Why?
Both games claim to be accurate representations of professional football, so what's wrong with looking at what happens on these games' fields play and analyzing where they fall short of capturing the intricacies of the sport?
All this article's looking at it is gameplay, which has nothing to do with things like franchise mode or NFL licenses.
You join a league and you start your own online franchise, college football dynasty, fantasy draft, whatever; the game is flexible enough to accommodate just about any league type you and your league-mates can think up.
I've participated in tons over the last couple of years and they all trump just about any offline mode you could think up.
This game was made for head-to-head play, whether offline or online, not grinding out season after season against a predictable AI opponent.