Can the CPU Defend the Read Option

[RogueHominid]

I'm noticing in my offline franchise (All Madden) that the CPU gets gashed by me when I run the read option. I average 9 YPC on that play in my current CFM, and I also get pretty big yards on the rare occasion when I scramble outright.

My gut is telling me that the CPU lacks the wherewithal to call the option defense adjustment or that the QB pursuit AI for LB and DB is just not there, but I wonder if others see the same thing, or if I'm just getting lucky, as it were.

I might run the play 3-5x per game with Fields, so it's not my whole offense by any stretch, but the yards I get there do inflate my offensive production substantially.

I'm considering just not running the play, but again wanted to see if my experience was the exception or the rule.

[Dsabol715]

I get blown up every time I call it. On top of anytime a defender breathes on the qb, it's a fumble.

[eric7064]

I can get a few off here or there, but the CPU has done a decent job of stopping me (Bears) especially if I break off a couple. it seems they almost spy me the rest of the game where option literally does NOT work.

[RogueHominid]

Sounds like I’m just getting lucky—I’ll take it!

[tg88forHOF]

I'm seeing SOME of what you're seeing...that is, when the end crashes and the QB keeps, it's going to be a big gain. Nobody else on the defense is likely to make that stop before I've gotten at least 10-15 yards

But that actually only happens about twice a game. The rest of the time, the end checks up, so I have to give to the RB...and the results of those gives aren't any better than any other inside zone. And if I screw up the read and keep when I should have handed off, I get destroyed (as I should). If I give when I should have kept, it's usually not quite as productive as a normal inside zone.

I have seen a reasonable mix of the end crashing and the end checking up...the CPU doesn't seem to get stuck in only doing one or the other.

[Hooe]

No, the CPU is not capable of using the Scrape techniques many teams use to take away both the quarterback and the tailback in shotgun zone read. It doesn’t do this because the concept of scraping is not in the game. So the CPU is thus limited to deciding whether backside player will crash or stay at home, and any other players will just run their assignments based on the play call. What you often end up with is any quarterback with halfway decent speed getting free for 10 or 15 yards whenever the backside DE crashes because the CPU doesn’t have anyone else to fill the spot that DE vacated.

Sometimes the CPU will stumble into calling Mike Scrape 3 - the closest Madden can get to running Scrape in a stock defense - but that is dictated by the playcalling logic which is tied to GameFlow and is independent from plays you have succeeded with.

If Tiburon were to add a Scrape concept to zone read option defense at some point, that would slow down zone read significantly, and it would also make the RPO Peek concept found in many shotgun formations much easier to use effectively and much more reliable.

Until Tiburon adds the scrape defensive concept, zone read is going to be a crutch play for most rushing offenses. Watching one of my buddies move the ball up and down the field on All Madden running zone read with Sam Ehlinger since September has been eye-opening, to say the least.

[RogueHominid]

Yeah, CM, that's how it's looking to me, too. I think I could easily rack up 1K rushing with a QB with over 80 SPD without trying all that hard.

I'm gonna run that play sparingly till they add more adaptive AI, as it seems like the one thing I can do that they don't know how to handle.

[chris5ft2]

I'm interested to know if anyone else feels like the controls for zone reads are backwards?

Usually teams tell their QBs the objective of the play is always to hand it off, unless it's obvious that they can pull the ball and get good yardage, if there's any uncertainty always give it rather than pull it. In Madden though the default is for the QB to pull it, so if there's a give read you have to consciously hit the button to make sure it goes to the running back.

Maybe it's just me and I'm just bad at making the correct read a lot of the time, but I've always felt liking handing to the back should be the default and you hit the button on the rare occasion you want the QB to keep it.