You still have to keep the USER pass defense at 75 and under regardless. I keep the pass reaction slider at 50 or higher just to stay on the safe side. The CPUs passing seems to get very weak once you drop the USER pass reaction under 50 but regardless that category still has to be at 75 or less..
The USER sliders affects the AI.. It's the same thing as playing on default All-Madden with all the CPU sliders lowered. The gameplay will still be All-Madden..