Miami's Back With a Vengeance, A Miami Dolphins Connected Franchise (Madden 17/PS4)

[Number999]

Miami Dolphins ~ Madden NFL 17 Connected Franchise

Hello everybody! It has been quite some time since I've gotten back into the fray of things regarding Madden NFL Dynasties. The first one I ever created was back in 2014, a Detroit Lions dynasty. It was my first ever real attempt at creating one of these things and I thoroughly enjoyed it. From there I bounced to my "Who Needs LeBron?" Miami Heat 2k franchise in the basketball forums, then to a Swansea City one regarding FIFA... and now I'm gonna try something I haven't done. Try and co-run 2 dynasties at once. I currently have an on-going one in MLB The Show 16 with the Miami Marlins that I post quite frequently in the Baseball Dynasties section. I wasn't really planning on doing one with Madden but slowly I've been sucked in and intrigued by this years game and I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot. Worst case scenario this sort of fizzles out in a couple of weeks when the real NFL starts.

My confidence when it comes to the Dolphins in real life is up in the air. I really like all I've seen out of Adam Gase and what's been reported about him. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the mish-mash of Cam Cameron to Tony Sparano to Joe Philbin and so forth. He seems like an alpha male and gets football. But I dunno... I feel like this team is supremely un-talented. I like the offense, I feel like Tannehill's a fine player who in the right system you can have success with him. I love all of our wide receivers ranging from Landry, Parker, Stills, Carroo, Grant, and Hazel. Our offensive line has been horrific the last few years and yet now we have 4 1st Round picks on the offensive line in Branden Albert, Laremy Tunsil, Mike Pouncey, and Ja'Wuan James. The thing that really scares me? The defense. The defense is gonna be AWFUL this year. Even though I frigging love Ndamukong Suh, guys like Cameron Wake and Mario Williams are aging and only declining as the season goes on. Linebackers? Not a single one of them can make a legit play. Secondary? HAH! Cutting Brent Grimes will be a massive mistake. Frigging Xavien Howard, Bobby McCain, or Tony Lippett will have to start alongside Byron Maxwell... that's gonna be utterly atrocious.

That's what scares me the most. The defensive backs. If I had to make a prediction right now, I'd project us to go 4-12 in 2016. I don't want that to be the case. I feel like the Patriots are declining(yes I know Brady feels invincible but Peyton was Peyton until he wasn't), the Jets have a mish mash of Geno Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick, and the Bills are reckless with Rex Ryan and a sporadic defense and now they're relying on Tyrod Taylor who had one good season. Yet it feels like it's the most stuck we've ever been as a franchise. If Tannehill doesn't produce this year and fails, he's gotta be out of here. If he comes through but the team is bad, what the hell does that tell you? The sheer number of question marks is absurd... every team has them but it feels like we have so many more.

So that's why I've decided to take over at the helm of things. If I can't have any faith on Mike Tannenbaum to hold his bleep together, I'm taking over and am gonna run this ship. I'm tired of the last 15 years of mockery. Since Marino retired, we've been in a down-hill spiral. We used to be an NFL Powerhouse. The Shula days of the no-name defense in the 1970s. Then switching to a flashy offense with Marino and even though we may have never won a Superbowl, we sure as hell were competitive every single year and were always in the mix. Then after that you had the crushing final defeat to Jacksonville, the crappy awful years with Dave Wannstedt running Ricky into the ground, the misery of Nick Saban, Cam Cameron, a brief glimpse of hope and elation with Chad Pennington in 2008 only for it to be evaporated by the start of next season... now we've been in a rut with Sparano, missed out on Andrew Luck thanks to Matt Moore, and here we are with 28-year old Ryan Tannehill still wondering if he has what it takes.

Enough of the excuses, South Florida is tired of them. It's time to win, and I'm the guy who's here to get it done.

[Number999]

Archives ~ Key Roster Moves History

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Archives ~ Legendary Games/Playoff Moments

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Archives ~ Storylines & Season Recap Information

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Archives ~ Around the NFL League History

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Miami Dolphins ~ Madden NFL 17 Franchise Settings

These are the settings I will be using for this Connected Franchise.

Mode: Offline Franchise
Team: Miami Dolphins
Starting Point: Preseason
Role: Stephen Ross (Current Owner)
Skill Level: All-Pro (now All-Madden --> ARTICLE)
Game Speed: Slow
League Type: All
Instant Starter: Off
Trade Deadline: On
Trade Type: Enable All
Coach Firing: On
Salary Cap: On
Relocation Settings: Disabled
Injury: On
Pre-Existing Injury: On
Practice Squad Stealing: On
Player Progression Frequency: Every Four Weeks

Roster: Default Preseason Roster

More Settings in Spoiler:

Spoiler

Clock Management:
Quarter Length: 15 Minutes
Accelerated Clock: On
Minimum Play Clock Time: 20 Seconds

User Team Help:
Fill Roster: Off
Re-Sign Players: Off
Progress Players: Off
Sign Offseason Free Agents: Off

Team Settings:
Tutorial Pop-Ups: Off

Explanation: So those are all of my personal settings. I don't think I really did anything too crazy when changing them. I feel like I'm capable of All-Pro and as with all my dynasties I'll see how I feel. I can actually deal with sucking(it's the Dolphins after all) but I don't want it to be unfair. Slow game speed I'll test out and if I don't like it I'll bump it up. Other than that the one major thing I changed was totally disabling relocation. I understand why a lot of people like that you can relocate but I'm just not a fan. Like all 32 teams just where they are and I don't wanna see the Raiders or anybody else moving to a place like San Antonio. I'll see what's gonna happen with the quarter length... I'll admit right now I am planning on playing the 4 preseason games, the 16 regular season games and whatever playoff games come along but I'm not sure if I'll test out Play the Moments or that sort of stuff. It will really be a feel-it-out-as-we-go sort of process since I'm not sure what's practical for a dynasty I'm writing about.

House Rules:
* Don't stack draft picks. If I wanna focus on the draft that's fine but don't get 8+ 1st rounders.
* No re-playing games after they've been played, fairly obvious rule.
* No changing of any players potentials or ratings. I may change equipment but nothing more.
* I will include all adjustments I make to sliders and such in the spoiler below, right now everything is default.
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Gameplay Sliders in Spoiler:

Spoiler

These are my Gameplay Sliders as of 2016 Season -> Week #6 vs Pittsburgh. CHANGES IN EDITS

Player Skill:
QB Accuracy: 40
Pass Blocking: 50
WR Catching: 50
Run Blocking: 42
Fumbles: 50
Pass Defense Reaction Time: 50
Interceptions: 40
Pass Coverage: 50
Tackling: 50

CPU Skill:
QB Accuracy: 38
Pass Blocking: 48
WR Catching: 50
Run Blocking: 50
Fumbles: 50
Pass Defense Reaction Time: 50
Interceptions: 40
Pass Coverage: 50
Tackling: 50

Special Teams:
FG Power: 50
FG Accuracy: 50
Punt Power: 40
Punt Accuracy: 50
Kickoff Power: 50

Game Options and Penalties are both all on default settings.

XP Sliders in Spoiler:

Spoiler

These are straight from tdwag's stuff in the slider stuff on the OS Madden 17 section.
Offensive XP%:
Quarterbacks: 90
Halfbacks: 206
Tight Ends: 136
Wide Receivers: 260
Fullbacks: 200
Tackles: 266
Guards: 280
Centers: 290

Defensive XP%:
Defensive Ends: 122
Defensive Tackles: 190
Middle Linebackers: 110
Outside Linebackers: 100
Cornerbacks: 214
Free Safeties: 160
Strong Safeties: 110

Special Teams XP%:
Kickers: 300
Punters: 300

[RoundingThird]

If this is as good as you're Marlins dynasty, this is a must see!

[Number999]

Dolphins' Owner Stephen Ross: The Time To Win Is Now

Stephen Ross has been with the Miami Dolphins since 2008. He eventually became Owner of over 95% of the team since late January of 2009 and since then he has been working to try and get the Dolphins back as a playoff contender. He has churned through various coaches and GMs. A few quarterbacks, and now here he is entering the 2016 NFL Season pondering whether or not what he has in this group is enough. Whether it be Mike Tannenbaum who's the czar and over-seerer of all football operations. Chris Grier who's the Dolphins GM. OR Adam Gase who has become the Dolphins Head Coach over the course of this past offseason. Ross is a polarizing figure in the Dolphins community. Some fans despise him for continuing to bottle the team with Joe Philbin and bringing in failures from New York such as Tannenbaum. Others understand what he's trying to do. He's been willing to spend boat-loads of money on the team(Mike Wallace, Suh, etc..) and will win at all costs... the winning just hasn't been there. Compared to other cheaper organizations, that's a good thing to have. He also doesn't interfere with the team directly... if the winning came, so would the love for Ross, just as it did with Micky Arison and the Miami Heat.

That's why the pressure is on this season. Ryan Tannehill is 28-years old and entering Year #5 of his NFL career. He's been given a big fancy contract and while the Dolphins can cut ties with him at the end of the year if he doesn't produce, you really hope that's not the case with him dealing with Adam Gase now. You have a questionable spot at running back entrusting your faith in a former 5th Round pick who has bad knees and is just 23-years old. Arian Foster is 30-years old and he's been injury plagued for a while which is the reason Houston let him go. You have some faith in your receivers, but DeVantae Parker has to stay healthy and prove he was worthy of being the #14 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. A ton of resources have been invested into the offensive line so they must produce. An older defensive unit has to live up to the money they're being paid, an underrated linebacker core must find some of their past success, and the secondary mostly consists of guys who are being baptized by fire or must re-kindle some old success they had(such as Byron Maxwell with Seattle, or Isa-Abdul Quddus with the Lions)

All of that together makes your 2016 Miami Dolphins. Even with all of those question marks and serious flaws, Stephen Ross expects a winner. Hell, he's put in enough money to this team that he should finally be reaping some of the success with all of the care he's put into it. Will he receive it? Ehh.. that's an unanswerable question, at least for right now. The Dolphins have a couple of preseason games to get a feel for this team. They'll see how some of the youngsters produce and determine whether they're ready to play right away or if some emergency veteran replacements will have to be called in order to fill in the gaps and splash together a roster before the opener.

Expectations are high from the man controlling all, and I'm not entirely sure they're warranted right now.