 |
01-26-2001, 02:37 PM
|
#1 | ||
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
House Arrest Black Squirrels, 2038-2041
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 To save the research, 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 - everybody we re-sign comes through the free market Full roster of 53 each season (no going cheap by leaving roster holes) Player from home state (Colorado) college at each position group (RB/FB, WR/TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, QB/P/K) at all times . . .I confess I have probably 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 if nobody else wanted them 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 on the open market to retain their services. Here is the short history of the team-the GM performance printout:
Overall, the Black Squirrels have a regular season record of 346-230 (.600) which ranks second only to Philadelphia in the league. We have 21 playoff appearances (5th) and a 21-17 record in the playoffs (.585, 7th best). We are 4-1 in the Superbowl, and only Cincinnati (with 6) has won more times. We have two players on the career leader board-safety Steve Frank who remains comfortably the all-time interceptions leader, and WR Kris Ferderer, who sits atop the career receiving TDs list. We have nine inductees into our team Hall of Fame, which easily outpaces most teams in the league-even those who were given a head start with real NFL players who already had earned their HOF credentials. In the mid 2030s, the team emerged as an offensive powerhouse behind star QB Fernando Stephenson. We managed to overcome some defensive deficiencies, and win two consecutive Superbowls in 2035 and 2036. Then suddenly, right after signing a huge new contract for four more years, Fernando walked away from the game after only his 11th season. We were utterly devastated, and without the ability to procure a high quality free agent replacement, we rapidly slipped out of the playoffs. The team's strengths have suddenly reversed-it is now our defense that looks good. However, the aging scout and coach who led us to our recent heights are slipping rapidly in ability, and we probably need a front office overhaul. We'll try to build this new-look team around our very good young defense, and hope that the offense can come along enough to get us back into contender status. The story continues below... [This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 01-26-2001).] |
||
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 02:40 PM
|
#2 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2038 pre-draft
No major announcements-retirements, relevant HOF awards, etc. The team's revenues dipped last year, and our profits sank to $50.8m. Still healthy, but not as strong as before-and the arrow is pointing down, I fear. We did have perfect attendance, but we'll see how long that holds up. We bring in a new front office-a new, young regime we hope will govern over the rapid rebuilding of this proud franchise. Our new scout is 39 year old Luke Flowers-- this is his first job as a head scout. His ratings sumarize as follows: Very Good: QB, OL, P/K Good: Rec, LB, DB Fair: RB, DL Young Talent rating - VERY GOOD I have him moving quickly to scout out the top QBs in the draft and free agency, as that is this team's obvious focus right now. My new head coach is also a first timer, 55 year old Darryl Fox. His ratings are as follows: Positional Ratings: Excellent - Rec, P/K Very Good - OL Good - QB, RB, DB Fair - DL, LB Young Talent - Very Good Motivation - Good Discipline - Excellent Off Playcalling: Very Good Def Playcalling: Good Avoid Injury: Good I had to bid him up to secure him, but he's really the best available. We'll see how deeply we cut into our finances with the two fairly expensive hirings. As we head into free agency, here is our roster situation:
Among our free agents, we will have several re-signing priorities. DE Brian Meyer is one of them, though that position has improved significantly and we could withstand the loss. The WR position is totally in flux this year-my thinking is to re-sign Thagcher, and that's all. Battle is solid, and from Colorado, but just not worth the $20m+ he'll demand. Safety Brian Hastings is a keeper, for the long term. TE Dixon Strong would be a great keeper as well, he's been very solid. Among my young RFAs, LB Butch Long would be nice, but is probably not realistic with two emerging young guys there. Safety Brenden Honeycutt is the guy I envision alongside Hastings for years to come. TE Nichols was a nice breakout in last year's camp, but he probably isn't worth the big money, as he lacks run blocking skills. If all I do is re-sign DE Meyer, WR Thagcher, S Hastings, and S Honeycutt-I ought to have a sizable pile of cash remaining for an improvement at QB, if a quality player is somehow available for me in later free agency. I make a perusal of my players, just to see how my new scout stacks them up. My firt disappointment is with young CB Joseph Brecht-my scout sees him as a marginal player only, not the first-round star I am paying him to be. CB Leslie Bailey get higher marks, but doesn't look quite as impressive to this scout as he did to the last one. The same is true for a number of my players-this scout either has a generally lousy opinion of most players, or else he just doesn't think that the guys we have on hand are any good. I don't take this as good news, either way. The new scout really likes young DT Alan Hastings from last year's draft, and also my young LB Marvin Ellison. Those two look to him like foundation players, which is at least encouraging. I get an intriguing trade offer from Seattle. They are after my QB Antonio Odom, and offer their early third round pick for him. Dealing Odom away is a symbol of surrender, to a degree-he wasn't the answer last year, and he won't be if he's our starter this year, either. I decide that it's a good deal for us, and I pull the trigger. We are left without a single signed QB on the roster-though Keith Anthony is restricted, as a deep backup plan. I start out with 4yrs, $76m for DE Brian Meyer. He's in his 8th year, I'm trying to lock up his "prime" years ahead. I offer 4yrs, $80m to WR Perry Thagcher, whom I hope to make the continuing cornerstone of my passing game, though he only has one 1,000-yard season to his name this far. S Brian Hastings get an offer for 4yrs, $50m-more reasonable than the more expensive positions, but still a load of cash. I don't expect to get any of these guys easily, but I'll bid them as needed. In the FA market, the best QB is 16th year man Craig Manderville of Green Bay. I expect they will re-sign him-he still looks very good. Cheyenne's 9th year Emanual Caldwell looks solid as well. The Giants' 7th year backup Shane Elliott might be the type to slip through-pretty solid, but he'll be asking for starter money without having started may games. We'll see if any of them slip into week 11. In week 1, WR Thagcher takes my deal, and he's delivered. S Brian Hastings is pending, with my offer on top. I bump him to 4yrs, $54m to keep in line with the per year offerings elsewhere. DE Brian Meyer is getting a wide range of offers, and I decide to go for a 5yr deal, at $110m. It matches the per year best other offer, but goes longer, and I think he'll take it. After week 2, I have to bump up S Hastings again, to 4yrs, $60m. I decide to put in an offer for TE Dixon Strong-3yrs, $25.4m. He's getting 1yr deals from everyone else, for $10-11m, but I'll hope that the duration is a selling point for him. In week 5, TE Strong takes a one-year deal from Green Bay, and he's gone. However, Safety Brian Hastings has turned down a bigger offer from Cheyenne to stay in Col Springs. Cheyenne quickly moves to sign another of our free agents, RB Julio Franz. DE Brian Meyer is still pending after week 6, and so are QBs Emanuel Caldwell and Shane Elliott-though Caldwell is mulling over offers up to $30m/yr. In week 9, DE Brian Meyer finally re-signs with us, and he'll be locked up through his productive years. The bidder for QB Caldwell busted their cap, and he's now sitting without an offer. I get to week 11, and my doors open up. I check out the top two QBs, Caldwell and Elliott. Caldwell has more experience, but he hasn't been that great leading Cheyenne. Each guy could be had for around $20m a year, it would seem. I decide to wait a bit, and see how things unfold with these two guys. I do bid on a good-looking OT from Denver, Jumbo Owen. I put in for 4yrs, $41m, and he takes it-he'll be a solid RT, a major improvement there for a while. He takes my deal. In week 19, I decide I need to pull the trigger on one of these QBs, or possibly both of them. I decide that Shane Elliott is better suited to what I want from my QB of the near future-a little better accuracy, better with short passes. I offer him a 4yr, $67m deal, and he takes it immediately. To my surprise, nobody has signed WR Jason Battle. He has cut his demands, but only to about $15m a year-still outside my range. If nobody signs him (which looks likely now) I'll go and scoop him up after training camp, and take the cohesion hit. I do, however, see a good WR in the FA pool in Jeffrey Witt. He's a sixth year guy from SF, and just had his first 1,000-yard season. I think he'd be a pretty solid contributor, and he's dropped his asking price to about $11m a year, which is pretty cheap for a legit starter at WR. I decide to bring him aboard, and I make him an offer of 3yrs, $32m. Finally, I put in a 3yr, $29m offer to DE Bruce Hitchcock-a pretty good end who never made a great impact in Atlanta. I don't find any of the usual cheap free agents that I like to bring aboard, and so I let it go at that. We head toward the draft with $27m in cap room. It's not totally absurd. With Elliott aboard, we at least have a guy we can look to at QB, who should fit our game plan fairly well. Drafting a star QB would still be nice, but the urgency is lessened-I don't have to go jump at the first B-minus guy I see, I can afford to wait a season if need be. RB might be another matter-we really don't have anyone aboard who looks any good, and (as always) there was nothing available in late free agency. I will need to grab at least one RB, preferably two usable guys. WR, TE, C and G are also need positions, for now or soon. My young defense can always use fill-ins, but I don't think I'm looking to draft early there unless I see a standout. |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 02:58 PM
|
#3 |
|
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Manchester, CT
|
Quik, if you could post the list of Superbowl winners that would be great. If not, that is cool too. Thanks.
Marmel Go Broncos!
__________________
81-78 Cincinnati basketball writer P. Daugherty, "Connor Barwin playing several minutes against Syracuse is like kids with slingshots taking down Caesar's legions." |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 03:27 PM
|
#4 |
|
High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Cincinnati, OH
|
QS,
I never saw the right up on season 2037... is this a problem with my browser, or did you forget to post it on the old thread? The last post I see is about 2037 draft, and camp... ? Thanks and good luck, Chas P.S. Bret Helelia (the little CB from Indiana) was my favorite player, how's his career been since he left?
__________________
Email: [email protected] |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 03:57 PM
|
#5 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2038 draft and camp
We hold pick #15, and some small hope of acquiring one of the top overall players, if other teams don't share our judgment. With my new scout, we survey the rookie landscape. He tabs RB Jermaine Reynolds out of Hawaii as the real deal-a sure-fire superstar. He looks to be about as good a RB as I've seen-every potential rating at least 88, most in the high 90s. I'm sure he'll go in the first couple of selections. C Drew Bloomer is not only a star-caliber player at a need position, but he's a Colorado grad. He'd be outstanding for us at #15, and I give u half a chance. CB Rex Williamson from Air Force is another top-grade local product, probably a first round pick for someone. QB Alex Hudson from Western State is intriguing, and RB Dixon Steihl from Northern Colorado is a project. One of the better local pools I've seen. C Bloomer is there for my top pick, and since there aren't any great alternatives (good TE talent, but several of them, I'll shoot for later) I decide to grab him. In round 2, I lay off again at TE (though I love one guy there) as there is a RB I cannot ignore. In round 3, there are several "project" grade QBs available, so I choose to wait there.
By my scout's eyes, this was a good draft. It's disappointing to see such a good C available in round 6 when I drafted at that very position in round 1, but I think I got a singular player in Bloomer. I work toward a new deal with S Honeycutt, but I need to clear out some room first. I get a trade offer for DR Peterson, and decide that this helps me on bot fronts. I get Oakland's second round pick for a guy who has probably just lost his starting job with us anyway. I make a few more cuts, and work my cap room up to about $16m. I make WR Terrell Wynn my target URFA this year, hopefully an improvement over the bum I put there last season (or so my new scout says). I pick up a handful of other free agents, and look to fill in a few cracks around the place. I get S Honeycutt re-signed, and I head into training camp with 57 signed players. Here' the group that hits our camp:
This year in camp, I make my usual preferences-we'll go with the same trio of formations on offense, and we will continue to use the nickel defense a lot. As we come out of camp, I am hopeful for good player development, and am very curious about RB Fouse in particular. We're hopeful that we've made good investments in the offense this year.
C Drew Bloomer looks outstanding. RB Fouse didn't move much-he lost a bit in a few areas, actually, but still looks solid. I don't see it as serious as my scout seems to. The rest of the rookie draft class looks fine-no surprises. My "keeper" WR Wynn looks like he has a decent upside-probably as a 4th WR in time. As I had expected and hoped, C Scottie Parrish continues to elicit trade offers (I've gotten an offer for him almost every cycle of the last 2-3 seasons). I get a proposal from Cleveland of a second round pick, and snap it up. I now have two promising young rookies at center, and that position is filled for a while. In free agency, I find P Grant Thomason, a 12th year guy from Air Force who is a vast improvement over the rookie I had planned to go with. I re-sign WR Jason Battle for this year, for about $7m. I have to pickup a bum DE from Colorado to fill in that position, and after making a few more cuts, I'm ready to go. Here is our final roster of 53 players:
Hmmm. . . I had thought this was the year that we had all that cap room available to sign a star QB, but instead we have a guy signed for about 1/3 of star-value, and we're still right up against the cap. In any event, this season is probably all about Shane Elliott. We plucked a gem from Dallas years ago when we signed their longtime backup Tim Loverne, not we'll see if the same idea works here. A lot of "ifs" this year-if the line play well and QB Elliott fits in, and if the young RBs can play well, then we might be able to step forward on offense. If our secondary isn't as bad as my current scout thinks it is, we might be pretty competitive. I don't think we should slide backwards from last season, but moving far ahead will pose a real challenge. Without an anchor star QB, it will be tough. |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 03:59 PM
|
#6 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
Chas, the 2037 season write up got pushed to page two of the last thread... try here:
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/ubb/.../000181-2.html There is also a Bert Halela update there, by coincidence... |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 04:02 PM
|
#7 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
Ask and ye shall receive:
Note: I QuikSimmed my first two seasons with Arizona just to get to the expansion team. To my surprise, without doing any management at all, "my" Cards won the title in 2001, thus the asterisks. - - - Super Bowl Winners Year Team 2000 Minnesota Vikings **2001 Arizona Cardinals 2002 Chicago Bears 2003 New York Jets 2004 Cincinnati Bengals 2005 Cincinnati Bengals 2006 Jacksonville Jaguars **2007 Colorado Springs Black Squirrels 2008 New York Jets 2009 Chicago Bears 2010 New Orleans Saints 2011 Cincinnati Bengals 2012 Cincinnati Bengals 2013 Cincinnati Bengals 2014 Chicago Bears 2015 Oakland Raiders 2016 St. Louis Rams 2017 Cincinnati Bengals 2018 New York Jets 2019 Denver Broncos **2020 Colorado Springs Black Squirrels 2021 San Diego Chargers 2022 Philadelphia Eagles 2023 San Diego Chargers 2024 Oakland Raiders 2025 Detroit Lions 2026 Minnesota Vikings 2027 Miami Dolphins 2028 Pittsburgh Steelers 2029 Tennessee Titans 2030 Miami Dolphins 2031 Miami Dolphins 2032 Minnesota Vikings 2033 Pittsburgh Steelers 2034 Buffalo Bills **2035 Colorado Springs Black Squirrels **2036 Colorado Springs Black Squirrels 2037 Green Bay Packers |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 07:36 PM
|
#8 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2038 season
Again, we will go into the season with largely the same philosophy as last season. My scout, despite giving him fairly high marks in most areas, rates RB Benjamin Fouse as our 3rd RB—based on what I see, I slot him as the starter. I will use the 2WR and 3WR fomations heavily, and little of the others. On defense, LB Kelly Kennedy will be the middle man, and Christian Smith will be our blitzing LB (though the new scout has downgraded him abruptly). We’re back to largely having adequate but not great-looking defensive backs, which is disappointing. On the franchise screen, our roster rating is 100 again, just ahead of San Diego’s 93. The sleeper team for this year, according to this rating, is Seattle—who has crept up to a 70 rating. Our cohesion reflects our new faces on offense—53-68-75-77. We escape the exhibition season with minor injuries, and move toward the regular season schedule. We have a streak of road games in the middle, but it’s fairly balanced. We will end with two home games against Oakland and Seattle—could be an exciting finish. Our opener is at home against Tennessee. We get an unimpressive 17-16 win on a last-minute FG. Amusingly, it’s the “afterthought” WR Jason Battle, now filling the third-receiver slot, who carries the day with 144 yards. It’s probably his best day with us. We get a 14-9 win in Oakland, and RB Benjamin Fouse is the hero—17-127 and 2 TDs. QB Elliott had two picks, but we got by anyway with our great defense. We come home and lose to Detroit, as our running game falls apart once again. QB Elliott gets hurt, and rookie Dunmore comes in to lead us, with some shaky results. Elliot will be okay for next week, though. Undefeated Boise City comes in, and we duel them to a 29-29 tie—the first in franchise history. What an exciting overtime. . . eight punts and we all go home. Fouse is “on again” with 140 yards and a TD, but we cannot win the day. We take on Seattle next. We go in, and kick the Hawks’ butts 27-10, as we intercept Antonio Odom (my QB starter last year) 4 times. The very bad news is that QB Shane Elliott will miss 2-3 months with a badly broken jaw. We’re suddenly hurting, even at 3-1-1. We have no choice but to go with our rookie contingent, and currently that will be Dunmore. We lose in KC, but it’s not our offense that betrays us, it’s our D. We lose 42-28, and the Chiefs behind free agent QB Emanuel Caldwell manage to gain 439 yards on us. We fortunately bounce back with a 17-6 win in San Diego, as they outgain us almost 259-150 but we get turnovers and key plays (and a TD from CB Leslie Bailey). Now we’ve lost T Tommie Monroe, and the wheels are just coming off this wagon. We suffer a 20-10 beating in Chicago, and watch our record slip to 4-3-1. We’re only a game behind Denver (who also has a tie), but the division has turned very mediocre in the early going. Now, we go in to play Denver, in a pretty meaningful game. As of late, these have been low-scoring affairs, and this one lives up to that—Denver wins it 9-7 with three field goals. We manage 64 yards total passing on the day—not too good. In Fargo, we get a taste of RB Jermaine Reynolds (the draft’s #1 pick), but we bottle him up pretty well (23-44yds). Regardless, Fargo figures us out, and they win it, 21-3, as we can’t do anything right offensively. Week 11 is mercifully our bye week, and we look like we’re in free fall, 1-4 since the injury to our QB. At home we avenge our earlier loss to KC with a 27-0 shellacking. We hold them to 80 yards total, our best effort of the season (and of recent memory). Benjamin Fouse has 145yards rushing, and a TD—another good game for him and our line blocking. With a 13-3 home win over San Diego, we get back to 6-5-1, and are back into the playoff picture. We’re tied with Denver for the division lead, believe it or not, but at the moment we’d be the #7 seed and on the outside. We get an oddball occurrence—another tie. We tie New England 10-10 after our last-second FG forced it into OT. DE Brian Meyer, my highest-paid player, gets 3 sacks to keep our defense on the warpath. We move to 6-5-2, which is a half game behind Denver’s 7-5-1. We square off this week, in a game that may well settle the division, or at least the inside track toward the division title. The game in Denver is higher scoring than expected, but we come away winners, 31-20. Rookie RB Randy Peters has three short TD runs, as we move into the division lead. At 7-5-2, we are now fighting for the #3 seed. Oakland comes to town, but we handle them 14-12. WR Jeffrey Witt catches 9 for 102 and a TD to get the game ball. We have a ton of injuries, and the latest is LB Marvin Ellison, who tore a muscle, and will miss this year and looks like he’ll lose a step for good. Our finale isn’t exactly do or die, but we’d really benefit from a win. The Seahawks take us, 10-6, and send us to 8-6-2, but that record is good enough for the division title, as San Diego loses their last game also. We’ll be the #3 seed, and are not looking strong at all. Regardless, we made the playoffs, almost exclusively due to our defense which played very, very well.
Stat leaders: QB Gerald Dunmore: 1,757 yds, 61.6%, 5.03 ypa, 9/13, 67.4 QB Shane Elliott: 908 yds, 59.5%, 7.50 ypa, 5/6, 76.0 RB Benjamin Fouse: 271-932 yds, 8 TD (3.4 ypc) RB Randy Peters: 116-492 yds, 3 TD (4.2 ypc) WR Jason Battle: 45-639 yds, 2 TD (57.6%, 2 drops) WR Jeffrey Witt: 66-635 yds, 4 TD (60.5%, 5 drops) WR Perry Thagcher: 62-613 yds, 3 TD (56.8%, 7 drops) OL unit: ~29% KRBs, 27 sacks allowed LB Kelly Kennedy: 116 tackles, 1 sack LB Marvin Ellison: 85 tackles DE Brian Meyer: 16 sacks, 3 blocks, 10 hurries CB Leslie Bailey: 58 tackles, 10 int, 1 TD, 5 PD, 47.4 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.2 / 3.4 / 3.8 Passing: 5.7 / 5.8 / 6.5 Our offense ranked 15th rushing, and 35th passing Our defense ranked 12th against the run, and 9th against the pass What to say? The defense carried the day. Our offense couldn’t do much, but the defense let us win a lot of games with 10 or 13 points. In 8 of our 16 games, we held our opponents to 10 or fewer points. Anyway, we have about 9 starters who will miss our playoff opener, and look just too banged up to make any noise in the postseason. Regardless, we get to host the Jets next week. [This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 01-26-2001).] |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 08:34 PM
|
#9 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2038 postseason
We take on the Jets, who just don’t look like a better team than us, to be honest. They went 9-7, finished fourth in their division, but made the playoffs anyway as the #6 seed. They will mix up their offense, and it seems as though their main weapon is their cohesion, as they have a lot of veteran players. We have injuries everywhere, and will just try to play through them. Our best hope is probably to stifle the Jets’ attack and put up 13-16 points of our own to win this game. In the early going, go far so good. We stuff the Jets on their first possession. Our is a nice drive, almost all on the ground, and a 33-yard FG. We stop them again, get it back, and then drive 47 yards for the TD, and it’s 10-0 as the first half expires. We’re not explosive, but we’re getting it done. The Jets QB Testaverde (fabulous!) dives them for a TD on the next drive, and this game is starting to look more open than anyone had expected. The rest of the second quarter is more like it—all punting and no scoring. The Jets drive to midfield in the third quarter, but their RB Schwartz fumbles, and my LB Ricardo Findley picks up the ball and goes 54 yards for the TD. That puts us ahead 17-7. After the Jets try in vain to move the ball, we take over. After one first down, Dunmore goes deep to Thagcher, who pulls in the bomb and coasts 64 yards for the TD. We’re surprising everyone, and we’re going to get a playoff victory here, it seems. On the first play of the fourth quarter, RB Benjamin Fouse breaks a big 46 yard TD run up the middle, and the rout is on. From that point on, it’s clear how things will end, and we seal it up 31-7. We now must travel and take on the AFC East champion Boise City Timber Dogs. Their key is QB Korey Leone, and their offensive line protects him very well. Their defensive line gets enough pressure that they can sit back in coverage all day. They will be tough. After we trade punts first time through, they are backed up at their 5. They get out, but we trade punts again. After theirs, we get a good return after a short punt, and take over at the Boise City 33. On third down, Dunsmore is sacked, and coughs it up to them. It’s not until early in the second quarter that they muster a scoring threat, and they get a FG out of it to lead 3-0. Following that, we fumble the kickoff, and they set up at our 9 yard line. We hold them to another FG, but it doesn’t feel good right now. They drive again, and notch the TD this time, and get the conversion to go ahead 14-0. Just before halftime, they convert an interception into another FG, and it’s 17-0. Not too good. In the third quarter, after some back and forth, we finally get going a bit, and start throwing practically every play. We move in to get our first score, a short FG, and pull within 14. We need a big play of some sort to get back into the game, but we seem to have stopped the bleeding on defense. In the early fourth quarter, Boise drives for another TD, and that pretty well slams the door shut. They slow it down the rest of the way, and take away a 27-3 win over our limping Squirrels. Boise loses to Pittsburgh in the AFC title game, and the Steelers go on to take on Minnesota in the Super Bowl—the two #1 seeds, both 15-3 on the year. It’s a much-anticipated game with a dead even pick’ em line by the bettors. The Vikings come away the winners, 24-16, as Vikings safety Richard Phillips gets a key interception to stop the Steelers’ final attempt to tie it up, and they seal the win. In the postseason awards, San Francisco’s RB Dwight Wilson is the main honoree, winning the “triple.” A couple former Squirrels show up, too—TE Dixon Strong gets second team with the Packers, and OT Rodney Grebene (from years ago) gets another first team non, the third of his career. Our current Squirrels had a few representatives, with MLB Kelly Kennedy and CB Leslie Bailey garnering first team awards. Rookie center Drew Bloomer gets the nod for second team center, and is among the contenders for offensive rookie of the year, but he’s beaten out by our rookie RB Benjamin Fouse. Overall, we probably overachieved, considering our QB situation. I’d like to continue working on the defense, which is playing very well. If RB Fouse is the real deal (jury’s definitely still out there), that can only help the offense. I think the team can come together, but it’s probably the case that we’ll only get everything going once we get solidified at QB—and I don’t think that guy is here yet. |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 10:26 PM
|
#10 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2039 pre-draft
We don’t have any retirements this year, fortunately. The most notable HOF inductee is longtime Dallas QB Edgar Sinclair, who might be the Dan Marino of this league—big, big numbers, but zero rings. The balance sheet is suddenly a catastrophe. We laid out lots of money for our new coach and scout, and it translated to an increase of $80m in expenses. Add in the unusually high number of bonuses we paid out (another $80m increase) and we went from $50m in the black to a staggering $108m in the red. A huge turnaround, and certainly cause of serious concern. We sold out again last season, and perhaps we will have to boost ticket prices this year to address our financial woes. Though we have new blood in the front office, I decide to look around a bit in the coach and scout pools—perhaps to acquire someone a bit cheaper. 41 year old Todd Rowan was a guy I pursued a few years ago, only to see him head off to Chicago instead. Rowan is very strong with player development (better than my current coach by some margin), but a bit shaky in game day skills (FAIR with YT and off playcall). I decide that If I can get Rowan for a lot less than the $20m I’m paying Darryl Fox now, I’ll go with him and get 15 years younger there. Otherwise, I’ll sit tight. After the first week, it looks like Rowan will be a lot cheaper. Chicago is bidding only a little more than my original $12m, and I decide to go up to $14m. Rowan takes my 5yr offer, and we have a new man at the helm. He went 23-25 with the Bears, and was unable to guide them into the playoffs in his 3 seasons. Here is the rundown on Todd Rowan’s abilities: Positions: Excellent – DB Very Good – RB, Rec, DL, LB Good – QB, OL Poor – P/K Young Talent – Fair Motivation – Very Good Discipline – Good Off Play Call – Fair Def Play Call – Very Good Avoid Injury – Good In the final week, I also look over another scout. 41 year old Richard Feely is, on balance, a bit better than my current guy. They each have VG in young talent, but Feely has more positives in position areas—and his biggest weakness is kickers, which I don’t put much into anyway. His “fair” in OL is his low point, but I’m pretty young there anyway. The big trade off is that Feely only has a “Good” with QBs, and my incumbent Luke Flowers has “Very Good” there. I ultimately decide that Feely’s 4 VGs outweigh the loss at QB, even though QB is a need area for us. Richard Feely comes aboard for 5yrs, $650,000 – a significant reduction in cost from Flowers. Here is a synopsis of his ratings: VG: RB, Rec, DL, LB, Young Talent Good: QB, DB Fair: OL Poor: P/K I think these two will be a bit better suited for our team than last year’s duo—and we apologize for the stutter-step. I resolve to do a walk-through of the roster with my new set of “eyes” before we get too deep into free agency. Feely isn’t too keen on QB Elliott, but Elliott’s injury cost him some last season anyway. Feely likes RB Fouse—sees him with several ratings up near 100, much higher than Flowers estimated. He’s more realistic about DT Larson from last year’s draft, seeing him as solid, but not an outstanding talent. He likes young LB Christian Smith more than Flowers did, and Marvin Ellison a little less. Importantly, Feely thinks that we’ll be okay at CB with the emergence of Mike Scully, where Flowers thought Scully was a bum. Not a revolution in ideas, but a bit of evolution. Most of what I’m getting from Scully seems more in keeping with how I feel—I like this guy a bit better, I think. As we head into free agency, here is our roster situation:
Our priorities will certainly include re-signing T Tommie Monroe and LB Kelly Kennedy, both of whom should prove costly. S Corwin Negrete is demanding a trade, and WR Jason Battle will be too expensive—I’ll hold out small hopes to see them available after camp. Young LB Marvin Ellison looks like a wise investment as well, and should be fairly cheap after the draft. Even if we re-sign both Kennedy and Ellison, we’ll still be thin at LB this year—it’s a need position, to be sure. I get another fascinating trade offer for a QB. Detroit is offering a second round pick and a pretty solid WR (with 2 contract years left) for QB Shane Elliott. I’m really not sold on Elliott, and especially so after he suffered his injury last season. I suspect that my second year man Dunsmore will be graded pretty evenly with Elliott after camp anyway, and I decide to pull the trigger on this deal. Combined with deals from last year, we now have a four-pick bonanza in this season’s second draft round. I offer T Tommie Monroe 3yrs, $60m. He has been very solid for us on both sides of our line, and we want him to wrap things up with us. I offer LB Kelly Kennedy 4yrs, $66m. I don’t know if either one of these two will lock up easily for these prices, but we’d like very much to get them whatever it takes. T Monroe signs immediately, and he’ll be with us for three more years. A solid, sometimes great blocker, from a local school, a two-time first team award-winner, with many years of team service—he’s an asset to us. Through weeks 2 and 3, Kelly Kennedy has no other offers but ours (?!?!) and we drop our offer a bit. In week 4, he takes our deal for 4yrs, $60m. In week 6, S Corwin Negrete signs with Portland, and WR Jason Battle has his one bid vaporize after the team busts. In week 8, P Grant Thomason takes a deal from Tampa Bay for about $3.5m per year—much more than I can pay for any punter. In week 11, we look around for what’s available in the free agent pool. I really don’t see a lot in the QB department, but I may revisit one guy in the last stages. At the end of the FA period, I don’t see much of anything among the second year players that looks appealing. (Gee, doesn’t this scout know he’s working for the king of the second year signers?) I put in a 3yr, $14.6m offer to a third year QB Duane Dodrill, who has mostly been a clipboard-holder for Dallas thus far, but looks like he might have a bit of potential. It’s not a lot of risk involved, he’s not asking for much. That’s all I manage to do this cycle—pretty boring. This draft, with four picks in round two, we’ll be looking to bring in some immediate help in several places. LB is one obvious target, and I’ll go for at least one in this draft with a fairly early pick, I’ll expect. Safety is another need area now, and I’ll look to bring in an adequate third guy there. Of course, if a promising QB comes along, we’ll be all over him—but I’m not holding out a lot of hope for “the answer” right here. |
|
|
|
|
01-26-2001, 10:27 PM
|
#11 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2039 pre-draft
We don’t have any retirements this year, fortunately. The most notable HOF inductee is longtime Dallas QB Edgar Sinclair, who might be the Dan Marino of this league—big, big numbers, but zero rings. The balance sheet is suddenly a catastrophe. We laid out lots of money for our new coach and scout, and it translated to an increase of $80m in expenses. Add in the unusually high number of bonuses we paid out (another $80m increase) and we went from $50m in the black to a staggering $108m in the red. A huge turnaround, and certainly cause of serious concern. We sold out again last season, and perhaps we will have to boost ticket prices this year to address our financial woes. Though we have new blood in the front office, I decide to look around a bit in the coach and scout pools—perhaps to acquire someone a bit cheaper. 41 year old Todd Rowan was a guy I pursued a few years ago, only to see him head off to Chicago instead. Rowan is very strong with player development (better than my current coach by some margin), but a bit shaky in game day skills (FAIR with YT and off playcall). I decide that If I can get Rowan for a lot less than the $20m I’m paying Darryl Fox now, I’ll go with him and get 15 years younger there. Otherwise, I’ll sit tight. After the first week, it looks like Rowan will be a lot cheaper. Chicago is bidding only a little more than my original $12m, and I decide to go up to $14m. Rowan takes my 5yr offer, and we have a new man at the helm. He went 23-25 with the Bears, and was unable to guide them into the playoffs in his 3 seasons. Here is the rundown on Todd Rowan’s abilities: Positions: Excellent – DB Very Good – RB, Rec, DL, LB Good – QB, OL Poor – P/K Young Talent – Fair Motivation – Very Good Discipline – Good Off Play Call – Fair Def Play Call – Very Good Avoid Injury – Good In the final week, I also look over another scout. 41 year old Richard Feely is, on balance, a bit better than my current guy. They each have VG in young talent, but Feely has more positives in position areas—and his biggest weakness is kickers, which I don’t put much into anyway. His “fair” in OL is his low point, but I’m pretty young there anyway. The big trade off is that Feely only has a “Good” with QBs, and my incumbent Luke Flowers has “Very Good” there. I ultimately decide that Feely’s 4 VGs outweigh the loss at QB, even though QB is a need area for us. Richard Feely comes aboard for 5yrs, $650,000 – a significant reduction in cost from Flowers. Here is a synopsis of his ratings: VG: RB, Rec, DL, LB, Young Talent Good: QB, DB Fair: OL Poor: P/K I think these two will be a bit better suited for our team than last year’s duo—and we apologize for the stutter-step. I resolve to do a walk-through of the roster with my new set of “eyes” before we get too deep into free agency. Feely isn’t too keen on QB Elliott, but Elliott’s injury cost him some last season anyway. Feely likes RB Fouse—sees him with several ratings up near 100, much higher than Flowers estimated. He’s more realistic about DT Larson from last year’s draft, seeing him as solid, but not an outstanding talent. He likes young LB Christian Smith more than Flowers did, and Marvin Ellison a little less. Importantly, Feely thinks that we’ll be okay at CB with the emergence of Mike Scully, where Flowers thought Scully was a bum. Not a revolution in ideas, but a bit of evolution. Most of what I’m getting from Scully seems more in keeping with how I feel—I like this guy a bit better, I think. As we head into free agency, here is our roster situation:
Our priorities will certainly include re-signing T Tommie Monroe and LB Kelly Kennedy, both of whom should prove costly. S Corwin Negrete is demanding a trade, and WR Jason Battle will be too expensive—I’ll hold out small hopes to see them available after camp. Young LB Marvin Ellison looks like a wise investment as well, and should be fairly cheap after the draft. Even if we re-sign both Kennedy and Ellison, we’ll still be thin at LB this year—it’s a need position, to be sure. I get another fascinating trade offer for a QB. Detroit is offering a second round pick and a pretty solid WR (with 2 contract years left) for QB Shane Elliott. I’m really not sold on Elliott, and especially so after he suffered his injury last season. I suspect that my second year man Dunsmore will be graded pretty evenly with Elliott after camp anyway, and I decide to pull the trigger on this deal. Combined with deals from last year, we now have a four-pick bonanza in this season’s second draft round. I offer T Tommie Monroe 3yrs, $60m. He has been very solid for us on both sides of our line, and we want him to wrap things up with us. I offer LB Kelly Kennedy 4yrs, $66m. I don’t know if either one of these two will lock up easily for these prices, but we’d like very much to get them whatever it takes. T Monroe signs immediately, and he’ll be with us for three more years. A solid, sometimes great blocker, from a local school, a two-time first team award-winner, with many years of team service—he’s an asset to us. Through weeks 2 and 3, Kelly Kennedy has no other offers but ours (?!?!) and we drop our offer a bit. In week 4, he takes our deal for 4yrs, $60m. In week 6, S Corwin Negrete signs with Portland, and WR Jason Battle has his one bid vaporize after the team busts. In week 8, P Grant Thomason takes a deal from Tampa Bay for about $3.5m per year—much more than I can pay for any punter. In week 11, we look around for what’s available in the free agent pool. I really don’t see a lot in the QB department, but I may revisit one guy in the last stages. At the end of the FA period, I don’t see much of anything among the second year players that looks appealing. (Gee, doesn’t this scout know he’s working for the king of the second year signers?) I put in a 3yr, $14.6m offer to a third year QB Duane Dodrill, who has mostly been a clipboard-holder for Dallas thus far, but looks like he might have a bit of potential. It’s not a lot of risk involved, he’s not asking for much. That’s all I manage to do this cycle—pretty boring. This draft, with four picks in round two, we’ll be looking to bring in some immediate help in several places. LB is one obvious target, and I’ll go for at least one in this draft with a fairly early pick, I’ll expect. Safety is another need area now, and I’ll look to bring in an adequate third guy there. Of course, if a promising QB comes along, we’ll be all over him—but I’m not holding out a lot of hope for “the answer” right here. |
|
|
|
|
01-27-2001, 09:41 AM
|
#12 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2039 draft and camp
We hold pick #31 this season (bad luck all around) and have little hope of a top-tier players slipping to us. Regardless, I work through the top selections with my scout, and we assess the top talent. DE Warren Kinchen looks like the real thing, and ought to be a very early pick. QB Bobby Rose looks pretty solid, but he will almost certainly be long gone, probably within the first handful of picks. S Alvin Emmons looks very good also—there’s a remote possibility that he could fall to us. DT Lamar Burnham from Colorado is very solid, and would make a great roster addition for us somewhere in round 2, if he falls. There are a few other possibilities as well. Like clockwork, DE Kinchen goes #1, and QB Rose goes #2. DT Burnham falls only to pick #9, and then gets snapped up. When my pick comes around, things look positively bleak.
It just wasn’t a good-looking draft, from the eyes of my scout. I ended up digging pretty early, and took a number of potential redliners whom I wouldn’t have messed with ordinarily. I re-sign LB Marvin Ellison, for a little less than $10m a year. That’s all I plan for in this cycle. A very strange thing happens here. QB Bobby Rose, the second pick of the draft, has apparently been released by the team who drafted him. As a free agent, he is seeking a hefty six year deal—essentially what he would have gotten as the #2 pick. I’d like to sign him, but I’m not sure that it’s within my rules to do so. Honestly, he looks good enough to possibly be “the answer” but I just don’t know whether it’s appropriate to take advantage of what is clearly a game glitch. I decide against, and I will keep an eye on him. I put in a long term offer to URFA RB Aaron May. He ought to be a productive third or fourth RB for us, with some ability to catch and possibly fill in at receiver if needed. This year, I really find rather little to like in the FA market, and I nearly sit it out. (this scout – what’s up?) I grab only a couple players, and move on. I head into training camp with only 52 players signed. I’m sure I’ll fill up after camp, but I really don’t see a lot of guys that I need to take in with me. I’m going to regret not nabbing QB Bobby Rose, but I think I’m doing the right thing. Here is the fairly short roster we take into camp:
In training camp, we retain all our usual focus areas. I had toyed with going back to the 3-4 for this year, but with our depleted LB corps, I don’t think I have the horses to do that. Coming out of camp, we’re hoping for a breakout from some of our fishing expeditions, but otherwise I’m afraid this was just a lousy draft.
Everyone from the upper rookie class looks to be fine—what we expected from them. As for my redliners, there isn’t much news. CB Mercury Lynn, LB Barry Reese, LB Vincent Richardson, and S Darren Snyder all fall into the category of “rookies who just aren’t any good, but had so little growth potential that they looked like redliners.” Alas, a lost draft, it would seem—I’m wondering if this scout is cut out for handling rookies after all. As I put everything in place, I decide against offering WR Jason Battle the $7m he requests for another year with us. We are fairly deep there, and my Colorado contingent is satisfied by my rookie TE. I decide not to bring him aboard, and to give my long-termers the playing time. Here’s our final 53:
The whole year depends, I believe, on our defense. Ordinarily, I figure that in a situation like this, it’s about the young QB. However, my QB was a weakness last year, and we still won a weak division with our defense leading the way. If my LB corps holds up their end of the deal, we should be in good shape. I’ll use a heavy nickel package to cut down my LB depth problems, but we’ll see if our group can be as tough as last year’s. If so, we should win more than we lose. |
|
|
|
|
01-27-2001, 10:48 AM
|
#13 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2039 season
At QB, we got enough advancement from second year man Gerald Dunmore to lock him as our starter, and to also put aside any fears that I may have erred by trading away Elliott. Dunmore will never be a superstar, but he’d probably have beaten out Elliott for the starting job anyway. At RB, I am pleased with the continued development of RB Benjamin Fouse, who I hope will be the spearhead of our offense. On defense, since we added literally nothing but baggage at LB, that will probably be our team’s weakest position, and certainly the thinnest. I fear the worst—it may undermine our strong defense completely. At DE, I’ll go into a rotation to keep everyone fresh—it’s a very deep position for us now. Interestingly, the star-caliber QB Bobby Rose who was drafted #2 overall (by Cheyenne) was signed by Carolina to a one-year deal for minimum salary (he didn’t get the heavy-bonus 6yr deal he was looking for). I’m hopeful that Carolina is unable or unwilling to keep him past this year, and perhaps we can grab him in free agency next season—he could be “the answer.” This year, for the first time on well over a decade, our roster rating slips below 100. We have a 75, and rank 8th in the league, well behind Philadelphia and several others. San Diego is third with a 93, and should be tough in our division. Our cohesion slipped mightily with the quiet departure of DT Edwin Grant, as our ratings now stand at: 58-68-75-82. Our secondary has been playing together for a while (and should continue to do so) and we should reap some mad cohesion there down the road. Preseason deals us an amazingly cruel hand, as we lose two players to serious injuries: LB Kelly Kennedy and LB Christian Smith. My god, this puts our thinnest position into an absolute cataclysmic mess. We slide LB Marvin Ellison into the MLB role, and will start DE Bruce Hitshcock as the blitzing “willie.” This does not bode well, as I have had pretty poor results from DEs playing LB before. Fortunately, it looks like LB Kelly Kennedy may be ready to return before he misses too many games. LB Christian Smith will miss about half the season, it seems—very bad news. After checking the roster, I decide to activate Kelly Kennedy for our opener, as he has been upgraded to probable. We have a lot of early home games, but end with 4 of 6 on the road. A quick start will be essential. We begin at home for San Diego, and get a 27-17 win. It’s all about our running game—Fouse has 27-0164, and nothing over 27 (not inflated by one big run). We get nipped in Oakland, 14-13, as we simply lose a very even game. We host 2-0 KC, and they come away with the 21-14 win. Fouse runs pretty well again, but our air game is sorely lacking. We’ve lost S Brian Hastings for a few months, and will shuffle the secondary as needed. We get a 26-6 win over Boise City, which helps us feel better and healthier as we hit our bye week. Fouse has his third 100 yard game in four tries, and our running attack looks the strongest it has been in years. We host Portland and give them their first loss, 17-7. This is the game we like to see—we run the ball well, score on defense, and generally stop the other team (we gave up one TD bomb). We’re actually looking pretty decent, and our young QB isn’t killing us (5TD, 3 picks in 5 games). We go into Denver looking for a continuation of our winning ways. The Broncos are atop the division at 5-1, and are looking pretty tough this year. They manage to handle us pretty convincingly 23-9, and I see a disturbing trend—their young safety D.J. Rainwater is again the player of the game against us, and it’s at least the third or fourth time that has happened in his short career. This kid is making a living off our offense—in this game he had 12 tackles to earn the honor, but he has scored at least 3 TDs against us, and this is only his 4th year in the league (that’s only 7 games). He does seem to be a great player, though—27 ints in 55 games is alarming. We travel to KC, and get a key 16-13 win. Kyle Foreman hits the winner with one second on the clock. I Buffalo, we keep it going with a 26-14 win over the Bills. Our passing game is positively anemic, but we are running very well, and controlling the game with our defense. I activate LB Christian Smith, and re-insert him onto my weak side. His addition should help us in every way—restoring depth at DE, and keeping up the QB pressure. We face a big game at home against Oakland, who is 4-4. We’re both trying to catch up to 7-2 Denver, but we need to roll if we’re going to do that. Two third quarter defensive TDs for the raiders put them way ahead, to stay, and they win it 33-13. LB Christian Smith is re-injured, and he’ll miss the rest of the regular season. St. Louis visits next, and they get a 25-17 win, and we are in real trouble. We go into San Diego, and they punish us 21-3, and it seems our season is collapsing. Teams seem to be collapsing into the box on us, and shutting down our run, knowing they need not worry abut the pass. Next we host Denver. The Broncos seem to be coasting to a nice division lead, and though our 5-6 record suggests we’ll be outsiders this year, we would love to play spoiler here. QB Gerald Dunmore hits Perry Thagcher for a TD as the clock expires, and we come away with a 23-21 win, getting back to 6-6 and dragging the Broncos to 8-4. In Seattle, we are driving for a winning score, but Dunmore is picked off, and the Seahawks return it 95 yards for the TD that puts them ahead 30-21. The lousy ending eclipses a great game from Benjamin Fouse, who gains 156 yards and scores 3 times. He’s over 1,000 on the season (in 13 games) and is looking very solid behind our line. We et roughed up in Pittsburgh, 38-16, and mighty Clarence Reado has 4 TD passes against us. The Steelers, the defending AFC Champs, are fighting at 7-7 just to make the playoffs this season. For our final two games, I’ll give rookie QB Hughes the chance to start, to see what he can do. Our defense has unraveled, as we lose 41-21 to San Fran. QB Kurt Hughes did have 3 TD passes, but also 3 interceptions. The Seahwaks get two TD off interceptions in the second quarter, and hold on to beat us 31-28. Fouse ended his great season with 131 yards and 2 TDs, but it wasn’t enough to give us a win here, or a winning season overall.
Stat leaders: QB Gerald Dunmore: 2,323 yds, 54.3%, 5.63ypa, 11/16, 63.5 RB Benjamin Fouse: 293-1,391 yds, 13 TD (4.7 ypc) WR Jeffrey Witt: 56-707 yds, 4 TD (60.8%, 9 drops) OL unit: ~37% KRBs, 30 sacks allowed G Marc Cintron: 40/78 KRBs (51.2%), 7 sacks allowed T Tommie Monroe: 26/75 KRBs (34.6%), 1 sack allowed in 345 pass plays LB Kelly Kennedy: 110 tackles, 3.5 sacks DE Brian Meyer: 13.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 8 hurries DE Lonnie Sutton: 11.5 sacks, 7 blocks, 8 hurries S Brenden Honeycutt: 91 tackles, 3 int, 7 PD, 23.6 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 4.0 / 3.8 / 3.9 Passing: 5.6 / 6.2 / 6.5 Suffering a letdown at LB due to injury and attrition left us thin, and compromised our run-stoppers. Our entire defense managed only 16 interceptions, which also left us wanting. We were –6 in turnover margin, easily the worst I can recall. A particularly poor season, but I think this is a team ready to make a very big step forward, once get to add a legitimate QB threat. Cincinnati pulverizes Denver 44-3 in the AFC Championship game, and heads into the Superbowl against Philadelphia. This clash between the two most successful franchises in the league’s history may not resolve things for the ages, but the victorious Eagles might hope it helps. Their 35-28 win gets them their second title, but they remain atop the list of overall winning percentage. On the awards board, the big winner this year was Portland RB Kendall Bermudez, who got the triple award. LB Kirk Strader, who a few seasons ago left Cincinnati for big bucks in Indianapolis, was honored with the DPOY for his 131 tackles and 5 sacks. Of course, Indy won 5 games and Cinti was in the Superbowl, so who really won out there? Strader will post big-time defensive numbers as long as he’s in the middle for a defense on a very poor team. TE Dixon Strong gets another first team mention for his season with Green Bay, and S Corwin Negrete gets first team for Portland, with 9 interceptions. The Squirrels get a few mentions as well. RB Benjamin Fouse was named to the second team, as was T Tommie Monroe. LB Kelly Kennedy recovered from his injuries, and made the honored list for the third straight year, also making second team. I believe I was right about the season—the defense defined it. I hadn’t expected such a boost in our running game, but am glad it happened. However, the main thing was our damage taken at LB, and how it compromised out entire defensive plan. Hopefully, we can come back better next season, and perhaps we can add the ingredients for a healthy passing attack as well. |
|
|
|
|
01-27-2001, 11:33 AM
|
#14 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2040 pre-draft
We again avoid any retirements. Among the HOF inductees, the most notable name is S Duane Florez, who was a player from Colorado whom I coveted. He was drafted by Denver, but bounced around with several teams, always productive. We have two new inductees into the Black Squirrels’ Hall of Fame—one expected, one surprise. LB Bernie Coleman gave us 13 years, and was our most prolific QB sacker from the LB position we’ve had (with 49.5 total). The other inductee is K Marvin Sherman, who played 20 years total, probably half of them with us. He gets in largely due to durability, but he is sixth all-time in number of FGs made. Not surprisingly, our balance sheet looks much better this year. We scaled back significantly in coaching and scouting costs, saving about $60m there. We also had a drop in bonuses offered, and the result was that last year’s $108m loss turned into our essentially breaking even this year (we lost $2.6m). We again filled up the stadium, but that’s been an established fact for years. With newly-hired coach and scout in place, I’m not too worried there. I was not happy with my scout’s handling of last year’s draft—I’m afraid that he may not be good at spotting young talent (though his rating there is VG). Luke Flowers (who engineered a great draft for us in 2038) is available, and I decide to watch him closely, but not to bid quite yet. After he goes without bids, I decide to re-acquire Flowers for a new deal. My thinking is this—not only did he have more late-draft gems for us when he was running our ship two seasons ago, but he also has special skills identifying quarterbacks, and that is priority one with this team. His biggest weakness is at RB, and I feel like I have a good young guy there despite the scouting issues—so I’m not too worried there. That combination makes him worth the increased investment ($1m a year, still not very high, and less than I paid him before). Here is our roster situation during this unusual year:
As I begin free agency, I get a very intriguing offer for RB Benjamin Fouse. It includes the #7 pick in this draft—and for the first time I decide to use the draft preview specifically to decide whether to accept an offer. In my quick look, I see only one “anchor-caliber” QB, and since he almost certainly won’t be there at #7, I turn down the trade offer. This year’s FA picture is strange, as I have very few guys to go after. G Marc Cintron is a keeper, and we’ll take steps to ensure that he stays—this contract ought to lock him up for the remainder of his career, or close to it. CB Mike Scully is the only other really attractive keeper here, and he will require a decision, probably between my other candidate to be “CB starter of the future,” Joseph Brecht (who, along with Leslie Bailey, comes up as a FA next season). With fairly little cap room available, this would be a tough year to bring aboard outside free agents—though if QB Bobby Rose is out there, I’ll find a way to get him aboard. Incidentally, I do not see Rose’s name on the transaction list (as, say, a franchise player)—but he’ll probably get re-signed by Carolina anyway. As I think about it, he’s very unlikely to show up in any way that I can get him. I need to make cuts just to put in my offer for G Cintron. Ouch. I look through my 5 trade offers, and decide that it’s time to trade away from my short-term strengths. Fargo is offering a second round pick and a bum older QB for DE Hitchcock, and I decide to take it, and to cut the old QB. I also get a 6th rounder form SF for FB King, who was likely to be my third FB this year anyway. I have trouble haggling with Cintron, so I just start off with the 2yr, $24m deal he is seeking. I’ll vary from there if I have to, but it was tough to get him to agree to a longer offer. After week one, Cheyenne has a richer offer, and I decide to beat it. I go to 3yrs, $40m. It takes until week 7, but he eventually takes my offer. At week 11, I check out the universe of free agents available. At QB, it’s bleak. I could get a very iffy backup for about $16-20m, or I could sit it out. I choose the latter. At the end of free agency, I put in a cheap bid for T Scott Prescott. I mull an offer to LB Ricardo Finley, but I cannot bring myself to commit $8-9m a year to a guy who really isn’t much better than a typical 4th round pick—so I’ll probably need to draft at LB early and perhaps often this year. Looking ahead to the draft, we have pick #9 overall, and an extra second rounder (#15). While QB remains the team’s top need, I do also have to fill jobs at LB and possibly WR soon. We’ll see what the draft brings, I may need to be flexible. [This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 01-27-2001).] |
|
|
|
|
01-27-2001, 05:33 PM
|
#15 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2040 draft and camp
Picking number nine means a very different mindset than usual—I get to look closely at the very top picks, as I have a reasonable shot to bring one in at that spot. My scout identifies Arkansas CB Omar Burroughs as the true standout of this draft—a nearly perfect shut-down corner. T Carl Osborne also looks like a standout to me—a very, very good lineman. It looks like a pretty poor draft at LB (my need position), but I might be able to fill in during round two there. QB Bart Walsh is certain to be gone before #9, but he has some of the ingredients of being a star—not all. Local players are hardly worth mentioning—a few worth very late-round or URFA stabs, but nothing more. Very weak. When pick #8 comes, the immaculate CB and the top QB are both gone, of course. The decision for me is between a very good DE and a potentially great OT. I’ve had some success lately with big investment in my offensive line, and I decide that T Carl Osborne will be my selection. The DE I coveted in round one slips into round two, and I’m suspicious since my scout is only “fair” with DL, but I have to take him anyway. LB and QB are both cleaned out anyway.
Following the draft, I have exactly 53 players, and only about $2.7m in cap room. I bring aboard DE Brent Ford as my long-term FA signee, even though I realize that he’s pretty likely just a figment of my scout’s imagination (or at least his talent level is). If not, though, he’s a decent 4th DE on board for a nice long time. We head into camp, with a few things still unsettled, but we’ll work on what we need to here. I’m still carrying my non-breakout players from last season, but honestly couldn’t find worthwhile rookies to justify misaligning my cap to pick up. We’ll only have 55 signed players as we head into training camp. I give one final thought to trying to re-sign CB Mike Scully. My other scout Feely though this guy was nearly topped-out in talent. Flowers things he’s an average CB at best. It’s a tough call, but either way, re-signing him would cost us at least $10-12m a year, and we’d have to clear the room. I ultimately decide against it, and we move ahead without re-upping with him. Here’s the roster that goes into training camp:
We have essentially the same setup for training camp as the last few years—we’ll use three formations on offense, and we will use a 4-3 with a lot of nickel packages on defense. The scout’s after-camp impressions are below:
My top picks look just fine after camp, and LB Winston Peterson seems to have develop d a little more potential, which is good. DE Brent Ford looks okay, he’ll give me a little stability at DE, I hope. However, the big news. . . BIG news. . . is at QB. Sixth round pick Todd Markowitz had a monster leap in his ratings, and is a bone fide breakout player for us, just where we needed it. He looks destined to join the illustrious ranks of Sid Luckman, Jay Fiedler, and. . . well, I’m not sure who else exactly. Regardless, he looks like he has quite a future. He’s signed for four years (mixed luck for me), and I expect that I’ll hand things over to him immediately. Here is a summary of our new-found QB gem:
With the accuracy rating being his weakness, he’s not exactly the guy I’d build from the ground up, but I remember the old adage—“don’t bite the hand the feeds you.” We got fed here, and we’ll take this deus ex machinaroster addition with delight. Here’s a dilemma. We have been offered Cheyenne’s first draft pick next year for DE Lonnie Sutton. Sutton is in his final contract year, and if my young guy Alvin Fincher works out, Sutton will not be retained next year. Cheyenne went 4-11-1 last season, so our chances of getting a top-ten pick with that choice are pretty good, I’d think. The offer is tempting, and after considerable mulling, I decide to go for it. I’m left with a decent but not great rotation of guys (Fincher, Scott, and Dawkins) to man the second DE spot alongside Brian Meyer. Cleveland expresses interest in QB Dodrill, and I take their offer—a third round draft pick, more than I would have expected for him. I make the cuts, add a few local characters, and whittle down to 53, and we head into the season with this roster:
This year, we’ll hand things over to rookie gunslinger Todd Markowitz, and hope to get things fired up. With Markowitz and Fouse in our backfield, we might have more talent than we’ve had together in a very long time. Hopefully the other elements of this team can hold together as the offensive core develops. |
|
|
|
|
01-27-2001, 09:47 PM
|
#16 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2041 season
My setup is pretty familiar—we’ll stick with most of the same things that have worked well for us lately. Our roster is back up to 100, and Portland is next best with a 74. The addition of a quality QB probably has a lot to do with that. With Markowitz slotted as my starter at QB, our cohesion stands at 60-84-78-87. Hopefully, we can get defenses worried about the run, and then we’ll have them ready to receive our passing game, which should get fired up soon. During pre-season, the injury bug again goes right for our weakness, and we lose two defensive linemen. DE Brian Meyer will miss at least half the season, and in the final preseason game, DT Alan Hastings suffered a terrible broken leg that may very well end his career, but certainly his season. Fabulous. Our season is pretty evenly distributed home and away, but we’ll have a 3-game home stand in weeks 14-16, which will be nice down the stretch. In his debut in Buffalo, Todd Markowitz looks extremely sharp, throwing 18 or 30 for 254 yards, 3 TDs and no interceptions. We win the game 31-6, crushing the overmatched Bills. I lose CB Brecht to a 2-3 moth injury, and I get a preview of my secondary of the future, as we go with three safeties as our starters. Next we face Denver, who is looking to emerge as a title-caliber power. They run over us, 30-13, and get to 2-0 on the season. Our injured list is up to 12 players, and we’ve only played two games. Not a good sign. We come home, and get a 33-14 win over Oakland. RB Benjamin Fouse is the main man with 117 total yards and 2 TDs. QB Markowitz does just enough to let us win, but doesn’t press the issue. He has yet to throw an interception—very un-rookielike. We get a much-needed bye week to rest up. We visit Cheyenne, who is 0-4 (hooray! We have their #1 pick next year). We fail to help our cause, as they get their first win 28-19. Our run defense again gives up big numbers, and we get rolled. Miami visits, and get a 17-13 win at our place, with a long TD run in the fourth quarter. With our losses at DT, we’re just not stuffing the run like we need to. We are injured almost everywhere, and I just don’t have enough inactive spots for every 3-5 week injury. This is getting ridiculous. In San Diego, we follow our best formula—we run the ball, we stop the run, and we win 14-7. A good win for us, but still we’re not looking like a major player. Arizona comes in and beats us, and we slip to 3-4 on the year. No excuses, we just got beaten flat out by a better team. In Seattle, we get doubled up 26-13. At this point, I’ve given up trying to manage my depth chart every week for all my injuries, and I’m just simming anyway. Denver comes in and rolls us 39-17, as this team has totally run out of gas. RB Benjamin Fouse continues to post some decent numbers, but our defense is totally riddled with injuries (especially the DL) and our offense sputters along. Against Denver, Markowitz looks very rookie-like, with 4 interceptions. We get a win over San Diego, with RB Fouse at the helm. Amidst a pretty lousy offensive season, he is managing to be a serious bright spot. He has 813 yards in 10 games, and his 10 TDs lead the league. He is the league leader in total yards with 1,073, and total TDs with 11. Not too bad. In KC, we lose 20-16, and (of course) Fouse goes down with his own injury. My long-term youngster Aaron May has 144 yards and a TD in reserve, a nice effort as well. Fouse is probable for next season, so we’re not too worried. We get a 17-10 win over the Raiders, with Markowitz the hero with a wonderfully efficient 16 for 21 day. We host Baltimore, and send them home with a black eye—a 38-11 loss. RB Aaron May again fills in for Fouse, and puts up 198 yards and 2 TDs in an amazing effort. We’re up to 6-7, and though we are still basically out of the playoff race, we are at least saving face. Cheyenne is 4-9, and our early pick from them is looking pretty good. We host Seattle, and keep our roll going with a 20-13 win. RBs Fouse and May both run well, and we manage to put up some good numbers on their defense. RB Markowitz is down with an injury, and Dunmore leads us with a nice game as well. We win over KC,and get to 8-7 on the season. At this point, three 9-6 teams would get the AFC wild cards, and the three 8-7 teams would be just out. If we win our finale over Dallas and get some help, we could sneak into the postseason. Alas, Dallas takes us 24-14, and we finish up at even par. With so many injuries this year, it’s really hard to judge what the team can do. Regardless, we’ll sit out these playoffs again.
Stat leaders: QB Todd Markowitz: 2,335 yds, 56.8%, 6.63 ypa, 12/9, 77.7 (13 games) RB Benjamin Fouse: 214-947 yds, 12 TD (4.4 ypc); 37 rec-333 yds, 1 TD RB Aaron May: 165-645 yds, 5 TD (3.9 ypc) WR Perry Thagcher: 57-943 yds, 10 TD (54.2%, 10 drops) OL unit: ~39% KRBs, 32 sacks allowed RT Jumbo Owen: 33/77 KRBs (42.8%), 5 sacks allowed C Drew Bloomer: 28/80 KRBs (35.0%), 3 sacks allowed MLB Kelly Kennedy: 121 tackles, 1.5 sacks DE Blaine Scott: 9 sacks, 2 blocks, 14 hurries DT Dwight Larson: 28 tackles, 5 sacks, 4 blocks, 3 hurries S Brian Hastings: 68 tackles, 2 int, 8 PD, 29.5 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.8 / 4.1 / 3.8 Passing: 6.8 / 5.7 / 6.6 Amidst a very mediocre AFC, Miami emerges as the representative, as they beat Boise City in the AFC Championship game 31-17. Miami goes up against Portland, whose QB Oliver Brink is trying to establish himself as a major star. Miami is there behind the well-traveled QB Emanuel Caldwell, and a very solid defense. Portland wins it in a thriller, 17-14, as Oliver Brink runs the winning TD in to seal the game. QB Oliver Brink is denied the Superbowl MVP award, though—it goes to a teammate DT who has 2.5 sacks on the game. Brink does get the “triple” however. Denver’s safety D.J. Rainwater is named defensive player of the year, with 11 interceptions. This guy is totally unreal, despite apparently modest ratings. On the “players of interest” list, LB Kirk Strader again gets the top nod as LB with Indianapolis. S Corwin Negrete joins Rainwater as a first team safety. DT Benjamin Ferguson (another former Squirrel) gets second team honors for a good season with Chicago. TE Norbert Drake (Squirrel many years ago) resurfaces with Cincinnati, and makes the second team all-pro list. A good year for former Squirrels. Among current Squirrels, not a bad showing either. The first name is a bit of a surprise—FB Dean McKay gets first team honors, which surprises me. However, the eye-popper is not his 432 total yards (not too bad in itself) but his 14/23 KRBs (60.8%). He deserves it—a nice season for a not-yet-developed rookie. My RT Jumbo Owen had a very nice season and earned his first team honors. LB Kelly Kennedy again made the list—this year as a first teamer. My punter Ted DiBlasio earned second team honors as well, his first mention. Progress. The passing game showed more signs of life, and Markowitz showed a lot for a rookie. Fouse was running extremely well until he got hurt—in retrospect, we should have just rested him, and let May run the ball in his absence. Running Fouse while he was injured dragged everything down. The whole defense was rocked by injuries, nowhere worse than the defensive line. I think we have things in place for a major step forward next year—if we can get past these injury woes. We’ll check out the front office situation, and see if a change is needed there. |
|
|
|
|
01-28-2001, 12:06 AM
|
#17 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2041 pre-draft
LB Donovan Moffit is one of two HOF inductees this season. He spent a three-year stint with the Squirrels on one of his several stops through a solid career. Our team suffers no retirements—the main concern I had there was that DT Alan Hastings would quit. Instead, he will spend this year recovering from a terrible broken leg, which has also savaged his skill ratings. He is a free agent, which is generally pretty tough luck for him—he may not have much luck in getting a contract. We cleared about $15m this season, another step up after losing $2m last year. Our increase in scouting costs was offset by a modest boost in revenues overall. We filled the stadium again – yawn. Looking in the pool of scouts, the only guy who intrigues me is Richard Feely, and I don’t think I can just go back and forth between the two of these guys. Feely does seem to be the better overall fit, especially since we now have our QB we needed. I contemplate bringing him back aboard (good thing they don’t hold grudges like players do). As for coaches, my guy is the 12th highest paid coach in the league, and has a career losing record with no team getting to the Superbowl. What’s wrong with this picture? Regardless, I’m convinced he has the right stuff in general. He has a VG in Avoid Injury, so I’m tallying recent contrary things up to bad luck. I’ll stick with Todd Rowan, and hope that he can guide us through the coming years as the team develops. Scout Richard Feely is getting a lucrative offer from Pittsburgh, and to beat it I’d have to nearly double my current salary for Flowers. I decide to stick with my current guy, and Pittsburgh locks up Feely. As we start the FA period, here is the roster:
With about 25% of the cap available, we have some room to move, it would seem. On the “must re-sign” list we only have one name—LB Leslie Bailey. I’d like to retain CB Brecht, but assuming that’s a $20m plus proposition, I think I’ll probably do without. Right now, we have sufficient talent at safety to start one as a corner for a while—especilly if I re-sign S Honeycutt, which I expect to do. Elsewhere, losing WRs Witt and Radda will give us a gap, but I don’t expect to pay for either one’s return. DT Hastings was a solid part of our future, but with his injury he’s now reduced to a minimal impact player. QB Gerald Dunmore filled in while we struggled, but he’s clearly not staying around unless he miraculously asks for a (reasonable) $3m contract. We actually have a lot of salary cap freedom this year—we’ll see what we can do at WR, possibly re-signing one of our own guys, or else grabbing a fairly cheap journeyman from the later FA stages (I got jobbed when my rookie WR McConnell signed only a 2yr deal last season). Again a reminder of my 5% rule—I will only pay more than 5% of my salary cap for a player who exhibits great skills at a critical position. If he doesn’t fit that profile, then I really don;’t want to get stuck paying over 5%. This year, the 5% rule draws the line around $16 million a year. I start out with a 5yr, $120m offer for CB Leslie Bailey, who I must keep. I’ll keep an eye on CB Brecht—if I were to lock them both up, we’d be building cohesion like crazy in our secondary over the next several years. However, I’m not paying $20m, plus for cohesion, unless the guy has great talent—and Brecht doesn’t. I offer S Honeycutt 4yrs, $56m—and I think I’m willing to go higher if need be. After week 1, we are pending atop the list for both DBs. Denver has not yet locked up their star safety D.J. Rainwater—an unwise move, considering their history of letting HOF talent walk away over a few nickels. I see good short-term offers to S Honeycutt, and decide to up my offer to beat them out. In week 4, S Honeycutt re-signs. I reduce the length of my offer to CB Bailey, to 4yrs, $103m—just over Oakland’s deal. He thinks about it, still. . . Meanwhile, WR Witt has signed a deal with Kansas City, and he’ll be up against us regularly now. He never put up big numbers with us, but our passing game was in a lull then anyway. The next week, WR Radda signs with Miami, and any hope for a cohesion move is lost there. DT Alan Hastings gets a deal for over $22m a year—Jacksonville apparently things he’s worth big bucks, even with his tibia in three parts. CB Brecht also signs, a deal with the Giants, for about $20m /yr. However, CB Bailey has finally re-signed with us (in week 8) and we did what we had to do this year. Incidentally, our cross-state rivals did not do that—Minnesota steals away superstar safety D.J. Rainwater, and I’m damned glad to get him out of the division. The Vikings’ defense should get a serious boost with him aboard—he’s a real playmaker. In week 11, we start to look around. We don’t have the flexibility we once expected—especially with two expensive first round picks this year. I’m tempted by second year QB Wesley Villegas (ironically, the guy I wanted in last year’s draft – and missing him forced me to take my backup plan, QB Todd Markowitz). However, Villegas wants a deal worth about $6m a year, and I’m just not sure if he’ll be a good enough insurance policy to merit that much cash. I fail to find anyone in the second year crop who is both interesting and affordable, and I basically sit out this FA period. This scout tends to dislike the available young players—I’m not sure if it’s because he is good (and isn’t being fooled into thinking they are talented) or bad (and he’s missing the talent). I get another trade offer for RB Benjamin Fouse—Carolina is offering the #3 overall pick. I’m not interested in dealing him away, as he is rapidly developing into a cornerstone player for our emerging young offense. I’m offered the #33 pick for QB Markowitz—another trade offer I’ll decline, thanks. Sorry, Denver. Holding my own pick (#19) and also Cheyenne’s (#4) I look to have a big draft this year— it's a very exciting prospect. My draft this year may determine whether we play a 3-4 or 4-3 next season, as we are split without talent strengths. I have need areas including G, WR, DT, LB, and CB. Two serious impact players in the first round would be a great step for us here. |
|
|
|
|
01-28-2001, 08:19 AM
|
#18 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2041 draft and camp
In this draft, we believe there to be quite a number of impact players—it looks like it will be a rich first round. My scout’s weakness is the defensive line, but he loves a number of DTs in this draft (which happens to be a serious need position for us). G T.J. Robson is also a mammoth player, at another need position for us—he’d be a very nice replacement for LG Marc Cintron. I have several ways to go here, and almost cannot miss with my early pick (of course, I could bust—which would be horrible). The best of the lot of DTs is available for me, as two QBs went in the top 3 picks. I also could take G Robson here. There are backup plans at each of the two positions, so I’m likely to get a quality DT and a quality G out of the first round, if that’s what I prefer to do. I’m also intrigued by CB Buddy Coleman, who looks like he might be an excellent cover man and returner. I figure that CB Coleman is the singular player here—there are simply no other CBs worth taking high, and I know I’ll get either a very good G or a very good DT later in this draft. This is one of the toughest picks I’ve made in this entire career—I am very torn. After some pondering, I decide to go for the guard, and to cross my fingers and hope that one of the several DTs are still there at my pick at #19. I think the difference between the #1G and the #2 or #3 guys is bigger than the same at DT. My immediate need at OG is meaningful here as well. T.J. Robson looks like he’ll fit in very well for a long time. Of course, picks 5, 6, and 7 are all DTs, and my chances of getting the guy I want at #19 just nosedived. However, as the picks pass, I get excited. When my second selection comes around, I still have my choice between CB Buddy Coleman and a very good DT. I decide that I need to go for the CB here, and I’m very glad to take him—a guy I considered at #4. In round 2, I pass on a very interesting QB, but he goes to Arizona. The Cards’ new man is Monty Burns. . . I have to assume he punches in at about 6’ 2” and 144 lbs. It will be great if he turns into a memorable player as well.
I’m happy with the looks of my picks, but I feel oddly about the strategy elements. Afraid that the G position would dry up, I took the top G with pick #4, only to watch the second best G fall all the way to the middle of round 2 (where I decided to take him, too). Had I known, I would have taken the best DT with pick #4, and gotten the CB and G in the next two picks, and I’d be ecstatic. Regardless, Robson looks very good, and he and Peel may play together for a long time. I wanted to get a DT in this draft, but my early decisions caused me to miss out on the talent, and then they just slipped away one by one. I end up plugging the hole, and still needing a good guy to use soon. Not getting a rookie there pretty much forces my hand to re-sign DT Dwight Larson, which isn’t a bad idea anyway. I pick up C Calvin Elrod as my singular URFA this year—he’s a pretty solid-looking center, and I needed that position anyway. He ought to be pretty solid for us, for a while. I need to make a few cuts to clear out some cap room, so I can bring in some rookies just to fill up the roster for this year. I get a trade offer that I don’t think is very good, but I take it anyway. NE gives me a 3rd round pick for my RT Jumbo Owen, who is in his comtract year. Yes, I realize he is a reigning all-pro, but he’s about to be eclipsed (hopefully) by our emerging young tackle Carl Osborne, and I need the cap room. I reluctantly take the deal, though I feel Owen is worth a higher pick. I overpay DT Dwight Larson $15m a year to stay around, but I cannot get him signed any more cheaply. I grab a few more rookies, and we head toward camp. Lots of drama here about the fortunes of our early selections, and we anxiously head into training…
If our picks from this draft work out as expected, then this will have been a very productive draft for our team. If we get a breakout (and I feel pretty good about LB McCurdy) then it could be icing on the cake. The one thing I cannot afford is a bust from the#4 selection, G Robson—he is a bit suspicious in that he’s so ready to play, but I’m hopeful it’s not too good to be true. In camp, I have a real dilemma, on using the 3-4 or 4-3 defensive front. Since I didn’t sign a quality rookie DT, I only have two legitimate guys there on the roster. At LB, I have my three quality guys, and then a clear dropoff—though Peterson may blossom this year. If I had high confidence that rookie McCurdy was going to develop, I’d have no hesitation switching to the 3-4 with this team. As it is, I do hesitate, but decide to do it anyway. I’ll probably go with a heavy nickel package anyway, so we may end up a 3-3-5 fairly often regardless. I make my usual camp adjustments, this time focusing on the 3-4 formation. Here is the scout’s post-camp analysis:
Checking out our top rookies, it’s all good news. G Robson continues to look stellar, and both CB Coleman and the second G Peel look like they’ll deliver. LB Claude McCurdy did develop some new potential, though not quite enough to become a star player, but he will be a contributor. WR Trent Burgess will be a contributor, for sure—and as a local product will help doubly. RB Dale Torres did not really break out, but will still be a capable reserve, and now shows a little upside. It looks like I got a real bargain with C Calvin Elrod, who honestly looks like a starting quality center, locked up long term. Even without a breakout player of major caliber, this is looking like a great draft for us. I check out the DT class, and I see that the DT I almost took with my early pick (Kennedy Mahoney, now with KC) retained his incredible ratings—potentials of 98/97/85. Alas. Looking over my roster, I also seem to have some late development from CB Mercury Lynn, who failed to break out as a rookie (like I hoped he would) but may have developed a little since then. He won’t be good enough to pay to keep, but it’s interesting that now he is showing a little more upside than ever before. My offensive line of the future has taken shape over the last three drafts—where we have invested our first round picks there. Envisioning LT Carl Osborne, LG T.J. Robson, and C Drew Bloomer as my left side just seems too good to be true—I’ll try to make sure they grow old together. This year’s bonus pickup of G Richie Peel and C Calvin Elrod make the future even brighter there. It will be expensive, but I think that our offense could benefit from a talented and (in time) extremely cohesive line. I’m offered a 4th round pick for my TE Dedric West, but I decide to hold on to him—he may be a guy I try to snag after camp next year. This year, we have very little to do after camp—no busts to cut, and we couldn’t afford a host or URFAs. We have just enough cap room to bring on one replacement rookie if we hve iunjuries, but past that—we’re standing still. We release one rookie WR, and go into the season with 53:
This season, we hope that the natural advancement of our young QB gives us a boost in our passing game. Top WR Perry Thagcher has seen his ratings erode over time, and this is a contract year for him—I’m open to having him work for a new deal with us. The defense ought to adjust well to a new formation, and we’ll be fine with our secondary, too. The team is in good shape—next year, we’ll feel some financial pulls, but now we’re holding tough. This team should make the playoffs. |
|
|
|
|
01-28-2001, 10:03 AM
|
#19 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2041 season
Setting the depth charts, I really feel like this team looks good. This offensive line, for present and future, looks absolutely tremendous. We’re fortunate to have two key players (at RB and QB) currently under rookie contracts (neither from the first round) so keeping this whole thing together will be a challenge, but right now, we have an enormously talented team. The roster rating agrees—our 100 is followed by a 58 from Philadelphia, the defending champions. With this many new faces, it’s no surprise that we have cohesion issues, as our ratings stand at 66-82-76-89. That secondary is coming together well, despite the fact that I am starting my new rookie CB. We have three-game home stands in week 2-4, and in weeks 14-16. A little odd, but should be okay—the middle will be stacked with road games. We get through pre-season, and again have a raft of injuries—though none should be crippling. The worst is a 2-3 month injury to my kicker (!?), and I need to go and pick up a free agent kicker with my small pile of cap cash. S Clyde Dillon will miss a couple of months, but safety is a deep position for us, fortunately. With my projected starting flanker McConnell out for a few weeks, I will again fiddle with the RB-as-receiver model, and I’ll use Aaron May as my third wideout. He’s proven dangerous on the field before, and this should get him some extra touches. We go into Minnesota to get things started. We romp to a 31-6 victory, with a good running game going early and often, netting 202 yards. QB Markowitz plays well, but then gets dinged and my rookie Uhlenhake comes in, and he does very well also (11 of 12). Markowitz is listed as probable with a strained knee, but I decide to let him play. We get a 27-21 win at home over KC, behind two second half TD passes from Markowitz to RB Aaron May. May had 5-45 rushing, and 4-54 receiving, plus the two scores on the day—he’s a productive weapon for us. Our injury list has again sprouted to a full 12 names. We’ve lose LB Peterson for the year, and possibly for his career, to a serious ankle injury. Our entire LB corps, save one guy, are on the injured list. Somehow, the injury bug just knows what positions can’t handle the loss, and it seems to bite us hard. Boise City comes in, and they hand us a 31-21 loss. They get an interception for a TD to break a fourth quarter tie, and wrap it up. QB Markowitz continues to battle a knee, but I keep playing him. We host and beat winless Seattle, 21-12. It’s a largely defensive game, and we get a KR TD from rookie CB Coleman early to get ahead and gain the upper hand. We get to our bye week, and take a week off to try to repair. Most of our short-term injuries are under control—though we are hit at DT as Dwight Larson is injured. Of course—that’s our other shallowest position. In SD, we win an early battle for division dominance. Markowitz throws 3 TD to lead a 34-21 win, and we get to 4-1 on the year. CB Buddy Coleman kicks in with his second kick return TD in two games. Now we take on 5-0 Oakland. Our visit does not go well—we get pounded 20-3. They shut down our running game, and the dominos proceeded to fall. I reactivate WR McConnell, and put him into the third slot, bumping RB May to the fourth. We lose 13-10 in Seattle, a disgrace. Our passing game never gets on track, and we get outgained by the lousy Seahawks. We stay on the road, and win 33-13 in Green Bay. Back to basics—we run Fouse for 164 yards against them, and prove that we can still do what we do best. Our fourth straight road game is a blowout win in Jacksonville, 51-17. S Brenden Honeycutt gets two interception TDs in the second quarter, CB Bailey gets one later, and we rout the Jags easily. We come home to take on Oakland—who has a one game lead on us for the division. Their 7-2 is the best record in football, also. When Markowitz hits RB Benjamin Fouse for a one-yard TD in overtime, we hand the Raiders their third loss, and we are right into the thick of the division race. I decide to move rookie RB Dale Torres up a slot into the second RB position—May seems to be getting tired, and is not running too well this year. Now we host San Diego, at 6-4 still a player. We get a convincing 35-13 win, and look sharp. RB Dale Torres breaks off a 56 yard TD run, and cements his current role as change-of-pace back. We hit the road, but still roll on—we thrash KC 33-14. RB Benjamin Fouse is the real deal, with 156 yards and 2 TDs. Next we come home to take on Denver. The Broncos are 7-5, and still alive. A Denver win here would make the division race much tighter. We’re looking to put the Broncos away. Our 45-16 win looks to separate us pretty effectively, as almost everything goes right. Fouse has 154 and 2 TDs, Markowitz gets 3 TD passes, and even rookie CB Coleman gets another KR TD. Next, out 10-3 Squirrels will host the 9-4 Bears. A 37-9 win looks very sharp, and our team is absolutely rolling along. At 11-3, we look good for the playoffs, but still only lead Oakland by one game. The West division winner looks highly likely to be the AFC’s top seed, to they are our chief concern right now. We take on Pittsburgh, and lose QB Todd Markowitz to an injury, but we win it in overtime with a bizarre defensive TD by LB Marvin Ellison. Markowitz, though, will be fine for our finale—in Denver. When we last beat Denver, it dropped them from the ranks of serious division contenders. They have been in free fall ever since, and now are 7-8. We toss a little more dirt on top, as we beat then 13-10 to wrap up the season. At 13-3, we are the solid #1 seed in the AFC, and have the best record in football by a sizable margin. Our team is young, but we’ll now head into new territory—a playoff favorite.
Stat leaders: QB Todd Markowitz: 3,020 yds, 58.5%, 6.94 ypa, 24/22, 77.1 RB Benjamin Fouse: 285-1,473 yds*, 13 TD (5.1 ypc), 47 rec-585 yds, 7 TD FB Dean McKay: 80-257 yds, 4 TD (3.2 ypc), 34 rec-335 yds WR Perry Thagcher: 64-761 yds, 5 TD (62.1%, 7 drops) OL unit: ~34% KRBs, 31 sacks allowed LB Kelly Kennedy: 85 tackles DE Alvin Fincher: 14.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 2 hurries DT Dwight Larson: 8.5 sacks, 3 blocks, 5 hurries S Brenden Honeycutt: 64 tackles, 11 int, 3 TD, 10 PD, 67.8 PDQ CB Leslie Bailey: 41 tackles, 10 int, 1 TD, 7 PD, 52.2 PDQ Overall stats (Off/def/avg): Rushing: 4.4 / 3.9 / 3.8 Passing: 6.8 / 5.9 / 6.4 Rushing offense: 1st Rushing defense: 26th Passing offense: 13th Passing defense: 5th We finally got back to having all four ypp stats on the right side of average. One of our team’s incredible turnarounds has been in creating turnovers, which (for a variety of reasons) tends to be a hallmark of high quality teams. Honeycutt and Bailey were both superb this season, and earned every penny of their freshly minted contracts—I’ve rarely seen better seasons from any DBs in coverage. RB Fouse obviously exploded behind our great offensive line, and this team looks like it is ready. |
|
|
|
|
01-28-2001, 11:32 AM
|
#20 |
|
lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
|
2041 postseason
An aside—I have noticed that my rookie guard T.J. Robson has seen some significant boost in his current ratings through the course of this season. He now looks even better (just in current ratings, setting aside his future potential) than my stalwart LG Marc Cintron. Seattle got onto a roll in the late season, and got into the playoffs. They extended their roll by beating Oakland, and they advance to become our first playoff opponent. They are all about the running game, and they will aggressively come after our defense. They have a CB Derrick Cavazos whose 12 interceptions will give our guys a run for their money in the open battle for DPOY. We expect a ground game battle, and we’ll depend on our lines to win in the trenches. We fumble the opening kickoff, and Seattle takes over at our 4. We hold them to a FG, and get a minor victory out of it. After Markoitz is intercepted on third and long, the Seahawks again take over in our territory, and again get a FG. We show some signs of life, but it’s back and forth through the first quarter. AT the very beginning of the second, we start off a drive with a handoff to Fouse (of course), and C Bloomer opens up a huge hole up the middle, and Fouse does the rest—an 80 yard TD run. Our next drive is a FG, as Fouse powers us again. Seattle moved the ball deep into our territory, and with 1:00 left in the first half, regained the lead with a 2 yard run. In the third quarter, Seattle moves first, but misses a FG. On their next possession, they hut a 50 yard pass play to get to our 27. However, they fumble it two plays later, and LB McCurdy jumps on it for us. We are almost exclusively running the ball, but Markowitz throws another interception, and sets up the ‘Hawks on our 30. Fortunately, we stiffen up again, and force a long FG attempt, which they miss. We have to punt from about midfield with 7 minutes left, and we need a shot to get into scoring position. The Seahawks instead manage to get first downs, and get into position for another FG attempt. . . but they miss again. We take over at our 39 with 1:52 left, and trailing by 3 points. Three incomplete passes bring up fourth and 10, and we have to go for it. Burgess drops the fourth down pass, and the Seahawks take over on downs. They run a few plays, and we end up with one last chance—9 seconds left, from our 44. I never put much time into the “hail mary” play, so I have little hope here. We actually complete the pass, but time runs out before we can call time out. It’s over, Seattle got us 13-10. Cincinnati mercilessly mulches the Seahawks to get the AFC berth in the Superbowl. The beat Atlanta 21-10, to take their 7th league title—pretty comfortably ahead of everyone, including us. The awards board has a lot of white lettering for our Squirrels. RB Benjamin Fouse, with his two thousand total yards, gets the “triple” awards of first team, OPOY, and league MVP. My safety Brenden Honeycutt gets a “double” with first team and DPOY. Fouse’s backfield mate FB Dean McKay earns first team honors again, and Honeycutt’s secondary partner CB Leslie Bailey also gets a first team nod. Rookie guard T.J. Robson earns second team honors for his initial season—he’ll be special. The regular season was practically everything we could have asked for, and QB Markowitz continues to develop. The offensive line is our real MVP, to take nothing away from RB Benjamin Fouse—they are making everything work very well. RB Fouse will be up for a new contract thus year (and QB Markowitz next year) so our financial picture will need a little fine-tuning. |
|
|
|
 |
| Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | |
| Thread Tools | |
|
|
