[Discussion] Madden NFL 26 Improved Gameplay

Ruester151​ 

Hi there!

Thanks so much for sharing all of these suggestions. I’ve passed your feedback along to the team, but I wanted to share some thoughts I had on what you said based on my own experience in the game and from other players'.

• Tackling & Pursuit Angles: From my own and other players’ experiences, defenders sometimes take a “scenic route” and miss tackles. I’ve seen linebackers and DBs ghost basic routes, leading to big plays against them.
• Game Speed: Other players have pointed out that on “Normal,” the game feels too fast, and there isn’t an easy way to slow things down without switching to full simulation.
• Spin vs. Juke & Animations: Players, including myself, appreciate Madden 25’s smooth spin but miss the skill-based double juke from ’24. Combining both techniques would be ideal. Switch-stick and hit-stick inputs have felt sluggish, and occasionally, they have locked onto the wrong player.
• Zone Coverage: CPU defenders sometimes don’t drop into their assigned zones, resulting in wide-open streaks. A clearer pre-snap readout and tighter zone logic would help.
• Classic Teams & H2H Modes: Other players suggest adding unlockable legendary squads, home-team weather/time-of-day selection, and a “Road to the Super Bowl” mini-campaign. These features could give H2H players fresh goals each season.
• Interceptions & Drops: Drops and failed interceptions have been a headache. Crisper pick animations would make big defensive plays actually stick.

Your wishlist aligns pretty well with feedback from other players. It's definitely worth consolidating these ideas so they don’t get lost IMO. I am going to turn this into a discussion thread so others can comment, and it gets more traction.

Thanks!

Thank you for reading my suggestions and replying back.

Madden Suggestions/Discussions

Good morning,

I feel that Madden has been moving in the right direction for the past few years and I’m optimistic for the future. I believe there are a few major issues that drastically hold the game back. My personal opinion is that the game would be much better and enjoyable if it moved towards playing more like real football. Despite what critics may say, I don’t think the game is too far off from that. Here are a few of my suggestions. A lot of these issues resonate with the Sim Style community of Madden: 

• Defensive players making unrealistic interceptions when their backs are turned away from the ball
  • It seems like Defensive players (mainly defensive backs) have eyes in the back of their helmets especially on 1 on 1 situations against a receiver. Realistically, the receiver has the advantage in this situation so it should always be a pass break up at best for the defender. Otherwise, it should go in the receiver's favor 
  • Throwing to a receiver in single coverage is a fundamental part of real football and that is taken away when defensive players are given the ability to intercept a ball they shouldn’t be able to see
  • Most importantly, in real life you don’t ever see defenders catching interceptions when they can't see the ball. It’s virtually impossible even for NFL players
    • I suggest gating interception animations when a defender's head isn't looking at the ball in all instances. This should at least be the standard for simulation style play

• AI generated players for draft classes/created players similar to the created players in CFB25
  • Is this something that is possible in Madden?

• Boom Tech is extremely problematic
  • Too many broken plays with Boom Tech that results in gameplay that feels scripted
  • Unrealistic broken tackles from smaller running backs. Really conflicts with the physics of the game
    • My suggestion is to just scrap Boom Tech with all due respect. I think the Hit Stick system was fine how it was. Boom Tech seems redundant and works against the Hit Stick system in some ways

• Offensive lineman seem blind out there at times
  • Offensive lineman often pass up block opportunities which results in the collapse of the play design
    This seems to happen at the most inconvenient times which makes the game feel like it’s scripted

• Defensive Pass Interference is rarely ever called
  • User-controlled players get away with egregious pass interferences with receivers and are rarely ever penalized for it
  • Whenever DPI is called, it’s from an animation that seems scripted because it happens are very inopportune times
  • The DPI slider doesn’t seem to affect the amount of DPI calls there are in games

In conclusion, I imagine things aren’t so black and white on your side when it comes to making changes to the game, so I want to let y'all know I appreciate your work and dedication. Thanks for listening 💯

Make team builder teams usable in offline mode. There are way too many issues with online mode.

EA_Shepard​ 

to expand on this I would like to add a few things

Coverage

• Please bring back the "Match Coverage" toggle so we can be a bit more intentional on what we want to call defensively (I think it was a good feature, and it didn't limit the matching deep defenders to only when certain underneath zones were present).
• I would like to see Cover 0 "Banjo" plays added into the game, especially for nickel formations as it allows for man coverage on each side of the field to be bracketed to best leverage. Yes, this coverage can/will be susceptible to the occasional coverage bust, sometimes more than others, but I feel this can help vs concepts that use a lot of switch releases, especially in bunch. A suggestion I'd have is to turn this off with manual "play the sticks" adjustment by the player. (Add this as a bunch/stack "check", for cover 0)
• Please bring back the diversity in coverages allowed for base fronts, so many 3-4 and 4-3 fronts lack any of the following or the combination of : Traditional Cover 2s, 3 buzz, 3 cloud, and Cover 2 sink. These coverage structures are key for players to replicate traditional Quarters defenses without being forced into Nickel.
• Please for Nickel formations add a "Slot" double team coverage, preferably from both Cover 1 and a cover "0" but make the non-double team side either a blitz, or Match Quarters
• Please buff Press-man and zone chuck coverage, my suggestion to allow user defender to do it more effectively by a timing based mechanic, and allow to better disrupt the timing of the route. It should still lead to the defender trailing if he is in fact responsible for that player (unless their respective man or zone coverage rating is high, then they should be able to win consistently provided no abilities given to the offensive player that help them win this interaction)
• Please allow for more controlled contested catches. "Hit stick" tackles and "Strip Ball" mechanics should be able to double as options to play the receiver when the ball is in the air (hit sticks to try and jar the ball loose via a big hit, Strip ball to try and punch the ball out). Please allow us to also chain "swat ball" or "strip ball"  in combination with the current secure tackle option to use more of a catch and tackle option to try ad continue to contest the ball until the whistle.  Receivers should still be able to catch contested passes but defenders should have a viable options
• Please gate interception options to disallow players currently sprinting to jump 180 degrees to intercept the ball (this in combination with the previous point would allow you to debuff the amount of INTs defenders catch whilst also allowing defenses to actually get stops).

Blitzing

• Brian Flores is one of the best Defensive coordinators in the NFL currently and he tends to use hybrid shells on the back end to create his pressures (most of them being split field 2 high coverage concepts). He specializes in fire zones, creepers, and hot blitzes (6 rushers, 5 defenders with matching zone behind it). I would like to see some Quarters fire zone plays as well as Quarter-Quarter-Half fire zone plays introduced into the game (which can give a new take on the 3 deep, 3 under fire zone spacing, but simply changing who is responsible for what).
• With the patch made on the "Mid Blitz" "META" tactic from early in the M25 cycle, you guys have brought gap integrity for the defensive front to the best place it has been since I have picked up madden, allowing for a lot of the "uncalled" blitzed that used to populate a majority of the playbooks to work properly as designed. Please make sure this logic makes it into Madden 26!
• With this new gap integrity defensive line "stunts" should be possible to add in as new plays with our current play calling system, simply have their rush paths cross and that should be enough. (this would help to beat man-to-man based pass blocking systems, as well certain iterations of the "half slide")
• I would like a revamp on "bluff" blitzing to actually fake a rush path, before dropping into the coverage assignment
• I would like the "fake snap" mechanic to have roughly a 5-10% chance of getting a defender aligned off the ball (not on the LOS) to jump forward to show their hand, (whether in a show blitz look, or bluff or whatever, have him get a tell, and base it on his Play recognition rating on when he realizes the fake, this adds a risk reward feature to both blitzing and fake snaps)

Fronts

• I would like to see a larger variety of Defensive fronts in the next Madden Cycle, I have a few suggestions from previous maddens
• 3-4 Predator (Madden 20)
• 4-3 Over Walk  (Madden 21)
• 3-3-5 Bear (Madden 16)
• 1-5-5 "Psycho" (Madden 16)
• Note, this is now more possible than ever to simulate now with the player pre-snap movement (which I hope is returning)
• Nickel 4-2-5 Over walk  (formerly Nickel "strong" in Madden 16)
• 4-3 Split (rename 46 normal and expand the coverage options to have more 2 high safety plays)
• 46 Cub (Madden 21, was Detroit Lions specific)
• Any variations of a 3 high front (Nickel personnel and lighter)
• A 3-5-3 stack defense (base it from the 3-3-5 stack ("normal") defensive formation currently in game and add a few more blitzes, would be great goal line or heavy defense options to balance the game)

These suggestions in conjunction together would allow for a massively improved defensive game, which would have its effects in competitive, simulation and casual game style communities, allowing for previously unviable or unattainable strategies in madden 25 making for a more enjoyable game.  If you would like to contact me further, email me  [edit: email address removed] and I can go into more depth about these point upon request.

-Thanks for listening/reading !!!!

Please for the love of god fix it where opponents are running one okay the whole game. This definitely needs to be penalized in some shape or form as these plays tend to work regardless or forced you to play a certain type of game that makes it boring. If you don’t have to right personnel on the field on either side of the ball then that’s just bad play calling and I shouldn’t have to suffer due to my opponents exploiting cheap tactics when it comes to this! Safeties shouldn’t be pancaking or sprinting past linemen as if they’re not there. 

note: I sure max protection and all the resources available to me but we all know there’s plays and ways to manipulate this game in unfair ways. 

please the change of direction that was in Madden 22 next gen was perfect as players now are sprinting full speed and a hanging direction snacking down intended receivers that are 10-15 yards down the field and that’s not realistic at all! 

I hope that there is a more immersive sense of gameplay for Superstar Mode. 

Can we get contains to contain and stop reverting them back with patches due to a few crybabies trying to scramble all day with their QB who never gets tired? I’m sure if we have a version of wear and tear this would be a game changer in online play.

how about also fixing blocking logic as I’m always encountering scrubs online who sub in safeties at LB and these guys just jeeps crushing my offensive line? When the last two maddens dropped, the blocking was perfect for this and people who came out in personnel that wasn’t fit for the play they’re trying to defend got crushed and had to change up their play calling as it should be, but now, you can put the kicker in at LB and he’ll do damage to the run game with no issues.

been asking for years, make fatigue matter! Without this it makes the game feel very arcadey.

Change of direction and make up speed needs to be adjusted. Tired of catching dudes slipping trying to stuff the box and my WR is 15 yards downfield and some way somehow he allows the defender to catch up to him and his deep route to make a play on the ball. People need to start playing sound football and if they don’t like it they can go to superstar mode and have at it. 

been waiting too long for this game to actually imitate its real life counterpart and we have the tools to make that happen! 

how about an online reporting system where we can report cheese  and exploits with video? 

also how about we stop letting people just run one play on offense and defense all game! It’s boring and we know it’s an exploit. People shouldn’t be rewarded for playing like this at all. I can understand if an opponent is just not savvy to playing defense cool, but you know the folks I’m talking about!

but wear and tear and fatigue working in online play would curve a lot of this drama we see online and YouTube doesn’t help with people selling ebooks teaching folks how to do this crap! If you gotta run to YouTube for help then this ain’t the game for you bro! Football explains itself 

One problem ive had with madden is every team feels the same when you play with them or even against the cpu. I think EA has addressed that some with just the playbooks alone but i think there's room left for improvement as a feature that can be toggled on or off for the even teams setting. But make it more wear each team has a identity and plays to there strengths with weaknesses being more exposed . Like for example if you have a bad team that has a particular position thats good let that be something as a tool to let the opponent either have to plan for or be a advantage for you. Some teams are faster, smarter, better tacklers due there roster but i think ea can do something with team identity