EA's long-running NFL series returns with its 2011 release, Madden NFL 12. It features Cleveland Browns running back Peyton Hillis on the cover, who won as a result of fan voting.
The football fans among us are probably the ones out living normal lives. Read: they're probably in bed with their wives/girlfriends/hookers while we're up late writing on the forums of a video game site.
@Choffy: Oh man I know you must be excited. So many big signings! You guys just signed Ronnie Brown too. I'm sad to see him leave Miami, but I really like the guy so I wish him the best with your team.
The most I have to be excited about is Reggie Bush...which isn't that exciting. Honestly I'm more excited for the Dolphins defense this year as we were 6th overall last year and have added a few new pieces and some that are back from injury. Should be a good show.
As for our offense, I don't know that Kyle Orton was the answer in the long-term, but there's no denying he would help us out in the short-term for sure. I just don't have a lot of confidence in Henne and I feel our season will rise and fall with his performance. Well, at least if we're terrible we may be able to pick up a good QB in the draft next year! *sigh* typical dolphin fan expecting the worst and already looking ahead to the next season...
It was sad to see Reggie Bush go because he was a good role player and great in the community of New Orleans, but the price was just too much, not to mention that Chris Ivory stepped up last season and they just drafted Mark Ingram.
@CitizenKane: Yeah, you guys got a damn good replacement in Sproles though. He may not be quite as dynamic as Bush, but for the price he can slot into your offense in a lot of the same ways Bush did. I'm surprised that we didn't go after him before Bush to be honest. My guess is they wanted to make a big-name splash to sell some tickets.
Yeah its defiantly going wild. Sadly the Colts lost Sessions :(
The sad reality of having such a talented team is that every year somebody has to go. Sessions was a very solid LB for us but considering we have to deal out contracts to three of our star players - Wayne, Mathis and of course Peyton - among others, he was the most dispensable guy of the bunch. The real question is why did he have to go to Jacksonville? Free agents moving inside the division always seems a bit off to me. The Colts defence will be fine, I'm sure; we have a habit of guys stepping up and playing big roles, especially at LB (David Thornton, Cato June, Gary Brackett etc.)
@Choffy said:
:)
How d'you think you're season is stacking up? With all their offseason acquisitions - Asomugha, Brown, Rogers-Cromartie, Babin, Jenkins and VY, to name a few - some have already dubbed them the new kings of the NFC. Do you think the Eagles have a chance of competing with the Packers, the Saints and the Falcons atop the NFC? Can Vick replicate last year's great form? Will you be sad to see Asante Samuel go? Are you worried about DeSean Jackson holding out on his contract after all the money the Eagles have already spent on acquiring new players?
My Panthers resigned a few in-house free agents, but I'm not expecting much this year. Maybe 4 or 5 wins.
Yeah, we picked up Shockey and Olson at TE. CJ Wilson is coming home. We lost our longest lasting player (Kasay), but picked up Mare. Derek Anderson might be able to get Cam Newton up to speed. It's a new season. Hopefully it will be a good one.
My Panthers resigned a few in-house free agents, but I'm not expecting much this year. Maybe 4 or 5 wins.
Yeah, we picked up Shockey and Olson at TE. CJ Wilson is coming home. We lost our longest lasting player (Kasay), but picked up Mare. Derek Anderson might be able to get Cam Newton up to speed. It's a new season. Hopefully it will be a good one.
Good or not, I think the Panthers will be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season. Mainly because people want to see how Cam Newton will do in the NFL.
@CitizenKane: Yeah, you guys got a damn good replacement in Sproles though. He may not be quite as dynamic as Bush, but for the price he can slot into your offense in a lot of the same ways Bush did. I'm surprised that we didn't go after him before Bush to be honest. My guess is they wanted to make a big-name splash to sell some tickets.
Yeah, Sproles will fit in just fine in KR/PR and as a scat back. I was more sad in losing Shockey. I know he isn't what he once was, but he is still a big target can can get those tough yards. At least it will give more opportunities to Jimmy Graham, who I have loved since he played basketball at Miami.
My Seahawks ditched Hasselbeck and picked up Tarvaris Jackson. Not too excited to see what he's going to do....
I was sad to see both Tatupu and Hasselbeck go, two of my favorite players on the team, and big leaders in the locker room. That said, I think Seahawks have had a terrific free agency, Sidney Rice, Robert Gallery, Zach Miller, future is looking good.
My Panthers resigned a few in-house free agents, but I'm not expecting much this year. Maybe 4 or 5 wins.
Yeah, we picked up Shockey and Olson at TE. CJ Wilson is coming home. We lost our longest lasting player (Kasay), but picked up Mare. Derek Anderson might be able to get Cam Newton up to speed. It's a new season. Hopefully it will be a good one.
Good or not, I think the Panthers will be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season. Mainly because people want to see how Cam Newton will do in the NFL.
It'll be interesting for sure, especially as the lockout caused a lot of lost training time so I think we'll see all of these rookie QBs (and rookies in general) struggle a bit this year.
My Panthers resigned a few in-house free agents, but I'm not expecting much this year. Maybe 4 or 5 wins.
Yeah, we picked up Shockey and Olson at TE. CJ Wilson is coming home. We lost our longest lasting player (Kasay), but picked up Mare. Derek Anderson might be able to get Cam Newton up to speed. It's a new season. Hopefully it will be a good one.
Good or not, I think the Panthers will be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season. Mainly because people want to see how Cam Newton will do in the NFL.
It'll be interesting for sure, especially as the lockout caused a lot of lost training time so I think we'll see all of these rookie QBs (and rookies in general) struggle a bit this year.
Not just quarterbacks or rookies, think the preseason will definately have some pretty rusty players getting back into the flow of things. Moreso that usual.
My Panthers resigned a few in-house free agents, but I'm not expecting much this year. Maybe 4 or 5 wins.
Yeah, we picked up Shockey and Olson at TE. CJ Wilson is coming home. We lost our longest lasting player (Kasay), but picked up Mare. Derek Anderson might be able to get Cam Newton up to speed. It's a new season. Hopefully it will be a good one.
Good or not, I think the Panthers will be one of the most interesting teams to watch this season. Mainly because people want to see how Cam Newton will do in the NFL.
It'll be interesting for sure, especially as the lockout caused a lot of lost training time so I think we'll see all of these rookie QBs (and rookies in general) struggle a bit this year.
Not just quarterbacks or rookies, think the preseason will definately have some pretty rusty players getting back into the flow of things. Moreso that usual.
@emergency: You're right for sure. Especially offenses I think more so than defenses. Also there are a lot of teams with new head coaches, new coordinators, so that means new playbooks. Scary stuff for such a short training camp.
@danimal_furry: lol too true. Who'd have thought the preseason would mean so much!
@CitizenKane: I think the big thing is you guys still have one of the smartest coaches and playcallers in all of Football in Payton and with a sharp, accurate QB like Brees you're always a threat. That's what scares me about Bush in Miami. I just don't know how they can use him any better than you guys did in NO because I don't feel our coaching staff and QB is on the same level. I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
@yevinorion: It'll be really interesting for sure. Whoever can pull their team together the best has a really good shot at getting way ahead at the beginning of the season. I've never seen a more level start of an NFL season in my lifetime. Of course, teams like the Colts or Steelers or Packers have some pretty good talent that doesn't need to be tested. But the preseason is for measuring the readiness of the average position players. Every team has has so little prep time. It will be pretty fun to watch.
@TheKing: You guys lost Braylon Edwards and Brad Smith, but managed to keep Cromartie (after the Asomugha drama) and Holmes, so not too bad. I hear the Ravens' Derrick Mason is looking to be a Jet too. Not convinced you got a whole lot better, but you definitely didn't get worse either. Which is a shame since I'm a Dolphins fan lol. AFC East is gonna be nasty this year, I'll be surprised if Miami can get out with a .500 record.
I lost my interest in Football with A LOT of personal experiences at a young age and after about 15 years of age or so I found other interests. I wish I could get back into it, but something stops me from enjoying it like I use to. Maybe its my father passing away (he was always my support for foot-ball in school and such) so maybe it will never come back.
@csoup: Aw man, sorry to hear about your father. I can relate to an extent with losing touch with Basketball. Football really is a new passion for me as I only got into it a couple years ago. Basketball though was my favourite childhood sport and I loved my Chicago Bulls (mostly because of Michael Jordan of course!) and followed them intensely through the 90s. After awhile though I just lost my interest and kinda slipped away for awhile. I did get back into it season before last and now I'm as into it as I ever was, perhaps more so.
So now I'm a more of a huge stat-junkie and through that aspect I've gotten into football and back into basketball and deep into sports gaming as well! I mean, broadly speaking, Madden isn't all that different from a group based RPG. You manage a team of players/characters with different stats and try to win the games/battles. :P Bit of a rough analogy, but I'm sure you get the point. It's especially great when your team isn't so hot in real life, so you can just create your own franchise and work to making your fave team the best in the league.
As a dolphins fan, this free agency period has been disappointing. First, we sign an injury prone RB (Bush) to replace our injury prone RB (Brown). Then, our fans chant for the neck-bearded one, during an open team practice. And now, our newspapers are speculating and suggesting we pull Favre out of retirement. Eventually, the dolphins need to be pathetic enough to get a top five pick, so we can draft a QB. I'm tired of these short-term solutions.
Patriots fan here (Redskin fan in hibernation until we trade for a new owner...)
I'm usually dying for football by this time of year. I'm having a hard time getting prepared for fantasy football this year. I think the lockout BS wore me out.
I was a baseball fan as a kid and lost touch with it for many years. Living around Philly I have gotten into baseball a lot lately maybe that is distracting me from football.
GO! Phillies! I do look forward to watching the Tom Brady and Chad Johnson show.
my Bucs lost Barrett Ruud, one of the few veterans on our team, but i'm still very confident that we'll be playoff contenders because Raheem Morris is such a good coach and everyone on the team is always fired up week after week. i hope Carolina does better because the NFC South is one of the best divisions in the league right now and Carolina's stuck pretty hard at the bottom
As a dolphins fan, this free agency period has been disappointing. First, we sign an injury prone RB (Bush) to replace our injury prone RB (Brown). Then, our fans chant for the neck-bearded one, during an open team practice. And now, our newspapers are speculating and suggesting we pull Favre out of retirement. Eventually, the dolphins need to be pathetic enough to get a top five pick, so we can draft a QB. I'm tired of these short-term solutions.
Oh man, and I thought I was the only Dolphins fan here. I hear you man, on the bright side, we should have a top-5 defense this year. But yeah, the whole "We want Orton" thing was just sad. I don't think Henne is the answer, but there's no reason to act like that at a team practice. The Favre crap is just annoying, I feel like any headline on ESPN with the Dolphins in it always sounds like a joke. My greatest hope is that we lose this season bad enough to get a decent pick and can get one of the very promising QB prospects in the 2012 draft. Maybe we won't be able to get Andrew Luck, but a Matt Barkley or a Landry Jones would make me very happy. Of course our front office will inevitably do something fucked up like draft yet ANOTHER offensive lineman.
@yevinorion: i've been driving the "suck for luck" bandwagon for months now. Unfortunately, I think were going to be stuck in that 7-9/9-7 limbo. i'm sure next year will make another asinine decision, maybe draft a guard to replace incognito.
As a dolphins fan, this free agency period has been disappointing. First, we sign an injury prone RB (Bush) to replace our injury prone RB (Brown). Then, our fans chant for the neck-bearded one, during an open team practice. And now, our newspapers are speculating and suggesting we pull Favre out of retirement. Eventually, the dolphins need to be pathetic enough to get a top five pick, so we can draft a QB. I'm tired of these short-term solutions.
Oh man, and I thought I was the only Dolphins fan here. I hear you man, on the bright side, we should have a top-5 defense this year. But yeah, the whole "We want Orton" thing was just sad. I don't think Henne is the answer, but there's no reason to act like that at a team practice. The Favre crap is just annoying, I feel like any headline on ESPN with the Dolphins in it always sounds like a joke. My greatest hope is that we lose this season bad enough to get a decent pick and can get one of the very promising QB prospects in the 2012 draft. Maybe we won't be able to get Andrew Luck, but a Matt Barkley or a Landry Jones would make me very happy. Of course our front office will inevitably do something fucked up like draft yet ANOTHER offensive lineman.
How bout your Dolphins stop trying to low ball my Broncos and just give us a 2nd or a 3rd rounder for Orton and we can start our franchise qb of the future and you get the game manager a coach like sparano wants
@sarge1445: From what I understand the issue wasn't as much with what we were offering to trade, but the extension and money Orton wanted in his contract. Our front office may be idiots, but they're not even stupid enough to try and give Orton the same kinda money Kolb got.
@sarge1445: From what I understand the issue wasn't as much with what we were offering to trade, but the extension and money Orton wanted in his contract. Our front office may be idiots, but they're not even stupid enough to try and give Orton the same kinda money Kolb got.
Kolb didnt deserve the money he got he hasent done jack its off pure potential. Either way just pay him get him out of Denver please
@sarge1445: From what I understand the issue wasn't as much with what we were offering to trade, but the extension and money Orton wanted in his contract. Our front office may be idiots, but they're not even stupid enough to try and give Orton the same kinda money Kolb got.
Kolb didnt deserve the money he got he hasent done jack its off pure potential. Either way just pay him get him out of Denver please
Damn right Kolb didn't deserve that much cash. If we had managed to close that Orton deal before Kolb got signed we'd probably have been fine. As it is now, I'm afraid he's still your problem. Don't think we'll be making a play for him, especially after adding a bunch of lackluster QBs to our roster to "compete" with Henne. *sigh* Not to mention your front office and coaching staff straight up came out and said he's not being traded and will be your starter. I know Tebow and the fans are bugged, but hey, you got one year left max as Orton is a free agent after this season.
@Atlas: We'll be fine. I'm not worried about the Saints at all (they've been severely overhyped the past few years (the Seahawks beat them for crying out loud)), and while the Packers were the ones to beat us last season, we would have won had Akers been on his game that day. I think we'll keep Samuel this year and trade him for a linebacker next offseason, which will free up cap space to resign Jackson (along with Young and Brown being gone).
I'm a bit biased, but I don't see how we don't make the Super Bowl, but I'm convinced the Patriots are going to win it all this year, so it really doesn't matter too much.
@sarge1445: From what I understand the issue wasn't as much with what we were offering to trade, but the extension and money Orton wanted in his contract. Our front office may be idiots, but they're not even stupid enough to try and give Orton the same kinda money Kolb got.
Kolb didnt deserve the money he got he hasent done jack its off pure potential. Either way just pay him get him out of Denver please
Damn right Kolb didn't deserve that much cash. If we had managed to close that Orton deal before Kolb got signed we'd probably have been fine. As it is now, I'm afraid he's still your problem. Don't think we'll be making a play for him, especially after adding a bunch of lackluster QBs to our roster to "compete" with Henne. *sigh* Not to mention your front office and coaching staff straight up came out and said he's not being traded and will be your starter. I know Tebow and the fans are bugged, but hey, you got one year left max as Orton is a free agent after this season.
Eagles took a ready made Superbowl level roster and added two good-great corners, hard to imagine they aren't in the NFC Championship but if Vick gets hurt....
My Seahawks had a pretty good free agency, we didn't overpay for a potentially better QB and it's pretty obvious that we are investing in young and elite talent at other positions. The 2012 QB class is shaping up to be amazing so easing the process for the "next" franchise QB is important.
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