Understanding Madden ratings from an expert!

Earlier this week something like news dropped a record was broken that I didn't even know was a record because it is not the world in which I live. Madden ratings came out and Aaron Donald became the only player in Madden slash NFL history to achieve a perfect 99 rating for I believe it is eight it's either seven or eight I think it's seven consecutive years surpassing or breaking the tie that he held with Peyton Manning.

I don't know the accuracy but I know it is a big deal to players. Justin Jefferson the wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings was given a 99 and he retweeted it and said because there is no hundred. Yes. Awesome. Well somebody who does know Mike Straw from Insider Gaming joins us on the Adam Gold show.

I said to Victoria I have no clue whether or not these things are meaningful or not let's find somebody who does. So congratulations Short Straw if you will for you Mike. To be perfectly honest that was accidental. I'm not taking credit for it.

So first of all thank you very much for giving us a ton. Tell me I mean are the are the numerical ratings so Donald is a 99. Travis Kelce tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs 99. How accurate how realistic are those? Realistic I think as close as you can get for a video game they spend what people don't know is the the people who do the Madden ratings they are at games every single week every single year and they are like people treat them as like this fun thing like what the players are fun to talk about bragging rights and all that but the people who are actually making these ratings they want them to be as accurate as possible so they're at games every year they're at training camps they're watching these players play they're watching them run routes they're watching them do drills and they're they're working to see how they perform. So are these football people are these scouts are these coaches who do that? Kind of a mix there's people usually they all have some form of video game or a football background but then you actually do get the people who have experience playing the NFL like they've had Chad Johnson go out and watch these players to give input they'll have these past players go in and whatnot and watch these teams to see how they play.

I mean like I guess we can trust Chad is he Chad Johnson or is he Chad Ochocinco? What was do we know what his rating was at his best? At his best he was in the low 90s back in in the late 2000s. Yes that uh it's not bad at all all right so was was I accurate with the Aaron Donald thing that he now is the has the record for the most consecutive years of a perfect 99? Yes seven uh seven straight years which just shows I mean it's only a video game again but if he's that dominant in a video game it just shows how dominant he is in real life he's just ultimately one of the best defensive tackles defensive players maybe players period that we've ever seen so he's getting recognized in both the real and virtual world. Well I mean Mike Straw from Insider Gaming is joining us here on the Adam Gold show if if the ratings are basically compiled if they are if it's I'm sure there's a statistical formula for how you get to a 99 or a 94 or something like that if the ratings are compiled by people who know the game um how I mean how long before players use it when they're arguing for a contract extension like Saquon Barkley I believe is a 93 right when Daniel Jones when the quarterback ratings come out tomorrow and Daniel Jones is like an 84 can Saquon Barkley say I'm a 93 he's an 84 and you get yet you gave him all the money. I'd love to see a player try it it'll never happen I would assume a GM or whoever's handling the money will laugh it away because at most they're talked about to talk trashed about sure between teammates like I've seen things where there'll be players who make bets with each other and who's got the higher rating loser buys food loser buys team dinner whatever position group I don't think it would I don't think it would ever work in contract negotiations though I'd love to watch it play out that way I mean but again you know it's kind of weird but I don't know that the the rankings look pretty correct to me they I mean you you you watch these guys on the field and you know the way that the ratings are compiled maybe that the the general public doesn't see everything that the experts so-called experts see but they seem they seem pretty accurate to me do we anticipate that Patrick Mahomes will be the number one quarterback when those rankings come out tomorrow oh 100 if he's not then maybe I'll take back everything I said about them knowing the game it should be he should be the number one quarterback and then I probably would guess they'd put Joe Burrow as the number two quarterback Josh Allen coming off a little bit of an injury play do they take injuries into account or no not really it depends on what it is it depends like if he's out and he misses like five years or five years five weeks yeah they're probably not gonna worry about it too much but they rarely if ever take injuries into account unless they're like recurring missing multiple seasons let me let me clarify that Mike Straw from insider gaming is joining us here so Josh Allen and Aaron Rodgers really in the same position they both played basically every game last year but but they both played through injuries so how does the game take into account that their performance was diminished because of that does it can it it depends I think what they what what they will look at is not only how they played with those injuries but the severity of the injury if they look into it if anything the injuries that occur hamper their injury rating like how likely in the game they are to get hurt if a player is constantly hurt all the time their injury rating is going to be down so for example with the bills I'll go with the bills Trey White coming off that ACL okay his his injury rating is in the upper 80s because he's coming off that injury still he's still he never got fully 100 back so they're gonna realistically say he's not fully back so we don't know how it's gonna be Mike Straw insider gaming is joining us here on the Adam Gold Show quarterbacks again come out tomorrow I'm fascinated to see what they say about Lamar Jackson who if you look at just opinion ratings they have Jackson like in the bottom of the top 10 but a healthy Lamar Jackson to me is the fourth best quarterback in the league what do you think that number will ultimately be for Lamar I think we look at low 90s I think they maybe put him 92 91 that area because I agree I think he I think he's a top five quarterback when healthy um he would be right up there with the Allen the borough the Mahal not the Mahomes the Mahomes is here um but that right and I don't but but with the Allen the borough and then there's a healthy Lamar who I think because of the injury issues people have forgotten how good he is until you play him in Madden and then you realize no he's still great right uh do do you anticipate Mahomes will be a 99 yeah a hundred percent will there be another 90 there won't be another 99 a quarterback uh if it's borough next what do you figure his number is going to be 97 that's some pretty good I think borough Allen Mahomes will be 95 and above and then you have the next stage of like a Lamar maybe a Jaylen Hertz is up there Eagles fans will find ways to be mad about it nice editorial comment about Eagles fans Mike Straw from insider gaming is here on the Adam Gold show how much Madden do you play too much I'd say is that really the proper answer I mean it's your job it's your job but then I take away from all these other games that I got to play so and write about and talk about so there'll be times when I'll play too much there'll be times when I won't touch it all it all depends uh but this year this year's game is shaping up to be and I don't want to sound hyperbolic or anything like that but it's shaping up to be one of the best in probably a good decade do we anticipate that Josh Allen will be hurt because he's on the cover god I hope not being up in Buffalo I don't want to do it oh is that where you are yeah I didn't realize that I apologize for you it's not like you put them on the cover of Madden no but it's a big deal here oh yeah huge deal here well look it's a big deal here there we have Wegmans supermarkets down here in North Carolina and you might as well be walking into a bill store they have Josh Allen Josh Allen gear uh being sold in Wegmans down here uh it is uh it is remarkable the question is do they have josh jacks do they have a cereal yes that's well they did I don't know if they still do but yes I have seen boxes of the josh jacks are they good I would never try it they taste like apple jack oh then there's nothing wrong with a good apple jack um two more very quick things for you uh Aaron Rodgers will be what number you think because of his name they're going to keep him I think in the low 90s but I don't think he should be that high I'm not I do not disagree with that at all now very this is away from Madden real quick and I know we didn't I didn't say I was gonna ask you about the uh the golf game uh for uh for EA Sports the the visuals look amazing do they put as much work into the golf as they do into the football that's still that would be the only video game I think that I would play I don't I'm not a gamer but if I was and I used to love the the Nintendo Wii uh because it was easy for non-gamers to play you just wave a wand um but how how authentic is the golf game uh visually it's incredible you'll you're hard pressed to find anything uh that looks that good gameplay wise it's mediocre okay uh it's a smaller team it's their first golf game in nine years eight years uh much smaller team than Madden it's got a nice foundation that they've been working on but they got ways to go there's a big but it's nice for for people like me and the gaming community there's actually a competition between EA and 2k with their golf titles oh really so so EA has all the major championships and things like that 2k has Tiger Woods well EA didn't EA used to have Tiger Woods yep and then they split uh years ago then EA put their basket in Rory McElroy at that time and Tiger Woods hadn't been involved in a golf game then he signed on with 2k to to help executive produce that series Tiger Woods is on it we're all going to play that then uh Mike Straw from Insider Gaming hey thank you so much for doing this uh because I have no clue uh whether or not this stuff is I mean legit or not I mean I know how much people love it and I'm not knocking that so I appreciate your expertise in this yeah thanks for having me I appreciate it you got it it's Mike Straw from Insider Gaming that was fun