Help. I suck.

[Gagnon39]

I've played a couple games now and I've restarted every one. I get so frustrated because 1) I cannot move the ball and 2) I cannot stop the other team... EVER. One game I had -3 yards at half time. I have YET to get a first down or complete a pass. Yes, I said yet to complete a pass. I know that its just because I have not played this game much in the past few years. I'm not complaining about the game engine because I'm enjoying the game. I just need some tips from you guys that are good at this game. I am playing on All-Pro and will play on this level for good. I always play sports games on the second highest level because it seems that the highest levels always include some kind of stupid speed cheat to make the CPU better.

I am wanting to know if you guys have any tips that might help me move the ball. I know I will get better so I'm trying not to get too frustrated. I think I am really going to enjoy this game once I get half way decent at it. I coached high school football for two years and I'm a huge NFL fan so I know football, I'm just having trouble getting positive results right now.

What kind of defenses do you guys usually run? Man or zone? How do you have success running the ball? Every time I run the ball I run right into a defender. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Nomah5]

1st video game football in about 5-6 years and i got smoked 56-0. Slightly frustrated. Not sure what defenses to call in what situations, etc. Your not alone!

[ezio]

Try using My Skill and having it adjust for you. It starts at All-Pro level but will adjust. I was getting killed on Pro and then went to My Skill and IMO it works well but you have to give it time to adjust. Play some Play Now games with it and see how it goes.

[mvandor]

Sliders and levels kids. Sliders and levels.

[wrightnreyes]

how about going to practice mode and play on Pro

select RANDOM plays for the offense and the defense

random plays will be picked every time and you can practice like that. if you find a play that you think you like, make it an audible so when you're playing and it's a big 3rd down or something you have that play you can switch to at any time.

[CatMan72]

I've played Madden year in and year out and would rate myself a pretty solid player and I just got smoked 34-6 by the Falcons (I was Carolina) so don't feel bad.

Don't give into the frustration, take this as a learning experience - reduce keep the player skill level @ pro and the speed @ slow. When you make a mistake, go back and watch the replay, ask yourself what you would do differently next time. When calling plays, use the Ask Madden feature and then look at the personnel the opponent has and pick the play that matches that personnel set the best.

Hang in there, it will come to you.

[Shinino_Kage]

Do the virtual training. That and practice modes are your best friends. And I'm not a great player either. I did the Madden Skill thing and ended up somewhere between Pro and All-Pro, mainly because my pass defense sucks. And yes, calling plays is not my strong suit. Ask Madden helps with that.

[afro1989]

this is the first year I've been able to compete on all-madden difficulty and it's the most fun i've ever had with the Madden series.
the past five years that Madden has come out I would be confident I could compete on all-madden, but then the A.I. would destroy me every year. this year I had to make a change somewhere.

this is what I did:

go into practice mode and find around 10 plays you're comfortable with (5 passing and 5 running). use these plays for your first couple of games in your franchise until you feel you can learn 8-10 new ones. trust me, just selecting a random play every down is going to cause major problems, even if it looks simple enough. if you go in with a game plan and have names of plays written down you will be tearing down the field.

i also turned clock acceleration off because it gives me more than enough time to motion guys and scan the D. maybe hot route a WR or TE. even though it may be a little unrealistic to motion guys every down, it will allow you to easily figure out if it's zone D or not.

i just threw 3 TDs, no interceptions, 265 yds with Pennington and it was so satisfying. if you follow what I said above you'll be playing on all-madden in no time.