[B]By Michael D. Schaffer
Inquirer Staff Writer[B]
They know football in its brutal, exhilarating beauty - the colliding bodies, the pain, the violence, the intensity, the weariness.
You'd think they would find a football video game a little dull.
They don't.
Donovan McNabb and Keith Adams of the Eagles. Marcus Knight of the Soul. Antwon Burton, Mike Holley and Rodney Wormley of Temple.
They all play video games.
Specifically, they play Madden football.
Like the rest of the video-game universe, they're buzzing about the iconic game's latest incarnation, Madden NFL 06 ($49.99), which made its debut Tuesday and features McNabb on the cover.
The game, which takes its name and football wisdom from John Madden, the folksy NFL commentator and former Oakland Raiders coach, seems to be as popular among real players as among couch potatoes and wanna-bes.
So strong is Madden's allure for football players that its manufacturer, EA Sports, holds an annual tournament for NFL devotees of the game during the week leading up to the Super Bowl. This year's winner was Eagles safety Michael Lewis.
"It's complicated," Lewis said of the 2006 version. "It takes time to figure it out, but it should open up the game for everyone. They did me right this year. I like my attributes."
Not all NFL players are video-game fans. Terrell Owens, always his own man, shook his head dismissively when asked Thursday whether he plays Madden.
"I don't play video games," he said. "I'm on video games."
Owens aside, why do football players like Madden so much?
Simple: They think it looks like the game they play on the field.
"It's realistic," said Burton, a senior nose tackle at Temple and, at 315 pounds, perhaps destined to be one of those "big ol' linemen" Madden likes to talk about. "It's just realistic."
The game's creators "have gotten as close as they can to real life," said Knight, who plays wide receiver and defensive back for the Soul and who used to play for the Raiders.
The only thing that could make the game more realistic would be the ability to actually hit someone, said Knight, whose competitive juices have him wishing he could do just that.
NFL players have another strong reason for being interested in Madden: They're in it. And they all want to see how they're rated.
"I read that my speed was a little lower than Tony Gonzalez's," McNabb recently told reporters. "I'm pretty sure that I'm faster than the [Kansas City] tight end. But I don't get too involved in that.
"I mean, a lot of people talk about their ratings and where they are rated. I believe I am rated somewhere in the 96 to 98 [range], so I don't complain about that. But they could have boosted up my arms, my biceps, a little bit more or something, just present it a little bit better."
Back in 2004, when quarterback Michael Vick of the Falcons was on the cover of Madden, he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his video counterpart actually had more talent than he did.
"The video Vick is much better than the real Vick," the real Vick said. "It's to the point where it's unrealistic, the things [the video version] can do. He does some of the things I've done, but so much more."
For Knight, Madden is a poignant reminder of the NFL player he used to be when he played for the Raiders in 2001 and 2002. He tied the Super Bowl record for number of kickoff returns - eight - in the Raiders' 48-21 loss to Tampa Bay in Super Bowl XXXVII.
Although he now plays in the Arena Football League, which will get its own video game early next year, Knight still appears on Madden's list of free agents, complete with his video image and and a rating - 66 - that Knight describes as low for a receiver.
For college players, Madden feeds their dreams of someday being in the NFL. As they play the game, they can imagine themselves racing across the screen.
"I do that all the time," said Holley, a senior wide receiver at Temple.
So does Wormley, a defensive end for the Owls.
"You notice that there are a lot of players around your size," he said. "You think, 'I'm about the same size as them. I can do the same things.' "
Like anyone else who picks up a controller to play Madden, football players are talking about changes in the passing game - the first in Madden in 10 years.
The alterations have increased the game's realism, according to Adams, a weakside linebacker and special-teams standout for the Eagles.
In Madden NFL 06, quarterbacks are assigned a cone-shaped field of vision. They must throw to receivers inside the cone or run a serious risk of throwing an incompletion or, worse yet, an interception.
"It's hard to pass," Adams said. "It shows how tough it is to be a quarterback in the NFL."
Holley had a similar reaction to the change.
Using the quarterback's field of vision is "a little difficult," he said. "You have to really practice that. That's crazy. That's going to make the game more exciting."
Even McNabb thinks the changes in the passing game make Madden NFL 06 a little more difficult and realistic.
"It puts the game in perspective," he said at a news conference recently at the Eagles' training camp. "It's not just dropping back and pressing a button toward the receivers now. You have to use the cone, which they call it, to use the vision aspect of it of just placing the ball. It makes the passing game a lot harder, more challenging."
Some football players couldn't wait to get their hands on Madden 06.
Knight, who had pre-ordered the game, picked it up promptly on Tuesday. He had already played one game and was in the middle of a second when a reporter called him at his home in the Bay Area of California in midafternoon. Playing alone, he had guided the Chicago Bears past the Washington Redskins, 32-0, in the first game.
Why the Bears?
"I like a lot of their players," Knight said.
But usually, he said, "I go with whatever gives me the best game."
Holley, who stood in line to pick up his Madden game on Tuesday, played his first game against Wormley, his roommate.
Holley was the Redskins, Wormley the Detroit Lions. Holley won.
"I came back with 49 seconds left [to win], 28-24," Holley said.
Wormley said their record against each other using past versions of Madden was "about a tie."
The game may not be real, but the competition is.
The Philadelphia Enquirer
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