A wing and a prayer (an HC09 Falcons Dynasty)

[Skarecrow]

Week 2 at Tampa Bay

The game starts with Tampa’s running squad embarrassing the Falcons D. Nearly every run is for a 5-8 yard gain. Finally the Falcons put up some resistance, stopping the Buccs at the 32. A couple of punts later, and Tampa has the ball back. This time their running game just punks my boys with the TB running back pushing defenders 50 or 100 lbs heavier out of his way. It is a humiliating sight. An L. Lloyd interception at the 9 yard line saves a TB touchdown.

2nd quarter
A couple of good McFadden runs set up some play action passes by Woodson to Jackson and White, culminating in a reception by Jackson in Tampa’s end zone for a Falcons TD! 7-0 Atlanta. After a brief celebration, I’m sure that the Atlanta fans at home watching on TV must be cringing to see the Buccs charge down the field to some middling Falcons defense, only to be saved once again by an E. Wilson interception in the end zone for a touchback. Woodson short passes his way down the field only to throw his first NFL interception at the TB 32yard line. A couple of punts later, and the Buccs finally push their way into the Atlanta end zone. Tie game 7-7. Falcons manage to make it back downfield in 52 seconds, but don’t get the 52yard field goal (SO close though). Still 7-7 game.

3rd quarter
The Tampa Bay run defense is holding McFadden back, and their pass defense is pretty rough too, picking off Woodson again. This quickly leads to a Tampa Bay touchdown. 14-7 TB. LOLB G. Hayes is out for the game with a leg injury. What’s with my OLB corps getting injured so much? I think I need more depth at that position (I thought 5 was enough!) McFadden is playing his heart out, busting through defenders left and right, but penalties make his play worthless. Fantastic focus guys. Nothing more of real interest happens in the 3rd.

4th quarter
Atlanta pushes their way as far as the TB 4yard line, but fails to do anything of note once they get there (aside from commit penalties of course), and turn it over on downs after Coach Swanson makes a bold 4th down attempt at the touchdown. A couple of punts later and nothing of note except DT Lewis is out for the game with a leg injury. McFadden gets in a few good runs, but not enough to score and the game ends 14-7 Tampa Bay.

Bad game for Woodson, with only 1 TD and 2 interceptions for 183 yards.

McFadden made 120 yards in 29 attempts, still respectable, but not game-breaking like against the lions

Not much really else of note except Jackson averaged 21.3 yards receiving.

Lots of people pissed off that I lost that, it was a rivalry game.

Ronald delivered me some cheeseburgers along with the news that DT T. Lewis is out for 3-7 weeks with a strained hamstring. Fantastic, that’s another starter down for half the season.

We’ve fallen to 3rd in the NFC south, and 16th in the NFL.

[edward_1385]

Pretty good dynasty, McFadden is a monster, but work him extermley hard then he has a great chance of getting injured... RG- Andrew Crummy is a total bust because of his extermley low injury rating doesn't allow him to ever truly reach his potential... (u may use him as a long snapper, that is what I usally do with really low, oft injured, devolpmental type lineman)

Also, Barry Redd and Geno Hayes are somewhat injury prone players (Jermichael Finley too)... Btw, good running output against the Lions and not to shabby against the Buccs, but remeber they both do run the Cover 2 which is very easy to run against... Also, one more thing to mention FS- Eugene Wilson is a god during ur first years with almost any team, recommendation for everyone to get him their first year, he will be a great player for his 5 year careers...

P.s. I'll be following...

[JMSHHT]

That's a tough loss, I though you had it at the half with the 2 INTs. But, you are playing against the Bucs, which is one of the best teams in this game in the first few years. So good job there!

I never had Woodson before, but from his POT I think he'll be great. The reason that he's not performing well could be that he doesn't know the playbook or his AWR rating is still too low. This is the biggest problem of all the QB sleepers, their AWR start as low as the 40s and you'll have to overcome a long and painful process of developing it into their max potential in the 90s.

[Skarecrow]

Thanks for the heads up on A. Crummey Edward. He's back in a few weeks, and if he gets injured again this season, I think I'll cut him based on your info there. Speaking of Geno Hayes, he shows up in tonight's updates.

It sounds like you're spot on. I've been running the hell out of McFadden because I have very little other option. it's pretty much either that or woodson -> Jackson, and McFadden is a lot more reliable. after 4 games he's at 99% health and 99% fatigue, so here's to hoping.

JMMSHT, If you thought the Buccs were a tough loss, wait until you read tonight's updates.

I can see the potential in Woodson, even now at only rating 77, but I'm not sure I can wait him out. No way I'm cutting him, but if I've got a good shot at one of the big 3 QBs in the draft, it'll be hard not to take one. Of course, Andre is gaining experience rather quickly. If he's in the mid 80s by the end of the season, I may stick with him as starter.

By the way, here are the sliders you were asking about:

QB accuracy 25, pass blocking 38, WR catching 32, RB ability 80, run blocking 60, defense awareness 30, knock downs 85, interceptions 31, break block 30, tackling 38, FG power 43, FG accuracy 40, punt power 90, punt accuracy 75, kickoff power 10

[Skarecrow]

Week 3 vs Kansas City Chiefs

Injured:
LOLB B. Redd 1-4 weeks (broken wrist)
DT T.Lewis 2-5 weeks (strained hamstring)
RG A. Crummey 2-5 weeks (separated shoulder)

KC does nothing with their initial possession, and McFadden starts off for us with a 15 yard run. J. Finley drops a perfectly good pass, but we get down the field anyway. I’m getting a lot of comments from my O coordinator complaining that the players don’t know the plays. Uh, I’m pretty sure that’s your fault dude. J Finley drops another great pass… come on man, this is your job here. McFadden has another great 15 yard run which is promptly invalidated by a holding penalty. Even down 21 yards, Woodson, Jackson, and McFadden somehow manage to carry the rest of the short bus crew to a TD! 7-0 Atlanta! Once again, I’m thinking that it looks like the D is getting the hang of the playbook. Well, sort of. We’re getting good penetration on the QB, but he’s still getting those passes off. Of course, it doesn’t matter when we do the opponent’s job for them with needless penalties. LE Bobby Hamilton is out for the game. That was quick. Nice Interception by K Hamlin though on the ATL 25 to hold off the KC TD. Our drive down the field is hallmarked by McFadden finding 4-5 yards nearly every time he touches the ball, and ALWAYS getting us the first down when we need it. If this guy had better run blocking in front of him, this O would be seriously scary. On the other hand, when he gets injured, we’re going to be up a certain creek with paddle, because he’s all we’ve got. The first quarter ends with my backup TE Milner getting injured, and of course he’s out for the game now, I guess he figures that since McFadden, Woodson, and Jackson are doing all the work, he doesn’t need to even play.

To start the 2nd, We’re on the KC 10 yard line, in prime scoring position, so it’s high time for somebody on the team to commit a penalty, and they do. 2nd & 20. 3rd & 24. Serna makes the FG. 10-0 Atlanta. KC runs the kickoff back for a TD through a massive pile of Atlanta failure. 10-7 Atlanta. Apparently the Atlanta Offense is trying for some sort of penalty record, committing yet another, which gives the ball right back to KC because none of my guys seem to know how to run the plays we need to run to recover from this mess. The Defense is another story, they know how to run the plays, they are in position to make the plays, but they just fail at executing. There is NO reason for one of my defenders to jump on the back of a receiver and then be thrown off like the loser of a judo match. My defense at this point apparently decides that they want to be competitive with the offense, and start committing some penalties of their own. Apparently since we can’t be competitive at, you know, football… we’re going to have a penalty competition! Yeah, I know we’re ahead at this point, but if you saw this game you’d wonder if my team understood this is a game that has rules, and when these rules are broken we lose. Meanwhile, KC makes it into our endzone again for another TD. 14-10 Chiefs. Oh, by the way, I’ve got another DT out, N. Arden is out for the game. This keeps up much longer, and I won’t actually have a team by week 4 or 5. The 2 minute warning goes off with us on our own 41. We do something vaguely resembling a hustle, that involves Woodson getting sacked, but we get to the KC 2 yard line anyway. Woodson passes (!?) to… oh no, it’s Finley… but he catches! TD Atlanta! Finley does this weird slide move that looks like it’d pull a groin muscle, but I don’t care. 53 seconds left in the half and it’s 17-14 Falcons. KC reminds us that we haven’t committed a penalty in a few minutes, so we’re forced to oblige and that’s enough to get them the first down. Our backs and safeties keep the ball out of receivers hands… except on 3rd down when it matters, and KC uses their last timeout with 21 seconds on the ATL 44. KC gets to the 16 yard line but it’s not enough and time runs out on a beautiful drive on their part. Lucky us.

3rd quarter starts with us getting the ball back, and since it’s been a whole halftime since we committed a penalty, we manage to commit one on the KICKOFF!?! Argh. It looks like the Chiefs finally have McFadden’s number, and we go nowhere. KC ball…. And of course a penalty, but it’s by them! Wow. I didn’t even know that my team could allow other teams to commit penalties, considering the way this game has been going. It’s ok though, as our linebacker penetrates the offensive line yet fails to stop the KC RB from getting the 1st down anyway. I just can’t help but think that these guys ARE trying, but the bad coaching is dragging them down. They don’t know how to execute when they get to the right place. Perhaps you’ve noticed that I’ve written 3 sentences without a penalty by our guys. They noticed too. Yeah you can guess what happened. If I could send these guys to bed without dessert, I would. This is insane. McFadden does manage to get free for a good run to get us into the redzone, but his bad hands are back and he fumbles the next play. KC recovers. Two plays later though is another Ken Hamlin pickoff! Ball is back in the Atlanta offense’s hands. I’m still amazed after watching 3 games now with McFadden. He seems to have this 6th sense for where defenders will be coming from. He doesn’t always avoid them, but you can see him trying to do so. That’s more than I could ever say for Felix Jones who would run headfirst into a defender and fall on the ground. Also, this McFadden praise isn’t to say the Woodson-Jackson connection isn’t doing it’s part as well. If only the rest of the team was as solid as these guys… oh wait, never mind, McFadden fumbles again. Dammit, I’ve got to stop saying nice things about these guys. See what happens when I do? The 3rd quarter ends with no scoring yet I managed to write a book about it anyway. Still 17-14 Atlanta.

KC tries to convert it on 4th but CB Patrick Lee comes out of nowhere to swat down the pass. Nice time to show up. McFadden gets us a first down so somebody thought it would be a good idea to false start. Back we go. McFadden grinds the first down out anyway. He fumbles AGAIN at the 1 yard line on the next play, but our FB recovers and gets it over the goal line for a TD! Whew that was close. Oh GD it. KC challenges the play and it’s overturned. No TD. 1st and goal. At least it’s not KC ball. Of course, with 1 yard to go, we fail and have to kick a FG. EVERYBODY (Media, Fans, owner, etc) thinks I’m an idiot for choosing that instead of going for it on 4th down. WTF, are they watching the same game I’m watching? We just got pushed back on every down. My approval rating is down to 55. 20-14 Falcons by the way. 6 minutes on the clock. We get a nice sack on 4th down and they actually punt it instead of going for it, to put us on our own 2 yard line. Wow. McFadden guts it to get us a 1st down but, oh, wait, penalty time. Also, McFadden isn’t getting up off the ground, this is worrisome. Next play his backup Norwood is in. He’s not a bad player in his own right, but he can’t truck like McFadden. I learn that McFadden is only out a few plays just in time to punt it away right at the 2 minute warning, which of course means that KC gets “hurry up god mode”. *crap* I’d like to mention at this point that I am sick and tired of our D getting the initial hit 5 yards behind the first down line but the receiver getting across it anyway. It’s the same thing I keep complaining about. They’re in the right place to make the big plays, but they simply choke. KC completes passes when they have to, and an Atlanta TD pushes them up 21-20 with 51 seconds left on the clock. We’re on our own 36 with 46 seconds left. We start a good drive upfield, but Woodson throws an interception, and that’s the F’n game. GD it that was a heartbreaker of a game. 21-20 loss to KC.

I just don’t know. Maybe I should have gone for that touchdown on 4th and goal, but the KC D was just destroying us there. We were actually going backwards every play. In retrospect, it couldn’t have hurt to try I suppose, but the FG seemed like the right idea at the time to force KC to get a TD to pull ahead, especially after the missed 4th down attempt last game.

Woodson was actually rated 99.3 that game after 2 TDs and 177 yards with 1 interception. I would have rated it as a so-so game for him before the Murphy’s law interception on the last drive in the 4th. I really want to see him reach his potential and lead this franchise for the next decade or so, but as it is, soft spot or no, and good progress or no, I still very well may be looking at English, James, or Morrow next spring. We’ll see how Andre does the rest of the season.

McFadden was 175 yards in 40 attempts with 2 fumbles.
J. Norwood was a joke. My running game is a one trick pony named Darren.

Jackson and White did put up almost 160 yards of receiving between them, between all those McFadden runs, that I haven’t mentioned. The team does have its bright points.

Defense allowed 213 passing yards and 70 rushing yards, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. If you actually saw them play, you’d be amazed it was that little. I’m not happy with this, but these are men of only average talent, for the most part anyway. I think the real failure is the coaches and I’m annoyed I have to wait 13 more weeks to fire these imbeciles.

I’m glad there is no display for penalties that I’m aware of, because I’m sure it’d be absurd. This game easily could have gone a different way without all of those penalties.

My approval rating is down to 20. The fans are ditching me. The media is ditching me. My owner is PISSED. This isn’t my fault! What did they expect out of this squad? It’s going to be a miracle if I don’t get fired at the end of the season.

Don Ross Magoo shows up to let me know that LE B. Hamilton is out 4-9 weeks.

We’re now last in the NFC south and 20th overall in the league.

[Skarecrow]

Week 4 at Carolina
Injured:
LOLB B. Redd
DT T.Lewis
RG A. Crummey
TE M. Milner
LE B. Hamilton

Carolina is right ahead of us in the NFC south. If we can win this, we may be able to turn this sinking ship around… or at least bail some of the water out.

Speaking of water, it’s raining in Carolina. Anybody want to place bets on how many of my guys get injured playing in the mud?

Carolina starts with the ball, but is forced to punt from midfield. We don’t do any better, except we’re kind enough to give them the ball back without a punt via a Woodson interception. He’s starting that early today. The Panthers turn it into a TD without much trouble. I’ll save you a lot of the following punts and penalties, but suffice to say that Carolina’s run defense is wicked strong. We resort to passing a lot, and that’s dangerous and inconsistent. Our last drive of the quarter, we are stopped at the Carolina 29 and make a FG to put it 7-3 Carolina at the end of the 1st quarter.

2nd quarter starts with a very strong drive for Carolina, and I’m really getting tired of that damn growl sound they play over the loudspeakers every time the panthers get a first down… because that happens a lot. I don’t know what my defense is doing, but I don’t think its football. E. Wilson alone steps in to stop the TD and forces a FG to make it 10-3 Carolina and keep the game within scoring distance, but that’s going to rely on my O, and they’re not having a hot game. Thanks to a penalty favoring us for once, a 4th down conversion, and standard heroic play from McFadden, we manage to get it into the Carolina end zone for the first time. Tie game 10-10 with 3:04 left in the half. Can I mention again how much I hate that panther first down screech? At the 2 minute warning, Carolina is on their own 46. We hold them to it and they punt it away. We can’t do anything with it… except commit a penalty! We punt it away and they start running it upfield. They call a timeout with 1 second left on the clock at their own 43 yard line. I guess they’re optimistic? Carolina’s QB throws a pass out of bounds to end the hal… INTERCEPTION!! CB Patrick Lee intercepts the ball and runs it in for a touchdown! The half ends 17-10 Atlanta. I really want to be optimistic here, but we’ve blown it in the 2nd half the past two games, so I’m going to try and keep it under control.

3rd quarter gives us the ball back to start. Nice pass to Jackson under coverage for 30 yards. Nice running by McFadden through defenders for the first down. Nice sack by the Carolina defense on Andre forcing a fumble that they recover. I challenge it and it’s overturned, but it’s still 3rd and 14 and we can’t make the first down. We’re not close enough for the FG, so Keely punts it to their 12 yard line. Nice. Well, it looked nice, but in the end it doesn’t matter much as they get it right out of the danger zone. Time and time again my D is functional, if not impressive, on 1st and 2nd downs, but they let the 3rd down conversion through way too much. Sleepy Bayless is now also out for the game. Dammit. The name is dumb, but he’s one of the more talented guys I’ve got on this side of the ball. Atlanta gets into the end zone to tie it up 17-17. I have to say that it was a nice drive on their part and a steaming pile of fail on our part. In more good news, TE Kyle Brady is out for the game. The ball is back to Carolina... who promply throw another interception, this time to J Anderson, who runs it in for another defensive TD! 24-17 Falcons. We get the ball back and the 3rd quarter ends.

4th quarter is 3 plays of crap, a penalty, another play of crap, and we give it right back. Nice punt and a penalty put it on their 10 yard line, but last time they started there they drove it to a TD. They’re up to 150 rushing yards, and my D is happy that I’m yelling at them about it. That’s kinda masochistic, don’t you think? With 8:54 left in the game, they’ve pushed to our half of the field, and we show no signs of being able to stop them. I see another TD coming. Oh, J Anderson is out for the game now too. Remember what I said last update about having no team by week 5? ALSO GOD I HATE THAT FIRST DOWN ROAR, please smite my eardrums. I’m swear I’m super-simming the next Carolina game so I don’t have to put up with that sound. Anyway, we manage a huge titanic-crushing iceberg level of fail as we have TWO defenders touch their runner and fail to stop him as he runs it 30 yards for a TD. Tie game 24-24. Next drive Andre throws an interception and FIVE falcons fail to stop their back, who runs it in to push Carolina up 31-24. Ok, five and a half minutes to go, we’re under the gun here, we need to focu… what’s that? A false start penalty? Of course! Even so, Andre and McFadden put together a nice pass-run-pass-run pattern to get us up the field anyway, but we’re stopped on the 22nd. We miss a short field goal because god hates us. Still 31-24 with 3:07 left on the clock and the ball in Carolina hands. They can’t do much but stall, and we get it back at the 2 minute warning. Passing and running gets us a bit of yardage, but we stall just past midfield. McFadden gets us a defining moment 4th down conversion to their 32. There are 58 seconds left. Woodson connects a long pass to Jackson on the Carolina 8. 45 seconds left. Woodson… fakes a spike? What the hell was that? Incomplete pass stops the clock at 27 seconds, still on the Carolina 8. Failed run by McFadden and I call a timeout at 16 seconds. This is it. Clutch time. Incomplete pass and it’s 4th and goal with 12 seconds left. Andre throws a short pass and HORN CATCHS IT. TOUCHDOWN! Tied up 31-31 to go into OT

OT
Carolina starts at their own 30. They can’t make it past the 38 and punt. We start at our own 24. McFadden gets us the first down, we’re on the 35. The OC is calling the right plays, but we don’t know them. We respond by committing penalties and throwing the ball to the cheerleaders. I call the punt on 4th down. I might point out I lost approval rating on that, even though punting is clearly the right option at 4th and 16 on own 29. Carolina pushes to the 50. Then our 37. We’re in big danger here. Big. They’re to our 31. We push them back to the 34. Oh crap they’re going for the FG. MISS! We get it back on our 41. Give the ball to McFadden! First down by McFadden. We’re to their 49. Their 41. Their 36. Another first down. Just don’t drop that ball Darren!! Their 31! Their 15 for another first down!! Kicker is on the field and we’re going for the FG. It’s good! It’s good! 34-31 Falcons victory in OT!

Woodson had a rating of 34.6. 1 td. 2 interceptions. 157 yards.
McFadden had 42 attempts for 200 yards and only 1 TD, but he’s got to be credited with the win today. Without him it simply wouldn’t have happened. Period.

I’m also watching Patrick Lee. I had him for 2 seasons on my Steelers team, and he played well above his rating the whole time. I havn’t seen that from him on the falcons here until tonight. He may keep a permanent spot, rating be damned.

My approval is up to 67. Maybe I keep my job? We’ll see.

TE Kyle Brady is out 1-4 weeks with a pulled hamstring.

Just in case you’re interested about my high profile rookies development, after 4 games, HB McFadden is now overall 90 out of 97 pot (pot of course based on my team philosophies), QB Andre Woodson is 77 out of 92, WR DeSean Jackson is 82 out of 90, TE Jermichael Finley is 70 out of 88, CB Patrick Lee is 80 out of 87, K Alexis Serna is 79 out of 86, LT Sam Baker is 83 out of 86, ROLB Sleepy Bayless is 77 out of 85, P Brian Keeley is 70 out of 84, and RG Andrew Crummey is dead.

This week’s win put us back up to 3rd in the NFC south, and 15th overall. We’re tied 2-2 with the Panthers and one game behind the Saints and the Buccs who are 3-1 each.

ROLB Geno Hayes hurt himself in practice leading up to our week 6 game because it seemed like the thing to do. Yes, that puts me at 3 OLBs injured out of 5 total. Worse news… My trainer tried pouring Big Mac special sauce on Geno’s torn quad, and now he’s out for the season. I put him on IR and it’s time to go shopping for any OLB in a storm.

I pick up 22 year old (maybe he has some upside?) ROLB Akeem Jordan, overall 72, for a 1 year contract for 360k.

Also it looks like Sleepy is back for this next week’s game, so that’s a plus.

[edward_1385]

Man what a heart breaker against KC Cheifs, but great OT win against the Panthers... Ur team will be hampered with injurys, any kind of trainer in the first year at 14 and under will pretty much have at least 5-9 or more injuries at season end...

Btw, I am surprised to see McFadden still being healthy, once he progress to his potential then his injury rating will max out around the 90's, I have used him before in my Ravens career and he replaced McGahee after he went down in the 3rd preseason game for the whole season (shredded everything in his knee)... McFadden carried me a little bit past the halfway mark with a few injurys before he wound up tearing his ACL and also became out for the year... Had to use Carl Stewart and Leron McClain to finish out the season...

Also, btw what is McFadden's stats so far this season??? Seems like he has a great chance to win ROY and maybe even MVP...

[JMSHHT]

Just a heartbreaker at KC, but great OT win against the Panthers. Btw I hate that panther roar too. Don't know how BrownsBucksFanNC can put up with it in his Panthers career.

And, McFedden definately looks like a MVP right now. As long as he doesn't get injured he will be a beast.