My Offline Madden Hawks Chise

Snohomie

New member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
3,595
Reaction score
0
Location
Behind enemy lines
I figured if Rob can have one, so can I :p.

I really want that Denver 1st round pick, so I edited the roster a little. I figured I could trade Knowshon Moreno to Seattle before the franchise started, then trade Moreno back to Denver for a 1st. Nope. They wouldn't do it. So, now I'm stuck with Moreno. Not the worst thing in the world, though. 'Cept his lack of speed is making it tough to run, or the awful line is. I love Moreno in real life, but his 86 speed makes this tough. Still an improvement over JJ, but I wish I had Jonathan Stewart like Smurf.

Other changes: Upped Seneca to 76 OVR. Upped Brandon Mebane to 84 OVR (probably should be higher), switched Kerney to RDE and Redding to LDE... BTW, anyone else notice that Curry is a 93OVR as a RDE? I might move him there if Kerney gets hurt/retires.

First game against the Rams went pretty well - I won 38-20. Steven Jackson was an absolute terror for me, as he picked up first downs seemingly all day, but Bulger struggled mightily, throwing a pick to Ken Lucas. Cole also notched a sack and Mebane terrorized Bulger all day. On offense, Hasselbeck was efficient, primarily throwing to Carlson (6/73/1). Housh was quiet, just didn't seem to find him open too often as a flanker. I've noticed in Madden that the X and Z positions seem reversed, so that might be part of it. Moreno was the player of the game with 17/84 and 2 touchdowns, but also two fumbles (1 lost).

The 49ers game was a little more interesting. It was a tight game throughout, before the Seahawks won 38-27. Hasselbeck threw for 4 TDs and 1 pick, Houshmandzadeh had 11/225 and a score, Carlson caught a TD, Schmidt caught a fake punt for a TD, Branch and Moreno also had TDs. I moved Housh to the #2 WR spot and he just dominated the poor cornerback all day long. I don't know if I even threw to Burleson, Clements was on him like glue. Moreno was awful running the ball, but he did add 4 receptions to his total.

Defensively, Cole had 2 sacks (3 for the year... somehow). Curry and Hill combined for one of the more interesting series I've seen late in the 4th. I put both as LB pass-rushers because I felt SF would be going pass-heavy. First play, Curry gets Bulger for a 10 yard loss. 2nd play, after I said "Hill probably won't top that" Hill gets him for a 9 yard loss. On 3rd and 29, Mebane hits Bulger right as he throws... a second sooner and it'd have been a safety.

This year's Madden is a huge improvement, though I'm having trouble running the ball. Helps a lot this year to pick and choose when to turn upfield. Kind of bummed that the stretch run play almost always results in a defender in the backfield, and Moreno is too slow to run the toss effectively. Still, a ton of fun after the POS that last year's Madden was. I'll play more tomorrow and update at the end of the night then.
 

nategreat

Active member
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
1,731
Reaction score
13
You could have just traded Knowshon AND Brandon Marshall beforehand. I'm sure that could have worked....
Anyways, sounds like quite the interesting chise. Have you adjusted any sliders yet? I think that could help your running woes, if you adjust them realistically. Sounds like Cole is a beast.
 
OP
OP
S

Snohomie

New member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
3,595
Reaction score
0
Location
Behind enemy lines
I did just Moreno cause I figure it works as a story-line "Denver trades Moreno to Seahawks in return for 2010 first round pick back" if the trade didn't work out. Moreno's lack of speed is rough, though. Both he and Jones seem to be slower than they should - Jones should be faster than Moreno, but Moreno is probably 88 not 86, looking at what RBs have 88 speed.

Cole is a monster, through 6 games he's still top-5 in sacks. Mebane was doing well but I had the game on "My Skill" difficulty as as they raised my defense to 13 and 14 for run and pass, I stopped pressuring the QB with Mebane. I'm back in the position where I hate how cheap the the CPU is on advanced mode, but it's too easy to play on Pro or All-Pro. And I'm not bragging - last year I sucked at Madden. The CPU has put up some good fights though, but somehow I've emerged 6-0.

Barely beat Chicago, 20-17. Moreno had an okay day running, his best of the year, averaging 4.2 YPC. Hass threw 3 picks in the 2nd half, but the defense managed to hold things up until OT and then went on a tear. Housh and Carlson both had good days.

Against the Colts, things got tricky. Matt went down with a season-ending injury on a late hit, but Seneca held on. Running game went nowhere though. Carlson ended up having a gigantic game. Moreno couldn't run, in fact the only time I picked up more than 6 yards was on 3rd-and-long runs. Awful. Seneca kept the passing game moving, though. My roommate is using the TV otherwise I'd post stats, I'll try to at the halfway mark. 37-27 I believe.

Jacksonville destroyed my running game, but wasn't able to stop Seneca or a stingy pass defense - Garrard threw 4 picks to 3 LBs (Curry made two), and MJD couldn't run worth crap. My defense really has bailed me out of a few games, and all these picks didn't hurt. Nor did Josh Wilson's first TD return on a kickoff, sprinting untouched on the left side. A close game, but Seattle wins 20-13.

After this I had enough. I thought Moreno's lack of speed might be killing me, so I traded for Jonathan Stewart (1st round pick in 2010), moving Moreno to backup/3rd down back. Those are my two favorite backs in the past two drafts, so I figured it would be worth the insane salary I'll be paying for RBs a couple of years from now. Against AZ, though, Stewart still couldn't get traction... so I checked my sliders. Oh, I also lost Grant, Curry, Housh, and Carlson for big chunks of the game, though nothing too serious.

15 pass O
17 (!!) run O
14 pass D
13 run D

These are some screwed up ratings. My passing game was one of the best in the league, my rushing attack never producing more than 4.5 YPC in a game, yet somehow I had a killer run-O rating. My run D was excellent, but somehow behind a mercurial pass D. I'm going to mess with the settings a bit, but I lowered run O to 10 because I'm tired of defenders all over my backfield, even though I fully expected a weak running game I didn't think it'd be this weak.

Housh and Carlson are killing teams. Both are averaging ~100 yards a game. I get the seam all day long with Carlson, the CPU hasn't found a good way to stop it so I keep passing there. I think Seneca (updated with more AWR and 88 arm strength... the ratings of him having the weaker arm were stupid) is better than Matt in the game - Matt doesn't have a quick release in the game (I LOVE the QB-specific throwing motions) and his weak arm mean little velocity. Moreno and Stewart have some potential, but haven't hit it yet.

Defensively, the team has moments. Cole is dominant, and Kerney hasn't been bad. Mebane gets pressure but so far only 1 sack, I usually control him at the snap. The LB trio makes big plays, and I love Curry and Hill as edge rushers in dime formation. Brian Russell sucks horribly in the game. Grant, Wilson, and Tru all do a fairly good job, though at the difficulty I'm at now nobody can cover worth crap, but at least they help in the running game. We're inconsistent and prone to big plays, but we generate a lot of them ourselves so I'm not complaining.
 
OP
OP
S

Snohomie

New member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
3,595
Reaction score
0
Location
Behind enemy lines
Figured out the #1 reason my running game sucks - I play at "slow" speed. I enjoy it a bit more, a little more strategy. The only problem is, and this is my first big complaint with Madden this year... well... Slow doesn't just slow the game down. It doesn't seem to touch blocking. As soon as I bumped things up to "Normal" speed, my running game took off. My guess is that on slow, the CPU just doesn't hold their blocks long enough for a lane to open once your back has the ball. It's like they're blocking for normal speed even when you're on slow.

*sigh* gotta figure out a solution to this...
 

TravTex

Active member
Joined
Feb 28, 2007
Messages
1,752
Reaction score
1
Location
San Antonio, TX
Looks like our running styles are different. (Aside: Now that I got my XBL set up, I might have to run another Spurs 'chise. Roster updates, heh.)

Anyway, I had a good deal more luck with T.J. Duckett at a 68 overall and wheezing meander for speed thanks to his 93 trucking. He'll drag a few guys on his back and fall forward most of the time. J.Jones, on the other hand, I couldn't do much of ANYthing with. Not quick enough to burn anyone outside, not stalwart enough to knock anyone over.

Have had some consistent 'Okay' with the rushing attack after switching things around and giving the starting spot to Felix Jones. The guy can be wicked death when running screens. Meanwhile, if I want to punch someone in the face, the Schmitt/Duckett backfield is hard to beat.
 
OP
OP
S

Snohomie

New member
Joined
Apr 17, 2009
Messages
3,595
Reaction score
0
Location
Behind enemy lines
I agree, I've noticed that the bulldozers tend to do well. Fall-forward basically, and that works pretty well. I ran practice with Beanie Wells and he was really effective because even his worst runs were 4 yards. Messing with sliders a bit right now, might re-do the franchise after I get that squared away.

My biggest gripe right now is that the higher difficulties don't make the CPU better so much as they make your guys idiots. Seneca went 10-27 because his WRs dropped 8 passes. 2 involved hits, the rest were just bad drops. 3 from Housh, who usually takes half a year to get that number. It would've been worse but I stopped passing midway through the 4th quarter (barely won that game too, 7-0 so far). I'm probably going to play at All-Pro (10) and just adjust sliders to provide what I am looking for...
 

Latest posts

Top