03-06-2009, 06:04 PM
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#1
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Rookie
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Offensive line blocking vs. DBs in the box
The fashionable defense to run for top 100 lobby players in this game is Quarters Show Blitz. Of course it stops the pass very well with seven DBs on the field, but the really stupid part is that it actually stops the run pretty well too. There are two main reasons for that, one being that the OL AI just isn't that smart and missed obvious blocks at times. The other (which I wanna focus on here) is that DBs for some odd reason have no trouble holding there own against 300+ pound lineman in the trenches.
I don't want to talk down to the people at EA, because I know they're smart guys and should know this already, but in real life, if a DB is up playing in the box and takes on a charging offensive lineman on an inside running play, the DB is in a whole lot of trouble. Basically (in real life) one of three things is going to happen if a DB gets put in this unfortunate situation. 1. He is going to avoid getting killed by throwing himself at the lineman's legs and hoping (praying) that he will cause enough of an obstruction to clog the running lane or trip the ballcarrier. 2. He is going to get absolutely pancaked flat on his back, be of absolutely zero help, and probably have to leave the field for several plays afterward. 3. He is going to somehow stay on his feet, but the linemen is going to push him so far outside that he will have no chacne to even get a hand on the ballcarrier. I'm not talking about this waddling back half a yard that we see in the game. I'm talking about absolutely gettin relocated five or more yards out of the running lane.
Unfortunately in the game, these things almost never happen (occassionally you will get a pancake, but they're rare). What you get instead is the DB somehow obtaining near superhuman strength and standing up the lineman, thus giving the ballcarrier almost no lane to run through. I am in practice mode right now running iso plays out of a 2 WR set against Quarters Show Blitz. And I am consistently watching Herman "House" Johnson (6'7" 357 lbs., 96 OVR, 99 STR, 98 RBK) charging directly at a 200 lb. safety who is playing up in the box to start the play, and what happens? Johnson gets stood up, as if the safety suddenly morphed into Albert Haynesworth! How does EA see things like this and say, "Yeah, that's about right. That's pretty realistic." It just baffles me.
If a defense in real life came with quarter personnel and four DBs playing up in the box against a power running game, the result we be total carnage. Their would be lanes opening up the size of the Mississippi, and halfbacks would have a field day, averaging 10+ yards a carry and breaking off multiple long TD runs. And yet in the game, against these lobby players who use this defense, you will be lucky to average 3.5 ypc against it, and you will almost never break any runs of over 10 yards. It's beyond ridiculous. I'm sorry EA but this isn't excusable to me. You don't have to be a phsyics major to understand what is going to happen if a 350-pound man is charging a 200-pound man. It's not going to be pretty.
But in this game, DBs are just as good at standing up 300+ pound lineman as defensive tackles are. Which is why all the top players online run Quarter (and often even sub in safeties at DE) and have amazing success with it. And people have been getting away with this for years in this game and yet EA never makes any major improvements in the blocking department.
There are plenty of things about this gameplay engine that could use fixing and/or improving, but number one on my list (and many others') is completely revamping everything about blocking (AI, physics, animations, etc.). Please EA, give us a game that can proudly be described as "next-gen football".
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