The rating increases that EA Sports has just revealed for Madden 26 have created quite a stir among the large community of players. The official Twitter account of Madden NFL has released a chart depicting the largest increases in the virtual skills of players from Weeks 10 to 18 and has also addressed the online players with the question to “call your shot.” The online gamers have not hesitated in sharing their opinions.
What exactly do the rating increases imply? The ratings of players are based on their performances in real life in the game, which leads to yearly updates—the famous “Madden” history. To clarify, the case of a player whose overall rating starts at 75 at the beginning of the season and then after a few outstanding games goes up to 83 as a result of redistribution is the one being referred to here. It is a method that links the game to the NFL season loosely but at the same time makes it feel fresh. This time around Commanders, 49ers, Colts, Chiefs, Falcons, and Patriots players were the ones represented in the list. But it is the fans’ comments that tell the story; the comment section of this tweet is very expressive.
In the first few moments, one could see very strong opinions from the players. Bluwudawg, for example, did not hesitate to be direct and outright called the game “trasg.” The thing is, it is probably a typo of “trash,” but still, it captures the mood perfectly. It was that raw and unrefined gamer vibe that you just cannot script. And then again, there was the debate of some players still being discussed even more. PoeticalJustish87 emphatically wrote, “Put some respect on Danny Dimes,” referring to the quarterback of the New York Giants, Daniel Jones. It is confusing but at least funny the fact that the tweet’s graphic used a picture of Jones who, by the way, is criticized for being the player with the floppiest recent form with one user commenting it as “hilarious.” “The internet never forgets.”
But the hottest of topics? Christian McCaffrey is the center of the storm. User mjofnola2 didn’t show any mercy and called the ratings team to be “bias” about the conversation of CMC going down from 95 to 91 overall. This user stated that McCaffrey runs and catches really well and his number is comparable to record-breakers, so to take points away is just wrong. And that caused a lot of conversation. One reply from RatioUBum was saying something very quickly on the “shutting it down” side: “His ypc is among the worst in the league lmfao. Just because he gets spammed the ball doesn’t mean he’s good.” Ouch. Then G-Money stepped in and with a more balanced view stated, “he’s just going to have to earn that high rating back.” This is the kind of passionate, stats-heavy debate that sports gaming communities thrive on and make them so entertaining.
Moreover, an avalanche of opinions for the next big jump that are just everywhere. AeternaSoul is convinced that Patriots’ QB Drake Maye will be the one and said he would hit “90+ easy, and I’m not a Patriots fan.” Quite a daring prediction there! Conversely, Jalen Hurts and Caleb Williams are some of the names that are being mentioned. Supporter of Caleb, calebdagoat18, even went to some, uh, colorful language to make his point stronger. Meanwhile, lusterlacks went really deep into the nitty-gritty by replying to another user’s comment about a player’s pass blocking, labeling it “serious” and questioning why he isn’t a “high 70 by now.” This is the level of detail that indicates how much the players are involved in every single attribute.
Nonetheless, the serious discussions are not the only thing. Classic complaints from the Madden season were back in full force. NFLyoungboy24K aired his grievance about the game’s coverage and wrote, “Fix madden please my opponents be wide open full coverage don’t work for me 😤😤😤 or I’m doing something wrong.” We have all been there, when the defensive play call is perfect yet their third-string tight end is somehow all alone running down the sideline. And Alfredo43291702 referred to Davante Adams, giving his eight touchdowns as a reason and saying that the player’s rating “Never moved.” These inconsistencies are the hardest for players to accept and often lead to their unhappiness.
In addition to this, there are some random events that will simply make you laugh. WillBurgh18 just asked “Chris Paul?” which unless the NBA point guard is going for a surprise NFL debut is pretty irrelevant and totally out of left field. And josh_bw1 amid the chaos, albeit on PlayStation and Xbox platforms, continued the discussion about EA Sports FC 26.
