Defensive strategies.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Quote: Originally Posted by The JareBear

Shade inside requires individuals coverage audible for each DB right? Thanks for your input I will def use the contain for screens

Shading a receiver requires M2M coverage, yes.

Here is a video on shading to stop Slants and Outs.

http://youtu.be/BpeJEQmMPsY

[Gagnon39]

Has anyone had any luck whatsoever at blocking field goals and punts?

[Gagnon39]

As with every Madden that I've ever played I'm finding it extremely difficult to stop the pass. I mix up my coverages but the CPU simply finds wide open receivers way too often no matter what I do. I'm close to last in the league in pass defense but I'm first in the league in run defense. This has been the case in every single Madden game I've ever played.

[EarvGotti]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gagnon39

As with every Madden that I've ever played I'm finding it extremely difficult to stop the pass. I mix up my coverages but the CPU simply finds wide open receivers way too often no matter what I do. I'm close to last in the league in pass defense but I'm first in the league in run defense. This has been the case in every single Madden game I've ever played.

I blitz the hell out of pass heavy teams. With 1.5 to 2 seconds to make a read their bound to make a mistake. A little pressure changes everything.

[ya boy hollywud]

When talking defense it's important to differentiate whether you're playing the CPU or playing users in online ranked matches. I mainly play ranked, so I'll try to give tips there.

* You must user control either a linebacker or safety. If you're usering a defensive lineman you lose the ability to manually defend a certain area of the field or key in on a player.

* Don't run base defenses. You need to change or alter your defense in some way. For example, in a 2 man under, you have man coverage across the board with two deep safeties. One random way you could alter it is to drop one of your DEs into a purple zone and take one of your deep safeties and put him in a yellow zone covering the middle of the field. This way, when your opponent snaps the ball he will read man coverage, but the yellow and purple zones may confuse him forcing him to either hold the ball longer than he wants which can lead to a sack, throw an incompletion or throw an interception.

* Understand what each color zone does (light blue, dark blue, purple, yellow, etc) and the routes that they contain. For example, if someone is running curl routes against you, you want to put a purple zone to stop it. If someone is throwing quick 3 yard swing passes toward the sidelines you would want to put a light blue zone to stop it.

* Learning when and how to shade defensively. Purple zones can stop curl routes, but what about the extremely popular out route? Purple zones can slow down out routes, but they don't always work. However, if you use purple zones and shade them toward the sideline, this can better help in stopping out routes. You shade by pressing up on the d-pad, after you do that you'll see options for shading the sideline, middle of the field, etc then you choose accordingly.


These are just some random thoughts that popped into my head while reading this thread. If anybody has any specific questions, feel free to ask.

[The JareBear]

Quote: Originally Posted by ya boy hollywud

When talking defense it's important to differentiate whether you're playing the CPU or playing users in online ranked matches. I mainly play ranked, so I'll try to give tips there. * You must user control either a linebacker or safety. If you're usering a defensive lineman you lose the ability to manually defend a certain area of the field or key in on a player. * Don't run base defenses. You need to change or alter your defense in some way. For example, in a 2 man under, you have man coverage across the board with two deep safeties. One random way you could alter it is to drop one of your DEs into a purple zone and take one of your deep safeties and put him in a yellow zone covering the middle of the field. This way, when your opponent snaps the ball he will read man coverage, but the yellow and purple zones may confuse him forcing him to either hold the ball longer than he wants which can lead to a sack, throw an incompletion or throw an interception. * Understand what each color zone does (light blue, dark blue, purple, yellow, etc) and the routes that they contain. For example, if someone is running curl routes against you, you want to put a purple zone to stop it. If someone is throwing quick 3 yard swing passes toward the sidelines you would want to put a light blue zone to stop it. * Learning when and how to shade defensively. Purple zones can stop curl routes, but what about the extremely popular out route? Purple zones can slow down out routes, but they don't always work. However, if you use purple zones and shade them toward the sideline, this can better help in stopping out routes. You shade by pressing up on the d-pad, after you do that you'll see options for shading the sideline, middle of the field, etc then you choose accordingly. These are just some random thoughts that popped into my head while reading this thread. If anybody has any specific questions, feel free to ask.

I am now beginning to see that this is very, very necessary, as you have said. Reading this thread made me realize how big a miracle it was that my defense is doing decent at all so far in my leagues as I don't do any of this stuff. I have always been a "just line up and play" kinda guy but in madden, especially in a competitive league, that won't fly. I am going to take advantage of defensive hot routes from here on out.

Now we need an offensive strategy thread lol, because the last guy I played beat me 30-10, he seemed to run some sort of hybrid cover 3 with a manual purple on each side and he would user the middle of the field to cover the weak spot there, it was very hard for me to beat.

Transitioning from NCAA 14 to M25 has been tough. I have always been primarily a NCAA player so I am learning all these gameplay strategies that are famous in Madden due to the popularity of tournament play and whatnot. In NCAA my base defense could stop toss or hb screen easily but in Madden I have to game plan specifically for those plays and still leave my defense in position to stop other plays at the same time. Definitely learning....or trying to at least. I appreciate the advice

[The JareBear]

In your guys opinion is it, more often than not, wise to rush three and have an extra guy in coverage more often than not?

(I am strictly talking user games for CFM, all my posts so far are centered around user games, in case I did not specify)

[The JareBear]

Is calling a zone play but hot routing a defender into man against the slot or TE a good strategy or is that too risky?