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In Madden 20 Your Opponent’s Formation Shows Up Before You Chose Your Defense

In a largely overlooked but very important change to Madden 20, your opponent’s exact offensive formation is listed in the pre-play defensive play call screen.

In previous Madden games, you would be confronted with a generic personnel grouping like 3 WR 1 TE 1 RB after your opponent selected his offensive play. That information indicated that your opponent was in a formation that had 3 wide receivers, 1 tight end, and 1 running back on the field but that is all you had to work with.

That information will still be available to you, but you will also get the exact formation your opponent is coming out in. For example: 3 WR 1 TE 1 RB, Gun Trips TE.

From a theoretical standpoint, simulation style football purists may not be thrilled with the change. After all, defensive substitutions are usually made after you see the personnel grouping the offense is in but well before you know the exact formation the offense is planning on lining up in.

Realistically though, the vast majority of Madden players will either be a fan of this new change or not notice it at all.

Offenses have always had all kinds of advantages in football video games. In Madden 20, they will have even more with the new Superstar X-Factor abilities for quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers.

This small change will definitely give a little more power to defenses. After all, many top Madden pros have a very different defense for a formation like Gun Trips TE than they do for Singleback Tight Slots. Now they will be able to implement those defenses more effectively.

Knowing this information before you ever call your defensive play is a big step forward in the right direction for gameplay balance.

Do you like this new change or would you rather they have kept it the same? Let us know in the comments.

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Eric
Eric
5 years ago

Yeah… don’t like that change at all…

KB
KB
5 years ago

That’s

KB
KB
5 years ago

That’s just TRASH…well that just solidified my decision on buying madden 20 #NOTHANKS

Ben
Ben
5 years ago
Reply to  KB

this solidified your decision? A minor gameplay change that you can easily just not look at? Why is this such a huge problem for you? Just don’t look at it, not that big of a deal

Zia
Zia
5 years ago

This feels like a necessary change in light of decreased time between plays as the offense comes to the line.

John Doe
John Doe
5 years ago

All those mad at this change screw you now your 1 play 1 formation BS will not work effectively which means you will have to adjust and mix up your formations & plays about time EA helps the defense out some!

Chad
Chad
5 years ago

Why all the crying? In football a team comes out in their packages, then lines up in the formation.
Are you really going to change your defensive personnel differently knowing shotgun or not? You shouldn’t or you have no idea how to run a Madden defense. 4 WR under center I would defend package wise with the same as 4WR shotgun. My defensive formation would switch up slightly.
Stop the crying, this is no big deal and not new. Been playing Madden since it was only called Madden. EA sports recycle old ideas, and this was in the game years ago and removed.

Mello
Mello
5 years ago

This going t suck for ppl that just do 2-3 plays… I love the change… that’s real football

TailgateAK
TailgateAK
5 years ago

That was in madden 17, not sure about 18 and 19, but DEFINITELY 17.

Irvin P
Irvin P
5 years ago

The people that don’t get it really , don’t know football, you have your player maker,x factor, like football for dummies,if you know what you’re doing, that alone on offense is a challenge in itself

Seb
Seb
5 years ago

Easy way to overcome this problem for a high tier player is to come out in a formation then change it at the line. Again another failed attempt to balance the game…