it almost is. the catch rating become useless when user catching. I recruited a WR that had 99 speed, 86 Acc, but like 50 catch. user catching with him, he catches everything. if I let the CPU catch it, he'll drop the ball a few times like he should.
I can see for online players that they'll need to user catch, but for me, as mostly dynasty mode player(I never play ranked online games, and only play online dynasty for online), I get more realistic results without user catching.
same for on defense. a lot of the time you can switch to the DB and get an Int easily. while if it's the CPU defending, it'll most likely be swatted down. If I'm already controlling the player that is covering a player, I'll attempt to user catch it(though, I normally play with a DE/DT), I just don't do the switch to the defender near WR to get an easy Int when the ball is in the air.