these were made to give close to realistic stats while playing games that are still challenging and fun.
i haven't played with these in months and have since moved onto to ps3 madden where i LOVE the gameplay. next gen seems to be much more capable of having good realistic games against the cpu.
that is a little to vague to really answer. in current gen you must always be aware of the deep ball because the cpu loves throwing it. (thank god this was addressed in the next gen) commit to the pass when you know it's a pass. this will also help make Play Action less affective for the cpu.
this really depends alot on how you have built your team