you should check out the new Fifa or NHL. there are HUGE additions to this year's games. most notably, the online Be-A-Pro mode.
EA Canada is doing a lot of great things with Fifa and NHL.
I might, NHL was my favorite sports game in the 16 bit days. I forgot to mention soccer, but Pro Evo has been a guilty pleasure of mine the past few years. When Fifa adopted Pro Evo controls I felt like it was coming closer to matching the Pro Evo experience, it felt like an 'arcadey' Pro Evo. I'm not surprised to hear it's still coming along.
I feel that free-flowing sports like soccer and hockey lend themselves to videogames better than something like football as football requires such specialized ai for every position. Like kestastrophy mentioned the offensive line play in Madden has always been, well, offensive. It's just a loose approximation of football, and until they start caring more how the game plays vs how it looks, stuff like pulling guards and blocking fullbacks will just be a fanboys wet dream.
As long as guys can pick 'black qb flavor of the month' and run around like a distinguished mentally-challenged fellow looking for a hole, meanwhile being a constant threat to throw a 40 yard bomb on a dime, I'll just play Super Mario Galaxy and enjoy watching NFL in HD.