hehheh, I feel ya, brother. In my weekly gamer night, where Madden is usually the order of the day, we play Giants (me), Jets, and Steelers. Luckily the Jets guy had already released McKenzie after the second season, so I was able to easily snatch him up once the Giants got him. (I also dropped Hilliard immediately when the Giants did.) However, the Steelers guy has made it abundantly clear – in no uncertain terms – that Plaxico will remain a Steeler until the next version. I do enjoy busting his stones a bit, though. (“Nice play. Too bad you need Giants to make your plays for you. Don’t you have any good Steelers?”)
I so wanted Sean Taylor in the draft last year that I picked him up to replace Stoutmire. Now he’s too good to release, so I can’t wait for next year when Gibril Wilson will hopefully be in the game, assuming they bother to create him. Speaking of Giants players not existing, this might be the first Madden version in years that will include the Giants starting kicker from opening day on the roster. Check this out:
2005: Should have been Steve Christie, who didn’t exist. Instead was Matt Bryant.
2004: Should have been Matt Bryant, who didn’t exist. Instead was Bill Grammatica.
2003: Should have been Matt Bryant, who didn’t exist. Instead was Owen Pochman.
2002: Was correctly Owen Pochman. Good job, guys! ugh
Maybe Jay Feely is a big enough name so that Madden can include him on my friggin’ roster for a change. You’ll notice that Matt Bryant, who was the real life starter for two years, and of whom I was (and am) a big fan, didn’t even exist in Madden until the Giants released him. So annoying. I give that “Create a Player” feature a workout every year.
Just thought I’d post a link to the final mock draft from NFL Draft Countdown. The website is a little rickety (you may have to reload the page once or twice), and they could use an editor to help with basic punctuation, but the guy who runs the site really knows his stuff – last year’s final mock draft was eerily accurate.
Anyway, best mock draft on the web. Just thought I’d post it.
Interesting. I was all prepared to look up the Giants picks and point out that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but his picks for the G-Men sound both good and plausible.
However, if Miller drops all the way to the Steelers, (and I’ve heard this in several mock drafts), then the Jets made the all-time worst fucking trade imaginable. Jolley over Miller?! (I like how he gives Shockey props, too. Moreso than the folks at the giants.com messageboards do, anyway.)
The easiest way (for me) to see if a mock draft has done its homework is the later rounds. ESPN’s, for example, has Big Blue drafting 2 WRs. Since they only have 4 picks, that’s half their entire draft at WR. WR happens to be one of the few positions where the G-Men have a glut of talent and absolutely no need whatsoever, so picking up a single WR is a strike against credibility, but two is just a joke. (Since Shockey is pretty much the de facto slot receiver, we almost never see the third WR in the game. And we have 3 pretty good candidates…Tim Carter, Jamaar Taylor, and David Tyree…competing for that one underused position. And EPSN has us spending half our draft at WR? WTF?)
Less than 90 minutes now. Unlike Eli, I’m getting pumped.
Shockey sucks.
What do people think about the value chart the NFL uses to grade the value of picks? I think this thing is horsecra, whic probably explains why I think so many draft-day trades are idiotic. According to it, having the number-one overall is worth more than having #16, 17 and 18.
That’s ridiculous, given the success rates on first round picks, to say nothing of the fact that the salaries for the guys at the top are waaay higher than the guys picked just five or ten slots lower.
Not sure what I was thinking, but to clarify, I meant Teyo Johnson.
Clearly the Detroit Lions have been studying the drafting principles of Denny Green. Enough first round receivers over there yet? Good Lord.
Is this a trash talking thread now? Hey, didja hear about the new & improved hurry up offense in next year’s Madden? You slow down until you run out of time. Also, holding the A button down after the play ends makes your QB hurl in the huddle.
(If anybody was wondering, McNabb is the cover boy.)
That’s a dangerous team Detroit has, too bad they don’t have a QB to distribute the ball. I’ll put the Harrington over under at 4 games and I’ll take the under.
As desperate as the Aints are at defense, we REALLY needed help on that side of the Oline. Riley was horrible there, and if you saw the 2nd NO TB game last season, you would know the only reason it was close at all is because we were getting pushed around up there. If the Ruud, the Nebraska boy falls to use in the 2nd round (8th pick), we’ll be in good shape.
I can’t believe Aaron Rodgers is still on the board. He is going to be there until at least 19 becuase the next 3 teams have quarterbacks. I don’t see St Louis taking him, will Dallas? If not the Ravens have got to be doing backflips.
Damn, decided to upgrade my OS last night and have been stuck all morning fighting through a plethora of issues. I should have been here foamng at the mouth over all these mysterious picks!
BTW, I’m cursing the fact that I live in a city where the highest bridge is about 17 feet above the water. Just can’t get the desired effect of a protest suicide jump. The Bears will just have to tolerate my constant bitching and harrasment. Fucking morons.
Anyways…
Mike Williams
Can you believe this? No way he should have slipped to #10, and no way the Lions should have taken him. People have talked about him developing into a big slotback/TE. However, I see no logic in Detroit drafting him andplaying him unless they intend to try and move one of the other guys. They simply cannot affod to have 3 WRs on the field that are this young. It makes no sense. However, if you’re drafting at #10 and he’s there you have to take him. I predict a trade or something, the Lions don’t go into week 1 with these three guys there.
Even moe shocking than that pick is that Minnesota took Williamson over him! Total gamble, they think speed is everything. I think he’ll be pretty damn good, but I almost gauruntee that he’d have been there at #18. What a head scrtacher. If you wanted a WR there, it should have been Williams, if you didn’t like Williams you should have taken Rogers there and taken either Williamson or Clayton at #18. Baffling choice.
I’d bet Dallas takes Rodgers at #20 and Green Bay takes Campbell at #24…sorry Washington. We’ll see if they were bluffing or not.
Worst picks so far: Benson - Bears; Jones - Titans; Williamson - Vikings
Best picks so far: Brown - Dolphins; Merriman - San Diego; Johnson - Chiefs
Brain fart…totally forgot about the Bledsoe signing, swap that prediction to be Baltimore taking a real long look at Rodgers, though they probably won’t be giving up on Boller just yet…
Wonder if Green Bay prefers Campbell or Rodgers…hmm.
Watching DraftCast as I do some work… I LOVE the Ravens taking Clayton. This is the put up or shut up year for Boller - if he puts up though, with Clayton and Mason and a healthy Heap to go with that rushing attack and that defense… scary.
I also really like the Derrick Johnson pick for the Chiefs. He could give them a huge boost towards a potential rebound year.
He’ll be s stud if the Jags get creative. You can’t turn him into a traditional WR or TE. They won’t try him at QB with Leftwich there, a guy I love. I could see him playing as a hybrid H-back/wing. Don’t line him up in the 3 point at TE, but slot him out about 3 yards. He can crash down to seal theend, get an easy release from the line and own the middle of the field. You can eaily motion him to the backfield to do just about anything. He can be a faster, more physical Tony Gonzales. He’ll never become a traditional TE, blocking down and peeling off to LBs, but if you use his size and speed to create matchup issus, you’e set. A LB won’t be able to cover him, and if you keep him close enough to the trenches you’ll force them to isolate a CB/S on him. That eliminates any prayer fo double teaming the wideout on the wide side.
The Oakland pick surprises me. Thought they’d be eyeballing one of the QBs there. If they are shooting for Washington, thats fine, he fills a need but I don’t see any of the teams between 26 and 23 going for CB. They both have a need at CB, but they seem to have a bigger need at other positions.
Randy Mueller just said in the Draft Cast chat that Fabien Washington has “supple hips”… that is a good thing, I guess? Some discernible football skill is dependant upon your hips being “supple”?
Don’t know that the Oakland trade was necessary - I don’t think either GB or Washington would have taken them. Not sure that move was worth even a fourth rounder, when Oakland can certainly make use of as many picks as they can get.
No, but Shockey sucks.
And so does Andrea Kramer. God, she’s awful.
And even as an Eagles fan, it’s sad to see what’s happened to Gibbs, assuming that was his trade & pick.
Poor Aaron Rodgers. Legacy-wise, he’s in a good situation in Green Bay (a year or two to learn with no pressure, a solid team around him to make him look good when he does start).
Career-wise, however, this is an unmitigated disaster. The difference in pay scale between a Top 5 pick and #24 pick is huge, and there’s always the chance (injury, bust) that this is the only NFL contract he’ll ever get.
(OTOH, it really is an amazing steal for the Packers. As recently as a week ago, Rodgers was the concensus pick to go #1 overall, and he fell all the way to the 24th pick for no reason at all. Just amazing.)
Who knew that Washington didn’t screw the pooch…guess it’d have been hard to predict that Rodgers would slide that far too. Helped them out I’m guessing. Can you believe that Heath Miller is still on the board? He’s a good fit at Pittsburgh, Philly and New England. Which ever teams gets him will be even more formidable on offense. Ouch.
If by some miracle he gets past them look for the Bears to gleefully take him. The only guy I can imagine the Bears passing him up for is JJ Arrington. We’ll see.
