The Official Madden NFL 2006 Thread

[kingoffighters]

Ron Mexico..... hehehehehe, the new spokesman for Herpes, the gift that keeps on giving.

[StriderKyo]

Maybe I'm missing something really obvious, but is there a way to set dedicated double coverage? I can assign a certain player to cover someone, but I can't seem to put two players on anyone. I can usually do it just by calling a play that'll end up with a second defender on a reciever, but my opponent can always get around that by calling trips and overloading a zone.

[Mamoscott]

Maybe I'm missing something really obvious, but is there a way to set dedicated double coverage? I can assign a certain player to cover someone, but I can't seem to put two players on anyone. I can usually do it just by calling a play that'll end up with a second defender on a reciever, but my opponent can always get around that by calling trips and overloading a zone.

Which version of the game do you have? Are you talking about dedicated double coverage throughout an entire game or just on certain plays? If you're looking to double cover a guy the entire game, I think you can just look under the Coaching Strategy menu and change the defensive matchups. Or if you're at the line of scrimmage, do the following:

On the Xbox version, switch to the player you want to be the second defender, hit Y to call a coverage audible, hit the button of the receiver/back you want him to help cover, and then hit right on the d-pad.

Also, slide protection is a set of pre-snap adjustments you can make to your offensive line's blocking scheme on the play.

Madden 2006 has a lot of problems, but it isn't terrible. The frustrating thing is that I see the same problems in Madden year after year. The truck stick is no substitute for the much more realistic running game and line play of the ESPN series, and it makes you far too likely to fumble the ball, especially when it can be so easily cancelled out by the defense's hit stick. Blocking AI is beyond retarded, and coverage audibles, line shifts, receiver shading, and a lot of other options at the line of scrimmage are almost worthless unless your opponent gives you a solid 10-20 seconds to make adjustments before snapping the ball. It's nice that you have all of these options, but requiring 3-4 button presses per adjustment is just not intuitive.

ESPN 2K5 is better than Madden 2006 in almost every way, but if you gave up on the vision and precision passing after only a day or two of practice, you are a pussy.

[StriderKyo]

Which version of the game do you have?

Gamecube.

Are you talking about dedicated double coverage throughout an entire game or just on certain plays?

Throughout the entire game. Terell Owens & Randy Moss catch just about everything if they're single covered.

If you're looking to double cover a guy the entire game, I think you can just look under the Coaching Strategy menu and change the defensive matchups.

Nope. That's how it works in 2K, but I don't see an option for it there, only for assigning a specific defender to cover someone, but not more than one.

Or if you're at the line of scrimmage, do the following:

On the Xbox version, switch to the player you want to be the second defender, hit Y to call a coverage audible, hit the button of the receiver/back you want him to help cover, and then hit right on the d-pad.

Yeah, I wanted to avoid doing that on every play, since it can be tough to do in time every down.

ESPN 2K5 is better than Madden 2006 in almost every way, but if you gave up on the vision and precision passing after only a day or two of practice, you are a pussy.

I'm almost positive it'll only be an option hidden somewhere in next year's version, not default. Almost everyone's going to turn it off, except for online where I don't think you have the option. I get why they did it, but no serious player just throws the ball without looking at their reciever first to avoid throwing a pick. There's no need to simulate looking at your recievers when the player is already looking around the screen anyway. It just slows things up by adding half-seconds that get you sacked. I may give it another shot for novelty's sake, but it's not a great feature.

[jyoung]

There's an interesting Gamespot article that just got posted called The History of Football Games

It's a nice, nostalgic read for any gamer that's been actively following the virtual sports world for a while now, and it makes me want to go fire up Sega's Prime Time NFL '95 for the Genesis.

[StriderKyo]

While we're linking, 1up comes through with a free online Madden Strategy Guide.

I haven't read the whole thing yet, but it seems helpful enough. Their guides aren't long, but they're usually pretty useful.

[Gooch]

ESPN 2K5 is better than Madden 2006 in almost every way, but if you gave up on the vision and precision passing after only a day or two of practice, you are a pussy.

I'm really digging QB Vision and how it forces you to make your reads and your checkdowns. A great new feature in '06 that will make this Saturday's Madden cash tournament very interesting.

I'm almost positive it'll only be an option hidden somewhere in next year's version, not default. Almost everyone's going to turn it off, except for online where I don't think you have the option. I get why they did it, but no serious player just throws the ball without looking at their reciever first to avoid throwing a pick. There's no need to simulate looking at your recievers when the player is already looking around the screen anyway. It just slows things up by adding half-seconds that get you sacked. I may give it another shot for novelty's sake, but it's not a great feature.

It's a great option and it hasn't slowed anything down for me at all. The key does not lie in just not throwing the ball w/o looking at their receiever first to avoid the pick, it's already knowing what receiver(s) you will be looking at as you're coming out of the huddle. You don't really have time to look around the field at 2-5 receivers. You literally have seconds (there is a pass rush, you know). When you call your play, you have to already know your priority of checkdowns and when to throw it away. On Sundays, you have to make your reads quickly (by the third step of your drop at the latest) and you certainly aren't able to see every receiver on the field at pretty much every freaking second. If you're getting sacked, you're holding on to the ball too long and weren't really prepared coming out of the huddle.

[StriderKyo]

I'm really digging QB Vision and how it forces you to make your reads and your checkdowns. A great new feature in '06 that will make this Saturday's Madden cash tournament very interesting.

Hey, if you have fun with it, that's cool. Like I said, I go through my reads anyway with my own eyes. I don't need a system to simulate that but slower. Holding R+Z triggers on the GC is a pain, & moving my thumb to the C stick, cycling through and then finding the button to pass is an even bigger pain. IRL looking & throwing is instant & intuitive, this just isn't.

It's a great option and it hasn't slowed anything down for me at all. The key does not lie in just not throwing the ball w/o looking at their receiever first to avoid the pick, it's already knowing what receiver(s) you will be looking at as you're coming out of the huddle. You don't really have time to look around the field at 2-5 receivers. You literally have seconds (there is a pass rush, you know). When you call your play, you have to already know your priority of checkdowns and when to throw it away. On Sundays, you have to make your reads quickly (by the third step of your drop at the latest) and you certainly aren't able to see every receiver on the field at pretty much every freaking second. If you're getting sacked, you're holding on to the ball too long and weren't really prepared coming out of the huddle.

Come on. Yes, 60% of your read happens before the snap, 30% the second you snap the ball & you see where the LBs & safeties go, but after three steps most of your recievers haven't even made their cuts yet. You don't even know whether he'll lose his man or not, or if the defender will play underneath or over him. You still need to make split second decisions.

[Gooch]

When you pass, most of it is based on anticipation from knowledge of what routes will be run from the called play. You don't have time to drop back, and look all over the field at your X, Y, L1, R1, etc. The pocket will collapse by then or the coverage will catch on. That's why you'll see a lot of slants or comebacks thrown while the WR is still doing the five yard straight, because the QB already knows where the WR is supposed to go. He'll throw before he knows the receiver is going to be open (a lot of Kurt Warner picks came this way, unfortunately). This pretty much requires you select what WR you'll throw to in the huddle. Sure, you may have two other receivers running their patterns, but the called play was designed specifically for the Z or the Y or whatever so the others serve more as to keep the coverage honest than as genuine options, not as equal opportunity options.

Videogame football has never been able to recreate the reads and checkdowns a QB has to make because it's always been on the player, who can see everything as if he were in the broadcaster's booth. The QB cannot possibly see all receivers equally as well on the field, nor should his likelihood of completion be spread out equally amongst receivers with only the coverage being the variable. QB Vision assigns a higher probability of completion that is more reflective of a QB actually knowing ahead of time and looking in the general direction of where he is throwing, rather than dropping back and being able to see sideline to sideline without turning your head and then making a decision, because, as is often the case in the pros, you don't have that time. This also enables the defense, specifically linebackers to "follow the eyes of the QB" and make a break on the ball in Madden, another aspect of realism added via QB Vision. You don't have that in any other football video game.

What I guess I'm saying is that I agree you still need to make split second decisions, but the decision is largely already made by the time you get out of the huddle. It should not be slower or less intuitive, unless you've been accustomed to playing from the offensive coordinator's perspective instead of the QB's. QB Vision ensures that made decision has a higher probability of being successful than just saying "oh, I better throw it to Greg Lewis instead of T.O. because T.O. doesn't look like he'll get open" and being practically as likely to succeed even though the play was specifically designed for T.O.

And you probably shouldn't have gotten the GC version.

[kingoffighters]

You guys heard about the glitch that shows whether the CPU called a running/passing play? I haven't tried it myself...