One of my friends also had the same problem in passing. However, once he went through the passing minigames he got a lot better. Sometimes people just are not doing the 'right' motion.
I think the controls are really good. I played Madden 07 a bit, and now 08, and I have gotten them down pretty well.
I was never a big sports game fan, so these two are my first encounters with Madden since...well since Madden first came out. So I have never tried the create a player feature or really gotten trained on the 'normal' controls.
I think it really comes down to the controls. If you like em, you will like the Wii better, if not then one of the others.