home field advantage is not that important a factor when it comes to the pro game, although the one thing that ought to happen is the away team commits more false start penalties, especially if your playing in the nashville coliseum or somewhere really noisy

anyways heres what i think MUST be fixed for madden 2006

1. Position Battles - in 05 they SUCK. coz u can't choose who battles for the positions. most position battles in my team are for positions where i've already made my mind up on who the starter or starters are. if you switch the starter after the battle you end up losing prestiege.

2. Onside kicks - they suck, coz u can't move the arrow, and also theres a gap between the one guy next to the kicker and the rest of the guys are up near the sideline, and the ball goes between that gap. on practise i legally recovered just one from about 50, whereas on madden 04 i would recover at least 5 from 50.

3. Inclusion of the safety punt onside kick.

4. IMPROVEMENT OF THE DRAFT. it still sucks. all the rookies (from the 04 draft class such as manning, gallery, fitzgerald, etc) - the ratings generally are way higher than all the draft classes the computer invents. plus with madden 05, u get 1st round picks that are lower than 70 OVR. some might say OVR rating shouldn't count, but this is what i think - only a select few abritbute stats (position related) should count towards OVR rating.

with projected round, height, weight and speed should factor in whether a player is a projected 1st round/3rd round/etc pick. if a receiver is 5' 8", but he's good, he'll probably be only a 2nd round pick. if a OT is less than 300 lbs, then that should affect his stock.

also with 1st round picks theres a few that are injury prone. there should be NO first round picks that are injury prone. a real life rookie who's had a history of injuries is NOT gonna be a 1st round pick. these players fall in the later rounds where risking a lower pick is not gonna be so disasterous if it backfires. doesn't mean that 1st round rookie you picked is gonna have an injury free career, but no more injury blighted 1st round picks please.

the only good thing EA did with the draft is the addition of coach advice. (if you don't know what i'm on about, when you next draft, use the right analog stick to scroll the box in the top left hand corner till you see a box suggesting who you should draft.

5. Running. it sucks. this defensive containment logic designed to stop scrambling QB's seems to have more affect stuffing running plays than scrambling QB's, which it was supposedly designed for. i also think the run blocking aint very good. i know your supposed to not sprint till the blocks have started developing, which is by the time you've reached the LOS, but the D is in the backfield by the time your within 2 yards of the LOS.

6. DON'T TOUCH THE PASSING GAME. ea have a habit of fixing things that aint broke. so just leave the passing game and the defensive backs alone. its the closest ea are gonna get to real life passing.

7. storyline central - heres a few tweaks for suggestion

a) reply to emails, even if its a drop down list of set replies. at least you get to tell your QB that the guy you drafted is for the future and that his position is safe.

b) prediction of final division positions in the national newspaper just before the regular season begins.

c) the local newspaper either herelds or disses the team, depending on the expectations and whether its a team thats rebuilding or a settled one.

8. off season

a) make it so you can't re-sign players, be it out of contract or those with x years still to run, with the following exceptions

1. if he's holding out for a better deal
2. you franchise/transition tag a player
3. a out of contract player of yours approaches you in the owners off season mode about contract negotiations, effectively ruling himself out of the free agency market unless you don't sign him to a new deal
4. if you've just acquired a player via a trade, u can re-sign him, but only just after processing the trade
5. re-stricted free agents, with various levels of compensation depending on his OVR rating (seems to me most restricted FA's come with a 1st and 3rd round compensation tag).

b) free agency comes AHEAD of the draft, making it easier to come up with a draft board

c) a 'Fill Roster' task, basically a 2nd round of free agency where rookie FA's and back up scrubs, perhaps a few left over star or serviceable players are available for teams to offer deals, these players will ask for a little less, especially the few star or good players who by now want a job come september.

think thats about it, can't think of anything else off the top of my head at the mo.