The Art of the Click-Off
By: Kyle Cooper
Being able to make manual plays in Madden is definitely something to be proud of. However, often there's a smarter way to do things on defense. In this tip, we're going to showcase a couple different examples of when it's beneficial to click off of the player you're manually controlling to make the play. Read below as we take you step by step through the breakdown.
To manually make a tackle on a ballcarrier in the open field can be extremely difficult sometimes. The biggest reason open field tackles are so challenging is because the runner is typically approaching at full speed, while your defender is often flat-footed and therefore much slower to react.
In our example, the Houston Texans have just pitched the ball out wide to running back Ahman Green. As soon as Green hauls in the toss we quickly click on to the closest defender in position to make the tackle and try to bring him down. Green slightly moves to the inside and we follow to try to make the tackle. Unfortunately, Green has already built up a lot more speed than our defender is currently moving at, allowing him to make much quicker cuts on the field.
One quick spin to the outside by Green and our defender is left in the dust. By manually controlling the defender as we try to make the open field tackle we are placing so much unnecessary pressure on ourselves. Furthermore, when Green gets by us there's no help on the sidelines because wide receiver Andre Johnson is about to make a block on the next closest defender. Green turns the corner and heads up field for a huge gain simply because we got caught out of position trying to make the tackle.
In the next example, our opponent attempts to pitch the ball out wide to Green once again. However, we're going to defend against this play by clicking off of the cornerback when the time is right. Green receives the ball and looks to get to the outside. Our cornerback recognizes the run and peels off the receiver to try to help make the tackle on Green. At this point in the play we manually click on the cornerback and sprint towards the ball carrier. Our goal this time is to place our defender in a position to make the tackle, and then click off to let the computer take control of him.
Our defender is now in position and we prepare to click off to let the computer take control. The two reasons we click off the defender once he's in position is not only because the computer is better at consistently making open field tackles, but also because now we can take control of the second closest defender and hold the sprint button to get him involved in the play as well.
We are now in a good position to help as we've taken control of the highlighted strong safety. This is a much better scenario for our defense because even if Green happens to shake the computer controlled cornerback we can still be in position to make an immediate tackle right behind him before this turns into an even bigger play. We continue to sprint over towards the ball carrier with the strong safety as our cornerback attempts to make the tackle. Our cornerback makes the impressive open field tackle. However, even if Green had escaped we would've been in perfect position to deliver as second hit on him right away.
Now we're going breakdown a way that you can use the clicking off method to help you defend the pass better. Houston Texans' quarterback Matt Schaub drops back to pass and looks to go downfield. Schaub finds what seems to be an open target on the right side of the field and tries to fire the ball in there.
The defender appears to be out of position at the moment, but shortly after the throw is made our goal is to click onto the defender and try to get him back into position before the ball arrives. We now take control of the cornerback and begin sprinting to try to gain ground on the receiver.
As the ball closes in we are still maintaining control of the cornerback until we get into position to make a play. Your goal when attempting to swat the pass away against most routes is to make sure that you move your cornerback slightly underneath of the receiver before clicking off.
Next, we've now clicked off the cornerback and we are leaving it up to the computer to make a play on the ball. The reason clicking off at this point in the play is good timing is because the cornerback's angle at which he is running will place him slightly underneath of the receiver just as the ball should arrive.
The receiver continues to fade as our now computer controlled cornerback leaps underneath to get into position for the ball. Now we could've kept control of the cornerback the whole time and done the exact same thing. However, why would anyone want to place more pressure on their stick skills to make a play manually when the computer will make it for them? As long as you learn how to place your players into the correct spots on the field to make plays, then clicking off will be the best option most of the time.
Our defender has the receiver completely blanketed now as he flies through the air in an attempt to swat away the pass. The computer-controlled cornerback successfully swats away the pass because we placed him in a great position on the field to make the play before clicking off.
Clicking off isn't always the answer on defense when making tackles or swatting away passes. However, there are certainly plenty of occasions throughout the course of a game where clicking off is the best solution. A good place to practice clicking off and bringing extra defenders over to help can be found in the Running Back Challenge mini-game.
In the Running Back Challenge you'll be able to work on sprinting over towards the ball with one defender, and then clicking off once you've placed him into position to make the tackle. Also, don't forget that once you click off that defender it will give you control of the second closest player. This will enable you to work on placing this defender in a good position as well to help out just in case the first defender gets beat.
