New Defensive Coverage Logic In Madden 19

A few changes are coming to the AI logic of popular zone coverages in Madden 19. In last year’s game, any player with 91 zone coverage or above would automatically break on passes before the quarterback released the ball.

Madden 19 has changed that logic so only defenders with 99 zone coverage break on the ball everytime before a QB releases it. Players with 90-99 zone coverage have a chance of breaking on passes early with the likelihood of that happening scaling up as the player’s zone coverage rating gets higher.

There are a few other changes to defensive player logic in Madden NFL 19.

Tampa 2 Defenses

The primary of focus with Cover 2 was adding new rules and logic for the Middle Read and Vertical Hook defenders. The Middle Read player will now do a much better job of getting to the deep middle of the field to defend against pass routes that cross that area.

Cover 3 Defenses

Cover 3 will defend against trips and bunch formations much better than before. In those situations plays like Cover 3 Match, Cover 3 Sky, and Cover 3 Buzz plays will function more like the Cover 3 Mable.

Cover 4 Defenses

There are 2 new cover 4 defenses in Madden 19 (Cover 4 Quarters and Cover 4 Palms).

Against a formation where a slot receiver is present, and if the slot receiver runs a quick out, the defense in Cover 4 Quarters will handle this route with the “Quarter Flat” player. In the same scenario with Cover 4 Palms, the defense will handle this route with the cornerback who’s playing “Outside Quarter.” In a sense, the coverage plays like a Cover 2.

Other Improvements

The protect the sticks feature that has been broken for the past few Madden NFL games is fixed so that the underneath defenders will drop to the first down sticks.

A new formation called Big Nickel G has been added to this year’s game. It is a 4-2-5 defense which will be found in every Madden 19 defensive playbook.

You can check out all of the other latest updates at our Madden 19 news center. Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.