Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?)

[2_headedmonster]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

I really feel like offensive pass interference calls on some of these agg catch attempts would curve the feeling of them being OP.

[number1thumbs]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

played a draft champions game and joe horn scored on 5 go routes in a row..was playing cover 2 man, pass commit,w/ over the top db coverage for four out of the 5 tds. DRC was my corner and tj ward was my SS...that coverage usually stops it but i was helpless that game

[redsox4evur]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

played a draft champions game and joe horn scored on 5 go routes in a row..was playing cover 2 man, pass commit,w/ over the top db coverage for four out of the 5 tds. DRC was my corner and tj ward was my SS...that coverage usually stops it but i was helpless that game

Who was the QB, jw?

[ggsimmonds]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

My two observations from my limited experience with the game:

1. The results are fine, but the way those results are reached is a problem. The amount of successful aggressive catches is okay, but the percentage of them that are OMG one handed is too high. I think we need more variety in the animations (which is not too surprising; hopefully the team adds more in the following years)

2. Madden gamers need to retrain ourselves to not go for user picks every time. In past Maddens the DBs were better at playing wideout and fighting for the ball than the WRs were. This is no longer the case, gone are the days you can leave 1v1 on the outside and user pick passes to the outside. The need for safety help is back, and now we need to get back to playing defense instead of jump ball free for all we have been doing.

[2_headedmonster]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

a safety is all but useless in a two man animation.

[number1thumbs]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

Who was the QB, jw?

Either Eli or Flacco iirc

[SpyPirates]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

a safety is all but useless in a two man animation.

I disagree. From the games I've played, throwing into double coverage is almost always punished. Maybe the problem is people are seeing throws into double coverage and going for the ball, when playing receiver is actually the better option. I haven't seen many catches against a double team playing the receiver, and you'll often see one guy punch it out and the other guy pick up the deflection.

[number1thumbs]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

in my situation above, Horn was behind my CB and safety every time. I use pass commit/over top any time i think there's even a chance my opponent will go deep. i play more bend don't break because redzone D is easier to get turnovers. It was a fluke game i guess. Usually i get one or two tipped picks a game from it and rarely get beaten deep twice.

[oneamongthefence]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

I don't think it's overpowered. Safety play is mediocre. Theyre either slow to react or they're consistently underneath the receiver. They don't get over the top often enough either leaving 1 on 1 coverage or receivers can outjump them when they're underneath.

This is not a test.

[2_headedmonster]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

I disagree. From the games I've played, throwing into double coverage is almost always punished. Maybe the problem is people are seeing throws into double coverage and going for the ball, when playing receiver is actually the better option. I haven't seen many catches against a double team playing the receiver, and you'll often see one guy punch it out and the other guy pick up the deflection.

safeties hang around to get tipped balls usually, but dont aggressively go for the swat if there is a 2 man canimation playing out.

[Chairman7w]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

Come on guys, it's clearly busted.

Anytime a guy is in single coverage, you can just throw it up and hit Aggressive catch, and he'll make a ridiculous catch like 75% of the time. That's simply not realistic.

They just need to tone it down to not work as often. It should be a special thing - The fact that it works so often makes it not special.

I disagree. From the games I've played, throwing into double coverage is almost always punished. Maybe the problem is people are seeing throws into double coverage and going for the ball, when playing receiver is actually the better option. I haven't seen many catches against a double team playing the receiver, and you'll often see one guy punch it out and the other guy pick up the deflection.

[DreSki]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

JUst wish EA would tune the defense and not the offense..Rex even mentioned there was a bit too much separation when using the RAC catch...

At least with a tuner adjustment, if it gets bad reviews, it can be adjusted more a week later...

Short crossing patterns are still rather easy, but to adjust zones to be closer to the line of scrimmage is probably a huge task, but I wonder if expanding the area that the defender identifies a player in their zone could be a relatively easy adjustment?

I feel the same way. I guess im in the minority but as strong as aggressive catches are id REALLY like to see defense tuned more. Its so hard to play defense this year. It really is. Drags, slants, corner routes, and crossing routes are wide open this year and TE's are damn near uncoverable with a linebacker. Its annoying getting an offense to 3rd down and getting hit with a bunch formation corner route or a curl when you knew it was coming.

With aggressive catches being caught more often then not 1 vs 1 you somewhat need to play 2 man under which opens up drags curls and corners. Its like pick your poison. Get bombed on or just picked apart with short routes.

[BearDown100]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

I think it's way over powered. The other day facing a friend I picked him 3 times by switching to the corner and holding Y (on Xbox) and he'd come down with some crazy circus pick every time. He played as the steelers and me the Eagles and I know that their number one corner isn't better than brown who the play always occurred against. - let it be noted that he wasn't trying to hold Y nor did He switch to user control the wideout

[JOS1181]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

Safety players not being stupid might help. They are hardly ever actually involved in a pass defense. They just hang around and do nothing and wait to either attempt the tackle and attempt to intercept a tipped pass. If they could actually get in on the play and help knock the ball away / out it could be better.

I just dont get how people can say that this feature isnt overpowered.

[graphster21]

Re: Is The New Aggressive Catch Overpowered? (Possible Tweak Coming In Tuning Update?

I feel the same way. I guess im in the minority but as strong as aggressive catches are id REALLY like to see defense tuned more. Its so hard to play defense this year. It really is. Drags, slants, corner routes, and crossing routes are wide open this year and TE's are damn near uncoverable with a linebacker. Its annoying getting an offense to 3rd down and getting hit with a bunch formation corner route or a curl when you knew it was coming.

With aggressive catches being caught more often then not 1 vs 1 you somewhat need to play 2 man under which opens up drags curls and corners. Its like pick your poison. Get bombed on or just picked apart with short routes.

There are two reasons this is the case.

#1 - They really nerfed the way that underneath zones react to routes. They are much less intelligent in figuring out when/how to "carry" a receiver until he hits the next zone, and they are less aggressive in terms of identifying and matching up with threats in their area.

#2 - The game does not have the types of pattern matching coverages that have become commonplace in real football. In practice, what these coverages do is allow defenses to combine zone and man principles so that they are better able to handle the kinds of routes and route combinations that modern/spread offenses uses to pick apart traditional man or zone concepts. In effect, they allow defenses to maintain the ability to aggressively defend the short passes, while also maintaining good coverage against deep passes (provided that you have athletic safeties). They are essentially playig both man and zone defense at the same time. Just today there was an article posted on Grantland that talked about TCU's defense, which uses many of these concepts:

http://grantland.com/features/hard-knocks-playing-defense-with-tcus-gary-patterson/

While TCU has been one of the most aggressive in using this type of coverage scheme, most college and NFL defenses use some version of the pattern matching quarters coverage that is discussed here, and have been for at least 5-10 years.

Another pattern-matching concept that is commonly used is the Rip/Liz concept that was developed by Nick Saban and Bill Belicheck, which bases out of a cover 3 look:

http://www.elevenwarriors.com/ohio-state-football/2014/12/46950/film-study-nick-sabans-pattern-matching-pass-defense

Since there is no real way to meaningfully implement either of these two adaptations of zone coverage in the game, then it makes it very difficult to play sound defense, particularly against spread and shotgun formations (which these defenses are designed to stop in real life). Madden forces you to choose between pure man to man coverage and what is more or less equivalent to spot drop zone coverage (with a very minimal amount of pattern matching within certain zones). Those are relatively outdated concepts, so unless you have a severe talent edge or routinely make the perfect playcall, it will be hard to play "shut down" defense against a competent offensive opponent (CPU included).