Madden 21 Next-Gen Secondary Patch Review - A Needed Boost for the Defense

[ChaseB]

Last week, EA Sports dropped a patch for Madden 21. There were various fixes in...

Written By: Robert Kollars

Click here to view the article.

[jfsolo]

The article gives praise to the improvement in coverage, but IMO it's even better than what is stated in piece.

It talks about when player mistakenly covers a player that is already well cover and rightly mentions that this happen IRL all time, but I disagree with the assertion that this shouldn't happen in the game. That has to happen sometimes otherwise coverage is too good, and this kind of mistake of aggressiveness is preferable to a defender choosing to cover no one. The mistakes primarily happen on routes where receiver exchange positions or with flood routes. That is when it should happen most often.

I also think that zone coverage in next gen is now much better than it was on current gen, primarily because of the activity and superior ball skills of safeties.

I also feel like man is better too because unless there is a great ratings mismatch, that extra 2 or 3 yards of artificial separation beyond the normal separation dice roll loss doesn't happen either.

It seems like I'm being hard on the article, but I'm just advocating for how well it's playing for me. It was actually fair and very complementary.

[edaddy]

I have to applaud this article and we as a community should all take note. This was a fair and objective article that realistically touched on the negative and positive aspects of this patch and the state of Madden at this point. I have been waiting for a fair impression of the patch before I downloaded it and this provided it. I could get with the secondary flaws as long as the essence of next gen which is the movement hasn’t changed. Looks like there wasn’t a trade off. Excellent article my man!!!
Edit: Downloaded patch disappointed they chose to speed up the game coverage is better but the weighted feel is nerfed . This is hum vs cpu so h2h might have a totally different feel. Oh well it is what it is

[Agent89]

The issue isn't just a programming one, but more about the lack of representation of the nuances in the secondary. *Where is illegal contact? Where is defensive holding? Where are the penalties that frequent Sundays in the NFL? Man coverage should be right across the board unless it's a grave mismatch, but the balance should be penalties, especially on the all crucial third down. *Obviously in a competitive video game, the variable should be adjustments/emphasis that the users make when it comes to aggression (press or off; hand contact in phase; hand contact on breaks; hand contact when the ball is in the air). *There should also be a technique rating ("mcv and zcv" are too broad) that determines how often defenders are in good position, and obviously some sort of trait that determines how confident defenders are to turn their head for the ball when making a play downfield - this should play into how often a defender gets penalized (most defenders are penalized frequently in the secondary in real life). The best of the best should be allowed to be physical, track the ball, and be penalized far less.
*To me this just speaks to the severe lack of sophistication in Madden, and this is just a band-aid that covers up the bigger issue in the game and the lack of breakthrough by EA over the past decade. *Sure you can be "objective" about this patch, but the fact that this patch is the solution is an inherent problem in itself. *QBs drifting back dropping dimes while not stepping up in the pocket is a problem. * Pockets not being formed is a problem. *Clueless o-line blocking is a problem. *Not being able to choose defensive fronts is a problem. *This is 2021 - all these articles do is give EA justification for lackluster efforts. *Am I the only one who thinks we should have a WAY better game at this point?

[The 24th Letter]

I went 6-10 during my access trial.Saw it was same ol' Madden. Same poor pass coverage, same experience.

Since then-



This patch has brought new life to the game...hell the franchise for me. Enjoying H2H for the first time since like Madden 08, lol

I can use football strategy to even outplay all the Patrick Mahomes/ Tarek Hill spammers I run into. Coverage and adjustments to those coverage just make so much more FOOTBALL sense.

Very pleased with the game from a H2H standpoint.

Sent from my SM-G781U using Tapatalk

[edaddy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Agent89

The issue isn't just a programming one, but more about the lack of representation of the nuances in the secondary. *Where is illegal contact? Where is defensive holding? Where are the penalties that frequent Sundays in the NFL? Man coverage should be right across the board unless it's a grave mismatch, but the balance should be penalties, especially on the all crucial third down. *Obviously in a competitive video game, the variable should be adjustments/emphasis that the users make when it comes to aggression (press or off; hand contact in phase; hand contact on breaks; hand contact when the ball is in the air). *There should also be a technique rating ("mcv and zcv" are too broad) that determines how often defenders are in good position, and obviously some sort of trait that determines how confident defenders are to turn their head for the ball when making a play downfield - this should play into how often a defender gets penalized (most defenders are penalized frequently in the secondary in real life). The best of the best should be allowed to be physical, track the ball, and be penalized far less. *To me this just speaks to the severe lack of sophistication in Madden, and this is just a band-aid that covers up the bigger issue in the game and the lack of breakthrough by EA over the past decade. *Sure you can be "objective" about this patch, but the fact that this patch is the solution is an inherent problem in itself. *QBs drifting back dropping dimes while not stepping up in the pocket is a problem. * Pockets not being formed is a problem. *Clueless o-line blocking is a problem. *Not being able to choose defensive fronts is a problem. *This is 2021 - all these articles do is give EA justification for lackluster efforts. *Am I the only one who thinks we should have a WAY better game at this point?

Good post you have got some points that I agree with. Like you I am a strong proponent of PI and DH being realistically implemented in Madden. The last Madden that actual dis this was M16. That game had all the wr/dB interactions down pat and since DH and PI was actually implemented correctly you were penalized for mismatches and pressing a good wr. But the problem is H2H players complained and it was taken out. On top of that a producer actually it wasn’t fun so it was taken out. Overall problem is that it’s impossible I guess at this point to sufficiently separate game modes so everything is based off h2h and competitive tuning. I like the coverage in this new patch but it’s more like a band aid as the warping crazy feet have substituted for the separation that took place in coverage. There was a 2 week period in which next gen had some great movement and balanced gameplay each patch draws it back to last gen which to me is disappointing. But again that’s just my opinion. But good post my man!!!