2015 Season: Week 2 Open

What an opening week! In terms of User vs CPU games, the league went 3-5 versus AI opponents. That is awesome. There wasn't a single CPU team that won by more than 14. And not a single user won by more than 10. Squeeze those buttholes boys. Might be a rough ride.  The game of the week came down to 1 point, with the Chargers prevailing 24-23. And we even had a tie between the Titans and Buccaneers!

I will say this. When the game is over, kneel the fucking ball. Maybe even turn on chew clock when kneeling out the game. Have some sportsmanship.

Sliders
I heard talk of penalty sliders being out of hand. Keep in mind, Madden actually intended for penalties to be called. They were a little high for some teams. Titans - 9. Redskins - 8. Texans - 8. CPU-ATL, Lions, Browns, Seahawks - 7. The rest between 0 and 5. Keep in mind, ratings and traits matter. There are three traits for players when it comes to penalties. Disciplined, Normal, Undisciplined. Those will tell you their tendencies. A disciplined player might not grab a facemask when you try to strip the ball, but an undisciplined player is much more likely. It adds a much more risk versus reward feature to the game. I'm gonna give penalties another week to see where we sit.

League Settings
Quarter length came up as a topic. We're at 7 minutes now, with a runoff to 20 seconds.  I don't want games to run over an hour consistently, but also don't want quick games. More plays will offer a better representation of a game, instead of only coming down to a few possessions. Would you guys be opposed to bumping up the game to 8 minute quarters immediately?

FREE AGENTS
Once again, we are all capped to 2 Free Agent signings this week. Week 3 and going forward will be an open free-for-all. But be respectful and don't just go to town signing people.

Season Spotlights
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Week 2 offers a newbie, who lost a close game to the auto-pilot Vikings, 0-7, facing off with a longtime vet, with many NCAA trophies, but still lacking a Lombardi. It will be strength versus strength this week, as the 49ers defense and Steelers offense sees who is up to task.

is demon out of town? Just wondering why falcons are a cpu team this week

Lions – 23
 
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Chargers – 24
 
When the Chargers acquired Stevie Johnson in the offseason, the organization knew that he would provide a boost to an already strong passing attack. They just didn’t realize how big of an impact he would have in their Week 1 matchup versus the Detroit Lions. Johnson and WR Keenan Allen both had over 100 yards receiving, but WR Jeff Janis and TE Ladarius Green provided the touchdowns.
 
The Chargers opened up the game with a long drive capped by a touchdown by rookie RB Melvin Gordon. The Lions would answer with a field goal to end the first quarter. They ended up kicking two more field goals, scoring two rushing touchdowns, and lead the Chargers for most of the game.
 
The Lions were up 23-17 with undertow minutes to go, but it was the QB Philip Rivers Show from then on. He found Janis in the end zone with eight seconds left. Despite trailing for most of the game, the Chargers held the Lions without a receiving touchdown and did a great job on WR Calvin Johnson.
 

The team hopes to build on its success against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.

rob13934 wrote:is demon out of town? Just wondering why falcons are a cpu team this week

He just moved. Likely won't have internet until Wednesday.

the_EDJ wrote:Sliders
I heard talk of penalty sliders being out of hand. Keep in mind, Madden actually intended for penalties to be called. They were a little high for some teams. Titans - 9. Redskins - 8. Texans - 8. CPU-ATL, Lions, Browns, Seahawks - 7. The rest between 0 and 5. Keep in mind, ratings and traits matter. There are three traits for players when it comes to penalties. Disciplined, Normal, Undisciplined. Those will tell you their tendencies. A disciplined player might not grab a facemask when you try to strip the ball, but an undisciplined player is much more likely. It adds a much more risk versus reward feature to the game. I'm gonna give penalties another week to see where we sit.

League Settings
Quarter length came up as a topic. We're at 7 minutes now, with a runoff to 20 seconds.  I don't want games to run over an hour consistently, but also don't want quick games. More plays will offer a better representation of a game, instead of only coming down to a few possessions. Would you guys be opposed to bumping up the game to 8 minute quarters immediately?

Penalties

I had about 8-10 total penalties called in my week 1 game vs the CPU (including about 6 on me).  Personally I thought it was fine.  I don't think 8-10 penalties total between both teams is out of hand however if others are seeing much more than I guess that's a different story.  I think this may initially seem like a lot because we're all just not use to seeing any penalties in Madden.

Quarter Length

I wouldn't mind seeing the quarter length bumped to 8 minutes, or at least give it a try.  I think it would allow for more plays (a chance to get closer to a more realistic 60-70 plays ... I think each team in my game failed to even run 45 plays), a chance to dig deeper into the playbook and a chance to see more realistic stats.  I agree though, if the actual running time of the game gets too high (over an hour) then that's probably too high.  I think my week one game lasted about 45 minutes with the 7 minute quarters.

Penalties for Skins and Dolphins game were rough including multiple penalties in a row for each team. 4th qtr after having a fumble return td called back for clipping, i had 3 holding/hands to the face penalties. 1st and 27 is a little rough to overcome with qb accuracy reversed from last yr. just something to keep an eye on i guess

mission8 wrote:Penalties for Skins and Dolphins game were rough including multiple penalties in a row for each team. 4th qtr after having a fumble return td called back for clipping, i had 3 holding/hands to the face penalties. 1st and 27 is a little rough to overcome with qb accuracy reversed from last yr. just something to keep an eye on i guess

Losing a 70 yd TD on a slant thanks to a block in the back on the other side of the field at the LOS isn't fun either so consider us even

i agree plusch. it was good game. Both of us got screwed at times

Lions vs A-P Vikings -- No PS4 for Commando yet.
Titans vs Browns -- Hippo is free Tuesday evening.
Redskins vs CPU
Dolphins vs CPU

We should get a quick advance in yet again!

Dolphins choke & lose to the lowly Jaguars 27-24. A back & forth affair that saw more insane penalties & Blake Bortles go god-mode while Ryan Tannehill played like a bad D-3 QB with 4 INTs. Including, a pick in the endzone with 6 seconds left in the game with Miami on the 4. I dont know what the fuck I was doing tonight.

The AALoA Game of the Week for week 2 saw the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the San Francisco 49ers.  The Steelers entered the game 1-0 while the 49ers suffered a close Week 1 loss but the Owner Steel Rooney  and HC Mike Tomlin knew this wouldn't be an easy game as these coach's met in the pre-season (albeit with different teams ironically) and it was essentially a 3-0 game. 

Both teams flexed their muscle on defense as neither offense was able to sustain any meaningful drives throughout the first quarter.  Towards the end of the quarter the Steelers began to give their All-Pro RB the rock and it began to pay dividends.  Bell picked up 4 yards here, 6 yards there and it began to loosen the reigns on that stifling 49ers defense.  Early in the second quarter, the 49ers were caught in a man defense trying to send extra guys to slow down the run and Big Ben found Antonio Brown on a slant route which he then took 30 yards for the game's first score.

Antonio Brown opens the scoring with 30 yard TD catch and run.





Both defenses buckled down after that as neither team scored coming out of the locker room.  After a FG gave the Steelers a 10-0 lead, the 49ers tried desperately to get back into the game but as the minutes ticked off the clock and trailing by two scores they were forced to drop back and pass it which played right into the hands of the Steelers defense.  As the 2 minute warning approached the Steelers put the game out of reach when FS Mike Mitchell picked off a Colin Kaepernick overthrow and then RB Le'Veon Bell followed that up with a 28 yard TD run on the very next play.

Steelers seal the victory with INT and TD Run.

The final score would be 17-0 but this game was far closer and more competitive than the score would indicate.

The 49ers defense put on another great showing as they held the Steelers offense to only 10 points until a late interception thrown by Kaepernick led to a TD run in the final two minutes. DPotY candidate Eric Reid came away from the game with another interception. This time it was a touchdown saving INT in the end zone. Carlos Hyde was stifled by the Steelers defense which lead to the offense moving to the passing game. This was unsuccessful as they threw three INTs and were still unable to muster a TD. The defense hopes to continue this strong performance in week 3 while the offense just hopes to score a touchdown since they've been held scoreless these first two weeks.

roughing the passer following by a bs interference call to start the game against me...

Browns advance to 2-0![You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]
Browns 37 - Titans 3
In a battle of heisman winners (Manziel and Mariota) the Browns hard nosed defense came up huge holding the Titans to 171 total yards and intercepting Mariota 3 times! Manziel and the Three headed monster of a Running Back committee(Duke Johnson, Robert Turbin and Isiah Crowell) combined to have over 200 yards rushing on 22 rushing attempts! Manziel had a huge come back game after a tough week 1 game going 13/17 with 171Yards and 3TDs. Good game Hippo.

Key Stats:
QB Johnny Manziel 13/17 161Yards 3TDs
WR Josh Gordon 4Rec 57 Yards 2TD

Chargers – 24
 
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Bengals – 17
 
The San Diego Chargers move to 2-0 after beating the Bengals 24-17.
 
QB Philip Rivers struggled early in the game, but again led a masterful comeback win in the 4^th quarter. Rivers threw 2 picks in the 1^st half and the Chargers trailed 10-3 going into the 2^nd half. They would not score until early in the 3^rd on a TE Ladarius Green touchdown on a crossing route. With the score tied 10-10, CB Brandon Flowers got his 2^nd interception on QB Andy Dalton. Rivers then throws his own interception and RB Jeremy Hill rushes for touchdown to make it 17-10 going into the 4^th. The Chargers tie the game 17-17 on a WR Keenan Allen 45-yard touchdown and followed that up with a 42-yard touchdown from WR Jeff Janis to take the lead. CB Steve Williams picks off Dalton for one final time and the Chargers win 24-17.
 

The Chargers head to Minnesota to face the Vikings in Week 3.