One of the best features of Madden NFL 19 is the way that the game develops steadily in real time in response to the NFL season. As actual NFL games progress, all the latest football news stories and the ups and downs of the individual players’ seasons affect the Madden upgrades and ratings as well. Let’s take a look at the story so far.
Week 1 Upgrades and Downgrades
Week 1 of the actual league saw a lot of chopping and changing with the rosters and, pleasingly, EA Sports responded accordingly. For instance, Alvin Kamara, running back for the New Orleans Saints, had a great game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although the side lost to the Buccaneers 48-40, Kamara was working well with experienced QB Drew Brees. As a result, his overall rating on Madden went from 88 up to 90.
Conversely, there were downgrades for the Oakland Raiders. Following their 33-13 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Rams where even the infamous Marshawn Lynch in “beast mode” couldn’t win the game, the ratings dropped on Madden. Guard Kelechi Osemele and offensive tackle Donald Penn both dropped a combined 5 overall. Meanwhile, strong safety Karl Joseph moved from an 83 overall down to a 77! He lost a whopping 14 for awareness, which given the game result is perhaps not nearly as unjust as one might think.
Week 2 Updates
Week 2 has seen further updates from the EA team. Patrick Mahomes now has a very impressive set of ratings indeed. Thanks to Mahomes’ fantastic ability, Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers finished at 42-37 to the Chiefs. In Madden, he now has an overall rating of 90 getting up to 93 for throw power! Having said this, it’s not entirely even across the board as his deep throw accuracy is down at 83.
When it comes to defense, Melvin Ingram is also on a 90 overall. The Los Angeles Chargers took a very convincing victory against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, ending on a score of 31-20. Defensive end Ingram performed remarkably well recording 5 tackles and 1.5 sacks. These real game feats have put his rating in Madden up to 88 for play recognition and 93 for finesse moves.
As the season progresses week by week it will be interesting to see how the EA team responds. If you play the game in parallel to the NFL, it makes for a really rewarding and hands-on kind of experience, but it’s interesting to think about what the players themselves feel; it can’t be too pleasing to try and unwind with a game of Madden after a defeat, only to discover that your rating in the game has dropped and that the whole gaming community is judging you pretty hard! Near-instant updates are not an easy thing from the point of view of players’ morale but are a great thing for the gamers.
