Only in the Madden universe would running dollar full time or as a run defense be considered not completely asinine.
Now I’d bet you’re probably young, or unfamiliar with football concepts or just picking up tips from bozo youtubers/pros touting their brain dead videos like “how to use dingleberry’s dollar defense to get insta pressure and STOP EVERY PLAY IN MADDEN!!!”. So this is not a personal attack on you by any means.
But whether you plan on continuing to be a dollar til I die player or utilizing different packages based on down, distance and your opponents play calling tendencies - it would probably be beneficial to review what certain packages including dollar are actually designed for.
(Half) Dollar Package - 8 DBs + 3 DL = Used almost exclusively for prevent defense on plays such as hail marys or on very long distance guaranteed passing downs (generally late game/end of half). Highly situational and extremely weak vs stopping the run.
Quarter Package - 7 DBs + Some Combination of DL (0-4) + LBs (0-4) = Same as Dollar this defense is used almost exclusively as prevent in long yardage guaranteed passing downs. Highly situational and extremely weak vs stopping the run.
Dime Package - 6 DBs + DL (3-4) + LB (1-2) = Much more commonly used than the above packages but ultimately still an “anti-pass” defense. Again this package will be utilized in perceived passing downs or downs where giving up a chunk run over big play passes is deemed an acceptable trade off. Can be seen routinely used in 2nd/3rd and long scenarios throughout a game. Situational but more common than the above two and weak vs stopping the run. Noteworthy is that dime has become more prevalent in the modern NFL.
Nickel Package - 5 DBs + DL (3-4) + LB (2-3) = Very common package with variations utilized by teams at all levels of football. While this package now typically designates any with 5 DBs on the field, traditionally it removed the weakside linebacker or “will” in a 4-3 setup and replaced them with an extra DB referred to as the “nickelback”, hence the package name. This defense can provide an excellent mixture of being able to stop both the run and the pass especially if the nickelback is an athletic, physical and versatile player. Many teams utilize nickel as their base defense. Can be an every down defense barring pretty specific situations and is solid vs stopping the run.
So considering the above - Why should a hail mary defense stop the run? It’s heavily designed and used in practice to stop the exact opposite. There shouldn’t be “adjustments” that make dollar stop run. The adjustment would be picking an entirely different package that’s actually designed to be doing what you want to achieve.
As Ducati mentioned, packages like 3-4, 4-3, 4-4 and 6-1 are going to do much better at stopping run heavy offenses. Dollar really only makes sense if the opponent is refusing to do anything other than pass the ball every single play. Yes, there’s probably some adjustments that can glitch out the oline or break the AI in whatever particular way to make dollar a “run defense” but fundamentally it makes zero sense.
