madden 09 tips?

[BeauJangles]

I just picked it up and I'm a madden-noob. I tried googling around for a good guide on how to start learning the game, but came up empty.

Any tips?

 

[venkman]

Outs, Hooks, and Deep Posts/Slants are Money plays and don't hit the sprint button until your running back gets up to the line on a handoff.

 

[oznerol]

Don't play online until you can easily beat it on All-Pro difficulty, and manage it on All-Madden.

Don't drop back a ton as the QB. Work on timing more than just throwing a deep pass.

Use your Tight End often.

Precision passing is very useful - you hold the direction while pushing the pass button and your QB will throw to that spot - so up will throw it high, left/right will lead your receiver left/right, etc.

Don't hold sprint as a RB. Follow your lead blocker (if you have one), and let the CPU defenders get caught up in blocks before going fast.

Don't run side-to-side. Toss plays don't work that well - handoffs up the middle are good.

On defense, Cover 2 in the red zone is golden.

Turn off the Madden learning difficulty.

Play on Pro/All-Pro right off the bat. Don't use Rookie difficulty unless you want easy achievements.

 

[BeauJangles]

Well, I've been playing on Pro. Here are my issues:

I've been playing around with trying to read run / pass and adjust my defense accordingly. On runs, I try to bring my LBs up and on passes I try to drop them back, but I get almost no time -- the computer snaps the f-ing ball immediately. You can't read anything.

I also have huge problems running the ball or using screens effectively. I can throw the ball well against the computer and against my friend, but I can't run for the life of me! I try mixing in some running plays, but it's fruitless -- I feel like the computer is in my backfield the second after I snap the ball. I try waiting for blocks to develop. I try running to the outside. I try pounding it up the middle. I try tossing the ball. I try running little WR screens. ALL those plays get blown up in less than two seconds.

Ducci -- thanks for the specifics. I didn't know about precision passing. I don't hold sprint as a RB and I try to wait for the blocks to develop, but they never do!

So, I guess it's practice, practice, practice.

 

[Stuxnet]

Ducci pretty much said what I had to say. He hit it on the money.

 

[Quizard]

If you play on Xbox 360 PM me and I will teach you a lot of things like playbooks, strafe catch on offense, nano blitzes.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Hot routes can be useful on offense for those plays where you might have three receivers but one of them runs a route you don't like. Any route that goes to the sideline is doomed because the QB will lead the receiver, throwing the ball out of bounds, and the receiver will be unable to catch it. So for those routes, you can change them with the hot routes function. You can also change any routes to "smart routes" that tell the receiver to get past the 1st down marker.

I can't play defense for shit. I don't play online and when I do franchise I used to just supersim the defense. That made things too easy because for whatever reason, opponents' offenses couldn't do anything on supersim, so I just ran various Cover 3 and 3 deep zone blitz plays and hoped my computer players would take care of things. I cannot play defense in this game at all.

Some QBs are decent runners and if you select the right play (generally a singleback with a long dropback or any shotgun pass) you can actually get some good QB runs. Non-blitzing defenders will not go after you until you cross the line of scrimmage so you can get up a decent head of steam and pull off 5-10 yards, as long as you have an opening. QBs are more likely to fumble, though. Also, there doesn't appear to be any way to slide. You can only dive, which makes you even more likely to fumble.

Doing a QB Sneak is almost guaranteed for 1-2 yards. Kinda cheap actually. I think some people would consider it to be cheating because no team would go for it on 4th and 1 in their own territory unless it was the end of a game and they were way behind.

Sometimes I just let the computer AI take over for my receivers. I remember one time I made a pass that was caught, and I specifically didn't touch the controller after the catch. The AI took over, broke a tackle, and got a TD. If I had been controlling the receiver, I probably wouldn't have broken the tackle. It might work with the runningback as well. The AI blockers really are terrible, sadly.

 

[Onita]

I just got this game the other day. I can't play defense for shit, although offense isn't much of a problem.

 

[computeerrgghh]

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Well, I've been playing on Pro. Here are my issues:

I've been playing around with trying to read run / pass and adjust my defense accordingly. On runs, I try to bring my LBs up and on passes I try to drop them back, but I get almost no time -- the computer snaps the f-ing ball immediately. You can't read anything.

I also have huge problems running the ball or using screens effectively. I can throw the ball well against the computer and against my friend, but I can't run for the life of me! I try mixing in some running plays, but it's fruitless -- I feel like the computer is in my backfield the second after I snap the ball. I try waiting for blocks to develop. I try running to the outside. I try pounding it up the middle. I try tossing the ball. I try running little WR screens. ALL those plays get blown up in less than two seconds.

Ducci -- thanks for the specifics. I didn't know about precision passing. I don't hold sprint as a RB and I try to wait for the blocks to develop, but they never do!

So, I guess it's practice, practice, practice.

To play the run there is a run-commit feature. As soon as they hike the ball, you have the option to run commit or pass commit by flicking the right stick down (run) or up (pass). If you guess wrong though, you usually get burned. As far as success running, what team are you playing with?

 

[digiram]

Originally posted by: rpkelly
I just got this game the other day. I can't play defense for shit, although offense isn't much of a problem.

For the most part, defense is about decision making. Calling the right play given what you think they might do in their situation.

 

[Feldenak]

My biggest problem is getting my fingers coordinated enough to run faster than a 5.6 in the 40. I'm getting the hang of trigger pulling during the benchpress but I'll be damned if I can get a decent 40 time.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Originally posted by: Feldenak
My biggest problem is getting my fingers coordinated enough to run faster than a 5.6 in the 40. I'm getting the hang of trigger pulling during the benchpress but I'll be damned if I can get a decent 40 time.

I can't effing figure out how you're supposed to do the 40 in that thing. Sucks that they don't have a practice mode where you can just do the 40 yard dash over and over again. They also don't have a tutorial anywhere.

Also I have no clue how to even call defensive plays, much less control an actually defender.

 

[Feldenak]

Originally posted by: AstroManLuca

Originally posted by: Feldenak
My biggest problem is getting my fingers coordinated enough to run faster than a 5.6 in the 40. I'm getting the hang of trigger pulling during the benchpress but I'll be damned if I can get a decent 40 time.

I can't effing figure out how you're supposed to do the 40 in that thing. Sucks that they don't have a practice mode where you can just do the 40 yard dash over and over again. They also don't have a tutorial anywhere.

Also I have no clue how to even call defensive plays, much less control an actually defender.

Yeah, the 40 is just plain frustrating.

As for defense, I generally look at down & distance to decide my base offense. After that it's all just details....do I want to try and match up man-to-man, zone, zone blitz, all out blitz, man-zone, etc...

 

[BeauJangles]

Originally posted by: computeerrgghh

Originally posted by: BeauJangles
Well, I've been playing on Pro. Here are my issues:

I've been playing around with trying to read run / pass and adjust my defense accordingly. On runs, I try to bring my LBs up and on passes I try to drop them back, but I get almost no time -- the computer snaps the f-ing ball immediately. You can't read anything.

I also have huge problems running the ball or using screens effectively. I can throw the ball well against the computer and against my friend, but I can't run for the life of me! I try mixing in some running plays, but it's fruitless -- I feel like the computer is in my backfield the second after I snap the ball. I try waiting for blocks to develop. I try running to the outside. I try pounding it up the middle. I try tossing the ball. I try running little WR screens. ALL those plays get blown up in less than two seconds.

Ducci -- thanks for the specifics. I didn't know about precision passing. I don't hold sprint as a RB and I try to wait for the blocks to develop, but they never do!

So, I guess it's practice, practice, practice.

To play the run there is a run-commit feature. As soon as they hike the ball, you have the option to run commit or pass commit by flicking the right stick down (run) or up (pass). If you guess wrong though, you usually get burned. As far as success running, what team are you playing with?

I've been messing around with all sorts of teams. I played my last few games as the Steelers and I still can't run worth a damn. Also, while my passing game isn't that bad, I can't consistently get YAC. Usually, I can find the open receiver and complete passes, but I think I've had a 60+ yard play once or twice, at most.