So, that whole "see ball, play ball" thing

[tg88forHOF]

Remember the game play deep dive, when EA said they were making an explicit effort to prevent defenders from making a play on balls they couldn't see? That they'd implemented a "see ball, play ball" system?

Yeah, guessing that must have gotten pushed to a title update item....the 10-foot jumping plays to swat or pick balls behind a CPU defender's back is the worst it's been in a minute. At the very least, it's a definite step back from the end of the 23 cycle.

If I had to name one massive frustration right now, it's that one....especially since they made such a point of calling it out.

[Tonka3013]

I’ve seen much less of this.

It’s sort of inconsistent. I’ve seen the CB covering an Outside streak keep running with the XWr when I threw a corner route to the Y underneath. That was really nice.

But I’ve also seen situations where the X runs a streak and the crosser comes from the other side of the formation the CB peels off and picks the throw to the crosser.

It’s better than before but still not good.

[tg88forHOF]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tonka3013

I’ve seen much less of this. It’s sort of inconsistent. I’ve seen the CB covering an Outside streak keep running with the XWr when I threw a corner route to the Y underneath. That was really nice. But I’ve also seen situations where the X runs a streak and the crosser comes from the other side of the formation the CB peels off and picks the throw to the crosser. It’s better than before but still not good.

I agree it depends some on the route and the coverage...I just don't know what you're comparing it to by saying "better". Better than in beta or during early access? Ok, I believe you (I wasn't there...I can't argue). Better than last year (at least the 2nd half of the 23 cycle, like January timeframe)? It doesn't feel like it to me.

The place I see it most consistently is with curl/flat defenders, especially linebackers. No matter the guy or the rating, they're levitating 10 feet straight up to play a ball that is absolutely behind them (and not targeted at the guy they're covering) probably 4 times a game.

I can see where the dev team is going in terms of balance....they clearly want a greater degree of finesse on touch throws to that second level, and especially when dropping it over the LBs or C2 flat defender and in front of a half-field S. So it's an adjustment that can be made as a player....gotta be way more careful with touch passes.

But from the perspective of their stated goals, this is maybe the worst case of eyes in the back of the helmet, psychic LB play I've seen in maybe 3 years. It's like every LB in the game has the Lurker special ability and 360 degree vision to boot.

And like I said: it'd be less frustrating if the statement in the deep dive wasn't this:

"Based on player feedback, our team worked to eliminate cases where "psychic" DB's would sometimes break on balls they couldn't see. Now, defenders need to see the ball to break on it. This was common in man coverage and has been re-done to be more realistic. We call this “see ball, play ball” on the dev team."

Maybe they meant it literally.....they fixed it for DBs, but compensated by making every LB a mutant.

I suppose I should just pray for more dime coverages

[Tonka3013]

Better than Madden 23. It happened all the time in M23. Now sometimes it doesn't happen, lol

[PhillyPhanatic14]

The biggest issue with INTs in this game and 23 has been that QBs always underthrow and WRs aren't aggressive at the catch point like DBs are. It makes it nearly impossible to hit a tight window because it's typically a guaranteed INT.

[SituationSoap]

The tight window thing is absolutely on point. It winds up that you only throw balls where players are glaringly wide open, which happens a lot more often than it should. So you rack up really high completion percentages even with bad QBs, because even Justin Fields will regularly fit a ball to a guy who has nobody within 5 yards of him.

[Shogunreaper]

happens literally every game for me.

i put the reaction time slider to 0 and it only barely made a difference.

[Broncos86]

Oh, it happens. I described instances of this in another thread. Having a linebacker making a blind swat on a ball that's traveling directly over his head from behind, with what looks like no effort at all, just sucks. On All Pro, I even dropped Pass Coverage and Pass Reactions to 0, and I watched it happen with regularity.

There are things that have irritated me for over a decade. this is one of them. The other is watching my WR refuse to fight for the ball while the DB stops at nothing. Or in some instances, watching my receiver literally just not even try to catch the ball, despite staring at it, and having it deflect off of them right to a DB.

I had a DB, in man coverage with his back turned to the QB, break off his coverage on a go-route to intercept the ball on an in route in a dagger concept. That CB NEVER saw that ball, but he broke on that ball so damn fast.

I'm not someone who is going to switch to the receiver and manually catch, and I'll be the first to admit I'm not the best at Madden (I play on All-Pro), so this stuff just gets amplified. I'm sure there are plenty here who think "wtf, coverage sucks, it's so easy" who are playing Maddenball, controlling the receiver, etc. But these kinds of things are what make me quit playing, and Madden 24 is no exception.

I'm tired of seeing a window based on how defenders are moving, only for the game to decide "actually that linebacker does have coverage on that, so I'm going to warp him into position and have him make the pick."