From 1969 until its demise in 1989, the Crazy Eddie electronics chain was a fixture in the Greater New York area, with its signature commercial, "His prices are insane!"
(The chain's eponymous owner, Eddie Antar, was soon found to have been engaging in various fraudulent practices — and the resulting investigations led to the company filing for bankruptcy in 1989. Antar died in 2016 at the age of 68.)
Well, Madden 26's preseason ratings are pretty insane, too:
Chiefs = 92
49ers = 92
Ravens = 91
Dolphins = 89
Cowboys = 88
Lions = 88
Bengals = 87
Browns = 87
Eagles = 87
Jets = 86
Steelers = 86
Bills = 85
Buccaneers = 84
Falcons = 84
Vikings = 83
Texans = 83
Saints = 83
Chargers = 82
Rams = 82
Jaguars = 82
Colts = 82
Packers = 81
Bears = 81
Raiders = 81
Seahawks = 80
Titans = 80
Patriots = 80
Broncos = 79
Panthers = 79
Commanders = 78
Cardinals = 76
Giants = 75
Since the iconic Stat-Key Annual came out in the early 1970s, the usual method of using ratings of this sort was to take the higher team's rating, subtract the lower team's rating, then add three points to the home team's rating. For example, in this season's opening game, the Eagles should be 2-point favorites at home over the Cowboys because Dallas is rated 1 point higher than Philadelphia and the game is being played in Philadelphia. In future weeks, each team's rating is adjusted, based on how much each team "overachieved" or "underachieved" (Stat-Key also had "Offensive Ratings" and "Defensive Ratings" for each team, yielding an "Instant PrePlay" for every game; i.e., a four-point favorite might be "picked" to win a game 21-17).
But some of this year's ratings appear to be way out of whack:
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles in a three-way tie for seventh? Yes, their quarterback is a Punch-and-Judy guy, their receivers will never be confused with Duper and Clayton, and their offensive line may be overrated (the 45 sacks they allowed in 2024 was 20th in the league — and worse than the league average, which was 41.1).
But so low an overall ranking?
As John McEnroe would say, you cannot be serious!
Even less serious is the 30th-place ranking of the Commanders, who merely went to the NFC Championship game a season ago, unless you really believe in the comparative strength of schedule theory, which calculates how much every team's upcoming season's schedule difficulty is going up or down from what they had played the previous season (this also applies in extremis to this year's 49ers — but in reverse).
Dallas at tied for fifth might be a little high — but if the Cowboys get 17 healthy games out of Dak Prescott (it will be 18 before you know it), it could add up to their first NFC title game appearance since 1995. Of course it does help that they used to play their home games at a stadium that had a hole in the roof so God could watch his team!
See? You can get something out of Madden even if you never play it.
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