Parallels | Stax's 2013 Houston Texans Rewrite

[mvpstax]

Houston Texans
Parallels // Prologue

A Story Retold

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What’s up everyone, and thanks for checking in! I know a few people over here and have been a longtime lurker, but with the whole quarantining thing going on, I decided this would be a fun use of time. There are a ton of great story tellers on here that have inspired me, such as Cheese, Deegeezy, sportsguru, Tearz, Thugger, Lopaka, moose, as well as a bunch of others throughout the site. The list is truly immense and I could name many, many others. I’ll be taking over my favorite NFL team, the Houston Texans, but with a catch. This story is going to start with the 2013 season — in real life this season was infamously bad as the team finished with the worst record in its short franchise history.

... so why choose the 2013 Houston Texans? Well, for one it is a nostalgic time for me as this was around the time that I really started to fall in love with Texans football. This rendition of the team boasted some of my favorite players.

It was a team loaded with offensive weapons and a really fun defensive unit, too. Behind Matt Schaub was a punishing tandem of HB Arian Foster (at his pinnacle) and FB Greg Jones. On the outside was a prime Andre Johnson and a rookie WR by the name of DeAndre Hopkins. On the other side of the ball was my all-time favorite linebacker Brian Cushing, and on the front line a young JJ Watt, former 1st overall pick Mario Williams, and Amobi Okoye.

2013 was a dreadful season for the franchise. We let go of Gary Kubiak mid-season and promoted Wade Phillips as interim head coach in which the team ended up with a league low 2-win season and clinched the first pick in the following season’s draft where we selected Jadaveon Clowney. However, I thought this team had a great foundation of talent and things could have gone a lot better if a few things went differently.

The ultimate goal here probably doesn’t even need to be said... taking this 2013 Houston Texans from real life cellar dweller to eventual virtual Super Bowl champions and building a dynasty in the process, of course. So I now present to you Parallels | Stax’s 2013 Houston Texans Rewrite. Welcome, and thank you for following along. I hope you enjoy!

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Settings

Game: Madden 08
Difficulty: All-Pro
Sliders: Clrdk's Homemade (posted below)

Spoiler

Slider                         Human   CPU
QB Accuracy                       40    65
Pass Blocking                      0    30
Receiver Catching                 45    70
Running Ability                   43    67
Offensive line Run Blocking       25    30
Defensive Awareness               24    99
Defensive line Knockdowns         17    99
Interceptions                      5    50
Defensive Break Blocks             0    10
Tackling                          30    50
Fieldgoal Length                  39    40
Fieldgoal Accuracy                 0    92
Punt Length                       56    56
Punt Accuracy                      0    99
Kickoff Length                    64    64

Quarter Length: 10 Minutes w/Acc Clock
House Rules:
- Human Salary CAP will start at $90M for the 1st season and add +$3M each season after that (starting in the 1st offseason, where it increases to $93M). This is because CPU teams need the excessive cap space since their GM'ing skills are lacking.
- Any player being re-signed who is 80 OVR and better must be signed to their demanded contract, both years and money.
- I will try to listen to Madden's recommended play with offensive play selection as much as possible in order to eliminate overuse of money plays. The only exceptions here are play calls that don't make sense (like a draw on 4th and 14 with 23 seconds to go and no timeouts), or if he chooses the same play within a 4-play sequence. In the case of the latter – if he chooses a player I just did shortly before – I try to reselect a play of my own that is of similar nature.
- On defense, I will only control one player during the entirety of the play.
- These house rules were based on NZA's franchise guide, so props to him!

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Table of Contents

1. Texans Introduce mvpstax as New GM

[mvpstax]

Team History

Hall of Fame Inductees

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None

Retired Jersey Numbers

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None

[mvpstax]

Team History

Season W-L Recaps

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2013-14: In progress

Player Awards

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2013-14: In progress

Single-Season Records

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Passing Yards: Matt Schaub, 4,770 (2009)
Passing TDs: Matt Schaub, 29 (2009)
Passing Interceptions: Matt Schaub, 15 (2009) // David Carr, 15 (2002)

Rushing Yards: Arian Foster, 1,616 (2010)
Rushing TDs: Arian Foster, 16 (2010)

Receptions: Andre Johnson, 115 (2008)
Receiving Yards: Andre Johnson, 1,598 (2012)
Receiving TDs: Andre Johnson, 9 (2009)

Tackles: Jamie Sharper, 166 (2003)
Sacks: JJ Watt, 20.5 (2012)
Interceptions: Marcus Coleman, 7 (2003)

[mvpstax]

League History

Super Bowl Recaps

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2013-14: In progress

Player Awards

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2013-14: In progress

Single-Season Records

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Passing Yards: NO Drew Brees, 5,476 (2011)
Passing TDs: NE Tom Brady, 50 (2007)
Passing Interceptions: HOU George Blanda, 42 (1962)

Rushing Yards: LAR Eric Dickerson, 2,105 (1984)
Rushing TDs: SD LaDainian Tomlinson, 28 (2006)

Receptions: IND Marvin Harrison, 143 (2002)
Receiving Yards: DET Calvin Johnson, 1,964 (2012)
Receiving TDs: NE Randy Moss, 23 (2007)

Tackles: TB Hardy Nickerson, 214 (1993)
Sacks: NYG Michael Strahan, 22.5 (2001)
Interceptions: LAR Night Train Lane, 14 (1952)

[mvpstax]

You may post.

[Careless Whisper]

Not a Texans fan, but I'll be following this. What platform are you playing this on?

[mvpstax]

Quote: Originally Posted by Careless Whisper

Not a Texans fan, but I'll be following this. What platform are you playing this on?

Thanks bro, appreciate it! Playing this on PC. I just haven't liked the past few years of Madden on next gen tbh. This game also has a pretty deep franchise mode. It was my favorite growing up, so it feels good to come back to it.

[moose141]

Sounds like a fun dynasty! Will you be bringing in real life draft classes for the future seasons? Since you’re on PC I’m assuming that that is something that is possible but I wouldn’t know.