CPU defense is broken in franchise

Solo franchise is unenjoyable/unplayable for me. A September update broke the User run game or CPU run defense as running is entirely too easy on all madden. User run block sliders are not sensitive enough to make a difference. I only want to play solo franchise but I can’t. 

I think the entire CPU defense is broken. Not much pass rush and at least one every few pass plays someone wide open. It’s totally broken. I tested this by simulating when I’m on defense and only playing offense. I haven’t lost a game doing that. 

I think the mode is a huge factor. I’m playing on pro this year because the gameplay is just more authentic imo. CPU defense is decent. I get sacked often if I mess up my pass pro adjustments. The CPU pass D is better than the run D for sure but much of that is bad play calling by the CPU. If I don’t audible they have a chance so if you want more of a challenge against the run don’t audible. 
My biggest complaint at the moment is the user D gets way too many sacks and not nearly enough interceptions. The user D line is overpowered in general but not by much. The user secondary is way too slow to react in both man and zone. If I can get that balanced then the gameplay will be the best it’s been in years for me. 

I don't know how it is with USER vs CPU since I'm someone from the sim community who plays/watches CPU vs CPU. Sacks are a big issue in general with CPU vs CPU but that is mainly down to dumb QB logic and also DTs being just pure pass rushers and racking up sacks while being absolutely horrible at stopping the run alot of the times.

A big issue with the CPU defense for me, just watching it, is that they are also incredibly slow at reacting to QB scrambles. If I'm going up against Justin Fields for example I KNOW that I am going to be torched for at least 150 yards regardless of what I do, even with a maxed out QB spy ability loaded in pre-game and maxed out QB contain for the playsheet. It doesn't matter, scramblers like Fields still torch you for insane amounts of yards everytime you go up against them. That and the mentioned DT thing and also the D-line and LBs being horrible with gap assignments. It feels like you have to try and choose between having like 15 TFLs per game or have single RBs consitently racking up 100+ yards easily every game when you try to compensate with sliders.

I cranked the user pass reaction up to 70 yesterday and played two games. Still had zero picks. I’m in year 1 week 10 of my franchise and so far the Chargers have 7 picks and 50 sacks. I’m trying not to blitz and even trying to run as many 3 man rush plays as possible, but man the QB scrambles kill me when I do that. I’m going to go crazy with the user pass defense sliders over the next couple of days to see if anything changes. From what I’ve read other players say I doubt it will help. Seems like only a patch can fix it. 

I know what you mean! The running issue, I’ve almost given up on trying to fix with sliders. At least the QB scrambles. It’s a lost cause with the game being how it is now. A patch is sorely needed there. I’ve tried a bunch of things to try and fix the sack issue and the passing game.

I have some decent results but still have too many sacks overall even of they are not consistently insane with like 10+ sacks every game. Turning up the pass blocking doesn’t really help bringing the Numbers down cause that just causes the QB to think that he has all day to throw and does not Tracy the pressure properly with it at default or around there feels the QBs play at least with a bit more urgency.

In the passing game I’ve actually tried a different approach that has worked fairly well and that is lowering pass coverage A LOT (I have it at 10) while having reaction time at 100. The reactions times are not too bad and actually feel fairly realistic. What this does is it makes the QB AI think that more receivers are ”open” or viable targets so deeper passes happen and they get the ball out a bit quicker so there are not as many coverage sacks at least. The reaction time compensates for this ”looser coverage” though and I’m getting pretty good passing numbers and cmp-% for mist of the times.

The maxed out reaction time also help a bit with defenders reacting to runs also which is good (doesn’t fix the QB scrambling issue though). Another thing is that I’ve bulles tackling up to 75 cause I think it doesn’t just affect tackling but also pursuit, play rec and things like that.

Lastly, something that has gotten a lot of in the CPU vs CPU community at least the last few years is that penalty sliders play a HUGE role too! So I’d suggest to look into that and see if there are things that can be done there to help the experience at least a little bit! Some things make sense for the penalty sliders and how they affects the game and the AI but then there are things that seem to work but there is no logical reason for it. Like for example raising the illegal block in the back slider to 95 helps the O-line to form a pocket better during passing plays without actually casino a whole lot more IBitB penalties. A more logical one is that raising up roughing the Passer one had helped me out with sacks a little bit at least, however with that one it causes those penalties to be called more often. I don’t mind though. I’m big on getting the stats to match up with the rest of the league and without those penalties your team is consistently going to be the least penalized team in the league by a crazy margin.

Hope this helps!

I do sim the user defense so it’s cpu v cpu. I only like to control the offense. But even when it’s sim my D vs CPU offense the CPU offense is terrible. They rarely score or sustain drives. I started playing the entire game both offense and defense and it’s more of the same. The CPU is absolutely broken and terrible. There is absolutely no challenge from the CPU this year. Sliders don’t matter. 

You would think all Madden difficulty would mean something (SHOULD be hard!)for once and that sliders would be much more than what they are. Ppl shouldn’t have to spend all this time to try and make a challenge. NBA 2k never has this issues. Difficulty means something.