[PGaither84]

One thing I tried that has worked is in regards to your play calling/play style and stick skills. I had the same problem, used Bill's Sliders and made a number of modifications of my own [I use 15min quarters] and I have had games of 16-13, 17-14, 13-9, etc. Not all of my games, but a number of them end this way.

One of the solutions, is how you, the user, play. In my experiance the computer likes to go tit for tat with you as much as it can. If you drive down and score on your opening drive the computer tries to respond with a score of their own. If you are forced to punt, the computer will often settle for a punt. First drives by the computer are often hard to stop but the suddenly the offense backs off if you in turn were forced to punt in a 3 and out. Suddenly the unstopable force of the computer goes away and sort of waits for you to get your offense going again.

If you find yourself punting over and over again with very few first downs the computer will take advantage and get some points on you and can actually win games. On the flip side if you find your self taking a strong lead off the computer playing poorly, suddenly the computer will out of the blue just turn it on and go on a scoring rampage.

The other thing that helps when I talk about play calling is to not always go for the bit TD pass, not to hold sprint to get 6 against poor pursuit angles, and most importantly, on 3rd and 4 or less, run the ball. A user here by the name of Beardown also said something he does is uses only "Ask Madden" to call the plays pretending that "Ask Madden" is the coach seending plays in and it is our job to run them. This helps in keeping us honest and not cllling "money plays" agaisnt the computer as well. In the case that Ask Madden suggests you call a play you have already, remember that there are like 6 to choose from, pick one you haven't yet.

With my custom QB Accuracy for user/computer set to 22 and WR catching set to 45, I find that on average, both you and the computer complete around 60-65% of your passes as long as you don't call flats and drags all game long.

I hope all of this helps. it has helped me play more realistic games on trhe field agaisnt the computer and that in turn has help result in far more realistic stats. No longer do I see user/computer Safties and corner backs as the tackle leaders because you blow by the front 7 on a run and complete passes virtually negating linebackers and defensive linemen.