A New Brand of Football: Austin Desperados Madden 16 CFM

[SuperSeahawks]

Quote: Originally Posted by rawlinsnate

Oh ok. Did you have any specific guidelines you followed when choosing these players? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't remember exactly what I did, but I loosely followed this thread:

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...eam-guide.html

[SuperSeahawks]

Austin Desperados: Take 2




Now that the second patch is out, it's time to give this dynasty a re-boot. It starts the same way it did before:

The Jacksonville Jaguars were forced to re-locate and Shahid Khan was also required to shave his moustache when he relinquished control of the franchise to charity mogul, SuperSeahawks. He was quoted as saying: "I'm so excited to have my own franchise in the NFL, I can promise the fans that we will make it our mission to create a winning tradition......starting next year. We had to do an expansion draft where we lost most of our young players and we forced to start anew. Should be fun though."

This time though, the Jaguars started off with less talent and ended up matching the 2008 Detroit Lions by going 0-16. The Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl again this time beating the Pittsburgh Steelers 42-28. We decided not to re-sign anybody and also traded away Paul Posluszny to the Browns for a 4^th round pick. We had the same strategy as before which was to sign playmakers on offense and guys who can play with an “edge” on defense. Even though Aldon Smith was off the market, we signed Greg Hardy, Rolando McClain, Reggie Nelson, and Haloti Ngata. On offense, we brought in Alex Boone to improve the offensive line in addition to the playmakers in Percy Harvin and Coby Fleener. On the last day of free agency, we signed Kirk Cousins to a short-term deal as insurance.

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Before the draft, we made a trade with the Jets to move to the #3 pick while acquiring another 1^st for next year and a 2^nd this year. However, the QB we were going to draft (Devin Russell) was picked by the 49ers with the 2^nd overall pick, so we traded down again to the #5 pick and added another 2^nd plus a 4^th with the Arizona Cardinals. We went ahead and used the draft picks we acquired some real talent.

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First was CB Nigel Henderson; Henderson is a good cover corner and can stay with most WR's. Not the ideal size, but he is very talented nontheless. We used our 3 2^nd round picks on offense by drafting WR Julius Bryan, TE Timothy Justice, and HB Jorell Baldwin. Julius Bryan is from Florida State and we have a preference for guys from the Florida schools. Bryan is a superstar development and has the speed and agility to be elusive, but also great hands and can open easily. Next was Timothy Justice who is the physical equivalent of Coby Fleener. Justice is also a superstar and he may not have the skills that Fleener does, but I'm confident that Justice can surpass Fleener soon enough. Finally we have Jorell Baldwin who is your typical power back at almost 230 lbs; Baldwin can run through people, but also has the speed to outrun defenders and the moves to leave guys tackling air.

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In the 3^rd round we drafted another superstar this time on defense in LB Armond Lauerdale. Lauerdale can really fly and will have a chance to rack up a lot of tackles with his ability to bring down the ball carrier and the instincts to pursue runners. Lauerdale can also play pass defense in zone; he would of started at MLB if we didn't have Rolando McClain, so we're content to move him to OLB. In the later rounds we picked up some offensive lineman; Kris Barr and Leilon McClain will be starters for us and Shawn Hood will be a back up. The pick of the draft was RB Lamard Thomas. Thomas has top 10 talent, but he slid down the draft boards because he went to a small school (Northwestern State). Thomas is an all-around talent with the ability to run away from defenders, run through them, and run around them. He can be a threat on pass patterns out of the backfield and return kicks as well.

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Now that we have gone through the off-season, we had some tough choices to make as we got down to 53. We settled on the depth chart as well and we really like our team overall. We still need the franchise QB that all team covets, better offensive tackles, improve the pass rush and a better 2^nd CB. Christian Ponder got hurt in the pre-season so Kirk Cousins will be our Week 1 starter. Multiple injuries on the offensive line leave us thin as backups have to be starters for the time being. We'll see how they hold up as we face off against J.J. Watt and the Houston Texans.....

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[SuperSeahawks]

Desperados destroy Texans in opener 44-10

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The Desperados opened up against the Texans looking to improve upon a season where we finished 0-16. Well it didn't start off well as Sam Bradford found Dario Alexander for a TD to get the Texans off to a good start. Kirk Cousins was our starter this week and he played pretty well throughout which began with a TD pass to Percy Harvin on a corner route to tie the game at 7. The defense was able to apply pressure to Sam Bradford and despite some nice drives by Houston, Bradford's INTs prevented the Texans from staying competitive in this one.



Rookie CB Nigel Henderson made a nice one handed grab over DeAndre Hopkins for his 1^st INT of the day. The offense stayed balanced and rookie RB Lamard Thomas was able to find a lane and left the Texan defense in the dust for a 40 yard TD. Houston failed to enter the redzone for the rest of the half and Cousins threw his 2^nd TD to Harvin before the half as the Desperados led 24-7 at the half.

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Bradford continued to make mistakes and he found our CB Tharold Simon who gave us great field position. After a field goal and a Houston punt, Cousins hit Coby Fleener on a screen pass which turned into his 3^rd TD pass of the day. Our defensive line continued to hit Bradford sacking him 6 times and picking him off 4 times. Cousins hit Lamard Thomas who was wide open as you'll see on the highlight and the game ended with the Texans winning 44-10. We played almost flawless football as we were successful on the ground and through the air. The only problem was that Arian Foster was able to find some running lanes and he gained almost 100 yards. We also lost Percy Harvin who dislocated his elbow for 5 weeks.

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I will be simulating 6 of the games and the next game against the Raiders was the 1^st game. We ended up winning 19-14 on the strength of 4 sacks and 3 INT's by the defense. Our offense wasn't nearly as explosive as Cousins threw for only 139 yards, but we ran for over 100 yards total again. This is a nice start for our rebuilding franchise as we are all alone in 1^st place at 2-0. We play the Manningless Broncos next week and I'll see you next time for that game!

[SuperSeahawks]

Desperados blown out in Denver 48-13

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The Desperados (formerly the Jaguars), have exceeded their win total of 0 last year with their 2-0 start. We entered Invesco Field planning on making it 3-0, but the Broncos had other ideas. The Broncos with Brock Osweiler got cooking early and entered our red zone, but only left with a field goal. We tried to get our running game going, but a move to Jarrod's Red Sliders and a poor offensive line outside of Alex Boone meant that we would go three and out a lot. That's how it went for us as the Thomas/Baldwin combination only gained 41 rushing yards on 19 carries. The Broncos took advantage when Osweiler found Patrick Edwards for a TD to expand the lead to 10. The lack of a running game put a lot of pressure on Kirk Cousins who struggled for the 2^nd straight week throwing for under 50% today and 4 INT's. However, he had 1 play where he found Jorell Baldwin for a TD to cut the halftime deficit to 3 with the score being 10-7.


It was all Broncos from there as they finally got their running game going and Peyton Thompson had a nice run at the end of the game breaking multiple tackles for a TD. The offense came out flat with Cousins and eventually Christian Ponder throwing 6 INT's combined. So the game ended with the Desperados being blown out 48-13. Takeaways from this game are that we have to get the running game going. We may also have a QB controversy on our hands as neither Cousins nor Ponder played well at all today. The defense held their own for the most part and shut down the Broncos running attack for most of the game.


We had an early bye week as we scouted some more QB's, offensive tackles and CB's. A trade was made as we shipped backup OLB Zaviar Gooden to the Giants for a 4^th round pick. We were tempted to trade for Johnny Manziel and Brett Hundley as they were equal passers to Cousins/Ponder, but were more athletic so the read option could be implemented in the game plan. We'll go with Cousins this week, but he'll be on a short leash against the New York Jets.....

[jnmoore92]

This looks interesting, following for sure. Love relocated teams in NFL

[SuperSeahawks]

Desperados hit dry spell on route to 2-5 record



We hosted the Jets after a embarassing 48-13 loss to the Broncos. Both teams play defensively in the first half hitting 2 field goals a piece. However, Cousins threw 2 INT's to gift the Jets two Geno Smith TD passes. Our defense tried their best, but the Jets soared ahead. Our offense scored once when Christian Ponder (we benched Kirk Cousins) found Coby Fleener for a TD. The Jets ended up winning 37-14 as we failed to win the turnover battle; INT's and fumbles have been killing us the past 2 games. The offensive line could not open any holes for the running backs and the QB's were inaccurate even when they were given time to throw.

It didn't get any better for us as we had to Lambeau Field to try the stop Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Well, it didn't work out for us. Rodgers threw 4 TD's on the day and 269 yards as well. The Packers slowed it down in the 4th quarter as the Chris Ivory/Jarryd Hayne combination took over rushing for over 100 yards combined. We let Kirk Cousins play this one out and he bombed again throwing for less than 200 yards and an INT.

It was announced after the game that Christian Ponder would take over as the starter. Ponder played better than his counterpart over the next two games. Ponder hit Lamard Thomas on a screen pass for a 27 yard TD in the 4th quarter against the Texans. Despite playing well all day, the defense let us down as we had a problem stopping DeAndre Hopkins who got the better of our rookie CB Nigel Anderson to the tune of 226 yards on 11 receptions. A late TD run by Arian Foster and a game-ending fumble by Lamard Thomas gave the Texans a close 21-17 win.

We were showing some progress under Ponder, but that came crashing down when the Titans came to town. Marcus Mariota killed us through the air and on the ground as he threw 2 TD's and ran for another one. Thankfully, we were able to knock him out of the game when Greg Hardy leveled Mariota as he was going out of bounds. It was too late at that point as we were down 24-0. Ponder threw 2 late TD's and Ryan Fitzpatrick came into the game for the Titans and threw a TD as well in the 38-15 victory for Tennessee.

Coach Super was dissapointed in the effort: "We layed a ****in egg out there today. It doesn't matter who we play and who starts, we lose. The offensive line needs to get better as we want to have a balanced attack. We've had a hard time getting Lamard Thomas and Jorell Baldwin going and it's killing us. Defensive stops are needed as well; their QB's can't have all day to find receivers."

The 2-5 Desperados are falling out of the playoff race, but can a home game against the 1-6 Chicago Bears help turn things around? You'll find out next time....

[SuperSeahawks]

Desperados re-enter playoff race with 3 game winning streak

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5 straight losses have put the Desperados in last place at 2-5. However, we can change that with our home game against a team worse than us; the Chicago Bears. Both teams traded field goals in a defensive battle with the Desperados coming out ahead 6-3 at the half. During the 4^th quarter, all hell broke lose. Alshon Jeffrey caught 2 TD's passes after turnovers by the Desperados. Ponder sparked an explosion of the Desperado offense; Ponder hit Lamard Thomas for a TD, then found Julius Bryan for another 1. With the game tied, rookie CB Nigel Anderson stepped up by picking off a pass and setting us up with good field position. Lamard Thomas took care of the rest scoring from 31 yards out as the Desperados claimed victory over the Bears 27-17. We were building momentum, but we were losing players as we lost Dante Fowler, Armond Lauerdale, and Kris Barr for multiple weeks. Not to be outdone, we hosted the Vikings. Despite struggling throughout this game, rookie Lamard Thomas scored from 3 yards out late in this game to give us a close 17-13 win.


We took the plane from Austin to Nashville looking for our 3^rd straight win as we prepared for our divisional matchup with the Titans. The Titans may have beaten us previously, but we were confident this time around. Christian Ponder led us to an early touchdown when he found Coby Fleener, but Brian Orakpo delivered a wicked hit on him and Ponder ended leaving the game and was diagnosed with a dislocated hip, ending his season. The defense played very well allowing only 9 points while shutting down the Titans ground game and forcing Mariota to throw. Kirk Cousins came into the game and played mistake-free football finding Julius Bryan for over 100 yards receiving while Jorell Baldwin scored twice in the 27-9 victory. It's uncertain how the team will respond to losing the starting QB and with a tough schedule ahead, the question will be can the team pull together and make it to the playoffs? Find out next time as the regular season will end in the next writeup....

[SuperSeahawks]

End of the line as Desperados lose 4 out of 5 to miss post-season

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The Desperados have improved to 5-5 after winning 3 games in a row. However, our winning streak came to a screeching halt as we got our *sses handed to us in a 47-20 blowout loss to the Ravens and then lost a close game at Kansas City 27-21. Then came a pivotal matchup at San Diego; an injury to Lamard Thomas meant that Jorell Baldwin would be carrying the load and he performed well running for 94 yards and scoring a TD. Kirk Cousins actually played well too throwing for over 300 yards and 2 TD's as he found both Josh Gordon and Julius Bryan for TD's. Both receivers had productive games going over 100 yards each, but we still lost the Chargers 38-28. The offense stepped up again the next week against the Colts, scoring 17 unanswered points in the 4^th quarter as Baldwin went for over 100 yards and scored the winning touchdown as we took home our 6^th win of the year 41-36. At this point though, our season was over as that would be our last win of the year. Losses to the Lions and Colts in the following weeks gave us a 6-10 record for the 2016 season.


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A 6-10 record isn't anything to write home about, but for a team that went 0-16 the previous year, this is a big improvement. Kirk Cousins was inconsistent this year and ultimately will be heading for free agency; Cousins threw for 2,800 yards, 15 TD's and 15 INT's. Christian Ponder in limited action threw for over 1,000 yards, 5 TD's and 6 INT's. Lamard Thomas and Jorell Baldwin ran over 1,000 yards and 13 TD's combined. Thomas ended up winning AFC Offensive ROTY by adding in 30 receptions for 345 yards and 4 TD's. Rookie WR Julius Bryan came on strong late in the season and ended up leading the team in receptions (66), receiving yards (921), and receiving touchdowns (7). Josh Gordon was also productive catching 62 passes for 864 yards and 2 TD's.


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On defense, Rolando McClain led the team in tackles with 160; Reggie Nelson and Eric Pinkins had over 100 tackles each. Greg Hardy led the team with 8 sacks. Haloti Ngata and Dante Flower contributed 5.5 sacks each. Rookie CB Nigel Anderson led the team with 6 INT's and won AFC Defensive ROTY as well.


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As for the rest of the NFL, the Texans won the AFC South at 10-6 (lost to the Chiefs in the wildcard round, Aaron Rodgers won the MVP award, and the Panthers went 14-1-1 during the regular season. However, that record did not translate to post-season success as they lost to the Green Bay Packers who ended up winning the Super Bowl for the 2^nd straight season after beating the Buffalo Bills 44-30.


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Despite a “successful” second seasnon under our regime, we let most of our free agents go with exception of SS Eric Pinkins. So now that we have some holes to fill, especially at QB, how will we attack this off-season? What big names will we acquire and how they did we fare in the draft? Found out on the next writeup....