How Close Is the Madden Preview to Real Games?

Each of the past few weeks, I've simulated the Texans games against their opponents by updating the rosters and watching the simulated game on Madden 2011 for the PlayStation3. Thus far the simulations have resulted in a 2-2 record in being accurate to their real-life game.  It was horribly wrong about the Cowboys and Giants games, but predicted wins for the Houston Texans against the Raiders and Chiefs. 

Out of pure curiosity, I wanted to take a random check on how accurate the Madden prediction is to real life by comparing the results of this weeks Madden preview to the results of the real life game.

Score

Madden Preview- Chiefs vs. Texans: 20 - 34
Real Life:- Chiefs vs. Texans: 31 - 35

For the second week in a row, the Madden preview got the total score for the winning team within a field goal. The losing team was 11 points off, but Madden couldn't account for how bad the Texans defense would actually play.

What about the individual performances? Could the Madden preview get close with that too? Let's see...

Box Score Anomalies

Matt Schaub
Madden Preview:  22 of 27 for 300 yards and 2 touchdowns
Real Game: 25 of 33 for 305 yards and 2 touchdowns

Arian Foster
Madden Preview: 22 rushes for 86 yards and 2 Touchdowns
Real Game: 18 rushes for 71 yards and 2 Touchdowns


Andre Johnson

Madden Preview: 6 receptions for 102 yards and 1 Touchdown

Real Game: 8 receptions for 138 yards and 1 Touchdown


Owen Daniels
Madden Preview: 5 receptions for 75 yards and 1 Touchdown

Real Game: 5 receptions for 79 yards and 0 Touchdowns


While the Madden preview might not be 100% correct, it's pretty darn close how it got with the Texans final points and the statistics for the Texans top 4 players; especially Matt Schaub and Owen Daniels.

The crew of developers that spend time making Madden as realistic as possible have apparently done a most EXCELLENT job in accuracy. We will just have to see how close the preview and review are after the Texans vs. Colts game in 2 weeks. Look for the Madden preview each Friday before a Texans game and the review comparison each Tuesday...