This is the biggest update to Madden 20 since the October update. This is also the first update since the server problems Madden had through early November.
It is the perfect opportunity for EA to win some fans back, so what early Christmas presents are there for Madden fans?
Key Highlights
Mid-Season Playbook Update - EA Sports have been watching what is happening in the NFL this season and reacting accordingly. They have stated they focused more on the defensive side of the ball with more updates in due course.
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Included in the update;
- New ‘Nickel Triple’ defensive formation added to Bears, Giants, Redskins, Texans
- New Nickel 2-4-5 Odd defensive formation added to Bears, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Packers, Panthers, Ravens, Titans
- New Goal Line 6-2 defensive formation added to all team playbooks
- Added 3-4 Bear defensive formation to Cardinals, Buccaneers, Dolphins, Lions, Packers, Patriots
- Added 4-3 Odd defensive formation to Jaguars, Saints, Vikings
- New Taysom Hill formations and packages added to Saints
5th Year Options in Franchise - You can hear Franchise players celebrating the world over. This is something called out in our list of features we want to see in Franchise mode.
In Franchise Mode, when you have an eligible player, it will give you a scenario at the end of the season to choose whether you re-sign to a 5th year of their rookie deal. Good news if you have someone like Jared Goff, Carson Wentz or Patrick Mahomes who will be looking for a massive deal soon.
GETTING PAID: The 5th year option helps to delay the pain of huge deals
New X-Factor Ability, 'Omaha' - In reference to one of the best players of all time, Peyton Manning, this X-Factor ability allows the QB to see defensive-back coverage play-art via pre-play coach cam when in the zone. An absolutely HUGE advantage in any game mode.
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This can be unlocked with 4 consecutive completions of 5+ air yards on Arcade & Simulation, and 6 consecutive completed passes of 5+ air yards on Competitive.
Knockout conditions include 2 incomplete passes, or any INT, sack or fumble. Defenders can ‘hide’ their assignments from the QB by using the ‘Bluff Blitz’ hot route.
Various Franchise Fixes - There have been various small updates to errors that were happening, but a notable statement in the update says "Users who have Cloud-based Leagues created from some ‘Play Now Live’ Games in July and August were missing data and crashing the Servers once loading into their league. That data was recently fixed on the server and the corrected data is also in today’s update."
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Nice to see an update thats heading in the right direction, but there is still a lot for EA to do to repair the damage recent server issues have caused.