What I do to keep down on the lag in offline mode is to only take over teams who blatently do something stupid (like try to relocate or get rid of their star QB) or need a new head coach that isn't a fake name.
These sliders are playing great on normal speed after the patch. I've played 3 games so far. Playing as Chicago I've lost 38-20 @ SF, Won 20-13 @ Jets, Lost 25-31 @ GB. I'll post box scores soon. These coupled with MDFL rosters with the QB edits make for a fantastic game.