Village Challenge II - season 2040

[Darkiller]

Hi guys,
It's been a long time but I decided to play season 2040 regarless of what happens next to our VCII.

I'm open with continuing it, tell me what you think.

[Darkiller]

Village Challenge II

Season 2040

For 2039 :
Team Performance : 95/100
Franchise Value : 76/100
Profit Loss : 100/100
Difficulty : 100/100

YEAR END SCORE : 97

3 players retired from the Cleveland Browns this offseason :
T Rondell Finch
DE Gene Woodson
CB Steven Blair.

CB Jeffrey Maug was designated as the Franchise player.

Please Welcome to the NFL's Hall of Fame :
Guard Ben Vanderclute.
He was the #1 overall pick in the 2019 draft which i ran so i'm very glad today to see
him being inducted in the Hall of Fame.
Ben played 17 seasons in the league, 14 with us.
In his career he earned All-League honors 5 times (4 time being a 1st-teamer).

We stand $80M under the cap when Free-Agency starts and despite our bids, we lose a bunch of
starters that were FAs.
Among them Center Burt Carlson who had been a cornerstone of the Sammie McNight Championship era.

Still we retain some key players and we enter the draft with 42 players already signed and
$42,460,000 under the cap.

2040 NFL Draft :
we own the #1 and #9 picks in the first round.
If I don't find someone truly worth the #1 overall pick, I'll look to trade down.
The top two players in the draft are Tackles...and we already have 3 excellent one on the roster.

We trade 9th year vet T Gilbert Reedy to the Chicago Bears for their Center Bobby Gonzalez
(5 year vet, best Center in the NFL !). It's a fine trade for us as we were short with only a
backup center on the roster (Alan Peterson) and we will now be able to select one of the top two
Tackles with our first pick. We will also save about $8M in the process...

Rnd 1 #1 - Brock Daniels, T, Arizona
Rnd 1 #9 - Randy Conway, CB, Buffalo
Rnd 2 - Mitchell Mare, CB, North Texas
Rnd 2 - Arnie Jenkins, CB, Penn State
Rnd 3 - Eugene Butkus, LB, South Carolina
Rnd 5 - Buddy Jackson, LB, Texas A&M
Rnd 6 - Riddick Tomich, TE, Arkansas
Rnd 7 - Richie Pool, T, Mississippi

The last three players chosen (by the scouts) won't be signed.
This is a good draft for us because we've strengthen our secondary (much needed) and drafted
a superb player with the #1 overall pick (Brock Daniels).

The Browns sold 99,900 season tickets for the season
out of a capacity of 99,900.

We add a bunch of FA players to finalize our squad and get ready for training camp and pre-season.
At $2.981.680M, we stand as the most profitable NFL Franchise.

Cohesion :

Passing 94 (excellent)
Offensive Line 67 (very good)
Defensive Front 81 (excellent)
Secondary 62 (very good)

We close the Pre-Season 3-1 playing some fine football though the starters only player in game1.
The problem is we have WAY TOO MANY injured players going into the regular season and this
concerns me a lot.
Most notably, starting Tackle Kenney McGwire.

Injury Report:

Kennedy McGwire, T - Dislocated Knee, full strength in 2-3 Months
Oscar Ekstrom, LB - Sprained Knee, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
John Jacoby, DE - Sprained Knee, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Will Norton, S - Hyperextended Elbow, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Lonnie Watson, S - Sprained Ankle, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Mack Devine, RB - Sprained Neck, full strength in 0-2 Weeks
Chester James, S - Sprained Back, full strength in 3-5 Weeks
Jay Cherry, FB - Bruised Ribcage, full strength in 0-2 Weeks

[Darkiller]

Regular season :

W1 Browns @ Buccaneers (13-3 last year) -1pt underdog : L 17-23 (OT)

We held the lead until late in the 4th quarter when the bucs tied the game with a successful
two-point conversion. In overtime, both offenses struggled but the Tampa taking the best out of our
secondary at one time, and that was it.
Tampa has a strong team and should go deep in the playoffs this year again.

McNight 19/43 236 yards 1 TD 2 INTs
Lambuth (Ainsworth injured on the 1st snap) 23 for 94 yards
Vance 8 catches for 91 yards 1 TD
Jessie had 2 sackes and Buckner had 1.5
Norton had 14 tackles and Bellamy 10

W2 Browns (0-1) @ Packers (1-0) -3pt fav : L 31-34
Again we fail to win a close game. Two losses to start off the season, this is not good. We now
have an all-important game coming up against a divisional rival.

McNight 21/38 282 yards 1 TD 2 INTs
Ainsworth 16 for 80 yards 2 TDs
Armour 6 catches for 120 yards
Goldhammer had 1 interception
Elkstrom had 9 tackles.

W3 Browns (0-2) Vs Bengals (2-0) -4pt fav : L 20-27
We drop a third in a row despite a solid game by Sammie and Derek. The Browns are just not playing up to the level they could and SHOULD be. We're in a desperate situation early in the season.

McNight 17/24 201 yards 2 TDs 0 INT
Ainsworth 22 for 102 yards
Lewinsky 4 catches for 40 yards 1 TD
Wayne had an interception
Stiehl had 12 tackles.

W4 Browns (0-3) @ Steelers (2-1) -4pt dog : W 15-13
As ugly as it gets but still our first win of the year, at last. Sammie was hurt early in the 1st quarter so Antoine Parrish came in and, though not brilliant, led the team to the win. WR Stanley
Lewinsky also had to leave early after a 16 yard catch on which he broke his nose.

Parrish 10/20 118 yards 1 TD 1 INT
Ainsworth 23 for 51 yards
Vance 3 catches for 107 yards !
Ward had 2 sacks, Newman had 1.5 and Jacoby had one also.

W5 Browns (1-3) Vs Jaguars (2-2) -5pt fav : W 24-14
At last a good solid win thanks to a great game from future Hall of Famer Sammie McNight. His combo with WR Lewinsky was back to its old form and it showed during the game.

McNight 29/45 375 yards 3 TDs 0 INT (NFL offensive Player of the Week)
Ainsworth 19 for 72 yards
Lewinsky 7 catches for 97 yards 2 TDs
Wayne had an interception
Wilkerson had 1 sack

W6 Browns (2-3) Vs Titans (1-4) -10pt fav : W 34-10
our first blow-out win of the year and our 3rd in a row that brings us back to .500 going into the bye week. After an desastrous start, the teams looks better now. Hopefully we will build on that to grab a playoff spot since everything's still possible.
The Ravens are currently atop the division with an impressive 5-0 record.

McNight 21/39 202 yards 3 TDs 1 INT
Ainsworth 18 for 81 yards
Vance 5 catches for 60 yards (Lewinsky had 3 catches including 2 for TDs)
Goldhammer had 3 interceptions ! (robbed of the Defensive POW honor)
Ward had 1.5 sacks.

W7 bye

W8 Browns (3-3) Vs Steelers (2-4) -4pt fav : W 38-22
Sammie goes down after attempting and completing his only pass of the day (a 48 yarder to Vance) with a hip pointer (he's out for 3-5 weeks !)
Antoine Parrish takes over and leads the team to an important victory. The manner was there.

Parrish 15/24 242 yards 1 TD 0 INT
Ainsworth 23 for 117 yards 3 TDs (NFL offensive player of the week).
Vance 5 catches for 126 yards
Maugh had 2 interceptions
Stiel and Wilkerson each had one sack
Norton had 10 tackles

With McNight down, Parrish will make his 1st start in 3 years next week against the Jaguars.
This will mark Parrish's 13th start in his 9 year NFL career ; He has thrown 29 TDs for 21 INTs.

W9 Browns (4-3) @ Jaguars (4-3) -2pt dog : W 48-26
After being down 0-17 we come back strong and start a shoutout. Ainsworth plays some great football and Parrish has a wonderful 2nd half after a sluggish debut.

Parrish 13/22 198 yards 3 TDs 1 INT
Ainsworth 17 for 111 yards 2 TDs
Lewinsky 3 catches for 44 yards (dislocated knee...out 2/3 months !)
Weber had two receiving TDs.
Jenkins had 2 interceptions
Jacoby had 2 sacks and Wilkerson, Marsh and Murray each had 1.
Bellamy had 9 tackles.

With his 2 TD day, Derek Ainsworth is now the team's All-time leader in rushing TDs with 109, surpassing Hall of Famer Donnie Sheen's 108. great accomplishment.
On a sad note, the league's all-time leader in receiving TDs, Stanley Lewinsky, blew his knee
during the game and is probably out for the reminder of the year.

At the halfway mark the AFC Central shapes like this :
Baltimore Ravens 7-1
Cincinnati Bengals 6-3
Cleveland Browns 5-3
Jacksonville Jaguars 4-4
Pittsburgh Steelers 3-5
Tennessee Titans 2-6

At 5-3 we are in the conference's top 6 and are currently "playoffable".

W10 Browns (5-3) Vs Raiders (3-5) -8pt fav : W 28-11
a 6th win in a row ! great job by our secondary that intercepted the the Raiders QB 5 times !

Parrish 19/25 330 yards 2 TDs 1 INT
Ainsworth 24 for 88 yards 2 TDs
Armour 6 catches for 117 yards
Norton had 3 interceptions (NFL Defensive Player of the week)
Goldhammer, Jenkins and Maugh each had one interception
Buckner had 1 sack
Bellamy had 9 tackles

W11 Browns (6-3) @ Titans (3-6) -4pt dog : W 45-25
The Derek Ainsworth show !!! 4 TDs today and 11 over last four games !
unstoppable.

Parrish 21/35 294 yards 2 TDs 2 INTs
Ainsworth 22 for 145 yards 4 TDS (NFL offensive player of the week)
Vance 7 catches for 172 yards 1 TD
Watson, Conway and Jenkins each had 1 intereption (our secondary had intercepted the opposite QBs 8 times over last two games !)

A.J. Stiehl, LB - Torn Biceps Muscle, full strength in 2041 (placed on IR)

We are now in a 3 place tie with the Bengals and Ravens for 1st place in the division.
Sammie comes back in the starting lineup after a 3-week forced rest.
Parrish played some very good football and won in all of his starts.

W12 Browns (7-3) @ Bengals (7-3) -5pt dog : L 7-38
ouch. the 7 game winning streak comes to an end with this tough loss. We were completely lost on the field and an ineffective Sammie McNight was benched in the 3rd quarter for Antoine Parrish (who didn't get much success running the offense either).
The entire offense SUCKED big time today !

McNight 4/13 37 yards 0 TD 2 INTs before being benched.
Parrish 4/8 56 yards 1 TD
Ainsworth 11 for 22 yards (what's that...)
Anthony 2 catches for 32 yards 1 TD
No interception and no sack in the game.
This one has to be one of the worst I've ever seen statistically speaking.

W13 Browns (7-4) Vs Bears (3-8) -11pt fav : W 24-7
Against a weak opponent, the Browns came back strong from last weekend's sour loss.
That was vintage Sammie McNight who erase doubts with his performance today.

McNight 23/40 340 yards 3 TDs 1 INT
Ainsworth 16 for 59 yards
Armour 9 catches for 130 yards 1 TD (a career best for Justin).
Goldhammer had 6 tackles.
No intercetion nor Sacks for the 2nd week in a row...

We now face the division leaders Baltimore Ravens in an all-important game. A loss this week against them would probably kill our last chances of winning the Central division.

W14 Browns (8-4) @ Ravens (9-3) -5pt dog : W 27-7
That is very good. Our 9th win in 10 weeks as we catch up on the Ravens with this big win on their own backyards.
Sammie had to leave the game at the half after a hit, he was playing superbly. His condition is fine.

McNight 13/17 162 yards 2 TDs 0 INT
Parrish 13/19 132 yards 1 TD 0 INT
Ainsworth 29 for 78 yards
Armour 6 catches for 60 yards 1 TD
Goldhammer, Wayner and Norton each had 1 interception
Ward and Jacoby each had a sack

Troy Goldhammer, CB - Broken Wrist, full strength in 2041 (will be placed on IR)

W15 Browns (9-4) @ Seahawks (8-5) -2pt dog : W 24-20
An incredible win...
after being down 0-17 we come back and tie the game 17-17. we then take a 24-20 lead in the 4th quarter but a late rally by the Hawks put us in trouble with less than 30 seconds to be played.
The hail mary pass is intercepted in the end-zone with no time left as we win our 10th game in 11 weeks.

McNight 26/42 330 yards 2 TDs 2 INTs
Ainsworth 16 for 32 yards (Derek has been slowing down in the last few weeks)
Armour 8 catches for 139 yards (really stepping up in Lewinsky's absence)
Watson and Maugh each had an interception
Jacoby had 1 sack
Bellamy had 8 tackles.

QB Sammie McNight has passed Hall of Famer Joe Marais for 2nd place All-Time in career TDs !
Top 5 All-time
Blaine Davies 397
Sammie McNight 348
Joe Marais 343
Anthony Battle 322
Don Wynn 321

The 350 TD mark in now in reach for Sammie with two games left on the schedule.

W16 Browns (10-4) Vs Mission (7-7) -8pt fav : W 34-27
We had to win that one and hoped for a Baltimore win in Cincy to stay alive for the Central title. All this happened as Baltimore stunned Ciny 35-32 !
Ainsworth injured his toe on the first play from scrimmage and did not return, he's questionnable for the season finale.

McNight 18/44 295 yards 4 TDs 3 INTs
Lambuth 15 for 64 yards
Vance 7 catches for 144 yards 2 TDs
Elkstrom had 1 interception
Buckner had 3 sacks (!), Jacoby had 2, Ward had 1.5 and Bellamy had one as well

The Bengals are leaders at 11-4, same record as us but they beat us twice so they hold the tiebreaker. We must beat the Ravens and hope for a Bengals loss in Jacksonville to win the division.
This is a tough season in the AFC as only two clubs (Spangles & Browns) have secured a playoff berth with 1 week remaining.
As crazy as it seems, there is a possible scenario where the Bengals could be eliminated at 11-5!

W17 Browns (11-4) Vs Ravens (10-5) -3pt fav : W 17-3
We conclude the regular season with a 12th win in the last 13 games played and this is awesome.
Now waiting for the result of the Bengals/Jaguars game.
We can be proud of ourselves of finishing 12-4 after that 0-3 start. This team has a lot of heart.

McNight 19/26 218 yards 0 TD 0 INT
Ainsworth 23 for 96 yards 2 TDs
McWilliams 5 catches for 74 yards
Watson had 1 interception
Buckner had 1 sack
Bellamy had 8 tackles.

Allen Price, CB - Shoulder Tendonitis, full strength in 2041

With his 2 TD day, RB Derek Ainsworth moved into 2nd position All-Time for career rushing TDs !
All-Time top 5 Rushing Touchdowns :
Rex Rabach 118
Clarence Ponds 117
Derek Ainsworth 117
Kerry Woods 115
Reuben Hammond 114

Derek should have no problem becoming the All-time leader as early as next year.

Cincinnati beat Jacksonville easily 33-13. we finish 2nd in the division.
The Bengals went from 4-12 last year to 12-4 Division champs this season...It is the first time since 2032 that we don't win the AFC Central.
Nothing to be ashamed of though, we end up 12-4 and are in the playoffs again !

[Darkiller]

POST-SEASON

Wild card games

Las Vegas @ Arizona : 14-45
Baltimore @ Indianapolis : 14-21
Saint Louis @ Green-Bay : 14-27

Cleveland Browns (12-4) Vs Buffalo Bills (10-6) -7pt fav : W 41-20
Whaou Sammie !!!
the future Hall of Famer saved his best performance of the year for the playoffs...
note : the Bills QB in the game (as he's been for the past 7 years) is Leo James, a young stud I drafted in the 1st round 13 years ago who played his first 4 seasons with us in Cleveland as a backup to McNight. The young guy had a fine career eventually...

McNight 28/45 347 yards 4 TDs 0 INT (NFL offensive player of the week !) you bet...
Ainsworth 16 for 79 yards 1 TD
Armour 7 catches for 87 yards 1 TD
Jenkins, Watson and Price each had an interception
Ward had 3 sacks, Buckner had 1.5 and Jessie had one for himself.
Bellamy had (his usual) 8 tackles

Divisional Playoffs

Arizona @ Houston : 16-6
Indianapolis @ Cincinnati : 26-20
Green-Bay @ Greensboro : 7-27

Cleveland Browns (13-4) @ Charlottesville Spangles (13-3) -3pt fav : L 25-30
too late, too bad.
Down the whole game, we've been trying to catch up all the time and we finally missed our chance on 4th and 6 on the Spangles 26 yards line with 30 seconds to play when McNight got sacked and the game was over.
For the first time in 6 years, the Browns won't play in the AFC Championship game.

AFC Championship
Indianapolis @ Charlotteville : 24-37

NFC Championsip
Arizona @ Greensboro : 16-35

SUPER BOWL 2040
(All-Expansion Bowl...)

Charlotteville Spangles Vs Greensboro Generals : 10-13
The GENERALS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME !

Individual Season stats :

QB McNight 13/13 2817 yards 21 TDs 13 INTs rating : 83,8 (15th NFL)
Rating is lowest of Hall of Fame career since he became a starter 13 years ago in 2028.
Career rating is 95,0 -All time best-

RB Ainsworth 16/16 1132 yards (15th NFL) 4.0/c 15 TDs (3rd NFL)
1132 yards is personal best since season 2034 & 15 TDs is best since rookie season in 2031.

WR Herman Vance 15/16 60 catches for 1094 yards (9th NFL) 7 TDs (tied 3rd NFL)
WR Byron Armour 9/16 55 catches for 894 yards (26th NFL) 6 TDs

LB Todd Bellamy 105 tackles (17th NFL)
DE John Jacoby 15/15 9.0 sacks
DE Kelvin Ward 16/16 8.5 sacks
DT Roy Buckner 16/16 8.0 sacks
CB Troy Golhammer 13/13 6 Interceptions (tied 6th NFL)
S Lonnie Watson 14/16 5 interceptions

Team Stats :

Passing Offense : 261,6 yards/g (3rd NFL)
Rushing Offense : 131,5 yards/g (8th NFL)

Passing Defense : 207,7 yards/g (8th NFL)
Rushing Defense : 105 yards/g (8th NFL)

Points scored : 433 (3rd NFL)
Points outscored : 307 (12th NFL)

No Individual honors.

Memo :
S Rufus Winslett was drafted by us in 2035 in the first round (6th overall), played two seasons in Cleveland (did not start a game) before being released/traded (?) to the Milwaukee Mission in 2037 where he's been a starter in each of the past 4 seasons.
Today he is the All-League 1st team Safety and the NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
but more amazing, he just set the NFL's All-time single season record with 13 interceptions !!!

Ok, this is it.
No SuperBowls this time for the Browns, it looks like it is the "starting of the end" of the McNight era though I believe he still has 2 more good years ahead of him in his Hall of Fame career.

GO BROWNS !

[Darkiller]

Royal, do you still want me to send you the file ?

[WebEwbank]

Great comeback from the 0-3 start.

I'm interested in continuing, and open to some house rules if that is what people want to do.

[Darkiller]

I would definitely love to continue playing it with you fine people
no prob for house rules !

-------

2040 Erik S. Johan Award winner :

Safety Lonnie Watson
4 year vet, taken #3 overall in 2037 draft.
14/16 72 tackles 23 assists 5 interceptions.

-------
rookie report :

2nd round pick CB Arnie Jenkins started just one game and still managed to hold on 4 interceptions !

[Subby]

Great season Darkiller...

I would love to continue, but I think I have stretched myself to the limit right now with on-line commitments. Besides...I am in too deep with 2K1. Going back to FOF2 is a major letdown for me now (except for the interface, which rules).

Anyway...I really enjoyed playing with you guys. Maybe once TCY comes out we could do this again?

[Darkiller]

that's fine Subby, no problem.
It was great to have you on the Challenge and your job on the VCII site has been amazing...thank you so much !
I'm definitely ready to start something when TCY is out !

Darkiller, nice to see that you got this back going. I too am stretched pretty thin as I've even backed off some of my duties with the Wildfire. Good luck in the continued success of the VCII Browns!

[Darkiller]

thanks Royal,
It was great to play with you.
I understand it is now difficult to lead so many things up front.
It is the same for me actually so I have no idea since you and Subby want out what I'll do with the VCII.

I'll re-post here when I have some more news/ideas on what to do.

are you guys still ok to select an All-Time team ?
I think that would be a great way to end this properly since we've played it such a long time all together.

Yes, I think voting on an all time team would be a great way to close things out for me.

what's that new nickname ??? lol

[MIJB#19]

I wonder how many people are left that still play FOF2...
I know I do.

[Darkiller]

count me in buddy

[MIJB#19]

BTW Dark, you still wanna go to the World Bowl?

[Darkiller]

Yup, I really want to go there.

[MIJB#19]

Originally posted by Darkiller:
Yup, I really want to go there.

Do you have tickets?
Mine have already been delivered by the Dutch postal service.

[Darkiller]

oh you've already ordered ?
I haven't yet but plan to do so within the next 3 weeks.

What seats did you buy then ?

[MIJB#19]

11th row, somewhere between the middle line and the 20-yd lines, 1st ring. (prize: 34 Euro)

I ordered 4 tickets, however, 2 of the 3 others (a friend and my oldest sister) who wanted to go with me, seem to be unable to go on June 30th. Both say they might be able to go in the end, but I have no definate "yes" or "no" of both of them yet.

[Darkiller]

all right...good.
i'll make sure to have my tickets pretty soon.
I'll let you know when I have them in hands.

[MIJB#19]

all right.

BTW, when are you guys to make that VCII Team of the Century?

[Darkiller]

I'll "work" on the all-time VCII team this WE probably, hoping to come up with a first list as soon as monday.

Subby, TRO, Syrinx, Web : please come up with your All-Time roster whenever you want.
We will compare our lists and mix them for a result that should please everyone.

[Alf]

back in time

[Darkiller]

I miss that stuff...

I'd like to get into a TCY/FOF thing where each has a specific role.
Actually I want something where I can have access to end-of the year TCY files and make predictions for those who draft with it on FOF...

[TRO]

Alf reminded me of the Browns during daychat. Ah, the memories.

Wade - all of these Browns fans stand during their games, I promise!

[Alf]

Oh fuck, that's why I discovered FOFC 10 years ago. The Browns Village Challenge and their web page which then got me to find FOF Central.

[Subby]

heh - that's awesome. One of my first web sites!

[Subby]

Money!: Village Challenge II Browns