Madden Simulation: Jags come from behind for a victory…

Welcome to the fourth installment of our Madden series. Todays game took place in muggy Jacksonville Florida and the weather surely lived up its reputation. In a drenching downpour the Jags elected to receive the kickoff to begin the game Drenching rain, jags receive kickoff The Jags pound the rock with their 1st play from scrimmage and are rewarded with a 36 yard gain by Fred Taylor. You would think with the current weather conditioin that the Jags would continue to run but Leftwich connects with Matt Jones for a 20 yard strike but that is the last pass completion of this drive. Adam Artchuleta batts down a sure interception intended for M. Jones and Sean Taylor knocks Fred Taylor back into his own o-linemen to force the Jags to kick a field goal. 3-0 Jaguars Not to be left out in regards to putting their name up on the scoreboard the Redskins offense comes out with guns a’ blazing. Betts brings his kick-return out to the 27 yard line to give the offense decent field position. Two miraculous catches by an alert Chris Cooley and a 40 yard run by Clinton Portis put the Redskins 5 yards away from the goaline where a fleet footed Mark Brunell is able to scoot in for 6 points. John Hall comes out and kicks the extra point to make the score 7-3 Skins. 7-3 Skins With the rain not letting up the Jags continue to pass often and the Redskins took advantage of it. Using the sloppyness of the field and the slick ball to their advantage they continuously bliz the oppoaing QB. Greg Williams is relentless even after the Skins get burned by Matt Jones again, he continues to blitz and its pays off big time. While Being hurried by a blitzhing Carlos Rogers Adam Artchuleta steps infront of a pass intended for Matt Jones and takes it in for a TD. 14-3 Skins Out of three downs the Jags run once and are stuffed and have to punt. Sean Taylor appears as if he is personally intent on holding Fred Taylor to minimal to no gain at all and thus far in the game it appears that Carlos Rogers is finally stepping up. The Skins takeover after the Jags punt and it appears as if Del Rio is stole a page from Gregg Williams. The Jags constantly blitz Brunell even though the Skins keep it on the ground for the most part. With CP taking a breather TJ comes in and with one star out and Lloyd dropping two passes the Skins are forced to kick a FG. The yardage on the kick was pretty impressive, 55 yards is a boom for anyone. 17-3 Skins The Jags marginal success with the run causes the Skins to respect it and allows the Jags to continue to pass. With plenty of motion in the backfield the Skins should have known to key in on M. Jones but it allows him to get a step on Shawn Springs. When Jones makes the catch he is able to shrug off Springs due to his momentum and rumbles in for a TD. 17-10 Skins With 3 min left in the 1st half the Skins plan to run time off of the clock. A healthy dose of CP and Moss move the chains. Lloyd who cant seem to catch today is on the sidelines. When Lloyd is back on the field Brunell tosses more passes to Cooley and Moss and doesn’t seem to look Llyods way. Brunell adds another 7 before the half with a td toss to Moss. Being sacked on 2nd down and feeling pressure on 3rd down forces him to the right. Moss is running a drag in the end zone and Brunell fires it for the catch. 24-10 Skins After the half the Skins throw a pick due to pressure. A poor pass by Brunell thrown up for grabs is intercepted and ran back for 15 yads. The Skins defense is put into horrible position on their 22 yard line but they hold the Jags to field goal. Blitzing is key to their success as the Jacksonville offensive line picks up Jimoh and Rogers but let Griffin free as he goes in for the sack. 24-13 Skins Santana Moss gives his all on every play and it showed on this possession more than any other. He consistently got open for a heavily pressure Brunell and when he was double teamed he still took the ball away and came down with it. He and Cooley kept the chains moving as the defense focused in on Clinton Portis. As they marched down to the 13 yard line TJ is brought in to sledge hammer his way into the end zone. In a shocking play Brunell tosses a TD pass to Lloyd in the back of the end zone for a TD. Brunell who had not even looked his way for the previous two possessions due to his dropping of the ball was the first person coming up to Brand in congratulations. 31-13 Skins With 10 minutes left the momentum completely shifts with a score by the Jags. Leftwich connects with Matt Jones again for another TD, this time the casualty is Kenny Wright who can do nothing but watch as Jones celebrates beside him. 31-20 Skins With 7 min left in the game the Skins attempt to grind out the remaining time but when Portis spins to avoid a tackle he is nailed and fumbles. The fumble is recovered and returned for a TD. 31-27 Skins After giving away two scores the Skins offense gives the ball up again via punt. The defense holds the Jags to another FG and is trying their best to keep the lead. Salaeva, Rocky and Carlos all step up and contribute outstanding displays of effort during the drive. 31-30 Skins However, after another Redskin punt the defense finally folds to Byron and his long winding throwing motion. After marching down the field into the redzone Leftwich pump fakes to Jones causing Rogers to bite and then fires it to Jones for the win. It’s a testament to the lack of pass rush by the Redskins front four that Leftwich had time to go through his throwing motion twice. 37-31…