How do you throw the deep ball?

[EAreaper26]

Maybe you guys should try throwing the ball in a way that leads the receiver away from the coverage via precision passing. If the safety jumps down on an underneath route- lead the receiver towards the middle if he cannot burn the corner deep. If the safety plays over top the corner- lead the receiver away from the safety. If your QB cannot get the ball there physically or because of heavy pressure- you're screwed and you shouldn't be throwing deep.

[jvaccaro]

Even when I get my WR on a CB one on one in man, and the WR has a step on the defender, I still can't get my QB to throw a deep bomb.

When I lob it, the ball is underthrown -- When I bullet pass it, the ball is swatted by the defender. I've also tried precision passing up, but doesn't consistantly help get it deep at all.

Alright, I just went into practice with Brady to Moss on a streak vs Hobbs (94 spd) in man with no safety help (Harrison blitzing). Now I swear there is a perfect deep ball thrown maybe half the time when Moss is exactly between 30-35 yards past the LOS when I press the button. I mean sometimes the pass is dropped in over his shoulder, running in stride, with a bullet pass. It's really a thing of beauty! However, anything less than 30 yards downfield before you press the receiver's button and it's that old bullet pass on a frozen rope where the DB always jumps up and swats it away. Anything over 35 yrds downfield, and it's desperately underthrown and usally picked.

Is it really possible that there is actually only this tiny 1 second, 5 yard window to bomb it deep??? Not to mention it takes 3 full seconds (an eternity in the pocket) for Moss to even get 30 yards downfield. I miss the old school deep lob. IMO, it just needed to be overthrown more than in years past to keep it from being abused. Deep bombs just seem too hard in '09, even for the cannon arm QBs.

[cdon2k]

Ok JV, (can't believe I'm helping a patriot lol)... in your Hobbs experiment, did you throw the ball very quickly after the snap? You have to do it as soon as you get recognition that the safety is not moving towards the sideline to help.

Also, I seem to be able to do best if I bomb to the number 2 (far left) WR as the number 2 corner usually is bad enough to get beat. Additionally, the slot streak is vunerable to a multitude of blitz packages where a lone safety is in a middle of the field zone.

Definetly lead the receiver up as this will make sure you get plenty of seperation with the DB.


I am loving the deep ball now that I understand how it works. The thing I love about it most is that on D I don't constantly have to worry that even though I called COVER 4 coverage, the WR catches the streak every time. The deep pass is still possible, though difficult as it should be, but people can actually defend against it using coverages which is awesome. The deep ball is something that should rarely be seen, and that's how it is in this year's game. I love it, don't change it.

[jvaccaro]

Quote: Originally Posted by cdon2k

in your Hobbs experiment, did you throw the ball very quickly after the snap? You have to do it as soon as you get recognition that the safety is not moving towards the sideline to help.

I tried the quick lob pass after both 3 and 5 step drops, and it didn't seem like enough time to let the WR get behind the DB, even when the safety is not in the play. The end result was around a 25-35 yrd pass, which is obviously a nice gain when it's caught maybe a third of the time. However, I'm really interested in that downfield 50-60 yrd hail mary bomb. I'm not expecting it to be an easy completion at all, like in some years past -- in fact I'd love to overthrow it often. Regardless, I just can't seem to consistantly trigger that specific deep ball animation/throw...

[onetonmartin]

Most of my long pass plays come when my receiver gets inside on the corner. If there isn't a safety nearby I'll throw a precision pass toward the middle of the field. The WR will break to the inside and if thrown properly, they'll make the grab in stride.

It's a pretty consistent six ...or at least a gain of 30+. The only hard part is looking long enough for the right positioning without getting sacked.

[cdon2k]

I forgot to mention, use play action and slide the line to whatever side the fake hand off is going to. This buys you some time, so much so that it almost feels like cheese lol. If you did everything that I mentioned, you should be able to get 40-50 yards. Only problem I have had so far is that while doing this method, due to the lead pass lob over the top, my receiver often has to dive to make the catch (which he does at a high rate), and I can't get any yards after the catch most times.

As I have said, I throw as soon as I get recognition of the safety's coverage. Waiting too long will mean a sack, even with slide protection. So, slide protect and play action.... Boom Baby!


P.s. Martin, I am going to have to try that... I am always afraid of the bullet in traffic due to warping coverage Basically, it will look like the a player is too far to make the play, and somehow, with a lead bullet, you throw it right to him, or he warps into position, this is how int's happen

[Matrix-Monkey]

I figured out my main problem.

I was moving the sliders the wrong direction, heh.

I can complete the seam routes now since my QB Acc isn't at 0 anymore.

Still can't get the deep streak route, but I think a lot of it has to do with my short WRs, Moss and Randle El.

Oddly enough the best way I've found to get a long pass play for TD is to do what the real Redskins did in Week 1 of this year, the underneath crossing route to Moss that gets turned up field for the TD, I can do it with Portis too.

[Exonerated]

I get burned online by the deep ball all the time. I play man to man with the colts and creep my safeties to the LOS. THe opponent is usually good for 2 or 3 deep bombs a game.

My cbs are hopeless on streaks. Moss and TO are too fast.

The trajectory on the deep ball looks AWFUL.