Connected Careers… finally something to talk about with career modes… you know, instead of screaming in all caps and bold.
The Madden team has recently had it’s feet put to the fire here at NoobTubeTV for some of the improvements that should be made either this year or five years ago. Today the EA Tiburon dropped some of the best news they could have and it is connected to all career modes, literally.
As much as we like to talk about what we wish EA would put into Franchise Mode for Madden 13. As much as we might even complain about the silly nature of some of the things that happen in Madden 12… This game is almost addicting to the point that Madden 2005 was and that is a good thing if they continue to build from this solid base.
That said, this is how Season 2 panned out.
Amos High was drafted by the Bears in the first round out of Georgia Tech. He was highly rated but still managed to fall to the Bears after they traded down. That would prove to be their best decision yet… Amos High went on a tear in the second half of the 2012 season and finished with 1900+ yards and 15 TDs rushing. He would then bring home Offensive Rookie of the Year and League MVP (with RB of the Year as well).
To go along with this amazing season – Jay Cutler won QB of the Year, Mike Williams won WR of the year and Henry Melton won DLineman of the Year!
The Bears have tremendous talent on their team and are built to win and contend for the Super Bowl. The question isn’t if they can get there, because this is the second straight year they were within one game of the Super Bowl. Both years we have seen Lovie Smith’s team get outclassed late in the game and that isn’t a good sign for the Chicago’s Head Coach. It is widely speculated that 2013 might be his last if they don’t break this trend.
We will be posting recaps of the Draft and some of the off-season moves as well.
Some of the needs going into 2013 are –
#1 TE
#2 CB
#1 LG
Future MLB (Urlacher is on the decline, but will retire a Chicago Bear…. No Question About That)
Future RE (Julius Peppers is starting to age, albeit while still getting double-digit sacks at 33 years old, but the Bears need to be honest with themselves)
Chiefs – LT, Dequarius Sparks (Colorado St.) – He is an absolute beast and should be their anchor for a long time in KC.
Jags – QB, Clinton Derricote (Oklahoma State) – Called by some to be the “Next Mike Vick” he is just trying to avoid the QB controversy that is bound to happen with Gabbert still in town.
Browns –LE, Lenard Patrick (Colorado) – A puzzling pick as the Browns run a 4-3 Defense. Perhaps they are looking to move him into the interior line?… Who knows with those idiots.
Rams (From Bears, Via Bucs) –ROLB, Aaron Ross (Nevada) – Speed, power and an all around beast. He is only 6 feet tall but brings hits that would break anyone in half.
Giants – Charlie Brooks (Miami OH) – He is a pure freak that reminds many of Jevon Kearse. No wonder the GMen let go of Kiwanuka.
Cardinals – RG, Zack Milles (Hawaii) – He is a good player, but a RG at #6? No wonder the Cardinals are bad.
Bengals – FS, Phillip Grove (Auburn) – A hard hitting FS that moved up the Bengals draft board after a good interview.
Titans – DE, Tramon Saunders (BYU) – He is 6’4″ 292 lbs and looks like he could eat you. No worries, he only eats QBs.
Vikings – OT, Jared Riddick (Oklahoma State) – The Vikings had this guy at the top of their list after Sparks and he fell into their lap. A good pick.
BEARS – HB, Amos High (Georgia Tech) – The whole package! He reportedly ran a 4.35 40 Yard Dash at his Pro Day and at 6’1″ 218 lbs with moves?! The Bears had Zero HBs on their roster and now they look like they might have a Franchise Back!
Saints – OLB, Darrion Lattimore (S. Miss) – The Saints moved up to get this guy. He is solid, but we wonder if they really needed to move up from 18.
Jets – TE, Brent Curette (Michigan) – Looks like Dustin Keller’s days are numbered. Curette is athletic and just the drama queen the Jets love.
Cowboys – CB, Rayquez Joseph (Pitt) – The second coming of Revis, but faster. The Cowboys got a steal here.
Bills – LG, Carter Miller(Oklahoma State) – The third Oklahoma State guy taken, he is a solid guard and the Bills look like they are serious about building a solid core… finally.
49ers – WR, Jocqua Coleman (S. Miss) – He is sizable as he switched from HB to WR his junior year. 6’1″ 232 lbs at WR?… ok
Eagles – DT, Khalek Grady (Nebraska) – The meanest player in the draft might be the final piece that brings this team to the Super Bowl.
Chargers – LT, Landon Walker (Wisconsin) – Another big Badger OLineman?… Maybe the Chargers want to protect Rivers after he broke his leg due to a crap OLine in 2011.
Panthers – CB, Jayden Nix(LSU) – The best ‘big’ CB in the draft, a burner with a high motor and desire to hit like a MLB… Look out NFC South!
Falcons – SS, Leventrice Carswell (Penn State) – Left early after the scandal, a solid pick up to help their struggling DBs.
Texans –WR, Shontrelle Quick (Virginia) – Ran a 4.27 40 at the Combine but questions about his character caused him to drop to the Texans.
Dolphins – OT, Case Adams (Florida) – Jake Long finally got some help from the other end!
Redskins – MLB, Antwan Clements (Arkansas) – Somehow, the next Ray Lewis fell to the team that needed him the most. The NFC East is going to be a tough Division!
Colts – CB, Dom Briggs (Illinois) – He is only 5’8″ but the Colts hope he plays as big as he did in the Big 10.
Patriots – HB, Coco Vereen (UCLA) – He is a solid pick for a team in need of a good HB. But they really should have gone with Defense.
Jags – RT, Latevin Graham (Tenn) – He is hoping to come in and compete for a starting job after the Jags moved up to take him.
Steelers – LG, Martaze Bolton (Florida State) – Athletic and the strongest man in the draft. The Steelers keep building winners even late in the draft.
Raiders – RG, Devan Crawford (UL Monroe) – Leave it to the Raiders to draft the fastest OLineman in the Combine. Hopefully he pulls a lot?
Giants – LT, Nico Archer (Kentucky) – An absolute steal that broke the hearts of Bears fans.
BEARS – CB, Chandler Carter (Texas) – Projected as a 2nd Round pick, the Bears scouted him all season and fell in love with his 4.29 Speed and 39 in. Vertical Jump to go with 13 INTs his senior year at Texas!
Ravens – HB, Chauncy McCorkle (Cal) – Ray Rice needs some help and McCorkle’s 6′ 244 lb frame should do just that.
Lions – CB, O’Dell Tyler (USC) – The Lions traded down with the Pats and took this risk as he has a history of injuries. The upside is tremendous but the risk is crazy given their competition in the division.
Packers – C, Geno Monroe (Georgia) – He is going to have a lot to worry about as he is now the #1 guy that Rodgers will talk to every snap… The defending Super Bowl Champs have a new Center… look out A Rod!
It looked like a great season from our first few games, but between the blowout against the Saints and a couple other games that told us a change was needed… something happened to our dream season. The Bears have gone on a journey into the depths and are hoping to come out of the battles with a miracle trip to the playoffs that requires some help from the Cowboys, Lions and Seahawks. The Lions would love another shot at the Bears as they have trounced them twice (as you will see in the video).
The Bears are entering Week 16 with a 7-7 record and needing to win out just to have a chance at the playoffs. There are many needs for this team as their stars on defense are showing their age in allowing big plays. Look for a complete run-down of the coming draft class and some guesses as to who some teams might target to turn things around. Including a detailed discussion about who the Bears are looking at in the coming 2012 Draft!
Ask any NFL fan about their favorite team’s draft and you will get some sort of response.
As a Browns fanI will give you all you need to hear and more. First, we needed to fix our offense with better receivers and someone to take over after Hillis’ departure.
The Trent Richardson pick was a good one at the time and still is; however, to give up the picks we did in order to get him I would have thought that we would be super smart about the ones we had left.
Then we took a 28 year old QB, Brandon Weeden at #22. In a league where you are looked at as old when you are 30 it is strange to see that as a pick with any sort of gainful longevity. Yet, even that pick wasn’t too terrible in the scheme of things. It was followed up with Mitchell Schwartz from Cal, a big and mean O-Lineman.
Then we took John Hughes! Yeah, you read right… 16 Candles, Pretty In Pink and St. Elmo’s Fire on the Cuyahoga JOHN HUGHES!… Actually, it is some sort of D-Lineman that is going to be a back-up for our talented middle D-Lineman Rubin and Taylor. I was confused by this pick to say the least… then my confusion turned to anger when I saw the other players taken after we traded down and move around in the draft to get a guy that wasn’t even projected to get picked in the draft on many experts’ boards.
That said…
Ever since Madden came out on the 360/PS3 generation of consoles it has had growing pains that have led many football gamers to get banned from forums for venting their anger (which will never happen on our boards, assuming you support your opinion without major profanity— which with Madden can be hard at times). The worst part about Madden for years had been Franchise Mode and bugs in Franchise Mode. That said, there are three major events for NFL fans:
The NFL Draft
Kickoff Week
The Super Bowl
Improving The Draft (What’s Missing?)
There is a reason why the NFL Draft is #1 on that list. It gives people faith that for a moment, their team is going to get better. They might find their ‘Tom Brady’ or ‘Peyton Manning’. There are some players that coming out of college are looked at as ‘sure things’ like Andrew Luck or Robert Griffin III and then you have big risks on guys like Vontaze Burfict (went to the halfway-house, AKA the Cincinnati Bengals after going undrafted) who have major character issues.
People go nuts for the draft and it is something that is often talked about more than the Super Bowl. Simply because it is something that every team has a chance to do and do well.
Madden has no personality or atmosphere for the Draft. It is difficult to see what other teams are doing in your Franchise Mode. One example is when a team trades up or down in the draft there is usually some sort of reaction by commentators (which also don’t exist in Madden’s Franchise Mode for the Draft) – in Madden you are greeted with a notice that a trade took place and which picks were involved… and then nothing… No highlight of who was so important that the team moved up to get them. You are also not going to see which players teams select during the draft because the Drafted Player Ticker resets after every pick, rendering it impossible to see how the draft is going or who is coming off the board in any sort of fluid manner.
If the Cowboys were to take a punter with the first pick in the draft you would probably see riots and hear commentators berate the management (Jerry Jones) of the Cowboys…. Not in Madden, take whoever you want because no one cares. Perhaps that is the real personality of Madden’s Franchise Mode – No one cares… and frankly, why should they?
Not to mention it is hard to really have any sense of immersion in a league that seems to exist without any sort of news feed that is easily accessible to let you know that certain players are under-performing. Then again, that is the hideous beauty of Madden’s Franchise Mode.
Minus the lacking atmosphere, here is a list of just some of the things that are missing from creating a true Franchise Mode experience worth paying $60 for every. single. year…:
Player Morale and Personality – Players have no personality. Some teams are simply not desirable to play for, yet… that never comes into play with Madden, just sign the players without any real attention to what type of coach, owner or city they want to play in. Are they just about money are they loyal to loyal fans?… That doesn’t matter in Madden.
Player Performance – This doesn’t matter from multiple levels in Franchise Mode. As far as the much vaunted online roster updates go, apparently a player is better on a week by week basis. However, when it comes to any sort of adjustment to a player after he throws for 500 yards and 6 TDs twice in three weeks, there is no such update to his throwing abilities or his much over-hyped OVR (Overall) Rating.
Player Value – This rating doesn’t exist in Madden at all. This means that when you have a player that runs for 2000 yards two years in a row and then wants to be traded elsewhere you might not be able to get what you should for him because his OVR is 80 due to a low AWR (Awareness) Rating, even if he has 98 SPD, 97 JKE, 95 SPN, etc. The system of value for performance is a constant battle between gamers that state performance means little when potential is all that matters. My response is that performance is MEASUREABLE and potential will NEVER be.
This list will be expanded over the course of the next few months and years as Madden is sure to continue to grow and regress in quality and features. The first step for any game mode like Franchise Mode is ATMOSPHERE and IMMERSION and that should start with the most important day (weekend) of the NFL Year – The NFL Draft.
Yesterday we posted an update about running a longer lasting Franchise Mode in Madden. Today we are posting the first video of our newest Franchise Mode…
In honor of the late great Chris Farely we have chosen DAAAAAA BEARSSSSS!
The biggest roster move before the 2011 season sent Matt Forte to the Bucs and brought Mike Williams to the Bears to help Jay Cutler. Rookie Halfback, Mikel Leshoure was signed to a one year deal worth $2 million to earn a future as the feature back in Chicago.
Before this season started officially we made a few moves that included trading our 93 OVR starting HB, Matt Forte for a better WR for Jay Cutler. The best offer came from Tampa Bay as they offered their young potential star WR Mike Williams (79 OVR). The final deal ended up being Matt Forte and a 2nd Rd Pick in 2012 for Mike Williams with 1st and 3rd Rd Picks in 2012.
We suffered injuries to two different CBs and signed Fabian Washington (77 OVR) as ‘insurance’.
So, without further delay… Here is Week 1 Showdown with the Atlanta Falcons!
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