Does anyone have passing advice?

Me and my friends were talking about how annoying it was in NCAA 11 (first NCAA game i ever played) how often the QB throws into the back of his own O-line's helmet. How often have you ever seen that happen in real life??
It is also annoying whenever the QBs underthrows on the short passes over the middle.
Finally it is annoying whenever you throw non-floating passes that somehow get knocked down by LB's and DB's no matter how high they are.
Are any or all of these issues fixed??
Does anyone have advice on how to get around these problems?

The infamous Leaping Linebackers and Super Human DT's, the guys who could leap 15 feet in the air and bat down passes has been greatly improved on in '12. Passes that would have had this happen a year ago do not happen in this year's game. As far as under-throwing passes, use the left stick to throw w/ better accuracy. If you are not used to using that, go to Practice Mode and get a feel for it. Example: Say you are on the left hash mark and have your right slot receiver or TE run a quick out. If the DB or LB is in man, and you just throw the ball w/ out using the left stick, the DB/LB will either knock the pass down or, very likely, pick it off. But by quickly flicking the left stick to the right, the pass will be thrown more to the sideline, away from the defender, allowing your guy to make the catch.

Once you get comfy w/ the left stick in passing, you will use it all the time because you actually can control where the ball goes just like a real QB. If you have a WR run a 15 and in and see that he's heading right for the FS and leading him will result in him getting killed or possibly the ball being picked, you can throw slightly behind him and complete the pass and save him from getting his head knocked off.

Hope this helps.

Can you give an example of how you could use the left analog stick to counter the "leaping linebacker" issue? My brother has been really frustrated so far with passing this year. He told me that he feels like he has to put some loft on a pass to get it over the leaping linebackers in zone coverage but that when he does this it gives the secondary too much time to react to the pass. Do you have any suggestions for that scenario?

Unfortunately there is little actual ball arc or velocity on the ball and lob passes where you tap the button just take too long to get there and allow defenders who are beat to catch up.

If you don't lob it it's pretty much a bullet pass with no arc and it'll get knocked down if your throwing across the middle of the field. The linebacker super jumps are not as frequent but they are still present. Also players seem to have eyes in the back of their heads because I've seen countless of times this year where a guy is turning and running and then stops to cut back and make a play on the ball that he should have no idea has been thrown or where it is.

If it's a crossing route or breaking in/out route you can lead them. If it's a deep route or slant you can lead them but it's hard to actually lead them in the middle of the field sometimes and if you working with a bad QB attempting to lead or place the passes can backfire and you end up throwing way over or way to the right/left of the receiver.

Personally I like it this year though. NCAA Football 11 players could abuse slants and verticals so bad...

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Originally Posted by Pantera1968

Can you give an example of how you could use the left analog stick to counter the "leaping linebacker" issue? My brother has been really frustrated so far with passing this year. He told me that he feels like he has to put some loft on a pass to get it over the leaping linebackers in zone coverage but that when he does this it gives the secondary too much time to react to the pass. Do you have any suggestions for that scenario?

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I haven't seen much of the Leaping LB's this year... in fact, I don't believe I have seen it at all. But to your question... say you have a WR run a 15 and In and there's a MLB at about 8 yards deep in the zone, I hit UP on the left stick and throw. I don't "lob" the ball, I just throw it like normal. This will cause the pass to be high and your WR should jump up and make the catch.

I did have one play where I did this on a post pattern and the ball was perfectly thrown, but my WR never even attempted to make the catch. It was a bang-bang play, I had to throw to avoid a sack and the pass was right there. I just didn't adjust quickly enough, I guess to User Catch, but it's frustrating when you read the D, know what's coming, have the perfect play called, throw the perfect pass and your WR looks like somebody who's never stepped on a football field before.

The passing in this years game is a lot harder but I'm sure we will all get better the more we play. The dynasty that I play in with my friends is on Heisman so I feel ya.

zone isnt an issue for me cuz i know the route combos to beat them but man to man kills me ...even running drags to try to rub the guys off each other dont seem to work this year...does anyone have any advice i could use to beat man to man

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Originally Posted by Dr Death

I haven't seen much of the Leaping LB's this year... in fact, I don't believe I have seen it at all. But to your question... say you have a WR run a 15 and In and there's a MLB at about 8 yards deep in the zone, I hit UP on the left stick and throw. I don't "lob" the ball, I just throw it like normal. This will cause the pass to be high and your WR should jump up and make the catch

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And to add to this. With a good QB/WR combo this will cause the WR to "sit" in a spot in the zone instead of continuing to run his route and gettin' killed. Hitting DOWN will also do this and its a great thing to try if you're under pressure and only want to give your guy a chance to make the catch. Its not a guarantee, like every sure pass, but it'll save you from 'forced' interceptions as well.

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Originally Posted by classic

zone isnt an issue for me cuz i know the route combos to beat them but man to man kills me ...even running drags to try to rub the guys off each other dont seem to work this year...does anyone have any advice i could use to beat man to man

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I've been playing as :Kansas: both in Play Now as well as a trial dynasty I just started, and I don't have any problem w/ Man>Man. One thing that is different this year, which I love, is you have to time things much better. So if they're in Man and you want to hit a guy on a 10 yard hook route, you have to anticipate the route and throw accordingly.

I've missed this once, and it went for a pick-6. But the other times, just as the WR starts to slow down to do the hook, I throw it and the DB has no time to react. In that regard, it's much more life-like.

I also run a lot of Mesh routes {Crossing routes} and have not had any problems there either.

thnx I will try it out when I get the game. But still no one answered my question about throwing into the O-line's helmet. Is that fixed or toned down in this year's game? Is there something I am doing that causes this to happen?

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Originally Posted by AMAZING

thnx I will try it out when I get the game. But still no one answered my question about throwing into the O-line's helmet. Is that fixed or toned down in this year's game? Is there something I am doing that causes this to happen?

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get a taller qb, or move slightly left/right to get open passing lanes.

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Originally Posted by AMAZING

thnx I will try it out when I get the game. But still no one answered my question about throwing into the O-line's helmet. Is that fixed or toned down in this year's game? Is there something I am doing that causes this to happen?

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This is another reason why I wish EA would get the Air Raid offense correct... because Mike Leach, Hal Mumme, etc use wide line splits to 1: Spread the D-line out and 2: To open passing lanes for the QB...

They brag about having offenses in the game, but don't implement them correctly.

We should have the ability to design a Custom Playbook that is bug free and choose between regular line splits and wide line splits.

And to answer your question... it's better, I think it's happened once to me in maybe 15 games, but I also move my QB around to find the open lanes. A step or two right or left can make all the difference.