Some of you may remember this feature from the 2009 season when Andrew ran it. This season, I am going to bring it back.
Now unlike what Andrew did, where he (from what I recall) had the game play itself with 8 minute quarters, I am doing this through the Super Sim feature and with the game set to 15 minute quarters. I'm doing it like this because it is much quicker, and if necessary I can change the settings around a little bit and see how it affects the simulation.
I have watched the game play itself a few times, and that can take up to an hour to do. The benefit there is that you can write down more about how the game actually turns out. With the Super Sim, it is basically like fast forwarding through the drive charts on NFL.com and you can't watch replays to get a better look at who struggles on each play, but it works for me.
So, without further adieu, lets look at how the first sim turned out.
Note: The game was set to 15 minutes and played using the Super Sim feature. The Depth Charts were also edited to reflect the ones on the teams official websites, and some players such as Chester Taylor were added to their new teams rosters. A roster update also went up on Friday shortly after I did the sim and wrote this up, but I did not want to redo the sim and write up a whole new article because of that.
Game Summary:
To start out the game the Cardinals took an early lead with a 10 yard Touchdown pass from Kevin Kolb to Larry Fitzgerald. Those were the only points from the first quarter, then in the second Quarter the Cardinals also got more points on the board with a one yard Touchdown by Beanie Wells and a 35 yard Field Goal by Jay Feely. The Panthers finally scored near the end of the first half on a 40 yard kick by Olindo Mare.
The second half got off to a slow start with no points being scored during the third Quarter. Then in the fourth quarter the Cardinals finally ended the second half back and forth with another Touchdown pass from Kolb to Fitzgerald covering 19 yards.
The Panthers wound up scoring the rest of the points in the fourth quarter, with a one yard run by DeAngelo Williand and a 62 yard Punt Return by Captain Munnerlyn.
After that the Cardinals were able to run out the clock and hold on for a 24-17 win to start off the season 1-0.
The Quarterbacks are the main story of the game, with Cam Newton and Kevin Kolb making their debuts for their teams. Kolb threw two Touchdowns, but he also threw a pick and only completed 17 of his 36 passes for 202 yards. With some prior simulations I did trying to figure out how I would set this up, Kolb also had some similar stats pop up, I did not check to see how many drops there were (often an issue in Madden). Cam Newton also struggled going eight of 26 for 87 yards and a Pick.
Box Score:
| Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total | |
| Cardinals | 7 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 24 |
| Panthers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 17 |
Notable Stats:
Passing:
Kevin Kolb - 17 of 36 for 202 yards, 2 TDs, Int
Cam Newton - 8 of 26 for 87 yards, Int
Rushing:
Beanie Wells - 21 carries, 86 yards, TD
Chester Taylor - 5 carries, 24 yards
Cam Newton - 5 carries, 32 yards
DeAngelo Williams - 22 carries, 120 yards, TD
Receiving:
Larry Fitzgerald - 8 catches, 100 yards, 2 TDs
Early Doucet - 3 catches, 38 yards
Andre Roberts - 1 catch, 14 yards
Anthony Sherman - 3 catches, 32 yards
Steve Smith - 1 catch, 26 yards
Defensive:
Sacks - Dan Williams, Jon Beason, Charles Johnson
Interceptions - Patrick Peterson, Sherrod Martin
Kicking:
Jay Feely - 1 of 2
Olindo Mare - 1 of 2
Total Offense:
Cardinals - 331
Panthers - 252
3rd/4th down:
Cardinals - 7 of 13, 0 of 0
Panthers - 3 of 14, 3 of 4