The Madden NFL 21 team launched their latest Gridiron Notes, shortly after their gameplay Twitch stream this evening. It’s filled to the brim with gameplay goodies.
Included are various ways the team improved run defense, made tackling improvements and added location-based tackles, making players more aware of their field location and react accordingly, including the pylon, goal line, sideline and first down marker.
While there’s not a direct button input on the sticks for these tackles, they will be driven by player ratings and Superstar Abilities. In addition to the abilities, the defenders’ Tackle and Awareness ratings compared to the Ball Carriers’ Vision and Awareness ratings will drive the outcomes of these interactions dynamically.
They also go over the zone drop coach adjustment, to customize the depth of your zone-drops for underneath zone defenders.
These coaching adjustments will give you the ability to change the drop depths of Flat, Hook and Curl-Flat zones in increments of 5 yards, up to a max of 30 yards from the line of scrimmage. When using these adjustments, keep in mind that all Match Zone logic will be disabled in all zone coverage plays while using the adjustments, including the Deep Zone players. When facing a no-huddle offense, you can turn off these coaching adjustments by using the ‘Reset Play’ option in the Pre-Play Adjustments menu.
Quarterback and passing improvements include throwing out of sacks, where the accuracy and power of the pass, is dictated by physics.
The further into the passing animation the QB is at the point of contact, the more likely the pass will be accurate. However, if at any point the QB’s arm or shoulder are hit during the pass, that too can impact the accuracy. Throwing out of sacks does carry some risk as well. The earlier in the throwing animation the QB is hit in combination with the QB’s Strength (STR) rating, the more likely he will be to fumble.
The team also tweaked catching responsiveness, player personnel packaging, balance for repeated audibles and play flips in pre-play and player fatigue for out of position ball carriers.
The kick meter has finally been tuned as well in sim mode, so kickers and punters don’t always launch unrealistically deep kicks, while the wind impact on the kicking game will be less significant.
They also discuss ability improvements with more specific details coming at a later date. Make sure to read the entire Gridiron Notes, as it has a lot of solid details.
