While I am aware that sports isn’t exactly the forte of TAY, I figured that a listicle based off the game who’s namesake died not too long ago would be à propos. John Madden was, surprisingly enough, part of my formative years as a young video game player as it allowed me to play american football, which wasn’t exactly well-organized around here at the time. Sure, as the years went on and the man’s direct involvement in the product was lessened, the title’s quality began to decline, with comments like “This could have been a roster update” and “How could they release something this bad?” often appearing in online discussions, typically with more slurs. However, thanks to Electronic Arts securing the NFL license, competition was dead in the water. Still, John Madden influenced gaming in ways we could have never imagined, such as being a part of the cat durid is 4 fite meme flowchart back when Warcraft was relevant.
Of note, my interest in sports in general was rekindled mainly by discovering the works of Jon Bois over at Secret Base, which is very good content even if you don’t enjoy sportsball. Even the more serious parts of Secret Base is worth reading or watching, so if you’ve got some hours to spend, why not read and watch weird sports stories?
Let me give an explanation for those who don’t necessarily know the mechanic. In Madden ’22, each play causes a team to gain or lose momentum in a tug-of-war meter. Depending on how far you are alongside it, teams get two advantages which translate to (rarely) buffs to themselves and (very likely) debuffs to the opponent. However, the home team has a 3rd advantage which is the Home Field Advantage. Typically placed in the middle of the tug of war, so long as the home team has a modicum of momentum, it is activated.
While a few of these are particularly inspired, such as the Dallas Cowboys’ Deflected which reflects the absurdly large monitor/scoreboard present on that field and others are accurate if bland, there are at least five of these that could be improved for next year’s entry. In addition, since these often reflects the conditions of play rather than whether or not the team is playing well, I would make these permanent but also affect the home team more or less, depending on the effect. Either way, on to the list.
San Diego Los Angeles Chargers
Current Home Field Advantage – Bolt Up: Home team gains bonus momentum for yardage gains.
Now this is bland, uninspired and doesn’t even reflect the realities of the Los Angeles Chargers. They are a team without a home, theirs taken through greed and apathy of the billionaire class. Every week, they play a game in front of opposing teams’ fans, because they have none. Even their former home has renounced their former love, setting it on fire both figuratively and literally in the case of burning Chargers’ gear. The Chargers are alone in the world.
So let’s make that a reality in 23!
Proposed Home Field Advantage – 17 Away Games: Away team gets a random advantage taken from the generic advantage pool BUT home team has a minor bonus building momentum across all plays.
The idea here is that, well, you’re not home. You’re still in hostile territory. This isn’t YOUR stadium. SoFi Stadium is for the Los Angeles Rams, a team with ACTUAL history that people of Los Angeles remember. However, to ensure there’s a balance for losing out on a custom home field advantage, I decided to give them a momentum buff, as a treat.
Washington Football Team
Current Home Field Advantage – Unstable Ground: Away team has an increasingly hard time changing directions.
Unstable Ground? That’s it? That’s the only thing wrong with FedEx Field? Really? That’s all you’re going to say, Madden 22? Oh ho noooooo, we’re not letting that slide. Wait, and you share this with the 49ers!? No, this cannot stand. The stadium is as corrupt as the owner’s soul. From sewage water spilling onto fans in week 1 to the luckily harmless railing collapse of week 17, this field is a menace and should be condemned.
Proposed Home Field Advantage – Structural Collapse: Injuries have a higher chance to occur across both teams, with a slightly higher chance to occur on the Away team.
FedEx Field is an insult to sound architecture. While I know Electronic Arts would never dare put this in the game as they want to promote the league and not point out its faults, it would be an adequate representation of the stadium’s ability to be the biggest dumpster fire in the league. However, if I were part of the Football Team, I’d know how dangerous it is to be there and make preparations. The away team, unfortunately, would not have that chance. That being said, the turf is so horrid that it’s hurt the Football Team just as much as its opponents, but for game balance, we have to skew the numbers.
Jacksonville Jaguars
Current Home Field Advantage – Duuuval: Home team gains bonus momentum on touchdowns.
On paper, this is good. Jacksonville scoring is such a rare event it requires the Grand Cross alignment of planets as well as the rare positive intervention of Florida Man in order for such a momentous moment to occur. The problem is this does not adequately reflect the relationship between ownership (Shadid Khan and his son specifically) and their fans, and more importantly, how their team might benefit from their fans thinking ownership turned heel.
Proposed Home Field Advantage – Send In The Khlowns: Game clock has a chance to be interrupted on plays it would not have been.
In-between the absurd fan movement to show up to the last game of the season in full clown makeup and fans running onto the field earlier this year, TIAA Bank Field is ripe for drama, and not just the kind that was shown in Daily’s Place every Wednesday night. The more ownership sticks to its guns, ownership’s son gets into silly spats on Twitter with fans, the more the fans will feel entitled to do things like interrupt games and run across the field. As I do not foresee the Khans changing anytime soon, this will be far more accurate than anything EA’s designers can come up with. While inconsistent, when you are the source of the inconsistency you can learn to mitigate it on your end, which fits with the philosophy of the home team being less hindered than the away team in such cases.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Current Home Field Advantage – Terribly Distracting: Away team hot routes have a chance to fail on 3rd/4th down, requiring them to be made again. Receivers who are hot routed will temporarily receive a “?” indicator bubble at the time of the hot route to signify they may be unsure of their route.
I have a problem with this one’s overly complex effect. Anyone who’s seen a Steelers home game knows how insufferable their fans are. Doubly so with what they have affectionately dubbed the Terrible Towel. However, seeing as Steelers’ fans often travel to other stadiums, this doesn’t make for much of a home game advantage. Plus, yinzers would never stop waving the towel, even without team momentum. Not only is it overly complicated, it is also inaccurate.
(Of note, the Cleveland Browns also have this, but renamed Dawg Pound, which makes a bit more sense since they have a big DAWG POUND sign at each endzone so the distractions are, at least, more accurate.)
Proposed Home Field Advantage – Terrible Terrain: Weather conditions are amplified.
Simple, to the point, and a reference to one of the worst football games ever played on the Steelers’ home field. This is one of those abilities that can make or break a team, but if you pick the Steelers, you know you’ll play half your games on Heinz Field, so you can make preparations for it. If it’s good weather, you get to play the game on Final Destination so it’s win/win!
Seattle Seahawks
Current Home Field Advantage – The 12’s: Random portions of the play art for the away team offense will be squiggly and hard to read.
This seems a little weak for a team that has a stadium that caused an outright earthquake after a winning touchdown run. Plus, this will not work on AI, and for a game that most will only play against AI, that’s not great. As to the story behind that earthquake, look it up online, it’s pretty interesting since it’s due to the stadium’s unique construction that amplifies fans’ sounds.
Since they amplify fans’ reactions… that’s where I’m going.
Proposed Home Field Advantage – Beastquake!: Home team momentum after a touchdown increases dramatically. Away team momentum diminishes more slowly.
There’s two things I tried to fix with this: A mechanics issue (the squiggly lines does not matter to the AI, who wouldn’t be looking at its playbook in the same manner a player would) and a flavor issue. The flavor issue is simple: You have an event that is legendary in terms of fanbases, involves the stadium in and of itself, and you don’t use it for the Home Field Advantage? C’mon man. Mechanics-wise, this resolves the issue where the AI isn’t affected by the ability, and the Away team losing momentum more slowly overall shows that it takes a big play to really sway the game – like the kind of play that caused the Beastquake.
I think with these, Madden ’23 would unquestionably be a better game that would more accurately represent the NFL. Of course, there are more that could be changed – a lot of these are just representations of the fandoms of the teams involved rather than an actual home field advantage. There are also far more pressing changes that should be made to the game for it to be the game their fans actually want. Myself, I’ll just happily continue ignoring the yearly juggernaut and laughing at the inevitable malding of a fanbase that does not understand video game development.
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