My friend says that "Slot Cross" is a glitch play-- is he right?

[RyanMoody21]

Quote: Originally Posted by shigogouhou

Slot receivers are good at catching in traffic and beating the press; nickel corners aren't great at man-to-man coverage or press coverage (if they were good, they'd be #1 or #2 somewhere else!)

Your excuse for this play almost constantly getting positive yards is that;

All slot receivers are possession receivers.
Nickel or 3rd string corners can only play zone.



.

[astarr]

Well, there has been a lot of things said about flat routes and crossing routes. Truth is (while maybe they could fix the AI a little) there is a reason that the West Coast offense is based on short routes like these. Short ( 4 to 5 yard) passes are easier to hit than 4 to 5 yard runs. On a crossing route, if the linebackers drop back and it is one on one with a nickel back or even a safety, an NFL QB will exploit that all the time.

I don't think it is a gimmick, but maybe they could improve the AI a little. Hum to Hum shouldn't matter. He should control a linebacker and take that away from you.

[WilesThing]

There is a problem with the DB AI on this play. If you're in man coverage (and it can be Nnamdi Asumugha) they will always keep back peddling after the receiver makes his cut. There's a delay of about a second with the DB's reaction time to the WR's cut that doesn't happen on any other kind of route. Take it into practice mode with the Raiders and you will see.

And the flats are busted too. The same kind of reaction delay happens to LBs in man coverage on running backs. They're not getting out run by the running backs. They're just not reacting whenever the RB makes his cut. You can put the best man coverage LB against the worst route running RB and see this every time. When in zone coverage, the corners covering the flats will sink in towards the middle of the field if their receiver runs a drag or post, leaving the flats wide open for swinging RBs.

These issues have nothing to do with real life strategies like the nickel back being worse than the slot receiver or the West Coast offense. They're just straight up glitches.

[shigogouhou]

Quote: Originally Posted by RMoody

Your excuse for this play almost constantly getting positive yards is that; All slot receivers are possession receivers. Nickel or 3rd string corners can only play zone.

On the average #3 WRs are better at the things needed to run good crossing patterns (catch in traffic, beat press, like I said) than #3 CBs are at the things needed to stop that pattern (man-to-man coverage & press coverage to mess up the timing); nowhere in that does it say "every #3 corner sucks at man", nowhere does it say "every #3 receiver has 75 speed and 99 catch". Even if the #3 WR isn't as good as the #3 CB, if the WR is faster he can eventually outrun the CB on the route & get open (well, open as far as the CB's coverage is concerned).

Linebacker yellow zone, linebacker QB Spy can work, since the guy will just stand there in the passing lane. Of course if the pass protection is good enough and you don't have extra coverage across the field eventually that WR will outrun his CB trailing as well as run past the LB sitting in zone/spy mode and be open, but if you give somebody enough time to let a WR run completely across the field you have to expect somebody to get open.

Hell, I had a guy try to use it on me online; I was Carolina, he was Houston, he was exploiting my weak #3 CB by running constant Slot Crosses...so I took control of Peppers & had him stalk the crossing route.

[Equinox831]

It's not a glitch play it's a good play. Your friend needs to learn how to spot the formation and anticipate the routes especially if you use it regularly.

I played a guy online who ran this play on me twice until I picked up on it and I got 2 INT's that game just from that play.

[asterisk]

Not a glitch play, it's pretty easily defended when you're playing other people because they'll recognize it quickly.

Against the CPU defense though, this is a money play and has been for years. I remember doing this on the PS2... it's an easy 10+ yards and will work seven times out of ten against the CPU. Just by using this play, you can get any half-decent WR to get 20+ receptions and 200+ yards in a game, so it's not a good play to call if you're looking for any of your games against the CPU to be challenging.