Defensive Coordinator Nearly Dies in Sundays Game

HEADLINE

tragedy struck in indianapolis this weekend the colts' defensive coordinator collapsed on the sidelines early in the 3rd quarter, its not clear what exactly happened (my controller finally shit the bed) but reports indicate a mild stroke (everytime i'd switch players they'd stop in their tracks...which led to a td every time). coach FF did his best to take over responsibilities but the players were simply lost, and gave up a score nearly everytime bradford passed the ball. fortunately for indy, the offense stepped up for once and took control of the game as a team and never lost focus in maintaining the lead.

GAME RECAP

after the colts' wide outs and offense got dominated last week, it was very important for the team to have a good outing vs the dangerous up and coming new coach sam smith and his shifty bengals. "theres a clear pattern and gameplan to his offense, roddy and gore...take them out and lets force it to wayne." commented coach FF on cincinnati's explosive offense. but its not a defensive problem the colts have battled all year, its been a lack of offense or ability to even make a big play. coach FF has often been criticized as being too conservative on offense, but after a total re-contruction of an offensive game plan...it was time to test the waters.

"the run 55 pass 45 philosophy paid off in prior years, prior teams, but the game has evolved and its time i did the same. this team needs it." says the coach.

the bengals started off on a 3 and out, giving the anxious colts their opportunity to prove themselves on offense. rivers took his team down field and finished the drive with a 15 yard pass to vincent jackson for the games first points. another defense 3 and out for cincinnati set up james davis' 53 yard scamper for a 2 td lead. another stop, and another score...this time a 59 yard strike to vincent jackson yet again to put indy up 21-0. the bengals finally got on the board when a missed assignment left a wide open roddy white to bring the game within 2 scores, 21-7. the colts weren't content, and after clamping down on defense again managed to tack on 10 more points to go into the half up 31-7.

the 3rd quarter saw a near meltdown as the disarray of circling the down coordinator nearly allowed the bengals back in the game. 2 quick scores off a rivers int brought the game to within 10 after a risky 4th and 8 td pass to a wide open kellen winslow at indy's 12. even without a defense, or even the ability to defend themselves...indy proved the new offensive scheme effective and match the bengals score for score as the game turned into quite the shootout. jon alston sealed the deal with his 26 yard pick 6 as the colts escaped the madness 55-42.

rivers finished 17-21, 410 yards with 5 tds and 1 int. davis got the starting spot at hb and with the shared load of grant, combined for 92 yards on the ground.

GAMEBALL

gameball this week goes to vincent jackson, who had a breakout game for the colts with 6 receptions for 232 yards and 3 td's.

Dam FF, I didn't think Rivers could throw up those type of numbers in your Offense...You must really changed your scheme...

You know what, its funny you say that.
I noticed that when I was switching players on defense against Delmas yesterday that my guys would completely stop as well and always resulted in a TD.
I eventually stopped trying to switch players on D during the play.

fr8train: i actually noticed that too....not against you...but in a previous game. I figured it was my poor defenders....I must have given up 3 big play touchdowns....off plays that seemed like sure interceptions.

Yeah it was a mess. I thought for minute my stick was stuck or something cuz I'd switch and guys would look like they just peeled off their routes, but I started to notice that they'd just stop not go backwards....I was getting so agitated.

Fr8trainShane wrote:You know what, its funny you say that.
I noticed that when I was switching players on defense against Delmas yesterday that my guys would completely stop as well and always resulted in a TD.
I eventually stopped trying to switch players on D during the play.

yeah thats exactly what happened. and it was like it showed my players route as if it was superstar mode or something i just assumed by controller was crappin out on me. also i noticed auto strafe randomly came back on...and one time i tried to return a kick my kick returner went into a seizure and started diving on the ground over and over like i was pressing square. i never seen anything like it, so i just assumed it was my controller. it was only last nights game, 1st two i played were fine...you guys have noticed this too though?

Yup, and Delmar and I played around 7pm EST ....so in the same time frame I would imagine.

jmojsoski wrote:Dam FF, I didn't think Rivers could throw up those type of numbers in your Offense...You must really changed your scheme...

nothing drastic just working out of more passing formations and the full house set, but yeah who'd have thought i throw for over 400 in a gm lol. i think had i crawled into conservative mode like before sam would've came back and won, specially since that little glitch thing with the controller i was afraid to user switch.

Fr8trainShane wrote:Yup, and Delmar and I played around 7pm EST ....so in the same time frame I would imagine.

the only thing i can think of that happened right before, was i held in x to let the cpu tackle gore since i kept whiffing. after that its like it got stuck in auto-assist mode or something...but it was more like a glitch cause it wasn't consistent. do you remember holding in X at all? i played sam @ like 2am but he didn't have any troubles.

There were definitely a couple plays that I know I held in the defensive assist.. but I can't say for sure if it was the same plays.
I know I was doing the same thing as he was breaking a million tackles on me, so its quite possible.

falconfansince81 wrote:

GAME RECAP

the bengals started off on a 3 and out, giving the anxious colts their opportunity to prove themselves on offense.

Minor correction - my first possession was a Frank Gore fumble, first play from scrimmage, off tackle - the moron.

This game would have been 63-14 if his control thing wasn't going crazy. I could not stop his passing attack. And I am not that good of a passer.

Zones - he hit the open guy almost every time - I got sick of getting killed underneath so I ran a cover 2 once - Jackson took it to the house with a 15 yard post down the middle.

Blitzing - he had a quick route wide open every play - or he would keep his RB back to act a speed bump for Ware and Jackson would be completely wide open 12 yards down field. I wouldn't even know who was supposed to be covering him.

Man - my CB's were trailing by 3-5 yards on any and all routes.

In a word - it was gross.

Lol, always funny to see a new guy get their cherry popped against FF.

lol sam...yeah i forgot about that gore fumble damn you really did get a raw deal on that gm :/ if my team always got open like that vs man i'd be a lot more productive, yeah i ran quite a few new plays but nothing too crazy.

the rb motion out is something new i'm messing with...hes more like my last read but i tried making a diversion for my TE, it kinda worked but like you said most the time he was wide open anyways no clue who was supposed to be on him. same thing happened with gore a couple times...someone (probably me) just totally missed the assignment but you also caught me mid audible stuck as a defensive lineman a few time, were u tryin to quicksnap so i couldn't set my plays up? good move if so it worked haha.

oh, i run that deep pass play 3 times...just hoping i see cover 2 or 3 zone, but you were in man the 1st two times so i went to miles underneath then tamme on the deep in. man...when i finally saw that cover 2 zone...my eyes lit up lol. it def would have stopped those other two routes i hit before so it was a good call, but the main read is the deep post route. i needed a big offensive gm really bad tho, been stuck in a rut lately.

oh and shane, i'm thinkin that defensive assist has to have glitched the control response somehow...seeing how it happened to 3 of us. which is great cause i don't have to go out after work and spend $60 on a new controller. just avoid X or switch off the defender once you get him in position to tackle cause if that glitch happens your pretty much done for on D. rui had one vs me where he couldn't see my play set...just said either FG or 5 WR 1 RB lol.

I think EA might have had a glitch in the system or something...

I forgot who I was playing...but last night around the same times....I would switch to the defender....and he'd out-right stop...and the receiver would be past him and catch the ball.

It happened with Chris Cook, Revis and Jenkins a few times...in one of my games...but happened with acouple solid LB's in another one of my games. I played 4 games last night and noticed it in the last 2 that I played.

I didn't get a raw deal though - that was only one play. You got the raw deal with the controller thing - that was absurd.

I always tell myself I am going to start motioning guys to check the defense (man or zone) but I never do - I always end up quick snapping like you mentioned. It's smart to motion though - I need to do it.

The big thing is that you were making sure to slow down my blitz and then you were making good choices regarding who to pass to in all of my coverages. It was annoying.

Good game though - I have a lot to learn. I was brainstorming defensive plays on my way in to work today - I need to try them out this weekend......

Delmas26 wrote:I think EA might have had a glitch in the system or something...

I forgot who I was playing...but last night around the same times....I would switch to the defender....and he'd out-right stop...and the receiver would be past him and catch the ball.

It happened with Chris Cook, Revis and Jenkins a few times...in one of my games...but happened with acouple solid LB's in another one of my games. I played 4 games last night and noticed it in the last 2 that I played.

That's exactly what happened to FF. Reggie Wayne had a long bomb TD where he switched to the CB in single coverage and the guy just outright stopped on a dime and Wayne caught it 15 yards down field. It was hilarious/ridiculous/dumb.

His KR also started flipping out one time, diving on the ground, someone else on his team finally picked it up and was tackled at the 3 yard line - it was awesome for me!

^ but sam, being the honest guy his is paused the game and told me he called prevent to allow me to run to the 20 despite being down two scores, classy move. that was crazy tho...i though the whole matrix was about to implode. in my game before our, i fumbled the kickoff with eddie royal but the ball like motion-shifted into my fb running full speed who took it all the way to my defenders 4 before he was finally pulled down. my and bearzfan had a good laugh over that one...i tried savin the highlight but of course it got cut off.

i tried a few new D plays out on you, blitzes that it...you scored a td on two of them. back to the drawing board lol, but thats what lab sessions are for. hit me up if u wanna test some plays out unranked.

I'm definitely gonna take you up on that lab offer - late night weekends - drink a few beers learn a few blitzes

I do hope they finally fixed that thisng where players kept moving even if you took them over, that should end some of the 'D-men shuffle' that a few people play. Pick a guy and play that guy for the play.

phantomshark wrote:I do hope they finally fixed that thisng where players kept moving even if you took them over, that should end some of the 'D-men shuffle' that a few people play. Pick a guy and play that guy for the play.

i can't trust the ai to play zones for me, let alone make a play on the ball so i switch immediately when the ball is passed to try and swat it down, make a pick, or just get the tackle. not only that, but the cpu's pursuit angles are horrible and a fast player can just ice skate around them most the time so i really prefer the control. otherwise we might as well just be in coach mode ya know?

i should be around this weekend, few beers and blitzes sound good i need the liquid confidence sometimes to take a gamble and break out this conservative shell at times. i have some that work great in practice mode, but don't do jack vs a real player.