Falcons vs. Cardinals Madden 25 Simulation: Arizona blows out Atlanta

Week 8 of the Madden simulation proved to be very easy to set up. I've abandoned the season that I was trying to run because it didn't give me the control over both teams players, so I'm now just using the Play Now mode with the weekly updated rosters which surprisingly reflect both teams suspected active rosters, an example is Julio Jones is on IR for the Falcons and Steven Jackson was established as the #4 RB on the Falcons probably to limit his carries as he returns from his hamstring injury. This is a huge time saver for setting up these simulations and it also should provide a more realistic result.

Game Recap: The Cardinals offense is able to keep pace with the Falcons in a shoot out through the first half and suddenly springs to life in the second half scoring two touchdowns in each quarter taking a 21 point lead with unanswered touchdowns in large part to a rested defense playing effective football and keeping the Falcons offense out of the end zone throughout the fourth quarter despite multiple attempts.

The negatives are that the Cardinals allowed 488 offensive yards, specifically 399 through the air, but the 89 rushing yards is in line with what the Cardinals have been keeping pace with. Too bad the Cardinals continued their trend of only gaining 65 yards with their rushing attack. Madden 25 just hates the Cardinals rushing game.

The biggest takeaway from the game was the three interceptions that Matt Ryan threw to a hungry Cardinals defense, and the short fields it allowed Carson Palmer to work with and also the hard to conceive fact that Palmer did not throw an interception in this game.

Let's just hope that the Cardinals can have a dominant day like this on Sunday.

Box score:

Quarter || 1 || 2 || 3 || 4 || Final

Falcons || 7 || 14 || 7 || 0 || 28

Cardinals || 7 || 14 || 14|| 14 || 49

Falcons Cardinals

Total Offense - 488 382

Rushing - 89 65

Passing - 399 317

First Downs - 23 14

PR Yards - 33 1

KR Yards - 126 52

Turnovers - 3(-3) 0(+3)

3rd Down % - 11-19(57%) 10-17(58%)

4th Down % - 1-3(33%) 0-0(0%)

Red Zone % - 2-5(40%) 4-5(80%)

Red Zone TD- 2 4

Penalties - 4-104 4-31

After what we've seen from the Cardinals to date, I would be ecstatic to see those kinds of 3rd down numbers and red zone TD conversions.

What do you think? Is Madden way off this week?