As you can imagine, I've had this conversation dozens of times before, and I've learned that the reason we play and how we play makes every bit of difference in how we view the game. Been banned from at least 5 Madden websites because of them... LOL
Case in point... I never played Franchise after the year it was introduced in Madden '99. That year I learned that I have ZERO interest in a Franchise mode where I'd eventually be playing with fictional players. I'd eventually come to realize that I also don't care about college football, the combine, the draft, or the NFL pre-season. For me it's the competition that counts. I wanna play people, without them eating my food and farting on my couch. 🤣 ONLINE H2H REGS is my gaming home and Madden, even when it sucks, delivers on the competition; which is literally the reason I play Madden outside of football season.
That said, practically every post I've read in the last 20 years about Madden's Franchise mode has been negative. Either the people who are happy about it never chime in anywhere, or it really does suck as bad as people say. I wouldn't know; but the things people complain about sometimes baffle me. I've had all out debates with people who complain about setting hot dog prices, as if it isn't a football game. I cannot relate to this type of Madden fan. We clash. There's no middle ground. So I'm glad your issues are football related!
My next question would be how much control are you exerting during the game?
Me? I'm choose to user as much as possible. My philosophy is "Why let the CPU mess up what I can mess up myself?" I use a custom playbook, call every play manually by formation, move defenders, use motion, shift, adjust assignments, and might user any of the 11 players on defense at any time. I switch whenever the ball is in the air, I correct pursuit angles of off ball defenders... I PLAY THE WHOLE GAME.
Some people call plays, snap the ball, and let the CPU take over; others call plays make several adjustments, move players, and switch to user everything. I don't know where you fit, but most of us are somewhere in the middle.
Later