Philadelphia Eagles Preview: The Birds, According To Madden NFL '11
QUARTERBACK โ Kevin Kolb (75)
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Yikes. I know (hope) Kolb will be better than that, but video game AI doesnโt account for things like โintangiblesโ or โstudiousness,โ or even โluck.โ
RUNNING BACK โ LeSean McCoy (79) and Mike Bell (76)
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FULLBACK โ Leonard Weaver (90)
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I gave Lenny "Pro Bowl" his own slide so I can ask one big question: REALLY?
I mean, I love Weaver as much as the next guy, and he was huge for the Birds last year.
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TIGHT END โ Brent Celek (89)
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WIDE RECEIVER โ DeSean Jackson (91) and Jeremy Maclin (81)
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DeSean has 99 speed, 98 acceleration, 99 agility, and 92 catching. Not a surprise there, although at a 72 toughness heโs clearly the biggest wuss of the bunch.
Maclin, meanwhile, is pretty close in the big three categories (95-97-87) and has better jumping ability, but a 73 route running ranking is a little low; something in that range seems to indicate that heโs likely to get lost coming out of the huddle at times.
OFFENSIVE LINE
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DEFENSIVE TACKLE โ Brodrick Bunkley (88) and Mike Patterson (83)
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I might switch those around, honestly.
Bunkley is stronger (96 to 89), but Patterson has better numbers pretty much across the board (and itโs an 84-50 landslide in that all important swagger column).
Trevor Laws and Antonio Dixon are both 66s, although Lawsโperipherals kind of suck and both have awareness ratings slightly above comatose.
Jeff Owens also made the game, and at 55 overall, heโs officially the worst player on the team. Way to go, Jeff!
DEFENSIVE END โ Trent Cole (95) and Juqua Parker (80)
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Cole is the best player on the team, and thatโs probably about right.
I put Parker up above because heโs the next best DE at 80, slightly above Brandon Grahamโs 78. On the whole, Graham is much better in every category but awareness and finesse moves, which is fine because heโs a rookie but baffling because Parkerโs style of play resembles that of a runaway 18-wheeler.
Behind them are Darryl Tapp (77 overall but so much more useful than Chris Clemons), Victor Abiamiri (73 overall and about 90 points too high on injury ranking), and Ricky Sappโwhose 68 overall includes the best speed and acceleration of any DE but a 28 awareness that makes me wonder if heโs not actually an animatronic robot.
Also, I must wonder why Jeff Owens made the team but Daniel Teโo-Nesheim is left out. Besides the cool name, Iโm not sure Owensโ 55 overall wouldโve made his collegiate teamโs depth chart in NCAA 11.
LINEBACKERS โ Ernie Sims (83), Stewart Bradley (79) and Moise Fokou (70)
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I bunched them together because of the group of eight, Iโd wager on at least five of them (and maybe six) playing multiple positionsโthe exceptions being Bradley and Fokou.
Even Madden knows Moise Fokou sucks, and his most positive attribute is his speed. StewBrad, meanwhile, is in the 75-90 range across the boardโexcept in swagger, of course, so this team may need to call in Lilโ Wayne for a seminar.ย
CORNERBACKS โ Asante Samuel (94) and Ellis Hobbs (80)
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Samuel is the second-best player on the squad, and thatโs about right (minus his Deion-esque 29 in tackling). Hobbs, meanwhile, is only an 80 but has 90 speed and is literally twice the tackler Samuel is, even if his 35 hit power is akin to being hit by a dishrag.
Sheldon Brown is an 87, by the way. Just saying.
SAFETIES โ Quintin Mikell (83) and Nate Allen (75)
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Mikell is usually quite underrated, but Madden has him pretty fair in most categories; his awareness might a little low, but he does tend to blow one coverage scheme per game in an abysmally comical way, so I guess that was factored in.
Allen has pretty good numbers for a rookie (including an 84 swagger!), and his 75 in catching means two things: he should be good out in โcenterfield,โ and heโs probably more useful than Hank Baskett or Riley Cooper in a five-receiver set.
SPECIAL TEAMS โ David Akers (89) and Sav Rocca (71)
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Thatโs about right, although giving Akers a 90 kick power is kind of a joke. ย Honestly, we all love David, but if a guy who shanks 40-plus yarders like theyโre mafia snitches and has less touchbacks than a babysitter can get a 90 kick power, Sebastian Janikowski must have about a 160 or so.
Also, Iโd rather have Jon Dorenbos on the team for 15 plays a game than Owens, Demps, or Chaney. Plus, he can do magic on the sideline!
THE FINAL WORD
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On paper (or artificial intelligence, I guess), I canโt see this being a .500 team based on these ratings.
On the virtual field, however,anyone who knows the Eaglesโ playbook should be able to do fairly well.
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