Earlier in the week I brought you a simulation of Madden. Some surprising things occurred, such as the Cowboys being one of the worst teams in the league, and DE Justin Tuck having 140 tackles to go with a record breaking 25 sacks. Oh and the Buccaneers won it all.

Well this time we take Head Coach’s franchise for a spin and see if there are any similarities between the two. One thing that seems much more in line with what you would expect from a normal NFL season is the tackles for losses and sack numbers. Injuries also seem to play a much bigger role due to the fact that players are able to have day-to-day rather than just week-by-week ailments.

Weeks 1-3

The first couple of weeks fell much more in line with what critics are expecting. The New York Jets with their rough early schedule start out 1-2 losing to the Patriots and Chargers. Favre has a shaky beginning with just three touchdowns and five interceptions.

Brady has a monster game in Week 3 to keep the Pats undefeated thus far. He went 33-44 for 404 yards and six passing touchdowns. He seems to have put the Super Bowl behind him rather well.

A couple big injuries happened early on with Rodney Harrison out for the year with head trauma and Andre Johnson gone for good as well with a torn ACL and PCL.

Marshawn Lynch is showing he does not want to be a poor man’s Tomlinson: He has 261 yards, two touchdowns, and two runs for over 20 yards.

Weeks 4-6

These weeks tend to reveal what teams are for real and which ones are pretenders.

The Chargers defeat the Dolphins in Week 5 to keep the team undefeated, subduing the Dolphin magic that occurred in the previous Madden sim. Rivers had two touchdown passes in that game. The Cowboys, Colts and Bills, along with the Patriots are also following in the 2007 Patriots' footsteps with a perfect season recorded at this point. Only time will tell if any of these teams can pull it off.

Brady shows signs of a big season with 1,900 passing yards and 15 touchdowns to this point. He could break his own record (set last year) if he keeps up at this pace. Tony Romo might have something to say about that though, since he is doing a nice job himself with his 108.1 passer rating and 23 touchdown passes.

Lynch is still edging out Tomlinson in the AFC with five scores and 500 yards rushing. This could be a big battle all season long for the rushing title. Peterson takes the cake at the moment though with over 700 yards and two touchdowns. If he can stay healthy this will obviously be a great year for him.

Terrell Owens is also proving his dominance once again with his 11 touchdowns and almost 900 yards receiving.

Weeks 7-9

The Chargers faced the Bills in a battle of two undefeated teams and Rivers bested Edwards with two passing touchdowns and 200 yards in the air. The Cowboys beat the Rams to keep their hopes alive for an undefeated season.

Brady now has 2,400 yards passing with 20 touchdowns to boot. He may be stacking up the yards but Romo is still banging out the touchdowns. He now has 29 and is still playing for a team with no losses.

Brian Westbrook is developing into the fantasy weapon that all the people who miss out on Tomlinson and Steven Jackson hope he will be. On the ground alone he has 486 yards and 11 touchdowns, but when added to his passing numbers he has over 1,000 yards with 16 touchdowns.

Lynch now has the most yards by any running back thanks to Peterson missing a couple weeks due to injury. He has run 853 yards on the ground and scored five times.

Lofa Tatupu is having a top notch defensive season with 69 tackles thus far and five tackles for loss, with one sack and two interceptions.

Speaking of fantasy impact, Week 9 brought with it a Jamal Lewis performance of epic proportions. He scored three touchdowns in the air and 80 yards receiving to go with 90 yards on the ground.

Weeks 9-12

Let’s look how the standings are shaping up thus far:

AFC
-The Pats at 10-1 have the slight lead on the Bills at 9-2.
-Chargers are the only AFC West team over .500 and stand at 9-2.
-Steelers are in the same shape as the Chargers with a 7-4 record and no other divisional team in sight.
-Colts have a commanding 11-0 lead on the 7-4 Titans.

NFC
-The NFC East is the toughest division maybe in history with the perfect Boys at 11-0 leading the Eagles at 9-2 and Giants at 8-3.
-Vikings and Lions are at 6-5 with the Packers right on their heels at 5-6.
-Buccaneers are showing they are for real with a 9-2 record, leaving them two up in the division on the Panthers.
-The NFC West is looking to be a battle for .500 with everyone piled together except for the measly 49ers. There goes that good fortune they had in the Madden simulation.

Kevin Boss goes down with a torn ACL and gives the Giants front office a lump in its throat for trading Shockey, even if he was a distraction. No need to worry though, he only has 175 receiving yards for the Saints.

Brady is beginning to separate himself from the field with 3,400 yards passing and 26 touchdowns. Romo’s 36 touchdowns are not going unnoticed however.

Mario Williams and Richard Seymour both have 60 tackles, 16 tackles for a loss, and eight sacks. Justin Smith of the 49ers has 93 tackles, 10 for a loss, and three sacks.

Weeks 13-16

Some big games have occurred coming down the stretch.

In Week 13 the Cowboys edged the Seahawks to stay undefeated with a fourth quarter comeback thanks to Romo’s four TD passes. The Colts also kept its dreams of 16-0 alive with a blowout win over the Browns 49-3.

In Week 14 the Colts finally lost, succumbing to the Bengals 30-27. Peyton had an uncharacteristically bad game that probably also cost him a chance at MVP with his four picks.

In Week 15 the Titans got a big win over Houston 20-14 to make a push towards the playoffs -- Vince Young had a passing and a rushing touchdown.

In Week 16 the Lions faced the Saints with a chance to essentially lock up the playoffs but lost 16-13. Kitna still had a good game with a 100.0 passer rating and one passing touchdown.

The Cowboys put themselves in position for the perfect season by defeating the Ravens in a close match up 35-28, reminiscent of the Patriots down the stretch last year. Romo had a 124.0 passer rating with five scores, one interception, and 280 yards. Marion Barber had 103 yards rushing.

Titans locked up a playoff birth with a win against the Steelers 13-10. The Bills could have sealed up its division but lost on a last minute field goal to the Broncos 24-21. The Packers defeated the Bears and put themselves in a tie with the Vikings with one week to play.

Week 17

With some exciting scenarios down the stretch, the Patriots made one happen in its favor by defeating the Bills in a match up for the division 42-14. The Patriots are heading into the playoffs very hot and with an MVP candidate on the roster, so the Pats may see another bid for the Super Bowl.

But that news was definitely trumped by the Cowboys doing the unimaginable: completing only the second perfect season in a 17 week regular season schedule. The Boys did it by besting the Eagles, with Romo throwing for 300 yards and one touchdown and Owens catching nine passes for 98 yards.

The Giants were able to end the Vikings season with a 28-14 victory thanks to Eli’s 102.0 rating on three touchdown passes. The Lions also lost its Week 17 game, and with that the Packers are going to the playoffs with Aaron Rodgers in his first year under center. Brett Favre didn’t have such luck with the Jets, a team that ended up going 6-10.

The Bucs went 14-2 and just like in Madden was one of the most dominant teams in the league with 392 points for and 141 points against. Also, just like in the Madden sim, the Saints got robbed of a playoff berth losing out on the division and a Wild Card and yet being the sixth best team in the NFC by record. The same goes for the Vikings as the seventh best team by record.

The Playoff field is as follows:

NFC
1. Cowboys 16-0
2. Buccaneers 14-2
3. Eagles 12-4
4. Giants 12-4
5. Packers 10-6
6. Rams 8-8

AFC
1. Colts 15-1
2. Patriots 13-3
3. Chargers 13-3
4. Bills 12-4
5. Titans 10-6
6. Steelers 9-7

Romo was awarded the MVP by ending with 50 touchdowns, tying Brady’s record set the previous year. He also had over 4,500 yards.

Brady led the AFC QBs with over 5,000 yards and 45 touchdowns.

Westbrook might not have won the MVP but he was given the overall Offensive Player of the Year Award. He had 874 yards rushing, 22 touchdowns, and 977 yards receiving with 9 touchdowns.

Owens also had a monster season with 1,762 receiving yards and 21 touchdowns.

Freddie Keiaho took home the Defensive Player of the Year Award with nine interceptions, 86 tackles, and five forced fumbles. Though, Keith Bulluck may have been robbed with six interceptions, 119 tackles, six tackles for a loss, and two sacks; he also had three forced fumbles, recovering all of them.

Jordy Nelson took home the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award with over 1,000 yards receiving and nine touchdowns. McFadden was runner up with over 1,000 yards rushing and 10 touchdowns.

Leodis McKelvin edged out Keith Rivers for Defensive Rookie of the Year. McKelvin had five interceptions, 99 tackles, and two forced fumbles. Rivers had five interceptions with 102 tackles.

The only qualm I had with the awards was that the Running Back of the Year Award listed two of the top three candidates as Westbrook and Bush, yet both of those guys had poor individual rushing stats. Combining the rushing and passing stats is where those two truly become weapons.

Coach of the Year was of course Wade Phillips, but the question remains: can the Cowboys win during the playoffs?

Wild Card Round

Titans 28 Chargers 21
Titans send the Chargers packing in another disappointing finish for SD. Vince Young had some flair for the dramatic with a fourth quarter comeback victory with two unanswered touchdowns.

Giants 28 Packers 24
Giants defeated the Packers in the playoffs for the second year in a row. Eli threw one touchdown pass and ran one in as well. Jacobs carried the rock for 98 yards and two touchdowns of his own. Rodgers’ first playoff game had its ups and downs with two scores but three interceptions for 221 yards.

Steelers 41 Bills 21
The Bills had a nice season but the squad got cold at the wrong time. The Steelers blew the Bills out 41-21 thanks to Roethlisberger’s 145.8 rating and two touchdowns for 152 yards.

Eagles 31 Rams 17
The Eagles were the team with the dominant record but the Rams were home thanks to winning the division. Eagles still won 31-17.


Divisional Playoffs

Colts 31 Steelers 17
Colts made up for 2005 by defeating the Steelers 31-17. Manning had four scores in the air and 317 yards passing.

Giants 24 Cowboys 15
The Cowboys busted again. TO was dominant with 134 yards on 10 receptions but Romo had a poor game with few yards and no touchdowns. Eli handled business with his two scores and 291 yards passing.

Titans 16 Patriots 13
The Titans continuing its Cinderella season beat the Patriots, sending the Pats home in another tough playoff outing. Young had more fourth quarter heroics, this time setting up a field goal for the victory 16-13.

Eagles 6 Buccaneers 3
No Buccaneer championship during this simulation. The Eagles beat the Bucs 6-3 in an ugly game.

Conference Championship

Titans 20 Colts 17
The Titans made it this far by riding the hands and feet of Vince Young. Young had an awful game though, with two interceptions and just 120 yards, but when needed most he came through in the clutch yet again. He was able to set up another winning field goal for the victory.

Eagles 32 Giants 26
It was only appropriate that two of the three NFC East teams match up, but this match up didn’t go quite as well for the G-Men. Eli threw two important picks and McNabb had a monster game with four touchdowns and 388 yards. Unfortunately, Westbrook went down with a separated shoulder and will not be playing during the Super Bowl.

Super Bowl

Eagles 24 Titans 17
McNabb finally pulled it off, and this time there was no TO to be seen -- or a star halfback for that matter. The Eagles, who many thought was the best team to not make the playoffs last year, proved the critics right. The Titans had a great run and Young had a decent game, but Ryan Moats, in for an injured Westbrook, and backup Lorenzo Booker stepped up in the spotlight and made themselves household names. They combined for three rushing touchdowns and 100 all-purpose yards. You cannot help but be happy with the turnout.

Madden and Head Coach had many consistencies between the two simulations, but there were also many discrepancies. This just leads to the fact that next season is going to have a plot twist at every turn. So just hope for the best, but expect the unexpected.