Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

[bigbob]

Don't forget moving Antoine Winfield to SS. I believe he makes the jump to a 96 overall (which would be his position IF our corners could stay healthy).

[TheDelta]

Re: Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

Don't forget moving Antoine Winfield to SS. I believe he makes the jump to a 96 overall (which would be his position IF our corners could stay healthy).

This so much. As you can read in my franchise, I've had way, way more success defensively since I moved Winfield to SS and let the players play CB that actually have the speed to do so.

[bigbob]

This so much. As you can read in my franchise, I've had way, way more success defensively since I moved Winfield to SS and let the players play CB that actually have the speed to do so.

It's something the team has actually been trying to do since we lost Darren Sharper, Cedric Griffin as well, but injuries at the cornerback position hasn't allowed them to make the switch yet. He's also very good at safety tackling and coverage wise. Unfortunately for us, speed > actual skill in Madden so he's not the greatest corner in-game.

[TheDelta]

Re: Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

Unfortunately for us, speed > actual skill in Madden so he's not the greatest corner in-game.

"Not the greatest" doesn't quite cut it. I've given up over 400 yards passing to Shaun Hill and almost 300 yards receiving in one game to Nate Burleson with Winfield and Griffin starting at CB, neither of them is even close to being a decent starting CB in the game. It's pretty simply you can't ask a CB in this game to cover a WR that's more than 1 or 2 points faster than him, doing so is a recipe for disaster. And since there aren't many WRs with speed significantly below 90, CBs with 85 speed are pretty useless in the game. But Winfield's a true beast at safety, he has huge tackle and hit power for a CB, so he's a good run stopper and his coverage and catch skills really help him jump those underneath and flat routes, but asking him to cover deep... not a good idea.

[RogueHominid]

Re: Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

Kirk Morrison MLB to SS... Goes Up Huge

That's an interesting one. At 238 he'd be pretty damn big, but that's how big Roy Williams was, Taylor Mays is that big, as is Adrian Wilson -- and Joey Browner in his heavier days was probably in the 230s.

Still, that's a pretty big dude for SS. Does he have the speed and range to be anything other than the rolled down S in a cover 3? I wonder what kind of ground he could cover in a two deep scheme, or if he could handle a TE or a HB.

[draes34]

The thing is that Madden after all these years still doesn't make a difference between 4-3 and 3-4 defenses, so all players are rated by the same standards, meaning an OLB gets high OVR from high pass rush AND high pass coverage skills, and DEs get measured by run stop AND pass rush skills. So most 3-4 OLBs are good pass rushers, but not good at coverage, so moving them to DE simply takes their cover skills out of the equation, making them look better.

In the end, it's putting lipstick on a pig, it doesn't really matter since the OVR of players doesn't matter. If you run a 4-3, I don't care how great a pass rusher Aldon Smith is, his 50ish cover skills make him pretty unusable to me as a LB even if his pass rush skills give him a good OVR rating. At the same time, there are many 4-3 DTs in the game that are great run stoppers with a bit of speed, so they're perfectly suited to be DEs in a 3-4 but the game won't give them a good rating because they aren't great pass rushers, which again doesn't actually matter ingame since you'll get your pass rush from your OLBs if you run a 3-4.

So the lesson is, don't just jump on a player because of a high OVR, you need to actually look at his skills to judge how good he will be on the field. At the same time, a player doesn't magically get better just because you move him to another position. Moving Reggie Bush to WR may give his OVR a boost, but again, lipstick on a pig, he's still the same player with the same skills. There's no need to edit his position, as a HB, you can just put him on your WR depth chart or formation sub him if you want him to line up wide. Actually, if you play franchise, it's better to use him in a position where his OVR is lower, because it will allow his skills to progress further.

This has been common knowledge for quite some time. I wish Madden would have specified ratings for defensive players based on the scheme you run. Players should have an overall rating based on what is required of their position, which increases or decreases in a 3-4 or 4-3. If a player is one-dimensional, he shouldn't have a high 90's rating.

For example:
No matter how good a guy like Dwight Freeney is as a pass rusher, he can't play DE in a 3-4. He would be switched to OLB. But if you do that in the game it severely drops his overall.
So, let's say his DE overall SHOULD be about 86-89. In a 4-3 his rating would go up 5-10 points, but in a 3-4 it would drop 5-10 points.

It annoys me how they cut corners, by lowering the TACKLE and AWARENESS ratings of D-linemen and increasing them for Linebackers. Because if (like mentioned above) those OLB's rated 90-94 were playing DE, the Madden gods give them all 99 ratings. They'd be somewhere between 92 and 97. There shouldn't be such a discrepancy when switching positions that basically do the same thing (most of the time).

There should be an option for more seasoned gamers to group players more generally (Linemen, Linebackers, and Defensive Backs) and you can mix and match them to your liking.

[TheDelta]

Re: Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

For example:
No matter how good a guy like Dwight Freeney is as a pass rusher, he can't play DE in a 3-4. He would be switched to OLB. But if you do that in the game it severely drops his overall.
So, let's say his DE overall SHOULD be about 86-89. In a 4-3 his rating would go up 5-10 points, but in a 3-4 it would drop 5-10 points.

Yeah, but again, it doesn't really matter, because his OVR doesn't define how well he plays, his actually skills do. So yes, he would be worse as an OLB in terms of OVR rating, but he'd rush just as well in the game so while it bugs me too that they don't overhaul the OVR calculation, it's not like it's a game-breaker.

[teebee]

I moved Tebow to lead singer of "Our God is Awesome"

You should see the turnout in the congregation since he took over, UNREAL

[bigbob]

Another one that some people may over look because of the overall, but I was messing around yesterday with the Raiders and moved Pryor to tight end. I very rarely use this term, but it's necessary in this case. Beast. While using a set of All-Madden sliders, he created huge mismatches due to his 90 speed. While using "Ask Madden" (because I don't want to get caught cheating the computer by finding a money play), a tight end screen popped up and he went 65 yards for the score. I was shocked that moving him worked out as well as it did.

[Driveshaft815]

Change Jim Kleinsasser (Vikings 3rd string TE) to FB, and he goes up to an 80 OVR. One hell of a blocker.

[KBLover]

Re: Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

Yeah, but again, it doesn't really matter, because his OVR doesn't define how well he plays, his actually skills do. So yes, he would be worse as an OLB in terms of OVR rating, but he'd rush just as well in the game so while it bugs me too that they don't overhaul the OVR calculation, it's not like it's a game-breaker.

Yeah, ideally, Freeney would actually play worse as a 3-4 DE because 3-4 DE would actually play different than a 4-3 DE.

Freeney wouldn't do "Freeney things" like he does as a 4-3 (always try to gain the edge to exploit the T), but he would try to do 3-4 things (like forcing double teams on him or defending two gaps) which he couldn't do because his BSH and STR would be too low.

But then you put him as OLB - and he plays more like Ware. He's disruptive and dynamic pass rusher again, but then his coverage ability may come into consideration.

Likewise, someone like Ngata trying to be a 4-3 DE wouldn't work because he doesn't have the speed to get around the edge. He'd still be a good run stopper, but in a pure pass rush situation, you might have to sub in a better pass rusher. I mean, when the Ravens play a "4-3 look", it's Suggs as the "DE". There's a reason for that.

[TheDelta]

Re: Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

Another one that some people may over look because of the overall, but I was messing around yesterday with the Raiders and moved Pryor to tight end. I very rarely use this term, but it's necessary in this case. Beast. While using a set of All-Madden sliders, he created huge mismatches due to his 90 speed. While using "Ask Madden" (because I don't want to get caught cheating the computer by finding a money play), a tight end screen popped up and he went 65 yards for the score. I was shocked that moving him worked out as well as it did.

He's a guy with 90 speed, good catch skills and a lot of power, so he's definitely a great slot receiver. But I'm hesitant to put him at TE because he can't block worth ****, I usually just move him to WR if I don't want to use him as a QB (again, it's too easy picking up guys with 90 speed that can catch, but getting a guy with 90 speed that can throw is a lot harder, so I don't really like moving him away from QB much)

[bigbob]

He's a guy with 90 speed, good catch skills and a lot of power, so he's definitely a great slot receiver. But I'm hesitant to put him at TE because he can't block worth ****, I usually just move him to WR if I don't want to use him as a QB (again, it's too easy picking up guys with 90 speed that can catch, but getting a guy with 90 speed that can throw is a lot harder, so I don't really like moving him away from QB much)

The reason I move him to tight end, even though he can't block, is I used it for the match up. Pryor vs a linebacker is a lot deadlier then him against a cornerback. If I really need someone to block, I can just bring Boss in and use him.

[bigbob]

Change Jim Kleinsasser (Vikings 3rd string TE) to FB, and he goes up to an 80 OVR. One hell of a blocker.

I do that as soon as I start up a Vikings Franchse because I can't stand D'Impero and not only does it move him to an 80, he doesn't retire for 2-3 more years when he usually retires right after the first season for me.

[RogueHominid]

Re: Madden NFL 12: Best Position Switches

This is more of a general principle than a specific case, but I've found that offensive lineman can get decent ratings boosts if you make sure your high speed and agility guys are at T and your stronger, slower, less agile guys are at C/G. The game often has players in less than ideal spots along the line, especially younger players and backups. Putting LT with higher strength at RT also helps boost ratings. I always make sure I do this early in my franchise.