Taking Advantage of the Player Ratings: Receivers Vs Defensive Backs

This is the first of several articles on Tecmo101 which will show how the player ratings can be used to dictate strategy.  This involves but is not limited to play selection, defender selection, matchups, offense, defense, special teams and techniques.  These articles are in depth and involve a lot of aspects of game play that has been previously mentioned or has not been mentioned.

At the same time it is important to keep in mind Tecmo is a game of luck.  Basically these articles help you put the odds in your favors.  The ratings in many cases result in probability calculations.  At the same time it is important to remember that not all gambles will work.  There is always the chance of a very negative result.  Yet hopefully these articles will show you how to minimize that.

The Basic Concept

In the game of Tecmo Super Bowl most defenders are below average.  This flaw includes the defensive back position which has many slow defensive backs.  Our goal is to exploit those slow defensive backs with faster receivers.   Therefore we can risk throwing into coverage as the coverage may not be there when the ball arrives to the receiver.

Keep in mind that probability determines the results of a pass.  You do not need to know the exact equation.  You do need to know that an open reciever has good odds of catching the ball.  Those odds get better as QB PC, receiver rec and receiver MS come into play.  Also lets note that there are only two outcomes.  Catch or drop.

If the defender is in coverage there is a third option.  Interception.  DB int is important as a risk factor.  Yet our goal is to have our receiver open when the ball arrives.  At the same time when the ball is snapped we want the receiver to be covered by a drone in man to man coverage.  We do not want the manned defender anywhere near the mismatch.

Plays

Now for a lot of you reading this I am sure it is still confusing.  For now keep in mind that we have a mismatch in the favor of the offense.  I prefer to throw deep routes to WR 1 on the top of the screen.  I get better results with wr1 and it fits my playbooks better.  At the same time this can be done with the bottom WR.  Now I am going to list several pass plays with a deep route for wr1 at the top of the screen.

Pass 1
pro t screen l, play action, R and S Flare C

Pass 2
pro t flare D (the deep route can turn on an angle into the field nor does it have to go all the way down the field.)

Pass 3
Pro T Flare C and Shotgun X drive

Pass 4
R and S Y up, Shotgun Z s in.  (x out and fly often curves out of bounds so do not use.)

First Matchup Min vs Det

DB 1 Leroy Irvin 25 ms(38 int), DB 3 Bennie Blades 38 ms (44 int) vs Anthony Carter 56 ms (QB pc 44)

Min vs Det is my favorite matchup call and this concept is part of why its my ace in the hole.  The important thing to keep in mind that the risk of an int is higher against Blades.  Yet at the same time both of these defensive backs are out matched by my WR.  In many matchups one defender will be bad and the other defensive back will be good.  At the snap you have to find out who is covering your WR1 as soon as possible.

What we are looking for

Now several other factors are important.  You want the human defender to guess pass.  You want your top WR1 in man to man coverage with the weak drone at CB1.  If there is another deep route you need it to be covered by a drone as well.  Hopefully there will be someone wide open on a short route.  These are critical factors to distract the human defender.

At this point one of two things will happen.  On the screen your WR will beat his DB1 and you can throw a pass on a diagonal to him when you see the WR running past the defensive back.  At times it will almost look like the DB is hunched over or standing still.  Regardless now you have a wide open wr that your opponent thought was covered.  Throw it now and its just a matter off that diagonal pass connecting.  Keep in mind that if you throw it over the top there is a good chance the DB will just jump and deflect the ball.  The risk though that since this is on the screen there is a chance that manned defender is watching for this and will move back to cover you.  With this type of mismatch this is not what I am looking for.

Despite how bad the mismatch is not every time Irvin covers Carter will Carter beat him on the screen.  Which is good because I want Carter to run past Irvin off the screen.  Through experiment I know that on each route the receiver will outrun the drone only one time if at all.  It will either happen on the screen or off the screen.  Therefore if Carter and Irvin run neck and neck on the screen I know there is a good chance Irvin will be smoked off the screen.

Cross Diagonal Throw

This is what I call this type of pass in practice.  Keep in mind that just because my wr is open does not mean I can throw him the ball on a straight line.  The odds are good that pass will be deflected.  Nor can I wait too long.  The defensive back might catch up with Carter later on.  Also with Wade Wilson’s low PS the longer I wait the more chance I risk the ball being deflected by a jumping DB.  I want to throw the ball about 30 to 50 yards down the field.  At the same time I need to get the diagonal so I have to throw from the bottom of the field.

Lets go back to the play.  Remember Carter and Irvin are neck and neck on the screen.  I scramble down and outside the pocket moving towards the line of scrimmage.  I need to be as close as I can get from down there.  At the same time the human defender is covering a short route and accounting for my scramble.  This all happens in about five seconds.  Carter now goes off the screen and is one on one with Irvin.

All I do now is move the QB in the direction of Carter, switch to him if I am not already on him and then throw the ball to him while moving on an angle towards him.  Now if there is a good throw I got good chances that Carter pulled ahead in the black screen.  On this angle the drone is out of the picture.  Meaning most likely the pass will either be caught, often diving or fall incomplete.  Often diving.

Getting it to Work

Its not going to work every time.  Yet there are other factors that can increase the odds.  Higher pass control, higher MS and RS of the wr are key factors.  Conditioning is a big factor.  I find often that a WR in Good or excellent or one with high RS has a few more steps to grab the ball.  I personally use this in a CHI vs KC matchup.  Neal Anderson destroys the KC DB 3 and is often open deep due to his 50 RS.  Higher pass speed helps if that qb has a good pc number.  Marino can be deadly accurate at times.  Say in a Mia vs Cin.  Then of course if nothing else works it does help that often misses result in incomplete passes.

The most important factor is practice.  The more work you get at something the better it will become for you.

Teams with weak DB1 or DB3

KC, DEN, Det, Phi, PHX, NYJ, CLE, IND, NO, ATL, RAMS

Its important to keep in mind for this to work you have to know which player, db1 or db3 is the slow one.

Video Example 1: Fast Forward to 1:22 to see a real time example.

Of course later in that game I went for it again and it failed.  Its not without risk.  Yet the reward of an easy touchdown pass or forcing the manned defender to watch deep routes can force openings in the pass defense.