My Season Review

Paully D

Just thought I'd fire this up here and hopefully others will add their own season reviews in this thread.

I eventually took the plunge and joined up this season after getting sick of playing people online in ranked games that kept cheating, going for it on 4th down etc and I'm glad that I did as I was able to play proper American Football style games. I was thinking I'd be hammered if every game, but thankfully I was wrong on that!

After looking through the rosters I decided to settle on the Cowboys (even though I didn't really know what style I wanted to play as a rookie) mainly because of Peyton Manning (even though I can't throw the ball :pac:) and because there was some decent players in other positions.

I joined in week 2 so here goes:

Weeks 2-5:

My first game seen me play the CPU Redskins. I was delighted to get a CPU game first off as it gave me a bit of confidence and if I'd played a human and got beaten I'd have been disappointed. It was the worst game of Madden I've ever been involved in, but I eventually got the running game going and won 6-3 with a FG as time expired.

Week 3 seen me play the CPU Dolphins and I started to find a style that suited me. Get the ball to Bradshaw and let him do the rest! He ran for a couple of hundred yards and I started to get a lot more comfortable with the team I had at my disposal. Final score was 20-0 and it was the type of game if I'd played a few weeks later I would have scored 50 in.

Week 4 was another CPU game against the Vikings, and although Tom Brady gave me a bit of a fright, it was another running masterclass from Bradshaw that seen me get through, as he ran for over 250 yards. I started to improve me passing game too as even though I only had 12 throws, Manning completed 9 of them.

Week 5 was against the excellent Berty and it was a massive crash down to earth for me. I was very confident after beating those 3 CPU teams but the step up in class here was off the charts. I actually recall Berty throwing a pick in the first couple of drives and me adding a FG from it, but I was destroyed after that. I only managed 82 yards in total and it made me realise just how much work I have to do to get near the top players in this franchise. Final score 24-6 to the Jets, and Berty went easy on me near the end.

Overall those first 3 games for me gave me a lot of confidence and it worked out well with me having 3 CPU games first as playing humans I probably would have been beaten easily.

Weeks 5-8:

I was putting a decent bit of time into Madden now and playing a few friendlies during the week against some of the lads of here (mainly Heli, cheers for the games!) and developing more of a style and pattern to my games.

Week 5 seen me up against the CPU Saints and I was thinking ''thank God I can get back to winning ways now''. I couldn't have been more wrong as Sanchez continually threw high balls to Houshmandzadeh who kept on catching them. I was unable to stop them and I was very close to being down a control pad :pac: Final score was 23-10 to the Saints and after losing 2 games in a row (even though one of them was to the Jets, I was gutted).

Week 6 was supposed to see me play another human game against the Rams, but EA wouldn't let us connect to the game at all over the course of a couple of days and it had to be simmed. I won the simmed game 26-21.

Week 7 was probably the best game I've ever been involved in on Madden. Playing the Giants it was fairly tight for the first half but the second half it was raining TD's. The game went to OT and the Giants received first, had to punt and I drove down the field to get within FG range and converted. I think this was my most important win during the course of the season as instead of going 4-4 I went 5-3. It showed me that I could do get it done against human players and get it done in a tight game when I needed to cut out errors.

Week 8 was the CPU Seahawks, Matt Stafford had me in fits but another last minute FG from Henery seen me win 23-21. Henery was starting to get a bit of a reputation for making clutch FG's

Those few weeks were big as I went 6-3 when I could have easily finished that run with losing 4-5 record, but clutch time plays thankfully got me over the line in those games. The most impressive thing about that stretch was the fact that Bradshaw was out injured for it but Tolbert stepped up and played really well, cementing his place as an important backup and after that stretch he started to get more snaps and take the pressure off injury prone Bradshaw.

Weeks 9-12:

Week 9 seen a rematch from the cracker a couple of weeks previously against the Giants. It was another open game with both sides going near to 500 yards, but Manning managed to hit Bradshaw for screens in the end zone a couple of times to see the Cowboys over the line. Final score was 35-23.

Week 10 was against the Eagles and it went in very similar fashion to my first game against the Giants. It was 24-24 after normal time and Rizzo won this the same way I won that earlier game against the Giants. I got possession in OT but was forced to punt and he drove down the field with a couple of big plays to get withing FG range and finish it off.

Week 11 was against the Bills (surprised this game was in week 11, we must have flew through the last few weeks of the franchise as I could have sworn this was week 14 or so). Ngata was an animal here and didn't give Orton a sniff, whilst on offense Manning made some important 3rd downs and Bradshaw had probably his best game in a Dallas jersey. Final score was 45-10 in a very impressive defense performance.

Week 12 was against the 49ers in a game I wasn't really expecting to win. Manning stepped up big time here and Bradshaw finished it when it got to the end zone. Defense stood strong again not making any silly mistakes helped me a lot here. Final score was 34-10 to Dallas.

This stretch was really the start of the big rivalry in the NFC East, with myself, the Eagles and the Giants fighting it out at the top for what looked like would be the only playoff spot coming out of the division. From my own point of view I got more used to throwing with Manning, and Gibson proved himself as a valuable part of the team in that 3rd WR spot who could be counted on to move the chains when needed. The next few weeks would be huge as the 3 NFC East teams had a lot of big games coming up.

Week 13-16:

Week 13 seen me play the CPU Patriots and I needed to win after the Eagles beat the CPU Cardinals. Patriots started off well and I got flashbacks to that game against the Saints in week 5, but thankfully Bradshaw came up big again and it was comfortable in the end. Final score 38-3.

Week 14 and the biggest game of the season. Cowboys needed to win to seal the division and the Eagles needed to win to stay in contention going into the last gameweek. The game started off cagey but Manning made some clutch 3rd down plays as Bradshaw couldn't really get anything going, but the game disconnected with Dallas up 21-6 and just over 5 minutes left in the 4th Q. The game was replayed and with just under 2 minutes left the Eagles had a chance to level the score at 24-24. They were 4th and inches and a massive stop by the Cowboys D on a QB sneak (which I actually thought was over the line and should have been a TD) allowed the Cowboys to try and run some time off the clock. Bradshaw made some nice runs and a couple of plays later Dallas went from the 1 yard line to the end zone to seal the game and a playoff spot.

Week 16 allowed the starters to go on the beer and the second string get some full game time. The game was back and forth against Nerd's Redskins but second string TE Nelson had a huge game and 2 TD's near the end gave me the win 17-13.

The bye week was in there somewhere so we'll say week 17 as I can't remember when it was.

Playoffs:

A couple of nights ago I played Paddy in the playoffs but it was a step too far for me and a well deserved win for Paddy was the outcome. Too many INT's cost me and I couldn't get a running game going at all. Final score Bears 38-21.

Overall I was delighted with my season and delighted I joined up when I did. I've made a big trade with the Eagles during the off-season which I feel will compliment my style of play now that I know what way I want to play and after a full season of playing with the roster I'm a lot more used to the players I have.

Next season the Cowboys will want to reach the playoffs again and hopefully go at least one step further.

Thanks for reading if you managed to make it this far without dying of boredom :pac:

adrian522

Nice post, good first season for you...

helimachoptor

Paully generally do this myself but not as detailed! Will post in here tomorrow aswell!

BigBadRob83

After a first season where the Bengals captured the AFC North going 11-5, and made it all the way to the AFC Champioship game, the fanbase was expecting big things.
The GM was busy in the offseason, sending away franchise QB Jay Cutler to replace him with young gun Cam Newton, beefing up the O-Line to become a more run-oriented team and improving the D-Line as well.

It all started off so well with a win against the Texans and old QB Cutler in Week 1. This was followed by a devastating loss to the CPU Seahawks, two simmed games to beat the Steelers and Browns, a loss the strong Titans, and a whooping of the CPU Jaguars. Despite some bad injuries to starting ROLB Greenway and starting DT Starks the Bengals sat at a 4-2, it looked pretty good until....
Cody Hoppes came back to haunt the Bengals as the Broncos handed them a lesson. RT Otah out for the season, after being traded to the team just before kickoff for Hoppes et al.
An awful, awful loss against the Rams 13-10 as Turner fumbled when the Bengals were in range for a game-winning FG. Then the game no-one likes to see on the schedule, the NY Jets, loss. Another loss to the contender 49ers and the Bengals were reeling. 4-6 and a massive game approaches against the division rival Ravens.
A hard-fought 24-21 win with a last-second FG, followed by a win against Browns, loss against the Ravens. The division title in the balance, the Bengals win out to secure division at 9-7 before losing in desperate circumstances to the tough Bills.

Where do the Bengals go from here?
With a mixture of youth and experience on the roster, the Bengals hope to keep the core of this team together and push on.
The focus on the running game went well, as Turner increased his carries from 213 to 257, and managed to raise his YPC from 4.7 to 5.4. Change-of-pace back Javon Ringer also contributed well with a nice 6.2 YPC on 43 attempts. Despite the increase in rushing attempts, and increased effectiveness of the run game, this team will go how Cam Newton goes.
A rough first season for the young passer, 54% completion and a 13/25 TD/INT ratio, picks were a big part of his game. He did add some first downs with his feet but he will need to improve his accuracy and be more careful with the ball for the Bengals to realise their ambitions. The team sees promise in him and is hoping for an improvement next year.
Who knows, this might have been seen in the wildcard game against the Bills, where he stepped up when the pressure was greatest going 25/45 for 375 yards with 3 TD's and 0 INT's.
He can only be helped by the improvement of the young promising core of receivers around him in Hernandez, Maclin, Garcon and Alexander.

The defense remained solid, although not producing as many turnovers as the prior year, it is still a good unit and will be relied upon again. The transition from the 3-4 to 4-3 may have caused some disruption, but the coaches are optimistic the system is now bedded in and will produce next year.

The offseason has begun in earnest, adding depth on the D-Line picking up DT Pat Sims from the Raiders for a 2nd round pick. Depth is the name of the game, adding two RB's with contrasting styles in Mikel Leshoure and Lascelle Saunders and, sending TE John Carlson and WR Vincent Brown the other way.

Looking forward to another tough year in the AFC North, and some variety in the fixture list away from the AFC South and NFC West.

helimachoptor

After a 2nd consecutive loss to the Colts in the Play offs the Titans made some trades and brought in some new players
Best
Timmons
McNabb

The season started off against Stevo_o's might Buccs who I had beaten in the previous season, initial hope was soon gone and the Titans got a schooling.
Titans got a small measure of revenge thanks to Best with a narrow win but the signs of V Davis were clear!
Next up the Jets which was close until McNabb threw an int.

Titans expected then to beat the Falcons and lose to the Bengals but the results were the opposite. 3 wins then and the Titans were up against their great rivals Mc's Colts.
Wins over the CPU Panthers, then a controversial win over the Browns and a heavy win over the Texans had the Titans steaming towards the 5th seed spot.

Then a shock loss to the CPU Steelers and a win over the Jags left the Titans with 2 tough games against the Broncos and Ravens.
A narrow loss to the Broncos set the Titans and Ravens up for an epic clash with winner taking a play off spot and the loser taking an early bath.
Thankfully the Titans won but so did the Bills which meant another play off clash with the Colts.

Which didnt go as planned

Titans made some more moves in the off season.

I'm looking at MJD to make some moves and I'll be able to change up his blunt approach with the blistering pace of best.

Schaub should add a lot more accuracy to my passing and to help with that I've also brought in TE Carlson and WR D Thomas.

I've also added an elite CB to hopefully pick off some more passes and stop having Wilson doing all the work.

All in all i think it was an ok season however that loss to the Steelers bugs me :mad:


Looking forward to a good competitive season in AFC South with some good trades specifically the Texans bringing in ball hawk Polamalu.
Also looking forward to getting a change in fixtures too

Danger_dave1

Week 1-4

The Bills decided that Danny Woodhead could not move the chains on his anymore. They lost Ray Edwards and a first round pick and a line backer for Calvin Pace at right end and Big Ol Arian Foster. Charles Woodson left Buffalo in a swap for Vincent Jackson.

Well Arian foster started off great against the Jets in week 1. Running for 84 yards on 4 carries, then he breaks his collar bone and is out for 10 weeks. 31-14 loss to the Jets. Next week the Bills face the Bronco's another disastrous start to the game see's the bills go 14-0 with 14 seconds off the clock. The Bills fight back valiantly but lose to a field goal in the fourth quarter. 24-21 Then a loss to the CPU redskins left the bills 0-3 . The Bills had finished last year 13-3, week 4 was a bye. 0-3

Week 5-8
A sim loss to the Eagles made this seasons start the coach's worst start in the BFL ever 0-4. Kyle Orton is traded on deadline day from the Baltimore Ravens. Tebow's 0-4 start forced the team to look for a new QB 1 . 2 wins against divisional rivals in the Dolphins and New England gave Buffalo some confidence. A Raiders game is rarely boring, A 20-17 overtime win see's the Bills go 3-4 a loss here would have ended there slim hopes of a play off spot.

Week 9-12
The overtime win took it out of the Bills and the Jets pilled on the pain with a 44-3 win. Kyle Orton had no time in the pocket. The Coach was furious with his team and demanded a performance against the Ravens in week 10 he got it winning it 41-0. A win against the Poor old Chiefs puts the Bills on 5-5. A win against the Dolphins finally gives the Bills a winning record 6-5

Week 13-17
Arian Foster is back from injury two weeks and is starting to make a difference to the Bills offensive game. However a massive loss to the Cowboys and rookie head coach left the me doubting if i could even get to the play offs. I'd go on a run of game and then lose a big one.

The Bills have not lost a game since the Cowboys game. With wins against the Chargers and Giants. Before the Colts game the Bills knew they had made the play offs but Buffalo's back ups beat the Colts 36-31. A finish the season on 10-6

From being 0-4 and only losing two games in the rest of the game i was delighted by the finish but Woodson loss in the defense is huge ! I lived on turnovers and short fields last year, The loss of Ray Edwards was much bigger than i thought, he was a running stopping machine and this year i did not have that same impact in Run D. With Orton at QB my turnover rate has tripled. Although i still made the play offs i felt my team was weaker overall.

Last Week saw the same play off game last season Bills @ Bengals. Last year Danny Woodhead was injured and Arian foster was not a Bill so it was left to Tim Tebow to win the game, he was not capable of that. For me this was the main factor in being able to win, scoring more than 24 points on offense was key. That and my D held the Bengals to 3 points in the second half.

So although I've improved on my result for last year and I'm still in the hunt for the Vince Lombardi, changes in the roster are needed for next season.

Can I break my curse versus the Jets this week? Most Bookies would say no ? But until Foster got injured in week 1 , The Jets couldnt guess which way the Bills would run. I got against a team that hasnt lost since last season AFC Championship game. Scary stuff !

Ill give my final breakdown when I win the Superbowl.

McG

This was a mixed season for the Colts. They took back the AFC South crown, improved statistically in a number of key areas and put together an 11 game winning streak but for the first time since the BFL began, the Colts will not be going to the AFC Championship match.

Pre Season
Coming from a Super Bowl appearance the Colts didn't look to change very much going into the new season completing a few trades to balance backups while leaving the starters largely unchanged.

Weeks 1-2
The Colts started the season with one hell of a Super Bowl hangover losing a terrible game at home to the Ravens 6-3. The fans were not happy.
Week 2 saw them travel to Tennessee where they found themselves 0-21 down after just one quarter. At this point the Colts might have been forgiven for thinking they were about to enter the same kind of run of form that almost kept them out of the palyoffs at the end of last season. Vernon Davis would show the kind of play that should win him the receiver of the year award scoring 4TDs on 199 yards making the 28-35 loss a little more palatable. Still, their record was 0-2.

Weeks 3-14
After that disappointing start, the Colts would go on an 11 game winning streak that would see them beat human controlled teams like the Falcons, Raiders, Buccs, Titans and Texans. Two men would step up and lead the team during this run; Vernon Davis and Darren McFadden both seemed to be picking up over 100 yards each in every game. In those 11 games the Colts would score 340 points while only conceding 137. An 11-2 record had all but sealed a playoff spot, the AFC South title was also now nearly within reach.

Weeks 15-17
The Colts great run came to an end during a road trip to Cincinnati. The Bengals had much more on the line and got the job done.
A tight win over a much improved Texans team in week 16 saw the Colts win the AFC South and secure the #3 seed in the AFC.
The week 17 game in Buffalo saw the 2 teams with nothing to play for rest quite a few starters. the fans didn't need to be concerned about a lack of entertainment though as the Bills beat the Colts 31-36.

Playoffs
The losses to the Bills and the Bengals let the Broncs take the #2 seed in the AFC and set up yet another meeting of the Colts and Titans. No 2 teams in the BFL have played each other more times than these 2 (11 meetings in 4 seasons, biggest rivalry in BFL) and the Titans were out to reverse the Colts streak of playoff wins over them. The Colts raced out to a 0-17 lead at half time and thanks in part to another big day for Davis, the Titans could not catch up.

Next up was the Broncos. These 2 teams had fought it out for the #3 seed towards the end of the regular season and the Broncos proved they were worthy of the higher seeding by beating the Colts 23-24 when the Colts top performer of the season, Vernon Davis, fumbled the ball while trying to move into position for what would have been the game winning FG.

Going Forward
The Colts will be disappointed that they've missed out on a 4th consecutive AFC Championship match appearance and while technically that makes it their worst season yet the losing margins in their losses this season were only 3, 7, 6, 5 and 1 showing that they were never outclassed. As long as retirements or player regressions don't hurt them too much the Colts will fancy their chances at retaining the AFC South and with a bit more luck making it back to the AFC Championship game or even the Super Bowl.
So far this off season the Colts have again been trying to improve on their backups with little change to the starting team.
The level of play in the BFL, helped with some excellent rookie GMs, has been improving and I can't help but think I may not keep pace as I usually only play my one league game a week (with maybe a bit of practive before if I'm on early for a game against a human).


Statistically the Colts had a fairly successful season
Passing Yards: #5
Total Yards Offence: #3
Points Scored: #5
Pass Defence #3
Total Yards Defence: #2
Points Conceded: #5

Vernon Davis led all receivers/tight ends in yards.
McFadden featured in the top 5 rushers for most of the season before dropping out when he missed a few games toward the end of the season through injury.
While no individuals stood out, the defence as a whole improved greatly especially in pass defence (until the the loss against the Broncos anyway).

matthew8

Offseason

So I joined the league and picked the silver and black as an excuse to troll the forum. I look at my team and I think that the guy who drafted the team mustn't have known about defense or offensive line. So I made some trades. I brought in Maurkice Pouncey, drafted a RT, got rid of Timmons and Britt and brought in Will Allen.

Weeks 1-8
In my first game against the Dolphins I cruised and then I came up against some team that got to the divisional round of the playoffs last year. They had a pretty good offensive roster IIRC but their defense didn't look up to much. I lost. I then blew leads and chances to win against the Ravens, Broncos and Bills (which were all potential tiebreaker games) and got really pissed off. I lost to the Colts and the season looked over. 17-3 down against the Chiefs it looked like it really was over. I then came back and won in a thriller.

Weeks 9-13
This was a stretch in which every game was a must-win to stay in it. There was some controversy after my win against the Chargers, my first win against a human in franchise, I smashed the Lions and took care of business against a few CPU teams.

Weeks 14-17
Against the Broncos my defense couldn't stop a cold. MJD couldn't keep up with their scoring, despite 4 magnificent TDs. I had to win the next 3.

I played the Bears and the defense finally stepped up with some big plays including one to end the game. I beat them, though they seemed unhappy with my playcalling.

Against the Chargers I played perhaps the worst-assembled roster in the whole league. It showed when they were absolutely crushed 52-10.

I played the Packers and it was probably win and you're in, though it didn't work out like that. I was in a great position to win when it disconnected, I got the lead back at the start but the Packers had figured me out and I crashed out.

Verdict on the season
The offseason moves were probably a mistake. I don't like to use the word failure to describe a season, but it was a pretty bad season. Many seemed in awe of MJD's running skills but you can't run in the 2 minute drill which killed me.

Going forward
I have absolutely gutted the roster, only 3 of the 11 starting defenders from this season will start the next. Will Allen, Will Witherspoon and Rashean Mathis. Hopefully the new guys do a good job and show that they deserve to wear the silver and black. The offense was also gutted. 4 of the 5 starting offensive linemen will return and I'd like if all 5 returned because it was an awesome line. MJD was traded for Reggie Bush and Timmons, while I have new number 1 and 2 receivers and a new QB. Hopefully I win the AFC west and I'll go from there.

mikemac1

The Ravens won the AFC North every single season of the BFL, even going to the bobarena [was a very good player for the Bengals, hope he come back for the next Madden] days
So was very unhappy by being upstaged by Rob's Bengals last season, must retake the division

Offseason

Ravens suffered from the retirements of my starting DT and MLB and were gutted by the retirement of starting HB Thomas Jones. Oh I still miss you
A number of moves were made, some new additions to the Oline and Sam Bradford came in for Donavan McNabb.
The draft was conservative, got a starting DT and starting MLB and some depth at TE and CB. Ravens like height, weight and size and these players were picked for those attributes.
The heavier the better is the Ravens motto [fun fact: Ravens have the heaviest DT and TE in the league, Bryant DT 376lbs and Marshall TE 272 lbs]

Weeks 1-8
In Week one, Ravens beat the AFC championship game finalists Colts in one of the worst games ever seen. Both coaches were jeered and ran out of the stadium by angry fans and deservedly so :eek:
Even with the win Ravens GM was unhappy with the running game and so got rid of speedy Reggie Bush for powerful Michael Bush.

Ravens then clocked up a lucky win against the Rams who missed a last second FG.
Took beatings from the Niners and Browns, bravely lost to the mighty Cards, handily beat the Steelers, beat the Raiders and absolutly threw away the game in Seattle with dumb stupid picks

Weeks 9-13
Took an almighty whipping from the Bills and Dave was very classy and gave lots of tips.
I had big issues stopping pitches and stretches to the outside by speedy HB's and I've improved on this a lot
Narrowly lost to the Texans and Bengals, hammered the Steelers
Those narrow losses would haunt me

Weeks 14-17
AFC North was on the line and my offense starting clicking, put five TD's on both the Bengals and Browns for two key division wins.
Heard a lot of talk about the dangerous Jags but they were household cat then predator, handy win

Win or go home in the final week matchup against Tennessee.
Ravens took an early lead, the Titans raced ahead and while I put on a brave comeback and pulled back two TD's the result was not in doubt, the Titans were the better team and advanced.
I had a chance to make the play-offs and it was in my own hands, can't ask for more then that.


Verdict on the season
Finished second in the league for interceptions which is criminal :mad:
I threw away the Seattle and first Bengals game with picks in the final two minutes, too many picks against the Titans and same with the Browns.
When I get my run game going there is no real pressure and I can pick my spots for easy passes.

If I can pick one thing I'm proud of it's the long bomb passes to Eddie Royal, seven TD's this season and best yard per catch average in the league

Finished near the top for picks and Ints on my D which I'm happy with
However last year I had the second best run defense in the league and this season I gave up far more yardage. Plans are in place to address this in the draft

I'm in love with SS Eric Berry, led the team in Ints and tackles, he truely is my best player. Love this guy :pac:

Going forward

No huge moves this off-season from the Ravens GM.
Sam Bradford is gone to Green Bay while the speedy Jake Locker and Josh Johnson will be my QB's, I like to scramble a few times a game, I don't ask my QB's to pass more then fifteen to twenty times a game realy.

Have a few other changes but nothing major

Will be back next season and determined to take back the AFC North, the best division in all of football :cool: