Madden08(PC) - The Kagoshima Warriors

Groundhog · 10-08-2007, 08:37 PM

September 13, 2006 - The NFL is in a crisis. Due to "mismanagement of funds" on a grand scale, the NFL is on the brink of bankruptcy. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell organises an emergency meeting for October the 1st with all team owners and executives, and Executive Director of the NFLPA Gene Upshaw invites all NFL players under contract to also attend. As there is no cash to honour the player's contracts, all players are eager to be in on the talks.

October 1, 2006, 10:15am - In downtown New York, the several thousand attendees meet to discuss the options to move forward and find financing to save the league. Then, just prior to recess, disaster strikes. A gas leak, believed to have originated in the basement, causes an enormous explosion. There are no survivors.

October 1, 2006, 10:16am - While America first begins to learn of the disaster, Mark Cuban releases a lengthy statement to the press detailing both his personal devestation at hearing of the loss of lives caused by the tragic accident, as well as the loss of America's greatest sporting league.

October 1, 2006, 10:44am - Via a live feed (which would later be argued by conspiracy theorists to have been pre-recorded, as a clock on a wall behind Cuban clearly shows 9:22am at one point) Cuban tells America that he can not bare to envision America without a professional football league and, for the sake of the late Goodell, Upshaw, and the many NFL players, he intends to bring American Football back. He briefly outlines the 32 new franchises in his league, the iNFL (International Football League), complete with photos of uniforms and new logos. Although no original franchises remain, many franchises are awarded to cities that held a team prior to the disaster, with several new American and international cities also receiving teams. Tokyo (Dragons), London (Blades), Mexico City (Warriors), and Hamburg (Zeppelins) are the founding international teams, while Hawaii (Dolphins) and Alaska (Anchors) also get their first pro franchises.

October-Jan 2006/07 - The iNFL Completes its first season, with the Nebraska Miners taking out the Superbowl in a one-sided victory over the surprising Mexico City Warriors. Despite the success of Mexico City however, crowd numbers were very poor for the team all year long, and the same was true for the London and Hamburg franchises. Only Tokyo was drawing huge crowd figures for each game and Tokyo Dragons team owner Takamoto Yorimichi approached iNFL commish Mark Cuban with an idea; an all-Japanese AFC North, to be re-titled the JFC North. Cuban agrees, and the Mexico City franchise becomes the Kagoshima Warriors, the London franchise becomes the Osaka Suns, and the Hamburg franchise becomes the Takamatsu Tide.

March 14, 2007 - Videotape footage, taken from a security camera just meters from the explosion that ended the NFL, appears to show a Cuban employee leaving the area of the accident minutes before the fatal explosion. The grainy footage is considered inconclusive, and further talk of the matter is dismissed as the mere rantings of conspiracy nuts.

bbgunn · 10-10-2007, 12:03 AM

LOL... Takamatsu with a football team is like Green Bay with a football team. Anyway, looking forward to this.

Young Drachma · 10-10-2007, 12:34 AM

What a story idea....interesting!

Groundhog · 10-10-2007, 12:46 AM

I'm hoping to continue this tonight. Have had no internet access at home the past few days but have all the text and pics ready to upload.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 07:39 AM

The 2007 iNFL Season

After a very successful 2006 season, the iNFL prepares for year number 2. Mark Cuban releases a list of the conference alignments following the addition of the JFC North:

Code:

---JFC North---			---AFC South---
Kagoshima Warriors		Hawaii Dolphins
Osaka Suns			New Mexico Bulls
Takamatsu Tide			Indiana Fighters
Tokyo Dragons			Memphis Barons

---AFC East---			---AFC West---
Virginia Generals		Kansas City Rhinos
Boston Pirates			Los Angeles Demons
Orlando Indians			Nebraska Miners
New Jersey Locomotion		Boulder Bruins



---NFC North---			---NFC South---
Little Rock Monsters		New Orleans Tigers
Milwaukee Wasps			Carolina Wildcats
Michigan Cavaliers		Atlanta Devils
Cleveland Kings			Alaska Anchors

---NFC East---			---NFC West---
Texas Bandits			Seattle Giants
Philadelphia Pirhana		Utah Marshalls
Toronto Stags			Portland Eagles
New York Lions			San Fransisco Rockets

The second season proves more of a success than the first, with attendance up for each team by an average of 18.2%. America is again tuning in to Football.

The quality of on-field play also improves dramatically thanks to an influx of talent through the NFL draft. West-coast styled offense seems to rule the day as teams such as Hawaii and Little Rock, with the two best QBs in the game, run the show.

Both teams are eliminated one round too short however, and we see a Superbowl made up of very balanced teams in the Kansas City Rhinos and the Portland Eagles. Portland Eagles walk away with the championship, 20-12.

Meanwhile, over in Japan, to everybody's surprise, the JFC North teams have no problems getting FAs or rookies to sign, and are drawing impressive attendance figures thanks to the high quality of play. Tokyo Dragons are the clear top Japanese franchise out of the gates, but the Kagoshima Warriors, co-directed by the mysterious, masked GM/Coach known only as "Groundhog" as he learns the ropes, lead a bruising defensive-styled squad in the Wildcard round with just an 8-8 record. They make it no further, falling to the Nebraska Miners 27-16.

Things aren't quite so rosy up in Alaska. The Anchors struggle to draw much talent up to the North, but an impressive draft has the fans hopeful. Hawaii is having no such issues. Whether that's due to the draw of having the game's best QB, or just the chance to live in Hawaii, is yet to be seen.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 07:52 AM

The 2008 iNFL Offseason

I take over full responsibilities of the Kagoshima Warriors franchise to begin the iNFL 2008 offseason.

Pre-Draft Free Agency

The Warriors are arguably the best defensive unit in the nation. Offensively, well, it's an entirely different story. We had a QB who threw more picks than TDs, no big talents at WR, and a weak OLine. About the only positive is our HB Deion Lewis, who had a rough 2007 season but looks like a real impact player if we can beef up the rest of our offensive unit.

To make this happen we snap up QB Marco Sanders, who started at Michigan last season. Sanders is an 79 rated QB with an accurate arm. He isn't going to out run anybody, but he's a big improvement. Next up we look at receivers, and snap up the talented John Osborne, who had a great year in New Orleans. He's quick, has decent hands, and with an 84 overall rating is our highest rated WR by 6 points. There isn't much talent available at the OLine, and we grab a few guys who figure as depth, and little else. We need to build this spot in the draft.

2008 iNFL Draft

A look at the talent available to us in this draft brings us to a realization; the only player we really want is a QB who is rated top-10. The problem? We are picking at #21. There are no OLine guys or QBs likely to be available at that spot to interest us, so we look to move up. While on the phone to a few teams we get a call - it's Boulder, and they want to move their #4 pick to us for our #21 and our 2nd rounder. We jump at the chance and nab our guy, QB Leonard Cook out of UCLA. Cook is built like a linebacker at 6'2 249lbs, but has a great arm and decent instincts. Did we grab him too high though? He was projected top-10 and there was unquestionably some real talent available, but it just wasn't at spots that were a priority for us. In the 3rd round we grab a massive RG, Lennox Carson out of Wake Forest. The rest of the draft sees us grab a punter and some defensive depth.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 08:03 AM

The 2008 iNFL Season

We begin the year running an Arizona Cardinals-esque double-headed QB, with FA signing Marco Sanders playing the first halves, while bringing the rookie Cook in for the 2nd half of most games. After 5 games it becomes clear that Cook, despite the occasional Rex Grossman moments, is the best option we have, and he becomes the full time starter.

Best of all? We are winning. But most of the credit goes to our running game. HB Deion Lewis is playing lights-out behind our tweaked OLine, and 3rd round pick Carson in particular is exceeding expectations, and soon becomes our most reliable blocker. With Carson and the rest of the guys on the line's help, Lewis has an amazing year, regularily rushing for over 100 yards, and even breaking the 200 yard mark, and leading our team to the Wildcards yet again with a conference leading 11-5 record, where we defeated conference rivals Tokyo in OT to make it through to the next round, where Nebraska once again spoils our fun, sending us home 25-20.

That's not to say that Lewis did it all by himself, however. Our defense was still amongst the best in the league. We ran a blitz-heavy D that sometimes gave up too many big gains through the air, but countered that by usually decimating our opponents running game. We didn't force a lot of turnovers, but just played a solid brand of defense.

Oh, and of course there was the rookie QB, Cook. Lewis might have outshone him most nights, but Cook really turned it on towards the end of the regular season. Four times he nearly single-handedly brought us back from the brink with his passing, and finished the year 24tds to 12ints and an 86.4 QB rating. Nice numbers for a rookie! He really struggled in both rounds of the playoffs though, showing he has some ways to go.

As for the rest of the league, it was little surprise that Hawaii and Little Rock once again dominated, this time making it all the way to the Superbowl for the most eagerly awaited match-up of the year. Unfortunately iNFL MVP Little Rock QB Tom Collins makes sure it isn't close, as the Monsters beat the Hawaii Dolphins 35-24 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score suggests.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 08:11 AM

The 2009 iNFL Offseason

OK, so now we are up to date with where I'm at in this league.

Pre-Draft Free Agency

We look to further improve our offense and replace our kicker -- who missed far too many XPs and crucial 20-30 yard FGs last season, including one blown 4th quarter comeback thanks to a missed 22 yard FG -- in the pre-draft FA. It's a thin crop of FAs, but we grab a kicker, some depth at HB, and some depth on the OLine. Nothing flashy.

2009 iNFL Draft

In the draft we are just looking for the BPA, but at the #28 pick it readily becomes clear that there isn't much there that interests us. We decided to trade down, sending our #28 pick to the Carolina Wildcats for their #10 pick in the 2nd round, as well as a 4th rounder. With that pick we grab TE Shane Casey out of Nebraska. Casey is a receiving TE but a poor blocker, and we plan on using him in multiple-TE passing formations mainly, as our current guy is a decent blocker.

For our next 2nd round selection we look to address what was one of our major weakness last year - kick returns. All our returners wound up injured or just weren't effective, so we grab the quickest guy on the board, WR Wayne Slater out of Miami. The pint sized 5'8 Slater was a top quality returner in the NCAA ranks, but his WR skills are anything but certain, so a bit of a gamble this high perhaps.

In the 3rd round we look to our OLine and bring in LT Jai Wagner. Wagner is a brute, but needs to work on his technique. With the 4th rounder we acquired in the earlier trade we grab a solid blocking FB in Travis Randall out of Stanford, a guy who will likely start from day 1 judging by first impressions. With our own 4th rounder we grab a kicker, Bobby Walsh, to see if he can challenge our FA signing in the kicking department. The rest of our selections are pure depth choices, and after some consideration we don't sign them up.

The 2009 Draft First Round

Code:

#    Team	Name		Pos	School
-------------------------------------------------
1    Alaska	David Fox	QB	USC
2    Fighters	D'Wayne Palmer	HB	Nebraska
3    Tigers	Ed Hilton	RE	USC
4    Bandits	Darryl Stills	WR	Virginia
5    Bulls	B.B. Whitehead	RE	Florida St
6    Wildcats	Luke Carpenter	LT	McNeese St
7    Generals	Darren Emmanuel	CB	Utah
8    Pirates	Billy Jackson	FS	East Carolina
9    Dolphins	Tony Wright	FS	Pittsburgh
10   Cavaliers	Grant Pierce	TE	Kansas St
11   Pirhanas	B.B. Adams	LE	Stanford
12   Bruins	Darnay Jenkins	TE	Syracuse
13   Devils	Jimmy Daniels	DT	Colorado St
14   Anchors	Robert Jones	ROLB	Arizona
15   Giants	Rocky Hawk	MLB	California
16   Suns	Joe Dishman	MLB	Arizona St
17   Tide	Dewayne Wagner	LE	Minnesota
18   Rockets	Byron Williams	MLB	Texas A&M
19   Demons	Jeremy Bryant	LOLB	LSU
20   Eagles	J. Mitchell	ROLB	Arkansas
21   Dragons	Ty Wheeler	LOLB	Virginia
22   Wasps	Kevin Perry	MLB	Michigan
23   Kings	J.J. Simpson	C	UCLA
24   Locomotion	Meir Williams	HB	Navy
25   Rockets	Andrew Golston	CB	Georgia
26   Lions	Corey Ulrich	LT	Missouri
27   Indians	Stanley Rudd	CB	Ohio St
28   Cavaliers	David Adkins	RG	Southern
29   Miners	Dave Massey	DT	UNC
30   Marshalls	Kyle Bundy	FS	Tennessee
31   Barons	Anthony Quinn	CB	San Jose St
32   Monsters	Marvin Miller	SS	Auburn

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 08:28 AM

2009 Post Camp Offense Roster

QBs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  TA TP AW AG AC OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
12   QB  Leonard Cook	6'2  249   24   1    Bal  96 91 75 71 60  89 **Accurate
17   QB  Marco Sanders  6'3  207   30   8    Poc  90 93 71 52 51  80 **Accurate
 7   QB  Shelton Clay   6'4  218   24   2    Poc  92 89 65 48 39  74

Sanders is certainly a servicable QB and could probably start on a number of iNFL teams, but the amount of improvement Cook showed last season was incredible, and that's continued this offseason. At just 24 years of age he could one day wind up as one of the premiere QBs in this league. Clay was snapped up as an emergency backup, and has an OK arm but very questionable instincts.

HBs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  AW SP AC AG CA OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
28   HB  Deion Lewis	5'8  254   25   3    Pwr  88 85 95 86 71  89 **Trucking
34   HB  Andrew Knight	6'0  254   28   6    Pwr  68 84 88 72 74  77
25   HB  Mike Holcomb   6'0  212   31   9    Bal  70 80 81 75 72  72
41   HB  C.J. Thompson  6'1  222   28   6    Bal  47 87 88 78 61  61

Lewis had a Pro-Bowl year in 2008 and was arguably the best HB in the league, even if he finished 2nd in voting. He has outstanding elusiveness, rarely goes down after the first hit, and even caught a few passes towards the end of the season. Andrew Knight was a FA signing and will be our 2nd back. He's nothing flashy, but he should be good for a few carries a night. Holcomb was our #2 man last year and filled in admirally when Lewis missed a few games, but age is beginning to catch up with him now. C.J. Thompson was a FA signing and has good speed but little else. Shouldn't see much time.

FBs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  AW SP AC AG CA PBK RBK OVR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
39   FB  Travis Randall 6'1  247   23   R    Blk  56 73 76 89 58  59  63  76

Randall looked good in training camp, causing us to release last year's starter. Randall doesn't do anything particularily well outside of blocking, but that's all he'll need to do in Kagoshima.

WRs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  SP AC CT AG AW OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
81   WR  John Osborne   6'2  218   25   3    Bal  93 86 88 82 90  86 **Speedy
82   WR  Warren Myers	6'3  208   32  10    Pos  83 87 88 76 77  82
89   WR  Blake Wooden   6'4  217   24   2    Bal  86 91 88 83 62  79
86   WR  Wayne Slater   5'8  185   22   R    Bal  92 92 85 78 55  77
87   WR  Chuckie McCoy  6'3  188   25   3    Bal  82 75 77 81 80  73

Osborne continues to look great, but Myers and Wooden also impressed last season and figure to do so again this year. Biggest surprise has been rookie Wayne Slater, who's recieving skills look MUCH better than I expected.

TEs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  RB CT ST AW BT OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
84   TE  Shane Casey	6'2  255   22   R    Rec  52 83 77 55 68  81
85   TE  Shaun Hamm	6'2  259   28   6    Bal  72 70 69 74 64  78
80   TE  Doug Diller	6'6  262   24   2    Bal  57 75 65 76 61  77

2nd rounder Casey was as good with his hands as advertised, but he is also as bad with his blocking as we feared. We'll be using him mostly on twin-TE formations and passing downs, while Hamm will continue to get the starting nod thanks to his blocking skills.
OTs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  RB PB ST AW AG OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
64   LT  Jai Wagner	6'3  295   24   R    Bal  86 86 98 64 58  79
62   LT  Derek Smith    6'8  310   31   9    RBk  90 88 86 65 49  78 **Run Blocker
66   LT  Lennox Quinn	6'6  304   28   6    PBk  77 87 92 73 41  73
78   RT  J.J. Lindsay   6'4  343   26   4    PBk  86 97 85 89 40  83 **Pass Blocker
77   RT  Hank Sanders	6'7  343   31   9    Bal  81 75 86 65 34  63

Tackle is a weakspot for us. We have a lot of guys who I'd class as "adequete", but no standouts. Rookie Wagner has some potential, but Lindsay and Smith will continue to start.

OGs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  RB PB ST AW AG OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
69   LG  Kirk Buckley	6'7  304   24   2    PBk  84 88 83 76 43  76
63   LG  L. Vickers     6'6  310   27   5    RBk  84 83 86 66 46  74
60   RG  Lennox Carson  6'6  346   23   1    PBk  87 90 93 72 49  86 **Pass Blocker
76   RG  Tyrone Serra	6'4  322   29   7    RBk  89 84 91 74 50  79

Carson was great as a rookie, and Serra, who lines up at LG and takes a bit of a rating hit because of it, is serviceable. I've been trying for 2 seasons to get a solid LG, but no luck. Still, these guys got the job done last year.

Cs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  RB PB ST AW AG OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
68    C  Trevor Finley	6'4  285   32  10    PBk  86 90 85 82 47  85 **Pass Blocker
67    C  Eddie Ricker	6'7  316   23   R    PBk  75 90 76 75 52  72

Finley has been a consistent blocker for us, and we brought in rookie Ricker as his potential replacement a few years down the road. Right now it looks like, his solid pass blocking aside, he has a lot of work to do to reach that level.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 09:06 AM

2009 Post Camp Defence Roster

DEs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  ST TK AW AG AC OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
92   LE  Biff Ball	5'11 280   30   8    PRu  78 79 78 74 83  86
91   LE  Jevan Fong	6'4  266   27   5    Bal  78 78 67 67 78  81
95   RE  K. Sylvester	6'2  262   23   2    PRu  78 85 93 72 80  95
97   RE  Marquez Malone	6'3  271   24   2    Bal  74 74 70 68 80  78

Sylvester is one of the best at his position in the NFL, and both him and Ball have a real knack at getting to the QB and disrupting our opponents passing game. One of the biggest strenghts of this roster. Even our bench depth would start on a number of teams.

DTs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  ST TK AW AG AC OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
98   DT  Matt Abbott	6'4  308   28   6    Bal  93 97 88 62 78  99 **Bull Rush
90  DT   Jay Tubbs	6'3  295   29   7    Bal  92 93 77 57 70  92  **Bull Rush
96  DT   Elvis Ricker	6'3  272   26   4    Bal  83 82 64 57 65  75

As good as our DEs are, our DTs nearly put them to shame. Abbott is arguably the best DT in the business, and Tubbs isn't far behind him. These guys are the reason why teams just can't run the ball up the middle against us. Not unless they want to face a never-ending cycle of 2nd-and-11s.

OLBs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  TK ST AW AC SP OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
59 LOLB  Zeke Tate	6'3  231   30   8    RSt  84 79 79 82 75  82
50 LOLB  Shevin Baird	6'3  235   24   1    RSt  81 80 65 82 74  79
57 ROLB  Martin Scott	5'9  236   28   6    RSt  89 71 87 79 79  89
55 ROLB  Brent King     6'2  226   26   4    Bal  75 72 85 77 74  78

Martin Scott is a tremendous talent when it comes to shutting down the run, and Zeke Tate, though less heralded, certainly has his moments as well. Both players are lacking in pass coverage ability however. Baird looks like a starter down the road.

MLBs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  TK ST AW AC SP OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
52  MLB  Gerard Austin	6'1  231   32   10   Bal  94 74 93 79 69  89 **Punishing Hitter
54  MLB  Joey Mitchell  6'3  222   30    8   RSt  88 76 82 70 69  81

Austin may not be a household name like some of the guys on our DLine, but he is the heart and soul of our defense. We play him in coverage a lot, preferring to blitz with the OLBs, and he does a solid job, but is also more than capable of crushing the running game. We lost him for a number of games towards the end of last season, and it was a good thing that Mitchell, a very talented player in his own right, was able to step in and basically allow us to not miss a beat, even if we were forced to blitz more with the MLB spot due to his weaker coverage skills.

CBs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  AC SP CT TK AW OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
40   CB  P. Redmond	6'1  179   28   6    Cov  95 99 76 76 94  99 **Star
48   CB  C. Franklin	5'9  192   26   4    Bal  92 89 74 71 96  92 **Lock Down
23   CB  Josh Meyers	5'8  198   30   8    HHt  85 87 76 73 93  91 **Lock Down
47   CB  Chris Thomas	5'9  180   24   2    Bal  88 84 62 50 84  76
21   CB  Matthew Rogers 6'0  185   24   2    Bal  93 85 64 57 65  72
49   CB  Floyd Joyce    6'0  189   26   4    Bal  83 89 56 45 28  55

Probably the deepest spot on the roster. Redmond and Franklin are both pro-bowl talents, while Meyers is too good to be a 3rd CB. Thomas and Rogers are all capable of filling in when need be, while Joyce is purely a kick returner.

FSs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  AC SP CT TK AW OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
30   FS  Glenn Graham	6'1  195   24   2    HHt  82 85 80 75 90  94
44   FS  Derrick Otto	5'10 186   30   8    Bal  83 87 62 69 74  77

Graham has been real solid for us. We play him mostly back in deep coverage, but he has a surprising amount of tackles up near the LOS as he is great at sniffing out the run. He's not a spectacular interceptor, but he's had his share.

SSs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  AC SP CT TK AW OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
24   SS  Fred Fields	6'2  224   31   9    HHt  84 81 60 94 93  93 **Punishing Hitter, Mentor
26   SS  Anthony Justice6'0  218   22   1    HHt  89 82 48 76 71  74

Fields is another great tackler from the safety spot. We like to send him in on blitzes and even though he doesn't get a lot of sacks he usually sniffs out the running play and gets to the ball carrier. Justice didn't see a lot of time outside of special teams, but with a little more seasoning might be able to step in to Fields shoes when he retires.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 09:19 AM

2009 Post Camp Special Teams

Ks:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  KP KA AW ST AG OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 3    K  Bobby Walsh	5'11 176   22   R    Bal  86 88 71 24 28  78

Walsh, our 4th round pick, beat out our FA signing and earns the starting spot. He is miles ahead of the guy we had last year, and a touch more accurate than our FA signing. Hopefully we'll kick greater than 90% on XPs now!

Ps:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  KP KA AW ST AG OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
16    P  Mike Washington5'11 191   24   1    Acc  84 89 57 28 48  74

Washington is by no means spectacular, but he did an adequete job as a rookie and gets the nod again this year, thanks mainly to there being no better FAs available. He'll get another shot this year to impress.

KRs:

Code:

 #  POS  Name		HGT  WGT  AGE  YRS  Type  KR AC SP AG AW OVR
--------------------------------------------------------------------
49   CB  Floyd Joyce    6'0  189   26   4     -   90 83 90 86 28  55
23   CB  Josh Myers	5'8  198   30   8     -   88 85 87 92 93 91
86   WR  Wayne Slater	5'8  185   22   R     -   85 92 98 73 49 77

Joyce and Slater split returns. Myers is a talented returner, but I prefer the quickness of Joyce and rookie Slater.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 09:31 AM

We kick off 2009 with a road game against our rivals Tokyo. We played Tokyo three times last season -- twice during the regular season and once in the wildcard round -- with all three games amazingly going to overtime, and with us coming out on top each time.

Tokyo's strength is it's offense, which is powered along by one of the better QBs in the iNFL in John Gilbert, a smart player who completed nearly 70% of his passes in 2008. Helping him tremendously is a fantastic offensive line, an elusive back in Gerald Law, and a very talented receiver corps led by 3rd year man Clyde McCullum, who catches everything thrown his way.

Unfortunately for the Dragons, their offense doesn't line up on defense as well, because the Dragons really struggle to keep opponents out of the endzone. An already underwhelming defensive line took a hit as starting DT Cecil Holmes is out for the year, and will struggle against either the run or pass. They looked to build their LBs up in the draft, taking LOLB Ty Wheeler in the 1st round and Ron Summers ino the 2nd, and both these guys will help, but we intend on running the ball at these guys all day long. Their secondary is more talented than their front 7, but with the amount of running we plan on doing, we don't anticipate that being a big problem.

If we can contain Gilbert and Law and keep the Dragons below 20 points, we should be able to take this one.

Prediction: Kagoshima 24, Tokyo 17.

Groundhog · 10-11-2007, 09:41 AM

Somebody at ESPN better snap up the rights to show all Warriors-Dragons games, because this was yet another thriller.

The Dragons came out sharp in the 1st Q, not allowing us to do very much in the air or the ground, while moving it down field to score the games opening TD to make it 7-0. We move it down field through the air, but have to settle for a FG near the beginning of the 2nd Q to make it 7-3, Dragons. After forcing a 3-and-out we get it back and finally our ground game gets working, with Lewis single-handedly moving the ball up field for 48 yards over the drive, capping it off with a 2 yard rush for the TD, 10-7 Warriors with just over 2 minutes remaining.

The Dragons show off their 2 minute offense, with QB Gilbert attacking the sidelines and getting his team in to the endzone with a TD pass that was originally ruled out of bounds before the review, 14-10 Dragons with under a minute remaining in the half.

A good kick off return convinces us to attempt to go for it through the air and try and put some more points on the board, but this proves a big mistake as the Dragons come up with a pick and return it all the way for a TD, 21-10 entering the half.

We dominate the 3rd Q both on defense and with our running game, but can't get in to the endzone, having to settle for 2 FGs, making it 21-16 entering the 4th Q.

Finally in the 4th Q we find the endzone when Cook hits our rookie TE Casey with a 9 yard TD pass. We go for the 2 point conversion to level the scores, but are stopped short on the run to the left side, 22-21 Warriors for our first lead of the half.

Tokyo get the ball in to our half of the field but have to settle for a FG attempt from 54 yards, which they make to regain the lead at 24-22 with just over 7 minutes remaining. We aren't able to get anything going and punt away the ball, only to have Dragons stud HB Law bust out a beautiful 54 yard TD run after breaking a tackle and getting some great blocking to give Tokyo a comfy 31-22 lead with just 2:56 remaining.

We get the ball back looking for big gains by bringing in all our quickest receivers on downfield routes, but the Dragons lose track of our HB Lewis who catches a pass out of the backfield and outruns the coverage 64 yards down field for the TD! 31-29 Dragons with 1:52 left, we go for the onside kick, but Dragons recover. We still have 2 TDs and thanks to a goalline D stand on 3rd and inches we are able to force the long FG, but they nail the 54 yarder once again and we get the ball back at the 25 with just 35 seconds remaining and needing a TD. All set for yet another classic finish.

Our first throw is under the coverage to a receiver who takes it 8 yards. We call a no huddle offense, and Cook drops back, lobs the ball to rookie 4th WR Slater who has some space from the defender... the covering corner leaps to knock down the ball but misses, and the very quick Slater makes the catch and runs all the way for the amazing 62 yard TD!!! 36-34 Warriors with 8 seconds left. We kick off then bring out our quarter D with prevent coverage, and the Dragons are unable to complete a pass. We win!

Result: Kagoshima Warriors 36, Tokyo Dragons 34

Groundhog · 10-27-2007, 06:50 AM

Key Stats

Kagoshima

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
L. Cook  	19-29   361    3     1

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
D. Lewis  	 31   176   5.1   23    1
A. Knight         2    -1  -0.5    0    0
L. Cook           1     0   0.0    0    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
J. Osborne	  6   107  17.8   47    0
B. Wooden	  4    31   7.8   11    0
D. Lewis          2    93  46.5   64    1
S. Casey          2    37  18.5   28    1
W. Myers          2    28  14.0   19    0
W. Slater         1    62  62.0   62    1
S. Hamm		  1     3   3.0    3    0
T. Randall        1     0   0.0    0    0

Defense		TAK   SCK   FF   INT
-----------     ---   ---   --   ---
G. Austin	  7     0    0     0
F. Fields         5     0    0     0
P. Redmond        5     0    0     0
C. Franklin       5     0    0     1
G. Graham         4     0    0     0
K. Sylvester      4     0    0     0
J. Tubbs          3     0    0     0
J. Meyers         3     0    0     0
M. Abbott         2     0    0     0
W. Slater         1     0    0     0
A. Justice        1     0    0     0
D. Otto           1     0    0     0
B. Ball           1     0    0     0
J. Mitchell       1     0    0     0
Z. Tate           1     0    0     0

Tokyo

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
J. Gilbert      19-36   180    2     1
A. Hayes         0-1      0    0     0

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
G. Law           21   139   6.6   52    1
D. Lewis          2     2   1.0    2    0
V. Reynolds       1     1   1.0    1    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
C. McCullum	  9    67   7.4   14    1
O. Ogden          5    55  11.0   19    0
D. Hewitt         3    48  16.0   19    0
G. Law            1     8   8.0    8    0
B. Carrier        1     2   2.0    2    1

Defense		TAK   SCK   FF   INT
-----------     ---   ---   --   ---
C. Mejia          9     0    0     0
R. Lankford       8     0    0     0
R. Summers        7     0    0     0
T. Collier        5     0    0     0
T. Wheeler        5     0    0     0
N. Perry          4     0    0     0
B. Glover         4     0    0     0
B. Joyner         2     0    0     0
R. Castle         2     0    0     0
M. Bowen          1     0    0     0
A. Schroeder      1     0    0     0
O. Ogden          1     0    0     0
C. Dawson         1     0    0     1
D. Baker          1     0    0     0

Groundhog · 10-27-2007, 06:55 AM

Groundhog · 10-27-2007, 07:09 AM

The Miners have really had our number the last 2 seasons, knocking us out of the post-season both years. For whatever reason they've really had our number on both sides of the ball. This year would appear to be little different. The Miners have a strong defence led by a terrific secondary, and their front 7 - the biggest weakness for them the past few years - has been improved thanks to promising rookie DT Dave Massey, who loves to get to the QB.

Offensively the Miners have handed the reigns back to QB Jamal Leon, who fell to 2nd on the depth chart last season after starting the year before. Leon, a scrambler with a good arm, has lots of help around him with RB John Bird and a great OLine, but will be missing top WR Ochuko Payton from an already thin WR crop.

We'll be hoping to avoid a lot of long-passing situations by running the ball well and sending our WR on short routes to prevent our QB from putting up anything risky, because this secondary killed him in the post season last year, pulling down 4 picks.

If we can get the ground game going and keep Nebraska under 24 points we have a chance, but I think the Miners will once again prevail.

Prediction: Nebraska 27, Kagoshima 17

MrBug708 · 10-27-2007, 09:09 AM

How does this game handle on your PC? Any choppiness or lag time?

Groundhog · 10-28-2007, 06:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBug708

How does this game handle on your PC? Any choppiness or lag time?

Runs perfectly. Graphics are no where near next gen in this title though, and I believe they haven't improved much beyond the last Madden I had on PC, 2004.

Groundhog · 10-28-2007, 06:28 AM

We finally do it! The monkey is off our backs!

It felt great to finally take the Miners down, but it sure as hell wasn't easy. The game got off to a disastrous start, with us receiving and getting hit by two holding penalties to take us way back in our own territory. Then on third down Cook is hit while throwing and fumbles the ball. Nebraska recovers, and is in the endzone 2 snaps later, 7-0.

We equalled it up later in the quarter when the Miners fumble a punt return to give us the ball in decent field position, and we march it in to the endzone. These were to be the last TDs of the game.

Early in the 2nd quarter disaster strikes us yet again when Cook takes a hit and is helped off the field, not to return for the rest of the game. The Miners speedy D is shutting down our running game and nothing is happening through the air either for us, but the good news is that we are holding the Miners in check as well and enter the half with the scores locked at 7-7. The Miners had a chance to go up 10-7 entering the break, but their rookie kicker missed a 28 yarder in the final minute.

It's easy to see why Leon rode the pine for the Miners last season after that first half as, outside of a nice pass or two, he is really erratic, over and under throwing on several occasions and trying to scramble when there just isn't anything there.

The second half is much the same for both teams, with neither team getting a lot from their QB or HBs and the defensive units refuse to buckle. We manage 2 FGs in the Q while Nebraska hits 1. 13-10 Kagoshima.

The 4th Q is just as ugly. Both teams trade numerous punts, but the Miners manage to get a FG to level the scores. With just over a minute left we get the ball near the 30 yard line on 3rd down, but we fail the 3rd down conversion when my backup QB throws a terrible pass behind his receiver, and we are forced to send our rookie kicker in to attempt a 49 yarder for the lead. He nails the spectacular kick with ease to give us the lead with about 1:20 remaining.

Miners get the ball with one last drive, but our heavy zone D gives Miners QB Leon no targets, and 3 snaps in a row he tries to scramble for no avail! On 4th down he throws a pass but it's caught just short of the 1st down and we get the ball back and kneel out the clock!

Woo-hoo!

Definitely not a pretty game for either offence, but considering we pulled this game out without our starting QB and without anything much from our running game, I'm happy.

Groundhog · 10-28-2007, 06:44 AM

Key Stats:

Kagoshima:

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
M. Sanders	 8-19   120    0     1
L. Cook  	 4-6     39    0     0

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
D. Lewis  	 27    98   3.6   19    1
A. Knight         5    31   6.2   17    0
M. Sanders	  3    -3  -1.0    0    0
L. Cook           1    -2  -2.0    0    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
W. Meyers	  3    49  16.3   26    0
J. Osborne	  3    43  14.3   22    0
B. Wooden         3    41  13.7   23    0
S. Hamm           2    12   6.0    6    0
D. Lewis          1    14  14.0   14    0

Defense		TAK   SCK   FF   INT
-----------     ---   ---   --   ---
G. Austin	  6     0    0     0
M. Abbott	  5     1    0     0
C. Franklin       5     0    0     0
G. Graham         5     0    0     0
P. Redmond        4     0    0     0
F. Fields         4     0    1     0
K. Sylvester      3     1    1     0
Z. Tate           3     0    0     0
J. Tubbs          3     0    0     0
C. Thomas         2     0    0     0
M. Scott          2     0    0     0
J. Myers          2     0    0     1
B. Ball           1     1    0     0
T. Finley         1     0    0     0
D. Otto           1     0    0     0
M. Sanders        1     0    0     0

Nebraska:

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
J. Leon         20-38   239    0     1

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
J. Bird          17    56   3.3    9    1
T. Swayne         2     7   3.5    7    0
J. Leon           2    -3  -1.5    2    0
J. Hayden         1     1   1.0    1    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
M. Pratt          6    90  15.0   25    0
C. Alderman       6    82  13.7   36    0
C. Sharper        3    30  10.0   16    0
J. Bird           3    24   8.0   12    0
A. Evans          1     9   9.0    9    0
J. Hayden         1     4   4.0    4    0

Groundhog · 10-28-2007, 06:46 AM

Groundhog · 10-28-2007, 06:49 AM

Week 3 - Bye Week

We get the week off, which is a bit of a shame really as we have zero injuries entering the week. Cook's injury that saw him miss 3 quarters last week was thankfully a minor one, and he's back at 100%.

Groundhog · 10-28-2007, 06:55 AM

Takamatsu have been the door mats of the Japanese division, and that hasn't appeared to have changed this year, with 3 straight losses to begin the season. The Tide have a terrific offence led by cannon-armed QB Sammy Stafford, but defensively they are a poor team, and that has been the problem since their first year in the iNFL. They have improved their DLine, but are very, very weak in the secondary, and we'll be looking to exploit this tonight.

Still, put a QB like Stafford behind an OLine like Takamatsu's, and you have a dangerous squad that is capable of scoring big. We'll need to keep them out of the endzone as much as possible to pull this win out.

Prediction: Kagoshima 30, Takamatsu 27

MrBug708 · 10-28-2007, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Groundhog

Runs perfectly. Graphics are no where near next gen in this title though, and I believe they haven't improved much beyond the last Madden I had on PC, 2004.

I would probably just sim the games as opposed to playing them

Groundhog · 10-29-2007, 05:10 AM

Poor Takamatsu QB Stafford. We absolutely destroyed Stafford and the Tide's passing game today, picking Stafford off 4 times (twice in the endzone), and sacking him for a fumble that we would return for a TD.

Thanks to our smothering D and a brilliant 41 yard TD run by Lewis we entered the 2nd Q up 16-0. Our offence didn't click nearly as brilliantly for the rest of the game but our D for the most part held, outside of a few fantastic 2nd half passes by Stafford that he got passed our secondary.

Game could have been a lot closer when late in the 4th, down 26-14, the Tide got the ball in to the redzone, but Stafford threw his 4th pick in to the endzone as Kagoshima CB Redmond nabbed his 3rd interception of the game! This effectively killed their slim chance of coming back tonight.

Worryingly, Cook took another hit early in the 2nd quarter and had to come off once again, but turned out he was just shaken up and he was soon back in the action. I hope this isn't a sign of a potential injury problem.

Groundhog · 10-29-2007, 05:34 AM

Key Stats:

Kagoshima:

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
L. Cook  	11-19   139    1     0
M. Sanders	 1-2     27    0     1

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
D. Lewis	 30   142   4.7   41    1
A. Knight	  5    22   4.4    8    0
L. Cook           3     4   1.3    4    0
M. Holcomb        1    11  11.0   11    0
J. Osborne        1    -7  -7.0    0    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
B. Wooden	  5    63  12.6   18    1
S. Hamm	 	  3    39  13.0   27    0
J. Osborne        1    35  35.0   35    0
D. Lewis          1    17  17.0   17    0
T. Randall        1     6   6.0    6    0
W. Myers	  1     6   6.0    6    0

Defense		TAK   SCK   FF   INT
-----------     ---   ---   --   ---
C. Franklin	  6     0    0     0
G. Graham	  5	0    0	   0
P. Redmond	  5     0    0     3
M. Abbott	  3     1    1     0
G. Austin	  3     0    0     0
J. Tubbs	  2     0    0     0
C. Thomas	  2     0    0     0
J. Myers	  2     0    0     0
Z. Tate		  2     0    0     0
T. Randall	  1     0    0     0
A. Justice	  1     0    0     0
M. Scott	  1     0    0     1
B. Ball		  1     0    0     0
D. Otto		  1     0    0     0
F. Fields	  1     0    0     0
S. Baird	  1     0    0     0

Takamatsu:

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
S. Stafford	17-32   232    2     4

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
B. Taylor	 15    44   2.9   10    0
J. Schmidt	  1    -1  -1.0    0    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
L. Finley	  4    89  22.3   50    1
I. Benson	  4    68  16.5   26    1
J. Matthews	  4    34   8.5   14    0
B. Taylor	  4    27   6.8   10    0
F. May		  1    16  16.0   16    0

Groundhog · 10-29-2007, 05:37 AM

Groundhog · 10-29-2007, 05:45 AM

It hardly seems fair. 4th game of the season, and we once again play against against a top-class QB. There may be no better QB in the iNFL than Tom Collins, and his Little Rock squad has been arguably the most dangerous team in the iNFL over the past 3 seasons, winning the superbowl last year.

It's been a rocky start for the champs, but I expect they'll turn it around soon enough. They have a very experienced and talented offensive unit and go 2 or 3 deep just about everywhere on offence.

They aren't nearly so deep or talented on defence, but these guys ain't no Takamatsu, either. A strong secondary and an OK DLine should prove a problem for us tonight.

I expect us to pick up our first loss of the season as the Monsters will just run the score up too high for us to keep up with.

Prediction: Little Rock 34, Kagoshima 17

Groundhog · 10-30-2007, 03:27 AM

The two biggest surprises about this game were:

A) we held the Monsters to 13 points, and

B) we won?!

A was directly responsible for B. The game started poorly with the Monsters moving the ball in to the endzone on their first drive with just 5 plays, all passes. It was quickly evident that our zone coverage just wasn't working for us as Little Rock QB Collins was reading our D with ease, so we decided to take a huge risk and start blitzing. The Monsters love to run with 3 or more receivers, so we sent our LBs after Collins, and to both team's surprise we started pressuring him, even with his usually great OLine.

We ended the game with 7 sacks - nearly double what the Monsters had conceded in their first 4 games combined. Even so, this is still a great offence, and with as well as our D was playing we entered the half tied at 7 all after risking a 4th down conversion within FG range near the end of the half to instead look for the TD. It pays off, as Cook hits Osborne.

The second half our D held, continually sacking and pressuring Collins and limiting to the Monsters to just two FGs in the 3rd, and we entered the 4th down 13-7. Neither team was moving the ball well, and we got the ball back with just under 5 minutes remaining, down by 6. Two nice passes get us in to FG range, and we nail the 35 yarder to reduce the deficit to a single FG with 1:39 left in the game. The Monsters get the ball back but aren't able to pick up the 1st, and using our time outs we manage to get the ball at our own 32 yard line with just under a minute left and no time outs.

A few nice passes and we get the ball up field, but on 3rd down our receiver drops what would have been a competition that put us in range for a 30yd kick to tie the game, meaning that it's time for our rookie kicker to once again come through in the clutch for us with a 43 yarder to send it to overtime. He makes it! Ice runs through this man's veins!

In overtime we receive, knowing that we need to win it now. I'm sure that the Monsters will work it in to FG range. We run a few plays, complete a 3rd down pass, and get the ball near the half way line. There the drive stalls, and we are forced to a 3rd and long. We line-up in the shotgun with all our receivers looking for big gains, and the coverage falls back in a prevent zone D, leaving HB Lewis to nab a pass under the coverage, and take it 37 yards up field to put us in comfy FG range! The rookie kicker comes back out, ices the kick, game over! Woot!

A massive win against a premiere team, and all thanks to our pass rushing! The pass-orientated formations that the Monsters ran most of the game played a big hand here as it couldn't keep up with the 7 or 8 man blitzes we were bringing every so often. We got burnt a few times for first downs but thankfully nothing big, and this got us the win.

Groundhog · 10-30-2007, 03:40 AM

Key Stats:

Kagoshima:

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
L. Cook  	22-42   242    1     2

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
D. Lewis	 22    77   3.5   18    0
A. Knight	  4    14   3.5    8    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
W. Myers	  7    65   9.3   16    0
B. Wooden	  5    60  12.0   18	0
D. Lewis	  3    46  15.3   37    0
J. Osborne	  2    23  11.5   17    1
S. Casey	  2    13   6.5   11    0
C. McCoy	  1    16  16.0   16    0
T. Randall	  1    10  10.0   10    0
S. Hamm		  1    10  10.0   10    0

Defense		TAK   SCK   FF   INT
-----------     ---   ---   --   ---
G. Austin	 10     0    0     0
C. Franklin	  7	0    0	   0
M. Abbott	  5     0    0 	   0
P. Redmond	  5     0    0     0
K. Sylvester	  4     1    0     0
J. Tubbs	  4     1    0     0
F. Fields	  4     0    0	   0
G. Graham	  4     0    0     0
B. Ball		  3     3    0     0
Z. Tate		  3     1    1     0
M. Scott	  3     1    1     0
C. Thomas	  1     0    0     0
B. King		  1	0    0     0
D. Otto		  1	0    0     0
J. Myers	  1	0    0     0
J. Mitchell	  1     0    0     0
B. Wooden	  1     0    0     0
J.J. Lindsay	  1     0    0     0
W. Slater	  1     0    0     0
W. Myers	  1     0    0     0

Little Rock:

Code:

Passing	   	CP-AT   YDS   TD   INT
-----------	-----   ---   --   ---
T. Collins	23-37   266    1     0
D. Brandt	 2-3     19    0     0

Rushing   	ATT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
B. Griffith	 19    31   1.6   10    0
T. Turner	  2     6   3.0    4    0
T. Dillon	  1     2   2.0    2    0

Receiving       CAT   YDS   AVG   LG   TD
-----------	---   ---   ---   --   --
A. Williams	  8    94  11.8   20    1
F. Mitchell	  5    77  15.4   45    0
B. Simpson	  5     4   0.8    4    0
F. Vickers	  3    46  15.3   27    0
T. Turner	  2    20  10.0   14    0
B. Williams       1    33  33.0   33    0
B. Griffith	  1    11  11.0   11    0

10-10-2007, 12:34 AM	#3
Young Drachma Dark Cloud Join Date: Apr 2001	What a story idea....interesting! __________________ Current Dynasty:The Zenith of Professional Basketball Careers (FBPB/FBCB) FBCB / FPB3 Mods

10-11-2007, 07:39 AM	#5
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The 2007 iNFL Season After a very successful 2006 season, the iNFL prepares for year number 2. Mark Cuban releases a list of the conference alignments following the addition of the JFC North: Code: ---JFC North--- ---AFC South--- Kagoshima Warriors Hawaii Dolphins Osaka Suns New Mexico Bulls Takamatsu Tide Indiana Fighters Tokyo Dragons Memphis Barons ---AFC East--- ---AFC West--- Virginia Generals Kansas City Rhinos Boston Pirates Los Angeles Demons Orlando Indians Nebraska Miners New Jersey Locomotion Boulder Bruins ---NFC North--- ---NFC South--- Little Rock Monsters New Orleans Tigers Milwaukee Wasps Carolina Wildcats Michigan Cavaliers Atlanta Devils Cleveland Kings Alaska Anchors ---NFC East--- ---NFC West--- Texas Bandits Seattle Giants Philadelphia Pirhana Utah Marshalls Toronto Stags Portland Eagles New York Lions San Fransisco Rockets The second season proves more of a success than the first, with attendance up for each team by an average of 18.2%. America is again tuning in to Football. The quality of on-field play also improves dramatically thanks to an influx of talent through the NFL draft. West-coast styled offense seems to rule the day as teams such as Hawaii and Little Rock, with the two best QBs in the game, run the show. Both teams are eliminated one round too short however, and we see a Superbowl made up of very balanced teams in the Kansas City Rhinos and the Portland Eagles. Portland Eagles walk away with the championship, 20-12. Meanwhile, over in Japan, to everybody's surprise, the JFC North teams have no problems getting FAs or rookies to sign, and are drawing impressive attendance figures thanks to the high quality of play. Tokyo Dragons are the clear top Japanese franchise out of the gates, but the Kagoshima Warriors, co-directed by the mysterious, masked GM/Coach known only as "Groundhog" as he learns the ropes, lead a bruising defensive-styled squad in the Wildcard round with just an 8-8 record. They make it no further, falling to the Nebraska Miners 27-16. Things aren't quite so rosy up in Alaska. The Anchors struggle to draw much talent up to the North, but an impressive draft has the fans hopeful. Hawaii is having no such issues. Whether that's due to the draw of having the game's best QB, or just the chance to live in Hawaii, is yet to be seen. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-11-2007, 07:52 AM	#6
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The 2008 iNFL Offseason I take over full responsibilities of the Kagoshima Warriors franchise to begin the iNFL 2008 offseason. Pre-Draft Free Agency The Warriors are arguably the best defensive unit in the nation. Offensively, well, it's an entirely different story. We had a QB who threw more picks than TDs, no big talents at WR, and a weak OLine. About the only positive is our HB Deion Lewis, who had a rough 2007 season but looks like a real impact player if we can beef up the rest of our offensive unit. To make this happen we snap up QB Marco Sanders, who started at Michigan last season. Sanders is an 79 rated QB with an accurate arm. He isn't going to out run anybody, but he's a big improvement. Next up we look at receivers, and snap up the talented John Osborne, who had a great year in New Orleans. He's quick, has decent hands, and with an 84 overall rating is our highest rated WR by 6 points. There isn't much talent available at the OLine, and we grab a few guys who figure as depth, and little else. We need to build this spot in the draft. 2008 iNFL Draft A look at the talent available to us in this draft brings us to a realization; the only player we really want is a QB who is rated top-10. The problem? We are picking at #21. There are no OLine guys or QBs likely to be available at that spot to interest us, so we look to move up. While on the phone to a few teams we get a call - it's Boulder, and they want to move their #4 pick to us for our #21 and our 2nd rounder. We jump at the chance and nab our guy, QB Leonard Cook out of UCLA. Cook is built like a linebacker at 6'2 249lbs, but has a great arm and decent instincts. Did we grab him too high though? He was projected top-10 and there was unquestionably some real talent available, but it just wasn't at spots that were a priority for us. In the 3rd round we grab a massive RG, Lennox Carson out of Wake Forest. The rest of the draft sees us grab a punter and some defensive depth. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-11-2007, 08:03 AM	#7
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The 2008 iNFL Season We begin the year running an Arizona Cardinals-esque double-headed QB, with FA signing Marco Sanders playing the first halves, while bringing the rookie Cook in for the 2nd half of most games. After 5 games it becomes clear that Cook, despite the occasional Rex Grossman moments, is the best option we have, and he becomes the full time starter. Best of all? We are winning. But most of the credit goes to our running game. HB Deion Lewis is playing lights-out behind our tweaked OLine, and 3rd round pick Carson in particular is exceeding expectations, and soon becomes our most reliable blocker. With Carson and the rest of the guys on the line's help, Lewis has an amazing year, regularily rushing for over 100 yards, and even breaking the 200 yard mark, and leading our team to the Wildcards yet again with a conference leading 11-5 record, where we defeated conference rivals Tokyo in OT to make it through to the next round, where Nebraska once again spoils our fun, sending us home 25-20. That's not to say that Lewis did it all by himself, however. Our defense was still amongst the best in the league. We ran a blitz-heavy D that sometimes gave up too many big gains through the air, but countered that by usually decimating our opponents running game. We didn't force a lot of turnovers, but just played a solid brand of defense. Oh, and of course there was the rookie QB, Cook. Lewis might have outshone him most nights, but Cook really turned it on towards the end of the regular season. Four times he nearly single-handedly brought us back from the brink with his passing, and finished the year 24tds to 12ints and an 86.4 QB rating. Nice numbers for a rookie! He really struggled in both rounds of the playoffs though, showing he has some ways to go. As for the rest of the league, it was little surprise that Hawaii and Little Rock once again dominated, this time making it all the way to the Superbowl for the most eagerly awaited match-up of the year. Unfortunately iNFL MVP Little Rock QB Tom Collins makes sure it isn't close, as the Monsters beat the Hawaii Dolphins 35-24 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score suggests. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-11-2007, 08:11 AM	#8
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The 2009 iNFL Offseason OK, so now we are up to date with where I'm at in this league. Pre-Draft Free Agency We look to further improve our offense and replace our kicker -- who missed far too many XPs and crucial 20-30 yard FGs last season, including one blown 4th quarter comeback thanks to a missed 22 yard FG -- in the pre-draft FA. It's a thin crop of FAs, but we grab a kicker, some depth at HB, and some depth on the OLine. Nothing flashy. 2009 iNFL Draft In the draft we are just looking for the BPA, but at the #28 pick it readily becomes clear that there isn't much there that interests us. We decided to trade down, sending our #28 pick to the Carolina Wildcats for their #10 pick in the 2nd round, as well as a 4th rounder. With that pick we grab TE Shane Casey out of Nebraska. Casey is a receiving TE but a poor blocker, and we plan on using him in multiple-TE passing formations mainly, as our current guy is a decent blocker. For our next 2nd round selection we look to address what was one of our major weakness last year - kick returns. All our returners wound up injured or just weren't effective, so we grab the quickest guy on the board, WR Wayne Slater out of Miami. The pint sized 5'8 Slater was a top quality returner in the NCAA ranks, but his WR skills are anything but certain, so a bit of a gamble this high perhaps. In the 3rd round we look to our OLine and bring in LT Jai Wagner. Wagner is a brute, but needs to work on his technique. With the 4th rounder we acquired in the earlier trade we grab a solid blocking FB in Travis Randall out of Stanford, a guy who will likely start from day 1 judging by first impressions. With our own 4th rounder we grab a kicker, Bobby Walsh, to see if he can challenge our FA signing in the kicking department. The rest of our selections are pure depth choices, and after some consideration we don't sign them up. The 2009 Draft First Round Code: # Team Name Pos School ------------------------------------------------- 1 Alaska David Fox QB USC 2 Fighters D'Wayne Palmer HB Nebraska 3 Tigers Ed Hilton RE USC 4 Bandits Darryl Stills WR Virginia 5 Bulls B.B. Whitehead RE Florida St 6 Wildcats Luke Carpenter LT McNeese St 7 Generals Darren Emmanuel CB Utah 8 Pirates Billy Jackson FS East Carolina 9 Dolphins Tony Wright FS Pittsburgh 10 Cavaliers Grant Pierce TE Kansas St 11 Pirhanas B.B. Adams LE Stanford 12 Bruins Darnay Jenkins TE Syracuse 13 Devils Jimmy Daniels DT Colorado St 14 Anchors Robert Jones ROLB Arizona 15 Giants Rocky Hawk MLB California 16 Suns Joe Dishman MLB Arizona St 17 Tide Dewayne Wagner LE Minnesota 18 Rockets Byron Williams MLB Texas A&M 19 Demons Jeremy Bryant LOLB LSU 20 Eagles J. Mitchell ROLB Arkansas 21 Dragons Ty Wheeler LOLB Virginia 22 Wasps Kevin Perry MLB Michigan 23 Kings J.J. Simpson C UCLA 24 Locomotion Meir Williams HB Navy 25 Rockets Andrew Golston CB Georgia 26 Lions Corey Ulrich LT Missouri 27 Indians Stanley Rudd CB Ohio St 28 Cavaliers David Adkins RG Southern 29 Miners Dave Massey DT UNC 30 Marshalls Kyle Bundy FS Tennessee 31 Barons Anthony Quinn CB San Jose St 32 Monsters Marvin Miller SS Auburn __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce Last edited by Groundhog : 10-11-2007 at 08:12 AM.

10-10-2007, 12:03 AM	#2
bbgunn College Benchwarmer Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Osaka, Japan via Honolulu, Hawaii via Birmingham, Alabama	LOL... Takamatsu with a football team is like Green Bay with a football team. Anyway, looking forward to this. __________________ U of Hawaii \| U of Alabama \| Montreal Impact \| Montreal Canadiens \| West Ham \| West Indies cricket \| Portland Trail Blazers

10-10-2007, 12:46 AM	#4
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	I'm hoping to continue this tonight. Have had no internet access at home the past few days but have all the text and pics ready to upload. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-11-2007, 08:28 AM	#9
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	2009 Post Camp Offense Roster QBs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type TA TP AW AG AC OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 12 QB Leonard Cook 6'2 249 24 1 Bal 96 91 75 71 60 89 Accurate 17 QB Marco Sanders 6'3 207 30 8 Poc 90 93 71 52 51 80 Accurate 7 QB Shelton Clay 6'4 218 24 2 Poc 92 89 65 48 39 74 Sanders is certainly a servicable QB and could probably start on a number of iNFL teams, but the amount of improvement Cook showed last season was incredible, and that's continued this offseason. At just 24 years of age he could one day wind up as one of the premiere QBs in this league. Clay was snapped up as an emergency backup, and has an OK arm but very questionable instincts. HBs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type AW SP AC AG CA OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 28 HB Deion Lewis 5'8 254 25 3 Pwr 88 85 95 86 71 89 Trucking 34 HB Andrew Knight 6'0 254 28 6 Pwr 68 84 88 72 74 77 25 HB Mike Holcomb 6'0 212 31 9 Bal 70 80 81 75 72 72 41 HB C.J. Thompson 6'1 222 28 6 Bal 47 87 88 78 61 61 Lewis had a Pro-Bowl year in 2008 and was arguably the best HB in the league, even if he finished 2nd in voting. He has outstanding elusiveness, rarely goes down after the first hit, and even caught a few passes towards the end of the season. Andrew Knight was a FA signing and will be our 2nd back. He's nothing flashy, but he should be good for a few carries a night. Holcomb was our #2 man last year and filled in admirally when Lewis missed a few games, but age is beginning to catch up with him now. C.J. Thompson was a FA signing and has good speed but little else. Shouldn't see much time. FBs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type AW SP AC AG CA PBK RBK OVR ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 39 FB Travis Randall 6'1 247 23 R Blk 56 73 76 89 58 59 63 76 Randall looked good in training camp, causing us to release last year's starter. Randall doesn't do anything particularily well outside of blocking, but that's all he'll need to do in Kagoshima. WRs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type SP AC CT AG AW OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 81 WR John Osborne 6'2 218 25 3 Bal 93 86 88 82 90 86 Speedy 82 WR Warren Myers 6'3 208 32 10 Pos 83 87 88 76 77 82 89 WR Blake Wooden 6'4 217 24 2 Bal 86 91 88 83 62 79 86 WR Wayne Slater 5'8 185 22 R Bal 92 92 85 78 55 77 87 WR Chuckie McCoy 6'3 188 25 3 Bal 82 75 77 81 80 73 Osborne continues to look great, but Myers and Wooden also impressed last season and figure to do so again this year. Biggest surprise has been rookie Wayne Slater, who's recieving skills look MUCH better than I expected. TEs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type RB CT ST AW BT OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 84 TE Shane Casey 6'2 255 22 R Rec 52 83 77 55 68 81 85 TE Shaun Hamm 6'2 259 28 6 Bal 72 70 69 74 64 78 80 TE Doug Diller 6'6 262 24 2 Bal 57 75 65 76 61 77 2nd rounder Casey was as good with his hands as advertised, but he is also as bad with his blocking as we feared. We'll be using him mostly on twin-TE formations and passing downs, while Hamm will continue to get the starting nod thanks to his blocking skills. OTs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type RB PB ST AW AG OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 64 LT Jai Wagner 6'3 295 24 R Bal 86 86 98 64 58 79 62 LT Derek Smith 6'8 310 31 9 RBk 90 88 86 65 49 78 Run Blocker 66 LT Lennox Quinn 6'6 304 28 6 PBk 77 87 92 73 41 73 78 RT J.J. Lindsay 6'4 343 26 4 PBk 86 97 85 89 40 83 Pass Blocker 77 RT Hank Sanders 6'7 343 31 9 Bal 81 75 86 65 34 63 Tackle is a weakspot for us. We have a lot of guys who I'd class as "adequete", but no standouts. Rookie Wagner has some potential, but Lindsay and Smith will continue to start. OGs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type RB PB ST AW AG OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 69 LG Kirk Buckley 6'7 304 24 2 PBk 84 88 83 76 43 76 63 LG L. Vickers 6'6 310 27 5 RBk 84 83 86 66 46 74 60 RG Lennox Carson 6'6 346 23 1 PBk 87 90 93 72 49 86 Pass Blocker 76 RG Tyrone Serra 6'4 322 29 7 RBk 89 84 91 74 50 79 Carson was great as a rookie, and Serra, who lines up at LG and takes a bit of a rating hit because of it, is serviceable. I've been trying for 2 seasons to get a solid LG, but no luck. Still, these guys got the job done last year. Cs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type RB PB ST AW AG OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 68 C Trevor Finley 6'4 285 32 10 PBk 86 90 85 82 47 85 Pass Blocker 67 C Eddie Ricker 6'7 316 23 R PBk 75 90 76 75 52 72 Finley has been a consistent blocker for us, and we brought in rookie Ricker as his potential replacement a few years down the road. Right now it looks like, his solid pass blocking aside, he has a lot of work to do to reach that level. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce Last edited by Groundhog : 10-11-2007 at 08:29 AM.

10-11-2007, 09:06 AM	#10
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	2009 Post Camp Defence Roster DEs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type ST TK AW AG AC OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 92 LE Biff Ball 5'11 280 30 8 PRu 78 79 78 74 83 86 91 LE Jevan Fong 6'4 266 27 5 Bal 78 78 67 67 78 81 95 RE K. Sylvester 6'2 262 23 2 PRu 78 85 93 72 80 95 97 RE Marquez Malone 6'3 271 24 2 Bal 74 74 70 68 80 78 Sylvester is one of the best at his position in the NFL, and both him and Ball have a real knack at getting to the QB and disrupting our opponents passing game. One of the biggest strenghts of this roster. Even our bench depth would start on a number of teams. DTs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type ST TK AW AG AC OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 98 DT Matt Abbott 6'4 308 28 6 Bal 93 97 88 62 78 99 Bull Rush 90 DT Jay Tubbs 6'3 295 29 7 Bal 92 93 77 57 70 92 Bull Rush 96 DT Elvis Ricker 6'3 272 26 4 Bal 83 82 64 57 65 75 As good as our DEs are, our DTs nearly put them to shame. Abbott is arguably the best DT in the business, and Tubbs isn't far behind him. These guys are the reason why teams just can't run the ball up the middle against us. Not unless they want to face a never-ending cycle of 2nd-and-11s. OLBs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type TK ST AW AC SP OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 59 LOLB Zeke Tate 6'3 231 30 8 RSt 84 79 79 82 75 82 50 LOLB Shevin Baird 6'3 235 24 1 RSt 81 80 65 82 74 79 57 ROLB Martin Scott 5'9 236 28 6 RSt 89 71 87 79 79 89 55 ROLB Brent King 6'2 226 26 4 Bal 75 72 85 77 74 78 Martin Scott is a tremendous talent when it comes to shutting down the run, and Zeke Tate, though less heralded, certainly has his moments as well. Both players are lacking in pass coverage ability however. Baird looks like a starter down the road. MLBs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type TK ST AW AC SP OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 52 MLB Gerard Austin 6'1 231 32 10 Bal 94 74 93 79 69 89 Punishing Hitter 54 MLB Joey Mitchell 6'3 222 30 8 RSt 88 76 82 70 69 81 Austin may not be a household name like some of the guys on our DLine, but he is the heart and soul of our defense. We play him in coverage a lot, preferring to blitz with the OLBs, and he does a solid job, but is also more than capable of crushing the running game. We lost him for a number of games towards the end of last season, and it was a good thing that Mitchell, a very talented player in his own right, was able to step in and basically allow us to not miss a beat, even if we were forced to blitz more with the MLB spot due to his weaker coverage skills. CBs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type AC SP CT TK AW OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 40 CB P. Redmond 6'1 179 28 6 Cov 95 99 76 76 94 99 Star 48 CB C. Franklin 5'9 192 26 4 Bal 92 89 74 71 96 92 Lock Down 23 CB Josh Meyers 5'8 198 30 8 HHt 85 87 76 73 93 91 Lock Down 47 CB Chris Thomas 5'9 180 24 2 Bal 88 84 62 50 84 76 21 CB Matthew Rogers 6'0 185 24 2 Bal 93 85 64 57 65 72 49 CB Floyd Joyce 6'0 189 26 4 Bal 83 89 56 45 28 55 Probably the deepest spot on the roster. Redmond and Franklin are both pro-bowl talents, while Meyers is too good to be a 3rd CB. Thomas and Rogers are all capable of filling in when need be, while Joyce is purely a kick returner. FSs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type AC SP CT TK AW OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 FS Glenn Graham 6'1 195 24 2 HHt 82 85 80 75 90 94 44 FS Derrick Otto 5'10 186 30 8 Bal 83 87 62 69 74 77 Graham has been real solid for us. We play him mostly back in deep coverage, but he has a surprising amount of tackles up near the LOS as he is great at sniffing out the run. He's not a spectacular interceptor, but he's had his share. SSs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type AC SP CT TK AW OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 24 SS Fred Fields 6'2 224 31 9 HHt 84 81 60 94 93 93 Punishing Hitter, Mentor** 26 SS Anthony Justice6'0 218 22 1 HHt 89 82 48 76 71 74 Fields is another great tackler from the safety spot. We like to send him in on blitzes and even though he doesn't get a lot of sacks he usually sniffs out the running play and gets to the ball carrier. Justice didn't see a lot of time outside of special teams, but with a little more seasoning might be able to step in to Fields shoes when he retires. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce Last edited by Groundhog : 10-11-2007 at 09:07 AM.

10-11-2007, 09:19 AM	#11
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	2009 Post Camp Special Teams Ks: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type KP KA AW ST AG OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 3 K Bobby Walsh 5'11 176 22 R Bal 86 88 71 24 28 78 Walsh, our 4th round pick, beat out our FA signing and earns the starting spot. He is miles ahead of the guy we had last year, and a touch more accurate than our FA signing. Hopefully we'll kick greater than 90% on XPs now! Ps: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type KP KA AW ST AG OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 16 P Mike Washington5'11 191 24 1 Acc 84 89 57 28 48 74 Washington is by no means spectacular, but he did an adequete job as a rookie and gets the nod again this year, thanks mainly to there being no better FAs available. He'll get another shot this year to impress. KRs: Code: # POS Name HGT WGT AGE YRS Type KR AC SP AG AW OVR -------------------------------------------------------------------- 49 CB Floyd Joyce 6'0 189 26 4 - 90 83 90 86 28 55 23 CB Josh Myers 5'8 198 30 8 - 88 85 87 92 93 91 86 WR Wayne Slater 5'8 185 22 R - 85 92 98 73 49 77 Joyce and Slater split returns. Myers is a talented returner, but I prefer the quickness of Joyce and rookie Slater. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce Last edited by Groundhog : 10-11-2007 at 09:20 AM.

10-11-2007, 09:31 AM	#12
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	We kick off 2009 with a road game against our rivals Tokyo. We played Tokyo three times last season -- twice during the regular season and once in the wildcard round -- with all three games amazingly going to overtime, and with us coming out on top each time. Tokyo's strength is it's offense, which is powered along by one of the better QBs in the iNFL in John Gilbert, a smart player who completed nearly 70% of his passes in 2008. Helping him tremendously is a fantastic offensive line, an elusive back in Gerald Law, and a very talented receiver corps led by 3rd year man Clyde McCullum, who catches everything thrown his way. Unfortunately for the Dragons, their offense doesn't line up on defense as well, because the Dragons really struggle to keep opponents out of the endzone. An already underwhelming defensive line took a hit as starting DT Cecil Holmes is out for the year, and will struggle against either the run or pass. They looked to build their LBs up in the draft, taking LOLB Ty Wheeler in the 1st round and Ron Summers ino the 2nd, and both these guys will help, but we intend on running the ball at these guys all day long. Their secondary is more talented than their front 7, but with the amount of running we plan on doing, we don't anticipate that being a big problem. If we can contain Gilbert and Law and keep the Dragons below 20 points, we should be able to take this one. Prediction: Kagoshima 24, Tokyo 17. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-11-2007, 09:41 AM	#13
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	Somebody at ESPN better snap up the rights to show all Warriors-Dragons games, because this was yet another thriller. The Dragons came out sharp in the 1st Q, not allowing us to do very much in the air or the ground, while moving it down field to score the games opening TD to make it 7-0. We move it down field through the air, but have to settle for a FG near the beginning of the 2nd Q to make it 7-3, Dragons. After forcing a 3-and-out we get it back and finally our ground game gets working, with Lewis single-handedly moving the ball up field for 48 yards over the drive, capping it off with a 2 yard rush for the TD, 10-7 Warriors with just over 2 minutes remaining. The Dragons show off their 2 minute offense, with QB Gilbert attacking the sidelines and getting his team in to the endzone with a TD pass that was originally ruled out of bounds before the review, 14-10 Dragons with under a minute remaining in the half. A good kick off return convinces us to attempt to go for it through the air and try and put some more points on the board, but this proves a big mistake as the Dragons come up with a pick and return it all the way for a TD, 21-10 entering the half. We dominate the 3rd Q both on defense and with our running game, but can't get in to the endzone, having to settle for 2 FGs, making it 21-16 entering the 4th Q. Finally in the 4th Q we find the endzone when Cook hits our rookie TE Casey with a 9 yard TD pass. We go for the 2 point conversion to level the scores, but are stopped short on the run to the left side, 22-21 Warriors for our first lead of the half. Tokyo get the ball in to our half of the field but have to settle for a FG attempt from 54 yards, which they make to regain the lead at 24-22 with just over 7 minutes remaining. We aren't able to get anything going and punt away the ball, only to have Dragons stud HB Law bust out a beautiful 54 yard TD run after breaking a tackle and getting some great blocking to give Tokyo a comfy 31-22 lead with just 2:56 remaining. We get the ball back looking for big gains by bringing in all our quickest receivers on downfield routes, but the Dragons lose track of our HB Lewis who catches a pass out of the backfield and outruns the coverage 64 yards down field for the TD! 31-29 Dragons with 1:52 left, we go for the onside kick, but Dragons recover. We still have 2 TDs and thanks to a goalline D stand on 3rd and inches we are able to force the long FG, but they nail the 54 yarder once again and we get the ball back at the 25 with just 35 seconds remaining and needing a TD. All set for yet another classic finish. Our first throw is under the coverage to a receiver who takes it 8 yards. We call a no huddle offense, and Cook drops back, lobs the ball to rookie 4th WR Slater who has some space from the defender... the covering corner leaps to knock down the ball but misses, and the very quick Slater makes the catch and runs all the way for the amazing 62 yard TD!!! 36-34 Warriors with 8 seconds left. We kick off then bring out our quarter D with prevent coverage, and the Dragons are unable to complete a pass. We win! Result: Kagoshima Warriors 36, Tokyo Dragons 34 __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-27-2007, 06:55 AM	#15
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	__________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-27-2007, 07:09 AM	#16
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The Miners have really had our number the last 2 seasons, knocking us out of the post-season both years. For whatever reason they've really had our number on both sides of the ball. This year would appear to be little different. The Miners have a strong defence led by a terrific secondary, and their front 7 - the biggest weakness for them the past few years - has been improved thanks to promising rookie DT Dave Massey, who loves to get to the QB. Offensively the Miners have handed the reigns back to QB Jamal Leon, who fell to 2nd on the depth chart last season after starting the year before. Leon, a scrambler with a good arm, has lots of help around him with RB John Bird and a great OLine, but will be missing top WR Ochuko Payton from an already thin WR crop. We'll be hoping to avoid a lot of long-passing situations by running the ball well and sending our WR on short routes to prevent our QB from putting up anything risky, because this secondary killed him in the post season last year, pulling down 4 picks. If we can get the ground game going and keep Nebraska under 24 points we have a chance, but I think the Miners will once again prevail. Prediction: Nebraska 27, Kagoshima 17 __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-27-2007, 09:09 AM	#17
MrBug708 Head Coach Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Whittier	How does this game handle on your PC? Any choppiness or lag time?

10-28-2007, 06:28 AM	#19
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	We finally do it! The monkey is off our backs! It felt great to finally take the Miners down, but it sure as hell wasn't easy. The game got off to a disastrous start, with us receiving and getting hit by two holding penalties to take us way back in our own territory. Then on third down Cook is hit while throwing and fumbles the ball. Nebraska recovers, and is in the endzone 2 snaps later, 7-0. We equalled it up later in the quarter when the Miners fumble a punt return to give us the ball in decent field position, and we march it in to the endzone. These were to be the last TDs of the game. Early in the 2nd quarter disaster strikes us yet again when Cook takes a hit and is helped off the field, not to return for the rest of the game. The Miners speedy D is shutting down our running game and nothing is happening through the air either for us, but the good news is that we are holding the Miners in check as well and enter the half with the scores locked at 7-7. The Miners had a chance to go up 10-7 entering the break, but their rookie kicker missed a 28 yarder in the final minute. It's easy to see why Leon rode the pine for the Miners last season after that first half as, outside of a nice pass or two, he is really erratic, over and under throwing on several occasions and trying to scramble when there just isn't anything there. The second half is much the same for both teams, with neither team getting a lot from their QB or HBs and the defensive units refuse to buckle. We manage 2 FGs in the Q while Nebraska hits 1. 13-10 Kagoshima. The 4th Q is just as ugly. Both teams trade numerous punts, but the Miners manage to get a FG to level the scores. With just over a minute left we get the ball near the 30 yard line on 3rd down, but we fail the 3rd down conversion when my backup QB throws a terrible pass behind his receiver, and we are forced to send our rookie kicker in to attempt a 49 yarder for the lead. He nails the spectacular kick with ease to give us the lead with about 1:20 remaining. Miners get the ball with one last drive, but our heavy zone D gives Miners QB Leon no targets, and 3 snaps in a row he tries to scramble for no avail! On 4th down he throws a pass but it's caught just short of the 1st down and we get the ball back and kneel out the clock! Woo-hoo! Definitely not a pretty game for either offence, but considering we pulled this game out without our starting QB and without anything much from our running game, I'm happy. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-28-2007, 06:46 AM	#21
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	__________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-28-2007, 06:49 AM	#22
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	Week 3 - Bye Week We get the week off, which is a bit of a shame really as we have zero injuries entering the week. Cook's injury that saw him miss 3 quarters last week was thankfully a minor one, and he's back at 100%. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-28-2007, 06:55 AM	#23
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	Takamatsu have been the door mats of the Japanese division, and that hasn't appeared to have changed this year, with 3 straight losses to begin the season. The Tide have a terrific offence led by cannon-armed QB Sammy Stafford, but defensively they are a poor team, and that has been the problem since their first year in the iNFL. They have improved their DLine, but are very, very weak in the secondary, and we'll be looking to exploit this tonight. Still, put a QB like Stafford behind an OLine like Takamatsu's, and you have a dangerous squad that is capable of scoring big. We'll need to keep them out of the endzone as much as possible to pull this win out. Prediction: Kagoshima 30, Takamatsu 27 __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-29-2007, 05:10 AM	#25
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	Poor Takamatsu QB Stafford. We absolutely destroyed Stafford and the Tide's passing game today, picking Stafford off 4 times (twice in the endzone), and sacking him for a fumble that we would return for a TD. Thanks to our smothering D and a brilliant 41 yard TD run by Lewis we entered the 2nd Q up 16-0. Our offence didn't click nearly as brilliantly for the rest of the game but our D for the most part held, outside of a few fantastic 2nd half passes by Stafford that he got passed our secondary. Game could have been a lot closer when late in the 4th, down 26-14, the Tide got the ball in to the redzone, but Stafford threw his 4th pick in to the endzone as Kagoshima CB Redmond nabbed his 3rd interception of the game! This effectively killed their slim chance of coming back tonight. Worryingly, Cook took another hit early in the 2nd quarter and had to come off once again, but turned out he was just shaken up and he was soon back in the action. I hope this isn't a sign of a potential injury problem. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce Last edited by Groundhog : 10-29-2007 at 05:27 AM.

10-29-2007, 05:37 AM	#27
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	__________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

10-29-2007, 05:45 AM	#28
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	It hardly seems fair. 4th game of the season, and we once again play against against a top-class QB. There may be no better QB in the iNFL than Tom Collins, and his Little Rock squad has been arguably the most dangerous team in the iNFL over the past 3 seasons, winning the superbowl last year. It's been a rocky start for the champs, but I expect they'll turn it around soon enough. They have a very experienced and talented offensive unit and go 2 or 3 deep just about everywhere on offence. They aren't nearly so deep or talented on defence, but these guys ain't no Takamatsu, either. A strong secondary and an OK DLine should prove a problem for us tonight. I expect us to pick up our first loss of the season as the Monsters will just run the score up too high for us to keep up with. Prediction: Little Rock 34, Kagoshima 17 __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce Last edited by Groundhog : 10-29-2007 at 04:59 PM.

10-30-2007, 03:27 AM	#29
Groundhog Coordinator Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Sydney, Australia	The two biggest surprises about this game were: A) we held the Monsters to 13 points, and B) we won?! A was directly responsible for B. The game started poorly with the Monsters moving the ball in to the endzone on their first drive with just 5 plays, all passes. It was quickly evident that our zone coverage just wasn't working for us as Little Rock QB Collins was reading our D with ease, so we decided to take a huge risk and start blitzing. The Monsters love to run with 3 or more receivers, so we sent our LBs after Collins, and to both team's surprise we started pressuring him, even with his usually great OLine. We ended the game with 7 sacks - nearly double what the Monsters had conceded in their first 4 games combined. Even so, this is still a great offence, and with as well as our D was playing we entered the half tied at 7 all after risking a 4th down conversion within FG range near the end of the half to instead look for the TD. It pays off, as Cook hits Osborne. The second half our D held, continually sacking and pressuring Collins and limiting to the Monsters to just two FGs in the 3rd, and we entered the 4th down 13-7. Neither team was moving the ball well, and we got the ball back with just under 5 minutes remaining, down by 6. Two nice passes get us in to FG range, and we nail the 35 yarder to reduce the deficit to a single FG with 1:39 left in the game. The Monsters get the ball back but aren't able to pick up the 1st, and using our time outs we manage to get the ball at our own 32 yard line with just under a minute left and no time outs. A few nice passes and we get the ball up field, but on 3rd down our receiver drops what would have been a competition that put us in range for a 30yd kick to tie the game, meaning that it's time for our rookie kicker to once again come through in the clutch for us with a 43 yarder to send it to overtime. He makes it! Ice runs through this man's veins! In overtime we receive, knowing that we need to win it now. I'm sure that the Monsters will work it in to FG range. We run a few plays, complete a 3rd down pass, and get the ball near the half way line. There the drive stalls, and we are forced to a 3rd and long. We line-up in the shotgun with all our receivers looking for big gains, and the coverage falls back in a prevent zone D, leaving HB Lewis to nab a pass under the coverage, and take it 37 yards up field to put us in comfy FG range! The rookie kicker comes back out, ices the kick, game over! Woot! A massive win against a premiere team, and all thanks to our pass rushing! The pass-orientated formations that the Monsters ran most of the game played a big hand here as it couldn't keep up with the 7 or 8 man blitzes we were bringing every so often. We got burnt a few times for first downs but thankfully nothing big, and this got us the win. __________________ Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. --Ambrose Bierce

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