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Upsets happen


Tecmo-Mad-Brad

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For a pretty detailed look at how I rank the teams see this thread.  This should give you some context when I break down some of these upsets I 've been a part of....some for the good, and some for the bad.  

 

It's not an exact science when it comes to the obviously better team winning.  With different levels of playbook effectiveness, coupled with varying sets of player personnel, some teams just have the goods to routinely take it to the better squads...and occasionally win.  Sometimes human error also plays a role, and sometimes your opponent just calls a whale of a game to keep one step ahead of whatever you are doing.  Here's a few of those upsets.  

 

Dallas vs New York.  This particular game I was on the good side of.  It took a Herculean effort of calls to keep New York at bay with the bad Dallas defense.  New York on 2 occasions in the 2nd half reached the Dallas 40 yard line on 4th down.  Problem being that is pretty much the extent of their kickers range.  Both kicks fell just short.  In overtime, Dallas which had been stymied by LT and co all game finally put things together and won with a big TD drive.  This game kicked off our 5th season of 2-player Tecmo Bowl.  Not a lot at stake as Dallas won 6-0.

 

Dallas vs SF. This game was played about an hours later in week 2.  I was San Fran and basically gave the game away on  silver platter throwing multiple picks against the slow Dallas defense.  Late in the game Dallas was clinging to a 9-3 lead and I was driving.  Looking like San Fran would win 10-9, I tossed a bad INT inside the 10.  Whats odd is that Dallas had not beaten these teams in about 10 years, but managed to take down both in back to back outings.  Dallas started Season 5, 2-0 with 2 mammoth upset wins.  Dallas would do what they did best the rest of the way and finish either 3-9 or 4-8 that season.  But for that one night, they were on top of the Tecmo world.  I guess it was a harbinger of things to come for San Fran though.  I struggled mightly that season and lost a few other games against bad teams.  

 

Dallas has had numerous close calls vs Chicago.  I'd have to guess they have hung tough in a solid 4 or 5 games over the years vs the Bears.  The lone time I can recall them beating Chicago, Kick return man Mike Lavette went nuts taking 2 kick returns in Chicago territory.  Walker had a banner day, and Dallas snuck out with a 1 point win.  That game was played in basically an meaningless post season exhibition, so it didn't amount to any finality for Chicago.               

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Indy vs NY.  When a buddy and I play a "2-player Season", we each draft 4 teams, and then the remaining 4 are called Rovers and we take turns controlling them.  Randomly put teams into 4 divisions, make a 12 game schedule for each team, and it takes 81 games total to reach the championship.  Quite a bit invested in each season.  

 

When we reached the Conference title game in Season 5, I had Indy vs his NY.  NY had swept 2 games vs Indy that season.  Didn;t look good for me that day.  Other conference game was Seattle vs Cleveland.  If NY won, they would be heavy favorites vs whoever the opponent was.  I had won the title in the previous 4 seasons, but he was clearly the favorite to finally win the title with NY.  The game trudges on scoreless into the 4th qtr.  I'm playing defense out of my mind, but can't get passed the 50 and have to keep punting.  

 

Early in the 4th qtr I make up my mind I'm going to take a shot with Indy.  On 3rd and long around the 50, I call Indy's Pass 1.  The plan is to cycle to Dickerson over the middle and wait, and wait, and wait as long as I can, then switch up and throw deep to Matt Bouza.  Hopefully he'll get antsy off screen, and start to cheat up to try and prevent the 1st down pass.  If so,  I'll hit the bomb over the top for the dagger.  Instead he picked my play and I get sacked and have to punt.  Really feeling like I missed my chance to land the knockout blow.

 

Game goes to overtime.  I get the ball back after a punt and find myself in a similar situation.  This time I get the result I want.  However instead of making a blind throw deep, I actually catch him cheating up and running back onto the screen.  2 clicks and a throw later, Matt Bouza hauls in the pass and runs in the final 10 yards for the win!  BOOM!

 

As a guy who has won 5 Tecmo tournaments in various cities, I can honestly say that game in my basement against my friend was easily the biggest win of my career.  I love Indy, and to take down the Giants, controlled by a guy with skills equal to mine, in that fashion was one of the greatest finishes I've been a part of.  I went on to defeat Seattle with Indy in Tecmo Bowl 5 and retain the title.

 

However a year later he would return the favor, at the same junction of the season....

    

Edited by Tecmo-Mad-Brad
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MIA vs NY.  In Season 6 I find myself controlling the Giants.  I whoop ass with the Giants and go 10-1-1.  With a modified rom we use, we're able to implement ties after 1 qtr of OT.  I have the top seed (NY) in my conference, and would be home(Player 1) all the way through Tecmo Bowl 6 with them.  While my buddy is smashing his way to the title game with Chicago in the other conference and beating me in those games by 14-17 points, I face Miami with NY in their conference championship game.  Chicago went through Cleveland and Seattle to reach Tecmo Bowl 5, and obliterated both of them by double digits.  Miami by the way was merely a .500 team and one of the weakest division champs of all time. 

 

Back and forth defensive struggle.  I take a 3-0 lead into the early 4th qtr.  Joe Morris gets a horrendous spot by the ref(CPU) and puts me in a 4th and pixel to go.  Totally looked like I should have been given the 1st down.  Frustrated, I decide to punt from about my 30.  I'm literally just a 1st down or 2 away from sealing this damn game, because time is a factor.  Miami takes over around their 20 with about 45-50 seconds to go.  Just a little bit too much time for my comfort.

 

The problem in the match-up for NY is that they lack a dominant defender from the middle of the field.  Banks and LT have a lot of ground to cover against Marino.  I manage to get Miami twice to 4th and short, and both times fail to land a play-pick to end the drive/game.  My buddy Nate is playing pretty aggressive here, and is flinging it around.  Eventually he gets inside the 10 yardline and I pretty much know it's going to take a miracle to stop him.  Marino tosses a TD with about 10 seconds left.  

 

During the drive on a couple plays, I switched around between LT and Banks trying to anticipate which WRs would be open, based on the CPU coverage that occurs between my call and his.  Each time I was the wrong defender for the situation, so he had easy completions.  Just couldn't get into the right defensive call with correct defender.  Had I guessed right, I would have really been in good position on a couple of those throws to either get an INT or perhaps scare him off of making the throw, and either taking a sack or him QB running for a short gain....which ultimately would have eaten up valuable clock.  Horrible time to have bad luck and get out maneuvered.      

 

At this point trailing 6-3 (blocked the pat) I need Phil McKonkey to save the season, but he blows as a return man.  I believe he got it out to about 40, but my buddy had a good read on him and there was no way I was taking it to the house.  That is how the upset finally went down.

 

When we do a season with the 81 games, it usually takes us about a year to complete it since we don't get together very often.  When you lose with your best team in the conference championship game....especially in a major upset, its completely crushing.  You've done everything to position yourself with the easiest path possible to the title game and then it all collapses in a few moments.

 

Chicago and Miami were both of his teams in the championship game.  He choose to be Chicago, and I got pummel 20-0 in the title game.  Singletary is the last guy that you want to go against when you have Miami as Player 2.  Match-ups are paramount in Tecmo Bowl.  While NY can usually lean on Chicago all game and typically wear them down, Miami is the team/offense that can offer some tough challenges for New York's defense.  Miami in hindsight was the perfect team to take down the Giants that day.             

 

 

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