MADDEN 26-27 IMPROVEMENT IDEAS

I wasn't asked...  but as a representative of those that play H2H REGS exclusively...  I'm not a fan of the idea posed by Burnzee​ and it's only fair that I explain why and add a little historical context.  Some personal.  When Madden went online in 2002 substitution rules mirrored those of the NFL. 

My first game ever, I faced an opponent who placed his fastest WR at the QB position and ran down the line for an 80 yard TD on the first play.  He A-Gap blitzed 3 times for a loss of 15 yards, I punted.  He ran the same play for an 82 yard score.  In the end, I crossed the 50 once in the 4th quarter, kicked a FG, and lost 56-3.  

Later that year, I faced LokkDown.  A notorious cheeser blacklisted the 1st Madden community for online play, MaddenOnline.us.  LokkDown used the Bucs and placed his fastest CB at P,  WR at the gunners and ran fake punts as his base offense.  He usually scrambled around before finding a gap and running for big yardage.  On defense, he ran Quarters and blitzed the A-Gap.  He won by 6 TDs.  We played a rematch, I adjusted by making sure my fastest defenders were on the field.  He is forced to play a more orthodox & disciplined brand of football.  He wins again, but this time just only by 7.  

Still later, I face off against the top ranked player that year, FearThePain.  He had more than 300 wins, and only 7 losses. He had also been blacklisted for being a cheeser.  He ran an offense similar to LokkDown, except he used the Rams and his starting QB was at the P spot and he ran his entire offense from punt formation.  On defense, he used a Nickel Normal blitz that rushed the B-Gap with a CB.  He scored a TD on his first play from scrimmage.  I adjusted. He never got another first down and he quit before halftime down 37-7.

I say all that to demonstrate a few things..

1. What each of these opponents did was 100% NFL legal
2. You get better at Madden by playing Madden
3. Football strategy works better than any artificial means to curb cheese

What players did was complain about football strategies they faced despite every one being 100% NFL legal, created terminology like SIM, STR8, CHEESE, NANO.  Players walled themselves off, pointed fingers, and called each other names. 

The ultimate consequence?  EA opted for Madden to ignore the NFL rule on substitutions.  

In Madden 2004, the Playmaker feature allows us to instantly hot route the player with the orange route.  It was possible to hot route an outside WR to go to the flat.  Wally B used that feature to defeat the most popular defense at the time Man Under 2.  He sent his player in short motion and snapped the ball behind the TE.  The WR would do a 180 degree turn and run back to the flat, but a CB in Man Coverage would get caught in traffic OR swap coverage responsibility with an OLB in coverage - depending on a number of factors.  There were several adjustments that negated the effect, most began with stop running Man Under 2; but even if you were married to Man Under 2, a simple linebacker shift was enough to defend the play better... 

People complained.  they couldn't bear the thought of using one of the man defenses that was perfect for this situation nor of pressing two buttons at the line of scrimmage.  Most people didn't know it was as easy as calling the 4-3 Normal Man Flats play.  What came to be known as Madden "MOTION GLITCH" had never been attempted in an NFL game before (at that point).  

Fast forward to Week 4 of the 2011 NFL season.  Lions are playing the Cowboys and around 12:40 in the 3rd Tony Romo lines up, Kevin Ogletree goes in motion.  Ogletree is behind the TE when the ball is snapped, he then pivots 180 degrees and runs to the flat.  Romo fakes a handoff then fires the ball to Ogletree who is wide open before making the catch and running 20+ yards before getting knocked out just before crossing the goal line against man coverage, just like Madden 2004.  Weeks later, Lions try the same play against the Panthers - but the Panthers are playing a Cover 3 Sky and drop it for a gain of just 3.  First two times the MOTION GLITCH was run in a real game.  

Nobody runs the "MOTION GLITCH" in a real game until the Chiefs run it against Arizona in week 1, and again twice in the red zone to win the Super Bowl.  What we now know as "Corndog" used to be considered a glitch.  As a result, we need them to design plays we used to be able to create on the fly.  

The ultimate consequence?  EA opted to force a WR in motion to block if they were in the tackle box and Auto-Motion.  

I could go on...  but you get the picture.  Instead of giving us tools to best combat what we might view as cheese football antics, we use EA as a bludgeoning tool, and when we do, football purists lose a football relevant strategy in the game.  

I prefer that the answer to curbing hurry-up offense be play better defense.  I think that lends itself better to improving the tools.  Neither of the games I spoke of had Defensive Hot Routes yet.  No slide protection yet.  No custom zone depths.  No defensive adjustments menu.  

Please, no more arbitrary workarounds.  If we need a better TOOL to curb use of 100% NFL legal no huddle - I'm all for it.   

No offense meant... I hope none was taken.  

Later