Tampa Bay Four Way Challenge

[Axxon]

Introductory post:

I have been running the Anchorage career here for a couple of days and while I am having a blast with it, it seems that people now are almost exclusively posting challenge careers. It has made me feel a bit guilty that my career isn't a challenge career per se so I've decided to start a challenge career. I will still be playing Anchorage but after finishing up my current year, I may not post any more on it, but we'll see.

I like challenge careers. In fact, I learned the game entirely through challenge careers of many sorts. I didn't set up those challenges to make the game difficult but rather to focus my efforts on narrow issues of gameplay so I could better learn how certain things really worked without being overwhelmed by the many game choices out there. It worked well for me and I'd highly advise it as a means to learn FOF2k1.

Now, however, I will be running a challenge for the challenge and I didn't know what to make my challenge. Finally, in a fit of madness, it hit me. the number 4 happens to be my favorite number so I will dedicate this challenge as a homage to the number 4.

Hereare the rules I have so far:

1. I will quick sim the first three years then begin an empty cupboard in the FOURTH season.

2. I will only pursue players who
a. have at least one name with 4 letters ( both names would be a highly revered player )
b. Were drafted in the fourth round or the fourth pick in the first round or are 4 year veterans for free agents.

3. I will sign only 4 year contracts. The exceptions will be with my draft choices and URFA'S ( whom I will ink to 2 yr deals ) but I must sign URFA's in multiples of 4.

4. I can only renegotiate cont4racts to bring them back to 4 year deals.

5. My pre camp roster limits will be 68 ( mult of 4 ) and my final roster must be either 48 or 52 at all times.

6. I can set my ticket prices as the 4th highest in the league and can only adjust them every 4 years.

7. Coaches and scouts must also be offered 4 year deals and cannot be fired. I will allow myself to start the count as soon as I replace my first coach or scout and I can fire the one I am given to start unless they have a name with 4 letters.

8. All signing bonuses and salaries must be divisible by 4.

9. I will allow myself to accept trades if the offered player fits my 4 letter needs or they are offering a 4th round pick.

10. I can only put the franchise tag on a true keeper, namely a triple 4 like John Moss 1(4) draft etc.

Theses are all I can think of now. As soon as I start the team I will let you know if I have come up with any others but suffice it to say that I will implement any new rules that sound good whenever they become known to me if able.

I should be starting this challenge today when I'm off work but I do want to finish my second year in Alaska so I might not get to it.

[This message has been edited by Axxon (edited 01-11-2001).]

[QuikSand]

Well, hope y'all have neat time with that. Will folk read that? Hard when your game isn't even. This pick, that pick, each one's just four-- seem you'd want more guys with many more bars. When they seek cash, will y'all give over your bank? Can't tell...

Good luck.

[Marmel]

Quik, that post sure read nice. Good work with your text.

[Axxon]

Quik,

Game neat. Bars come semi easy. Must give guys cash that they wish. Goes very fast. Hope team will play well else boss will lose work. This does make test edgy. Back with tale soon.

[This message has been edited by Axxon (edited 01-11-2001).]

[Axxon]

Preseason 2003:

[quick addendum]

I have changed a couple of the rules that I had proposed. This was necessary I felt for fun and game issues. I now sign URFA's to the full contract of seven years but I MUST renegotiate in the 4th year or cut them at years end. This team relied heavily on URFA's to start and I just didn't want to screw around with this every other year and the real abuse on these players occurs after the fourth year anyway, plus the 4 thing fits the concept. Since I would have to pony up for a huge 3 yr reextension, I doubt I'll keep many past the 4th year.

I also decided that it simply wasn't fun trying to figure out what the fourth higest ticket price would be and I really don't go in much for this area of the game anyway so I decided that my ticket prices have to stay in line with my 4th closest competetor, Carolina. As that is my "official" home team IRL according to the NFL and Direct Ticket I find this fitting.

[/quick addendum]

First order of business, team name. I can't convince the owner to name the team Tamp aBay so it remains Tampa Bay which isn't that bad but the nickname is all wrong so we officially are the Bucs, which is what everyone calls us anyway so it's ok.

My coach' contract had run out so I decided to go with an entirely new staff. These are my new front office personell.

Scout Alan Carr ( a natural fit, no? )

[F F G V] V [ E G G ] F
Thats offensive stats/kicker/def/yt. This is my notation for that so I hope it isn't too unreadable.

Coach Earl Rayburn

[F V F V] [V V G] [V] [V] [V G] [V G] G
O D K YT M/D O/D AI

He was my second choice but I underbid on my first choice and ended up having to pay two mil more for this guy but in any case, he's been to the playoffs and the other guy hasn't so arguably he's the better coach but the other guy avoided injuries better.

I proceed to cut every player, sadly losing a few good keepers and proceed to free agency, which I promptly sit out. I then head on to the draft. I come away with the following players:

RB Terrance Diaz
TE Ellis Farr
QB Leon Copeland
WR Earl Horner
WR Alex Cole
LB Skip Welch
LB RJ Dunn

I then proceeded to fill my roster and head to camp. After camp, only QB Copeland disappointed. I made my tweaks and set my roster. My scout had this to say about my roster:

EA.com Front Office Football 2001



From the desk of Alan Carr of the Tampa Bay Bucs

  

  Position/Player         Current Est  Future Est     Exp   Sgnd

  QB  Jake Plummer                  9          12       7   2006   

  QB  Hugh Griffith                 5          14       1   2009   

  QB  Leon Copeland                 2           7       1   2006   

  QB  Brady Bell                    1           8       1   2009   

  RB  Terrance Diaz                11          16       1   2007   

  RB  Bart Ellington                6           9       1   2009   

  RB  Chad McCleon                  5          12       1   2009   

  FB  Bubba Camp                    3           5       1   2009   

  FB  Brandon Shaw                  3           4       1   2009   

  TE  Ellis Farr                    7          16       1   2006   

  TE  Herb Davis                    6          10       1   2009   

  TE  Dave Winters                  5           5       1   2009   

  TE  Tito Glenn                    3          10       1   2009   

  WR  Bobby Shaw                    8           9       6   2006   

  WR  Mike Pritchard                8           8      13   2006   

  WR  Alex Cole                     8          12       1   2005   

  WR  Larry Parker                  7           8       5   2006   

  WR  Earl Horner                   6           8       1   2005   

   C  Dana Brown                    7          11       2   2005   

   C  Adam Treu                     6           8       7   2006   

   C  Gary Winslett                 6          10       1   2009   

   G  Todd Rucci                    7           7      11   2006   

   G  Greg Nafis                    4          10       1   2009   

   G  Rico Fisher                   2           5       1   2009   

   G  Johnny Bone                   2           9       1   2009   

   T  Mike Wahle                    7           7       6   2006   

   T  Cole Grubbs                   3          10       1   2009   

   T  Deon de la Rosa               1           3       1   2009   

   P  Hugh Mackie                   6           6       1   2009   

   K  Cary Collins                  7          11       1   2009   

  DE  Chad Bratzke                 14          14      10   2006   

  DE  Kurt Hasty                    3          11       1   2009   

  DE  Amos Schultz                  2           6       1   2009   

  DT  Jason Fisk                   12          12       9   2006   

  DT  Tony Williams                 8          10       7   2006   

  DT  Dale Price                    2           7       1   2009   

  DT  Zach Hopper                   2           7       1   2009   

  LB  Andy Katzenmoyer             11          11       5   2006   

  LB  Ryan Phillips                11          12       7   2006   

  LB  R.J. Dunn                     6           8       1   2004   

  LB  Skip Welch                    5           7       1   2004   

  LB  Herb Farley                   2          10       1   2009   

  LB  Steve Ruby                    1           7       1   2009   

  CB  Nolan Cage                    9           9       4   2006   

  CB  Paul Ford                     9          10       4   2006   

  CB  Dre' Bly                      7           8       5   2006   

  CB  Seth Whiting                  3           8       1   2009   

  CB  Otis Tran                     3           6       1   2009   

   S  Ron Rice                     14          14       9   2006   

   S  Mike Minter                  11          12       7   2006   

   S  Dave Ward                     5           8       1   2009   

   S  Amos Hutchins                 5           6       1   2009   

   S  Kirk Schuler                  3           7       1   2009   

My biggest problem is with the O Line and hopefully I can address that in the next draft. There just wasn't the talent there and at heart I am cheap SOB so I didn't feel like spending 3mil a year on too many scrubs. It may cost us big time this season but every team has to have something to work on

On that note, my kicking game isn't so hot either.

I have a cool 10 mil under the cap but I expect a decent bit of that to evaporate next season to cover the empty cupboard. I have no idea how much and things could get sticky.

On a humorous note, before training camp I had a heck of a time finding CB's. Apparantly mothers just don't name potential DB's four letter names. I had to resort to Dre' Bly and felt ok with it as I found myself convincing myself that ' should count as a letter Luckily, I was able to pick up a couple of 4 letters ( and 4 year vets to boot ! ) to 4 years after camp, at a hefty mark up so the ' man can go whenever I am ready for him to.

The thing I heard most this preseason was "My client is reluctant to sign more than a three year deal at this salary level." Even punter
Tom Tupa wanted to be a punk when I tried to sign him. Apparantly 2 mil a year was too meager for his vast talent so at home he continues to sit. Seriously, bargains are hard to come by with this challenge and yet you simply must have the players. This was a very fun offseason and I'm looking forward to the challenge very much.

On to the preseason!!!

[This message has been edited by Axxon (edited 01-11-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Axxon (edited 01-11-2001).]

What about the New York Jets, they use two 4 letter words, they would be a good rival to base things on.

[Axxon]

Good Point Royal, and considering the events of the real NFL this year, I could enjoy a healthy rivalry with the Jets. Unfortunately, I won't be able to play against them all that often.

[Axxon]

Oops, had to cut Otis Tran as I had 52 players. I really didn't want to but he had zero position skills and even his double fours and good special teams skills weren't enough to save him

[Axxon]

Preseason 2003:

We go into our first preseason trying to evaluate what we have and how wee plan to use it.

TB @ Philadelphia L2-17
We lose FB Camp for long term so I IR him and pick up Paul Smith. At least he has some Red Bars making him our starter. I realize that almost any replacements we must sign will fit this bill so I exhort certain players to try harder
TB @ Saints W24-14. RB Diaz 16-123 1 td
Jets @ TB W28-16. WR Pritchard 12-157 3td.
Colts @ TN L 20-3

Came out of preseason with only three minor bruises and the loss of Camp. We're ready to begin the year.

First Half 2003:

Week 1:
Carolina ( 0-0 ) @ Tampa ( 0-1 )

Our season opener is at home and we come to play. RB Diaz wins POG on a 20-93 effort. Plummer goes 15-27 129 2td, runnning the kind of game we require.

The injury bug bites big as we lose DT Fisk for 2-3 months. DE Schultz and C Brown are down for 3-5 weeks and we have 3 more players banged up. We inactivate Fisk, bringing up
Hopper and are undecided about the rest just yet.

Week 2:
Tampa ( 1-0 ) @ Detroit ( 0-1 )

Detroit is hurting on offense and their D while healthy is suspect. We decide to inactive C Brown as we have a backup but DE Schultz has to go. We'll try to protect him. Everybody else goes.

Banged up or not, their O creamed us. RB Diaz managed 18-88 as our sole offensive highlight as Plummer was 12-28 119 and 3 ints. He better be glad he's named Jake as otherwise he'd never make a team of mine. I have been aware and dreading his low accuracy and it cost us this game. On the bright side, we lost no one new and our team got healthier.

L30-18

Week 3:
Tampa Bay ( 1-1 ) @ Chicago ( 0-2 )

A battle for last place. Aikman is out for them so that is a plus. There are an awful nomber of "fair" run defenders that also gives us hope. We are in Chicago though and we aren't exactly a dynamo roster ourselves.
Power ratings has this 50-37 us.

We sucked. Our power rating went to 14. We were lucky it stopped there. I have no highlights for our O so I will only burden you with one lowlight Plummer 12-31 151 5 ints. He looks to be a mistake. One more game then I go Grffith. He will likely suck too but he's a rookie and he's expected too.

On D we did have Hasty get 2 sacks and we had 2 ints including dre''s (??) 25 yd return for a td. It was our only score. Even the official scorers weren't stupid enough to give him POG for that. That went to Tolliver for Chicago who had 2 ints and ran one back for a td

L45-7

Week 4:
New York Jets ( 1-2 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 1-2 )

Finally I get my self named rivals and at home no less. Oh to hope we won't suck.

Well...it was close...r anyway. Still no running game. Plummer ended up a smart 9-38 206 1td 4 int to earn an all expense paid trip to the bench. The receivers didn't catch many passes but boy were they long ones. LB Phillips did have 5 tackles and 2 ints to make the leader board.

L43-16

Week 5:
Washington ( 3-1 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 1-3 )

This should be close...to a blow out. Still, we have our one win and our pride and at least one of those things can't be taken away from us. Griffin gets handed qb duties. He's too dumb and inexperienced to worry.

We manage to keep this one close. Diaz came back with a 26-95 1 td effort. We go on the qb go round as Griffith goes 1-3 10 yds and gets hurt. Plummer goes 4-4 31 and a td and gets hurt and Bell goes 6-11 78.
We hold a 14-13 half time lead but with 5 min to go in the game Mo Hooks replacing McNair hits Bruce for a 7 yd td
LB Katzenmoyer made the leader boards with 11 tackles 2 assists. All in all, I am happy with our effort but Wash just had too many guns.
L19-14

Week 6:
Tampa Bay ( 1-5 ) @ Green Bay ( 2-3 )

We are a team on a massive upswing. Hey, we DOUBLED our Pow Rating last week ( from 10 to 20 ) and even though we are on the road, we expect to be competetive. We will ahve trouble replaceing LB Philips who broke his wrist last wk ( 2-3m ) and LB Farley ( 3-5 wks ) though.

Diaz rushed 17-135 1td. Griffith went 18-42 229 1/2 and this made Plummer a bit nippy. A solid but unspectacular defensive showing kept it close. We are improving and while Griffith isn't fabulous he is doing better than the sulking Plummer.

L24-17

Week 7:
Detroit ( 2-4 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 1-5 )

I give the big baby Plummer the nod as Griffith is nursing a hyperextended elbow and no need to risk real talent at this point.

Apparantly he thought it meant something and he made the top performers board with a 19-33 231 1/1 effort. Diaz was the work horse though and he didn't make the board with his 18-74 2td effort. Horner didn't sit in the corner as he caught 7-72 and shaw added 5-73 and a td. Bratzke had a couple of sacks and Minter garnered top performer board and game POG with his 5 tackle 2 asst 2 int day. Hutchins had a pick that he took 73 yards for the td and Rice added a pick of his own. K Collins had 4 fg's of his own. Finally, a game to be proud of.

W39-10

Week 8:

Bye week. We get a well needed rest and enter the halfway point ( sort of ) at a blistering 2-5. Obviously many questions await this young four tied team.

[Axxon]

Second Half 2003:

Week 9:

The off week helped right now. I still am unsure about Plummer, but I have come to a decision. He really can't run the offense that I want to run. The trouble is worse than the int's it's that it is a short yardage ball control affair.
1. this makes the int's worse as they are shorter passes.
2. he really thors the long ball better.

At the risk of sustained drives ( we have these ) I've decided to keep the philosophy essentially the same but play to Plummers strengths.

Chicago ( 2-5 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 2-5 )

Hopefully revenge time and theory testing time.

Plummer liked it going 19-34 263 2/2. Heck he even ran for a td
Pritchard liked it catching 9-131 and POG
Farr liked it catching 6-111 1 td.
Diaz didn't mind running 23-87.

Bratzke and Hasty each had a sack and a half on defense and Ward and Cage each had an int.

Ok, so we won and won decently but before we pat outselves on the back, Chicago sucks hard too.

W24-12

Week 10:
Tampa Bay ( 3-5 ) @ Buffalo ( 3-5 )

Well, they're a GOOD 3-5 and we're not. It's in Buffalo. Not much more hype I can bring to this table.

Did I mention that they were the good 3-5?? Well, they reminded us of it if we forgot. Diaz never had a chance to run but he could have done something maybe. He was 12-49 4.0ypc. Plummer was sorry but lets face it , 7-26 130 1/2 isn't as bad as the 4 and 5 int days, but I'm afraid that by neutralizing him, I'm handcuffing the team. Still O didn't kill us it was shoddy D. We let RB Thomas Jones go 22-143 2 td and qb
Kilmer ( maybe Billy I don't know ) hit 21-32 305 3 td. They had a 17-3 lead before we could even think straight. It got worse.

L 38-10

Week 11:
Tampa Bay ( 3-6 ) @ New Orleans ( 3-6 )

A kindred spirit but better. Not necessarily Buffalo better but better none the less. I still hold out hope that we can maybe even keep this game close. Did I mention their qb is Favre

We couldn't. Favre was unstoppable with 4tds in the first half. He ended 26-35 278 5/0. RB Loving it was loving his role as he added 23-89 and a td. We couldnt run with our best effort being Plummer 4-18 18. The only player to rush more TIMES was McCleon 6-19. Plummer hit 3-11 75 1/2. Hey a 33% td rate. I fonly he could have hit more targets. Griffith came in and did the best he could going 7-10 57 and a td and he was drafted for the control game. Sigh, well this one was bad folks but we did get a meaningless WARD int ret for a td. In horrid news CB cage went out very long term with a torn knee ligament. He was a good one too ( relatively speaking ). We IR him and bring in Chester Cheetah, erm Chester St John a 4 year vet in case you were wondering if I was using John as a name hehe. Well, I didn't ahve to so there.

L49-23

Week 12:
Miami ( 4-6 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 3-7 )

Are we cursed to play all loser teams and get the stuffing knocked out of us by them??? Most likely.

This week is no different in any case as we edge Miami closer to .500. No real highlights but Plummer is 11-25 192 1/1. He is arguably more effective but really not helpful. Time to let Griffith get some experience. We did have 2 def top performers in Katzenmoyer ( 9 tackles, 3 assists and a sack ) and S Minter ( 9 tackles 1 int. ) so that is sorta nice.

L27-17

Week 13:
Tampa Bay ( 3-8 ) @ Minnesota ( 9-2 )

Yeah, this is fair. Well, it must be played.

Wow, Minnesota didn't think it was fair either. It wasn't so much Griffith who went 19-29 271 2td but he runs the deeper game well apparantly. It wasn't Horners 5 catches 5 catches for 82 yards and 2 td. It was Andy Katz who was freaking everywhere with 15 tackles, 1 assist and a sack. Bratzke had a couple of sacks himself and Rice had 2 ints, St John had another and so did Minter. Hey, even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while

W26-20 Enough to be huge but close enough to not get a big head over.

Week 14:
Tampa Bay ( 4-8 ) @ New York Giants ( 8-4 )

Reality check for good or bad. I'm still working Griffith for this one. I had to set my only reasonable guard Rucci as he dislocated his schoulder and the wuss didn;t try and suck it up and play This means that the Bone man may get playing time.

Well we didn't win. They outgunned us but we came to play. A little bit tighter D and this game could be ours.

Griffith was 15-24 299 3td. He is a URFA find apparantly. Diaz was 11-44 but this was a shootout all the way. Shaw caught 5-135 and Pritchard 3-90 and a td to lead the team. Grif spread the ball out well. Parker took a kick return all the way to aid our cause. LB Farley did Farley well with 14 tackles and an assist. The POG was Steven Davis with 27-164 and a tb but McNabb was no slouch at 18-26 288 3/1...well...Griffith was better

L37-31

week 15:

Plummer is crying again but I will not heed the call this time. I have no season to redeem and Ggriffith is getting valuable PT.

Green Bay ( 5-8 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 4-9 )
They beat us in GB but this seems to be a closer contest. At least I hope it is.

It wasn't but it wasn't a blow out. Diaz ran 19-86 which is ok. Griffith was 12-28 149 1 int. Not enough to win. Meanwhile while Katz was 11 tackles 1 asst, we were way too soft. WE let RB Lemery get 16-101 itd and POG Garcia complete 28-44 289 2/1. We still have a long way to go.

L24-12

Week 16:
Tampa Bay ( 4-10 ) @ Indianapolis ( 6- 8 )

I hope someone shows up to watch the game at least. They did, the Colts did, we didn't. NO need to belabor the point. Griffith had his first 4 int day. Right now we make a good homecoming opponent you know??

L 34-0

Week 17:
Minnesota ( 11-4 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 4-11 )

I hoe we're more ticked off at last week than they are about us beating them. What else can I say??

Sigh* We Were!!!!

Diaz 16-71 and a td
Griffith 23-52 331 1/1 not excellent but productive
Farr 6 catches 140 yds and a td and POG. Bratzke and Fisk 2 sacks each. Minter an int. Overall a win win win baby!!! Not by a lot but we swept the division champs and that feels great.

W25-18

That concludes our portion of this years program but there is still plenty of ball to play.

Wild card rnd:
Wash 38 Atl 24
Carolina 14 NO Saints 21
Oakland 13 Denver 10
Jax 10 KC 24

Div rnd:
KC 27 Pitt 29
NO 17 Minn 38
Oak 28 NE 41
Was 20 NYG 38

Conf rnd:
Minn 21 NYG 7 - makes me fedel real good right now
Pitt 0 NE 17

Super Bowl:
Minnesota 17 NE 24 We could have taken them

OPOG Rb Anderson NE 23-105 1td
DPOG S Teague Min 5tckls 1 assts 2 int

Season awards ( Tampa Bay )
OROY RB Terrance Diaz 248 1019 4.1 5td//17- 138
1st team De Bratzke 43/16 15.5 8blk 10 hur 6.1 7.5
2nd team S ( 2nd time ) Minter 7 int 34.3

This ends the 2003 campaign!!!!

[Axxon]

Offseason moves 2003-4:

Herb gives us a 81/48/30/84 36

Btw, this rating is random. I found a huge variance as I ran it again but the bottom line was 36 overall for the test so that much seems to be similar.

No one retired this year so we find ourselves with a full roster and a stable front office. We take our cap cut hits though and go to 800k over the cap and we need to keep about 6 mil for our draft choices. All of this is fine and good, but the real work we have to do is avoid the y2k6 bug when almost every team member becomes a free agent. We will try to do this a little at a time through the draft and judicious renegotiations.

For right now though we need to cut some fat and the first move we make is to say Bye Bye Jake and we trade Mr Plummer for Ari's 4th rounder. This frees up 4mil much needed money and is a huge addition through subtraction for the qb position.

Next, I could find no takers for C Treu and as he saved me 2 million dollars this year, at a cost of 1 next, and wasn't even the starter and not happy about that, he's history. Iam still 700k short of the draft though.

I must resort to releasing some URFA's not that that whill hurt. FB Camp, who was injured lasy year goes. I was going to let QB Bell go but the scouts felt he was better than our 3rd rounder Copeland so Copeland needs to be moved. Even though it will cost me next year half a mill, he is now gone.

On to the draft. I have 500k more than I strictly need to work with.

ROund 1 - pick 4. I can get anybody I want. This is hopefully going to be my franchise player. In any case, he's going to be a huge choice for better or worse. The best player available is B.J Loftis. He's all red bars and I wont ever have a chance to have him on my team. Unfortunately, he's a punter, so I decide to pass on him

Round 1: DT Dan Greathouse - A Big bruising DT who should anchor the line for years.

Round 2: S Norris Mack - Great int man, great stamina, owns the zone. Not a weak position for me but Norris can be a star.

Round 3: DT Bernard Robb - A well balanced guy who is ready to play right now. A Good third tackle who makes some more expensive guys expendable.

Round 4: QB Chester Rowland - What you see is what you get. Has no seeable upside but as a backup he is well developed in the 25-45 range.

ROund 4: RB Everett Burks - A stud rb who slipped this far. Definately not a need but I will take advantage of the round and sign the guy I shouldn't have had.

Round 5: FB Eric Schueler. Better than what we have and potentially a quality player. A definate upgrade.

Round 6: TE Toby Boyd - Not much but we dont have much after our starter at TE.

Round 7: LB Karl Gulley - Hopefully not a wash

In the post draft phase I signed URFA LB Norm Woodcock as he had a great potential.
I released the following players as cap casualties.
RB Bart Ellington
TE Herb Davis
S Kirk Schuler

I then proceeded to camp. I had no real busts or breakouts but Woodcock won't be as good as expected. He still should play in this league a good many years.

I need to make a few more moves.

Gone are:
TE Dave Winters
LB Steve Ruby
DT Dale Price

I then engineer a trade sending DT Tony Williams, who I no longer need and is eating cap space for CB Robert Tate who I will extend to 4 years as sone as Cage heals enough to move him.

In one other post camp move I release K Cary Collins and sign second year K Lonnie Witt to a 4yr deal. I am only 120k under the cap now and sitting with 52 players. This is not very comfortable and it's sad to see some players I'd like to move on, but I have decided that this is my team and I'll make do as best I can.

From the desk of Alan Carr of the Tampa Bay Bucs

  

  Position/Player         Current Est  Future Est     Exp   Sgnd

  QB  Hugh Griffith                 7          13       2   2009   

  QB  Brady Bell                    3           6       2   2009   

  QB  Chester Rowland               3           9       1   2005   

  RB  Terrance Diaz                13          14       2   2007   

  RB  Everett Burks                11          15       1   2007   

  RB  Chad McCleon                  5           6       2   2009   

  FB  Eric Schueler                 5           8       1   2005   

  FB  Brandon Shaw                  3           4       2   2009   

  TE  Ellis Farr                   12          13       2   2006   

  TE  Tito Glenn                    5           7       2   2009   

  TE  Toby Boyd                     4           4       1   2005   

  WR  Bobby Shaw                    9          10       7   2006   

  WR  Mike Pritchard                7           7      14   2006   

  WR  Earl Horner                   7           9       2   2005   

  WR  Larry Parker                  7           8       6   2006   

  WR  Alex Cole                     7           8       2   2005   

   C  Dana Brown                    8          10       3   2005   

   C  Gary Winslett                 7           9       2   2009   

   G  Todd Rucci                    7           7      12   2006   

   G  Greg Nafis                    5           7       2   2009   

   G  Johnny Bone                   4           6       2   2009   

   G  Rico Fisher                   4           7       2   2009   

   T  Mike Wahle                    8           8       7   2006   

   T  Cole Grubbs                   7           9       2   2009   

   T  Deon de la Rosa               3           3       2   2009   

   P  Hugh Mackie                   6           7       2   2009   

   K  Lonnie Witt                  12          13       2   2007   

  DE  Chad Bratzke                 14          14      11   2006   

  DE  Kurt Hasty                    4           7       2   2009   

  DE  Amos Schultz                  3           5       2   2009   

  DT  Jason Fisk                   10          10      10   2006   

  DT  Bernard Robb                  9          11       1   2006   

  DT  Dan Greathouse                8          16       1   2008   

  DT  Zach Hopper                   4          10       2   2009   

  LB  Andy Katzenmoyer             11          11       6   2006   

  LB  Ryan Phillips                 9           9       8   2006   

  LB  Norm Woodcock                 6          12       1   2010   

  LB  R.J. Dunn                     4           7       2   2004   

  LB  Skip Welch                    4           9       2   2004   

  LB  Herb Farley                   4           6       2   2009   

  LB  Karl Gulley                   3          13       1   2005   

  CB  Paul Ford                     9          10       5   2006   

  CB  Robert Tate                   8           8       8   2004   

  CB  Dre' Bly                      7           8       6   2006   

  CB  Nolan Cage                    6           6       5   2006   

  CB  Seth Whiting                  4           5       2   2009   

   S  Ron Rice                     14          14      10   2006   

   S  Mike Minter                  11          12       8   2006   

   S  Norm Mack                     9          15       1   2006   

   S  Dave Ward                     5           6       2   2009   

   S  Amos Hutchins                 4           5       2   2009  

[Axxon]

In a shameless Dola Post and a tie in to the OT:Porn name post on the general board, G Johnny Bone won a spot on the active roster over G Rico Fisher as he had more endurance. GROAN, sad but true

[Axxon]

Preseason 2004:

San Diego 10 Tamp Bay 36
Dallas 28 Tampa 41 - great game for us
Carolina 37 Tampa Bay 10
Tampa Bay 7 Seattle 13

Only one injury and it isn't of any note. TE Farr has a sprained ankle and will be full strength in 0-2 weeks. Cage is still 3-5 weeks away from full recovery from his torn knee ligament and eventual cutting
Bring on the season and may we improve on last year.

First Quarter 2004:

Week 1:
Cleveland ( 0-0 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 0-0 )

Our season opener and at home. The sun shines bright and the fans sweat. Yes, this truly is football in Tampa.
Griffiths hits 2-2 17 yds but gets hurt and gives way to Rowland who goes 19-29 170 2td's in an impressive performance. This is why I drafted him you know.
Diaz went 12-56 and a td while Burks went 10-68. This is a great 1-2 punch backfield. Pritchard was the best receiver catching 5-76 w/ a td.
On the D side, DE Bratzke had a whopping 5 sacks today to win POG and DPOW. A nice effort by the whole team and a good way to start the season. On the injury front, TE Farr reinjured his ankle and T Grubbs pulled his groin. Both of these are of the 3-5 week variety and are our worst current injuries.
W24-10

Week 2:
Tampa Bay ( 1-0 ) @ Minnesota ( 1-0 )

A big conference game, but to be on the safe side we are hiding our injuries as this is a long year. We hope to be competetive and we played them tough last year, but one game does not a season make.
What can we say. We stayed with them on the ground. We outgained them in the air. We outscored them on offense, but we had no match for POG Teagues 48 yd int return. He deserved POG as that was the difference today.

Diaz ran 10-47 and Burks ran 6-20 and a td .

Griffith was a decent 21-40 274 1td 2 int. Horner caught to the tune of 5-115 and Shaw caught 5-56 and the td. Witt pitched in 3 fg and an extra point.
ON D DT Fisk contained the ground game getting 6tkls 2 asst. Rookie Robb had a sack as well. A good game on the road but we fell on the int return.
L 22-28

Week 3:
Chicago ( 2-0 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 1-1 )

We get an undefeated at home. Aikman is healthy so the Aikman to Jimmie Smith connection is to be watched. I think we are up to this challenge.

This was a tight game. We were up 19-7 at the end of the 3rd but Chicago wasn't 2-0 for nothing. They tacked 10 points on us in the final but the D stiffened at the end to preserve the victory.

Diaz was the POG off a 19-140 1 td effort. Griffith was a comfy 17-28 129 but had 2 int's. DT Robb picked up a fumle and took it 10 yds for a td and Witt added a couple of field goals. Bratzke had 3 sacks and is looking exceptionally good this year. Tate added an int as well. Ona bleak note DE Schults sprained his back and qill be out 2-3 months.
W19-17

Sometimes guys have performances that make you go hmm. Seattle qb Deon Wolfe went 28-38 556 yds and 5 td. Hmm, he is "Deon" Wolfe. Damned his accursed useless 'e' Aarghhh, he's a fourth year player and a 4th round pick as well. Why isn't he on MY team.

Week 4:
Tampa Bay ( 2-1 ) @ Detroit ( 2-1 )
Getting some quality conference games over in a hurry. This one also promises to be tight. My hope is that they will party too much on Saturday night and be ineffective on Sunday. SE Keith Richard makes that hope a good possibility
I ended moving talented backup DT Hopper to end to replace the loser Schultzas I am broke but the move was a disaster so I now have 2 sorry DE's.
Detroit stops our run pretty much. Diaz goes 19-38 and a td. Burks is a miserable 15-40. The running game stunk.
Griffith was 16-29 112 yds and 2 tds. Shaw coughtone as part of his 3-51 1td performance. Pritchard was 3-16 1 td and they led all receivers.

K Witt hit 2 fgs and 4 pats. Mackie punted 12 times for a 46.3 avg and 6 in the 20. I don't really care that my scout doens't like him.

Newly moved DE Hopper had 2.5 sacks so maybe he'll be ok as a back up end.

We had 4 ints. One each by Mack, Phillips Ford and Whiting. Ford took his 14 yds and a td and the obligatory POG.

All in all we had no stand outs but we controlled Detroit with our D and chipped away well enough to put pts onthe board.

One very frustrating event is that CB Tate disclocated his knee and will be down for 2-3 months. Luckily we hadn't released Cage yet so he can fill in but it looks like Tate's tenure with us is in jeapordy as we can't extend him just yet.

W37-11.

We end the first quarter of 2004 with a 3-1 record which ties us with Minnesota for first place. We have already played three conference games and are a respectable 2-1. This season shows marked improvement for us but the injuries threaten and confidence we may have built. Second quarter to come soon.

[Axxon]

Second Quarter 2004:

SOme fairly extensive injury juggling but we're ready.

Week 5:
St Louis ( 2-2 ) @ Tampa Bat ( 3-1 )
A real test of our mettle. Are we for real?
We open the scoring with Griffith hitting
Shaw for a td. Rams answer with a 32 yd Longwell fg. Witt answers with fg's of ( 49,38,48 ) to put us up 16-3. On the last play of the game Chun hits Chang for an 80yd td. What's up with that?? Were these the Shanghai Rams bymistake??

Diaz was controlled managing only 21-64. QB Griffith was the second best rusher 5-20. As a passer he went 8-14 87 1/1. His back up Rowland went 11/18 108. COntrol football there. Shaw again caught the sole td catching all 7 passes thrown his way for 68 yds.

W 16-9

Week 6:
Tampa Bay ( 4-1 ) @ New Orleans ( 4-1 )
We get this Favre led team in their Dome. Fun.

We got smashed on the ground. Griffith tried his best going 19-30 175 1 td but we rely on the run to control the game and we couldn't do it. We did get 2 ints but this was their game.

L7-20

Week 7:
Bye

This was a good week for the bye. We need the rest and the time to reflect on how far we've come.

Week 8:
Green Bay ( 2-4 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 4-2 )

We'd better get back on track here or this may be a long season.

Shaw started the scoring off with a 79 yd punt return. He then caught a 10 yd td from Griffith. Griffith hit Horner for a 5yd pass and Diaz closed the scoring with a 15 yd td. Yes, we shut the Packers out. A great game. Here's some stats:
Diaz 19-90 1td
Griffith 17-29 165 2/1
Shaw 7-74 1td and the monster return. POG

The D was so dominate that there aren't any stand outs just kudo's all around. Great game guys.
W28-0

Week 9:
Tampa Bay ( 5-2 ) @ Cincinnati ( 4-3 )

We look forward to playing Qb Moreno 5td/10 int but this is still a dangerous game in a foreign stadium. I try to keep our heads in the game and it seems to be working but after we had some long missed success it's hard to say what we'll bring this game.

What a disaster. Not only did we lose. Not by a lot but a loss anyway. We also lose S Ron Rice until the playoffs with a sprained back. I hate good ratings at avoid injury. We have a competetive team this year

Diaz 16-51 1 td
Griffith 14-33 135 5 int. Guess they wanted griffith like we wanted Moreno.
Bratzke 2 sacks. Hasty 1.5 sacks. Ford had our only int.
L15-7

Third Quarter 2004:


Week 10:
Tampa Bay ( 5-3 ) @ Green Bay ( 2-6 )

This is a return engagement in their crib. They are ready. Diaz 12-5 Griffith 18-29 272 1/1. Katzenmoyer 10/4 and a sack. NO int's.
L14-12

Week 11:
Minnesota ( 5-4 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 5-4 )

This is a bad week for the rematch but it is at home. We simply must step up.

Did I mention that Minnesota hates us?? We jumped to an early 22-0 lead. They tried a valiant comeback but this one was ours 22-14.

Diaz - 17-42. Our running game is gone.
Griffith 21-37 235 1/1 not bad for an URFA
Farr was 3-88 1 td and POG. D had no sacks but 3 ints by three guys.
W22-14 - We are in sole possession of first place in the central

Week 12:
Detroit ( 5-4-1 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 6-3 )

This is for first place. We killed them in Detroit. Now we get the rematch. This is when the true talent rises to the top. I wish it was us and it may be, but we are so inconsistant. Which team will show up today??

They owned the 4th quarter kicking the game winner with 47 seconds to go in the game.

Diaz 17-73
Griffith 15-29 175 2td
Shaw 3-42 2td

Katzenmoyer 14/2
Bratzke 2 sacks

Detroits 2 tds were an 69yd pr by Coleman and a Hatcher Fumble recovery he took 66yd for the td. This was fluky but a wasted opportunity. To make matters worse we lose LB Gulley until next year, DT Robb and CB Bly for 3-5 weeks. I feel miserable but in a kick my opponents butt sort of way.

Week 13:
Tennessee ( 9-2 ) @ Tampa Bay ( 6-5 )

Ok, this should be good. They have QB Chandler who has been a phenom with a 20/6 td/int ratio. We fill in as needed and bring our game on. Tate comes back way too early but he's better of than Bly.

The game was costly. Here's our injury report.

Mike Minter, S - Bruised Ribcage, full strength in 0-2 Weeks

Ron Rice, S - Sprained Back, full strength in time for the playoffs

Robert Tate, CB - Dislocated Knee, full strength in 2005

Dre' Bly, CB - Dislocated Shoulder, full strength in 3-5 Weeks

Kurt Hasty, DE - Stretched Knee Ligament, full strength in 3-5 Weeks

Dave Ward, S - Deep Thigh Bruise, full strength in 0-2 Weeks

Bernard Robb, DT - Sprained Neck, full strength in 0-2 Weeks

Karl Gulley, LB - Sprained Back, full strength in 2005

Norm Mack, S - Concussion, full strength in 3-5 Weeks

We did play well though.

Diaz was a cool 10-162 but didn't find the end zone.
Burks was 7-44 but he dindn't get there either.
Griffith was 21-31 220 3/2
Farr was 3 28 2tds. Not bad.
Horner had our best effort with 8-52.

W34-24

At the 3/4 mark we are tied with Chicago at 7-5 but we are listed ahead of them. We have a slew of injuries to beat and a lot of football to play.