Simulation Saturday: 49ers vs Giants in Madden 16

Forget trying to find a formula in all of this. Madden simulations seem to want offenses to go absolutely bonkers most of the time and defenses to somehow be a sheet of paper on the field. Despite losing last week, we all would have loved the outcome of that game: 45 points of offense? I'll take it. Instead we got three, now that's high powered.

So, this week we have the Giants. I have no idea what to expect on this one. Madden simulations are so far 2-2 with the only correct predictions being Greenbay and Pittsburgh. We'll see how that percentage goes this week.

49ers inactives: Ahmad Brooks and Vernon Davis

Giants Inactives: Victor Cruz, Robert Ayers, Dennard Kennard, George Selvie

1st Quarter:

The Giants received and took the ball to the Niners 30, which then resulted in the defense transforming into the evil wall (look up Final Fantasy IV bosses if you don't know how deadly that is) and then crushing the Giants offense. Thanks to the negatives in rushing and the sack on Eli Manning, the Giants wound up punting to the Niners 1 yard line.

The Niners offense did nothing and settled for a 3 and out. The following series for the Giants offense ended in a 29 yard touchdown to, you guessed it: Odell Beckham Jr. Gotta love that Madden coverboy.

Score: 7-0, Giants

Kaepernick was in true form on the next drive nailing Torrey Smith and Quinton Patton one after the other...each for 1 yard. The Niners punted on 4th down. The Giants took the ball again for a happy Dwayne Harris touchdown in about 4 plays.

Score 14-0, Giants

The Niners were able to cross midfield on the next drive, but a Colin Kaepernick interception put an end to any love on that series. The Giants stormed down midfield with a few final rushes by Shane Vereen for a touchdown.

Score 21-0, Giants

Colin Kapeernick managed to hit two passes to Anquan Boldin for around 25 yards each to help get the 49ers into Giants territory. While they managed to make it to the Giants 12, the offense stalled and they settled for a Phil Dawson field goal.

Score 21 - 3 Giants

The Giants had an awful offensive drive and punted the ball back to the 49ers to end the 1st quarter.

2nd Quarter:

The 49ers and Giants went back and forth trading possessions and getting no ground on eithe side, until halfway into the quarter on a Giants possession where a shanked Bradley Pinion punt gave the Giants excellent field position. However, once in field goal range, the field goal attempt was blocked.

The 49ers took advantage of the block and employed a hard running game to take them down the field and nail Anquan Boldin for a touchdown.

Score 21-10, Giants

The Giants responded (yes, some teams do that), with a quick 30 yard pass to Rueben Randal and then chinked away at the 49ers defense with the running game, leading to another Shane Vereen touchdown.

Score 28-10, Giants

Hard to believe, but the 49ers responded by deploying Carlos Hyde for about 6 yards a carry and then nailing key 10 yard passes to Anquan Boldin. A 19 yard rush from Colin Kaepernick helped too.  Once inside the Giants redzone, Kaepernick nailed Blake Bell for a touchdown.

Score 28-17, Giants

So much for a Giants response. After Rashad Jennings takes the ball 15 yards after the touchback, Eli Manning throws an interception to Tramaine Brock.The ensuing drive gave the 49ers excellent field position and led to a Reggie Bush touchdown.

Score 28-24, Giants

The Giants played around with a few runs, but the clock ran out and the half ended.

3rd Quarter:

The Niners received and began exchanging posessions with the giants. Nothing really spectacular happened besides multiple touchbacks. With three minutes left though, the Niners mounted an offense and took the ball down the field, thanks to a 30 yard Colin Kaepernick rush. Reggie Bush moseyed his way into the end zone and the Niners took the lead.

Score 31-28, 49ers

The Giants recovered an Eli Manning fumble to save disaster, but still could not respond to the 49ers score punting back. The Niners were unable to do anything else and punted to the Giants and the quarter ended shortly thereafter.

4th Quarter:

The Giants recovered another fumble to save their skin and took the ball down the field, ending in a field goal. Given how Odell Beckham warmed up with a 15 yard run, I'd say that's success.

Score: 31-31, TIE

The 49ers got a serious case of the dropsies, dropping every pass thrown. It resulted in a 3 and out and the Giants began their crusade to take the lead. A big pass to Shane Vereen, and another to Odell Beckham Jr., put the Giants in the 49ers endzone and an Eli Manning rush of 2 yards sealed the deal.

Score 38-31, Giants

Believe it or not, the 49ers responded with a balanced drive leading to a Torrey Smith touchdown.That's really all I got to say.

Score 38-38, TIE

Here comes the shootout! The Giants marched down the field and let Shane Vereen walk in for another touchdown.  Six minutes to go!

Score 45-38, Giants

If time has anything to say, this is going to end well for the Niners. After getting the ball back, Colin Kaepernick first connected with Anquan Boldin for 30 yards, then Bruce Ellington for 22 yards. The drive culminated with Kap running in for a 49ers touchdown.

Score 45-45, TIE

Well, we knew this was coming. After a getting a second 1st down, Eli Manning connected with Odell Beckham Jr. for a 70 yard touchdown. Why am I not surprised.

Score 52-45, Giants

Think we're out of it? No way. Colin Kaepernick slung the ball to Anquan Boldin and Bruce Ellington for some modest gains. After a few defensive holding penalties, the 49ers found themselves in the redzone and threw repeated passes to Torrey Smith (wow, who would have thought) to get the guy into the endzone. Tie game, 1:21 to go.

Score 52-52, TIE

Eli Manning hit the 50 yard line, however fumbled the ball...recovered by Quinton Dial. The Niners have excellent field position and 45 seconds to kick a game winning field goal. Unfortunately, a drop by Quntion Patton and a sack to Colin Kaepernick ended that goal and this game is going into overtime.

OVERTIME

The Niners received and a running duo of Colin Kaepernick and Carlos Hyde largely made up the San Francisco offensive series. The two took the ball to the 20 yard line and a Phil Dawson field goal put the game on the defense.

Score 55-52, 49ers

And the defense unfortunately allowed two 20 yard passes to Odell Beckham Jr. to put stop any optimism about the end of this hopeful rut. From there, The Giants deployed Shane Vereen to run it in for a touchdown. Woomp Woomp Woomp.

Final Score: 59-55, Giants

Final Thoughts:

As of next week, Niners Nation will be decreasing the time of the quarters to 10 minutes. these 50 point games are very inaccurate and there is no way I can see the Niners putting up 21 points of offense, let alone 55.

As for this game, it does seem very indicative though. The   could take the lead late, only to have it snatched away at the last second by Eli and company. For those of you who are lobbying for the number 1 pick, that's great for you.

As for me, give me an "A" or give me an "F". An "F" does not constitute overtime. My blood pressure would appreciate avoidance of such a consequence as well.