Tiny football player excuses any glitch in Madden NFL 15

By Adam Rosenberg September 2, 2014

Madden NFL 15 is a great game, really one of the best that EA Tiburon has produced in a long, long time. It’s not perfect though. Sometimes, the passing game feels like it trades away too much accessibility in the name of realism. Other times, ball carriers trip up around seemingly impossible physics.

Related: Madden NFL 15 rethinks the defensive game, delivers the best virtual football in years

And still other times, Cleveland Browns rookie linebacker Christian Kirksey shrinks down from his 6-foot-plus stature into a foot-high micro-player.

Why is this so funny? Tiny things often are, especially when their extreme diminutiveness is highlighted by the normal-sized world that surrounds them. In this case, a professional NFL player that’s no taller than an actual football gives his full effort in a game populated by comparative giants. It doesn’t get much more perfect than this.

Check out the video above, from YouTuber Shake4ndBake, for a hilarious look at the glitch in action. Thanks as well to SBNation for sharing this crazy thing in the first place.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…

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The history of the Madden Curse

John Madden bursts through the cover of Madden NFL 23: All Madden Edition.

More than 20 years into the iconic franchise's history, there's almost no escaping the Madden Curse. Since Garrison Hearst broke his ankle in 1998 shortly after appearing on the cover of Madden NFL 99, most of the players who starred on the game's cover have suffered an injury the following season. Of the 22 players who have been selected to grace the cover of Madden games, 16 have had troubling or abruptly shortened seasons following their cover debut -- including several who suffered season-ending injuries shortly after their game hit shelves.

EA Sports continues to dismiss any serious talk of a curse hovering over its wildly successful franchise and attributed the rash of injuries and other negative, post-cover issues to an athlete's natural regression after a season of peak performance. They're probably right -- but Madden NFL 21 gave us another chance to test the curse. Lamar Jackson seemingly passed the test, but the injury bug plagued the Ravens backfield a season later in the form of season-ending injuries to all their running backs.

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Madden NFL 23’s ‘no-brainer’ cover star is John Madden

John Madden bursts through the cover of Madden NFL 23: All Madden Edition.

EA has confirmed rumors that Coach John Madden will be the cover star of Madden NFL 23.
John Madden, who had a long career as both the coach of the Oakland Raiders and a football analyst, died in December 2021. EA is honoring Madden -- the namesake and inspiration behind its highly successful football game franchise -- by renaming a recently renovated field at its Redwood Shores headquarters to the "John Madden Field" and putting him on the cover of Madden NFL 23. There will be three unique covers, including one by artist Chuck Styles for the digital-exclusive Madden NFL 23 All-Madden Edition.

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"I didn't have the pleasure of speaking with him, but I know a lot of the guys on the team did." McHardy continued. "He was invested in making sure that our game was the most authentic 11v11 football game that it could be. It was obviously a sad and somber moment to lose someone like Coach Madden, but it really energized the team in a way this year to think about our features, what we're building, and how we can honor that legacy." Madden NFL 23 will be released for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S later this year.

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A Rams and bengals helmet sit on the field in Madden 22.

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Madden 22 | Official Super Bowl LVI Prediction (feat. Marshawn Lynch)