NFL Blitz 2000

Pass interference is usually the bane of a cornerback, but in NFL Blitz’s take on American football, where penalties don’t exist, lets defenders manhandle or completely tackle open receivers to their heart’s content. Despite the limited defensive playbook,¹ legal pass interference makes controlling a defender interesting: who and where do you cover? Obliterating a particular receiver out the gate eliminates one of three downfield options for your opponent in exchange for dedicating you to the tackle and locking you out of a character switch. Conversely, watching the quarterback’s eyes and determining where they’re planning on throwing to opens up tackles after the ball has been thrown, or even better, interceptions. Strategy here evolves based on the habits of the opposing QB,² including favorite plays and receiver formation, but fundamentally it’s a careful combination of suppressing the most dangerous routes on the field while chasing down passes; the speed and narrow field let you play defense like you’re covering one big zone. Or, if you want to shake things up, just rush the passer! Force them to throw quick and keep them in hell.

To counter this, the offense needs actual scheme, or at least something beyond running Da Bomb and heaving it. My favorite twist on this (from a more stuffed playbook than the defense) is Hurricane, which, like all Blitz plays, has three different routes. In this case, the receivers line up in a modified trips formation with all three on one side of the play.³ The primary read here is the outside receiver, who runs a very long dig route by gunning straight up for around 30 yards and then cutting straight inside. Interestingly, Blitz receivers have a preternatural awareness for ball placement and adjust routes to compensate, and thus for this receiver you can throw it before he cuts and treat the route like a go route straight to the endzone. The receiver next to him directly attacks the middle of the field on a slant, while the receiver offset from the line in the slot redirects to the other side of the field before taking off down the opposite sideline. Because he stays behind the line of scrimmage for a while, he’s able to make a forward pass if he has the ball, and in Blitz, absolutely everyone is an elite quarterback, so these flea flicker trick plays are useful to throw from a more comfortable position.

If you don’t like anything the defense is showing you, just take off running. Just like how every player is an elite quarterback, every quarterback is a dual threat. [src]

In one play, you not only have three main routes to choose from, but each route evolves as it progresses, giving you new options the longer you scramble. In this case, the early window has options up and angled away from the dominant side; if you need additional time, you can flip the ball to the slot receiver and let them set up a pass from elsewhere. In the late window, you have a sort of high-low concept between the two up-field receivers, or you can hit the soft side with the slot receiver once they get past the line of scrimmage. For only one play, it opens the field wide open in how you approach it and adjust your opponent’s coverage, even if checking that the primary receiver has only one man covering him and tossing it to him on the go route always feels like the meatiest option.

These mind-game aspects, both in terms of play selection and second-to-second decision-making, give Blitz the edge that its NBA Jam descendant cousins often lack. With a truncated on-field roster and a reliance on a regenerating turbo meter, games in this vein often shrink down to twitch gameplay, getting jukes or quick passes to rack up points with as much swag as possible. While they’re fun for a moment, they succumb to the limits of their rock-paper-scissors-esque turbo moves, which makes each game homogeneous the longer your and your friend alternate tricks and run up the score. Blitz seems much the same – bombs-away, throw for 550 yards and five interceptions a game, let the defense run itself – but learning defense properly reintroduces a need for rhythm in the passing game. Hit different parts of the field, interleave the quick game, and use flea flickers to throw off the blitz. I knew our games were really getting good when they went from shootouts to more reasonable, tight mid-20’s scoring affairs, and when our run games started powering field position rather than constant explosive plays. Where many games of this style make the skill so easy to access that it glides by, Blitz uses the ease of access to let you power a mini-offense of your own, out-thinking your opponent and probing their weaknesses.