I'm really not sure why people are surprised that he's saying you have to play the game to notice the difference. It was just last year where people were saying Madden 25 next gen looked exactly like current gen and then after the game came out people were like oh ok I see the difference now, it's an improvement, a step in the right direction. 15 is another jump in that same way, 16 will probably be a bigger jump(more dev cycle time) and IMO the game where things will come together for most people to truly understand the shift that's happening. Rex said last year that he compares it to turning around an aircraft carrier, it was also said that 25 was the first year of the "3 year plan". 15 is the second, if 16 isn't that game we've been wanting all along, then we should probably write this team off. Until then, people are just jumping to conclusions based on the past.
As far as why we are only seeing Seattle and SF, it's because those were the only two teams that EA was finished working on with player models, faces, equipment, etc...as of E3.
I do believe the Seahawks have the "new" Nike shoes that we saw a pic of back in Madden 13 blog.