Not only that. The effects of the first pickoff charge the opposing team up for the entire game and the momentum is near impossible to get back. I was the Browns at home vs the seahawks. Seahawks get an interception in the 1st quarter and the meter goes to nearly full. I hold them to a field goal. their meter is 90% full.
I drive down the field and get a touchdown. Chubb literally bulldozes them all the way with like 6 rushes for 66 yds. Upon getting the TD and extra points it's now 7-3. Their meter drops to 50% full.
They drive down and get a field goal. Their meter is now 75% full.
I get another TD and dominate thema nd it is 14-6 at the half but they still have 50% momentum. I get the 2nd half kickoff and drive down for a TD. Their momentum drops to about 25%.
I hold them , they punt. No change. I drive down again, but this time I throw an interception to a warping through my TE linebacker. He returns it about 10 yds.
BAM! There meter goes full. They faulter and have to punt. I drive down and get a field goal. There meter barely drops. 27-6. They've hardly done squat except for 2 interceptions and only on of them led to 3 points. Their meter is nearly 75% full still. Residual from the int. Then I get another field goal and their meter is 50%. It's 30-6 and they still have momentum. It has never gone my way.
They end up with a touchdown before the game ends for a final of 30-16 with me dominating them most of the game, being the home team, yet never having the momentum ever swing my way. Weird.
During this entire game, beside their artificially boosted coverage, the other big thing was the WWE tackle animations. Chubb ran for a ton of yards, but every run ended with someone laying him out with a full upper body blast that sent Chubb flying to the ground. It looked stupid and it was happening over and over an over. I can't help but feel like momentum gives the CPU a big boost on hit power.
I am reinstalling Madden 21 and going to see how it was. Was the Madden 22 momentum meter this bad as far as swinging way too much boost to either team? I don't remember this level of weirdness.
Thanks for reading!