Do you think Madden "picks" winners of games??

[roadman]

Quote: Originally Posted by timhere1970

Do you feel that it is everyone in your franchise having about the same skill level that is keeping the games close? Or do you think it is the game keeping them close? I only play against the cpu and often times it seems like it is keeping the game close and then I get up by two scores and the floodgates open and I am able to dominate until the fourth quarter. Then the cpu throws for 150 to 200 yards and I get fumbilitis and my kicks/punts get blocked.

I played a game last night that the Packers(me) were up 16-0 by the middle of the 3rd quarter. I had my first XP blocked and it was 16-2. Oh oh, here we go.

The Falcons scored next and it was 16 to 9. I had a 23-9 lead going into the 4th quarter and ever since the Falcons scored the 2 points, I decided to minimize the dice roll affect, I would do pass short passes and when I had to, I would throw long passes over the middle.

The score became 23 to 16 and I scored another TD, so, I'm thinking, well it seems to be going both ways, so, then it becomes 30-23 with just under 2 minutes left and the Packers had the ball. I'm still doing drag routes because they have all 3 timeouts. The Falcons called their 1st time out and it was 2 and 7. I called for a screen pass and made sure no one was over by Lacy. He barely got a 1st down. The Falcons called two more timeouts and the Packers got another 1st down.

Game over.

Just need to be as aggressive as the opposing team is when play calling. One thing I did notice, with the Falcons down by 2 scores late in the game, they were not in a hurry up offense. If they are in hurry up and rolling, I will sometimes call timeout to try and interrupt their rhythm or momentum.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

One of the more recent online franchise games I played against my brother was a six-total-turnover no-100-yard-rushers slop-fest with the game-winning touchdown scored in the final 15 seconds of the game. It happens. Heck, I've played in all of one user-user blowout in my franchise so far in this game. Most of the games I've played in are decided in the 4th quarter. There are some details I'd like to figure out - how to run the ball consistently effectively in online user-user games, for example - but speaking holistically I find the gameplay of this year's game to be incredibly balanced and representative of the relative skills of my opponent and myself.

I would prefer roster to be as or more important personally. But since every qb is Tom Brady, aledgedly, that poses a problem. I am told pre patch there was real differences in qbs. Is there a slider to make the qb you have matter?

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by ForUntoOblivionSoar∞

I would prefer roster to be as or more important personally. But since every qb is Tom Brady, aledgedly, that poses a problem. I am told pre patch there was real differences in qbs. Is there a slider to make the qb you have matter?

QB accuracy is something I'm still figuring out as the league commissioner. It's pretty much always been the case that QBs are too accurate in Madden, IMO - going back to my time in a league here on OS in Madden 13 when one of our users torched the league with Jacory Harris - and I don't think this game is any exception. To give you an idea, though, the MVP of our most recent Super Bowl was Logan Thomas, and OVR 64 QB.

In the meantime I personally try to scheme my opponent into mistakes by showing him a lot of different things pre-snap and post-snap. I use "Show Blitz" a lot and I call a lot of dummy audibles and then audible back to my original play. I also use the "Bluff Blitz" hot route a lot to try and lure my opponent to throw a hot read into a covered area. Basically I try to make sure my opponent can never just identify my coverage and always audible into the right play pre-snap, and I also actively try to bait him into making the wrong throw.

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by timhere1970

Do you feel that it is everyone in your franchise having about the same skill level that is keeping the games close? Or do you think it is the game keeping them close?

Similar player skill level, though I think my brother and I are the two best users in the league (in that order).

I've never felt cheated in any game I've played this year, win or loss.

[Godgers12]

I'm convinced there is truth to this. Few days ago in my online CFM Titans vs Texans (Me) I had the ball at the 25 with just over a minute left he's out of timeouts, it's 3rd and inches, I'm down 21-19 so I run a FB dive to set up a chip shot FG, and the #%@#% fumbles, and I lose as a result, it was a week 15 game, he was 12-1 I was 11-2, so it also cost me the division. I have run hundreds of FB dives the last few Maddens, and not 1 fumble before that.

[ForUntoOblivionSoar∞]

Quote: Originally Posted by CM Hooe

QB accuracy is something I'm still figuring out as the league commissioner. It's pretty much always been the case that QBs are too accurate in Madden, IMO - going back to my time in a league here on OS in Madden 13 when one of our users torched the league with Jacory Harris - and I don't think this game is any exception. To give you an idea, though, the MVP of our most recent Super Bowl was Logan Thomas, and OVR 64 QB. In the meantime I personally try to scheme my opponent into mistakes by showing him a lot of different things pre-snap and post-snap. I use "Show Blitz" a lot and I call a lot of dummy audibles and then audible back to my original play. I also use the "Bluff Blitz" hot route a lot to try and lure my opponent to throw a hot read into a covered area. Basically I try to make sure my opponent can never just identify my coverage and always audible into the right play pre-snap, and I also actively try to bait him into making the wrong throw.

Do you think if pressure was increased that moght help with that problem? I'm thinking like if you manually lowered pass block for every tackle in the game by 40 points, for example.


Anyway, has there been any luck with QB accuracy in your league with adjustments you've made?

[Hooe]

Quote: Originally Posted by ForUntoOblivionSoar∞

Do you think if pressure was increased that moght help with that problem? I'm thinking like if you manually lowered pass block for every tackle in the game by 40 points, for example. Anyway, has there been any luck with QB accuracy in your league with adjustments you've made?

TBD. We're bumping up the difficulty from All-Pro to All-Madden as a first step for our third season (we have our 2018 draft this weekend).

I think that pass pressure - specifically the binary nature of how that's handled, there's rarely a "muddy pocket" in Madden on the default All Pro settings - could easily be part of the issue. Madden already penalizes QB accuracy when the passer is under pressure, and indicates that this happened with a UI prompt, so that's a thing that can happen, but I haven't seen it happen very often.

[Aestis]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ampking101

very often I can tell from the get go of the game if it is going to be one of those games.

I'd call this confirmation bias. ALL the time, and I watch a lot of games as the league commish, I see momentum shifts, where everything goes one direction for a while, then the other team catches some breaks. The teams who give up when they see "it is going to be one of those games" in the first quarter don't tend to get those momentum shifts. This isn't a coincidence.

Sure, sometimes in a game luck is tilted heavily toward one team. It happens. But you can't tell in the first quarter what's going to happen in the second half, and the idea it's predetermined is ludicrous.

Just like the moon landing, there's going to be a group that has their mind made up regardless of any evidence. So be it, can't change that mind. But for the folks reading this who are reading to see if there's any rational basis for this belief: it's tin foil hat territory.