Defensive Improvments for Madden 11 Part 1 - Movement System - LBzrule's Blog

LBzrule's Blog

Defensive Improvments for Madden 11 Part 1 - Movement System

Posted on July 22, 2009 at 06:49 PM.

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I. Movement Plan

No defense is complete without movement prior to the snap. EA added this last year. The movement added is basically what is termed prowling, where certain players will move back and forth, side to side in an attempt to throw off a clear read. The backers tend to do this already. So I will not deal with prowling much here. But I do want to look at a couple of additional movement ideas.

In addition to prowling there is also the cheat (reduced alignment). Now what defenses tend to do with cheating is basically move all stunting players up by about two or three yards.

Then there is �show it.� With show it an NFL defense will take the stunting players and line them up on the line of scrimmage exactly where they are supposed to blitz.

Finally, there is �walk it up.� With walk it up defenders creep and time the snap.

Summary of Movement Types:

Prowling: what the A.I does as players move back and forth, side to side.
Cheat: stunting player�s reduce their alignment about two or three yards closer to the line of scrimmage.
Show It: the stunting players line up in their gap on the line of scrimmage.
Walk it up: An attempt to time the stunt with the snap.

These movement types really set defensive alignments to hit the offense at different speed levels. From the base alignment a defense attacks the offense pretty slow, unless our edge players get home quickly. When defenses cheat the pressure will come faster from the second level players than if they remained in the base alignment. When defenses show it, the hope is to get an even faster result as players are lined up on the line of scrimmage. Finally, walking it up is the attempt by the defense to get another quick pressure attack on the QB with defensive players running full speed on the snap.

Examples

With these descriptions in mind now I want to turn to some examples from footage of real NFL games where the reduced, show it and walk it up or time it are on display. Let�s look at the footage.

Reduced -

this showcases the Bears and the Saints where the Bears linebackers Lance Briggs and Brian Urlacher reduce their alignment and line up two yards off the line of scrimmage. Briggs will drop out into coverage while Urlacher reads the back and then blitzes. The key point however is their alignment is reduced.

Show it �

this video showcases several examples by the Steelers, Giants, Bears, and Dolphins that highlight �showing it.� First up is the Steelers in their 2-4 defense. Some of them get their little late but this is show it movement with Timmons dropping out at the snap. On the second play we get more show it, this time Timmons rushes the passer at the bottom of the screen rather than dropping out into coverage. On the third play we get some more show it, but this time it is combined with walk it up by the FS. The Steelers are in the 2-4-5 in all three snaps. On this last snap, Woodley lined up over center and dropped out into man coverage, Timmons lined up at the top of the screen and rushed the passer.

Next we have the NY Giants with Pierce lined up between the DT�s.

Then we have the Bears. On the first play Urlacher and Roach show it on the right of the screen. On the second play Urlacher, Roach and Briggs all show it but drop out at the snap.

Finally, we have the Dolphins showing it out of their Nickel defense with the MLB. He bails on the snap and drops into coverage leaving them with a four-man rush.

Walk it Up/Time It

This video consists of several examples of walking it up or timing the blitz. I will not give full description here. The footage speaks for itself.

II. Implementation

Now how are these to be implemented in the game? I talked with Anthony briefly and there was an issue of implementation. I�ve thought about that and here are my suggestions. At first I was thinking have things user controlled, but now I think everything should be selected at the play call screen. I will discuss the interface below, but I think we should be able to select our movement plan at the play call screen and be able to mix and match movements.

So I may come out and it is third and long and have a show it plus walk it up/time it depending on the play call. I think by default you should have to match certain movements with certain schemes. If a Safety is blitzing you should have to call walk it up/time it. But if I call show it on the same play then the backers show it and the secondary player walks it up. Or, I could call reduced and then walk it up. Or I could prowl and walk it up. So we should be able to combine at least two movements with every call we make, but no more than two. Secondly, unless I call prowl my defense should be still. Prowling should no longer be default.

But how do we get the timing down. Prowling, Reduced and Show it simply requires that players be moved to specific spots (in the case of reduced and show it) or the players just move back and forth and side to side (in the case of prowling) as soon as the huddle is broken and the offensive player can see the screen if I have selected prowling, reduced or show it the defenders should already be in place.

Timing it will require the most meticulous implementation. I think timing it should be based on three things. As each frame of the video shows timing it should be based on: 1) play clock. The longer the offense takes and the closer that play clock gets to 0 the better the defense can time the blitz. 2) Motion. The defense is able to tip off on motion, so my recommendation is that timed blitzes are synced up with auto-motion plays. 3) Adaptive A.I picking up on the snap count. If a user uses 1 snap count the entire game, the defense should pick up on the snap count and be able time the blitz accordingly based on hike button press sensitivity Thus players on offense need to change up their snap counts to keep the pressure off and get the defense to show their hand.

III. Interface/Calling It

As I mentioned above the movement plan should be called in the play call screen. I see the interface as follows:

D-Pad Up � Walk it up/Time it for blitzers only.
D-Pad Right - Prowl
D-Pad Left � Reduce Alignment for blitzes only.
D-Pad Down � Show it for all second level defenders; blitzes and non-blitzers. Nickel and Dime backs should be treated as a part of the secondary and if they are blitzing the only way to activate a movement plan for them is to Walk it up/Time it. Otherwise they blitz from space.

Combo Example

D-Pad Up + D-Pad Down � the linebackers will show it. The secondary players will walk it up.

Now if I should happen to change assignments with the defenders the movement should remain. So if I call Engage Eight for instance and choose the above scheme but hot route all of my backers to drop into zone, the backers should still show it even though they are going to drop out into zone and the Safety should still walk it up and blitz. I could also hot zone the safety, he should still walk it up then bail on the snap.

This is my idea for more movement and more chaos from the defensive side of the football. This is part I in a series of features and improvements. Part II is well on the way as I break down a front system and an expanded Defensive Game Plan Menu that will give the game more looks on defense and get around the space issue in the defensive playbooks.

Scoring Defense Rating

One thing I just thought of before posting this blog is scoring defense. Each team needs a scoring defense rating that should offset pick 6�s. But it should also get the defense to get out front and block well for defenders who pick up the turnover. I�ll go back to the Ed Reed interception in the time it video. Notice how the defense hauls *** and gets out front to block for him. Each defense needs a scoring defense rating to determine how well this happens.

P.S. The A.I defense needs to use these options as well to make for a more challenging Offline game against the CPU.

Comments

# 1 trufootball @ Jul 22

This is a great blog and something I would back up being implemented. Pre-snap adjustments on defense is my specialty and something else that has been sadly lacking from our next-gen maddens.

# 2 shavane @ Jul 22

Homeboy thats some hot chit you just posted!! I get so hype when I see a defensive player prowling before the snap or watching B-Dawk or Polomalu creep up to the line and time the blitz perfect. Its become a everyday part of football and should be in Madden. I love safety blitzes but if you run one on the current Madden out of any defense other than a Bear formation your Safety will never reach the QB. With this system it will allow you to get a flying start which is a big difference than blitzing from 10 to 15 yds deep.

This would also up the level of realism and make it more intense before the snap as you have to account for the pre-game movement on defense. You may see the safety creep up to the line of scrimmage and as a QB you might look for the quick pass only to have the safety drop back into coveage this would also be the same with LBs and D-lineman. Not only did you smash this post but you gave the the developers a way that it can be implemented using the D-pad I hope the developers are reading this post.

# 3 LBzrule @ Jul 22

Thanks for the comments guys. There is a lot more to come.

There is also a lot here I am taking note of outside of pre-play movement. I know EA is supposed to work on locomotion and the run cycles for 2011, I hope they notice that defenders turn on blitzes. Rarely does anyone stay in a straight line.