We simmed through the 2006/07 season in Madden, stopping to check our players' progression along the way.  We finished up the season at 11-5, winning our division but sadly missing out on a bye.  It was a tale of two conferences, with the AFC dominating and the NFC looking pretty weak.  The AFC had 6 teams with 10+ wins, and the NFC had 1.  Every team that made the playoffs in the AFC would have earned a bye had they been in the NFC.

The story of the season around the NFL had to be Michael Vick.  Vick led his Miami Dolphins to an 11-5 season and was named the league MVP.  How did he manage this with a 69.9 QB rating?  Well, by setting the NFL record for yards rushing, not just for QBs, but for everyone!  Vick ran for 2,141 yards on 183 carries (11.6 ypc) and 15 TDs.  He ran for only 200 less than he passed for!  The Dolphins led the NFL in total yards on offense, despite a 31st place finish in passing yards.  Vick, with help from a 1000 yd season by Cedric Benson, led the Dolphins to almost 3,300 yards rushing, nearly 1000 more than the Packers, who had the second most rushing yards at 2,354.  The Dolphins put up a league best 28.5 points per game.

Our Brownies did pretty well without our help, finishing as mentioned before at 11-5.  We missed out on a bye on tie breakers with the Dolphins, who went 11-5.  The Rrrrraiders earned home field throughout with their NFL best 12-4 record.  Our young offense struggled at times, finishing 22nd in total offense.  We did manage to put the ball in the end zone, though, finishing 13th in ppg at 20.7.  The biggest problem with our offense was our O-line, which managed to send one man to the Pro Bowl, but wasn't able to open many holes for Reggie Bush and company (1,696 team rushing yards).

Our defense was middle of the road stats-wise, finishing 12th in total defense and in the middle of the pack against both the pass and the run.  We were stingy in the red zone, finishing third in the NFL in both ppg (16.8) and red zone scoring percentage (74%).  We had the second most sacks in the NFL with 57.

Carson Palmer got hurt for a game, but still had a Pro Bowl season.  It wasn't a great year, 2,936 yds, 20 TD, 11 ints, 87.0 passer rating.  We'll be leaning on him in the playoffs (you'll see why in a minute).

Reggie Bush had himself a pretty good rookie season.  He had 1,412 yds and 11 scores on the ground, with 3.9 ypc.  He was also second on the team in receiving with 67 grabs for 563 yds and 5 TDs.  Unfortunately, he was injured in week 16 and is done for the year.  We're left with T.J. Duckett and Maurice Jones-Drew in the backfield for the playoffs.  Duckett's in the last year of his contract and he's not too happy about not being the starter, so this may be his chance to audition for another team.

Andre Johnson had himself a pretty good year, grabbing 81 balls for 928 yds (11.4 ypr) and 9 scores.  Vernon Davis wasn't utilized very well, as he had 65 grabs for only 445 yds, an average of 6.8 yds per reception.  He also had two scores.

On D, it was the Brian Urlacher show.  Urlacher had 130 tackles, 6 sacks, a pick, 2 FF, and a team-high 12 pass deflections.  Champ Bailey had a typical year for him, but Chris Gamble had a very slow year with only 17 tackles and 3 picks.  Our sack leader was OLB Derrick Johnson (13), but he's out for the playoffs with an injury.  The injury bug hit our defense hard, taking down both Donte Whitner and Darnell Bing for the season.  We've got a free agent pickup playing SS for us right now.

Special teams were not too special.  Devin Hester failed to reach the end zone for the season, both on punts and kickoffs.  Punter Colquitt showed some improvement, though, and may be a passable punter for us for the foreseeable future.  A few more training camps should see him rise quickly in overall.

Award Winners
MVP - Michael Vick, QB, MIA (pass: 2341 yds/21 TD/18 INT, rush: 2141 yds/15 TD)
Off POY - Michael Vick, QB, MIA
Def POY - Willie McGinest, OLB, MIA
Off ROY - Reggie Bush, HB, CLE
Def ROY - A.J. Hawk, OLB, CHI
Coach - Nick Saban, MIA

Notable Performers
QB Tom Brady (OAK) - 3575 yds, 38 TD, 10 INT, 105.7 rating
HB Rudi Johnson (SD) - 1942 yds, 9 TD
WR Terry Glenn (SF) - 106 rec, 1418 yds, 18 TD, 13.3 ypr
MLB Jeremiah Trotter (TEN) - 164 tackles
DE Leonard Little (MIA) - 18 sacks