I remember a long time ago I posted that when I got Madden 2008 when it first came out I didn't like it but recently starting playing it again and am pretty obsessed with it and I might just get 2010 when it comes out if it rates well, if not then I will get 09' on cheap since it should drop in price when 2010 comes out.
At any rate I am 3rd year of my franchise. I played the first two season on default Pro difficulty because I rarely adjust difficulty in games anyways but mostly because I obviously had a lot to learn not having played Madden since like 01's edition.
In season 1 I own my division but got killed in my first playoff game vs. Bengals. I never could really figure out why but nothing I tried during that game really worked.
By the way I am hardcore in most of my game playing in that I do not replay games just because something bad happened. I lost and O accepted it.
In the off season I made a lot of mistakes because I didn;t really have grasp of the drafting and whole player contract management thing.
Despite my mistakes I still managed to do what the real Patriots did not do and completed the perfect season 19-0 clobbering the Saints in the super bowl.
In the next off season I had improved my managment ability, not perfect but improved.
Going into season 3 I raised the difficulty to All Pro which I feel is probably the way the game should be played at least for my skill level because at least the games feel challenging where as in season 2 I was crushing the AI teams by like 40 or more points in many games. My only compliant is that randomly rolled stuff is the game like interceptions and fumbles happens even more frequently and at times just feels cheap like its there just to allow the other team, usually the AI team to keep the game close.
Anyway I am like 12 games into this season now and leading my division and I have lost a few games. there was a point I was in 3rd and I did lose my first game of seaso against the dolphins, then later my first game against the Jets.
At any rate having fun with it.