[FOF7] Cap Hell Chronicles - A Steelers Dynasty
 

Cap Hell Chronicles - A Steelers Dynasty

Settings:

Injury: 150
Cap: 28-80
Combine: 50

House Rules:

Not really at present time.

Philosophy:

I like physical football. Classic Steelers. Great defense and power running.

I do not like trading away 3 first round picks to move into 1st in the draft :-)

Reserved...

Reserved..

THE OFFENSE


Big Ben should be a solid starter for the next 4-5 years. Gradkowski is a solid backup for now.


Le'Veon Bell will be our feature back for the next years. He isn't the greatest runner but isgood out of the backfield and on returns. Felix Jones is the best runner.



Heath Miller and Antonio Brown will be Ben's go-to-guys. Sanders is a decent slot reciever. However age is a factor for Burress and Miller.


I will move Velasco to LG and hope for the best. Both Velasco and Pouncey are ruthless run blockers. But will this group be able to keep Ben off the ground. As in previous years. The O-Line are a major weakness on our team.

THE DEFENSE


Cameron Heyward the lone bright spot in this group. Will need serious work if we're to be considered contenders.


Once the pride of the Steel City. And slowly building towards it again. Timmons is trying to justify his giant contract, while the talent of Jarvis Jones and Jason Worilds is pormising. We will stay as a 3-4 team due to the talent in this position.


A pretty good bunch of players. However they're getting old. While it will be difficult to get rid of a fan favourite like Polamalu, Taylor will need to fight for his job.

SPECIAL TEAMS


Not much to see here...

2013 Preseason

We finish 1-3 without any key injuries.

Rookie RB Bell unfortunately looks like he's having trouble holding onto the ball.

Pretty much all of our players dropped in future estimate, in a disappointing preseason. Among others we cut Brett Keisel who is making 5 million this year.

Here's what our starting lineup looks like entering the regular season:

2013 - Quarterly update 1

21-20 vs Titans
6-9 at Bengals
7-13 vs Bears
17-35 at Vikings

1-3

We get off to a great start against Titans, although Suisham misses 3 FG's.

We can't seem to get going offensively. Ben have had 4 fumbles so far and have not been playing well. A grand total of 7 fumbles in 4 games will hurt you. On the bright side no INT's so far.

Defensively we're playing pretty good. DE Hood has had 2½ sacks. Our passing D is playing well, but we're getting shredded on the ground.

2013 - Quarterly Report 2

6-13 at Jets
41-14 vs Ravens
30-7 at Raiders
11-26 at Patriots

3-5

After the Jets game we alter our gameplan to a mure run-oriented approach and it pays off. Ben Roethlisberger is still struggling, and throws his first pick in the Patriots game. Along with 3 others. His QB-rating is 80.2. Overal we're in the bottom third in terms of yards.

Defensively we're in the better half of the league. 308 yards/game and 17.1 ppg. A bunch of guys are getting pressure on the QB and we're a multiheaded threat. If only we had better players :-)

Incredibly enough 3-5 is enough to lead the division, where the standings looks like this:

Steelers 3-5
Ravens 3-5
Bengals 3-6
Cleveland 3-6

No need to look at this -- I'm watching it in real life with the Steelers --

Jk

2013 Quarterly Report 3

27-9 vs Bills
29-24 vs Lions
13-17 at Browns
13-21 at Ravens

5-7

We're still in the hunt. Ravenslead the division with 6-6. The wild cards are gone by now.

Not really much to report. Besides Ben not quite showing his skill. We're trying to go back to a more balanced approach in the final games of the season.

Excactly.. But this GM is gonna cut the deadweight.

2013 quarterly report 4

29-3 vs Dolphins
6-7 vs Bengals
14-48 at Packers
19-21 vs Browns

6-10

We finish off weak. Loosing at home to both Bengals and Browns.

Antonio Brown does what he can to gain us some wins with 578 yards in the final 4 games. Ben only throw 2 TD's the final 6 games :-(

SEASON SUMMARY

We end in the middle of nowhere. No top-5 pick and no playoffs. All in all an awful season.

New England Patriots beat Green Bay Packers in the SB. Rodgers folds and throws 5 picks, while Brady becomes MVP.

We have none on the all-league teams.

2014 OFFSEASON:

Big changes in the coaching apartment:

Head Coach - Richard Rogers (Former Panthers AC)
Offensive Coordinator - Anthony Lynn (Former Jets AC)
Defensive Coordinator - Bo Hucke
Assistant Coach - John Mitchell (Retained)
Strength Coordinator - Garrett Giemont (Retained)

We make a bunch of cuts. It's time for rebuilding:

G Foster - 1,750,000
DT McLendon - 2,430,000
ILB Foote - 1,500,000
OLB Woodley - 8,000,000

Knowing how much he means to the fans I don't have the stones to cut Polamalu, despite him earning more than I'd like. He has one year left. And he'll get to play that contract out.

Ike Taylor chooses to retire and saves us around 8 million as well.

FREE AGENCY & DRAFT:

Needs:

Going into the later part of the offseason we're are looking to fill many needs, however the greatest needs are these: G, T, DT, CB, S

Free Agency Targets:

TE Michael Hoomanawanui - Signed
LT Brendan Albert - Signed
LG Matt Slauson - Signed
DT Clinton McDonald - Signed
LE Lamarr Houston - Signs with OAK
CB Tony Carter - Signed

Draft:

There's some sure-fire stars in this draft. And there should still be one or two at the 11th. I'll play it cool and let someone drop. As we have so many needs I'm happy with BPA.

I am hoping for CB Miller, QB Schlessinger, RB Griffle, WR Burnett or DT Norman though.

None of them fall. The last one, RB Riffle, goes at 8th

At 11th we have narrowed it down to the following people still on the board:

LG Wilson - 1 red, 3 blue - Very Underrated
SS Hutchings - 2 red, 4 blue - As Scouted

With the 11th overallpick in the 2014 NFL draft. The Pittsburgh Steelers select from Missisipi. SS Danny Hutchins. While we're scared of his high volatility, we're certain he's the next big safety. It's simply too high to pick Wilson who should be a solid late first round pick.

All in all the draft goes as follows:

1.11 - SS Hutchins 32/57
2.10 - LT Purnell 21/60
3.09 - FB Bishop 39/63
4.11 - CB George 14/41
5.10 - DT Miller 17/32
6.09 - QB Johnson 14/26
7.11 - OLB Talley 16/38

With all the needs we have I select a FB in the third? I think he might be worth it! Not really super excited over this class, however I have faith in the first three picks.

Late Free Agency

We sign some UDFA's

PRESEASON 2014

We go 1-3 and loose UDFA DE Trabosh for the year. Besides that nothing special.

Rookie Watch:

1.11 - SS Hutchins 32/57 -> 39/62
2.10 - LT Purnell 21/60 -> 26/56
3.09 - FB Bishop 39/63 -> 44/64
4.11 - CB George 14/41 -> 23/36
5.10 - DT Miller 17/32 -> 21/32
6.09 - QB Johnson 14/26 -> 18/29
7.11 - OLB Talley 16/38 -> 19/37

Here's your 2014 Steelers


Not really a much stronger team than last year player-wise, but definately on the coaching side.

2014 Quarterly report 1:

7-35 at Ravens
19-21 at Saints
7-26 at Miami
20-23 vs Houston

Three tough road games and a slow 0-4 start. Ben plays nothing like a franchise Qb that earns 19 million. Can't keep on the field on third down, and 7 turnovers in 4 games. Ugly.

On the bright side WR Brown has 287 yards recieving and RB Bell has 317 on the ground. Without a fumble.

Defensively we're in shambles. We lost a lot of cohesion, and is expecting lack of communication early on.

As a defense we've been hit by a bunch of injuries to our starters already.

2014 Quarterly report 2:

17-30 at Colts
21-27 at Bengals
30-24 vs Jaguars
3-23 at Titans

1-7 ... We officially suck... But it's not easy when half your starters are playing through injuries.

Well at least we get to evaluate our cap money. At this moment I'm having a hard time figuring out how Ben's 19 millions are justified. Here's his stats through 8 games:

134-275, 1444 yards. 9 TD's, 6INT's, QB Rating of ... 66,4. Oh and 6 fumbles :-(

The defense is holding things together at the moment despite a ppg against of 26.1. (Pretty easy to score TD's when you're in the redzone everytime you take over the ball ;-))

At least we now realise we need to go fully into rebuilding mode. That means it will probably be the last season for QB Roethlisberger, TE Miller, FS Polamalu and ILB Timmons.

2014 Quarterly report 3:

26-19 vs Browns
10-13 vs Ravens
44-17 vs Falcons
24-20 vs Raiders

4-8

Three home wins against weak opponents.

Offense: Roethlisberger has upped his game. Bell has already crossed 1000 yards and is 5th in the league. Our offense has been playing decently the last 4 weeks.

Defense: Our passing d is starting to perform. And in the game against Falcons the defense created a 7 turnovers. And made two scores. SLB Jarvis Jones are emerging as a star LB with 77 tackles, 7 sacks, 2 int's and the teams best PDPct.

2014 Quarterly report 4

17-20 at Buccs
28-21 at Browns
14-23 vs Panthers
28-3 vs Bengals

6-10

Same record as last year. After an abysmal start with 6 losses I believe we've come back. RB Bell misses 3 of the last 4 games with a knee injury.

2014 SEASON SUMMARY

Ben Roethlisberger finishes with a poor 74.1 QB Rating, and had 9 fumbles to go with an already not very flattering statistic. RB Bell ends up with 1216 yards despite only playing 13½ game. Defensively SLB Jarvis Jones has been the MVP. 106 tackles, 11,5 sacks, 3 ints and the teams best PDPct.

After serious consideration we decide not to renew the contracts of the following notable players: TE Miller, C Pouncey*, FS Polamalu.

Besides this we will be cutting QB Roethlisberger after two poor seasons. He's simply not worth the 19 million he will earn next year. We'll also be considering cutting ILB Timmons.

DENVER BRONCOS WINS THE SUPER BOWL AFTER BEATING PACKERS 17-7

OLB Jarvis Jones is selected for the All-league 2nd team

* = After not agreeing to a deal. Pouncey will probably get the franchise tag.

2015 OFFSEASON:

Notable Retirements:

After winning his second SB, QB Peyton Manning decides to retire.

Staff:

Coaches going out:

OC Anthony Lynn gets the Head Coaching job in Tampa Bay.
AC John Mitchell replaced

Coaches going in:

Offensive Coordinator: Doug Pederson, previously OC at Chiefs
Assistant Coach: Chris Houston

Cuts:

QB Roethlisberger - 12,100,000

I decide to keep Timmons. He's been performing pretty well. And we're only saving 7 million if we cut him. At the moment we have 42,000,000 left under the cap.

Franchise Tag:

We tag C Maurkice Pouncey

FREE AGENCY & DRAFT

FREE AGENCY & DRAFT:

Needs:

After cutting Big Ben our biggest needs are: QB, TE, RT, RDE, FS

Free Agency Targets:

QB Cassell 42/42 - Signed
TE Cook 47/47 - Signed
LT Clady 93/93 - Signs with Cardinals
RT Saffold 78/78 - Signs with Bengals
RT Free 44/44 - Signed
DE Heyward 48/48 - Signed
OLB Ingram 44/44 - Signed
CB Dennard 45/45 - Signed
SS Bird 66/66 - Signed

Draft:

We're once again sitting at 11th

We have a couple of targets we hope will fall. I'm not gonna trade up, as we need as many picks over the next couple of years.

I do however really like OLB Jamal Rivera in the 2nd round.

As the draft go by and QB Underwood is still there at 4th I seriously consider trading up for him. I decide not to. He goes at 4th.

When we were on theclock we have three players sitting there, and we decide to trade down and pick up an extra 3rd rounder. (I later trade my two 3rds for a 2nd and a 7th, to take Rivera)

At 15th we pick CB from Tulsa, Craig Riley.



The draft goes as follows:


Late Free Agency

A bunch of UDFA's

PRESEASON 2014

We go 0-4. We loose TE Cook for the first couple of games. Besides that a pretty decent preseason injury-wise

Rookie Watch:

1.11 CB Riley 38/61 -> 44/63
2.10 LT Hargrave 20/52 -> 26/48
2.16 OLB Rivera 19/37 -> 26/46
4.11 DE Hawkins 18/26 -> 21/32
5.10 QB Arsenault 18/46 -> 21/41
6.09 RB Horne 20/34 -> 22/25
7.16 FS Carr 15/30 -> 16/23

Here's your 2015 Steelers


I believe QB Landry Jones has more upside than the suggested future, so I go with him to start the season. We'll rely heavily on RB Le'Veon Bell. Defensively we should be okay. We have a secondary set that once they develop chemistry will become very good.

2015 Quarterly report 1:

21-15 at Browns
23-13 vs Rams
9-24 vs Jets
23-41 vs Chargers

2-2

QB Landry Jones cuts down the teams turnovers in the first two games. And then plays horribly the two next. QB Matt Cassel replaces him in the latter and throws 3 TDs. Im gonna go with Cassell.

Defensively we're getting torched through the air.

2015 Quarterly report 2:


6-2

A great string of games. Our defense is really stepping up. We're in the top-5 in rush d and ppg against. QB Matt Cassel avoids turnovers. He still hasn't thrown his first interception.

Say whaaat?! 9-3. Leading the division by two games. Playoff should be reachable.

QB Cassell are still holding turnovers to a minimum. Playing to a QB rating of 90.1 a lot higher than Big Ben. RB Bell is on pace for 1500 yards and the defense is a 15.1 ppg against. SS Byrd have been a major factor in our defenses succes.

We're good running and against the run. That means a lot of tight games. Let's see if we earn a playoff spot.

10-6! Even though we lost 3 of the final 4 we're in the playoffs!


The first game will be a Wild Card game against Houston Texans. Starring RB Arian Foster that lead the league in rushing with 1900 yards.

Wild Card Weekend:
Houston Texans 20 at 17 Pittsburgh Steelers
We loose to a last second field goal after a tight affair where our guys just didn't make the difference when it mattered. RB Bell collects 184 total yards. ILB Timmons has to leave the game early but collects 10 tackles and a sack on 22 plays. RT Albert and C Pouncey has 5 and 4 key run blocks respectively.

2015 SEASON SUMMARY

A pretty nice turnaround from our rebuilding franchise. The replacement of QB Roethlisberger as our starter paid offas Cassell played with a QB Rating much higher than Ben. RB Bell finishedwith amazing 1500 yards. Defensively SS Byrd has been amazing for our team. 5 int's and 87.7 PDPct. OLB Jones lead the team in sacks with 8.0. The newlon-term deal for C Pouncey makes him play even better, and he end up with an amazing 56 key run blocks.

All-league first team: C Pouncey
All-league second team: FB Bishop, OLB Jones, S Byrd

AROUND THE LEAGUE:

Tom Brady wins his 5th SB, as the Patriots defeat Vikings 38-24.

Rookie RB Donnie Fisk rushed for 2027 yards and 15 TD's

2015 OFFSEASON:

Notable Retirements:

QB Brady
RB Gore
WR Fitzgerald
DE Wake
DE Allen
SLB Suggs
CB Tillman
S Polamalu

Staff:

No coaching changes

Cuts:

After a good but injury-riddled season Timmons gets to play out the final year of his contract.

Franchise Tag:

We will not be needing the tag this year

FREE AGENCY & DRAFT

NEEDS:

Our biggest needs this offseason are: QB, TE, LG, DE & CB

FREE AGENCY TARGETS:

QB Nick Foles 35/39 - Signed
TE Vance McDonald 54/54 - Signed
LG Joe Looney 57/57 - Signed
LDE Corey Wootton 48/48 -Signed
CB Julian Posey 54/54 -Signed

DRAFT:

We've actually found players for our most serious needs. That means we can draft for BPA. But I would like to draft a DE and a QB. We're sitting at 22th but this seem to be a pretty deep draft class.

At 22nd we've narrowed it down to a couple of players, however we believe we can get the one we want if we trade down around 8-10 spots. We could pick up another 3rd. We end up dealing with Green Bay at 29th. We up trading back up to 26th though as we think QB Krohn might have what it takes. His combines doesn't show much. But we seriously need a QB. We're taking a chance here...

Here's our draft class of 2015:


LATE FREE AGENCY

A bunch of UDFA's

BREAKING NEWS: LE'VEON BELL LEAVES PITTSBURGH

25-year-old RB Le'Veon Bell, who's currently holding out, has been traded to the Kansas City Chiefs. The RB was on the last year of his contract and rumours has it, that the organization and Bell was miles apart, and therefore the team elected to trade him.

In a deal most Pittsburgh Steelers fans think is lopsided Pittsburgh sends Le'Veon Bell and their 2nd round pick in 2016 to the Chiefs, who returns their 1st rounder in 2016, and a 2015 6th round pick.

'He was demanding a lot of money' an anonimous source at the club said. 'But if he's holding onto the money as well as he holds on to the football he needs a lot!'. Referring to Bells fumbling problems which might have been the biggest reason why the Steelers won't hand out 11 million a year to him.

With the departure of Bell the offense of Steelers will be non-existant. At the same time the Chiefs has a very good team capable of going deep into the playoffs. The difference could end up being 7-8 places in the draft.

PRESEASON 2015

0-4.. Nothing to see here...

Rookie Watch:

1.26 QB Charles Krohn 10/44 -> 13/30 Bust.. D'oh
2.23 DT Scottie Kaplan 32/64 -> 40/59
3.29 CB Dean Hammond 19/27 -> 23/30
4.04 RG Randall Tullo 20/35 -> 24/37
4.23 RB Byron Lowe 18/26 -> 21/27
5.22 FS Philip Riddols 18/31 -> 22/27
6.23 OLB William Emerson 9/34 -> 13/32
7.05 QB Ron Henry 10/36 -> 14/37



Here's your 2015 Steelers

2-2

Decent start to the season. WR Brown has singlehandedly held the offense going with 341 yards recieving.

We've had 9 interceptions in the 4 games. Second-year player CB Riley and S Byrd has 3 and a score each.

So despite being last in yards against our defense has changed games.

4-4

Still decent. Browns are 6-3, but the division seems very equal. 6 of our last 8 games are at home. So we're not out yet.

Yards wise we're not looking good on either side of the ball, but we have a very good turnover ratio which are keeping us alive.

Jarius Byrd are pleading his case for DPOY with 75 tackles, 1 sack, 6 int's and 2 TD's in 8 games.

7-5

We're holding a wild card spot as Browns lead the division 9-3.

WR Brown reached 1000 yards already and we're still doing good because of takeaways.

But I'm afraid we have som bad news. S Byrd is out for the season. He managed 11 games and 5 plays. He has been incredible this year.

111 tackles, 1 sack, 7 interceptions, 3 ff, 1 fr and 3 defensive scores.

Elsewhere the Chiefs are leading their division, but are only 6-6.

Say whaaaat?! 11-5 and homefield advantage. And that's from a strong division with both wild card teams.

Our defense have been on fire all season. 37 takeaways, and 7 defensive scores. They have been great.

Nick Foles controls our offense pretty nicely. He's playing with an 81.0 Qb Rating and have only thrown 10 interceptions. He has to cut down on the fumbles though.

GAME CRASH

After a divisional final that I win with 2 TD's i try to print to file and the game crashes. My last save is in week 13 :-(

Instead of 11-5 and homefield advantage we go 9-7 and miss the playoffs. I'll wrap this season up pretty quickly as I'm too angry at the game to break down this season.

2016 SEASON SUMMARY

DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: JARIUS BYRD!!

All-League first team: FB Bishop, OLB Jones, CB Riley, S Byrd
All-League second team: WR Brown

AROUND THE LEAGUE:

Cleveland Browns win the Super Bowl... The Team I beat in the divisional playoffs in the crashed season. Typical.

Vikings RB Donnie Fisk rushed for 2059 yards

Browns RB Riffle has 1879+718 yards and 22 total TD's

2017 OFFSEASON:

Notable Retirements:

QB Brees
RB Lynch
WR Andre Johnson
DE Ngata
DT Vilfork


Staff:

Staff going out:

OC Doug Pederson

Staff going in:

OC Chip Kelly, Previously HC at Eagles

Cuts:

OLB Worilds - 4,130,000

Franchise Tag:

We will not be needing the tag this year

FREE AGENCY & DRAFT

NEEDS:

Our biggest needs this offseason are: QB, RB & RG. We could also use depth at TE/WR.

FREE AGENCY TARGETS:

RB Bell 66/66 - Signs with Bengals
WR Peterson 59/59 - Signs with Lions
LG Slauson 44/44 - Signed
DE Goodman 56/56 - Signs with Ravens
RB Ballard 44/44 - Signed
RB Thompson 46/46 - Signed
SS Reid 64/64 - Signs with Raiders

DRAFT:

We have two first round picks. 19 and 22. We hope for a quality QB that falls to 4th.. then We'll trade up. At 4th QB Marzano Harris looks interesting. However we're not convinced by some of his combine numbers despite our scouting reports. These just something about this guy that makes us say no. We stay at 19th.

At 19th there's some talent left. However we try to shop the pick for a pick next year, in the hopes of finding a QB next year. We end up trading it to the Texans for a 1st and a 4th next year.

This is what we ended up with:


I can't find anything in the lower end of this draft so we trade our last 4 picks for a 4th rounder next year. Generally I struggled during this draft. I think and hope West will become a beast though.

LATE FREE AGENCY:

We sign some UDFA and scrubs

PRESEASON 2017

3-1... Backup TE McDonald out for most of the season.

Rookie Watch:

1.22 TE West 34/66 -> 39/60
3.19 WR Schroeder 23/47 -> 28/41
4.20 OLB Brohm 15/28 -> 18/33

Here's your 2017 Steelers

3-1 Tied for first place in the division with Browns and Bengals

Off to a good start. An important victory over Houston. we hold their 1st rounder remember :-)

Statistics wise nothing really stand out at the moment. Other than we're -1 in the turnover ratio and still winning games. That didn't happen last season!

6-2 and leading the division. 1 game ahead of Browns.

RB Thompson are on pace for 1300 yards rushing and WR Brown for 1300 yards recieving. We're pretty much in the middle of the league in every statistical category. Besides PPG :-)

9-3. Leading the division and battling out Colts for home-field advantage.

WR Brown has reached 1100 yards. QB Foles plays with a QBR of 83.8. Our defense is strong against the pass, and while we're not creating the amount of turnovers as last year CB Riley has snatched 5 ints.

12-4 and a first round bye.

Team statistics are still in the middle of the bunch. However we've improved to +7 in turnovers, and are very good in both red zones.

QB Foles are playing well with a QBR of 86.9. RB Thompson has overachieved and run for 1159 yards. WR Brown continues being our biggest factor on offense with 1448 yards. SLB Jones are still a very good alrounder on defense, with a bunch of tackles and 7 sacks. CB Riley ends the season with 6 int's.

Divisional Playoffs:
New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers

Patriots

Patriots are lead by QB Juan Besmer along with the recieveing trio of WR Dobson, WR Streater and TE Gronkowski who has nearly 3000 yards combined. The real strength of the offense is the offensive line. Which opens nice lanes for under-average RB Zolak and RB Thomas.

Defensively they're strong against the pass. Their passing defense is lead by all-pro S Tavon Wilson who's had 8 interceptions this year. Strongly helped by DE Jones that has racked up 13 sacks.

Fortunately for Steelers. RT Vollmer is out with a seperated shoulder and the right side of the offensive line looks shaky.

Steelers

Lead by reciever duo WR Brown at 1448 yards and WR Wheaton at 954, QB Foles has had a career year with a QB rating of 86.9. Behind him at tailback RB Thompson has been a pleasant surprise and has 1159 yards.

Defensively Steelers has 6 guys with at least 2 int's and 8 with at least 2 sacks. It's a wellrounded unit with few star players. CB Riley with 6 int's and OLB Jones with 7 sacks have been the highlight.

Healthwise we're looking pretty good!

Divisional Playoffs:
New England Patriots at Pittsburgh Steelers 11-34


Although we nearly pissed it away with a bunch of turnovers in the second half. We held their ground game to 32 yards and that was one of the main reasons behind the win.

Game MVP, RB Thompson with 113 yards and a score on 24 carries.