[continuing my NFL-Blood Bowl profiling]
Dave Krieg might not be a familiar name to everyone outside of Seattle but probably to a few more than one would suspect; it sometimes feels like he played for half the teams in the NFL over his 19 year career (he played for six teams, starting for five). Those of you who’ve seen the Tom Cruise film Jerry Maguire got to see him in a Cardinals uniform throwing a touchdown pass to Cuba Gooding Jr.
He’s #12 in the NFL records for quarterbacks with most career wins, and his winning percentage (.560) was better than both Warren Moon and Fran Tarkenton (both higher on the list)…hell, Troy Aikman is only #17 and his winning percentage was only .570 (and Aikman had a lot more weapons than Krieg had, as well as a lot less porous offensive line). He’s in the top 20 in most passing categories due to sheer longevity, though he holds the NFL record for most games with five+ touchdown passes; when Krieg was in the game you always felt like you had a chance to win. I make no bones about it; I think the guy should be in the Hall of Fame. Of course, I keep forgetting to submit his name as a fan consideration. Maybe this year I’ll remember.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about the guy’s career is that he entered the NFL undrafted, trying out for the Seahawks in 1980 and making it on the team as the 3rd stringer (he played for an obscure college in Milton, WI that doesn’t exist anymore). A walk-on who went on to become the Seahawks all-time leading passer in a number of categories. He played in AFC Championships with two teams (Kansas City being the other)…though he never did quite make it to the Big Dance.
A walk-on…blows my mind.
To model him in Blood Bowl, we start with the basic ork lineman (aka “lineork”), since the Seahawks are an ork team. The human lineman is the baseline average stat line in the Blood Bowl game; it looks like this:
Movement Allowance (MA): 6, Strength (ST): 3, Agility (AG): 3, Armor Value (AV): 8, Skills: None
The ork team is very similar to the humans, being a little slower and a bit tougher:
MA: 5, ST: 3, AG: 3, AV: 9, Skills: None
Now each team has a limited number of skill players they can purchase, which vary from team to team. Catchers are a combo Wide Receiver/Secondary, Blitzers are a combo Running Back/Linebacker (all Blood Bowlers play “both ways;” i.e. offense and defense). Throwers (or “Chukkas” as the orks might call them) are the Quarterbacks. Skill players look like the basic lineman or lineork for the team, but have slightly different stat lines or starting skills. An ork thrower, for example, looks like this:
MA: 5, ST: 3, AG: 3, AV: 8, Skills: Passing, Sure Hands
The passing skill allows players to re-roll a missed throw. Sure hands means the player only fumbles if he’s knocked down (and misses a pick-up off the ground only on a roll of a 1 in 6). Over time, with experience, Blood Bowl players earn Star Player Points (like XP) which will give them advances…each advance could result in a new skill being acquired, or a stat (other than AV) being increased. The most advances any player can acquire are SEVEN…and that takes a LOT of SPPs. In terms of my NFL modeling, you’d only find a seven advance player in the All-Time Greats of the game…Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Walter Jones, etc.
However, just being a SKILL player (i.e. a non-lineman) indicates a player is something special. These are high draft pick rookies who (the coach hopes) will one day blossom into a fantastic superstar.
Dave Krieg, aka “Mud Bone,” was no high draft pick.
And he certainly wasn’t known for his “sure hands.” In addition to his outstanding passing records, Krieg continues to hold the record (as far as I know) for most fumbles of all time. Mainly this was due to playing behind suspect offensive lines for most of his career (you think Matt Hasselbeck takes a beating? Kansas City Chiefs star Derrick Thomas achieved his NFL record seven-sacks-in-one-game against Krieg and the Seahawks. On the last play of the game he was taking Krieg down for an eighth sack when the QB hurled a TD pass to seal a Seahawks victory). It is also said that Krieg had notoriously “small hands,” though I have no idea if this is accurate or not.
Regardless, we don’t give Krieg the starting stat line of an ork passer, and opt for the simple “lineork” instead. With adjustments for five advances, we end with the final line of:
MA: 5, ST: 3, AG: 3, AV: 9, Skills: Pass, Hail Mary, Leader, Nerves of Steel, Strong Arm
No, he’s not going to win any footraces and he won’t be shrugging off blockers or throwing pinpoint accurate passes. But he’s got a cannon arm and can hurl it downfield in the face of ferocious pressure without being rattled…and that high Armor Value (equivalent of an orkish lineman, better than an ork thrower) is going to equal longevity over time. With all respect to Brett Favre, it is Dave Krieg who holds the record for number of seasons taking every single snap as the QB (three)…now that’s some toughness, man!
Other Seahawk Quarterbacks of note (listed in descending order by number of SPP advances):
(6) Matthew Hasselbeck (thrower) MA: 5, ST: 3, AG: 3, AV: 8, Skills: Passing, Sure Hands, Accurate, Dodge, Dump-Off, Hail Mary, Leader (Agility reduced by injury)
(6) Warren Moon (thrower) MA: 5, ST: 3, AG: 3, AV: 8, Skills: Passing, Sure Hands, Block, Hail Mary, Nerves of Steel, Pro, Strong Arm (Agility reduced by injury)
(4) Trent Dilfer (thrower) MA: 5, ST: 4, AG: 3, AV: 8, Skills: Passing, Sure Hands, Accurate, Pro, Safe Throw
(2) Jim Zorn (thrower) MA: 5, ST: 3, AG: 3, AV: 8, Skills: Passing, Sure Hands, Leader, Pro
(2) Dan McGwire (goblin) MA: 6, ST: 2, AG: 3, AV: 7, Skills: Dodge, Stunty, Right Stuff, Passing, Accurate
(2) Rick Mirer (thrower) MA: 5, ST: 3, AG: 3, AV: 8, Skills: Passing, Sure Hands, Dodge, Sidestep
(0) Kelly Stouffer, Stan Gelbaugh (throwers): Basic ork thrower stat line
Thanks for posting on Dave Krieg!
ReplyDeleteEarlier this year on my blog, I called Hasselbeck the best QB in Seahawks history, with Krieg a close second. So close that Hasselbeck's play since then has forced me to agree with you and give the nod to my man Mudbone.
I am impressed by the thoroughness that would lead you to develop states for flops, scrubs and scabs like Mirer, McGwire and Gelbaugh. I'd rather forget they ever played for us. You forgot Kitna. He seems to fit the orc mold rather well.