Amaroq's first FoF2001 career

[Amaroq]

Or, "The Chargers and the Wolves".

I thought you all would get entertainment out of listening to a long-time FOF2'ers cries of consternation when his draft choices bust, his reserves demand millions, and his team loses Super Bowl after Super Bowl. Oh yeah, its all here, in living color.

Rather than play an "empty cubbard" game for my first season, I decided to take over my Chargers, who if real life is any prediction, should have gone 1-15. For house rules, I opted to prevent myself from signing Free Agents prior to the 2000 season, and to only replace for injury through the year, functionally beginning
to manage the team between the 2000 and 2001 seasons. I decided to let myself re-sign players in the
last year of their contract only, although I will let myself negotiate terms with players. I let the computer
sign my draft choices, and won't trade except for computer-initiated trades and one during-draft user-initiated trade, specifically, swapping places in a round of the draft, or moving up or down one round in a draft. I did decide not to do seven-year contracts for undrafted free agents, preferring a three-year contract for them. I did not put any limits on when I could renegotiate, or when I could sign free agents. However, I planned to take over one of the last two expansion teams and adopt QuikSand's house rules with an empty cupboard team at that point. The ticket-price-cap rule I really liked, and so I was using San Francisco and Arizona as my two nearby comparison points, allowing myself the higher of either price.

[Amaroq]

2000

My initial assessment of the team was pretty grim. I needed a reserve center, an offensive tackle, and a defensive tackle for position balance. Fortunately, I had seven guards; surely some of them could convert positions. My #7 guard, Wilbert Brown, converted into a center with no run-blocking ability but some pass blocking. My #6 guard, Kendyl Jacox, converted into a tackle with no ability whatsoever. This prompted me to try converting another guard to tackle. My #5 guard actually had some future potential, so I tried converting my #4 guard Raleigh Roundtree. Raleigh, unfortunately, handled the change just as poorly. Unfortunate. Rookie DE Vonnie Vonnegut made the switch to DT much more easily.

Next, we were seven men over the 53-man roster limit. To address that I began cutting players: my fifth QB, Sherdick Bonner; third and fourth TE's Steve Heiden and David Binn; fourth DE Cedric Harden, and fifth S Reggie Rusk. The converted Jacox was a 0/0/50 at T, and also failed to make the cut. A rookie named Courney Kearney 13/4/72 will be starting. Ouch. But, we were down to 53 men. According to the "Franchise Value" screen, they're an Excellent roster - very strange. Looking at the roster, especially the corners, I saw a team that would get burned repeatedly during the season. The tactic I can think of trying is to set the corners up with "top" covering the enemy's best receiver, and play it backwards. I put my number two corner in the "top" slot, and give him the free safety, setting my "Double cover top receiver with best CB and FS" to 99. I hoped that could limit the damage.

At quarterback, we had veteran Jim Harbaugh and young franchise disappointment Ryan Leaf. With Leaf at the helm, we lost our four pre-season games by a combined margin of 138-34. Adding injury to insult, starting DE Raylee Johnson dislocated his shoulder and should miss the first four games, if I had a fourth DE to take his place. When the regular season starts, I put Harbaugh at QB, Chancey at RB, Jones at TE, and Graham and Conway at WR.

Our first game is in Oakland. In real life, I was in the stadium for a tedious 9-6 Raiders win, but in FoF2001, Robert Chancey ran for 103 yards and Harbaugh passed for a 109.0 rating as we beat Oakland 28-13. We've equalled the real 2000 Chargers' win total in our first game. C Roman Fortin and FB Fred McCrary were injured, but I asked both to continue starting anyways. At home, we beat New Orleans 30-24 behind a 14-catch, 219 yard receiving day from Jeff Graham. Chancey carried the team in Kansas City, running 18 times for 232 yards and 3 TDs. DE Johnson returns for the fourth week, and we go to 4-0 by beating Seattle 25-10. Unfortunately, Johnson re-injured himself.

Our first true test came in Saint Louis in Week 5. The defending champions were 4-0 and had allowed only 23 points all year. Warner passed for 335 yards, and finally, we lost a game, but 30-20 was a respectable score. At home against winless Denver, we improved to 5-1 with a 21-10 win, but we provided Buffalo with only their second win of the season the next week, losing 16-13. I was very pleased to be 5-2 at the bye. The next week, the Raiders came to San Diego, tied with us for the division lead. They dominated us 31-8, and I started thinking wildcard spot. Painful injury of the day: Curtis Conway tore an ACL and is out for most of the year with Arthriscopic Knee Surgery.

Harbaugh rebounded the following week, with 322 yards passing and a 27-12 win in Seattle. However, in front of the home crowd the next week, we get crushed by Miami, 41-14. We beat Denver 27-24, but star RB Chancey and WR Graham were injured. Chancey had 778 yards and a 5.0 avg per carry after 11 games, but a broken arm will keep him out for the season. Terrell Fletcher took over at RB. Graham I decided to leave in, as Conway is already hurt and my #4 receiver is awful. But without Chancey, we lost to heretofore 1-10 Kansas City - in San Diego. After a great start, we were 7-5. Perhaps teams were figuring out how to work around that double coverage.

Then we got shut out by the 49ers at home, 16-0, and had gone 3-6 for our last nine games. I decided to make a switch, pulling Harbaugh for Leaf at QB. A 41-7 defeat by Baltimore was my reward, as Leaf was true to life, throwing for 138 yards, 3 interceptions, and a 22.2 rating. Worse, Jeff Graham re-injured his knee. Fortunately, Conway was feeling well enough to replace him, and my desire to see Leaf had abated: Harbaugh returns. We beat Carolina 17-9, and at 8-7 our destiny was in our own hands. We would make the playoffs if we could win our final game. But no, the collapse was total. Pittsburgh sent us home in time for the holidays, 23-16.

Peyton Manning led the league in passing with 4640 yards, while Billy Joe Tolliver threw for 36 touchdowns - a special mockery for a Chargers fan. Priest Holmes led the league in rushing with 1495 yards, and Darnay Scott had 94 catches for Seattle. Kurt Warner led the Rams to the Super Bowl, where he had a 29-44 day, 391 yards and 4 TDs, leading the Rams to a 35-23 victory over the New England Patriots.

For the first time in my FOF career, I had a player lead the league in tackles, as Junior Seau shored up my sorry squad with 126 tackles. He was rewarded with a 1st-team All-Pro selection, as were S Rodney Harrison and P Darren Bennett. Harbaugh finished up with 3379 yards, more Ints than TDs, and a 69.8 rating. Mikhael Ricks was my top receiver, with 54 catches for 911 yards due to the injures to Conway and Graham. Robert Chancey finished the year with 778 yards. Belying our 8-8 record, we rated a Power Ranking of 24, third lowest in the league.

[Amaroq]

2001

I was looking forward to being in control of the team thoroughly in 2001. At 8-8, I felt that maybe we didn't have as far to go as I'd expected to. The first thing I wanted was a new stadium. Fan support for the idea was at 80, and Jack Murphy opened in 1967 and only seats 60,000. So, I proposed building a $400 million, 78,000 seat, new outdoor stadium, and offered to cover a third of the costs. Also of note, third-string S Greg Jackson retired.

It was a tough choice who to select as my Franchise Player. WR Jeff Graham and RB Robert Chancey were both big contributers, and I also had 16-game starters Al Fontenot at DE and Vaugh Parker at OT becoming free agents. After some deliberation, I named Jeff Graham my Franchise Player, although Chancey is good and Parker was my only OT worth having. I had about $10m free under the cap, not including my draft costs, and decided to see what I can do about getting help at OT and CB. CB Todd Lyght, T Adam Meadows, and T Glenn Parker were all decent, and Lyght signed quickly for a 3 year, $10m deal. Parker re-signed with the Giants, so I made an offer to New England T Grant Williams. Meadows agreeed to terms on a 4 year, $15m deal, and Williams - chosen for his extremely low loyalty - signed a 2 year, $7m deal. That took care of all my cap room. In fact, I realized I would need to do some maneuvering before the draft to retain Graham. Robert Chancey was in talks with Tampa about a $14m, 3 season contract, but he held out too long, and the Bucs made enough other signings that his contract would've put them over the cap. At the end of free agency, he is still nominally on my roster. The biggest signings of free agency were QB Jeff Blake who left New Orleans to go to Miami. QB Tony Graziani, an awful reserve QB who hadn't played a down for Atlanta, was the biggest benificiary, as he received a 4-year, $30m contract to remain with the team.

By my house rules, and my players' offers, the only "wiggle room" I had to resign Graham with was CB Darryl Lewis. Lewis was an 11th-year CB with poor ratings (a 34 according to my scout) who had a $5m salary this season. His agent wanted a lot high salary and a higher proportional signing bonus. I decided I didn't want to take a chance on getting stuck with another high-bonus cuttee - I already had Leaf, after all. So I cut Lewis to re-sign Graham. Graham signed for four seasons.

I went to my first FoF2001 draft. I felt comfortable about my offensive line, WRs, and TEs, but a standout quarterback or running back would help this team dramatically. My other likely first round picks would be a DE and, I'm sure you're surprised to hear, a CB. I expected to draft three, possibly four corners in this draft - given the frequency of late-round skilled CBs in FoF2. Rod Dion of Mississippi was the only QB worth taking in the draft - nearly 50% current and almost maxxed potential, and Kansas City selected him with the number one overall pick. Not only will he not be around for my 13th selection, but he'll be in my division as well. There were four quality running backs in the draft, and three of them got selected #2, #3, and #4. I was tempted to trade up to the #5 slot, but there were still a DE and a CB that I think are worth selecting even if the running back run continues. It didn't, the next selection was the worthwhile DE. It felt as though the AI was drafting my needs alone - there were still a great G, a WR, and a stud S that haven't been touched. I did feel very lucky about deciding to go free agency for my tackles, as there weren't any worth mentioning in the draft. The G went sixth, and the last good RB went seventh. Another RB followed in 8th, then a DE and one of the two top LBs in the draft. I was fixated on the corner, Scottie Keeler, of Washington State because there weren't any others who would even make my pathetic squad - or so I thought. When I went to the Free Agents screen and asked my Scout to rank players by future potential, there was a second, Christian Fulton of Miami, who was rated very low on the "combine" future potential scale. I opted not to trade up for my corner, and he did fall through, with a WR going #11 and the other LB #12. I'd noticed in FoF2 that teams would typically pick by combine current value, and Fulton actually outranked Keeler there, so I picked up CB Fulton and hoped that Keeler would fall through to the second round. That algorithm has apparently been fixed, though, as Keeler was picked up #23 overall by Carolina.

When it came to be my choice in round 2, there didn't appear to be much on the board. In FoF2, of course, there were tons of talented players - this draft looked unbelievably sparse to me. However, I did notice one player with a very odd square shape: QB Craig Ellard was listed as 25/51 on every one of his ratings, save 3rd down, scrambling, and carrying. There was also a RB with high endurance and carrying, and average numbers. I decided to take the back: RB Preston Kaplan, out of Carson-Newman college, and hope that Ellard will fall through. There were still two QBs rated higher than Ellard on both present and future. Oakland took one with the 27th pick of Round 2, but the other one fells to the 11th pick of Round 3. With the 13th pick of Round 3, I took QB Craig Ellard of Rhode Island. The FoFCentral board had warned me that there were busts and breakouts, so I was sure Ellard would be one or the other. I felt it was worth gambling a third-round pick to see if he'd be the next Dan Fouts for this team. By Round 4, there was little left worth mentioning, and I took a second CB, Isaac Matheny from Auburn, because he showed current values of around 20 in everything, and 67 future in zone coverage. In Round 5, I took a T from BYU, Pete Matock, and Round 6 got me a DE from Navy named Daryl Ostrowski, selected for having no green bars whatsoever. Round 7 gave me a roster-filler at CB, Chad Reilly from Texas Tech.

After the draft, I re-signed DE Al Fontenot and picked up an undrafted running back, Grant Lane. Chancey had become expendable with the drafting of Preston, so I started training camp with 51 men on my 53-man roster. I wanted to go through training camp before deciding on my lineup because I'd heard that player's skills can change at camp. I went through training camp, and it was time to see what had happened with my rookies. CB Fulton had a very reasonable 6-year contract and all his skills intact. He would be a starter for me immediately. RB Kaplan, had a 4-year deal and looked like he would plug that gap admirably. QB Ellard, who I was hoping would be a breakout, was instead a complete bust, giving me my first introduction to FoF2001 by showing up to camp with zeros for every stat save the three constant ones. At least he's low-paid enough that there wouldn't be much cap hit for releasing him. DE Ostrowski and CB Reilly were showing more future potential than they used to, but there's still not much there. Finally, the city rejected my stadium proposal.

With Leaf at the helm, we went 3-1 in preseason, but I was still determined to put Harbaugh in for the regular season. Kaplan would start at RB, Graham and Mikhael Ricks were my receivers. The guard that I opted not to convert into a tackle last season, Monty Tejada, had developed enough that he was starting for me this year. With the two free-agent tackles, that meant I'm starting three new men on the OL, and the Cohesion reflects it - it was the second least Cohesive line in the league.

We again opened the season in Oakland, but this time the Raiders won, 27-10. G Tejada sprained his neck, losing his starting job. Week 2, we lost in Denver 35-28, despite 298 yards out of Harbaugh. Kansas City was also 0-2, and stud QB Dion, after starting two games, was hurt and will miss a couple weeks. My Chargers came home against Miami, and got our first win, 38-10, on the strength of 111 yards from Preston Kaplan. We won on the road against the Jets, 31-14. We'd gone 2-2 to start the season; the Raiders were 4-0.

We beat the Giants 17-7 in New York, and came home against Kansas City. Dion was back in the lineup, but playing poorly, and helped us to a 17-10 victory by throwing five interceptions, three to Rodney Harrison! A 26-23 loss in Washington stopped the winning streak at four, but a 27-21 win against Seattle got us back to 5-3.

We beat Arizona 24-13, and won a tough game against a good Tennessee squad 34-24 to go into our bye 7-3. A win in Kansas City 31-17 set up a game for the lead of the division, in San Diego against the hated Oakland Raiders. Despite hundred-yard performances from Kaplan and Graham, the men in black took the day 36-20. At 8-4, we were still two games up in the hunt for a wildcard berth, but the division title would have to wait.

We lost a close one to Dallas, 20-17, but a game against Denver had always been good for a win, and at 30-6, our next one was no exception. Still, two games up with two to play, we needed only one win against two losing record teams to qualify. Seattle didn't co-operate, beating us 27-0 and injuring four starters. I tried to let them all play against Baltimore, but we still lost 13-12, sliding to 9-7 but making it into the playoffs on a tiebreaker with Cinncinati.

This brought up a rematch in Tennessee, with the Titans. McNair came out throwing, and they drove to a field goal early. On their second possession, George broke free for a 67 yard TD, and then McNair hit a 47-yard pass which brought them down to the three. They converted, and we were down 17-0 after a quarter. They added an interception return for a TD and a 38 yard George TD run in the 2nd putting them up 31-0 still in the second quarter! Harbaugh directed us to two FGs in the final two minutes of the half, then led a long drive for a TD in the third quarter. McNair then threw for touchdowns at each end: one an interception and the other a TD pass, and it was 38-20 at the start of the 4th. Three more Harbaugh interceptions sealed it, and the final was an ugly 55-20 drubbing. Eddie George set playoff records with 203 yards rushing and 3 TDs. Tennessee also knocked Oakland out, which salved my wounds somewhat, but it was New England who represented the conference in the Super Bowl against Carolina.

It was a classic game. Carolina led 10-7 at the half, and 17-7 in the third, but Bledsoe took the Patriots to a 21-17 lead with ten minutes remaining. However, Carolina WR Mushin Muhammad had a miracle play, catching a short pass in the flat, fumbling it, only to recover and advance it 74 yards for a score. With four minutes remaining, New England tied it at 24 on an Olindo Mare field goal. Buerlein led the Panthers downfield in the two minute drill, setting up a long 56-yard field goal attempt with 1:03 remaining. John Kasay hit it! But Bledsoe wasn't done yet. He drove the Patriots sixty yards to set up a tying 32-yarder as time ran out, and Mare was perfect, setting up a 27-27 tie and a Super Bowl overtime. A battle for field position turned into a sustained Carolina drive, and Anthony Johnson punched it in from one yard out to give the Panthers a 33-27 victory.

Chris Chandler of Atlanta led the league with 4637 yards, 30 TDs, and a 95.4 rating. Keyshawn Johnson led the league with 93 catches for Tampa while Oakland's Napolean Kaufman led the league with 1400 yards rushing.

For my squad, Harbaugh had 3405 yards, 22 TDs, and a 76.6 rating. WR Jeff Graham was second in the league with 1220 yards on 79 catches, while RB Preston Kaplan finished with 967 yards. S Rodney Harrison ended up with 8 interceptions. Seau again led the league in tackles, this time with 122, and was a 1st team All-Pro. Rookie Christian Fulton, in addition to starting every game at corner, had two TDs on returns, and was #2 in the league for PR average and KR average.

[Amaroq]

2002

G Kevin Gogan retired. I fired both my Coach and Scout for some young talent, bringing in Renaldo Cunningham (40, E/F/V/V/P/G/V F/V/G/P/P/G/P) as Coach to help groom my yet-to-be-drafted star quarterback, and Jackie Ostrowski (31, G/F/G/G/V V/F/G/G) to find him. Cunningham I selected on the basis of his Excellent QB rating combined with Very Good young talent. My only star players going free agent were Harbaugh, P Darren Bennett, and K John Carney. Through my lack of cap maneuvering room last season combined with my disgust with the corps, all of my linebackers save Seau were also heading towards free agency. I tagged Bennett with the Franchise Tag, and again proposed my 70,000 seat $400m facility, this time offering to pay 50%. An expansion team, the Topeka Stars entered the AFC West with me, but refused to take any of my players. (Keeping bust QB Ellard *did* have a purpose!)

In Free Agency, I signed LB Dwayne Rudd (the league's second-leading tackler last year) from Minnesota for a $10m, 3 year contract. Harbaugh left for San Francisco, which offered him a ridiculous $19m contract over three years, more than I could imagine paying him. I picked up more help at LB, picking up John Mobley from Denver for $8m over 3 years, and re-signed Carney to a 3-year deal. Late in Free Agency, I picked up S Reggie Tongue from Seattle for a $4.6m, 3 year deal, because safeties were always a weak position in FoF2.

Before the draft, I made a list of my expected bust / breakout players, identifying a QB I thought would be a bust, Sam Fulcher, and a QB I thought would be a find, Morris Curry. I went to the draft hoping to find some good linebackers, and in desperate need of a starting-quality quarterback. According to my scout, there was only one worth considering, Shane Crawford, and I was sure he would go first overall. He did going to expansion Topeka. The Chiefs had the second pick, and again took a QB, thw one I had identified as a bust, Sam Fulcher. He had the same square shape as Ellard the previous year. When it came my turn in the first round, the best linebacker was still available, as was a good WR and a solid corner. I found myself drawn to the corner, Mel Murphy of East Carolina, for his excellent potential in man-to-man coverage, which I intended to use a lot. So, with the 19th spot, I took the 6'3", 181lber. By round two, the star linebackers were gone, and looking at what I had at QB, I knew I needed someone, anyone, as a stopgap. I picked up Shawn Hastings, a 6'7" 219 lber out of Illinois with potentials of around fifty across the board. In round 3, I addressed that linebacking need, picking up Richard Watson of Iowa State, with potentials between 50 and 70. In Round 4, I got a decent WR, Monty Detmer of Florida State. I'd considered taking him in Round 3, and he was still around in four. In FoF2, that would never happen in FoF2 - and there would never have been a receiver worth taking so late. In Round 5, the QB I'd identified as a potential breakout was still available. 6'3" Morris Curry of Colorado State had almost no future potential showing whatsoever, so I selected him. In Round 6, I took a decent reserve TE, Doug Caldwell. In Round 7, I took a stab at a pathetic linebacker, Lewis Pearson, who had no green whatsoever.

After the draft, I turned my eye to my salary cap and re-signing players. I had no cap room and only 46 men on the roster, so I knew I would need to make some sweeping cuts. I first addressed my wide receiver corps. Cutting Curtis Conway, who spent last year injured and caught only six passes, freed $3m. Cutting Charlie Jones was worth another $1.5m. This let me re-sign WR Cassidy Timberlake, who hasn't performed well to date but looks like he should step up this year. On the line, T Grant Williams agreed to a 2-year extension of his contract, and I brought in free agent G James Dexter, a non-contributor at Carolina who wanted the league minimum for three seasons - as opposed to incumbent DeMingo Graham, who wanted $1.8m a year to return as a reserve. But then, imagine my surprise. I went to look at available first year quarterbacks, and found the #1 and #3 overall selections. Topeka had been unable to find cap room to sign #1 pick Shan Crawford! I, of course, was nowhere near having enough room under the cap to sign him, not to mention the fact that I thought I'd lose all my respect in QuikSand's eyes if I reported just picking him up off the scrap heap that way! I decided that the appropriate thing was to make a trade to Topeka for the rights to negotiate with Crawford, and gave them QB Ryan Leaf, 16-game starter at DE Al Fontenot, and my 1st round pick in 2003 for a high-salary scrapheap player from their expansion draft and the putative rights to negotiate with Crawford. I was able to sign Crawford to a five-year deal at around $3m a year.

At this point, my salary cap plight was so dire that I had to go on a 1st-year-player shopping spree. I angled for three-year minsal deals, but found they were rejecting that! I had to sign them all with bonuses. I cut last year's bust QB, Craig Ellard, and replaced him with first year QB Carlos Perkins. At RB, I released $1.5m back Terrell Fletcher, who had only 200 yards the past two seasons, and signed rookie RBs Alan Conley and Brandon Hempstead. I signed Hempstead to a seven year deal just to see if the indentured servant program still worked; it did. First year wideouts Nick Weaver and Joey Gunn brought me up to six WRs, and C Chad Chart gave me the required second center. On the defensive side of the ball, third-year cornerback Tommie Gaines was just awful, so I cut him as well. That freed up enough room to re-sign a 16-game starter each of the past two seasons, LB Gerald Dixon. He wasn't very good, but continuity helps, right? After losing Fontenot, I needed a third DE and signed first year DE Tracy McRoth. This left me with 51 active players and no cap room.

I went to camp. QB Morris Curry was, in fact, a find, as I had guessed, although Crawford would still be my number one. Looking around the league, the Chief's number two overall selection at QB was a huge bust, as was their second round pick at S. I'd also successfully identified (and ignored) the top linebacker, who was selected by Dallas at the 22nd pick and failed to even make their 53-man lineup. Not all my pre-draft pick/bust identifications were correct, but enough of them that I think I have it figured out. Future drafts may get a little bit easier. Despite not playing an empty-cupboard roster, 22 of my 51 players are already FoF-generated, not real NFL players, and five of the real players are Chargers rookies from 2000. With four rookie quarterbacks and three rookie wide receivers, I have a passing Cohesion of only 39, worse even than Topeka's! (This answers another oft-asked board question - clearly experience with any team definitely counts for something in Cohesion, because I have four receivers who have been on the team from before 2001, and Topeka clearly cannot have anyone on-team before 2002. Still, they only have one rookie, a low-round wideout.) In preseason, I decide to cut S Mike Dumas (24 starts, 3 picks) for cap purposes. I can sign Damien Robinson to replace him at S, and sign a stellar veteran DE, Rich Owens of Miami, who is willing to take a three year deal. He replaces Fontenot in my starting lineup. I now have 52 players, plus enough cap space to sign one first-year player during the year, as injuries may require.

The past two seasons, I'd sat Harbaugh through the preseason because he was old and likely to get hurt. With a star future potential QB, I started Crawford for the first three preseason games to season him a bit before the regular season. We lost the first, but won the next two. I made Crawford inactive for the last one, and without him we got shut out in the finale. I felt quite upbeat as we went to the regular season, however.

Its become a tradition that the Chargers open the season against Oakland. This time, it was at home, and Crawford went 18-35-243 with only one int in his debut, but we lost 17-7 due to going 2 of 12 on third downs. DE Raylee Johnson had a severe hamstring pull, and would be out most of the regular season. The following week, we lost at home to Denver, 16-7. An injury to RB Kaplan put undrafted rookie Brandon Hempstead in the lineup the following week. On the road against Buffalo, he picked up 110 yards and led the team to a 22-21 victory. But, we lost at home the following week to Green Bay, 28-14, and fell to 1-3, bringing up the tail of the division.

We set off on and odd three-game road trip which encompassed the other three 1-3 teams of the division. The first was against Kansas City, but their star QB Rod Dion threw for 262 yards and 3 TDs, overshadowing a 142 yard, 2 TD performance by my WR Jeff Graham. In fact, those two accounted for all the scoring as Kansas City won 21-14. Next week, Seattle handed us a loss, 19-3. Finally, we got to face expansion Topeka. My Star QB, Shane Crawford, went down early with a toe injury, and Morris Curry went 24-34-275 to lead us to victory, 19-10. The following week, against the New York Jets defense, Curry looked very mortal, and we lost 26-7. Halfway through the season, we were 2-6. Oakland, at 5-2, led the division, and the only team we were ahead of was the expansion Topeka Stars.

At home against a good Detroit team, we got blown out 40-13. Curry had thrown nine interceptions in three games, and after we got our bye week, Crawford was healthy again, so Shane went back into the fray. He was without his favorite target, Jeff Graham, who had dislocated his elbow and should miss most of the remaining games. Crawford outduelled Dion in his first game back, as we prevailed over the Chiefs 24-21. On the road against Denver, WR Cassidy Timberlane caught for 101 yards, justifying my faith in him, and we won 14-10. Timberlane added 142 yards against Topeka the next week, but we lost at home to the expansion team, 23-20. The Chargers, Stars, and Chiefs are all tied at 4-8, and Topeka had my first-round draft choice next year.

On the road against a strong Tampa Bay squad, we won a shootout 35-21. The division leading Raiders beat us 19-14 in Oakland, but we did defeat Seattle 27-20 when they come to town. The last game of the year is a defeat against Chicago, and we finish 6-10, ahead of Kansas City (6-10) and Topeka (5-11). The Raiders won the division at 12-4, and Seattle advanced as a wildcard at 10-6. The Raiders won their two AFC playoff games, winning the Championship game 31-10 and advancing to the Super Bowl, where they faced a tough St. Louis squad. The Raiders took a 3-0 lead to halftime, but Marshall Faulk came alive in the second half, picking up 145 yards and 2TDs, as the Rams won the Super Bowl 24-3.

Rookie QB Crawford finished the season with 2058 yards, 14 TDs to only 11 picks, and a 74.2 rating. Hempstead led the team with 694 yards rushing, and Timberlane contributed 80 catches for 1119 yards. On defense, Mobley led the team in tackles with 108 and Owens contributed 13 sacks. Drew Bledsoe led the league in passing with 4116 yards and 26 TDs; Dion had 3880 and an 86.8 rating in his second year at Kansas City. Ryan Leaf started 14 games for Topeka and had the league's worst passer rating: 9 TDs to 19 picks left him with a 57.2, and Jim Harbaugh started 15 for San Francisco with a 65.0 rating. I felt I had certainly done better than either of them would have with me! 2nd year back Eddie Oliver of Seattle led the league with 1451 yards rushing, 3 ahead of the Raiders' Napolean Kaufman. Terance Mathis had 112 catches for Atlanta, and Baltimore's Ray Lewis led the league in tackles with 145 - and ran three interceptions back for TDs en route to the Defensive Player of the Year award. None of my players made the All-League teams.

[Amaroq]

2003

Junior Seau retired, and I made DT John Parella my Franchise Player. This meant letting WR Ricks and S Robinson explore free agency. With Leaf's accelerated signing bonus hitting the cap, I knew I didn't have the means to play during free agency, and Parella had started all 48 games for me. As things played out, I couldn't make enough room to re-sign Parella, anyways.

It turned out to have been the #5 pick overall that I had traded to Topeka for Crawford, but I was still pleased. I replaced Parella in the second round with a DT from Georgetown, Nathan Velasquez, who showed good pass rushing potential if limited ability against the run. In the third round, I picked up another DT, Rod Roberson of Miami, Ohio. In Round 4 I drafted a RB from Fresno State, Norbert Peters, who looked like he could compete for my starting job. In Round 5 I picked up a WR, Bert Flylum, who had some skills. In Round 6, I got a linebacker to fill out my corps, and in Round 7 I wanted a second kick returner and needed a fourth safety, so I found a S, Rico Basile, with no skills save his kick returning.

After the draft, I found myself needing to re-sign starting G Monty Tejada, who was an RFA, and I had no room under the cap. The only player I felt was overpaid was CB Todd Lyght, who at $3m salary was refusing to renegotiate in a way that would fit under the cap. Despite his exemplary service over the past two seasons, I was forced to waive him so I could re-sign Tejada. This also left enough room to sign WR Germane Crowell, a free agent from Detroit.

During preseason, I started Crawford against the Giants and Packers. He led the team to over thirty points in each game, but we split them. With Curry at the helm, we won the last two, finishing preseason at 3-1. Entusiasm abounded for the new season - Crawford in particular had developed very well.

The league broke with tradition, setting us up with Kansas City for the opener instead of the Raiders. I thought it was good to start against a 6-10 team, but Rod Dion threw for 3 TDs and the Chiefs beat us 21-11. In our first home game, however, the defense brought it all together, and we shut out Seattle 26-0. We beat Atlanta on the road 23-17 when Crawford broke out for 317 yards passing, and after an early bye week we were 2-1. Another 333 yard, 3TD day for the young star and we beat New England 34-6 in California to advance to 3-1. Kansas City led the division at 4-1, with Oakland also 3-1.

Sadly, both Graham and Crowell were injured, and so I had my Timberlane and the second-year player Monty Detmer starting at WR against Topeka. In the first quarter, disaster struck. Crawford injured his elbow, and Curry takes over. He performed admirably, coming through for 297 yards, 2TDs, and a come-from-behind 34-31 victory. Timberlane stepped up when I needed him with 130 yards. This left me a difficult question: start the Questionable Crawford at home against 4-1 Oakland? I decided to go with Curry, and, at home at least, he looked good. Timberlane caught another 126 yards as we won 25-16. At home again, this time against New Orleans, I started Curry a second time but he sputtered, and we lost 17-10, failing to capitalize on Kansas City losing. On the road against Miami, Crawford returned to the pocket, but despite good numbers from the QB, we lost 27-21, falling to third in the division at 5-3. The Raiders and Chiefs were both 6-2.

On the road against defending Champions St. Louis, I was amazed that our defense could hold them to only field goals, but the offense was inept and we lost 12-7. We breezed through Denver, escaping with a 35-21 win and no serious injuries. Then we faced Seattle, but the tough home crowd helped them defeat us 23-19. A tough road game against the Raiders followed, and I'll describe it to you. Crawford hit Crowell for a 48 yard score early, and we were up 10-0 after one. Both defenses were stiff in the second quarter, and in the third we traded touchdowns, leaving it 17-10 after three quarters. Then Crawford took over, hitting two touchdown passes to make it 31-13, and although the Raiders were able to score and recover an onside kick, the final of 31-28 was closer than it would appear. We advanced to 7-5. With four games left, we had a provisional playoff spot, although K.C. was 9-3 and Oakland was still 8-4 and ahead of us.

We beat Denver at home. This time it was a closer game, 19-18, but every win counts. It set up a great situation, as we were tied with Pittsburgh at 8-5 for the last AFC playoff spot, and they had to come to San Diego. The defense was tireless, and we beat the Steelers 16-6. That brought up Kansas City at home. We were manhandling them 23-7 in the fourth quarter when Crawford broke his arm. He would be out for the playoffs. Curry polished off the quarter, and we got a bittersweet win, 37-7. The only good news was, with three teams at 10-5, we were now leading the division with one game to play. Only a road match against hapless Topeka stood between us and a first-round bye. Curry stepped up and threw 4 TDs, guiding us to a 31-19 win and the hallowed land of homefield advantage throughout the AFC playoffs.

Kansas City and Oakland both won their wildcard games, and we draw Oakland. The very first play from scrimmage, Curry hit Crowell for a 73-yard touchdown! On our second drive, we go to the run more, and rookie RB Peters broke a 31-yard touchdown. After one quarter, we'd outgained them 190-16 and held a 14-0 lead. Curry added another TD pass in the second quarter, and in the second half the rain started coming down, stymieing both offenses. We added a field goal and an interception return for a touchdown, and I had my first playoff win, 31-0 over my biggest rivals. Kansas City was eliminated by Jacksonville. It was raining again in sunny San Diego for the AFC Championship game, but John Carney hit two long field goals early on for me. Jacksonville got a field goal in the second, but Curry led the two minute drill to a touchdown in the dying seconds of the half, and we went to halftime ahead 13-3. DE Rich Owens came through with a sack and fumble in the third quarter, setting up a short field touchdown, and it was 20-3 after three periods. The Jaguars got it going in the fourth, scoring a touchdown, but Curry answered by driving us the length of the field and making it 30-10, which was the final. The Super Bowl! And defending champions St. Louis scored a touchdown on the last play of the game to beat Washington 35-28, so Kurt Warner and company would be my opponents. My only stroke of luck was that Marshall Faulk was injured, and would miss the game.

We held them on their first drive, and on the punt return, Fulton found a seam and brought it back 71 yards to put the Chargers ahead 7-0 and silence the St. Louis home crowd! However, St.Louis still had enough good wideouts to make my "double cover their top wideout" trick ineffective, and Warner led them 77 yards for the tying score. Curry's first series was a three-and-out, and we exchanged punts for the rest of the quarter. It was 7-7 after one. Then Warner got the Rams moving again, and a 19-yard TD pass was his reward, putting them up 14-7. My offensive co-ordinator abandoned the run for my next drive, and Curry went six-for-six driving us swiftly down the field and hitting Timberlane for a 1-yard TD. Two quick-strike Kurt Warner passes later, and we were back down 21-14. After a pair of punts, Curry had 1:30 to get us into scoring range. He did it in two plays, hitting Crowell for a 42 yard touchdown despite the defense being keyed on the pass. A good kickoff return and a facemask penalty put the Rams right back in range, and they found the end zone just before halftime, making it 28-21. The two quarterbacks had combined for over four hundred yards passing. We took the second half kickoff, and were driving until Curry made his first mistake of the day - and Hoffman ran the pick back 64 yards for a touchdown. He drove us into field goal range the next possession, but Warner drove the Rams downfield to their sixth touchdown, and it was 42-24 after the third period. Watching the Rams tear apart my weak defense was feeling masochistic. Hakim finished out the scoring on a reverse in the fourth, and time expired as we faced first and goal on our last possession, but the final was 49-24 so it would hardly have mattered. Warner threw for 379 yards, but I had made it to the Super Bowl much faster than I expected. Maybe if I'd found a way to keep Todd Lyght, my secondary wouldn't have been so vulnerable.

Drew Bledsoe again led the league with 4426 yards and 30 TDs. Dion picked up 3353 yards and an 88.6 rating for K.C., while Harbaugh threw more picks than TDs for S.F. Leaf was no longer starting even for expanion Topeka. A maxxed-out third-year back named Luke Tyner of the Giants led the league in rushing with 1495 yards, while New England's Terry Glenn led the league with 100 receptions.

Crawford threw for 2746 yards, 18 scores, 14 picks, and an 82.5 rating for me. Undrafted second-year RB Brandon Hempstead led my team with 653 yards rushing. WR Cassidy Timberlane, whose best catching stat is a 56, led the team again with 939 yards. TE Freddie Jones had 784 yards and 10 TDs, making him the 1st-team All Pro. I could tell my defense was getting better because Mobley led the team with only 70 tackles, down 56 from Seau's total of a few years previous. Owens added 12.5 sacks, while Rodney Harrison made 9 picks in the double-coverage role, claiming the 1st-team All Pro. Monty Tejada made 1st-team All Pro at Guard with a 20.5 OPct, and my first-round selection of 2001, Christian Fulton, won 2nd-team honors at CB.

[Amaroq]

2004

I checked the bottom line - we were barely covering the cost of the new stadium: profitable, but only by a hundred thousand dollars. I made P Darren Bennett my Franchise Player. With a championship-caliber team and no room under the cap, I ignored Free Agency. Jermaine Fazande took advantage of this to sign a 3-year, $6m deal with Cincinnati. I really felt that my most pressing need was to negotiate contract extensions with the 20 veterans who would become free agents at season's end along with 8 youngsters who would become URFAs. I addressed this section by making assessments of the players, who I needed most and who I didn't. I was shocked at how much career reserves were asking for - the continuity I always sought in FoF2 will be a thing of the past, I could tell.

Starting tackle Adam Meadows signed a two year extension, as did All-Pro safety Rodney Harrison. Leading receiver Timberlane and TE Freddie Jones also signed three-year deals. I do wish that the game would treat these as contract extensions, and let you add three years to a contract instead of saying "my client is only willing to sign for three years at those prices". Starting LB Dwayne Rudd signed a one-year extension, and my weaker T Grant Williams signed for two more. This left barely enough room to re-sign P Darren Bennet, who agreed to three years at the league minimum. LB Gerald Dixon had awful stats but a 64-game starting streak; oddly he was willing to resign for a very cheap two-year extension so I took advantage of that. With my Franchise Player re-signed, I decided to go through the draft before completing my re-signings.

I was appalled at the poor quality that remained with the 31st pick in the 1st round. There was just about nobody who would make my starting lineup, and all the quality CBs had been taken already. I was thinking about cutting WR Jeff Graham - at $5m salary cap, he's only started 12 games the past two years due to injury, and I felt confident letting Crowell and Timberlane handle the starting duties. According to my scout, the best player on the board at my first draft slot was WR Paul McClurken of UCLA, so despite my avowed need for a top-flight corner, I decided to cut Graham and draft McClurken. There was a halfway decent corner named Andrew Dimcheff who I wanted to trade up for in the middle of the second round, but he went very early in the round to Tampa Bay. My second round pick ended up being BYU CB Randal Perkins, who had great run-stopping ability, decent man-cover skills, and, although he wasn't good at it by any means, could play the zone as well as anyone else available. In Round 3, because my two reserve Ts are both unsigned and want too much money, I picked up a T, Gabe Wells of Indianapolis. He felt like a perennial backup. In Round 4, I tried to replace Fazande at FB, but at this point there were really only filler players remaining. Kenny Harvey of Northwestern had good short-yardage and third-down skills, so my scout recommended him over the rest, and I trusted his judgment. Three of my young, non-starting corners are all URFA's and also asking too much money, so in Round 5 I picked up CB Damon Stuart of St. Francis, and in Round 6 CB Cory Porter of Bowling Green, although both are very marginal players. In FoF2, I never spent anywhere near as much time worrying about marginal players! In the seventh round, I picked up a RB named Bennie Thorpe from Texas Tech - it's a noble name, and I think he can replace Kaplan, who has faded quickly after his injury.

According to my scout, Graham was still my second-best wide receiver. I tried to negotiate an extension with him, but he was demanding a $1.7m/year bonus (prorated), which struck me as a bad deal if I wanted to cut him later, and meant the most I could save this year by renegotiating would be $1m. I decided that re-signing DE Rich Own and DT Jamal Williams was more important - my defensive stars both want raises and dropping Graham would leave me the room to make that choice. There seems to be a bug in the way salary caps are handled for cuts, at least compared to FoF2, as when I cut him I very clearly got all $6.5m back - his $5m salary plus the $1.5m bonus which should have still counted against the cap. I'm not going to complain, but this might affect my strategy in seasons to come. Star DE Rich Owens signed a four-year deal, extending his current contract by three years in exchange for raise that chews up $2m of my new-found cap space. DT Jamal Williams, a four-year starter for me, also signed for four years, eating up $3m more of my space. This leaves me with $1.5m and three open roster spots. S Reggie Tongue signed a two-year extension, and that takes care of everyone on my "list" who I wanted to re-sign. I cut RB Grant Lane. Lane had gained over 400 yards each in 2001 and 2002, but was just a bench warmer in 2003. I turn to unsigned free agents: a RB I had been tempted to draft in that 7th round, Kelvin Costello, looks like a potential breakout to me, so he gets a 3-year minsal deal. A FB I had wanted in the fourth round was still available, and Fazande's heir apparent, Fred McCrary, is Demanding Trade, so I pick up Tyrus Erdich as insurance if I can't resign McCrary. There's a decent QB, Winfred Fiore, who was taken in the fourth round but cut by Detroit. Morris Curry, who led this team through the playoffs to the Super Bowl last year, is in the last year of his contract and wants a $6m a year deal to extend his contract. Maybe his demands will go down next year, but I can't count on that, and sign Fiore to a four year deal with low salaries but a decent bonus. Finally, a S, Kendrick Lentz, looks halfway reasonable, and I sign him to the three year minsal deal. I also resign reserve TE Doug Caldwell, which forces me to cut fifth QB Perkins and RB Preston Kaplan, who was in the last year of his contract.

In training camp, I see that veteran LB John Mobley has had a sharp decline in skills, from being in the seventies to having a high of 59. DE Owens is feeling the effects of aging as well, although not as drastically. Franchise QB Crawford is around 64 for his current skills, but his potentials have dropped into the high 80's. Third-year corner Mel Murphy has developed into everything I could have hoped - an 84 Man-to-man cover corner. None of my draft choices are busts or finds. I seem to have the "bust identification" down pat, although I scare off of players that aren't busts sometimes. Still have yet to identify a find other than Morris Curry, however.

I go to the preseason. My scout insists that Curry is better than Crawford, and y'know, for many of the stats he is, having 75's for Medium, Long, and Deep passing to Crawford's 65s. However, Crawford has much higher accuracy, and I believe that's linked to interceptions, so I decide to stick with Crawford. With Crawford at the helm, we win our first two preseason games, at home. I start Curry in the third game, also at home, which we lose, and that takes care of any inclination I have to trust my scout on this. The final game, I let rookie Fiore start, and we of course we lose that one as well. I find the "Coach re-sets your offensive game plan" bug to be highly annoying. Sitting there fiddling with it is time-consuming, and in FoF2 it remained constant once you set things up. It looks to me like it resets every year - I can understand people's house rules that require them to use the coach's game plan - it's a lot easier not to mess with it! A "save game plan" feature would be really neat, in fact I'd love to have game plans for each of my divisional opponents that I could call up, for example, to pass against Topeka's weak secondary, or run into the weak Broncos line. Fortunately, the defense remembers what I told it.

We opened the season in Kansas City, and picked off Dion four times en route to a 38-20 victory. At home against Seattle, TE Freddie Jones caught for 100 yards as we won 17-7. We beat the Giants 14-9 in New York, and came home for a good Dallas team. Crowell caught for 179 yards, but the Cowboys won a squeaker in the dying seconds, 35-34. What a shootout! I was disappointed to see that starting C Roman Fortin dislocated his knee, and TE Freddie Jones was also injured. Fortunately, we had the bye week coming, and 3-1 was still atop the division.

After the bye, reserve back Bennie Thorpe became my first 100-yard rusher of the season, as we won 16-6 on the road against New England. The big news of the day was in Oakland, however, where Kansas City's QB Rod Dion had a 39-51-488 yard passing day while losing to the Raiders. At home against Denver, we lost 21-20 - our second one-point loss of the season. The Raiders came to town, with their first losing record since I took over as GM of the Chargers. Crawford ate up their secondary for 273 yards and 3 TDs, and we won 34-17 despite an injury to Germane Crowell. Our eighth game was a big one, hosting 6-1 conference leader Indianapolis. It was a defensive struggle, especially when starting wide receivers Cassidy Timberlane and Monty Detmer got knocked out, but we prevailed 19-17 to advance to 6-2 and take over the edge for home-field advantage. My next competitor in the division was Topeka at 4-3-1, while in the NFC, the Vikings had started out 8-0.

In Seattle, I found myself with two WR's, starting first round draft choice McClurken and second-year pro Burt Flylum, both getting their first start. The offense was correspondingly inept, and only the defense kept us in it. John Carney won the battle of field goals with the Seahawk's kicker, and we won 9-6. On the road again in Washington, offensive ineptitude was our bane, and we deserved a 21-3 loss. I checked my injuries, and found that Flylum had broken his wrist, and Crowell, pressed into service despite injury, had reinjured himself. I was down to two healthy wide receivers, and no cap room to sign more. I pressed my reserve running backs into service as wideouts, and changed my game plan to keep backs and tight ends in the game. Topeka came to town with a two-game losing streak, and their weak defense was good medicine. We won 20-14. On the road against Denver, however, our decimated offense got the shutout it had been miraculously avoiding for so long. 27-0 was the final tally. At 8-4, we were now a game behind Pittsburgh in the conference, and tied with Kansas City for the division lead.

We went back on the road, facing Topeka again. Lucky scheduling, to see them twice while so injured. We won 26-20 even though Crawford got knocked out early. Curry carried the load admirably, hitting 257 yards, and starting RB Norbert Peters had his first 100-yard game of the season. Next came a crucial home game against Kansas City. The papers were describing it as the "Divisional Championship Game". I activated WR Germane Crowell and started him, despite his Questionable status, and left a Questionable Crawford in at QB as well. Dion came out throwing, and hit two TDs in the first quarter. Crawford reinjured himself and left the game, trailing 14-7, and Morris Curry came on. As he was driving the team for the tying score, he was sacked and also injured. This left my third-string QB Hastings in, and I knew I was in trouble. But, to my amazement, Peters broke off an 80-yard run in the closing seconds of the half, and we went to the intermission ahead 17-14. In the third quarter, Rodney Harrison came up with a key interception, returning it 33 yards for a touchdown, and LB Dwayne Rudd made another pick, returning it to the KC two yard line. Peters ran it in again, and we were up 31-14! Dion drove them downfield for a fourth-quarter score, and later, a blocked Darren Bennet punt was recovered in the end zone, giving them a quick six and new life, trailing only 34-28. With 2:38 remaining, Carney missed a 48-yard field goal that would have clinched it, and Dion took over on his own 38. He converted on a fourth-and-one with an eight yard pass, and drove them to a touchdown with only 1:15 left. My return man, Basile, tried to take the game into his own hands, but instead fumbled it away, and K.C. recovered. They added a field goal to make the final 38-34, a great game and a fantastic comeback even if I was on the wrong side of it. Dion finished with 359 yards and four touchdown passes, while Peters had 169 yards rushing and 2 TDs for me. Curry started the last two games, beating Arizona 40-14, and winning a close one on the road in Oakland, 14-7. We finished up 11-5. Thanks to Kansas City dropping their last game, my Chargers were the Division Champions for the second year in a row, and secured a first-round bye and a home game in the playoffs.

Indianapolis won their wildcard game (as division champions), and came to face us. Crawford was Probable, so I started him, and my receiving corps had three healthy guys in it for the first time in a long while. Healing injuries during that bye week is a huge advantage. We won the toss, and drove quickly down the field, Crawford hitting Jones for a 5-yard TD pass and the early lead. The Colts punted, pinning us back on our own 5, but Crawford hit McClurken for three big passes, a 24-yarder on 3rd down, a 47-yarder, and a 16-yard score, to give us a 14-0 lead after one quarter. A series of punts ensued, but late in the 2nd quarter, Crawford hit McClurken for another score and a 20-0 lead. In the two minute drill, Indy QB Peyton Manning drove them down into the red zone, but Fulton intercepted him in the end zone, preserving the lead for halftime. Three more interceptions in the fourth quarter preserved the shutout, and the final was 30-0. Kansas City upset Pittsburgh 41-21 in Three Rivers Stadium, setting up the AFC Championship game in San Diego.

Grudge match time, and a rematch of that great game in Week 15. They won the toss, but both sides went three-and-out on their first drives, and had sustained drives end in touchback punts on the second drives. We fumbled the ball away on our third possession, setting them up at our 43, but intercepted Dion's first pass. When we punted, their punt returner fumbled, and we recovered at their 22. But, it was a sad break as rookie WR McClurken was hurt on the play. Crawford hit Hempstead, now lining up as a wide receiver, for a 22-yard score and a 7-0 lead. As the first quarter drew to a close, Owens hit Dion and knocked him out of the game. Without their star QB, they collapsed - at one point facing a 4th and 40! McCrary and Peters scored touchdowns, and in back-to-back plays in the fourth quarter, CB Mel Murphy added a 90-yard interception return turn and S Teague tacked on a 58-yard interception return. The final score was 41-10, and the Chargers were in their second straight Super Bowl. Minnesota beat my nemesis from last year, St.Louis, in the NFC Championship 36-7, to earn the home field Super Bowl.

We won the toss, and Fulton broke a 57-yard kickoff return only to have it called back due to a holding call, which forced us to start on our own one. We drove out to the 35, but suffered two injuries to our starting offensive line before punting. An exchange of punts ensued, which Minnesota finally broke at the end of the first quarter, driving into field goal range to lead 3-0. We answered on our first drive of the second quarter, settling for a field goal after having first and goal at the four. A series of sacks convinced Culpepper to throw a little more quickly, and he hurried one too much, picked off by Fulton at the Minnesota 36. That set up another John Carney field goal, and we took the lead for the first time. Culpepper fumbled on their next drive, setting us up at the Viking 31, but again their defense stiffened, and first and goal on the five netted only three more points. Still, we were up 9-3 at halftime. Culpepper came out throwing in the third period, and hit Randy Moss for a 9-yard touchdown to get them back ahead. We drove down to their eight, but settled for another John Carney field goal, and after three quarters we led 12-10. Early in the fourth, Peters fumbled at midfield, setting the Vikings up with good field position. They were able to convert quickly, and kick returner Fulton (my number one KR after Basile's fumble in the Kansas City game) fumbled it away. With 12 minutes left, they were inside my twenty when Culpupper was injured. Ironically, Waldteufel, the other quarterback who was drafted #3 behind Crawford but available after the draft, stepped into the breach and led them to a touchdown and a 24-12 lead. When Crawford threw a pick, Minnesota again drove for a TD, and it was 31-12. With only four minutes to play, Crawford went to the air, hitting Hempstead to make it 31-20. Harding recovered the onside kick, but driving with two minutes left Crawford was intercepted again. Time expired with Minnesota ahead 31-20, my second Super Bowl loss in a row.

Dion led the league with a 90.6 rating, and was named 1st-team All-Pro and League MVP. Favre threw for 4140 yards. Harbaugh and Leaf were still in the league, but neither started. Norbert Peters ran for 766 yards, with 7th-round pick Thorpe adding 613. The other league leaders were Dallas RB Freddie Miller, with a record 1565 yards, and New England WR Terry Glenn with records at 117 catches and 1647 yards. New York Giants LB Jeremiah Trotter led with 130 tackles.

Crawford threw for only 2164 yards, and for the first time had more interceptions than TDs, due to the depleted receiver corps I think. His 67.0 rating was mildly better than Curry's. TE Freddie Jones led the team in receiving with 53 catches for 714 yards, and again was 1st-team All-Pro for his effort. None of my wide receivers started more than nine games, and running back Brendon Hempstead, who played as my #3 RB and filled in at WR as injuries dictated, was the fourth-leading receiver on the team. MLB Dwayne Rudd had 92 tackles to lead the team and earn 1st-team All-Pro honors, while CB Mel Murphy had 5 interceptions and a 44.5 PDQ, and DE Rich Owens contributed 15 sacks.

[Amaroq]

2005

I had no retirements for 2005. 15 players were becoming free agents, restricted or otherwise, but I had no retirements and room under the cap to pick and choose whom I wanted to bring back. I'm sure it was a cruel thing to do, but I tagged G Ben Coleman, who was Demanding Trade despite starting the last 32 straight games plus all the playoff games, with the Franchise Player tag. None of my other free agents were worth their salary demands, and I thought to myself damn, this is going to be a high-turnover year. During the 12-step program, I signed two LB's. Alvin Glenn from New England got a 3 year $9m deal, and Anthony Simmons, a 2nd-team All-Pro from Seattle secured 3 years and $10m. They should replace Mobley, who I was willing to let go due to his declining ratings. S Rogers Beckett signed with Topeka, starting FB Fred McCrary signed with Indianapolis, and reserve G James Dexter signed with Dallas. K John Carney re-signed, accepting a two-year deal despite a more lucrative three-year offer from Dallas.

For the second straight year, I drafted 31st. There was a fantastic DE, Xavier Flack, in the draft, and the New York Giants took him first overall. A QB I had pegged as a big bust went third overall, to Miami. My first round pick was a G named Korey Pierce from Norfolk State, who had very low combine ratings but whom my scout rated as having 84/70 potential. He was Very Good in offensive line, so I had to trust him, and I definitely needed a guard if things didn't work out with Coleman as a Franchise Player. In the second round, I continued to work on that offensive line, picking up C Alfred Woodson of Cal, who had decent potential. According to my scout, current starter Roman Fortin was ancient and about ready to retire. In Round 3 I picked up a FB, Rodney Alarcon of USC, to replace McCrary. In Round 4, there was a G who had first come to my notice in the second round, Steven Herndon of Georgia. He's not fantastic, but I figured he could develop into a decent starter, and couldn't resist taking him. My WR corps was getting depleted, as late-round picks Joey Gunn and Monty Detmer were URFSa and of course wanted $3m/year. So I picked up a pair of widouts in 5 and 6, Terrell Gallo of Arkansas State, who's a good punt returner, and an undersized receiver with high catch frequency, Ryan Slaton of Stanford. The 7th round netted me a TE, Jeffrey Anderson, in case reserve TE Caldwell bolted. (sorry, couldn't resist the pun)

Before camp, I signed a two-year extension for G Monty Tejada, who had a 48-game starting streak. Coleman had a one-year $2.5m deal as his tender offer, and should start at the opposite guard until first-round-choice Pierce is ready to play. My All-Pro LB, Dwayne Rudd, signed a two-year extension as well. I signed an undrafted CB, Jesse Bolasina, for three years to replace Fakhir Brown in my 6-CB rotation, and undrafted QB Keith Franz got a one-year deal so that I could make Crawford inactive during the preseason. It galled me terribly to let Morris Curry go after I found him in the fifth round, especially as my scout still rated him as having 100 potential in many categories, but I couldn't pay the wages of two QBs who wanted starter's wages. For better or for ill, Shane Crawford is my man. Curry, it would turn out, would sit out the season and retire at the end of it, a total waste of a fantastic player at the most depleted position in the game. His career stats? 3 years, 276 of 480 passing for 3607 yards, 18TDs and 21 ints, a 57.6% and a 75.5 rating. No Joe Montana / Steve Young situation for me!

After training camp, I signed the best DE who would agree to the league's veteran minimum salary, Drew Hines, to a three-year deal. His current ratings were 27/28, so he's not going to overwhelm the world. I also needed a fourth S, and Patrick Hennessey, who picked off 6 passes for Atlanta, and started 32 games the past two years for Atlanta and Topeka, was willing to take a 3-year, $3m deal. He'll make a fine reserve. That brought me up to 53 men. I checked my other players. McClurken had developed very nicely, and will be a stud WR for me. CB Randal Perkins is also filling out his promise. None of my rookies are busts or finds, and Miami's third-overall QB was in fact a bust and has been cut already. We lost every preseason game but one, but I got great satisfaction out seeing them beat Minnesota 37-17 in Minneapolis in the second game.

We opened the season hosting Kansas City, and Crawford was on, hitting 25 of 37 for 272 yards and a 21-20 victory. On the road against Denver, we won 20-17. Nothing easy, but two wins nonetheless. We played host to a 2-0 Chicago squad the following week, and despite 160 yards from fourth WR Burt Flylum, we lost 41-32. In Green Bay, we rebounded against a Brett Favre-less Packer squad, 20-7. Again, we went to an early bye and had the division lead at 3-1.

Indianapolis hadn't won a game all year, and they fell in San Diego 16-13. I felt like a Brazilian soccer fan - we were winning, but we weren't blowing them out, so I was concerned. My fears were assuaged in Seattle, where we shut out the Seahawks 24-0 on a 126-yard day for RB Norbert Peters. We went on the road against Topeka, and the offense sputtered, giving up too many sacks and interceptions, and we went down, 28-21. This promoted Topeka into second in the division, and gave them definite bragging rights. First round G Ben Pierce got his first start the following week in New England due to an injury to Coleman, but he couldn't help against the Patriot's passing offense, and we went down in flames 30-6. Two straight losses, and we were barely holding on to the division lead at 5-3. Kansas City was 5-4, and Oakland and Topeka were a game back at 4-4.

A home game against lowly Denver was just what we need to get rolling again, and a 15-10 victory fit the bill. We're at home against Minnesota next, and my team had retribution on their minds. Crawford threw for 341 yards and 4 TDs en route to Player of the Week honors, and Peters rushed for 122 yards as we took our revenge against the Super Bowl champs 38-21. Much more satisfying than a mere preseason victory! Next, we went to Oakland for a hard-fought game against the Raiders. We ultimately prevailed 24-23 in an injury-filled game. Our twelfth game was at home against Seattle, and after the two emotional victories, I expected an easy romp against the 5th-place Seahawks, but we went down 17-10 when Crawford threw a pair of crucial interceptions. Three quarters of the season are done, and we're 8-4, which would give us home field throughout the AFC playoffs, while the Raiders are 7-5 and coming to town.

We were very bad hosts to the Raiders, as Crawford threw for 324 yards, 4 TDs, and Player of the Week again. We won 38-3, and now I can start looking forward to the playoffs. A pair of tough road games followed, but we dispatched the Chiefs 24-23, and Tampa Bay 14-5. We'd clinched home field throughout the AFC playoffs, but I still wanted to win the final game for a possible home Super Bowl, so I left most of my starting lineup in against Topeka. I was fortunate that there were no injuries, but we lost the game 30-20 anyways, finishing up 11-5 and in first place in the conference. Kansas City and Oakland both finished up 8-8 and miss the playoffs, and in fact my Chargers are the only ten-game winner in the conference.

We were host to Buffalo in the divisional playoff. Crawford hit McClurken for a 30-yard strike to open the scoring, but Buffalo equalized on their next possession. When we got the ball back, Crawford hit Crowell for a 58-yard pass, setting up a 10-yard pass to McClurken. After the first quarter, it was 14-7 Chargers, and every possession had ended in a touchdown. In the second, that pattern continued, as Buffalo scored on a reverse, and Peters put us back ahead after a long drive with a 3-yard run. Finally, my defense forced them to punt, but their defense also held. Bennett's punt pinned them back at their own six yard line, and on three runs into the line, my defense pushed them back six yards, converting a safety! We were up 23-14 at the half. Buffalo had the ball first in the second half, and as they reached their own forty, my star DE Owens was hurt. They ran around that end on the very next play, and Spradlin broke it for a 58-yard touchdown. A 50-yard field goal later in the third got them ahead, and it was 24-23 Buffalo at the end of three. Crawford threw his third interception of the day, setting them up on our seven, and they ran it in to go up by eight with 10:03 remaining. They held us to two punts, but with 4:23 left we got new life, as LB Simmons intercepted a Brad Johnson pass at our 19 and ran it back into Bills territory. No luck, it was three plays and punt for the offense. Another interception, this time by free-agent signing Hennessey, set us up at their 16. Crawford hit Jones on the 16-yard pass, and found the All-Pro TE again for the two-point conversion that tied it with 3:22 to go. We held them to a punt, and got the ball back with two minutes left. A 20-yard pass to Jones got us into field goal range, and the coach called Peters on a run to eat up some clock - only my RB fumbled it away. My defense kept them out of range, and we went to overtime at 31-31. We won the toss, but bogged down at their 40-yard line. On came 18th-year vet John Carney to try a 57-yard field goal. It's down… it's up.. it's long enough! Its good!! The Chargers win it, 34-31!

Next up were the Jaguars. They'd breezed through their first game 51-17, but had to come to San Diego. A pouring rain caused havoc in the first quarter, with plenty of fumbles and punts but no scoring opportunities. Finally, Crawford took things into his own hands, putting together a drive where he single-handedly accounted for every Chargers yard, hitting Crowell for a 44-yard pass, scrambling five times to convert two third downs, and finall finding Crowell in the end zone from 4 yards out. So we were up 7-0 after the first quarter. The Jaguars got a field goal on their first possession of the second, and we set them up with a short field after my coach foolishly went for it on fourth down at our own 40. That set up a second field goal, but Crawford drove us down for three points of our own in the two-minute drill, so it was 10-6 at halftime. Carney missed two field goals in the third, so it was still 10-6 as the teams went to the fourth quarter. An Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty after we'd stopped them on third down kept the first Jaguars fourth quarter drive alive, and they made us pay with a 12-yard TD pass to take the lead. Carney equalized with a 53-yard field goal, but hurt himself when he slipped on the wet field during the celebration, leaving me in a tied game without a kicker. After a Jaguars punt, Crawford set to work on our own 19 yard line. On his first pass play, he saw the Jacksonville free safety slip on the wet field, and hit speedy flanker McClurken in stride for an 81-yard touchdown. We had a seven point lead with only 3:14 left. The Jaguars had two more possessions to try and even it up, and Rodney Harrison put an end to both with a pair of interceptions that sealed our 20-13 victory and a trip to our third straight Super Bowl. This year, it would be in Washington against the Redskins.

The Redskins had gone 12-4 in the regular season. They won the toss and put together a five-minute drive which conluded in a touchdown pass. On our first drive, Crawford threw an interception at our 37. With a short field, the 'Skins converted again. On our second drive, Peters fumbled it away at our 19, setting up a third Redskin touchdown on 118 yards of offense. We finally got off a punt, and held them on their next drive, but after one quarter we were down 21-0 and that's a deep hole to climb out of. Crawford figured the way to do it was with the pass, and he hit Crowell for 20 yards, Jones for 50, and McClurken for a 10-yard TD on three consecutive plays to start the second quarter. We forced them to punt again, but this time a holding penalty stopped Crawford at midfield, and the Reskins blocked the punt, setting up their offense at our 33. Fortunately, we held them to a missed field goal, and Crawford drove us the distance, hitting Hempstead from 6 yards out for the score. We'd closed to 21-14 at the half, and had the ball to start the second half. Another pass-oriented drive set up a John Carney field goal, and we were back in the game. We gave them the next one when someone on my punt block team jumped offsides on fourth and four, and Michael Westbrook caught a 13-yard touchdown to put them up by 11. When we got the ball back, their defense was expecting the pass all the way, which let Norbert Peters break off two big runs, a 22-yarder and a 37-yard touchdown scamper. Brad Johnson brought them right back, marching 80 yards in 8 plays to give them a 35-24 lead on the final play of the third quarter. A field goal early in the fourth drew us to within eight points, but again they went right through my defense for 78 yards and another time-consuming score. 6:03 remained, and Crawford went to the two-minute drill, leading us 63 yards and capping it off by hitting Freddie Jones from 6 yards out with 4:19 left. Washington recovered the onside kick, and Johnson hit wideout Connell for a 39-yard score to put us down by 15 with 2:41 left. Our last drive ended in failure, with Crawford's desperation fourth-down pass knocked down at the line, and Washington ran it in from 28 yards out to make the final score 56-34! Where were the defenses? Brad Johnson went 25-33-340 with 5 TDs and no picks, while their star RB David Ernst had 35 carries for 163 yards and 3 TDs to earn the MVP.

I couldn't believe how bad we'd been torched. After three consecutive Super Bowl losses, I could hear all those Buffalo Bill and Denver Bronco jokes coming back to haunt me. It was small consolation to go the stats screen and see that Crawford had finally started 16 games for me, throwing for 59.4%, 4273 yards, 30 TDs, and only 14 picks - a 91.7 rating and 1st-team All-Pro. He didn't even lead the league as K.C.'s Rod Dion threw for 4304, and Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper had a better rating. Ernst of the Redskins led the league in rushing with a record-setting 1708 yards, while my top back Norbert Peters had only 545. Receiving, Germane Crowell led my team with 61 catches for 1011 yards and 9 TDs, while Freddie Jones earned 2nd-team All-Pro with 70 for 807. Tampa Bay's Keyshawn Johnson had 111, while Randy Moss caught for 1558 yards and 12 TDs. On defense, Rudd and Glenn led the team with 77 tackles, Owens had a mere 9 sacks, and Reggie Tongue's 5 interceptions led the team.

[Amaroq]

2006

With both Coach Cunningham and Scout Ostrowski in the last year of their contracts, I took a look at the available talent. Ostrowski was young and improving, so I decided I would like to retain him, but after three straight Super Bowl losses, I decided to fire Cunningham. Arizona's coach, Allen Bedard, was the most skilled coach on the market, with (V/F/E/V/G/E/E/E for the skill positions, and F/G/V/E/F/G for the intangibles). He was 57 years old, but I figured that my goal was to win the Super Bowl now, not wait for the coach of the future, so I signed him to a 5-year, $4.5m deal. While searching, it became obvious why Denver had been so bad, as their coach is 71 years old, and Poor in seven categories, including motivation and both types of playcalling. Fortunately for them, his contract had expired… but idiotically, they decided to retain him for another four years.

I looked to free agency. I had four starters becoming free agents this year. 16th-year C Roman Fortin and 14th-year G Ben Coleman have both started for me since 2000, but I had to take the Cohesion hit by letting them go. They were both aging, wanted too much money, and Coleman was still Demanding Trade after being forced to play last season under the Franchise Player tag. 14th-year DE Raylee Johnson was coming off of a season where he started 16 games with 14 tackles and 1.5 sacks - his backup posted 27 and 5. I thought to myself "I've got to be able to find something better". WR Germane Crowell, coming off a 1000-yard season, got the Franchise Player designation. The only position I'm really concerned about in Free Agency was my defensive line. I'd decided that the DL was the position that I was most suspect in. Owens can't be expected to do it all by himself. My first choice was to go after Oakland's DE Tony Bryant, who was 2nd-team All-Pro last season. Despite a 3-year, $16m offer from my Chargers and a 4-years $20m offer from Kansas City, Bryant (who only has a 53 loyalty) re-signed with Oakland for three years at $15m. Meanwhile, G Coleman signed with Denver for three years at $10m, and I re-signed WR Crowell to a 4-year $15m deal.

Before the Draft began, my Scout and I discussed possibilities. There were only two middling DE's worth drafting. There was a stud DT, Patrick Paliwoda, with at least 75 potential everywhere, but I didn't know how long he would fall through. I decided to trade up for him if he fell to the number 6 slot, and accept whatever remained to us in 31st if Paliwoda was taken in the top five. He fells through the first five, and after investigating, I doubted that the Ravens would take him in sixth - they already had three DTs who would start on my team. Sure enough, they take a T instead. The Jets, who picked seventh, are uninterested in trading, but selected a RB. Serious talks with Indianapolis followed - they were close to the salary cap, but definitely willing to trade. It ended up being a very expensive deal, but they give me the 8th pick overall for my 31st pick overall, reserve QB Shawn Hastings, a 2nd-round pick in 2008 and a 3rd-rounder in 2007. Missouri DT Patrick Paliwoda will be starting on my defensive line this year. In the second round, I grabbed the best DE available, Alan Kattus of Virginia, although I wasn't convinced he was worth keeping. In the third round, I selected Oregon St C Jeffrey Stevenson. He'd be the third C on my roster, but depending how things turn out in camp he might find himself starting. It was a tough choice between him and TE Hardy Bonds of Morgan State, who showed poor blocking but fantastic receiving skills and would make a great compliment to Freddie Jones. When Bonds was still available in Round 4, my choice was nearly instantaneous. In the fifth round, I found a S with 69 potential in man-to-man, which sold me on Luther Benson of UTEP. It must have been a good year for TEs, because the most talented player available in Round 6 was Byron Dunn of Minnesota, whom I selected. In the seventh round, I picked up Boston College RB Rod Quinn.

I decided I needed to address my salary situation as QB Shane Crawford was in the last year of his contract, and I would need to make room to re-sign him next year. With two rookie TEs, last year's seventh round pick Jeff Anderson was quickly cut. WR Cassidy Timberlane signed a three-year contract extension which actually left him better paid than Crowell. S Rodney Harrison agreed to a two-year extension, and All-Pro TE Freddie Jones signed a three-year extension. Offensive tackles Adam Meadows and Grant Williams both signed three-year extensions. All this cap maneuvering had freed up enough space for me to re-sign RB Norbert Peters, who had been a restricted free agent, to a four-year contract, and give starting CBs Christian Fulton and Mel Murphy the big raises they'd been demanding, as both were in the final year of youth contracts. Some tough negotiating followed, but both signed three-year extensions. In FoF2, I almost always signed players to two-year extensions, but given my player's demands, I'm finding it easier to sign them to four-year contracts (three-year extensions) to keep my core roster together. Keeping an eye on All-Pro QB Shane Crawford, he's in the final year of his contract, with a $2m salary and a $2m bonus, and demanding about $7m/season. I figure I'll place him under the Franchise Tag next year and negotiate a long-term contract with him. Meanwhile, I had my own immediate problems: 50 men on the roster and no cap room, with all my planned renegotiation taken care of. 4th-year, 4th string DT Rod Roberson had pathetic stats and a veteran's minimum salary. Cutting him freed up enough room for two first-year players. Third-year safety Kendrick Lantz hadn't made an interception or a pass defensed in two years; although my scout rated him better currently, rookie Luther Bensen has better potential. This left me just enough cap room to sign five first year players to one-year deals - I couldn't afford the bonuses they would want for three year salaries. Turnover will be fun next year. WR Jose McGarity, QB Jumbo McDonald, LBs Gene Holliday and Rod Blake all joined my team this way. I decided to leave the 53rd spot unsigned at camp and use it to fill injuries during the year, since I have the minimum three players at G, T, DE, and DT. Notable RFAs whom I released included RB Bennie Thorpe, who had had 1000 yards and 10 TDs in the past two seasons, WR Burt Flylum who had started three games in three years with 653 yards, and LB Rufus Harding, who started five games last season.

Training camp. Third-round choice Jeffrey Stevenson wasn't as good as my scout thought he was; although not a bust he definitely won't be starting anytime soon. 2nd-year G Korey Pierce had matured a lot, and will definitely be starting this season; I graded him as an excellent first-round choice. DT Paliwoda is not a bust, and I decided I'd be starting him immediately. Still no breakout players from my late-round picks; I need to learn to spot those more accurately. Perhaps following an entire draft into training camp some year will work. It would be painstakingly slow, but worth doing if I can decipher a trend. My scout this year rated Crawford as phenomenal - great even by the inflated FoF2 standards I'm used to! He has 88/55/91/82/86/64/86/97 for the passing skills, with 87/95 for the running skills. The Raiders got a big laugh out of me by offering a DT who isn't starting for them and next year's first-round choice for him. Oddly, the Ravens were offering me a third-round choice for rookie C Stevenson. They definitely lack a good C. Still, I wonder if my training camp scouting of him is incorrect? It's a tempting offer. Given how poor the Ravens were last year (6-10, 6th in the draft), it would likely be close to getting a second-round pick. However, I'm forced to decline when I realize that I would take a $1m accelerated cap hit the season I'm trying to re-sign my star QB. No thank you! The Ravens won't accept Chad Chart, my fourth-year C, in his stead.

For the preseason, I decided to go with a different philosophy this season. I sat Crawford throughout the year, set my Play With Injuries to 0, and ran the ball about 63% of the time in almost every situation. Trying a grinding running game without a good running back saw my team go 0-4, and rookie RB Rod Quinn was out (long-term) with a stretched triceps muscle, trying to carry the load. The truly sad thing is, it destroyed what little skill he had had, marking him as a certain cut next season.

For the fourth straight year, we opened our season against Rod Dion and the Kansas City Chiefs. In Kansas City, Dion threw for 4 TDs, and the Chiefs running back Xavier Brandon victimized us for 102 yards as the Chiefs steamrollered us 34-20. Oddly, although no injuries showed in the post-game log, my third-string RB carried the ball 21 times for 77 yards, while my first two backs combined for 2 carries and 3 yards. We came home against Topeka, and lost 25-7 when Crawford threw three interceptions. We got into a shootout on the road against winless St. Louis, with Crawford and Warner each passing for 324 yards. Crawford hit 3 TDs to pull out a 31-27 win. At home against Atlanta, rookie filler WR Jose McGarity had 140 yards and 2 TDs as Crawford hit for 279 total. We scored our first blowout of the season, crushing the luckless Falcons 46-0. That moved us to 2-2. Topeka was at 3-1, and Kansas City led the division at 4-0 with the league's #2 rushing offense and #4 passing offense. During our bye week, however, Topeka beat Kansas City 34-17 in Topeka, putting them both tied at 4-1.

The momentum I thought we were building ground to a halt in Miami, as their stingy defense shut us down in a 20-10 defeat. At home against Oakland, we lost by the same 20-10 score. As I checked my stats, I saw that RB Norbert Peters still had no carries on his six starts. Awful third-stringer Kelvin Costello was carrying the load for the team. I try upping my "willingness to use injured players" marker from 0 to 44. Mind, Peters isn't injured, but I don't know what else to try. At home against Seattle, Peters carries 8 times for 3 yards, but we win 40-14 and at least I've got Peters in the game. As I look around the team, its clear that having the "use injured players" set to zero has had other reserves in throughout my first six games. I'm tempted to go back and re-load from a saved game, but it has set up an interesting chase: can my team catch up to the playoff berths from this awful start? With the starters definitely playing again, we knocked off Buffalo 30-24. With his favorite targets available, Crawford struck for 406 yards, 4 TDs, and Player of the Week. We were 4-4. Topeka led the division at 6-2, while the Chiefs were 6-2-1.

A big road game against Topeka followed, and we lost 16-6. We bounce back against Carolina 27-14, and beat hapless Denver 13-7. However, our ancient nemesis Oakland proved a stumbling block yet again, as they scored only their fourth win of the season by beating us 20-17 in Oakland. With four games left, we were 6-6. The bottom wildcard teams in the AFC were Indianapolis and New England at 7-5. Topeka was 8-4, while the Chiefs were back on top of our division at 8-3-1.

We dropped Denver to 1-12 in Colorado, crushing them 20-3. A crucial home game against Kansas City was next, and Crawford came through with four TD passes en route to a 35-24 victory. Coupled with back to back losses by the Colts, we appeared to be the last-place wildcard. We beat the Saints in San Diego 42-14, but Crawford pulled his groin. Without Crawford, and on the road in our last game, we lost 32-22 to Seattle, knocking us out of the playoffs before they've even begun. We finish up 9-7, having finished the season 7-3 since I figured out that I was artificially crippling my team. Kansas City won the division and a bye with an 11-4-1 record, best in the conference.

I watched the playoffs with interest. Topeka, despite being at home, lost the first wildcard round to Cleveland 24-17. Kansas City took care of Cleveland 27-20 in the divisional playoff, earning a home berth in the AFC Championship, but Rod Dion injured his shoulder against Cleveland, leaving the game in the hands of reserve third-year QB Alfred Buckley, who had only thrown 41 passes in his NFL career. Buckley, a late first-round selection, proved his value to the team when he threw for 297 yards and guided the Chiefs to a 51-34 victory over the Baltimore Ravens, and their first-ever Super Bowl berth, where they would play at home against Kurt Warner and the Rams. Dion was listed as Probable and active for the game. The Rams took the opening possession and drove for an amazing 9 minutes 27 seconds, coming away with a field goal when the Chiefs defense stiffened. Dion came onto the field with the first-team offense, and passed brilliantly on the Chiefs first possession, hitting Jennings for a 9-yard touchdown, and a 7-3 lead at the end of the first. The teams exchanged punts on their second series, but Kurt Warner took the Rams to a touchdown on their third possession, mixing the pass with a grinding running game. Dion and the Chiefs took over, and clearly the Rams expected him to put it up, but the Chiefs instead ran on eight straight plays, before Dion capped the drive with a 3-yard TD pass to Derrick Alexander. Following a Rams punt, Dion led the Chiefs' two-minute drill into field goal range, and Pete Stoyanovich made it 17-10 Chiefs at the half. On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Dion found Alexander free in the secondary for a 70-yard quick strike, putting the Chiefs up by 14. The Rams punted again, and Dion was driving the Chiefs well when the coaches called a QB draw. Dion gained four yards, but re-injured the shoulder. Enter Alfred Buckley. Following a punt, the Rams had the ball, but on a running play to the left side an unnamed Chiefs defender took Warner out. There wasn't even a penalty, although it was clearly retaliation for the hard hit on Dion. A punt-fest ensued, but the Chiefs running backs were clearly getting the better of the St. Louis line, and a 38-yard run set up an 8-yard Buckley to Alexander score on the final play of the third quarter. The Chiefs were up 31-10. Rams reserve QB Cornelius Hughes led the team to a quick score in the fourth quarter, and drove them down to the Chiefs one yard line on his next drive. It looked like the Rams were determined to make a game out of a blowout, but instead of trusting their tough running game to punch it in from the one, they asked Hughes to make one more pass, and he threw an interception. That really ended the day, and the Chiefs cruised to a 31-17 victory. DT Trevor Pryce was named player of the game for the Chiefs with 4 tackles, 3.5 sacks, and a fumble recovery in the fourth quarter. Alexander would have been my choice, with 6 catches for 103 yards and 3 TDs.

Rob Johnson of Buffalo led the league in passing yardage with 4243, while Kurt Warner led the league in passer rating. Washington's David Ernst led the league in rushing with a record 1839 yards. New England's Harvey Bauer took over from Terry Glenn as the league's leading receiver with 117 catches for 1565 yards. Dion finished up the season with 4058 yards, 29 TDs, an 88.5 rating, the 2nd-team All-Pro honor, and a Super Bowl ring for the Chiefs.

Crawford finished up the season with 3463 yards passing, 22 TDs, and an 87.5 rating. Brandon Hempstead led my team with 514 yards after playing all year as the #2 back; #3 back Kelvin Costello had 499 yards with a meager 3.1 average, and 16-game starter Norbert Peters had only 349, fewer than Crawford had scrambled for. Receiving, Germane Crowell led the team with 852 yards, while Ryan Slaton finished up with 56 catches in only 11 games, none started. TE Freddie Jones ended his All-Pro streak by catching for only 26 passes and 266 yards. MLB Anthony Simmons had 103 tackles, DE Rich Owens had 10.5 sacks, and first-round selection Patrick Paliwoda had only 16 tackles and only 1 sack in the interior. All in all, a disappointing season for the Chargers, and none of us were in the Pro Bowl afterwards.