This is not a personal attack on Donny Moore, it is merely a statement of disappointment with the quality of his ratings.
It can't be entirely his fault, as he has a job that requires more work and dedication than he can spare, due to his MUT duties...
I suggest that a team of four people take control of player ratings and traits. Four people with a knowledge of football and a passion for gametape and statistics.
These four people would be selected and delegated specific divisions, so that each team gets a fair and accurate approach with regards to player ratings.
- Ratings Person #1 would be in charge of the NFC South and AFC South.
- Ratings Person #2 would be in charge of the NFC North and the AFC North.
- Ratings Person #3 would be in charge of the NFC West and the AFC West.
- Ratings Person #4 would be in charge of the NFC East and the AFC East.
They would have to be cooped up watching game tape and analysing sites like PFF and specific team blogs to stay up to date with transactions, position battles, player strengths, special team specialists (beyond returners...) etc.
Currently Donny's ratings smack of wild uneducated guesses and catering to fans' demands. The title of 'czar' is ridiculous, and the fact he embraces it is a signifier that he is more of a Promotion element to Madden, than a developer or dedicated to the huge responsibility that Player Ratings is.
An example being:
If the gameplay is very good, which Madden 12 seems to have, the only annoyance will be that the run blocking specialist right guard your team drafted, is actually awful at run blocking but better in pass protection, which is inaccurate and may leave you without that mauling RG you want to sub in for goal line situations.
They are incredibly jacked up and off base.
A few choice ratings for the upcoming Madden 12 to showcase this:
Jake Locker is rated at 74 OVR, which is a fair rating, although personally, he'd be lower.
What is ridiculous however, is that his accuracy ratings are 75 short, 77 medium and amazingly 83 for deep. His play action is 80 and his throw on the run is 90!
This is the same Jake Locker who's accuracy was a massive problem in college. I can accept that his throw on the run is high, but 90 is excessive. An 80 here would be fine, as he will have room to grow. His deep accuracy rating is absurdly high and his short and mid ratings should be in the high 60's, not mid to high 70's.
In addition to this, Locker has 95 throw power. That is insane. Locker has a good arm, maybe even a great arm, but he is no Jay Cutler or Matt Stafford. A 90 rating for throw power, at most 92 would be entirely acceptable.
Staying with the Titans, Vince Young has had a throw power increase to 90, when he has always been at 88/89.
Blaine Gabbert has 92 Short accuracy, 86 Mid and 65 Deep to go along with his 90 throw power. The throw power rating seems fair, but for a spread QB who is most certainly no where near the level of Sam Bradford with regards to accuracy (in reality - coming out of college) he is rated as such. In addition to this his mobility is almost as high as David Garrard's and while he is a mobile QB, he is not a high 70s in this department and a low 70's for agility and high 60's for speed would seem fairer.
David Garrard, who doesn't have the strongest arm is now a 90 throw power, despite generally being belittled due to his lack of muster on throws.
His accuracy pales in comparison to Gabbert's too, which is non sensical.
Tony Romo is not a 91 throw power QB. On Madden 10 and 11 he was an 87 to 88 throw power QB, which seemed high to me, but is not as ridiculous as this 91 rating.
Dez Bryant is not a 94 Speed WR, and to counter anyone saying he is, is he the same speed as Miles Austin? Didn't think so.
Prince Amukamara is not a 93 Speed corner back.
The list will be endless, but the fact of the matter is, is that these ratings have seen a hike from the more realistic and fairer ratings of the last two Maddens.
Please sign here if these ratings irritate you as much as they do me, and hopefully we can influence EA to give Donny some support on such a 'difficult' job and make the game more enjoyable for all.
08-11-2011, 02:13 PM
