I agree with most of what you said, but let's be honest; if a "dev" has to go to a videogame forum for "stuff that can help" make his job easier, then something is very wrong.
I get it, Madden "devs" are human, but I still hate the fact that we know these people by name in order to humanize them. I don't care who is working on the game, I don't care what his name is, I don't care how many years he's been in the business, I don't care how many hours/day he has to work, I simply don't care. Just make a game that's actually worth $60. Enough with the excuses