Running to the Hall

stkelly52 · 09-30-2004, 02:17 AM

Los Angeles, California 2023

As I sat in the white convertible riding through downtown LA I couldn’t help but think what a crazy decade it has been. And yet here I am, once again at the top celebrating my 3rd Super Bowl victory in the past 6 years. Everyone thought that I was a fool when I moved the team up from San Diego, especially considering we had won two championships. But it just seamed that the people of San Diego didn’t care about us back then. In spite of being perennial contenders we just couldn’t sell out, and when the voters refused to even upgrade our current stadium, I knew it was time to move the team to some place that we would be appreciated. Ten years later and LA is considered the best football town in the nation. We regularly sell out all of our games and the fans love seeing a team that has been to the playoffs nine out of the past ten seasons. This year we pulled in a tidy profit of $39 million as well. Our QB, Moe Swift had one of the best season for a QB in history, completing 370 of 556 passes (66.5%) for 5035 yards (a league record) and 37 TD. Moe has already thrown 295 TDs in his career, and he has only played 9 seasons. In addition, our stud WR Jesse Manusky set a new record this past season by amassing 2077 yards receiving in a single season, while at the same time surpassing the career receiving TD mark with 108. But these achievements sadden me because I know that theses players have many greats seasons left in them, and I will not be with the Chargers for the conclusion of their careers. I know that there is nothing left for me to prove here, and it is time for me to move on. While I have enjoyed watching my players excel, the job has grown too easy. I need a challenge. I need to bring a team from the bottom to the top of the league. So after the Super Bowl I contacted the Atlanta Falcons and offered my services as their GM.

stkelly52 · 09-30-2004, 02:20 AM

Naturally the Falcons were astonished and thrilled by the idea. Suddenly they felt that they could go from a team who had only had four winning seasons and had been to the post season just three times to a team that could soon be seen as a powerhouse in the NFL. I tried my best to convince them that it wasn’t going to be that easy, that this team needed a lot of work, but the Falcons’ organization was confident that I would overcome all of the obstacles and bring greatness to Atlanta. We will see if they are right.

While I am excited about this new opportunity and challenge, I am saddened to leave LA. It has been my home for the past 10 years and LA has been good to me.

During my first day on the job, my plan was to decide what to do about my coaches and scouts. However, I was thrown for a loop when the Falcons owner, Rich Carter, called me into his office.
“Scott, it’s good to have you on board with us. I just know that you are going to take this team to new heights”

“Well, thank you for your support Mr. Carter, I am sure tha…

“But Scott, there’s just one little thing...."

stkelly52 · 09-30-2004, 02:26 AM

“There’s just one little thing,,,, You met my wife Cami, right.

“Sure, she’s a wonderful woman” I replied as I thought about the 24 year old former playmate. Whoever said you can’t buy love? I thought enviously.

Well her little brother is graduating from Grambling this year and I sort of promised her that he could have a spot on the team, he’s a kid named Leland Nixon”

“You what? How could you, why would you… You did what? You know I have actually taken a look at Nixon, and I just don’t think that he has what it takes to make it in the NFL, perhaps the Arena League might be better for him.

“Yea, I figured that you would say something like that, but let’s face it if he isn’t playing in the NFL this year, well, then Cami won’t be sleeping in my bed at night. Sorry. I know that you can find a way to make it work.”

stkelly52 · 09-30-2004, 02:34 AM

And thus begins my new challenge. I always enjoy seeing undrafted players rise to greatness, and I’ve often wondered if I could turn a nobody into a member of the Hall of Fame, so I have finally started a dynasty to see if it can be done. My goal is to take this undrafted rookie RB and get him into the Hall of Fame, while winning a Super Bowl with Atlanta.
The only house rule is that Nixon must start if he is healthy. Everything else is fair game.

stkelly52 · 10-01-2004, 02:45 AM

So I get to work building my team. I start with the staff. My defensive coordinator and scout were no longer under contract, while my Head Coach and OC each had two years left. My first task is to find a defensive coordinator for the team. Because so much of our offence will be based upon the performance of such and unproven player, we will need a solid defense to keep the game close. Last year’s DC was Jeremy Kramer, and he frankly is a solid coach. His only weakness is with kickers. I am determined to keep Kramer on staff, I offer Kramer the $3.9 million that he was asking for. It is a generous offer but well worth it in my opinion. If he accepts the deal it would make him the third highest paid DC in the league.

I then take a look at OC. Britt Wayne is a decent, though not great coach. His biggest weakness however is RBs. As that is going to need to be my strength, I feel I have no choice but to let him go. I set my sights instead on the best offensive coordinator that I have ever seen in my time playing this game, Clarence Givens. He is listed as “Excellent” with QBs, RBs, WRs, OL, and K/P. For young talent he is listed as “Very Good”. Givens is asking for 4.1 million, but I expect others to offer even more. Because I feel that Givens is critical to Nixon’s success, I put out an offer that I think will not be refused. $5.8 million

My current head coach should be a solid coach, but he has two things going against him. One, he has just never proven himself to be a winner. I am not sure what it is about him that just doesn’t bring his teams victory. In 19 seasons in the league he has only been to the post season twice. Secondly he is the second highest paid coach in the league. I am sorry but I am now willing to spend $9 million on a coach that loses nearly twice as often as he wins. I just think that we can find someone who can do just as good of a job for a couple million less. I find a young coach, Brett Rhodes who I believe will be able to do a phenomenal job. Has just 3 year experience, coaching the Monroe Jets. His record of 18-32 isn’t good, but he did have to some post season success, reaching the AFC title game. And his price is much more reasonable.

In looking for a scout there are two things that are crucial. One is young talent. To succeed one must have a good idea who to draft and who to skip. Secondly I need a scout that can evaluate OL. If Nixon is going to have any chance at making it to the hall of fame he is going to need a superb line blocking for him. I think that I have my man in Lincoln Perkins. His weakness is RBs, but that is OK because I already know who my RB is going to be. I also should have a leg up on bringing Perkins to town because he was my scout last season in LA. I offer a fat $700,000 contract; a deal that would make him the 4th highest paid scout in the league

While it was expensive, I was able to get all the staff that I wanted. A bidding war erupted for Givens and I wound up paying him almost $7 million for 5 years. It’s a good thing that Mr. Carter has money to spend, because it is going to cost him a lot to get his brother-in-law into the Hall of Fame.

stkelly52 · 10-03-2004, 01:01 PM

I don’t have any players that I feel should be franchised, and the ticket prices are about were I like them, just a bit below the median price. This team hasn’t had a profit since 2010, and attendance has dropped 20,000 since then. I don’t want to do anything that would drive any more fans away.

As I head into free agency, I know that there are going to have to be many cuts made. We are 1.7 million over the cap, and that doesn’t even count our draft signings. The tough choices are made as we trim our rosters down to just 22 players, with 15.5 million free in cap room.

As I head into the free agent signing period, I have one main focus…run blockers. If Nixon is going to have a hall of fame career he will need to have a solid group of linemen, TEs and a great FB to make his holes. Our starting RG, C, and LT look solid. We will be looking for another guard and tackle as well as a stud FB and TE.

I find a solid LG in Kyle Conklin, an 8 year vet who spent last season with the Cardinals. My only concern is that he missed a significant portion of last season with an injury. It is the first major injury of his career, so hopefully he hasn’t become prone to injury. I offer him $13.86 million for 4 years.

At RT I am not particularly thrilled with any of my available options. I do offer a $4.9 million, three year contract, for a fading former all-pro, 13 year vet, Scottie Fisher who should still have a couple of decent years left in him.

I find a stud TE in Brad McKenzie who is one of the best run blocking TEs in the game, as well as being a solid receiver as well. It will be a nice bonus to have a TE who can be effective in the passing game.

Myron Barns is just a 53 rated FB, but as run blocker he is rated at 92, just the kind of FB that I want. I am certain that I can sign him cheaply as well.

I am able to go through and pick up each of these guys during the main free agency period, but after signing them up I find myself in a bit of a quandary. With nearly 20% of my teams salary lost to dead space from cuts made last year, my hands are tied in trying to fill the rest of the holes. I decide to wait until after the draft to fill them, hopefully I can find some cheaply. The draft is pretty uneventful, as there are few decent run supporters for me to draft. I do find a center in the 6th round who looks like he might be a steal if he can develop quickly enough.

stkelly52 · 10-03-2004, 01:03 PM

Following the draft, I am able to actually sign Leland Nixon. He agrees to a two year deal for the league minimum. I then fill out my team with scrubs, and I am only able to afford 46 players. To be perfectly honest this is going to be a difficult season. There are a lot of holes on the team. I think that if we win 6 games then we will have had a successful season. However, with our solid group of blockers up front I am confident that Nixon will reach 1000 yards

Before I go any farther lets take a closer look at just what to expect from the star of this dynasty.

Leland was born on March 6th of 2001. He was raised in Indianapolis and went on to star at Grambling. His current rating is 25 and his future rating is 31. He has decent breakaway speed and power inside with 53 and 58 respectively. He looks like he will be hard to tackle as well with an elusiveness rating of 70. The bad news is that he is terrible as a third down back (0), hole recognition (4), and avoiding fumbles (5/15). His speed to the outside is unimpressive (24). On the bright side, he looks like he could be a solid receiver in the future, though he will need some time to develop. Leland also has decent endurance, which is good because he should be getting a lot of carries.

With all of my positions filled I take a look at the team’s game plan. I go very run heavy in normal situations and with the lead, and I let my coaches set the rest of the game plan. Leland Nixon may set a record for most carries in a season.

stkelly52 · 10-03-2004, 11:36 PM

PRESEASON

Week 1

My first preseason game pits me against the Bills, and it is not a great start for Nixon, but not bad either. He averages 3.0 yards per carry, picking up 46 yard on 15 carries, as well as 1 catch for 3 yards. One of my biggest fears was realized when Nixon fumbled inside the red zone early in the fourth quarter, just when it looked like we might get back into the game. We lose the game 23-10 but no matter, it gives us a good chance to evaluate some of our new talent.

One major concern is that Sammy Delgado sprained his knee in the game. Sammy is simply the best guard in the game, perhaps the best player in the game. He spent 6 weeks on the sidelines with an injury last year, and I am hoping that this is not a sign that injuries are going to be a future problem for him. Fortunately we have an extra week for him to rest.

Week 3

Our second game of the preseason was a great display of our defense as we held the Chiefs to just 6 points. Unfortunately we only managed 3. Nixon could only pick up 28 yards on 15 carries. That kind of performance will not lead to the Hall of Fame. Of course it didn’t help that by the end of the first quarter three of our starting linemen were on the sidelines with injuries. Fortunately they were all minor, but this team cannot afford to lose their offensive linemen.

>>

Week 4

In week 4 we face off against the Monroe Jets. With our offensive line in shambles with injury, I am not sure what to expect. It turns out that I am pleasantly surprised. Nixon busts a 32 yard TD run in the second and finishes the game with 120 yards on 20 carries and MVP honors as we top the Jets 20-10, and no new injuries in the game either.

>>

Week 5

Week 5 is another decent performance by Leland. On 18 carries he had 118 yards and no TDs at we slip past ffice:smarttags" />lace w:st="on">Oaklandlace> 6-0. It was good to see such a great defensive performance, because I know that we are going to avoid giving up more than 14 points in most games if we are to win them. All in all it has been a solid preseason. I think that Leland showed that should be able to do a fair job at RB and

I think that our defense showed that they can keep it close. I should also point out that Nixon had just the one fumble in the preseason, which is my biggest fear about having him make so many carries.

>>

stkelly52 · 10-05-2004, 12:14 AM

WEEK 1
Atlanta vs. Carolina Panthers
The Panthers come into town favored by 8. They have a solid running game and a great pass defense. Fortunately, they have some big weaknesses against the run. This could be a good team for Nixon to start with.

This was a great start for our undrafted RB. Nixon took the ball on Atlanta's first play and picked up 8 yards. On the second play he carried for 14 more. Nixon continued to have the bulk of the action and capped off the opening drive with a 2 yard TD. On the second Falcon drive Nixon had carries of 6, 27, 4, and 1, the 1 being a 1 yard TD run, his second of the game. Atlanta played a solid game on both sides of the ball for three quarters, taking a 31-3 lead 14 seconds into the fourth. Then the team just seamed to run out of steam as the Panthers racked up 21 unanswered points. But it was too little too late for the Panthers and a late field goal by us put the game out of reach, 34-24.

Leland had 27 carries for 130 yards and 2 TDs in his first performance. He had no receptions and importantly, he had no fumbles. Leland and his two guards are listed as some of the key players of the weak.

WEEK 2
Atlanta @ L.A. Chargers (1-0)
It is strange coming into this stadium as a visitor. L.A. enters this game as a perennial playoff contender. The Chargers are a team that I built, and I built them well. It will be tough to run the ball against these guys. The only real weakness that they have is at QB, as the star QB, Moe Swift, left via free agency. Hopefully this will be a big enough weakness.

This game was never even close. The Chargers scored on their 3rd play and never looked back. When the dust settled we were on the wrong end of a 27-3 thrashing, thanks in part to 3 interceptions.

On the positive side of things, Nixon again eclipsed the century mark with 122 yards on 31 carries, and again he had no fumbles. Nixon was the only member of the Falcons to make the league’s list of key players in week 2.

WEEK 3
Seattle Seahawks (1-1) @ Atlanta
Seattle was once one of the most dominant teams in the NFC, but in the past 10s they have by in large been one of the league’s patsies. Last season they were a league worst 2-14. Only two teams in the history of the league have had worse years. However, this year, the ‘hawks have already won one game this year (against New England). Seattle has a weak rushing defense, so I would expect to see Nixon do well this week. We are favored by four in this game.

We are favored by four, and we win by four, 26-21. I am a little disappointed by our defense’s performance. We gave up two TDs in the fourth quarter to erase our 19-7 lead and go down by three. Fortunately, Nixon was able to cap off a 4 minute, 67 yard drive with a 2 yard TD plunge to put the good guys ahead for good with under a minute left in the game. Leland Nixon was the star of this game, earning his first MVP award. Nixon was a work horse, carrying the ball 40 times for 161 yards and 2 TDs. He also caught his first passes of the season, 2 for 10 yards.

Unfortunately, the game was costly on the injury front. 7 players, 5 of them starters, were injured in the game. Among the injured are starting C Bob Geis (10 weeks) and starting LT Casey Shea (3 weeks). Losing the two of them really hurts Nixon because they are both excellent blockers. And with no cap room, we are unable till fill their spots on the roster.

WEEK 4
Atlanta @ Philadelphia Eagles (1-2)
We head into week four as 2 point underdogs. The good news for us is that two of the Eagles key run stoppers are out with injuries. If our O line had just managed to stay healthy, I think the odds would be much more in our favor.

Without 2/5ths of his line Nixon was unable to have as much success, being held under 100 yards for the first time in his career. But thanks to solid defensive work it was enough to eek out a 16-12 victory.

Nixon ran 27 times for 96 yards and the game’s lone TD. Another lineman, LG Kyle Conklin, was injured in the game, but he should be able to play through his injury, hopefully without it getting any worse.

QUARTER SEASON REPORT
Well after 4 games this team has done better than I had hoped they would. At 3-1 they are already half way to the 6 wins that I predicted for this team. We are tied for first in the division, and fans are starting to get excited about this team. Playoff dreams are floating in the air. However the realists in the national media are pointing out that so far we have had a cupcake schedule. The only team that we have played with more than one win so far is LA, and they walked all over us. Our power rating is just a paltry 68

As for Nixon, the fans here are starting to love this guy. He is second in the league with 509 yards, and tied for first with 5 TDs. He is also second in the league with 125 carries, and he has a very respectable 4.0 yard average. Another stat that is important to note is that he has no fumbles. As you may recall that was one of my scout’s biggest concerns about Nixon, and so far he has shown those concerns to be baseless. Now I know that it is a little early to be thinking this way, but if he is able to keep up this pace he can break 2000 yards and 20 TDs. Of course we have yet to face a good run stopping team.

stkelly52 · 10-06-2004, 04:40 AM

WEEK 5
Washington Redskins (2-2) @ Atlanta
So far we have only beaten bad teams. Washington has some of the best run-stoppers that we have faced this season, so this will be quite a challenge for Mr. Nixon. Washington is favored by 3

Our defense did a great job, not allowing a drive longer than 20 yards. However thanks to interceptions Washington scored on drives of 4 and 6 to win this game 14-3. The Redskins were able to completely shut down Nixon, holding him to just 41 yards on 20 carries, his worst showing of the season. To add injury to insult, Sammy Delgado, our superstar RG broke his finger during the game. While the injury is minor, it means that 4 of our five starting linemen are hurt, with two of them still not playing at all.

WEEK 6
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-2 @ Atlanta
The Bucs com into this game tied with us for the lead in the NFC South. Tampa is quite beat up, with six starters injured. However Tampa’s run stoppers are all in good health. Tampa has the 7th best rushing defense in the league. I consider changing my game plan to put the ball in the air more, but that would defeat the whole purpose of this dynasty. Tampa is favored by two.

You could look at this as a clash between two great defenses, or you could look at this as a game between two really bad offences. Regardless it ends with a W for us, 9-6 in OT. Nixon gave up is first fumble of the year, and it was costly as Tampa was able to capitalize on the mistake and put up their second field goal midway through the fourth quarter. This put the Buccaneers up 6-0. We were able to put together decent drives on our last two positions of regulation though, finishing each with a field goal. The second of those field goals came with just 12 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. In OT, we won the toss and thanks to a bad kickoff and a good return we only needed to move the ball 21 yards to be in range for the game winning 42 yard field goal. We are now in sole possession of first place in the AFC South.

Nixon did fair, topping the 100 yard mark again, but he needed 31 carries to do it, which is only a 3.5 yard average.

Injuries continue to bite us hard. Both of our starting safeties go out with injuries, and our backup center, who had been forced into a starting role, is out for the year with a torn ankle ligament. I now find my self in a quandary as all of my centers are out and I have no money to sign any one else.

In this situation I am desperate and I start looking at people that I can cut or renegotiate with to make just a bit more room. My backup CB agrees to a three year deal with a $300,000 bonus that shaves almost $400,000 off my cap space, giving me room to sign a three year vet. With that I bring back Daryl Duffy, who was our backup last season. Daryl is a passable backup, and far better than any other option that we had.

stkelly52 · 10-07-2004, 02:03 AM

WEEK 7
Atlanta 4-2 @ Carolina 1-5
In week 1 we got off to a good start against Carolina and were able to hold on for the win. Since then Carolina has been abysmal, finally winning their first game last week against the equally abysmal Eagles. The Panthers have the 3rd worst rushing D in the league, and the worst in points per game. Surely we can put up goon numbers against these guys. Atlanta is favored by 5

Sometimes even when you win you can come away from a game disheartened. LT Casey Shea was just on the verge of becoming 100% and he was reinjured and is listed as out. Plus this game was an offensive nightmare. Nixon was completely neutralized for the majority of the game. It took him 29 carries to gain just 60 yards, Nixon also fumbled the ball again, fortunately he was able to recover the ball, and even picked up 14 more yards. He also scored the game’s only TD, but those two plays were his only highlights.

With a bye week coming up we are hoping to rest and heal up in our week off.

WEEK 8
BYE

WEEK 9
Atlanta 5-2 @ Dallas 5-3
We head into Dallas feeling quite a bit better with many of our hurt players ready to come back. But our offensive line is still hurting.

Dallas has five starters injured including all-pro DE Percy Lehman, one of the NFL’s best linemen at stopping the run. However, Dallas still has a solid defensive line at stopping the run, and one of the leagues bet run defenses. The Cowboys are a solid team and we are going to have a hard time beating them. Dallas is favored by 7.

We jumped out to a quick 3 point lead, but it was all Dallas after that. Dallas scored two TDs to take the game 14-3. Dallas’s key was stopping Nixon throughout the game. Nixon was only able to average 2.4 yards, picking up a total of 48 yards in 20 carries. Also, for the third game ion a row, Nixon put the ball on the ground, which we were fortunate to recover.

At least there were no further injuries in the loss.

MID SEASON REVIEW
Halfway through the season the team is still doing better than expected. We have a one game lead in the NFC North. We are actually in a good situation for making the playoffs this season, in spite of the fact that none of the teams that we have beaten this season have a winning record. Our schedule for the rest of the season has us only playing one more team that currently has a winning record. I figure that based on the conference that we are in we only need 4 more wins to make the playoffs.

The key to our making the postseason will be our defense, as we have the league’s second worst scoring offence. One thing that our offence does well is not give up the ball; we are 5th in the league in turnovers. Unfortunately the turnover margin is -2 thanks to the worst defense in the league in causing turnovers.

It is hard to complain about our defense based on the performance that they have shown. We have the second best rushing D in the country, and the 9th best passing defense. In the key defensive stat, our defense only allows 15.1 points, tops in the NFC

Nixon’s stats have declined greatly in the past four games, but he is still well on his way to 1000 yards rushing. Nixon has 225 carries for 767 yards and 6 TDs. He is 5th in the league in yards, and 3rd in TDs. His 3.4 yard average is worst among the league’s starting backs.

stkelly52 · 10-08-2004, 12:57 AM

WEEK 10
New York Giants 6-2 @ Atlanta 5-3
The Giants are a great offence, but they are beat up and their run defense is subject. The Giants have gotten six wins by being able to put enough points on the board to offset their lax defense. Nevertheless, the Giants are favored by 5. If only we had a healthy offensive line we could expect a big day out of Nixon.

Well Nixon and our offence had fine performances, but as NY has done all season, they just couldn’t be contained. We fall 41-25.

Nixon ran for 121 yards and a TD on 29 carries. A solid game for Nixon, back over 4 yards per carry. However, Nixon again fumbled the ball, but once again Nixon is saved by his teammates as they recover the ball. While we again didn’t lose possession, this is the fourth consecutive game in which Nixon has dropped the ball.

WEEK 11
Atlanta (5-4) @ Jonesboro Saints (4-5)
The Saints have been having a poor season, but they are just one game out of the division lead. If they can win today they would bring themselves into a tie with us for the division lead. The success that the Saints have had has come from the team’s solid defensive effort. The Saints offence is mediocre at best. That is a combination that should lead to a low scoring game. If we should come out ahead, it means we would have beaten each of our division rivals this year, and put us in a great position for winning the division. Our players are continuing to heal nicely. Our line is healthy except for our center, who is questionable with 3 weeks until full strength. Jonesboro is favored by 3.

Nixon has 26 carries for 108 yards, but the star of this game is our defense. We hold the Saints to under 200 yards of offense and pick off three passes. End result is a 16-7 victory. Nixon again put the ball on the ground, and again he was able to get the ball back. I am growing concerned about this run of fumbles lately. But this victory feels good because my preseason goal was to win 6 games.

Injuries continue to get better. Bob Geis, our starting center, is healthy enough to get back into the starting line up, even though he is not yet 100%. This puts all of my starting line back together again.

stkelly52 · 11-06-2004, 01:39 AM

Well I can finally get back on the board, so I will now update you on what has been happening in this dynasty during our absence

stkelly52 · 11-06-2004, 01:40 AM

WEEK 12
Atlanta (6-4) @ Oakland (2-8)

Oakland is a bad team with very little offence. They are led by a rookie QB with the worst QB rating in the league. They have a decent run defense, but that is the whole basis of their team. We are favored by 6. Their run defense should keep the score close, but we should be able to take the game.
Atlanta took control of this game in the first quarter, and never looked back. Once again it was a spectacular defensive display. Oakland had just 2 drives of longer than 20 yards, and just 6 first downs in the game. The defense set up the offence, as 3 of the offences TDs were set up by turnovers. Our offence was mostly unable to sustain many lengthy drives, but they really didn’t need to. Atlanta crushed Oakland 31-0.

Nixon ran a lot, but for the most part he was ineffective. Sure he finished with 90 yards and a TD, but it took him 33 carries to do so. Nixon also had five carries (on three separate drives) from the one yard line, and he could only score the one time. He did however break his streak of consecutive games with a fumble. I also should note that on a 7 yard end around early in the first quarter Nixon broke 1000 yards rushing for the season.

On another negative note, just as our offensive line was getting completely healthy, starting RT Scottie Fisher fractures his foot. He may very well be out the rest of the regular season.

WEEK 13
Atlanta 7-4 @ Detroit 5-6
Detroit is a very balanced team. They have no stars, just a smattering of decent players here and there, just enough to bring them a win or two here and their but not enough to really be competitive. Frankly, I think that they are just about the same skill level as us, except that we have had a much easier schedule. We are favored by one.

I am not even sure what happened this week. This was an ugly game that all of us whish we could forget. Detroit wins 35-10.

We were killed in time of possession, which limited Nixon to just 21 carries for 84 yards. Nixon once again dropped the ball.

The team’s running game was hurt again by the injury to our fullback. He should be out for the remainder of the regular season.

3/4 SEASON REVIEW

With 12 games behind us we are in a great place as far as making the playoffs goes. 3 of our final 4 games are against teams with losing records (the other is just 6-6), so there is no reason why we shouldn’t win at least two of our final games. Two wins would guarantee us the division title, though even one win very well may be enough

Our offence is the second worst in the league, now averaging 14.2 points. But we are still one of the best teams in the league at not allowing turnovers. In spite of all of Leland Nixon’s fumbles, he has only ever lost one. All told we have just 10 turnovers this year. But as you know, it is our incredible defense that has kept us going this year. We give up just 15 points on average, 3rd best in the league. The team’s rushing defense is the best in league history.

For Leland Nixon, he is second in the league with 1170 rushing yards, 5th in TDs with 7, 1st in attempts with 334 and his 3.5 yard average is better than just two starting RBs.

stkelly52 · 11-11-2004, 02:15 AM

WEEK 14
KC Chiefs (5-7) @ Atlanta (7-5)
We are favored by five in this game, but I am not quite so convinced. The chiefs are clearly the inferior team but the one thing the Chiefs are really good at is stopping the run. That hurts us and our game plan.

To think, my fear was that we wouldn't be able to run against this defense. Leland runs for the third most yards in team history, 177. It is clearly his best game of the season. With 32 carries his average was a season best 5.5 yards. Nixon walked away with MVP honors as we defeat the Chiefs 20-10. With this win and the Saints' loss to LA we have clinched the NFC South for the first time in 12 years, and just the second time in history.

However the win came at a price. LT Shea was injured again, and I don't expect him back for the regular season. This hurts in that both of our starting tackles are now out.

WEEK 15
Atlanta (8-5) @ Tampa Bay (4-9)
Tampa started the season with 3 straight wins. Since then they have been 1-9. We have no intention of reversing the Bucs' fortunes. We are favored by just one.

Nixon followed up his career day with his third MVP, though this one was by default. There were few standout players in our 17-7 victory. Frankly the award should have gone to the defense as Tampa was held to just 30 yards rushing and 167 yards passing. This made up for our own miserable offensive display, in which our QB threw for just 90 yards and had 2 picks. Nixon picked up quite a few yards (96), but it took him 36 carries to do so. But Nixon did find the end zone, and he didn’t fumble.

WEEK 16
Denver 7-7 @ Atlanta 9-5
Denver is fighting to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. They are strong defending the run on the left side of their line, but on the right are some of the worst linemen in the league. If we can just keep running to our left we should be able to do well.

Nixon is simply phenomenal in this game. Thanks to some great blocking up front, Nixon has the second best performance by a RB in Atlanta's history. His stats are 38 carries for 194 yards, 2 TDs. And no fumbles. He leads his team to a 31-25 victory.

WEEK 17
Jonesboro 7-8 @ Atlanta 10-5
If we win this game we stand a chance of earning a 1st round bye in the playoffs, depending on how Arizona does and on tie breakers. Jonesboro has been an interesting team this year. They were one of just two teams to beat Minnesota, but they were also one of three teams that lost to Chicago. The Saints rushing defense is middle of the road, but their scoring defense is the 8th best in the league. Their offence is among the bottom in the league, so if we can just beat their defense, we should be able to win this one

In a season in which we have overly relied on our defense, today it was our defense that let us down. Nixon had a solid game, running for 147 yards on 33 carries. Even our passing game was clicking, with over 200 yards passing in the game for us. But we gave up 31 points, and there was just no way that we could keep up with that. Final score 24-21.

stkelly52 · 11-11-2004, 04:39 PM

WILD CARD ROUND

Well the regular season has come to an end, and we have finished 4 games batter than I had hoped we would. Granted we may have had the easiest schedule in the league, and none of the teams that we beat had a winning record at the end of the year. Our final power rating is just 46, the lowest of any team in the postseason. Not many people are giving us much hope in the playoffs because they don't allow teams with losing records.

Green Bay 12-6 @ Atlanta 10-6
We draw a very good Green Bay team who is heavily favored against us.
Green Bay has a high powered offence, the #2 scoring team in the league. Their defense is decent, though not great.

In Nixon's first postseason appearance he was able to crack the 100 yard barrier, but he and the rest of the Falcons were kept out of the end zone. Green Bay ends our season 17-6.

stkelly52 · 11-11-2004, 04:41 PM

SEASON REVIEW
While this year had its frustrating and difficult moments, we far exceeded our goals for the year.

We were 5th in the league in rushing yards, though 31st in yards per carry. With a 16.4 point average we are 25th in scoring. We were 7th in both turnovers (17) and turnover margin (+5). But it was our defense who were the stars this year. This team breaks the record as the #1 rushing defense of all time, allowing just 72.5 yards per game. In points allowed we were third best with 15.8.

As for our running back, Nixon had a solid rookie year. He finishes with a league best 1784 yards, which is the 11th most yards in the history of the league, and the most yards in the team's history. Nixon was second in the league in rushing TDs with 11, which is the second most in Atlanta's history. Leland finished with an average of 3.7 yards per carry, which isn't great but it just a bit below the league median average. Nixon is also named the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year. The biggest negative stat, Nixon had more fumbles than all but two players in the league, with 9.

stkelly52 · 11-12-2004, 01:10 AM

2025
As we head into the 2025 season there are a few areas that we will really need to shore up. First, we have a lot of money tied up in our QB. He is a Pro Bowl quality QB, and I think he is very much worth his $10 million price tag, but, for a team that is so focused on running, I just can't have more than 10% of our cap room tied up in a QB. I plan to trade him away for either a high draft pick or a great tackle.

Second, our offensive line still needs some more help. Our center's contract has expired, and I need to decide whether to resign him, or if I should go after another FA. Also after the injury problems that I had last season, I want to make sure that I have great run blocking backups on the line.

Third, while my team's run defense was great, our passing D was just average. We have a great crop of safeties, but, our CBs are just average. I would like to get a great CB to solidify our pass D.

Fourthly, I would also like to upgrade my LBs, particularly MLB.

I now have to decide if I should franchise my center Bob Geis. Geis has done a good job as our center, but there is a great center that is on the market that I am really coveting. I decide that I need to make sure that I get a center of at least Geis's ability. If I can sign the other guy I will do so and then trade or release Geis. Geis is franchised.

stkelly52 · 11-13-2004, 01:44 AM

As I look at the draft preview I see one of the best players that I have ever seen available. A tackle named Jerry Blanchard. One of my strategies in FOF is never draft a lineman in the first round. They generally take too long to develop. By the time they are the kind of players that you drafted them to be, they are free agents. But this guy is already developed to the point where his score is 60. We project that he could be a starter that makes and immediate impact. But if I am going to be able to draft Jerry, I will need the first pick. There is no way that he would last to pick #2. I hold the 21st pick. It would take a lot to make that kid of a jump.
Fortunately, the team with the #1 pick is Chicago. Chicago's biggest need is a QB, and when I put feelers out to see who was interested in my QB, Chicago was the team that seamed most interested. It took some wheeling and dealing, but the deal was made. My star QB, this years #21 pick and 2nd round picks from the next two years are traded for this years #1 pick, which I will use on Jerry Blanchard. I wanted a great tackle and that is exactly what I hope I got. I go ahead and select him before the end of the first week of free agency. I quickly sign him to a 6 year deal.

I am not able to sign the center that I wanted. So I make myself content with Geis. During free agency, I am able to sign several decent OL backups for reasonable prices. This should shore our line through any injuries that we face.

Choices at LB and CB were very slim, so I was not able to make the kind of improvements that I would have liked. I did find some passable bodies to fill the holes, but I am not optimistic about an improvement in our pass coverage.

I fill out the rest of my roster with solid backups. At most of my positions if a player goes down with injury, I have a replacement for him that is only a minimal decline in ability. I feel very confident about my team. My biggest hole is at QB, but I am hoping that with the improvements on my offensive line my running game will negate the effects. The media however is not so convinced. We are given a power rating of just 35, ten points lower than any other team in the NFL.

My goals for this season are for Leland Nixon to run for 1500 yards and to win 9 games and make the playoffs. While that may seem like a step backwards from last year, there is no question that we were not a playoff quality team last season. We benefited from a cushy schedule and I don't think we will be that lucky again. If we make the playoffs this year we will have to earn it.

As for Leland's off season progress, there was little to speak of. He improved only minimally, going from a 25 overall to a 27. His future potential actually declined a few points to 29. It looks like Nixon is just about as good as he is ever going to get. His ability as a receiver was where his increases came, along with a small improvement in avoiding fumbles (but it is still only 8). I was a little surprised last season that Nixon wasn't more involved in the passing game. Perhaps this year he will catch a few more passes out of the backfield.

stkelly52 · 11-21-2004, 02:23 AM

PRESEASON

In the preseason we had a good chance to evaluate our players and I really think that our line showed what they were capable of. Thanks to great blocking up front Nixon averaged well over 4 yards per carry in each of our games. The final scores were not on our side much, but I am encouraged in spite of our 1-3 preseason record. Also we come out of the preseason without any injuries.

stkelly52 · 11-21-2004, 02:23 AM

WEEK 1
Tampa Bay @ Atlanta
Tampa is believed to be greatly improved this year. They have a well balanced defense and a strong passing game. Tampa currently has a lot of injuries, but none of their players are out. The Buccaneers are favored by 7.

During the off season I traded away a star QB, but, in spite of making a few offers, I failed to get a passable replacement. Today I paid for that. Four interceptions led to our downfall, 21-13.

Nixon ran for 96 yards and a TD in the game with no fumbles.

WEEK 2
Monroe Jets 0-1 @ Atlanta 0-1
The Jets have a mediocre offence and a sub par defense. But they do have two of the best run stoppers on their line, so I expect Leland may have some problems making head way on the ground. However we are favored by two.

They may have held Nixon to just 3.1 yards per carry, and they may have only let him pick up 88 yards. But they couldn't keep Leland out of the end zone. Nixon is just the second player in team history to score three TDs in a game. This combined with an interception in the end zone lead us to a 24-17 victory.

WEEK 3
Atlanta 1-1 @ New York Giants 1-1
New York comes into this game with both their starting QB and starting RB unlikely to play. They are strong against the run though and that could spell trouble for us. We are still favored by one coming into this game.

Nixon ran for another TD, but that is the only positive thing that I can take from this game. We fall behind early, and we cannot rely on our QB to get us back into a game. Final 27-6. Nixon only ran for 30 yards, and he had two fumbles.

WEEK 4
Seattle 3-0 @ Atlanta 1-2
Seattle has a poor defense, particularly against the run, but they have a solid offence, both running and passing. But we need to win this game to keep our hopes up for this season. Seattle is favored by 4.

Nixon has a solid day, leading the team to a 24-18 victory. While he was kept out of the end zone for the first time this year, Nixon picked up 156 yards on 27 carries. The bad news was that Nixon fumbled twice. Our defense also came up big with several key stops, as we come away with a crucial victory.

The bad news is that we lost our starting LT for up to 7 weeks. This is disappointing, but we should be able to push through it.

Quarter season review
After 4 games we are not too surprised by our 2-2 record, though I wish it were better. We still have a solid run d, but instead of improving our passing defense, it has actually gotten worse. Our scoring defense is not very good as well. If we are going to have any hope this season, then we are going to need our defense to step it up. As a team we are in a three way tie for the division lead.

As for Leland Nixon, in 96 carries Nixon has averaged 3.8 yards per carry, picking up 370 yards, which is 6th in the league. Nixon leads the league in rushing TDs with 5. Not a terrible start, but it hasn't been great either.

stkelly52 · 11-23-2004, 02:59 AM

WEEK 5
BYE

WEEK 6
Atlanta 2-2 @ Arizona 3-2
We go into Arizona who is riding a two game winning streak and an offence that uses a good combination between rushing and passing. However they have the worst running defense in the league, allowing 5.12 yards per carry, and 147.6 yards per game. They are also bruised and beat up with nine players currently injured. I think that we stand a decent chance in this game, in spite of the fact that the odds makers place us at 8 point underdogs.

Nixon struggled much of the game. He was able to pick up just 89 yards on 24 carries. For those bad at math that is a paltry 2.6 yard average. His one shining moment was a 17 yard TD run late in the 2nd quarter that put us up for good. We were able to hold on to the lead with good defensive play solid punting, and ball control. The final score was 28-18. But our victory came at a price. Three more players will be out for the next couple of weeks, and a couple more will be questionable for next Sunday's game.

Week 7
Carolina 2-4 @ Atlanta 3-2
We come into this game as heavy favorites. Carolina has a poor offence, a terrible running defense and a good pass defense. That pass defense won't help much this week though as we don't pass much. Carolina needs to win this week if they want any hope of getting back in the hunt for the division title. Before this game we need to sign a new DT to replace our starter Norbert Wells who is out for the year with a high ankle sprain.

Leland Nixon was a work horse today, running 40 times for 152 yards and 1 TD. The key drive of the game though was one that didn't score. Three times Nixon had third down conversions on the last drive of the game. This allowed us to run off the final 4:34 off of the clock and stymie the Panthers' late comeback attempt. Final 20-17.

Week 8
Atlanta 4-2 @ San Francisco 4-3
We come into Frisco favored by one point hoping to hold onto our 1 game lead in the division. The 49ers have a good group of linemen, but terrible LBs. Overall the 49ers have the 4th worst defense in the league. They win their games by having the highest scoring offence in the NFL. This offence is led by the best QB in league history, Moe Swift. This game is significant for me because Swift was my star QB for nine years with the Chargers. We both left the Chargers at the same time and this is the first time that he has been my opponent. Swift comes into this game having the best season of his career, with a QB rating of 118.8, and having only tossed 2 picks compared to 17 TDs.

This was an offensive showcase. We racked up 534 yards of total offence, second most in team history. But San Francisco played a great offensive game as well, coming up with 490 yards of total offence. With three minutes left in the game, we were trailing by 14, but we were knocking on the door, just 4 yards away from the end zone. On the next play a four yard pass brought us within 8. The PAT would cut that to 7... or it would have had we made the PAT, but instead our rookie kicker missed the kick. With just under three minutes left though our chances of winning the game were slim. We had just one time out, so our only real hope was to try for the onside kick, and miracles of miracles we recovered the kick. With 2:52 left we needed to go 56 yards to win try to tie the game. Thanks to three 49er penalties we were able to move the ball quickly, capping the drive with a 26 yard TD pass. The 2 point conversion was successful and the game was now tied. The only bad thing was that we may have moved the ball too quickly, using less than one minute. Fortunately, three incomplete passes sent this game into OT.

We won the toss and elected to receive. We then began a final 6:25 minute, 80 yard drive, capped by a 4 yard TD pass. Thanks to a phenomenal last few minutes we were able to pull out an incredible 37-31 victory. Nixon runs for ran for 242 yards, the second largest rushing total in NFL history. His average was an excellent 6.2 yards per carry. Even though he was held out of the end zone, this was a solid all around performance for our hero. The only negative today was Leland's one fumble, which was covered by our center.

Week 9
St. Louis 7-1 @ Atlanta 5-2
There is no team in the NFL with as many wins this season as St. Louis. St. Louis has gotten to this point in spite of having a sub par QB and a mediocre RB. So how can they be the 4th highest scoring team in the league? Well first, they cause the most turnovers in the NFL. This does not bode well for Leland Nixon and the fumble problems that he has. Second, their league best defense gives their offence a short field more often than not. This stingy defense could make it hard for us to pick up the yards on the ground that we want. Finally, the Rams have a spectacular kicker who could be on his way to a new single season record. He just seems to be able to make every drive come up with at least three points.

Even though the Rams look to be such a great team, the odds makers are not convinced by their QB/RB combo. They have listed this game as even. If I were a betting man though, I would put my money with the Rams.

This great Rams defense had a lot of trouble slowing Nixon down. With 32 carries Nixon was able to run for 125 yards, and when he scored a TD to go up 17-0 late in the third it looked like this game was well in hand. Then our team just fell apart. We gave up 3 TDs (with two missed conversions, and one successful) on three consecutive drives to fall behind 20-17. During this time our offence struggled with a 56 yard drive that ended with a INT in the end zone, a 3 and out, and a 42 yard drive that ended with a missed 35 yard field goal. Finally, with under 2:00 left in the game our offence took the field and mounted a last gasp drive to set up a 52 yard kick to send the game into OT, and the kicked sailed true. For the second week we were in OT. Last week we won when we won the toss and were able to sore on the opening drive of OT, this week we lost the toss and thanks to a 50 yard TD pass by the Rams, we were left without a victory. Final 26-20. I don't feel bad losing to a team like the Rams, but the way that we lost was just demoralizing. At least there were no new injuries this week.

Mid Season Review
Half way through the year and in spite of last week's heart breaker, this team is in a good position to reach all of our goals. At 5-3 we are currently tied with Tampa for the lead in the NFC South, and we have a 1 game lead in the wild card race. Nine wins and a playoff birth seem to be very doable tasks.

Our pass defense looks very weak this year, as evidenced by the way St. Louis was able to move the ball at will at the end of last week's game. We have the 3rd worst passing defense in the NFL. In our scoring defense is the 6th worst in the league. One big stat that hurts us is that we are 2nd worst in turnover margin. We don't give up the ball an inordinate amount of the time, (in spite of all of Leland's fumbles, it seems we are usually able to fall on the ball) but we are worst in the league at causing turnovers with just 6 (the average is over 12). Next season we are going to have to come up with help for our poor secondary.

As for Nixon he is having a solid sophomore season. He has 241 carries for a league best 978 yards and a league leading 8 TDs. Baring an injury he should have no problem reaching my goal of 1500 yards rushing, and in fact if he can just improve slightly he stands an outside shot of reaching 2000s this year. I should also note that Nixon has improved his average to 4.0 yards per carry. This is by no means a world beater average, but it is a solid showing.

As far as negative things about Nixon, Nixon has the third most fumbles in the league, with 6.

stkelly52 · 12-02-2004, 02:26 AM

Week 10
Atlanta 5-3 @ Tampa 5-3
There is no team in our history that we has lost more to than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and this has developed into a bitter rivalry. This year it is even more important as the winner of this game will have the inside track on the division title. Tampa Bay is going to be a difficult team to run against, and their solid passing offence may well be able to pick apart my porous secondary. The Bucs are favored by 5.

Well the good news is that Nixon was able to score two more TDs without fumbling the ball. The other good news is that no one was injured so severely that they won't be able to return this year. Other than that there is not much to say about today's terrible performance. Nixon ran for just 39 yards in 21 carries...and he accounted for almost half of our yards. There is nothing more that I wish to say about this game, 30-13.

Week 11
Atlanta 5-4 @ Jonesboro Saints 2-7
The Saints come into this game with 1/4 of their players injured, many of them starters. Most of these injuries have been minor, but it has still taken its toll on this team. Jonesboro has attained their lackluster record with a combination of a bad offence and even worse defense. This is a team that we should be able to move the ball against.

In a game that we should have been able to win handily, we struggled all game long. In the first period we fell behind 10-0. That deficit was eventually expanded to 16-0. Finally, late in the fourth quarter we were able to put things together and move the ball 84 yards to score a TD with 2:26 Left. If we could complete the 2 point conversion we would be with in 8. The WR reverse failed though, so we now would need two scores in less than 3 minutes. We had no choice but to go for the onside kick, and we were able to recover the ball. I will say on thing for these guys, they refused to give up. It took us just over a minute to move the ball 60 yards (mostly through the air)to put the game within a field goal. With now, with just 1:11 left we would need to recover another onside kick, an almost unheard of feat. And it would not happen today.

However, all hope was not lost. We still had all three time outs. If we could keep the Saints from picking up a first down we could still get the ball back for one last effort. In three plays we held them to -3 yards, forcing them to punt the ball for a touchback.

We needed about 50 yards to get into reasonable field goal range, and we had 35 seconds and no timeouts to do it. But alas, we were only able to pick up 28 of those yards because our receivers were unable to get out of bounds. Final score 16-13. This loss really hurts. This is a team that I think we should have been able to beat, but several dumb mistakes (4 Ints by our QB), put us in a hole that we just couldn't climb out of. Nixon did fair, but saw limited action because we were behind so much of the day. 91 yards on 28 carries.

Week 12
New England 3-7 @ Atlanta 5-5
The Patriots come into town in the midst of a losing streak. NE started the years strong, but when their All-Pro QB went out for the year with a torn rotator cuff. Now they are just trying to salvage some pride out of this season. Without their QB, this offence is just a shell of what it could be. This game is crucial to our season, as I figure that we need to win 4 of our final 6 games if we want to reach the playoffs. As I look at our schedule, there are three weak teams and three strong teams. We need to take care of business with the weak teams like New England, and come away with one upset to reach this year's goals.

We made this game closer than it had to be, thanks to 4 turnovers (3 more Ints and 1 fumble by Nixon), but Late in the game we were able to get move the ball from the 20 all the way to the Patriots 20 with three minutes left. If we could score a TD we would go up 21-20. Then our QB tossed one of his interceptions and we saw the game, and basically the season slipped out of our grasp. However, my defense refused to give up, and on the ensuing drive, on 3rd and 16 we picked off the pass at the 20 yard line. Given another shot at redemption our offence came through and scored the go ahead TD. Our defense then held on four plays and gave us the ball at the NE 22. Three Nixon runs basically ran out the clock, and for good measure we kicked a field goal as time expired. Nixon tallied a respectable 122 yards on 32 carries and 1 TD.

Week 13
Minnesota 8-3 @ Atlanta 6-5
Minnesota is currently considered to be the best team in the NFC. They are one of the league's best passing teams, and they like to score a lot of points. It will be difficult for us to keep up with them on the score board. Their defense is susceptible to the run in places, but they are overall a decent defensive team.

This was a hard-fought, back and fourth game through the first half. But two big plays broke this game open for us. Nixon scored on a 15 yard run, and then just 45 seconds later we returned a Int 47 yards for a TD. This put us up 31-21, and just seemed to invigorate our defense while deflating their offence. In the closing seconds of the game the Vikings were able to return a punt for a TD but we hold on to win this one 31-28. Nixon again goes over 100 yards on 33 carries and this week he scores two TDs. The bad news: we lost three more starters for the year on defense, two of which were our best defensive backs. Our corps of DBs are too weak to be losing them and this is going to hurt our already miserable pass defense.

3/4 season review:
With 12 games finished we are well on our way to my goal of 9 wins. We just need to win 2 of our final four games and we will reach that goal. As far as the hunt for the post season goes, we are currently one game behind Tampa Bay for the division title. Catching Tampa will be tough though because they have a much softer schedule remaining, and should probably win 3 of their final 4 games. In the Wild Card race we are presently holding the final wild card spot (Green Bay has the first spot with a 8-4 record), though Carolina, Arizona and Seattle are all tied with me at 7-5. Fortunately I have beaten all of those teams, so I get the nod in the tie breaker. Unfortunately, I have the hardest remaining schedule.

We have a couple of tough games coming up against 9-3 Miami and Buffalo, with a 4-8 Jonesboro in between them. After those we will face 7-5 Carolina in a game that could determine which of us is going to the playoffs. Right now we have one of the top rushing games in the NFL, averaging 147 yards rushing per game. The most important offensive stat though is points, and in points per game, we are right at the middle of the pack, averaging 21. Another key stat that we are doing well with is 3rd down conversions, where we are the second best team in the league. What has been hurting us though is turnovers, and we are still among the worst in the league at giving up the ball, with 21 turnovers, and a margin of -9.

Defensively we have been solid against the run, and terrible against the pass. I expect that to get even worse with the loss of 2 key players in our secondary last week. In points per game, we average 21.8, which is 21st worst in the league.

Leland Nixon is second in the league in rushing, with 1338 yards, and he should have no problems reaching the 1500 yard mark that I envisioned for him. However, his average has dropped back down to 3.7 yards per carry. In TDs, Leland leads the league with 13. Since our last report, Nixon had just one fumble, bringing his total up to 7, 7th most in the league.

stkelly52 · 12-03-2004, 02:36 AM

Week 14
Atlanta 7-5 @ Miami (9-3)
Miami is another team that really focuses on the run, and they have used one of the best running backs in the NFL to put themselves in a strong position in the AFC. Along with that stellar running game, they have put together a phenomenal defense, that gives up just 13.7 points per game, while allowing just 89 yards rushing per game. Miami is favored by 3 at their home stadium.

On our second drive of the game, down 0-7 Leland ran a draw up the middle, broke one tackle and flew down the field 70 yards to the 4 yard line. 2 plays later he scored from 4 yards out. In those two runs he picked up 74 yards and a TD. He finished the game with 36 carries for 108 yards, 1 TD and 1 fumble. What that means is that for the rest of the game, Nixon had 34 carries for 34 yards. Ugh!

Fortunately our defense kept us close, and two missed field goals helped us out as well. Going into the 4th quarter we trailed by just 6, 7-13. Early in the period my backup WLB (who because of injuries was thrust into his first career start) came up with his first career interception, and then proceeded to return the pick for a TD. Late in the fourth we intercepted a pass at the Miami 7 yard line. We were able to score two plays later giving us a more comfortable cushion. We upset Miami 21-13.

The bad news was our all-pro guard tore his thumb ligament, and may be done for the year. He is listed as doubtful for the next 10 weeks.

Week 15
Jonesboro 4-9 @ Atlanta 8-5
This is a game that should be easy for us. We should be able to take care of the Saints without any problem. However, that is what I said earlier this season, and we couldn't get it done. I don't mean to duplicate that mistake.

It took a fourth quarter field goal, but we were able to escape with a win, 17-16. Nixon did well as far as yardage goes, averaging 4.1 yards per carry, totaling 104 yards and 1 TD on the day, but he had 3 fumbles, two of them that were recovered by the Saints. Both of those fumbles were inside our own 25 yard line, but fortunately our defense came out strong and held them to just 2 field goals. Our offence also wasn't helped by a QB that could only complete 1/3 of his passes. But all bad play aside, we won the game, and reached our first goal of winning 9 games. Now we just need to hold on to our wild card spot (which by the way we have a one game lead over Seattle, Carolina and the free falling Packers).

stkelly52 · 12-04-2004, 04:30 PM

Week 14
Atlanta 7-5 @ Miami (9-3)
Miami is another team that really focuses on the run, and they have used one of the best running backs in the NFL to put themselves in a strong position in the AFC. Along with that stellar running game, they have put together a phenomenal defense, that gives up just 13.7 points per game, while allowing just 89 yards rushing per game. Miami is favored by 3 at their home stadium.

On our second drive of the game, down 0-7 Leland ran a draw up the middle, broke one tackle and flew down the field 70 yards to the 4 yard line. 2 plays later he scored from 4 yards out. In those two runs he picked up 74 yards and a TD. He finished the game with 36 carries for 108 yards, 1 TD and 1 fumble. What that means is that for the rest of the game, Nixon had 34 carries for 34 yards. Ugh!

Fortunately our defense kept us close, and two missed field goals helped us out as well. Going into the 4th quarter we trailed by just 6, 7-13. Early in the period my backup WLB (who because of injuries was thrust into his first career start) came up with his first career interception, and then proceeded to return the pick for a TD. Late in the fourth we intercepted a pass at the Miami 7 yard line. We were able to score two plays later giving us a more comfortable cushion. We upset Miami 21-13.

The bad news was our all-pro guard tore his thumb ligament, and may be done for the year. He is listed as doubtful for the next 10 weeks.

Week 15
Jonesboro 4-9 @ Atlanta 8-5
This is a game that should be easy for us. We should be able to take care of the Saints without any problem. However, that is what I said earlier this season, and we couldn't get it done. I don't mean to duplicate that mistake.

It took a fourth quarter field goal, but we were able to escape with a win, 17-16. Nixon did well as far as yardage goes, averaging 4.1 yards per carry, totaling 104 yards and 1 TD on the day, but he had 3 fumbles, two of them that were recovered by the Saints. Both of those fumbles were inside our own 25 yard line, but fortunately our defense came out strong and held them to just 2 field goals. Our offence also wasn't helped by a QB that could only complete 1/3 of his passes. But all bad play aside, we won the game, and reached our first goal of winning 9 games. Now we just need to hold on to our wild card spot (which by the way we have a one game lead over Seattle, Carolina and the free falling Packers).

Week 16
Atlanta (9-5) @ Buffalo (9-5)
Buffalo is was a great team, and looked to be a huge threat against us, but they are in the midst of a 2 game losing streak and look like they might be vulnerable. They have an average run defense, and so I am hoping that we can capitalize on this and pull off another win. However, Buffalo sports radio is reporting that the Bills are going to come out fired up because they know that they need to turn things around this week if they hope to get back in the playoff hunt.

Buffalo was able to completely shut down Nixon, holding him to just 32 yards on 25 carries. Nixon had another fumble, this one leading to a costly TD. Buffalo wins this one 17-10.

stkelly52 · 12-08-2004, 02:47 AM

Week 17
Atlanta 9-6 @ Carolina 9-6
Both of us (along with Green Bay) are fighting for that last elusive Wild Card spot. A win this week is no guarantee that we would get the nod, but a loss means that we go home for the winter.

Something happened to the Panther team after we last beat them. At the time this team fell to 2-5, but since then they have gone 7-1, and have frankly been playing like one of the best teams in the league. There are a lot of teams around the league that are hoping we win this one because they do not want to have to face Carolina in the postseason.

We absolutely dominated this game. Our defense just manhandled the Panther rushing attack, and even though our secondary was torched for 406 yards, we just always seemed to come up with the big stop or interception. Late in the game, when we let the backups finish the garbage time, Carolina was able to add on two more TDs, but it was far too little too late. Final score 33-21. With that win we slip into the playoffs.

stkelly52 · 12-10-2004, 03:37 AM

Wild Card Round
Atlanta 10-6 @ Washington 10-6
We both come into this game with some rather significant injuries on our teams. Washington has made it to the playoffs in spite of some rather interesting stats. They have one of the NFL's worst rushing defenses, and they have one of the NFL's worst passing defenses. One would think this means they have one of the NFL's worst scoring defenses, right? Wrong. They are actually 8th in points allowed. A big reason why is because they are second best in the league at causing turnovers. But if we just make sure that we hold onto the ball we should be able to win this game. We are favored by 4.

Our QB had a forgettable day. 3 ints and 2 fumbles spelled our doom, 13-6. For the second season in a row, we are out in the first round of the playoffs. Nixon picked up just 65 yards in the loss.

Post Season review

Well we accomplished all three of my goals, to win 9 games, make the playoffs, and to pick up 1500 yards rushing for Nixon. Leland actually finished the season with 1709 yards (1st) and 16 TD (1st) on 473 (1st) carries. His average of 3.6 yards per carry was a bit disappointing, but not unexpected. He fumbled the ball a league high 13 times.

St. Louis went on with defeat Cleveland in the Super Bowl by a score of 21-20.

Atlanta had just one player make the All-pro team, Guard Sammy Delgado.

While it may look like this team made no improvement over last year, I know that that is not accurate. This team has come quite a long way, and I think that we will be able to build upon this year's success to make next season's team even better.

stkelly52 · 12-19-2004, 02:22 AM

YEAR 3
I come into this season with a lot of excitement. We greatly improved the team last season, and we are all expecting to build upon the success from last year. My goals this year:
Equal last season's 10-6 record
Have Leland Nixon run for 1600 yards and 15 TDs
Win a playoff game

I decide that my staff has done a fine job and none of them need to be replaced. None of my players are worthy of franchising, so I move on the free agency.

One of the problems that we have is the salary cap. We will need to make several cuts to make this team fit under the cap while also being able to pick up help in our secondary. The first choice was to release oft injured safety Isaac Whalen. Whalen is a great player and I hate to lose help in my weak secondary, but Isaac spends more time out injured than he does playing. We just can't afford to spend $4,000,000 on a spectator.

Next I go ahead and resign restricted free agent Leland Nixon to a 3 year deal that will pay him 3.2 million over the next 3 years. With this I have 6.3 million to sign new free agents. I want to shore up my CB situation, so I focus on a couple of solid man to man CBs. I am hoping that I can save a little money by tweaking my game plan to mostly use man coverage so that I don't have to pay the premium for a well rounded CB. After that I just look around the league and try to fill in various backups, particularly in the LB corps. I am not able to sign any big name free agents, but there just wasn't anyone available that really filled a need. I am all for getting fans excited by bringing in that big name to get the job done, but I will not do so at the expense of the overall team. Instead I sign most of my moderate backups and I get my two new starters at CB.

I have a slightly disappointing draft as both my first and second round picks bust in camp, but that is offset by having two breakout DTs that I took in the fourth and fifth rounds. They both look like they could be starters in a year or two.

After the draft I make one more free agent acquisition. QB Clay Gearhart joins the team and he should be our starting QB. He knows how to win ball games, accumulating a 10-5 record last season (his first as a starter). However, many other coaches were unimpressed with his overall performance, saying the Bengals were able to win in spite of Clay and not because of him. He will have to greatly improve on his 67.5 QB rating if he wishes to prove his doubters wrong.

We head into the preseason with one basic goal: minimize injuries. To this end, I deactivate several of my starters and allow my potential backups to use these games as practice.

stkelly52 · 12-23-2004, 02:28 AM

We finish the preseason 2-2. While we did accumulate several injuries, few of them are key players, and most of the injuries are very minor. However, we did have one setback in our secondary. Our starting FS was injured and will be out for at least the first 6 weeks of the season. Safety is just not a position that I feel confident turning over to a young, unproven rookie, and there are no decent veterans in the free agent pool. So instead I turn to a trade, where I pick up Tyrus Noland, and 8 year veteran that was originally drafted by me back when I was with L. A. Noland is a three time all-pro, and I think that he will be a great addition to this team... at least he better be because I had to give up two 1st round picks and a second round pick to get him from the Vikings.

WEEK 1
Jonesboro Saints @ Atlanta
Going into Week 1, many people think that we are the team to beat in the NFC this season. But of course we have to actually play these games before anyone will give us and trophies. We start off the season with our division rivals, the Saints. Historically we have done very well against Jonesboro, and I expect that to continue today.

Nixon had a solid day, running for 111 yards and a TD on 27 carries as we start of the season with a big 31-21 victory. The key plays in this game happened with 3:44 left in the 3rd quarter, with us ahead 17-14:

1-10-JON49 (03:44) JON 5 Hutchins pass was intercepted by ATL 28 Raymond at the ATL04.
The interception was returned 96 yards for a touchdown!
Extra point by ATL 7 Diaz was good.

Score: Atlanta 24, Jonesboro (AR) 14.
ATL 17 Gerhardt kicked off 58 yards from the ATL30.
JON 88 Schneider returned the ball 2 yards to the JON14. Tackled by ATL 88 McNeil.

Possession to Jonesboro (AR).

1-10-JON14 (03:05) JON 5 Hutchins pass was intercepted by ATL 44 Noland at the JON28.
The interception was returned 28 yards for a touchdown!
Extra point by ATL 7 Diaz was good.

Score: Atlanta 31, Jonesboro (AR) 14.

On back to back plays we ran back interceptions for touchdowns! The second was by our newly acquired FS. It is great to see him paying dividends already. These basically were the deciding plays that turned the momentum completely in our favor.

There are no significant new injuries to report.

NIXON CAREER MILESTONE: In this game, Nixon scored his 28th career rushing TD, breaking Randal Whitfield's team record for most career rushing TDs. Whitfield was a former 2nd round draft pick by the Falcons back in 2013. He played four solid seasons with Atlanta (starting 3) and looked like he might be becoming one of the better RBs in the league. He left the team to join the Bears, and he just fell off the map. The Bears, unimpressed with his performance, let him go to the Browns. He played the 2018 season with Cleveland. The Browns let him go at the end of the season, and no one else ever game him another shot. He is now working as a new car salesman, selling Saturns in Tempe, Arizona.

stkelly52 · 12-24-2004, 01:23 AM

WEEK 2
Atlanta 1-0 @ Cleveland 1-0
Cleveland comes limping into this game with 6 starters injured (three are listed as out). The Browns' starting front is in shambles, and hopefully that will add up to big yards for Leland.

Even with their terrible line, Nixon was no match for this Brown defense. It seamed like every time he touched the ball he was being stuffed just past the line of scrimmage. He finished the day with 53 yards on 26 carries.

A couple of quick interceptions were quickly turned into TDs for the Browns early in the second quarter as the Browns held on to win this one 24-14. At least no one else was injured.

WEEK 3
Atlanta 1-1 @ Arizona 0-2
While there is no doubt that the Cardinals have a poor team, they do have some excellent run defenders on their roster. This may be another long day for us. Arizona is favored by 1.

Once again, our running game is completely taken out of the game. Nixon couldn't run more than 7 yards on any of his 23 carries, and was held to just 56 overall. Without our running game working we were hopeless all through the first half falling behind 17-0 at half time.

In the second half we had no choice but to turn to our new QB Gearhart, and he lit up the Cardinal's secondary. He finally punched in the tying TD on a QB sneak from one yard out with 3:42 left in the game. We would get the ball again with 1:45 left and we were able to move the ball just into our kicker's range. Diaz kicked his NFL record 468th career FG to win the game, 27-24.

Again no major injuries occurred in the game.

stkelly52 · 12-26-2004, 03:00 AM

WEEK 4
Atlanta 2-1 @ Tampa 1-2
We are on the road for the third consecutive week, and this is a key game for both of us. A loss here means we are right in the middle of the pack, just an average team, but with a win we are a .750 team. Tampa on the other hand needs this win to keep themselves in the hunt. If they fall to 1-3 most people will write off their playoff hopes. Tampa is favored by 1.

Tampa has some awesome DTs who expect to wreak havoc on our rushing assault. Nixon will have to try to run away from them to pick up his yards.

For the third game in a row, Nixon averages just over 2 yards per carry. Nixon's hope of reaching 1600 is looking faint at the moment. Nixon also fumbled the ball on back to back plays. Fortunately, we recovered the ball both times. Once again it took some fourth quarter heroics to erase a 10 point fourth quarter deficit. Nixon was able to salvage some satisfaction out of this game by scoring the game winning TD with under 1 minute left in the game. Final 27-20.

A couple of our starters were injured in this game, including our stud LT. He will attempt to play through this injury.

Quarter review.
Well we have mixed feelings about this teams' performance at the quarter point of the season. Nixon's average of 2.7 yards is lowest among all RBs. He is only on pace to barely break the 1000 yard mark.

For a team so completely focused on running the ball, our 107.2 yards per game average is just pathetic. Our passing game is just below average. Our running defense has gone from one of the best in the NFL to being just average. The only place where we really stand out is our third down defense, which is tops in the league. And yet, in spite of all this, our new QB has been finding a way for us to win. Even with our poor offensive stats, we are 5th in scoring. Go figure.

stkelly52 · 12-30-2004, 02:03 AM

WEEK 5
Carolina 1-3 @ Atlanta 3-1

We return home as heavy favorites against the Panthers. Carolina has a RB that is worse than Nixon. Their QB is excellent at deep passes, but terrible at everything else. The only two starting defenders that have a decent run defense rating are the SS and their LCB. This would be a great game for Nixon to change his fortunes this season.

Nixon was able to have that breakout game that we were hoping he would have. He earned MVP honors by running for 167 yards and one TD in 33 attempts. He also had 3 receptions for 37 more yards and his first career receiving TD. Our defense was able to shut down the paltry Panther offence as we won this game 21-3.

On the down side, five starters were injured in the victory. Our LT reinjured himself and he will now have to sit for the next few weeks.

WEEK 6
Minnesota 3-2 @ Atlanta 4-1

We are 1 TD favorites against the Vikings. History is on our side in this game as we have a better winning % against Minnesota than we do against any other team. The Vikings RB looks like he should be a star, but he has frankly just done terribly this season. They also have a bad running defense that gives up 4.2 yards per carry, and the worst passing defense in the league.

Minnesota jumped out to a quick lead thanks to an interception that was returned for a TD. But that was about the only good play that they made for the rest of the day. Nixon ran roughshod over the Vikings earning himself another MVP with 150 yards rushing and 2 TDs.

WEEK 7
Atlanta 5-1 @ Green Bay 4-2
We come to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, and it is frozen today. With temperatures dipping into the 20s this could be a difficult game for us today. Green Bay is favored by 4

Nixon just couldn't handle the cold, only picking up 67 yards on 24 carries. The real hurt though came from the poor play of our QB. On this cold windy day, he just couldn't get anything going and ended up with 4 interceptions on the day. We fall 24-10.

WEEK 8
Detroit 1-5 @ Atlanta 5-2
Detroit is a young and up and coming team. There are a lot of green bars on this roster and I expect that they will be a force to recon with in coming seasons... but right now they are just another bug to be squashed.

We were able to jump out to a quick lead and cruise from there, 33-10. Nixon had a fair day with 124 yards and a TD on 34 carries. I should also point out that for the first time since week one, we were able to intercept a pass (actually two). I have worked really hard to try shore up my secondary and it is frustrating that it has not been paying off for us.

Mid Season review
We are half way through the year and by and large I am pleased with our progress on the field. Our 6-2 record gives us a 1.5 game lead in the division over Tampa, and we are tied for the best record in the NFL. The question though is that we have so far only played 3 teams with winning records this year, and we lost to 2 of them. The question is: can we win against the good teams?

Our rushing is 6th in the NFL, while passing is 27th. In scoring we are 7th in the league with 23.2.
Our defense has done excellent against the run, but is quite porous against the pass (25th in the league). But they step up big on third downs (2nd), and they don't give up many points (4th best in the NFL). Our turnover margin is a respectable +3.

Nixon is the League's 2nd leading rusher with 788 yards and he is 2nd in TDs with 6. His yards-per-carry though is just 3.5, less than it has been during either of the previous two seasons.

illinifan999 · 12-30-2004, 02:58 AM

Just wanted to let ya know I'm reading and enjoying.

stkelly52 · 12-30-2004, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by illinifan999

Just wanted to let ya know I'm reading and enjoying.

Thank you. It is good to know that someone is enjoying this.

Godzilla Blitz · 12-30-2004, 03:41 AM

I just read through this as well. Interesting idea. Looking forward to seeing how everything turns out.

nfg22 · 12-30-2004, 12:02 PM

I have been following along all the time great story...I love when dynasties focus on one player.

stkelly52 · 01-02-2005, 11:24 AM

WEEK 9
Atlanta 6-2 @ Chicago 4-2-1

We travel to Chicago, and this is a game that we should be able to win. This was going to be a huge game for Perry Bernardino, Chicago's star QB. Bernardino is the QB that I traded away at the start of my second season with the Falcons, and this was to be his first game against his old team. Bernardino added instant credibility to the Bears and turned them from the worst team in the league into an 8-8 team last year. He got the Bears off to 3-0-1 start this season, but he then suffered a season ending MCL injury. Without their star QB the Bear have been in freefall. They now have one of the worst starting QBs in the league. Other than a solid LB corps, this team really has no strengths.

Well this game was no contest. We capitalized on a fumble and an interception to jump out to a quick 14 point first quarter lead. From there we basically just put the game in cruise control rolled to a 30-0 victory. This was a huge game for our defense as they not only forced the shutout, but they forced 6 turnovers and 4 sacks. The MVP mysteriously went to Leland Nixon. He did score with two 3 yard TD runs, but he finished the game with just 59 yards rushing in 28 attempts.

WEEK 10
Atlanta 7-2 @ Jonesboro Saints 2-7
The Saints have been looking like the ain'ts lately. There is little positive that I can find to say about Joneboro, so I will leave it at we are heavy favorites as we come into this one.

This game was much closer than it should have been. Going into the fourth quarter we were down 6-3. Fortunately we were able to turn it on in the final period and put up 2 TDs to win 17-9.

Nixon Scored 1 TD and had 86 yards on 29 carries.

WEEK 11
BYE
We take this opportunity to rest a few minor injuries. After the off week we have only one player that is currently injured, and he is Questionable and should still play next week.

WEEK 12
Atlanta 8-2 @ Pittsburgh 4-7
The Stealers are not a team that strikes fear in anyone's heart. While they do have a great RB, he is underutilized, leaving them to rely on the pass, and Pittsburgh has one of the worst passing games in the NFL. On defense they have an average rushing defense and are in the bottom 10 in scoring defense. Even though this game will be on the road, there is no reason why we shouldn't take this one.

Pittsburgh was simply outclassed in this game. We excelled in our passing game, our running game and on defense. Nixon was able to run for 130 yards and 3 TDs in the game as we humiliate the Stealers 35-3.

We suffered on more injury, as our starting CB Ellison was injured again. He has been hurt a lot lately and this off season we will have to evaluate if he is worth keeping around.

WEEK 13
NY 4-6-1 @ Atlanta 9-2

The Giants are just playing for pride at this point. No one really believes that this team has what it takes to make it anywhere this year. They have not won a game in the past four weeks, and no one sees that trend changing soon. The Giant's have had an average running game and a poor passing offence. If we can keep their RBs in check we should be able to do well. NY has one of the five worst run defenses in the NFL, so we are hopeful that Nixon will be able to add to his stats.

This was one of those games that just makes you sick. Nixon was being a true work horse, running for 184 yards and 3 TDs on 48 carries (48 carries was a new single game record by the way). We were rolling, leading 29-10 with under 4 minutes to play. And then it happened. One of the worst collapse in the history of the league. It sickens me to think about, so let me just say that 4:00 later the Giants had managed to score a TD, recover the onside kick, quickly score another TD, recover another onside kick, and then score the game winner with 5 seconds remaining. Final score 32-29 Giants. In addition, my all pro DE is now out for the year with a torn Patellar Tendon, while my new starting CB is also injured and may have to miss some time. This was a game to forget.

3/4 SEASON REVIEW

As you may recall, my preseason goals were:
Equal last season's 10-6 record
Have Leland Nixon run for 1600 yards and 15 TDs
Win a playoff game

Well we need just one more win to reach 10 wins, I am very hopeful that we will far surpass that goal. Nixon already had 15 TDs, and he currently has 1247 yards rushing, so he is well on his way to reaching the 1600 yard mark.

The team is sitting comfortably at 9-3 with a 2 game lead over Tampa. If we win out, then we will have a first round by, and possibly home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Looking at the power ratings, we are currently the #2 team in the NFC (if we had just found a way to win that game against NY I know that we would be #1, you can tell that loss is still bugging me.)

One more stat that I feel is important to point out. Leland has had just 2 fumbles all season. One of Nixon's biggest knocks is that he can't hang onto the ball, but this year he is putting that belief in doubt.

stkelly52 · 01-04-2005, 03:09 AM

WEEK 14
Cincinnati 3-9 @ Atlanta 9-3
In spite of having a few injuries slowing us down, this is a team that we should beat. (Isn't that what I said last time?) The Bengals are far more beat up than we are. The one thing that will hurt us is that they have a very good rushing defense. It has been the only positive thing about Cincy this year. So they are hoping to hold Nixon in check and sneak away with another victory. This is a huge game for our QB Clay Gearhart as it is his first game against his former team. He felt like he was slighted the way the he was cast aside from the Bengals and he wants to prove to them that it was a mistake

The Bengals' plan worked to perfection. They limited Nixon to just 55 yards on 19 carries. And of course, since I was talking about what a good job Nixon was doing holding onto the ball, Nixon commits his 3rd fumble of the season. In the past when Nixon has had a bad game, we have been able to get through it thanks to the help of our QB. This week Gearhart was sacked hard early in the second quarter knocking him out for the game. We then lost our best WR. We had no one to turn to and lost the game 27-19. Our QB and WR will miss at least the next couple of games. This could really hurt.

WEEK 15
Atlanta 9-4 @ Carolina 4-9
We come into week 15 with a one game lead over Tampa Bay. A win will basically sew up a play off birth for us. Carolina is a great passing game, and they will test my secondary. However the panthers have some real problems on defense. They have been hit hard by injuries. They have only two defensive starters that are listed as good or better, and both of them are in the secondary. If our defense can do its job, Nixon and company should be alright.

This game was very exciting if you didn't have a vested interest in who won. Carolina jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first half, but we refused to give up. Nixon ran very well through the third and fourth quarter. He wasn't able to put the ball in the end zone, but his teammates were, once late in the second quarter, and once with just over 2:00 left in the game to tie the score at 20 each. Thanks to a great kick off return and some solid running by Nixon, Atlanta was able to move the ball to the 25 yard line. With two seconds left on the clock we called a time out and sent out the NFL's all time leading kicker to win the game. The kick sailed true and we won the game 23-20. Nixon was named MVP based on his 25 carries for 127 yards. What an exciting comeback victory! With this win we reach my preseason goal of 10 wins.

stkelly52 · 01-06-2005, 01:57 AM

WEEK 16
Baltimore 10-4 @ Atlanta 10-4
This game is of huge importance to us. This is a chance for us to see how well we do against one of the better teams in the NFL. Baltimore is trying to hold onto their lead AFC North. They are currently tied with Cleveland, but the Ravens have the edge based on tie breakers. A loss would give the lead to the Browns.

The Ravens have quite a few injuries, but we don't expect many of them to greatly affect the amount of playing time they see. One big exception is Baltimore's all pro QB is out for the season with a damaged ACL. However the Ravens have managed to rally around a QB who's rated at just 20 and find a way to win 6 of his 8 starts this year. It may not be pretty, but they have been winning.

On paper the Ravens really look like an average team. They are right in the middle of the pack in rushing, passing, passing D, points, and turnovers. Their rushing defense is solid, though not spectacular. They may be able to make things difficult for Leland. Baltimore is favored by 5.

Nixon had another solid outing: he ran 33 times for 126 yards and a TD. This game stayed close until early in the fourth when Nixon made his way into the end zone for the 16th time this year giving us a 17-7 lead. A late insurance field goal made it a 20-7. This win, combined with losses by both Tampa and Green Bay gives us the NFC South title, and puts us in the driver's seat for at least a first round bye.

NIXON CAREER MILESTONE. In this game Nixon surpassed the 5000 yard mark for his career AND he surpassed Hall of Famer Reggie Suszkowski as the Falcon's all time leading rusher. Reggie was the first RB ever inducted into the Hall of Fame. Drafted in the third round by the Raiders, he stunned everyone when he became a breakout player in his first training camp. He spent the first two years of his career coming off of the bench, though he was still used a lot. Starting in his third season he became one of the 3 best RBs in the NFL. His numbers were incredible as he led Oakland from nobodies to one of the best teams in the NFL. In the last season of his contract he was traded to the Colts for one year. Finally he made his way to the Falcons. With the Falcons he was still one of the best RBs in the game for his first season. Then, late in the year, Reggie was injured. From that point on he was never the same kind of RB that he had been before. He stayed with the team for 4 more seasons, but it was clear that his skills had greatly eroded and he was no more than a fair RB. He retired after 11 years in the league. Reggie was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018 with 80% of the votes. Reggie is now the RB coach at his Alma Mater USC.

WEEK 17
Tampa Bay 9-6 @ Atlanta 11-4
Tampa is clinging to the 6th and final playoff spot. It is possible for them to lose and still make it in, but it is unlikely. They had been in the division hunt until last week when they suffered a heartbreaking 27-30 loss that knocked them out of contention in the NFC South. Tampa Bay's only division loss this year came at the hands of my Falcons. In that game they were for the most part able to shut down Nixon, though he did score the winning TD late in the game.

We want this game badly because if we win, we will have some valuable time off to rest during the bye week of the playoffs. We could even take home field advantage through the playoffs (depending on tiebreakers).

Nixon needs just 45 yards to reach our goal of 1600 yards for the year. It should be easy, but Tampa has shown that they have a tough running defense and they have a knack for stopping Nixon. We are favored by 3.

Well we had some real positive moments in this game. Nixon ran for 87 yards, insuring that he would eclipse the 1600 yard mark. Our kicker, 42 year old Brent Diaz hit 3 field goals, giving him a career best (and team record) 33. Not bad for a guy that I picked up during the preseason when I just didn't feel like I could count on my kicker.

But all in all, this game was about a team that was desperate to get into the playoffs playing against a team that was content knowing that they were already there. We feel behind early, and with our starting QB still out, we turned to the feeble arms of Fisk who failed to complete 25% of his passes. We are crushed 38-23.

stkelly52 · 01-11-2005, 01:51 AM

Wild Card Round

We wind up tied with Washington for the first round bye, but based on some tiebreaker beyond conference record, Washington gets the week off. I would have loved to have had the time to give my QB one week to get healed up, but this is what I am stuck with.

Our first round match up should be familiar. It is a rematch of last week's game, Tampa Bay (10-6) @ Atlanta (11-5).

Hopefully we will have learned from our mistakes and been able to correct them. This game means far more than last weeks.

We come out this week knowing that everything is on the line and that we have to win this game. In the first quarter we score a TD to take a early lead. We give up a field goal, but from then on our defense stuffs them all the way. From the time they score on that kick until the final 2 minutes of the game, we allow just 1 first down! In the mean time, our offence is able to put up 2 more TDs and a field goal, giving us a 24-3 lead. The key player in putting those points on the board was our own Leland Nixon. He was able to run for 124 yards and 2 TDs. In the final 2 minutes the Bucs are finally able to get a drive going, and they are even able to put the ball in the end zone... but they are left with just 15 seconds to try to do any thing else. We win this game 24-10. This is the first playoff victory during my tenure, and it feels sweet.

stkelly52 · 01-13-2005, 09:32 PM

CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL
Atlanta 12-5 @ Washington 11-5
The team is excited following the team's second ever postseason victory. We look to continue that trend against a very good Washington. Washington has among the highest power ratings in the NFC. The Redskins have one of the best RBs in the NFL. They are second in the league in rushing, and they have a decent passing game to go along with it. They also have one of the top 5 defenses in the league. Nixon will likely have some difficulties because Washington has the best running defense in the NFL.

Washington came into this game with everyone thinking that they would be easily able to stop Nixon and therefore stop us. Apparently they forgot to tell Leland Nixon this. Leland was determined to show the world that he can be one of the better RBs in the league, and he made a statement today. On our first drive of the day, Nixon picked up all but 16 of our 57 yards that led to a 29 yard field goal. Midway through the second we were trailing 6-3 when we decided to let Leland carry the ball on 7 consecutive plays. The shortest of those runs was for 3 yards, as he moved the ball all 50 yards for the TD to give us a 10-6 lead. Washington would cut that lead to one with another field goal. Nixon continued the next drive like as he had left off on the previous. Six more runs, 45 more yards. Then the team decided that they needed to mix things up with a few passes. 2 big penalties and a sack later and we were looking at 4th and goal from the 40 yard line. We had to punt. Two drives later, we again turned to Nixon to pick up the majority of our yards. He brought us down to the 6 yard line. But another big 15 yard unsportsmanlike penalty knocked us back. Two incomplete passes later we settled for another field goal, 13-9 we lead.

We then traded a few punts, with our punter doing a much better job. We were able to shorten our field a lot. With just over 10 minutes left in the game we started our drive at the Redskins' 42. six of the next seven plays were to Nixon and he was able to pick up 30 yards in those plays. It was clear though that Leland was just exhausted at this point. He needed to take a couple plays off as his back up came in to bring the ball down to the 2 yard line. Leland was then able to punch the ball into the end zone with a two yard run around the left tackle for his second TD of the day. This gave us the a 20-9 lead with just over 4 minutes left to play.

Washington's next drive ended in a desperate but futile attempt to convert a 4th and 3 from near the mid field stripe. A sack gave us the ball with 3:01 left. We turned once again to Nixon, who gave us just enough for the first down each time as we were able to run out the clock and secure another post-season victory!

The MVP award for this game went to Leland Nixon who averaged 4.6 yards per carry, picking up a total of 177 yards and 2 TDs. Nixon had the 8th best rushing total in postseason history, and the best in Falcon history (of course that has only been 8 games).

Grid Iron · 01-14-2005, 01:51 AM

Dude, you write the best dynasties.

Make sure you back up you universe directory--I don't hink I can handle another "Five Great Men" fiasco.

Jamee999 · 01-15-2005, 04:37 PM

Simply amazing.

For the Grand Stand Finish let Nixon score the TD with 2 seconds left in the SuperBowl.

stkelly52 · 01-16-2005, 02:43 AM

Thanks guys, I really appreaciate the support that you give me. I will say that the end of the 5 great men was rough on me. I spent a long time trying to restore my data to finish that dynasty.

stkelly52 · 01-16-2005, 02:45 AM

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP
Atlanta 13-5 @ Green Bay 13-4
Green bay has had a particularly productive season running the ball. They use a unique RB by committee approach that sees them with 3 RBs with 500 or more yards this season, all of them having at least a 4.4 yard average. To compliment this running game, the Packers have a solid QB who has done quite respectably this year.

A quick glance shows that Green Bay has allowed less rushing yards than all but four teams in the NFL. However, a closer look reveals that this is because teams don't run the ball against them very often. The more telling stat is that they allow 4.32 yards per carry, which is worse than all but four teams. They have a great passing defense, particularly getting interceptions. The key to their victory is jumping out to quick leads and forcing teams to turn to the pass, where their spectacular DBs can with the game for the Pack. If we are going to win this week we need to keep up early and not be forced into a passing game.

In the first quarter we again relied heavily on Leland, and he did well. If only the team around him would stop with the silly penalties and turnovers we might have been able to get out to a big early lead. Leland did manage to get us into field goal range, letting us strike first. When then proceeded to trade several punts before the best kicker in league history was able to add another field goal. We did some more trading of punts all of the way into half time. Late in the second quarter Green Bay was able to threaten, but a huge 14 yard sack on third down knocked Green Bay out of field goal range.

The second half kicked of the way that the first ended with some more 3 or 4 and outs. Then Green Bay's RB finally found the hole that he had been waiting for and was able to break loose for 58 yards. We were able to stop him short of the end zone, but he got in on the next play to put the Packers up 7-6.

But we did not despair. We went on a long 18 play drive where we moved the ball 80 yards for our first TD of the day. Nixon was the work horse again on this drive, carrying the ball 15 times on the drive, including the final 2 yards as he plunged into the end zone. Four times we were able to convert on third down.

Green Bay could not answer on the ensuing drive and we received the ball at the 38 yard line with just over 12 minutes left to play. Our last drive had taken over 9 minutes off of the clock and we were hoping for something similar. This time it didn't take as much time or as many plays, but the result was the same. Nixon carried the ball about half of the plays, including the final 3 yards to score his second TD of the game and give us a comfortable 19-7 lead. The players were jumping up and down with visions of the Super Bowl dancing in their head. The KNEW that this game was all but sealed up, and we on our way to the Big Game. When we intercepted a pass 4 plays later, we all believed that this one was over. Sure we didn't pick up many yards on the next drive, but hey we were able to burn some more time off of the clock. We punted the ball away with a 19-7 lead. Two plays and 72 yards later, Green Bay was doing the Lambeau Leap, having cut the lead to 19-14.

If Green Bay could recover the onside kick, they might be able to win the game! We needed to make sure that we recovered the kick...and we were able to do just that. Nixon had a few more carries to eat up the Packers time outs, which he was able to do perfectly. Time expires and:
WE ARE HEADING TO THE SUPER BOWL!

Nixon was again named the game's MVP with 161 yards and 2 TDs on 44 carries. It should be noted that Leland's 44 carries was a postseason record.

stkelly52 · 01-19-2005, 04:18 AM

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY
Atlanta 14-5 @ Jacksonville 15-3

Salinas California is home to the 2026 Super Bowl. 64,000 fans are here at sold out Salinas Stadium. The buzz all week back in Atlanta has been on how well Leland has run over the past two weeks. If he can have another game like this one, we should be able to take home this city's first championship. However, our task will not be an easy one. We are taking on the team with the best record in the NFL. They are the third highest scoring team in the league, and they have the 4th best scoring defense in the league. One of their biggest assets this season has been their secondary, who has a league high 24 interceptions. All told the team is +19 in takeaways, and that has spelled big victories for the Jaguars.

Jacksonville has actually been one of the poorer teams in the league over the last 20 years. But four years ago they drafted a new QB who has led this team to greatness. I expect that they will be a team to contend with for years to come. But we are counting on them having to wait another year before taking home their first championship, because today is our day...

or at least so I hope.

stkelly52 · 01-20-2005, 02:08 AM

OK, maybe today was not our day. Not even close. Normally for big games like this I would like to give a more in depth analysis of what happened, but I think that all you really need it to see the scoring summary.

1Q: 09:23 JAX - Carlos Kinney 45 field goal.
1Q: 01:25 JAX - Rufus Hopkinson 8 pass from Howie Davidson.
1Q: 01:25 JAX - Carlos Kinney extra point.
2Q: 09:23 JAX - Carlos Kinney 50 field goal.
2Q: 07:03 JAX - Moe Whiting 32 pass from Howie Davidson.
2Q: 07:03 JAX - Carlos Kinney extra point.
3Q: 05:12 ATL - Brent Diaz 27 field goal.
4Q: 13:07 JAX - Richard Houston 1 run.
4Q: 13:07 JAX - Carlos Kinney extra point.

Fans today were able to see what a great team should look like, and it didn't look like us. Jacksonville did everything perfectly. They shut us down both running and passing, while they were able to move the ball at will. Nixon only averaged 2.5 yards per carry, just 36 yards on 14 carries. We were completely outclassed by Rich Houston and his Jaguars. Needless to say, it was a heartbreaking way for the season to end.

stkelly52 · 01-21-2005, 02:49 AM

End of Season review
Two of our players made the Pro Bowl, RG Sammy Delgado, who was responsible for much of Leland Nixon's success, and K Brent Diaz, the 20 year veteran who was picked up after training camp because no one else wanted him.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake and already advanced to the next season, so all of this year's team stats were lost before I could share them with you. However, I do know that we had the second highest scoring season in team history at 23.2, while having the fourth best season in points allowed in team history (16.8). Our rushing yards dipped a bit from last year as we ran for 135.9 yards per game (3rd most in team history).

Leland Nixon had a pretty successful season. He matched last year's average of 3.61 per carry, as well as last season's 16 TDs. His total yards rushing fell just under 70 yards to 1642 on 454 carries. His fumbles drastically dropped, from 13 last season to 7 this year.

stkelly52 · 01-22-2005, 08:50 PM

2027
This year there are some hard choices that I feel we need to make if we are going to improve this team. One of the areas that we need a lot of help is on our defensive line. We have some of the worst starting DEs in the game. Right now we have a 15 year vet who is quite a bit past his prime trying to play on the left side and, while he stepped up and played above how he should have last season, I don't think we can count on him continuing to do so. However help is available in the draft. The four top players in the draft are all defensive ends. If we can find a way to trade up to anywhere in the top 4 spots we will be guaranteed to get at least one of them.

It was not an easy trade to pull off, and it cost us greatly, but we did manage to convince the Saints to give up their #4 overall pick. Doing so cost us three players. One was our 3rd year backup TE. This guy is a spectacular receiver, and could be a starter for most any team in the league. But his run blocking skills are non-existent. He just didn't fit into my system and it is just not right to keep him tied to our organization. The second player is a All-Pro quality flanker entering the 4th and final year of his first contract in the NFL. There is no question that he can be one of the better players in the league, but again, he just does not fit my system (or my budget next year). The third player (and this was the most difficult decision that I have made since I took over this team) was our starting QB, Clay Gearhart.

Gearhart had a spectacular season last year, and was a big reason for the success that we had. I don't know that we would have reached the Super Bowl without him. Also, he is still under contract for dirt cheap for the next two years. These made the choice very hard. But there were two key reasons why I went a head and pulled the trigger on the deal. We have a young QB who looks like he could be ready to take over the helm this year (admittedly, he struggled greatly when he was called upon to perform last season, never the less he won two of three starts) and because Gearhart has spent time sitting out injured each of the last two seasons. I am worried that this could become a chronic problem for him. There has been much complaining about the deal on all of the local talk radio programs, saying that instead of taking steps forward to improve this team I am instead gutting it. But I know that in the long run, we will be better off. After all, all three of these players were used in the passing game. We will win with the run.

I make a few moves, but nothing to really write home about. In the draft I pick up the guy who I feel is the second best DE in the draft, he does not bust, and looks like he will be ready to start this year. The key free agent acquisition was QB Toby Glenn. Glenn is an 11 year journeyman that will be starting for his 5th team. Over the past four season he has played better than he looks in practice, not having had a season with a QB rating under 95.0. There is no question that he is a step behind Gearhart, but he looks solid.

stkelly52 · 01-26-2005, 02:28 AM

Preseason
As we come into the preseason, we are projected to be the fourth worst team in the league by the Power Ratings, but I have far more confidence in this team than those people do though. My goals are to again win the division, to have Nixon exceed his rushing yards from last season (1642), and for him to score 12 more TD. I think that these are very attainable goals for us this year, however, I should point out that so far, Nixon has yet to have a season in which he has run for more yards than the previous.

The preseason gives us reason to hope. We win three of the four games, and we were able to run the ball very effectively. We also suffer no injuries during these games. Of course we sit many of our key starters to make sure that they are all fully rested and ready to go for our opener against the Panthers. We should look even better this coming week.

After watching our Preseason performance the media realizes that there is something special about this team. People are jumping on our band wagon left and right. We have climbed from near the bottom of the Power Ratings to the top spot in the NFC. With many people picking us to return to the Super Bowl, I am working hard keeping my players focused on the season opener.

10-01-2004, 02:45 AM	#5
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	So I get to work building my team. I start with the staff. My defensive coordinator and scout were no longer under contract, while my Head Coach and OC each had two years left. My first task is to find a defensive coordinator for the team. Because so much of our offence will be based upon the performance of such and unproven player, we will need a solid defense to keep the game close. Last year’s DC was Jeremy Kramer, and he frankly is a solid coach. His only weakness is with kickers. I am determined to keep Kramer on staff, I offer Kramer the $3.9 million that he was asking for. It is a generous offer but well worth it in my opinion. If he accepts the deal it would make him the third highest paid DC in the league. I then take a look at OC. Britt Wayne is a decent, though not great coach. His biggest weakness however is RBs. As that is going to need to be my strength, I feel I have no choice but to let him go. I set my sights instead on the best offensive coordinator that I have ever seen in my time playing this game, Clarence Givens. He is listed as “Excellent” with QBs, RBs, WRs, OL, and K/P. For young talent he is listed as “Very Good”. Givens is asking for 4.1 million, but I expect others to offer even more. Because I feel that Givens is critical to Nixon’s success, I put out an offer that I think will not be refused. $5.8 million My current head coach should be a solid coach, but he has two things going against him. One, he has just never proven himself to be a winner. I am not sure what it is about him that just doesn’t bring his teams victory. In 19 seasons in the league he has only been to the post season twice. Secondly he is the second highest paid coach in the league. I am sorry but I am now willing to spend $9 million on a coach that loses nearly twice as often as he wins. I just think that we can find someone who can do just as good of a job for a couple million less. I find a young coach, Brett Rhodes who I believe will be able to do a phenomenal job. Has just 3 year experience, coaching the Monroe Jets. His record of 18-32 isn’t good, but he did have to some post season success, reaching the AFC title game. And his price is much more reasonable. In looking for a scout there are two things that are crucial. One is young talent. To succeed one must have a good idea who to draft and who to skip. Secondly I need a scout that can evaluate OL. If Nixon is going to have any chance at making it to the hall of fame he is going to need a superb line blocking for him. I think that I have my man in Lincoln Perkins. His weakness is RBs, but that is OK because I already know who my RB is going to be. I also should have a leg up on bringing Perkins to town because he was my scout last season in LA. I offer a fat $700,000 contract; a deal that would make him the 4th highest paid scout in the league While it was expensive, I was able to get all the staff that I wanted. A bidding war erupted for Givens and I wound up paying him almost $7 million for 5 years. It’s a good thing that Mr. Carter has money to spend, because it is going to cost him a lot to get his brother-in-law into the Hall of Fame. Last edited by stkelly52 : 10-01-2004 at 02:49 AM.

10-03-2004, 11:36 PM	#8
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	PRESEASON Week 1 My first preseason game pits me against the Bills, and it is not a great start for Nixon, but not bad either. He averages 3.0 yards per carry, picking up 46 yard on 15 carries, as well as 1 catch for 3 yards. One of my biggest fears was realized when Nixon fumbled inside the red zone early in the fourth quarter, just when it looked like we might get back into the game. We lose the game 23-10 but no matter, it gives us a good chance to evaluate some of our new talent. One major concern is that Sammy Delgado sprained his knee in the game. Sammy is simply the best guard in the game, perhaps the best player in the game. He spent 6 weeks on the sidelines with an injury last year, and I am hoping that this is not a sign that injuries are going to be a future problem for him. Fortunately we have an extra week for him to rest. Week 3 Our second game of the preseason was a great display of our defense as we held the Chiefs to just 6 points. Unfortunately we only managed 3. Nixon could only pick up 28 yards on 15 carries. That kind of performance will not lead to the Hall of Fame. Of course it didn’t help that by the end of the first quarter three of our starting linemen were on the sidelines with injuries. Fortunately they were all minor, but this team cannot afford to lose their offensive linemen. >> Week 4 In week 4 we face off against the Monroe Jets. With our offensive line in shambles with injury, I am not sure what to expect. It turns out that I am pleasantly surprised. Nixon busts a 32 yard TD run in the second and finishes the game with 120 yards on 20 carries and MVP honors as we top the Jets 20-10, and no new injuries in the game either. >> Week 5 Week 5 is another decent performance by Leland. On 18 carries he had 118 yards and no TDs at we slip past ffice:smarttags" />lace w:st="on">Oaklandlace> 6-0. It was good to see such a great defensive performance, because I know that we are going to avoid giving up more than 14 points in most games if we are to win them. All in all it has been a solid preseason. I think that Leland showed that should be able to do a fair job at RB and I think that our defense showed that they can keep it close. I should also point out that Nixon had just the one fumble in the preseason, which is my biggest fear about having him make so many carries. >> Last edited by stkelly52 : 10-03-2004 at 11:37 PM.

12-02-2004, 02:26 AM	#23
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Week 10 Atlanta 5-3 @ Tampa 5-3 There is no team in our history that we has lost more to than the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and this has developed into a bitter rivalry. This year it is even more important as the winner of this game will have the inside track on the division title. Tampa Bay is going to be a difficult team to run against, and their solid passing offence may well be able to pick apart my porous secondary. The Bucs are favored by 5. Well the good news is that Nixon was able to score two more TDs without fumbling the ball. The other good news is that no one was injured so severely that they won't be able to return this year. Other than that there is not much to say about today's terrible performance. Nixon ran for just 39 yards in 21 carries...and he accounted for almost half of our yards. There is nothing more that I wish to say about this game, 30-13. Week 11 Atlanta 5-4 @ Jonesboro Saints 2-7 The Saints come into this game with 1/4 of their players injured, many of them starters. Most of these injuries have been minor, but it has still taken its toll on this team. Jonesboro has attained their lackluster record with a combination of a bad offence and even worse defense. This is a team that we should be able to move the ball against. In a game that we should have been able to win handily, we struggled all game long. In the first period we fell behind 10-0. That deficit was eventually expanded to 16-0. Finally, late in the fourth quarter we were able to put things together and move the ball 84 yards to score a TD with 2:26 Left. If we could complete the 2 point conversion we would be with in 8. The WR reverse failed though, so we now would need two scores in less than 3 minutes. We had no choice but to go for the onside kick, and we were able to recover the ball. I will say on thing for these guys, they refused to give up. It took us just over a minute to move the ball 60 yards (mostly through the air)to put the game within a field goal. With now, with just 1:11 left we would need to recover another onside kick, an almost unheard of feat. And it would not happen today. However, all hope was not lost. We still had all three time outs. If we could keep the Saints from picking up a first down we could still get the ball back for one last effort. In three plays we held them to -3 yards, forcing them to punt the ball for a touchback. We needed about 50 yards to get into reasonable field goal range, and we had 35 seconds and no timeouts to do it. But alas, we were only able to pick up 28 of those yards because our receivers were unable to get out of bounds. Final score 16-13. This loss really hurts. This is a team that I think we should have been able to beat, but several dumb mistakes (4 Ints by our QB), put us in a hole that we just couldn't climb out of. Nixon did fair, but saw limited action because we were behind so much of the day. 91 yards on 28 carries. Week 12 New England 3-7 @ Atlanta 5-5 The Patriots come into town in the midst of a losing streak. NE started the years strong, but when their All-Pro QB went out for the year with a torn rotator cuff. Now they are just trying to salvage some pride out of this season. Without their QB, this offence is just a shell of what it could be. This game is crucial to our season, as I figure that we need to win 4 of our final 6 games if we want to reach the playoffs. As I look at our schedule, there are three weak teams and three strong teams. We need to take care of business with the weak teams like New England, and come away with one upset to reach this year's goals. We made this game closer than it had to be, thanks to 4 turnovers (3 more Ints and 1 fumble by Nixon), but Late in the game we were able to get move the ball from the 20 all the way to the Patriots 20 with three minutes left. If we could score a TD we would go up 21-20. Then our QB tossed one of his interceptions and we saw the game, and basically the season slipped out of our grasp. However, my defense refused to give up, and on the ensuing drive, on 3rd and 16 we picked off the pass at the 20 yard line. Given another shot at redemption our offence came through and scored the go ahead TD. Our defense then held on four plays and gave us the ball at the NE 22. Three Nixon runs basically ran out the clock, and for good measure we kicked a field goal as time expired. Nixon tallied a respectable 122 yards on 32 carries and 1 TD. Week 13 Minnesota 8-3 @ Atlanta 6-5 Minnesota is currently considered to be the best team in the NFC. They are one of the league's best passing teams, and they like to score a lot of points. It will be difficult for us to keep up with them on the score board. Their defense is susceptible to the run in places, but they are overall a decent defensive team. This was a hard-fought, back and fourth game through the first half. But two big plays broke this game open for us. Nixon scored on a 15 yard run, and then just 45 seconds later we returned a Int 47 yards for a TD. This put us up 31-21, and just seemed to invigorate our defense while deflating their offence. In the closing seconds of the game the Vikings were able to return a punt for a TD but we hold on to win this one 31-28. Nixon again goes over 100 yards on 33 carries and this week he scores two TDs. The bad news: we lost three more starters for the year on defense, two of which were our best defensive backs. Our corps of DBs are too weak to be losing them and this is going to hurt our already miserable pass defense. 3/4 season review: With 12 games finished we are well on our way to my goal of 9 wins. We just need to win 2 of our final four games and we will reach that goal. As far as the hunt for the post season goes, we are currently one game behind Tampa Bay for the division title. Catching Tampa will be tough though because they have a much softer schedule remaining, and should probably win 3 of their final 4 games. In the Wild Card race we are presently holding the final wild card spot (Green Bay has the first spot with a 8-4 record), though Carolina, Arizona and Seattle are all tied with me at 7-5. Fortunately I have beaten all of those teams, so I get the nod in the tie breaker. Unfortunately, I have the hardest remaining schedule. We have a couple of tough games coming up against 9-3 Miami and Buffalo, with a 4-8 Jonesboro in between them. After those we will face 7-5 Carolina in a game that could determine which of us is going to the playoffs. Right now we have one of the top rushing games in the NFL, averaging 147 yards rushing per game. The most important offensive stat though is points, and in points per game, we are right at the middle of the pack, averaging 21. Another key stat that we are doing well with is 3rd down conversions, where we are the second best team in the league. What has been hurting us though is turnovers, and we are still among the worst in the league at giving up the ball, with 21 turnovers, and a margin of -9. Defensively we have been solid against the run, and terrible against the pass. I expect that to get even worse with the loss of 2 key players in our secondary last week. In points per game, we average 21.8, which is 21st worst in the league. Leland Nixon is second in the league in rushing, with 1338 yards, and he should have no problems reaching the 1500 yard mark that I envisioned for him. However, his average has dropped back down to 3.7 yards per carry. In TDs, Leland leads the league with 13. Since our last report, Nixon had just one fumble, bringing his total up to 7, 7th most in the league. Last edited by stkelly52 : 12-02-2004 at 02:27 AM.

12-23-2004, 02:28 AM	#29
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	We finish the preseason 2-2. While we did accumulate several injuries, few of them are key players, and most of the injuries are very minor. However, we did have one setback in our secondary. Our starting FS was injured and will be out for at least the first 6 weeks of the season. Safety is just not a position that I feel confident turning over to a young, unproven rookie, and there are no decent veterans in the free agent pool. So instead I turn to a trade, where I pick up Tyrus Noland, and 8 year veteran that was originally drafted by me back when I was with L. A. Noland is a three time all-pro, and I think that he will be a great addition to this team... at least he better be because I had to give up two 1st round picks and a second round pick to get him from the Vikings. WEEK 1 Jonesboro Saints @ Atlanta Going into Week 1, many people think that we are the team to beat in the NFC this season. But of course we have to actually play these games before anyone will give us and trophies. We start off the season with our division rivals, the Saints. Historically we have done very well against Jonesboro, and I expect that to continue today. Nixon had a solid day, running for 111 yards and a TD on 27 carries as we start of the season with a big 31-21 victory. The key plays in this game happened with 3:44 left in the 3rd quarter, with us ahead 17-14: 1-10-JON49 (03:44) JON 5 Hutchins pass was intercepted by ATL 28 Raymond at the ATL04. The interception was returned 96 yards for a touchdown! Extra point by ATL 7 Diaz was good. Score: Atlanta 24, Jonesboro (AR) 14. ATL 17 Gerhardt kicked off 58 yards from the ATL30. JON 88 Schneider returned the ball 2 yards to the JON14. Tackled by ATL 88 McNeil. Possession to Jonesboro (AR). 1-10-JON14 (03:05) JON 5 Hutchins pass was intercepted by ATL 44 Noland at the JON28. The interception was returned 28 yards for a touchdown! Extra point by ATL 7 Diaz was good. Score: Atlanta 31, Jonesboro (AR) 14. On back to back plays we ran back interceptions for touchdowns! The second was by our newly acquired FS. It is great to see him paying dividends already. These basically were the deciding plays that turned the momentum completely in our favor. There are no significant new injuries to report. NIXON CAREER MILESTONE: In this game, Nixon scored his 28th career rushing TD, breaking Randal Whitfield's team record for most career rushing TDs. Whitfield was a former 2nd round draft pick by the Falcons back in 2013. He played four solid seasons with Atlanta (starting 3) and looked like he might be becoming one of the better RBs in the league. He left the team to join the Bears, and he just fell off the map. The Bears, unimpressed with his performance, let him go to the Browns. He played the 2018 season with Cleveland. The Browns let him go at the end of the season, and no one else ever game him another shot. He is now working as a new car salesman, selling Saturns in Tempe, Arizona. Last edited by stkelly52 : 12-26-2004 at 02:59 AM.

12-30-2004, 02:58 AM	#33
illinifan999 Pro Rookie Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: VA	Just wanted to let ya know I'm reading and enjoying. __________________ Chicago Eagles 2 time ZFL champions We're "rebuilding"

09-30-2004, 02:20 AM	#2
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Naturally the Falcons were astonished and thrilled by the idea. Suddenly they felt that they could go from a team who had only had four winning seasons and had been to the post season just three times to a team that could soon be seen as a powerhouse in the NFL. I tried my best to convince them that it wasn’t going to be that easy, that this team needed a lot of work, but the Falcons’ organization was confident that I would overcome all of the obstacles and bring greatness to Atlanta. We will see if they are right. While I am excited about this new opportunity and challenge, I am saddened to leave LA. It has been my home for the past 10 years and LA has been good to me. During my first day on the job, my plan was to decide what to do about my coaches and scouts. However, I was thrown for a loop when the Falcons owner, Rich Carter, called me into his office. “Scott, it’s good to have you on board with us. I just know that you are going to take this team to new heights” “Well, thank you for your support Mr. Carter, I am sure tha… “But Scott, there’s just one little thing...." Last edited by stkelly52 : 09-30-2004 at 02:22 AM.

09-30-2004, 02:26 AM	#3
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	“There’s just one little thing,,,, You met my wife Cami, right. “Sure, she’s a wonderful woman” I replied as I thought about the 24 year old former playmate. Whoever said you can’t buy love? I thought enviously. Well her little brother is graduating from Grambling this year and I sort of promised her that he could have a spot on the team, he’s a kid named Leland Nixon” “You what? How could you, why would you… You did what? You know I have actually taken a look at Nixon, and I just don’t think that he has what it takes to make it in the NFL, perhaps the Arena League might be better for him. “Yea, I figured that you would say something like that, but let’s face it if he isn’t playing in the NFL this year, well, then Cami won’t be sleeping in my bed at night. Sorry. I know that you can find a way to make it work.”

09-30-2004, 02:34 AM	#4
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	And thus begins my new challenge. I always enjoy seeing undrafted players rise to greatness, and I’ve often wondered if I could turn a nobody into a member of the Hall of Fame, so I have finally started a dynasty to see if it can be done. My goal is to take this undrafted rookie RB and get him into the Hall of Fame, while winning a Super Bowl with Atlanta. The only house rule is that Nixon must start if he is healthy. Everything else is fair game.

10-03-2004, 01:01 PM	#6
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	I don’t have any players that I feel should be franchised, and the ticket prices are about were I like them, just a bit below the median price. This team hasn’t had a profit since 2010, and attendance has dropped 20,000 since then. I don’t want to do anything that would drive any more fans away. As I head into free agency, I know that there are going to have to be many cuts made. We are 1.7 million over the cap, and that doesn’t even count our draft signings. The tough choices are made as we trim our rosters down to just 22 players, with 15.5 million free in cap room. As I head into the free agent signing period, I have one main focus…run blockers. If Nixon is going to have a hall of fame career he will need to have a solid group of linemen, TEs and a great FB to make his holes. Our starting RG, C, and LT look solid. We will be looking for another guard and tackle as well as a stud FB and TE. I find a solid LG in Kyle Conklin, an 8 year vet who spent last season with the Cardinals. My only concern is that he missed a significant portion of last season with an injury. It is the first major injury of his career, so hopefully he hasn’t become prone to injury. I offer him $13.86 million for 4 years. At RT I am not particularly thrilled with any of my available options. I do offer a $4.9 million, three year contract, for a fading former all-pro, 13 year vet, Scottie Fisher who should still have a couple of decent years left in him. I find a stud TE in Brad McKenzie who is one of the best run blocking TEs in the game, as well as being a solid receiver as well. It will be a nice bonus to have a TE who can be effective in the passing game. Myron Barns is just a 53 rated FB, but as run blocker he is rated at 92, just the kind of FB that I want. I am certain that I can sign him cheaply as well. I am able to go through and pick up each of these guys during the main free agency period, but after signing them up I find myself in a bit of a quandary. With nearly 20% of my teams salary lost to dead space from cuts made last year, my hands are tied in trying to fill the rest of the holes. I decide to wait until after the draft to fill them, hopefully I can find some cheaply. The draft is pretty uneventful, as there are few decent run supporters for me to draft. I do find a center in the 6th round who looks like he might be a steal if he can develop quickly enough.

10-03-2004, 01:03 PM	#7
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Following the draft, I am able to actually sign Leland Nixon. He agrees to a two year deal for the league minimum. I then fill out my team with scrubs, and I am only able to afford 46 players. To be perfectly honest this is going to be a difficult season. There are a lot of holes on the team. I think that if we win 6 games then we will have had a successful season. However, with our solid group of blockers up front I am confident that Nixon will reach 1000 yards Before I go any farther lets take a closer look at just what to expect from the star of this dynasty. Leland was born on March 6th of 2001. He was raised in Indianapolis and went on to star at Grambling. His current rating is 25 and his future rating is 31. He has decent breakaway speed and power inside with 53 and 58 respectively. He looks like he will be hard to tackle as well with an elusiveness rating of 70. The bad news is that he is terrible as a third down back (0), hole recognition (4), and avoiding fumbles (5/15). His speed to the outside is unimpressive (24). On the bright side, he looks like he could be a solid receiver in the future, though he will need some time to develop. Leland also has decent endurance, which is good because he should be getting a lot of carries. With all of my positions filled I take a look at the team’s game plan. I go very run heavy in normal situations and with the lead, and I let my coaches set the rest of the game plan. Leland Nixon may set a record for most carries in a season.

10-05-2004, 12:14 AM	#9
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 1 Atlanta vs. Carolina Panthers The Panthers come into town favored by 8. They have a solid running game and a great pass defense. Fortunately, they have some big weaknesses against the run. This could be a good team for Nixon to start with. This was a great start for our undrafted RB. Nixon took the ball on Atlanta's first play and picked up 8 yards. On the second play he carried for 14 more. Nixon continued to have the bulk of the action and capped off the opening drive with a 2 yard TD. On the second Falcon drive Nixon had carries of 6, 27, 4, and 1, the 1 being a 1 yard TD run, his second of the game. Atlanta played a solid game on both sides of the ball for three quarters, taking a 31-3 lead 14 seconds into the fourth. Then the team just seamed to run out of steam as the Panthers racked up 21 unanswered points. But it was too little too late for the Panthers and a late field goal by us put the game out of reach, 34-24. Leland had 27 carries for 130 yards and 2 TDs in his first performance. He had no receptions and importantly, he had no fumbles. Leland and his two guards are listed as some of the key players of the weak. WEEK 2 Atlanta @ L.A. Chargers (1-0) It is strange coming into this stadium as a visitor. L.A. enters this game as a perennial playoff contender. The Chargers are a team that I built, and I built them well. It will be tough to run the ball against these guys. The only real weakness that they have is at QB, as the star QB, Moe Swift, left via free agency. Hopefully this will be a big enough weakness. This game was never even close. The Chargers scored on their 3rd play and never looked back. When the dust settled we were on the wrong end of a 27-3 thrashing, thanks in part to 3 interceptions. On the positive side of things, Nixon again eclipsed the century mark with 122 yards on 31 carries, and again he had no fumbles. Nixon was the only member of the Falcons to make the league’s list of key players in week 2. WEEK 3 Seattle Seahawks (1-1) @ Atlanta Seattle was once one of the most dominant teams in the NFC, but in the past 10s they have by in large been one of the league’s patsies. Last season they were a league worst 2-14. Only two teams in the history of the league have had worse years. However, this year, the ‘hawks have already won one game this year (against New England). Seattle has a weak rushing defense, so I would expect to see Nixon do well this week. We are favored by four in this game. We are favored by four, and we win by four, 26-21. I am a little disappointed by our defense’s performance. We gave up two TDs in the fourth quarter to erase our 19-7 lead and go down by three. Fortunately, Nixon was able to cap off a 4 minute, 67 yard drive with a 2 yard TD plunge to put the good guys ahead for good with under a minute left in the game. Leland Nixon was the star of this game, earning his first MVP award. Nixon was a work horse, carrying the ball 40 times for 161 yards and 2 TDs. He also caught his first passes of the season, 2 for 10 yards. Unfortunately, the game was costly on the injury front. 7 players, 5 of them starters, were injured in the game. Among the injured are starting C Bob Geis (10 weeks) and starting LT Casey Shea (3 weeks). Losing the two of them really hurts Nixon because they are both excellent blockers. And with no cap room, we are unable till fill their spots on the roster. WEEK 4 Atlanta @ Philadelphia Eagles (1-2) We head into week four as 2 point underdogs. The good news for us is that two of the Eagles key run stoppers are out with injuries. If our O line had just managed to stay healthy, I think the odds would be much more in our favor. Without 2/5ths of his line Nixon was unable to have as much success, being held under 100 yards for the first time in his career. But thanks to solid defensive work it was enough to eek out a 16-12 victory. Nixon ran 27 times for 96 yards and the game’s lone TD. Another lineman, LG Kyle Conklin, was injured in the game, but he should be able to play through his injury, hopefully without it getting any worse. QUARTER SEASON REPORT Well after 4 games this team has done better than I had hoped they would. At 3-1 they are already half way to the 6 wins that I predicted for this team. We are tied for first in the division, and fans are starting to get excited about this team. Playoff dreams are floating in the air. However the realists in the national media are pointing out that so far we have had a cupcake schedule. The only team that we have played with more than one win so far is LA, and they walked all over us. Our power rating is just a paltry 68 As for Nixon, the fans here are starting to love this guy. He is second in the league with 509 yards, and tied for first with 5 TDs. He is also second in the league with 125 carries, and he has a very respectable 4.0 yard average. Another stat that is important to note is that he has no fumbles. As you may recall that was one of my scout’s biggest concerns about Nixon, and so far he has shown those concerns to be baseless. Now I know that it is a little early to be thinking this way, but if he is able to keep up this pace he can break 2000 yards and 20 TDs. Of course we have yet to face a good run stopping team.

10-06-2004, 04:40 AM	#10
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 5 Washington Redskins (2-2) @ Atlanta So far we have only beaten bad teams. Washington has some of the best run-stoppers that we have faced this season, so this will be quite a challenge for Mr. Nixon. Washington is favored by 3 Our defense did a great job, not allowing a drive longer than 20 yards. However thanks to interceptions Washington scored on drives of 4 and 6 to win this game 14-3. The Redskins were able to completely shut down Nixon, holding him to just 41 yards on 20 carries, his worst showing of the season. To add injury to insult, Sammy Delgado, our superstar RG broke his finger during the game. While the injury is minor, it means that 4 of our five starting linemen are hurt, with two of them still not playing at all. WEEK 6 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 3-2 @ Atlanta The Bucs com into this game tied with us for the lead in the NFC South. Tampa is quite beat up, with six starters injured. However Tampa’s run stoppers are all in good health. Tampa has the 7th best rushing defense in the league. I consider changing my game plan to put the ball in the air more, but that would defeat the whole purpose of this dynasty. Tampa is favored by two. You could look at this as a clash between two great defenses, or you could look at this as a game between two really bad offences. Regardless it ends with a W for us, 9-6 in OT. Nixon gave up is first fumble of the year, and it was costly as Tampa was able to capitalize on the mistake and put up their second field goal midway through the fourth quarter. This put the Buccaneers up 6-0. We were able to put together decent drives on our last two positions of regulation though, finishing each with a field goal. The second of those field goals came with just 12 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime. In OT, we won the toss and thanks to a bad kickoff and a good return we only needed to move the ball 21 yards to be in range for the game winning 42 yard field goal. We are now in sole possession of first place in the AFC South. Nixon did fair, topping the 100 yard mark again, but he needed 31 carries to do it, which is only a 3.5 yard average. Injuries continue to bite us hard. Both of our starting safeties go out with injuries, and our backup center, who had been forced into a starting role, is out for the year with a torn ankle ligament. I now find my self in a quandary as all of my centers are out and I have no money to sign any one else. In this situation I am desperate and I start looking at people that I can cut or renegotiate with to make just a bit more room. My backup CB agrees to a three year deal with a $300,000 bonus that shaves almost $400,000 off my cap space, giving me room to sign a three year vet. With that I bring back Daryl Duffy, who was our backup last season. Daryl is a passable backup, and far better than any other option that we had.

10-07-2004, 02:03 AM	#11
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 7 Atlanta 4-2 @ Carolina 1-5 In week 1 we got off to a good start against Carolina and were able to hold on for the win. Since then Carolina has been abysmal, finally winning their first game last week against the equally abysmal Eagles. The Panthers have the 3rd worst rushing D in the league, and the worst in points per game. Surely we can put up goon numbers against these guys. Atlanta is favored by 5 Sometimes even when you win you can come away from a game disheartened. LT Casey Shea was just on the verge of becoming 100% and he was reinjured and is listed as out. Plus this game was an offensive nightmare. Nixon was completely neutralized for the majority of the game. It took him 29 carries to gain just 60 yards, Nixon also fumbled the ball again, fortunately he was able to recover the ball, and even picked up 14 more yards. He also scored the game’s only TD, but those two plays were his only highlights. With a bye week coming up we are hoping to rest and heal up in our week off. WEEK 8 BYE WEEK 9 Atlanta 5-2 @ Dallas 5-3 We head into Dallas feeling quite a bit better with many of our hurt players ready to come back. But our offensive line is still hurting. Dallas has five starters injured including all-pro DE Percy Lehman, one of the NFL’s best linemen at stopping the run. However, Dallas still has a solid defensive line at stopping the run, and one of the leagues bet run defenses. The Cowboys are a solid team and we are going to have a hard time beating them. Dallas is favored by 7. We jumped out to a quick 3 point lead, but it was all Dallas after that. Dallas scored two TDs to take the game 14-3. Dallas’s key was stopping Nixon throughout the game. Nixon was only able to average 2.4 yards, picking up a total of 48 yards in 20 carries. Also, for the third game ion a row, Nixon put the ball on the ground, which we were fortunate to recover. At least there were no further injuries in the loss. MID SEASON REVIEW Halfway through the season the team is still doing better than expected. We have a one game lead in the NFC North. We are actually in a good situation for making the playoffs this season, in spite of the fact that none of the teams that we have beaten this season have a winning record. Our schedule for the rest of the season has us only playing one more team that currently has a winning record. I figure that based on the conference that we are in we only need 4 more wins to make the playoffs. The key to our making the postseason will be our defense, as we have the league’s second worst scoring offence. One thing that our offence does well is not give up the ball; we are 5th in the league in turnovers. Unfortunately the turnover margin is -2 thanks to the worst defense in the league in causing turnovers. It is hard to complain about our defense based on the performance that they have shown. We have the second best rushing D in the country, and the 9th best passing defense. In the key defensive stat, our defense only allows 15.1 points, tops in the NFC Nixon’s stats have declined greatly in the past four games, but he is still well on his way to 1000 yards rushing. Nixon has 225 carries for 767 yards and 6 TDs. He is 5th in the league in yards, and 3rd in TDs. His 3.4 yard average is worst among the league’s starting backs.

10-08-2004, 12:57 AM	#12
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 10 New York Giants 6-2 @ Atlanta 5-3 The Giants are a great offence, but they are beat up and their run defense is subject. The Giants have gotten six wins by being able to put enough points on the board to offset their lax defense. Nevertheless, the Giants are favored by 5. If only we had a healthy offensive line we could expect a big day out of Nixon. Well Nixon and our offence had fine performances, but as NY has done all season, they just couldn’t be contained. We fall 41-25. Nixon ran for 121 yards and a TD on 29 carries. A solid game for Nixon, back over 4 yards per carry. However, Nixon again fumbled the ball, but once again Nixon is saved by his teammates as they recover the ball. While we again didn’t lose possession, this is the fourth consecutive game in which Nixon has dropped the ball. WEEK 11 Atlanta (5-4) @ Jonesboro Saints (4-5) The Saints have been having a poor season, but they are just one game out of the division lead. If they can win today they would bring themselves into a tie with us for the division lead. The success that the Saints have had has come from the team’s solid defensive effort. The Saints offence is mediocre at best. That is a combination that should lead to a low scoring game. If we should come out ahead, it means we would have beaten each of our division rivals this year, and put us in a great position for winning the division. Our players are continuing to heal nicely. Our line is healthy except for our center, who is questionable with 3 weeks until full strength. Jonesboro is favored by 3. Nixon has 26 carries for 108 yards, but the star of this game is our defense. We hold the Saints to under 200 yards of offense and pick off three passes. End result is a 16-7 victory. Nixon again put the ball on the ground, and again he was able to get the ball back. I am growing concerned about this run of fumbles lately. But this victory feels good because my preseason goal was to win 6 games. Injuries continue to get better. Bob Geis, our starting center, is healthy enough to get back into the starting line up, even though he is not yet 100%. This puts all of my starting line back together again.

11-06-2004, 01:39 AM	#13
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Well I can finally get back on the board, so I will now update you on what has been happening in this dynasty during our absence

11-06-2004, 01:40 AM	#14
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 12 Atlanta (6-4) @ Oakland (2-8) Oakland is a bad team with very little offence. They are led by a rookie QB with the worst QB rating in the league. They have a decent run defense, but that is the whole basis of their team. We are favored by 6. Their run defense should keep the score close, but we should be able to take the game. Atlanta took control of this game in the first quarter, and never looked back. Once again it was a spectacular defensive display. Oakland had just 2 drives of longer than 20 yards, and just 6 first downs in the game. The defense set up the offence, as 3 of the offences TDs were set up by turnovers. Our offence was mostly unable to sustain many lengthy drives, but they really didn’t need to. Atlanta crushed Oakland 31-0. Nixon ran a lot, but for the most part he was ineffective. Sure he finished with 90 yards and a TD, but it took him 33 carries to do so. Nixon also had five carries (on three separate drives) from the one yard line, and he could only score the one time. He did however break his streak of consecutive games with a fumble. I also should note that on a 7 yard end around early in the first quarter Nixon broke 1000 yards rushing for the season. On another negative note, just as our offensive line was getting completely healthy, starting RT Scottie Fisher fractures his foot. He may very well be out the rest of the regular season. WEEK 13 Atlanta 7-4 @ Detroit 5-6 Detroit is a very balanced team. They have no stars, just a smattering of decent players here and there, just enough to bring them a win or two here and their but not enough to really be competitive. Frankly, I think that they are just about the same skill level as us, except that we have had a much easier schedule. We are favored by one. I am not even sure what happened this week. This was an ugly game that all of us whish we could forget. Detroit wins 35-10. We were killed in time of possession, which limited Nixon to just 21 carries for 84 yards. Nixon once again dropped the ball. The team’s running game was hurt again by the injury to our fullback. He should be out for the remainder of the regular season. 3/4 SEASON REVIEW With 12 games behind us we are in a great place as far as making the playoffs goes. 3 of our final 4 games are against teams with losing records (the other is just 6-6), so there is no reason why we shouldn’t win at least two of our final games. Two wins would guarantee us the division title, though even one win very well may be enough Our offence is the second worst in the league, now averaging 14.2 points. But we are still one of the best teams in the league at not allowing turnovers. In spite of all of Leland Nixon’s fumbles, he has only ever lost one. All told we have just 10 turnovers this year. But as you know, it is our incredible defense that has kept us going this year. We give up just 15 points on average, 3rd best in the league. The team’s rushing defense is the best in league history. For Leland Nixon, he is second in the league with 1170 rushing yards, 5th in TDs with 7, 1st in attempts with 334 and his 3.5 yard average is better than just two starting RBs.

11-11-2004, 02:15 AM	#15
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 14 KC Chiefs (5-7) @ Atlanta (7-5) We are favored by five in this game, but I am not quite so convinced. The chiefs are clearly the inferior team but the one thing the Chiefs are really good at is stopping the run. That hurts us and our game plan. To think, my fear was that we wouldn't be able to run against this defense. Leland runs for the third most yards in team history, 177. It is clearly his best game of the season. With 32 carries his average was a season best 5.5 yards. Nixon walked away with MVP honors as we defeat the Chiefs 20-10. With this win and the Saints' loss to LA we have clinched the NFC South for the first time in 12 years, and just the second time in history. However the win came at a price. LT Shea was injured again, and I don't expect him back for the regular season. This hurts in that both of our starting tackles are now out. WEEK 15 Atlanta (8-5) @ Tampa Bay (4-9) Tampa started the season with 3 straight wins. Since then they have been 1-9. We have no intention of reversing the Bucs' fortunes. We are favored by just one. Nixon followed up his career day with his third MVP, though this one was by default. There were few standout players in our 17-7 victory. Frankly the award should have gone to the defense as Tampa was held to just 30 yards rushing and 167 yards passing. This made up for our own miserable offensive display, in which our QB threw for just 90 yards and had 2 picks. Nixon picked up quite a few yards (96), but it took him 36 carries to do so. But Nixon did find the end zone, and he didn’t fumble. WEEK 16 Denver 7-7 @ Atlanta 9-5 Denver is fighting to keep their faint playoff hopes alive. They are strong defending the run on the left side of their line, but on the right are some of the worst linemen in the league. If we can just keep running to our left we should be able to do well. Nixon is simply phenomenal in this game. Thanks to some great blocking up front, Nixon has the second best performance by a RB in Atlanta's history. His stats are 38 carries for 194 yards, 2 TDs. And no fumbles. He leads his team to a 31-25 victory. WEEK 17 Jonesboro 7-8 @ Atlanta 10-5 If we win this game we stand a chance of earning a 1st round bye in the playoffs, depending on how Arizona does and on tie breakers. Jonesboro has been an interesting team this year. They were one of just two teams to beat Minnesota, but they were also one of three teams that lost to Chicago. The Saints rushing defense is middle of the road, but their scoring defense is the 8th best in the league. Their offence is among the bottom in the league, so if we can just beat their defense, we should be able to win this one In a season in which we have overly relied on our defense, today it was our defense that let us down. Nixon had a solid game, running for 147 yards on 33 carries. Even our passing game was clicking, with over 200 yards passing in the game for us. But we gave up 31 points, and there was just no way that we could keep up with that. Final score 24-21.

11-11-2004, 04:39 PM	#16
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WILD CARD ROUND Well the regular season has come to an end, and we have finished 4 games batter than I had hoped we would. Granted we may have had the easiest schedule in the league, and none of the teams that we beat had a winning record at the end of the year. Our final power rating is just 46, the lowest of any team in the postseason. Not many people are giving us much hope in the playoffs because they don't allow teams with losing records. Green Bay 12-6 @ Atlanta 10-6 We draw a very good Green Bay team who is heavily favored against us. Green Bay has a high powered offence, the #2 scoring team in the league. Their defense is decent, though not great. In Nixon's first postseason appearance he was able to crack the 100 yard barrier, but he and the rest of the Falcons were kept out of the end zone. Green Bay ends our season 17-6.

11-11-2004, 04:41 PM	#17
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	SEASON REVIEW While this year had its frustrating and difficult moments, we far exceeded our goals for the year. We were 5th in the league in rushing yards, though 31st in yards per carry. With a 16.4 point average we are 25th in scoring. We were 7th in both turnovers (17) and turnover margin (+5). But it was our defense who were the stars this year. This team breaks the record as the #1 rushing defense of all time, allowing just 72.5 yards per game. In points allowed we were third best with 15.8. As for our running back, Nixon had a solid rookie year. He finishes with a league best 1784 yards, which is the 11th most yards in the history of the league, and the most yards in the team's history. Nixon was second in the league in rushing TDs with 11, which is the second most in Atlanta's history. Leland finished with an average of 3.7 yards per carry, which isn't great but it just a bit below the league median average. Nixon is also named the NFL's Offensive Rookie of the Year. The biggest negative stat, Nixon had more fumbles than all but two players in the league, with 9.

11-12-2004, 01:10 AM	#18
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	2025 As we head into the 2025 season there are a few areas that we will really need to shore up. First, we have a lot of money tied up in our QB. He is a Pro Bowl quality QB, and I think he is very much worth his $10 million price tag, but, for a team that is so focused on running, I just can't have more than 10% of our cap room tied up in a QB. I plan to trade him away for either a high draft pick or a great tackle. Second, our offensive line still needs some more help. Our center's contract has expired, and I need to decide whether to resign him, or if I should go after another FA. Also after the injury problems that I had last season, I want to make sure that I have great run blocking backups on the line. Third, while my team's run defense was great, our passing D was just average. We have a great crop of safeties, but, our CBs are just average. I would like to get a great CB to solidify our pass D. Fourthly, I would also like to upgrade my LBs, particularly MLB. I now have to decide if I should franchise my center Bob Geis. Geis has done a good job as our center, but there is a great center that is on the market that I am really coveting. I decide that I need to make sure that I get a center of at least Geis's ability. If I can sign the other guy I will do so and then trade or release Geis. Geis is franchised.

11-13-2004, 01:44 AM	#19
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	As I look at the draft preview I see one of the best players that I have ever seen available. A tackle named Jerry Blanchard. One of my strategies in FOF is never draft a lineman in the first round. They generally take too long to develop. By the time they are the kind of players that you drafted them to be, they are free agents. But this guy is already developed to the point where his score is 60. We project that he could be a starter that makes and immediate impact. But if I am going to be able to draft Jerry, I will need the first pick. There is no way that he would last to pick #2. I hold the 21st pick. It would take a lot to make that kid of a jump. Fortunately, the team with the #1 pick is Chicago. Chicago's biggest need is a QB, and when I put feelers out to see who was interested in my QB, Chicago was the team that seamed most interested. It took some wheeling and dealing, but the deal was made. My star QB, this years #21 pick and 2nd round picks from the next two years are traded for this years #1 pick, which I will use on Jerry Blanchard. I wanted a great tackle and that is exactly what I hope I got. I go ahead and select him before the end of the first week of free agency. I quickly sign him to a 6 year deal. I am not able to sign the center that I wanted. So I make myself content with Geis. During free agency, I am able to sign several decent OL backups for reasonable prices. This should shore our line through any injuries that we face. Choices at LB and CB were very slim, so I was not able to make the kind of improvements that I would have liked. I did find some passable bodies to fill the holes, but I am not optimistic about an improvement in our pass coverage. I fill out the rest of my roster with solid backups. At most of my positions if a player goes down with injury, I have a replacement for him that is only a minimal decline in ability. I feel very confident about my team. My biggest hole is at QB, but I am hoping that with the improvements on my offensive line my running game will negate the effects. The media however is not so convinced. We are given a power rating of just 35, ten points lower than any other team in the NFL. My goals for this season are for Leland Nixon to run for 1500 yards and to win 9 games and make the playoffs. While that may seem like a step backwards from last year, there is no question that we were not a playoff quality team last season. We benefited from a cushy schedule and I don't think we will be that lucky again. If we make the playoffs this year we will have to earn it. As for Leland's off season progress, there was little to speak of. He improved only minimally, going from a 25 overall to a 27. His future potential actually declined a few points to 29. It looks like Nixon is just about as good as he is ever going to get. His ability as a receiver was where his increases came, along with a small improvement in avoiding fumbles (but it is still only 8). I was a little surprised last season that Nixon wasn't more involved in the passing game. Perhaps this year he will catch a few more passes out of the backfield.

11-21-2004, 02:23 AM	#20
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	PRESEASON In the preseason we had a good chance to evaluate our players and I really think that our line showed what they were capable of. Thanks to great blocking up front Nixon averaged well over 4 yards per carry in each of our games. The final scores were not on our side much, but I am encouraged in spite of our 1-3 preseason record. Also we come out of the preseason without any injuries.

11-23-2004, 02:59 AM	#22
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 5 BYE WEEK 6 Atlanta 2-2 @ Arizona 3-2 We go into Arizona who is riding a two game winning streak and an offence that uses a good combination between rushing and passing. However they have the worst running defense in the league, allowing 5.12 yards per carry, and 147.6 yards per game. They are also bruised and beat up with nine players currently injured. I think that we stand a decent chance in this game, in spite of the fact that the odds makers place us at 8 point underdogs. Nixon struggled much of the game. He was able to pick up just 89 yards on 24 carries. For those bad at math that is a paltry 2.6 yard average. His one shining moment was a 17 yard TD run late in the 2nd quarter that put us up for good. We were able to hold on to the lead with good defensive play solid punting, and ball control. The final score was 28-18. But our victory came at a price. Three more players will be out for the next couple of weeks, and a couple more will be questionable for next Sunday's game. Week 7 Carolina 2-4 @ Atlanta 3-2 We come into this game as heavy favorites. Carolina has a poor offence, a terrible running defense and a good pass defense. That pass defense won't help much this week though as we don't pass much. Carolina needs to win this week if they want any hope of getting back in the hunt for the division title. Before this game we need to sign a new DT to replace our starter Norbert Wells who is out for the year with a high ankle sprain. Leland Nixon was a work horse today, running 40 times for 152 yards and 1 TD. The key drive of the game though was one that didn't score. Three times Nixon had third down conversions on the last drive of the game. This allowed us to run off the final 4:34 off of the clock and stymie the Panthers' late comeback attempt. Final 20-17. Week 8 Atlanta 4-2 @ San Francisco 4-3 We come into Frisco favored by one point hoping to hold onto our 1 game lead in the division. The 49ers have a good group of linemen, but terrible LBs. Overall the 49ers have the 4th worst defense in the league. They win their games by having the highest scoring offence in the NFL. This offence is led by the best QB in league history, Moe Swift. This game is significant for me because Swift was my star QB for nine years with the Chargers. We both left the Chargers at the same time and this is the first time that he has been my opponent. Swift comes into this game having the best season of his career, with a QB rating of 118.8, and having only tossed 2 picks compared to 17 TDs. This was an offensive showcase. We racked up 534 yards of total offence, second most in team history. But San Francisco played a great offensive game as well, coming up with 490 yards of total offence. With three minutes left in the game, we were trailing by 14, but we were knocking on the door, just 4 yards away from the end zone. On the next play a four yard pass brought us within 8. The PAT would cut that to 7... or it would have had we made the PAT, but instead our rookie kicker missed the kick. With just under three minutes left though our chances of winning the game were slim. We had just one time out, so our only real hope was to try for the onside kick, and miracles of miracles we recovered the kick. With 2:52 left we needed to go 56 yards to win try to tie the game. Thanks to three 49er penalties we were able to move the ball quickly, capping the drive with a 26 yard TD pass. The 2 point conversion was successful and the game was now tied. The only bad thing was that we may have moved the ball too quickly, using less than one minute. Fortunately, three incomplete passes sent this game into OT. We won the toss and elected to receive. We then began a final 6:25 minute, 80 yard drive, capped by a 4 yard TD pass. Thanks to a phenomenal last few minutes we were able to pull out an incredible 37-31 victory. Nixon runs for ran for 242 yards, the second largest rushing total in NFL history. His average was an excellent 6.2 yards per carry. Even though he was held out of the end zone, this was a solid all around performance for our hero. The only negative today was Leland's one fumble, which was covered by our center. Week 9 St. Louis 7-1 @ Atlanta 5-2 There is no team in the NFL with as many wins this season as St. Louis. St. Louis has gotten to this point in spite of having a sub par QB and a mediocre RB. So how can they be the 4th highest scoring team in the league? Well first, they cause the most turnovers in the NFL. This does not bode well for Leland Nixon and the fumble problems that he has. Second, their league best defense gives their offence a short field more often than not. This stingy defense could make it hard for us to pick up the yards on the ground that we want. Finally, the Rams have a spectacular kicker who could be on his way to a new single season record. He just seems to be able to make every drive come up with at least three points. Even though the Rams look to be such a great team, the odds makers are not convinced by their QB/RB combo. They have listed this game as even. If I were a betting man though, I would put my money with the Rams. This great Rams defense had a lot of trouble slowing Nixon down. With 32 carries Nixon was able to run for 125 yards, and when he scored a TD to go up 17-0 late in the third it looked like this game was well in hand. Then our team just fell apart. We gave up 3 TDs (with two missed conversions, and one successful) on three consecutive drives to fall behind 20-17. During this time our offence struggled with a 56 yard drive that ended with a INT in the end zone, a 3 and out, and a 42 yard drive that ended with a missed 35 yard field goal. Finally, with under 2:00 left in the game our offence took the field and mounted a last gasp drive to set up a 52 yard kick to send the game into OT, and the kicked sailed true. For the second week we were in OT. Last week we won when we won the toss and were able to sore on the opening drive of OT, this week we lost the toss and thanks to a 50 yard TD pass by the Rams, we were left without a victory. Final 26-20. I don't feel bad losing to a team like the Rams, but the way that we lost was just demoralizing. At least there were no new injuries this week. Mid Season Review Half way through the year and in spite of last week's heart breaker, this team is in a good position to reach all of our goals. At 5-3 we are currently tied with Tampa for the lead in the NFC South, and we have a 1 game lead in the wild card race. Nine wins and a playoff birth seem to be very doable tasks. Our pass defense looks very weak this year, as evidenced by the way St. Louis was able to move the ball at will at the end of last week's game. We have the 3rd worst passing defense in the NFL. In our scoring defense is the 6th worst in the league. One big stat that hurts us is that we are 2nd worst in turnover margin. We don't give up the ball an inordinate amount of the time, (in spite of all of Leland's fumbles, it seems we are usually able to fall on the ball) but we are worst in the league at causing turnovers with just 6 (the average is over 12). Next season we are going to have to come up with help for our poor secondary. As for Nixon he is having a solid sophomore season. He has 241 carries for a league best 978 yards and a league leading 8 TDs. Baring an injury he should have no problem reaching my goal of 1500 yards rushing, and in fact if he can just improve slightly he stands an outside shot of reaching 2000s this year. I should also note that Nixon has improved his average to 4.0 yards per carry. This is by no means a world beater average, but it is a solid showing. As far as negative things about Nixon, Nixon has the third most fumbles in the league, with 6.

12-03-2004, 02:36 AM	#24
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Week 14 Atlanta 7-5 @ Miami (9-3) Miami is another team that really focuses on the run, and they have used one of the best running backs in the NFL to put themselves in a strong position in the AFC. Along with that stellar running game, they have put together a phenomenal defense, that gives up just 13.7 points per game, while allowing just 89 yards rushing per game. Miami is favored by 3 at their home stadium. On our second drive of the game, down 0-7 Leland ran a draw up the middle, broke one tackle and flew down the field 70 yards to the 4 yard line. 2 plays later he scored from 4 yards out. In those two runs he picked up 74 yards and a TD. He finished the game with 36 carries for 108 yards, 1 TD and 1 fumble. What that means is that for the rest of the game, Nixon had 34 carries for 34 yards. Ugh! Fortunately our defense kept us close, and two missed field goals helped us out as well. Going into the 4th quarter we trailed by just 6, 7-13. Early in the period my backup WLB (who because of injuries was thrust into his first career start) came up with his first career interception, and then proceeded to return the pick for a TD. Late in the fourth we intercepted a pass at the Miami 7 yard line. We were able to score two plays later giving us a more comfortable cushion. We upset Miami 21-13. The bad news was our all-pro guard tore his thumb ligament, and may be done for the year. He is listed as doubtful for the next 10 weeks. Week 15 Jonesboro 4-9 @ Atlanta 8-5 This is a game that should be easy for us. We should be able to take care of the Saints without any problem. However, that is what I said earlier this season, and we couldn't get it done. I don't mean to duplicate that mistake. It took a fourth quarter field goal, but we were able to escape with a win, 17-16. Nixon did well as far as yardage goes, averaging 4.1 yards per carry, totaling 104 yards and 1 TD on the day, but he had 3 fumbles, two of them that were recovered by the Saints. Both of those fumbles were inside our own 25 yard line, but fortunately our defense came out strong and held them to just 2 field goals. Our offence also wasn't helped by a QB that could only complete 1/3 of his passes. But all bad play aside, we won the game, and reached our first goal of winning 9 games. Now we just need to hold on to our wild card spot (which by the way we have a one game lead over Seattle, Carolina and the free falling Packers).

12-04-2004, 04:30 PM	#25
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Week 14 Atlanta 7-5 @ Miami (9-3) Miami is another team that really focuses on the run, and they have used one of the best running backs in the NFL to put themselves in a strong position in the AFC. Along with that stellar running game, they have put together a phenomenal defense, that gives up just 13.7 points per game, while allowing just 89 yards rushing per game. Miami is favored by 3 at their home stadium. On our second drive of the game, down 0-7 Leland ran a draw up the middle, broke one tackle and flew down the field 70 yards to the 4 yard line. 2 plays later he scored from 4 yards out. In those two runs he picked up 74 yards and a TD. He finished the game with 36 carries for 108 yards, 1 TD and 1 fumble. What that means is that for the rest of the game, Nixon had 34 carries for 34 yards. Ugh! Fortunately our defense kept us close, and two missed field goals helped us out as well. Going into the 4th quarter we trailed by just 6, 7-13. Early in the period my backup WLB (who because of injuries was thrust into his first career start) came up with his first career interception, and then proceeded to return the pick for a TD. Late in the fourth we intercepted a pass at the Miami 7 yard line. We were able to score two plays later giving us a more comfortable cushion. We upset Miami 21-13. The bad news was our all-pro guard tore his thumb ligament, and may be done for the year. He is listed as doubtful for the next 10 weeks. Week 15 Jonesboro 4-9 @ Atlanta 8-5 This is a game that should be easy for us. We should be able to take care of the Saints without any problem. However, that is what I said earlier this season, and we couldn't get it done. I don't mean to duplicate that mistake. It took a fourth quarter field goal, but we were able to escape with a win, 17-16. Nixon did well as far as yardage goes, averaging 4.1 yards per carry, totaling 104 yards and 1 TD on the day, but he had 3 fumbles, two of them that were recovered by the Saints. Both of those fumbles were inside our own 25 yard line, but fortunately our defense came out strong and held them to just 2 field goals. Our offence also wasn't helped by a QB that could only complete 1/3 of his passes. But all bad play aside, we won the game, and reached our first goal of winning 9 games. Now we just need to hold on to our wild card spot (which by the way we have a one game lead over Seattle, Carolina and the free falling Packers). Week 16 Atlanta (9-5) @ Buffalo (9-5) Buffalo is was a great team, and looked to be a huge threat against us, but they are in the midst of a 2 game losing streak and look like they might be vulnerable. They have an average run defense, and so I am hoping that we can capitalize on this and pull off another win. However, Buffalo sports radio is reporting that the Bills are going to come out fired up because they know that they need to turn things around this week if they hope to get back in the playoff hunt. Buffalo was able to completely shut down Nixon, holding him to just 32 yards on 25 carries. Nixon had another fumble, this one leading to a costly TD. Buffalo wins this one 17-10.

12-08-2004, 02:47 AM	#26
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Week 17 Atlanta 9-6 @ Carolina 9-6 Both of us (along with Green Bay) are fighting for that last elusive Wild Card spot. A win this week is no guarantee that we would get the nod, but a loss means that we go home for the winter. Something happened to the Panther team after we last beat them. At the time this team fell to 2-5, but since then they have gone 7-1, and have frankly been playing like one of the best teams in the league. There are a lot of teams around the league that are hoping we win this one because they do not want to have to face Carolina in the postseason. We absolutely dominated this game. Our defense just manhandled the Panther rushing attack, and even though our secondary was torched for 406 yards, we just always seemed to come up with the big stop or interception. Late in the game, when we let the backups finish the garbage time, Carolina was able to add on two more TDs, but it was far too little too late. Final score 33-21. With that win we slip into the playoffs.

12-10-2004, 03:37 AM	#27
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	Wild Card Round Atlanta 10-6 @ Washington 10-6 We both come into this game with some rather significant injuries on our teams. Washington has made it to the playoffs in spite of some rather interesting stats. They have one of the NFL's worst rushing defenses, and they have one of the NFL's worst passing defenses. One would think this means they have one of the NFL's worst scoring defenses, right? Wrong. They are actually 8th in points allowed. A big reason why is because they are second best in the league at causing turnovers. But if we just make sure that we hold onto the ball we should be able to win this game. We are favored by 4. Our QB had a forgettable day. 3 ints and 2 fumbles spelled our doom, 13-6. For the second season in a row, we are out in the first round of the playoffs. Nixon picked up just 65 yards in the loss. Post Season review Well we accomplished all three of my goals, to win 9 games, make the playoffs, and to pick up 1500 yards rushing for Nixon. Leland actually finished the season with 1709 yards (1st) and 16 TD (1st) on 473 (1st) carries. His average of 3.6 yards per carry was a bit disappointing, but not unexpected. He fumbled the ball a league high 13 times. St. Louis went on with defeat Cleveland in the Super Bowl by a score of 21-20. Atlanta had just one player make the All-pro team, Guard Sammy Delgado. While it may look like this team made no improvement over last year, I know that that is not accurate. This team has come quite a long way, and I think that we will be able to build upon this year's success to make next season's team even better.

12-19-2004, 02:22 AM	#28
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	YEAR 3 I come into this season with a lot of excitement. We greatly improved the team last season, and we are all expecting to build upon the success from last year. My goals this year: Equal last season's 10-6 record Have Leland Nixon run for 1600 yards and 15 TDs Win a playoff game I decide that my staff has done a fine job and none of them need to be replaced. None of my players are worthy of franchising, so I move on the free agency. One of the problems that we have is the salary cap. We will need to make several cuts to make this team fit under the cap while also being able to pick up help in our secondary. The first choice was to release oft injured safety Isaac Whalen. Whalen is a great player and I hate to lose help in my weak secondary, but Isaac spends more time out injured than he does playing. We just can't afford to spend $4,000,000 on a spectator. Next I go ahead and resign restricted free agent Leland Nixon to a 3 year deal that will pay him 3.2 million over the next 3 years. With this I have 6.3 million to sign new free agents. I want to shore up my CB situation, so I focus on a couple of solid man to man CBs. I am hoping that I can save a little money by tweaking my game plan to mostly use man coverage so that I don't have to pay the premium for a well rounded CB. After that I just look around the league and try to fill in various backups, particularly in the LB corps. I am not able to sign any big name free agents, but there just wasn't anyone available that really filled a need. I am all for getting fans excited by bringing in that big name to get the job done, but I will not do so at the expense of the overall team. Instead I sign most of my moderate backups and I get my two new starters at CB. I have a slightly disappointing draft as both my first and second round picks bust in camp, but that is offset by having two breakout DTs that I took in the fourth and fifth rounds. They both look like they could be starters in a year or two. After the draft I make one more free agent acquisition. QB Clay Gearhart joins the team and he should be our starting QB. He knows how to win ball games, accumulating a 10-5 record last season (his first as a starter). However, many other coaches were unimpressed with his overall performance, saying the Bengals were able to win in spite of Clay and not because of him. He will have to greatly improve on his 67.5 QB rating if he wishes to prove his doubters wrong. We head into the preseason with one basic goal: minimize injuries. To this end, I deactivate several of my starters and allow my potential backups to use these games as practice.

12-24-2004, 01:23 AM	#30
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 2 Atlanta 1-0 @ Cleveland 1-0 Cleveland comes limping into this game with 6 starters injured (three are listed as out). The Browns' starting front is in shambles, and hopefully that will add up to big yards for Leland. Even with their terrible line, Nixon was no match for this Brown defense. It seamed like every time he touched the ball he was being stuffed just past the line of scrimmage. He finished the day with 53 yards on 26 carries. A couple of quick interceptions were quickly turned into TDs for the Browns early in the second quarter as the Browns held on to win this one 24-14. At least no one else was injured. WEEK 3 Atlanta 1-1 @ Arizona 0-2 While there is no doubt that the Cardinals have a poor team, they do have some excellent run defenders on their roster. This may be another long day for us. Arizona is favored by 1. Once again, our running game is completely taken out of the game. Nixon couldn't run more than 7 yards on any of his 23 carries, and was held to just 56 overall. Without our running game working we were hopeless all through the first half falling behind 17-0 at half time. In the second half we had no choice but to turn to our new QB Gearhart, and he lit up the Cardinal's secondary. He finally punched in the tying TD on a QB sneak from one yard out with 3:42 left in the game. We would get the ball again with 1:45 left and we were able to move the ball just into our kicker's range. Diaz kicked his NFL record 468th career FG to win the game, 27-24. Again no major injuries occurred in the game.

12-26-2004, 03:00 AM	#31
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 4 Atlanta 2-1 @ Tampa 1-2 We are on the road for the third consecutive week, and this is a key game for both of us. A loss here means we are right in the middle of the pack, just an average team, but with a win we are a .750 team. Tampa on the other hand needs this win to keep themselves in the hunt. If they fall to 1-3 most people will write off their playoff hopes. Tampa is favored by 1. Tampa has some awesome DTs who expect to wreak havoc on our rushing assault. Nixon will have to try to run away from them to pick up his yards. For the third game in a row, Nixon averages just over 2 yards per carry. Nixon's hope of reaching 1600 is looking faint at the moment. Nixon also fumbled the ball on back to back plays. Fortunately, we recovered the ball both times. Once again it took some fourth quarter heroics to erase a 10 point fourth quarter deficit. Nixon was able to salvage some satisfaction out of this game by scoring the game winning TD with under 1 minute left in the game. Final 27-20. A couple of our starters were injured in this game, including our stud LT. He will attempt to play through this injury. Quarter review. Well we have mixed feelings about this teams' performance at the quarter point of the season. Nixon's average of 2.7 yards is lowest among all RBs. He is only on pace to barely break the 1000 yard mark. For a team so completely focused on running the ball, our 107.2 yards per game average is just pathetic. Our passing game is just below average. Our running defense has gone from one of the best in the NFL to being just average. The only place where we really stand out is our third down defense, which is tops in the league. And yet, in spite of all this, our new QB has been finding a way for us to win. Even with our poor offensive stats, we are 5th in scoring. Go figure.

12-30-2004, 02:03 AM	#32
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 5 Carolina 1-3 @ Atlanta 3-1 We return home as heavy favorites against the Panthers. Carolina has a RB that is worse than Nixon. Their QB is excellent at deep passes, but terrible at everything else. The only two starting defenders that have a decent run defense rating are the SS and their LCB. This would be a great game for Nixon to change his fortunes this season. Nixon was able to have that breakout game that we were hoping he would have. He earned MVP honors by running for 167 yards and one TD in 33 attempts. He also had 3 receptions for 37 more yards and his first career receiving TD. Our defense was able to shut down the paltry Panther offence as we won this game 21-3. On the down side, five starters were injured in the victory. Our LT reinjured himself and he will now have to sit for the next few weeks. WEEK 6 Minnesota 3-2 @ Atlanta 4-1 We are 1 TD favorites against the Vikings. History is on our side in this game as we have a better winning % against Minnesota than we do against any other team. The Vikings RB looks like he should be a star, but he has frankly just done terribly this season. They also have a bad running defense that gives up 4.2 yards per carry, and the worst passing defense in the league. Minnesota jumped out to a quick lead thanks to an interception that was returned for a TD. But that was about the only good play that they made for the rest of the day. Nixon ran roughshod over the Vikings earning himself another MVP with 150 yards rushing and 2 TDs. WEEK 7 Atlanta 5-1 @ Green Bay 4-2 We come to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, and it is frozen today. With temperatures dipping into the 20s this could be a difficult game for us today. Green Bay is favored by 4 Nixon just couldn't handle the cold, only picking up 67 yards on 24 carries. The real hurt though came from the poor play of our QB. On this cold windy day, he just couldn't get anything going and ended up with 4 interceptions on the day. We fall 24-10. WEEK 8 Detroit 1-5 @ Atlanta 5-2 Detroit is a young and up and coming team. There are a lot of green bars on this roster and I expect that they will be a force to recon with in coming seasons... but right now they are just another bug to be squashed. We were able to jump out to a quick lead and cruise from there, 33-10. Nixon had a fair day with 124 yards and a TD on 34 carries. I should also point out that for the first time since week one, we were able to intercept a pass (actually two). I have worked really hard to try shore up my secondary and it is frustrating that it has not been paying off for us. Mid Season review We are half way through the year and by and large I am pleased with our progress on the field. Our 6-2 record gives us a 1.5 game lead in the division over Tampa, and we are tied for the best record in the NFL. The question though is that we have so far only played 3 teams with winning records this year, and we lost to 2 of them. The question is: can we win against the good teams? Our rushing is 6th in the NFL, while passing is 27th. In scoring we are 7th in the league with 23.2. Our defense has done excellent against the run, but is quite porous against the pass (25th in the league). But they step up big on third downs (2nd), and they don't give up many points (4th best in the NFL). Our turnover margin is a respectable +3. Nixon is the League's 2nd leading rusher with 788 yards and he is 2nd in TDs with 6. His yards-per-carry though is just 3.5, less than it has been during either of the previous two seasons.

12-30-2004, 03:41 AM	#35
Godzilla Blitz College Starter Join Date: Oct 2000	I just read through this as well. Interesting idea. Looking forward to seeing how everything turns out.

12-30-2004, 12:02 PM	#36
nfg22 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Mar 2004	I have been following along all the time great story...I love when dynasties focus on one player.

01-02-2005, 11:24 AM	#37
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 9 Atlanta 6-2 @ Chicago 4-2-1 We travel to Chicago, and this is a game that we should be able to win. This was going to be a huge game for Perry Bernardino, Chicago's star QB. Bernardino is the QB that I traded away at the start of my second season with the Falcons, and this was to be his first game against his old team. Bernardino added instant credibility to the Bears and turned them from the worst team in the league into an 8-8 team last year. He got the Bears off to 3-0-1 start this season, but he then suffered a season ending MCL injury. Without their star QB the Bear have been in freefall. They now have one of the worst starting QBs in the league. Other than a solid LB corps, this team really has no strengths. Well this game was no contest. We capitalized on a fumble and an interception to jump out to a quick 14 point first quarter lead. From there we basically just put the game in cruise control rolled to a 30-0 victory. This was a huge game for our defense as they not only forced the shutout, but they forced 6 turnovers and 4 sacks. The MVP mysteriously went to Leland Nixon. He did score with two 3 yard TD runs, but he finished the game with just 59 yards rushing in 28 attempts. WEEK 10 Atlanta 7-2 @ Jonesboro Saints 2-7 The Saints have been looking like the ain'ts lately. There is little positive that I can find to say about Joneboro, so I will leave it at we are heavy favorites as we come into this one. This game was much closer than it should have been. Going into the fourth quarter we were down 6-3. Fortunately we were able to turn it on in the final period and put up 2 TDs to win 17-9. Nixon Scored 1 TD and had 86 yards on 29 carries. WEEK 11 BYE We take this opportunity to rest a few minor injuries. After the off week we have only one player that is currently injured, and he is Questionable and should still play next week. WEEK 12 Atlanta 8-2 @ Pittsburgh 4-7 The Stealers are not a team that strikes fear in anyone's heart. While they do have a great RB, he is underutilized, leaving them to rely on the pass, and Pittsburgh has one of the worst passing games in the NFL. On defense they have an average rushing defense and are in the bottom 10 in scoring defense. Even though this game will be on the road, there is no reason why we shouldn't take this one. Pittsburgh was simply outclassed in this game. We excelled in our passing game, our running game and on defense. Nixon was able to run for 130 yards and 3 TDs in the game as we humiliate the Stealers 35-3. We suffered on more injury, as our starting CB Ellison was injured again. He has been hurt a lot lately and this off season we will have to evaluate if he is worth keeping around. WEEK 13 NY 4-6-1 @ Atlanta 9-2 The Giants are just playing for pride at this point. No one really believes that this team has what it takes to make it anywhere this year. They have not won a game in the past four weeks, and no one sees that trend changing soon. The Giant's have had an average running game and a poor passing offence. If we can keep their RBs in check we should be able to do well. NY has one of the five worst run defenses in the NFL, so we are hopeful that Nixon will be able to add to his stats. This was one of those games that just makes you sick. Nixon was being a true work horse, running for 184 yards and 3 TDs on 48 carries (48 carries was a new single game record by the way). We were rolling, leading 29-10 with under 4 minutes to play. And then it happened. One of the worst collapse in the history of the league. It sickens me to think about, so let me just say that 4:00 later the Giants had managed to score a TD, recover the onside kick, quickly score another TD, recover another onside kick, and then score the game winner with 5 seconds remaining. Final score 32-29 Giants. In addition, my all pro DE is now out for the year with a torn Patellar Tendon, while my new starting CB is also injured and may have to miss some time. This was a game to forget. 3/4 SEASON REVIEW As you may recall, my preseason goals were: Equal last season's 10-6 record Have Leland Nixon run for 1600 yards and 15 TDs Win a playoff game Well we need just one more win to reach 10 wins, I am very hopeful that we will far surpass that goal. Nixon already had 15 TDs, and he currently has 1247 yards rushing, so he is well on his way to reaching the 1600 yard mark. The team is sitting comfortably at 9-3 with a 2 game lead over Tampa. If we win out, then we will have a first round by, and possibly home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Looking at the power ratings, we are currently the #2 team in the NFC (if we had just found a way to win that game against NY I know that we would be #1, you can tell that loss is still bugging me.) One more stat that I feel is important to point out. Leland has had just 2 fumbles all season. One of Nixon's biggest knocks is that he can't hang onto the ball, but this year he is putting that belief in doubt.

01-04-2005, 03:09 AM	#38
stkelly52 College Benchwarmer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Seattle WA	WEEK 14 Cincinnati 3-9 @ Atlanta 9-3 In spite of having a few injuries slowing us down, this is a team that we should beat. (Isn't that what I said last time?) The Bengals are far more beat up than we are. The one thing that will hurt us is that they have a very good rushing defense. It has been the only positive thing about Cincy this year. So they are hoping to hold Nixon in check and sneak away with another victory. This is a huge game for our QB Clay Gearhart as it is his first game against his former team. He felt like he was slighted the way the he was cast aside from the Bengals and he wants to prove to them that it was a mistake The Bengals' plan worked to perfection. They limited Nixon to just 55 yards on 19 carries. And of course, since I was talking about what a good job Nixon was doing holding onto the ball, Nixon commits his 3rd fumble of the season. In the past when Nixon has had a bad game, we have been able to get through it thanks to the help of our QB. This week Gearhart was sacked hard early in the second quarter knocking him out for the game. We then lost our best WR. We had no one to turn to and lost the game 27-19. Our QB and WR will miss at least the next couple of games. This could really hurt. WEEK 15 Atlanta 9-4 @ Carolina 4-9 We come into week 15 with a one game lead over Tampa Bay. A win will basically sew up a play off birth for us. Carolina is a great passing game, and they will test my secondary. However the panthers have some real problems on defense. They have been hit hard by injuries. They have only two defensive starters that are listed as good or better, and both of them are in the secondary. If our defense can do its job, Nixon and company should be alright. This game was very exciting if you didn't have a vested interest in who won. Carolina jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first half, but we refused to give up. Nixon ran very well through the third and fourth quarter. He wasn't able to put the ball in the end zone, but his teammates were, once late in the second quarter, and once with just over 2:00 left in the game to tie the score at 20 each. Thanks to a great kick off return and some solid running by Nixon, Atlanta was able to move the ball to the 25 yard line. With two seconds left on the clock we called a time out and sent out the NFL's all time leading kicker to win the game. The kick sailed true and we won the game 23-20. Nixon was named MVP based on his 25 carries for 127 yards. What an exciting comeback victory! With this win we reach my preseason goal of 10 wins.