Madden 11 Ravens Player Ratings Being Released Tomorrow

Because there’s nothing better to talk about in real life, let’s talk about numbers assigned to video-game interpretations of NFL stars. It’s fun stuff, really.

Madden Season is upon us. Ratings are being released, with two teams each day having their numbers spilled on ESPN for three

weeks. The releases started last week in the video games section of ESPN.com with the AFC East and AFC West, and have advanced to the AFC North this week.

Click “Continue Reading” to see more about this year’s ratings, plus the top 10 players rated by position and a look ahead to the Ravens’ ratings.

Today, the ratings for the Squealers and Bungalows were released, and in my opinion, they’re pretty good.  Top-rated players include:

• Troy Polamalu, SS (97 OVR)
• James Harrison, ROLB (97 OVR)
• Jonathan Joseph, CB (93 OVR)
• Leon Hall, CB (92 OVR)
• Casey Hampton, DT (91 OVR)

Ben Roethlisberger comes in with an 88, and Carson Palmer falls only one point short of Fat Ben, with an 87 overall rating. Chad Ochocinco boasts a 91 overall rating, including a 99 in the “swagger” category, and ratings above 90 in speed, acceleration, agility, awareness, stamina, jumping and catching.  While Rottenberger is suspended, Squealer fans may need to resort to a backup option during online play, and all three options: Byron Leftwich, Charlie Batch and Dennis Dixon have mediocre ratings. Leftwich leads the jolly band of lamesters with a 69 rating, Batch following behind with a 67 and Dixon bringing up the rear with a rating of 64 overall.

If the leaked top 10 ratings by position are any indicator, then the Ravens will have some very skilled players on this year’s version of the most popular sports game in the U.S. The following Ravens players have overall ratings of 90 or higher on the game:

• Ray Rice, HB (90 OVR)
• Le’Ron McClain, FB (90 OVR)
• Ben Grubbs, LG (94 OVR)
• Haloti Ngata, RE (94 OVR)
• Ray Lewis, MLB (94 OVR)
• Terrell Suggs, ROLB (90 OVR)
• Ed Reed, FS (97 OVR)

And for the record, Sam Koch has an overall rating of 86 at the punter position, good for 8th in the NFL. If I was the Madden ratings guy, I would probably rate him a little bit higher, say…253 overall?

Check back tomorrow for a full breakdown of the Ravens’ Madden 11 player ratings, because there is literally nothing more exciting to talk about.

‘Till next time.