Slant routes

[PantherBeast_OS]

I have found in the demo if you do a 3 man WR formation that the AI does not cover the slot reciever. Also the midle of the feild is still wide open for easy slant routes to the slot wr in the demo aswell. This really needs to be address soon are it will become a killer.

[prototype561]

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Quote: Originally Posted by Blueblood53

Slants have been money since the beginning of time. It's not like it's something new. No Football game is ever going to be perfect, if you want a perfect football game, go play real football. This is a football video game. End of story.

Ima have to disagree wit u here, slants have not always been money. I remember back on madden 05 or 06 on the ps2 that you could have your corner shade the inside or outside pressing L1 or RI before the slap if i remember correctly. This was a risk/reward system b/c if u shaded the inside that would leave u open to the out or flag route. I like that system b/c it negated those people and the cpu from being so successful at any route. On this demo im struggling on pass defense, just like last year because these routes r so open, if u run a whole bunch of slants against a cover 2 your receivers should killed ala aquan boldin.

[Russell_Kiniry_EA]

The jam at the line will help (in man) as well as the D-Line getting up and knocking a few of those down. Slants vs. Man really is difficult to stop without a good bump at the line. But at the same time if you are sitting in a zone underneath... it's easy to stop.

[RynoAid]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell_Kiniry_EA

The jam at the line will help (in man) as well as the D-Line getting up and knocking a few of those down. Slants vs. Man really is difficult to stop without a good bump at the line. But at the same time if you are sitting in a zone underneath... it's easy to stop.

exactly, isn't it about the chess game... he's burning you in man, you mix in some zone and change it up, focing him to go a different direction?

that's how things work, and why playcalling is important.

[Pokes404]

There's a reason teams run a lot of slants in real life. It's one of, if not the hardest, routes to cover when playing man. If you have a good receiver and a QB who can put it in the right spot, it's almost unstoppable unless you know it's coming. I agree that it may be a little overpowered in the demo, but I find slants to be pretty realistic overall. They don't work nearly as well against zones and are extremely effective against man coverage. That seems pretty realistic to me.

Also, it will be interesting to play the full game and see if the new "Adaptive AI" ever starts reading the slant route if you start running it too much. The games in the demo are not long enough to know if the CPU will ever adjust.

[jdrhammer]

Quote: Originally Posted by Pokes404

There's a reason teams run a lot of slants in real life. It's one of, if not the hardest, routes to cover when playing man. If you have a good receiver and a QB who can put it in the right spot, it's almost unstoppable unless you know it's coming. I agree that it may be a little overpowered in the demo, but I find slants to be pretty realistic overall. They don't work nearly as well against zones and are extremely effective against man coverage. That seems pretty realistic to me. Also, it will be interesting to play the full game and see if the new "Adaptive AI" ever starts reading the slant route if you start running it too much. The games in the demo are not long enough to know if the CPU will ever adjust.

Nice post, Pokes. I agree with all of it. I ran two or three PA passes by way of aubdibles and the CPU sent a LB with my FB after the third time. I ran I-Form Twins and saw they were in man since the right side of the field was open and they adapted.

As far as Russ' post, that sounded exactly right but let me ask one question about covering the middle of the field. It seems the middle is too open at times. I've always been a firm believer of playing inside-out but I haven't noticed the robber or the safety in the Cover 1 to be much of a factor in defending the middle and cutting off the WR or HB over middle on slants and such. Someone may be able to verify how the player does cover this area but it seems to me like they are way too passive in covering the middle. Even the LB's covering the middle, it's like they don't anticipate at all. Just a thought.

[coachchris]

Quote: Originally Posted by Russell_Kiniry_EA

The jam at the line will help (in man) as well as the D-Line getting up and knocking a few of those down. Slants vs. Man really is difficult to stop without a good bump at the line. But at the same time if you are sitting in a zone underneath... it's easy to stop.

I have yet to play the demo but I coach football and can tell you Russ' response is spot on. If you are going to run man defense against us and not bump we can and will complete slant patterns at very high percentage. As far as d-lineman knocking down passes we will usually cut them playside to keep their hands down.

If a defense runs cover 2 we will not run slants unless it is a clearing/decoy route because the OLB should be sitting underneath that pattern. Against cover 3 there is a window for a slant but it is usually a little deeper so the route is really more of a short post than a quick slant.

To me the OP issue is a non issue and defending slants seems to play as real as can be expected.

Now as far as blocking on option plays.....Oh Ill save that for another thread

EDIT: I do agree with JDhammer on the effectiveness of cover 1 and cov 1 robber both of which are great defenses especially against posts and crossers. I have yet to play the demo but last year these two d's were basically useless becasuse the cov 1 safety and robber were very innefective.

[jdrhammer]

Hey coach, play the demo, or even based on 09, what do you think about the Robber in cover 1 or LB's covering the middle not being aggressive enough at the WR coming over the middle?

Also, Russ, do you guys figure in the height at which the ball comes out of the QB's hand and also the trajectory? There are way too many line drives that hit the OL in the back and there are also too many passes the LB's are able to snag. Also, even on intermediate passes there is hardly any chance of putting air underneath them to get it over those LB's. We need more responsiveness on passes. Again, just a thought.