Game Stooge

NFL Head Coach 09: Lookin’ Good

• Scribbled on August 3rd, 2008 by Jonah Falcon
• Filed in Microsoft Xbox 360, Previews, Sony PlayStation 3, Sports, Strategy

This is a somewhat premature statement, but it’s interesting to note that while sports game reviewer extraordinaire Bill Abner was down on Madden NFL 09, he seems to be enjoying NFL Head Coach 09. He’d long had a dream of a football management game married with next-gen graphics, and when he first put a preseason game through its paces, and he reported happily:

You’ll see dropped passes, sacks, overthrows, passes broken up, missed tackles, hard hits that dislodge potential catches, blitzers getting picked up and blizters coming in like madmen, wide open receivers and times when the QB will tuck and run, missed blocks, pancakes, deep passes from the AI, bad reads by the QB, fumbled pitches, missed FGs, kickoffs returned for a TD, hurry up offenses, blown coverages, kickoffs returned for 20 yards…I saw ALL of that stuff in one full game of Head Coach.

Click “Read more…” for more of Bill Abner’s reactions.

He then re-ran this year’s draft to see how the game differed from real life, and he was amazed to note:

Lots of trading. I received no fewer than 5 offers during the first rnd and I don’t see anything that stands out as egregiously bad. Fans of specific teams might be able to help more with that. Unlike Madden where team needs are nowhere in the cards, this does seem to track what a team needs somewhat — a few picks I thought were bad, but hey, that’s the draft, right?

Doing the second round, he noted:

My GM said Ray Rice was a potential steal, so I scouted him, interviewed him , saw him at the Sr Bowl. and went to Rutgers’ pro day. Ray is 100% scouted and is listed as an 81 overall with pros as “Toughness and vision” while his negatives are “elusiveness” and “upside” — I guess that means he is what he is…

…However, my GM implored me to take the WR from Kansas State, Jordy Nelson. And, all things considered I would take him as my WR depth is crap, but for testing purposes I’m taking Rice just to see how he works out since I scouted him so much.

After taking Rice, my rating with my GM dropped. I guess that pick pissed him off, eh?

Finally, evaluating the draft, he stated:

Now, there are things that I see that I think are odd. It could be a value thing but the Giants took a QB in the 3rd round, which was weird, and the Packers took Brian Brohm in the 2nd, I guess signaling that Aaron Rogers can get bent. Or do they plan on a 2nd round pick being a bench player? Not sure what’s up there. I didn’t look at Rogers ratings…maybe he sucks?

Edit: I was reminded that in real life the Packers actually DID take Brohm! How’s that for irony?

Bill might have forgotten that the Giants did draft a QB in the last draft: Andre Woodson.

Regardless, NFL Head Coach 09 looks like a much better designed product than the other two football products (NCAA and Madden), though Bill really is just scratching the surface at the moment. Of course, NFL Head Coach 09 has been in development for 3 years while NCAA and Madden have had a 6 month development turnaround.

Gee, see a pattern?