NFL Head Coach- Season 1

Does anyone care? Ehh, who knows, but perhaps there are some gamers or friends out there who are curious. Regardless, I'm going to write about it. Let me start by saying that I do enjoy the game, but there's something about actually playing as opposed to coaching that I miss, so I will welcome the likes of NCAA Football '07 and Madden '07 here in the next month.

As I had initially written, I did begin coaching my favorite team, the Atlanta Falcons, but after the pre-season and the first game of the regular season, something went awry and one game in week one, between the Eagles and Texans went unplayed. So, in week 2, when I clicked on my game, it'd take me to the first game of week 1 and when I simulated the games, every score was listed as a 0-0 tie. So, that season went for nothing. I started over again and this time, decided to be the Detroit Lions. One cool thing that I noticed was the fact that during the initial interview process for a coaching position, different questions are asked. There were a couple of the same questions asked during my first and second interviews, but there were some different ones, as well. Also, depending upon your answer, there's a set of bars to the top right of the screen that measure your knowledge of each position. These will increase, decrease, or remain the same depending upon your answers. But, on with the season.

I set up my coaching staff the way I liked it. By the end of the season, humorously enough, the only one who I didn't get along with was the offensive coordinator Mike Martz. He even told me at the end of the year, he'd rather not be resigned and I simply told him, "We don't need you anymore," and he walked out the door. This may be due to the fact I didn't agree with his playcalling about half the time (or more). I mean, on 3rd and 1, I don't call a draw play or a play action of any kind. That's just me. In my opinion, that's wasting valuable time and allowing the defense more time to penetrate the line and get to either the tailback or the quarterback. All that's needed is 1 yard. Why drop back, make some unnecessary fakes and make the yardage needed for a first down more than it needs to be? As for my off-season moves, I made a lot of them. I traded for Michael Vick and picked up Quincy Carter off the free agent wire, so that Vick was my starter, Joey Harrington was my back-up, and Carter was my third stringer. I traded up from #9 to #2 to attain tailback Reggie Bush. I either let go or traded away all my backs, including Kevin Jones. To start the season, my backfield consisted of Bush, veteran Garrison Hearst, and Jesse Chatman. I re-signed veteran fullback Cory Schlesinger and signed Thomas Tapeh as his back-up. The young talented receivers underachieved, so Mike Williams was traded away to Atlanta as part of the package for Michael Vick. Why'd I feel content to do this? Because Reggie Wayne, former Colts wideout, was a free agent, so I nabbed him right when I saw his name. I also signed Troy Edwards as a 5th string receiver and special teams guy. Reggie Bush had the better numbers for a returnman, but his energy was wasted too much on returns, when I needed him more as a tailback and potential receiving threat. Edwards as a 5th option at receiver was much less needed at his position and therefore fit in perfectly as my returnman. Number wise throughout the season, he actually performed better than Bush as a returner. To go along with veteran Marcus Pollard at tight end, I signed youngster Teyo Johnson, and drafted Texas tight end David Thomas in the 4th round. Thomas would take over the starting spot at around the midway point of the season. He was a steal! I was very weak at left tackle, so I signed free agents Adrian Jones and Alan Reuber to make the position mediocre. I also signed right guard Steve Sciullo to solidify the backup spot behind Damien Woody. I attempted to add depth to the right tackle position by signing Kyle Turley. At the start of the season, Turley's attributes (rating ranges) were from 68 to 88. But, with he being 30 years old and a big boy up front, those numbers decreased to a maximum of 77 by year's end and went from #1 on the depth chart to #3. While free agency wasn't always kind to me, trades seemed to be, as I was able to acquire the likes of Vick, Bush, and this next guy, left end Shaun Ellis, via trade. I signed rookie right end Julian Jenkins out of NC State as my third stringer. I thought I was getting a heck of a deal when I signed middle linebacker Mike Vrabel, but the guy is 31, and his max of 91 from season start decreased to a max of 79 by season's end. Right outside linebacker free agent acquisition Jay Foreman was able to help aid the linebacking core, especially later in the season when Vrabel started to fatigue. I was able to place Foreman at the MLB spot and he fit in very nicely. Thirty-year old free safety Greg Wesley's numbers didn't taper off a bit throughout the season after I signed him as a free agent. Strong safety Jermaine Phillips was also a nice free agent signing. There you have it, my off-season.

Going into the season, I was comfortable at quarterback, fullback, receiver, tight end, up front on the offensive line, on the d-line, at linebacker, in the secondary, and on special teams. The one position I wasn't fully comfortable was at running back. I had a nice veteran in Garrison Hearst to balance things with the rookie Reggie Bush, to go along with the mediocre Jesse Chatman. But, with Bush being a rookie and my starter, I didn't know what to expect initially out of he and the ground game. What gave me hope was the fact that Vick was my quarterback. Where Vick goes, the ground game will travel. So, all-in-all, going into the season, I was pretty satisfied with the my team's construction. We lacked depth in some areas, but had solid starters at every position and were very deep at a couple positions, such as receiver.

We had just one test during the pre-season. It was our first game and it came at home against the Denver Broncos, where the pesky Mike Shanahan-led club wouldn't go away. We did end up winning that game 20-16. What followed were drubbings of the Browns (41-14), the RAIDaz (27-9), and the Bills (52-10). In these games, what I was most impressed with was the ground game. Vick took off with the ball like he knows how to do. That and Reggie Bush was running all over defenses. We had over 250 yards on the ground against Cleveland and again against Buffalo. I was extremely optimistic heading into the regular season, but it was a rollercoaster, as they tend to be.

To open, the Lions took on the defending NFC Champ Seattle Seahawks at home. We would've won 17-13 if it hadn't been for our opportunistic defense that returned two interceptions back for touchdowns. Because of this, we won by the score of 31-13. Up next were Da Bearz and they played more like stuffed teddy bears. The offense couldn't get anything going all day and their usually staunch defense got run all over by Bush, Vick, and company in a 30-0 shutout. Up next came two very tough games and for different reasons. First was a home game against Brett Favre and the Packers. This was extremely reminiscent of the pre-season game against Denver, where I'd feel comfortable up two scores, but the opposing team (Packers, in this case) wouldn't go away. Oddly enough, the final score was the same, as my Lions improved to 3-0 with a 20-16 win. The following game was on the road at St. Louis and my only expression after the 20 minutes of gametime was of my jaw dropping to the ground in shock and disbelief. My Lions were up 21-3 in the second half and looking to improve to a perfect 4-0. But Vick, Bush, and the offense had other plans. Vick and Bush combined to turn the ball over SEVEN times in the game, including 5 turnovers in the second half. We about handed the ball to the Rams (literally), just asking them to beat us. They finally did. After Jeff Wilkins kicked a field goal to pull the Rams within 15 at 21-6, we turned it over, and the Rams pulled within 9 at 21-12 at the end of the third quarter. They went for 2 and failed, so it was still a two-possession game, but that didn't matter. We turned it over in the 4th and St. Louis capitalized with 7 to make it 21-19 just before the 2-minute warning. We turned it over yet again and with under half a minute left, the Rams took the lead at 25-21. Bush returned the kickoff to the 40-yard line. Vick launched and completed a deep pass down to the 30 of St. Louis. But, with a few seconds left on the clock, a pass by Vick was tipped in the end zone and intercepted. After that game, I made sure to strategize a bit more with the quarterback and the running back. We rebounded nicely against division foe Minnesota, winning 37-14. Buffalo performed slightly better in the next game than they did in the pre-season (52-10), but that's not saying much. We were all over quarterback J.P. Losman. Willis McGahee couldn't get much going on the ground and we won 38-3. The New York Jets were pesky for a while in New Yowwwk, but couldn't do enough right offensively, as we won 26-7. The Atlanta Falcons were next on the slate and that'd pose for an interesting match-up, as they'd face Michael Vick at quarterback for another team. This was somewhat reminiscent of last year's Super Bowl, as the Falcons outrushed me and outpassed me, but due to two long pass plays at the end of the first half from Michael Vick to Kevin Johnson and Charles Rogers, we were able to come out of the game at 7-1 with a 23-6 victory. In the game, Vick was sacked 8 times! Seven of those were on the offensive line. One was due to him holding onto the ball too long. Bush couldn't do anything on the ground. The leading rusher for us was Vick by scrambling around for 40 yards. The following game was probably the most frustrating of the season. It came against lowly San Francisco. The week of practice was anything but good, but it was a home game against the 49ers, so whether practice was good or not, we should be able to beat the Niners, right? Not so fast my friend, as Lee Corso would say. The 49ers out-Lioned us. They beat us at our own game, by pounding the ball on the ground, getting after the quarterback, and winning the T.O.P. (time of possession) battle. I finally tied the game at 13-13 early in the 4th quarter, but the Niners went on one of their draining drives that left me in a 20-13 hole, one I wouldn't get out of. This left me at 7-2, with a scary moment ahead in the following week's game against Arizona. Vick had been sacked 8 times against Atlanta and another 6 times against San Francisco. He'd be sacked another 5 times in the first half against Arizona, before he was knocked out of the game with a concussion. At this time, I didn't know anything about the injury situations on this game. All I know is that it said "I" by his name in the depth chart. Right after the injury, I also noticed this flashing text at the upper right hand part of the screen that said, "M. Vick head injury car." So, while I was thinking about that, Joey Harrington attempted to not lose the game. When Vick was in, the team drove down the field with ease, but had problems putting the ball in the end zone, so we had to settle for field goals. Fortunately, our defense was superb, holding the Cardinals to under 100 yards of total offense, in a 19-0 shutout victory to improve to 8-2 on the season. Up next was the Thanksgiving game against Miami. Since there were only four days between the two games, there was not much time for practice. But, the defense was again up to the challenge and Harrington played decent in a 17-3 Thanksgiving win to improve to 9-2 and guarantee the Lions of a winning season. The good thing about the Thanksgiving win was the fact we'd get some extra time off before our next game at Foxboro against the Patriots. With a solid week and a half of practice, we took that into Foxboro and beat up on Tom Brady and the Pats, dominating in a 31-7 win. Minnesota came next and the score was deceivingly close. I was up 20-3 until real late, played it extra conservative, and Daunte rocketed two bombs late in the game. Oddly enough, when they closed the gap to 20-17 with a few seconds left (and no timeouts remaining), the Vikes elected to kick the ball off, as opposed to attempting to recover an onsides kick. After the return, I took one kneel down and that was it. The final three games were a breeze, as the Lions outscored their opponents 126-3: beating Green Bay 27-3, Chicago 45-0, and Dallas 54-0. The Detroit Lions finished the regular season an NFL best 14-2, to guarantee them a first-round by and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

After the first-round bye, we took on the New York Giants and while we always had a fairly comfortable lead, it was never too comfortable. We ended up winning by the score of 27-14. It was at about this time I realized Vick was not going to be back for the season and perhaps forever. I did some further investigating of the situation and it said that Vick had a severe career-ending concussion. His awareness rating was down from 11-18. Because of this, I put him on the IR and picked up rookie quarterback Reggie McNeal. Harrington had been performing better as he grew more comfortable with the offense, but with Vick out of the lineup, I needed a third quarterback, just in case. It was now a toss-up from week to week. Harrington's max rating was 75, McNeal's was 72, and Carter's was 70, so their efficiency (or lack there of) in practice determined who would start that week. During the season, I started four different quarterbacks. Carter and McNeal each started one game, Vick started thirteen games (including pre-season), and Harrington started eight games. Ironically enough, I faced the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Title Game and handled them with much more ease than I had the first time, in a 31-0 romp over the Falcons. That brought us to the Super Bowl in Miami between the Detroit Lions (16-2 during season and playoffs) and the Kansas City Chiefs (15-3 during the same time span). From start to finish, they were definitely the two best teams in the NFL. As strange as it seemed at the time, Vick's numbers had increased slightly from before. His awareness increased from 11-18 to 33-40, so I began to wonder if it was in fact a career-ending injury. He definitely wouldn't be ready in time for the Super Bowl, though. All three quarterbacks had a rough two weeks in practice, but in the end, Joey Harrington got the nod, as he probably deserved. At the start of the game, I was feeling good. On three consecutive run plays to start the game, the Chiefs got stuffed by my line. But, my offense didn't start any better, as we went three and out. The Chiefs were much more efficient in their second drive of the game, but after getting inside the 5-yard line, I held them to a field goal to go down 3-0. As good teams do, I answered their score with one of my own. My running game was ineffective from start to finish, but Reggie Wayne and Reggie Bush were effective in the passing game. From a 3rd and goal from the 1-yard line, Joey Harrington snuck up the middle between the left guard and center for a touchdown to take a 7-3 lead. The Chiefs tried to answer, but a costly 3rd and 10 penalty prevented them from doing so. Quarterback Trent Green threw a dart to tight end Tony Gonzalez for a first down up at the 40-yard line, but a holding call forced a 3rd and 20 which couldn't be converted. The Chiefs then had to punt from deep in their own territory and after a fair catch by Troy Edwards at close to midfield, I was looking good again. This is what I'd need in this game in order to score. After a few decent passes, Harrington threw a lob up to tight end Marcus Pollard in the end zone. The ball was nearly tipped and intercepted, but it had just enough air under it to float over the outstretched arms of the defender for a touchdown and a 14-3 lead going into halftime. I don't know what Herm Edwards and company told the Chiefs defense at halftime, but whatever it was, it worked! While my offense struggled very early in the first half, they began to click in the middle to latter stages of the half. Halftime brought a complete halt to this offensive momentum and it would never again be garnered by the offense. Early in the 4th quarter, Kansas City got another drive together, and had a 1st and goal from the 4-yard line. My defense stood tall to the challenge and held the Chiefs to a 4th and goal from the one and a field goal attempt, which Lawrence Tynes made to cut the lead to eight points at 14-6, making it a one-possession game. On the ensuing kickoff, Troy Edwards juked one, stiff armed another, found a hole, and was off with it, all the way down to the Kansas City 8-yard line. With one more score, I felt secure in winning the game. All I wanted to do was take time off the clock and at worst, set up a field goal to stretch the lead to eleven points. But, on second down and goal, Reggie Bush coughed up the football. Because of how important the score was, I challenged the play and on the replay, it did appear as if the ground may have caused the fumble, but to the referees credit, no angle showed indisputable evidence to overturn the call. So, the score remained 14-6 and the Chiefs had momentum, the ball, and a chance to potentially tie the game late in the 4th quarter. Trent Green worked in the hurry up offense and the Chiefs moved the ball, all the way down to our 30-yard line, when Green lobbed a ball up with just over a minute left in the game and was intercepted. I was able to wind the clock down to 15 seconds when I had to punt it. That's when veteran punter Tom Tupa laid down his longest kick of the night, a 55-yarder that backed the Chiefs up to their own 30-yard line. The Chiefs had seventy yards to go, no timeouts, and just over ten seconds to work with. In fitting fashion, Trent Green was picked off for the 4th time on the last play of the game and that was it. The Detroit Lions had won the Super Bowl 14-6! It was the most intense game of the season, and rightfully so, it being the Super Bowl and all. Just like in last year's Super Bowl, the losing team outgained the winning team. The Chiefs gained 243 yards (178 passing and 65 rushing) to my 147 (114 passing and 33 rushing). But, I didn't beat myself with turnovers and penalties and played efficiently when I had to. The Lions were 3 for 7 on 3rd down, scored two touchdowns in three red zone opportunities, were 13 for 20 throwing the all, averaged over 45 yards on three punts, had only one penalty (a five-yarder), gained 115 return yards (including an 89-yarder), hung onto the football for twelve and a half out of twenty minutes, and picked the ball off four times. Compare this with Kansas City mustering only two field goals in their red zone opportunities, being penalized four times for 34 yards, completing only 8 of 20 passes, mounting 66 return yards with one more return than the Lions, being 2 for 6 on 3rd down, having the football for seven and a half out of twenty minutes, and being picked off four times. Cornerback Dre' Bly had my only sack of the game. Greg Wesley and Jay Foreman each picked Green off once and Jermaine Phillips picked him off twice. While Reggie Bush only had 27 yards on the ground, he made for a respective receiver, catching three balls for a total of 51 yards. Reggie Wayne caught six for 43 yards. Joey Harrington wasn't spectacular, but didn't do anything to lose the game. He completed 13 of 20 passes for 119 yards, 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions.

Players and coaches from my team were awarded at the end of the season. I was awarded three coach awards: Comeback Coach of the Year, Defensive Coach of the Year, and Coach of the Year. Reggie Bush won the following awards: NFC Best Offensive Player, NFL Best Offensive Rookie, NFC Best Offensive Rookie, and NFC Best Running Back. Guard Damien Woody won the following awards: NFL Best Offensive Lineman and NFC Best Offensive Lineman. Defensive end Shaun Ellis won the award for NFC Best Defensive Lineman. Cornerback Fernando Bryant won: NFL Best Defensive Back and NFC Best Defensive Back awards. Veteran Jason Hanson won: NFL Best Kicker and NFC Best Kicker awards.

As a team, we had the following statistical rankings:

#3 in 3rd down efficiency (42%)
#2 in 4th down efficiency (66%)
#1 in penalties (44)
#1 in penalty yards (445)
#1 in rushing touchdowns (22)
#2 in total touchdowns (50)
#3 in red zone attempts (49)
#6 in red zone touchdowns (21)
#1 in red zone field goals (25)
#1 in red zone efficiency (93%)
#3 in rushing yards (2,296)
#1 in average yards per rush (4.9)
#4 in completion percentage (60%)
#1 in average yards per pass (7.8)
#4 in interceptions (14)
#8 in takeaways (45)
#1 in defensive interceptions (41)
#1 in giveaways (26)
#3 in offensive fumbles (12)
#1 in NET turnovers (+19)
#1 in red zone attempts (allowed by defense) (19)
#1 in red zone touchdowns (allowed by defense) (6)
#1 in yards allowed (2,649)
#1 in pass yards allowed (1,629)
#4 in rush yards allowed (1,020)

Individual players had the following statistical rankings:

Michael Vick was #7 in quarterback ranking (89.2)
Joey Harrington was #5 in quarterback ranking (92.8)
Michael Vick was #4 in longest touchdown pass (79)
Reggie Bush was #13 in rushing yards (1,174)
Michael Vick was #34 in rushing yards (561)
Reggie Bush was #34 in average yards per rush (4.5)
Michael Vick was #14 in average yards per rush (6.4)
Garrison Hearst was #5 in average yards per rush (10.1)
Quincy Carter was #9 in average yards per rush (8.3)
Reggie Bush was #11 in longest touchdown run (62)
Garrison Hearst was #12 in longest touchdown run (60)
Reggie Bush was #3 in touchdown runs (13)
Michael Vick was #19 in touchdown runs (6)
Reggie Wayne was #4 in receptions (67)
Reggie Wayne was #36 in receiving yards (635)
Jesse Chatman was #4 in average yards per reception (29.6)
Kevin Johnson was #5 in average yards per reception (29.6)
Charles Rogers was #6 in average yards per reception (25.3)
Garrison Hearst was #20 in average yards per reception (17.0)
Jesse Chatman was #4 in longest touchdown reception (79)
Kevin Johnson was #5 in longest touchdown reception (78)
Jason Hanson was #1 in field goals made (34)
Shaun Ellis was #2 in sacks (15)
Fernando Bryant was #2 in INT (11)
Dre' Bly was #5 in INT (8)
Greg Wesley was #6 in INT (8)
Alex Lewis was #42 in INT (4)
Jermaine Phillips was #43 in INT (4)
Dre' Bly was #1 in interception return yardage (216)
Fernando Bryant was #5 in interception return yardage (148)
Jermaine Phillips was #7 in interception return yardage (128)
Alex Lewis was #16 in interception return yardage (92)
Jermaine Phillips was #6 in longest interception return (76)
Alex Lewis was #7 in longest interception return (75)
Dre' Bly was #9 in longest interception return (73)
Fernando Bryant was #19 in longest interception return (52)
Dre' Bly was #1 in interceptions for touchdowns (4)
Fernando Bryant was #3 in interceptions for touchdowns (3)
Alex Lewis was #17 in interceptions for touchdowns (1)
Jermaine Phillips was #18 in interceptions for touchdowns (1)

I also discovered some very good news after the season was completed. Michael Vick's career is not over! It was just a season-ender and not a career-ender.

At the end of the season, the likes of Indianapolis, Philadelphia, and Miami offered me jobs, but I decided to stay put in Detroit. Because of my efforts in my first year as head coach, I was awarded a nicer office. My coaching staff, excluding Mike Martz, is in tact. Joey Harrington carried with him more money than the rest of my starting quarterbacks combined, so I released him and am sticking to Vick, McNeal, and Carter. Reggie Bush remains my top back, but Garrison Hearst retired, so I picked up the big bruising back T.J. Duckett off the free agent wire and drafted a tailback who has a max of 78, compared to Chatman's max of 73, so I signed my draft pick and released Chatman. I traded the aging Schlesinger and picked up the young and talented David Kirtman and Heath Evans, to go along with Thomas Tapeh. I have a different look at receiver this year, but my top two remain in tact in Reggie Wayne and Roy Williams. Charles Rogers was making, get this, six million a season, so I traded him to free up some cap room. Veteran Peerless Price will be taking over his duties. Thirty-two year old Kevin Johnson was holding out, so I let him go and replaced them with Jabar Gaffney. I also released Troy Edwards, in favor of Kelly Campbell. Tight end Marcus Pollard retired, so I was left with David Thomas and Teyo Johnson. I added Doug Jolly to the mix. I added depth to my offensive line, including tackle Tupe Peko, to replace holdout Kyle Turley, whom I released. There will be more depth along the defensive line as well, as I signed tackle Chris Hovan, end Will Overstreet, and drafted a promising end prospect out of South Florida. There's more depth at outside linebacker, with my top two being Jay Foreman and Boss Bailey. Becoming so old at middle linebacker, I traded Earl Holmes and released Mike Vrabel. I also released the underused Wali Rainer who was holding out. I have a young, but talented group at middle linebacker, including Deqwell Jackson and a draft prospect Jamie Reid. I added safety Mike Doss and cornerback Brian Williams to my already solid secondary. Aging on special teams, I had to release Jason Hanson and Tom Tupa in favor of some talented, yet unproven kickers. I was able to free up a lot of cap room with the moves I made, added more quickness, more youth, and more depth. Heading into training cap, I'm expecting a slightly better offense and a slightly improved defense. The only facet of the game where I'm uncertain is on special teams, with two young kickers. Kelly Campbell should fill in for Troy Edwards just fine as a returner. He's a bit younger, quicker, and more agile than Edwards and being the 5th option at receiver, he'll be more valuable on special teams than on offense. He could pose as a vertical threat at times, though, as Rogers did last year. Hopefully after releasing my "elders," it won't be so difficult to keep the players attributes (ratings) afloat. One thing we will need to drastically improve upon is our pass protection. We were sacked 116 times last year! No, I'm not making that up. That's an average of almost 6 sacks per game. Our defense sacked the opposition 45 times, which is decent, at almost 3 sacks per game. Our opponents more than doubled that number. So, I'll definitely have to work on that offensive line and strategize their blocking techniques a bit differently. That was the reason Vick got hurt last year and that's going to happen when a quarterback gets hit in the backfield six times a game. There you have it. That's the Season 1 (and entering Season 2) wrap-up.