The Madden series, the greatest video game collection of all-time really is almost as important as actual NFL games.
A few weeks ago a few of my friends and I were talking about football and we were saying that it’s too bad the Buffalo Bills lost linebacker Kawika Mitchell for the season following a knee injury.
Without hesitating, I said, “That really stinks. He has to be at least an 80 in Madden, right?”
The thing is, no one laughed, everyone just nodded their head and started to talk about something else.
But that conversation really got me wondering, is Madden a legitimate barometer of how an actual player is doing?
Apparently, yes , it’s true.
Madden is easily the best football game of all-time. It has everything you could ever want from a video game. Other people have tried to top it, but you can’t even duplicate the game’s success. It’s just something that is perfect and there’s no point in trying to compete with it.
My personal favorite Madden game was the 2001 edition because I remember playing a game in my room and my mom walked in. She wanted me to take out the trash or something, but since I was playing the game, she looked at the screen and said, “When the game is over can you take the garbage out?”
Madden saved me from doing chores. Plus that game was sweet and the Jets were stacked. I had running back Curtis Martin destroying defenses, Vinny Testaverde was finding Wayne Chrebet and Laveranues Coles on the outside. That team was unstoppable.
Over the past few years, I really haven’t been up on my video games, the last one I’ve purchased was Madden ‘04 but I still anticipate the rankings like I’m going to buy the game.
Usually Madden is a pretty accurate indicator of how a team is going to be in the upcoming season, but since we’re at the halfway point, let’s take a look at the most overrated and most underrated.
Overrated
Tennessee Titans-87 (1-6)
Carolina Panthers- 83 (3-4)
Underrated
New Orleans Saints-74 (6-0)
Denver Broncos-70 (6-1)
The Saints are rated low because they had a suspect defense that has done really well while the Titans are overrated because of their uncertainty at the quarterback position.
Both are completely justifiable.
Even with John Madden retired from announcing, his shadow still will loom over the NFL simply because of the success of his video game.
Other than his statistics from the previous season, is there really a better way to know if someone is good or not other than their Madden rating?
The thing is, people truly care about these ratings. Take a look at this website, which breaks down each team and players rankings. There are over 200 comments from angry fans saying their team or certain players should be rated higher.
If you’re slighted in Madden, it’s almost as bad as being disrespected in real life. Fans and players themselves really take this personally. T.J. Houshmandzadeh boycotted the latest Madden because he felt slighted about his rating. No kidding, check it out.
And don’t be surprised if in the future, along with a players stats from the previous season, you’ll see his Madden rating as a legitimate way to describe talent.
-8 to go- (Click here to see why we are keeping count.)
