I'll be up front with you. I'm not a fan of blitzing in this game. It's way to simplistic and there is not enough diversity in the team playbooks to get defenders after the QB. The result, online players and Challenge players basically run the SAME defense. That's very boring and not true to life. Offline players need plays from the guys that they should be getting them from, the DE's OLB's ect. Here are some suggestions I have.
1) Playbook diversity
I want to begin with playbooks. While the defensive playbooks have been parsed out somewhat this year it's really just a front differential. The plays are the same and many of them are old.
It is time for the next wave. I am advocating that you should have at least twelve stunt tactics in this game. They include: Illusion Blitzes, Old School Blitzes (this is what you have), Illusion Dogs (you have these but they need auto-motion added), Fire Zone Blitzes (very few), Hybrid Fire Zone Blitzes, Old School Zone Blitzes (what you have), Overloads (not portrayed well), Line Twists (very few and not executed well), Secondary Blitzes (you have some, but they need auto-motion added to them. The safety needs to attack the line at full speed), Twin Stunts (2 in 1 gap stunts) and Delayed Stunts, and Trips Stunts (3 in 1 gap stunts). That's 14 stunt tactics that I see from various NFL teams. Not every team uses these tactics. The Ravens and Steelers are definitely two teams that tend to come after the QB with just about everyone I named.
What you need is for the playbooks to emphasize each team as a particular type of blitzing team. For instance, the Ravens and Steelers should have everything because that's basically what they do, everything ALOT. With a team like the Colts that relies heavily on the DLINE, the emphasis should be on Line Twists. This does not mean they do not blitz, but no where near anything like the Ravens, Steelers or Eagles and hence the playbook should reflect that. With the Colts I should see, Twists, Loops, Tom, Tim line stunts, Two Defensive Ends on one side, 3 Defensive End line sub packages. When I play against them I should see speed rushing galore, spins back to the inside. Same thing with the Titans, but with the Titans I should see alot of Fire Zone. Need more info PM me.
There should be 4 and 5 man schemes that get to the QB from a host of different angles because the Oline does not know which guy is coming. We need each team to have a host of different looks and blitz packages UNIQUE to that team.
2) Speed
The DE's, OLB's, ILB's and Secondary players need to be turned loose on the blitz/pass rush in this game. What do I mean by this. Well studies have been done that show that even a slow player can get to a QB in less than 2 seconds IF he is unblocked. There should be no way a guy can just take off running backwards with the QB and heave a pass down the field when I have an untouched rusher. Let's look at the sample study conducted between Ben Roethlisburger vs Luis Castillo conducted by FSN Sports Science. Castillo is dealing with an obstacle here, so imagine when a defender is not dealing with one. Also Castillo is not the fastest guy in the world either.
Notice what it says. It takes Big Ben 1.5 seconds to make his drop and fire a pass. Notice the time on arm speed, release and speed of the pass. But here is the X factor. It takes Ben 1.5 Seconds, but it only takes Castillo 1.3 seconds to reach him. Luis will break up the play EVERY single time. In your game this is not the case. Hence I am advocating speed here. Defenders surge off the line way too slow. No explosion on the snap.
Now here is a sample from Madden 2009 online game between me and Tombsong. I have two defenders with 82 and 86 speed coming off the corner untouched and the QB has about 3 seconds. What I am suggesting is that he should have had to throw this ball alot earlier than he did. They should have been about two steps from him as he took that first step back.
3) Offensive line psychologism
For two player games this needs to be gone. The Oline knows WHO is rushing AND they know what TYPE of rush each defender is doing. Let me give an example. If I overload the right side with defenders and then contain rush my defender on the left side then the Left Tackle, as soon as the ball is snapped will immediately turn back to the overload side and run over and block defenders from the overload side. How can that tackle even see the backside? There should be no way he is running over like that. Offensive linemen are not that athletic and they should not be able to see the backside like that.
To add to this, the protections need a great deal of fixing. I have a video for you if you want it entitled: Teaching Offensive Line Blocking Progressions. Just send me a PM to know where to send it. The protections in the game are pretty bad
Finally in this area I think you need to add, Focus Blocking for Backfield players and TE's that we keep in to block. And the players should chip and HELP out on pass plays, double teaming defenders. This is why I say you gotta turn these guys loose (defenders). They are like wild animals, but in the current game they are domestic
Hence, what I am advocating here is that players should have to call protections on every play. Your slide right and left needs some addressing.
4) Auto-Motion Defense
At first I thought this was going to be pretty cool. But it appears as something for show and nothing more. There are times when guys need to BE STILL. And if you are going to auto-motion defense it really should be for blitzing and faking the blitz, not just moving around just to be moving. Let's look at a sample.
On this Blitz I would expect auto-motion from S, W, N and M. Actually M and N should line up on the line of scrimmage and just before the snap auto-motion out, while S and W appear to be cover guys, just before the snap auto-motion to attack. You should have to call a protection prior to the auto-motion. Use the fake hike to pull the players in to see what is going on. If they start attacking on the fake hike then that's when you change your protection. Now of course there should be other blitz plays and straight coverage plays with the same auto-motion. Such as M and N actually blitzing on the line and W and S auto-motioning but dropping into coverage ect. What you guys need is an auto-motion recorder. Hmmm how about this. Let ME create my own defensive auto-motion. This way I can have the players that I want moving around WHEN I want them moving around and can cater my schemes to my liking.
These are four areas I am suggesting that need to be looked at seriously in addition to the other problems such as suction blocking. There are animations in the game such as clipping (which happens a lot) and illegal blocks below the waist when the defender has already ran past the Olineman, but these never get called. Also the physics in the game need a great deal of work. If I put LeRon McClain in at HB then that should MEAN something. But it means no more than having Willis McGahee in there. The man plowed over a linebacker Earl Campbell style last night, but you let CB's eat his lunch. There aint no way man.