Defense is often overlooked in Madden games but it is half the battle. You can’t be a truly great Madden 23 player without having a good defense.
Last week we went over the Top 5 Offensive Playbooks in Madden 23. Today we are covering the best defensive playbooks in the game.
On defense you have significantly less formation and play options than in Madden 23. That is fairly obvious when you look at the Madden 23 playbook database and see just how many more formations are in each offensive playbook than are in each defensive playbook.
To give you some concrete numbers there are over 3,000 unique offensive plays in Madden 23 but only about 600 unique defensive plays. That is 5 times more play options on offense than you have on defense!
There really aren’t too many viable defensive playbooks that will allow you to compete at a high level but we’ll go over the 3 we recommend most below!
Kansas City Chiefs Defensive Playbook
The Chiefs have far and away the best defensive playbook in the entire game. You won’t find many high level Madden gamers using a different playbook than this one.
The reason is simple. They have the 5 most effective defensive formations in the game.
Those are:
All of these formations have great blitzes that you can mix in with coverage plays to frustrate your opponents.
We covered this playbook extensively in our first defensive ebook of the season. You can get that and all our other Madden 23 guides by joining Madden School Unlimited.
Baltimore Ravens Defensive Playbook
The Baltimore Ravens defensive playbook has just about every good defensive formation that isn’t found in the Chiefs’ playbook.
Some of those formations include:
- 3-4 Bear
- 4-4 Split
- Nickel 2-4
- Nickel 2-4 DBL Mug
- Nickel 3-3 Cub
- Nickel 3-3 Odd
- Nickel Triple
- Dime 1-4
- Quarter Over Load
The Raven’s defensive playbook includes at least 9 very usable formations. You can go heavy with the 3-4 Bear or 4-4 Split, or you can play the pass better with the Nickel formations, Dime 1-4, or Quarter Over Load.
If for some reason you just really don’t want to use the Chiefs’ defensive playbook you really can’t go wrong with the Ravens’.
Multiple D Playbook
The Multiple D playbook gives you exactly the kind of defensive playbook you’d expect. You get a playbook with a wide variety of different defenses.
You still get the 3 best formation in the Chiefs’ defensive playbook (and in the entire game) which are:
However, instead of also getting Big Nickel Over G and 4-3 Over 6-1, the Multiple D playbook gives you these formations:
In a tip we released early on in Madden 23, we went over a nice little nano blitz out of the 3-4 Odd formation that you should definitely add to your scheme if you are using the Multiple D playbook.
No matter which of our 3 recommended defensive playbooks you use, you should be in a great position to get stops.
10 Most Popular Defensive Playbooks In Madden 23
Now that you’ve got our professional opinion on the best defensive playbooks in Madden 23, it is time to turn to the community to see what playbooks they are using.
The data gathered from our Madden 23 playbook search tool shows that largely the community agrees with us.
Here are the top 10 most searched for defensive playbooks:
- Kansas City Defensive Playbook
- 46 Defensive Playbook
- Multiple D Playbook
- Baltimore Ravens Defensive Playbook
- Las Vegas Raiders Defensive Playbook
- Carolina Panthers Defensive Playbook
- Miami Dolphins Defensive Playbook
- Chicago Bears Defensive Playbook
- New England Patriots Defensive Playbook
- Seattle Seahawks Defensive Playbook
The Madden community still loves the 46 defensive playbook. And they should as it has many of the same formations that the Kansas City Chiefs’ playbook has.
If none of 3 defensive playbooks on our list work for you, give the 46 playbook a try.
What defensive playbooks are you using in Madden 23? Let us know in the comments!
I use the 46.
I would like to know when playing ny gaints that’s the only team I play with what’s the best defense to use cause I be getting whoop
46, put some of that speed you have on the field to make plays