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Well, 17 people are unsigned for 2013, and another 16 are in their walk
year. It will be interesting, and I'll surely have a chance to shape the
next decade.
Herb's Score
95 team performance
74 franchise value
54 profit/loss
69 difficulty
Franchise value is $996,460,000, about as
close to a billion as you can get...
Stadium 40
Roster 92
Support 99
Economy 57
HOF
Drew Bledsoe
Terrell Davis
Retirees
TE Ronald Stark
WR Rufus Carlson
Decide to retain Martin Force and Erik
Johann, although some interesting younger scouts are available. I like
Erik's EXC in Young Talent, especially as we have some prospecting to do.
Attendance was 100%, so we raise ticket
prices slightly for some of the cheap seats.
Highly tempted to try for a new facility,
but with the new technologies approaching, we hold off.
We have to use the franchise tag on Donnie
Sheen, our keeper. NOTE: Mudgett and Davies are in their walk year, so we
need to reup at least one of them.
I want to hold onto TE Lofton if possible,
letting the two aging OTs depart. I'd like to keep CB Dawson, and at least
one of the very respectable backup LBs. Royal did an outstanding job of
holding onto the core; the number of defections scares me much less when I
see they're mainly role players. We have $44,180,000 in cap room, so we
should be able to do some damage...
We also are turning over our K and P, which can be painful.
Refuse a pathetic offer for Philip
Hamilton, our 1(1) DE, the leading contender to be my keeper, as the Duke
retired to take up cocaine smuggling in the Cayman Islands. We'll wait
until the end of my two years to decide, though.
In FA, immediate bids include:
K Gardner (Cleveland)
K Milne
CB Dawson (Cleveland)
CB Coleman
LB Bailey (Cleveland)
TE Rutkowski (better and younger than Lofton)
The OT's are pretty thin, either very old
or very poor. We'll wait a few weeks and see what happens here.
Week 1 : Dawson and Coleman cost way too
much to compete ! Bailey and Rutkowski sign elsewhere.
Week 4 : bid on Lofton, and took off bid on Gardner.
Week 5 : raise bid to Milne: we get him.
Week 9 : bid on backup TE Singleton. Got Lofton.
End of Auction: Sign another backup TE, Cronk, and QB Peterson, backup or
next year trade bait.
Deals
Milne $2.90, 2 years
Lofton $4.33, 2 years
Cronk $4.21, 3 years
Peterson $3.65, 2 years
I hate 20 Stage and hardly ever use it when
playing alone. But with the house rules here, we can't defer everything
until post-camp. We're still ok at CB, but OT is an issue.
Get an offer for G Page, manage to
substitute aging Roundtree and this year's 4,5, and 6 picks, for a very
nice backup C and this year's overall #8 pick. Reject an offer for S
Swift.
Davies, under contract for $15.5MM this
year, accepts renegotiation for about $25MM for 3 years. Mudgett, at $4.22
this year, signs for about $14MM over three, a worse deal for the team,
but now we don't have keeper issues.
We're $44.9MM under cap entering the draft.
We sign 100% of our walk-year guys, mostly for their numbers or close, and
get to $55.39MM in cap space.
We have three #1's (8, 13, 33, and our 2nd,
3rd, and 7th (all 33)).
The draft comes roses. I see Lee Clark, a
6-6, 210 pound Badger, a for-real franchise QB, 2.6/74, but top-rated by
our scout, with only one potential under 96. Milwaukee has the top pick.
We trade Rob Miller, our #4 QB, the first
rounders from 2014 and 2015, and the 5th from 2015 for the Number One Pick
and a 2nd in 2015. Temporarily we are in violation of the 3 first-round
rule, but we quickly adjust.
We trade the 2nd and 5th rounders from
2015, plus our backup QB Gibson, and this years 1st (33) and 3rd round
picks for Stanley Hamilton, a very nice OT, and a 1st rounder in 2015.
So...
We take Lee Clark 1(1).
1st (1) QB Lee Clark, Wisconsin
1st (8) OT Mitch Banks 6-3, 335 Ohio State, 30/84, 39/85, 100
1st (13) S Gerald (don't call me Gerry) Dunkelberger, 6-0, 217, Alabma
A&M, 48/100, 42/96, 97.
3rd (33) CB Roy Matthews, 5-9, 203, Auburn, 44/100, 41/98, 96
7th (scout pick) LB Vinny Ray, 6-5, 253, Stephen F. Austin, 31/41, 34,46,
23/32, 45
Clark is something else.
Banks can be a decent starter and we need to reload at OT. This gives us
three fine young tackles to develop in parallel with Clark.
Dunkelberger buttresses an already strong S unit. He could become a star.
Matthews is a development project, but could start someday.
Ray is a prototypical special teams behemoth who may not make the team.
We have significant cap room: $43.7MM, with
40 players all signed for at least two years. We could use the money on
deep depth, or possibly on a star veteran WR, if one is out there post
camp...
In camp we strengthen our strengths. Reject
offers for TE Lofton and OT Green.
We sign Harris Kindred, a good punter,
Marshall Vrabel, a decent LB, and Darren Garcia, a good WR, all for what
they ask for. This gives us 44 players and $34.9 MM in space.
We sign the best available RB, G, WR, DE
and CB. Fillers. Finally we add a good S, Eaves, and Charley Batch, an
outstanding #2 QB, for short money.
We have $16.4MM left for emergency
signings.
Preseason 3-1. Rest the stars. S Swift out
2-3 months with sprained back.
Week 1 Cinn 0-0 @Cleve 0-0
Not a good game.
Davies 8/28 4 Ints
Batch in relief 3/5
Sheen 11/51
Monroe 9 tackles
Milne 2/2 FGs
Ferderer out 3-5 weeks
Cinn 27 Cleve 6
Week 2 Jax 1-0 @Cleve 0-1 -7
A different story. Blaine and Donnie shine.
Davies 18/29/291 4 TDs 3 INTs
Sheen 19/138
Garcia 6/154 2 TDS
O'Donnell & Kubeski 8 tackles each
Bushon out 2-3 months: ribs
Cleve 28 Jax 25
Week 3 @Cleve 1-1 -5 Pitt 0-2
A rout.
Davies 12/23/189 2 TDs 1 INT
Sheen 16/92 1 TD
Casey fumble rtn TD
McElroy INT return TD
Matthews 2 INTs
Quayle 7 tackles
Champion 1 sack
Mudgett 1.5 sacks
Cleve 41 Pitt 7
At this point I need to note that our scout
prefers Batch to Davies, 84 to 80 in current value, and has since Week
One, but I am ignoring him.
Week 4 Cleve 2-1 -5 AIndianapolis 3-0 -2
Another rout.
Davies 11/21/174 2 TDs 1 INT
Lee Clark 4/5 1 INT and his first game action
Sheen 11/30 1 TD
Garcia 4/86 1 TD
Foster INT return for TD
Foster 2 INTs Quayle Dunkelberger 1 INT each
Cleve 34 Indy 3
At the quarter pole...
We're 3-1, have had some serious injuries,
and netted Lee Clark. Our depth is good, or even excellant.
Week 5 @Cleve 3-1 -3 Green Bay 3-1
We lead until the last two minutes, when the Pack pushes over a 1-yard run
and a FG to edge us.
GB has 26 first downs, almost 400 yards in the air and punts one time:
9/13 on third downs.
Davies 13/26/227 2 TD
Sheen 14/43
Garcia 4/72
Wallace 4/59
O'Donnell, Monroe 9 tackles
Dunkelberger another INT
Green Bay 27 Cleve 20
Week 6 The Bye
and some of our wounded continue to heal. Federer returns to the lineup.
Week 7 Cleve 3-2 @Baltimore 4-2 -6
Key divisional matchup, and one heck of a game. We break on top, and lead
10-9 at the half. Milne hits a long FG to make it 13-9. The Figures breaks
free for a 32-yard TD run. 13-16. Sheen answers with a 71-yard TD run.
20-13. The Figures, a 68-yard TD run. What ever happened to tackling and
holding on ? 20-23. Fourth quarter. Batch comes in and marches down the
field, hitting Lofton for the score. 27-23. We exchange punts. Two minutes
left. Milne hits a 52-yarder to make the margin 7 as the gun sounds. Truly
a playoff quality matchup.
Cleve 30 Balt 23
Fredrickson and Monroe are our for 3-5 weeks each
Davies 13/20/222 1 TD
Batch 9/17/121 1 TD
Sheen 14/92 1 TD
Wallace 6/91
Lofton 5/69 1 TD
Dougherty 4/43
Garcia 3/97 1 TD
Quayle 7 stops
Hamilton, Champion a sack each
Week 8 @Cleve 4-2 -14 Detroit 0-7
We destroy an inferior team.
Davies 19/30/229 2 TD
Sheen 16/88
Casey 4/70 1 TD
Garcia 8/111 1 TD
Hamilton, Champion, Mudgett a sack apiece
Cleve 33 Detroit 7
We take the division lead
Swift returns to the lineup - Champion out 3-5 weeks with broken hand
Week 9 @Clev 5-2 -10 Tennessee 4-3
The visitors jump out on top, but Federer runs one back to tie it. Then
Tenn runs back the kickoff, which irks us, and we pour it on. We hold them
to 35 yards on the ground.
Cleve 31 Tenn 17
Davies 15/31/165 2 TDs
Sheen 18/99 1 TD
Dougherty 6/70 2 TD
O'Donnell 8 tackles
Mudgett 2 sacks, Burnim 1 sack
Federer the pick and runback
At the halfway mark
Cleveland 6-2
Jax 5-3
Cinn 4-4
Tenn 4-4
Balt 4-5
Pitt 3-6
We're plus-7 in turnovers. Third in the
league in rushing defense; sixth in both rushing and passing offense.
Looking at our two losses, in the first
week, we threw 4 picks and were 3/13 on third down. In Week Five, we gave
up 347 air yards and 26 first downs.
Davies has 15 scores, and 9 picks, Sheen
633 yards and 5.3 average, but only 4 scores, Garcia 5 and Dougherty 4
scores. O'Donnell has 43 tackles. Mudgett 5.5, Champion and Burnim 4
sacks. Among the starters, Galyon, Page and Green have 40% or better
blocking. The best thing has been the way we've weathered injuries. The
bench has risen to the challenge and gotten valuable playing time.
We activate Bushon, not fully ready, to
disable Frederickson, who's worse.
I plan to give the unhappy Batch a start,
and maybe Clark as well, if we get the right opportunity.
I want to get Dunkelberger and Matthews
some time if possible; our DB unit needs upgrading. We could use some more
pressure from the rush, as well.
Week 10 - Cleve 6-2 -10 @Chicago 3-5
Can we trash these dudes like we trashed Detroit ? No.
Chicago 23 Cleve 10
Davies 3/3/58
Batch 10/27/95 3 INTs (and back to the bench !)
Sheen 12/33
O'Donnell 14 tackles
Week 11 - @Cleve 6-3 -8 Baltimore 4-5
Davies 22/28/321 2 TDs - a signature Blaine Game
Sheen 15/34 1 TD
Bushon scores in his first game back
Burnim a sack, McElroy a pick
and no one really breaks a sweat
Cleve 35 Balt 7
and Monroe is ready again.
Week 12 - Cleve 7-3 -7 @Cinn 5-5
A World War I type of game. Only one TD was scored. We won the
time-of-possession battle 35:26 to 24:24. The Tigers were 4/4 on field
goals, Milne was 2/3, but his extra point was the margin of victory.
Batch 15/27/157 1 TD 1 INT
Davies 3/4/19 and a dislocated shoulder, 3-5 weeks
Sheen 23/89 and a lot of clock time
O'Donnell 6 stops, Hamilton a sack
Cleve 13 Cinn 12
Week 13 - Cleveland 8-3 -3 @Pitt 5-6
A woeful effort. Batch was...less than ready. Where is LaChapelle when you
need him ?
Batch 12/35/206 3 picks, including one run back for a TD
Sheen 16/65
O'Donnell 9 stops
Pitt 19 Cleveland 7
Cleve 8-4
Tenn 8-4
Jax 7-5
Pitt 6-6
Balt 5-7
Cinn 5-7
Pete Rozelle's parity embodied.
Week 14 - Cleveland 8-4 @Tenn 8-4 -3
For the division lead. Page runs a fumble recovery for a TD, Milne hits 3
FGs, and Tenn gets eight (8) first downs.
Batch 12/25/155 1 TD 1 INT
Sheen 23/11
Casey (mercifully) 8/74
O'Donnell 10 stops, six total sacks including 2 by Stewart and 1.5 by
Mudgett.
Ferderer out until the playoffs. Champion finally healthy.
Cleve 23 Tenn 0
Week 15 - Cleve 9-3 -3 @Denver 5-8
Mathews and Dunkelberger get starts.
Batch 15/32/187 1 INT
Sheen 18/81
Milne 3/3 on FGs
and the score is....23-0 again. Five sacks total, 1.5 for Stewart.
Matthews get three picks, and runs back two for TDs.
Cleve 23 Denver 0
Week 16 - @Cleveland 10-4 -11
Charlottesville 5-9
We leave Matt and Dunk in there.
Tough game.
Charlottesville 31 Cleve 28
Batch 16/34/238 4 TDs 1 INT (the loss may be worth it if Batch gets into a
groove....)
Sheen 9/7
Casey 4/93
Wallace 5/69 2 TDs
Kobeski 12 tackles
After giving up two passing TDs, we'll hand the DB rotation back to the
scout.
Cleveland 10-5
Tennessee 10-5
We have the playoffs clinched.
Week 17 - Cleve 10-5 @Jax 7-8 Even
Undistinguished. Poor effort across the board by the O.
Batch 13/30/205 1 TD 1 INT
Sheen 13/0 really
Kobeski 6 tackles, Carr 2 INTs
Jax 16 Cleve 15
Playoffs
Wild Card Round
21 San Diego 9-7
14 Kansas City 9-7
19 Philadelphia 9-7
20 NY Giants 10-6
10 Tampa Bay 9-7
22 St Louis 9-7
Cleveland 10-6 Indianapolis 10-5 -3
Davies is almost healthy, and is backing up Batch.
Indy threatens, but McElroy intercepts on our 20. First quarter ends
scoreless, and we have the ball on our own 6 yard line. 94 yards later
Sheen plows over from the 3: 7-0 Cleveland. We get the ball back after a
punt, but fumble. We hold, and another good punt puts us at our 4. An
exchange of punts and it's halftime. Monroe scoops up a Hammond fumble. FG:
10-0. Then Halela breaks loose for an 82-yard TD scamper: 10-7. Batch to
Bushon: 17-7. They punt, then snag a pick and run it back 46 yards; we
hold them to a FG and it's 17-10. We drive, but another pick stops us at
the Indy 12. Fourth quarter. We've outgained them 247 to 52 in the air,
but are only up by 7 points. The Batch hits Frederickson and it's 24-10.
They answer with a FG: 24-13. We get a FG, and then a garbage-time Sheen
TD.
Cleveland 34 Indy 13 - but much closer than
it looked...
Batch 18/34/301 2 TDs and 2 worrisome INTs
Sheen 32/139 2 TDs
Bushon 6/106 1 TD
Burnim 2 sacks
Worst news is the injuries: WRs Wallace, Bushon and Garcia are all
Questionable, as is Hamilton, our young stud DT bulwark, and Burnim, our
good DE. They'll all suit up, though, because it's that time of year.
DIVISION STANDINGS
Tenn 11-5
Cleveland 10-6
Pitt 8-8
Jax 8-8
Balt 8-8
Cinn 5-11
QUARTERFINAL ROUND
19 St Louis 10-7
13 Dallas 10-6
3 New York 11-6
41 Green Bay 15-1 483-188 point differential in the regular season - a
possible juggernaut
17 San Diego 10-7
27 Jets 11-5
Cleveland 11-6
Tennessee 10-5
Batch hits TE Cronk for a TD on our second
possession: 7-0. Then Tenn runs back a punt back 89 yards: 7-7. Shoddy
tackling, guys ! Bear down. Davies, in headphones, is on the sidelines
with his Questionable Shoulder. Martin Force looks concerned. The crowd is
rabid. Outside the stadium they are burning dogs in effigy.
2nd quarter. Batch hits Bushon for 65: 14-7. We hold and Milne misses a
long FG attempt. Carr picks off an errant Tenn pass. The canny veteran
spent several games inactive to get playing time for Matthews, but in the
playoffs he shows up. We can't capitalize.
3rd quarter. A face mask penalty extends a Tenn drive. They drive but we
stiffen in the red zone, and they kick a short one to make it 14-10. Our
three plays and out and then Matthews, playing nickel, picks one off at
our own 10; seems like we're playing the whole game inside our own blue
line. Force swallows his chewing tobacco. Matthews high-fives his way down
the sideline. This young man has a nose for the ball. Batch passes the
ball up the field, hitting five different receivers, but we stall and take
the three: 17-10.
4th quarter. Tenn drives and scores: tie game. Our defensive coordinator
is screaming obscenities at his men. We have to punt after two first
downs. Three and out and we get the ball back at our 47 with our fate in
our own hands. Batch checks his wristband. Three and out. A fair catch at
the Tenn 14. Field position is ours. Third-down pass to Garcia - they are
reviewing the play - good. A run, the delay-of-game pushes us back to the
37 - long green. Batch to Wallace for 21 ! Sheen for 9, and a FG wins it !
We beat Tenn in Tenn : the 3rd time we beat them this year.
Cleve 20 Tenn 17
Batch 19/33/288 2 TDs
Sheen 18/48
Kobeski 7 tackles and an INT, Carr and Matthews an INT each
28 St Louis 12-7
22 Green Bay 6-2 a tremendous upset
Cleveland 12-6 @ Jets 12-5 -2
Sheen fumbles at our 6. Jets recover. Bernstein runs it in: 0-7. Marais to
Lyons: 0-14. FG makes it 0-17. We need a turnover...something. Sheen
drives us up the field and gets the score; he's a man possessed now, blood
streaming down his chin. 7-17. Halftime.
We get the ball, stall. They drive, but Delgado makes a dream-saving INT
in our end-zone. They come right back to make it 7-24. FG: 7-27. We have a
total of 9 first downs and can't get anything going. And it ends 7-40.
Given that we had 10 injured players active, including seven starters, we
probably went as far as could be expected. But it's an ugly way to go.
Batch 6/20/88 1 INT - 4 of our 5 wide receivers were Questionable
Sheen 16/47 1 TD
The Bowl
13 St Louis 12-8
27 Jets 14-5
Awards
We are shut out. Nada.
Leaders
We finished 377-244 PF/PA, versus last
year's 448-276, so clearly the dropoff was on the O side.
Davies started 10 games, finished 137/243,
2055 yards, 17 TDs, 9 picks, and rating of 92.1.
Batch was 105/233, 1401, 8 TDs and 11 picks, rated 56.4, and that was
pretty much it. He looked great in free agency, but...
Lee Clark hit 6/7 for 1 score and 1 pick, and a first year rating of 95.2.
Sheen was 248/953, 3.8, and 5 scores.
Casey, who doesn't look like much on paper, was 86/454, 5.2, but only one
score.
Garcia 49/839/5
Wallace 44/686/4
Dougherty 31/489/5
Bushon 31/474/3
Lofton 34/405/6
Our two main punt returners, Delgado and
Federer, averaged a pathetic 1.8 and 1.6 respectively.
Milne hit 26/34, and Kindred averaged 41.0.
Tackle leaders were:
O'Donnell 100
Kobeski 65
Monroe 56
Sacks:
Mudgett 10
Burnim 8.5
Hamilton 6.5
Champion 5.5
Picks:
Matthews 5 (2 TDs)
Carr 3
T Hamilton and C Galyon led our blocking.
Next year's goals include ditching Batch,
grooming Clark, replenishing our WR corps, where we have no one rated
Excellent present or future, and starting to look for a young tailback:
Donnie is rated 52 present and 51 future, and 7th from the bottom of
league as Starter. His low average this year did not help Batch.
It would be nice to think that a healthy
Blaine and few healthy wideouts would have made a difference.
I'll wait to get the consensus on our
illegal OT before proceding...
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