With T-Rex “talking the talk” this week, you can’t help but think a massive portion of humble pie is due his way. And no, not the late 60s-early 70s outfit that are probably most famous today for winning Stillwater’s groupies in Almost Famous (though they are included here for your pleasure, Steve Marriott pictured courtesy of Dina Regime.)

With the bluster, trash-talking and attention that Ryan generates he reminds me very much of soccer manager Jose Mourinho. The manager (or coach in this instance) draws the attention away from his team and players and onto himself. It’s an admirable quality when he’s your manager but there’s no mistake that he’s a nuisance if he’s the opposition manager.

I like Rex Ryan, and I think the game is richer and certainly more entertaining for having him in it. But he’s heading for a fall this weekend.

Or if he’s not, then I’ll be the one eating up humble pie come Monday.

After several years of established “rock” acts, this year’s half time Super Bowl has been announced as being the Black Eyed Peas.

Personally, I don’t think they are a big enough act for arguably the world’s biggest stage but I don’t usually do much more than grab another beer and refill the Doritos bowl at half time. Certainly I’m not going to feel the need to rush back to the sofa in a big hurray to see the Redskins carry on pounding the Dolphins*.

But it takes all sorts, and as long as they provide a spectacle then they’ll have done their jobs.

*this may not happen

When I was a young boy, my father took me into the city. To see the NFL…

This news broke a couple of days ago, but I’ve only just remembered… anyway. The NFL have announced that Pre-Match entertainment at the Wembley game this year will be provided by My Chemical Romance.

I actually like MCR, and at least I’ve actually heard of them (Yes, Calvin Harris, if that’s your real name, I’m looking at you) and they are a big name band, the sort that Wembley Stadium and the NFL deserves. That said, I’m not sure they’re quite right for this occasion. But I will enjoy them.

They’ll performing Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na) as well as Welcome To The Black Parade.

I’m trying to find out who’ll be doing the national anthems.

Image Credit: Felipe Ramírez Amigo

I wasn’t going to get this year’s incremental release, but got caught up in release-mania. So it’s here on the desk with me. I’ve given it a go for a few hours now and here are my thoughts.

Graphics and Presentation

Say what you like about EA, but they know how to present a game to you. From the spin-tingling introductory video, to the menus and options and of course the in-game graphics, this game looks great. There are still some small inconsistencies at times with how players move or react, and the occasional clipping error, but nothing too noticeable or worth worrying about.

There are more than ever incidental off-field and play-is-stopped clips that are entertaining initially, and skipped easily enough eventually. It’s certainly the best looking Madden yet (which should always be the case for the latest release!)

Gameplay

Gameflow is this year’s big addition. Though really it’s not that big. You can allow the OC or DC to call the next play immediately after the next one. There’s no doubt that this speeds things up, and there is a certain satisfaction to playing with ‘someone’ else calling the plays though I wasn’t always happy with the plays called. This can be tweaked, and I will spend some time in there to get it more to my liking. This feature can also be turned off, and before any play you can open the playbook and find the plays that you want to.

Some elements have been tweaked to be more realistic (it seems to me anyway). Kick returning, for instance. 30 yard line used to be par for me but now it’s much more close to the 20 yard line now. There is no sprint button anymore, so running is easier now that’s been taken away. The 0-line still seem to fold very quickly, but that might be the ‘Skins.

Pre-snap controls have also been changed, and take some getting used to. Things are an extra press away, but the system doesn’t take too much getting used to. After just an hour I was able to send Cooley on a slant route without thinking about it. Defensive adjustments are still hard-work, but I’ve always found that to be the case.

Sound and Music

The in-stadium stuff is better than ever. Added to the ambient noise and stadium announcements are team specific chants and choruses that really add depth and feeling. Your co-ordinators also speak to you in radio style and if you’ve got a headset plugged in then they communicate through that, which is a really nice touch.

Being met by Song 2 by Blur was a bit jarring though. Although I know the song is well loved in sports-circles for its powerful sound and sing-along “woo-hoo!”, it’s thirteen years old! The rest of the EA Trax are there and it’s heavily guitar-based which means for me it’s one of the best Trax there has been. Welcome To The Jungle was a very pleasant surprise though.

Commentary is… well, it is what it is. It’s not awful, and a lot of time it’s pretty accurate. But naturally there is a lot of repetition. Certainly from Cris Collinsworth. There’s still the issue with Madden Moments where the commentators say things like “… gets his first touch!” when you start a Moment deep in the 4th. That grates more than it probably should.

Game Modes

Online has been tweaked and expanded, but I don’t play online. Nothing else seems to have changed much, if at all. Franchise mode in particular seems identical. That’s a little disappointing. Madden Moments are here again, and although I’ve not gone through them all yet I think they’re
all from last season.

In Closing

Although there is no ‘big’ change this year, I’m enjoying Madden 11 more than I enjoyed 10. All the little touches sneak up on you and suddenly it’s all a lot of fun. I’ve had some great close, natural-feeling games so far. All the tweaks seem to work.

I’d like to see Wembley Stadium included in next year’s game though (assuming we get a game!)

I have the XBox 360 version, but it’s available on other platforms too.

Nearly a year ago I posted a review of the Oliver Stone classic Any Given Sunday and needless to say, it’s remained a popular post. As I’ve commented before, it sees some very strange searches that find there way here.

But beyond wanting to see The Snake, a lot of people are looking for Terrell Owens and other roster information about the fictional Sharks. To this end, I’ve created a homepage for the Sharks that should hopefully answer questions that people have about it.

Check it out here: www.miamisharks.info

With the average NFL career being less than four seasons, when someone’s spent 14 years they deserve a mention.

Muhsin Muhammad retired yesterday. He leaves the game ranked 20th on career receiving yards and having spent the vast majority of his year with one team, the Carolina Panthers. He was selected in the second round of the 1996 draft. This year’s second round pick – Jimmy Clausen – was just 8 back then.

Take care Moose, be well.

14 seasons you say? Isaac Bruce will see your 14 and raise you 2 additional season. Likewise the 20th career placing… Bruce is 3rd on the all time career yards and spent thirteen years with the Rams, helping them to Super Bowl victory for the 1999 season.

After two years a 49er, he retires a Ram. His club will honour him by retiring the number 80 in the game against Carolina later this year.

Again, be well.

Image Credit (Isaac Bruce): Jachdeja
Image Credit (Mushin Muhhamad): pnther60
Video Credit: LilMike1309

OK, so this is not a surprise. As a Redskin fan we’re practically forced to shout up London’s name whenever we talk about great linebackers. Mainly, it has to be said, as he seems to be continuously overlooked for recognition… as his nine Pro-Bowl Alternates show.

Why do we think that? There are many reasons…

Having played in a Division III college team, despite being named Linebacker Of The Year and setting a school record for tackles Fletcher was an undrafted free agent and was picked up by the Rams. He then won the starting MLB spot at camp and has not looked back. When the Redskins left the field at the end of the 2009 season, London Fletcher was completing his 184th straight game – a streak that covers his entire career and doesn’t look like stopping anytime soon, even as he enters his 12th season.

But there’s more than simply turning up… you have to go back to the 2003 season before London is not in the top 6 for tackles made. The last 6 years he ranks 2nd, 6th, 6th, 3rd, 3rd and 5th. That is the model of consistency, and of a player at the top of his game.

When he looks back, he can remember that he’s always been The Man in the D. He has the respect of his teammates, peers and fans even if he does fly under the radar at times. If all else fails, he can look back on his approach to the game as a Ram, Bill and now ‘Skin as well as his Super Bowl ring and take pride in all these things.

Previous Favourite Linebackers
Ray Lewis
Joey Porter

Since it’s too painful for Andrew to continue with his Redskin’s Review articles anymore, let us continue with our Favourite Four series, we are currently looking at Linebackers. It’s been a while, and many pages are now without images as we checked licensing on all content a while ago, but if you want to remind yourself. Check the Favourite Four category, where we’ve previously looked at defensive linemen, defensive backs, running backs and now linebackers.

We reiterate that these are some of our favourite players. We can’t vouch that these will be the best players in absolute terms, have the biggest fantasy football upside or even be any good (though they might be)… but they’re players that we like to watch.

Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens is the next on our list.

While we had a run of selecting younger players for our running back positions, it seems to be the older more experienced guys who are getting the nod at Linebacker.

Ray Lewis has been at the Baltimore Ravens since 1996.  To put that into perspective No.1 draft pick Matthew Stafford was only 8 years old when Ray played his first NFL game.  Experience like this is worth its weight in gold and Lewis is an essential part of the Ravens line up.

Lewis is a Super Bowl winner and ten time Pro Bowl pick. Oh, and he made the cover of the 2005 version of our favourite game ‘Madden NFL‘.  There is nothing left for him to prove, but he still plays like there is.

Yet again he remains an interesting player to watch this season.

Image Credit: nflravens.

A special review this week, and one that allows me to stop thinking about how bad the Redskins are or dwelling on Chris Cooley’s broken ankle.

So NFL Sunday at Wembley! As we’ve done for all three years now, I met up with Graham, Ant (Pats’ fan) and Dom (general good time guy) early in the afternoon near one of the many eating and drinking huts that were set-up around the stadium. In the past we’ve played a sort of Shirt Bingo – to see if we can see all 32 teams represented. They obviously are, and this year we limited ourselves to picking out shirts of distinction (“Is that a JaMarcus Russel shirt? In public?”… that sort of thing).

Anyway, a couple of beverages to the good and we headed inside. The inside of the stadium never fails to impress me – the walkways are wide, there are plenty of tables and areas to stand about with a beer and a hotdog. There are bars, eateries and shops dotted all over the place. In Club, where we were this year, there are also leather sofas dotted about and enticing windows into fancy restaurants and hospitality sections. As old pros, we got a beer and settled down. Only heading for our seats about an hour before kickoff.

I won’t give a play-by-play rundown, you’re probably all aware that it wasn’t a great game.

The Good

Wembley Stadium. It looked fantastic again. The US NFL stadia are all impressive in their own ways, but Wembley holds proud against them all. Seeing it decked out NFL-style is an amazing sight.

The Spectacle. Football could learn so much from the NFL in terms of presenting a match. And it was all with pinpoint precision. A countdown told us how long before the pre-show would start, and it was to the second. The pre-show music I could take or leave, but it was well done. The anthems were nicely done, and all three years we Brits have shown the right amount of respect to the US anthem. And the British anthem was brilliantly delivered and sung along to (unlike like last year, Ms. Stone)
Best of all, the Bucs’ intro video (which shows the galleon defeating it’s divisional rivals then turning on the Patriot’s ship) included a Wembley fortress island. Little touches like that put the NFL a league apart.

The Pats. Love ‘em or loath ‘em, this is a professional outfit that can really play ball. All aspects of their game was working. Brady made some nice plays (though he also made some bad ones) and Wes Welker had a great game. I’d have liked to have seen more deep shots, but it wasn’t necessary.

The Bad

Just the one thing really… The Bucs. This is a poor team in the deepest part of its rebuilding process and it showed. If there were any doubts about how the game would go, they were gone the second time Brandon Merriweather picked off Josh Johnson. The first pick though… if we could see from the stands where the pass was going, then he was telegraphing it.
Even though the crowd wanted to back them (well, it was more like 50-50 Bucs to Pats in terms of the fan split) we all pretty much gave up early in the second quarter and just enjoyed what was happening.

All in all though, another great day out. The game was never going to be as good as last year’s Saints and Chargers throw down, but it was enjoyable for different reasons.

There is talk of two games next year. If there are, the NFL will need to be more considerate with the teams it sends. Given the choice, I’d pick any other team than the Bucs.

Image credit: Graham!
Image credit (Cheerleader): Vanessa Guzan