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Year End Score: 71 (72/81/62/71)

WR Michael Irvin is inducted into the HOF. Coke and whores all around!

The salary cap has risen 7.1 million. Woohoo!

DE Brandon Whiting retires.

Our Scout, Erik Johan, stays. He is still in his 30s and has a +6 rating, with only 1 poor/fair.

Our Coach, the embattled Martin Force, stays, although we do take a long look at Washington Coach Gus Boza (but whose POOR in def line disqualifies him).

Fan Loyalty and Support for Stadium are both maxed-out at 100. With this in mind, we only increase ticket prices by an inflation-adjusted 3%. None of our prices are the highest in the league.

Franchise Value: 644,700,000 (4^th overall, 37/100/99/50)

Free Agency
This is a DEEP team. Going into free agency, it appears that we need a DT, WR, and S. We are deepest at o-line and cornerback, but find ourselves $770K over the cap. It’s a good bet that we will be extremely active on draft day. On to free agency…

Offers for S Quinn and FB Bednarik are summarily rejected.

There are some good players available in free agency, but the prices are so high we decide to take a pass and see what draft day brings.

The Draft
We begin the draft with two 1st round picks (26,27), a 2nd round pick (28), a 3rd (26), and a 4th (26). This is the deepest draft I have ever seen with respect to safeties, but it is incredibly weak in one of our other need areas: DT. There are some insanely good o-line guys, but we fall in love with a maxed-out linebacker and look to trade.

We trade our two 1st and one 2nd round pick to Atlanta for the fourth pick in the draft. We say good-bye to long time CB Ty Law, who is traded to Minnesota for the first pick in the 2nd round. With the immense talent playing behind Law, we feel like we can make a move like this.

The salary purge continues as we move longtime starter WR Terrell Owens, and backups WR Matthew Hatchette, LB Bo Ottesen, and two 4th round draft picks (2007, 2008) for the Giants’1st round pick (9). We move several backups (DT Dwayne Sellers and LB Don Bradenburg) to Seattle for their 1st round pick (13). Finally, we trade our 3rd round pick from this year and next year to Baltimore for their 2nd round pick next year (2008).  Time to draft.

4. Phil “The Beast” West, LB, Washington,(97/100/100/95).
9. BJ Bushon, WR, Austin Peay, (59,100,88,100, 85, x, x, 92)
13. Joseph Swift, S, Southwest Louisiana,(98,84,100, x, x, 66)
33. Dwayne James, DT, UCLA, (59,83,66)

We see a wonderful guard available (our excellent o-line is aging) and immediately trade our backup T Doug Hansen to Chicago for their 2^nd and 3^rd round picks this year.

34. Harvey Gretzky, G, Minnesota, (83,92,83)

The trade bug hits again, so we move our third string QB Lee Stone and our 4^th, 6^th, and 7^th picks in 2008 to Carolina for their 2^nd round pick this year.

35. Hardy Dougherty, WR, Arkansas,(76,75, 84, 55, 85, x x , 87)

There is one more stud left, so we offer our third string C Plaxico Carter, our 3^rd round pick from this year and a 6^th pick in 2009 for Atlanta’s 2^nd round pick.

36. Bucky Chapman, QB, Oregon State, (76, 90, 72, 60, 84,80, 83, 90, 54, 69).

A big problem with Sieh is his low rating in both passing accuracy and passing power - so I am hoping Chapman can develop into a better backup. Once Chapman progresses we can deal Sieh for two first round picks.

Post Draft
We get a post draft trade offer for Rufus Duke , but we are laughing too hard at the offer of Ken Dilger to consider it seriously.

All the deals leave us about 12 million to sign our seven draft picks plus the six free agents we’ll need to plug roster spots. We fill out our roster and move on to training camp approximately one million under the cap.

After training camp, we receive offers for Sheen and Quinn. They are rejected immediately. We sell 100% of our season tickets.

Our cohesion stands at mediocre – several of our draft day moves have given us a bit of a hit (76, 98, 83, 78). We stand first in roster strength (100).

Exhibition Season
We choose seven players to sit during the preseason - a bit of strategy designed to avoid any catastrophic injuries. Here’s who we sit:

G Raleigh Roundtree, DT BJ Mudgett, WR Harvey Wallace, T Jamie Nails, RB Donnie Sheen, DE Matt Champion, LB Rufus Duke.

In addition, QB Blaine Davies and S JR Quinn will be moved down the depth
chart.

Washington (0-0) 20 @ CLEVELAND
(0-0) 28: DeStefano 15-121-1, Chapman 10-15-106-2-0, Roose 8 tackles,
1 int.
Injuries: S JR Quinn 3-5 weeks.

CLEVELAND (1-0) 3 @ Minnesota (1-0)
7: No performances of note.
Injuries: G Ruben Brown 3-5 weeks.
S JR Quinn 3-5 weeks.

CLEVELAND (1-1) 20 @ Philadelphia
(1-1) 27: Davies 9-14-83-1-0.
Injuries: S JR Quinn 3-5 weeks.

NY Giants (0-3) 18 @ CLEVELAND (1-2)
34: 445 total yards on offense, Davies 11-16-209-1-0, WR Dougherty
5-92-1.
Injuries: S JR Quinn 3-5 weeks.

We finish the exhibition season a respectable 2-2. The magnificent seven are activated and we get ready to start the season.

You can access the box scores by clicking on the link. They are saved in Adobe Acrobat format (the Reader is free from Adobe's web site). Let's get right to it...

Week 1
Cleveland (0-0) (-5) at Cincinnati (0-0).
Cleveland wins 36-26.
Davies goes nutty (25-36-396-4-0) on division foe Cincinnati, while rookie Bushon gets into the act (6-169-2) as well. OPY Sheen only gains 38 on 15 att, but the D distinguishes itself with 4 sacks, 2 int, and a fumble recov for a TD.

Week 2
Minnesota (1-0) at Cleveland (1-0) (-9).
Cleveland wins 27-10.
A costy win. Our starting TE Stark is out for the year. Starting CB Carr, S Swift out 2-3 months. Sheen (29-87-0) emerges slightly from his funk. Davies (18-31-206-2-0) is solid. The defense is the star here, though (8 sacks, 2 int, 1 td). Matt Champion leads the way with 3.5 sacks.

Week 3
Baltimore (0-2) at Cleveland (2-0) (-9).
Cleveland wins 27-10 (again).
Sheen (23-75-0) still can't get out of first gear. Fortunately Davies (15-24-234-3-0) can, and he leads the league with a 129.2 QB rating. The wideouts continue to be a balanced, talented group. The defense causes 3 turnovers and holds division-foe Baltimore to 207 total yards.

Week 4
Cleveland (3-0) (-2) at Tennessee (1-2).
Cleveland wins 24-7.
A big road division win for us. Davies has another big game (23-33-322-3-0), as does emerging superstar, WR Harvey Wallace (6-129-2). Sheen stinks it up (24-45), but the D is sublime (251 yds allowed, 4 sacks, 1 int.). Need to investigate what is going on with our running game.

Week 5
Cleveland (4-0) (-2) at Chicago (1-2).
Chicago wins 19-13.
Turnovers are the key in this game, with to fumbles by us making the difference. Davies (14-29-234-0-0) acts like a mere mortal. Unfortunately, Davies gets knocked out of this first game he begins to do well (10-70) in. All in all, a tough out-of-conference road loss.

Week 6
Jacksonville (4-1) at Cleveland (4-1) (-4).
Cleveland wins 17-14.
The first marquee matchup of the year. The offense stays in a funk, but the defense bails us out with just 253 yds allowed plus 3 sacks. For the record, RB Sheen (21-59) has still not scored a rushing touchdown. Up to this point we havent messed much with the formations since the beginning of the season, so we look to mix it up next week. Davies (14-26-208-1-2) has his first subpar passing game, but does run one in. Rookie WR Bushon has another strong game (3-97) and it seems like our wideouts are starting to resemble the 2000 St. Louis Rams receiving corps.

Week 7
Green Bay(2-3) at Cleveland (5-1) (-2).
Green Bay wins 19-17.
Another tough non-conference loss. Davies has his second sub-par game (11-31-179-1-2), although WR Wallace (5-101-1) continues his all-pro campaign. RB Sheen finally returns to form (21-114-1) with his first td and 100-yd game of the season. The rushing defense was its usual stingy (30-72-0) self, but our inexperienced secondary gets torched for 300 yards. Another tough non-conference road game looms...

Week 8
Cleveland (5-2) at Detroit (2-4) (-1).
Cleveland wins 38-34..
Incredibly, Detroit was favored in this game, but the Browns offense rolled, racking up 416 total yards. QB Davies leads the way (18-26-275-2-0), with WR Wallace (6-128-1) close behind. RB Sheen (6-44) gets knocked out early, but backup RB OJ DeStefano steps in admirably (15-59-2). The defense is porous again, allowing 363 yards of total offense. Changes are looming in the second half.

Roster Strength (pdf).

Team Stats
Record: 6-2, 1st place, AFC Central, 2nd place, AFC (Seattle 7-1).
Power Rating:67 (tied for 7th in AFC).
Roster Cohesion: 79/96/86/70 (5th in AFC).
Rushing Offense: 116.3 ypg (9th in AFC).
Passing Offense: 256.7 ypg (3rd in AFC).
Scoring Offense: 199 points scored(4th in AFC).
Rushing Defense: 70.8 ypg (1st in AFC)
Passing Defense: 237.3 (15th in AFC)
Scoring Defense: 139 points allowed (5th in AFC)

Individual Stats

Offense (bold denotes top three in league)
QB: Blaine Davies (138-234, 2,054 yds, 16td, 4 int, 58.9%, 8.77 ypc, 103.4 rating).
WR: Harvy Wallace (32 rec, 668 yds, 20.8 ypc, 6td)
WR: BJ Bushon (R) (7 GP, 0 GS, 18 rec, 378 yds, 21.0 ypc, 2 td).
RB: Donnie Sheen (139 att, 462 yds, 3.3 ypc, 1 td).
OL: C Jeff Smith (26 KRB, 59 KRO, 44.0 BPct.
OL: T Flozell Adams (15 KRB, 44 KRO, 34.0 BPct)
OL: G Raleigh Roundtree (11 KRB, 36 KRO, 30.5 BPct)
OL: T Jamie Nails (9 KRB, 33 KRO, 27.2 BPct)
OL: G Ruben Brown (6 KRB, 32 KRO, 18.7 BPct)

Defense (bold denotes top three in league)

DL: DE Matt Champion (13 tckl, 6.5 sacks)
DL: DT BJ Mudgett (23 tckl, 4.5 sacks)
LB: MLB Rufus Duke (49 tckl, 2 sacks, 1 int, 1 td)
LB: OLB JR Farmer (41 tckl, 2 sacks)

Special Teams (bold denotes top three in league)

K: Corey Rollins (10 FG, 13 FGA, 54 long, 23-23 XP)
P: Quinn Slay (39.3 ypp, 56 long, 20 in20).
Returns: PR Dusty Parrish (23 pr, 176 yds, 7.6 ypr)
Returns: KR Christian Ferderer (11 kr, 228 yds, 20.7 ypr)

Analysis
While it is obvious that Davies is playing his brains out, I am worried about our offensive line (21 sacks allowed, poor run blocking). For whatever reason, they are not playing up to their potential. Perhaps a new offensive scheme will help them. Our run defense continues to dominate, and hopefully our pass defense will gel in the second half as key starters Carr and Slay continue to heal. A moderate schedule (opponents a combined 28-32) makes me nervous.

You can access the box scores by clicking on the link. They are saved in Adobe Acrobat format (the Reader is free from Adobe's web site). Let's get right to it...

Week 9
Cleveland (6-2) at Pittsburgh (4-4) -3.
Cleveland wins 24-17.
Our running game is back! After analyzing our run blocking, we decide to go between the tackles more and around end less. Sheen responds with a huge (30-151-1) day. Our o-line must have taken offense to WebEwbank's critique of them, as they also allowed no sacks. Davies (14-23-207-2-0) has another solid day. The bad news is that starting MLB Rufus Duke is out until the playoffs.

Week 10
Bye
We use this week to get healthy and we now only have two seriously injured players.

Week 11
Pittsburgh (4-5) at Cleveland (7-2) (-3).
Cleveland wins 20-17.
Using the same game plan, we rack up 384 yds in total offense. Davies (21-32-241-1-0) and Sheen (21-118-1) are hosses. The defense only allows 221 total yards. The o-line allows but one sack. Perfection.

Week 12
Tennessee(2-8) at Cleveland (8-2) (-12).
Cleveland wins 23-14.
Game closer than it should be, sealed by a CB Christian Federer 71 yd int return for a TD. Secondary is coming together, allows but 176 yds in the air.

Week 13
Cleveland (9-2) (-3) at Jacksonville (5-6).
Cleveland wins 24-19.
Big day for the Big 3. Davies (18-34-318-3-1), WR Wallace (5-105-1), and Sheen (19-109-0) all have good games. The defense (225 yds allowed, 3 sacks, 1 int) shines again, led by LB Roose and his 11 tackles.

Week 14
Cincinnati (8-4) at Cleveland (10-2) (-3) .
Cleveland wins 24-21.
30 first downs for us, 11 for them! The defense holds Cincy to 199 total yards, while our rushing attack rolls up 242 yards. RB Donnie Sheen (37-161-2) is off. player of the week. Davies (18-29-194-1-2) is average. Rookie phenom WR Bushon (6-70) continues his OROY campaign. The O-Line has 17 KRB!

Week 15
Cleveland (11-2) at Indianapolis (8-5) (-1).
Indianapolis wins 38-17.
We overplay the pass, but blitz too much and get burned by a good QB (Manning). Sheen and Davies both get knocked out, but our offense still gains 358 yards.

Week 16
Buffalo (10-4) at Cleveland (11-3) (-3).
Buffalo wins 21-20.
A heartbreaker, but we remain in first in our division. A Rob johnson TD pass with one minute remaining is the decider. RB Sheen (26-117-0) has another great game, but Davies (12-27-167-0-1) continues his slump. Our run defense is a bright spot as the pass defense continues to be inconsistent. The loss of DE Champion several weeks ago has hampered our pass rush. Hopefully the rest will do him good.

Week 17
Cleveland (11-4) (-2) at Baltimore(5-10).
Cleveland wins 38-14..
10-0 in the division earns us home field throughout the playoffs! We go against our better judgement and don't bench our starters. Sheen, in particular, responds, as he rumbles to a big (30-152-1) day. Davies (11-19-171-2-0) is appropriately solid. Our defense gets a tuneup, too - allowing just 227 total yards, while getting a sack, 3 ints, 2 fumble recoveries and a touchdown. Our return team gets into the act as Doug Barnette returns a punt 37 yds for a td.

12-4 and on to the playoffs...

Wild Card Round

Cincy (11-5) at Buffalo (12-4) -4.
Buffalo wins 24-7 (we lost to the Bills by one in Week 16).

Washington (10-6) at Chicago (11-5) -4.
Chicago wins 31-17 (we lost to Chicago early in the season).

Oakland (10-6) at New England (12-4) -7.
Oakland wins 30-28 (In a mild upset, our nemesis goes down!)

New York (8-8) at St Louis (8-8) -4.
Rams win 26-21.

Quarterfinal Round

St Louis (9-8) at Arizona (11-5) -5.
Rams win 24-21 in an upset.

Chicago (12-5) at Tampa Bay (14-2) -6.
Bucs win 44-14, look like the SB favorites.

Oakland (11-6) at Seattle (12-4) -7.
Seattle wins 16-13.

Buffalo (13-4) -4 at Cleveland (12-4).
Cleveland wins 26-8!.
A defensive struggle early, Cleveland motors in the second half and amasses 486 total yards. Buffalo threatened late, but two consecutive Rob Johnson ints sealed the game. The defense shone, with 239 yards allowed, 4 sacks, and two ints. The offense racked up 27 first downs and 16 KRB. RB Donnie Sheen received player of the game honors (29-170-1). Davies was flawless (16-30-259-1-0). On to the Conference Final!!!!

Conference Finals

St Louis (10-8) at Tampa Bay (15-2) -9.
Bucs win 10-7, avoiding a monumental upset.

Cleveland (13-4) at Seattle (13-4) -8 .
Cleveland wins 27-14!.
Seattle strikes first, but Donnie Sheen busts through with a 55 yard touchdown. Despite its riddled o-line, Seattle moves the ball up and down the field with ease. Thanks to our bend but dont break defense we are able to hold them, and a couple of Kitna Ints help the cause. The game is sealed when Dusty Parrish takes a late 3rd quarter punt for 62 yards and a score. This game belongs to our two cornerstones, QB Davies (20-26-244-0-0) and RB Sheen (26-144-2). A bit of bad news: Keeper DT Mudgett is out til next year, as is starting TE Stark. Stark is placed on IR and a veteran is picked from waivers for the Bowl. We resign everyone but FB Bednarik (won't reneg), his backup Astley (unhappy), and backup G Neil (unhappy). We renegotiate Blaine Davies to a 5 yr, 49 million dollar deal.

THE SUPERBOWL
Cleveland (14-4) vs. Tampa Bay (16-2) -9 .
We change our game plan to reduce the number of times we run the ball against the NFC's number-one ranked rushing defense. Sheen has a rough early going (11-17), but a couple of Davies quick strikes set up a Rollins FG and we take the lead 3-0 going into the 2nd Quarter. Boehner, the Bucs QB, is picking apart our secondary and gets Tampa a 7-3 lead. Sheen - quickly becoming a big game stud - rushes twice for 32 yards and a score, giving the Browns a 10-7 lead. Boehner marches his guys right back up field for a 14-10 lead. Then it happens. Davies has a pass intercepted and returned 61 yards for a touchdown. Tampa leads 21-10 with 4 minutes left in the half. The Browns' fans are disconsolate. With 25 seconds left in the half, Boehner gets injured, but with the Tampa D playing like monsters it probably doesnt matter.

We trade punts in the third quarter, neither team able to get an offensive foothold. The fourth quarter rolls around and things look bleak. Donnie Sheen takes the first play of the quarter and scampers 20 yards. Force calls a gutsy five straight running plays, and after a 16 yard pass to rookie phenom Bushon, Sheen takes it in from four for the score! The 2-point conversion fails, and we need a miracle as the game stands 21-16. Force continues his genius playcalling the next series, with a mix of run/pass that results in another Rollins FG. 21-19.

Davies gets the ball with three minutes remaining. Hope! Cleveland promptly turns the ball over on downs as Warren Sapp delivers a crushing sack of Davies. The two minute warning sounds and it looks to be over. Tampa attempts a 52 yard FG that comes up short and Cleveland will get one more chance, with 1:28 remaining. Davies looks for redemption. 28 yards to Wallace, out of bounds. Sheen runs for 3 and is injured! DeStefano trots onto the field, takes the handoff and rumbles for 12 yards. Timeout. DeStefano gets the ball again and rumbles for 13 more. With no timeouts left, Force calls in the field goal unit. 27 seconds on the clock. The kick is up...and good! Cleveland takes a 22-21 lead. Tampa gets the ball back with 14 seconds left on the clock. One incompletion and one scramble later and the game is OVER! Cleveland wins its second Superbowl in three years!. The sidelines go crazy! Force gets a Gatorade bath! Sheen (30-120-2) is named Superbowl MVP! Davies (17-30-236-0-1) is going to Disneyland! Woooooohoooo!

Season Recap

Honor Roll
QB Blaine Davies: 261-454, 3,718 yd, 57.4%, 8.18 ypp, 26td, 9 int, 94.8 rating
League MVP, 1st Team QB

RB Donnie Sheen: 340 att, 1,371 yds, 4.0 ypc, 7 td, 39 rec, 355 yds, 2 td.
Superbowl MVP, 2nd Team RB

T Flozell Adams: 28 krb, 78 krbo, 6 ska
2nd Team T

Other Team Leaders
WR Harvey Wallace:53 rec, 996 yds, 8 td
C Jeff Smith: 44 krb, 110 krbo, 8 ska
K Corey Rollins: 22 fg, 27 fga, 55 lng, 45 xp, 45 xpa, 111 pts.
LB JR Farmer: 82 tckls, 2 sacks
DT BJ Mudgett: 45 tckls, 8 sacks
DE Matt Champion: 22 tckl, 8.5 sacks in 12 games
CB Christian Ferderer: 4 ints.

Team Standings
Rushing (offense, defense, average): 4.0/3.3/3.8 (12th/1st)
Passing (offense, defense, average): 8.1/7.2/6.8 (1st/26th)
Scoring (offense, defense) 389 (8th), 301 (11th).

Record: 12-4, 10-0 div, 10-2 conf..