Pocket Presence "Feel the Pressure"

[mlozano88]

Pocket Presence "Feel the Pressure"
An idea I've thought about for a while. I think it would make the game even more fun on Offense
by: Matt Lozano

REASONS:
One of the frustrations with playing a 3D game while looking at a flat screen was knowing where to look on passing plays. One of my personal frustrations was getting a huge sack when waiting in the pocket to throw a deep ball (This is compounded on higher difficulty settings because of faster game play). A football QB in real life "reads" the field by looking at all his targets and coverage while using his other senses to "Feel the pocket around him." This is in stark contrast to EA Madden NFL games where I find myself kind of zoning out and trying to focus on the whole screen at once, making throws AND moving my QB around the pocket using peripheral vision.

IDEA:
My Idea to fix this would be to give other triggers (besides vision) to the player so they can "feel" the state of the pocket, know when to avoid blitzing rushers or when to get rid of the ball, and maybe even get alerted to when Wide Outs call for the ball (etc.)

IMPLEMENTATION:
On the Hardware side, I believe it would be possible to use the controller's rumble feature when playing as a QB to alert players if the pocket is collapsing or there is a free rusher coming at them. Further more, these rumbles could be directional in nature, alerting the player as to which way the rush is coming from. Also, the intensity of the rumble feature could dictate how close the QB is to being sacked or show the speed of the oncoming rusher. This is where the next gen controllers shine with more computing power to support very specific rumble feature actions, especially on Xbox One with the dual action trigger rumble.

For example, if a right handed QB is standing in the pocket and an outside CB or LB blitz is coming from the right side of the TV screen then the rumble feature vibrates a little bit in the right hand side of the controller so the QB/Player knows he needs to make a decision quickly (Move up in the pocket, move left, or throw it before he gets hit). Another example is if the o-line gets bull rushed and then this would cause the Left or Right triggers to rumble, indicating the rush is coming from the top direction.

SOFTWARE:
This section is completely up to the developers, but an idea I had to make this fairly represented in game play would be to attach the Awareness statistic to this feature (Or something similar if EA wanted to make a more detailed ratings for different situations). For example if you are using an Elite QB the rumble will start earlier and be more defined, directional wise. There might also be a chance that if the QB's AWR is high enough, that the rumble feature might alert him to a blindside blitz that he wouldn't otherwise have seen. There could also be certain players that have extra skills in this area, even if their awareness isn't through the roof. I'm thinking of players like Cam Newton and others that seem to have an uncanny ability to escape pressure in the pocket and make a play. On the opposite side of the spectrum, using a rookie like D.Carr (this season at least) or another lower rated QB will cause a lot of the benefits of the "Pocket Presence" features to not be present or more diluted until the player raises his awareness in the pocket (new stat?) or gains one of the "special skills."

CLOSING
This is an idea I've had to improve the feel of the game from a quarterbacking perspective. I hope you guys enjoy my idea. I also have many more ideas as well that bring players more into the game. Put your comments, opinions, remarks below! I posted this in the EA forums as well, but just trying to see what the community feels on it.

Thanks,
Matt

[Junior Moe]

This is a great idea and could add more nuance to playing the QB position. On the XB1 the left or right trigger pulsates depending on which hand your player is dribbling with. Madden could add something similar. They really do need to innovate the video game QB gameplay, though. Little has been done since the controversial vision cone.

The problem is that we, as gamers, have a "God view" of the field. Tom Brady sees the field the same way as Jimmy Clausen. That's why every QB "feels" the same. Dropping back to pass with Payton manning should be a very different experience from passing with Tyrod Taylor. I am all for the game being more challenging via visual and "sensory" cues like you suggested here. Right now it just doesn't feel like there's enough difference between the QB's. I know that its a difficult task. But at least provide us some option to change up the experience.

[mlozano88]

one of the counter points that my friends made to me was that it would actually be too easy for some players to just offload to a flat when ever they felt vibrations? i dont know food for thought

[mightyrx]

Quote: Originally Posted by mlozano88

one of the counter points that my friends made to me was that it would actually be too easy for some players to just offload to a flat when ever they felt vibrations? i dont know food for thought

That's ok.
Captain checkdowns aren't really successful because those short passes might work when you're on time but on 3rd and 10+, you gotta hang in longer to allow routes to develop...

You Tapatalking to me?!?