Players often gripe about their Madden ratings.
But who knew the video game's developers were actually listening?
Some EA Sports employees were at the Under Armour Performance Center Wednesday shooting footage for next year, and they told our PR staff that they saw our video and story about this year's rankings and made an adjustment.
The change is with Pro Bowl guard Marshal Yanda's toughness, which was totally out of whack.
When the game was first launched, they had Yanda at an 86 for toughness. There were 25 players on the Ravens roster, including rookie quarterback Keith Wenning, rated tougher than Yanda.
As of yesterday, Yanda has a toughness rating of 99 – the highest possible grade. And he's now tied with wide receiver Steve Smith Sr.
That's a whole lot closer to reality. If there's a tougher guy in the NFL, I'd like to meet him, because I can't imagine it.
In 2007 when Yanda was a rookie, he volunteered to be tasered three times, gaining mad respect from his teammates. Yanda didn't even go down on one knee. In 2011, Yanda played a week after having emergency surgery on his calf.
I went to tell Yanda about the good news. He was more interested in jumping in the shower. So I'm 0-for-2 on requests to talk to him about Madden. Why am I not surprised?
Well even if Yanda doesn't care, thanks for the fix, Madden.
