Detroit Lions: Is anyone really surprised by the Madden 20 ratings?

This week the Detroit Lions along with the rest of the NFL found out their ratings for Madden 20. Were any of us really surprised at the results?

It’s not just the Detroit Lions, but every player on every team in the NFL that is interested in how they are rated on Madden football each year.

This is perhaps the one area that all NFL players agree on, somehow or another, even if they have a 99 rating, Madden short-changed them. Because clearly, these players are better than what they have been rated.

Should any of us be surprised by that reaction?

Playing professional sports is something that many kids dream about. Yet only a small few develop the skills needed to be among the best in the world. And fewer still become the best of the best.

How many people can throw a picture-perfect pass that defeats great coverage? How many Athletes have the ability to read an offense like it’s a beginner children’s book, then have the quickness and power to get to the hole, out-maneuver or defeat 300 lb linemen, then stuff a 230 lb running back? Or even the ability to nail a 50-yard field goal to win the game with the clock running out?

Getting to the top of your chosen sport isn’t at all easy. It’s part God-given gifts, part hard-work, part maturity, and even part luck. After all, they say timing is everything.

Yet one way or another, even the most fringe player on any team is light years ahead of the rest of us pedestrian onlookers.

How often have we complained about a ‘bone-head’ play or a wide-open dropped pass and said, ‘Even I could have caught that one’. Yet to be honest those trash talkers probably couldn’t get open to begin with, much less haul in that pass with 40,000 sets of eyes watching them. That’s not even mentioning the countless millions more sitting in front of their television sets at home.

Needless to say, becoming a professional athlete isn’t easy and it’s even harder to keep your job with fresh, new players coming after it every year.