TE XP Allocation

[seanh1986]

I'm trying to decide where it's most worth allocating XP points. I have two really good blocking TEs who have like ~80 str and ~80 run block, etc... So run blocking isn't a huge need, but it would still be useful.

6'7, 259 lbs, age 22 (1st year) - 70 overall (balanced TE)

89 spd, 68 str, 85 agil, 85 acc, 31 awr,
84 catch, 85 cit, 85 spc catch, 70 route running, 82 release, 90 jump
76 truck, 81 stiff arm, 77 ellusive, 71 juke, 70 spin
69 impact block, 69 run block, 48 pass block
90 stamina, 88 toughness, 90 injury
74 ball carrier vision, 75 carry.

He's an incredible receiving TE. I'm thinking I should keep boosting his catch and CIT... And I should probably boost his route running.

But part of me wants to really put in a good boost to that awareness and get it up somewhere manageable. It's not clear to me how awareness actually affects things... But I feel like it plays a role in that sometimes it seems the CPU just decides "I'll give the ball to this player since his overall is rated higher"... and awr boosts overall lol.

Traits he still does NOT have:
- Feet in Bounds <= important
- Fight for yards
- Clutch
- Consistency (I'm not sure, it won't let me check on the website, probably a like 1-2?)

[ggsimmonds]

Looks similar to my TE Karl Kruger in some ways.

Boosting physical attributes is very expensive.
I think it is a good idea to boost awareness (I think it affects a few things: selecting the right option route, how quickly he looks for the ball, picking up a blitzer if blocking) but aside from that I think you generally have two options -- focus on either CIT or RTR.

With his current stats he may struggle to get separation against good defenders. So do you want to improve that or improve his ability to CIT to make separation not quite a big factor.

I would expect his consistency to be low. so you probably want to improve that. But that should be easy enough if he meets his season goals

One other thing -- He is big with decent jumping. Consider investing in SPC and in the redzone throw him fades. You will get TDS.

[seanh1986]

I can't seem to get the fade routes to work in this game, they were a no-brainier in Madden 12, but it may have to do with my WR core. I don't quite have one of those big bodied WRs

I've got Mike wallace and well, I'm going to be drafting some new guys, so I may have some big-bodied fade WR soon lol.

I also don't know too many plays that have the TE on a fade.

Does it work doing the fade in the middle of the field to the TE? or do you need to sub him in at WR?

Also, if fades are similar to M12, you kinda need the player to turn on his own, so maybe upping that awareness would help there?

Also, he tends to get separation due to his spd/acc, but I think upping his RTE could seriously help him demolish LBs.

[ggsimmonds]

Yeah Wallace would suck with the fade. I have Thomas at my WR and have success with it 25-40% of the time. But it is low risk. But throwing it to Wallace will not work unless you try to back shoulder it and I don't know much about that. It could be that you are good with the route but lack the personnel.

Fades to TEs over the middle work wonderfully. My TE is 6'7" 94JMP and I have success greater than 60% of the time.
In the Ravens playbook under the Strong I Twin TE set there is a play called Ravens Fades. The outside WR runs a normal fade and the TE runs a middle fade to the back of the end zone. If the safeties split wide it is a easy 6.

timing the fade can be a bit tricky. You may need to hot route the TE to fade but that is hard. If the play you are in is a 5 step drop it will be difficult to hit the fade. If your playbook has a fade for the WR, call that and audible the TE to also run a fade.

Your TEs stats should be good enough to get some separation but trust me, once you get route running above 80 he will be nasty. And if you are playing against human opponents then he will need the help.

another thing you may already know, ignore release. It is meaningless for TEs unless you split him out wide.

[seanh1986]

I wasn't planning on upping his release. Thanks for the tips, I use the steelers playbook quite a bit, but I'll have to start to experiment with those fades to the TE.

If they seem to be pretty effective, then I might just up his catch, CIT, spec catch and jump (it may be expensive to upgrade his jump).

I wonder if awareness would play a role in the fade route to the TE?

So should I start by trying to upgrade his RTE to 80? Or focusing on turning him into a fade machine?

When you say "if the safety is split wide its a TD" what do you mean?

Usually by the goalline, you'd be looking at a 1-on-1 match-up or where the safeties would be in a "deep zone" with man underneath. People don't seem to play zone much down by the goalline, but if they did, I think that it might be wide open?

In M12, I would just snap the ball, wait like 1-2 seconds and then just tap his button, and then I'd select the player but not touch him and the CPU would basically automatically turn him around and I'd just time the jump. Is it basically the same?

[ggsimmonds]

Awareness may or may not affect the fade. Honestly I don't know either way. My TE's awareness is at 80 though.

He should already be a monster with the TE fade so upping those related attributes should be a low priority. But with TEs it never hurts to prioritize CIT.
Route running to 80 would help a lot. As he is right now I am guessing he is a monster on PA plays but if you want to use him effectively in all situations then yeah, boosting RTE to 80 should help.

People vary in how they call plays, and I generally play offline so take this with a grain of salt. From the 8 to about the 2 yard line is the ideal time for the fade (from the one just call a run or PA from goaline set). The safeties are your only concern (most of the time). If it is man coverage with 2 deep you should be fine.

Basically watch what the safeties do at the snap. If they move towards the sideline to cover their deep half the fade is there. If they come up for man coverage because of a blitz the fade should be open. But if one of them take the middle don't throw it. I don't think people call plays like that in the redzone (cover 3, cover one robber, etc) so you should be fine. The short answer is if the TE only has to beat a LB you should have a TD.

Hopefully this video on fades will help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeouDAMxMuU

For TEs it should not be any different aside from the extra importance of reading the defense

Edit: This guy does it a little differently (tap vs bullet; plus he waits longer) but it would seem to be equally effective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VU-9VWCf7s

[seanh1986]

Nice videos, I woulda never thought that the back shoulder fades would work in M13, I'll have to experiment, but I feel like a lot of users would pick that off lol. But I donno, I seem to have a lot of experimenting to do!

I think I'll start by upping his catch to 85 (+1), then RTE to 80 (+10), and then CIT to 90 (+5), and then awareness to like 60 (+29) and/or spec catch to 90 (+5)?

How does that sound? Or do you think upping awareness is useless? lol

[ggsimmonds]

I don't know about awareness. Everything I have heard on it is speculation; EA has never explicitly said "this is what awareness does for each position."

But because it is one of the cheaper things to raise, I'd raise it.

One word of warning that just occurred to me.You play in a online CC with other users? If you do you may want to be cautious with the fade if the league allows user switch while the ball is in the air. User picks are incredibly easy due to the incredibly stupid "ballhawk" feature. If user picks are common, then try running the fade the way the second video did where he used more of a bullet pass.