Speaking for myself: Madden NFL 17, the last game in the series which credits Kolbe Launchbaugh as creative director, was my personal jumping-off point for diving deep into football; it was the first football video game ever to both show off single-gap run fits to the user and (more importantly for me) implement pattern-match coverage.
Madden 17 also was the catalyst for my having the opportunity to move out from Virginia to Los Angeles.
Personally, I think that game did just fine.