NFL Head Coach 07...my first impression

[Adidas410s]

For those of you considering buying this game...I picked it up yesterday and here are my thoughts.

You better REALLY love the thought of being an NFL Head Coach/GM because this game is VERY in-depth.

You start off as the OC/DC (your choice) of the Pittsburgh Steelers and are now the "hot coaching prospect" during the offseason. You pick your favorite team...interview with the owner...and then receive offers from that team and 4 others. These offers include varying salary ranges along with the team goals for that season. If you choose Houston, the goals are "win 8 games, be in the Top 5 in fewest QB sacks, and have a Top 10 defense." Say you pick a New England, then your goals are "win your division, conference, and the Super Bowl."

Once you choose your team...you then meet with your coaches to hire and fire to fill the necessary vacancies. It's then on the Restricted Free Agency Period, the Combine, Free Agency, and then the NFL Draft. One thing to note, the team rosters are current as of the end of the past NFL season...that way you can direct your moves this offseason.

The biggest thing to get used to is that you have a calendar that has 4 tasks per day. If you want to design plays, you have to schedule a time for it. If you want to contact owners/agents to discuss trades and/or signing players...you have to schedule a time for it. Two of your tasks each day are "office hours" when you can review scouting reports on draftees, free agents, etc. as well as view your roster/staff to get a feel for it. You cannot make any changes during these times and you have to have the office hours. You also have required Monday meetings with the owner and staff to get any updates from them. Other than that, you are free to dictate your schedule.

The game is fairly reasonable as far as being able to make trades. I couldn't get away with any ridiculous trades. I did trade Keyshawn, my 1st round pick (#18), and my 4th round pick to Houston for their 1st and 3rd round picks. In my draft, I picked up Reggie Bush first (I have had some offers for Julius Jones I need to look at), and then drafted a FS, ROLB, WR, CB, QB, and a C. You have your scouting director in the draft room with you and he recommended that I take Jason Allen out of Tennessee with the 1st overall pick. This was a player that many people thought Dallas would take at #18...but obviously not at #1. After the 2nd round, my scouting director kept suggesting that I pick up the Kicker from Va Tech...so I just ignored him from then on out. (surprise...the kicker went undrafted). If you are wanting to pick up Vince Young...you can expect to see him fall down into the mid-20's in the draft on this game. He was #25 to the Giants (***???) in my draft and other people have said he has been going between 21 and 27.

Anyways..I have only made it through the draft so far. Tonight I will get my players signed and then it's on to training camp...and maybe I can get into my first preseason game. As I said, this game is VERY in-depth so don't think you can just sit right down and start coaching. Well...you can if you want but then you are missing out on the full experience of the game when you sim over all of the offseason stuff. If you want to do that...just go play Madden!!! ;)

[thewyliefan]

ive been thinking about picking it up....but the only problem is you cant play the game like a madden because i would like to do the in depth coaching and play the actual games

is it really worth picking it up any way??

[Adidas410s]

I'll tell you tomorrow but I'm really looking forward to being able to make all of the play calls and see what happens. Some people say "well it sucks cuz you can't control the play." Think about it though...a coach can't either. He can prepare his team through practice and motivation...but once it's game time all he can do is call in the plays and then coach the players. I've read that once you call in a play you don't have to just watch the play...you can choose to talk to your starting offense/defense or just talk to your o-line, secondary, wideouts...whomever you want to coach. You can be positive AND negative with the motivation and it will impact your players accordingly. I think this part will be really cool. I'm also looking forward to seeing how some of the plays that I have designed will work in game situations.

If you like the idea of being a coach and not a player...then I would definitely pick it up.

[RiverRat19]

So after you get all the off-season stuff done, do they just sim the games during the season? I'd understand if all you could do is call plays, make decisions during games and not "play" the game like regular Madden. That would bite if all you could do would be off-season stuff. Should call it Madden Front Office or Madden NFL General Manager... Never mind, you answered the question. Might be cool if you have the time to do all that stuff. That's the problem I have with many games now, they are so involved that unless I want to ignore my family I need the simple games. Welcome Back Pac Man & Techmo Super Bowl!

[BJG40]

Originally posted by RiverRat19
So after you get all the off-season stuff done, do they just sim the games during the season? I'd understand if all you could do is call plays, make decisions during games and not "play" the game like regular Madden. That would bite if all you could do would be off-season stuff. Should call it Madden Front Office or Madden NFL General Manager... Never mind, you answered the question. Might be cool if you have the time to do all that stuff. That's the problem I have with many games now, they are so involved that unless I want to ignore my family I need the simple games. Welcome Back Pac Man & Techmo Super Bowl!

AHH Tecmo Bowl...now thats the stuff right there! Yeah I've been deciding on getting Head Coach or, since I really like the military stuff, getting Americas Army. Thanks for the review Adidas. Yeah, let us know how coaching the games go. Good stuff.

[Pmoney]

i wanted to go rent the game but Movie Gallery didnt have it so i am going to have to wait but it sounds cool

[Cameron Crazy]

Sounds like a cool game i should have known you would have all the details~:D

[Adidas410s]

To follow up from yesterday...

I didn't get to play much last night. I decided to go see Wade Bowen play so I was out the door at about 8PM. Anyways...after the draft...you now have 70 days to get all your players signed, make any trades, set depth charts, draw up plays, etc. before heading to camp. You will find that some of your players will hold out. For me...they were Drew Bledsoe (I wish I could afford to cut him...no decent QB's out there and I couldn't trade him), Terry Glenn, Flozell Adams, and Al Singleton (whom I had just signed before the draft cuz his contract was up. Anyways...after a while all these guys finally signed back on. I made another trade...sending La Roi Glover to Seattle for CB Kevin Dyson and WR Joe Jerivicious. I need to remember to switch to a 3-4 defense since I dumped Glover. Anyways...I got into camp and you get to run a bunch of drills. I went through an inside running, non-contact drill...a passing skeleton drill, and wr vs db drill. You get to do 7-10 reps in each drill and you can call any play in your playbook during these drills. The plays that you practice the most will become your "money plays" that your guys will be able to execute very well in games. Also, between each rep, you can choose to coach individuals or groups through either positive/negative motivation as well as discussing strategy with them. On a wr slants play where I have a slant coming from the Y and Z receivers...you can coach your QB on what progression to go through, how hard to throw, to take a deep drop, to scramble, to be patient, to throw it quickly, throw across the middle/to the sidelines, throw it high/low...the options are endless. With this strategy, you can also tell him "do that for the next time we run the play or do that for the entire game." You can coach any position on strategy particular to their position.

I did save my season and then go play an exhibition game to see how the gameplay works. First off, I really enjoyed it. You can coach your players "on the fly" and even give your QB instructions while he is at the line. You can take the strategy a step further by saying "do this for this drive only" or tell him "just go with what you know best." This made a really big difference when I recognized a mismatch on a play. I was able to call an audible on the receiver, then tell my QB to pump fake to the other side and then look at the WR that I had called hot and make that his first option on the play. Sure enough, we have a 65 yard touchdown pass! You do have the pre-snap adjustments that you can make on defense as well, but it is very difficult to make them because the computer's offense will snap the ball once it gets to the LOS even if you are still making adjustments.

All in all...I still enjoyed the game after playing in a game situation and am looking forward to seeing how my team performs this season. Right now, I think my depth chart looks like this:

QB - Drew Bledsoe
RB - Reggie Bush (r)/Julius Jones
FB - Jones/some FA I picked up
WR - Terry Glenn
WR - Joe Jeravicious
WR - Curtis Conway (FA)
TE - Jason Witten
TE - Dan Campbell
LT - Flozell Adams
LG - Larry Allen
C - Al Johnson
RG - Marco Rivera
RT - Rob Pettiti

DE - Marcus Spears
DT - Jason Ferguson
DT - (First Name) Johnson
DE - Greg Ellis
WLB - DeMarcus Ware
MLB - Al Singleton/Dat Nguyen
SLB - Rocky McIntosh (r)
CB - Aaron Glenn
CB - Terrence Newman
NB - Kevin Dyson
FS - Ko Simpson (r)
SS - Roy Williams

K - Joe Nedney
P - Matt Turk

KR - Devan Hester (r)
KR - Jeremy Bloom (r)
PR - Devan Hester (r)

[Keith7]

Don't buy this game!!! I bought it and I really really regret it.. All they did was take LAST years madden and made a lame RPG out of it.. They use all of LAST years rosters, and coaches.. and after playing madden LAST year 1000000 times, it makes it hard to sit thru an entire game with out controling any players.. Also, when you are coaching, the computer controlled players suck so bad, I don't know how many times i've had my running back literally run straight into defensive players, or Payton Manning try to scramble ...

If anybody is dieing to play this game, RENT IT!! not worth buying, if you have to buy a football game soon to get your fix, wait a month and get NCAA

[DaHop72]

Originally posted by Keith7
Don't buy this game!!! I bought it and I really really regret it.. All they did was take LAST years madden and made a lame RPG out of it.. They use all of LAST years rosters, and coaches.. and after playing madden LAST year 1000000 times, it makes it hard to sit thru an entire game with out controling any players.. Also, when you are coaching, the computer controlled players suck so bad, I don't know how many times i've had my running back literally run straight into defensive players, or Payton Manning try to scramble ...

If anybody is dieing to play this game, RENT IT!! not worth buying, if you have to buy a football game soon to get your fix, wait a month and get NCAA :eek: :eek: :eek: OOPS

[CHS_CG]

Originally posted by DaHop72
:eek: :eek: :eek: OOPS \


double :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[Emerson1]

Keith when do you want your rematch in ncaa. I think I am 2-0 against you.

Adidas we need to play, I have never been beaten in NCAA by anyone on this site.

[CHS_CG]

Originally posted by Emerson1
Keith when do you want your rematch in ncaa. I think I am 2-0 against you.

Adidas we need to play, I have never been beaten in NCAA by anyone on this site.

does that make you special:rolleyes:





:D :D

[eagles_victory]

Originally posted by Adidas410s
To follow up from yesterday...

I didn't get to play much last night. I decided to go see Wade Bowen play so I was out the door at about 8PM. Anyways...after the draft...you now have 70 days to get all your players signed, make any trades, set depth charts, draw up plays, etc. before heading to camp. You will find that some of your players will hold out. For me...they were Drew Bledsoe (I wish I could afford to cut him...no decent QB's out there and I couldn't trade him), Terry Glenn, Flozell Adams, and Al Singleton (whom I had just signed before the draft cuz his contract was up. Anyways...after a while all these guys finally signed back on. I made another trade...sending La Roi Glover to Seattle for CB Kevin Dyson and WR Joe Jerivicious. I need to remember to switch to a 3-4 defense since I dumped Glover. Anyways...I got into camp and you get to run a bunch of drills. I went through an inside running, non-contact drill...a passing skeleton drill, and wr vs db drill. You get to do 7-10 reps in each drill and you can call any play in your playbook during these drills. The plays that you practice the most will become your "money plays" that your guys will be able to execute very well in games. Also, between each rep, you can choose to coach individuals or groups through either positive/negative motivation as well as discussing strategy with them. On a wr slants play where I have a slant coming from the Y and Z receivers...you can coach your QB on what progression to go through, how hard to throw, to take a deep drop, to scramble, to be patient, to throw it quickly, throw across the middle/to the sidelines, throw it high/low...the options are endless. With this strategy, you can also tell him "do that for the next time we run the play or do that for the entire game." You can coach any position on strategy particular to their position.

I did save my season and then go play an exhibition game to see how the gameplay works. First off, I really enjoyed it. You can coach your players "on the fly" and even give your QB instructions while he is at the line. You can take the strategy a step further by saying "do this for this drive only" or tell him "just go with what you know best." This made a really big difference when I recognized a mismatch on a play. I was able to call an audible on the receiver, then tell my QB to pump fake to the other side and then look at the WR that I had called hot and make that his first option on the play. Sure enough, we have a 65 yard touchdown pass! You do have the pre-snap adjustments that you can make on defense as well, but it is very difficult to make them because the computer's offense will snap the ball once it gets to the LOS even if you are still making adjustments.

All in all...I still enjoyed the game after playing in a game situation and am looking forward to seeing how my team performs this season. Right now, I think my depth chart looks like this:

QB - Drew Bledsoe
RB - Reggie Bush (r)/Julius Jones
FB - Jones/some FA I picked up
WR - Terry Glenn
WR - Joe Jeravicious
WR - Curtis Conway (FA)
TE - Jason Witten
TE - Dan Campbell
LT - Flozell Adams
LG - Larry Allen
C - Al Johnson
RG - Marco Rivera
RT - Rob Pettiti

DE - Marcus Spears
DT - Jason Ferguson
DT - (First Name) Johnson
DE - Greg Ellis
WLB - DeMarcus Ware
MLB - Al Singleton/Dat Nguyen
SLB - Rocky McIntosh (r)
CB - Aaron Glenn
CB - Terrence Newman
NB - Kevin Dyson
FS - Ko Simpson (r)
SS - Roy Williams

K - Joe Nedney
P - Matt Turk

KR - Devan Hester (r)
KR - Jeremy Bloom (r)
PR - Devan Hester (r)

I like what you did in your draft picking up Bush Ko Simpson Bloom and Hester sounds like a pretty strong class what rounds did you get the last 3 in

[DaHop72]

Originally posted by CHS_CG
does that make you special:rolleyes:





:D :D
:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by CHS_CG
does that make you special:rolleyes:





:D :D
Yes it does.

[CHS_CG]

Originally posted by Emerson1
Yes it does.

if you say soo.. i think braggin about winning some online d/a game is stupid but kids now adays have nothing better to do i guess.

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by eagles_victory
I like what you did in your draft picking up Bush Ko Simpson Bloom and Hester sounds like a pretty strong class what rounds did you get the last 3 in

Simpson was 1st pick in the 3rd Round (I didn't have a 2nd round pick in that I traded that, my 4th and Keyshawn to Houston for their 1st, 3rd, and 5th round picks.). I believe Bloom was the 18th pick in the 3rd, and Hester was my 5th round. In the 6th, I took Brad Elliott (QB @ Linfield and the QB @ Utah before Alex Smith that was injured against A&M and gave Alex Smith his chance to play) and Rodrique Wright in the 7th Round.

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by Emerson1
Keith when do you want your rematch in ncaa. I think I am 2-0 against you.

Adidas we need to play, I have never been beaten in NCAA by anyone on this site.

If you want to stop by the apartment tonight I think I have time to dish out a beating. I'm still pretty rusty but I did play a guy two weeks ago at a party for $100. Needless to say...I wasn't too sober and he wasn't too good. 35-7 early in the 2nd when he quit and paid up! :D

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by CHS_CG
if you say soo.. i think braggin about winning some online d/a game is stupid but kids now adays have nothing better to do i guess.
It's not as bad as bragging about who can get the most post on a message board.

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by Keith7
Don't buy this game!!! I bought it and I really really regret it.. All they did was take LAST years madden and made a lame RPG out of it.. They use all of LAST years rosters, and coaches.. and after playing madden LAST year 1000000 times, it makes it hard to sit thru an entire game with out controling any players.. Also, when you are coaching, the computer controlled players suck so bad, I don't know how many times i've had my running back literally run straight into defensive players, or Payton Manning try to scramble ...

If anybody is dieing to play this game, RENT IT!! not worth buying, if you have to buy a football game soon to get your fix, wait a month and get NCAA

There is a reason that they use the rosters from last season. That's because you are taking over a team right after the Super Bowl. You get to totally control free agency, off-season trades, and the draft. That is why they used the old rosters.

Did you not read any reviews on the game before you bought it? If you did, you would have realized that 1) you wouldn't be able to control your players and 2) that the Madden engine is used in the game and you already know the limitations of that as far as player moves.

This isn't a "football" game. As you said, it's an RPG (Role Playing Game) and you are playing the role of the coach. When was the last time that you saw an NFL Coach out on the field actually running the plays? Come on now Keith...you're a bright guy. Use some common sense before buying this game. If you think you would like an RPG game that is a very in-depth simulation of life as a coach/gm...then you will enjoy this game. If you just want to "play football" and skim through the offseason as quick as possible...buy NCAA or Madden.

[Adidas410s]

Originally posted by eagles_victory
I like what you did in your draft picking up Bush Ko Simpson Bloom and Hester sounds like a pretty strong class what rounds did you get the last 3 in

The only disappointment with Bloom is that his speed is only like 82 or 83. However, your players ratings have a "range" to them and it will go up or down depending on how you practice and coach them. They all start at the bottom of their range before training camp. Reggie Bush's range this year is like 68-89 and he is at 68 right now.

[Fal44]

wow i just got this game today and it already messed up on me. Only had it for about 3 hours well during the practice drills i was motivating my players and then my play call screen goes away and all you see are the players moving around. I had saved before the drills and i tried it again same thing i am gonna return it tommorow.

[bjrod9]

Adidas we need to play, I have never been beaten in NCAA by anyone on this site.


I would like to challenge, Im just a lousy level 2, but hey i like to be the first to try to defeat you.

[Emerson1]

Actually after I made that post I remember that me and mwynn05 used to play all the time and we were about even in the win/loss collumn against each other and we have probably played well over 30 games.

[eagles_victory]

Originally posted by Adidas410s
Simpson was 1st pick in the 3rd Round (I didn't have a 2nd round pick in that I traded that, my 4th and Keyshawn to Houston for their 1st, 3rd, and 5th round picks.). I believe Bloom was the 18th pick in the 3rd, and Hester was my 5th round. In the 6th, I took Brad Elliott (QB @ Linfield and the QB @ Utah before Alex Smith that was injured against A&M and gave Alex Smith his chance to play) and Rodrique Wright in the 7th Round. I saw that Linfield qb play in the divison 3 'ship he was pretty good I really wanna play this game but i think it would get kinda lame when you got to the second years draft with fake players. Sounds like you did a pretty good job in your draft.