So I played against Ben Roethlisburger and the Steelers in the Super Bowl. It was a long and hard fought game, but I eventually prevailed, winning by a score of 38-30. The Steelers went up on me early with a first play from scrimmage 80 yard bomb TD to DeSean Jackson, to which I responded with my own 76 yard TD pass to Dez Bryant. The Steelers then put together a solid drive on me to score another TD and on my ensuing possession, Trent Richardson cut a beautiful 71 yard run up the middle through the tackles, only to fumble near the sideline at the 5 yard line right into the hands of the guy that tackled him (EA could work on that a little, the defender stripped T.Rich, fell underneath Richardson's body, 'physics leaked' through the 200lb guy sitting on top of him, got to his feet, and made the recovery all before the ball went out of bounds. This whole feat took less than one second to happen, kind of wish I had saved the replay but oh well). I managed to shut the Steelers down offensively for the next two quarters while I made my way back into the game and eventually won through solid, safe passing (mostly) and more T Rich runs.
Box Score!
| Pittsburgh Steelers at Chicago Bears |
| Feb 1, 2015 | 1ST | 2ND | 3RD | 4TH | SCORE |
| Pittsburgh Steelers (9-6-1) | 17 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 30 |
| Chicago Bears (12-4) | 14 | 7 | 10 | 7 | 38 |
| Team Stats Comparison |
| PIT | CHI |
| Total Offense | 384 | 515 |
| Rushing Yards | 105 | 198 |
| Passing Yards | 279 | 317 |
| First Downs | 16 | 19 |
| Punt Return Yards | 33 | 52 |
| Kick Return Yards | 155 | 123 |
| Total Yards | 572 | 690 |
| Turnovers | 2(-) | 2(-) |
| 3rd Down Converstion | 7-14(50%) | 5-11(45%) |
| 4th Down Conversion | 1-2(50%) | 0-0 |
| 2-Point Conversion | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Red Zone Touchdowns/Field Goals | 2/2 | 2/1 |
| Penalties | 3-35 | 4-50 |
| Posession Time | 21:24 | 18:36 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Ben Roethlisburger | 26/39 | 301 | 3 | 2 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Beanie Wells | 18 | 78 | 4.3 | 0 | | Rashad Bacon | 5 | 27 | 5.4 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | DeSean Jackson | 7 | 122 | 17.4 | 1 | | Ted Ginn | 5 | 81 | 16.2 | 1 | | Denarius Moore | 5 | 39 | 7.8 | 0 | | Brandon Pettigrew | 4 | 24 | 6.0 | 1 | | Eddrick Hightower | 3 | 15 | 5.0 | 0 | | Beanie Wells | 2 | 20 | 10.0 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Brian Orakpo | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Isaac Sopoaga | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Daryl Washington | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Mike Devito | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Matt Roth | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Cam Thomas | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Shaun Phillips | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Tim Jennings | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Casey Hayward | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Christopher Owens | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Reggie Nelson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Reggie Smith | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Phil Dawson | 3/3 | 3/3 | 12 | 51 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Brandon Fields | 6 | 289 | 48.2 | 1 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | DeSean Jackson | 3 | 87 | 29.0 | 0 | | Ted Ginn | 3 | 68 | 22.7 | 0 | | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | DeSean Jackson | 3 | 33 | 11.0 | 0 |
| | Chicago Bears | | PASSING | C/A | YDS | TD | INT | | Konnor Shepard | 25/33 | 338 | 3 | 1 | | RUSHING | ATT | YDS | AVG | TD | | Trent Richardson | 21 | 163 | 7.8 | 2 | | Taiwan Jones | 5 | 35 | 7.0 | 0 | | RECEIVING | REC | YDS | AVG | TD | | AJ Green | 8 | 124 | 14.1 | 1 | | Darone Griffin | 6 | 59 | 13.5 | 1 | | Dez Bryant | 5 | 108 | 11.3 | 1 | | Mustafa Spain | 3 | 35 | 11.7 | 0 | | Marcus Richardson | 2 | 17 | 8.5 | 0 | | Trent Richardson | 2 | -5 | -2.5 | 0 | | DEFENSE | TACK | SACK | INT | TD | | Jon Beason | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Kam Chancellor | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Bruce Irvin | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | | Brandon Mebane | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Devin McCourty | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Patrick Peterson | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Keon Rose | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | | Justin Durant | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | DeAndre Levy | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Andrew Waters | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Marcell Dareus | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | Joe Haden | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | KICKING | FG | XP | PTS | LONG | | Matt Praeter | 1/1 | 5/5 | 8 | 43 | | PUNTING | NO | YDS | AVG | IN20 | | Pat McAfee | 5 | 252 | 50.4 | 2 | | KICK RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Marcus Richardson | 3 | 77 | 25.7 | 0 | | Patrick Peterson | 2 | 46 | 23.0 | 0 | | PUNT RETURN | RET | YDS | AVG | TD | | Patrick Peterson | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 0 |
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I've already progressed through the postseason, so my team looks a bit different now.
I got rid of starting O linemen Eric Wood and Donte Calloway in favor of some guys who would free up some cap space. I also jettisoned my 2nd string TE Rico Rose, my starting FB Bruce Miller, backup QB Colin Kaeperknick, 3rd string HB Nate Kirk, #5 CB Jamerson Kirk, #3 SS Nate Allen, and my return specialist Daniel Harmon. I needed to make room for some excellent incoming talent in the draft.
Speaking of which, I managed to get a few guys to replace what I lost. I drafted athletic Qb Pharoah Philips to replace Kaeperknick, FB's Rock Cardenas and Matu'u Tuiloma (both 80+ balanced, SS development), DeShawne Whitmore who has now replaced Taiwan Jones as my #2 HB, WR Jonathan Miller (83 Speed receiver, SS development, 95 return rating), and RE Antione Bellamy (85 Speed rusher, SS development), so my draft class turned out very solid.
In order to address some other issues, I acquired LG Randy Lichtensteiner and inserted my backup Center Gino Gradkowski into the line up. I also saw that Jermaine Gresham didn't accept any of the free agency offers he was made, so I picked him up for my #2 TE spot and I grabbed CB Dre Kirkpatrick out of free agency as well.
My team for next year (and the full black sliders) looks like this now.
Offense:
QB: Konnor Shepard (97) – 3rd Year
RB1: Trent Richardson (94)
RB2: DeShawne Whitmore (83) – Rookie
RB3: Taiwan Jones (80)
FB: Rock Cardenas (82) - Rookie
LT: Trent Williams (91)
LG: Randy Lichtensteiner (83)
C: Gino Gradkowski (81)
RG: Geoff Schwartz (92)
RT: Michael Oher (92)
TE1: Darone Griffin (89) – 2nd Year
TE2: Jermaine Gresham (84)
WR1: AJ Green (92)
WR2: Dez Bryant (92)
WR3: Mustafa Spain (90) – 3rd Year
WR4: Jonathan Miller (76) – Rookie
WR5: Marcus Richardson (73) – 2nd Year
Defense – (Base Cover-2)
RE: Andrew Waters (89) – 2nd Year
DT1: Brandon Mebane (95)
DT2: Marcell Dareus (90)
LE: Bruce Irvin (90)
ROLB: Justin Durant (91)
MLB: Jon Beason (92)
LOLB: DeAndre Levy (86)
SS: Kam Chancellor (92)
FS: Keon Rose (90) – 2nd Year
CB1: Joe Haden (96)
CB2: Patrick Peterson (96)
CB3: Devin McCourty (90)
CB4: Nikloss Harris (85) – 3rd Year
CB5: Dre Kirkpatrick (79)
KR: Marcus Richardson and Jonathan Miller
PR: Marcus Richardson
K: Matt Praeter
P: Pat McAfee