Madden 20 does a great job of differentiating skill players, except at QB

[metallidevils]

As a pretty casual player, I think Madden is pretty fun this year because players like Tyreek Hill are really incredible, and Joey Bosa was giving me fits.

However in my Chiefs franchise, I happened to lose in the first round of the playoffs with Mahomes, then couldn't afford to re-sign him, and then signed 79 (I think) overall Nick Mullens, and won the superbowl.

Mahomes felt awesome, he had the best throw on run accuracy I've seen in a football game. However Mullens, 20 points less overall, had a good enough throw accuracy in the pocket that I was still completing almost the same % of my passes (just had to stay in the pocket, obviously).

I think the biggest difference between elite QBs and the rest is more in their decision making, which, in a video game, is irrelevant because the user is controlling the QB.

Any suggestions on how EA can truly separate elite QBs from everyone else?

[PhillyPhanatic14]

I tend to disagree in my experience. I have found the non-elite guys to be well below the starters. A 79 is in the mid/low tier range for a starting caliber player so that could be why you're not experiencing as extreme of a drop off. However, from what I've seen the low rated QB's have many more off-target passes and they're AWFUL when any kind of pressure is on them.

I have had a 65 and a 59 rated backup at different points in my CFM and playing with those guys was a joke. They were INT machines that wouldn't hit a basic slant half of the time. And that's how it should be.

Even playing with an elite guy in the mid/upper 90's and then dropping to someone in that mid/low tier starter range of the upper 70's to mid 80's has been a dropoff in my experience.

What difficulty are you on? On All-Pro and All-Madden Sim I've seen a big differentiation in those ratings.

[ehh]

I've had good variety but there are still some games where an average or poor QB goes off for the CPU. I've seen some real duds...

Josh Allen completed 17/46 against me and at one point was 6/24.
Nick Foles was dreadful, as was Fitzpatrick. Foles started 1/10 I believe.
I even had one rain game where Mahomes stunk up the joint.

Overall, I'm pleased. It's not perfect but it's pretty more than acceptable in my experience. For HUM, it's all about the QBA slider. Darnold has some games where he misses a ton of throws but many games where he's great.

Most of my games have been played on default AP. I recently moved to Matt10's sliders.

[ComfortablyLomb]

It might depend on the lower rated QB’s rating spread. A field general type could sit in the pocket and get by on accuracy alone. A mobile QB really needs more ratings to be higher though.

Edit: I’m thinking of letting Josh Rosen go for this reason. He’s up to 84 in 2021 and wants $30M+ per year. He’s definitely better now than he was at 70 to start 2019 but I mostly sit in the pocket with him and zip the ball around on short-medium routes since he’s not particularly strong or quick. I’m pretty sure I can replace him. If he were faster... yea, I’d pay him.

[timhere1970]

It also depends on awareness to a large degree. A 68 overall with a low awareness rating is going to be a lot better than a 68 overall with a high awareness rating when controlled by a human. If he is a 68 overall with high awareness he has some really bad attributes in other areas. The awareness has no effect when being controlled by a human.

[Ueauvan]

i play off line coach mode, there is a massive difference

[edgevoice]

I haven't had that experience at all, based on either my user QB or CPU opponents. During the preseason, my back up QB, to quote John Madden himself, couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. The higher-tiered CPU QB's are a tremendous challenge for me to stop, while average QB's are much easier to defend and require far less scheming and risk-taking.

I am playing on All Pro with user defeated sliders of 140 points, plus I give the CPU a 10 point run blocking boost. Skill levels are represented rather well across the board, even with X Factor turned off. While gameplay is far from perfect, my experience this year is that ratings across the board matter more than I've ever experienced before. Just my take.

[Kid OS]

I know that whenever I played with the Jets on All-Pro Comp against a human friend, Davis Webb was the best QB of all time. QB Overalls don't matter for user QB's unless you adjust the sliders/use a gameplay mod on PC. Whenever I start my realistic CFM, I plan on lowering the pass sliders for both myself and the CPU, so hopefully that will give me more of a "ratings matter" effect.