Madden NFL 2000 Player's Guide
Based on the PC Version Patch 4
(I know nothing about any other version)
Leif Powers
Stock e-mail address: LEPmf@yahoo.com
Version 1.01
May 11, 2003
The copyright and allowable usage of this document
is described by the legal statement at
http://www.leifpowers.com/
Among other things, it says that this document may be
distributed freely, but in a WHOLE (not excerpted) form.
Go to the website if you want to do something else with
this document.
1234567890
..........
If the numbers and periods aren't lined up,
you'd better look at this in a monospace font or something,
man.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. What this is and why
2. Controls and whatnot
3. How to run various offensive plays
4. How to run various defensive plays
5. Custom plays that can kill an offense
6. Custom plays that can kill a defense
7. Special teams
8. Madden Challenge
9. Franchise Mode
10. Miscellaneous
11. Links/Greets/Credits
12. How To Get/How To Use (only thing new added)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. What this is and why
This is a Madden 2000 FAQ/guide. This exists because I want to write
down all of this garbage that I was wondering about and had researched.
This is what I think I might forget. I haven't thoroughly scrutinized
some parts of this, so don't take everything as canon.
**NOTE** I will try to use "ratings" to describe a player's abilities,
and "stats" to describe his INTs, tackles, etc. The usage may not
always be consistent, though.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Controls and whatnot
Some of the controls for this game can be gotten out of tutorial
mode, but some can't. What follows here is the use of some controls
that are not immediately obvious, or which need the right touch to
get the best effect. The rest are included for completeness.
These are just what I think the buttons are labelled on my controller.
They're only there for grouping. I'm sure they're different on
everybody else's controller. Also, the DirectX labeling is screwed
up on Madden 2000. It says one thing in one place and another in
another place.
*NOTE* You can check out EA's FTP site to download a PSX manual with
all of the commands in it. Also, they have updated rosters there. But
the PSX manual is not where the rosters is. Don't ask me where it is,
because I don't remember. :)
----------
Menu Screens
Button 2/4
Accept/Cancel - obvious.
Button 3
Shift from one part of a menu to the next - not so obvious. One
thing that can be done in the menu screens is to move the mouse
from one menu to the next and then to manipulate that menu with
the controller/keyboard/whatever. You can replicate this by
using the Select Button. This key is merely for switching within
the current menu.
Start Button
Start - be careful with whatever button is Start. It can have pretty
unpredictable effects. If you use Button 1 to pull up the in-game
help for you, anything that has "Spacebar" by it will be the
function of the Start Button in that particular context.
Button 5 and 6: These adjust ratings by big chunks, instead of one
unit at a time. They can be used in the player creation menu.
Also, they adjust penalty levels as a whole to the left (on the
slider bar) or right.
**NOTE**
When trying to select a stadium, if you don't press Start to go right
to the controller selection screen, you need to go back to the main
stadium select portion of the dialog box. Don't cancel the box when
you're in the weather selection part of it. Press the accept button
when you're in the normal selection.
You can also press Button 5 and 6 to flip backwards and forwards
through the list of available stadiums.
**NOTE**
In the stats/depth chart screens, you can use the directional pad
or stick to move over and see more stuff.
*NOTE*
When you pick a team, you can randomly select a team from either
the current 31 teams or all the teams. To do this, hit Button 5
to get the current teams for the first team, and hit Button 6 for all
the teams for the first team. Button 7 and 8 do the same thing
for the second team.
*NOTE*
To edit a player on the roster, simply go to the Roster menu, then
start viewing the roster you like, and press the Start Button to
get an editing window for the player on which the highlighted bar
currently rests (the player's vitals and photograph are shown at
the top of the menu). Using this feature, you can
give any team you want any ratings you want. This is quite useful for
the "Madden Challenge: Franchise Mode - 4 Super Bowl wins" task.
*NOTES*
If you want to play a particular game in a current week, hit Button
2 when you have it highlighted. It should add a "check" mark next to it.
If you DON'T want to play a game in the current week, hit Button 2
over the highlighted game (it should have a "check" mark next to it).
If you want to skip through a series of games, change the Week number
by pressing Right or Left in the "Play Week" screen and then paging
through the schedule to the week at which you want the final games to
be simulated, then press the Start Button.
Simulate an entire season by moving to Week 17 and pressing the
Start Button, then move to each individual playoff week by pressing
right after each playoff week is played.
If you want to see your stats in a particular game already played
in a current season, or see those of other games, hit Button 2 on the
game you want to see in "Play Week" and it will bring up the
end-of-game stats.
----------
Create Play Mode
D-Pad/Stick: Change assignments for each player.
Button 2/3 : Switch back and forth between players.
In Save Screen:
You can switch between all your plays for choosing which ones to keep
and which ones to save over. To do this, use Button 3 and then use
Button 2 to either change the name of the play or to grab the play
and move it around.
----------
Practice Mode
When a play isn't running, one button will respot the ball and another
will go right into the play selection screen. On my controller, these
are Button 7 and 8 respectively.
Button 5 and 6 adjust all of a player's rating scales by 1
increment when you are in the "Rate Player" menu.
----------
Normal Game
These are for other than throwing the ball manually with the QB.
When throwing the ball, you can't use any other command except
the ones for passing the ball to a receiver, and for throwing
the ball away. With directional passing, you point at the receiver
you would like to throw to, and with the normal passing, you hit
the receiver's button.
Note that the offensive commands for running like speed bursts and
jumps make you more susceptible to fumbling.
Remember that in order to change personnel (from I-Form to I-3WR for
example) use directional left and right at the play selection box.
Start Button: Brings up in-game menu/can select some options and
accept some menus.
Select Button: Call a time-out.
Button 1
Dive - dive. On offense, dive for extra yardage. On defense, kill
the guy you're trying to tackle. Better than power tackling. You
can also catch balls by diving.
Sit down - When you're the quarterback, and you don't have control
over the passing (you've let the computer pass for you) then you
can sit down with this if you can't find any receivers open. But
you rarely fumble when you get sacked so it doesn't really matter.
It usually turns out that the pass rush actually seems to slow down
when you sit.
Audible - Before the play, either the offense or the defense can
audible. The audibles will be set up beforehand, so you just hit
the button for whatever play you want to call. Hit Button 4 to
revert to the play that was last run or was called in the huddle.
Button 2
Snap Ball - This button doesn't give you control over the passing.
You have to hit the button again to do that.
Take Control - Pass to your receivers like normal.
Speed Burst - This keeps you from doing any other move. Can make
you harder to tackle.
Change Defenders - This doesn't seem to work too well. It tends to
get the guy one away from the one who's closest to the ball.
Rush To The Line: If you want to run back to the line straight
after the play is over (to run a no-huddle offense), hold this
button after the whistle to rally the players back to the line.
This is an offensive button - you can't run a "no-huddle"
defense.
Button 3
Speed Burst - on defense. This seems to be a pretty powerful move.
It doesn't freeze you and keep you from doing other things like the
offensive burst does. It can grind into guys and throw them down
and keep you upright when you're getting blocked. You need to do this
on the kick returns and the FG/punt blocks.
Spin - on offense only. Only really works when you're all alone with
some other sap, and you are both shooting for the pylon or something.
Then, you can do this, and cut back behind the guy, thereby making it
into the end zone or whatever. If you're not parallel with the line
of scrimmage, this is very useless.
Hard Count: You can say "HUUT" or "SEEHT" when you use this button
as the quarterback under center or in the shotgun. Supposedly, this
makes false starts and encroachments more likely. I don't know so
much about that.
Stop Clock: When you are running the no huddle offense, you can use
this for the QB spike play to burn a down and stop the clock.
Button 4
Jump - catch passes, tip passes, block punts, jump over people on the
ground, whatever.
Cancel Formation Selection - explanatory.
Throw Ball Away - You must be outside the "tight end box" in order
to do this without a penalty. That is, get outside where the tight
end lines up to do this.
Call For Fair Catch: When you are getting a kick or punt, call for
a fair catch with this so you don't fumble the ball when you won't
get many yards. I don't use this that much, but it works well on
plays like Punt Return Safe, when the gunners may be too close
for you to get an effective return.
Hot Route Selection - Hit this button on offense before the play
begins and you can hold your receiver's button and a direction to
change his route:
Up+Button=Streak (PSX manual says Fly...)
Down+Button=Curl
Left+Button=Out/In (depending on which side your receiver is on)
Right+Button=see L+Button
Button 5
Juke Left - great move. This is what you use to get around corners
and guys on special teams. It moves you slightly left or right,
so get close to the guy who's trying to tackle you and make them
miss.
Line Shift - moves your line over (on top of the tight end), under
(back over the left tackle) or just in the middle. A move you need
to use if you are going to stuff inside runs or use the dirty tactics
I will describe later.
Scouting Report: In the Franchise or Season modes (and possibly
elsewhere) use this button when the play week screen is being displayed
to bring up a scouting report window, the same one as in Exhibition
mode.
Button 6
Juke Right - on offense.
Swim Move - on defense, if a blocker tries to get you stuffed, use
this to put your hands on the guy and shove his shoulder behind you,
thus using the guy to "swim". This doesn't work often, and often you
will be thrown way off course (but sometimes that's what you want on
special teams and while rushing around the tackles).
Flip Play: When you are calling plays, you may want to flip the play
so you can screw up and get an interception. ^^ Alternatively, you
may want to flip the play to take advantage of the wide side of the
field. Use this button to flip the plays when you are calling them.
This does not work on defensive plays or special teams plays.
Bump 'N' Run Coverage: You can hit this button before the snap to
bring one of your safeties in closer to the line of scrimmage and
pull the other into the middle of the field, on some plays. However,
it does not change any of the assignments (blitz, zone, etc.) so
it's just cosmetic mostly, and can often be harmful.
Button 7
Instant Replay - Press this after the play has been blown
dead to bring up the instant replay screen. You can also hold the
button if you know the play will end soon. Refer to the directions
on the instant replay screen for what to do there.
Route-Based Passing - This is just a bunch of hogwash that purports to
"throw the ball according to the receiver's route". It doesn't. Trust
me. You have much better ways of getting the ball to your receiver
than this. You must hold the button and press the button for your
receiver at the same time.
Lateral - You can lateral the ball to your backs if you are the QB
and you haven't yet taken control of the passing game. Also, you can
lateral it behind you if you're the ballcarrier and you've got someone
in the vicinity. Great for fumbling, but it does have its uses.
You can also lateral the ball forwards in some cases. I have seen
offensive linemen get the ball from a HB who's right behind them.
Button 8
Quiet Down/Rile Up The Crowd - The crowd noise doesn't have much of
an effect on the game, so why you would want to do this...it's just
for show. You can only influence the crowd if you're in your home
stadium though. You can do it on the offense at any pre-snap time
and you can do it on defense, but you can't be down -
you must be standing up to make the home crowd get noisy.
Pump Fake - This is useless. All it does is get you sacked. You must
hold the button and press the button of the receiver to which you
wish to fake.
Stiff Arm - Stiff arm a guy. You won't escape every tackle with this.
**NOTE**
If you have a play where a man can be moved into motion,
you must move the stick/pad left or right to move him. Sometimes you
can repeatedly move the same guy back and forth. Use this to split guys
out away from the line, or to overload a side. Note that the route of
the receiver will not change, so a post will become a cornerish route,
and such.
**NOTE**
Fake out your opponent by pressing Button 7 + one of the playcalling
buttons while in the play selection screen to choose the play in the
row after the current one, and Button 5 + a playcalling button to
choose the play in the row before the current one (assuming you press
Down to cycle through the rows).
**NOTE**
You can break various kinds of tackles (especially arm
tackles at your legs) by hitting a button on the same side
to where the defender is (and possibly hitting the pad/stick wildly),
relative to your player's torso.
**NOTE**
On plays where "PA" appears in the name, or where routes go
through the middle, you can often lateral the ball to your backs to
run the football.
----------
Kicking Game
D-Pad/Stick: Aim the kick one way or the other in the horizontal
direction once the kicking power meter has been activated.
Button 2: Set the kicking meter in motion. Another press of this
button will set the meters in place (including the horizontal
meter), and your player will make the kick. Don't wait too long to
kick it or you'll get a shank.
Button 3: Make a squib kick/driving punt that goes horizontally.
Button 4. Make a high, arching pooch kick/punt.
*NOTE* On field goals, you can only go a normal field goal kick.
You can make it go to the left or right, however.
-----------
Replays/Cameras
The instructions in the game are sufficient.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. How to run various offensive plays
This section will talk about some of my bread-and-butter plays
from the basic playbook. I have a custom playbook, so don't think
that I got all this from one of the individual teams' playbooks.
Before I get nitty-gritty, let me tell you about some of the funny
things you want to do when you get under center.
1. If the play is a pass, look at the defensive front. If someone
is in front of your tight end, you're going to have to read him later
in the play because he's going to get chipped. If the defense has
extra defensive backs in the game, then if you have a third or fourth
receiver in the game, you need to make sure that those receivers are is
really open before you throw to him. The extra defensive backs can
oftentimes pick up the slot receivers or the running backs and
and shut him down. If they've brought a safety into the
middle and the other safety is pulled up to the line, look to go deep
against single coverage on the outside. Don't look at the line after
you snap the ball and are looking to throw because
your linemen will usually protect you. Just try and find an open guy.
If you have guys all stacked up on the line, don't expect your slot
receiver or your tight end to break free of them. You always want to
look to the outside against heavy concentrations in the middle.
If the play is a run, also look at the defensive front. See which
linemen and linebackers are going to get blocked by which of your
guys. You can find the places where holes are going to open up this
way, by seeing who has the inside edge on a certain guy. If you don't
see much of anything inside, try to bounce it outside if you're near
the outside. Try to be patient with the inside run because guys can
shut you down if you go outside too much.
When you see this:
LB
RE DT DT LE
LT LG C RG RT
you want to take it up the middle, whereas here:
RE DT LB DT LE
LT LG C RG RT
you want to punch it between the left tackle and left guard.
Also, when you want to put a running play in your playbook,
or learn how to use a particular play you already have, let the
CPU run the play about 50 times in different situations. It can
give you tips about what to look for from different fronts,
and also about how to deal with certain types of situations.
Against the 3-4, you want to go through and run some of your plays
against the various fronts you see in there. Just go into Practice
mode and try to beat every play in the 3-4 book (you will need to
choose a 3-4 team's playbook, the Global one won't work. The teams
that run the 3-4 in Madden 2000 are Cincinnati, the New York Jets,
and the Steelers). When you see the linebackers compressed, you can
complete things in the slots more. Also, try to wait a little bit
once everyone is set in their positions on the line (watch the play
clock if you do this, so you don't lose 5 yards. Also, be aware
that guys on both sides of the line will draw penalties more often)
and see if the safeties or corners cheat. Sometimes they will run
up to the line and show their blitz. You can REALLY burn them
if they show you their blitz (for an example, send people deep against
3-4 Crash Blitz). Don't try to force something in the middle against
the 3-4, just wait and keep running at the guards. The 3-4 in Madden
2000 is weak against runs through the gaps at guard, unless the inside
linebackers blitz, and then you know what to do...throw over the
open middle.
2. When you are looking to beat a zone, try and send guys on slants
and crossing routes across the middle. Alternatively, use some outs
and curls inside to get either inside or outside of the zone on the
outside. When you try to throw the crossing route, you MUST read the
entire line of coverage across the route your receiver is taking:
you WILL get picked off by a guy you never saw coming if you don't.
This is how you want to do this most of the time.
FS SS
<-----------TE
RCB ROLB LILB | LOLB LCB
|
|
|
If you're working against a look like this (one play that can
work like this is Nickel Under 2 Deep) you need to throw the ball
right when the TE clears the LILB, because if you throw it in the
middle, the ROLB can come over and pick off the ball. Alternatively,
if that FS is moving up a little, he can pick off the ball too.
Go to another receiver if you see your guy getting squeezed by
the coverage. The crossing routes and the ins and those things can
work real well against these 2-deep zones, but you MUST have a
lane and you MUST have timing to throw these.
If you're looking to throw a curl or a hook or something, you need
to have run the play beforehand. The timing in Madden 2000 is not
quite right, and the play diagrams don't have too much to do with
what the play is. Throw the ball right as your receiver begins the
final motion to curl or hook. One thing that you really need to
watch out for with the 2-deep zones is the linebacker or nickel or
dime back. He can get himself in the lane you need to throw in.
Don't try to throw one of those fastballs at a curl when a guy
is in the way.
Another way to toast people when they use zones is to go very deep.
Sending your best receiver out on a bomb and throwing the ball up
to him is a great way to work against the safety if your best receiver
is above 85 OVR. These really kill the 2-deep stuff the computer
likes to use.
Watch out for your shallow receivers with zones. Oftentimes, a corner
will match up against your fullback if you wait too long. I don't need
to tell you how that turns out, do I?
3. When you try to beat man coverage, throw it up to your best
receiver, over the head of his coverage. When the receiver is in
single and he's beaten the corner, just tap that receiver's button
and hold the stick/pad all the way forward. Most of the time, it won't
be picked off. If you can't quite do that, either because you don't
have time or because you have none of those deep routes, try to dump
it off to one of your backs. Madden 2000's man coverage locks guys in
pretty tight to their targets, so an entire side of the field
can clear out if you have two guys on that side. Then you can get it
to your fullback and pick up 8-10 yards easy. Just watch for a
linebacker moving over to cover your guy.
Another point to remember is that sometimes, you will have your target
over to the side of his coverage. Try not to throw a bullet over that
way, because the safety or the corner can step in front of it. Try to
give it a lob and hold the stick/pad all the way to the side that your
receiver's on. These can be risky throws, but you don't get tackled as
often as with some others.
If none of your receivers are open, then look for passes you can
make where you take control of the receiver and pull him off his
route in order to catch the ball. For example, if your WR is moving
in to a situation like this:
^ FS
CB|
|
WR
|
|
|
|
| QB
then throw the ball to him, but take control of the receiver and
get the ball before the coverage can, like so:
FS
CB
/--WR
|
| * (ball)
| \
| \
| QB
In this way, you can get your WR the ball deep and the defense
can't do anything about it.
4. Remember that Brett Favre gets picked off if the defense is aware
of where he wants to put the ball. Don't always use a bullet. They
get tipped at the line of scrimmage and they can get stuck in traffic.
Use the lobs (soft taps) and medium shots when you need to make it
over linebackers or some other layer of coverage. Also, try to put a
little ease-up on the ball if you're throwing a pass of less than 6
yards. Those things get tipped very easily and there aren't a lot of
real OL lanes in Madden 2000, due to the way in which the line is
programmed to block. But that having been said, some passes, like when
your receiver is on the inside of the corner and the safety has
drifted over, need a bullet. Use discretion with your pass selection.
5. Remember who your guys are, and I'm not talking about your guys are
in white and theirs are in black. Don't throw it up to your running
back and tight end and expect them to make miracle catches. You want
to lay the ball on those guys - get them matched up against a guy and
then throw the ball so that it hits them. The best kind of matchup
like this is your tight end against the safety. Just hurl that ball
against your tight end and he'll catch it. Throw those desperation
bombs to your wide receivers and only throw to your other guys when
they're open or you have the lane to lay it on them.
6. Don't give up just because the ball got tipped. You can catch that
tipped ball and start running with it. Just take control of the closest
guy and run for the ball. Even if you got the ball knocked out of your
grasp, you can still have the ball fall on you, and your receiver can
catch it.
7. It's not really possible to focus on what's happening in the pocket,
but keep that in your peripheral vision and try to move to green areas
if things get colorful behind you ("stepping up in the pocket"). If you
don't have anyone open, just move outside where your tight end lined
up (or would line up) and throw it away. Don't be a fool. But right
before you do that, check to make sure your receivers on that side
you're rolling out to really are all covered. Sometimes, they'll come
back to help you and you can drill it into them.
8. When you're running on the inside, you may or may not have success
with hitting the hole using the Speed Burst. Some people say that the
best way is to just move into it and then dodge or stiff arm the guy
who comes in to tackle you. However, I've had better luck aiming
myself at the hole I want, and then hitting the Speed Burst right
before I enter the hole.
9. Make sure to read that front. If you run to the
outside, practice juking at an angle. You can beat the cornerback so
many times by just running up to him and then juking to the inside.
It almost looks like a swim move when done properly and it can get you
15-99 extra yards on a play. You should try to juke in any situation
where you and the defender are on a collision course because it changes
the whole situation:
|
|
|
X
\
\
\
becomes:
Home free!!
| |
| \
| /
| \
| \
Drat.
Running the football in this game is really about finesse, since
you can get tackled by touching somebody's hand. The more finesse you
have, the easier it is to break big ones.
10. If you want to be able to rip apart defenses, run certain plays
200 times or more. Make notes of the line stunts and the coverages
the CPU or a human would run against you and use to stop you. Then,
you can note down "keys" with which to first read the defense and
figure out what the defensive play is, then throw to the appropriate
receiver.
----------
I-Form Flats
This play sends your two wide receivers on streaks, your tight
end on a deep post/slant, your fullback into the flat, and your
running back out into nowhere. The reason you want to to use this
play is because it sets up the CPU defense for a fall, and it moves
guys into good places to punish people for bringing up guys to help
stop the run.
The first thing you want to read is your tight end, if the defense
is in a 4-3. If he is open, throw it to him. Usually something bad
is happening to your line if your tight end gets open early on this
play against a 4-3. The next thing you want to read are the safeties.
If one of them moves over, bullet it to the wide receiver which the
safety is moving away from, you'll usually have a guy open inside.
Against the 4-3 Pinch, you won't, but your tight end tips you off to
the fact that it's a zone by moving right alongside the linebacker.
Then look to see whether you can throw it to your fullback. Against
man coverage, you can make big gains with him after the catch. If
your wide receivers have beaten the corners yet, or if they are only
matched up against the safety, throw it to them. Otherwise, sling the
ball to your halfback to avoid getting sacked, or throw it away.
Against a nickel or dime defense, you want to read the safeties first,
then go back to your tight end (since he will get hit by the line or
a blitz and he won't get out as quickly). Also, watch for the extra
defensive backs in man coverage. Sometimes you think the safety will
move over and you can throw to your first wide receiver, but he's
gotten smothered by the nickel back in the meantime. Don't try to get
it to him through that, it usually doesn't work.
Against some kinds of 4-3 defenses (Sweet Blitz, Double X, and one
other, I think) your tight end is going to get open very quickly. If
you don't throw it to him, you're probably going to get sacked.
You can move your tight end to either side of the line by pressing
left or right.
----------
I-Form HB Option Pass
This is a nice play. The trick you need to remember here is how you
deal with a streaking receiver. If he's behind the guy, lob. If he's
beside the guy, hold to your right. If he's in front of the guy, well,
just run for your life. I don't recommend throwing to the tight end
here because he's way too far away to read with any consistency. Throw
the ball away if you can't run it. This is a good way to pick up 10
yards for your halfback and save your yards-per-rush average if the
play goes wrong. You can also throw the ball away if you want to.
----------
I-3WR WR Streaks
This is like I-Form Flats in many ways, but instead of having that
tight end in the middle, you have a WR in the right slot, and your
HB stays home to help with pass protection. You're also going to be
seeing mostly nickel and dime packages against this one. Read it
mostly as you do Flats, but with that slot receiver, he can get
open in a hurry, so read him first and try to throw it in the opposite
direction from the safety, because he tends to bang up against your
guy.
----------
I-3WR QB Sneak
This is the play you get a one-yard shove with. If you can, try
to get your center uncovered by audibling to change your opponent's
play. You just want to piggyback your center mostly, but sometimes
you can try reading the opposing front and moving to where you think
a hole is going to be.
----------
Pro Form Quick Toss
This play can get you big yards. The first thing you want to do,
unless the defense is in that tight 3-4 where you can just outrun the
linebackers, is to move your fullback into motion with left or right
to put him outside of your halfback. Then read the linebacker or nickel
back to see whether you need to stop and let the guy run, or you need
to just burn rubber to the outside. When you get close to the
cornerback, juking him usually gets him out of the way.
----------
Single Back 4WR Free Middle
First read to the left (deeper route) slot receiver. Throw it to him
quickly if he's open, because he won't be for long most of the
time. Then read back to the right slot receiver. Then read outside to
your second wide receiver on the curl. He should be open most of the
time. If all else fails, check your first wide receiver (the one on
the deep in). You can sometimes get him across the middle. If the
safety on the first wide receiver's side breaks inside (if he's in
man or he's blitzing basically) throw a lob to that first wide
receiver because he should be able to beat the cornerback.
----------
Single Back HB Dive
I'm mentioning this play because this is probably the easiest to run
and the best of all the plays that go between the tackles. What you
need to do for this is just to hit the hole that your center is going
to make when he goes up and tries to block the linebacker. That only
works if the linebacker is right over the center though. And it won't
work if that linebacker is really good compared to your center. Welcome
to inside running. You do need to make those reads elsewhere to see
where holes can open up. Try to audible to place the linebacker over
your center.
----------
Single Back TE Middle
Your first read on this play is inside to the slot receiver. If he gets
the edge on the nickel back, throw it to him. Next is the tight end.
He's going to go over the middle, so watch out all along that line.
Your next read is to the outside and your receivers. If none of these
guys have done anything, go back to the tight end and roll out to
his side (which should be the left if you're not using it flipped) and
wait and see if you can get it to him. If not, throw it away.
----------
Special - Field Goal - Fake Field Goal Pass
On this play, the holder (your backup quarterback) takes the snap and
stands up. Your three receivers are a corner on the out to the left,
a WR on the out to the right, and your kicker on a route into the
flat on the left. Read the out routes first. If the corner doesn't
get the edge on the outside, then look back to your WR on the right,
because he tends to break open later. That wide receiver
also tends to get more separation. Your final option is that darned
kicker, who really is darned. He can hardly catch the ball. Use him
only as a last resort when he gets to the goal line, because most
kickers can't run worth shlackey. This play is pretty consistent,
but you won't succeed with it all the time due to the fact that the
kicker drops balls and the out routes are problematic for quarterbacks
in Madden 2000 to complete.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4. How to run various defensive plays
Again, a not-so-brief introduction.
1. Guys will kill you on the outside if you have all your players on
the inside. Make sure that if you opponent wants to run outside and
inside, you have some guys in zones in the flat. Try 4-3 Thunder and
4-3 Safe (but BEWARE of the deep pass against 4-3 Safe).
2. Lots of the nickel and dime plays will get you murdered on the
outside run. Don't think you're immune to a run outside on 3rd and 7.
3. At the end of the half, don't get cocky. Make sure to defend against
the pass as well as the run.
4. If you blitz guys, know that you can give up a lot of passes
over the middle.
5. In man coverage, you MUST give the corners help. They cannot keep
up with good wide receivers. If you put your safeties in zones,
make sure that you don't leave the middle unprotected. A medium slant
can go for 50 yards if you don't pay attention to this.
6. If you play zone, GET A PASS RUSH. If you give the opposing
quarterback time, all of the deep curls and hooks and things will
develop, and no matter what you try, you will get beaten for a 15 yard
pass.
7. Don't worry about containing the quarterback. Most of the time, the
quarterback won't escape your linemen.
8. The CPU wants to throw deep and to the inside if it feels the heat.
Make sure you can stop those passes.
9. Make sure to run defensive plays before a game and know what they
do to the line. In many cases, plays have funny stunt blitzes (like
4-3 Fire Man) that really neutralize the effectiveness of your
defense. In other cases, they put your defense on crack (4-3 Double
Zone, 4-3 Sweet Blitz). None of these, of course, are documented if
they're only rushes.
10. Anything with corner blitzes, safety blitzes, things like this -
you will be torn apart if you use them against a good quarterback.
You can get in very bad isolation situations where a safety is
matched up against a wide receiver and the wide receiver gets a pass
to the outside. Moreover, the safety blitzes make you vulnerable to
the bomb. You can't count on these plays to get you anywhere most of
the time, especially with the safety blitz. Sometimes with the
corner blitz, the corner will bump the WR, but usually, the WR runs
free.
11. Try not to have linemen stunting on run defense. It really kills
you inside to have those holes open up.
12. You better have that middle covered if your opponent goes out
of the shotgun. The quarterback can go so deep that he's almost
untouchable. Then he can throw so deep that you can't stop it.
Also, try to blitz a defensive back against the shotgun, to give
the QB less time than with a linebacker.
13. On passing downs, try to come up with an unconventional rush.
For example, try moving your DT over the OT, and move your DE on
that side to the outside, then run around the edge. This works
well against quarterbacks that like to drop deep and make long
passes. Another formula is to stunt the end and rush him between
the DTs. This can open up big holes in the offensive line. A
third is to blitz a nickel back off the edge and get the passer
with speed. When you use these sorts of rushes, you can often
make the CPU quarterback get rid of the ball quickly (and foolishly).
14. If you blitz a defensive back, try to move him close to the
line of scrimmage, if at all possible. These guys don't get much
of a rush unless they get closer than they usually are.
15. DO NOT control the same player every time on a given play, unless
that player is absolutely essential for the success of the play.
Tipping off your opponent to what the play is gives him the ability to
learn from previous reads and mistakes, and use that information to
find the open receiver and burn you, or to run a certain way to get
you blocked. The least that can happen is that the quarterback will
audible out of the play. Don't do it to yourself.
16. Scout the other team's plays before and during play. Sometimes,
the CPU will only run two or three plays out of a certain formation.
Then, you can use that information to figure out what routes the
CPU will run, or where the RB will go, and thus shut down the play
in question. A good tactic is to look at the CPU's use of motion.
Oftentimes, you will recognize a play that you run, or you will
recognize a play that the CPU has run before in the game, and you
can shut it down.
----------
4-3 Safe
This play...you must never call it when you have a realistic threat
of a deep pass. It is easy to get toasted on this. You are NOT safe
when using this play. It kills runs though, better than some goal
line plays. The secondary coverage on this play is just broken
beyond repair.
----------
4-3 Sweet Blitz
This is a MONSTER play. You can absolutely cream a short passing and
inside running offense with this play. Your ends stunt and your
tackles rush outside to create HUGE holes in the line. Moreover, the
linebacker blitz covers up for a lot of the deficiencies in the
inside running game. Watch out for the deep pass, though. The
quarterback has man coverage on the outside. If you want to screw up
some of the inside passes, take control of one of the linebackers
and back up into coverage instead of blitzing.
----------
4-3 Thunder
This play is like the 4-3 Safe, but it tends to leave the slots
very open. However, it jams up the tight ends like a dose of
sugar in a gas tank. If your opponent likes to run, this is
actually a relatively safe play. Watch out for the extreme edges of
the field, though. With enough blocking, the opposing team can
pound something out in there. This tends to match up well against
the big sets with two tight ends. If you want to move the guy
farthest back up onto the line to stop your opponent's favorite
outside run play, that's often a good idea.
----------
4-3 Double Zone
I'm not overly familiar with this play, but this is another example
of funny line stunts enhancing your defense. You need to be very
careful about the outside run, because good blocking will leave
your front seven behind. Also, make sure your opponent isn't the
kind of guy to throw it up when a wide receiver is matched up
against a safety.
----------
4-3 Fire Man
Despite its cool-sounding name, this play only burns you even
more than you were before. The only thing this play can do is
contain the offtackle and tackle-guard runs, and also the QB
rollout. It's very weak up the middle and it doesn't do an awful
lot for your passing defense.
----------
4-3 Double TE / 4-3 Double X
You can be very vulnerable with these plays against the outside
run. You can't get burned deep as much as you normally do
with the 4-3 Thunder, however.
----------
3-4 Man Under
This play is vulnerable deep to a bullet going to the first WR
if he's on a streak or something like this. If your opponent
likes to throw those kinds of passes, you are in deep trouble
with this play. Otherwise, it's okay. One way to mitigate the
effects of this play is to control the safety who moves into
the middle yourself and move him back to cover the WR.
----------
3-4 Safe
This play will screw most Madden players because the zones
trap and suffocate a lot of the easy-to-throw routes. But,
it is a predictable, two-deep zone that can get nailed by a
quarterback who has good timing and touch to put the ball in the
gaps. A VERY BAD drawback of this play is that running
up the gut between the defensive linemen will get 5-7 yards per
rush. You can't use this play in running situations.
----------
3-4 Crash Blitz
Another play with a cool name, but an awful defense. The reason
for this is that BOTH the corner and the safety on ONE side
blitz. Worse, sometimes, they'll show their blitz, signaling that
the WR on that side is totally uncovered. If he goes deep, that's
6 points you've just given up. The linebacker and safety on the
other side simply cannot catch up to the WR if he goes deep.
You could try controlling the corner, but why? Just don't use
this play.
----------
3-4 Stud / 3-4 Fox
These plays draw the linebackers close together, making you
vulnerable against the outside run in a big way. You're also
weak against the offtackle run. These plays are not really very
good, but you can pull a few tricks to make them better. One is
to splay the linebackers more to the outside, and another is
to pull up the safety (who may already be programmed to blitz)
and have him cover the outside run.
----------
3-4 Strong 3
This play doesn't do as much as you think it might from the
diagram. That linebacker who comes really doesn't do much; he
gets picked up pretty easily. You might try controlling him to
see if you can't do better. It is a good change of pace from
full-backward drops like 3-4 Safe.
----------
3-4 Quarters Man
The blitzing linebacker on this play just doesn't do much. He
takes a roundabout way of getting to the quarterback and the
hole left in coverage is nasty because that's the slot
receiver's playground. Since the guy in the slot tends to end
up in that hole fairly quickly, you'd best watch it. This is
not an overly good play compared to some of the others out of
the 3-4 like 3-4 Cover 2.
----------
Nickel Quarters Man / Nickel Cover 4
In contrast to 3-4 Quarters Man, Nickel Quarters Man and its
near-twin, Nickel Cover 4, are actually decent plays. They
are weak against deep curls and hooks and things, and you
aren't going to be well protected against outside and offtackle
runs. Other than that, the coverage is actually somewhat solid.
----------
Nickel Inside Blitz
This tends mainly to be an inside run stopper. It leaves a
guy in the right slot open, and that can be a deal killer because
the entire defense is in man coverage. You might try moving
the middle linebacker outside to get kind of a "Silver"-type
blitz.
----------
Nickel Silver / Dime Strike
These plays shut down most any inside run that you might
see in the nickel/dime situations. But you are
very weak in the slots, and you might or might not have luck
against the outside run. Try pulling up a safety or two like
you're going to blitz, then drop into coverage if it's a pass.
----------
Nickel Under 2 Deep
This play is all right, but it can be beat if you don't get
to the quarterback. If you are near the goal line in a passing
situation, this play is almost money, because you can't get beaten
deep as you could be in the open field.
----------
Nickel Under 2 Man
This play can get suckered big time by a back moving out into
the flat. Otherwise, it can work well if your opponent is trying
to go deep. One tip here is to have somebody make a zone in the
middle, because that's where guys who beat their coverage tend
to end up.
----------
Nickel Over Weak
This is another shifting zone that seems to do ok against runs.
One thing to try is to move the coverage back against the grain
of the play, i.e. take your safety and move him backwards to
where the corner was before. That can break up a lot of the
routes that can beat this play.
----------
Nickel Weak Zone
This zone doesn't seem to do anything well. It's not good
against the run, and it's not wonderful against the pass either.
Pretty mediocre. You can spice it up by taking a safety and
erecting a quarters-type coverage against a receiver going deep.
----------
Nickel Man Zone / Nickel Man Under
These plays are schizophrenic: they're good against some types
of runs, but not others. It almost seems to depend on luck as
to what happens to a run on these plays. As for passing, one
of your safeties is in man, and what he does tends to be random
as well. Try taking that safety and moving him around.
----------
Nickel Strong Zone
Ah, yes, the combination man/zone plays. This one is good if
you have just one primary receiver you need to contain. If
your defensive backs can take the others, then putting up this
zone to screw up the first wide receiver is a good bet. One
thing that you might want to do is to double-cover the slot
receiver, or set up a zone on the right side of the field.
Just watch out for a back sneaking out into the flat on the
man side.
----------
Dime Prevent
This play KILLS runs, for some reason. Lots of runs get eaten
up by this play. Outside runs aren't nailed very often, but this
is a good play. The main problem with this play is that the flats
are unprotected against a back moving into them. The middle is
also soft. But this is a pretty good play. One thing to try is
making a "spy" out of one of the defensive backs with no
receiver to cover, and have him patrol the flats. Or, you can
drop an end and let him cover a side.
----------
Dime Man Zone 2
You probably want to bring your nickel back up to the line for
this play. He can do some damage against the outside run from
here as well. Try to rush him around the end and use his speed
to back the quarterback into one of the other linemen.
----------
Dime Zone Blitz
This play doesn't work awfully well because guys are open deep
and the blitzing dime back takes a long time to get to the
quarterback. Try controlling the dime back and move him closer
to the offensive tackle.
----------
Dime Double Wide
Good play. Just watch out for the flats and for the middle,
they are pretty open in man coverages.
----------
Dime Man Press
The key to this play is getting your nickel back an unblocked
path to the quarterback. Do this by rushing your end on his side
straight into the tackle and guard. This will open up a hole that
the blitzer can run into. He can get to the quarterback pretty
quickly if you do it properly. Be aware of the fact that you are
leaving the middle quite open and you can get toasted on this
play. One trick to confuse your opponent is to bring up a
safety as though it were Dime Monster Blitz and then lock him on
the slot receiver.
----------
Dime Monster Blitz
For this play, you need to pull the safety down into the gap
where he needs to rush. Don't stick him right in it, just leave
him standing outside it. Then you can rush the end outside to
open a hole for him.
----------
Goal Line Blitz B
This is a great play. It kills nearly all runs and it forces the
quarterback to throw very quickly. The main problem with this play,
however, is the left slot. A receiver can come out of there and
score a touchdown with little difficulty. You may want to move
somebody over to cover that guy and have him cover the outside
run as a bonus. Goal Line Take or even 4-3 Thunder is better
for covering the extreme outside run, though.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Custom plays that can kill an offense
There are two basic series that I will cover here. You can change
the coverage for these and the personnel involved as you please.
----------
4-man series: These plays have the line do this:
RE=Stunt L
RDT=Slant/Rush R
LDT=Slant/Rush L
LE=Stunt R
This opens up holes in the middle of the offensive line between
the guards and the center. If you rush one of the defensive tackles
manually by moving them to the outside of the line, then you can get
even bigger holes. You can drop the tackles after the ends have
gotten penetration. Don't worry if one of them doesn't get inside, it
happens from time to time. Usually, however, you will get inside and
go after the quarterback. You can also control the ends after they
get inside and run after the QB yourself. Be warned though, this is
pretty weak against the run. You can move the line over and under
with this as you please, and you SHOULD. When the gap between the
defensive tackles is directly over one of the guards, then you will
get more room to run between the guard and center. This greatly
increases the effectiveness of this play. However, you may need to
start faking out people, leaving your opponent expecting something
like Dime Man Press, and this play can work that way. If you use that
sort of tactic, you should use all of the line tactics that you would
use with the normal play, such as aligning the safety in the gap
between the tackle and guard, choosing to control a certain defensive
lineman, etc. and then let the play develop. Make sure to drop back
players from the stunting defensive linemen so that you don't end
up blocking your own guys.
----------
5-man series: These plays have the line do this:
RE=Drop Zone/Stunt L
RDT=Slant/Rush R
LDT=Slant/Rush L
LE=Drop Zone/Stunt R
Somebody blitz between the tackles
In order to use this play, you must shift the line so that the
gap between the defensive tackles coincides with the gap between
one of the guards and the center. If you don't do this, this play
will fail. This opens up a hole in the line between the defensive
tackles and drops the ends into coverage to stymie dump passes. Most
of the time, people blitz linebackers into the hole that opens up,
because it's usually run out of the dime package, but you can bring
a safety (or a corner!) into the hole too, if you want more speed,
or you need to boost somebody's stats. The blitzer should run for the
quarterback when this hole opens up. It's often a good idea to leave
your linebacker/safety standing, just to put some suspense into the
play, and also to avoid getting offsides penalties by shoving yourself
or one of the linemen too far. This is not an overly powerful play
against the run, but it isn't atrocious. Now and then you can make
a tackle on the line, but don't expect great things out of this
alignment. It's usually a good idea to use the Speed Burst to enter
the hole. Also, you can have the ends stunt as in the four man series
for more power in the middle, but you will lose power on the
containment on the sides if the quarterback runs from your
blitz (he usually won't escape if you don't slide tackle, but then you
lose some of your effectiveness).
**IMPORTANT** If you want to block field goals and punts, use this
type of play. You may want to substitute a corner or safety blitz
for the linebacker blitz. For a field goal, you want to put the gap
of the defensive tackles on a straightish line with the holder, and
line up your blitzer STANDING UP as close to a straight line as you
can get it in the time you have. If your blitzer goes down into a
three-point stance, you're not going to get the hole to open up.
Make sure to hit the gas (Speed Burst) once the ball is snapped.
For a punt, you MUST move the line to the LEFT (under) side, not the
right (over) side. If you move the line to the right center-guard gap,
the guy sitting in the backfield (personal protector I think is his
name) will stick you and you won't get near the punter. It's difficult
and risky to block a punt this way, so try to do it only when your
opponent is back behind their five-yard line, when the distance between
the punter and the center is shorter. Make sure to use the Speed Burst
to enter the hole.
It takes practice to do either block and you should jump when you try
to block the kicks if you want to recover the ball.
----------
Notes on the rest of the team assignments
When doing man coverages, there isn't much difference between them.
Just choose Lock Inside Front or Inside Front, those seem to work
well unless you want a softer coverage. Other kinds might work well
20 yards out and inside, but usually on the outside you want
tighter coverage.
When making up zone assignments, try all of the zones that are close
to the direction you want. They seem to have different depths and
properties for each position in each formation. For example, if you
want your nickel back to go to his right a little bit, try not only
Deep 1/3 R but also Deep 1/3 Middle.
Deep 1/4 MR and Deep 1/4 ML, if you assign them to the safeties,
give you a deep zone similar to that
for Nickel Under 2 Man and
Dime Prevent.
There doesn't seem to be much difference whether or not you hide your
blitz on the inside, but on the other blitzes, it can be a big deal.
Try out your play against some typical offensive plays. Have deep,
medium, and shallow routes. Sometimes, plays look good on paper, but
they have awful weaknesses that can be exploited by many offensive
attacks.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Custom plays that can kill an defense
There are four general types of offensive plays that I have
experimented with.
----------
Formation Strengthening
Sometimes a formation has certain strengths in terms of personnel
that can be exploited for good effect. For example, the Strong-I
formation can be used to give your fullback a quick outside or
offtackle run because of his position near the outside. Near and Far
and Weak-I can also do these sorts of things pretty easily. There
can also be personnel matchups against certain formations (like the
3-4) that you want to create.
----------
Route Combinations
These plays use symmetric or complementary routes to create
openings for your players. One such classic is a pick, where you
cross your players on their routes and the coverage may not be able
to adjust. Another is a streak/curl combination, where one goes deep
and the other curls medium or deep, in case deep zones are stopping
the deep receiver.
----------
Play Improvement
Sometimes a play is nice, but it could be better, like the halfback's
route in I-Formation Flats. Why not change it with a Custom Play?
----------
CPU Tricks
These plays use computer failings to work their magic. One such
trick is a wide/slot receiver combo (example: WR1 and WR3 on Single
Back 4 WR) where WR1 has a Flare In and WR 3 has a Flare Out. WR3
is usually open, and if he's not open, WR1 is often open. Another
is the RB escape, where, from 5WR, the RB runs out into the flat,
WR2 runs a Sprint or a Flare In, and WR4 occupies the defense somehow,
such as with a Quick Screen or a Streak. The RB then runs free near
the sideline. These plays tend to be short to medium guaranteed gains,
effective near the goal line.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Special teams
----------
Kick Returns
Your best bet for a play is probably Sidelines. When your returner
catches the ball, move to the sideline you're closest to, since that's
where your blocking is. Juking people is usually the best way to do
the run upfield. Middle Wedge and Jumbo don't really seem to do too
much in terms of effective blocking.
----------
Kickoffs
Press Button 2 to kick off normally. Use Button 4 to make a high,
short kick. Use Button 3 to make a kick that's low to the ground.
Use the arrows to change the direction of the kick, but don't
kick it out of bounds, unless the ball will touch the end zone,
because that will get you a big fat penalty. Onside kicking is
pretty much impossible in this game. It's too difficult to get the
right amount of air and distance. After you kick off, you should
take your kicker and pursue the returner. It doesn't really matter
what play you choose. Double Cross is nice, but it doesn't help
much at all.
----------
Punt Returns
It's tough to say what to do on punt returns. Usually, when you have
two unblocked guys, choose a side and juke the one guy on that side.
If you have something else, don't expect your blockers to hold those
guys. Try to go for the sidelines if possible. Which return you use,
again, can be pretty academic. Use the Safe if you expect the punting
team to pass or run the ball to try to pick up a first down. However,
the Safe will leave guys unblocked. If you want to try to block the
punt, use the tactics described in the "Custom plays that can kill
an offense" section.
----------
Punting
Punting is like kicking, with the same buttons involved. If you're
relatively close to the end zone, don't kick it out of the end zone,
kick it out of bounds behind the 20-yard line to put your opponent in
bad field position. Watch out when you're backed up deep in your own
territory. You need to be at least on your own five to have a full
deep snap. Otherwise, you are much closer to the line and a linebacker
or someone else can come in and block your kick.
----------
Field Goals / Field Goal Defense
Rule No. 1: Don't actually try any of the field goal plays in the book.
Instead, use one of the blocking tactics described in the "Custom plays
that can kill an offense" section, or use a pass defense.
When kicking a field goal, you don't have to aim it to the right or
left if you are in a dome. Otherwise, be careful with the aim. It's
easy to overadjust for a light wind. If the wind sock is down, aim just
a tad. If it's a little ways up, aim a little more. If it's at full blow,
adjust a chunk or two if you're on the opposite side of the field. Now,
if the wind will blow the ball in the direction you want it to go in,
don't aim. If you're in the middle of the field, it's a tough call.
Go with your instincts, but if it's obviously blowing strong, don't
just let it fly.
You can't change the kind of kick, so just kick with whatever
kicking button you like best.
----------
Extra Points
Don't try to block it unless you are going for the custom play blocks.
Just defend against the fake field goal pass, since that's your biggest
enemy. It features two guys on out routes and the kicker on a route
swinging slowly into the end zone. 2-deep zones should do decently
against this play. If you're kicking the extra point, just blast it
up there. Don't try to aim or anything, just hit it high.
The trick to this is just doing well on passing and running. Also,
you should create a gimp team with all 0s, 145 lbs, 5'0'', like that,
so that you can just pound on them and get all-time records easily.
You might also create a great team, but that's overkill. You need to
go for the all-time records first, then go for the other records, since
you will often break all-time records trying to meet Madden Challenges.
In order to create the gimp team, you will need to change around the
positions to get the lowest stats possible (some positions can't zero
out certain stats). For example, you should change to K to lower QB-type
stats (THP, THA, etc.) and change to SS to lower AWR, etc. Once you
have the awful stats you want, change the player's position to what
you need, and voila! Pathetic team.
Also, when you are going through and winning Super Bowls, you don't
need to play each game and go undefeated. Just skip through some games.
If you're not undefeated after 5 games or so, reload the franchise
and try again. You only need to play the Super Bowls, and I'm not even
sure that's required.
Tip: Try 85 Miami (if you have them) to go for all-time records.
They have Reggie Roby, a great punter, and that passing machine led
by future Hall of Famer Dan Marino.
**NOTE** If you just want the teams and codes and whatnot, just use
the Code Entry screen. Enter each code in succession and they will
be available for use thereafter. A list of the codes is in the
Miscellaneous section.
Ah, yes, Franchise Mode. Some tips to help you get the most out of
your team:
----------
General Hints
Make sure you have either enough players on your roster to cover
an injury (so you don't have too few active players) or have enough
room under the cap to sign a player from the list of free agents if
someone gets injured. Nothing hurts worse than having to trade a great
player because you have to make the roster requirements. Check in
the Roster Breakdown and see where you need more people if you go
the extra backup route (I do early on, and it works great for defensive
backs). Those "cap backups" only need to cost very little. You don't
have to get good stats for them, since you should never have to play
them. If you do, just sign someone else if they aren't
pro caliber players. The thing that you should remember about the
injury/depth situation is that you can only have four players injured
at once. So, you only need to have enough cap room to sign the four
players you need to your roster. The most expensive players are
usually quarterbacks, and their salaries are high. You can usually
skimp on the cap room you need by two or three million dollars, but
don't get cute, because you will end up cutting or trading players
if your gambles don't pay off.
In order to see if your guys will improve, you need to play them
and get them good stats. For QBs, passer rating is the biggie, but
yards passed for also counts a lot. For HBs, yards and yards per carry
(and touchdowns to a certain extent). For WRs, touchdowns and total
yards are what you look for, but yards per pass is also nice, and
# of receptions certainly won't hurt at all. Same for TEs.
Play your offensive linemen so they will improve. Defensive linemen need
sacks and tackles. Same for linebackers (and a pick or two won't hurt).
Try to get everything for your defensive backs. Kickers need field
goals and punters need punts and punting yardage. I'm not sure what
exactly is great for returners. If you can't play a player you will
be wanting to acquire, make sure that either they are good values
or that they have high potential and can later start (or be traded
for a better draft pick or player down the road - i.e. don't
trade for guys who won't get you anything more in the future than
what you have now).
When you have an older player (29-40 and beyond), oftentimes you
can release them, then re-sign them, then cut them, and so on, to
decrease their salaries. Each time you sign them back, you lower their
salary by giving them 7 year contracts, then paying them less than
they demand. This can lower the pay the player receives by a million
dollars or more if applied repeatedly. Be warned that it won't
always work. You won't get big gains on young guys. It
won't work well on great players, either. It works best when you have
average to poor older players who are somewhat overvalued. Be
prepared to reload your franchise if something goes wrong.
Also, if you have younger players or great players who are overvalued,
release them in the beginning of the season if they are REALLY
overvalued, or later in the season, if you want to shave off $100K
more. Remember, if you release a player late in the season, the
salary that player will ask for will be lower. In some cases, it can
be $500K lower than what it would be at the beginning of the season.
Week 9-10 seems to be about the time that the players will reach
their minimum salary demands. Check and see what the free agents
at the position can be signed for as a gauge of what your player's
price will be.
When it comes time to sign players to contracts, here are some rules
of thumb:
1. Don't waste your time trying to sign people to short contracts.
The players in this game seem to like being with a team for
five years or more.
2. The first thing you want to do when signing a player is first to
choose the length of the contract you think will get you the
lowest salary (usually 5-7 years). Then, lower the salary
offered to far below the requested salary (at _least_ $300K
for a sizeable contract, and $200K for a bare-bones contract;
as a percentage, take 10%-20% off the requested salary).
Then make successive offers until the player accepts the
contract. As the franchise years go by, you may save literally
millions of dollars with this strategy on one signing alone.
Don't be lazy about your offers.
3. For draft picks, six years is a good length. For free agents, choose
five years if they are young, six years if they are 26-27ish,
and seven years for anything beyond that. With the right
contract length, you can save yourself $100K or more, and that
adds up very quickly over 45 players. At the very least, you
will get the player for longer for almost the same salary.
4. If the CPU agent says things like "Small salary wrapped in a long
contract - no deal.", it means that you need to lower the
years. Sometimes you are going for too much for players in
the 26-28 range, and you need to back down some. The agents
will say uncharacteristic things if you go too high, or two
low in the number of years.
You do need to sign your draft picks and other young guys to five or
six year contracts. It's much too expensive in the short run to try
to tie the good guys up for longer (about $1 million dollars more for
seven years in many cases).
Once your players are 27 or 28 years old, however, you will usually
be best served by signing them to seven-year contracts.
Injury is a particularly important rating, especially because you
have many players with similar OVR ratings that have different INJ
ratings. Do not underestimate the importance of INJ - it can make
the difference between a Super Bowl win and a wild-card round loss.
Players with 67 INJ will get injured at much higher rates than
players with 80 or above, and the injuries they will sustain will
be much more serious. I've had special teams players (my backups)
miss 12 games a season on two injuries before, with moderately low
INJ ratings. You don't want to have to be fooling around with your
roster trying to make the roster requirements because your starters
or your backups are always getting injured. Don't freak out about
INJ if the player you want is young and has a high potential,
since INJ ratings will increase when the player improves. However,
if you are trading for a player that will not improve significantly,
or is getting old, watch out and make sure you don't get someone
who is not worth the risk because of an atrocious INJ value.
What's more, your player has a greater chance of a career-ending
injury, which makes your player useless from that point on in the
season, and also means that you can't trade him and thus get some
lasting value out of him.
In order to quickly see players' INJ ratings in most screens,
just flop the sorting method one to the left from OVR to get the
sorting according to INJ.
When you look for players who have high potential, the ratings you
want to watch for are things like SPD, THP, and any other ratings
that are so low that even if they improve by a lot (for that
particular rating, such as 56 THA) they still won't be very good
no matter what happens with the other ratings. If the young WR you
want has an 82 SPD, don't bother, because that rating will not
go up. On the other hand, if he has a 67 CTH or a 63 AWR, don't
worry much, because those things will go up once the player gets
experience (if the player really does have high potential) in
games.
Some ratings that do NOT go up much:
SPD
ACC
THP
KPW
Some ratings that do go up:
AGI
AWR
CTH
CAR
THA
KAC
TAK
BTK
PBK
RBK
INJ
4th round picks are your friends if you want to get players who
might be depth one day, but for now will remain cap backups.
However, using this strategy means that you will need some cap
room to sign all of these draft picks you have on your roster,
and you will might need to free up some roster spots as well.
If you want to trade for other players, 4th round picks are
your best friends. You should get some high 4th round picks in
other trades. Using these high picks, get some players in the
high 60s and 70s who play at valued positions (i.e. not TE,
FB, etc.). Then, either sign the players, or just release all
the ones you want to trade. After this, take two or three of these
draftees and offer them in trades for high draft picks or good
players. You will be surprised at how much the CPU values young
players.
Once your players get to 34 years of age or older, they really
start to lose it. They also become bigger retirement risks, especially
when they have season-ending injuries. What's more, you can't trade or
or release a player who's injured. With the rating decreases and
the retirement hazards, try to trade them away (unless they're just
there for extra depth or they are really good values - in other words,
if they are there to be cheap players and not actual starters, don't
do this) to other teams for newly drafted players. Try to get some
of the players who were just picked in the recent draft. You might
try waiting a year to trade for a player/players from the great draft.
Offensive and defensive rookies of the year are usually good choices,
although these tend to be skewed towards WRs and OLBs.
Do not confuse a player's "Years Pro" with his age. Doug Flutie is
quite old for an NFL player (he's so old that he was a player in the
USFL), but his "Years Pro" is in the single digits. The age of a
player chiefly determines when they retire (and some other factors
such as their OVR rating), and the "Years Pro" is not a big factor
in the equation. You can see their ages in the "Trade Player" screen.
----------
Trading
The computer highly values statistics and awards when it considers
trades to be made. If your players have great stats, they can
be traded for other, better players, even when the price offered
for the better player is only the player you have and a 59 OVR
player.
Moreover, the CPU likes youth. If your player is young, or if the
player you want to trade for is young, the CPU will really freak
out over the young player.
The CPU also keeps a rating called "IMP" which, amongst other
things, determines a large part of your player's value in a trade.
If your player has a large IMP, he will be more valuable than
another similar player with a small IMP. This is a huge factor
when attempting to trade for a team's best players. In many
cases, their IMP rating is so high that you stand no chance of
acquiring them.
See the Miscellaneous section for a list of positions on which the
CPU puts value in trading.
The CPU does not seem to care about whether or not your player
is signed for a long time, or a short time, or whether his contract
will be up right after you trade him. Use this to your advantage.
Sometimes you can even get a player released into free agency that
you traded before, and then you can pick him up again.
Also, if you can trade the other team a player at a position for
which the other team has no good players, you can get much more
out of the trade than you could if you traded it a good player
at another position. For example, I was able to acquire Edgerrin
James (98 OVR) by trading Dewayne Rudd (88 OVR LB) and Corey
Dillon (86 OVR), but I also received Marvin Harrison (87 OVR)
and another player in return. The reason for this was because
I gave them Rudd at LB, who was 20 OVR points better than their
best LB.
DO NOT release good players at a position to make trades FOR a
player at the same position. The CPU team may sign your good
player to replace the player for which you traded.
Don't be afraid to make huge package deals and blockbuster trades
(like 2 90+ OVR players and a 1st round pick) if you really do need
a particular player at a critical position. For example, if your
RB is at 75 OVR, and your team is a Super Bowl contender, don't be
afraid to trade away some non-starting-QB players in order to get
a RB well into the 90s. I made my team into a Super Bowl winner by
trading 97 OVR Eric Swann, another good player, and my first round
pick for Ricky Williams (100 OVR RB). You may not have as much
success trading for QBs because they tend to have high IMP ratings,
and the teams who have them just will not let go, no matter what
you try to give them. Even if you try to trade a 93 OVR QB and
first round picks/other great players, you just cannot get the
team that has a 97 OVR QB to let him go most of the time,
especially if the QB is relatively young. However, as players get
older, you may have more luck.
When you trade for a particular position, look at four things in
particular (other than OVR):
1. Age
2. Salary/Years left on contract
3. Injury
4. Difficulty of Trade (this is useful because if you have a rookie
player who is almost impossible to acquire, he will have a very high
potential, and players with good potential will not be a simple
.95/1 OVR trade ratio. If you want to find good potential players,
try to trade for the players in the position you are looking for,
and see how they stack up versus one another in terms of how much
the team is asking for those players. However, you may not have
much success with them if the players you offer the team wouldn't
contribute much to their squad. Make sure to look out for situations
where the team who asks the least is the one to which you are
effectively giving the most.
Every time you trade, make sure that you have gotten everything you
can get out of it. If you are making a trade and the game asks you
for confirmation of the trade, see if you can get other players from
that same team along with the one(s) you want. Oftentimes, you can get
additional players (especially FBs and TEs) who are decent enough
to provide depth or even start. You can also get cheap players
as cap backups in this way.
In addition, you should always try to get other teams' draft picks
if you do not see any player worth getting out of the trade. You can
almost always get the team's 4th round pick, but oftentimes you can
also get a team's 3rd round pick if you have decided that you do not
care for any of the players you can acquire from the team's squad.
Make sure to try and see if you can get higher-round picks from the
teams you trade with. Make sure to get these picks as you can get
trade bait from the 4th round picks.
Oftentimes when you trade, you will need to put in additional players
to get the CPU to trade at all, but after that, you can get players
back from the CPU in the trade, even though you had to put more
people on the block. You can even get players at the same position
back in the trade.
When you look at players' contracts, don't freak out too much about
their potential growth during the next season. Even if a player
goes up by 7 OVR or more, you won't have to pay millions more
to re-sign the player. If you can keep the player on your squad
and not release the player, you will often get a discount of
$500K or more off that player's salary if he had entered free
agency. If you are wanting to trade for a superb player, and the
cap isn't an issue, don't worry too much if that great player's
contract only has one more year on it. Unless the player is being
grossly underpaid (or overpaid), you won't pay more than $3.000
million dollars for him in most cases (QBs being a very prominent
exception). The important thing when it comes to players and their
contracts is that if they are on your team, it will usually be
cheaper to re-sign them than if you go into free agency and try
to fill the void there. However, if you have some cap backups
and their salaries will skyrocket (read: quarterbacks), don't
even bother re-signing them unless they can be good depth for
your team as well.
Watch out for trading your good players to teams in your division
or conference. You can really get nailed in the playoffs by teams
which have some of your star players.
If you have a good player who has been recently supplanted by a
better player at that position, don't trade them right away if the
player is a good value. You can use that player for depth at not
only the native position, but in other positions as well. For
example, when I made a blockbuster trade for Ricky Williams
(100 OVR), I still had Corey Dillon in my backfield at 85 OVR, so
I kept him and his $1.700 million cap figure on my team. Later that
season, Joel Mackovicka went down with a season-ending injury, and I
had Corey Dillon, 88 OVR at fullback, to back him up, and
eventually push the team forward to a Super Bowl victory.
(Of course, Ricky Williams pitched in too).
----------
Beginning Of Season
Remember to leave some room when filling out your roster so that
you can make trades later and make other roster moves like signing
draft picks. If your basic roster (your starters, your essential
depth, and your cap backups) eats up all of your cap space, you
won't be able to make trades you want to make, and will have to
take undesirable measures - either not trading or cutting someone
useful and signing them back at a higher price to make the trade.
Watch out for your cap backups. They might play on special teams,
so if you have REALLY POOR players, you could have some problems.
If you know early on that you can release the player and the other
teams won't sign that player, AND the player's salary won't
increase by much (if at all), then release the player unless you
need him to make the roster requirements.
Trade all of your draft picks before the season begins. "Are you
crazy, Leif???" I'm dead serious. You can get players in the 90s easily
if you trade your first round pick early in the year, while every
team's record is 0-0-0. Your picks plunge in value later in
the season once you start winning big. When the season starts, your
draft picks are relatively valuable. When you win the
Super Bowl, your draft picks go way down in value. Just make sure
that you get youngish guys, or your team will crash and burn quickly.
At the beginning of your franchise, rise to prominence by trading for
players like Jonathan Ogden, who start in the 90s, and later in
your franchise, trade for high-potential youth that will start
at the position you would like to improve or maintain.
NOTE: If you will end up losing a lot of games for whatever reason,
don't trade your picks early if you cannot get players at 85 or
above for a 1st rounder, 75 or above for a 2nd, etc., because you
will have good draft position and you can get pretty good guys.
At the beginning of the season, if you know you have a dominant
team and you are fairly sure you will end up with a good record
(or a Super Bowl appearance), then swap your draft picks with less
powerful teams early on so that you will be able to move up cheaply
in the next year's draft. Do this by trading a crummy player and
the draft picks you you still have available to trade
(i.e. haven't been able to trade away for somebody with any real
additional value) for some mediocre team's picks in the same
round.
For example, if you still have your first round pick and
you won the Super Bowl last year and you have a 100 OVR team
in offense, defense, and special teams, then either sign off the
free agent list, or, take off your own roster, some crummy players
(60s or 50s overall) and trade those players together with your
first round pick to some less skilled team. You can see which teams
are less skilled by using Button 5 on the Play Week screen to bring
up the Scouting Report of each team in a particular game.
If you make it to the Super Bowl or end up with a great record
almost every year, then you will have poor draft position
pretty much every year. But, if you trade your pick to a lesser team
early on (especially one in your own conference, as you would beat
them before they would have a chance of making it to the Super
Bowl, and especially a lesser team in your own division or on your
schedule, as you will beat them once or more during the course of
the season) then you will get a draft pick that is some 8-10 slots
higher for almost nothing in many cases. If you are lucky and you
pick a team that gets key players injured (such as at QB) then you
might get a pick in the top ten slots of that round. It is thus
very helpful to you to trade up BEFORE the season begins to get
a great value in the next year's draft (or in the same year, after
you have played the season and know who the offensive and defensive
rookies of the year are).
To sum up the criteria for choosing a team with which to
swap draft picks (remember, this only really works if your team is
much better than theirs):
1. OVR ratings as determined by the scouting report (obvious reasons)
2. Division opponents (because you play them twice, and are in your
conference, for good measure)
3. Quality/depth/INJ ratings at QB position (so they die when the
bad QB gives way to an even worse QB)
4. Other opponents on regular season schedule (you play them once
(is twice possible?))
5. Quality/depth/INJ ratings at RB position (no running game equals
early playoff exit in many cases)
6. Teams in your conference (AFC or NFC) (you can smash them before
they make it to the Super Bowl. If they made it there, it would
make the draft position of your picks plummet)
One note: you may not want to trade up your 4th round pick because
you may be wanting to get a player on the cheap with it. However,
you will get better valued players for trades with higher 4th
round picks.
Scour the list of free agents to sign after the season begins
(before you play your first game) to see whether you can sign a draft
pick that was never signed, or a good player either statwise or
salarywise. You can get some big bargains here.
When trading at the beginning of the season, try to trade from good
teams that have beaten you or that are on your schedule. You can
make them weaker by taking away their best players in trades and
giving them draft picks or lesser players in return. Try to get
the best players off of the weaker squads in your division or on
your schedule so that you can cripple them for the duration of
that season.
Even though you may have saved some cap room up for use in
free agency and for picking up people so that you may have the
league minimum number of players at that position, you should
always cap out by signing free agents during the season. For one
thing, it makes it harder for the computer to sign good free
agents when its players get injured, and for another, it will
allow you to have better depth and special teams for your own
team. Make sure to focus on areas of value and positions where
you can severely downgrade the quality of players at the position
(for example, if only one good center is available, sign him
so that the other teams will have to sign bad centers). However,
any good or great players should be snapped up, unless they have
high salaries. Also, you can trade the players you signed at the
end of the season in many cases. Just don't let any overvalued
players you have stay on your roster past the end of the season,
and don't forget to release those players you signed before you
release starters or depth.
If you have players with contracts that expire at the end of the
season and you won't want to re-sign them, keep them as long as
they are useful. If they will be much better than the player you
want to acquire during the current season, then keep them and
trade for the other player at the end of the season. However, if
you want to use them in a trade now, or if you want to free up
some cap room to sign a free agent or make another trade, then
trade the player now.
Likewise, if you have a player who has a huge salary, but
you can hold off on trading until the season is over and the
player you want to trade for is much worse than the one you
already have, then wait until the Super Bowl is played before
you make the trade.
During the season, if you start noting aberrant stats (like a
high number of fumbles or drops) you may want to take another
look at that player's ratings. For example, if your RB is fumbling
a lot, check his ratings and see if he has a high enough Carry
to be worth starting.
Remember that if you have a free agent that you want to sign,
but you are just barely away from being able to because of your
small cap room, you can wait a few weeks, and, when prices drop
enough, you can sign that free agent to your squad.
Late in the season, try to get some guys on the cheap as backups.
They will often sign for less than they would have at the
beginning of the year and in free agency.
----------
Before The Pro Bowl Game
Scout the list of free agents at the end of the season to see
if you can sign rookies and whatnot to your squad. You can see
whether or not they will improve with time (sometimes they have
good potential) and then you can keep them on your squad for
future use or trade. Kickers and punters are good to sign
because they are cheap and you can load up on them by getting
the top two or three, then seeing whether or not any improve.
If one improves greatly, you've just struck gold.
At the end of the season, make the roster moves you plan to
make before the Pro Bowl and after the Super Bowl. If you will
trade someone and you won't have to wait for their OVR rating
to increase (or if their OVR will decrease) then do that.
If you are going to trade for an offensive or defensive rookie
of the year (a decent idea) then trade for them right now
before their ratings go up. If you are going to release someone,
do it now so that you will lower your cap figure and raise
the number of players you can add to your team. Obviously,
don't release anyone you can trade.
However, you may want to hold on to some players because you
think their OVR rating will increase, or because you want to
watch their progress, then trade them if they do not measure
up. This is ok.
At the end of the season, anyone who is a relatively expensive
player for their stats should be traded or released to make room for
free agents. This especially applies for backups (though that may
not be true for defensive backs, since you often play your nickel and
dime backs).
When you go to trade at the end of the season, look to trade
with good teams that have beaten you in the playoffs, and take
their star players so that the air will be taken out of their
squad. For instance, I weakened the Cowboys one year with the
Cardinals by trading for Larry Allen and their up-and-coming
linebacker, and beat them the next year in the playoffs,
instead of losing to them yet again. Incidentally, Larry Allen
ended up retiring the next year with a PCL tear, along with
Cris Dishman, my up-and-coming backup guard.
Make sure at the end of the season that, if you want to trade up
some of your draft picks early (since there may not be any players
on anyone's roster which you would like to acquire), that you
do it NOW, before teams become much more stingier.
When you do trade picks, always try to swap draft picks with
the teams you're trading with. Sometimes in a trade, you can
not only get more picks or better picks, but you can also swap
other picks that aren't necessary for the trade. You do this by
putting up the picks you want to swap along with the picks/players
you have already put on the block, and then demand picks in the
same draft round of the team with which you are trading. This can
easily move you up 15 or more places in the draft.
At the end of the season, but before the Pro Bowl game has been
played, re-sign players whose contracts will be expiring soon
(one or two years) and who will go up a great deal when you enter
the Player Progress screen. Also, if your player's OVR isn't
going anywhere, and you don't plan on re-signing them, try to
trade them now so that you can avoid cap problems when trying
to trade them later. Of course, release any players that you want
to release now so that you can sign free agents to check and see
if they will improve after the season is over.
Even though you want to get rid of players you won't be using
later on, bring some trade bait players into the next screens so
that you can trade them for high-potential players or whatever.
----------
Player Progress Screen
Check the Player Progress screen for vastly improved players after
each season. If a player is middling or somewhat low in rating, but is
improving rapidly, trade for them and re-sign them to a long contract.
If the Draft Preview menu does not show very good players, or you
do not have a high enough pick to get the player you want, you should
trade your draft picks here to the most out of them.
One bug in the game: If you have a down year (that is, a lot of your
players' ratings are going down), simply close the Player Progress
menu, exit Franchise Mode, then re-enter it by selecting "Continue".
You will get better ratings and player progress for your team, but
so will other squads. You can then save this player progress to lock
in the gains. The gains not only keep players from deteriorating,
but also boost the improvement of other players. You can do this
only once; any more exits will not change the Player Progress
ratings from their altered values.
You should see rookies go up at least 4 points in a year, if they
played a lot. If they do not do this much, and they have started,
get rid of them through trades. It's players who go up 6, 8, and
more who are really worth the effort. You can have players who
had meteoric rises go back down in a couple of years, but it's
usually best to grab those superstars early. Remember, stats
count. Your players will decline if they do not get the stats
or the playing time.
Players who have great seasons and are still relatively young
should also go up in value a point or two.
Watch out when looking at particular players for excessive
ratings jumps due to high statistical performance. Sometimes,
a young player will have a huge year and will get numerous
boosts, but when you get him on your squad, he won't get those
stat boosts anymore and will start to decline. Beware.
READ the Re-sign Players section too.
----------
Re-sign Players
If you know that you won't be able to re-sign some players,
don't let it get this far. Trade them BEFORE the re-signing
period begins.
After you pass this screen, you will be able to tell by the
voids on the rosters of several teams which players are free
agents. You can use this to your advantage by seeing which
players you would sign in free agency before the Player Progress
screen, then checking to see if they are still on the roster(s)
of the CPU team(s) in question in the Trade Screen.
----------
Trades Screen
When you see a trade offered to you at the end of the season, if
it's a good trade for rating, make sure to check on age and salary.
One way to check on the salary is to revert to an old save
(save your game first) then check out the cap figure. You may still
want to trade, but if it's a very high salaried player, or if the
player is getting old, immediately trade them for someone else. Try
trading your player for a new draft pick. Also, watch out for large
differences in potential. Sometimes, you will have a high-potential
player, and the CPU will offer a low-potential player in exchange.
Do not accept such offers.
----------
Formal Free Agency Period
Make sure you know coming into free agency how many players you
can get (the maximum number of players you can sign without exceeding
the maximum allowable number of players on your roster). Don't bid on
too many or you will lose all the ones you pick up after the last one
joins you. Also know your how much room you have under the cap. It
can screw you over too.
One strategy for getting cap backups and depth is to create
young players with low ratings but with high potential and INJ, etc.
Alternatively, you can go short term and make the player totally
useless for depth purposes by giving him basically no ratings in
several abilities, high age, 5'0'', 145 lbs., etc. It depends on the
current status of the player as to whether or not you want the
player to be relatively old/worthless or not. If you just want
a cap backup, you will probably want an old player who will
cost nearly nothing and can't do squat. On the other hand, if you
are not seeing anything happening on the free agent or drafting
front as far as a particular position is concerned (QBs seem
particularly prone to problems with development), and you can't
trade for anyone satisfactory, then create a relatively cheap QB
with high potential to use when the time comes. Remember, if you
are trying to make a player who will be great later on, make sure
to put things like SPD, ACC, and THP high, because those will not
improve very much.
I think that creating cruddy players who play for
pocket change is ok, because there are many people in real life
who would be chumps on an NFL team just for the money, and they
wouldn't have good stats at all. Whether or not it is permissible
to create a future franchise QB...
See the Miscellaneous section for more details on player
creation.
NOTE: DO NOT keep these AWFUL players you have created on your
squad during the season. They will play on special teams and that
means you will have extra points and FGs blocked, etc. Release
them on the first week of the season and then sign them back
whenever you need them. DON'T release them BEFORE the first
week of the season, because the game will drop them from the
list of free agents to sign. Keep them until you create the
new schedule, then release them. Even QBs may get some playing
time, and since your punter and kicker are better at playing
the position, you shouldn't let the awful player see the field.
In this way, you will save your team from disaster,
and also you can poison other teams if they sign your players.
Plus, the players will often lower their asking price, so if
you had a QB start at $500K at the beginning of the season,
he will ask for $400K in the middle of the season when you
actually end up signing him.
Don't bid on an older free agent with 7 years to begin with in the
Free Agency screen. Try to sign them first with a 5 year contract,
and when other teams bid on the same player, you can match their
salary bid, but increase the years to 6 and 7 for the first two
counteroffers. In the "Sign Player" screen, however, start with
7 years as a contract offer for an older player.
When you see a great free agent, try to pick them up even if you
know you won't keep them. They can be traded for draft picks and
players and whatnot. This is why you need to keep some space under
the cap and some roster spots. For example, I managed to make a
trade for Walter Jones (96 OVR LT), Mack Strong (86 OVR FB),
and a 4th round pick by sending the Seahawks Torry Holt (98 OVR),
whom I had picked up in free agency for 4 million dollars a year.
Holt was not the greatest free agent acquisition in terms of value,
but I managed to turn it into a positive for my club, since with
Walter Jones, I was able to move Jonathan Ogden (94 OVR LT) inside
to relieve a bust I had previously traded for, N.Penn (82 OVR RG).
Moreover, with Mack Strong, I had depth at fullback, so I traded
RB NO.44 (94 OVR FB) to another team to get a backup QB. Thus,
Torry Holt was a great free-agent pickup for me.
Don't worry if all of the FAs at a position you think you might
need have been snapped up. The CPU will generate rookies to play
at the position, even if all of the rookies in the draft are
taken. However, if all of the FAs at a position are being signed
by other teams during the season, watch out - you may not be able
to acquire a player you need.
----------
NFL Draft
Players who go first in the draft are the really high rating
players, as in the top 6 or 7 non K/P on the player list.
After that, WRs, RBs, FBs, and TEs go pretty early, but you will
also see some defensive players going too. After that, some
quarterbacks will probably move, along with some OTs and centers,
and more defensive players. At the end of the draft, the CPU
will start going for guards, and finish with QBs and clean out
most of the offensive positions. Finally, more defensive players
are taken. You usually see most offensive positions totally
depleted (except for those on the offensive line) at the end of the
draft, and most defensive positions will still have oodles of
poor players remaining (although LB can be cleaned out).
With kickers and punters, sometimes the CPU will take them, but
if they aren't too great, the CPU will pass on them. Don't draft
a kicker/punter unless that's the only player you really want, or if
they are very good.
Typically, these are the ranges for the top player at each position
from draft to draft (you may have anomalies):
Pos. - OVR Rating
QB: 65-80 (a QB in the high 70s is a pretty good pick)
HB: 65-83
FB: 65-77
WR: 70-90
T: 60-79
G: 60-79
C: 58-79
DE: 70-90
DT: 65-88
LB: 75-94
CB: 70-92
FS: 75-94 (safeties tend to be the highest rated players)
SS: 77-96
K: 77-91
P: 77-91
Keep this in mind as you draft: even though you may have the
best player in the draft at a particular position, that player
may not have enough juice in the tank to ever be productive
for you. Defensive players are great to draft because they
usually will improve a ton. The offensive players, especially
quarterbacks, may not become effective players. Since the
offensive players start pretty low, it is difficult to get them
to a point where they can be stars. I recommend drafting for
defense, and then trading for offense, except if you can find
a pretty good QB in the draft.
The great draft. Every few years there can be a great draft, with
guys having high potential and good initial stats all over the place.
Try to trade for PLAYERS after the draft, before the season starts.
Don't try to trade up for a higher pick before the draft unless you
need to dump some players for salary-cap or roster-spot purposes.
You can use your next year's first round pick or other players you
still have on your roster to pick up the guy you want before Week 1.
It's too costly to trade up before the draft begins if you are trying
to get a draft pick in the top 10 or 15 slots. You may not get
a great draft for several years, so don't take it as a given when
trying to improve your franchise.
You may want to try drafting a player at a particular position
if it will seriously deplete the stock of good players at that
position. For example, if a 74 OVR FB is in the draft, and
the next highest FB is at 58 OVR, then you might want to take
the FB if you have no other priorities in order to poison the
CPU teams with awful fullbacks.
If one of your draftees (or players from the draft that you got by
trading players or picks) isn't working out, try to trade him
for a new draftee from the next draft (or another guy you like).
If you drafted that player because you wanted to take care of a need
in your roster, a player that you've started and isn't improving
will not get the job done quickly, if at all.
If you still have third and fourth-round picks left over, see if you
can pick up some cap backups with your draft, should no decent player
be available, and you use the cap backup strategy. This doesn't
work so well for draftees, but sometimes you can get yourself some
pretty cheap guys using this strategy. It is better, however,
to pick up the best players at your draft position, then trade them
for cheap players.
----------
Other Notes
Scout the other team before you play (not SIM) a game. In particular,
check the injury list so you know where they will be weaker. Check the
secondary if you like to pass, the linebackers (especially the middle
linebacker if the team plays a 4-3) if you like to run, and their
receivers and running backs/quarterback if you don't know how much to
balance the run defense and the pass defense.
See Miscellaneous for notes about how 4-3 and 3-4 teams simulate
with respect to the RILB and DT #2, and also about the proportion
of carries players on your team get.
Getting great linebackers, inside or outside, is a heck of a lot
easier than getting great DTs. This may be a reason to use a 3-4
team for your franchise. However, you still end up using your
second DT a decent amount...
If you want to re-order the Trade Screen list of players on your
team (since it can get quite messy, as a lot of the players for which
you trade will end up at the bottom of your screen, and you can have
holes and other incongruities elsewhere), then select "Re-order" on
the Depth Chart Screen and all of the players will be put in the CPU's
ordering again.
The computer seems to take home-field advantage into account when
you simulate a season. You will win more games and have less severe
losses at home.
It seems to me that if you make a lot of moves in the offseason,
then your team will suffer the next season, i.e. they will drop
games which, ratingswise, they should win.
It doesn't seem too much like the Pro Bowl game matters much.
The game doesn't keep the stats for it, even. I would advise
simulating it until your conference wins, or playing just a short game
featuring your players so they can get stats, without getting injured.
If you have a league MVP, then you trade him before the Player
Progress screen, the game will put another player in his place from
another team. I was amazed that the game was this perceptive.
As the years go by, the league minimum will increase, the players'
salaries will skyrocket, and the cap will increase to an insane
number.
Each player seems to have a particular agent when you go to
sign them. I don't think this makes any difference in the
negotiations that you can take advantage of, however.
You can cheat by adding additional coaches, then trading players
to your team, or by trading a bunch of free agents off the list at
the beginning of the season until there are no more free agents left
in the 70s. I don't do that (anymore).
You can also skip ahead to the end of the season to see which
players' OVR ratings increase very quickly.
It seems to me that looking at the relative strength of your
team versus another in the Game Week screen will jinx you, and you
will lose the game at which you compared the two teams.
The game seems to determine before the season starts that certain
players at certain positions will get career-ending injuries. You
may not be able to reload the franchise game and evade such blows.
Some of the injuries are effectively random, but sometimes, the CPU
will set you up for a fall.
Some franchise files seem to be output for your played games and
dumped in the Madden 2000 directory for the PC version. They have
lists of all the plays that were run and what happened, stats,
drives, etc. I don't know how accurate they are, though: I have seen
some very strange data in them.
----------
You lose 4 yards for each "QB Kneel" play you run. Don't
safety yourself with it. If you are inside your own 12, you
need to make sure you don't end up downing the ball in your
own end zone.
----------
You can create players that have the statistics of one position,
but line up like another position using the Create Player Screen.
Good for offenses that like to run outside - create a "WR" that
is really an offensive lineman!
----------
To set a starter to back up another position, first remove the
starter from the starting job. Then, place the starter at the
position on the depth chart that you would like him to occupy.
Finally, put the starter back at his starting position.
----------
In the "Create Player" screen in Franchise Mode, you can use
positions like the P to lower a player's ratings far below what they
are mandated to be, at say, WR (SPD, for example, can go to 0 for
the P, so set the player's speed to 0 as a P, then change his position
to WR, and voila! 0 SPD WR). You can use this to get super-low
salaries or to bulk up a certain ratings without taking a huge
salary hit. However, sometimes the game will assign your players
a certain default rating which is much better than what you
told it to assign, especially for CAR.
However, beware of the salary of the player. It can jump to
astronomical heights if your player is too awful. Just raise something
like ACC to get the player back down to a reasonable price if this
happens.
----------
You can create great players, but they will make you bleed money like
crazy. One way to alleviate this is to use cheaper positions for
your created player, then put your new player at that cheaper
position. For example, if you want a WR, then you can use a FB to
make him, and once your FB has been signed, you can put him at WR.
----------
Some ratings won't increase the salary of a player when you raise them,
such as BTK for defensive players. Raise anything you can raise if
you are going to keep the player you create. On the other hand, don't
give those advantages in BTK for defensive players to the CPU by
trading those players away instantaneously.
----------
To win the coin toss most of the time, pick the opposite of whatever
was the last toss. For example, if heads was tossed, pick tails.
You won't win every time, though. It seems to be accurate to about
66%-75%, give or take a few percent.
You can also win the coin toss by pressing the Start button repeatedly,
but it may not work 100%, especially in 2-player mode. Make sure to
press it vigorously and you should have success.
EBS EBKE (de45515@alltel.net) is the one who submitted this tip to
Gamewinners.com, but I had to refine and research it a little bit.
----------
Note that when you trade for a particular position, the CPU may sign
players off the free agent list. So, if a CPU team has only one FB,
for example, and you'd like to wipe out the CPU's ability to have
a good fullback, sign all of the fullbacks on the list of free
agents except the one you want the CPU to have. Then, make a trade
for that fullback, and voila! The CPU team has an awful fullback.
----------
If you are making a Global playbook, your defenses will be those
of the 4-3 teams. If you make a Custom playbook out of a 4-3
team's playbook, you will have the 4-3 centered defensive plays.
However, if you use a 3-4 team's playbook to make a Custom
playbook, you will get a 3-4 centered defensive playbook.
----------
The teams that play in the 3-4 (as opposed to the 4-3) are the
Bengals, the Bills, and the Jets. These teams don't usually play
an extra defensive tackle; instead, they play an RILB in their
base defense. What this means is that you shouldn't look to get
a second great defensive tackle; rather, you should try to find
a good RILB, since he will be a factor in how well you simulate
in season mode, franchise mode, etc. and he is also better
utilized in the playbooks that the 3-4 teams have.
You still do need a good second DT, because he will
play in nickel, dime, and goal line situations (not to mention
he is depth for you).
----------
If you have a 4-3 team, you don't really need another starter
to play RILB as he does not get used much in simulation. If you use
a 3-4 team's playbook or a Custom playbook, you will use him
a lot more than you would if you had the basic 3-4 plays that
are provided with the 4-3/Global team playbooks.
But if you don't run the 3-4 in games (because you don't play or sim
games with the 3-4 plays or teams) you don't need an RILB starter.
It is good practice, though, to get an RILB starter, then set
him to back up your other LBs.
----------
It seems that when you have two great RBs, you will have most
of the carries going to those two players. However, when you
have one great featured back, most of the carries will go to
him alone. If you have a bunch of average backs, the carries
will be spread evenly.
The FBs don't seem to get too many carries per game, even
if they have good ratings at the position. However, if you
place a great RB at that position, then he will get a bunch
of carries.
So, don't worry about putting your second great RB at FB,
because he will get the carries most of the time.
----------
You shouldn't worry about 1 point of difference when it comes
to OVR ratings. That 1 point may be based on 1 point of some
rating such as ACC, and that's not a big difference compared to
things like age and INJ. However, if you are trying to compare
players when one or more of those players is at 100 OVR, you
need to compare all of the stats in order to get a good idea
of whether one player is better than another, since the game
won't tell you which player is better over that 100 OVR rating.
----------
The difficulty of trading for players (from hardest to easiest):
First Tier:
Quarterbacks
Running backs
Defensive linemen
Kickers/Punters (because you can't trade them)
Second Tier:
Wide Receivers
Linebackers
Cornerbacks
Safeties (may also be in third tier)
Third Tier:
Offensive Linemen
Tight ends
Fullbacks
----------
To beat the Great Games, just put the difficulty on Rookie and beat the
tar out of the opponents.
----------
Make sure to save early and often. To save your profiles, go into the
Madden Challenge screen and save all the entries suffixed with "(NS)".
For the settings, just exit the game. These are for the PC version only:
console versions may vary.
----------
If you have a play go on too long, the game won't record all of it.
It will only contain the last seconds of the play, up to its time
limit. I do not know what the time limit is exactly, but I believe
it is somewhere around 8-10 seconds. It could be longer.
----------
In the Season mode, you can play again with the same teams you had (in
terms of who is on your roster) at the end of the last season, but with a
new schedule, and all injuries healed. Seems kind of pointless to me.
----------
Some people say that when a player plays out of position, his ability
to play that position drops by a certain amount. For example, if a
LB goes down to play DE, his ability to play the position may decrease
by more than what his ratings say he is at that position, i.e. he has
an invisible "rating penalty" for playing out of position. I don't
know whether this is true or not.
----------
I set the CPU adjustments on my game something like this, for more
realism. These aren't perfect, as the CPU is flat out retarded when
blocking, and other things. I only listed the ones I changed:
All-Pro
QB Accuracy: +1
Pass Blocking: nothing
WR Catching: all the way up (but watch out, because your receivers
will catch deep balls a lot more than they would in the real NFL)
RB Ability: all the way up
Run Blocking: all the way up
Kickoff Length: Less
Kicking Accuracy: Less
Defense: Aggressive
Awareness: all the way up (your mileage may vary here -
put this one down if you want to run things like I HB Option Pass)
Break Blocks: all the way down
Tackling: all the way up (you may want to ease up on this too)
I tuned down the Face Masking Penalties, raised the return
interference calls, raised the pass interference calls, and toned
down the roughing the kicker/passer.
----------
Madden NFL 2000 Codes
These are the codes you can input on the "Code Entry" screen to
get the Super Stiff Arm, Ball Camera, great teams, etc.
When you enter a code successfully and you don't already have the
code, Madden will say "Boom!" and a short cheer will ensue.
If the code is already there, nothing happens, except for the
code you entered disappearing.
These codes are in the order in which they appear in the Madden 2000
"View Codes" screen, and the Great Teams are listed first.
Code Effect
Great Teams: Entering codes for all of the teams which played in Games
before a particular Great Game will unlock all of the Games in which
those teams played. If you disable a team, then all of the Games after
the Game in which the team played will disappear from the selection of
Great Games.
WILDWEST Old West Stadium
PAINFUL More injuries
COWBOYS Fantasy Team: Marshalls
QBINTHECLUB Can't sack the QB (you can sack the RB or WR if
they are the passer)
MOJO All 60s Team
QUARKANDSTAR Home team is bigger in size, visitors are smaller
ITSINTHEGAME EA Sports Stadium
FIRSTIS20 20 yards for a 1st down
NOPICKS No INTs
SIDEBURNS All 70s Team
REFISBLIND Less penalties (really, more referee tolerance)
XMASGIFT Xmas Rush Stadium
INTHEFUTURE Fantasy Team: Industrials
AIRMADDEN Super Jump
TEAMMADDEN All-Madden Team
WEPUTITTHERE Tiburon Stadium
HANDSOFLARD More fumbles
BTHEBALL Ball Camera
SIDESHOW Tiburon Bros. Stadium
PICKEDOFF More INTs
KILLERJOKE Fantasy Team: Clowns
EXISTENTIAL Floating Heads (the rest of the players' bodies
is invisible)
SHARKATTACK Tiburon Team (nearly perfect team)
OLDSPARKY Electric Sidelines (you bounce off the sidelines
with an electric jolt)
FINALBUILD Players fatigue more quickly
SAMEASITEVER Tiberium Stadium
TRICKLEDOWN All 80s Team
PHALANX Fantasy Team: Praetorians
PHOTON Super Speed Burst
QUANTUM Curved Space-Time
PCBS Salvage Field Stadium
WEARETHEGAME EA Sports Team (nearly perfect team)
CHAOS Weird Scoring Rules (different point system:
field goals are better
than they were before,
and touchdowns are less
valuable)
FRACORAS Defensive Scoring (defense scores points for
sacks and INTs)
RUSTNEVER Fantasy Team: Junkyard Dogs
HAVETHEROCK Madden Millennium Team (not as broad as the
NFL Millennium Team)
FIRSTLAW Gridiron Stadium
SPIRITOFSHOP Fantasy Team: Toymakers
WIMPBALL Players harder to tackle
PANCAKES Alpha Blitz Stadium (weather effect: the ground
is icy)
SNAPTACLEPNT Fantasy Team: Sugar Buzz
GONZALES Speedball (ball flies really fast)
VALLEYYOKINGS Nile Hi Stadium
THOTH Fantasy Team: Mummies
TENOCHTITLAN 4th & Incas Stadium
1900 NFL Millennium Team
ELMSTREET Maddenstein Stadium
CORTEZKILLER Fantasy Team: Vipers
BAREFOOT 100 Yard Field Goals
SHRIKE Fantasy Team: Monsters
RAILGUN 100 Yard Passes
MADDEN92 All 90s Team
QUITELAME 5 yards for a 1st down
YOUTHEMAN Receivers catch better
BEATDOWN Super Stiff Arm
STRAYLIGHT Cosmodome Stadium (you might get a speed
increase in parts of this
stadium)
TERMINUS Fantasy Team: Comets
This site has some updated rosters, including the Nittany 91
rosters, which are for the 2000-2001 season.
----------
Greets:
Myself. Go me!
----------
Credits:
EA Sports: For making an ok football game. Still haven't beat Tecmo
Super Bowl yet!
EA's FTP site: ftp://ftp.ea.com/pub/
Don't only look in the Madden 2000/sports directories. Look around,
they have some great stuff there. You can also download patches,
updated rosters, and EA Football Net software.
The Thinking Man's Guide to Madden 2000: Great Custom Plays there.
Check it out.
http://www.geocities.com/colosseum/pressbox/9051/2000.html
EBS EBKE (de45515@alltel.net): For the Spacebar coin toss winning tip.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
12. How To Get/How To Use
Don't know where to get used PC games. Could try eBay.
Using it...get a DirectX compatible controller or your mouse or your
keyboard, then have "Autorun" enabled on your CD-ROM device if you want
to to boot up immediately (otherwise you can select the CD-ROM manually
from My Computer), install it, all that. It's not a very stable program
even with the patches, so watch out. Save early and often, now and then
you may need to backup your save file, as Madden 2000 has been known
to corrupt it, both in the console versions and the PC versions. Know
that if you use a utility to edit save files, rosters, etc. it may crash
(on boot for rosters, on load for other files), removing them from the
given directory lets it refresh itself.
