Morgado Lions 2001

Morgado · 11-15-2000, 02:33 AM

This is going to be a Quiksand Challenge (see Quiksand's FOF2001 Browns Dynasty in progress for details) with the added caveat of no franchise tag usage.
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2000 is acutally a 1-16 season! Can you believe the Packers lost to a roster full of 1 year rookie nobodies? A rivalry is born out of scorn... heheheh...

As first move, I sign Van Singh to a 5 year head coaching deal. He is a wizard with quarterbacks, offensive linemen, and defensive secondary players and legendary for the conditioning regimen his players go through. At 57, he is an established figure in the league and brings immediate respectability to the franchise.

The scouting staff will be headed by league newcomer Donnell Cowell. He has an eye for quarterbacking talent, but seems lost when evaluating running backs. Cowell seems committed and ready to contribute to the franchise - we will keep an eye on the 33 year old's progress.

The draft is extremely deep at the Tackle position, but desperately shallow in the secondary positions. Coach Singh lobbies to grab Spencer Hawes, a 6-6 211 pound QB out of Idaho with a cannon arm. Cowell concurs and the pick is made. The tackle crop thins rapidly, as 10 are taken in the first round alone. Unfortunately, we have no trade bait to barter and watch helplessly as they vanish off our draft board. Without any solid prospects at T, we decide to draft a solid C to anchor the line. There are two good prospects at that position left, Joel Herndon and Mercury Mandarich - so we decide to hold off until round three. Instead, the team goes for a defensive line anchor in DT Russell Edwards from Stanford. Both C's are still on the board at 63, and Singh wants to gamble. Instead of picking up one of them, we go for a Safety - 6-3 Bennie Hutchins out of Kansas State. The gamble pays off, as both C are still there in round four! Not pushing our luck any more, the franchise takes Joel Herndon at pick 94. We are shocked to see G Britt Stauffer still on the board in round 5 and immediately select him. In round 6 and 7, we have so many holes that the team resorts to best available drafting.

Rnd 1 - Spencer Hawes, QB, Idaho
Rnd 2 - Russell Edwards, DT, Stanford
Rnd 3 - Bennie Hutchins, S, Kansas State
Rnd 4 - Joel Herndon, C, Sacred Heart (Conn.)
Rnd 5 - Britt Stauffer, G, North Texas
Rnd 6 - Grady Conway, TE, Northwestern
Rnd 7 - Lester Fling, RB, Oregon

Through training camp, Hawes and Conway have not disappointed. Edwards shows promise as an inside pass rusher and will hold down the defensive front for years. Herndon has been a minor disappointment in run block technique, but will compete with Mandarich (who we got in free agency undrafted) for the starting center slot. Stauffer and Hutchins should develop into steady performers with time. Most of the free agent acquisitions were unremarkable except T Bryce Tumulty, who somehow slipped past everyone's scouting departments (including ours). He will certainly be resigned following this season to a longer deal.

The team prepares for a long and trying season. Singh, a disciple of Mouse Davis' Run and Shoot, has the offense keyed into throwing the ball often out of the shotgun and single back formations. The team will also implement some Weak I and standard I sets to balance out the package, but will likely play a fairly vanilla Run and Shoot variant as the team learns the system. The defense will be an attacking multiple 4-3 featuring aggressive blitz packages.

Miami offers a 6th round pick for Herndon and we politely decline.

Note: Offense is basically FOF2 League Averages -10 across the board on run percentages. Defense is set to straight league averages on run expectations. Blitz is at 65, Multiple blitz at 55. Coverages at default. Formations will be left to the scout and are extremely multiple WR heavy and Single Back/Shotgun oriented. I am expecting a terrible season.

The team goes 0-4 in preseason and gets to witness the horror that is the NFL Champion San Francisco offense. In a 42-7 loss, the Niners racked up nearly 500 yards of total offense and scored on a kickoff return as well as an interception return. Hawes played admirably against various first units, showing good judgment in tucking the ball to run and throwing away from double coverage. Unfortunately, he and backup Summerlin were guilty of far too many interceptions and need to work on their progressions. The real stars of the preseason were undrafted DE Curtis Renken and 2nd round pick DT Russell Edwards. Edwards had several sacks including two forced fumbles on sacks (he recovered one) and Renken was impressive in limited minutes - he will be moved up to a starting job.

Emerging from preseason with no injuries, the 2001 Detroit Lions get ready to face the Green Bay Packers in week one. Scout overview for roster can be found at http://www.geocities.com/bobkemp01

Morgado · 11-15-2000, 05:34 PM

Week 1 is a monster performance by the defense. To open the game, the Packer offense yielded three sacks, a pressure, and three interceptions by the early second quarter. The Lions scored 20 points off the three early interceptions and a blocked punt in th first half to take a good lead 23-3 into halftime. The Pack tried to come back behind Kitna and Emmitt, but it wasn't enough as they got stopped on 4 straight downs with one minute in the game.

Losses to Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia all seem to share on common thread: our inability to stop the run. Each week, a different back is pounding us for a solid 150 yard performance. Hawes continues to throw interceptions, although the coaches suspect that part of the fault lies with the sad pass protection. Hawes is being sacked several times a game and his receivers are dropping too many passes. Our franchise QB needs help.

Interceptions break the back of the team in blowout losses to Chicago, Minnesota, New Orleans, Cleveland. We lose T Tumulty, DE Elizondo, and CB Dattilo to season ending injuries in this span. We are now 1-7 and in the driver's seat for the #1 overall pick next season.

In Week 10, we have a shot at Dallas, down 14-12 in the later parts of the game, but once again Hawes ends a comeback with a critical interception with 1:35 left to play. Dallas runs the clock out on us and we drop to 1-8. Another player, LB Ed McDowall, is lost for the season with a torn bicep muscle.

Hawes leads three solid first half drives against Cincinnati in week 11, but we only come up with 6 points. A Hawes to Mansell 74 yard bomb puts us on top at the start of the third quarter 14-0 after a 2 point conversion. Burger Boy makes it 14-7 on a big run, but a 51 yard kick return puts Hawes in good position to do some damage. Penalties kill the drive and the lead is only extended to 17-7. Despite giving up a fumble near midfield, Cincy's defense holds. Pinned at their own 3, the Bengals march 97 yards for a score to put the onus on the Lion offense. A long drive chews up enough clock to make Cincinnati desperate. When they get the ball back, CB Hanks comes up with a huge interception and we run out the clock. Hawes went 28-43-0 for 375 yards and a TD. Detroit is now 2-8.

Against Tampa, fumbled kickoffs and multiple bombs by Eric Zeier (of all the QBs in the league...) sink us. At least Hawes isn't throwing too many interceptions anymore. The only problem is that we still can't stop the run, and the sacks are way too frequent. It's amazing Hawes is still healthy at this point in the season. Against Minnesota in Week 12, we get some of the breaks that have been going against us during the season. An interception sets up a quick score and a fumble on the kickoff return sets up another score. It snowballs quickly and we get a satisfying payback blowout 31-6 (they punked us 30-3 at MN).

The franchise gets a scare when Hawes gets hurt in a loss to St. Louis but it turns out to be a minor injury. Somehow the Rams shut us out (we miss lots of field goals) and the Packers roll us on the ground, as does Tampa. Detroit closes out the 2001 campaign at 3-13 with a disastrous 42-3 loss to Chicago in which the Bears roll up over 500 yards of total offense.

Wildcard Semifinals

SFO (9-7)
CHI (11-5) vs. NYG (11-5)

DAL (10-6) vs. STL (12-4)
TBY (11-5)

DEN (10-6)
IND (10-6) vs. BAL (11-5)

JAX (9-7)
MIA (10-6) vs. SEA (11-5)

IND def. SEA for AFC Title
STL def. NYG for NFC Title

Super Bowl: STL 31, SEA 20

DET S Wally Blades is DefRoY
Everyone else sucked.

Morgado · 11-15-2000, 05:36 PM

A word to the wise... I made major mistakes when doing the Quiksand Challenge setup... don't just sign rookies to one year deals... heh. My cohesion sucked it big time this second year. Of course everyone getting hurt didn't help...
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2002 Offseason

Ford Field finishes construction and we move our "team" into its new home. It is clear that we need to address three critical areas during the draft:

1. Pass Protection - We gave up 55 sacks last season.
2. Run Defenders - League worst 161.7 ypg and 5.0 ypc (Yow!).
3. Shutdown Corner - Several teams burned us for repeated long passes.

The Manchester Wolves enter the league this season and we must expose players to the expansion draft. Luckily, none of our players are taken except backup RB Fling (who Manchester decides not to sign anyway). With only 6 players on contract, we have LOTS of resigning to do.

The majority of the offensive line is resigned, as is DT Jason St. Amal, who had a solid year. After letting some of the rest sweat it out a bit, we resign about two thirds of the roster including the leading receivers from last season (WR Mansell was a 1000 yd receiver and TE Lefebvre is a promising pass catching/run blocking tight end) and the defensive Rookie of the Year S Wally Blades, who apparently nobody was interested in.

The major holes in the roster are at DE (0 signed), RB (0 signed), CB (0 signed), and WR (2 signed). Coach Singh has expressed interest in a pair of very talented cornerbacks in the draft. We trade the 1(2) pick in the draft to the expansion Wolves for their 2(1) pick this year and their first round pick next year. After adding this year's 6(2) pick, and they agree.

Not too many corners are drafted in round 1, and we use the Manchester pick to grab the huge 6-2 Artie Tunnell from Oregon. Filling the DE hole in the line will be Brandon Gault from Utah, a great run stopper who should help out immediately. 6-3 LB Henry Talton out of Cal will likely earn a starting job in camp if early indications of his coverage instincts are correct. There are gobs of solid wide receiver prospects still on the board, and the team ponders taking a pair in rounds 5 and 7. Sparkplug FB Harry Foley looks to be a steal at 4(2).

Rnd 2 - Brandon Gault, DE, Utah
Rnd 2 - Isaac Tunnell, CB, Oregon
Rnd 3 - Henry Talton, LB, California
Rnd 4 - Harry Foley, FB, California
Rnd 5 - Cris Kinnahan, WR, Notre Dame
Rnd 7 - Tyrus Diligencia, WR, Monmouth, NJ

Arch-nemesis Green Bay offers a vet LB and a first round pick for DT Edwards, but we decline instantly. We get trades for Edwards, Gault, and Talton after camp and decline them all out of hand.

Wow, talk about draft bust - the 1(3) pick, a RB named Kenyon Kennedy, was cut and is floating around in the free agent pool after camp with very average looking numbers... demanding an 8 million dollar bonus on a one year deal.

Gault, Tunnell, Talton, Foley, and Kinnahan all look like surefire winners after training camp and will most definitely start. Diligencia may develop into a legitimate deep threat with time. Free Agent acquisition T Christian Forsyth will be the new LT. C Herndon and Guards Stauffer and Holmes have shown tremendous improvement over last season. Hopefully this bodes well for the pass protection this year.

Preseason is devastating, as Hawes goes down in week 5 of preseason with broken ribs. He will not be back until November. In the meantime, last year's backup QB Summerlin will try to hold the team together. The LB corps is shattered, with two backups out for 2-3 months and two starters (Zimmerman and Talton) hobbling on minor injuries.

Morgado · 11-15-2000, 05:40 PM

*sigh* This season is not even worth posting...
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With starter Hawes on the bench with broken ribs, we start Summerlin against the Vikings. Midway through the game, Summerlin is knocked out of the game and third string nobody QB Marshall Levenson took the field. Down only 6-3, Levenson was unable to sustain any drive for more than 5 plays, and Minnesota wins 9-3. Yet another LB bites the dust, this time OLB Billy Politte. Detroit is reduced to signing a free agent because 3 of the 6 original roster LBs are on the long term inactive list.

With so many long term injuries on a team with basically 53 rookies and second year players, the numbers are downright atrocious. The Starting QB Jorge Summerlin has 10 interceptions in 6 games and the team is second to last in both rushing offense and passing offense. How we beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7 is beyond me.

Actually, now i know whay - Tampa bay is a horrible team. We just beat them again in Week 9. Compare that to the 44-0 drubbing at the hands of the Chicago Bears and man, that indicates on bad team.

Okay, finally at Week 14, Hawes is healthy again. Too bad the entire season is shot to heck. Even without Hawes, the Lions managed to beat the 7-3 Packers when all the linebackers were finally healthy. The season has been one huge mess, although at least we're starting to move the ball and actually score some points in Weeks 15-17, playing Minnesota and Atlanta close. How much of a difference do injuries make?

Week 17, big bad 11-4 Denver comes to Ford Field to smack us down. They feature the league's top rated pass defense and QB Rob Johnson has thrown for 3500 yards and 20 touchdowns with only 7 picks. Detroit's defense forced 4 fumbles (recovering two), picked off a pass, and sacked Johnson 5 times. Denver was held to just 1.4 yards per carry and the Detroit offense actually outgained Denver's offense 206 to 204 on eight fewer plays. 17-10 was the final, and that... is why they play the games.

ARI (8-8)
SFO (10-5-1) vs. GBY (10-6)

CAR (8-7-1)
DAL (10-6) vs. WAS (12-4)

NYJ (9-7)
JAX (10-6) vs. IND (11-5)

TEN (10-6)
KCY (10-6) vs. DEN (11-5)

DEN def. IND for AFC Title
WAS def. GBY for NFC Title

Super Bowl: DEN 34, WAS 28

LB Henry Talton DefRoY 96/33 Tackles, 3.5 sacks

Morgado · 11-17-2000, 05:43 AM

At the start of the 2003 Offseason, we have 46 players under contract. The veterans who have been with the club since 2001 are starting to feel very comfortable in our Run and Shoot and 4-3 blitzing scheme. Our units are anchored in the following manner (year with team/exp):

Pass Offense:
QB Hawes (3/3) was our overall top pick in 2001, and has developed into a solid but not spectacular dropback passer. Decent mobility, but his throwing was hurt markedly by a serious injury to his ribs. Although he has healed, his followthrough looks stiff, resulting in less precise tosses.
WR Chris Kinnahan (2/2) was a 5th round pick in 2002 and showed flashes of brilliance coming off the bench. An extremely dangerous return man, his speed is alos apparent in his penchant for turning short passes into big gains. Over 1/3 of his yardage in 2002 came after the catch (188 of 496).
TE Grady Conway (3/3) will move into a starting role this season after two years as the backup. His 6-7 frame is a huge target, and he has respectable skills in all areas.

Run Offense:
C Joel Herndon (3/3) appears poised for a breakout season. Clearly the leader of the interior line, he allowed just 3 sacks all season despite trying to hold together an extremely inexperienced unit. Herndon is a terrific run blocker as well.
FB Harry Foley (2/2) was a 4th round steal in 2002, showing outstanding blocking and pass catching skills. He will be relied on heavily to participate in both the rushing game as a blocker and the passing game as a safety valve.
G Britt Stauffer (3/3) is a great pass blocker on the inside who has worked on his run blocking technique. He and Kinnahan make the 5th round seem like our big break round each year.

Defense Front 7:
DE Brandon Gault (2/2) didn't have the massive rookie season we were hoping for, but he did post a respectable 8.0 sacks and showed good potential as a run stopper with 36/20 tackles.
DT Russell Edwards (3/3) pairs with Gault to present a formidable line of scrimmage to opposing runners. Coach Singh believes that adding Gault on the edge complemented Edwards' game despite the drop in production from Edwards' rookie season (4/1 fewer tackles, 4 fewer sacks).
DT Jason St. Amal (3/3) was a Free Agent surprise in 2001 and has taken the role of inside pass rusher. The team is counting on him to continue his steady 45/20 tackle, 4 sack type seasons.
LB Henry Talton (2/2) stormed his way to Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002 with a whopping 93/33 tackles and 3.5 sacks.

Defense Secondary:
CB Isaac Tunnell (2/2) was our 2nd rounder in 2002 and posted decent rookie numbers. The 6-2 corner will be expected to take the top receiver each week and has great potential to be a one on one cover man.
S Wally Blades (3/3), the Defensive RoY in 2001, posted 76/23 and 80/17 tackles in his two seasons with the team. Another Free Agent acquisition, he has outplayed S Bennie Hutchins (3/3), who we drafted in 2001's 3rd round to be the anchor safety.

We are offered trades for DE Gault, QB Hawes, and LB Talton, but refuse to trade any of them for obvious reasons. Again we enter Free Agency with zero RBs signed to the team. Although the local media is worried that we haven't shown any consistency in our running game nor any effort to try to solidify it, our coaching staff chooses to live and die by the pass.

Kramer, last year's RB starter, does not seem to be worth pursuing - and the rest of our free agents were backups who saw little playing time. We decide not to resign any. The team will look for a solid short yardage running back during the draft to plug into the offense, as well as a decent pass blocking T project. This year's draft features several great linebackers and is deep at OT, so we'll see who falls to us. We receive offers for Herndon and Talton before the draft and decline.

With the top overall pick in the draft, we drool over two can't-miss LBs and the next Randy Moss in WR Dennis McElroy. But, the prospect who we refuse to pass up is 6-3 22 pound RB Brock Jacquet out of Vandy. The man is simply astonishing, possessing power, speed, size, and durability. The pick baffles the local media and speculation abounds on what implications this has on the offense and if the team will stick to the Run and Shoot or switch to a more conventional ground based attack. The draft board clears quickly of top offensive talent, but at the 2(1) spot, there is still 6-4 LB Joel Sanderson from Ole Miss. A meancing enforcer, he may compete for a starting job. We choose Sanderson over J.C. Shapiro, who has better physical tools but tends to run out of gas quickly and showed poor effort finishing plays at our team workout. T prospects Ronnie Shaw, Billy Joe Norton and Darnell Blocker all look good, and we'll take whoever is around at 3(1). Shaw and Norton are picked up in the second round by other teams, so we go with Blocker (great name). Although disappointed we got a RT prospect instead of a LT protector, he will plug in nicely at RT and we'll start Forsyth again at LT. S Devin Spear out of Penn St. flat out wowed us at our team workout, but other teams had him low on their boards. We decide to gamble that the workout was no fluke and pick him up at 4(1). 6-0 WR Brandon Godfrey was another player who showed promise at private workouts and we give him the nod at 5(1) in hopes of bolstering Hawes' receiver corps.

Rnd 1 - Brock Jacquet, RB, Vanderbilt
Rnd 2 - Joel Sanderson, LB, Mississippi
Rnd 3 - Darnell Blocker, T, Western Carolina
Rnd 4 - Devin Spear, S, Penn State
Rnd 5 - Brandon Godfrey, WR, Mississippi State
Rnd 6 - Ethan Stokes, T, Panhandle State
Rnd 7 - George Marrero, DT, Mississippi State

Again, we turn down an offer for C Herndon. A few rookies who were cut to the pool look pretty good, and we sign CB Lance Labell to a four year deal and QB Al Schroeder to a three year deal. A few other undrafted rookies are given one year tryout deals for rookie camp. Postcamp we reject offers for CB Tunnell, C Herndon, and DE Gault.

CB Labelle and S Spear turn out to be successes, but not as big of a jackpot as we thought we hit. Most of the other picks were solid, with no huge busts. T Davidson, DT Simmons, DT Coles, LB Lee, CB Winters, LB McDowall, and WR Sneed do not make the cut to 53. C Herndon is given a big contract extension and signs to a 8 million dollar 3 year deal. S Hutchins is resigned to a 3 year 1.94 million deal. Although few other contracts expire at the end of 2003, we see many contracts coming due in 2004. Backup C Mandarich will probably be renegotiated to a longer contract by the end of this season (his contract is 2003).

On the plus side, Hawes looked looser in camp and seems to have recovered fully. The offense turned out to be very balanced, with all formations being mixed in except the Strong I. Although we will still emphasize single back and shotgun sets in passing situations, the run mix will be extremely diverse to try to exploit our top RB pick's talent.

Morgado · 11-17-2000, 05:44 AM

This is really the first season that looks like it'll be worth watching. The ridiculous cohesion ratings are gone and look much more normal (Very Goods instead of Fairs) and i've had three drafts to stock players with.

Our first play from scrimmage vs. Atlanta in week 1: Single Back, WR to Slot Left. DET 12 Hawes pass completed to 80 Godfrey for 49 yards. The drive led to a TD strike from Hawes to Mansell. The defense came up with a huge stop after Atlanta was pinned inside their own 10 yard line midway thru the 4th by a punt. We take over in great field position, march it back for a field goal and go up by 10. They come back and tie it with 1:06 left on a 39 yard Elam FG, 27-27. Hawes scrambles for 11, hits Rodgers for 15 and hits Mansell for 23 but time expires. Atlanta gets the ball first in OT but the defense stuffs them after an outstanding return to midfield. Hawes hits Kinnahan for 20, hits Jacquet for 12, hits Kinnahan for 17, hits Godfrey for 8 and we take it on a 33 yard field goal in OT, 30-27. QB Hawes was unconscious, going 23-41-0 for 384 yards and 2 TDs. RB Jacquet was a marvelous 12 carries for 77 yards, 3 catches for 28 yards. 10 for 18 key run blocking as a team and zero turnovers made all the difference.

Hawes to Mansell for a 78 yard bomb puts us up early on Tampa Bay in Week 2 despite numerous sacks. TBY offsides on fourth and 2 keeps another drive alive, culminating in a Jacquet 5 yard score. Multiple holding calls knock Tampa back inside their own ten after a nice punt. We get the ball back on the TBY 43. A defensive holding call and a 27 yard strike to Kinnahan puts us on the 1, but backup RB Smith fumbles on the dive play and TBY recovers.

K Hall knocks in a 54 yard FG before halftime so we settle for a 14-3 lead. The defense played a stellar first half, giving up a paltry 4 first downs. The offense wasn't too shabby either, with 221 yards total offense (just one glaring mistake). Mid third quarter, Hawes is picked off at the 21, but the defense again - and Hall misses a 33 yard kick!

We go backwards and punt, but the defense comes up with tackle for loss, sack, sack, and TBY has to punt it right back. We can't do anything though, and TBY RB Huntley rips off a 69 yard scamper. They score but fail on the 2 point conversion to bring it to 14-9 in the fourth quarter. We need a score but can't convert and punt it to their 16. The defense finally stiffens at our 36 and they punt! We're pinned at the 6 but Hawes digs us out. RB Smith atones for the fumble with two key 3rd down conversions and we get a field goal to go up 17-12. TBY needs a TD in 1:15 from their own 23 but burned all their time outs on defense. We drop to Dime and Nickel and they come up short. QB Hawes is The Man again on 25-38-1 passing for 298 yards and 1 TD.

RB Brock Jacquet is looking like a Barry Sanders, with many negative yardage runs but big bursts for 11 or 23 yards a crack. Veteran LB Kirk Zimmerman is off to another great start and ranks second on the team in tackles (13 solo) and has 2.5 sacks. We are 2-0 and sit precariously alone atop the NFC Norris heading into our first big test: Chicago.

We get the ball first, go three and out and then force Chicago three and out. Nobody does much offensively the entire first half and we play field position with punting and punt returns. Chicago RB Fred Taylor goes nuts late in the first and they score a TD. They get another TD in the second and add a third TD after a Hawes INT. A fourth TD is tacked on right before the half when Hawes tosses another INT. We are down 28-0 at the half and it looks grim. A Brunell to Warrick bomb in the third makes it 35-0 and their backup QB leads a TD drive to go up 42-0 still in the third. We end up getting smoked like a joint, 52-0.

We go to St. Louis and lose 24-21 in OT despite four interceptions by Hawes. Jacquet had his first 100 yard rushing game, but in a losing effort. Hawes comes back with a strong performance in a win at home over Green Bay, but we lose LB Talton to a torn calf muscle for 2-3 months. The Week 6 loss to the Jets was particularly upsetting because Hawes played a good game and rookie S Devin Spear had a 67 yard INT return for TD. We punted the ball back with just 56 secopnds left, up by 4. They go 70 yards in three plays and steal the game. Unbelievable. We are now 3-3. Green Bay and Chicago are tied for the lead at 4-2 while Minnesota and Tampa are 1-5. The Ravens have the best record at 5-1 while lots of teams are 4-1.

We lose to lowly Tampa Bay in Week 7 by a final of 31-13. One of the great mysteries is how TBY RB Richard Huntley manages to dominate us so bad every time he plays us. Hawes is resembling the second coming of Scott Mitchell, throwing for 350 yards one week and then 4 interceptions the next week. We host 1-5 Philadelphia in Week 8 and again interceptions and costly mistakes hand the win over to the visitors. We are 3-5 at the halfway point with Green Bay (5-3) and Chicago (4-4) ahead of us. Baltimore is still the class of the league at 7-1.

We host Green Bay in Week 10 and really need a win to close the gap in the NFC Central standings. Tampa has pulled to 3-5 and we need to stay ahead. Dropping to 4-6 will make even a Wild Card spot difficult since three teams are at 5-3 and two are at 6-2. We lose 31-24 in a very sloppy game involving a combined 6 turnovers for the two teams. Our defense was unable to stop the Green Bay attack late in the second half after our #1 CB and rookie S Spears both went out with injuries. CB Tunnell's injury is fairly severe, and he is out until the playoffs (if we even qualify). At 6-3 Arizona, for the second week in a row we give up big plays like crazy on defense. Also, for the second week in a row we lose a key player to injury - Jacquet left the game in the first half and did not return. Luckily the injury was very minor, but he was kept out to be safe. All hopes of the playoffs are dashed as we plummet to 3-7 and share the NFC Central cellar with Minnesota. Even Minnesota manages to beat us 23-20 due to more Hawes iinterceptions. At this point, one has to wonder if the lack of Pro Bowl receivers is the problem, or pass protection breakdowns... of maybe it's Hawes. We lose close to Miami 24-22 in Week 11, but it is important to note that 14 of those points were on interception returns for Miami.

Hawes finally plays an INT-free game in Week 14 against Chicago and we win 20-15. Even though his numbers were a modest 16-27-0 for just 150 yards and 2 TDs, i'd rather have that and the win than 350 yards and a loss. Hawes again posts similar numbers, plays clean, and we come away with a Week 15 win at New England 21-6. We go on a late season surge and beat Minnesota at home to enter Week 17 at 6-9 to face the 5-10 Bills. We take this game handily, 38-10 because injuries force Buffalo to start Scott Zolak at QB. We get an INT return for TD as well as a punt return for TD and roll to our best finish as a franchise to date: 7-9.

Hawes' numbers are a wash: 313-557-24 for 3779 yards and 24 TDs.
Jacquet: 191 att. for 834 yards and 7 TDs.
Godfrey led all receivers: 64 catches for 941 yards and 5 TDs.
Mansell was the go-to Red Zone guy: 56 catches for 791 yards and 10 TDs.

Rookie LB Joel Sanderson led the team in tackles with 86/29 and 0.5 sacks.
DE Russell Edwards had a breakout year with 52/11 tackles and 11.0 sacks.
DT Brandon Gault had a great year too, with 45/16 tackles and 9.0 sacks.
S Wally Blades had his 71/23 tackle 3 INT year, consistent as always.

Oakland (10-6) vs. Baltimore (15-1)
Cincinnati (11-5)

Pittsburgh (9-7)
Denver (12-4) vs. Indianapolis (13-3)

San Francisco (9-7) vs. Arizona (12-4)
Dallas (9-7)

St. Louis (9-7)
Tampa Bay (9-7) vs. Carolina (10-6)

Arizona def. Carolina for NFC Title
Baltimore def. Indianapolis for AFC Title

Super Bowl: Baltimore 48, Arizona 20

RB Brock Jacquet receives Offensive Rookie of the Year
DE Russell Edwards receives 1st Team All Pro

Morgado · 11-19-2000, 03:59 AM

2004 Offseason

Coach Singh and Scout Cowell are in the middle of their contracts and the team is still set for two more seasons. The franchise has confidence in the current arrangement and does not seek new staff. At the start of free agency, offers from other teams to trade for LB Talton and FB Foley are turned down.

C Mandarich's demands are too much for us and we regret to see him walk. The team is unable to acquire the services of a decent kicker in free agency and will certainly draft one this year. All three backups to RB Jacquet are not resigned, as are a backup tackle and defensive tackle.

Positions to fill in free agency:
1. K
2. Backup C
3. Backup DT

The front office decides to extend about half the contracts coming due at the end of the 2004 season. Negotiation is finalized on all of these deals before the draft: TE Conway (3 year deal), G Stauffer (3 years), G Holmes (3 years), G McGregor (3 years), T Sutter (3 years), DT Edwards (4 years), DT St. Amal (4 years), CB Tunnell (4 years), LB Talton (4 years), FB Foley (3 years), WR Kinnahan (4 years), DT Marrero (3 years), G Power (3 years), WR Rodgers (3 years).

We receive a trade offer for T Blocker, but do not accept. This year we have the 11th draft slot and get Manchester's first round pick: 1(20). There is an outstanding crop of defensive and offensive linemen, but very few offensive skill position players of note except a trio of quarterbacks, 2 WRs and a pair of running backs. This draft is unusually strong at the CB position and we may go with depth in the secondary if nothing better is available.

The top 10 picks are a run on defensive linemen. 6 of the top 10 are spent on either DT or DE prospects, with the balance in 2 T, a RB and a QB. At pick 11, we have several options - WR Neal Davison out of Illinois looks to be a sure fire deep threat. 6-1 S Lincoln Carlson is a complete package while 6-3 LB Andy Maloney shows huge pass rush capabilities. Due to the relative shallow offensive depth, we go with Davidson and think we can grab Carlson at 20. A slew of running backs and offensive linemen are drafted between 1 and 20, so we take Carlson. The run on linebackers and cornerbacks hits in the later half of the first round, so we pluck DE J.B. Hines from TCU. In the mid rounds, we have our eye on a QB, a CB, and K Cotton. With the 3(10) pick we take our K Clay Cotton from Virginia. Other teams continue to pick from the rich defensive line and offensive line talent, but a second run on CBs in round 3 tells us we made a mistake in putting off the CB pick - sowe lock in at 4(10) with CB Kim Cash. Cash will likely be the fourth CB in the rotation. 5(10) pick RB Smetana is a 3rd down type with good soft hands.

Rnd 1 - Neal Davison, WR, Illinois
Rnd 1 - Lincoln Carlson, S, New Mexico
Rnd 2 - J.B. Hines, DE, Texas Christian
Rnd 3 - Clay Cotton, K, Virginia
Rnd 4 - Kim Cash, CB, Iowa
Rnd 5 - Leon Smetana, RB, Iowa
Rnd 6 - Dale Blades, QB, Pittsburgh
Rnd 7 - Will Sawyer, TE, UCLA

After resigning DT Downs (3 years) and picking up a free agent C for 4 years, Coach Singh reviews the roster and makes some suggestions. S Hutchins, who has been a profound disappointment, is finally cut from the team. 4th string QB Marshall Levenson is cut to make room for our new rookie QB on the depth chart. DE Arnie Poffenroth is also cut from the team amidst his complaints for playing time. We hope Rookie DE Hines will step into his spot immediately. A pair or rookie RBs fill out the roster and we head into training camp.

Trade offers for C Herndon and S Carlson are declined. 6th rounder Blades is a huge disappointment, as are most of our free agent rookie signees. Most of the other rookies should be either starting (Davison, Carlson, Hines, Cotton) or seeing significant backup action.

DT Russell Edwards goes down for 2-3 months with a torn thumb ligament in Week 1, a devastating loss for the front line. By the end of preseason, Detroit is a respectable 2-2 and Edwards seems to be recovering quickly. Hopefully he will be back by Week 5 - we have no other significant injuries.

Morgado · 11-19-2000, 03:59 AM

After a dreadful offensive first quarter, we get on track against Cleveland in Week 1 and win 27-23. Brock Jacquet was huge on the ground (18 carries for 117 yards, 6.5 avg and 1 TD) and Hawes was decent (20-39-1 for 225 and 2 TD). Ironically, the one INT was by a rookie CB Yonkers, who we wanted to draft in the 5th round but Cleveland grabbed him in the run on corners late in the draft. The defense played huge, registering 6 sacks (On CLE QB Charlie Batch).

From goat to hero, Hawes was responsible for 4 turnovers (2 fumbles, 2 picks) that led directly to all of Tampa's 20 points in week 2... but he redeemed himself at the end by hitting two long passes to set up the game winning field goal. On a positive note, we finally solve the Huntley problem and limit him to just 66 yards on 20 carries. WR Davison gets shoulder tendonitis and is placed on inactive status to heal. Meanwhile, DT Edwards continues his miracle recovery and should be ready very soon.

We edge Chicago at home 13-9, but FB Foley is injured on the last play of the game and is 3-5 weeks with a hip pointer. Detroit sits atop the NFC Central at 3-0, but we visit second place 2-1 Minnesota in Week 4. An interception return for touchdown kept the Vikings in the game and time ran out as we drove for the winning field goal. Riding momentum on offense into overtime, we got the ball first, drove down, and Hawes again pulled off late heroics to redeem himself with a TD pass to the backup fullback.

Edwards comes back for week 5 and it is very timely - DE Gault went down with a sprained back against the Bears and will be out for quite some time. First rounder Davison is still out and his status has not improved. Veteran Mansell continues to start in his place opposite Godfrey with Kinnahan as the #3.

3-1 Atlanta comes calling in Week 5, and things look bad when Hawes leaves the game midway thru the first quarter. Backup QB Summerlin was ineffective for the whole game and we get trashed 23-10. Hawes has a bruised sternum and will sit against the injury plagued 1-4 Niners to avoid making it worse. The defense plays great, but an inept offense turns the ball over in sure scoring plays. So not only do we come away with no points, but the defense is forced back out onto the field. Summerlin is terrible again. Luckily we have a bye week and Hawes can recover some more. We are now 4-2 and watching our lead in the NFC Central disappear.

Week 8 against Green Bay, Jacquet opens with an 84 yard TD run, but the Pack comes back to tie it. Big plays abound, including a fumble return for touchdown on a kickoff, but really spectacular defensive play and Brock Jacquet are the difference. Late in the game up by just 7, the defense held near midfield and GBY missed a field goal. On the next drive, the defense held again at midfield and prevented a fourth down conversion. We move to 5-2 with Tampa and Chicago close behind at 4-3.

Terrible pass protection (6 sacks allowed) and turnovers (1 fumble ret. for TD and 2 INTs) deprive a deserving defense of the win at Adelphia Coliseum. At Lambeau, our offense looks pitiful and we get shut out despite another respectable defensive game. Now 5-4, Chicago has caught up and we desperately need to beat Tampa at home in Week 11 to stay in the NFC Central title hunt.

Lion Killer Richard Huntley is injured and leaves the game at the end of the first quarter, but at that point we are up 14-0 on two huge INT returns for touchdowns (71 and 61 yards!) by our rookie S Spears. A third Zeier INT is returned by veteran CB Bradford for a TD in the third quarter to extend our lead to 34-10 at that point. Our punting game comes up huge, pinning TBY inside their own 10 several times. We pick up a huge win but lose DT Edwards until the playoffs. This has been a terrible year for our defensive line injury-wise. DT St. Amal will have to take the leadership in the middle and try to keep us in the playoff race until Edwards can return. Scant consolation is that we also get DE Gault back at full strength - he should help bolster the line until Edwards heals.

For the second week in a row, S Spears has a 2 INT performance, keying a 20-12 home stand against hapless (2-8 now 2-9) Minnesota. Hawes had some good scrambles and a 15 yard draw, but he's holding the thing like a loaf of bread. On two separate sacks, Hawes fumbled the ball extremely deep in our own side of the field, leading to 9 of the Vikings' points (they failed a 2-point conversion). Tampa Bay edges Chicago to give us sole possession of first place in the Central. The NFC is oddly balanced, with 5 teams at 7-4 (none better than this) but in the AFC Central, Pittsburgh and Jacksonville are 9-2! Just in the Central! We face JAX in Week 12. Jacquet is now third in the league in rushing (8 yards behind NOS Edgerrin James) with 888 yards. SDO Eddie George leads with with exactly 1000 yards in 11 games.

Hawes is sacked three straight downs and we give it to them at our own 40 after a short punt, but the defense holds. We get it back and Jacquet rips off a 75 yard score around LT. The defense plays great and has a few sacks - CB Bradford intercepts Beuerlein in the second quarter even. S Carlson forces a fumble and CB Labelle recovers at the JAX 33 on the Jags' next possession. We get TDs off both turnovers and Jacksonville goes one-dimensional. The defense comes up with another huge fumble recovery to stop Jacksonville's last drive of the half on our side of the field. At the half, Jacquet has like 150 yards rushing, 1 TD reception and 2 TDs rushing - at the *half*. We are up 24-0 and in the driver's seat to start the third quarter, but overconfidence brings us down. We fumble on our first offensive play from scrimmage and JAX takes it in for a TD and 2 point conversion. Hawes comes back pissed and nails a 21 yard pass and then a 46 yard strike to Godfrey for a quick TD after the kickoff. Beuerlein, not to be outdone, lofts an 84 yard bomb on the next offensive play to make it 31-14. Both teams go back to the ground game and Bradford picks off Beuerlein again, returning it 51 yards to their 22. We get a FG out of it and Beuerlein is picked off by S Carlson. We get another FG and shift to aggressive dime, up 37-14 with 9 minutes left. JAX goes one dimensional and we run the clock. Jacquet ends up with 170 yards on 28 carries and 4 catches for 33 yards - 4 TDs and over 200 all purpose yards! Unfortunately, James and a monster day as well, and Jacquet is tied with George in second with 1058 yards.

We travel to 7-4 Baltimore in Week 12, we go down 20-0 at the half and have just 14 net yards of total offense in 30 minutes of football. Inexplicably, the offense comes to life and we roar back to 26-21 with 5 minutes to play. Interceptions kill the momentum and we lose the game. DE Hines gets a broken hand and our defensive line injuries continue to devastate our defense. We face 6-7 Chicago in Week 13 and can lock up the division title with a win.

We start the CHI game with a Hawes INT, but block the FG attempt and drive for a FG of our own. CHI QB Scales drops a 55 yard bomb on us minutes later to put tehm up 7-3. We miss a FG but get it back and drive for a TD, 10-7. Hawes seems to have gotten his confidence back after the initial pick. CB Bradford comes up huge after the kickoff and picks off Scales for a 20 yard INT TD return. Our offense stalls in the second half though, and CHI takes the game with a scoring binge, 34-17. Punt returner CB Burgo breaks his arm and is gone for the rest of the year.

Hawes is picked off early and often against the Eagles until he gets knocked out of the game. Our rushing game and a 2 Bradford INTs power a 24-7 lead at the half. In the second half, DE Gault recovers a fumble in PHI territory, but we can't capitalize. Summerlin plays decently, but Jacquet and Foley take over for us. Jacquet finishes with 165 yards on 29 attempts and 2 TD - he gets Offensive Player of the Week honors. We go to 9-6 and have clinched the division crown since we split with Chicago but have a better division record than them. We rest some injured starters against 5-9-1 Washington in the finale and win a 10-7 defensive battle.

With the win, we actually lock up a first round bye in the playoffs. It will give us some more time to heal, and things look grim regarding Edwards. He won't be at full strength until next year. Giving Hawes Week 17 off seems to have done him good and he is at full strength going into the postseason.

Jacquet finishes third in the NFL in rushing:

Name Tm GP GS Att Yards Avg Lg TD
**Jacquet, Brock DET 16 16 307 1326 4.3 84 11

S Devin Spear looks like he'll be up for DefRoY:
82/27 Tackles, 1.0 Sacks, 5 INT (2 TD) and 9 pass defenses.

S Lincoln Carlson wasn't so shabby either:
72/23 Tackles, 4 INT, 3 pass defenses.

G Britt Stauffer was an awesome 32 of 80 (40.0%) on run blocking and gave up just 4 sacks all season in 16 starts.

Morgado · 11-19-2000, 04:00 AM

2004 Postseason

Wild Card Round:
----------------
Atlanta (9-7) 6, Arizona (10-6) 65
ARI QB Gus Frerotte 13 of 17 for 241 yards and 5 TDs
ARI WR Dave Linquist 9 catches for 119 yards and 4 TDs

New Orleans (10-6) 3, Carolina (10-6) 31
CAR CB David Freed 2/1 Tackles, 3 INTs

Baltimore (10-6) 3, Seattle (11-5) 38
SEA QB Malcolm Mitchell 15 of 22 for 239 yards and 2 TDs

Denver (10-6) 29, Jacksonville (12-4) 26
DEN QB Rob Johnson 23 of 35 for 247 yards and 3 TDs

Semifinals:
-----------
Arizona (10-6)
Detroit (10-6)

Carolina (10-6)
St. Louis (10-6)

Denver (10-6)
Pittsburgh (14-2)

Seattle (11-5)
Indianapolis (11-5)

We face the monster Cardinals that annihilated the Falcons on Wild Card Saturday. They play a 3-4 Bump defense and an aggressive short passing game similar to ours.

Category ARI DET
---------------------
Rush Off 3rd 6th
Pass Off 16th 29th
Rush Def 7th 22nd
Pass Def 15th 7th
TO Margin -5 -3
3rd Dwn .330 .322

Key Serious Injuries (* = starter):
DET - None
ARI - DT* Jasper (Out), G* Coleman (Out), T* Brown (Doubt), WR Magnone (Out), DE* Gill (Quest), G Devine (Out)

The Cardinals have only one healthy OG! Unfortunately the rest of their line looks really solid and we may still have trouble rushing the passer. Their starting QB Meier was the 1(31) pick, and threw 21 TDs but 21 picks this year... 3000 yards. WR Linquist, who torched Atlanta, is just one of two big play guys at wideout. WR Hugh Stevenson is a 6-3 bad boy who is dangerous. Their entire secondary looks fantastic, so the front seven will likely be where we have to attack.

First Quarter:
--------------
We get the opening kickoff at our 24 but go 3 and out and punt to their 25. DE Edwards sacks their rookie QB and C Kreutz leaves the game. They can't get back the yardage and get a ridiculous 61 yard punt. We set up shop on our own 11 after a pitiful -1 return. Jacquet continues to get stuffed and we punt to the DET 40. DT Marrero sacks Meier for the second time in the quarter for a 6 yard loss, but backup DE Crawford comes up lame. Meier completes two huge passes and runs a draw to our 5, but a penalty pushes them back to 2nd and 15 from the DET 15. The defense comes up with a huge stop on third and 16 after a -1 run play to force a decision. They go for it on 4th and 9 and WR Linquist is tackled 3 yards shy of the goal line! We take over on downs at our own 3 yard line with 5:26 in the quarter. Jacquet gets back on track and we convert three first downs - two on huge 18 and 23 yard rushes by Jacquet. A 13 yard Hawes to Kinnahan pass puts us on the ARI 33 to end the quarter.

Second Quarter:
---------------
Hawes hits Godfrey with a short pass and the rookie turns it into a 19 yard pickup. Hawes then hits Godfrey again, and the wideout turns another short pass into a nice pickup - this time for 8 yards. Running off RT, Jacquet is cleared for a 6 yard score by C Joel Herndon's key block. K Cotton tacks on the point after and we take a 7-0 lead at the 13:43 mark.

Following the touchback, Meier strikes twice, but is sacked by DE Crawford and DE Bronson for a 6 yard loss. Crawford, playing with pain, gets our squad fired up with the big play. The punt rolls to a stop at our 18, where we take over on offense with 11:31 left in the half. Jacquet rips off a good 24 yard run behind Stauffer on 2nd and 8 and we're back in business near midfield. Hawes connects with Kinnahan for 12 on 2nd and 10 to penetrate ARI territory and then hits his TE Conway in double coverage for 8 more. Unfortunately, Jacquet slips and loses yardage on two runs and we face 3rd and 16 on the 38. They stop us and we punt - touchback with 7:04 showing. Edwards comes up with a huge sack on 3rd and 5 and our defense slaps them with another three and out series. Their punter shanks it and we get outstanding field position at our own 46 with 4:45 left. We go backwards 8 yards and punt back to their 15. This time backup OLB Lyles comes up with the huge sack on 3rd and 10 and PR Rodgers takes the fair catch at our 28. We run the clock and take a 7-0 lead into the locker room.

Third Quarter:
--------------
KR Linquist makes a bad decision and brings it out from 9 yards deep. The coverage team smothers him at the ARI 13. DE Bronson nails Meier for a 7 yard sack and we have them pinned at the 6. They can't convert and we get it at the ARI 49. We can't move the ball though, and punt a touchback. The Cardinals come out and shock our defense, going 80 yards mostly on Meier's arm for the touchdown. ARI 7, DET 7 (4:54).

KR Rodgers gives us a gem and runs the kick back 70 yards down to the ARI 39. Hawes converts a crucial 3rd and 13 with a 14 yard pass to Davison and splits the Arizona zone again for 25 yards to Davison. On 1st and Goal from the 3, Hawes goes to the well again and finds Davison in the back of the end zone. DET 14, ARI 7 (3:00).

They hold on the return and the zebras mark it all the way back to the 3 yard line. They bust out of the hole with a long run, but then the defense stiffens and we stuff their backs for three straight to end the quarter.

Fourth Quarter:
---------------
We are in good shape and get the ball back at our own 35 to start the final period in regulation. A holding call on 2nd and 3 kills the drive but we pin them on the punt at the ARI 5. Bronson comes up with his third sack of the day and they face 3rd and 13 on the 2. Bronson stuffs RB Mullens for a loss of 1 and they must punt from the shadow of their own goal post. PR Rodgers fair catches at the ARI 33 and we are almost starting this drive in field goal range. Hawes goes to Davison for 9 and 13, setting up Brock Jacquet around left end for an 11 yard score. Again, C Herndon paves the way for our feature runner. DET 21, ARI 7 (8:57).

Following the touchback, Meier nails us with a 47 yard bomb to WR Byrd, and Edwards is injured on the next play. meir goes to the air for 30 more and they threaten on our 1 yard line. The defense can't hold and they punch it in - DET 21, ARI 14 (6:49).

We fumble the kickoff but manage to recover at our own 18. The job of the offense now will be to try and milk the clock and maybe get some insurance points. Hawes makes key completions to get us to midfield and Arizona burns their first timeout at the 2:16 mark. Hawes hits Jacquet for 9 on 3rd and 6 to keep the drive alive - Arizona burns their second TO. Thinking we're going to the ground, they set up in bump coverage and Hawes finds Davison yet again for 22 yards before the two minute warning. We have the ball 1st and 10 from the 16 after the TV commercials and Hawes finds Davison for 14 more yards. The Cardinals burn their final time out. We run the clock and kick a field goal as time expires - DET 24, ARI 14.

Wow! Our first postseason win! In other action, SEA QB Malcolm Mitchell threw for 400+ yards and 4 TDs in a losing effort as the Colts beat the Seahawks 38-35. Pittsburgh downed the Broncos to get a spot in the AFC title game against Indy. We will face St. Louis, who beat the Panthers. We paid the price to get into the NFC Title game though, as Edwards' ribs are too badly injured to play and DE Mo Crawford is doubtful. Thankfully, the rest of the team is healthy and we go into the big show with a relatively whole roster.

St. Louis has a dominant offensive line and likes to pound the ball often. They play a 4-3 Bump and Blitz defense that we should be able to attack on the ground. The key to this game will be who can get their rushing game going, since their secondary is excellent but their front 7 is suspect. Their runner, 3rd year man Lionel Lane, is almost a carbon copy of Brock Jacquet. 6-2 214 pounds and outstanding in all facets of his running. He is also a great pass catcher out of the backfield. Their threats on the outside are WR Marcus Robinson and WR Kevin Johnson, both solid receivers. Triggerman Moses Moreno isn't flashy, but is solid across the board.

Key injuries (* = starter):

DET: DT* Edwards (Out), DE Crawford (Dbt)
STL: G* Schlereth (Dbt), LB* Richardson (Qst), CB* Westbrook (Out), S* Bronson (Dbt), DT* Dronett (Out)

Category STL DET
---------------------
Rush Off 24th 6th
Pass Off 14th 29th
Rush Def 20th 22nd
Pass Def 17th 7th
TO Margin +6 -3
3rd Dwn .374 .322

First Quarter:
--------------
They win the toss and elect to receive. The kick is returned to the 35 and reserve LB Lyles sacks Moreno on 2nd and 13. They can't convert and punt it to our 32. Hawes makes some big passes to Jacquet and Davison but the drive stalls at the STL 28. Conway gets hurt on the FG kick. DET 3, STL 0 (7:13)

They get the ball at their own 34, and they drive into DET territory. Moreno works his two wideouts, but maybe one time too many when CB Tunnell comes up with the ball at the 1 and runs back the pick to our 7. Davison is injured on a Jacquet run, but we manage to get some breathing room and a first down. Hopefully Davison's injury isn't bad. We manage to get to the 43 and will have it 2nd and 6 when the second quarter begins.

Second Quarter:
---------------
Hawes makes spectacular third down completions for 9 and 15 yards to get us inside the STL 40. Hawes takes a sack and Jacquet is stuffed, but Hawes makes another fine third down conversion with a 17 yard pass to Kinnahan and then gets 17 more to Rodgers on the next play. Jacquet runs for 5 and on 2nd and goal Hawes finds Rodgers for the TD. DET 10, STL 0 (9:51)

Finally kick coverage is decent and STL starts on their 21. We force a punt, but Lyles is injured during the series. We get the ball back at our 29 with 7:16 in the half. Hawes takes a mean 11 yard sack at midfield, but erases that loss and a 5 yard delay of game penalty with two big passes to get us a first down at the STL 45. Hawes makes back a -5 Jacquet loss and converts again with an 8 and 9 yard pair of passes. Finally Jacquet breaks a 20 yarder off and we have the STL defense reeling on their heels. Hawes throws his second TD of the day to Rodgers and we pad our lead before halftime. DET 17, STL 0 (1:46)

Backup Safety intercepts Moreno on third down after the touchback and we have a shot at a FG with 22 seconds and the ball on the STL 26. They jump and give us 5 free yards. Foley plows for 5 and Jacquet takes it down to the 3 for a chip shot. DET 20, STL 0 (Half).

Third Quarter:
--------------
We get the opening kick at the 23 and dodge a bullet when Hawes recovers his own fumble on a sack. Unable to move the chains, we punt to the STL 38. Moreno is sacked by backup LB Croteau on the blitz and DE Bronson rumbles with the ball all the way down to the STL 12. The Rams stuff the run and we come away with 3 points. DET 23, STL 0 (11:23)

They hold on the kickoff return and get spotted at the STL 5. Although pinned back deep, Moreno steps up and fires off a 43 yard strike to Kevin Johnson. The Rams coaches get greedy though, and call for another long ball which is intercepted by CB Bradford in the end zone. Jacquet breaks off some good runs after being stuffed initially and Hawes hits Kinnahan for 34 to put the ball at the STL 10. RB Jacquet is getting met at the line almost every time and we settle for another field goal. Unfortunately, WR Rodgers is hurt on 3rd and Goal. DET 26, STL 0 (4:27)

They take the kick back to the STL 23 and take a sack, but Moreno again burns us with a 53 yard pass. An Unnecessary Roughness penalty pushes the Rams back to the DET 44 and sets up 2nd and 25 but Moreno finds Johnson for 28 yards to convert. 2 plays later, Moreno beats our 3 Deep Dime and floats one in to Robinson for the score. DET 26, STL 7 (2:02)

We take the kick to the 17 and make it to the 33 before the quarter ends.

Fourth Quarter:
---------------
Jacquet gets hit for a loss and a holding penalty drives the line of scrimmage all the way back to the DET 23. Foley is caught in the backfield and loses 2 more yards. We fail on 3rd and 23 and PR Johnson takes a fair catch at the STL 34. Moreno makes some huge throws and they score on a 1 yard plunge but fail the two point conversion. DET 26, STL 13.

Their kick coverage is great and Rodgers is stopped after only a 10 yard return to the DET 17. We make a first down but fail to pick up the second one and have to punt. P Trask puts it in the end zone and the Rams will have it at the STL 20 with 7:24. Moreno continues his hot streak with a 21 yard pass to Johnson, but backup LB Lyles comes back and sacks him on the next play. St. Louis is running out of time and has gone to a strictly passing offense. We hold and the punt is downed at our 22. Hawes is sacked for 7 on a run blitz, but we make it back on a 16 yard pass to TE Sawyer and Jacquet rams it off LG for the 17th yard. The clock keeps rolling, but Hawes is sacked again for 7. The rams drop into a 4 deep Nickel, but backup RB Smetana sneaks into a gap and turns a 9 yard catch into a 17 yard gain and a first down. ST. Loius begins burning their timeouts, but we move the sticks and retain possession when the two minute warning hits. Hawes finds Kinnahan for 23 and Godfrey takes the reverse 10 yards down to the STL 9. With no TO remaining, the Rams are helpless as Hawes takes the knee and we advance to the Super Bowl.

WR Davison is okay, but TE Conway is Doubtful and will be used very sparingly. It looks like backup TE Sawyer will get the nod against Pitsburgh, who just beat the Colts 28-20 for the AFC crown.

The Steelers went 14-2 on the strength of the best run defense in the league and QB Peyton Manning's arm. They will be without their leading INT man, S Kim Herring, who is out with an injury - weakening an already suspect pass defense. If we win, our pass rush needs to harrass Manning and Hawes must be on fire. The Steelers do not have extremely dangerous skill position players at receiver or in the backfield, but Manning makes everyone around him better. The Pittsburgh defensive front 7 is easily the best in football, but the defense is a sorry bunch except for venerable 13 year veteran S Darren Woodson.

Pittsburgh plays a pass happy offense to exploit Manning's gun and a 4-3 Zone Blitz scheme. Various media outlets predict a low scoring affair since each team is particularly good against the opponent's primary attack. The Steelers, however, are the clear favorites after posting the best regular season record at 14-2.

Category PIT DET
---------------------
Rush Off 15th 6th
Pass Off 4th 29th
Rush Def 1st 22nd
Pass Def 27th 7th
TO Margin +2 -3
3rd Dwn .393 .322

Key Injuries (* = starter):
DET: TE* Conway (Dbt), DE Crawford (Qst), DT* Edwards (Out)
PIT: S* Herring (Out), WR Wolfe (Out)

First Quarter:
--------------
The rain has come out and will likely be a factor in the running game. K Cotton boots it into the endzone and the Steelers get the first crack at it from their own 20. Anderson scorches us with a 64 yard TD off left tackle. Our defense is left shaking their heads and the Steelers take a very early advantage. PIT 7, DET 0 (14:14)

Kinnahan retuns the kick out to the 30 and PIT DT Ellis is injured on the first play. Foley tests the left side but is stopped for one yard. An incompletion later, we are forced to punt. Trask shanks it and they get great field position on a fair catch at the PIT 45. This time it's Manning who burns us with two completions for another quick score. PIT 14, DET 0 (12:23)

The troops are demoralized, but it's still early in the game and anything can happen. We get the ball at our own 21 but can't get into Steeler territory. The punt coverage is awesome and PR Pritchett is knocked back 6 yards to the PIT 12. Manning is awesome on the drive, but we stuff Jamal and hold near midfield. Kinnahan is hit immediately after fielding the punt and we take over at the DET 9. Hawes completes 6 straight passes, scrambles for 6 and Jacquet runs for 11 more to put us on the PIT 24 at the end of the quarter.

Second Quarter:
---------------
They stop us on three passes and we kick a 41 yard field goal. PIT 14, DET 3 (14:36)

We force a three and out following the kickoff, but P Baldridge booms a 63 yard beauty. We take over on our own 13 and Hawes immediately goes back to work on their secondary. Hawes is sacked on third down at the PIT 35, pushing us out of Cotton's comfort range. He misses the 52 yarder wide right. Manning to Crowell kills us on this drive and PIT takes a big lead. PIT 21, DET 3 (5:14)

A poor return and a tackle for loss gives us 2nd and 15 from the DET 6. We are stopped and punt to the PIT 41. Manning runs the 2 minute drill well, but the Steelers come up empty on a missed chip shot to end the half.

Third Quarter:
--------------
Pittsburgh is clearly dominating us in total yardage and on the scoreboard - we need to score some points early in the third quarter to get back in the ballgame. We end up going three and out and punt to the PIT 27. Penalties drive them back to their own 16 and we hold on 3rd and 21. The punt is fair caught at the 34. Jacquet is caught in the backfield twice, but Hawes throws a line to Kinnahan for the first down. Again the PIT front line stuffs Jacquet two in a row and Hawes bails us out with a 17 yard pass to Davison. The Steeler run defense is astonishingly good, but the pass defense is equally bad and Hawes again covers negative yardage rushing plays with a 31 yard toss to Davison. The drive ends when Hawes is picked off by Woodson in the end zone. What's worse, Davison is hurt at the end of the drive. But our defense restores some life when S Spears returns an interception for a touchdown on the first play after the touchback. We fail the 2 point conversion but pull the game to a manageable 2 score deficit. PIT 21, DET 9 (5:11)

Our defense comes out on fire and forces a three and out following the kickoff. Baldridge again booms a long one 60 yards and pins us on the DET 6. Jacquet finally breaks one! A 45 yarder off right tackle, puts us on the PIT side of the 50.

Fourth Quarter:
---------------
A gutsy call on 4th and 16 keeps the drive alive when Hawes finds Kinnahan for a clutch 21 yard connection down to the PIT 15. They finally plug us up at the 12 and we settle for a field goal. PIT 21, DET 12 (12:06)

Pittsburgh manages a first down but pays dearly for it as Olson and Crowell go down on the series. Manning picks our secondary apart all the same and they get a field goal out of the drive. PIT 24, DET 12 (5:15)

Questionable playcalling results in a three and out series. We punt to the PIT 20, but are running out of time. We burn our timeouts, but Manning wills them to first downs and they run the clock out.

Surprisingly, S Spear is MVP in a losing effort (WTF?).
He and G Britt Stauffer are named to the All-Pro Second Team.

Morgado · 11-20-2000, 11:36 PM

2005 Preseason

Coach Singh and Scout Cowell will be around for at least one more season. The program seems to have worked, and we will stick to our guns - the franchise does not pursue new scouts or coaches.

Due to aggressive renegotiation during the 2004 offseason, we have few unrestricted free agents: WR Mansell, WR Dilignecia, LB Zimmerman, LB Politte, LB Croteau, and S Blades. 14 players will have contracts expire after 2005, so there is some renegotiation to be done, especially with core defensive players and several offensive linemen.

Our units are as follows (years on team/experience, contract expiration).

Pass Offense:
QB Spencer Hawes (5/5, 05) is the triggerman and resembles Jeff George. Tremendous arm strength and an eye for the deep ball, he has problems at times with costly interceptions.
TE Grady Conway (5/5, 06) has proven to be a 6th round steal and can block and pass catch solidly. Steady improvement over the past three seasons shows no sign of slowing. He nearly matched his 2003 totals in 2004 with one fewer start.
WR Neal Davison (2/2, 07) started 12 games as a rookie in 2004 and showed potential to be an outstanding big play man with 8 TDs.
WR Cris Kinnahan (4/4, 07) is a steady performer and handles most of our return duties. He has often been Hawes' go-to receiver in tight situations.

Run Offense:
RB Brock Jacquet (3/3, 07) is the workhorse, and has 2160 yards in two seasons with the club. He averaged 4.3 yards a carry exactly in both his rookie season and sophomore year, and also figures into the passing game.
FB Harry Foley (4/4, 06) is a bruising lead blocker for Jacquet and a pretty good pass catcher.
C Joel Herndon (5/5, 05) leads a solid interior line. His technique is good in all facets of the game.
G Britt Stauffer (5/5, 06) keys the pass blocking and made Second Team All-Pro for the first time last season. He has allowed just 16 sacks in the past three seasons combined.
T Darnell Blocker (3/3, 06) is a monster on run blocking. Although not the biggest T at 6-3, 325 pounds, his technique is superb. Although a dominating run blocker, he needs to work on pass blocking.

Defense Front 7:
DE Brandon Gault (4/4, 05) is a great all around defensive player who excels in stopping the outside run. We hope DE J.B. Hines (2/2, 06) develops along the same lines as Gault.
DT Jason St. Amal (5/5, 07) was called upon last season to take over the inside rush when 2003 1st team All-Pro DT Edwards went down with critical injuries throughout the season. Edwards (5/5, 07) seems to have lost something and St. Amal will probably rotate with him in the middle.
LB Henry Talton (4/4, 07) is our main OLB with decent cover skills and good tackling.
LB Joel Sanderson (3/3, 05) is an outstanding run stoppers, but lacks the coverage skills to really shut down the underneath routes to opposing offenses.

Defense Secondary:
CB Isaac Tunnell (4/4, 07) is our number one guy, and hardly gives up completions (just 8 of 254 pass plays last season). Tunnell is in something of a slump though, and has not posted a single interception since the 4 in his rookie season.
S Devin Spear (3/3, 05) is a gambler and comes up with huge interceptions but gives up lots of completions in coverage. The Super Bowl MVP and a Second Team All-Pro, Spear also put up 82 solo stops in 2004.
S Lincoln Carlson (2/2, 08) had a great rookie season and we look to him to just keep getting better. Another gambler, he has a similar game to Spear but is a heavier hitter in run support.

At the start of Free Agency, we are 28,220,000 under the cap and need to sign back LB Zimmerman and hopefully WR Mansell for depth at receiver. Trades roll in for Gault, Hawes, Herndon, and Blocker. We turn down all of them, noting that New Orleans was after T Blocker and have MVP RB Edgerrin James. Hmmm...

Unfortunately Zimmerman is demanding way too much money (16 million over 3 years), so re resign ourselves to looking for a replacement in the draft. Our linebacking corps will be basically a run stopping unit, so hopefully the defensive line stays healthy and can get good pressure to help our coverage guys. A pass rushing LB will be a fairly high priority.

Disaster strikes and Zimmerman signs with Chicago in week 6. It will not be pleasant to see him twice next year. Croteau goes to Oakland, and we will see him at Ford Field in 2005 in Week 10. Politte signs with Carolina, a perennial playoff team - we may see him in the postseason. Mansell comes back for a 3 year stint, but S Blades and WR Diligencia request too much for backups who won't see action and are let go. Heading into the draft, Washington offers up a 3rd round pick for Blocker and we struggle to stop laughing as the refusal is faxed back to them.

S Spear signs a two year extension, as does LB Sanderson. We can't seem to cut an extension with DE Gault or C Herndon and will check back with their agents later. T Forsyth signs on for two extra years and will serve as backside pass protection again. Hawes demands big bucks and we give it to him in the form of a 4 year deal with a 6.3 million dollar signing bonus. Backup pass blocker T Ethan Stokes signs a low priced two year extension, and we get WR Godfrey to sign a fairly pricey 4 year deal that should be worth it.

C Herndon, DE Gault, and backup DE Crawford are the big holdouts who won't renegotiate. As a long term plan B, the team will look for a DE project in case the two vets can't be resigned to longer deals. Herndon is a concern, as he is really the heart of the offensive line.

This year's draft has an unbelievable abundancy of TE, T, G, and C. There are nary a decent QB in sight and just one or two RBs who have first round talent. QB Mark Settle out of Kentucky is being graded out by the league as a 5.7 future prospect and may slip to the third round with 5 QBs being graded ahead of him. He's our top QB and may draft him as a backup/future QB.

As expected, the first round is basically a huge run on offensive linemen. Surprisingly, the latter half of the first round is a run on receivers and most of the WR and TE prospects get snagged. 6-6 DT Frank Norton from Louisiana-Lafayette is teken at 1(31) in hopes of bolstering our injury riddled defensive line. The safety crop and receiver ranks are thinned even more during round 2. We spot C D.J. Patton from SMU and think we can get him at 3(31) so we grab Settle with 2(31). A ton of WRs leave the board before we pick up Patton and shock the rest of the teams. Tons of CBs and even more WRs drop off the board before we decide to take a chance on one of the remaining CBs. In the later rounds we take some potential backups for Jacquet and a project at wideout.

Rnd 1 - Frank Norton, DT, Louisiana-Lafayette
Rnd 2 - Mark Settle, QB, Kentucky
Rnd 3 - D.J. Patton, C, Southern Methodist
Rnd 4 - Randall Peters, CB, Sacred Heart (Conn.)
Rnd 5 - Everett Shepard, RB, Fordham
Rnd 6 - Darrell Longhenry, WR, Hawaii
Rnd 7 - Donnell West, RB, Baylor

The other teams in the league still don't get the message and we turn down yet another ludicrous offer - this time from the Bucs - for Herndon. Trade offers are rejected after camp for Herndon and Hines. None of our rookies show huge improvement and Patton turns out to be a mild disappointment. We immediately enter intense negotiations with Herndon's agent. We ship QB Schroeder and a 6th round pick to St. Louis for their 4th rounder (all 2008 picks involved) and cut QB Blades. RB Smetana is snt to Buffalo with a our 2006 7th rounder for Buffalo's 2007 6th round pick. RB West is released to pare our RB corps back down to 4. FB Mickey Limon is cut to make more room for LBs, and we scour free agency to fill backup roles at LB and S.

LB Riddick Flaherty is a former 2nd rounder (4th year man) who may start for us. LB Shawn Brunell is another 4th year man who signs on also for 3 years with us. LB Quentin Codie, who played for us in the past, is given a 1 year deal. T Kenneth Titus, a 4th year man, is an outstanding tackle that we pounce on. Looks like some team didn't have the cap room to sign their franchise player. Running short of cap room, WR Mansell is let go and we sign a rookie WR in his spot. S Blades is resigned to a three year deal to back up our two enforcers.

We go undefeated in preseason and make it through the four games with just three extremely minor injuries. Defeating Jacksonville, Seattle, Denver and Pittsburgh in preseason gives us much hope since all four were in the playoffs last season. The win over Pittsburgh was some nice revenge for the Super Bowl.

Morgado · 11-20-2000, 11:37 PM

In Week 1, New Orleans breaks out with a 79 yard return on the opening kick, but we stuff Edgerrin James and force a field goal. Our big time players come up with big time plays - 2 first quarter INTs for S Spear, a TD INT return for Carlson, a fumbled KO by New Orleans, and big plays by Hawes, Davison and Jacquet give us a massive 34-3 lead at the end of *one quarter*. Spear runs an INT back in the third and Blades runs an INT back in the 4th quarter (all our Safeties had INT returns for TD!). Except for a blocked punt in garbage time, we dominate them 58-10. Note, their starting QB Billy Joe Tolliver got the hook in the first quarter after the INTs.

Devin Spear has a PDQ of 245.0 with 3 INTs in 20 pass plays.

Both DET QB Hawes and TBY QB Zeier are knocked out of the game in the first quarter. Spear runs an INT off their backup for a TD in the second quarter to tie it up. We get a key fumble in the fourth to kill a TBY drive but Huntley is the Lion killer. Rookie QB Settle is holding the ball too long and he takes several sacks. We lose 21-7 at the New Sombrero in the rain.

We visit the big bad Kurt Warner led Manchester Wolves and an injured Hawes is picked off twice in the first half at The Den. Warner is unbelievable but a Spear INT saves a TD and keeps things manageable for the second half. We catch fire and Carlson makes a key INT in the third leading to a TD, but Hawes also throws two INTs, the last one which kills our 2 minute drill. Hawes hits the bomb, but we don't the onside kick. We struggle past 0-3 Denver and even up the record at 2-2 heading into Week 5 hosting 0-3 Chicago. Spear is unconscious, and has 7 INTs in 4 games (2 against Denver). We beat Chicago 24-10 and Conway is ejected midway through the 3rd quarter for punching an opponent! We only have 4 minor injuries, so the bye week should let everyone heal up. Jacquet goes nuts at the Meadowlands and Spear gets two more picks to add to his total in week 7 against the 1-5 Giants.

In Week 8, we travel to Minnesota to face the hapless 1-5 Vikings. Their defensive line is in shambles with three starters out with long term injuries. Hawes is picked for two TD INTs and we lose a game we should have won. Mostly on the power of 2 Carlson INTs, we manage to beat Tampa ugly at home 12-7 and move to 5-3 with a huge tiebreaker sweep over Tampa. Green Bay is in first at 6-2 with the two of us nipping at the Pack's heels. Dallas and Carolina are in command of their divisions at 6-2 and Cincy is a bizarre 5-3-1 ahead of 6-2 Pittsburgh. The Fins are smoking everyone at 7-1 but the AFC West is up for grabs with Manchester and KC locked at 6-2 with Seattle at 5-3 close behind. We are playing outstanding defense (top 5 in rushing and passing D) and also have a +11 margin (Miami at 7-1 is +14).

2-6 Oakland hung close with us because of multiple Hawes interceptions, but we manage the home victory. The Pack wins but the Bucs lose and we are a game behind 7-2 Green Bay. Hawes INTs gift wrap too many points and we lose to 5-3 Seattle in the Kingdome. At 6-4, we need to win at Soldier Field over a battered Chicago club to keep pace with the now 8-2 Packers. Hawes throws some picks that almost swing the tide for the Bears, but we run the clock out on them. The hated Bucs do us a favor and deal Green Bay a loss, closing the Packers' lead.

Week 11 at Lambeau, the defense manhandles the Packer offense in the first quarter with 3 picks and a fumble return for TD. Key players leave with injuries (Edwards, Jacquet), but we get more fumble recoveries and put together very long sustained FG drives to counter the Green bay big plays. We win 36-20 and take the NFC Central lead for now via tiebreaker. Since our last meeting, the Vikings have sustained much more injuries but have somehow managed to eke out a .500 record to this point. The defense is unreal and covers all kinds of miscues by the offense (INTs and fumbles) and special teams (blocked punt). Cash has 2 picks and Carlson has 2 picks and we recover some fumbles to erase mistakes and turnovers in a 20-7 win at home.

New Orleans beats Green Bay and we are now 9-4 ahead of the 8-5 pack and bucs with tiebreakers over both. Dallas is scorching in the NFC East with a 10-3 record while Miami has cooled somewhat to 9-4 after a 7-1 start. Kinnahan has a bum shoulder so we sit him against the already-eliminated Rams (3-10). Spear and Carlson are now tied for the NFL INT lead with 10 each. Carlson gets a pick in a 19-10 win to take the INT lead. Green Bay won, but will face Dallas and probably get smashed by the 11-3 Cowboys before we face them in Week 17. 8-5-1 Arizona comes calling in Week 16, and we decide to give Kinnahan one more week to heal.

The defense and special teams is awesome early on, getting a safety and a touchdown when ARI fumbles a punt. They really keep us going while the offense struggles. Hawes throws a bad pick in the second half to give the Cards the lead but the defense comes through and we get great field position. We hold on 4th and 1 late with a 4 point lead and kick a field goal for a 32-25 win. Green Bay somehow manages to beat Dallas and we meet them for the NFC Central title at home. A loss to the Pack would split the head to head but give them the Division based on the within division tiebreaker. We need this win badly, but Tunnell took a shot and broke his hand for the 3-5 week variety. He will see limited action - we activate Kinnahan.

Carlson comes up with a huge pick deep in GBY territory and we take a early lead, but they come back and beat us late, 22-17. Green Bay takes the division and we must play New Orleans in the Wild Card round while Green Bay gets a first round bye. Carlson finishes with 12 INTs while Spear cooled off to finish with just 10 - they are first and second in the NFL. Hawes is 5th in yardage passing with 4123 but INTs kill his rating (22 TDs, 21 INTs). Jacquet just misses the thousand yard season with 911 yards, but had 12 TDs on the ground. Davison is the receiving leader of the team with 1190 yards on 70 catches. LB Sanderson led the team in tackles from his MLB position with 100/23 and 5.5 sacks. Carlson, with 79/33 and 1.5 sacks is sure to be a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year honors and 1st team All-Pro. A decent 11-4 season, but now the real road to the Super Bowl begins.

Morgado · 11-23-2000, 02:00 AM

2006 Preseason

Our Scout and Coach contracts are due and we renew the contracts for 5 years on both counts. Three of our critical players have expired contracts: C* Herndon, DE* Gault, and nickelback CB Cash. Offers for Hawes, Foley, and Jacquet roll in and are refused.

We are unable to swing a deal with Gault or Herndon - Gault is lured to SDO for 4 seasons and ARI ends up winning a major bidding war for Herndon. DE Mo Crawford is resigned to a three year deal. Although he is not nearly the run stopper Gault was, the 6th year veteran should provide stability in the unit.

We are shallow at LB, DE, and TE and will look for those positions in the draft. Notable contracts we will need to renegotiate extensions on: DE Hines, T Blocker, G Stauffer, TE Conway, and FB Foley. The draft is really secondary and quarterback rich, with quite a few RBs to boot. With the 26 slot, we will see what falls to us.

Safeties dominate when we select, but we have no need for safeties. Instead, we go with a prosective shutdown corner, 6-0 Jorge Harnisch from Colorado. Wrs leave the board like crazy, but we are after a LB and get a decent prospect, Todd Ackerman from NC State. C J.J. Razwick, our third round pick, will step in immediately for Herndon and appears ready to start from the get go. The pick is lucky, since we just beat out a run on Centers in the fourth round. Pick 4(26), Georgia Bulldog Rickey Schultz, will be our #2 TE. DT Kirk Herbertson may be the steal of the draft if Connell is right about him. We will give offerings to the football gods before rookie camp regarding him.

Rnd 1 - Jorge Harnisch, CB, Colorado
Rnd 2 - Todd Ackerman, LB, North Carolina State
Rnd 3 - J.J. Razwick, C, South Carolina
Rnd 4 - Rickey Schultz, TE, Georgia
Rnd 5 - Kirk Herbertson, DT, Louisiana State
Rnd 6 - Edgar Patton, QB, Ohio
Rnd 6 - Teddy Wheeler, CB, UAB

With 3.8 million in cap room afer signing rookies, we go to work trying to lock down some extensions before camp. DT Downs and our 2009 4th rounder is sent to the Redskins for their 2009 3rd round pick. DT St. Amal is let go since we cannot maintain his 2 million dollar contract and hope to extend more valuable veterans.

TE Conway is locked up for 3 extra years, and we resign some msicellaneous offensive linemen for an extra year or two. We get Foley to agree to a two year extension. We take a trade with Cleveland that sends T Blocker to them for their 4th round pick and a solid 5th year DE. After camp, C Meehan is released. Our last big ticket extension is made as DE Hines signs a 4 year deal to keep him in Detroit.

Depthwise, we are solid everywhere and each unit is looking very good. We have shifted to a more balanced attack to better exploit Jacquet's running abilities and think the approach will cut down on our offensive inconsistency.

Preseason again produces a costly injury, when DE Hines takes a 2-3 month Hip Pointer. he will sit until fully healed.

Morgado · 11-24-2000, 01:59 AM

Week 1 against the Patriots, RB Biakabutuka rips us a new one with an early 80 yard TD run, but Jacquet answers with a 74 yard TD run. The defense gets its act together after that and our offense flat out steamrolls them. Jacquet is unreal, piling up 233 yards on 23 carries and three rushing TDs. Hawes has a nice 300 yard passing day as well, with a TD and one insignificant pick. S Carlson picks up where he left off last season and tallies two INTs in the 39-14 rout.

Turnovers lead to 21 Bucs points and we almost lose a home stand against Tampa, but S Carlson saves the day with big interceptions. Hawes had 2 bad INTs but went 23-31-346 for 2 TDs. We pull it out 32-28 in the waning moments of the game on a big 45 yard TD run by Jacquet. Against 0-2 Minnesota, Jacquet goes out with an injury on the third play from scrimmage, but the backups fill in respectably and the defense plays another outstanding game. Somehow, we pull off the 9-7 road win. Hawes posts his third straight 300 yard passing game but Jacquet and Kinnahan are out 3-5 weeks.

For the second time in the season, we are hit with a huge TD run on the first drive of the game when Jamal Lewis breaks a 64 yarder on play number 2. We knock GBY QB Kitna out of the game in the third and the Packer offense falls apart. Backup RB Karl Pierce played a good game for us and the defense was generally good despite two big play TDs surrendered. Hawes is held to "just" 209 yards passing, but it is enough to deal the hated Pack a 29-24 loss. we are now 4-0 and one game ahead of 3-1 Chicago.

We visit former Lion C Herndon and the Cardinals in Week 5 and get handed our first loss of the season. Both passers are unstoppable in the game, but Hawes throws two critical interceptions late in the 4th quarter and we lose 31-21. Chicago wins and is now tied at 4-1 for the NFC Central with us. 4-1 Philly comes to town and we need a win to hang with the Bears since they will pummel 0-4 New England. We knock the Eagles' Starting QB out of the game in the 3rd quarter and then knock the backup out of the game at the start of the 4th quarter. We take it 20-10 at home and remain tied with Chicago who destroy the Patriots as expected. DE Hines rejoins the lineup in Week 7 against the 3-2 Carolina Panthers on the road. Kinnahan and Jacquet remain sidelined but should be back by Week 9. We play a miserable offensive game and lose in the rain after failing twice to punch it in from inside the 5. Chicago smokes 0-6 Minnesota and we drop to second place headed into the bye week. Kinnahan and Jacquet return for a workout against 0-7 Minnesota that turns into a 28-21 nail biter, but we escape with the win.

Talk about a wild win! We go to Pro player Stadium to meet the 2-6 Dolphins for what appears to be a lopsided matchup. The Fins score 4 TDs in the 4th quarter on long passes and an INT return to go ahead by 8 with under 2 minutes to play. Hawes rsponds with a drive and two point after TD pass to tie. Backup QB Jay Fiedler takes the initial OT drive for the Dolphins to our 19 and all seems lost when the defense sacks Fiedler twice and they miss the 53 yard FG. On the very next play, Hawes drops the 57 yard bomb to the backup TE Schultz for the big finish.

In a game much closer than the score indicates, we down Tampa 28-16 and go to Chicago for the first showdown with the mighty Bears. However, we are without LB Sanderson, who broke his ankle against Tampa and is out for the season. They manhandle us 38-11 and we drop to 8-3. They move to 10-1 and all we can do is hope someone else fells the giant for us. 8-3 Buffalo comes to town and we stomp on them in frustration after the loss to Chicago. Late in the 4th quarter, we steal one on the road against Green Bay 17-16. Carlson and Spear combine for 5 INTs in a win over New Orleans that pushes us to 11-3.

While they can't stop our attack, the Detroit defense bottles up the Chicago offense in Week 16 and we beat them 23-16 to split the season series. Even if beat the Jets and Chicago loses to 11-4 Buffalo, though, we cannot catch them. They will win the NFC Central title via the NFC record tiebreaker (division record is 7-1 tie). Thus, we are destined for the wild card round and draw the Philadelphia Eagles.

Morgado · 11-24-2000, 03:32 AM

2006 Postseason

Wild Card Round

GBY (9-7) 7
CAR (9-7) 21

SEA (10-6) 28
DEN (11-5) 37

PHI (9-7)
DET (12-4)

PIT (10-6) 24
MAN (11-5) 27

Category PHI DET
---------------------
Rush Off 24th 6th
Pass Off 7th 10th
Rush Def 9th 13th
Pass Def 29th 18th
TO Margin +10 +3
3rd Dwn .400 .336

Key Injuries (*=Starter):
DET: CB Bradford (Dbt), LB* Flaherty (Qst), LB* Sanderson (Out), S* Carlson (Qst)
PHI: LB* Williams (Qst), CB* Lyght (Dbt), CB Sinclair (Dbt), WR Garcia (Out)

The Eagles' main offensive threats are the arm of QB Madison to pass catching TE Brustkern. The WR trio of Devine, Gayle, and Bartrum are decent but not spectacular. Their guards and tackles are unreal, but the starting runners are all 2nd year or younger. Defensively, they are solid across the line but have terrible linebackers and very weak corners. S Griffith and S Dawkins are dominant though, and more than make up for the CBs.

Judging by the season stats, we should be able to test the corners and linebackers on shallow routes. Stopping the pass will definitely be the priority for our own defense.

First Quarter:
--------------
They take the opening kick and are pinned by great coverage down at their own 10. The rain is coming down and may make players slip today. They make a good stab at the first down marker but come up 2 yards short and punt it out to their own 49. Jacquet is stuffed two straight and after an incompletion we punt it right back to their 19. After three first downs, QB Madison hits Gayle for a 47 yard TD and the Eagles jump ahead. PHI 7, DET 0 (7:36)

Following a return to the 24, Hawes finds Davison for 22 and we are on the move. Jacquet gets met for minus yardage on 3rd and 2 near midfield and we punt back to the PHI 12. Madison completes two straight 18 yard passes to Gayle and the Eagles enter DET territory. We finally hold at the DET 22 and K Richey misses the 39 yard FG with 1:37 in the quarter. A long run by Jacquet and a 10 yard swing pass gives us 3rd and 6 at the 46 going into the second quarter.

Second Quarter:
---------------
Hawes makes several good completions but Jacquet fumbles in the red zone and we lose the ball at the PHI 17. The defense holds and we get the ball back at the DET 40 on a fair caught punt. Hawes is on fire, completing a 32 yarder to Godfrey and another 10 yarder to Jacquet down to the PHI 18. Two plays later, Hawes hooks up with go-to man Davison for the TD. DET 7, PHI 7 (8:19)

The kick goes for a touchback and Madison is forced to scramble on 3rd and 17. CB Labelle punches the ball out and we recover at the PHI 13. Hawes goes back to Davison and nails the TD in one try. DET 14, PHI 7 (6:59)

The kick coverage does well again, stopping the returner at the PHI 17. This time DT Marrero sacks Madison and the ball pops loose. We recover at the PHI 12 and are poised to score once again. This time Jacquet goes around left end for the last 12 yards. DET 21, PHI 7 (6:12)

The Eagles bring the kick out the 18 and go to an almost every-down shotgun. After a few completions out to the 40, QB Madison is picked off by S Spear and the INT is run back to the PHI 40 at the two minute warning. Hawes hits Davison for 36 yards down inside the 10 with under a minute to go and we really want that TD. Following two runs for losses, Jacquet manages to break it off left guard for the score. DET 28, PHI 7 (0:24)

Third Quarter:
--------------
We get the ball first but can't move the sticks after the touchback and punt it to the PHI 46. Madison to Devine for 23 yards brings them into field goal range but the defense stiffens. Richey misses his second field goal of the day and we take over at the 37. 2 holding calls and a sack later we punt to the PHI 39. Filling in for the injured Carlson, S Blades adds to his fine play with Madison's second interception of the game. We take over at our own 30 and Hawes' rassing and scrambling plus two Eagles' offsides penalties get us to the PHI 19. Jacquet goes off right tackle for 19 and his second TD of the day. DET 35, PHI 7 (5:35)

They abandon the run and our pass rush makes them pay with two sacks and an easily defended pass. We get the punt at the DET 41 on a fair catch and seek to put the game on ice with 3:42 left in the third. Hawes strings together multiple 8-10 yard passes and we get down to the PHI 21 before the change of direction.

Fourth Quarter:
---------------
Davison hauls in a 15 yard catch to set up a short dump to Foley for the TD. We now have the game well in hand and simply need to run the clock out on the Eagles. DET 42, PHI 7 (13:41)

Madison is yanked, but his backup is ineffective and they punt to our 9. They commit to plug the run and we go nowhere, punting back to the PHI 49. Backup QB Abrams promptly hands it back to us on an interception by LB Ackerman at the DET 9. We go backwards with backup QB Summerlin at the helm and punt it out of the end zone to the DET 37. It turns into Shotgun versus Prevent defense and the defense ends up winning that fight with a Carlson interception at the DET 23. We finally manage some positive yardage on the ground but backup RB Potter fumbles the ball. The Eagles recover and advance it down to the DET 28. The defense holds and they take their 3 points. DET 42, PHI 10 (1:17)

QB Hawes is spectacular in 3 and a half quarters of work, going 21 of 29 for 304 yards and 3 TDs with zero interceptions. WR Davison has a monster game with 147 yards and 2 TDs on 7 catches.

Semifinals

CAR (9-7) 3
ARI (12-4) 41

MAN (11-5) 27
BUF (11-5) 15

DET (12-4)
CHI (14-2)

DEN (11-5) 10
CIN (12-4) 44

We draw the Monsters of the Midway and they are at full strength. They play very balanced on both sides of the ball and don't seem to have any real weaknesses - as evidenced by their 14-2 record. We have some confidence after beting them once in the regular season, but this will be a battle.

Category CHI DET
---------------------
Rush Off 7th 6th
Pass Off 22nd 10th
Rush Def 1st 13th
Pass Def 3rd 18th
TO Margin 0 +3
3rd Dwn .405 .336

Key Injuries (*=Starter):
DET: CB Bradford (Dbt), DT Marrero (Out), LB* Sanderson (Out), S* Carlson (Qst), K Cotton (Qst)
CHI: None

First Quarter:
--------------
We get the ball first at a rainy Soldier Field on the DET 20 following a touchback. A holding penalty kills us and we punt to the CHI 31. They tear us up for big plays but CB Harnisch comes through in a huge way by intercepting QB Scales at the goal line and returns the pick out to the DET 20. Hawes is sacked on third and 6, so we must punt again. Peter Warrick brings the ball back to the DET 49 on the return. Scales hits WR Fuller for a 34 yard gain and goes again to Fuller for 16 down to the DET 2. RB Fred Taylor punches it in from there and the Bears take the lead. CHI 7, DET 0 (8:49)

Kinnahan gives us a great return out to the DET 39. We stall at the CHI 28 and Cotton misses the kick. Our defense holds at the DET 44 and they punt it back to our 9. We go three and out and give it right back on a punt to the CHI 48.

Second Quarter:
---------------
The defense finally plugs them up at the DET 17 and they take a 34 yard field goal. CHI 10, DET 0 (11:51)

Hawes gets some offense going but is picked off on his third throw at the CHI 45. The Bears march back down and Taylor bursts through the middle for 32 down to the DET 2. Scales to Warrick for the TD starts to worry the coaches. CHI 17, DET 0 (5:54)

Holding on the return puts us back on the DET 11 to start the drive. Hawes is injured on the drive and we can't convert a third down at the DET 29. The punt is fielded and run back to the CHI 47. Spear makes a nice INT at the DET 16 to get us out of immediate danger, but there's only 1:47 left to do anything with the ball. With rookie QB Settle in the game, we run th clock out and go into the locker room.

Third Quarter:
--------------
The Bears start the second half at the CHI 28 and they pound us with Taylor. CB Harnisch comes up with another interception and takes it back to the DET 30. Settle makes some nice throws but Cotton ends up missing the 46 yard field goal. Taking over at the spot of the miss, Scales scorches us with a bomb to WR Brown and we're sinking fast. CHI 24, DET 0 (8:09)

Our offense is ugly after the kick, but the punt coverage is uglier and Warrick runs it back for a TD. CHI 31, DET 0 (6:27)

... suffice it to say that a rookie backup with other backups is no match for a healthy 14-2 team. Settle is intercepted and sacked repeatedly and we get shut out, 34-0.

ARI 13, CHI 10
CIN 33, MAN 14

We cheer when Chicago gets unceremoniously dumped by the Cardinals for the NFC title. In the Super Bowl, Cincy beats Arizona 30-24.

FB Foley and K Cotton make first team all-pro and G Stauffer makes second team.

11-15-2000, 05:40 PM	#4
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	sigh This season is not even worth posting... ----- With starter Hawes on the bench with broken ribs, we start Summerlin against the Vikings. Midway through the game, Summerlin is knocked out of the game and third string nobody QB Marshall Levenson took the field. Down only 6-3, Levenson was unable to sustain any drive for more than 5 plays, and Minnesota wins 9-3. Yet another LB bites the dust, this time OLB Billy Politte. Detroit is reduced to signing a free agent because 3 of the 6 original roster LBs are on the long term inactive list. With so many long term injuries on a team with basically 53 rookies and second year players, the numbers are downright atrocious. The Starting QB Jorge Summerlin has 10 interceptions in 6 games and the team is second to last in both rushing offense and passing offense. How we beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 7 is beyond me. Actually, now i know whay - Tampa bay is a horrible team. We just beat them again in Week 9. Compare that to the 44-0 drubbing at the hands of the Chicago Bears and man, that indicates on bad team. Okay, finally at Week 14, Hawes is healthy again. Too bad the entire season is shot to heck. Even without Hawes, the Lions managed to beat the 7-3 Packers when all the linebackers were finally healthy. The season has been one huge mess, although at least we're starting to move the ball and actually score some points in Weeks 15-17, playing Minnesota and Atlanta close. How much of a difference do injuries make? Week 17, big bad 11-4 Denver comes to Ford Field to smack us down. They feature the league's top rated pass defense and QB Rob Johnson has thrown for 3500 yards and 20 touchdowns with only 7 picks. Detroit's defense forced 4 fumbles (recovering two), picked off a pass, and sacked Johnson 5 times. Denver was held to just 1.4 yards per carry and the Detroit offense actually outgained Denver's offense 206 to 204 on eight fewer plays. 17-10 was the final, and that... is why they play the games. ARI (8-8) SFO (10-5-1) vs. GBY (10-6) CAR (8-7-1) DAL (10-6) vs. WAS (12-4) NYJ (9-7) JAX (10-6) vs. IND (11-5) TEN (10-6) KCY (10-6) vs. DEN (11-5) DEN def. IND for AFC Title WAS def. GBY for NFC Title Super Bowl: DEN 34, WAS 28 LB Henry Talton DefRoY 96/33 Tackles, 3.5 sacks __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-17-2000, 05:43 AM	#5
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	At the start of the 2003 Offseason, we have 46 players under contract. The veterans who have been with the club since 2001 are starting to feel very comfortable in our Run and Shoot and 4-3 blitzing scheme. Our units are anchored in the following manner (year with team/exp): Pass Offense: QB Hawes (3/3) was our overall top pick in 2001, and has developed into a solid but not spectacular dropback passer. Decent mobility, but his throwing was hurt markedly by a serious injury to his ribs. Although he has healed, his followthrough looks stiff, resulting in less precise tosses. WR Chris Kinnahan (2/2) was a 5th round pick in 2002 and showed flashes of brilliance coming off the bench. An extremely dangerous return man, his speed is alos apparent in his penchant for turning short passes into big gains. Over 1/3 of his yardage in 2002 came after the catch (188 of 496). TE Grady Conway (3/3) will move into a starting role this season after two years as the backup. His 6-7 frame is a huge target, and he has respectable skills in all areas. Run Offense: C Joel Herndon (3/3) appears poised for a breakout season. Clearly the leader of the interior line, he allowed just 3 sacks all season despite trying to hold together an extremely inexperienced unit. Herndon is a terrific run blocker as well. FB Harry Foley (2/2) was a 4th round steal in 2002, showing outstanding blocking and pass catching skills. He will be relied on heavily to participate in both the rushing game as a blocker and the passing game as a safety valve. G Britt Stauffer (3/3) is a great pass blocker on the inside who has worked on his run blocking technique. He and Kinnahan make the 5th round seem like our big break round each year. Defense Front 7: DE Brandon Gault (2/2) didn't have the massive rookie season we were hoping for, but he did post a respectable 8.0 sacks and showed good potential as a run stopper with 36/20 tackles. DT Russell Edwards (3/3) pairs with Gault to present a formidable line of scrimmage to opposing runners. Coach Singh believes that adding Gault on the edge complemented Edwards' game despite the drop in production from Edwards' rookie season (4/1 fewer tackles, 4 fewer sacks). DT Jason St. Amal (3/3) was a Free Agent surprise in 2001 and has taken the role of inside pass rusher. The team is counting on him to continue his steady 45/20 tackle, 4 sack type seasons. LB Henry Talton (2/2) stormed his way to Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2002 with a whopping 93/33 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Defense Secondary: CB Isaac Tunnell (2/2) was our 2nd rounder in 2002 and posted decent rookie numbers. The 6-2 corner will be expected to take the top receiver each week and has great potential to be a one on one cover man. S Wally Blades (3/3), the Defensive RoY in 2001, posted 76/23 and 80/17 tackles in his two seasons with the team. Another Free Agent acquisition, he has outplayed S Bennie Hutchins (3/3), who we drafted in 2001's 3rd round to be the anchor safety. We are offered trades for DE Gault, QB Hawes, and LB Talton, but refuse to trade any of them for obvious reasons. Again we enter Free Agency with zero RBs signed to the team. Although the local media is worried that we haven't shown any consistency in our running game nor any effort to try to solidify it, our coaching staff chooses to live and die by the pass. Kramer, last year's RB starter, does not seem to be worth pursuing - and the rest of our free agents were backups who saw little playing time. We decide not to resign any. The team will look for a solid short yardage running back during the draft to plug into the offense, as well as a decent pass blocking T project. This year's draft features several great linebackers and is deep at OT, so we'll see who falls to us. We receive offers for Herndon and Talton before the draft and decline. With the top overall pick in the draft, we drool over two can't-miss LBs and the next Randy Moss in WR Dennis McElroy. But, the prospect who we refuse to pass up is 6-3 22 pound RB Brock Jacquet out of Vandy. The man is simply astonishing, possessing power, speed, size, and durability. The pick baffles the local media and speculation abounds on what implications this has on the offense and if the team will stick to the Run and Shoot or switch to a more conventional ground based attack. The draft board clears quickly of top offensive talent, but at the 2(1) spot, there is still 6-4 LB Joel Sanderson from Ole Miss. A meancing enforcer, he may compete for a starting job. We choose Sanderson over J.C. Shapiro, who has better physical tools but tends to run out of gas quickly and showed poor effort finishing plays at our team workout. T prospects Ronnie Shaw, Billy Joe Norton and Darnell Blocker all look good, and we'll take whoever is around at 3(1). Shaw and Norton are picked up in the second round by other teams, so we go with Blocker (great name). Although disappointed we got a RT prospect instead of a LT protector, he will plug in nicely at RT and we'll start Forsyth again at LT. S Devin Spear out of Penn St. flat out wowed us at our team workout, but other teams had him low on their boards. We decide to gamble that the workout was no fluke and pick him up at 4(1). 6-0 WR Brandon Godfrey was another player who showed promise at private workouts and we give him the nod at 5(1) in hopes of bolstering Hawes' receiver corps. Rnd 1 - Brock Jacquet, RB, Vanderbilt Rnd 2 - Joel Sanderson, LB, Mississippi Rnd 3 - Darnell Blocker, T, Western Carolina Rnd 4 - Devin Spear, S, Penn State Rnd 5 - Brandon Godfrey, WR, Mississippi State Rnd 6 - Ethan Stokes, T, Panhandle State Rnd 7 - George Marrero, DT, Mississippi State Again, we turn down an offer for C Herndon. A few rookies who were cut to the pool look pretty good, and we sign CB Lance Labell to a four year deal and QB Al Schroeder to a three year deal. A few other undrafted rookies are given one year tryout deals for rookie camp. Postcamp we reject offers for CB Tunnell, C Herndon, and DE Gault. CB Labelle and S Spear turn out to be successes, but not as big of a jackpot as we thought we hit. Most of the other picks were solid, with no huge busts. T Davidson, DT Simmons, DT Coles, LB Lee, CB Winters, LB McDowall, and WR Sneed do not make the cut to 53. C Herndon is given a big contract extension and signs to a 8 million dollar 3 year deal. S Hutchins is resigned to a 3 year 1.94 million deal. Although few other contracts expire at the end of 2003, we see many contracts coming due in 2004. Backup C Mandarich will probably be renegotiated to a longer contract by the end of this season (his contract is 2003). On the plus side, Hawes looked looser in camp and seems to have recovered fully. The offense turned out to be very balanced, with all formations being mixed in except the Strong I. Although we will still emphasize single back and shotgun sets in passing situations, the run mix will be extremely diverse to try to exploit our top RB pick's talent. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-17-2000, 05:44 AM	#6
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	This is really the first season that looks like it'll be worth watching. The ridiculous cohesion ratings are gone and look much more normal (Very Goods instead of Fairs) and i've had three drafts to stock players with. Our first play from scrimmage vs. Atlanta in week 1: Single Back, WR to Slot Left. DET 12 Hawes pass completed to 80 Godfrey for 49 yards. The drive led to a TD strike from Hawes to Mansell. The defense came up with a huge stop after Atlanta was pinned inside their own 10 yard line midway thru the 4th by a punt. We take over in great field position, march it back for a field goal and go up by 10. They come back and tie it with 1:06 left on a 39 yard Elam FG, 27-27. Hawes scrambles for 11, hits Rodgers for 15 and hits Mansell for 23 but time expires. Atlanta gets the ball first in OT but the defense stuffs them after an outstanding return to midfield. Hawes hits Kinnahan for 20, hits Jacquet for 12, hits Kinnahan for 17, hits Godfrey for 8 and we take it on a 33 yard field goal in OT, 30-27. QB Hawes was unconscious, going 23-41-0 for 384 yards and 2 TDs. RB Jacquet was a marvelous 12 carries for 77 yards, 3 catches for 28 yards. 10 for 18 key run blocking as a team and zero turnovers made all the difference. Hawes to Mansell for a 78 yard bomb puts us up early on Tampa Bay in Week 2 despite numerous sacks. TBY offsides on fourth and 2 keeps another drive alive, culminating in a Jacquet 5 yard score. Multiple holding calls knock Tampa back inside their own ten after a nice punt. We get the ball back on the TBY 43. A defensive holding call and a 27 yard strike to Kinnahan puts us on the 1, but backup RB Smith fumbles on the dive play and TBY recovers. K Hall knocks in a 54 yard FG before halftime so we settle for a 14-3 lead. The defense played a stellar first half, giving up a paltry 4 first downs. The offense wasn't too shabby either, with 221 yards total offense (just one glaring mistake). Mid third quarter, Hawes is picked off at the 21, but the defense again - and Hall misses a 33 yard kick! We go backwards and punt, but the defense comes up with tackle for loss, sack, sack, and TBY has to punt it right back. We can't do anything though, and TBY RB Huntley rips off a 69 yard scamper. They score but fail on the 2 point conversion to bring it to 14-9 in the fourth quarter. We need a score but can't convert and punt it to their 16. The defense finally stiffens at our 36 and they punt! We're pinned at the 6 but Hawes digs us out. RB Smith atones for the fumble with two key 3rd down conversions and we get a field goal to go up 17-12. TBY needs a TD in 1:15 from their own 23 but burned all their time outs on defense. We drop to Dime and Nickel and they come up short. QB Hawes is The Man again on 25-38-1 passing for 298 yards and 1 TD. RB Brock Jacquet is looking like a Barry Sanders, with many negative yardage runs but big bursts for 11 or 23 yards a crack. Veteran LB Kirk Zimmerman is off to another great start and ranks second on the team in tackles (13 solo) and has 2.5 sacks. We are 2-0 and sit precariously alone atop the NFC Norris heading into our first big test: Chicago. We get the ball first, go three and out and then force Chicago three and out. Nobody does much offensively the entire first half and we play field position with punting and punt returns. Chicago RB Fred Taylor goes nuts late in the first and they score a TD. They get another TD in the second and add a third TD after a Hawes INT. A fourth TD is tacked on right before the half when Hawes tosses another INT. We are down 28-0 at the half and it looks grim. A Brunell to Warrick bomb in the third makes it 35-0 and their backup QB leads a TD drive to go up 42-0 still in the third. We end up getting smoked like a joint, 52-0. We go to St. Louis and lose 24-21 in OT despite four interceptions by Hawes. Jacquet had his first 100 yard rushing game, but in a losing effort. Hawes comes back with a strong performance in a win at home over Green Bay, but we lose LB Talton to a torn calf muscle for 2-3 months. The Week 6 loss to the Jets was particularly upsetting because Hawes played a good game and rookie S Devin Spear had a 67 yard INT return for TD. We punted the ball back with just 56 secopnds left, up by 4. They go 70 yards in three plays and steal the game. Unbelievable. We are now 3-3. Green Bay and Chicago are tied for the lead at 4-2 while Minnesota and Tampa are 1-5. The Ravens have the best record at 5-1 while lots of teams are 4-1. We lose to lowly Tampa Bay in Week 7 by a final of 31-13. One of the great mysteries is how TBY RB Richard Huntley manages to dominate us so bad every time he plays us. Hawes is resembling the second coming of Scott Mitchell, throwing for 350 yards one week and then 4 interceptions the next week. We host 1-5 Philadelphia in Week 8 and again interceptions and costly mistakes hand the win over to the visitors. We are 3-5 at the halfway point with Green Bay (5-3) and Chicago (4-4) ahead of us. Baltimore is still the class of the league at 7-1. We host Green Bay in Week 10 and really need a win to close the gap in the NFC Central standings. Tampa has pulled to 3-5 and we need to stay ahead. Dropping to 4-6 will make even a Wild Card spot difficult since three teams are at 5-3 and two are at 6-2. We lose 31-24 in a very sloppy game involving a combined 6 turnovers for the two teams. Our defense was unable to stop the Green Bay attack late in the second half after our #1 CB and rookie S Spears both went out with injuries. CB Tunnell's injury is fairly severe, and he is out until the playoffs (if we even qualify). At 6-3 Arizona, for the second week in a row we give up big plays like crazy on defense. Also, for the second week in a row we lose a key player to injury - Jacquet left the game in the first half and did not return. Luckily the injury was very minor, but he was kept out to be safe. All hopes of the playoffs are dashed as we plummet to 3-7 and share the NFC Central cellar with Minnesota. Even Minnesota manages to beat us 23-20 due to more Hawes iinterceptions. At this point, one has to wonder if the lack of Pro Bowl receivers is the problem, or pass protection breakdowns... of maybe it's Hawes. We lose close to Miami 24-22 in Week 11, but it is important to note that 14 of those points were on interception returns for Miami. Hawes finally plays an INT-free game in Week 14 against Chicago and we win 20-15. Even though his numbers were a modest 16-27-0 for just 150 yards and 2 TDs, i'd rather have that and the win than 350 yards and a loss. Hawes again posts similar numbers, plays clean, and we come away with a Week 15 win at New England 21-6. We go on a late season surge and beat Minnesota at home to enter Week 17 at 6-9 to face the 5-10 Bills. We take this game handily, 38-10 because injuries force Buffalo to start Scott Zolak at QB. We get an INT return for TD as well as a punt return for TD and roll to our best finish as a franchise to date: 7-9. Hawes' numbers are a wash: 313-557-24 for 3779 yards and 24 TDs. Jacquet: 191 att. for 834 yards and 7 TDs. Godfrey led all receivers: 64 catches for 941 yards and 5 TDs. Mansell was the go-to Red Zone guy: 56 catches for 791 yards and 10 TDs. Rookie LB Joel Sanderson led the team in tackles with 86/29 and 0.5 sacks. DE Russell Edwards had a breakout year with 52/11 tackles and 11.0 sacks. DT Brandon Gault had a great year too, with 45/16 tackles and 9.0 sacks. S Wally Blades had his 71/23 tackle 3 INT year, consistent as always. Oakland (10-6) vs. Baltimore (15-1) Cincinnati (11-5) Pittsburgh (9-7) Denver (12-4) vs. Indianapolis (13-3) San Francisco (9-7) vs. Arizona (12-4) Dallas (9-7) St. Louis (9-7) Tampa Bay (9-7) vs. Carolina (10-6) Arizona def. Carolina for NFC Title Baltimore def. Indianapolis for AFC Title Super Bowl: Baltimore 48, Arizona 20 RB Brock Jacquet receives Offensive Rookie of the Year DE Russell Edwards receives 1st Team All Pro __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-19-2000, 03:59 AM	#7
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	2004 Offseason Coach Singh and Scout Cowell are in the middle of their contracts and the team is still set for two more seasons. The franchise has confidence in the current arrangement and does not seek new staff. At the start of free agency, offers from other teams to trade for LB Talton and FB Foley are turned down. C Mandarich's demands are too much for us and we regret to see him walk. The team is unable to acquire the services of a decent kicker in free agency and will certainly draft one this year. All three backups to RB Jacquet are not resigned, as are a backup tackle and defensive tackle. Positions to fill in free agency: 1. K 2. Backup C 3. Backup DT The front office decides to extend about half the contracts coming due at the end of the 2004 season. Negotiation is finalized on all of these deals before the draft: TE Conway (3 year deal), G Stauffer (3 years), G Holmes (3 years), G McGregor (3 years), T Sutter (3 years), DT Edwards (4 years), DT St. Amal (4 years), CB Tunnell (4 years), LB Talton (4 years), FB Foley (3 years), WR Kinnahan (4 years), DT Marrero (3 years), G Power (3 years), WR Rodgers (3 years). We receive a trade offer for T Blocker, but do not accept. This year we have the 11th draft slot and get Manchester's first round pick: 1(20). There is an outstanding crop of defensive and offensive linemen, but very few offensive skill position players of note except a trio of quarterbacks, 2 WRs and a pair of running backs. This draft is unusually strong at the CB position and we may go with depth in the secondary if nothing better is available. The top 10 picks are a run on defensive linemen. 6 of the top 10 are spent on either DT or DE prospects, with the balance in 2 T, a RB and a QB. At pick 11, we have several options - WR Neal Davison out of Illinois looks to be a sure fire deep threat. 6-1 S Lincoln Carlson is a complete package while 6-3 LB Andy Maloney shows huge pass rush capabilities. Due to the relative shallow offensive depth, we go with Davidson and think we can grab Carlson at 20. A slew of running backs and offensive linemen are drafted between 1 and 20, so we take Carlson. The run on linebackers and cornerbacks hits in the later half of the first round, so we pluck DE J.B. Hines from TCU. In the mid rounds, we have our eye on a QB, a CB, and K Cotton. With the 3(10) pick we take our K Clay Cotton from Virginia. Other teams continue to pick from the rich defensive line and offensive line talent, but a second run on CBs in round 3 tells us we made a mistake in putting off the CB pick - sowe lock in at 4(10) with CB Kim Cash. Cash will likely be the fourth CB in the rotation. 5(10) pick RB Smetana is a 3rd down type with good soft hands. Rnd 1 - Neal Davison, WR, Illinois Rnd 1 - Lincoln Carlson, S, New Mexico Rnd 2 - J.B. Hines, DE, Texas Christian Rnd 3 - Clay Cotton, K, Virginia Rnd 4 - Kim Cash, CB, Iowa Rnd 5 - Leon Smetana, RB, Iowa Rnd 6 - Dale Blades, QB, Pittsburgh Rnd 7 - Will Sawyer, TE, UCLA After resigning DT Downs (3 years) and picking up a free agent C for 4 years, Coach Singh reviews the roster and makes some suggestions. S Hutchins, who has been a profound disappointment, is finally cut from the team. 4th string QB Marshall Levenson is cut to make room for our new rookie QB on the depth chart. DE Arnie Poffenroth is also cut from the team amidst his complaints for playing time. We hope Rookie DE Hines will step into his spot immediately. A pair or rookie RBs fill out the roster and we head into training camp. Trade offers for C Herndon and S Carlson are declined. 6th rounder Blades is a huge disappointment, as are most of our free agent rookie signees. Most of the other rookies should be either starting (Davison, Carlson, Hines, Cotton) or seeing significant backup action. DT Russell Edwards goes down for 2-3 months with a torn thumb ligament in Week 1, a devastating loss for the front line. By the end of preseason, Detroit is a respectable 2-2 and Edwards seems to be recovering quickly. Hopefully he will be back by Week 5 - we have no other significant injuries. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-19-2000, 03:59 AM	#8
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	After a dreadful offensive first quarter, we get on track against Cleveland in Week 1 and win 27-23. Brock Jacquet was huge on the ground (18 carries for 117 yards, 6.5 avg and 1 TD) and Hawes was decent (20-39-1 for 225 and 2 TD). Ironically, the one INT was by a rookie CB Yonkers, who we wanted to draft in the 5th round but Cleveland grabbed him in the run on corners late in the draft. The defense played huge, registering 6 sacks (On CLE QB Charlie Batch). From goat to hero, Hawes was responsible for 4 turnovers (2 fumbles, 2 picks) that led directly to all of Tampa's 20 points in week 2... but he redeemed himself at the end by hitting two long passes to set up the game winning field goal. On a positive note, we finally solve the Huntley problem and limit him to just 66 yards on 20 carries. WR Davison gets shoulder tendonitis and is placed on inactive status to heal. Meanwhile, DT Edwards continues his miracle recovery and should be ready very soon. We edge Chicago at home 13-9, but FB Foley is injured on the last play of the game and is 3-5 weeks with a hip pointer. Detroit sits atop the NFC Central at 3-0, but we visit second place 2-1 Minnesota in Week 4. An interception return for touchdown kept the Vikings in the game and time ran out as we drove for the winning field goal. Riding momentum on offense into overtime, we got the ball first, drove down, and Hawes again pulled off late heroics to redeem himself with a TD pass to the backup fullback. Edwards comes back for week 5 and it is very timely - DE Gault went down with a sprained back against the Bears and will be out for quite some time. First rounder Davison is still out and his status has not improved. Veteran Mansell continues to start in his place opposite Godfrey with Kinnahan as the #3. 3-1 Atlanta comes calling in Week 5, and things look bad when Hawes leaves the game midway thru the first quarter. Backup QB Summerlin was ineffective for the whole game and we get trashed 23-10. Hawes has a bruised sternum and will sit against the injury plagued 1-4 Niners to avoid making it worse. The defense plays great, but an inept offense turns the ball over in sure scoring plays. So not only do we come away with no points, but the defense is forced back out onto the field. Summerlin is terrible again. Luckily we have a bye week and Hawes can recover some more. We are now 4-2 and watching our lead in the NFC Central disappear. Week 8 against Green Bay, Jacquet opens with an 84 yard TD run, but the Pack comes back to tie it. Big plays abound, including a fumble return for touchdown on a kickoff, but really spectacular defensive play and Brock Jacquet are the difference. Late in the game up by just 7, the defense held near midfield and GBY missed a field goal. On the next drive, the defense held again at midfield and prevented a fourth down conversion. We move to 5-2 with Tampa and Chicago close behind at 4-3. Terrible pass protection (6 sacks allowed) and turnovers (1 fumble ret. for TD and 2 INTs) deprive a deserving defense of the win at Adelphia Coliseum. At Lambeau, our offense looks pitiful and we get shut out despite another respectable defensive game. Now 5-4, Chicago has caught up and we desperately need to beat Tampa at home in Week 11 to stay in the NFC Central title hunt. Lion Killer Richard Huntley is injured and leaves the game at the end of the first quarter, but at that point we are up 14-0 on two huge INT returns for touchdowns (71 and 61 yards!) by our rookie S Spears. A third Zeier INT is returned by veteran CB Bradford for a TD in the third quarter to extend our lead to 34-10 at that point. Our punting game comes up huge, pinning TBY inside their own 10 several times. We pick up a huge win but lose DT Edwards until the playoffs. This has been a terrible year for our defensive line injury-wise. DT St. Amal will have to take the leadership in the middle and try to keep us in the playoff race until Edwards can return. Scant consolation is that we also get DE Gault back at full strength - he should help bolster the line until Edwards heals. For the second week in a row, S Spears has a 2 INT performance, keying a 20-12 home stand against hapless (2-8 now 2-9) Minnesota. Hawes had some good scrambles and a 15 yard draw, but he's holding the thing like a loaf of bread. On two separate sacks, Hawes fumbled the ball extremely deep in our own side of the field, leading to 9 of the Vikings' points (they failed a 2-point conversion). Tampa Bay edges Chicago to give us sole possession of first place in the Central. The NFC is oddly balanced, with 5 teams at 7-4 (none better than this) but in the AFC Central, Pittsburgh and Jacksonville are 9-2! Just in the Central! We face JAX in Week 12. Jacquet is now third in the league in rushing (8 yards behind NOS Edgerrin James) with 888 yards. SDO Eddie George leads with with exactly 1000 yards in 11 games. Hawes is sacked three straight downs and we give it to them at our own 40 after a short punt, but the defense holds. We get it back and Jacquet rips off a 75 yard score around LT. The defense plays great and has a few sacks - CB Bradford intercepts Beuerlein in the second quarter even. S Carlson forces a fumble and CB Labelle recovers at the JAX 33 on the Jags' next possession. We get TDs off both turnovers and Jacksonville goes one-dimensional. The defense comes up with another huge fumble recovery to stop Jacksonville's last drive of the half on our side of the field. At the half, Jacquet has like 150 yards rushing, 1 TD reception and 2 TDs rushing - at the half. We are up 24-0 and in the driver's seat to start the third quarter, but overconfidence brings us down. We fumble on our first offensive play from scrimmage and JAX takes it in for a TD and 2 point conversion. Hawes comes back pissed and nails a 21 yard pass and then a 46 yard strike to Godfrey for a quick TD after the kickoff. Beuerlein, not to be outdone, lofts an 84 yard bomb on the next offensive play to make it 31-14. Both teams go back to the ground game and Bradford picks off Beuerlein again, returning it 51 yards to their 22. We get a FG out of it and Beuerlein is picked off by S Carlson. We get another FG and shift to aggressive dime, up 37-14 with 9 minutes left. JAX goes one dimensional and we run the clock. Jacquet ends up with 170 yards on 28 carries and 4 catches for 33 yards - 4 TDs and over 200 all purpose yards! Unfortunately, James and a monster day as well, and Jacquet is tied with George in second with 1058 yards. We travel to 7-4 Baltimore in Week 12, we go down 20-0 at the half and have just 14 net yards of total offense in 30 minutes of football. Inexplicably, the offense comes to life and we roar back to 26-21 with 5 minutes to play. Interceptions kill the momentum and we lose the game. DE Hines gets a broken hand and our defensive line injuries continue to devastate our defense. We face 6-7 Chicago in Week 13 and can lock up the division title with a win. We start the CHI game with a Hawes INT, but block the FG attempt and drive for a FG of our own. CHI QB Scales drops a 55 yard bomb on us minutes later to put tehm up 7-3. We miss a FG but get it back and drive for a TD, 10-7. Hawes seems to have gotten his confidence back after the initial pick. CB Bradford comes up huge after the kickoff and picks off Scales for a 20 yard INT TD return. Our offense stalls in the second half though, and CHI takes the game with a scoring binge, 34-17. Punt returner CB Burgo breaks his arm and is gone for the rest of the year. Hawes is picked off early and often against the Eagles until he gets knocked out of the game. Our rushing game and a 2 Bradford INTs power a 24-7 lead at the half. In the second half, DE Gault recovers a fumble in PHI territory, but we can't capitalize. Summerlin plays decently, but Jacquet and Foley take over for us. Jacquet finishes with 165 yards on 29 attempts and 2 TD - he gets Offensive Player of the Week honors. We go to 9-6 and have clinched the division crown since we split with Chicago but have a better division record than them. We rest some injured starters against 5-9-1 Washington in the finale and win a 10-7 defensive battle. With the win, we actually lock up a first round bye in the playoffs. It will give us some more time to heal, and things look grim regarding Edwards. He won't be at full strength until next year. Giving Hawes Week 17 off seems to have done him good and he is at full strength going into the postseason. Jacquet finishes third in the NFL in rushing: Name Tm GP GS Att Yards Avg Lg TD **Jacquet, Brock DET 16 16 307 1326 4.3 84 11 S Devin Spear looks like he'll be up for DefRoY: 82/27 Tackles, 1.0 Sacks, 5 INT (2 TD) and 9 pass defenses. S Lincoln Carlson wasn't so shabby either: 72/23 Tackles, 4 INT, 3 pass defenses. G Britt Stauffer was an awesome 32 of 80 (40.0%) on run blocking and gave up just 4 sacks all season in 16 starts. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-15-2000, 05:34 PM	#2
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	Week 1 is a monster performance by the defense. To open the game, the Packer offense yielded three sacks, a pressure, and three interceptions by the early second quarter. The Lions scored 20 points off the three early interceptions and a blocked punt in th first half to take a good lead 23-3 into halftime. The Pack tried to come back behind Kitna and Emmitt, but it wasn't enough as they got stopped on 4 straight downs with one minute in the game. Losses to Jacksonville, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia all seem to share on common thread: our inability to stop the run. Each week, a different back is pounding us for a solid 150 yard performance. Hawes continues to throw interceptions, although the coaches suspect that part of the fault lies with the sad pass protection. Hawes is being sacked several times a game and his receivers are dropping too many passes. Our franchise QB needs help. Interceptions break the back of the team in blowout losses to Chicago, Minnesota, New Orleans, Cleveland. We lose T Tumulty, DE Elizondo, and CB Dattilo to season ending injuries in this span. We are now 1-7 and in the driver's seat for the #1 overall pick next season. In Week 10, we have a shot at Dallas, down 14-12 in the later parts of the game, but once again Hawes ends a comeback with a critical interception with 1:35 left to play. Dallas runs the clock out on us and we drop to 1-8. Another player, LB Ed McDowall, is lost for the season with a torn bicep muscle. Hawes leads three solid first half drives against Cincinnati in week 11, but we only come up with 6 points. A Hawes to Mansell 74 yard bomb puts us on top at the start of the third quarter 14-0 after a 2 point conversion. Burger Boy makes it 14-7 on a big run, but a 51 yard kick return puts Hawes in good position to do some damage. Penalties kill the drive and the lead is only extended to 17-7. Despite giving up a fumble near midfield, Cincy's defense holds. Pinned at their own 3, the Bengals march 97 yards for a score to put the onus on the Lion offense. A long drive chews up enough clock to make Cincinnati desperate. When they get the ball back, CB Hanks comes up with a huge interception and we run out the clock. Hawes went 28-43-0 for 375 yards and a TD. Detroit is now 2-8. Against Tampa, fumbled kickoffs and multiple bombs by Eric Zeier (of all the QBs in the league...) sink us. At least Hawes isn't throwing too many interceptions anymore. The only problem is that we still can't stop the run, and the sacks are way too frequent. It's amazing Hawes is still healthy at this point in the season. Against Minnesota in Week 12, we get some of the breaks that have been going against us during the season. An interception sets up a quick score and a fumble on the kickoff return sets up another score. It snowballs quickly and we get a satisfying payback blowout 31-6 (they punked us 30-3 at MN). The franchise gets a scare when Hawes gets hurt in a loss to St. Louis but it turns out to be a minor injury. Somehow the Rams shut us out (we miss lots of field goals) and the Packers roll us on the ground, as does Tampa. Detroit closes out the 2001 campaign at 3-13 with a disastrous 42-3 loss to Chicago in which the Bears roll up over 500 yards of total offense. Wildcard Semifinals SFO (9-7) CHI (11-5) vs. NYG (11-5) DAL (10-6) vs. STL (12-4) TBY (11-5) DEN (10-6) IND (10-6) vs. BAL (11-5) JAX (9-7) MIA (10-6) vs. SEA (11-5) IND def. SEA for AFC Title STL def. NYG for NFC Title Super Bowl: STL 31, SEA 20 DET S Wally Blades is DefRoY Everyone else sucked. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-15-2000, 05:36 PM	#3
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	A word to the wise... I made major mistakes when doing the Quiksand Challenge setup... don't just sign rookies to one year deals... heh. My cohesion sucked it big time this second year. Of course everyone getting hurt didn't help... ----- 2002 Offseason Ford Field finishes construction and we move our "team" into its new home. It is clear that we need to address three critical areas during the draft: 1. Pass Protection - We gave up 55 sacks last season. 2. Run Defenders - League worst 161.7 ypg and 5.0 ypc (Yow!). 3. Shutdown Corner - Several teams burned us for repeated long passes. The Manchester Wolves enter the league this season and we must expose players to the expansion draft. Luckily, none of our players are taken except backup RB Fling (who Manchester decides not to sign anyway). With only 6 players on contract, we have LOTS of resigning to do. The majority of the offensive line is resigned, as is DT Jason St. Amal, who had a solid year. After letting some of the rest sweat it out a bit, we resign about two thirds of the roster including the leading receivers from last season (WR Mansell was a 1000 yd receiver and TE Lefebvre is a promising pass catching/run blocking tight end) and the defensive Rookie of the Year S Wally Blades, who apparently nobody was interested in. The major holes in the roster are at DE (0 signed), RB (0 signed), CB (0 signed), and WR (2 signed). Coach Singh has expressed interest in a pair of very talented cornerbacks in the draft. We trade the 1(2) pick in the draft to the expansion Wolves for their 2(1) pick this year and their first round pick next year. After adding this year's 6(2) pick, and they agree. Not too many corners are drafted in round 1, and we use the Manchester pick to grab the huge 6-2 Artie Tunnell from Oregon. Filling the DE hole in the line will be Brandon Gault from Utah, a great run stopper who should help out immediately. 6-3 LB Henry Talton out of Cal will likely earn a starting job in camp if early indications of his coverage instincts are correct. There are gobs of solid wide receiver prospects still on the board, and the team ponders taking a pair in rounds 5 and 7. Sparkplug FB Harry Foley looks to be a steal at 4(2). Rnd 2 - Brandon Gault, DE, Utah Rnd 2 - Isaac Tunnell, CB, Oregon Rnd 3 - Henry Talton, LB, California Rnd 4 - Harry Foley, FB, California Rnd 5 - Cris Kinnahan, WR, Notre Dame Rnd 7 - Tyrus Diligencia, WR, Monmouth, NJ Arch-nemesis Green Bay offers a vet LB and a first round pick for DT Edwards, but we decline instantly. We get trades for Edwards, Gault, and Talton after camp and decline them all out of hand. Wow, talk about draft bust - the 1(3) pick, a RB named Kenyon Kennedy, was cut and is floating around in the free agent pool after camp with very average looking numbers... demanding an 8 million dollar bonus on a one year deal. Gault, Tunnell, Talton, Foley, and Kinnahan all look like surefire winners after training camp and will most definitely start. Diligencia may develop into a legitimate deep threat with time. Free Agent acquisition T Christian Forsyth will be the new LT. C Herndon and Guards Stauffer and Holmes have shown tremendous improvement over last season. Hopefully this bodes well for the pass protection this year. Preseason is devastating, as Hawes goes down in week 5 of preseason with broken ribs. He will not be back until November. In the meantime, last year's backup QB Summerlin will try to hold the team together. The LB corps is shattered, with two backups out for 2-3 months and two starters (Zimmerman and Talton) hobbling on minor injuries. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-19-2000, 04:00 AM	#9
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	2004 Postseason Wild Card Round: ---------------- Atlanta (9-7) 6, Arizona (10-6) 65 ARI QB Gus Frerotte 13 of 17 for 241 yards and 5 TDs ARI WR Dave Linquist 9 catches for 119 yards and 4 TDs New Orleans (10-6) 3, Carolina (10-6) 31 CAR CB David Freed 2/1 Tackles, 3 INTs Baltimore (10-6) 3, Seattle (11-5) 38 SEA QB Malcolm Mitchell 15 of 22 for 239 yards and 2 TDs Denver (10-6) 29, Jacksonville (12-4) 26 DEN QB Rob Johnson 23 of 35 for 247 yards and 3 TDs Semifinals: ----------- Arizona (10-6) Detroit (10-6) Carolina (10-6) St. Louis (10-6) Denver (10-6) Pittsburgh (14-2) Seattle (11-5) Indianapolis (11-5) We face the monster Cardinals that annihilated the Falcons on Wild Card Saturday. They play a 3-4 Bump defense and an aggressive short passing game similar to ours. Category ARI DET --------------------- Rush Off 3rd 6th Pass Off 16th 29th Rush Def 7th 22nd Pass Def 15th 7th TO Margin -5 -3 3rd Dwn .330 .322 Key Serious Injuries (* = starter): DET - None ARI - DT* Jasper (Out), G* Coleman (Out), T* Brown (Doubt), WR Magnone (Out), DE* Gill (Quest), G Devine (Out) The Cardinals have only one healthy OG! Unfortunately the rest of their line looks really solid and we may still have trouble rushing the passer. Their starting QB Meier was the 1(31) pick, and threw 21 TDs but 21 picks this year... 3000 yards. WR Linquist, who torched Atlanta, is just one of two big play guys at wideout. WR Hugh Stevenson is a 6-3 bad boy who is dangerous. Their entire secondary looks fantastic, so the front seven will likely be where we have to attack. First Quarter: -------------- We get the opening kickoff at our 24 but go 3 and out and punt to their 25. DE Edwards sacks their rookie QB and C Kreutz leaves the game. They can't get back the yardage and get a ridiculous 61 yard punt. We set up shop on our own 11 after a pitiful -1 return. Jacquet continues to get stuffed and we punt to the DET 40. DT Marrero sacks Meier for the second time in the quarter for a 6 yard loss, but backup DE Crawford comes up lame. Meier completes two huge passes and runs a draw to our 5, but a penalty pushes them back to 2nd and 15 from the DET 15. The defense comes up with a huge stop on third and 16 after a -1 run play to force a decision. They go for it on 4th and 9 and WR Linquist is tackled 3 yards shy of the goal line! We take over on downs at our own 3 yard line with 5:26 in the quarter. Jacquet gets back on track and we convert three first downs - two on huge 18 and 23 yard rushes by Jacquet. A 13 yard Hawes to Kinnahan pass puts us on the ARI 33 to end the quarter. Second Quarter: --------------- Hawes hits Godfrey with a short pass and the rookie turns it into a 19 yard pickup. Hawes then hits Godfrey again, and the wideout turns another short pass into a nice pickup - this time for 8 yards. Running off RT, Jacquet is cleared for a 6 yard score by C Joel Herndon's key block. K Cotton tacks on the point after and we take a 7-0 lead at the 13:43 mark. Following the touchback, Meier strikes twice, but is sacked by DE Crawford and DE Bronson for a 6 yard loss. Crawford, playing with pain, gets our squad fired up with the big play. The punt rolls to a stop at our 18, where we take over on offense with 11:31 left in the half. Jacquet rips off a good 24 yard run behind Stauffer on 2nd and 8 and we're back in business near midfield. Hawes connects with Kinnahan for 12 on 2nd and 10 to penetrate ARI territory and then hits his TE Conway in double coverage for 8 more. Unfortunately, Jacquet slips and loses yardage on two runs and we face 3rd and 16 on the 38. They stop us and we punt - touchback with 7:04 showing. Edwards comes up with a huge sack on 3rd and 5 and our defense slaps them with another three and out series. Their punter shanks it and we get outstanding field position at our own 46 with 4:45 left. We go backwards 8 yards and punt back to their 15. This time backup OLB Lyles comes up with the huge sack on 3rd and 10 and PR Rodgers takes the fair catch at our 28. We run the clock and take a 7-0 lead into the locker room. Third Quarter: -------------- KR Linquist makes a bad decision and brings it out from 9 yards deep. The coverage team smothers him at the ARI 13. DE Bronson nails Meier for a 7 yard sack and we have them pinned at the 6. They can't convert and we get it at the ARI 49. We can't move the ball though, and punt a touchback. The Cardinals come out and shock our defense, going 80 yards mostly on Meier's arm for the touchdown. ARI 7, DET 7 (4:54). KR Rodgers gives us a gem and runs the kick back 70 yards down to the ARI 39. Hawes converts a crucial 3rd and 13 with a 14 yard pass to Davison and splits the Arizona zone again for 25 yards to Davison. On 1st and Goal from the 3, Hawes goes to the well again and finds Davison in the back of the end zone. DET 14, ARI 7 (3:00). They hold on the return and the zebras mark it all the way back to the 3 yard line. They bust out of the hole with a long run, but then the defense stiffens and we stuff their backs for three straight to end the quarter. Fourth Quarter: --------------- We are in good shape and get the ball back at our own 35 to start the final period in regulation. A holding call on 2nd and 3 kills the drive but we pin them on the punt at the ARI 5. Bronson comes up with his third sack of the day and they face 3rd and 13 on the 2. Bronson stuffs RB Mullens for a loss of 1 and they must punt from the shadow of their own goal post. PR Rodgers fair catches at the ARI 33 and we are almost starting this drive in field goal range. Hawes goes to Davison for 9 and 13, setting up Brock Jacquet around left end for an 11 yard score. Again, C Herndon paves the way for our feature runner. DET 21, ARI 7 (8:57). Following the touchback, Meier nails us with a 47 yard bomb to WR Byrd, and Edwards is injured on the next play. meir goes to the air for 30 more and they threaten on our 1 yard line. The defense can't hold and they punch it in - DET 21, ARI 14 (6:49). We fumble the kickoff but manage to recover at our own 18. The job of the offense now will be to try and milk the clock and maybe get some insurance points. Hawes makes key completions to get us to midfield and Arizona burns their first timeout at the 2:16 mark. Hawes hits Jacquet for 9 on 3rd and 6 to keep the drive alive - Arizona burns their second TO. Thinking we're going to the ground, they set up in bump coverage and Hawes finds Davison yet again for 22 yards before the two minute warning. We have the ball 1st and 10 from the 16 after the TV commercials and Hawes finds Davison for 14 more yards. The Cardinals burn their final time out. We run the clock and kick a field goal as time expires - DET 24, ARI 14. Wow! Our first postseason win! In other action, SEA QB Malcolm Mitchell threw for 400+ yards and 4 TDs in a losing effort as the Colts beat the Seahawks 38-35. Pittsburgh downed the Broncos to get a spot in the AFC title game against Indy. We will face St. Louis, who beat the Panthers. We paid the price to get into the NFC Title game though, as Edwards' ribs are too badly injured to play and DE Mo Crawford is doubtful. Thankfully, the rest of the team is healthy and we go into the big show with a relatively whole roster. St. Louis has a dominant offensive line and likes to pound the ball often. They play a 4-3 Bump and Blitz defense that we should be able to attack on the ground. The key to this game will be who can get their rushing game going, since their secondary is excellent but their front 7 is suspect. Their runner, 3rd year man Lionel Lane, is almost a carbon copy of Brock Jacquet. 6-2 214 pounds and outstanding in all facets of his running. He is also a great pass catcher out of the backfield. Their threats on the outside are WR Marcus Robinson and WR Kevin Johnson, both solid receivers. Triggerman Moses Moreno isn't flashy, but is solid across the board. Key injuries (* = starter): DET: DT* Edwards (Out), DE Crawford (Dbt) STL: G* Schlereth (Dbt), LB* Richardson (Qst), CB* Westbrook (Out), S* Bronson (Dbt), DT* Dronett (Out) Category STL DET --------------------- Rush Off 24th 6th Pass Off 14th 29th Rush Def 20th 22nd Pass Def 17th 7th TO Margin +6 -3 3rd Dwn .374 .322 First Quarter: -------------- They win the toss and elect to receive. The kick is returned to the 35 and reserve LB Lyles sacks Moreno on 2nd and 13. They can't convert and punt it to our 32. Hawes makes some big passes to Jacquet and Davison but the drive stalls at the STL 28. Conway gets hurt on the FG kick. DET 3, STL 0 (7:13) They get the ball at their own 34, and they drive into DET territory. Moreno works his two wideouts, but maybe one time too many when CB Tunnell comes up with the ball at the 1 and runs back the pick to our 7. Davison is injured on a Jacquet run, but we manage to get some breathing room and a first down. Hopefully Davison's injury isn't bad. We manage to get to the 43 and will have it 2nd and 6 when the second quarter begins. Second Quarter: --------------- Hawes makes spectacular third down completions for 9 and 15 yards to get us inside the STL 40. Hawes takes a sack and Jacquet is stuffed, but Hawes makes another fine third down conversion with a 17 yard pass to Kinnahan and then gets 17 more to Rodgers on the next play. Jacquet runs for 5 and on 2nd and goal Hawes finds Rodgers for the TD. DET 10, STL 0 (9:51) Finally kick coverage is decent and STL starts on their 21. We force a punt, but Lyles is injured during the series. We get the ball back at our 29 with 7:16 in the half. Hawes takes a mean 11 yard sack at midfield, but erases that loss and a 5 yard delay of game penalty with two big passes to get us a first down at the STL 45. Hawes makes back a -5 Jacquet loss and converts again with an 8 and 9 yard pair of passes. Finally Jacquet breaks a 20 yarder off and we have the STL defense reeling on their heels. Hawes throws his second TD of the day to Rodgers and we pad our lead before halftime. DET 17, STL 0 (1:46) Backup Safety intercepts Moreno on third down after the touchback and we have a shot at a FG with 22 seconds and the ball on the STL 26. They jump and give us 5 free yards. Foley plows for 5 and Jacquet takes it down to the 3 for a chip shot. DET 20, STL 0 (Half). Third Quarter: -------------- We get the opening kick at the 23 and dodge a bullet when Hawes recovers his own fumble on a sack. Unable to move the chains, we punt to the STL 38. Moreno is sacked by backup LB Croteau on the blitz and DE Bronson rumbles with the ball all the way down to the STL 12. The Rams stuff the run and we come away with 3 points. DET 23, STL 0 (11:23) They hold on the kickoff return and get spotted at the STL 5. Although pinned back deep, Moreno steps up and fires off a 43 yard strike to Kevin Johnson. The Rams coaches get greedy though, and call for another long ball which is intercepted by CB Bradford in the end zone. Jacquet breaks off some good runs after being stuffed initially and Hawes hits Kinnahan for 34 to put the ball at the STL 10. RB Jacquet is getting met at the line almost every time and we settle for another field goal. Unfortunately, WR Rodgers is hurt on 3rd and Goal. DET 26, STL 0 (4:27) They take the kick back to the STL 23 and take a sack, but Moreno again burns us with a 53 yard pass. An Unnecessary Roughness penalty pushes the Rams back to the DET 44 and sets up 2nd and 25 but Moreno finds Johnson for 28 yards to convert. 2 plays later, Moreno beats our 3 Deep Dime and floats one in to Robinson for the score. DET 26, STL 7 (2:02) We take the kick to the 17 and make it to the 33 before the quarter ends. Fourth Quarter: --------------- Jacquet gets hit for a loss and a holding penalty drives the line of scrimmage all the way back to the DET 23. Foley is caught in the backfield and loses 2 more yards. We fail on 3rd and 23 and PR Johnson takes a fair catch at the STL 34. Moreno makes some huge throws and they score on a 1 yard plunge but fail the two point conversion. DET 26, STL 13. Their kick coverage is great and Rodgers is stopped after only a 10 yard return to the DET 17. We make a first down but fail to pick up the second one and have to punt. P Trask puts it in the end zone and the Rams will have it at the STL 20 with 7:24. Moreno continues his hot streak with a 21 yard pass to Johnson, but backup LB Lyles comes back and sacks him on the next play. St. Louis is running out of time and has gone to a strictly passing offense. We hold and the punt is downed at our 22. Hawes is sacked for 7 on a run blitz, but we make it back on a 16 yard pass to TE Sawyer and Jacquet rams it off LG for the 17th yard. The clock keeps rolling, but Hawes is sacked again for 7. The rams drop into a 4 deep Nickel, but backup RB Smetana sneaks into a gap and turns a 9 yard catch into a 17 yard gain and a first down. ST. Loius begins burning their timeouts, but we move the sticks and retain possession when the two minute warning hits. Hawes finds Kinnahan for 23 and Godfrey takes the reverse 10 yards down to the STL 9. With no TO remaining, the Rams are helpless as Hawes takes the knee and we advance to the Super Bowl. WR Davison is okay, but TE Conway is Doubtful and will be used very sparingly. It looks like backup TE Sawyer will get the nod against Pitsburgh, who just beat the Colts 28-20 for the AFC crown. The Steelers went 14-2 on the strength of the best run defense in the league and QB Peyton Manning's arm. They will be without their leading INT man, S Kim Herring, who is out with an injury - weakening an already suspect pass defense. If we win, our pass rush needs to harrass Manning and Hawes must be on fire. The Steelers do not have extremely dangerous skill position players at receiver or in the backfield, but Manning makes everyone around him better. The Pittsburgh defensive front 7 is easily the best in football, but the defense is a sorry bunch except for venerable 13 year veteran S Darren Woodson. Pittsburgh plays a pass happy offense to exploit Manning's gun and a 4-3 Zone Blitz scheme. Various media outlets predict a low scoring affair since each team is particularly good against the opponent's primary attack. The Steelers, however, are the clear favorites after posting the best regular season record at 14-2. Category PIT DET --------------------- Rush Off 15th 6th Pass Off 4th 29th Rush Def 1st 22nd Pass Def 27th 7th TO Margin +2 -3 3rd Dwn .393 .322 Key Injuries (* = starter): DET: TE* Conway (Dbt), DE Crawford (Qst), DT* Edwards (Out) PIT: S* Herring (Out), WR Wolfe (Out) First Quarter: -------------- The rain has come out and will likely be a factor in the running game. K Cotton boots it into the endzone and the Steelers get the first crack at it from their own 20. Anderson scorches us with a 64 yard TD off left tackle. Our defense is left shaking their heads and the Steelers take a very early advantage. PIT 7, DET 0 (14:14) Kinnahan retuns the kick out to the 30 and PIT DT Ellis is injured on the first play. Foley tests the left side but is stopped for one yard. An incompletion later, we are forced to punt. Trask shanks it and they get great field position on a fair catch at the PIT 45. This time it's Manning who burns us with two completions for another quick score. PIT 14, DET 0 (12:23) The troops are demoralized, but it's still early in the game and anything can happen. We get the ball at our own 21 but can't get into Steeler territory. The punt coverage is awesome and PR Pritchett is knocked back 6 yards to the PIT 12. Manning is awesome on the drive, but we stuff Jamal and hold near midfield. Kinnahan is hit immediately after fielding the punt and we take over at the DET 9. Hawes completes 6 straight passes, scrambles for 6 and Jacquet runs for 11 more to put us on the PIT 24 at the end of the quarter. Second Quarter: --------------- They stop us on three passes and we kick a 41 yard field goal. PIT 14, DET 3 (14:36) We force a three and out following the kickoff, but P Baldridge booms a 63 yard beauty. We take over on our own 13 and Hawes immediately goes back to work on their secondary. Hawes is sacked on third down at the PIT 35, pushing us out of Cotton's comfort range. He misses the 52 yarder wide right. Manning to Crowell kills us on this drive and PIT takes a big lead. PIT 21, DET 3 (5:14) A poor return and a tackle for loss gives us 2nd and 15 from the DET 6. We are stopped and punt to the PIT 41. Manning runs the 2 minute drill well, but the Steelers come up empty on a missed chip shot to end the half. Third Quarter: -------------- Pittsburgh is clearly dominating us in total yardage and on the scoreboard - we need to score some points early in the third quarter to get back in the ballgame. We end up going three and out and punt to the PIT 27. Penalties drive them back to their own 16 and we hold on 3rd and 21. The punt is fair caught at the 34. Jacquet is caught in the backfield twice, but Hawes throws a line to Kinnahan for the first down. Again the PIT front line stuffs Jacquet two in a row and Hawes bails us out with a 17 yard pass to Davison. The Steeler run defense is astonishingly good, but the pass defense is equally bad and Hawes again covers negative yardage rushing plays with a 31 yard toss to Davison. The drive ends when Hawes is picked off by Woodson in the end zone. What's worse, Davison is hurt at the end of the drive. But our defense restores some life when S Spears returns an interception for a touchdown on the first play after the touchback. We fail the 2 point conversion but pull the game to a manageable 2 score deficit. PIT 21, DET 9 (5:11) Our defense comes out on fire and forces a three and out following the kickoff. Baldridge again booms a long one 60 yards and pins us on the DET 6. Jacquet finally breaks one! A 45 yarder off right tackle, puts us on the PIT side of the 50. Fourth Quarter: --------------- A gutsy call on 4th and 16 keeps the drive alive when Hawes finds Kinnahan for a clutch 21 yard connection down to the PIT 15. They finally plug us up at the 12 and we settle for a field goal. PIT 21, DET 12 (12:06) Pittsburgh manages a first down but pays dearly for it as Olson and Crowell go down on the series. Manning picks our secondary apart all the same and they get a field goal out of the drive. PIT 24, DET 12 (5:15) Questionable playcalling results in a three and out series. We punt to the PIT 20, but are running out of time. We burn our timeouts, but Manning wills them to first downs and they run the clock out. Surprisingly, S Spear is MVP in a losing effort (WTF?). He and G Britt Stauffer are named to the All-Pro Second Team. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-20-2000, 11:36 PM	#10
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	2005 Preseason Coach Singh and Scout Cowell will be around for at least one more season. The program seems to have worked, and we will stick to our guns - the franchise does not pursue new scouts or coaches. Due to aggressive renegotiation during the 2004 offseason, we have few unrestricted free agents: WR Mansell, WR Dilignecia, LB Zimmerman, LB Politte, LB Croteau, and S Blades. 14 players will have contracts expire after 2005, so there is some renegotiation to be done, especially with core defensive players and several offensive linemen. Our units are as follows (years on team/experience, contract expiration). Pass Offense: QB Spencer Hawes (5/5, 05) is the triggerman and resembles Jeff George. Tremendous arm strength and an eye for the deep ball, he has problems at times with costly interceptions. TE Grady Conway (5/5, 06) has proven to be a 6th round steal and can block and pass catch solidly. Steady improvement over the past three seasons shows no sign of slowing. He nearly matched his 2003 totals in 2004 with one fewer start. WR Neal Davison (2/2, 07) started 12 games as a rookie in 2004 and showed potential to be an outstanding big play man with 8 TDs. WR Cris Kinnahan (4/4, 07) is a steady performer and handles most of our return duties. He has often been Hawes' go-to receiver in tight situations. Run Offense: RB Brock Jacquet (3/3, 07) is the workhorse, and has 2160 yards in two seasons with the club. He averaged 4.3 yards a carry exactly in both his rookie season and sophomore year, and also figures into the passing game. FB Harry Foley (4/4, 06) is a bruising lead blocker for Jacquet and a pretty good pass catcher. C Joel Herndon (5/5, 05) leads a solid interior line. His technique is good in all facets of the game. G Britt Stauffer (5/5, 06) keys the pass blocking and made Second Team All-Pro for the first time last season. He has allowed just 16 sacks in the past three seasons combined. T Darnell Blocker (3/3, 06) is a monster on run blocking. Although not the biggest T at 6-3, 325 pounds, his technique is superb. Although a dominating run blocker, he needs to work on pass blocking. Defense Front 7: DE Brandon Gault (4/4, 05) is a great all around defensive player who excels in stopping the outside run. We hope DE J.B. Hines (2/2, 06) develops along the same lines as Gault. DT Jason St. Amal (5/5, 07) was called upon last season to take over the inside rush when 2003 1st team All-Pro DT Edwards went down with critical injuries throughout the season. Edwards (5/5, 07) seems to have lost something and St. Amal will probably rotate with him in the middle. LB Henry Talton (4/4, 07) is our main OLB with decent cover skills and good tackling. LB Joel Sanderson (3/3, 05) is an outstanding run stoppers, but lacks the coverage skills to really shut down the underneath routes to opposing offenses. Defense Secondary: CB Isaac Tunnell (4/4, 07) is our number one guy, and hardly gives up completions (just 8 of 254 pass plays last season). Tunnell is in something of a slump though, and has not posted a single interception since the 4 in his rookie season. S Devin Spear (3/3, 05) is a gambler and comes up with huge interceptions but gives up lots of completions in coverage. The Super Bowl MVP and a Second Team All-Pro, Spear also put up 82 solo stops in 2004. S Lincoln Carlson (2/2, 08) had a great rookie season and we look to him to just keep getting better. Another gambler, he has a similar game to Spear but is a heavier hitter in run support. At the start of Free Agency, we are 28,220,000 under the cap and need to sign back LB Zimmerman and hopefully WR Mansell for depth at receiver. Trades roll in for Gault, Hawes, Herndon, and Blocker. We turn down all of them, noting that New Orleans was after T Blocker and have MVP RB Edgerrin James. Hmmm... Unfortunately Zimmerman is demanding way too much money (16 million over 3 years), so re resign ourselves to looking for a replacement in the draft. Our linebacking corps will be basically a run stopping unit, so hopefully the defensive line stays healthy and can get good pressure to help our coverage guys. A pass rushing LB will be a fairly high priority. Disaster strikes and Zimmerman signs with Chicago in week 6. It will not be pleasant to see him twice next year. Croteau goes to Oakland, and we will see him at Ford Field in 2005 in Week 10. Politte signs with Carolina, a perennial playoff team - we may see him in the postseason. Mansell comes back for a 3 year stint, but S Blades and WR Diligencia request too much for backups who won't see action and are let go. Heading into the draft, Washington offers up a 3rd round pick for Blocker and we struggle to stop laughing as the refusal is faxed back to them. S Spear signs a two year extension, as does LB Sanderson. We can't seem to cut an extension with DE Gault or C Herndon and will check back with their agents later. T Forsyth signs on for two extra years and will serve as backside pass protection again. Hawes demands big bucks and we give it to him in the form of a 4 year deal with a 6.3 million dollar signing bonus. Backup pass blocker T Ethan Stokes signs a low priced two year extension, and we get WR Godfrey to sign a fairly pricey 4 year deal that should be worth it. C Herndon, DE Gault, and backup DE Crawford are the big holdouts who won't renegotiate. As a long term plan B, the team will look for a DE project in case the two vets can't be resigned to longer deals. Herndon is a concern, as he is really the heart of the offensive line. This year's draft has an unbelievable abundancy of TE, T, G, and C. There are nary a decent QB in sight and just one or two RBs who have first round talent. QB Mark Settle out of Kentucky is being graded out by the league as a 5.7 future prospect and may slip to the third round with 5 QBs being graded ahead of him. He's our top QB and may draft him as a backup/future QB. As expected, the first round is basically a huge run on offensive linemen. Surprisingly, the latter half of the first round is a run on receivers and most of the WR and TE prospects get snagged. 6-6 DT Frank Norton from Louisiana-Lafayette is teken at 1(31) in hopes of bolstering our injury riddled defensive line. The safety crop and receiver ranks are thinned even more during round 2. We spot C D.J. Patton from SMU and think we can get him at 3(31) so we grab Settle with 2(31). A ton of WRs leave the board before we pick up Patton and shock the rest of the teams. Tons of CBs and even more WRs drop off the board before we decide to take a chance on one of the remaining CBs. In the later rounds we take some potential backups for Jacquet and a project at wideout. Rnd 1 - Frank Norton, DT, Louisiana-Lafayette Rnd 2 - Mark Settle, QB, Kentucky Rnd 3 - D.J. Patton, C, Southern Methodist Rnd 4 - Randall Peters, CB, Sacred Heart (Conn.) Rnd 5 - Everett Shepard, RB, Fordham Rnd 6 - Darrell Longhenry, WR, Hawaii Rnd 7 - Donnell West, RB, Baylor The other teams in the league still don't get the message and we turn down yet another ludicrous offer - this time from the Bucs - for Herndon. Trade offers are rejected after camp for Herndon and Hines. None of our rookies show huge improvement and Patton turns out to be a mild disappointment. We immediately enter intense negotiations with Herndon's agent. We ship QB Schroeder and a 6th round pick to St. Louis for their 4th rounder (all 2008 picks involved) and cut QB Blades. RB Smetana is snt to Buffalo with a our 2006 7th rounder for Buffalo's 2007 6th round pick. RB West is released to pare our RB corps back down to 4. FB Mickey Limon is cut to make more room for LBs, and we scour free agency to fill backup roles at LB and S. LB Riddick Flaherty is a former 2nd rounder (4th year man) who may start for us. LB Shawn Brunell is another 4th year man who signs on also for 3 years with us. LB Quentin Codie, who played for us in the past, is given a 1 year deal. T Kenneth Titus, a 4th year man, is an outstanding tackle that we pounce on. Looks like some team didn't have the cap room to sign their franchise player. Running short of cap room, WR Mansell is let go and we sign a rookie WR in his spot. S Blades is resigned to a three year deal to back up our two enforcers. We go undefeated in preseason and make it through the four games with just three extremely minor injuries. Defeating Jacksonville, Seattle, Denver and Pittsburgh in preseason gives us much hope since all four were in the playoffs last season. The win over Pittsburgh was some nice revenge for the Super Bowl. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-20-2000, 11:37 PM	#11
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	In Week 1, New Orleans breaks out with a 79 yard return on the opening kick, but we stuff Edgerrin James and force a field goal. Our big time players come up with big time plays - 2 first quarter INTs for S Spear, a TD INT return for Carlson, a fumbled KO by New Orleans, and big plays by Hawes, Davison and Jacquet give us a massive 34-3 lead at the end of one quarter. Spear runs an INT back in the third and Blades runs an INT back in the 4th quarter (all our Safeties had INT returns for TD!). Except for a blocked punt in garbage time, we dominate them 58-10. Note, their starting QB Billy Joe Tolliver got the hook in the first quarter after the INTs. Devin Spear has a PDQ of 245.0 with 3 INTs in 20 pass plays. Both DET QB Hawes and TBY QB Zeier are knocked out of the game in the first quarter. Spear runs an INT off their backup for a TD in the second quarter to tie it up. We get a key fumble in the fourth to kill a TBY drive but Huntley is the Lion killer. Rookie QB Settle is holding the ball too long and he takes several sacks. We lose 21-7 at the New Sombrero in the rain. We visit the big bad Kurt Warner led Manchester Wolves and an injured Hawes is picked off twice in the first half at The Den. Warner is unbelievable but a Spear INT saves a TD and keeps things manageable for the second half. We catch fire and Carlson makes a key INT in the third leading to a TD, but Hawes also throws two INTs, the last one which kills our 2 minute drill. Hawes hits the bomb, but we don't the onside kick. We struggle past 0-3 Denver and even up the record at 2-2 heading into Week 5 hosting 0-3 Chicago. Spear is unconscious, and has 7 INTs in 4 games (2 against Denver). We beat Chicago 24-10 and Conway is ejected midway through the 3rd quarter for punching an opponent! We only have 4 minor injuries, so the bye week should let everyone heal up. Jacquet goes nuts at the Meadowlands and Spear gets two more picks to add to his total in week 7 against the 1-5 Giants. In Week 8, we travel to Minnesota to face the hapless 1-5 Vikings. Their defensive line is in shambles with three starters out with long term injuries. Hawes is picked for two TD INTs and we lose a game we should have won. Mostly on the power of 2 Carlson INTs, we manage to beat Tampa ugly at home 12-7 and move to 5-3 with a huge tiebreaker sweep over Tampa. Green Bay is in first at 6-2 with the two of us nipping at the Pack's heels. Dallas and Carolina are in command of their divisions at 6-2 and Cincy is a bizarre 5-3-1 ahead of 6-2 Pittsburgh. The Fins are smoking everyone at 7-1 but the AFC West is up for grabs with Manchester and KC locked at 6-2 with Seattle at 5-3 close behind. We are playing outstanding defense (top 5 in rushing and passing D) and also have a +11 margin (Miami at 7-1 is +14). 2-6 Oakland hung close with us because of multiple Hawes interceptions, but we manage the home victory. The Pack wins but the Bucs lose and we are a game behind 7-2 Green Bay. Hawes INTs gift wrap too many points and we lose to 5-3 Seattle in the Kingdome. At 6-4, we need to win at Soldier Field over a battered Chicago club to keep pace with the now 8-2 Packers. Hawes throws some picks that almost swing the tide for the Bears, but we run the clock out on them. The hated Bucs do us a favor and deal Green Bay a loss, closing the Packers' lead. Week 11 at Lambeau, the defense manhandles the Packer offense in the first quarter with 3 picks and a fumble return for TD. Key players leave with injuries (Edwards, Jacquet), but we get more fumble recoveries and put together very long sustained FG drives to counter the Green bay big plays. We win 36-20 and take the NFC Central lead for now via tiebreaker. Since our last meeting, the Vikings have sustained much more injuries but have somehow managed to eke out a .500 record to this point. The defense is unreal and covers all kinds of miscues by the offense (INTs and fumbles) and special teams (blocked punt). Cash has 2 picks and Carlson has 2 picks and we recover some fumbles to erase mistakes and turnovers in a 20-7 win at home. New Orleans beats Green Bay and we are now 9-4 ahead of the 8-5 pack and bucs with tiebreakers over both. Dallas is scorching in the NFC East with a 10-3 record while Miami has cooled somewhat to 9-4 after a 7-1 start. Kinnahan has a bum shoulder so we sit him against the already-eliminated Rams (3-10). Spear and Carlson are now tied for the NFL INT lead with 10 each. Carlson gets a pick in a 19-10 win to take the INT lead. Green Bay won, but will face Dallas and probably get smashed by the 11-3 Cowboys before we face them in Week 17. 8-5-1 Arizona comes calling in Week 16, and we decide to give Kinnahan one more week to heal. The defense and special teams is awesome early on, getting a safety and a touchdown when ARI fumbles a punt. They really keep us going while the offense struggles. Hawes throws a bad pick in the second half to give the Cards the lead but the defense comes through and we get great field position. We hold on 4th and 1 late with a 4 point lead and kick a field goal for a 32-25 win. Green Bay somehow manages to beat Dallas and we meet them for the NFC Central title at home. A loss to the Pack would split the head to head but give them the Division based on the within division tiebreaker. We need this win badly, but Tunnell took a shot and broke his hand for the 3-5 week variety. He will see limited action - we activate Kinnahan. Carlson comes up with a huge pick deep in GBY territory and we take a early lead, but they come back and beat us late, 22-17. Green Bay takes the division and we must play New Orleans in the Wild Card round while Green Bay gets a first round bye. Carlson finishes with 12 INTs while Spear cooled off to finish with just 10 - they are first and second in the NFL. Hawes is 5th in yardage passing with 4123 but INTs kill his rating (22 TDs, 21 INTs). Jacquet just misses the thousand yard season with 911 yards, but had 12 TDs on the ground. Davison is the receiving leader of the team with 1190 yards on 70 catches. LB Sanderson led the team in tackles from his MLB position with 100/23 and 5.5 sacks. Carlson, with 79/33 and 1.5 sacks is sure to be a candidate for Defensive Player of the Year honors and 1st team All-Pro. A decent 11-4 season, but now the real road to the Super Bowl begins. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-23-2000, 02:00 AM	#12
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	2006 Preseason Our Scout and Coach contracts are due and we renew the contracts for 5 years on both counts. Three of our critical players have expired contracts: C* Herndon, DE* Gault, and nickelback CB Cash. Offers for Hawes, Foley, and Jacquet roll in and are refused. We are unable to swing a deal with Gault or Herndon - Gault is lured to SDO for 4 seasons and ARI ends up winning a major bidding war for Herndon. DE Mo Crawford is resigned to a three year deal. Although he is not nearly the run stopper Gault was, the 6th year veteran should provide stability in the unit. We are shallow at LB, DE, and TE and will look for those positions in the draft. Notable contracts we will need to renegotiate extensions on: DE Hines, T Blocker, G Stauffer, TE Conway, and FB Foley. The draft is really secondary and quarterback rich, with quite a few RBs to boot. With the 26 slot, we will see what falls to us. Safeties dominate when we select, but we have no need for safeties. Instead, we go with a prosective shutdown corner, 6-0 Jorge Harnisch from Colorado. Wrs leave the board like crazy, but we are after a LB and get a decent prospect, Todd Ackerman from NC State. C J.J. Razwick, our third round pick, will step in immediately for Herndon and appears ready to start from the get go. The pick is lucky, since we just beat out a run on Centers in the fourth round. Pick 4(26), Georgia Bulldog Rickey Schultz, will be our #2 TE. DT Kirk Herbertson may be the steal of the draft if Connell is right about him. We will give offerings to the football gods before rookie camp regarding him. Rnd 1 - Jorge Harnisch, CB, Colorado Rnd 2 - Todd Ackerman, LB, North Carolina State Rnd 3 - J.J. Razwick, C, South Carolina Rnd 4 - Rickey Schultz, TE, Georgia Rnd 5 - Kirk Herbertson, DT, Louisiana State Rnd 6 - Edgar Patton, QB, Ohio Rnd 6 - Teddy Wheeler, CB, UAB With 3.8 million in cap room afer signing rookies, we go to work trying to lock down some extensions before camp. DT Downs and our 2009 4th rounder is sent to the Redskins for their 2009 3rd round pick. DT St. Amal is let go since we cannot maintain his 2 million dollar contract and hope to extend more valuable veterans. TE Conway is locked up for 3 extra years, and we resign some msicellaneous offensive linemen for an extra year or two. We get Foley to agree to a two year extension. We take a trade with Cleveland that sends T Blocker to them for their 4th round pick and a solid 5th year DE. After camp, C Meehan is released. Our last big ticket extension is made as DE Hines signs a 4 year deal to keep him in Detroit. Depthwise, we are solid everywhere and each unit is looking very good. We have shifted to a more balanced attack to better exploit Jacquet's running abilities and think the approach will cut down on our offensive inconsistency. Preseason again produces a costly injury, when DE Hines takes a 2-3 month Hip Pointer. he will sit until fully healed. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-24-2000, 01:59 AM	#13
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	Week 1 against the Patriots, RB Biakabutuka rips us a new one with an early 80 yard TD run, but Jacquet answers with a 74 yard TD run. The defense gets its act together after that and our offense flat out steamrolls them. Jacquet is unreal, piling up 233 yards on 23 carries and three rushing TDs. Hawes has a nice 300 yard passing day as well, with a TD and one insignificant pick. S Carlson picks up where he left off last season and tallies two INTs in the 39-14 rout. Turnovers lead to 21 Bucs points and we almost lose a home stand against Tampa, but S Carlson saves the day with big interceptions. Hawes had 2 bad INTs but went 23-31-346 for 2 TDs. We pull it out 32-28 in the waning moments of the game on a big 45 yard TD run by Jacquet. Against 0-2 Minnesota, Jacquet goes out with an injury on the third play from scrimmage, but the backups fill in respectably and the defense plays another outstanding game. Somehow, we pull off the 9-7 road win. Hawes posts his third straight 300 yard passing game but Jacquet and Kinnahan are out 3-5 weeks. For the second time in the season, we are hit with a huge TD run on the first drive of the game when Jamal Lewis breaks a 64 yarder on play number 2. We knock GBY QB Kitna out of the game in the third and the Packer offense falls apart. Backup RB Karl Pierce played a good game for us and the defense was generally good despite two big play TDs surrendered. Hawes is held to "just" 209 yards passing, but it is enough to deal the hated Pack a 29-24 loss. we are now 4-0 and one game ahead of 3-1 Chicago. We visit former Lion C Herndon and the Cardinals in Week 5 and get handed our first loss of the season. Both passers are unstoppable in the game, but Hawes throws two critical interceptions late in the 4th quarter and we lose 31-21. Chicago wins and is now tied at 4-1 for the NFC Central with us. 4-1 Philly comes to town and we need a win to hang with the Bears since they will pummel 0-4 New England. We knock the Eagles' Starting QB out of the game in the 3rd quarter and then knock the backup out of the game at the start of the 4th quarter. We take it 20-10 at home and remain tied with Chicago who destroy the Patriots as expected. DE Hines rejoins the lineup in Week 7 against the 3-2 Carolina Panthers on the road. Kinnahan and Jacquet remain sidelined but should be back by Week 9. We play a miserable offensive game and lose in the rain after failing twice to punch it in from inside the 5. Chicago smokes 0-6 Minnesota and we drop to second place headed into the bye week. Kinnahan and Jacquet return for a workout against 0-7 Minnesota that turns into a 28-21 nail biter, but we escape with the win. Talk about a wild win! We go to Pro player Stadium to meet the 2-6 Dolphins for what appears to be a lopsided matchup. The Fins score 4 TDs in the 4th quarter on long passes and an INT return to go ahead by 8 with under 2 minutes to play. Hawes rsponds with a drive and two point after TD pass to tie. Backup QB Jay Fiedler takes the initial OT drive for the Dolphins to our 19 and all seems lost when the defense sacks Fiedler twice and they miss the 53 yard FG. On the very next play, Hawes drops the 57 yard bomb to the backup TE Schultz for the big finish. In a game much closer than the score indicates, we down Tampa 28-16 and go to Chicago for the first showdown with the mighty Bears. However, we are without LB Sanderson, who broke his ankle against Tampa and is out for the season. They manhandle us 38-11 and we drop to 8-3. They move to 10-1 and all we can do is hope someone else fells the giant for us. 8-3 Buffalo comes to town and we stomp on them in frustration after the loss to Chicago. Late in the 4th quarter, we steal one on the road against Green Bay 17-16. Carlson and Spear combine for 5 INTs in a win over New Orleans that pushes us to 11-3. While they can't stop our attack, the Detroit defense bottles up the Chicago offense in Week 16 and we beat them 23-16 to split the season series. Even if beat the Jets and Chicago loses to 11-4 Buffalo, though, we cannot catch them. They will win the NFC Central title via the NFC record tiebreaker (division record is 7-1 tie). Thus, we are destined for the wild card round and draw the Philadelphia Eagles. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

11-24-2000, 03:32 AM	#14
Morgado High School JV Join Date: Oct 2000 Location: Washington, DC	2006 Postseason Wild Card Round GBY (9-7) 7 CAR (9-7) 21 SEA (10-6) 28 DEN (11-5) 37 PHI (9-7) DET (12-4) PIT (10-6) 24 MAN (11-5) 27 Category PHI DET --------------------- Rush Off 24th 6th Pass Off 7th 10th Rush Def 9th 13th Pass Def 29th 18th TO Margin +10 +3 3rd Dwn .400 .336 Key Injuries (=Starter): DET: CB Bradford (Dbt), LB Flaherty (Qst), LB* Sanderson (Out), S* Carlson (Qst) PHI: LB* Williams (Qst), CB* Lyght (Dbt), CB Sinclair (Dbt), WR Garcia (Out) The Eagles' main offensive threats are the arm of QB Madison to pass catching TE Brustkern. The WR trio of Devine, Gayle, and Bartrum are decent but not spectacular. Their guards and tackles are unreal, but the starting runners are all 2nd year or younger. Defensively, they are solid across the line but have terrible linebackers and very weak corners. S Griffith and S Dawkins are dominant though, and more than make up for the CBs. Judging by the season stats, we should be able to test the corners and linebackers on shallow routes. Stopping the pass will definitely be the priority for our own defense. First Quarter: -------------- They take the opening kick and are pinned by great coverage down at their own 10. The rain is coming down and may make players slip today. They make a good stab at the first down marker but come up 2 yards short and punt it out to their own 49. Jacquet is stuffed two straight and after an incompletion we punt it right back to their 19. After three first downs, QB Madison hits Gayle for a 47 yard TD and the Eagles jump ahead. PHI 7, DET 0 (7:36) Following a return to the 24, Hawes finds Davison for 22 and we are on the move. Jacquet gets met for minus yardage on 3rd and 2 near midfield and we punt back to the PHI 12. Madison completes two straight 18 yard passes to Gayle and the Eagles enter DET territory. We finally hold at the DET 22 and K Richey misses the 39 yard FG with 1:37 in the quarter. A long run by Jacquet and a 10 yard swing pass gives us 3rd and 6 at the 46 going into the second quarter. Second Quarter: --------------- Hawes makes several good completions but Jacquet fumbles in the red zone and we lose the ball at the PHI 17. The defense holds and we get the ball back at the DET 40 on a fair caught punt. Hawes is on fire, completing a 32 yarder to Godfrey and another 10 yarder to Jacquet down to the PHI 18. Two plays later, Hawes hooks up with go-to man Davison for the TD. DET 7, PHI 7 (8:19) The kick goes for a touchback and Madison is forced to scramble on 3rd and 17. CB Labelle punches the ball out and we recover at the PHI 13. Hawes goes back to Davison and nails the TD in one try. DET 14, PHI 7 (6:59) The kick coverage does well again, stopping the returner at the PHI 17. This time DT Marrero sacks Madison and the ball pops loose. We recover at the PHI 12 and are poised to score once again. This time Jacquet goes around left end for the last 12 yards. DET 21, PHI 7 (6:12) The Eagles bring the kick out the 18 and go to an almost every-down shotgun. After a few completions out to the 40, QB Madison is picked off by S Spear and the INT is run back to the PHI 40 at the two minute warning. Hawes hits Davison for 36 yards down inside the 10 with under a minute to go and we really want that TD. Following two runs for losses, Jacquet manages to break it off left guard for the score. DET 28, PHI 7 (0:24) Third Quarter: -------------- We get the ball first but can't move the sticks after the touchback and punt it to the PHI 46. Madison to Devine for 23 yards brings them into field goal range but the defense stiffens. Richey misses his second field goal of the day and we take over at the 37. 2 holding calls and a sack later we punt to the PHI 39. Filling in for the injured Carlson, S Blades adds to his fine play with Madison's second interception of the game. We take over at our own 30 and Hawes' rassing and scrambling plus two Eagles' offsides penalties get us to the PHI 19. Jacquet goes off right tackle for 19 and his second TD of the day. DET 35, PHI 7 (5:35) They abandon the run and our pass rush makes them pay with two sacks and an easily defended pass. We get the punt at the DET 41 on a fair catch and seek to put the game on ice with 3:42 left in the third. Hawes strings together multiple 8-10 yard passes and we get down to the PHI 21 before the change of direction. Fourth Quarter: --------------- Davison hauls in a 15 yard catch to set up a short dump to Foley for the TD. We now have the game well in hand and simply need to run the clock out on the Eagles. DET 42, PHI 7 (13:41) Madison is yanked, but his backup is ineffective and they punt to our 9. They commit to plug the run and we go nowhere, punting back to the PHI 49. Backup QB Abrams promptly hands it back to us on an interception by LB Ackerman at the DET 9. We go backwards with backup QB Summerlin at the helm and punt it out of the end zone to the DET 37. It turns into Shotgun versus Prevent defense and the defense ends up winning that fight with a Carlson interception at the DET 23. We finally manage some positive yardage on the ground but backup RB Potter fumbles the ball. The Eagles recover and advance it down to the DET 28. The defense holds and they take their 3 points. DET 42, PHI 10 (1:17) QB Hawes is spectacular in 3 and a half quarters of work, going 21 of 29 for 304 yards and 3 TDs with zero interceptions. WR Davison has a monster game with 147 yards and 2 TDs on 7 catches. Semifinals CAR (9-7) 3 ARI (12-4) 41 MAN (11-5) 27 BUF (11-5) 15 DET (12-4) CHI (14-2) DEN (11-5) 10 CIN (12-4) 44 We draw the Monsters of the Midway and they are at full strength. They play very balanced on both sides of the ball and don't seem to have any real weaknesses - as evidenced by their 14-2 record. We have some confidence after beting them once in the regular season, but this will be a battle. Category CHI DET --------------------- Rush Off 7th 6th Pass Off 22nd 10th Rush Def 1st 13th Pass Def 3rd 18th TO Margin 0 +3 3rd Dwn .405 .336 Key Injuries (=Starter): DET: CB Bradford (Dbt), DT Marrero (Out), LB Sanderson (Out), S* Carlson (Qst), K Cotton (Qst) CHI: None First Quarter: -------------- We get the ball first at a rainy Soldier Field on the DET 20 following a touchback. A holding penalty kills us and we punt to the CHI 31. They tear us up for big plays but CB Harnisch comes through in a huge way by intercepting QB Scales at the goal line and returns the pick out to the DET 20. Hawes is sacked on third and 6, so we must punt again. Peter Warrick brings the ball back to the DET 49 on the return. Scales hits WR Fuller for a 34 yard gain and goes again to Fuller for 16 down to the DET 2. RB Fred Taylor punches it in from there and the Bears take the lead. CHI 7, DET 0 (8:49) Kinnahan gives us a great return out to the DET 39. We stall at the CHI 28 and Cotton misses the kick. Our defense holds at the DET 44 and they punt it back to our 9. We go three and out and give it right back on a punt to the CHI 48. Second Quarter: --------------- The defense finally plugs them up at the DET 17 and they take a 34 yard field goal. CHI 10, DET 0 (11:51) Hawes gets some offense going but is picked off on his third throw at the CHI 45. The Bears march back down and Taylor bursts through the middle for 32 down to the DET 2. Scales to Warrick for the TD starts to worry the coaches. CHI 17, DET 0 (5:54) Holding on the return puts us back on the DET 11 to start the drive. Hawes is injured on the drive and we can't convert a third down at the DET 29. The punt is fielded and run back to the CHI 47. Spear makes a nice INT at the DET 16 to get us out of immediate danger, but there's only 1:47 left to do anything with the ball. With rookie QB Settle in the game, we run th clock out and go into the locker room. Third Quarter: -------------- The Bears start the second half at the CHI 28 and they pound us with Taylor. CB Harnisch comes up with another interception and takes it back to the DET 30. Settle makes some nice throws but Cotton ends up missing the 46 yard field goal. Taking over at the spot of the miss, Scales scorches us with a bomb to WR Brown and we're sinking fast. CHI 24, DET 0 (8:09) Our offense is ugly after the kick, but the punt coverage is uglier and Warrick runs it back for a TD. CHI 31, DET 0 (6:27) ... suffice it to say that a rookie backup with other backups is no match for a healthy 14-2 team. Settle is intercepted and sacked repeatedly and we get shut out, 34-0. ARI 13, CHI 10 CIN 33, MAN 14 We cheer when Chicago gets unceremoniously dumped by the Cardinals for the NFC title. In the Super Bowl, Cincy beats Arizona 30-24. FB Foley and K Cotton make first team all-pro and G Stauffer makes second team. __________________ "It looks like an inkblot." - Keith Olbermann as a child, responding to a Rorschach test

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