NFL 2K3 Tips and Tricks (or, how to beat Dean) (1 Viewer)

[Michael Henry]

Is anyone else having trouble putting their hands up on defense? The manual says that you use the Y button, but nothing ever happens when I try during a game...

I have the xbox version BTW...

Thanks!

-Mike

 

[Tom_J]

The "Y" button never worked for me either. I dive in some odd fashing, completely missing the ball and any chance of making a tackle on the receiver. Are you suppose to run to the circle where the ball will be before hitting the "Y" or can you hit the button before you get to the circle? I think this is the single most frustrating thing for me. I get great position, the opposing QB throws up a lame duck. I can see the int., hit the "Y", and my DB dives to the ground opposite the path of the ball.
I have found some tips on the game which might help some of the newbies.
1. Repetition. I hit the full scrimmage practice a lot. This will give you a good idea on the strengths/weaknesses of your team, as well as work on the timing of running and passing. I have also found a couple of "money" plays. These are plays I can complete with more consistency than others, great for key situations (3rd down on game winning drives, etc).
2. Don't go wild smashing the "A" button right after the snap. I have an urge to get my player in full speed sprint right after the snap, both on D and offence. I found my players aren't as agile while going full speed. If you are not accurately hitting holes while running, or not making contact with the ball carrier on D, try slowing down. Leave the "A" button alone. This will give you more control over the movement of your player.
3. Patience. Let the play come to you. Say you pick a running play, look at how the D is moving. Give your blockers time to set up the blocks. When you see a hole, hit the "A" and sprint thru. If you keep enough of an eye on the D, there might also be cutback lanes. The play WON'T always go as planned. Sometimes there are bigger holes away from where the hole was suppose to be when the play is on the drawing board. I don't know how many times I've run say a sweep to the right, but even before stringing the play out, I see a HUGE gap up the middle.
When playing D, let's say they run a running play, let the rusher come to you. A lot of times, when I run after the ball carrier, into a huge crowd, you end up getting picked off, out of the play. Also be aware of the angle. If you can position yourself outside of the ball carrier, this will force him to run back inside, where you have help from your teammates.
4. Play calling. As someone has mentioned, this game isn't a run & gun/dial you up, type of game. If you call long passing plays all the time, it will get shut down. If you're running on every play, it will get shut down. Be unpredictable, and once again, be aware of your strengths/weaknesses. On 2nd on long, keep in mind you don't have to pick up all the yardage for the first down in ONE play. You have 2 plays to get the yardage.
5. Don't give up. Not only will this make others less annoyed when playing online (we all hate quitters), but I had comebacks in many situations where I didn't think I had a chance.
Those are just some of the things which came to mind. They have helped me tremendously. I'm currently 4-1 in my season on the default level (PRO?) playing the Raiders. Now if I can just figure out how to pick off passes.

 

[Evan S]

The odds of completing a pass go way down if you are on the run. Even if you scramble out of the pocket, try to stabalize your QB before letting the ball go. He will be much more accurate and provide fewer overthrows this way. I have McNabb and was running all over the place and completing like 40% of my passes. Then I read about that tip and am now around 55% or more most times.

 

[Mike Pattee]

Audibles are your friend. Hell they're your best friend.

Every play on offense I pick I pick 1-2 other plays out of the same formation as audibles. You do this by holding black button on xbox or R2 on ps2, and then press X,A or B on xbox or square, X or circle on ps2. Now when you get to the line of scrimage when you hit Y or I believe triangle it will bring up the audible menu and you should see the audibles you set. Always when you pick a run play, make sure you select at least one pass audible, and vice-versa. That way if they're stacking the line you can audible to a pass and burn em.

On defense make sure you have a man coverage like "2 man" set as an audible. So when they try to stack one side of the field you can audible to that and pick up the other receiver.

Hot routes are important also. these are especially nice when you audible from a run to a pass because they are stacking the line. Then you can streak a receiver and hit him for a huge gain most of the time. Learn to tell which side you think the safty is going to go to and streak the guy with single coverage especially if he's fast.

I'm still learning all the hot routes but with just the streak option which is push up on the second analog stick and then the recievers button.

Mike

 

[Mitty]

Some very good suggestions in this thread, most notably the fair catch, end zone catch, which I couldn't figure out.

Don't forget about your tight end. He can catch passes to.

The half back too. I'm currently 5-3 with the Seahawks (it's a tough division), and in those 8 games I've thrown 12 passes to my HB and completed all of them. It's not something you can use all the time (as 12 passes in 8 games would attest), but every once in a while he's floating around wide open for a short pass with lots of open field in front of him. Sorta makes you wonder...why isn't he blocking, the bastard.

 

[Anthony Liz]

Ok, I just bought NFL 2K3 for the XBOX, and I think its great, but when passing, is there a way to make your receiver jump up for a ball? I'm usually good at football games, but this is the first to give me a challenge.

 

[Brett Hancock]

On ps2 you take control of your reciever bye hitting circle and then you hit triangle to jump up for the ball or hit square to dive for the ball. Im not sure about the controls on xbox but the gameplay should be the same for this.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Okay, I need some tips for rushing the passer. I've got a pretty good D-line (Gerard Warren, Courtney Brown, Ryan Sims, Bobby Hamilton), but I've only registered a pathetic one sack through fourteen games this season. Of course, that hasn't kept me being the number one ranked rushing defense, and number four passing, but it's still damn frustrating. I've been powering up before the snap and using the advanced line moves, but I just can't break through and get to the QB.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Oh yeah, one suggestion for people who are struggling on offense: Build your own playbook, and keep your team's strengths and weaknesses in mind. At the beginning of my first franchise season, I was having trouble putting up 10 points a game with the Ravens' default playbook. I then took some time to build my own, and have little trouble putting up 28 plus most nights. I chose a nice blend of West Coast-style short and intermediate passing plays along with a few effective deep plays (post patterns work best) and based most of my runs off the tackles, since that's where the strength in my line (Ogden and Fabini) resides.


And why the hell isn't Lavar Arrington is any football video games??

 

[Evan S]

Andrew, Lavar Arrington is not in any football games because he is NOT a member of the NFL players association. I don't know why he has not chosen to be a member, but because he is not, his likeness cannot be used in any officially licenced NFL merchandise, which includes t-shirts, hats, and yes, video games.

The same thing occurs in baseball games. The 1995 strike breakers (Shane Spencer, Daubach, Lightenberg, Rick Reed, etc) were banned from admittance to the MLBPA because they were used as replacement players in 1995 spring training following the 1994 players strike. Because they are members of their present day teams, but are not members of the union, they are also not in any baseball video games. Usually the Yankees right fielder in these games is Shannon Spencer or Shane Stewart or some weird derivation of his real name.

Because the baseball guys are not in the union, they lose out on $30,000 annually in licencing fees. Not sure what Arrington misses out on or why he has chosen to keep himself out of the union, but that explains his absence in the games.

 

[Steve Iseman]

If you want to get more sacks you'll have to blitz a lot. I also found that you don't actually have to power up to perform the special moves. Sometimes it's easier without powering up. I find using the left or right trigger along with the B button to be the most effective move to toss a blocker aside. I usually get to the quaterback after he gets the pass off, but I still get in some big hits. I've knocked a few quarterbacks out of the game doing this.

I've tried taking my defensive end and run him behind one of my defensive tackles to confuse the blocker. He usually gets to me, but I also get free sometimes and get to the quarterback. I have also used my linebacker to rush the QB. I lay back and when the ball is snapped I make my move. Again, a blocker will usually pick me up, but there are times when he won't. You just have to try a lot of different things if you want to get your sack total up.

 

[Andrew_Sch]

Damn this game pisses me off sometimes, particularly the end of season awards, which are a complete sham. Oronde Gadsden had 1996 yards and 28 touchdowns for me, but they gave offensive player of the year to Randy Moss, who had 1666 yards (on more recections) and 10 touchdowns. So my guy had 18 more TD's than the MVP.

 

[Anthony Liz]

Although this is one of best Football games I've ever played, it is also the one that has pissed me off the most. It's one thing being difficult (which I don't mind), and another being a cheat. Whenever I gain large rushing yards I get a Holding call. My wide receiver beats the defenders, and is open, and he drops the ball. Or better yet, he is running and then slows down and the ball is over-thrown.

My tip would be to set your audibles, and use them, especially if you are now able to read the D.

 

[Michael Henry]

Has anyone figured out how to put your hands up in front of the QB to block a pass? I haven't seemed to get this down yet...

-Mike

 

[Jason Price]

Does anyone know how the hot routes work? I'd love to be able to implement them, but the manual doesn't even mention them...

I can't believe how bad the manual is for this game...

 

[Dean DeMass]

Does anyone know how the hot routes work? I'd love to be able to implement them, but the manual doesn't even mention them...

Sure it does. It is on one of the last pages in the manual. They are on the same page as the Line Special Moves.

-Dean-

 

[Dave Falasco]

I could use a little more help with the running game. I've now played 16 games against the computer and lost all but one--mostly because my running game is anemic. I am using the Chargers, who have a decent running back in Tomlinson, but the problem seems to be my O-line. I have tried pulling both triggers to lower my head, I have tried juking right at the point of contact, I have tried juking just before contact, I have tried spinning right at the point of contact, I have experimented with hitting A to speed up and not hitting A, I have tried hitting the hole as quickly as possible, I have tried waiting for the blockers to set up before hitting the hole, and no matter what I do, I can't get further than the line of scrimmage on a run between the tackles. The defensive lineman explode off of their blocks the second I hit the LOS and tackle me for no gain. Time and time again, no matter what defense they are in. Last night I played three games against the computer and gained a TOTAL of 27 yards on the ground. In three games! My biggest play was a five-yard run.

This puts tremendous pressure on my already shaky passing game, and the fact that the defensive lineman are the ones making the stops frees up the linebackers to drop into coverage more often, leading to more picks. Just to rub it in, I played against the Jets last night, and damn if CuMar didn't break 5 or 6 tackles on just about every play.

Has anyone had good success with the running game? Without one of the super-backs, I mean? I would appreciate any additional insight, because as much as I try mixing it up (passing and running, running up the middle versus outside, running with the fullback instead of the halfback) I am just not getting any better running the ball. A run up the middle is stuffed by the lineman, and a run to the outside is stuffed by the linebackers. Argh!!!

 

[Todd Henry]

I have been having a lot of problems with my pass defense on pro. It seems the Computer completes about 75-80% of their passes. Is it my play calling? Do you guys quickly switch to the defender covering the intended receiver?

Todd

 

[Dave Falasco]

Todd, I play a lot of cover 2 defense, and I do switch control to the DB when the pass is thrown. I haven't had much luck picking passes off, but I cause the CPU to drop a lot of passes by hitting them just as the ball gets to them. I think a lot of it is play-calling, though. I play lots of nickel and dime defenses, and try to mix it up between man and zone. All of this comes at the expense of run defense, though--so far in my season my team is ranked dead last in rushing, third to last in pass offense, and 26th in rush defense, but number 1 in pass defense. Weird, huh?

 

[Jason Price]

Maybe I should just drop out now - apparently, I'm totally blind. Thanks, Dean - not sure how I managed to miss that entire section...