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02-14-2001, 07:07 PM
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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House Arrest Black Squirrels, 2050-2053
Black Squirrels, 2050-2053
I’m playing this career under a fairly lengthy series of house rules—trying to address 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 are interested in the full story of the Squirrels, here are the links back to the entire posted history. The first link starts off with some general, more detailed musings about the house rule concepts that I’ve been following, and then gets into the team story. Black Squirrels, 2002-2007 Black Squirrels, 2008-2011 Black Squirrels, 2012-2017 Black Squirrels, 2018-2021 Black Squirrels, 2022-2025 Black Squirrels, 2026-2029 Black Squirrels, 2030-2033 Black Squirrels, 2034-2037 Black Squirrels, 2038-2041 Black Squirrels, 2042-2045 Black Squirrels, 2046-2049 To save you the trouble, 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 (generally 3-4 years only) -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 second year’s salary -URFAs get one year deals, with one exception per year (see below) -One URFA per season may get a 7yr deal: x = rookie min, 2x, 3x, 3x, 3x, 3x, 3x No contract renegotiations, and no franchise tag – everyone re-signed through the free market Full roster of 53 each season (no going cheap by leaving roster holes) Player from home state college at each position group (RB/FB, WR/TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, QB/P/K) . . .I confess I have slipped up once or twice here, but I’m making an earnest effort Making effort to sign and hold Colorado players whenever practical I’m allowing some slack with my Colorado school guys – re-signing after camp sometimes 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 first contracts, I compete (if possible) on the open market to retain their services. Here is the short history of the team—the GM performance printout:
This team has been on a bit of a roller-coaster ride in recent years. Behind highly paid QB Todd Markowitz and RB Benjamin Fouse, we won the 2043 (with the two of them hooking up on an incredible game-winning play). As time went on, we lost Fouse to free agency, and then we got frustrated with Markowitz’s interceptions, and saw him go elsewhere. We brought back a former backup of ours, QB Frankie Duffy, as a temporary solution for a few years. Last year, Duffy surprised everyone by leading us to a 12-4 record and a Superbowl, and having an award-winning season. Makes it tough to know what to do—our “heir apparent” at QB is on the bench, and is starting to grumble. Odd… Regardless, the real star of this team is the incredible offensive line. They are all excellent, veteran players, who have all been with us for a number of years. Now, with their cohesion reaching staggering levels, we’re seeing some very regular appearances (like 2-3 a year) on the all-star roster. They are very, very solid, and they make the whole offense tick-—really, the whole team. The story continues below... |
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02-14-2001, 07:08 PM
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#2 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2050 pre-draft
We have one veteran departure from the team, safety Brenden Honeycutt. He had a period in his career when he was probably the consensus best single defensive player in the entire league. He played 12 years for us, and for his efforts, he retires with 2 championship rings and a boatload of honors. We hope that he played long enough to get the votes for HOF consideration—he deserves it. Among the more practical considerations, the team cleared nearly $88m in the title season. Getting two home playoff games helped, as did the increase in ticket prices. Our coaching costs went up by over $50m with the new contract for Todd Rowan, but it all washed out amidst the great success. We’ll see how well things hold up. We did, once again, have 100% attendance—only two teams made it last year. Scout Luke Flowers is looking for a new contract. He ought to be a hot property—he’s quite solid, and only 51 years old. He has, among his positional ratings, 5 CGs and 3 Gs. He has “EXC” for young talent, which is always key. A keeper. I offer him $1,550,000 to stay for 5 more years—that would place him 9th on the salary list. After the first week, mine is his only offer—and he’s still thinking about it. Hmmm. In week 2, he accepts my revised offer—5yrs, $1,250,000/yr. You snooze, you lose, Mr. Flowers. As I head into free agency, I get a positively tantalizing trade offer from San Diego. They are putting up a solid 4th year center (a former first round pick, with two contract years left) plus their top pick (#2 overall!!!) for my QB Frankie Duffy. A season ago, I would have sprayed soda through my nose at this offer. . . but now, Duffy is tough to part with. He did have a very solid year last season, and we won the Superbowl with him. Very tough call. I decide to check out the draft pool—the top players look like a great DE, a star RB, and a very intriguing redliner DT. Any would be a great addition—but giving up my starting QB after winning the Superbowl is just tough to do. I decide that I need to sort out my finances first—here’s the roster situation:
$83m is a lot of cap room, but this season is the “triple witching hour” for the OL—three important guys all come up for new deals (I tried to avoid this, but failed). Since I am truly committed to keeping them all, I know that I’ll have to lay out big money—maybe $55m this year—to keep them. CB Butch Mahoney is a guy I really want to keep also, and that will take at least $20m. Looking the free agent list over, I conclude that dealing Duffy and freeing up $21m (but adding a lot to my draft costs) is a necessary move for us. I take the deal—we’ll decide later whether we can afford to keep the C who costs $6m. I start with offers to my linemen. C Bloomer for 3yrs, $34.5m. T Osborne for 4yrs, $77m. To G Peel, I cannot find a better deal, so I offer the one he seeks—2yrs, $31.5m. I then put in an offer for my CB Mahoney—big money. I put up 4yrs, $126m—he’d be our highest paid player—and that might not be enough. In week 1, CB Mahoney takes our offer, and he’s back aboard. I went through a period without having a top-grade CB, and I’d rather that we held on to a guy like him, if it’s at all possible. I change my offer to T Ocborne—all my rivals are doing 2yrs, so I do too, for $43m. After week 2, G Richie Peel re-signs with us for a 2yr deal. At this point, the math just doesn’t work for re-signing all these guys. My draft is going to cost over $30m, and I have $52m in cap room, plus I’m still pursuing two players who are each going for $20m or so. I need to make some cuts, just to even entertain bringing both of these guys back, which I really wish to do. I decide to release CB Drew Morris—he was going to be up for a new contract after this year, and probably would not be affordable to us anyway. I’d rather have Mahoney (who we just locked up) and so we let Morris go. I also, reluctantly, release FB Dean McKay. He’s making $8m, and we simply are going to need that cap room—he’s just a shadow of the player he once was, but we hate to see him go. For now, that gets us enough room to make all this work. I boost my offer to C Bloomer to 3yrs, $36m—hoping that will give him the needed bump toward signing. It takes a couple more weeks, but in week 6, we get both Bloomer and T Osborne locked up. In week 10, my punter signs with Oakland—damn. I end up making no more moves in free agency at all, and we head out of the FA signing period with $43m in cap room—which I expect we’ll need to sign our rookie class, including the extra 8-9 URFAs on top of the draft class. This won’t be easy, no matter how I slice it. As I exit free agency, I receive another trade offer- for young RB Sam Pimentel. It’s a 5th round draft pick plus a veteran DT. Pimentel was a 7th rounder last year, and this is a good trade on the surface—however, he’s from Air Force, and he fulfills my local player requirement at RB—I have to turn this down. Too bad, too. Heading into the draft, we have our offensive line intact, and we have an emerging group of solid receivers—something new for this team. We should bring on a RB upgrade for this year, and that will be a draft priority. On defense, we’ve hollowed out at DB, and need to add some quality at CB and S both. We should get at least one contributor in the secondary from this draft. |
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02-15-2001, 04:28 PM
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#3 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2050 draft and camp
It's been a while since I had a pick this early-- #2 overall. Well, my top pick is DE Ellis Fleming, who looks positively fabulous (59/94, 56/88, 99). He'd be a starter right away, and a star for years to come, assuming things work out all right. There is a pretty good local RB, and a decent QB, ut no earth-shattering talent from home. I'm in luck, as Oakland trades up to take the best OT in the draft at #1, and I get Fleming with my early pick. If he works out, he should easily be the most talented DE I've ever had. With my second pick (at the end of round one) I incredibly get the guy I had rated #2 overall-RB Brenden Hill has a lot of talent, and RB is a definite need position. This could turn out to be a hell of a draft!
Well, I did not manage to bring in a high quality defensive back, as I had hoped. But past that, this draft was a home run-we got great quality here. If everyone holds up, we may be looking back on this draft as a landmark. My special URFA this year is QB Butch Barton, out of Colorado. He'll give me a local angle within the "special positions" for a while, and will allow me to go out and procure a better punter than usual. (I've been holding myself to the rule that either a QB or both my P and K must be local) I fill in with a scattering of rookie free agents, and we head into camp with 54-a many as we could afford.
We really need two things here-we need my rookie DE to keep from busting, and we need a good training camp from our young QB Cary Schultz, who will be thrust into the starting role this season, like it or not. if both things happen, than my trading QB Frankie Duffy was a good move. If not, then we'll have to wait and see. My camp setup is pretty routine by now, and we get through it. Here's the scout notebook afterwards:
Ack! I had a delayed bust (of sorts) with my starting QB! He now looks a good deal less useful than he was even just before this camp, but definitely scaled well back from where he looked like he was going a year ago. Trouble. The good news is that DE Ellis Fleming is as good as advertised. He held up beautifully, and should be a monster. I don't have any real disappointments in the lot, which is a very nice sign. We get a trade offer for QB Cary Schultz, which is pretty good timing (I'm ready to let him go, I think). I see that he would have to "beat out" out other QBs to get the job-he's dropped off that much. New Orleans is offering their #1 pick next year, and I decide to take the deal. We'll write off the disappointing Schultz, and move onward with our team's overall development. We take the deal. Getting to 53 isn't too tough, we pick up a few local yokels, and pare down appropriately. Here is the roster that we take into the season:
Without giving it all that much thought, I have rapidly turned my potential "QB controversy" on its head. Instead of asking "should we go with the veteran who had one good year, or the young guy who's on his way to being a star?" I think we'll be asking "can anyone here play quarterback?" Hmmm. It's easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of trading, especially when attractive offers don't come along to much (and you're playing with trade restrictions)-but now, what do I do? I think that Sedrick Hartman will be my starter-he was an undrafted free agent I signed to a 7yr deal, and he has pretty decent accuracy, at least. He probably would have beaten out Schultz for the job this year anyway (on the merits) though I might have gone with Schultz for his upside. I hope this doesn't take us down the road toward oblivion that I've seen before when I've suffered a lousy QB. The defense should be fine, the running game ought to be improved, and most everything should be in place-we just need a passable year at QB, and we'll be just fine. A Superbowl winner? I don't know about that. A playoff team? Yes, I think we should do that well. |
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02-15-2001, 05:55 PM
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#4 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2050 season
I decide to go with a setup pretty similar to last year's (at least for now) and keep the passing game fairly well represented in my offense. My run/pass setup, for those of you who might care, looks like this: 33-33-66-50 33-66-50-40 66-50-25-20 75-30-20-20 My formation balance is pretty standard (using pro set, strong-I, and single back), and my WR weightings are 0-40-90-40-0-0. On defense, situation normal-3-4, fair bit of nickel, and fairly heavy blitzing (but mostly one guy). I'm using a 2-deep zone as my predominant secondary setup. I drop my nickel weighting from 80 to 60, as my DB talent level has droped off pretty seriously. Overall, our expertise is dreadful. This was the year that (1) my old anchor S retired, so I had a hole at DB, and (2) three starting OL were between contracts and didn't count toward my cohesion (stupid!) so I got whacked there, too. All told, most of my top expertise ratings are in the low 50s. Ugh. We still have the 100 roster rating, with Denver a surprising second with a 76. They have also passed us in overall franchise value, to my dismay. Quite a rivalry- we'll see what they have on the field this year. Our cohesion ratings are predictable-a very mixed bag: 64-100-79-70. The second best at OL is Dallas, with an 88. Our new face at RB didn't help, but we clearly have a veteran OL squad working together. Too bad it didn't help out our expertise. In the preseason, our nominal starter at QB, Sedrick Hartman, has a knee injury, and he'll begin the season on the shelf. That leaves Harold Perry, a second year guy who actually has some potential. He really needs another year to ripen, but he'll get the call for now. Great We also have lost G T.J. Robson for a few weeks. This season we'll have a home stand I weeks 14-16 toward season's end. We play Denver in weeks 14 and 17-that finale could be a very big deal. In our opener, in Seattle, we get pantsed 34-10. They manhandled young QB Perry, as he went 12 for 46 with 4 interceptions. Ouch. We couldn't do anything… a very tough loss. We get a 27-19 home victory over Oakland to get back on track-we scored 2 defensive TDs, including a 52 yard fumble return by the fleet-footed rookie DE Ellis Fleming. Woo hoo! In San Diego, we face our former QB Frankie Duffy. We intercept him for a TD early (second TD in two games by S Oliver) but he leads the Chargers back and they beat us 28-14. Our offense is just not clicking right now, behind the young QB. We give Hartman his first start at QB, but we lose it 13-10 in Buffalo. RB Brenden Hill goes down with an injury, and our offense again looks sluggish. We also lose rookie DE Ellis Flaming for the rest of the season, a real shame. His serious broken leg has dipped his ratings a bit, also-damn! Week 5 is our bye, and at 1-3, we need to regroup. I decide to go with a more run-heavy offense, and I boost more toward the "Hawaiian Punch" 75 system. Even with Hill out, we're just more capable of running without screwups than passing right now. In Chicago, we respond with a 41-30 explosion-16 yards rushing, and only one turnover. Much better. We host KC, and get a 30-23 win. Again, we run for 153 yards and only have one turnover, and we win. We're giving up some big plays, but are looking much sharper. Hartman did what I wanted-19 of 25, no picks. We host San Diego, and things click even better-a 31-3 win, as we play nearly error-free ball. We're up to 4-3 now, and after our disastrous start, it looks like we're back into the game. We get a 14-10 win at home over Boise City, as RB Brenden Hill returns from his injury to have a solid game, scoring the winning TD. We overcome 3 interceptions from Hartman, but the defense is firmed up now. We lose in Oakland, 27-6, though the Raiders have been awful this year. Their defense hammered us, and they knocked RB Hill back to the injured list. We're back to the RB by committee approach. We visit a good TB team, and get a 40-23 victory. The general formula works again here-we ran for 246 yards, and committed no turnovers. It's practically a lock. Now, we come home to host 8-2 Seattle-this is a big game for us, as we need to stay hot to get back into the division race with the Seahawks. In this one, it's all defense, and they get an interception TD from their superstar CB Derrick Cavazos to win it 10-3. At 6-5, we're now 3 games behind Seattle, and ought to focus on a wild card chance. We fall behind KC, and get out of our rhythm-passing 35 times to 18 runs. Of course we lose it, 20-10. Now, we head home for our first game with Denver. We get back RB Hill and WR DeLamiellure, both of whom should help to add a spark to the offense. Our defense plays well, and the offense keeps them fresh-we run for 233 yards on the Broncos, and we take the game 17-10. Hill has his best game yet-181 yards and a nice TD carry. Against Baltimore, we get a big win, 43-10. 251 rushing yards, no turnovers, big win. At 8-6, we're basically one game behind the wild card teams-we probably just need to win out here, and someone should stumble. We crush Detroit 27-3, and take the next step toward our playoff berth. In our final regular season game, we will travel to Denver. We had thought that the division might be on the line here-but Seattle has run away at 12-3 and has the #1 AFC seed locked up already. This looks like it might be a "play in" game for our two teams-Denver is 10-5, and a win keeps them in. If they lose, we'll have them head to head, but not by conference record. It might get complicated. Both teams are approaching it the same way-win to stay in. In this game, both sides get their running games going. However, it's our passing game that makes the difference-QB Sedrick Hartman throws 4 interceptions, Denver runs two of them in for the TD, and we get beaten 33-16. The Broncos seal up their playoff berth at 11-5, and we go home with out 9-7 record.
Stat leaders: QB Sedrick Hartman: 2,313 yds, 51.4%, 5.97 ypa, 10/17, 60.1 RB Conrad McGee: 192-865 yds, 10 TD (4.5 ypc) RB Brenden Hill: 147-766 yds, 5 TD (5.2 ypc) WR Terrell Wayne: 45-770 yds, 6 TD (45.4%, 10 drops) OL unit: ~37% KRBs, 23 sacks allowed LB Dexter Vang: 85 tackles, 4 sacks DT Zack Crane: 11 sacks, 1 block, 5 hurries DE Mark Gilbertson: 10 sacks, 3 blocks, 1 hurry S Vince Periera: 59 tackles, 7 interceptions, 1 TD, 12 PD, 50.6 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 4.6 / 3.6 / 3.9 Passing: 6.0 / 6.2 / 6.7 Gross stat rankings: Rush offense 4th, Pass offense 33rd Rush defense 5th, Pass defense 15th Well, that makes things pretty clear. Welcome back to the world of the headless Squirrels, now holding open auditions for anyone who can throw the football. I have nobody to blame but myself. Admittedly, we got two great draft picks for my top two QBs, but at what cost? I don't know if Schultz would have done any better this year (his ratings said he wouldn't have) but right now, we're just fuming with yet another post-SB collapse to mediocrity. (We've made something of a habit of them) In the playoffs, all the hoopla about Denver's getting in was short-lived-they got trounced by Miami. Who in turn got trounced by Seattle, who earned the AFC berth with a win over Jacksonville. Atlanta beat Seattle in the Superbowl 34-31, in another thriller. Atlanta QB Alonzo Jefferson was the SB MVP, after throwing the winning TD in the final minute. The big honoree this year was Cinti RB Colin Wheeler, who had 1,755 yards to win the "triple." Seattle's QB Britt Barker had a great year to get first team honors, along with CB Derrick Cavazos. S Clyde Dillon, a Squirrel from years and years ago, earned second team honors with Minensota, his fifth award of a very successful career. Current Squirrels didn't get a lot of love. G Richie Peel gets first team, and DT Zack Crane does also. I had expected an award for my safety Vince Periera, but he's left out. A tough season to swallow, but I don't think this is an impossible situation. We just need to get a step ahead at QB, and soon. We'll see ho practical things are for next year-now, we aren't really paying anyone at QB, and we're capped out, of course. |
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02-15-2001, 08:00 PM
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#5 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2051 pre-draft
We have a number of news items this year. DT Benjamin Ferguson, a one-time Squirrel, has been inducted into the league HOF. We also welcome three new members to our team HOF: LB Kelly Kennedy, CB Leslie Bailey, and S Brian Hastings. There three formed a defensive nucleus for many years, and they held things together for a number of good teams. (They were each actually admitted in 2050, I failed to notice it then, so I mention it now) Fortunately, we have nor retirements from the team, though we do have some players who are getting close to that period. The team suffered a financial turnaround to match the on-field fall. We lost $80m last year, after profiting $88m the prior season. A number of things are to blame, but the obvious thing is that we didn't win a ton of games and go to the Superbowl. Hmm. We did retain our 100% attendance mark. There's a very good scout in the pool this year, Tommy Richardson. He's only 52, and he's asking for only $1m. I might be able to save some money by going with him, particularly if nobody else bids on his services. I'm also intrigued by Jacksonville's former coach, Greg Rash (again). However, both guys go for much more than my current staff, and I end up sitting tight. As we enter free agency, I get yet another trade offer for a QB. Dallas is putting up their #1 pick for Harold Perry, and it checks out as legit. He's in the final year of his current contract, and he's definitely not getting re-signed. I decide to take the deal-making this the first time ever that the Squirrels have held three first round picks in one draft (I'm fairly certain). We'll be picking at #5, #9, and #22. Hmmm… wonder if we might be thinking QB with one of those picks, eh?
We have a very, very serious problem here. My cap room is only about $9m more than my draft cost-and we must re-sign guard T.J. Robson. Without re-signing any of the expiring LBs, we'll have a positively mammoth problem at LB this year-very, very serious. I'll have to get creative, and perhaps destructive, with this roster. Ouch. DE Joseph Rollin is the first casualty-a fairly easy cut for about $9m. I also cut C Trent Joyner-a quality reserve, but clearly unaffordable. That will get us enough room to bid on G Robson, and we'll go from there, I suppose. I offer 3yrs, $44m to Robson-not too steep, actually. I decide that's all for now-I'll watch the market for LBs, and will be prepared to switch back to the 4-3 if need be. I'll almost certanly lose DT Crane, too-it will be a tough off-season. After week 1, I have to bump up to $53.5m for Robson. DT Crane and LB Blanchard seem to be headed toward lucrative deals elsewhere. Not much I can do there. It takes us until week 7, but Robson finally accepts our offer and re-signs. Whew. When I get to week 11, I look around, and see a QB whose bidders have just busted their cap. Amos Bell is a 5th year QB, has been playing a little for Philadelphia, and is custom-made for my team's needs-accuracy 82/100, 3rd down 96, very high ratings in short and medium passes. Wow. He also wants about $30m a year, which I understand. Man, it would be great to find a way to bring him aboard. I release RB Harvey Compton, and start looking for ways to free up money. Amos Bell slides all the way to week 20 of free agency, and this is the chance that we need to take, right now. I decide to cut WR Harry Beardsley, which clears up another $9m or so of cap space. work my cap room up to $60m, which ought to give me the requisite room to make a qualifying offer to the guy who's going to make this team explode. Four years, ninety million dollars. It's a huge bargain for this guy, who I am convinced is exactly what we need. He signs, and we all of a sudden have a very different look to this team. Well, one of the new "looks" to this team is that we have practically nobody around to play DT, LB or CB. This could be a tough year for our defense, indeed-I'll probably be spending most of the draft looking for guys with current ability who can step in and play or start this year. Not ideal. We head toward the draft with only 33 players signed-this is trouble. We'll pick up 9 in the draft, and have another 11 slots to fill. I'll probably only have about $9m in cap room after the draft, so the picture gets fuzzier as we speak. Trouble brewing… |
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02-16-2001, 10:09 PM
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#6 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2051 draft and camp
Since I have two very early picks, I need to watch the top of the draft very closely. This season, the top player available seems to be a great DE Stanley Folsom (I hear that train a comin’…). There are some solid linebackers (a position I need) but I really see nobody who looks like a worthy high pick for us. I’m not pleases with what I see here. There is one very good DT in the mix, and grabbing him (along with my rookie from last year) might move me into a 4-3 defense again. Broderick McCrory would be a great run-stopper at DT, which is a key addition I could use. Unfortunately, it’s a really poor year for CB, another need area. Lots of decent second-round quality guys, but nobody worth a top ten pick, regrettably. QB is the same sad story, though my press to bring in a star rookie is no longer on. There are a couple of guys who are clearly “oddballs”—red lines all huddled right around 30, greens all right around 65-70, then good reds for 3rd down, scrambling, and carrying. I’m not sure whether these guys will boom or bust, but I see that QB profile fairly often. QB Harold Billmaier from Rice is a possible standout—he has uneven red ratings, but they’re very good for a rookie. He shows a little potential, but I’d guess that he’s a guy like my original QB Paul de los Santos—he’ll build up over time and become rather good. He’d make a nice middle-round pick, I think. So, with my two early picks I’m likely to go after the top DT if he’s available, possibly the top WR (very good), or else maybe a DE. If I get screwed there, I’ll probably grab the top available LB (probably Phillip Denver out of Penn State), even though it will be a reach with the early pick. Ideally, I’d get DT McCrory and WR Rod Corsilles. Well, DE Folsom went #1, and DT McCrory went #3. At #5, I can take the WR Corsilles, or try to go defense here…
At this point, I have 11 more roster slots to fill, and only $7.5m in cap room. The arithmetic simply does not work here. I have to make a cut, and I end up accepting a trade offer for DE Lee Levine. Buffalo only gives me a 3rd round pick (and a bum TE) for him, but it’s the salary cut that I need to make. That gets me closer, and I make a couple more fairly minor cuts to try to get into line. I pick up my singular URFA-- LB Wes LeGrande as a decent depth LB for this team, and pass over a number of quality young players. I pick up a group of rookies, enough to get us into shape, but I still lack the cap room to pull it together. Finally, I decide to cut S Marvin Oliver, who is decent, but would have departed after this year anyway. That cut frees up enough room to at least contemplate getting up to 53. After a most painful transition period, I finally get to 53 players, a full roster, and head into camp. Here is the scout’s overview heading in:
This isn’t the best defense that we’ve ever fielded… far from it. Regardless, if the rookie class works out, we should be in solid shape for the future at LB. We’ll still need help at DB, but that can wait until next year. Training camp is pretty perfunctory, and we head out with our group of 53—just under budget.
Okay, WR Rod Casillas is going to be very, very good. LB Philip Denver is a bust—he’s playable, but he’s no first rounder by any stretch. Big ouch there. LB Emmanuel LaPointe is a massive bust—wow. LB Weisner is going to be okay, but I have really been taken to the cleaners with thise two early pick LBs. Ouch, ouch, ouch, Worst ever. Getting to 53 players, and fulfilling my hometown requirements, is a real bear. I have to jiggle the whole way, and I end up fully loaded without a thin dime to spare. I don’t cut either of my busted first rounders—they have about $37m in future years’ bonuses tied up, and I simply cannot afford to eat that all next year. I don’t know what I’ll do, but it’s not going to involve the superstar squad of LBs I had hoped for. Dammit! Here’s our list of 53 as we head into the season:
For this year, we’ll try to “shake off” the double-bust in the rookie class, and we’ll go for a step forward. The defense should only have to be adequate this season, as the real answer lies with our offense. We should be able to run, run, run, and with our new guy at the helm, we ought to be able to throw well enough to keep everyone honest. Though we might have some growing pains, the offense might be the best we’ve had in a long, long time. If Bell fits in, I like our chances to return to the playoffs for sure. How we do there probably is a factor of how healthy we are—we’ve gotten perilously thin in several areas. |
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02-17-2001, 03:14 AM
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#7 |
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Pro Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2000
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That's IT! You're no longer permitted to draft LBs higher than pick 35!!!  |
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02-17-2001, 08:39 AM
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#8 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2051 season
Okay, shake it off. Move on. Our team setup is pretty familiar. My main diagonal on the run/pass setup is set to 60—I should still run a lot, but I’ll try to be fairly balanced. I’ll be using a lot of 2WR sets, and I’ll also be using a fair variety of offensive formations. My expertise ratings range from high 40s to around 80. Defense will again be a 3-4, with fairly heavy nickel. I really don’t have the depth to put a full yield of quality players out there at any position—this team is going to have some defensive trouble, I fear. I’ll continue to use more zone—I don’t think I have the cover skills to handle anyone’s second receivers. My secondary looks awful. Our roster rating stays at 100, with Carolina a pretty distant second with a 65. Denver is third with a 57. Our cohesion ratings are the same usual bunch: 59-100(77)-76-61. This OL is entering its 7th year of playing together, with the leftmost four adding two more years as a unit. Pretty serious stuff. In preseason, we lose a DT for half the year, and rack up a number of minor dings, but nothing earth-shattering. We lose our opener in Atlanta 38-35. I’m afraid that I’ll be in a lot of 38-35 games this year, or their moral equivalents. QB Amos Bell has an inauspicious debut, as he has two interceptions returned for TDs in the first 19 minutes to dig us a 21-0 hole. We come back to tie it (with Bell throwing 3 TDs) but they kick a winning FG with 1:09 left. We really did outplay the bastards. We come home, and light up SD for a 45-21 win. Amos Bell outshines Frankie Duffy in this one, as he gets us an early lead that we coast with. Our next game is actually pretty defensive-oriented.. at leats through the third quarter. Through three, it was Indy 16, Col Springs 3… then, each team exploded to make it a 23-23 tie into OT, where the Colts got a breakaway run to win it 29-23. Our offense is really not doing quite what we had in mind—I decide to jack up the run percentages more. Denver comes to town, and we bear down and roll over them pretty good. It’s 48-29, and I’m starting to wonder how many points we might score this year. We seem to have the ideal setup—a good offense and a sieve defense, requiring us to keep piling up points to win. Don Coryell, we hardly knew ye. My RB Hill shows up for the Denver game with 170 yards and 2 TDs—a much improved effort. After our bye, we hit KC, and roll to a 42-7 win. We actually didn’t play all that well on offense, but four interceptions will help boost the score. The KC TD was on a defensive play, so our defense actually pitched a shutout. We head into 4-1 Oakland, and this game might tell whether we’re real players. We get a 30-17 win, as we do it all—Conrad McGee (in for an injured Brenden Hill) runs very well again, WR DeLamiellure has 11 catches for 154 yards, and we post a great effort with 450 yards of offense. Good game. We move into a 3-way tie for the division lead with Seattle and Oakland. We go into Denver, and look for the season sweep. We again feast on their defense, and whip them 56-27. Amos Bell has a really good game—throwing 20 of 27 for 269 and 4 TDs, plus running one in himself. He’s been pretty effective rushing the ball this year (3 TDs), despite modest ratings there. Regrettably, we lose C Drew Bloomer for 2-3 months, and also LB Weisner for the same. Ouch. I slide G Peel over to play C, and my one solid OL backup will start at RG for Peel. We eke out a 29-23 win in Portland, with the kicking game front and center. WR Darryl Tovar has a KR TD, and our PK is 5 for 6 in the win. Mos Bell, however, is hurt—we’ll miss a few weeks it looks like. DE Mark Gilbertson is also hurt, and will be out a while too. Those are both critical injuries. In Pittsburgh, we get a big win 25-21. The surprise hero is RB Robert McLemore, who runs for 2 TDs and a conversion. RB Brenden Hill went down early, and McLemore got his first real playing time of the year as he split time with McGee. We host Oakland, and get another clutch win—20-19 over the Raiders. QB Sedrick Hartman found our rookie WR Corsilles for the game winner with 20 seconds left. After the two big wins against quality opponents, we have a letdown as we lose at home to KC, 26-20 in OT. Our offense played terribly, and we were lucky to even be in it. Fortunately, we’ll get back both QB Bell and RB Hill this week as we play in San Diego. We get a 38-28 win, as Bell and Duffy have another little shootout. At 9-3, we now have two games on Denver and Seattle, and Oakland has fallen into a real skid. We do a lot of reshuffling with the roster, and prepare to host Seattle. It’s another shootout, and we get the 45-42 win. We tried our hardest to give it away in the 4th quarter (getting outscored 28-17 there) but ended up holding on to win it by 3 on a FG at the gun. No joke. We only had 358 yards of total offense, and yet scored 45 points (only one defensive TD, too). Weird game. We follow up with a 30-24 win over SF. This is the game we want to see from this offense—244 yards rushing, one turnover, efficient passing, and 30 points. Of course, we gave up 400 yards in the air to the Niners, but we prevailed anyway. Ugh. We earn a 19-10 win over Baltimore, which pushes us to 12-3 on the year. They really stopped our running game, so we had to pass a lot—especially to the backs. Young WR Corsilles had a good game to, with 121 yards and a TD. Our 12-3 record makes us a lock for a bye, but the top seed is still down to Jacksonville (12-3), Pittsburgh (11-3-1) or us. We drop our finale 27-24 to Seattle, and land at 12-4 on the year. We’ll be the AFC’s #2 seed behind Jacksonville.
Stat leaders: QB Amos Bell: 3,515 yds, 61.7%, 8.85 ypa, 25/8, 102.9 (13 games) RB Brenden Hill: 215-1,073 yds, 13 TD (4.9 ypc) RB Conrad McGee: 171-627 yds, 8 TD (3.6 ypc) WR Terrell Wayne: 78-1,262 yds, 6 TD (66.1%, 5 drops) WR Devin DeLamiellure: 65-958 yds, 4 TD (55.0%, 5 drops) WR Rod Corsilles: 55-958 yds, 4 TD (63.2%, 5 drops) OL unit: ~34% KRBs, 23 sacks allowed G T.J. Robson: 29/95 KRBs (30.5%), 2 sacks allowed T Lamar Grayson: 26/55 KRBs (47.2%), sacks allowed LB Dexter Vang: 84 tackles LB Matt Feugill: 79 tackles, 6 sacks DE Ellis Fleming: 13 sacks, 3 blocks, 4 hurries DE Ron Gumphrey: 9 sacks (!) CB Butch Mahoney: 64 tackles, 6 int, 1 TD, 11 PD, 39.7 PDQ CB Corwin Levine: 39 tackles, 5 int, 1 TD, 5 PD, 50.0 PDQ Overall stats: (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.9 / 3.9 / 3.8 Passing: 8.5 / 7.3 / 6.7 Gross stat rankings: Rushing offense 3rd, Passing offense 1st Rushing defense 6th, Passing defense 36th What a study in cause-and-effect relationships. I was correct that Amos Bell was just the tonic for our passing game—we suddenly are an explosive powerhouse offense, despite no advancement in the running game. However, the cost in bringing him on was mighty—we have cut back our defense so much (especially the secondary) that we’re fielding a very unsound team in many ways. It’s tough to know what we could do here, but I think we’re going to be explosive enough to have a shot in the playoffs. Our defense is lousy, but it’s capable of making a few big plays like anyone’s is… who knows? |
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02-17-2001, 06:42 PM
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#9 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2051 postseason
Regrettably, the scheduling calls for us to play Pittsburgh, who is far superior to Buffalo, who also managed to win their opener. Drat! Pittsburgh was 11-4-1 in the regular season, and they dismantled Denver in the opening round of the playoffs. Their QB Mitchell Caldwell is a top candidate for league MVP, but he’ll be without one top WR in this game—but he’ll have Danny Andrews, who is also very good. The game sizes up as a shootout—we shouldn’t be able to stop their air game, and hopefully we can keep up with them. After a nice runback, Pitt sets up at their 41 yard line. Their very first play is a streak pattern to WR Cook, and he’s gone for the score—59 yards in one mighty play! We cannot execute the same level of aggression—we fizzle from turnovers, and punt. Pitt moves again, into scoring range, but they miss a long FG. We get something cooking toward the end of the first quarter, and even convert a 4th and 2 on the way (from their 38). We end up way into Pitt territory, but come away with only a 20-yard FG. On our next possession, our RB McGee gets a good 42 yards run for us, and sets us up into good position again. Bell hits DeLamiellure for a 10 yard TD, and we’re in business—leading 10-7. The Steelers answer with a drive for a tying FG. We them move quickly with a 4 play, 62 yards drive for another TD pass, and re-take the lead. The shootout elements are starting to warm up here. Things do cool off, and the 17-10 mark holds at the half. We open the third quarter with a good, solid 5 minute drive for Bell’s 3rd TD pass, and take a 24-10 lead. After they punt, our PR Pascal takes the kick 81 yards for a TD, and the 31-10 measure makes things look well in hand. For the rest of the way, our offense proves to be the best defense—we hold the ball for 36 minutes, and we win it 38-10. Even after the 60 yard play to kick things off, the Steelers only totaled 230 yards in offense. I have an odd injury this week—my kciker is hurt. Ince I’m so damned close to the salcap, I cannot afford a new guy, so my punter will (I presume) get pressed into service. Fabulous, I can see how this one ends already… Jacksonville had the league’s best record at 13-3. They have a fabulous RB Curtis Copley, who will again be a candidate for multiple honors, and their passing game behind QB Antoine Cordie is solid as well. They get a lot of pressure from their front four, letting them drop back into tough coverage—their defense is tough against the pass. On our opening drive, we move 80 yards in 111 plays for the TD, and look pretty sharp. Jax comes back and hits a 46 yard play action pass to set up at our 23. They settle for a 33 yard FG. After they stop us, they march into our territory, but my safety Vince Periera comes up with a big interception to preserve the lead. However, on our possession, Bell is picked off, and the Jags defender runs it 44 yards for the TD. However, we strike back with a 44 yard TD run from Brenden Hill, and it’s a 14-10 margin. With less than a minute left in the half, we add a FG to get to 17-10. That’s the halftime mark. On the Jags’ first possession in the third quarter, they get in and score a TD to even it up. We make a protracted drive, about 13-14 plays, not including penalties, and finish out the third quarter with a FG. It’s 20-17 our lead as we move ahead. Jax moves quickly into scoring territory, but sputters. They line up for a 49 yard FG, and they nail it. It’s tied. We drive into their territory, and fizzle at their 13. (I knew this damned game would come down to kicking!) We instead decide to go for it (?!?!) and Bell’s pass is incomplete—they take over on downs. Cordie drives them, but again we toughen up in the long shadow of our goalposts, and they stop at our 39. They line up for a 56 yarder… and this one is good, too! Wow. We have 2:20 left, and are now trailing by 3 points. We get one first down, but then we are stopped at our 35—and on fourth down, the ball falls incomplete, and Jacksonville takes over. We stop them, and we get one final gasp with 23 seconds left, from our 20. Too little, too late—we get to midfield, but the clock kills us, and it’s over. Jacksonville faces Atlanta, the defending champions, in the Superbowl. Jacksonville manages an easy win, 30-7, to take the title for this year. A very solid season for them. Their RB Curtis Copley gets the league’s “triple” award, but is one-upped by his teammate QB Antone Cordie who gets the Superbowl MVP honor. We have a few honorees as well. G T.J. Robson is a member of the first team, as is CB Butch Mahoney (our highest-paid player). T Carl Osborne is named to the league’s second team. Recent departures DT Zack Crane and LB K.C. Blanchard both make the second team for their new clubs (BAL and CAR, respectively). This was a solid season for our offense—the most explosive we have been in many years. Our defense was probably the shakiest we’ve fielded in years. On balance, there are signs for encouragement, but we’ll need to resolve this defensive crisis soon. The two salary holes in my LB lineup will not help that process at all, to be sure. |
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02-17-2001, 07:13 PM
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#10 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2052 preamble
As I launch this, the second half-century of Squirrel football, I have decided to adopt two new “house rules” into the repertiore. They’re part of an ongoing “test” to try to tweak the house rules to maximize my interest in the game. I will not make trades unless I make a semi-formal declaration that the team is in a “rebuilding” mode. If I make such a declaration (under reasonable circumstances), I’ll allow myself to accept CPU-offered trades in the manner that I have up to this point. I’ll leave the window open for about two seasons or so, I suspect. Anytime other than that situation, I’ll pass on all trade offers. I’ll offer 7yr contracts to as many URFAs as I want. The specific deals will be as follows: Bonus offered: x Annual salaries: x/2x/3x/3x/3x/3x/3x where x = salary amount demanded for one-year URFA contract For local school players, I’ll offer the same deal, but without the signing bonus. I think that, in general, the fairly significant bonus will make it more challenging to offer these deals to marginal players. When I feel a particular player will be a useful role-player, I can offer this deal, but I won’t hold myself to any artificial (one per year) restrictions. I’ll count on the bonus costs (especially if the player gets cut) to rein in the use of this particular tool to reasonable limits. With the cap problems I have now, I may not use it at all. My hope is that these URFAs will continue to take the place of the second year FAs which I once grabbed fairly frequently in the late FA stages. I may still get some of those guys, but I prefer the notion of having home grown players stick with the team a while. This will hopefully help combat the problem of absurd salary demands by backup players—these players will at least play in supporting roles for several years (earning a good bit above minimum salary, incidentally) before testing the open market. |
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02-17-2001, 08:25 PM
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#11 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2052 pre draft
Benjamin Fouse has retired. In 14 years, the first nine with Colorado Springs and later with Philadelphia, he had 14,680 yards rushing and over 18,000 total yards. He had six 1,000 yard seasons, and twice while on our team he topped the 2,000-yard mark in total yards from scrimmage. He’s quite likely to be headed to the HOF—he’s fifth on the all-time rushing yardage list. He’s the best and most accomplished runner we ever had. In this year’s HOF class are two former Squirrels—S Brian Hastings and CB Leslie Bailey. Both honors are well deserved—they were very solid players for a long time for us. We have no other news—no team HOF inductees, or retirements. There is a new scout added to this game—a 32 year old guy named Levon Compton, who looks pretty darned good. I’ll keep an eye out—my own guy is solid, but this one would make a good young backup plan. The most tempting coach to me remains Brenden Petoskey, who still cannot get a job. I end up sitting still, and neither guy gets claimed—good news. They’re sitting idle waiting for my call, essentially. I stick with my very expensive pair of Luke Flowers and Todd Rowan. At the outset of the FA period, here is the roster picture:
It will again be a seriously difficult year. $60m simply will not re-sign the players that I’d like to have come back. I have my entire complement of safeties up for free agency, which is convenient. Two offensive linemen, whose re-signing has been a sacred vow of the organization. Put it all together—I don’t see how we can do this without (once again) making serious cuts. I start out with 3yrs, $46m for T Osborne. I offer Peel 3yrs, $43m—what he is asking for. I’m hoping that with these guys’ ages, there won’t be a huge run on them from other clubs. That’s $30m tied up, if I get them both back. I put in 4yrs, $61.5m for safety Vince Periera, and I hope to secure him as well. My estimated draft cost is about $18, meaning that I can come close to affording these three deals, but I’d have nothing left with which to sign the other 10 players I’ll need. I cut LB Emmanuel LaPointe- who (luckily for me) only signed a 3yr deal last year as a rookie. I’ll eat about $3m in bonus next season, but that’s not that bad. I trim a couple more minor players, and go back to the FA process. S Vince Periera re-signs immediately, and that’s one important guy off the worry list. I bump my offers to Peel and T Osborne, to stay ahead of the competition. I’ve worked hard to keep this OL together, and I don’t want to lose anyone over a measly million or two. In week 3, T Carl Osborne has signed a new deal. However, it’s the worst of all possible worlds—he has inked with the cross-state rival Denver Broncos! I’m torn apart! The sneaky bastards jumped right in with a brand new bid and stole him right away. In week 6, G Richie Peel signs, but the damage is done—our “intact” offensive line has finally crumbled, after 7 straight seasons with the exact same starting five. That’s all I do in free agency—I flirt with a 2nd year CB who is available, but he wanted his deal to escalate to around $10m, which I don’t see for him. No, thanks. As we head toward the draft, the fact that we were unable to re-sign T Osborne is unfortunate, but it does give us the financial breathing room that we were going to need to assemble the roster for this year. |
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02-17-2001, 09:53 PM
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#12 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2052 draft and camp
In this draft, I’ll simply have the #33 pick in each round—nothing much extra or special. (I do hold an extra third round pick, but that’s all) Therefore, I’ll play the hand that’s dealt me. I’ve got to be thinking defense, though the new hole in the boat is at OT, where I’ve lost a long-time starter. DE Ron Grant looks incredible, but might be a bust. If not, he’ll be a sensational player, I suspect. QB Jackie Perry looks like a future star, with very good current ratings too (maybe too good). There are a couple of intriguing local picks—a decent LB with very little upside, and a redliner profile WR. By my pick, there is nothing really available at CB (which was my top priority). However, S Antonio Mastin is very solid, and looks like he has every cover skill we could ask for. I decide he’s my guy, and he’ll probably step in and start this year, quite possibly at CB.
It’s a solid draft for us, covering a number of need area with seeming value picks. It doesn’t always work out that way. I re-sign FB Ernest Boren, who should fit well into my mix at FB/TE. Among the rookie class, I bring on a few young players to my new concept long-term deals. WR Edgar Word looks like he’ll be a worthwhile 4th or 5th receiver pretty soon, and should be worth the investment. I also sign RB Raymond Rhodes to a long deal—he’s got a pretty good mix of abilities, and should be a solid #2 runner after a year or so. I then decide to roll the dice on a potential redliner at WR, Christian Scheuler. He’s either a nice pickup and a keeper, or else an immediate cut and a meaningful salcap hit next year. I build up to a total of 54 players aboard, as we had into training camp. Here’s the scout’s report:
No surprises in the camp allocation. And I don’t want any surprises (of the bad sort) as we come out…
Well, my rookies came out okay this time—S Mastin ought to be very solid. Indeed everyone from the draft class looks just fine. Among my younger players, I did get a modest breakout from WR Christian Schuler—enough to boost his potential ratings to 55/72/50/62/36…25. He’s never going to be a starter, but he might one day be an acceptable option at #3, which will be nice for under $4m. He’ll be better than Edgar Word, who is more the #4-5 type, even when he fully develops. I bring on LB Preston Kramer, a Colorado guy who has been overlooked in each of the last two FA periods. He’ll step in and probably start for us, as a solid run stopper—maybe as the ILB along with Vang. I also grab DE Cory Sweeney, who will be our 3rd of 4th man at DE. To help to get the roster in line, I release QB Sedrick Hartman after 6 years with us. He’s been okay, but the sting from his one season at the helm is too sharp in our memories, and we need to move past that. Here is our list of 53 going into the season:
We head into the season fully armed, and broke (as usual). I think we’ve taken steps on defense, but we still won’t have the secondary that we’d like to field. We lost one quality OL this year, but otherwise the offense should be just fine. I think we’ll be good there—and the passing game should be even better. If last year’s offering was good enough to make it to the AFC Championship game, and suffer only a narrow loss there, then this team ought to be improved from last year, and we should be on the short list of title contenders. If we can stay healthy, I give us a shot to do it now. |
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02-22-2001, 08:29 PM
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#13 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2052 season
Again, there are no really big surprises in my team setup. I back off the nickel defense, and will go with a more standard 3-4 this year. No shocker in the offensive setup- my “neutral” situations setups are set at 60 to start out. We’ll start backup FB Ernest Boren as our TE this year—he’s going to be a god receiver, it would seem. I also decide to go with Ty Corbett as my right tackle. Lamar Grayson will step in at left tackle, replacing Osborne. The LB corps actually looks pretty good, as Philip Denver has recovered a bit, and is a pretty serviceable player, if not the star we had hoped for. I decide to use rookie safety Mastin as my second corner this year—the secondary is awfully weak, and that’s my best fit right now. I have a 100 roster rating again, but Tennessee is right behind with a 95, and St. Louis with an 88. My cohesion ratings are the same mixed bag: 56-100(86)-89-73. This year, we are going to start a new team tradition—we’ll name a slate of team captains. This year, our two offensive captains will be C Drew Bloomer (a longtime stalwart and hometown hero) and WR Devin DeLemiellure. On defense, we name LB Dexter Vang, and safety Vince Periera. Our final captain will be from our special teams unit, and it will be WR/KR Daryl Tovar. We should get a lot of leadership from this group, I would think. They have all been trained in the proper strategies to coin-flipping, as well. Through the preseason, we look very, very sharp-- going 4-0 with three blowouts. We’re dinged up at LB afterwards, but should be able to get by okay. We open against Denver this year, and it should have a special element. Denver marched in and dropped a bomb of an offer to our FA tackle Osborne, and broke up the line that had played together as the heart of this team. We will not soon forget that. In Denver, we get the win in the most painful way—we take it away from them in the closing seconds, 31-28. Rookie DB Antonio Mastin gets an interception for a TD in his first NFL game, and QB Amos Bell throws his third TD to put us ahead with :32 remaining. Our running game was poor, but we got the W. Unfortunately, we will now be without LB Dexter Vang for 2-3 months, and we are suddenly in real trouble at LB. I’ll have two injured guys in my starting LB group—we just hope they don’t worsen. We head home to take on KC, and get a shock as they romp 38-21. They got three fumbles, including one they returned 95 yards for a TD (!) plus a 103 yard KR TD. Adds up to a lopsided score for them, though we outgained them by nearly 100 yards. Against 2-0 Oakland, we get back on track, with a 20-9 win. We then win 34-23 in Miami, after a late fourth quarter flurry of scoring on both sides. We get a week off, which we’ll need after our injury list grows again. We visit the Giants, and come away with a decidedly unsatisfying 38-38 tie. We were practically dead even in yardage, but how can we each score 38 in regulation and then be unable to get any score in a full OT? At 2-2-1, we look ahead to see Denver atop the division at 4-1, and we scowl. We get a little out of our system at home against SD, winning 43-17. RB Brenden Hill has 4 TDs in the effort, as our offense rolls pretty well. We come home to face Oakland again. We get the sweep of the Raiders with a 34-31 thriller, notching the winning FG with 16 seconds left. We’ve become a pretty formidable fourth quarter offense. Next, we host 5-2 Buffalo, and we post a 44-16 win. CBs Mastin and Mahoney each have a TD, and Amos Bell throws for three more. At the halfway point, our offense is clicking rather well. QB Amos Bell and RB Brenden Hill are among the league leaders in yardage. And, after our 3-game run, we’re back into first place in the division, just ahead of Oakland and Denver. We ring up KC, 34-18, as our offense again puts up a good effort. Our defense is making big plays, also, which does seem to happen when a team gets rolling. We have, however, lost T Lamar Grayson for the year, and our OL will have to be jumbled again. We travel to Cheyenne, and lose 22-15 to a good opponent. We drop to 7-3, a half game behind our next opponent, Denver. Playing at home, we post a 31-10 rout of the Broncos, and regain the division’s top slot. We rushed for 200, passed for 300, and held on to the ball-- funny how good we are when that works. We go into San Diego, and again get stung by an “inferior” team. The 4-8 Chargers got us here, 20-14, as they knock Amos Bell out of the game. Darrell Lane steps in, and play well, but we still fall. The main issue was that we fell behind early, and gave up on our running game. In week 14, we host Seattle, and get back into things, winning 34-3. QB Amos Bell is still dinged (pun intended) but we keep him in for now- the division race is very tight. We welcome back LB Dexter Vang, and we’ll need him against a tough Jacksonville team. It’s a big late-season showdown between two likely playoff teams, and we come away the victors, 33-0. Wow. The Jags clamped down and totally stuffed our running game, but we opened up and threw all over them. We go to 9-4-1 and regain the division lead due to Denver’s loss. We next host Dallas, and get a 34-24 win. Again, we resort mostly to the pass, as our running game is sputtering a bit. With the win and another Denver loss, we have now sewn up the division title. With one more win, we’ll lock the #2 seed in the AFC behind Buffalo. We wrap up with a 30-10 win in Seattle, and get what we wanted. Included in that was a really good game from RB Brenden Hill, who had 179 yards on 22 carries. I want him in good shape as we roll into the postseason, and he looks sharp now.
Stat leaders: QB Amos Bell: 4,131 yds, 58.3%, 8.43ypa, 33/12, 98.1 RB Brenden Hill: 276-1,145yds, 9 TD (4.1 ypc); 45rec-613 yds, 4 TD RB Conrad McGee: 121-518 yds, 4 TD (4.2 ypc) WR Rod Corsilles: 61-1,156 yds, 14 TD (54.4%, 9 drops), 10.6 PR avg WR Devin DeLamiellure: 58-869 yds, 8 TD (49.5%, 5 drops) OL unit: ~34% KRBs, 36 sacks allowed G T.J. Robson: 30/88 KRBs (34.0%), 1 sacks allowed LB Phillip Denver: 66 tackles, 1.5 sacks DE Ellis Fleming: 8.5 sacks, 5 blocks, 8 hurries DE Mark Gilbertson: 8 sacks, 3 blocks, 5 hurries S Vince Periera: 65 tackles, 5 int, 8 PD, 41.3 PDQ Overall stats (off/def/avg): Rushing: 3.9 / 3.9 / 3.8 Passing: 8.4 / 6.5 / 6.6 Gross stat rankings: Rushing offense 8th, Passing offense 1st Rushing defense 9th, Passing defense 9th Not a bad season, by the numbers. There’s little doubt that our air game is the engine making it all work. We manage to keep the ball in our hands a lot, and our defense gets to play well-rested. Not a bad system, but we need to be able to run the ball to win in postseason. We should have the tools to do that pretty well, and I think we are a player in this year’s title run. |
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02-24-2001, 08:57 AM
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#14 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2052 postseason
Jacksonville beats Denver to advance into the divisions playoff against us. They were 11-5 division winners, and look very solid. QB Antoine Cordie is their offensive engine, but he hands off a lot to RB Curtis Copley. They beat us last year in the AFC Championship, and then went on to win it all. A good matchup. For us, we’ll be without two of our best performers. LB Dexter Vang had reinjured his knee, and it’s very serious. He may be done, period. For now, he goes onto IR, and will undoubtedly miss the playoffs. Also, WR Rod Corsilles is listed as doubtful, and we’ll sit him for this game, too. Two rather tough losses. We start out with the ball, and move quickly into position for a FG and a quick lead. Jax gets their running game going a bit, and after one exchange, they cash in a FG of their own as the first quarter expires. In the second quarter, we get a nice drive, topped off with a TD pass to Terrell Wayne, and take a 10-3 lead. Before halftime, we get another good possession, and RB Brenden Hill breaks a 15-yard scamper for the TD, to push us ahead 17-3. We’ve slowed down their running game, and are looking pretty good. Our 17-3 lead holds through most of the third quarter, until we get an interception near midfield, and drive the short field for another TD pass. The jags become pretty predictable at this point, and we are firmly in control. We get a pick at our own 2 yard line, which enables them to collect a safety, but overall—it’s a runaway, 31-5. Now, we head into Buffalo. We beat the Bills 44-16 at our place earlier in the season—by far the worst game they played all year. They will throw a lot on us, we expect—their top RB will miss this game, though they use a committee system anyway, it seems. They will bring a lot of heat from their front seven, with a variety of stunt and blitz packages. The Bills’ return man fumbles the opening kickoff, and we recover at their 28, a great stroke of early luck. We grab a FG to take an early lead. Bills QB Freeman responds with a nearly all-pass drive, that collects a TD in about 6 plays. Bell gets intercepted on the best series, and they run the pick back for a 14-3 lead. We need to regroup, and not let this one slip away early. On their next series, Freeman, gets another long pass, 44 yards down to our 15, and they get another TD—putting them ahead 21-3. In the middle of the second quarter, we stem the bleeding with a decent drive for a FG, to get to 21-6. However, we simply cannot stop these guys, and the Bills respond with a FG of their own. The 24-6 margin stands at the half. All the talk is that the Bills were particularly fired up for this game since we embarassed them in the regular season. No specific allegations of “running up the score” have been levied, but many experts predicted that the Bills would have revenge on their minds for this game. Early on, it looks like it’s holding water—they are playing brilliantly. The third quarter is very calm, they add a FG as it winds down, to go to 27-6. We come to life, and respond with a fairly short TD drive after a good return. It’s 27-13, and the window of opportunity has not yet completely slammed shut. However, our next two possessions go nowhere, and then they seal the deal with a good drive to eat clock and add another TD. The spectacle ends at 34-13, and the Bills head to the Superbowl. Buffalo manages to beat Cheyenne 31-21 to keep the trophy in the AFC’s hands. Oddly, the AFC has been really dominant in this career—we’ve won 8 of the last 10 SBs, and probably 2/3 or more of the total over 50+ years. This time, Buffalo QB Alfred Freeman is named the game MVP with 3 TD passes. The awards board is split up this year—Jacksonville RB Copley gets MVP but doesn’t even make second team. St, Louis RB C.J. Woods gets first team RB and OPOY, and DPOY is again a fraudulent award, handed to a bad team’s MLB who racks up huge tackle numbers by playing 44 minutes of every game. As for our Squirrels, we get a few honors, as usual. C Drew Bloomer and G T.J. Robson again make the first team for their amazing efforts. My other honoree is the positional quirk—FB Ernest Boren makes first team FB because he racked up good receiving yards playing starting TE for our team. Give him the award, with an asterisk. Another solid season for us, but the defense is a point of concern. We’ll certainly lose Dexter Vang this off-season: if he doesn’t retire, he’ll at least miss most of next year and won’t be worth re-signing. Our secondary is frightful, and I have no idea where we’ll find the bodies to make a real improvement. The offense is solid, but we’ll have to sort through some tumult at WR. |
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02-24-2001, 05:39 PM
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#15 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2053 pre-draft
LB Dexter Vang has retired, after an awful knee injury last season. He was among our most productive LBs, but the injury cost him another five or more productive seasons. We really cannot afford the loss. The team cleared about $46m last year, our most financially robust season in some time. The main reason was that it was a slow signing year, and we had fairly few bonuses paid out. In a cash accounting system this makes a big difference. We had a perfect attendance record again, one of seven teams last year. I’m comfortable with my incumbent coach and scout pair, and keep them under contract. I give a cursory glance at the field, but I sit tight. TB Pays Kenny Fletcher a record $37.8m a year to become their coach. Here is the roster picture as we begin free agency:
With $10m to spend, we have another looming shortage. I want to keep C Bloomer and T Grayson, both of whom ought to be fairly cheap as they’re getting old. I’d prefer to keep DE Gilbertson and LB Feugill, but Gilbertson may have to go. Feugill is pretty good, but if I lose him, I’ll be devastated at the LB position. As for anyone else—probably longshots to be retained. I start out with a simple offer to C Drew Bloomer-- $14m to play this year. I offer 3yrs, $63m to T Grayson, who still has several good season left in him. I try to make offers to LBs Feugill and Grayson., but they are both looking for close to $20m, and I don’t see it happening there. I’ll hope that one of them slips into the later rounds, where his demands might get a bit more reasonable. After week one, everything is still in the air. I decide to offer 4yrs, $69m to LB Preston Kramer, and I hope that he’ll slide into my MLB slot as a good run stopper. I’ve been outbid on both OL, but I think I’ll get Bloomer back anyway, and quite possibly Grayson, too. I sit tight with them. I decide to put in 4yrs, $80m for LB Preston Kramer. He’s very good against the run, and I hope to move him inside to be my main run stopper. He’s also from Colorado, which would help with that requirement. I bump up my offer to C Bloomer to 2yrs, just ahead of the nearest rival. After a couple week of nothing, in week 4, T Grayson signs with Buffalo, and my situation at OT just got pretty bleak. I decide to put in a matching offer to LB Feugill—4 yrs, $80m. I think securing these two guys will be a big help to us at that position, though I’m not certain that this will even do it. In week 5, both LBs take my deals, and they’ll be playing side by side for us for a while. That should help. In week 6, C Drew Bloomer re-signs with us, and we have three quality guys back aboard. That’s probably all we can handle. Interestingly, QB Cary Schultz is available in the FA pool this year. His ratings have suffered a good deal—he played one year with New Orleans, and then apparently missed two whole seasons. My guess is that he must have suffered a serious injury—he’s only a shadow of the guy we had at one time. In the late stages, I sign DE Keith Joslyn, a 2nd year player who should be a useful guy at that position. I check out QB Schultz, but he’s asking for a $22m/yr deal—much more than he’ll get from us, for sure. I also pick up a cheap OT Harris Gullet, who I don’t want to start, but that position has gotten very strapped lately. Heading toward the draft, we have left some significant holes on the roster. We’ll need to add a starter at either FB or TE—we only have one returner in FB Baxter, who will be fine in either one. The line should be okay, but the decay is well underway. We’ll probably use G Corbett as a starting tackle again, but I don’t yet know how we’ll assemble the unit for this year. We do need a quality starter naturally playing tackle, in time. CB is still a desperate problem—we really should get someone there, but I don’t have any sense what we can do there. LB is in fairly good shape with the two re-signings, but playing the 3-4 will be tough—we’ll have to make that call after the draft. |
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02-26-2001, 04:14 AM
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#16 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2053 draft and camp
I’m back into the position where my review of the top overall rookies is more academic curiosity than vested interest—drafting #34 throughout means that I will not see any of the overpowering DEs or QBs who show up from time to time. I’ll just get what they decide to leave for me. DE Clarence Lilly is a case in point—looks flawless (97/98/100), but definitely won’t fall to pick #4, much less #34. QB Blake Winters should be another very high pick, and he looks pretty solid. CB Jay Mann is the guy I need- a very good cover corner with some great return skills, too. He doesn’t fit the bust profile, but it’s possible—he looks awfully good. Doubtful it will affect us anyway. The draft looks top-heavy with OL, which is good for us, as that really isn’t a priority for us, unless a great OT slips down. There is nothing of real import from the local schools in this crop, either. As my pick approaches, I see nothing to really hope for—I don’t really like anything in this draft, period. I end up taking a CB who will probably start at safety for us, but I don’t see him as a great pickup necessarily—more of a forced need pick. I’m pleased, though, when the next best CB falls all the way to my next pick, and I end up with two potentially useful DBs in this draft.
After the draft, I have 9 slots left unfilled, and $23m in cap room. I have plenty of money to even try to sign a local FA or two, if any are available. I fill in some roster holes with rookies, and pick up a few long-termers. G Scott Horn looks pretty solid, a quality 6th or 7th lineman down the road or possible starter if he pans out. DT Dwayne Borders should be a serviceable DT for us, good enough to fill in for several years. LB Melvin Chandler should provide some useful depth over a few years as well. I head into training camp with a pretty modest group of signees—only 52 come into camp with us in total. I’ll make some moves after camp, to complete my regional requirements, but for now, that’s all we got. Not a single “redliner” in the rookie class for us, not even a longshot pickup. With the signing bonus I’m offering (equal to the whole rookie salary) I’ve become much more cautious about dawdling in the FA pool, which I judge to be a good thing.
Camp itself holds no real surprises—most of the usual allocations. However, the after-camp is the big event, as we inspect the scout’s revised judgment.
After camp, as I peruse through my players, I see that I got a pretty handsome boost from second year WR Christian Schueler. He lacks the endurance to be an every-down player, but he is developing into quite a bargain reserve for us. Rookie CBs Conwell and Cousins both look solid, and came through camp fine. I got a bit of am unexpected boost from LB Melvin Chandler, who now looks like he could eventually be a 3rd or 4th starter. Pretty good results from this camp, and no bad news—we’ll take it. After training camp, I extend an offer to RB Conrad McGee to return for another year with us. He’ll come back, but this will almost certainly be the end of his tour of duty with us. I do more filling in of local players, and assemble a final roster of 53.
It has been a while since I genuinely ended up with some real cap room. Regardless, I was able to pay $6m to have RB McGee return for another year, and still have nearly $9m in the till at the end of the line. I probably could have brought on a decent FA or two with that, but I’ll be okay with what we have on hand. The key to things has to be in the secondary—we’ll be using both rookie CBs pretty heavily, and hoping that things work out right. I expect our offense to again be the strength, and that we should move the ball well. If we can step up and play better defense, we should be a very serious contender. |
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03-07-2001, 01:04 PM
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#17 |
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College Starter
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Houston, or there about
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First off, I love this team, I've gone back now and read all of the years, and have been inspired to start a "House Arrest" league of my own to try it out. Here's my question. I've been playing now for about 3 weeks, but I can't seem to find the 20 point based scouting report anywhere. Can someone point this out for me, I feel incredibly stupid.
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2011 Golden Scribes winner for best Interactive Dynasty |
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03-07-2001, 01:10 PM
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#18 |
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It only appears when you print the scout overview screen. We commonly print to file and post to the dynasty thread that information, that is why you see the 20 point scale as opposed the 100 point scale. Welcome aboard.
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03-07-2001, 06:43 PM
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#19 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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Incidentally, I apologize for not getting to this team lately... it's my busiest time of the year in my employment, and the time I've had to spend on FOF has been pretty smattered. I've ended up spending some time on the GoupThink WW team, since I can do that in smaller spurts. I pretty rarely get a 2 hour block to spend on this team.
I hope I haven't lost too much momentum, and end up stopping this team, but instead just come back to it after a while off. However, I can't forecast when I'll get time... hopefully fairly soon. (It's good stress therapy anyway) |
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03-10-2001, 09:14 PM
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#20 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2053 season
We get the lineup in order—no real surprises there. At RB, Brenden Hill will again be our main man, but rookie Jessie Russell will get to touch the ball a lot, too. Rookie CB Roy Conwell will step in and play at the second corner slot, and we’ll use my other rookie Cousins in the nickel back slot—both should do okay. My offense is as usual, with a lot of runs directed into the pocket between C Drew Bloomer and G T.J. Robson, still the heart of the line. On defense, we’ll re-institute more nickel coverage, and will go to more man coverage than in recent years. Our roster rating is 100, with Tennessee next at 59. Nobody in our division is over 31. Our cohesion rating are 59-100/90-67-72. We’re losing some of our margin with the OL, but that is no surprise. We keep three of the same captains for this year—C Drew Bloomer, S Vince Periera, and KR Daryl Tovar. We name our young WR Rod Corsilles as an offensive captain, and we replace the retired LB Vang with promising DE Ellis Fleming. In the exhibition season, we lose WR Daryl Tovar for several weeks. He’s a solid reserve at WR and a return man (special teams captain), but we can fill in okay. We head home to host Denver in our season opener. We’re the heavy favorites in this one, but this team doesn’t seem to have its ducks in a row quite yet—we get beaten 24-9. They got a few big plays and beat us, but we were admittedly a bit flat. QB Amos Bell hooks up with Rod Corsilles twice in the early going against SD, and we roll to a 31-14 win. DE Ellis Fleming goes down with a knee injury, and will miss at least a few games, which hurts. Seattle visits, and we smack them, 41-23. Amos Bell outduels Britt Barker with 4 TDs, and RB Brenden Hill has 144 yards as the offense picks it up a bit. We then trash Bufalo 31-7 to get to 3-1, and continue our roll. We’ve now lost G Richie Peel (playing LT) to injury, and our DL is banged up, too. We enjoy a much-needed week off. We get a 17-13 win over Minnesota, with no help from our running game, which they shut down totally. Amos Bell gets laid out, and we have our cast of backups in at QB as well. Nonetheless, the defense takes care of it, and we prevail. QB Bell is okay to go for our next game, but we’ve racked up a few more nicks and dents. We’re 4-1, and a game behind the perfect Broncos so far. That week one clash is looking like less of a fluke now. We get a win in Oakland, behind our passing game, which continues to carry us. Denver dropped their game against Seattle, so we pull into a tie with them. Seattle gets the “double” though as they upset us next, 24-20. It’s odd—we outplayed them, but they were just more opportunistic. A visit to the Jets looks like just the tonic, but we get upended there, too, as we give up 17 points in the final quarter to drop it 24-21. We rebound with a 27-3 victory over the Chargers—a good win where we run well, and hold onto the ball well. The bad news is that I’ve again lost DE Ellis Fleming for the year—another serious injury. He’s starting to lose some of his luster from the beating he’s taking, which is a shame. We host 8-1 Tampa Bay, and hand them a 24-10 loss. Amos Bell hits RB Jessie Russell for two first quarter TDs, and we hold on from there with a good defensive effort. Now, we head into Denver, where we’ll take on the Broncos, who are tied at 7-3 atop our division. Denver week is always big—the playoff implications just heighten the effect. Our suddenly rolling Squirrels punish the Broncos, 31-7, as we get an early TD drive followed by a defensive score to get momentum on our side early. We then come home and tattoo Oakland 41-3, to put some more distance in the division race. Vince Periera and Adrian Cousins have interceptions TDs in the second half rout. In KC, we get a 338-24 win to keep things going. We get two more return TDs—another interception from Vince Periera, and a kickoff return by DiBlasio. Our next game is against Jacksonville, who is also 10-3. Since Miami is 11-2, this game may be for a bye week—a pretty big deal. The Jags sock it to us pretty good, winning at home 35-17. Their star RB Curtis Copley had 104 yards and 2 TDs against our defense. We rebound with a good road win in Green Bay, 30-6. RB Jessie Russell did it all, filling in at RB for 34-115 yds and a TD, plus continuing his duties as a third WR, and hauling in 7-93 there. A very good game for him, needless to say. In our finale, we take on KC. We’re again tied with Denver for the division title, so the game really counts for us. Of course, we’d be the #3 seed anyway, so there’s no high ceiling to shoot for here. We get a 24-9 win over KC, and earn a home playoff game against the Raiders in the opening round. Denver will get a home game also, against Boise City.
Stat leaders: QB Amos Bell: 3,804 yds, 57.5%, 7.84 ypa, 27/7, 95.2* RB Brenden Hill: 227-883 yds, 8 TD (3.8 ypc), 21 rec-209 yds, 2 TD RB Jessie Russell: 200-749 yds, 4 TD (3.7 ypc), 26 rec-331 yds, 4 TD WR Devin DeLameillure: 75-1,112 yds, 7 TD (54.7%, 6 drops) OL unit: ~35% KRBs, 38 sacks allowed LB Preston Kramer: 71 tackles, 1 sack DT Lionel Luther: 9 sacks, 1 block, 3 hurries DE Tracy Wright: 9 sacks, 2 blocks, 3 hurries S Vince Periera: 77 tackles, 2 sacks, 10 int, 2 TD, 10 PD, 53.0 PDQ CB Butch Mahoney: 50 tackles, 7 int, 7 PD, 40.8 PDQ Overall Stats (off/def/avg) Rushing: 3.7 / 4.0 / 3.8 Passing: 7.8 / 6.0 / 6.8 Gross yardage rankings: Rushing offense 8th, Passing offense 8th Rushing defense 11th, Passing defense 2nd It’s tough to go 12-4 and not even get a bye week. Regardless, we slap together a roster for the playoffs, and we’re starting to get back some of the season casualties. Good timing—we’ll need some help. We should have our nearly full complement of WRs soon, which will be the first time since very early in the year. We’ve played pretty consistently well—we’re hoping that we can get some breaks, and get in place to take advantage of what comes our way. In this postseason, we’re a player-— not the player, but a player. [This message has been edited by QuikSand (edited 03-11-2001).] |
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03-11-2001, 10:29 AM
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#21 |
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lolzcat
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
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2053 postseason
We know the Raiders pretty well—they run pretty effectively, but are not a dominant team in any particular facet. We look like we should overpower them playing at home. We get started on a good note—a couple first downs, a good punt, then we force three and out and take over at midfield. We drive the half-field in 4 plays, and take a 7-0 lead. That score holds until we get a similar situation in the early second quarter—after an Oakland punt, we take over at their 48. We get only one first down, but kick a long FG to go up 10-0. The Raiders drive for a FG in the second quarter, to erase the bagel. They add another FG with 1:29 left in the half, but we respond with a quick drive to math their kick, and the halftime score is 13-6. In the second half, the Raiders fire out with a FG drive. Things seem to be opening up—we then move deep into their territory, but have to settle for a 20-yd FG. On the first play of the fourth quarter, we cap off another drive with a 5-yard TD pass to Corsilles, and things look like they are in great shape—we lead 23-9. We stop the Raiders, and then Bell goes to work again, getting one to Wayne for another TD and a 2 RD lead. The Raiders get an FOF-patented late-game rally to put up two TDs, but the clock is very much against them. We recover an onside kick to seal it, 30-23. Buoyed by their late-season win over us, Jacksonville claimed the #1 seed, and so they will face the wild card winners from Denver. We get to head to Miami, to face the Dolphins. The top four seeds from the AFC all look pretty good on paper. The Dolphins are very efficient on offense—they run well with RB Grady Ingram, and they throw a lot of short passes—QB Alvin Samuels had 32 TDs this season. DE Ralph Perez leads the defense with his 16 sacks, and they are downright tough on opposing offenses. Miami gets the ball first, and our defense sends a message—two runs stopped cold, then a QB sack, and they punt from their 8. We move in quickly, and post a TD on a 3 yard toss to WR Rod Corsilles. Miami isn’t exactly rolling over, though, they outplay us through the first quarter, but only get on the board in the second when they hit a 49 yard FG. With 5 minutes left in the half, they execute a fake FG to get to our 1 yard line, and then get a short TD pass to take the lead. They add a FG at the end of the half, and hit the break well in control, 13-7. Our running game has been nonexistent. The Dolphins hang another FG in the early third quarter, to lead 16-7. It looks like they really control things, now, as we’re only getting yards on the occasional 15-yard pass, but cannot move on the ground at all. As Miami takes over again, near midfield—we get a huge break. My safety Antonio Mastin picks off a pass from their 49 yard line, and takes it back for the TD. The PAT was blocked, but we’re back within 3 at 16-13. As the fourth quarter starts, we’re back in the game, and have the ball. After two futile possessions of ours, Miami gets a great break. A good return puts them into good position, and then they march for the TD. It’s a 10-point lead with 5 minutes left, and we look like we’re cooked. In typical FOF form, as we fail to move the ball, we give Miami more chances to score, and the final mark of 33-13 overstates their play a bit. Regardless, they took us out pretty effectively, and move on to host Denver in the AFC Championship. Miami crushes the Broncos 32-0 to go into the Superbowl against Atlanta. The Dolphins take the title with a 41-17 romp over the Falcons, and get their first SB win in twenty years. Philadelphia acquired RB Oliver Leo in free agency this season, and he paid major dividends—earning the triple award for his 1,350 yard season—the same general magnitude that he had been quietly putting up for Boise City. We got a few awards for our guys—in some surprising places. We’re used to seeing our long-tiem veteran offensive linemen get honors, and this year G T.J. Robson did indeed receive first team honors. However, joining him on the first team was T Brenden Sullivan, a much more modestly-talented fill-in right tackle, who numerically had a great season (28/66 KRBs, 3 sacks). My 4th year G Ty Corbett also earned honors, being named to the second team for his first award. In my secondary, S Vince Periera was named first team, and CB Butch Mahoney was named to the second team. Rookie RB Jessie Russell, who ended up carrying quite a lot of the offensive load, was named OROY. We’ve got QB Amos Bell signed through next season, and we’ll return our two potent running backs as well. Financially, we should be poised to be strong again next season, but I’m not sure how long our window of opportunity will remain open. |
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