Warrior General Games

I know CS is supposed to help you catch up to the ball carrier when you're behind them...

But does it activate when the ball carrier is in FRONT of you? Examples; You're covering the Deep Weak Zone as a safety but the run is to the Strong side... now you're quite a ways away from the ball carrier (opposite side of field and in deep coverage) so does it activate then? Even though the ball carrier is actually in front of you?
2nd example; Kickoffs. If you have CS and you're on the Kickoff team, when the returner gets the ball you are likely to be far away from them as you run down the field. #1, would CS fire then? #2, does it even work on ST's?

"CLOSING SPEED

Closing Speed gives this player an adrenaline boost when he needs it most - to catch the ball carrier. The CB will gain a speed and acceleration boost when the ball carrier is far away and he needs to close the gap quickly."

The official description makes no mention of position, and my own personal recollection is that it works entirely based on the distance between the defender and the ball carrier. And yes, it activates on special teams too.

Keep in mind, when the defender gets inside of the Closing Speed radius, Closing Speed switches off.

on S Teams it activates but only after the returner catches the ball

Originally posted by Monty Burns
on S Teams it activates but only after the returner catches the ball

Ah... so, in theory, it would 'activate' on kickoffs right after the returner caught the ball, allowing the dot to 'close' on the returner even faster. Hmmm.... veddy interstink. Danke.

Originally posted by Monty Burns
on S Teams it activates but only after the returner catches the ball

Ah.

Ah!

I didn't think of that! You're right, while the ball is in the air, technically there IS no ball carrier -- until the returner catches the ball and becomes the ball carrier. But during the few seconds while there is no ball carrier, Closing Speed can't fire. Makes sense.

Originally posted by Novus
Ah.

Ah!

I didn't think of that! You're right, while the ball is in the air, technically there IS no ball carrier -- until the returner catches the ball and becomes the ball carrier. But during the few seconds while there is no ball carrier, Closing Speed can't fire. Makes sense.

Pretty sure bort confirmed this

It does work, however if the ball carrier is much faster, you’ll see the tackler zoom up close, then slow, then as the gap grows again, another rush, repeat. Zoom,stop,zoom,stop. Sometimes, if the tackler gets close enough during the burst, it’ll trigger the diving tackle. If the rusher is fast enough, the tackler will probably miss.

Originally posted by Eeyore
It does work, however if the ball carrier is much faster, you’ll see the tackler zoom up close, then slow, then as the gap grows again, another rush, repeat. Zoom,stop,zoom,stop. Sometimes, if the tackler gets close enough during the burst, it’ll trigger the diving tackle. If the rusher is fast enough, the tackler will probably miss.

If you are going to use closing speed, then you really must go high speed also for this very reason. Combined with 1st step, it is like getting shot out of a cannon, but you need the speed to finish the play. Diving tackle can have a ridiculous radius. I've seen tackles from 5 yards away I'm like, who can really dive 15 feet? Because closing speed turns off at 5 yards. And it seems that the player will attempt a diving tackle even when they are massively closing the gap. I wish that diving tackle had a slider as to when to try.


Originally posted by Novus
Ah.

Ah!

I didn't think of that! You're right, while the ball is in the air, technically there IS no ball carrier -- until the returner catches the ball and becomes the ball carrier. But during the few seconds while there is no ball carrier, Closing Speed can't fire. Makes sense.

You can see that sometimes when I'm on the other side of the field, and how fast I can cross it. And why it is really next to impossible for a returner to run away from me, without getting a block. I am almost always near the tackle even if I was pancaked earlier. And you can see it even more in my other STOP, with the much greater number of tackles that he makes. He has more CS and 1st step and that little bit makes a huge difference because their attributes are basically identical.

In truth, I already knew about what happened when the defender (with CS) got close to the ball carrier but almost all of those answers always dealt with the defender trying to catch up to the dot with the ball. What I had never considered is that CS would fire if the defender was in FRONT of the dot with the ball by a good enough distance.
All of this started with me pondering getting CS for a Free Safety and if it was worth it since, as everyone points out, it stops working once you close within the radius of what GLB considers 'close enough' to turn CS off. So, as also pointed out by Monkey Boy, you really need speed enough as well. But I figured that, if the Safety was playing a deep strong (or weak) zone coverage, then any run or screen pass or throw to the opposite side of the field would trigger CS and help the Safety get across the field in a hurry.
THEN I wondered about Kickoffs and if it fired once the ball was caught by the returner and that's what led me to post the question here. Thanks to everyone and now I have a new (old?) idea about SA's for STOPS.

Originally posted by Monkey Boy
I wish that diving tackle had a slider as to when to try.

It might not have a slider but I do know Bort said the radius of a successful 'Diving Tackle Attempt/Outcome' is modified by the amount of Jump the dot has. It's why I always put something into Jump on my D-linemen since they tend to make many diving tackle attempts.