A recent article on FiveThirtyEight.com has helped us understand a bit more about what goes into Madden player ratings. I wish I could say I am impressed. Madden is one of the most stale and non-simulation sports games in existence, yet it gets touted as being true to the game.
It has always bothered me that Donny Moore seems to have full power to subjectively up someone’s rating because of one big catch, run or block. I truly miss 2K Football more and more as I read about Madden and the NFL in general.
Here is the breakdown from FiveThirtyEight –
NoobTubeTV 
2k Football is overrated. Especially 2k5. I remember playing it as a 7 year old and finding it incredibly lame and hoped for something much better, and I found Madden. It still needs a lot of work to it but to me, Madden is a lot better. I also insert my own ratings at the beginning of the season, middle, and the end.
Finding NFL 2K to be lame as a 7 year old isn’t surprising. It was and is a more true simulation of football than Madden has been.
Considering you were a little kid that found Madden to be more fun (and still seem to) speaks volumes for the game design of Madden vs. 2K.
If 2K released a fully functional 32 team football game with a franchise mode, etc. it would take a huge bite out of the ever-shrinking Madden sales.