Madden NFL 23 Gameplay Improvements Revealed - Pass Coverage, Pass Rush, QB Contain & Much More

Gridiron Notes are back again this year as the team reveals Madden NFL 23 gameplay improvements. The blog goes over pass coverage, pass rush, QB contain and much more.

This year, the team solidified their basic, fundamental coverage principles with a focus on zone coverage and defending the deep pass. They also fine tuned the pass rush to increase pressure and refined disengage efforts from defenders to deal with mobile quarterbacks.

The Gridiron Notes also touch on the new context-sensitive catching animations that have been added so that no matter where you place the ball with the new FieldSENSE Skill-Based Passing mechanic, the appropriate catch will follow.

Throwing to the furthest lead point on a streak route with Skill-Based Passing will allow your receiver to catch it while reaching out over his shoulders. If you throw to a receivers back shoulder on a streak, you’ll see new back shoulder catch animations. We’ve also included new fade catch animations when throwing corner and fade routes towards the sidelines or corner of the end zone.

Depending on their ratings, AI-quarterbacks are tuned to see the field differently under pressure. Quarterbacks who have a lower awareness rating will have difficulty finding open targets and will be more likely to throw to a partially covered target, which will allow your defense to make a big play.

A new injury animation has been added while players are standing and running. New injury animations have been added when fighting in the trenches, primarily to make sure injury animations don’t break immersion by seeing an injured player run back to the huddle instantly. If a player is injured, you’ll see him go to the ground and stay there until the trainers help him off the field.

Some of the best big play and touchdown celebrations seen on gameday have been captured in new signature animations for a selection of players in the league. The celebration locomotion has been enhanced with more character animations, so players will run into the endzone more like they do in real life.

There are also plenty of details on playbooks in the detailed write up, so make sure to read it all here.

Madden NFL 23 officially releases on August 19. By pre-ordering the Madden NFL 23 All Madden Edition before August 18, fans will receive a variety of benefits including 3-day early access, 4600 Madden Points, Dual Entitlement to upgrade to the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X version, Exclusive Early Access Challenges, and more.

A special All-Madden Team Elite Player item will also be included if you order the Madden NFL 23 All Madden Edition by July 22. Those who are members of EA Play can also play Madden NFL 23 early through a 10-hour trial starting three days before launch, and they will also receive exclusive in-game benefits every month.