Friday, August 1, 2008

Pitt / Cle 2nd half Spectate Mode

We're going to skip ahead as the game was much like the first half. Until crunch time.

We pick up the action at the 2:00 warning, 20-6 Steelers, Browns ball 1-10 at their own 43.

Anderson is sacked - 6 yards (like the 6th sack. Damn Steelers)
2-16 Lewis catches a pass for 13
3-3 Incomplete pass
4-3 Lewis RUNS for a first 3 yds (ballsy call..)

1-10 1:20 t0 go. Lewis carries for 1 yard. STOP RUNNING THE BALL!
2-9 Pass complete to Stallworth for 14
Timeout
1-10 Lewis runs for 3 yards. STOP RUNNING THE BALL!
Timeout. :48 secs to play
2-6 Incomplete pass
3-6 Pass to Edwards for 7
Timeout
1-10 12 yd TD pass to Edwards

So, Cleveland has wasted tons of time here running the ball with Lewis and throwing dink and dunk passes down the field. But...even with :25 secs to go they can still win if they recover an onside kick...

Hey wait...what are they doing...no...they didn't just do that.

They kicked deep.

Game over.

I need a shot of Wild Turkey.

Stats:

Ben R: 31/38 249 1 TD 1 INT
DA: 36/47 288 1 TD 1 INT

Lewis 18 carries 26 yds
Parker 17 carries 30 yards

The reason that the completions are so high is because the AI continually looks short. These numbers show as much -- 249 yards on 31 completions is really low. 8 yards a pop when in the real game Roethlisberger hits 12 yards per completion. That seemingly small 4 yards difference is much bigger than you might think because in this game alone the AI would throw short on crucial 3rd down plays -- 3rd and 12 and thje pass would be a 6 yard curl. That's just silly. You may see that a couple times when no one else is open but it was the primary read!

Whenever the AI went deep -- as in 15+ yards in the air -- that's when the AI knocked down passes. The AI is really bad at throwing the deep ball. It seems to wobble and float where as the 8 yard pass is zipped with amazing velocity. It would appear that the game knows damn well that its best course of action is to dink and dunk down the field. I see that every game.

As for the end of the game stuff...I think that speaks for itself. Come on EA...this isn't hardcore super sim head stuff we're talking about here. KICK THE ONSIDE!