Madden NFL 21 Patch Fixes Cover 3, Cover 4 and Man Coverages, Pursuit Improvements, Gameplay Updates & More - Patch Notes

The latest Madden NFL 21 patch is available now on all consoles and PC, featuring extensive fixes for Cover 3, Cover 4 and man coverages, pursuit improvements, plenty of gameplay updates and much more.

Check out the patch notes below and let us know what you’re seeing.

Gameplay Updates:

Pass Coverage:

• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to improve the timing of the drop to get to the appropriate coverage depth when aligned over an outside receiver running a short route (Drag, Smoke Screen, etc.). This adjustment will allow them to get deeper and play any deep routes coming from the slot.
• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to reduce the frequency of jumping inside to cover an out-route from the slot, allowing an outside receiver on a Streak/Fade to get behind them. The outside deep-zone defender will now keep his width and continue to leverage his zone-drop accordingly.
• Fixed an issue causing receivers to sometimes run into the back of a slower defender playing a deep-zone assignment, leading to an avoidance animation disrupting the route.
• Updated Cover 4 Quarters to use more Man Matching principles against Trip formations and improved transitioning from zone to man when matching certain vertical routes.
• Fixed an issue causing deep-zone defenders in Cover 4 Quarters and Palms to let streaking receivers run by them on the outside. Now the defenders will backpedal and transition to turn and run with the correct timing.
• Tuning to Cover 4 Drop to better cover deep post routes, by improving deep-zone anticipation of vertical routes moving to the middle of the field to reduce the likelihood of big plays over the top of all the deep zone defenders.
• Added logic to make the reaction of linebackers in man-coverage more authentic when covering a running back in a block-and-release assignment. The LB’s will have the option to either trigger a pass rush and transition to a QB Spy assignment when they see the running-back block, and the timing they use to make the decision will be scaled by their play-recognition rating.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing cornerbacks to instantly rush the passer when playing man-coverage on RPO Screen plays.
• Fixed an issue causing all the underneath zone defenders to break out of coverage and rush the Quarterback when he rolled out of the pocket, even if he was not close to the line of scrimmage.
• Tuning to improve Jam/Press criteria so user-controlled defenders will be able to trigger the appropriate animations for all angles and situations.

Tackling and Blocking:

• Fixed an issue allowing an exploit blitz with nickel corners in the contain assignment. New logic and movement has been implemented for pass blockers to better react to this exploit blitz which is most commonly run out of formations like Dime 1-4-6.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing defenders to get stuck in a breakdown fake-out when the ball carrier was being tackled within close proximity.
• Fixed an issue causing unintended ‘Roughing the Passer’ penalties when pass rushers could obviously see the ball had been released.
• Fixed a rare issue with a reach-sack animation that could get misaligned, and make it appear like the QB would be tackled by air.
• Tuning to reduce the amount of broken tackles that were triggering from defenders being out of position, with the most significant tuning being done for the Competitive game style. This should result in far less broken tackles from over/under-pursuit defender alignments.

Locomotion:

• Tuning to reduce steerability while in Truck animations.
• Fixed a rare issue causing ball carriers to get stuck in the running assignment and run out of bounds.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to sometimes use the ‘Option Quarterback’ carry-style when switching ball hands after an INT.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to sometimes hitch in the transition from pre-play to during-play movement in pass coverage.
• Fixed an issue causing Tight Ends to sometimes slide on the cut when running corner routes against certain coverages.
• Tuning to improve ball-carrier ability to get through the line when running routes from the backfield.
• Fixed a rare issue sometimes causing the ball carrier to freeze up after two spin moves were used in quick succession.

Passing:

• Fixed an issue causing the running back’s receiver icon to disappear after the handoff when running Gun Doubles Y Off RPO Zone Y Peek.
• Fixed a rare issue causing the QB to throw an odd push pass when running Singleback Wing Pair HB Dive Alert Smoke
• Fixed an issue causing the QB’s arm to get caught up on the running back when attempting to pass during the handoff when running Gun Wing Slot Offset PA Jailbreak Screen.

Abilities:

• Tuning to only allow players with the ‘Reach For it’ Ability equipped to be able to trigger successful pylon/first-down marker reach-tackles for Competitive game style.
• Fixed a visual issue allowing the in-game indicators to remain visible during the entire play when using the ‘Blitz Radar’ and ‘Threat Detector’ abilities.

Environment:

• Fixed various issues sometimes causing the coach or other sideline players to ghost through an opposing player during various sideline interactions with players running or falling out of bounds.
• Fixed an issue preventing sideline ‘help-up’ animations from triggering in situations where they should.

General Gameplay Improvements:

• Fixed an issue sometimes causing a new field to load with invisible players after switching Practice type from the Practice Pause menu.
• Fixed an issue causing the punter to line up too close to the line of scrimmage when punting from inside the 5-yard line, allowing the punt to be blocked too frequently.

Madden NFL 21 (Xbox One, PS4, PC, Stadia)

Key Highlights:

• In Competitive only, only players with the ‘Reach For It’ ability will trigger certain reaches
• Fixed blitz’s with Nickel Corners in Contain
• Fine-tuned deep-zone defenders in Cover 3
• Tuned the distance-based receiver abilities vs. Man-Coverage
• Addressed Man-Coverage issues with RPOs and Receiver motion
• Fixed frequency of defenders doing QB Slide avoidance

Gameplay Updates:

• Fixed an issue causing the tight end to stay in his 3-point stance after being motioned to the slot on running plays out of the Gun Doubles formation.
• Fixed a visual issue allowing the in-game indicators to remain visible during the entire play when using the ‘Blitz Radar’ and ‘Threat Detector’ abilities.
• Fixed an issue causing the QB’s arm to get caught on the pulling guard when throwing the ball early on I-Form Slot Flex Power Alert Smoke.
• Tuning to the distance-based receiver abilities so the Receivers to increase the receiver’s win-chance on the cut vs. man-coverage defenders without a counter-ability, as long the cut is performed in the designated area of the field.
• Fixed an issue sometimes causing cornerbacks to instantly rush the passer when playing man-coverage on RPO Screen plays.
• Tuning to outside deep-zone defenders in Cover 3 to improve the timing of the drop to get to the appropriate coverage depth when aligned over an outside receiver running a short route (Drag, Smoke Screen, etc.). This adjustment will allow them to get deeper and play any deep routes coming from the slot.
• Fixed an exploit allowing the offensive user to manipulate a man-coverage defender by using motion directly after a hot-route.
• Fixed an issue causing defenders to trigger avoidance animations any time any ball carrier would dive.
• Fixed an issue allowing an exploit blitz with nickel corners in the contain assignment. New logic and movement has been implemented for pass blockers to better react to this exploit blitz which is most commonly run out of formations like Dime 1-4-6.
• Tuning to pass-blocking logic to improve ‘blocking handoffs’ for left tackles when facing two rushers in the outside gap.

For those of you looking forward to Madden NFL 21 Franchise Mode update #3 of 3, the team shared some of the details last month, which is targeted to release in March.

Trade Logic Improvements

We are focused on delivering improvements to player and draft pick evaluations to create more rewarding and authentic trades for Madden 21 that we will continue to build and improve upon in the future.

DEV NOTE: To move forward on improved trade logic, it was important to acknowledge there wasn’t a magic quick fix. As a team, we’ve reevaluated everything about our previous trade logic with the goal of improving realism and fun of interacting with the trade system using a few key goals: Establishing new baseline scales around player and draft pick values by reconsidering every factor and modifier that is currently used in trades, resolving top community exploits around AI trades (like elite offensive linemen for late round picks), and looking for opportunities to improve or add new AI considerations when evaluating offers from teams. We’re excited to discuss more about how we are bringing all of those things to Madden 21 in the next Deep Dive!

Franchise League History

We are adding a new tile where you can see the Super Bowl and key award winners from each year of your franchise. This will include how many times a team has won the Super Bowl in the franchise, along with MVP, Coach of the Year, Offensive/Defensive Player of the Year, Offensive/Defensive Rookie of the Year, and Super Bowl MVP.

DEV NOTE: For Madden 21, this will track every season in your franchise from the season this is added and forward. Any history prior to the addition of this new feature will not be accessible as we previously did not save off Super Bowl scores among other things upon the start of a new league year. Any new league will have every season played tracked, however.