OVERALL is just that, OVERALL... - mattluvsrush's Blog

mattluvsrush's Blog

OVERALL is just that, OVERALL...

Posted on October 25, 2011 at 09:31 PM.

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Hey everyone! Thanks for taking the time to read my new blog! In this installment I will address something that I believe is holding many new players back, and that is making the mistake of falling in love with a high overall rating, and not looking for glaring weaknesses in some of the top tier players. I'm going to discuss some of the most often started players in MUT and why you might think about replacing them in your lineup, as I have.

It goes without saying that in real football coaches are always on the lookout for the type of players that best fit their scheme. Madden 12 rewards players who can see that they run a particular scheme and acquire players who bolster that scheme's probability of success. I'll give you an example, If you play man defense every down, you shouldn't be starting Darrelle Revis. I know what you're thinking, In real life Revis shuts down everyone. That's because real quarterbacks can't just throw a face catch to Calvin Johnson every play! The fact is in Madden 12 revis is an excellent corner, but in a completely man scheme Dominic Rodgers-Chromartie is actually a better fit, even though he is only rated an 85! DRC is 6'2" tall that's 4 inches taller than Revis and only 3" shorter than Moss and Megatron! In addition to being taller DRC is also much faster at a 98 in speed, which is 5 faster than Revis, DRC has a higher agility and acceleration to boot. Those attributes alone combined with his 98 rating in Man Coverage Is the difference between swatting any and every deep throw and giving up 1 or 2 TDs a game due to height, speed, or positioning. So you can see that in a COMPLETELY MAN scheme DRC stands a much better chance at effectively defending the tall WRs or TEs THAT EVERYONE IS USING. I myself run a ton of zone and then almost exclusively run man zone in long distance situations, so I'm hanging onto my revis' for a minute, but I have 2 DRCs hidden at the bottom of the depth chart for when my opponent starts Mega, Moss, Marshall and AJ. If ALL that weren't enough DRC can catch better too...

The Next situation isn't quite as murky! I started Ovie Mughelli at first because as far as OVERALL goes, he's the best FB in the game. But with his pitiful 72 Speed rating he isn't much help to anyone trying to run to the outside. He'll never make it to the edge in time to set it consistently. Also his agility is poor at 65, which means he has to slow down drastically when changing directions. His catch is only 66 so you can't really rely on him as a clutch option out of the backfield, and even if he did catch the ball where's he going with his slow self? So he can block up the middle, That's it, and even then the linebacker will beat him pretty regularly because he is so slow! Enter my secret weapon Marcel Reece from the Raiders. He is a blazing fast at 89 speed 86 Agility and 92 Acceleration, you could even split him out for a slant or flats and get a reliable catch by coming out in goal line and audibling to your favorite plays! He is a more than competent receiver in the clutch and he'll get to where he needs to be when blocking which is VERY IMPORTANT!

I run a lot of zone and after A LOT of consideration I sold my FF willis' and bought Urlachers. While Urlacher is 6 slower, I never really see Willis drag people down from behind, so my D doesn't hinge on my MLB being fast, even though Urlacher is no slouch. Urlacher after the boost from my Primetime Deion is an 82 man and 85 zone coverage.(willis is 71 and 76 WITH DEION) He's a 6'4" beast in the middle jarring the ball loose and swatting things down over the middle. This offers me incredible opportunities in my 3-4 defense as I can use Brian for a CB in the slot or to cover a big TE, while keeping my run D tough when I suspect a draw is a possibility. Also the FF willis is only 3 points more aware and 2 points better at block shedding than his gold equivalent, THAT'S ALL!!! so all the hype around this card is due to rarity, not a HUGE difference in performance on the field... I don't know about you does 2 BShed and 3 AWR =1000 times better? Because that's the price difference by the way between the two cards. I'll take a gold willis please!

Last But not least, maybe the most overused card in the game has got to be ANTONIO GATES! Everyone I play has at least 2 of them and they can't run to save their lives... and it's no surprise, THEIR TIGHT END CAN'T BLOCK. Well he cant run block that is, he is an average pass blocking TE. He is also somewhat slow and cumbersome with the ball in his hands. I use Vernon Davis, when I switched I was a 99 OVERALL MUT team, putting 3 Vernons in dropped me to a 98 but the performances I've gotten out of him validate that decision constantly. I caught maybe 2 50 yd + touchdowns with Gates in 20 games, I think I have about 10 with Davis in another 20 because he is blazing fast and only Willis can come close to matching up with him over the middle. When 3 Vernon Davis' combine with Marcel Reece the four of them make goal line a valid passing formation, you could throw short routes or audible and split the vernons and marcel out wide, and beat any goal line coverage the opponent can call. I come out in goal line to entice the D to come out with a huge blitz and then switch to verticals and burn the opponent all the time! The biggest difference though is vernon davis BLOCKS like a Probowler! his 80 run block strength is something no other receiving tight end can even touch, combined with his value as a receiver you can't start anyone else IMHO.

If I was to leave you with one thought that could help you understand how useless the OVERALL stat is, it would be to explain to you exactly how it's calculated.

A.) The developers of the game somewhat arbitrarily choose which attributes are important for each position to have and left some key attributes out, and then they rate the players who are best at those traits highest and essentially say that player would work best in more schemes than any other. In mughelli's case it's easy to see why they think the best run blocking FB would be the best fullback, but they obviously didn't take speed and receiving ability into account otherwise there's no way reece is 11 overall points below mughelli. Reese is clearly the overall better player, and yet because they decided up the middle blocking ability was most important he gets the shaft.

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b.) they add up all the attribute points a player has and divides them by the number of skill categories and get an average. This scenario is even worse than the first. Because it doesn't take into account the important attributes that make a player successful in your scheme.

There was an old game about 3 years ago called head coach 09 and you had an option for every player you could say you want a field general QB, a pocket passer, a scrambler etc... and each player's overall would change based on how they fit what you told the game you wanted. And EVERY position had at least 3 or 4 different types of player! so you'd have to look at your playbook and decide the types of guys who would work best. then when you tell the game what you want it would adjust the overall scores of the players based on what you need so in one scheme a guy could be an 85 and in another a 95 with the same skills just based on how he fits the system!!! EA MADE THAT GAME!!!! We should have this is madden already.

Comments

# 1 BronxBombers11 @ Oct 26

How did you have a 99 overall? No matter what i do i am always a 98 overall team.

# 2 mattluvsrush @ Oct 26

I have over 30 players with an overall of 99 another 15 or so 98s and very few below 98 like clay matthews, elite J tuck, Clabo at RT, and mangold at C becuase they are the best you can get at their positions. even my backups are 99s. I start haloti ngata at all d line pistions because he's rated higher than K williams. That is how ya do it, but i changed things to get a better team even if the overall is lower. my advice don't worry bout the 99 people all quit before you can even play when they see the 99 I'd rather be a badass sleeper 97 or 8...listen to me sleeper 98... lol

# 3 BronxBombers11 @ Oct 26

alright thanks man. btw thanks for putting up blogs like this. Never thought about using a lot of players u mentioned. might just have to give it a try.