What is Digg?6 Comments
- MechaZain, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1I'll never forget how ridiculous they made Vick's speed 04. Short of blitzing with the entire defense, there wasn't much you could do except watch him dance around the field at his leisure. Sacking him was one of the most satisfying moments in gaming history.
And "He's the greatest NFL quarterback of all-time, and we're privileged to see him play"? The author needs to wipe his mouth, I think he's got a bit of Manning's ass on his lips. - XombieRobot, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1Thank's friend!
- bunnyandzombie, on 08/07/2008, -1/+2STOP MAKING US CLICK FIFTY PAGES TO READ YOUR ARTICLE. I HATE ALL THE ADVERTS.
25. Dave Brown (Madden '96, New York Giants)
Rating: 80 (Rank: 5)
Other Years: None
As a Giants fan growing up in the 90s, it fascinated us that someone might actually think Dave Brown was great. After spending a first round pick in the NFL Supplemental Draft to select Brown out of perennial college football powerhouse Duke, Brown played like, well, a Duke football player. In the 1994 season, which Brown's rating was based on, he threw for 2,814 yards, 11 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Stirring stuff. He lost his job in 1997 and ended up throwing more interceptions (58) than touchdowns (44) in his career. He was, on the other hand, always tall.
24. Randall Cunningham (Madden 2000, Minnesota)
Rating: 85 (Rank: 8)
Other Years: Madden '95 (76, T5)
Cunningham went from being the backup in Minnesota to an All-Pro quarterback, throwing for 8 yards an attempt and putting up a sterling 34:10 touchdown-to-interception ratio in Minnesota's 15-1 season. The next year, the injury bug bit Cunningham and he lost his job to Jeff George -- he'd never again regain a starting spot in the league.
Fallen and can't get up.
23. Mark Brunell (Madden '01, Jacksonville)
Rating: 87 (Rank: T5)
Other Years: Madden '00 (87, T5); Madden '02 (86, T7); Madden '03 (83, 8)
It's weird to think that Brunell was once a backup to Brett Favre, but he carved out a fine career of his own in Jacksonville before spending a year as the starter in Washington. Brunell's style made him perfect for Madden players, with a big arm and excellent mobility providing a two-way threat.
Chalk outline Montana.
22. Joe Montana (Madden '95, Kansas City)
Rating: 77 (Rank: 4)
Other Years: None
It'd be impossible to make this list and not include Joe Montana somewhere, although the licensing regulations related to his own SEGA-produced game would've precluded him from appearing by name in previous versions of Madden, anyway. Montana would retire after the 1994 season, meaning that this year was the only time the legend actually appeared in an EA football game as an active player.
21. Matt Hasselbeck (Madden '07, Seattle)
Rating: 93 (Rank: 5)
Other Years: Madden '05 (90, T9); Madden '08 (92, 8)
Hasselbeck's a player who we think the Madden rating gods haven't looked particularly kindly upon; all the guy's done is make three Pro Bowls and lead his team to multiple playoff appearances, all without the benefit of hair. Note that while his rating is 16 points higher than Montana in their best seasons, Montana's rank is actually higher than Hasselbeck because, well, it's all relative and the rating system changes over time. We gave Hasselbeck the nod in a close battle because of his multiple appearances in the game as an excellent quarterback.
20. Troy Aikman (Madden '95, Dallas)
Rating: 79 (Rank: 3)
Other Years: Madden '96 (77, T7); Madden 2000 (83, T10); Madden '01 (88, 4)
Again, although Aikman's rating was way higher in 2001, relatively, his 1995 rating is more impressive. It makes sense -- the rating is based on the 1993 season, the year the Cowboys won their second championship. His completion percentage that year? Oh, only 69.1%. He had weapons surrounding him, but that's just filthy.
19. Jeff Hostetler (Madden '96, Oakland)
Rating: 83 (Rank: 4)
Other Years: None
OK, so it's a mild surprise that we'd put Hostetler here, but in Madden '96, his 83 rating was far superior to Aikman's 77. Why? We're not really sure. Hostetler did make the Pro Bowl, but he didn't have a great year -- he threw for 3,334 yards, but with 20 touchdowns against 16 interceptions. We're not judging Madden's ratings here, though; we're just merely analyzing who was the best as play as. And Hostetler, for that one year, was pretty darn nifty.
18. Doug Flutie (Madden 2000, Buffalo)
Rating: 86 (Rank: 7)
Other Years: None
Since we're not including CFL sims in this discusson, Flutie can't go much higher than this. Even so, it's a shock that he was actually considered the seventh-best quarterback in football when he was struggling to win his job (a battle he'd eventually lose). He made the Pro Bowl in the 1998 season this was based on, throwing for 2,711 yards and 20 touchdowns in only 10 starts. He also was fleet of foot, which goes a long way in determining Madden viability.
17. Jeff Garcia (Madden '03, San Francisco)
Rating: 92 (Rank: T3)
Other Years: Madden '02 (85, T9); Madden '04 (93, T5)
Another undersized CFL product who didn't get a chance to start until later in his career, Garcia had a three-year run as an elite quarterback that, not coincidentally, matched up with the three seasons he had a significant Madden rating. The first year of the three was actually his best, as he threw for 4278 yards, 740 more than he would the year later; however, it took Madden an extra year to catch up and rate him accordingly.
Plummer drops back, surveys the field for defenders to throw to.
16. Jake Plummer (Madden 2000, Arizona)
Rating: 89 (Rank: 4)
Other Years: Madden '01 (82, T13)
Plummer would only get one year of significant respect in Madden, but he made the most of it. His role in leading the '98 Cardinals to the playoffs and a shocking victory at Dallas made The Snake look like a future star, albeit one with more interceptions (20) on the season than touchdowns (17). He proceeded to stagnate and even decline before a fluke season in Denver the year before he retired. Eli Manning with a way worse defense.
15. Warren Moon (Madden '96, Minnesota)
Rating: 84 (Rank: 3)
Other Years: Madden '95 (76, T5)
Moon's first year in Minnesota was a doozy. He made the Pro Bowl and threw for nearly 4300 yards, which was enough to overcome a 18:19 touchdown-to-interception ratio. Moon had one more big year in him before breaking his collarbone in 1996, which ended his Vikings career and sent him to the second-division Seahawks for two years before finishing up as a backup in Kansas City.
The man.
14. Donovan McNabb (Madden '06, Philadelphia)
Rating: 97 (Rank: T3)
Other Years: Madden '02 (90, 6); Madden '03 (92, T3); Madden '04 (95, T3); Madden '05 (95, T3); Madden '07 (94, 4); Madden '08 (94, T4)
As you can see, there are a lot of McNabb seasons to go around in this list -- he's never been in the top two quarterbacks in the game, but he had a seven-year run where he wasn't out of the top six. That's pretty incredible. We chose the version where he appears on the cover just to make him feel a little bit better about daring to take on the Madden curse (and losing).
13. Carson Palmer (Madden '08, Cincinnati)
Rating: 97 (Rank: 3)
Other Years: Madden '07 (95, 3)
Palmer's likely to be the person who takes over that role from McNabb -- until Tom Brady or Peyton Manning get hurt or dramatically drop off, they're pretty much guaranteed to be 1-2, and Palmer's the best quarterback in the league besides those two. Of course, if he loses Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh, well, all bets are off.
12. Dan Marino (Madden '00, Miami)
Rating: 90 (Rank: 3)
Other Years: Madden '96 (78, T7)
Marino strangely got no love from EA; in '95, he's downright mediocre, and even in '96, he has some bizarre people ahead of him (we'll get to them later). Maybe they didn't like Ace Ventura. Or Isotoner.
Ah, the days of NFL Icons.
11. Steve McNair (Madden '05, Tennessee)
Rating: 96 (Rank: 2)
Other Years: Madden '01 (87, T5); Madden '03 (83, T11); Madden '04 (93, T5); Madden '06 (89, T8)
The recently-retired former Alcorn State quarterback assuredly turned injuries off when he played Madden -- he got enough of them in a career that was constantly marred by McNair's bruises and his admirable ability to ignore them and suit up. It took him a while to get respect, but he ended up as one of the videogame's best quarterbacks halfway through this decade.
10. Rich Gannon (Madden '04, Oakland)
Rating: 97 (Rank: 2)
Other Years: Madden '02 (92, T4); Madden '03 (91, 6); Madden '05 (89, T11)
Think that some guys aren't dependent on those around them? Gannon nearly washed out of the league after three poor seasons as the Vikings starter at the beginning of the nineties, spent a decade as a backup, and then won the Kansas City job for good in 1999 and made the Pro Bowl. The Raiders signed him, and at 34, he became an elite quarterback, culminating in his 2002 year when he led the league in completions, attempts, and yards, all while leading the Raiders to the Super Bowl. The next year, he got hurt and missed half the season, and by 2004, he was retired. It can come and go at any moment.
9. Steve Young (Madden '96, San Francisco)
Rating: 88 (Rank: 2)
Other Years: Madden '95 (80, 2); Madden 2000 (93, 2)
Young was likely the best quarterback in the game during either the '97, '98, or '99 editions, which were released without visible, user-accessible player ratings. Young was an incredibly fun quarterback to play with, and with the 49ers perennial contenders, any series of Madden games lasting, oh, two games or more involved someone controlling Young and running for 100 yards by the third quarter.
8. Daunte Culpepper (Madden '06, Minnesota)
Rating: 98 (Rank: 2)
Other Years: Madden '02 (92, T4); Madden '03 (89, 7); Madden '04 (88, T12); Madden '07 (92, T6)
Any time you think your team's star player is infallible, remember that it was only two versions of Madden ago that Culpepper was considered the sixth-best quarterback in football. Now, the man is battered and can't find a job at the minimum salary. Culpepper's 2004 season, on which this rating is based, were 2008 Brady-esque: 4717 passing yards, 39 touchdowns, 11 interceptions. That's with Randy Moss being hurt and missing the better part of four games! Culpepper was an incredible player; next time you hear someone complaining about how much athletes make, think about how tragic it is that Culpepper knows he'll never be that good again.
The offensive line chop blocked all the defenders off the field.
7. John Elway (Madden '95, Denver)
Rating: 81 (Rank: 1)
Other Years: Madden '96 (77, T8)
The first "best QB" in any of the versions of Madden that recorded as such to appear on this list, Elway had a short career in Madden games -- he retired after 1998, the year before player ratings returned to the game in Madden 2000. The 1993 Elway was unquestionably the league's best quarterback, throwing for a NFL-best 4,030 yards while racking up 25 touchdowns against only 10 interceptions.
6. Jim Everett (Madden '96, New Orleans)
Rating: 91 (Rank: 1)
Other Years: None
This rating absolutely astounds and confounds us. Everett is best known for decking Jim Rome on the latter's television show when the pre-goatee Rome thought it would be a good idea to call the NFL star "Chris", after the famed female tennis star. For some reason, despite the fact that he wasn't even named to the Pro Bowl in 1994, the season in which Everett would have needed to excel to make this rating so high, Everett is the best quarterback in the game by three whole points! In Madden '96, Everett is better than Jim Kelly, Troy Aikman, John Elway, Brett Favre, Dan Marino, Warren Moon, and Steve Young. Clearly, someone at EA hated Jim Rome.
5. Tom Brady (Madden '08, New England)
Rating: 99 (Rank: T1)
Other Years: Madden '03 (84, T9); Madden '04 (90, 10); Madden '05 (95, T3); Madden '06 (97, T3); Madden '07 (98, 2)
Brady saw his rating rise every year until it couldn't get any higher; he sits in both Madden '08 and '09 as equal to arch-nemesis Peyton Manning, each having perfect ratings of 99. The Patriots star has, of course, evolved as a player; most fans don't remember that the Brady who arrived on the scene in 2001 was a mediocre quarterback who got by on short dumpoffs and smoke and mirrors. He's evolved into the complete franchise quarterback over the seven years since, and that's been reflected accurately in Madden's ratings.
4. Kurt Warner (Madden '01, St. Louis)
Rating: 94 (Rank: 1)
Other Years: Madden '02 (95, 3); Madden '03 (97, T1); Madden '04 (91, T8)
Warner went from afterthought in 2000 to the best quarterback in the league in 2001, rising to the top of the Madden charts with a season that still remains ridiculous -- 65.1% completion percentage, 41 touchdowns, 13 interceptions. Ladies and gentlemen, thank Marshall Faulk.
3. Brett Favre (Madden 2000, Green Bay)
Rating: 96 (Rank: 1)
Other Years: Madden '96 (74, 11); Madden '01 (91, 3); Madden '02 (97, T1); Madden '03 (97, T1); Madden '04 (98, 1); Madden '05 (94, 5); Madden '06 (93, 5); Madden '08 (94, T5)
OK, so we're a little sick of reading about the overexposed Madden '09 coverboy. We're only human. That shouldn't affect his rating, but when he's in a virtual tie with the guy rated #2, well, something's gotta give. Favre was the best quarterback in the game four times, and if there'd actually been published ratings in the game from '97 through '99, he likely would have been the best in the game seven times. That's the primary reason why he's #3 and not #2.
2. Peyton Manning (Madden '06, Indianapolis)
Rating: 99 (Rank: 1)
Other Years: Madden 2000 (87, T5); Madden '01 (93, 2); Madden '02 (97, T1); Madden '03 (92, T3); Madden '04
1. Michael Vick (Madden '04, Atlanta)
Rating: 95 (Rank: T3)
Other Years: Madden '05 (92, 7); Madden '06 (92, 6); Madden '07 (91, T9)
Is this a controversial pick? Sure. Vick's dogfighting conviction forever darkens any attempt to do a cogent analysis of his career. Even with - unfuccwittable, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1great list, Steve Young should have been higher.
- inactive, on 08/07/2008, -0/+1Great list, and I think Manning and Favre should be switched.
- shrinerr, on 08/08/2008, -0/+0If only you were able to change the positions of players in Tecmo Bowl, Bo Jackson would be the greatest QB in the entire universe.
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