Question for Ian and anyone else who may know... Curl Routes?

[Senator Palmer]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. I've searched the forums, looked at all the videos I could find and I still cannot find a definitive answer. I read that the defensive AI has been tuned down this year so that the reactions are more realistic but I would like to know if the curl route or the deep comeback are going to be viable in Madden 09, especially in man coverage?

In Madden 08 it was just completely ridiculous and I tried everything from throwing it before my receiver broke, to throwing low with the precision passing, high, behind, in front and the DB would always turn and miraculously break on the ball and make the pick while my receiver just stood there. It wouldn't have been a huge issue for me if it worked both ways, but when I was on defense the computer killed me with hook routes while MY DB would just stand in place while the receiver made the play.

Now I get that if you live off of curl routes the whole game that evenually they'll get jumped, but in the NFL the hook route is a pretty safe pattern that's thrown with regularity in every offense with your main threat of a pick coming from underneath defenders such as linebackers. I was just wondering if you could shed a little light on how they'll work in this year's iteration.

Oh, and I'm talking about the PS3 platform, if that makes any difference.

Thanks.

[Ian_Cummings]

Quote: Originally Posted by Senator Palmer

Forgive me if this has been asked before. I've searched the forums, looked at all the videos I could find and I still cannot find a definitive answer. I read that the defensive AI has been tuned down this year so that the reactions are more realistic but I would like to know if the curl route or the deep comeback are going to be viable in Madden 09, especially in man coverage? In Madden 08 it was just completely ridiculous and I tried everything from throwing it before my receiver broke, to throwing low with the precision passing, high, behind, in front and the DB would always turn and miraculously break on the ball and make the pick while my receiver just stood there. It wouldn't have been a huge issue for me if it worked both ways, but when I was on defense the computer killed me with hook routes while MY DB would just stand in place while the receiver made the play. Now I get that if you live off of curl routes the whole game that evenually they'll get jumped, but in the NFL the hook route is a pretty safe pattern that's thrown with regularity in every offense with your main threat of a pick coming from underneath defenders such as linebackers. I was just wondering if you could shed a little light on how they'll work in this year's iteration. Oh, and I'm talking about the PS3 platform, if that makes any difference. Thanks.

I try not to answer one off requests (because the forums can get out of hand easily), but what the hey...

Curl routes are definitely effective this year, especially against man coverage. It's pretty darn powerful in NCAA 09, and we made some fixes very late after community day for Madden to at least make them a little less effective and produce more real life numbers.

[Senator Palmer]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheFuture15

I try not to answer one off requests (because the forums can get out of hand easily), but what the hey...

Sorry about that, Ian. As you can tell by the post count, I'm a little new and unsure of the board etiquette, but thanks for taking the time to respond. Much appreciated.

I've already got the Collector's Edition reserved and now I'm even more stoked to get my hands on it. Thanks again.