How's Your Franchise Going- Madden 12 Edition

[Franchise408]

Made a couple roster moves going into Detroit.

Signed Joey Galloway to fill the hole left by Braylon's injury... also signed Aaron Brown, a young halfback with good speed and a solid catch rating. Gonna give the kid a shot as my 3rd down back catching passes out of the backfield, see what he's got.

Looks like Matthew Stafford is injured going into the game though. Looks like Detroit is trotting out Troy Smith as their starter.

[Franchise408]

Holy **** this last game was just... you'll just have to read for yourself. Controllers were about thrown.

The tone for the rest of the game was set from the opening kickoff when Ted Ginn found a hole and took it the distance. The Lions would answer back with a big 39 yard pass from Troy Smith to Calvin Johnson for a TD. Following that, Alex Smith found Vernon Davis for a 61 yard catch and run to retake the lead.

The teams continued trading scores through the 2nd quarter. Troy Smith found Brandon Pettigrew for a 17 yard TD, and the 49ers would answer with Alex Smith finding Michael Crabtree for the receiver's first TD of the season. Calvin Johnson would end the half with his 2nd TD of the game. The game went into halftime tied at 21 each.

The 3rd quarter was largely uneventful, but Jahvid Best would finally find the endzone, giving the Lions a 28-21 lead.

Alex Smith would once again tie the game, scoring on a 9 yard scramble. With the game now tied at 28-28, the Lions took the lead on a 49 yard field goal.

2:57 remaining in the game, Lions lead 31-28. It's been an exciting, back and forth game up to this point, right? You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Alex Smith and Frank Gore take control, leading the 49ers into scoring position. Deep into Lions' territory, Alex Smith would find Michael Crabtree for his 2nd TD of the game, absolutely threading the needle, completing the pass into double coverage. A great throw, and a great grab.

32 seconds remaining. 49ers kickoff. Touchback. In 18 seconds, the Lions would move the ball 80 yards and score a touchdown to take the lead. Troy Smith would find Stovall for a 42 yard TD strike.

14 seconds remaining. Detroit leads 38-35. Lions squib kick. The 49ers get the ball at their own 41 yard line.

Alex Smith takes the snap out of the shotgun. He fires over the middle. He's got a man. Vernon Davis makes the leaping grab... AND THERE'S NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM! VERNON DAVIS IS GONNA SCORE!

59 yards. Vernon Davis found a seam in the defense and completely got past everyone. Alex Smith made the toss, and Vernon finished the job.

49ers lead 42-38 with 6 seconds left. Kickoff, touchback.

5 seconds left. Lions have the ball. Troy Smith takes the snap... he fires deep...

And the ball falls incomplete as the final seconds tick off the clock.

After seemingly blowing the game with 15 seconds remaining, the 49ers were able to quick strike to take the lead and hold on.

The 49ers now go into the bye week 3-3, half a game out of 1st place. The Seahawks and Cardinals are both tied for first place at 3-2.

Alex Smith finished the game 12-20, 300 yards, 4 TD's (plus 1 rushing TD) and only 1 INT.

Frank Gore had 11 rushes for 59 yards. Once the game turned into a shootout, the running game ceased to be a focus. But Gore is beginning to increase his average (see: I found an exploit play )

Michael Crabtree continues his incredible season, getting 121 yards and 2 TD's on 6 receptions.

Vernon Davis had an even better game, grabbing 162 yards and 2 TD's on only 4 catches.

Joey Galloway had 1 reception for 14 yards in his 49ers debut.

The 49ers pass rush continues to be strong. Ahmad Brooks in particular is having a great stretch of games. In Detroit, Brooks got to the QB 3 times, and over the course of the last 3 games has 7 sacks. Patrick Willis added another 2 sacks, and rookie Aldon Smith recorded another sack as well.

The defense continues to not force many turnovers.

After 6 weeks (going into the 49ers' bye week), Michael Crabtree continues to dominate the NFL in receiving. He's #1 in receptions (48), and #1 in yards (751).

Vernon Davis is #9 in receptions with 32, #2 in receiving yards with 552, and #2 in receiving TD's with 5.

As such, Alex Smith is actually #1 in the NFL in passing yards with 1790, and #4 in the NFL in TD's (10). Unfortunately, he also leads the league in INT's with 11.

The run game is struggling; Frank Gore has only 90 carries for 314 yards and 2 TD's. Unless the San Francisco running game catches fire, it's unlikely that Frank Gore is going to reach the 1000 yard mark.

The 49ers have the #32 defense in yards and points allowed, and the #31 defense in rush yards allowed, and #27 in passing yards allowed. Meanwhile, they are #2 in the NFL in sacks.

[R9NALD9]

I played my 4th preseason game of my 49ers franchise last night...and talk about an ugly football game...

49ers at Chargers

Since it's the 3rd stringers playing the whole game...it was a mess. I did find it funny though to play against Tolzien who the 49ers just signed in real life.

Anyways, it was 3 and out all over the place. Missed field goals as the punters took goal kicking duties and 2 yard long punts because the kickers took over punting duties. The Chargers had more success moving the ball and eventually scored on a 24yard run. Chargers up 7-0.

Hunter struggled big time for me, if he gained one yard on his runs I was happy about it. At the start of the second quarter, after stinking it up up untill that point, McCowan threw to Ginn, who sidesteps the CB and takes it all the way to the house for a 80yard TD reception. Game tied 7-7.

Then both teams started to stink it up all over the place, though the Chargers were able to get a first down here and there. McCowan and Hunter couldnt' get anything moving. After McCowan threw his 3rd INT of the game at the end of the 3rd I replaced him with Kaepernick.

Start of the 4th quarter, Hunter breaks lose and scores on a 69 yard TD run...he would eventually finish the game with 89 yards on 18 carries and one TD and 3 fumbles. Subtract the 69 yarder and you'll see how he struggled.

Anyway, I took it downfield for a field goal to make the score 17-7. With 5 minutes left the Chargers scored a TD on a pass.

I tried running down the clock and with 1 minute left but couldn't and the Chargers took it downfield with a monster of a pass to get the field goal and sending us into overtime with the score 17-17.

In overtime we stunk it up big time...eventually Kaepernick threw his first INT in the game and the Chargers converted field goal to win 20-17.

I was impressed with Kaepernick in the game though.

After making my final cuts I decided to add Max Starks to LT for added depth and signed Kelvin Hardy as well for some improvements to my CB's.

I'm not confident going into the season at all. The only turnovers my defense got were from fumbles, not one interception. That's right, not even one. My offense is also very stop start, especially my rushing seems to be very inconsistent.

[JBH3]

Anyone notice how new players are not given new numbers? At least that is how it was with Jarrard Page and another Eagle on my squad. Page wore #25 with the Chiefs, and maintained that number with the Eagles....ONLY....that is LeSean McCoy's number.

[Pringles]

Ok my franchise is 3 games old i am a long time gamer since atari 2600 colecovision days and intellivision, lol i am old, but i still love to game 45 yrs old played every madden this by far is the funest and has the potential to a lot greater anyways i decided not to use my homer lions and build a franchise that is worse off so i went with the browns.

out of the 2 home games it has rained i am hoping that will stop at some point
i play 13 min QTR on all pro level only tweeks i make is penalty so that there are realistic i fake hike even though i know it wont do anything but put me in the hole but thought it was fair because the cpu ai does it even though it currently is broke. threshold 35.
hillis and mark ingram my running backs,

first game Browns 19 Bengals 16 overtime 2nd game at lucas field i did see all the oil spots like others have mentioned but i think it is EA'S attempt to show field dedigration only problem is it should show late in a game not at the beginning of it. 2nd game colts 26 browns 49 kicked there buzz on the ground but peyton threw for 426 yrds he was sacked like 5 times and he threw 3 int.

last game score was browns 62 dolphins 19 i had 49 at the half i noticed you can blow teams out of the water pretty fast with this game once you rattle the other qb game over. it needs to be tweaked down i think anyways the game is a blast to play.

[Pezell04x]

Quote: Originally Posted by beanh8er

What I found strange is my new found ability to run the ball. I had a 15+ yard average with Tiki on all-madden. I was also able to run in my first preseason game with Devine and Reggie. Is it my O-Line with an average overall of 89 plus Fasano being a good blocker and Polite as well, or is anyone else having a lot of success running?

I had some success in Week 1 against the Patriots. Reggie ran for over 100 yards (121 on 20-something carries). Thomas, not so much. He had about 30 yards on 10 carries and LJ didn't see the field.

Fasano and Polite are great run blockers. Have you used the wildcat yet with the Dolphins? I use it with Bush as the primary RB and Thomas as the player who motions, and it was pretty successful. It was the first play we ran and Bush gained about 30 yards before being brought down.

It wasn't very successful after the first one, though.

I'm enjoying the Dolphins, but they need a QB desperately. Hoping to get Luck in the offseason draft.

[MizzouRah]

Quote: Originally Posted by JBH3

Anyone notice how new players are not given new numbers? At least that is how it was with Jarrard Page and on other Eagle on my squad. Page wore #25 with the Chiefs, and maintained that number with the Eagles....ONLY....that is LeSean McCoy's number.

Yes.. I've played several teams that have players with the same jersey number. I had to go into instant replay to see if a RB was also playing defense, turns out they have the same number. How hard is that to program?

[beanh8er]

Anyone else get ridiculous injuries? Two guys Daniel Thomas and Reggie Bush get fractured elbows. How many fractured elbows are there in a year? I get injuries left and right.
I used the wildcat online with great success. Reggie as the move man and DThom as the point man. I averaged over 250 yards per game. Good for 310th in the world after 13 games. Reggie had 324 yards on 8 carries(not a typo). With Larry Johnson at 74 yards on 12 carries.