In the fall of 2005, the Madden NFL franchise unleashed QB Vision Control. It was a dreadful day for those novices like me who didn’t own a PlayStation or Xbox but still wanted to play with friends occasionally. We couldn’t figure out how exactly the video game decided Peyton Manning had the peripheral vision of an alligator while David Carr wore an eye patch.

It was hailed as the moment where Madden figured out how to differentiate quarterbacks, a true landmark for the franchise. This wasn’t adding the truck stick or linebacker spy. QB Vision Control affected every passing play (provided you didn’t turn the function off), often 60-plus plays per game.

The feature has its flaws. Big ones. But Vision Control nails one thing: Quarterbacks impact the game in more tangible ways than any other position. Madden needed to handle quarterbacking properly if it wanted its game to be truly realistic.

The 2011 NFL regular season opened Thursday with a dazzling display of quarterback play. Sunday night’s game featured a meltdown from a signal caller who’s experienced them before. In between, men under center were heroic, horrible and hurt. Here are five pieces on five of those quarterbacks.

P.S.: Donovan McNabb was on the cover of Madden NFL 06. Donovan McNabb, he of 39 passing yards Sunday, was the face of a video game touting its new function called “QB Vision Control.” Makes me feel old.