Brady, Manning soar as Patriots, Colts crumble around them

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, the two best quarterbacks of their generation and arguably any generation, are facing strange times as they face off today. Brady’s New England Patriots, once a dynasty, suddenly haven’t won a Super Bowl in too many years to count. And Brady’s best weapon Randy Moss is suddenly two teams removed from his roster, even as Brady and Bill Belichick are likely wondering what might have been if they hadn’t let Deion Branch slip away in the first place. The scary part for the Pats is that they may no longer even be the best team in their division.

Manning’s Indianapolis Colts, meanwhile, are fresh off an AFC Championship and should have been in prime position to head right back there but have instead been ransacked by the most dumbfounding collection of injuries in recollection. Indy’s offense is almost literally Peyton and the practice squad, with the Colts burning through receivers faster than the Dolphins have been burning through quarterbacks.

So who wins today, the team in transition or the team in traction? That’s better predicted by the oddsmakers. But just because neither franchise is in quite its usual top form this season doesn’t mean Brady and Manning can’t have one for the ages today.

Randy Moss trade to Minnesota? Brett Favre must be new Vikings GM

Randy Moss is potentially headed back to his original team, the Minnesota Vikings, if the player and team can work out a new contract, says Jay Glazer via Twitter. The trade talk comes at a time when Moss has been hinting that he didn’t expect to be back with the New England Patriots next year one way or the other. While Pats QB Tom Brady has been in Moss’ corner, Bill Belichick has consistently shown a willingness to part ways with any veteran (Willie McGinest, Richard Seymour, Adam Vinatieri) if the right trade offer is made, if the player wants too much money, or if he simply feels the player is out of gas. Moss had zero catches in last night’s game against the Dolphins, even as his team won by nearly four touchdowns (most of that on special teams of course).

The real question then becomes who is really calling the shots in Minnesota. The Vikings shipped Moss out for being a problem child years ago, but that was a different administration. The current Vikings regime, coach and GM, have already seemingly bet their jobs on winning this year with Brett Favre as quarterback before he presumably retires at year’s end, as the team doesn’t have a quarterback of the future in waiting – and that’s bad news, since the Vikings have gotten out of the gate at 1-2 with their two best receivers, Sydney Rice and Percy Harvin, having been injured for much of that stretch. The team already traded for Dolphins receiver Greg Camarillo, whose impact hasn’t thus far been overwhelming. But a trade for veteran Moss, a future hall of famer whose tank may or may not be empty, would clearly be an instance of betting the house on winning this year. It’s also exactly what Brett Favre has always wanted.

It’s been well documented that even back when he was playing for the Green Bay Packers, Favre was pushing for his team to acquire Moss when he was on the trading block. Now it looks like Favre may finally get his wish, albeit far later in both players’ careers than either might have hoped for.

Dolphins-Patriots MNF tonight: the past vs. the present vs. the future

Tonight’s Monday Night Football game between the Miami Dolphins and New England Patriots will see a face-off of the past, present, and future of both franchises and the rivalry – and we don’t mean that generically. The rivalry itself is based on a past trend in which the Patriots dominated the league – or at least the AFC East – and yet now it’s no longer even clear where the Pats rank within the division’s top three teams. The Pats-Dolphins rivalry has also, in the more recent past, seen the Wildcat come into play. In fact, the Dolphins first debuted the Ronnie-Brown-as-quarterback Wildcat against the Patriots in 2008, and blew them out that day as a result. But more recently, the Wildcat has become more of a yardage-losing drive-killer for the Dolphins than anything else, with Miami fans now debating whether it should be put to rest entirely.

Meanwhile, individual players for both teams also find themselves dealing with the present, trying to carve out a future, or attempting to live up to past glory. There’s no debating that Tom Brady is one of the top quarterbacks of his generation, and that’s as true at present as it was a few years ago, but it’s been years since he last won the Super Bowl. Veteran receiver Randy Moss is playing out what might be his final season with the team. The Patriots defense is young and may not be strong enough to allow the team to contend until a little bit further into the future.

On the other side of the field, the Dolphins are going with third year quarterback (second year starter) Chad Henne, who often looked brilliant last week against rival QB Mark Sanchez and the hated New York Jets, but couldn’t quite get it done with the game on the line. Wide receiver Brandon Marshall is in his first year with the Dolphins and, after a 160-plus yard effort last week, finally looks like he could be the receiver the team has been seeking for the past decade. And while the Dolphins have one of the best one-two running back tandems in the league in Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams, it’s not clear whether either veteran will still be with the team next year.

So who wins the game tonight? It could come down to a battle of rising young quarterback vs. decorated veteran quarterback. Or it could come down to which team’s defense, both of which looked questionable last week, puts on a stronger show. It could come down to a battle of running backs – or who knows, perhaps the Wildcat might again become a factor in this rivalry. Most pro football games have a clearly identifiable key matchup upon with the fate of the game will likely depend. But with tonight’s Dolphins-Pats game, it’s not so clear.

app review: Madden NFL 11 for iPhone

It’s become extremely clear this month that the iPhone has come into its own as a gaming platform. At the same time that Sony is releasing ads criticizing the quality of iPhone games, EA has released its second iteration of its flagship Madden franchise for the iPhone. Last year’s Madden game set the bar very high, but as with any Madden game released on a platform after the first, the question remains whether this year’s version is any more than a roster update compared to last year’s version.

If you don’t own any Madden games for your iPhone and you’re wondering if Madden measures up to the console versions, it does, with some limitations. You’re not going to confuse the iPhone version of Madden with the 360 or PS3 versions, but it’s definitely at least as good as you might expect the iPhone version to be, if not better.††Don’t hesitate to pick this up, even at the current price of $8, if you want a football game for your iPhone and don’t yet have one.

If you’re considering upgrading from Madden 10, however, that question is a bit more complicated. Most of the gameplay in Madden 11 is fairly identical to Madden 10 (rosters aside, obviously), which, on the whole, is a good thing. For instance, passing is still done by tapping on the receivers, and the Action Control system that lets the player slow down the action temporarily, a highlight of the original iPhone Madden, returns for Madden 11. However, what device you own and your play style could make the difference between a purchase and a pass when it comes to this year’s incarnation.

The most obvious change in this year’s version is the GameFlow system, which replaces the old Ask Madden system for having the computer suggest plays (which was missing from Madden 10 on the iPhone anyway). With GameFlow turned on, you are never even presented with a play calling screen; the game just advances from play to play automatically, while continuing to provide the option to either change the play entirely or draw hot routes for your players on the screen to adjust the play. Turning GameFlow on and off is as easy as flipping a switch on the screen in between plays.

In theory, GameFlow is fantastic, especially on the iPhone where you likely don’t have a ton of time to play in the first place. I also like it a lot more on defense, where I’m less confident with/interested in strategy than I typically am on offense.††In practice, however, it seems to skew very heavily toward running plays, which makes sense for some teams but not others. For instance, I play as the Patriots, and giving the ball to Laurence Maroney instead of Tom Brady for three out of four plays would have the fans in Foxborough screaming for blood. What’s more, I found scrolling through plays with GameFlow off on the sluggish side, which can be frustrating. That said, if you really just want to play Madden like an arcade game, GameFlow is a great addition to the game.

On the defensive side, Madden 11 adds Total Defensive Control, accessible by a button in the bottom center of the screen once the play starts. Pressing this button pauses the game and allows the player to either direct each player on the defense either where to run or queue up a button action (jump, swat, dive for a tackle, etc.). I do like this feature, because the standard Madden style of defense (switch to the closest player and then try to intervene in the split second before they get the ball) has never really worked for me. It can be kind of overwhelming to try to decide what eleven people should do on every play, but I do like having the additional option, and it does add a bit more realism on the defensive side.

The graphics are improved to take advantage of the iPhone 4′s Retina Display, and the difference is very noticeable. The player models are much clearer (if a bit on the blocky side) and you can even see individual fans in the stands instead of just a multicolored animation. I actually fired up Madden 10 to see how it looks on my iPhone 4 and it hurt my eyes in comparison. So for iPhone 4 owners, upgrading is worth it for the graphics alone.There are still some issues with the animations, though; it often seems like the players don’t quite collide properly on tackles, and some of the reception animations aren’t clear whether the ball was caught or not.

The sound is still a weak point of Madden, unfortunately. Though the game has supplemented Madden and Cris Collinsworth with Gus Johnson, the commentary still is really inadequate. You’ll hear the same few lines over and over again, even within a single game, and it’s even wrong, occasionally. Play by play is understandably difficult to do at all, and even more difficult to do well, especially given the space constraints of the iPhone. That said, however, it’s jarring enough in its current incarnation that it’s almost worth just leaving it out altogether if it can’t be done better than it is currently.

So should you buy this first “roster update” version of Madden for the iPhone? Again, if you don’t own Madden 10, absolutely; this is a full featured football game to rival those on other portable gaming platforms for one third of the price of a comparable version on the DS or PSP, and you don’t even need to carry around a separate device to play it. Similarly, if you own an iPhone 4 or are a casual player, then the new features (Retina graphics and GameFlow, respectively) make this version of Madden a giant leap beyond its predecessor. If you don’t fall into any of these categories, then it’s really a toss up. But even just as a roster update, you’re still getting a current, full version of Madden for less than you would pay for last year’s version on other gaming platforms, so it’s not nearly as bad as, say, a $60 roster update on the 360 or PS3. If you didn’t like last year’s version of Madden for the iPhone, this year’s version won’t change your mind, but otherwise, Madden 11 improves on the formula enough to be worth a purchase for more than just this year’s rosters.

Madden NFL 11 for iPhone is in the iTunes App Store for $7.99