I thought of this thread among recent news of the possibility that the later blitz games were one of the biggest hits to middays financial stability. If you remember, in the original few blitz games, nfl offered the license, but midway refused. In the end, after being forced to use fake teams for years, the same hit series came and helped with their death.
It did not help things when nfl street came out. I swear ea just brought those out to kill the competition then ditch the series. Hell, they did it with skate.