This Season's Perspective

[Vic Carucci]

I would like to invite all willing owners to give us their take on this past season.
What moves were made that turned out well?
not so well?
In hindsight is there something that you did or didn't do?
Are you better or worse than you thought you'd be?
Who is your team MVP?
Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.

Thanks, I look forward to hearing from everyone

Vic

[HammeringJohnson]

Tulsa Season Review

QB- Taylor is a stupid QB.
RB- Nobody stepped up.
WR- Leading receivers also have double digit drops. Nice huh.
OL- 10 million dollar LT has injury problems. Nice, starts 4 games while hogging more than 10% of the salary cap.
DL- The best player was a rookie on injury reserve. Washed up bunch of losers.
LB- My strongside linebacker was suppose to be a gamebreaker. Instead, he like to be injured for an extended period of time.
Secondary- Forced to start a rookie. Enough said.
Special Teams- My kicker had a game where he was 1 for 5 on FGs. Adam Vinateri he is NOT.

Moves that turned out well? Draft. Two starters from one draft is all I can wish for.
Hindsight? No.
Better or worse? Worse- QB Taylor. Better- WR James Langston.
Team MVP? P Patrick Lewis. Since he had so much practice.

[MrBigglesworth]

A lot of my opinion here is going to change based on the results of this week's game.

[Jave]

Trading for Bice was a godsend. Under different circumstances, he would have been my teams MVP.
Connell has all the tools to be an MVP runningback, and while true, he did not get a ton of carries this year, he continues to dissapoint.
This was supposed to be my year, but the flood of injuries, destroyed my season.

IT was the toughest year I have ever had in a MP league thus far, it can only go up from here!

[Warhammer]

Our season has been one of surprises and frustrations.

First, Mueller went down with an injury, but he did not perform anywhere close to the level he did last year.

Second, age seems to have finally caught up with this team. We are still a solid team, but we need to get younger at key positions.

Third, the run defense has let us down in several games. This is puzzling because we seem to have some pretty good run defenders. This has been particularly concerning for me.

One surprise has been Jim Hickman. I thought he would perform well, but he has been pretty impressive for a run heavy offense. If he had more weapons at WR, he could turn out to be a steal from this draft.

Another has been Stanley Jameson. Sure, he was a first round pick, he was supposed to be good. However, while he is not a HUGE threat running the ball, he has been exactly what we have wanted. Plus, he is a threat receiving out of the backfield. This has made Dostie somewhat expendible.

Plus, we are much better than our record indicates. Sure, we are 6-9, but several of our games could have gone either way. Still, I thought we would finish around 9-7 or 10-6 this year with several close games. We got behind the eight ball early and had trouble digging out of the hole.

[VitoStallion]

QB- Nigel Booker is something else.
RB- I'm not using James Tart the way I should.
WR- I need someone besides Gomez to step up at SE
OL- Overachieving unit gets it done.
DL- Pathetic. Weakest part of my team
LB- Best LB corps in the game and it features who I feel will be the DROY. They aren't getting the pressure they did last year tho'.
Secondary - I dunno about this unit -- may overhaul them in the draft
Special Teams - Rarely comes down to a field goal with this team BUT I need a better kicker.

IF we make it to 10-6, that's exactly what I expected to achieve (10 wins) But I did not expect to lose back-to-back home games to mediocre teams (sorry Vancouver and Houston---not dissing).

I regret I spent so much money this past offseason because it appears that my rookies had bigger impact. I'm going to be forced to part ways with guys that I shouldn't have picked up anyway and I'll gladly take the cap hit to get my team back to being healthy cap wise.

I learned some things this season.

1) NEVER trading my first round pick again.
2) Build through the draft - none of my big money free agents did anything for me
3) Stallions need to return to a "run-first" offensive scheme. I did it with my Ravens in the rNFL and woooooooooooooooowwww we kick ass

[SteveBsFan]

Re: This Season's Perspective

- What moves were made that turned out well?
This is tough to say because with only 3 wins there are many moves I wished turned out better, but what I am happy with was picking up DE Mitchell who has been solid. Signing Jones longterm was a good step as well.

- not so well?
This is also tough to say because I haven't made very many moves i'm unhappy with. I'm happy with my draft, but it takes a few seasons to really see that take effect. Trading Bice is probably something I would take back now, but I still don't really regret it. That allowed Jones to break out.

- In hindsight is there something that you did or didn't do?
I would probably have spent more time last off-season working on gameplans and understanding that whole system better. Trying to find a way to maximize Stclair, Jones, and Timmerman.

- Are you better or worse than you thought you'd be?
I'm worse. I really expected a .500 team, and I probably could have had that if a few bounces went my way. They didn't, and now i'm back to being one of the worst teams in the league.

- Who is your team MVP?
Ambrose Jones. Broke the record for receiving yards in a season, and has just been so solid making up for the loss of Bice

- Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.
Aside from the annoying injuries, especially on defense early in the season, my team really is better than the record shows. I think probably with better gameplanning I could have been pushing for a wild card spot, especially since as of week 12, 7 of my 9 losses were under a TD. I know many teams records would be different with just one more TD per game, but i'm talking a 9-2 record after week 12. Hopefully next season with another year of development, another top 5 pick, most of my young starters returning and plenty of practice with gameplanning in the off-season, I can have a very solid season.

[Kobeck]

Re: This Season's Perspective

I would like to invite all willing owners to give us their take on this past season.
What moves were made that turned out well?
not so well?
In hindsight is there something that you did or didn't do?
Are you better or worse than you thought you'd be?
Who is your team MVP?
Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.

Thanks, I look forward to hearing from everyone

Vic

What turned out well?
Cox falling to the Mules to solidify a DE spot.

Not so well?
moving S Donaldson to CB, he just has not progressed and I may have stunted a promising career there.

In hindsight
Drafting DT Oliveria with the intention to move him to DE worked out well, too bad he is on IR to finish the year.

better or worse?
well I did not plan on only having 2 or 3 wins so definatly a dissappointing season.

Team MVP
Zoomie Monroe

Trials and tribulations.
Totally paralized by the cap for this season, had too cut some players the I could have kept, but it would have only delayed the pain. Should have some cap room next season, but there will still be too many players grabbed off the bottom of the FA pile to expect much.

[Matt]

Our season went pretty much OK. I knew I was in a tough division and I'd be lucky to break out of it with a .500 record. I didn't/won't.
My draft turned out pretty good. I made some moves to move up to pick Crespo. It was worth it.
I still like my trade for Kao. He's been stable at the LT position. Scott Nelson started slow, but has since played well.

I wish I'd been able to do more with DL. I'm pretty weak in the defensive front 7 now, and in the future. Hopefully we'll turn the boat around for next year.

My team MVP is Alan Crespo. When Nelson got hurt, we changed our gameplan to feature a lot more Crespo. He's responded well.

Oh and while I'm here, this is my plug for Alan Crepo for any of the offseason awards

[Pirates]

What moves turned out well?

The biggest problem is we didn't make any major moves. We had the money but got out bid on a few skill positions. Our draft was again unimpressive. Although, CB Desmond Wolf has had a solid rookie campaign starting he is still not the solution at corner. The rest of the class is pretty much expendable. Picking up Roger Pappas to play SLB helped but our D has had some really bad games while he has been solid with 64 t, 2 s and 2 int's in 11 starts.

In hindsight?

We should have improved our Offensive line. We have gone from allowing under 30 sacks in 2 seasons to a whooping 32 in 15 games. That is unacceptable and I blame myself for not going after a star on the O Line. We also should have gone for a top CB. I am glad we lost the bidding war on a top back because Dewitt has produced quite well in what is probably his last season.

Are you better or worse than you thought you'd be?

We started out so hot it really surprised me. Our offense was more productive then I thought and our D is a lot worse then I thought. If we beat Vermont tomorrow and win the division then this was a much better season then I thought. Unfortunately, if we do not make some serious upgrades in the offseason we will get passed by in the division. Freakin' tough competition!!

Who is your team MVP?

It has to be Dewitt. He will carry the ball over 400 times for a second season and is 35. We have won every game when he carries the ball more then 20+ times except one. He is on track for a 1500+ rushing season as well. Our whole offense is geared towards his success. Besides he has run for 7 100 yard games behind a poor O line. Not bad.

Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.

I am really surprised and disappointed in how poorly our D line has played. We are allowing the most ypc at a huge 4.78 and are middle to low end on sacks with 23 for the year. On paper we are deep and I think have a very solid to great line, but we played horribley.

Of course Dewitt has blown me away this year and now we will face the inevitable if he does not retire. Get his replacement and put him as a backup or wait one more year. I am not looking forward to that.

Hynes will finish his first complete season without an injury in 3 seasons. He has passed all of his other passing totals including more Int's. Which sucks. I would have thought I could have gotten a little better performance from him. We have the a solid group of guys that can catch at every skill position so I have to put the blame on Hynes for the high interception to TD ratio.

My greatest tribulation is Madison. Ohh how I hate and fear you!!! We have never beaten Madison and I really tried to spend extra time on the gameplan only to whacked 17-44. The biggest frustration comes from losing to them in the playoffs in the final seconds last year only to watch them win the Imperial Bowl. I believe if we had won that game we could have won 2 in a row. Hopefully next year we will not play them.

Last note: We have 36 players signed through next season and a good amount of cap space. We will make sure to sign better FA's this year. That mistake will not happen again.

[Cringer]

Some great breakdowns of your teams guys.

For Little Rock...

Moves that turned out well

-Trading Woods to Pittsburgh. WR Kennedy has been a big help to my offense, especially when Olin Holst was out a bit, and also when TE Flores was out so long too.

-Signing TE Daniel Snyder from Tulsa. He stepped up and played very well when Flores was out. He will actually finish the year with better stats then Flores do to his 11 starts this year.

-Drafting Guard Shane Bryant and making him my LT. His ratings went down some, but damn did he help my team out. I needed a LT bad, and he has given up only 2 sacks. Now he needs to run block better.

-Getting CB Alphonse Goodman from Lansing. I was thinking of depth when I got him, and it worked out since he ended up starting 7 games and played very well.

-Moving from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defense. Seems to have been a success. This decision is what allowed me to trade away DT Woods and get WR Kennedy. And the defense has played fairly well.

Are you better or worse than you thought you'd be?

About were I thought I would be, or I should say hoped. I wanted to win the division, or atleast challenge for it and make the playoffs. Win or lose tomorrow I am in the playoffs.

Who is your team MVP?

I will divide this into offense and defense.

Offense- This is hard, because I am tempted to say Kennedy. But I will go with QB Ralph Given. He has brought his completion percentage up over 60% this year, and his QB rating into the 90s. He also bumped up his TD passes. He did all this on fewer pass attempts then last year.

Defense- Another hard one because of the balance on the defense. I will have to go with DE Hernandez over DT Wideman though. Both have 11 sacks right now, and Wideman more tackles. But Hernandez has been a mad man with those QB hurries. Shit, but Wideman has 4 fumble recoveries. I will call it a tie.

Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.

Well, if I win the division it will be bitter sweet. No offense to David, but I will always wonder if I could have done it if Jeff was still in control of Columbia, the bastard just owned me.

I wonder what happens with RB Brian Dixon next year. He was Rookie of the Year in '03, but I have not given him the chance to get near the 1446 yards he had that year. He did have more TDs this year though, then he did either of the previous two. And damn, his career long run in only 38 yards, must be the 48 at breakaway speed.

Now, one thing that will be interesting is my cap situation as we move into next season. I think some reworking of contracts will help, as bad as it looks now. But I know for sure that I will lose perhaps mybest LB, Richie Currin. The decision to let him walk is already made. LB Jay March is probably walking away too. CB Goodman, who I noted above was a great move this year, is someone I am going to try to keep. Just not sure yet if I can. Gonna be interesting......

[BOSS]

Its been a up and down season this year for the Demons. Starting off the season with a 0-5 start was not something i expected at all. We have turned things around but because of this start we are fighting for our playoff lives today in Pittsburgh against the Power.

Moves that turned out well

Trading up in the Draft to select QB Will Irby has to be the biggest move that turned out well.

I had a tough decision to make to start the season, start the rookie or stick with Johnie Loving who led the team to the Imperial Bowl championship last season. I chose Irby but he struggled early, so i went back to Loving. Loving fared no better and we were not winning so i made the permanent move to ride the season out with the kid. I figured it would be better to get Irby the experience now in a season which was not looking playoff bound. After a few games, Irby started to get comfortable and we opened up the offense to suit his skills. Little did we know that he would lead us back into contention.

Re-signing WR John Jaime was another good move. We had plans for Jaime to be our 3rd or 4th WR this year. He ended up starting after the first couple of game and developed some nice chemistry with Irby. Jaime has caught 71 balls for over 1100 yds with 7 TD's in just 13 starts. He has been a pleasant surprise.

Another move that we are happy with is the signing of P Nathan Winslow. Our punting game was atrocious last season and it put a lot of pressure on our defense. Winslow has come in and solidified the position with a very solid 45.5 avg with 34 of them punts inside the 20.

Moves that didn't work out so well

We really do not have any moves that did not work out so well. Everybody new we brought in has done a adequate job this season. No complaints.

In hindsight is there something that you did or didn't do?

I would have liked to upgrade the secondary a bit better but it just didn't happen as good CB's are hard to come across. We did draft FS Robert Poole who i think will be a fine player in the future. He has a lot of upside.

Who is your team MVP?

Its Irby, without him were in the basement. Even with Crespo's outstanding season i believe he deserves some votes for Rookie of the Year. He has a chance to throw for 4,000 yards this year. Not too bad for a rookie, eh?

Honorable mention would be DE Riley Brown. Brown leads the IFL with 15 sacks. His 28 hurries are also tied for 3rd in the league. Brown only had 4 sacks last season, so his play was nice to see.

Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.

We are mostly a veteran team who has won a championship. I believe if we can beat Pittsburgh and make the playoffs we could upset some teams. I'm sure there are some teams that would not like to see us in the playoffs, ahem ORLANDO.

[JesterBlaze]

Moves that turned out well

1) Trading Kraig Marasco, who I could never have afforded to keep, to Fresno for safety Kendall Tobias and what would become the #5 and #69 picks in the upcoming draft.

Kendall plugged a huge whole in our defense with what was immediately now a strength at the FS spot and I plan on getting a career playmaker with the #5 draft pick and some value out of the #69 pick as well.

2) This one is not a single season move but one that became obvious this season. Choosing the NFC East based on actual geography instead of going with my favorite, NFC North, when the IFL was put together has definitely payed off as I'm now in an extremely competitive four team divisional rivalry like I've never seen.

Moves that didn't work out so well

Oversleeping the export deadline on Week 1. That move provided 17 weeks of "what might have been?".

In hindsight is there something that you did or didn't do?

Based on how much I've learned about FOF this season I'd say that there must be plenty that I could've done but didn't do and hopefully I'll learn some of it by the end of next season.

Who is your team MVP?

Kaczmarek Benedict, the one major loss we're going to see this off-season.

Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.

It's pretty embarrassing to be a part of the initial draft and go three seasons without making the playoffs. ops:

My run defense is top 10 in ypc despite playing most of the top 'backs (Flynn, Webb, Crosby, Tart, Ho, Connell, Beaver and Campbell as well as Crespo twice), including the top 7 in the league by overall yards rushing. If the schedule can get a little easier in future seasons I should be all set in this area.

[MrBigglesworth]

Moves that turned out well

- Trading for Tod Woods. He was one of the biggest reasons that the team nearly lead the league in rushing ypc against. He also was a force in collapsing the pocket. He is now the 5th highest rated DT and still improving, yet makes half to a third of what most other DT's in his range make. Kennedy was a big loss, but I think he can be replaced somewhere.

- Trading Hubert Parker. He is a great all-around OLB, but with the picks that I got from Lou I got future DE hopeful KC Cajigal and another 2nd this year. The young guys stepped in admirably.

Moves that turned out not so well

- Trading down too far and not being able to take WR Walter Walker. I thought at the time that it was a toss-up between him and Ken Richard, but I think Walker is developing better. I also really wanted DE Keith Montgomery, but couldn't put a deal together.

Are you better or worse than you thought you'd be?

I figured on being 10-6 and winning the division, but ended up at 9-7 and winning the division, so about the same. Had some games that I think I should have won, and a couple that I probably should have lost.

Who is your team MVP?

Offensive: Anderson gets honorable mention for leading the league in KRB's (and being the one that got the KRB on most of Rodrigez's longest runs), but I just can't give the award to a guard. Mann was erratic for most of the year, but his clutch play gives him the award. The past four wins all had the game tied or behind in the 4th quarter. Three of them we were down by 9 or more points with under two minutes left, two of them were won in OT.

Defensive: So many deserving people. Canterbury led all DT's in tackles, DE Hazzard was third in hurries, S Rousseau had a great all-around season. I'm going to give it to Woods though. His addition not only covered for the young LB's through his ability to stop the run, but he also had a break-out season rushing the passer with 8.0 sacks and 17 hurries. His presence on the right side of the line also allowed Hazzard to get free a lot more often.

Anything else that you'd like to share about the trials and tribulations of your team.

I can't sleep right now because I am still too jacked after watching the Pitt-Mad game on the viewer. Is this healthy behavior?

[Cringer]

Sounds healthy to me.

And I think Woods and Kennedy both are happy with their current situations.