Sometimes you just want to play more aggressively on defense. Whether you’re losing in a late-game situation or you want to rush the CPU (which is an objective in some Challenges), forcing a turnover can change an entire game.
This is a risky way to play but there are specific things you can do to make your team play more aggressively and increase the chance of fumbles and interceptions.
Read on to learn how to force turnovers in Madden 22.
How to Get More Fumbles
The first thing you need to do is start using the Hit Stick to tackle players – and use it the right way. Mastering the Hit Stick is one of the keys to winning more games in Madden Ultimate Team.
Using this technique is risky because it’s much easier to miss a tackle than by using Square/X. However, user Hit Stick tackles are also much more likely to cause a fumble, which makes them one of the best ways to force turnovers.
To execute this tackle, line up your defender in front of the opposition player and flick the right stick up or down. Make sure you’re close to the offensive player or your defender will miss the tackle. You can use the Strafe button (L2/LT) to line up your defender and be more accurate when pulling off this move.
In the picture below, you can see the exact moment when you need to press L2/LT and start moving towards the defender.
Also, don’t try to tackle every opposition player with the Hit Stick.
Tight Ends, Fullbacks, and heavier players will be harder to take down, especially with a Cornerback or other smaller defenders. The Hit Stick works best if you tackle a smaller player with a heavier one: like tackling a running back with one of your offensive linemen.
How to Get More Interceptions
There are several coaching adjustments you can make that will instantly make a difference when it comes to forcing turnovers.
The first adjustment refers to your ball in air defense: you can instruct your defenders to play Ball instead of Receiver. This means that any player defending the pass (usually Cornerbacks and Safeties) will look to make an interception rather than closely follow the receiver and swat the ball.
This will be risky since the players will leave their assignments to make an interception. If they fail, the receiver will be wide open and looking at some easy yards.
The second thing you can do is set your Tackling to Aggressive. This will increase the chances of your AI players executing Hit Stick tackles and causing fumbles. After that, you can go to Strip Ball and switch to Aggressive. This will increase the chance for your defensive AI to attempt to strip the ball and cause fumbles.
Again, as it’s highlighted in the Adjustments screen, both of these techniques are risky since they will also make your defenders miss more of their tackles. So, there’s an inherent risk here but it’s something you’ll need to live with if you want to play aggressively.
To intercept the ball, you also need to call the right plays – namely, pass coverage and blitzes. Pass coverage plays will put more defensive backs on the field and increase your chances of getting an interception while blitz plays will put the QB under pressure and get you more sacks.
The best defensive playbooks in Madden 22 will have lots of great blitz plays to choose from.
You’ll also want to control your safeties and cornerbacks to get more interceptions. Instead of blitzing all the time and trying to sack the quarterback with your offensive linemen, you’ll be better off if you take one of the defensive backs and try to get to the ball manually.
Use Practice mode to perfect this skill and learn how to read plays!
Wrapping up
Now that you know how to force turnovers in Madden 22, use these settings and adjustments carefully.
You don’t want to overcommit to forcing turnovers and playing aggressive defense all the time: experienced users will know how to exploit this and you’ll end up giving up too much yardage.
Save these techniques for those specific situations like Challenges and big late-game plays when everything is on the line and you have nothing to lose.
