Last week I made a nice little run into the Semi's with the Steelers. It was the first bit of relative “success” that I had for a couple weeks. So, what did I do last night? I decided to switch things up a little and use a team that I don't think I've ever used in Madden, the Buffalo Bills. Actually, I decided to switch things up a bit because after a couple weeks at the new place, I've started to play guys a couple of time and the new “regulars” of the Madden tourney have begun to surface. So now I think I can start experimenting with new teams and strategies that I started to do before they moved the tournament to Malarkey's. I didn't fare as well this week, but I got to play a couple solid games of football and I didn't have to deal with one bit of cheese. My details might be a little hazy today, though. For whatever reason, I decided to order the 35 oz. (or whatever they were) Blue guys. I have no idea why, I just felt like it was a good idea. Anyway, let's get to the games.
Round 1: Bills vs. Colts
This game was a rematch from two weeks ago when I lost twice. This matchup was against one of the two brothers that completely handcuffed my offense while mustering up just enough offense to win the game. I was expecting much of the same and I didn't think I was going to make it out of this round due to the fact that the Bills O-line is shoddy at best.
Anyway, I came out of the gate receiving the ball and proceeded to not to a damn thing on offense. I wasn't getting the all out blitz' from a couple weeks ago and he was actually mixing his D up quite well. I wasn't too worried about the high-octane offense of the Colts, I seemed to have that under control and the Bills D was stingy. Nothing really to exciting went down in the first quarter, but things started to pick up in the second. After getting the ball back on a punt, JP Losman hit Eric Moulds on a buttonhook and Moulds almost took it to the house. After a couple more plays, I find myself with 1 st and goal inside the 10-yard line. I think I tried a couple of run plays with Willis McGahee to no avail, so I had to get creative on third down. JP Losman decided to call his own number on a bootleg and found the end zone with about 30 seconds left to go in the half. The Colts were getting the ball back after halftime and all I needed to do was keep them from scoring any points or I would be in trouble. So, what happens? Marvin Harrison torches my secondary for a TD! But lucky for me, Vanderjaggot missed the PAT and we take a 7-6 lead going into the second half. Not much really happened in the second half, however. I had the usual missed FG and both defenses were playing at the top of their games. I pretty much rendered Harrison useless for the rest of the game and my offense didn't really do much either. The final score stayed 7-6 and it was on to the next round for the Beefalo Bills.
Round 2: Bills vs. Eagles
This game was a rematch from last week. My secondary came up large against the Eagles last week and I eeked out the win. This week was a different story, though. It's in these situations where it helps to use a team that you're comfortable with, but I was sticking to my guns and I stuck with the Bills. Before the game started the gentleman that was using the Eagles was saying how he had a gamelan and he was sticking to it. I found that admirable, but my Read ‘n React gameplan stays the same every week.
Again, it was quite a defensive battle as the two teams were slugging it out. The Eagles gameplan for the week seemed to be sticking with 2 WR sets and work the middle of the field. TO really wasn't going off, but LJ Smith was. Well, he didn't “go off” per se, but he did manage to catch a pass for a lengthy gain in the second quarter, which set up a TD. I really didn't have an answer to that TD until the 4 th quarter. After working my receiving tandem of Moulds and Evans, I found myself with a 1 st and Goal on the 5-yard line with less than a minute to play in the game and 1 Time Out to left. I tried to punch the ball in with McGahee, but that went nowhere. Then I tried to pass the ball, but Losman overthrew the TE in the corner of the End Zone. 3 rd down brought up another passing play, but again the Eagles D came up huge and sacked Losman, so now it's 4 th and goal to tie the game. Well, I could've probably just typed that last sentence over again because, once again, Losman was eating turf, only this time the game was over and the Bills were bounce from the tournament. Yep, I was shutout, zero points. Game over.
There it is. Another early exit for me on a Thursday night, but there were some good things that came out of the evening. As I mentioned before, I'm starting to see a new group of Madden “regulars” show up on a weekly basis. And the good thing is that most of them play solid football. Well, as solid as can be while playing 2-minute quarters. There was a little controversy again last night when a guy decided to turn of the Vision Cone, but he wasn't playing me and I think he lost anyway. I don't get that. I mean, why play with the Vision Cone off? Why not just pop in Madden 2005 if the cone is going to be turned off? Oh well, it was fun anyway. And I think I found my backup team just in case someone wants to roll with the Steelers against me. Fortunately, I know where the weakness lies with the Steelers D; it's just a matter of being able to exploit it. That's all I have today, I'm having a bit of a rough morning. So, this is about all I can put together at his point. Until next week…
“I'll have a bloody Mary, a steak sandwich and a...steak sandwich.”
Oh, I forgot to mention the other controversial moment of the tournament. Host Mike Valenti battled his way through the tournament to make it to the Finals against the gentlemen who was running with the Steelers. The funny thing about the guy using the Steelers was that he employed the 4-3 defense throughout the tourney and it looked to be really effective, but this is Madden we're talking about and we all know how dodgy the AI can be. That's not the controversy, though. The controversy is that before the two were scheduled to play, the EB Games employee packed up the systems, so they couldn't get the Championship game in. So, while Mike wants to claim the Championship for the week, the game was never played and I think it would've been a toss-up between the two combatants. Now, we all know that he wouldn't have gotten to that point if he was in my bracket, but that's a story for another day. It should also be noted that when Mike wins the tourney he doesn't take the prizes because he's the host.
