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04-17-2006, 11:15 AM
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#301 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Chemistry Check
As we head into the regular season, we’re down to our final cut of 56 players – I though it would be interesting to check out the “Attitude Advisory” situation, since we have invested so much into the team’s overall chemistry: Code:
There is our starting point – the team is becoming a monument to the affinity system, for better or for worse. Basically, only key contributors manage to stay on the team without helping out with affinities – this year, the only non-affinity new faces are RB Craps Copley and rookie WR George Ellis. Everyone else was brought in with an eye on team chemistry effects. No idea whether this matters a penny on the dollar or more… but it has made the assembly of this team a bit more difficult (and interesting) along the way. On we go, into the real games. We face South Carolina in a divisional clash in our opener. |
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04-17-2006, 11:25 AM
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#302 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 1: Chesapeake at South Carolina
Obvious opening day matchup – we hit the road to battle the Crossfire, who (like everyone but us in the division) were in the playoffs last year. A win here, on the road, in the division, would kick off the season perfectly. Code:
w00t! Great opener – Sedor is very sharp with 26 of 35 passing, working the underneath routes as is his strong suit. H-back Bill Wunderlich continues to thrive in his hybrid role, with 133 total yards. The defense comes up strong – not yielding a single TD on the day (their only TD came from former Chili Dog John Raab on a fumble recovery) and stayed in pretty good control all day. We didn’t make big plays on defense, but we kept them from making any either – and I’ll take that deal every time. WR Danny Napiecek is dinged – probably not serious, but we might shuffle up the lineup for a week or two to accommodate him. Past that – smooth sailing. |
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04-17-2006, 03:49 PM
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#303 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Nice way to start the season!
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04-19-2006, 01:11 PM
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#304 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 2: Chesapeake (1-0) at Toronto (0-1)
We face Toronto, a frequent trading partner of ours, meaning we’ll get to see some former Chili Dogs this week – notably S David Plata, the gem defenseman who fetched us a king’s ransom in trade last offseason. We would love to start the season off with a second straight road win, but it will be tough as Toronto has a solid lineup behind QB Fred Gillespie. Code:
This one we have to attribute to turnovers, really – we ran the ball better than Toronto did, we were more effective passing than they were, but four turnovers to one eventually catches up with you. For us, it was in the fourth quarter, when two Sedor picks led to scores for Toronto – but we even then still had a chance to win it, as we were deep in Toronto territory in the waning seconds, but just couldn’t get it in for the score to steal back the victory. Alas. Statistically, this was Brent Sedor’s worst game in his career – we’ll hope we can shake it off and get past it. Tough loss, but it’s on us, we gave it away. |
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04-21-2006, 12:19 PM
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#305 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 3: Davis (2-0) at Chesapeake (1-1)
Davis is off to a hot start behind a strong defensive effort, but they were a 5-win team last year, and on paper I like our chances here. Hope opener, we’ll be out in full force. Code:
Not a beautiful offensive effort – another shaky game from Sedor- but we get a solid win at home and look okay doing it. Over 200 yards on the ground is good to see – even if a fair chunk of that was from the QB dodging traffic. I am not wild about giving up nearly 4 yards per carry on the day (in a game that was close most of the way) but it’s pretty tough to argue with 204 yards of total offense allowed, and 7 points on the board. Good win. DE Alvin Hall will miss a game or two with a minor injury - par for the course for him. And we will shelve LT Stanley Tilton for precautionary reasons as well, alongside LG Gus Schmit, who is out for three weeks himself. We’ll bring our banged-up group back to the home field next week for a visit from Norwich. |
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04-26-2006, 08:01 AM
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#306 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 4: Norwich (2-1) at Chesapeake (2-1)
Sitting at 2-1 now, we stay at home to face Norwich, another playoff-caliber team. With our division looking increasingly competitive (Portland has lost its star QB for several weeks) this is a chance to get right into the mix there. Code:
So, we end up giving up way too much to QB Jeremy Fowler and the Norwich offense, and lose a tough one at home. No shame in losing to Norwich, even at home, but I am concerned about Brent Sedor’s downright sloppy play for the third straight week. last season, he was uncharacteristically poised for a rookie QB (an 18/10 TD/int ratio is almost unheard of for a rookie on any team, much less one with such weakness at the skill positions). This year, he has basically been floundering – his ratio is 5/7, and his rating is a paltry 62 – this is not a QB right now who can lead us to the playoffs. I know he is still in the improvement, but I didn’t expect this sort of rocky time for us at this point. Sophomore slup, a bit. Honestly, the offense we have been using is basically a acontrolled passing offense – designed to pass the ball a good deal, but to focus a lot on fairly safe underneath stuff. We pushed the ball downfield a bit more last season with good results – either this is a fluke of small sample size, or else we are being gameplanned more effectively this year. I’m thinking we may need to shake up the gameplan a bit more. We als have some injuries – S Mark Carr and RB Craps Copley are both dinged for a few weeks, and will require some offensive shuffling. I expect we will see more of veteran WR Justin Berkey in the coming weeks, as both Copley and rookie Ellis have been less than stellar in the flanker positions to date. |
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04-26-2006, 12:50 PM
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#307 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 5: Chesapeake (2-2) at Portland (2-1)
Portland is without its star QB, so they are vulnerable here. This looms as a huge game for us – to get a win on the road against the division champs would be huge, and even though we’re a shade disappointed to stand only at 2-2, a win here would make 3-2 look a whole lot better. As expected, Justin Berkey will be back on the field, though we will put him into the slot receiver position, where I don’t expect he will see full time duty. WR George Ellis gets his first start of the year at the flanker position. Code:
So, we come away with the much-needed win, by basically being slightly better in most aspects of this particular game and getting a modest margin as a result. Not a smashing effort by either side (especially against a backup QB) but we’ll certainly take it. 3-2 isn’t great, but it sure beats the hell out of 2-3 at this point. Here are the league standings now: Code:
So, South Carolina has the inside track – but, their loss was against us, and it was at their place. That’s not bad to have in our pocket. The 3-2 record is all over the place, so things will take some time to settle down. Our injury list continues to expand – here’s the latest: Code:
Rookie DT Lents is out, so we will do more shuffling along the DL to fill in for him. CB Tellez joins Mark Carr as unavailable, and with Padgett shaky too, our secondary will be full of surprises for the next week or two. Great. No IR worthy dings here, though, I don’t think. We’ll reload and get ready for week six… on the road at Ayr. |
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04-27-2006, 02:00 PM
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#308 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Team Summary
Through five games, we stand at 3-2, and have won both our games within the division – but we are really not playing particularly good football overall. Code:
So far, on offense, Brent Sedor has regresed – he’s making mistakes, and has not ben heling us win games. He did lead a fourth quarter comeback last week (now on his permanent record, thankyouverymuch) but we simply are not winning games through the air. WR George Ellis has played like a lost rookie out there – 25 passes his way, only 7 receptions for 96 yards? That’s awful. He has pretty decent ratings (in everything but route running, oddly enough) so I’d expect the opposite – I would expect him long term to become a very efficient guy with the fairly few passes he gets to see. So, who gets the kudos? Well, Bill Briner, for one – he’s been solid for us once again, and having a 4.5 ypc back helps make things better all around. Sedor’s running boosts our perceived effectiveness with the running game, but Briner has been very solid. Our OL has been very god in run blocking, actually – that probbaly helps the situation there as well. We are –9 in turnovers – to be at 3-2 with that kind of ratio is just crazy. Must be a testament to our defense, who apparently are becoming the bend-don’t-break variety. We don’t make a lot of big plays with our defense, but we are very tough to run against (again) and pretty firm against the pass all told. In other news, safety Jeff McCartney has just inked a new contract extension that should keep him in Chesapeake through at least 2014. He’s a former undrafted rookie free agent who came aboard at around the same time as Herman Padgett, and those two are now pretty central to our planning. The long term deal gives us some real security, as I hope McCartney will continue to get better and better. His skills are a great fit for this team, and he has shown glimpses of becoming a “plus” player on defense. This season, we’ll hope to see some more interceptions and passes defensed on the coverage side of things. |
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05-01-2006, 07:39 AM
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#309 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 6: Chesapeake (3-2) at Ayr (1-3)
Last week, South Carolina thrashed Ayr, 31-0 – so we’re expected to keep pace here, with at least a win on the road. We have not been the dominating type of team this year, so we may not have that sort of thing in us, but we’ll hope to see our defense play well again this week, at least. Code:
Pretty good win – they scored late to make it fairly close, and by the stats it was pretty close, but I feel pretty godo about the performance overall. Welcome to the stat sheet, George Ellis! True, we threw 11 balls your way this week, but 5-64 and 2 TDs is a solid effort overall. We’ll keep him in the mix. Fairly quietly, Bill Wunderlich is off to a pretty strong season so far – he is on pace to approach 1,000 yard receiving (and about 400 yards rushing), which isn’t bad from the hybrid H-back role I am using him in (#1 on the TE depth chart, and #2 on the RB depth chart). Fairly old guy, but I have to feel I’m getting good return from the trade that brought him to us. On the injury watch – DE Alvin Hall will be out again, and is starting to look like a real problem. LB Howard Loftin is now hurt, also – but this year we have some LB depth to cover for him. We’hh shuffle the lineup for the front seven this week, and hope to retain our strong effort from that group even without our most talented player (once again). |
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05-01-2006, 11:51 AM
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#310 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 7: Calverton (3-2) at Chesapeake (4-2)
Calverton is even more committed to the pass than we are, so we expect to see a lot of passing against us, and our secondary still isn’t in great shape. I do think that our underneath passing game ought to work pretty well against their defense, so I think we might have a shot to outscore them, even if we can’t stop them. I’m cautiously optimistic. We’ll also be scoreboard watching, as South Carolina hosts Dodge City in a big divisional clash this week. Code:
So, I was right it would be a high scoring affair, and also that our secondary just wouldn’t be strong enough to hold this attack. Disappointing to see QB Sedor below 50% completion again – I’m very worried about this offense, honestly. We give up 345 yards and 5 TD passes to Perry Martin, who is a star-caliber QB admittedly, but that’s ridiculous. Probably shoud have gone with a total sell-out gameplan on defense, in retrospect. We get week 8 off to stew about this tough loss, and try to figure out what we need to do on offense. We ought to be fully healthy again for week 9, so perhaps we can try to tinker with the game plan some more. I’m very unhappy with the downfield passing game right now, and don’t kow what exactly we need to do to get that working better. |
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05-08-2006, 05:33 PM
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#311 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 10: South Carolina (6-1) at Chesapeake (4-3)
Well, this season has been a little odd – disappointing if we were hoping to see a more stable effort from this group. This week will doubtlessly be a definiing one – South Carolina sits atop our division, and with a win could really take command. If we manage to beat them, we’ll pull within one game for the division lead, and we’ll have the head-to-head sweep in hand as well. Big, big game for the division picture – and a loss here, candidly, probably means we cede the division and start aiming for a wild card berth. South Carolina comes in without its starting QB Jon Eidson, and former C-Dog Bobby Chesley will be at the helm for them – he’s a solid backup, but not a star-caliber player like Eidson. I don’t decide to alter the gameplan much, though, and expect tem to stay in the air plenty. Code:
Well, that’s just an abominable effort, and it puts us right back into our place, I fear. We’re back to 4-4, and due to other results we now are in last place in the division, once again. Very reminiscent of last season, I fear. QB Bobby Chesley is very efficient against us, as our pass defense in particular really was lacking this week. Bad showing all around, as we couldn’t muster any passing offense either. Next week’s game is at 1-7 Seal Beach… never take a road game for granted, especially with this sort of inconsistent squad, but we’ll hope for a rebound and some more effectiveness on offense there. |
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05-08-2006, 05:34 PM
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#312 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 10: Chesapeake (4-4) at Seal Beach (1-7)
If this team is any sort of contender, we need to win the games we’re supposed to win, even on the road. We’re pretty healthy – we have zero excuse for this level of inconsistency. Code:
Ugh. A fairly close game, and we might have won it with a few breaks – but we take a loss here and fall below .500. This is not a playoff team right now. Last season, we slipped all the way to 3-6 (azctually at this same point in the season) and basically wrote off the season… only to tear off five straight wins and get right into a playoff position. So, we’re not out of it… but we’ll need to pull a similar rabbit out of a hat to get back into things. Once again, I have to look at the pass defense as the main culprit. I’m not sure what we can do – maybe it’s a personnel issue – but if we are going to let the middling offenses and backup quarterbacks of this league rack up big days against us, we’re going to be in trouble even if we run the ball, stop the run, and make no big mistakes. Not good. I think the Chesapeake offense, simply put, still needs an overhaul. I don’t really know what to do, but we aren’t going to win many games with this sort of performance – we are running the ball fairly well, maybe we need to focus more there (against my main instincts). But we will try something meaningfully different for next week, I’m quite certain of it. |
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05-10-2006, 11:42 AM
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#313 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 11: Dodge City (5-4) at Chesapeake (4-5)
We’re below .500, and now we face our hated rivals from Dodge City – the very ones who tossed us out of the playoffs last season in the finale. This is as it should be – we’re at home, and need to defend our turf or the season is all but lost. I have adjusted the gameplan a bit – I am frustrated with the production we have been getting from our wide receivers, so we will shake that lot up a touch. We expect to see Dodge City ram the ball right at us, as usual – and we expect to respond in kind. With much anticipation, we head into our pivotal Week 11 showdown… Code:
Defensively, this was probably our greatest game of the year – we piled up the line and kept Dodge City from getting much traction over the muddy ground. Meanwhile, we pounded the ball right at them, and Briner especially was wonderful. Sedor managed to keep the mistakes in check – one pick and a fairly efficient day overall. Defensively, high marks all around. Not many big plays, just tough effort against the Dodge City running game, and they couldn’t get things going at all. The conference standings now look like this: Code:
Hell Creek and South Carolina look like locks, but the wildcard situation is pretty thick. Last year, our division got both wildcards, and that could happen again – Washington is in the mix (behind a rookie QB, I’d add) but we are one of five teams just one game off the pace there. So – a big win for us this week, and we remain at least a playoff hopeful at this point. |
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05-10-2006, 11:51 AM
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#314 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Draft Pick Update
In the coming 2011 draft, we don’t have our own #1 pick – it went to Seal Beach in the Brent Sedor trade. But with maneuvering this past offseason, we did pick up two first rounders – those of Royal and Las Vegas. Royal is currently 6-4, so their pick is way up in the air, but can’t be a tip-top pick. However, Las Vegas is another story… in the standings, here’s how they stack up right now: Code:
So, it appears that we are likely to see a pick somewhere in the top tier of the draft, possibly even in one of the top two or three slots. I certainly wish no ill upon any fellow manager… so perhaps we’l just hope that all the other listed teams manage to finish the season strongly, leaving Las Vegas sitting atop this list by whatever fluky circumstance allows it. |
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05-12-2006, 11:58 AM
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#315 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 12 – Chesapeake (5-5) at Texas (5-5)
Okay – we’re ready for this one, and I think it’s a defining game, despite being out of conference. If we’re good enough to get from 5-5 to a playoff berth, we have to be able to win a game like this one. Texas looks okay, but is upside down in points (as are we, incidentally) sugesting they are at least beatable. I’m hoping to see a little more spark from our offense, as we try to gain some momentum off the Dodge City win and parlay that into a playoff run. Code:
Very solid win from the squad – we posted 21 honest points in the first quarter, and only a last-minute TD made the game even close. Good road win, and a good effort overall. So, here’s what we see now in the standings: Code:
With Washington losing, there is now a multi-way tie at 6-5 for the final playoff spot. At the moment, we actually hold the tiebreaker, and project to get in as the #6 seed. And next week we play Washington – so we’ll have a chance to face a direct rival there, for better or worse. At some point, I need to make a call regarding young WR George Ellis. I like his potential, but he is just not helping us on the field. This week’s stat line (with him in the depth chart as our reserve flanker/slot receiver (but he played more than the starter Berkey, who must have gotten dinged): Code:
Five catches for 60 yards isn’t bad, but the two drops do hurt. On the season, he’s caught 22 of the 61 passes thrown his way – just barely over a third. In my own receiver efficiency ratings, he gets a paltry 4.83 – when a capable receiver ought to get something like 7 to 8. That’s just not being productive. Code:
I don’t know what to make of this – getting past the small sample size. Our younger receivers are not playing very well – Ellis had a decent game this week, but he’s still lagging badly. Justin Berkey might be the guy who really deserves more playing time – he does still have reasonably solid skills, too. Using Craps Copley, mostly as a WR, has been a disaster so far, but I still want to keep him out there – I’m convinved he can be effective in this offense, as he has better natural receiving skills than anyone else on the team, really. Using Wunderlich and Cooper underneath seems to be pretty effective, as we keep completion rates high even though we don’t generate many big plays with either one. That’s fine – it’s the downfield attack that really needs the attention, I think. |
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05-12-2006, 01:41 PM
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#316 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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What do Sedor's rushing totals look like for the season?
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05-12-2006, 02:16 PM
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#317 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Code:
He's a beast. Ran a 4.36 forty, making him something like the 10th fastest man in the league. The only guy ahead of him not playing WR or DB is my own LB John Galvan. Last edited by QuikSand : 05-12-2006 at 02:20 PM. |
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05-12-2006, 02:25 PM
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#318 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Quote:
Wow. I've cut in and out of this dynasty at times, so I'm not sure if you had mentioned is 40-time before. All I knew is as I was playing catchup on the last few games, Sedor seemed to always be getting 50 yards in a game. That is really impressive, especially considering he is passing relatively well for his age also.
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05-14-2006, 03:28 PM
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#319 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Yes, he's been a bit frustrating with the passing this season (actually was more effective his rookie year), but he continues to get it done on the ground - with quite a lot of his rushing plays coming on designed draws and the like, at least it seems so from the log files.
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05-14-2006, 03:45 PM
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#320 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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Quote:
Something I always wish you could build into your gameplan...
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05-14-2006, 03:47 PM
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#321 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I remember playing a career with my main goal being massive rushing yardage for the QB... never got anywhere with it. No combination of stuff I used in my gameplan got me anywhere.
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05-15-2006, 12:53 PM
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#322 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 13: Chesapeake (6-5) at Washington (6-5)
For a non-division game, this is pretty obviously a big one. We are part of a 5-way tie for the last wild card as things stand right now, so a head-to-head matchup will go some ways toward resolving that – the loser of this game will have a tough road to get back into the picture. Washington is playing pretty well behing their own franchise QB, rookie Terrell Crittenden. It seems they are running a 4-3 front, with a pass-rushing LB slotted as a defensive end – a situation we have been in this year for some time as well. Actually, there are a lot of similarities between our teams – both of us are amidst a half-hearted rebuilding, while keeping around veteran players to try to stay competitive. Last year the Piledrivers fell on heard times, but the season before they were a playoff team. very similar arcs, it seems to me. We are favored by 3 points on the road, which strikes me as an overreaction to last week’s results (we won, they lost) – but that’s where the line sits. We’ll see if it’s justified – big game. Code:
Really, the difference in this game was the running game – ours worked, and theirs didn’t. We even fumbled the ball away twice (no turnovers for Washington) and were still able to have pretty soldi control of the game – mostly dues to our moving the ball on the ground. So, a huge win for our C-Dogs, and we can start to think about the season seriously now. We’re at 7-5, and still in the running for the last wild card slot – actually, we are now accompanied only by Dodge City in that 7-5 slot, as Washington (obviously) and Myrtle Beach both lost. Davis is also 7-5, but that projects them into their division lead – so the wild card race is getting a little clearer. We have three of our final four games at home, but we do face good teams: Code:
Nothing easy down the stretch – better to have them at home, but winning three of four will not be easy by any stretch. Getting a 2-2 split might be enough to retain the wild card, especially if we beat Dodge City and Portland in the mix. Still worth watching. Elsewhere, Las vegas has awakened their inner superstars, and reeled off two wins – making our chances of landing a top pick far slimmer than they seemed two weeks ago. Royal is at 7-5, and looking like a division winner. Our top picks next year are dissolving… so it goes. |
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05-15-2006, 01:32 PM
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#323 |
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Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Kennesaw, GA
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Do me a favor and beat Jupiter this week. I'll reciprocate by calling off the dogs in the fourth quarter when our Week 16 game starts to get ugly.
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05-15-2006, 01:38 PM
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#324 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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How charitable of you.
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05-17-2006, 08:04 AM
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#325 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 14 – Breathless Pregame Hype on Local Sports Radio Station
Jupiter is a very tough team, no shock there. They are perennial contenders for top honors, and this year they are sitting at 10-2, once again targeting the top slot in their conference—they are tied with Cap City (the defenfing conference champs). So, they have a good deal at stake here – even though they are rather unlikely to lose their anticipated bye week in the playoffs. Despite that, I actually think we match up fairly well with this team. They are pretty solid everywhere – but not a one-dimensional team, exactly. I don’t think we’ll have as much luck running the ball right up the gut as we have with a few other opponents, so will have to diffuse the offense a bit more. But I do think that we ought to be able to move the ball on them, and I do think that we have a shot to contain their offense, at least within reason. Jupiter is tops in the league power ratings – but I give us a shot to pull off a mild upset here at home this week. I might note here, as we build up to the game, that there’s a very interesting stat out there for our team. Among “full time” rushers in the FOFL, RB Bill Briner currently has the highest yards per carry average of anyone in the league, currently at 4.86 yards per carry. Here’s the entire list of qualifying ball carries who are over 4 yards a carry on the year: Code:
I don’t understand Benjamin Foster at all – he’s a weak-skilled runner on a 3-9 team, but has been impressively efficient in what seems like part-time duty. Briner is just ahead of Ross Rosenfels, a workhorse back who was the 1(3) draft selection a few years ago for a run-first team in Bar Harbor. Chesapeake has a pretty well-earned reputation over the years as a pass-first team, and we’ve never really invested all that much into either our RB group or the offensive line. But right now, with Briner coming aboard as a veteran free agent a couple of years ago, FB Wunderlich arriving via trade, and an offensive line that is playing together awfully well – we surprisingly are getting more done on the ground than most teams, and are more effective with that sode of the offense than the much-rumored Brent Sedor aerial circus. Intriguing. The offensive line, through 12 games, has been the real fuel for this ground game success: Code:
Horace Kolodzik, our main breakout player from this offseason, has really helped with a good effort from both the LT and RT slots, while we have gotten solid performance from everyone along the line, really. This group wasn’t a big investment for this team – Tilton was a first round pick, Kolodzik was a veteran minsal free agent pickup, and the rest of them were after-draft free agent rookie signings… but right now, this line is probably the strength of the offense for us. I’m pretty certain that 35% KRBs and an 0.6% SkA% put us on the plus side in both regards – probably outperforming some offensive lines who were built with much more investment of cap space and draft picks. Code:
Not a bad investment, really. Okay, gang – home stand against a top team. Show ‘em what you’re made of! |
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05-17-2006, 01:47 PM
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#326 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 14: Jupiter (10-2) at Chesapeake (7-5)
The stage is set… now here we go. Code:
Wow. We outgain themon the day, and we win the turnover battle 3-0. Recipe for an easy win, especilly the way we were running the ball. In the second half, we have it all under control. Here are the drive charts for most of the second half… Code:
And so, we take the lead with about three minutes to go, on a 55 yard FG after Craps Copley drops yet another pass throws his way. We couldn’t cash in on any of our three red zone visits on the day, so our lead was only 18-16 on six field goals, but we were pretty much in command, as demonstrated above. Of course, the story ends in familiar fashion: Code:
March. Score. Ballgame. In a close game like this – we are penalized for 65 more yards than JUP, and we were inexpliceably ineffective in our passing game. So – no surprise, we didn’t get the win after all. |
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05-19-2006, 08:03 AM
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#327 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 15 Hype
This week, we get Dodge City – hated division rival, and currently ahead of us in the wild card standings. A win pulls us even and gives us the season sweep for head-to-head purposes, while a loss essentially puts our playoff hopes to rest once and for all, and likely secures another basement finish in the division. Dodge City has a great power running game led by Robert Roger, but in our first meeting, we kept him bottled up pretty well. We have had to shuffle the defensive line a bit this week, but I remain optimistic that we can stay effective against the run this week, even without optimum personnel. They will test us, but I think we have a shot to repat our good effort and get a win, even on the road. Here are the wildcard standings: Code:
The main thing we have going for us is a pretty strong conference record – with no game against Myrtle Beach this year, that gives us an edge on them if we end up tied. However, we lost to Norwich, making them a team we actually have to pass to sneak ahead of them for the playoff spot. The good news is, they have a very rough schedule down the stretch also – so seeing them lose two games isn’t inconceivable. If we can’t win out (which almost certainly gets us in at 10-6 and with an edge on Dodge City) the only other good shot is probably to win in Dodge City and in our finale against Portland, and hope that we catch someone even with only 9 wins (presumably on a tiebreaker). Much more likely, though, we are already in our do-or-die stage, where any loss costs us the season. In other nes, RB Bill Briner has topped 1,000 yards for the season – that’s the fourth time in his career doing so, and he’s actually having perhaps his most efficient season thus far, with a season YPC of 4.95 after two very good games in the last two weeks (26-176 over th two games). He has been the centerpiece of the nicest surprise on this team – a productive running game. In the passing game – here are the numbers that are so frustrating: Code:
Each of these guys have caught fewer than half of the passes sent their way, which is just unacceptable. George Ellis is young, but this is really bad production – especially for a guy who looks on paper to be the reverse (low “route running” and decent other skills made me think he’d be the guy with only 40 targets but 28 catches). Craps Copley gets special scorn, since a sizable amount of his play has been from out of our backfield – screen passes and the like, which ought to be very high completion rates. For a swingman RB/WR, to have lower than 50% completions (and a staggering 11 drops, which is nearly as many as he had in his entire career before this year) is just awful). Napiecek has played most of this season slightly injured – but he was a 60% completion guy last season for us, so it’s not like we really expect him to be so unreliable. For the remaining three games, Copley is basically benched. Ellis will only be used as the slot receiver and backing up crusty old veteran Justin Berkey, and on returns. And I’ll try to get Napiecek back into the fold, splitting time with Jimmy Castellano at the split end role. I can’t take the blame completely away from Brent Sedor, whose effectiveness this year has regressed rather than progressed. But we need him to benefit from his supporting cast to have him succeed – and right now, our passing game is our weakness, despite the obvious investment. On the draft watch: Code:
Even with the couple of wins they racked up since we last checked, our selection from Las Vegas is still unlikely to drop out of the top eight picks, it seems. So, we ought to have an opportunity to make an impact improvement for the team next offseason there, and then try to fill in as best we can with the pick from Royal (7-6) and onward. Anyway – game today is make or break. A win probably puts us right back into the race (we’d leap past Dodge City, at least) and a loss will probably have us putting together a younger roster for the last couple of games. |
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05-19-2006, 10:19 AM
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#328 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 15: Chesapeake (7-6) at Dodge City (8-5)
Huge game for us – we intend to try to beat Dodge City at their own game, and we will try to hammer our running backs right at them, and try to win this thing without relying on our spastic passing game that much. Not usualy my style, but I can’t take another game like last week where we do so many things well and watch a horrid effort from the air game kill us. Code:
Odd game, really. We weren’t able to run the ball very well against them, and we lost the turnobver battle. But we did frustrate their passing game through most of the game, and their results for this week look a lot like our from last week. It’s a closer game that it seems – we were up 17-16 late when their “last gasp” effort failed, and they gave us the ball at their one yard line for the final TD to put it away. We are very, very lucky to get away with the win here, by any reckoning. Here are the conference standings now: Code:
So – we currently lose out to Norwich for the final wild card slot, due to their head-to-head win. So, we need to keep things rolling now – last two games are at home, so we have a shot to get in, especially with two wins. Portland is our final game – and they are clearly playing well. South Carolina has just suffered some serious injuries, and might be reeling a bit – but they’d have to drop both their remaining games for us to catch them, which seems unlikely. I think we are simply playing for the last wild card spot – and it looks like a 3-way race from here to me. In all likelihood, there will be a 9-7 or even 10-6 team sitting at home watching the 8-8 NC West champion get a home playoff game. So it goes. |
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05-19-2006, 10:22 AM
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#329 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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It seems you can hope for it being a meaningless game for Portland if Portland and Hell Creek win, but South Carolina loses...
:crossesfingers:
__________________
Text Sports Network - Bringing you statistical information for several FOF MP leagues in one convenient site Quote:
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05-19-2006, 10:23 AM
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#330 |
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Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Kennesaw, GA
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Get the crabcakes ready...we're coming to town this week.
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05-19-2006, 11:20 AM
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#331 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Texas
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Keep up the good work QS.
Just a question from a long-time reader, what do you see your team as? Past few seasons you considered them fringe (at least by my interpretation) playoff teams needing quite a few pieces to make them really competative. Do you see yourself back in the consistant playoff team anytime soon?
__________________
XBox360 GamerTag - Tonyr76 Former HTer |
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05-19-2006, 01:59 PM
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#332 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Thanks for the kind words. While I am a bit disappointed with the team this year (particularly with the passing game) I think this team is on the rise -- when you sell the farm to go with a future star at QB, you pretty much commit that your team will be ready to "arrive" by his 3rd or 4th year. Sedor had a solid first season, but has regressed a bit. We'll live. The rest of the team is pretty solid, and if we can start to get some production from our defenive secondary *my other, quieter disappointment this year) I think we are ready to step into the solid class of perennial contenders by next season. Right now, we're in a terribly tough division (obviously) which means we have to earn everything we're going to get -- but I'd be surprised if we have fewer than three playoff appearances in the next four seasons (not counting this year). Whether we get a ring while the iron is hot -- probably too hard to say. But I think we ought to be good enough to make the playoffs next year, and want to be serious title contenders for 2012. |
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05-22-2006, 07:49 AM
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#333 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 16 Hype
Well, you already know the situation here – we’re at home for a huge playoff-type game, as the most likely scenario for us is that winning our last two games gets us into the playoffs, and losing either one leaves us out. There are a series of contingencies in that, but that makes it simple – we lose here, and we need all sorts of things to pan out elsewhere to have a shot. Not too much here, but I want to take a look at our secondary – I’m pretty proud of how things have come together with the young guys back there -- particularly the serendipity of getting a couple nice breakout players from the after-draft rookie pile, as well as a cvouple young draft picks who have worked out pretty well. The fact that four of our five key young players at DB (CB Padgett, CB Webb, S Vesser, and S McCartney) happen to share the same astro sign, making affinity-building a snap, is a nice addition for this team, where that’s a pretty central part of our planning. Anyway – are these young guys doing anything on the field worthy of all this breathless enthusiasm? Up until this year, I had been excited about what might be… have they turned the corner and posted some stats to back up my vague excitement? Code:
The short answer is… not really. What is encouraging to me is seeing some of our regular starters posting pretty solid numbers in passes defensed. With two games still yet to be played, we have three guys in double digits – that’s not too bad. Now, I would admittedly like to see those numbers inprove – I think a CB with 25+ passes defensed for a season is a quiet impact player for a defense, and these guys aren’t quite at that level. But league-wide, Schwantz rankes behind only a bout a dozen guys in this stat – so things aren’t too bad there, I guess. The league leader has only 19 PDs, so having three guys in the top couple of pages of the league standings is okay. What our defense generally, and our secondary in particular, does not do is cause turnovers. We seem to be a “bend don’t break” group, and as a result we have a very, very low turnover margin of –12. If there’ one state to help explain the differences from last year to this year, I’d probably have to put turnover ratio and passer rating as the co-favorites. Code:
So, what do we take from this? The 12 interceptions is really not that awful – the league average is only about 14. But we have only caused 4 fumbles this year, and that’s a stat that places us way toward the bottom of the league list. So, we have caused about 5 fewer turnovers than the average defense has on the year – okay, there’s a weak spot. The fact that we have yielded a nearly league-high 28 turnovers is a separate problem, perhaps for another hype column. In any event… in an ideal world, we’d start to see a player like CB Herman Padgett take another step forward next year, and post numbers more becoming a solid starter in this league. I’d love to see him settle in as a guy who might post 20 passes defensed and maybe 2-4 interceptions a season. Preparing for the Hudson Valley Horsemen – here’s what we’re up against: Code:
Just a solid, solid team – they do everything pretty well. In the hands of a very capable general manager, it looks like this is a team heading in the right direction in all fronts. They are, by easy accounting, a better team than our C-Dogs right now. So, what to do? I think we just stick with a pretty vanilla game plan – it’s not like this team has an obvious weaknesr to try to exploit. Actually, their stat line is one I admire – faithful readers know I put a lot of emphasis in the “yards per carry” stats, and their rankings in those stats (5,9,3,3) are outstanding. We probably need a good effort from our team, and a pretty mistake-free game to get this one to go our way. |
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05-22-2006, 12:00 PM
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#334 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 16: Hudson Valley (10-4) at Chesapeake (8-6)
Well, with our postseason hopes lying in the balance – off we go. We will try to do a lot of inside running, and keep offensive mistakes from costing us this game. At home, we’d be just thrilled with a 16-13 win. Code:
I honestly did write the prelude before seeing the game score. But things did go basically according to plan – we were not good enough to dominate them, but we got a (rare) big play from our defense (from McKenzie, the guy who has gotten a truly unfair shortage of ink this season) and while our offense wasn’t really anything special today, we managed to not give the game away, either. The defense once again shut down the running game, and this week we were tough to pass on as well. Hats off to TE Robert Cooper, who has been playing very well from the #1 TE slot recently, as I have been using FB Wunderlich from the FB/RB slots more intensively. Cooper is steadily developing for us, and I think he will be a quality starter for us down the road. My scout rates him 46/46 right now – he was 25/41 when we originally landed him as an undrafted rookie. We are fairly injury-free going into the finale – with G Marvin Brandon probably the only starter heading to the sidelines. We did get some breaks in the other games this week, as Dodge City and Norwich both lost their games. We now have a one-game edge in the wild card hunt at 9-6, and we would have to lose next week, plus see Norwich win, to lose our playoff berth. We blew it down the stretch last season, but here I think we now have a rather strong bid. |
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05-22-2006, 12:05 PM
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#335 |
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Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Kennesaw, GA
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We put the ball in Beyer's hands to try and win this one for us, but your defense did a great job whenever he tried to go deep. I can't say that I'm displeased about the defensive effort we put up, but we can't win when Vinatieri isn't getting YPC and Beyer isn't throwing well.
Edit - Not to mention when Beyer start off the game by throwing a pick. That was the last thing that I thought would beat us....your secondary seemed like a matchup that Beyer could have had an advantage. Last edited by VPI97 : 05-22-2006 at 12:07 PM. |
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05-22-2006, 02:40 PM
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#336 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Yes, our pass defense had a very solid game -- our MLB came up with the big interception and score, but the secondary was effective, too. I suspected you'd go after us in the air, and we were pretty ready for it. I didn't think we'd be tough up the middle, though, which really helped.
Tough loss, but you've got a lot of wins ahead with that team. Last edited by QuikSand : 05-22-2006 at 02:42 PM. |
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05-24-2006, 10:58 AM
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#337 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 17 Hype
Not much to detail here, but I will introduce a thought that hasn’t been in our minds since about Week 8… Chesapeake, division winners? It could happen. Code:
With two intra-divisional games to round out the season, I believe that wins by Chesapeake (of course) and Dodge City would give the C-Dogs our first division title since 2007. We would own a season sweep over Portland, and a split with South Carolina at that point – but we’d have the best division record of the threesome, making up (I’m pretty certain) the division winner and #3 seed for the playoffs (our loss earlier this season to Calverton preclues any hope of getting a bye week, regrettably). Also, on the draft watch – here are the standings at the bottom: Code:
So, with their win last week, Las Vegas has slotted that draft pick in the range between #4 and #8. They play at 9-6 New Jersey this week, so a solid showing by the People in that game should make the pick stay right around #5, which ought to be good enough to either (a) give us some leverage in the draft, or else (b) just land an impact player to help us right away. Either one is fine. Royal, with a big win last week, looks to have its pick (also ours) slotted somewhere in the 20-27 range, barring a big playoff run. |
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05-24-2006, 11:34 AM
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#338 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Illinois
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The People will do everything we can to keep Vegas' draft pick as low as possible.
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05-24-2006, 11:55 AM
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#339 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 17: Portland (10-5) at Chesapeake (9-6)
Depending on this game and a couple others, we could end up anywhere between the #3 seed and (once again) the last ones outside looking in. Code:
So, there we are – the home C-Dogs crowd is in a great mood as the Dodge City victory is announced over the stadium loudspeaker – and our heroes punch in a nice touchdown to go ahead by 35-17 in the fourth quarter. This one is in the bag, gang, go buy your ticket for next week – we’ll be playing at home, baby! Uh, of course, that’s not how it worked out. An 18-point fourth quarter rally from Portland, as our defense went into complete hibernation, and they just fileted us. Meanwhile, our offense that had been so effective (fiv touchdowns in six possessions up to that point) all immediately join the Keystone Cops, and can barely stay out of on another’s way – pick, punt, punt, downs, and topped off by a fumble on the first play after receiving the OT kickoff. Good lord, that is disappointing – how did that gang of idiots ever get a lead in the first place? Ugh. Double ugh. Once again – we’re all but in, and just can’t hold serve in the last game to get it done. So, we lose out in the tiebreaker for the #6 seed, and we’ll once again be sitting at home watching the real teams play for the title. Damn. And by damn, I mean a lot worse than that. * sigh * Oh, in addition to the other great news, our promising young CB Dixon Webb is now listed as out for 59 weeks – I’m guessing he’ll be best suited to serve a waterboy once that gets resolved, so that’s nice too. Venerable RB Bill Briner is also split wide open, so he might just go out and hang up the cleats on us himself. Would be a nice twist there, too. Great week for the Dogs, we would have been far better off to have just stayed at home and stick bamboo shots up everyone’s fingernails, the fans included. I suppose I’ll write more on the season-wrap up a bit later – but for now, that’s all folks. Sorry to have string you along into thinking this team was worth following. |
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05-26-2006, 09:15 AM
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#340 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Week 17 Follow-Up
So, I suppose I have cooled off enough to start going over the now-abruptly-concluded season. As for the draft order – here are the final league standings – and of course, Las Vegas heroically finished the season with two great wins, just in case our spirits weren’t down quite enough yet: Code:
So, we will either be picking at #5 or #6 in the upcoming draft, and then again at somewhere from #14-23 after that (with a long list of teams ending the season at 9-7). One interesting side note – former superstar DT Eugene Bradham is now listed as 100% following his cataclysmic injury from two seasons ago. And – interestingly, he doesn’t seem to have lost any apparent ratings. I know that we can’t count on him for much of anything next season – but with decent skills at least appearing in the scouting report, I suspect we will make an effort to bring him back to training camp with a contract, at least. |
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05-26-2006, 10:47 AM
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#341 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 Team Summary
Well, without further ado – here is the team summary for 2010: Code:
I’ll perhaps do more detail later, but for now – some overall comments. This team’s passing attack is just anemic. I know he’s a young quarterback and some inconsistency is expected, but this was pretty bad. Our group of wide receivers were just poor, overall, and our downfield passing game was just anemic. Our 6.08 yards per attempt is a very weak number, but if we can bring up the completion percentage, we might end up okay (we managed 11 yards per completion, which isn’t too bad). The running game certainly found itself this season – with a solid year from RB Bill Briner (whose future is in doubt after a bad knee injury in the finale) and a very strong effort from the offensive line. Even though our rushing totals are admittedly boosted by having a very effective scrambling quarterback, seeing our top RB post 4.77 yards a carry is excellent. Here’s the OL effort in capsule: Code:
For the six primary OL we used, we end up with 116/343 KRBs, or 33.8%, which is pretty good. The rapid emergence of Horace Kolodzik for us as an anchor-caliber left tackle is a huge difference-maker, and gives us youth, depth, and cohesion here. We have big money invested in LT Stanley Tilton, but looking forward we now have flexibility to either spin him off in a trade, or else look to renegotiate him down to a more suitable long-term salary number. C Winston Turnbull is interesting – by ratings, he’s a run-blocker and that’s it. But he put together a very effective season not only opening holes, but also in handling the pass rush. Great season from him – and no signs of the trade-off we had feared but expected by going with a one-dimensional player there. I think he has a shot at being named second team all-pro, behind veteran Gary Knight from Dodge City. A note on H-back Bill Wunderlich for this season – he spent the first half of the year slotted as a true H-back, listed as our starter at TE#1, and also as our #2 option at RB. In the second half, he was slotted as a true fullback most often, getting partial duty again in multiple settings. He’s not an explosive runner, but he is pretty reliable – and he managed a very nice season as a perfect fit with this offensive scheme – 1,160 total yards and 7 TDs. Probably our offensive MVP, possibly behind only Turnbull or Kolodzik from the offensive line. While I’m frustrated with the defense for its utter breakdown in the finale, we have to get past that and fairly take stock. Getting 24 QB sacks is very nearly the lowest in the whole league – it seems that we are simply not managing enough pressure on the quarterback. However, I also note that our total of 83 QB hurries is pretty good – a good deal better than average – telling me that our overall pressure isn’t so bad, but we’re not translating to as many sacks as we would prefer to see. We may tinker with blitz packages next year some more, as we do have some capability there. I don’t know if the pass rush is a partial problem, but I’m just not thrilled with our pass defense overall – we’re basically middle-of-the-pack. Some detail on coverage stats: Code:
Safeties Jeff McCartney and Doug Schwantz are looking like guys I can be pretty comfortable building around – though I would like to see more interceptions from our starting safeties (ratings there are 77 and 42, respectively). Herman Padgett is a tough, run-stopping cornerback, who has solid skills for our coverage scheme (80/84 Bump, 40 Int) and might have turned the corner this season with his best effort to date. I really want him to succeed. Dixon Webb was playing well, often as our nickel corner, but a late season injury will probably blot out his career – too bad. Leland Tellez probably doesn’t have a real future, but he’s a capable guy, okay to start if need be, and posted pretty decent numbers for us this season. Our best case scenario for this past season was to see Padgett and McCartney blossom into nearly star-caliber players, and then watch Webb and Schwantz become reliable starters – and the four of them constitute our starting secondary for the next five seasons. Now, with Webb probably gone, and nobody really standing out – we probably have to hoe for another year of incremental growth from this lot, rather than a real breakout into stardom. Alas – the year in review. We’d have a much better feeling about all this if we were doing this review next week rather than this week. ** sigh ** |
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06-02-2006, 07:36 AM
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#342 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Championship Preview
Here’s a snapshot of the two teams facing off in the league championship this season: First, our conference champion Hell Creek Tyrannosaurs, managed by the inestimable league Commissioner, Allosaurus: Code:
Hell Creek has been led for years by a strong air attack, and this is their [u]fourth[/i] appearance in the league title game. They are, however, still looking for their first win. Their opponent is a wild card team from the opposing conference, who have caught fire in the last few weeks – VPI97’s Hudson Valley Horsemen: Code:
As I noted leading up to our matchup with them several weeks ago, this is a team that does everything pretty well, and is also led by a star caliber quarterback. Hudson Valley was largely shaped this year – by my count, they have 31 players who are new to the team this season, including eight rookies, and eight veteran free agents signed in the offseason. I note that Hudson Valley was the winning FA bidder for CB Ferdy Nave, one of my favorite players in the FOFL, and he has posted a very solid season for them with a 20.9 PDPct rating. So, it’s the battle of the commissioners in my two multiplayer leagues – how fitting. Conference allegiance, and a load of respect for Allosaurus’s long record of success with this team, have me rooting for the big lizards, but both teams have done very well to be here. |
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06-02-2006, 07:55 AM
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#343 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Chesapeake Retirement Watch
Though we are still a team in “building” mode, we have continued to rely on a number of veterans throughout the process. I am just not wild about offering playing time to marginal young players – in general, I think the real “value” lies in aging players who still have solid skills. Thus – we continue to use players like that, despite trying to remain focused on the future. So, who might walk off at season’s end? DT Eugene Bradham and LB Travis Kuykendall lead the list here – both are guys who have missed a **lot** of time to injuries, and are now back. It appears to me that Bradham has only showed visible signs of age-related erosion – so if he were actually able to play, he would probably be a pretty decent pass-rushing DL for us. Kuykendall took a big ratings whack after getting past his long term injury, but he still looks like a pretty decent linebacker – again, the question is will he return at all, and if so, will we be able to rely on him for meaningful playing time? Also on the list of worries are a few other venerable types: RB Bill Briner comes off a very solid season as a great niche-filler for us (the straight-ahead component of a RB-by-committee approach), but ends his 13th season with a leg injury. S Mark Carr remains a very useful jack-of-all-trades for us in the secondary, and we’d miss his play if he chose to depart after his 12th season – but we expect him to be back. There are other older players we’d miss, but those four are the names that we really would like to not see listed on the retirement list. If DE Alvin Hall decides to walk, it would be tough to take – but he would clear out so much cap space that it wouldn’t be as great a loss as some others. We’ll keep an eye out. My best guess is that DT Bradham will walk, and we’ll see maybe one or two other guys not from this list, but that the rest of the central bunch will be back. |
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06-02-2006, 08:44 AM
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#344 | |
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Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Kennesaw, GA
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Quote:
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06-02-2006, 08:50 AM
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#345 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I knew it. I'll never win another IHOF game. *sigh*
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06-02-2006, 03:42 PM
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#346 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Chesapeake Chili Dogs, 2011
So, we begin a new season – it’s 2011, and the Hudson Valley Horsemen reign as the league champions after a tumultuous run to the championship. Here in Chesapeake, we can’t help but be a little put off by this, as Hudson Valley basically rebuilt the team in one year and won it all – while we are suffering through a fairly agonizing “rebuilding” that has seen us standing on the outside of the postseason looking in for each of the last two seasons. With that – let’s look at the preliminary offseason stuff. Retirements We were holding our breath a bit, and here’s the news: DT Eugene Bradham – stays LB Travis Kuykendall – stays RB Bill Briner – retires SS Mark Carr – stays LB Howard Loftin – retires WR Jimmy Castellano – retires I guess we can live with this – Briner’s departure is upsetting, but not a real surprise, since he did get hurt toward the end of his 13th season. And Castellano was still solid, but pretty rarely used for us – we’ll miss his mentorship at WR, though. We will have some work ahead in trying to replace these veterans – especially Briner. Even in his 13th season, he was the most effective RB we have ever had on this team, so that loss is especially tough. Our line played pretty well, but certainly he had a good contribution to the effort himself. We also lose Briner’s leadership at the RB/FB position group, but Charles Emerson assumes the leader role, and maintains all the same affinities that Briner had – even stronger. So we’re fine there. Draft Picks Last year we wheeled and dealed a touch, and ended up shuffling draft picks around a lot. Here’s the complement we have in hand for this season: 1(6) 1(19) 2(4) 3(22) 4(22) 5(21) 5(22) 7(8) I am generally disappointed with what I have drawn from later round picks, so I may be looking to use them in an effort to maneuver in the draft and/or acquire veteran players – but overall, this isn’t bad capital for a team looking to fill in some pieces. Salary Cap Situation Here’s our overall situation, sorted by cap hit this year: Code:
So, we are sitting on $13m in cap space, and can make a free agent offer of around $7 million. We ought to have enough room to move to land a quality free agent player or two this offseason, if we are able to get a deal done. LB John Galvan is going to be a tough call – he’s a 10th year guy coming off a pretty solid season as a most-year starter on the strong side: 60+22 tackles, 2 sacks, 9.4% tackles. Not star numbers, but he’s pretty decent. He’s also a stabilizing influence for us – as he was an original draftee and still wears the ring he won as part of the defense that won FOFL Bowl III. So, there’s reason to bring him back, if we can. My guess is that we’d be willing to pay more for him than most teams – but I have been wrong on that front before. The franchise tag number is a hefty $5.6 million for an outside linebacker – and that would be a lot of cap space to sit on while we wait for a deal with him. Tough call – loyalty might lose out here, I fear. We’ll be looking to guys like T Stanley Tilton and DE Chuck Linquist to re-sign at more modest amounts, to help free up a bit more room. I expect we will have a number of guys around worth a look this way. I suspect we’ll bring that FA offer figure up to maybe $12m by the actual start of the FA period. Crunching the Roster Numbers Well, we have 45 players on contract right now, and I’m counting two guys at most who might be outright cuts. Let’s say that we end up placing CB Webb onto IR (very likely) and make one cut – that drops us to 43 players right now. I see several restricted free agents who are definite re-signings: G Marvin Brandon CB Herman Padgett TE Robert Cooper So that gets us to 46 players who are all but in hand. Add in a placeholder number of 4 players from our rookie draft – and we’re to 50. This is not going to be a season where we are out scrounging for quantity in free agency – but rather or quality. I think our ideal situation would be to land two or three potentially significant free agent players, and be done with it. Big things lying ahead in the offseason. It will be very exciting to try to decide what to do with some of our key slots, and with the draft picks. |
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06-05-2006, 11:03 AM
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#347 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Staff Hiring Update
We have retained our front office staff for the coming year. I have no real greivances with anyone there, and I like the continuity of having the same scout in place year to year for comparison purposes. My scout, Ralph Soutsos, has no ratings below “good,” so I feel I don’t have to tread lightly any particular place. He’s not a standout, but he’ll do. I have posted a minor trade block, with two players listed – LT Stanley Tilton and CB Henry Birkland. I would expect Tilton to attract some attention, as he is a pretty good player, but I would be very content to just sit on him and (hopefully) work his contract down to a manageable level where we can use him like we did last year – in a rotation at LT, RT, and as a fill-in as needed. I think Horace Kolodzik has earned the right to be our LT starter, but Tilton is our nest most talented lineman by the numbers, and assuming he can get a shade more affordable, he’ll see starting time somewhere. In the coming stages, the big news will be the unveiling of the draft class and final free agents list. My guess is, once tags get applied, that this will be a slightly less impressive FA class overall than last year’s (which was admittedly pretty strong). Tough to know whether we’ll see anyone who really could make a big impact for this team. Linebacker Dilemma Our big decision on the next few stages will be whether to use the franchise tag on LB John Galvan. My best guess is that the cap space doing so would occupy wouldn’t end up being a major loss, as I don’t think we will be able to occupy all our cap space anyway – but I’ll have to continue to think about what to do there. Without Galvan, we have basically four returning players at LB (for a pretty committed 4-3 front): Doug McKenzie – stud-caliber starter at MLB, clear anchor of the defensive front Steven Watkins – 13th year veteran, startable at any position, I think Preston Gibbons – solid run stopper, probably best suited for WLB duty Travis Kuykendall – pass rusher, good pass defender, but coming off long term injury Obviously, Galvan would make this group look a lot better – he’d start at SLB and let Watkins and Gibbons battle for the weak/reserve slots, and whatever we got from Kuykendall would just be gravy (the best way to approach players returning from serious injury, I think). I don’t have a major problem fielding a lineup of Watkins-McKenzie-Gibbons in any given week, but if we’re counting on Kuykendall as LB #4 for this year, then we’re looking at a really vulnerable situation due to injury. The other factor in this mix is SS Earnest Dunn, a heavy hitting safety (89 Run D) who seems capable of moving up and playing in a linebacker role. Usually, when I have used players like this, it’s in the pretty limited weak-side situation, but honestly Dunn is well suited to play either outside slot, especially if we don’t count on him for a lot of pass rushing. So, he gives us flexibility – both in the LB group and the secondary, where he could see some time at safety as well. John Galvan is a 10th year linebacker, who posted decent but not at all spectacular numbers last season. My scout rates him 57/63, and he is from our original roster, so he adds cohesion benefits as well. The tag will occupy about $5.6 million in cap space – so that’s what makes this a pretty tough decision. |
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06-06-2006, 05:06 AM
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#348 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: May 2001
Location: williamsburg, va
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You just always have internal debates about LB's in MP leagues, eh?
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06-06-2006, 09:41 AM
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#349 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Who Gets the Rock?
With the sad departure of the underrated Bill Briner, we are left with a conundrum at running back. Briner was a very effective ball carrier for us, serving as the “first and ten” guy for us, and handling those duties (mostly between the tackles) very well. With him gone, we have a few options for what to do with out running game. The first option is FB Bill Wunderlich. He has spent the last two seasons slotted as our #2 running back (along with getting starting time in either the TE or FB slot) and has been fairly productive – about 3.9 yards per carry both seasons. He’s got a strong complement of FB skills, but I expect (like most fullbacks) he’s fairly weak in the things we don’t see for a fullback – elusiveness and breakaway speed. In the past, with Washington (running behind a better line than we have here, I’d say) he got some looks as a first down running back, and never posted a real season as high as 4 yards per carry – his career average is a modest 3.65. My second choice, on the current roster, is RB Craps Copley. He was just awful last season when we tried to wheel him out in a “flex” role slotting him at WR, and he sat on the far end of the bench for the last several games of the season. But, at this point, he might be the best fit on the roster for our top RB duties. My scout says he’s great in elusiveness (89) and power inside (96), and he ought to be okay with hole recognition (52) – so he has at least some of the skills I’d be looking for in a first down running back. A low rating in third down running would probably force a platoon, but that’s okay – Wunderlich is strong there and has taken that role for us before. Copley was a 4.5 yards per carry guy as the #2 HB option in Royal before coming to Chesapeake – so there’s some reason to think that a return to traditional running back duties might actually serve him (and us) fairly well. Finally, our next option is to bring somebody aboard. We have draft picks, including one at 1.6, which could yield a young impact player – and RB would certainly be an option. I’ve been stung with my recent use of a very high pick on a RB in my other MP league, but I might be able to get past that and try to land a player who could make a big impact for us there. A trade would be another possibility, though in a league where RB is a fairly thin position as it is, I doubt anyone would be looking to deal away a real standout player there. My best guess is that we’ll start the season with Copley in the RB1 slot, and Wunderlich as the starting fullback and #2 RB option. We’ll bring in Wunderlich in passing situations, making Copley basically a direct replacement for Briner. If he can post good numbers in that role, fine. If not, we have the backup option of using Wunderlich as the feature back, and probably pushing the run options more inside. |
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06-06-2006, 03:45 PM
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#350 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Trade Update
Well, in an offseason that really ought to be pretty quiet for us (were I acting purely in our best interests), we have already pulled the trigger on the first trade of the year. Sensing that our depleted depth at RB is going to push FB Bill Wunderlich even more solidly into the backfield (rather than counting him at TE, where he played at least intermittently the last two seasons), we have dealt our 4th round draft pick this year for veteran tight end Stacey Jan.  Jan brings us solid skills overall – he’s been a reliable 500-yard TE for years now, and though he is in his twilight as a 14th year player, I’m optimistic that he can help us maintain the focus on 2TE formations that have worked pretty well for our offense. Young Robert Cooper will compete with Jan for time as the #1/#2 option at tight end, but my hope is that both guys will end up being pretty productive. Incidentally, Jan is also an affinity plus for us, and a mentor at the TE position, both of which are assets. Jan’s addition might mean a tough situation for Clyde Rego, who has really been declining of late. Rego is also a 14th year guy, but my scout rates him a good deal lower than he does Jan – so we might see Rego depart before it’s all over. |
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