1) More Physics Based Gameplay. There was a good step forward with the physics based tackling. Tackling felt better this year than it ever has. There was a certain fluidity to it that felt so much better. The tackle battles were one-sided in favor of the CPU, a smaller RB shouldn't be shoving off a 300lbs DL every time as it's unrealistic; it did provide more of a challenge though which in a way, was nice. Let’s get more physics into the game as a whole. The ball trajectory can still be improved. Less turnovers, more pass breakups.
2) Offensive Line Cohesiveness. Let’s reward game players for building an offensive line and keeping them together. The longer they play with each other, the better they are as a unit. If there’s an injury or someone lost in FA and thusly replaced.. it will take some time to get back to that same level. Also better protection and OL play overall. There are still too many sacks given up, especially at LT and RT. 90% of the pressure and sacks come from those spots.
3) Player Learning. When a player gets drafted, or goes to a new team in the offseason, or picked up as a FA, they all require time to learn the new playbook. In Madden you can plug and play anyone and they play to their best ability from the get-go. Let’s put in a system where it takes awhile for players to learn the playbook. For example, if you pick up a QB mid season due to injury, the whole playbook shouldn’t be available to him right off the bat. It could be an attribute… let’s call it “knowledge” to keep it simple. If a player has a 50 rating vs a player who has a 90 rating.. the latter player will learn the playbook much quicker.
4) Improved Kicking. Kicking has been so mundane and downright easy. It doesn’t really matter who’s kicking. I like the idea of the icing of the kicker that was implemented, but I hate how it was done. I feel as if the meter disappearing and the camera zooming in is more the CPU ripping you off and it takes any skill away from the user. How about instead, there’s different kicking meters? Or if the meter is faster or slower depending on how highly rated your kicker is. Or if the kicker misses a kick or two, the meter increases in speed because the kicker is in a rough stretch. Or if the kicker hasn’t kicked all game, and then is needed at the end, there’s a chance he won’t be warmed up. Kicking needs to be overhauled. Right now it’s too easy and has been forever now. And the icing needs to be modified so that there’s still user skill involved rather than just getting lucky. CPU kickers also rarely miss if it’s not outside of 50yards; they also hardly ever make anything from 50 or beyond. It’s pretty unrealistic. Also, the punter needs to be the holder! The backup QB hasn’t been the placeholder in the NFL in so so long, but he’s still there in Madden.
5) Revamped Presentation.NFL games on FOX, CBS, NBC, ESPN, and Amazon all look differently. Give us different scoreboards/graphics for different games, so that they all feel a little different. Typically NFC games are broadcast on FOX and AFC games on CBS..What if EA created two fictional networks, each with their own scoreboards for NFC and AFC games? Create a few scoreboards for Primetime games. MLB The Show has different scoreboards. NBA 2K adds holiday graphics. Give us a unique Super Bowl scoreboard. All of this would make the games actually feel different and would add so much more to the immersion of the game.Add in a bunch of 3rd announcers that are all unique to different “network broadcasts.” Include some pre-show/halftime show/post show/weekly wrap up/weekly podcast or radio show… something that gives us more immersion.
6) Field Editor.How often do we see teams change the look of their 50 yard line logo and theirend zones? Allow players to edit fields; let us change up the logos at midfield. Let us redesign theend zones. Give us options to use teams' classic logos, give us NFC/AFC logos to put in the end zones, old school helmet logos, striped patterns with team colors for end zones. A field editor would be a huge feature to be added to franchise mode.
7) Revamped Draft: Add something to give it some more personality. Also add in draft day CPU-CPU trades. We never see those happen in Madden, but they occur all the time for real.
8) More Enhancement to Scouting: I like the revamp to the scouting, but it feels a little empty. I love the mock drafts, but there’s just something that feels empty to scouting. Give us a player’s ceiling and floor comparison perhaps; ceiling= Mahomes, floor=Gabbert as an example.Something needs to be added to scouting..
9) X-Factor/Traits Revamp: I know it’s a lot to ask to just get rid of X-Factors, but something needs to be done to make them feel less cheesy and less like the CPU is ripping you off. APF 2K8 had perfect traits; you felt like you had an advantage with those guys, but never felt as if they were unfair to play with/against. Bazooka is the worst offender: no QB in the NFL will automatically be able to increase their range 15 yards after completing a 30 yard in air pass. If anything, they’re going to be a little tired, not be able to throw 15 yards further.Most X-Factors are terribly arcade like and not at all realistic.
10)Better stat tracking. Give us historical team stats; each team’s top 10-20 leading passers, rushers, receivers, etc.. It would be nice to play through a franchise and see which of your players rises up team historical ranks.Give us playoff stats. Stat tracking is still terrible in Madden and itshould be so much better.
11) No more wind in a dome stadium 
12)More balanced/realistic CPU game-plans. The CPU passes way too much compared to how many times they run. Also, they need more accurate game plans. CPU teams run plays that wouldn’t be run in a real life scenario. How about an adaptive game plan? If a team is up 20+ in the second half, they’re not going to pass the ball 80% of the time. Also, teams need toadjust theirgameplans based on who's on their team. In Franchise, Jalen Hurts left the Eagles, but they still ran so many QB designed runs with their new QB.. Kirk Cousins.
13) Better use of timeouts.CPU teams never use timeouts outside of the 2 minute warning.
14) Game pacing. The pace of the game is way too fast. I can't remember which Madden had the option to change the pace of the game, but it was glorious. You had the choice of playing: very fast, fast, normal, slow, very slow. The very slow was so much more realistic, please bring back the different paces.
Things that can be improved upon from Madden 23 into Madden 24.
1)Offensive line: Run blocking is pretty darn good in my opinion and pass protection is a little better, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement in that department. The tackle positions still get beat far too often and there’s pressure from those positions almost every pass attempt. That’s not so much the case for the interior, thankfully, but the tackle positions need to be addressed. There still needs to be more cohesiveness amongst the line in general. In previous titles it would be the norm where I would get sacked 5+ times a game, but that’s not the case this year, thankfully. Let’s improve this a little more.
2) Passing game: both offense and defense: This might be my biggest gripe.Skill based passing was a nice feature, but there’s some kinks that need to be worked out, so I won’t tear it apart. Passes still seem to not go where you want them to go, which results in terrible interceptions, but again this feature is in its infancy stage; so some tweaks here and there can go a long way. Passing defense is where my frustrations shine the most. Far too often I’m experiencing animations that result in interceptions and they shouldn’t. CPU defenders will be a few yards off, and suddenly dive and pick a pass off. I also never get those animations in my favor. 50/50 balls are usually 90/10 in favor of the CPU which shouldn’t be the case. I think it was Madden 16 (maybe 19?), where pass breakups were perfectly implemented. Defenders would jar the ball loose pretty evenly; that unfortunately has gone away. Nowadays, almost all CPU passes are completed if they’re on target and that results in an unrealistic completion percentage for CPU QBs. On the user side, it’s much of the same. I just feel it’s impossible to play any sort of pass defense and have success with it. I know it’s a “passing league” and passing is "fun", but it shouldn’t be the case where defense can’t be played. Defensive backs quite literally have no effect on the games unless they get an interception. No defensive backs shut down any receivers, no defensive backs take any receiver out of the game. Slant routes can not be defended. The only time pass defense happens is if there’s a deep ball and you have time to click into your defender and put him in position yourself. That’s not good, nor is it resemblant of real life football. The only way to play pass defense is if I choose a play where a LB or DB bltiz and I user control them and have them play the fieldinstead of blitzing. This shouldn't be the case, and still I'm allowing an egregious amount of pass yards. The pass game needs a complete overhaul.
3) Still too many turnovers in the game. There needs to be a lot more pass breakups as opposed to interceptions. I shouldn’t be leading the league every season in both turnovers given and taken away. This needs to be much more balanced.
4) Penalties need to be better. Penalties rarely impact the game as they do in a real NFL game. I know penalties aren’t “fun” when compared to creating turnovers, but they need to be implemented correctly. Dating back to Madden 13, every single season I’ve played in Franchise, I’ve been at the bottom of the league in turnovers/yards. The CPU rarely gets penalties as well. Penalties happen in simulation, but not in gameplay with the frequency they should be. Also some penalties are broken; I’ve never seen the CPU get an intentional grounding penalty. I’ve never seen an offensive pass interference called, once again these are both dating back to Madden 13. In recent titles, roughing the passer is broken; there have been many times where a defender would just bump into the QB and it would be a penalty.
5) Please get rid of the "whipping" sound when QBs throw the ball.
I’ve been highly critical of Madden lately with the titles I’ve purchased and played since Madden 13 (16,19 and 21 also); with that being said, I don’t dislike Madden 23 to the same extent at all. I actually have found it to be relatively enjoyable. These are things that still need to be fixed and included, and if done, can make Madden 24 a vastly improved game. Madden 23 took a step forward and I haven't said that about a Madden game in a very long time. Hopefully EA can incorporate these aforementioned things.
