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Re: Patriot's Franchise - a realistic approach
To be honest, I felt I was ripping them off, but the offer they gave me was their first offer, not one that was negotiated. I also tend to make fair trade offers, for example, I won't trade away a backup guard for a 1st rounder even though bed teams would accept that.
The Season: Summary
The season included a variety of roster moves and games. However, most games were not too dramatic and I broke a lot of records with the team. The final record was 16-0 again but there were a few games that I unexpectedly struggled against, like the Seahawks and Falcons.
Tom Brady had 4988 passing yards, 49 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. This was mostly thanks to my 3 TE shotgun formation I created. Where Watson and Thomas were on one side, and Davis on the other, and 2 WR's on either side. This was my main passing play against blitzing teams like the Giants, Eagles, and Steelers. This was partly thanks to my blocking, both running and passing, as Brady was only sacked 21 times, and Maroney had 1090 rushing yards with a 5.0 average per carry. The offense was as expected number one in the league.
One of the major off-season moves was to trade for LOLB Jarret Johnson from the Ravens, who would be preparing to take over for LOLB Mike Vrabel next season. Though Johnson is only 81 overall, compared to Vrabel's 87, the main difference is that Johnson can't blitz well. This wasn't a big problem, as i used Thomas and Bruschi as my main blitzers anyways.
My secondary did very well, though we were 1st in Run but 7th in Pass defense. Meriweather and Harrison both made the Pro Bowl, and I decided to stick with Meriweather as my starter for seasons to come as a result. though he is only 78 overall with a 81 potential, he gets the job done and that is what matters. I wanted to also keep Harrison, but he asked for a 3yr 15M contract - yea right! I'll just Franchise Tag him for a season, and if he is mad about it, I will just release him. At the age of 34, he no longer has the leverage over contract situations and it won't be a big loss to have him cut.
I won the superbowl but it was a very dramatic game against the Bucs. However, I know cover 2 inside and out from playing against a Cover 2 defense as QB on my high school team. The keys to beating the defense is as follows:
1. If they have an overpowering D-line, then it will be hard. The Buccaneers don't so I would just run up the middle 20-25 times during the game. The same approach would destroy the Colts too, as they are the same defense as Bucs (Dungy was Buc's head coach before Indy)
2. The weakness to any cover 2 lies in the safties, in this case, Buccaneers have a decent safety core but not as great as the Colts' Bethea and Sanders. Regardless, I planned to throw it deep in the middle, where there is usually no one covering. Eventually, the computer figures this out and goes to "Cover 2 Buc" where the MLB covers the deep region like a pseudo Cover 3. This is where running up the middle comes in real handy.
3. NEVER ever pass to the outside slants, Cover 2 corners are Masters at Zone defense and even a slightly mistimed throw will be a pick 6. Hence, I stuck to plays that had mostly posts, hook, and screen routes, giving me about 5-6 yards a play.
Final Score in the SuperBowl: Patriots 35 Buccaneers 14
Pro Bowlers: My team didn't have as many pro bowlers as you would expect from a 16-0 team that placed 1st in Offense and Defense, mostly because my key to success lies in play calling, not my players. Regardless, here are the Pro Bowlers for the team:
QB Tom Brady
HB Laurence Maroney
FB Heath Evans
WR Wes Welker (over 1500 yards and 18 TD's out of the slot)
TE V. Davis (1006 yards receiving and 8 TD's)
LT M. Light
LG L. Mankins
LE T. Warren
MLB K. Rivers (Rookie Defensive Player of the year; 10 sacks for season)
ROLB A. Thomas (13 Sacks; 4 Int's; Over 100 tackles)
CB N. Asomugha (5 Int's; 3 TD's; 2 FF's; Over 50 tackles; 158 yards given)
FS B. Meriweather (6 Int's; 1 TD; 2 FF's; Over 40 tackles; 108 yards given)
SS R. Harrison (2 Int's; 3 FF's; Over 50 tackles; 3 Sacks)
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08-06-2012, 01:52 AM
