Special Teams

[c dizzy m baby]

Can we get this more exciting and or more realistic and diverse? I'd guess most teams in the NFL realize how important STs are and any time you hear a coach talk he always refers to "all 3 phases of the game". There are players like Isaiah Ekejiuba, of the Raiders who 99% percent of casual fans probably don't even know he exists, yet he gets payed millions of dollars to be solely a special teams guy, he is listed a LBer, but I dont recall ever seeing on the field on a "real" defensive play. He excels at what he does and was a 1st Alt to the Pro Bowl last season. Most young players make their careers on special teams, before they have a chance to make their mark on offense or defense.

Enough of that, what could we do to improve it? I'll start on field goals.

For starters accuracy needs to mean something. Im tired of Sebastian Janokowski (and I'm a Raiders fan) being the best Kicker in the game based solely on his kick power. Can you guys steal from Tiger Woods and make the accuracy system similar to that, that would make it much more difficult. It'd be cool to see my kick on line and because I hit it bad see it hook off near the last second. Not to hard I guess but make it a skill to Kick.

Another idea for the Kicking game would be a catching/holding of the snap system, something real simple that could easily be done 99/100 times, like just hit the A button while the snap is in the air (The right stick would be used to direct the shot before the snap and the Left stick could be switched to the "down/up" motion). A late/early press could make a bobble or fumbled snap. It would be cool to see the punter bobble the snap and that cause my all out blitz to get to him just barely and get a tiny piece of the ball Like the Bears vs. Vikings game earlier this year or like the Cowboys vs. Seahawks playoff game a few years back and watch a routine FG turn into disaster. A bobbled FG snap could also cause power/accuracy decreases as well.

I'd also like to see on long FG attempts more of a risk of kicking it lower for additional distance. If I hold the kicking arrow all the way down I'd like to see a decent change of one of the defense's bigger players right in the middle get a big paw on it.

Another big complaint of mine is Tuning the Kickoff timing. I get tired of kicking 8 yards deep in the endzone only to have my opponent (live/online players) take it out and routinely get to my 25 or 30 yard line before they even get in contact with any of my coverage team. The ball should be in the air more or the coverage team should be faster, I think the former is the better option. Im not trying to discourage Kickoffs return, because that is a great part of the game of football, but it is just not realistic. I'd like to see those deep kickoffs be returned to the 15-19 yard line much more, so a player decides if he wants to get the extra yardage from taking the touchback or take a chance at a big return.

Finally what happened to all the plays I used to be able to choose from. 2 kickoff returns? I want some creativity in STs, reverses pooch punts, squib kicks, anything and everything that you can add in. I want as many options as I can get.

What are the general thoughts or additions to what I have? On a side note I read it is too late to get new ideas in 2010, that cant be true can it? No way they are already just tuning/testing the game and dont plan to add more. Hopefully it isn't to late to get some of this in 2010.

[c dizzy m baby]

Regarding the catching and holding of the snap I dont think I'd want it in if it wasn't controlled manually. Im fine getting penalized for my screw up, but I hate getting screwed for stuff I have no control over, and there is no chance in hell I want it added as a "random" happening that could cause me to lose a game that I had no business losing.

[Exonerated]

No one really cares about special teams.

[ch46647]

Exonerated, I agree with a majority of things you say on this forum but not this. Special teams are an extremely important part of football and they should not be overlooked. Also, some of the most exciting plays of the year are made on special teams. I hope Ian and company really take a look at making the special teams plays much more important and exciting.

Good thread OP.

[c dizzy m baby]

So is it a consensus that Special teams aren't high on the priorities? I'm actually surprised by this and surprised I have only gotten one positive review. I still hope some work can be done to them.

[GKEnialb]

I think your ideas are fantastic. Adding more depth and variability would make the game more realistic. If I lost a game because somebody bobbled the snap, I'd be irritated, but part of me would be excited, too, because it really happens. We can't say we want realism, then say we don't want it for stuff that might make us lose. Should there not be penalties and turnovers for players that aren't human controlled?

[Vikes1]

No question Special teams are a very important part of the game of football. Countless games have been won/lost due to this phase of the game. Yes...it would be great to have an added importance to this in Madden.

As the OP mentioned...added difficulty to field goals, bobbled snaps and the chance of blocked kicks would add greatly to the game. I'm hoping SP gets some attention this year.

[Outkizast]

I believe the special teams in Madden is boring in its current state... I would LOVE for it to be better... and maybe guys should have an awareness rating or something separate just for kickoffs and stuff or something.. something solid that we could actually try to improve upon.. so if my team is consistently giving up long kick returns or something i could actually do something about it......