How's Your Franchise Going- Madden 12 Edition

[Franchise408]

So my 49ers were able to withstand getting All-Madden'd and squeak out a victory to remain atop the NFC West.

It was a rough going early. Frank Gore couldn't get going. Steven Jackson was plowing through my defense. And there was really nothing open in the passing game. But somehow I was able to hold St. Louis scoreless through the 1st, and they didn't get their first score until they got a field goal late in the 2nd. On the next drive, I got Michael Crabtree into the end zone for the first time all season. Then the All-Madden'ing began, and St. Louis drove over 80 yards in less than 30 seconds - all while running the ball, and ended up in the end zone to take a 10-7 lead into the half.

My 49ers received the ball to start the half, and killed about half the quarter on a scoring drive that was capped off by a 17 yard Frank Gore run. Frank Gore finally started getting some openings in the 2nd half.

After holding St. Louis to another field goal, Michael Crabtree would come up big again, with a 48 yard TD grab. Up by 7, San Francisco attempted a 2 point conversion, but it failed.

San Francisco had a chance to kill the clock late, but went with the pass call on 3rd down to try to keep the chains moving (a first down would have effectively ended the game). This resulted in a St. Louis INT for a touchdown, because for some reason in the 2nd half, despite being on a "hot streak", every pass from Vince Young was feathering through the air. I couldn't even connect on screen passes, as Young was throwing even screen passes nowhere near his targets. This pass, intended for Crabtree, feathered it's way down to the receiver, and the St. Louis defender was able to get in the way and take it to the house.

But, yet another Madden glitch actually benefited me this time, as my defense blocked the extra point attempt. St. Louis couldn't recover the onside kick, and my Niners would run out the clock, picking up a big division win. San Francisco improves to 7-4 on the season, and now sits a full game in 1st place.

[philliesfan24]

just started a eagles chise went 2-2 in postseason looking to go undefeated sucks u cant turn off accelerated clockin franchise mode my injuries during preaseason
nate allen-broke thumb 1 week
keenan clayton-abdominal tear 2 weeks
nnamdi asomugha- partail groin tear 3 weeks
casey matthews-fractured toe 8 weeks
jack mccray-fractured toe 8 weeks
victor abiamiri- complete achillies tear placed on ir

[Franchise408]

Wow, again my 49ers snuck away with one that they shouldn't have. Once again, I was a victim of getting All-Madden'd, but somehow I was able to hold tight and come from behind to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

The early goings against Minnesota were ugly. Vince Young managed 3 first half interceptions, as well as a lost fumble, and all San Francisco was able to muster up was a measly field goal while Minnesota ran off 14 points. After scoring a field goal with 1:29 to go in the half, I kicked off to Minnesota and they entered "All-Madden must score in under 2:00" mode, and drove 80 yards in 45 seconds.

But in the 2nd half, San Francisco was able to turn it around. Vince Young still struggled, and his end of game numbers were very deceiving. San Francisco finally got on the board in what seemed like garbage time, when Ted Ginn broke free on a wide receiver screen and took it 62 yards for a touchdown. Then, after holding once more, the defense got the ball back for the offense. This time, Vince Young would take advantage of a too-aggressive defense, hitting Michael Crabtree on a slant pattern over the middle. With no defenders ahead of him, Crabtree was able to run off 79 yards to freedom, and a late lead. Those 79 would give him 197 on the day. The defense, sans Patrick Willis who left the game earlier with a broken thumb, would hold once more, allowing the offense to kill the clock.

This gives my 49ers a 3 game winning streak, the longest such streak under my reign with them, and they finish their 4 game home stand 3-1.

Now 8-4, San Francisco is 1 game ahead of the Arizona Cardinals for the division, and traveling to St. Louis for a week 14 matchup against the division rival Rams.

The cost of the victory was Patrick Willis, who with a broken thumb, will miss 2 weeks. He is expected to return before the end of the regular season.

[Armor and Sword]

Quote: Originally Posted by Armor & Sword

The Cardiac Dolphins shock the Steeler Nation! Full game story coming soon. But here is the box score coming across the wire. A truly E P I C divisional playoff game at Heinz Field in a blizzard. Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers Jan 3, 2011 1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH OT SCORE Miami Dolphins (10-7) 0 14 7 3 - 24 Pittsburgh Steelers (12-4) 10 7 3 0 - 20 Scoring Summary FIRST QUARTER SCORING MIA PIT 7:48 (PIT) T.Polamalu INT Return 53 Yards 0 7 2:30 (PIT) S.Graham 44 YD FG 0 10 SECOND QUARTER SCORING MIA PIT 6:47 (PIT) E.Sanders 11 YD TD Reception 0 17 3:25 (MIA) D.Bess 7 YD TD Reception 7 17 0:07 (MIA) B.Marshall 3 YD TD Reception 14 17 THIRD QUARTER SCORING MIA PIT 9:10 (MIA) R.Bush 21 YD TD Run 21 17 3:25 (PIT) S.Graham 40 YD FG 21 20 FOURTH QUARTER SCORING MIA PIT 9:10 (MIA) D.Carpenter 33 YD FG 24 20 Miami Dolphins PASSING C/A YDS TD INT C.Henne 19/27 242 2 1 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD R.Bush 16 104 6.5 1 D.Thomas 13 52 3.9 0 C.Henne 3 8 2.6 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD B.Marshall 9 85 9.4 1 D.Bess 4 54 13.5 1 R.Bush 2 9 4.5 0 A.Fasano 2 17 8.5 0 B.Hartline 2 77 38.5 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD V.Davis 5 0 1 0 C.Wake 5 1 0 0 K.Dansby 4 0 0 0 K.Misi 3 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG D.Carpenter 1/2 3/3 5 33 Pittsburgh Steelers PASSING C/A YDS TD INT B.Roethlisberger 19/30 225 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD R.Mendenhall 22 87 3.9 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD M.Wallace 8 160 20.0 0 R.Mendenhall 4 20 5.0 0 J.Cotchery 4 25 6.2 0 E.Sanders 1 11 11.0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD L.Woodley 7 2 0 0 L.Timmons 7 0 0 0 M.Harris 5 0 0 0 I.taylor 4 0 0 0 K.Dockery 4 0 0 0 J.Farrior 3 0 0 0 T.Polamalu 1 0 1 1 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG S.Graham 2/2 2/2 8 45

"What a wild trip this season is has been, the Cardiac Fins do it again"

Reggie Bush got off the team bus in front of the Crown Marriot Resort as the Dolphins flew into town for their Sunday afternoon divisonal match up against the 13-3 and overall number one seeded Steelers. Bush was wrapped up in 3 layers of sweaters, and a long trench winter coat. "Damn boy it is freezing...I can't feel my nose!" Bush was coming off a very sub par game vs the Colts in their previous wildcard win and vowed to his teamates during this weeks practices that he would make an impact and help the Dolphins pull off yet another improbable playoff win.

Things did not start off that way. Arriving early the Dolphins were greeted by snow storms and high speed winds bringing the wind chill down to -2 degrees. The field was covered in white powder and the side lines were all piled high against the lower level walls. This was going to be a Steeler kind of day and it looked like the writing was on the wall.

The Steel Curtain defense made their presence felt early as the Troy Polamalu took a Henne pass intended for Brian Hartline 53 yards for a pick six to start the scoring early for the Steelers. Up until that point the Fins were moving the ball on their initial game opening drive.

3 and out and the Steelers went to work again. Mike Wallace was getting involved early and Mendenhall was trucking through the Dolphins front 7. Shane Graham finished off the Steelers first drive with a FG.

Another quick 3 and out for the Fins and the Steelers went to work. Rothlisberger this time hit a streaking Mike Wallce to get down to the Dolphins 11 yard line. Wallace got around a slipping Vonte Davis and hauled in the perfect strike for a massive 60 yard gain. A TD saving tackle was made by a deep angle taken by C.Clemons at FS who managed to shove Wallace out at the 11. On the very next snap Big Ben hit E.Sanders for an easy 11 yard TD.

Steelers 17

Dolphins 0

The Fins were reeling at this point. Heinz field was in a frenzy, snowballs were being thrown up in the air, people in the stands were shouting at the dejected Dolphins bench things I can't write.

Tony Sprano got together with his offense on the sideline and was seen talking to them in a huddle and imploring them to fight. Chad Henne was then seen viewing photos and sitting next to Brandon Marshall and Reggie Bush going over formations and what the Steelers were doing to shut them down at this point.

The Dolphins got the ball back in the second quarter with a little over 5 minutes left. Henne was finding a tad more time to throw and was hitting and featuring Brandon Marshall. The Fins were finally getting something going against this ferocious Pittsburgh defense. The drive culminated with a scoring strike to Davone Bess.

After the ensuing kickoff the Steelers were looking for a knockout blow. Up 17-7 Big ben dropped back to throw and was waiting for a streaking Mike Wallace to get behind Vonte Davis. Instead Cameron Wake beared down on his blind side and crushed the normally tought to bring down QB. Not only did he hammer him but he jarred the ball loose on this snowy slippery day and Kendall Langford was right there to fall on it. The Dolphins had the ball inside the Steelers 20. The drive was capped off by a pin point perfect fade route to a leaping Brandon Marshall and the half ended with a stunned Pittsburgh crowd as again the Cardiac Dolphins erased a double digit defecit

Halftime

Steelers 17

Dolphins 14

The Steelers had a quick drive that ended in a punt and The Fins went to work. This time they looked to establish the running game. And indeed Reggie Bush came to play today. He was slashign and cutting and was starting to find some room as the Dolphins OL was stepping up. Bush was featured on the drive and took a simple HB toss and sprinted 21 yards to paydirt to cap off a stoic smash mouth 70 yard drive.

The Dolphins now took thier first lead and would never let it go the rest of the way.

The Fins defense proceeded to shut down, frustrated and close the door on what was a great year for the Steelers.

The Dolphins had done what was thought the impossible. Go into a snowy freezing cold heinz field and beat the heavily favored (-12 points before kickoff) Steelers.

The Dolphins now moved on to Kansas City for the AFC championship.


Tony Sprano understands what the KC Chiefs are all about. Jamal Charles left, right and in the passing game and sprinkle in some Dwyane Bowe down the field.

It did not matter. The amazing ride of the Miami Dolphins would come to an end in the AFC Championship. The Chiefs raced out to a 24-0 first half lead. Nothing was working for Chad Henne. He threw 4 first half INT's and may have sealed his fate as his contract is in it's final year. Although Henne had a decent season, his untimly turnovers were the main culprit of 7 of their regular season losses. And it again reared it's ugly head in the most improtant game of his career. He looked nothing like the QB who had led this improbable run in into the post season. Henne was very down and glum in the locker room after this 24-14 loss in the AFC championship. He had the look of a guy who feels his time may be up.

Amazing as it may seem, the Dolphins have been heavily scouting QB's and have been rumored to be very interested in Vince Young who is a pending free agent this upcoming off season.

It will be intersting to see what the Dolphins do in the draft and free agency.

A full off-season report will come this evening as I have already conducted my entire off-season and I will leave you with this....it was a very succesful draft as we did nab a QB of the future in the 4th round. The kid who will be presented later looks like a massive gem who was overlooked by every team for 3 rounds. But thanks to some great scouting I think the Dolphins have hit on what may be a franchise QB. I can also tell you the Dolphins did have an active free agency auction.

Details on major player movement and the new Dolphins roster for season 2 coming soon.


In summary. year one of the Dolphins was a major success going 9-7 and getting much farther than anyone (including myself) had ever expected. An AFC championship apprearance was a major accomplishment. But getting the franchise QB was priority one as Chad Henne is not the long term answer. He did a good job, but truly blew it in his biggest game of his young career. He was awful in crunch time and made some horrendous inaccurate throws. I was really upset he fell on his face as I wanted him to really emerge and lead this team to it's first Super Bowl birth since 1984 and first title since 1973.

It was not meant to be and the Dolphins have moved on....and moved Henne as well in the off season. Chad was traded to the Colts for a 4th round pick.

Season 2 coming up.

[belucheez]

The Cincinnati Bengals are now 6-0 after defeating the (now previously undefeated) Indianapolis Colts in a sad stomping. The Bengals, with Andy Dalton at the helm, came out on fire and ran up 35 points in the first half. The starters were benched half-way through the 3rd and still ended up winning 49-9. The Bengals lead the AFC North with the Steelers in tow at 5-1.

Notable Break-out players on the Bengals so far this season.

Andy Dalton 1k passing yards. 7 passing touchdowns. (300+ passing yards against the Colts.)

Cedric Benson leads the league in rushing at about 800+ yards. 12 touchdowns. (Gets it at the goal line all the time.

Terrell Owens. Starting receiver. 27 catches. 3 touchdown catches.

Domata Peko NINE SACKS

Keith Rivers 3 ints. Most on the team. I'm really surprised to be honest. He is always in the right place.

Rey Maualuga is the leading tackler on my team.

[skeletore2002]

Would really like to start a Dolphins or Chiefs franchise, but don't want to play all my home games in the rain. So now I'm trying to decide between Vikings, Texans, or maybe Broncos. Any suggestions?

[Cre8]

Quote: Originally Posted by skeletore2002

Would really like to start a Dolphins or Chiefs franchise, but don't want to play all my home games in the rain. So now I'm trying to decide between Vikings, Texans, or maybe Broncos. Any suggestions?

Broncos would be cool... A lot of room to improve and interesting stories you could make.

[canes2010]

I just got the game and finished my first season with the Cowboys, went 15-1 in the regular season, went to the Superbowl against the Ravens and lost 27-24 in OT with 2 seconds remaining. I played the season on All-Pro and went to All-Madden in the playoffs. I couldn't stop Ray Rice, he had like 30 carries for 250 yards and 2 TD's on me. Starting season two tomorrow.