1st and Ten

Madden has always alternated its focus on the offensive and defensive side of the ball, trying to balance out both squads when they take the field (yet inevitably favoring the cover athlete's side and position). The selection of Shaun Alexander, last year's MVP record setting halfback and oft mistaken Barber sibling, set the stage for EA Sports to completely retool the running game. To a degree, it does just that. This year's game includes lead blocking as a major feature; although you could kind of do this in previous years, it was much more dependent on the AI controlled line and backs to lay some lumber on your opponent. For the most part, this wasn't 100% guaranteed, and more often than not, you'd find one of your teammates playing patty cake instead of clearing a hole for you to run through.

That's not so much of a concern now with the lead blocking feature. At the start of a play, you can switch away from control of the quarterback to control of a lead blocker, regardless of whether that's a tight end, fullback, halfback or lineman. Once the ball is snapped, you attempt to set a block so your AI controlled back has a chance to run to daylight. Once you've broken through the hole, you can switch back to the runner with a Matrix-like slowdown moment for a second or two and make a move for the end zone. Lead blockers have a variety of moves that can be employed to jam a defender: you can attempt an impact block, which will bowl your opponent over and count towards your pancake block stats. You can also try to take out their legs with a cut block or a diving tackle, which can also interrupt the pursuit of additional tacklers by forcing them to jump over your player. Finally, you can try to turn or pull a defender to the left or right, and if all things fail, you can hold another player and hope the refs don't see you.

There is a definite risk/reward setup with lead blocking that players have to be aware of. You can accurately set your block, which results in an icon popping up onscreen when you hamper a defender. However, blow your timing and you'll stumble badly around the field, resulting in a "Leadblock Whiff" icon. Even worse, you can screw up your assignment entirely ("Leadblock Fail"). Apart from any ineptitude on your part with holding back defenders, the AI will sometimes blow its job, not taking the hole you open for it (particularly if you make one that a car could drive through) and getting tackled in the backfield. You can also switch to the back with the ball and find that other blockers governed by the AI haven't done their jobs, or discover that your former lead blocker can't do his job without your personal help overseeing the position.

Veteran players of the Madden series will also notice that there are minor tweaks that have been made to pre-existing ball carrier moves. Last year's truck stick has been refined into this year's Highlight Stick. Now when you hit up on the right thumbstick, the game takes into account what kind of back you are for the specific moves: power runners will drop their shoulder and try to go through a defender, while faster backs will dodge incoming tackles. There are some backs, like Alexander, who have the designation of being both, so the specific move will vary radically from step to step. This tweak joins the familiar back juke and left and right jukes on the right stick. Speaking of left and right jukes, players can now use them to setup quick stutter steps to the left or right to evade tackles. If you do get in a clinch, an icon will now pop up on the screen directing you to pound on the sprint button to escape and gain additional yardage. The same icon will pop up on the defender's side of the ball, turning the event into a kind of button mashing mini-game. Finally, quarterbacks have the ability to scramble without having to pull down their targets, just like NCAA Football 07. Oh, and in case you were wondering, vision cones are still in the game, but you can turn them off if you don't like them, just in case you were wondering...