By today's standards it would be unplayable. For that time that was all we had so we were for the most part content. Times have changed. 2k5 and 2k8 raised the bar for football standards and Madden has STILL not caught up.
No on is expecting for perfection. We ARE looking for better than what we have had. The IE engine is a good idea with a bad start. Its not garbage, and it has potential. It just needs to be tweaked/cleaned up. Its new right now so some of you this week are accepting of the flaws but lets hear from you 4 weeks from now after your 500th viewing of your HB falling down simply because he touched a offensive lineman.