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02-05-2001, 07:24 PM
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#1 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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House Arrest Black Squirrels, 2046-2049
I’m playing this career under a fairly lengthy series of house rules—trying to compress most of the game’s many areas fertile for abuse, and to simultaneously make the game: challenging, interesting, steerable, and realistic. Since the house rules are fairly rigorous, I’ve adopted the name “house arrest” for this system.
If you are interested in the full story of the Squirrels, here are the links back to the entire posted history. The first link starts off with some general, more detailed musings about the house rule concepts that I’ve been following, and then gets into the team story. Black Squirrels, 2002-2007 Black Squirrels, 2008-2011 Black Squirrels, 2012-2017 Black Squirrels, 2018-2021 Black Squirrels, 2022-2025 Black Squirrels, 2026-2029 Black Squirrels, 2030-2033 Black Squirrels, 2034-2037 Black Squirrels, 2038-2041 Black Squirrels, 2042-2045 To save you the trouble, the short version of the rules I’m using follows: FOF 2001, Wall Street, empty cupboard start with the 2002 expansion team Ticket prices no higher than those of my nearest geographic competitor (Denver) Several contract restrictions, including: -no signing non-rookie players, other than the second half of the 20-stage FA process -no unrealistic contract durations for first and second year players (generally 3-4 years only) -no backloading of contracts – annual salary increases up to 25% only -any free agent seeking a bonus gets one at least as big as the second year’s salary -URFAs get one year deals, with one exception per year (see below) -One URFA per season may get a 7yr deal: x = rookie min, 2x, 3x, 3x, 3x, 3x, 3x No contract renegotiations, and no franchise tag – everyone re-signed through the free market Full roster of 53 each season (no going cheap by leaving roster holes) Player from home state college at each position group (RB/FB, WR/TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, QB/P/K) . . .I confess I have slipped up once or twice here, but I’m making an earnest effort Making effort to sign and hold Colorado players whenever practical I’m allowing some slack with my Colorado school guys – re-signing after camp sometimes No initiating trades – may only accept CPU trade after adjusting it (reality check) In short, the team is being almost exclusively built from within, with a few fill-in types from the late rounds of free agency. Once my players get past their first contracts, I compete (if possible) on the open market to retain their services. Here is the short history of the team—the GM performance printout:
We looked like we were heading for a major rebuilding effort back in about 2037 (a major fall-apart after our SB-winning QB up and retired on us very prematurely). However, we found a quality QB, and got back on our feet fairly quickly, even getting a nice run for another title in 2043. We’re a quality team now, but we seem to lack some pieces to be a real powerhouse right now. An interesting side plot is that the two-time defending champions are Seattle, right in our division with us. A good rivalry, which I hope will continue. The story continues below... |
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02-05-2001, 07:25 PM
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#2 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Herding Squirrels
For those who may just be joining… and anyone else who might appreciate the update. . . here are few words on our current roster. Our QB Todd Markowitz has been a curio of sorts. He’s the type of guy who would make a great test subject in a study of “which ratings are important?” He has nearly maxed out red bars in almost every area—except two which might be sorts important: passing accuracy and throwing power. The result? I’m paying big bucks for him, and he generally fails to live up to my fairly lofty hopes. I see him as the sort of guy who plays his very best football on Thursday afternoon. He studies the film, knows the playbook, looks very sharp in practice, and throws nice crisp passes to the practice team. Then, on Sunday, he comes out of the tunnel and is capable of forgetting his own name. Tough to figure. Our RB Benjamin Fouse is a stellar fantasy football player—the top pick in each year’s draft, I’d guess. He’s been pretty consistently near 2,000 in combined yardage each of the last 4-5 years, and he is the main weapon in our offensive arsenal. That is in part because we have a pretty shaky group of wide receivers, but also in part because Fouse is just good at everything. An anchor. FB Dean McKay is the most popular player in football, if you ask the players themselves. He’s a very good lead blocker, and he does it all from the FB position. The guy racks up awards like nobody’s business: In his six seasons in the league, he has been named to the all-pro team every single season since his rookie year, four out of five times as a first teamer. Not gaudy numbers, but he gets it all done. The offensive line of this team is the absolute cornerstone. I detailed them in dome depth on the last thread but suffice it to say that I probably have four of the 10-15 best OL in the whole league on my club (all my draft picks) and I intend to let them grow old together here. Last season, we got three guys onto the first team all-pro squad, and another on the second team. Nice. Well, with all that offensive talent, we still manage to be a less than overwhelming offense. I currently am blaming QB Markowitz for most of this, and am looking for a replacement who can step in after Markowitz’s current contract ends (after next season). On defense, we have fewer colorful profiles. I have two veteran leaders in my secondary—CB Leslie Bailey, and S Brenden Honeycutt. Both are multiple honorees, and have been with me since I drafted them 1-2 in the 2035 season. They each wear three SB rings, and together they boost my secondary cohesion through the roof as I fuddle around with a number of younger guys to play across from them. Honeycutt had a three or four year period where he was pretty indisputably the best defensive layer in the game. Now, he’s in more of a Rod Woodson role, a veteran leader who can still play. At LB, I have a pair of notable guys, one old and one young. LB Kelly Kennedy has already had his stint as my main man at MLB, and is nearing the end of his productive years. LB Dexter Vang is another solid anchor-caliber LB, and is stepping into the leadership role. The two hardly get to play together, as they seem to trade off with injuries. My early first round pick of a year ago, LB Kelvin West, was exposed as a fourth-round talent after training camp (bust) and he’s now a borderline cut (if I could afford the cap hit). My attempts to develop a great LB corps have been largely fruitless. My DL isn’t too interesting. I have thrd year DE Mark Gilberton, who has suffered the slow erosion of ratings that seems so common among promising young defensive linemen as they get farther removed from the draft. DTs Tommie Lee and Curtis Carr are pretty unexciting—my front seven is the most colorless area of the team. With that, we’re preparing for a move forward in the coming years. Our offensive line is pretty young and extremely gifted. We’ll try to parlay that into success. If we can bring in a more effective QB threat, I think this team might be capable of great things on offense. |
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02-05-2001, 08:45 PM
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#3 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2046 pre-draft
Among the HOF inductees this year is TE Norbert Drake, who spent (I believe) three years with us in Col Springs, after which he returned to Cheyenne for the rest of the way. He was very solid, and played a long time—he’s probably the first string all-time TE for this career (only the second FOF inductee at TE into the hall). Our Squirrels don’t have any retirements this year- for the umpteenth time, it seems. I’m really not waiting on anyone, but it just seems odd. I haven’t been able to hold on to many guys all the way, I suppose. Our bottom line this year is right about where it was last season—we lost $33m. We had an expensive bonus year last season, which was part of it, but we’ve lost money for four or five seasons in a row—it’s an issue around here. We sold out the stadium again, however—that isn’t the problem. I’m definitely comfy with my scout Luke Flowers and my coach Todd Rowan. I’m not thrilled about Rowan’s salary, but he’s getting things done here, I believe. I see scout Richard Feely available in the open market. He was my guy for one year, only to see me re-hire Flowers for good after that. Feely has developed well—he now is rated VG in 6 categories. I expect the bidding to go high, but I sit it out. He ends up getting about $1.5m, which is only middle of the pack, but still much more than my guy. As we head into free agency, here’s the full roster picture, sorted by salary (so you can see where the money is going, and who’s up for a new deal):
Quite a lot going on this season, this might be tough. I have all but promised that I’d keep my entire offensive line together ad infinitum, and here come three of them looking for new deals. With only $44m in cap room, this will almost certainly require that I make a cut or two elsewhere—not a lot of fun. I’m tempted to dump LB Kelvin West, but doing so would mean a nearly $20m cap hit next season—and I’ll be struggling with Benjamin Fouse next year. It’s still an option. Every year at this time, I get a trade offer for QB Todd Markowitz. This year, Miami is offering their #20 overall pick, plus a grossly overpaid old DT for him. It’s not a bad deal, and it would clearly open up enough cap room for the linemen. The problem is, of course, that I have nothing else at QB, and my backup Frankie Duffy will be asking for as much money as I’m paying Markowitz—so that would be basically letting this year go. I’m just not sure that I can do it. I have trade offers for CB Coleman and LB Vang as well, but I don’t want to deal either of them. Anyway, I start out by seeing what it will take to reel in my three linemen—they’re all I’m worrying about. Here are my opening offers: C Bloomer – 4yrs, $54m; T Osborne – 3yrs, $67m; G Peel – 3yrs, $48m. I don’t want the three of them to all come up simultaneously again. Bloomer seems like the best deal (he’s a little older) so I try to seal him up longer. I simply must make some room for these three contracts—I can’t sign them all without clearing out a fair amount of room, probably about $20m or so. I decide to revisit KC’s offer for CB Coleman, which includes their first round selection, #23 overall. I take the deal, and I cut the TE who comes along with it. I grabbed a good CB in last year’s draft, and I’ll count on his advancement this year to help me fill in at CB. The next victim has to be WR Dominic Poole. He’s making $10m this year, and I just cannot afford it. He’s been unable to step up and deliver like a well-paid top pick should, and I just cannot afford him any longer. I realize that I’m complaining about my air game and then cutting my “best” WR, but I se no other way to bring back my linemen, which is just too intriguing to pass up. With those two moves, I’m up to $63m in cap room, which I think at least gets us close to what we need to hold on to my linemen. If not, I’ll trim down more—probably targeting some of my mid-range players. After week one, C Drew Bloomer has returned. One down, two to work on. I bump up to 4yrs, $69m to try to keep G Peel—he’s developing beautifully, and I’m really trying here. T Osborne is going to be very tough—he’s been bid up to $70m for 3yrs. I go to $69.4m over 3yrs, more than I wanted to. With $50m, I simply cannot afford both of these deals—I release 7th year DE Brent Ford, who was a marginal contributor, but had been around a while. I hope that’s enough room to keep me from busting mid-bid. After week two, both guys are still pending. I’m sweating. Right now, I wish I had taken the deal for QB Markowitz—I’d be fine under the cap, and I’d be comfortably affording these two guys, plus I’d probably still have CB Coleman on the team. After week 4, they are still pending, and I decide to boost my offer to Osborne. This is too important, and a few more million shouldn’t be the make or break issue here. I go to 3yrs, $72m—ouch. I bump to 4yrs, $73m for G Peel—to stay on top of the bidding there as well. I really want to keep this together. After week 6, I notice that my nearby rivals from Denver have signed RB Aaron May, who was a productive reserve for me for seven years. That should be interesting—he gets over $17m a year to play for them. I’d say that he is about as talented as a typical sixth round rookie RB. Nice grab, Broncos—see you in the playoffs. Sorry you’ll have to cut one of your best players to pay this bum. Heh. In week 7, G Richie Peel signs with our Squirrels, and we have one focus. T Osborne sits pending until week 11- the time when I normally start looking at free agent players. Since my pending bid to Osborne tales up every penny of my available cap room, I’m powerless to pursue any other players now. This is weird. I decide to try another tactic—I go to 4yrs, and offer $99m. Nobody else has a 4yr offer out for this guy, and I hope that perhaps that makes my bid more appealing. It takes until week 14, but he finally agrees to the deal, and I have my three linemen all re-signed. At quite a cost. Needless to say, that wraps up my free agent foibles. I expect that I’ll still have cutting to do after the draft (or after camp) but for now, I’m ready to draft, and we have our treasured line intact. Whew. In the coming draft, I hold two fairly late first round picks. Where should I look? Probably on defense with both picks, though my WR corps is in need of a new foundation player. If I luck into a good-looking QB, I’ll go for it, as I doubt that I’ll re-sign Todd Markowitz after next year—I’ll be in need of a ready-to-go starter by then. |
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02-06-2001, 01:45 PM
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#4 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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Okay, this is frightfully pathetic. I just realized that I was holding my breath waiting on Peel and Osborne to sign. Good job signing them!!! I LOVE huge cohesion at OL. (Looks like all four will be coming back to FA together again, huh? Heh.) I'm not sure why but my LB corp seems to be a virtual revolving door also (one of my current I've kept for about 10 years - and is close to being cut loose) - and I'm not playing with your houserule!!! |
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02-07-2001, 11:39 AM
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#5 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Manchester, CT
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Dear Quiksand, GM:
Have you finally come to the realization that the Broncos are the only team in Denver, and folded up your organization? It seems that this dynasty thread is on vacation, a permanent one I can only hope. This is your chance to come out of the closet and declare yourself a Broncos fan. Good day Quiksand, Marmel, the orange and blue wig wearing, unofficial Denver Broncos mascot!
__________________
81-78 Cincinnati basketball writer P. Daugherty, "Connor Barwin playing several minutes against Syracuse is like kids with slingshots taking down Caesar's legions." |
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02-07-2001, 02:09 PM
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#6 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Yeah, I hadn't wanted to have that happen. At least next time, they will all be coming off big contracts, and they will presumably want similar money-- so there should be built-in room for them. I'm not thrilled about that, but it'll have to do. |
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02-07-2001, 02:44 PM
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#7 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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At least it'll be 4 years away and Markowitz's contract (and hopefully West's as well) will be out of your hair by then.
If nothing else, C and G's are also usually reasonable. T's are often annoying at contract time. [This message has been edited by daedalus (edited 02-07-2001).] |
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02-07-2001, 05:57 PM
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#8 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2046 draft and camp
In the draft, we again have two first round selections, which has become a fairly routine happening even in this career with "limited' trading. Picks #23 and #30 will probably not yield us exactly what we would like, but it's certainly a chance to bring aboard some help. QB, WR, DE, and S are positions that would be nice to add a standout-but I'm willing to be flexible. It looks like a good draft for safeties, and that's a pretty good sign. There are a few strong-looking QBs, but I doubt any fill fall to my late first round picks. There are two very good LBs from Col and Col State, plus a solid WR from Col State. It would be nice to add quality local guys, if that's manageable. Baltimore trades up to #1 to draft QB Broderick Woodson, who looks like he'll be very good. The two local LBs go with picks #9 and #17, so that option is off the table. For my pick, I'm unmoved by the QBs left, and the WR crop is a bit disappointing, too. I'm leaning toward taking a LB and safety with these two selections.
As it turns out, among the handful of players I contemplated with my first round picks, I watched TE Jennings slip to my second round pick, and then (shockingly) RB Fields to my third. Fields may well be a franchise caliber back, and he gives me a monstrous insurance policy in case Benjamin Fouse is unsignable after this year, which is a distinct possibility. As soon as I took the TE in round two, I winced, knowing that RB Fields couldn't last. When he did, I felt like I should have worn a mask. After the draft, I have $1,460,000 in cap room. Regrettably, I still have 7 more slots to fill-meaning that I need to make some moves. I size up LB Kelvin West, and decide that he has to go-even though I'll eat nearly $20m next year. I have to field a team, and he's killing me softly. That cut pushes me to $9.7m in cap room, very close to what I need. (Actually, just enough) QB Sedrick Hartman is my special URFA signing. He's an odd character-has a very good rating for passing accuracy, which I judge to be pretty important. However, he is woefully inconsistent everywhere else, including very poor in short and medium passes (where my offense typically focuses). I have trouble seeing him as a starter for this team (not surprisingly) but he might actually be #2 caliber material if he reaches his apparent potentials. I fill in elsewhere, coming away with a few better-than-average URFAs from local schools. I grab a few extra LBs, which seems pretty deep, and I hope that one of these guys might actually break out. Here is the troupe that head into camp:
If this draft class holds together without a bust, it will prove to be one of the best paper drafts we've had. It was certainly great seeing these players fall to my picks in round 2 and 3, and I'm hopeful they will work out well. Our finances aren't too strong, but we'll see how this works out. My camp settings are a little different, as I decide to focus on the 3-4 defense this year, and I continue my movement toward more zone defense. I expect that I'll be in a 3-3-5 setup a lot this year, as I believe my DBs are the most talented group on my defense.
The rookie class all look fine, and I'm very pleased. I got nothing out of my fishing expedition at LB, so I'll keep the Colorado guy, but I'll dump the other two. Getting back to 53 is very easy-we just pick up two more rookies. We don't even dawdle into the post-camp free agent market. Here is the roster we will take into the season:
This year is simple-this offense has been playing together for some time, and it needs to carry the day. RB Fouse has been a workhorse, but we may not be able to bring him back to this team next year. With that in mind, this may well be the final shot for this thing to come together. On defense, the young additions should help-but I have no illusions that this will be a great unit. If the defense can play solid, break-even football and make a few plays, that should be enough for this offense. This must be a playoff team, and we want to be good enough to give Seattle a run for the division title. If we get our offense rolling, we should be able to put up strong numbers, and really be in the title hunt. [This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 02-07-2001).] |
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02-08-2001, 12:23 PM
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#9 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2046 season
My offensive setup is very familiar-we'll be a run-heavy team, for the most part, and we'll run behind our LG/C combination quite a bit. I'll again be heavy in the 2WR setup, as I feel that my talent at RB, FB, and even TE is generally better. On defense, we switch to the 3-4 setup, and our LB corps looks like it will be okay to handle the challenge. We'll be in 2-deep zone at least half the time, and will mix in a little man coverage to keep offenses honest. My team expertise is interesting. My ratings in my three offensive formations (pro set, string I, and single back) are all in the low 60s-not too overwhelming. I think this supports the theory that players who are on the team as UFAs do not count toward the team's cohesion when expertise is calculated. In all but one area, my "topped out" items are all about 60-65. My secondary (with two very old veteran leaders) was all set, and we have ratings well over 80 in the nickel, m-t-m, and zone coverages (even though I put in only modest training time toward m-t-m). Our roster has taken a leap forward on the rating page, and now rates a 100 again-with Chicago's 66 second best. Seattle was very high recently (as they win their 2 SBs) but they have slipped to a 35-which curiously only ranks them 10th in the league. The roster ratings are heavily bunched at the bottom of the scale. Our team's cohesion is a mixed bag, as usual. Here's the fairly detailed split: Passing - 74 (17th), O Line - 86 (5th), Front 7 - 64 (28th), and Secondary - 95 (3rd). Once again, the presence of two veteran returnees in the secondary seems to be enough to place us well ahead of the pack there, despite the fact that we have yet another rookie stepping into a starting role. We have five of our first six games at home, leaving us on the road for much of the late season. I'd rather it were more balanced, but we'll need to use this to get off to a good start. As usual, my main concern in preseason is avoiding crippling injuries. This year, we get decent marks-LB Hitchcock is our only casualty, for 2-3 months. CB Bailey will miss a few games also, but he should be back pretty soon. We open at home against Seattle-and it couldn't be bigger. They have been one of this league's most dominant teams, and are looking for the rare three-peat this year. We'll try to slow them down early. The Squirrel faithful (sorry, Marmel) are treated to a relentless thrashing of the champion Seahawks, 49-14. Todd Markowitz seems to have fallen immediately in love with the shiny new TE Kim Jennings-they hook up three times for TDs, and we roll on with a very, very big win. Our "high" doesn't last too long, as KC comes into town and beats us 23-16. Our running game was pretty good, but our passing game was dreadful-Markowitz was 4 of 18 for 85 yards on the day. That's inexcusable. We head into Oakland for our first road contest, and it goes from bad to worse-a 38-3 dismantling at the hands of the Raiders. Markowitz has 5 interceptions, and he gets his first outright benching of his career, as we bring in the scrubs to play out the second half. Awful. Our secondary shuffle continues-Bailey will come back top play, but my rookie S Periera is out for a few weeks. We come home to host Denver, and our team is positively reeling from the Oakland loss. The game turns into an aerial shootout, and we get back into the game after we insert T.J. Downes in at QB, and he throws 3 TDs to get us close-but we lose it 38-35. Oddly, RB Benjamin Fouse had minus 7 yards on 13 carries-we've never seen anything like it. At this point, the Seattle/Col Springs battle for the division is only heated if you read the paper upside down. We're both at 1-3 on the year, and KC is the unlikely early power, at 4-0. We host Washington, and we get some of our groove back, with a 38-17 win. Markowitz, who we left in as our starter, had 3 TD passes (2 to TE Jennings) as we built up our comfy lead. I'm still not pleased with Markowitz-he had 2 interceptions even in this game where we were clicking well. He's rapidly working his way out of a contract. This is a guy (you know what I mean) that every year somebody is trying to trade for him. Next year, I'll be damned tempted to jettison this overrated bum. After our week 6 bye, we host SD and lose 21-18. This is insanity-we had to bench Markowitz again to even get back into the game. This time, it's clear-he's just not fitting in now, and we'll make a change at QB for this team. I'll go with Downes for now, but Hartman is signed to a long term deal, and he's the one who will be around. We'll see if Downes can lead this team-if we fall out of contention, we'll go with the rookie. TO compound the worries, RB Fouse is also ailing, and he'll miss a few weeks. We'll see what the exciting rookie RB Rondell Fields can do with the top job. We go into Denver, and this is probably a poor time to be tinkering with an all-green backfield. The Broncos nick us again, 16-10, as our only TD comes from an interception by rookie safety Periera. Bad news-young QB Downes gets hurt in his first career start, and the rookie Hartman had to come in for him. Not so good. We will go back to Markowitz for now at QB. I don't feel good about anything now, this season seems to be slipping away. In SD, we take a 41-24 beating, as our defense gave up 24 points in the fourth quarter to turn a comfortable lead into a lopsided loss. Markowitz offers up 4 interceptions, which certainly helped the self-immolation. At 2-6, our goose is all but cooked. Wow. We now have injuries all over the LB position, and are ill-equipped to handle them. We're in serious trouble now. We eke out a 30-27 win in Baltimore. 119 yards of passing is enough on this day, as Rondell Fields has his second straight big day with 164 yards and 2 TDs. We come home, and beat Pittsburgh 16-3. We run for another 200+ yards (135 from Fields) and Markowitz only throws 1 interception-a recipe for success. We're up to 4-6, and now we head to Seattle, to take on the 6-4 'Hawks. Somehow, this looked like a much bigger game as we first saw the schedule. CB Butch Mahoney and LB Kelly Kennedy are both lost for the year, and we have a number of minor injuries. This game probably determines whether we shift the team focus wholesale-losing our 7th game here kicks us out of the playoffs, and we probably insert our youth into the lineup immediately. Instead, we get a37-10 win in Seattle, and forestall the demise for one more week. QB Todd Markowitz is admittedly brilliant, completing 20 of 27 for 256 yards and no interceptions. At 5-6, we will host Oakland, in what look like another big test. RB Fouse is healthy and comes back, adding another dangerous piece to our offense's arsenal. A 29-17 win over Oakland gets us back to even on the year, at 6-6. We run the ball very well late in the game, and pull away by keeping it on the ground. This overcomes Markowitz's 3 interceptions in the first half, which kept Oakland alive. At 6-6, we now sit only one game behind Seattle for the division lead-go figure. We go to play the 6-6 Giants, and we extend our winning ways with a 27-3 rout of the G-men. We run well, and do not turn it over-and lo and behold, when we do that, we're darned tough to beat. With injuries abounding at WR,I decide to put my best athlete out there-I start rookie RB Fields at split end. Fouse will carry the main load at RB, and we'll test Fields' great hands as a wideout for now. In Buffalo, our lucky streak ends, and we fall to 7-7 with a 34-13 loss. Buffalo scored on three straight fumble returns, and really put us away on the freak plays. In KC, we lose 28-3, and our season is now, mercifully, almost behind us. We lose at home to Cheyenne, and we register a 7-9 mark on the year. We fall far below expectations, and now will have a lot of questions to answer for next year.
Stat leaders: QB Todd Markowitz: 2,246 yds, 51.9%, 6.78 ypa, 11/20, 59.5 RB Rondell Fields: 204-1,105 yds, 8 TD (5.1 ypc); 12 rec-79 yds RB Benjamin Fouse: 180-593 yds, 4 tD (3.2 ypc); 23 rec-280yds, 2 TD FB Dean McKay: 86-307 yds, 4 TD (3.5 ypc); 13 rec-147 yds WR Leroy Lynch: 41-601 yds, 1 TD (51.2%, 7 drops) OL unit: ~33% KRPs, 20 sacks allowed C Drew Bloomer: 36/112 KRBs (32.1%), 2 sacks allowed G T.J. Robson: 34/89 KRBs (34.6%), 2 sacks allowed LB Dexter Vang: 114 tackles, 5.5 sacks DE Mark Gilbertson: 9 sacks, 2 blocks, 8 hurries S Brenden Honeycutt: 67 tackles, 5 int, 3 TD, 3 PD, 33.4 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.9 / 3.8 / 3.6 Passing: 6.4 / 6.3 / 6.4 Gross statistical rankings: Rushing offense 1st, Passing offense 35th Rushing defense 22nd, Passing defense 16th Overall, this was an average team. Not what we wanted, but an average team. We are starving the rest of the team by paying so much money to keep our offensive core together-and the offense isn't putting up the numbers to make this all worthwhile. I'm pretty sure that we'll see offensive changes this season ahead-some necessitated by money, and some necessitated by performance. In the playoffs, the Seahawks have recovered from their early season troubles, and get the #2 seed in the AFC. They continue their late-season winning ways with two playoff wins, to get into their third straight Superbowl, against the Eagles. The Seahawks come up with a 13-7 win in the Superbowl to lock up the second back to back to back titles in league history, and the first in over 30 years. Seattle is again a total teal effort, and they are modestly represented on the all-pro listings. Their CB Derrick Cavazos is again their only first team representative. Miami QB Grady Ingram is the league MVP, though he wasn't named to either slot on the all-pro team. QB Bobby Rose of Carolina was the second team QB-he was the starter at ND when Todd Markowitz played there, and he may yet have the last laugh. My Squirrels have another good showing on the all-pro teams. FB Dean McKay takes his annual position on the first team. G T.J. Robson gets a first team nod, and C Drew Bloomer and T Carl Csborne get second team honors. LB Dexter Vang gets his first honors-a first team listing. Rookie TE Kim Jennings is awarded second team honors for a solid debut. He's beaten out for OROY, though, by our rookie RB Rondell Fields. A very good showing on the awards board, but not so good on the W-L record. |
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02-08-2001, 03:43 PM
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#10 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I'm, uh, having some "file troubles" with this right now, and I'm fearful that I might have to re-start back at the 2046 draft. More to come. Grrrrrrrrrrrr
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02-08-2001, 03:54 PM
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#11 |
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question is, if you do start over, do you take the trade for the QB if you get it this time???
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02-08-2001, 05:07 PM
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#12 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2047 pre-draft
Our team has no retirements, and there's nothing of major note on the league HOF list. No news. We are losing money very rapidly now, when not supported by home playoff game revenues. We lost $77m last year, which really isn't so hot. Our attendance remained perfect, despite the losing record-one of only three such teams. I decide to sit tight with my coach Todd Rowan and scout Luke Flowers, both are under contract. The most interesting guy out there is coach Greg Rash, who gets re-signed by Jacksonville for $19m- pretty big bucks. Indy lays out $35m for Oliver Dunn-a very good coach, but that's a lot of dinero to pay when fewer than 10 guys even make $20m. We haven't even looked at ticket prices in countless years-I decide to give them a bump (I have a lot of room to do so, even with my regional rival limitation). Denver has just opened a new stadium, with fancy new ticket prices. I decide to keep mine low, and undercut them as best I can. As we begin the free agency period, I suspect that I'll get a suitor for QB Todd Markowitz, which I do every year at this time. Sure enough, Washington is offering pick #16 plus a grossly overpaid DT for my signal caller-and I've all but resolved to do this since the middle of last season. It passes the smell test, and I pull the trigger. I release the DT immediately. With that move accomplished, here is my roster situation-rather wide open, you'll see:
With nearly a third of our team's cap room available, I have several players to consider. First, I need to look at the DT position-my two starters are both free agents. I really don't think either one is worth shelling out big bucks to keep, but I'm also not too keen on going into the season with a doughnut defense. G T.J. Robson is a guy I really want to keep-possibly the most talented among my star-studded offensive line corps. LB Kelly Kennedy has been a lifer-he'd be good to bring back. And then there is RB Benjamin Fouse. He's been very good, but is in the unenviable position of being very expensive and (based on my current roster) fairly easily replaceable. Tough to see him returning for $40m plus, considering the sacrifices that would require elsewhere. If so, here is a rundown of his numbers with us: 9 seasons, 136 starts, 2,338 carries for 10,215 yds (4.3 ypc), 89 TD; 348 receptions for 3,520 yds, 20 TD. Very strong numbers indeed-he probably will not threaten the very top career leaders, but with 3-4 more productive seasons (somewhere) he may well get into the next tier. Among younger players, it would be nice to ink CB Drew Morris, and my P/K combo will return for next year, I'll ensure. Past that, nothing I see worthy of a serious investment. QB Downes is, I suppose, a longshot possibility, but only if we are positively desperate and quite certain that we won't get immediate help at QB with my draft picks (at #14 and #16, incidentally). I start out with 4yrs, $60m for G Robson. I'll go higher if needed-he's a guy I'll go to the mat to hold on to. He's made six straight all-pro squads-the guy is pretty good. DTs Carr and Lee are asking for over $20m each-I just don't think it makes sense to pay that much. I'll hold out hope that one of them drops in the FA period, or else I'll have to draft there. I decide to wait on LB Kelly Kennedy as well, as he is currently seeking a 3yr, bonus-heavy deal worth over $45m. He's not worth that much, by any means. After week one, lots of bids drop in. I'm the high bidder for G Robson, but others are putting up more per season, so I boost my deal a bit. Philadelphia is gunning for RB Fouse, and they're talking about $35m a season-a bit less than I was paying before, but I had his prime years. DT Curtis Carr and LB Kelly Kennedy are getting offers-and I am unlikely to give chase in either case. In week 5, G T.J. Robson re-signs with us, and he'll be with us for four more seasons. Very good-the line should be all set for a wile now. In week 6, RB Benjamin Fouse takes the offer from Philadelphia, and he should help their offense considerably. They were in the Superbowl last year, and adding a high-caliber weapon like him should make them very tough. When week 11 comes around, I check out the FA market. Interestingly, there is one QB prospect who looks pretty decent-Frankie Duffy. He backed up for us from 2043-2045, and then sat out last year. He's looking for over $20m, but he's not totally out of the question. Problem is, he's basically the same guy as Markowitz-fairly low accuracy and power, but high ratings for the pass types. I don't think he is the answer, by any stretch. Fortunately, DT Tommie Lee is also still in the FA market, and his demands have come down a good deal. In week 17, I put in the offer he seeks-4yrs, $68m. I also put in a 4yr, $79m offer for QB Frankie Duffy-he's the best guys out there, and he is certainly capable of stepping in for us if we need to develop a young QB. Those two sign for us, and our cap room drops to $48m. In the final week, I sign LB Rex Dockery for four years-he'll be a decent 4th or 5th LB, with some solid ability with zone defense. That's the only late-FA move we make, and we head toward the draft with only 37 players signed. With 8 draft picks, that leaves 8 slots to fill. If I re-sign 2 or 3 of my RFAs, that still leaves five extra slots for URFAs. A little more than I'd prefer. In this draft, we have tandem middle-round picks, and I think I need to invest at WR. I will, of course, be on the lookout for "the answer" at QB, but if not, I'll be okay with a quality WR and DE. Or, perhaps we'll just go which way the wind blows. |
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02-08-2001, 06:17 PM
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#13 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2047 draft and camp
First of all, this looks like a horrible draft. I count only a small number of players I'd target with a first rounder, and since I have two picks-I'm not too optimistic. DE Lonnie Robinson looks like the best draft pick, but he'll surely be gone before I come up. There are a couple of pretty good QBs, one who looks like Markowitz (high pass ratings, but modest accuracy) and an inverse guy who is also inconsistent. There are a few decent players from local schools-one LB, one safety, but no real standouts. When my #14 pick comes up, the best players available are all offensive linemen-not exactly a need position for us. The high-accuracy QB is also in there, and I'm intrigued by him, but I cannot bring myself to pull the trigger-he is very deeply flawed. WR is pretty well wiped out, as is DE-it looks bleak. I decide to take the best WR available, and follow up with a LB who is very ready to play. I sit back, and then watch QB Amos Bell go to Philadelphia with their first round pick-I have a twinge of regret for not taking him. If he works out soon, Philadelphia could end up being very, very good.
Not a lot to holler about here. DE Farr, I'm convinced, looks worse now than he did when I drafted him. I notice this from time to time, and usually write it off as just my failing memory-but I'm just about certain that when I examined him in the draft, he had potentials around 60-now they are 40 and 50. Oh, well. I'm left with $20m in cap room, which I will use quickly if I'm not careful. My punter and kicker are easy, but CB Drew Morris takes 4yrs, $61m. I have to make cuts to be able to afford my roster-filler players. I sign RB Robert McLemore as my long-term free agent. He has that interesting combination of receiving and third-down skills that suggest he might be a versatile fill-in at RB, FB or WR. I pick up a couple more free agent prospects, and that's all-I can only afford to get to 51 before camp. After camp, I'll make cuts to afford the rest, but I decide to wait to see how camp works out to decide whom to cut.
In training camp, I keep most of the same settings-I'll go with a 3-4 defense, and lots of zone in the secondary. I try to avoid zeroing out areas in several cases, to see if my team's great cohesion can make us effective even without training. (I'm wondering if the slightly bolded tickmarks on the training scale are meaningful?) We hope that we at least get what we paid for in this unimpressive draft. If my longshot redliner DE Ronnie Porter develops some talent, all the better (but I doubt it-I think he's just lousy). Not the draft we hoped for, and hopefully the news won't get any worse.
Well, this will make some of my "cutting" problems a bit clearer. Second round pick DE Charlie Farr is a complete bust, a thoroughly worthless player. DE Ronnie Porter did not advance in any meaningful way, and he's pretty much worthless also. I cut DE Farr, and will take the $5m cap hit next year. That clears up enough room to sign three rookies. I cut RB Donnie Jamison, and have even more room to move. Getting to 53 isn't too tough-the final piece of the puzzle falls into place as we sign DE Adiran Wiggins, a so-so player from Colorado. He rounds out our local contingent, and we move into the season with our final 53:
Needless to say, a tight budget year. Regardless, we have some things really coming into place. RB Rondell Fields has developed some really great ratings, and now looks like the real thing. CB Butch Mahoney is going to be a great keeper-he has retained his potential ratings at 100 through his first years, with no dropoff at all. Some things are looking up for us. This year, we need to rebound off our catastrophe from last year, and though we have made some changes, we bring back a team that is a whole lot like last year's pretty promising roster. We're hopeful that Rondel Fields can step right into the "attack back" role that Fouse played for us, and behind this line, he ought to succeed. If QB Duffy can at least come in and keep from throwing 20+ interceptions, we can step forward. The defense ought to be better-we really didn't lose a lot with LB Kennedy except his leadership, and our cohesion up front stunk anyway. We should be a playoff team, and at the very least, we should be in the hunt for the postseason to the end. I expect 10 wins or so-we'll also keep a close eye out to see what becomes of Seattle. |
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02-08-2001, 08:08 PM
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#14 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2047 season
My offensive setup is going to stay pretty much the same as in recent seasons. I'm implementing the 75 offense (the "Hawaiian Punch?") for my run/pass balance, which is slightly more slanted to the run than what I've been using in my last few years. I will again run a good deal behind my LG/C star combination. my pass distribution is what has become my standard: 8-45-35-8-4. On defense, I made a mistake in camp (it is now evident) as I was monkeying around with my training time, and I ended up putting my time toward man-to-man instead of zone (out of habit, I'm sure). So, I'll be playing more man coverage this year, which may actually suit my old CB Bailey better, as that's his strength. My secondary cohesion is very high, and my expertise ratings are all very good there-zone is the low, and just 52. I'm also going to start CB Morris at strong safety-he needs to get in the lineup, and I'll bump S Honeycutt to be my nickel back. On the franchise screen, our roster rating is 100 again, with Portland's 77 next. Denver and Oakland are at 57, the next best in our division-while Seattle sits at 46, about 15th overall. With our lineup configuration as described, our cohesion stands at 49-100-61-91. Buffalo has the second best OL cohesion with a 91-we'll keep an eye on how this disparity grows, which I suspect it will. My entire OL has played together now for 4 years, and everyone but RT Grayson for 6 years. It should only get better-C Bloomer is the oldest and he's only in his 10th season. Our schedule looks balanced, our team is primed, and we are ready to go. In preseason, we take a number of injury hits-DT Tommie Lee is out for 2-3 months, and G T.J. Robson will miss a few weeks also. Our opener is in Baltimore, and the Ravens play like the '00 version. It's a 27-0 shutout. We failed to get things going in our passing game, and they aired it out on us pretty well. We take on Oakland, and out injury lists are mounting already. The Raiders score a TD in the final minute to win it 24-23. We outrush them 214-15 (!) but still managed to lose, many thanks to three interceptions, including the one that set up the Raiders' final score. In Minnesota, we get our first big win, 37-27. We jumped out early, and for once took advantage of the other team's mistakes. QB Frankie Duffy gets nailed and suffers a painful hip pointer, he'll miss a couple of weeks. I have 9 players listed as our for 3-5 weeks or longer. It's getting bad. With young Sedrick Hartman at the helm, we lose 17-14 in Buffalo. Hartman throws 9 of 21 for only 26 yards, and 3 interceptions. Dreadful, positively dreadful. I notice a particularly interesting couple of lines in the box score, though:
We get back into it with a win over KC. Sedrick Hartman throws 3 TD passes in the first half, and then we hold on for dear life as he almost gives it all back in the second. Rondell Fields really carries the day with 172 yards. At 2-3, we need a win over 3-1 San Diego, who visits next. We get it 13-10, but we lose RB Fields to an injury, and rookie Hicks comes in. Hicks is great, and has 171 yards rushing, but Fields will miss serious time with broken ribs. Hartman manages not to lose the game for us, which is fine. We are at 3-3, and we reinstate the still-injured Frankie Duffy as our starting QB, as we face 3-2 Seattle. K Rodney Mayers is 6 for 6, as we beat the champs, 32-16. We totally shut down their running game, and behind my line, we get 26-121 from McLemore, and 16-110 from Hicks (both rookie backups). Duffy manages to avoid the interception, and we look sharp. I continue to shuffle this injury-riddled offensive line. We host Green Bay, and plaster them 30-3. RB Cory Hicks has 2 TDs rushing early, and then gets away on a 72-yard reception later to be the hero. Now, we head into Denver, for a big-time showdown with the Broncos. Oakland leads the division at 5-2, but we are just behind them at 5-3, and Denver and Seattle just a game behind us. The Denver game is a big one for both teams. My injury totals are mounting-very serious. The Broncos score a TD to tie the game with less than a minute left. We run three plays-the third is an interception that sets up the winning TD for them. Sometimes I wish I could call the plays. We come home, and beat Fargo 27-20. We still are a "contender" though I can only just barely field a team. CB Leslie Bailey may be done, period-hi broken leg will probably finish him altogether. DE mark Gilbertson, my only legit pass rusher, is gone for the year. RB Rondell Fields looks like me may miss a long time-he's still listed as out, and his ratings have dipped from this injury. All three of my DTs are listed as either Q or D. I'm starting a total of 7 players who are listed as questionable-I just don't have the bodies to put out there. Our bye week is much-needed relief. In San Diego the following week, we get crushed 27-6. I have a bad feeling. At 6-5, our arrow is down, and now we play the 7-4 Seahawks-who are again in the midst of a late-season rally. I had expected the worst, but instead we came out and did our two good things-we ran well, and we didn't turn it over. We win the game 27-17, and keep alive. My rookie backup RB Corey Hicks has 945 yards rushing on the year, and is in 6th place-two slots ahead of Philadelphia's Benjamin Fouse (who has 40 more carries). Frankie Duffy's QB rating of 63.4 isn't any good, but it's slightly ahead of that of Todd Markowitz, who is starting for Washington and continues his implosion. Carolina's Bobby Rose, incidentally, is on his way to another all-pro season, and looks like he's among the very best QBs in the league. We get beat at home by Boise City, a good team. They get ahead early, get us out of our running game, and we were helpless. We head into Denver, where our two 7-6 teams cling to life. The Broncos hammer us 34-12, and probably end our season right there. In Oakland, we steal a 28-25 win, and keep one last gasp alive. At 8-7, we are technically still alive, but we'd need a lot of help. We finish with a 23-0 win over KC, but we lose the tiebreaker for the division to Oakland, and for the final wild card to Buffalo. We'll join Denver and Seattle at 9-7, and sitting at home for the playoffs.
Stat leaders: QB Frankie Duffy: 2,283 yds, 52.6%, 6.46 ypa, 12/11, 71.2 RB Cory Hicks: 222-1,194 yds, 10 TD (5.3 ypc) RB Rondell Fields: 110-593 yds, 1 TD (5.3 ypc) WR Harry Beardsley: 48-707 yds, 2 TD (46.1%, 8 drops) OL unit: ~34% KRBs, 23 sacks allowed C Drew Bloomer: 33/104 KRBs (31.7%), 1 sack allowed G Richie Peel: 31/96 KRBs (32.2%), 0 sacks allowed T Carl Osborne: 29/73 KRBs (39.7%), 1 sack allowed LB K.C.Blanchard: 92 tackles, 5 sacks LB Dexter Vang: 90 tackles, 4 sacks DE Mark Gilbertson: 8.5 sacks, 4 blocks, 4 hurries (10 games) S Vince Periera: 66 tackles, 5 int, 1 TD, 4 PD, 33.2 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 4.3 / 3.6 / 3.9 Passing: 6.1 / 6.7 / 6.5 Gross statistical rankings: Rushing offense 2nd, Passing offense 36th Rushing defense 6th, Passing defense 26th It's pretty clear what our deal is here. I think the entire team comes down to one thing-stop turning the ball over. I'm not thrilled about our subpar QB productivity, and that is certainly related. I need an impact QB for this team, and I need one now. No two ways around it-that's where we need to invest, period. This offensive line cannot play an entire decade and never be dignified with a respectable signal caller. In a less-than-thrilling postseason, Indianapolis makes it to the Superbowl, and takes on Chicago. Just what we want-two teams who only managed 19 wins between them getting to the title game. In the so-called "asterisk bowl," the Colts get the title, 36-24. Indy's RB Sedrick Crooks gets the game ball for his great effort. Miami's RB Grady Ingram again earns the triple award, for a superb 2,099 yard season, a league record. QB Carlton Henderson gets the first team nod-he plays for San Diego, but he went to school at Col State. Ouch. We get our threesome of OL onto the league's first team list-C Bloomer, G Peel, and T Osborne-they allowed 2 sacks among the three of them. LB K.C. Blanchard gets a second team award. FB Dean McKay, playing hurt most of the year, loses his streak of annual awards, and is left off this season. Not the season we would have wanted, but it's just perfectly clear what this team needs. We need to re-establish the passing game as a legitimate threat, and we need a real QB to do it. The experimenting with low-accuracy players has got to stop. |
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02-09-2001, 08:23 AM
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#15 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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A note on Squirrel quarterbacks
Just a side note on a curious history of this particular franchise. I've played 46 seasons now with the Squirrels, and have probably made (due to trades) about 60-65 first round draft picks (beginning with an inauspicious bust with my very first selection in franchise history). However, over that entire time, I have never selected a QB in the first round of the draft. Never. I guess it's just hard-headedness, but I suppose I just see too many "solid" QBs dropping into later rounds. The long-tenured QBs in this career (without looking back into the stat archives) have had several paths: Paul de los Santos was a third round pick in the team's very first draft. We looked good when we took him, and he gradually improved even beyond his initial potentials. He was never a topped-out ratings stud, but he ended up with very strong on-field numbers. Tim Loverne was a first round pick, but by Dallas. After sitting on the bench with them for a few years, he tested free agency, and slipped into the late phases for me. I grabbed, him, and he played a number of years for us. He has very solid ratings- mostly in the 85-95 range, as I recall. Fernando Stephenson was Loverne's successor, and was a middle round pick (fourth, I believe). He was a redliner prospect, and he broke out in training camp. After the breakout, he had nearly topped-out potentials almost everywhere, and once he got to start, he rapidly developed into a mighty-ratings monster, and an on-field superstar. Todd Markowitz was another late round draft pick (not sure which round - fifth or sixth, I suspect) who broke out in training camp, to vastly improve his apparent potentials. He developed very high ratings in the pass categories, but never beyond about 55 in accuracy and power. This unfortunate limitation has led to his knack of failing to reach high expectations. Now, I'll be looking for a new QB for this franchise, and I have not at all ruled out selecting a QB in round one of the upcoming draft-even if the guy isn't that great. I'd prefer to bring in a somewhat accomplished veteran (who has a high accuracy rating) but any port in a storm. |
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02-09-2001, 09:04 AM
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#16 |
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College Prospect
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Alexandria, VA
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I've really enjoyed reading this dynasty; your style of writing really adds color to the game.
One of the things I enjoy most are your occassional asides before free agency. Commentaries on players, positions, history...I find all of it great. One suggestion to help newcomers, as well as long-time readers of this thread who have forgotten the names, would be to give a full run-down on the Black Squirrels team HOF. Things like the story of their contributions, whether they made the overall HOF, and if they place among the leaders in any of the career stats. At any rate, thanks for providing this small bit of entertainment for your many loyal fans (and even that bum from Denver). Michael [This message has been edited by DukeRulesMAB (edited 02-09-2001).] |
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02-09-2001, 12:03 PM
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#17 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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I think you can definitely win with less than an impact QB. Just need one with high accuracy and 3rd down (I consider arm strength a plus rather than a requirement). My team tends to be built roughly close to what yours is now: strong OL that hangs around together for awhile, decent RB, solid+ FB/TE. My wR pair is a bit stronger than yours, but that shouldn't be a big factor. |
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02-09-2001, 12:39 PM
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#18 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Thansk for the kind words. A rundown of our team HOF (and a few other greats) would be a nice addition. If I were more adept with web sites, I'd create one, but alas...
I'll see what I can pull together over time. |
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02-09-2001, 12:41 PM
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#19 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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daedalus, I agree that it's not necessary to have a monster QB to win (though it does help). I end up in the same place as you, prety much, and the guys I've had running this team have just been mismatches for what we need to do. I need accuracy, and I need it fast. The 3rd down rating is also important, especially for a run-heavy offense, where quite a lot of the passing will come in those situations.
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02-09-2001, 03:02 PM
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#20 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2048 pre-draft
CB Leslie Bailey, who suffered a serious broken leg last season, has retired this offseason. After several years without any solid CBs on the team, he was one of two we took in the same draft, and Bailey stepped up and anchored the secondary for many years. His veteran leadership will be missed, though he has lead a wave of talented young corners to this team, and it is now a position of relative strength. On the transactions board, I notice that Washington has franchised QB Todd Markowitz. Heh. They'll be glad they decided to do that. (Hey, the guy does have a SB ring) We cut our losses somewhat last season, reducing the bleeding to only $50m from $78 the year before. I guess that's progress. Most of the gains came from ticket price increases, not from any real advancement in our general position. We dropped to 99.4% attendance last year. Our scout Luke Flowers is signed already, and we don't see anything on the market to merit any attention. Coach Todd Rowan is very solid, and he's under contract already. His "fair" rating with playcalling is almost certainly holding us back to some degree, and it would be nice to see this offense take better shape. However, he has a lot in the asset column, and he's worth keeping. We sit tight. As we begin the FA period, here is the roster situation, top to bottom:
With the $55m in cap room, we have two chief issues in free agency. FB Dean McKay is a centerpiece, and I'd very much like to keep him around. S Brenden Honeycutt is my final surviving veteran in the secondary, and he'd be a good influence if he is reasonable. If I can bring those two back for, say, $22-24m, I should be in good shape. Hopefully, there will be a player worth spending some money on in the late FA stages-I'd gladly cut Frankie Duffy to clear cap room for a more legitimate QB. I get trade offers for LB Dexter Vang (no deal), DE Mark Gilbertson (not enough) and RB Rondell Fields. Fields was my pencilled-in "back of the future" at this time last year, but he really suffered from a rib injury last season, and he has seen skill reductions. With young Cory Hicks stepping in so nicely last year (and McLemore a long-term decent backup already in place), I'm wondering if I ought to take this deal-it's the #12 overall pick in this draft, which is nothing to sneeze at. While there are a number of tantalizing players in this draft, I do not see the QB "answer" and certainly not enough depth at QB to feel certain that this pick would net me a top guy. I decide to hold on to RB Fields for now-he's signed through next year, and he'll give me a potent punch at RB for this season, which we'll need especially if we go young at QB. I put in 3yrs, $21m for FB McKay-much cheaper than I had expected. He made over $11m last year, but he's a bit past his prime, it seems. I decide to wait on S Honeycutt-He seeks about $12m a year, and I think he's not quite worth it, especially if he retires mid-contract, which I cannot rule out. I'm leaving my self maximum flexibility in case I get a free agent jackpot in week 11. After week one, we're near the top of the list for FB McKay. Through week four, however, no movement. In week 5, FB McKay signs our offer, and he is returned safely. A bit later, I put in a bid for Honeycutt at 3yrs, $26m, and try to get him to come back fairly cheaply. He takes it immediately, and we have our two free agents returned well under budget. Pretty easily done, too. When we get to week 11, I examine the FA remainders. The QB crop is not exactly what I was hoping for. The best guy in there is not even as good as Duffy, and I won't be making my big splash this season, as I had held out dim hopes of doing. In the late stages, I offer a 4yr deal to second year safety Trevor Brodenhemer, the "Wabash Cannonball." He'll be a solid asset to our squad-he has some return skills, and looks like he'll develop into a decent reserve safety. A nice acquisitions for us-we've been pretty quiet in late free agency for a number of years, it's nice to find a good pickup here. I also decide to sign CB Allen Peterson, who has pretty good interception skills and zone defense ratings. As a CB, he is naturally more expensive, but I think that 4yrs, $26m isn't too bad for his skills. T Lawrence Arguayo is also a solid player at a tough position-he's a low-risk investment at that slot for 4yrs, $12m. The late signings drop my cap to $31.7m as we head into training camp. With 41 players aboard, and a projects draft cost of $15.1m, it looks like we'll have some flexibility. Re-signing LB Darren Carraway is still an outside possibility. In the draft, we hold pick #25, which means we'll probably take a BPA regardless of need. LB remains a need area, especially if we do not or can not re-sign Carraway. I'll also be looking for help in the secondary, despite my recent additions. And of course, QB remains the overarching team need area. |
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02-09-2001, 08:56 PM
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#21 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2048 draft and camp
In this draft, there is some solid talent, but I’m not overwhelmed at all. DE Jerald Godfrey looks like a very promising pass rusher with 98 potential there, and a very early pick. There’s a very good CB Spencer Ramsey, who looks awfully solid as well. Among the QB class, I think Howard Martinson out of Penn State is the top prospect, but I don’t have any expectations that he’ll be around for me at #25. The “best name” award among the top player might go to G Leonard Tchaikovski—he’s actually very solid. Among local players, there’s intriguing WR/KR Robert Sands from Air Force, who might make a nice URFA pickup. LBs Bert Kaplan and Bert Flagg, from Colorado and Col State, respectively, might be middle-round selections—Flagg could be a redliner, but probably not. As expected, I’ll just sit back and see what falls to me for my pick. As my pick approaches, I’m pretty disappointed—the QBs have been pretty much cleared out already, as have the handful of promising CBs and DEs. Too bad. Regrettably, the best talent sits at places like TE, FB, and OL—all the places where I’m already committed long term. For my pick, I have to choose among a few WRs, a few solid LBs, a pretty solid QB, and taking a quality guy at a non-need position like OT.
Not a great draft, but we cannot help but be pretty excited about the rookie quarterback. Schultz is a pretty uneven guy, but his potentials in the key areas are solid, and he should be a pretty good fit. His real talents are with longer passes, so we may do some adjusting over time, and see if he can be an effective play-action bomber. My URFA target player is WR Darryl Tovar. He’s a great punt returner (100), has great endurance (100), and has a good rating in third down receiving (69). He should be a productive 5th receiver for this team, and I think he’ll be a good fit. He also was a Mizzou teammate and best buddy of last year’s top pick, WR Harvey Beardsley, so they’ll appreciate playing together again. By taking him, I pass on a so-so DT from Colorado, but he’s really nothing special—he’ll get a one year deal. I decide to re-sign LB Darren Carraway, to a three year deal. He’s got his strengths right where I need them—stopping the run, and dropping into zone coverage. I’ll probably play him as my weak side inside ‘backer. I pick up a few fill-in URFAs, exhaust my salary cap, and head into training camp. Here’s the scout summary as we hit camp:
I camp this year, I decide to mark my cohesion as we enter camp itself. We’re at 60-100-74-50. I make my usual adjustments, but this year the massive dropoff in secondary cohesion—from Bailey’s retirement and Honeycutt’s temporary free agency is very troubling.
Looking over my rookie class, first of all, QB Cary Schultz will be fine—he held on everywhere. CB Rusty Zimmerman developed some additional potential in zone defense, which is key. We didn’t have any other big moves, including S Preston Sellers, who I thought might break out. No big gains, no big losses, I can live with it. I get a most intriguing trade offer—next year’s first rounder from Arizona for RB Cory Hicks. I still see Hicks as a good deal less talented than Fields, and I decide that this is a good deal for us. Arizona went 6-10 last season, so there’s at least a decent chance that this will be a great draft pick. I’m happy to take the deal, and glad I passed on a similar offer for RB Fields earlier in the preseason. I finish my fill-ins with a few local players, and we get to our final cut.
I think we still have the guns necessary to run a strong offense. I’ll give Rondell Fields another shot at the top job, and we’ll let Frankie Duffy take the reins, for now. QB Cary Schultz will remain on the sideline as we get into this year, but if the season turns sour, we’ll go to him. Defensively, I think we have the tools to be in there, though LB will again be a bit thin. The secondary should be solid, once again, despite the loss of Bailey—CB Butch Mahoney is turning into a monster corner, and is ready for anyone. I think we should be solid once again, and I suspect the season rests in things like turnovers and big plays. Hopefully, we’ll have the guys to make a lot of this big plays, and we’ll be back into the playoff picture this season. |
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02-11-2001, 08:14 AM
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#22 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2048 season
Offense setup is pretty much the same as recent years. My FB Dean McKay has seen a serious and abrupt drop in his ratings, which is disappointing—he can’t be a main ball carrying threat much longer. I’ll still be a run-heavy team, but we’ll depend much more on the RB alone. A lot of pressure on Rondell Fields, returning from his injury. We’ll also use the 2TE formation a bit more than usual, as we have better TE talent than WR. On defense, we’ll go with a 3-4, heavy nickel, heavy blitz, heavy zone package that has become all the rage. It fits my personnel right now, and it seems to be pretty effective here (though I lack the monster DT that I think makes the whole think kick up a notch). On the franchise screen, we have the 100 again, with Carolina holding the 67. Nobody else in our division is even at 40. Quite an odd number, this roster rating. My cohesion is up to 60-100-72-100. Admittedly, I had not seen the cohesion in my secondary being that strong, but I’m pleased. Regrettably, my team’s expertise in the coverage skills is pretty low (just under 50, even where I maxed out training time), since my fleeting cohesion rating was so low while Honeycutt was temporarily excluded from the roster. (This, for me, is proof positive of the phenomenon that I’ve described often about how it’s the temporary cohesion that matters most—the double penalty for a challenge like this) We have a quirky schedule again—lots of early home games, then we become road warriors for most of the latter season. I don’t like it that way. The exhibition season was mostly an exhibition in how badly our guys could get hurt. S Honeycutt will miss half the year, and will RG Richie Peel. We’re desperately poor at those positions, and will have to cover up as best we can. With our reshuffled lineup, we host Oakland in our opener. We get two TD hookups from Frankie Duffy to WR Sammy Duffy in the fourth quarter, top boost us on past the Raiders, 24-13. Rondell Fields looks like he’s in pretty good shape, with 119 yards in his first game back from his odd rib injuries from last season. Next we host Denver, in a big early game. Denver is always a big game. My only solid safety, Vince Periera, has gone down with an injury of his own, and our secondary is just awful now. I’ve got FA castoffs now in two of my starting jobs, and my nickel defense is looking like it isn’t worth five cents. I drop my nickel tendency down to 50, from 90. Against Denver, the Broncos quickly lay out Frankie Duffy, and force him to leave the game. Rookie Cary Schultz gets his first action, and he has a solid day, leading us to a 17-14 victory. Duffy will miss perhaps a couple more games, giving young Schultz a chance to step in. In San Diego, the Chargers hand us our first defeat, 21-16. They outplayed us, running the ball very effectively against our defense, and their young QB Carlton Henderson is a star. They project to be very good this year, I believe. We come home and have another close game against Seattle. Our 21-0 halftime lead evaporated to a narrow margin, but we held on to win it, 21-18. Rondell Fields is assuredly very solid—he keeps grinding out 100 yard games every week, and is second in the league after 4 games (though the superstar RB from Miami Grady Ingram has only played 3 games). Staying at home, we get a nice effort to beat Carolina 19-0. Our defense was positively brilliant, as the Panthers gained only 126 total yards. We picked off their QB Bobby Rose (a guy I once seriously coveted) twice, and kept the whole offense in check all day, while we ran for over 200 yards. Our injury tally is mounting, and we are in serious trouble if we can’t get these guys some rest. I drop my “play injured players” to 30, hoping that gives them some more time off to heal, but I have too many 3-5 week injuries to sit them all. We get our bye week, and it’s seriously needed. Hosting Kansas City, we get a 13-10 victory. Our only TD came on defense, but we played well enough to get the win. Our starting QB Duffy is ready to go, and we turn things back over to him—though we are happy with the effort from our rookie, also. The bad news is that RB Rondell Fields has pulled up lame again, this time with a knee. He’ll need surgery, and will miss 2-3 months—probably the rest of the season. He has also taken a serious blow to his apparent ratings—meaning that he is probably now a very routine player, and nothing like the stallion he appeared to be his rookie campaign. We again reshuffle our entire lineup, and get ready to head into Seattle. We’re disheveled, disorganized, and in the game we are disemboweled, 44-10. Duffy throws 3 interceptions, and we look terrible—our only TD is again a defensive score. We lose again in KC, 24-21. It’s a closer game, but Duffy is only 19 or 42, and we come up short in the end. We rebound with a 23-15 win over a very good Jacksonville team, and Duffy probably gets a reprieve. RB Robert McLemore was the real hero with 25-167 and a TD. At 6-3, we remain only one game behind the division leaders, Oakland, and tied with Seattle. Cleveland visits, and we beat them 27-10 to keep on rolling. We run the ball 45 times for 155 yards—not great efficiency, but we kept the chains moving. We’re in Oakland this week, and this is our chance to get back into the division race. It’s also the Raiders’ chance to seal it up. We get two interceptions for TDs, and we go on to beat the Raiders 25-14. We face San Diego next, who has again fallen short of expectations, at 5-6. This game, it’s my young RB Brady Shafer who tears them up, with 180 yards. We edge the Chargers, 20-17 to get to 9-3 on the year. Despite our injury woes and struggles, we are a contender for a bye week in the AFC. In Miami, we get throttled 44-14. We just got ambushed by a 5-9 team, and they kicked us everywhere. Duffy played poorly, but this was decidedly a team loss. We are still a game ahead of Oakland and Seattle, with two to play. We’d be the #2 seed right now, even after the Miami debacle. In Denver, we have a shot to eclipse the Broncos slim playoff hopes. Instead, the Broncos compromise ours, by beating us 20-17 in overtime. A pretty defensive game, and they slowed our running game down seriously—without it, we don’t get a lot done. We come home ot take on SF in our finale, and now we have slipped a whole notch- Seattle projects to twin the division, and we are currently projecting as the #5 seed. Ouch. We’ve lost T Carl Osborne as well—this year, the OL has suffered mightily, and that is a problem as we look ahead. At least Osborne’s injury doesn’t seem to have any immediate ratings effect—RG Richie Peel will be permanently compromised by his. We escape our late-season slide with a 20-14 win over San Fran. McLemore and Shafer get thr ground game going again, and we rumble on to the big win. Seattle lost their last game, and we end up the division winners at 11-5, and reclaim the #2 seed in the AFC. A bye week is much needed right now.
Stat leaders: QB Frankie Duffy: 2,071 yds, 56.1%, 6.83 ypa, 14/9, 80.3 RB Rondell Fields: 145-663 yds, 5 TD (4.5 ypc) RB Brady Shafer: 151-530 yds, 2 TD (3.5 ypc) RB Robert McLemore: 130-527 yds, 5 TD (4.0 ypc) WR Harry Beardsley: 66-1,035 yds, 5 TD (61.1%, 6 drops) TE Kim Jennings: 56-603 yds, 2 TD (64.3%, 9 drops) OL unit: ~34% KRBs, 34 sacks G T.J. Robson: 48/133 KRBs (36.0%), 1 sack allowed C Drew Bloomer: 36/97 KRBs (37.1%), 2 sacks allowed LB Darren Caraway: 70 tackles, 5 sacks DE Mark Gilbertson: 11.5 sacks, 3 blocks, 6 hurries DE Bryant Thomas: 9.5 sacks, 6 blocks, 2 hurries CB/S Drew Morris: 53 tackles, 7 int, 3 PD, 46.9 PDQ CB Butch Mahoney: 38 tackles, 5 int, 7 PD, 37.7 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.7 / 3.5 / 3.8 Passing: 6.5 / 7.0 / 6.6 Gross stat rankings: Rushing offense 2nd, Passing offense 33rd Rushing defense 3rd, Passing defense 28th These numbers do not look like those of a dominant title contender, and I don’t think we are. Particularly with our continued injury problems, I don’t think we can play consistently well enough to win in the playoffs. We’ll probably get RB Rondell Fields back, but he is declining in value after his repetitive injuries. I don’t harbor any great expectations that we’re going to fire through the postseason. |
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02-11-2001, 09:07 AM
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#23 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2048 postseason
Indianapolis wins their playoff opener, and they come into town to face the Squirrels. Their QB, Brad Raymond, is a bomber, but he comes into this game hurt. The team blitzes a lot, and sits back in zone coverage looking for errant passes. Against my current configuration, that sounds like a good plan for them. We will give the ball back to RB Rondell Fields in this game, as he is recovered from his leg injury. His ratings have slipped, and now most are in the 40-50 range (where they were in the 70-90 range at the start of last season, before two serious injuries). He still has very good speed, and we hope he can help us re-ignite the ground game. Indy is moving early, but we stop them with an interception by Morris. Our first possession sees Duffy go to the air a god deal, and we make it into their territory, but have to punt them deep. We stuff them, and take over with good position. This is the kind of game we could win, it would seem. We get a first down, then sputter and accept a FG for the 3-0 early lead. The back and forth continued until the early second quarter. Indy decides to go for a fourth and 1 from their 40, and we get a QB sack to take over at their 33. Huge play. Regrettably, we cannot capitalize at all, and miss a long FG attempt. As halftime approaches, we start a possession at our 4 yard line. ON second down, RB Fields breaks a nice gain out to our 38. On the next play, Duffy goes over the middle to our TE Jennings, who splits the defenders and rumbles all the way for the 62 yard score. Our 10-0 halftime lead looks good, but one or two big plays could turn it right around. We do have 126 yards rushing in the first half, which is right on target. After we stop Indy, we take over at our 13. The very first play is just what we had feared—Duffy gets sacked, the Colts jump on the ball and score a defensive TD. Suddenly, our first half of domination is all but evaporated, and it’s a 3 point game again. The 10-7 score, however, holds up through the third quarter in this battle of field position. With 5:46 left, Indy caps off a drive—one that saw them get two huge penalties for first downs—with a FG to tie up the game at 10. Frankie Duffy hits WR Sammy Duffy for two first downs, and we get to the Indy 37 at the two minute warning. We end up trying a 52 yard FG, but it falls short. Our last shot falls short as Duffy is intercepted, and we head into overtime. Indy gets the ball first, but we hold up. We get to midfield, and then have to punt, but we get it right back after our D holds them to 3 and out. We cannot, however, do any better. Indy gets it back, and gets two quick completions down to our 41—trouble. They get to our 32, for a fourth and 1. They line up for a 49 yard FG, and it goes through—the Colts take this one 13-10. Pittsburgh shells Indy to get the AFC berth in the Superbowl, and they’ll take on Cheyenne, the longshot NFC representative. Pittsburgh is heavily favored, and they look very good heading in. Cheyenne has the “Cinderella factor” but that’s about it. Well, in this case, the glass slipper fits, as Cheyenne pulls off a 13-12 upset, and takes the title. Curiously, Seattle’s QB Brett Barker was named the first team QB. The Seattle teams who won the three straight titles were famous for having a “team effort” and very few all-pro selections. Barker was a secont teamer in 2044, the first title year, but this is his first time being named to the first team—in a year where they just barely edged into the playoffs and got a quick dismissal. Interesting. Washington’s RB Ed Monaco is deservedly the flavor of the year, getting the “triple” awards with a nearly 1,700 yard season. Seattle’s CB Derrick Cavazos makes the list for his 5th straight year, and 8th in the last 9. Our Squirrels get three awardees—G Robson and C Bloomer are shoo-in first teamers. CB Drew Morris also gains honors as a first teamer. This season was about what we had hoped for—getting back to playoff caliber performance, and making a clear step forward. The injury bug bit early and hard, and we’re now deeply discounting two of our key players—G Richie Peel and RB Rondell Fields. A shame, really—both had such great promise. Peel will stick around, and will hopefully be productive. RB Fields is now probably a lame duck, as his contract ends after 2049. He’s been a guy who has generated lots of trade offers—maybe someone will offer me a decent package this coming preseason. QB Duffy played better than before, and we should have a conundrum at QB for the upcoming season. Young Mr. Schultz is looking like a decent investment, but he only makes sense if we can get him into the game. |
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02-11-2001, 10:56 AM
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#24 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2049 pre-draft
No major headlines—we have no retirements, and no notable entries into the league HOF. DT Benjamin Ferguson has been inducted into the team’s HOF, through the magic of the FOF decision-making process. He played only a few years with us, we were unable to afford to keep him, but he went on to have an rather illustrious career elsewhere, with 99.5 sacks. Financially, this was a much improved year. We made it back into the black for the first time in memory, clearing $19m. Part of this was illusory, though—we hardly laid out anything for bonuses last year, which we will not repeat. We still are a money loser. We did get back to 100% attendance, along with St. Louis. Our scout is under contract already, and a quick search of the pool suggests that no action is needed there. My coach is not signed, but I’m intrigued by another potential leader. Branden Petoskey is 47 and has yet to hold a HC job, but he looks pretty good on the “game day” skills. My biggest concern is that he is pretty poor with player development, and is lousy with young talent. He’d probably impair the development of our young QB, and that wouldn’t be too good. After some contemplation, I decide that my current guy is really the best thing available, and I make his re-signing my first choice. I bid $14m for his services. After week one, San Diego has decided to pursue Todd Rowan pretty seriously, and they are offering nearly $26m. I have a decision to make here—this is serious money at stake. I decide to make a serious run, and I offer $24m for a five year deal. In week two, Rowan takes the deal, and he’ll be back for us—at vastly increased cost. He’s now the fifth highest paid coach in the league. I increase ticket prices, in anticipation of the new financial commitments we have in place. I get the trade offer that I am looking for—KC is offering their 2nd round pick (#44 overall) for RB Rondel Fields. I could have gotten more last year, but I was stubborn. This year, I won’t make the same mistake—Fields is, regrettably, a shadow of his former self, and he is definitely not going to get a big money contract from us after this year. We’ll cash out now, and count ourselves lucky. Here is the roster picture after that deal:
$51m is really not going to get it done here—this will be tough. I’d very much like to retain T Grayson as part of my OL experiment, but he may have to go. LB Dexter Vang is an absolute must-keep player. Then we realize that almost our entire complement of DEs are up for free agency. Poor planning on my part, and it’s now a bona fide emergency. I suspect I’ll crack the wallet to keep Gilbertson (by far the best of the lot) and I’ll go with youth there around him. I’ll hope that Wolf slips through free agency, and might be there afterwards. The tempting thing to do to resolve my financial worries will be to cut QB Frankie Duffy, and clear over $20m. Were I completely sold on our youngster Cary Schultz, that would be a bit easier—but he’s only a second year player, and really has yet to develop into a reliable guy. Tough call. I put in my offer for LB Vang—4yrs, $71m. I think that might be enough to secure him, which again is a must. DE Gilbertson gets an offer for 4yrs, $100m—ouch. I decide that at least for now, I cannot afford an offer to T Grayson, who is also looking for around $20-25m a year. To be able to afford just these to contracts, I will need to make some cuts. I look at DT Tommie Lee, and I see the obvious cut there—he’s making nearly $18m, and that cannot be justified—we’ll hand that job over to young Zack Crane. Those cuts get us to $68m in cap room. WR Leroy Lynch hangs in the balance, making $8m—it’s such a thin position for us anyway, it would be very difficult to make that cut, but the money is talking right now. After week one, we are on top with both players, which is good news. Also, nobody has bid to our T Grayson, leaving at least the outside hope that he might slide. In week 2, DE Mark Gilbertson signs his big deal. We are in decent shape now with the DE position, as he can play alongside DE Lee Levine from last year’s draft. I bump up my offer to LB Vang to 4yrs, $77m. He takes the deal, and we have our two defensive standouts locked up. I’ve gotten into the habit of trying to make pre-emptive bids, as I really do not like the feeling of losing a player I have seriously targeted. I may be overpaying from time to time, but it has been a few seasons since I have lost a player that I wanted to keep. Right now, I have $30m in cap room, and my draft is measured at $26.1m—not a lot of room. T Grayson has still not received any bids, and I wonder what to do there. My best guess is that to afford him, I’d have to cut either QB Duffy or someone else of the same financial stature. Tough call, again. Grayson has very good ratings (74/58/74) but has not put up great numbers—especially in allowing sacks (26 in 4 years as a starter, not terrible, but not great). I sit tight for now, but I see a lot of teams bidding on other tackles,and when those situations get resolved, I’m pretty sure they will descend on Grayson for big bucks—probably soon. In week 8, Seattle’s T Marlon Witt takes a deal from the Chargers, and we expect that many of his suitors will head toward Grayson now. Apparently, I’m wrong, as Grayson gets no interest even up to week 11. I advance all the way to week 20, and no movement. I decide that at this reduced price (4yrs, $79m or even less) Grayson is a very tempting value. I release CB Allen Peterson, and LB Rex Dockery to get the cap room cleared out. A 4yr, $69m deal gets onto Grayson’s radar screen, and we have an agreement in the final week of free agency. For now, I still have QB Duffy aboard, but he may be the guy we have to cut to make cap room necessary to fill the roster. We’ll see how it plays out—right now, I have just enough cash to sign my draft class, and with them aboard, I’ll have 45 players. How to afford 8 more rookies? Well, we’ll cross that bridge in a little while. I get an intriguing trade offer from St. Louis—they’re offering a pretty solid pass-rushing DE plus a 7th round draft pick for my starting TE Kim Jennings. The DE is an imbalanced specialist (lousy run D, good pass rush) and has 27.5 sacks in the last two seasons. He’s also got three more fairly affordable years left on his contract, while TE Jennings has only two. Interesting trade… I decide to take it, largely because I have a solid TE Korey Rose from last year’s draft who should be a solid starter this season. Right now, the story is that we’ve got the guys we need on hand. In this draft, we will probably need to acquire useful players on the defensive line and at WR. These are two difficult positions to fill, but I think it’s what the team needs. We’ll also have little choice but to bring in some rookie LBs, as we have only four veterans aboard, and our ability to play the 3-4 requires a number of bodies out there. Safety would be a need area, but it’s not as pressing, since we still have old man Honeycutt in the mix, but he won’t be around forever. |
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02-11-2001, 12:57 PM
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#25 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2049 draft and camp
I hold extra first and second round picks in this draft--I had forgotten about the first round pick I hold form Arizona, which turns out to be #17 overall. T Dustin Slattery is a monster tackle, and he will in all likelihood be a perennial all-star. He looks like the BPA in this draft. Interestingly, one of the very best players is WR Mercury Cucina, from Colorado State. He’s fabulous save for his average endurance—should be great, though—and I cannot imagine him slipping to my pick. DE Terrance Brittain looks like probably the fist overall pick, and the best defensive player available. Past WR Cucina, there is basically nothing to see among local players—only two players total from Colorado, which is very unusually low. Indeed, WR Cucina goes with pick #8, and DE Terrance Britain goes with pick #1, ax expected. T Slattery is pick #3, so there are no bombshell picks waiting for me at #17. There are a fair number of WRs here who look pretty solid, and one pretty decent DE also. I decide that selecting a WR will give me license to cut one from my current roster, which may be necessary to balance the budget, if you follow. When my next pick comes up, the DE has just gone, and I find myself leaning toward the WR position again. I end up making a curious double dip at wideout in this draft, hopefully investing in the tools that will help my young QB flourish.
After the draft, we are $530,000 under the salary cap—not even enough for one rookie signing. I remain, of course, 6 players short of a full roster, so we’ll have some work to do. The easy move is to release WR Leroy Lynch, which clears up nearly $8m this year. He’s on his way out anyway, and we can use the cap room, of course. I also let RB Blaine Heath go, who was around as my token Colorado product. I drafted a rookie RB from Air Force, and Heath’s role is gone. That gives me the room I need to sign some rookies. I grab a bunch of rookies, principally guys who I think have some outside chance to be breakouts. I have a terrible time settling on a long-term FA to sign, but I finally decide to go with a do-it-all running back, Harvey Compton. He could probably fill in anywhere, and do a passable job at RB, FB, or even WR. He’s no star, but he’ll pitch in a bit, I suspect. I get up to 53 players, and we head into training camp. There will be some heads rolling after camp, for sure, but for now—here’s the squad:
My training camp holds no surprises, we’ll do most of the same things this year as last year. Afte camp, here is the scout’s overview.
Among my rookies, we generally look fine. C Norman Davis is a bust, but he wasn’t a big investment anyway. I got a modest breakout from T Rusty Prior, a one-year URFA. However, there really isn’t any major upside on the back end of the camp. My scout’s opinion of many players shaded down—an odd happening. It does seem that a lot of players get shaded down a point or two (on the 20-pt scale) during this process—I wonder why the ebb and flow seems to work that way. Regardless, we have a little work to do in building my eventual roster. I need to bring in local products at receiver, DL, LB and DB—and that will take some doing. LB Marshall Barnett is actually a usable guy, and a potential contributor. DT Leonard Newsome will return, and will be our #2 or #3 man in the middle. I release WR Brenden Kunz to make some more cap room, and I’ll need to bring in a replacement WR from a local school. It ends up being D.J. O’Neal, a Colorado TE who has been with us before.
A solid draft, and we’re left with a team that should be as good as last year’s offering. We have quickly assembled the trappings of a legitimate air attack, and while Duffy is in the driver’s seat now, our eyes are on the developing Cary Schultz. This year, we’ll balance the attack a bit more—our RB position has thinned considerably, with the departure of RB Rondell Fields. Hopefully, we’ll still have solid success with any ball carrier, running behind this monster offensive line. |
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02-11-2001, 06:17 PM
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#26 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2049 season
My team’s setup is, once again, about the same as in recent years. With the dropoff at the FB position, I won’t be giving the ball to them a lot, though perhaps next year that will reverse. I’ve dropped to a “60 run” based offense, with aggressive passing on short yardage situations. My defense will again be a 3-4 heavy nickel setup—reflecting my weakness at DT and my solid DB position. We’ll use zone about 75% of the time. On my depth charts, RB Brady Shafer will be the chair of the expected RB committee, with a PT of 3. At WR, Terrell Wayne will start in the flanker role, and Harry Beardsley as the split end. I’ll be using more 3WR formations than in recent years, and we expect to get Delamiellure on the field a lot also. At DE, I’ll rotate Levine and Rollin at the LDE spot, using Rollin as a designated rusher. We again stand as the top roster on the franchise value screen, with Miami second with a 72. As has been the case for the last several years, our overall franchise value is tops in the league as well, but Denver has jumped past St. Louis for #2. Our roster cohesion is at 62-100-74-100. The second highest ratings in OL and DB are 91 and 92, respectively. We again have lots of early home games, and finish with mostly road games. Alas. We get through preseason, and take two serious injuries—C Drew Bloomer will miss 2-3 months, as will rookie WR Terrell Wayne. Wayne’s injury has already hampered his ratings—bad news for the rookie prospect. We once again open with Oakland. As is often the case, they pound us, 37-17. They out played us in every way, and our running game was basically kaput but for a couple scrambles by QB Duffy. Not good at all. We go into San Diego, and things work out much better- we take a 25-7 win. QB Duffy is sharp, RB Brady Shafer runs fairly well, and we get our act together. In out 38-17 win over KC, Rondell Fields outrushes any of our guys, but we get the better team performance and win it fairly easily. Who had Sam Pimentel in the pool? He’s our first back to go over 100 yards, as we beat Indy 28-6. He was second string to Shafer (with McLemore hurt), and broke out on a 70-yard scamper to help us pull away. Harry Beardsley has 3 TDs as we extend the defense all day, with good results. After our bye week, w host the champs from Cheyenne, and beat them 23-13. This time, Shafer gets the big running day with 21-124 and a TD. We’re ready for Denver now. We get C Drew Bloomer back for the Denver game, and the timing is great. We’re 4-1, they are 5-1, and this shapes up as a big deal. Before the Bronco fans, with that wig-wearing turncoat Marmel on hand, we smack the Broncos 34-18, and get right into the top spot. Our two interception TDs in the second quarter allowed us to open up early, and to ride it out. QB Frankie Duffy was again very sharp, and error free. We have both rookie WRs down for the count, and we’re plugging holes as best we can. It isn’t easy, and we lack the cap space to go pick someone up. We visit KC, and get a 16-7 win. Again it’s Beardsley doing most of the offensive work. The next week in New England, we survive a scare and win 31-30. Duffy throws 3 interceptions, but we escape with the win as we get a nice goal line stand in the final five minutes. After this game, 4 of my 5 WRs are injured, all listed questionable or worse, as are two RBs. What the hell do I do now? I decide to just play through it, and we get a win over SD, 31-24. The Chargers are mostly in the game because they got 2 KR TDs—we otherwise handled them pretty well. We come home, and get a 30-10 win over Philadelphia. RB Brady Shafer has another great game, and our engine keeps rolling no matter who is out there playing receiver. We go into Oakland, looking for some revenge, but instead just get a reminder that the Raiders just have our number. They beat us 35-27, but only get to 5-6 on the year. RB Brady Shafer is the latest to be felled, he’ll probably miss the year. Denver comes to town, and we can practically salt away the division with a win here. We’re at 9-2, and have a full 3 game lead on Denver and Seattle. Our injury list looks terrible, but we get enough out of this game to hand Denver a 36-17 loss, and we get a monster game out of RB Robert McLemore—36 carries for 244 yards and 2 TDs. At 10-2, and with the division practically wrapped up, we bench many of our partially-injured starters. Against our patchwork lineup, the Seahawks still can’t open up on us, and we win 27-24. My WR corps continues to hobble. I don’t know what to do here. I’m now using the guy who is only “questionable” as a starter, the two guys listed as “doubtful” are at #3 and #4, and only the guy listed as “out” is able to be out. I’ve adjusted my formation tendencies to put TEs on the field, but there isn’t much else I can do. Pittsburgh beats us 16-10, as they get a 78 yards interception return in overtime, as we were driving for the winning score. Visiting the Giants, we get murdered 33-13. I feel like it’s coming unraveled here—we just have so many injuries, we literally cannot field a legitimate team. We get a 24-17 win at home over Seattle, to finally wrap up the division and place us into a tie with Buffalo for the top spot. I don’t know who got the #1 seed yet, but we earned a bye week at least, which we desperately need.
Stat leaders: QB Frankie Duffy: 3,669 yds, 62.0%, 7.48 ypa, 25/16, 88.3 RB Brady Shafer: 164-639 yds, 5 TD (3.8 ypc) RB Robert McLemore: 127-572 yds, 4 TD (4.5 ypc) WR Darryl Tovar: 53-751 yds, 5 TD (58.2%, 5 drops), 1 KR TD OL unit: ~32% KRBs, 23 sacks allowed LB Dexter Vang: 92 tackles, 3 sacks DE Mark Gilbertson: 13.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 5 hurries LB K.C. Blanchard: 50 tackles, 9 sacks, 2 hurries S Brenden Honeycutt: 57 tackles, 7 int, 1 TD, 5 PD, 44.3 PDQ S Vince Periera: 53 tackles, 5 int, 2 TD, 8 PD, 48.0 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.8 / 3.1 / 3.8 Passing: 7.4 / 6.8 / 6.7 Gross yardage rankings: Rushing offense 4th, Passing offense 11th Rushing defense 1st, Passing defense 26th Overall, these stats see us improving our passing game, both in the overall sense and by efficiency. One explanation for this is that in the run-heavy offense I had been running, many passes were coming in obvious passing situations, and probably facing “prepared” defenses. With a bit less of that, Duffy put up some pretty respectable numbers—though 16 interceptions is still more than I’d like to see. And the run defense—we finally got a healthy year from our LB corps, and the defense delivered against the run. We suffered injuries in our defensive secondary, but will try to put thing back together for the postseason. We’re banged up, but if we can get these guys at WR and DB playing, we might be formidable in the postseason this year—we’ll need some luck, but might be a factor. |
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02-13-2001, 08:42 PM
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#27 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2049 postseason
It’s Jacksonville who gets the upset in their opener (17-16 over Baltimore) and earns the right to face us in the second round—meaning that we are the #1 seed. Woo hoo! They run the ball well behind a young RB Curtis Copley, an all-star caliber back whose name is generally familiar to me, but I cannot exactly place it. That’s their offensive plan, all run. Their defense looks unspectacular, but was a bit better than average on the year. A decent, but not great team. We actually have a fairly legitimate corps of WRs to put on the field—the first time in at least two months. We’re getting healthier, and the week off certainly helped out there. We take the home field, and look to get things rolling—and to crush these Cinderellas from Jacksonville. We get the ball first, and it’s not pretty—we commit two penalties, and punt it away quickly. The Jags cannot do much better, and we get into our trade routine. However, on our second possession, we get a nice run to about midfield, and then Duffy airs it out, hitting Tovar for the 42 yards TD bomb! Later in the first quarter, the Jags even it up with an 81 yard punt return, and it’s 7-7. We get a good defensive stop, good position, and a short TD drive to end the first quarter ahead 14-7. We are looking pretty good. However, Jax opens up the second quarter with an impressive drive, and they tie it up with a 9 yard Copley run. A good urn from McLemore sets up a FG,a dn we’re back ahead 17-14. This is starting to look like a track meet. Things cool off, and the 17-14 score holds through the half. In the third quarter, we get a big play, as my veteran S Honeycutt gets an interception, and takes it in for the score. We go ahead 24-14, and look to be in control again. We stop them, and then march for another TD, and it looks like we’ve got them. Down the stretch, there is the usual sequencing of oddball plays—onside kicks, ballsy 4th down calls, home run plays, etc—and the final ends up being very misleading 41-35. We host Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game. They beat Buffalo to get here, and are on a good winning streak. Their real star, WR Blake Vallejo, will play hurt this week, which gives us an edge, I’d think. They are a pretty aggressive passing team, lots of underneath stuff, and they’ll go after our injury beset secondary. Good matchup for them, actually. On their opening drive, they get a first down, but then we pick off their QB Caldwell and take over at the Pitt 15. We get in for the TD, and take a quick 7-0 lead. Our first genuine possession works out well, too—we have to convert 3 third downs, but we end up in the end zone again fir a 14-0 lead. On our next possession, they stop us, but the Steeler punt returner fumbles the ball back to us, and we quickly cash that miscue in for a TD. It’s 21-0, and we’re barely into the second quarter. As the second quarter unfolds, Pitt gets into our territory three times, but lose it on two more interceptions and then on downs. We take the 21-0 lead into the half. On the opening kickoff of the second half, my WR Tovar takes the ball 81 yards for the TD, and we have totally broken the door open. This one unfolds, and it just isn’t pretty. The last game ended up looking like a close shootout (when we really dominated most of the game)—this one there is no doubt how it went down. Squirrels 38, Steelers 0. We’re on to the Superbowl, where we will face Carolina. The Panthers are all about their QB Bobby Rose. He was a #2 overall pick, I believe, and was inexplicably cut even before training camp. He ended up sitting in the FA pool until Carolina gave him a shot—then they franchised him and kept him around. Now he’s one of the premiere players in the league—probably the first team all-pro QB this year with a 93.4 rating. He’ll lead the solid Carolina team against our squad, which is, of course, powered by our offensive line—which is healthy and playing well together. Our first possession—three plays, nine yards, we punt. They get a few first downs, get into scoring range, but settle for a 29-yard FG. We respond with a ground-based drive, and it looks like we can run in them—we get in for a tying FG. As the first quarter ends, each fighter has landed just a jab, and it’s 3-3. Our first possession of the second quarter, we penetrate deep in, but Duffy gets picked in their end zone. We get it back, move in again, get to the 1, but have to accept an 18-yard FG. We lead, but cannot help but feel like it should be 17-3, not 6-3. The Panthers respond, ripping off a nice run, and then Rose goes to work and puts them in the zone for a 10-6 lead with 1:14 left. We drive, complete a pass to their 26, but time runs out before we can kick. It’s 10-6 Carolina after a pretty even first half. On their opening sequence, Rose gets out of three 3rd down jambs, but we stop the bleeding when they fumble at our 3. Near miss, evening the one we had earlier. Later in the third quarter, we get Carolina to punt, and we block the kick, getting the ball at their 36. As the thiord quarter winds down, we get to their 1 yard line, first and goal. This is where all that investment in the OL should pay off—even though our RBs are practically lawn gnomes. McLemore gets it in for the TD, and we go ahead 13-10. We start out the fourth quarter getting the ball back, after a nice defensive stand. We punt from midfield, and pin them at their 5 with 10:10 left. After a false start, we send the whole house—the “jailbreak” defense! Their RB gets hit by LB Feugill just as he receives the ball, it squirts out, and my DE Crane jumps on it for the TD! A positively huge play! We go ahead 20-10, and set up for the kickoff with 9:18 remaining. Rose goes to work, and with two quick completions, get it to our 41. He gets a good run, and then hooks up with his WR Denson for a 15 yard TD, and this is once again a nip and tuck game. We get a touchback with 6:20 remaining. We are only able to get one first down, and so Carolina gets it back with 4:45 left at their 23. The defense holds them on a 3rd and 1 play, and we get it back with 3:09 remaining. Now, the line has the opportunity to help us grind out a first down or two, and just salt this one away. We get one first down, and get out to our 38. The clock ticks to 2:23 as we get another first down, and Carolina has used all their TOs. Duffy hits WR DeLamiellure for a 9-yard completion over the middle, and we look like we’re in good shape. However, we cannot convert on third and 1, and we have to punt it back. They take over at their 19, with 50 seconds left down by 3 points. Stranger things have happened. They go to third down before Rose gets a completion to their 49. 16 seconds left. Rose throws downfield, and it’s caught by his wideout Osborne at our 15—he worked underneath the extra-deep coverage. Osborne cuts to the inside, and decides to go for it all… he stiffarms one man, but Zimmerman comes across to make the tackle at our 3 yard line. The clock reads :00 – this one’s in the books! Colorado Springs 20, Carolina 17. What a game, and a what a finish! We come away the Superbowl champions in a season where we struggled just to field a team at all. Frankie Duffy becomes the 5th Squirrel QB to earn a ring as a starter, and he’s got to be some kind of comeback player of the year—after nearly being cut to make cap room. The bastard press named Carolina’s Bobby Rose the SB MVP—he was also the first team QB. Detroit RB Darnell Hawn was the big winner on the awards board, with the triple. Miami’s RB Grady Ingram was second team. Our Squirrels again got fair numbers on the board. C Drew Bloomer and T Carl Osborne made the first team. QB Frankie Duffy got the nod as second team all-pro at QB, quite a surprise. TE Korey Rose was named the second team TE, and K Rodney Mayers got second team honors as well. What a year—we were starting to think that it was just never going to come together for this offensive line, and that they’d retire having led only a group of underwhelming teams. Instead, we come from nowhere, get very hot (and healthy) at the right time, and we go and get the brass ring. Beautiful. |
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