The disrespect Xavien Howard got by Madden is erroneous on all counts

You may think that getting annoyed by what a bunch of nerds at EA Sports think of a guy I’ve never met may be erroneous on all counts. But you’re mistaken. What’s genuinely erroneous on all counts is the pure, unadulterated, mind-numbingly blasphemous disrespect that Xavien Howard has received from the folks who run the Madden franchise.

Oh, and if you’re one of those people who hate and think it’s lame to write about Madden ratings, well then go enjoy your life and understand that it’s July and training camp opens in five days. You’ll have plenty of time to convince yourself that Za’Quandre White and Robert Jones are going to be major diamonds in the rough after posting solid back-to-back practices. It’s cool not to care about Madden ratings but it’s not cool to crap all over people just having fun with them.

If you really think who cares about this stuff, ESPN has run specials all week going over the rankings. So there’s that. Deal with it.

But seriously, the disrespect shown towards Xavien Howard is redonkulous.

Xavien Howard tied for 4th in the NFL with five INTs, which was five less than he had the year before when you know he was in the running for DPOY. He tied for 2nd in the NFL with two forced fumbles and was also 2nd in fumble returns.

I’m not finished. I have more stats for you.

If you don’t want to have Xavien Howard in your top four cornerbacks, I can sort of live with that. But to have the guy who has the most INTs in the league since coming into the league back in 2016, who is still producing at an extremely high level outside of your top 10 list is straight-up dumb.

Xavien Howard is getting treated like he’s an over-the-hill, old guy hanging around type of player whose skills are starting to diminish. That’s not even close to what is happening. Howard just turned 29 years old and hasn’t begun to get anywhere near a level where anyone with a brain could say that he’s starting to show signs of aging unless you’re down with lying. That will happen eventually, but it’s not right now, and it sure as hell wasn’t last year.

The mouth breathers at EA Sports, who haven’t put out a good Madden game since Nam, didn’t just besmirch the good name of Xavien Howard but they also besmirched the name of the late great John Madden who the game is named after and inspired by. I’m rather sure John Madden wanted accuracy when it came to his game. Having Xavien Howard rated outside of the top 10 in cornerbacks isn’t close to accurate and is in fact erroneous on all levels. Shame on you EA Sports.

UPDATE: Upon wrapping this emotional article up, I saw this. As the great Steve Zissou once said, I’m about to blow my stack.

Is there no level that you won’t stoop to Madden rating group?

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