This is all opinion, but off the top of my head I would put Tecmo Bowl, TSB, and TSB III followed by Madden '98 and '03 for starters. NFL2K didn't do it for me, I thought the controls were too loose and it was a glitch fest. The presentation is definitely one of a kind though, you can't argue that.
Most people viewing the forums are guests or don't post regularly. And anyone who spends time in the Madden forum knows most people in there aren't saying positive things about the series.