Re: [Gameplay] Zone Coverage is broken

Well I can def do that later tonight. But if u go to Doubles and streak slot WR and post corner the outside u can see outside 3rd bite down streak will be wide open. Just have the 2 Wrs to wide side of field. You can streak TE on short side to and post corner outside WR too. Both outsides thirds bite down. Also, maybe give us a new ID the mike feature by allowing us to tell our o line who not to block. We see glitch blitzes all yr based on user fake blitzing then peeling back into cvg. I would like to tell my o line not to not block user. Id be more than happy if user wants to blitz me a gap up the middle and give up middle of field every time. That is the biggest problem with madden gameplay.

Furthermore, all we see in the pros run is gun bunch. Can we plz have a quarter zone guard these deep corner routes in bunch. I don't think it should try to guard these inside streaks. Also, the zones when the ball is in mid air do not move laterally year after year either. That is why bunch works so well. Just make the deep blues move inside and throw to the side of them. Its also why these deep blues do not guard a deep crossers in Trips TE and just sits there while the guy goes right to the side of him. The deep blue zones do not move laterally. Its going to be the same few plays every yr until changes are made. People are throwing 30 yard passes under deep blues with no vertical route on field (should never happen) and the throwing on the run 50 yards away right on money 100% of time makes it even easier to do this. In addition, its too easy to escape pocket. I dont even have to double team the edges for Tom Brady to be able to roll out of pocket in practice mode 99/100 times against a 4 man rush in Big Nickel Over G. And even if we put contains on field we can just double team it. Can we at least have contains contain even if they are double teamed? They should play like they do in Madden 25 (old gen) where they just contain. They are currently good at getting sacks in pocket (which they should never do) but do not contain QB when double teamed and don't contain escape artist when single teamed. Madden has a lot of potential but I think it would be better if we resolve these issues. If not then why wouldnt we? 

There against 2-4-5. Works vs any cover 3. 

Vs 3-3-5 wide cover 3 buzz.

Pass coverage updates in the October 12th Title Update:

Please continue to update this thread with any pass coverage discrepancies you see in game. Including the type of play you used and the opponent's defense is critical information.

Pass Coverage

Hook Zones:

• Fixed an issue causing the Mid-Read defender in Tampa 2 to drift the wrong direction vs. trips, leaving the TE open off the snap. This fix makes sure the Mid Read is opening with that vertical by #3 and carrying it better vertically downfield

• Curl-Flat Zones:
  • Improved Curl Flat Zone logic so they would prioritize out breaking routes instead of shading under verticals. Also improved some logic so Curl Flats and Quarters Flats won't chuck out breaking routes that were causing them to give up any leverage they had to cover the sideline.
• Flat Zones:
  • Improved Cloud Flat Zone logic to better carry vertical routes to protect the fade and improve their facing direction immediately following the chuck
  • Fixed an issue so Cover 2 Sink soft-squat defenders could better shade receivers in the flat
  • Fixed an issue preventing Hard-Flat defenders from covering Inside Receivers and Tight Ends in Bunch and Close formations running Flat Routes and the flat portion of wheel routes 
• Man Coverage Alignment/Matchups:
  • Improved Man Defender motion logic so man defenders will properly follow and align when their receiver motions across the formation when the AI team is using the CB Matchups
  • We fixed an issue causing man-coverage assignments to incorrectly swap when the offense motioned a receiver across the formation.

Here is what is happening in Madden NFL 23 per Community feedback:

Before we share a few of the Foundational Football improvements coming to Madden NFL 23, get caught up on how the all-new FieldSENSE™ Gameplay System is changing the foundation of Madden gameplay, only on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S versions, if you haven’t already checked that out.

Player feedback continues to drive our development efforts around gameplay and we want to thank you all for taking the time to share that feedback with us. Our primary gameplay goal with our foundational football initiative is to strengthen the fundamentals so that players will have the tools to solve football problems with football solutions on the virtual gridiron.

Our Foundational Football Gridiron Notes starts with the areas of gameplay that our players have told us matter most: pass coverage, pass rush, and QB Contain, to deliver a more balanced gameplay experience. For Madden NFL 23, we believe these three defensive fundamentals all have to work together to provide the authenticity and balance our players desire.

Pass Coverage

We received a ton of feedback at launch last year around pass coverage and continued to action on specific coverage call-outs through Title Updates post-launch. Like every Madden season, we know that players have high expectations for defense, specifically pass coverage and this year is no different. This year, we are solidifying our basic, fundamental coverage principles with a focus on zone coverage and defending the deep pass.

• Spot Drop Zones
  We will be featuring ‘spot-drop’ zones as our core zone coverage concept within our defensive playbooks and AI. This means that by default, all the zone coverages in our playbooks will be strictly using spot-drop zone logic and covering a specific area of the field, instead of a mixture of both spot-drops and match coverages like we had last year. The main purpose of this change was to make the play-art in the play-call screen the central source of truth for players so they can better predict how their zones will react during the play.
  
  Match Zone coverage concepts are still accessible through our Coach Adjustments menu during your play selection. Simply flipping the Zone Coverage Coach Adjustment to ‘Match’ will bring back our in-depth ruleset for match coverages, those that convert from zone to man during the play, when specifically calling the match coverage play types.

• Drift Logic for Deep Zone Defenders
  Drift Logic is all new coverage behavior for Deep Zone defenders. This logic prevents deep zone defenders from ‘drifting’ too far up the field without having a vertical threat in their area. This will prevent those ‘Third Window’ throws on deep crossing routes. Drift Logic allows the defender to recognize a receiver approaching his zone sooner, plaster him in coverage as he crosses his face, and not get beat underneath. Players told us those third-window crossers were completed too consistently and this new ‘drift’ logic aims to address that feedback.

• Zone Defender Locomotion
  We’ve captured a whole new set of defensive back specific movement animations and along with AI support, the defenders in Madden NFL 23 will back-pedal, flip their hips, strafe and look back at the ball more smoothly, more athletically, and more realistically. Not only will defensive backs look the part, but these new movement animations also get them to where they want to go with more efficiency, which will make passing windows against zone coverage much tighter.

• Route Specific Break-on-Throw Logic
  We’ve also added dynamic break times for each type of zone defender when facing specific routes. Zones that are supposed to take away specific routes or areas of the field will now break on the throw faster versus those routes than they will against routes their zones are not designed to take away. One example of this is a hard flat zone aggressively breaking on a route to the flat instead of leveraging deeper routes first; another is deep outside third defender in Cover 3 breaking faster when a corner route enters their zone.

• New End Zone Coverage Logic
  Previously, our deep zone defenders made little logic adjustments when they were covering in the endzone. This resulted in defenders squeezing down on routes breaking to the inside while disregarding the underneath zone defenders resulting in the sidelines and the corners of the end zone being left wide open. This year, those outside deep zone defenders stay outside and sit on those out-breaking or third window crossing routes. They let the route come to them and then they aggressively break on the throw.

• DB Catch vs Swat
  With our zone coverage defenders playing stronger fundamental football, we have tuned the balance between ‘play ball,’ ‘play receiver,’ and ‘swat’ so that you’ll see defenders use a wider variety of behaviors when the ball is in the air, rather than always attempting the interception. This coincides with tuning on how far defenders are allowed to see the ball when not facing it and promotes more organic mid-air interactions at the catch point, via our FieldSENSE Hit Everything branching technology and mechanics.

See the whole article on gameplay changes here. Thank you for your feedback over this last year and please let us know what you think in our Madden NFL 23 forums.