As We Head Into The New Season

[Suicane]

Wanted to start a thread about what you're are looking forward to regarding your team. I've got everyteams roster attributes printed out and can't wait to see who the biggest busts/breakouts thruought the league are.

So, in the interest of immersion, what are you looking forward to for the season?

1. I'm looking forward to my defense, ive moved some players around and improved and gotten younger in an already strong secondary.

2. Im looking forward to my offensive line. It's not great but my first round pick should help and my Tackles are a year more matured, I think it could be real good.

3. Im looking forward to my division, not to bash my divisional foes but it's not the greatest division, I won it last year and I think ive only gotten better, so I see this as my division to lose.

4. My QB better get better, he's got good potential, but he needs to play better, im a ball control offense and i cant live with so many picks again this year.

[Warhammer]

Here's mine:

1) I am looking for improved production from my QB this year. I had to play everything EXTREMELY close to the vest last year. This year, I should have Scott Nelson back, which will help tremendously, plus I have Mueller waiting in the wings should Nelson fall to injury again.

2) I am looking forward to a dominant offensive line. I have great depth at tackle and center, plus I have two solid guards. This should add some life to the running game, plus give me plenty of time to pass. I am considering moving Augstin Cimino to guard to provide depth and superior pass blocking to the position. Or, I may use him as a super backup for my tackles.

3) My LBs should be much improved over last year, both in quality and depth. Sure, my starters may be the same, but I have moved some of them around to better utilize their talent. Plus, my group of young LBs shows plenty of promise.

4) My starting secondary returns intact. My pass D should be just as good as last year, plus the incoming talent should be far better than the reserves I had last year.

5) My improved coaching staff should help my offensive production a lot. The defense last year was great, but the offense provided very little pop. This year, the coaching staff should develop much of my offensive talent so the passing game will need to be respected, and the running game should benefit. Plus, my young LBs and DL players should thrive under my DC.

[roadrash]

1) Last year the Snipe Hunter D Front 7 let up 150 yards per game at 4.52 yards per carry. My overall front seven are improved, but I was unable to fill major holes on the D-Line, especially at DT. I belive that my Run-D will make or break me. It borke me last year. Goals for the D-line is to restrict running aginst to 120 yards per game and iprove my abysmal sack total from last years worst of 18 to 30.

2) My O was the 6th highest scoring last year, and are largely in tact. If James Kroll continues to improve and put up good perfomances I will be very happy. Goals for total Offense points in the top 5.

3) My running game was good last year. This year I want it to be great. Goal for Running game is Beamer pick up 1500 yards.

4) Secondary was my highlight for the Snipe Hunters. With an improved LB corp I expect my secondary to conitue to shine. Goal for secondary is to finsh 1st in Pass-D (2nd last year)

5) Overall, I finished at the top in Tunrover margin last year. My O did a good job of not losing the ball (Only coughed up the ball 3 times, league best and 13 ints which is 6th best), and my D did a great job of getting the ball with the 4th best interception total (22). Goal is to repeat as the league leader in turnover margin (+22 last year).

I believe if I can meet these goals, the AFC North is mine.

[JesterBlaze]

I'm probably one of the few, if not the only one, who is very disappointed in my moves and lack of aquisitions this past off-season. Couple that with the fact I was 3rd in total defense and 7th in total offense while keeping almost every star healthy for at least 13 games and I still missed the play-offs last season and you get an owner/GM who doesn't have very high expectations for the 2004 season.

1. I traded away David Kaczmarek for a 6th round pick.
2. I traded too far out of the 1st round to grab one of the stud guards in the draft. And in the process missed out on a better deal by 5 minutes or so...
3. I didn't take the time to write down my restructured contract offers and figure the odds of some of them working to estimate some cap room to spare on an offer for Isaac Campbell during free agency.

I can't decide what was my worst move! :shock:

However, a great training camp by Hunter Crawford could change the expectations real quick....

[Kobeck]

Looking forward to the end of Training Camp and seeing exactly what I got. Mules are not expecting a breakout season, but would take it anyhow 8)

I see an improved run game of course there is nowhere to go but up!

I see an improved run D ( see note above)

Mules will know at the end of Training Camp if there is real hope for improvement or not until then we have added a bunch of new faces into the complex.

[Kcin]

2004 Clawz

First Goal - Defend my division crown and go 3-1 combined vs Wichita and Iowa City.

Second Goal - Break my own team rushing record. I look forward to running the same kind of offense next year and seeing what teams can do about it

Third Goal - Keep QB Latham healthy and improve my passing game.

Fourth Goal - Tinker around and create a much more dominating D. I focused on improving my D and really added a lot. DT Collins, LB Gregorio, LB Pappas, and FS Kaczmarek are 4 quality starters to my defensive without losing anyone significant on D. 2nd year corner Mitchell should also be more solid on the other side of Davis.

And of course the real and only goal, get back and win the imperial bowl! (that is all that matters you know!)

[hawkster]

I'm looking forward to my young defense maturing and becoming dominant. The pieces are there, now we just need experience.

I'm looking forward to seeing if my running game can improve. Last season we were in the top ten in yards per carry, but often had to resort to the pass to move the ball consistently.

I'm also looking forward to seeing Humphrey grow. He went 8-8 as a rookie and after a good camp and a good preseason, I think as long as he doesn't throw the game away, Albuquerque has a great shot at winning a lot of games thanks to the defense.

[VitoStallion]

I looking forward to improving my divisional record. I've got Vancouver, Reno, and Oakland and any of them can put a whopping on you on Sunday.

I'm looking for a better passing game to compliment James Tart's rushing. The Stallions should have a vertical game this year and an improving RED ZONE assault

I'm hoping I helped my defense enough to be able to bring a little more heat to you pass happy teams (Columbia?)

[r00k]

We need to keep things simple here in Viper land ... so there is a easy-to-remember goal for the Vipers' simple minded players, esp its Rhodes scholar QB whose intelligence quota can be displayed with two fingers - a "2"

... thus his nickname .. Harold "Two Fingers" Lozier. There is even a simpler system for the coach to call the plays ... one finger = run; two fingers = pass.

The goal = THE PLAYOFFS.

Cringer can you input my request to nickname my QB as above. Thanks.

[Cringer]

We need to keep things simple here in Viper land ... so there is a easy-to-remember goal for the Vipers' simple minded players, esp its Rhodes scholar QB whose intelligence quota can be displayed with two fingers - a "2"

... thus his nickname .. Harold "Two Fingers" Lozier. There is even a simpler system for the coach to call the plays ... one finger + run;two fingers = pass.

The goal = THE PLAYOFFS.

Cringer can you input my request to nickname my QB as above. Thanks.

Man, thats a great nickname, but I can't put it in because it's way too long. Sorry, I would love to have that name in the game but the only way would be to wipe out the Harold and we are making sure the first names are kept.

[r00k]

What if I took out the quote marks ... and added a hyphen, only 11 characters.

Harold Two-Fingers Lozier