Madden 10 Defensive Questions

[Valdarez]

Several questions here...

Man Align
When I use Man Align, I would think it would align the defensive players with the receiver they are defending, but it doesn't seem to do this in Madden 10. Is this a bug? Or should it do something altogether different? The biggest problems I have noticed is if the defenders line up over the box (even though I call a nickle...). They refuse to move into position, and I have to manually move them. Any suggestions on this?

Adjusting Safeties
Also, I hate how far back the safeties play by default. I would love the ability to have them move up 5 yards or so. Is there any way to do this without manually doing this myself? (really missing coverage shells from APF2K8 that lets me adjust the entire secondary).

LBs Covering RBs
I have noticed that many times an LB who is covering an RB will just stand in his spot and pretty much never move if the RB does not run a route or run with the ball. Is there any way to have him at least go for the RB so he's closer to the QB applying pressure when the RB's stay back to block? I hate having a guy just standing there, doing nothing on the field.

Inside / Outside Coverage
I get the feeling this doesn't matter in Madden, as when I throw it doesn't matter whether the CB is on the inside/outside of the receiver, but just in case, is there anyway to set inside/outside coverage?

[KBLover]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Man Align When I use Man Align, I would think it would align the defensive players with the receiver they are defending, but it doesn't seem to do this in Madden 10. Is this a bug? Or should it do something altogether different? The biggest problems I have noticed is if the defenders line up over the box (even though I call a nickle...). They refuse to move into position, and I have to manually move them. Any suggestions on this?

Not sure - don't particularly like man coverage in this game, but it seems like they "Man Align" by default and using the option unlocks it at first.

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Adjusting Safeties Also, I hate how far back the safeties play by default. I would love the ability to have them move up 5 yards or so. Is there any way to do this without manually doing this myself? (really missing coverage shells from APF2K8 that lets me adjust the entire secondary).

I use the "Press" adjustment. This pulls the safeties in. You can also do "Show Blitz" but that might bring them in farther than you're looking for.

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

LBs Covering RBs I have noticed that many times an LB who is covering an RB will just stand in his spot and pretty much never move if the RB does not run a route or run with the ball. Is there any way to have him at least go for the RB so he's closer to the QB applying pressure when the RB's stay back to block? I hate having a guy just standing there, doing nothing on the field.

Not that I've found. Once the play starts, no real way to move guys short of you controlling them it seems. This is an area where player AI just needs to be better so that LBs do this on their own.

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Inside / Outside Coverage I get the feeling this doesn't matter in Madden, as when I throw it doesn't matter whether the CB is on the inside/outside of the receiver, but just in case, is there anyway to set inside/outside coverage?

Nope - no way to shade coverage that I've found. I think it does (or at least can) matter, but no way to make it happen.

[Valdarez]

Thanks KB, problem is I have been using man coverage on blitz situations and the blitzers stay back while the guys in man coverage line up over the middle. It's weird. Thought man align would get them to line up properly but they don't move. Sucks to have a CB from a nickle formation lined up dead center over the middle when he's supposed to be covering the slot. The out will always be open in the situation.

On the Press, I don't have the CBs to pull it off consistently and I don't like giving up big plays. Newman maybe, but not the other rookie CB I have right now. He gets beat bad with any reasonably strong receiver, and unfortunately Press affects all of the secondary CBs and Safeties (unless there's a way to only do it for safeties that I'm unaware of?).

I traded for a 6' 4" Rookie MLB in the offseason. Basically got the tallest / highest jumper I could fine. I figure if they are going to be standing there, might as well take advantage of Madden's superman jumps to stop over middle passes. Would prefer him to get ontop of the RB though. That's the way it works in APF2K8. Feels like there's more pressure that way on the QB without using a real blitz package.

[buttsakk]

Don't know about you Vald, but I'm waiting for LBzrule to respond to this

[CreatineKasey]

Man align is automatically ON by default for a play. If you hit that feature it actually does the opposite and freezes the defense. As far as moving your safeties into position in man coverage, I would maybe try hitting man align twice. I know what you are talking about with the safeties playing back by default and leaving underneath options open... by default :-/

[Swingking77]

Quote: Originally Posted by Valdarez

Several questions here... Man Align When I use Man Align, I would think it would align the defensive players with the receiver they are defending, but it doesn't seem to do this in Madden 10. Is this a bug? Or should it do something altogether different? The biggest problems I have noticed is if the defenders line up over the box (even though I call a nickle...). They refuse to move into position, and I have to manually move them. Any suggestions on this? Adjusting Safeties Also, I hate how far back the safeties play by default. I would love the ability to have them move up 5 yards or so. Is there any way to do this without manually doing this myself? (really missing coverage shells from APF2K8 that lets me adjust the entire secondary). LBs Covering RBs I have noticed that many times an LB who is covering an RB will just stand in his spot and pretty much never move if the RB does not run a route or run with the ball. Is there any way to have him at least go for the RB so he's closer to the QB applying pressure when the RB's stay back to block? I hate having a guy just standing there, doing nothing on the field. Inside / Outside Coverage I get the feeling this doesn't matter in Madden, as when I throw it doesn't matter whether the CB is on the inside/outside of the receiver, but just in case, is there anyway to set inside/outside coverage?

For man aligne, the funtion just places guys in a position which the computer determins where the best angle is to cover their asignments. This dosen't really work that well in zones, which some people think it does. It also doesn't work really well in blitzes as well... But if you double a guy, you'll see the safety move over to that side to cover the doubled WR.

For the safeties, simply do what was already mentioned and press the WRs, it'll give you those few extra yards that you want... BUT, if you're playing a zone, it really doesn't matter if you move them up, in fact, it's a bad thing as they're going to be out of position in say a Cover 2 or 3.

I haven't noticed this issue, unless you're playing a zone. Durring a zone, your player plays the zone and not the man no matter what. So he won't cover anyone who's not in that zone...

The inside outside thing is one I wish Madden would implement next year, more then pretty much anything. Being able to shade in and out would be huge and would correct a lot of the issues people are having with the "flats" and their apparent inability to cover them. You can sort of do a little something to help that out by shifting your plays over to one side or the other... But it pails compared to the 2K coverage adjustments... This and the ability to set guys into double coverage on a guy all game long is what is needed... Not simply putting A on B... But at least it's a start.