I agree that I'm enjoying this year's game much more than the last 5 - actually only 8-6 in my franchise. But this year you can tell "SOME" effort was made which is noticeable on the field and with the franchise mode.
Zeke is my work horse and Steele gets Dak killed (more me taking too long to make a decision, but the contrast is night and day where I get the pressure with Tyron vs Steele)
Same with Micah on the edge vs Sam Williams or an avg. player. He gets sacks on his own with realistic pass rush moves; the edge rush looks great this year, the dip and turn to the QB looks like a real pass rush move instead of a pre-determined animation. I tend to play as Hooker as a nickle Safety in the box and Micah sometimes can just steamroll the tackle 3-4 times a game.
Picks are easier to throw but much easier to make as well...Anthony Brown has something like 10 so far from me just switching and holding Triangle/Y, etc. Much better game than in years past...I rarely make it to September any more but can see that happening this year esp with improvements to Franchise mode.
Good point on making it hard enough to come back for more too. In a franchise where you're mainly playing the cpu, you need them to be unreasonably strong at times to make it completive; maybe not the 3rd down automatic vibe you get sometimes, but hear your point and think some unfairness is needed for cpu play to keep franchise mode interesting.
