Originally posted by ryanshaw
A few thoughts on the passing game:
1. In GLB there are very few instances where the WR catches the ball on the sideline and goes out of bounds. This is not just an aesthetic point. The reason QBs throw to the sidelines a lot in real life is that you cannot have any defenders out of bounds - it reduces the areas where defenders can actually cover and means you can be pretty sure that the DB is either trailing the play (if the WR is cutting out of bounds) or behind the WR (if it is a comeback play).
2. The big issue with sideline passes is that they are timing plays and GLB doesn't really work with timing patterns. One suggestion here is spot on - breaks should be sharp. There are very few real comeback patterns in GLB and most of the breaks are really, really slow. However, sideline patterns should be introduced as they are a big part of a passing game.
3. Maybe the best easy option is to change the plays so that certain WRs are in timing routes and some are not. The QB should be coded that if the primary WR is on a timing route he will throw it on time if the guy is open - if not, he just goes for the next best open man. If a 3 WR play had a couple of guys on timing routes OCs would have a couple of choices of primary for the timing pattern and then the TE/HB and last WR potentially available if the timing does not work, or they can select a non-timing primary. It will add a lot more options without changing the number of plays.
4. Hate to say it, but look back 10 seasons. When I watch replays of my team in S 5 the passing sim looks a lot better, but mainly because it is a lot slower. At least then it was clear that guys are getting open and the QB is trying to hit them. The problem is that as you get into higher levels the game is much faster and the defenders have dosed up on VA's since then and they are unrealistically fast. It might we worth revisiting some old games and having a look. Generically, WRs of equal agility/speed as CBs should always have the advantage since they know where they are going and so does the QB. If WRs were given the advantage 'back' but they actually had to get open to have a good chance of a catch it might make the sim look a lot better quite quickly.
Excellent point about the sideline routes. Haven't really heard anyone bring it up with respect to GLB. In real football these sideline routes are critical because you can't reasonably throw into heavy coverage often like GLB QBs do. The biggest problem with the passing game remains the inability for receivers to get open, and part of the problem is definitely the limited areas of the field that receivers are using.
On the other hand, real corners for the most part have to decide whether they are playing inside or outside or off or deep... usually conceding the outside a bit because of the sideline; but GLB corners don't really favor covering the inside. If GLB WRs were better at taking advantage of losing a defender with a break inside/outside, corners would have to make more of an effort to take away the inside, and this would open up the opportunity for more sideline routes. Put that way, it seems pretty far away from happening.