Saturday, September 17, 2016

New York Giants Week 2: Madden 17 Simulation

(Madden 17)
Disclaimer: Obviously this is Madden 17. Owned by EA Sports. I’m just bringing you a fun way to look at the matchup.

Each week during the season I will run a full simulation of the Giants game. All-Madden difficulty, 15 minute quarters, injuries, and depth charts up to date to the best of my ability. So with that said, here’s the Madden 17 Week 2 Recap:

Another Year, Another Shootout, Another Giant Loss to the Saints

The Giants came into week 2 knowing there could be an offensive shootout. Those thoughts came to fruition, but the Giants were on the losing end 42-35.

Drew Brees passed for 354 yards and 5 TDs with 0 interceptions while completing 72% of his passes.

Mark Ingram did his fair share of the work as well running for 147 yards on the ground and 1 TD.

Rookie Tommylee Lewis, who sat out week 1, made his mark with 2 TDs off of 3 receptions.

Colby Fleener had 9 receptions for 79 yards and a TD as well.

Brandon Cooks, another 3 reception guy, made the most of them as he scored twice also.

The Giants seemed to be clicking on all cylinders the first couple of drives. Saint went 3 and out to start the game which resulted in a punt that was downed at the 1. Nothing a little playaction BOMB to Odell can’t fix:


After another Odell TD (9 yds), the Giants were up 14 with 6:23 left in the 1st.

The Saints ended up marching right down the field on the following drive. Brees ended up hitting Fleener for his 1st TD pass of the game from 2 yards out to make it 14-7.

Sadly, a Giants 3 and out = the Saints taking 5 plays to score. The drive was highlighted by a 47 yard run by Ingram, and capped by this pretty pass to rookie Tommylee Lewis with 12:18 left in the half:


The Saints ended up going for 2 on a fake FG pass, but they were unsuccessful.

Rashad Jennings saw Ingram’s 47 yard run and decided to break off a long one of his own, to a tune of 72 yards and a TD (12:07):


Giants were up 8 until Wil Lutz hit a 31 yarder to make it 21-16 at the half.

The 3rd quarter was made up of a few Drew Brees’ dinks, dunks, and TDs. By the time it was over, the Saints had the lead, 28-27.

Giants started the 4th off with a bang. Jennings ran 15 yards, dragging defenders into the endzone after straight up running over Kenny Vaccaro:

Giants had to go for 2, and succeeded, making the score 35-28. Saints scored twice more making it 42-35. The Giants did have a chance to tie the game after getting to the Saints 21 with 1:38 left, but after a 10-yard sack (2nd of 2 on the day) and a false start, the drive stalled.

Eli finished 26/47 with 454 yards, 2 TDs and 1 interception. His main target was Beckham, hauling in 9 passes for a whopping 213 yards and 2 TDs. 

Rashad Jennings was impressive on the ground, carrying the ball 19 times for 163 and 2.

Final: 42-35. Onto Washington.  

Sunday, September 11, 2016

New York Giants Week 1: Madden 17 Simulation

(Madden 17)
Disclaimer: Obviously this is Madden 17. Owned by EA Sports. I'm just bringing you a fun way to look at the matchup. 

Each week during the season I will run a full simulation of the Giants game. All-Madden difficulty, 15 minute quarters, injuries, and depth charts up to date to the best of my ability. So with that said, here’s the Madden 17 Week 1 Recap:

Cowboys Rookies Put on a Show, Down Giants 55-20


The story in Dallas was not the revamped Giants defense, but instead, the two rookies donning the star. 

The highly touted rookie QB Dak Prescott (143.0 QB rating) picked up right where he left off in preseason, passing for 391 yards and 4 TDs while only missing on 5 of his 33 pass attempts. Oliver Vernon and Jason Pierre-Paul could barely lay a finger on Prescott as his all star offensive line seemed to manhandle the pass rush. 

Witten and Bryant did most of the damage receiving. #82 had a line of 8 for 95 and 2, while Dez put up 123 and 1 off 5 receptions.

Rookie stud Zeke Elliott was no slouch either. He shredded the defense for 129 and 2 off of 32 attempts, a big chunk coming from this 42 yard TD in the first, putting the 'Boys up 14-3.

 
Eli (21/44 for 169, 1TD and 1 INT) was sacked 6 times. While most of the blame could fall on the offensive line, the receivers weren't creating much separation, either.  Tyrone Crawford had 3 of those sacks from the defensive tackle position, abusing guys like Justin Pugh and getting to the QB:



Beckham, Shepard and Cruz were held to a combined 84 yards and 1 TD (Shep) off of 8 receptions. Beckham was the worst of the trio, only posting a 2 catch, 14 yard day. Shepard's 2nd quarter TD brought the score to 24-10 Dallas right before the half:


There were some bright spots for the Giants. Janoris Jenkins had an interception, fighting Dez Bryant for the ball deep down the left side of the field:


Rookie Darian Thompson, who was banged up most of the week, came in on kick-off coverage, to scoop and score a forced fumble by fellow rookie B.J. Goodson.

Some holes were made for Rashad Jennings as well, he put up a solid 108 yards off of 16 attempts.

While this is only the first game of the season, it seems the Giants have a ton of work to do. Big Blue's $200M defense got torched, while their highly touted receiving corps did very little to compete. There's always next week, shake it off, and onto New Orleans.


Full game is below if you are interested:
You will see that I have control of Giants defense for the first couple plays (didn't call any, nor did I control any player) as I sort out the nickel package. I let the computer roll after that.