The bold times a thousand, that's all that matters at the end of the day, directly in relation to the thread title. Many have stated it repeatedly, IF EA wanted Madden to be a realistic game, it would be. The talent, the obstacles, the resources, etc aside, if realism is something those footing the bill for developing Madden wanted, they'd make it so, it clearly ain't what they want and the game clearly is what it is.
Nothing any of us layman can do about that but just in terms of the discussion, it grinds my gears when I see realism being set as some unattainable ambiguous bar just because Madden doesn't deliver it. This was never an issue before Madden was the only NFL game, Tecmo Bowl was realistic in its' day, The Show and NBA2k are realistic for the current times, Madden just isn't.
Another thing that just crossed my mind, it's funny that with photo stills of Madden, one of the few things about Madden that are realistic, we don't have the nonsense about
"what is realistic/realism/etc ?" but when it's things Madden does that are obviously unrealistic and/or just poorly represent real NFL football, suddenly the term is too broad.
While I'm riffing, this other thing about people don't really want realism, GFTOOH with that mess, lol. When watching real life NFL football, I don't need to be an expert on the sport to enjoy watching, same thing applies to Madden, just because the football processes in Madden were realistic, wouldn't diminish the enjoyment value of the outcomes. In fact I always argue and believe that would enhance the enjoyment. Take a game like COD or some other shooter of that ilk, I don't need to be a weapons aficionado to enjoy having authentic weapons in the game, that reasonably behave as they would in real life. No one says don't have the 9mm handgun realistic, have it shoot lasers and unlimited bullets that turn corners because gamers don't want realism.
Then to make matters worse, gamers supposedly don't want realism, whatever that is but they certainly want an interactive movie like Longshot, this coming from the same studio that has downplayed the importance of AI and "true" coach mode because games are meant to be played, not watched.
My point to this rant is that realism in developing Madden, shouldn't limit accessibility in playing Madden with adequate UI options.