Madden season is officially upon us with the reveal of the Madden NFL 26 cover athlete. And the reward for laying the smackdown on the entire NFL throughout the season is that 2kSa himself, Saquon Barkley has made the cover. Do I wish it was Jalen Hurts so that I could continue my “QB1 agenda” throughout the offseason? Of course. But will I be annoying anyway seeing as how the cover depicts one of the most incredible plays in NFL history and those beautiful Kelly Green uniforms?
BUT AREN’T YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE ‘MADDEN’ CURSE?
Let me tell you something, I’ve lived most of my life getting clowned for never seeing the Eagles win a Super Bowl. I’ve heard the empty trophy case jokes, the Chunky soup jokes, and 2012 DragonflyJonez in the middle of rookie year RG3. I’ve survived hell. And then in the last eight years, they’ve gone to three Super Bowls and won two. The most recent of these, I got to watch sitting next to my mom and dad, with my daughter cheering them on in a Hurts jersey.
So, if you think the Madden Curse is an issue for me in any way at all, you would be horribly incorrect. Jalen took one off of Football Jordan, my favorite team won a Super Bowl with a black QB. I’m good. Happy and fulfilled. I’ll always want them to be good, but them jokes don’t penetrate anymore. So, no matter what happens, I’m just riding the wave of getting to see one of the more dominant playoff performances from a team in NFL history. But there are some things attached to this game that I’m extremely interested in.
WHAT Y’ALL GOT COOKING OVER THERE?
This tweet from the official Madden account showing the deluxe edition cover. Which, while cool, is not the Kelly Greens.
Signature QB tendencies? Does that mean we’ll get Jordan Love failing to run a tush push of his own? Or maybe Josh Allen failing to do it about 600 times in the playoffs? I’m kidding — not really. If you’re pro-banning the tush push, I know everything I need to know about you). I’m not sure how well they’ll be able to pull it off given the AI’s tendency towards being weird at times in the game, but if they can get as close to real life QB styles, it should make Madden a better game.
You know what I would really appreciate? Actual coaching logic. Schemes are cool, but you’re gonna tell me that Dan Campbell is punting on 4th and 1 from my 45? Someone isn’t watching the games. I’d love to see Jon Bois’ cowardly punt index reflected in the game somehow too. I know it wouldn’t happen, but I can dream.
As far as game-changing weather is concerned, I never really thought about it. But a snow game and a rain game in Madden means next to nothing. I can throw the ball 40 times in the snow if I choose to and I don’t feel like I’m penalized for being ridiculous. I mean personally, I’m a “run the ball” guy anyway. But at least make people work for it if they choose to go pass happy. All in all, I’m looking forward to seeing what changes are made this year now that they have to deal with the College Football juggernaut being back. So, I’ll be locked in come August 14th.
The post Saquon Barkley is the ‘Madden NFL 26’ Cover Athlete and I’m Gonna be Very Annoying About It appeared first on VICE.
