Madden 2010 News Post

Madden NFL 10 Blog: Player Ratings - A New Philosophy, A New Era

07:53 PM - February 9, 2009 by Ian_Cummings

Hey guys, we thought it would be a perfect time to share something that I am personally very excited about for Madden NFL 10. We took each and every rating in the game (over 50+ player ratings) and scaled them up/down in a way that is now using much more of the scale. I like to describe it around the office like this…”We basically stretched out the ratings.” We want to use more of the numbers so we get a bigger, more noticeable affect in the game.

Let me give you guys an example….in Madden NFL 09 all of the WR’s Route Running ratings ranged from 62-99. In the current Madden NFL 10 build, WR’s now check in from 35-99. To counter this on the defensive side, all CB’s in Madden NFL 09 had a Man Coverage rating which ranged from 64-99. Now in Madden NFL 10, CB’s Man Coverage range is currently 40-99.

Every position and every rating has been re-scaled to expand the range of numbers we are dealing with. The Overall Rating for your average NFL player has dropped. Your Joe Average linebacker who was 80 OVR is now dropped down to 70. The players who were before right on the cusp of 90 in a rating category are now down around 85-88…Meaning, there are fewer superstar players out there. Before, where you could maybe get by throwing to your slot WR who had 93 SPD, with 74 ROUTES, and 77 Catching…now in Madden NFL 10, that guy is going to have like 91 SPD, 60-65 ROUTES and anywhere from 65-70 Catching. Let me tell you, these rating drops make a big difference when that slot rookie WR with 90+ speed now drops every 3rd pass or so, or just simply cannot get open.
The superstars have not been affected however, this is intentional. Peyton is still 99 OVR, Patrick Willis a 99, Larry Fitz is 99, etc. The elite players at rating categories have not been affected either (JaMarcus Russell still has a 98 Throw Power and Chris Johnson still rated 99 Speed). [Side note: One of my personal goals is to have the actual NFL players in Madden NFL 10 look like their real-life counterparts and play to their strengths and weaknesses like never before in a football video game.]

Speaking of the Speed, which is always a hot topic, we made some major changes with the infamous SPD rating as well. To give you a great example, I will again go back to WR and CB. In Madden NFL 09, the WR SPD range was 85-100…CB was 87-99.

In Madden NFL 10, WR SPD range is currently 70-100…CB is currently 75-99. So as you may or may not tell, the SPD range has been pushed down, in our opinions, to better reflect the “sim-gameplay” style that Ian and Phil have been telling you about all winter long. This SPD change has been updated for each position, so it makes a huge game play affect.

Ian and I had a game the other day where Earnest Graham broke one up the middle for a 55 yard touchdown run… and he could not be caught!…E-Grahams’ Madden NFL 10 current SPD rating….80 SPD. That should give you a good sense of what is possible with the new ratings. It’s not all about having the 90+ SPD anymore. On this particular run, Ian’s CB’s got hung up against some blockers and all I had to do was beat one safety and Graham was gone! He had Brandon Jacobs and his 85 SPD breaking some long runs as well. On the flip side of bigger/slower backs, Chris Johnson is absolutely lethal right now. You can actually get him outside with sweeps now and he is a beast to stop. But again, we are constantly tuning the gameplay, we have an entire team dedicated to that and they are some of the best people we have in the building.

So there you have it, player ratings are in for a major overhaul this year and I am really excited already with the impact they are having on the early builds of the game. And rest assured, we are well aware of the outside impacts this will have….Rookies will now come into the league based on the new ranges, NCAA Import guys are being tuned as well…Progression has been accounted for as well to better reflect breakout stars and burned-out former stars. Meaning, we want to have bigger jumps in OVR this year, both positive and negative. That’s all for now, probably gave away too much already!

Would love to hear any feedback about this big new change in the way we do player ratings. I’d be happy to answer any questions regarding the new rating ranges….please no individual ratings questions, not answering those! Stay tuned for more Madden player rating related blogs in the future!

- Donny Moore – Madden NFL 10 Designer

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Member Comments

# 181 jrivera34 @ 02/10/09 07:41 PM

The only thing I didn't like is when they mention that bad receivers will drop a lot of passes. I rather see the receiver not get open as opposed to dropping wide open passes. Other than that , so far so good.

# 182 GoToledo @ 02/10/09 08:05 PM

Ian, please tell me this is happening to NCAA as well.

Excellent change and long overdue IMO.

# 183 kcarr @ 02/10/09 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jrivera34


	The only thing I didn't like is when they mention that bad receivers will drop a lot of passes. I rather see the receiver not get open as opposed to dropping wide open passes. Other than that , so far so good.

That depends on the reciever. Some guys are fast enough to get open at times but can't catch consistantly. Some are quick and agile and run good enough routes to get open but drop a lot of passes. Some can win jump balls occasionally but cant get open consistantly making all of their catches tough leading to drops. Some have the hands but just can't get seperation. And some are just all around not that good and they should have a combination of these problems. I hope that madden can get players of all these types to play like they really do

# 184 Nza @ 02/10/09 08:44 PM

One question I forgot to ask earlier - instead of changing player ratings, why not just change how ratings influence the gameplay?

For instance, instead of dropping people down to 70 speed from 88 speed, why not just make the difference between 88 spd and 99 spd in the game engine bigger?

Either way you get the same end result, jus figured this way would avoid drastic OVR changes and hence save EA from some inevitable backlash from fans obsessed with ratings.

# 185 feeq14 @ 02/10/09 09:15 PM

Im wondering if there will be any new ratings for QBs. I know that scaling can make a big difference, such as giving Chad Pennington a 74 THP rating than a 84 rating. but Other attributes need to be added to make QB play more realistic.

# 186 Donny_Moore @ 02/10/09 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nza


	One question I forgot to ask earlier - instead of changing player ratings, why not just change how ratings influence the gameplay? For instance, instead of dropping people down to 70 speed from 88 speed, why not just make the difference between 88 spd and 99 spd in the game engine bigger? Either way you get the same end result, jus figured this way would avoid drastic OVR changes and hence save EA from some inevitable backlash from fans obsessed with ratings.

To be honest, we are much more concerned with the end result (i.e. - the gameplay) than we are any cosmetic rating issues.

Yes, you are correct in your speculation that it is easier to accomplish this new system via rating changes, rather than going in and forcing the gameplay to be tuned to certain specific numbers.

Someone else had a great point about running to the outside...to me, that is the real takeaway here....in Madden 10, it is actually possible to hit a home run on a sweep play! I think that is a major move forward for running the ball in Madden. I am so stoked about this one!

Another post was talking about making sure the Ravens and Steelers can stop the outside run, or probably more broad than that, he wanted to make sure defensive players were not being slighted here.

We are VERY much on the same page here, trust me. I want James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley,Troy Polamalu, and the Steelers Defense to feel like the 2007 New England Patriots offense - I want them to be that dominant, from the defensive side of things. That is my goal and I think these new rating changes help us get there. So for example, these pass rush beasts from Pittsburgh will raise absolute hell on a team with suspect pass protection. So just like we lowered things like SPeed and Awareness, we also broadened the gap for Offensive Linemen Pass and Run blocking. So your Joe Average Left Guard who was rated in the mid to high 80's in Pass Block Footwork or Strength, now, those same guys are found anywhere from 10-20 points lower (in the mid 60's - low 70's). Meanwhile, Mr. Woodley and Mr. Harrison keep their 95+ pass rush abilities (power moves/finesse moves).

Teams and players will play to their strengths and weaknesses like never before. That is my personal mantra for 10.

# 187 krc1130 @ 02/10/09 09:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rgiles36


	I disagree here. While I CERTAINLY don't want to see a slew of 99-rated players, picking apart some of the elite player's weaknesses and trying to use that as justification for not being rated at the top of the scale is wrong. For example: Tom Brady, until proven otherwise, is the best QB in the NFL in my opinion. Some people want to point to that SuperBowl loss and say that pressure makes him struggle. I don't know of any QB's who can consistently pass the ball with pressure and hands in their face. With that said, if he was rated a 99, I wouldn't bicker one bit. I'd argue the same for a couple players on your list. I don't think a 99 rating suggests that a player is PERFECT all across the board.

Charlie Ward back in the good ole FSU days.

Now, I'm really happy to hear this news! Keep up the good work

# 188 Donny_Moore @ 02/10/09 09:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kcarr


	first, as far as whether there should be 99 ovr players. It depends on what you consider 99. If you take it to mean perfect in their position then no, noone is there. If you take it to mean a top notch player compared to others in the league today, there should be a few. If you take it to mean at the top level of any who ever have or will in the foreseeable future play then it could be questionable but there would probably be a few. Second, another concern from me. While they are out there lowering players ratings I hope they don't just lower every average player's ratings across the board. you shouldnt just take a players and because he was an 80 overall lower everything drastically to where he is a 40 overall. What I hope they do is actually look closer at the ratings so if a guy is an 80 ovr with 98 speed, 80 catch, and 78 route running for instance you probably wouldn't lower speed or maybe just lower it one or 2 but then you would lower route running to like 35 and catch to like 37 maybe. That way you get some real variety to your 40 overall players. Also, that way players who are rated 40 overall can still help their teams in the way they do in real life and can still succeed in those ways. A good example of this would be someone likie devery henderson. Among the top of the league in drops, misses some easy passes with pretty bad regularity, doesn't run good routes, but he can catch the deep ball decently well and he is dangerous with the ball. He had crazy yards per catch this year and a really high percent of his passes went for 20 or more yards and for 40 or more yards as compared to the rest of the league. I figured those numbers up once and posted them somewhere but I cant remember what they were exactly. Just because he becomes like a 40 overall I dont want to see him become completely worthless. He should still be able to do what he does in real life

We are very much taking all the ratings into consideration. I have not done this to one single rating or one single position (blanket, across the board lowering of ratings). So while I do go in and have the intent to lower a particular rating, for a particular position...I do so by hand, for each guy and each rating.

Painful yes, but it really needs that level of attention IMO. Every single NFL player is unique and has his own set of strengths and weaknesses. You can't just go in and say Minus 10 for every player. Doesn't work like that - if you want to do it right of course!

Dev Henderson is a great example...He is super fast (95+) but his CTH and ROUTES are completely average to below average. He might be able to get deep every once in awhile, but this guy is going to falter if you try and make him your #1 and give him 10+ targets a game. He is simply not going to perform with 55 rated hands and 50 rated routes (not sure off top of my head what Devery is, but that is close).

Roy Williams the Safety is another great example...He has Linebacker quality run stopping abilities....Block Shedding, Tackle, Hit Power..But his Pass Coverage skills are very poor in Man Coverage and Zone Coverage.

That is the one thing I ALWAYS look for when creating a player for the first time, creating their ratings. I want to know, what is this guy best at and what is he worst at.

# 189 XtremeDunkz @ 02/10/09 09:58 PM

Donny i'm not sure you are the right person to ask or if you can even go into this, but in Madden 09, as soon as you got pressure on a cpu QB he would just get rid of the ball no matter what making it almost impossible to get a realistic number of sacks against cpu teams in franchise. Has this been fixed?

# 190 ch46647 @ 02/10/09 10:04 PM

Donny, thanks for answering these questions it is very interesting. I have a question of my own, are you gonna put a large emphasis on the QB position this year? All QB's tend to play the same in Madden minus the throw power. IMHO it is extremely important to put major effort into the QB position. (The most important position in sports)

# 191 DLaren @ 02/10/09 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Glorious Arc


	DONT bring the progression system from head coach into madden. Head coach killed the ability for players to grow that deserved to grow.

I disagree. I can understand why someone may not want the maximum potential rating from HeadCoach to make it into Madden'10, but the process that HeadCoach used to assess progression & regression absolutely needs to be in Madden'10 in my opinion.

I found the developer breakdown of how it works for those who may be wondering...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dan Bekins


	Now for progression. 1. Progression is based on a player's actions in practice and the game. A cool thing about HC09 is that we use the SuperSim engine for all CPU practices and games. SuperSim is a very detailed simulator, so essentially every action on the field is simulated for every player. Each time a player makes a play, he will receive some progression points based on that play. For example, say a running back makes a ten yard run and breaks two tackles along the way. The run might contribute points to his speed and carry ratings, while the broken tackles might contribute to his trucking rating. Once a player accumulates enough progression points for a given rating, he will level-up that rating by 1 point and start over. All players have a maximum potential for each rating, and once they reach that potential they will no longer level-up regardless of how many progression points they accumulate. There are a few things that affect how many progression points a player will receive for each action. Players with high learning abilities will receive more progression points. These guys will reach their potential very quickly. Players that report to a skilled coaching staff will receive more progression points. The point multiplier is actually compounded as you walk up the chain of coaches. For example, a running back reports to the RB coach, then the offensive coordinator, then the head coach. If all three coaches are highly skilled with running backs, he will progress extremely quickly. 2. Regression happens at the end of each season, and is based on a player's age, career phase, learning ability, and career health. Basically a player's ratings and max potentials will be lowered a bit once he gets toward the end of his career.

# 192 IanCummingsFriend @ 02/10/09 10:08 PM

How will teams such as the lions be able to match up against the steelers with the new rating system? Won't people just use dominate teams more often online now?

# 193 Sef0r @ 02/10/09 10:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donny_Moore


	We are very much taking all the ratings into consideration. I have not done this to one single rating or one single position (blanket, across the board lowering of ratings). So while I do go in and have the intent to lower a particular rating, for a particular position...I do so by hand, for each guy and each rating. Painful yes, but it really needs that level of attention IMO. Every single NFL player is unique and has his own set of strengths and weaknesses. You can't just go in and say Minus 10 for every player. Doesn't work like that - if you want to do it right of course! Dev Henderson is a great example...He is super fast (95+) but his CTH and ROUTES are completely average to below average. He might be able to get deep every once in awhile, but this guy is going to falter if you try and make him your #1 and give him 10+ targets a game. He is simply not going to perform with 55 rated hands and 50 rated routes (not sure off top of my head what Devery is, but that is close). Roy Williams the Safety is another great example...He has Linebacker quality run stopping abilities....Block Shedding, Tackle, Hit Power..But his Pass Coverage skills are very poor in Man Coverage and Zone Coverage. That is the one thing I ALWAYS look for when creating a player for the first time, creating their ratings. I want to know, what is this guy best at and what is he worst at.

Are you at all worried about the progression calculation possibly breaking all these ratings changes by my 2nd or 3rd season?

My 65 Catch, 65 Route Running WR might become a 85 Catch and 95 RR in his 2nd year because of how the progression works in the game.

# 194 Glorious Arc @ 02/10/09 10:17 PM

Head coach's biggest flaw was players like matt ryan would never become super stars no matter what would happen because of the cap they put on their overall stats. it was also flawed in that its growth system had less to do with how well players performed as to how well a coach would increase their stats.

the 49's was the best example. you could take andre woodson and have him be the next HOF QB after one season even if you used a balanced attack. also players didnt grow in several key stats because of the over sight of the dev(no offense) but honestly a QB would never grow in his speed.

I want the coaches to effect player growth yes but i dont want it to dominate it like it was in head coach. i want to be able to see players grow if the perform and because the head coach trains them.

# 195 Donny_Moore @ 02/10/09 10:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sef0r


	Are you at all worried about the progression calculation possibly breaking all these ratings changes by my 2nd or 3rd season? My 65 Catch, 65 Route Running WR might become a 85 Catch and 95 RR in his 2nd year because of how the progression works in the game.

I posted this in the original thread as well, yes. We are very much aware of the impact to progression, regression, contracts, the whole shabang. Unfortunately, I can't speak to each and every franchise feature right now.

Please stay tuned to Operation Sports and insideblog.easports.com for the latest Madden 10 player rating news and updates!

Donny

# 196 Donny_Moore @ 02/10/09 10:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanCummingsFriend


	How will teams such as the lions be able to match up against the steelers with the new rating system? Won't people just use dominate teams more often online now?

Calvin Johnson should be fun at least.

You are talking about an 0-16 team, first of it's kind. I believe the expectation (and rightfully so IMO) from most people who care to dabble in this kind of thing, I think that expectation for the Lions in Madden 10 the video game is for them to be the very worst of all 32 teams in the league. I'm talking clear-cut, 32 of 32.

And on paper, aside from Megatron as mention above, the Lions will be pretty bad. Kevin Smith will get a nice bump, he shows signs which is OK, but then you have first round pick Gosder Cherilus....he had a Joe Average year, so he's not much to build around. Ernie Sims is the one nice thing on defense, not much else to get excited about. Name the Lions Corners. See what I mean...

Your turn, now you tell me. If you had two average, evenly matched All-Pro Mode players playing against each other....And they went heads up Steelers vs Lions....each getting to be the Steelers 5 times...what would you EXPECT/WANT the Madden 10 results to be?

Would you want a 50/50 (5-5) Detroit/Pittsburgh split? A 10-0 Steelers sweep?

I have a very strong opinion on this one (as you may or may not tell from this post). Would love to hear where everyone stands on this!

# 197 MMAsterkillah @ 02/10/09 10:56 PM

Will it now be impossible to tackle Chris Johnson with my likely slow D?

# 198 kehlis @ 02/10/09 10:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IanCummingsFriend


	How will teams such as the lions be able to match up against the steelers with the new rating system? Won't people just use dominate teams more often online now?

Lions shouldn't match up with the Steelers...They didn't win a game this year. And from what I understand, people already use dominate teams a majority of the time.

# 199 GKEnialb @ 02/10/09 11:04 PM

Quote:


	Would you want a 50/50 (5-5) Detroit/Pittsburgh split? A 10-0 Steelers sweep?

I'd say about 9-1 Steelers. Flukes can happen, so it shouldn't be 10-0, but it should be pretty darn close to that...

# 200 IanCummingsFriend @ 02/10/09 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donny_Moore


	Calvin Johnson should be fun at least. You are talking about an 0-16 team, first of it's kind. I believe the expectation (and rightfully so IMO) from most people who care to dabble in this kind of thing, I think that expectation for the Lions in Madden 10 the video game is for them to be the very worst of all 32 teams in the league. I'm talking clear-cut, 32 of 32. And on paper, aside from Megatron as mention above, the Lions will be pretty bad. Kevin Smith will get a nice bump, he shows signs which is OK, but then you have first round pick Gosder Cherilus....he had a Joe Average year, so he's not much to build around. Ernie Sims is the one nice thing on defense, not much else to get excited about. Name the Lions Corners. See what I mean... Your turn, now you tell me. If you had two average, evenly matched All-Pro Mode players playing against each other....And they went heads up Steelers vs Lions....each getting to be the Steelers 5 times...what would you EXPECT/WANT the Madden 10 results to be? Would you want a 50/50 (5-5) Detroit/Pittsburgh split? A 10-0 Steelers sweep? I have a very strong opinion on this one (as you may or may not tell from this post). Would love to hear where everyone stands on this!

Thanks for the great response. Yes, I'm a lions fan so that's why I asked

. I understand your point completely and you hit dead on about the lions players.

I played in 2 sim leagues this past season. One with my lions and one with the pats. I ended up 8-8 with the lions and won the other league with the pats. I can tell a tremendous difference between the 2 teams because i used them both all year. It just frustrated me at times with the lions because I was limited with what I had to work with. Guys dropping passes on D that hit them square in the hands only because of their poor ratings. Fumbles by kevin smith way to often. Couldn't get pressure on the QB's blitzing and non blitzing. Basically, things out of my control. These are just some examples i noticed as there were more.

I would like to come up with a way that won't punish me for playing good ball using poor teams. I understand the lions were terrible this year, but why should that affect how i use them and what I can do with them? I don't like to be a disadvantage from the start just because I use a poor team. One way i could think of, if you have online franchises this year, recieve + to ratings if I'm using players that are performing well. Basically like in NCAA 09. If I'm not in a league and I jump online to use the lions against someone, I'm basically at a handicap using a poorly skilled team. There is where my problem lies and if anything could be done about it besides picking another team lol would love to hear some ideas!

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