The inevitable ESPN NFL 2k5 thread

[Sky]

Yeah, I knew about the QB setting his feet, I just suck at passing ;) I worked on rolling out last night, if you let him set his feet it can help bullet passers (like me).

I'm really happy having Sapp in my lineup, now. Domination, Dan, domination. I prefer playing D.

[Rasix]

Hmm, what difficulties is everyone playing at?  I really need to take my advice and start messing with the sliders.  Is there anything I could adjust that would reduce the amount of break away runs I get without affecting other aspects of the game too much?  I just racked up 300+ yards on the ground v. the Colts (their tackling is horrendous) and this is with cutting off some of Fred Taylors runs in order to keep his average somewhat sane.  Of course, during a celeb challenge, where they have a godly defense, I wasn't very productive on the ground.  

I worked on my passing a bit yesterday and I'm starting to get better.  You'd be amazed at the little bit of separation you'll get from throwing out a pump fake, especially on deep balls.  The vertical game is just brutal when your running game is feared worse than the plague.  Being somewhat patient in the pocket helps too, I was actually proud of myself when I took a sack instead of throwing a bad ball.

The injuries in this game keep it interesting, they actually happen and can be quite devastating.  Hugh Douglas for me went down for the year but at least I'm not as bad off as the Eagles who lost Owens for 8 games and Dawkins and Westbrook for the year (in one game nonetheless).

[Dark Vengeance]

Hmm, what difficulties is everyone playing at?

I was sticking with Pro before I figured out how to get the passing game going....but I started getting huge blowouts after I got the hang of passing. Now I'm pretty much sticking to All-Pro....it can be fairly challenging, but I still manage to get decent wins most of the time.

I worked on my passing a bit yesterday and I'm starting to get better.  You'd be amazed at the little bit of separation you'll get from throwing out a pump fake, especially on deep balls.

Definitely...good to see that DBs will bite on them from time to time.

The vertical game is just brutal when your running game is feared worse than the plague.

Don't underestimate the effects of play action either, especially in short yardage situations. 2nd and short is a great time to try a PA pass, with at least one route going deep (i.e. a go, fade or post pattern).

Being somewhat patient in the pocket helps too, I was actually proud of myself when I took a sack instead of throwing a bad ball.

My QB (Joey Harrington) is way too much of a pocket passer to be effective tucking the ball away. I tend to rely quite a bit on outlet passes, like the TE or RBs for a dump-off when I'm coming under heat. Of course, Detroit's West Coast Offense playbook offers a lot more of these than some of the more traditional offenses. I try to never take sacks....but I haven't even looked if there is a way to simply throw the ball away (haven't really needed to yet).

The injuries in this game keep it interesting, they actually happen and can be quite devastating.  Hugh Douglas for me went down for the year but at least I'm not as bad off as the Eagles who lost Owens for 8 games and Dawkins and Westbrook for the year (in one game nonetheless).

The injuries are pretty brutal, but not too bad compared to RL....after all, the Lions lost two starters last year for the season (CB Chris Cash, RB James Stewart), and then lost rookie WR Charles Rogers for the year after only 6 games....plus, rookie RB Artose Pinner had been recovering from an injury until the final month of the season.

What aggravates me is the trade logic, contract logic, and the CPU's knack for making blockbuster trades that don't make much sense. I watched as Minnesota traded away newly-acquired CB Antoine Winfield for FB Mike Alstott....odd because the Vikes didn't have much behind Winfield, and Alstott was only a slight upgrade over Kleinsasser. MLB Zach Thomas was traded away by the Dolphins in exchange for a DE, and Texans WR Andre Johnson was traded twice in consecutive weeks (so much for being one of the top rookie WRs last year).

Additionally, try restructuring a contract to make cap room....nothin' doin'. You pretty much get stuck with trading away talent when you're over the salary cap, and even then you have to be careful that cap penalties don't end up making it even worse.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

[Rasix]

Ohh, my vertical game is pretty much all play action.  Otherwise the computer can just seem to tell when I have no intention of running.  For instance, if I pick a play action play, they'll throw their traditional 8 men in the box at me.  If I pick a standard pass play in the same formation, they hang back in a normal 4-3.  It's a tad aggravating and annoying because it's pretty much cheating.

[Alluvian]

If it was REALLY cheating it would go 4-3 even on the play action.  So hard to tell what is going on there.  If it is giving you trouble, setup an alternate audible prior to heading to the line (page 8 of the manual under on the fly audibles).

You can throw the ball away with the black button.  Just use caution doing this in the pocket... they may call grounding on you.  I so rarely throw away I am not sure how often it is called.  In 2k4 I forced the computer to do it sometimes, but not sure if I ever got it called on me.

All-Pro is pretty much the standard difficulty, pro being easy mode.  With a little practice it will become too easy though.  If you are like me, jumping to legend will get you crushed like a grape.  So either pick legend and pull back on some sliders or pick all pro and bump some sliders depending on your strength.

Rasix should probably seriously up the CPU devensive tackling to control his out of control run game.  Or try it on legend and see if you can still run circles around them.  For me in 2k4 I had to up the CPU defensive backs and linebackers to bring my passing game into control.  2k5 sounds like it is abit harder off the bat from sky's comments.  On defense I sucked balls at defending in the secondary so I would sometimes up my secondary AI depending on how well I was playing that day.  On all pro the computer could never get a running game going so I would up their run blocking and running back AI.  Eventually I got to the point where I could play a season and go 10-16 or so and would have to struggle in the playoffs to come home with the trophy.  I like knowing I could win it all, but not having a walk in the park to get there.  I didn't play that many full seasons in 2k4, maybe 4 if I recall, and then restarted another 2 or so after Brett Retired and I had no backup worth crap.  Of those 6 I think I got 3 superbowls and 1 divisional championship.  The other two I got kicked out early in the playoffs from some awful play.

[Sky]

I'm still playing at Pro as I learn the game, but I'm about ready to step it up in difficulty now that I'm actually able to pull of plays regularly.

I haven't even looked if there is a way to simply throw the ball away

The white button, iirc. That may have been the control assignment from last year, though. Still getting the controls down. It'd help if I actually played the game more, heh.

Additionally, try restructuring a contract to make cap room....nothin' doin'. You pretty much get stuck with trading away talent when you're over the salary cap, and even then you have to be careful that cap penalties don't end up making it even worse.

I mostly play the game for on-the-field action, I don't get into the office stuff, probably why I've always preferred this series over Madden. Too bad they took out the single season option and load us down with franchise stuff just to play out a season. I really have no interest in salary caps or trading or drafts.

[Dark Vengeance]

I mostly play the game for on-the-field action, I don't get into the office stuff, probably why I've always preferred this series over Madden. Too bad they took out the single season option and load us down with franchise stuff just to play out a season. I really have no interest in salary caps or trading or drafts.

I'm not particularly interested in the salary cap or other aspects of contracts either....but franchise doesn't give you much choice if you use created players. I can't even run my first regular season game without fiddling with my roster.

At least with Madden I could turn off the cap, or at least remove cap penalties and just trade or release my overpaid vets anytime I needed to free up some cash.

Where it really gets frustrating though is when you go to sign a Free Agent that your team just picked up IRL, and the CPU demands more than the value of the actual RL contract. Neither franchise has really captured the tendency for aging players to play for peanuts so they can get a shot at winning a championship (e.g. Rod Woodson or Karl Malone), or to play for a favorite coach again (e.g. Tai Streets or several of the former raiders that are flocking to Tampa).

Hopefully the folks at ESPN do another roster update soon....the Lions signed a new starting Guard (5-year vet Solomon Page), and he isn't even in the game at this point.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

[Alluvian]

The game just came out a week ago or so, isn't demanding a roster update now a little premature?  I don't really expect a roster update until regular season starts so they can update who made the team.  Roster updates now are somewhat pointless IMO.

[Dark Vengeance]

The game just came out a week ago or so, isn't demanding a roster update now a little premature?  I don't really expect a roster update until regular season starts so they can update who made the team.  Roster updates now are somewhat pointless IMO.

The Miami Dolphins lost their top RB to retirement, Eddie George went from Tenessee to Dallas, Antowain Smith signed with the Titans, and Detroit landed Page....so they now actually have a decent starting o-line.

Plus, there were other signings prior to the release of the game, like Mikhael Ricks to the Jets or Bill Schroeder to the Bucs.

Seeing as how we're talking maybe a half dozen significant changes to rosters around the league, I figure maybe someone could take 5 minutes to create Page, swap a few players, and delete Ricky Williams.

Of course, bear in mind that I'd like to play in an online league. Doing so forces the players to use the default rosters...and if that's the case, I'd like them to be as accurate as possible.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[WayAbvPar]

delete Ricky Williams.

I think Dave Wannstedt has been on the phone all week trying to hire someone to do this.

[Glamdring]

There's supposed to be a patch for XBL today.  Hopefully it will fix a lot of the connectivity and league issues that people have been experiencing.

For instance, I finally figured out that I can't join a game with a newly added friend until we've both shut off our xbox's and then resigned into XBL.  Sometimes I log in and get the online roster validation error.

I'll take patches for online purposes any day, but am most certainly NOT looking forward to the day where online capabilities cause consoles to become as patch required as all PC games.

[Alluvian]

Finally found a copy of ESPN2k5 last night.  Differences from 2k5 I have noticed:

*Highly improved defensive secondary AI.  Either that or the packers are just rated much higher this year.  They are making very good plays on the ball.

*Awesome new animations especially some of the new gang tackling ones.

*New physics system.  Players have more weight this year.  Changing direction on a run feels more realistic, and on grass the guy will even slide a little on some cuts.  Very cool.

*Love the maximum tackling.  Along with this are all the new tackling sounds which sound much more violent.

*More porous offensive line.  I see people actually getting some headway up the middle on punt plays now.  I have an easier time getting to the QB as well as an easier time getting sacked.  Sweeps fail for me more often as well due to pressure seeping in through where the guards and tackles are pulling.  Maybe the pack line is just rated worse this year, but I can't believe that after how they finished last year and the fact that they are all still together for the 5th year.

*I am way too slow to use the QB evasion moves.  I have always had a hard time seeing the sack coming.  I never watch my qb, just the receivers and vague glances at the line for passing lanes.  I can never tell when a defender is just about to swim free and nail me.  This has always been a problem for me, it is a little worse this year, but not horrible.

*I have to re-invent my running game.  I can still pass for 400 yards without much problem on pro, but running gives me trouble.  I have to relearn that before I move up in difficulty.  Although I think I will strengthen CPU coverage to force myself to practice more on the run.  I just have to find which plays work for me this year.  My favorites last year don't break open like they used to.  Quad formation single back, weakside was a staple of my running game in 2k4.  The lbs are better at avoiding blocks or my blockers are more incompetent this year though.

Last year I found it abit easier to control where my blockers were going by running toward the guy I want blocked and then bumping around them once they were engaged.  This year my blockers seem to do their own thing more and pretty much ignore the guy who actually has the angle on me.  I have to actually start using stiffarm I think.  Green SHOULD be good at that move, but who knows how he is rated.  He is a great blend of power and finesse, but usually he is underrated on power.  As a packer fan I know he usually surprises the hell out of the defenders by often going through not around.

Very happy with the game this year.  But who was the idiot who put that stupid celebrity matchup thing in the game?  Sheesh that is lame.  The game itself is love though.  I just need more practice apparently, heh.

[Dark Vengeance]

Very happy with the game this year.  But who was the idiot who put that stupid celebrity matchup thing in the game?  Sheesh that is lame.  The game itself is love though.  I just need more practice apparently, heh.

When I first started playing, I figured they'd have actual football players at some point....it appears that it is limited to a handful of (IMO) b-list celebrities, and possibly some ESPN personalities like Berman and Kiper (both have teams named after them, just like the celebs).

So far, I've beaten:
Carmen Electra
Steve-O
David Arquette
Jamie Kennedy
Funkmaster Flex

Carmen and Steve-O gave me a run for my money, which made their comments during the game absolutely infuriating....enough that I was found myself talking shit aloud to my TV (that takes a lot). Then I learned to pass, and made David, Jamie, and Flex into my own personal bitches on the All-Pro difficulty, racking up about 56 points per game. That made it just a bit more satisfying.

I opted for sleep after whooping up on Flex last night, so I don't know if the Crib-phone will ring again or not. We'll see.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............

[Alluvian]

Question, how do you unlock the different crib catalogs?  I can't believe I give a shit, but I do.

Forgot to add in my last post that I started playing at all pro.  Lost 1 of 5 games played (vs fucking carolina.  They had 220 total yards, 160 of which were two big plays I totally blew on defense and then I fumbled twice and threw a few stupid passes for picks) but have yet to get a really good running game going.  It took me awhile in 2k4 to find the run plays that worked well for the packers vs different defensive sets.  I just have to play with it more.  Might be time to experiment with some draw plays and such.  Might help some of my problems with people rushing up the middle.

Time to break out the LOVELY situation mode so I can just grind rushing plays to find good ones.

[Dark Vengeance]

Lots of theories about those....it could be total wins, total crib points, time played, celebrities beaten....I can't tell.

I was given the choice to unlock one of 3 catalogs after beating David Arquette on All-Pro....but I also got 900 crib points, hit several milestones, and hit 8 hours of playtime in the process.

Bring the noise.
Cheers.............

[WayAbvPar]

Stopped by Target last night and picked this up (they had a surprisingly large number of them still available). Haven't had a chance to play yet, but I  DID take the shrink wrap off last night.

[Alluvian]

Oh, forgot to mention one of my favorite new additions.  The Xbox only full play replays at the half and conclusion of the game during Berman's rundown.  Those are done really well.  I like watching the biggest plays of the game again, and they do a pretty good job picking which ones to show.  If I am actually playing well I find it amusing how desperate the computer gets to show my opponents having a good play.  TD strike after TD strike for the pack and then they have to show the obligatory 8 yard run the computer got off, hehe.

Although that damn carolina game had more highlights for them than me.  My best play was a bomb with seconds ticking off the clock that fell 10 yards short of the goalline.  Damn you carolina!

[Sky]

Alluvian, I think I mentioned this before, but you can watch a replay of every play of the entire game if you go into gamecast stats (from the post-game menu, naturally) and click on the play in question. I do agree, it's nice watching the cpu pick plays after you have a good game.

[Alluvian]

Really?  That is very cool.  I will have to check that out.  I was not aware of that.

It would be nice if you could save a whole game to watch later without all the interruptions.

[Glamdring]

The game shows it has the ability to 'save' every play made in an entire game, so why not incorporate a 'save replay' feature?  Oh well, maybe next year.

[stray]

I'm not a big football fan really, and know jack shit about it, but since I had store credit to waste, I picked this up. Heh, now I've been playing nothing else for the past week. Playing the Cowboys, getting my ass kicked, but I'm having fun.

I've been tryin' to convince a few pals of mine who play Madden to check it out. No dice. They won't even bother looking at it.

I really want to check out what they've done with the NBA and NHL series now, as I haven't played them since the Dreamcast. Are the newer ones on par with this (gameplay/presentation wise)?

[Zetleft]

The game shows it has the ability to 'save' every play made in an entire game, so why not incorporate a 'save replay' feature?  Oh well, maybe next year.

Actually I just checked and you can indeed save any replay you want :)

Whenever you view the replay, either during the game or the end of game play by play way, you click "X" and it gives you all the commands you can do.  Tells you there click down on the left thumbstick and it brings up the save replay screen... damn I hope I don't fill up my harddrive with this.  This is perfect when you wanna rub a good play in your friends face for repeat viewings.

[Sky]

You don't need to press X first, clicking the thumbstick(while in replay mode) is enough. Worked that way at least as far back as 2k3, I have about a hundred replays from the three versions, heh.

I'm trying to get my football (non-gaming!) buddy into 2k5. Every year previously he liked to watch the replays I'd saved. Not sure why he's so scared of playing a football video game, he breathes football...

[Glamdring]

I've been tryin' to convince a few pals of mine who play Madden to check it out. No dice. They won't even bother looking at it.

There's only one reason I want Madden this year, and even then I'll probably just convince one of my Madden fanboy friends to buy it.  The collecter's edition has updated versions of Madden '93, '97, and one other one including present day rosters.  An updated version of '93 would be awesome.

As for the replay saves, I honetly had no idea.  I tried to save some the first night I had the game and never figured it out.  Thanks for the heads up.

[WayAbvPar]

Ok. played my first game after a quick glance at the instructions. Of course I had to play First Person mode. Holy living FUCK is it hard! I actually got a dull headache by the end of the game from concentrating so hard. I can see how it could be cool once I get used to it, but DAMN.

I went through all the tutorials, but they all run in 3rd person. I have played 20 different football games over my lifetime (if not more), so 3rd person isn't too hard to figure out. What I need is a first person tutorial- let me play through a quarter or so with the computer looking over my shoulder explaining WTF is going on.

I won't playing this on XBL any time soon (see my tech assistance thread)...it is too much of a change from regular football. I will endeavor to improve, however.

[Rasix]

I may be paranoid, but I think after getting ran all over the computer finally adjusted to my playing style.  They started covering the deep routes a lot better and the linebackers seemed to be playing the run a lot more carefully.  I could get my 4-8 yard runs, but I haven't reeled off a 70+ yard run in like 3 or so games. Perhaps it's just the law of averages catching up to me.  Now I have a fully functional short passing game, bizzare. And my sack master Stroud has only recorded one sack in the past 5 games..  Again probably a law of averages thing.

And in true karmic sense the injury bug hit me hard.  To preface this, I give my self one "this is fucking bullshit" reset per season (never to be used in the playoffs) incase I feel like the game is taking unfair advantage of me (3 picks in my first 3 passes, WTF). So, I hit the reset button and on the first hand off, Fred Taylor rips the muscle in his calf and is out for the season. I think he may have ripped both since he got listed twice in the injury summary.  He had already missed one game due to a bicept pull and now he gets to probably win the rushing and touchdown title while only playing in 11 games (1750 and 22 respectively).

I haven't been this impressed with a sports game since the first time I played Madden way back when.  Great game and just seems to be getting better.

[Dark Vengeance]

I have started experiencing some major problems with the game....particularly with the audio.

The crowd noise and sound effects are almost non-existant, or severely delayed (i.e. hearing the tackle sound as you're lining up for the following play).

The play-by-play, PA announcer, and pre-game, halftime, and post-game seems to skip around randomly, sometimes repeating a comment 10 times in a row, frequently cutting off mid-sentence. The celebrity comments do the same, and lag quite a bit...as if they weren't annoying enough already. The player speech delays or drops out quite a bit, which can be quite a problem.

The part that is truly annoying is that this causes me to play the game almost completely muted....and it still affects my play. I get slowdown, minor hiccups....and worst of all, there are times where I cannot get my offense to snap the ball, resulting in delay of game penalties and/or me burning timeouts early. Aggravating enough that I finally just stopped playing games for the weekend.

I was thinking my PS2 may be the culprit, because I play the shit out of it, and it's a good 2-3 years old. So I grabbed some compressed air, and a maxell dvd cleaning disc. I've probably run the cleaning disc a dozen times, and I used the compressed air to clean out any dust along the fan, vents, or dvd tray. It hasn't improved. Other titles seem to play just fine.

I also figured that perhaps my saved games had somehow been corrupted, or that there were errors associated with created players, or making subtsantial roster changes.....so I reloaded with a different memory card. No improvement.

The game disc itself is as flawless as I have ever seen....no dirt, no fingerprints, no scratches. I polished it up a bit, gave it a quick blast of compressed air.....still flawless, still no improvement.

I was thinking that perhaps it was a software glitch, but then it hit me that my rental copy played perfectly, and problems didn't creep up until after I bought the game and started playing that copy.

Next up for testing, I'll need to take it over to my buddy's house and see if it plays there without any problems. If so, it's a bum PS2, if not, I somehow managed to land a "lemon" copy.

Bring the noise.
Cheers...............

[Alluvian]

Some bad luck either way DV.  I can't suggest anything other than the idea you already posted.  I have the xbox version and it is still playing fine so far.

I am busy hosing my VIP passer ratings going for some of the odd milestones.  Like the TD pass to 6 different receivers.  Threw a bunch of incomplete passes and ints trying to get my 5th and 6th guys to cath a freaking pass.

Then I think I broke the logical laws of physics by getting a 800 yard rushing game with the falcons when going for the 100 yard with 2 players and 250 yard with vick milestones.  My GOD there are some rollout patterns that the computer just totally blows on 'pro' setting.  I could run for 30 yards every time on this one rollout play.  I tried it again on allpro and it was harder, but still could get a good 10-15 on that play.  I am tempted to see if that cheese works on legends difficulty.

Now I am working on 200 rushing and 100 receiving with one player, and although I could double up and do it with faulk I want to do it with Ahman Green.  In 2k4 this would have been a BREEZE, but in 2k5 green seems to have had his hands amputated.  He won't hold on to SHIT in this game.  Screens are giving me all sorts of problems becuase he keeps dropping bullets, but the lobs just hang forever.  And the blockers don't actually start blocking until AFTER the pass is caught for some reason.  So I can only get much yardage out of H slot where he lines up as a wideout and then hotrouting him over the middle (he can't catch a fade in this game to save his life).  Even then he drops a ton.  Fucking up my VIP passing even more trying to drill it into his chest.

Oh well, at least I figured out the running game.  Seems like Green is a more of a balanced runner this year where last year he was more of a finesse runner (in the games).  He has always been balanced so I am very happy with his running skills.  He is a little guy but strong and can run over people twice his size.  Once I figured out that they gave him credit this year for his power I am able to drop the shoulder and run over defenders and rip through arm tackles as well as juke.

The passing game past the line is about the same as last year with smarter defenders.  Must get the passing game behind the line to work now.  There seems to be a tiny little window where the back is expecting the ball, and you hit him at that second or he will drop it.  I suppose that is realistic.

[Glamdring]

Damnit, Carmen beat me last night on a last second 60+ yard TD to Randy Moss.  I even set my safety to double him in soft coverage before the play.  It wasn't even a crazy catch or anything as he was about 5 yards ahead of both of my guys who must have gone into retard mode when they decided to run into one another.

Have any of you figured out good defenses that allow for somewhat decent coverage on the TE?  I guess it's not that big of a deal as I'm not going to be playing All Star celeb teams using the Titans with any regularity, but I have to say that it's annoying to cover Owens and Moss only to have Tony G break off a 20 yard reception up the middle of the field.

[Alluvian]

I have not had much problem with the tight ends with the exception of one game where Shockey got a fuckload of yards off two long plays because I was too retarded to tackle him.

I usually run man coverage from the nickel, 4-3, or dime depending on how many backs/tightends they have in formation.  I find I sometimes get a lot better coverage when I crowd the line with my DBs.  They will play a bump and run type coverage that can mess up the timing of the quick slant routes and leave me more time to bust through the line and get into a possible passing lane.  I suck so bad at defending the pass that I play lineman now most of the time on D.

My playstyle would get me totally butchered vs a decent human being I fear.  I prefer jukes on running, and those are just not effective vs humans for example.  Plus I have been working on ways so I don't horribly telegraph my play calling.  Like forcing myself to run different plays out of the same formations so a human could not tell my play by the formation I picked.  The computer does not figure that out, but a human sure would, and take control of someone in the direction the play is headed.

[HaemishM]

I think Amazon is finally shipping my game today.

As for the other games in the ESPN series, 2k3 baseball was good. NHL 2k4 was good with three caveats -

1) It was fucking HARD to score on some difficulty settings, and finding the right settings was really hard - I wanted some scoring, but not lighting up the night type of scoring - OTOH, it was a realistic game of hockey when you get it close to right
2) I never could get a good camera setting - either the camera was too close to the ice, obscuring play or it was too far from the ice, making it look closer to Sega Genesis hockey than X-Box. This year's version is supposed to be much improved in that respect, with better fighting.
3) It was buggy - I could never complete a season without the season file getting corrupted and just hanging, injuries were WAY too common, and I mean 2-3 week injuries not just ooboos, and online play was hit or miss (laggy or not).

I don't know about the NBA.

[Dark Vengeance]

Damnit, Carmen beat me last night on a last second 60+ yard TD to Randy Moss.  I even set my safety to double him in soft coverage before the play.  It wasn't even a crazy catch or anything as he was about 5 yards ahead of both of my guys who must have gone into retard mode when they decided to run into one another.

Have any of you figured out good defenses that allow for somewhat decent coverage on the TE?  I guess it's not that big of a deal as I'm not going to be playing All Star celeb teams using the Titans with any regularity, but I have to say that it's annoying to cover Owens and Moss only to have Tony G break off a 20 yard reception up the middle of the field.

Watch your coverage matchups....if the TE is hurting you, assign a specific DB to cover him. Make sure you have a decent set of Safeties or coverage LBs if you are going to try covering a top receiving TE with a 4-3 or Bear defense.

If you are up late, stick with extra DBs....even in a 2 WR set, I'll drop into nickel or even dime late in the game. Only a very few of the VIPs (coach or celeb) in the game favor run over pass....and teams tend to air it out when they are down late. That's when it's all about probabilities of what the offense might do....odds are you're better off with DBs than LBs when protecting a lead. Use the blitz sparingly too....only if the QB is in a good rhythm and you can't get pressure with your front 4.

OTOH, you should avoid the prevent like the plague in most situations IMO. I only use prevent when the opponent is out of timeouts, and I am trying to run out the clock...then I let them catch it short and in the middle of the field to keep the clock ticking.

Bring the noise.
Cheers............

[Glamdring]

I usually use a Man 2 in most sets against the VIPs specifically because certain ones, like Carmen, don't run at all.  I think she might have run one time the entire game for negative yardage, which is why I just chose to run Nickel/Dime coverages all game.

I've tried assigning an extra DB to the TE but usually I just get burned somewhere else when I do that.  Samari Rolle is a pretty good DB but in single coverage with Moss, Owens, or Holt he tends to get burned pretty easily.  I guess I could always just tune down the difficulty back to Pro in these games, but what's the fun in beating a VIP by 60?  At least I know that I can pretty much score on them at will with McNair/Mason passes.

[WayAbvPar]

on the first hand off, Fred Taylor rips the muscle in his calf and is out for the season. I think he may have ripped both since he got listed twice in the injury summary.

The realism is incredible...Fred Taylor is the Ming vase of NFL players; very expensive and even more fragile.

[Dark Vengeance]

Some bad luck either way DV.  I can't suggest anything other than the idea you already posted.  I have the xbox version and it is still playing fine so far.

As an update, my buddy has been out of town for the last several days, so I popped over to Circuit City and bought a new copy. I figure either way, I'd exchange a bad copy and get another title. Soul Calibur 2 and Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution are both $20 titles that had been tempting.

Anyway, I bring home the new copy....same problem, a bit worse than the first even. So I check the receipt, which says it's same title exchange only....I go back within the hour, swap for yet another copy of ESPN 2k5. I get home, same problem. At least the clerk said that if I had another problem that I'd be able to exchange for another title, so I'll be picking up a $20 fighting game after work this evening.

I figure it's highly unlikely that I could grab 3 "lemon" copies, especially since I purchased from different chains, and I'm not hearing massive outcry about bugs with the audio.

Dollars to doughnuts says it's my PS2....which is amazing since every other title I own plays great. So in the next few days I have to test it out on a different PS2.....which will confirm that I need to snag a new PS2, or that the QA on this version was a part of the $20 price tag. I've eliminated literally every other variable.

Bring the noise.
Cheers..............