I know I am very late on this, but this game's personnel management is the best of any sports game I played. Made it through my first full year with the Ravens. I'm not using any draft guides, though of course with a game this old and me watching lets play vids and reading a thread here and there some names don't escape me.
If anyone cares to read, here is my year in review.
Preseason
Spoiler
Created a coach and my own playbooks for both offense and defense. I converted the Ravens to a 4-3 which probably was a mistake in hindsight. In the preseason Troy Smith outplayed Flacco so he got the nod.
I changed my WR philosophy to tall redzone threats. That left Mark Clayton out of the mix, so I figured I'd trade him. Would have been happy with a 4th but the Raiders being the Raiders offered a 2nd and a 7th in the upcoming draft. Don't mind if I do lol
Regular Season
Spoiler
Got off to a VERY rocky start. Offense struggled as expected, but the 4-3 Ravens weren't panning out. I wasn't generating a pass rush and Fabian was not cut out for my single high man scheme (what I get for not paying attention to ratings).
I did two things, one of which was cheese. I tried the age old Madden trick of moving my best pass rusher to LE instead of RE and yeah its just as effective here, and moved Fabian Washington down the depth chart in exchange for Oglesby.
Suggs finished with 18 sacks and that made me feel dirty, and Oglesby played well above his rating, earning a Lock icon next to his name which I think means lockdown corner. Ray Lewis would go on to win DPOY.
Injuries were a problem all year. There was a 3 game stretch where I only was able to dress two WRs. Willy Anderson stayed injured. Heap was on IR. Long story short when it came to setting my inactives, for most of the year I only had to choose 2 players.
We still managed to finish 10-6 and were relatively healthy in time for playoffs, reaching the AFCCG before getting eliminated by the Colts.
Offseason Agenda
Spoiler
I had quite the agenda. First a disclaimer, while waiting for the game to arrive from Ebay I played a bit on my pc with an emulator and simmed to the offseason to get an idea of what to expect with the cap situation. Different draft class, but it still helped.
Kept all my staff except for new WR and DB coaches and replaced my trainer.
Anyway, my agenda. I extended Ray and Sizzle during the regular season and was going to let Bart Scott walk but ended up tagging him.
I considered my needs and how I wanted to fulfill them in the following order:
A #2 CB (draft)
An outside LB (draft or FA)
A RT to replace fragile Willy (draft)
A DE (draft or FA, basically counter the LB. If one was FA the other was draft)
A SS (FA, draft as a stretch goal)
Finally, a WR or TE (draft)
My GM suggested I tender SS Landry with a 1st rounder. I gave him a 2nd with the explicit hope that someone would steal him. The Jets did. After cutting some deadweight then tagging Bart I had just shy of $23M in cap space.
My main goal was drafting that Waddell corner. Apparently he is pretty good.
Free Agency
Spoiler
After initial scouting I wasn't confident in finding a SS, so I went ahead and signed Rodney Harrison. If fleecing the Raiders and Jets for 2nd round picks were my victories, this was my loss. Oops.
I signed Chris Gamble in what I think will be a win. Seems a team friendly deal. $3.2M cap hit over 3 years when similarly rated corners were going for north of 4M.
I acquired Dre Moore during the regular season. Somehow he was released.
Signed a stop gap young RT rated 81.
Draft
Spoiler
I had my 29th pick, the Raiders 1st pick in the 2nd, the Jets 44th overall (8th in the 2nd I guess?), and the rest of my picks in the 29th slot.
Steelers were picking 5th overall and the mock had them taking my corner. I had the draft capital and put several of my top players on the trade block to get a deal done. In the end I am VERY happy with the deal. They got Chris McAlister, the Jets 40th, and my 2nd from next season's draft. Sure, it leaves me still needing a final answer at #2 CB, but I get a top prospect without losing any of my 1sts. I'll just need to fleece another team for a second rounder again.
With the 29th pick I was slated to pick the WR named Elmore, strictly based on Schefter's comment of how he loved his name. I took it as a sign. But someone stole him from me. I was torn between trading down (for my future 2nd), and taking a LT Ozzie suggested but who I did not fully scout. I trusted Ozzie. Always trust Ozzie, except for when it comes to WRs. The LT turned out to have 91 potential.
With the 33rd pick I took a RT by the name of Stallings. This was 100% my find. Wadell I knew was an elite player, the LT was all the AI making a suggestion, but this guy is my find lol.
With my natural 2nd round pick, I took the center Dahl. This one I knew about from watching a lets play, so kind of a cheat.
With my 3rd I wanted Drexler, but he didn't stay on the board so I ended up trading down for future picks.
In the 4th I got lucky. Thats all it was. Prior to the draft I was running out of guys I wanted to bring in for personal workouts. I wanted an edge rusher or OLB but couldn't find any in my draft range, so I started almost randomly inviting SS. Armand Collins (sp?) turned out to have like 87 potential and was available here.
With the 5th I kind of stumbled my way into a good pick. I was out of targets and had no idea who to take. I figured I'd bring in a QB to compete for the backup role and was scrolling who was available. For NFL comparisons they all compared to trash, but buried deep was a guy whose comparison was Drew Brees. So I picked Cory Benson. 87 potential, but durability is a concern.
During FA I had a game changer that revealed the potential of one Ivan Sherry, so he was my 6th round pick. 81 potential corner. Hopefully he pans out as a long term nickel corner.
I had one more pick in the 6th and another in the 7th, but they were randoms that probably won't turn out.
All in all, good draft but I mostly lucked into it. Still, one draft yielding 3 90 potential linemen? Thats good. I knew about two of my picks ahead of time.
(when it comes to future drafts I only know of two more guys. A 7 ft linemen who is a beast, and a WR named Bender who I will stop at nothing to get. Beyond those two I know nothing, and will do my best to keep it that way)
My team heading into the 2009:
QB Troy Smith 84 ovr (may be challenged by 74 ovr rookie)
HB Willis McGahee/Ray Rice 85/82 ovr (Willis' contract is brutal)
WR1 Demetrius Williams 83 ovr (flirted with trading for Desean Jackson)
WR2 Anthony Mix 81 ovr
WR Marcus Smith 77 ovr
TE Todd Heap 85 ovr (injury prone)
LT Rookie whose name I forget 83 ovr
LG Ben Grubbs 87/9 ovr
C J. Dahl 85 ovr
RG Marshall Yanda 85 ovr
RT Stallings 82 ovr
RDE T Suggs 88 ovr (no more cheesing lol)
RDT Haloti Ngata 89 ovr
LDT Dre Moore 85 ovr
LDE Jarret Johnson 82 ovr
ROLB Bart Scott 87 ovr (may trade)
MLB Ray Lewis 92 ovr
LOLB T. Gooden 80 ovr
CB1 D. Waddell 84 ovr
CB2 C. Gamble 83 ovr
NB Oglesby 76 ovr
FS Ed Reed 93 ovr
SS Rodney Harrison 88 ovr (wanting to trade, rookie backup is 82 ovr)
My cap space is...you know what I've already typed too much, forget it. lol its like 2.4 mil. That Harrison signing and tagging Bart hurts
I know I am very late on this, but this game's personnel management is the best of any sports game I played. Made it through my first full year with the Ravens. I'm not using any draft guides, though of course with a game this old and me watching lets play vids and reading a thread here and there some names don't escape me.
If anyone cares to read, here is my year in review.
Preseason
Spoiler
Created a coach and my own playbooks for both offense and defense. I converted the Ravens to a 4-3 which probably was a mistake in hindsight. In the preseason Troy Smith outplayed Flacco so he got the nod.
I changed my WR philosophy to tall redzone threats. That left Mark Clayton out of the mix, so I figured I'd trade him. Would have been happy with a 4th but the Raiders being the Raiders offered a 2nd and a 7th in the upcoming draft. Don't mind if I do lol
Regular Season
Spoiler
Got off to a VERY rocky start. Offense struggled as expected, but the 4-3 Ravens weren't panning out. I wasn't generating a pass rush and Fabian was not cut out for my single high man scheme (what I get for not paying attention to ratings).
I did two things, one of which was cheese. I tried the age old Madden trick of moving my best pass rusher to LE instead of RE and yeah its just as effective here, and moved Fabian Washington down the depth chart in exchange for Oglesby.
Suggs finished with 18 sacks and that made me feel dirty, and Oglesby played well above his rating, earning a Lock icon next to his name which I think means lockdown corner. Ray Lewis would go on to win DPOY.
Injuries were a problem all year. There was a 3 game stretch where I only was able to dress two WRs. Willy Anderson stayed injured. Heap was on IR. Long story short when it came to setting my inactives, for most of the year I only had to choose 2 players.
We still managed to finish 10-6 and were relatively healthy in time for playoffs, reaching the AFCCG before getting eliminated by the Colts.
Offseason Agenda
Spoiler
I had quite the agenda. First a disclaimer, while waiting for the game to arrive from Ebay I played a bit on my pc with an emulator and simmed to the offseason to get an idea of what to expect with the cap situation. Different draft class, but it still helped.
Kept all my staff except for new WR and DB coaches and replaced my trainer.
Anyway, my agenda. I extended Ray and Sizzle during the regular season and was going to let Bart Scott walk but ended up tagging him.
I considered my needs and how I wanted to fulfill them in the following order:
A #2 CB (draft)
An outside LB (draft or FA)
A RT to replace fragile Willy (draft)
A DE (draft or FA, basically counter the LB. If one was FA the other was draft)
A SS (FA, draft as a stretch goal)
Finally, a WR or TE (draft)
My GM suggested I tender SS Landry with a 1st rounder. I gave him a 2nd with the explicit hope that someone would steal him. The Jets did. After cutting some deadweight then tagging Bart I had just shy of $23M in cap space.
My main goal was drafting that Waddell corner. Apparently he is pretty good.
Free Agency
Spoiler
After initial scouting I wasn't confident in finding a SS, so I went ahead and signed Rodney Harrison. If fleecing the Raiders and Jets for 2nd round picks were my victories, this was my loss. Oops.
I signed Chris Gamble in what I think will be a win. Seems a team friendly deal. $3.2M cap hit over 3 years when similarly rated corners were going for north of 4M.
I acquired Dre Moore during the regular season. Somehow he was released.
Signed a stop gap young RT rated 81.
Draft
Spoiler
I had my 29th pick, the Raiders 1st pick in the 2nd, the Jets 44th overall (8th in the 2nd I guess?), and the rest of my picks in the 29th slot.
Steelers were picking 5th overall and the mock had them taking my corner. I had the draft capital and put several of my top players on the trade block to get a deal done. In the end I am VERY happy with the deal. They got Chris McAlister, the Jets 40th, and my 2nd from next season's draft. Sure, it leaves me still needing a final answer at #2 CB, but I get a top prospect without losing any of my 1sts. I'll just need to fleece another team for a second rounder again.
With the 29th pick I was slated to pick the WR named Elmore, strictly based on Schefter's comment of how he loved his name. I took it as a sign. But someone stole him from me. I was torn between trading down (for my future 2nd), and taking a LT Ozzie suggested but who I did not fully scout. I trusted Ozzie. Always trust Ozzie, except for when it comes to WRs. The LT turned out to have 91 potential.
With the 33rd pick I took a RT by the name of Stallings. This was 100% my find. Wadell I knew was an elite player, the LT was all the AI making a suggestion, but this guy is my find lol.
With my natural 2nd round pick, I took the center Dahl. This one I knew about from watching a lets play, so kind of a cheat.
With my 3rd I wanted Drexler, but he didn't stay on the board so I ended up trading down for future picks.
In the 4th I got lucky. Thats all it was. Prior to the draft I was running out of guys I wanted to bring in for personal workouts. I wanted an edge rusher or OLB but couldn't find any in my draft range, so I started almost randomly inviting SS. Armand Collins (sp?) turned out to have like 87 potential and was available here.
With the 5th I kind of stumbled my way into a good pick. I was out of targets and had no idea who to take. I figured I'd bring in a QB to compete for the backup role and was scrolling who was available. For NFL comparisons they all compared to trash, but buried deep was a guy whose comparison was Drew Brees. So I picked Cory Benson. 87 potential, but durability is a concern.
During FA I had a game changer that revealed the potential of one Ivan Sherry, so he was my 6th round pick. 81 potential corner. Hopefully he pans out as a long term nickel corner.
I had one more pick in the 6th and another in the 7th, but they were randoms that probably won't turn out.
All in all, good draft but I mostly lucked into it. Still, one draft yielding 3 90 potential linemen? Thats good. I knew about two of my picks ahead of time.
(when it comes to future drafts I only know of two more guys. A 7 ft linemen who is a beast, and a WR named Bender who I will stop at nothing to get. Beyond those two I know nothing, and will do my best to keep it that way)
My team heading into the 2009:
QB Troy Smith 84 ovr (may be challenged by 74 ovr rookie)
HB Willis McGahee/Ray Rice 85/82 ovr (Willis' contract is brutal)
WR1 Demetrius Williams 83 ovr (flirted with trading for Desean Jackson)
WR2 Anthony Mix 81 ovr
WR Marcus Smith 77 ovr
TE Todd Heap 85 ovr (injury prone)
LT Rookie whose name I forget 83 ovr
LG Ben Grubbs 87/9 ovr
C J. Dahl 85 ovr
RG Marshall Yanda 85 ovr
RT Stallings 82 ovr
RDE T Suggs 88 ovr (no more cheesing lol)
RDT Haloti Ngata 89 ovr
LDT Dre Moore 85 ovr
LDE Jarret Johnson 82 ovr
ROLB Bart Scott 87 ovr (may trade)
MLB Ray Lewis 92 ovr
LOLB T. Gooden 80 ovr
CB1 D. Waddell 84 ovr
CB2 C. Gamble 83 ovr
NB Oglesby 76 ovr
FS Ed Reed 93 ovr
SS Rodney Harrison 88 ovr (wanting to trade, rookie backup is 82 ovr)
My cap space is...you know what I've already typed too much, forget it. lol its like 2.4 mil. That Harrison signing and tagging Bart hurts
This would be much more appreciated in the NFLHeadCoachSeries sub on reddit, we've got over 600 members and around 15-30 posts per day. If you scroll down on this forum you'll find a link.
__________________
NFL Head Coach 09 had a "Play Steal" feature.
CPU teams stole your successful plays in your playbook and added them to their playbooks. That feature met with college playbooks from incoming college coaches and user created plays birthed a new meta evolution for playcallers across the NFL.
03-02-2021, 01:16 AM
