So apparently I can't play defense. Like... at all

[Franchise408]

So I'm finishing up a 6-10 season in my 32 man online league. My worst season in... a long time. I've had some screwjobs go my way this season (another player broke league rules to beat me in one game, in another game I scored a game winning TD that the game didn't count, along with a handful of games that I had won but rampant and untimely fumbles cost me the game), but one constant is that my defense just... is absolutely pathetic.

I have a pretty decent pass rush at times, but defenders are never in place to make plays. When they are in place, they drop gimme INT's. They inexplicably come out of position (for example, I lost one game when I had a double coverage on the deep receiver: a man coverage and a deep zone cover 3. The man coverage got beat on the press, understandable, but the deep zone CB ended up playing an inside hook zone, leaving the streaking wide receiver wide open. There were no other receivers in the area to lure him out of his zone. He just inexplicably stopped. I did not adjust for inside or underneath coverage). Defenders in zone coverage just don't seem to have the AI to actually put themselves in position to make a play, even when the zone is the proper zone for the route. Basically, whatever I do gets chewed up on defense.

If I run man, despite 90+'s in acc and speed, and 99 press, and 90's+ in man coverage, my guys constantly get beat in man coverage. If I play zone, the AI never puts themselves in position and I just get chewed up in the holes in the zone. If I blitz, they just hit some kind of quick shot, and if I don't blitz, then the QB just sits back for days, or scrambles for a 1st down, or what have you.

Then I'm constantly on the bad end of bad luck plays. In a league game last night, my opponent threw a prayer about 30 yards downfield. Not into single coverage. Not into double coverage. Not even into triple coverage. But into 5 MAN COVERAGE, and out of 5 defenders all draped around the receiver, not ONE attempted to make a play on the ball, and the receiver came down with a completion.

I'm at an absolute loss, and feel entirely helpless on the defensive side of the ball. I've learned a few tricks that stop certain cheese plays like the power or counter run, but unfortunately, they are plays that only work in one specific situation. Outside of that, I'm basically just riding on a prayer and hoping for luck to fall on my side on the defensive side of the ball.

Does anyone have any suggestions, tips, or advice on how to play defense? I do know about defensive adjustments, but they just simply don't get results for me. Maybe I'm using them wrong. idk. But at this point, advice, or videos, or guides, or anything on defense will help me out. I just don't know what to do anymore.

I will say, my league does have certain rules. There's no manual movement of defensive players before the snap (using the defensive adjustments are fine). Doing individual audibles are fine, but at least 3 defenders must be in a pass rush (rush, contain, or spy), so no dropping 9 guys into coverage. These are really the main limitations to what we can do on defense. Everything else is fair game.

[The JareBear]

Are these coverages you're setting up based on a bunch of individual coverage audibles?

Sometimes when I do that I notice my guys behave awkwardly.

[Franchise408]

Quote: Originally Posted by The JareBear

Are these coverages you're setting up based on a bunch of individual coverage audibles? Sometimes when I do that I notice my guys behave awkwardly.

I wouldn't say "a bunch", but on occasion I will make some adjustments.

A good example is, sometimes from a 3-4 bear formation (or something similar - something where my opponent only brings out 2 WR's), I will call a cover 3, base align, and then put the 2 outside corners in man coverage (my 2 starting corners have 90's+ in man coverage, speed, acceleration, and both have 99 press), and keep the remaining zones. This helps with those pesky slants / crosses cuz it keeps a man on the receiver with the hook zones over the middle. That play kinda works. But obviously I can't run the same play over and over lol, it only has relative success against one thing.

There are some plays that I do make some adjustments on. Mostly, maybe audible a blitzing DB or LB into an extra coverage, or a spy LB into a zone or man on the HB or something. I typically don't go overboard (except my one play that I run that stops the cheesy power / counter runs. But again, it only works against that particular play)

Short answer is yes, and no. It depends on the play and what I'm anticipating.

[sebennayx]

Forgive me if I missed this in your post - what position do you user? I used to user a DL against human players, but found I was still getting wrecked before I could cause any pressure. I switched to an ILB, other than the occasional mis-step on a counter or play action, I've found my read-react skills both vs run and pass to be better than letting the CPU do it.

Here's what helped me in an old league:

- Inside/Outside leverage works with man, especially press man. If possible, set your outside CBs with Inside leverage, slot with outside (helps against corner routes). Doesn't work every time, but when it does the receiver is blanketed pretty well.
*Don't call inside/outside leverage for a single db while in zone - this will lock your receiver into man coverage effectively opening up that entire zone.

- Overtop/Underneath leverage works with zone. If your opponent calls a lot of deep shots, overtop works well. Lots of slants and other underneath routes? Underneath will try to get between the WR and the QB...however they pass off the receiver earlier too. This is a tricky balance for plays like Cover2 where the outside CB will give up lots of space on the outside (easy completion on curl/flat and any other high/low outside combos).

- I played as ARI and had to switch to a 4-3...without 2-gap responsibilities the 3-4 was getting eaten alive by inside zone runs. Easy 3-6 yards every time unless in a sugar look.

- This one may be difficult not being able to move players before the snap:

CPU might know who you're blitzing (if you're not manually adjusting) but the other player does not. Come out in what looks like an overload to one side, but send the other side - if the other player likes to call their own protection they will get absolutely wrecked very quick if they don't have an outlet. Works to later call an actual overload if your opponent later refuses to call a protection or call the wrong side.

- I pinch my line more often than not while I'm user with ILB. You'll find you can react to an outside zone and scrape better than the CPU can to get to the edges if need be...if they run up the gut they generally hit a wall of bodies.

- Depending on the player I'm up against, I often like to contain my edge rushers when I know a pass is coming against anyone other than the Manning/Bradys of the world. Many people instinctively start to rollout when the pressure starts coming, contain will open up lanes in the middle but stop the rollout. Again, if the QB starts to run toward an open inside gap and you're controlling the ILB, you don't have to wait for him to cross the LOS before you can get after him, giving you an advantage over a CPU ILB.

A lot of it came down to what my opponent did. We would often stream games, so I'd watch my next opponent to get an idea of what they liked to do. If they ran outside with buck sweeps constantly, you can get a sense by the formation and sniff it out ahead of time. If they constantly throw slants, throw a Robber in there with inside leverage press man to try to make them pay, etc.

Good luck man!

[Whaaaazuuuuup]

dude...defense in madden sucked this yr i gave up and waiting to see what others say bout madden 16

[Franchise408]

^ I user a little bit of everything. It depends on the play that I call, as well as what I'm anticipating from the offense. Through the course of a game, I will user DE's, OLB's, ILB's, S's, and sometimes even slot CB's. But typically I like to user an ILB or a S, because if I user the d-line, I feel that the AI just isn't there to keep the defenders in their zones and make the play, even when the route runs right to the zone.

As far as the rest of your post, I'll try implementing some of that a bit moreso. I do zone inside / outside leverage, but not tons, and I find I haven't done it so much with man coverage. Moreso with zones.

I might have to try some more 4-3. I wonder how much that will actually help. But it's definitely worth a shot. I run mostly 3-4, sometimes a 3-4 stack, but never much from the 4-3.

[4thQtrStre5S]

I feel usering a LB, CB or S is a must, for a truly good chance of having defense that will stop opposing offenses..

I know there are people that just want to coach the game, and that is fine, but Madden seems to be set to require user control of a player at some point if you want your team to be really good...This also includes user catching; I know many sim players completely hate user catching, but to be competitive in the game of Madden, based on how it is designed, you have to user players; Madden is an interactive game that requires the human element.

[Franchise408]

^ I agree. One of my leaguemates who tries to help me improve my game, and watches my twitch feeds and such says that he thinks I should control the d-line, and not the LB's or S's. But I feel I'm better usering them than not. Yes, sometimes I do pull a defender out of position, and I give up a big play that the CPU controlled defender probably woulda stopped. But I also make plays and get turnovers that I otherwise wouldn't have gotten. So like I said, I user a little bit of it all, depending on my play selection, their formations, what I'm anticipating, etc. Sometimes on an all out blitz, I'll control a d-lineman to get the max pass rush from them. If I'm thinking pass, I'll control an LB or S based on what assignment I feel I need better control over. It just depends.

This is a lot, and I'm not expecting anyone to sit through hours of my game film, but I do export my twitch feeds to YouTube. Here's some links to some of the games during my recent skid. Maybe someone can take a look, see some of my habits and some of my playstyle, and get a better idea of my weaknesses.

Week 14 - Loss to Jaguars: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKrKxk1l27Q

Week 13 - Loss to Redskins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhWalMTk6C4

Week 12 - Loss to Rams: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzTIKM8Pxdk

I also have losses in weeks 15 and 17 as well, but I didn't broadcast those games.