ShamelessAnt's Monday Morning Musings

As I sit in my home office this morning and watch the snow turn into sleet in freezing cold f**kin Canada...I find my mind wandering bout the UFL and about potential ideas and changes for Madden 12 that have been discussed recently.

Figured I'd bring to the new forum a Top 5 list of stuff I've heard the last few weeks to get some discussion flowing.

Disclaimer - I definitely like some ideas more than others but for arguments sake I'll play the Shameless Devils Advocate and pretend I like them all

1. No Team Coaching changes - I think whatever team you draft, you should stick with. Especially after the first draft. Now I completely understand that you could end up with a team you despise and all of a sudden another Coach may quit the league - leaving your fav team all of a sudden available (which would suck) but at the same time I just think keeping the same team really creates better divisional rivalries, not to mention after the draft and through FA, that team becomes your identity regardless moving forward. Furthermore, if do make draft mistakes or bad trades, etc, why should you be able to jump ship?

2. GMs get to protect their existing team from M11 to M12 - has the UFL ever thought of allowing owners first dibs on their existing teams when the next version of Madden comes out? Well, why not? I've seen that approach in other leagues and it tends to reward the long standing owners who already have the teams they want. Also, it continues the rivalries of past seasons, etc. There of course would still be a draft because so many owners would want to re-pick (ex. I want MY LIONS!!!) but at the same time teams that have been in the league forever would always get to protect existing teams.

3. Switching from All-Madden to All-Pro - this came up recently on the chat. Honestly, I can't even play the Devil's advocate here as I could really go either way with this one. I play in an All-Pro league and I find the separation WRs get to be ridiculous and I also find it very high scoring - with excessive long TDs in general - special team TDs, long runs for Tds and many bomb Tds - now I'm a lil' biased here cuz I own the most explosive player in the game in that league - Mike Lincoln...the man just can't be covered (although looking at his stats in All Madden I'm not sure if it's any different). I will say I do really like how Zone is more effective in All Pro but I'd be concerned about the amount of points being scored if we decided to switch. It's an interesting conversation though as I know other owners who swear All Pro makes for better head to head games. The CB play in All Madden can be maddening at times. I'm curious to get feedback on this one.

4. Only use your Team's OFF & DEF Playbook - this would be a very controversial rule change with no doubt many owners despising it! That said, you would have to think it would allow more diversity with overall play-calling in the league. People hate change and I'm so familiar with my playbook it would get me out of my comfort zone to learn a new one. But I gotta admit, it would really create some complexity to the team draft as GMs may choose teams based on the playbooks alone and not the actual talent on the teams, etc. Truthfully, as a noob I don't even know if there is a need for this moving forward cuz so far I've seen a lot of diff play styles...but in an effort to get more "sim" you have to wonder if it would make overall play-calling and games more interesting?

5. Franchise Players - this was a hot topic in the off-season and I just think it's a great idea to assign 2-4 "franchise players" on each roster that can not be moved or cut even. That said, why not cap the age. I imagine if it is an aging player you would want the ability to cut him as your PP after a specific period of time. Possibly add a clause indicating after 28 or 30 your player is no longer a Franchise Player but you would then have to replace such player with your 1st round pick or prized FA win, etc. So technically, you always have 2-4 assigned Franchise Players on your team. This would limit the amount of "fantasy football trades" the league would have and it doesn't hand-cuff the next owner picking up a team wondering where their star QB went.

Alright, lets hear some opinions and feedback!

Next Monday - Shameless looks at the top performers at each position in the UFL this year and the MVP/ROY races.

Could CJ2K be making a bid to unset perennial UFL MVP Peyton Manning? Or could it be his own teammate WR Mike Lincoln who with only seven games played is on on pace to smash Randy Moss's TD record by a WR and be the first UFL2 WR to get an astonishing 2000 yards.

Stay tuned...

1)I'm down with the no coaching change, after the draft I don't like to change teams anyways.

2)I don't really care how we do this, but I do like how it is now(who's been in the league the longest picks 1st and so on)

3)I'm more for All Madden for the reasons you said and, I'd rather it be to hard then to easy.

4)I like the fact we can use which ever PB fits our style of play, but if we do go with this idea at least let us go with whatever defensive PB we want.

5)I'm all for that .. I know alot of people hated my Brees/Revis trade lol ... I'm down for the age thing also but maybe for QB's.

Nice writeup bro

1) I kind of agree with you Shame even though I've been a victim of changing teams. I chose the Browns at the start of the UFL2 but after a couple of season I just became so tired of playing with this team, I needed a change or else I would have lost all my interest in Madden. It's probably the only game I play and it's the only league I'm in, so just to have the opportunity to switch team really gave me a new boost about the league and Madden. For that reason, I think we should allow team switch to a certain extent, which at the moment, I haven't thought about.

2)I think the method we have going on now is as good as it is right now. Owners will probably be listed by seniority and activity probably. That's just my guess. In a perfect world, everyone would get their favorite team but it ain't going to happen. How we do it now is perfect in my opinion.

3)I think I'm with Bombs here. I would hate for every game to have final score of 56-49.

4)This one, I'm still undecided.

5)We thought about adding something with the age in our FA system, but as Sway always said, we want to keep things as simple as possible.

1. yes that is the plan for Madden 12

2. We did this for Madden 11. We have a team draft but if a guy really really wants a team they can voice their opinion and I think last year no one got hurt except a guy who refused to be anyone but the Chiefs.

3. Madden 10 we were All-Pro...Madden 11 we were All-Madden because it felt more realistic, and from what I've heard of All-Pro being shoot outs, I think we'll stay All-Madden. With each game we evaluate each difficulty and choose the most realistic one, so it's not step in stone and will be tested once we get our hands on the game.

4. Probably won't happen, especially with defenses. If I am the Bills and run a 4-3, well their book is 3-4 by default, so I would be FORCED to play a 3-4 and I like 4-3 better.

5. We will definitely have an "untouchables" list. I've kind of always had one, just nothing official or for people to see. This will consist of guys who just wouldn't be traded.

EDIT: wanted to touch on age. I don't like to mess with age, because it's so arbitrary. I mean where do you draw the line? What is the "right age"? I've seen leagues where it's "you must cut a player over 80 but not older than 33"...I mean we only play 4-5 seasons so age really isn't too much of a factor at least imo...

I mentioned to GCG about Owner Rankings as well. I'm thinking Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum owner. If you are active and contribute you would benefit with say 3 trades as opposed to a Gold or Silver owner who might be 2 and a bronze who might be 1. Also a G or P owner would be able to trade higher rated players as opposed to say a bronze player who might not be able to trade at all. What do you guys think? Would definitely keep ppl active.

- Sway

I like the concept. Like I said in the chat, I believe teams shoul build through FA and draft. And as for trades, I think we should limit the number of player in a trade to 1 per team. When in the NFL do you see a team trade 2 players in a trade? Almost never.

1. I agree
2. I like the team draft
3. I'd rather have it be too hard than too easy
4. I disagree - everyone should have the freedom to play whatever style they want
5. I agree

1. I love this idea. I hate the Panthers, hate Jimmy Clausen, and have considered moving teams more than once, but in the end I couldn't leave the rest of the players that i've drafted/traded for. People should stick with the teams that they start with, if you hate that team so much, then don't pick them to start with. Only the person that picks 32nd has no choice at all.

2. Don't like this, as Sway said, the team draft works and hardly anyone ends up unhappy that way. You can build the team you want anyway.

3. I prefer All-Madden, as guys have already pointed out, everyone would set passing and rushing records every season on All-Pro. It's just too easy to play offense.

4. Not a bad idea, but won't happen, people need to be able to use whatever playbook fits them and their team, and that can change from season to season.

5. This idea will happen in some form for Madden 12, and it should, as guys like Aaron Rodgers, CJ2K, Drew Brees, Darrelle Revis, Nnamdi Asomugha (I could keep going here) should never, ever be traded.

1)Agree with no switching...

2)Stick with the draft

3)Stay with All madden..Not sure what the purpose would be to switch difficulty to all-pro. If people are complaining about how madden AI sucks, why make it weaker? Changing to All Pro will likely allow teams to pad some stats and increase scoring...

4) Agree with keeping pbs...

5) Need something to stop the fantasy football trades...penalizing caps for trading elite players. I would not be oppose to allowing teams to be able to trade top players, but trading those players will come with significant cap consequences. This allows trading, but also regulating fantasy football trades to a point...

I mentioned to GCG about Owner Rankings as well. I'm thinking Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum owner. If you are active and contribute you would benefit with say 3 trades as opposed to a Gold or Silver owner who might be 2 and a bronze who might be 1. Also a G or P owner would be able to trade higher rated players as opposed to say a bronze player who might not be able to trade at all. What do you guys think? Would definitely keep ppl active.

I like this idea Sway, however, I think even the Bronze level should be able to make at least one minor trade - for example: say you inherit a team that is very deep at one position and very thin at another - if it's not a Super-Star Player and both teams agree on trading depth players to improve their respective teams - then really, what's the harm?

I'm all for rewarding loyalty but if all that means is the loyal owners are the only ones who can make any substantial deals...it's a bit elitist. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand the premise of the idea - preventing some cracked out cowboy noob like Frank 2.0 walking in here trading blue chippers like CJ2K for a half eaten jar of Nutella.

I mean that makes total sense. But guys like Frank 2.0 and Finzcenzo are crazy lil' bitches - and you just can't fix crazy with rule changes!

Jokes aside - I remembered another potential rule change for Madden 12.

6. MOVING BLOCKERS ON SPECIAL TEAMS - cheese or not cheese? Honestly, I don't even know if it's even effective but every time I see it done I smell the pungent odor of Limburger.

More importantly, what is Limburger you ask?



Mainly produced in Germany, Limburger is perhaps the most popular of all smelly cheeses. It is fermented using Brevibacterium linens, a bacterium partly responsible for the smell of the human body. As a result, when people say limburger smells like human feet they are scientifically correct.

MMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm....

1. I agree
2. I agree
3. Either one works for me
4. I disagree on this one, as I think people build their teams differently than the TP
5. I kind of like the way it already it is

1)I'm like the no coaching change, after the draft I don't like to change teams anyways.

2)I do like how it is now. Who ever has been in the league the longest picks 1st. Where the hell would I be drafting? 31?

3)I don't care that much between all madden and all pro. They both bother me. In all pro, defenders drop too many easy picks. In all madden crappy defenders can cover good players and they make too many picks. I.E. the sack pick 6. Common man, how often does that happen in football?

4)It's an interesting idea, but i would prefer to pick whatever PB I want.

5)I'm all for that. How often do premier players really get traded?

ShamelessAnt wrote:

I mentioned to GCG about Owner Rankings as well. I'm thinking Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum owner. If you are active and contribute you would benefit with say 3 trades as opposed to a Gold or Silver owner who might be 2 and a bronze who might be 1. Also a G or P owner would be able to trade higher rated players as opposed to say a bronze player who might not be able to trade at all. What do you guys think? Would definitely keep ppl active.

I like this idea Sway, however, I think even the Bronze level should be able to make at least one minor trade - for example: say you inherit a team that is very deep at one position and very thin at another - if it's not a Super-Star Player and both teams agree on trading depth players to improve their respective teams - then really, what's the harm?"

I do not agree with having a ranked owner system determining how many trades you can have. I believe the amount of trading standards should be the same universally. It would not be fair to allow three trades and another two or one trades based on an owner ranking system. The amount of trades is not an issue, the issue is the type of trades that has been going on since the beginning. The issue is trading elite players, 1st round picks and then outright trading those players who were acquired the previous off season and then trading them the very next season. This is clearly showing that teams are making trades just for the purpose of making trades. The rankings are very subjective so owners will take issue if they think they are plat when the league says they are gold. Everybody is goign to start spewing out "omg ive been an owner for one full season, it is not fair"...It is going to start arguments instead of solutions.

What needs to be done imo is to allow ALL PLAYERS to be traded because in the NFL, anybody can be traded at any point in time. A roadblock on elite players like a manning/rodgers/ap/johnson being traded in the NFL is salary cap. If you trade for one of these players, there will be significant cap consequences. In the UFL, you can trade anybody with no consequence at all and this is what I believe we need to change.

I think you have to treat trading top players as if there are guarantee contracts so whoever trades a player such as manning will have to eat salary (or more) and take on salary from the players coming in. This will allow players to be traded, but also regulates to a certain point. Of course some are going to ask why are they paying for players not on their roster. To regulate trades to prevent constant elite players moving, there needs to be consequences. 1st Round picks should be on a team for at least two years before being traded.

6. MOVING BLOCKERS ON SPECIAL TEAMS - cheese or not cheese? Honestly, I don't even know if it's even effective but every time I see it done I smell the pungent odor of Limburger.


agree 1000%. When it comes down to it, you have one extra blocker on that side and people who know how to take advantage of you will burn you (see cleveland browns burning me on their only kickoff return). its straight up cheese, and takes advantage of the AI, and just because its not "effective" with some guys doesn't make it alright to do.

Like the ideas guys!

I think moving blockers is cheesy. I have played a few guys online that did that all the time. Think about how many times that you are one block or broken tackle away from taking a kick off or punt to the house. Now add an extra blocker to the mix and you will see a lot more tds.

I view moving blockers like this. My opponent is controller his gunners, so why not control my blockers to slow them down. Plus its too easy to loop around a blocker who's not controlled on special teams, so not controlling a blocker is like playing a man down on special teams. Think it handicaps a team to allow one team to control their players but not the others. An idea to could be no manual movement before a returner catches the ball

Hey Darngood. The problem is the last point you made. Too many guys manually run an extra guy down field to block before the snap to get an advantage. You have the ability to knock ppl out of the play before the catch or leave him there to block after the catch which creates the advantage.

ooooh, pre snap? I thought we was talking post snap

I think doing it pre snap creates an unfair advantage