CLEVELAND BROWNS (deathwish)

thats right buddy, your on the hotseat now!

i love playing deathwish, not only does he play smart but hes one of those guys that is never out of the game until the last second ticks off. for some reason, it seems every time i've played him i get up early cause of a turnover and he mounts a comeback to make it come down the wire.

our week 5 game started off in similar fashion, an early schaub fumble on his opening drive set me up in the redzone where i was able to punch it in with turner. gore couldn't get anything going on the ground and my defense was getting enough pressure off a 3/4 man rush to force a couple 3 and outs setting me up in good field position.

the first quarter was dictated my my running game and the shut down of his, which led to a 21-0 lead after a costly browns int to set me up in the red zone again.

the second quarter warranted some changes, he caught me off guard on a 1st down blitz and hit gore for an 80 yard hb screen to make it 21-6 (missed xp). i was able to convert my 3rd downs using some hooks and outs in between his zones to score a td before halftime making it 28-6.

3rd quarter i got the ball to start off, and he adjusted his d nicely countering any run attempt and shut down a couple 3rd down passes using good press coverage. on his next two possessions he was able to counter my man/hook zone d with hitch routes and short passes to quickly drive down for a fg and td making it 28-15 (missed 2pt).

4th quarter i had to get off my run and spreading the ball around or another comeback was in the making, i dialed up some quick passes and corner routes of my own and managed to get the run game going again to score a much needed td to secure a win, 35-15.

overall, the game could have gone either way. if you don't adjust and throw in some disguises he WILL make you pay. like a lot of us, we're still getting used to the feeling of m11 but look for DW to have his game down by playoffs and be a serious SB contender.

Thank you for the kind words falconfan. I seriusly feel that I played one of my worst games of my young madden season against you. I just couldn't get my offense rolling. I did have to switch to a short gameplay to counter your zone defense...but anyone would have figured that out if they continually got stopped. Overall it was a great game...but I feel bad...because your game was probably the biggest game of the season for me (no offense to anyone else left on my schedule)...but I love playing you because you always make me think. I feel I let you down with my poor offensive gameplay. I never missed extra points...lol...and I should have never tried to extend schaub for those couple extra yards on that first quarter fumble...and i should have just slid...oh well. In the end...I always learn a ton playing guys like falconfan, greener, and jmo which normally help me improve my game for the rest of the season...so future opponents beware!!! LOL!

probably all those cpu games got you off your game haha, i wish i could play more as well. i won't play online, and really only play leagues games which is maybe 4-5 a week. this year the defense plays a lot more loose and i've basically spent many hours in practice mode just testing different plays on both sides the ball, if you got some time you can always do what i do every new madden year.

*get a piece of paper, write down 6-7 pass plays from each set you either used to use or have good multiple reads (avoid those multiple long routes for a base set).

*once you get the ones you like for a set, work them all vs maybe 20 random cpu plays vs the jets on all madden. see whats open vs base zones like cover 2,3,4

*trim your plays in the set down to 3-5 and move on to the next, until you got 3-5 plays in each set you know in and out. all you gotta do from there is read the coverage, i know this seems pretty noob but after i have confidence in my plays i can make my initial read and not have to scan ALL the reads or stare down one receiver.

*lastly i sort those plays into a 1-5, 5-10, 5-15 yard categories and refer to my playsheet until i have them memorized. i still use it, as it helps you go back to plays you may have forgotten about in case your getting shut down.