More Passing Game Options Needed in EA Football

[MMChrisS]

In the past, EA Sports Tiburon has focused on the passing game from the perspective of QB Vision. Currently, the team is working on the notion of wide receivers getting open and being ready for the pass. There is also an emphasis on placement and quarterback drops. The community has already started a debate on this. We might look at both as an aspect of timing in the passing game, which is a step in the right direction. To complete the emphasis on timing and rhythm, more option routes should make their way back into the game. Let’s analyze two of the more explosive NFL passing attacks over the past decade for a frame of reference.

What is the process that you use once you hike the football? Do you begin with the left side and scan back to the right? Do you begin with the primary receiver on the play? Chances are you, are only using half of the field which means as a quarterback your options are diminished rather than multiplied. Secondly, generally in Madden/NCAA this can mean that your halfback is your outlet. Third, it also means that half of the defense is basically resting. Let’s take a play from Shotgun Spread Y Flex out of the Baltimore Ravens Playbook from Madden 12. The Play is Smash HB Check.

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[Big FN Deal]

I know option routes are the thing more people are clamoring for lately but I don't agree with them being in more stock plays. I can see option routes being the new "hot route" opposed to the User just being able to design a different pass play at the LOS but not having the playbooks implement more of them. Even so, I think before implementing more option routes of any kind, there would first have to be some rating(s) the differentiated how well each receiver "reads" the coverage and also the ball has to be completely untethered from the receiver so the QB and receiver are capable of miscommunication by reacting independently.

Also, in the play used as an example in the writeup, I don't have an issue with the set play because the offense should be calling this play expecting to beat a certain coverage. If that coverage they are expecting is not what they defense is in, then they should have to audible to another play, check the ball down or risk the consequences of using that play anyway. I don't want to see option routes used as yet another successful shortcut or bailout for play calling. There is too much ad lib in Madden as is, imo, with little to no true risk/reward attached.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

I know option routes are the thing more people are clamoring for lately but I don't agree with them being in more stock plays. I can see option routes being the new "hot route" opposed to the User just being able to design a different pass play at the LOS but not having the playbooks implement more of them. Even so, I think before implementing more option routes of any kind, there would first have to be some rating(s) the differentiated how well each receiver "reads" the coverage and also the ball has to be completely untethered from the receiver so the QB and receiver are capable of miscommunication by reacting independently. Also, in the play used as an example in the writeup, I don't have an issue with the set play because the offense should be calling this play expecting to beat a certain coverage. If that coverage they are expecting is not what they defense is in, then they should have to audible to another play, check the ball down or risk the consequences of using that play anyway. I don't want to see option routes used as yet another successful shortcut or bailout for play calling. There is too much ad lib in Madden as is, imo, with little to no true risk/reward attached.

Big, I get that. That's just not how a lot of people are running their offenses these days though. They way they are running them, they are running them with back side tags so that the QB doesn't have to sit there and so that the back side of the defense cannot just rest. With a play like Smash HB Check, you get stuck once that front side is covered.

[yourfavestoner]

Big FN Deal:

http://smartfootball.com/passing/how-to-use-backside-tags-to-attack-the-entire-field-in-the-passing-game

This is exactly what is being implemented across the board in football amongst spread-to-pass teams...even at the high school level.

The "reads" are actually fairly easy, and everything is based on MOFO (Middle Of Field Open) or MOFC (Middle of Field Covered) reads...basically the rotation of the safeties (1 high or 2 high).

People call Four Verticals cheese, too. However, Four Verticals in real life is a Base pass concept for many teams (they'll use it 5-10 times per game and their dropback pass game centers around vertical stems so everything looks the same). Not to mention, Four Verts for NCAA/NFL teams have multiple options built in...Fade/Back-shoulder-stop for the outside guys and seam reads for the inside guys.

What many in the video game community define as "cheese" are real issues that real defensive coordinators are having a ton of trouble dealing with in real life. That's why Quarters is such a preferred coverage now, when it was just a hail mary defense a few years ago (again, this is in "real" football).

[SnakeEyez]

Excellent analysis... and a good source to use as well (smartfootball.com has a plethora of articles and diagrams.)

NCAA has tried to mimic the Run-and-Shoot (one of the more option route heavy systems) the past few years using option routes, but the game executes them rather poorly due to seemingly random choices by the WRs and no clear attribute being tied to their decision making (or ability to read coverages I guess.) I remember some people saying they believed Awareness was tied to this aspect, but it's hard to tell because EA doesn't elaborate on it at all, and then they rarely give you WR recruits with AWR over 70.

Some high school and college teams would run the "Choice" route 25+ times in a game because it's an isolation play to the weakside receiver who is simply trying to beat his man one-on-one... this is the #1 concept the NFL has adopted from the R&S (other than the back shoulder stop-fade) but you don't see it implemented much (or very well) in EA's football world.

I think another good example of requiring and implementing timing in the passing game is a concept like "Levels" where targets are running crosses at different depths to create the passing windows for the QB. It's a really simple concept for QBs because of the scan left-to-right or right-to-left progression of the play, but I don't see it too much in EA's football games... other than a handful of the most basic variants in NCAA11/12.

[Big FN Deal]

@yourfavestoner and LBzrule, I understand what you guys are saying in reference to what is being done currently in the NFL but Madden does not currently have well represented real life NFL parameters. It's sort of like when people say the penalty system in Madden doesn't give you a choice of what to challenge because the NFL currently reviews everything, when in fact, one clearly does not work as the other.

I am all for anything NFL realistic being implemented into Madden IF that includes representation of the inherent NFL checks/balances, risk/reward being implemented too. I don't see what difference an option route or backside tag makes, when currently a receivers route can be instantly changed based on where the pass is thrown.

[LBzrule]

Quote: Originally Posted by Big FN Deal

@yourfavestoner and LBzrule, I understand what you guys are saying in reference to what is being done currently in the NFL but Madden does not currently have well represented real life NFL parameters. It's sort of like when people say the penalty system in Madden doesn't give you a choice of what to challenge because the NFL currently reviews everything, when in fact, one clearly does not work as the other. I am all for anything NFL realistic being implemented into Madden IF that includes representation of the inherent NFL checks/balances, risk/reward being implemented too. I don't see what difference an option route or backside tag makes, when currently a receivers route can be instantly changed based on where the pass is thrown.

There really are no checks/balances for having back side tags outside of the defense just getting home and not giving the QB time to make the reads. Teams either use them or they do not. The teams that do, like the Saints, Patriots put up a great deal of offense through the air. I get the concern with the WR's route being instantly changed based on where the pass is thrown. My original thinking on this was to actually have a realism setting like NBA 2k, which would mitigate some of these concerns.

[Big FN Deal]

Quote: Originally Posted by LBzrule

There really are no checks/balances for having back side tags outside of the defense just getting home and not giving the QB time to make the reads. Teams either use them or they do not. The teams that do, like the Saints, Patriots put up a great deal of offense through the air. I get the concern with the WR's route being instantly changed based on where the pass is thrown. My original thinking on this was to actually have a realism setting like NBA 2k, which would mitigate some of these concerns.

I stated "inherent" meaning things that naturally accompany it, like the ball being independent of the receiver in the real NFL. lol

I honestly understand what people mean by simple defensive reads for receivers and QBs but it is irrelevant to Madden as long as the ball/pass and receiver are tethered.

[PSUEagle]

Actually, what this particular play needs is an option component built into the slot receivers running the corner routes.

To be more specific, the slot receivers should be reading the outside CB to their respective side(s). If the CB is even or deeper than they are when they get to about eight yards up the field vertically (i.e. the defense is playing Cover 3, Cover 4, or soft man), they should hook outside somewhere between 10-12 yards. If the CB is underneath them, though (Cover 2 or tight man), they should break to the corner at a 45 degree angle.

If this adjustment were built in to the route, then Smash would truly be a universal concept that can "work" against all coverages. If the defense plays Cover 3 or Cover 4 with a backer/safety flying to the hitch, then the play is dead IRL if the receiver always breaks to the flag. By allowing him to hook outside though (and that's key, he has to hook outside) the offense has now created a curl flat concept, which will allow the QB to read the flat defender. The back on the checkdown will prevent one of the inside backers from flying out to the curl, again creating an advantageous look for the offense.

All of this isn't to say that I don't think we need more option routes along with more dual tags in both 3X1 and 2X2 formations (we do). Instead, I'm just saying that the basic mechanics of how passing concepts work need to be addressed as well.

[JerzeyReign]

Plays in general need an overhaul. I honestly only look at half the field -- not because I'm a terrible QB but because that DT is coming quick