This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you so much for rocking with us today. We appreciate you.
After having had College Football 25 take over my life for the last few weeks, I decided to give Madden a shot. I’ve been a sporadic Madden player over the years but figured I’d give it another shot since we finally got another college football video game, and it was awesome.
After playing it for four days straight, my feelings are mixed.
Don’t get it twisted — this isn’t a bad game! Anyone who has been a fan of Madden will love this one. There were plenty of redeemable qualities that kept me coming back.
The first thing that you should know about it is that this is not a copy-and-paste job with CFB 25. The two games are entirely different. Madden actually does a lot of things better than CFB 25, if I’m being honest.
READ MORE: What College Football 25 can learn from Madden
The first thing I did was go into a Play Now game. I chose to replay the Eagles’ first preseason game against the Ravens.
Big mistake, guys. That defense is excellent. It destroyed me. But, honestly, I was in awe at how alive it felt. The defense kept shifting around pre-snap. It was like the players were communicating with one another. It felt like watching an honest NFL game, which was nice.
The playbooks were also unique. The Eagles offense was fun. It was filled with a ton of run-pass option plays with intricate route concepts for Jalen Hurts to cycle through. It was impressive.
What I really wanted to play was the game’s Superstar mode. I’d been glued to Road to Glory on CFB 25 since the game came out and wanted to continue my player’s career on Madden.
Things started off pretty well! My player transferred over neatly. He looked exactly like he did on CFB 25, which was nice.
Once your player loads in, you select an archetype. Since this was a quarterback, I had four choices: field general, scrambler, improviser and power runner. Ultimately, I built a custom improviser mix.
From there, you play the NFL Combine and do various drills to improve your player. There’s also a Combine interview you can take that impacts your draft standing, too.
The questions are super silly and easy if you pay attention to Madden and the NFL in the slightest bit. The questions aren’t about defensive coverages and how to attack them. Instead, they’re silly things like who won Kick Tac Toe at the Pro Bowl in 2023.
Pretty sure I still got this wrong, but whatever.
Ultimately, the Jets drafted me with the 11th pick in the first round. They do the whole draft thing, too, by the way. Robert Saleh called me to let me know the Jets were picking me. You also get to shake hands with Roger Goodell, which was nice.
But things got super weird, super fast. For some reason, New York traded Aaron Rodgers to the Rams after picking me, and, well, that didn’t make any sense mostly because my player kind of stinks.
This is what really irked me. You’d think that as a Heisman-winning quarterback who broke virtually every passing record at USC, I’d have been a pretty good prospect. But nope! He’s a 65 overall quarterback.
It felt like the work I did on CFB 25 kind of didn’t matter, which sucked. But the mode was still fun to play. I played the preseason and, after a few quick games, he’s already a 70 overall. It’s not hard to level up. You get skill points upon completion of “quests,” which are basically stat goals for the season. The progression system is also much better than CFB 25’s. It’s more granular, so you can improve individual “core” skills instead of broadly improving a swath of them without control.
The mode was a bit glitchy. I had to restart the game a few times to get some of the menus to work. It also just completely kicked me in the middle of a fourth quarter, which was irritating, but I still had fun with it.
The presentation was excellent. The commentators knew I won the Heisman, which was nice. They also gave me a sweet chyron, too.
I haven’t had much time to explore the rest of the game, but these two modes gave me a pretty good sampling on what to expect.
Ultimately, this game is good. If you like Madden or love football, you’ll have a good time playing it. It’s an immersive NFL experience that breathes a lot of life into the experience.
Me, personally? I think I’m going to slide back to CFB 25 for a sec. I miss those drums.
RATING: 7 out of 10.
Not this year, Kap
If Colin Kaepernick does choose to come back to the NFL as a coach, it won’t be happening this year.
Harbaugh reportedly told Kap he had a coaching job waiting for him with the Chargers if he wanted it. The head coach reportedly offered Kaepernick that job back in January.
Now, it seems, it’s a bit too late to take it. Harbaugh told reporters that Kaepernick wouldn’t be coaching on the staff or playing on the team this year.
“I love Colin, but he’s not going to be on the coaching staff I set for this year, and he’s not going to be playing on the roster either,” he said.
That’s a reasonable position for Harbaugh, considering that the NFL season starts in a couple of weeks here. It’s a bit late to be adding names to the coaching staff.
It also seems he’s closing the window on Kaepernick playing for him, too, which is a bit disappointing. I guess Easton Stick is good enough? Whatever.
Maybe next year. We’ll see.
Ws > Records
Angel Reese has done a lot of record breaking in her rookie WNBA season so far, but she’s more concerned with wins. That was made clear during her press conference after a rough loss to the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday.
Here’s Meg Hall with more:
“After a rough loss to the Phoenix Mercury Thursday, Angel was asked about breaking Sylvia Fowles’ franchise single-season rebounding record. And, while that’s really dope, it’s probably the last thing she wants to hear following a loss.
That’s something she’s said before — for example, after she broke the rookie double-double record — and it certainly wasn’t going to change on a night where the team mostly struggled without Chennedy Carter. As you might suspect, Angel rattled off an icy but blunt “I don’t wanna hear about no record” response to a reporter who asked.”
Record, schmecord. Angel is trying to make the playoffs.
Photo Friday: The cycle, baby!
Weston Wilson got showered with sunflower seeds after becoming the first Phillies rookie to ever hit the cycle in a game.
Here’s every hit:
Every hit from Weston Wilson's cycle 😤 pic.twitter.com/jLsVY8eetq
— MLB (@MLB) August 16, 2024
Good stuff, rook.
Quick hits: Every NFL stadium, ranked … The Raiders’ chaos … and more
— Here’s Andrew Joseph with his annual NFL stadium ranking. This is always fun.
— Christian D’Andrea says the Raiders should lean into their own chaotic nature because, well, they’re the Raiders.
— Here’s Robert Zeglinski on how Josh Allen is enough to keep the Bills afloat.
— Caitlin Clark is out here signing newborn babies. Here’s Meg Hall with more.
— Here’s Meg again with the best schedule reveals from NBA teams across social media.
— Here’s Blake Schuster with more on the gambling scandal amid Notre Dame’s men’s swimming team. Yikes.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading. Let’s do this again next week. We out.
-Sykes ✌️