With the NFL's four-month lockout concluding earlier this week, Box Scores celebrates by welcoming back Madden to our game of the week recap.
This one comes from Bobboman, playing with Green Bay and switching over to All-Madden difficulty for the first time. The makeup of his fantasy-drafted rosters (in the fourth year of the sim) frankly don't sound all that out of place after the nutball week of free agency that we've just seen. Aaron Rodgers, however, still is the Packers' quarterback, a wise first round choice back when Bobboman started this particular continuity.
Dallas, having finally jettisoned Tony Romo, have Matthew Stafford under center. The Cowboys trail 21-10 until Rodgers uncorks two boneheaded interceptions, both resulting in touchdowns. Bobboman resorts to that security blanket of football gaming, the slant rout, and ultimately connects with Mario Manningham (interesting choice) to jump back in the lead 27-22.
With time running out, Dallas gets the ball with 2:44 left and marches 63 yards in two minutes, taking a 30-27 lead off a one-yard, fourth-down plunge (and two point conversion.) Bobboman's Packers took possession with 48 seconds left and hit Manningham twice — and Sidney Rice, late of the Vikings in real life, once — to slip into the endzone with 12 seconds left for the 34-30 victory.
About the only thing consistent with reality here is Rodgers' line: 340 yards passing and four TDs. Manningham has an astonishing 259 yards receiving on, wait for it, six receptions, which carries the whiff of cheese. Bobboman vows this is his first game on all-Madden difficulty. Here's the box score.
Remember, all you have to do to get yourself featured in Box Scores' Game of the Week is take a picture of whatever sports video game you've been playing - crappy cell picture will do - write up a couple sentences about why it was so compelling, and email it to me, with "Box Scores" in the subject header. So be sure to include include your commenter page URL so I can properly credit the entry.
Now the Kotaku Sports open thread commences with the sports TV highlights for today and tomorrow. All times are U.S. Eastern.
Baseball
Today, Fox has the Cubs at Cardinals, Rays at Mariners, or Angels at Tigers, 4 p.m. check local listings. WGN features the laundry war of the Red Sox and White Sox at 7. Tomorrow, TBS gets the Sox-Sox matchup at 2 p.m., with ESPN showing the Cubs at Cardinals at 8.
Motorsports
NASCAR's Brickyard 400 runs at 1 p.m. on Sunday from Indianapolis, ESPN. F1 fans, enjoy the Hungarian Grand Prix on Speed Network, 7:30 a.m.
Soccer
Barcelona and Manchester United play a friendly in Landover, Md., tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN2.
Other Stuff
There's a reason NFL free agency is dominating the sports pages this week. There ain't shit on. The X Games? ESPN has that at 2 and 10 p.m. today, ABC has it at 4 p.m., and ESPN2 has it at 9. Blech. There's a bunch of golf but, honestly, the U.S. Senior Open? That's like watching old people fuck. Is Charles Coody still playing?
Remember, you may send your Game of the Week nominations to me, and flag it "Box Scores" in the subject header. Please include your commenter handle for proper credit.
(Top photo by Getty Images)
You can contact Owen Good, the author of this post, at owen@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.