[TheBillster]

Evaluation of the importance of the team units in the reality and at Madden:

Hey folks, what do you think is the most important unit in this game, on offense and on defense:

I played now 7 complete seasons with Madden 2003 and I think the basically the version of 2005 is very similar in the importance of some units. I will do a list based on my experiences.

A= very important
B= important
C= average
D= not very important
E= absolutely unimportant

Offense:

QB- C

You really don’t need a superb QB go make a shot at the superbowl rings, that’s what I think. Generally all QB throw really good not matter what their ratings are. So an QB over 80 overall rating is absolutely enough and will be a decent and dependable passer. And if you have a good running game the importance of the QBs drop further…
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RB- A

This is the most important unit of the entire game. Without a good RB and good rushing you wont go anywhere. It has not to be a guy over 90 overall rating but at least 80 rated is really the minimum. Runners are also very often used as Receivers, that even lifts the already high importance of this unit…

FB- C

FBs are very unspectacular and sometimes I asked myself if I had one FB on the field or not, but then I realized that you cant have a good running game if you don’t have a good blocking FB. The most times he wont help your RB much, but in every game he is doing 2-3 really good blocks allowing your RB the big gain…

O-Line- E

As a fan of running and blocking iam very sad to confess this but my experience with Madden 2003 and 2004 showed me that you don’t have to have a good O-Line to protect the QB or the blockings for the run. It makes absolutely no difference if your 5 guys on the O-Line average 90 overall or 75 overall, they do the same job. And the difference to the FBs is that they don’t even make the 2-3 blocks per game which makes your RB running the big way…

WR- B

You don’t need 3 WR with who are all better than 80 overall, 1 or 2 WRs over that mark are enough, cause generally WRs are very good catchers in this game. If you have a capable QB who can throw into the direction of your Receiver he will easily catch it… The only reason I didn’t grade them higher is that the WRs depend to much on the QB.

TE- B

They do a decent blocking job and are on the field on every down, they are very useful as blockers and receivers. A good team needs good TEs to create match-up problems and extra endzone threats.

DEFENSE:

DE- B

They are pretty productive and have a good sack total, but they lack the tackles. I personally had no DE in my 8 years with the Bills who had more than 80 tackles, but one of them had 17!!! Sacks…

DT- C

Are they only on the field for penedration on the opposing QB?? I didn’t found out a way to involve them in the game. Almost every tackle they had was a sack. They disappeared as run stoppers and seemed to be more useful as pass-rushers! Really strange!!! But the penedration you get from them is very, very good. DT Pat Williams pushed the opposing Center or Guard that much backwards that the opponent QB had to make crazy throws to escape the sack…

LB- A

This is the most important unit in the defense. LBs are runstoppers and passrushers in personal union. They do everything on the field and work from sideline to sideline very effective. Your LB corps has to be good if you wanna have defensive domination on the field. All three or four starters should be guys over 80 overall. If you got that kind of combo at LB you will get tons of tackles and sacks and despairing opponents…

CB- B

They are important, of course they are, but not that much I think. In the Madden 2004 sim league my starting CBs were 81 and 76 rated and they played very good against the pass with lots of tackles and match-decisive Ints. If the CBs are between 78 and 85 that’s absolutely enough. They will play good against the WRs but they cant stop them 100%. The WRs are slightly to good Receivers and will still get a lot of catches and you wont be able to prevent this even when your starting CBs are both over 90 rated. That’s my experience with the Bills where I had CBs Troy Vincent and Nate Clemens….

Safeties- C

This unit is the last line on the field of your defense but they aren’t that good against the pass. If you want good Safeties they have to be guys over 88 overall. Those SS/FS will help very much, but Safeties rated over 80 are absolutely enough here and this should not be a position for which you overpay in trades or with picks…

What do you say, how do you grade the importance of the units!?