FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Before we begin with the coverage of the postseason, let me recap what has happened thus far.  Playing on the Nintendo Wii, I have led the Cleveland Browns to a 9-7 record, second in the AFC North, and a Wild Card Berth.  Vince Young is my quarterback, and while he has been named AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year, he's had problems throwing interceptions and staying in games.  Backup QB and fellow rookie DJ Shockley has played very well considering his skill level and the number of times he has had to come in after Vince was unable to complete a game.  All games have been and will be simulated; victory will be declared should the Browns win the Super Bowl.  You're just going to have to trust me that I'm simulating these games, and not cooking the books in any way.  But it sure would make for a boring piece if we lost in the first round. 

So here we are at the Wild Card round!  Our opponent is the AFC North Champion and one of my least favorite football teams, the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Steelers are no joke in my alternate universe.  Finishing with a 10-6 record, they have Carson Palmer, Joseph Addai, Jason Witten, and Steve Smith who was on the IR for most of the season but now, to my dismay, is listed as probable for the game.  Not good.

On defense, the Steelers are equally stacked, with Mike Patterson, Adewale Ogunleye, Mike Vrabel, Derrick Brooks, and Sheldon Brown.  During the regular season, we split the series with the Steelers; the game we won was in Pittsburgh, and this playoff game is in Pittsburgh as well.  I don't like going into Pitt like this, though.  We lost our last game of the regular season to a bad team, and effectively handed the Steelers the division.  Now we need to walk back into their house and knock them off for the second time?  Not good for the Browns.

Luckily for me, my wide receivers, as a duo, were nothing short of outstanding on the season.  Randy Moss, my number 2 receiver, had 1076 yards on 77 catches and Fitzgerald, my number 1, had 979 on 70.  Moss scored 8 times while Fitz scored 7 times.  Our running game was really bad for the first half of the season, but we picked it up on our win streak at the end.  TJ Duckett had only 778 yards on 225 attempts (for those of you keeping track, that's a pretty sorry 3.4 yards-per-carry average), and only 4 touchdowns.  Vince Young made up for that with 848 yards on 108 carries and 8 touchdowns.  So together, we got a singular entity that produced 1626 yards and 12 touchdowns. 

USA Today runs a feature on Raiders' QB Byron Leftwich's broken tailbone, which will keep him out of action for 12 weeks.  The Raiders, of course, are not in the playoffs, so there really isn't any action for Leftwich to miss.

The good ol' Cleveland Tribune amazingly runs a feature story on the Browns making the playoffs.  The story, about how a team that hasn't made the playoffs for three years in one of the most football crazy towns in America, has made the playoffs, is as follows:

Browns playoff tickets go on sale Thursday morning at the ticket office!  The NFL playoffs - Cleveland style!

Wow!  I feel so informed!  Have to hand it to the boys at the Tribune, they are very, very succinct.  None of the other stories in the hometown paper make any mention of the playoff game, who we are playing, what to look for in the matchup, or who will win.  Typical, top-notch Tribune reporting.

Game 18:

Wild Card playoff at Pittsburgh.  Pittsburgh is rated 90 overall, 2 points higher than my 88.  Their offense is an 89, as is mine, and their defense is an 88, while mine is an 87.  As I look at the rankings, I see that this game will be a meeting of my sixth ranked offense against their 7th ranked offense.  And while the Pittsburgh D may be rated higher, mine is ranked 14th, while they are ranked 26th.  Let's see what happens.

Wow.  Browns win it, no problem, 31-13.  Browns got dirty on offense, racking up 461 yards of offense and converting 7 of their 15 third downs.  Vince Young went 19-29, 292 passing yards, 1 touchdown, and a pick.  Shockley had to come in for at least a play, as he was 1 for 1, for 12 yards.  Duckett had 95 yards on the ground (he hasn't had 100 yet this entire season), and a touchdown.  Vince had 77 yards and a touchdown on the ground, and Larry Fitzgerald carried the ball for a score as well.  Fitz also had 9 catches for 161 yards and a touchdown.  Antwaan Randle El had 5 catches for 96 yards.  Randy Moss, however, had only one catch for 4 yards, which either means he was really well covered, or he got hurt. 

Divisional Round:

Looking at my injury report, I see that there are no new injuries.  So that means Randy Moss just had a bad game.  Great.  I hope he isn't planning to quit on me in the playoffs.  Hopefully he'll take note of Larry Fitz and his big day; if those two are on, we could win the Super Bowl. 

The USA Today Sports section runs stories mainly on who received what award for the regular season.  Boring!  We want to see playoff coverage.  Vince Young did get some nice coverage as a Rookie of the Year; Browns merchandise can expect to see a nice price increase come next season.

The Cleveland Tribune runs a cover story on Vince Young being named Offensive Rookie of the Year.  The story is one sentence long, reading "EASports.com reports Cleveland Browns QB Vince Young was named Offensive Rookie of the Year by USA Today."  Uh, guys?  I don't know if anyone told you, but seeing as how we're in Cleveland, you don't have to tell us who Vince Young plays for.  You can safely assume that Browns fans know who the Cleveland Browns QB is.  But I'm not a journalist.

The Tribune picks us to beat the Jets, 33-17.  They also picked us to kill the Jets during the regular season, and we lost, 17-22.  The Jets also happen to be the number 1 seed in the AFC, with a record of 12-4.  I'm starting to think that the boys at the Cleveland Tribune don't believe in objective reality the way that normal humans do.

Game 19:

Divisional playoff game at New York.  The Jets have Brett Favre, Larry Johnson, William Henderson, Randy McMichael, and Torry Holt.  On D they have Kevin Williams, Joey Porter (NFL Defensive Player of the Year), and Dunta Robinson.  This is not going to be an easy game, and I'm worried that the Jets offense could provide problems for my defense.  LJ killed us in the regular season, running for over 200 yards.  However, we didn't have Lemar Marshall in that game, and he's been our best defensive player, so we'll see.

Browns aren't going out like chumps this year!  Big win, 31-17.  I'll have to send a bottle of champagne to the boys at the Tribune.  It took them 19 weeks, but they finally almost got a prediction right!  Vince Young went 14-27 with 181 yards passing and a touchdown, no interceptions.  TJ Duckett continued to inch his way closer to the century mark, with 96 yards rushing and 2 touchdowns.  Vince Young added 99 yards on the ground, as well.  Randy Moss led receivers with 7 catches for 68 yards; the only receiving touchdown was a 59-yard pass to Nate Washington.

Conference Championship:

Well, the Browns can officially be proud of their season.  They turned around a non-playoff team into a true Super Bowl contender.  I can't help but be very happy with my little baby, here.  I'm starting to tear up with pride, as we speak.

USA Today claims that our next game at Denver has "the potential to be one of the best playoff games ever.  Both teams have a ton of talent and they're focused."  They'd better be freakin' focused!  We don't tolerate space cases here in Cleveland.  Keep your head in the darn game or go play for Arizona.  USA Today picks the Browns to win, 38-31.  And who would have thought that at this time, USA Today would use the phrase, "Can anybody stop the mighty Brownies?"  Certainly not the Tribune, I can tell you that. 

Amazingly, the Cleveland Tribune also picks the Browns to beat the Broncos, 24-13.  This probably means we're going to get beaten by about 300 points, but at least the home paper has finally figured out that winning is a good thing. 

With all this good will being extended to the Browns, I can't help but notice that the Broncos have the 3rd best rushing attack in the league, averaging 139.6 yards per game, and the number 1 defense in the league, letting up only 1.4 pass yards per play, and 0.9 rushing yards per play.  The Broncos also have the 2nd best offense overall, in yards and in points.  The Browns did beat the Broncos during the regular season, 20-17, but that was in Cleveland.  However, the Browns are coming off two huge wins, over the AFC North division champion Steelers and number one ranked New York, so this actually may be a great game like the Tribune claims.

One thing that baffles me: I keep getting email notices from scouting about this "hot streak" that Kareem McKenzie has been on lately, showcasing his veteran leaderhip.  Amazing for a guy who is out for the season, and has been since week 11 or something. 

Game 20:

Conference championship at Denver.  This is the hardest game yet, and probably the true Super Bowl, as the two NFC teams playing for the Super Bowl, the Vikings and Bears, stink.  With Brad Johnson leading the Broncos, they also have Brian Westbrook, Marcedes Lewis, and Plaxico Burress (what the heck kind of name is Plaxico?  Doesn't that sound like a chemical company?  'Hey, I'm a chemical engineer over at Plaxico, what do you do for a living?').  Their best ranked defense is made up of Pat Williams, DJ Williams, Ken Lucas, Asante Samuel, and Roy Williams.  This is it, Browns.  Time to get to the show.

SUPER BOWL TIME BIOTCH!  USA Today, proving why they are the national powerhouse and the Cleveland Tribune is just a small-change chump rag, is exactly right in proclaiming that this game could be the best playoff game ever.  Cleveland and Denver put on an amazing game, with Cleveland pulling out the overtime victory, 34-31.  Cleveland was down 24-6 at the end of the first half, and then outscored Denver 25-7 in the second half of the game, to go on to win in OT.  Browns racked up 479 yards of total offense, with 23 first downs, and 2 out of 2 2-point conversions.  Vince Young went 23-39 for 331 passing yards, 2 scores, and 1 interception.  He also had 82 rushing yards, to lead the team.  Larry Fitzgerald caught 8 balls for 136 yards and 2 touchdowns.  Also, and this is interesting, Nate Washington made 6 receptions for 115 yards; Randy Moss only had one catch for 23 yards.  If Nate Washington makes enough progress this year, Moss could be tradebait for a high pick or a very needed running back.

Super Bowl:

Yes!  We made it to the Super Bowl!  Looking at my email, I have yet another email about how well Kareem "Out for the Season" McKenzie has been playing/sitting out.  The scouting department is getting fired after the season, whether we take down the Super Bowl or not. 

Looking at USA Today, they have picked the Browns to win the Super Bowl against the Bears, 23-13.  On The Tony Bruno Show, he's interviewing Lovie Smith, who, in his coaching wisdom, is explaining that if the Bears are to win, they need to not turn the ball over on offense and try to create turnovers on defense.  Really need an NFL head coach to tell me that, I never would have figured it out on my own.

The Cleveland Tribune, apparently picking up tips from my scouting department, has done a player spotlight on Kareem McKenzie, claiming, "It was nice to see a spark out of Kareem lately."  What, are they covering his rehab or something?  Or is he that exciting sitting on the bench?  The Tribune also ran the same cover story as USA Today, word for word, and picked us to win, 23-13.  I really like our chances against the Bears, because, well, it's the Bears. 

Game 21:

Well, here we are.  It's not every day that you get simulated to the Super Bowl.  In fact, I think I've only won one Super Bowl on simulation.  With Jon Kitna helming the Bears offense, my secondary should have a field day.  Of note is NFL MVP Shaun Alexander at running back, Alge Crumpler, and Keyshawn Johnson and Braylon Edwards.  On defense, they have Corey Simon, Brentson Buckner, Kevin Carter, Brian Urlacher, Ty Law, Brian Kelly, Dwight Smith, and Mike Brown.  Excellent defense there in Chicago.  

My offense could have problems with this defense.  Urlacher is fast enough to catch Vince Young, and Vince is basically our whole rushing attack.  Also, even though Vince has been passing very well this season, this is the best secondary he's faced all year, and Ty Law is a ball hawk who could give the interception prone Young big trouble.

Holy sh*t we won the Super Bowl!  I was not expecting to win the Super Bowl.  I expected the Browns to get to the conference championship; our offense was too good to be stopped by a couple of teams we'd already beaten, and I knew we could beat the Jets.  But winning the Super Bowl by 3 points?  This is great!

Browns took it down, 20-17.  I believe that makes Vince Young the first rookie quarterback to win the Super Bowl, but I could be wrong.  He went 22-32 for 215 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 picks.  He also had 13 rushes for 80 yards and a touchdown.  Larry Fitz once again led receivers with 8 catches for 88 yards.  Antwaan Randle El came in second with 3 receptions for 43 yards and a touchdown.  Nate Washington also had 3 catches for 39 yards, including one for 31 yards.  Randy Moss did not have a catch in the Super Bowl, which only makes me lean further toward trading him for the a good draft pick.  However, looking at the injury report, he did have a pulled groin, and as I think about it, if I can get what I need without trading him, that would be much better.

Well, that is the end of the season.  The Pro Bowl is left, but nobody cares about the Pro Bowl.  Browns take down the Super Bowl in the first year of my reign as Supreme Dictator of Cleveland football.  I'm considering moving the Browns again, just for the heck of it.  Ohioans marching in the streets is always funny.

If you liked this post, please let me know, and if you like Madden, be sure to check out the group Maddenaniacs, started by my dear friend Big Ben 08, who claims to not have lost a game of Madden since '04.  Off-season and draft coverage coming soon!