One and Done Challenge

digamma · 12-24-2007, 04:15 PM

We are the Mercury Press.

Draft strategy...

I used kind of a mixed strategy, wanting to build as many 2nd and 3rd round picks as possible. Ended up with 33 picks total in the draft, lumped largely in the 3rd and 4th rounds.

Two first rounders--took a QB-WR duo. Harris Powell at #10 and QB Kim McGregor at #21.

I can't figure out how to print my roster on Vista...so you'll have to deal with bits and pieces.

Some of the guys I'm most intrigued by after camp:
6th round QB prospect Carl Ellison comes in at 20/53 compared to McGregor's 9/49.

RB O.J. Winters is 41/49 post camp after being 38/38 before.

Powell is nice at 41/79.

CB Tafoya booms slightly to 29/53.

The LB corps will be anchored by ILB Haslet and OLB Aguayo.

DE Carlton Givens looks like he could be solid.

DT Hicks also looks promising.

digamma · 12-24-2007, 04:19 PM

Year 1

We end up shuffling QBs. Ellison sets up nicely for a West Coast type system. McGregor is more of a drop back passer, good on the deep ball, horrible short and with screens. My third QB Bryant Newton could be a bit of a problem, because he is disgruntled midway through the season. I have to end up giving him a few starts too. We adjust the game plan accordingly with each QB.

RB Winters shows a lot of promise going for over 1200 yards.

Powell catches 51 balls.

DE Whalen has a solid season with half a dozen sacks.

ILB Haslett is also very solid leading the team in tackles.

Nevertheless, we do the 0-16 dance. We're close a few times, but generally get blown out a lot.

Score at the end of year 1: 0.

digamma · 12-24-2007, 05:48 PM

Year 2

We show a little improvement at various spots. I decide I want to stick with McGregor as my starting QB, because he has a little more "green room" available. He does OK, but only throws 8 TD's against 14 picks. He gets hurt after week 11 and Ellison starts the last four.

Winters has another very solid season rushing for over 1300 yards.

Powell is on the verge of breaking out with 60 catches. He's up to 58/68.

Carlton Givens has 7.5 sacks.

We go 2-14 and have a couple of other close games.

Score for year 2:
Winning percentage is still less than .100, so we're left with only 2 points for the two wins.

Cumulative Score: 2

digamma · 12-26-2007, 10:41 AM

Year 3

There is improvement.

My commitment to McGregor lasted a year. I go back to Ellison, and implement a west coastish offense. Ellison shows signs of grasping the system, with a high completion percentage and 13 TDs against 9 picks.

Winters is again over 1000 yards. He also catches 82 balls for 598.

Whalen breaks out with 12 sacks on the defensive side of the ball.

We're much more competitive overall, winning five games.

5-11.

Score after year 3:
.109 all time winning percentage, good for 10 points.
7 total wins good for 7 points

17

digamma · 12-26-2007, 12:13 PM

We take a step back in year four, only winning two games. Part due to injuries to various skill players, our offense really suffered.

Score after year four:
.112 all time winning percentage
9 wins

20 points.

digamma · 12-28-2007, 12:11 AM

Year 5 is prett brutal as well. Our offense is just miserable, despite OJ Winters rushing for over 1300 yards again. We've never been able to recover from missing on McGregor and Ellison just hasn't developed.

We also have our first year of really having to adjust for injuries. The secondary is decimated. We move receivers back and forth to fill in.

Bottom line is a 1-15 season.

We're up to 10 wins all time, but we drop a point in winning percentage so, net-net we're still at 20 points.

digamma · 12-29-2007, 11:53 AM

Rinse and repeat in year 6.

We again go 1-15.

Winters goes over 1000 again.

The quarterbacks still suck

We battle secondary injuries again.

The big thing this year was that we found new ways to lose, twice blowing 21-0 second half leads.

Awesome.

Add one more win to the total for 21 points.

digamma · 12-29-2007, 03:58 PM

Year 7 is a bit of a break through.

We win 6 games to get to 6-7 and have a game against division rival New Jersey, who is 7-6 and in the last wild card spot. We put up a good fight but lose 19-17, and then get blown out in our last two to finish 6-10. Nevertheless it is a season record for victories.

Winters goes over 1450 yards for the season.

Huge season for our cumulative score, as we raise our winning percentage to .132 and now have 17 total wins. 30 points.

digamma · 01-01-2008, 03:26 PM

Year 8

We hope to build on the year 7 "success," but we just don't get the dice rolls this year. We start 0-8, losing six of those by a TD or less. We end up winning two in the second half of the season to finish 2-14.

The secondary was crushed again this year, losing two guys for the season and having up to four others injured at one time.

Winters is again over 1000 yards. Flanker Harris Powell has a career high in both catches and yardage.

We still have 52 guys under contract--had to drop someone after our kicker got hurt.

Two more wins and the winning percentage holds at .130. We have 32 points.

digamma · 01-01-2008, 05:12 PM

year 9

We get a shock at the beginning of the season when OJ Winters retires. one of his back-ups also calls it quits, so we're down to 50 roster players.

The secondary is hammered more than ever this season. At one point, 7 of the 8 who started the season on the roster are injured in some way. We have to move a WR and a SLB to DB in order to field a legal roster.

Somehow, it is one of our better seasons. We finish 5-11, which includes a win over eventualy Bowl Winner Philadelphia. Carl Ellison has his best season in Winters's absence, throwing 23 TD passes and finishing with a QB rating above 80. (Ewing effect?)

I suspect this off season may be a challenge and we may have only a season or two left in us.

Another big scoring season as we up the cumulative total to 24 wins and have a .150 overall winning percentage. 39 points.

digamma · 01-01-2008, 06:21 PM

Year 10

We're hit with five more retirements to start 2017. One is a running back, so we have to shift things around to be eligible in the backfield. We battle injuries, but are somehow able to field a legal team all season. With only 45 under contract, we managed to avoid more than three players being out at the same time.

Our team is somewhat competitive early. We get to 4-6 before dropping our last six to finish 4-12.

28 wins and a .159 winning percentage gets us to 43 points.

digamma · 01-01-2008, 06:22 PM

I think this will likely be the end. We can't take more than one retirement.

digamma · 01-01-2008, 06:32 PM

And so it ends...six players retire and we're done after 2017.

Final numbers:

28-148, .159

digamma · 01-01-2008, 06:39 PM

Retrospective--we were hampered by not having a QB really ever develop. Part of that may be my fault as I wanted to see if McGregor was a boom early in his career. If I had committed full force to Ellison from day 1, I wonder if he would have been able to lead us to a few more victories.

OJ Winters was everything I could hope for in a running back.

Harris Powell was a pretty good receiver, but he got no real help from the other WR.

The offensive line was decent, with Preston Kohl, Christian Furrey and Pete Coleman.

The defensive line was also decent. Whalen and Givens had some big sack years and Floyd Hicks was a solid defensive tackle.

We struggled at linebacker, particularly in the middle.

The secondary turned out to be injury prone. We had to juggle more there than anywhere else.

Fun challenge. May try it again.

12-24-2007, 05:48 PM	#3
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Year 2 We show a little improvement at various spots. I decide I want to stick with McGregor as my starting QB, because he has a little more "green room" available. He does OK, but only throws 8 TD's against 14 picks. He gets hurt after week 11 and Ellison starts the last four. Winters has another very solid season rushing for over 1300 yards. Powell is on the verge of breaking out with 60 catches. He's up to 58/68. Carlton Givens has 7.5 sacks. We go 2-14 and have a couple of other close games. Score for year 2: Winning percentage is still less than .100, so we're left with only 2 points for the two wins. Cumulative Score: 2 Last edited by digamma : 12-26-2007 at 10:42 AM.

12-24-2007, 04:19 PM	#2
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Year 1 We end up shuffling QBs. Ellison sets up nicely for a West Coast type system. McGregor is more of a drop back passer, good on the deep ball, horrible short and with screens. My third QB Bryant Newton could be a bit of a problem, because he is disgruntled midway through the season. I have to end up giving him a few starts too. We adjust the game plan accordingly with each QB. RB Winters shows a lot of promise going for over 1200 yards. Powell catches 51 balls. DE Whalen has a solid season with half a dozen sacks. ILB Haslett is also very solid leading the team in tackles. Nevertheless, we do the 0-16 dance. We're close a few times, but generally get blown out a lot. Score at the end of year 1: 0.

12-26-2007, 10:41 AM	#4
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Year 3 There is improvement. My commitment to McGregor lasted a year. I go back to Ellison, and implement a west coastish offense. Ellison shows signs of grasping the system, with a high completion percentage and 13 TDs against 9 picks. Winters is again over 1000 yards. He also catches 82 balls for 598. Whalen breaks out with 12 sacks on the defensive side of the ball. We're much more competitive overall, winning five games. 5-11. Score after year 3: .109 all time winning percentage, good for 10 points. 7 total wins good for 7 points 17

12-26-2007, 12:13 PM	#5
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	We take a step back in year four, only winning two games. Part due to injuries to various skill players, our offense really suffered. Score after year four: .112 all time winning percentage 9 wins 20 points.

12-28-2007, 12:11 AM	#6
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Year 5 is prett brutal as well. Our offense is just miserable, despite OJ Winters rushing for over 1300 yards again. We've never been able to recover from missing on McGregor and Ellison just hasn't developed. We also have our first year of really having to adjust for injuries. The secondary is decimated. We move receivers back and forth to fill in. Bottom line is a 1-15 season. We're up to 10 wins all time, but we drop a point in winning percentage so, net-net we're still at 20 points.

12-29-2007, 11:53 AM	#7
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Rinse and repeat in year 6. We again go 1-15. Winters goes over 1000 again. The quarterbacks still suck We battle secondary injuries again. The big thing this year was that we found new ways to lose, twice blowing 21-0 second half leads. Awesome. Add one more win to the total for 21 points.

12-29-2007, 03:58 PM	#8
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Year 7 is a bit of a break through. We win 6 games to get to 6-7 and have a game against division rival New Jersey, who is 7-6 and in the last wild card spot. We put up a good fight but lose 19-17, and then get blown out in our last two to finish 6-10. Nevertheless it is a season record for victories. Winters goes over 1450 yards for the season. Huge season for our cumulative score, as we raise our winning percentage to .132 and now have 17 total wins. 30 points.

01-01-2008, 03:26 PM	#9
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Year 8 We hope to build on the year 7 "success," but we just don't get the dice rolls this year. We start 0-8, losing six of those by a TD or less. We end up winning two in the second half of the season to finish 2-14. The secondary was crushed again this year, losing two guys for the season and having up to four others injured at one time. Winters is again over 1000 yards. Flanker Harris Powell has a career high in both catches and yardage. We still have 52 guys under contract--had to drop someone after our kicker got hurt. Two more wins and the winning percentage holds at .130. We have 32 points.

01-01-2008, 05:12 PM	#10
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	year 9 We get a shock at the beginning of the season when OJ Winters retires. one of his back-ups also calls it quits, so we're down to 50 roster players. The secondary is hammered more than ever this season. At one point, 7 of the 8 who started the season on the roster are injured in some way. We have to move a WR and a SLB to DB in order to field a legal roster. Somehow, it is one of our better seasons. We finish 5-11, which includes a win over eventualy Bowl Winner Philadelphia. Carl Ellison has his best season in Winters's absence, throwing 23 TD passes and finishing with a QB rating above 80. (Ewing effect?) I suspect this off season may be a challenge and we may have only a season or two left in us. Another big scoring season as we up the cumulative total to 24 wins and have a .150 overall winning percentage. 39 points.

01-01-2008, 06:21 PM	#11
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Year 10 We're hit with five more retirements to start 2017. One is a running back, so we have to shift things around to be eligible in the backfield. We battle injuries, but are somehow able to field a legal team all season. With only 45 under contract, we managed to avoid more than three players being out at the same time. Our team is somewhat competitive early. We get to 4-6 before dropping our last six to finish 4-12. 28 wins and a .159 winning percentage gets us to 43 points.

01-01-2008, 06:22 PM	#12
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	I think this will likely be the end. We can't take more than one retirement.

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01-01-2008, 06:32 PM	#13
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	And so it ends...six players retire and we're done after 2017. Final numbers: 28-148, .159

01-01-2008, 06:39 PM	#14
digamma Torchbearer Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: On Lake Harriet	Retrospective--we were hampered by not having a QB really ever develop. Part of that may be my fault as I wanted to see if McGregor was a boom early in his career. If I had committed full force to Ellison from day 1, I wonder if he would have been able to lead us to a few more victories. OJ Winters was everything I could hope for in a running back. Harris Powell was a pretty good receiver, but he got no real help from the other WR. The offensive line was decent, with Preston Kohl, Christian Furrey and Pete Coleman. The defensive line was also decent. Whalen and Givens had some big sack years and Floyd Hicks was a solid defensive tackle. We struggled at linebacker, particularly in the middle. The secondary turned out to be injury prone. We had to juggle more there than anywhere else. Fun challenge. May try it again.