#1 Cornerback alignment

[IFranchizeI]

Does no one here watch NFL football? The league is 99% right handed QB's therefore all base formations have the best wide out lined up on the right side. This is because the QB's first read is always to his right UNLESS he is left handed then they lineup on the left side. I'm aware that teams run packages which move wr's around the field. This should be reflected in the game when you choose to pick a play by a specific player. The base default unless I RUN a WR SWAP formation NEEDS TO BE primary WR on the right. How are people not raging about this ridiculous screw up by EA! I cannot play the game it's broken for the last 10 years of my madden life my first read has been to the right unless I played a lefty QB and that made it very difficult to get use to right Vick and Leinart I'm looking at you! I need a solution I just want my play's fixed. There is no WR swap sub package and this is beyond annoying I have to move my number 1 wr to the 2nd slot I assume this kills his sims stats and may even piss him off. I need a solution boys not the answer that the developers don't know football.

[ajra21]

Quote: Originally Posted by charter04

Sorry guys but, this is on purpose. Anthony White said it on Twitter. Real teams do this. They have an X, Y, and Z receivers The X receiver is the Dez Bryant type. A true #1 that can beat press coverage. The X can also be called a split end. The X position is always on the line of scrimmage. So it's not always left or right. Some times it could even be the slot but, it's on the line. The Y is the TE normally The Z is the off the line or flanker receiver. DeSawn Jackson is predominantly a Z. He is good but, plays off the line because he is smaller and can't beat the press as good. So it's a real NFL thing but, because we can't put best on best it causes problems Teams move guys around of course but, as far as the position of X, Y, Z it's always the same.

gotta say, i'm impressed with the level of WR movement from supposed traditional line ups. the niners scheme is constantly moving their WR around just like you see in real life.

Quote: Originally Posted by charter04

Just one more thing. I really want defensive assignment. However not all NFL teams go 1 v 1 all the time. Some just have RCB and LCB. So when the #1 WR is away from the top corner they use double teams and bracket coverage to take care of him. I mean think about if you knew Sherman was staying on one side wouldn't you put your top guy away from him? Real coaches do that all the time.

nearly all teams have CB who stick to one side of the field. last year, only a small handful of CB "travelled".

[edgevoice]

Quote: Originally Posted by IFranchizeI

Does no one here watch NFL football? The league is 99% right handed QB's therefore all base formations have the best wide out lined up on the right side. This is because the QB's first read is always to his right UNLESS he is left handed then they lineup on the left side. I'm aware that teams run packages which move wr's around the field. This should be reflected in the game when you choose to pick a play by a specific player. The base default unless I RUN a WR SWAP formation NEEDS TO BE primary WR on the right. How are people not raging about this ridiculous screw up by EA! I cannot play the game it's broken for the last 10 years of my madden life my first read has been to the right unless I played a lefty QB and that made it very difficult to get use to right Vick and Leinart I'm looking at you! I need a solution I just want my play's fixed. There is no WR swap sub package and this is beyond annoying I have to move my number 1 wr to the 2nd slot I assume this kills his sims stats and may even piss him off. I need a solution boys not the answer that the developers don't know football.

Most of the time a QB will read the right side first, but not always. Actually, in timing based offenses with a top-notch X receiver such as Dez Bryant, 1st read option is often to the left side. Skinny posts, slants, mid to deep in-cuts and curls are often run from that position.

[IFranchizeI]

Quote: Originally Posted by edgevoice

Most of the time a QB will read the right side first, but not always. Actually, in timing based offenses with a top-notch X receiver such as Dez Bryant, 1st read option is often to the left side. Skinny posts, slants, mid to deep in-cuts and curls are often run from that position.

I do not disagree with this at all.. I know the difference between a split end and flanker position. My problem is 90% of my plays have my primary on the left side there is no real balance. It makes more sense to move him around to different positions if I'm selecting play's by player. I just want the ability to SWAP the two around at my leisure I do NOT lineup my primary on the right every play. I want the freedom TO CHOOSE WR Swap LIKE IN EVERY OTHER MADDEN GAME! Is THIS IN THE GAME YES OR NO I CANT FIND IT!

[tubaSimulator]

I thought I'd be that boring stats guy who brings stats into a discussion because maybe that's what we need instead of blaming each other for not watching the NFL...

I looked at 3 games from the NFL (not a big sample, I know, but it's a start), counted how many times the #1 WR lined up on either side of the formation, so here are some numbers.

First I went all the way back to 2013 and Denver@San Diego, simply because some people might want to argue that Sanders is the #1 guy in Denver, so 2013 was before Sanders arrived. I only looked at the first half where D.Thomas lined up on the Left a total of 7 times and on the right a total of 9 times.

I then went to the 2014 matchup in London between the Lions and Falcons. Here you could make the argument that either J.Jones or R.White was the #1 WR for the Falcons, so I took notes on both. Here there were enough plays in the 1st quarter alone and I didn't want to focus on a single team too much, so this is only the 1st quarter numbers.

J.Jones: Left side - 7 times, Right side - 12 times
R.White: Left side - 8 times, Rights side - 11 times

3rd and final game I looked at was Denver@Detroit last season (week 3) because I wanted to look at Sanders/Thomas where you can argue that either is #1, and Calvin Johnson who is clearly the #1. Additionally I didn't count any plays where the WR (Sanders, Thomas or Johnson) lined up in the slot, a bunch formation or tight to a TE. I only counted the plays where they were split out wide on the sideline. I counted all plays in the 1st half of this game.

D.Thomas: Left side - 9 times, Right side - 8 times
E.Sanders: Left side - 10 times, Right side - 10 times
C.Johnson: Left side - 9 times, Right side - 10 times.

On Detroit's last drive of the half I also noticed that Aqib Talib played man-to-man coverage against C.Johnson on 10 consecutive plays.

Observations:
First of all, even with a small sample size, I think it's safe to say that the #1 WR is moved around a lot - I even saw both Sanders and Thomas in the slot a bunch of times. I think they're moved around so much that it kind of feels meaningless to argue over which side he should ALWAYS line up at.

Secondly, and I think this is MUCH more important; I think we need a way to assign a CB to a specific WR. This isn't always the case - some teams play a certain CB on the same side of the field at all times, independent of the WR - but if I'm the coach, I want my best CB on my opponents #1 WR. It doesn't matter where the WR line up, I want my CB to follow him around everywhere, just like Talib did on 10 consecutive plays, on both sides of the formation, against C.Johnson.

If EA 'fixes' this issue and have the CB or #1 WR line up on only one side of the field all the time, I don't really see that as a fix. It would be much better if we could choose who our CB's should mark throughout the game.

As I said, small sample size but hopefully interesting at least.

[Novicain13]

Is man align broken as well?

[carlito1171]

I understand what they were trying to do in this year's madden by finally giving us real depth charts that accounts for an X, Z, and a slot receiver....they didn't apply the same to the defensive side of the ball in actual games(oddly enough it is reflected in the depth chart in CFM) which is a massive oversight

This can all be solved by lining up the "#1CB" on the left, and finally bringing back defensive assignments in the next madden. If the offense can move their chess pieces around, it's only fair that the defense can do the same....

[TarHeelPhenom]

Quote: Originally Posted by ajra21

gotta say, i'm impressed with the level of WR movement from supposed traditional line ups. the niners scheme is constantly moving their WR around just like you see in real life. nearly all teams have CB who stick to one side of the field. last year, only a small handful of CB "travelled".

You see it more in college where the emphasis is more on team than individual. Teams have their Boundary Corner who plays closer to the sideline and is usually the worst of t h e 2 in coverage but better in man to man and the Field Corner who is usually the teams best coverage CB. They rarely if ever switch sides of the field based on who the other teams best receiver is.