Yep, the Vision Cone made awareness matter, end of.
I'll use the classic example of madden 07 - Tavaris Jackson. He was quick and could throw the ball deep, but you really had to keep the passing game simple if you wanted to get anywhere with him. This was when he had something like 45 AWR. Hid vision cone was so thin, and his accuracy was so bad that it made you change your game.
This is why we need it back, especially with college football where you have the biggest differential between QB intelligence.