Raiders franchise blog (Madden 10)

[Gazzara]

Right.  I will attempt to write a blog of my games in Madden 2010 in franchise mode.  I have taken the Raiders (obviously) in an attempt to turn them around.  This includes managing the team, trades, finances, playcalling and gameplay.  I have taken the Madden IQ test which started at 545 (mainly All Madden skill level, the top skill level and it adjusts as you play depending on what area you are poor in during a game)

I have played 2 pre-season games so far, the first one was a while ago and the second, last night was against the 49'ers.  This ended as a 20 - 23 loss in overtime.  A shocking start on offense with Russell throwing balls 10 yards away from receivers (sound familiar)  I managed to pull a 17 - 13 lead with 1.39 left to go in the 4th and spilt the ball for the 49'ers to score a touchdown and go ahead 17 - 20.  The resulting drive included Garcia, Mcfadden and DHB to come in field goal range with 4 seconds left.  Jano put the ball over to tie the game and take it into overtime.  We lost the toss and after some bad Aso marking the 49'ers drove into field goal range to pop the ball over for the win.  Pre season means shite really but Russell was poor and our O didn't get going until Garcia took the field.  McFadden had some good yardage (one broke for a TD) and Fargas also made some ground.  The D on a whole had a solid game apart from blown coverage at the end.

Play of the game was a defensive interception TD by, believe it or not Trevor Scott.  The 49'ers QB dropped back, we put pressure on the QB for him to throw it at Scott which was caught and run in for a 40 yard TD.

I will let you know developments and stats as games go on and hopefully I can make you proud in the future of at least one Raiders team

[Gazzara]

Well, the third pre-season game was a biggie and against the Saints.  My first move was to re-shuffle my roster a little.  EA seriously haven't updated this so I have some players I would rather forget in there although they are ranked pretty highly.  I moved Javon Walker to trade as well as Mr Walters too.  Am awaiting offers for these to trade but do not expect anything great from it.  I also have Marvin Harrison too which was a shock but welcomed as his stats are good with an old head.

My first changes to the depth chart were to put the young guns in at wide receiver to see how they fare along with dropping Russell to no 2 and Garcia to No 1.  Garcia hasn't left unlike in real life so am utilising his experience while I still have him and trying to get another QB that I can build up into the roster.  Russell just plays aweful on here too so I want to try and minimise the damage.  Murphy, Harrison, Heyward-Bey and Chaz were my core receivers and boy did they step up under the arm of a vet QB.

The game itself was played with 5 minute quarters (30 year franchise remember!) and I was thinking a loss here due to the Saints powerhouse.  Boy was I wrong.  The starter D were all over the Saints O line as we stuffed the run and limited the passing of Brees.  The first half was solid, little in the ground game though and a few solid catches, one from Murphy of 36 yards put us 10 - 0 with 49 seconds to go in the half.  Then the inevitable happened.  I was running down the clock with run plays and guess who coughed up the ball?  You guessed it - McFadden.  It put the Saints in field goal range, luckily we held up on our end and they get just the 3 points.  10 - 3 at the half.

The second half was pretty solid with our second string guys but we were giving up some yardage.  Strong line and secondary play limited it but changes needed to be made.  Russell took a few snaps, was all over the place and throwing into serious coverage away from where the target he was meant to throw at was.  That was cause to give him a yank and put Garcia in again to add confidence.  Ball control was the aim of the game and we achieved that well after Russell had come off (I swear to God the line were letting people through on purpose to prove a point!  Anyway the D got rushed on from Bush and a broken play (5 people on him and Trevor Scott bounced him up out of the tackle clearing 3 of our guys out) led to a touchdown to make it 10 - 10.

Back to settling the team down but we burn our downs on the next drive.  Saints start marching downfield again but an interception by Aso rocks the Saints O and put us on their 40.  After a couple of short gains Garcia fires a shot to Shillens on a hook pattern who breaks his tackle to take it in for a touchdown.  17 - 10 Raiders with 2.13 left.  Saints come running again and damage control D plus a couple of overturned booth challenges put them in field goal range, which they kick 17 - 13 Saints.  We try and run the clock down but get caught short with poor line blocking for our backs and the Saints receive the ball with 40 odd seconds left in the game.  The march goes on but Saints fall short from a defelcted pass and the Saints lose the game.

Our total yards for the game were 258, 193 passing, 65 rushing, 0 ints, 1 fumble with Murphy and Shillens buting one 30 yrd + play each.  Raiders go 2 - 1 pre-season with the Seahawks next.

[the watchman]

Looking foward to reading how you transfer the Raiders into winners