by Paul "Closer" Wanecski
As players enter the National Football League it is without a doubt a major culture shock. They have money in their bank account (debatable if you went to USC) and the sole focus can be dedicated to playbook study, weight room time and eating right as opposed to the distractions a student athlete navigates while playing a sport and obtaining a degree (again, debatable if you graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Graphic Design-see Manti T’eo). One this is totally undeniable; playing Madden 25 does not make you a better football player. Now the real question is who told Teddy Bridgewater that it did?
As players enter the National Football League it is without a doubt a major culture shock. They have money in their bank account (debatable if you went to USC) and the sole focus can be dedicated to playbook study, weight room time and eating right as opposed to the distractions a student athlete navigates while playing a sport and obtaining a degree (again, debatable if you graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in Graphic Design-see Manti T’eo). One this is totally undeniable; playing Madden 25 does not make you a better football player. Now the real question is who told Teddy Bridgewater that it did?
In an interview posted on ESPN.com Bridgewater states “It helps because you get one more rep than you had in practice, actual practice. Any chance you get to take an extra rep or go the extra step, extra mile, it’s going to be very beneficial transferring it to the field.” According to that article, Bridgewater admits to importing the Vikings Playbook into the popular EA Sports game, stating that he feels this practice (which he also did while at Louisville) truly helped him to get totally involved in every dimension of the playbook. While it is his opinion that this allows him to get “virtual reps” the point can be made that this does get him familiar with all the terminology that his playbook may be throwing at him. Needless to say, we here at Hashtag Sports fail to see any benefit beyond that.
We would be negligent without giving some insight on this. Teddy, if you are reading this, and you are playing your XBOX ONE online as the Vikings and taking total advantage of your completely inflated 94 player rating (perhaps he is playing as Seneca Wallace, which would be a bit more accurate to his skills at this current point) and you get in a game with a
player named “TheDarkHoodiePats4LIIIIFFFEEEE”, you should really reconsider what you are doing. I can only imagine that this report landed on coach Belichick’s desk the moment it was posted. How much would you pay to be a fly on that wall? What is going to happen when a real ball is snapped from center to Bridgewater? Is he going to be looking for A button on the slant route? “You, I don’t know your name, so I am going to call you R1”
I suppose the long and short of this situation can be summed up with one simple statement: Is this what a college education gets you in the NFL? Folks, we are talking about a video game. He has, to the youth of America, justified playing a video game for a living. Parents, you will never get your basement back. It has been donated to the students of the “Teddy Bridgewater Plan of Success” University. Besides, how many different plays could the Vikings playbook possibly have? Is it really that hard to just give the ball to Adrian Peterson?
We would be negligent without giving some insight on this. Teddy, if you are reading this, and you are playing your XBOX ONE online as the Vikings and taking total advantage of your completely inflated 94 player rating (perhaps he is playing as Seneca Wallace, which would be a bit more accurate to his skills at this current point) and you get in a game with a
player named “TheDarkHoodiePats4LIIIIFFFEEEE”, you should really reconsider what you are doing. I can only imagine that this report landed on coach Belichick’s desk the moment it was posted. How much would you pay to be a fly on that wall? What is going to happen when a real ball is snapped from center to Bridgewater? Is he going to be looking for A button on the slant route? “You, I don’t know your name, so I am going to call you R1”
I suppose the long and short of this situation can be summed up with one simple statement: Is this what a college education gets you in the NFL? Folks, we are talking about a video game. He has, to the youth of America, justified playing a video game for a living. Parents, you will never get your basement back. It has been donated to the students of the “Teddy Bridgewater Plan of Success” University. Besides, how many different plays could the Vikings playbook possibly have? Is it really that hard to just give the ball to Adrian Peterson?