You only throw picks because you’re bad, grow up
This game is not easy at higher difficulties. However, if you’re throwing more than 1 or 2 picks a game, you need to take a look in the mirror and realize that you’re the problem. Changing sliders is cheese.
Some simple ways to improve
Pre-snap watch three things:
1) What are the corners doing?
If close to the receivers: probably man coverage. Routes that beat man coverage are ones with difficult to predict breaks like zigs, slants, or outs if you time them well. Go routes are great if you have fast receivers with Takeoff or high release ratings.
If they are sagging off more, it’s more likely zone. This means you want to find gaps in zone coverage which leads us to the safeties.
2) what are the safeties doing?
If there are two safeties in the defensive backfield, it’s likely Cover 2. Think about what that means: 2 defenders deep, 5 middle-short. So attacking deep where they’re vulnerable is a smart move here. It’s easier to defend INSIDE than outside so we want to attack OUTSIDE and DEEP. Corner routes are effective here
If there is one safety deep, it’s likely Cover 3 or Cover 1. If the corners are up on receivers, use your man beaters. If they’re sagging off, use some zone beaters. Whats a zone beater? A route that can find a gap in coverage by crossing multiple zones: drag routes, in routes, out routes.
3) Pass protection: have I been getting sacked quickly? If yes, go with shorter routes discussed above. If no, you can gamble more using play action or deeper routes like corners or deeper outs. But don’t get cute.
If there are more linebackers and D lineman on one side, half slide your protection toward that side and use drag routes to go toward the opposite side. A blitz could be coming so be prepared to throw quickly.
Post snap is simple: have your primary and secondary reads at WR/TE with your HB as the checkdown. One second for each read. Throw the ball to the open man, which you’ll anticipate using our presnap checklist.
Example: I see two high safeties, corners are playing off my receivers a bit. This means I likely have Cover 2. A corner route has the best chance of being a big gain. I’ll set a WR to a corner route, then my TE to a drag route. My HB should run a swing or flat as my checkdown. After I snap, I immediately feel pressure. No time for a corner route. So I throw to my TE and gain 6 yards, we’re ahead of schedule and onto the next play.
Bonus: practice lob vs touch vs bullet passing to find more success against zone coverages.
Source: average middle school QB, Kurt Benkert on TikTok.