 65 54 74 75 63 8-8-1 Wild Card Round
2009 LKE 74 100 75 66 65 16-3-0 Bowl Winner
2008 LKE 69 66 74 70 70 14-5-0 Conference Final
2007 LKE 72 83 72 62 75 13-6-0 Conference Final
2006 LKE 70 83 72 60 72 12-5-0 Division Final
2005 LKE 66 100 73 45 61 14-5-0 Bowl Winner
2004 LKE 52 14 70 49 75 6-10-0 None
2003 LKE 59 72 70 32 72 11-6-0 Wild Card Round
2002 LKE 61 57 70 67 58 9-7-0 None



We have had our first team retirement – and it’s a pretty meaningful one. RB Carlos Stewart has retired, and lands in third place in the league’s all-time rushing board with 11,320 yards. He might have had a shot at Drew Martin’s record had he played one or two more seasons – and he would have been our starter this year without a doubt. But he leaves in high regard from our ranks (but is denied the “Legend” award)


We head into free agency with 33 players on contract, and $44m in cap space. A quick renegotiation and extension of CB Curtis Floyd’s deal opens up another $10m or so – very helpful.


QB Jumbo Hou is seeking a new deal. He’s been playing very well, though he is in his 14th season – he’s still my guy. CB Conrad Gilmore has been a defensive mainstay for us, and though his performance has slipped a bit – we still want him around.

S Jon Tobeck has been possibly our best player overall – he’s a sensational player all around.

FB Eugene Perez is a tough call. He was a first team all-pro last year, but mostly because we threw him a lot of passes. And I can’t help but think there’s an opportunity cost there – every 5-yard pass to him is a pass that could have gone to a real playmaker – someone who could really make something happen. I think I might actually be better off without a great pass-catching FB (Perez has a 98 rating in route running), and I’m prepared to let Perez go via free agency.

DE Vinny Lindsay is a tough call. He has played awfully well when called upon, and really has helped in the pass rush. With DL being so vulnerable to injury, having a quality third DE is pretty important – I want to keep him around.


In the early stages, it looks good. We are pending with all five of our targets, and have no competition for any of them.

After four weeks, though – there’s a problem. Kitty Hawk leads a group of teams suddenly pursuing S Jon Tobeck, and has a big offer on the table. I need to get serious – we can not allow him to leave. I boost our bid – we go well ahead of the competition, and should get him locked up with that generous offer. It works – he will be with us at least two more years, and there’s a voidable year after that – we’ll see.

FB Perez signs with Wheeling – that will probably be the most meaningful shift in our team this year, I’m guessing. Juan Matthews, our new presumed starter, has a “route running” rating of 36/44 – he won’t b anywhere near the target that Perez was. Matthews is a full-time blocker, and will play his role well, I suspect.

Late in the FA process, my nickelback CB Korey Norris still has no offers. He’s very solid, but is demanding star-level money. I give him a backloaded deal, and he accepts – so our secondary ought to return intact, once I get a new deal with RFA safety John Garrett, and perhaps with young CB Quinn Crane.

We get a few more extensions signed, and head into rookieland with 43 players signed. Obviously, RB is a need area – it would be great to land a guy who could help right away. But overall, I need to be looking for potential “future starters” at a lot of positions. QB I among them – Hou is wearing down, and I don’t have a young guy who has earned any faith. I’ll be looking for help in lots of places.

Our new signees (key ratings in parens):

FB Grant Bear (63,91) – perfect fit for my new model, he’s a great blocker, that’s it
TE Drew Howard (93,62) – ho hum, another future all-star TE sitting in the URFA pool
DT Lionel Carson (50,86) – might be serious breakout for the inside pass rush
LB Deron Jefferson (81,44) – could be future starter, has goods across the board
C Sherman Rowell (65)- need spot after backup split via free agency
WR Van Cash (64) – might be usable reserve, some decent skills, good 3rd down guy, PR
CB Jeremy Lang (74) – some upside possibility, might he useful as reserve
QB Britt Fields (68,85) – might have the tools to improve – we’ll give him a look
RB Kevin Dillon (40,50,7) – I’m not thrilled – he looks like a deep reserve to me
DT Everett Browning (58,48) – might be good pass rusher, might need to move outside


My last decision going into camp is whether to make a long term, big money deal with DT Col McCorvey. He has played two seasons, and has gotten 15 sacks – but has been something of a disappointment against the run. He wants pretty big bucks – and I’m not 100% sold on him here. However, I simply lack good options there, and I end up acceding to his demands, a new deal for five years at over $8m per.


After camp, our staff has a few comments about the young players. First, DT Lionel Carson has really impressed with his pass rushing skills, and we think he’ll get meaningful playing time right away on passing downs. LB Deron Jefferson has been re-slotted to play on the strong side – he has good pass rushing skills, and can be useful in a variety of roles, we think. Rookie FB Grant Bear will probably make a fight for the starting job – he’s looking very sharp. Ditto for TE Drew Howard. QB Britt Fields has yet to show much – he’ll be on the back burner for a while, obviously.

LT Casey Junkin, now a starter for two seasons, is starting to emerge and grow into star status. His numbers last year were good – but he’s looking better and better for us. DE Everett Money is another guy who keeps looking better – he will be a star for us, if he can just stay healthy. WR Fred Bauer is on his downside – we expect Charlie Pallansch to be the main weapon for us, even if both are healthy.


Anyway – we’re ready for the season, and it should be a good one. We need to keep Jumbo Hou protected, and get some productivity from our running game. If the defense can play anywhere near its level of last year, we ought to be right in the thick of things.


2015 season

In the exhibition games, I get young QB Fields out there – to see what he can do. He is fine, though a bit tentative. We suffer a predictable rash of injuries – all the familiar names: WR Bauer, DT Crownhart, we know the drill by now.

My RB Nielsen is looking pretty sharp – he will have to carry the load for us in the running game. He’s not as complete a back as Stewart was, but he does seem to have a quick step – and he might be able to break some fairly big plays for us. Ben Moten is a sturdy reserve, but nothing too special – he’ll probably see 10 caries this year, though, after getting 5 in his career to date.


Into the regular season we go, with Jumbo Hou back at the helm. Hou throws for 378 yards and 4TDs to edge out league doormat Wheeling in our opener – not a great sign. We yield 234 yards rushing in our second game, a loss at Sacramento.

We get to 5-1, but now it looks like WR Fred Bauer is lost for the year – and maybe he’s just done. With DE Sam Welch out for the year, we’re reshuffling the DL deck as well – we move rookie DL Lionel Carson out to play on the left end, hoping to get him into the rotation there, where we could use some pass rush help.

Through 7 games, FB Mathews is among the team leaders in receptions – it seems we just can’t get that “dump-off” pass out of Jumbo Hou’s arsenal. He’s a roll-out guy, and tries to escape trouble with an outlet. We’re getting 4.8 yards per pass intended for the FB- that’s not great, but we can live with it. I try to push the play calling a little more downfield, since we really don’t have great backfield weapons.

A midseason loss to Ocean City gets the Thrashers within a half game of us – and the division race is interesting again, as Louisville is also 6-2. We then lose to Wheeling – whose off-season signing of star QB Grady Lucas has seemingly turned them around – and are in some trouble at 6-3.

Back-to-back wins get s back into the division driver’s seat, and then we beat Manhattan to start pulling away, with a two game lead. Our run defense has completely fallen apart, but our pass defense has been sensational this year. Through 13 games we are #1 in receptions allowed, yards allowed, yards per attempt, and overall points per game allowed. Not too bad.

We close out the season at 12-4, looking pretty sharp on defense, and pretty mediocre on offense. Jumbo Hou slipped a little bit early on this season – perhaps due to the weapons around him – and our running game simply couldn’t replace Stewart’s productivity. Regardless, 12-4 gets us the top seed in the conference – and you cant ask for more than home field.


Front Office Football: The Fourth Edition
2015 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

Record: 12-4
Winning Pct.: .750

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 433 23
ushing Yards 1495 31
ards Per Carry 3.45 31
ass Attempts 522 18
ompletions 334 13
assing Yards 3800 14 (T)
ards Per Attempt 7.27 13
rd Down Conversions 31.6 32
oints Per Game 17.9 25 (T)
urnovers 28 22 (T)
urnover Margin +7 8

pponents Team Rank
ushes 462 20
ushing Yards 2000 30
ards Per Carry 4.32 26 (T)
ass Attempts 534 13
ompletions 296 2
assing Yards 3399 3
ards Per Attempt 6.36 2
rd Down Conversions 33.4 1
oints Per Game 15.4 1
urnovers 35 2 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
34 WHE 31
14 at SAC 24
17 at FKX 14
12 at CHY 10
27 NV 9
19 TIJ 13
13 at TUL 6
9 OCY 14
0 6 at WHE 20
1 20 at LVL 17
2 20 MEM 17
3 20 MAN 14
4 15 at PS 10
5 13 at OCY 21
6 24 DVY 14
7 24 LVL 13

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 520 333 3793 7.29 25 18
*Team --- 522 334 3800 7.27 25 18

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
9 Nielson RB 237 839 3.54 1
5 Moten RB 95 406 4.27 1
7 Hou QB 58 132 2.27 1
*Team --- 433 1495 3.45 3

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
8 Pallansch WR 124 73 1071 14.6 196 8
1 Kelley TE 75 53 576 10.8 136 4
0 Mathews FB 68 49 342 6.9 156 0
6 Bauer WR 57 33 428 12.9 63 2
9 Nielson RB 56 41 349 8.5 138 2
3 Langhoff WR 52 27 401 14.8 67 3
9 Cash WR 25 14 207 14.7 15 3
5 Moten RB 22 17 141 8.2 98 1
3 Foret WR 17 8 137 17.1 32 0
*Team --- 520 334 3800 11.3 962 25

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
7 Fancher OLB 107 33 2.5 5 0 11
9 Tobeck S 95 26 1.0 1 5 15
2 Williamson ILB 85 42 3.0 2 3 5
3 Scott OLB 70 26 3.5 1 3 12
1 Gilmore CB 66 19 1.0 0 3 11
3 Garrett S 64 21 0.0 0 3 8
8 Money DE 51 18 10.5 26 0 0
0 Floyd CB 46 14 0.0 1 3 8
5 Crownhart DT 42 25 5.0 7 1 1
6 McCorvey DT 36 16 8.0 3 0 0
6 Norris CB 28 8 0.0 1 2 8
9 Hayes DT 25 3 2.0 0 0 0
1 Crane CB 25 8 0.0 0 2 1
*Team --- 856 273 43.0 66 25 80



Offensively, Hou ended up statistically strong, and our receiver corps simply shuffled around so much that everybody got to play. Pallansch, when healthy, is clearly our best guy now – and young TE Kelley has star potential also. Rookie WR Van Cash had a nice season – filling in at WR, and returning some punts – he can be valuable in time.

Defensively, another good year for DE Everett Money and DT Cole McCorvey – they had to anchor a line riddles with injuries. CB Curtis Floyd had a lousy season overall, but our pass defense is still our main strength.


Postseason Rundown

Lake Erie 31, Wheeling 19

After sneaking into the playoffs at 9-7 (after having the first pick in this year’s draft), Wheeling upset Key West to get into this game. Fortunately, our strength (secondary) matched up well with theirs (big play passing game) and we move on. WR Fred Bauer played, but re-injured himself, and is probably out for the rest of the way.

Pensacola 12, Lake Erie 9

Pensacola are another shootout team led by a great QB – we bottled them up pretty well, but couldn’t get much going ourselves. We couldn’t run at all, and in a battle of field position that really hurt us. They get the game-winning FG, their fourth, with 20 seconds left, and move on to the Superbowl.


Pensacola loses in a heartbreaker to Champaign in the big one – it’s the Supernovas’ first win.

Season awards
First team: P Leroy Fogarty
Second team: DE Everett Money

[sachmo71]

Bauer is going to hang them up. Nice to see money getting after it. 26 hurries to go with 10.5 sacks.

[QuikSand]

I agree, I think Bauer is done. Here are his career ranking, as we sit:

183 games, 161 starts
4,638 pass plays
725 receptions (2nd)
9,845 yards receiving (5th)
83 TDs (2nd)

All-pro in 2008 and 2010

caught 60.2% of passes thrown to him
averaged 13.5 yards per reception
had 57 drops ouf of 1,205 targeted passes

If Bauer had been a starter during his first two years with us, and had just posted decent numbers (60 catches, 700 yards) he'd be #1 in all the main categories. He was a slightly late bloomer, but he became a truly dominant player in his prime.

[sachmo71]

Bauer will be missed, but Van Cash is exciting!

[QuikSand]

2016

We have one retirement, from our WR corps. Fred Bauer, you say? Nope – it’s his long-time compatriot, Antoine Newhart. Newhart suffered a serious injury a couple seasons ago, and really lost a step. He eventually got overshadowed by Fred Bauer, but was a very solid player in his own right. Newhart is this year’s inductee as a “Legend of the Game” – after playing his entire 14 seasons with the Rollers.


Our coach, Wade Finch, is probably on his way out of town. He is 64 and winding down – he leaves us with a record of 150-96 and one title. He wasn’t able to get us to the top again, but has been successful in maintaining our level of performance overall.

Our incoming coach is young Andy Gray – this is his first coaching gig. He isn’t a real whiz in any particular area, but I think he can bring everyone along fine – he has no major deficiencies to worry about. Plus, his hiring is a major step down in financial commitment to the coaching staff – which ought to help the bottom line (not that I’m paying much mind there).


We head into this season with 42 players signed – we are in solid shape on the roster already. Actually – our biggest worry is next year, which might be a financial “cliff” – but we’ll worry about that then.

My main targets in free agency are LT Casey Junkin and LB Matt Scott. Junkin is entering his 7th season – and is in his prime, developing to be a superstar-caliber tackle. He will cost a fortune. Scott is in his 11th year, and probably won’t cost all that much – I don’t anticipate trouble there.

We get both guys, plus G Lacey, signed pretty quickly – and that’s pretty much that. Our easiest offseason I can remember.


After the draft, we go picking through the undrafted rookies, as always looking for potential breakouts:

DT Henry Michl (83,68) has potential but probably needs to move outside (283 lbs)
DE Melvin Hancock (67,51) some potential upside, but a long term project
LT Terrell Warren (74) nice guy to bring along at this key position
LB Nate Doyle (78,32) limited current skills, but might develop
RT Johnnie Musgrove (59) could fill in right away, but may not have great upside
CB Dwayne Marsh (62) mixed skills, but could be contributor as reserve
QB Oliver Tupa (9,84) from OSU - not as good as dad, but might be worth a look
RB Ernie Anderson (60,38,20) – mixed bag, but has some real quickness at 204 lbs
C Bernie manning (82) – nothing to see right now, but if he develops, look out


We have DE Sam Welch hurting, and he will probably spend the season on IR, and then retire. This leaves our starting job at left DE wide open. Vinny Lindsay is probably the best qualified guy, but he’s slotted firmly at RDE behind Money, and switching him would lose most of his current skills. 2nd year man Lionel Carson is slotted at DT, but played some DE last year – he could do okay, but is a liability against the run game. And now that he’s been jerked around a bit – he’s not willing to shift positions again.

I actually hadn’t planned to re-sign DE Calvin Ellis, but right now – he looks like our starter. We get a deal worked out, and he slides in as the starter – at least against the run.


We get through camp, and start to look over the results. The most exciting player in our rookie class is probably DE Henry Michl, who is gong to get slotted at left DE, and will hopefully try to make some playing time in the mix with Ellis and Browning. Ernie Anderson won out for the third RB slot, and LB Nate Doyle looks like he’ll see the field this year as well. LT Terrell Warren will be our third tackle, and might see time as well. QB Oliver Tupa made the team, but just barely – maybe if he could punt also?

In exhibition games, Britt Fields again looks pretty decent. I’m starting to think he might be our man after a couple more years. He’s got adequate ratings in a few key areas (avoid int 22/53, timing 42/58) and might have some potential to get better – we’ll try to keep him in the mix. With Hou in his 15th year and Horton in his 10th – we need to consider the future. Fields is also seemingly developing a bond with our young receiver Van Cash – they seem to be clicking when they play together.

Coming out of the preseason, we are again hurt on the DL. Crownhart, of course, is hobbled with bruised ribs. But Everett Money will miss a few games – thinning out our pass rush considerably. More pressure on some young players now.


2016 season

In our opener, Jumbo Hou stretches out his knee pretty badly – a serious hyperextension. Since he had such a hot hand in the preseason (8TD/1int) we have young Fields slotted in as the 2nd QB. (Actually, it’s because my staff wanted to put Horton in as the starter ahead of Hou) So, Fields comes into his first real game – and goes 19 of 30 for 195 yards, 3 TDs and only one pick. We get a 28-16 win over Ocean City, and have a nice feeling about this kid.

Now, we have to decide what to do. Gilbert Horton has a week of practice under his belt, and he’s probably the guy to take the team here. Fields played well, but is still going to be mistake-prone – and this is a title contending team, and we don’t want 4-interception games along the way. My coaches feel that Horton has to be the guy, and I concur.

We end up in a battle with Norfolk in week two, and our punter Leroy Fogerty helps out by filling in as the kicker – and going 2 of 3 on FGs, and 4 of 4 on PATs. He’ll stay in the job for a few weeks as Soutsos heals from a hamstring. However, a loss the next week against Tijuana hurts – but we can’t pin it on the kicking game. A second flat offensive game and a loss yield a new result – I’m not so sure that Horton is the guy to go with here. Hou is pretty much ready to go – and we give him the call again, and restore Fields to the #2 job.

Jumbo gets us back on track, with a win over Wheeling and then a 4 TD game to liven things up with this offense. Charlie Pallansch is happy to see Hou back – 135 yards and 2 TDs worth. But WR Fred Bauer is once again hurt – now out for the season with another leg injury. He and Langhoff both hurting will put real pressure on our youngsters – we even have to go sign a waiver wire free agent rookie just to fill in the position. Van Cash will start opposites Pallansch, and we expect to see Irving Foret in the mix as well.

We lose two in a row with the spare parts offensive setup – and slip to 4-4 on the year. Without a rally, we are in jeopardy of having a lost season – it’s time to get things straightened out, quick! The defense rights the ship, prompting a 16-3 win over OC, and we are back above .500 for the year. Fortunately, there are no juggernauts in our division – going 9-7 might be enough this year.

The defense scores twice to carry us past Louisville, but we fall to a tough Hawk Mountain team the following week, and slip to 6-5. A tough home loss to Pensacola, and we are now back to .500 – with only four games left. Now WR Van Cash is hurt – we’ll have to keep rotating.

An OT win at Providence gets us to 7-6, and while this is a fall-off from previous seasons, we still have command of our division, a game up on Ocean City. But now Jumbo Hou is hurt – with a strained triceps. I decide to sit him, and go with young Britt Fields, who gets another chance – his first as a starter.

Fields wins his debt at home over Louisville, 33-19. He threw 2 TD passes, and got help from a kickoff return TD from Jon Tobeck – and we rolled to a nice and needed win. But on the road the next week, we crashed, as Texarkana took us 28-10. Fields got exploited as a young QB, and they rattled him badly – our only TD came by DT Zack Crownhart recovering a fumble. Anyway – we will get Hou back in as he looks nearly recovered.

We are tied with Ocean City at 8-7, and they get to play 5-10 Louisville at home, while we travel to 6-9 Wheeling. If we win, we take the division on better division record – but if we lose and they win, we will be sitting at home. We come out very flat against Wheeling, and manage to lose the game 15-0. However, Ocean City chokes also, and loses 9-6 in their game – so we back into the playoffs, despite our flawed efforts this year.



ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
016 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 8-8
inning Pct.: .500

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 499 5
ushing Yards 1667 22
ards Per Carry 3.34 32
ass Attempts 540 19
ompletions 329 17 (T)
assing Yards 3702 17
ards Per Attempt 6.85 15
rd Down Conversions 46.2 5
oints Per Game 18.2 26
urnovers 29 22 (T)
urnover Margin -6 23

pponents Team Rank
ushes 445 14
ushing Yards 1748 13 (T)
ards Per Carry 3.92 8
ass Attempts 512 7
ompletions 289 3
assing Yards 3552 7
ards Per Attempt 6.93 16
rd Down Conversions 36.3 3
oints Per Game 17.1 2
urnovers 23 19 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
28 OCY 16
34 NOR 31
6 at TIJ 10
10 at NIA 21
14 WHE 9
37 KW 10
3 MAN 10
17 at NSH 20
16 at OCY 3
1 27 at LVL 24
2 16 HWK 19
3 15 PEN 18
4 26 at PRV 23
5 33 LVL 17
6 10 at TXA 28
7 0 at WHE 15
$WC NIA

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 350 210 2312 6.60 12 14
Horton QB 104 69 777 7.47 2 4
5 Fields QB 86 50 613 7.12 5 4
*Team --- 540 329 3702 6.85 19 22

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
9 Nielson RB 276 944 3.42 3
5 Moten RB 120 384 3.20 0
*Team --- 499 1667 3.34 6

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
8 Pallansch WR 150 89 1256 14.1 247 9
1 Kelley TE 97 62 647 10.4 159 3
9 Nielson RB 54 35 347 9.9 148 2
0 Mathews FB 53 37 255 6.8 107 1
3 Langhoff WR 50 30 394 13.1 49 2
9 Cash WR 37 16 190 11.8 38 1
6 Bauer WR 36 21 278 13.2 29 1
3 Foret WR 22 10 134 13.4 21 0
*Team --- 539 329 3702 11.2 853 19

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
7 Fancher OLB 106 26 7.0 4 1 14
2 Williamson ILB 102 50 4.0 3 4 7
9 Tobeck S 86 33 2.0 0 3 14
3 Garrett S 70 36 0.0 0 2 8
1 Gilmore CB 56 19 0.0 0 2 14
5 Crownhart DT 53 21 7.5 8 0 0
0 Floyd CB 52 12 0.0 0 1 14
3 Scott OLB 47 25 4.0 5 0 10
4 Lindsay DE 41 7 10.5 16 0 0
6 Norris CB 39 8 1.0 4 2 6
6 McCorvey DT 30 17 3.0 3 0 0
5 Ellis DE 28 10 6.0 8 0 2
*Team --- 845 284 51.0 65 15 89



On offense, WR Charlie Pallansch had a pretty big season despite the circus at QB. But past that, not much great news – Nielsen was okay at RB, but 3.42 ypc isn’t good enough to get it done, really. We need an infusion of talent at that position badly. Peter Martin and Casey Junkin led a solid effort from the OL again, but our skill position players were the liability.

On defense, we got a bit better against the run, but it seemed to come at the expense of our pass defense. We didn’t get a great pass rush, though Vinny Lindsay continues to prove himself worthy of playing time in passing downs. DT Cole McCorbey was ineffective, and DE Everett Money was mostly hurt – that compromised our rush this year badly. LBs Fancher and Williamson had big years numbers-wise, but it was mostly because we were on the field more than usual, and that our D-line wasn’t making tackles.

We go into the playoffs as a home team underdog, deservedly.


Postseason Rundown

Niagara Falls 15, Lake Erie 14

We manage to get in the end zone twice from Hou’ passing, but we cannot stop their running game, and they sat up five FGs to win it at the end. Story of the season – frustrating, and disappointing. We’re out.


Tulsa beats Thunder Bay in the Superbowl – neither had even been there before.


Season awards
First team: P Leroy Fogarty
Second team: C Peter Martin

[QuikSand]

I sense retirements in the coming year or two... we might have wholesale turnover of key players here. While the young QB Fields might be intriguing to you from reading this - if you saw his ratings, you'd be pretty much aghast. Unless he starts developing ability he does not currently show, he will be very, very inconsistent at best.

We'll see - change isn't a bad thing, but it might undermine what's keeping this team together. I think our veteran team is probably overcoming a significant talent deficit in part based on cohesion and experience.

[sachmo71]

Good thing decent backs are usually waiting in the wings. I bet if you had a healthy Money, you would have won a couple of the close ones.

[cthomer5000]

Originally posted by QuikSand
Newhart is this year’s inductee as a “Legend of the Game” – after playing his entire 14 seasons with the Rollers.


looks like someone is getting their dynasties confused. :)

[DolphinFan1]

Looks like QB- Hou and WR- Bauer may retire.

[sachmo71]

Bump

[rjolley]

QuickSand: How about giving your picks to the worst team that isn't yours instead of the same team?

[QuikSand]

I dunno... I kind of like the "side experiment" to see how well a team can do with such an advantage. Hawk Mountain is probably in the top five or eight teams in this league, but has yet to win it all - despite getting a complete double draft every single year. To me that's more interesting to watch than just some semi-random distribution, which would require some sort of tracking, etc.

[QuikSand]

2017

I’m holding my breath as I prepare to review offseason transactions – which will reveal what players of ours have retired. I look, and here is the list:

none

No, indeed. QB Jumbo Hou is back for his 16th season, and WR Fred bauer is even back for his 15th. Amazing – Bauer doesn’t even have a contract.


Our scout, Emmanuel Rousseau, is seeking a new deal. He’s gone 46-26 with us, and I am pleased – we want him back.

Coach Andy Gray has only gotten us through one year – but it wasn’t so great. I decide to give a look around, and put in an offer to Marlon Meusey, another untested coach. Meusey is a conditioning freak, and we’d expect to suffer fewer injuries to key players under his watch – which has become important to us. We land Meusey, and send Andy Gray on his way.


We have 40 players signed, and $38 million in cap space – this might not be so bad an offseason after all. Main targets: S Jon Tobeck, WR Charlie Pallansch, DT Zack Crownhart, DE Everett Money. Plenty more guys to consider, too, like veterans CB Conrad Gilmore and of course WR Fred Bauer.

The toughest guy here is DE Money, who wants about $20m per season over four years. I end up offering $110m over five years, with a fat voidable year at the end. We’ll see how that goes.

Ultimately, my decision is that we can get it all to work if we leave one expensive player off our keep list – and it’s got to be DT Zack Crownhart. He’s got great talent, and commensurate demands, but he just cannot stay on the field and healthy. He’s missed 25 games in the last 5 years, and has played at a reduced level at least as many times along the way as well. We can’t spend $15m a year on a guy who can’t be there when we need him. We are also resigned to let CB Conrad Gilmore go – though he’s the guy I’ll try to lock up if we have some money left over.

Everybody else works out fine in free agency, including WR Fred Bauer, who signs a new 2yr deal for $8 million. It’s more than he’s worth at this point, expect possibly to us – we’d hate to see him leave and play somewhere else.


That gets us up to and through the draft – and into our acquisition period:

FB Leo Parks (56,96) – more of the same trend, a terrible receiver, decent otherwise
DT Casey Dunn (72,48) could be good pass rusher, needs to move outside
LB Riddick Armstrong (82,75) – keys show great potential, good run stopper already
C Randy Vaught (82) – great key ratings, but little right now
RB Vincent Shaw (32,52,57) – decent all-around, reserve quality guy

We get CB Conrad Gilmore back in the fold, but it pushes us right up against the salary cap. His veteran leadership will help – even if he’s not a starter this season.


We get through the preseason, and surprise, surprise – WR Pallansch and Bauer are both already hurt. This is criminal – we’ll go into the season with three healthy wideouts, and will probably struggle there all year, again.


2017 season


We start off 1-2, and thing simply don’t look good. Our passing game is dreadful, and our offense as a whole is very weak. Not a great sign.

We get a win in week four, as QB Britt Fields comes in off the bench, and leads a tying drive. We get the win when S Jon Barrett returns the OT opening kickoff for a TD.

Jumbo Hou tries to play the following week, but is totally ineffective. But he works through his injury, and we rebound for a win the following week – and are back to 3-3. Our offense remains miserable, though – this is not good news.

Brit Fields has to start a couple more times, and he’s having as much success as Hou has been. Hou has an awful ration of 2 TD to 7 int – not good at all. But we upset red-hot Wheeling to stay somewhat alive in the division race at 5-4. But a loss at Louisville (also red hot) put us a step back – we will need some help from here.

With injuries racking up everywhere, we have to cobble together a starting lineup at LB, DE, and WR – and we limp out the rest of the season, easily our worst. At 7-9 it doesn’t look so bad, but I feel this franchise is in real trouble – we need to get an infusion of young talent in here, and we need it fast.


ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
017 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 7-9
inning Pct.: .437

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 452 14
ushing Yards 1521 29
ards Per Carry 3.36 32
ass Attempts 505 25
ompletions 293 29
assing Yards 3115 30
ards Per Attempt 6.16 32
rd Down Conversions 38.5 21 (T)
oints Per Game 14.3 32
urnovers 36 29
urnover Margin -15 31

pponents Team Rank
ushes 484 31
ushing Yards 1719 12
ards Per Carry 3.55 3
ass Attempts 492 2
ompletions 292 1
assing Yards 3411 4
ards Per Attempt 6.93 11
rd Down Conversions 38.7 10
oints Per Game 19.4 6
urnovers 21 26 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
16 LVL 13
6 at TB 17
10 at TUL 37
26 FKX 20
0 at PEN 15
29 at LTR 0
0 at OCY 13
9 FTW 3
29 WHE 24
1 18 at LVL 37
2 17 CHA 10
3 19 KW 36
4 6 YPS 24
5 3 at WHE 17
6 17 at SSM 24
7 25 OCY 21

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
7 Hou QB 309 174 1787 5.78 5 15
5 Fields QB 195 118 1324 6.78 7 8
*Team --- 505 293 3115 6.16 12 23

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
9 Nielson RB 290 943 3.25 1
5 Anderson RB 73 262 3.58 1
*Team --- 452 1521 3.36 3

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
8 Pallansch WR 94 48 596 12.4 100 3
3 Langhoff WR 83 46 588 12.7 98 4
4 Bear FB 63 44 390 8.8 196 0
9 Nielson RB 60 43 404 9.3 92 2
1 Kelley TE 54 30 317 10.5 55 2
6 Bauer WR 44 25 275 11.0 30 0
9 Cash WR 35 19 196 10.3 20 0
5 Howard TE 21 11 91 8.2 19 0
3 Foret WR 19 7 94 13.4 14 0
5 Anderson RB 17 12 83 6.9 15 0
*Team --- 504 293 3115 10.6 664 12

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
3 Garrett S 112 34 1.0 0 3 13
2 Williamson ILB 105 34 4.0 0 0 8
9 Tobeck S 74 30 2.0 0 2 12
7 Fancher OLB 70 26 6.5 1 0 7
0 Floyd CB 64 19 2.0 0 1 18
3 Scott OLB 54 24 4.5 4 0 2
1 Gilmore CB 48 14 2.0 0 6 3
8 Money DE 40 16 5.5 19 1 1
5 Ellis DE 36 16 6.0 8 0 0
6 McCorvey DT 35 16 4.0 5 0 0
9 Hayes DT 28 6 0.5 1 0 0
7 Carlson DT 26 13 3.0 6 0 0
4 Lindsay DE 24 8 3.0 15 0 0
2 Lang CB 21 8 1.0 1 0 0
9 Pearson OLB 18 6 1.5 2 0 1
4 Doyle OLB 17 9 0.5 0 0 1
*Team --- 879 289 53.0 68 13 66



On offense, that’s the most disgraceful thing I have seen – 32nd in yards per rush, and 32nd in yards per pass. That’s the most feeble offense we have fielded – these clowns deserve to be misfit toys, they all stink! We are in dire need of a complete offensive overhaul, possibly excepting the line.

Defensively – there’s our silver lining. We played pretty darned well, all told. S John Garrett delivered on the promise I have held for him – and he might get to the pro bowl with those 136 tackles. We didn’t get much pass rush, but had a pretty decent balance, considering our offensive ineptitude.


Athens wins the title again, thrashing Niagara Falls. That is three titles for Athens in seven years – and they join Nashua in having more titles than we do.


Season awards
First team: none
Second team: none

Fitting.

[DolphinFan1]

I know how you feel with the injuries to the WR. In my Dolphins dynasty, almost every season I lose a couple of receivers. Bug??? I'm not sure. Keep up the good work. I'm reading.

[QuikSand]

I don't know exactly, but we went through this with TCY as well, in alamringly similar ways. In both games, the DL and WR positions are ridiculously prone to injuries, enough so that any reasonable gamer notices the problem.

My guess is that Mr. Gindin somehow came across some data that suggested these positions were the ones most likley to get hurt in football, and probably went overboard in implementing that data. (I question it anyway, but this is way out of control)

[rjolley]

Ok, that sid eexperiment sounds interesting.

Good luck with the team.

[QuikSand]

2018

As we enter the new season, my first look is to the transactions list – to see who has retired. We have two: offensive linemen Peter Martin and Chad Lacey, both long-time starters for us. Martin has been outstanding, and Lacey very consistent – they will be missed. That will put an immediate dent into our offensive line, but will also open opportunities for younger players to get in.


I decide against making front office changes – we will give the current staff one more season to get thing righted.


We have 39 players on contract, and $20.4m in cap space.

QB Jumbo Hou is a tough call – he is still suffering from a knee injury, and will miss nearly all of this season. In his 17th year, the odds area against him ever returning to the field. He wants over $4m, including a bonus. Does that make any sense? All we want from him now is basically to retire with our jersey on.

DT Drew Hayes is unrestricted, and probably needs to come back. He had one shining season, getting first team honors as a sub starter in 2013 – but has never put much together beyond that. Regardless, DL is a spot for depth, and he will help for certain.

We ought to have no financial trouble this off-season – we are in great cap shape. I may be able to parlay that into some useful extensions, to forestall problems in the out years.


We get DT Hayes and TE Kelley re-signed, and everything works out okay – including several new deals to lock up solid players into the future. I do decide that QB Gilbert Horton will not be re-signed. He was a temporary patch for us, but as a 12th year guy, we simply need to look younger. We’ll go with young Britt Fields, and see if he can get the job done for us. If not, we’ll wheel it around among some unproven youngsters, and see what happens. Horton simply is not the future.


Our new additions from the rookie pool:

FB Wally Schroeder (100,62) – looks like a nice power blocking back, lousy receiver
RB Isaac Spradling (36,8,83) – scatback type, possibly some upside for more
LG Raymond Borkowski (98) – might have special potential, but little currently
WR Lorenzo Glenn (50) – decent all-around skills, kick returner
C Will Marker (59) – best of a mediocre lot, probably not the answer
QB Jack West (63,80) – another stab in the dark, hoping for a surprise
QB Howard Oliver (57,82) – see above



After training camp, we like the looks of rookie QB Howard Oliver. He might have some potential – we’ll keep an eye on him. WR Lorenzo Glenn might be pretty exciting as well – we’ll try to get that tandem together in practice time. G Raymond Borkowski might have some potential – he might work into the starting lineup pretty soon, even.

Here’s the roster, as we head into the season – according to our scouts:


Front Office Football: The Fourth Edition
Lake Erie Monsters Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
*Hou, Jumbo 17 QB 17 19 19 2 yrs.
$Fields, Britt 15 QB 4 18 27 1 yr.
upa, Oliver 2 QB 3 15 26 1 yr.
liver, Howard 7 QB 1 15 38 2 yrs.
#West, Jack 10 QB 1 10 27 2 yrs.
pradling, Isaac 28 RB 1 31 37 2 yrs.
$Nielson, Jack 49 RB 7 25 25 2 yrs.
haw, Vincent 46 RB 2 24 31 3 yrs.
$Bear, Grant 44 FB 4 59 62 1 yr.
chroeder, Wesley 39 FB 1 37 55 2 yrs.
#Parks, Leo 34 FB 2 33 43 1 yr.
$Kelley, Bernard 81 TE 5 66 68 5 yrs.
oward, Drew 85 TE 4 45 59 3 yrs.
oret, Irving 13 FL 5 27 32 1 yr.
lenn, Lorenzo 87 FL 1 27 47 2 yrs.
auer, Fred 86 FL 16 14 14 1 yr.
$Pallansch, Charlie 88 SE 10 55 55 2 yrs.
$Cash, Van 89 SE 4 31 34 1 yr.
#Langhoff, Clay 83 SE 12 30 30 1 yr.
$Junkin, Casey 74 LT 9 65 65 4 yrs.
arren, Terrell 68 LT 3 25 38 1 yr.
$Rayburn, Mo 67 LG 7 40 43 1 yr.
orkowski, Raymond 73 LG 1 25 51 2 yrs.
$Vaught, Randy 58 C 2 26 34 2 yrs.
arker, Will 57 C 1 18 34 2 yrs.
$Musgrove, Johnnie 60 RG 3 34 51 3 yrs.
$Fields, Matt 71 RT 13 34 34 1 yr.
ogarty, Leroy 16 P 5 71 71 3 yrs.
outsos, Blaine 3 K 5 38 38 1 yr.
$Ellis, Calvin 95 LDE 6 47 47 1 yr.
ichl, Henry 78 LDE 3 41 50 3 yrs.
#Dunn, Casey 91 LDE 2 22 27 2 yrs.
$Hayes, Drew 99 LDT 13 35 35 2 yrs.
$McCorvey, Cole 76 RDT 6 45 45 2 yrs.
arlson, Lionel 77 RDT 4 29 33 1 yr.
$Money, Everett 98 RDE 8 67 67 4 yrs.
indsay, Vinny 94 RDE 9 40 40 2 yrs.
#Hancock, Melvin 96 RDE 3 28 33 1 yr.
$Fancher, Harvey 97 SLB 14 40 40 1 yr.
earson, Conrad 59 SLB 5 33 44 1 yr.
rmstrong, Riddick 50 SLB 2 29 44 2 yrs.
$Maxwell, Sedrick 51 MLB 8 60 67 1 yr.
illiamson, Johnny 52 MLB 13 41 41 1 yr.
$Scott, Matt 53 WLB 13 47 47 1 yr.
oyle, Nate 54 WLB 3 24 34 1 yr.
$Floyd, Curtis 20 LCB 12 57 57 4 yrs.
orris, Korey 36 LCB 9 48 48 2 yrs.
$Gilmore, Conrad 21 RCB 16 27 27 1 yr.
ang, Jeremy 22 RCB 4 27 38 1 yr.
#Marsh, Dwayne 38 RCB 3 20 33 1 yr.
$Garrett, John 23 SS 6 59 59 1 yr.
hepherd, Lamar 30 SS 6 27 30 1 yr.
$Tobeck, Jon 29 FS 15 62 62 3 yrs.



2018 season

Oddly enough, our roster rating as we start off the season has slipped all the way to 33, in the bottom third of the league. I don’t know if this is partially a function of the time of year, but that’s a precipitous drop from our usual lofty perch – though I have not checked frequently.


We get off to a great start, crushing Wheeling 27-3. Britt Fields plays very well, and we look sharp all around (though the running game still sputters). We trip up at home against Athens, but they are a very good team – it’s understandable. Fields gets picked off 5 times in the loss – not so good.

We get a breakout game from reserve WR Irving Foret, who leads a 21-17 win over Fort Knox with 100 yards and 2 TDs. Charlie Pallansch, the brittle starter, will miss a couple of weeks – and this opens the door for Foret to get some starts for his first time. Our defense keeps it rolling, as we get a couple rushing TDs from Isaac Spradling, who seems to be slightly improved, and carries the bulk of the rushing load for the first time.

We get to 6-2 halfway through our season, despite having patchwork at nearly every position. The defense is really holding us together, no doubt.

We lose our winning streak with a 4th quarter flurry (patented FOF bullshit comeback) to Nashua. But a rebound win gets us to 10-3, and we are practically assured of a by week in the postseason, once again into the realm of elite teams. We finish 12-4, and only secure the #3 seed in the conference – good enough after a down year, that’s for certain.



ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
018 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 12-4
inning Pct.: .750

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 520 3
ushing Yards 1830 15
ards Per Carry 3.51 31
ass Attempts 516 24
ompletions 322 20 (T)
assing Yards 3332 30
ards Per Attempt 6.45 29
rd Down Conversions 39.6 19
oints Per Game 20.2 23
urnovers 21 8 (T)
urnover Margin +17 1 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 398 3
ushing Yards 1619 5 (T)
ards Per Carry 4.06 17
ass Attempts 579 29
ompletions 282 1
assing Yards 3439 2
ards Per Attempt 5.93 1
rd Down Conversions 31.1 1
oints Per Game 15.5 1
urnovers 38 1

eek Team Versus Oppnt
27 at WHE 3
7 ATH 17
21 FKX 16
14 CHY 9
31 NV 25
15 at TIJ 23
24 at TUL 23
28 at OCY 21
0 27 WHE 7
1 27 LVL 24
2 20 at MAZ 14
3 19 at NSH 20
4 10 KYH 3
5 10 OCY 26
6 16 at BER 10
7 28 at LVL 7
$WC TUL

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
5 Fields QB 512 320 3310 6.46 22 16
*Team --- 516 322 3332 6.45 22 16

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
9 Nielson RB 248 842 3.39 3
8 Spradling RB 125 481 3.84 5
5 Fields QB 80 300 3.75 2
4 Bear FB 39 140 3.58 2
*Team --- 520 1830 3.51 12

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
9 Cash WR 99 56 657 11.7 97 5
4 Bear FB 83 60 443 7.3 191 4
1 Kelley TE 77 56 655 11.6 109 3
9 Nielson RB 56 33 281 8.5 83 0
3 Foret WR 55 33 427 12.9 93 8
6 Bauer WR 35 19 166 8.7 15 0
3 Langhoff WR 30 17 167 9.8 21 0
8 Pallansch WR 25 11 201 18.2 31 0
8 Spradling RB 20 14 100 7.1 38 0
*Team --- 516 322 3332 10.3 732 22

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
1 Maxwell ILB 113 33 1.0 3 2 7
3 Garrett S 84 22 1.0 1 11 10
7 Fancher OLB 64 20 3.5 1 2 12
9 Tobeck S 62 29 1.0 1 8 10
3 Scott OLB 50 20 3.5 3 1 10
0 Floyd CB 50 6 1.0 0 1 15
8 Money DE 43 9 8.5 18 0 1
9 Hayes DT 40 13 2.0 9 0 0
1 Gilmore CB 39 10 0.0 0 1 6
6 Norris CB 39 16 3.5 3 3 6
2 Lang CB 27 2 1.0 1 1 2
6 McCorvey DT 26 10 4.0 7 0 0
4 Lindsay DE 21 7 4.5 14 0 0
5 Ellis DE 17 5 4.5 5 0 0
7 Carlson DT 16 6 3.0 9 0 1
*Team --- 803 220 47.0 83 30 81



Offensively, we got a pretty steady season out of young QB Britt Fields, as he overcame his 5 int day early on to only throw 11 more all year. The running game was again weak (despite Spradling showing some signs of potential) and our passing overall wasn’t great – but the offense didn’t really screw things up. WR Van Cash, still no ratings star, emerged as our most reliable receiver on the year, as Charlie Pallansch missed most of the season with multiple injuries.

The OL wasn’t very good in supporting the running game, but protected our passer well on balance. That’s the general skew for these guys – maybe we need to shift our offense accordingly.

On defense, the first thing to notice is turnovers – we feasted on them. Our two starting safeties had 19 interceptions between them, a great effort. Sedrick Maxwell has stepped in for the middle LB job (finally) and looks up to the task. DE Everett Money played well, but was felled by injury with a few games left, and will miss the playoffs.


Postseason rundown:

Tulsa 19, Lake Erie 14

Our defensive front was ravaged by injury, and was pounded by the Tulsa running game all day. They handled us all day, and pulled away with field goals down the stretch.


Athens repeats as champions, beating Niagara Falls in the title game, 21-16.


Season awards
First team: P Leroy Fogarty
Second team: S John Garrett

[sachmo71]

Back to the playoffs! :D

[DolphinFan1]

Originally posted by QuikSand
2018


We lose our winning streak with a 4th quarter flurry (patented FOF bullshit comeback) to Nashua.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has lost on stupid 4th quarter comebacks. Sometimes it gets pretty frustrating.

[QuikSand]

Yes, I think the game is subtly broken there. Look at a veteran QB in thr FOF game - how many "4Q Heriocs" does he show? Something like 20% of his game, in many cases. That's just absurd.

When this stat was all the rage with Elway, Montana, and Marino - I seem to recall those guys (the best ever with those numbers) being credited with something in the 20s. In FOF, the top guys will easily have 50 or 70 heroics... just a quick indication that something falls apart in the game engine late in the game. Little doubt in my mind.

[QuikSand]

After a personal hiatus, I have found time to pick this up again… let’s see where we have left off…


2019

We are a team in transition already, and this is punctuated by the transaction report. We have four retirements from the team:

QB Jumbo Hou – we’ve detailed his career already, he was our leader and a classic overachiever. Never a scout darling, he just performed on the field, and probably gets into the league HOF in a few years.

CB Conrad Gilmore – another long-time stalwart for us, his retirement pushes us to youth in the secondary. He was a very solid player, and very consistent at a critical position.

We also wave good-bye to MLB Johnny Williamson, a late bloomer who gave us several very solid years in the middle, and DT Drew Hayes, a solid run stopper who had one giant year as an emergency starter.


We will stick with our high-priced staff, hoping that we have good news ahead with this team. We got back into the playoffs last season, and hopefully are heading in the right direction.


In free agency, we have 35 players signed, and about $51m under the cap – plenty of room it would seem. We work out a huge new deal with MLB Sedrick Maxwell, the biggest name on our UFA list, and extend with a few other familiar faces.

FB Grant Bear rejects my offer, and signs instead with Memphis. This is a mixed blessing – he’s pretty solid, but he did catch a lot of passes that I’d really rather have going to my more talented breakaway players. So, we’ll live.

I decide to get in with a bid for DE Calvin Ellis, though I think he’s overpriced. It’s just tough to let go a solid DL, with so many injuries penciled in at that position group every year.

We sign WR Fred Bauer to a new two year deal – a reward for his years of service. Well, that was his last two year deal – this one is just gravy, I guess. He actually started three games last season, due to injuries elsewhere – hopefully he’ll just back up this go-round, as he is almost completely out of gas.


We whip through the draft, and get to our rookie pool. Here are this year’s additions – we have to go deeper than usual.

RB Eugene Philips (28,52,24) – might be an immediate factor, as we’re shallow at RB
LB Chad Counts (56,86) serious potential here, could be starter in a year or two
DE Tommy Flowers (46,92) – if he develops, could be a standout for us, pass rusher
CB Albert Mueller (82) – has modest off skills, but key rating suggests upside
TE Darrel Schrimper (82,75) – nothing right now, but might develop mightily
WR Donnell Butler (80) – has everything looking great – could be a great one
G Timothy Ritchie (80) – might grow into a serious contributor inside or outside
CB Darren Tobar (89) – good zone cover man, if he grows, look out
RB Lincoln Rose (32,52,34) – reserve-quality guy, decent all around
C Ron Wofford (72) – decent potential, if he catches on
T Terrell Hernandez (64) – same story as above


We head into training camp, and are hoping to see some development from a few of these new faces. I’m pretty optimistic that I have a good group here – I’d love very much to see a rookie jump in to start at RB, and Philips might be god enough to do it.

After camp, I’m impressed – but not all that much by RB Philips. He’ll be okay, but maybe no more than that. LB Counts looks like he’ll be the real deal, and we slot him at WLB, where the starting job could open up as soon as next season. CB Albert Mueller is a future starter, and will be a great addition – very timely! I also think Tommy Flowers, now slotted at DT, will be very slid – maybe even better than that. Potentially a huge “no-draft class” for us.


We get through the exhibition games, and predictably have injuries all over the WR and DL positions. (Why do I keep playing this f*cking game?) And here we are, starting the season, and in the lineup, at flanker, is #87, Fred Bauer. Heh. Lorenzo Glenn will get plenty of work behind him, but Bauer is the nominal starter – fabulous.


2019 season

Britt Fields looks awful as we get beaten in our opener, 27-13 by Ocean City. We drop another in Sac’to, but this one isn’t on Fields – we just lost a close game here on a late 70-yard TD pass. At home, we get back on the good side with a win over Tijuana, but at 1-2 can’t be that happy. Our running game behind Nielson basically stinks – he’s a 3.3 ypc guy through and through. Yuck.

We give Niagara Falls their first win, and the only highlight is a great game by WR Lorenzo Glenn as we tried to rally. Our DL is totally shredded by injuries – we are playing all the scrubs who shouldn’t even be active. And now, MLB Maxwell – with a monstrous salary in hand – is injured with a long-term degenerative hip condition. I can safely assume he’ll never be worth a shit again. Wonderful.

At 1-4, I decide to pull the trigger. We have a “closed door” meeting, and decide that the offense needs a full rotation. We’re near the bottom in both rushing and passing efficiency, it’s time to make changes. Howard Oliver is in as our starting QB, and we will use a new rotation of RBs with Spradling, Philips, and FB Schroeder sharing the main load. I don’t know if this will be better, but it can’t be much worse.

After an initial close loss to a good Key West team, we get rolling with a 30-7 win over Manhattan – easily our best game of the year. QB Oliver is sharp, and we played well on defense to keep the offense in position all day. We get another win, 32-31, and are up to 3-5 on the season, which doesn’t sound like much, but it’s better than 1-5 isn’t it?

I have to move rookie LB Chad Counts over to MLB, where we need a starter badly. I’m not sure it’s his best fit for the long run, but I have two random pickups (both converted Des) in the ILB slots right now- I need a usable player there. Counts should develop quickly as a starter here, and it looks like it’s his job through next year, with Maxwell listed as a long term injury case. We get a 24-3 win to get to 4-5, and Counts settles into the middle of the defensive front.

Another win on a late TD pass by Oliver, and we’re back to .500, shockingly. Our offense still stinks, but Oliver has saved our biscuits a couple of times. He’s got a QB rating over 100 on the season so far – that’s a nice reflection.

Our nice run comes to an end with a tough game at Memphis, but we beat Little Rock to get back to 6-6. We again even up at 7-7, but it looks like any faint playoff hopes we harbored are fading. A 9-7 finish could do it, but we haven’t been exactly red hot. A loss at home against Death Valley seals it – we’re going to be bystanders. We dump the last one at Wheeling, and finish 7-9 on the year.



ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
019 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 7-9
inning Pct.: .437

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 498 4 (T)
ushing Yards 1793 11
ards Per Carry 3.60 32
ass Attempts 518 24
ompletions 333 16
assing Yards 3593 26
ards Per Attempt 6.93 22
rd Down Conversions 42.9 9
oints Per Game 20.0 23
urnovers 24 13 (T)
urnover Margin +13 3

pponents Team Rank
ushes 410 10
ushing Yards 1721 14
ards Per Carry 4.19 22 (T)
ass Attempts 518 9
ompletions 301 2
assing Yards 3430 2
ards Per Attempt 6.62 3 (T)
rd Down Conversions 36.9 4
oints Per Game 18.1 5
urnovers 37 2

eek Team Versus Oppnt
13 at OCY 27
13 at SAC 17
24 TIJ 10
13 at NIA 21
17 WHE 20
13 KW 14
30 MAN 7
32 at NSH 31
24 OCY 3
1 16 at LVL 15
2 16 at MEM 28
3 24 at LTR 21
4 17 PS 20
5 35 LVL 0
6 10 DVY 27
7 24 at WHE 30

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
Oliver QB 373 235 2606 6.98 21 16
5 Fields QB 138 91 915 6.63 5 3
*Team --- 518 333 3593 6.93 27 19

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
8 Spradling RB 165 603 3.65 2
7 Phillips RB 80 315 3.93 2
9 Nielson RB 78 287 3.67 2
Oliver QB 58 178 3.06 0
9 Schroeder FB 41 204 4.97 0
*Team --- 498 1793 3.60 8

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
9 Cash WR 97 66 783 11.8 73 7
8 Pallansch WR 87 52 634 12.1 96 4
1 Kelley TE 70 45 537 11.9 78 4
7 Glenn WR 67 37 477 12.8 93 1
9 Schroeder FB 56 38 240 6.3 76 3
3 Langhoff WR 31 21 288 13.7 61 2
5 Howard TE 28 24 250 10.4 40 3
8 Spradling RB 21 14 134 9.5 15 0
9 Nielson RB 16 11 89 8.0 23 1
*Team --- 517 333 3593 10.7 598 27

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
7 Fancher OLB 94 30 6.5 1 2 6
9 Tobeck S 81 29 0.0 0 11 12
3 Garrett S 79 40 2.0 2 7 12
0 Floyd CB 62 12 2.0 2 4 14
3 Scott OLB 61 23 2.5 3 0 4
2 Lang CB 50 19 0.5 0 2 9
6 McCorvey DT 38 13 4.5 5 0 2
5 Counts ILB 37 16 0.0 0 0 0
6 Norris CB 33 11 1.0 3 3 5
4 Lindsay DE 31 21 9.0 12 0 0
8 Michl DE 27 12 5.0 10 0 1
9 Pearson OLB 22 5 1.0 1 0 0
0 Shepherd S 21 1 0.0 0 0 1
1 Maxwell ILB 20 5 0.0 0 0 1
7 Carlson DT 17 5 4.5 7 0 0
4 Doyle ILB 16 5 0.0 1 0 0
*Team --- 820 271 49.0 59 29 68



Offensively, the mid-year shakeup helped, but we just don’t have much to work with. There’s a practical limit on what we can do with this little legitimate talent. I think Oliver is the best of the young QBs we have, but that’s an area where a major upgrade would mean an awful lot to us. We finish last in ypc, too – our running game is just dreadful, and maybe its time to fish more deeply for a breakout rookie at RB.

On defense, we again are very tough to pass on, but our run defense was weak. Our defensive front was positively ravaged by injury – I’m not surprised that we were a sieve against a decent ground game.


In the playoffs, Memphis beats Wheeling to take the title. Neither had won it all before.


Season awards
First team: none
Second team: none

Shut out, deservedly so.

[QuikSand]

2020

Two more retirements – neither one shocking. S Jon Tobeck was an all-time great, probably a HOF candidate, and my third straight “Legend of the Game” honoree. Here are our recipients of that prize, by the way:

2015 WR Antoine Newhart
2017 C Peter Martin
2018 CB Conrad Gilmore
2019 S Jon Tobeck

With our team strategy, keeping so many players for their whole careers, we could hold on to this for more ears than not, especially as so many initial players are hanging it up now. We’ll see… WR Fred Bauer is still on the team, and I have to think he’ll be a lock when he goes (if he goes).

LB Harvey Fancher was a long-timer for us, and danced in and out of the starting lineup for a decade. Another solid talent for us, off the post-draft scrapheap.


I begin the FA process, and we have 39 players signed, and $56 million in cap space. We ought to be just fine here. We don’t have anyone seeking monster bucks, so we ought to be in great shape – we’ll even have cap room to work out extensions if we want to do so later.


Among the undrafted rookies, I’m hoping for an impact player – someone who can become the new “face” for this team. We’re now sloughing off the original stars, and we’d like to have someone step up. Honestly, the starting QB and RB jobs are there for the taking – can we find someone who can become our next offensive star?

RB Chris Schalk (76,75,47) – very little in complementary skills, we’ll see
DT Rod Riley (54,87) has some possibility, but might be void against run
RB Barry Sanderson (52,58,29) something to go with those, but not great upside
LB Warren Rivers (66,99) might develop into a good all-around backer, solid
LB Otis Lemaster (46,76) looks like a decent future reserve
S Ben Bennett (86) could well be our next long term starter at safety
QB Chester Alexander (46/47, 92) – despite the possible tipoff, he might have potential
DE Bernard Berry (72,49) – yet another guy with nothing now but hope to grow
LB Buddy Gunter (82, 48) – and yet another of the same


As we prepare for training camp, we have a quandary at RB. Our two most “proven” guys, Jack Nielsen and Isaac Spradling, are both unsigned. Neither has proven to be anything but passable - but we have mysteries behind them in the queue. Re-signing one or both means passing on younger players – I decide to let them both walk, and we will go with the youngsters, and see what we get from them.


After training camp – no big news. RB Schalk looks like he might factor into the mix for this year. LB Warren Rivers might have to get lots of time, too, as our LB corps is badly depleted. S Ben Bennett will get onto the field, too – he’ll fight for a starting job against journeyman Lamar Shepherd.


As we head into this season, our roster rating is 34 – putting us about tenth from the bottom of the league. We’re losing well-developed players, and it’s showing there. The power ratings make us the lowest-ranked team in the conference.



ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
ake Erie Monsters Roster, Scout Overview

Player # Pos Exp Current Estimate Future Estimate Cntrct
#Fields, Britt 15 QB 6 30 30 1 yr.
$Oliver, Howard 7 QB 3 26 39 1 yr.
upa, Oliver 2 QB 5 18 27 1 yr.
lexander, Chester 4 QB 1 11 26 2 yrs.
$Phillips, Eugene 37 RB 2 32 34 1 yr.
chalk, Kris 46 RB 1 29 31 2 yrs.
anderson, Barry 47 RB 1 25 31 2 yrs.
#Rose, Lincoln 24 RB 2 21 25 1 yr.
$Schroeder, Wesley 39 FB 3 56 68 1 yr.
arks, Leo 34 FB 4 37 44 2 yrs.
$Kelley, Bernard 81 TE 7 67 68 3 yrs.
oward, Drew 85 TE 6 56 60 2 yrs.
lenn, Lorenzo 87 FL 3 39 50 4 yrs.
auer, Fred 86 FL 18 11 11 1 yr.
$Pallansch, Charlie 88 SE 12 53 53 2 yrs.
$Cash, Van 89 SE 6 35 35 1 yr.
*Langhoff, Clay 83 SE 14 22 22 1 yr.
$Junkin, Casey 74 LT 11 64 64 2 yrs.
arren, Terrell 68 LT 5 30 40 1 yr.
$Rayburn, Mo 67 LG 9 45 45 3 yrs.
orkowski, Raymond 73 LG 3 31 54 1 yr.
$Wofford, Ron 56 C 2 26 42 1 yr.
itchie, Timothy 69 C 2 20 30 1 yr.
$Musgrove, Johnnie 60 RG 5 50 53 1 yr.
$Fields, Matt 71 RT 15 33 33 2 yrs.
#Hernandez, Terrell 66 RT 2 23 47 1 yr.
ogarty, Leroy 16 P 7 71 71 1 yr.
outsos, Blaine 3 K 7 36 36 2 yrs.
ichl, Henry 78 LDE 5 50 55 1 yr.
$Ellis, Calvin 95 LDE 8 42 42 3 yrs.
erry, Bernard 72 LDE 1 25 31 2 yrs.
#Dunn, Casey 91 LDE 4 23 26 1 yr.
lowers, Tommy 79 LDT 2 29 44 1 yr.
#Riley, Rod 97 LDT 1 26 30 2 yrs.
$McCorvey, Cole 76 RDT 8 45 45 3 yrs.
$Carlson, Lionel 77 RDT 6 35 35 2 yrs.
$Money, Everett 98 RDE 10 65 65 3 yrs.
*Lindsay, Vinny 94 RDE 11 33 33 4 yrs.
ancock, Melvin 96 RDE 5 32 34 1 yr.
$Pearson, Conrad 59 SLB 7 41 45 2 yrs.
rmstrong, Riddick 50 SLB 4 33 45 1 yr.
*Maxwell, Sedrick 51 MLB 10 69 69 3 yrs.
$Counts, Chad 55 MLB 2 30 53 1 yr.
emaster, Otis 90 MLB 1 23 42 2 yrs.
#Doyle, Nate 54 MLB 5 21 34 1 yr.
$Scott, Matt 53 WLB 15 38 38 3 yrs.
ivers, Warren 52 WLB 1 28 46 2 yrs.
#Gunter, Buddy 99 WLB 1 20 32 2 yrs.
$Floyd, Curtis 20 LCB 14 52 52 2 yrs.
orris, Korey 36 LCB 11 48 48 2 yrs.
ueller, Albert 41 LCB 2 31 62 1 yr.
obar, Darren 45 RCB 2 25 42 1 yr.
$Lang, Jeremy 22 RCB 6 18 18 1 yr.
$Garrett, John 23 SS 8 60 60 3 yrs.
hepherd, Lamar 30 SS 8 30 30 1 yr.
$Bennett, Ben 31 FS 1 23 44 2 yrs.

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


We head into the season, ready to see what we can do with this group of ragtags. I decide to tweak the offense, and we’ll pass the ball more than before – I think that might be playing to our strengths as well as we can. We will again go with Howard Oliver as our QB – he has a mixed bag of skills, but looks to be the best man for the job. Britt Fields remains in my doghouse, but would get the call as the long-term #2 if needed.


2020 season

We get out to a 2-0 start, led mostly by our stifling defense. I’m worried about the LB corps, but young Chad Counts is playing very well, and leading a good performance all around.

Howard Oliver’s 5-TD game gets us to 3-1 on the season, despite his 4 picks. This is what we get with this guy – he can pitch it all around, but he will make mistakes. We just hope that our defense can help us win games like this – a 38-20 shootout. I’m not happy with RB Phillips, and I put him into the doghouse – we’ll see what the rookies can do for us.

We are again hobbled by WR injuries (what’s new?) with the ever-dependable Charlie Pallansch again sitting on the sidelines. This gives promising youngster Lorenzo Glenn a shot at starting – and I expect him to flourish in our wide-open system. He could be a good one in time.

Oliver leads us to another win in overtime, and we stand at 5-1. I don’t think the cub is really that good, but we’re rallying well, and the defense is playing well in the clutch. Oliver is starting to pitch in in the running game as well – he had 72 yards on the ground against Ocean City in the tough win.

Through ten weeks, Howard Oliver’s 20 TD passes places him second in the league. His rating is depressed by 17 interceptions, but we are scoring – and that’s worth something. We’re in the playoff hunt, and that’s worth something, too.

After a two-game skid, we rally with a win over Providence. WR Glenn breaks the 1,000-yard mark, even after playing in reserve for the early season. He’s becoming our go-to guy. Charlie Pallansch gets back onto the field, but we can’t count on him to be there, as we know.

In week 15, we get dusted by Wheeling, and miss the chance to practically lock up the division. Now, we have to fend off the Dealers. Oliver has 5 interceptions to 1 TD, and that’s a ratio we can’t win with. Plus, he gets drilled – and will miss a few weeks with a separated shoulder. We need to rouse Britt Fields out of cold storage, and see if he can help us get into the playoffs after all.

Fields is uninspiring in our first game, a home loss. But a win in our finale still gets us the division title. We shut out Ocean City, and happily take the 10-6 record that locks up a return to the postseason for our Monsters.



ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
020 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 10-6
inning Pct.: .625

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 347 32
ushing Yards 1461 28
ards Per Carry 4.21 9
ass Attempts 614 4 (T)
ompletions 357 9 (T)
assing Yards 4359 4
ards Per Attempt 7.09 16 (T)
rd Down Conversions 40.5 19
oints Per Game 22.2 15
urnovers 42 32
urnover Margin -18 32

pponents Team Rank
ushes 455 24 (T)
ushing Yards 1874 22
ards Per Carry 4.11 20
ass Attempts 581 26
ompletions 334 11
assing Yards 3688 6 (T)
ards Per Attempt 6.34 4
rd Down Conversions 38.6 10
oints Per Game 19.3 8
urnovers 24 20 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
13 LVL 10
31 at NOR 6
17 NV 23
38 FKX 20
38 at PEN 11
32 at LTR 27
25 OCY 22
6 FTW 23
31 at WHE 9
1 31 at LVL 19
2 7 at HWK 38
3 16 at MAN 35
4 27 PRV 12
5 10 WHE 24
6 10 TXA 30
7 24 at OCY 0
$WC WHE

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
Oliver QB 540 319 3862 7.15 28 34
5 Fields QB 73 37 495 6.78 3 0
*Team --- 614 357 4359 7.09 32 34

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Sanderson RB 115 510 4.43 2
Oliver QB 86 353 4.10 2
6 Schalk RB 56 250 4.46 1
7 Phillips RB 44 121 2.75 0
*Team --- 347 1461 4.21 5

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
7 Glenn WR 169 90 1330 14.7 277 10
9 Cash WR 100 56 809 14.4 154 5
9 Schroeder FB 72 52 432 8.3 122 3
1 Kelley TE 63 37 465 12.5 103 4
8 Pallansch WR 59 38 492 12.9 104 3
5 Howard TE 41 16 190 11.8 40 1
7 Sanderson RB 36 22 196 8.9 39 1
6 Bauer WR 28 13 161 12.3 9 3
6 Schalk RB 20 14 118 8.4 37 1
*Team --- 614 357 4359 12.2 923 32

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
5 Counts ILB 111 29 4.0 0 1 7
9 Pearson OLB 105 39 9.0 3 2 6
3 Garrett S 84 44 0.0 2 5 8
3 Scott OLB 69 21 4.5 5 1 7
0 Floyd CB 58 16 2.5 0 2 18
1 Bennett S 58 24 0.0 0 0 6
6 Norris CB 51 17 0.5 0 2 9
2 Lang CB 44 16 1.0 1 1 6
8 Money DE 41 15 4.0 13 0 2
6 McCorvey DT 37 17 8.5 7 0 0
7 Carlson DT 37 19 6.5 16 0 1
5 Tobar CB 27 5 2.0 0 1 0
5 Ellis DE 22 5 2.0 8 0 0
8 Michl DE 21 3 5.0 3 0 0
0 Shepherd S 17 5 2.0 0 0 0
6 Hancock DE 17 8 3.0 9 0 0
*Team --- 922 300 55.0 73 15 74



Offensively, we went with a high-risk, high-reward approach, and got what we expected. The offense was more efficient overall, but we made mistakes – plenty of them. Fields is less of a gunslinger than Oliver – and actually might serve us well for the playoffs.

At RB, we didn’t get any real answers. Everyone got his turn, with Sanderson leading the list but not by much. Both rookies were well over 4 ypc, but I think that’s situational rather than quality-driven. The line blocked well for our infrequent running plays – something to keep in mind, perhaps.

On defense, the LB corps was a strength, to my surprise. Chad Counts was great in the middle, and Conrad Pearson started at the strong side and played his heart out – what a year for him, way beyond my expectations. S Ben Bennett was a starter, and looks like he might be okay – we need to get his coverage skills whipped into shape, though. Not great pressure, but Pearson’s 9 sacks were a bonus, as McCorvey’s 8.5 was tops on the line.

Not a stellar unit, but we remain tough to pass against, which helps us keep things in range. A 10-6 team? I don’t know, but we are seemingly improved over last season, I’ll agree.


Postseason Rundown


Wheeling 23, Lake Erie 17

Without Oliver at the helm, we still threw the ball around, but were just not as explosive. We got a TD interception from rookie S Ben Bennett, but never got rolling on offense, and couldn’t keep pace with the Dealers. That wraps up a decent, but not sterling, season for us. Hopefully one to build on… we may need to go and get us some more wideouts, if we’re going to play this way.


A tribute to WR Fred Bauer, who continues to produce even at his advanced age. This year, he ended up playing in all 16 games, starting three, and added another 3 TD receptions to his lofty career totals. I have to think this is it for him – but in any event, he’s been a solid guy to have around.


It’s two more new faces in the title game – Tulsa beat Ypsilanti. Tulsa did win it a few years ago, but they aren’t a mighty league power like Athens or Nashua.


Season Awards
First team: OLB Conrad Pearson
Second team: WR Lorenzo Glenn

[QuikSand]

2021

Okay, we head into yet another season – we’re back to the playoffs, and we might have our questions at QB behind us… but we are far from being a complete team.


We suffer one more loss via retirement – and it’s at wide receiver. Yes, you knew it was coming… Clay Langhoff has decided it’s over. What? You were expecting, perhaps, Fred Bauer? Oh, no – Freddie is back and ready for another turn, ready to take on his 19th season. At this point, he is 42 years old – his 87 TDs rank second all time, and he is now into the deep stretch on a fruitful career – that apparently isn’t over yet. He doesn’t have a contract with us for this season, but he’ll get one, be assured. Langhoff? Ah, he was fine… but dropped off badly with recent injuries.


We re-up with out front office – both coach Marlon Meusey and scout Emmanuel Rousseau are solid – even if the team’s results haven’t been outstanding.


We again anticipate no real problems re-signing players as needed. We have 39 players on contract now, and $32.5m in space – we ought to be fine. DE Melvin Hancock wants real money, even though he’s a reserve-caliber guy at best. I have a tougher decision with CB Jeremy Lang, who has been starting the last two seasons. I don’t think he’s really any good, and I’d rather have other players get in there, so I plan to let him go – even though he’s decent. A similar conundrum with QB Britt Fields – he’s the antithesis of my starter, and I need to keep him doghoused to keep him from starting. Tough call there.

Once I get my re-signings done (not including QB Fields), we are up to 51 players – that’s just too many guys. We’ll sign some rookies, but we’ll need to make cuts to get it to work out.


Here are our young additions:

DT Henry Alcott (83,52) – could be good pass rusher, but must stay inside
RB Roy Terrell (66,55,42) – decent, might have upside – very little green showing
WR Walt Attico (94) – that rating fills us with hope for big things
LT Darryl Dodge (96) – a little else, too – might develop into a stud
LB Dean Pickering (46,92) – might develop into solid all-around player
RB Lawrence Hankton (36,33,63) – mixed bag, could develop okay
WR Bo Lorey (76) has some immediate skills, could help right away
C Ike Cosell (82) better pass blocker, good fit for our team


Alas, no impact player at RB or QB, it doesn’t appear. We’ll see what we have here, but I don’t see any game-changers in the group.


After training camp, we have a look around – I have a lot of cuts to make this season. Gunslinger Howard Oliver’s hold on the starting QB spot is now solid – we let Britt Fields go, leaving unproven Chester Alexander as the presumptive backup there.

I think young RB Chris Schalk might be our starter at RB this season – he might be improving for us.

We seem stacked at WR – the two young guys both have real potential, and we’ll need them – since we can pencil in Charlie Pallansch to get injured for half the season, of course. We expect to see Loreno Glenn step into a starting role, and the sky’s the limit for him.

After 15 years with us, I have to release RT Matt Fields – he has really slipped in the last year or two, and we need to go elsewhere.


We head into the exhibition season, and are ready for the season.


2021 season

After an initial bump against Wheeling (emerging as our prime foe), we get back on track and get two wins. Barry Sanderson has reasserted himself as our RB starter, but we are winning with defense and Horace Oliver’s arm.

A close loss against Cheyenne gives us some more pause – we gave up a 17-0 rally in the fourth quarter to allow then to tie, then they carry forward to win it. Ouch. Another close loss, and we’ve slipped to 2-3, and are below .500 all of a sudden.

After another loss, we get back with a win over Tulsa, and get a 100-yard rushing game from Barry Sanderson, our first inn a long time. We have lost both of our fullbacks to injuries – and I switch reserve TE Drew Howard over to fill in. It hurts him long term, but we need to get production from the position.

We get a win over 6-2 Ocean City, and get another good rushing game from Sanderson, Schalk, and Oliver. WR Glenn has a big afternoon, too – as our offense clicks better than it has in a while. We then get revenge on Wheeling (who have fallen apart) and we end up 5-4, back on top of .500 again.

We lose RB Sanderson, and so to Schalk, who is okay, but not as effective. We drop two straight, and our up-and-down season continues. Awful game for Oliver – four interceptions, as he is prone to do sometimes.

One win, and we are back to 6-6, even. We nee to run the table to get back into position – but we have not been very consistent this season. Case in point – we lose yet another close game to Ypsilanti, and are pretty much through. But just like that, we grab two wins, and pull into a tie for the division lead with Ocean City. The last week will determine it.

It pans our perfectly – we win in Louisville, and OC stumbles, so we get the division crown, even with our lackluster 9-7 mark.




ront Office Football: The Fourth Edition
021 Summary for Lake Erie Monsters

ecord: 9-7
inning Pct.: .562

ake Erie Monsters Team Rank
ushes 423 19
ushing Yards 1789 19
ards Per Carry 4.22 10
ass Attempts 586 5 (T)
ompletions 332 14 (T)
assing Yards 3908 14
ards Per Attempt 6.66 23
rd Down Conversions 34.7 26
oints Per Game 23.0 8 (T)
urnovers 34 26
urnover Margin -8 24 (T)

pponents Team Rank
ushes 428 12
ushing Yards 1676 9
ards Per Carry 3.91 6 (T)
ass Attempts 596 29
ompletions 321 11 (T)
assing Yards 3746 9
ards Per Attempt 6.28 3
rd Down Conversions 31.1 1
oints Per Game 19.8 9 (T)
urnovers 26 16 (T)

eek Team Versus Oppnt
17 at WHE 20
14 TB 10
28 at LTR 21
24 CHY 27
21 NV 24
10 at TIJ 20
20 at TUL 17
27 OCY 23
0 30 WHE 23
1 21 LVL 23
2 17 at CHA 27
3 38 NSH 3
4 17 at YPS 20
5 27 at OCY 23
6 31 SSM 17
7 26 at LVL 20
$WC TUL

assing Pos Att Comp Yards Y/Att TD Int
Oliver QB 580 329 3876 6.68 22 27
*Team --- 586 332 3908 6.66 22 27

ushing Pos Att Yards Y/Att TD
7 Sanderson RB 168 772 4.59 6
6 Schalk RB 100 403 4.03 3
Oliver QB 98 385 3.92 3
*Team --- 423 1789 4.22 15

eceiving Pos Targ Catch Yards Y/Ctc YAC TD
7 Glenn WR 174 98 1324 13.5 198 4
8 Pallansch WR 123 65 815 12.5 124 7
1 Kelley TE 85 58 607 10.4 133 5
9 Cash WR 55 28 383 13.6 55 3
4 Parks FB 41 18 148 8.2 35 2
7 Sanderson RB 28 20 149 7.4 23 0
0 Attico WR 24 15 176 11.7 23 0
6 Schalk RB 16 10 77 7.7 10 0
*Team --- 586 332 3908 11.7 685 22

efense Pos Tack Asst Sack Hurr Ints Defn
5 Counts ILB 93 36 1.0 1 2 8
3 Garrett S 80 32 0.0 2 6 4
0 Armstrong OLB 79 22 3.0 6 0 6
1 Bennett S 65 21 0.0 0 0 14
0 Floyd CB 64 16 1.0 2 2 16
5 Tobar CB 64 14 1.0 1 3 15
3 Scott OLB 63 14 4.0 4 2 7
8 Michl DE 45 18 12.0 12 0 1
6 Norris CB 38 7 2.0 1 3 10
6 McCorvey DT 38 10 4.0 10 1 0
7 Carlson DT 38 19 5.5 5 0 1
8 Money DE 24 4 6.0 9 0 1
0 Shepherd S 24 4 0.0 0 0 4
*Team --- 882 245 47.0 68 21 92



We are a fairly effective offense, much better than in recent years, but we simply turn it over a lot. Sanderson is adequate for our running game, but it would be better to have a real game breaker, rather than his stodgy self. At WR, we have the grinder in Glenn, and we have the surprisingly healthy Charlie Pallansch, who offset him very well. And we’re getting the ball downfield to the receivers and to TE Kelley.

On defense, we finally got a DE standout – and it was Henry Michl, back in after being on the bench much of last season. We remain tough to pass on, and our run defense got a good deal better this year: we’ve got something going on defense now.

If we can avoid mistakes, we could be pretty tough ahead. It’s our inconsistency that keeps us from delivering on the pretty solid base stats we generated this year.


Postseason rundown

Lake Erie 21, Tulsa 20

WR Lorenzo Glenn returns a kickoff for a TD, his third of the season. That gets us ahead early, and we need it all, as we narrowly get this one, lead by our defense.


Lake Erie 28, Napa Valley 14

After falling behind early, we take over and fly right past them here, on our way to the conference championship game. Oliver throws for 455 yards, more than half of them to Glenn, and our air game clicks again.


Lake Erie 28, Manhattan 17

Well, for a team that very nearly sat out the playoffs at 8-8, we now punch our tickets to the Superbowl, with a nice win over the Steamrollers. Lorenzo Glenn has anothet kickoff return TD, and S Jon Garrett gets a TD off an interception – those two plays are the difference makers. We’re on our way.


Superbowl: Thunder Bay v. Lake Erie

Thunder Bay went 11-5 this season, and were a respectable 3rd seed in the NFC. We sneaked in at 9-7, the weakest record of any playoff team – yet, here we are.

Thunder bay gets ahead early with a TD, but we respond. In the second quarter, they get another, then a breakaway run to lead 21-7. However, Howard Oliver gets us back close with a nice drive and an 11 yard TD pass to Lorenzo Glenn, and we follow up with another quick TD drive to pull even at the half.

Van Cash gets his second TD catch in the third quarter to give us our first lead, and we then try to clamp down on the game. In the mid fourth quarter, they get into position, but settle for a FG, getting to 28-24. Our defense eats the ball, stopping two more drives, and we hold on for the win by that final margin: Lake Erie 28, Thunder Bay 24.

Unbelievable season – up and down all the way, then we suddenly string together a few wins at just the right time. We nail up our third banner… who knew?



Season awards
First team: none
Second team: P Leroy Fogarty, DE Henry Michl
Superbowl MVP: Howard Oliver

I’m stunned that WR Lorenzo Glenn is not here, but he didn’t score a lot of TDs.


Well, a strange season - not at all what I expected, or saw coming 2/3 of the way through. What for next year? The fans will be waiting...