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I finally had enough time to sit down and get my franchise going last night after watching the Ducks almost get roasted by Houston. So anywho with difficulty settings on a notch below the max setting these are my results:

(Note: I signed Freddie Mitchell & Ty Law to a 5-year and 1-year contract. Promptly traded Price back to the Bills for a 2nd & 5th round pick. Then sent Duckett/Dunn to Chicago for Benson and a 3rd & 4th round pick)

Vick: 14/20 for 220 Yards & 3 TD's (46 rushing & 3 sacks)
Benson: 185 yards rushing & 2 TD's, 15 yards receiving & 1 TD
R. White: 158 Yards receiving & 1 TD
Patrick Kerney: 5 Sacks, 1 FF, 1 Fumble Recovery for a TD
Ty Law: 2 Interceptions both returned for TD's

Held McNabb to 56 Yards passing, 1 INT, and 6 Sacks
Westbrook & Buckhalter managed a whole 11 yards rushing

Final Score: 68 to 0 Atlanta

Wouldn't that be nice?

*I did notice one major difference in this years game. If you get the run game going Vick is unstoppable in the play action play. In most cases, assuming half the defense didn't come free I had a good 5 to 10 yard gap after rolling out of a PA.

I must first ask what difficulty setting was this on? Doesn't seem like an All-Madden situation to me...

The best move you can make on Madden is to trade Brady Smith for Shawn Merriman and make him a DE. Out-of-the-box Merriman is a 95ish overall as a DE. I used him for an entire season at end (before I switched to a 3-4) and he got 28 sacks, on all-madden difficulty. Also I went out and got Igor Olshansky whose been a beast at DT for me. I think I actually got both of the for Smith and maybe a 2 or 3 pick.

I don't remember the setting but it was one notch above Pro. I also do not use the QB Vision feature. Madden was fine before it and it does make using Vick heinously difficult.

When I play Philly I just double up on Owens' and have DeLo play man on the opposite receiver. Usually DeMo covers the slot receiver well and the TE runs short crossing routes making him a non-factor.

I should deal for Igor I loved him when he played for Oregon. Never thought about him at the pro level though.

Hey, you know you can sign FA like Law with no bonus and trade them for players and picks and it doesn't hurt you. I was trying different things to see what the game would allow you to do that you can't do in free life, like trade draft picks in the season. I normally don't play like that since yeah it makes it too easy, but when you try different things like that out you see the craziness that can be found in the game. Also, has anyone else noticed that when you import players from NCAA that their ratings are always higher than those who Madden would normally let you draft? Just wondering.

If I want to make a team with players all rated near or above 90 then I sign FA's rated 85 or higher with no bonus. But I typically try to make my offseason moves "realistic" in that no team in their right mind would let someone sign an old veteran with no bonus then send them Dunta Robinson and a pick for him.

I picked up some of the FA linebacker's and traded them off for some of the good younger players. I play with two teams, one being the Falcons as they were when I started and the other being a team that I tinkered with and made some additions too. Needless to say my second team is a lot better. I managed to get Mike Williams and Matt Jones, a completely different o-line, Ronnie Brown (who is by far the best of the young running backs in Madden), Ty Law, Shawn Merriman, Igor Olshansky, Brodney Pool (who posted a 100+ tackle, 11 interceptions season, but he's the only player I play with on defense though so the stats are a little skewed) and Ty Law. I did all of this and managed to pick up a few picks in the process. I have also found that the best players in the draft have all been middle round picks. I picked up a DT that was rateed and 84 in the fourth round. Craziness...

On defense I usually only play Patrick Kerney and on occasion (usually blitzs) I'll switch to Ed Hartwell or Demorrio Williams. On occasion I'll switch inside and play Coleman or Babineaux.

Yeah... One franchise I traded away my top picks for established young players and had like 3 6th round picks, 4 7th round picks, and a 4th and 5th round pick. I didn't have a player rated below 68 and one of the guys projected as "undrafted" at Tight End turned into a 82.

I think people complained about how worthless many mid to late round draft picks were last year. In turn they ratched up everything just a bit too much.

I've found that playing in coverage isn't as hard as you would think, so that is why I play with my SS all the time. Having an extra person up in the box that is fast enough to drop back deep still if need be is great. I'm about to have to stop playing though unless I find some real people to play. I put it on all-madden and I am still winning games by 80 or so points. I may try setting the AI higher or try playing with a NFL Europe team or something...