It's Perfectly Fine to Care About the Steelers Madden Ratings
It’s that time of the year again. Madden ratings were released, and as always, EA failed to rate the Steelers as a 99 overall team. In all seriousness, there were some controversial ratings for several Steelers players entering the 2020 season. While many of us took to Twitter to complain that T.J. Watt or Minkah Fitzpatrick aren’t rated high enough, some took a different route. “It’s just a video game,” they said. “Who cares?”
In an offseason as gloomy and discouraging as this one, the Madden discussions are fun and a nice change of pace. Sure, they can get old, as every fan base can think of at least five guys from their team who were rated too low. But don’t listen to the “it’s just a game” crowd. It’s fine to care about Madden player ratings.
Football and video game fans alike have been getting fed up with the Madden product over the past few years. Each year, there seems to be less focus on overall gameplay and specific features, and more focus placed on Ultimate Team (EA’s big moneymaker). Many gamers will make comments that EA seems to put the previous year’s Madden game in a new label and sell it again every year.
With these growing frustrations, there’s nothing wrong with fans demanding more from EA when it comes to Madden. Ever since they stopped making NCAA Football games, Madden is the only major football video game. Because of this, EA knows they can get away with putting less effort into the games. Fans will buy them anyway because they essentially have no other choice. Just like it’s acceptable to have complaints about the gameplay, it’s fair to have complaints about the grading system, too.
So which Steelers players were on the wrong end of the Madden disrespect this year? As previously mentioned, the two obvious candidates are Watt and Fitzpatrick. Watt came in as just an 86 overall. Yes, you read that right. This is the same T.J. Watt, a first-team All-Pro, who forced eight fumbles and recorded 14.5 sacks. It’s the same guy who finished third in the Defensive Player of the Year voting. Yes, historically, Madden hasn’t significantly increased grades following one good season for a player. But this wasn’t his first good season. He was a Pro Bowler in 2018 as well. Watt has done more than enough through his first three years in the NFL, and especially last year, to warrant a spot in the 90 club.
Fans were pretty upset about Fitzpatrick only coming in with an overall rating of 87, but this isn’t near as egregious as Watt’s. Fitzpatrick revolutionized the Steelers defense as soon as he joined the team prior to Week 3 last year, we all know that. Like Watt, Fitzpatrick earned himself first-team All-Pro honors. Not that it should matter a whole lot, but fans tend to forget that Fitzpatrick’s 2019 campaign got off to a rough start during his first two games in Miami. Maybe that affected his player rating. He is, without a doubt, one of the best safeties in the NFL, an extremely high-IQ player, and the glue holding together the back end of the Steelers defense. A 90+ rating for Fitzpatrick would be warranted, but if he repeats his 2019 success in 2020, there’s no doubt he’ll join the 90 club in next year’s video game.
There were other, smaller controversies as well. We know that it’s tough for second-year players to get a lot of love from EA. But Devin Bush and Diontae Johnson both coming in at 76 overall seems a bit off. Bush got Defensive Rookie of the Year votes after a great rookie campaign, while Johnson led a loaded 2019 wide receiver class in receptions and was an All-Pro punt returner. Elsewhere, Matt Feiler only being rated a 71 (while Alejandro Villanueva came in at 82), is a big joke. Feiler put together a quality line of work in 2019 and is deserving of way higher than a 71. Thinking about it further, this really might be the biggest mistake on the whole team. Cameron Sutton, being rated a 69 (one point lower than Justin Layne, who didn’t play any defense as a rookie), is a pretty big blunder too.
Yes, every fan base will find players on their team who they feel should be rated higher in Madden. It happens every year. But some of these rankings for Steelers players are objectively bad. How could anyone who watched the Steelers play in 2019 conclude that Justin Layne is a better cornerback than Cam Sutton? How in the world was Ryan Switzer a better overall football player than Matt Feiler? It’s embarrassing for the world’s leading football game to come up with such preposterous rankings. So no, it’s not “just a video game.” Rankings as poor as these deserved to be called on, and good on fans taking the initiative to do so.
Connor Deitrich is a Contributor with AllSteelers. Follow Connor on Twitter @CDeitrich22, and AllSteelers @si_steelers.
