If you swear by video game simulations of real sports matchups, then New England Patriots fans aren’t going to have a very happy Sunday.
Uproxx used “Madden NFL 17” to predict the outcomes of this weekend’s conference championship games, and it was smooth sailing for the Atlanta Falcons, who topped the Green Bay Packers 38-20 in the NFC Championship Game. Over in the AFC, though, the Pittsburgh Steelers pulled off a huge upset and eliminated the Patriots at Gillette Stadium in a 37-24 win.
But before everyone goes running to place their bets on the Steelers, even Uproxx pointed out that their simulation doesn’t take into account a lot of the goings-on of the real world. For example, the sim doesn’t know Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown live-streamed coach Mike Tomlin calling the Patriots “a–holes” or how that’ll affect the home team and home crowd.
It’s also worth noting that Uproxx’s simulations throughout the playoffs have shown varied results. For the website’s first installment, it predicted the entire playoffs, and the Green Bay Packers destroyed the Dallas Cowboys 52-10 in the divisional round. But when Uproxx made a new simulation when the second round of the playoffs actually rolled around, the Cowboys crushed the Packers 41-17. The Packers won the real game on a last-minute field goal.
In other words, anything can happen.
Thumbnail photo via James Lang/USA TODAY Sports Images
