[DCEBB2001]

Quote: Originally Posted by ggsimmonds

1. I know you cited raw grades on this forum before. If I recall you gave Drew Brees' arm strength of 2.4 or something similar. I confess that such a number is meaningless to me unless I know the methodology though. And that is what you cannot reveal. Trust me I get that. I am also aware that many times Donny makes comments that leave us shaking our heads. But there are other times where he cites secrets of the trade. By nature I am not a trusting person. I have no reason to believe you are lying, but nor do I have reason to trust you. So again, my questions revolve more around how the raw data is acquired/determined and I understand why you cannot make that public. But when you constantly bring up "I have data that supports it" I admittedly roll my eyes. I hope you understand my position; it is not meant to be hostile. Believe what you will. Don't trust me, just look at the data. Do your own research and see what you find. Check your sources. That's what I would do. 2.This relates to the above answer. I have no idea who you are; your faq is vague in this area. Might I suggest citing your educational background or something to that effect on the site? To answer your question, sure I would trust the brain surgeon. I would not trust the guy on the internet who says he is a brain surgeon. The site isn't supposed to be about me. It is supposed to be about the ratings. How I rate players is strictly confidential for obvious reasons, so being vague is to cover the intellectual property and those who gather and provide the primary source material. I myself am a slave to the game. I have two undergraduate degrees (one in Geography, one in History) and a Masters of Science in Geography. I was also a GA at Texas A&M University from 2008-2010. I specialized in spatial analysis in regards to advanced statistical analysis of geographic metadata. I coached high school football in Wisconsin for 2 years as a varsity WR/DB/OC coach for Eau Claire Regis High School. Under my coaching, I had two players reach the level of All-State Designation (Mike O'Connell and Jake Campbell). I worked for NFLDS as a Big Ten regional scout from 2005-2008 and Big 12 Regional Scout from 2008-2009. Played ball and ran track for two years in D3. Now, I am using my skills in data analysis as a business operations analyst in the DFW area. If you don't know what people like me do, you can look it up. Oh, and I still play football for a semi-pro team in Texas' largest semi-pro league, the TUFL. I was an All-Star in 2012 and 2014 as a Flex-TE/WR. 3. & 4. " I can't tell you if one came in at the very top, but it wouldn't surprise me" "Based on the data I have, it has never happened"Beyond my confusion with those statements, I fully agree that Madden tends to overrate rookies. They tend to treat an average top 10 pick as a once in a decade talent. I think I was referring to not sure if one rookie REALLY ever came in at the top of his game, ready to dominate, in any category (Maybe Bo Jackson???). What I can tell you is that the data I have since 1997, has never shown a rookie to be rated as consistently high as EA rates their rookies. So since 1997, according to the sources I have, it hasn't happened. Before that? Maybe, but if I am playing the odds, I doubt it. 5. I am a bit confused on this one. We are not talking about scouting prospects and the draft. I agree that teams should draft on traits; that is fairly clear cut to me. But it is not the same as rating players in a video game. In Madden we are dealing with known quantities (aside from rookies obviously). The issue to me is about getting those known quantities to add up. Generally speaking you can use production to grade a player in madden categories. PFF ratings for an OT in pass block could translate to PBK. A corner's grades in man coverage could translate to their MCV rating. Are there problems? Absolutely. I read the series on QBs in focus and saw something striking. I looked at QB's numbers on out routes and sorted by average distance thrown. I don't remember the exact numbers but one number was significantly higher than the rest. My initial thought was wow this guy must have a canon of an arm. Turns out the QB was Russell Wilson. Not to say he has a weak arm, but I was surprised. I suspect that his high number was due to rollouts or bootlegs. Point is, it creates a problem. But generally it is adequate to look at production and tendencies and extrapolate individual traits. So you are telling me that if a WR averages 20 YPC he should be rated very fast...despite the fact that he may have had that production via breaking tackles instead of outrunning everyone? Using production is like working backwards. Wouldn't it make more sense to quantify each part and THEN build the player and see if he produces? Ugh, I hate the word "production". Production is the result of 22 players with an infinite amount of possibilities and paths finally coming to a conclusion. I would rather quantify the parts of each player, add them all up, and see what the outcome is. This way, you aren't putting the cart before the horse. Besides, Madden uses traits to grade players, not production, via their ratings. Shouldn't we do the same thing for the sake of uniformity if anything?

And that is all I have to say about that.