Madden NFL 12 Blog
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Madden Ratings Debate: Championship Aftermath
Posted by EA SPORTS at 05:25PM on Monday, January, 23, 2012
Those Conference Championships were well-played football games and no team looked overmatched or otherwise out of their element. San Francisco, even in defeat, proved they belong and are going to stay amongst the NFC’s elite. And all four teams showed that, even in this era of the QB, defense still wins championships.
Was it a fumble? Was it a touchdown catch? It wouldn’t have been Championship weekend without a handful of extremely close big plays deciding Super Bowl XLVI participants. Ahmad Bradshaw’s near fumble and Lee Evans’ almost touchdown catch are the iconic plays we can watch over and over again and say “Those moments changed the game!” with confidence. However, when we put ourselves in the players’ cleats, it’s clear that they play every snap like it’s the most important of the day. There’s no way Sterling Moore could know that he would need to deliver a perfectly timed swat to knock the ball away from Evans. He was just playing his position as best he could on that snap. Kyle Williams had fielded punts all day for San Francisco and had already suffered a mishap in the game. This is why we evaluate the player performances not the statistics here at the Madden Ratings Debate. All of those great plays and all of those mistakes are going to magnified when we start thinking about player ratings in Madden NFL. So let’s start magnifying and thinking about player ratings right now.
Cruising to the Top
Second year wide receiver Victor Cruz has been a revelation in 2011 and his performance in the NFC Championship game almost guarantees him a 90+ OVR rating in Madden NFL going forward. Yes he led the Giants in receiving this season but more importantly he had his best games when the spotlight was brightest. He danced several times in the end zone as the Giants mercilessly tore down the super talented Philadelphia Eagles twice; On Monday Night Football against the high powered Saints he went for 157 yards and over the first 45 minutes or so in the NFC title game, Cruz was Eli Manning’s favorite target. It’s true he hasn’t caught a touchdown since the Week 17 game against the Cowboys that got New York into the playoffs. It’s also true that Eli Manning has tremendous confidence throwing to a barely open Cruz on third downs and that keeps the Giants offense more dangerous than they might seem on paper. Superior catch, catch-in-traffic, route running and spectacular catch ratings for Victor Cruz should accurately capture his game in Madden NFL. His athleticism ratings are probably about right as he’s just fast, quick and agile enough to pick up decent yards after the catch. It’s what he does to get the football in his hands in the first place that sets him apart at this point. I’d guess that we’ll be rewinding the DVR to catch a salsa dance or two from Cruz in the Super Bowl.
Tougher than Peyton
I don’t want to argue for or against Eli Manning earning the clutch trait in Madden NFL at this point. I tend to lean toward yes and I’d gamble that he’ll have that trait when Madden NFL 13 comes around. What I saw against San Francisco though was Manning showing tremendous toughness, more than I thought he had, against an aggressive 49er defense. A former NFL quarterback explained to me how pressure on QBs is the great equalizer in the NFL; the surest way to minimize the greatness of a future Hall of Famer or first round bust waiting to happen. That was clearly the gameplan for San Francisco and they put Eli down for six sacks and knocked him around even when he did get the ball out of his hands. The fact that Manning kept dropping back (58 attempts) illustrates not only how effective he was under pressure but it shows leadership and the difference between having a game manager and a weapon at QB. Patrick Willis and his linebacker mates were guided missiles against New York’s running game holding them well below 4 yards per carry and turning what looked like long runs into 3 yard gains. Manning knew the game would be in his hands and took hit after hit while delivering just enough catchable passes to sustain drives. His fourth quarter passes to check down receivers out of the backfield were huge and Niner defenders are good for following through on their hits and knockdowns. San Francisco and New York both knew Manning was going to be throwing the ball yet SF couldn’t stop it often enough and New York stuck with it even when things weren’t working well. That’s playoff football and Manning may have just added another trait that he doesn’t have to share with his brother. Five star confidence or consistency (or maybe both) should be part of Eli Manning’s Traits and Tendencies package to go along with an outstanding toughness rating.
Teflon Flacco
Deion Sanders has made a big deal about the fact that Joe Flacco’s quarterback rating tends to plummet when the Ravens get in the post season. I bought into the argument as well more anecdotally than anything because I just couldn’t recall a big Flacco game in January. Against the Patriots, Flacco was prepared and fully stepped into the moment against the mighty Patriots. His confidence allowed him to fully utilize his amazing arm strength as he fired lasers 40 yards downfield all day. On the dropped touchdown to Lee Evans, very little is made of the quality pass Flacco gave him. That was all throwing power as Flacco knew the defender wouldn’t be able to react in time to knock down a rocket pass. Sterling Moore made a hell of a play to still reach out and knock away the caught ball before Evan could get his other foot down and follow through with a catch motion, but the pass was amazing. In fact, if Moore is a split second late or Evans makes a veteran play to hang on to a ball that he’s already caught, we’d be celebrating Flacco and comparing his throwing style to Aaron Rodgers’ right now. Flacco’s awareness needs to go way up because he’s finally a proven playoff quarterback and let’s make him ideal when it comes to forcing passes. That loss isn’t on him.
Ugly Tom
I’m not buying this idea that the Patriots are somehow a tougher team compared to the 2007 or Super Bowl winning teams. Tom Brady might be a little tougher or clutch or crafty, able to get by with his offense when things aren’t going well, but the Patriots franchise is as tough as they’ve ever been. Brady’s uncharacteristic turnovers, the injury trouble for TE Rob Gronkowski and New England’s spotty defense in the fourth quarter all conspired to make the Patriots look mediocre against Baltimore. I happen to believe that the Ravens are just that good and gave New England a lot to deal with. Brady’s late fourth down touchdown dive --his second in three plays-- showed more toughness and leadership than we’d seen even in the regular season. New England’s offense had just about run out of tricks when that fourth and goal situation came up and the decision to turn your 6-4 legendary QB into a goalline threat turned out to be the right call for the Pats. Let’s be clear though: this is not how you typically use a QB who threw for 5000 yards and 39 TDs in such a situation. So to add it all up let’s give Brady bumps to his CAR and TGH ratings but knock a point off of his deep accuracy rating. His mistakes are magnified in the playoffs too.
Where’s Alex
Alex Smith missed a lot of third down passes against the Giants. Yet, San Francisco was never out of the game because of their outstanding defense which seems capable of meeting any challenge an offense might throw at them. So it’s okay that the Niners were sticking to their gameplan of not giving the ball away and eventually breaking through with the extra opportunities their defense gives them. Right? Not quite. Against New Orleans, Alex Smith showed the ability to step up and make his offense dangerous enough when it’s clear the opponent is going to put up points. Against New York, he was able to hit Vernon Davis for huge touchdowns plays. So with 1:47 left in regulation, when the Niners needed THAT Alex Smith to show up, San Francisco got the quickest of three-and-outs in a tie ball game at home. Three incompletions, nothing very creative and the crowd didn’t even get a chance to get to their feet. This was not the time for a game manager. In crunch time with the game on the line, you never know what the next play or the next drive holds. Going for the kill, seizing the moment and all of those clichés are currency in those situations and it’s time for some offense. In fact, I’d argue that San Francisco’s style of play is built for those moments. The idea being that Smith only has to be great a few times per game in order to win rather than going wire to wire just to keep the team in it like we expect from Tom Brady or Eli Manning. Alex Smith has shown us he can do it so now the standard is set and against the Giants he was absent. And that’s without even getting into SF’s overtime possession. Smith isn’t ready for the clutch trait and his accuracy ratings have to take a hit with all of those incompletions on third down in the biggest game of his professional life.
That’s the way I see it. The discussion continues on Facebook, Twitter (#MaddenRatingsDebate) and the Madden NFL forums. The Facebookdiscussion generates a lot of heat each week as fans like you make the case for their favorite players and we’ve only got one more game on which to focus all of our attention. Let your voice be heard because Donny Moore is paying attention to all of our conversations on all of our platforms. This week’s Madden NFL 12 podcast should be very interesting after those amazing championship games.The ratings debate is happening all the time in living rooms, locker rooms and centers of football activity everywhere; we’re glad you’re joining us here to contribute.
Be sure check in with me on Twitter (@aboulding) throughout the week because we have to get all of these arguments out of our systems while we still can.
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