My Theory On The Dropped Passess Problem!

[Illustrator76]

First off let me say that I am playing on All-American with Playmakers slider set, and WR catching at 99% for me and the computer. I think that I may be on to something with this dropped ball problem. As I stated in a different thread, when playing with Wisconsin (A very run oriented [even incorporating the option into their run game] team), John Stocco was 4-20 with 8 dropped balls and 3 were with my impact reciever, who was in the zone at the time. Well I just played two more games, one with Michigan (a pretty balanced team) and Chad Henne completed 65% of his passess. The second game I played was Pittsburgh (a VERY pass oriented team) against Alabama and Tyler Palko was 10-12 for 212 yards and 2 TD's in the first half, he was launching them from everywhere and guys were making some great catches. Now what this makes me wonder, is if EA is artifically FORCING you to play to a teams strengths, by making dropped balls more frequent reguardless of player catch ratings.

I was throwing the same passess with Stocco that I was with Palko and Henne, and yet with Wisconsin there were drops all around, BUT the exact opposite happened with more pass-oriented teams. My ground game was working very efficientley with Wisconsin, but I just felt like airing it out some to try to open up the game more, but it didn't work because of all the drops. To me it seems like EA may be trying to keep the gameplay authentic by saying: "No matter how much you try to turn Wisconsin into Hawaii, it won't work because that's not how your team playes". The best way to do this is to kill the passing game for ground heavy teams and vice versa. Just like when I was playing with Pitt, I HAD to throw because my ground game was getting mangled by Bama.

When I used Michigan I was able to run and pass efficientley because they feature a very balanced attack. My thinking is that the only way to ENSURE that people don't try to make a running team into a high powered passing attack, is to force the recievers to drop alot of balls. Then you have NO CHOICE but to go to your "bread and butter" in order to move the ball. Now before everyone says that I am crazy, or basing this on a few games....I'm not. I have been playing this game like crazy the past two days, and I am starting to notice a trend. Also I am NOT saying that: OH THIS IS DEFINATE AND I HAVE FIGURED IT OUT, because I know that someone will post that they threw for 10,000 yards in a game with Wisconsin or Army.

I am just making an educated assumption based on my experiences while playing the game, and what SEEMS to be a pattern of what kind of teams drop alot of catchable balls and what teams don't (and by catchable I mean right in the bread basket). I have also noticed (as someone else pointed out) that for whatever reason, scrambling or rolling out with your QB (as apposed to sitting in the pocket), buys the recievers extra time to move around and get open, and allow their routes to develop more. This is necessary alot of times no matter what kind of team you have, as sitting in the pocket will get your QB killed most times. The routes just don't develop fast enough for this, and that can lead to some unnecessary incompletions also.

Hopefully others can post their findings too, and let me know what they are seeing as far as this dropped ball problem. I actually really like everything else about this game, and I just want to get down to this issue, and get it solved, so that I can start my dynasty and begin enjoying this game to its fullest!

[SuperBowlNachos]

It's a user problem

[FullSail]

Yeah I noticed that last year. Another thing to try is playing as a passing team, but don't assign a coach. That's helped a bit. Or if you don't want to delete your coach then change your offensive style.

[hyacinth1]

no catching problems on this end. try controlling the wr to catch the ball.

[Samantha]

I am having no problems with catching the ball. I even let the cpu catch it for me, and I have not adjusted the WR catching slider at all. I think its all about the timing of your throws. It's a user problem.

[Nivek]

Quote: Originally Posted by olliethebum85

It's a user problem

BINGO!

[SoxChamp]

I still say it's a user problem too. I just don't have that many dropped passes. Maybe a couple a game, but damn people, we're talking about college football. There ARE drops in college football, ESPECIALLY when guys are wide open. It's called "looking downfield before you have the ball".

I'd like to know what people are considering "drops". Is a drop when you have a WR in the clear, and make a perfect pass, and he chokes on it? Or by "drop", are you referring to a ball that you chuck 50 yards downfield into triple coverage, but your receiver fails to come up with it like he did in 04? That's not a drop. That's a bad pass.

I have never had more than 3 drops in one game that should have been caught. I throw on average between 20-30 times a game, so those 2-3 drops really aren't affecting my game. Hell, I only have my WR catch slider at 70%. If you are having 5+, or even 10+ drops a game with the Catch slider maxed out, YOU are the problem...sorry to say.

[Illustrator76]

I'm not going to sit here and argue with a bunch of flamers posting stupid responses. It is NOT a user problem, I have been playing this series since it's inception, and have NEVER had any catch problems until 2005 and 2006 when this began surfacing. Just because YOU are not seeing a problem right now, doesn't mean that it is not there. Try reading my post FULLY, before you post stupid responses like the ones that I have seen so far. I specifically said that I was not having passing problems with CERTAIN KINDS OF TEAMS, and that........oh forget it you probably won't take the time to read and understand it anyway. To anybody who posts or replys any further: PLEASE READ MY FULL POST before posting nonsense, one word responses like some of your peers have!