Winning games in Madden takes both offensive and defensive excellence.
Offenses in Madden are pretty straightforward and rely heavily on whether you have a good playbook full of dynamic and easily executable plays.
Defense in Madden is trickier.
You need to focus on several facets of the defense all at the same time. You need to play good pass coverage, identify and beat the run, but most importantly, you need to rush the passer to try to sack them.
Getting sacks is vital to winning games in Madden.
If you can get a sack on your opponents during an offensive drive, the likelihood of them scoring on that drive goes down significantly.
Even if you can’t get a sack, blitzing and getting pressure on the QB can be a really good thing for your defense. By getting pressure on a QB, you can rattle their offense, forcing incompletions, limiting deep passes, and even forcing interceptions, but the most satisfying result you can get is by bringing the QB down in the backfield and getting a sack.
Here are our 4 top tips to get more sacks in Madden 24.
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Utilize User Blitzing
While it is typically more effective to use as a linebacker or a defensive back, you should definitely switch to Defensive linemen on obvious passing downs and late in two-minute drills.
In these situations, when you know the offense is likely to take a deep shot down the field, pass rushing takes on added importance because you have more time for your defensive line to get home on the quarterback.
It is very important to disrupt the pass throwers on potential big downfield plays.
Several pass rush moves are highlighted in our ultimate controller guide. But the most important thing to know is that the pass rush system in Madden 24 is centered around the right stick.
Flicking the right stick will initiate a bull rush; this rush move is best for power rushers, such as defensive tackles and 3-4 defensive ends.
Flicking the right stick to the right or left will initiate the club or swim move. These moves are perfect for speed rushers like 4-3 defensive ends and 3-4 linebackers.
Don’t forget to hold down the right trigger to maximize these players’ speed to the QB.
A final tip for user pass rushing is to pull the left trigger to initiate a contain move when you are rushing against a Mobile quarterback looking to run outside the pocket. This will disengage your defender off of the tackle into an area where the defender can cut off the QB before the scramble outside the pocket.
Defend Check-Downs & Short Throws
A check-down is a quarterback’s best friend when attempting to avoid getting sacked. It is vitally important that you eliminate this safety valve.
A check-down is when the QB finds a receiver close by (typically a running back, sometimes a tight end) in their line of sight and throws it to them as a quick option if there is nothing open downfield.
A lot of times, you may be close to getting a sack before the quarterback throws a short pass to their check-down option at the last second.
To successfully cover these options, you need to make sure that at least one linebacker is in zone coverage instead of blitzing and that at least one player is in man coverage against the running back and another one on each of the tight ends.
You can do this by using the defensive pre-play menu.
Use Good Blitz Defenses & Pass-Rush Plays
The best way to get sacks is to utilize blitz plays. The best defensive playbooks have a variety of solid blitz plays to choose from.
A blitz play is when you have one or more extra players rush the QB.
Typically only the defensive line will try to attempt a sack on the quarterback but on a blitz play, linebackers, safeties, or sometimes even cornerbacks will rush the passer.
This overwhelms offensive lines and gives you more opportunities to get to the quarterback quickly.
The best blitz plays will have the Sam linebacker and/or the strong safety rushing the QB.
To identify the Sam LB and the SS, you must count how many defenders are on either side of the center (left or right). The side with more players is called the strong side, and the linebacker on that side is called the Sam linebacker, and the safety on that side will be a strong safety.
The reason that these blitzes are better is that if you rush from the weak side (the side with fewer players), a savvy opponent will throw the ball quickly over the rushers leaving few defenders left to tackle the receiver.
You can also utilize heavy rushes that rush more than five players and are typically balanced, but you run the same risk as you would with the weak side blitz.
Get Talented Pass-Rushing Players
When looking to add pass rushers to your team, the most important attributes to look for are power moves and finesse moves.
Bigger inside rushers will be more power focused, while edge rushers will want higher finesse ratings.
The key number for both of these attributes is 80. Anything above 80 for either attribute is going to be above average. The best rushers are going to have ratings for both these attributes above 90.
Another big rushing attribute to look for is actually speed. Speed for pass rushers, just like every other position in Madden, is critically important.
The faster you get to the pass rusher, the more sacks you can rack up.
