Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

[RaychelSnr]

Unless you live under a rock, and/or chose to boycott the NFL Playoffs this weekend -- you've probably heard about a certain incomplete pass thrown from Tony Romo to Dez Bryant. Bryant caught the pass, took three steps in lunging for the goal line and lost the handle of the football as he hit the ground -- by rule that is an incomplete pass in the NFL.

But yet, that is a rule you won't see enforced in Madden 15. Amongst various penalties which are hardly, if ever called, obscure rules like the Calvin Johnson rule are also not seen within the game. It's understandable given their highly complex nature, and no matter how EA did it they'd have an outcry from gamers in some fashion -- but one wonders if obscure rules should find their way into Madden.

Yes, people would rage quit if the exact same thing that happened to Dez happened in Madden. Yes, others would say it's not sim if you could somehow jump over the line to almost block a field goal like Kam Chancellor.
Clint Oldenburg mentioned specifically that this would not be in the game.

But at the end of the day, these are the things which make football so unique and so unpredictable -- and really, some realistic randomness is one of the biggest things Madden's approach to football desperately needs to liven the experience up a bit.

Should there be more crazy things happening in Madden, like what you saw this weekend? Let us know in the comments.

Operation Sports Podcast #1: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be in Madden?

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[F0rzaH]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

I think that if we are aiming for a realistic simulation then it should be in the game.

I don't doubt that it would be an incredibly frustrating way to lose a game (luckily for me I'm a Packers fan) but it would also lend an incredible amount of tension and drama to proceedings.

I'm all for as much realism as possible.

[cowboy_kmoney]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

No I dnt like this made up rule to give a win to the home team that paided for a win. Because it's a catch all day.

[adub88]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

I hate to be that guy, man we need some of the basic penalties to be put in the game. I still haven't see a pass interference call in M15.

[Dr. Banner]

So tired of this story. And guess I'm the only one with eyes and clearly saw in replays he never I REPEAT HE NEVER lunged for the goal line, the pictures and replays that clearing shows him falling on his face and never extending for the goal line, he was simply falling! Why is it so hard for ppl to understand that!

[fistofrage]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

I hate to be that guy, man we need some of the basic penalties to be put in the game. I still haven't see a pass interference call in M15.

No, we all need to be that guy. Let's see pass interference and a realistic amount of holding calls before we clamor for EA to put something else in the game that will be inevitably be broken or break something else that is working.

[pjburrage]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

Problem with games adding the variety we see at stadiums, arenas and on TV, is that if it causes incidents like Bryant yesterday the upshot will be that it will cause a confirmation bias, in human players seeing it happen too much at their expense in their own minds. This would cause all sort of worries for the gameplay designers in getting the tuning of such events fair.

In the perfect world this and the addition of more penalties/rulings would be great for the immersion of the game.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[adub88]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

No, we all need to be that guy. Let's see pass interference and a realistic amount of holding calls before we clamor for EA to put something else in the game that will be inevitably be broken or break something else that is working.

I'd say it'd be a huge disappointment if M16 drops and we don't have these basic penalties, but would it really be??? People are still going to buy it and that's the tough part.

[Shady Mike]

They don't even have pass interference in the game...they don't even have defensive holding in the game...there are NO WR interactions in the game...lets deal with the issues at hand.

[cjallure24]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

Should it be in the game, yes. If this product is going to be a representation of the NFL, then it should be in the game. Now do I have faith they EA can properly represent this rule? well, we all know the answer to that.

[scottyp180]

I hate to be that guy, man we need some of the basic penalties to be put in the game. I still haven't see a pass interference call in M15.

I came here to be that guy. We can't worry about rules and calls that rarely occur until we get basic calls in the game. The NFL has become a penalty heavy league and this should be reflected, to an extent, in Madden.

I don't want penalties dictating my madden games; however I also don't want games to be decided by penalties that should be called.

Also a couple weeks ago me n my buddy were playing a game in madden and I saw my first ever offensive pass interference called. I had no idea they were in the game. Me and my friend were shocked. Not only have I never seen a PI call in madden, I never even imagine offense PI would be called. I also have no idea why it was called because I didn't see anything out of tje ordinary in the play.

[elgreazy1]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

Wait, is this topic serious? The Madden franchise can't even implement proper penalty calls let alone match the Challenge system found in APF2K8.

[scottyp180]

No I dnt like this made up rule to give a win to the home team that paided for a win. Because it's a catch all day.

It's not a "made up rule". It is how the rule is written. The second I saw the ball pop out my mind went to the Calvin Johnson no-catch call from a few years ago. It is a crap rule and needs to be re-written but unfortunately for the Cowboys the league did nothing to fix the issue after the Calvin Johnson incident and now the rule is under scrutiny yet again after showing its ugly face in the playoffs. Hopefully the league actually looks into the rule this time instead of ignoring the issue.

The NFL and referees have a lot to go over this off-season. Bad calls have been an on going problem in the playoffs and inconsistent offciating had been a theme all season. The league needs to rewrite rules and make sure refs understand what they are calling because I am sick of lookong back at games and wondering if the officials effected the outcomes.

[BA2929]

I'll get this back on track so it doesn't become a complaint thread:

How could they even begin to put this in the game where it didn't feel completely random and forced?

It happens so rarely where this call actually affects the outcome of a game that the last instance people can remember off-hand is Megatron "dropping" that pass back in 2010.

Can EA put in something that affects a game once every 4-5 years?

I know you guys think "if it happens in real life, it should happen in the game", but let's be realistic. I've watched every single Chiefs game since 2008 and I can't remember this rule ever coming into play. Does it really need to be IN the game for Madden to be an accurate representation of the NFL?

[Lisac]

Re: Should the Calvin Johnson Rule Be 'In The Game' (Madden 15)

My answer is a BIG no! We can't even get penalties that work or challenges that work. Let's get those things right in the game 1st than maybe I'll change my mind.