Recently EA Sports released their highly anticipated player and team ratings for the next installment of the famed Madden series, Madden X.

Apparently the producers of the game are not fans of the NFL, as the new ratings are void of any actual realism to the game today.

I won’t get into all the issues with the other teams out there, and there are plenty.

We will focus on the Saints player ratings only, but if  you want to see the complete list of ratings follow this link.

Saints Overall Rating – 74

What more can I say other than the rating is simply retarded. The Saints did finish 8-8 last year, last in the NFC South, but regardless of this most of these losses were by the slimmest of margins. The Saints were very competitive in most every game.

Secondly the Saints posses one of the more prolific offenses in the league, ranking as the top unit in the NFL two out of the last three years — at a minimum the team should be no worse than the low 80’s

What immediately stands out is the very low rating of both Bush and Thomas, the Saints 1 and 1A backs. Bush has elite speed, which makes him a threat to take it back to the house every time he touches the ball.

Sure he has struggled at times running the ball between the tackles, but defenses are gunning for him every time he lines up.

Thomas came out of virtually no where in 2008 totaling 625 yards and 9 touchdowns in less than seven games. If we use these numbers for estimation of what he could accomplish in a full season he would run for 1425 yards and nearly 20 touchdowns, phenomenal numbers for a running back.

Defensively the EA people have shown no love for any of our defensive players, especially in the secondary. On top of most all the players being rated far below what they should be, Tracy Porter stands out as the biggest disgrace with a 68 rating.

Porter was on fire last season before a wrist injury knocked him out. In the five games he started he was able to record 25 tackles, 5 pass deflections, 1 interception, and a sack.

So again if we take these numbers to use for estimation of what Porter could do in a full season he would amass 80 tackles, 16 pass deflections, 4 interceptions, and four sacks. A 68 rating, you gotta be kidding me.

Next is the gross misrepresentation of the Saints offense line, where the average player rating is 72. The 2008 offensive line ranked tops in the NFL in the least sacks allowed category.

Drew Brees’ quick release is a contributing factor to this, but he can’t take all the credit. Also Thomas managed to average nearly 5 yards a carry running behind these guys.

Coincidence? I don’t think so.

Then on to special teams, they have kicker Garrett Hartley rated at 68 and punter Gary Pakulak a 61. Hartley played in 8 games with the Saints last season, never missing a single field goal or extra point the entire time. (13 of 13 on field goals and 28 of 28 on extra points)

He also averaged a 65 yard kickoff average with 9 touch backs.

Pakulak’s net punt average was 48 yards per attempt, which puts him high in the top half of the league among punters.

So it looks like the first few hours of playing Madden X for Saints fans will be spent editing player ratings to a more appropriate level, as EA sure couldn’t get the job done.

What do you Saints fans out there think?

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