Pre-draft fun...and stuff
One of my favorite things about football is the build-up to the draft. Pro Football Weekly has issued their 1st Mock Draft.

For the Raiders it had:
31st pick - Troy Polamalu - S - USC
Big hitter who can cover and play the run. With Rod Woodson near the rocking chair and Anthony Dorsett due a large roster bonus, the Raiders need help behind Charles Woodson and Phillip Buchanon.

32nd pick - Jonathon Sullivan - DT - Georgia
A near 300-pounder, Sullivan is quick off the ball and loves to attack. A quarterback could come off the board here, but with Sam Adams' future uncertain, Sullivan would be great value this late in the first round.

I am not very familiar with Sullivan, but I like the idea of picking Polamalu. Being on the west coast, I only really ever see Pac-10 games...and this guy at USC is an animal.

A couple things I noticed...Tory James isn't mentioned as a starter at CB for Polamalu to play with. So he is pretty much gone. Also, picking someone to be an immediate replacement for Adams shows he probably won't be back.

The Raiders signed Tee Martin. Not a real big pick-up or anything, but I think it shows that Rick Mirer probably is out the door.

Salary Cap 2003
ESPN's John Clayton has come up with possible salary cap casualties for each team. For the Raiders he has listed:
DT Darrell Russell ($8.16 million cap savings)
DT Sam Adams ($9.166 million cap savings)
CB Tory James ($5.7 million cap savings)
DE Regan Upshaw ($3.2 million cap savings)
RB Terry Kirby ($3.975 million cap savings)
S Anthony Dorsett ($2.8 million cap savings)
WR James Jett ($975,000 cap savings)

Well I am not really surprised on any of these. It will be good to get rid of Russell finally. But he has to be reinstated by the league before he can be released I think. I knew Sam Adams would only be a one year thing...he is a modern day mercenary. With Phillip Buchanon coming back, Tory james becomes expendable...although I wish there was some way to hold on to him as a nickle back. I am glad that piece of crap Upshaw will be gone. I like Kirby well-enough, but with Buchanon and Knight, we don't really have a use for him as a returner anymore and he isn't a normal running back. I guess if they release Dorsett, they are keeping RWoodson. I knew one or the other would stay. James Jett...good riddance to bad rubish.

M2003: Season 1 (2003) Wrap-Up
Well, I went 15-1 in the regular season, then defeated the Titans and Steelers on the way to beating the Packers in the Superbowl.

Statistican Notes
Michael Vick: Led NFL in Rating (129.0), passing yards (4,490), yards/attempt (10.9), passing touchdowns (42), yards/game (280.6)

Fred Taylor: Led NFL in rushing touchdowns (15)

Dante Stallworth: Lef NFL in yards/catch (20.8)

Champ Bailey: Led NFL in pass defenced (31), fumble return yards (60)

Sebastian Janikowski: Led NFL in FG% (90.5%), longest FG (58), PAT (71), PAT Attempts (71), PAT% (100%), Kick-offs (106), touchbacks (77)

Awards Recap
Michael Vick

• Yearly Awards: NFL & AFC MVP, NFL & AFC Offensive Player of Year, NFL & AFC Best QB
  
• Post Season Awards: Superbowl MVP, Pro-Bowl, All-Madden Team
  
• Weekly Awards: NFL Offensive Player of Week (7 times), AFC Offensive Player of Week (9 times)

John Ritchie

Post Season Awards: Pro-Bowl
Donte Stallworth

• Yearly Awards: NFL & AFC Offensive Rookie of Year, AFC Best WR
  
• Post Season Awards: Pro-Bowl

Peerless Price

• Post Season Awards: Pro-Bowl

Champ Bailey

Post Season Awards: Pro-Bowl

Weekly Awards: AFC Defensive Player of Week (1 time)
Sebastian Janikowski

Yearly Awards: NFL & AFC Best K

Draft

• R1-3 - WR Norman Brown: I wasn't planning to go WR since I was pretty content with Stallworth, Price, Porter, & Moss. But this guy is a 99 returner (77 receiver) and 97 speed. I will try him out as a starting WR. This guy makes Santana Moss expendible and I will try to trade him for a draft pick.
  
• R1-7 - LG LeRoy Johnson: This guy was a must. He was the highest LG out there, and I needed one bad since I let Mo Collins go to free agency. He was the highest rated player I got in the draft (80) and will step in and start immediately.
  
• R1-9 - CB Terrell Flowers: This was a surprise pick really, but I got him mostly as a return man to go stand out there with Terry Fair. Still behind Bailey, Woodson, Buchanon, and Fair on the depth chart.
  
• R1-18 - LT Ray O'Neal: This guy was a must too since I let Barry Sims go to free agency. He will start immediately.
  
• R1-31 - RE Sam King: This guy will start. Regan Upshaw is coming off IR and is way overpriced. Will try to dump him somewhere because I picked up King.
  
• R4-99 - LOLB Anthony Martin: He will back-up Ed McDaniel, but its possible he will be the LOLB of the future.
  
• R4-103 - LT Rob Jackson: I drafted him for depth at LT. He will back-ip 1st round pick Ray O'Neal.
  
• R5-131 - LE Marquet Springs: Will back-up Tony Bryant.
  
• R5-134 - LOLB Nate Miller: Basically is just taking up a roster position. Only signed him to a one-year contract. Don't see him as staying with the club any longer.
  
• R7-197 - DT Andrew Wright: What a steal! The strongest guy on the team. I have him slated to start with John Parrella.

Posted by twah at 4:49 PM PST

Updated: Sunday, 16 February 2003 4:50 PM PST

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No Overhaul in Oakland
Well the off season may be better than I thought. This comes from espn.com:

No overhaul in Oakland
The Raiders are the first team to be $50 million over the cap, but their roster won't be overhauled. The Jaguars and Ravens had to break down their rosters because they were so far over the cap. The Raiders free up $36 million by cutting defensive linemen Regan Upshaw and Sam Adams, halfback Terry Kirby, safety Anthony Dorsett, wide receiver James Jett and cornerback Tory James and having defensive tackle Darrell Russell on suspension. Redoing the contracts of the veteran group of Rich Gannon, Bill Romanowski and others will get the team under even though the roster will be older and have less depth.

M2003: Season 1 Mid-Season Update
Well right now I am 7-0 after 8 weeks. There are three undefeated teams (Raiders, Eagles, 49ers). Have a huge game coming up...Raiders-49ers.

And I finally beat the Rams! First time ever! It was 28-28 with two seconds left and they were going for a 39 yard FG. I blocked the FG with Terry Fair and Champ Bailey picked it up and ran it 60 yards for a TD!!! It was awesome!

After week 8, the game posts their awards listing and Pro Bowl standings. Right now I have:

Michael Vick: 1st in NFL & AFC MVP voting; 1st in NFL & AFC Offensive Player of the Year voting; 1st in AFC QBs for the Pro Bowl.

Champ Bailey: 3rd in NFL & 2nd AFC MVP voting; 1st in NFL & AFC Defensive Player of the Year voting; 1st in NFL & AFC as the best Defensive Back; 1st in AFC CBs for the Pro Bowl.

Donte Stallworth: 2nd in NFL & AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year voting.

Peerless Price: 3rd in AFC best Wide Receiver.

Jerry Porter: 5th in AFC best Wide Receiver.

Adam Archuleta: 2nd in AFC SSs for the Pro Bowl.

Sebastian Janikowski: 2nd in NFL & 1st in AFC for best Kicker.

M2003: Season 1 - GM Mistake
Well crap. Its week 4, and I see that the Texans have lost their 4th receiver (Tony Simmons) for the year do to injury. So I thought I would be smart and trade a receiver for a draft pick.

What I Did
I traded my 5th receiver (Marcus Knight) and a 2nd round pick I had gotten from the Rams in a previous trade for the Texans 1st round pick. Picked up previously released James Jett off waivers, which cancelled $250k of cap penelty from when I previously released him.

What I Should Have Done
I should have waived my 7th receiver (Reggie Barlow) and taken probably a $250k cap penelty. Then I should have picked up the top rated WR free agent, Herman Moore (rated 71). I should have then traded Moore and a draft pick (probably lower than a 2nd pick because Moore is worth more than Knight) to the Texans for their 1st round pick. Then with the open roster spot, I could have resigned Barlow to a shorter contract instead of having him for 7 years like I do right now...and I would have gotten the $250k cap penelty for him back. That way I would have kept Knight...a young receiver with a big upside in my mind.

Oh well...live and learn.

Madden 2003 - Season 1 (2003) Roster
Well I have decided since it is the off-season and news will be pretty slow until the draft comes up and free agents sign, so iw ill post my Madden 2003 stuff here too...since I am playing my franchise with the Raiders. After starting my franchise, I went through and did a bunch of free agency pick ups and trades. This is my opening day roster (starters in bold; rookies in italics) and how they were acquired (T = Trade; FA = Free Agent; Ori = Originally on roster when franchise started...each with the year they were acquired):
QB - Michael Vick (T-02)
QB - Marques Tuiasosopo (Ori)
QB - Michael Bishop (FA-02)
HB - Fred Taylor (T-02)
HB - Michael Bennett (T-02)
HB - Chad Morton (T-02)
HB - Luke Staley (T-02)
FB - John Ritchie (Ori)
FB - Zack Crockett (Ori)
WR - Joey Porter (Ori)
WR - Peerless Price (T-02)
WR - Santana Moss (T-02)
WR - Donte Stallworth (T-02)
WR - Marcus Knight (Ori)
WR - Eric Crouch (T-02)
WR - Reggie Barlow (Ori)
TE - Jeremy Shockey (T-02)
TE - T.#88 (Ori)
LT - Barry Sims (Ori)
LT - Brad Badger (Ori)
LG - Brian Waters (T-02)
LG - Matt Stinchcomb (Ori)
C - Barret Robbins (Ori)
C - Adam Treu (Ori)
RG - Mo Collins (Ori)
RG - Jermane Mayberry (T-02)
RG - Darryl Ashmore (Ori)
RT - Lincoln Kennedy (Ori)
RT - R.#66 (Ori)
LE - Tony Bryant (Ori)
LE - Charles Grant (T-02)
RE - Gary Walker (T-02)
RE - Regan Upshaw (Ori)(IR)
RE - DeLawrence Grant (Ori)
RE - Josh Taves (Ori)
DT - John Parrella (Ori)
DT - Roderick Coleman (Ori)
LOLB - Mike A. Jones (Ori)
LOLB - Travian Smith (Ori)
MLB - Keith Brooking (T-02)
MLB - Napolean Harris (Ori)
ROLB - Ed McDaniel (FA-02)
ROLB - Gerald Dixon (Ori)
ROLB - Eric Barton (Ori)
CB - Champ Bailey (T-02)
CB - Charles Woodson (Ori)
CB - Phillip Buchanon (Ori)
CB - Terry Fair (T-02)
CB - Terrance Shaw (Ori)
FS - Ed Reed (T-02)
FS - Derrick Gibson (Ori)
SS - Adam Archuleta (T-02)
SS - Marques Anderson (T-02)
K - Sebastian Janikowski (Ori)
P - Shane Lechler (Ori)

Middleton vs. Robbins
Will Frank Middleton ever shut the hell up about Barret Robbins?? The thing Middleton doesn't realize is...

Robbins is a better player than him!

They did well...
Well the Raiders that played in the Pro Bowl played well. They all helped in the AFC's 45-20 win.

Gannon: 12-18, 102 yrds, 2 td, 0 int, 118.3 rating
Rice: 4 rec, 36 yards
Kennedy: 0 sacks allowed
CWoodson: 2 tackles, 2 ints

I was kind of hoping Gannon would win his third straight Pro Bowl MVP, but the award was given to Ricky Williams of Miami.

Pro Bowl
Today is the Pro Bowl. I just don't really care. I have actually never watched a Pro Bowl. But good luck to Gannon, Rice, Kennedy, and RWood.