How's Your Franchise Going- Madden 12 Edition

[JHeyBraves]

Titans Update - Year 10
Week 14 - Titans (8-4) @ Ravens (7-5)

What began as such a promising year has begun to snowball downhill. The team hit the mid-season point at 7-1, but have lost three of the last four games. The road wouldn't get any easier as a trip to Baltimore was next on the schedule. The Ravens, on the other hand, had won four of their last five to take control of the AFC North.

Coach Ed Reed has been working hard with the secondary over the past few years and it is paying off. Headlined by SS Sam Carter (96), FS Avery Ivery (94) and CB Morris Claiborne (94), this defense is stout.

The first quarter was nearly dead with both teams taking turns punting the ball back-and-forth.

The Ravens would strike first early in the second quarter as QB Carlos Parks started finding his receivers and Ray Rice began to find his groove. Rice would later score on a 20-yd TD run to give the birds an early 7-0 lead.

Locker and company would respond on a five minute drive, picking up five first downs in the process and culminating with a 16-yd screen pass to fourth-string back Ronnie Hillman to tie it up at 7-7.

In the final two minutes of the half, Locker was moving the offense down the field. He threw a classic Locker pass that was intended for an open Victor Cruz but ended up in the arms of Morris Claiborne for a pick, ending any hopes of gaining a lead heading to halftime. The teams went to the locker rooms deadlocked at 7-7.

While there wasn't much action in the half, Gibson was on a tear, racking up eight tackles. On the other side, it was OLB Tyrone Crawford who accounted for four tackles and two sacks. Gibson and Crawford would continue duking it out in the second half.

The third quarter was much like the first - both defenses standing strong. With a few minutes remaining in the quarter, Locker did it again. This time, he was looking for TE Erickson over the middle when Claiborne jumped the pass for his second pick in Baltimore territory.

The Ravens began the fourth with the ball. Their offense was moving again behind Ray Rice. After picking up a few first downs, QB Parks hit TE Ed Dickson on a slant, who proceeded to get lit up by Gibson, bringing up a fourth and inches. Being smart in a low-scoring affair, the Ravens kicked a FG to take a 10-7 lead with eight minutes remaining.

Locker wouldn't respond. He threw three straight erratic incompletions to bring up a punting situation to give Baltimore the ball back.

Then Gibson struck.

On second down, Rice headed up the middle and Gibson filled the hole, crushing Rice to force a fumble that was recovered by Von Miller at midfield.

Locker completed a pass to Cruz for a first down. From there, the running game was stuffed to setup a 52-yd FG that was drilled by Alex Henery to tie it up at 10-10, now with five minutes remaining in the game.

Neither team would even pass midfield for the rest of the quarter and this one would be decided in OT.

The Titans won the toss. The drive stalled quickly and forced a punt. Gibson made three straight tackles to force a three-and-out for the Ravens. With Locker struggling, we go to the ground game but the Ravens are all over it, setting up a third-and-long. As if right on cue, Tyrone Crawford, who had been huge getting pressure off the edge all day, struck again. He beat RT Wilkins again and took advantage of his free shot at Locker, stripping the ball from Locker on a sack. And who was in the right place at the right time? Haloti Ngata - the guy who had been clogging up running lanes all day. Like a fine wine, Ngata only gets better with age. Ngata picks up the ball and takes it 39 yards to the house for a 16-10 OT win for Baltimore. Argh.

With the loss, the Titans are having a second half collapse similar to last season. It is the third straight loss, and fourth in the last five games.

Gibson had a great game, accumulating 16 tackles and the forced fumble. He has come back from his broken ribs on an absolute tear, posting his third straight 15+ tackle game (61 in the past four games) and regaining the DPOY voting lead in the process.

On the other side, OLB Tyrone Crawford killed my O-line. He had 8 tackles, 3 sacks and the forced fumble that led to the game-winning TD in OT. CB Claiborne added 8 tackles and two picks. The safeties, who get some nice boosts from their HOF coach, tallied nine (FS Ivery) and ten (SS Carter) tackles. Ray Rice was the star of offense, picking up 103 yards and a TD on 21 carries.

The Titans have let the Jags back into the Playoff push with both teams now sporting identical 8-5 records with three weeks to play. The offense is sputtering again, ranking 30th in points scored. Luckily, the defense continues to bail them out by allowing fewer points than any other team in the league. The team will need to formulate a similar recipe to last year if they hope to defend their title.

On a high note, this happened a few weeks ago:

All-Time Career Interception Leaders
1) Paul Krause, MIN 81
2) Emlen Tunnell, NYG 79
3) Rod Woodson, PIT 71
4) Champ Bailey, DEN 69
T-5) Darrelle Revis, TEN 68
T-5) Asante Samuel, PHI 68
T-5) Dick Lane, DET 68

[Jarodd21]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheShizNo1

Can you not access sliders from within franchise mode? Or will they carry over from when I adjust them outside of it?

Yeah they carry over from when you adjust them outside of franchise mode. You can do it in game but from my experience with doing that the CPU starts to play like crap for that game so I adjust the sliders outside of franchise mode.

[m1j1browning]

After a very successful (in my opinion) draft, here are my starters for Season 2:

QB- Z.Stephens (82A) Drafted Round 2
HB- D.Parker (85A) Drafted Round 3
FB- Karney (87B)
WR- V.Jackson (88A)
WR- S.Johnson (85A)
WR- D.Andrews (84A) Drafted Round 4
TE- A.Hernandez (90A)
LT- B.Lewis (79A) Drafted Round 3
LG- K.Clayton (84A) Drafted Round 6
C- J.Beasley (84A) Drafted Round 2
RG- Waters (86B) Free Agent Pick Up
RT- Johnson (82B) Not sure where he came from, think Free Agent

LE- T.Washington (94A) Drafted Round 3 (Actually an 84A LOLB)
RE- S.Merriman (85A)
DT- Williams (93A)
LOLB- B.Spikes (84A) Free Agent Pick Up
MLB- P.Posluzny (87A)
MLB- B.Stanley (83A) Drafted Round 2
ROLB- M.Colson (86A) Drafted Round 1
CB- D.Berry (80A) Drafted Round 2
CB- J.Brooks (77A) Drafted Round 3

FS- Byrd (84A)
D.Whitner (85A)


As you can see I had a lot of draft picks, particularly in rounds 2 and 3, mainly from trading away surplus players at the end of the season, or trading 1 pick for multiple picks. It might be a tough season while the rookies bed in, but hopefully we'll be a lot stronger for it come the end of it. Clayton was a great sleeper pick for me getting a starter in round 6. Hopefully my new QB will prove better than Fitzpatrick who I may well trade away.

Shockingly the OVR rating of my team has fallen by 2 points despite me stronger in every position aside from CB. Strange. I wonder how that's calculated.

Kind of totally destroyed the realism but as I said, trying to build my own team anyway.

[Jarodd21]

Quote: Originally Posted by m1j1browning

After a very successful (in my opinion) draft, here are my starters for Season 2: QB- Z.Stephens (82A) Drafted Round 2 HB- D.Parker (85A) Drafted Round 3 FB- Karney (87B) WR- V.Jackson (88A) WR- S.Johnson (85A) WR- D.Andrews (84A) Drafted Round 4 TE- A.Hernandez (90A) LT- B.Lewis (79A) Drafted Round 3 LG- K.Clayton (84A) Drafted Round 6 C- J.Beasley (84A) Drafted Round 2 RG- Waters (86B) Free Agent Pick Up RT- Johnson (82B) Not sure where he came from, think Free Agent LE- T.Washington (94A) Drafted Round 3 (Actually an 84A LOLB) RE- S.Merriman (85A) DT- Williams (93A) LOLB- B.Spikes (84A) Free Agent Pick Up MLB- P.Posluzny (87A) MLB- B.Stanley (83A) Drafted Round 2 ROLB- M.Colson (86A) Drafted Round 1 CB- D.Berry (80A) Drafted Round 2 CB- J.Brooks (77A) Drafted Round 3 FS- Byrd (84A) D.Whitner (85A) As you can see I had a lot of draft picks, particularly in rounds 2 and 3, mainly from trading away surplus players at the end of the season, or trading 1 pick for multiple picks. It might be a tough season while the rookies bed in, but hopefully we'll be a lot stronger for it come the end of it. Clayton was a great sleeper pick for me getting a starter in round 6. Hopefully my new QB will prove better than Fitzpatrick who I may well trade away. Shockingly the OVR rating of my team has fallen by 2 points despite me stronger in every position aside from CB. Strange. I wonder how that's calculated. Kind of totally destroyed the realism but as I said, trying to build my own team anyway.

Damn looks like you drafted all the top players in that draft to your team... Every player you drafted was an A potential.. You must have did some great scouting..

[m1j1browning]

Yep, I had a spreadsheet of all the players who were likely to be the best in their positions, when they were projected to go etc. I got most of the players I targetted too, but it helped having so many picks. I was surprised how easy the CPU gave them up after the season ended. I had the maximum allowed 20 picks, of which I retained 18 of the players cutting the last 2. There are a few Bs in there but they aren't starters. Only a couple of old guys in there now (Waters and Spikes) with Karney being 30... so we're looking a lot better for the future, although we may lose a lot in this transition season. Patriots are our first game... talk about a baptism of fire!

[Jarodd21]

Quote: Originally Posted by m1j1browning

Yep, I had a spreadsheet of all the players who were likely to be the best in their positions, when they were projected to go etc. I got most of the players I targetted too, but it helped having so many picks. I was surprised how easy the CPU gave them up after the season ended. I had the maximum allowed 20 picks, of which I retained 18 of the players cutting the last 2. There are a few Bs in there but they aren't starters. Only a couple of old guys in there now (Waters and Spikes) with Karney being 30... so we're looking a lot better for the future, although we may lose a lot in this transition season. Patriots are our first game... talk about a baptism of fire!

Well if you need some sliders to match up with this power house team you just put together you should check out one of my four sliders..

http://www.operationsports.com/forum...m-sliders.html

[m1j1browning]

I'm probably not good enough at the game for slider that make it even harder than All Madden at this point, but if and when I get good enough I'll be sure to give them a go. Thanks.

[Jarodd21]

Quote: Originally Posted by m1j1browning

I'm probably not good enough at the game for slider that make it even harder than All Madden at this point, but if and when I get good enough I'll be sure to give them a go. Thanks.

I have 4 sets.. The green set is not harder then All-Madden. It's for All-Madden beginners.. The Red set is about even with All-Madden with a few adjustments to make the gameplay better.. My blue and black set are harder then All-Madden.. What level are you playing on now?