How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

I'm very curious to know how people's franchises in Madden are doing. I know there's a dynasty forum, but it seems there's more NCAA in there than Madden and it's much more story driven.

But I'm curious what year you're in, how your draft picks have panned out, has anyone exceeded your expectations or disappointed you tremendously.

Have you hired/fired any coaches, got any great F/A pick ups. Anyone dealing with any nasty injuries? Anyone stuck in Salary Cap Hell?

How has your team performed overall? Are you winning playoff games? Have you won the Super Bowl? Are you still having fun?

Re: How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

2-4 with the titans, with wins over the colts and pats (really.) I think all but 1 (mark sanchez) of the Qb's I've faced has had over 100.0 QB-rating. Brady and manning combined for like 60/78 for 700yards and 7 tds, and I still managed to win both games thanks to CJ and some lucky defensive breaks.

Currently scouting CB's, a few SS's and center/guards for the offseason.

Re: How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

My first season with the Cowboys I went 8-8. I had one of the worst defenses in the league, I could not stop the run for nothing. In the off-season I hired Dick Le Beau as my head coach and penned Ron Rivieria to run the defense. I put my emphasis on defense in the offseason. I drafted Brandon Spikes in the 1st round, I use him at MLB and OLB, he has been amazing. I drafted Kam Chancellor in the 2nd, he was my starting FS because I let Ken Hamlin go. He had two picks and two FF's in eight games but then he fractured his hip and is out for the year.

Now I have one of the top-5 defenses in the league along with one of the top-5 offenses. I am currently sitting at 9-2 in my second season. It has been alot of fun. But I have had to work hard on the salary cap, I had to sign guys like Mark Colombo, Ken Hamlin, Patrick Crayton, to one year deals to ease the cap. This offseason I will have to do the same again.

Re: How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

I started a Panthers season yesterday. I am currently 2-2 on All-Pro settings, using 7 min qtrs. CPU AI is set on default except I knocked pass blocking down to 30 so I could at least get some sort of pressure.

I can't stop the pass to save my life. I should be 4-0 but I gave up an onside kick to the Falcons, who promptly went down and scored in the last 30 seconds.

I was up on Dallas 12-7 (4 FG's -- oyy). I used poor clock management. Had the ball in Dallas territory with less than four minutes to go and was forced to punt while running very little time off the clock. Dallas drove down and scored with 47 seconds left. They went for two on the conversion and didn't make it.

I am loving this game the more I play. DeAngelo Williams and James Stewart are sweet. Williams is averaging 137 yards a game and has 9 rushing TD's. In the Dallas loss, he was held to 47 yards, which was pretty sweet.

Cannot wait for the patch. I plan on using Denver, finishing a previous Bears' franchise and may even use Miami....I sure hope EA adds more uniforms....

Re: How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

Im on like my 5th franchise but this time I controlled all the teams. My first year with the bucs I simulated and went 3-13 was 3rd ovr in the draft. Right now I am a suprising 7-4 but the remaining games are going to be tough I will probally finish 8-8 maybe 9-7. I drafted a ton of defensive players and really made my d solid with 2 DE's one is 77 with B pot and one is a DE that I converted to a DT at 6'4 290 he was a 68 DE but when I put him at DT he was 75 with A pot. I drafted a MLB that was fast so I figured that I could move him to OLB and he was 71 at mlb but 75 at olb only C pot though. I like him and he is fast so everyone doesn't have to be a A pot to be good. I drafted a WR in the first that is going to be a monster. I have some more holes to fill but I think I had a good draft for the bucs.

Re: How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

I'm really enjoying my franchise. In my first season with the Skins, JC went down so I played with the innaccurate Colt Brennan. My passing game was awful, but CP had 1200 yards and went to the Pro Bowl. I went 10-6 and won the wild-card game, but ended up losing to the Cardinals. They passed so well so early in the game, so I had to pass. It wasn't pretty.

My second year, CP really struggled. I think he had maybe 600 yards. I brought in James Davis (from Cleveland) and he played well in the #2 spot. I moved him to #1 for a few games, but he struggled and Portis spelled him well. So, first playoff game I started Portis and he got hurt. Broken collar bone. Done for the year. Fortunately, I drafted a pretty good QB and got to the Super Bowl with very little ground game. Lost to the Pats and their high-scoring offense. Damn that Wes Welker.

After that loss, I drafted Dez Bryant with my round 1 pick (not sure how he dropped, although he's only 68 OVR). Then I traded for JQ Shipley from Texas who is the perfect slot receiver. This season has been pretty great. I'm 7-1. I've had some blowouts (I put up 52 on the Cowboys) and I've had some really close games (the Cardinals now have Matt Hasslebeck. I won by one point.) My only loss was the last game I played yesterday. It was to the Ravens. Ray Rice was running all over the place. Had over 150 rushing and a nice 75+ yard TD off a screen pass. Their d-line crushed me and Flacco aired it out pretty good. They had my defense on their heals for most of the game. Lost 31-17.

All in all I'm happy with this years Madden. It's really enjoyable for me still.

Re: How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

Still looking for a QB I really don't know about J. Freeman I like his arm but I do not know if he is the guy for me. I like to have a mobile QB. i had J. Johnson starting but he went down with a broken arm. I like to run the ball and playaction. Short routes and the running game and freeman is more of a pocket/slinger just not my style of play. I also have my sliders so that I do not have a ton of time in the pocket.

Re: How's everyone's offline franchise going?
 

I'm the Raiders....enough said.

4 years completed and we haven't even sniffed the playoffs. :( Actually last year we finished 9-7 but missed out on the playoffs by one game.

Only bright spot is that Michael Bush just competed in his 2nd straight Pro Bowl. :)