Sunday Evening Present: Madden Style

from: fansided.com (yes, I understand this is Madden 25, but it looks great)

My Sunday was a lovely day spent cleaning the house and then hanging out at a friend’s house. I came home and had dinner with my wife. Good day. Then I popped open facebook like I’m wont to do a couple times a week and BAM! Full Madden 15 player ratings reveals for the AFC and NFC North! Present for me. So let’s dive in. How did the Vikings fare?

You can see the ratings yourself here: http://www.easports.com/.

Obviously AP is the best player on the roster, as he should be. Good job, Madden Ratings Czars, good job. John Sullivan comes in at a 92 overall; he may not get much recognition during the season, but Madden at least gives him his due credit. Then Phil Loadholt comes in third at a 90. I’d actually say Loadholt may be a tad overrated, but on the Vikings roster, as a mauling and run blocking right tackle, that would be an accurate rating.

from: gomadden.com

Loadholt may be overrated, on a team like the Patriots, but is there anyone else who is overrated on the Vikings’ roster? Linval Joseph is rated an 86, about what he was rated last year. I've been hearing that he’s good, but I don’t know if I’d go 86 good. He has more of a reputation than Shariff Floyd does, but Floyd’s 77 rating seems a bit too far away. Jamarca Sanford is another player I think may be getting a slight boost in ratings. At a 79, he’s the best strong safety on the roster, and that he should be. But throughout training camp Sanford has been running predominately with the second team. I understand Zimmer wants a safety that can play more coverage as opposed to Sanford’s run support, but I feel like a 77 may be more appropriate. Next one up is Jasper Brinkley, rated a 76 overall. He’s great in run support, which may be what Zimmer is ultimately looking for, but Brinkley was atrocious in pass coverage for us when he played for the Vikings. I think a drop in his awareness and zone coverage (though it’s already at a 60) are due.

These are all stretches. Honestly, I don’t believe any Vikings players should be rated lower than what they are. What kind of Vikings fan would I be then? I just felt that before I start listing the people that need a boost in ratings, I should attempt to be fair and list a few that maybe, kinda, roughly could be dropped a bit. Maybe.

from: gomadden.com

So now for those that I feel are underrated. We have to start with Teddy Bridgewater. At a 77 overall, he has the same rating as Johnny Manziel. Come on, man! Teddy has great accuracy on short and medium throws (87 and 82 respectively), but his 69 deep accuracy really kills his rating. While I would argue that Bridgewater probably has better awareness than the 60 he was given, I'm more concerned with this deep accuracy. From what we've heard out of Vikings training camp, Bridgewater has a much better deep ball than what was expected. Granted, every team will be saying their rookies are performing better than expected in problem areas. Still, a 69? I’d go with closer to 74 (and that will be the first thing I edit when I get my copy). Then we have Blair Walsh, who gets an 81 overall rating. With 92 kick power and 87 kick accuracy, he’s pretty good. But if those ratings, combined with his 78 awareness, only grant an 81 overall, then stuff needs to be pumped up. Walsh should be an 85. I know Justin Tucker of the Ravens is good, but he’s got a 93 overall rating. Blair Walsh is not 12 points worse than him. Definitely not. Last one I strongly believe got gypped is Matt Kalil. This guy is a stud. I understand he had a down year, so he isn’t at the same level as John Sullivan or Phil Loadholt, but Kalil gets just an 80 overall rating. With 79 awareness, he only has a run blocking rating of 76 and pass blocking rating of 87. Now, I love Iowa players, but Riley Reiff on the Lions is also an 80 overall. I scoff at that disparity.

Just some notes on other players: Cordarelle Patterson gets an 82 overall with 98 agility. That’s about right. In only his second year, his overall rating is hampered a bit by his awareness and catch in traffic. I’ll still probably start him and put Jennings at the number 2 spot. Then we have Kyle Rudolph at an 84. Expect to see that rating jump throughout the year. Then we’ve got Anthony Barr, The Vikings’ first, first round draft pick, sitting at a middling 75 overall. That’s ok for now, though, in my opinion. His speed and quickness are amazing for a linebacker of his size, 90 and 89, but he’s hampered by awareness and play recognition ratings in the lower sixties. He has great pass rushing moves, however, so he should be an immediate impact player with Madden 15’s new pass rushing controls, especially if you get the jump on the snap.

from: reddit.com

I felt like this year’s ratings—what is out so far—have been staggered better. There are more sixties and seventies than previous years, so there is a bigger difference between the elite players and those that are simply average. Of all the players in this release, only Calvin Johnson is a 99. AP, Aaron Rodgers, and Joe Thomas get 98s, but there’s a steady drop-off from there. I’m not comparing numbers to last year’s ratings at this point, so I could be completely wrong, but there seemed to be more low numbers on the bottom of those spreadsheets than in past years.

Madden 15 comes out August 26^th. Depending on how much time I get to play it, I think I can guarantee the Vikings a Superbowl by the second week of September. Yea, buddy.