I am Jerry Jones!

[MeShawn]

Well, not really, but I took Madden 2005 and pretended I was. I took the Cowboys, not playing, just simulating and managing the roster to see how I could do. Right now, I'm in season 3.

Year 1 (2005): 3-13

Awful year, experimented with Henson. Didn't work. Julius played decent, going over the 1k mark, but averages weren't impressive. Bryant prmoted to #1 WR. Awful season.

Offseason, not really any huge moves. Woodson retired which was big. We had to fill his shoes somehow, and we had the 2nd pick in the draft, so that was the easiest solution. Picked Robert Terrell and after two years experience, he is 84 overall. Not bad.

Year 2 (2006): 9-7 (made the playoffs, NFC champion, lost in the superbowl to the Chiefs)

Tried Henson again, failure again. JJ #'s weren't too gaudy either. But we were very lucky to make the playoffs, just snuck in. We upset 3 teams, including the Seahawks to make the Superbowl. Tough loss against the Chiefs, 24-17.

Very busy offseason. Two huge signings, Brandon Lloyd (88 ovr) and Ricky Manning Jr. (88 ovr). How did I get them? Simple, restricted free agents. I had the 31st pick in the draft, so the picks didn't mean much to me. I signed Lloyd (16.70M/3.15M/3 Years) and gave the compensation of my 1st and 3rd round picks. Then I traded Keyshawn Johnson (89 ovr) to the Redskins for the 29th pick in the 1st and 3rd rounds. So I had enough compensation. Then I signed Ricky Manning (20.68M/4.48M/4 Years) and gave the Panthers the compensation.

That's not all. I also signed AJ Feeley becuase Henson obviously wasn't the answer.

I have made other minor moves also.


Going into the 3rd year, my team is better (for what I started out with):

A. Feeley 83
D. Henson 80
Q. Carter 81

J. Jones 85
A. Cason 76
A. Pinner 75

C. Fuamatu-Ma' 77
L. Collins 71
D. Miller 61

A. Bryant 87
B. Lloyd 88
T. Glenn 83
B. Shaw 77
P. Sloan 53

J. Witten 85
D. Campbell 81

F. Adams 90
G. Williams 69

L. Allen 90
R. #60 67

G. DiNapoli 82
A. Johnson 71
T. Walter 70

M. Lehr 81
A. Gurode 81

G. Randall 78
R. #79 75

G. Ellis 94
K. Coleman 71
J. Sharper

M. Wiley 91

L. Glover 95
W. Blade 73
L. Carson 77

A. Singleton 90
T. Hendricks 70

D. Nguyen 93
T. Johnson 78

D. Coakley 94
D. Russell 76

T. Newman 94
R. Manning 88
P. Hunter 84

R. Williams 98
M. Otto 72

R. Terrell 84
T. Dixon 80

B. Cundiff 83

M. McBriar 84
V. Jackson 80

To start off season season 3, my cowboys are 4-0. I swear, I should be the GM of the Cowboys.


I guess I was a little bit bored

[Nilmerf]

Even though I'm not really a Cowboy fan in real life.. I like to play as them in franchise mode too for some reason. Maybe 'cause I'm a cowboy myself, I dunno!

The first thing I did with my Cowboys was to cut some deadweight, then package Terry Glenn and someone else for Plaxico Burress. I then simulated my first season and wound up dead last. Yay! I then signed Julian Peterson in the offseason. I always like to build my defense around linebackers, forget about the defensive line, go to a 3-4 scheme and overload blitz most of the time. This was a simulation but I still liked to anyways.

I then used the first overall pick to draft a scrambling quarterback (who I pretended was me). I did a few more things then simulated my second season. To my surprise, after it was done I found out my rookie quarterback led the entire league in rushing! And he had a lot more rushing touchdowns than passing touchdowns. Weird! I guess the computer secretly abuses scrambling when you simulate. I ended up winning the Super Bowl too. And that's how you go from worst to first!

[bagobonez]

Even though I'm not really a Cowboy fan in real life.. I like to play as them in franchise mode too for some reason. Maybe 'cause I'm a cowboy myself, I dunno!

The first thing I did with my Cowboys was to cut some deadweight, then package Terry Glenn and someone else for Plaxico Burress. I then simulated my first season and wound up dead last. Yay! I then signed Julian Peterson in the offseason. I always like to build my defense around linebackers, forget about the defensive line, go to a 3-4 scheme and overload blitz most of the time. This was a simulation but I still liked to anyways.

I then used the first overall pick to draft a scrambling quarterback (who I pretended was me). I did a few more things then simulated my second season. To my surprise, after it was done I found out my rookie quarterback led the entire league in rushing! And he had a lot more rushing touchdowns than passing touchdowns. Weird! I guess the computer secretly abuses scrambling when you simulate. I ended up winning the Super Bowl too. And that's how you go from worst to first!

It probably depended on how your coaching options were set. If your offense was designed to run 75% of the time, that's probably why your QB had such good stats. Plus if your priority sliders were set to where you want your QB to be a scrambler, that could have made a difference too.

[bagobonez]

Well, not really, but I took Madden 2005 and pretended I was. I took the Cowboys, not playing, just simulating and managing the roster to see how I could do. Right now, I'm in season 3.

Year 1 (2005): 3-13

Awful year, experimented with Henson. Didn't work. Julius played decent, going over the 1k mark, but averages weren't impressive. Bryant prmoted to #1 WR. Awful season.

Offseason, not really any huge moves. Woodson retired which was big. We had to fill his shoes somehow, and we had the 2nd pick in the draft, so that was the easiest solution. Picked Robert Terrell and after two years experience, he is 84 overall. Not bad.

Year 2 (2006): 9-7 (made the playoffs, NFC champion, lost in the superbowl to the Chiefs)

Tried Henson again, failure again. JJ #'s weren't too gaudy either. But we were very lucky to make the playoffs, just snuck in. We upset 3 teams, including the Seahawks to make the Superbowl. Tough loss against the Chiefs, 24-17.

Very busy offseason. Two huge signings, Brandon Lloyd (88 ovr) and Ricky Manning Jr. (88 ovr). How did I get them? Simple, restricted free agents. I had the 31st pick in the draft, so the picks didn't mean much to me. I signed Lloyd (16.70M/3.15M/3 Years) and gave the compensation of my 1st and 3rd round picks. Then I traded Keyshawn Johnson (89 ovr) to the Redskins for the 29th pick in the 1st and 3rd rounds. So I had enough compensation. Then I signed Ricky Manning (20.68M/4.48M/4 Years) and gave the Panthers the compensation.

That's not all. I also signed AJ Feeley becuase Henson obviously wasn't the answer.

I have made other minor moves also.


Going into the 3rd year, my team is better (for what I started out with):

A. Feeley 83
D. Henson 80
Q. Carter 81

J. Jones 85
A. Cason 76
A. Pinner 75

C. Fuamatu-Ma' 77
L. Collins 71
D. Miller 61

A. Bryant 87
B. Lloyd 88
T. Glenn 83
B. Shaw 77
P. Sloan 53

J. Witten 85
D. Campbell 81

F. Adams 90
G. Williams 69

L. Allen 90
R. #60 67

G. DiNapoli 82
A. Johnson 71
T. Walter 70

M. Lehr 81
A. Gurode 81

G. Randall 78
R. #79 75

G. Ellis 94
K. Coleman 71
J. Sharper

M. Wiley 91

L. Glover 95
W. Blade 73
L. Carson 77

A. Singleton 90
T. Hendricks 70

D. Nguyen 93
T. Johnson 78

D. Coakley 94
D. Russell 76

T. Newman 94
R. Manning 88
P. Hunter 84

R. Williams 98
M. Otto 72

R. Terrell 84
T. Dixon 80

B. Cundiff 83

M. McBriar 84
V. Jackson 80

To start off season season 3, my cowboys are 4-0. I swear, I should be the GM of the Cowboys.


I guess I was a little bit bored

Gotta do somethin' about the right side of that O-line!

[bagobonez]

I was thinking about the Chargers' and Chiefs' offense the other day and how neither offense has a big-time WR, yet their offenses consistently scored 25+ points a game. How did they do it? With great running games and great tight ends.

So I figured I'd put that to the test in a fantasy draft. Here's how my team looked afterwards...

QB Rivers 77
RB J.Jones 84 (backup is McGahee 80)
FB M.Karney 74 (great lead blocker)
WR R.Woods 77
WR J.Reed 77
WR D.Henderson 76
TE J.Witten 89
LT R.Gallery 80
LG A.Faneca 97
C O.Kreutz 98
RG M.Wahle 95
RT K.McKenzie 87

(Notice how my interior offensive line is outstanding)

I set my offense to run the ball 70% of the time. You'd figure with that offensive line and a good speedy RB (Julius Jones) that the offense would be rolling. Nope. My offense is ranked 30th in the league. And in fact, Julius Jones' overall rating had improved to an 89 overall (i guess since he's had so many carries) but only averaging 3.5 a carry. Lucky for me I drafted great D too...

R.Seymour
M.Stroud
A.Haynesworth
A.Ogunleye
T.Suggs
E.Hartwell
D.Williams
L.Sheppard
S.Taylor
M.Boulware
A.Samuel

Defense is ranked #1 and I am 10-3.