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12-19-2004, 12:55 PM
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#51 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 offseason
Incidentally, we are all over the season awards for 2009. QB Matt Frederick predictably gets first team QB and POTY, but not OPOY – which went to Buffalo’s RB. WR Kevin gaylor made the first team, and Larry Thomas the second team. Other first teamers were P Bucky Andrykovitch )who kicked FGs a while) and MLB Ellis Hawkins. Great showing for this team of bums. We worked out a new deal with QB Frederick – it’s more expensive than tagging him every year, but I don’t want to forget and end up with him departing by accident. Our injury watch is underway again… but both DE Schwartz and RT Francis come through okay, thankfully. Overall, I have a sense that we have a remaining “window” of about three or four more years. Once we get to where all our players are in their 8th-10th year, we’re going to start seeing some retirements, plus the continued toll of injuries (and injury-proneness, as we’re seeing already I fear). I will hope for another breakout player or two… but we’re going to have to get by on Matt Frederick and our collective cohesion advantages. We actually are having some cap troubles – maybe my long term deal with Matt Frederick was ill-advised. I have a lot of players who are getting paid about 2-3X minsal, just because they are getting playing time – this team is getting tough to keep together. Interesting twist, I didn’t really think we’d have this problem, with so far star-caliber players on board. I do most of my renegotiating at the bottom end – winnowing down $650K contracts to $540K, that sort of thing. It clear up enough space to make decent offer to our free agents, notably LT Broderick Randle, rapidly becoming a staple around here. We get everyone done, though – so we come back with 55 again. Camp Summary: -RB Bob Lucas took an inexplicable hit from the start of last season to the start of this season, dropping from 36/37 to 30/31. Tough to lose skill there, where we really don’t have anyone else equipped to be effective. -WR Kevin Gaylor had another bump-up year, +6/+6 since the start of last season, and +3 in current skill in camp this year. WR Thomas had a modest camp bump also – good news for our passing game. -LB Rob Rabens made some small steps forward last year and in this year’s camp – and will get some more playing time as a reserve Here, as an alternative, is the current salary cap summary – just for informational purposes: Code:
As each and every bum on this roster demands more and more money, things are going to get incrementally tighter. At some point, the total roster is going to shrink, I’m sure of that. |
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12-19-2004, 12:56 PM
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#52 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 season
In preseason, I give a long look at Terence Sugarman as a possible starting RB – I don’t expect to go to him, but we need to have a Plan B if Lucas is going to collapse. Sugarman looks pretty good – he’ll be our #2 this year, and is officially Plan B now. This year, it’s LT Grant McDaniel and LB Gilbert Lucas (in decline anyway) who must spend the season on IR. We head into the season with a few extra things to worry about. Namely: Code:
I cannot afford to let anyone get unhappy enough to refuse to re-sign… so I’ll find ways to work them into the plan a bit. Ugh. (LT Randle is no problem, the others might be) Second best cohesion stands at: 83-85-84-83 … we continue to pull away there. Our roster rating of 36 is still rising gradually, too. I think this is probably about an 8-8 team – if things break really well, we could do better, but we could also slide back and go 5-11, it’s certainly possible. A playoff berth would be nice – that’s a fair goal. We again open like gangbusters, ripping off two impressive wins. We’re mixing up the running load a bit more (getting Sugraman and FB Clements into the mix a bit) but it’s still the air game that is clicking best. But an injury to red-hot WR Gaylor might cool things off. We’ve also lost MLB Hawkins for a few weeks – that’s no good, either. But we keep on winning. However, our WR situation is critical. After our 4-0 start, we have WRs Thomas, Gaylor and Pearson all out with injuries – it’s ridiculous. I’ve got my #4 and #5 receivers as starters, and running backs behind them in our frequent multi-WR sets. Matt Frederick is going to have to get creative here. He does, throwing for 337 and 2 TDs as we beat Dallas to get to 5-0. Wow. The next week, Gaylro returns with a splash – 12 catches, 162 yards, 2 TDs and another win. We lose to the Giants, and Gaylor get hurt again – for another four weeks. Ugh. We are back with a win over Philly, and are watching WR Bernard Rogers rapidly becoming our top target, filling the big void pretty well. Code:
Well, Frederick remains very effective, no matter who is playing at WR, it seems. Our top players have missed games – but still have solid stats. Our defense has been okay – the pass D has been surprisingly good, for some reason. Holding under 6.5 yards per attempt is pretty strong. So far, so good – now, if we can avoid another massive collapse, we’ll see the playoffs for the first time. However, even at 7-1, we are only tied with the resurgent Green Bay for the division lead. After a big win to get to 8-1, we showdown with the Packers, at home. We get Gaylor back, and get the big win to take command this time. We roll to 12-1, getting healthy at WR finally, and keeping the offense on track. Green bay gets even with us at their place, but we’re still a game ahead. But a loss the next week ot Buffalo puts this in some doubt – we want the division title, and a week off, for certain. We’re even with Green Bay, with one game left – but we have a better conference record and better point margin, whichever comes into play. I think we win the division if we win this week against lowly Detroit. (Oddly enough, the defending champion Raves, who went 13-3 last year and won it all – now stand at 0-15 for the biggest one year collapse in sports history, by my reckoning – I have no idea what happened there) We eke out a 22-20 win over Detroit (9despite being favored by 11) and end up punching our well-deserved ticket to the playoffs. However, through whatever tiebreaker applies, we end up as the top wild card team behind Green Bay – I can’t explain it, but they got us somehow, I suppose on the “common opponents” test. Code:
And here is the statistical wrap-up: Code:
On defense, we got nice production out of our starting DTs, Westbrook and Spencer – totaling 108 tackles by themselves, or over 12% of the total, which is good for a winning team. We got respectable pass pressure – 41 sacks might be a team high – and were solid against the pass. Good season for the defense, all around. Offensively, Frederick’s season is even more impressive given thee injury-riddled mess at WR. Rogers came through with our only 1,000-yard season, to everyone’s surprise – he earned some stripes with this great effort when we really needed him. RBs Lucas and Sugarman were both pretty effective – that 1-2 punch is working okay, at over 4 yards a clip. LT Broderick Randle is taking leadership of the line, and had a very nice season (32/0.9) as our best performer, along with RT Francis (34/0.6). 2010 postseason Here’s a first – we’ll detail the postseason in abbreviated fashion. Wild Card Game: Chicago at Carolina – We are 4-point favorites at the Panthers, and are without re-injured WR Larry Thomas. Matt Frederick, though, is typically unfazed – he finds Gaylor for 3 of his 5 TDs ad we clobber the Panthers, 37-13. Gaylor, superstar, posts 8-208 for 3 TDs. Extra bad news is: Larry Thomas is listed as “full strength in 2012” – that ACL sounds really bad. Not a guy we want to lose, dammit! Division Round: Chicago at St. Louis – In the third quarter, Frederick finds Gaylor for a TD to give us a 14-13 lead, and our defense bears down and holds it the rest of the way. Big win, on to fave the Packers in a grudge game. Extra bad news this week – DT Teddy Davidson, already injury-prone, has blown out his knee and is gone for a long term injury, too. This might have to be our best season, with two serious injuries looming. NFC Championship: Chicago at Green Bay – Sent on the road, we got here the hard way, and come to Lambeau with a mission. Frederick hits Gaylor twice and Rogers once, and we dominate the game throughout, securing a 31-10 win and a ticket to the big one. Woo hoo! Bad news – QB Matt Frederick is dinged a bit, but will (obviously) play in the Superbowl. I think I’d start him if he were listed as doubtful. Superbowl: Chicago at Houston – The Texans were 15-1 this year, and are pretty clearly the best team in the league. It’s a pretty even game, we outgain them by nearly 100 yards, but committed one more turnover. Trailing in the fourth quarter, we score with 20 seconds left, but it only gets things to 28-23, we fail on the onside kick attempt, and it’s a done deal for the Texans, 28-23 final score. Tough ending, but a great season. I really didn’t see it coming. Season awards go to Matt Frederick, first team and MVP again. He’s our only rep this time around – big change from last season, really. |
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12-19-2004, 01:27 PM
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#53 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Apr 2004
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wow
you amaze me.. i think your the best FOF player..you can win with any team |
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12-20-2004, 09:49 AM
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#54 |
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Pro Starter
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: Rennes, France
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Nice story so far QS !
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12-20-2004, 09:44 PM
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#55 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I don't know how far it will go, honestly. I'm getting a bit tied up with multiplayer leagues, which are in the very busy season right now.
I want to get to the point where I'm just patching to stay legal with the roster... but am not sure I'll make it that far... |
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12-24-2004, 08:23 AM
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#56 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2011 offseason
Okay, we have finally gotten into the top levels of the league. Here’s the team route this far: Code:
We again dodge the hand of retirement, fortunately. Eventually, it will come. We have a few decent players up for new contracts, but get them settled fairly easily, and remain under the cap this year without too much crisis. Here’s an abbreviated camp picture: Code:
The team, now full of 7th year players, is much more in decline than development. A few guys are still getting slightly better with playing time, but we’re seeing our reserves wither on the vine – guys like LB Gilbert Lucas (IR last year) and TE Andrew Martin (3rd string, no PT). No surprises here – we’re ready to gear up again. |
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12-24-2004, 08:23 AM
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#57 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2011 season
WR Larry Thomas will miss the year, and his future injury status is totally up in the air. Reserve QB Roosevelt Kane, solid but little used, is the other IR victim, with a mild foot injury. I hope this doesn’t anger him too much. Our roster rating is at 33, about the same as where it has been. Second best cohesion is at 77-84-75-80, so we’re pulling away further there. SO far, so good – we’ll see if we can post another successful season with this middling roster. We’re upset at home in our opener, by Green Bay. Then we lose in Denver – an 0-2 start isn’t what we had in mind, by any means. But we fortunately get two wins to pull even at 2-2 before our early bye week. Detroit gets to 4-1 as they beat us, and we are in real trouble in our division, suddenly. But we bounce back, win three in a row, and get to our halfway point with a winning record, after all. Code:
I don’t know what happened to our run defense – we’re struggling up front, which is a bit unusual. But I think we have a shot to rebound. But two straight losses drop us to 5-5, and we are in real trouble. After some back and forth, we get a big win over Detroit to get to 8-6, so we still have a shot. We need to win our last two games, and probably need some help – as the two current wild cards are both ahead of us. And, we need to do it without MLB Ellis Hawkins, who will miss a few weeks. Ouch. At 9-6, our final game is at Minnesota – who are 2-13 and the dregs of the division. Green Bay and Detroit are both 10-5, so one will lose – and a win this week puts us ahead of Detroit, if they lose, or into a tie with Green Bay, if they lose. We’ll hope for a Green Bay win – giving us a chance to win our way in. We get our wish – so it looks like we get in with a victory over Minnesota. And we come through, with a 31-14 victory – punching our tickets for our second postseason berth, where we travel to face familiar Green Bay in our opener. Code:
The team’s numbers generally improved in the second half… but our run defense remained unusually porous. Code:
Matt Frederick’s 18 interceptions were a disappointment, but he is still the lynchpin for us, of course. Rob Lucas had another passable game leading the ground attack, while WR Gaylor remains our top target, coming back from an injury-riddled season. We had to shuffle the OL around a bit (injuries and unhappy players) but they played okay. Defensively – I’m really disappointed with the run stoppers, and I don’t know why things fell off this year. We held teams under 4 yards per carry last season – this year, we were nearly 4.3, that’s way too high. Our corners are not making many plays, but our pass defense remains very effective, somehow. S Ron Mazza probably had his best season to date – but didn’t rack up huge tackle totals necessary to get much recognition, usually. Incidentally, WR Larry Thomas is almost completely back to health – and he is clearly a withered version of his former self. He will probably have to battle for the starting role next season, after Rogers has given us two very nice seasons. 2011 Postseason Wild Card: Chicago at Green Bay – The Packers jump out to a strong start, getting three TD passes in the first half, and holding on for a solid 31-21 win, ending our run early this season. Washington beats Houston in the Superbowl. In the season awards list, QB Matt Frederick gets a second team award, and WR Kevin Gaylor makes the second team as well. Not a spectacular season, but given the setup, posting ten wins and making the playoffs has to be considered a victory. We’ll try to keep up the good efforts, as best we can. |
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12-24-2004, 02:06 PM
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#58 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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QS, what's the biggest point of the success in this dynasty so far?
* Chemistry can (still) be a key element? * If given the time to develop, young late round picks and free agent rookie can become useful starters? * If the game plan works, you can win with a "fair" roster? * With a stud QB any team can win? * All of the above?
__________________
* 2005 Golden Scribe winner for best FOF Dynasty about IHOF's Maassluis Merchantmen * Former GM of GEFL's Houston Oilers and WOOF's Curacao Cocktail |
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12-24-2004, 03:06 PM
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#59 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Well, I guess I'd order them as follows, witha few additional comments and clarifications, and some spacing as a general guide to the relative weightings: MOST * * If given the time to develop [especially playing time], young late round picks and free agent rookie can become useful starters? * * With a stud QB any team can win? * Chemistry [I'll sub in cohesion here] can (still) be a key element? * * * If the game plan works, you can win with a "fair" roster? * * * * LEAST |
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12-24-2004, 04:52 PM
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#60 |
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Coordinator
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Maassluis, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
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Of course I ment cohesion.
And ment playing time too. Nice catches, QS. I hope that cohesion moves up in the next seasons, past the stud QB impression. Providing you keep interest in the challenge of course.  These findings actually are very interesting to take up the challenge and get some more FOF experience in the IHOF winter break.
__________________
* 2005 Golden Scribe winner for best FOF Dynasty about IHOF's Maassluis Merchantmen * Former GM of GEFL's Houston Oilers and WOOF's Curacao Cocktail |
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12-24-2004, 06:30 PM
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#61 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Well, I suppose if the team continued to do better and better, despite the roster not improving one whit, then I might start moving the cohesion factor up the list.
What I expect, though, is that the gradual wearing down of my players from injury and atrophy will more or less offset any gains from aded cohesion. Last edited by QuikSand : 12-24-2004 at 06:32 PM. |
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12-24-2004, 08:33 PM
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#62 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2012 offseason
Still no retirements – good news. I get more pensive every new season. Staff is intact – we rush right into free agency, where we have a lot at stake. We, of course, have to retain everyone, at basically any price. We have our first bona fide bidding war, for WR Kevin Gaylor. We have to keep him – it’s just a matter of paying through the nose to outbid Denver. We finally get hi, but it’s at his initial request – a fat $12m+ signing bonus in there. We can’t compete without him, though – so it’s done. WR Larry Thomas is definitely not as good as he once was – but he’s still a decent-looking player. I suspect he will end up being okay, maybe even good for us again, and we ought to have a pretty solid trio at receiver, with the now-proven Bernard Rogers in the mix as needed. The training camp summary shows a serious erosion among many of our reserve-caliber players. The guys on the bench are basically withering away to nothing – all 8th year players, they are starting to get past their development years, and now are subject to serious decline. (Except the QBs, who continue to develop, albeit slowly, from the bench) More and more jersey-fillers out there for us. Code:
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12-24-2004, 08:57 PM
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#63 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2012 season
The IR tickets get punched for LB Montgomery and LT McDaniel – solid reserves, who we home won’t fall apart from the time off. We start the season with a roster rating of 41 – bumped up a bit, but I attribute that to noise among the league, rather than a real increase here. Our cohesion continues to dominate the league – second best ratings are down to 76-86-75-82, and in each case there are really only a couple teams near that point. Our division has been tough to predict – Detroit showed up as a threat last year. Roster ratings suggest Green bay (75, 5th overall) as the real threat again, with Detroit (35) and Minnesota (2) lesser considerations. I also have to keep in mind a few disgruntled players: Code:
We’ll find a way to cycle them in for playing time, just to keep them in a re-signing mood. LB Giles is the toughest, as he is a bag of bones at this point, basically. We open with a good win over Detroit, but drop two in a row, and have cause for concern. But two wins later, we’re at a respectable 3-2, and looking ahead to playing a contending role. Three more wins, and we hit the midway spot at a solid 6-2, on a pretty nice winning streak. Code:
Well, at 6-2 there is some good news – Matt Frederick is on pace for 5,000 yards, and it’s at least conceivable that we see four receivers threaten 1,000 yards (that would be a first for me). A minor aside – my SLB Robert Bensen continually puts up huge numbers of passes defensed, more than I am used to seeing from any linebacker. 14 in the half season is crazy, but he has five years in a row with at least 12 each season, with a high of 25. He’s rated a 96 in bump-and-run defense, which is our specialty on coverage – this is some indirect evidence to me that LBs do, in fact, play the assigned coverage scheme, rather than just playing an underneath zone (as I have seen suggested). His coverage skills are solid everywhere, but the 96 in BNR must be the underlying thing for the suspiciously high passes defensed. An outside linebacker, giving us over 10% TkPct and adding to our pass rush, it’s unreal to see him posting a career PDPct over 20. Just an observation – nice stuff from him. Green Bay beats us to keep their division hopes alive, but we are still in command. But a loss to Tennessee is cause for concern – at 7-4, we are no longer in true command, only a game up on the Packers. We need overtime to beat Carolina, but it’s a big win to get us back on track. But we hit a stride with three straight wins, and with a week to go – no mystery, we’ll be the division winners, finally. The onoly question is whether we get a week off to rest up – a week secures the #2 seeding. A tie, however, leaves us a half game behind Atlanta – and in the third seed, instead. Code:
In our season summary, we see that we fell a bit short of some of the lofty projections, but had a pretty good offensive season nonetheless: Code:
QB Matt Frederick’s TDs is a season record for this league. He has the top three seasons in yardage, this one came just behind his first place mark of 4,936. Probably makes him a cinch for league MVP, I’d think, but the 16 picks might hold him back. LB Robert Bensen had a whale of a year. I know it’s tackles that the game values, but look at his complete stats – 92+37 tackles from the strong side isn’t half bad, especially for a good team – that’s a 13.8& clip, pretty high for the SLB position. 10 sacks leads the team, and his 25 passes defensed is the sixth-highest in league history – at any position (needless to say, everyone around him is a DB). That’s an awfully impressive set of stats for a season – nice. Overall, the defense wasn’t as strong as we have gotten used to – statistically, not so strong. We did get more pressure on the QB, but we just don’t make the big play – we remain near the bottom of the league in causing turnovers, year after year. Postseason Summary Wild Card: Carolina at Chicago – We are mild favorites, but we thrash the Panthers defense as Matt Frederick opens up for 4 TDs and adds 69 yards and a TD on the ground. Great effort, as we win 38-14. Divisional Playoff: Chicago at Atlanta – Our own fault we’re on the road here, but it’s a very even game – the Falcons score 10 points in the fourth quarter to force overtime. We both seek to avoid mistakes, but when we get an interception from S Gibson, that sets up the game-winning FG. NFC Championship: Chicago at Philadelphia – The road to the Superbowl goes through Philly, of course. The Eagles are merciless, just pounding the ball right at us, and grinding out yardage all day. They get good field position, control the clock, and keep control the whole way. It’s a 23-6 Eagles rout, as they hold the ball for a remarkable 41 minutes. The Eagles pound out another one over Buffalo to take the championship. Matt Frederick garners another first-team QBQ award, but no MVP – that goes to the Jets RB who posted about 1,800 yards on the ground. LB Robert Bensen gets a first team honor as well – I’m thrilled to see that. Great season for us – out first division title, and a good playoff run. This team is solid, a contender, and playing about as well as we could have hoped. |
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12-25-2004, 09:54 PM
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#64 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2013 offseason
No retirements, whew. Staff stays intact – also simple. Now, we have problems. We come into this season $9m over the salary cap. We have work to do. I go through routine renegotiations, and have my first player who won’t re-sign – LB Doug Cobb. He’s awful, so the only loss is one able body. He’s signed this year, but I suspect he’s a lost cause, no matter what happens this season. Anyway, we get things worked out, though it takes a re-working of Matt Frederick’s contract – which I did not want to do. Regardless, we have all 55 heading into next season. Code:
Nothing really new to see here – the team is just rusting away. We are all 9th year players now, and everyone who is not getting regular playing time is dissolving rapidly. The two IR listers from last year are all but gone now – we’ve got real problems. But our starters are generally holding on – so it’s depth we’re losing, mostly. |
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12-25-2004, 09:54 PM
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#65 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2013 season
As we wrap up the preseason, I have a quandary for the injured list. Ideally, we can just stow a couple of bums there for the year – no harm done. This year, I don’t have any injured bums – not so easy. I leave my second stringers in for the last preseason game, and get a serious injury to S Greg Harris. I don’t like that, it might be a career-ender, but it makes things easier – he is joined by G Deion Lake on the injured list. We head into the season with an overall roster rating of 35, and with a cohesion edge that leaves second-bests at 72-70-68-69, which continues to be an impressive gap on the rest of the league. We’ll see if that camaraderie can get us over the top before the team totally collapses. We start out with three narrow wins, but it’s 3-0 however you get them. Our run ends in week 5, as Washington picks off Frederick six times and crushes us badly. We get to the halfway point at 6-2, again in pretty strong position for a postseason berth. Code:
Can this team keep it together, despite a battered secondary and offensive line? Somehow, our defense is playing like a collection of titans, and we have become difficult to run on – even without DE Westbrook in there for half the games. Ellis Hawkins – 90 tackles in 8 games? Good lord, son! Go figure – keep it up! We split our next four games, with WR Larry Thomas returning fourth quarter kickoffs for TDs twice to be the margin of victory. We have lost, however, our two starting DTs – Westbrook and Spencer – and that’s trouble. Spencer’s injury might be career-threatening. We beat Green Bay in overtime, and stay two ahead of Minnesota, who have rebounded to being a contender again. We split the next two, and look at an 11-5 record as it wraps up, which is good enough for another division title, and fortunately for us, a week off as the #2 seed. Code:
In the stat column, we have a few good numbers, but none as good as “bye week,” really. Code:
LB Ellis Hawkins has always been our main run stopping force, but this was crazy – 214 total tackles is a ridiculous number, especially on a pretty good team. 21 passes defensed and even some pass pressure – this ought to be a DPOOY candidate, I think. QB Matt Frederick – well, another year of mostly the same. He again comes up just shy of 5,000 yards, but had a pretty good season (especially with 6 picks in one game). WR Kevin Gaylor remains target #1, and the role players all look fine. 2013 Postseason Summary Divisional Playoff: Atlanta at Chicago – We’re still not very healthy, but Matt Frederick makes things look pretty good, as we put together a few drives and come up with a 27-17 win over the visiting Falcons. SO, on we go to the Conference Championship, where we face this year’s juggernaut in the making… NFC Championship: Chicago at Atlanta – The Falcons are 6 point favorites, and have the “edge” in every category except QB. Arizona learned from last year’s Eagles blueprint – they run it 41 times against us, despite our solid stats against the run, and they pound out a good win, 30-17, with 38 minutes of clock on their side – unreal. Not much we can do, but we fall short here once again. Arizona falls to Baltimore in the Superbowl. LB Ellis Hawkins is indeed the defensive player of the year, and he is alone on the awards list from our squad. Another very good season – touogh to ask for more, but getting so close certainly makes it bittersweet. Still no ring. |
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12-27-2004, 08:04 AM
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#66 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I might have finally run out of gas on this... I have some time today, but don't feel too motivated to re-open it and keep playing.
I have an oddfascination with going through the motions of shifting players around just to keep the roster technically legal -- and I suspect in the next 2-3 years I'd have to start doing so. But at the moment, the tedium of each season is a hurdle, rather than a pleasure. Uncertainty... |
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05-10-2005, 10:31 AM
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#67 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Well, forum necromancy seems to be in vogue right now... and I have had a little time on my hands. I am hoping to "wrap up" this particular challenge with a few more seasons.
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05-10-2005, 10:31 AM
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#68 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2014 offseason
We have two injured players who might be done – we’ll follow their ratings: Code:
Harris will be out for the whole year still ahead, so any long-term problem has not yet been resolved. But Spencer now looks like a backup, rather than a starter. Tough break. I expect Harris will suffer the same fate. We re-hire our offensive coordinator, and are ready to move on. We get everyone signed before training camp, with one exception. LB Doug Cobb, a complete zero on the talent scale but an affinity guy, is so unhappy about playing time that he refuses to sign. That’s my fault – poor playing time management – and we will drop to only 54 players. In everyone’s tenth season, this is probably the beginning of the end in these parts. So, we head into the season with 54 strong, including the still-hobbled S Harris, who will sit the season on IR. Through 4 games, we are unbeaten and Matt Frederick has a QB rating of 105. Strong start. However, we lose S Ron Mazza to a season-ender, and that’s not good, as he’s among our most reliable defenders, and we’re left perilously thin there now. We lose our next game to Detroit, and suffer more injuries – our DL is falling apart. But we rebound for two more wins, and seem to be playing well, despite the banged up lineup. However, after getting to 8-1, we suffer the one injury that we really have no answer for – QB Matt Frederick goes down. Now, I like Roosevelt Kane just fine, and he has actually grown a bit over the years, but this team is clearly built around Matt Frederick. We promptly drop three games in a row, as Kane throws eight picks in three games. This drops us out of the division lead, and into a tie with Detroit at 8-4. We are now, incidentally, drawing ticket stubs and random and having fans start along the defensive line. Right now, we have only three healthy D-linemen, meaning that guys like Amos Jefferson and Tim Giles (scout ratings of 5/11 and 5/7, respectively) are starting for us. Heh, great. Despite that, Matt Frederick gets back into the lineup, and we punish the Patriots to get back on the right side. We then pound Detroit, and take the division lead back. Arrows pointing up again. We manage to wrap up the season at 12-4… and since we lost all three games when Frederick was out, that has to make us pretty confident about our chances as long as he can stay healthy in the playoffs. Our 9-3 conference record gives us the #1 seed in the conference, out of a 3-way tie with New Orleans and Philadelphia. Home field advantage is what it’s all about, here. Code:
Unlike past years, when we were somehow able to actually stop the run, we are now essentially fronting the matador defense. Ole! This way to your endzone, señor! We will get at least one healthy guy back for the postseason in Wendell Hughes, but he’s not exactly Charles Atlas out there. This is a precarious spot, and has been our undoing in previous playoff runs. But as usual, our passing game is prolific, and we are an offensive force – when Frederick is on target, we are tough to stop. We may just have to win these games pinball style. 2014 Postseason Summary Divisional Playoff – Arizona (10-7) at Chicago (12-4) – Actually, this was a very even game, but we come out on the bottom end, 26-17. We didn’t get pounded to death, holding them to a reasonable 121 yards rushing, but they just took better advantage of their chances, and got one special teams TD to get the edge. Tough one-and-out for us after a promising season. Arizona makes it to the Superbowl, but loses 14-11 to Cleveland there. I’ll take the over for how many years it takes until we see a Superbowl team finish with 11 points, for what that’s worth. In the season awards sheet, WR Kevin Gaylor makes first team again, with one of his best years. QB Matt Frederick is second team QB, despite missing three games – that’s impressive. And as usual, the rest of our group toils in obscurity. We’ll see if the gradual decline and dropoff of the roster continues – it may not be long before we are unable to field a team. Last edited by QuikSand : 05-10-2005 at 10:33 AM. |
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05-10-2005, 01:28 PM
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#69 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I'm trying to think of a way to come up with a "scoring system" for this sort of career. Some way to measure your total success with the team.
So far, I'm thinking something like this: Sum of: Total Wins 2 x Playoff Wins 5 x Championships I have mixed feeling sabout additional points for things like individual achievements -- especially on the dfeensive side, this seems to be kind of skewed, and lpsided gamaplanning can certainly affect those things. Not sure whether anything along those lines makes any sense. |
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