Tuesday’s Hot Clicks: The Best NFL Player Reactions to Their ‘Madden’ Ratings

Don’t dare tell NFL players that Madden is just a video game.

New York Jets/YouTube | Los Angeles Chargers/Twitter | Atlanta Falcons/Twitter

NFL players take their Madden ratings very seriously

Don’t dare tell NFL players that Madden is just a video game. Everyone in the league plays the popular video game franchise and players can be obsessed with their ratings. The newest installment of the series, Madden 20, comes out on Aug. 2 and the player ratings were just released on Monday.

Chargers receiver Keenan Allen had easily the best reaction, upset no so much with his 89 overall rating but his 69 strength rating “like I’m a little boy.”

safe to say Keenan isn't happy with his Madden rating 😂 pic.twitter.com/vZwn4ZNeZl

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) July 15, 2019

Vikings defensive end Stephen Weatherly let his face do the talking after he learned he was rated just 70 overall.

Minnesota Vikings/YouTube

Other players decided to lash out on Twitter.

Madden on that Bull 💩 I see..

— Ebron85 (@Ebron85) July 15, 2019

I don’t even play madden or videos so I can really careless about it....BUT my son do sooo @EAMaddenNFL I’m faster than that an get my rating up IM A DAWG!!

— Co Cap™️ (@ALevine41) July 15, 2019

Of course Tom Brady had to get in on the action with a professionally produced video.

Submitting new evidence to be considered for my @MaddenNFL speed rating. You can’t photoshop a video. pic.twitter.com/6h02i6oRqR

— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) July 15, 2019

A bunch of teams also put out YouTube videos where a bunch of their players reacted in real time to their ratings. Vikings players were particularly shocked to learn that long-snapper Kevin McDermott had the highest toughness rating on the team, but they were on board when they remembered that he lost part of a finger and kept playing. 

But the only reaction I want to see is Josh Woodrum’s to being deemed the absolute worst player in the game

Our condolences to Josh Woodrum, the lowest-rated player (excluding long-snappers) in this year’s Madden pic.twitter.com/aZdewJqhcF

— SI Media (@SISportsMedia) July 15, 2019

Baseball is so hard

It’s amazing how poorly non-baseball athletes can be a baseball activities. Throwing a ball or swinging a bat seems natural enough to anyone who grew up in North America. But if you’re the Greek Freak, well, it looks something like this.

Alley-Oops. @Giannis_An34 pic.twitter.com/0YTCSTvXQm

— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 15, 2019

Giannis is one of the 100 most athletic people in the world and he can hardly hit a ball off of a tee.

The best of SI

The oral history of the no-hitter the Angels threw in honor of Tyler Skaggs. ... Combining Russell Westbrook and James Harden will be a difficult task for the Rockets. ... The oral history of Tom Watson’s near-miracle at the 2009 British Open.

Around the sports world

I wholeheartedly agree with this take that Maddenneeds to bring back the “rushing attack” minigame. ... Phil Mickelson only consumed water and coffee to lose 15 pounds in 10 days before the British Open. ... Mark Cuban had a pretty funny quote about getting fined for leaking information to a reporter. ... You don’t see a batter stick up for a pitcher who plunked him very often.

Devin Hester’s son inherited his dad’s elusiveness

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A post shared by Anytime (@devin_d_hester_23)

Gio Urshela is a defensive wizard

Jumpman. pic.twitter.com/Dr1lmzRGZw

— MLB (@MLB) July 16, 2019

Classic Spurrier

#Gators coach Dan Mullen on his hole in one this summer: “I called and told Coach Spurrier, and he said, I’ve had six of those.”
😂😂

— Matt Hayes (@MattHayesCFB) July 15, 2019

Nutrition is very important

The Dodgers landed in Philadelphia at 4:11 a.m. today, then pounded the Phillies 15 hours later. They played through fatigue. “I mean,” Cody Bellinger said, “I drank two Red Bulls and took a lot of Advil, so I was feeling all right.”

— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) July 16, 2019

This needs to happen

@SteveKerr I guess I’ll c u in fear factor, and make sure it’s kraft cheese lol

— SHAQ (@SHAQ) July 16, 2019

Sometimes it’s best to just forget it’s 13–0

Earlier, the Rockies broadcast decided to cover up today's score. 😂 pic.twitter.com/14dDTp35WL

— Cut4 (@Cut4) July 15, 2019

The Yankees got beaten singlehandedly by Travis d’Arnaud

Alex Smith finally got this thing off his leg after eight months

The brace is off! A great step for Alex in his recovery #HTTR pic.twitter.com/Tc5okLHDNH

— Washington Commanders (@Commanders) July 15, 2019

Sean Payton doesn’t always need Drew Brees to get out of a jam

King George is rolling over in his grave

Knicks fans felt the same way

Bob Myers details his 2-hour meeting in New York with Kevin Durant, when KD told him he was gone: “I was sad” pic.twitter.com/wGWjKeRoXJ

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) July 15, 2019

Surfing might be the world’s most beautiful sport

That’s a clip from a new documentary on the legendary big wave surfer Nathan Fletcher, “Heavy Water,” out today on iTunes.

Not sports

Cops in Tennessee are telling people not to flush their drugs because it could create “meth-gators.” ... The cast of Game of Thrones was very upset with how the show’s final season was received. ... Four kids in Australia, ages 10 to 14, stole a car and drove it almost 600 miles before being caught. ... A computer taught itself to solve a Rubik’s cube in less than a second.

The ocean is a crazy place

Your hands will sweat like crazy watching this

Attaching fireworks to a drone to break up a street party

A good song

This album came out 11 years ago yesterday.

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.