Madden simulation: The Week 1 matchup between the Lions and Colts was a blowout

When you’re bored on a Friday and you like football, but you’re too burnt out on watching game film, and a PlayStation 4 is in front of you with a copy of Overwatch in it, you have to physically get up in order to switch the discs if you want to play Madden. It’s the only real drawback from being so stuck in my ways when it comes to consuming media in physical form.

But play Madden on a Friday night is exactly what I did; I just couldn’t wait for Sunday’s matchup between the Lions and Colts to get my fix of #LionsFootball. Upon booting up Madden, I was prompted to download the latest roster update. I was excited to finally get a chance to see what the people over at EA Tiburon would rate Jace Billingsley, but not only was he not in the game, almost every other practice squad member was still on the team. Yes, even including you know who...

So, starting up a franchise was sort of out of the question without a virtual Jace Billingsley to bounce off of defenders like a Plinko chip en route to the end zone, but I ended up deciding to simulate the Lions Week 1 matchup and share the results with you. If you aren’t following me on Twitter—@Ryan_POD—you probably haven’t seen any of these highlights, and there was no shortage of highlights in this game. Going forward, if people are interested, I would be willing to do a Twitch stream of the game for your viewing pleasure, so just let me know in the comments if that’s something you might be interested in.

Here’s your rundown of how things shook out for the vitual Lions in Week 1:

The Colts first drive was an ugly one. Starting on their own 25-yard line after a touchback, a fumble on second down pushed the Colts all the way back to their own four-yard line. On the next play from scrimmage, this was the result:

The Lions would get the ball back and move down the field methodically, gaining chunks of 4 and 5 yards at a time. They would move the ball all the way down the field, into the red zone and up to the Colts’ goal line, but would have to settle for three points:

The Colts offensive line was struggling all game against the Lions front seven, and things didn’t get any easier for Indy on their second drive. Ezekiel Ansah got to Andrew Luck for the second time on first down, and then linebacker DeAndre Levy followed suit on second down and bringing down the Colts’ quarterback. The Colts would punt the ball back to the Lions and things started to get all too familiar with the Lions’ offense:

Another drive, another field goal. Would the offense ever manage to take the ball all the way into their end zone? It would take another quarter of football, but the virtual Lions would finally do something the actual Lions’ first-team offense couldn’t get done all preseason:

The Colts would finally get on the board in the first half with Adam Vinatieri hitting a 39-yard field goal, but with only 46 seconds remaining in the half, the Lions would strike back once more before the end of the half in a marvelous way:

After the half, things didn’t change much for either team. Whether it be sustaining long drives on offense to chew up clock or continuing to provide push and pressure up front on defense, Detroit would continue to wear down Indianapolis. To add insult to injury, the Lions would cap off a late fourth-quarter drive with one more touchdown:

The Colts would attempt to drive down the field and score, but the Lions prevent defense kept the Colts offense in front of them and didn’t relinquish another point.

Here are how some of the standout performances from individual players on both sides of the ball performed on pseudo-Sunday: