FIFA, NHL and The Show had solid foundations and then began steadily improving them...in fact each of those titles had a serious problem with a previous foundation, overhauled themself completely and THEN made consistent and steady improvements to become the gold standards for their respective sports in videogame representations. FIFA was getting pounded by PES for a long time actually...NHL was actually considered worse than NHL2K for a good stretch (though NHL2K was also widely panned)...The Show was well behind MVP baseball for a long time as well.
FIFA still has PES to compete with every year...
NHL and The Show have been largely competition free...
So, its not ONLY competition that drives studios to better games (though in no way does competition ever HURT game progression)...
Until Madden breaks down and sheds all of their legacy issues, they can't get into the conversation with the other good sport simulations.
Of course, I find it quite amusing that I picked up NBA2K14 for my PS4 and was totally blown away by it while fans of the series on last gen systems tell me this version totally sucks and that 2K needs to "get back to basics and fundamentals"...it sounds so much like the conversations between Madden vets that it made me laugh to myself...the more things change for some, the more they stay the same for others I guess!