1561

Nice win, Technoverse. I was getting annoyed with my inability to throw over the middle in the 2nd game, after the disconnect. Some of them were underthrown, one was a good play by Urlacher (the throw to Finley that was the last INT). And my inability to make good decisions (especially in the red zone) wasn’t helping! Still, I had a nice shot at that at the end, going for the Hail Mary with 13 seconds left…but I just didn’t have any wide receivers left. Two of my guys running downfield were fullbacks; that measurement a few plays before killed me, since it meant they pulled my starting lineup for fatigue. Hell of a game.

By the way, was your mic not working tonight? I didn’t hear a peep from you.

1562

Yeah that was a tough one, I made it my goal to try and stop trammel heh, but he still got a long td on me. After all those hurry ups I was down to 2nd and 3rd stringers as well, all my players were in the red, was pretty funny.

I was on mic when we first connected, I said hello two or three times and when I didnt hear back I figured you were busy or something. I should have checked back in after the disconnect, I didnt think about it at the time.

Anyway was fun as usual, look forward to the rematch.

1563

Trade Alert!

I want to thank everyone for their trade proposals over the last week in the wake of losing Steven Jackson for the season. Talisker and I have just concluded a blockbuster deal that gives me a great RB to rely on for the rest of the season, and gives him an elite safety in his secondary.

The Rams traded FS O.J. Otogwe (90 ovr), FB Mike Karney (82 ovr), and HB Antonio Pittman (68 ovr) in exchange for HB Ryan Grant (86 ovr), FB Terrelle Smith (79 ovr), and FS Daniel Bullocks (75 ovr).

1564

I hope Ryan Grant hadn’t unpacked in his new place or anything, since he’s moving again!

1565

Talisker - go ahead and sim the game between me and Fuzzyslug. We had a fantastic game going last night, I was up 20-14 and he had the ball with 3:00 left and my machine completely locked up no red rings or anything, just completely frozen. Wasn’t sure how long to wait to see if it would come back and couldn’t talk to fuzzy so I just restarted. Hopefully it’s a one time deal, but just in case: Anyone playing me, if we get disconnected and you have the option to finish against the AI, go ahead. If I can get back on and we have time we can start over, but if somehow we can’t communicate just take this as a preemptive “Go ahead, it’s cool”.

Anyway, it was one of the ugliest games I’ve been in, but also one of the most fun - up there with my 2nd half near-comeback against wzrd’s Colts last year. The big story of the game was that my defense kept me in it despite 5-6 turnovers. Yeah, I lost count. I don’t think I’ve had that many turnovers since the first few weeks of last season. There were a couple flukes, but for the most part credit Fuzzy’s defense - they are ferocious. Trevor Pryce was everywhere and I basically gave up trying to run to the strong side. I know it’s a sportscaster cliche, but it wasn’t really the sacks (4 or 5) that hurt me but the hurries. Trent Edwards was knocked out of the game twice, and by the 2nd half I was really rushing my passes just to keep him safe.

For some reason, I also made just about every Madden noob mistake possible:

  • Forget about the lag in the kicking game and kick a 15 yard punt? Check.
  • Forget to switch to the returner when trying to call a fair catch, resulting in said returner getting hit so hard that he loses the ball + a few internal organs? Check.
  • Forget that on first down after change of possession there’s a weird runoff of the play clock and get a delay of game penalty? Check
  • Completely misjudge how high linebackers can jump when trying to throw over them? Check.

Other highlights/notes:

  • Almost threw the game away at the end of the 1st half. On my 25 with 6 seconds left I threw a hail mary - mostly just messing around. Sure enough, Ed Reed intercepts deep in the middle of the field and proceeds to run the ball back to my 1 yard line before I manage to catch up with him. Yikes.
  • T.O. got hurt again. Has now played approx. 4 quarters of football all season.
  • Digging my rookie HB, the suspiciously named LeRon James (97 SPD, 99 ACC). Along with Fred Jackson that gives me 2 speedy RBs with decent hands. Cover your flats, ladies.
  • Shockey is definitely the last piece of puzzle offensively. If I can keep Edwards healthy and play a bit of D I like my chances going forward.
  • Mark Clayton for the Ravens made the prettiest catch I’ve seen all season - a diving catch in the back of the end zone between 2 defenders. Kudos to Fuzzy for putting the ball right where I had no chance to defend.

Great game, Fuzzy. Sucks that we couldn’t finish it.

1566

That makes sense. I spoke a few times at the start; I could hear random noises on my end, so I could tell there was something going on over there, but I didn’t hear any speech. Ah well.

1567

Just a tip from a former owner of Grant - forget about doing any moves with him; just hammer the ‘Protect ball’ button constantly.

1568

James, I had the same problem when I played and lost to Fuzzyslug. Treachery! (Kidding, obviously.)

He’s good, isn’t he? When you look at the rest of my games this year, the Saints look like a powerhouse (HINT: we’re not), but his Ravens beat me like a drum.

1569

Heh, I’ll remember that. Talisker and I actually play this week, so it should be an interesting game. :)

1570

I forgot to reply to this initially - thanks for the compliment. I can be pretty stubborn/stupid on occasion (such as the game I played with Technoverse yesterday; my thought process was “sure, my last three deep throws over the middle ended in picks, but this one won’t! DAMMIT NOT AGAIN!”) so I don’t know if it’s entirely deserved, but it’s definitely appreciated.

I tried out Philly’s defensive style this week, as the injury to Clay Matthews hurt my depth at LB, and was rather disappointed; my pass rush wasn’t any better (without blitzing I did not put any pressure on the QB) and I lost the ability to put an extra LB in coverage if need be. This meant Technoverse was able to exploit the hell out of the deep ball/TE in his offense, as I was stuck playing only one safety deep on a lot of occasions. It was an interesting experience, though not one I’ll repeat.

1571

I had the same freezing issue against Maddengeek, it froze up on my end in the 1st quarter and we had to restart.

I am running the game off of the disk FWIW.

1572

Hah, should be :)

Stafford is still out for another four weeks from his dislocated hip, though, so my offense will be even weaker than usual.

1573

This same exact thing happened to me when I was playing against seventimessix / hypnotoad42. Late in the 3rd of our first game my machine started to stutter, like it was having lag issues. I then lost connection to the chat party, and a moment later, the game just froze entirely. Couldn’t get back to the dashboard or nothing. We had to start over at that point.

1574

Never try to play a Madden online franchise game on the day of a large DLC release. Your odds of getting disconnected increase drastically. I think the MW2 map pack brought Live to its knees most of the day.

1575

Great recap James. He stole 2 Ed Reed TDs from me, the one he mentioned as the clock ran out and one where James caught Mr. Reed from behind on the 50.

Matt, if you think I’m good, try playing James! He smacked me around pretty good, completely dominating the stats (he had more than twice my offensive yardage). I just couldn’t move the ball at all. If he hadn’t dominated the turnover stat too, I would have been in deep, deep trouble.

I’m still bummed it decided to lock up so terribly late in the game. 3:00 to go, ball in my possession, a full field ahead, and BAM, nothing. Still good stuff. It felt like a true Ravens game to me.

1576

So you’re NOT as fierce as the guy who stomped me for 90+ points in Week 2? Good to know since I have to play you twice!

1577

Don’t listen to him, he’s being entirely too modest. Plus first I get to kick your ass.

1578

Quem deus vult perdere, dementat prius, jackass. You bring fragile little Reggie Bush into my house, son, I won’t be responsible for what happens to his brittle bones. And don’t get me started on Pierre. Sissy little French name…

(ignore the fact that the league’s most dangerous rusher and all-around hellspawn is a guy with an Italian first name and the last name of Girly…)

You have called down the thunder, New Orleans! Best get ready for the… uh… steel! Steel Thunder!

1579

Please. You couldn’t keep up with the Kardashians, let alone Reggie Bush.

1580

Oh, it’s on like neckbone.