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01-09-2001, 06:02 PM
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#1 | ||
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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House Arrest Black Squirrels, 2022-
Black Squirrels 2022-
I'm playing this career under a fairly lengthy series of house rules-trying to compress most of the game's many areas fertile for abuse, and to simultaneously make the game: challenging, interesting, steerable, and realistic. Since the house rules are fairly rigorous, I've adopted the name "house arrest" for this system. If you want the long version of the rules and history from 2002 to 2007, try this link: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/ubb/...ML/000098.html The team's history from 2008 through 2011 is in this thread: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/ubb/...ML/000102.html Then, the team's downward path from 2012 through 2017 is detailed here: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/ubb/...ML/000116.html Finally, the years from 2018-2021 are on this thread: http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/ubb/...ML/000122.html The short version of the rules I'm using follows: FOF 2001, Wall Street, empty cupboard start with the 2002 expansion team Ticket prices no higher than those of my nearest geographic competitor (Denver) Several contract restrictions, including: -no signing non-rookie players, other than the second half of the 20-stage FA process -no unrealistic contract durations for first and second year players -no backloading of contracts - annual salary increases up to 25% only -any free agent seeking a bonus gets one at least as big as the median annual salary -URFAs may get 4yr doubling deal with modest bonus money No contract renegotiations No franchise tag Full roster of 53 each season Player from home state (Colorado) college at each position group at all times Making effort to sign and hold Colorado players whenever practical I'm allowing myself some slack with my FA restrictions with my Colorado school guys No initiating trades - may only accept CPU trade after adjusting it (reality check) In short, the team is being almost exclusively built from within, with a few fill-in types from the late rounds of free agency. Once my players get past their rookie deals, I compete on the open market to retain their services. Here is the short history of the team-the GM performance printout:
We suffered a serious down period, missing the playoffs for five straight years. We then got things together, took a step forward, and then we kicked in the door with a fabulous 2020 season. However, things inexplicably fell apart in 2021, as we failed to even get into the playoffs to defend our title. This year, we have a new young head coach who ought to reinvigorate the offense. However, his commitment to injury prevention is rather dubious, and that's a big gamble for us. So far, I'm finding these rules to be a pretty effective and realistic mix-every season I'm facing tough choices, and obviously the team has had very realistic ups and downs. Two titles in 20 seasons isn't too impressive by open play standards, but I feel like the success I've gleaned from this franchise had been hard-earned. That is enjoyable. The story continues below... |
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01-09-2001, 06:05 PM
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#2 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2022 pre-draft
Suddenly, our financial good fortunes have evaporated like dewdrops. We cleared $4m this year, a far cry from the cash bonanza of a year ago. Our attendance stayed pretty high-growing to 90.7%, in the top third of the league or so. My scout is still signed, but the coach's deal is due. He has won us a title, but last year was tough to figure. Injuries got out of control, and the team seemed to just give up down the stretch. I'll look seriously at some new and younger blood. I make a run at one of the best guys I can find-who happens to be Lamar Mansell, the current coach of the Broncos. Denver has to increase their bid to get their man back, but they do, for about $9m a year. I still have my incumbent available, but instead I make a pretty risky pick… Sedrick Grant is our new coach, at 38 years of age just out of the coaching womb. He was a TE at the University of Oregon, put in a few years with the Chicago Bears and then the Portland Cyberhakws, and then got into coaching. He has been the receivers coach and then offensive coordinator for the Jets, and I'm bringing him in to take the reins of this franchise. He will have good and bad news. Here are his ratings: QB, RB, WR, P/K - all VG OL, DL, LB, DB - all GOOD Young Talent - GOOD Motivation - FAIR Discipline - GOOD Off & Def Play Call - VERY GOOD Avoid Injury - POOR Yes, I know. I know. Somehow, I'm inclined to think I'll be immune from any problems. We'll see if it works out. He gets a five year deal, at a little over $5m per-so I'll save money for as long as he stays on board. We make ticket price "adjustments" - some up, some down, in keeping with whatever the dopes in Denver are doing. All very small movements. Public support for a new stadium is only average, so I let that go for now-I still don't have a house rule in place, but it doesn't make sense to build while I'm not even filling my current stadium. We have one retirement from the team this year-venerable safety Steve Frank has finally had enough. He'll get a one way ticket to the Squirrel Hall of Fame, and I'd have to think he's got a good shot to go first ballot into Canton. He's the league's all-time leader in interceptions and tackles, and has had a great career-- I may detail it here when I get a chance. We face a nearly complete exodus with players heading to free agency. I simply have a ton of contracts expired, and I'll have a lot of moving parts this off-season. A lot. Here is the big picture:
Even without looking at the specific list, knowing that I only have 26 players signed, and have already used up three-fourths of the salary cap is not a good sign. Seeing that there are several potential FAs that I need to keep-guys like T Joel Ignasiak, and LB Raymond Coppola, and WR Preston Adderly… then it becomes clear. $51.6 million just isn't going to get it done in signing these guys, plus filling all the holes I'll have clearly left after I sign whoever I can. This is going to be a tough off-season-it's difficult to think about "rebuilding" when you won the Superbowl two years before, but we might be in that posture like it or not. I decide that priority #1 is T Ignasiak. He wants $12-13m, but I'd rather get him locked up long term. I offer 4yrs, $51m. I have to be prepared to increase that if need be. LB Raymond Coppola is my foundation defensive player right now-he has to stay as well. I put in 4yrs, $40.5m for him. That's where I stop for now. WR Adderly would be a good pickup, but I need to save money, and he's demanding $14m a year. LB Casey Finley would also be nice to have, but it looks unlikely. After week one, I'm the top bidder for Ignasiak, but Coppola I getting a lot of other offers. I bump him to $48m, which is still a bit less than the Rams are offering him. In week three, they both take my bids-I have my two big guns landed, but am down to $29m in cap room. The most tantalizing FA in this entire pool is a punter-P Doug Cunningham was a third round pick for Cincinnati, and has ratings of 98/96/98. Oh, and he's from Air Force. I have my eye on several other guys, too-I'm probably going to need a LB, whether it's Finley or someone new. My TE Wendell Rivers takes a $7m/yr deal with Cleveland-no way I can match that, no matter how cute he is. In week 6, my WR Preston Adderly gets an offer from Minnesota, and take it for $56m over 4 years. He's going to be overpaid, I assure you that much. He overachieves relative to his ratings, but those ratings are dropping off after a long and productive season. They're buying the downhill curve-think Irving Fryar. To my dismay, P Doug Cunningham re-signs with Cincinnati-for about $2.4m a year. Whoa. At the end of the FA period, I put in offers for cheap players at G, T, and LB. I also make an unusual move-finding a solid second year DE, and offering him the deal he wants- 5yrs, $20m. DE John Neigebauer looks like he could be a very solid #3 or even #2 outside man, and the price is solid, though he does look for a good bonus up front. I also put in a bid for WR Stanley Brennan, a 5th year man from Carolina, who just had his first 1,000-yard season last year, but looks solid. I offer 3yrs, $19.5m-about half what the Rams paid for my guy Adderly. Those five represent my entire shopping spree this year. I head toward the rookie draft with $15m in cap room. The thing is, we still have 20 positions left to fill, meaning that even at minsal, these $700,000 players are going to add up-I'll be lucky to just get under the cap this season, unless I decide to cut someone expensive. In this draft, there are four legitimate Colorado players-a very, very good LB (ranked at the top of the consensus board for all positions with a 2.7/8.1 rating), a 2.8/7.8 OT, a 4.6/7.5 DE, and a decent later-round caliber CB. Hard to imagine all these guys in one draft, when I'm used to seeing at most one draftable player in a given season. I'll be picking #16-we'll see what is there for me at that spot. |
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01-09-2001, 06:06 PM
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#3 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2022 draft and camp
I'm hoping for one of the Colorado kids to fall to me, but they go in sequence at 9-10-11, and I'm left without any of the big three. I do have needs to fill on this team, and they start with safety-where Steve Frank's departure leaves us quite empty. I could use help at WR and LB as well. My scout says this is a no-brainer. WR Adrian Fruth is the obvious pick-he's been at the top of my scout's list since the very beginning. I'm leery of the best safety-he looks like a bust to me. There are several quality LBs, but none knock my socks off.
This gets me to 41 players, and takes my cap room down to $3.5m. The numbers just don't work here-I can afford at most five more rookies. I have to make a cut, and I think I know where it will be. DT Alex Dosoo is making $18 million this year, and his ratings have fallen off (82/55/82). He simply no longer merits that kind of investment, and his bonus is entirely within this year-so I won't take a hit next season as a result of this cut. I let him go. This clears up a lot of room, but regrettably I have a lot of unsigned players still listed on my roster at this point, and can only fill my roster up to 49 players before I head into camp. I'm disappointed, but I'll have more roster filling to do after training camp-I'll be short on Colorado players, for sure. Here is our pre-camp roster:
We'll see how everyone fares this camp-I am very curious about my third-round pick at RB. Skip Murillo, if he just holds his current ratings, looks like a very solid RB. However, he shows practically no green bars-could he be a RN breakout, following the pattern of some other positions which can be forecasted? or maybe he is a bust in waiting? I don't know, but he was too intriguing to pass up in the draft, once he dropped into round three. We'll see…
WR Adrian Fruth looks fine, but CB Tyrus Witt lost a bit- particularly in his run defense potential. I guess making big tackles against the guys playing for Navy was a little easier than in the NFL, huh Irish boy? The big news is, of course, with RB Skip Murillo-whose ratings jumped up a bit, and his potentials look topped out. I'll have trouble putting him behind the mildly disappointing Sherman Chandler-he looks like he's a better player than Chandler. For this year, at least, I ought to have a mean tandem. No other surprises among my rookies. DE John Neigebauer, my FA signee-looks like a modest bust in this camp. His potentials dropped off a bit, which is disappointing. I get trade offers, including one for RB Lee Garrett. With the arrival of Skip Murillo, Garrett will be a distant third option-I take the second rounder for him gladly. I re-sign BR Hardy Hodges-a Colorado guy-to fill the third RB roster spot. After all the cuts and wiggles, here is the roster heading toward the 2022 season:
We have a lot of turnover happening here, and not a lot of good news. The addition of a twin engine at RB is exciting, but it would be a lot more exciting if it were at a position where I hadn't already made a big, long-term investment. I'd much rather have seen the superstar pop up at, say, CB. Alas-we'll take the young RB stud. This year, we'll shot for a return to the playoffs, and perhaps some shadow of our former glory. Our new coach should bring out better performance by my DL in particular, and our game-day issues should be okay. I'm afraid we'll have a M*A*S*H unit out there, but I got the guy who seemed best suited for the job. We'll see if he works out. I'm looking for 10-11 wins and a good playoff berth. |
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01-10-2001, 11:26 AM
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#4 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2022 season
I go through and set up my team's game plan. I check my expertise levels-again, they are rather low. Even in areas where I allocated maximum time in camp, like 4-3 defense and man-to-man coverage, I have average ratings at best (50,57 respectively). There is very little difference between areas where I left the bar right in the middle (I-formation 45, Pro Formation 42) and where I deliberately moved it up to the ¾ mark or better (Two minute drill 53, red zone offense 48). I'm furious. In my backfield, I'm surprised that my scout suggests that my rookie CB Tyrus Witt ought to start ahead of highly-paid veteran Juan Gunn. I override him, and instead I'll have Witt start at strong safety, ahead of the marginal Seth Lee. No other big changes-I'm putting in RB Skip Murillo as the starter from the get-go-the guy just looks like liquid gold to me. Our roster again ranks as a 100, with Portland the surprise second place with 81, and Jacksonville right behind with 77. Denver has a 29-after making a very curious decision. I see QB Marty Alexander in the free agent pool after training camp-he's been their mainstay QB for the last several years, and made second-team all-pro last season. I'm very surprised to see him let go, it will have to have nasty effects. It appears they are going to go with Isaac Mooney, their several-year backup who played a few games for the injured Alexander a couple seasons ago. Mooney played well for those few games, but doesn't seem to have anywhere near Alexander's talent. It looks like a bonehead move to me. My team's cohesion is about the same as usual-but down from releasing DT Alex Dosoo and losing safety Steve Frank, I suppose. We are at 60-67-74-60, which puts us toward the bottom on offense and near the middle on defense-as usual. The exhibition season results in an injury to TE Wade Howard, but we'll live through that. We head into the regular season. Our opener is in Miami. Wow. They pants us, 30-17. Murillo carries 15 times for 14 yards. Lee Garrett (we remember him!) carried the ball 16 times for 113 yards and a TD for Miami. Nice game, guys. We get one of our TD on a punt block-I'm sure we can count on one of those every week. In San Diego, we get our first win, 17-13. Rookie WR Adrian Fruth was the star with 8 catches for 121 and his first NFL TD. Our next game is hosting the Denver Broncos-who lead the division with a 2-0 record. The Denver game is about more than one win or one loss. It's a way of life. QB Isaac Mooney has thrown 5 TDs to 1 Int in his first two games-he seems to be okay so far. We would like to give him a "welcome" to the starter's job in our own way. We're firing up the L-train… Things aren't so bright for Isaac Mooney after we sack him 7 times. Lionel Schumacher had 2.5 sacks, and DT Ernest Perry another 1 ½. We win it 30-17, as we hold them to 15 yards on 18 carries overall. At QB, Loverne goes down injured, Jennings comes in to fill in, but then he has to come out, and our rookie Orellana has to fill in-he throws 16 of 23 for 189 yards and a TD in sealing the big rivalry win. All the QBs are okay for next week-we have our bye, and we'll all rest up. So, after a shocking first week loss, we're back to 2-1, and looking pretty good. We take on Arizona, out in the desert, and we'll look for a win against a team that has a long sordid history-even though they are 3-1 right now. We outgain them dramatically, but the Cards get a 28-24 win. Next we take on Boise City-who are 4-0 so far. We again play well at home, getting a 43-14 win-benefiting from an interception TD, a punt return TD, and a safety. Our offense really didn't have a big day, but we put up big points. Into Seattle next, where we are both 3-2. We rough up the Hawks, 26-7, getting a great game from our defense, who allowed only 208 yards. Home against Cheyenne (we're playing all the oddball teams this year, it seems) we get a 34-13 win, and get to 5-2 on the season. The defense is strong, and RB Skip Murillo has a 200-yard day running, plus 3 total TDs. Very solid. We're now tied with San Diego at 5-2 for the division lead-Denver has slipped to 4-3, but they're still in it. Incidentally, Denver's former QB Marty Alexander has caught on with the Bears. He has an 86.2 rating over there so far this year with 7 starts, and has them at 5-2 and in the lead in the NFC Central. As I stroll through the numbers, I also notice that WR Preston Adderly has 730 yards receiving in his first 8 games with Minnesota-they seem to be squeezing him for all he's worth. A win over Oakland gets us to 6-2 at the season's halfway point. WR Kris Ferderer bounces back from his early-season injury woes with 3 TDs in the first half, as we cruise to an easy win, and allow Oakland only 141 total yards. I lose my starting C Steven Morris for the year, but I fill in with one of my backup guards. Next we host San Diego-a big game at this point. We take San Diego 26-15 at our place. DE Lionel Schumacher adds on to a great season with another sack, plus a 63-yard fumble return for a TD. WR Adrian Fruth goes down with an injury, but we're deep there and can handle it. We host Seattle, and we squeak out a 20-17 win. RB Skip Murillo's 69 yard TD run in the early 4th quarter put the game out of reach, even though they did come back with one late TD. In Kansas City, we get stung 23-20. They outplay us, but we still had a chance with a late drive that didn't quite get there for a tying FG. We're a bit demoralized, and we now have to head into Denver, who has pulled even with us at 8-3, and are on a roll. Predictably, they win it-but the fashion wasn't predictable. They flatten us, 27-0. We come out of the game looking like a triage unit, and I suddenly feel badly about bringing in a coach with a spotty reputation for injuries. I have 11 players listed as probable, and 5 listed as questionable. It's tough to build a team around that many dead bodies- I have little choice but to keep using them and hope they don't get worse. We host Cincinnati, who is trying to rebuild, and we get a much-needed win, 28-17. They get a decent day out of my former RB Luther Sellunger, but we win the day with a better overall performance, by far. Oakland's not as bad as they started out, but we still beat them 24-17. We did give up a 24-0 lead as the fourth quarter started and made it look close, but it really wasn't. At 10-4 now, we're a game behind Denver, and the division is down to the two of us. We have identical division records (and split head to head) so if they stumble, I could get the division title. The other two division leaders in the AFC are both at 10-4, so the bye weeks are still up for grabs. We win over Kansas City, 46-20, as my two RBs both have nice days. Murillo has a couple of TDs as the starting RB, and Sherman Chandler gets 4 carries for 35 yards, and 7 catches for 95 yards as a reserve receiver and fill-in running back. The big news, however, is that the broncos were choking dogs, and were unable to beat the division cellar-dweller Raiders. As a result, we move into the tie, but with the superior division record, the Squirrels stand to take it. The playoffs are a mess-Boise City, Tennessee, Colorado Springs and Denver are all 11-4, while Jacksonville is 10-5. There are a nearly infinite number of ways this could work out in seedings, but one thing si clear-if we beat 3-12 Washington, we win the AFC West. I also think we'd at least get a bye-as we have a strong conference record that can only be tied, not beaten. Ugh. 12-7. Washington beats us as we just completely misfire. It's a pretty even game, but we just couldn't score in their red zone. Ouch. Denver wins their finale, and they take the division at 12-4. At 11-5, we are the #4 seed, and we get to host Tennessee-who also lost their finale and choked away the division crown to Jacksonville. Not the finish we were looking for, but we're looking to make an impact in the playoffs-we'd love another shot at the Broncos.
Stat leaders: QB Tim Loverne: 3,363 yds, 60.2%, 7.82 ypa, 23/11, 92.0 RB Skip Murillo: 238-1,328 yds, 10 TD (5.5 ypc) WR Kris Ferderer: 51-875 yds, 6 TD (57.9%, 7 drops) OL unit: ~36% KRBs, 38 sacks allowed OT Joel Ignasiak: 41/91 KRBs (45.5%), 4 sacks allowed/486 pass plays LB Raymond Coppola: 117 tackles, 1.5 sacks DE Lionel Schumacher: 23 sacks, 6 blocks, 12 hurries S Gerald Hardman: 73 tackles, 2 sacks, 5 int, 1 TD, 29.5 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 4.5 / 3.5 / 3.8 Passing: 7.6 / 6.6 / 6.8 What's not to like? Our running game got even better with the addition of a new young stud back. Our passing game was solid, despite a lot of injuries to our corps of receivers. Our defensive line took a huge step forward, with the addition of a coach who has some idea how to guide that position. Overall, we played far better statistically than last season, and it showed. Now, we just need to continue that play-the good parts-into the postseason. Despite slipping to wild card status, I think we are a real player in these wide-open playoffs. |
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01-10-2001, 11:39 AM
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#5 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
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Quik,
Here is a little trick to get around the roster size limit when you have lots of unsigned players before camp. There will be some former URFAs that will sign bonus free contracts. What I do is sign them and then immediately cut them. This allows you to sign a player to replace them. What horrible management by those Broncos. Slapping the franchise tag on their star QB and then not saving the cap room to get him signed. Marmel, why do you care for a team with management as smart as Mike Brown? Todd
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"It's a great day for hockey" - "Badger" Bob Johnson |
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01-10-2001, 11:51 AM
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#6 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Manchester, CT
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After speaking to the Broncos GM following the controversial move, he assured me they knew what they were doing.
They did not want to flat out cut their starting QB, since he has won a ring with the team, but they felt the youngster was the future of the team, and wanted him to have the starting job, with no pressure from a superbowl winning 2nd string QB, hence the moves they made. And apparently, it worked out fine, as they were able to take the division title out of the hands of the choking Squirrels in week 17 of the regular season.
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81-78 Cincinnati basketball writer P. Daugherty, "Connor Barwin playing several minutes against Syracuse is like kids with slingshots taking down Caesar's legions." |
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01-10-2001, 01:12 PM
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#7 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2022 postseason
We have, of course, a number of injuries to account for. Lots of guys listed as "questionable' will start in this playoff game-we hope not to lose more to further injuries as the game progresses, which seems to happen a lot. FB Brenden Pohl is out, but we did get our starting center back, which is a big step up from the patchwork we had in place there. Tennessee will have their starting QB, Norm Flannery, hobble out to play despite a back injury. Their WR Cornell Coles is a young but effective receiving threat, and they have a 1,110 yard back in Rex Bernstein. They will want to run the ball a lot, find Coles over the middle, and create turnovers on defense. We get the ball first, and get good position after the return. Loverne gets a few completions, and tops it off with a 5-yarder to Brennan for the score. They get one first down, then punt it back to us. Nothing happens for a while, until they pick off Loverne in the late first quarter. From our 49, they can't do anything, and we get it back in decent shape. In the middle second quarter, they get a 35-yarder to Coles, and get down to our 22 yard line. After a few plays, Bernstein takes it in, for the 7-7 tie. We respond with a drive of our own, and Brennan gets his second TD pass as we move back ahead. The 14-7 score holds until the half. In the early third quarter, my third-string QB Orellana is in, and I don't know why. Nonetheless, he throws a TD pass to RB Murillo, so I'm not complaining. The Titans respond with a FG, and it's 21-10. QB Orelalana stays in, and he directs a nice drive for a FG, and we regain out 2 TD lead. The Titans get a TD on a quick drive-with two straight passes to receivers playing across from their star. We get the ball down to their 29, but our 46 yard kick misses left. They have 2:34 to close the 7 point gap. They get a huge penalty on 3rd and 11, and then a big pass to Coles to get down to our 19. Flannery again finds this "Kight" guy for a TD, and it's s tie game with 1:08 left. We can't get it going, and we head into overtime toed at 24. We win the toss, and my WR Fruth gets a great kickoff return, all the way down to their 44. Murillo rips off 11 yards on the first play for a first down. Two quick passes get us to the 19. We then face fourth down at their 12 yard line, and it's time to kick. Sherman is true from 29, and it's over. Whew! In our next playoff game, we get our wish… a postseason showdown with the Denver Broncos. This is a circus. Families are divided, flags are being flown, it's a total zoo. Both teams are talking trash. It's pandemonium in Colorado. We know what they are all about. WR Brenden Dye had 1978 yards this year, following up his 2,000-yard season last year with almost another one. He is probably the best offensive player in the game, and he makes them tick. He has big days against us pretty regularly, but if you define "big day" as 125 yards-then I guess that's just an average day for him. With Dye leading the way, they have a strong offense-QB Isaac Mooney was very effective this year, throwing for 3,657 yards and 26/13. On defense, they will get some pass pressure, but rely on good tackling and two great safeties who will go for the big play. They have a nearly perfect bill of health, and will have everything in place. For me, we have troubles. QB Tim Loverne is doubtful with a groin pull-he will not play. Even my rookie Lance Orellana is questionable with turf toe. My starter will have to be Lester Jennings-a Colorado Buffalo, who has been on this team largely for that reason. He shouldn't embarrass us, but he's not the star that we need for this big game. WR Kris Ferderer is also going to be out. We have guys limping every where-it's an ugly scene. However, we scrape together a lineup, and head into Denver for this great showdown. Denver gets it first. Their QB Mooney is like Houdini-he gets out of so many jams! He converts three different third downs to set up first and goal, and then hits Dye in the end zone for the lead. The Broncos fans erupt with joy. Marmel spills his beer on the 38-lb. gorilla in front of him, and then cowers behind his wife, who is decked out in black. We come out passing as well, and move to into Denver territory. However, we must punt, and they take over at their 20. On their next third down, they don't get a magic act-we do. My CB Juan Gunn gets an interception, and takes it almost all the way-down to the 2 yard line. Murillo tries twice, and then we throw a short pass, but still only get to the 1 yard line. We take the 3 points, but they get the lift by their impressive defensive stand. We finally cause them to actually punt the ball, in the middle of the third quarter-only their third possession. A holding penalty kills our drive and they take over at midfield. It's Dye on another short TD pass, and they go ahead 14-3. My biggest problem is that Dye is matching up against CB Taylor, who is playing despite a knee injury, and he probably shouldn't be out there at all. I have nobody who can handle Dye, or even come close. Into the third quarter, we have the ball and move into Denver territory. Murillo breaks a great run for 35 yards and a TD, and we're back in it, down 14-10. On our next possession, we are again stopped by penalties, but we do get a 47-yard FG to pull within 1 point. Without our best QB and WR, we still seem to be able to play ball with these guys. On their next possession, they start with three runs, and then go up top to Dye for 33 in one grab. Fortunately, Schumacher forces a bad throw on third and long, and we get the ball back without a score. As the third quarter expires, we are near midfield, and driving again. We push our luck and try another long FG, but this one missed just wide right. As the 7 minute mark passes, we punt them deep, and they take over at their 14. Mooney gets them out of the hole, and they march 86 yards for the TD. With that, the margin is 8, and we are looking to be in some trouble. We go four and out on our next possession, and it looks like the party's over. Denver moves in and strikes-Dye gets his third TD (all very short), and they seal it up. Denver wins it 28-13, and our season comes to a close. The injuries definitely hurt us down the stretch, but it wasn't as bad as I had feared it might be. We could field a complete team, even though several guys had to play hurt. I don't know what else might have happened had we had a lower-skills coach with a better rating for avoiding injuries. Never can say. Denver beats Jacksonville, and they earn the right to go to the Superbowl, against Philadelphia. The AFC West has some pride on the line, as we have garnered the last three league titles, and have another shot here. That said, it would truly pain me to see these guys win it all again. The Eagles hear my prayers, and they win the Superbowl 27-20. Their QB Willie Simmons has 3 TDs and a beautiful game in leading the victory-he became the league's all-time passing leader this season, and this tops it off nicely for him. We are ably represented on the post-season awards list. RB Skip Murillo is named the Offensive Rookie of the Year, and also gets a second-team slot overall, right behind Wade Chathavong from Kansas City. I have several first teamers in T Joel Ignasiak (a no brainer), DE Lionel Schumacher, and LB Raymond Coppola. My FB Brenden Pohl joins Murillo on the second team. Curiously (game issue here) my rookie CB Witt(who started at SS all year) is named to the second team also, presumably because his tackle total (of 56) is very high for a CB. Personally, I really don't want my CBs making a lot of tackles-I think giving them credit there is dubious at best. It's obviously a game quirk, but I can live with it. On to next season-I have cut a number of my one-year free agents, in an effort to have more room next pre-season to acquire URFAs. All my Colorado guys stay aboard-I don't want any of them to hate me forever, I may need them! |
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01-10-2001, 01:13 PM
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#8 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Todd, good idea with the unsigned free agents. I'll probably do some of that, though I hate having too many players running around hating me... geez, Marmel's bad enough.
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01-10-2001, 01:29 PM
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#9 |
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Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Manchester, CT
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Quik, on a serious note (before I mail another "letter" to you), this has been the most enjoyable career thread of your to date.
So good, in fact, that you have inspired me to run a challenge in the same manner. I may or may not end up posting it here, but I like your house rules, and I like the geographic rivalry. My question to you is, was your team ending up in Colorado Springs, and in the AFC West with the Broncos purely a coincidence? If I remember you just took over the first expansion team, correct? I hope you are not getting bored of this career yet, because I am thoroughly enjoying it! Thanks!
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81-78 Cincinnati basketball writer P. Daugherty, "Connor Barwin playing several minutes against Syracuse is like kids with slingshots taking down Caesar's legions." |
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01-10-2001, 02:51 PM
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#10 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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On a serious note again, I have had more fun with this career than any I can recall. The many levels of rules-- while a little complicated-- all make a certain level of sense to me, and I'm finding myself having real struggles.
I do think that my struggles a few seasons ago were due to stubbornness at the QB position, and were probably avoidable. However, I think I'm suffering the results o fthe pendulum swingin the other way-- I overpaid for some players for a couple of years, and now I'm in cap trouble as a result. With the limitations on acquiring players and making trades, plus the other odds and ends like keeping my complement of Colorado kids, it's all come together for a remarkably playable career. No end in sight for me-- unlike most of mine, where I can't wait to try something new after 10-20 seasons. On your question-- I decided the rules (about home-state players and basing my financials on my regional rival) in advance, and just determined that I would take the expansion team. The fact that it landed in Colorado Springs, and that my regional rival would also be a divisional rival, are both coincidences. Just worked out that way, but I'm quite glad it did. |
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01-10-2001, 03:00 PM
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#11 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2023 pre-draft
We got back into the black this year, turning a $34m profit. Ticket sales were up nicely (with a home playoff game), and the modest increase in coaching costs hardly was noticed. Our attendance was at 91.4%, reflecting strong local support for our team-one Marmel notwithstanding. My scout is 55 and still under contract. I'll look, but probably ill sit tight. My coach is a bit dubious-I'll look a little more seriously there. I see the guy whom I have coveted for years-Kelvin Newton. He would cost a fortune, but if I could steal him away from Tampa, I'd be a happy guy. I put in a bid of $12 million, which would place him about sixth-highest paid in the league. I feel pretty good, until I see the bids that come in-St. Louis is tops, offering him (gulp) $21.34m a year. That's just not happening here in Squirrel town After week two, no surprise, he takes the Rams' bid-he's now the highest paid coach by about $7m a year. I decide to bring in a new coach-he's Lamar Evans, Sr. He might be familiar to some, since he is the father of one of our starting guards, Lamar Evans, Jr. An interesting coincidence, but this guy is here because we think he can do the job. Here is a nutshell of his ratings: QB, RB, LB, DB, P/K - VERY GOOD REC, OL, DL - GOOD Young Talent - VERY GOOD Motivation - FAIR Discipline - VERY GOOD Off & Def Play Calling - GOOD Avoid Injury - VERY GOOD He's 49 years old, signs for cheap, and shouldn't be the singular cause of any particular problem. This guy honestly looks familiar-but I suspect it's that I've had guys with the same single downside (motivation) before. I suspect he will be pretty solid, and he'll let our guys play the game (whatever that means). We make small ticket price adjustments, but they will not yield any big changes. We did not have any retirements this off-season, and so we bring back a fairly hefty roster. Here is the roster situation as we start free agency:
Just seeing that tiny figure of $20 million in room lets me know this will be another tough year. Among my departing players, I have nobody I cannot live without. That makes life easier. The main trouble area is that we have two DTs leaving-and they represent 100% of the legitimate talent I have on my team at that position. So, I'd be well off to retain at least one of them-probably Perry who is still restricted and can be weaseled. If I let DE Rick Lock and DT Lamont Kaplan go, I'll have serious turnover on my DL, and I'll need to make additions there through free agency or draft picks. However, it's not a crisis situation. I have a slew of draft offers. I'm offered the #13 pick in this draft plus a solid DT for RB Skip Murillo. I think I'm pretty well sold on Murillo, and I'm not inclined to deal him away. I also am offered a 2nd round pick for C Steven Morris, which isn't a bad deal-his salary is growing pretty steeply. A 3rd round pick for S Gerald Hardman makes no sense for me. Nor does dealing away G Ignasiak-though pick #12 overall plus a solid QB isn't a bad offer. However, the offer that I find most intriguing is a first round pick for RB Sherman Chandler. Chandler is clearly my second team guy now, and pick #15 is very tasty. However, it's Cincinnati offering-and I'm very reluctant to help them get back on top. In the end, I decide that I must make the deal-they get Chandler, and I'm now committed to Murillo-the two had the same remaining contract duration, so I was going to have to choose anyway. In free agency, I am very surprised to see that QB Lester Jennings is only asking for a 2yr, $11m contract. I don't think he's worth it, but I had fully expected him to have the pro forma QB demand of $14-16-19-22m or somesuch nonsense. He's a backup-grade guy, and he's asking for about a third as much money as we'd pay a starter-which doesn't seem unfair to me. I almost want to reward him for his reasonableness with an offer… almost enough to do so. I don't make any offers, and instead just roll right into the FA period. San Fran seems to think that my Colorado fill-in RB (perpetual 3rd stringer) is good enough to merit a $15m/yr offer sheet. Whatever. That's why you never hear about the 49ers being in my Superbowls in this career. The biggest news in the free agency market, though is that all-universe WR Brenden Dye was allowed to get away by the Broncos. Inexplicably, the super-talented wideout was not renegotiatied, he went into the open pool, and in week one has signed a 3yr, $38m deal with… Chicago. There, he will presumably join up again with QB Marty Alexander, who the team has used their franchise tag to keep. That should be something to watch-I'm delighted that the pair has left the AFC West, and specifically, that Denver has frittered away possibly its best player ever. At week 8, San Francisco and San Diego are in a bidding war for RB Hardy Hodges, and he's patiently waiting. In my opinion, he ought to wake up and take the money before they wisen up! DE Rick Lock and DT Lamont Kaplan sign deals for $11m/yr and $13m/yr, respectively, and are on their happy way. When I get to week 11, SF goes over their salary cap, and RB Hodges is sitting there with nobody around bidding any more. I put in late bids for a fairly cheap young CB Courtney Wooten, and a promising C named Scott Colley. I haggle with T Ted Bell, and eventually offer him exactly what he's asking for, which is still pretty cheap. Finally, I get some insurance by getting DT Omar Fortin-a decent DT, but not a lot of endurance. He'd be a great #3, but a shaky #2 there. These four signings drop my cap room to $15.1m, but I'm not holding too much money aside for any purpose other than re-signing DT Ernest Perry, which should cost us about $9m this year, I'd hazard. Contemplating the difficulty in getting DT Perry signed, I decide to pursue one more free agent-just in case. I release DE Neigebauer - a total flop from free agency last year-and I use the cap room to grab two more DTs-Ed Wallace and Andre Atkins. With those three on hand (none requested or got any signing bonus) I should be covered, in case I cannot or will not re-sign Perry. My fear is that re-signing Perry-who is only incrementally better than these FA-pile fillers-is the sort of dumb move that leaves me too little room to move later. I'll have all three of these DTs under contract for less than just the cost of Perry-and cutting these guys is a snap. I think it's probably the wise way to go. The Packers offer me a 5th round pick for T D.J. Barber, and since he'll be my third or fourth man there (at over $2 million) I accept the offer. With two first round picks at #15 and #30, I expect to bring in some impact guys. My need areas are: CB (still looking for a star there), DE (need a third guy), and LB (need top-grade OLB). I have roster gaps at QB, RB, TE, and P-all those will need some addition of some sort. A star-quality TE would be nice, but otherwise, I have a solid Colorado guy on hand already. |
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01-10-2001, 04:29 PM
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#12 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2023 draft and camp
Looking over the entire draft, I see a handful of future stars-but nobody who really, really stands out. Not a very top-heavy draft-and not a great draft to have bought into with a big trade. Oh, well. The players I'd most like to see fall to me are CB Geoff Sheffield or LB Travis Fisk, but G Joseph Rosencrantz is a complete stallion as well. (And if I could get another G named Guildenstern, then all bets are off) As I get past pick #12-both of my to two guys are still available. Only two more picks before I get my chance-they couldn't possibly both go there, right? Well, half right. LB Travis Fisk goes with pick #13, and then Oakland takes a pass rushing DE who I didn't really like. So, I get the corner I really needed-he's a solid "A-minus" guy, no argument against that.
Though I neglected to mention it earlier, safety was a need area-and once again we don't really get "the answer." Edmondson is decent, and can cover-but I don't think he'll be a long-time answer there for us. I'm down to under $2m in cap room, and so re-signing DT Perry is totally out of the question. I was thinking about re-signing QB Lester Jennings, but at $4m plus, I don't think I can swing that either. Denver offers a third round pick for T Travis Denman. Though I hate to deal with the devil here, I like the offer (especially with the rookie I just signed) and I take the deal. That bumps up my cap room a bit. I figure that in order to sign rookies and free agents, I'm going to need to make a real cut here. I size up CB Juan Gunn-he has been a playmaker, but overall doesn't have great skills. His $11.6m salary is a bing one-cutting him would get us in the clear for signing a lot of rookies, and then bringing in some local talent after camp. I decide that it's time that Gunn finds a new home-I release him. With a solid Tyrus Witt already around, plus second year man Wooten and rookie Sheffield, we should be okay at CB for this year and beyond. As I start looking into the free agent market, I notice one bad thing-QB Marty Alexander is in there. Chicago apparently didn't leave enough money around to pay for his franchise player salary, and we was released. Too bad-reuniting WR Brenden Dye with his former passer would have been fun. We'll see where the Bears land without him around-who is going to get Dye the ball? And where will Alexander land-I'm sure someone will pick him up, the guy is just gifted. I bring in a number of rookies, and I do decide to re-sign QB Lester Jennings after all. He'll be part of the backup plan in case I cannot re-sign my starter Tim Loverne after this year, when he gets a new contract. I head into camp with a pretty solid staff-as follows (scout's impressions):
I'd like to see a breakout somewhere this year-I have two LBs in camp that are there specifically because I think they have a chance to break out. We'll see how it goes…
One thing I notice right away-QB Tim Loverne is growing into the areas of his potential that I thought he would never reach. Even though he's a ninth year player, he's only started 48 games-perhaps he's developing as though he were a fourth year guy or so. Regardless, the boost is welcome-he's been very solid for us, obviously. DE Allen Wilmoth is a complete bust- actually the first I have had in some time. He didn't have any of the warning signs (near-perfect symmetry) but he is now a (4/31, 2/8, 35) player-not exactly what we were looking for with that first round pick. T Lionel Donaldson is also a bust-that will hurt, as I traded away my starting RT on speculation that this guy would work out. Ugh. I did get a minor breakout-FB Fernando Conley developed some new potentials, which make him a more valuable prospect. Actually, on a closer look, my first pick CB Sheffield actually developed some additional skill in run-stopping, which should benefit him as well. He'll be very solid in time. LB Jay Basile did have a minor breakout, but it wasn't enough to make him a star-just a decent contributor. The other redline LB Peterson grew a tiy bit, but not enough to raise eyebrows, really. The Giants give me a 7th round pick and an old TE (whom I cut) for TE Jimmy Chesser, who has been eclipsed by newer models. I make a number of cuts to get to 53, and it's tough letting go so much decent young talent. Regardless, I whittle down to these 53:
This was obviously a disastrous draft-my first major draft-day mess in years and years. However, we still look pretty good as a team, with several key acquisitions. I cut one of my rookie busts, and will be eating a salary cap hit next year, so the thin times are not totally behind us. This year, we hope to ride an improved offense to new heights. QB Loverne looks sharp, and my young WR Adrian Fruth looks positively tremendous. With RB Murillo leading the ground game, I think we'll have enough weapons to do some damage. We'll count on the L-train to steer the defensive attack, and I think we should be back in the playoffs, looking to run someone over. |
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01-11-2001, 09:53 AM
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#13 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2023 season
I guess I just went so long without a draft bust, that I though I was immune. That's the best explanation I have for dealing and cutting players based on the assumption that rookies would pan out. As a result, I'm left perilously thin at RT, and not too strong at DE either. There are no major changes to my game planning-I'm still going to be balanced on offense, using mostly 2- and 3-WR sets. On defense, I have blitzing set to 55-I'm a little worried about my defensive front, which is probably the weakest I've had in a while. However, my defensive leader Lionel Schumacher had a resurgence this year, and if he can average a sack a game again and keep up the pressure, we ought to do okay. I forgot to do the careful checking of my team expertise (before and after acquiring post-camp players) but my levels are somewhere in the middle of the range I'm accustomed to. Areas where I maxed out my training time seem to be in the low 60s for this team. Our cohesion is at 60-69-68-69, which isn't a huge change from last season. On the franchise page, my roster rating is its best ever, I believe. I'm at 100, while St. Louis is next at 64, and then only three more teams over 50. Hated rival Denver gets a 7-it's what they deserve for letting the second coming of Don Hutson walk away from their team over a million dollars or two. Longtime Denver QB Marty Alexander, by the way, sits in free agency awaiting someone who will pony up $2.5m for his services-he's got to get a job somewhere. My schedule starts out on the road, which I like. I'll have 7 of my last 10 games at home, which could be a meaningful advantage down the stretch unless we totally flounder on our opening travels. Our opener, of course, is in Denver. Denver is the regional rival, they have been our toughest division foe, and last year they knocked us out of the playoffs. What more motivation can we possibly need? The exhibition season… gee, almost forgot about this lovely opportunity to get players hurt. Curiously, we don't suffer any boo-boos at all-we'll get to take on Denver with a full roster, unlike the last-minute group that we had last time around. Without QB Marty Alexander and WR Brenden Dye, the Broncos are a pushover, right? Well, not exactly. Marmel and his friends are howling, as the Broncos manage a 30-24 win over the Squirrels in the opener. Their QB Isaac Mooney throws 4 TD to different receivers, and their new "diverse" offense lights us up pretty well for the close win. We go into Seattle, now needing to right the ship. A 19-9 loss to the Seahawks leaves us in a bit of a panic. We believed ourselves to be a 10-11 win team, and now we face 0-2. We do get to play at home next, taking on the Raiders. It's practically a must-win game for us, this early. Hmm, Tim Loverne finally throws his first TD of the season, but we get hammered 34-17 by the Raiders, and we're in free fall. In San Diego, the skid continues as we lose 30-15. Nothing is working right for us at all-it's an unmitigated disaster. We finally get a win in Detroit, 28-10 over the Lions. We actually don't out play them, but we do come away with some breaks. We mercifully get a bye week to rest up and regroup. Next we're in Kansas City. Our last road game before a home stand. We'd like to get back on track, extend our "winning streak" and head home with some momentum. The Chiefs, led by their backup QB to a huge comeback win, have other ideas. They nip us 27-24 with 14 points in the final 6 minutes. Ouch ouch. Home for 5-1 San Diego. We've lost WR Adrian Fruth for an unknown time-probably the season. However, we manage to beat San Diego pretty soundly, 27-17. Each team got a return TD, but we genuinely outplayed the division leaders. We then beat Kansas City 24-16, knocking off another top divisional rival. 3-5 isn't too hot, but after starting off 0-4, we'd take 3-5 at this point, I'm certain. We beat Jacksonville-another decent team-with a 31-24 score. We again gave up a late rally-2 TDs in the final 3 minutes-but held on to win it. Loverne had a fabulous game here-21 of 29 for 279 and 3 TD, no ints. We now leave our friendly confines, and head to Tennessee. We beat the Titans 48-24, and Loverne is brilliant again. At 5-5, we had home to face Denver once again. The Broncos are 4-6, we are 5-5, and neither fits right into the playoff picture right now. However, we're on a real roll, and beating these guys would not only dig their hole deeper, it would undoubtedly help our status against the division. They cannot pull of their stunts twice in a row-we take them 20-10. The Broncos manage 156 yards of total offense-throw out their KO return TD and my one turnover, and they get shut out. We go into Oakland, with what now looks to be a meaningful division game. We're both 6-5, and only a game behind San Diego (along with KC). The Raiders win it at home 32-19 (isn't that the same oddball score as their SB win over Minnesota?) as they totally shut down our running game and bottle us up pretty well. We rebound with a win over a good Chicago team. We manage to hold Brenden Dye to only 48 yards-beter than we ever could against Denver. Chicago falls to 9-4, but they're still in the picture. Incidentally, I look around and see that Marty Alexander was a mid-year pickup by Portland. He's starting for them now, and is playing terribly. Who knows what will become of him next season? At 7-6, every game is a big game. We need to win 2 out of 3 to have any chance, and probably all three remaining games to really assure a playoff spot. We'll have to do it without QB Tim Loverne, who is out for 3-5 weeks with a shoulder injury. Ouch. We get a narrow 10-7 win over Miami, to stay in the picture. San Diego has practically claimed the division with their 10-4 record, but we are currently #5 in the queue for the three wild card slots-however, we're all within a half game of one another. We host 4-10 Seattle, and we really need this win. They get out to an early lead, and we simply cannot do it-they win 27-10, and our playoff hoes are all but eclipsed. Our finale is against Minnesota-we need to win there, and then have two or three other games go our way to sneak in. We drop the game 31-0, to remove any doubt. Once again, it seems like the players just quit at the end of the season. We only gain 159 total yards against the Vikes-a laughable non-effort.
Stat leaders: QB Tim Loverne: 2,698 yds, 64.3%, 8.00 ypa, 18/9, 95.7 QB Lester Jennings: 1,129 yds, 50.8%, 6.52 ypa, 3/9, 55.7 RB Skip Murillo: 239-856 yds, 8 TD (3.5 ypc) WR Kris Ferderer: 66-1,109 yds, 5 TD (53.6%, 10 drops) OL unit: ~31% KRBs, 42 sacks allowed LB Raymond Coppola: 91 tackles, 1.5 sacks DE Lionel Schumacher: 15 sacks, 4 blocks, 9 hurries S Gerald Hardman: 86 tackles, 3 int, 1 TD, 12 PD, 34.7 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.9 / 3.8 / 3.9 Passing: 7.5 / 6.4 / 6.6 Overall, not a totally awful season, but we got off on the wrong foot and never really recovered. Our last two games were very disheartening, though-losing badly to teams who shouldn't have rolled us like that. Losing Loverne at QB was a huge blow, obviously. As for our running game-what happened there? Our line suffered some setbacks, but can that fully explain the complete fall-apart of Skip Murillo? Is he really not any good? I can't imagine what is going on there, but we clearly need to fix it pronto. The AFC West champion will, for at least the fifth straight season, represent the AFC in the Superbowl. San Diego beats the Jets to go into the title game against Chicago, who knocked off defending champion Philadelphia. The Charges win the big one again, 17-9-their second win in the last three seasons. Chicago's WR Brenden Dye has 165 yards in the loss, but the Chargers kept him out of the end zone, and won the game. KC RB Wade Chathavong continues to light up the league-his 1,845 yards rushing this year earned him the triple title. Brenden Dye missed the awards board this season, gathering only 1,223 yards receiving. Ben Clinton from Detroit (who joined him on the first team last season) had 1,927 to top the league. My Squirrels don't even make a dent on the awards board-not that we had any particularly strong candidates. It was a mediocre year, and that's what we got from most of our guys-mediocrity. |
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01-11-2001, 11:02 AM
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#14 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2024 pre-draft
We turned a brisk $48m profit last year-principally because it was a light signing year, and I laid out fairly little in bonus money. Attendance dipped to 88.6%, but we stayed slotted about 12th in the league there. My scout's contract is up. Once again, I vow to seriously look for a new guy, since I feel a fresh pair of eyes would benefit us. However, my incumbent is so good, I always ed up just re-hiring him. Greg Schneider from KC is a guy I've made a run at before, but lost out in bidding. He's very, very good-in the same league as my guy Humes, and the same age, too. I just decide to stick with my guy Humes-he'll be a lot cheaper, it seems. I put in a bid for $750,000 per year. I was pretty unhappy with my team's performance last season, and I at least look at the coaching options. I once again make a bid for Lamar Mansell-the incumbent Denver coach, who I've covetetd for years and years. In the first week, my scout re-signs with me for another 5 years. Lamar Mansell leaves Denver- but he takes an $11m offer from Cheyenne to do so, and skips me, too. I look through what's left-the most intriguing candates are former coaches of mine. Raymond Manning led us through the dark periods, and it's tough to say whether they were his fault or mine. Sedrick grant had a one year tenure here, in 2022-he's talented, but I fear his poor rating in avoiding injuries. I decide to stick with Lamar Evans, Sr. for now, but one more poor year and he's a goner. We increase ticket prices, but Denver decided this was the year to jack theirs through the roof. We don't quite match them, but put in place some across-the-board increases that should help out fiscal health a good deal. The HOF welcomes a bunch of players who don't ring any bells with me. The Black Squirrels' HOF, however, welcomes two new additions-safety Steve Frank, and linebacker Dominic Barlow. Both were major defensive mainstays, and we are very glad to get them both in there. We didn't have any retirements this year. Here is the roster situation as we begin the free agency period:
It's plain to see that we're in for another money crunch. Our two most veteran and revered players-QB Tim Loverne and DE Lionel Schumacher-are noth up for new contracts. I'd guess those prices at $22m and $14m respectively, for this year. Then, my only solid safety Hardman is up-he'll probably cost $9m or so. DE Kelvin Shiver is solid, but not spectacular-keeping him would probably cost $14m or thereabouts. All that-and I have $36m in cap room. It just will not work, that's plain to see. Arizona is offering a 4th round pick for CB Carlton Taylor. He's very expensive, I have drafted there recently, and his contract ends after this year. He also is a guy whose on-field numbers have never been glistening-his careed PDQ is 30.5, and he really makes rather few interceptions. His ratings are slipping, and I think it makes sennse-even for this low price. I take the deal. I have a monster offer (including the #3 overall pick) for T Joel Igansiak, but it doesn't withstand the reality test. I do get a 5th rounder for S Caey Walton-a guy I picked up as a FA, and whose contract will keep doubling, becoming too rich by next year. I may have overestimated the costs of returning DE Schumacher-he listend to my offer of 3yrs, $36m. I'll boost that if need be. I'm pretty close on QB Loverne, though-my offer to him is for 4yrs, $94 million. I put in 4yrs, $38m for S Hardman. I don't even bother with DE Shiver-he'll go for huge money, I suspect. After week one all are pending. I need to boost my bid for DE Schumacher. I tip it up just enough to top the Tampa offer which was $36.06m over 3 yrs. I'm the only bidder on S Hardman-I come down a little bit. For Loverne, the Giants are leading with a 4yr, $104m offer. I up mine to rival it-more than I wanted to spend, but I have few good options here. I go to 3yrs, $80m. QB Marty Alexander is getting offers for big money finally-Pittsburgh currently is the leader. In week 2, S Hardman re-signs with us. In week 3, to my relief, QB Tim Loverne chooses our shorter offer over the Giants' deal, and we have him locked up again. DE Schumacher holds on through week 8, and then to my surprise, he takes a deal from St. Louis-for a little less money that I was offering. I hadn't seen that coming, but now he's out of town, and I'm suddenly looking even bleaker than before on defense. I get to week 11, after watching several of my players head out of town, and start looking for help. I see that my DE Kelvin Shiver has still not received any bids, and since the L-train has left the station., I have the money to spend and the obvious need for an established player there. I need to make a cut to afford him, but I manage to squeeze out the room by releasing DT Omar Fortin, R/KR Devin Hubbard, T Lionel Donaldson and DT Curtis Hawes. I put in 2yrs, $20.5m - the deal he I asking for. He takes until week 14, but he signs the deal. Since I'm desperate, I put in a bid for DE Jesse Wallin-a second year player with some decent potential that I hope he fulfills soon, as he may have to start for us this year. I also bid for T Derek Porter, but don't find much else in this very thin late-FA market. I go after T Teddy Briggs also, but mostly because he's got respectable current ratings, in case of a breakdown somewhere. We head toward the draft with one absolutely huge need-DL. We only have one starting-quality end, one fill-in quality new addition at DE, plus the two fill-in quality guys who started for us last year at DT-that's really all we've got here. Adding depth and quality to the defensive line is job 1 for this year's draft. |
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01-11-2001, 12:58 PM
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#15 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2024 draft and camp
It's a good year for Colorado players, though I probably won't end up with any of them. Air Force has a very good OG in this crop, and a punter better than my current guy. There is a total stud S from Colorado-also a guy I'm unlikely to get in this draft, given my team needs. Colorado State has a rather solid RB prospect, and there are a smattering of others as well from the three schools. I'm picking #23, despite my lackluster 8-8 record. The RB foes #4 overall, and the S goes #16-both off my consideration list now. My list is really just DEs-I decide that I'll take one of two stud Des from Southern Miss. They must have been trrors on the field together in college.
I have 50 players signed at this point, and only $3.8m in cap room. I think I'm comfortable letting that go, in part-I've been getting reletively little out of my URFAs lately anyway, and I don't mind not filling way up to 70 or so players. I do a little back and forth, and end up with a fairly balanced roster for training camp-with a few yong players brought in with hopes for a future on the team.
After last year's double-bust debacle, I'm hoping for a good camp, with two young DE studs emerging. I do not want, nor can I afford, another early-pick bust. After camp, here's the scout's revised opinion:
Well, the rookie class looks to be just fine. DEs Burroughs and Rubin came through as advertised, which is really what I needed. My two early picks on the OL both look good, though T Briseno drifted more towards being a balanced player, rather than so distinctly a run blocker. And. . . we got our training camp breakout-LB Bernie Coleman. His very modest green bars exploded, and he now looks like this: 32/73, 43/100, 31/79, 44/100, 52. Looks like next year he ought to be able to start,a nd perhaps be a designated pass rusher type-which I've never used before. I check my team expertise-right after training camp. My highest numbers are a few offensive ones at 60, and an area like 4-3 front (where I put in maximum time) is only 52. I'm very disappointed. Here is the squad that we take into the season:
This is a tough year to predict-I am still worried about our defensive front for this year (though I feel pretty good for next year and beyond). The secondary should be okay, but we lack a shut-down corner-I may have to use more double coverage than usual. On offense, we hope that the OL play is better, and that the running game wakes up. QB Loverne should be okay, but we need to protect him better-we need to return to the days of only 30 sacks in the whole season. This should be a playoff team-if we miss them again this year, the coach and his fat son both get their walking papers. |
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01-11-2001, 01:11 PM
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#16 |
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Nice to see you rebound in the draft QS. Thought i would let you know that I posted a potential solution to your Expertise woes in the main forum. Curious to see if it works or not.
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01-11-2001, 01:47 PM
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#17 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2024 season
Our roster merits a 100 again, but the gap has beeb closed. Tennessee has a 100 rating also, and Jacksonville and Indy are in the 90s-if that is a reliable predictor, it could be a dogfight in the AFC this year. Of course, we had the hands-down top rating last year, and that team started out 0-4. My cohesion jumped this year-I don't know if it was due to my actions (no post-camp signees) or those of other teams, but we are up to: 74-73-73-69. Not too bad-but we're only on the first "page" in the secondary. My schedule this year starts and ends with big home stands-we'll have a doldrum in the middle with a 5-of-6 road game stretch. Our last two games are at home, which could be helpful. In preseason, we suffer a variety of fairly small injuries-LB Coppola, WR Fruth, S Edmondson and CB Wooten will miss a few weeks. Tennessee visits in our home opener-a clash of the top two rosters, says the computer. Well, that might b so-but definitely not the top two defenses. It's Squirrels 49, Titans 35 in a shootout. Tim Loverne throws 3 TDs, runs for another, and brings home a big opening victory. We then go into Oakland, who double us up 34-17. They are also able to pass on us with relative ease-which has to be a concern. We outgon Carolina 35-28, with Loverne finding Ferderer for 3 of his 5 TDs on the day. This will be an exciting season if our offense stays this good and our defense stays this bad all year. We again give up a terrible fourth quarter-3 TDs in the final 9 minutes-but we manage to hold on. Next we roll New England 41-17-dominating despite Loverne's 4 interceptions on the day. In Seattle, we win 40-24, with Murillo and Loverne both clicking well. Our offense is playing way over its head-we've tallied 182 points in 5 games, but we've also given up the second most with 138. We take on 3-1 Kansas City, and embaras them 34-3 in front of their home crowd. Next we head to San Diego-where the champs are reeling this year, at 1-4 so far. We edge them 33-13, to put them even deeper into the hole. This is getting unreal-we led 30-3 at one point, but then they came back to score a ton of point in the final 20 minutes, and made it rather close-within a missed 2-point conversion of tying us inside 2 minutes to play. In St. Louis, we win 24-21. WR Adrian Fruth has his biggest day of his short season, having just returned from his injuries, and tallies 9 catches for 134 yards and the game-winning TD. We come home ot take on Denver-the woeful Broncos have take on water, and have fallen to 2-5. We beat them, but only by 21-11, not nearly as humiliatign a loss as we would have preferred. LB Raymond Coppola, also returning from injury, has 10 tackles, a sack, and an interception. In Portland, we win 34-23. Our group of RBs, filling in for the injured Murillo, does an adequate job with 105 yards in 28 carries. We're now tied with Oakland at 9-1 for the division lead. A win over Kansas City, 30-9, pushes us to 10-1. Our backup RB twosome plays well-Rivera has 16-102, Ogden has 7-77, and each guy scored one TD. Murillo has to sit, as his elbow injury just isn't healing. We next come home to face San Diego, and we hand them yet another bad loss-41 to 6. We pull a game ahead of Oakland, but we still have to play them again in week 16. In Buffalo, we suffer another loss to a solid team. They tag us 41-22, and our secondary is again a pinball machine. Tim Loverne is dinged, but can play. I decide to let him rest-and move him to #3 for our next game against. . . Denver. We ought to beat the lousy Broncos with one arm tied behind our backs. However, rivalry games being what they are, we get our heads handed to us in Denver-my QB Orellana throws 6 interceptions, and they stomp us 38-13. Now, Loverne will step back in-and we are ready for our late season run (or fold, if we hold recent form). Oakland is 10-4, and we are 11-3. They have beaten us once, so if they win, they will probably take the division. The division winner is likely to get a bye as the second seed behind Buffalo. We're actualy in pretty good health, after suffering a lot of early season lingering injuries. The Raiders get ahead 19-0, we start a rally in the third quarter, and get on the board twice, but come up short, 19-14. At 11-4, we are now looking at the #4 seed, with one home playoff game. We look sharp in our finale, thrashing Seattle 37-14. Loverne looks good, and Skip Murillo is back into shape with 3 TD runs.
Stat leaders: QB Tim Loverne: *4,169 yds, 60.8%, *8.54 ypa, 27/17, 92.3 RB Skip Murillo: 169-704 yds, 12 TD (4.1 ypc) RB Thomas Rivera: 125-528 yds, 7 TD (4.1 ypc) WR Kris Ferderer: 88-1,509 yds, 1 TD (57.5%, 8 drops) OL unit: ~34% KRBs, 43 sacks allowed DE Artie Burroughs: *17 sacks, 2 blocks, 9 hurries S Gerald Hardman: 69 tackles, 7 int, 1 TD, 11 PD, 45.0 PDQ CB Geoff Sheffield: 50 tackles, 6 int, 4 PD, 38.7 PDQ (* - league leader) Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 4.0 / 4.2 / 3.8 Passing: 8.6 / 7.6 / 6.7 The defense really unraveled this season-losing DE Schumacher and CB Taylor clearly made some major difference. I was buoyed by the fact that my rookie DE Burroughs beat our DE Lionel Schumacher (now with the Rams) by one half sack to get the league lead. They might be joined on the all-pro first team. Thst does bode well for Burroughs, though. Hopefully, another year of development will turn this defense into real tigers, not paper ones. We will take on Miami in our playoff opener-at least we get the home game. Being tied for the best record in all of football and taking a #4 seed is unsatisfying, but we can move past that. |
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01-11-2001, 01:52 PM
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#18 |
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High School Varsity
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Richmond VA
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Dear Quiksand,
As a loyal Squirrel fan, despite the constant taunting by my friend Marmel, I was pleased to see your focus on the defensive line, as it was clearly a weak spot. It would be nice if we could replace our scout; it appears as though perhaps the game has passed him by. I personally am hoping that you can find a way to keep linebacker Brendan Learned around. He's become a favorite around the CubsFan household; not necessarily the most talented player on the roster, but he's the hardest worker on the team, and leadership like that is so important. We look forward to the team's return to prominence in the AFC West. In closing, BEAT DENVER! Sincerely, CubsFan915
__________________
GO HOKIES!!! Running the Richmond Confederates of the FOBL into the ground since 2001. |
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01-11-2001, 02:48 PM
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#19 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2024 postseason
We are in pretty good health-a few dings, but that's about it. My rookie reserve RB James Ogden will fill in as a reserve WR as well-he has a very high 3rd down receiving rating, and should be okay as my 5th wideout. Miami is banged up at RB, and has two guys from their normal rotation out of this game. Their best weapon in this game ought to be slot receiver Sam Reilly, who had 85 catches this year. They mix up their coverages and their formations a lot-we look to play our game and put them away early. The first quarter is not the explosion that we wanted-in fact, it's scoreless. FB Brenden Pohl gets a huge third down carry for 26 yards to get us into striking range in the second quarter, and he gets rewarded with the TD catch a few plays later. Geogg Sheffield blocked a short FG attempt by the Dolphins, and we dodged a bullet there. A big pass to Fruth setsup a FG just before halftime, where we lead 10-0. In the third quarter, Miami converts a third and 25 to keep a drive alive, and scores on a TD pass from 35 yards out. However, my KR Jennings takes the ensuing kickoff 100 yards for the score, and our 100 point cushion remains. The Dolphins march for another TD-our defense seems to be slowing down. After a punt in the early fourth quarter, the Dolphins get a great return, taking the ball back to our 22. We're in serious jeopardy of losing our lead here. On third and ten, Geoff Sheffield gets a huge interception, and we take over on our 5 yard line. Loverne completes several nice intermediate passes to move us into scoring territory, and on fourth and 1 from their 12 we stay conservative and take the FG for a 20-14 lead. They get it back with 6:16 left. We stuff their offense, and the tide may be turning our way finally. However, we cannot move the ball either, and they get it at their 16 with 3:39 left. We force a punt, and take over with 1:51 left. On third down, Murillo breaks one for 11 yards, getting the first down and essentially killing the Dolphins. We take it 20-14. Since we are the only wild card team remaining, we are the low seed, and have to take on the AFC's top seeded Raiders. They swept us in the regular season, and we'd like another shot-but they are also a good team. Their QB B.J. Erickson is solid, and his favorite target is WR Dixon Dunlap. They will run a lot, using a variety of backs. DE Lawrence Cocozzo is a solid pass rusher, and leads their defensiev charge which is an aggressive, attacking style. They only allowed 232 points-testement to their ball control offense and their tough defense. We come out swinging, taking the ball right down to their 30. However, we are forced to kic, and it sails wide right. On their second possession, Oakland gets great field position, and takes it in the short field for a TD. After some back and forth, we take over again at our 35. Murillo breaks awayon the first play for 50 yards, and we're in business. We have to settle for another kick- this one is good, and we're within 7-3. The half ends on a weird play-we get a sack, then recover a fumble, but we cannot wuite return it all the way, and get nothing for it. We have had bad field position throughout ,and it continues. They finally grind us down and score another TD in the late third quarter, and it is 14-3. We now look like we need a big play from our dfense of special teams-their defense is just too tough for even our high-scoring attack. And we continue to commit tons of penalties in this game-well beyond our average. We get another chance at our 33, with 8:22 left, and the urgency is apparent. Nothing doing-we go three and out. With 3:00 left, they cap off a nice short drive with a FG, and we're down 14. We again can do nothing, the ball goes over on downs, and it's all over but the shoutin'. Oakland 20, Colorado Springs 3. I wouldn't bet against the AFC West this year, either-the Raiders looked damned good. They beat Buffalo to face Minnesota in the championship. WR Preston Adderly continues to shine for Oakland, to my surprise-I thought he was pretty much done when we watched him go a few years ago. Oakland takes the title with a 26-20 victory over the Vikes, and their QB Fredie Middleton gets the MVP award. WR Kris Ferderer makes the first team all-pro squad for this, his best year in his career. Rookie DE Artie Burroughs does, indeed, join former Squirrel Lionel Schumacher on the first team squad as well. QB Tim Loverne is named second team QB, behind the Vikings' Victor Osborne, the league MVP. Kansas City's superstar RB Wade Chanthavong has another superior year, getting first team and OPOY honors. The AFC West has now represented the AFC in the last 7 Superbowls, and has won 6 of them. Is there any doubt about which is the toughest division in this NFL? We didn't have the season we would have liked, but our offense looked good, and our defense is very young-and hopefully improving. |
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01-11-2001, 04:52 PM
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#20 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2025 pre-draft
We were profitable again-earning $40m in 2024, with most of our budget pretty flat form the prior year, which was also pretty profitable. Attendance was up to 94.9%, placing us 13th overall. My scout and coach are still under contract, but I check out the markets. An intriguing 34 year old scout is available-his only downside is a "fair" with secondary. Since I may well draft a CB early this year, I'm hesitant to go after this guy… but I decide if the price is right, I will replace my long-time scout William Humes with some new blood. I don't see any coaches that really push my buttons-I've got enough to worry about with Junior probably leaving the team from his starting LG slot. I don't need Senior razzing me about getting canned after he got us back into the playoffs. Since he gets no other offers and his price drops, I decide to bring on Robert Lemay as my new head of scouting. William Humes has served us well for (probably) 15-20 years, but he is getting up in years, and I think this guy may be well suited to take over for a long time. Here is his sheet: QB, RB, OL, K, LB - VERY GOOD REC, DL - GOOD DB - FAIR Young talent - GOOD I'm fairly confident that he can get the job done, and I feel like another set of eyes on my players (for the first time) will do me some good in and of itself. Lemay gets $520,000 per year for 5 years. Incidentally, fan support for a stadium expansion is very, very high (100) and I decide that it might be time for building. We've clearly established a loyal fan base here, and would like to reward our fans with some more accoutrements for their visits. I don't do anything this year, but I think I'm close-I need some good rule of thumb to keep this from getting out of hand-I don't want to get so flush with cash that I no longer have financial worrries (that's been one of the best things about this career so far). Our LB Dominic Barlow is admitted into the league Hall of Fame this year. He's in the top 10 in career tackles, and was clearly our anchor defensive player for many years. 54 sacks for a LB is no slouch either. We have no retirements this off-season. Here is our entire roster picture: Name # Pos OnTm Ctrc Exp Stat Cap Cost Loverne, Tim 5 QB 2020 2026 11 ----- $27,000,000 Ignasiak, Joel 66 T 2015 2025 11 ----- $15,000,000 Coppola, Raymond 58 LB 2016 2025 10 ----- $13,250,000 Shiver, Kelvin 97 DE 2020 2025 6 ----- $11,000,000 Hardman, Gerald 43 S 2018 2027 8 ----- $9,000,000 Fruth, Adrian 88 WR 2022 2026 4 ----- $6,210,000 Morris, Steven 59 C 2020 2025 6 ----- $6,130,000 Pohl, Brenden 25 FB 2021 2025 5 ----- $5,670,000 Sheffield, Geoff 39 CB 2023 2028 3 ----- $5,200,000 Jennings, Lester 1 QB 2022 2025 7 ----- $4,400,000 Wooten, Courtney 26 CB 2023 2026 4 ----- $4,000,000 Aceves, Phillip 90 DE 2024 2027 3 ----- $3,900,000 Burroughs, Artie 98 DE 2024 2029 2 ----- $3,790,000 Witt, Tyrus 44 CB 2022 2025 4 ----- $3,370,000 Ernst, John 94 LB 2022 2025 5 ----- $2,950,000 Shepard, Louie 53 C 2023 2026 3 ----- $2,950,000 Atkins, Andre 93 DT 2023 2026 4 ----- $2,900,000 Wallace, Ed 99 DT 2023 2025 4 ----- $2,680,000 Edmondson, Tyrell + 40 S 2023 2026 3 ----- $2,410,000 Bell, Ted 74 T 2023 2026 4 ----- $2,360,000 Fairchild, Kerry 41 S 2022 2025 4 ----- $2,320,000 Rivera, Thomas 47 RB 2023 2026 3 ----- $2,030,000 Rubin, Jamie 95 DE 2024 2027 2 ----- $2,000,000 Briggs, Teddy 63 T 2024 2025 4 ----- $1,820,000 Briseno, Cornelius 62 T 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,740,000 Clayton, Malcolm 78 G 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,690,000 Evans, Lamar 60 G 2022 2025 5 ----- $1,550,000 Colley, Scott + 56 C 2023 2026 4 ----- $1,550,000 Stokes, Roderick 91 DT 2024 2027 2 ----- $1,520,000 Blake, Joel 89 WR 2023 2025 3 ----- $1,500,000 Conley, Fernando + 38 FB 2023 2025 3 ----- $1,450,000 Lawler, Clifton + 57 LB 2023 2025 3 ----- $1,410,000 Brandon, Dwayne 37 RB 2023 2025 3 ----- $1,360,000 Jennings, Clyde 82 WR 2024 2025 2 ----- $1,280,000 Ogden, James + 20 RB 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,210,000 Barnhardt, Hugh 64 G 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,150,000 Coleman, Bernie 50 LB 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,120,000 Mortensen, Jack 83 TE 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,070,000 Clayton, J.J. 3 QB 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,000,000 Nagurski, Rondell 2 P 2024 2026 2 ----- $1,000,000 Brennan, Stanley 86 WR 2022 UFA 10 ----- $0 Ferderer, Kris 81 WR 2017 UFA 9 ----- $0 Sherman, Marvin 11 K 2021 UFA 9 ----- $0 Blake, Grant 54 LB 2021 UFA 6 ----- $0 Howard, Wade 85 TE 2021 UFA 5 ----- $0 Orellana, Lance 15 QB 2022 ---- 4 ----- $0 Murillo, Skip 45 RB 2022 ---- 4 ----- $0 Learned, Brenden 33 LB 2022 ---- 4 ----- $0 Basile, Jay 55 LB 2023 ---- 3 ----- $0 Humphrey, Bryan 68 G 2024 ---- 2 ----- $0 Russell, Ellis 70 DT 2024 ---- 2 ----- $0 Casillas, Carl 29 CB 2024 ---- 2 ----- $0 Osborne, Rod 28 S 2024 ---- 2 ----- $0 Salary Cap: $206.4 million Room Under Cap: $39,060,000 First of all, I like what I see on top of the list. QB Loverne, T Ignasiak, and LB Coppola just may be my three most important players-I prefer it when I see my best guys at the top of the salary list (rather than the guys whose contracts same up when I was most desperate). WR Kris Ferderer will, hopefully, re-join that list of top players- I have every intention of keeping him this year, though I realize that it will be quite costly. The big question will be RB Skip Murillo. He is talented, but his last two years were significantly short of his rookie season, where he looked like he might be an al-time great. Now that he'll be on the open market, I don't know if he's worth a big dollar contract-even one signed in the best possible timing (end of the FA period). I suspect I cannot afford him. I put up 4yrs, $47m for WR Ferderer, a bit cheaper than I had expected to see him consider. I'd like to have him sign immediately-I don't want another situation like DE Schumacher where I thought I had him then he just walked off. I check-Murillo's proposed deal is for 2yr, $30m-which would be tough to afford, period. My new scout also has a somewhat lower opinion of Murillo's overall ability than did the elder Mr. Humes. With Ferderer, I'm the only bidder after week one-good news. It takes until week 7, but he finally takes my offer (shrunken just a little as I saw no competition). I get to week 11, and only one of my other players have signed yet-TE Wade Howard with the Seahawks in week 10. I check around, and see WR Stanley Brennan still unclaimed. He might be worth $6-7m as a third wideout, and I decide to wait and see. The Vikings bid on him in week 13-looking to add him to my other veteran castoff Preston Adderly, no doubt. They sign him for a little over $8 million a year. I was waiting on my longtime kicker Marvin Sherman, and he took another deal. I'll have to scratch for a replacement-preferably a local product. I put in a late bid for a FB free agent-Greg Godfrey is from Colorado, and I think he may have had a little breakout in last year's camp. I pick him up for 4yrs minsal, and hope that he can contribute. I find one DT with some potential as a pass rusher, Kim Ashford. This year's crop of free agents gives me almost nothing-I end up with only those two bids. Just doing the math-this means that I'm going to have an absolute boatload of holes to fill via URFAs and/or post-camp signees. After free agency, I get a 5th round pick in trade for DT Ed Wallace, and I take that deal quickly. In this draft, I'd like to bring in a player who can help soon-preferably on defense. LB was thinned out by free agency this year, and the secondary could use a star infusion as well. I also am sick of carrying so many stiff Colorado players-getting a high quality local guy would be nice, at almost any position. |
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01-11-2001, 04:53 PM
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#21 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2025 draft and camp
The draft looks pretty good for local LB talent-but not much else. I do see a decent kicker from Col State, and I'll go after him in a late round. As my #30 pick approaches, I see a fabulous OT sitting there-I can't believe he is falling this far. There is also a CB who my scout loves-but he wouldn't know a cornerback from a wooden nickel. Regrettably, the CB goes just a few picks ahead of me, and I'm left with second-best options. Admittedly, OT is not my team's most serious need-but this guy is fabulous and I cannot help but make the pick there.
As you can see, I made some progress with local players here. LB Gardner was actually among my scout's favorite players, which made thing easier. If this T Grebene works out, that pick will be worth it-he ought to make for a very nice lead blocker. I don't often have such an imbalance at DE/DT, but I might end up using DEs as starters inside-rookie Schultz would fill that bill quite nicely. I bring on a number of URFAs, and still find myself with only $13m in cap room. It seems I still have the money available to sign RB Murillo if I can get him to a reasonable deal. 4 years, $36m, done deal. Not so tough. Going into training camp, we have a full squad:
With these adjusted ratings, several of our players have lost some of their apparent luster-players like DE Jamie Rubin from last year's draft for instance. We would like for our rookies from this class to do well, which would inspire some more confidence in the new, young, scout.
My top rookies all emerge looking good. No breakouts, but no busts. I'm still getting used to the new scout's impressions of my players, but I think everyone will be fine. I whittle down, and decide not to make any post-camp acquisitions. (Sorry about LB Brenden Learned-he wanted $7m and up, and he's worth half that only on his best day, there was no way) I get to 53:
This season, we have depleted ourselves at WR a bit (no genuine solid third wideout) but otherwise the offense should be ready to roll again. On defense, our young players are a year older and better-that should help also. Our secondary is a trouble spot-the new scout is not as find of some existing players as the older one was. We definitely believe we have a playoff team here, and I suspect that we might be a big-picture contender. If we can stop the opposition running attack better than last year-get back to, say, 3.5 yards per carry or so, I think we can step forward. On defense, we hope to have our newly revamped defensive line strike some serious fear. That's the recipe-now we need to go break a few eggs. |
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01-12-2001, 10:48 AM
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#22 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2025 season
I don't make a lot of changes to our general setup. My one biggest change is that-even though he has lost some of his luster-I'm going to use my "willie" LB Bernie Coleman as a sort of designated pass rusher-I bump his share of the blitzes to 30, and I hope that he does well there. He no longer has super-high potential there, but it is still pretty good, currently at 55. WR Rico McGregor will be our third wideout-we definitely have depth issues there, but I'll use my scatback Ogden if need be-he might do well as a reserve wideout. The preseason yields a slew of minor injuries. DE Burroughs and C Morris are among the most serious-maybe missing a few games each. DT Ashford will miss half the season, but he wasn't too good anyway-I'll use DE Schultz as a starter inside anyway. We again have a 100 roster rating-with Now Orleans next at 84. Tennessee (100 last year) dropped to 53-odd. Seattle has a 53, and the rest of the division is in the 20s. I wonder if this really reflects anything at all. Our cohesion levels are at 81-74-75-71. We're in the bottom of the first page in each area (the second ten or so)-starting to actually build some togetherness around here, it seems. That probably won't last. By week 7 we will have had our bye, and played the entire division-mostly on the road. 7 of our last 10 games are at home-which probably is good news. We end in Philly-in what could be a barnburner, as the Eagles have been good in recent years. We get a 20-16 win in Oakland to start the year-knocking off the Superbowl champs is a good way to get things started, I'd say. Curiously, it was James Ogden-my third-string RB, who had 19 carries for 100 yards and a TD against them. Starting RB Murillo is hurt-he'll miss a couple of months, which goes some way toward explaining that. We get a 33-3 win in Seattle, as QB Tim Loverne throws 3 TDs, but 3 interceptions also. Nonetheless, the defense is brilliant. Next is San Diego, who is off to a 2-0 start also. They come in and beat us 24-14, even though we outgained them and did not turn the ball over. A tough loss. WR Adrian Fruth aggravates a minor injury, and we'll rest him for a few weeks (seem like every year). I decide to fool around, and I insert RB Ogden as my starting flanker-we'll see how he does. Kansas City beats us 38-31, as Loverne goes down injured and Lester Jennings has to come in to lose the game for us. Loverne was 18 or 23 with 3 TDs and no interceptions, then he got hurt. Jennings came in and went 9 for 22, with 1 TD and 2 interceptions, both setting up TDs. KC didn't even have their great RB Chanthavong, who is out with a broken arm. One highlight-RB Ogden, filling in as our flanker, had 9 catches for 133 yards and 3 TDs. He might be a real find there, who knows? I start an injured Tim Loverne against Dallas, and he plays poorly, and we lose 16-10. We get a week off, which might get Loverne back to health. In Denver, we need to rebound. It's clearly a rivalry game, and both of us are off to losing starts. It seems like every time we play them, Loverne is hurt-but this time he will play through it. We win it 30-10, as we hold them to only 170 yards of total offense. We avenge our earlier loss to KC win a home win, 27-13. This time, Loverne goes down again, but Lester Jennings is much more in control, and he plays well. Adrian Fruth comes back in the starting flanker job, but RB James Ogden has impressed me enough that I keep him in the mix as our third (oft-used) wideout option. He's caught 5 TD passes in his 3 games. We host Denver, and they haven't even recovered from their last whipping at our hands. We deliver another one, 35-7, as Tim Loverne gets 4 TDs and we get a 100-yard game from Brenden Pohl, our fullback. We've moved into sole possession of our black-and-blue division's lead. Pittsburgh comes in and beats us, 24-21. QB Marty Alexander has helped them a lot, and they have a superstar RB in Peter Berrios, who tears us up for 243 yards. RB/WR James Ogden hauls in two more scores-he's a been a pleasant surprise in this role. In Tennessee, we fall to .500 with a 34-27 loss. They put up 17 points in the fourth quarter to overcome out 10 point lead. Next we take on Oakland, who is tied for our lackluster division lead at 5-5. We defend our home turf with a 31-15 win, and we pick them off 4 times to help the cause considerably. In San Diego, we roll 31-3, as Loverne throws 3 TD passes to his running backs. RB Skip Murillo is almost ready to play-but his severe hamstring pull seems to have lessened his ratings permanently, which is bad news. Still, Rivera isn't getting the job done, and we need to get our workhorse back in there. We host Washington, in a big clash of 7-5 teams. Our defense steps up, and we win it 17-7. Next is a similar situation-we host the 8-5 Dolphins. We win that one 31-17, and continue our little roll. Loverne plays well, but its' the improved running game-especially behind FB Brenden Pohl, who make it all happen for us. At 9-5, we have a two game division lead over three teams. It's a tough year for our division, we seem to beat one another up a lot. Hosting Seattle, we lose our winning streak as they prevail 20-10. It was a defensive game-they ran better than we did, and they won out. I decide to leave RB Murillo out for this finale-we need him for the playoffs. If we lose to Philly, we will still be playing next week as the #3 division winner. The Eagles go to 14-2 with a 48-16 beating of our guys, and we drop to a meager 9-7-the worst record in all the playoffs.
Stat leaders: QB Tim Loverne: 3,452 yds, *65.4%, 8.00 ypa, 27/15, *96.3 RB Thomas Rivera: 173-692 yds, 6 TD (4.0 ypc) WR Kris Ferderer: 84-1,263 yds, 9 TD (63.1%, 10 drops) RB/WR James Ogden: 54 rec-629 yds, 9 TD (63.5%, 1 drop); 44 rushes-196 yds, 1 TD (4.4 ypc) OL unit: ~35% KRBs, 38 sacks allowed LB Raymond Coppola: 113 tackles, 3 sacks DE Artie Burroughs: 8 sacks, 1 block, 4 hurries LB Bernie Coleman: 53 tackles, 4.5 sacks S Gerald Hardman: 87 tackles, 6 int, 1 TD, 10 PD, 42.1 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.9 / 3.6 / 3.9 Passing: 7.7 / 6.6 / 6.7 Well, the defense played better, though the DL was not as tough as I had hoped it would be. We'll lose DE Kelvin Shiver after this year, and I'm not sure what talent level we really have ready to go for next season. The running game clearly suffered-but hopefully we can play Murillo in the postseason and get some level of bounce from his presence, though he has clearly dropped off and is no longer a top-tier back. We will need some serious luck to make a real mark in these playoffs, it would appear. |
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01-12-2001, 10:49 AM
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#23 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2025 postseason
We will get an allegedly healthy RB Skip Murillo back for this year's playoffs. Also our C Steven Morris is returning from injuries. WR Kris Ferderer will play, though he's listed as questionable. We host the Indianapolis Colts, who were 10-6. The pound the ball, and then use play-action to go deep. They will be missing a key defensive leader-their best safety. We get the ball first, and come out swinging. Two 30+ yard passed to Kris Ferderer set up a quick FG, and we take the lead 3-0. After a rough-and-tumble first quarter, they tie it up in the early second after we pull a nice goal-line stand. They get another FG in the middle of the second, and we miss in our follow-up attempt from 51 yards out. We finally get some running-a 49 yard run from Brenden Pohl and then a 23 yarder from Murillo to set up a tying FG right before halftime. In the third quarter, they line up for a short kick, but draw us offsides. They get the first down, and then punch it in-it's now 13-6. We move for another FG attempt, but miss a 47 yarder here. However, we get a quick interception-the game's first turnover, and we get another good chance to score. We get a 32-yard kick, and it is good-we're back within 4 points, early in the fourth quarter. Loverne drives us into scoring territory again with under 4 minutes to play. We face a 3rd and 8 from their 16. Loverne hits Ogden underneath, and he tries to break away, but cannot-it's fourth and one yard to go at the 9. We decide to kick, and pull within one point, 13-12. They get it back with 2:38 remaining-our defense needs to step it up here. Regrettably, the Colts get two quick first downs, and to our 42. After they punt, we only have 12 seconds left, from our own 28. We get to midfield, but that's all-the Colts hold on for a 1-point win. Rising from the ashes, and filling the gap left by the disappearance of the AFC West is our traditional conference power, Cincinnati. They had some bad years, but they are back in the big one this year, facing Detroit. The Lions roar, and they win the title 45-17 over the Bengals. It's the first time that they have ever won, and the ky was RB Luther Sullenger, with 3 TDs. Sullenger is a former Squirrel (for one year, I believe) and has done well for himself as a supporting player for a good Detroit offense. QB Willie Simmons of Philadelphia, who is the career QB leader in practically every major stat, has another fabulous year, taking the triple awards. The Squirrels have several second team award winners-QB Tim Loverne, OT Joel Ignasiak, LB Raymond Coppola, and S Gerald Hardman. Another decent year, but we were not a dominant team like we want to be. The running game has a few more steps to take, and if we lose FB Pohl, probably a few more steps. I'd like to return Pohl, and keep him heavily in the running mix for next year-he averaged 4.3 yards per carry this season, which makes him an asset rushing the ball, rather than most FBs who cannot really carry well unless they get it on a misdirection or draw play. On defense, I think our secondary is the pressing need now. I'm not thrilled with my DL, but my DBs are very suspect. I'd like to draft a lock-down cover corner this coming season, if I had my druthers. Hey, if he could be from Colorado, too, that would be just great. Can't hurt to ask. |
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01-12-2001, 10:51 AM
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#24 |
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Going out on a limb here, I don't think the AFC West is going to the Bowl this year...
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