Passing, Retuned

[Synkopated]

I have no idea how I was able to post a reply to myself before my initial post. Disregard this and read below.

[Synkopated]

I'm too tired to put up with this forum glitching at the moment, I again replied to myself before my first post.

[Synkopated]

I think that has to do with the fact that everyone tends to use bullet passes, resulting in low arc throws.

EDIT: When I hit post reply, or quick reply it doesn't allow me to normally reply, but add a post before my initial one. I don't know why, I'm sorry there's three posts now in front of the one that actually matters but I was just trying to reply to Dave.

[Helios12787]

I think the key to fixing the LB int annoyances is by using a separate button to activate Favre laser passing.

Say LT or something + key = bullet pass
Normal passing (without LT) = normal pass which in most cases would get just outta reach of any normal linebacker (not taking into consideration pressure, height of LB, skill of LB).

Would also at least give us one more way to throw the pass since 90% of the time its either bullet or a pass that looks like a punt.

[Synkopated]

There seem to be two ways to throw the ball, either a Favre bullet pass or a floater lob.

Bullet passes don't get over the defense, obviously, but the real reason they're effective is because of the zip on the ball and the lack of in air travel time. When I throw a Bullet pass it feels like I can hit my receiver in stride and I have the best chance to avoid DB warp-defense to swat the ball down.

90% of the times I throw lobs, my receiver has to slow down, by that time even though I've lobbed the ball over the D-line and LBs, the DBs have caught up and then swat the ball down.

This is ESPECIALLY crucial in the red zone. Take a look at this, I run a fade to the corner of the endzone with my TE and bullet pass. It gets to the TE for a touchdown. Yes this is a fade route, Hot Route right thumbstick to the right is what he was running.(I don't have a capture card so this is the best I could do with my camera and awesome 27" tube TV)




Now look what happens when I try to lob the pass into the corner of the endzone; a DB catches up and magically gains speed and swats the ball resulting in an interception instead of a extremely wide open TD. Instead of lobbing it to the corner of the endzone, it looks like Garrard tried to hit him in the body, incorrect ball placement, especially in the end zone. EDIT: Maybe if the QB had a poor rating, and that resulted in poor placement in the end zone then maybe I could understand, but that's a ~13 yard pass, if you're in the NFL, you can do that. This was with precicion passing to the right, I ran this play a few more times just to make sure I wasn't bringing up a non-issue and everytime I lobbed it it was swatted down.



Now look at this lob into the endzone, the DB plays the reciever and the QB is able to drop it right over the top of him for the TD. No turn around jump swat, no magic interception.



Regarding DB interaction, I am fully aware that after a pass has been tipped that pass interference can no longer be called, but that does not mean that after a cornerback tips a ball they turn around and try to wrap up the receiver. The cornerback that initiates the tip on the ball should NEVER try to tackle the reciever. EDIT: While we're at it, when the ball is tipped and the WR/DB tries to catch it, can we have some off-balance reaching animations for it instead of the suction-cup brick hands scenario that currently happens?



The sideline is very much an ally to the defense, utilize it. How often do you see a CB wrap up a offensive player near the sideline? Never! They use the sideline to their advantage and simply shove the player out of bounds. EDIT: This is something that can also be utilized with any tackle ~2 yards from the sideline. Hits that cause the receiver to take a tumble, or for bigger guys like TO or Brandon Marshall just bumps them out of bounds (Or even fight through the bump, a great counter for a sideline tackle is the quick stop [down on the right thumbstick], I can't remember the last time I used that juke with it working, so this would be a way to give that some more use as well). You could add a few special hits for guys with a hard hitting weapon, I've seen some nasty sideline spills



Offensive players must not be programmed correctly, because in all the games I have played in Madden 09 I have only seen a couple, maybe three catches where the WR tries to say in bounds during the catch. (This is excluding the God awful animation where the receiver seems to bunny hop out of bounds by 3 yards and it's ruled a catch, that needs to be taken out and replaced with something that looks at least half realistic )



As you can see above, most of the time WRs simply don't care and fully stride out of bounds. Since it is damn near impossible to simulate and program the type of spectacular catches Randy Moss, Steve Smith and Braylon Edwards (when he doesn't drop it, amirite?) actually make, it would probably be best to take that weapon out of the game and base the ability the recievers have on jumping, agility and awareness. For sideline grabs, players with high agility should try to make the more amazing grabs, like the toe dragging type etc. Another set should be used for players with less agility (aka TEs) but higher awareness where they're still able to stay in bounds as well.

(This could be tricky because you don't want to make it something that would be able to be exploited or able to focus on play after play.)


The final thing I want to touch on is WR/DB Battles. Look how both the receiver and defender track the ball down while using their hands and arms to judge where each other are. Once you figure out how to fine tune this style of play then man coverage (and especially shutdown corner weapons) will be up to par.

[dave374]

I'll just be happy if Ian and Phil can finally put an end to the linebacker INTs.
Amazingly enough, most NFL quarterbacks know how high to throw a football ... and wouldn't do what they do in Madden - throw it five feet high for the MLB for an easy INT.
The linebacker INTs drive me as crazy as anything in Madden. It's a sad day when linebackers get more INTs than shutdown corners.