National Football League

Houshmandzadeh: 'I'm not playing Madden no more'

Published Jul. 21, 2009 7:36 p.m. ET

foxsports

Among certain circles, the annual release of the new version of John Madden's video game is treated as a national holiday.

Does Housh have a beef?
T.J. Houshmandzadeh thinks he should be ranked higher in the new Madden video game. Here's a look at last year's stats of the game's six highest-rated pass catchers in the NFC:
Player, Team	REC	YDS	TDS
Larry Fitzgerald, ARI	96	1,431	12
Steve Smith, CAR	78	1,421	6
Anquan Boldin, ARI	89	1,038	11
Roddy White, ATL	88	1,302	7
Calvin Johnson, DET	78	1,331	12
Houshmandzadeh	92	904	4

But Seahawks wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh won't be celebrating when Madden '10 comes out next month, telling a national radio host he'll be boycotting the game in protest over his player rating.

"Man, they don't get my rating right," Houshmandzadeh said while appearing on Colin Cowherd's ESPN Radio show Monday. "I just looked at the game and they have this wrong and that wrong. And I understand I averaged 10 yards a catch (in 2008), but it's the offense, man, not me."

For the record, Houshmandzadeh has a rating of 91, making him the sixth-highest ranked wide receiver in the NFC, behind only Larry Fitzgerald (99), Steve Smith (97), Anquan Boldin (94), Roddy White (93) and Calvin Johnson (92). Also for the record, Houshmandzadeh had 904 receiving yards and four touchdowns in 2008. Just for comparison purposes, all five NFC wideouts ranked ahead of him put up better numbers; each had at least 1,038 receiving yards and scored at least six TDs.

But according to Houshmandzadeh, those numbers are lying. And he'll be giving the PlayStation a rest until the truth is told.

"I'm not playing Madden no more, until they get my rating right," Houshmandzadeh said. "It might be a little pouting, too. It might be. But, you know, I used to be the best in the world at Madden, so I'm going to miss not playing it. But until they do me right, I'm not playing it no more."