Guys,
I need help. I picked up madden after being out of the game for five years. I am lost and getting crushed. Any tips or advice on reading D or anything else would be awesome. Thanks 
My advice is don't play online yet. Play a franchise season or two.
Play 5 cornerback defense man coverage, MLB is in QB spy. Play as the safety and generally play the middle. You may not win, but damn if your defense doesn't improve. Over the last 3 madden years I've done this defense and I only give up about 13 points per game.
Oh and I use St. Louis so you know I'm not abusing good players.
I feel ya dude I was getting raped at first too. My best advice would be pick a team and get good with them. You'll never get better swapping around teams. Once you get one you like for defense play as a lineman and let the rest of your comps do the work. Works for me and once you get good at swimming tackles you get a ton of sacks. Also use curl flat passes and time it for when they turn around. Almost impossible to get picked off that way.
One thing I learned is when you do slants when you throw it push the left analog stick down so the receiver comes to the ball. If you try and lead him I feel it gets picked off more often. Also learn to use the sprint at the right times, example when I run with Hester on kick offs I use it in the beginning, let it go until I see a lane and then use it again and it works really good. And while using the juke stick, if you go left then right or right then left, he'll fake one side and go to the other and it's a faster juke, not a hop step like when you push towards one direction.
Awesome tips guys. Keep em coming. I'm getting better but still getting crushed.
I always use a lineman on D and I always chase the opposing RB even if he doesn't have the ball. This will allow you to take one of the most abused plays (the hb screen) off the table.
I play with one of the safety's, helps stop the deep ball and on runs no one gets more then a couple yards with me. I love playing with safety's on D
In
I always lock on with the MLB when I run a 4-3 or any variant with three 'backers. He can stop the run or drop into coverage so you're pretty good either way. On offense, don't try to run off the tackle, that's generally stopped quickly. I use my tight end(beep) almost exclusively. The deep route can't be exploited as much like in older games. Also, sit in the pocket, running around will get you sacked more often than not.
formerspook - I always lock on with the MLB when I run a 4-3 or any variant with three 'backers. He can stop the run or drop into coverage so you're pretty good either way. On offense, don't try to run off the tackle, that's generally stopped quickly. I use my tight end(beep) almost exclusively. The deep route can't be exploited as much like in older games. Also, sit in the pocket, running around will get you sacked more often than not.
I've been seeing a lot of success hitting my TE on drag routes just behind the LBs. the issue is when they hang there (no blitz and don't drop into coverage). If I get pressure and throw it it gets picked.
I've also been cutting the field in half when going through progressions and looking short to deep. It's helped a ton on hitting open guys.
Sub 
In madden 12 when doing kickoff if you pressed circle instead of "x" you would do a sneak onside kick. This year you use the analog to kick, is there a way to do the sneak onside kick this year and if so
How. Ps3 btw