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10-07-2005, 10:22 AM
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Chokehold Challenge - yet another FOF 2004 "challenge" career
Yet another in a strong of challenge careers – this one we’ll dub the “Chokehold Challenge.” This is, yet again, an attempt to make the game devilishly tough to play, but retain the essential decision-making that make the game interesting to play.
Here are the rules for this challenge career, as posted by cthomer5000 in another thread: Quote:
I am starting in 2005, after one QuikSim season with the Miami Dolphins (selected for no particularly good reason). We will use no inflation, and have injuries set to 150. |
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10-07-2005, 10:23 AM
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#2 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2005 Offseason
We clear out the roster, and bring aboard a new front office staff. With the restrictions in place on the roster, I decide that I’ll do my level best to include as many decent front office staffers as I can. I get all fresh faces, and skew young – which I prefer to do anyway. Also – for this first year, I have about $40 million (almost exactly one half, just slightly more) of the salary cap dead because of the cuts I made in year one – which essentially means that I can play all-out with respect to the salary cap this season, and be within the spirit of the rules just fine. Starting next year, the “half cap” limit will kick in to the letter. Since my QuikSim team was actually very god last year, we will have picks at slot 28 in the draft – so, fairly cheap players, opening the door for some investment in free agents. I decide that since economy is priority one, I will just advance to the later stages of free agency, and then try to lock up some of the better-looking free agent players I can find. Our forays into free agency are pretty familiar – this feels a lot like my MinSal challenge career, where I was basically just sifting through the players nobody else wanted. Here, we’ll have some more flexibility, but not a whole lot more. My first round of signings are 2- and 3-year players, guys who somehow were cut and became available pretty cheaply. I’m thrilled about CB Alonzo Lindell, and I think we might have a couple offensive linemen to work with as well. Two young defensive ends, Michael Diaz and Danny Barajas, will be helpful at one of those tough-to-fill positions. My overall suspicion is that after playing the MinSal challenge, the positions where it will be most important to use draft picks might end up being WR and DE – those were two spots where I just never felt like I was getting a high quality player cheaply in free agency. QB is tempting, of course, but getting a QB young and paying him to develop isn’t very cost-effective. After starting out with a group of promising youngsters, I decide that I want to build a leadership structure from the top down. I have been increasingly enamored with playing the team chemistry game in FOF of late, and I will probably end up doing so here to some degree. So, I’m going to try to start out with strong leaders with string personalities in the various groups – and build around them as best I can. Rather than detail the FA process start to finish, I think I will do a sort of roster review for the beginning, once we have our group in place. For this year (and onward, as most of our players are signed to multi-year deals) this ought to give us a snapshot of the team we have built. We head into the draft with 48 players signed – meaning we will have to cut or disable 2 players after the draft but before the season starts. Probably not a difficulty. My main hope in the draft would be for a run-stopping defensive tackle in round one – and I think we need to shore up the run defense generally, including at LB. A long-term project for the OL would be useful, also. At 28, we are more likely going to have to take the best player available, pretty much regardless of need. Code:
At 1(28), there is a 17/79 rated QB available – how would he fit into this challenge? In an all-out mode, I’d probably scoop him up, but here, I don’t think I have that luxury – we’d be paying him to develop, and then once he got there he’d be too pricey to re-sign. I decide to go with the best run-stopping DT available, Korey Boyd, whose combine gives me some hope that he can turn out well. G Norm Lynch is slotted at C, but we immediately slide him to play at RG, where our need is greater. LB Sanders is a skills-driven match, and may be good enough to get playing time right away at MLB. LB Haynesworth looks like a pass-rushing specialist – maybe a strong side contributor. WR Wishon was a mistake – drafted as a safety, has a strong conflict there, I slide him to WR to avoid the conflict, but he’s basically a wasted pick. LB Ashcraft is just a decent guy for depth and affinity. |
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10-07-2005, 10:23 AM
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#3 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Roster Review
After training camp, here is a look at our roster, piece by piece: Code:
My best guess is that we go with Stocksdale here – he has some room to develop, and has a decent array of skills. Banks is a little more polished right now, but I don’t expect too much from him other than to be a decent backup option. Code:
Dreyer is a pretty complete back, and looks like a solid starter. Dejesus is a straight-ahead runner, and Bugallo is more of a utility man, receiver type. All will see some time, but expect Dreyer to get the bulk of the carries when healthy. Code:
As I found in my minsal challenge career, there are to many good tight ends sitting around waiting for a contract. These guys are solid starters, playing for peanuts, and I got to hand select guys with affinities – that’s how deep the position is. Code:
I am pleased here with this group – Shue and Precott ought to be solid starters, and Brien is going to be the slot receiver – with RB Bugallo probably my next option there. Code:
C Donny Dorsey was my “sponge” guy here – we had a few million left over after I was done with my main roster-building, and he’s a very good player who signed a one year deal. G Albert Armstrong is a run-blocking bulldozer, and ought to give us a poserful slot to run behind inside. LT Meadows is a solid guy I signed for three years, and the right side will see the rookie G Lynch develop, along with whomever else we slide into the RT spot – maybe C Clifton Carr. Code:
Okay, fine. Code:
I tend toward the 4-3 defensive front, but we might not have the talent here to pull it off. Rookie DT Boyd has to start, and our best pass rushers are probably the veteran DE Hastings and young Chester Nixon. We will try to rotate in DT Bollman as a situational pass-rusher, as he has good skills there (but little else). Code:
Quantity, yes. Quality – a little. We got a huge veteran breakout with LB Kennedy Blanchard, who now looks like the best guy we have on hand – he must have jumped 10-15 points following the draft. Blanchard is slotted as a SLB, and I might just use him there – though he’d be the best MLB of anyone on the team as well. Neil Hall is probably a starter at MLB (or WILB) and I think I like Cory Oulette as our third starter, wherever we need him. Rusty Hansen is well suited to the weak slot – I’m thinking a 3-4 makes the most sense for us overall. Code:
Lindell and Messina start out as the top cover men, with Glover serving as a solid reserve and standout return man. S Irving Fisk is a solid position leader and ought to be good for us as a starting safety, too. The other starring job is up for grabs among these decent guys – Spencer Phillips is the biggest playmaker, and probably gets it. Overall – not much to get too excited about here. A decent roster overall. I don’t think we got much from the rookie draft this year, of course, but we didn’t really need a lot – if DT Korey Boyd can start right away and develop into a decent run-stopper, we ought to be okay even if the rest of the draft ends up as teh suck. |
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10-07-2005, 10:24 AM
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#4 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2005 Season
Into the season we go, with a pretty vanilla gameplan, and our best roster possible with this group of players (rated a 3 on the roster ratings, with the second worst team a massive 53 – ouch!): Our 0-4 start isn’t a shock, but we were actually in a couple tight games getting there. We stumble through the initial season – finishing with a 4-12 but, if I may say so, not a hopeless 4-12. Code:
No need to beat this to death – but we have not much of a passing game, nor a pass defense, but we still made it through this first season without completely embarrassing ourselves. Several close games that could have gone our way. Next season, a little more tweaking of the gameplans, and perhaps some development of our younger players – and we might be able to win 6 or 7 games, I suspect. |
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10-07-2005, 10:24 AM
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#5 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2006 Offseason
Okay, now we have a team to work with, in earnest. DT Troy Cavoretto retired – unfortunate, as he was my position leader. I didn’t build a ton of affinities with him, but his departure leaves us with a new issue there. Fortunately, the new leader, LB Craig Wheeler, seems solid enough and gets along with several guys at the group, so we look okay after all. We have 49 players signed to contracts already as we start the season – so this still be a process more of subtraction than addition, overall. We start out the season just barely under our half cap – so we will likely need to dump a couple of salaries to stay within that range. No surprise there, just frustrating to have to do. (Get used to it) C Donny Dorsey is definitely gone, and I expect that G Albert Armstrong will also depart. That leaves us with issues on the interior line, though Clifton Carr and second year man Norm Lynch are already groomed to be our starters. Lynch looks pretty mediocre, but Carr played well last year and is ready. We hold pick 1(2) in the draft, so we can expect an impact player there – I am penciling in OT Kurt de Rooy for that pick, targeting a need and hopefully locking up a high quality left tackle for us for the years ahead. We need to thin our herd at LB – we are moving to a 3-4 this season for sure, but we have 12 guys there, and probably can only carry eight or nine. Past that – I just think we will make prudent additions where we can, probably peel off a few veterans to be replaced with younger players, and go from there. Our free agent pursuits are not staggering. LB Tyrone Hoffman is my kind of guy, and slots in as our new starting SILB in the 3-4 set. FS Carlos Looker and WR Xavier Markum will battle for playing time, and RG Earnest Cailleteau probably gets the start right away, but is not really an impact player. We make several cuts, and head to the draft with 49 players signed – no room for a last “impact player” this year, especially with a fat contract going to our top rookie this season. In the draft, my top target player gets taken ahead of us at 1(1), so we have to find a Plan B. I didn’t have one, really. The top players available are at RB and QB, neither is where I’d prefer to spend this pick. I pass on a pretty decent DE, to land the next best offensive lineman, a guy I think we will slide out to play tackle, if he’s up to it. Code:
I am pleased with DB Schwartz, a safety we immediately switch over to play at CB, who ought to be pretty solid if he develops. S Miller and RB Monroe are hopeful breakouts – Monroe might be moved to wideout, as I think he has better potential there (and an affinity). G Kevin Mills does not look like a candidate to move to tackle, unfortunately, so we have invested heavily into a true guard, it would seem. Oh, well – he does look pretty good, we will slot him at LG and use him as the cornerstone of our running game, I guess. RB Darrell Dreyer has decided to hold out – and this causes a real problem for us. We definitely cannot afford a new deal for him, and we don’t even have a legal backfield without him. Great. DB Ricardo Miller looks like he will breakout, but he will never fit my secondary setup – so I switch him to play RB, to keep us legal there while Dreyer weighs his options. The switch is painful – Miller looks terrible, I switch him back to safety – experiment over. After camp, it looks like all our top picks are going to be disappointing – indeed, S Ricardo Miller (a total mismatch for us) is the only guy who ticks upward for us at all. G Mills will be good, but probably not quite as good as we had hoped. RB Dreyer finally reports, so we managed to head into the regular season with that crisis resolved. Here is the roster, as we start things off: Code:
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10-07-2005, 10:24 AM
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#6 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2006 Season
For this season, our roster rating is at 2, but we have made ground – the next-lowest is rated 7. With these comparative ratings, it’s not always obvious how they work – that is a pretty big leap forward. On offense, we will be sticking with a pretty vanilla, balanced game plan. On defense, we switch to a 3-4, and I think we will be more effective. I expect our run defense to actually be pretty good, if our middle threesome of DT Boyd, and LBs Hoffman and Blanchard can stay healthy enough. I think this is a team that can scrape its way toward .500, but probably not get there. I’m thinking 6-10, maybe 7-9. After a 3-0 start, the Dolphin faithful are putting down deposits for home playoff games – how nice. We drop three straight to fall back to earth – but at the halfway point, we are 4-4 behind outstanding work from our defense. Injuries really rack up in the second half, but we put together a pretty nice 8-8 season, and there’s a good deal to be happy about here. Code:
So, our team continues to be fairly ineffective on offense – no surprise there. The defense, though, rated to ten in both YPA and YPC allowed – very nice to see. We got decent pass pressure and caused a few turnovers – all told, a really good effort from the defensive unit. We have a salary crunch ahead, I realize – so we probably won’t even be able to maintain this level of overall talent. We’ll have to depend on some familiarity to keep improving. |
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10-07-2005, 12:04 PM
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#7 | |
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Strategy Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: North Carolina
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Holdouts are definitely going to be a regular occurence in this sort of challenge, since you're always targeting undervalued players. I had an LB win all-pro, sit out the entire next year, then return and earn all pro honors again. You really can't afford to budge when a guy is asking for a new deal (and it would be against the house rules anyway).
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10-07-2005, 12:59 PM
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#8 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Jun 2002
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Sadness.
I was looking forward to Chesapeake Chaingang dynasty. Ricky Vaughn seems just the type of player to fit on this type of team. Players from the California Penal League tend to be undervalued. *shurg*
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Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. - Lou Holtz |
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10-07-2005, 03:30 PM
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#9 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2007 Offseason
We avoid any retirements this year – but we do have a number of free agents. We come into the year with 50 players signed, and we are, practically speaking, already over our salary cap. Great. We get a trade offer for QB Malcolm Stocksdale – including a 2nd round pick. Can’t do it – this is presumably his last year with us, and we expect him to continue to improve. We’ll be stuck next season, presumably, but for now I’m comfy with him. Plus, draft picks aren’t worth shit to me in this career, I am rapidly finding. We release RB J.B. Bugallo – he’s overpaid for his reserve role, and he has overtaken Dreyer for the position leadership role, causing a conflict. No great loss – we can always pick up a utility RB in the draft. I can’t afford to re-sign C Carr – so a starting center becomes a high priority. Actually, we will lose LT Krzyzanowski also, so the OL is in need of some patching – I’ll be looking for productive rookies there, as we can’t spend money on a free agent, I don’t think. Code:
Adam Hoover has all the hallmarks of a rookie breakout – and he gets switched to play CB, across from second year man Alvin Schwartz. I like that combo, and hope they will be together a while (though Schwartz is only signed for one more season, he will be restricted). RT Lester Vega is the best OL left, at a true need position (RT) and an affinity guy – I feel I have to take him, despite the warning signs of a disappointment. DE Franz is well developed and a strong combine performer – good signs for a short term addition at a constant need position. WR Brinsfield is a decent value pick at WR, a natural split end (sissy). RB Owens looks decent, can return kicks, and is an affinity guy as well. As we sign the rookies, I find myself needing to cut one more veteran player to get under our half-cap. DE Stanley Hastings makes that a fairly easy decision, as he has opted to hold out. He’s released, and we are in cap compliance now. Code:
So, we are under the half cap, and ready for the season ahead. We probably are at a max in terms of familiarity – with so much of this team in its third season together, so we probably need to strike while we can this year. Last year, 8-8 – this season, perhaps a playoff berth? |
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10-07-2005, 03:31 PM
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#10 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2007 Season
We open the season with a stifling defensive effort and a great game from Stockdale to beat defending division champion New England, 17-3. We again get to 3-0, but then lose one – and lose QB Stockdale for 8 weeks with a broken leg. Tough loss. We get a win in the next week, but lose four more starters to injuries – awful blow. The injuries become pretty absurd as the season wears on, as we are fielding a team with basically two legitimate offensive linemen, and have about six other starters out. For seven straight weeks, we have to rest the OL depth chart because a guy listed as a starter is now out. However, we manage to scrape our way to 9-3, and are in good position for a playoff berth. We drop our final game, but still finish up at 12-4 – and are already a force to be reckoned with in the postseason. Code:
Well, this season we saw a real change with the team. Injuries ravaged us on the offensive line and the whole defense, but we had enough depth to patch over, for the most part. Our running game remained pretty weak, but our passing game was actually much improved – Stockdale had a great half-season, when healthy, and we were very efficient in the air game. On defense, we yielded a lot more yardage on the ground than last season, but only 14 points a game is not bad at all. 95 passes defensed is solid for a young team, and we got solid pass pressure, too. If we had stuffed the run a bit better, this defense could have carried the team. Forutnately, this year, it didn’t have to. Well, this is probably our window of opportunity to make a postseaon splash – we will be replacing more than half our starters next year, so we had better make it count. |
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10-07-2005, 03:32 PM
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#11 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2007 Postseason
Code:
A very good game for us here – and now we move on to the conference title game, on the road at Denver. Code:
Okay – we are in the big game. One love... Code:
Well, there we go. Year three was going to be the big one, of course… I had no idea we’d actually be able to finish it off, though. We actually made it through the last three games without losing anyone to serious injury – and that surely helped. In the title game, we didn’t turn the ball over, and they did. We win. Pretty simple, actually, and almost all it takes to understand the margin of difference. Oh, one more thing… w00t! Last edited by QuikSand : 10-07-2005 at 03:32 PM. |
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10-08-2005, 06:06 PM
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#12 |
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Head Coach
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Congratulations!
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2006 Golden Scribe Nominee 2006 Golden Scribe Winner Best Non-Sport Dynasty: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) Rookie Writer of the Year Dynasty of the Year: May Our Reign Be Green and Golden (CK Dynasty) |
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10-08-2005, 07:03 PM
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#13 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Many thanks.
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10-08-2005, 07:03 PM
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#14 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2008 Preseason
Okay, on with the show – I remain interested to see just how hard it will be to keep this team, in some reasonable shape, together. So, we will play out another season, let lots of key players walk in search of new fat deals, and see what happens. No retirements – so some good news. We escape the “one and done” disease this time. 24 players on contract. It’s a skeleton. Our first look through the contract demands reaffirms my guess – we’re going to lose nearly everyone. We just don’t have much cap space to work with, and even the cost of a minsal deal for an older player – at $800K or so, is probably too pricey. Interestingly enough, QB Malcolm Stockdale isn’t looking for big money, really. Only about $2.5m per year. It would be very tough to swing it, but there is at least some chance we could make that work, especially if he does not get pursued by another team. I also have a sense that we just won’t be able to afford the veteran position leaders like I had hoped. Paying a bum like WR Austin Fletcher $770K this year just won’t work, I don’t think. So, we will probably be rebuilding all of that as well in most areas. LB Kennedy Blanchard, no surprise, is the first to go – for good money. But he’s our only player who goes in the early FA stages. We replace him with young free agent LB Lester Bullock, a solid run-stopper who should do well in our coverage scheme. We simply are not going to be able to afford expensive backups in this career – that’s becoming clear. I look at CB, where we have Schwartz and Hoover as our starters (Schwartz in his final season) and figure that maybe one more guy is all we can really spend money on there. I’ll try to land a cheap veteran, and we’ll go with a draft pick or two as roster fillers – that’s the best we can manage. We build, step by step, toward 46 veteran players. I bring back a number of familiar faces thankfully, but many will be completely new. I am still harboring the fantasy of re-signing QB Malcolm Stockdale – his demands are now around $2 million a year, and a three year deal to that effect would give us an awful lot of stability. I think we have to try to fit him in, even if it means three or four veterans we go without elsewhere (which it will). In week 19 of the FA process, I get in a qualifying offer to QB Malcolm Stockdale, for four years at $1.9m per season. He gets $1.6m up front, and there is no escalation – so we ought to remain affordable through the term. Biggest issue will be injuries, of course, but I’m hoping his problems last season were isolated. I think this is a big decision for us, and hopefully it will give us some real stability going forward. We have 45 players signed, and about $2.2m in cap space – we are in better shape than I had imagined, actually. I kept finding young players to sign, and the economies of signing 3rd and 4t year guys are significant. My last deal is with WR Malcolm Shue, who has been a reliable target for Stockdale, and figures to keep progressing in the years ahead – he gets a solid three year deal. I also put in a bonus-free offer to S Spencer Phillips – he’ll be a cut if we have to, but it would be nice to bring him back to our secondary if we can. This contract makes that feasible. In the draft, we have several slots we must fill – a center (again), a fullback, and probably at least one defensive lineman. We also lack a true left tackle on the team, though we have options even without one on hand. But we are not painted into a corner, at least, by massive roster gaps. With our pick at 1(32), we expect to just grab the best player available, and use the next several selections to try to fill in our immediate gaps. I’m not wild about anyone left at 1(32), but go for need with T Warren Farr. Not a combine standout, but he looks like he ought to be pretty solid as a pass blocker for us. Code:
I made a big mistake in round three – there was a great fullback there, and I gambled that he’d fall to round four. He did not. We fill in spots we needed to, however, and get a number of guys who ought to provide some solid depth for us. When we have all buy pick 6(32) signed, I see that we are just slightly over our self-imposed salary cap. I decide to release RB Donovan Dejesus – we have signed K.C. Hausermann, and Hausermann seems like a slightly better version of Dejesus already, and probably takes the top spot at RB for us this year. However, we are still $130K over the salary cap – we will need to cut someone else by the start of preseason. We release WR Brinsfield, and pare down to 52 players for the season ahead. Here is the roster, as we prepare for week one of our title defense. Code:
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10-08-2005, 07:04 PM
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#15 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2008 Season
We have, actually, a remarkable number of returning players aboard – a lot more than I had expected. DT Korey Boyd just barely held on to his job, but he’s back in the middle for us on defense, and we have a pretty decent group everywhere. We are not deep – a couple serious injuries could really hurt us nearly anywhere – but right now, we look okay. Our roster rating has leapt up to 27 – with five teams lower than us, even. I think we are probably a solid team all told – but I don’t know if we can manage another year like last season. If Stockdale can stay healthy, we will be passing more than last season – as now I think our personnel there is actually pretty strong. On defense, we hope that the turnover doesn’t mess us up, and that we will be back as an above average unit once again. In our opening game, we get pounded by the Jets. Bad sign. And QB Malcolm Stockdale is hurt – another bad sign. We sit him for a couple weeks hoping to get him back to 100% to avoid a long term problem. After one more game, we have lost both our starting tackles (one for the year) – so the OL woes go on once again. We struggle to a 3-3 start, not exactly defending champion stuff. But we get two good wins to start looking sharp again, and get our rookie left tackle back, also. We work our way to 7-3, and are managing to get through our continuing injury woes – now we will be without QB Stockdale again for a while. Bad sign – he certainly does seem to be injury-prone. At 9-3, we are chasing 10-2 Tennessee for thee top spot in the AFC, but are in good shape for a postseason berth at least, with our division all but wrapped up. We are, quite literally, reshuffling the lineup every single week, as a new player slides to “out” – usually two or three every game week. But so far, we keep winning – and run out the string to finish the season with a 10-game streak, securing the all-important bye week at 13-3. Code:
So, a great run to finish the season. Defensively, our secondary was great, especially CB Hoover. We love what we’re getting from the guys back there – and we were the #1 passing defense in the league (in yards per attempt). Our rotation at DL seemed okay, and we will be fine without Boyd in the middle next year, assuming he leaves for a new deal elsewhere. The LB group got depleted, but did okay with any combination of bodies. On offense, we ran with Hausermann better than ever – with G Kelvin Mills (our top paid player) racking up 41 key run blocks and a strong bet for all-pro consideration. The line played very well this season, and that was the key to having everything work out so well no matter who was running or passing. Looking ahead, we get a week off to rest up, and have the #2 seed – so we may have to travel to Tennessee in the conference title game if we make it that far. We’ll try to stay healthy, and show up to play in the big games ahead. |
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10-08-2005, 07:06 PM
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#16 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2008 Postseason
10-6 Oakland wins their wild card game to get onto our dance card – we are 8 point favorites at home in our opener. Code:
Not a great showing on offense, but we kept them in check all day, and earn our ticket to…Miami, where we will play host to Cinti, who upset the Titans. Good news for us, and for our ticket revenue! We will, however, be without Malcolm Stockdale, who hurt his knee and is listed as our for four weeks – so effectively we have seen the last of him. We’ll go to Mario Kazadi, a decent enough backup and capable guy to get the chance for us. Code:
So, it’s over – nice win for the Bengals, who really handle us here. They go on and beat Dallas in the title game, to get their first. G Kelvin Mills indeed receives first team honors, as does P Gary Perry (who had to do part time kicking duties as well, explaining the award). Good season – it has to be disappointing to fall from the top spot, but it’s hard to complain with this season all told. We end the season with a litany of injuries – we’ll see who comes back intact for next year: Code:
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10-08-2005, 07:40 PM
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#17 | |
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Strategy Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: North Carolina
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Any early thoughts on the challenge as a whole?
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10-08-2005, 08:32 PM
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#18 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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I was surprised at how many of my key players I was able to keep, even beyond year three (the real reckoning, since so many guys were out of contract). So, compared to my recent minsal challenge, this is easier in that particular respect.
I also will soon be "cycling" my top draft picks -- ridding myself of one big contract at about the same time I take one on... so that ought to level off shortly. So, I think it's a bit to soon to say. I am enjoying the cap management challenges, of course, but I'm a little disappointed with the initial success. Having a QB start to play well made a big difference for me. Maybe having the same QB start to become unrealiable due to injury will swing the pendulum back the other way. I expect to log at least one more season with it... |
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10-08-2005, 11:10 PM
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#19 | |
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Strategy Moderator
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: North Carolina
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I'm really just not sure that there can be a "holy grail." I mean, this is a ridiculously oppressive set of rules as-is and you won the title in year 3 and lost the conference title game in year 4. I can't imagine it would take more than 1 more year of sustained success to show that the game is still totally beatable under these rules.
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10-09-2005, 09:09 AM
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#20 |
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College Benchwarmer
Join Date: Mar 2004
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Heh...How many titles can you win in a row without any restrictions, you are pretty good at this game and I love reading your challenges.
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10-09-2005, 12:17 PM
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#21 | |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Quote:
Don't know, I usually get bored with any career where my team rises to the top and stays there. I remember playing a career in FOF 2004 where we won an obscene number of titles with QB Mel Copeland... but I don't know how many in a row we won there. (edit -- looked it up, maxed out at 4 in a row, but 13 titles in 18 seasons) I haven't really played a long term, all-out career since... maybe FOF2? But thanks for the compliment. Last edited by QuikSand : 10-09-2005 at 12:20 PM. |
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10-10-2005, 09:16 AM
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#22 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2009 Offseason
We lose LB Tyrone Hoffman to retirement – a meaningful loss, as he was among our only linebackers who stayed healthy last year (starting 15 games). And we still have three injured players – guys who will be eating salary but not solid food, it looks like – well, only two are signed, and the total is only about $1.1 million. However, we do have 40 players signed to contracts right now, and a little over $3 million in cap space – so I think we are actually in pretty decent shape for the coming season. CB Alvin Schwartz, WR Xavier Marcum, DT Korey Boyd, and S Carlos Looker are the biggest names without deals – and I expect to get maybe one of those guys back this season. CB Schwartz is almost impossible to get back, as he’s expecting a deal for $5m a year or so. WR Marcum is our position leader, so his loss might have dire consequences. We have offensive line issues as well, starting with position leader Ellis Beavers. We don’t make any early FA moves, and none of our players get pursued right away. My biggest re-signing target is S Looker, who looks affordable. The rest will have to wait, it seems. We have to outbid Indy for S Carlos Looker, but we get it done, returning a valuable starter. Young S Ricardo Miller is definitely a goner, and Spencer Philips might be a cap casualty, so we need to return Looker for certain. New three year deal, solid. DT Korey Boyd gets signed away, no surprise. I’d have made him an offer in the late stages, but he got over $1m a year – more than we could afford anyway. I give up on WR Marcum, and will be rebuilding the WR corps around a new position leader, FL Malcolm Shue. We now have all three offensive position groups in sync (leaders all Sagittariuses) so there are opportunities for strong QB tie-ins as well (both Stockdale and Sellers will have triple affinities). This costs a few veterans their jobs, of course, but we needed to clear cap space anyway. WR Jack McWilliams and TE Wayne Knickerbocker are key additions to the new look receiving corps. My biggest worry as we wrap up free agency is linebackers – I don’t know if we are deep enough there to maintain the 3-4 front. DE Ricardo Tanner dropped back and played some last year (he’s a solid run stopper) so we have options, but this is a concern. I put in an offer to DE Russell Meseck, a guy poorly suited to play DE, but a great run stopper and an ideal candidate to play for us at DT/NT. His addition gives us a lot more flexibility up front – but his price tag of $1.05m per year will cause a strain. We get to the draft with 49 player signed, and about $3m over the cap. There will be cuts, no doubt – we’ll have to decide where after seeing the rookie additions. In the draft, I am looking for defensive help primarily – either at LB or CB would be ideal. I have my eye on a pair of cornerbacks from Mississippi State, both would make nice 2nd or 3rd round picks. I’d like to see one of the top linebackers at 1(27) to kick off a solid draft. However, LBs go with picks 23, 24, and 25… leaving the cupboard nearly bare there by our pick at 27. While I still like my sleeper guys at CB, the best player available, for us, at this point is the fleet-footed CB Skip Williams from Purdue, and we grab him. One of my Miss State corners goes at 2(25), so I just miss out there. I go after the other guy, Allen Slocumb, with my pick, getting a potential breakout corner here for value. Code:
LB “Bongo” Brinsfield is the most ready-to-play linebacker available, and an affinity guy – plus, with that name, you can’t help but like him. FB Oliver is a powerful run blocker, and might be a better fit for our system than our current starter. S Humphrey is a hopeful breakout with decent skills and a good eye for the ball anyway. WR Jeff Sweeney has great speed, and not much else. After camp – two things. We are $3m over our self-imposed cap, which is a problem. And, we have RB KC Hausermann is holding out after his 1,400 yards season. So, he will be a candidate for a cut, since we cannot renegotiate. During preseason, RB K.C. Hausermann decides to return to the team, so he resolves our “who to cut” issue there. We end up paring down four players to get under our limit… and are ready for the season. Code:
So, we’re ready to go. Our roster rating is 22, again with a handful of teams below us. We should again overcome that, and hopefully put together a solid season once again. We got a little breakout from reserve QB Mario Kazadi, giving us a little more security with the offense. And we love rookie DB Allen Slocumb, who will start right away at strong safety. We’ll see how well we can do. |
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10-10-2005, 09:18 AM
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#23 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2009 Season
We start off 3-0 – a nice improvement, considering we have been prone to slow beginnings in recent years (last season we started 3-3, only to finish 13-3). We get to 5-0-1 with one tie against new England, but now we are feeling the injury bug – two starters from both the offensive and defensive lines gone for the year, that hurts. Still unbeaten (one tie) at our halfway point, we are shaping up pretty well, despite the injury problems. Our passing game is pretty strong, with WR Dustin Hodges really taking the role as Stockdale’s top target, posting 554 yards and 5 TD in 8 games. RB Hausermann has good numbers, but just went down with an injury for a couple of weeks. We lose our next two games, though, both at home – and lose LG Kelvin Mills in the process. That’s a tough loss for us. We drop two more in a row, and suddenly we are completely floundering. Getting Housermann back seems to help, as we win two of three, but at 9-5-1, we are battling for a wild card now behind New England. The Hausermann goes down again, and I am very worried. We get the win we needed in our finale to finish with 10 ½ wins, and that’s enough for a postseason berth, at least. Code:
Well, as dismissive of the importance of running backs as I can be, this team just was not the same getting 2.8 yards/carry from Owens as we were getting 4.5 yards/carry from Hausermann. Plain and simple. And Hausermann is listed as out for 3 weeks – so we are in hot water for the playoffs. WR Dustin Hodges had the best WR season we have seen on this team, and topped the 1,000-yard mark for the first time. Stockdale was solid, but he did tick up in his mistakes this year, regrettably. Our defense, though – can’t complain. Top five in yards per play against the run and the pass. We even caused a fair number of turnovers, though that isn‘t our strong suit. Great effort. LBs Bullock and Whitehorn stayed healthy in the middle – that means a lot to this defense. DE Kennedy Franz stepped up as our best pass rusher, and had maybe the best season we have gotten from the DE slot on this team. Good contract year effort for him – he’ll get big bucks, I expect. Code:
There’s our injury snapshot for the wild card week. We’ll be playing a lot of injured guys, but can’t get RB Hausermann of WR Shue ready in time, regrettably. Our offense will have one arm tied behind its back, I fear. |
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10-10-2005, 09:18 AM
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#24 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2009 Postseason
We are on the road at Pittsburgh for our opener – a longer road than we have had to travel in recent seasons: Code:
So, we are off to a rip-roaring start. Our offense was okay, but the defense shut them down and kept us totally in command. Now we travel to 13-3 Houston, who handed us our first loss this season, at our place. They are made 4 point favorites in the game – so we’re getting at least some respect. Code:
But the dream dies here, as our impotent offense can’t get anything done, and they manage to terrorize us with their defense – 7 sacks, 4 turnovers, and an easy win for the Houston D. We are shut out of the Season Awards, as if so often the case. Oakland rises from 9-7 to make the title game, but loses to Carolina there. As for us – another season being a significant contender. If that’s the true goal of a challenge career, I wonder if this is just where things are going to land. We have been able to afford a decent quarterback, and have done okay putting spare parts together around him, maintaining pretty good team chemistry and starting to build up some cohesion in the process. Any reason to think this team will fall apart any time soon? Maybe after Stockdale’s contract expires? Beats me. |
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11-03-2005, 01:24 PM
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#25 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 Offseason
Okay, we’re firing up another season with the Phins here. We’re still a good team, I think our cap crises have leveled off a bit, and now we’re trying to get back to the Superbowl. No retirements, and 45 players under contract. But we start out about $3,500,000 over our self-imposed half cap, so we’re already facing some tough decisions. That’s as it ought to be, I guess. Oddly, my head coach rejects every single offer that I am able to make to him (even though it’s half again what he was asking for initially), so I have to go get a new guy at the end of the staff hiring process. However, after a withdraw my initial offer, he suddenly accepts a lower deal than what I had been offering. Odd – but we are back intact for another five year stint. Interestingly, WR Carlton Womble, who missed a year and a half with a ghastly injury, looks fine now that he is healthy. Cutting him only saves us $600K, so we expect to keep him on the roster – but I suspect he will be fragile now. Interesting – I expected him to be a total dud. We have an issue at OL – where G Lewis Ramirez has assumed the group leadership role, messing up many affinities we had built around Ellis Beavers. I’d just cut Ramirez, but we are looking thin already at OL, and this might be a chance to just cut Beavers (no talent) and move ahead with Ramirez as our leader. We will (by necessity) be bringing in at least two or three new OL this year anyway, we can get the new guys to connect to Ramirez, I reckon. (Though Ramirez has a very low personality score of 15, making ay affinities likely to be weak – this is another problem) And at DB, Carlos Looker has assumed the leadership role now, upending a couple affinities there, too. We have loads of talent at DB already, but I don’t want to dump Looker, a four-year vet with us and our best natural safety. So, we lose some chemistry there, too. We have to part ways with some old friends to make some cap space: TE Diz Pardo, G Ellis Beavers, CB Edward Mazur, K Robert Walters, LB Hugh Ashcraft, and DT Jack Bollman – all are released before we even get back to cap level. We’re down to 40 players, and I suspect that after signing 7 rookies, we would still be over our cap. Brutal. FA signee DT Ronald Oswalt is a cheap, solid run-stopper, and between he and returning veteran Ethan Farr, we expect to cover the middle – so we will release run-stopper DE Russell Meseck for cap space. We pick up a few cheap young players, and head toward the rookie draft with four holes that we absolutely must fill in the draft – DE, OL, TE and K. We probably want to add two OL and perhaps two DL there, but we need these four to field a legal roster for this season. I take a DT (whom we will move to DE) with our first pick, as there is a legion of pretty-good tackles available – and then we watch as they all get snapped up before our second pick. Code:
An un-inspiring draft for us… our top three players all need to shift positions to fit our need slots, and among the rest none look like they will amount to all that much. The kicker’s probably going to be the best player of the lot. LB Kent Whitehorn is my latest veteran holdout, shrewdly timing this right after the draft where we did not select a linebacker. We will wait him out, but I don’t know if I even have a legal roster without him. Great. That could force us into the 4-3 front. Veteran CB Damon Brewer is our final cut, getting us under our salary cap – but down to only 49 total players. With the injuries was have sustained under this coach, there is every reason to be very fearful of a big problem cutting things that thin. After training camp, it looks like we just drafted a big group of bums – so we will definitely need everyone from the veteran corps to play well this year if we want to remain a serious contender. This looks like we’re really seeing serious strain here. With Whitehorn holding out, I don’t have two inside linebackers to field a legal roster – so we have to make a position switch, which will hurt a veteran player a lot. Craig Wheeler takes the bullet, and shifts to WILB. After preseason, Whitehorn knuckes under, and we are back to full strength at LB, for what that’s worth. We are still only 49 players deep, and will be on eggshells this season – but we are ready to go. Code:
It’s a tight squeeze, and we are going to be in tough shape with inevitable injures – but we’re ready to embark on our next season. Our roster rating has dropped to 11 (third lowest) but we are hopeful for another winning season. |
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11-03-2005, 01:25 PM
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#26 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2010 Season
We roll up win after win, and get out to a 9-0 start before finally tripping up. Regardless, we are getting great play from basically every part of this team – Malcolm Stockdale is a leading MVP candidate, and the defense is among the very best in the league. In the end, we are staggered a bit by injuries, and our final stretch isn’t too impressive – but we’ll gladly accept a 13-3 record and a top berth in the playoff seedings. Code:
So, we end up with a really effective season from our offense, top ten in yards per rush and pass. Our run defense was okay, but the pass defense was, once again, excellent. Malcolm Stockdale will have a shot at All-Pro honors this year, he led the league in passing yards and posted a career-best 96 rating. KC Hausermann was on pace for 1,500 yards, but tailed off (as did the whole team) but still posts a very solid 1,272 yards – and is again well over 4 yards per carry. The line was solid, but injuries are the issue – G Kelvin Mills (37/0.7) will miss the playoffs, and thee goes our anchor to the running game. On defense, the secondary was outstanding again, with Adam Hoover again showing top-tier skills – he could end up an All Pro also. LB Lester Bullock remains the centerpiece to our defensive front, and our young defensive ends Inouye and Tanner were effective in the pass rush. 32 sacks isn’t bad for this group, we’ll be looking to get after ‘em in the coming weeks, for sure. Solid effort – a little disappointing after such a great start, but we are clearly a top level club, and with a break or two, might have a shot to do it here. |
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