The Black and the Gold

[lebsoccer02]

I decided today to start a legacy. I'm using the Steelers, my team, obviously from the title. I'm playing each game PbP and I have it on Mogul difficulty. I will limit myself to 4 trades total over a season (including the offseason). I will also limit myself to 3 non-injury FA pickups.

Roster after 1 trade, which will be listed after this:

Name Pos Overall Peak Age Cap Impact Years Blocking
Roethlisberger, Ben QB 87 91 26 $8.59M 4 ...
Batch, Charlie QB 74 74 33 $1.19M 2 ...
Dixon, Dennis QB 63 81 23 $337K 3 ...
Parker, Willie RB 81 84 27 $4.33M 4 74
Mendenhall, Rashard RB 72 84 22 $395K 4 74
Moore, Mewelde RB 72 72 26 $1.51M 4 76
Russell, Gary RB 63 63 21 $453K 1 63
Davis, Carey FB 73 73 27 $453K 1 74
Miller, Heath TE 75 76 25 $1.39M 3 76
Spaeth, Matt TE 70 75 24 $453K 1 74
Dekker, Jon TE 67 67 25 $337K 3 63
Holmes, Santonio WR 87 94 24 $3.71M 2 63
Ward, Hines WR 83 83 32 $2.24M 1 78
Hester, Devin WR 76 84 25 $1.64M 2 63
Sweed, Limas WR 72 84 23 $857K 4 63
Smith, Marvel T 87 87 30 $5.93M 2 94
Colon, Willie T 76 76 25 $1.70M 1 84
Starks, Max T 72 72 26 $1.27M 3 79
Essex, Trai T 68 73 25 $559K 2 75
Hills, Tony T 59 66 23 $337K 3 63
Simmons, Kendall G 84 84 29 $3.55M 3 84
Stapleton, Darnell G 61 73 22 $337K 3 63
Kemoeatu, Chris G 73 76 25 $453K 1 74
Hartwig, Justin C 78 78 29 $1.88M 1 79
Mahan, Sean C 75 75 28 $1.59M 4 75
Warren, Greg C 60 60 26 $337K 3 63
Keisel, Brett DE 76 76 29 $2.00M 1 ...
Smith, Aaron DE 79 79 32 $2.50M 3 ...
Eason, Nick DE 73 75 28 $780K 1 ...
McBean, Ryan DE 68 72 24 $415K 4 ...
Davis, Bruce DE 66 75 23 $508K 4 ...
Hampton, Casey DT 80 80 30 $960K 1 ...
Hoke, Chris DT 66 66 32 $780K 2 ...
Timmons, Lawrence LB 73 81 22 $453K 1 ...
Farrior, James LB 83 83 33 $5.71M 2 ...
Foote, Larry LB 75 75 28 $3.15M 1 ...
Woodley, LaMarr LB 76 78 23 $1.10M 1 ...
Fox, Keyaron LB 73 75 26 $918K 4 ...
Frazier, Andre LB 73 73 26 $1.15M 3 ...
Harrison, James LB 87 87 30 $7.34M 5 ...
Harrison, Arnold LB 67 67 25 $559K 2 ...
Humpal, Mike LB 63 73 23 $337K 3 ...
Taylor, Ike CB 89 89 28 $10.11M 5 ...
McFadden, Bryant CB 81 84 26 $2.15M 3 ...
Townsend, Deshea CB 84 84 32 $4.08M 2 ...
Gay, William CB 68 75 23 $453K 1 ...
Madison, Anthony CB 68 68 26 $806K 2 ...
Polamalu, Troy S 95 95 27 $6.76M 5 ...
Clark, Ryan S 80 80 28 $2.08M 2 ...
Carter, Tyrone S 76 76 32 $1.71M 2 ...
Mundy, Ryan S 63 72 23 $337K 3 ...
Reed, Jeff K 76 76 29 $2.26M 2 ...
Sepulveda, Daniel P 76 76 24 $453K 1 ...


Pittsburgh trades:
WR Nate Washington 79/86
S Anthony Smith 79/82
2009 2nd round draft pick

Chicago Bears trade:
WR Devin Hester 76/84
2009 5th round draft pick

I started by offering Washington for Hester and of course they said no...infact they said this: "I've seen better offers at your Mom's house." So I proceeded to press hint and they mentioned a young safety, so I added in Anthony Smith and they said close. So I put in my 4th round pick, not enough, so I moved it to my 2nd but added their 4th and they accepted.

Game 1 has been played and I will post those results immediately after this.

[lebsoccer02]

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:LfNOy3komk6BXM:http://www.nicklesbakery.com/promotions/assets/steelers.gif VS. http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:uDvd2fpkp_05eM:http://blogs.chron.com/fanblogtexans/TEXANS%2520logo.jpg

Texans 7 10 7 7 - 31
Steelers 14 7 3 14 - 38

Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter:
7-0 Steelers: Roethlisberger 16-yard TD pass to Holmes (11:49)
14-0 Steelers: Roethlisberger 76-yard TD pass to Ward (7:31)
7-14 Texans: Walker 23-yard TD run (4:47)
2nd Quarter:
21-7 Steelers: Roethlisberger 7-yard TD pass to Ward (12:52)
14-21 Texans: Faggins 13-yard INT return for TD (7:39)
17-21 Texans: Brown kicks 44-yard FG (3:38)
3rd Quarter:
24-17 Steelers: Reed kicks 29-yard FG (5:02)
24-24 Texans: Schaub 1-yard TD pass to Davis (0:57)
4th Quarter:
31-24 Steelers: Roethlisberger 14-yard TD pass to Ward (10:44)
31-31 Texans: Schaub 19-yard TD pass to Johnson (5:50)
38-31 Steelers: Roethlisberger 74-yard TD pass to Sweed (0:00)
Final Score: Steelers 38, Texans 31

Key stats:
Houston Texans:
QB Matt Schaub 18/37 181 yards 2 TD, 1 INT
HB Darius Walker 55 total yards, 1 TD
WR Andre Johnson 6 rec. 81 yards 1 TD
WR Andre Davis 2 rec. 29 yards 1 TD
DE Mario Williams 4 tackles, 3 sacks
DE N.D. Kalu 1.5 sacks
LB DeMeco Ryans 9 tackles
CB Demarcus Taggins 1 INT, 5 tackles, 1 TD
S Glenn Earl 1.5 sacks, 2 INT, 6.5 tackles

Pittsburgh Steelers
QB Ben Roethlisberger 23/36 449 yards, 5 TD, 4 INT
HB Willie Parker 60 total yards
WR Santonio Holmes 132 total yards 1 TD
WR Hines Ward 6 catches 140 yards, 3 TD
WR Limas Sweed 4 catches 112 yards, 1 TD
CB Bryant McFadden 1 INT, 3 tackles

Team Stats: Texans/Steelers
Rushing Yards: 54/68
Passing Yards: 181/402
Total Yards: 235/470
1st Downs: 11/20
Turnovers: 1/4
Sacks: 7/0
3rd Down: 2-10/3-6
Possession: 24:24/35:36

Game Summary to follow.

[lebsoccer02]

-Pittsburgh, PA
The Steelers took this game on a play that started with 18 seconds left on the clock. They had 2 timeouts and wanted to put the ball near midfield on this play. The pass went over the middle 15 yards downfield to Sweed. Sweed made Faggins, and Earl miss and took off down the left sideline and raced into the endzone with zero's showing on the clock. Ben Roethlisberger struggled on the day was sacked 7 times and threw 4 interceptions. 3 of them while in the Texans red zone. The Wide Receivers took control on the day and never let go. Holmes, Ward, and Sweed each finished with atleast 110 yards receiving on the day and each had at least 1 touchdown with Ward collecting 3 on the day.
The Texans had a terrific game plan and it involved effective ball movement with few mistakes and a pass rush that caused sacks and interceptions. However their lone mistake came under 2 minutes left when Matt Schaub threw a pass into the waiting arms of Bryant McFadden inside the Steelers 10 yard line.
When asked to comment about the game coach Mike Tomlin said, "We outplayed Houston and came out with the victory. It got ugly, that's for sure, but Limas made a great grab and made the 2 guys missed and just raced in for the victory."
On a low note the Steelers lost James Harrison early in the game and he never returned and is listed as questionable for Sunday nights game at the rival Cleveland Browns.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Not sure I agree with that trade, from what I can see anyways. Washington is already better and has more upside, plus losing the safety and a second round pick all for Hester and a 4th rounder. I'm curious about your rationale behind that.

[lebsoccer02]

I have no reliable kick returner, and during the game Hester returned 3 kicks inside Texans territory. Plus he had 5 catches for 65 yards as well. He's a game breaker and needed in the return game. Plus Washington drops a lot of passes, and Anthony Smith has no spot in my secondary.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I have no reliable kick returner, and during the game Hester returned 3 kicks inside Texans territory. Plus he had 5 catches for 65 yards as well. He's a game breaker and needed in the return game. Plus Washington drops a lot of passes, and Anthony Smith has no spot in my secondary.

Fair enough. Wasn't criticizing, just curious. I figured it had something to do with a lack of a decent kick returner once I looked over the roster you posted.

[lebsoccer02]

Fair enough. Wasn't criticizing, just curious. I figured it had something to do with a lack of a decent kick returner once I looked over the roster you posted.

Yup. I felt with Clark and Polamalu in the secondary I could upgrade my kick returner while getting a reliable #3/#4 receiver in return. I felt it was a must. I had Drummond but I didn't feel he was reliable enough, and Hester has 10+ years left of reliability, not to mention Hines is getting up there in age and he and Sweed will end up duking it out for the #2 WR role in a few years.