Well, as my tenure in the SOS Crew comes to an end, I feel a need to reflect on my time in the league.

The SOS Crew was the first league I joined from the day 1 of it's inception, and eventually I quit 4n1A, 4n1B and Gridiron Legends to focus my efforts on it. I started out as the Patriots, who were a tough team to work with because of cap problems, but managed to draft fairly well and made some solid trades to fill holes when I had to.

The Patriots Era

After the first sim season, the Patriots went 8-8, had no running game and my secondary was terrible (this being before the rosters were updated to include Aqib Talib on the team and Alfonzo Dennard being solid). My starting free safety was 70 overall Tavon Wilson, and my #2 CB was Kyle Arrington.

In the first draft, I addressed a few positions I wanted to revamp. At Wide Receiver I drafted Curtis Hall and Khirey Donaldson. Hall was always destined to be Welkers' future replacement (I figured he'd retire after the 2nd sim season, along with Tom Brady). Hall started out as my #3 wide receiver after a great preseason game against the Packers, and had 8 touchdowns in the first 7 weeks before getting injured for most of the rest of the season and losing his form. Donaldson was a spot receiver, used for big gains since he had the size and speed to potentially take the top off the defence.

I also drafted CB Adonis Mack, FS Shaqwuain Scott and MLB Joshua Boudreaux. All 3 of these players found themselves on the roster to start the season, with Scott starting at free safety and Boudreaux overtaking Spikes at MLB.

After a 7-1 start, injuries to Hall, Boudreaux and a few actual starters caught up to me, and I finished the season 9-7 with 6 losses by a field goal or less. It was a rough finish to the season, but allowed me to learn the game more, and was the first time I had a winning season in madden, not that I played a ton.

I missed the 2nd draft, but was fortunate enough to be able to get my #2 rated CB at the 18th draft selection. Rashon Tucker gave me a legitimate option behind McCourty at corner, but since I missed the draft, I wasn't able to address other problem positions like running back. Halfway through, the team finally seemed to be what I wanted it to be in the secondary, and I just needed to upgrade my pass rush. A trade with the Atlanta Falcons would help in that aspect, getting big Kooper Cosbert and a 1st round pick for Don'tae Hightower and a 2nd. Again, I went 9-7, this time making the playoffs, with Woodhead being my top halfback. In the playoffs, I fought a tough defensive battle against Bmore and wound up throwing a terrible user pick in the endzone, eventually losing 20-17.

This offseason was a big one for my team, and with the 13th pick in the draft, I took halfback DeRay Ray. The league perception at first was positive. He was probably the only draft pick I ever got a "nice pick" on. DeRay Ray was fat. He couldn't play more than 2 downs in a row, and didn't save my run game at all. My 14th overall pick wasn't much better, with Brandan Collins at WR coming in, presumably to give me a big outside threat in the 3 spot (Patriots playbook). His lack of acceleration wasn't a benefit to him, but he was a guy I could work on given time.

After that, my draft went fairly well. I drafted OLB Audre Myers, who looked to be just as solid for my system as Hightower was. I had also traded away TE Aaron Hernandez for a few picks and LT Donald Penn (to be used at RT). In the 3rd round I drafted solid receiving tight end Jeff Galosic with one of those picks, and roaming free safety Kenneth Lyons. While Galosic was a downgrade, the overall value I got for Hernandez was decent, and I don't run many twin TE sets anyways.

Starting the season, Brady had a terrible preseason, so I was prepared to use one of my young QB's in Shuman or Ralston. While they both were able to move the ball, it just wasn't the same. With no outside threat, I traded my 3rd and 5th round picks to the Rams for WR Clarence Richard. Richard was a great addition for me, and got me into many more games. Unfortunately, even with some veteran signings, I kept losing by small margins, and was 1-4. I just couldn't play to the level of the team I built. I admit I'm not the best Madden player ever, so it was hard to watch a really solid team fall apart cause of my own user abilities.

The Minnesota Vikings

After my 1-4 start, I changed teams. I offered to do it after the season, but was told it would be better to find a new Patriots owner ASAP. Turned out to be a good decision for them, because they managed to turn it around and finish 9-7, barely missing the playoffs.

The Vikings were in deep **** when I took over. $150 million in penalties from a rouge GM, still had Adrian Peterson and a Solid starting quarterback, as well as a few good playmakers on D including Chad Greenway and Jared Allen.

After going 1-15 with a 30 man roster, an very little talent on it, I acquired the #1 pick in the draft. Knowing how madden drafts go, I wanted to spread out my wealth and rebuild as many skill positions as I could in year 1. I also made the tough decision of trading Adrian Peterson. While he is the cornerstone of the real life team, On a 30 man roster with 7 legitimate trade assets, he became the only way to guarantee some skill at other positions. I got a top young corner in Arik Casher as well as a bunch of draft picks.

In the draft, I got a perfect receiver for my game in D'antwone Baltimore, as well as solid halfback Ricardo Cummings. I also drafted 2 other receivers and a back up halfback, while getting a good young DT and some solid Cornerbacks later on.

In free agency, I lost out on a few of my targets, being too tenative with my offers, to make sure I didn't overspend, but managed to sign Jerod Mayo as well as a few nice guys who would start or sub in at their various positions.

The season started well for my team, with a 4-2 start, but it turned around there, and we finished 6-10.


And that was it. I wasn't able to implement my year 2 rebuild plan. I left the league with 5 picks in the top 70, as well as $55 million in cap space to help me fill out my roster.

As you can see in this maddendaddy roster page, http://maddendaddy.com/SOSCrew/team/min/roster, the computer management team wasted those opportunities.

I'll never know the full potential of my Vikings team. My gameplan was set, I just needed to be able to implement it.

Conclusion:

The SOS Crew was the best online sports gaming experience I've had. While I didn't agree with the timing or calls on a few things that changed my plans for my teams, I always put it behind me after a while and continued on. I don't regret any management decisions I made, other than not overspending in Free Agency as the Vikings, but that's realistic, and I was prepared to spend in year 2.

While I may not always make popular moves within the league, I made good ones for my visions of my teams. Sometimes I feel I allowed others to be too much apart of that decision. I've learned a lot for someone who came into Madden 13 having no knowledge of football, or online football at all.

I'll miss it. I hope one day I can return.