[Senator Palmer]

I went back and poured over the video, and focused on what I could actually see instead of guess at. At the 38 second mark there's actually gameplay footage -- looks like a zone or smash play with Gore vs. the Packers -- I gotta say I'm a little disheartened. It looks exactly the same... EXACTLY the same.

If there are physics, it certainly wasn't apparent along the offensive/defensive line. There is not a hint of mobility from the defensive end, once he is engaged, to push outside and attempt to seal the edge. The run fits still look non-existent. Couldn't see who the Packer linebacker was, but when he read run, instead of blowing into that B gap, he did the same kinda, stand up and slide, then he decides to mash the gas into the B gap after Gore decides to sprint off tackle to the C gap, and completely misses him.

One of my biggest peeves with Madden 12 was that the linebackers don't shoot their guns per se when they read run. On zone-type, or smash plays especially, they were programmed to stand up in place and kinda slide, waiting for the runner to make is decision. And when they did decide to attack a gap, the backer was either eaten up by a block, or the cut-on-a-dime animations rendered them impotent to the movements of the runner who was allowed to a cutback or accelerate to the outside just like the video. That, and the linebackers didn't consistently switch gaps the way they are supposed to.

If you're gonna have linebackers slow play it like that, then you have to have the ends move to seal the edges better. In fact, the entire defensive line should be mashing their way to the right of the screen in pursuit. When that play is run, it should feel like the entire defense is flowing right.

I'd love to get LBz's take on this, but I really didn't like what I saw there.