Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

[seriousluboy83]

sam bradford +1
james laurinatis -1
chris long -3

[DeuceDouglas]

I honestly don't know how Bradford gets an 85. In the games I saw of him, it was ridiculous how many of his passes were thrown no more than ten (and mostly five) yards down the field. It seemed like whenever they got behind and were forced to go down the field Bradford had major issues.

[PolkHigh33]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

I honestly don't know how Bradford gets an 85. In the games I saw of him, it was ridiculous how many of his passes were thrown no more than ten (and mostly five) yards down the field. It seemed like whenever they got behind and were forced to go down the field Bradford had major issues.

Brady has banked his career on the short passes ..

[therockstar2005]

I honestly don't know how Bradford gets an 85. In the games I saw of him, it was ridiculous how many of his passes were thrown no more than ten (and mostly five) yards down the field. It seemed like whenever they got behind and were forced to go down the field Bradford had major issues.

Yes, but a big part of that is related to the lack of speed, experience, talent, etc. in the Rams receiving corps. The only receiver with good speed busted his knee in preseason, and their best weapon was cut by that wide-receiver production factory: the Baltimore Ravens. By the end of the year, it was a miracle that Bradford had anyone to throw to that wasn't in the backfield, much less 15-20 yards downfield (see last game in Seattle: Bradford makes good throws downfield - receivers drop the ball). Bradford, despite the QB rating, did throw for a higher completion percentage than Peyton Manning did in his rookie year, if that even means anything (it's fun to look at if nothing else). I can buy that there's hype there, but I do think it's well deserved.

[DeuceDouglas]

Brady has banked his career on the short passes ..

True. But Brady also throws a beautiful deep ball and threw it very often to Moss during his run between 07-09. Brady is also a good down field passer. With Bradford it feels like the Rams were running a college offense because Bradford wasn't capable of consistently throwing down field.

[skinnybonez]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

Big jumps for Marshawn Lynch and Mike Williams, Seahawks gonna be fun to play with actual skill position players this year.

-Two big possession/spectacular catching WR's in Sidney Rice and Mike Williams
-Two speed little guys in Deon Butler and Golden Tate taking the slots
-Two pass catching TE's in Zach Miller and John Carlson
-Good depth at RB

Just need a QB, we'll get that in my franchise

Josh Portis?

[jfsolo]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

Top priorities, draft a shutdown corner, turn Lance Kendricks into a star TE, draft a RB that will be ready to replace Steven Jackson in two seasons, draft another top corner, find the next LT at LB, make a 60 yard field goal just like Josh Brown just did last week.

[angels eclipse7]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

True. But Brady also throws a beautiful deep ball and threw it very often to Moss during his run between 07-09. Brady is also a good down field passer. With Bradford it feels like the Rams were running a college offense because Bradford wasn't capable of consistently throwing down field.

Thank you. I think it's funny that all the Brady haters just call Brady a dink and dunk system quarterback. In 07, Brady was 200 yards away from shattering Marino's passing yards in a season. Good quarterbacks don't come close to that record no matter how incredible the system he plays for is. Good quarterbacks don't break the all time record for most touchdowns thrown in a season. Only great quarterbacks do that. And Brady is one of the best there ever was.

[infemous]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

True. But Brady also throws a beautiful deep ball and threw it very often to Moss during his run between 07-09. Brady is also a good down field passer. With Bradford it feels like the Rams were running a college offense because Bradford wasn't capable of consistently throwing down field.

lol

Have you not watched a Rams game before? Or Sam in Oklahoma? Sam's deep ball is stunning, and the simple reason he only threw a handful of deep passes that were completed, was because his WRs had no seperation and butter fingers.

Sam is capable of throwing everything, but he's a smart QB and didn't make many rookie mistakes and took what the D and his WRs gave him, so to see he isn't capable of consistently throwing downfield is kinda ridiculous.

Sam is an 85 because he has all the tools a QB needs, and has the potential to be, and is on course to be, one of the top 3 QBs in the NFL. His accuracy on every level is off the charts, his awareness is excellent for such a young QB (with room to grow) and his athleticism is vastly underrated in the media (but maybe a tad high on Madden).

OK.

Bradford rant over, let's dissect these Rams ratings and see quite how awful they are.
Firstly, what is most surprising, is how Billy Bajema is the highest rated TE. That's just plain stupid. Dude has rock hands, and is even overrated as a blocker (is solid enough to be a blocking specialist, but he's not a dominating blocker).
Fells, who is no longer a Ram, is a better TE and he's a jack of all master of none TE.
Kendricks out of college and in one pre-season game has shown more than both Fells and Bajema combined lol.
The fact he's 76 speed is absolutely ridiculous, and even worse is his 65 strength and 70 route running. Dude is as crisp in and out of his routes than 80% of that Rams WR corps, and he is strong, just hasn't learnt to harness it yet. He's a beast to get down with YAC too, which should play into his strength.
Hoomanawanui's ratings are a joke too. Call him slow all you want or concussion prone but he can run a solid route and has soft as hell hands, in open space and in traffic. Also makes some impressive catches to difficult balls in space.

The WR ratings are a mess. Danario ran a 4.4 on a rehabilitating knee, after his 4th surgery on it, and is given an 87 speed? A full 7 points lower than Dez Bryant?
Sure, knock his acceleration, which is about right, maybe even too high, but once in full stride, he glides past DBs and is very FAST. His routes and agility suffer, but top end speed and leaping ability are ridiculous.
And don't say that 87 speed is due to scaled back ratings when Rich Eisen would get 95 speed the way these ratings are playing out.

The fact Avery is a 67 injury rating, despite only being on IR once, and Danario who's knee is medically described as 'mush' has a mid 70's rating, is laughable.

I cba to go into the rest of the WR ratings, but they're all pretty much off on some crucial ratings, with only a few looking about right.

The O line is comic.
Jacob Bell as our top rated lineman? What has Donny been smoking? Or which games did he watch? or which PFF stats did he look at?
There's a reason he was asked to restructure his deal, and a reason he did.
Jason Smith is all potential, but is merely, at this stage, above average.
Saffold with a 55 toughness? I mean really? Is that a typo??????
Where's Adam Goldberg? And how on earth is Hank Fraley an 80???
Setts a 76? He didn't even make the roster last year did he?

Rams LB corps has changed a great deal in FA, so none of these guys are barely relevant.
JL's speed a tad too low, I'd give him borderline 80, around 79 with better acceleration but that's a bit pedantic.
7th round rook Jabara Williams has nice speed, but don't know where the 71 zone came from. He was a small school player, and is often described as a rangy tackling machine, with phenomenal athletic ability, but VERY RAW in the finer elements of the sport.

On the DLine, nice to see Chris Long get some props. He had a stellar season, and is about right.
Robert Quinn 78 toughness? Dude had a tumour, and overcame it to be picked 14th overall after missing a year due to suspension. Don't know how toughness can be a knock, when he's a tough guy just again, raw. Does this mean should he be injured, it's an IR job? feels like an unwarranted slap in the face.

Selvie has put on 15 lbs of muscle (and as such is stronger than 64 strength, and he's a speed bullrusher, not an all finesse DE), and as such is much improved as a DE, starting the 1st pre season game in the place of Hall, so why he's amongst the lowest rated DEs on the Rams is madness. He's definitely 4th best right now.

Bartell always underrated in speed when he's been known to run down many a burner in his time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUlet8CQbGI
He's in fact, according to advanced statistics the 6th best shutdown corner in the NFL, smothering opposing CBs and always lining up on the #1. The only issue is he couldn't catch a cold, so never has the sexy INTs to make people realise.

Bradley Fletcher in one year of starting has proved himself to be an upper echelon CB, often ranked alongside Bartell and the other shutdown CBs like Revis, Nnamdi and Sean Smith of the Dolphins(? lol) on advanced statistic site PFF. His play is excellent too. A very aggressive CB who sticks to assignments with discipline, but doesn't make many aggressive risks on the ball. Just a tough cover CB basically.
Just LOL at his and Bartell's press ratings too.
Also massively underrated in agility as all Rams DBs seem to be...

How is Justin King a 70+ MCV CB? In training camp he's elite, but in the season he's below average and lacks the concentration to utilise his physical gifts, often getting burned for big plays.

All I can say is thank god Dockery is no longer a Ram lol

Darian Stewart is rated quite well, although tackle is a bit low. His potential should be at least a B, he's always making plays and is a perfect scheme fit.

Jermale Hines is rated how Taylor Mays should be, except Mays should have 95 speed lol
In all honesty, he got raped in ratings, and is a very promising SS, but I don't expect anything else... IN fact at OSU, he showed surprising zone awareness, and is a hitter but is a SS/OLB tweener and abit stiff.

Jonathan Nelson, who didn't play much in college, is massively overrated, but again has some solid real life skills that shouldn't be so apparent as a rook in Madden... He's a CB/FS tweener, and has soft hands and coverage skills, but can't tackle too well. Projects as a situational FS and nickel/dime CB. With these ratings he looks like a bonafide starter in 2 seasons in Madden.


In essence, this is another god awful bunch of Rams ratings on a stupidly old and inaccurately old (as in some players never playing for the Rams... Saddler McQueen??? or being cut since the end of last season... Dockery etc.)

I honestly can't get over how bad these ratings are, and how it's been allowed for ovrs and ratings to get souped up, considering they're meant to be 'scaled back'.

It's an embarrassment to EA and fans of the sport to see such illogically bad ratings.

Can we please get some way of at least telling the guy what's what with each team??????

[DeuceDouglas]

@ infemous

He only threw a handful of deep passes period. 8% of his 590 pass attempts were thrown 20+ yards down the field. When you consider he ranked in the bottom half of the league in completion percentage while throwing almost exclusively short "easy" throws, his numbers are rather pedestrian. His average per attempt was only higher than Jimmy Clausen's last year. Every QB is capable of making all the throws, that's why they're in the NFL to begin with. But, from what I've seen from Bradford is not worthy of an 85 rating. Anytime the Rams are behind they are going to have a tough time coming back because of how vanilla the offense is (see vs. KC, @SEA, @NO).

[TeixeiraFanatic]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

What to do you want him to do? Be a type of quarterback that he isn't? That was the type of offense that we used. We played that way because he was a rookie. It gave him confidence.

I'll take you back to Week 17 against the Seahawks. I can't think of the receiver off the top of my head, but Bradford hit him in stride 30-40 yards downfield with no one in between the him and endzone and it went straight through his hands. Now if you're Sam, why would you want to keep going deep if all your wide-outs are gonna do is drop the ball.

As it's been pointed out before in this thread, we didn't have the personnel to go deep. Avery was out the entire year. Alexander, arguably the fastest guy we had last year, wasn't on the team until the second half of the season. That's like having Joe Jurevicius running streaks. Why do it if you know it isn't gonna work.

You play to a player's strength, especially a young quarterback who is the face and future of the team. Bradford has all the tools to be a great great quarterback in the NFL. All he needed was some confidence.

Now that he has last season under his belt, I expect to see him really blossom this year. Having McDaniels will surely help him and I think you will see Sam throw downfield more often this year.

Edit: It was Danario Alexander that dropped the pass Week 17. The ball traveled 55 yards in the air and went right through Danario's hands. Don't know how to embed videos so here's the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfzEvzKResM&feature=related

[infemous]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

@ infemous

He only threw a handful of deep passes period. 8% of his 590 pass attempts were thrown 20+ yards down the field. When you consider he ranked in the bottom half of the league in completion percentage while throwing almost exclusively short "easy" throws, his numbers are rather pedestrian. His average per attempt was only higher than Jimmy Clausen's last year. Every QB is capable of making all the throws, that's why they're in the NFL to begin with. But, from what I've seen from Bradford is not worthy of an 85 rating. Anytime the Rams are behind they are going to have a tough time coming back because of how vanilla the offense is (see vs. KC, @SEA, @NO).

You don't know what you're talking about bro, all I can say.

Firstly, he's a rookie. Do you judge rookie QBs against 5 and 6 year pros? I don't, and Sam Bradford, statistically, had the 3rd Best Rookie season of all time, on a team that went 1-15 the year before.

Secondly, no supporting cast. Can you name a Rams receiver last year? Do you know what they're good at and what they're not?

Thirdly, play design and play calls can't be held against him. That's like criticising a punter for always giving the ball to the opposition.

Finally, Madden ratings aren't done with any degree of thought, so I don't know why you're thinking there was a method to the 85 lol.
Personally, I agree with THAT rating, one of very few I do, but if you actually WATCH a Rams game, you'll see that his accuracy is better than 70% of the league's starting quarterbacks ALREADY. That's off just a rookie season.

His poise and ball placement is damn near elite already, and his decision making, while simplified was excellent. Obviously he had lapses, but you can see the gulf between Bradford and Clausen can't you?

So stop hating. Bradford is worthy of a high madden rating purely because of what he CAN do, not what he DID in his rookie season.

Ya dig?


PS. I still think these ratings are abysmal.

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

If everyone was rated based on what they could do then every player would be rated in the 90's. Nobody should be rated on what they CAN do, they should be rated on what they've already DONE. Since you're obviously a Rams homer maybe you should go back and watch the Chiefs-Rams game from last year. Then you can watch the Seahawks-Rams finale where he was outplayed by "Clipboard-Jesus."

Part of being quarterback in the NFL is playing with the hand you are dealt and doing the best to make chicken salad out of chicken sh**.

[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

Honestly, based on Tebow's 3 starts, he outplayed Sam Bradford last year (obviously a small sample size). Tebow put up more yards per game, well more TDs per game, and turned the ball over at just a slightly higher rate. Meanwhile, he led as many 4th quarter comebacks in 3 games as Bradford did in 16, and Tebow rejuvenated a Broncos team that looked dead on the field up until Tebow came back. Suddenly Brandon Lloyd became a big time threat again, suddenly the defense could actually stop offenses every once in awhile, and suddenly the Broncos were scoring more points than they had the rest of the season. Meanwhile, in Bradford's biggest game of the season, he was outplayed by the Seahawks' backup QB, and couldn't muster up a TD as his team lost their chance at the playoffs.

Do I think Tebow is a better QB than Bradford? Hell no. Do I think he's a better player than Bradford? Again, hell no. But did Bradford really do anything that warrants being rated at just about the same level as Eli Manning and presumably Josh Freeman, Tony Romo, and a bunch of other good-great QBs, absolutely not. They should rate him based on what he did last year, and then give him an A for potential so that he will probably develop into a great QB. He isn't there yet, and even if he is, he didn't show anything to prove it last year.

[12]

Re: Madden NFL 12 Player Ratings - Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams

If everyone was rated based on what they could do then every player would be rated in the 90's. Nobody should be rated on what they CAN do, they should be rated on what they've already DONE. Since you're obviously a Rams homer maybe you should go back and watch the Chiefs-Rams game from last year. Then you can watch the Seahawks-Rams finale where he was outplayed by "Clipboard-Jesus."

Part of being quarterback in the NFL is playing with the hand you are dealt and doing the best to make chicken salad out of chicken sh**.

OK, honestly man, you are making yourself look ridiculous in this thread. Honestly.

I am a huge Seahawks fan, but I have no problem with Sam Bradford's rating. 85 does seem high, but people need to quit looking at overall ratings. Focus on his actual QB ratings. I do not like the Rams one bit, but there's nothing there that I disagree with. He's not elite, but soon will be. An 85 puts him anywhere in the 10-16 range as far as QB's are concerned. How can anyone really argue that?

18 TD's, 15 INT, 60 percent completion percentage. Not great numbers, but for a rookie who was on a team devoid of much talent, it's impressive as hell. He took a team that went 1-15 the year before and had them on the brink of the playoffs, albeit in an extremely weak NFC West division - but nonetheless, it was impressive.

Another poster mentioned his wide receivers... Yeah, um, I can't remember even two of his receivers last year. The talent surrounding him was not good. So, as to your quote in bold above, I'd say Bradford absolutely made "chicken salad."

Also, I was at the game when the Seahawks beat the Rams to get in the playoffs. I came away impressed. Ever heard of Daniel Fells? He was the Rams' leading receiver that day. The bottom line is that Bradford's "weapons" would have had a tough time hanging around on a third of the league's practice squad teams. It's easy to pick out a couple of bad games and try and use them as ammo, but it doesn't quite work when looking at Bradford's entire rookie season.

Like I said, I'm a huge Seattle fan, but I recognize Bradford's talent and his QB ratings look good. It pains me to say that but an 85 overall is not too high for him. If Matt Ryan was an 86 or 87 after his rookie season, Bradford is just fine. Bradford had more yards and more TD passes on a MUCH worse team than Ryan had.