Differences between '11 and '12 (IE: How to play Madden 12)

Let's start here on rehabbing the league. We've grown accustomed to things in Madden 11 that didn't work in 12. Let's work together on figuring out how we can all be successful in Madden 12.

Post what is working and what isn't working for you, some sort of pro-tip, and/or things to keep in mind when playing Madden 12.

I'll start very simple: Madden 12's blocking and collision system is different than 11, so perhaps awareness is a bit more important for blockers. I'm curious how you guys feel the running game is different between 11 and 12 (or similar). How do you successful types manage to run the ball in this game, both speed and power running?

I had a terrible season in 11, I couldnt pass, run or defend and made for an awe inspiring 2-14 season.


My first season in 12 saw me improve to 7-9 and I had to rely on my D and Run game, I still cant pass, given that everyone knows I cant pass, my run game is struggling this season. Maybe it was trading away Max Starks and relying on a pair of rookie linemen I picked up in the draft, but I am definitely finding it harder to run, either to the outside or between the tackles. Given that half of the AFC West all went D in their first round of the draft, I guess that is only to be expected.


I experimented with QB's so far, went with Alex Smith and Matt Flynn, good short throw accuracy, but not an awful of TP behind them, I since dropped both and took back Jason Campbell, seeing no one wanted him in FA. First game back and I ended up with 5 picks, 2 I swear the players warped through the WR's, the other were all bad throws by me, and I know that. What is really getting my goat is the fact that my WR's arent holding onto the ball, or are completely oblivious to the fact I'm throwing to them. Denaurius Moore has 81 Catch and 80 CIT, and yet he couldnt hold onto a pass I pinged at him which would of been a first down. It's the little things like that, and yes I know some of the Raider WR's are prone to dropping easy catches as witnessed by Chaz Schilens this past season, but please, come on, if I do manage to hit you please hold on.


I have to be told to watch for timing and there should be at least 1 moment they get free. I was practicing last night again, and have to say that I am still not getting the timing right. I drafted a QB this year and have been trying to make deals in order to get others, but alas it is all falling by the wayside. I dont like being a One Dimensional Offence, but running seems to be the only way I can move the ball this season, and even that is struggling this year.

I will also add this, maybe it is time for the 4th String leagues to think about fantasy drafts going forward. Just a thought I'm putting out there.


New Edit :


Does anyone know what the distances are for Short Accuracy, Medium and Deep in Madden.


Is Short 0-5 yards, or 0-10, Medium 5-15 or 10-25 and Deep anywhere over 20.


Just curious folks.

Nothing to back this up, but from what I've noticed seems like short is around 10 yards or less, medium around 10-20 and anything deep is past 20 yards. Just something that I swear seems to be about what I imagine is right. Only reason I know this is Cam Newton has high short and deep accuracy ratings but a crappy medium. I struggle a ton at the 15-18ish yard passes with Newton.

Related note I'm curious with the accuracy rating (and also if catching is like this too). Say your QB has a 92 short accuracy, but a throw accuracy of 75. Is that short accuracy actually 92 of the 75 or 92 on it's own merit? This would make a huge difference (either a 69 short accuracy instead of 92). Similarly I wonder if catch in traffic is directly related to catch rating. If this is the case, it would change a lot in how to look at ratings.

As far as "tips" and just the tip (sorry bad joke). Like Adam "_" stated in the email this week and the post I made earlier last season, to sound like a broken record, Madden 12 is a completely different beast. You can not go into a M12 game and think you can do things you can do in M11. This analogy probably doesn't help most of you, but for the StarCraft fans out there, this change from M11 to M12 is no different to how terran build requirements for a barracks changed to stop the reaper rush cheese. You can no longer rely on these type of passing habits: fly route bombs with a fast wr, the window when a WR will catch a post route is very different, on that note pretty much all of the routes have different timings now for when you can pass and avoid an interception. Generally, it's a much smaller window of opportunity. Part of the crapshoot M12 brings in is being able to anticipate your receiver breaking coverage on his route when he makes his cut, you have to just trust him breaking open and passing before that happens. I would suggest going into practice mode and setting up a simple slant route and set the defense to man coverage. Watch how the DBs cover your receivers, then switch the defense to a zone defense and watch how they cover differently.

Another big thing that I realized, in my last game against the Raiders zone coverages actually work and you have to pay attention to that closely. It could be a latency issue when talking to Carl, to him he thought my DBs were warping in for interceptions but on my end I had my guys on zone coverage and there was no warping they were watching their zones and anticipating the QB passing to them (I'd love to have videos of this example but I borked my capture files).

As for the run game goes, I've notice one simple thing. Power backs = run up the middle, speed backs run the outside. Of course you have to mask these things and mix it up so that the defense doesn't guard it actively, but that's the general rule and what I've noticed against teams that run over me all game.

Defensively, I've been very terrible at since this league started back in M10, but I feel I'm slowly getting a handle of things with M12. One huge thing to pay attention to is when your opponent on offense calls audibles. It's sad that Madden still bugs out sometimes with this and coverages get screwed up. I've had a few games where a couple audibles called completely screwed up my coverage and resulted in big plays for the offense. It's going to happen so this is more of a complaint thing to everyone, if you're calling audibles and you know why you are for this exact reason it's kinda douchey but that's a topic that's already been rehashed several times. Just wanted to bring this to attention to the new guys to pay close attention to your coverage before the snap and don't be afraid to call a time-out.

I know I'm probably wrong on a lot of this, so someone else better than me correct me!