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EA Responds To Madden Long Snapper Controversy
With newspapers, radio shows, and even ESPN picking up our story about long snappers being excluded from Madden, EA has finally responded to the controversy with a statement. Public relations director Rob Semsey says "Due to technical limitations, the Madden NFL rosters support up to a maximum of 55 players per team. While we try to accurately represent each team’s roster, as a video game, we prioritize impact positions over specialists. We must consider situations like players on injured reserve (which take up a roster spot), as well as the preference by fans to utilize skill positional players."
The bottom line? Don't expect long snappers to appear in a roster update. Sorry Cullen! Whenever issues like this come up, a chorus of disgruntled football fans bag on EA in the comments section and someone inevitably laments the absence of 2K Sports' NFL 2K franchise. So we did some digging – did ESPN NFL 2K5 have long snappers in the game? Drum roll please...
Here is the Vikings' field goal formation.
The Vikings regular center in 2004 was six-time Pro Bowler and current Baltimore Raven Matt Birk, who wore #78. In this formation, the center is #43 – some guy named Brody Liddiard. Never heard of him? Not many have, because long snappers work in anonymity.
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