Now we get in to the good stuff. Hit stick is here. If you’re pissed off because you’re losing, line up that running back and give ’em a whack. Tony Bruno also has arrived to talk about generic things on Franchise mode, ask trivia questions, and conduct pre-recorded interviews. Lastly, historic jerseys are available, so you can pick from a variety of uniforms instead of just home and away. Also, one of the best songs in Madden history – Last Day of School by Wylde Bunch.

Four years after the first game, we are back with the San Diego Chargers, rated at 62 overall. I’m not sure how exactly they came up with that number, but we’re going with it. The team randomizer lined us up with a rematch against the Dallas Cowboys, and I’ll take it. I’m breaking out the powder-blues for this game. Bolt up!

Notable Players: We have a QB controversy to sort through. Rookie Philip Rivers is highest rated at 79. Drew Brees is next at 77, who would go on to make his 1st Pro Bowl this season. Or, I could throw a curveball and go with Doug Flutie 76, the oldest player in NFL history to score a TD. Whomever we chose, they’ll have LaDanian Tomlinson 98 to share the backfield with. He never scored less than 10 TDs in a season during his time with the Chargers. FB Lorenzo Neal 92 is also there, the All-2000s fullback. At TE is Antonio Gates 81, about to make his 1st Pro Bowl appearance. Big DT Jamal Williams 87 is about to be named All Pro for the 1st time. Underrated MLB Donnie Edwards 92 will go on to tie his career high in interceptions with 5. Lastly, the secondary is led by CB Quentin Jammer 86, older brother to the Lions’ Quandre Diggs. With all of the “firsts” Madden definitely got this team wrong, as they won the division going 12-4. The Chargers have been one of the teams I like most beyond my Packers. This is about the time that started. Now, let’s go kick some Cowgirl ass.

Rookie Nate Kaeding, the 2nd most accurate kicker in NFL history, gets things started. Instantly, I notice the player control feels so much better, they go in the direction you point them when you tell them to. I sprint down the field and Hit Stick the return man. I have pretty good field position after a 3 and out from the Cowboys. They leave the middle of the field wide open and expose them for 3 straight completions with Brees. I figure this is one of the last Maddens I’ll have a chance to use him with the Chargers, so he’s my man. I get near the goal line and hit Kevin Dyson – who did not make the Chargers’ final roster – for the score. We have some more fun on offense and reach 4th and short. Madden suggests a Fake FG Run, something he almost never does. I go along with it and Rivers, predictably, gets clobbered for a loss of yards. The Cowboys offense is still unable to do anything, so I get the ball back and have some more fun with their D. LT punches it in from 10 yards out and dunks it over the goal post. Before half time the Cowboys punt it and I decide, no matter what, I’m going to try to return it. Bad decision. Diminuitive Tim Dwight takes two steps and is met by 2 Cowboys, fumbles, and they pick it up and run right to the endzone. So ends the first half. Drew Brees was on fire, going 14-16-156-1-0, LT had 9-40 and 2-18, Gates 5-55, Dyson 3-29-1, Tennessee National Champion Eric Parker 2-44, and high school AP Biology teacher Jason Fisk with a sack.

Onto the 3rd quarter; we reach the redzone. Gates drops a TD on 1st down, LT gets stuffed on 2nd down, 3rd down everyone is covered but Brees can run it in. How do you bring down the passing icons so you can take off? Triangle? (Ball sails out of bounds) Ahh, yeah it definitely is not triangle. I take the point this time. LT can hit the holes, the blockers just can’t make any. We’re up 20-10 with 3 minutes left. Al Michaels: “He looks like he got run over by a truck” John Madden: “Yeah, a two-ton truck pulling a trailer.”

At this point, I’m just running the clock out. Madden wants me to run on 3rd-and-a-bit, I decide to go play action instead, and hit backup TE Josh Norman – an Oklahoma National Champion – for the TD to make it 27-10. I’m using the PR defense now that we have a comfortable lead. A late TD from LT makes it 37-10, and they score a final touchdown against my Punt Block defense. Final 37-17

Stats: Brees 21-29-252-2-0 Tomlinson 31-116-2 3-33 Parker 5-88 Gates 5-55 currently on probation WR Reche Caldwell 3-22 Dyson 3-29-1 Norman 1-22-1 Wisconsin’s all time leading interceptor Jamar Fletcher had one late in this game, MLB Godfrey 2 tackles TFL FF, Kaeding 3-3

Final Thoughts: This Madden changed the physics up and made it much easier to make your player go in the direction you want. It may not be as realistic movement as next gen consoles, but it is more enjoyable to play with in my opinion. Madden 06 on the way!

Madden 04 brings the people what they want, the ability to make custom rosters for their custom teams. I’ve spent many a time creating teams by the alphabet, highest speed rating, or what have you. So what do I choose to do? I make the default Tiburon Sharks the unofficial team of the Free Agents.

So, the Sharks don’t have obvious names on their roster. They are much like the Texans in that they don’t have many great ones. QB is Neil O’Donnell 72, a game manager who somehow made a Pro Bowl in his career. HB is Rondell Mealey 70, a former 7th round pick by the Packers. Our best offensive player is FB Larry Centers 88, who has the most receptions of any RB-FB in history. In real life he joined the Patriots as they went on to win the Super Bowl. Our top pass catcher is Micheal Westbrook 79, the WR turned MMA fighter. Our defensive captain is MLB Randall Godfrey 88. At corner we have Todd Lyght 83, current DBs coach at Notre Dame. At FS we have Victor Green 83, who actually joined the Saints for what would be his final season. Our starting K is the ageless Gary Anderson 83, who is so old that he was the last player to play under Steelers legend Chuck Noll. Last but not least is Primetime Deion Sanders 78, who had not played since 2000.

“Those guys down there are so excited, they just wanna start hitting somebody. Heck, they’re already hitting each other.” John Madden sums it up pretty well. We get the ball first and Mealey, surprisingly, comes through with a couple of nice runs, but we have to punt. Matt Turk of my alma mater UW-Whitewater, booms a nice one that hits at the 12, then takes a bounce and rolls to the goal line…too far, its a touchback. Westbrook meanwhile has butter fingers, so another punt. They doink a 53 yard field goal off the crossbar, I guess nobody wants to win this game. I get the ball down to the 1 and give Larry Centers a little dump off for the TD, but its called back by holding. The next play I find Wesley Walls (who was picked up by the Packers for this season) as I did often on the drive. The Cowboys Antonio Bryant goes unimpeded on the first play of the next drive as we find ourselves down 14-7 at the half. Our defense has been a revolving door.

Into the 2nd half, Dallas comes out with 1 WR so Madden tells us…to use the Quarter defense? Turns out he was right, as FS Green grabs a pick. I gave it back to them a few plays later and they kick a FG. So we’re down 10, and need to put a drive together. We get one, and have 1st and goal at the after WR Willie Jackson broke a tackle. This time Centers gets his TD. The Cowboys go 3 and out, so we have the ball back again, down a FG with 3 minutes and change. We’re driving, Mealey has a 10 yard run. We face a 3rd and 8, I pass it to Centers and he comes up huge, putting us into field goal range. I get frisky, and throw it away to the other team. We force a 3 and out and burn all of our timeouts…ok, could be worse. I’m unable to get near the endzone, so it looks like the old man will be coming on with a chance to tie. I figure 47 yards is within Anderson’s range. The kick goes up and flies through the air, end over end, it drops and hits the crossbar, falling to the turf. Doink again. I lose, again. We could have gone to Wade Richey, who has a stronger leg, but I thought Gary could handle it.

Stats

O’Donnell 22-34-269-1-2 Mealey 16-36 1-1 Centers 1-0-1 5-34 Walls 5-57-1 and 3 drops although the game recorded 0, Antonio Freeman, who had returned to the Packers for his final season 4-56 Westbrook 3-35 Jackson 3-48 Qadry Ismail 1-38 Sanders 5 tackles 1 TFL Henry Ford, who spent most of his career with the Titans 3 tackles 2 TFL Green 2 tackles 1 int

Final Thoughts

If its anything over 40, I’ll trust the guy with the stronger leg going forward…not that many teams will have 2 kickers. This one left a bad taste in my mouth. O’Donnell isn’t a great QB, and is actually more of a game manager, but Madden wanted me to throw the ball, I didn’t come through often enough. 2 losses in a row? Wow.

Onto Madden 03. The great Al Michaels takes over for Pat Summerall in the booth. Other changes include the passing icons coming up automatically, with triangle able to make them go away. You can now ask Madden to pick your defensive plays. Also, and best of all, a real soundtrack this year. There’s more than 4 songs with instrumental versions consisting of half the tracklist. There’s Bon Jovi, Seether, and other bands no one has heard of outside the game. Still, its a great improvement, and I enjoy what EA Sports put in.

One more change is the Houston Texans. Fresh off the expansion draft, they’re in the game and man are they terrible – as one would expect. They’ll be up against the Washington Redskins this time.

We start off the Texans roster with the man under center: number one pick David Carr 76. Carr went on to set records for sacks taken (76 – ouch) and fumble recoveries (12) as a rookie. Our RB is James Allen 71, last seen on the Chicago Bears. After this season with the Texans, he decided to retire and become a rapper, then unretire and not be good enough for the league. Our best player is LT Tony Boselli 94 from the Jacksonville Jaguars. He didn’t play a down for the Texans, suffering injuries he couldn’t recover from, but he’s one of the best O-linemen in the game. Our D-line features RE Gary Walker 80, who began his career with the Houston Oilers before returning to this Houston team and making the Pro Bowl. Our best defensive player is MLB Jamie Sharper 87, last seen with the dominant Baltimore Ravens defense. He is the older, non-rapist brother of Darren Sharper. At CB we have playmaker Aaron Glenn 82. He would go on to pick off 5 passes, return 2 for TDs, and also make the Pro Bowl. He eventually signed a one-day contract to retire with the team, and now coaches DBs for the New Orleans Saints. The defense has some nice pieces, but this is not a complete team.

Onto the field, things start off promising. I score 1 TD, then another on which Corey Bradford – last a member of my Green Bay Packers – breaks 2 tackles to go 47 yards for the score. Unfortunately, our defense morphs into a sieve and the game is tied by midway throught the 2nd quarter. Now, an interesting turn of events unfolds. First, Aaron Glenn picks off Shane Mathews on 3rd and 10. Two plays later, TE Billy Miller cataches a pass across the middle, then fumbles it right back to them. Soon after, LB Jay Foreman, son of Vikings great RB Chuck Foreman, gets his hands on a pass. Two plays after that, FB Cliff Groce catches a pass and HE fumbles. The booth takes a look at it and overturns the call. We end up going up a touchdown at halftime. Our hotshot rookie has a perfect passer rating 11-14-183-3-0. Allen suffered a game ending injury, so in comes rookie backup Jonathan Wells, who isn’t very good. Bradford and another rookie, WR Jabar Gaffney are stretching the field for us, with Miller working the short and mid-range. LOLB Kailee Wong – the Chinese Hawaiian – sacked Mathews during the half.

The second half was pretty tight, so much so that I didn’t really take any notes on it. Let’s just say, read the title. The run blocking was absolute garbage, even with a guy like Boselli. Redskins defenders were bumping my guys halfway down the field with no penalties, so I couldn’t complete passes. Late in the game I had Jermaine Lewis of the Ravens Super Bowl fame across the middle but this time the pass blocking failed and Carr was sacked. Without any running game, we lost.

Stats

Carr 16-26-242-3-0 Allen 4-5 1-5 Wells 7- minus 8 Travis Prentice (who actually played for the Cardinals this season, his last in the league) 2- minus 2 Miller 5-49 Bradford 5-105-2 Gaffney 2-47-1 Lewis 1-18 fumble on PR that did not help Glenn 6 tackles 2 TFL int and FF

Final Thoughts

-5 rushing yards makes it hard to win. Carr was 5-12 in the 2nd half. At least the game didn’t pull the analog stick cheese from the last game. The thing about these older Madden games, if your team sucks, they are actually going to play like it. They don’t give average to below average players any favors on ratings. Glenn would be a nickelback in an average secondary in later games. Onto Madden 04.

Moving on to Madden 02. This is the first Madden game I played. I spent hours doing fantasy drafts, simming through the season, getting the Texans into the league. We have Create-a-Team (YAY) but you can only use an existing team’s roster (NO), so no fake team. Something I found odd was jumping into CAT and seeing the Milwaukee Bobcats as the default team, rather than the Tiburon Sharks. Something I didn’t remember is that Madden came preloaded with custom logos and uniforms already designed. The weirder thing is the Milwaukee Bobcats is the team name that my dad used throughout all the Madden or NCAA games that he played. We lived just west of Milwaukee, and his name is Bob, although he changed the color scheme. Seeing that hit me with a nostalgia bomb.

Now we have the worst team in Madden 02. The Houston Texans are shown as being in the game, but you can’t make trades or free agent moves with them, so its the Carolina Panthers at 68. They were coming off an ok 7-9 season, and 2001 started off well with a win. Unfortunately, it is the only win they achieved all season. So the rating they have in this game was well-earned and well-predicted by Madden. Up against the Panthers is Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.

Starting at quarterback for the Panthers we have Jeff Lewis 69, whose name doesn’t really inspire confidence. He was expected to be the starting QB in real life, but had such a poor preseason that he was cut before the season. The former Northern Arizona assistant is unfortunately no longer with us. If Lewis doesn’t cut it, we could turn to Chris Weinke 67 who managed all of 2 wins as a starter in his career against a 17-game losing streak. He was a 29-year old rookie coming off of a Heisman Trophy, a really odd career for him.  At running back we have Tim Biakabutuka 74, one of the greatest football names of all time. Our number one WR Muhsin Muhammad 88 is one of the best players on the team, coming off of consecutive 1,000 yard seasons. The rest of the team has hardly anyone of note. RE Mike Rucker 68 is a future Pro Bowler about to take a step to outperform that rating, and rookie LOLB Dan Morgan 79, who had an injury-plagued career, and is now in the Buffalo Bills front office.

Onto the game: Tim Biakabutuka is absolutely killing it on the opening drive. Near the end zone, Lewis drops back and delivers a dart to Muhammad, who drops it. The stadium announcer reads off a license plate number and notes, “your car is on fire.” We end up settling for a field goal, which is controlled by the more familiar meter with power at the top and accuracy back near the bottom. On the other side, Peyton Manning is not constantly audibling on every play, which is nice. Through the first half I settled for 2 field goals until my final drive. Near the end of the half, I complete 2 passes to  Patrick Jeffers, he gains 75 yards and a touchdown. His sister married former Tennessee Volunteers head coach Derek Dooley. In reality, Jeffers didn’t make it past the preseason, but he’s solid for me.

At the half, Lewis is 12 for 19 190 yards and a TD to Jeffers, and Biakabutuka is 9 for 56 plus 1 for 7.

Nothing really happened in the 3rd quarter. In the 4th quarter Ken Dilger gets open and my guys decide not to tackle, so he runs 80 yards for a score. On my next drive, Biakabutuka gets free on the right side and takes it to the house…but wait there’s a flag. Holding on the LT. I have a couple of promising runs, but the analog button randomly shuts off in the middle of them, so he’s stopped in his tracks. The game doesn’t want me to win. So i punt it away and they drive and score. This puts me down 1 with a little over a minute left in the game. I get the ball back, making my way downtown, running fast, defenders pass and I’m score bound. Donald Hayes catches a corner route to put me in field goal range, and John Kasay nails it to give me the game; 16-14.

Stats

Lewis 17-29-284-1-0 – the exact same completion to attempt ratio as Harbaugh in the first game, Biakabutuka 13-62 2-12, Jeffers 5-126-1, Hayes 4-78, TE Wesley Walls 3-20, Muhammad 3-48, CB Doug Evans led with 6 tackles, ROLB Dean Wells 4 tackle 1 TFL, LE Jason Peter sack FF, MLB Lester Towns 2 tackles FF.

Final Thoughts

Note that Tim Biakabutuka has a tendency as a “speed” back with a speed rating of 86. The Panthers top 3 wideouts are all at least 6’2 200 possession guys, they certainly have the size that today’s receivers have. Dan Morgan is quite a highly rated rookie, its a shame he couldn’t stay on the field. John Kasay had 3 really easy field goals in this game. The result could’ve been entirely different if we scored TDs instead of FGs.

Coming up next: Madden 03. The league evolves into its current iteration and alignment.

Here we go! Madden 01, the first to appear on PS2. We’re starting off with the worst teams and working our way up. Number 31 is the San Diego Chargers. There is no Create-a-Team yet :(. We’re talking pre-LT here, the Chargers were in a dark place at the turn of the century. As with Madden games, the “01” would refer to the year the Super Bowl is held, but the 2000 regular season. Also, this means they were worse than the new Cleveland Browns, back for only their 2nd season.

Starting at quarterback for the Chargers, would you guess Jim Harbaugh? This season would be his last starting any games. He comes in at 74 overall. His backup is third-year pro Ryan Leaf 72 overall. After being the number 2 pick behind Peyton Manning in 1998, this would be his last season with the Chargers. At halfback we have Kenny Bynum, who I can honestly say I have never heard of. Bynum spent 4 seasons with the Chargers, this one also his last. Our best offensive skill player is tight end Freddie Jones 87 overall. The defensive side of the ball is where we have 2 playmakers. Our best player is Hall of Fame-ROLB Junior Seau 96 overall, midway through a streak of 12 consecutive Pro Bowl appearances. Lastly is SS Rodney Harrison 90 overall in his pre-Patriot days. It’s pretty slim pickings for the Chargers, their only real impact players are Seau and Harrison.

Onto the game, I randomized my opponent and got the Atlanta Falcons, a mid-pack team not far removed from their Super Bowl appearance. I receive first and drive down the field only to be stopped on 3rd down at about the 12-yard line. In comes John Carney, playing the final of 11 seasons with the Chargers. Carney steps up to kick and…oh…kicking is…different in this game. I have no idea what the meter wants me to do so i hit X and then let it ride. The meter fills and quickly depletes, Carney kicks the ball about 6 yards. Oops. Later in the first half I get lucky with punter Darren Bennett and manage a normal kick. Bennett is one of the highest rated players on the team – in the 90s – and formerly played Australian rules football. He made the NFL All-90s team at punter. Also note, he is a big fucker…6’5 230, I should’ve put him in at linebacker. Side-side note, you can sub in WRs at CB and vice versa which you can’t do in later games, but can’t actually put him in at LB.

At the end of the first half we’re up 6-0. Harbaugh is 9-19 for 158 yards and a TD. Kenny Bynum lived up to his name, doing fuck-all on the ground. At WR, Jeff Graham caught a deep ball, then spun off two consecutive defenders before being brought down. I like our other starting WR Curtis Conway, who played for the Chicago Bears last season. Fun fact, his father-in-law is Muhammad Ali. On defense, Adrian Dingle (berry) has a sack. Opposing QB Chris Chandler has been garbabge.

We score another TD in the 3rd quarter and uneventfully make our way to the 4th quarter. I subbed in FB Jermaine Fazande (88 at FB, 76 at HB) and fare much better, breaking off a couple of decent runs. Fazande led the Chargers in rushing yards as a rookie in ’99 with 365. Goes to show how afwul they were. After the ’01 draft with LaDanian Tomlinson, he wouldn’t even make the team. I’m driving down the field and convert a 4th and 1 from the 6. I face another 4th, this time goal-to-go, and say fuck it, let’s go for it again. I try a pass but they bring every one in their goal line defense after Harbaugh, so I can’t get off an accurate pass. Turnover on downs. The next play, Chandler completes a pass to Shawn Jefferson and he goes all the way. K. On the ensuing kickoff, third-WR Mikhael Ricks breaks free and runs it all the way back to the 25. This is interesting considering Wikipedia lists him as a 6’5 260 tight end. Perhaps that makes it all the more impressive. From here I score another TD to seal the game.

Stats

Jim Harbaugh 17-29-315-3-0

Freddie Bynum 7-4 and 2-15 Jermaine Fazande 13-43-1 and 2-17

Jeff Graham 4-87-1 Curtis Conway 3-62-1 Freddie Jones 3-68-1 Mikhael Ricks 3-66

Junior Seau led us with 3 tackles, Al Fontenot added a sack to Dingle-berry’s, and Darryll Lewis had a pick to ice the game. Fontenot was in the same Bears draft class as Conway. Lewis meanwhile was part of the Houston Oilers 1991 draft class with Chargers starting FS Mike Dumas and the previously mentioned Shawn Jefferson.

Final Thoughts

By the end of the game, I think I got the hang of the kicking mechanic. Press X to start, then X again when the meter is nearly full. One advantage to kicking in this game is that the arrow stretches quite far, showing where the kick is expected to end up – if you hit it right. This is much more helpful than in later games. Also, Morten Andersen is 40 years old…in Madden 01. Dude is ancient. Atlanta had 2 first downs on the game and Jamaal Anderson had 5 yards. Playing on Pro difficulty is fun to rack up stats for your team, but man were they bad on offense.

Next up is Madden 02. This was my first Madden game. I spent hours doing fantasy drafts and less time playing the actual game since I sucked. I was more fascinated by the ratings and the stats. Stay tuned!

Welcome to Madden NFL Football on the PS2!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

 

Forgive the generic quote above, that’s what this website uses and I have no idea what I’m doing.

So, what are we doing here?

This site is all about playing Madden Football on the PS2.  This is the console I grew up on, playing 02-04, 06-07, and 09 on. Over the years I donated my PS2 to my little brother and sold most of my games to our gaming overlords Gamestop, for all of $12. A few years later, I started getting nostalgiac and had a job so I grabbed another PS2 for $40 and accumulated a lot of my old favorites. I had about half of the Madden games and started going through and playing with different teams in different games. I got the grand idea to finish my Madden collection (01-11) on Sony’s PlayStation 2. Then I decided, why not write about it too? My memory card is full of blasts from the past that I don’t want to delete, so there’s only so much space left over for franchises and tournaments. Why not document everything so I can keep the memories, but not fill up my memory card? Also, I’m too cheap to buy a capture card, record everything, and post it to YouTube.

So then, where to start? Well, I want to go through each game and play a game with each and every team. At 5 minute quarters and over 350 teams, that should keep me busy for awhile. I’ll take a peak at their roster, look for the studs, the hotshot rookies, and the notable backups who’ll eventually turn into superstars. Plus, we’ll give each of the free agents classes a team, so long as Madden has the feature. I’ll tell the story of my game, which players delivered and which guys sucked, and include any funny “Madden” moments. If you’ve played these games like I have, you spent a couple hours running out of bounds to murder the chain gang or positioning your player right in front of the holder on extra points; only for the ball to bounce off you and magically be kicked from 5 yards away.

Lastly, forgive any grammar errors. This is just something I’m doing in my spare time. I like to think I can paint a pretty good picture of what’s going on, but also love to second guess myself and think what I’m saying makes no sense.

With all that said, let’s get it started!