1. Find a team with lots of speed and choose them. Historically, teams with lots of speed have always been the teams that most gamers choose. With the new acceleration rating actually relevant and meaningful this year, you may want to find players who have good speed as well as good acceleration. Players like Tennessee Titan's running back Chris Johnson are ideal. Speed is important at every position but most importantly running back, wide receiver and cornerback. If you are lucky enough to have a mobile quarterback on your team, that is an added bonus.

2. Defense, Defense, Defense. The key to winning at high levels in Madden 11 will be defense. If you can control the ball and play good defense, you will win 90% of your online games. Learn some max coverage defenses as well as some great blitzes. Have a few man defenses and zone defenses that you mix up in order to keep your opponent on his toes. The key to a good defense is deception. Whether you are blitzing 8 guys or only blitzing 3, you want to make it look the same. You want to hide whether you are in a man defense or a zone defense because revealing that information will give your opponent a distinct advantage. That brings us to our next point of emphasis...

3. Read your opponent's defense. The key to a good Madden 11 offense is to know what defense the opposition has called. Peyton Manning is so good in the NFL because he generally knows what defense the other team is in just by looking at them. A trick for telling if your opponent is in man or zone is to motion a wide receiver from one side to the other. If the defender follows him all the way to the other side, you know that the defense is in man-to-man defense. If the defender follows him a little of the way then stops, you know that our opponent is in zone defense. You should practice plays in Madden 11 that work against zone 100% of the time and do the same thing for man-to-man defense.

4. Control the game. If you win the opening coin toss, you should choose to kickoff first. Madden 11 will have shorter games than previous years. It is more this year than ever before to put yourself in a situation where you score right before halftime and exactly at the end of games. This limits the chances your opponent has to get the ball and will usually give you two more touchdowns than the other team. Sometimes it is best to wait a little while before you decide to score so that you can run some more time off the clock and get the game closer to halftime or the end of the game.

5. Choose a good team. This may sound like a no-brainer but it is very hard to compete against dominant teams in Madden 2011 with a team that has no good players. Choose a team with high ratings and good players and you will start the game with an advantage. Make sure that they have a good defense as well as a good offense. One dimensional teams are hard to play with. Teams like the Titans, Colts, Jets, Chargers, Saints, and Vikings are a few good Madden 11 teams.