Defense wins championships. This is as true in the NFL as it is in Madden. You won’t have much success in either without a good defense.
A big aspect of defense, and perhaps the most exciting element of defense, is turning the ball over. This ends your opponent’s offensive momentum and gives your offense a chance to score.
No matter what game mode you are playing, whether it be franchise mode, ultimate team, or even Superstar mode, you will need to force turnovers in order to win more games in Madden 24.
There are three main ways to turn the ball in the NFL: forcing a safety, forcing a fumble, and getting an interception. These are the same in Madden.
Below, we will list tips and techniques you can use to force more of each of these turnover types.
Forcing Safeties
The rarest form of turnover, the safety, is an uncommon yet impactful play that usually happens only a handful of times in a given season.
A safety happens when you tackle an opposing offensive player in your endzone (that is, the endzone opposite the one they are trying to score). When this happens, you are awarded two points, and the offensive team then punts the ball to you on the very next play.
Because this turnover can only happen with your opponent backed up to the goal line, you will want to perfect the coffin corner kick.
This is when you punt the ball towards the sideline near the one-yard line and try to line up where the ball crosses out of bounds to a spot that is near the goal line.
The best result of a coffin corner kick would be if you can pin the opponent within their own five-yard line.
You can also utilize the back spin (press left bumper) or sky kick (triangle/Y) to drop the ball right in front of the goal line, similar to the coffin corner punt.
Once you’ve got your opponents pinned within the five, you are gonna need to stop the short passing game and blitz the passer or runner.
Don’t allow an offensive play to develop; send as many defenders as possible into the backfield and make a tackle in the endzone.
A safety can be game-changing, and you need to go all out to get it, especially if it is a close game.
Force a Fumble
First and foremost, when looking to get more forced fumbles, you need to pay attention to player ratings.
You want to stack your team with players who excel in ratings like hit power, tackling, pursuit, and strength.
Another huge factor that can give you a competitive advantage when it comes to forcing turnovers is to get players with fumble-specific X-factor and superstar abilities.
This includes “Avalanche,” which increases the chance of forcing a fumble when performing a hit stick. It also includes “Lumberjack,” which increases the chance of fumbles on low hit sticks, otherwise known as cut sticks, described in our controller guide‘s defensive section.
Finally, there is “Strip Specialist,” which involves lowering the risk of missing a tackle when you attempt to strip the ball of a playmaker in order to attempt a strip tackle by any player, press the right bumper when making a tackle.
The strip tackle is always a dangerous proposition because it lowers your chances of making a clean tackle, but it is well worth it when you have a “Strip Specialist” or when the situation is dire in a game and you need to create a turnover fast.
Grab an Interception
To get more interceptions in Madden, you should really look at the best defensive playbooks this year.
There are some that have really good man and zone coverage plays that can maximize your defense, whether you have man-on-man guys or a cover defense.
The most important ratings to look for when trying to increase the amount of picks your team can grab are man coverage, zone coverage, press coverage, and play recognition.
There are also tons of different superstar and X-factor traits that are super handy for getting picks, including “Zone Hawk,” “Bottleneck,” “Shutdown,” and “Acrobat.”
All of these abilities add to your defender’s chances of intercepting a ball thrown their way, as well as increase their reaction time to passes thrown their way.
You can also effectively user-control your corners and safeties by utilizing the strafe button (left trigger) and the ball hawk button (triangle/Y) that allows you to manually go up for an interception and attempt to time it just right to catch the ball cleanly.
