THE MADDEN NEWSLETTER

VOLUME 1 NUMBER 5

THIS ISSUE

CUSTOM PLAYS

SPEEDY LINEBACKERS (by OVIDIAN)

CONTROLLING YOUR LBS (by JIMBO)

ALL THE RIGHT MOVES (by OVIDIAN)

HEY EVERYBODY, WELCOME TO ANOTHER EDITION OF THE MADDEN NEWSLETTER. YEAH I KNOW, PEOPLE HAVE BEEN LIKE, "WHAT HAPPEN TO THE NEWSLETTER?" WELL, ONLY SO MUCH YOU CAN COME UP FOR THE GAME, SO THAT IS WHY I HAVE ENLISTED THE HELP OF TWO REGULARS TO THE BOARD, OVIDIAN AND JIMBO. THE BOTH MAKE REGULAR POSTINGS TO THE MESSAGE BOARD WITH ARE MONEY AND BOTH HAVE A LOT OF INSIGHT INTO THE GAME. THEY ARE GOING TO GIVE THEIR VIEWS ON MADDEN AND SUCH

CUSTOM PLAYS BY TAFKAC

THE LATEST RAGE TO HIT THE BOARD ARE CUSTOM PLAYS FOR MADDEN. EARLY WHEN I HAD FIRST BOUGHT THE GAME, I READ A POSTING SAYING THAT IF THERE ARE ANY MONEY PLAYS, THAT THEY WILL BE CUSTOM PLAYS. I HAVE EXPERIMENTED WITH A FEW AND TOYED WITH THE CUSTOM PLAY EDITOR MYSELF. EVEN THOUGH THE EDITOR IS EXTREMELY LIMITED (FOR EXAMPLE ON NICKLE AND DIME FORMATIONS THE NICKLE BACK DOUBLE TEAMS THE SPLIT END ON MAN COVERAGE INSTEAD OF COVERING THE SLOT RECEIVER!!!) I HAVE SEEN SEVERAL PLAYS THAT ARE ON THE MONEY. HERE ARE A FEW TIPS FOR CUSTOM PLAY DESIGN--(1) BE CREATIVE--EVEN THOUGH THE PLAY EDITOR IS LIMITED, YOUR IMAGINATION IS NOT. EVEN THE WACKIEST PLAYS COULD BE A MONEY PLAY WAITING TO HAPPY (2) SURF THE NET--THERE ARE DOZENS OF COACHING SITES THAT HAVE PLAYBOOKS--MOST OF THE COACHES THAT I HAVE CORROSPONDED WITH WERE PRETTY OPEN WITH THE IDEA OF USING SOME OF THEIR PLAYS IN MADDEN. SOME ARE ALSO MADDEN PLAYERS AND MAYBE ABLE TO GIVE YOU SOME INSIGHT INTO PLAY DESIGN! (3) ADAPT DIFFERENT PLAYS-GOT A PLAY THAT WORKS IN A CERTAIN FORMATION? WHY NOT RE-CREATE IT IN A DIFFERENT FORMATION? THIS GIVES YOU THE OPPOROTUNITY TO RE-USE THAT SAME PLAY BUT GIVE IT A DIFFERENT LOOK

SPEEDY LINEBACKERS BY OVIDIAN

Everyone and his brother knows to go out and get quality CB's and put your best one at the right corner. Fine. You should also keep your big name, high-priced LB's with the 85 AWR and 85 TAK...for the time being. Now, let's talk about planning your franchise. As you go through years, you'll notice something about the LB's in the draft...they're quick. No, I take that back. They're fast...and they get faster by the year. If you look at all the first year SPD ratings for all the LB's in the league, you'll notice only 2...that's right...2...have a Speed of 80. All the rest are slower. At one time, I was a big believer in high AWR and TAK for LB's and Speed was nice, but not really necessary. No longer. My new motto is "Speed kills". I now draft LB's with a speed of 85 or above. I don't care what their other ratings are. It doesn't matter that much. If you put a LOLB and a ROLB with 85+ speed on the field and use the first 3 plays for the 4-3 formation, you're getting sacks, hurries and knock downs like crazy. The key to it, is never "rush" with them yourself. Take your best defensive lineman and rush at the offensive line's weak point. That way, you get a "2-prong" attack on the QB. He's ALWAYS under pressure. I'm telling you...that QB will start throwing incompletions left and right. By my 4th or 5th year, all my LB's are from the draft (I usually carry 6) exceptfor one. I like to keep a LILB with extremely high AWR and TAK to shadow and bring down any difficult HB's like Sanders or Davis. So by year 4 or 5, I start trading my Woodall's, Brown's, and Paup's. Every "big name" LB must go...I have a fire sale. Give me a young and promising offensive lineman or defensive back and I'll give you an all-pro, big name LB...I don't need them. If you look at all the stats for LB's in year 10 or beyond, almost all the LB's have tremendous speed. You need to get the jump on the rest of the league. Another draft tip is to draft a CB with 100 speed and a high Catch rating. His OVR doesn't have to be high, in fact, they can in the mid 60's and still do fine. Then place him as your back-up RCB. From this placement, he'll rush the QB in a few dime formations (I forget the names of the plays but I can provide those later if asked). Simply take your RE and occupy their LT. Don't "swim", just bull-rush him. This will enable the dime-back (your 2nd RCB) a clean shot at the QB. I totally agree with TAFKAC when he says to always try to rush 5 guys, but make sure that the 5th guy always has tremendous speed. On my 7th year Bears team, I have a ROLB with an OVR of 93 and a speed of 91!!! Man...he always leads the league in sacks. The keys to stopping the pass are SPEED and PRESSURE. It's pure and simple. Sure, every now and then, I give up some big yards, but for the most part, I average around 130 yards a game (8 minute quarters on Madden). There's no mystery to it. Just good planning and a thrist for the QB's blood. And the beauty part to this defensive set-up is that you don't have to resort to any "trick" plays like making the other teams shift out of position or other absurd things that you may have read on this board by people who shall remain nameless.

WOO!!! DEEP STUFF--LET ME TELL YOU I HAVE TWO "SPEEDBACKERS" WITH SPEEDS OF 85 AND 89 AND THEY HAVE 19 SACKS BETWEEN THEM AFTER 4 GAMES

CONTROLLING YOUR LBS by JIMBO

Well boys, I played middle and inside linbacker from pee wee's all the way to my first couple of years in the military. I'm not some corn feed hay bailing 310 pounder. In fact, I never topped 200 until I joined the military, but I always started. Anyway, here's a few tips from a defensive point of view: Always control your best inside/middle linbacker and when you come to the line read the offensive set.If he has more than two receivers shift your line and line up between your two best down lineman. Wait for them to commit to their assignments while watching the TE and HB. If it's a pass and your in man, blast the hole and get the QB, but if the TE or HB is coming over the middle, give them a little love tap on their way by, if the HB is swinging for a screen or a quick hitch, get out in the balls path and charge the QB using the ball lane. If your in zone coverage, blitz the hole. Also charge in from different holes. Look at the blocking schemes of your down lineman and determine which is the quickest route to the QB before he can get the ball off, remember, defensive is the same thing as offense (except we hit harder) hehehe, anyway the downlineman have to open lanes just like the tackles and guards do on offense. If it's a run your in luck. As I said before, wait for everyone to commit to their assignments, and watch what hole your dance partner is trying to lead you to. Once he commits to a lane, bull rush his ass and hit him with everything you've got. Granted, not every back can be brought down with one hit, but he isn't going far when he's juking and spinning at the line of srimage. If your being burned constantly by his HB, use your LB to take over blocking assignments for one of the lineman who's lane the HB is trying to smoke which should free up your big man for a nice stop. As far as reading a defense goes, you guys have already touched on all the basics and then some. I'll just make this an over view. If the DB is playing inside the receiver it's man on that side of the ball. Be sure to check both sides because the other half of the field could be playing zone on your slot or TE. Look for the TE, FB, and HB on these plays. If their in a zone with one LB over the middle attack that part of the field if two LB's are in the box, look for the up and out routes. As a defensive player I learned it isn't about stopping every play, it's minimizing options. Find out what the defense is will to give you and take it. Running in this game is easy. I won't go into the blocking scheme of it because that's been done so many times that if you haven't committed it to memory, put the game down and go play some Zelda. I WILL say that your chances getting yardage increase if you use more that two recievers. What I like to do is set up my motion running plays with my TE as the slot. I motion the TE and snap the ball when the TE is behind the lane I'm running through, if he's good he'll leave a nice hole for you to run through. As far as camera angles go, I like the classic because of the field view, but I've played with the regular cam and zoom cam too.

ALL THE RIGH MOVES by OVIDIAN Running on Madden level takes a great deal of skill. Sure, anyone can get lucky with a big game, but to run consistently...that's something else entirely. Correct play-calling is an absolute must. Don't call the HB Tosses and Pitches much at all. Save them for those second and long plays. Here's a few moves that you can try on those plays:

The "slow down": Well, that's what I call it. When I'm running to the outside and see a defender coming at me at a 45 degree angle, I simply slow down or actually stop and let him go right by me. Then instantly hit speed burst and you're on your way. You can also slow down and right when he gets to you, spin in the opposite direction, move upwards, juke to the sideline (because more guys are coming) and then speed burst.

The "push": On plays where I follow a FB or a Guard, I actually get right behind him...I mean DIRECTLY in back of him and actually push him into defenders. I stiff-arm my way around the collision and then speed burst. My friends absolutely hate that move.

The "fake": On outside Tosses or Pitches, when you first get the ball, run a couple of steps and then turn and face the line. This will freeze LB's or SS's and make them come up towards you instead of going towards the sideline. Then turn to the sidelines and run like hell using the speed burst the whole time.

The "slow spin": This is a variation on the "slow down". Remember that defender coming at you at a 45 degree angle? Here's a little surprise for him. Imagine that you're standing in front of a big cardboard box with a broomstick in your hand. If you push the box in the center, the box will move backwards. But if you push the box towards the left edge, the box will move in a clockwise manner. You can use that same principle in Madden(can you tell that I'm a scientist?). Say you're running to the right sideline with the defender coming at you. When he's just about there, slow down your guy and kind of turn your HB clockwise. More times than not, the defender will spin right off of you. This takes a lot of practice, but is pretty cool when it works.

And just remember...there will always be games where you simply cannot run. Believe me when I tell you that I've had my fair share of games that I've ended up with negative running yards for the game. And don't forget...you can run with your QB too..