How to get better at madden?

shoutman

Hey,

Obviously enough, practice, practice, practice is a given.

I'm more looking for help with regards to play calling, reading defence and offence etc.

I guess it's probably more a search for information on knowing more about American Football in general.


The following are catching me out big time.
1) Stopping read option, triple read option.
2) Stopping short yardage run's to the edge.
3) Stopping passing game in general.
4) Stopping the rushing game.
5) Throwing deep on offence.


I've joined an online franchise in the hope of improving - they let me choose the 49ers due to my lack of experience etc. So surely it's not a personnel problem that I'm having.

Thanks.

helimachoptor

shoutman wrote: »

Hey,

Obviously enough, practice, practice, practice is a given.

I'm more looking for help with regards to play calling, reading defence and offence etc.

I guess it's probably more a search for information on knowing more about American Football in general.


The following are catching me out big time.
1) Stopping read option, triple read option.
2) Stopping short yardage run's to the edge.
3) Stopping passing game in general.
4) Stopping the rushing game.
5) Throwing deep on offence.


I've joined an online franchise in the hope of improving - they let me choose the 49ers due to my lack of experience etc. So surely it's not a personnel problem that I'm having.

Thanks.

Berty put up a post a few years back, I have it linked on my home laptop so if no one else puts it up in the meantime ill do it later.
It lists out all the defense formations and in general what they are good at stopping

adrian522

first thing to do is start calling your plays "By formation" so you know what's going on.

With 49ers you have a very good defense so just need to call the correct plays.

Read option, I don't know how to stop it, haven't encountered a lot of it, there is a post on stopping it here (you need to register to view it:

http://maddenpfl.com/forums/index.php?/topic/22375-defending-the-option/

Outside run...

you need to call a play that gets 8 guys into the box. Try cover 3 and then press the receivers. Take control of the safety/LB on the side you think the run is going (usually the side where the TE is lined up).

You should be able to nail the RB in the back field.

Passing game:

I think you need to mix up playcalling, blitz a fair bit but not on every play. Try and see what routes he is going to, what players he is going to. If he is going to the TE a lot try and get a CB matched up on the TE. Try and double cover where you think the ball is going or control the LB underneath and try and pick off the pass.

Also look at "shading" and pressing receivers at the line. There's loads you can do, but passing on this version is easier due to how difficult it is to get pressure on the QB. Everything depends on figuring out where he is going with the ball.

Stopping the run: see above, get 8 men in the box and be controlling the LB or safty on the side the ball is going.

Passing Deep: You need to read the defense, if he has 2 deep safeties it's going to be difficult to go deep on the sidelines. A TE up the middle can work if he is covered by a LB.

Check out this forum lots of help on different topics:

http://maddenpfl.com/forums/index.php?/forum/11-coaches-corner/

Also there are threads on this forum about defense and offense to help newcomers,

e.g:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=77472582

Essentially it's all practice though, play games, wear a headset and don't be afraid to ask questions of your opponent, where you can improve, how he does certain things etc.

best of luck.

Knex*

Get yourself online and start playing Head to Head games against randomers.

49ers is a 3-4 defence, right? Check out some vids on how to set up that way. Get comfortable with a few plays from that look and getting used to customising things such as defensive shifts, secondary coverage (side, middle etc), guessing play calls, covering with a Linebacker, and so on.

All of this can only be improved with practice. Being able to get a feel for what people do in certain scenarios is important, and then having the experience from previous game time to say, I've seen this before, If I switch to 3-4 Under, Cover 3, or whatever, I'll be better placed to stop him.

Important to be aware of the offensive situation when you're defending. 1st down, most will look to run the ball. You get a feel after a few downs what the opponent likes to do for 2nd and short, 2nd and long etc. If you get people into a 3rd down situation, and anything over 4 yards, over 90% of the time they are passing the ball - without any play action.

Knowing this will help you big time in what play you call and how you set up. Keeping an eye on the clock too. So, say its in the 2 minute warning, opposition has 1 time out and is down by more than 3. Realistically, be it end of 2nd or 4th, they want a TD.

Most plays are going to be passing plays, and most are going to be to the outside so they can get out of bounds and stop the clock. Make sure you guess pass play (LT and right stick up, I think), and then put the secondaries to the outside too. (Tap Y, then I think right stick to the right).

Knowing situation defense will improve your offensive skills too as you get a feel for what the defence is guessing, and what you need to do.

This is a complete ramble and brain dump from me, but I hope it helps. Plenty more on here that are a lot better than I am, as I've not been playing Madden too long, in fact, this is the first title I actually bought, having only played Madden 12 previously, but hopefully you can get something from it.

Edit: For throwing deep, often you've to stop yourself from holding down the throwing button as you would to get power behind your short and middle throws, and instead have to go for more of a tap, which gets the higher elevation on the ball and tries to lob the pass over the DBs for the WR to catch.

Pudsy33

Two tips for stopping the read option.

1) If you press R2, you will bring up the pre-snap defensive prediction menu. If your opponent lines up in a formation from which you believe he will run an option, open this menu and select the read options QB option. This will make your defensive end stand up, and will force your opponent to hand the ball to the RB. This is preferable to the QB taking a chunk of yardage.

2) Use your pre-snap adjustments to edge rush hour defensive line and spread your linebackers. This will hopefully cut off big runs to the outside.

Edited accordingly, cheers Knex.

Knex*

R1 brings up the Linerbacker menu, right? Think its L2 that brings the defensive prediction options.

May be wrong, or not picking up properly what you mean.

Pudsy33

You're probably right Knex! The defensive prediction one is the one I mean anyways.

mikemac1

1. Knock out their HB
2. Knock out their backup HB
3. Don't even dream of passing the ball in the redzone as you'll fook it up

Three simple rules that work for me :cool:

helimachoptor

mikemac1 wrote: »

1. Don't even dream of passing the ball in the redzone as you'll fook it up

Three simple rules that work for me :cool:

Honestly i need to stop throwing red/endzone picks, its fcking soul destroying after a long drive to hand the ball over!

shoutman

Thanks for the replies men, plenty to get started on.

Rock Lesnar

I cant stop the pass in this game, i go from teams tearing me apart with the run in madden 13 to passing all over me in this, the chargers ripped me apart last night, could'nt get close to the recievers, 28th worst D last season and i see no reason why that wont be repeated this season

Paully D

Aside from the brilliant tips mentioned by the lads earlier, you should join the league here on Boards. I was a complete novice to both American Football and Madden when I started, but the league helped me loads.

You will get frustrated playing random head-to-head games and unless the league you have joined is a sim league (i.e, games are played the way they are in real life) it will drive you crazy as players just constantly go for it on 4th downs, exploit glitches etc.

Get signed up to the league, chatting to the lads during games, or even just add a few people (see the who's who thread) to play friendlies and you will start to improve quite quickly.

Defense is really hard this year, even the best players are struggling to get any good of it so don't be discouraged by that, it's the same for everyone.

helimachoptor

I forgot the link.. Tomorrow evening!

Paully D

helimachoptor wrote: »

I forgot the link.. Tomorrow evening!

Adrian has posted it at the bottom of his post mate.

shoutman

Paully D wrote: »

Aside from the brilliant tips mentioned by the lads earlier, you should join the league here on Boards. I was a complete novice to both American Football and Madden when I started, but the league helped me loads.

You will get frustrated playing random head-to-head games and unless the league you have joined is a sim league (i.e, games are played the way they are in real life) it will drive you crazy as players just constantly go for it on 4th downs, exploit glitches etc.

Get signed up to the league, chatting to the lads during games, or even just add a few people (see the who's who thread) to play friendlies and you will start to improve quite quickly.

Defense is really hard this year, even the best players are struggling to get any good of it so don't be discouraged by that, it's the same for everyone.

I'm playing on the ps4 otherwise would have definitely joined.
I have joined a sim franchise league which is made up of American college students for the most part. Same rules as here - no going on fourth down except for exceptions.
Have to mix up playbook etc.