SkyDog's House Arrest Austin Plainsmen [Archive]

Ben E Lou

03-30-2001, 10:42 AM

SKYDOG’S VERSION OF THE HOUSE ARREST CHALLENGE

I like Quik’s idea of a “House Arrest” challenge. I want to give it a shot. Austin is the expansion team for 2002 after a couple of years' quicksimmed. Here are Quik’s rules, then my changes/addenda, in italics:

FOF 2001, Wall Street, empty cupboard start with the 2002 expansion team. same

Ticket prices no higher than those of my nearest geographic competitor (Denver)--Dallas

Several contract restrictions, including:

-no signing non-rookie new players, other than the second half of the 20-stage FA process—same

-no unrealistic contract durations for first and second year players (generally 3-4 years only)—I will play max 3 year contracts for second year signees. First year guys explained below.

-no backloading of contracts - annual salary increases up to 25% only—same

-any free agent seeking a bonus gets one at least as big as the second year's salary—same, including my own FA's and RFA's who I'm trying to re-sign

-URFAs get one year deals, or else the deal outlined below

-URFAs may get a 7yr deal: x = rookie min, 2x, 3x, 3x, 3x, 3x, 3x; plus x bonus—I will play that only ONE player per year can get a 7-year deal. Other URFA's can get a max 3yr deal. If they sign a 3-year deal, they must get a bonus as big as the year one contract.

No contract renegotiations, and no franchise tag - everyone re-signed through the free market—same

Full roster of 53 each season (no going cheap by leaving roster holes)—same

Player from home state college at each position group (RB/FB, WR/TE, OL, DL, LB, DB, QB/P/K)—same. I'll be absolutely strict on this since its Texas.

Severely restricted trading.--No inititating trades. On AI offers, I must throw in a 7th-round pick (and the AI must accept).

I think this should be a lot of fun.

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-05-2001).]

Ben E Lou

03-30-2001, 10:53 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2002 PRELIMINARIES

HEAD COACH
<pre>Nate Driggers
Age: 39
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: G
RB: F YOUNG TALENT: F
WR: VG MOTIVATION: G
OL: VG DISCIPLINE: VG
DL: F OFFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
LB: F DEFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
DB: G AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre>Louis Collins
Age: 47
REPUTATION
QB: F DL: G
RB: VG LB: F
WR: P DB: VG
OL: VG YOUNG TALENT: VG
K: G</pre>

Stadium
Capacity: 66,700
Type: Outdoor/Natural Grass
Upper Deck: 19,300 seats
End Zone: 14,000
Mezzanine: 8,100
Sidelines: 12,400
Club Seats: 9,500
Luxury Boxes: 140

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 35
Support For New Stadium: 0

Our default ticket prices were very near the Cowboys'. I set 'em exactly equal.

Upper Deck: 46
End Zone: 54
Mezzanine: 65
Sidelines: 111
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500(Dallas has no club seats so I use the Austin default value here.)
Luxury Boxes: 110,000

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-03-2001).]

Ben E Lou

03-30-2001, 11:32 AM

2002 AMATEUR DRAFT

I believe in man-to-man defense, so I’d love a cover corner. The best current-value player is a man-to-man cover corner with 100 INT rating and mostly red lines. Gotta grab him. Here’s the whole draft:

1(1): CB Johnny Mayberry: 57/60,70,42/44,100 with 86 endurance.
2(1): WR Dennis Wayner: 18/78 in catching, 34/100 in catch frequency
3(1): LB Tracy Preston: 17/78,14/61,6/31,16/71,66
4(1): C Spencer Hardy: 12/77,11/49,40
5(1): DE Archie Halbert: redliner, 32,27,33
6(1): LB Jake Hesse: near-redliner, 30/32,32,18,32,50
7(1): WR Nolan Chrysler: redliner, 20,64,25,40,41,24,64,50.

Seven Year Signee: TE Arnold McDowell—redliner—14,14,50,15,86,70,24—plus he’s from Rice so he helps with the Texas requirement.

I then sign a bunch and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

03-30-2001, 11:42 AM

2002 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: Around the 3rd dot.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
I’m going to run I, Split and Single back with cohesion low this year. All three are maxed. Goal line is set a little below the middle. Others minimized.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are nearly maxed.

Post Training Camp
Significant Breakouts:7th-round draft choice WR Nolan Chrysler breaks out to 31/51,91,36/59,78,61,37,100,85.
Significant Busts: None.
Season Ticket Sales: 41,200 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

03-30-2001, 12:00 PM

2002 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,30,35,30
2nd Down: 25,35,30,25
3rd Down: 50,20,10,20
4th Down: 50,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,55,15,10,5
Running: I-50, Pro-30, Single-20,
Very Likely Running: I-60,Pro-30, Single-10
Passing: I-15,Pro-30, Single-55
Very Likely Passing: I-5,Pro-35,Single-60
FB As Runner: 50

0WR: 20
1WR: 30
2WR: 50
3WR: 50
4WR: 30
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 99
Blitz Multiple: 70
M2M: 90
Bump/Run: 10

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 08:39 PM

2002 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 1-15
Standing: Last.
QB Stats: Cave, 200 for 404 (49.5%), 2001 yards, 9TD’s, 19INT’s, 51.7 Rating
Williamson, 133 for 266 (50.0%), 1460 yards, 7TD’s, 10INT’s, 59.7 Rating
Leading Rusher: Buckingham, 110 for 331 yards, 3.0avg, 3TD’s.
Leading Receiver: Dennis Wayne—88 catches
Leading Reception Yards: Wayne—1005 yards
Leading Receiving TD’s: Buddy Weber--7
Leading Tackler: LB Jake Hesse—77 tackles
Leading Pass Rusher: DT Philip Lindsay, 6.0 sacks, 1 blocks, 4 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Emmanuel Chacon—18 catches, 4 INT, 4 defensed, 43.8PDQ

Points Scored: 240
Points Against: 472

Rushing Yards: 801 (32nd)
Rushing Average: 3.1(League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 3461 (17th)
Passing Average: 5.1 (League Average 6.6)
Rushing Defense: 2462 (32nd)
Rushing Average Allowed: 4.4 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3719 (27th)
Passing Average Allowed: 7.3 (League Avg. 6.6)

*-denotes NFL leader

Well, we pretty much stunk. Lot of work to do.

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 08:45 PM

2002 POSTSEASON REPORT

Buffalo defeated Green Bay 20-17 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards
LB Jake Hesse—Defensive Rookie of the Year—77 tackles, 27 assists, 3.5 sacks, 2 INT’s
WR Dennis Wayne—Offensive Rookie of the Year—88 catches, 1005 yards, 5 TD’s

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 0
Frnc. Value: 69
Profit/Loss: 75
Difficulty: 75
YrEnd Score: 55

2002 Profit: $17.20M

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 09:02 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2003 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
My coach’s contract expires. I sign a new one who is better at developing young talent. There’s also a scout available who is a lot better than my current one. Here’s the update.

HEAD COACH
<pre>Eddie Ganus
Age: 46
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: VG
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: VG
WR: E MOTIVATION: F
OL: G DISCIPLINE: VG
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: G
LB: P DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: VG AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Winston Tucker
Age: 61
REPUTATION
QB: G DL: G
RB: E LB: F
WR: G DB: G
OL: VG YOUNG TALENT: VG
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 33
Support For New Stadium: 0

I leave prices where they were last year.

Upper Deck: 46
End Zone: 54
Mezzanine: 65
Sidelines: 111
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500
Luxury Boxes: 110,000

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-03-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 09:20 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2003 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $33.74M
Amount Needed For Draft: $5.76M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or replace as starters)
*G Freddie Gerhart—started all 16 games last year and wants around $1M per year. I’ll keep him around.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
T Byron Davis—16/52,16/40,47—could start
QB Steven Groves—Pretty good potential ratings and a 90 in 3rd-down passing. 2nd year guy. I ink him to a 3-year deal.
LB Richie Duffie—36/63,20/47,16/30,36/68,62—Looks pretty solid. Will start.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
G Gerhart

FA Analysis
Looks like I grabbed 3 decent starters.

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-03-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 09:52 PM

2003 AMATEUR DRAFT

1(1): T Brandon Child: 34/78,46/90,78—build that offensive line!
2(1): DT Rodney Bjorlin: 44/85,35/71,80—wow! I almost took him 1(1). Can’t believe he fell this far.
3(1): S Andre Oskolkoff: 49/92,47/93,35/58,41 with an 85 in endurance. Very good for this late.
4(1): DT Dana Franz: 31/82,26/66,40—looks like a starter.
5(1): QB Ike Croft: He and Steven Groves will battle it out in the preseason. I need to pick one to develop.
6(1): FB Seth Bridges: 10/83 in run blocking, 63 endurance. Should develop into a solid starter.
7(1): LB Bubba Baker: 15/57,10/41,11/35,16/52,62—could develop into a starter-caliber player.

Seven Year Signee: RB Robert Bonner—near redliner

I then sign a bunch and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 10:19 PM

2003 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 6 12 1 2005
QB Steven Groves 5 11 2 2005
QB Perry Cave 4 6 3 2004
RB Earl Mattingly 7 10 2 2004
RB Shannon Buckingham 6 7 2 2004
RB Vinny Jennings 5 5 2 2004
RB Robert Bonner 4 5 1 2009
FB Brant Wyman 8 9 2 2004
FB Seth Bridges 4 7 1 2004
TE Sean Mueller 9 9 3 2003
TE Buddy Farr 6 11 1 2005
TE Arnold McDowall 6 7 2 2008
WR Nolan Chrysler 15 16 2 2004
WR Dennis Wayne 12 13 2 2004
WR Jerald Loshbaugh 7 9 1 2003
WR Buddy Weber 6 6 3 2004
WR Kelly Lincoln 5 5 3 2005
C Spencer Hardy 8 8 2 2004
C Jerry Godfrey 6 9 2 2005
C Barry Ricketts 5 9 1 2003
G Freddie Gerhardt 8 8 2 2005
G Darrin Grier 6 6 2 2004
G Kevin Jobe 3 6 2 2004
G Jon Carden 3 9 1 2005
T Brandon Child 8 15 1 2007
T Byron Davis 7 8 2 2005
T Dusty Mueller 6 7 3 2004
T Kim Nichols 6 7 3 2004
P Nathan Spencer 11 12 3 2003
K Jamie Haines 12 14 3 2004
DE Archie Halbert 6 10 2 2004
DE Kenny Blair 5 6 3 2004
DE Britt Padgett 5 5 3 2004
DE Eric Nicholson 4 4 3 2004
DT Rodney Bjorlin 9 14 1 2005
DT Dana Franz 7 13 1 2004
DT Phillip Lindsay 4 8 2 2004
DT Jesse Richard 3 7 2 2004
LB Tracy Preston 7 8 2 2004
LB Richie Duffy 6 10 2 2005
LB Jake Hesse 5 10 2 2003
LB Thomas Glover 4 7 3 2006
LB Bubba Baker 3 8 1 2005
LB Jimmy Elliott 2 4 2 2004
CB Johnny Mayberry 12 16 2 2007
CB Emmanuel Chacon 6 8 2 2004
CB Wesley Barber 5 10 1 2005
CB Neil Sampson 4 5 3 2004
CB Richie Cox 4 4 3 2004
S Andre Oskolkoff 9 13 1 2006
S Dustin Knight 7 8 2 2004
S Luke Stokes 4 8 2 2004
S Raymond Money 3 6 3 2004</pre>

Stadium: 51
Roster Strength: 2
Support: 39
Economy: 55
Cohesion: 51,56,49,49

Outlook: Call me crazy, but I think we might have a decent offense this year. The line is improved. The receivers look great, and 5th-round QB Ike Croft looks like he could be the guy for us. The defense also has a chance to be decent. I’m thinking we can win 5 games this year.

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 10:20 PM

2003 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,40,40,30
2nd Down: 25,40,40,30
3rd Down: 65,20,10,20
4th Down: 50,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,45,25,10,5
Running: I-50, Pro-30, Single-20,
Very Likely Running: I-60,Pro-30, Single-10
Passing: I-15,Pro-50, Single-35
Very Likely Passing: I-5,Pro-50,Single-45
FB As Runner: 20

0WR: 20
1WR: 30
2WR: 50
3WR: 50
4WR: 30
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 10:50 PM

2003 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 5-11
Standing: 4th Place
QB Stats: Croft, 195 for 375 (52.0%), 2282 yards, 15TD’s, 23INT’s, 58.5 Rating
Groves, 118 for 198 (59.5%), 1220 yards, 6TD’s, 11INT’s, 64.3 Rating
Leading Rusher: Mattingly, 159 for 597 yards, 3.7avg, 7TD’s.
Leading Receiver: Dennis Wayne—82 catches
Leading Reception Yards: Wayne—1126 yards
Leading Receiving TD’s: Wayne--10
Leading Tackler: LB Tracy Preston—110 tackles
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Archie Halbert—7.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 4 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Johnny Mayberry—27 catches, 3 INT, 9 defensed, 36.1PDQ

Points Scored: 280
Points Against: 406

Rushing Yards: 1109 (32nd)
Rushing Average: 3.2(League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 3505 (18th)
Passing Average: 6.1 (League Average 6.7)
Rushing Defense: 1939 (31st)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.7 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3636 (21st)
Passing Average Allowed: 7.4 (League Avg. 6.7)

*-denotes NFL leader

We were much more competitive. Played both Croft and Groves at QB. Eventually I’m going to have to pick one.

Ben E Lou

04-03-2001, 10:54 PM

2003 POSTSEASON REPORT

New England defeated Atlanta 40-0 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards
LB Tracy Preston—1st—112 tackles, 51 assists, 6.5 sacks, 3 INT’s

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 10
Frnc. Value: 67
Profit/Loss: 63
Difficulty: 74
YrEnd Score: 53

2003 Profit: ($20.37M)

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 06:30 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2004 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
I keep the same coach. There’s a great scout available who is new to the league. I sign him. Here’s the update.:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Eddie Ganus
Age: 47
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: E
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: VG
WR: E MOTIVATION: F
OL: G DISCIPLINE: VG
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: G
LB: P DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: VG AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dwight Pritchett
Age: 53
REPUTATION
QB: E DL: G
RB: G LB: E
WR: E DB: E
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 28
Support For New Stadium: 0

I leave prices where they were last year.

Upper Deck: 46
End Zone: 54
Mezzanine: 65
Sidelines: 111
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500
Luxury Boxes: 110,000

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-04-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 06:41 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2004 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $25.97
Amount Needed For Draft: $5.00M
Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or replace as starters)
*TE Sean Mueller—RFA—Has had 2 solid seasons as a starter. I’d like to re-sign him.
*P Nathan Spencer—RFA—If no one better is around come Week 11, I’ll re-sign.
*LB Jake Hesse—RFA—I can probably do better via free agency.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
No one available who is a 4th-year-or-less man (no real NFL players) is any good at all, so I totally abstain.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
All three from above are re-signed to 3-year deals. Still lots of cap room. That will surely change soon. All these equal-to-second-year-of-contract bonuses are interesting too.

FA Analysis
Well, there’s still lots of pieces needed to make this team a contender.

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 08:33 PM

2004 AMATEUR DRAFT

1(5): S Victor Whipple: 42/90,38/84,46/97,84…72 endurance—always good to have a big-time safety.
2(5): T Nathan Cohen: 35/67,22/43,62. A solid-looking guy to start at RT.
3(5): G Deron Hoffman: 11/44,18/70,49. Could be a nice starting RG.
4(5): DT Roman Reiswig: 27/58,15/35,74. Can always use help at DT.
5(5): RB Zach Newsome: Pretty solid ratings and he’s from TCU to boot.
6(5): TE Dusty Preston: 31/72 in run blocking. Mediocre elsewhere. A solid backup at worst.
7(5): LB Harry Barlow: near redliner—20/21,20,41,30/32,52.

Seven Year Signee: LB Wes Burhart—8/18,17/35,12/24,17/33,65. Not great, but he’s from the University of Texas

I then sign a bunch and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 08:45 PM

2004 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: Around the 4th dot.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
With a decent back and an improving offensive line, I’m going to run a 75-type offense, keeping the fullback and TE on the field all the time. I max out I, Pro and Strong I and zero out Weak I, Single Back and Shotgun. Goal Line is set around the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are nearly maxed.

Post Training Camp
Significant Breakouts: 4th-round DT Reiswig improves to 31/84, 18/54, 92. NICE!!! 7th round LB Barlow modestly improves to 25/37,27/54/77,43/60,66

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 33,500 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 09:01 PM

2004 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 8 8 2 2005
QB Steven Groves 7 9 3 2005
QB Perry Cave 4 7 4 2004
RB Zach Newsome 8 8 1 2006
RB Earl Mattingly 8 8 3 2004
RB Shannon Buckingham 7 7 3 2004
RB Robert Bonner 5 7 2 2009
FB Brant Wyman 10 10 3 2004
FB Seth Bridges 6 6 2 2004
TE Sean Mueller 8 8 4 2006
TE Dusty Preston 6 10 1 2006
TE Arnold McDowall 5 5 3 2008
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 16 3 2004
WR Dennis Wayne 15 17 3 2004
WR Buddy Weber 6 9 4 2004
WR Mario Harmon 6 6 1 2004
WR Nolan Jeffries 5 5 1 2006
C Spencer Hardy 9 10 3 2004
C Jerry Godfrey 6 6 3 2005
C Will Allen 5 10 1 2006
G Freddie Gerhardt 8 8 3 2005
G Darrin Grier 7 8 3 2004
G Jon Carden 5 6 2 2005
G Deron Hoffman 3 11 1 2007
T Brandon Child 14 14 2 2007
T Nathan Cohen 7 11 1 2006
T Kim Nichols 7 10 4 2004
T Dusty Mueller 6 9 4 2004
P Nathan Spencer 10 10 4 2006
K Jamie Haines 13 13 4 2004
DE Archie Halbert 7 7 3 2004
DE Kenny Blair 5 9 4 2004
DE Britt Padgett 5 7 4 2004
DE Eric Nicholson 4 9 4 2004
DT Rodney Bjorlin 11 11 2 2005
DT Dana Franz 9 11 2 2004
DT Roman Reiswig 6 17 1 2006
DT Phillip Lindsay 5 5 3 2004
LB Tracy Preston 9 12 3 2004
LB Harry Barlow 8 9 1 2006
LB Richie Duffy 7 8 3 2005
LB Jake Hesse 5 5 3 2006
LB Wes Burhart 4 5 1 2010
LB Bubba Baker 4 6 2 2005
CB Johnny Mayberry 15 15 3 2007
CB Emmanuel Chacon 6 6 3 2004
CB Neil Sampson 5 7 4 2004
CB Wesley Barber 4 4 2 2005
CB Richie Cox 4 6 4 2004
S Andre Oskolkoff 9 12 2 2006
S Victor Whipple 7 19 1 2009
S Dustin Knight 6 6 3 2004
S Luke Stokes 4 4 3 2004 </pre>

Stadium: 52
Roster Strength: 41
Support: 35
Economy: 56
Cohesion: 56,49,50,54

Outlook: Offensive line is better and we have a decent-looking RB. We might just be able to hold the ball some this year. We might just approach 7-win mediocrity this season.

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 09:14 PM

2004 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,75,40
2nd Down: 50,75,40,35
3rd Down: 65,20,10,20
4th Down: 65,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 14,41,36,6,3
Running: I-40, Pro-30, Strong--30
Very Likely Running: I-55, Pro-20, Strong--25
Passing: I-20, Pro-55, Strong--20
Very Likely Passing: I-10, Pro-70, Strong--20
FB As Runner: 15

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 65
4WR: 20
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 10:03 PM

2004 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 9-7
Standing: 2nd Place—1 game behind division champion Oakland. We missed the playoffs.
QB Stats: Croft, 252 for 455 (55.3%), 3065 yards, 17TD’s, 14INT’s, 75.9 Rating
Leading Rusher: Zach Newsome—220 carries for 811 yards, 3.6ypc, 4TD’s. Earl Mattingly--145 for 674 yards, 4.6avg, 9TD’s. (Mattingly broke his jaw in game 12 and missed the rest of the season.)
Leading Receiver: Dennis Wayne—83 catches. Nolan Chrysler had 77.
Leading Reception Yards: Wayne—1182 yards. Chrysler had 1046.
Leading Receiving TD’s: Chrysler and WR3 Buddy Weber had 5 each.
Leading Tackler: S Oskolkoff--74
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Archie Halbert—9.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 8 hurries. (DE Pagett had 10.5 sacks.)
Leading PDQ DB: CB Johnny Mayberry—17 catches, 6 INT, 6 defensed, 59.9PDQ

Points Scored: 358
Points Against: 319

Rushing Yards: 1877 (11th)
Rushing Average: 3.6 (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 3158 (27th)
Passing Average: 6.7 (League Average 6.6)
Rushing Defense: 1692 (16th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 4.2 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3583 (22nd)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.4 (League Avg. 6.6)

*-denotes NFL leader

CB Mayberry was just brilliant. He was injured for a while and only played in 10 games. QB Ike Croft looks like he can lead the team. The offensive line got us some rushing yards. We achieve mediocrity in only our 3rd season. Next goal: the playoffs!

Ben E Lou

04-04-2001, 10:06 PM

2004 POSTSEASON REPORT

Indianapolis defeated Green Bay 34-10 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards
K Jamie Haines—1st Team—31 for 37 FG’s, 33 for 34 PAT.

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 52
Frnc. Value: 72
Profit/Loss: 65
Difficulty: 74
YrEnd Score: 65

2004 Profit: ($19.53M)

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 06:03 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2005 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
I keep the same scout. There’s a great coach available whose contract just ran out. I sign him. Here’s the update.:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Roger LaCroix
Age: 58
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: E
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: E MOTIVATION: G
OL: VG DISCIPLINE: VG
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: E AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dwight Pritchett
Age: 54
REPUTATION
QB: VG DL: G
RB: G LB: E
WR: E DB: E
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 33
Support For New Stadium: 2

With a winning season last year and fan loyalty rising, I bump ticket prices up a bit to match Dallas prices.

Upper Deck: 50
End Zone: 56
Mezzanine: 67
Sidelines: 115
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500
Luxury Boxes: 122,000

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 06:51 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2005 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $50.57
Amount Needed For Draft: $3.90M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or replace as starters)

Now the challenge gets interesting. Some decisions are going to be made, plus 5th-year FA’s will be available week 11.

RB Earl Mattingly—RFA--Unless I have a superstar here, I’ll not be re-signing RB’s. If I keep my OL strong, anyone can run behind it.
*FB Brant Wyman—RFA--Had a 43.7 KRBPct last year.
*WR Nolan Chrysler—RFA—I’ll do all I can to keep him.
*WR Dennis Wayne—RFA—Ditto Chrysler.
WR Buddy Weber—I’ll let him fly and try to draft/sign a WR3-type guy.
*C Spencer Hardy—RFA—Not great. If I find a better option, I’ll pursue.
G Darrin Grier—RFA—2nd year man Deron Hoffman is ready for a shot.
*K Jamie Haines—1st-Team All Pro last year. I’ll try to re-sign him.
*DE Archie Halbert—RFA—has been solid despite below-average ratings. I’ll try to re-sign.
*DE Kenny Blair—don’t know if I’ll be able to afford
DT Dana Franz—RFA—last year’s 4th-round breakout, Roman Reiswig, is ready to step in.
*LB Tracy Preston—RFA—was all-pro 2 years ago. Scout says he’s my best LB. I’d like to keep him around.
*CB Emmanuel Chacon—RFA—I’d rather look elsewhere for a starter if one’s around.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
DE Otis Mobley—4yrs,$14.5M—52/53,49/52,49. Very solid 5th-year man. Played the first years of his career in Buffalo. Had 16 sacks last year, and 14 the year before. Nice help for the DL.
LB Jim Roberston—3yrs, $4.5M—20/46,21/52,17/42,25/58,62—2nd-year man. Played all 16 games as a backup for Dallas last year, recording 41 tackles and a 15.2 TkPct. Solid all around. Could start for me soon. Good price.
CB Fernando Rogers—4yrs,$17.55M—39/52,49/73,47/71,60…32 endurance. 5th-year man. Never a full-time starter before. Played 60 games in four years with St. Louis. Looks like a solid 2nd cover corner in my M2M scheme.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
DE Blair—3yrs,$19.48M
K Haines—3yrs,$4.98M
FB Wyman—3yrs,$5.00M
WR Wayne—4yrs,$17.25M
WR Chrysler—4yrs,$16.5M
C Hardy—3yrs,$8.6M
LB Preston—3yrs,$8.6M

The above were the key guys. After getting them, I still have some money to play with, so I re-sign the following backups to one-year deals (unless otherwise noted) to help depth and cohesion:

WR Weber--$3.75M
CB Chacon—$2.4M
S Knight—3yrs,$3.34M (Hey, he was cheap!)
G Grier--$3.2M
DT Franz--$4.84M

FA Analysis
I kept the everyone I wanted from last year’s young 9-7 team AND picked up some key defensive help. The playoffs still seem to be a possibility.

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-05-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 07:45 AM

2005 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: RB
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: TE, G, P, LB
Depth Needed: T, DE
1(19): LB Alonzo Stokes: 47/66,54/76,36/50,70. If he doesn’t bust, he starts from Day 1.
2(19): T Heath Hammers: 23/85,12/48,56. Good backup. Future starter.
3(19): DE Deion Crockett: 25/78,13/40,65. Another good backup/future starter at a position where I needed depth!
4(19): G Brett McIntyre: 24/57,21/50,80. Should become a solid starter.
5(19): RB Harold Angelo: All currents 20’s-40’s. Potentials 30’s-50’s. Decent.
6(19): FB Bert Westbrook: 14/51 in run blocking, 18/77 in catching, 21/89 in catch frequency. He could fit well into my system if he lives up to his potentials.
7(19): WR Gene Hanson: near redliner from SMU—32/39,60,20/26,18,61….33 endurance

Draft Thoughts: If no one busts, I seriously met my needs. Yes!

Seven Year Signee: CB Melvin Joseph—pure redliner 10,5,14,28,2,2,31

I then sign a handful of URFA’s and head to training camp.

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-05-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 07:52 AM

2005 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: Around the 4th dot.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
I’m going to stick with last year’s offense, keeping the FB and TE on the field all the time. I max out I, Pro and Strong I and zero out Weak I, Single Back and Shotgun. Goal Line is set around the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are nearly maxed.

Post Training Camp
Significant Breakouts: None.
Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 34,500 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 08:05 AM

2005 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 10 11 3 2005
QB Steven Groves 8 9 4 2005
QB Nicky Reynolds 3 9 1 2007
RB Zach Newsome 9 9 2 2006
RB Harold Angelo 7 12 1 2006
RB Cary Rioux 5 8 1 2007
RB Robert Bonner 5 7 3 2009
FB Brant Wyman 9 9 4 2007
FB Bert Westbrook 4 10 1 2006
TE Sean Mueller 9 9 5 2006
TE Dusty Preston 9 9 2 2006
TE Arnold McDowall 5 5 4 2008
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 16 4 2008
WR Dennis Wayne 15 16 4 2008
WR Buddy Weber 6 9 5 2005
WR Gene Hanson 6 6 1 2007
WR Nolan Jeffries 5 5 2 2006
C Spencer Hardy 8 10 4 2007
C Will Allen 7 9 2 2006
C Jerry Godfrey 6 6 4 2005
G Freddie Gerhardt 9 9 4 2005
G Brett McIntyre 8 8 1 2007
G Deron Hoffman 7 13 2 2007
G Darrin Grier 7 7 4 2005
T Brandon Child 15 15 3 2007
T Nathan Cohen 12 12 2 2006
T Heath Hammers 3 13 1 2008
T Lorenzo Turner 2 5 1 2007
P Nathan Spencer 11 11 5 2006
K Jamie Haines 12 12 5 2007
DE Otis Mobley 9 11 5 2008
DE Kenny Blair 6 10 5 2007
DE Deion Crockett 3 10 1 2008
DE Billy Woolsey 1 2 1 2005
DT Dana Franz 14 14 3 2005
DT Rodney Bjorlin 11 11 3 2005
DT Roman Reiswig 9 16 2 2006
DT Brett Buckner 2 10 1 2007
LB Tracy Preston 11 12 4 2007
LB Alonzo Stokes 9 11 1 2009
LB Harry Barlow 8 9 2 2006
LB Richie Duffy 8 8 4 2005
LB Jim Robertson 7 8 2 2007
LB Wes Burhart 4 6 2 2010
CB Johnny Mayberry 14 14 4 2007
CB Fernando Rogers 9 12 5 2008
CB Wesley Barber 5 5 3 2005
CB Emmanuel Chacon 4 4 4 2005
CB Melvin Joseph 3 3 1 2011
S Andre Oskolkoff 12 12 3 2006
S Victor Whipple 12 18 2 2009
S Dustin Knight 6 6 4 2007
S T.J. Coffey 3 7 1 2007 </pre>

Stadium: 54
Roster Strength: 79 (3rd-best in the NFL!)
Support: 39
Economy: 56
Cohesion: 43,62,46,46

Outlook: Every aspect of the team looks to be improved from last year. Anything short of a playoff birth will be at least somewhat a disappointment.

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 08:15 AM

2005 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,75,40
2nd Down: 50,75,40,35
3rd Down: 65,20,10,20
4th Down: 65,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,43,33,6,3
Running: I-40, Pro-30, Strong--30
Very Likely Running: I-55, Pro-20, Strong--25
Passing: I-20, Pro-55, Strong--25
Very Likely Passing: I-10, Pro-70, Strong--20
FB As Runner: 15

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 65
4WR: 20
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 08:38 AM

2005 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 7-1!
Standing: First place. Denver is 4-3. Seattle is 4-4.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 93 for 151 (61.5%), 1047 yards, 7TD’s, 2INT’s, 92.2 Rating
Leading Rusher: Zach Newsome, 125 for 623 yards, 4.9ypc, 4 TD’s
Leading Receiver: WR Dennis Wayne, 38 catches for 525 yards, 9TD’s
Leading Tackler:S Oskolkoff—47 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Just a note: WR Chrysler went down in Game 6 with a broken hand. He’s still listed as out as of after Game 8.

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 08:59 AM

2005 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 13-3
Standing: Won division by 4 games! Nice.
QB Stats: Croft, 245 for 393 (62.3%), 2938 yards, 22TD’s, 10INT’s, 93.2 Rating
Leading Rusher: Zach Newsome—261 carries for 1172 yards, 4.4ypc, 4TD’s.
Leading Receiver: Dennis Wayne—66 catches. Buddy Weber had 64.
Leading Reception Yards: Wayne—932 yards. Weber had 729.
Leading Receiving TD’s: Wayne had 9.
Leading Tackler: S Oskolkoff--82
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Otis Mobley—11.5 sacks, 3 blocks, 6 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: S Victor Whipple—38 catches,11 INT*, 8 defensed, 56.1PDQ

Points Scored: 404
Points Against: 251

Rushing Yards: 2241* (1st)
Rushing Average: 4.0 (League Average 3.7)
Passing Yards: 3412 (21st)
Passing Average: 7.3 (League Average 6.7)
Rushing Defense: 1424 (5th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.6 (League Avg 3.7)
Passing Defense: 3840 (25th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.9 (League Avg. 6.7)

*-denotes NFL leader

It all came together this year. Croft was one of the best QB’s in the league. The running game was bruising, and the defense was solid.

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 09:39 AM

2005 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 13-3
Standing: Won division by 4 games! Nice.
QB Stats: Croft, 245 for 393 (62.3%), 2938 yards, 22TD’s, 10INT’s, 93.2 Rating
Leading Rusher: Zach Newsome—261 carries for 1172 yards, 4.4ypc, 4TD’s.
Leading Receiver: Dennis Wayne—66 catches. Buddy Weber had 64.
Leading Reception Yards: Wayne—932 yards. Weber had 729.
Leading Receiving TD’s: Wayne had 9.
Leading Tackler: S Oskolkoff--82
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Otis Mobley—11.5 sacks, 3 blocks, 6 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: S Victor Whipple—38 catches,11 INT*, 8 defensed, 56.1PDQ

Points Scored: 404
Points Against: 251

Rushing Yards: 2241* (1st)
Rushing Average: 4.0 (League Average 3.7)
Passing Yards: 3412 (21st)
Passing Average: 7.3 (League Average 6.7)
Rushing Defense: 1424 (5th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.6 (League Avg 3.7)
Passing Defense: 3840 (25th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.9 (League Avg. 6.7)

*-denotes NFL leader

It all came together this year. Croft was one of the best QB’s in the league. The running game was bruising, and the defense was solid.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2005 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. Miami
The Dolphins come to town, and the Plainsman offense goes nuts in our first-ever playoff appearance. Croft is 18 for 28 for 281 yards, 4TD’ s and 1INT. Newsome rushes for 109 yards and 2 TD’s, and Wayned catches 8 passes for 165 yards and 3TD’s. Good guys win 45-28.

AFC Championship vs. Cincinnati
The Bengals shut us down most of the day, and when they kick a FG with 2:59 to play to give them a 24-13 lead, this one looks to be all over. However we strike back with a quick FG, then an onsides kick, then Croft hits Buddy Weber from 20 yards out with 4 seconds to play in regulation to make it 24-22. FB Wyman takes it over for the conversion and we go to OT. Alas, the Bengals regroup and score first to win 30-24 in a hard-fought game.

San Francisco defeated Cincinnati 17-7 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards
—1st Team—39 for 108 KRB, 5 sacks, 20.9 OPCT.
[bT Brandon Child—1st Team—27 for 70 KRB, 2 sacks, 15.5 OPCT.
DT Dana Franz—2nd Team—46 tackles, 11 assists, 6.5 sacks, 2 blocks, 4 hurries, 7.7 TkPct.

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 90
Frnc. Value: 79
Profit/Loss: 49
Difficulty: 73
YrEnd Score: 71

2005 Profit: ($36.26M)

I'd be very pleased to play in the NFC Championship game in the 4th season of ANY Empty Cupboard career. Even more pleased to be doing using the House Arrest rules! With not many guys up for Free Agency next year, 2006 should be our year to make a run at winning it all.

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 06:16 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2006 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
I’m quite happy with my coach and scout, both in reputation and in recent performance. I keep ‘em both.

HEAD COACH
<pre>Roger LaCroix
Age: 59
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: E
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: E MOTIVATION: G
OL: G DISCIPLINE: E
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: E AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dwight Pritchett
Age: 55
REPUTATION
QB: VG DL: G
RB: G LB: E
WR: E DB: E
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 44
Support For New Stadium: 12

Dallas’ prices don’t rise, so mine stay the same:

Upper Deck: 50
End Zone: 56
Mezzanine: 67
Sidelines: 115
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500
Luxury Boxes: 122,000

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 07:49 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2006 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $21.22
Amount Needed For Draft: $3.92M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or replace as starters)

*QB Ike Croft—RFA—Gotta re-sign him.
WR Buddy Weber—I can probably get a younger WR3 cheaper.
G Freddie Gerhart—Hmmm. Younger Deron Hoffman looks ready, but Gerhart has going for him the fact that he’s from Rice and has started all 64 games the Plainsmen have played in their history. Cohesion helper. Whether or not I keep him will come down to can I afford him.
*DT’s Dana Franz and Rodney Bjorlin—Both are 4th-year RFA’s. Franz has higher ratings and just slightly better performance. Bjorlin looks like he’ll come a little cheaper. 3rd-year man Roman Reiswig is ready to step in and start at one DT position, so I’d like to sign one of these guys.

Now the challenge gets even more interesting. Some decisions are going to be made, plus 6th-year FA’s will be available week 11.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
None.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
G Gerhardt—2yrs, $7M
QB Croft—5yrs,$29.5M—Might as well lock him up.
DT Franz—4yrs,$14.5M
DT Bjorlin—1yr, $4M—Since I could afford him after all was said and done, I’ll keep him one more year.

FA Analysis
Got almost everyone of significance coming back from last year’s 13-3 squad. Can’t complain.

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 08:18 PM

2006 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: None.
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: TE
Depth Needed: CB

1(30): LB Alonzo Ramey:2nd-best future potential guy available, AND he’s from Texas Southern. 31/83, 19/55,18/48,24/69, 74. Could start in a year or two.
2(30): CB Marco Prescott:He’ll help with CB depth. 15/63,18/73,9/40,46…61 endurance
3(30): G Paul Blackburn: Very solid. 26/68,21/50,58.
4(30): TE Peter Prescott: Should develop into a starter in a couple of years or so. 26/64,27/73,58,22/53,60,77,45.
5(30): C Howard Goad:Good depth at center. 13/62,9/42,46.
6(30): WR Mario Barron:near redliner—14,60,20/22,35,45…37 endurance
7(30): QB Melvin Schneider:needed a 3rd QB. Roster Filler.

Seven Year Signee: WR Bernard Joyner—from Texas A&M. 97 in punt returns, 67 in kick returns. Satisifies the Texas requirement and will run back kicks for me well.

I then sign a handful of URFA’s and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 08:28 PM

2006 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: Around the 4th dot.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
I’m going to stick with the same offense from the last two seasons, keeping the FB and TE on the field all the time. I max out I, Pro and Strong I and zero out Weak I, Single Back and Shotgun. Goal Line is set around the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are nearly maxed.

Post Training Camp
Significant Breakouts: 6th-round WR Mario Barron breaks out from 14,60,20/22,35,45…37 endurance to 19/41,89,29/56,50,67…..53 endurance. He’ll be my 3rd WR. Sweet!

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 37,600 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 08:44 PM

2006 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 12 12 4 2010
QB Nicky Reynolds 5 9 2 2007
QB Melvin Schneider 5 5 1 2008
RB Zach Newsome 10 10 3 2006
RB Cary Rioux 7 10 2 2007
RB Harold Angelo 5 9 2 2006
RB Robert Bonner 5 8 4 2009
FB Brant Wyman 9 9 5 2007
FB Bert Westbrook 7 9 2 2006
TE Dusty Preston 10 10 3 2006
TE Sean Mueller 9 9 6 2006
TE Peter Prescott 7 13 1 2009
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 16 5 2008
WR Dennis Wayne 15 16 5 2008
WR Mario Barron 9 11 1 2008
WR Bernard Joyner 7 7 1 2012
WR Gene Hanson 6 6 2 2007
C Spencer Hardy 9 10 5 2007
C Will Allen 7 10 3 2006
C Howard Goad 2 10 1 2008
G Brett McIntyre 13 13 2 2007
G Freddie Gerhardt 9 9 5 2007
G Deron Hoffman 8 11 3 2007
G Paul Blackburn 5 11 1 2008
T Brandon Child 15 15 4 2007
T Nathan Cohen 12 12 3 2006
T Heath Hammers 7 13 2 2008
T Lorenzo Turner 3 6 2 2007
P Nathan Spencer 11 11 6 2006
K Jamie Haines 13 13 6 2007
DE Otis Mobley 11 11 6 2008
DE Kenny Blair 6 8 6 2007
DE Deion Crockett 5 13 2 2008
DE Billy Joe Flynn 3 3 1 2006
DT Dana Franz 15 15 4 2009
DT Rodney Bjorlin 12 12 4 2006
DT Roman Reiswig 9 14 3 2006
DT Brett Buckner 3 8 2 2007
LB Tracy Preston 12 13 5 2007
LB Harry Barlow 11 11 3 2006
LB Alonzo Stokes 11 13 2 2009
LB Jim Robertson 9 10 3 2007
LB Alonzo Ramey 6 15 1 2010
LB Wes Burhart 5 6 3 2010
CB Johnny Mayberry 13 13 5 2007
CB Fernando Rogers 9 12 6 2008
CB Marco Prescott 4 13 1 2010
CB Melvin Joseph 4 4 2 2011
CB Burt Banerjee 4 4 1 2008
S Victor Whipple 15 18 3 2009
S Andre Oskolkoff 13 13 4 2006
S Dustin Knight 4 4 5 2007
S T.J. Coffey 3 6 2 2007 </pre>

Stadium: 54
Roster Strength: 93 (2nd-best in the NFL to Tampa Bay)
Support: 45
Economy: 55
Cohesion: 51,65,66,55

Outlook: Expectations are high in Austin. Whispers of a Super Bowl are being heard.

Ben E Lou

04-05-2001, 09:18 PM

2006 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,75,40
2nd Down: 50,75,40,35
3rd Down: 65,20,10,20
4th Down: 65,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 13,45,32,6,4
Running: I-40, Pro-30, Strong--30
Very Likely Running: I-55, Pro-20, Strong--25
Passing: I-20, Pro-55, Strong--25
Very Likely Passing: I-10, Pro-70, Strong--20
FB As Runner: 15

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 65
4WR: 20
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-06-2001, 06:11 AM

2006 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 7-0-1
Standing: First place. Oakland is 6-2, SD is 5-3.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 38 for 68 (55.8%), 535 yards, 1TD, 1INT, 80.1 Rating. He missed all of 4 games and part of another with a broken hand. Filling in was QB Nicky Reynolds, 96 for 158 (60.7%), 1198 yards, 8TD’s, 6 INT’s, 85.3 QB rtg.
Leading Rushers: Cary Rioux, 118 for 581, 4.9ypc, 5 TD’s. Zach Newsome, 93 for 409 yards, 4.3ypc, 4 TD’s. Rioux has only started twice. Most of that work has been off the bench.
Leading Receivers: WR Dennis Wayne, 44 catches for 702 yards, 6TD’s*. WR Nolan Chrysler, 43 catches fo 643 yards, 1 TD.
Leading Tackler:LB Preston—45 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Injuries of Note: QB Croft broke his hand as mentioned above. K Jamie Haines suffered a broken jaw in Game 3 and was listed as Out. I cut T Lorenzo Turner and signed rookie K Levon Kalu to replace him. Kalu is now probable and should return soon. LB Alonzo Stokes broke his jaw in game 6, and is still listed as Out. CB Fernando Rogers had shoulder surgery and is listed as Out (Long Term). All of the rookie FA CB’s stink, so I hold to the hope of him returning deep in the playoffs, and I don’t put him on the IR.

Ben E Lou

04-06-2001, 06:40 AM

2006 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 11-4-1
Standing: Won division. SD and Oakland were 10-6. We were 10-4-1 and SD 10-5 going into the last game of the season at SD. We took a 34-17 win in their back yard for the Division Title.
QB Stats: Croft, 126 for 236 (53.3%), 1749 yards, 9TD’s, 12INT’s, 68.9 Rating. He caught a SERIOUS interception bug when he came back from the injury. Threw four in each of the first two games back. I benched him for two more games after that. Improved at the end of the season, including leading us to the big win over SD. He’s my starter going into the playoffs. QB Nicky Reynolds, 152 for 264 (57.5%), 1833 yards, 13 TD’s, 11 INT’s, 78.0 Rating. Gave the job back to Croft with weak performances in key games down the stretch.
Leading Rushers: Zach Newsome, 235 for 981 yards, 4.1ypc, 5 TD’s. Cary Rioux, 173 for 702, 4.0ypc, 5 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 81 catches for 1187 yards, 4 TD’s. WR Dennis Wayne, 70 catches for 1102 yards, 11TD’s.
Leading Tackler: LB Tracy Preston—90 tackles
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Otis Mobley—13.5 sacks, 5 blocks, 10 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: S Andre Oskolokoff—27 catches,1 INT, 6 defensed, 28.1PDQ

Points Scored: 345
Points Against: 293

(Morgado, if you’re reading, the defense gave up a LOT more points after CB Rogers went down. As I said, TWO good CB’s are important in this defense.)

Rushing Yards: 1883 (8th)
Rushing Average: 3.7 (League Average 3.7)
Passing Yards: 3623 (13th)
Passing Average: 7.1 (League Average 6.8)
Rushing Defense: 1711 (18th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 4.1 (League Avg 3.7)
Passing Defense: 3055 (3rd)
Passing Average Allowed: 5.8 (League Avg. 6.8)

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-06-2001, 07:02 AM

2006 POSTSEASON REPORT

Wild Card Round vs. San Diego
Pre-Game Injury Report: WR Chrysler is questionable with a broken nose but will start. WR Wayne is doubtful and made inactive with a broken hand. T Nathan Cohen is out with a broken wrist. LB Alonzo Stokes is questionable, still healing from a broken jaw. I keep him inactive. CB Mayberry is questionable with shoulder tendonitis. He must start. CB Rogers is still out from the shoulder surgery. S Oskolkoff is probable with a dislocated shoulder and will start.

The Chargers come to town for a rematch of last week’s Division Title struggle. This time the stakes are higher. Embattle QB Ike Croft says, “QB controversy?? What QB controversy??” as he turns in a 14 for 22, 2TD and 0 INT performance. Newsome rushes for 60 yards on 19 carries and Oskolkoff picks off 2 passes as we spank San Diego 41-6.

Division Playoffs at Baltimore
Pre-Game Injury Report: WR Chrysler is still questionable with a broken nose but will start. WR Wayne is upgraded to questionable and will start. T Nathan Cohen is still out with a broken wrist. LB Alonzo Stokes is probable, still healing from a broken jaw. I activate him and let him start. CB Mayberry is still questionable with shoulder tendonitis. He still starts. CB Rogers is still out from the shoulder surgery. S Oskolkoff is now doubtful with a dislocated shoulder, but I let him start anyway.

We head up to Baltimore and the Ravens are just absolutely the rudest hosts. They put us over their collective knees and spank us 42-0. We could do nothing right in this one.

Miami beat St. Louis 27-20 to win the Super Bowl

Awards
No Plainsmen win awards.

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 83
Frnc. Value: 82
Profit/Loss: 57
Difficulty: 72
YrEnd Score: 73

2006 Profit: ($15.59M)

Well, with the key injuries I had, things were bound to catch up with me in the playoffs, and they did. I really can't complain much, especially considering how young my team is. On to the next season. (I'm off today, and my wife won't be home until 8pm tonight, so I might do another two or three seasons before the day is done.)

Ben E Lou

04-06-2001, 10:51 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2007 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
I’m quite happy with my coach and scout, both in reputation and in recent performance. I keep ‘em both.

HEAD COACH
<pre>Roger LaCroix
Age: 60
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: E
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: E MOTIVATION: G
OL: VG DISCIPLINE: E
DL: VG OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: E AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dwight Pritchett
Age: 56
REPUTATION
QB: VG DL: G
RB: F LB: E
WR: E DB: E
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 52
Support For New Stadium: 30

Dallas makes some slight changes in ticket prices, and I do too.

Upper Deck: 51
End Zone: 56
Mezzanine: 67
Sidelines: 114
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500
Luxury Boxes: 124,000

Ben E Lou

04-06-2001, 05:15 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2007 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $9.68M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.06M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

*RB Zach Newsome—RFA--He was good, rushing for 2,964 yards in 3 seasons, but I can’t afford to pay him big bucks when I can get someone else to do just as well.
TE’s Dusty Preston and Sean Mueller. Preston is an RFA, Mueller a UFA. Last year’s fourth round pick, Peter Prescott, looks like he’ll be better than either of them. I’ll let ‘em fly.
T Nathan Cohen—RFA—He’s solid, but 3rd-year man Heath Hammers is nearly as good, with more upside and of course is cheaper than re-signing Cohen. See ya Nathan.
*P Nathan Spencer—He is good, and is from Baylor, satisifying the Texas requirement for QB/P/K. I’ll try to re-sign him.
*DT’s Rodney Bjorlin and Roman Reiswig—Bjorlin is a UFA, and Reiswig an RFA. Franz is set at the other DT. I’ll go after Reiswig, who has bigger upside and will come a little more cheaply.
LB Harry Barlow—RFA--He’s been a decent starter, but I am pretty deep at LB.
*S Andre Oskolkoff—I want to find a way to re-sign him.

Cuts to Save Cap Room
For the first time in this career, I have to resort to roster cutting in order to re-sign the guys I want. Here’s who gets cut:

DE Kenny Blair—saves $5.5M—Deion Crockett is ready to start and a lot cheaper.

That one cut gives me the room I need. I’m sure there will be many more in future seasons.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
G Bennie Coleman: 20/71,8/31,44. 2nd-year guy. 3 yrs for $2.66M. Nice depth. Could start before the end of his contract.
DT Mario Robinson: 8/52,4/25,52. 2nd-year guy. 3yrs,$4.15M. Adds depth at DT since I’m losing Bjorlin to free agency.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
P Spencer—3yrs,$4.8M
S Oskolkoff—4yrs,$18.2M
DT Reiswig—4yrs, $17.75M

FA Analysis
Was able to again hang on to all the key pieces, and to grab a little more depth on the offensive and defensive lines. Certainly no complaints here

Ben E Lou

04-06-2001, 08:30 PM

2007 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: RB
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: None
Depth Needed: TE,T,DE,S

1(29): FB David Bonk:An all-around stud. 40/100 in run blocking, 42/100 in ypc, 39/100 in catching, 38/100 in catch frequency, 68 endurance. I’m a little concerned about the symmetrical nature of his numbers, but I think he’s worth the risk, even though my scout is only Fair at backs.
2(29): S Cary Howard:28/59,24/65,20/51,100….100 endurance. Will provide depth and should be a solid starter one day soon.
3(29): TE Trent Shafer:Pretty solid all-around. Will help with depth.
4(29): DE Seth Monroe:14/44,4/16,43. A little depth at DE.
5(29): RB Lincoln Sims: near redliner—70,22/26,25,32/38,31,7/9,57,30,38.
6(29): T Luke Jospeh: 9/40,6/26,52. Could develop into a decent backup.
7(29): RB Mark Duran: another near redliner—66,4,57,12/14,28,6/7,16,24,57.

Seven Year Signee: RB Danny Thomas—from TCU—yet another near redliner RB (hopefully just ONE of these guys will break out)—44,5/8,33,14/21,65,14/18,66,52,37.

I make a couple of cuts of weak backups to have money to get my needed players from Texas.

I then sign a handful of URFA’s and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 07:09 AM

2007 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: Around the 4th dot.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
I’m going to stick with the same offense from the last three seasons, keeping the FB and TE on the field all the time. I max out I, Pro and Strong I and zero out Weak I, Single Back and Shotgun. Goal Line is set around the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are a bit above the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: None. Dang!

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 42,100 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 07:16 AM

2007 ROSTER

<pre>
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 12 12 5 2010
QB Nicky Reynolds 7 10 3 2007
QB Melvin Schneider 6 9 2 2008
RB Mark Duran 8 8 1 2008
RB Cary Rioux 6 9 3 2007
RB Nathan Feugill 6 6 1 2007
RB Danny Thomas 6 6 1 2013
FB Brant Wyman 9 9 6 2007
FB David Bonk 6 18 1 2011
TE Peter Prescott 13 13 2 2009
TE Trent Shafer 8 12 1 2010
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 16 6 2008
WR Dennis Wayne 16 16 6 2008
WR Mario Barron 11 11 2 2008
WR Gene Hanson 7 7 3 2007
WR Bernard Joyner 6 6 2 2012
C Spencer Hardy 10 12 6 2007
C Gilbert Isaacson 7 8 1 2009
C Howard Goad 6 10 2 2008
G Brett McIntyre 13 13 3 2007
G Paul Blackburn 11 11 2 2008
G Freddie Gerhardt 9 9 6 2007
G Deron Hoffman 7 10 4 2007
G Bennie Coleman 6 10 2 2009
T Brandon Child 15 15 5 2007
T Heath Hammers 8 13 3 2008
T Howie Helfenstein 2 3 1 2007
T Luke Joseph 2 11 1 2008
P Nathan Spencer 11 11 7 2009
K Jamie Haines 11 11 7 2007
DE Otis Mobley 10 10 7 2008
DE Deion Crockett 9 13 3 2008
DE Seth Monroe 2 7 1 2008
DE Bill Teeter 0 5 1 2007
DT Dana Franz 15 15 5 2009
DT Roman Reiswig 10 14 4 2010
DT Brett Buckner 5 7 3 2007
DT Mario Robertson 4 10 2 2009
LB Tracy Preston 11 12 6 2007
LB Alonzo Stokes 11 12 3 2009
LB Jim Robertson 8 11 4 2007
LB Alonzo Ramey 8 14 2 2010
LB Wes Burhart 5 5 4 2010
LB Matt Buckner 4 4 1 2009
CB Johnny Mayberry 13 13 6 2007
CB Fernando Rogers 8 10 7 2008
CB Marco Prescott 7 10 2 2010
CB Melvin Joseph 4 4 3 2011
CB Burt Banerjee 3 3 2 2008
S Victor Whipple 16 18 4 2009
S Andre Oskolkoff 13 13 5 2010
S Cary Howard 10 12 1 2009
S Dustin Knight 4 4 6 2007 </pre>

Stadium: 63
Roster Strength: 100
Support: 52
Economy: 56
Cohesion: 64,73,56,69

Outlook: Well, everything looks great, except I’m concerned about the running game. Can these backs carry us? I’ve got very good receivers and Croft is improving. If the offense doesn’t get rolling early in the season, I’ll be willing to put it up a lot more this year. Regardless, we consider ourselves Super Bowl contenders this year.

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 07:25 AM

2007 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,65,40
2nd Down: 50,65,40,35
3rd Down: 65,20,10,20
4th Down: 65,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 16,43,32,6,3
Running: I-40, Pro-30, Strong--30
Very Likely Running: I-55, Pro-20, Strong--25
Passing: I-20, Pro-55, Strong--25
Very Likely Passing: I-10, Pro-70, Strong--20
FB As Runner: 15

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 65
4WR: 20
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 08:12 AM

2007 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 6-2
Standing: First place. SD and Denver are both 4-4 and tied for 2nd.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 101 for 171 (59.4%), 1202 yards, 3TD’s, 5INT, 74.6 Rating.
Leading Rushers: Mark Duran, 114 for 550 yards, 4.8ypc, 2 TD’s. Cary Rioux, 84 for 340, 4.0ypc, 5 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Mario Barron, 47 catches for 631 yards, 4TD’s. WR Nolan Chrysler, 44 catches for 629 yards, 1 TD.
Leading Tackler:S Oskolkoff—29 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

The running game is getting along just fine behind that solid offensive line. Starting RB Duran's playing time is set to 1, ensuring that I always keep a fresh back in the game. Despite not having anything resembling a feature back, we're still among the league leaders in rushing yards.

Injuries of Note: WR Wayne broke his jaw in the next-to-last preseason game, and hasn’t played yet. He is listed as questionable and should return in a couple of weeks or so. LB Alonzo Stokes had arthroscopic knee surgery after Game 4, and is now lised as questionable. DE Deion Crockett sprained his back in Game 5, and is still listed as out. QB Reynolds started twice for Croft while he was recovering from a bruised shoulder, but Croft is fully healed and back at the helm now.

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 08:44 AM

2007 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 12-4
Standing: Won division for the 3rd consecutive season. SD was 10-6.
QB Stats: Croft, 260 for 432 (60.1%), 3320 yards, 21TD’s, 18INT’s, 83.1 Rating.
Leading Rushers: Cary Rioux, 162 for 709, 4.3ypc, 9 TD’s. Mark Duran, 174 for791 yards, 4.5ypc, 5 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 76 catches for 1160 yards, 2 TD’s. TE Peter Prescott, 57 catches, 644 yards, 6TD’s.
Leading Tackler: S Oskolkoff—50 tackles.
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Otis Mobley—5.5 sacks, 6 blocks, 7 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: S Victor Whipple—22 catches,6 INT, 6 defensed, 48.8PDQ

Points Scored: 450
Points Against: 248

KEY SECOND HALF INJURIES
LB Preston sprained his back in Game 12 and after Game 16 is still listed as out. T Brandon Child broke his arm in Game 13 and after Game 16 is listed as out . RB Duran dislocated his knee in Game 14 and is out, probably for the rest of the playoffs.

Rushing Yards: 2130 (2nd)
Rushing Average: 4.1 (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 4143* (1st)
Passing Average: 7.6 (League Average 6.6)
Rushing Defense: 1617 (14th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 4.3 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 2855* (1st)
Passing Average Allowed: 5.7* (League Avg. 6.6)

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 09:12 AM

2007 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. New York Jets

The Jets score first, late in the first quarter, but only see Austin territory twice more all day. The defense holds ‘em to 10 first downs and 162 total yards, while Croft goes 15 for 26 for 239 yards and 2 TD’s. Wayne, fully healed after his bout with injuries in the season, catches 9 passes for 155 yards and both TD’s. We roll 33-7.

AFC Championship vs. Indianapolis
Pre-Game Injury Report: RB Duran is questionable/inactive. T Child is doubtful, but activated because T Hammers aggravated his injury and is out. LB Preston is doubtful/inactive.

The defense is once again fearsome, allowing only 8 first downs and 137 total yards, forcing the Colts to punt 12 times. Croft throws for 374 yards, hitting Croft and Chrysler for TD passes, both of whom had over 160 yards receiving. We take a 20-7 win and head to our first Super Bowl!

Super Bowl vs. Tampa Bay
Pre-Game Injury Report: No changes in who is active or inactive from last week.

The two teams with the highest preseason roster records, the highest power ratings, and the best regular season records meet for the big prize. Tampa Bay features a balanced offense. Jamal Lewis ran for 1143 yards and 13 TD’s on the year, and QB Rico Everett threw for 3814 yards and 21 TD’s. His favorite target was WR Keyshawn Johnson, who caught 71 passes for 874 yards. 2nd-favorite target Kevin Johnson is hobbled with a sprained ankle and won’t start.

Today belongs to QB Ike Croft. He threw for 3 TD passes in the first half, and the Bucs never had a chance. On the day, Croft is 29 for 35 for 403 yards, 4 TD’s and 0 INT’s—the best game of his 5-year career in his first Super Bowl appearance! Nolan Chrysler catches 10 passes for a Super Bowl-record 212 yards, and has 2TD’s on the day. Jamal Lewis is a non-factor for Tampa Bay with 4 carries for 7 yards. We roll to our first Super Bowl win 34-10! Go Plainsmen! Croft wins the Super Bowl MVP award.

Awards
TE Peter Prescott—1st Team All Pro—stats above
T Heath Hammers—1st Team All Pro—28 for 75 KRB, 4 sacks allowed, 16.7 Opct
DT Dana Franz—1st Team All Pro—49 tackles, 16 assists, 7.5 sacks, 2 blocked, 4 hurries.
G Paul Blackburn—2nd Team All Pro—30 for 88 KRB, 5 sacks allowed, 18.8 OPct

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 100
Frnc. Value: 88
Profit/Loss: 58
Difficulty: 71
YrEnd Score: 80

2007 Profit: ($15.77M)

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 02:46 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2008 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
I’m quite happy with coach and scout, both in reputation and in recent performance. My coach’s contract ran out this year, and I attempt to re-sign him.

HEAD COACH
<pre>Roger LaCroix
Age: 61
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: VG
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: E MOTIVATION: G
OL: VG DISCIPLINE: E
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: E AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre>Dwight Pritchett
Age: 57
REPUTATION
QB: VG DL: G
RB: F LB: E
WR: E DB: VG
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 63
Support For New Stadium: 85

Dallas’ ticket prices remain the same, and mine do too.

Upper Deck: 51
End Zone: 56
Mezzanine: 67
Sidelines: 114
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500
Luxury Boxes: 124,000

The Cowboys have a new stadium under construction that will be completed in 2010. Cool.

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-07-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 03:52 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2008 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $29.75M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.34M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

RB Cary Rioux—RFA—former undrafted rookie rushed for 1628 yards and 15 TD’s and 4.0 ypc over 3 seasons. Not going to give him the big bucks though.
FB Brant Wyman—former undrafted rookie has started for all six years of his career and was quite solid for me, with a 33.5 KRB Pct for his career. However, David Bonk, last years 1(29) pick, looks like a star in the making. See ya Brant. Thanks for the memories. Glad you got to win a Super Bowl here.
*C Spencer Hardy—Has been solid, but not great. Has started all 96 Austin Plainsman games at center. There’s only one Empty-Cupboard-eligible center who my scout ranks higher, but he is ranked significantly higher. I’ll watch C Bo Maloney to see if he looks like he’s going to be around come Week 11. If not, I’ll re-sign Hardy, as the draft isn’t very deep at C either.
*G Brett McIntyre—RFA—I have a solid option available in 3rd-year man Bennie Coleman. However, I’d really like to keep this all-around very good lineman if I can afford him.
*T Brandon Child—Has been my LT. I’ll do whatever I can to keep him.
*K Jamie Haines—has been an All-Pro. I’ll try to keep him.
*LB Tracy Preston—Another one who has been solid. I’ll try to keep him
LB Jim Robertson—1(30) pick from 2 years ago, LB Alonzo Ramey, looks like he’s ready to step in and start in his 3rd year. Robertson is shown the door.
*CB Johnny Mayberry—My lock-down cover corner. The #1 overall pick in the draft and the franchise’s 1st pick ever. He stays at all costs.

Biggest Priorities: CB Mayberry and T Child
Secondary Priorities: LB Preston and a starting center
Lowest Priorities: K Haines and G McIntyre

Cuts to Save Cap Room
CB Melvin Joseph—Would have been only 4th CB once I re-sign Mayberry.

That one cut gives me the room I need. I’m sure there will be many more in future seasons.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
None.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
CB Mayberry—5yrs, $36.5M
T Child—5yrs,$32.75M (these big bonuses I’m forced to pay are getting me more 5-year deals.)
C Hardy—3yrs,$11.5M
LB Preston—3yrs,$13.98M
K Haines—3yrs,$4M
G McIntyre—4yrs,$13M

FA Analysis
Once again, I was able to hang on to the key guys. This team should be among the Super Bowl contenders again.

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 04:49 PM

2008 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: RB
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: None
Depth Needed: FB,DE,WR (All four starters at DE and WR will be UFA’s at the end of this season.)

1(32): DT Burt Earley:33/19,18/50,62. Will provide depth at DT for now. Should become a starter in a year or two.
2(32): DE Morris Stuart: 22/58,9/23,70. I’ll groom him to step in and be ready to start next year at DE.
3(32): G Moe Warren: 26/66,21/54,50. Should be a very solid starter in a year or two, plus he’s from Texas Tech.
4(32): WR Junior Deyo: Near redliner. Figure I’d take a chance on him at this point. 18/29,66,14/18,32,7,62,62,68
5(32): RB Lawrence Peters: Near redliner. 39,6,9,24/27,25,7/8,46,44
6(32): G Lorenzo Kirkaldie: Pure redliner, best current value player available—21,28,46
7(32): FB Bruce Lyons: Depth at FB. 21/79 in run blocking, 79 in endurance. ‘nuff said.

Seven Year Signee: LB August Farr—potentially decent backup from SMU—9/29,14/42,18/66,15/50,26

I make a couple of cuts of weak backups to have money to get my needed players from Texas.

The Bills submitted a request to move their team from
Buffalo to Albany (NY) for the 2013 season.

The measure passed.

I then sign a handful of URFA’s and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 04:56 PM

2008 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: Around the 4th dot.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
I’m going to add the shotgun to my repertoire this season, so I will still keep the FB and TE on the field all the time. I max out I, Pro, Shotgun and Strong I and zero out Weak I, Single Back. Goal Line is set around the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are a bit above the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: G Lorenzo Kirkaldie breaks out from 21,28,46 to 33/48,45/62,72.

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 49,200 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-07-2001, 08:41 PM

2008 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 13 13 6 2010
QB Melvin Schneider 6 9 3 2008
QB Phil Spencer 3 6 1 2010
RB Ed Farr 7 7 1 2008
RB Danny Thomas 6 6 2 2013
RB Lawrence Peters 5 5 1 2010
RB Mark Duran 5 5 2 2008
FB David Bonk 12 15 2 2011
FB Bruce Lyons 5 7 1 2010
TE Peter Prescott 14 14 3 2009
TE Trent Shafer 10 10 2 2010
TE Jackie Hartman 5 5 1 2008
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 16 7 2008
WR Dennis Wayne 14 15 7 2008
WR Mario Barron 11 11 3 2008
WR Junior Deyo 7 7 1 2010
WR Bernard Joyner 6 6 3 2012
C Spencer Hardy 9 10 7 2010
C Gilbert Isaacson 7 7 2 2009
C Howard Goad 6 10 3 2008
G Paul Blackburn 13 13 3 2008
G Brett McIntyre 13 13 4 2011
G Lorenzo Kirkaldie 9 9 1 2009
G Bennie Coleman 7 10 3 2009
G Moe Warren 5 9 1 2010
T Brandon Child 14 14 6 2012
T Heath Hammers 10 13 4 2008
T Luke Joseph 5 9 2 2008
T Jesse Meyer 2 5 1 2010
P Nathan Spencer 11 11 8 2009
K Jamie Haines 11 11 8 2010
DE Otis Mobley 11 11 8 2008
DE Deion Crockett 7 9 4 2008
DE Seth Monroe 3 7 2 2008
DE Morris Stuart 3 11 1 2012
DT Dana Franz 15 15 6 2009
DT Roman Reiswig 10 14 5 2010
DT Burt Earley 6 14 1 2013
DT Mario Robertson 4 8 3 2009
LB Alonzo Ramey 10 13 3 2010
LB Tracy Preston 10 11 7 2010
LB Alonzo Stokes 10 10 4 2009
LB Wes Burhart 5 6 5 2010
LB Matt Buckner 3 3 2 2009
LB August Farr 2 10 1 2014
CB Johnny Mayberry 13 13 7 2012
CB Marco Prescott 8 11 3 2010
CB Fernando Rogers 8 10 8 2008
CB Cris Chisholm 6 6 1 2010
CB Burt Banerjee 3 3 3 2008
S Victor Whipple 17 18 5 2009
S Andre Oskolkoff 13 13 6 2010
S Cary Howard 11 12 2 2009 </pre>

Stadium: 70
Roster Strength: 91 (Oakland and Tennessee both are at 100, and Baltimore at 95)
Support: 63
Economy: 55
Cohesion: 74,57,73,75

Outlook: Things still look peachy. Adding the shotgun to my repetoire should help establish FB David Bonk as a multi-talented offensive weapon. No reason to think I don’t have a chance to repeat.

Ben E Lou

04-08-2001, 06:00 AM

2008 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,55,35
2nd Down: 50,55,35,25
3rd Down: 55,20,10,20
4th Down: 55,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 16,43,32,6,3
Running: I-35, Pro-25, Strong-20, Shotgun-20
Very Likely Running: I-45, Pro-20, Strong-25, Shotgun-10
Passing: I-15, Pro-30, Strong—15, Shotgun-40
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-30, Strong-5 Shotugn-60
FB As Runner: 99

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 60
4WR: 20
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Offensively, now that I have 3 solid WR’s, a good pass-catching TE and a good all-around fullback, we’re going to put it up quite a bit more to start with and see what happens. This could be a fun year offensively.

Ben E Lou

04-08-2001, 06:34 AM

2008 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 7-1
Standing: First place. KC and Oakland are both 5-3 and tied for 2nd.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 178 for 293* (60.7%), 2640* yards, 22TD’s*, 13INT, 96.7 Rating.
Leading Rusher: David Bonk, 96 for 482, 5.0ypc, 6 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 48 catches for 802 yards, 10 TD’s*. WR Dennis Wayne, 44 catches for 707 yards, 7TD’s. WR Mario Barron, 30 catches for 487 yards, 2TD’s.
Leading Tackler:LB Stokes--41

*-denotes NFL leader

Injuries of Note: DE Otis Mobley broke his jaw in the next-to-last preseason game and was out until Game 7.TE Peter Prescott had arthroscopic knee surgery after game 2 and is still listed as doubtful. DT Reiswig underwent arthroscopic knee surgery after game 7 and it is hoped that he’ll return late in the regular season.

Wow! WE’re leading the league with 29 points. I raised the run percentages for 1st and Long and 2nd and Long to help cut back on Croft’s INT’s. Hope that helps a bit.

Ben E Lou

04-08-2001, 07:00 AM

2008 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 11-5
Standing: Won division for the 4th consecutive season. SD was 9-7 in 2nd place.
QB Stats: Croft, 312 for 530 (58.8%), 4717 yards*, 36TD’s*, 25INT’s*, 91.2 Rating*.
Leading Rusher: David Bonk, 209 for 795, 3.8ypc, 9 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 79 catches for 1378 yards, 12 TD’s. WR Dennis Wayne, 82 catches for 1349 yards, 14TD’s*, WR Mario Barron, 58 catches for 1063 yards, 3 TD’s
Leading Tackler: S Whipple, 75 tackles
Leading Pass Rusher: DT Dana Franz—5.5 sacks, 0 blocks, 7 huries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Johnny Mayberrg—29 catches,6 INT, 6 defensed, 40.9PDQ

Points Scored: 457
Points Against: 305

Rushing Yards: 1529 (19th) (had the 5th most attempts in the NFL though)
Rushing Average: 3.1 (League Average 3.7) (FB David Bonk was the only one who was decent.)
Passing Yards: 4899* (1st)
Passing Average: 8.7* (League Average 6.9)
Rushing Defense: 1171(2nd)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.1 (League Avg 3.7)
Passing Defense: 3860 (24th)
Passing Average Allowed: 7.3 (League Avg. 6.9)

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-08-2001, 07:18 AM

2008 POSTSEASON REPORT

Wild Card Round vs. Cincinnati Bengals
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—QB Croft is questionable but will start with a broken finger. WR Chrylser is doubtful with a hip pointer and is inactive. T Brandon Child is questionable but will start with a hyperextended knee. LB Tracy Preston is questionable/starting with a pulled groin. LB Stoke is doubtful/inactive with a broken arm.

The defense goes into shut ‘em down mode, holding Cincinnati to 191 yards and 9 first downs. Tracy Preston comes up with 3 sacks on his pulled groin. Wayne catches 10 passes for 136 yards, Croft throws 2 TD’ s and 0 Int’s and we walk away with a 33-17 victory.

Division Playoffs vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pre-Game Injury Changes from Last Week—.WR Chrylser is now questionable and will start. T Brandon Child is upgraded to probable and continues to start. DT Dana Franz is questionable/starting with a hyperextended knee. LB Tracy Preston is questionable/starting with a pulled groin. LB Stoke is doubtful/inactive with a broken arm. S’s Whipple and Oskolkoff are both doubtful with a hip pointer and a pulled groin respectively. Whipple will start as I only have 3 safeties on the roster.

The hobbled secondary struggles all day. Croft plays well enough to win despite his injury, going 21 for 34 for 314 yards with 1 TD and 1 INT, but we go down 21-19 in Three Rivers Stadium. {Sigh}

We just had a few too many key injuries late in the season. We’ll get ‘em next year!

St. Louis beat Indianapolis 26-20 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards
FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—stats above
WR Dennis Wayne—1st Team All Pro—stats above
CB Johnny Mayberry—1st Team All Pro—stats above
TE Trent Shafer—2nd Team All Pro—42 catches, 486 yards, 4TD’s. Filled in for injured TE Prescott in 10 starts.
WR Nolan Chrysler—2nd Team All Pro—stats above

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 78
Frnc. Value: 85
Profit/Loss: 51
Difficulty: 70
YrEnd Score: 71

2008 Profit: ($25.09M)

Ben E Lou

04-08-2001, 06:14 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2009 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
I’m quite happy with coach and scout, both in reputation and in recent performance. My scout’s contract ran out this year, and I attempt to re-sign him. He signs with me. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Roger LaCroix
Age: 62
REPUTATION
QB: F KICKER: VG
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: E MOTIVATION: G
OL: G DISCIPLINE: E
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: F
DB: E AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dwight Pritchett
Age: 58
REPUTATION
QB: VG DL: G
RB: F LB: E
WR: E DB: VG
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 65
Support For New Stadium: 91

Dallas’ ticket prices rise slightly, and mine do too.

Upper Deck: 52
End Zone: 57
Mezzanine: 70
Sidelines: 115
License: 0
Club Seats: 2,500
Luxury Boxes: 129,000

Ben E Lou

04-09-2001, 04:24 AM

Salt Lake City joins the AFC East.
Albany (NY) joins the NFC West.
I lose no one in the expansion draft.

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2009 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $22.32M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.48M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

*WR Nolan Chrysler—gotta do all I can to keep him
*WR Dennis Wayne—same here
*WR Mario Barron—RFA--he’ s the 3rd WR. Probably can’t afford to give him the big contract for WR3. However, if I have trouble affording all the parts I want, I can sign Barron a little cheaper than Chrysler or Wayne as my 2nd WR and let either Chrysler or Wayne go.
G Paul Blackburn—RFA—I’ve got four other serviceable guards. Unless I have leftover cap room, Blackburn will go
*T Heath Hammers—no decent backups—need to re-sign him
DE’s Otis Mobley & Deion Crocket—I’ve got two pretty solid backups (one Is an RFA this year) who have 50+ potential at run stopping and very low pass rushing skills, which is ok in my system. However, I’d like to keep one of these two for cohesion’s sake.
*DE Seth Monroe—RFA--I’d like to keep him around for cohesion even if he doesn’t end up starting this year.
CB Fernando Rogers—youngster Marco Prescott surpassed Rogers last year anyway and took his starting job.

Biggest Priorities: Signing 2 starting WR’s and T Heath Hammers
Secondary Priorities: Getting the defensive end situation sorted out.
Lowest Priorities: retaining G Blackburn, a 3rd WR and CB Rogers

Cuts to Save Cap Room
DT Mario Robertson—4th DT was making $1.7M

Trade accepted
I get offered a trade from Indianapolis of T Frankie Trudeau, an 8th-year man with ratings of 40/48,47/56,56 and a 3rd-round draft choice for LB Alonzo Ramey. I think a hole a LB will be easier and cheaper to fill than the hole at T. Heath Hammers wants a deal that would cost $5.6M in cap room. This deal will only cost me $2.4M in cap room and a pick up a fairly high draft pick in the process. I add a 7th-round pick and the AI accepts. Trudeau will start at tackle for me.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
None.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
WR Wayne—4yrs,$26.25M
WR Chrysler—5yrs,$38.08M
DE Seth Monroe—3yrs,$7.0M

Trade Accepted
At the end of the 20-step process, I get offered a T and a first-round pick by Arizona for DT Franz. I’ve got a star waiting in the wings at DT in Burt Earley, and Franz is in the last year of his contract. It’d be great to get something for Franz, so I add a 7th-rounder, pull the trigger and cut the tackle I got in the deal. This gives me a better shot to pick up some starting talent in the draft this year.

FA Analysis
Well, for the first time I had to let some guys go that I didn’t want to let go. Cool! I like house rules that require me to make some decisions about the direction of the team. With the extra first-round pick, I might be able to grab better quality at DE and LB. If so, I’ll be pretty much good to go for another playoff run.

Ben E Lou

04-09-2001, 05:06 AM

2009 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: RB, LB
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: DE, C
Depth Needed: WR3, DT, DE

1(30): LB Heath Williams: 32/62,22/50,41/92,43/89,57. He’ll start from day 1.
1(32): DE Graham Billig: 12/39,26/79,79. Pass-rush specialist since my starting DE’s are terrible at rushing the passer.
2(30): C Mike Wheeler: 28/70,29/75, 50. Symmetrical, but if he doesn’t bust what a help he could be!
3(30): RB Richie Tatum: 40/78 in yards per carry, 28/58 in catch frequency and 69 endurance. He’ll start.
3(33): DT Barry Guthrie: 21/41,17/29, 44—Much-needed depth at DT.
4(30): WR Howie Eason: 10/16,70,13/25,70,26…52 endurance. From Texas A&M. High 3rd-down rating makes him candidate for WR3. near redliner makes him candidate for breakout.
5(30): S Scottie Roth: 19/30,30/52,24/38,61…71 endurance. Solid backup safety.
6(30): RB Paul Parliman: Near redliner. 47,9/10,77,22/27,48,17/24,47,38,64.

Seven Year Signee: WR Lionel Judkins—17/58,51,19/64,25,49…..35 endurance. Could be long-term WR3.

I have enough cap room to re-sign G Blackburn and T Joseph at this point.

I then sign a handful of URFA’s and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-09-2001, 05:15 AM

2009 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: In the center.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
I’m going to keep the shotgun to my repertoire this season to continue to highlight FB David Bonk. I set high I, Pro, Shotgun and Strong I and zero out Weak I, Single Back. Goal Line is set around the middle.

Defense
I set very high 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are a bit above the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: None.

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 50,100 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-10-2001, 06:23 AM

2009 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 13 13 7 2010
QB Phil Spencer 4 5 2 2010
QB T.J. Schultz 3 8 1 2009
RB Richie Tatum 9 15 1 2012
RB Paul Parliman 7 7 1 2011
RB Danny Thomas 5 5 3 2013
FB David Bonk 13 14 3 2011
FB Bruce Lyons 8 8 2 2010
TE Peter Prescott 14 14 4 2009
TE Trent Shafer 11 11 3 2010
TE Joseph Vance 4 4 1 2009
WR Nolan Chrysler 17 17 8 2013
WR Dennis Wayne 15 15 8 2012
WR Junior Deyo 8 8 2 2010
WR Bernard Joyner 7 7 4 2012
WR Howie Eason 7 7 1 2010
WR Lionel Judkins 5 11 1 2015
C Spencer Hardy 8 10 8 2010
C Gilbert Isaacson 8 8 3 2009
C Mike Wheeler 8 9 1 2013
G Paul Blackburn 13 13 4 2012
G Brett McIntyre 13 13 5 2011
G Lorenzo Kirkaldie 11 11 2 2009
G Moe Warren 10 11 2 2010
T Brandon Child 14 14 7 2012
T Frankie Trudeau 8 11 8 2010
T Jesse Meyer 5 5 2 2010
T Lamar Barry 2 2 1 2009
P Nathan Spencer 11 11 9 2009
K Jamie Haines 11 11 9 2010
DE Graham Billig 6 11 1 2013
DE Walter Crisp 6 7 1 2009
DE Seth Monroe 5 8 3 2011
DE Morris Stuart 5 9 2 2012
DT Roman Reiswig 11 13 6 2010
DT Burt Earley 9 14 2 2013
DT Barry Guthrie 6 6 1 2011
DT Rufus Peacock 2 2 1 2009
LB Tracy Preston 10 11 8 2010
LB Alonzo Stokes 9 9 5 2009
LB Heath Williams 6 13 1 2014
LB Wes Burhart 5 6 6 2010
LB August Farr 5 8 2 2014
LB Matt Buckner 3 4 3 2009
CB Johnny Mayberry 13 13 8 2012
CB Marco Prescott 8 11 4 2010
CB Cris Chisholm 7 7 2 2010
CB Willie Schneider 3 7 1 2011
CB Barry Richard 2 3 1 2009
S Victor Whipple 17 18 6 2009
S Andre Oskolkoff 13 13 7 2010
S Cary Howard 11 11 3 2009
S Scottie Roth 8 9 1 2011 </pre>

Stadium: 73
Roster Strength: 100 (Oakland is 91, Buffalo 80)
Support: 65
Economy: 49
Cohesion: 74,75,67,84

Outlook: I feel great about my team everywhere but DE. If my DT’s and LB’s can compensate, we should make a championship run.

Ben E Lou

04-10-2001, 06:59 AM

2009 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,70,40
2nd Down: 50,70,45,35
3rd Down: 60,20,10,20
4th Down: 60,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 16,43,32,6,3
Running: I-35, Pro-25, Strong-20, Shotgun-20
Very Likely Running: I-45, Pro-20, Strong-25, Shotgun-10
Passing: I-15, Pro-30, Strong—15, Shotgun-40
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-30, Strong-5 Shotugn-60
FB As Runner: 99

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 40
4WR: 20
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-10-2001, 07:29 AM

2009 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 6-2
Standing: Second place. Oakland is 6-1. KC is 5-3.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 139 for 235 (59.1%), 1938 yards, 17TD’s*, 1INT, 108.0 Rating*.
Leading Rusher: Richie Tatum, 86 for 432, 5.0ypc, 2 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 49 catches for 778 yards, 6 TD’s. WR Dennis Wayne, 31 catches for 476 yards, 4TD’s.
Leading Tackler:S Whipple—48 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-10-2001, 07:56 AM

2009 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 13-3
Standing: Won division for the 5th consecutive season. SD was 11-5 in 2nd place.
QB Stats: Croft, 284 for 467 (60.8%), 3852 yards, 30TD’s*, 10INT’s, 99.5 Rating*.
Leading Rusher: Richie Tatam, 207 for 923, 4.4ypc, 10 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 86 catches for 1288 yards, 10 TD’s. WR Dennis Wayne, 66 catches for 1016 yards, 9TD’s.
Leading Tackler: S Whipple, 83 tackles
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Walter Crisp—8.5 sacks, 0 blocks, 2 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Johnny Mayberry—20 catches,7 INT, 12 defensed, 52.8PDQ

Points Scored: 479
Points Against: 266

Rushing Yards: 2089 (2nd)
Rushing Average: 3.7 (League Average 3.7)
Passing Yards: 3975 (8th)
Passing Average: 8.0* (League Average 6.8)
Rushing Defense: 1350(2nd)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.8 (League Avg 3.7)
Passing Defense: 3311 (7th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.5 (League Avg. 6.8)

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-10-2001, 02:43 PM

2009 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs Buffalo Bills
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—TE Prescott is doubtful/inactive with shoulder tendoniitis.

The offense doesn’t have a great game, but the defense comes up with 5 interceptions! Tatum has 13 carries fo 68 yards, and Croft throws for 206 yards and 2 Td’s. We win 37-27.

NFC Championship at Baltimore Ravens
Pre-Game Injury Changes from Last Week—.None.
We head up to Baltimore, and the Ravens hold us to seven first downs as we lose 27-10.

Baltimore beats Carolina 24-10 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards
RB Richie Tatum—Offensive Rookie of the Year—stats above
FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—121 carries, 408 yards, 4TD’s, 20 catches, 141 yards and 3 TD’s.
DT Roman Reiswig—1st Team All Pro—30 tackles, 24 assists, 11.5 sacks
CB Johnny Mayberry—1st Team All Pro—stats above

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 86
Frnc. Value: 88
Profit/Loss: 53
Difficulty: 71
YrEnd Score: 75

2009 Profit: ($32.99M)

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-11-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-13-2001, 08:29 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2010 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
There are no better alternatives than my current coach and scout, so I keep ‘em both onboard. The update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Roger LaCroix
Age: 63
REPUTATION
QB: F KICKER: VG
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: E MOTIVATION: G
OL: G DISCIPLINE: VG
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: F
DB: E AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dwight Pritchett
Age: 59
REPUTATION
QB: VG DL: G
RB: F LB: E
WR: E DB: VG
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 70
Support For New Stadium: 90

Dallas’ ticket prices jump with their new stadium. I bump mine up significantly as well. (Dallas’ prices in parenthesis.)

Upper Deck: 65 (73)
End Zone: 70 (76)
Mezzanine: 78 (86)
Sidelines: 125 (140)
License: 1,000 (5,300)
Club Seats: 3,500 (4,100)
Luxury Boxes: 160,000 (229,000)

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 06:37 AM

2010 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $10.29M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.29M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

TE Peter Prescott—His backup, Trent Shafer, won All Pro honors when Prescott was injured two years ago. I’ll go with Shafer.
G Lorenzo Kirkaldie—He’s been a solid backup, but I don’t pay solid backups stupid money.
*P Nathan Spencer—He’s from Baylor and has been solid. We’ll see here. If a big-time punter is available come week 11, I can always sign a 3rd QB from Texas to meet that requirement.
*DE Walter Crisp—Undrafted FA won a starting spot and got 8.5 sacks last year as a rookie. I’ll try to figure out a way to keep him around.
*LB Alonzo Stokes—He’s in his 6th year, and injuries have kept him from fulfilling his potential. He played 15 games in his rookie year, and hasn’t played more than 10 games since. I doubt I’ll re-sign him.
*S’s Victor Whipple and Cary Howard—Howard is an RFA. Whipple is #1 safety, Howard is #3, but good enough to be a passable starter. Whipple is a star. This one will come down to finances, but I will keep one of them for certain.

Biggest Priorities: starting safety, starting LB
Secondary Priorities: getting a punter and re-signing DE Crisp
Lowest Priorities:

Cuts to Save Cap Room
DE Seth Monroe—can’t afford to pay a guy who is now just a backup over $2M per year.
WR Howie Eason—WR5
C Spencer Hardy—He has been a solid, but unspectacular starter. Last year’s 2nd-rounder, Mike Wheeler, looks like he’s ready to take over.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
LB Junior Crosland—3yrs,$10M, 5th year man--72/82,29/35,52/58,31/34,52—very good run stopper and solid on m2m pass coverage. Will play MLB for us next year.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
S Whipple—4yrs,$17.25M.
P Spencer—1yrs, $1.1M
DE Crisp—3yrs,$7M

FA Analysis
I hung on to most of the keys, although making a change at center is always a big deal. I feel like I’ve improved the defense by signing Crosland.

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 07:15 AM

2010 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: None
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: None
Depth Needed: TE,C, T, DT, LB, CB, S

1(32): DT Jessie Madison:22/80,10/39, 69. Another run-stopping DT.
2(32): T Mark Bauer: 21/76,12/45, 35. Nice RT type.
3(32): LB Perry Parrish: 34/43,21/26,36/43,34/43,61. Solid backup with nice red lines.
4(32): S Rick Lynn: 15/42,16/44, 16/51, 26,15,15,58. He’s from the University of Texas and has nice future potentials.
5(32): C Richard Rayburn:28/52,31/61, 42. Pretty solid center.
6(32): QB Pete Blanchard: 28/41,16/24,24/41,30/52,39/64,57,38/58,19/29,44,72. Pretty good current numbers could make him a decent backup QB.

Seven Year Signee: WR Max Patton—I know I’ve got 2 studs, and this guy isn’t from Texas, but he looks like he has good breakout potential, and even if not he’s a solid guy. Ratings are 17/25,41,21/31,55,63,100,35,69

I re-sign RFA C Gilbert Isaacson to a 2-year minisal deal, then sign a bunch of undrafted rookies and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 07:26 AM

2010 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: Around the 4th dot.
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
With studs at FB and TE. I’ll stick with the I, Pro, Strong I and Shotgun. I zero out Weak I and Single Back.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are a bit above the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: Oh yeah!!! 3(32) pick LB Perry Parrish breaks out BIG-TIME from 34/43,21/26,36/43,34/43,61 to 50/100, 29/59, 50/100, 50/100, 89.

Significant Busts: 4(32) pick S Rick Lynn drops from 15/42,16/44, 16/51, 26,15,15,58 to next to nothing. Fortunately the CPU only gave him a $330,000 bonus, so when I cut him before next season it won’t be a big cap hit.

Season Ticket Sales: 51,400 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 07:34 AM

2010 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 13 13 8 2010
QB Pete Blanchard 7 8 1 2012
QB Phil Spencer 5 5 3 2010
RB Richie Tatum 10 14 2 2012
RB Paul Parliman 8 8 2 2011
RB Bernard Fredericks 5 5 1 2010
RB Danny Thomas 4 4 4 2013
FB David Bonk 12 13 4 2011
FB Bruce Lyons 9 9 3 2010
TE Trent Shafer 11 11 4 2010
TE Sedrick Carr 6 7 1 2010
TE Emmanuel Owens 5 5 1 2010
WR Nolan Chrysler 17 17 9 2013
WR Dennis Wayne 15 15 9 2012
WR Lionel Judkins 8 11 2 2015
WR Max Patton 8 8 1 2016
WR Bernard Joyner 7 7 5 2012
C Mike Wheeler 12 12 2 2013
C Gilbert Isaacson 8 8 4 2011
C Richard Rayburn 3 12 1 2011
G Paul Blackburn 15 15 5 2012
G Brett McIntyre 13 13 6 2011
G Moe Warren 10 11 3 2010
G Carl Murphy 3 3 1 2010
T Brandon Child 14 14 8 2012
T Frankie Trudeau 9 11 9 2010
T Jesse Meyer 5 5 3 2010
T Mark Bauer 3 12 1 2014
P Nathan Spencer 11 11 10 2010
K Jamie Haines 11 11 10 2010
DE Graham Billig 12 12 2 2013
DE Walter Crisp 8 10 2 2012
DE Morris Stuart 5 8 3 2012
DE Kenny Walker 1 4 1 2010
DT Roman Reiswig 11 13 7 2010
DT Burt Earley 11 14 3 2013
DT Barry Guthrie 6 6 2 2011
DT Jessie Madison 3 11 1 2014
LB Junior Crosland 11 11 5 2012
LB Tracy Preston 10 11 9 2010
LB Heath Williams 9 13 2 2014
LB Perry Parrish 7 18 1 2013
LB Wes Burhart 6 6 7 2010
LB August Farr 5 10 3 2014
CB Johnny Mayberry 13 13 9 2012
CB Marco Prescott 8 10 5 2010
CB Cris Chisholm 8 8 3 2010
CB Willie Schneider 5 7 2 2011
CB Casey Meske 1 10 1 2010
S Victor Whipple 16 18 7 2013
S Andre Oskolkoff 13 13 8 2010
S Scottie Roth 7 8 2 2011
S Rick Lynn 1 6 1 2012</pre>

Stadium: 75
Roster Strength: 100 (Tennessee is 88, Oakland 83, Philadelphia and Baltimore 80)
Support: 69
Economy: 50
Cohesion: 76,58,71,82

Outlook: I feel that this is a very strong all-around team with nice depth. If I can stay away from too many injuries, I can bring another Super Bowl Championship to Austin.

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 07:53 AM

2010 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,65,40
2nd Down: 25,65,50,35
3rd Down: 65,20,10,20
4th Down: 65,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,50,20,10,5
Running: I-35, Pro-30, Strong-20, Shotgun-15
Very Likely Running: I-45, Pro-25, Strong-20, Shotgun-10
Passing: I-15, Pro-35, Strong—15, Shotgun-35
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-40, Strong-5 Shotugn-50
FB As Runner: 85

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 40
4WR: 20
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 08:30 AM

2010 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 5-3
Standing: Third place. Oakland is 6-1. SD is 5-2
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 49 for 87 (56.3%), 562 yards, 4TD’s, 5INT, 67.2 Rating. Has played hurt most of the time he’s played. Pete Blanchard 124 for 219 (56.6%), 1443 yards, 11Td’s, 10 INT’s, 74.4 Rating. Pretty decent numbers for an unheralded rookie.
Leading Rusher: David Bonk, 70 carries for 273 yards, 1TD.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 48 catches for 648 yards, 1 TD. TE Trent Shafer 45 catches for 485 yards, 5TD’s.
Leading Tackler:LB Crosland—51 tackles.

Key Injuries:
Breakout LB Percy Parrish sprained his back in the 3rd exhibition game and returned in regular season game 4 due to other injuries on the squad. He also saw his potential ratings drop a slight bit from 100,50,100,100 to 97,46,97,86.
LB Heath Williams dislocated his elbow in regular season game one. He is up to questionable now.
RB Richie Tatum sprained his neck in game 2 and will return in game 9. I changed the game plan to pass more during his absence.
C Mike Wheeler broke his arm in Game 2 and is up to doubtful now.
QB Ike Croft got a concussion in game 2 and I sat him out for 3 starts, then he returned when probable but got re-injured and was downgraded back to doubtful again. I sat him until he was fully healed, as backup Blanchard was doing a solid job.
CB Johnny Mayberry broke his ribs in Game 7, and is still listed as out at the midpoint.
DE Walter Crisp sprained his neck in game 3 and is upgraded to doubtful now.

Geez! What was that comment I said about limiting injuries????

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 08:57 AM

2010 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 10-6
Standing: Tied for 2nd. Wild Card playoff birth. Hold broken on 5 straight division titles, but earned our 6th straight playoff birth. Croft came back strong in Game 12 and led us to four straight wins.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 146 for 231 (63.2%), 1711 yards, 11TD’s, 9INT’s, 85.2 Rating. Pete Blanchard 197 for 337 (58.4%), 2271 yards, 16Td’s, 18 INT’s, 72.3 Rating.
Leading Rusher: Richie Tatam, 132 for 622, 4.7ypc, 4 TD’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 77 catches for 1085 yards, 3 TD’s. WR Dennis Wayne, 61 catches for 888 yards, 8TD’s, TE Trent Shafer, 68 catches for 687 yards, 6TD’s.
Leading Tackler: LB Crosland 95 tackles, 32 assists
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Graham Billig—14.5 sacks, 5 blocks, 5 hurries.
Leading PDQ DB: CB Victor Whipple—42 catches,8 INT, 14 defensed, 49.6PDQ

Points Scored: 393
Points Against: 296

Rushing Yards: 1726 (11th)
Rushing Average: 3.5 (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 4023 (6th)
Passing Average: 6.9 (League Average 6.6)
Rushing Defense: 1233* (1st)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.2* (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3613 (19th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.4 (League Avg. 6.6)

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 09:07 AM

2010 POSTSEASON REPORT

Wild Card Playoff at Seattle
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—None.
We had trouble getting fully in synch against Seattle. We kept it close, but Croft’s going 22 for 47 and the running game getting less than 100 yards ultimately led to our demise. The AFC West Champion Seahawks send us to an early playoff exit.

St. Louis beats Baltimore 26-7 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards
FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—103 carries, 405 yards, 3TD’s, 22 catches, 99 yards and 0 TD’s.
TE Trent Shafer—2nd Team All Pro—68 catches for 687 yards and 6 TD’s
S Victor Whipple—2nd Team All Pro—coverage stats above, 81 tackles, 31 assists

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 64
Frnc. Value: 86
Profit/Loss: 52
Difficulty: 71
YrEnd Score: 69

2010 Profit: ($23.45M)

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 05:25 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2011 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
Coach Roger LaCroix retires. He was hired in 2005, and under his leadership for six years, we had six playoff appearances, five division titles and a Super Bowl win. We went 70-25-1 in the regular season under him, and 7-5 in the postseason. He will be missed.

I stick with the same scout, and hire a new coach. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Perry Herndon
Age: 46
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: F
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: F
WR: G MOTIVATION: F
OL: G DISCIPLINE: E
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: F AVOID INJURY: E</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dwight Pritchett
Age: 59
REPUTATION
QB: VG DL: G
RB: F LB: E
WR: E DB: VG
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: G
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 69
Support For New Stadium: 86

Fan loyalty dropped, so I keep ticket prices right where they were last year.

Upper Deck: 65
End Zone: 70
Mezzanine: 78
Sidelines: 125
License: 1,000
Club Seats: 3,500
Luxury Boxes: 160,000

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 07:17 PM

2011 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $30.6M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.76M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

*QB Ike Croft—I must do all I can to keep him.
*TE Trent Shafer—Neither of my URFA TE’s from last year look like NFL starters.
G Moe Warren—RFA--Backup guard. Has been solid, but wants big bucks. He’s from Texas Tech, so if there’s money around after other signings, I’d like to keep him around.
T Frankie Trudeau—2nd-year man Mark Bauer is close to ready. I’ll likely go with him.
*P Nathan Spencer—We’ll see what options are out there.
*K Jamie Haines—ditto.
DT Roman Reiswig—Interesting dilemma here. 2nd-year man Jesse Madison didn’t play much last year, so I’m not sure how ready he’ll be. Reiswig has been a very solid player for me over the past seven seasons. We’ll see.
LB Tracy Preston—I’ve got 3 solid starters in Crosland, Parrish and Williams.
CB Marco Prescott—Backup Chris Chisolm, who is an RFA, has nearly identical ratings. Since Chisolm is an RFA, he’ll be cheaper, so I’ll sign him.
*CB Chris Chisolm—see above
*S Andre Oskolkoff—He’s been solid throughout his career.

Biggest Priorities: QB Croft, S Oskolkoff
Secondary Priorities: TE and CB
Lowest Priorities: P and K, DT Reiswig

Cuts to Save Cap Room
S Rick Lynn—bust from last year.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
T Gabe Oglesby—3yrs, $2.8M—21/71,18/58, 26. Good help on the offensive line for cheap dollars.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
QB Croft—4yrs, $48.48M
S Oskolkoff—4yrs, $17.48M
TE Shafer—4yrs, $15M
P Spencer—3yrs,$3.63M
K Haines –3yrs,$4.18M

FA Analysis
I couldn’t afford to re-sign either one of my CB’s. I’ll spend my first-round pick on a CB who will be expected to step in and start. Overall, I’m happy

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 09:07 PM

2011 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: CB
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: None
Depth Needed: G, TE, LB

1(25): CB Gerald McNeil: 23/42, 34/60, 27/51, 80….57 endurance….Not as good as I’d hoped for, but I need to go ahead and grab him.
2(25): LB Leland Watkins:29/88,20/66, 23/76, 12/40, 66. Could be a starter one day.
3(25): T Artie McDonald: 10/30,22/67, 28. Good pass blocker. From Texas A&M.
4(25): TE Kurt Romero: 24/49,26/57,78,19/39,48,73,67. Solid backup.
5(25): FB Clay Gruber: Good future potentials and from University of Texas
6(25): CB Sam Hurd: 15/18, 37, 22/28, 10…..30 endurance…near redliner
7(25): LB Jackie McKenney: 12/18,21/32,18/23,35/45, 67. From Baylor….near redliner

Seven Year Signee: TE Edwin Acosta—20/34,22/36, 48,33/47, 62,58,57

I then sign a few rookies to fill out the roster and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-14-2001, 09:15 PM

2011 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: In the middle
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
With studs at FB and TE. I’ll stick with the I, Pro, Strong I and Shotgun. I zero out Weak I and Single Back.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are a bit above the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: None.

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 52,700 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 05:32 AM

2011 ROSTER

<pre> Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Ike Croft 13 13 9 2014
QB Pete Blanchard 5 7 2 2012
QB Kendrick Graham 4 5 1 2013
RB Richie Tatum 11 14 3 2012
RB Paul Parliman 8 8 3 2011
RB Grant Ford 7 7 1 2011
RB Danny Thomas 4 4 5 2013
FB David Bonk 11 13 5 2011
FB Clay Gruber 4 11 1 2012
TE Trent Shafer 12 12 5 2014
TE Kurt Romero 7 13 1 2013
TE Edwin Acosta 5 5 1 2017
WR Nolan Chrysler 17 17 10 2013
WR Dennis Wayne 14 15 10 2012
WR Lionel Judkins 8 10 3 2015
WR Bernard Joyner 7 7 6 2012
WR Max Patton 6 6 2 2016
C Mike Wheeler 10 10 3 2013
C Gilbert Isaacson 7 8 5 2011
C Richard Rayburn 6 11 2 2011
G Paul Blackburn 15 15 6 2012
G Brett McIntyre 13 13 7 2011
G Kenneth Fleming 5 8 1 2011
G Joel Castillo 1 8 1 2013
T Brandon Child 14 14 9 2012
T Gabe Oglesby 8 11 2 2013
T Mark Bauer 7 11 2 2014
T Artie McDonald 4 13 1 2014
P Nathan Spencer 11 11 11 2013
K Jamie Haines 11 11 11 2013
DE Graham Billig 12 12 3 2013
DE Walter Crisp 10 10 3 2012
DE Morris Stuart 6 9 4 2012
DE Jackie Bernard 2 2 1 2011
DT Burt Earley 13 14 4 2013
DT Barry Guthrie 6 6 3 2011
DT Jessie Madison 6 11 2 2014
DT Rondell Cowart 5 5 1 2013
LB Perry Parrish 12 18 2 2013
LB Junior Crosland 11 11 6 2012
LB Heath Williams 9 12 3 2014
LB August Farr 6 9 4 2014
LB Jackie McKenney 5 5 1 2013
LB Leland Watkins 4 16 1 2014
CB Johnny Mayberry 11 11 10 2012
CB Gerald McNeil 8 10 1 2016
CB Willie Schneider 5 7 3 2011
CB Sam Hurd 5 5 1 2012
CB Quinn Connell 2 6 1 2013
S Victor Whipple 17 18 8 2013
S Andre Oskolkoff 13 13 9 2014
S Scottie Roth 8 8 3 2011
S Matt Andrews 3 11 1 2013 </pre>

Stadium: 78
Roster Strength: 100 (Baltimore is 86, Oakland 77, SF 72)
Support: 71
Economy: 52
Cohesion: 73,70,63,76

Outlook: If CB2 McNeil can do a decent job and we remain relatively injury-free, I think we’re still capable of making a championship run.

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 05:41 AM

2011 GAME PLANS

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 25,50,70,40
2nd Down: 25,70,50,35
3rd Down: 70,20,10,20
4th Down: 70,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,50,25,7,3
Running: I-35, Pro-35, Strong-20, Shotgun-10
Very Likely Running: I-45, Pro-30, Strong-20, Shotgun-5
Passing: I-15, Pro-35, Strong—15, Shotgun-35
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-40, Strong-5 Shotugn-50
FB As Runner: 90

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 60
4WR: 30
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 06:22 AM

2011 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 7-1
Standing: First place. SD is 5-3. Oakland is 5-4.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 62 for 103 (60.1%), 773 yards, 5TD’s, 1INT, 95.6 Rating. Pete Blanchard 74 for 122 (60.6%), 681 yards, 6Td’s, 4 INT’s, 78.6 Rating. Blanchard has filled in adequately once again.
Leading Rusher: Richie Tatum, 145 carries for 733 yards (5.0ypc), 7 Td’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Nolan Chrysler, 43 catches for 662 yards, 3 TD’s. WR Dennis Wayne 29 catches for 296 yards, 5TD’s.
Leading Tackler:S Oskolkoff—38 tackles

Key Injuries:
QB Ike Croft broke his hand in Game 4 and Pete Blanchard took over. Croft is now probable, but with the record at 7-1, I’ll wait until Croft is fully healed to bring him back.

Microscope Update
Rookie CB Gerald McNeil has been OUT OF THIS WORLD to date. In 247 pass plays in 8 starts, he has only given up 4 catches, while intercepting 5 passes and breaking up another. He’s a big reason why we’ve only given up 65 points to date.

*-denotes NFL leader

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-16-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 06:50 AM

2011 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 15-1
Standing: First place by four games over SD.
QB Stats: Ike Croft, 158 for 272 (58.0%), 1896 yards, 9TD’s, 4INT’s, 84.3 Rating. Pete Blanchard 114 for 181 (62.9%), 1110 yards, 10Td’s, 6 INT’s, 84.7 Rating.
Leading Rusher: Richie Tatam, 240 for 1050, 4.3ypc, 12 TD’s.
Leading Receiver: WR Nolan Chrysler, 85 catches for 1217 yards, 6 TD’s.
Leading Tackler: S Victor Whipple and LB Perry Parrish—75 each
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Graham Billig—11.5 sacks, 5 blocks, 4 hurries.
Leading PDQ DB: CB Gerald McNeil—6 catches (in 11 starts),6 INT, 3 defensed, 51.3PDQ

Points Scored: 433
Points Against: 145

You gotta be kidding me!!! Only 145 points in 16 games. We held the opposing team to 10 points or less 11 times. We recorded a league-high 35 interceptions and had a league-high +24 turnover ratio. Amazing.

Key Injuries
S Andre Oskolkoff broke his ribs in game 13 and is still listed as out going into the playoffs.
LB Junior Crosland broke his jaw in game 15 and is also listed as out going into the playoffs.

Rushing Yards: 2100 (5th)
Rushing Average: 3.6 (League Average 3.7)
Passing Yards: 3006 (28th)
Passing Average: 6.6 (League Average 6.6)
Rushing Defense: 1462 (6th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.8 (League Avg 3.7)
Passing Defense: 2939 (2nd)
Passing Average Allowed: 5.1* (League Avg. 6.6)

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 07:42 AM

2011 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. SD
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—S Oskolkoff and LB Crosland sit because of injuries mentioned earlier. Also, CB Mayberry sits with a hyperextended elbow that has him questionableI/i]
Without CB Mayberry, the pass defense didn’t come up with an interception, and was a bit vulnerable by comparison to the regular season. However, the offense more than picked up the slack. Tatum carries for 76 yards, and Croft went 20 for 32 for 218 yds with 2 TD’s and 1 Int. Nolan Chrysler had 8 catches for 110 yards and a TD, and we win 31-20.

AFC Championship vs. Tennessee Titans
[I]Pre-Game Injuries of Note—LB Crosland is still listed as out. He’s done. CB Mayberry upgrades to probable and starts. S Oskolkoff is still doubtful and sits again.
Mayberry returns and the secondary gets busy again with 2 interceptions and 6 passes broken up. Titan QB Glenn Godrey, who had 3531 yards passing and a 90.1 rating on the season, goes 17 for 35 for 220 yards with 2 INT’s. Offensively, we rushed for 247 yards, with Tatum leading the way with 25 carries for 145 yards and a TD. Croft was 16 for 23 for 199 yards with 3 TD’s and 1 INT, and we blow the Titans out 41-16 to win the AFC Championship.

Super Bowl vs. Detroit Lions[]
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—Oskolkoff upgrades to questionable and is back starting. No other changes.
With everyone back, the Lions experienced what the rest of the league experienced all year from the Plainsmen: total domination, especially by the secondary. Detroit was 8 for 25 for 121 yards with 2 INT’s against the Plainsmen, and only 1 for 13 on third down. All in all, the Lions had 7 first downs and 194 total yards. The Plainsman offense also flexed its muscles today. Tatum had 14 carries for 100 yards and a TD, and Croft was 20 for 29 for 247 yards and 3 TD’s and 0 Int’s to win his 2nd Super Bowl MVP. Wayne caught 8 passes for 137 yards and a TD. Neither Mayberry nor McNeil gave up a catch, and Mayberry picked off a pass. Plainsmen demolish the Lions 47-6 to win our 2nd Super Bowl under House Arrest Rules! YEAH BABY!!!

Awards
QB Ike Croft—Super Bowl MVP (stats above)
FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—123 carries, 380 yards, 3TD’s, 24 catches, 138 yards and 0 TD’s. 13 for 29 KRB. 4th straight 1st Team All Pro for him.
G Paul Blackburn—1st Team All Pro—40 for 110 KRB, 7 sacks allowed, 20.9 OPCT
LB Perry Parrish—1st Team All Pro—75 tackles, 30 assists, 8.5 sacks, 1 blocked, 1 hurry, 2 Int’s, 6 passes defensed.
S Victor Whipple—1st Team All Pro—35 catches allowed in 16 starts, 7 INT’s, 10 passes defensed, 44.9 PDQ, 75 tackles,27 assists

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 100
Frnc. Value: 97
Profit/Loss: 67
Difficulty: 70
YrEnd Score: 86

2011 Profit: $25.7M

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 07:53 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2012 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
OH NOOOOO!!! QB Ike Croft decides to hang ‘em up after only 9 seasons! Croft was drafted 5(1) from Bethune Cookman in 2003. He started 10 games in his rookie season, and was the #1 guy from his 2nd year on. By his 3rd season, he led the House Arrest Empty Cupboard Plainsmen all the way to the AFC Championship game. His best overall regular season performance came in 2009, when he was 284 for 467 for 3852 yards with 30 TD’s and 10 Int’s. He led the Plainsmen to seven straight playoff appearances, six division titles (5 in a row), and 2 Super Bowl wins. He was named MVP in both of his Super Bowl appearances. In his first Super Bowl in 2007, he was 29 for 35 for 403 yards, 4 TD’s and 0 INT’s, and in his 2nd in 2011, Croft was 16 for 23 for 199 yards with 3 TD’s and 1 INT. He set NFL records in 2008 for passing yards (4,717) and TD passes (36). For his career, Croft was 1978 for 3391(58.3%) for 25,530 yards with 170 TD’s and 125 INT’s with an 83.3 QB Rating. He will be sorely missed.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
My scout’s contract runs out, and he’s getting old and declining. I sign a new one. I stick with the same coach. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Perry Herndon
Age: 47
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: F
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: F
WR: G MOTIVATION: F
OL: G DISCIPLINE: E
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
LB: E DEFENSE PLAYCALL: G
DB: F AVOID INJURY: E</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dexter Atkins
Age: 43
REPUTATION
QB: G DL: F
RB: G LB: G
WR: G DB: F
OL: VG YOUNG TALENT: VG
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 80
Support For New Stadium: 94

I bump ticket prices up a bit. They are still below those of Dallas

Upper Deck: 70
End Zone: 75
Mezzanine: 85
Sidelines: 135
License: 2,000
Club Seats: 4,000
Luxury Boxes: 200,000

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-15-2001).]

Madmax

04-15-2001, 01:26 PM

Originally posted by SkyDog:

2011 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Points Scored: 433
Points Against: 145

145 points against is very impressive. I use same/similar gameplan as the Plainsmen for my current career with Houston Texans (2002-2029present) and have found it very effective. I notice that you change the gameplan every year but I stick with pretty much the same offense every season.
Eventhough I don't use any rules(except fair trades), the best defense I had was when my team only allowed 189 points. I usually use man-to-man 75 and bump-run at 25 along with 4-3 or 3-4 depending on the strength at LB.

On offense, the most the Texans has scored is 534 points.

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 02:59 PM

2012 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $9.72M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.76M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

*FB David Bonk—Gotta figure out a way to keep the 4-time First Team All Pro.
*G Brett McIntyre—Been solid as a starter for seven years. I’d like to keep him.

Biggest Priorities: FB Bonk
Secondary Priorities: G McIntyre
Lowest Priorities: None

Cuts to Save Cap Room
WR Patton—He didn’t break out and he’s not needed at his salary.
TE Acosta—Ditto.
LB August Farr—Gotta another LB from Texas who’s cheaper.
DE Walter Crisp—He was no longer starting by the end of last season.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
None.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
FB Bonk—3yrs,$9M
G McIntyre—4yrs,$17.48M

FA Analysis
Well, I had no money for a QB, but all my other starters return from last year, and I can’t help but be happy about that. My backup QB from last year, Pete Blanchard, could potentially be a decent option.

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-15-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 08:57 PM

2012 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: QB
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: DE
Depth Needed: RB, CB

1(34): QB Gary Sherman: Pretty good QB. Potentials good enough to perhaps plug him into the lineup this year. 22/90,27/78,18/76,12/5422/72,70,13/47,16/56,48,46. From tiny Luther College in Decorah, IA, a Division III school.
2(34): RB Andrew May: VERY good RB. Could be a Tyrus Dunn-style back (read the Hartford Nor’easter thread for more on the great Dunn). 67/100 in ypc, 81 in breakaway speed, 75 in catching, 52/88 in catch frequency, 80 in 3rd-down catching. With a few years of building up QB Sherman, I could potentially build the offense around May.
3(34): DE Jesse Nickel: Pretty solid DE from SW Texas St. 24/66,8/20, 85.
4(34): G Eugene Morrison: Very nice ratings for this point in the draft. 22/66,18/56,78. Could become a starter one day.
5(34): C Roman Hall: Good backup. 34/76,19/44, 23.
6(34): DE Van Wollmuth: 12/33,14/40,44. From Texas Tech.
7(34): DT Grady James: 18/51, 13/37, 62

Seven Year Signee: WR Glenn Cash 26/30, 23, 13/15, 25, 58…..31 endurance (near redliner)

I then sign a few rookies to fill out the roster and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-15-2001, 09:07 PM

2012 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: In the middle
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
With studs at FB and TE. I’ll stick with the I, Pro, Strong I and Shotgun. I zero out Weak I and Single Back.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are a bit above the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: Undrafted FA CB Rich Dominequez jumps to 24/72, 30/87, 16/47, 67 with 69 endurance. He was a roster filler who I only signed for one year, so I imagine he’ll get big bucks after this year.

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 58,600 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-16-2001, 05:44 AM

2012 ROSTER

<pre>
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Pete Blanchard 6 9 3 2012
QB Kendrick Graham 5 8 2 2013
QB Gary Sherman 5 14 1 2017
RB Richie Tatum 12 12 4 2012
RB Andrew May 10 14 1 2015
RB Andre Vazquez 6 6 1 2012
RB Danny Thomas 4 4 6 2013
FB David Bonk 13 13 6 2014
FB Clay Gruber 8 9 2 2012
TE Trent Shafer 11 12 6 2014
TE Kurt Romero 9 12 2 2013
TE Tim Reynolds 5 6 1 2012
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 17 11 2013
WR Dennis Wayne 15 15 11 2012
WR Lionel Judkins 9 11 4 2015
WR Bernard Joyner 6 6 7 2012
WR Glenn Gash 4 5 1 2018
C Mike Wheeler 10 10 4 2013
C Roman Hall 5 12 1 2014
C Irv Stevens 4 8 1 2014
G Paul Blackburn 14 14 7 2012
G Brett McIntyre 12 13 8 2015
G Joel Castillo 5 8 2 2013
G Eugene Morrison 5 11 1 2014
T Brandon Child 13 13 10 2012
T Gabe Oglesby 10 11 3 2013
T Mark Bauer 8 11 3 2014
T Artie McDonald 8 10 2 2014
P Nathan Spencer 10 10 12 2013
K Jamie Haines 10 10 12 2013
DE Graham Billig 10 10 4 2013
DE Morris Stuart 7 7 5 2012
DE Van Wollmuth 5 6 1 2014
DE Jesse Nickel 4 13 1 2014
DT Burt Earley 14 14 5 2013
DT Jessie Madison 8 11 3 2014
DT Rondell Cowart 4 7 2 2013
DT Grady James 3 9 1 2014
LB Perry Parrish 14 18 3 2013
LB Heath Williams 12 12 4 2014
LB Junior Crosland 11 13 7 2012
LB Leland Watkins 7 16 2 2014
LB Jackie McKenney 4 6 2 2013
LB Chester Gross 2 3 1 2012
CB Johnny Mayberry 11 11 11 2012
CB Rich Dominquez 9 13 1 2012
CB Gerald McNeil 7 9 2 2016
CB Quinn Connell 3 7 2 2013
CB Sam Hurd 3 4 2 2012
S Victor Whipple 17 18 9 2013
S Andre Oskolkoff 10 10 10 2014
S Matt Andrews 6 10 2 2013
S Harold Layman 4 4 1 2012</pre>

Stadium: 77
Roster Strength: 88 (Baltimore is 100, and Tennessee 98)
Support: 79
Economy: 55
Cohesion: 83,68,56,98

Outlook: Well, 21 starters return from a dominant team that won the Super Bowl in the blowout. However, the one non-returning guy will be hard to replace. The big decision for me will be do I go with QB Pete Blanchard who has performed decently in 11 career starts but doesn’t appear to be the future or do I go with rookie Gary Sherman who looks to be the future. With NINE starters becoming FA’s after this season, my first thought is to go with Blanchard this year, then begin to rebuild under Sherman next year. However, I’ll see how Sherman looks in exhibition play before making this decision.

Ben E Lou

04-16-2001, 06:18 AM

2012 GAME PLANS

Offensive Philosophy
With 2 good running backs and a good fullback. My philosophy will be a simple “three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust” complemented with short passing. I’ll rely on my running game to move the ball, and my defense to help me win field position battles.

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 85,80,75,50
2nd Down: 85,80,55,40
3rd Down: 80,25,15,25
4th Down: 80,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,50,25,5,5
Running: I-35, Pro-35, Strong-20, Shotgun-10
Very Likely Running: I-45, Pro-30, Strong-20, Shotgun-5
Passing: I-15, Pro-35, Strong—15, Shotgun-35
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-40, Strong-5 Shotugn-50
FB As Runner: 75

0WR: 20
1WR: 50
2WR: 85
3WR: 50
4WR: 30
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-17-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-16-2001, 06:52 AM

2012 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 5-3
Standing: Second place. SD is 6-1. Oakland is 3-4.
QB Stats: Gary Sherman (6 starts) 74 for 118 (62.7%), 831 yards, 2TD’s, 2INT, 82.2 Rating. Pete Blanchard (2 starts) 34 for 78 (43.5%), 353 yards, 2Td’s, 5 INT’s, 39.0 Rating. We are 5-1 when rookie Sherman starts, 0-2 when Blanchard starts. Sherman has shown he’s ready to start in the NFL.
Leading Rusher: Richie Tatum, 168 carries for 663 yards (3.9ypc), 5 Td’s.
Leading Receiver: TE Trent Shafer—23 catches for 235 yards, 0 TD’s
Leading Tackler:LB Heath Williams—47 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

04-16-2001, 07:17 AM

2012 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 11-5
Standing: First place. SD also went 11-5, but we beat ‘em twice.
QB Stats: Gary Sherman, 190 for 329 (57.7%), 2097 yards, 13TD’s, 12INT’s, 74.7 Rating.
Leading Rusher: Richie Tatam, 276 for 1253, 4.5ypc, 6 TD’s.
Leading Receiver: TE Trent Shafer, 40 catches for 387 yards, 2 TD’s
Leading Tackler: S Oskolkoff—87 tackles
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Graham Billig—11.5 sacks, 1 block, 13 hurries*.
Leading PDQ DB: S Victor Whipple—23 catches, 5 INT, 8 defensed, 51.1PDQ*

Points Scored: 353
Points Against: 230

Key Injuries
DT Burt Earley tore a calf muscle in game 12 and is still out going into the playoffs.
WR Nolan Chrysler played hurt quite a few games with a bruised sternum. He’s doubtful going into the playoffs.

Rushing Yards: 2389 (1st)
Rushing Average: 3.9 (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 2509 (34th)
Passing Average: 6.0 (League Average 6.6)
Rushing Defense: 1569 (9th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 4.0 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3593 (23rd)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.9 (League Avg. 6.6)

*-denotes NFL leader

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-17-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-16-2001, 07:32 AM

2012 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. Pittsburgh
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—RB Tatum is probable and will start with a bruised shoulder. WR Chysler is doubtful but remains active as the 4th WR with his bruised sternum. DT Earley is doubful/inactive with that torn calf muscle.
Pittsburgh returned a fumble and an interception for TD’s early, putting us behind and forcing us to throw. Sherman did fairly well, but threw two more INT’s for a total of three. He finished the day 21 for 39 for 309 yards with 2 TD’s and 3 INT’s, and RB May carried 22 times for 147 yards and a TD. However, being down 2 TD’s was too much to come back from, and the Steelers take a 28-25 win despite us outgaining them 443-190. ARRGGGH!

Baltimore beats Carolina 27-22 to win the Super Bowl. This rubs salt further in the wound since we MANHANDLED Carolina late in the regular season.

Awards

FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—131 carries, 466 yards, 4TD’s, 22 catches, 104 yards and 1 TD. 13 for 40 KRB. 5th straight 1st Team All Pro for him.
C Mike Wheeler—1st Team All Pro—51* for 139* KRB, 2 sacks allowed, 24.4 OPCT. That’s a new single season NFL record for KRB.
G Paul Blackburn—1st Team All Pro—36 for 97 KRB, 4 sacks allowed, 17.5 OPCT
G Brett McIntyre—1st Team All Pro—30 for 91 KRB, 3 sacks allowed, 15.8 OPCT
T Brandon Child—1st Team All Pro—29 for 80 KRB, 4 sacks allowed, 14.9 OPCT

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 81
Frnc. Value: 100
Profit/Loss: 82
Difficulty: 68
YrEnd Score: 87

2012 Profit: $76.96M

[This message has been edited by SkyDog (edited 04-16-2001).]

Ben E Lou

04-17-2001, 06:27 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2013 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

Team Moved
Buffalo moved to Albany (NY) this year.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
With a young QB, I desire a coach with a better young talent rating. There is such a coach available this year who is also quite strong at play calling. I keep my scout and hire a new coach. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Donald Boyd
Age: 58
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: G
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: G MOTIVATION: F
OL: F DISCIPLINE: G
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: G DEFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
DB: VG AVOID INJURY: E</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Dexter Atkins
Age: 44
REPUTATION
QB: G DL: F
RB: G LB: G
WR: G DB: F
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: VG
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 84
Support For New Stadium: 100

I bump ticket prices to match those of the Cowboys.

Upper Deck: 79
End Zone: 80
Mezzanine: 92
Sidelines: 144
License: 5,800
Club Seats: 4,400
Luxury Boxes: 242,000

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 07:24 AM

2013 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $37.25M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.76M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

QB Pete Blanchard—RFA—I’m committed to Gary Sherman to lead this team. Blanchard will go.
RB Richie Tatum—He’s given me four solid seasons with 3848 yards, 32 TD’s and a 4.5 ypc average, but Andrew May looks like he’ll be just as good or better and is signed through 2015.
*WR Dennis Wayne—One of the bedrocks of the franchise. I’ll try my best to keep him.
*G Paul Blackburn—2 straight 1st Team All Pro awards and my best guard. I’ll keep him.
*T Brandon Child—Tough call here. I’ve got three other pretty solid tackles, but he’s the best. I’ll keep him if I can afford him.
DE Morris Stuart—DE Jesse Nickel has very similar ratings and performance and looks ready to start in his 2nd year.
LB Junior Crosland—Leland Watkins looks very much ready to step in and start. Crosland becomes and extra wheel.
CB Johnny Mayberry-He’s in his 12th year and declining. Still has 62 in M2M defense though. Cohesion helper. Interesting choice here.
CB Rich Dominquez—RFA--Breakout rookie last year. Should come relatively cheaply since he’s an RFA.

Biggest Priorities: WR Wayne, G Blackburn, CB Dominquez
Secondary Priorities: T Child
Lowest Priorities: CB Mayberrry, then others

Cuts to Save Cap Room
None.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
S Malcolm Rivero—4yrs, $16M—5th-year man. Pretty much a stud. Signed him since he was still around and could affford. 82, 78/91, 76/84, 44….33 endurance. Former Defensive ROY. With Whipple and Oskolkoff aging, this is a good move for us.
DT Clyde Rose—3yrs, $4.8M—2nd-year man…5/27,18/87, 44
T Patrick Everett—3yrs, $3.47M—2nd-year man…16/56,14/54,36. Could be solid backup.
DE Walter O’Donnel—3yrs,$8M—3rd-year man…34/47,30/54, 50.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
G Blackburn—4yrs,$24.5M
T Child—3yrs, $17.98M
WR Wayne—2yrs,$11.99M
LB Crosland—1yr,$4.37M

FA Analysis
Now that I’m a second year removed from Ike Croft’s early retirement, I’m past the cap hit. That allowed me to sign all those quality young backups, some of whom will develop into starters. This added depth is ALWAYS nice to have. I’m taking a bit of a risk at CB in letting Mayberry go, but I chose to get the depth rather than sign Mayberry.

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 08:37 AM

2013 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: None.
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: C
Depth Needed: WR, DE, CB

1(31): WR Al Lluellyn, Wake Forest: 15/54,65,33/91,81,68….60 endurance. With Chrysler and Wayne both in their 12th seasons, its time to start preparing for the future at WR. Lluellyn looks like he’ll be great preparation.
2(31): CB Bubba Pender, Washington St.: 13/56,12/62,14/65, 60….69 endurance…could be a solid all-around CB.
3(31): C Preston Wells, Syracuse: 28/52,50/100, 96. Solid run-blocker, terrific pass blocker. Future (if not this year) starter.
4(31): RB Leonard Vance, South Carolina: 43/81 in ypc and 38/78 in catch frequency. Very good 2nd RB.
5(31): DE Travis McCain, Delta State: 22/57,16/42,45. Could develop into a starter even.
6(31): QB O.J. Scrafford, Florida State: Best current-value QB
7(31): FB Rob Pettis, Alabama: 21/68 in run blocking, 28/79 in ypc, 24/66 in catch frequency. Nice.

After the draft I re-sign CB Dominquez to a 3-year, $9M deal. I also cut C Irv Stephens, who is demoted to #4 on the depth chart with the drafting of Preston Wells. I also cut DE Van Wollmuth and DT Rondell Cowart.

Seven Year Signee: LB Zack Anthony, Georgia: 8/59, 8/65, 4/30, 3/26, 51. Could develop into a starter.

I then sign a few rookies to fill out the roster and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 08:49 AM

2013 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: In the middle
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
With strength at RB, FB and 3 strong WR’s and a solid but not great TE, I’m going to run 2-back sets with a lot of usage of 3WR’s. I set I, Pro, Strong I and Weak I high, and zero out single back and shotgun. Goal line is set in the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are near the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: None.

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 62,100 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 09:00 AM

2013 ROSTER

<pre>
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Gary Sherman 8 11 2 2017
QB Kendrick Graham 5 8 3 2013
QB O.J. Scrafford 5 6 1 2015
RB Andrew May 11 13 2 2015
RB Leonard Vance 9 10 1 2015
RB Trent Long 7 8 1 2015
RB Danny Thomas 4 4 7 2013
FB David Bonk 13 13 7 2014
FB Rob Pettis 5 11 1 2014
TE Trent Shafer 12 12 7 2014
TE Kurt Romero 10 12 3 2013
TE Jorge Barham 4 9 1 2013
WR Nolan Chrysler 15 15 12 2013
WR Dennis Wayne 15 15 12 2014
WR Al Lluellyn 10 12 1 2016
WR Lionel Judkins 9 10 5 2015
WR Luke Schweitzer 5 10 1 2015
C Mike Wheeler 11 12 5 2013
C Preston Wells 9 15 1 2016
C Roman Hall 7 9 2 2014
G Paul Blackburn 15 15 8 2016
G Brett McIntyre 12 12 9 2015
G Eugene Morrison 8 10 2 2014
G Joel Castillo 5 6 3 2013
T Brandon Child 14 14 11 2015
T Gabe Oglesby 9 10 4 2013
T Mark Bauer 8 12 4 2014
T Artie McDonald 8 11 3 2014
T Patrick Everett 6 9 2 2015
P Nathan Spencer 10 10 13 2013
K Jamie Haines 10 10 13 2013
DE Graham Billig 11 12 5 2013
DE Walter O'Donnell 9 9 3 2015
DE Travis McCain 6 12 1 2014
DE Jesse Nickel 5 7 2 2014
DT Burt Earley 13 13 6 2013
DT Jessie Madison 9 11 4 2014
DT Grady James 5 10 2 2014
DT Clyde Rose 5 8 2 2015
LB Perry Parrish 15 18 4 2013
LB Heath Williams 11 12 5 2014
LB Junior Crosland 11 11 8 2013
LB Leland Watkins 10 16 3 2014
LB Jackie McKenney 4 5 3 2013
LB Zack Anthony 2 10 1 2019
CB Rich Dominquez 9 13 2 2015
CB Gerald McNeil 9 10 3 2016
CB Bubba Pender 5 10 1 2015
CB Quinn Connell 3 3 3 2013
S Victor Whipple 17 17 10 2013
S Malcolm Rivero 13 15 5 2016
S Andre Oskolkoff 10 10 11 2014
S Matt Andrews 8 10 3 2013</pre>

Stadium: 75
Roster Strength: 100 (Pittsburgh is 88, Tennessee is 83)
Support: 83
Economy: 56
Cohesion: 76,94,68,87

Outlook: If the secondary can handle the loss of CB Mayberry, (and of course we can avoid key injuries), there’s no reason to believe we won’t go deep into the postseason with this squad.

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 09:13 AM

2013 GAME PLANS

Offensive Philosophy
As I mentioned earlier, I’m going to use 2 backs and 3 WR’s quite a bit this year. With QB Sherman still developing, I’ll continue to run more than I throw, but I’ll throw more than last year.

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 40,55,70,45
2nd Down: 55,70,40,40
3rd Down: 80,25,15,30
4th Down: 80,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 10,55,25,5,5
Running: I-30, Pro-30, Weak-20, Strong-20
Very Likely Running: I-40, Pro-25, Weak-15, Strong-20
Passing: I-10, Pro-60, Weak-15, Strong-15
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-75, Weak-10, Strong-10
FB As Runner: 85

0WR: 20
1WR: 20
2WR: 50
3WR: 85
4WR: 75
5WR: 50

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

[ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 09:45 AM

2013 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 7-1
Division Standing: First place. KC is 5-2. Oakland is 4-3.
QB Stats: Gary Sherman (6 starts) 96 for 153 (62.7%), 990 yards, 9TD’s, 0INT, 100.9 Rating*. (missed most of one game and all of another due to injury)
Leading Rushers: Andrew May, 119 carries for 560 yards (4.7ypc), 6 Td’s. Leonard Vance 65 carries for 385 yards (5.9ypc), 2 Td’s. David Bonk 75 carries for 294 yards (3.9ypc), 3 Td’s.
Leading Receiver: WR Dennis Wayne—40 catches for 597 yards, 7TD’s*.
Leading Tackler:LB Perry Parish—54 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

No major injuries so far.

[ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 10:14 AM

2013 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 11-5
Standing: First place. 3rd Straight Division Title. 9th Straight Playoff Birth
QB Stats: Gary Sherman, 173 for 294 (58.8%), 1926 yards, 17TD’s, 8INT’s, 86.3 Rating.
Leading Rushers: Andrew May, 215 carries for 1035 yards (4.8ypc), 9 Td’s. Leonard Vance 103 carries for 616 yards (5.9ypc), 3 Td’s. David Bonk 147 carries for 544 yards (3.7ypc), 4 Td’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Dennis Wayne—71 catches for 1063 yards, 11TD’s*. WR Nolan Chrysler—60 catches for 843 yards, 8TD’s. FB David Bonk—58 catches for 319 yards, 2 TD’s
Leading Tackler: S Whipple 100 tackes
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Graham Billig—11.5 sacks, 5 blocks, 10 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Rich Dominquez—23 catches, 5 INT, 5 defensed, 35.9PDQ

Points Scored: 358
Points Against: 269

Key Injuries
Starting QB Sherman missed a couple more starts in the 2nd half.

Rushing Yards: 2403 (2nd)
Rushing Average: 4.5 (League Average 4.0)
Passing Yards: 3139 (31st)
Passing Average: 6.3 (League Average 6.8)
Rushing Defense: 1596 (6th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.6 (League Avg 4.0)
Passing Defense: 3744 (25th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.6 (League Avg. 6.8)

*-denotes NFL leader

[ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 10:47 AM

2013 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. New England
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—QB Sherman is questionable with a broken nose but will start.

The offense puts a very nice showing together, and the defense comes up with 4 interceptions against the Patriots. Sherman is a very efficient 24 for 33 for 275 yards with 2TD’s and an INT. Wayne catches 8 passes for 105 yards and a TD and Chrysler has 5 for 70. May has 14 carries for 50 yards, and Bonk contributes 12 carries for 67 yards and a TD.

NFC Championship at Pittsburgh
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—QB Sherman is upgraded to probable and continues to start.
We end the first quarter against Pittsburgh in a 7-7 tie, but the Steelers rip off 3 2nd-quarter TD’s to take a 28-10 lead going into the half. We respond in the 3rd quarter with a TD and a FG to cut it to 28-20, but only can manage 2 FG’s in the 4th quarter, and we lose 28-26. May carries 15 times for 118 yards, and Bonk 12 for 70. Pittsburgh eliminates us in a close game for the 2nd year in a row.

Pittsburgh wins the Super Bowl 24-0 over Carolina.

Awards

FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—rushing and receiving stats above. 9 for 27 KRB. 6th straight 1st Team All Pro selection for him.
G Brett McIntyre—1st Team All Pro—43 for 112 KRB, 5 sacks allowed, 22.5 OPCT
G Paul Blackburn—2nd Team All Pro—37 for 95 KRB, 3 sacks allowed, 19.2 OPCT
S Victor Whipple—2nd Team All Pro—statistics above

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 78
Frnc. Value: 97
Profit/Loss: 76
Difficulty: 68
YrEnd Score: 83

2013 Profit: $68.15M

[ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 05:15 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2014 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
G Brett McIntyre--He retires after 9 seasons in Austin. McIntyre was drafted 4(19) in the 2005 draft. He started all 16 games that season, and was a starter for the rest of his career. His best two years were his last two, and he ends his career with back-to-back 1st Team All Pro Awards and like QB Ike Croft leaves while still at the top of his game. He had two more years left on his contract, so we'll take a bit of a cap hit this year.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
There’s a better scout out there than mine I sign him. However, I’m instituting another house rule effective henceforth. No signing new coaches or scouts until their contracts run out. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Donald Boyd
Age: 59
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: G
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: G MOTIVATION: F
OL: F DISCIPLINE: G
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: G DEFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
DB: VG AVOID INJURY: E</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Lenny Malone
Age: 57
REPUTATION
QB: G DL: G
RB: G LB: VG
WR: E DB: VG
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: E
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 88
Support For New Stadium: 100

I bump ticket prices to match those of the Cowboys.

Upper Deck: 78
End Zone: 79
Mezzanine: 92
Sidelines: 143
License: 5,900
Club Seats: 4,500
Luxury Boxes: 243,000

[ 04-21-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]

Ben E Lou

04-21-2001, 09:48 PM

2014 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $32.7M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.76M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

*WR Nolan Chrysler—He’s in his 13th season. I’ll see if I can get him signed to a one or two year deal.
C Mike Wheeler—Hmmm. He only wants a one-year deal, which would probably be ideal, then last year’s 3rd-round pick, Preston Walls, would take over next year. If I can afford the one-year deal, I’ll grab him.
T Gabe Oglesby—I’ve got 3 pretty solid options at replacing him. I’ll let him fly.
*P Nathan Spencer—has been solid, plus he’s from Baylor
*K Jamie Haines—We’ll see who is around come week 11.
*DE Graham Billig—Has had 11.5+ sacks each of the last 4 seasons
*DT Burt Earley—Best DT and a 6-year starter. Gotta keep him.
*LB Perry Parish—Looks like he’s ready to become one of the league’s premier LB’s. I want him back.
LB Junior Crosland—Leland Watkins looks ready to step up. If I can sign Parish, I’ll let Crosland fly.
S Victor Whipple—Well, he’s a 3-time All-Pro and a 10-year starter. I’ve got 2 solid safeties under contract in Oskolkoff and Rivero, but I’d still like to keep a star like Whipple.

Biggest Priorities: WR Chrysler, DE Billig, DT Earley, LB Parish
Secondary Priorities: S Whipple, P, K
Lowest Priorities: C Wheeler

Cuts to Save Cap Room
RB Trent Long
WR Lionel Judkins
DT Clyde Rose

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
LB Billy Joe Downs—3yrs-$6M, 2nd year man, 24/60,28/71,20/52,30/78,57. Should develop into a starter.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
LB Parrish—4yrs,$22.48M
S Whipple—3yrs,$11.49M
DT Earley—5yrs,$37M
WR Chrysler—3yrs, $17.85M
K Haines—3yrs,$3.54M

{Oakland signed DE Billig away. Arrggh! St. Lake City signed P Spencer away as well.)

FA Analysis
For the first time in this career, I don’t have my way during free agency. I got nearly everyone back, but losing key player DE Billig and my Texas punter hurt.

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 06:38 AM

2014 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: DE, P
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: None
Depth Needed: TE, G, DT

1(30): DE Pat Tyler, Western Carolina: 31/38,45/68,33. Pass-rushing DE to replace Billig.
2(30): CB Rob Southard, Alabama: 29/77,33/89,21/57,64….50 endurance. Nice
3(30): P Andre’ Franklin, Delta State: 40,22/73,18/72. Didn’t want him to get grabbed in round 4.
4(30): S Jon Slocumb, Baylor:I needed a DB from Texas, and this guy should contribute with 84 in punt returns and 82 in kick returns. Other ratings are pretty weak: 10/19,11/18,12/21,66….84 endurance.
5(30): TE Mario Norris, Middle Tennessee St.: 20/58 run blocking, 21/63 catch frequency. Serviceable backup TE.
6(30): G Sammy Harry, UNC: 19/66,10/30, 14. Low endurance means he’ll never start, but could be a good backup if he develops.
7(30): DT Charlie Franklin, Indiana: 8/21, 27/65, 66. Good depth, especially this late in draft.

After the draft I sign RFA TE Kurt Romero to a one-year deal.

Seven Year Signee: WR Carlton O’Neal, Texas A&M: 3/4, 36, 22/31, 36,60….23 endurance. With his near redliner status, I’m hoping he breaks out.

I then sign a few rookies to fill out the roster and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 06:54 AM

2014 ROSTER

<pre>
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Gary Sherman 8 12 3 2017
QB O.J. Scrafford 3 6 2 2015
QB Nathan Tong 2 4 1 2016
RB Andrew May 11 12 3 2015
RB Wendell Wheeler 9 9 1 2016
RB Buddy Wallace 8 8 1 2016
RB Leonard Vance 6 10 2 2015
FB David Bonk 12 13 8 2014
FB Rob Pettis 6 9 2 2014
TE Trent Shafer 12 12 8 2014
TE Kurt Romero 9 12 4 2014
TE Mario Norris 5 13 1 2015
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 16 13 2016
WR Dennis Wayne 13 14 13 2014
WR Al Lluellyn 10 14 2 2016
WR Tyrone Carmazzi 5 5 1 2016
WR Luke Schweitzer 5 7 2 2015
C Preston Wells 9 15 2 2016
C Roman Hall 7 11 3 2014
C D.J. Lattimore 5 8 1 2014
G Paul Blackburn 15 15 9 2016
G Eugene Morrison 7 11 3 2014
G Darnell Silas 5 9 1 2014
G Sammy Harry 3 10 1 2015
T Brandon Child 14 14 12 2015
T Mark Bauer 8 11 5 2014
T Patrick Everett 7 10 3 2015
T Artie McDonald 6 10 4 2014
P Andre Franklin 6 14 1 2016
K Jamie Haines 10 10 14 2016
DE Walter O'Donnell 8 9 4 2015
DE Pat Tyler 7 8 1 2018
DE Jesse Nickel 6 9 3 2014
DE Travis McCain 6 9 2 2014
DT Burt Earley 12 14 7 2018
DT Jessie Madison 7 10 5 2014
DT Grady James 5 7 3 2014
DT Charlie Franklin 4 11 1 2016
LB Perry Parrish 16 17 5 2017
LB Heath Williams 11 13 6 2014
LB Leland Watkins 11 14 4 2014
LB Billy Joe Downs 7 13 2 2016
LB Ryan Medley 4 5 1 2016
LB Zack Anthony 3 8 2 2019
CB Gerald McNeil 10 10 4 2016
CB Rich Dominquez 9 12 3 2015
CB Bubba Pender 6 11 2 2015
CB Rob Southard 6 14 1 2017
CB J.C. Doyle 2 2 1 2016
S Victor Whipple 16 17 11 2016
S Malcolm Rivero 11 12 6 2016
S Andre Oskolkoff 10 10 12 2014
S Jon Slocumb 5 6 1 2016 </pre>

Stadium: 76
Roster Strength: 100 (Baltimore’s is 95, Denver’s is 80.)
Support: 88
Economy: 52
Cohesion: 78,86,77,82

Outlook: I know what the roster rating says, but this just doesn’t “feel” like a championship-caliber club. After losing a key G retirement and a key DE to free agency, this team doesn’t seem to me to be as good as last year’s. We’ll see.

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 07:05 AM

2014 GAME PLANS

Offensive Philosophy
Very similar as last year’s.

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 40,55,70,40
2nd Down: 40,70,40,30
3rd Down: 80,20,10,15
4th Down: 80,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 10,55,25,5,5

Running: I-30, Pro-30, Weak-20, Strong-20
Very Likely Running: I-40, Pro-25, Weak-15, Strong-20
Passing: I-10, Pro-60, Weak-15, Strong-15
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-75, Weak-10, Strong-10
FB As Runner: 85

0WR: 20
1WR: 20
2WR: 50
3WR: 95
4WR: 30
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 07:38 AM

2014 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 4-4
Division Standing: Third place. Oakland is 6-3, Denver is 5-4.
QB Stats: pretty much irrelevant at this point. Sherman is out until the playoffs. Backup O.J. Scrafford has started the last two games and has been dreadful.
Leading Rushers: Andrew May, 57 carries for 439 yards (7.7ypc*), 6 Td’s. Leonard Vance 68 carries for 387 yards (5.6ypc), 3 Td’s.
Leading Receiver: WR Dennis Wayne—32 catches for 477 yards, 3TD’s.
Leading Tackler:LB Leland Watkins—56 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Key Injuries: TE Shafer started the season out with a broken wrist. (Good thing I re-signed Romero!) FB Bonk started out doubtful/inactive with shoulder tendonitis. He first saw action in game 4.QB Sherman started out questionable with a hyperextended knee and was fully healed by game 4. DT Burt Earley sprained his back in Game 4, and is still listed as Out at this point. BIGGIE: Sherman breaks his jaw in game seven and is said to be Out until the playoffs. I’m running the ball a LOT more the rest of the way.

[ 04-22-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 08:09 AM

2014 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 11-5
Standing: First place. 4th Straight Division Title. 10th Straight Playoff Birth

I never thought I’d be able to win the division. 3rd-string QB Nathan Tong started the last six games and we went 6-0 over that stretch. We ran a LOT over that time, and Tong did just enough to let us win.

QB Stats: Gary Sherman, 64 for 121 (52.8%), 895 yards, 6TD’s, 4INT’s, 79.6 Rating (6 starts). Nathan Tong, 102 for 167 (61.0%), 1049 yards, 6TD’s, 7INT’s, 73.6 Rating (6 starts). O.J. Scrafford, 72 for 144 (50.0%), 731 yards, 6TD’s, 8INT’s, 55.6 Rating (4 starts).
Leading Rushers: Andrew May, 163 carries for 1014 yards (6.2ypc*), 11 Td’s. Leonard Vance 117 carries for 579 yards (4.9ypc), 3 Td’s. David Bonk 114 carries for 569 yards (4.9ypc), 4 Td’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Dennis Wayne—61 catches for 818 yards, 3TD’s. WR Nolan Chrysler—53 catches for 839 yards, 5TD’s. FB David Bonk—34 catches for 150 yards, 1 TD.
Leading Tackler: LB Watkins, 97 tackes
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Walter O’ Donnell—6 sacks, 2 blocks, 4 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Gerald McNeil—30 catches, 12 INT’s*, 4 defensed, 53.7PDQ*

Points Scored: 399
Points Against: 283

Rushing Yards: 2518* (1st)
Rushing Average: 4.9* (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 2675(33rd)
Passing Average: 6.1 (League Average 6.6)
Rushing Defense: 1636 (17th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.7 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3573 (20th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.6 (League Avg. 6.6)

*-denotes NFL leader

Shocking. After Sherman went down and we fell to 3-4 the following week. I was just hoping to salvage a winning season and maybe a playoff birth. Now, we get a bye week and Sherman should be healthy for the Division Playoffs. Who knows what could happen???

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 08:20 AM

2014 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. New York Jets
Pre-Game Injuries of Note—QB Sherman is up to probable with his broken jaw and starts. T Brandon Child is questionable with a broken hand but will start also.

Sherman returns and throws 4 interceptions. Maybe I should have stuck with the rookie. We lose 31-15.

Tampa Bay beats Pittsburgh 34-7 to win the Super Bowl.

Awards

FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—rushing and receiving stats above. 13 for 24 KRB. 7th straight 1st Team All Pro selection for him.
C Preston Wells—1st Team All Pro—44 for 102 KRB, 3 sacks allowed, 21.1 OPCT
LB Leland Watkins—1st Team All Pro—97 tackles, 21 assists, 7.5 sacks, 1 hurry, 1 int, 2 passes defensed.
CB Gerald McNeil—1st Team All Pro—coverage stats above. 47 tackles, 11 assists.
S Victor Whipple—1st Team All Pro—47 catches, 7 INT’s, 11 defensed, 42.6 PDQ, 92 tackles, 26 assists

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 81
Frnc. Value: 100
Profit/Loss: 69
Difficulty: 70
YrEnd Score: 83

2014 Profit: $53.90M

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 11:39 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2015 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
Neither contract runs out. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Donald Boyd
Age: 60
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: G
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: G MOTIVATION: F
OL: F DISCIPLINE: G
DL: G OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: G DEFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
DB: VG AVOID INJURY: E</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Lenny Malone
Age: 57
REPUTATION
QB: G DL: G
RB: G LB: VG
WR: E DB: VG
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: E
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 91
Support For New Stadium: 100

Cowboy prices stay the same. So do ours.

Upper Deck: 78
End Zone: 79
Mezzanine: 92
Sidelines: 143
License: 5,900
Club Seats: 4,500
Luxury Boxes: 243,000

Ben E Lou

04-22-2001, 03:23 PM

2015 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $32.49M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.9M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

*FB David Bonk—7 straight 1st Team All Pro Awards---gonna keep him
*TE Trent Shafer—Last year’s 5th-round pick, Mario Norris, isn’t ready yet. Might be forced to start Norris if the money isn’t right though.
*WR Dennis Wayne—Hmmmm. WR Al Lleullyn looks ready to start, but Wayne has been SO good for SO long. Hard to let go. We’ll see.
*G Eugene Morrison—RFA—Didn’t look all that great last year in his 1st season as a starter. Potentials aren’t very high either. I’ll see what else is around come Week 11. However, being an RFA he’ll come fairly cheaply.
T Mark Bauer—Had a pretty solid season, but T Patrick Everett is under contract and looks just about as good as Bauer.
*DT Jesse Madison—Wasn’t all that solid. I’ll bet I can find a better option in the last half of free agency or via the draft.
*LB Leland Watkins—an All-Pro last year in his first full season as a starter.
LB Heath Williams—Has never been all that strong. Billy Jo Downs looks ready to step in and start in his 3rd season.
S Andre Oskolkoff—With Whipple and Rivero under contract, Oskolkoff probably won’t stick around.

Biggest Priorities: FB Bonk, LB Watkins, DT
Secondary Priorities: G, TE Shafer
Lowest Priorities: WR Wayne

Cuts to Save Cap Room
LB Zack Anthony

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
TE Alfred Schwartz—1yr, $2.75M—Schwartz was a four-year starter for Salt Lake City. Solid blocker and a very good pass catcher.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
FB Bonk—3yrs,$6.99M
WR Wayne—3yrs,$17.1M
LB Watkins—3yrs,$21.98M
DT Madison—3yrs,$17.5M

FA Analysis
Well, I got everyone back who I felt I needed to hold onto. I’ll wait on signing RFA G Morrison until after the draft. Bottom line: we’re still a playoff team.

Ben E Lou

04-29-2001, 08:58 AM

2015 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: none.
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: G, T, DE
Depth Needed: FB, DT, LB

1(31): G Joe Gomez, UNC: 31/70,23/51, 72. I may not sign G Morrison now.
2(31): FB Amos Thurman, Temple: When David Bonk hangs ‘em up, Thurman looks like my next stud FB. 27/88, 24/85, 64, 26/98,20/70, 30/100, 64, 51, 90
3(31): T Dwight Nastovska, Louisiana-Monroe: 20/59,9/34, 64. Could start at RT one day.
4(31): DT Herman Newsome, Vanderbilt: 8/37,18/74, 51. Not my prototypical DT, but solid for this late.
5(31): TE Joey Kelley, Ole Miss: near redliner—will be a solid backup at worst—48/56,33/38,66,43/50,83,46,46.
6(31): DE Shane Christensen, Cincinnati:12/34,9/30,40. Backup.
7(31): LB Christian Perez, California: near redliner, 17/18,19/21, 17/24,22/25, 40.

After the draft I sign RFA C D.J. Lattimore to a 3-year deal and T Bauer to a 4-year deal.

Seven Year Signee: LB Walt Vinatieri, Tennesee: 16/21,11/14, 7/10, 10/14, 44.

I then sign a few rookies to fill out the roster and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

04-29-2001, 09:08 AM

2015 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: In the middle
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
Like last year, with strength at RB, FB and 3 strong WR’s and a solid but not great TE, I’m going to run 2-back sets with a lot of usage of 3WR’s. I set I, Pro, Strong I and Weak I high, and zero out single back and shotgun. Goal line is set in the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4 and zone. Others are near the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: None.

Significant Busts: 1st Round Pick G Gomez drops from 31/70,23/51, 72 to 20/62,11/35, 66. Not huge, but enough to make me worry and re-sign G Morrison.

Season Ticket Sales: 64,600 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

04-29-2001, 09:18 AM

2015 ROSTER

<pre>
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Gary Sherman 9 11 4 2017
QB O.J. Scrafford 4 8 3 2015
QB Nathan Tong 4 4 2 2016
RB Andrew May 11 13 4 2015
RB Leonard Vance 8 10 3 2015
RB Buddy Wallace 8 8 2 2016
RB Wendell Wheeler 7 7 2 2016
FB David Bonk 13 13 9 2017
FB Amos Thurman 5 14 1 2018
TE Alfred Schwartz 14 14 5 2015
TE Joey Kelley 10 10 1 2016
TE Mario Norris 8 12 2 2015
WR Nolan Chrysler 16 16 14 2016
WR Dennis Wayne 13 13 14 2017
WR Al Lluellyn 10 13 3 2016
WR Harvey Howard 6 6 1 2015
WR Luke Schweitzer 5 6 3 2015
C Preston Wells 12 16 3 2016
C D.J. Lattimore 6 7 2 2017
C Roosevelt Martins 3 4 1 2015
G Paul Blackburn 15 15 10 2016
G Eugene Morrison 8 11 4 2015
G Sammy Harry 4 9 2 2015
G Joe Gomez 4 7 1 2018
T Brandon Child 14 14 13 2015
T Mark Bauer 8 10 6 2018
T Patrick Everett 6 10 4 2015
T Dwight Nastovska 3 7 1 2018
P Andre Franklin 13 14 2 2016
K Jamie Haines 10 10 15 2016
DE Walter O'Donnell 8 9 5 2015
DE Pat Tyler 7 9 2 2018
DE Shane Christensen 1 8 1 2016
DE Brant Lyle 0 0 1 2015
DT Burt Earley 10 12 8 2018
DT Jessie Madison 7 10 6 2017
DT Charlie Franklin 4 9 2 2016
DT Herman Newsome 1 12 1 2018
LB Perry Parrish 17 18 6 2017
LB Leland Watkins 11 15 5 2018
LB Billy Joe Downs 7 12 3 2016
LB Christian Perez 5 5 1 2017
LB Ryan Medley 4 5 2 2016
LB Walt Vinatieri 4 4 1 2021
CB Gerald McNeil 11 11 5 2016
CB Rich Dominquez 10 12 4 2015
CB Rob Southard 9 14 2 2017
CB Bubba Pender 6 11 3 2015
CB J.C. Doyle 2 3 2 2016
S Victor Whipple 16 17 12 2016
S Malcolm Rivero 10 12 7 2016
S Jon Slocumb 5 6 2 2016
S Maurice McDonald 4 7 1 2015</pre>

Stadium: 70
Roster Strength: 100 (Baltimore and Pittsburgh are at 95, TB and NO are both at 83.)
Support: 90
Economy: 54
Cohesion: 76,72,66,84

Outlook: Hmmm. With another year under QB Sherman’s belt, I think the offense looks like it is championship caliber once again, but I’m not so sure about the defense.

Ben E Lou

04-29-2001, 11:01 AM

2015GAME PLANS

Offensive Philosophy
Very similar as last year’s.

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 40,50,75,40
2nd Down: 40,75,40,30
3rd Down: 80,20,10,15
4th Down: 80,15,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,50,20,10,5

Running: I-30, Pro-30, Weak-20, Strong-20
Very Likely Running: I-40, Pro-25, Weak-15, Strong-20
Passing: I-10, Pro-60, Weak-15, Strong-15
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-75, Weak-10, Strong-10
FB As Runner: 85

0WR: 20
1WR: 20
2WR: 60
3WR: 95
4WR: 30
5WR: 20

Defensive Game Plan
I leave the down tendencies alone always.
4-3:100 3-4: 0
Nickel: 50
Dime: 50
Prevent: 0
Blitz Tendency: 65
Blitz Multiple: 60
M2M: 85
Bump/Run: 15

Ben E Lou

04-29-2001, 11:29 AM

2015 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 5-3
Division Standing: First. Oakland is 4-3. SD is 3-4. Denver and Seattle are 3-5.
QB Stats: Sherman, 128 for 219, 1367 yards, 6 TD’s, 8 Int’s, 70.6 Rating
Leading Rushers: Andrew May, 101 carries for 485 yards (4.8ypc), 7 Td’s*. Leonard Vance 71 carries for 311 yards (4.3ypc), 3 Td’s.
Leading Receiver: Wayne, Chrysler, Schwartz and Lluellyn all have 23-27 catches for 281-355 yards.
Leading Tackler:LB Leland Watkins—45 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Key Injuries: LB Parrish went out with a torn thumb ligament in Game 5. He is listed as doubtful at the mid-point of the season. WR Chrysler sprained his back in Game 7 and is still listed as out.

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 06:22 AM

2015 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 7-9
Standing: Tied for 3rd with SD. Oakland went 11-5, and KC went 8-8.

QB Sherman missed 3 games, FB Bonk missed four, and WR Chrysler didn’t return until the next-to-last week of the season. We couldn’t overcome these three key injuries.

QB Stats: Gary Sherman, 153 for 264 (57.9%), 1625 yards, 9TD’s, 9INT’s, 73.1 Rating (13 starts). QB Scrafford had a 59.8 rating in 3 starts.
Leading Rushers: Andrew May, 214 carries for 1087 yards (5.0ypc), 9 Td’s. Leonard Vance 97 carries for 428 yards (4.4ypc), 4 Td’s. David Bonk 119 carries for 468 yards (3.9ypc), 5 Td’s.
Leading Receiver: WR Al Lleullyn—49 catches for 675 yards, 3TD’s.
Leading Tackler: LB Watkins, 92 tackes
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Pat Tyler—10.5 sacks, 1 block, 5 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Gerald McNeil—26 catches, 5 INT’s, 5 defensed, 40.3 PDQ

Points Scored: 341
Points Against: 350

Rushing Yards: 2230* (1st)
Rushing Average: 4.3 (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 3130 (32nd)
Passing Average: 5.7 (League Average 6.7)
Rushing Defense: 1526 (8th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.7 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3442 (12th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.9 (League Avg. 6.7)

*-denotes NFL leader

After 10 straight playoff appearances, we miss. All of a sudden, we look VERY vulnerable to having some lean-to-mediocre years. Our QB looks to be no better than mediocre. Our stud WR’s are ancient and could retire at any time. We DO look solid in the offensive line, linebacking corps and secondary.

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 06:30 AM

2015 POSTSEASON REPORT

The Giants beat Oakland 23-0 to win the Super Bowl

Awards

FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—rushing stats above. 28 catches for 168 yards and 1 TD. 5 for 19 KRB. 8th straight 1st Team All Pro selection for him.
C Preston Wells—1st Team All Pro—42 for 95 KRB, 2 sacks allowed, 20.5 OPCT
G Paul Blackburn—1st Team All Pro—38 for 96 KRB, 5 sacks allowed, 20.1 OPCT

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 43
Frnc. Value: 100
Profit/Loss: 61
Difficulty: 69
YrEnd Score: 72

2015 Profit: $44.81M

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 06:38 AM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2016 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
None. WR’s Chrysler and Wayne stick around for year 15!

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
Neither contract runs out. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Donald Boyd
Age: 61
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: G
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: E
WR: G MOTIVATION: F
OL: F DISCIPLINE: G
DL: F OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: G DEFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
DB: VG AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre> Lenny Malone
Age: 57
REPUTATION
QB: G DL: G
RB: G LB: VG
WR: E DB: VG
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: E
K: G</pre>

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 92
Support For New Stadium: 100

Cowboy prices change a bit. So do ours.

Upper Deck: 77
End Zone: 79
Mezzanine: 93
Sidelines: 142
License: 6,100
Club Seats: 4,700
Luxury Boxes: 246,000

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 07:06 AM

2016 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $18.61M
Amount Needed For Draft: $5.25M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

*RB Andrew May—I haven’t kept a RB beyond his initial contract, but May looks like the best one I’ve had to date, and with the passing game declining I could use a workhorse back. I’ll have to at least consider re-signing him.
RB Leonard Vance—RFA—Over 3 seasons, he has averaged 5.1 yards per carry on 317 carries. Would be cheaper than May due to being an RFA.
TE Alfred Schwartz—Not a good run blocker (41) and 2nd-year man Joey Kelly looks ready.
*G Eugene Morrison—Tough call here. Had a solid season, and 2nd-year man Gomez looks like he’ll be the G of the future, but doesn’t look ready yet.
*T Brandon Child—gave up 8 sacks last year, but had 42.6 KRBpct. No one else looks ready to play LT.
DE Walter O’Donnell—has been decent, but not great, can probably be replaced for lower price.
CB Rich Dominquez—former breakout player, but 3rd-year guy Rob Southard looks ready to start, and is signed through next year.

Biggest Priorities: T Child
Secondary Priorities: G Morrison, RB May
Lowest Priorities: DE O’Donnell

Cuts to Save Cap Room
RB Wendell Wheeler

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
None.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
T Child—3yrs, $18M
G Morrison—4yrs, $20.5M

FA Analysis
Well, kept the offensive line in tact, which means I should be able to run the ball if I can find someone in the draft to run it.

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 08:08 AM

2016 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: RB, DE
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: QB, K
Depth Needed: TE, WR, CB, S

1(17): QB Marlon “Captain” Kirk, Savannah State: Nicknamed Captain for his exceptional leadership skills. His being drafted signifies our lack of faith in Gary Sherman as our long-term QB. Kirk’s ratings are 36/84, 26/54, 20/51, 34/76, 40/80, 98, 34/74, 38/75, 73, 69. Looks like a very good QB, one who can stretch defenses. His significantly better long and deep passing potential (76 and 80) than short and medium (54, 51) will tempt me toward a BIG departure from my normal way of doing things offensively.
2(17): DE Allen Burnett, LSU: 35/58, 33/48, 53. Looks like he’ll start from day 1.
3(17): RB Pete Winters, Truman State: Quite solid looking. 81 in breakaway speed
4(17): K Archie Robbins, Michigan St.: 54/89, 62, 92, 90. Great kicker!
5(17): CB Rickey Kinney, Nevada: 15/18, 37/52, 15/21, 43….58 endurance—could develop into decent M2M cover corner.
6(17): WR Christian Slocum, Tulsa: 6/8, 43, 11/14, 42, 59…45 endurance—near redliner—best available current value WR.
7(17): TE Shane Torres, Eastern Michigan:21/26, 18/21,34, 17/22, 49,34,49. Near redliner, best available TE.

Seven Year Signee: WR Randy Sharpton, Washington St.: 9/43, 55,9/41, 59,57….44 endurance…should be solid 3rd WR in a couple of years.

Needing a bit of cap room to get up to 53, I go ahead and cut K Haines and LB Walt Vinateri. I then sign a few rookies to fill out the roster and head to training camp.

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 09:00 AM

2016 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: In the middle
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
Gonna keep FB Bonk on the field at all times, with a lot of usage of 3WR’s. I set I, Pro, Strong I and Shotgun high, and zero out single back and weak . Goal line is set in the middle.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4, dime and zone. Others are near the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: None.

Significant Busts: None, but “Captain” Marlon Kirk improves a bit from 36/84, 26/54, 20/51, 34/76, 40/80, 98, 34/74, 38/75, 73, 69 to 37/82, 27/70, 20/52, 32/83, 38/92, 100, 34/78, 37/84, 72, 68. He’s going to get a hard look at being the starter from day 1.

Season Ticket Sales: 64,600 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 09:26 AM

2016 ROSTER

<pre>
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Gary Sherman 10 11 5 2017
QB Marlon Kirk 9 14 1 2020
QB Nathan Tong 5 5 3 2016
RB Pete Winters 9 10 1 2019
RB Luke Levine 8 8 1 2018
RB Buddy Wallace 7 7 3 2016
RB Dwayne Hundon 5 5 1 2016
FB David Bonk 11 12 10 2017
FB Amos Thurman 9 13 2 2018
TE Joey Kelley 9 11 2 2016
TE Shane Torres 7 7 1 2018
TE George Andrews 5 6 1 2016
WR Nolan Chrysler 13 13 15 2016
WR Dennis Wayne 12 12 15 2017
WR Al Lluellyn 10 14 4 2016
WR Randy Sharpton 6 9 1 2022
WR Christian Slocum 5 5 1 2017
C Preston Wells 13 14 4 2016
C D.J. Lattimore 6 6 3 2017
C Brent Kerr 2 3 1 2016
G Paul Blackburn 14 14 11 2016
G Joe Gomez 9 9 2 2018
G Eugene Morrison 8 10 5 2019
G Arnie Reeder 5 9 1 2018
T Brandon Child 13 13 14 2018
T Mark Bauer 8 10 7 2018
T Dwight Nastovska 8 8 2 2018
T Renaldo Bullock 3 7 1 2018
P Andre Franklin 14 15 3 2016
K Archie Robbins 8 17 1 2017
DE Pat Tyler 9 10 3 2018
DE Allen Burnett 8 10 1 2019
DE Shane Christensen 3 7 2 2016
DE Cory Oglethorpe 0 5 1 2016
DT Burt Earley 10 11 9 2018
DT Jessie Madison 8 10 7 2017
DT Herman Newsome 6 12 2 2018
DT Charlie Franklin 6 9 3 2016
LB Perry Parrish 16 16 7 2017
LB Leland Watkins 12 14 6 2018
LB Billy Joe Downs 8 12 4 2016
LB Cory Lacey 5 5 1 2016
LB Ryan Medley 5 6 3 2016
LB Christian Perez 4 4 2 2017
CB Gerald McNeil 11 11 6 2016
CB Rob Southard 10 14 3 2017
CB Tommie Winters 6 6 1 2018
CB Rickey Kinney 5 7 1 2018
CB J.C. Doyle 3 3 3 2016
S Victor Whipple 15 16 13 2016
S Malcolm Rivero 11 12 8 2016
S Mel Fields 6 6 1 2018
S Jon Slocumb 4 4 3 2016 </pre>

Stadium: 67
Roster Strength: 82 (Pittsburgh is at 100, Baltimore is at 80.)
Support: 92
Economy: 55
Cohesion: 85,92,88,83 (Passing drops to 79 if I insert Kirk as starting QB.)

Outlook: Somewhat tough to tell. We look strong on the offensive line, and improved defensively with experience. QB controversy brewing. I’m going to take a hard look at Kirk in the preseason.

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 09:35 AM

2016 OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN

Offensive Philosophy
VERY interesting situation here. I think the best thing for the long-term benefit of the team is to go with a running-oriented offense and start Kirk at QB to begin his development. If things are looking seriously troubled, then Sherman could return and we’d put it up more.

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 50,50,65,40
2nd Down: 50,65,45,40
3rd Down: 60,15,5,25
4th Down: 70,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,50,25,5,5

Running: I-30, Pro-35, Strong-20, Shotgun-15
Very Likely Running: I-45, Pro-30, Strong-15, Shotgun-10
Passing: I-15, Pro-30, Strong-15, Shotgun-40
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-35, Strong-5, Shotgun-55
FB As Runner: 85

0WR: 20
1WR: 30
2WR: 50
3WR: 99
4WR: 60
5WR: 20

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 10:19 AM

2016 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 7-1
Division Standing: First. KC is 5-2, Denver is 4-3, Seattle is 4-4.
QB Stats: Kirk (5 starts), 77 for 132, 767 yards, 6 TD’s, 2 Int’s, 83.7 Rating, Sherman (3 starts), 71 for 118, 963 yards, 7 TD’s, 7 Int’s, 81.2 Rating
Leading Rushers: David Bonk, 106 carries for 347 yards (3.2 ypc), 3 Td’s. Pete Winters 53 carries for 340 yards (6.4ypc), 3 Td’s.
Leading Receiver: Wayne, 46 catches, 639 yards, 7TD’s*
Leading Tackler:LB Leland Watkins—42 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Kirk missed three starts due to a broken finger and is questionable now. The only loss was in a Sherman start. If Kirk comes back as strong as he started, he has the job permantly.

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 10:53 AM

2016 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 13-3
Standing: First. KC, Denver and Seattle all went 10-6.

QB Kirk returned after a loss while still probable, looked good in that game, was still probable for the next, re-injured his finger and down-graded to doubtful, then didn’t return until game 16, where he threw FIVE interceptions. (He only had three all season before that game.) Not sure who I’ll start in the first playoff game.

QB Stats: Kirk (8 starts), 127 for 223, 1329 yards, 9 TD’s, 8 Int’s, 72.8 Rating, Sherman (8 starts), 171 for 274, 2058 yards, 18 TD’s, 13 Int’s, 87.4 Rating
Leading Rushers: David Bonk, 199 carries for 687 yards (3.4 ypc), 3 Td’s. Pete Winters, 118 carries for 648 yards (5.4ypc), 5 Td’s, Luke Levine, 81 carries for 422 yards,(5.2ypc), 5Td’s.
Leading Receiver: WR Al Lleullyn—54 catches for 749 yards, 5TD’s.
Leading Tackler: LB Watkins, 100 tackes
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Pat Tyler—6.5 sacks, 5 block, 6 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: S Victor Whipple—34 catches, 6 INT’s, 13 defensed, 47.1 PDQ

Points Scored: 459
Points Against: 244

Rushing Yards: 2157 (4th)
Rushing Average: 4.1 (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 3466 (20th)
Passing Average: 6.8 (League Average 6.8)
Rushing Defense: 1449 (5th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.7 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3557 (23rd)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.3 (League Avg. 6.8)

*-denotes NFL leader

Dennis Wayne missed the last 8 games due to injury, but is healthy for the playoffs.

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 11:19 AM

2016 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. Jacksonville
Sherman gets the nod at QB due to his fine play down the stretch. He throws 3 Int’s, but the defense is stellar and the running game is very strong. We take a 30-13 victory. The defense comes up with 3 Int’s, and holds ‘em to 3 for 15 on third down.

AFC Championship vs. Baltimore
After last week’s performance from Sherman, I’m going with Kirk, who tends to throw fewer Int’s. Kirk turns in a 21-for-30, 1 TD and 0 INT performance in his first-ever playoff game. Bonk has 89 yards rushing and Levine 70. We hold the ball for 36:21 and hold the Ravens to 10 for 30 passing and 164 total yards in a 30-10 romp.
The Giants beat Oakland 23-0 to win the Super Bowl

Super Bowl vs. Arizona
Kirk earns the Super Bowl start with his solid AFC Championship game. He looks good early, starting out 6 for 8. However, we’re down 13-3. Early in the 2nd quarter, Kirk runs a QB draw and bruises his shoulder, knocking him out of the game. Sherman comes in and holds the ship steady, going 21 for 31 with no interceptions the rest of the way. The defense steps it up a notch the rest of the way, allowing only 2 more field goals as the offense slowly grinds it out and comes back. K Robbins hits four field goals in regulation, and when Luke Levine takes off on a 54-yard run early in the fourth quarter, Robbins’ extra point finally brings it back even. No one score the rest of regulation, and we go to OT. We get first possession in OT, and take it from our 20 to the Cardinals’ 44, but can get no closer for a FG try. Our defense stuffs Arizona on 3 plays, and they shank a 28-yard punt back to us. We take over on the Arizona 46. Sherman hits Chrysler to set us up on the 31-yard line, and K Robbins hits his fifth FB of the day to win the game and win the MVP Award. GO PLAINSMEN!!!!

Awards
FB David Bonk—1st Team All Pro—rushing stats above. 24 catches for 169 yards and 0 TD’s. 7 for 28 KRB. 9th straight 1st Team All Pro selection for him.
C Preston Wells—1st Team All Pro—41 for 110 KRB, 3 sacks allowed, 23.7 OPCT
CB Gerald McNeil—1st Team All Pro—26 catches, 7 interceptions, 6 defensed, 43.0 PDQ
CB Rob Southard—2nd Team All Pro—32 catches, 5 interceptions, 3 defensed, 33.2 PDQ
LB Leland Watkins—2nd Team All Pro—100 tackles, 26 assists, 5.5 sacks, 1 block, 3 hurries

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 100
Frnc. Value: 85
Profit/Loss: 77
Difficulty: 69
YrEnd Score: 84

2016 Profit: $125.26M

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 05:59 PM

AUSTIN PLAINSMEN 2017 PRELIMINARIES

HALL OF FAME
None.

RETIREES
The great Nolan Chrysler finally decides to hang ‘em up after an outstanding 15-year career. He was drafted 7(1) in our inaugural season, 2002. He became a breakout player after that first training camp. Chrysler had 8 1000-yard seasons as a receiver. His career stats were: 968 catches, 13956 yards, 71 TD’s. At the time of his retirement he is 4th all-time in receptions, 1st all-time in receiving yards, and 11th all-time in receiving TD’s. He owns a single-game postseason record with 212 receiving yards in a game against Tampa Bay in the 2007 Super Bowl. His best all-around season was 2008, the only time he was named to the Pro Bowl. He had 79 catches for 1378 yards and 12 TD’s that year.

STAFF HIRING PERIOD
The scout’s contract runs out and I re-sign him. Coach is still under contract. Here’s the update:

HEAD COACH
<pre>Donald Boyd
Age: 62
REPUTATION
QB: G KICKER: G
RB: G YOUNG TALENT: VG
WR: G MOTIVATION: F
OL: F DISCIPLINE: F
DL: F OFFENSE PLAYCALL: E
LB: G DEFENSE PLAYCALL: VG
DB: VG AVOID INJURY: VG</pre>

SCOUT
<pre>Lenny Malone
Age: 60
REPUTATION
QB: G DL: G
RB: G LB: VG
WR: E DB: G
OL: G YOUNG TALENT: E
K: G</pre>

Expansion teams join the league in Greensboro and Cheyenne. I lost three insignificant players to expansion draft.

Ticket Price/Stadium Information
Fan Loyalty: 94
Support For New Stadium: 100

I submit a maximum-signed stadium plan, with no contribution from the team. We’ll see what the community says. Dallas’ ticket prices remain the same, as do mine.

Upper Deck: 77
End Zone: 79
Mezzanine: 93
Sidelines: 142
License: 6,100
Club Seats: 4,700
Luxury Boxes: 246,000

[ 05-08-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]

Ben E Lou

05-08-2001, 10:11 PM

2017 20-STEP PROCESS

Initial Cap Room: $35.05M
Amount Needed For Draft: $4.9M

Nor’easters’ UFA’s and key RFA’s (*--represents players I feel the need to re-sign or acquire someone to replace as starters)

TE Joey Kelley—RFA—FB Amos Thurman can start at TE. I probably won’t pay to re-sign Kelley.
*WR Al Lleullyn—With Nolan Chrysler’s retirement, Llleulyn is needed to start. His continuity will be needed, as WR Wayne will surely also retire after this, his 16th season.
*C Preston Wells—3 straight 1st-team all pro honors. Gotta do all I can to keep him.
G Paul Blackburn—Both Joe Gomez and Eugene Morrison are capable solid starting guards. Blackburn is clearly better, but if it comes down to a financial decision, he won’t get re-signed.
*P Andre Franklin—RFA—One of the best in the business. I’ll re-sign.
*LB Billy Joe Downs—Ratings all in the 40’s and 50’s. I can probably do better in the last 10 weeks.
*CB Gerald McNeiil—CB has averaged 6 Int’s per year as a starter. I want him back.
*S Victor Whipple—14-year vet (and 14-year starter) has been awfully good for awfully long time. Career 41.7 PDQ and 4 All-Pro honors.
*S Malcolm Rivera—Had a very good year last season. One of the best around.

Biggest Priorities: CB McNeil, S Whipple, S Rivera, WR Lleullyn
Secondary Priorities: P Franklin, C Wells, LB
Lowest Priorities: G Blackburn

Cuts to Save Cap Room
QB Gary Sherman—With Marlon Kirk taking over and leading us in the Super bowl, this move makes sense to help keep other pieces in place.

New Signees During Last 10 Weeks
None.

My Own RFA’s and UFA’s Re-signed
C Wells—4yrs, $20M
WR Lluellyn—5yrs, $39.25M
S Whipple—3yrs, $11.15M
S Rivero—4yrs, $17.48M
LB Downs—1yr, $3.75M
P Franklin—2yrs, $1.75M

You’ll notice the absence of CB Gerald McNeil. He got signed away by St. Louis. ARRRGGGGHHH!

FA Analysis
It was a qualified success. Kept a solid team together for the most part, but I’m going to have to get a starting CB and my best pick is the 36th pick in the draft.

Ben E Lou

05-09-2001, 05:49 AM

2017 AMATEUR DRAFT

Starters Needed: CB,
Improvement/Better Started Wanted: RB, G, DE
Depth Needed: TE, WR, LB

1(36): CB Gus Greene, Penn St:46/88, 38/66, 45/80, 63, 27, 82, 78. If he pans out, we’re in contention for another Super Bowl.
2(36): DT Kim Davidson, Texas Tech: 22/80, 13/45, 54. Good run-stopping DT from Texas.
3(36): DE Danny Greer, Virginia Tech: 6/28, 15/69, 54. Should start in a year or two.
4(36): QB Deon Crane, Maryland.: Nice-looking kid for this late. Most potentials in 60’s and 70’s.
5(36): TE Courtney Blackburn, Maryland: 33/72 in run blocking, 37/73 in catch frequency. Should develop into solid starter.
6(36): LB Monty Torres, Texas Southern: 14/20, 23/33, 28/36,15/19, 47. Near redliner from Texas.
7(36): WR Cory Leathers, Vanderbilt: near redliner, 23/29, 70, 20/30, 43,53….31.

Seven Year Signee: [b]RB Timothy Wiggs, Tuskegee[b] pretty much redliner: 42,26/27, 51,31, 28,20,9,17,23

Stadium vote failed 50.4% to 49.5%

I re-sign S Slocumb to a one-year, $960K contract, then sign a bunch of rookies and head to camp.

Ben E Lou

05-09-2001, 06:25 AM

2017 TRAINING CAMP

Training Camp Settings

Special Skills
Overall Time: In the middle
I zero out hail mary and FG/PAT block.
Top three settings are punt return, punt cover/block and red zone offense.

Offense
Lots of 2-back, 2-WR, 1 TE sets will rule the day this season. I put all my emphasis on I, Pro, Strong I and Weak I.

Defense
I maximize 4-3 and Man To Man. I minimize 3-4, dime and zone. Others are a bit above the middle.

Post Training Camp

Significant Breakouts: None. 7-year RB Timothy Wiggs improves a bit from 42,26/27, 51,31, 28,20,9,17,23 to 49,31/33,61,40/49, 30,22/26,10,21,26.

Significant Busts: None.

Season Ticket Sales: 64,600 out of 66,700

Ben E Lou

05-09-2001, 06:31 AM

2017 ROSTER

<pre>
Position/Player Current Est Future Est Exp Sgnd
QB Marlon Kirk 11 17 2 2020
QB Deon Crane 3 10 1 2019
QB J.R. Brady 2 3 1 2017
RB Pete Winters 12 12 2 2019
RB Luke Levine 8 8 2 2018
RB Timothy Wiggs 8 8 1 2023
RB Rod Jordan 5 5 1 2017
FB Amos Thurman 12 13 3 2018
FB David Bonk 11 11 11 2017
TE Joey Kelley 10 11 3 2017
TE Courtney Blackburn 7 11 1 2018
TE Willie O'Neill 3 3 1 2017
WR Dennis Wayne 11 11 16 2017
WR Al Lluellyn 10 13 5 2021
WR Corey Leathers 8 8 1 2019
WR Randy Sharpton 7 10 2 2022
WR Preston Leyva 6 8 1 2019
WR Charlie Fleming 6 10 1 2019
C Preston Wells 14 14 5 2020
C D.J. Lattimore 6 7 4 2017
G Joe Gomez 10 10 3 2018
G Eugene Morrison 9 10 6 2019
G Arnie Reeder 7 7 2 2018
G Neil Dearing 3 3 1 2017
T Brandon Child 13 13 15 2018
T Mark Bauer 9 10 8 2018
T Dwight Nastovska 9 9 3 2018
T Renaldo Bullock 3 6 2 2018
P Andre Franklin 14 15 4 2018
K Archie Robbins 13 17 2 2017
DE Pat Tyler 11 11 4 2018
DE Allen Burnett 9 9 2 2019
DE Jeff Pierce 2 2 1 2017
DE Danny Greer 2 13 1 2020
DT Burt Earley 10 11 10 2018
DT Jessie Madison 8 8 8 2017
DT Herman Newsome 6 10 3 2018
DT Kim Davidson 3 13 1 2020
LB Perry Parrish 16 16 8 2017
LB Leland Watkins 12 14 7 2018
LB Billy Joe Downs 9 11 5 2017
LB Monty Torres 5 5 1 2018
LB Randal Bustamante 4 5 1 2017
LB Karl Barlow 4 5 1 2017
CB Rob Southard 10 13 4 2017
CB Gus Greene 8 16 1 2020
CB Rickey Kinney 7 9 2 2018
CB Sherman Wheeler 4 4 1 2019
CB Andrew Ford 4 4 1 2017
S Victor Whipple 15 15 14 2019
S Malcolm Rivero 12 12 9 2020
S Jon Slocumb 7 7 4 2017
S Mel Fields 5 5 2 2018 </pre>

Stadium: 83
Roster Strength: 100 (Baltimore is at 90. Arizona and Tennessee are at 84.)
Support: 92
Economy: 56
Cohesion: 69,85,92,93

Outlook: This looks like a very solid team. I think if we can avoid major injuries, we have a very good chance of repeating.

Ben E Lou

05-09-2001, 06:41 AM

2017 OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN

Offensive Philosophy
The offensive line looks very strong, and I’ve got strong backs. I’ll use all four 2-back sets and run it quite a bit, but with Kirk at the helm, I’m not afraid to put it up either.

Offensive Game Plan
1st Down: 50,50,65,40
2nd Down: 50,65,45,40
3rd Down: 60,15,5,25
4th Down: 70,10,0,0
Pass Distance: 15,50,25,5,5

Running: I-25, Pro-25, Strong-25, Weak-25
Very Likely Running: I-40, Pro-10, Strong-25, Weak-25
Passing: I-15, Pro-55, Strong-15, Weak-15
Very Likely Passing: I-5, Pro-85, Strong-5, Weak-5
FB As Runner: 80

0WR: 20
1WR: 30
2WR: 80
3WR: 60
4WR: 30
5WR: 20

Ben E Lou

05-09-2001, 06:59 AM

2017 MID-SEASON REPORT

Record: 7-1
Division Standing: First. Denver is 5-3, KC is 4-4.
QB Stats: Kirk (5 starts), 129 for 212, 1648 yards, 13 TD’s, 6 Int’s, 93.7 Rating
Leading Rushers: Pete Winters 119 carries for 568 yards (4.7ypc), 2 Td’s.
Leading Receiver: Wayne, 27 catches, 358 yards, 1TD.
Leading Tackler:S Victor Whipple—45 tackles

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

05-09-2001, 07:20 AM

2017 END OF REGULAR SEASON REPORT

Season Recap

Record: 11-4-1
Standing: First. SD went 10-6, SD 9-7.

QB Stats: Kirk (8 starts), 263 for 440, 3125 yards, 20 TD’s, 12 Int’s, 85.2 Rating
Leading Rushers: Pete Winters, 228 carries for 1205 yards (5.2ypc), 7 Td’s, Luke Levine, 82 carries for 442 yards,(5.3ypc), 1Td. David Bonk, 148 carries for 394 yards (2.6 ypc), 3 Td’s.
Leading Receivers: WR Al Lleullyn—39 catches for 617 yards, 1TD. David Bonk—49 catches, 360 yards, 0 TD’s, Amos Thurman (playing TE)—44 catches, 501 yards, 5 TD’s
Leading Tackler: LB Parrish—88 tackles
Leading Pass Rusher: DE Pat Tyler—16.5 sacks, 3 blocks, 10 hurries
Leading PDQ DB: CB Gus Greene—29 catches, 2 INT’s, 8 defensed, 30.6 PDQ

Points Scored: 367
Points Against: 271

Rushing Yards: 2327 (3rd)
Rushing Average: 4.2 (League Average 3.8)
Passing Yards: 3183 (29th)
Passing Average: 7.0 (League Average 6.8)
Rushing Defense: 1493 (9th)
Rushing Average Allowed: 3.6 (League Avg 3.8)
Passing Defense: 3752 (30th)
Passing Average Allowed: 6.6 (League Avg. 6.8)

*-denotes NFL leader

Ben E Lou

05-09-2001, 07:38 AM

2017 POSTSEASON REPORT

Division Playoffs vs. Miami
We were able to put this one away very early with a 27-0 first quarter. We coast to a 48-21 win the rest of the way. Winters carries 27 times for 225 yards and a TD to do the majority of the damage for us.

AFC Championship vs. Indianapolis
The Colts come down to Texas for the AFC championship showdown and our much-maligned secondary comes up big, holding them to 125 passing yards and coming up with 3 INT’s. The offense grinds out enough yardage to win 13-7. Winters has 18 carries for 115 yards.

Super Bowl vs. Arizona
In a rematch of last year’s classic overtime confrontation, we take on Arizona once again, this time in Arizona. Our weakened secondary finally catches up to us. The Cards jump out to a 31-7 halftime advantage, mainly through the air, and coast 34-22 to the Super Bowl title. They lit us up for 351 passing yards and 3 passing TD’s. The great Dennis Wayne has 8 catches for 157 yards and a TD in what will likely be his last game.

Awards
FB Amos Thurman—1st Team All Pro—receiving stats above—played TE all year. 10 for 24 KRB. Breaks Bonk’s streak of 1st Team awards.
FB David Bonk—2nd Team All Pro—rushing and receiving stats above. 24 catches for 169 yards and 0 TD’s. 11 for 22 KRB. 10th straight All Pro selection for him.
T Brandon Child—1st Team All Pro—19 for 78 KRB, 1 sack allowed, 17.6 OPCT
LB Perry Parish—2nd Team All Pro—88 tackles, 33 assists, 5 sacks, 2 hurries, 1 INT, 8 passes defensed
K Archie Robbins—2nd Team all Pro—38 for 48 FG’s, 33 for 33 PAT’s

Man! We came awfully close to winning back-to-back titles. I must say that this team is doing remarkably well considering the House Arrest restrictions.

Herb's Ratings
Performance: 95
Frnc. Value: 97
Profit/Loss: 63
Difficulty: 69
YrEnd Score: 83

2017 Profit: $85.94M

[ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: SkyDog ]