Now I don’t mean using Madden to recreate plays as they’ve done in the past, I mean using Madden 09 to supplement their on-set demonstration field.

According to the New York Times, starting this Sunday the Sunday NFL Countdown crew will be interacting with both real people and virtual football players as part of their excellent segment that explains the finer points of the game using special cameras and equipment.

In the current version they use other analysts and occasionally a guest or intern to stand in for the linemen and receivers and it works pretty well. As long as they keep the rest of the segment the same I could see how it would be drastically improved with virtual football players running the routes instead. I can’t wait to see it.