The defense in this game just doesn't exist

Cards and scheme are very important...especially cards..... but some cheese is hard to stop. 

Was in a  2 v 2 squads game, as O coordinator,, my "teammate" bailed as soon as the game started. 

I was not stopped once on offense , would  have won if I player conservatively and taken my FG at end.of half,  time ran out even though I ran OB and called timeout foe good measure but that's EA ....Point is, this guy left me with a  crap defense.

All my opponents did.was.roll right w Lamar and throw cross.body to his teammate. If I had my D I woulda shut them down but the cards matter.man. this guys D sucked and it was the difference in the game. Lost 36-35 but woulda won by 20 if I had my. D.

StoicTrader said:

rough to hear, Carmichael has been a beast for me at SUBLB, I'm sure you're running the 0 AP pic artist, but I use a mid zone KO and let the AI roam on right side and seems to make a difference, AI lurked a few very impressive pics with him already and had a bunch of knockouts in middle of field too...

I'm the opposite, my D is good and I suck on offense, weird problem to have but I'm just not good enough reading coverages and making the right decisions... defense def sucks if you don't make adjustments but IMO once you have it down it's less hard...

I feel ya, brother. I was playing earlier tonight, went to make a read, OOP tapped the wrong button and knew it immediately, I just lobbed the ball up in the air for an easy pick six, my opponent strutting into the end zone. Half the time I think I'm blind.

Although, I'm doing a much better job protecting the ball lately. However still somewhat inconsistent where I'm still making novice mistakes every two or three games, sometimes multiple errors same game. That's difficult to overcome.

I really encourage everyone to pick one or two plays and really try to master those specific route combos in practice mode, by running then over and over for 15-20 minutes a day. You'll be an expert in no time. That helped me more than anything. Double Posts might be one of the best plays in the entire game, or anything Verticals cooks. Here's Double Post from Eagles playbook. Make one simple adjustment, either Streak or Drag the Slot receiver (RB in the image below), hike. Win. 

The red Post route tends to cook both man and zone, if you hit it shortly after it breaks. If your blocking holds up, big gains... but most of those stock routes are simply amazing. Also, do you have Set Feet Lead on your QB? Perhaps Gift Wrapped and Gunslinger too. New Andrew Luck with 4AP ability stack (SFL + GW) is really really good. Hope something in there helps.

Martyr1968 said:

Cards and scheme are very important...especially cards..... but some cheese is hard to stop. 

Was in a  2 v 2 squads game, as O coordinator,, my "teammate" bailed as soon as the game started. 

I was not stopped once on offense , would  have won if I player conservatively and taken my FG at end.of half,  time ran out even though I ran OB and called timeout foe good measure but that's EA ....Point is, this guy left me with a  crap defense.

All my opponents did.was.roll right w Lamar and throw cross.body to his teammate. If I had my D I woulda shut them down but the cards matter.man. this guys D sucked and it was the difference in the game. Lost 36-35 but woulda won by 20 if I had my. D.

Such good advice. Impressive you still nearly won a shootout with gimped offense. I find myself in a lot of those situations when I fail to protect the ball, forcing my defense to make plays to keep me competitive.

But yeah, to agree with basically everything Martyr suggested, players (and especially abilities) do matter. I'm certain a obsess far too much over minor stat differences, that stuff doesn't make a huge difference beyond certain thresholds, but I get off on trying to min/max. Anyway, having two DOZKO on both outside corners to help eliminate your opponent's ability to attack deep sideline passes is absolutely crucial. The free Darren Woodsen also gets Deep Zone KO, he's a little slow now, but incredible SS as he'll cover anywhere he roams over top, sideline to sideline. Here's my ability stack:

• 6AP DOZKO + LA on both outside corners
• 3AP DIZKO on both Safeties
• LA on both SUBLB

Some variation of this, if you play Zone, seems to be the way to go. These abilities are mostly effective, fairly consistent and decent value. Good luck, it's not easy on defense this year. Have a great Christmas weekend, fellas. 🎁

Honestly I’ve seen defense fall off pretty hard since one of the last updates. I’ve noticed it even in solo battles, the AI completely lights up my defense now.

peatrick said:

I feel ya, brother. I was playing earlier tonight, went to make a read, OOP tapped the wrong button and knew it immediately, I just lobbed the ball up in the air for an easy pick six, my opponent strutting into the end zone. Half the time I think I'm blind.

Although, I'm doing a much better job protecting the ball lately. However still somewhat inconsistent where I'm still making novice mistakes every two or three games, sometimes multiple errors same game. That's difficult to overcome.

I really encourage everyone to pick one or two plays and really try to master those specific route combos in practice mode, by running then over and over for 15-20 minutes a day. You'll be an expert in no time. That helped me more than anything. Double Posts might be one of the best plays in the entire game, or anything Verticals cooks. Here's Double Post from Eagles playbook. Make one simple adjustment, either Streak or Drag the Slot receiver (RB in the image below), hike. Win. 

The red Post route tends to cook both man and zone, if you hit it shortly after it breaks. If your blocking holds up, big gains... but most of those stock routes are simply amazing. Also, do you have Set Feet Lead on your QB? Perhaps Gift Wrapped and Gunslinger too. New Andrew Luck with 4AP ability stack (SFL + GW) is really really good. Hope something in there helps.

preciate that ! this is great info and the exact playbook I'm in currently and the play I call the most, still need to get better, eagles and colts best o playbooks IMO and this is one of the best plays in the game. I just need to get better at making reads with that play and getting rid of ball quicker if pressure comes / reading pressure, 

I always run SFL and GS, then sometimes I use protected if I feel like AI isn't blocking today and other times I use a slot apprentice, I make blocking adjustments and sometimes it makes a difference sometimes it doesn't but recently realized ID'ing the mike can help the AI blocking a lot sometimes - I agree practice mode is crucial, I've practiced defense so much more in practice mode, two things I know I need to do more when I have more time is practice mode running offense on all Madden and record gameplay then review, making slow progress but I just started MUT in August for first time since 2018 so have come a long way but still long way to go to get as good as I want to be - currently running Luck, SFL, GS and a slot apprentice for 88 event then once I go with real squad again will use SFL, GS, GW and 1 AP slot apprentice

StoicTrader said:

I run calvin with his flat zone KO since it's 1 AP but yeah Calvin would be good in mid zone, most would, just avoid more than 3 AP on it, Calvin doesn't need anything else except mid zone since all his catching stats are insane, but Campbell needed lurk artist so still 3 AP total.. waiting for a player that only needs total 2 AP for mid zone, was hoping it would be zach thomas but realized his 2 AP mid zone and 0 AP lurk artist are same bucket so he def not worth 3 AP mid zone...

With how many discounted APs there are this year, it's tough for me to validate spending over 2 AP on anybody. You can get nearly all your defense with a discounted AP.. Personally, don't see any abilities that are that important to spend 3 on one player.

It just depends on who you’re playing. A good player will simply carve you up - making all the open reads and possession catching near any KO you have. 
 

And “good” is subjective. Guys can spam one OP play like double post and just dot you up.

I blitz 8 out of 10 plays, there Are times when I give up 80 yard td, but more times than not either a pick or 4 and out. 
zero blitzes seem to be the way this year, with all the rpo bs.

Mishkabigcat said:

I blitz 8 out of 10 plays, there Are times when I give up 80 yard td, but more times than not either a pick or 4 and out. 
zero blitzes seem to be the way this year, with all the rpo bs.

Another problem i'm having is against rpo. Sometimes i pick it but when they snap the ball, it's like my defense hesitates and by the time they react, it's already a completion

StoicTrader said:

preciate that ! this is great info and the exact playbook I'm in currently and the play I call the most, still need to get better, eagles and colts best o playbooks IMO and this is one of the best plays in the game. I just need to get better at making reads with that play and getting rid of ball quicker if pressure comes / reading pressure, 

I always run SFL and GS, then sometimes I use protected if I feel like AI isn't blocking today and other times I use a slot apprentice, I make blocking adjustments and sometimes it makes a difference sometimes it doesn't but recently realized ID'ing the mike can help the AI blocking a lot sometimes - I agree practice mode is crucial, I've practiced defense so much more in practice mode, two things I know I need to do more when I have more time is practice mode running offense on all Madden and record gameplay then review, making slow progress but I just started MUT in August for first time since 2018 so have come a long way but still long way to go to get as good as I want to be - currently running Luck, SFL, GS and a slot apprentice for 88 event then once I go with real squad again will use SFL, GS, GW and 1 AP slot apprentice

My Google Assistant is apparently stalking me, as always. Thought maybe this would be useful to you, as well. He did a much better job explaining all the concepts that can be run from a single play, in this case, Double Posts.

https://youtu.be/6nyrPnnDb5U

I always forget to Smart Route the C on the sideline. Pretty great tips, just watching the full video now.

peatrick said:

My Google Assistant is apparently stalking me, as always. Thought maybe this would be useful to you, as well. He did a much better job explaining all the concepts that can be run from a single play, in this case, Double Posts.

https://youtu.be/6nyrPnnDb5U

I always forget to Smart Route the C on the sideline. Pretty great tips, just watching the full video now.

that's an awesome vid, thanks for sharing !

StoicTrader said:

that's an awesome vid, thanks for sharing !

I'm right there with you. Being able to protect the ball is basically what determines if I win or lose. I'm inconsistent, to put it mildly. Slowly getting better, starting to read defenses. It's actually really useful to have the defense play art enabled in practice mode, sometimes I'll just go run the same play over and over against random defenses, or a specific one... DB Fire 2 is popular every year, or 4-3 Even 6-1 a lot lately.

This is one of the few times I'll have completed full Comp Pass really early. Having Thanksgiving and holiday breaks didn't hurt, I have been playing a bit more than usual. Have fun, lemme know how it works out.

Eagles playbook has great RPO runs under center I call a ton, as well. Singleback Wing, I think. I try to mix in 4 or 5 primary plays from the same formation, it frustrates opponents, I can go either side of the field, flipped or normal. Ultra conservative, ball control offense can grind an opponent down. Force them to stop the run. Many people can't, especially with Donald Penn out front throwing pancake blocks. He's hilariously good on HB Stretch. 🤓

Ugh, Double Posts. Feels like no one cares about running the same garbage as everyone else. The players are almost as bad as EA at this point.

SportsPerson94 said:

Doesn't matter what you do, the defense is absolutely embarassing. I have speed, height, zone and man all over the field and they do nothing. The angles players take to make a tackle literally give up TDs and the ball just hits players in the face. Carmichael literally watched a ball come at him and he didn't even play it. Play recognition means nothing because the players don't so shit anyway

I totaly agree the only success I have is sacks just spend racks on pass rushers (OLB off the edge) and whoever in the middle

i have a packers TT so I have Rashan Gary, David B, Gravedigger, and Terminator