Madden 2005 players???

[brian_riendeau]

I have been a huge NFL 2Kx/ESPN Football fan for years, but with the death of all non-EA NFL games, I went out and bought Madden for my XBox.

I am getting fairly proficient at beating the AI, and do fairly decently online however I always find a way to lose. I am using the default offensive playbook and the base 4-3 defense. I have played about 15 games with this setup and know it fairly well and have not had much of a chance to try all the other playbooks.

I do mostly short passes on offense, a lot of flares to RBs and receivers on hook routes about 7 to 11 yards downfield. Anything I throw downfield is usually a streakon a 3rd and 17 play or something. For running, I rarely run up the middle, I try to keep the ball moving towards the outside and get around the defense.

On defense, I do mostly zone defenses unless it is a really obvious running situation, and I go with man coverage on blitzes, never do QB spys, and always like to have someone deep regardless of coverage.

Any ideas on what playbooks I should try next??? Thanks.

 

[Stifko]

For D I like the Dime and Nickel. Sometimes when I feel a run coming, I will do some 4 & 4. I blitz a lot and send a corner or an LB nearly every down. Dime Fire green is a great play, and the Dime man2 is good. I miss man lock and press dime defenses. They're gone in 05.

On offense, I air it out a lot, especially when I have only one man on my wide out. Put touch on the ball too, let it land in his hands easily. Run the ball more. When they least expect it too. Run sweeps, pitches and up the gut. Send the fullback and running back out on flares and hit them in the flats after the recievers have lead the defense upfield. Do hot routes on the line before the snap.

Online is really hard. I bet some ppl out there do that all day. Turn the AI up to Madden or all pro and see how you do against the machine.

 

[Spooner]

First down, always run a 4-3 or a 46 as Madden AI almost always runs it on 1st down.
For 3rd and long, I like throwing a Quarter Cover2 as it covers the entire field with little gaps.

Of coures, keep in mind their offense when picking a D play. If they have 5 wideouts, not that smart to run a 4-3 or have a lot of blitzers (you WILL get burned -- the game cheats like that). If they have 2 backs and 2 tight ends, blitz up the middle a lot and move your line in the direction of the backs.... you will almost undoubtedly stop them in the backfield.

I'm surprised you guys talk about running sweeps in MAdden. Been playing the game for year and any Strong Sweeps to either side have work maybe 3% of the time and netting at most 6-7 yards. I HATE the sweeps and almost never run them. Use misdirection and straight up the gut to get some real rushing yards.