Running the play has revolutionized my football gameplay passing

[kfloamy]

Most of you will probably say "duh!" to this, but I've had a football enlightenment this year with 2K5. I've always been a strong runner in football games, all the way back to my Madden 98 days. However, my passing has been pretty weak. Well, I've realized the biggest mistake I've been making. I never left the QB in the pocket. I wasn't always scrambling, but I was dropping back like 10-15 yards at times. I've learned to just let the QB make his dropback and watch for the open receiver. I immediately became a more effecient passer. Sure I still scramble, when the situation calls for it, but I'm not back there running around every play like I used to be. Again, some of you, probably most of you, probably already know that the best way to run a play is to run it the way it's designed.

[Moegames]

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kfloamy said:
Most of you will probably say "duh!" to this, but I've had a football enlightenment this year with 2K5. I've always been a strong runner in football games, all the way back to my Madden 98 days. However, my passing has been pretty weak. Well, I've realized the biggest mistake I've been making. I never left the QB in the pocket. I wasn't always scrambling, but I was dropping back like 10-15 yards at times. I've learned to just let the QB make his dropback and watch for the open receiver. I immediately became a more effecient passer. Sure I still scramble, when the situation calls for it, but I'm not back there running around every play like I used to be. Again, some of you, probably most of you, probably already know that the best way to run a play is to run it the way it's designed.

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This is something ESPN excells at..making you learn to keep your qb in the pocket for a better passing offense. Not alot of people see this in ESPN but i noticed it last year and this year as well. Makes it MUCH more realistic because thats the key to REAL NFL is to stay in the pocket and find your open recievers, as long as your line gives you the time in the pocket.

I love that ESPN nailed this part down so well..madden is far from this perfection but many wont say a thing about it. lol

This is just ONE of the reasons why ESPN is so great in gameplay.

[sportsgeist]

And knowing is half the battle.

After playing Madden for so long dropping back 10 to 20 yards every play is the hardest habbit to break. Although I didn't do it my best friend did and still do on occasion and pays for it in the 2K/ESPN games.

[jmarks2001]

In 2k3, it was definitely more advantageous to let your QB drop by himself and stay in the pocket, but in 2k4, and even moreso now, I've been seeing more people have success by doing a manual drop that's 3-4 yards deeper than the designed drop (I'm not saying 15-20 yard drop cheese works, just a few more yards).

I've been letting the qb do his own drop and have been getting sacked like crazy. Not on just blitzes either, regular 4-man fronts are getting to me before I can even hit the "bounce" at the end of my drop. I don't know, maybe it's my crappy line (I play with the Giants). Conversely, most players I've played online handle their own drop (and usually rollout just a little bit) and they've had way more success given the extra 1-2 seconds they seem to get from this kind of drop.

And please, no "You must suck" responses. I'm very aware that may be the case, but my point is, I think I might suck a little less if I started dropping back manually.

[TecmoBowl]

ESPN forces you to learn football if you want to be good.

I always let the computer do the drop for me (except on screen passes). But now I am taking it one step further by moving around in the pocket. Stepping up in it to get away from pressure and the like. That extra second really can help.

[djep]

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jmarks2001 said:
In 2k3, it was definitely more advantageous to let your QB drop by himself and stay in the pocket, but in 2k4, and even moreso now, I've been seeing more people have success by doing a manual drop that's 3-4 yards deeper than the designed drop (I'm not saying 15-20 yard drop cheese works, just a few more yards).

I've been letting the qb do his own drop and have been getting sacked like crazy. Not on just blitzes either, regular 4-man fronts are getting to me before I can even hit the "bounce" at the end of my drop. I don't know, maybe it's my crappy line (I play with the Giants). Conversely, most players I've played online handle their own drop (and usually rollout just a little bit) and they've had way more success given the extra 1-2 seconds they seem to get from this kind of drop.

And please, no "You must suck" responses. I'm very aware that may be the case, but my point is, I think I might suck a little less if I started dropping back manually.

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I agree - in 2K5 I've been manually dropping back myself unlike the last 2 years of the 2K series. Seems like when the CPU does a 3 step drop in this game, the QB ends up practically on top of the center. I didn't notice this last year. In this year's game, a deeper drop is definitely the way to go. I've seen DE's beating my tackles to the inside, but never to the outside. That's cause my tackles are forming the pocket 2 yards further back than they should, given where my QB is. A manual drop alleviates that.

Plus a little separation from the LOS will give you more time to react with the QB evade moves.

[dapperdan]

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TecmoBowl said:
ESPN forces you to learn football if you want to be good.

I always let the computer do the drop for me (except on screen passes). But now I am taking it one step further by moving around in the pocket. Stepping up in it to get away from pressure and the like. That extra second really can help.

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That's perhaps a big difference between Madden and ESPN. The need to actually step up in the pocket instead of dropping back 10 yds. Choosing between scramble or pass in a split second makes the game better IMHO. It adds a dynamic to the game that you rarely fine in the others.