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QB Skills Guide

Physical Attributes

Strength: This primarily indicates the QB’s arm strength and thus affects 1.) how far the QB can throw the ball and 2.) how much velocity or “zip” he can put on the ball. How hard the QB throws (or tries to throw) the ball can also be affected by the QB’s individual tactic as well. Speed: This indicates how fast the QB can run, and probably also increases the speed of his delivery, although this is not certain. Agility: This indicates how easily the QB can make cuts and change direction when scrambling and probably also probably affects the fluidity of the QBs release, however that is not certain. Jumping: It is unknown whether this affects the QB in any discernible way. Jump passes were a part of the QB’s repertoire 50 years ago so it would not be unthinkable if Bort included this minutely in the equation, but jump passes are no longer considered sound QB technique and are rarely employed by the modern QB on any level. Stamina: This indicates how quickly the QB tires. Tired players play at only a fraction of their potential so the more stamina your player has, the more likely he will be playing as well as possible. There is a full section on recommended stamina amounts for each position above. Vision: This indicates the QB’s ability to read the field and find open receivers. The more vision a QB has, the more able he will be to hit open receivers and the fewer interceptions he will throw. QB vision used to only affect how often he would throw to open receivers, but now he takes into account as well the ability of each receiver compared to the ability of his defender and if he senses a mismatch he may throw to a receiver even if he is tightly covered. When scrambling vision helps a QB in the same way it helps any other ball carrier, namely in that it gives him the ability to use blockers and find holes and running lanes. Confidence: This indicates the QB’s morale in game, which 1.) first and foremost allows the QB to play at his full potential. Just like with stamina, low confidence can result in a QB playing far below his potential so having high confidence allows him to maintain peak levels of performance; 2.) allows him to recover after making mistakes. Thus if a QB throws an INT, with low confidence he is likely to throw more, while higher confidence will allow him to shake it off more easily; and 3.) counteracts defensive special abilities designed to demoralize the QB (like the Glare and Aura of Intimidation) and make him play below his potential.

Football Skills

Blocking: No significant use for a QB. Tackling: No significant use for a QB. Perhaps tackling a defender after an INT, but if you get to that point you have worse problems on your hands. Throwing: This is the critical physical attribute for a QB as it represents his throwing technique and his accuracy. Needless to say QBs need a lot of throwing. Catching: No significant use for a QB. Carrying: Only useful for a scrambling QB. Carrying determines how well you secure the ball when you are being tackled and how well you break tackles. Perhaps securing the ball could be a factor in sacks, however QBs seem to rarely fumble during sacks in this game. Kicking: No significant use for a QB. Punting: No significant use for a QB.

Pocket Passer Abilities

Pocket Presence: This ability prevent a QB’s accuracy from dropping when he is under “pressure” from D-linemen. “Pressure” is an intangible thing probably defined in this game by the proximity of a pass rusher to the QB. The more points he has in this ability, the less likely it is that he will throw an inaccurate pass simply because a pass rusher is closing in on him. Tight Spiral: This ability makes passes less wobbly and easier to catch. The description of the ability hints that it is more effective on long passes than short ones and thus more useful for a QB who expects to throw deep than for one who expects to throw medium passes all the time. The ease or difficulty of catching or intercepting a ball can now also be affected by the individual QB tactic related to pass velocity. Pump Fake: This affects the QB’s ability to fake out defenders. When the QB uses this ability the defender may pause or take a step or two in the wrong direction allowing the receiver to come wide open. This ability is less powerful than it used to be. Turn Shoulder: This ability allows the QB to avoid pass rushers and is the equivalent to a modern QB sliding around in the pocket or pulling free of pass rushers. To my knowledge no one has tried a QB with a lot of this ability to see what happens and how well it works. Field General: This ability increases the confidence and stamina of everyone else on the offense while they are on the field with the QB. Receivers will run routes better and catch more passes, linemen will block better, and RBs will run better. By boosting the morale and stamina of the other offensive players, this ability allows them all to play at their full potential more often.

Scrambler Abilities

On the Run: This ability allows the QB to throw the ball accurately even while on the move and corresponds in real life to the ability of QBs on the move to square their shoulders to the endzone and deliver an accurate pass while scrambling. Dump Pass: This ability increases the chance that short passes (less than 5 yards) will be caught. To the best of my understanding, the QB’s individual tactic related to dump passes affects how often they are thrown, while this ability affects how often they are completed. Thus a QB with a lot of this ability could complete short passes even to receivers and RBs with less catching ability than would normally be advisable. Quick Cut: This ability is a staple at many positions and is pretty simple. It allows the player to change direction without losing much speed. This ability is most important for scrambling QBs and to my knowledge no one has tried a QB with a lot of it to see what happens and how well it works. Stiff Arm: This ability allows the QB to deliver a stiff arm which is most effective against defenders with very low agility and strength. Again, since there are not many running plays for QBs, to my knowledge no one has tried a QB with a lot of this ability to see what happens and how well it works. Demoralize: This ability allows the QB to sap the defense of morale after a big run, making it even harder for them to play up to their full potential and tackle well on subsequent plays. Again, since there are not many running plays for QBs, to my knowledge no one has tried a QB with a lot of this ability to see what happens and how well it works.

Pocket QB

Key Physical Attributes: Throwing, Vision, Strength, Confidence Other Important Physical Attributes: Agility, Speed Other Advice: I believe that the optimum ratio of Vision to Throwing is 1 to 1. That means working them up at about the same rate as each other. If you set your favorite targets to None, that will improve your completion % by 5-8 points and cause fewer INTs especially when your QB is at a lower level. The only reasons you should set them is: 1.) If you have a big time mismatch you particularly want to exploit 2.) If you want to get the ball to your TE more                                                                                      3.) If you have a WR who is either an excellent route-runner or has a lot of jumping, but does not have a lot of speed. Unless your team passes deep more than 65% of the time, I would turn the Favor Deep Passes option off.

Equipment all in Throwing or Split Throwing/Vision. Custom in Pocket Passer tree

Train Throwing/Strength [ ] Throwing softcap Train Vision/Confidence [ ] Throwing 2nd softcap [ ] Vision Softcap Train Agility/Speed [ ] Vision 2nd Softcap [ ] Throwing 3rd softcap [ ] Strength Softcap [ ] Vision 3rd Softcap [ ] Agility Softcap Train Confidence/Stamina [ ] Confidence Softcap

Rushing QB

Key Physical Attributes: Speed, Agility, Vision, Throwing Other Important Physical Attributes: Strength, Confidence Other Advice: Rushing QBs will not be effective until the addition of more complex offensive tactics. Even then, unless you plan on running the option (not likely), he will still need to be able to throw the ball. Still, I can envision a QB with incredible speed (70+) being dominant later on. However for now Rushing QBs are not a good idea to try.

Special Abilities Strategies:

Tight Spiral: Popular among teams that throw the ball deep a lot. Works well with Pump Fake and On the Run. Pump Fake: Works well with any type of offense right now. Especially complemented by WRs and TEs with a lot of agility, Quick Cut, and Head Fake. Field General ; Many have tried adding a lot of this ability to increase overall offensive production. By itself the ability will not make the offense great; it is best used with other abilities and adding too much too soon can cripple your QB simply because it is so expensive and those points are likely needed early in a QB’s development in other critical areas like throwing and vision.

Veteran Guide

Red Zone Freak : looks to be a good one, so you throw more accurately and better quality passes. Quick Release: would be handy as well, to have less DBs jump in front of the ball Natural Leader: is okay if you have points in the 'Field General' SA. Hard Count: I still never see many penalties, but this could make them appear more often Laser Arm: Probably the best Ability for the QB. Clock Manager: Better pass quality is important, but only if under 2 minutes. Football Genius: Better vision is always good.