Franchise Information

Owner/Head Coach: Andy Roberts (12-23-1)

Conference: Alpha Conference

Formed: 1995

Honours: Playoffs 1996

 

1998 - Shannon Sharpe

1999 - Edgerrin James

 

   

ALPHA Conference Standaings after week 1

Team

Win

Lose

Tie

Pts For

Pts Against

Conference

Streak

Tigers

5

1

1

240

205

3-1-1

L1

Tomcats

4

2

1

218

146

4-0-1

W1

Nightmare

3

3

1

184

179

3-2

W1

B52's

3

4

0

190

187

1-4-0

L1

Gophers

3

4

0

184

221

2-3

W1

Sharks

1

6

0

206

295

1-4

L2

 

THE STAT ZONE

QB's

Attempts

Complitions

Yards

TD's

Percentage

BANKS

239

131

1304

9

54.81%

HARBAUGH

131

74

839

5

56.49%

LEAF

102

51

529

1

50.00%

TESTAVERDE

179

92

1050

6

51.40%

RB'S

Carries

Yards

TD's

Ave/Per Carry

Catches

Yards

TD's

Ave/Per Catch

JAMES

138

618

6

4.48

19

196

2

10.32

BARBER

85

516

3

6.07

30

267

1

8.90

MARTIN

137

533

5

3.89

22

139

2

6.32

EDWARDS

0

0

0

0

7

61

2

8.71

WR's

Receptions

Yards

TD's

Ave/Per Recep

Carries

Yards

TD's

DWIGHT

9

151

3

16.78

0

0

0

DAWKINS

24

318

0

13.25

JOHNSON

26

282

0

10.85

BURRESS

17

213

0

12.53

MARTIN

6

120

0

20.00

TAYLOR

8

130

3

16.25

McDANIEL

17

309

3

16.258

COLES

7

87

0

17.00

TE's

Receptions

Yards

TD's

Av/Per Recep

WILLIAMS

5

51

1

10.20

SHARPE

24

305

2

12.71

 

 

 

  1st Draft of a new Millennium

Not the most auspicious group of players to mark a new millennium, but the area I was interested in drafting from seemed to be fairly strong in depth. There was a good turnout from the head coaches, with only two of the twelve not present to make their selections. Once the official business of rule change discussions and announcements were complete it was time to get down to the nitty gritty of making our selections. The warriors had the first draft choice, but when this choice was offered up in return for a starting QB I felt compelled to offer last years 'Mare starter Elvis Grbac in an effort to pick up the two players that I desperately wanted. To my surprise my offer was accepted and I immediately hit back with the selection of the two top wide receivers Plaxico Burress and Travis Taylor. Next time round I made up for losing Grbac by picking up Tony banks the QB for Baltimore. My third round choice was a gamble when I picked up the man with an attitude problem Lauvernes Coles, the reason behind this selection was the space left by Keyshawn Johnson at wide receiver for the Jets. If things don't work out, at least it's one less player I have to worry about cutting. In the fourth round I picked up another player with problems kicker Sebastian Janikowski. Although another gamble, if it comes off and he sorts out his personal problems and doesn't get deported, this could be the answer to my problems in the kicking department which I consider it to be one of the 'Mares weak areas. I left the draft with a very positive feeling about the coming season and would also like to take this opportunity to thank commissioner Steve Holland for all his hard work in making this a most professional and well organised event.

 

Coaches season 2000 aspirations

Last season was a strange one from my point of view, and taught me a lot about the game of fantasy football. The unpredictability of player performances cost the 'Mares dearly as in the first half of the season we struggled to score a victory. However, a slight recovery in the back seven restored some respectability and provided me with the unexpected prospect of second choice overall in the draft. The established players failed to catch light and performances were plagued by inconsistency. The team's rookies however restored confidence in the future, with Edgerin James collecting NFL rookie of the year honours and despite Cleveland's poor showing Kevin Johnson put together some impressive numbers.

 

My aims remain simple for this season, the goal of six victories has to be the first bench mark to achieve as we have failed to make an impression in Alpha conference since I took over the coaching role two years ago. I also hope that some of my younger players can establish themselves as consistent starters for their respective teams and with this hopefully better scores will be a natural progression. I intend to have a more open mind on player selection. I believe a couple of victories could have been scored had I been able to get over my blinkered attitude toward Curtis Martin and put in Terry Kirby, who consistently scored all season for luckless Cleveland. My rebuilding program still has one more season to run, but I truly expect a marked improvement in the team's performance this year and will be very disappointed if we don't elevate from bottom place this year.

Nightmare 39 V 13 Gophers

 

The Mares 100% record over the Gophers in regular season match ups continued with an impressive display in the season opener. I cannot deny that this was a most satisfactory start to the campaign, but it did clearly highlight the lack of consistency in fire power this team has in the wide receiver position. This endorses my decision to draft heavily in this area, using 3 of my 4 picks to acquire receivers. Mind you, after this weekends display, who need receivers when you have two flying backs in Curtis Martin and Edgerrin James. Their combined numbers of 30-110-1 and 28-124-1 on the ground and 6-34-1 and 6-40-1 in the air respectively, was extremely impressive. Even newly acquired backup Tiki Barber had 2 TD's in the Giants opener. The rest of the points came in the form of one toss from a now fully reciovered Vinny Testaverde. 6 points from the consistent if not spectacular peg of Jason Hanson and 6 from the teams of Detroit. I think the lack of scoring in the wideout position tells me there is some way to go yet before the Mares are true contenders, but two of our rookies had a steady if not impressive start and I believe that the future is in good hands.

Nightmare 54 V 46 Sharks

As far as victories go there won't be many more satisfying than this as far as this coach is concerned. It's all very well being able to beat a good side when they have an off day, but out scoring them in what can only be described as a shoot out is what really counts. As a coach this tells me that my team is becoming a more competitive outfit and with a couple of strengthening acquisitions this team could well be a trophy contender. These are the kind of games you have to win in order to win championships. These kind of victories are the difference between playoff births and also rans. But let's not get carried away, there is a long way to go. But in previous seasons the Mares were losing games like these and I was lot in what I call the "Annie Syndrome", always tomorrow. Performance of the week without a doubt goes to rookie sensation, Travis Taylor. His two scores and stats of 4-80 made impressive reading. Equally outstanding once again was "The Edge", posting numbers that are almost expected of him these days. This week 18-91-1 on the ground and 6-36-1 in the air. Roland Williams stepped up and collected a TD this week, despite only catching the one pass for 4 yards. Another exceptional performance came from Jason Hanson's boot. He collected 5 field goals, amassing 15 valuable points for the Mares cause.

 

Nightmare 16 v 24 Warriors

A not entirely unexpected result if the truth be known. I never had any doubt that the Mares have little depth outside the starting line up. After two weeks of What can only be described as a scoring frenzy, this week was bordering on pathetic by comparison. I made what I considered to be calculated changes to the starting nine, but as it turned out this made little difference, as the entire squads total didn't match the Warriors modest total. The only up side that can be taken from this inept display is the continued consistency of our backs. Curtis Martin, last years nearly man is finally getting the job done and Tiki Barber, a last minute replacement for the out of favour Terry Kirby has been outstanding and an excellent addition to the back field. Posting stats of 29-84-1 and 17-86-1 rushing and 4-44-0 and 6-58-0 receiving respectively, both players deserve performance of the week honours. The rest of the points came from the boot of Jason Hanson. In an ever constant search for depth I have made another entry into the free agency market, staking a claim on a couple of players which may turn out useful as the season goes on.

 

Nightmare 27 V 44 B52s

Four weeks into the 2000 season and all square at 2-2. I have to admit this result was more than a little disappointing as I really believed we had a good chance of winning. 27 points isn't a bad total, but if I had chosen Cuirtis Martin and Seb Janikowski, things could have been very different. It's no good harping on about what might have been, I am still encouraged by the teams progress. Despite two losses on the trot, everything still points to a successful future. We're currently averaging 34 points per game, which is a team high during my reign as coach and if we keep it up, you've got to expect to win a few more games than last season. Player of the week honours go to Travis Taylor, he only scored 1 touchdown, but taking into consideration that he is a rookie he's making quite an impact. The rest of the points came in the form of, 2 throws from Tony Banks, 1 touchdown from "The Edge" , in what for him turned out to be a fairly modest day at the office. Shannon Sharpe chipped in with another six points and the rest came from the toe of Jason Hanson. The only question that remains going into week five is "Do cats have Nightmares?"

Nightmare 8 v 15 Tomcats

Not much that can be said about this one except that it was just one of those Nightmare games. (No pun intended!) I was forced to pick players that I didn't really fancy in the NFL match ups, due to losing so many players in the bye week. It's enevitable that if you put all your eggs in one basket, sooner or later you're going to come up with nothing and that's about all we got here. There was certainly no warrant for a performance of the week award, clearly no one performed, I'm not sure as yet if anyone actually turned up! The points came from two players, two from Edgerrin James and six from the man who has forgotten where the goal posts are, having missed three field goals in four games Jason Hanson. I feel that when I revert back to my preferred starting line up this week and maybe giving Seb Janikowski a run out, things will be a whole lot better. One thing is for certain about the season so far and that is I named my franchise so well.

 

Nightmare 14 v 14 Villagers

This is my first ever draw as a head coach and I have to say that we were lucky to get it. When your teams pull it out of the bag for you, you must be in a bad shape. It didn't help with Vinny being pulled part way through with a trapped nerve in his shoulder, but the rest simply isn't worth mentioning. The scary thing is Seb Janikowski missed two field goals, just one of those would have won this one for us. One of those weeks or the shape of things to come? I somehow feel our early season promise was a spot premature and these last three performances are more on par with  the Nightmare of old. Still I changed the team logo and that looks very nice.

 

Nightmare 26 v 25 Tigers

Was it the changing of the team logo that brought me my first victory of the Tigers or a stroke of luck? Well I did my best to hand it Steve on a plate by not choosing Curtis Martin the week he decides to go and score 3 TD's against his old team mates a New England. Thankfully Edgerrin "Don't worry I'll do it on my own" James was arounf to save the day, by also scoring 3 TD's and this coupled with Seb Janikowski's eight points were enough to clinch the victory, after all it's the win tht matters not the margin, right? Do I really need to tell you who gets the player of the week award. I'm still very worried about the fact that for about three weeks not one of my Wide outs have produced a TD. I do have a number of young players and I guess i's enevitable as they find their way in th big league. I'd be a fool and a liar if I said that this victory above all the others I've had (believe my I've had so few I can remember them all!) is the best, The Tigers are the bench mark that I am trying to model my team on and this victory means maybe, just maybe were heading in the right direction.

 

 

 

 

  

 

Andy Roberts

Headcoach Newbury Nightmare

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