EA's next big sports game, Madden NFL 22, launches later this month, and it promises to replicate the professional sport even more authentically this year. In a blog post, EA ran through some of the updates for the game in the authenticity department, and this includes new equipment like mouthpieces making it into the game, custom-length socks, and better-looking player models. Not everything may look better, however, as EA acknowledged it was a struggle to obtain head-scans for NFL players due to COVID.

　　Starting with the equipment, mouthpieces are now fully in the game after an "initial offering" came by way of a title update for Madden NFL 21 last year. In this year's game, all primary and secondary team colors are supported for mouthpieces, which can be worn across all modes and for both NFL players and custom-made ones. Mouthpieces are available on all platforms.

　　New mouthpieces are now in Madden NFL 22Also new in Madden NFL 22 is something you might not have expected: fully functional sock height customization. If you were disappointed by how previous Madden games did not allow you to set a custom length to your socks, well, that's no longer an issue. All joking aside, NFL players do in fact wear their socks in different ways, so it's neat to see that granular detail come to the game. Custom sock heights can be set to default, low, and high.

　　Custom sock height, ya'llWhat's more, Madden NFL 22 now has more color options for arm tape, and both short and long options are available too. Also new in Madden NFL 22 are "smoked and dark" visors from Oakley, while a number of new facemasks are now supported. These include:

　　Speedflex 2 Bar WRSpeedflex JewelSpeedflex Robot 808Speedflex Robot ZSpeedflex Halfcage 2Revospeed Robot CageXenith ProwlVicis KickerThe new Oakley visor in Madden NFL 22More real-world cleats and gloves from Nike and Adidas are now in Madden NFL 22 as well.

　　Nike Vapor Jet 6 glovesAdidas Updated Adizero GlovesAdidas Freak GlovesAdidas Updated Adizero CleatsAdidas Updated Freak CleatsAdidas Nasty CleatsAdditional cleats and gloves will come to Madden NFL 22 from Nike and Jordan later this year through updates to the game, EA said.

　　You may also notice that coaches on the sidelines will now wear new Nike and New Era clothing to better represent what they wear in real life. These include:

　　Updated Nike Coach PoloUpdated Nike Coach SweatshirtUpdated Nike Coach HoodieUpdated Nike Coach Hot JacketUpdated Home/Away New Era Hat for all 32 teamsUpdated Coach Visors for all 32 teamsShifting to player likenesses, EA acknowledged that getting head-scans of NFL players was a challenge due to COVID and how it impacted visiting the athletes to get the scans. "Limitations around in-person opportunities impacted our ability to get our traditional number of head scans this year," EA said, promising that more head-scans will come after launch through updates.

　　For launch, new head-scans will be available for the following players (plus, check out screenshots for Trevor Lawrence, Micah Parsons, and Kyle Pitts below):

　　Trevor LawrenceKyle PittsJustin FieldsZach WilsonJonathan TaylorRodrigo BlankenshipDeebo SamuelTerry McLaurinDarnell SavageByron MurphyJuan ThornhillMatt MilanoJames RobinsonDiontae JohnsonCam AkersMark AndrewsClyde Edwards-HelaireMecole HardmanMaxx CrosbyAntonio GibsonDarius SlaytonPenei SewellMicah ParsonsTrevor Lawrence in Madden NFL 22Gallery

　　Due to the impact of COVID, EA said it made a "significant effort" to update its "generic head library" so players can create custom characters that look better this year. More than 100 new generic heads were added, while the studio did work on "visual improvements" to upgrade the existing ones.

　　Finally, EA said Madden NFL 22's player ratings will better reflect on-field performance this year. NFL players wear devices that track their movements on the field during games, and EA gets some of this data for its "Next Gen Stats" program. This was also used in last year's game, but this time around, EA is combining these numbers with video footage of NFL games to create Speed and Acceleration ratings that better reflect the real values of NFL players.

　　For more on Madden NFL 22's player ratings, check out GameSpot's roundup of 99 Club members, top QBs, and more.

　　Madden 22 launches on August 20, featuring Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes on the cover together. For more, check out GameSpot's Madden 22 preorder guide.