Madden 05's Hit Stick was the cure for Vick

Madden 04 was defined by one man: Michael Vick. With 95 speed and 97 arm strength, he could do anything he wanted on the virtual gridiron. He broke the game so much that the entire focus of Madden 05 was giving defenses tools to stop exceptional athletes. The influential game was released on Aug.10, 2004. Baltimore Ravens star Ray Lewis got the cover this time, letting everyone know which side of the ball was taking over.

Vick was the most gamebreaking of the mobile quarterbacks, but he wasn't the only one. Donovan McNabb and Steve McNair were also members of a growing contingent of QBs who could unleash running back type moves. In previous games, running with a fast QB was low risk, high reward. The defense needed a special move to level the playing field, and a few ballcarriers as well. The Hit Stick was born.

It sounds simple enough. Flick the analog stick to unleash a powerful hit on the ball carrier. If timed properly, there's an excellent chance the runner loses the ball. But if you miss, you may find yourself grasping at air as the runner turns in a highlight reel play. Still, it was the beginning of a whole new way to play Madden.

Football is a team sport, but for tantalizing moments in the middle of the field it is one-on-one. It is a linebacker or safety versus a running back or wide receiver. It's the defender's Hit Stick against the ballcarrier's decision to spin, juke or in the case of runners such as Derrick Henry, to and charge forward and risk the slings and arrows.

"In one year, EA has done more to right the wrongs of Madden's past gameplay than in any time in the illustrious series' history, " IGN's Jon Robinson wrote in his Madden 05 Review. "Play Madden NFL 2005 once, and you might notice the big hits and how aware all of the defenders are on the gridiron. Play it five times and you'll realize how defensive hot routes completely even out the field and that for the first time, maybe in any football game, it's not just fun, it's actually meaningful to D-up."

Madden 05 will forever live in our memories as the last Madden with any real competition. Under intense pressure thanks to the hard-charging NFL 2K franchise, EA signed an exclusive deal with the National Football League. EA's villain arc has done a lot to overshadow that Madden 05 was a really good game that paved the way for countless other innovations.

This year is the 20th anniversary of Madden 05 and the Hit Stick. One of the first deep dives for Madden 25 revealed that EA Sports is building on the foundation it laid two decades ago. EA Sports College Football gave us our first glimpse of the Switch Stick, another game-changing defensive innovation mapped to the right analog stick. The arms race between offense and defense is eternal, both in video games and in real football. In Madden 05, the defense hit harder than it ever had before.