Coaching the 2007-2037 Pittsburgh Steelers

[jose21crisis]

You might remember my earlier Journal, which I used to learn about franchise mode and what how many great things I could do with it. Since I lost the FF/FI mod, as well as my saves, due to me having to get a lot of disk space for a while, I decided to give this another go but with a twist. If the title didn't give it away, I will be using Coach Mode exclusively during gameplay. I will play as the Steelers' GM and Head Coach through this Journal. I will have the following rules for this Journal:

• The Franchise will have 4 progression points, 1 PP every 4 weeks and only in the regular season, newer Madden style. There is no Week 16 Progression Point, it is Week 17 Progression Point.
• I will be using NZA's Editor 1.3's Advanced AWR Boost feature. I will NOT, however, use the Fix Offseason AWR Changes. At times, players (at times, rookies) that performed particularly well will get a boost during the offseason that the Fix will knock down. Let's say that Darelle Revis balls out and becomes Revis Island in his rookie year. During the offseason, he gets a great AWR boost that shows that. I want to keep that. I'll take my risks with the heavy AWR reductions.
• During season 1, I will not have a Practice Squad. From Seasons 2 and onwards, the Practice Squad will be in full effect. For simplicities sake, I will be using 2018's Practice Squad rules.
• I will be using MaddenAMP's OffSeason Conditioning and Training Camp for ALL TEAMS. I finally got the Sim for non-Human controlled teams to work right, and I'll employ that feature. The Conditioning and Training Camp was used prior to the beginning of Season 1.
• I talked a bit with Danchat, and with his help developed a rating system that will help me judge my players' performance. My system evaluates the type of plays each player performs. It is divided by Horrible plays (Like a turnover, a whiffed block, giving up a sack, getting pancaked as blocker, giving up a huge play), Bad plays (Fumbling the ball, but it getting recovered by the team. Drops by receivers. Also, throwing the pass to the defense, but it getting deflected. Giving up pressure, getting pushed into the backfield, whiffing a tackle, leaving a man open. A Shanked Punt or missed Extra Point), Decent Plays (A 1-4 yard gain when there was the possibility of getting more, checking down when there was a better play that would get a first down. Getting open. Generally unsuccessful plays), Good Plays (Opening a big hole in the run game, giving the QB all day to throw, a clutch 3rd down conversion at the sticks, a 5+ yard run, a deflected pass, forcing a back to change direction on defense), Great Plays (A 10+ yard run, a highly accurate pass or a 20+ yard play, getting wide open, getting heavy pressure on the passer, a tackle for loss. Turnovers by the defensive unit. Coffin Corner Punts.) and Amazing Plays (A Beast Quake-like run, with multiple broken tackles. A fade throw to the corner of the endzone. A Game Winning Field Goal or 60+ Field Goal. A Turnover taken for six). After each game, you will see the top 5 performers and the bottom 5 performers in a 100 point scale.

I will also be using a slider set, similar to KeepinItTeal's, but adjusted a tad bit. Since this is Coach Mode, both Player and CPU sliders will be the same.

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AI Sliders
Slider                         Human   CPU
QB Accuracy                       65    65
Pass Blocking                     20    20
Receiver Catching                 70    70
Running Ability                   50    50
Offensive line Run Blocking       30    30
Defensive Awareness               50    50
Defensive line Knockdowns          5     5
Interceptions                     10    10
Defensive Break Blocks            20    20
Tackling                          42    42
Fieldgoal Length                  37    37
Fieldgoal Accuracy                56    56
Punt Length                       66    66
Punt Accuracy                     56    56
Kickoff Length                    66    66

Penalty Sliders
False Start: 75
Holding: 76
Face Mask: 94
Clipping: 85
Intentional Grounding: 90
Roughing the Passer: 75
Roughing the Kicker: 95
Offensive Pass Interference: 95
Defensive Pass Interference: 99
Punt Catch Interference: 90

Additionally, I'll be doing Coaching Adjustments based on each season that I'll be working through. For the 2007 season, the adjustments will be the next:

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Offensive Pass/Run Ratio: 66% Pass/34% Run. Since 2007 NFL Teams had about 66% of their Total Offense be Passing Yards with the remaining 34% be Rushing Yards, and having tested this a bit proving that this is what the slider does, I'll adjusting each coach to be like this.
Offensive Aggression: 53 (West Coast Offense). This will generally lower Depth of Target for QBs and generally result in higher completions.
Defensive Pass/Run Ratio: 49-51% Pass/51-49% Run. Outside of this range results in more INTs (Higher Pass defense) or more fumbles (Higher Run Defense)
Defensive Aggression: 50 (Contain Passing or Force The Pass)

Now that we got to the end of the introduction, let's go to analyzing the 2007 Steelers. What I can do, their strengths and weaknesses and how to improve them.

[KeepinItTeal]

Cool stuff!! I will be following!

[jose21crisis]

The 2007 Roster
Strengths
We have one of the top defenses in the NFL, with a solid, veteran linebackers corp, a (mostly) scary 3 man front with solid depth, effective pass rushers, and solid depth for all of those positions. In addition, we have 2 great corners, a solid free safety and the best Strong Safety in the league.

As for our offense, we have plenty of depth at running back with a grand total of 5 running backs (3 halfbacks, a pure blocking fullback and a utility fullback), a top 10 Tight End, 2 great #1 and #2 Wide Receivers and a solid offensive line, specially in run blocking. Additionally, we have one of the top, young QBs in the league, capable of stretching defenses vertically and with enough accuracy to do so horizontally.

On the Special Teams department, we have what could become a World Class Punter with a booming leg.

Weaknesses
There are holes in our defenses. The best way to beat us is using 3 or 4 wide outs, as our slot corners are not the best in man coverage. Our RE is also a bit weak, which could create good runs towards him. Finally, all of our starting LB are incapable of matching up against good receiving backs or tight ends.

Our offensive line at times gives up in pass protection. Other than our #1 and #2 receivers, we are just decent over there. Our #3 is solid, but the rest is simply not up to the task. Additionally, we don't really have a true Go-To Guy. Our #1 is a Possession Receiver, and our #1 TE is borderline Possession, but other than that, we don't have great reliable receivers that will make the catch on every situation.

At times, our kicker can be a bit shaky and doesn't have as much leg as we would want. We would need to watch his performance this season, but if we don't like it, we might get some competition in the form of UDFAs. Our main returner happens to be a cornerback, whose hands are not the best. We might want to invest a low draft pick next year for a good Kick Retuners, or get a UDFA that can make solid returns.

Here I present you the 2007 Regular Season Depth Chart. Marked in Yellow are those players whose OVR is 90 or higher, they have a safe spot in the team unless they command a lot of money. Marked in Blue are those players whose OVR is 75 or lower, they are not going to say in the roster for long unless they make big plays or are project players that I trust will develop.



All right, here is how this will work. Since I don't have a bunch of time, I can't create a post per game. What I'll do is create a post in which I'll report how the team has performed on each game, as well as their overall performance through the season. These posts will be made on each progression point. This means that they will be on Week 4, 8, 12 and 17, as well as the Wild Card, Divisional, Championship and Super Bowl games.

[jose21crisis]

Scratch that I said above, I will be making 1 post per game simply because each game has it's own wrinkles and what not. Anyway, here is our schedule for the 2007 Season:

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SCHEDULE INFO
====================================================================

WEEK  DATE     OPPONENT            TIME/RESULT   
1     Sep 6    at Browns           1:00pm     
2     Sep 13   Bills               1:00pm         
3     Sep 20   49ers               1:00pm         
4     Sep 27   at Cardinals        4:15pm         
5     Oct 4    Seahawks            1:00pm         
6     n/a      BYE                 n/a           
7     Oct 18   at Broncos          8:15pm         
8     Oct 25   at Bengals          1:00pm         
9     Nov 2    Ravens              8:30pm         
10    Nov 8    Browns              1:00pm         
11    Nov 15   at Jets             1:00pm         
12    Nov 23   Dolphins            8:30pm         
13    Nov 29   Bengals             8:15pm         
14    Dec 6    at Patriots         1:00pm         
15    Dec 13   Jaguars             1:00pm         
16    Dec 17   at Rams             8:15pm         
17    Dec 27   at Ravens           1:00pm     

Our first game is against the Cleveland Browns. If memory serves, in real life this was the only time the Browns had a winning record for the last decade. Joe Thomas' rookie year. He is their starting LT, so we should expect James Harrison to be unable to get sacks today. Maybe some pressures, but probably not sacks. At QB they have Derek Anderson, with Brady Quinn as their backup. Not an intimidating bunch. As for offensive weapons, they have Jamal Lewis at RB, Joe Jurevicius and Braylon Edwards at WR. This should be an easy game. Here are the 4 biggest highlights of the game.


2nd Quarter, Steelers lead 10-0. There are 3 ways to give your offense the ball back. You can force your opponent to punt, you can let them score, or you can do what Ike Taylor did right here, which is forcing a turnover and recover the ball. There is a reason why he had the highest rating among our corners. If he allows the catch, he'll give no YAC.

We have a couple of weapons in our offense. I really didn't consider Cedrick Wilson one of them, just our Slot WR and a pretty fast guy. That is, until he got open on a corner route, and Big Ben dropped a beautifully arched pass right over everyone's head. While this drive resulted in a FG, and Wilson only got 1 analyzed play (Making him ineligible for my rating system, since at least 5 plays are needed), giving this offense a weapon like that will create headaches for Defensive Coordinators when we use our 3 wide out sets.

This game could have been worse for the Browns that it was at this point ... however, Ben threw 2 picks in this game. The 1st one was when he targeted Heath Miller back in the 2nd Quarter. It ended up in the forced fumble already mentioned. The 2nd pick is the one pictured here, on a Hines Ward target.

Pictured here is the play that sealed the game. This is the result of that earlier INT. The Browns drove down field all the way to the 7 yard line. We ended up stopping them 3 times, ending up at the 3 yard line. The Browns came out on a 2x2 spread set. The outside receivers were pressed and on double coverage, so our slot corners were left on an island. William Gay (Who happens to be a rookie ... 5th round pick I think?) got the INT to prevent the TD. It would have been good that he just left the ball fall to the ground, but a pick works too,

Here's the log

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Madden NFL 08 PC v0.0 Game Log - Steelers at Browns
Game Time: Thu Oct 11 18:31:02 2018
Skill Level: All Pro
Quarter Length: 15 minute(s)

Slider                         Human   CPU
QB Accuracy                       65    65
Pass Blocking                     10    10
Receiver Catching                 70    70
Running Ability                   50    50
Offensive line Run Blocking       30    30
Defensive Awareness               50    50
Defensive line Knockdowns         99    99
Interceptions                     10    10
Defensive Break Blocks            12    12
Tackling                          42    42
Fieldgoal Length                  37    37
Fieldgoal Accuracy                56    56
Punt Length                       56    56
Punt Accuracy                     60    60
Kickoff Length                    66    66

Weather
Forecast: Windy
Wind: 14 mph
Temp: 55 degrees

Team               Q1   Q2   Q3   Q4   OT      FINAL
Steelers            3   17    3   14    0         37
Browns              0    0    3   14    0         17

Game Statistics:                 Steelers     Browns
First Downs                            21         19
Third Down Conversions                 10          6
Third Downs                            15         13
Third Down Percentage               66.7%      46.2%
Fourth Down Conversions                 1          0
Fourth Downs                            1          1
Fourth Down Percentage             100.0%       0.0%
Two Pt Conversions Made                 0          0
Two Pt Conversions Attempted            0          0
Two Pt Conversion Percentage         0.0%       0.0%
Offense Redzone Num                     3          2
Offense Redzone TDs                     2          1
Offense Redzone FGs                     1          0
Offense Redzone Percentage         100.0%      50.0%
Rushing Attempts                       38         19
Rushing Yards                         109         47
Rushing Average                       2.9        2.5
Rushing TDs                             1          0
Passing Yards                         360        337
Passing Completions                    24         24
Passing Attempts                       32         45
Completion Percentage               75.0%      53.3%
Passing Average                      11.3        7.5
Passing TDs                             3          2
Offensive Pass Interceptions            2          1
TOTAL OFFENSE                         469        384
Defensive Pass Interceptions            1          2
Punt Return Yards                       1          0
Kick Return Yards                       2         79
Punts                                   1          4
Punt Avg                             40.0       42.0
Fumbles                                 0          2
Fumbles Lost                            0          1
Penalties                               6          3
Penalty Yds                            46         30
Turnovers                               2          2
TIME OF POSSESSION                  36:01      23:59

Individual Stats: Browns
PASSING                        CMP  ATT  YDS  PCT   YPA SACK   TD  INT LONG RATING
Derek Anderson                  24   45  342   53   7.5    1    2    1   59   83.7

RUSHING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD  FUM
Jamal Lewis                     14   46   3.2   19    0    0
Lawrence Vickers                 1    1   1.0    1    0    0
Jason Wright                     4    0   0.0    2    0    0

RECEIVING                      REC  YDS   AVG LONG   TD DROP  YAC
Braylon Edwards                  9  163  18.1   59    1    0    5
Joe Jurevicius                   6   61  10.1   29    0    0    4
Tim Carter                       4   51  12.7   18    0    0    1
Josh Cribbs                      3   27   9.0   18    0    0    1
Travis Wilson                    1   27  27.0   27    1    1    0
Steve Heiden                     1   13  13.0   13    0    0   12
Lawrence Vickers                 0    0   0.0    0    0    1    0

KICKING                        FGM  FGA  PCT FGSBLOCKED  XPA  XPM  PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
Phil Dawson                      1    3   33          0    2    2  100          0        0          0
Dave Zastudil                    0    0    0          0    0    0    0          0        4          2

PUNTING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Dave Zastudil                    4  168  42.0   54      0    1          0

KICK RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG   TD LONG
Tim Carter                       4   79  19.7    0   25

PUNT RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD
Tim Carter                       0    0   0.0    0    0

DEFENSE                        TOT LOSS SACK   FF FREC  YDS   TD  INT  RET   AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES CTH ALLOW BIG HITS
Sean Jones                      11    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Kamerion Wimbley                10    2    1    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         3        0
Gary Baxter                      8    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Andra Davis                      7    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         1        0
Daven Holly                      7    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         1        0
Robaire Smith                    3    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Leigh Bodden                     3    0    0    0    0    0    0    2   -4  -2.0           0        0         4        0
Tim Carter                       2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Orpheus Roye                     2    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Ted Washington                   2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         0        0
D'Qwell Jackson                  2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         1        0
Travis Wilson                    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Willie McGinest                  1    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         1        0
Chaun Thompson                   1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         1        0
Kenny Wright                     1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Nick Sorensen                    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Eric  Wright                     0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         1        0

BLOCKING                      PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Lawrence Vickers                     3             0
Eric Steinbach                       2             0
Joe Thomas                           2             0
Ryan Tucker                          2             0
Kellen Winslow                       2             0
Braylon Edwards                      1             0
Kevin Shaffer                        1             0
Joe Jurevicius                       1             0
Steve Heiden                         1             0
Hank Fraley                          0             1


Individual Stats: Steelers
PASSING                        CMP  ATT  YDS  PCT   YPA SACK   TD  INT LONG RATING
Ben Roethlisbergr               24   32  365   75  11.4    1    3    2   49  117.3

RUSHING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD  FUM
Willie Parker                   24  104   4.3   11    1    0
Najeh Davenport                 10    5   0.5    5    0    0
Dan Kreider                      1    1   1.0    1    0    0
Gary Russell                     2    0   0.0    0    0    0
Ben Roethlisbergr                1   -1  -1.0    0    0    0

RECEIVING                      REC  YDS   AVG LONG   TD DROP  YAC
Hines Ward                       7  110  15.7   31    1    0   29
Heath Miller                     9   97  10.7   27    1    0   16
Cedrick Wilson                   2   75  37.5   49    0    0   13
Santonio Holmes                  4   69  17.2   34    1    0   29
Willie Parker                    1   11  11.0   11    0    0    5
Dan Kreider                      1    3   3.0    3    0    0    3

KICKING                        FGM  FGA  PCT FGSBLOCKED  XPA  XPM  PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
Jeff Reed                        3    3  100          0    4    4  100          0        0          0
Daniel Sepulveda                 0    0    0          0    0    0    0          0        8          4

PUNTING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Daniel Sepulveda                 1   40  40.0   40      0    1          0

KICK RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG   TD LONG
William Gay                      1    2   2.0    0    2
Allen Rossum                     0    0   0.0    0    0
Hines Ward                       1    0   0.0    0    0

PUNT RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD
Allen Rossum                     1    1   1.0    1    0
Hines Ward                       0    0   0.0    0    0
William Gay                      0    0   0.0    0    0

DEFENSE                        TOT LOSS SACK   FF FREC  YDS   TD  INT  RET   AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES CTH ALLOW BIG HITS
Deshea Townsend                  8    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         6        0
James Farrior                    8    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         0        0
Troy Polamalu                    6    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         3        0
Ike Taylor                       5    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           3        0         4        0
Ryan Clark                       4    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
William Gay                      2    0    0    0    0    0    0    1   -2  -2.0           0        0         0        0
Chris Hoke                       2    0    1    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Brett Keisel                     2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Larry Foote                      2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         0        0
Casey Hampton                    2    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Hines Ward                       1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Santonio Holmes                  1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
LaMarr Woodley                   1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Bryant McFadden                  1    0    0    0    1    3    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         3        0
James Harrison                   1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         0        0
Clark Haggans                    1    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         0        0
Aaron Smith                      1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0

BLOCKING                      PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Dan Kreider                          4             0
Kendall Simmons                      3             0
Alan Faneca                          3             0
Sean Mahan                           2             0
Heath Miller                         2             0
Santonio Holmes                      1             0
Matt Spaeth                          1             0
Marvel Smith                         1             0
Willie Colon                         1             0


Game Log Ends
------------------------------------------------------------


Next, we have the top 3 defensive performers of the day.

• 3. William Gay (CB, 85.7): Out of the 7 times he came out on to the field, he defended 3 passes, intercepted another one, tackled a reception for no YAC and recovered an onside kick. Not a bad day for a rookie Dimeback.
• 2. Aaron Smith (DL, 85.7): Out of 15 pass plays, he generated pressure on 11 of them. On 5 run plays that he was involved, the team got 2 run stops. He did miss one tackle, but that helped set up another tackle.
• 1. Ike Taylor (CB, 100): Out of 9 analyzed plays, he had 4 pass defenses, 3 tackles for no YAC and a forced fumble that led to a score. I might have to tweak the system so that 100 scores don't happen again, but for now Ike Taylor proved that he can contain a side of the field.

And the top 3 offensive performers of the day.

• 3. Hines Ward (WR, 90.2): While one of the game's INTs came on a target to him, he made big plays the rest of the game. On every target that was catchable, he made a play and was a reliable safety valve to Big Ben.
• 2. Heath Miller (TE, 94.7): Right now, HEEEEEATH leads all Tight Ends in the league in receiving yards and receptions, and was the most targeted Steelers receiver with 13 targets. He also had a spectacular one handed catch in traffic to ice the ball game.
• 1. Willie Parker (HB, 100): Yes, another 100 score. My strategy for games goes like this: Get a couple of runs working so that play action works, then pass the ball as much as possible with a couple of runs in there for good measure. During the 2nd half, and if I have the lead, run the ball over and over again, with a couple of passes for good measure. I don't "Establish the run" per se, I just run so that there is some balance in there. Anyway, when we reached the 3rd quarter, Willie Parker came up big during nearly every run he got. During the 4th quarter, his rushing success was an incredible 100%. We only had to pass when he got tired and got subbed out.

As well as the bottom 3 offensive and defensive performers of this day.
Offense

• 3. Kendall Simmons (RG, 64.7). While he looked competent most of the time, Simmons allowed a bit too much pressure. His ability to pull in the run game is a tad limited as well.
• 2. Marvel Smith (LT, 57.1). Marvel wasn't too bad in pass protection. He did give up pressure, but kept rushers in check. His biggest problem was the run game. He constantly got blocking assignments confused, which resulted in a couple of runs going for loss because he got LG Alan Faneca's assignments instead of his own.
• 1. Najeh Davenport (HB, 33.3). His run success during the 4th quarter was 8%, no joke. On one of his runs, he bumped into the linemen, ran backwards throwing a stiff arm, and got tackled 7 yards upfield for a loss.

Defense

• 3. Deshea Townsend (CB, 60). While not totally terrible, he allowed a fair amount of passes. He seems to be weak in zone coverage, since I ran that plenty in the game, with not so successful results to the left (Townsend's side) and fairly good results to the right (Taylor's side). Switching to man coverage seemed to do the trick.
• 2. Bryant McFadden (CB, 40). Out of 5 passes thrown his way, he only defended 2 of them. He allowed a 29 yard pass to Joe Jurevicius during zone coverage. Switching to man didn't really improve his coverage.
• 1. Ryan Clark (S, 20) Out of 5 coverage plays in which he had a chance to make plays on the ball, he failed to do this. He also got seriously beaten up by Jamal Lewis, as he got trucked when he came downhill trying to stop him. He did set up a run stop by James Farrior, but still, getting trucked is bad.

Looking around the league:

• Matt Schaub threw for 393 yards(!) in a loss to the Chiefs. Andre Johnson had 15 receptions for 243 yards(!) in that game. Wonder how they didn't won? 2 TDs and 3 INTs by Schaub.
• Peyton Manning threw for 5 TDs on a 38-37 victory against the Saints. Drew Brees threw a more normal 3 TDs. I should remind you that Peyton was on comeback mode too. He was the NFL's Offensive Player of the Week for a reason.
• Among the QBs with over 70% completions for Week 1: Matt Hasselbeck, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Tony Romo and Peyton Manning.
• Matt Leinart got sacked 6 times.
• Adrian Peterson of the Vikings rushed for a pretty good 70 yards on 16 carries. 2nd RB Chester Taylor rushed for 111 yards on 13 carries. LaDainian Tomlinson had 90 yards on 15 carries.
• Like I said above, Heath Miller leads all Tight Ends in receptions and receiving yards. Andre Johnson leads all WRs in receptions and receiving yards.

[RevanFan]

Boy I forget how freaking fugly the default uniforms are. Yeesh.

I'll be following this, as usual. You post some good stuff.

[KeepinItTeal]

Boy I forget how freaking fugly the default uniforms are. Yeesh.

And that default Browns stadium! Double yeesh!

[jose21crisis]

Here we go, we are on Week 2. And I was stupid enough to try a different slider set, just because it was giving me good results after some games in Superstar mode. It wasn't actually too bad, other than the fact that it raises pancakes a lot and causes my Edge rushing OLBs to be pancaked play after play .... might need to change that up. Anyway, this. The Bills are coming to our ... low resolution Heinz Field (Is there any way I could update each team's uniform and stadium on a season by season basis, just so that they look better than their vanilla looks. I'll definitely look to using trey31's mods, but his mods don't help the stadiums). Their advantages? They got Marshawn Lynch at HB, and he's a powerful back that could cause problems. They also got Lee Evans which is going to force us to play 2 or 3 Deep all day just because of his speed. As for defense, Terrence McGee will be covering whoever lines up on the right (I would normally say Hines Ward, our #1 receiver. However, more of that in a moment). That's about it.

Aside from the slider changes, I'm using a custom offensive playbook and a custom defensive playbook, both found on this site. The offensive playbook has an advantage of moving around my WRs a lot on plays, so Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Cedrick Wilson could appear anywhere, be it outside on either side or in the slot. Hines did most damage on the outside, and Holmes ... well ... The defensive book is a stand in while I create my M19 based custom playbook (So far I got the 3-4 Even set. That's all)

The highlights of each quarter:

I think the Bills were playing Cover 2 Zone. The safety got pulled towards the play fake, which left the corner as the only one capable of making a play on the ball. Sadly, Santonio Holmes was out of his zone, so he was basically done.

Yep, that's Holmes again. It really doesn't seem the Bills have a corner that can follow him one on one. This connection would be used and abused the whole game, because the Bills refused to adapt.

We did give up a big TD. Ryan Clark, 25, was supposed to cover the middle of the field, because we were playing Cover 3. You can clearly see that Deshea Townsend, 26, is closer to Peerless Price than Clark.

Yep, that's the 3rd time Ben to Holmes connects deep. This time, it was Cover 1 Press (Yes, this time they pressed the receivers. Didn't work). Again, Holmes beat the corner and had nothing but green grass and the endzone in front of him.

I present you the log:

Code: Select all

Madden NFL 08 PC v0.0 Game Log - Bills at Steelers
Game Time: Tue Oct 16 23:31:32 2018
Skill Level: All Pro
Quarter Length: 15 minute(s)

Slider                         Human   CPU
QB Accuracy                       65    65
Pass Blocking                     40    40
Receiver Catching                 48    48
Running Ability                   52    52
Offensive line Run Blocking       50    50
Defensive Awareness               35    35
Defensive line Knockdowns         35    35
Interceptions                     35    35
Defensive Break Blocks            50    50
Tackling                          38    38
Fieldgoal Length                  55    55
Fieldgoal Accuracy                56    56
Punt Length                       56    56
Punt Accuracy                     60    60
Kickoff Length                    50    50

Weather
Forecast: Fair
Wind: 1 mph
Temp: 78 degrees

Team               Q1   Q2   Q3   Q4   OT      FINAL
Bills               7    0    7    7    0         21
Steelers            7   13    3   21    0         44

Game Statistics:                    Bills   Steelers
First Downs                            18         18
Third Down Conversions                  7          6
Third Downs                            15         12
Third Down Percentage               46.7%      50.0%
Fourth Down Conversions                 2          1
Fourth Downs                            3          1
Fourth Down Percentage              66.7%     100.0%
Two Pt Conversions Made                 0          0
Two Pt Conversions Attempted            0          0
Two Pt Conversion Percentage         0.0%       0.0%
Offense Redzone Num                     3          5
Offense Redzone TDs                     2          2
Offense Redzone FGs                     0          1
Offense Redzone Percentage          66.7%      60.0%
Rushing Attempts                       25         32
Rushing Yards                          84        122
Rushing Average                       3.4        3.8
Rushing TDs                             0          0
Passing Yards                         260        344
Passing Completions                    26         21
Passing Attempts                       41         32
Completion Percentage               63.4%      65.6%
Passing Average                       6.3       10.8
Passing TDs                             3          5
Offensive Pass Interceptions            1          0
TOTAL OFFENSE                         344        466
Defensive Pass Interceptions            0          1
Punt Return Yards                       0         10
Kick Return Yards                     173         86
Punts                                   4          3
Punt Avg                             44.8       40.7
Fumbles                                 2          1
Fumbles Lost                            1          0
Penalties                               0          1
Penalty Yds                             0          5
Turnovers                               2          0
TIME OF POSSESSION                  29:57      29:58

Individual Stats: Steelers
PASSING                        CMP  ATT  YDS  PCT   YPA SACK   TD  INT LONG RATING
Ben Roethlisbergr               21   32  348   65  10.8    1    5    0   89  141.7

RUSHING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD  FUM
Willie Parker                   21   83   3.9   10    0    1
Najeh Davenport                  8   38   4.7   12    0    0
Ben Roethlisbergr                2    2   1.0    3    0    0
Gary Russell                     1   -1  -1.0    0    0    0

RECEIVING                      REC  YDS   AVG LONG   TD DROP  YAC
Santonio Holmes                  7  234  33.4   89    3    1   68
Hines Ward                       8   64   8.0   14    0    1   13
Cedrick Wilson                   1   18  18.0   18    0    0    6
Nate Washington                  1   14  14.0   14    0    0    0
Heath Miller                     2   14   7.0   11    1    0    0
Matt Spaeth                      2    4   2.0    4    1    0    2
Dan Kreider                      0    0   0.0    0    0    1    0

KICKING                        FGM  FGA  PCT FGSBLOCKED  XPA  XPM  PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
Jeff Reed                        3    3  100          0    5    5  100          0        0          0
Daniel Sepulveda                 0    0    0          0    0    0    0          0        8          0

PUNTING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Daniel Sepulveda                 3  122  40.6   57      0    0          2

KICK RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG   TD LONG
Allen Rossum                     3   77  25.6    0   29
Cedrick Wilson                   1    9   9.0    0    9

PUNT RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD
Allen Rossum                     2   10   5.0    5    0
Cedrick Wilson                   0    0   0.0    0    0

DEFENSE                        TOT LOSS SACK   FF FREC  YDS   TD  INT  RET   AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES CTH ALLOW BIG HITS
Troy Polamalu                   11    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Bryant McFadden                  8    1    1    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         1        0
Ike Taylor                       7    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         8        0
James Farrior                    6    1    0    0    0    0    0    1    0   0.0           1        0         0        0
Larry Foote                      5    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         2        0
Ryan Clark                       4    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Deshea Townsend                  4    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           3        0         2        0
Clark Haggans                    3    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         1        0
Clint Kriewaldt                  2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Tyrone Carter                    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
LaMarr Woodley                   1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Casey Hampton                    1    0    1    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Nate Washington                  1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
James Harrison                   1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Travis Kirschke                  1    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Brett Keisel                     0    0    0    0    1    7    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0

BLOCKING                      PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Alan Faneca                         12             0
Willie Colon                         9             1
Marvel Smith                         4             0
Sean Mahan                           4             0
Dan Kreider                          3             0
Kendall Simmons                      3             0
Hines Ward                           3             0
Heath Miller                         2             0
Cedrick Wilson                       1             0
Matt Spaeth                          1             0


Individual Stats: Bills
PASSING                        CMP  ATT  YDS  PCT   YPA SACK   TD  INT LONG RATING
J.P. Losman                     26   41  269   63   6.5    2    3    1   44   96.4

RUSHING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD  FUM
Marshawn Lynch                  15   53   3.5   10    0    0
J.P. Losman                      5   24   4.7   14    0    2
Anthony Thomas                   3    7   2.3    6    0    0
Dwayne Wright                    2    0   0.0    0    0    0

RECEIVING                      REC  YDS   AVG LONG   TD DROP  YAC
Peerless Price                   7   99  14.1   44    1    2    8
Lee Evans                        7   94  13.4   25    0    0   19
Josh Reed                        3   29   9.6   15    1    1   -2
Sam Aiken                        2   13   6.5    9    0    0    0
Robert Royal                     2   12   6.0    7    0    0    2
Anthony Thomas                   1   10  10.0   10    0    0    7
Marshawn Lynch                   2    8   4.0    8    0    0    2
Roscoe Parrish                   2    4   2.0    3    1    0    0
Dwayne Wright                    0    0   0.0    0    0    1    0

KICKING                        FGM  FGA  PCT FGSBLOCKED  XPA  XPM  PCT XPSBLOCKED KICKOFFS TOUCHBACKS
Brian Moorman                    0    0    0          0    0    0    0          0        4          0
Rian Lindell                     0    1    0          0    3    3  100          0        0          0

PUNTING                        ATT  YDS   AVG LONG BLOCKS IN20 TOUCHBACKS
Brian Moorman                    4  179  44.7   46      0    0          1

KICK RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG   TD LONG
Terrence McGee                   8  173  21.6    0   25

PUNT RETURNS                   ATT  YDS   AVG LONG   TD
Terrence McGee                   0    0   0.0    0    0

DEFENSE                        TOT LOSS SACK   FF FREC  YDS   TD  INT  RET   AVG DEFLECTIONS SAFETIES CTH ALLOW BIG HITS
Ko Simpson                       9    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         2        0
Jason Webster                    8    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         6        0
Paul Posluszny                   7    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Larry Tripplett                  4    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Angelo Crowell                   4    0    1    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Donte Whitner                    3    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         1        0
Aaron Schobel                    3    2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         0        0
Chris Kelsay                     3    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Terrence McGee                   3    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         4        0
Mario Haggan                     2    0    0    1    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Keith Ellison                    2    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         2        0
Kiwaukee Thomas                  2    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Brian Moorman                    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
J.P. Losman                      1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
George Wilson                    1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Josh Stamer                      1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Anthony Thomas                   1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Jason Peters                     1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Coy Wire                         1    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           0        0         0        0
Jabari Greer                     0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0.0           1        0         0        0

BLOCKING                      PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED
Langston Walker                     14             0
Jason Peters                        12             0
Derrick Dockery                      7             1
Melvin Fowler                        6             0
Brad Butler                          3             0
Michael Gaines                       2             0
Lee Evans                            1             0
Jason Whittle                        1             0
Robert Royal                         1             0


Game Log Ends
------------------------------------------------------------


Now, I just discovered that Madden has it's own evaluation system. It evaluates a player's performance based on the performance of other players on the same average group and on the same career phase, which it uses to determine who will get points on a progression week and who won't. I will be using this system from now on, evaluating how many points they got after the game compared to their last game. It should be noted that, other than Casey "Big Snack" Hampton, the D-Line is underperforming. They have negative points so far.

So, your Top 3 Offensive Performers of the day.

• 3. Matt Spaeth (14 Points). Last Week, Spaeth was invisible during last game. While we didn't really use Twin TE sets, he really didn't got open. On this game, that didn't happen a lot either. However, on this game, Spaeth got targeted twice. First, was on a third and 2 play where he got open for the first down. The second one, was on a 2nd and 2 at the goal line where he, again, got open and scored his first TD of the season. Heath Miller (Who disappeared on this game) did record 2 receptions as well, one for TD, but no first down to his name. He also blew a block that ended on Willie Parker having to make a super human play to get back to the LOS, Saquon Barkley style.
• 2. Santonio Holmes (56 Points). Holmes dropped 1 pass in traffic. That was the only bad thing I saw from him. The Bills played a fairly aggressive defense, playing a fair amount of Cover 1 and Cover 0, which some Cover 2 in there too. Thing is, we are a Vertical Offense just for that. The play action passes froze the defense so much, and the Bills left Holmes on one-on-one matchups so much, that Holmes simply needed to make a double move downfield to get open, allowing Ben to find him 3 times for big gains and 3 TDs.
• 1. Ben Roethlisberger (79 Points). It doesn't matter who you are, having a 300+ yards, 5 TD game will turn some heads. Big Ben, along with Santonio Holmes, was destroying the Bills' secondary for big yardage nearly every time he dropped back. About the only times he didn't got massive yardage was when he needed a 3rd down, which is when Hines Ward got open on slant routes over the middle.

Top 3 Defensive Performers of the day

• 3. Troy Polamalu (11 Points). J.P. Losman refused to throw towards the part of the field Polamalu was. He didn't record any pass defense stats, but he did got lots of tackles, mostly mopping up any missed tackles by the rest of the secondary, getting 11, 2 of them for loss.
• 2. Bryant McFadden (26 Points). Technically this is a tie with number 1, but the number 1 made more of an impact. He had a poor day last week, but he bounced back by shutting down slot receiver Josh Reed, allowing just 3 receptions for 29 yards, 1 drop and -2 yards after the catch. He also played pretty good at mop up, getting himself 8 tackles.
• 1. James Farrior (26 Points). MaddenAMP has a bug that doesn't let me see my MLBs stats (It gives an error everytime I try) so I had to manually get them via exporting the CSV table. Farrior got himself 6 tackles, 1 for loss, and a pressure induced INT. Even when he wasn't making the tackles, he was eating up blockers for someone else to make the play (Everyone except Ryan Clark, since he could not tackle today)

[jose21crisis]

Forgot to mention the "Looking around the league" segment:

• The Offensive Player of the Week was a no brainer: Santonio Holmes, with 7 catches for 234 yards and 3 TDs. The Defensive Player of the Week was Terrell Suggs of the Ravens, 1 Tackle, 2 Sacks, 1 Interception and 1 Fumble Recovery.
• Ben Roethlisberger leads the starting QBs when it comes to passer rating with 133.7.
• It seems weird that QBs are passing the ball 45 times a game in 2007, but it's happening (MaddenAMPs "Fix Simulation Stats" could be to blame. I need to use that option so that I can fix the overly high pancake stats of my linemen). The Lions' Jon Kitna leads the league in passing yards at 787 yards. The Texans' Matt Schaub leads the league in pass attempts with 96.
• Big Ben is also leading the league with 8 TDs. Those 5 TDs last game really boosted this. The closer guys are the Rams' Marc Bulger and the Colts' Peyton Manning with 6 each.
• Peyton also leads the league with 6 INTs.
• There are only 3 QBs with over 70% completion percentage so far. Tom Brady leads the league at 73%, followed by Ben Roethlisberger and Tony Romo, both with 70%
• Tony Romo also happens to lead the league in sacks taken with 8,a long with Byron Leftwich of the Falcons and Matt Leinart of the Cards.
• Leinart also happens to lead the league with 2 4th quarter comebacks.
• Kevin Jones of the Lions leads the league with 204 Rushing yards. He also has 3 TDs on the ground, highest on the league. And 102 yards per game, highest in the league.
• Andre Johnson is still the receiver with most receptions at 24.
• Santonio Holmes' big game places him at the 4th most in the league, with 303 yards. Above him are Roy Williams (404), Andre Johnson (328) and Donald Driver (305).
• Two WRs are tied for most receiving TDs. Those would be Santonio Holmes and Randy Moss.
• MaddenAMP's Weekly adjustments did their job. Our O-Lineman with most pancakes is Alan Faneca with 8.
• I hate the fact that opposing teams have far more standard sacks than us. Similarly, I hate the fact that we lead the league in tackles for loss. Expect me to open up a post in the "Sliders and Adjustments" forum to investigate about the Pass/Run sliders for simmed stats.
• Jason Taylor leads the league with 5 sacks.

[KO'BBF]

wow! that is a great start! I too will be following.

on your roster you have your receivers listed as L and R. just a friendly suggestion you could use the Split End (SE) and Flanker (FL) nomenclature.

please keep up the good work

[rambolz]

Great journal, got another follower right here!

If I may suggest something: in your offensive / defensive best performers of the game, could you also note the players position? It's usually possible to figure it out from context but it would still help those who are unfamiliar with the roster, like me

And regarding the best performers, what is the Madden's own evaluation system's range? I mean like 0 to 100, -100 to 100 or something else?