One of the biggest areas of focus this year was on completely revamping the way we play defense in Madden 17. There hasn’t been a change this drastic in game play since Madden 25.
So what have we learned so far about Madden 17?
Gap heat is gone (for now) – Blitzes in Madden 17 have taken on a completely different look than in the past couple of years. Last year’s Madden was dominated by gap heat. Everything from mike scrape 3, big dime turbo and dime flat made playing defense a thing of beauty. In Madden 17 the “nano detection†system and the way the offensive line block has made gap heat defense a thing of the past. This year’s blitzes will be dominated with edge blitzes and overloads at this point. Thankfully with the Tombstone Defense we here at Madden Turf have devised a complete defensive scheme that will you dominate in Madden 17.
Coverage has been revamped- The best addition in Madden 17 has been all of the different zone variations that have been implemented into this year’s game. Gone are the days where you can only one kind of light blue, purple and deep blue zones. Now you can tailor your coverage on defense to what your opponent is doing. One of the best parts of the Tombstone Defense is that the blitzes allow for a lot of adjustments behind them. As a player who likes to adjust heavily behind the stock defensive coverage what makes Madden 17 enjoyable to me is that you are rewarded for making the proper adjustment on defense. When a flat plays the flat correctly on defense it is a thing of beauty. I don’t think anything was as frustrating last year on defense as calling the proper adjustment and your opponent throwing it for a completion right into the area your defender was supposed to be.
Block sheds and Fumbles- Defense at this stage of the year is plagued with block sheds and fumbles. Tailoring your team and your scheme to what is successful in this year’s game will be crucial. Personally with the amount of fumbles being created by big hits this year I have placed a bigger focus on hit power with the personnel I add into my MUT team. Block sheds have also been extremely high at this point of the year. While last year it was ok to have Vic Beasley on your team because he had great speed for that mike scrape 3 b-gap this year it would be more to your benefit to have players on your team that have high ratings in finesse move, power move and block shed.
As always we at Madden Turf are committed to providing you with the tools you need to succeed. Make sure to pick up the Tombstone defense and start to dominate on the sticks!
Gus
Turf Team