Reading the Blitz

[kennylc321]

We see this every Sunday: QB lines up and goes thru his cadence. Then he sees something and recognizes the blitz; makes a check then the ball is snapped.

EA needs to implement something similar. I know in year's past, this was in the game (I think it was the year they had the 'weapons' thing.) But a "good" QB is able to recognize a blitz. Maybe it should be related to the QB's rating... the higher his rating, the more frequently he can recognize where the blitz is coming from. And maybe a poor QB will fail to recognize the blitz and when he does, he's usually wrong.

When playing against the AI (for me, anyway) by the time I see it, it is too late to do anything about it because their defenders are able do do a bee line straight to the QB.

[bcruise]

ID The Mike.....it's not tied to QB rating (it's entirely user-controlled), but it's your way as the QB of identifying who's blitzing - and if they actually are, it will help your O-line to block it.

Pre-Play, press L1 to bring up pass protection adjustments, press A/Cross and use the Dpad or L-stick to select who you think the blitzer is. Pressing A/Cross one more time confirms that choice.

The way it's supposed to work is that you identify the middle (mike) LB with it, as the name suggests, and the blocking scheme then centers on that LB - but it will also still work pretty well if you identify a nickel/dime back who's blitzing. If you guess wrong, you could leave someone completely unblocked.

[Rayzaa]

Or just audible to a quick route play. A slant or crossing route, quick out. If you are the user controller, you are the one that is recognizing the blitz. And if not you can still audible but I've read on here lately that some do not audible and go with the play they called.

I don't always see a blitz coming but I do check out of plays often if I don't like the defense they are in for what I've called.

[IcedCoffee1983]

Dont forget to shift you pass bocking pre-play (like if you see a linebacker move up on the right, you can shift your O-line blocking assignments to the right, or if you see multiple blitzers inching up, you can shift your O-line and RB's and TE's to max-protect to give your QB more protection).


Dont forget to also hot-route you RB to check and release or straight up block to help as well (if you see a nano coming).



I never really used to use those features much in the past, but now that I do I get sacked way less.


There is a skills trainer for pre-play where you can practice this stuff.

[kennylc321]

Thank you all for your responses. But isn't all of this more of a guessing game? In the NFL, it seems like the QBs KNOW where it is coming from.

And I know about the "ID the Mike" thing and I know it is supposed to center the blocking towards that guy, but does it *really* work or is it another cute addition by EA?

I've had my times where I've IDed the far side CB and no discernible difference in blocking is apparent.

[timhere1970]

Maybe they could implement defensive play art based on QB awareness. Not the play but just flash the blitzing lb's red arrow or show the so playing a zone and then change your play or adjust your blocking accordingly. Then the defense can audible and trick you or you can redo yours depending on the play clock. Pre snap strategy game would be great. I think it would be good for competitive too.

[stinkubus]

Instead of magically giving the defense away maybe the user could just count the defenders on either side of the C and adjust their protection accordingly?

[kennylc321]

Quote: Originally Posted by timhere1970

Maybe they could implement defensive play art based on QB awareness. Not the play but just flash the blitzing lb's red arrow or show the so playing a zone and then change your play or adjust your blocking accordingly. Then the defense can audible and trick you or you can redo yours depending on the play clock. Pre snap strategy game would be great. I think it would be good for competitive too.

Yes. That's kind of along the lines of what I am thinking.