49ers Franchise

[Franchise408]

Quote: Originally Posted by bobcats55

Why in the world would you want to trade Gore? I had never used the 49ers until the other day and in my first game (All-Madden, 7min Quarters, 20 sec acc. clock) set a single game rushing record with 299 yards. 4 TDs as well. I am definitely not a 49er fan, but he is a beast on this game. I enjoyed playing with them and honestly, if the hole wasnt there he stiff armed a guy down and created one. Honest question, would trading him now benefit the franchise more then how effective he can be in the run game?

In my franchise, I struggled with Frank Gore early, and since he's on a 1 year deal to start the franchise, I struggled with whether I wanted to re-sign him or not. But because he finished strong, I went ahead and franchise tagged him.

He then proceeded to go absolutely the f... off in my 2nd season. If my disc didn't get damaged beyond repair, the decision going into my 2nd season would be, do I pay the guy who's getting up there in age (and quite possibly taking a hit in his OVR rating), or do I let the halfback that was 15 yards shy of a rushing title walk and take my chances on the younger Kendall Hunter?

I think I was gonna pay Gore. But I was gonna need to examine my contract situation.

[bobcats55]

Quote: Originally Posted by Franchise408

In my franchise, I struggled with Frank Gore early, and since he's on a 1 year deal to start the franchise, I struggled with whether I wanted to re-sign him or not. But because he finished strong, I went ahead and franchise tagged him. He then proceeded to go absolutely the f... off in my 2nd season. If my disc didn't get damaged beyond repair, the decision going into my 2nd season would be, do I pay the guy who's getting up there in age (and quite possibly taking a hit in his OVR rating), or do I let the halfback that was 15 yards shy of a rushing title walk and take my chances on the younger Kendall Hunter? I think I was gonna pay Gore. But I was gonna need to examine my contract situation.

Ah, I see. That is a tough position. I agree that you can't argue with performance, and being 15 yards shy of the title is pretty impressive. Letting him walk would probably get some of the fan base after you if the replacement didn't perform on the same level. Gore reminds me a lot of MJD, or atleast he seems to based on playing with them both on Madden. I have seen MJD play a lot but I have never watched many 49er games, and he was always hurt in the ones I did see.

[Franchise408]

Quote: Originally Posted by bobcats55

Ah, I see. That is a tough position. I agree that you can't argue with performance, and being 15 yards shy of the title is pretty impressive. Letting him walk would probably get some of the fan base after you if the replacement didn't perform on the same level. Gore reminds me a lot of MJD, or atleast he seems to based on playing with them both on Madden. I have seen MJD play a lot but I have never watched many 49er games, and he was always hurt in the ones I did see.

The problem with the decision is, did I do that well with Frank Gore because, well, it's Frank Gore and he's rated 91 OVR? Or is it because the offensive scheme I ran took advantage of weaknesses in the Madden AI (default All-Madden) and I could get that performance out of any running back (the way my offensive scheme turned Michael Crabtree into the most productive wide receiver over 2 years of my franchise mode, including a season where he was 40 yards shy of breaking Jerry Rice's all time single season receiving record)?

If it's the latter, then keeping Frank Gore is a waste of salary cap space that does nothing but cater to my fandom of the 49ers and Frank Gore. If it's the former, then I absolutely need to lock him up and make him a 9er for life.

[PGaither84]

@Franchise408 Well, with 94 speed [at least in Madden 11] and the ability to break the tackle of most anyone in the league, I'm sure Frank Gore has something to do with your team's success... but I'm just guessing. I know that I can see and feel a difference when I run with him and other backs.

[Calipup]

I didn't import the draft class but I want to get Luck depending on Smith's season. I imagine Luck's attributes are about the same every time so if anyone could post post his main ones, I would appreciate it.

I would just trade for the first pick overall, draft a QB then edit him into Luck.

[Franchise408]

Quote: Originally Posted by PGaither84

@Franchise408 Well, with 94 speed [at least in Madden 11] and the ability to break the tackle of most anyone in the league, I'm sure Frank Gore has something to do with your team's success... but I'm just guessing. I know that I can see and feel a difference when I run with him and other backs.

I don't know, I never really broke tackles with Frank Gore, most of it came from getting big holes that I feel my offensive line was able to open up because I learned how to exploit the CPU defensive AI.

I never really broke tackles. Breaking tackles on All-Madden is next to impossible.

[bobcats55]

Quote: Originally Posted by Franchise408

The problem with the decision is, did I do that well with Frank Gore because, well, it's Frank Gore and he's rated 91 OVR? Or is it because the offensive scheme I ran took advantage of weaknesses in the Madden AI (default All-Madden) and I could get that performance out of any running back (the way my offensive scheme turned Michael Crabtree into the most productive wide receiver over 2 years of my franchise mode, including a season where he was 40 yards shy of breaking Jerry Rice's all time single season receiving record)? If it's the latter, then keeping Frank Gore is a waste of salary cap space that does nothing but cater to my fandom of the 49ers and Frank Gore. If it's the former, then I absolutely need to lock him up and make him a 9er for life.

It comes down to how you got the stats. If you found one play that the CPU can't stop and did nothing but run that play every down then yes, the stats are inaccurate. However, if you racked up the stats reading the defense and selecting plays based on game flow, then I say be happy with the stats and be okay with your choice. Stats simply reflect how well somebody got it done in their giving situation. Is Crabtree better then Rice? NO.... Could Crabtree be set up and put in better positions then Rice was in a offensive strategy, of course. Is it likely? No, but then again the game is not supposed to be TV. You are actually playing it so being able to develop chemistry between QB and WR could be the explanation for increased stats. It all comes down to if you can be happy that the stats you got were gotten without cheesing.

From a story line prospective, I feel that franchising Gore is very likely and I feel like he will continue to produce at a high level. In the end thats what really matters.

[Franchise408]

Quote: Originally Posted by bobcats55

It comes down to how you got the stats. If you found one play that the CPU can't stop and did nothing but run that play every down then yes, the stats are inaccurate. However, if you racked up the stats reading the defense and selecting plays based on game flow, then I say be happy with the stats and be okay with your choice. Stats simply reflect how well somebody got it done in their giving situation. Is Crabtree better then Rice? NO.... Could Crabtree be set up and put in better positions then Rice was in a offensive strategy, of course. Is it likely? No, but then again the game is not supposed to be TV. You are actually playing it so being able to develop chemistry between QB and WR could be the explanation for increased stats. It all comes down to if you can be happy that the stats you got were gotten without cheesing. From a story line prospective, I feel that franchising Gore is very likely and I feel like he will continue to produce at a high level. In the end thats what really matters.

From a make believe, storyline perspective, I could totally accept that the "system" is putting players in a position to succeed. You hear about it all the time - players enter a new system, and thrive when they didn't really thrive before. Or a team lets a player go and replaces him with someone else because it's the system that gets the production. It's how I tried to justify why, for 2 years straight, I had the top QB in terms of passing yardage, one of the top WR's in terms of receiving yards (in year 1, Crabtree was #1, in year 2, he was #3), and one of the top RB's in terms of rushing yards (I don't remember where Gore was ranked year 1, but year 2 he was #2, while Crabtree was the NFL's #3 receiver, and Vince Young was #1 in passing yardage while winning the NFL MVP award - year 1 had Alex Smith lead the league in passing yards, along with 38 INT's, Frank Gore had 1100+ rushing yards, and I had 2 1000 yard receivers in Michael Crabtree - 1800+ yards, and Vernon Davis - 1400+ yards)

But I do believe its a lot of "cheesing". I put Michael Crabtree in the slot in every offensive formation, not cheesing, but because that's how I wanted to utilize Crabtree's skill set. But it did turn into "cheesing", because running a receiver on a slant route from the slot receiver position is next to unstoppable. Running Crabtree in the slot position from I-Twins formation and running him on slant patterns is how I racked up 1800+ yards.

As far as Frank Gore goes, I'd run a lot of slam, blast, and power plays. Typically, I'd try to run to the left side behind my 2 best linemen, Staley and Iupati, or I'd run powers to the right behind Snyder and Davis with Iupati pulling.

One of my "money plays" was from a single back formation that had 4 WR's on the field. One receiver to the left, 3 to the right. I'd flip it so the run would go to the left. With it being a 4 WR set, it'd spread out the defense, and I guess since the receivers weren't balanced, it'd cause the CPU to call bad defenses. It basically went like this:

-If the defense was in a 4 man front, I'd run the play, because there would be a double team block on one of the defensive linemen, springing Gore free.

-If the defense went pass defense heavy with a 3 man line, I'd watch the linebackers. If the linebacker stayed over the line, I'd audible to a quick pass. The inside receiver would be free, hot route him on a slant, and bam, easy completion for easy yards. If the linebacker went out to cover the receiver, then my 5 man line would dominate the 3 man defensive line, springing Gore free for big gains.

The Power O wasn't a "money play", but due to the formation and how the CPU AI reacts to it, it was worth running the play because the play was typically either a really short gain (no gain, 1 or 2 yards) or a huge gain (50, 75 yard TD runs).

HB Blast plays from I Formation, Strong I, or Weak I, were regularly 10-15 yard gainers. If not, it'd still typically get me a good 4-7 yard gain.

The big thing though, is that at least in last year's game, I noticed that a higher rated running back would actually get better protection from his blockers. I actually originally noticed this in the return game - Reggie Smith, an 80 something speed rated safety, was one of my highest rated kick returners. I could never understand why. But I noticed his was getting better returns than a lot of 95+ speed returners who had low KR ratings, and I noticed it was because the blocking was ALWAYS better for Smith than it was for the speed guys with low KR ratings (not talking about guys like Ginn). I noticed the same thing about running backs. If Frank Gore was hurt, or needed a sub to spell him, I never got the same results because all of a sudden, the blocking simply wasn't there.

It seems that one of the running-with-the-ball ratings impacts the types of blocks the runner gets. I didn't get to run with Kendall Hunter enough to really test that in this year's game (Frank Gore was hardly ever injured, and hardly ever needed to be spelled). So maybe that's the factor - Frank Gore gets those wide open holes because he's got the ratings that give him good blocking.