2020 NFL Season

[GDAWG]

Does Madden 21 have another nonsense story mode?  Face of the Franchise was stupid in Madden 20 and so was Longshot 2 in Madden 19.  My issues with Face of the Franchise:

 

- You play a 5 star prospect with a chance to start for the college you choose.  Soon after the coach informs you that another 5 star prospect has chosen to go to the same school you chose.  In real life, you would transfer.  Instead you want to compete against him for the starting job. This results in you sitting for 4 years and not playing a snap at all until the College Football Playoffs.  That doesn't happen in real life.

- You get two games, the only two games you play ever in your college career to see how far you go.  If you do very well in the 2 games and follow that up with a fantastic combine, you get a shot at being drafted in the 1st round.  That does not happen in real life.  Recent #1 pick Joe Burrow became a first rounder based on an entire season, and he had started the year before.  He would have never been even drafted if he started and played only 2 games ever in college, even if he plays well.

- WR Isaiah Streets.  He is nowhere to be seen once you get past the storyline of Face of the Franchise (which basically becomes franchise mode).  Wasn't he supposed to be a first round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft?  He's nowhere to be seen.

- The game essentially becomes franchise mode after you get drafted.

[MJWalker45]

2 hours ago, GDAWG said:

Does Madden 21 have another nonsense story mode?  Face of the Franchise was stupid in Madden 20 and so was Longshot 2 in Madden 19.  My issues with Face of the Franchise:

 

- You play a 5 star prospect with a chance to start for the college you choose.  Soon after the coach informs you that another 5 star prospect has chosen to go to the same school you chose.  In real life, you would transfer.  Instead you want to compete against him for the starting job. This results in you sitting for 4 years and not playing a snap at all until the College Football Playoffs.  That doesn't happen in real life.

- You get two games, the only two games you play ever in your college career to see how far you go.  If you do very well in the 2 games and follow that up with a fantastic combine, you get a shot at being drafted in the 1st round.  That does not happen in real life.  Recent #1 pick Joe Burrow became a first rounder based on an entire season, and he had started the year before.  He would have never been even drafted if he started and played only 2 games ever in college, even if he plays well.

- WR Isaiah Streets.  He is nowhere to be seen once you get past the storyline of Face of the Franchise (which basically becomes franchise mode).  Wasn't he supposed to be a first round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft?  He's nowhere to be seen.

- The game essentially becomes franchise mode after you get drafted.

Madden 21 has you making your school choice in high school. It's still only 10 teams since not all of the schools are allowing EA to use their likenesses, (uniforms, and logos). Reportedly you play high school games with one of the regular Madden expansion teams logos. I can't remember if it's just the playoffs or a season. You then play two years of the CFP. Apparently all of this is as a QB, but after you get drafted you have the option of trying to make the league as a QB or switch to either RB or WR. I would expect the Madden 21 version to do the same thing with any players you interact with that aren't on actual NFL rosters. 

 

As far as getting drafted in the first round after two games, Cardale Jones was mocked for not declaring after the 2014 season because of the hype attached to him. At least he knew he had things to work on, as evidenced by the tape from the XFL before they closed down. He's still got a shot with the Raiders for a backup spot though. 

 

Here's a review, I was off by a little bit:

https://ftw.usatoday.com/2020/08/madden-21s-face-of-the-franchise-story-mode-is-hilariously-absurd

 

https://www.gamesradar.com/madden-21-review/

[OnWis97]

I see that the Jags waved Fournette.

 

They announced on their Twitter feed.  But what I really want to know is, why the "name" on their account is "Duuuval."

[Seadragon76]

Duval is the county that Jacksonville is in, so there you go.

 

I'm not shocked that Fournette got waived. The Jags are going younger and they hope that'll kick start a return to glory... in about 2 or 3 years.

[El Diablo]

You said "Jags" and "return to glory" in the same sentence.

[AustinFromBoston]

This makes me wonder what would have happened had Jaguars beat The Patriots in 2017.  

Do they still blow everything up? Even if they won the Super Bowl? 

 

They were honestly a fun defense to watch that year. Shame. 

[Seadragon76]

14 minutes ago, AustinFromBoston said:

This makes me wonder what would have happened had Jaguars beat The Patriots in 2017.  

Do they still blow everything up? Even if they won the Super Bowl? 

 

They were honestly a fun defense to watch that year. Shame. 

 

I highly doubt they do that if they won that game. Hell, I like to think that the moment they switched from the dual colored helmets, the team went downhill.

[The_Admiral]

On 8/6/2020 at 7:31 PM, oldschoolvikings said:

Yeah, the NFL is barely squeaking by on their billion dollar TV contract. They're certainly going to miss those angry old white guys who can't seem to realize that at some point they went from the majority to the minority.

 

"White people are being replaced!"
"No you're not, shut up! [Beat.] Okay, so you are, but it's good."

[BBTV]

5 hours ago, AustinFromBoston said:

This makes me wonder what would have happened had Jaguars beat The Patriots in 2017.  

 

 

Then it would have been the Jaguars that got demolished by the Super Bowl LII Champion Philadelphia Eagles, and it would have been their sad-sack QB sitting on the field pondering exactly how, when he seemingly had the world at his fingertips, it all came crashing down (and hurts inside.)

 

 

[GDAWG]

 

[GDAWG]

 

[Seadragon76]

Time for predictions...

 

AFC East

 

1. Buffalo (It's your time, guys. Make it count)

2. New England (Never count out the Hoodie... but, will they be able to get MVP Cam and not Old Man Cam?)

3. Miami (The Tank for Tua sort of worked. Now, they need to start to reap those rewards)

4. NY Jets (If they win 5 games, then that will be a good season for them)

 

AFC North

 

1. Baltimore (Last season left a very bad taste in their mouths. Time to rectify that)

2. Pittsburgh (This all depends on whether Big Ben can regain his form after last season's elbow injury)

3. Cleveland (The Brownies are easily the biggest 'boom or bust' team in the league)

4. Cincinnati (The rebuild begins for Burrow and company)

 

AFC South

 

1. Tennessee (Last season's run to the AFC Championship Game won't be a fluke)

2. Indianapolis (Rivers coming in gives the Colts a fighting chance all season long)

3. Houston (Let's see who can step up after Hopkins got traded)

4. Jacksonville (Get the tanks ready in Duval)

 

AFC West

 

1. Kansas City (This team is LOADED on offense... a repeat is definitely a possible goal)

2. Las Vegas (New home, new stadium, same old smash mouth Raiders)

3. Denver (That defense can carry this team only so far)

4. LA Chargers (It's going to be a long year for the Bolts... but at least they'll look good)

 

Wild Cards: New England, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis

 

NFC East

 

1. Dallas (Put up or shut up time in Dallas)

2. Philadelphia (After last season, I'm hoping the Eagles can spread their wings a little bit without the injury bug)

3. NY Giants (There will be a slight improvement here, but not enough to overtake the top two)

4. Washington (This has the makings of a total complete dumpster fire)

 

NFC North

 

1. Green Bay (Rodgers is going to take that potential QB controversy and shred it like Wisconsin Cheddar)

2. Minnesota (They're still good, but they need a little help to overtake the Packers)

3. Chicago (Please let Big Dick Nick be the starter... the jokes would be worth it)

4. Detroit (I fully expect this season to be a disaster that leads to the top brass going Queen of Wonderland on this scheme to skin the Patriots)

 

NFC South

 

1. New Orleans (So many weapons on offense that a 3rd world country would be jealous of that firepower)

2. Tampa Bay (Can Brady find his magic touch or has he really lost it?)

3, Atlanta (This might be a up and down season for them)

4. Carolina (New coach, new QB, new system... might be a long season here)

 

NFC West

 

1. Seattle (All or nothing for my boys)

2. San Francisco (The Niners still have the tools to make noise)

3. LA Rams (They'll be the odd man out in this rugged division)

4. Arizona (They're now the Big 12 team in the NFL: ALL offense, NO defense)

 

Wild Cards: Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, San Francisco

 

Playoffs

 

Wild Card Round

 

AFC

Bye: Baltimore

-Kansas City def. Indianapolis

-Tennessee def Pittsburgh

-New England def. Buffalo

 

NFC

Bye: New Orleans

-Seattle def. San Francisco

-Tampa Bay def. Green Bay

-Dallas def. Philadelphia

 

Divisional Round

 

AFC

-Baltimore def. New England

-Kansas City def. Tennessee

 

NFC

-New Orleans def. Dallas

-Tampa Bay def. Seattle

 

Conference Championships

 

AFC: Kansas City def. Baltimore

NFC: New Orleans def. Tampa Bay

 

Super Bowl: Kansas City 45, New Orleans 42

[BBTV]

3 hours ago, Seadragon76 said:

2. Philadelphia (After last season, I'm hoping the Eagles can spread their wings a little bit without the injury bug)

 

Too late for that.  They lost their starting left tackle for the year, and their #1 draft pick for at least 4-6 weeks.  The left side of their line is trash right now.  Jalen Hurts will be the QB by week 4.

[GDAWG]

I am going to be a little bit more optimistic then I have been and say that the NFL season will finish all 17 weeks and have a full post-season.  

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, GDAWG said:

I am going to be a little bit more optimistic then I have been and say that the NFL season will finish all 17 weeks and have a full post-season.  

 

Based on what?  Let's see what happens after a few weeks of travel.  So far so good, but the players have been in either a local bubble, or babysat so much that they couldn't get in trouble.  Hoping for the best, and they're off to a good start, but that's hardly a reason to be that optimistic.

 

My prediction?  They finish the season and playoffs... but the season is not 17 games.  A few games will need to be postponed along the way, and they'll need all 18 weeks to play something like 14 games.

[JayMac]

13 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

Based on what?  Let's see what happens after a few weeks of travel.  So far so good, but the players have been in either a local bubble, or babysat so much that they couldn't get in trouble.  Hoping for the best, and they're off to a good start, but that's hardly a reason to be that optimistic.

 

My prediction?  They finish the season and playoffs... but the season is not 17 games.  A few games will need to be postponed along the way, and they'll need all 18 weeks to play something like 14 games.

I could see this happening, especially this month when the season starts. 

 

In baseball, we had the Marlins being dumb (which affected the Phillies) and then the Cardinals got hit hard. Since then, positive cases have leveled off, with a few cancelations here and there. Football may be a bit worse because of the contact but I think they finish the season, even if the Super Bowl is in March.

[GDAWG]

17 hours ago, BBTV said:

 

Based on what?  Let's see what happens after a few weeks of travel.  So far so good, but the players have been in either a local bubble, or babysat so much that they couldn't get in trouble.  Hoping for the best, and they're off to a good start, but that's hardly a reason to be that optimistic.

 

My prediction?  They finish the season and playoffs... but the season is not 17 games.  A few games will need to be postponed along the way, and they'll need all 18 weeks to play something like 14 games.

 

The way 2020 has been going, we'll probably be invaded by aliens anyways before the NFL completes their season.  

[JayMac]

9 hours ago, GDAWG said:

 

The way 2020 has been going, we'll probably be invaded by aliens anyways before the NFL completes their season.  

Nah, even they don't want to be on this planet.

[GDAWG]

This year the NFL can add players to their practice squads who have unlimited number of seasons in the NFL.  As a result, the Super Bowl Champions brought back QB Matt Moore onto their practice squad, Philly brings back Josh McCown and Dallas brings back Brandon Carr.  

[Dynasty]

So the Raiders draft a guy (Lynn Bowden) in the third round and trade him to Miami before he ever gets to play. They got a future fourth rounder out of it.

 

I'm not complaining, but it really doesn't make much sense on the Raiders' end.