A wing and a prayer (an HC09 Falcons Dynasty)

[Skarecrow]

Off season

I signed TE A. Gates to a pretty damn beefy 38 mil 5 year contract with a 6mil signing bonus, but this means I can finally thumb my nose at yet another J Finely injury.

I really need a good RE, and I won bidding rights on RE Kyle Vanden Bosch, but man he was a dick in negotiations. I couldn’t talk him down at all, and ended up paying him 25m over 3 years with incentives AND a 10m signing bonus. There are no REs of his caliber in this year’s draft, so I took him and I may regret it. That’s 10m+ a year right there.

Draft Day! My favorite day of the year. Let's see what presents we unwrap!

1. MLB Dexter Foley (LSU)
2. CB L.J. Clark (Auburn)

Foley was supposed to go late 1st, early 2nd, but he was already on everybody’s list as early as 1st pick. He was nearing the top 10 by my pick, and nobody would trade me anything earlier than 21st, so I just took the pick.

Clark was to be my 4th round pick, but CBs are HOT this year. He was already 2nd CB from the top by my pick, so I took him now. Hopefully my ROLB, who I was going to pick 2nd, will fall to the 3rd round, cause I need OLBs.

Day 2

My ROLB was picked 4 spots before my 3rd round pick, and nobody offered to trade down. DAMN I hate when that happens.

3. CB Ricardo Montgomery (Michigan St.)
4. LG Jermane Hilton (Georgia)

Picking up Ricardo Montgomery puts me one “starting” CB heavy. Not sure what I want to do about that. Maybe I'll trade Lee, or keep him as a backup, or move one of them to SS if I can't get one.

Jermane was too good to pass up, even though LG isn’t a “need” position. Nothing wrong with having depth at my important positions.

Long drought now until the 6th round.

6. LE Devin Bronson (UNLV)
6. SS P. Craig (Illinois)
6. traded for Colts 2011 6th and 7th round picks
7. K Rusty Tucker (Akron)

Undrafted Rookies:
1. FS D. Beck (Fairfield)
2. WR C. Butler (Stanford)
3. HB D. Plumlee (Texas A&M)
4. ROLB C. Potter (Cal-Sacrmnto)
5. MLB J. Cross (VMI)

I believe every single one of those undrafted rookies is going to be 85 pot or higher. We'll see how well I did once pre-season starts, but we're only lacking killer players in a small handful of positions now. Along with our new west coast offensive strategy, I'm wondering if we are finally playoff bound this season?

I took a look at our schedule for next season, and it looks pretty rough. We'll have to really up our game from this past year.

[Skarecrow]

Quote: Originally Posted by justincase

Great season! I look forrward to eharing about your playoff march next year. Early prediction in 12-4 and you get to atleast the Conference Championship. So what are you going to focus on in free agency and the draft?

I didn't have any real plan. I like to build the team by eliminating any weak links, rather than trying to emphasize any particular strength, as some coaches do. I try and plug up any holes or take care of any potential future problems (like a key player who may retire in a year or so) asap. Basically, I try and keep roster drama to a minimum. heh.

I ran through what the game considered my "needs", compared to what I actually think we need, and developed a list of position targets. I then took a look at who was available in the draft, where I thought they'd go, etc.

As it turns out, I believe I focused on my D big time this draft, but that's only because most of my O is pretty strong already. Given only an average number of picks, and the fact that this is only a semi-strong draft class (say, compared to last year's), I think I did pretty damn well. Time will tell though.

12-4 is not out of the question, but I think it may be a bit optimistic. I think we could do 9-7 or 10-6 to have a shot at the playoffs. My coaches need more development before the dominating seasons start happening I think.

[justincase]

My guess is the DE Devin Bronson (UNLV) is you sleeper pick of the year.

[Skarecrow]

Quote: Originally Posted by justincase

My guess is the DE Devin Bronson (UNLV) is you sleeper pick of the year.

Going to depend entirely on how fast he develops. I think he'll be a cornerstone of the team in 3-5 years, but I expect he'll take some development time. Most of my picks this year are not truly "starter ready", but a lot of them will start anyway because the old guys they are replacing get hurt too easily.

[Skarecrow]

After all is said and done in the draft, I’ve got a 84 rating. I was as high as 91 at one point based on pick-the-pick, etc, but the GM and Staff didn’t any of my late-round picks. This just goes to show why I am the one drafting, not them. Idiots.

I put players from some of the spots I now have a lot of depth up on the trade block, just to see what I could get for them. Mostly nothing, but the Chargers offered me a 2011 2nd round pick and 2011 5th round pick for MLB K. Brooking. I just drafted two MLBs, and while I’d like to have some more depth at that position, that’s Chargers offer is just too good an offer to pass up. Brooking is 31 and may not have many more seasons left in him. This does mean both of my MLB recruits need to be every inch as good as they are supposed to be, because both will be starting. Unfortunatly for my owner’s daughter, this means her boyfriend just moved cross country. Maybe she’ll be interested in one of my new MLBs.

Signed:
CB R. Montgomery (1.74m / 3yrs, $0 bonus, two 1m incentives for 16 game starts and 5 interceptions)
SS P. Craig (850k / 3 yrs, $0 bonus, no incentives)
K R. Tucker (840k / 2yrs, $0 bonus, no incentives)


Walked out:
CB L.G. Clark
D. Bronson

My GM wants me to trade away RE John Abraham and LG Justin Blalock. I can’t get even a 2nd round pick from either of the teams interested in Blalock, and I think he’s worth it. I’m happy to keep him on the roster anyway. I’d be happy to trade John Abraham for peanuts, but nobody wants him.

DT Trey Lewis injures himself in the first practice of the year. ****, I forgot he does that. Maybe I should have drafted a DT.

Ran out of time Negotiating woth MLB D. Foley, but we’re very close.

L.G. Clark is still a dick. Walked out even after I upped my offer.

Signed LG J. Hilton (1.97M / 3 yrs, $0 bonus, no incentives)
Signed LE D. Bronson (1.07m / 3yrs, $250k bonus, no incentives)

Cut some dead weight

Signed MLB D. Foley (11.45m / 5 yrs, $5.5m bonus, 500k incentives for 100 tackles and 10 sacks)

Approval is up to 89!

L.G. Clark decided to play hardball, and I folded. I signed him (5.11m / 4yrs, $1m bonus, 1m incentives for start in 16 games and 5 interceptions)

[Skarecrow]

Preseason Week 1 vs Tampa

Injured: DT Trey Lewis (2 weeks)

One note, my roster is severely jacked up because I’m keeping certain star players out in favor of multiple untested rookies, as I’m sure you all do. As far as I’m concerned, Pre-season games are for two purposes, determing pot on rookies, and learning plays.

0-7
3-21
10-21
10-24 loss to the Buccs

I had Woodson and a rookie QB named Stephens playing in that game. It was laughably bad, they threw 5 interceptions between them (surprisingly, Woodson threw more).

My rookie HB Plumlee made a pathetic 19 yards in 9 attempts. McFadden made half that in 2 attempts, and LaRon James stopped playing gameboy long enough to get in there for one play, where he ran 31 yards. I’m guessing Plumlee doesn’t feel like he belongs. That’s why you’re 3rd string son. Just don’t demand 3 mil a year like Norwood did and you’ll be fine.

M. Cameron is the only player who received anything of note, receiving 4 passes for 71 yards. Not bad.

Cut some more underperformers

Preseason week 2 vs Tennessee

Injured:
DT trey lewis. Still.

0-7
3-10
3-17
11-30 (lol 2 point conversion attempt was successful)

Both of my QBs sucked. Woodson had a 41.1 rating, Stephens had a 24.0
We got virtually no running yards (seriously, total of 9 yards in 15 combined attempts)

The game was pretty much a non-entity.

Even though I lost, It was a preseason game so nobody cared, and I completed a bunch of goals to put me at an overall Rating of 92. How do you rate your HC 92 when he hasn’t even given you a winning season yet? Once again I guess it’s the low expectations of Atlanta Football.

I went through yet another non-productive trade session for Justin Blalock, and finally came to the conclusion that I want to keep him.

Cut another round of slackers.

Preseason Week 3 at Cleveland

3-0
6-7
12-7
18-7 Yes, you’re reading that right, 6 field goals, 0 TDs.

Stats are nothing worth even looking at. We won, it was ugly, that’s about it.

I released a lot of players, including LE J. Anderson, who was the worst of my 3 LEs, yet was paid an outrageous amount, nearly 6 mil a year. His huge bonus means that releasing him is a 6 mil hit on my cap, but at least I don’t have to worry about paying him any more than that anymore. I also got rid of my aging RE J. Abraham. Nobody wanted him, and he was taking up space and money. He walks. Most of the other releases are not interesting or not surprising.

I have at this point assembled roughly my final roster for the season, but I’m going to wait until after game 4 of the Pre-Season to post it, just in case something changes.

Week 4 at Buffalo
0-14 <- EMBARASSING. Those are our season starters right there.
0-14
7-21
7-31

Woodson threw 3 ints, English threw 2. We can’t score if we don’t have the ball guys. That’s about all that needs to be said.

Hopefully our Season is better than our pre-season.

C Doug Datish is out 5 weeks with a bruised hip? What? How did that happen? Oh well, he’s center #3, so who cares.

[Skarecrow]

Week 1 at Carolina

This is last year’s last place team. This should be a no brainer. If we lose here, we have major major problems.

Sure enough, first play of the game after the kickoff, Carolina’s HB fumbles, and it’s recovered by Sleepy Bayless (I will never stop loving that name) who runs it in for a TD after a couple block assists. 7-0. Carolina punts. We make it all the way downfild to their 12 yard line, but a deflected pass (very nearly an int!) means we settle for a FG. 10-0. Unlike last season, Carolina actually makes yardage on their next drive, but it’s all under a lot of pressure. Our D is getting very good penetration. There are a number of sacks and tackles for losses. Carolina makes a 46yd FG, score is 10-3. English finds Goldman and Jackson to get us to Carolina’s 1yd line as time runs out on the quarter.

English completes to Bellows for a TD. 17-3. Carolina punts. We punt. They punt. We give McFadden the ball a few times and then punt. They get a FG cause we give them 15 yards with a penalty. Oops. Yeah, that’s the 2nd quarter. 17-6

English gives up an int early in the 3rd, and they turn it into a TD. Dammit. 17-13. We trade FGs and it’s 20-16.

The 4th quarter is a bunch of punts and a 46yd FG by our new Kicker R. Tucker. Yeah that’s it. Entirely. English kneels out the game. Atlanta win 23-16.

That is not what I wanted to see. Sure it’s a win, and it is a division win at that, but we were not performing like we’re going to need to if we plan on having a winning season.

English had a bad rating of 61.5, with 1TD, and 2 ints. 171 yards.

McFadden made 133 yards in 24 attempts. James only got 2 attempts but got 8 yards out of them.

No receivers really stood out.

Approval is up to 91.

ROLB Sleepy Bayless won Defensive player of the week, with 5 tackles, 1 forced fumble, 1 fumble recovery, and a TD!

NFC South Standings after Week 1 are:
5 Falcons 1-0
11 Saints 1-0
12 Buccaneers 1-0
26 Panthers 0-1

Not sure how we’re ahead of the Saints and the Buccs after all we beat were the Panthers. Maybe it’s a division thing.

All I know is next week vs the Giants, who in my league are legitimate superbowl threats, we better play a whole other game than I saw today.

[Skarecrow]

Week 2 vs New York Giants


Injuries:
C D. Datish - 3 weeks


NY punts. We punt. We commit penalties, they make first downs, Sleepy Bayless intercepts. We punt. Seriously, we’ve made like 0 yards in 2 possessions. We intercept again. We’re intercepting our way down the field. I guess that’s one way to win, although not exactly what I’d like to see… and something else I don’t want to see is a McFadden back injury. Dammit. This better not be serious. Thank god I’ve got LaRon. No scoring during the first quarter. 0-0.


NY opens up the 2^nd with a TD. We fumble, and they make another TD. Seriously bad karma here. 0-14 and quick. English and LaRon get us downfield to at least get some points on the board. 7-14 with 1:36 left in the half…. Which is plenty of time for them to get a FG. Our defense is looking pretty overmatched today. 7-17 at halftime.


The 3^rd quarter is punts. That’s it. I’m serious.


We get a TD early in the 4^th, making it 14-17. With 4:12 left on the clock, we tie it up 17-17 with a Tucker FG. NY gets a TD with 1:21 left on the clock to put them up 17-24. ****! We rush downfield like our asses are on fire. With 16 second left, on 4^th down, LaRon makes it into the endzone for a TD! Hot damn! Tie game! 24-24


We win the coin toss and choose to receive. We give the ball to rookie Plumlee and he handles pressure like ****. Literally, I think he may have crapped his pants on a few of those tackles. A punt and some disappointing defensive plays later, NY kicks the GWFG 27-24. DAMMIT. We were so close!



English had a rating of 89.2, with 1 TD, 0 int, and 249 yards.


LaRon had 70 yards in 20 attempts. Plumlee has 9 yards in 7 attempts. He is obviously not ready for prime time. I can’t help but think that if McFadden was here, this game would have been ours. Both LaRon and Plumlee had 1 TD each.


Bellows had 135 yards receiving and a TD, good game for him.


Approval is down to 88.


Good news is that Darren isn’t even on my injury list post-game… not even for a single day. I guess he didn’t feel like playing that game Sunday? Grrr that makes me angry. That game could have been ours with a play-maker like McFadden on the field.



NFC South after week 2 looks as follows:
4 Saints 2-0
6 Buccaneers 2-0
16 Falcons 1-1
18 Panthers 1-1


Hmm, 1-1 for the Panthers. At least it’s good to know that the Panthers I played last week may be better than last season’s Panthers, but that doesn’t help our record any.