New England Patriots vs Pittsburgh Steelers Madden 20 Sim Predictions, Picks & Odds 5/22/20

Published by John Ford May 22, 2020 Categorie(s): Football, New England Patriots, NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers, Sports Betting

Tonight’s list of Madden 20 simulations includes a match between two AFC heavyweights of the last two decades – the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers. In recent years, these two teams have been regular competitors in the AFC Championship, last meeting each other at this stage of the game in 2016. Although both teams have been relatively strong sides for some time, last season saw a dip in performance for both of them.

However, it seems that the developers of the Madden series still tried to play to the idea that these are two of the best teams in the AFC when creating the newest game in the series. So, this isn’t really going to be an easy one to predict, despite the Steelers having failed to make the playoffs and the Patriots having been knocked out in the first round.

New England Patriots vs Pittsburgh Steelers Madden 20 Sim Predictions

So, here are some stats to take a look at before we discuss our prediction:

As mentioned with yesterday’s New England prediction, the Patriots are a better defensive team than offensive. However, they have Tom Brady, which many fans suggest is the greatest quarterback to play the game. Brady has a rating of 91 and strong stats for accuracy and overall throwing power. With Julian Edelman (87) on the squad, he is sure to hit at least some throws.
It’s hard to get past New England’s defense. They have got two players rated in the 90s and then several more rated in the 90s. If the simulation sees Roethlisberger (or Mason Rudolph because you never know who might get injured), throw in the direction of cornerback Stephon Gilmore, it could all end very badly.
The Steelers’ offense is notably weaker than the Patriots. Ben Roethlisberger will start this one. He has got an overall rating of 81 but has pretty strong metrics for short throws. He is backed up by JuJu Smith-Schuster who is the highest-rated offensive player in the team with an overall rating of 86.
Defensively, the Steelers have some powerful players. Defensive tackle Cameron Heyward leads the way with an overall rating of 90. Another standout is defensive end Stephon Tuitt who is rated at 87 despite having been injured for most of the 2019 season.

Our Prediction

We were surprised that the New England Patriots were able to knock out the Kansas City Chiefs. But as we stated in yesterday’s prediction, the Patriots have been in a dominant position for 20 years at this point. The game’s algorithm could naturally have been designed to make games go in favor of the team to emulate real-life accurately. The Steelers aren’t a bad team, but we’d take the Patriots on this one after yesterday.