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.