Hopefully Mike Bell is as good as "Madden" thinks he is.


Moving forward in our position-by-position look at the Eagles' 2010 squad through the eyes of the "Madden" developers, we take a look at LeSean McCoy and the running backs.

Behind McCoy, the guys have Mike Bell as the primary backup and Eldra Buckley as the guy who wins the job of third running back. It's possible the developers, like myself, think Buckley's work on special teams will win him the job in the end. Of course, it could also just be a case of taking the safe route and going with the incumbent.

And as we take a look at the running backs, we'll also take a look at Leonard Weaver since a) he's a hybrid running back/fullback and b) giving him his own post would be hard to justify.



LeSean McCoy | Overall Rating: 79

Looking at the team as a whole, McCoy seems to have the fairest rating. My personal belief is that he's going to have a breakout season, but based on what he showed last year, an overall rating of 79 is more than fair.

And when we look at the other key ratings, like speed (93), acceleration (96), agility (96), catching (80), elusiveness (91), spin move (91), and juke move (94), it's clear the guys at EA are fairly high on McCoy and will likely make him very easy to progress.

They really knock him down in areas like strength (62), carry (70), trucking (58), and stiff-arm (60), but that's all warranted. He's not a bruising back that is going to punish defenders; He's going to juke them out of their shoes and run around them, so those ratings also make sense.

The one that I would dispute, however, would be his ball-carrier vision (79) and awareness (67).

Knocking down his awareness rating could just be because he's still very young, but he seems to see the field very well and can find a hole when it opens up. If a guy like Brandon Jacobs, who basically puts his head down and runs into people, has an 87 BCV rating, then McCoy should have a rating in that ballpark as well.



Mike Bell | Overall Rating: 77

Bell's rating is basically just the opposite of McCoy's, which should make him the perfect change-of-pace in Madden like the Birds hope he'll be here in reality.

His speed (85) , acceleration (87) , juke move (77), spin move (73), elusiveness (64), catching (62), and agility (78) all suffer a little, but his strength (78) , carry (87), trucking (88), stiff-arm (86), and awareness (77) ratings are right above average.

Essentially what the Madden guys are saying is if the Eagles could smash these two running backs together, they'd have one hell of a back on their hands. But since that's not possible that I know of, the Birds should be just fine if they'd actually implement a rotation and use both guys often enough.



Eldra Buckley | Overall Rating: 68

Buckley has been given all the attributes you'd expect from a guy rated so poorly. His best attributes -- both of which are an 88 -- are acceleration and injury prevention. Which, to me, sounds like everything a guy would need in order to cover kicks.

With Bell on board Buckley surely isn't going to see many goal-line opportunities and, even if McCoy or Bell were to go down, Leonard Weaver would likely see a pickup in carries before Buckley is given an expanded role on offense.

The Madden guys seem to know this and let the ratings reflect that. In fact, the 68 is probably a bit generous for Buckley but, since they don't give ratings specifically for special team players, it's a fair assessment.



Leonard Weaver | Overall Rating: 90

Weaver, who will likely see more of a traditional fullback role, got some love from the Madden developers and comes in at a 90 rating. From what I can tell, that's the highest rating given to a fullback, and is tied with Baltimore's Le'Ron McClain.

It doesn't take much of an imagination to figure out Weaver's attributes (but if you're curious, check here), and there's not a whole lot of them that jump out as being anything out of the ordinary, except a very high catch rating of 82.

Weaver did show soft hands all season, but there are some lower-level wide receivers who aren't going to get that kind of credit. Not to take anything away from Weaver, but he did haul in only 15 balls for 140 yards.

But, that did include two touchdowns and is an average of just over nine yards per reception, so perhaps it's a fair rating.

If the Eagles use Weaver to his full potential this year, we could see that rating be justified. The guy is a very good blocker and one hell of an athlete overall when everything he actually does for the offense -- run, block, and catch -- is considered.

And at 27 years old, he's only going to get better. For all you true football buffs out there who know your stuff, think Tom Rathman.



Final thoughts...

The developers over at EA went with Buckley as the third running back, but they also had Lorenzo Booker as the third guy last year, so it's looking like they just go with the safe pick.

While I think Buckley could and should win the third spot, it's going to be hard for Andy Reid to cut sixth-round pick Charles Scott out of LSU. He's a big, bruising type of guy who could help on the goal-line and in short-yardage situations, but he doesn't seem to fit Reid's offense and it's just as likely he winds up on the practice squad.

If he were to make the team, however, I would probably give him somewhere around a 61 overall, with all the attributes of a power guy, but the awareness and vision ratings of a rookie.

It's likely Scott could be added to the game and found in the first roster update.

*Next up: DeSean Jackson and the receivers.
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Will Madden users be tempted to use Michael Vick?


I love football, and I love video games. So when the two combine in the masterpiece that is the Madden NFL franchise, there's a good chance I'm going to pay attention.

Player ratings for entire teams are slowly leaking as the release date of the game gets closer and closer, and the ratings for the Eagles are now out and ready to be scrutinized. It's interesting because not only do we get to see what the developers think about the players, but we get to see how they believe the roster will shake out.

So let's take a look and see what the EA guys got right and where they missed.



Quarterbacks Kevin Kolb | Overall Rating: 75

Kolb, as the starter, is obviously the highest-rated quarterback on the team with a 75. It might be a little high for a guy with only two starts under his belt, but they also seem to be playing it on the safe-side with Kolb because of the uncertainty surrounding him.

They give him an 82 rating for short accuracy, and 79's for middle and deep accuracy. From what I saw, I might drop all those ratings a few points, but it's all fair.

The ratings I found most interesting were the brand new "swagger" rating (70) and an 86 in throw power. The swagger rating is basically a personality rating. If the player makes a good player, or a series of good plays, his attributes rise based on his "swagger."

With that in mind, a 70 is very low. I'm not sure if that's simply because of his inexperience or if the developers see some sort of character flaw with Kolb. For as much as I'd drop the other ratings for Kolb, I'd probably but up the "swagger" rating as it appears Kolb's entire career will hinge on the momentum of the game.

An 86 throw power, by the way, might seem like a bit much but when compared to other quarterbacks it seems to fall right about in the middle of the pack -- another safe rating.

Overall, I'd probably knock Kolb down to about a 73 by dropping his accuracy ratings a couple points here or there, but a 75 is certainly a fair rating and should be something that is easily increased if you can perform well with him in Franchise mode.



Michael Vick | Overall Rating: 73

As opposed to Kolb who seemed to get the benefit of the doubt, Vick looks to have been cut short in a lot of key areas.

They give him a speed of 88, which is fair, a throw power of 92, which is also fair, but his accuracy ratings don't seem to reflect reality. Vick was given an overall 69 throw accuracy, with a 72 short accuracy, 64 middle accuracy, and 67 deep accuracy.

Vick always had a reputation in Atlanta as an erratic thrower, but that always seemed to be more about his decision-making than his accuracy. He seemed able to thread the ball through a needle, but he first had to jump the hurdle of actually reading the defense and making the correct play on the fly.

For me, I would probably bump up his accuracy ratings a couple points and perhaps drop his awareness rating from a 67 to somewhere closer to a 62.

Again, the overall rating would probably only move slightly, if at all, but it's going to be those key things that will either make him worth keeping on your roster or nearly impossible to use effectively if need be.

Interestingly enough, however, Vick has a "swagger" rating of 88. Compared to Kolb, the EA developers clearly believe Vick is much more of a momentum-driven type of player.



Mike Kafka | Overall Rating: 65

Honestly, there's nothing too interesting about Kafka's rating. He was a fourth-round pick who will be the third-string quarterback, so a 65 rating is even a bit generous. I was expecting a rating in the low 60's, so this is actually good news for anyone unlucky enough to lose Kolb and Vick at the same time.

The one interesting thing to take away from EA's assessment of Kafka is that they don't believe he could hit the Grand Canyon from 40 yards away. He has an overall accuracy rating of 82, which is pretty good. His short accuracy is an impressive 87, his middle accuracy is a respectable 77, but his deep throw accuracy is a putrid 55.

A 55-rated deep ball? With a rating like that, Kafka could target a wide open receiver in the middle of the field and hit the Gatorade stand on the sideline.

They also only gave him a throw power of 79, so it's likely the guy filling the Gatorade wouldn't even feel the ball hit him. I'm not going to pretend like Kafka was a guy I scouted, but from his highlights it looks like he's completed a fade or two, so I'm not sure why they felt the atrocious rating was necessary for Kafka.



Final thoughts...

The ratings for the Eagles' quarterbacks seem right to me, for the most part. It appears as though Kolb will be a serviceable player in the game that can be molded through Franchise mode, but he might become a bit frustrating for Eagles fans playing online.

Also, if the game will allow it this year, I expect several people to get incredibly annoyed with the high rate at which people using the Eagles will bust out the Wildcat with Vick taking the snaps.

Vick has always been that player your buddy forbid you from using because you could just run everyone deep and roll out to the left side and you were gone for at least 30 yards and wound up with some ridiculous number of rushing yards at the end of the game -- 200 or so.

He doesn't have that kind of speed anymore -- in the game or in real life -- so it might not get that bad, but the gadget plays Vick will be a part of could be off limits in your buddy's house very quickly if it's abused.

*Next up: LeSean McCoy and the running backs.
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