Buffalo Bills’ John Brown Says ‘Madden’ Player Ratings Are ‘Rigged’
With less than a month to go until the official release of Madden 21, Buffalo Bills wide receiver John Brown said the individual player ratings are “rigged up.” The veteran wideout spoke to Bills reporter Maddy Glab in a video posted to Twitter this morning.
You can see that tweet here.
Brown, who caught 72 passes for 1,060 yards and six touchdowns in 2019, will began the season with an overall rating of 82 on the EA Sports-produced video game. The Florida native was slightly taken aback by that number, as he began the previous year’s campaign one point higher at 83.
“I didn’t get no better?” Brown asked.
He said he doesn’t get worked up or bothered over Madden though, noting it’s just a game and that he figured out a way to bypass any numbers he doesn’t agree with.
“I can easily get on the game and put myself at 99 overall like I do anyways.”
When asked what he thinks goes through the minds of those in charge of making these decisions, the player known as “Smoke” said they play to favorites and he isn’t worried about it at the end of the day.
Smoke was also asked about his throw power score, something normally reserved for the quarterback position. But in the 2019 season, Brown threw for two touchdown passes.
“If Josh [Allen] got a 99, I should be, you know, a 93, because we up there like the same.”
When he was told it was only a 45, Brown said Madden “plays too many games” and called it unfair.
The former third-round pick out of Pittsburg State in Kansas then pointed to his accuracy, saying at the very least that number must be higher. Glab noted the game did not include an accuracy rating for him.
The @EAMaddenNFL ratings are in and Smoke has some beef. ?#Madden21 | #GoBills pic.twitter.com/JqIy8hDM7Z
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) July 30, 2020
He did agree with two of the given numbers though. For speed, he was given a 92, while being awarded a 90 in the acceleration category.
“I could go with that,” he said.
Brown was then told he was given numbers in the eighties for the agility and awareness categories, which prompted the receiver to shake his head and question the game developers’ decisions.
“I don’t know what these guys look at when they look at film.”
Brown plans to use his 89 catching score as motivation, noting he could probably catch the ball better. According to Rotowire, he was responsible for dropping six passes last year.
Toward the end of the interview, Glab prodded him about about Buffalo’s newly acquired wide receiver, Stefon Diggs. When learning the former Viking’s overall rating was below 95, Brown had a message for both EA Sports and the league.
“We’re just going to show them the real deal, we not even worried about the video games no more. We are just going to work week to week and we going to try and join the 99 club,” he said.
While the Bills are set to open regular season play September 13 against the New York Jets, both the NFL and its fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the COVID-19 pandemic does not get in the way.
