Back Shoulder Throws - DGMikeBarker's Blog

DGMikeBarker's Blog

Back Shoulder Throws

Posted on June 30, 2011 at 11:58 PM.

Have you ever had this moment in Madden or even 2k football:

After you hike the ball you see your wide-receiver and the defensive back running side-by-side up the field. You notice the DB is not looking at yourself(QB), so in a real-life you think, I should be able to complete a back-shoulder throw for a good gain. As soon as you throw the ball back door the DB turns around like he has eyes in the back of his head and picks you off.

One of the most difficult, but sure, throws in football is the back shoulder throw. It's a six sense the QB and WR have to be able to throw the ball behind the defender's shoulder when he's not watching. Hard to throw but shouldn't be at risk of an Int.

There is no question that the back-shoulder throw is important in football, but do you believe it's possible to simulate it in virtual football?

Comments

# 1 Harrison_UNC_Barnes* @ Jul 1

What do you mean a back shoulder throw?

# 2 EtheRed @ Jul 1

I know what you mean, happens in madden and ncaa when you throw to a receiver and the DB either turns and picks it off or just raises his hands and intercepts the pass. it has happened throughout football games. not sure why but it's pretty normal to see.

# 3 DGMikeBarker @ Jul 1

@EtheRed Yea, but since we're getting closer to physics engines we should get closer to simulating real events when a players back is turned.

# 4 DGMikeBarker @ Jul 1

@Harrison_UNC_Barnes* http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1aKcDryH4Y

# 5 poilbrun @ Jul 4

The big problem with simulating back-shoulder throws is that players in football games have never been programmed to have eyes. Madden tried it once with the QB passing cone, but it was not well received.

My feeling, keeping in mind that I'm not a programmer, is that the AI that would be needed to simulate where the 22 players on the field are looking is far off. I think player movement is getting better, they are now working on player interaction (first with the line, I hope they get to the WR-DB interaction soon). To be fair, I think if those two parts of the game are getting better, we can live with players with 360� vision.