Run:Pass Ratio

[tdogg097]

I'm about 4 years into my franchise which is saying a lot because I haven't made it past my first season in years. M24 is fun. I try to keep the gameplay sliders on default and focus my attention on penalty adjustments. I have a set that I feel is pretty dialed in.

The problem I'm having right now is the AI passing too much. I've tried multiple slider adjustments but no matter what once the CPU abandons the run game they basically never go back to it. Even up multiple scores in the 4th quarter they will pass every down. I've checked out a few threads on here and noticed other people with similar experiences.

I'm curious to see what people's actual run pass ratio is on defense. I'd like to see what other people are seeing. Please post your stats below.

[tdogg097]

This is the breakdown of my 5 games in year 4.

19 run, 51 pass
18, 41
18, 31
11, 40
17, 47
Total: 83 run (28%), 210 pass (72%), 293 total

I didn't think it was that bad until I looked at the stats. Don't really know what to do to fix it. When the AI throws 40 times every game eventually you are going to start giving up yards and points.

[Jagsfan24]

Still amazes me that just a few years ago with this game we had the opposite problem where the cpu ran the ball too much and never threw it, now we are complaining they are throwing too much. I try not to look at this issue too much because we are in a passing league in real life, so I expect most teams to throw it more.

One thing I was told that if you do want to get the cpu to run the ball more then go switch your profile to the team you are about to play and change their offensive playbook to the Titans or a run balanced playbook and that should help a bit

[Dannymac420]

Was able to fix this by changing the CPU playbook to CHI and now the CPU plays beautifully, mixing in runs and passes, qb runs, wr sweeps, short dink and dunk passes. They actually milk the clock and have long drives now. Only thing is you have to remember to change the playbook back after the game or sim stats will be broken. I personally make every teams playbook to KC because the game has the opposite problem when simming, they barely throw.

So long story short, make CPU playbook CHI when playing games and change it to KC when simming.

[sportsgamingguy2023]

Playbooks used have just as much of an effect, if not more, on how the game plays out as sliders. 50% or more of what is wrong with the game is playbook oriented.

Whether it is because the run/pass ratios of plays in the books are skewed, or the playbooks only use 20% of available plays, or the rating system in the playbook is not properly set up. It's a HUGE influence on what you see the cpu do on the field.

People chase sliders day after day, and there is some value in that...except for those who change values almost daily. Silly and ineffective. Playbooks need the same scrutiny and updates, but you then get into restrictions on what you can do with "custom" playbooks. Stinks.

[British Bronco]

Dannymac and Sportsgamingguy are correct.

Its about playbooks. Sliders won't save this. Run/pass ratios on vanilla Madden are not accurate, in my view by quite some distance.

The NFL average is around 42% to 58% pass.

I've been helping Sabo with his CPU vs CPU mod so have run about 20 weeks of testing all the playbooks in controlled experiments. (SpeedHack via CheatEngine is such an advantage when it comes to saving time!)

Worth mentioning that for PC gamers Sabo has been working on improving run/pass ratios anyway.

Anyway for console users you need to change the CPU playbook.

Danny mentioned Chicago and I agree that's a good one. However I'm not sure that's not an ideal one to give the a team with a non mobile QB like Captain Kirk or Stafford, because of the option runs. Philly and Baltimore are also good playbooks for mobile QBs.

Two other playbooks I would recommend to help you are the New Orleans and Tampa Bay playbooks. They don't have option runs as far as I can see, so would suit more static QBs and both will improve the run/pass ratio to a significant extent although often Madden will frustrate you with the randomness.

I disagree about the Tennesse PB this year. In previous Maddens it was fantastic for lots of run plays by the CPU. Not so this year. It's awful in my experience and in my testing the Titans consistently ran at most 20 run plays a game. Perhaps EA forgot that Mike Vrabel has King Henry on his team, and that Vrable is not a pass wacky Don Coryell acolyte.

[tdogg097]

Quote: Originally Posted by British Bronco

Two other playbooks I would recommend to help you are the New Orleans and Tampa Bay playbooks. They don't have option runs as far as I can see, so would suit more static QBs and both will improve the run/pass ratio to a significant extent although often Madden will frustrate you with the randomness.

Saints playbook is definitely not working for me. That is actually the game I'm stuck on. They have Darnold as their QB at like 72 over. They have D.Cook as their RB and they throw 75% of the time when I play them.

[British Bronco]

Quote: Originally Posted by tdogg097

Saints playbook is definitely not working for me. That is actually the game I'm stuck on. They have Darnold as their QB at like 72 over. They have D.Cook as their RB and they throw 75% of the time when I play them.

That's a shame. Perhaps Sabo's changes mean the NO Saints playbook works better via his mod.

Try Tampa Bay?

One thing I would say from testing is that you need at least 5-6 runs at it, and then rely on the aggregate data over all the games.

Madden just has so much random "dice rolls".