I'm continually surprised by how many people play the game with minimal understanding

Just hopped into a random squads game for fun.  3 on 3.

I'm running defense. My Defense is 91 without the strat card.... the offense is probably 88 or so without it....

Every down on offense my teammate is either running inside zone or bench. Every down on D the opponent is usering a MLB and shooting the gap. Not once did the guy I was playing with block the HB, pinch the line , ID the mike.... it was just a clinic in not having a clue how to play football in general.  This wasn't even Madden glitches just a full blown ignorance of football in general.

I had 4 picks on D and I hung in for a half, but down 7-0 I had to quit. It was too frustrating 

I don't get the idea of playing a football game with zero concept of football? You figure , You get Madden because you love the game. Man...SMH

Martyr1968 said:

Just hopped into a random squads game for fun.  3 on 3.

I'm running defense. My Defense is 91 without the strat card.... the offense is probably 88 or so without it....

Every down on offense my teammate is either running inside zone or bench. Every down on D the opponent is usering a MLB and shooting the gap. Not once did the guy I was playing with block the HB, pinch the line , ID the mike.... it was just a clinic in not having a clue how to play football in general.  This wasn't even Madden glitches just a full blown ignorance of football in general.

I had 4 picks on D and I hung in for a half, but down 7-0 I had to quit. It was too frustrating 

I don't get the idea of playing a football game with zero concept of football? You figure , You get Madden because you love the game. Man...SMH

I think this transfers to most things, low quality posts, not understanding the game, just lack of any type of depth of focus, it's noticeable with most minors... what's causing this ?

short form media, there's literally science out there now proving shittok and short form media is warping kid's brains... idk just my two cents, they don't want to learn anything that takes deep focus/ work... use ADHD as an excuse - focusing is a skill it's a muscle, short form media gives no way to build that muscle and actually retards it... yeah...

Or they user the deep safety/corner and get burned every drive.  Either their offense/defense is low OVR or they mess up routes/coverage with the user

still prefer the casualness of squads than 1v1

Martyr1968 said:

Just hopped into a random squads game for fun.  3 on 3.

I'm running defense. My Defense is 91 without the strat card.... the offense is probably 88 or so without it....

Every down on offense my teammate is either running inside zone or bench. Every down on D the opponent is usering a MLB and shooting the gap. Not once did the guy I was playing with block the HB, pinch the line , ID the mike.... it was just a clinic in not having a clue how to play football in general.  This wasn't even Madden glitches just a full blown ignorance of football in general.

I had 4 picks on D and I hung in for a half, but down 7-0 I had to quit. It was too frustrating 

I don't get the idea of playing a football game with zero concept of football? You figure , You get Madden because you love the game. Man...SMH

I've always been something of a defender for EA when it comes to the artificial intelligence that makes the game work; it's so terribly complex to develop a realistic depiction of 22 individuals on a field acting within the scope of their own scheme, reacting to the execution of the opponent's scheme, and doing so from their individual perspectives and anticipated tendencies, not necessarily what we would want them to do as we see them from our top-down view as players.

However, it is frustrating to most to play this game with the recognition that no matter how much you know about football, it is more important to understand how the AI will respond to given conditions. This game increasingly rewards players that understand football, but there are still gaps in the AI that allow players to ignore football logic and prioritize Madden logic. Since it's infeasible to apply all of the necessary pre-play adjustments required to stop a one- or two-play spammer (especially on defense), the more practical step to help users advance, young or old, will be to watch videos that teach you how to exploit the AI, not videos that teach fundamental football principles.

All of that said, you get what you get with Squads. As in Spades or similar card games, if your partner lacks a certain degree of skill, you may not be able to adequately carry them when pitted against knowledgeable opponents.

Keep in mind some players are from other places than USA, it took me 4 or 5 years playing Madden and watching  games to understand a bit more how to play. And i'm not winning all my games, i'm quite happy ending having a bit more wins than losses. There's no football on tv in Europe, and there is even less football culture here. Football is awesome and way more based on strategy than it looks at first sight. But it's quite hard to learn when its not in your culture. Preplays adjustments also are a big thing to learn. The best for peoples like me would be to find some players from US to learn the basics and maybe more.

LoB1325 said:

Keep in mind some players are from other places than USA, it took me 4 or 5 years playing Madden and watching  games to understand a bit more how to play. And i'm not winning all my games, i'm quite happy ending having a bit more wins than losses. There's no football on tv in Europe, and there is even less football culture here. Football is awesome and way more based on strategy than it looks at first sight. But it's quite hard to learn when its not in your culture. Preplays adjustments also are a big thing to learn. The best for peoples like me would be to find some players from US to learn the basics and maybe more.

True. I didn't even know the rules of American football until I was 27 or so. Then one day I saw a college game on Eurosport or Eurosport 2 (they used to broadcast lots of NCAA games back then), and I was hooked immediately

I understand where you're coming from, believe me.  I will say that maybe you were playing kids.  When I was like 8, I had no idea/understanding how to play football... pass/play defense and coverages.  I'd run the same play over and over because it worked (HB Off Tackle with Marshall Faulk).  I thought it was fun.  Now I'd be bored to death like you were at the end of that game, lol.

Why is this surprising?

Next time you're watching a game with a lot of people around 99% of them won't be able to tell you whose the mike or the Ted, if a safety is playing cloud or buzz.... Seriously ask around nobody will know what you're talking about.

They don't talk about that stuff on TV. You pretty much have to have played college football to know that stuff. Unless you played for a super competitive highschool.

To those complaining about players who freely purchased and play a game (that’s a separate thought)… Have y’all ever considered one of the altruistic goals of the NFL may be to get people interested and learn more about football, in general? Sure, there is a marketing aspect in that. But the NFL is playing the long game. Besides all of that, many of you may be too young to remember him, but one of John Madden’s greatest interests were teaching the game of football.

leesmith17 said:

To those complaining about players who freely purchased and play a game (that’s a separate thought)… Have y’all ever considered one of the altruistic goals of the NFL may be to get people interested and learn more about football, in general? Sure, there is a marketing aspect in that. But the NFL is playing the long game. Besides all of that, many of you may be too young to remember him, but one of John Madden’s greatest interests were teaching the game of football.

Yeah, exactly on the part about John Madden.  I've learned SO much about real-life concepts due to my countless (lol) hours of playing Madden.

Gore1695 said:

Why is this surprising?

Next time you're watching a game with a lot of people around 99% of them won't be able to tell you whose the mike or the Ted, if a safety is playing cloud or buzz.... Seriously ask around nobody will know what you're talking about.

They don't talk about that stuff on TV. You pretty much have to have played college football to know that stuff. Unless you played for a super competitive highschool.

I tried to trell them though.  I told the guy playing QB how to ID the mike....To block a HB, etc but it never happened.

I also told them to user the d. Line or a SubLB ...I had to switch off of match because guys were uaering my safeties all over the place 

You'd think of they come into a squads game though that they'd understand to respect the defensive scheme.

But I hear you.  I had to go in with randoms.and that's what happens

StrikeFromAbove said:

Yeah, exactly on the part about John Madden.  I've learned SO much about real-life concepts due to my countless (lol) hours of playing Madden.

I learned the most in my adolescent yrs by playing Madden's 02-06 on PS2 and NCAA's franchise mode in both, switch off, import the draft class from NCAA, put the names of the players I drafted, spent hours upon hours playing franchise modes in both, but also learned a ton from watching sportscenter / playing organized football (pop warner)

StoicTrader said:

I learned the most in my adolescent yrs by playing Madden's 02-06 on PS2 and NCAA's franchise mode in both, switch off, import the draft class from NCAA, put the names of the players I drafted, spent hours upon hours playing franchise modes in both, but also learned a ton from watching sportscenter / playing organized football (pop warner)

That's awesome.  I never played organized football, but I wish I had for a better understanding when I watch guys like Brett Kollmann on YouTube.  Some stuff is beyond my head, lol.  But, as with all of us, we can always learn.  I would say I've also learned a lot from listening to broadcasters/podcast hosts.  And, honestly, just reading about formations.  Stays like strong-side/weak-side were foreign to me until about 10 years ago.

Perfect example. Just got in with a random (2 v 2). He ran O I ran D.

We went down 14-0.and he left.  I played 1.on 2 with his offense and won by 3 with 4 seconds left.

I think if.I had my O I would.have won by a larger margin but why would you leave the game in the first qtr. Oh well