T. J. Houshmanzadeh To Boycott Madden Over His Rating

From the “Don’t You Have More Important Things to Worry About Going into to Training Camp” department, Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh says he will boycott playing Madden 2010 because of his rating.

Houshmandzadeh, I guess, thought that he deserved better than a “91” rating on America’s most popular sports game.

He said, via Mike Sando of ESPN.com, “I understand I averaged 10 yards a catch, but it’s the offense, not me." 

In trying to be more like talkative former teammate Chad Ochocinco, Housh added, “I’m not playing Madden no more until they get my rating right. I used to be the best in the world at Madden. I’m going to miss not playing it, but until they do me right, I’m not playing it any more.”

I guess the one-time Pro Bowl player, with only two seasons over 1,000 yards receiving, will be on the sidelines for awhile as Electronic Arts, the maker of the game, already decided earlier this year that the ratings on the game would be a little more realistic. 

To me I don’t see how Houshmandzadeh—career numbers 507 receptions for 5,782 yards with 11.4 ypc average and 37 TDs—can argue with his rating, it is not like he is Randy Moss on the express train to Canton.  The former Bengals receiver has had some nice seasons over the years, but there is no way that he should be considered a top game breaker in the NFL.  I can name five receivers off the top of my head that I believe are better than the pony-tailed receiver—Randy Moss, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Brandon Marshall and Reggie Wayne.

And that's just to name a few.

I for one am glad that EA decided to look at their ratings for this version of Madden, as I have been a player of the game from years back. I can still see many broken game controllers in my parents’ house caused by the ridiculous ratings level of former Chicago Bears running back Neal Anderson, a virtual superman, in Madden ’92. 

My brother would throw bombs to Anderson between four defenders, run a toss play where he either outran or over everyone, and could go up the middle with “unstoppable” force even creaming future Hall of Famer Reggie White with ease.

To little old T.J., I say stop bellyaching as you don’t hear Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Omar Gaither—who fell 22 points going from a rating of 87 to 65—or any other players complaining publicly about their ratings and I don’t think EA even cares anyway.