Making Plays on Defense (User)

[RogueHominid]

I'm curious to know how the OS folks approach playing defense. For the longest time, I played as a DT or a DE so that I wouldn't screw a play up too badly. I've recently changed my style so that I now control the biggest playmaker among the LB and S corps.

I now a lot of people play the LB and S spots--what are your strategies for getting to the ball and even creating turnovers? I was practicing with Adrian Wilson, and I had 7 tackles in a half, mostly by walking him down in the box.

For the LBs I'm trying to hang back and strafe till I have a clear lane.

What are your approaches?

I'd love to know if anyone controls the same player all game all year and what their personal records for stats are. I think that would be a really fun way to play defense. I personally am at the skill level now where I can make a fair amount of tackles, but I'm not getting interceptions yet.

[Scott]

I play MLB and really just try to take away the middle and cover the TE. I use Arizona in an online franchise, so Peterson locks down one side of the field.


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[sin18]

I use the panthers and they have a pretty average defense.

99% of the time I run a 4-3 to get my best players on the field, LBs- Jon Beason, James Anderson, and Thomas Davis

I run a soft cover-3 like zone with a good D line Blitzing scheme in passing situations. My defense philosophy is bend but don't break. I won't give up the easy touchdown, I won't play toooo aggressively, I will make you drive all the way down the field. I use alot of defensive hot routes to adjust my defense to the tendencies of the other team and change the way I attack certain formation combinations.

I will rely on my ability to run around with SS Charles Godfrey to make plays against both the Pass and the Run. My Run D is all about manning your gap with 8 man in the box. In run situations i usually just spread and slant the line, read the play and either try and beat the RB to the hole or sometimes on counters and strong plays i can follow the pulling guard.

Pass D is about making you drive the field against my soft zone, eventually I will force you into a mistake, usually throwing across the middle. I have EXCELLENT deep ball skills, I can pick off deep balls with my CBs and FS with the best of them. I pick off 2/3 balls a game.

i'm 260 - 60 online, I only give up 40 yards on the ground per game and force about 3 turnovers and get 3 sacks on average, but my sack total is going up, i recently improved my blitz scheme.

[Aggies7]

If madden had the reverse camera with player lock I would play as MLB but am not comfortable without the reverse camera so I control the strong safety.

[Cre8]

I rotate between MLB, LE and SS.

I find that using the sprint button really hurts Manual (User) Defensive Play because it almost pushes the Offensive AI to rush the play (or simply cheat).

The last time I felt like I could play defense was with Madden 2005 - and that had Ray Lewis on the cover... go figure.

[Meast21Taylor]

I feel like after 500 or more games played on M12(thousands more on previous Maddens) that I can control any player on the field now and be more successful than allowing the CPU a.i. to make plays for me.

So my gameplan is to slow/stop the opposing teams best or most common used weapon, RBs, WRs, or TE's. Now my favorite challenge is playing teams/users that have a really well balanced attack. The teams that can hit the TE, WR, or break out a long run on any given play, those are the best games to play for me now.

I am usually disappointed if it wasn't myself making the plays on O and D. If I see a weakness in a team, I attack that as well.

Some keys to being a good user on D for me is.

1. Understand the down and distance and what your teams strengths and weakness are within the scheme. Idk how many times I gave up a 3rd and long b/c I was being too aggressive or just wasn't matched up correctly on D.

2. practice, practice, practice. I've spent thousands of hours fine tuning my user skills, knowing when to strafe, sprint, go for the int vs the pd.

3. Also knowing the weakness of each defense that you call and knowing how to keep that from being exploited.

4. Bottom line is, good offense can almost always win the battle over good defense, its all in how you prevent the good offense from manifesting. I've had games against others were I was making all the right calls and they shouldn't of been able to do this or that, but they still did and that was them just taking advantage of the players and using them accordingly.

5. Don't get frustrated, sometimes it takes up until the 4th qtr before I get my 1st turnover, before I get that big break, to takeover and win the game. If you play enough games online or user vs user, eventually you will play someone thats just plain better than you, so don't get discouraged b/c it will happen.

[TNT713]

I play every position on the defense depending on the play call, alignment, field position, the hash the ball is spotted on, the offensive formation, etc... I rarely know who I'm going to control until I line up.

That said, I'm usually a safety who attacks the first receiver to break open from numbers to numbers. I defend the run with my original player as long as possible by shedding blocks manually and taking the right pursuit angle. I switch on pass plays away from my original defender.

Later

[KBLover]

I've always liked playing safety. I basically take the Ed Reed approach to playing FS. Look for the ball in the air, try to get there and make a play on it and if I can't, at least I try to be in better position to tackle the completion.

At LB, I try to approach it like I've seen Willis/Lewis/Beason do - hang around near the LOS but out of the traffic, looking for where the ball carrier is going and meet him in the hole. Almost like a "HB Spy" (and I usually use QB Spy to keep the MLB in that same position when I don't control him). I try not to just charge in and get caught up in the wash, unless I'm taking blitz responsibility.

I usually play an OLB, usually the Will.

On the DL, I usually play DT to help my LBs out (occupy blockers - intentionally making them engage with me) or DE and try to get after the QB, especially if I'm facing a good one.

I usually don't switch, but I don't pick the same guy on every play.

Best day I've ever had in M12 was 3 sacks, 10 tackles, and an INT TD as Mays (OLB in my franchise). Not bad for a 60-something OVR LB Was just on fire that day.