Its baaaack

Contrary to popular belief that the most wonderful sports moment of the year comes during an actual sporting event, there is one day, one consistent activity that marks the true start of the NFL season. Every August, without fail, the latest installment of John Madden football is released.
Now a lot of people are unaware of the fact that our favorite video game franchise has struggled to make an efficient jump to the now dominant gaming platforms, XBOX 360 and PS3(this year marks the first true attempt at the Wii). The gameplay has always been solid, as have the graphics which are impossible to screw up on these powerful platforms. The problem has been with my own personal favorite feature, the Franchise mode. For whatever reason, it was almost entirely left off of the previous two Maddens for the 360. This was a terrible turn of events, one that even had me buy a old used XBOX as the Madden for the old platform was in tact. This year, the developers have promised that it is back and better than ever. While I am skeptical, there is always hope when a new Madden is released.

So lets do some quick thoughts/power rankings about which teams will be dominant.

A: Offense almost always dictates how good a team will be

B: Solid Madden players can use schemes to cover for Defensive talent liabilities

The Elite

1. The Patriots : Mr. Moss and Mr. Stallworth(more dominant in madden than in real life) meet Mr. Brady and Mr. Maroney. Killer high powered offense should rival the Colts in Maddenland. Always has a solid D, add a great LB coming off the corner in Adalius. Yikes

2. The Colts : Peyton, Marvin, Reggie, Addai, Freeney Tough to beat even with the sketchy D-fense.

3. The Falcons : It does not matter how the rest of the team is, if you know how to play with Vick efficiently, he is damn near impossible to stop. Solid D here as well.

The Really Good

4. The Chargers : Rivers is serviceable. Gates and LT are unstoppable. They have a great D but the lack of a great madden receiver bumps them from the Elite

5. The Saints : Improved D is still the weakness. Quick receivers, solid QB in Brees. Put Mr. Bush anywhere on the field and he will be the second most effective RB in the game(#1 LT)

6. The Bengals : 3 great receivers, very good RB, and a QB with a cannon arm. Nothing sexy about this pick, but an allround good team.

7. Broncoes : Similar to the Bengals, all around solid performers.

8. Titans : Vince Young just wins madden games. Scrambling QBs are so helpful in today's madden game

9. The Rams : Great offense, lots of speed at WR. Bruising back in Jackson. Decent speed on D

10. The Lions : Crazy speed on D. K Jones a better VG player than real life. John Kitna, very underrated. Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams

The Do-ables

11. The Steelers : Big Ben always has a solid rating and can move a bit. Ward is great and Willie parker has the coveted 99 speed. A solid choice

12. The 49ers : Frank Gore, Darrel Jackson, Alex Smith. All solid, plus a quick D. And their greatest asset? Vernon Davis, the only TE with 90 speed.

13. The Cowboys : This team could have been higher, while I might not like Tony Ho, er, Romo. The hype should lead to an inflated madden rating. The rest of the team is solid and T.O. is amazing. Great D here, Ware is a beast. Speedy Corners are always nice

14. The Cardinals : Two great WR. A young QB(always fun). A solid RB and a revamped O-Line(the most unrated thing in Madden) Not to mention a decent D led by the Amazing Adrian Wilson

15. The Bears : Too low? Maybe but I hate Rexy-Poo. The only reason they are this high is the mystery Devin Hester 100 speed rating. No way to tell how dominant he could be, especially on offense.

16. Eagles : Unlike real life, we do know that McNabb will be healthy in Madden. Westbrook is great. They've got a good tight end and a solid D. Can't say I like those WR though but what else is new

17. The Ravens : This high for the D-fense. Mcnair is valuable as a scrambler and Mcgahee has always been able to contribute in Madden

18. The Redskins : Antwan Randle El is valuable in madden and Portis is Amazing. I love the safeties on this team, maybe the only truly great madden tandem that can stop the deep ball. Landry and Taylor are awesome

19. The Jaguars : Leftwich has a cannon. Two great receivers means that one can make up for a mediocre receiving core.

The competitive Disadvantages

20. The Giants : Brandon Jacobs is good but Im not sure I trust him in Madden. A low fumble rating and lack of speed will hurt him.

21. The Jets : Actually not a bad team. Only this low because Chad Pennington is staring the first sub 80 rated Throw Power in the face.

22. The Panthers : Nothing really special about this team. D'angelo Williams is a bright spot

23. The Browns : About a year away from being really solid

24. The Dolphins : Solid across the board, losing Wes Welker hurt. Just not too excited about anyone on this team. An uninjured Madden Culpepper could be a wild card that vaults them higher on this list.

25. The Seahawks : They should be higher, probably around 10 or 11. But I completely missed them and am lazy. Alexander is great. Solid receiving core. Hasselbeck can't move but he'll be solid.

26. The Cheifs : Other than LJ. No one on this team is very good. T-Gon is getting old

27. The Raiders : Rookie QB and young team makes them exciting. Better on D than people may think

28. The Vikings : No one fun here except for Peterson.

29. The Packers : Favre still gets the respect rating. Nothing else about this team is great.

30. The Texans : Andre Johnson is awesome. That is about it.

31. The Bucs : Garcia should have a fine rating but both their WR and RB regressed last year.

32. The Bills : Ummmm yeah