Madden 09 Player Ratings: AFC North

A link to the new Madden 09 Rankings have come out and I am intrigued by many of the ratings. Many are spot on and others are just...well not so on the spot. Here is a breakdown of some of the ratings. http://www.pastapadre.com/2645/madden-09-player-and-team-ratings

Pittsburgh Steelers














This may not be final, but I do like what I see here. Roethlisberger has a 95 overall and as long as he has good Throwing Power I will be happy. Considering that Willie Parker was the leading rusher until he got hurt I think he deserves a little better than a 93 overall. Ward and Holmes deserve higher ratings. Unfortunately the O-line looks about right, but so does Miller. I like that people are giving Aaron Smith the respect he deserves. Anthony Smith should be higher. He got picked on in the Pats game, but played well on many other occasions. He is largely responsible for the Bengals aerial attack not dominating the Steelers. Lamar Woodley looks about right, but he may get upgraded in an update. PS: Where is Lawrence Timmons?

Cleveland Browns















Derek Anderson may deserve a higher rating, not much higher, but still better than 88. Jamal Lewis is a 90 overall and while that seems low, his power running will be higher than most RBs. Stallworth deserves a higher rating, but Braylon Edwards is perfect. I think Winslow is right. The Offensive Line for Cleveland is phenomenal, as it is in real life. I will be interested to see in the next few days whether Bentley will deserve a higher rating. The defense looks about right. The safety corps could use some improvement, but overall the Cleveland Defense looks about right.

Baltimore Ravens















Troy Smith got screwed over in this projection. Troy Smith put on a decent showing at the end of the season that was a hell of a lot better than Kyle Boller. Also, he has proven he can play in the NFL unlike Brady Quinn who hasn't but has an 82 overall rating! Smith, who bested Quinn for the Heisman, deserves better. The rest of the offense looks about right. We'll see if Ogden stays around another year however. The Ravens Defense looks fearsome as ever, but justifiably so. Overall Baltimore looks about right, minus Troy Smith who got egregiously wronged.

Cincinnati Bengals















Carson Palmer is a good QB. He leaves his receivers out to dry and I, and statistics, say that Roethlisberger is a better QB. I don't think Palmer deserves that high a rating. Rudi Johnson had a bad year and did not deserve to drop that much in his overall rating. The receiver corp is just right. Utecht might deserve a higher rating and the oline looks about right. Unfortunately the Bengal defense is pretty close to reality. Leon Hall may deserve a little higher rating, but overall I think EA got it right.

The AFC North is going to have a rough season with their ridiculously difficult schedules. I think that they can handle it, I only hope that the difficulty of the year does not hurt their ratings in Madden 10. However, in Madden things will be interesting. User skills can make up for poor rankings. Any player can make any team dominant, it is just a matter of will power...and careful use of the precision passing.

Why the Baltimore Ravens Don't Need a Rookie Quarterback

I have been keeping tabs on ESPN’s Sportsnation NFL Mock Draft and have been troubled with many picks that have been made. However, I just chock this up to a mass of people voting without intimate knowledge of team needs and players. Sportsnation had Baltimore selecting Quarterback Brian Brohm of Louisville with the 8^th Overall pick. This is not an uncommon, or for that matter a bad thought. Many believe that Baltimore is just a quarterback away from being a contender and if that is the case then a QB in the first round would make sense. However, I disagree with this thought for many reasons.

If I’m going to argue that the Ravens do not need a rookie QB, then I need to talk about the QBs that they do have. Steve McNair started six games and in those he threw two touchdowns against a total of 11 turnovers. McNair did complete 64.9% of his passes, a career high, but he did not seem to have the arm for the long ball. Maybe the surgeries he has undergone will help him take another shot, but he is definitely not a long term solution. Kyle Boller threw 9 touchdowns against 14 turnovers with 61.1% in 12 games. Boller is definitely not the solution and should be a backup. Looking at these two QBs maybe a little dynamic youth at the position could be very helpful.

For that dynamic youth the Ravens do not have to draft a QB, but rather could give Heisman Trophy Winner Troy Smith a shot. Smith fell out of favor in the draft because of his height and the fact that he was surrounded by talent. This led him to fall into Baltimore’s lap in the 5^th Round. Towards the end of the season, when Baltimore no longer had anything to play for, they gave the young QB a chance. Against Indy he was 3 for 5 for 33 yards and ran in a 6 yard touchdown. Then against Miami he was 5 for 11 for 49 yards. Then Smith got his first start against one of the more imposing defenses, Seattle. Smith did not throw a pick, although he did lose two fumbles in the game. He passed for 199 yards and a touchdown in addition to running for another 25. Then, he started against Pittsburgh and played well throwing for 171 yards and a touchdown in addition to rushing 23 yards. Troy Smith played well enough at the end of the season that he should get a chance to start. He can be the dynamic youth that Baltimore has needed from the QB position.

If Baltimore has hesitations about Troy Smith, then I do not think that drafting another QB is the solution. The Boller experiment did more harm than good for the Ravens and drafting another young QB who may fail would lead the franchise down a long and painful road. It would make sense to bring in a new veteran QB into the mix then add another inexperienced QB. Looking at the veterans available I would say Daunte Culpepper might be a nice option. It takes two years to fully heal from a knee injury like the one he suffered. Culpepper was once an MVP and is looking to make a comeback. He could run the offense, who knows maybe even revitalize it, and let Baltimore’s tenacious defense do what it was designed to do, win games. If Troy Smith is thought to be too young to take the reigns and McNair is finished, bring in Culpepper.

Baltimore’s secondary should be considered more of a priority than QB in this draft. Chris McAlister and Samari Rolle are both getting up there and behind them is nothing spectacular. They are also injury prone and if they are out the Baltimore secondary is picked on. Adding a dynamic youthful corner in the first round (where one is surely to be available to the Ravens) is critical to not only establish depth at the position, but also to provide this secondary with a future. So, in conclusion, because of Troy Smith’s dynamic play, greater needs in the secondary, and Daunte Culpepper still a free agent, the Baltimore Ravens do not need a rookie quarterback.