Jon Robinson of ESPN.com had the chance to sit down with madden  12 director Ian Cummings to discuss some news features and news surrounding madden 12.   Cummings commented on the addition of suprise onside kicks and how they will be implemented in next year’s madden in his annual superbowl halftime blog.

“Jon Robinson: Of all the new features you guys are kicking around, why did you announce surprise onside kicks as the first thing gamers can expect for “Madden NFL 12″?

Ian Cummings: We discussed for quite a long time what we would lead with. There was a lot of debate, but I really wanted to lead with this because of the discussion it would cause. It’s not a huge feature. It’s not something that took a ton of time. But it’s something that’s been a hot-button issue in the community. Some people have made a really big deal over us not having this in the game, and it’s something we always wanted to do, we just needed to balance it right. So we figured we’d lead with it and we’ll get people talking about how it will be an exploit, or on the flip side, how it needs to be in the game. But we knew it was something that would get people talking about “Madden 12.” If we lead with something huge, then it’s tough to continue that momentum. So we decided to lead with something controversial to get people talking about the game.”

Jon Robinson’s complete interview with Madden 12 creative director Ian Cummings can be viewed at ESPN

For our newest Madden 11 guide, madden-school is pleased to announce that it was written by Big Game James. If you don’t know who Big Game James is, then you are either very new to madden or you have lived under a rock for the last 5 years. He is widely considered as one of the greatest madden gamers of all time.

Play Like A Pro Gamer Today! Only $24.99

Here are just a few of his achievements:
MWS National Champion in 2004
Cleveland Madden Challenge Champion 2006
2 time Players Bowl Champion 2006
Ultimate Players Bowl Champion 2006
4 time LAB Tournament Champion 2009
Baltimore Madden Challenge Champion 2009

For only $24.99, you get to run the defense created by a man who has traveled around the country for the last 8 years making money by beating the best madden players in the world.

The Madden 11 Oakland Defensive Strategy Guide is complete with 9 chapters filled with coverage plays, nanos, and the best run stopper I have ever seen. You can use the concepts in this guide with any defensive playbook and any of the 32 NFL teams. Also, Big Game James throws in his 5 audibles that he actually runs, free of charge.

But those aren’t the reasons that this year’s Madden 11 game will be a hit.  It will be a hit because it is forced to be.  EA Sports exclusive deal with the NFL is coming to an end.  New competition is sprouting up in games like Backbreaker.  The game will be good because if the people who make it don’t do a good job this time around, they may lose their jobs.  The standard has been set fairly low, because of past dissappointments, so all that needs to be done is to make Madden 11 playable.

The Jacksonville Jaguars have steadily declined over the past few years since their 12-4 season 3 years ago.  However, in Madden 11 they will be a force once again.  The key to Madden has always been time management and a solild defense.  With the addition of Aaron Kampman and Kirk Morrison, the Jaguars defense is scary again.  The linebackers are as good as they have ever been with Morrison, Durant, and Smith.  But the true strength of the Jaguars team in Madden 2011 comes in their biggest weakness in the NFL.  The secondary becomes scary if you move either Cox or Mathis to free safety and move the speedy Reggie Nelson to strong safety. 

On offense, all you have to do is get the ball in Maurice Jones-Drew’s hands and you will find your way into the endzone.  With rising stars Mercedes Lewis and Mike Sims-Walker, the offense is becoming very potent if Qb Garrard can return to form.  Look to get secret weapon Mike Thomas involved on screen passes and drag routes.  The Jaguars are by no means the best team in Madden 11, but they will be very usable.

More team specific strategies coming soon to Maddenholics, so keep checking in.

  ”Another area of focus we have been working on is tuning the frequency for when “aggressive” types of catches can trigger. In previous years there have been situations where you could sometimes see a receiver playing a catch where he runs back towards the ball. These could sometimes be seen on Curl/Hitch/Smash type routes as well as Screen routes behind the line of scrimmage. There is nothing more frustrating than calling a 5-yard route on 3rd and 4 and having the receiver catch it moving towards the QB and get tackled for a 2-yard gain. Well, this year, the receiver won’t play those types of catches (unless of course there is a defender between him and the ball). If you are running a 10-Yard Curl and the defender is behind you, the receiver will always be forced to match a ‘standing’ catch so he can try to backpedal into the defender for extra yardage. Also, we eliminated the likelihood that a receiver that is behind the line of scrimmage (e.g. WR or HB Screen play) would play a running, aggressive style catch if he is in open space.”

Last but not least, Cummings addresses those dreaded sideline catches.

“For ‘Madden NFL 11,’ with the help of the Catch Debugging Tool, we have corrected all of our sideline/back of the end zone catches. You no longer have to be afraid of trying to squeeze that Deep Out or Goalline fade inbounds, as now the receivers have much more advanced AI to get both feet in.”But that’s not all, as Cummings adds that EA Sports has done extensive motion-capture work this year when it comes to these virtual receivers in order to get more authentic animations into the game.Will the new animations and debugging pay off? ESPN will find out when EA Sports reveals “Madden NFL 11″ to the press for the first time the week of the NFL Draft.

C.J. Spiller RB- One of the more elusive backs coming out this year, he will probably have a pretty high fumble rating and not be able to run over anyone. Although, he will be someone who can break off a big one or catch a tough pass when you really need it.

Aaron Hernandez TE- He is not huge for a TE at 6’2″, but should be one of the fastest TE’s in the game. He will more than likely be the 2nd TE taken in this draft, which would put him on a good team in the late first round.

Taylor Mays S- He could become an elite madden safety as soon as the game comes out. He is 6’3″ and will lay a hard hit every time. I would imagine his hit power will be high 80s or even low 90s straight out of college. He does have a few drawbacks. He is not a great coverage S and isn’t very fast, but against the run and causing fumbles he will be elite.

Jermaine Gresham TE- In my opinion he is the best TE and maybe the best receiver in the draft. He is 6’6″ and has good speed for a TE. He isn’t the greatest blocker in the world, but neither is Dallas Clark and he is doing just fine.

Arrelious Benn WR- Unless you really follow college football this may be the first time you have heard of Benn. He is 6’2″ and 220 lbs. so he will be a WR that can run through some tackles, almost Brandon Marshall style. He does have rare speed for a big man and outstanding returning abilities. He will be a player that will get many touches in the NFL and in Madden.

Jahvid Best RB- Another home run hitting style of RB. He is similar to C.J, but will be worse in stats such as awareness and ball carrier vision.

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Nate Kaeding after another disappointing miss (Courtesy of nfl.com)

Many people will put kicker at or near the bottom of team’s needs during the off-season. This is mainly because people don’t respect what a kicker can do for their team. But after this post-season, I think some teams will have to reconsider their kicker position.

With only two rounds of the 2010 post-season finish, kickers have gone 15/26 (57.69%). In a few situations, their misses cost their team a win. The weird thing is that 6 out of the 8 games played so far have been either indoors or in warm weather. Here are the kickers who brought shame, frustration and disappointment to their fans:

Nate Kaeding is only 8 for 15 for his career in the playoffs. His worst performance was arguably last Sunday’s game against the Jets. Kaeding missed all three field goals after missing only three out of 35 attempts during the regular season. Though one of his kicks were from 57 yards out, it is still disappointing for him to miss all three kicks, especially since he’s going to the Pro Bowl. Will the Chargers cut him because of it? Probably not but his playoff stats are less than All-Pro.

Shayne Graham, Golden Graham, one of the better kickers in the league, missed both field goals in the Wildcard Round. Funny thing is, they were both under 40 yards. Now was this one bad game? We might never know but it was an awful performance. But with Graham’s contract coming to an end, there’s a possibility that we might not see the red-headed kicker in a Bengals uniform next season.

Neil Rackers might have cost his team a chance to move on to the Divisional Round after missing a 34 yarder that would have put the Cardinals up three with 14 seconds left. Fortunately for him, the Cardinals won the game. He went 1 for 3 overall in this year’s playoffs. He is now 6 for 10 for his career in the playoffs. Now does he get cut? I can’t see it happening but when you shank a 34 yarder as bad as he did, you got to question your kicker’s abilities.

We as fans should understand how important a great kicker is. Numerous games can come down to a late game-winning kick. Kickers like Adam Vinatieri have so many teams interested in signing them because of their clutch kicks. Sometimes it’s just an intangible thing that kickers have. Bottom line, the kicker position is more important than people make it out to be.