Madden 18 Simulation: 49ers-Cardinals

Before I do any number crunching and see how good/bad the San Francisco 49ers are against the Arizona Cardinals, I’ll admit, I see them winning this. I saw them winning it a lot better before Pierre Garcon joined the coalition of IR, but the Cardinals have their own injury issues to deal with, none so more than Drew Stanton standing in for an injured Carson Palmer. Now to be fair, a Harbaugh-led 49ers team struggled against Drew Stanton, but I think this may be that game where the 49ers notch a W.

But I’ve been wrong before.

For statistics sake, the Cardinals have an overall Madden ranking of 77 while the 49ers sit at 75. That’s a pretty negligible difference.

Notable inactives for 49ers: Joe Staley, K’Waun Williams, Pierre Garcon, Jimmy Garoppolo
Notable inactives for Cardinals: Daniel Munyer
Quarter Length: 6:00
Games Simulated: 3

About what you would expect

Both teams are hurting from injuries and the squads they now can work with just are simply outclassed by other teams in the NFL...that basically makes this game feel like a preseason game more like anything else. There really was nothing notable to take from either team through the games simulated. One game the Cardinals managed 3 sacks, but in all three games, the sack totals were so low, they weren’t worth writing in. Only a single interception in all three games (by the cardinals) was recorded. It was just utter chaos.

Carlos Hyde almost cracks a bill

You may have seen the ongoing gag that Carlos Hyde can’t average 100 yards in a Madden sim. Well, that streak continues here. In an act of trolling, the game let him average out to 98 yards. Beyond Hyde, the Cardinals rushing wasn’t anything great as well; Adrian Peterson cracked 100 yards only once and averaged 77 yards.

Beathard gets an ‘S’ for satisfactory

While Drew Stanton averaged under 50 percent completions, 49ers quarterback C.J. Beathard was able to average a flat 60 percent completion rate and 237 yards. It’s pretty pedestrian, but he threw only one interception through three games. The writing is on the wall about C.J. Beathard’s future and him simply keeping the seat warm for Jimmy Garoppolo, but maybe he can help keep the team competitive.

Final Score: 25-25 TIE

This sounds about right. Both teams averaged 25 points. No decimals, no rounding up. 25 points. Do I see a reason to run another simulation? No, because the numbers are off. The 49ers won two out of three, and the numbers are lopsided due to the game they lost; 41-28, Cardinals. You lower that score to the close victories the 49ers have and it swings in the 49ers’ favor.

The 49ers can win this game. If you picked them, it’s not a crazy pick. Given the schedule, this might be the last winnable game for the team.