Cleveland Browns 80's Dynasty

[pompey]

I’ve decided to take the plunge and write my first dynasty, which will follow my efforts as I take over Cleveland in 1980 and attempt to build a NFL powerhouse. I will be using historical rosters, with the X factor turned on.

House Rules / Settings

-Injuries 125
-X Factor On
-No trading except during the draft
-No signing players that have played for another team
-Coach signs rookies
-Resigning/ Renegotiating players is OK but only at full asking price
-No franchising two years in a row
- Cap setting 60 to 90


The main aim here is to build a team around a gameplan / philosophy so I don’t want too many restrictions on keeping players signed. I think it will be difficult enough to win based on attempting to build a team as follows:

Defensive Philosophy

I’ve had some success with game-planning defense in MP so I intend to concentrate my resources on fielding a top-notch (and hopefully) dominating defense.

DE – Absolutely key to my defensive gameplan. They need to be pass rushing studs and will be the position I give highest priority to.

DT – Two run stoppers here..

ILB – Looking for good coverage skills and a reasonable run defense rating.

OLB – Run defense from the WLB and coverage skills for the SLB.

CB – I’ll be looking to have three solid players on the roster with a focus on man-to-man, play diagnosis and interceptions.

S – Zone will obviously be the key attribute here. I’ll look for balanced attributes in other areas.

Ideally I want a defense that forces plenty of turnovers and stops the pass. Rex handles coverage settings while I make changes to personnel & basic defense settings.

Offensive Philosophy

We going to need to field a fairly cheap offense and so I have decided to try and develop the unit around SkyDog’s smashmouth gameplan.

QB – I want a short-passing QB with good sense rush and someone who is going to take care of the ball.

RB – In order to make the most of the gameplan I think I’ll need 3 reasonable RB’s. Ideally two will have good speed, elusiveness and hole recognition while the third will be a short run specialist. Catching skills will be a bonus but not a necessity.

FB – Run blocking is the priority here. This would also be a good spot to try and get special teams players.

TE- Run blocking will again be a priority but I’ll need at least one with good pass catching skills in order to be effectively use a short passing game.

WR’s – I want 3^rd down catching and avoid drops as a priority.

OL – Run blocking specialist’s.

The changes to the Skydog gameplan I intend to make will be to slightly reduce long passing on the misc settings screen but to increase the ratio of long to short passing on 3^rd down and 5 upwards. Run directions will be weighted towards the outside, passing will be increased in the opposition red zone and when we fall behind. Run % will not be increased when we’re in the lead. FB running & RB/FB/TE pass blocking will be dependent on personnel.

Drafting

Without the option of signing free agents I’m going to need to draft well. I will use combines as my primary tool for making selections and will assign position priorities as follows:

High (1^st round picks, first priority in building team)

RB, DE, CB, ILB

Medium (don’t mind taking them in the 1^st round but only if I have above positions covered or there is a dirge of talent available in above positions)

QB, WR, OT, S

Low (I am going to try and use low draft picks / Late-Fa’s to cover these positions)

FB, TE, OG, C, DT, OLB

That should cover the background. I think getting a team to win based on a strong defense and running game will be a big challenge as, in my experience; it’s usually pass happy teams that have success in this game. If anyone wants to make any suggestions / highlight flawed logic etc. as I progress then please be my guest.

[pompey]

The Team

Looks like the X factor has been kind to the Browns and my roster is ranked fourth in the NFL in the franchise value screen.

Quarterback

Brian Sipe, 9yr, 44/44
Paul McDonald, R, 14/53

Sipe has reasonable short passing skills but lacks timing, sense rush and 2 minute offense. He’ll do in the short-term but not an ideal QB for the system

McDonald on the other hands looks well suited to running the smashmouth offense. High potential in screen / short / medium / accuracy / timing and 3^rd down passing make him an interesting prospect. His downside is a low rating for sense rush but I might just have to make do with this. He also only has 7 known formations which could be a bigger problem given the one dimensional offense planned.

I’ll play them both in pre-season and decide on my starter after I’ve seen them both in action.

The Backfield

RB Greg Pruitt, 8, 54/54
RB Calvin Hill, 12, 38/38
RB Charles White, R, 28/40
FB Mike Pruitt, 5, 81/81
FB Cleo Miller, 7, 60/60

No real franchise back so this is gong to be an area I need to address. Greg Pruitt is getting old, Hill is past it and White is no more than a No2. The fullback situation means I’ll experiment with increasing their share of carries. Miller has great hands but is too light to convert to TE.

Receivers

TE Ozzie Newsome, 3, 58/79
FL Ricky Fleacher, 5, 49/49
SE Reggie Rucker, 11, 40/40

Newsome has excellent run blocking and catching skills. We’re going to need to keep him on the field and get the ball to him as much as possible. Neither Fleacher or Rucker have the required avoid drops / 3^rd down catching skills needed. We also have no depth below these three so I’ll have to reduce the multi receiver formations.
>
The Offensive Line
>
LT – Joel Pattern, R, 23/64 (run block 14/68)
LG – Joe Da Lamielleure, 8, 84/84 (94/94)
C – Tom De Leone, 9. 59/59 (73/73)
RG – Gerry Sullivan, 7, 45/54 (61/72)
RT – Cody Risien, 2, 36/68 (36/84)

Ideal line for running the ball. Sullivan has been converted from Right Tackle to Guard.

I picked the Browns purely because they are the team I support but, as it happens, they are a good fit with the smashmouth offense. With this QB / WR combination we are not going to be stretching the field too much anyhow.

Defensive Line

RDE – Lyle Alzado, 10, 69/69
RDT – Jerry Sherk, 11, 54/54
LDT – Ron Crews, R, 12/45
LDE – Elvis Franks, R, 35/70

Alzado and Franks are fine at DE although the former will need replacing soon. Crews is a concern but, as DT is a low priority position he’s the kind of player we’d end up having anyway. There is absolutely no depth on the line so any injuries to these four will be a big problem.
>
Linebackers

SLB – Clay Matthews, 3, 46/70
MLB – Dick Ambrose, 6, 68/68
WLB – Charlie Hall, 10, 67/67

No problems here and I also have plenty of depth

The Secondary
LCB – Clarence Scott, 10, 54/54
RCB – Oliver Davis, 4, 51/63
FS – Tom Darden, 9, 88/88
SS – Autry Beamon, 6, 80/80
Nickelback - Ron Bolton, 9, 44/44

Pretty talented bunch. Scott has low M2M and interceptions so will have to go eventually but Bolton has high ratings in both. Bolton might even start depending on how pre-season goes

This is a good defense and I’ll be disappointed if I can’t get it ranked top 5 in my first season.

Special Teams

K – Don Cockcroft, 14, 54/54
P – Stanley Hanks, R, 43/54

[pompey]

Pre-Season

Kansas 17- Cleveland 14
Detroit 17 – Cleveland 23
Cleveland 17 – Denver 14
Cleveland 10 – Chicago 6

A reasonable pre-season with the defense looking outstanding. Of the 54 points we conceded, only 14 of them were from opposition drives of over 40 yards. The rest were gifted by a combination of fumbles, blocked punts and interceptions deep in our own half. In the game against Detroit we held the Lions to less than 2 yards per pass play although, to be fair, we’ll have sturdier challenges than Eric Hipple ahead of us.

Brian Sipe is going to start at QB in week 1 – he played ok in pre-season but has an alarming tendency to be sacked and fumble the ball. Let’s hope this is due to reserves in the line otherwise we could be in trouble.

The running game pounded away but we only averaged 4 ypc in one of the games – again hopefully playing the starters 100% might help this statistic.

We have no injury concerns as we go into the our first game of the season against defending champions and arch-rival the Pittsburgh Steelers.

[pompey]

Week 1 – Pittsburgh 24 at Cleveland 17

We out gain the Steelers 387 to 327 yards but Sipe throws 2 interceptions which proved to be costly. The good news is that RB Greg Pruitt (15-125) and TE Ozzie Newsome (6-72) played well but, on defense, we got shredded by WR Lynn Swann who caught 6 for 112 yards and 2 td’s.

Week 2 – Cincinnati 16 at Cleveland 20

We very nearly blow a 17-3 half-time lead and it needed a goal line stand by the defense to save the day. 12-yr veteran RB Calvin Hill leads the way this week with 112 yards rushing and 2 TD’s. After two games our smashmouth offense leads the NFL in rushing with 167 yards per game at a healthy average of 5.14 ypc.

[CleBrownsfan]

I love this.... I'll be watching!

[pompey]

thanks. Hopefully the drive and the fumble will never take place. Although the way Sipe is coughing up the ball on contact I'm not ruling anything out.

Week 3 – Cleveland 27 at Oakland 3

27 points in the 1^st half give the Browns a convincing win over the Raiders. Sipe throws 2 TD’s and we run the ball 43 times for 173 yards. The defense restricted Oakland to just 160 yards and 1 from 13 on 3^rd down conversions. The defense is holding up the opposition well enough but only one takeaway in three games is a bit of a concern.

Week 4 – Baltimore10 at Cleveland 27

A straightforward victory over the winless expansion franchise from Baltimore. Sipe throws for 3tds and Greg Pruitt runs for 119 yards. We move to 3-1 and are in a 3-way tie with the Bengals and Steelers at the top of the AFC North. I'm amazed at how many yards we're getting with this gameplan - the offense is ranked 5th in total yardage and Pruitt (404yds) and Hill (265yds) are both on course to break 1000 yards rushing.

[pompey]

Week 5 –Cleveland 16 at New England 20

We shoot ourselves in the foot. One blocked field goal and only 1 td from 4 visits to the red zone allowed New Englandto snatch victory in the last minute. Patriots QB Steve Grogan puts together an 11 play, 98 yard drive in the final 2 minutes to steal the game from the Browns. The Patriots (4-1) move to the top of the AFC East while Cleveland fall a game behind Pittsburgh in the North.

Week 6- Miami 13 at Cleveland17

I’m getting the distinct feeling that we’re not going to be too involved in any blow-outs with this team. We hang on for a win due to a spirited defensive performance and a fair bit of luck. It was raining in Clevelandl and the running game suffered – we ran for 89 yards off 33 carries. It’s clear I’m going to need a plan B for bad weather so in future I’m thinking of switching to Skydog’s west coast game plan in these situations.

[pompey]

We head in the bye-week with the team summary as follows:

[pompey]

OK, so compared to the stated plan the key points are:

-We’re running the ball lots and not doing a bad job of it.

-The passing game has high comp % and is not too bad on yards per attempt.

-Sipe is taking good care of the ball and has surpassed expectations.

-Greg Pruitt is running well, hasn’t fumbled yet but, surprisingly, is also averaging 10 yards per target receiving. I need to get the ball passed to him more and so will reduce RB pass block percentage.

-We’re struggling to get the ball to Ozzie Newsome. Not sure how to solve this and any ideas would be welcome. I’ve reduced multi-receiver sets and currently have misc long passing set at 35-40-15-7-3.

-3^rd down conversion rate is excellent but we’re getting bogged down in the red zone. Maybe need to look at the adjustments here.

-Basically Skydog’s smashmouth plan is doing exactly what it says on the tin.

-The defense is doing a good ‘bend don’t break’ job but the lack of turnovers is just not good enough. This is the same problem I’m having with this gameplan in the HFL (Bears) but in the UFL (Shreveport) we’re forcing turnovers for fun. No idea why there's a difference.

-The smashmouth offense is also keeping the opposition off the field as demonstrated by being ranked 4^th in rushes and 3^rd in pass attempts against us.

-Special Teams has been a bit of a disaster. We keep getting kicks and punts blocked and I have no idea why. Could be roll of dice or maybe something I’ve missed. Our long snapper seems fine but we are fielding a rookie punter so maybe this has something to do with it.

[pompey]

Cleveland 41 at St Louis 3

Great performance for the D who run in two scores against the 4-3 Rams. Opposition QB Vince Ferragamo has a rough day, getting sacked six times and throwing three interceptions.

Seattle 17 at Cleveland 14

Not so good. Despite converting 10 of 14 3^rd downs we only score 14 points. Sipe fumbles twice and throws a pick as we somehow lose. Seattle gained 79 yards passing but ran the ball at will against us.

Cleveland 7 at Pittsburgh 30

We might just need a few of these Steelers to retire before we get a chance of winning the AFC North. Bradshaw, Swann, Harris, Stallworth, Ham, Blunt and Shell give us a good kicking. QB Sipe throws 2 interceptions and completes just 13 of 32 passes.

[pompey]

Cleveland 42 at Baltimore 7

I make a few changes to the offensive gameplan (move long passing to 35-35-20-7-3, increase passing in opp red zone) which seem to pay dividends. WR Reggie Rucker finishes the game with 7 receptions for 140 yards and 1 touchdown. As an added bonus WR Ricky Feacher comes up with a 78 yard punt return.

At the moment we’re in a three horse race for the final wildcard spot with the Jets and Colts. The Steeler (9-1), Titans / Oilers (8-2), Chargers (8-2) and Broncos (8-2) are the class teams in the conference.

Houston 0 at Cleveland 42

We run the ball 40 times for 95 yards yet still manage to pass for 345 yards. Brian Sipe completes 24 of 28 for 357 yards and 4 tds. The new gameplan has only been in action against expansion teams but looks promising. I have also toned down the dime defense in the hope of being a bit more effective against the run but the Texans playing catch-up were never really going to test this. The Jets lose so we’re in a wildcard spot and also up to third in the power rankings behind Pittsburgh and Denver.

Cleveland 24 at Arizona 17

CB Oliver Davis returns an interception for a TD and this proves to be the difference between the teams. The need for 2 good running backs has been highlighted in recent weeks, Calvin Hill is getting a lot of carries but is averaging a yard per carry less than Pruitt. We’re in a wildcard spot but still level with the Colts on 8-4.

[pompey]

Cleveland 13 at New York Jets 24

Ffs, rather than talk about the game, here’s what happened:

4-9-CLE17 (1Q: 08:51) Stanley Hanks punted and it was blocked by Stan Blinka. NJY John Sullivan recovered the ball at the CLE08.

4-8-NJY45 (1Q: 03:03) Chuck Ramsey punted 46 yards. Oliver Davis returned the kick 16 yards to the CLE25. Tackled by Guy Bingham. Ball was fumbled and recovered by NJY Guy Bingham at the CLE25.

4-3-NJY23 (2Q: 11:29) Don Cockroft attempted a 40 yard field goal and it was blocked by Abdul Salaam. NJY Wes Roberts recovered the ball at the NJY38.

4-10-CLE27 (2Q: 00:02) Stanley Hanks punted 45 yards. Bobby Jackson returned the kick 72 yards for a TOUCHDOWN! New York 20, Cleveland 0

My kick holder is rated 96, long snapper 82 and gunners 76 and 68. how the hell can we have so many blocked punts & kicks in a season? We must be up to about 7 now including pre-season. Unbelievable.

Buffalo 17 at Cleveland 24

Close game with the Bills in which turnovers proved desicive. The Browns defense recovered a fumble and intercepted QB David Humm twice in the victory

Cleveland 29 at Cincinnati 9

A comfortable win over the Bengals who had star QB Ken Anderson out injured. Calvin Hill rushes for over 100 yards and CB Lawarence Johnson makes one interception and forces a fumble in a solid defensive display. We also get another blocked kick – my long snapper is dust in the off-season.

We’re 10-5 and currently hold the last wildcard berth. We still need to beat the 49ers in the last game or hope that the Patriots and Colts both slip up.

San Francisco 27 at Cleveland 24

Joe Montana throws a 69 yard pass to Dwight Clark with just minutes left in the game to give the 49ers a come from behind win. The Colts also win so the Browns finish 10-6 and miss out on the play-offs.

[pompey]

Great season statistically with both the offense and defense finishing top 10 for yards and scoring.

Sipe did better than expected and, unless he takes a rating hit, he'll start next year.

[pompey]

SUPERBOWL XV

Dallas Cowboys 10 v Pittsburgh Steelers 14

The Steelers threepeat, winning their fifth championship. Terry Bradshaw (22-35-274-1td-0int) wins the MVP award but it's the defense that wins them the game. The Cowboys are forced to punt on seven occasions and only convert 4 of 13 third downs

SEASON AWARDS

Player of the Year - Terry Bradshaw, QB, Pittsburgh
Offensive Player of the Year - Dan Fouts, QB, San Diego
Defensive Player of the Year - Elvin Bethea, DE, Tennessee
Offensive Rookie of the Year - Korey Woods, RB, Atlanta
Defensive Rookie of the Year - Wayne Eischeid, LB, Jacksonville

The Browns have three All-League 1st team players. FB Mike Pruitt, G Joe De Lamiellemure and and S Thom Darden.

[pompey]

1981

Off-Season

As expected RB Calvin Hill retires.
Unfortunately no notable Steelers retire

Paul McDonald goes to the summer league but it doesn’t appear to do him much good. He comes back looking decidedly like a career back-up.

We sign a new defensive co-ordinator and resign our scout.

The Draft

DE Dexter Manley is the top rated player in the draft, Neil Lomax and Mike Ford the top QB’s. There seems to be plenty of depth at RB and I’m hoping James Brooks falls to me at 20. I plan to take a RB, CB, DT, DE and P in the draft and possibly a QB.

Jacksonville makes Dexter Manley the first pick of the draft. Ford goes at No 3 to Detroit while Lomax (Chicago), Putsche (NY Jets) and Ludwig (Denver) are the other QB’s to go in the first round.

1.20 RB James Brooks
Sixth RB taken in the round but he was No 4 on my board. He’s underrated by my scout with good speed and agility.

2.22 CB Rob Murphy
Bit of a reach but he has good combines and is seen as very underrated by my scout.

3.21 DE Kendrick Cowley
Good speed and bars. I expect him to be a little overrated but still looks to be value in the 3^rd.

4.20 QB Wade Wilson
Wilson falls to the 4^th and I decided to take a chance on him. Bars look very low and he is only 9% developed. However, his combine scores are good, especially solecismic / position drill.

5.22 WR Byron Franklin
Good strength & position spec suggest Franklin might be a useful possession receiver.

6.21 DT Ron Simmons 7.20 P Joe Ogden>

Post Camp

Brooks 39/51 to 43/54
Murphy 28/50 to 30/47
Crowley 17/63 to 20/55
Wilson 7/23 to 12/35
Franklin 24/59 to 24/52
Simmons 19/27 to 20/30
Ogden 31/45 to 32/42

Murphy and Crowley are concerns but at least Brooks like he’ll be a class player. Wilson is the biggest jumping rookie in the class and looks like an interesting project.

[pompey]

Pre-Season

Atlanta 7 at Cleveland 10
First FGA of the season gets blocked. Marvellous.

Cleveland 20 at Dallas
Rookie WR Byron Franklin catches 6 for 102 for 1td.

Cleveland 26 at New Orleans 6
Sipe plays the whole game and we win easily.

Washington 28 at Cleveland 23
James Brooks runs for 168 yards from 26 carries. Promising pre-season from the 1^st round pick. We have an extra point blocked.

1981 Starting Line-up

Offense

QB Brian Sipe, 10yr, 45/45
RB James Brooks, R, 44/54
FB Mike Pruitt, 6, 80/80
TE Ozzie Newsome, 4, 79/79
FL Bryon Franklin, R, 31/52
SE Ricky Feacher, 6, 48/48
LT Joel Pattern, 2, 34/68
LG Joe De Lamilleure, 9, 84/84
C Tom DeLeone, 10, 58/58
RG Gerry Sullivan, 8, 51/51
RT Cody Risien, 3, 53/56

Rookies RB Brooks and WR Franklin look to have strengthened the offense while 2^nd year Tackle replaces the ageing Doug Dieken on the line. We need Sipe to play as well as he did last year.

Defense

LDE Lyle Alzado, 11, 61/61
LDT Jerry Sherk, 12, 44/44
RDT Ron Crews, 2, 21/45
RDE Elvis Franks, 3, 46/70
SLB Clay Matthews, 4, 67/67
MLB Dick Ambrose, 7, 64/64
WLB Don Goode, 8, 56/56
LCB Clarence Scott, 11, 48/48
RCB Oliver Davis, 5, 59/59
SS Thom Darden, 10, 82/82
FS Autry Beamon, 7, 78/78

Solid unit but the ageing Alzado, Sherk and Scott could all be in their last effective seasons.

Season

Week 1 – Cincinnati 27 at Cleveland 31

Nail bitter. The good news is rookie RB James Brooks runs for 147 yards and 3tds from 23 carries, the bad news is he fumbles it three times to give the Bengals short field position on two of their touchdown drives.

Week 2 – Cleveland 13 at Minnesota14

One of those games. Anytime we had a big play it got called back for a penalty. We shut Minnesota out in the second half but just couldn’t move the ball into field goal range in the final quarter

Week 3 – NY Jets 20 at Cleveland 17

I could cry. We drive the ball to the Jets 4 yard line with 2 mins to go. Brooks fumbles. We force them to punt but return to the ball into field goal range. Field goal blocked. What the f*&k is going on here? That’s three blocked kick attempts in seven games (including pre-season) on top of what seemed like 20 last year. I hate this team, I’m going to cut everyone, sack the coach and relocate to Baltimore.

Week 4 – Tennessee 27 at Cleveland 21

Might as well write the whole season off now. We lose purely courtesy of 11 penalties. Our head coach is rated fair for discipline and so he’ll have to go at the end of the season. I hate this aspect of the game – there’s no point in having a coach with any other qualities than discipline as far as I can see. edit- ok maybe i'm overreacting. no-one said it would be easy getting the Browns to win.