Thanks to the work by Bill over at Operation Sports he found that the sliders in Madden are animation triggers more than they are difficulty sliders. For years we have all complained about suction blocking, well Bill?s work found that the pass block and run block slider determined how far away a defender had to be before the offensive player would attempt to block him. The higher the setting the further away the blocking animation is started (suction blocking). Now once the block is engaged the pass rush slider determines how easily the defender can break the block.
Tackling works much the same way. The higher the slider the further away the tackle animation is started. Once the tackle animation is started the RB ability slider determines how well the ball carrier can break out of the tackle. Now in NCAA this also effects how quick the ball carrier moves as well. If you set it to 100 you will see the CPU ball carrier move quickly and erratically.
Pass coverage determines how quickly the defender reacts to the receiver, the higher the slider the quicker the defender will react to a receivers breaks in a route while in man coverage or how quickly a defender will pick up a receiver coming into his zone. It also determines how well a jam will work. The interception slider is self explanatory.
The QB accuracy slider and the WR catching slider work in combination with each other in that the WR catching slider determines more than just how often the WR will catch the ball. Starting at the LOS it will determine the WR?s ability to get off a jam, at the break it will determine how much of a separation the wide receiver will get in the break and then once a ball is thrown it will determine how aggressive the receiver will go after the ball and then catch the ball. The QB accuracy slider determines where the ball will be placed within an area; however it also seems to determine how often the QB will have a wild throw.
Now ratings play a part in all of this. Even with the pass block slider at zero and the pass rush slider at 100 if you have a good offensive lineman matched up against a poor defender he will still make the block.
In these sliders I have tried to make everything realistic. The amount of time you have until the pass rush gets to you, how the offensive and defensive line interacts in the running game and how quickly the defender reacts to a receivers break in a route were the big things I looked at.
