Alright, so the other day I was messing around with Madden 23, and I got to thinking about Kirk Cousins. I pulled up his stats in the game, and let me tell you, it sparked a bit of a deep dive for me.
First off, I checked out his overall rating, you know, that number that’s supposed to sum up how good a player is. In Madden 23, Cousins is sitting at an 84. Not bad, not great, just kinda… there. That got me wondering, how does that stack up against his real-world performance? So, I dug into his actual NFL stats.
Turns out, Cousins has a career passer rating of 97.4. Pretty darn respectable, if you ask me. He’s known for his accuracy, completing around 66.8% of his passes throughout his career. Last season with the Vikings, he completed 65.9% – again, solid numbers.
Then I started comparing him to other quarterbacks in the game. You got your big names like Mahomes and Brady with their sky-high ratings, and then there’s Cousins, somewhere in the middle of the pack. It felt a little off to me, like maybe the game wasn’t giving him enough credit.
- Looked up some articles about his Madden rating.
- Found out some folks think he’s underrated in the game.
- Even saw a piece saying he should be “furious” about it!
So, I spent a good chunk of time just playing with him in the game. Tried out different plays, saw how he handled pressure, and you know what? He felt better than his 84 rating suggested. He was making good throws, reading defenses, and generally playing like a solid NFL quarterback. Maybe the game has him a bit lower than he should be. Maybe not. But it was interesting to see how a video game rating can make you think about a player’s real-life performance.
Final Thoughts
After all that, I’m still not sure what to make of Kirk Cousins’ Madden 23 rating. It’s just a game, but it got me thinking about how we judge players and how those judgments don’t always line up with reality. One thing’s for sure, though: Kirk Cousins is a better quarterback than some people give him credit for, both in the game and on the field. I’m curious to see how his rating changes in future Madden games. Maybe next time I’ll do a deep dive on that! I will share with you guys next time!
