QBs with Low Awareness

[RogueHominid]

I drafted a QB in the late rounds whose THP and THA I like, but he's rated very low in terms of OVR because he has AWR in the 20s.

Does that low OVR and AWR rating negatively impact his gameplay in any way, or is it really just the specific attributes and things like consistency that matter most?

[RyanMoody21]

I posted this in the ratings thread but it seems maybe even better suited here. It revolves around Kendall Mills, a 2nd year HB.

Mills is a high 90 in both speed and agility, mid to low 70 overall. Had some issues staying healthy, I found pouring xp into toughness really seems to help that. Bob Sanders could never stay healthy, toughness seemed to remedy it until I could stock up his actually injury rating.

Tonite...Mills had 320 some yards in a game. Speed meaning want it does and pursuit angles being so poor, if he turns then corner is usually over. I was quite surprised late in the game, he got visibly slower so I made up my mind to spend xp on stamina.

In doing so, I found the guy has 19 awareness. He makes cuts more fluid than any back I've had. Infact, in an online CCM I traded Peterson away to use him more and grabbed Blount in FA.

Something is way off when players come in that "stupid" and do so much damage. I'm all for anything to make the game more complete but a lot of the ratings have to start showing major effects on player performance.

[RogueHominid]

Thanks for chiming in, Ryan. I know AWR matters some for players you're not controlling the whole time, but for players like the QB and HB, it'd be nice to know what that actually means.

I also drafted a rookie CB with 30s AWR or so and he makes plays, plus he came in with a 1 consistency rating instead of a 0.

[TheDelta]

For defensive players, PRC seems to be more important than AWR, but it's hard to tell since, well, obviously no one tells us how exactly it works.

For QBs, I get the feeling that QBs with low AWR tend to throw more picks, when I had my AWR 20 backup QB throw against the Ravens, pretty much every ball thrown into the general direction of Ed Reed was basically an automatic pick it was ugly, it seems as if high AWR/PRC defenders have a field day against low AWR QBs but as I said, it's hard to tell since we have no hard data.

[RogueHominid]

Quote: Originally Posted by TheDelta

For defensive players, PRC seems to be more important than AWR, but it's hard to tell since, well, obviously no one tells us how exactly it works. For QBs, I get the feeling that QBs with low AWR tend to throw more picks, when I had my AWR 20 backup QB throw against the Ravens, pretty much every ball thrown into the general direction of Ed Reed was basically an automatic pick it was ugly, it seems as if high AWR/PRC defenders have a field day against low AWR QBs but as I said, it's hard to tell since we have no hard data.

That would be VERY interesting. Like, if you get to make the choice to make a given throw, but the QB's general lack of contextual awareness makes him more likely to place the ball where defenders can get to it.

I'm going to have to test this out by starting the rookie, but I don't want to give up the season since we made the Divisional round last year.

[RyanMoody21]

I think we all kinda fight the mystery ratings. Clearly it's well past the time where we should be provided something from EA that clearly outlines what each attribute and rating means and does. I recall a long debate about predictability trait not to far back.

User control shouldn't negate a low rating, you sholdnt be able to make a poor player become a star. Infact, it should almost be the opposite. Star players should make you better. For example, even a poor passer should do well with Brady or Manning, as they can make up for your errors in timing or placement.

Even with user control low ratings need to effect things like reaction. If not, I've got zero incentive to actually make a better player. Due to some freezing issues in our CCM a few games had to be simmed and Mills was just as productive in his rookie year.

One thing this really hurts is trade value, the players ratings don't seem to be tied enough to on field prouction. In all honesty you can "will" your QB to Super Bowls, Pro Bowls and MVPs but the low overall will see him worthless on a global scale. Sadly, the legacy ratings are already in game that could serve as a great check and balance between ratings and player performance, they just seem to operate independant.

[RogueHominid]

I agree. If the ratings are there, we should know how they work, more or less.

I, too, don't think any player with chronically low awareness should be able to perform at a high level. We all know players who have tons of skill but can't grasp the playbook, have a knack for blowing coverages, playing outside of their assignment, etc. All those things would signify a lack of awareness, and that should factor into the game.

While I love the idea of making my late round QB a successful starter, it should be very hard, if not impossible to do with a 65 OVR player who has 20s-30s awareness.

The other way to look at it is to see these guys as developmental project players whose XP you use solely to generate AWR, and then play them when they've reached a certain threshold.

[purplerat]

For a QB AWR is meaningless if you are playing the games and not simming at all.

After season 1 of my CCM I signed an undrafted rookie who had 99 throw power and mid 70s accuracies but an awareness in the 20s. In season 2 I played him in blowout situations and he did pretty well. That along with practice XP and I was able to get his accuracies up into the low 80s. Now in season 3 I've made him my starter and he's off to a phenomenal start.