Madden 15 Thread

Paully D

With so much of the "off topic" thread being taken up with discussion of the upcoming edition of Madden, I thought it might be a good idea to set up a dedicated thread for the game for all discussion relating to Madden 15.

The cover has been released and, to be honest, it looks pretty poor. The images are a bit big to post on the thread without messing it up, but it can be found here.

Release date for Europe is Friday August 29th, with the American's getting it on Tuesday 26th as always. That's only 60 odd days until European release, which won't be long coming around. We're probably really only looking at around 6 or 7 weeks before proper gameplay is available to view and in the lead up to that we'll have the team roster ratings, player ratings etc being announced sporadically.

I can't wait already

empacher

As long as man coverage works I'm happy.

Maybe also make speed not be the be all and end all when it cones to WRs getting free.

Knex*

I know for sure that I am going to be living in Austin for a year come October, so its looking unlikely that I'll be able to continue in the league with the time difference.

If I thought I could, I'd grab the game and bring my Xbox over. But realistically its probably not gonna work out, which is a shame.

Paully D

Madden School have started their team breakdowns ahead of Madden 15. So far they've done the Ravens, Browns, Bengals, Texans, Colts and Steelers.

I found them to be very helpful when researching teams that I may draft pre-release of Madden 25 and they are well worth a read. More will be released over the coming days. Here's an example of the Ravens breakdown:

http://www.madden-school.com/madden-school-news/

helimachoptor

Texans dont look great bar their pass rush, someone could take them for that and then get a QB in the draft.

Colts are going to be a great team this year.

AFC North will be tough as normal, all 4 teams have good stregths

PerrinV2

helimachoptor wrote: »

Texans dont look great bar their pass rush, someone could take them for that and then get a QB in the draft.

Colts are going to be a great team this year.

AFC North will be tough as normal, all 4 teams have good stregths

Personally I'd be staying outta the north,gonna be a fair few retirements with the Ravens and Steelers possibly with the Bengals too,now the Browns,they'll have a cracking team if Manziel is anyways decent(good even if he isn't),taken early I think.

PerrinV2

Top 5 Defensive Duos
J.J. WATT AND JADEVEON CLOWNEY – HOUSTON TEXANS
VON MILLER AND DEMARCUS WARE – DENVER BRONCOS
JAIRUS BYRD AND KENNY VACCARO – NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
DARRELLE REVIS AND BRANDON BROWNER – NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
JOE HADEN AND DONTE WHITNER – CLEVELAND BROWNS
http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/news-updates-gameplay/article/best-defensive-duos

Paully D

Hopefully we'll start to see more and more information come out now. With only around 50 days until release in America, they seem to be miles behind in terms of where they usually are at this time every other year.

_____

I think the AFC North will be one of the first divisions overall and possibly the only AFC division to become all human. Plenty of Ravens fans in the league will see them guaranteed to go human and probably reasonably early, the Bengals defense is ridiculously good and with the improved focus on defense will be an extremely valuable team, the Browns will be a really fun team to play with due to the Manziel factor. The Steelers possibly not very attractive, but Big Ben will still be one of the top QB's and they got some nice improvements in the draft who will be excellent in Madden at least. Also, if I was faced with the choice of going into a team with 3 humans already in it or picking a better team but only having a couple of humans in it, I'm most likely going to choose to fill up the division and guarantee a full human division to ensure I'm getting more human games.

Mirroring the real life situation at the minute, I think the NFC will prove to be very attractive to players but the AFC not so much (aside from the odd division as mentioned above).

empacher

Personally I thought you'd be eyeing up the saints again Paully, that secondary looks very punishing. A bit of work on the O and D line and that teams laughing. Some crazy playmakers both sides of the ball.

I'm liking the look of the Bucs, good cap space, young team. Talent on offense in bunches, and some great tools on D. McCoy, David, Verner, and a good safety Tandem.

Paully D

empacher wrote: »

Personally I thought you'd be eyeing up the saints again Paully, that secondary looks very punishing. A bit of work on the O and D line and that teams laughing. Some crazy playmakers both sides of the ball.

I'm liking the look of the Bucs, good cap space, young team. Talent on offense in bunches, and some great tools on D. McCoy, David, Verner, and a good safety Tandem.

The Saints should be a very good team I agree (as will the Buccaneers). I most likely won't even consider them however as I'd like to choose a different team (and division) just to freshen things up. Playing with the same team for almost a full year can take its toll and I feel I'd enjoy the new game more with a new challenge.

adrian522

PerrinV2 wrote: »

Top 5 Defensive Duos
J.J. WATT AND JADEVEON CLOWNEY – HOUSTON TEXANS
VON MILLER AND DEMARCUS WARE – DENVER BRONCOS
JAIRUS BYRD AND KENNY VACCARO – NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
DARRELLE REVIS AND BRANDON BROWNER – NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
JOE HADEN AND DONTE WHITNER – CLEVELAND BROWNS
http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/news-updates-gameplay/article/best-defensive-duos

Surely Willis and Bowman should be on that list if defense is going to be as good as they say it is.

guns4all

Going to pick my team based on which division needs filling out.
Would prefer a filled division than taking the best team available.

helimachoptor

fcukers, stay out of AFC south i need to to get to the playoffs :eek:

guns4all

helimachoptor wrote: »

fcukers, stay out of AFC south i need to to get to the playoffs :eek:

Ill take the Jags, it'll be cool

Rock Lesnar

helimachoptor wrote: »

fcukers, stay out of AFC south i need to to get to the playoffs :eek:

I'll hopefully get the chance to head to philly and bringing Mike Vick with me.

Paully D

New trailer focusing on the defensive line below.

Like everything else I'd probably get used to it after a while, but after going so long with the usual camera on both sides of the ball I don't know if I'll use that defensive camera much.

The defensive line moves look so simplistic too, essentially it seems like getting off the snap and then just hitting one button to get rushers past the offensive line.

helimachoptor

That. Looks. Awesome.

I'm hoping that the D is powered up a bit in this.

My only worry so far has been all of the focus has been on the D-line, very little on the linebackers and secondary

Looking at that you'd be crazy not to take a team like the Texans

mikemac1

I'm strongly thinking of taking the Rams

A balanced offense and an amazing D line!

Paully D

mikemac1 wrote: »

I'm strongly thinking of taking the Rams

A balanced offense and an amazing D line!

They'd be a team I'd definitely consider, but would you take them at #3 when you'll likely be able to snap up the Seahawks?

I guess another good thing about the Rams would be you'd be guaranteed at least 3 players in a division as the 49ers and Seahawks are definitely going to be human teams.

PADRAIC.M

Stop sayin Seahawks sure no one will want them!

Knex*

If I wasn't heading away, I'd have been looking at the Vikings for next season. Nice balance to the roster and a rookie QB, which I really like for our 3 year system.

empacher

Knex. wrote: »

If I wasn't heading away, I'd have been looking at the Vikings for next season. Nice balance to the roster and a rookie QB, which I really like for our 3 year system.

I'm strongly looking at the vikings, with patterson and brigewater on rookie contracts you can mold the rest of the team around them

Paully D

empacher wrote: »

I'm strongly looking at the vikings, with patterson and brigewater on rookie contracts you can mold the rest of the team around them

Yeah, I'm strongly considering them also.

All first round players develop extremely quickly into good players (I'm yet to see one on Madden that hasn't) so you'd be sorted at the QB position with Bridgewater and at pass rusher with Barr, the best RB in the game and a solid roster overall. AP's owed a fortune in season three but it would be simple enough to get around.

If they fall to my position in the draft they'd be very high up on my list, especially with the NFC North likely to have the Packers and Bears also being human controlled.

adrian522

I still think the Bengals have one of the strongest rosters in the league, and likely to be in a division with human opponents.

Elite WR, Elite TE in Eifert and solid TE in Gresham, middle of the road QB, good offensive line, great RB in Bernard.

Very strong D-Line, good secondary(Dennard, Kirkpatrick, Jones). Have invested heavily in defense recently,

Only issues are weather you want to get rid of Dalton or stick with him. You'd also look at drafting or acquiring in FA a good LB and a second reliable WR.

Paully D

The secondary improvements sound promising:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVfJ8ApxHSM

6 weeks (or 42 days) until it's released over here. The demo usually arrives 2 weeks prior to release, so we should have that around August 12th. It's getting closer

Paully D

EA SPORTS Madden NFL ‏@EAMaddenNFL 3m
Join us today 4:30pm ET for the #Madden15 Live Stream. Subscribe to our @Twitch channel: http://www.twitch.tv/easports

Might be worth a watch ^^^

EDIT - Here's the full 1 hour 20 minute live stream - http://www.twitch.tv/easports/b/548832711

PerrinV2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmp5YW_oLc8

Some ratings on Monday

Paully D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=safhjnj8Occ

PerrinV2

Top 10 rookies released

http://www.easports.com/madden-nfl/news-updates-gameplay/article/madden-15-player-ratings?utm_campaign=mad15-social-global-ic-tw-ratingshub-072114-tw-img-site-ramp&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&sourceid=mad15-social-global-ic-tw-ratingshub-072114-tw-img-site-ramp&cid=23478&ts=1405985963209

Paully D

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24631568/madden-15-rookie-ratings-blake-bortles-tops-johnny-manziel

To take a deeper dive, we talked with EA Sports Madden Ratings Czar (we think it's official title) Donny Moore, who gave us the skinny on various rankings from this year's rookie class.

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CBSSports.com: No JOHNNY MANZIEL in the top 10??? But seriously, where's Johnny Football -- even without the starting gig I thought his athleticism might rocket him into a weird place on this list. Dude plays like a video game in real life!

Donny Moore: Johnny Football is going to be fun to play in Madden NFL 15, make no mistake about it. He's got a great Throw on Run rating, so he can scramble and throw. But he does have a few knocks on his game at this point as a rookie – Mid Accuracy, Awareness, and Play Action all have some room for improvement.

CBS: Clowney's 83 feels right but maybe a little low, just because he's such a freak. Were you guys tempted to bump him up even more?

DM: Clowney is a stud. As an Outside Linebacker though, he has some weaknesses in Zone Coverage, Man Coverage and his Stamina. He is probably not a 3 down player at this point in his career, but will be one of the best in the game at rushing the passer with his 88 Speed and 94-rated Power Moves.

CBS: How does Clowney compare to other previous rookie defensive players? How about Greg Robinson against other rookie linemen?

DM: Clowney and G-Rob are great rookies but not quite the best we have ever seen coming into Madden NFL. Mario Williams was 86 OVR in Madden 07, and Reggie Bush was highest ever at 88 OVR, a record which still stands today. Greg Robinson has the highest incoming Run Block (94) since Mike Iupati in Madden 11 (Iupati was 95).

CBS: Blake Bortles has to be an upset as the top-ranked QB for the rooks over Manziel and Teddy Bridgewater. Was this a conscious decision by you guys at EA or did you plug in the ratings for the guys and just happen to see him spit out on top once things shook out?

DM: The Throw Power of Bortles is what put him over the top over Manziel and Bridgewater, as he comes out with a 92 in that category. Teddy has some advantages in short and mid accuracy, but his deep accuracy set him back a bit OVR-wise.

CBS: Sammy Watkins is stout at 80. If I recall correctly that tops Julio Jones Madden 12 rating and is equal to A.J. Green's rating. Do you think Watkins and Mike Evans (an impressive 78) stack up favorably with Jones and Green?

DM: Sammy Watkins reminds us a lot of Percy Harvin, great speed, great moves after the catch, and top notch hands/playmaking ability. Mike Evans is a bit slower but he is a mini-TE lining up outside at 6'5”, 230 lbs. We don't have either Watkins or Evans grading out as high overall in comparison to Julio Jones/A.J. Green of the 2011 Draft.

CBS: What sort of SPD rating is Watkins looking at?

DM: Sammy is sitting pretty with 93 SPD/95ACC/95 AGI…To go along with 88 Catch rating, watch out AFC East cornerbacks!

CBS: Are there any other eye-popping individual traits from these players? (Like Jake Matthews and a 99 awareness as a rookie or something?)

DM: Clowney 94 Power Moves (#1 ranked rookie)/88 SPD/92 ACC/95 Hit Power (ties him with Calvin Pryor for #1 ranked rookie) ... Greg Robinson 73 SPD/87ACC/93 STR/94 RBK (ties him for #3 out of all LG's in Madden 15) ... Jake Matthews 90 Pass Block…Aaron Donald 81 SPD (ranked #1 for DT in Madden)/93 STR ... Darqueze Dennard 92 Press/89 Man Coverage/90 SPD ... Khalil Mack 87 SPD/90 Power Moves/91 Pursuit ...

CBS: Were you guys surprised Calvin Pryor ended up so high? Does playing for Rex Ryan have anything to do with that or just his natural abilities? He looks like the "steal" of the draft based on Madden ratings, yeah?

DM: Calvin Pryor will start from Day 1 in that Jets secondary with his 95 Hit Power/85 SPD/78 Tackle/76 Zone Coverage ratings. I like what he brings to the table and think he was absolutely worth being the first safety off the board over HaHa Clinton-Dix.

CBS: Will Clowney's rating fluctuate if you move him from DE to LB?

DM: Yes it will, he will increase to a 92 Overall if you move him to DE (his natural position). That is NOT intentional though, if/when the Texans move him to the DE position, expect some rating adjustments to reflect his new position (which would more than likely lower him from 92). Things like Zone Coverage are factored in at OLB for OVR rating, so that is why there are two different grades.

helimachoptor

Lewan looks solid, titans o line should be pretty decent this year