Coming out of the beta, one of the commonly heard complaints was that QB's seemed to "wind up" for throws, even those that were shorter in distance. This led to people immediately calling for it to be "fixed" by the development team. A feature that had been touted by EA as a more realistic representation of QB release times was already being challenged after three days of beta game play. This situation is a microcosm of everything that is wrong in the current player/developer relationship when it comes to Madden. While it's easy to look at the players as the root cause of this unhealthy relationship, the development team must own a piece of it and do their part to improve it.  Patch and Burn Sometimes people are gluttons for punishment. They will ask for something they think they want only to find themselves upset with their desires shortly after. When it comes to Madden, patching is a polarizing topic that has caused so much angst within the commu

Our friends over at Madden School continue to do a nice job of breaking down all the individual abilities, this time for each all defenders  HERE . Staying in sync with our article yesterday, I took a crack at ranking the top five DB's for Madden 20 based on abilities.This ranking does not take age, attributes, or team into consideration they are based solely on their Superstar and X Factor abilities. #4b) Stephon Gilmore - New England Patriots The Abilities: X Factor Ability:  Shutdown What this ability does:  Tighter coverage and more Interceptions on contested catches Super Star Ability:  Acrobat What this ability does:  Increased diving swats and interceptions Super Star Ability:  Man Up What this ability does:  Improved coverage and catch knockouts in man-to-man Why he made the list:  Gilmore makes the list tied with our next player for the #4 spot, but there is no shame in that as their load out is quite nice. Shutdown gives Gilmore tigh

Our friends over at Madden School continue to do a nice job of breaking down all the individual abilities, this time for each all defenders  HERE . Staying in sync with our article yesterday, I took a crack at ranking the top five LB's for Madden 20 based on abilities.This ranking does not take age, attributes, or team into consideration they are based solely on their Superstar and X Factor abilities. #5) Darius Leonard - Indianapolis Colts The Abilities: Super Star Ability:  Strip Specialist What it does:   Reduced tackle penalty while trying to strip the ball Why he made the list:   Pickings are slim for stack linebackers when it comes to abilities. Leonard checks in at #5 because of his Strip Specialist. With Strip Specialist he won't be subject to tackle penalty while trying to separate the ball from the ball carrier. # 4) Leighton Vander Esch - Dallas Cowboys The Abilities: X Factor Ability:  Unfakeable What it does:   

Our friends over at Madden School continue to do a nice job of breaking down all the individual abilities, this time for each all defenders HERE . Staying in sync with our article yesterday, I took a crack at ranking the top five Pass Rushers for Madden 20 based on abilities.This ranking does not take age, attributes, or team into consideration they are based solely on their Superstar and X Factor abilities. #5) Demarcus Lawrence - Dallas Cowboys The Abilities: X Factor Ability:  Unstoppable Force What this ability does:  Pass rush leads to quicker block shedding Super Star Ability:  Edge Threat What this ability does:  Dominant pass rush moves from the edge Super Star Ability:  Under Pressure What this ability does:  Bigger area of effect for QB pressure and disruption Why he made the list:  Demarcus Lawrence makes the list as a true pass rushing specialist. Unstoppable Force gives him quicker block shedding while in the zone. Edge Threat provides

Our friends over at Madden School continue to do a nice job of breaking down all the individual abilities, this time for each WR's  HERE .  Staying in sync with our article yesterday, I took a crack at ranking the top five WR's for Madden 20 based on abilities.This ranking does not take age, attributes, or team into consideration they are based solely on their Superstar and X Factor abilities. #5) AJ Green - Cincinnati Bengals The Abilities: X Factor Ability:  Double Me What it does:   When they enter the zone, this ability increases their success rate on aggressive catches against single coverage Super Star Ability:  Cross Specialist What it does:  Receivers with this ability run sharper routes and catch more consistently while running crossing routes. Super Star Ability:  Streak Specialist What it does:   Receivers with this ability run sharper routes and catch more consistently while running streak routes. Why he made the list:   AJ Green i

Our friends over at Madden School continue to do a nice job of breaking down all the individual abilities, this time for each HB's  HERE .  Staying in sync with our article yesterday, I took a crack at ranking the top five HB's for Madden 20 based on abilities.This ranking does not take age, attributes, or team into consideration they are based solely on their Superstar and X Factor abilities. #5)  Saquon Barkley - New York Giants The Abilities: X Factor Ability:  First One Free What it does:   When they enter the zone this ability increases their fake out rate on the next juke, spin, or hurdle Super Star Ability:  Evasive What it does:  Ball carriers with this ability have faster juke and spin animations Super Star Ability:  Backfield Mismatch What it does:   Running backs with this ability have better catch in traffic and route running when coming out of the backfield against linebackers and linemen. Why he made the list:   Saquon Bar

Our friends over at Madden School did a nice job of breaking down all the individual abilities for each QB HERE .  After reading about all of the individual abilities it got me thinking, "Who's the best QB ability wise in Madden 20?". With that in mind I decided to rank the top five QB's based on only abilities. This ranking does not take age, attributes, or team into consideration they are based solely on their Superstar and X Factor abilities. #5)   Aaron Rodgers - Green Bay Packers The Abilities: X Factor Ability: Gambler What it does:   When they enter the zone, they can’t be intercepted by AI Defenders. Super Star Ability: Dashing Dead Eye What it does: Passers with this ability have perfect accuracy on all throws while running outside the pocket except high/low throws Super Star Ability: Roaming Dead Eye What it does: Passers with this ability have perfect accuracy on all un-pressured throws while their feet are set outsid

After spending the weekend scouring the ins and outs of Madden 20 via the closed beta, I found myself asking one question…Is it August 2 nd yet? While the game is still being worked on you couldn’t help but feel as if the game play finally fulfilled many of the promises we had been given over the past couple releases. That is not to say the game doesn’t still have its flaws, some of which should be fixed before launch others that sadly will probably wait until next year, however overall Madden 20 is set to feel like a refreshing experience for a title that has been somewhat stagnant the last couple years. Locomotion upgrades are noticeable From the second you start the game in the pro bowl the game play jumps off the screen. Every year people who play the game early will say that it “feels better”, however this year, thanks to continued locomotion upgrades, that feeling is real and it’s spectacular. Running the ball offensively is where you notice this the m

Last year EA changed course on recent strategy and introduced a semi open beta. The beta was released in waves with the game changers and competitive players receiving access first then over time waves of additional players were added until eventually it seemed anyone who wanted in could get in. While this new beta structure was a welcome change from the restrictive closed beta structure of the past there were still some issues in the management of the beta that inhibited EA from truly getting the most benefit from the process. Not what you know, but who you know Most times in life it’s not what you know, but who you know and the beta was no different. As I mentioned, access was granted first to the game changers then it flowed into the competitive circuit. The push by EA to solidify Madden as an E Sport is no secret, however having a restricted beta where some competitors have access while others don’t undermines the idea of fair play. Imagine the NFL allowing some teams to hav

When Madden 19 released last year, I wrote an article examining the subjective term that's become somewhat cliché in and around the Madden community; SIM. I pointed out that itʼs hard to define “SIM” as it means so many things to so many people. That wide ranging definition has led to a litany of rules across various franchises who promote “SIM” rules, but many of these rules no longer mirror the NFL game that the rules were originally set out to replicate. This forces one to wonder if SIM is a relic of an NFL that doesnʼt exist today.  4th and a Pain  How many times have you had the ball in a game and felt like you just needed to go for it? Whether it be because of momentum, strategy, or maybe you just felt like you had the defense caught out of position. In most franchises, this calls for a quick check to the rules manual to see if you meet one of the five, or more, criteria for going for it on 4th down. Why is this the case though? Looking at NFL data for the last five