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The CPU/Human QB accuracy is the biggest issue I have with Simulation (and one of my biggest issues with Madden year over year). Having an elite quarterback in the NFL is the biggest advantage that any team can have, elite quarterbacks take average teams and bring them to the playoffs year over year; teams without good quarterbacks, even when they have above average teams around them, suffer and rarely go over .500, let alone make the playoffs.
Look at the Colts, Green Bay, New England, the Panthers when Cam was elite 2-3 years ago, and so on, and in every circumstance their teams are dramatically better when their elite QBs are on the field. The New England Patriots were the best team in the NFL last year and the Buffalo Bills were a below average crummy team, and yet in week 4, Buffalo blanked New England 20 - 0 (or around that), because both elite QB Tom Brady and average QB Jimmy Garapollo were out, and below average/average and injured QB Jacoby Brisette was the QB. This offense would go onto be one of the best offenses in the NFL, and this was with Gronk and Dion Lewis, two of the biggest playmakers when they're on the field, and yet, they got blanked, they couldn't move the ball, they rarely got the ball past the 50 yard line.
In Madden, in Simulation mode, on All pro difficulty, QB ratings don't matter, or they matter so little that it's of no consequence. Now, I can understand this in Arcade where you want everybody to be able to move the ball, and even in competitive, where you want player skills to matter more so than the ratings on the field. But in simulation mode, the most important player on the field, the QB, needs to have a wider range of attributes contributing to their play. CPU AI QB DeShaun Kizer, untested rookie QB with relatively low accuracy and low awareness, went 19/20 and 300+ yards against Minnesota in my latest game -- 95% accuracy. This was also with CPU QB Accuracy tuned down to 30, from 50. His only incompletion was a dropped pass, but it was dead on in the receivers hands. Now, part of this was the absolutely horrible zone defense in Simulation, All Pro. Now, maybe Kizer is going to be some elite star in the NFL (I Hope he is), but right now, he shouldn't be. Similarly, Christian Hackenberg -- a guy who very well might be cut by the Jets in a week -- was 16/18, his only two incompletions were an interception and the other an immediate throw away almost seconds after the snap. The throw away was weird QB logic, the interception was because he was too accurate and my DB ran a better route than the WR. Hackenberg might be the worst QB on a roster in the NFL, but his accuracy numbers were almost 90%.
In Simulation mode there is almost no perceived drop off in play between a 99 overall Tom Brady and a 66 overall Christian Hackenberg. You could probably trade Christian Hackenerg for Tom Brady, straight up, and the CPU's production would hardly change on a Christian Hackenberg led Patriots offense. Now, in Arcade and Competitive, whatever, it doesn't really bother me, but in Simulation mode, QB play should be one of the most important factors in the NFL. It's the reason why Minnesota had to sell the farm to get Sam Bradford last year, because having an average/good QB was the difference between being a playoff competing team or being in the basement of the NFL. It's the reason why the Cleveland Browns have not been good for almost 30 years. They draft QBs in every other Draft because they haven't been able to get a good quarterback since Bernie Koczar. It's the reason why Jacksonville is on the verge of rebuilding, after they've dedicated the last 4 years to rebuilding because Blake Bortles has forgotten how to be an NFL Quarterback, and what was a sneaky favorite for winning the AFC South last year (with the assumption Bortles was just in a temporary slump), is now a team that will struggle to finish in the top half of a bad division. Last year, the Oakland Raiders went 12-4 with an excellent high powered offense, they were a favorite for finishing the AFC with the best record and it looked like New England might be traveling to Oakland for the AFC title game... and on one play in week 16, their star young QB broke his leg. On one play their season took a turn, and not only would New England be hosting the AFC title game, Oakland would get bounced in the wild card round by a mediocre Houston team and while Carr made them one of the most fun offenses to watch in the NFL, backup Connor Cook would barely be able to throw over 150 yards in the game.
But in Madden, the talent of CPU QBs doesn't matter. Hackenberg, Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Blake Bortles, Ryan Mallett, Derek Carr, Connor Cook, they're all the same. Connor Cook is as like to go 21/24 and 380 yards against Houston as Derek Carr is.
It's the most important position in the NFL, and Madden in simulation mode treats it basically like the punter position where, sure, maybe having an elite punter makes a difference, but the difference between the 65th best punter in the NFL and the 10th best punter in the NFL isn't really that much of a difference. Likewise with how Madden treats QBs in Simulation mode.
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