EA Sports continues pushing out Madden NFL 17 information. Today they have posted a blog detailing gameplay improvements to man coverage, revamped zone coverage system, stopping the QB scramble more effectively and much more. They have also made improvements to online play that should result in users encountering less lag and also prevent players from attempting to boot opponents out of game sessions and forcing a loss.
Man coverage is on the top of my list as biggest gameplay improvements. In Madden NFL 16, man press made defensive backs stick to receivers effortlessly. It forced guys to resort to motion routes, and the same type of routes, to beat it. This year, an enhanced Win/Loss system has been created to ensure that any route with a cut has the potential to get open against this coverage. Man press is a two part battle and it all starts with the chuck. Using a slant as an example, when the receiver wins, he’ll successfully fight off the corner to gain inside leverage. Just like previous years, this part of the interaction is dictated by “Press” and “Release” ratings. The second portion of this change is the cut move. In the case of a slant, if the receiver wins here, he’ll get enough separation when he cuts toward the middle of the field for the quarterback to complete the throw. How often the receiver wins the cut is still based off of “Route Running” ability versus the corner’s “Man Coverage.” Keep in mind that a receiver who loses the chuck can still win on the cut, and vice versa. Also, just as you can use any route with a cut to beat man now, routes that seemed to get open more often before can easily get locked down. This places an emphasis on a player’s ability to quickly recognize if there’s enough space following the cut to zip the pass to their guy. The new man coverage system overall results in it being more balanced and true to ratings in Madden NFL 17.
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