Who Says You Can't Playing Defense on Madden?
When we hear people say it, it makes sense; scores are frequently high in Madden games. But it's not true. Never has been. YOU CAN PLAY DEFENSE ON MADDEN (if you want to).
Almost 30 years ago, I read a paper titled "Defense in a Skilled Owner League" written by Micheal Fornal, about why people struggle playing defense in a PC game called "Football Pro 98". For those that aren't familiar with that game, it was a game where play virtual coaches formed leagues, connected online, and battled it out when Madden was just getting into Franchise mode. Long story short, Mr. Fornal, addressed several secrets to playing good defense that are universal to football video games.
He started by using military history to set a realistic expectation. Throughout history, he states that the attacking army wins 2 out of every 3 campaigns; conversely when attackers are wrong, defense wins 1 out of 3. Our expectations for playing winning defense in Madden should model these percentages. Simply put, if my defense wins 1 out of every 3 downs, my defense is performing as well as should be expected.
He then discusses the necessary truth that there is no such thing as a 'Best Defensive _____'. We can place play, strategy, style, formation, or anything else in the blank. Whichever one we choose, we must understand that it DOES NOT EXIST. The defense is playing without any of the information necessary to stop anything. They don't know who, where, or when the offense is attacking, and there's no possible way to defend everyone, everywhere, all at once.
He identifies the cause of blowouts, and only points to one thing - BAD DEFENSE! He does mention that the offense always attacks with gimmicks. Every offensive play uses a route combination, a blocking scheme, moves the pocket, pounds the rock, etc... All of these are gimmicks. The difference between GOOD DEFENSE and BAD DEFENSE is simple - minimize the effectiveness of the gimmicks the offense is attempting to use and ignore the ones they aren't using. Simply put, BAD DEFENSE tries to stop things that aren't threats...
Since the defense should only expect a 33% win rate and they can't stop every gimmick at once, how do you decide which gimmick to stop?
TENDENCIES!
Mr. Fornal continues by saying that in any given play, the defense is twice as likely to lose, but over the course of 30 plays, the percentages for the defense go up. The more plays we see an offense run, the easier it becomes to predict which offensive gimmick to focus our defensive efforts on.
For instance, if I'm playing an opponent that never runs the ball - I'm pass committing to avoid my defenders falling for play action. Likewise, if my opponent only throws to one player, I'll know exactly who to double cover (I only need to decide how). Suppose I get one of those gimmicky players that only throws to one player, in one area of the field, at a specific timing during the play - I have everything I need to get the right players to the right place at the right time.
Lastly, Mr. Fornal relays how FBPRO98 plays specific defensive tactics, because it's just as important to know how your players are 'coached' and what techniques they will attempt to employ as they are running their zone coverage. FBPRO98 used match zone concepts by default; a defender in zone coverage would stay with the deepest eligible receiver in his assigned area.
Because zones played like Man-to-Man, and were susceptible to the same tactics that beat man coverage, and it was easy for offensive players to create Hi-Lo reads. Players could get around the zone limitation limitation by assigning smaller and smaller zones - up until a zone was merely a single point on the field (similar to a Madden drop zone) so that no 'deeper' receiver exists. While this might be a practical answer for a specific tactic the offense is using, it wasn't as versatile a strategy for every play use...
Ultimately, the secret to playing effective Madden defense is the same as real life- AWARENESS and DESIRE. Any player who is aware of how to stop opponents, but has no desire to do so - shouldn't expect any stops. Similarly, if a player has desire without awareness, they shouldn't expect stops either.
Just like in real life, there are players that want to hit people and players that avoid contact. Given the two players above, I'll take the guy with DESIRE every time; awareness can be taught. But there's NOTHING anyone can say to the player that has no WANT TO.
Most Madden players don't want to play defense - and it shows in their game and their discussions.
Later
P.S. Gimmie all the smoke. LOL
