Madden 25 Sept.3 patch: Full list of details

Madden 25 received a pretty large patch today, and it's making headlines as much for it doesn't fix as what it does. The route stem glitch has been a blight on the early game of both Madden 25 and College Football 25. The first patch to address them amounts to "OK, still bad, but not quite as bad as before. We're working on it." Here's the full list of changes:

Philadelphia Eagles playbook additions:

• WR Mid Screen, Slot Drive, RPO Q Stick Draw added to Gun Trey Open
• MTN Fork H Choice, MTN Hitch ‘n’ Go, MTN Y Post added to Gun Trips TE Flex Tackle Trap
• Hammer Dagger, PA Jailbreak Screen added to Gun Tight Y Off Wk Y Flat Goalline,
• Z Mesh Goalline, Z Spot Goalline added to Bunch X Nasty
• 21 plays added to Gun Normal Y Off Close
• Fixed an issue where a receiver would go offsides and run off the field caused by using a hot route on an auto-motion player
• Fixed an issue causing a man coverage defender to get caught out of position against Cheat Motion in Bunch Wide Nasty Fixed an issue causing the Left Tackle and TE to collide on Strong Jumbo PA Spot
• A variety of improvements to play-art in the play-call screen

Other Gameplay Updates:

Revamped passing mechanic added as an additional passing setting, also added to Hospitality Suite
Addressed an issue giving receivers a speed boost when using Custom Stems and then Smart-Routing

Dev Note: We made this speed boost much harder to achieve and we’re working on a fix for a future Title Update. There’s also an additional change coming soon that will further balance which route segments will be able to be customized.

Added a new Switch Stick delay option to the Gameplay Settings Menu:
No Delay
Slight Delay
Large Delay
Disable Switch Stick

Update to make the online kick meter default to the new Multi-Meter, as well as the default in the Hospitality Suite

Tuning to decrease pass speed when equipped with velocity-based passing abilities, Set Feet Lead and Pass Lead Elite

Tuning to increase the Defensive Lineman chance to sniff out the HB Slip Screen play
Addressed an issue where Kick Returners could not reach the ball landing spot within the Landing Zone allowing for a specific kickoff tactic.

Dev Note: There are other variations of kickoff maneuvers in addition to this one that the team is working on getting addressed as soon as possible.
Added new pursuit logic to further differentiate high-pursuit rated players, improving pursuit angles for better players

Updated the placement of the ball to be at the 30-yard line after a kickoff goes out of the back of the endzone

Added logic so that defenders will not be faked out by Double-Pass trick plays when using Pass Commit

Fixed an issue sometimes causing an ‘effort’ catch to trigger on a catchable pass
Fixed an issue allowing a free rusher on a specific blitz set-up out of Nickel 2-4 Double Mug and one out of Dollar 3-2 Overload

Dev Note: Similar to the kickoff issue, there are other blitzes in addition to the ones fixed in this update that the team is actively working towards addressing as soon as possible.

Tuning to WR blocking so that defensive backs are able to get off blocks quicker in ratings match-ups favoring the defender
Tuning to WR/DB block interactions so DBs are able to get off of the blocks quicker when they have the appropriate ratings

Fixed issues causing sideline characters to go through edge walls in Seattle, Miami and New Orleans stadiums
Fixed a variety of minor animation issues in Physics Based Tackling

Tuning to decrease Illegal Man Downfield penalties on RPO’s
Fixed an issue allowing HB’s to be given backfield hot routes when aligned on the line of scrimmage
Fixed a rare issue causing the QB to become frozen when being tackled during a specific handoff
Fixed issues causing defenders to go offsides from pre-snap movement in a variety of defensive formations

Fixed an issue allowing defenders to sometimes slip through double teams without the appropriate animation
Fixed an issue allowing players to use the spin move when using the conservative ball-carrier coach adjustment

Gameplay Dev Note:

We have clearly heard players’ desire for improvements to pass coverage, and the team is working on a significant set of improvements in a future title update. The incoming improvements being investigated include:

Hard Flats
Cover 3 Deep Zone
Match coverage checks vs. bunch sets
Press animations

Zone Drop Coach Adjustments

In addition to pass coverage, we also have improvements on the way for kickoff exploits, blitzes, AI-play calling and spin-move tuning.
Franchise
Fixed an issue where the option to “Import Draft Class from Download Center” was removed from within the Franchise League
Fixed an issue where the wrong player model would display during an Online Draft after pausing and resuming the Draft
Tuned some areas with our logic to address the issue surrounding our simulation stats to get them more inline

Superstar Mode (PS5, Xbox Series X|S & PC only)

Updated the profanity filter flow when importing players from EA Sports College Football.
Fixed an issue where the camera would freeze during gameplay in The League.
Fixed text issues in Draft cinematics.

Online H2H Ranked

Fixed an issue where leaderboards could not be sorted by rank or player name.
Fixed an issue where the rank summary screen was not being displayed properly when a user concedes the game.
Fixed an issue where incorrect rank icons were being shown in ranked leaderboards.
Fixed an issue where the top 100 leaderboard did not update to the correct rank icons.
Fixed an issue where users were set to Bronze or Silver in the Division Leaderboards despite being in placement matches or unranked.
Dev Note: These Online H2H Ranked updates apply to both Online H2H with NFL teams and Ultimate Team’s H2H Ranked mode.

If you read all that you noticed how many annoying things EA "almost fixed," the route stem glitch and kickoff issues. I also can't help noticing that they added 21 plays to the Eagles playbook but none of them are the "Tush Push," or if you prefer, the Brotherly Shove. That's the play Philly has made famous over the past couple of seasons, so much so that the NFL is contemplating banning it.