Some GOOD NEWS for us Madden 11 franchise players: Big improvements that I have seen

[marktwain77]

This is just for FRANCHISE related improvements you have seen for Madden 11.

Yes, there are not enough (for me). But I think there is some GOOD NEWS for us franchise gamers.
1) Ratings for Offensive linemen MATTER now!

This is probably close to #1 for me. I LOVE drafting OL. I love OL in general. But before it was almost pointless to pay your OL because elite OL almost never really mattered to gameplay. Now you NEED good linemen if you want to run the ball, not to mention protect your QB.

I use the Bills. Out of the box, their OL is TERRIBLE. I tried running with Spiller but I would be lucky to get 50-75 YDS per game running it 20-25 times. I was constantly stuffed.

Year #2 of franchise. I draft a couple tackles (one ended up 80 OVR as a rookie). I sign a guard in FA and send Wood to C where he belongs. FIRST game I run 16 times for 168 YDS with Spiller! He then goes down for 10 weeks with a herniated disk (see point #2). There were holes all over the place! My rookie tackles were big AND quick, and it mattered a LOT. Just for fun I put in a pass catching TE at LT and he got DEMOLISHED on every running play and could barely slow down the DE on passing downs.

2) BETTER INJURIES!

I play ALL my games in franchise, and I used to almost never see injuries, except to RB or QB.

Week 1. I lose Spiller for 10 weeks (his injury rating is in the 70's). I ALSO lose My starting RG Floyd Womack (NEVER HAPPENED to me in any previous Madden) for 2 weeks with a broken thumb. Sounds crazy, but that is COOL!

I used to almost never see OL go down. I noticed that the more you run the ball in Madden 11, the more they get injured. It's not super common, but in my 2nd year of franchise I had 3 of my starting OL miss at least a game due to injury at some point. THAT is nice. Conversely, the more the CPU runs the ball, the more your LB or DL get hurt.

Now having some depth on OL and DL actually matter. Before my backup guards would never see the field. Now I had one game where 3 of my starters missed!

Overall, MANY more in game injuries. Most are not long-lasting (3 weeks or less) but you will get the occasional 5-10 week injury as well. It seems closely related to their injury and toughness ratings.

3) BETTER Stats.

You CANNOT over-estimate this. My first year the leading RB had around 1600 YDS, with 2nd place being in the 1400's. LEading passer was Manning with 5100 YDS and 42TD. Brees was right behind with 4700 YDS and had more TD with 44. Then it went down from there.

Leading sacker had 18.5 sacks. Also cool.

This matters to me a LOT. I do not want to see the single season records broken every year. It also helps when you are trying to break an NFL career record (Emmit Smith's all-time career rushing record for example) if the sim stats for CPU teams are realistic.

4) Depth overall matters. Players play more like they should. No longer can I toss in a 65 OVR OLB and do well. Now he's getting torched left and right. Ditto with the QB. Bad QB REALLY suck. This is good. Same with 67 OVR WR. They won't make the big catches for you. Overall, you need an actual talented roster to win consistently, and that is cool.

Spiller feels completely different from Jackson at RB. He can do things Jackson could only dream of, just like real life. Sadly, he cannot take a pounding either, just like real life (He WILL get injured if you run him 20+ times due to his injury rating).

Those are a few things I have noticed as improvements in franchise mode. They DO matter. In fact, having it matter who plays at EVERY position is really starting to grow on me.

Try the Bills on the "out of the box" rosters and try to run the ball. Then try with the Ravens.

[ryan36]

Use the impressions thread

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