Head Coach '09 - still amazing

[Aurabolt127]

Just had to say I love how this game always lures me back. I took my last dynasty off-line because I was spending so much time uploading stats, pics, updating the career stats etc. (I get a little obsessed) that it was taking a long time and ended up burning me out. I'm unpacking my 360 tomorrow (moved a short time ago and been so busy with current games I haven't done it yet.) and thinking about firing it up/ Haven't even been on the OS site in a while, and was exciting seeing people still talking about it. Kills me they won't make this backwards-compatible, but it is what it is.

[Americasteam95]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

About to get back into playing myself , just got the 360 up and running. Hoping to get a good roster, sliders, and house rules to make the game more challenging!

[Americasteam95]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

Please let me know if there are any roster files out there

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

Wish I knew how to use rosters for the 360. Sliders are so tricky - there are some good ones and they all claim to give you real-life like stats, but they are all so different that how can anyone be sure? I would hate to get 10 games in and then realize that slider group A really sucks and I should be using slider group B. Just not sure what to do about that one. I know some I used in the past...of course I think I played the first 5 years since it came out without them. LOL!

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

OHHHHHHHHH yeah... when my older son moved, he took the 360. Guess who's going to Gamestop to look for another one? LOL!! Works out anyway, as I need to decide what team I'm using, I had a lot of good ideas I never got to use yet. Going to read over the slider thing again too and look at some of my older franchises to see what sliders I used then too. Hooray football!

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

So, time to start narrowing down my list of teams. Going Xbox360 shopping tomorrow. Some teams I've done a bunch, a few like the Pats, Colts, Cowboys, Chargers, etc. are too stacked and not a great fit for what I like to do. I could do my zero-roster expansion again and really see how far I can go with it...Dunno... decisions, decisions.

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

Initial cuts.

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

Going over some notes, doing some research... able to cut a few more for reasons that make sense in my head. LOL

Cut:

Eagles. Were in last place, but Reid and group are solid. Won last 3 games.
Vikings. Have 2007 ROY A.P. and improved 2 games from '07.
Pittsburgh. Successful, went 10-6. solid.
Titans. improved to 10-6 and made playoffs.
Green Bay. Went 13-3. Already in good shape.
Jacksonville. great increase in record, playoffs, etc.
New Orleans. Down year, but year before Payton was COY and Brees was CBPOY.

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

A few more eliminated:

Texans. They traded for Schaub and improved 2 games to 8-8. Best record of team so far and set team record for TDs (overall)

Lions. I've done them not that long ago (relatively speaking) and they went for many seasons, so I don't want to do them again.

Raiders. Like the Lions, I've done the Raiders differently a few times, and I don't want to do them again. If I ever get to the point where I'm about over this game, the Raiders will be my last franchise done, like they were my first.

Chiefs. Set up perfectly to do them, but I'm just not sure I'm feeling it.

Cardinals. Already got a new coach and moved up 3 games to 8-8 and they won their last 2. They don't need a new coach yet.

Seattle. improved from 9-7 to 10-6, Holmgren is doing fine.

I mean, I could always come up with a valid reason for any of the 32, but I'm having fun whittling it down and seeing which story catches my eye.

[Tampafan11]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

Glad to see that other people are still playing this amazing game! My new favorite way to play the game is to start in the off-season and when it comes to the draft trade all of my picks and players outside of a couple cornerstones (like 2 on each offense and defense) and get as many 2008 guys to fill my schemes and be starters for the duration of the dynasty. It is obvisouly not realistic but it makes it hard because I intentionally did the Jack English draft for the first time and will have 0 picks in 2009. Also I made sure to fill every single starting position on offense and defense in the draft so now will not have space for any new draft picks to be starters in the most stacked class while other teams can benefit. I run a custom basically run only offense so dont need WRs or TEs which makes this task easier. It’s fun to track and watch the 2008 guys grow for the entire franchise and build schemes around them to succeed.

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

That's pretty cool. Using my zero-roster team, I ran it like an expansion (still thinking about doing that again) but I never tried to fill it with all 2008 rookies. Interesting idea! I'm whittling down the teams til I pick one... prob go get my replacement 360 next week, decided to hold off a week to take care of some other things. Hooray football!

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

A few more I decided to pass on...

Falcons, Dolphins, Bucs, Bengals, Ravens. I've really never messed with the Bengals much, but can't stand a lot of the guys on the team at that point and don't like going through the hassle of cutting/trading them.

I wouldn't use the Falcons unless I decided to go back do my zero-roster expansion team again. I'll try that one again maybe after this next one.

[bodiefrog]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

I've been playing Head Coach 06 and 09 for years but I've never heard of a zero-roster playthrough. Could you please explain what it is and how to set it up?

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

I had the idea of making an expansion team. I found that with the Falcons and Dolphins you can cut or trade away the entire team without killing yourself. It isn't easy to do it and not get fired for cap hit, etc. Yes, you have a huge cap hit for '08 but since you're only left with signing the FA's out there, and rookies (and I refused to allow myself more than 2 picks per round to better simulate past expansion teams) you have the money to cover that year's salary. The challenge really becomes when you have to decide who on the roster you are going to re-sign when looking at the next year's draft and free agent class. This is 100x more fun if you stay realistic, don't take all the sleepers, etc. I'm not sure if there are any other teams you can zero-roster, but it seems likely if you find a team that has enough initial cap space. It's pretty challenging to fill a roster with FA's and rookies and be competitive.

Here's a link to the first time I started it. I was a little creative with the story replacing the Falcons in history with the Stallions, etc.) You'll see that my first rule is to have a zero roster by the start of the draft (meaning no FAs in the weeks leading up to the draft) and I only had 10 draft picks plus the 5 UDFA's. I kind of wanted to start a new, regular team; but I never got to get this one really rolling the way I wanted to - so maybe I'll give that a go - and see if there are any other teams besides Atlanta and Miami that can do it. I'll update if I do find more teams I can zero out.

Update: I checked the first time I did this and found that I had cleared the rosters for these teams:
Atlanta
Miami
Denver
Tennessee
Kansas City
Carolina (well, I had one guy left, but I think if I was really trying I could have found a taker for him)

I might give it a go again, I think both times I started with Atlanta (because I liked the story I had going) but didn't want to be in the NFC South. Once I get a 360 again (next week) I'll see if there are any others.

https://forums.operationsports.com/forums/football-dynasties/875387-nfl-expansion-team-atlanta-falcons-hc09.html

[Aurabolt127]

Re: Head Coach '09 - still amazing

So, got it down to 4 teams plus the expansion option... now to go over the stories in my head and also check if there's any more options for expansions... the last 4:

Jets - really just want to wear the ol' Lincoln Green unis again, plus rebuild the defense into a 4-3 and rebuild the New York Sack Exchange. Go old school AFL with the offense too.

Browns - they're close, but I had this idea where Romeo had to step down and Charlie Weis took the job - reuniting him with Quinn. Bring in Fasano and a couple more N.D. alumni and make a serious run at it.

Giants - again, imagining Coughlin retiring after the Super Bowl, Eli acts like a bitch and his daddy wants the Giants to give him a raise and all that - but instead ownership trades him and the goal is to rebuild without completely collapsing. Plaxico and Strahan have to go too.

Bears - I'm not kidding. I'm really interested in doing this one to bring back Ditka for one last run. Of course, he'll be bringing Ricky Williams along.

I seriously want do all of these, though that's 4 franchises plus an expansion. (plus the ones that were hard to cut like Denver, Washington, Carolina, Rams, etc.) Who's got time for all that?? LOL!!!! I love this game.