How to Make Madden Play More Realistic Defense

Feature Article

Submitted on: 12/18/2014 by Ben Vollmer

Defense is improved in Madden NFL 15, that's not a lie. The improvements are minimal, and don't impact the game with a realistic impression. But if you find the right set of sliders (and beware, one size does not fit all) you'll notice realistic scores, balanced attacks on both sides of the ball, and a reasonable but not overwhelming number of turnovers.

Unfortunately, Madden still doesn't feel quite right. Sacks are abound, pretty much no matter what house rules or sliders you are playing with, and they come from weird positions. My defensive tackles often lead the NFL in total sacks. Conversely, more sacks come from the right side than the left -- something that simply does not mirror real life. Defensive coverage looks terrible, with players either mirroring the offense or just looking like a dear in headlights. Here are five small improvements EA could make to help move things along:

1. Implement a Gameplan: Madden's previous attempts at a gameplan have been a total disaster. What the game needs is a simple screen wipe with various options that can change game to game. For instance, if I'm the Patriots I want to ensure that Revis is following Calvin Johnson everywhere he goes. If I'm playing the Bears, I want to make sure Matt Forte never gets loose out of the backfield.

2. Make the Field Bigger: This has been a crying point of mine for years. Space out the field so there is more one-on-one action. It would increase the rate of interceptions and passes deflected.

3. Focus on the Big Picture: Defenses work as a cohesive unit. If Madden can emulate this, we'll see the correct pressure. The pass rush should almost always be working towards the QB's weak side, defensive tackles should always be looking to shift with the blocks rather than be sucked in and out of them, and cornerbacks should be playing where their safeties aren't.

4. Create Interaction: I say create because there currently is none. Madden would do well to create a percentage based battle system in the secondary that follows players' current ratings.

5. Remove Psychic Defenses and Add Strategic AI: When I line up for a fake punt, the CPU lines up in a 4-3 defense every time. Yet, when I run the ball 10+ times in a row, they still line up with five guys in the box. It's time to totally scrap psychic defenses and time to build smart ones. Adaptable AI needs to be a thing of the future, if EA ever wants Madden to feel like the chess match that it should.

What do you think Madden should do for next year to improve the defense?

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Member Comments

# 1 snc237 @ 12/18/14 11:08 AM

I like the list. The game is good but feels oh so robotic. They really do need a new A.I. that is dynamic and learns tendencies through out the game.

# 2 GlennN @ 12/18/14 11:33 AM

The problem is they are the only game in town. EA knows we will buy Madden every year, despite that there may be little improvement from year to year. Just not enough incentive to create real improvement. The blame? Not EA in the least. This is all on the NFL. If there were multiple NFL licensed games, EA would have to innovate.

# 3 RogueHominid @ 12/18/14 11:55 AM

Absolutely agreed on the game plan and the defense as a unit points.

The problems here are:

Game plans:

We can't even assign a specific DB or LB to a specific WR/TE/HB yet, so there's no way anything as robust as an entire philosophical approach to stopping a specific team can be implemented.

I think it would be interesting to name, specifically, the things you'd like to be able to do in a defensive game plan. Do you mean the ability to choose specific matchups, to favor certain receivers with certain coverage adjustments globally, to create strong/weak alignment rules, to create certain spacing, etc.?

Defense as a unit:

This goes back to M10 and the confusion that Ian's group seemed to have over why many in the OS community were asking for individually assignable fronts and coverage calls. It was clear from that discussion that they really didn't get why a user would REALLY WANT to call particular line stunts for particular coverages, as one could in other football games.

They would have to 1) understand and 2) program a robust and realistic set of gap assignments for the front 7 and force assignments for the secondary. There's no way they understand enough real football to do that. Then they'd have to train their AI defenders how to diagnose and handle route combinations, and there's no way they're capable of that. The best they can do is say X has yellow/purple/blue area and does his best to cover what comes through there. Relating several players together as a coverage unit for a given route combination is likely well beyond their capacity.

These suggestions really bring out the extent to which Madden is and always will be checkers rather than chess. I think the ideas are great, but some have been broached before and have been left unadressed or unsuccessfully addressed.

# 4 RickyAC @ 12/18/14 12:01 PM

I would take even a step back from there. All your ideas are perfect and necessary IF AND ONLY IF they are being built on a solid foundation.

Football is fundamentally a game of contact and positioning.

Madden Offense, Defense, and Special Teams all sorely need proper systems for
1) locomotion and momentum
2) engaging in and breaking off from tackles and blocks

When something resembling modern game programming is done for those parts of the game, then it is time to add strategic depth and gameplay polish.

I would love to see Madden take a COD approach in it's development cycle, and give three studios each three years to develop their madden.

# 5 cmehustle @ 12/18/14 01:01 PM

The game is incredibly dumbed down. They only offer the most basic coverages, and that way individual players dont have to 'think' which is what really seperates the good ones from the bad defenders in real life. In Madden, every defender is dumb.

# 6 VICTORY311 @ 12/18/14 01:28 PM

Totally agree with your suggestions. "Other sporting games" have already been doing a lot of the AI adaptive stuff and fine tuning along the way. However I am sure these very practical request will fall on deaf ears as usual. Now if you had some suggestions for MUT I am sure EA would already have them ready for the next patch release.

# 7 Potatoes002 @ 12/18/14 04:20 PM

Defense AI is too robotic and predictable, EA needs to be able to make them "think".

# 8 Potatoes002 @ 12/18/14 04:22 PM

I do agree on making the field bigger. Going from 2K baseball to Sony baseball was huge for me, mostly because how giant the outfield felt compared to 2K. I think a wider field would make the gameplay feel more open.

# 9 NYBorn81 @ 12/18/14 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingdavidtaylor1989


	The game is too robotic. I bought it when the price was reasonable (35$. probably worth 30$ at best). The cornerback/WR interaction is still awful. Create a player is another problem. Have you ever created a 6'2 330 pound DT and they end up with skinny arms? Needs to be changed immediately. I know they have QB unique throws. They need for every position. I hate to say it but 2K would have had this by 2k10. Madden needs a ton of work.

Whats this have to with making Madden play more realistic defense? I'm certain there's a general thread where you can post all your gripes about Madden. I agree with the points of the OP and some of the ones made on the first page by other posters. The ability to assign specific DB's to WR/TE's would be a nice re-addition. It was in the early 00's games, I don't know why they removed it in later editions. That was stupid.

# 10 stos5363 @ 12/18/14 08:17 PM

The irony in all this we call the ian cummings era the worst in maddens history but the guy had some great ideas when he gave the players weapons traits. These are excellent ideas though I been wanting matchups back for years.Also I wish they would just make connected franchise like nfl head coach o9 as well. The one thing I take from all these threads is that everyone seems to not believe in the dev talent over at EA.

# 11 CHAPEdawg45 @ 12/18/14 10:40 PM

I think we're just done with gimmicks and crap. We are just tired of what we've had. This game is better, don't get me wrong, but want a football game with depth, complexity, and solid game-play now over all. Not a tackle cone or some ****. Hell, I just miss being able to pick twists or other stunts on my D-line before picking a coverage. Why can't we have that? lol. It was done prior in the 2k series.

# 12 Fist Of Kings @ 12/18/14 10:56 PM

I came across a madden 12 guide at work and it listed some of the same defensive 'improvements' that Madden 15 claims to have fixed, only to not see it translated in the game. I'm paraphrasing here, but it said that it was the ultimate football simulation and zone defense was their top priority. Defenders will now react to players in their zone. Well this has been shown in vids and I've seen myself playing the game that is not the case.

I know this can be done since an ancient game did a better job of it, but instead of renaming things and passing them off as 'new' features(conservative/aggressive tackle), they should work on making the player ratings work.

Every year defense is just horrible, no matter if a player's awareness is high or low there is no consistency. That's one of the reason why everyone feels the same except for speed...and that goes for offense too. To me the if the awareness attribute actually worked, it would be just as valuable as speed and wouldn't be the cheapest rating to increase.

You have either dbs that are too aware, or players on both sides of the ball play as if they've never played football before. And it's pretty bad to see a lb staring down a scrambling qb, only to react once he crosses the line of scrimmage.

# 13 tru11 @ 12/19/14 09:31 AM

better ?
how about PRC actually work like its supposed to?
people can hot route to a slant 5 times in a row and the defense will not adjust to it at all.
you need to user cover it.

im all for user skills but whats the point of having a PRC rating then?

Same with screens.
dliners with at least 88 PRC used to be able to sniff out a screen and would stop rushing the QB and follow the RB right away.
now they just rush like mindless droids lol.

Another thing is also having physics and such work.
3-4 DE like Ngata and Watt usually require a double at the point of attack but unless you user them they seem useless.

# 14 clarkerots @ 12/19/14 12:44 PM

I can't do Madden anymore. Some of the Madden complaints are reaching their 7 year birthdays. I still can't understand how someone can accept and play a football game that doesn't have penalties.

# 15 tru11 @ 12/19/14 01:07 PM

scratch what i said.

how about we start with making ratings matter lol

# 16 IlluminatusUIUC @ 12/19/14 02:43 PM

I don't think any of it will matter unless and until they add individual AI for the players and have physics apply to them. So much about offense and defense is getting a player's momentum going the wrong way (The Saints' Super Bowl winning offense was philosophically based on having the linebackers take one step in the wrong direction. One step!) This affects the whole experience, from the blocking to the downfield coverages.

As it stands now, the defenders have no weight unless they are usered, so you have have absurdities like one DB covering two routes at the same time, because they can instantly change direction. It's not that the field is small, it's that the defenders cover way too much ground.

# 17 KingV2k3 @ 12/19/14 04:18 PM

Nice list, but BEFORE most of that (or any of these other fine suggestions) can be used, the folks at EA need to give us some time to actually implement the in-game stuff BEFORE the CPU snaps the ball...

Seriously, other than a quick DL or LB adjustment, there's not enough time to even TRY to use what they already have...

First things first, anyone?

# 18 Commercial Seal @ 12/20/14 04:26 PM

Pay me!! I'll break it down to the whole staff...I've been maddening since 97....

# 19 Jerros @ 12/20/14 11:02 PM

Sadly this is a pointless topic. For one, the game has ZERO fundamentals at play. They first need to get rid of the rubberband A.I. Implement proper techniques both in lineplay and secondary play. The physics engine is a mess beyond messes. Tackling is comical when more than two players are involved. No penalty system to speak of. This game would have to be rebuilt from the ground up to even marginally showcase realistic defense. Fix the core game first then come back with this list. As it stands, the game is an absolute travesty when it comes to REAL football.

# 20 cardinalbird5 @ 12/21/14 01:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KingV2k3


	Nice list, but BEFORE most of that (or any of these other fine suggestions) can be used, the folks at EA need to give us some time to actually implement the in-game stuff BEFORE the CPU snaps the ball... Seriously, other than a quick DL or LB adjustment, there's not enough time to even TRY to use what they already have... First things first, anyone?

Yeah there should be ways to preset your d-line stunts, shade inside/out, spotlight a certain receiver, whether to play qb/rb for options, press individual receivers, keep certain matchups the entire time, have an option for us to either base align or show man, etc.

I have became good at doing all of this pre-snap, but it should definitely have a points of emphasis option or something to help you. For instance I like to shade inside on zones or man and use my safety to guard over the top or the corners and use base align. I also like to manually press with usually one of my corners...and that is it plus I love playing the sticks on 3rd down.

Not to mention for man coverage I usually put my linebackers into a zone and my dime/nickel backs as into purples. You just don't have time to do all of this.

Pre-snap adjustments should be used to read the offense and make last second changes based on what you see and predict. This shouldn't be where you implement your scheme or gameplan....every single time.

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