Most of us cannot stand the sound of his voice, or care what he has to say, but many of us donate $50 to him every August. That man would be John Madden, the legendary coach, announcer, and face of video game football. His football game, produced by Electronic Arts (EA), has become more than just a video game, but an entertainment legend complimenting, and sometimes challenging the NFL.

It may not be the most realistic game, but year after year improvements have been made to where the video and gameplay is much more realistic than one might think. Enough so, that major networks like ESPN, FOX, and CBS have used it for footage to give football viewers a preview of what might happen. I am going to do a very similar thing, but in a more scientific method. Each week I will be simulating 10+ games and recording the statistics, hoping to give an educated prediction of this week’s Browns game.

Once again, I had to make a decision regarding injuries. Both teams are beat up, so I settled on starting anyone who was Questionable or better. In addition, I was in a hurry this week so the amount of defensive stats that I kept for the Raiders was limited to a few players who did well in the first simulation. I doubt any of you care though, unless you are a Raiders fan. On that note, I present you with Madden 2007’s predictions for the week 4 match up between the Cleveland Browns and the Oakland Raiders.

The goal was to simulate ten games and then average the statistics. All stats were averaged and approximated; the results are as the following:

Browns                    7 wins             21.4 PPG

Raiders                       3 wins              16.3 PPG

Stats per Game

Frye                            19/34               184                  55%                 1.1/0.7

Walter                         18/32               200                  58%                 1.2/1

Droughns                    30                    130                  1.1              0.2             4.4

Jordan                         25                    106                  0.4              0.3             4.2

Edwards                  5.9                   68.5                 0.4

Northcutt                    2.6                   31.3                 0.3

Winslow                      6.9                   45.7                 0.3

Droughns                    2                      17.3                 0

Cribbs                         0.6                   4.7                   0

Wilson                        1.7                   16.4                 0.1

Moss                           4.9                   54.6                 0.7

Jordan                         4.1                   34.2                 0.1

Whitted                       1.6                   27.1                 0

Anderson                    4.1                   29.5                 0.1

Curry                          1.5                   23.2                 0.1

Crockett                     0.9                   9.2                   0

Davis                       7.9                   0.2                   0.1                   0.1      

McGinest                 8.4                   0.4                   0.2                   0

Wimbley                     5.6                   0.9                   0                      0.1      

D’Qwell Jackson        4.9                   0.2                   0.2                   0

Roye                           2.8                   0.4                   0                      0

McKinley                     2.7                   0                      0                      0

Washington               3.8                   0                      0.1                   0

Jones                          3.1                   0.1                   0.2                   0.3

Russell                        2.4                   0.1                   0                      0.3

Brown                         1.5                   0                      0.1                   0

Bodden                       2.1                   0.1                   0.1                   0.1

Stuart Schweigert        5.1                   0.2                   0.1                   0.1      

Tyler Brayton               3.6                   0.6                   0.1                   0                     

Thomas Howard           5                      0.5                   0.1                   0.3

Michael Huff                 4.2                   0                      0.1                   0.2

Kirk Morrison               5.6                   0.4                   0                      0.1

Warren Sapp               1.3                   0.3                   0                      0

Madden Says:           Cleveland Browns Win 21-16

There you have it. For once, even Madden lets the Browns win without making it too close. Frye seemed to struggle again, but Droughns did exceptionally well against the Raiders, including running for 5 TDs in one of the games. On the defensive side, Ralph Brown managed to not suck too badly, and players like Wimbley and Jackson only seem to be getting better. So far this season, Madden 2007 is 2-1 when predicting games and the scores have been close as well. Let us hope that this week Madden is right again, and our Browns pick up that much needed win.

I welcome you to send me any comments, feedback, or suggestions through The Bone Yard or through my email at dmartin3@gmail.com.

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