Defense is ATROCIOUS!!!

[over9000yards]

Quote: Originally Posted by Franchise408

Defense in this year's game is absolutely HORRIBLE. As the 49ers, I just had a 57-52 shootout against the Broncos, in which Brock Oswieler threw for nearly 600 yards (582), 5 TD's and 0 INT's, and B.J. Daniels had almost 400 yards passing with nearly 200 yards rushing (186). On top of my nearly 600 yards from B.J. Daniels, I had another 100+ yard rusher with Kendall Hunter who broke 100 yards on less than 10 carries. All in all, both teams combined for about 1500 yards of offense in a single game. This was against the CPU. But in a string of games last night, I had one game where defense played any sort of role, a 17-10 game against my friend who was playing as the Dolphins, as I used my 49ers. In our rematch, he quit by halftime due to me running up a 35-0 score... the shutout I was pitching wasn't coming from well played defense, it came from a string of forced fumbles or interceptions. So basically, what I'm experiencing, is that defense doesn't get stops, you either give up the score or get a turnover. There's no 3 and outs, there's no holding and forcing a punt. It's a score or a turnover. Whether against human opponents or CPU, there are certain routes that are virtually uncoverable. The read-option is the read-option, and we all know how dangerous that is this year. Even certain run plays, most notably the stretch play, gives up 10-20+ yards routinely. Am I the only one having these experiences?

Why were B.J. Daniels and Brock Osweiler playing? Was it preseason or did you trade Kaep and Manning retired?

[ggsimmonds]

Defense definitely needs to be improved, but I do think the OP is overstating his case just a little.

It is easy to stop the AI pass game because they tend to check down too damn often.

A few things I do:

--When expecting a run (mostly on first down) I call a zone blitz from my base defense. Those are excellent against the run but you have to be aware of gap assignments.

--If you have a good DT control him often and just bull rush immediately after the snap. On run plays it may disrupt the play and on pass plays goodbye pocket. I use the Ravens and bull rush with Ngata. Poor QB tries to avoid him and runs right into Suggs or Doom. Happy times.

-- Passing downs if I don't run man I run cover 3. Against users its suicide but it gives the AI fits. Manually control a defender (I usually control the strong side SS who is assigned to the flats) and play robber. It is sort of like a do it yourself pattern match defense.

-- Shade WRs often. Against the AI I shade inside more often to protect the middle of the field. Good example is to always protect against the backslide slant

-- Learn to use defensive hot routes. And check the matchups prior to the game. Most important thing I always check is my opponents WR's release. I'll press individual WRs often. But I am somewhat lucky that I have Webb (88 prs) nd Smith (90 prs). Usually one of those guys has an advantage.

-- Don't call a vanilla blitz and expect instant results. Sometimes you will have to do work yourself. Use shifts or whatever to create favorable matchups. Easy example:
nickel normal, over storm. Spread LBs.if offense does not keep extra blockers you have a free rusher. But usually it takes more than that.

-- Read the offense and use football knowledge to make plays. I'll often control a OLB in a zone. Presnap I look at the formation and make a note of who my read should be. Immediately after the snap I read my key; if he appears to be running a route that threatens my zone I
stick with it. More often if he is not I will either blitz or provide help elsewhere.
Also if you call cover 3 and the offense is in a overload set with a WR isolated on one side, audible that corner to man defense so he doesn't end up covering grass.

Do things like that. Don't just call plays and expect stops without doing any work.

**Week 12 of my franchise and my Ravens had the number one defense in the league. I say had cause the Bears kinda ran on me with great success**

[BlastX21]

This is how I would suggest improving the defense:

1. Safety play on Cover 2 zone needs to be boosted. Cover 2 as of now is completely unplayable. In particular, a streak route from literally anywhere on the field is automatic vs this coverage.

2. There are several routes that have a 90%+ success rate against certain coverages. Curls and outs are guaranteed 100% against sag coverage. Deep outs are 90% against tight man. TE out routes are 85% against man. These need to be tightened up. Curls being 100% guaranteed completion against sag makes all cover 1 and cover 0 plays unplayable, since these coverages rely on the cushion.

3. Run blocking needs to be toned town on default sliders. Its so powerful right now. In particular, 3rd and 2 or less is 90% successful with an inside run. It might be 65% in the real NFL, if that. I don't know the specific number but its definently not 90%.

4. I'd like the defense to auto-adjust if the O is running the same play an exorbitant amount of times within a certain time-span. I think they had this in 09 - not sure why they took it out. Its a good anti-cheesing measure.

[EMbow513]

i agree, in madden 13 i feel accomplished and have great defense but on madden 25 whenever i get a stop i see it as luck. i played the early release and prolly wont buy the game til they get a patch. Defense is HORRIBLE. any bum can play madden now, dont need skills

[over9000yards]

Ya'll know what the best defense in the game is?

Super Sim and Pray

[baller7345]

I played online (I got in 4 sim games eventually) for the first time in almost two years and again I stand by what I've said before, Madden 11 was much worse on defense than this game.

In those four games the scores were:

17-14 Me
17-10 Me
31-24 Him
31-14 Me

In the three games I won I managed to get multiple coverage sacks and in the final game (which was a rematch against the opponent who beat me) I ended with 6 sacks and 4 interceptions. Pretty much all of the sacks were from a regular pass rush (Pickett had 2, Matthews 1, Donte Jones 1, Raji 1, and Perry 1). The game I lost and gave up over 30 points was more on me than anything since my execution of offense was terrible.

3 picks on my part helped him boost his offensive numbers and even then I only allowed 7 points after half time. If I hadn't tightened up after half time I would have given up over 40.

The key to getting stops this year is the same as it is any year, adjusting on the fly to stop what your opponent is beating you with. Its a pain that we aren't given enough coverage variations (How can we still not have a proper Cover 7 in this day an age) to live just off play calling but its the world we are in.

You have to shade, you have to use defensive hot routes to move zones around, and most importantly (especially against human opponents) you have to disguise. Make that cover 3 look like Cover 2 or 6 or 4. Make that zone blitz look like Cover 2 make that Cover 4 look like a safety blitz. Be organized but be chaotic and you'll get your opponent in situations that he doesn't want to be in. Organized Chaos is key, you want them to think you have no idea what you are doing until its too late.

[over9000yards]

It's wayyy too much of a pain in the *** to hot route, audible, shift zones, etc. on defense. The interface is too clunky and there isn't enough time to change things.

[BlastX21]

Quote: Originally Posted by baller7345

I played online (I got in 4 sim games eventually) for the first time in almost two years and again I stand by what I've said before, Madden 11 was much worse on defense than this game. In those four games the scores were: 17-14 Me 17-10 Me 31-24 Him 31-14 Me In the three games I won I managed to get multiple coverage sacks and in the final game (which was a rematch against the opponent who beat me) I ended with 6 sacks and 4 interceptions. Pretty much all of the sacks were from a regular pass rush (Pickett had 2, Matthews 1, Donte Jones 1, Raji 1, and Perry 1). The game I lost and gave up over 30 points was more on me than anything since my execution of offense was terrible. 3 picks on my part helped him boost his offensive numbers and even then I only allowed 7 points after half time. If I hadn't tightened up after half time I would have given up over 40. The key to getting stops this year is the same as it is any year, adjusting on the fly to stop what your opponent is beating you with. Its a pain that we aren't given enough coverage variations (How can we still not have a proper Cover 7 in this day an age) to live just off play calling but its the world we are in. You have to shade, you have to use defensive hot routes to move zones around, and most importantly (especially against human opponents) you have to disguise. Make that cover 3 look like Cover 2 or 6 or 4. Make that zone blitz look like Cover 2 make that Cover 4 look like a safety blitz. Be organized but be chaotic and you'll get your opponent in situations that he doesn't want to be in. Organized Chaos is key, you want them to think you have no idea what you are doing until its too late.

This would make sense, except that most people online don't actually read the coverage pre-snap. They just pick their money play and see if their money route is open, and if not, scramble (if they have a mobile QB). If they don't put much effort into reading the coverage, seeing where everyone is, and speculating as to what you might be calling, it largely defeats the purpose of disguising coverages.

Personally I find shading to be ineffective unless I'm facing a super-cheeser and I know what route he's going to run 100%. Shading covers the hell out of them if you guess the correct direction, but if they go any other way, the DB doesn't even come close to covering them.

Edit: its a shame that you hasn't played users in 2 years - I would have been interested in discussing the differences between last year's defense and this year's.