Why Is Every Pick Thrown to the Middle of the Field a Pick-Six?

I don't understand why my offensive players refuse to take an angle. Never happens when I pick off my opponent's passes though.

pursuit has been awful in this game for a while unfortunately

Give us some context op

Mph91 said:

Give us some context op

I mean, i know what he means. When you throw a pick, lately anyway, I have noticed intentional pulling away/delay by your players to let him take off in stride. And i also know what he means when he says it feels like it doesnt work out as well for him in similar situations. Lol Its just a bad bad bad game. The worst madden i can ever remember tbh.

SquishySoldier21 said:

I mean, i know what he means. When you throw a pick, lately anyway, I have noticed intentional pulling away/delay by your players to let him take off in stride. And i also know what he means when he says it feels like it doesnt work out as well for him in similar situations. Lol Its just a bad bad bad game. The worst madden i can ever remember tbh.

Oh ok yeah I got you. And sometimes they just completely miss a tackle. Happened to me the other day

Mph91 said:

Give us some context op

When a defender jumps a route and picks off a ball thrown underneath the safeties (not deep) and between the numbers, the defender’s momentum is taking him directly toward the offensive line. The other defenders instantly become All-Pro run blockers, and the intercepting defender somehow gets 20 yards east or west while up to seven CPU-controlled offensive players take severe angles north and get caught in the wash.

Of course, if my defender jumps the route in the same circumstance, he either doesn’t actually catch the ball, or if he does, he can never get outside the tackles.

I’m sure it’s mostly terrible RNG and even a little DDA, but perhaps there’s a technique for controlling players when your offense has to play defense.

I would agree with some that pursuit angles have been terrible in this game. I would also say that most o-linemen seem to have lower SPD/ACC for their overalls than in years past.

From my own experience returning INT’s over the middle, most of the offensive players fast enough to stop you are already behind you or too wide to catch up to you. Usually the RB gets caught up with the d-line or other LB/SubLb. Getting chased down by a fast QB happens to me more than anything else (besides pick 6).

Side note:

When returning an INT your direction pulls all of the AI players pursuit towards you. If you make a small move towards the middle directly after the INT, all of the pursuing players will pile up in the middle and then you can take off to the outside and 9/10 times the o-linemen can’t get an angle to the outside. Sometimes this will get the QB engaged in a block as well. Other times this can allow a receiver or TE to catch-up and tackle you but I definitely get more yards and pick 6’s doing this.

Because it's all predetermined EA bullshit. There is barely any user skill in this game, Madden 24 and 25 are the worst Madden games ever created.

Man. What pisses me off is how I'm getting hawked down on the sideline by some of the fattest o line men in the game on my way to the pick six.  It never fails that I have one o-lineman to beat and he all of sudden has this god like speed to catch up and tackle me out of bounds. Or I can't juke or swerve around him without getting bump tackled. 

Tackling in this game is so poorly coded because people get the most garbage tackles if they even get in your vicinity. You dont even have to wrap up in this game at all. CUT's tackling is 10x better than MUT's.

Anyone ever have a batted ball picked by a big ol d line man and have him crib it. I was so mad lol

SlowAndSteady said:

I would agree with some that pursuit angles have been terrible in this game. I would also say that most o-linemen seem to have lower SPD/ACC for their overalls than in years past.

From my own experience returning INT’s over the middle, most of the offensive players fast enough to stop you are already behind you or too wide to catch up to you. Usually the RB gets caught up with the d-line or other LB/SubLb. Getting chased down by a fast QB happens to me more than anything else (besides pick 6).

Side note:

When returning an INT your direction pulls all of the AI players pursuit towards you. If you make a small move towards the middle directly after the INT, all of the pursuing players will pile up in the middle and then you can take off to the outside and 9/10 times the o-linemen can’t get an angle to the outside. Sometimes this will get the QB engaged in a block as well. Other times this can allow a receiver or TE to catch-up and tackle you but I definitely get more yards and pick 6’s doing this.

Actually, this makes total sense. The AI is dumb, and I should expect a lot of short and mid picks to go for six, and the reason I haven’t been doing the same is that I simply wasn’t playing the AI, but instead letting it play me.

Thanks for this response!