Madden simulation favors Rams over Patriots in Super Bowl LIII

Madden NFL 19, the popular football video game franchise, simulated this Sunday’s championship matchup and predicted the Rams to beat the Patriots.

Add EA Sports to the list of doubters and naysayers fueling New England’s march to the Super Bowl this season.

The makers of the iconic “Madden” football video game franchise released a 60-second video on their Twitter feed early Monday morning that featured highlights from a full simulation of the matchup in Super Bowl LIII.

Quick glimpses of pixelated game action are interspersed with overlay cards that reveal the final box score stats for different key players. For example, the game predicts quarterback Tom Brady throwing for 287 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. That passing yardage would be Brady’s lowest Super Bowl output since losing to the New York Giants in Indianapolis seven years ago – if it comes to fruition, of course.

Madden has Brady’s counterpart on the other sideline, Jared Goff, finishing with the same touchdown-to-interception numbers, but with six more yards through the air.

Other forecasted statistical takeaways:

• Former Super Bowl hero James White has 100 all-purpose yards and a touchdown
• Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald has 6 tackles, 4 sacks, and 7 QB hits
• Defensive captain Devin McCourty has 3 tackles, 1 pass deflection, and Goff’s 1 INT
• Robert Woods is the Rams’ leading receiver with 8 catches for 103 yards and a touchdown
• C.J. Anderson is bottled up for just 64 yards and 0 scores on 18 attempts (3.5 yard average)

Interestingly enough, Todd Gurley III isn’t given a stat card for the game, though he is shown at the end of the video leaping into the end zone for what is presumably the winning touchdown. A final score of 30-27, with the Rams edging the Patriots by 3 points, is then flashed across the screen briefly before a link is shown where fans can purchase the game.

Patriots fans shouldn’t be too worried about the Madden simulation or the final score it predicts – after all, just last season the game predicted a New England victory over Philadelphia by a score of 24-20.

The Eagles won 41-33.

Since the video game began predicting Super Bowl matchups in 2004, its overall record is 10-5. Its record with championships featuring the Brady/Belichick Patriots is 5-2 (Super Bowl XXXVII between the Rams and Patriots was not simulated), with the game incorrectly predicting last year’s result, as well as calling for a New England victory over New York in Super Bowl XLII during the undefeated season.

Madden also had the Steelers beating the Packers in Super Bowl XLV, the Broncos beating the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLVIII, and the Panthers beating the Broncos in Super Bowl 50.

However, it notably not only predicted the Patriots would beat the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX – it even guessed the final score perfectly as ending up 28-24. Madden also predicted 3-point Patriots victories over the Panthers and the Eagles in Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX, respectively, though it erred in predicting the exact number of points scored by both teams in each game.