Pass Defense looks very good !!!

[steph]

I just have a look at the videos made by nfl2kx.com and MAN!!! pass defense looks great and realistic ! I really enjoyed the Broncos_Raiders vid where two bad throws turn into two picks!
And on the Fins_Lions vid, when madison was too short to pick off the ball!! In 2k3 it would have been an interception!! In fact last year, when a QB launch a pass, most of the time it result into a catch or a INT but this year it's seem that there will be more tipped ball and bad throws!!CAN'T WAIT FOR THIS GAME !!! In september NFL won't be about sunday, it will be about everyday !!

[sportsgeist]

In 2K2 it would've turned into a pick. In 2K3 VC turned the INTs down because people were complaining about too many in 2K2. Now since they're saying they weren't getting enough INTs in 2K3 VC turned them back up. That was the only thing I hated about 2K3's passing defense. In 2K2 if they threw a bad pass and your defender was in place he would pick it off most of the time. After you learned how to read the defense and not throw into double and triple coverage you hardly had any INTs. I'm glad to see it come back.

[njskillz]

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sportsgeist said:
In 2K2 it would've turned into a pick. In 2K3 VC turned the INTs down because people were complaining about too many in 2K2. Now since they're saying they weren't getting enough INTs in 2K3 VC turned them back up. That was the only thing I hated about 2K3's passing defense. In 2K2 if they threw a bad pass and your defender was in place he would pick it off most of the time. After you learned how to read the defense and not throw into double and triple coverage you hardly had any INTs. I'm glad to see it come back.

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That's the problem with listening to "casual" gamer complaints about the gameplay. Playing defense should be just as rewarding as playing offense. A QB makes a bad read, he should pay the price. I don't know how many times in NFL2K3 I have jumped a route only to have th DB either A) jump out of the way of the ball B) Jump 20 years before the ball arrives C) just flat out drop the ball. I welcome with open arms smarter DB AI and awareness. The fact that the Raiders were able to get interceptions is nothing new. In NFL2K3, all Raider DBs are rated like Hall of stinkin Famers. Hopefully in ESPN 2004, all DBs are given the fair opportunity to make plays.

[steph]

The vids show that zone coverage has been really enhanced, but what about man on man coverage?? Is there shutdown corner in the game that you'd better not throw at ?? (thinking about Woodson, Bailey). Can somebody that played the beta answer this? It was already good last year as you could see the difference between an average corner and a stellar one, but to me, the stellar one's were still too often beatten. (That's a part where MADDEN really sucks because you could be burned all day long wathever corner you used)

[Klue516]

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njskillz said:

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sportsgeist said:
In 2K2 it would've turned into a pick. In 2K3 VC turned the INTs down because people were complaining about too many in 2K2. Now since they're saying they weren't getting enough INTs in 2K3 VC turned them back up. That was the only thing I hated about 2K3's passing defense. In 2K2 if they threw a bad pass and your defender was in place he would pick it off most of the time. After you learned how to read the defense and not throw into double and triple coverage you hardly had any INTs. I'm glad to see it come back.

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That's the problem with listening to "casual" gamer complaints about the gameplay. Playing defense should be just as rewarding as playing offense. A QB makes a bad read, he should pay the price. I don't know how many times in NFL2K3 I have jumped a route only to have th DB either A) jump out of the way of the ball B) Jump 20 years before the ball arrives C) just flat out drop the ball. I welcome with open arms smarter DB AI and awareness. The fact that the Raiders were able to get interceptions is nothing new. In NFL2K3, all Raider DBs are rated like Hall of stinkin Famers. Hopefully in ESPN 2004, all DBs are given the fair opportunity to make plays.

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True, and well said ....i have to play you online this year

[steph]

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njskillz said:

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sportsgeist said:
In 2K2 it would've turned into a pick. In 2K3 VC turned the INTs down because people were complaining about too many in 2K2. Now since they're saying they weren't getting enough INTs in 2K3 VC turned them back up. That was the only thing I hated about 2K3's passing defense. In 2K2 if they threw a bad pass and your defender was in place he would pick it off most of the time. After you learned how to read the defense and not throw into double and triple coverage you hardly had any INTs. I'm glad to see it come back.

---

That's the problem with listening to "casual" gamer complaints about the gameplay. Playing defense should be just as rewarding as playing offense. A QB makes a bad read, he should pay the price. I don't know how many times in NFL2K3 I have jumped a route only to have th DB either A) jump out of the way of the ball B) Jump 20 years before the ball arrives C) just flat out drop the ball. I welcome with open arms smarter DB AI and awareness. The fact that the Raiders were able to get interceptions is nothing new. In NFL2K3, all Raider DBs are rated like Hall of stinkin Famers. Hopefully in ESPN 2004, all DBs are given the fair opportunity to make plays.

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Totally agree with you! In 2K3 when i used the chiefs in defense (ok they really sucked in pass defense...), DB were only looking at the ball or were jumping all around the field but not to the ball!! Even if they were on good position to make the INT.

[sportsgeist]

I just loved it in 2K3 when I would make a good play on the ball and I would make my man go for the INT and he would deflect the ball right into the hands of the reciever. And how many times has the ball passed through a body, arm or helmet into the hands of a reciever in 2K3?

In 2K2 you didn't throw it to the side of the better cover guy as much to be on the safe side but you did every now and then so the CPU wouldn't tighten up on the other side. It was great and after a year absence it's back.

[Kruza]

I wanted to keep silent about this for as long as I can, but... argh... I just can't do it any longer.

The pass defense may be looking good, but I dunno man. It's like the user helped the CPU out too much to display this. Especially during Denver's opening possession in that Broncos vs. Raiders movie.

First, the user controlling the Broncos in this movie did not once let the CPU take control of Jake Plummer dropping back, which most experienced NFL 2K3 players already know is an automatic no-no in most situations. A manual dropback would likely screw up the timing of the play and subsequently cause errant throws like the 1st INT (more on this below).

On 1st & 10, the Broncos call "50 Double Slant" while the Raiders appear to call "All Blitz 0." In this play, Shannon Sharpe is lined up next to Ashley Lelie, and both are running slant routes. The Raiders sends the house to Plummer at the snap of the ball -- nickelback (Nnamdi Ashomugha), dimeback (Derrick Gibson) and linebacker (I assume Napoleon Harris) included. But the user chooses to throw at Lelie instead of a wide open Sharpe. Eh? When controlling Plummer in this situation, I know as soon as I see that LB rush toward the line of scrimmage, my eyes would've lit up and the ball would be humming to Sharpe running through that void in the middle of the field uncovered. Also, Terrance Shaw is lined right over Lelie before the snap, which basically gives away that he's covering Lelie on this play. [Yeah I understand that the user could've pressed the wrong button by mistake, but the 'Y' button (Sharpe) isn't that close to the 'A' button (Lelie) on the Xbox controller.] I just don't get what was going through the user's head here.

And on 3rd & 6, the Raiders call what looks to be "4 Cloud," which has Charles Woodson lined up 12 yards back from the line of scrimmage. The Broncos call "90 Z Slam," but then the user re-assigns Ed McCaffrey to run a go route instead. Huh? Why do this at all when it's pretty clear that Woodson -- and Gibson in the middle for that matter -- is in good position to break up any thrown deep balls? The assigned hitch route was fine as is. If anything, the only route that would be wise to re-assign to in this situation would be the out route. The strongside linebacker, Bill Romanowski, may be in position to cover McCaffrey then, but that leaves FB Mike Anderson open on the swing route. Romo can't cover both guys here, so either McCaffrey or Anderson will be open on this play. But what happens in the movie? McCaffrey runs deep and is covered by Woodson and Gibson. The football eventually gets thrown toward the direction of a well-covered Rod Smith. The errant throw toward Smith sails high and goes right into the hands of Rod Woodson.

Well, I'm guessing the user is just doing the things in this movie to show off the pass defense in this game, which is cool I suppose. If so, you all can disregard everything I said in this post as meaningless babble.

At any rate, I would like to see more footage of a user making good decisions on where to throw the football for a change, particularly against different zone coverages. Can this be hard to make?

Kruza