Get rid of Season Showdown completely

[Card-me]

I think Season Showdown is just another example of a good idea from EA with poor execution. First there's the freezing. Most people have had it happen to them. But the sportsmanship penalties are the worst.

Sure, it's nice to get a little point boost when you punt or chew clock or kneel. But not being able to throw a single pass with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter with my backup QB on 3rd down is just stupid. There are so many reasons it gets annoying. Like others have said, what if you're throwing your backups out there to get a feel for them because they'll be starting the next year? I've done that numerous times, but been limited to running the ball because of this stupid thing (I guess not technically limited, but I hate seeing it and I don't want to hurt my team, no matter how much I find the feature useless).

Also, what about the guys that run the Run n Shoot or Air Raid offenses? In those playbooks, there aren't very many (effective) runs to begin with, and now you want them to play up to entire half with only running the ball? It wouldn't be so bad if the game recognized that in these offenses, screens, flats, etc are considered quick run plays. At least they fixed the absolutely horrid idea last year where an option pitch was considered a pass and would dock you.

And as has been mentioned before, they're forcing it on you this year. The only solution is to be offline when you play. Great, that's going to do me a lot of good when I'm playing online, especially in an online dynasty. Or how about those of us who like to sit and party chat while we play a game, whether it be with other guys in an OD or just friends. we have to give that up so that the computer won't dock us for throwing a screen with my second string offense with 15 minutes left in the game?

Come on, EA. Step it up.

[BigRedCorn]

I havn't had any issues with the season showdown causing freezing. In fact I hadn't had a single freezing issue until about 30 minutes ago! In the last 3 minutes of the 3rd quarter, I ran a simple dive play and as soon as the play was over boom, freeze! WTF? Dare I say this is patch related?

[cbc72]

Season showdown holds no appeal to me at all. Go ahead and take it out next year, in my opinion. Then EA can focus more resources on actual gameplay.

[ReeseChiarlo]

I dont know if it needs to be gotten rid of, but its certainly in need of a tweak, or at least a toggle to turn if off.

Expecting a team to play an entire half of football without a pass because they are up 28 points is ludicrous, and a great way to get your running backs hurt. I understand throwing the deep ball with 4 minutes to go up in the 4th quarter up by 28 yes is running up the score. Putting in your backups half way through the 3rd quarter and running your normal offense is not running up the score its called smart coaching.

I, like someone else said, do not like to "hurt" my school, so I pay attention to it. Whats really stupid about it, if you sim plays instead of playing your second half, the CPU still throws the ball all over the place no matter if your up 21 or 50. So if I get a big enough lead, I just sim my way on offense in the 2nd half of games. I dont get a feel for my backups but at least they get some PT.

[peteykirch]

I hate how I can't even throw on 3rd and Long if I'm up by more than 17+

[NDAlum]

I just want an ON/OFF switch so I can turn it off!

[fcboiler87]

Co-sign. It is definitely the dumbest feature ever. Like someone said, the only points I get are -100 for sportsmanship. And for you who say "play offline," that isn't an option because of the excellence of the features with online dynasty, namely recruiting online. I am dealing with Season Showdown because recruiting online is quicker (and quick is a very relative term).

[Rebel10]

I've never had it freeze my game in .. ~100 or so games.

It serves its purpose in my opinion, although I wish that it were a little more intelligent. For instance, once you sub in your 2nd string, you should be able to run a normal offense for the most part, or at least, be penalized much less for "running it up." When up big, teams will sub in their 2nd string and then very often run a normal offense to give those guys some experience.

But, other than that I like how people say "You can't throw on 3rd and long when up by 21points in the 4th and that makes me mad." Well, you can throw, you just get docked some imaginary score, big whoop. It's the power of persuasion.