Madden 12 League-OFFICIAL CAG LEAGUE-Week 3 live. Deadline Monday night.

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Just watched the White TDs again, it was definitely the 3rd one (the opening drive of the 3rd quarter which went for 76 yards). Upon rewatching it, it wasn't as egregious as I thought it had been live, where it looked to me like it dropped right in the middle of three oblivious defenders as well.

What happened was Leonhard hadn't turned his head around yet after dropping back into the zone (which you'd never notice at game speed obviously) so he never had a chance to play the ball. Revis and Harris weren't really in the play yet, having been in short zone coverage. The real offender was Bryan Thomas, who let the pass sail directly by his dumb head without moving an inch (and then whiffed on the tackle for good measure). White caught the pass about 2 yards directly behind him.

It's actually a really interesting play if you watch it, definitely a breakdown in pass protection. I'll see if I can post the highlight.

Edit: After watching it Zapruder film style, the ball actually was about 2 feet over Thomas' head, rather than past it. He still made absolutely no move to defend it, even though he was the only defender in a position to see the pass coming.
 
Time to make a play for Peyton Manning and draft more speedy WRs.

fuck running.

edit: In all seriousness, I should have thrown it more. My attempts seem high, but that's because I was down. What I should have done is worked in a bit more passes so I didn't have to settle for long FGs or short punts in that first half. By the time I really started passing it became even more obvious what I was doing and that just made it all the more difficult. I should've pushed harder on the pedal there instead of trying to cruise with a meager 14-0 lead with only 2-3 minutes off the entire game clock. Again, oh well.
 
I can break it down pretty easily, 3 guys decide to not swat at the ball, guy catches it, 3 guys decide not to tackle the guy, guy runs, guy is apparently faster than all on field, rest of defenders take terrible angles to the ball, guy scores.

I also stupidly never assign Revis to White. Pretty sure Wilson was on him most of the game. And I even saw him in the slot and god knows who was on him then. Just a series of really stupid moves.

And now I'm spent almost as much time being frustrated/annoyed by the game AFTER it's been played then I did playing it. So it's time to pack it in and go play some Skyrim.
 
[quote name='ubernes']I can break it down pretty easily, 3 guys decide to not swat at the ball, guy catches it, 3 guys decide not to tackle the guy, guy runs, guy is apparently faster than all on field, rest of defenders take terrible angles to the ball, guy scores.[/QUOTE]

That's not what happened at all as you'll see in a moment. ;)

[quote name='ubernes']
I also stupidly never assign Revis to White. Pretty sure Wilson was on him most of the game. And I even saw him in the slot and god knows who was on him then. Just a series of really stupid moves.
[/QUOTE]

I don't have any formations where White's in the slot.
 
Man and I were supposed to play Eagles-Redskins at 11:00PM, but at nearly 11:30PM he hasn't showed (surprise). I'll keep the league updated on the next scheduled time, I sent him an XBL message to pick a time Wednesday or Thursday. He had picked tonight's scheduled kickoff, BTW.
 
Damnit! I spend half an hour doing a film breakdown and it gets buried on the last post of the previous page! :bomb:

I'm moving it here.

[quote name='PacerPerspect']Man and I were supposed to play Eagles-Redskins at 11:00PM, but at nearly 11:30PM he hasn't showed (surprise). I'll keep the league updated on the next scheduled time, I sent him an XBL message to pick a time Wednesday or Thursday. He had picked tonight's scheduled kickoff, BTW.[/QUOTE]

Thanks, keep us posted.
---

The first ever (I believe) CAGFL2 film breakdown:

I'm spoilering the whole thing so as not to clutter up the thread.

First of all, the game situation: Jets up 17-14 on the Patriots' opening drive in the 3rd. Second and 6 from the Patriots 24. This TD gave the Pats the lead for the first time in the game, which they would not relinquish, so it was definitely the biggest play of the game.

The Jets were (I believe) in a Cover 2 here, and White was on a fly pattern down the right sideline.

Here's the play in real-time: https://www.easports.com/media/play/video/106987773 (If whoever our official Youtube guy is could upload this, I'd appreciate it!)

You can tell from this what it looked like at game speed to both of us: That White made a ridiculous circus catch between three oblivious defenders. At the time the pass is released, there are four different Jets (Revis, Leonhard, Thomas, and Harris) on that side of the play, while White is the only Patriot besides Ross, who has run an out into the flat and isn't really in the play. Let's break it down though:

Part One: This is right after Revis (24) released White to play the flat zone, after bumping him slightly at the line. Thomas (58) has his eyes in the backfield at this point as well. You can't see it in this shot, but Leonhard (36) is still dropping back into a deep zone.

white1.jpg



Part Two: This is right as Brady releases the ball after rolling out to the right. Revis (24) is still in his zone, and this one gives you a great look that Leonhard (36) is not yet finished with his drop and is facing away from the play. Thomas (58) is the only one who's seen the pass.

white2.jpg



Part Three: This is about a millisecond before the ball (in the upper left corner) is going to sail about 2 feet over Thomas's (58) head. This is where the play breaks down, since he's the only one who has a play on the ball. You can't tell from the pictures, but he basically doesn't move at all. Whether he could have jumped high enough to catch/swat it we'll never know, but for whatever reason he chose not to. Leonhard (36) is just now turning around, and hasn't found the ball yet, whereas White has.

white3.jpg


Part Four: This is the moment of the catch. As you can see, White ends up catching it in a clean pocket about half way between Thomas (58) and Leonhard (36) who are conveniently standing on the lines 5 yards apart. The key thing here is White has caught the ball (which hit him right between the numbers) and is already turning back to the outside, where there are no more defenders if he can beat Leonhard, who doesn't exactly look balanced here, and whose momentum is now carrying him back towards the line of scrimmage.

white4.jpg


Part Five: This is when White breaks away, you can see Thomas (58) whiffing on the tackle (he wasn't really that close), and at this point he's off to the races since Leonhard and Harris are already behind him. After this he outraced them all to the endzone, it was actually the other safety, Ndukwe, who finally caught him at the 1 and tackled him into the endzone.

white5.jpg


Anyway, I've probably spent way too much time dissecting one play, but I found it really fascinating. I think it's an interesting play to look at though, since both of us thought it was ridiculous watching it live, but once you break it down the only one who actually messed up on the play was Thomas by not trying to play the ball. What looked like a lucky break at first look was actually a beautifully placed ball by Brady combined with a great awareness of the zone and move after the catch by White.

It makes me wonder how often these plays that seem broken actually look like real football plays if you slow them down. Maybe we don't give Madden enough credit.

By the way, this is not at all to rub the play in Uber's face. Like him I thought it was pretty ridiculous at game speed, I just became fascinated with the play once I broke it down more, and thought this might be fun.
 
SEA - 23
ARI - 20

Seahawks squeak out an OT victory at home to push their record to 7-2. I've definitely hit my mid-season slump, I think there was a stretch in the 2nd quarter that went ARI Pick 6 - ARI Saftey - ARI TD+2.

Not my best ball but I was able to hold AD to about 50ish yards so my run defense is back to what it should be. I lost ANOTHER player (that's 3 this season) to a broken collarbone. Good thing I didn't trade WTIII.

GG LV. NFC West is crazy this season, I look forward to our rematch. Seattle is prepping for another tough stretch - Lions, 49ers, Ravens.
 
XFN is updated.

Couple of interesting Patriots stat nuggets:

Tom Brady has now put up two consecutive perfect QB ratings to bring his season rating up from about 81 to 99 (good for third in the league behind Flacco and Stafford). He's also climbing back to the top in terms of completion percentage, which he lead last season (he's 2nd, less than a percentage point behind Josh Freeman).

Cobie Ross has pretty much sewn up the ROY barring an anvil falling on him, but he's also putting himself in the discussion for running back of the year. He's now 4th in yards, tied for 3rd in TDs, and 3rd in ypc. He's not going to beat out McFadden or Charles obviously, but he's moving himself towards at least being nominated.
 
[quote name='bvharris']XFN is updated.

Couple of interesting Patriots stat nuggets:

Tom Brady has now put up two consecutive perfect QB ratings to bring his season rating up from about 81 to 99 (good for third in the league behind Flacco and Stafford). He's also climbing back to the top in terms of completion percentage, which he lead last season (he's 2nd, less than a percentage point behind Josh Freeman).

Cobie Ross has pretty much sewn up the ROY barring an anvil falling on him, but he's also putting himself in the discussion for running back of the year. He's now 4th in yards, tied for 3rd in TDs, and 3rd in ypc. He's not going to beat out McFadden or Charles obviously, but he's moving himself towards at least being nominated.[/QUOTE]

doesn't have the ARI v SEA game...I demand another update :D
 
[quote name='Doomtime']I need to somehow up my attempts with Cassel so I'm eligible for the passing leaders. He's having a pretty good season.[/QUOTE]

Indeed, he'd have the highest QB rating in the league if he were eligible. Not sure how that's determined, since the stats page lists Clay Harris already, who has fewer attempts than Cassel. Although his QB rating isn't fueled so much by his completion percentage or yards per attempt, neither of which are anything special, but rather by the fact that he doesn't turn it over as much as the gunslingers.

Flacco is probably the MVP at this point though: He hadn't put up a QB rating of under 100 all season until I threw three picks with him subbing (sorry again, MA!)
 
[quote name='staticz']doesn't have the ARI v SEA game...I demand another update :D[/QUOTE]

Thought I'd caught it, I updated it after your post, guess it hadn't made it to the servers yet. It's there now.
 
[quote name='bvharris']Indeed, he'd have the highest QB rating in the league if he were eligible. Not sure how that's determined, since the stats page lists Clay Harris already, who has fewer attempts than Cassel. Although his QB rating isn't fueled so much by his completion percentage or yards per attempt, neither of which are anything special, but rather by the fact that he doesn't turn it over as much as the gunslingers.

Flacco is probably the MVP at this point though: He hadn't put up a QB rating of under 100 all season until I threw three picks with him subbing (sorry again, MA!)[/QUOTE]

14 pass attempts a game to be eligible I believe. I think I'm probably at 9 or 10 a game. And yeah I was thinking the same with Flacco. He was the frontrunner until this recent week, nice work bv!
 
[quote name='Doomtime']14 pass attempts a game to be eligible I believe. I think I'm probably at 9 or 10 a game. And yeah I was thinking the same with Flacco. He was the frontrunner until this recent week, nice work bv![/QUOTE]

I don't think we should hold that week against Flacco. We'll just say he had the BV Flu or something. :D

You're right, it's 14 passes a game. Tom Brady is only at 14.3, so he's just barely qualifying himself. I don't anticipate that changing though, I'm not planning to shift away from the run-first philosophy any time soon.
 
Even if I don't run away with the division, I've put myself back in the conversation for a WC spot should the Dolphins catch me (they're still only a game back). I hold the tie-breaker over the Raiders and Texans, who each have to play the Chiefs and Titans respectively twice still. I also have a game coming up against the Steelers, who have a punishing schedule down the stretch (Ravens, Steelers, Titans, Browns, 49ers, Bengals, Cards).

Meanwhile, I only have 1 game left against a team currently above .500 (Steelers, sans Mike Wallace). Definitely glad now that my schedule was so front-loaded.
 
Well this is officially the most depressing page of the thread. Looking forward to 382.

I'll still never understand why Leonhard runs past White. He literally just had to stand there...even if he's running away from the ball to get into his deep zone, he should still be a good while away from him before & after the catch. It was obviously a stupid play for me to call (a trend for that game, it looks like) but there's no reason for Leonhard to at least ATTEMPT to make a play on White. And Thomas (probably my best coverage LB), not to mention much lesser coverage LBs than him have made plenty of plays on the ball just like that 100x a game in Madden 12. So I don't think the 2 yards explains his complete ineptitude on that play.
 
[quote name='ubernes']Well this is officially the most depressing page of the thread. Looking forward to 382.

I'll still never understand why Leonhard runs past White. He literally just had to stand there...even if he's running away from the ball to get into his deep zone, he should still be a good while away from him before & after the catch. It was obviously a stupid play for me to call (a trend for that game, it looks like) but there's no reason for Leonhard to at least ATTEMPT to make a play on White. And Thomas (probably my best coverage LB), not to mention much lesser coverage LBs than him have made plenty of plays on the ball just like that 100x a game in Madden 12. So I don't think the 2 yards explains his complete ineptitude on that play.[/QUOTE]

No, nothing explains the ineptitude. I'm 50/50 on whether he would have been able to make a play on the ball if he tried, the ball was on a zipline but it did go right over his head. That he made no attempt on it was baffling.

My bigger question with Leonhard is why he still had his back to the play as the ball was in the air, which was a good 3 or 4 seconds after the snap. If he had already settled into his zone as you'd expect, he would've had a better chance to make a play on the ball. As it stood, there was no chance of him making a play on the ball in the air, but as you point out he was definitely in a spot where he should have been able to hit White (who had his back to him) right away and possibly jar the ball out, but at least make the tackle.

I can't say for sure why he didn't make a tackle (or even attempt one, no one actually touched White between when Revis bumped him at the line and when Ndukwe got to him at the goal line), though based on when the blue circle appeared it looks like you might have taken control at the last second and tried to come forward to make a play on the ball. I can't tell for sure when control switched over.
 
Leonhard also has little reason to be dropping back that far, for that long. He's a safety. He's pretty much already sitting in his zone coverage spot if it's regular deep coverage, which is was.

I've spent far too much time on this play, on this game so I'm officially done. It's over. Another bad loss in the books this season. Potential playoff dagger. Now it's between gearing up for next season, or making a last ditch effort here. Onto next week.
 
[quote name='ubernes']Leonhard also has little reason to be dropping back that far, for that long. He's a safety. He's pretty much already sitting in his zone coverage spot if it's regular deep coverage, which is was.
[/QUOTE]

Definitely weird. I wish I'd captured an image of the play pre-snap to see where Leonhard lined up... But based on the first image where you can't see him, I think the shallowest he could have possibly been was the 30, and he didn't even turn his head until he got to the 45 (White caught the ball on the 43).

Maybe I don't pay enough attention, but like you I'm surprised a safety would be dropping back that far with his back to the play the whole time. I'm going to have to keep an eye out for that in my guys, definitely makes me rethink the Cover 2 a bit. Though of course it took a perfectly placed ball to beat it, so maybe you can't read too much from it. If Brady under or overthrows that ball by a yard, it's probably a pick.

Oh, and I'm sure the fact that I won the game is allowing me to enjoy this a bit more, but I really think this is a fascinating exercise. I'm going to try to do it from time to time going forward. We don't do much Madden X's and O's talk around here. :D
 
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[quote name='Doomtime']I plan on demolishing Prez twice. All that trash talk and he overlooked the Chargers[/QUOTE]

I almost made the same mistake after getting out to a big lead. Definitely can't take your foot off the gas against the Chargers, he can go from not doing much to putting up TD after TD in a hurry.
 
I don't know how to get ahold of the bengals owner, and I'm away from xbl until tomorrow night, but as soon as i get home i will send him a message and get the broncos bengals game knocked out asap.
 
[quote name='PacerPerspect']Man and I were supposed to play Eagles-Redskins at 11:00PM, but at nearly 11:30PM he hasn't showed (surprise). I'll keep the league updated on the next scheduled time, I sent him an XBL message to pick a time Wednesday or Thursday. He had picked tonight's scheduled kickoff, BTW.[/QUOTE]

No message on XBL from Man this morning, I'll check again this afternoon.
 
[quote name='Aft3rSh0ck24']I don't know how to get ahold of the bengals owner, and I'm away from xbl until tomorrow night, but as soon as i get home i will send him a message and get the broncos bengals game knocked out asap.[/QUOTE]

Aft3rSh0ck24 - I(Bengals) am available after 6:30pmEST all week. Let me know when you can play - my bad, I thought Venom was still the Broncos owner and I have been trying to contact him... Best way to get me is CAG PM.
 
[quote name='staticz']SEA - 23
ARI - 20

Seahawks squeak out an OT victory at home to push their record to 7-2. I've definitely hit my mid-season slump, I think there was a stretch in the 2nd quarter that went ARI Pick 6 - ARI Saftey - ARI TD+2.

GG LV. NFC West is crazy this season, I look forward to our rematch. Seattle is prepping for another tough stretch - Lions, 49ers, Ravens.[/QUOTE]



Yea that was an exciting one. Great game.

To say I have hit a mid-season slump would be an understatement.

Looks like after losing to an 0-4 Cowboys, an 0-7 Bucs and two division games, the Cardinals season is pretty much over.

One upside would be that Kelvin Hayden has had 3 or 4 consecutive games with a pick 6.
 
Titans looking for a mid level DT,LB, FS, or SS.

Trade block: (player management rating, depth chart rating)

QB Matt Hasselbeck 83B, 84. 36 yrsold

RB Teran Doolittle 77B, 77. Rookie 21yrs old

WR Marc Mariani 75B, 74. 25yrs old

WR Damian Williams 75C, 70. 24yrs old

DT Jurrell Casey 76B, 75. 22 yrs old

DT Karl Klug 76B, 72. 24 yrs old

DT Shaun Smith 76B, 75. 31 yrs old
 
Sent you a PM.

Also, no need to list both the Player Management and Depth Chart ratings.. The Depth Chart ones are the correct ones, so you only need to list those.
 
[quote name='gbpackers94']
Also does anyone know if injury ratings go up as players progress?[/QUOTE]

No idea, I've wondered that myself. My rookie WR/kick returner is incredibly brittle, so I never use him on offense, even though I'd like to work him in at some point. Cobie Ross' 80 also makes me a bit nervous.
 
[quote name='gbpackers94']Looks like Doom and mog are in a tight game in the 4th (Chiefs up 7).

Also does anyone know if injury ratings go up as players progress?[/QUOTE]

All I can say is wow, escaped that game with a win when clearly I should have lost.

Cutler was contained pretty well in the first half, but once the 3rd quarter hit, he went off. Over 500 fucking yards passing and once Newman went down, I had no way to stop those receivers. I just prayed.

We're talking home run plays on both sides in the 2nd half. Charles didn't contribute much, but Miles Austin and Dwayne Bowe came up huge. I had 3 one play drives, one on a bomb to Dwayne Bowe and two on posts to Miles Austin.

Obviously, adjustments need to be made and like I expected, mog took this game to the edge.

Forgot to include the dramatic ending, just so much to write down about this game.

I stopped the Bears on a 4th and 4 at my 40 with under two minutes to go, however could only manage a field goal to make it 38-28. The Bears march right down the field and score on a Matt Forte slant that I bit on big time. 38-35 with under a minute to play. He recovers the onside kick and gets to the 36 yard line. I call a timeout to ice the kicker and Prater..the kick is up!...and falls just short which would have sent us to OT.

I need to practice apparently. My pass d was sickening.
gg as always mog.
 
Wow just noticed Matt Forte had 4 receiving touchdowns (one of them on a crazy catch between 3 defenders that bounced off of all of them.

They weren't screens either, which makes that more impressive. Mog saw Newman went down and made the adjustments, which was nice to see.
 
[quote name='Doomtime']
They weren't screens either, which makes that more impressive. [/QUOTE]

Impressive indeed, though I guess Forte is well-suited to that.

I'm glad we don't have any serious screen-cheesers in this league. For my money, there is no less fun way to play Madden.
 
[quote name='bvharris']66 yards per completion for the Chiefs? Wow.[/QUOTE]

Home run plays. I had to pull plays out of my ass in this game.

I could literally write a book on this one. So many crazy plays.
 
[quote name='Doomtime']
I could literally write a book on this one. So many crazy plays.[/QUOTE]

We allow film breakdowns now. I've set a high standard though. ;)
 
[quote name='bvharris']We allow film breakdowns now. I've set a high standard though. ;)[/QUOTE]

Which I enjoyed, I'll take a look at the film a bit later and see if I want to break it down. I am mentally exhausted now though and so is my secondary. Going to go tend to my wounds. :lol:
 
[quote name='Doomtime']I am mentally exhausted now though and so is my secondary. Going to go tend to my wounds. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Boo hoo Mr. 27-0. ;)
 
[quote name='PacerPerspect']I have been going through XBox.[/QUOTE]

every tine i caught hi. on was btween 9 and 11 est..... not that u should have to catch him that way but it is wat it is i guess..... bv let me know.wat u want me to do about the packers ive tried 2 pms and on here i can play tonight or tomm so no rush but ive tried and i dont want it simmed
 
[quote name='sprice8688']every tine i caught hi. on was btween 9 and 11 est..... not that u should have to catch him that way but it is wat it is i guess..... bv let me know.wat u want me to do about the packers ive tried 2 pms and on here i can play tonight or tomm so no rush but ive tried and i dont want it simmed[/QUOTE]

I have done all I can. This is a regular thing with him. :roll:
 
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