At the start of the 2012 season, I may have had my hopes for the Bears a little high. I argued that the Bears might be the most balanced team in the league this year, potentially featuring an elite offense, defense, and special teams!
For the first half of the season, in which the Bears got off to a 7-1 start, it looked like I might have been right. But red flags started going up out of the gate. The offensive line just wasn't protecting Cutler very well, and Mike Tice's offense too often looked like the anemic offenses under coordinator Mike Martz. Although not ruled out for sure, it didn't look like Johnny Knox would be playing this year, and Devin Hester just doesn't have the same spark he once had. Early in the season, it seemed as if the Bears might have to rely once again on their defense. That defense shocked the league by being more effective than the offense, with both cornerbacks (Tim Jennings and Charles Tillman) earning Pro-Bowl honors for forcing turnovers and scoring touchdowns! Things were looking good at 7-1, but there was a bad feeling in my gut that this all looked too familiar.
Starting the second half of the season, that feeling became justified. Once again, the injury bug started biting the Bears. Alshon Jeffrey and Earl Bennett were both the victims of multi-week injuries, leaving Brandon Marshall as the team's only true threat in the passing game and allowing opposing defenses to send everything they had after Jay Cutler and Matt Forte. Cutler and Forte also suffered temporary injuries, and backups Jason Campbell and Micheal Bush were ineffective against the 49ers.
I'm getting too used to seeing Urlacher in street clothes.
[More]
8be29af7-af95-4b91-849e-cf7b394c7a04|2|2.5
Tags:football, Chicago Bears, DA Bears, NFL, NFC North, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks, San Francisco 49ers, Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall, Matt Forte, Alshon Jeffrey, Earl Bennett, Johnny Knox, Brian Urlacher, Charles Tillman, Tim Jennings, Henry Melton, Julius Peppers, Devin Hester, Lovie Smith, Mike Tice, Mike Martz, Peyton Manning, playoff
With the football season nearing its finale and the college Bowl and NFL playoff pictures coming into focus, I thought I'd take a minute to reflect on EA's NCAA Football 13 and Madden NFL 13 and offer up my suggestions for next year's football games.
Table of Contents
[More]
This review was originally published 06/21/2010 on Game Observer (now defunct as of 05/13/2014). It has been republished (and updated) here for archival purposes.
Less like a game of pro football, and more like a pick-up game with 100 people who don’t know what they’re doing.
I’ve been waiting for Backbreaker for years, following every dev diary, watching every trailer, drooling over every new tidbit of information, all the while, fully expecting that it is going to unseat Madden by revolutionizing the football video game world and force EA to relinquish its NFL-exclusivity deal. And while Backbreaker delivers in terms of its revolutionary new game engine, it fumbles the game of football.
Back-broken gameplay
The Euphoria Engine is the driving force being this game, calculating and rendering every action and every collision on the field using its simulation of physics and human motion. Momentum is well-respected, and the game is full of "you’ll never see that again!" moments that will make your jaw drop. The action is in your face and intense, and when things get exciting, you might find yourself bouncing up and down at the edge of your seat like you did last year when Drew Brees was engineering the Saints’ come-from-behind victory in the Super Bowl. You may even jump up and cheer after breaking a long touchdown run or blindsiding a QB for an 8 yard sack. And you’ll be loving the game. [More]
fa505a3e-63b5-4c93-90bc-2a1cc9de63ad|0|.0
Tags:Backbreaker, review, NaturalMotion, 505 Games, Euphoria engine, physics, sports, football, simulation, PS3, XBox 360
I was really impressed with the demo for Madden NFL 13. So impressed that I went ahead and bought the game new. I am now suffering from severe buyer's remorse. The demo looked and felt really good. The AI seemed surprisingly competitive (even at the default, Veteran, difficulty). Heck, even the commentary was good!
Then I bought the actual game and had access to Instant Replays and all the teams, and I realized that this year’s Madden was just the same game as last years', but with a few extra coats of paint and polish.
Table of Contents
[More]
9574ce62-cc50-42cb-92cc-3e99c1db7247|1|5.0
Tags:Madden NFL 13, Madden NFL, NCAA Football 13, EA, EA Sports, Tiburon, sports, football, simulation, review, Infinity Engine
There has been a lot of complaining this past month about the non-union, replacement officials currently being used in the NFL while there is an ongoing labor dispute between the NFL and official's union. These replacement officials are doing an objectively horrible job over the pre-season and first few weeks of the regular season, and this week might have been the worst.
However, the horrible officiating is rapidly becoming the best bargaining chip in favor that the official's union could possibly hope for. The NFL cannot afford to continue to allow these bad calls to continue to happen over the course of the year (and most certainly into the playoffs). This week, the NFL may have to just cave in to all the official's union's demands in order to get the trained, experienced professionals back into the zebra-suits and onto the field.
In Monday night's game between the Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers, the game came down to a clear blown call by the officials. With no time left on the clock, Seahawks quarterback Russel Wilson threw a hail mary pass into the end zone. It appeared that Packers defensive back M.D. Jennings had intercepted the pass, but Seahawks receiver Golden Tate manages to get a hand or two on the ball as well. The play is ruled a "simultaneous catch", which, by rule is awarded to the offensive player.
One official signals "Touchdown", the other (with the slightly better view) give the signal that usually implies "Interception" and "Touchback". The play is ruled a touchdown on field, is reviewed in the booth, and is upheld.
[More]
8e4fff1b-2f96-486d-8940-4cff6a0d7c3b|0|.0
Tags:football, NFL, Green Bay, Packers, Seahawks, referees, officials, union, labor dispute, hail mary, Darwin Award, NFL Players' Association, President, Barrack Obama
|
12 | | | | | | | 60 | 11 | | | | | | | 55 | 10 | | | | | | | 50 | 09 | | | | | | | 45 | 08 | | | | | | | 40 | 07 | | | | | | | 35 | 06 | | | | | | | 30 | 05 | | | | | | | 25 | 04 | | | | | | | 20 | 03 | | | | | | | 15 | 02 | | | | | | | 10 | 01 | | | | | | | 05 |
|