Fumbles, Drops, Missed Blocks, and Injuries

Superstar mode in Madden 26 has been an overwhelmingly negative experience. From the start, you do the NFL Combine. As a QB, you have to throw a series of 8 different routes to finish out the Combine. The problem? The WRs don't run the routes in the box you're required to throw the ball into in order to successfully complete the pass for the given route. Once you get drafted, you're locked into 6 minute preseason quarters, which are unable to be lengthened or shortened to your desire. While you're actually getting playing time, injuries happen far too often, due to the EA dev team removing the ability to turn off wear and tear.

I was drafted by the Denver Broncos. As we all know, it snows quite a bit in Denver. My first snow game consisted of about 12 injuries, 10 fumbles and 8 drops. I was hit by defenders pretty much every drop back because the offensive line either didn't touch the defender or their drop was 5-10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, allowing the defensive linemen to simply change directions and have an unimpeded route to my QB. I noticed that the defensive players have no issues changing direction in the snow—it was mostly ball carriers. Though I changed the ball carrier tendency to conservative, my first SIX drives ended in fumbles, picked up by the opposing team. I'm a pretty patient person, but I can imagine there will be many broken controllers while playing in the snow. 

Needless to say, this game mode, and ultimately Madden as a whole, need an immense amount of work to be considered a polished, complete product. I'm very disappointed in the final result of this game. 

SIDE NOTE: Whose "brilliant" idea was it to add Hot To Go — Chappell Roan into the Madden 26 soundtrack? Not even remotely close to a song anyone would get hype to for a football game.