After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

[4thQtrStre5S]

After that amazing shootout in the Super Bowl last night, and EAs tendency to focus on the standout points of the NFL season, do you see much chance of defenses being improved? Considering base play logic, user pre-snap options, substitutions and so on?


I am concerned, and I believe rightfully so, that the high scoring, lack of general defense, BIG games are going to cause executives to move focus away from defense.

[roadman]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

That is great cause for concern.

The phrase, "defense wins championships" was not on display yesterday.

[SpectreBugg]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

There is always going to be a focus on offense before defense. In the minds of the NFL execs, that is where the money is. Big plays, big scores, big checks. To think that madden would follow suite is pretty much on point, but to be honest, I don't think any of that has much to do with the broken defense in madden. As far as whether or not they will shy away from fixing the defense because of it, well, I can't imagine so. I think the developers focus more on offense because the money making community, aka the MUT players, focus more on offense. Just as most casual fans find excitement more from offenses scoring than from defenses making stops, the same goes for most casual madden players. That being said, the defense has to at least function reasonably well, and right now, it doesn't. If they do nothing about it, they will hear it from even the casual fans.

[reyes the roof]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

That would be a pretty big knee jerk reaction if they did that based on the Super Bowl. The conference title games featured 4 of the top 5 scoring defenses

[kennylc629]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

The funny thing is that after watching last night's game, I said to myself "welp, I guess I should quit complaining that Madden 'cheats' in the SB." I played against Pittsburgh in a Madden CFM Superbowl and Big Ben was like 19/18 475 yards and no... " 19/18" was not a typo. Some how those were his final stats.

As far as the video game part of it goes, I think it will always lean towards offense. Gamers don't want to play if every pass is knocked down or picked off. But of course, that's what the whole arcade mode vs simulation mode is supposed to account for.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

I sometimes wonder if sim gamers even watch current day sports anymore. It seems like they just want the games to reflect the gameplay of their childhood.

[jfsolo]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

We're in February, I'm sure that big ticket features are locked down, so the major concern would probably be tuning like what was done after E3 this year. Hopefully the outcry from that decision can be a deterrent against that happening again.

Yeah, we know that executives like shinny things, yes the Super Bowl was high scoring and an outlier in term of the yardage, two tier one scoring teams in the league played a game where their defenses just didn't show up.

Scoring, yards per rush, passing yards per game, completion percentage, all ticked down this year. So it could be a matter of the Super Bowl feels of the Suits vs actual data from the dev team. We'll see what wins.

[DeuceDouglas]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

That would be a pretty big knee jerk reaction if they did that based on the Super Bowl. The conference title games featured 4 of the top 5 scoring defenses

I think there's a pretty strong precedent for it though. IIRC we got surprise onsides immediately after the Saints did it in the Super Bowl. Same kind of thing happened with the Tyree catch and its animation. Last year we got fake special teams plays likely as a result of the NFC Championship game the year prior. I'm sure there's more that I'm forgetting.

I think what supposedly happened between EA Play and launch was a good indication of how things are handled though. Good defense doesn't equate to fun for the casual user which is a huge part of Madden's target audience. That being said this is precisely the reason for the different play styles but it seems like that even though they're separate the difference isn't as great as hoped and gameplay elements are still handled globally. Offense is always going to reign supreme though and I don't really think this Super Bowl is going to change any of that. They've tried a couple times to touch defense but it never really seems to work out and always just ends up getting neutered anyway.

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

If EA could work at streamlining animations, such as the cuts DBs use to follow a receiver on their breaks, that would help a little. The DBs generally look lost and less than professional athletes as they stumble through cuts.

I do believe that observing the key points of the playoffs and Super Bowl will help identify some additions, however big or small, which we can look forward to experiencing in the next Madden.

I hope EA noticed that during the Super bowl, the commentators took time to identify the excellence of both the Patriots offensive line coach, Dante Scarnecchia and defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia and their importance to the team.

As mentioned by many here, we would like coordinators at least, and I believe this could, or should, bring more flexibility and/or options to both sides of the ball; while also bringing in a new level of training, game planning and scouting.

[cuoreceltico]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

I sometimes wonder if sim gamers even watch current day sports anymore. It seems like they just want the games to reflect the gameplay of their childhood.

Defensive Holding still called today sir.

[Shogunreaper]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

eh thats just because brady was in it, and of course he's going to tear up defenses.

the problem was his own defense was **** and couldn't stop anything.

The phrase, "defense wins championships" was not on display yesterday.

Really? Because imo that one defensive play that caused brady to fumble is what sealed the game.

[JayhawkerStL]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

Defensive Holding still called today sir.

Touché.

Of course, in the Super Bowl, defensive holding was called exactly one time. And even then, it was a bogus call. Just sayin'.

[roadman]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

Really? Because imo that one defensive play that caused brady to fumble is what sealed the game.

Oh sure, you could say that was one play, but the most yards ever in a post season game ever? Plus, you could say the OL gave up a sack and a fumble, too.

There wasn't many defensive plays made overall in that game.

[cable guy]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

A defensive Play, sealed the game. One of very few.

Anyway, there is more offense in the NFL today. I have no problem with that. We want the cpu offense to challenge us.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Operation Sports mobile app

[4thQtrStre5S]

Re: After Super Bowl concerns for Madden...

It may be fun to watch a high scoring game, for many people. In Madden it just gets frustrating when there are more options on offense than there are on defense to counter what the offense is doing.

Essentially, the lack of control is the frustrating part. Granted, a semi-shutdown defense can be achieved; I have seen a number of games from competitive players where defense was solid, to a degree. But those all involved USERing a player, as opposed to coaching players.

Even so, most of the best defenses are just a few key plays that have the logic that happens to be "that good" and of course many people flock to those key plays...

Granted, there are fads in the NFL, so Madden does represent that, whether on purpose or not. The ability to create an effective defense or offense is nearly non-existent..What Madden allows is for people to "find" the most effective play(s). IMO..