Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
UPDATE: February 2, 2015 (9:12AM CST)
Madden NFL 15 predicted the Patriots would win the Super Bowl 28-24 on a Julian Edelman touchdown catch–after being down 24-14. And that’s exactly what happened. It even predicted Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would be Super Bowl MVP.
Watching the game unfold last night, all we could thinking about was, “Is a video game really going to figure this out? Does anyone else remember what Madden said?”
Mind you, it did not predict a game-winning interception by the Patriots; but still. It was eery.
Madden NFL is now 9-3 in predicting Super Bowl winners.
ORIGINAL: January 26, 2015
Lost amongst all the discussion about “deflate gate” and previews of million-dollar television commercials is the fact that two football teams will actually take the field this Sunday, playing a game to determine who is this year’s NFL champion.
On February 1, the AFC champion New England Patriots will lock horns with the best team in the NFC, the Seattle Seahawks, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The game is scheduled to kick-off at 6:30pm and will be televised on NBC, but as it turns out, there really isn’t any need to watch. It’s a foregone conclusion that the Patriots will win–according to Madden NFL 15 simulations, that is.
As CBS Sports, USA Today and other media outlets reported on Monday, Madden makers EA Sports conducted its 12th annual simulation using their computer software. The result? A hard-fought contest that saw New England beat Seattle by the final score of 28-24.
Defense wins championships?
In the simulation, the Patriots scored first when tight end Rob Gronkowski made a dazzling one-handed catch on the team’s first drive. Later on, however, Seattle defensive back Earl Thomas III picked off New England quarterback Tom Brady to give the Seahawks a 17-14 halftime lead.
Seattle scored again in the third quarter, as Marshawn Lynch ran the ball in from nine yards out, but the Patriots answered with a second Gronkowski touchdown catch. Late in the game, Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson was picked off by New England’s Darrelle Revis.
That interception set up a drive which culminated in Brady throwing the game-winning TD pass to Julian Edelman. Those last-minute heroics, combined with 335 passing yards and four scores, helped the Patriots’ QB come away with MVP honors for his virtual performance.
Statistically, Edelman was the leading receiver with 106 yards on eight catches, while Lynch led Seattle’s offense with 118 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns. The simulation also predicted that the Pats would cover the spread (-1) and the over (48.5), the New York Daily News said.
How realistic is this?
If you’re wondering about the accuracy of the Madden video game simulation, it’s 8-3 all-time when predicting the winner of the Super Bowl, 1-1 when the Seahawks are playing, and 3-1 when the Patriots are playing. The game also predicted these two teams would meet in the Super Bowl way back in August, making us wonder why we even bothered to watch the rest of the season.
Seahawks fans shouldn’t be all too concerned about the outcome of the simulation, though. Last year, it predicted the Denver Broncos would beat Seattle in the big game. In reality, the Seahawks won, 43-8.
This year’s simulation was conducted using a Microsoft Xbox One console and used the most recent rosters and player data available, according to video game website Gamespot. Fans can also access additional Super Bowl-week content from EA Sports by following Madden NFL 15 on social media and using the hashtag #UltimateSB, the Boston Globe added.
However, Madden isn’t the only football forecasting game in town, according to the Seattle Times’ Seahawks Blog, and simulations run by WhatIfSports.com produced quite a different outcome. Using their NFL simulation engine, the website played the Super Bowl 1,001 times, and their computers predicted a Seattle victory 53.3 percent of the time.
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