All-Pro vs All-Madden: Which is better?

For example, if everytime you compete on All-Madden, let’s say your team’s quarterback averages 250 yards passing and your team’s starting halfback averages 100 yards rushing; then, everytime you compete with someone on the All-Pro level, that same quarterback was able to pass for an average of 450 yards and that same halfback was able to rush for an average of 200 yards. In that scenario, you could then validly present the argument that playing on the All-Pro level is ‘easier’ than playing on All-Madden. Personally, my individual and team statistics have rarely significantly increased when playing on All-Pro.

I do not believe either level is necessarily ‘better’ than the other. I would say that they are just ‘different.’

Defensively, I generally believe it is ‘easier’ to accumulate sacks and interceptions against an opponent while playing on All-Madden than you can on All-Pro, while on the flip side, I believe it is ‘easier’ to amass a high number of individual and team rushing yards while playing the game on All-Pro rather than All-Madden. (For example, I once had as many as eleven or twelve sacks against an opponent on All-Madden, whereas I have never come close to that sack total on All-Pro, and similarly, I once had close to 600 yards team rushing against an opponent on All-Pro, whereas I have never come close to that number of team rushing yards on All-Madden).

Bottom line, I am neither against All-Pro nor totally against All-Madden. I have played a number of games on both levels, and even a handful of games on the Pro level. As I just alluded to above, I believe both levels have their share of “benefits” and “detriments.”

My general assessment would be this: On offense, if you’re able to regularly score 50 – 100+ points on your opponents, then you’re probably playing on the wrong level. If you watch real-life NFL games on a regular basis, you would have to agree that it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT for any NFL offensive squad to average 50.0 or more points per game against their opponents game after game after game. Similarly on defense, if you’re regularly able to accumulate double digit sacks and/or double digit interceptions against your online league opponents consistently, then you are playing on the wrong level. Rarely in a real NFL season do you ever see a defensive squad average double digit sacks and double digit interceptions.

My #1 argument against both All-Pro and All-Madden is simply the argument and debate itself. It is a pointless debate. I say, when organizing an online (or offline) Madden NFL league, you should play on whatever level the majority of your league members prefer, and secondly, the level that produces the most realistic final scores and the most realistic individual and team statistics.

Oh, and by the way . . . I believe that LeBron James was better than Mashburn even on the high school level. Same with Kobe Bryant vs. Rex Walters. Talent is talent. Whether that talent is displayed on the high school level of difficulty, the college level of difficulty, or the professional level of difficulty. Enough said.

Enjoy the  Madden NFL 16 Season.

Alan Roger Currie, also known as ‘Air Attack’ in the national Madden NFL Community, is the League Commissioner and Story Editor for The JFF Madden NFL (PS4) Online League, a league he founded in October of 2002.