10-25-2000, 11:26 AM | #1 | ||
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
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Shameless Ploy to Graduate From Waterboy Challenge
Well, it's time to get myself fired from another challenge. This time the Saints will the victims of my bungling (sorry Saints Fan). Here are the rules I'll be following:
* I used the primer, picked at #31 each round, with the LB slider all the way to the right, QB all the way to the left, Backs/Recievers 4 slots to the left, and Secondary four bars to the right. * During the off-season I may designate a franchise player *or* renegotiate (without haggling) the contract of one player with at least 4 yrs of experience, *or* trade one player. The trade cannot involve any draft pick without a position assigned within the round. * I may pursue no more than two free agents in any one stage. Furthermore, only one of these FAs may be from another roster/ no roster. * My scout signs all draft picks, and manages the depth chart, and the coaches will call the plays. This isn't the Cowboys, after all. * Common sense ticket price changes If I can make it to grizzled veteran status (or even grizzled veteren or grizzed veteran) I'll be pleased
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
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10-25-2000, 11:36 AM | #2 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
|
Meet the braintrust. Our lead scout is Corey Winslett, 45. His ratings are a reasonable VG/VG/VG/G/VG/G/G/F/G. Our coach is 41 year-old Carey Springer. He's fair with RBs, WRs, DL, and Discipline; VG with QBs, LBs, Ks (woo-hoo!), Motivation, Calling Defenses, and Avoiding Injury; and good with all other facets.
Looking at this roster, I sure hope we're using a 3-4 defense: Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd QB Mo Wheeler 4 8 5 2001 QB Darryl Lincoln 2 3 2 2000 QB Courtney Waters 3 3 2 2000 RB Bruce Morrow 4 5 7 2000 RB Robbie Shelton 6 5 3 2003 RB William Arnold 5 4 5 2002 RB Reuben O'Neal 5 5 7 2000 FB Thurman Conaty 4 4 1 2000 FB J.J. Allen 4 4 3 2001 TE Gilbert Winters 4 5 6 2000 TE Orlando Sandhu 4 6 5 2001 TE Josh Landry 4 5 5 2002 WR Kirk Francois 6 5 7 2001 WR Blake Baskerville 4 4 4 2001 WR Andy Beyer 4 6 5 2001 WR Winfred Boltwood 4 4 10 2000 WR Mitch Dallesandro 7 8 6 2001 C Burt Vance 2 1 1 2002 C Tony Rachmaninoff 5 5 14 2002 G Earl Hastings 4 3 4 2003 G Roderick Collins 4 6 2 2002 G Oliver Wynn 1 0 3 2002 G Larry Uwaezuoke 2 2 3 2001 T Dusty Lester 2 3 7 2001 T Harvey Franklin 4 6 8 2001 T Dusty Riley 3 5 2 2000 T Ronald Olin 2 1 12 2002 P Edward Reeves 4 3 1 2001 K Jonathan Mazrui 3 1 1 2001 DE Casey Glenn 2 1 8 2001 DE Roy McCleon 7 7 9 2002 DE Bennie Thornton 2 3 1 2001 DE Craig Money 5 5 6 2003 DT Brent Hawkins 1 0 1 2001 DT Leroy Farmer 3 7 1 2003 DT Raymond Jeffries 2 2 7 2002 DT Jesse Hape 5 5 7 2002 LB Gino Bonnell 2 2 2 2001 LB Buddy Schultz 12 13 8 2003 LB Tyrone Zeigler 12 13 6 2002 LB Richie Kramer 2 1 6 2002 LB John Brooks 11 14 3 2003 LB Nicky Smith 16 19 6 2005 LB Irving Sanford 14 15 7 2004 CB Lawrence Long 3 2 3 2001 CB Randy Baxter 5 6 8 2002 CB Austin Bluske 4 5 2 2001 CB Lawrence Hinsley 5 5 6 2002 CB Jake Dixon 7 8 7 2002 S Josh Peterson 5 4 1 2001 S Les Hadavi 6 8 11 2003 S Eddie Sunia 2 1 5 2001 S Joe Dorris 5 3 4 2001 Our first five picks were LBs. Maybe we'll play a 2-5. Looking at the bright side, we do have a WR who should be able to win any FOF thoroughbred handicapping challenge. [This message has been edited by Vaj (edited 10-25-2000).]
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-25-2000, 01:11 PM | #3 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
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1999 Season
We started off 0-6 on our way to a 3-13 record, the worst in the league. Hopefully Mike Ditka didn't trade away our first round pick in 2000 while I wasn't looking. Predictably, the offense was the problem, as we scored only 217 points. Mo Wheeler posted a 54.1 QB rating (11 TDs, 24 INTs), and one of our wins came in the one game he missed due to injury. It didn't help that Mitch Dallesandro, our best wideout, only played in 10 games. Here are the ugly team stats: Yds/rush (Off/Def/Lg): 4.1/2.9/3.9 Yds/pass (Off/Def/Lg): 5.1/5.7/6.2 Since this is my first primer season, is that league yards/pass figure representative, or could this just have been a bad year for passing? LB Nicky Smith was the Defensive Player of the Year with 133 tackles, 50 assists, 3 sacks, and 1 pick. Irving Sanford (98 tackles, 5.5 sacks) was second-team all-league LB. Unfortunately, we did play a 4-3. We'll have much to do this off-season ...
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"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-26-2000, 08:59 PM | #4 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
|
2000 Off-Season
Herb says: 0/54/65/85 --> 47 We have no retirements, no defections, and, despite 8 players volunteering their services for next year, no salary cap room. In fact, we're $2.4m over. I have to wield the machete to make room for the #1 draft choice. Most of these guys were role players, and can be readily replaced by rookies at less than half the cost. There aren't any decent looking FAs out there, not that I can afford any. We enter the draft about $200k over our projected cap cost, but we have a talented disgrunted LB making significant $ (was the #4 pick in last year's dispersal draft). Looking at the draft class, I can forget about trying to trade down. Needing major help at offensive skill positions, the highest rated QB is 2.0/6.0, and there are major dropoffs after the top-rated RB and WR. Although the WR is higher rated (4.4/7.7), unless he can throw a pass to himself, he won't be as much use as RB Gerald Sawyer (4.9/6.9). My scout grades him at 52/57(84)/73/52(80)/50(88)/60(88)/62/45/100. Usually not #1 FOF draft pick material, but he'll do. In round 2 I select T George Blassingame (2.8/6.4 -- blocking potentials of 99 and 70), and, after shipping LB Buddy Schultz and my sixth round pick to San Diego, G Terrance Otto (2.6/6.4 -- blocking potentials of 78 and 59). Both should be immediate starters. In round 3 I choose the highest rated QB in the draft, David Hartman (2.0/6.0). He sports potentials in the 60s. As teams drafted CBs and LBs left and right, I was able to snag DT Darrell Dent (2.0/3.8), WR Kirk Harvey (2.2/3.5) and K Pat Eberly (3.7/6.1) with my remaining picks. Aftger signing a gaggle of rookies, we enter the season $110k under the cap with this uninspiring roster: Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd QB Mo Wheeler 5 6 6 2001 QB Will Argueta 1 4 1 2002 QB David Hartman 6 15 1 2002 RB Robbie Shelton 6 5 4 2003 RB William Arnold 4 5 6 2002 RB Gerald Sawyer 11 15 1 2005 RB Eddie Spivey 5 7 1 2000 FB Nathan Johnston 4 6 1 2000 FB Jeremy Reeves 6 9 1 2000 TE Ralph Jurkiewicz 4 4 4 2001 TE Orlando Sandhu 4 5 6 2001 TE Albert Kerney 3 4 1 2000 WR Kirk Francois 6 8 8 2001 WR Blake Baskerville 4 6 5 2001 WR Andy Beyer 4 6 6 2001 WR Mitch Dallesandro 6 6 7 2001 WR Kirk Harvey 6 7 1 2001 C Tony Rachmaninoff 3 3 15 2002 C Leon Mayes 1 4 1 2000 G Earl Hastings 5 7 5 2003 G Roderick Collins 4 7 3 2002 G Oliver Wynn 2 5 4 2002 G Terrance Otto 6 10 1 2003 T Dusty Lester 3 5 8 2001 T Harvey Franklin 4 6 9 2001 T Rich Foulke 2 5 1 2000 T George Blassingame 8 19 1 2003 P Cornelius Katt 9 9 1 2000 K Pat Eberly 9 13 1 2002 DE Roy McCleon 6 7 10 2002 DE Bennie Thornton 2 4 2 2001 DE Craig Money 5 4 7 2003 DE Orlando Osborn 4 8 1 2000 DT Leroy Farmer 2 2 2 2003 DT Raymond Jeffries 2 2 8 2002 DT Jesse Hape 5 3 8 2002 DT Darrell Dent 5 10 1 2002 LB Tyrone Zeigler 12 13 7 2002 LB John Brooks 12 17 4 2003 LB Nicky Smith 15 16 7 2005 LB Irving Sanford 13 13 8 2004 LB Roosevelt Dillon 6 10 1 2000 LB Alvin Irving 2 3 1 2000 LB Mario George 2 8 1 2000 CB Lawrence Long 4 5 4 2001 CB Austin Bluske 4 6 3 2001 CB Lawrence Hinsley 4 6 7 2002 CB Jake Dixon 7 7 8 2002 CB Bucky Perry 1 0 1 2000 S Josh Peterson 4 6 2 2001 S Les Hadavi 5 5 12 2003 S Joe Dorris 5 7 5 2001 S Toby Newsome 5 9 1 2000 Don't let that "15" future grade for Hartman fool you -- his highest potential rating is an 82 in third down passing. We hope to play .500 ball behind our new stud RB and our stellar, but not quite as deep, LB corps.
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-26-2000, 09:10 PM | #5 |
College Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Norman, OK
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I have a question for you...how do you get the scouting report able to be posted in the challenge post. I haven't found anything that you can copy and paste from the game to the board yet...so can you tell me how?
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10-26-2000, 09:34 PM | #6 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
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I've been getting the scouting overviews here by hitting the print button, then selecting the generic/text only driver to save as a .prn file. I then open the file in Wordpad, and paste into the window here.
You may have to install the generic/text only driver using start->settings->printers->add printer, then selecting the generic driver. The above was a handy tip I got from ShagVT.
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-26-2000, 09:55 PM | #7 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
|
2000 Season
We get a bad break in our first pre-season game: namely, rookie T George Blassingame's tibia. That marred our 3-1 pre-season. After an uninspiring 15-9 loss to the Falcolns in week 1, we rebound to beat Denver in week 2. We split our next 2, then inexplicably, despite mounting injuries, rattle off a 4 game winning streak to get to 6-2, a half-game ahead of Carolina. Our best CB, Jake Dixon, sprained his back, T Dusty Lester stretched a knee ligament, and we had two other CBs hampered by nagging injuries as well. Also, QB Hartman, who won the starting job, sprained his neck, and backup Mo Wheeler suffered a broken foot. With no salary cap room, I had to cut a RB, TE and LB to make room for the warm bodies. We play lose one-win one for the rest of the year, except for a tie, and wind up at 9-6-1. After week 16. Dallas is in as a 10-5 wild card, and Detroit and Arizona are 9-6, and both play weak teams in week 17: the Cards are at the 3-12 Giants, and the Lions are at the 4-11 Colts. Remarkably, both lose, and we back into a wild card spot, and get to go to Dallas, where we lost 24-10 in week 16. Quick stat note: RB Gerald Sawyer gained 1243 yards (5.1 avg) in 15 games and scored 7 TDs (one receiving).
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-27-2000, 08:48 PM | #8 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
|
2000 Playoffs
We luck out facing Dallas, as their starting QB Hardy Woods (a first round dispersal pick) is injured, as is a DE who is replaced by some stiff who has no strengths to speak of. We hold Dallas on their first possession, get good field position after the punt, get a first down on a defensive penalty, and wind up kicking a 41 yard FG for an early 3-0 lead. The 'Boys got one first down on their next possession, but had to punt from midfield. Dallesandro fielded the punt on the 10, and dashed through the Dallas special teams for a 90 yard punt return and a 10-0 lead. Unfortunately, our offense was pretty woeful, got pinned way back in our own end, and Dallas was able to take advantage of the resulting great field position and put together a 44 yard TD drive to pull to 10-7. The rest of the half was a punting contest. A big play occurred midway through the third, as the Dallas QB Waters fumbled after being sacked by rookie DT Darrell Dent. We recovered on the Cowboy 11, and two pass plays later (to Sawyer for 7 and Francois for the 4 yard TD), we were back up by 10. Dallas responded with a drive of their own, but Dent forced another Waters fumble which we recover on our 35. We went on a time-consuming drive, which led to a 42 yard FG and a 20-7 lead. Once again Dallas went on a drive, and this time Dent recovered a Dallas fumble on our 15, and that was the ballgame. Saints 20, Cowboys 7. Our next is against the NFC East winning Eagles. Philly is quite the offensove juggernaunt, scoring 441 points during the season. Their first drive results in a missed 53 yard FG, giving us good enough field position where getting two first downs enabled us to hit a 45 yeard FG for a 3-0 lead. We knock out their QB on the first play on their next drive, and hold on a 4th and 3 from the Eagle 45, giving us a great opportunity. Sawyer gained 31 yards oin six straight runs before a third down completion to Dallesandro gave us a first and goal from the Eagle 8. A 6 yard Sawyer run was followed by a failed sweep and a third down sack, and we settled for a chip shot FG and a 6-0 lead. After an exchange of punts, we gave up a 37 yard run, which led to an Eagle FG which concluded the first half scoring. Our second play from scrimmage was an intercepted pass, and, after an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, the Eagles had the ball on our 19. They managed one first down, and a third down pass play from the 9 was good for 8 yards. Oddly, they kicked the FG to tie the game at 6. Another Wheeler INT later in the quarter gave the Eagles the ball on our 25. The defense held, but the FG was good, and now we trailed 9-6. Wheeler threw his third INT early in the fourth, but two sacks forced Philly into a 50 yard FG, which was missed. Unfortunately, our offense could do nothing, and the Eagles went on an 85 yard TD drive that ended with an 8 yard TD pass with 2:21 left to put the game out of reach. We scored a meaningless TD on the last play of the game to wind up losing 16-12. These team stats indicate that our passing game is still the weak link: Yds/rush (Off/Def/Lg): 4.5/3.4/4.1 Yds/pass (Off/Def/Lg): 5.5/5.7/6.2 Thanks to our 27 INTs thrown (12 by our third string QB who threw 206 passes during the year), we were -7 in turnovers. Gerald Sawyer was the Offensive Rookie of the Year, Nicky Smith's 135 tackles netted him another first team all-league LB award (along with the traded Buddy Schultz), and our rookie K Pat Eberly (34-41 FG) was also first-team all-league. Rookie WR Kirk Harvey had 1042 yards receiving to led our receiveing corps, and DT Darrell Dent had 45 tackles and 7.5 sacks before his huge playoff game in Dallas. It was a great year for our draftees (except for the round 2 selections). Hopefully QB Hartman will improve, and we'll be able to consolidate the gains we made this year.
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-28-2000, 06:37 PM | #9 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
|
2001 Off-Season
Herb says: 63-56-68-83 --> 63 We have one retirement: starting C Tony Rachmaninoff. We still have very little cap room, as we only have 25 players signed and are $8.9m under the $65.8m salaary cap. We have to clear away much of the deadwood (which, unfortunately, includes Andy Beyer), and make a limited foray into the free agent market. We offer $1.45m over two years for 12-year veteran C Brenden Lyle, a questionable all-league selection in 1999 who started only 4 games last year. We also offer $2.27m over 3 years to WR Brady Imlay, a possession-type WR who will replace one of the "volunteer" WRs I had to cut. After 8 stages, they both sign with me. I also retain T Seth Buckley with a $1.87m/3 yr deal. We're still going to have to do more pruning to field a full roster, but I'll wait to see how the draft goes before I wield the machete again. We have the #22 pick, and have a number of needs to fill. Since my scout is only fair at evaluating defensive backs, I start by concentrating on this area, figuring my scout will have less of a chance of screwing up on upper-echelon talent. In round 1 I choose S Quinn Toretta (3.0/5.9), with ratings of 25(54)/39(65)/75/64, and take CB Perry Atkins (2.6/5.3) in round 2 {30(66)/31(52)/85/49}. Both will assume starting positions immediately. In round 3 I snag WR Jessie Congdon (3.1/4.1), who appears to be my first legitimate deep threat. My remaining selections were QB Jerald Gamble (2.0/4.5), LB Monty Hardy (2.0/4.7), TE Bernard Giles (2.0/3.2), and WR Matt Yoder(2.3/3.0), who will replace the departed Dellasandro as my punt returner. We still have to cut two or three more expensive backups, and even then can't afford to re-sign our starting FB from last year. We wind up going into training camp with these 52 players: Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd QB Will Argueta 4 7 2 2002 QB David Hartman 8 15 2 2002 QB Jerald Gramble 6 9 1 2003 RB Robbie Shelton 7 8 5 2003 RB Gerald Sawyer 13 15 2 2005 RB Eddie Spivey 6 7 2 2002 RB Harris Weisner 3 3 1 2001 FB Nathan Johnston 5 6 2 2001 FB Perry Fein 3 4 1 2001 TE Ralph Jurkiewicz 4 4 5 2001 TE Albert Kerney 4 6 2 2001 TE Bernard Giles 6 5 1 2002 WR Kirk Francois 6 7 9 2002 WR Brady Imlay 5 7 7 2003 WR Kirk Harvey 8 9 2 2001 WR Jessie Congdon 9 13 1 2004 WR Matt Yoder 7 7 1 2003 C Brenden Lyle 6 5 12 2002 C Leon Mayes 4 7 2 2001 G Earl Hastings 5 3 6 2003 G Terrance Otto 13 15 2 2003 G Moe Glover 5 9 1 2001 G Darrell Roberson 0 0 1 2001 T Seth Buckley 4 6 7 2003 T Rich Foulke 5 6 2 2003 T George Blassingame 12 16 2 2003 T Irving Gordon 1 4 1 2001 P Cornelius Katt 11 13 2 2003 K Pat Eberly 14 13 2 2002 DE Roy McCleon 5 3 11 2002 DE Craig Money 5 4 8 2003 DE Orlando Osborn 4 9 2 2001 DE Jason Hughes 4 6 1 2001 DT Raymond Jeffries 3 4 9 2002 DT Jesse Hape 5 3 9 2002 DT Darrell Dent 7 10 2 2002 DT Larry West 1 6 1 2001 LB Tyrone Zeigler 14 15 8 2002 LB John Brooks 13 15 5 2003 LB Nicky Smith 15 17 8 2005 LB Irving Sanford 14 13 9 2004 LB Dustin Godfrey 6 12 1 2001 LB Monty Hardy 4 11 1 2003 CB Jake Dixon 7 5 9 2002 CB Jamie Rayburn 6 9 2 2003 CB Bucky Perry 3 5 2 2001 CB Andy Bjorlin 5 8 1 2001 CB Perry Atkins 8 11 1 2005 S Les Hadavi 5 6 13 2003 S Joe Dorris 4 5 6 2003 S Cedric Williams 2 3 1 2001 S Quinn Torretta 8 9 1 2004 For what it's worth, cohesion is 83/79/100/80.
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-29-2000, 11:50 AM | #10 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
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2001 Season
Last year we lost rookie George Blassingmame for the year in our first pre-season game. This year QB David Hartman tore knee cartilage in our first pre-season game, and is out long-term (probably long enough where I should IR him, but leaving enough doubt so I won't). Rookie Jerald Gramble will have to take over. Ugh. We also suffer significant injuries in the early part of the regular season: LB Irving Sanford broke his foot in week 1, and statring C Brenden Lyle suffered a sprained back in week 5. Nevertheless, we entered our bye week at 3-3, just behind first place 4-3 Carolina. After the bye, we beat Detroit and San Fran (2 TDs in the last 6 minutes to win 21-14), we lose 26-23 while hosting Miami, after falling behind 26-0. Blassingame missed this game with a broken hand (he was questionable), but is forced back into action after T Rich Foulke dislocated his shoulder. We rebound with close wins over Atlanta and Indianapolis, before losing 12-10 at St. Louis to allow them to get within one game of us. We're now 7-5, one game behind Carolina, who we play next. We lead 10-7 at the half, with the Panthers scoring on an interception return. The key sequence to this game occurred late in the third. Sawyer was stuffed on a fourth and one run from our 48. After an illegal shift, Carolina threw a deep ball .. that was intercepted and brought back to our 41. We then marched down the field, with Sawyer punching it in from the one, and went on to win 24-14, and tie Carolina for first (although we do have a better divisional record). We both lose the following week to drop to 8-6, and now we host 7-7 St. Lousi in week 16. We fall behind 7-0 in the second, and both offenses do nothing of consequence until the fourth, when the Rams complete a TD pass ... to CB Jamie Rayburn. With the game tied at 7, the Rams put together a drive late in the fourth, highlighted by a 41 yard completion from the Ram 10. After a defensive holding penalty, the Rams had a first down from our 44. We catch a break when a pass is dropped, allow 4 yards on a QB draw, then forced a third down incompletion. With :23 left, on 4th and 6, the Rams try a 57 yard field goal. Wide right. We take over with :15 left. Gramble drops back to pass, and hits Yoder on a post pattern for 36 yards. We call time out, and Pat Eberly hits the 34 FG as time expired. Carolina lost again, so we clinch the NFC West! A loss to 6-9 New England probably cost us a bye week, and we'll have a playoff rematch against the Eagles, but this time in our house.
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
10-29-2000, 01:04 PM | #11 |
H.S. Freshman Team
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Lawn Gisland, NY
|
2001 Playoffs
We host the 9-7 Eagles, who appear to be healthy offensively but missing two defensive starters. They've outscored their opponents 352-279, while our PF-PA was 311-310. The Solecismic bookies have the game as a push. We return the short opening kickoff to our 40, and Sawyer immediately rips off runs of 13 and 8 yards. Then Gramble's first pass of the game was picked off at the Eagle 23. Philly jumps all over that mistake, capping the 7 play 77 yeard drive with a 4 yard TD run on a reverse. After an exchange of punts, a drive starting from our own 14 stalls when a third and one sweep loses 3, and we settle for a 35 yard FG as the first quarter ends. With five minutes left in the half, we recovered a muffed punt at the Eagle 42. We were able to get down to the 12 before a third down sack at the two minute warning forced us into a 37 yard FG. After a poor kickoff return, the Eagles ran out the clock and took a 7-6 lead into the locker room. After the initial Eagle drive stalls at midfield, we take over on our 12. Sparked by a 45 yard completion to Francois, we marched down the field, and a 14 yard TD pass to Harvey gave us a 14-7 lead (Sawyer ran for the two-point conversion). Philly went 3 and out, and we went on a time-consuming drive which petered out at the Eagle 5. The chip shot FG gave us a 17-7 lead at the beginning of the fourth. Our D didn't allow a first down again, and, after a short punt, we took over on the Eagle 43. Their tired defense was, well, defenseless on our 5 play TD drive (Gramble to Congdon for a 15 yard TD pass) to put us up by 17. Our defense continued to bottle up the Eagle offense, and we cruised to a 34-7 win. Up next, Green Bay. The Packers were 10-6, scored only 260 points while allowing 236. Looks like a low scoring game. The Pack are 5 point favorites. Green Bay took the opening kickoff, got down to our 35, and kicked a 52 yard FG to take a 3-0. We then exchange punts, then interceptions, then interceptions again. We started at the Packer 31, but a delay of game penalty and a sack forced us out of FG range. Ouch. The Pack then ran the ball down our throats, we got tagged with an unsportsmanlike penalty, but Green Bay inexplicably started throwing the ball, resulting in three incompletions and a 31 yard FG with 8 minutes left in the half. The half ended with us trailing 6-0. After an exchange of punts, Gramble threw his thrid pick of the day, and, although our defense held Green Bay, the 30 yard FG put us down 9-0. We catch a break late in the third, as S Quinn Toretta picked off a Packer pass and returned it to the Green Bay 13. After an incompletion, Gramble hit Harvey for a touchdown and we're back to 9-7. We forced an immeditae Packer punt, but another Gramble interception puts the Packers on our 36. After a 33 yard first down pass play, the Packers pound it in on the second run to reclaim their 9 point lead. We fail to take advantage of a good kickoff return and then, after our punt pins Green Bay on their 4, allow them to grind out two first downs. Gramble's fifth interception after the Green Bay punt sealed our fate, and we lost 16-7. Jerald Gramble had a decent year for a rookie QB, earning a 66.9 QB rating (21 TDs, 26 INTs). Gerald Sawyer rushed for 1268 yards (4.5 avg) and 8 TDs in 15 games, while Kirk Harvey was the main receiver again was 62 receptions in 13 starts (he stretched a knee ligament late in the year). We were dead last with a -20 turnover margin, which overshadowed these team stats: Yards/rush (Off/Def/Lg): 4.5/3.9/4.0 Yards/pass (Off/Def/Lg): 6.4/5.9/6.3 Our offense and defense were both better than average on both rushes and passes, but those turnovers made us into a 9-7 team. The OL was improved (~35% KRB, 35 sacks), and G Terrence Otto was second team all-league (35-81 KRB, 5 sacks allowed). LB Nicky Smith was second team all-league, with 114 tackles in 14 games. I think we were fortunate to make the playoffs, and fear we'll be hard-pressed to maintain our standing in 2002.
__________________
"To all of those here who work in marketing or advertising: kill yourselves." -- Bill Hicks "Christianity's such an odd religion. The whole image is that eternal suffering awaits anyone who questions God's infinite love" -- Bill Hicks |
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